Dark Link stood close to Ahura's side. She tried to ignore the pit in her stomach from the man being so close to her. She looked over at Ganondorf as he was investigating the ruins to the forest temple. His hand brushed over the overgrowth, almost as if he was waiting for a reaction. Slowly, the man's hunched figure straightened as he stood to his full height. He looked over at the Sheikah before nodding to them. The Sheikah gave a uniform breath of relief. This area was safe and no one had been here for ages, centuries probably.

"I'll go in to make sure it's safe," Ganondorf spoke before opening the door to the temple. Vines ripped off the walls as the door split them from their roots. Ahura stepped towards him, not bothering to ask if she could follow. "You stay here until I know it's safe."

"I'm not waiting," Ahura brushed passed him. "The more we wait the worse things will get." She looked over her shoulder and sent him a soft smile. "Let's go."

Ganondorf froze and watched as she began to retreat into the depths of the temple. Very few dared to ignore his orders, but the smile she sent him made him okay with that. A pit of worry began to grow in his stomach and he quickly followed after her. He couldn't begin to accept disobedience, not when there was so much on the line.

He quickly caught up with her and placed an arm on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. Ahura turned around to look at him when he suddenly started speaking. "I demand you go back outside of this temple at once. You don't know what's in here!"

Ahura shrugged his large hand off of her shoulder and walked further into the depths of the temple. "I don't care." She stopped at a door and jiggled the handle. It was locked. She huffed some hair out of her face and turned back towards Ganondorf who followed after her. "This is more important than my life. If I can save thousands from being killed by doing this, that's fine. Even if it's just two lives, I'll do it."

"Stubborn girl!"

"It's part of my charm," she murmured before searching various pots nearby for a key. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a rather formidable spider crawled out of a jar. Her heart raced and she backed away from the jar as she tried to calm herself down.

"Maybe you should go back if a spider as small as this scares you," Ganondorf spoke before moving elsewhere in the temple, knowing that a key would not be in any of the pots.

"It was big!" Ahura protested and followed him. She shivered thinking spiders were crawling on her that very minute.

"There are far bigger."

"How big?" she asked cautiously, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Bigger than the room we're in."

Ahura suppressed a squeal and moved closer to the Gerudo King. She wasn't fond of spiders, not in the least. Perhaps it was the many eyes, or the pinchers, or the absurd amount of legs they had that freaked her out. All, it was probably all.

Ganondorf continued to walk, almost as if he had the layout of this temple memorized. Ahura watched him with curiosity, but remained silent. Instead, she shifted her attention to look for the sage. She needed his tear of light if she wanted their army to stand a chance against the Hylians.

Ganondorf paused before a door. He looked down to Ahura standing beside him. "You should go back, or at least wait out here." His hand moved towards where his sword rested. "You don't want to see what's in here."

Ahura glared up at him before grabbing the handle to the door and pushed it open. She stepped in before him and looked around. Paintings were circling the room, all contained the same forested path. Ahura spun around looking at each painting until she was standing in the center of the room, above the Triforce pattern.

"Stay vigilant," Ganondorf spoke looking at each painting. His sword was withdrawn.

Ahura looked over at him before her eyes widened, "Behind you!"

Ganondorf turned around and his sword met another. Another Ganondorf towered above him on a black horse. The original Ganondorf pushed the mounted one away before gathering magic in his left hand. It was too late. The horse was running towards a painting.

"It's my phantom," Ganondorf spoke quickly. "You need to get out of here or he will kill you. Do not argue with me."

Ahura nodded, she would be in the way. She started to run towards the door until spikes shot out from the ground. She cursed before backing away from the door. Her head turned to see the two men clashing swords. For some reason, the phantom was overpowering the original. She began to run towards the original until a wave of dark energy shot her backwards. Her back slammed against the wall. Wood splintered from the impact and a piercing sting shot through her shoulder. She slowly trailed her eyes up to Ganondorf. He was clutching his chest and withering in pain. Ahura tried to stand up, but dizziness overtook her. Her vision started to fade to black. Ganondorf gave out a roar as his form started to shift to that of a monster. Ahura blacked out.

Torn paintings were on the ground. Claw marks from a beast ripped the canvas in multiple places. The destruction of the paintings only seemed to torment and destabilize the phantom in the room. Ahura's hazed vision looked around the room. Ganondorf was kneeling in the center of the room. His clothes were torn in multiple places and his breath was ragged. His eyes moved around the room searching for his phantom. Ahura looked down at where she was sitting. Blood slowly dripped on the floor from where a splintered piece of wood pierced her shoulder. Her vision blurred and then focused once more. She looked back up, her eyes widened.

"Look out!" she screamed. The girl managed to stand and ran towards the Gerudo man.

She pleaded with herself to make it in time. The phantom readied its sword and raised it to slash down on Ganondorf. Ahura spread her arms out and stood in front of Ganondorf. Her eyes slammed shut. The phantom swung its sword. Ganondorf turned his head and his eyes widened.

"No!" he shouted.

Just before the sword struck Ahura, it burst into light. Ahura whimpered before opening her eyes. A Sage floated before her. She stepped backwards before her back hit something. She looked behind her seeing that Ganondorf had stood up. Her eyes looked back to the sage who gave her a soft smile.

"I had to test you." The Sage tilted their head and laughed lightly. "It seems you have the courage of the hero. Good. If you didn't, well, let's just say things wouldn't have ended so nicely." The Sage looked at Ganondorf with suspicion. "Don't think I haven't forgotten what you've done to one of my kind." The Sage returned their concentration to Ahura. "Still, you did act so you deserve this." A tear fell from the Sage's eye and embedded itself in Ahura's chest. "I'm sure you've already come to realize that every time Ahura goes to a temple, you gain a bit more strength. It is because of what we give her. Our grasp on the Sacred Realm weakens. Do not abuse that power, we can just as easily take it back."

Ahura nodded weakly. Noting that it was likely Ganondorf did already know that, which was why Death Mountain was pushed back to evacuate the desert. She stumbled slightly as the Sage watched her. "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do to heal your wounds. There are no monsters in this temple aside from the spiders. You will all be safe here unless the Hylians find your location. Best of luck."

The Sage disappeared into thin air. Ahura stared at the spot until she started to fall forward. In an instance, Ganondorf wrapped an arm around her to keep her from hitting the floor. He turned her to face him as he examined her body for wounds. His eyes landed on her shoulder. Quickly, he put pressure on the wound.

"We'll get you a fairy or a potion and you'll be alright," he spoke softly before lifting her off of the ground. Ahura weakly nodded, the blood loss causing her to remain dizzy.

"Are you okay?" Ahura whispered as she closed her eyes.

Ganondorf chuckled lightly. "It takes more than a Sage to kill me. Even if they did kill me, I would have come back."

"Still, it looked like you got hurt before you transformed."

Ahura could feel Ganondorf's heart skip a beat. His breathing stopped for a moment. He swallowed what saliva he had before his heart began to beat faster and his breathing became uneven. "You saw that?" Ahura nodded in confirmation. Ganondorf didn't know how to respond. When people saw his other beastly form, they tended to run away out of fear or sneer in disgust. He looked down to try and gage any reaction she would give. His pace quickened seeing she had fallen unconscious.

The light that shined through the trees soon met his eyes. Sheikah and some Zoras looked up at him before scrambling for supplies. It was a young Sheikah with blond hair that arrived first. He took out a bottle from one of his leather bags and removed the top. A fairy flew out and circled both the Gerudo and Hylian.

"That should do it. She should wake up in a couple of hours or so," the Sheikah spoke before turning around to walk away.

"I've met someone that looks like you in the past," Ganondorf said with disdain. "It was a very good disguise at the time. Good enough to where I didn't know it was one for years."

The Sheikah turned around with a glare before walking away from the Gerudo.

"Why are you even bothering to take care of that girl?" Dark walked into a side room of the Forest Temple. "Her usefulness can only last so long. After that…" He trailed off and a sinister smirk formed on his face. He made an air motion of slitting her throat. "I just ask that you make her death as painful as possible."

Ganondorf glared at the man. "I am not going to kill her. If you hurt her I will kill you."

Dark narrowed his eyes before hissing, "Just remember I have been loyal to you far longer than she has." He stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Ahura groaned slightly after the sound of the door and slowly opened her eyes. Ganondorf turned to her and helped her sit up. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore, but alright," Ahura responded and looked around before deducing they were in the Forest Temple. "And you?"

"Fine," Ganondorf responded quickly before standing. "I'll let you be." He stood to leave before a hand on his cape stopped him.

"What's wrong?" Ahura looked up at him with worry.

"Are you afraid of me?" Ganondorf couldn't meet her gaze and looked towards the door. "After seeing what I turn into, are you afraid of me?"

"No." Ahura shook her head. She smiled slightly before speaking, "I was afraid of you when I first met you, but not anymore. Besides, I made a promise to break your curse, didn't I?"

Ganondorf sighed. He wasn't sure if it was a sigh of relief or from annoyance for her innocent optimism. His curse wouldn't be broken so easily, if it was even possible to break it. Slowly, he turned back around towards her and sat in front of her. His golden eyes met her blue ones. For several minutes, they sat there staring at each other in a comfortable silence. Before she could react, Ganondorf pulled her forward into an embrace.

"I'm glad you're okay," he spoke, slightly muffled by her hair.

"Me too," Ahura responded and winced slightly. "Still tender in the shoulder, though."

Quickly, Ganondorf pulled away and muttered an apology. He met her gaze with an embarrassed look before the two burst out into laughter.

Maybe, just maybe, his curse was starting to break.

-A/N—

Guess who graduated from college with honors~ This girl did~ I now have a BS in Biology~