A/N: I forgot I wrote this. In fact, it's so different from my other stuff that it's hard to believe I even wrote it to begin with. It was a prompt for ganlink week, but you don't see the ganlink from the start. You have to work for it.
The boy never asked for his status as the hero; all he wanted to do was rescue his sister. He didn't understand why he had to hunt down three magic pearls, or why he had to climb the giant tower, or why he had to ring that bell. He didn't understand how a single night spent with a close friend hundreds of years ago led to him carrying the blood of the hero. He didn't understand why he had to pull a dulled blade from the bottom of the sea floor and use it to search for drowned relics. But there was one thing he did understand- the look of weariness on his enemy's face.
Link was not the only one with a burden. No, Ganondorf, king of the Gerudo had the biggest burden of them all. His quest for power had cost his people their lives, and the harsh wind that blew over the Valley had become a torrential downpour that washed away any hope for recovery. His last hope was completing his original plan- if he couldn't wish his sisters back, he would join them by dying in battle.
Ten years, countless nautical miles, and Link still could not forget the look on the desert king's face as he drove the Master Sword into his skull. Acceptance. Relief. Regret.
Link squirmed in bed, enough to wake Tetra beside him. "Nightmares again?" A shaky nod later and Tetra was up, fetching him a glass of water. "You know, you've never told me what haunts you. I don't mind being your human teddy bear, you're a nice heating pad. But if you want me to help you heal, I need to know. You can share your burden with me..."
Tetra was a good companion. When they realized how deeply their feelings for each other ran, they consummated the relationship, but it didn't really do anything for either of them. A few years later they tried again and Tetra even got pregnant, giving birth to son Noah, but sex wasn't necessary for their relationship. Their love was more like how Link felt for Aryll and Tetra for her gang. But deep down Tetra knew Link was never going to stay put. Something called to him, probably the same thing responsible for his nightmares.
"Noah and I both want the best for you, Link. Tell me what the problem is and I will do whatever I can to help you. Us, the gang, we are all family, and families take care of each other. If you need to go, go, don't hold yourself back."
Link buried his face in Tetra's lap. "...I still see it. He was full of loneliness and regret. I remember the same look on my father's face, when he stared at the shield on the wall. Do... do you think we can remember our past selves? Was that why my father was dejected?"
"My mother used to tell me stories about the hero in green. She said that there were three key players in the Goddesses' design- power, wisdom, and courage. Power was corrupt, always returning to wreak havoc via the same vessel. Wisdom was given the memories of all those who came before, cursed with foresight. And courage was left innocent and oblivious, until landing the final blow. Then the memories came." Tetra smoothed Link's messy bangs. "The three of us no longer have divine gifts, but there are traces in our blood. Your father probably saw what happened before the Great Flood."
Sighing, Link rose from bed and walked over to Noah's bed. The two year old slept on, oblivious to his parents' conversation. Tetra came up beside Link and laid her head on his shoulder. "I get memories sometimes too; of a princess forced into adulthood behind the cover of a bandaged cowl, of a girl thrown from the sky and chased by a silver demon, things like that. But never once have I thought of him, so maybe that's a sign. A sign that you and he have some kind of bond. An unfulfilled promise."
"...I have to go back there, Tetra. I have to free him from his burden. I have to apologize for letting others boss me around, for what I did to him. I was a ten year old boy with a sword following orders I didn't understand. I killed him for no reason!"
"You did what obligation told you to, don't blame yourself."
"I do blame myself. Ganondorf was just trying to save his sisters. I was just trying to save my sister..."
Tetra pecked Link's cheek before sitting back on the bed. "Which you did. Come on, let's go back to sleep. I have an idea for tomorrow, remember that strange settlement northwest of Mother and Child Isles? The one with all the sand? I think the key to Ganondorf's extrication is there. Let's go find a desert wind that isn't harsh."
Link nodded, then scooped up little Noah and laid him in the bed beside his mother. As soon as Link laid down Noah snuggled into him, causing the hero to smile. He loved his family, but Tetra was right. He felt an inexplicable need to right his wrongs with Ganondorf. But why?
As he drifted off to sleep, he saw a dream so vivid it could have been a vision from a past life.
Two little boys, redhead and blond, ran around a thick, hollow tree.
"Hurry up, shrimp! Grampa Groose said we have to be home before sundown and it's already starting to set! If we're not back he'll find out we were playing with the Groosenator and if we get in trouble I'm blaming it on YOU!"
"Huff, puff... but, but that's not fair, you're the one who set it off, I was just sitting on it..."
"Mama's not gonna give me any dinner if she finds out I did it! Hurry up, Tiddly Wink!"
The blond boy ran up to the redhead with tears brimming, and shoved him into a nearby spring. Once the redhead recovered he started raising his fist, but stopped at seeing the tears. "Oh, buddy, I'm sorry, I won't call you names again. Let's just go home, okay? Maybe Grampa will tell us about how he went back in time with your grampa and helped save everyone!"
The blond took the redhead's hand, and the pair resumed their run through the forest. Something heavy on his mind, the blond stopped. "Are you really moving away?" he asked, and the redhead sadly nodded.
"Yeah, we're going toward the desert. Mama wants to do some exploring."
"I'll miss you..."
"Me too, buddy. Me too..."