Chapter Text
Life in the Yiga Clan hideout became tedious. Astor continued spending long stretches of time by himself, either in his room experimenting with the astrolabe that was now impregnated with Malice or wandering the halls. The astrolabe would no longer show him the future, and he didn’t retrieve any of his old divination tools. He found he didn’t quite care what the future brought; he was working to meet it and it would come. Everything of importance to him was already gone, and every day he felt his chest hollow out more and more. On occasion Astor could feel his heart stir behind his ribs, but more often than not the only thing inside him was the horrible emptiness that had only become obvious after his first training session with Sooga. Subsequent training sessions had gone well; Sooga had never quite managed to knock Astor to the ground like that time, though he had landed a few solid blows with the blunted training swords. Those spots felt painful and healed slowly, although they never visibly bruised. Astor told himself that it was a trick of the lamplight again, resolutely avoiding looking at the spots when he went outside. He also told himself they were simply lost in the maze of Malice scars that still marred his hands. The Malice still didn’t burn Astor’s skin, but black blotches and lines spread out from the burns on his palms. At first Astor had been content with hiding their spreading up his forearms with the sleeves of the ancient Gerudo robes, but after combat training with Sooga, as well as experiments with Master Kohga, the backs of his hands were more black than gray.
Sometimes Astor made his way back up into the Yiga Clan hideout. He remembered, so incredibly vaguely, more like animal instinct than true memory, that his first years at the castle were incredibly lonely, and that life had improved when he began interacting with people. Unfortunately his attempts consisted mostly of walking through main areas of the hideout very quickly. No one removed their masks, and he found it incredibly difficult to get to know people who all looked identical. These excursions only left him feeling more alone, like a trout swimming through a school of minnows.
During one of his days in the hideout Astor happened upon a storeroom. There he stole a pair of gloves, fabric stretching from his middle finger to his thumb, covering the backs of his hands up his forearms. They covered the worst of the Malice burns, and he secured them with the gold cuffs and rings he’d brought with him. The black scars and eerie grayed skin were replaced with elegance, excess, power. On further explorations he found storerooms containing spoils of Yiga attacks. These largely contained materials and toys and other goods. Useful things taken directly from merchants. On occasion there would be a piece of jewelry. The Yiga had little use for jewelry, and so in the event some appeared Astor made away with as much as he could take. Soon he was weighed down with chains of gold. They were marks of his worth, just like the little baubles and trinkets the good people of Hyrule had plied him with before they turned their backs on him. He hadn’t earned these yet. He promised himself he would.
Neither Master Kohga nor Sooga commented on his new ensemble. Sooga had not talked to him since their first training session. A small part of Astor wished that Sooga would comment on how organized his Malice attacks had gotten, but a much bigger part was happy just to watch Sooga dodge the attacks and to never let Sooga throw him to the ground again. Master Kohga seemed amused by Astor’s stealings, though he never commented on it either.
In his sessions with Master Kohga Astor had learned to summon more monsters infected with Malice. Stalizalfos required even more Malice to summon from the ground than stalkoblins, and they required a larger amount all at the same time to prevent a lot of stalkoblins from popping out of the ground first. Stalmoblins even more. Turning them into their living counterparts was even harder, and while Astor felt hollowed out and exhausted, when he was working with Malice he’d never felt more energized. Once Astor had built up his stamina, Master Kohga showed him how to summon monsters infused with elemental power. This could be done with safflina, though it required a lot of the herb. It could also be done with gems, which were expensive, or elemental monster parts, which of course required killing monsters. Master Kohga was adamant that it would all be worth it. Finally, Master Kohga taught Astor just a little bit of Yiga magic. Only enough to disappear and reappear. Astor wasn’t very good at it. He couldn’t go very far and he wasn’t very accurate, but in a rare moment of authenticity Master Kohga told Astor it would be enough to buy him a few moments in battle. Maybe he felt bad for how hard he laughed when Astor reappeared a little higher off the ground than he’d meant to.
“Okie dokie,” Master Kohga said, “I think that’s as good as we’re gonna get.” He returned to his seat at the head of the table in the altar room. Sooga, as always, stood at attention beside his chair. Astor sat in his own seat at the other end. “So. What’s the plan, three eyes?”
For once Astor knew exactly what Master Kohga was getting at. He stared calmly across the table into Master Kohga’s mask, his face devoid of emotion. The candle flames between them obscured the men across from him. It almost let him imagine that he was alone as he stared into the flames, his mind quiet. Astor took a deep breath. He knew what he wanted to say, what Master Kohga wanted to hear, but he found he couldn’t quite bring himself to verbalize it.
“I believe I have already told you,” Astor said. The most valuable thing he’d gotten from his time here, in his opinion, was his ability to improvise. Master Kohga would have agreed that it was acting, and that Astor had never once been real, at least never in his time with the Yiga Clan.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re gonna bring about the Calamity. That’s a real stupid plan, you know that?” Astor stared at Master Kohga, blank-faced. “Is there anything actually happening in that skull of yours?” Astor continued to stare. Master Kohga sighed. “Alright. Fine. Okay. Fine. I’ll bite. Why.”
“The king will do nothing to prepare for the Calamity. He is absolute in his belief that the princess will stop Lord Ganon before it can begin to wreak its havoc on Hyrule, and that she must stand against the Calamity alone.”
“What about that Sheikah tech?” Master Kohga asked before Astor could continue.
Astor blinked several times. He shouldn’t have been surprised that Master Kohga knew about that. “The king will not let her assist, despite her showing an aptitude for ancient tech. He believes that any time spent not unlocking her power is a waste, because she is simply a vessel for Hylia’s power. He refuses to think that Hyrule’s defense should stand united, that she could help.”
“And what’s your part in all this?”
“When Lord Ganon returns it will destroy Hyrule and the king will bring the entire kingdom down with him. If I can channel the Calamity’s power-”
“Fat chance!” Master Kohga slapped the table gleefully. “You’ll be lucky if Ganon doesn’t come back to swallow you whole right this second! What makes you think you can actually-”
“I don’t,” Astor said. “It will kill me, absolutely it will. But if I can just buy her a little time-” Astor choked off, tears welling in his eyes. He blinked rapidly, shocked by the sudden emotion. A voice, fainter than a lost memory. If I can leave something for those who come after me then I hope it does kill me.
“Alright,” Master Kohga said quietly. There might have even been some softness in his voice, although that could have just been the emotions leaking from the calcified hole in Astor’s heart. “How are you planning on channeling the Calamity’s power.”
“I don’t know,” Astor admitted.
“The only way you’ll even come close is by standing against Hylia’s forces. Are you prepared to do that?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t even know what that means!”
“And you do?!” Astor snapped, moment of vulnerability over.
“That’s more like it,” Master Kohga muttered. Then he pointed a finger across the table at Astor and snapped back, “Of course we do. You think you’re the only one who can read the future? Get this, prophecy man. We know more about your fate than you ever will.”
Astor snarled quietly. Sooga made a move like he would attack Astor at the first sign from his master. Kohga sat still as a statue.
“To whatever degree I possibly can,” Astor enunciated, “I must help her.”
The little egg on the altar let out a tiny whistle.
“And I look forward to watching you meet your fate,” Master Kohga said quietly.
