Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Nintendo

Author's Note: I plan on making this into a full story but please bear with me as the going may be a bit slow (I know this is really short, the next chapters will be longer but this one was to test the waters a bit and decide on what I wanted to do without cutting off too many options.)

Link grabbed his hat and jammed it on his head, fitting it snugly in preparation of what lay ahead. The gate leading into the arena stood before him and he could see light coming in through the crack at the bottom. The sound of a giant crowd of people rushed in as the gate slowly creaked open, the chains rattling as they were wound on giant wooden pegs inside the walls.

The crowd screamed as he walked outside with confidence, his sword blazing underneath the sunlight. He held up his shield to the audience and they went wild with admiration and adoration. His face split into a smile as his eyes lighted upon a familiar face in the crowd and he ran to the wall closest to her.

"I thought you said you couldn't make it!" Link shouted to her above the roar of the crowd, craning his neck up high to see her.

Zelda smiled and leaned over the edge to try and close the space between them, even if only by a little bit. "This was too important to miss."

This made Link's heart soar, his grin turned a bit gushy as he looked at her with a peculiar fondness that had developed over all the years that they had spent together.

"Win this one for me my hero, and maybe I'll agree to that date you asked me on." Zelda teased, her hair falling recklessly out of place and her eyes alit with happiness.

"I could never loose with such a tempting prize as that." Link reached up towards her and she reached down, the gap between them charged with electricity as their fingers barely brushed.

Link took one moment to stare into her face and memorize every familiar detail before fixing his hat once more and turning to face the middle of the stadium. He walked to the center and faced the opposite gate where his opponent lay in wait.

"It's now or never Link." He breathed into the air, his pointed ears keyed in on a faint rattling and ahead the gate started to slowly open. His stomach fluttered and he had a foreboding feeling as a hooded figure slowly entered the arena. The crowd died down to almost complete silence as the audience tried to figure out who the figure was and why he had entered the competition.

This was the final stage and Link had fought his way valiantly for the sake of Castle Town and it's reputation with the different inhabitants that lived in the vast lands of Hyrule. Each race had sent out a different warrior to fight in the arena as a show of strength and as an excuse for all of them to get together and egg each other in a teasing fondness much like siblings.

Link's opponent felt different though, he was much too serious for such a lighthearted sport and his aura felt dark and dangerous. The announcer gave the countdown and the battle began.

The figure's cloak rippled about him as he raced forwards in a deadly straight path. His sword was drawn out and held expertly with an unnatural grace. Link threw his shield up to defend as the sword came crashing down on what would have been his head.

"Hey! Lighten up, there's no bloodshed!" Link yelled, rolling out of the way as his opponent swiped at him again. The dirt bit into his palm as he rolled once more to get farther away, he kicked his feet into the dirt to stir up dust and give himself more time to get away from the vicious cloaked figure. He landed lightly on his feet and danced backwards away from sword thrusts through the dust.

The man, Link could see it was indeed male, slashed forwards and Link chose this moment to dance around to his side, dropping down and swiping the feet out from underneath the man and pointing his sword at the man's neck with a foot atop his opponent's chest. "Surrender!" Link yelled harshly and there was a long moment of silence before the hooded figure dropped his sword.

The crowd exploded and cheered, growing so infectious that Link couldn't help but forget his bad mood at having been so seriously fought. He backed away and turned to the crowd, raising his arms in triumph and all of the audience cheered for him heartily, it was hard to hate a man that saved your life and the rest of the world more than once.

He turned around to help his opponent up when he felt something slice into his stomach. He felt blood trickle into his mouth and he felt his vision cloud. Golden eyes pierced him from underneath the hood of his opponent. His mind raced in confusion but soon pain laced his thoughts to strongly and he felt his grip of consciousness fading. He faintly heard Zelda scream his name before he slipped into total darkness.

Ganondorf was back.

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