Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize and all that. And I just want to say hey to my best friend Caitlin who helped me think of this idea, which we thought of as an idea for a sequel to Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Oh, and this comes after Majora's Mask, so it has nothing to do with Wind Waker.
The New Hero
Something was troubling Link. Something just didn't feel right anymore, like something terrible was about to happen, something that would threaten his kingdom and worse, his family. Zelda knew something was bothering her husband from his frazzled, nervous behavior. The problem was, Link wouldn't admit that he felt something was horribly, horribly wrong. If he couldn't do that, she couldn't help him figure out what it was. Finally, she decided to confront him about his fears and try to draw them out of him. She went to the library, where Link could more often than not be found nowadays.
"Link?" she said softly. He looked up at her from the ancient texts he was poring over and sighed.
"Yes, dear?" he asked tiredly.
"Link, I know something's wrong," Zelda said. "I know that you fear some sort of evil. As a Sage, I may be able to help you. Will you please, please just tell me what's wrong?" Link looked up at her sadly.
"You want to know?" he asked. "Well if you really want to know, I feel a great evil rising out of the very heart of Hyrule. I feel the old pains of my battles from so many years ago coming back. I feel…Ganondorf."
"No!" gasped Zelda. "Link, why on earth didn't you just tell me? I battled him with you, if you recall! I need to know if you're feeling him again. If you are, then that means that he was right, though we knew the seal of the gods would only hold him for so long. But you remember what he said before we sealed him away."
"I remember," Link said desolately. "No need to remind me, I remember. He promised that he would come back and kill our descendants." He sighed. "Where's Destiny?" he asked.
"Out riding that Dante of hers," replied Zelda. "And I know what you're thinking and you're right, we shouldn't tell her. Well, we shouldn't tell her of Ganondorf's terrible oath. She'd never sleep again."
"Are you so certain of that?" asked Link, a faint smile playing about his lips. "Remember she has the powers of both of our Triforce pieces, including Courage. She's not scared so easily."
"Still, we shouldn't tell her yet," Zelda said firmly. "If we can avoid it, we shouldn't tell her at all. If we can destroy Ganondorf before he gets to our daughter, and us, there's no need to tell her."
"She must know someday," sighed Link. He rose and walked over to Zelda and the two left the library together. Soon Destiny came barreling down the hall at them, throwing her arms around her father and grinning at her mother.
"Oh, what a ride!" she gushed breathlessly. "I bet that Dante could outrace Epona now!"
"Hey, let's not get carried away! I mean, Dante's fast but really…," said Link, managing to grin. Destiny laughed again, tossing her golden-blonde mane of hair over her shoulder, her sapphire eyes sparkling. She smiled as she looked into her parents' matching eyes, then her smile faded to a look of confused concern.
"Is something wrong?" she asked. "You look like something's wrong, something that you don't want me knowing about. Am I right? What is it?"
"Are you empathic or something?" asked Link. "Because I swear you can feel what we feel at times and that's how you know all that you do." He sighed. "Yes, something's wrong. I've feeling that Ganondorf's back, that he's regaining strength and is ready to blanket the world in a second darkness."
"By the Goddesses!" gasped Destiny. "How is it possible? How could he, how could anyone, break the seal made my the Sages with the power of the Triforce and the Golden Goddesses?"
"We knew it would only hold for so long, dearest, but we had anticipated it to be longer than this," said Zelda.
"Well then, you have to stop him again!" Destiny said. "You have to either seal him away again, or kill him! Right?" Link smiled at his rambunctious daughter.
"Sweetheart, if only it were that easy," he said. "But I know that I have a duty, as king of Hyrule and as Hero of Time, to protect the people. And that means I'll have to get the Master Sword back from the Pedestal of Time. I'll have to open the Door of Time again."
"But won't that propel you forward in time?" asked Destiny.
"Quite possibly," replied Link. "But I have to. The Master Sword is the only blade that can destroy Ganondorf's evil again. And Ganondorf himself. We cannot risk him breaking another seal. He must be destroyed once and for all."
"But that means more battles, more pain, more nightmares," said Destiny gently. Link looked at her. "Oh I know about your nightmares, I hear you screaming oftentimes in the night, screaming in pain, screaming for Mother, for me, for mercy. I even heard you beg for death once. I don't want that to happen to you. Let me go instead. I'll take the Master Sword, go forward in time to become an adult, and stop Ganondorf for you." Link just stared at his daughter in astonishment.
"I-I can't!" he said. "I can't let you go into this battle, that would be as go as placing my own seal on your death warrant! I'm not going to lose you like that!"
"But Father, you were my age, a few years younger even, when you started your adventures through time and took the Master Sword for yourself," Destiny pointed out.
"I had no choice, and I gained much experience before my battle with Ganondorf. I had days, weeks, to prepare, all the time that you wouldn't have. And I will not, I cannot, put you through the hell that I endured during my 'adventures', as you call them, if I can avoid it," Link said firmly.
"But Papa," protested Destiny.
"No, Des," Link said sadly. "I won't do that to you. I can't." Destiny looked again into her father's eyes and saw that it was useless to keep arguing. She sighed and inclined her head. Link put his arms around her, holding her to him tightly. "Oh my brave daughter, you don't fully understand. You don't see what I saw, what stills haunts me in my dreams."
"If I could, I'd dream your nightmares for you so you could sleep in peace," said Destiny softly. "If I could, I'd feel you pain for you so you could rest. If I could, I'd relive your memories for you so the pain wouldn't come back. But I can't. What I can do, however, is share in your feelings, create memories of my own, help you through this so you wouldn't be alone in your pain. Let me help you, please." Link's eyes filled with tears at his child's words, but he shook his head. Destiny sighed again, and rested her head against her father's chest. He hugged her, then released her slowly, kneeling before her and looking into her eyes. They, too, were brimming with unshed tears. "Let me come with you," she whispered.
"I can't. My love, you fill me with pride when you say such things as you just did, but you're not ready yet. I love you so, and that's why I don't want to risk you, risk losing you to the darkness. The time will come when you are ready, and you will know that time. You will feel it in your heart, and see the Triforce mark glow on your hand," Link said. Destiny looked at the back of her left hand where there was a Triforce mark. She looked back at her father. "When this time comes, you will have your own battles to fight, your own demons to conquer, your own fate to discover. And when this time comes, you will find what you need in the highest place of the lowest place, where no one ever goes out of respect for the unseen presence of a powerful guardian."
"But what does that mean?" asked Destiny.
"You will understand in time," Link assured her. He kissed her cheek, rose, and kissed Zelda. "And now it's time for me to leave, before Ganondorf can cause any irreparable sorrow on Hyrule." He started down the hall.
"Be careful Papa!" Destiny cried after him. Link turned around and smiled distantly at her.
"With the image of you standing next to your mother to keep the hope burning in my heart, I'll return sooner," he called back. Destiny smiled, tears glistening in her eyes. Link threw each of them one last kiss, then departed quickly.
"He'll be back soon," said Zelda softly, after a heavy silence.
"I don't know," Destiny said. "There's a shadow over my heart that foresees danger. I'm afraid."
"He'll be back!" repeated Zelda. "He will. I can feel that he will." Destiny didn't reply, just stared after her father in silence. Zelda looked at her. "It's late, dear. Time for bed."
"All right," said Destiny absently. This worried Zelda. Normally, when told to go to bed, Destiny argued and protested for up to an hour that she should get to stay up later. The only exception to this was if she was sick. Or if she was feeling something to come in the near future that took up all her attention. And if her feelings ever took up all of her attention, they were bad. But Zelda tried to fool herself into thinking that Destiny was just anxious, and the two went to bed. Zelda dreamt of her husband returning victorious from his battle, and peace being restored to the land before it was even taken from it. Destiny, however, was tormented by nightmares of her own all night.
She was in an evil castle, running up endless stairs, following dark organ music to the top of the tower. She was panting, gasping for breath, her skirt dirty and torn. She stopped for a moment and looked at her dress in disgust. She much preferred functional tunics and leggings to the pretty dresses her parents (more specifically her mother) liked to see her in, but she wore them for them at times. Now she just wanted to tear her skirt off and sprint as fast as she could up the stairs. Instead, she hiked her skirt up as high as she could and sprinted as best she could. After an eternity of running up damnable stairs, she reached a door. The music was behind it. With a feeling of dread in her stomach, she opened the door. Ganondorf sat with his back to her at an organ. Suspended in the air above him was a red crystal. And sealed within the crystal, limp and lifeless, was Link.
"Father?" she whispered, hardly able to hear the breathless sound. Ganondorf stopped playing the horrible song, but didn't turn to her.
"It took you a while to get here," he said calmly. "But here you are, and better late than never. Though that may not have been if you were a little later. There's hardly any life left in your pathetic father now. And he thought he could protect you from me!" He laughed evilly. Destiny felt as though her heart was being pierced by an icicle when Ganondorf spoke and laughed.
"Let him go," she said, trying to sound cold and dangerous.
"Dear child, why should I?" asked Ganondorf off-handedly.
"What do you want?" cried Destiny desperately. Ganondorf looked at her and smiled a slow, sinister smile.
"What do I want?" he repeated. "Why, my dear child, I want nothing more than you."Destiny gasped. "Oh yes," Ganondorf continued easily, "that's right. Your father didn't tell you, did he? Or your mother. They wanted to protect you, didn't want you to have nightmares. Well, it's time you knew the truth. When your parents sealed me away in that hellhole, I swore that the seal would be broken. And when it was, I swore to come out into the world and destroy their descendants. That means you. For I want nothing less than the Triforce. I want the world. And I will have it. All I need it the link that binds the pieces of the Triforce. You are that link. You get the powers of the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage from your parents. With you, I can gain control over those pieces and fuse them with my own, and awaken the Gods of Darkness with a blood tribute! The royal blood of Hyrule, spilled to the birth of darkness!"
"You're mad!" cried Destiny. "Father! Father, please wake up! Please hear me! Father!"
"He can't hear you, and he's long gone now!" roared Ganondorf. "You're too late! They're dead, both of them!"
"NO!" screamed Destiny, but she knew it was true. She turned to run and found herself paralyzed.
"Not you," Ganondorf said. "You're mine!" Everything went black momentarily. When the nightmare returned, Destiny saw Ganondorf on the roof of the tower with her in his arms. She was unconscious as he carried her to an altar. An altar in the likeness of the Pedestal of Time! Destiny would have screamed in her sleep, if she could have. As it was, she could only watch as Ganondorf laid her on the altar and drew the Master Sword itself from its sheath at his side.
"And now," he said in a booming voice, "to the death of the Golden Goddesses and the birth of the Gods of Darkness, I offer the blood of the Royal Family of Hyrule. The blood of the Triforce!" He spun the Master Sword above his head, and thrust it into Destiny's heart. Her eyes snapped open and she screamed as the blood poured forth from her, staining her dress, spilling all over the evil altar.
She screamed so loudly that she woke up, still screaming. She sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide and terrified, endlessly screaming. Her nurse, a descendant of the great Impa, ran in.
"Princess, what's wrong? What's happened?" she cried. Destiny finally ceased her horrible screams to catch her breath. She looked around wildly, looking for Ganondorf, her father, the blood, anything.
"Mother," she whispered. "Mommy. Mommy!" She kept crying out that one word, over and over, until Zelda came running in. She veritably threw herself onto the bed beside her hysterical daughter, holding her close to her. Destiny sobbed into her mother, holding on to her desperately. Finally she quieted and was able to tell her mother what she had seen. Zelda couldn't speak for shock of everything she had just heard from her daughter. They both knew that they saw prophetic visions in their dreams, and that it was very likely that this was another. Neither spoke for a time, until Destiny said all the words that needed to be said.
"Something bad is going to happen."
