A/N: Hi Everyone! WOW! Three updates this week! I'm currently working to catch up with the story so the next update won't be for a couple weeks but I'm finally back on it! Also, I'm having some spacing issues. So if there's a sudden time gap or the characters are different it's because I am figuring out a new format. Bare with me and thanks for reading! I love sharing this story with you guys! Also, look for the prequel "Origins: A Tale Of Two" which I'll be uploading a chapter or two of soon. Enjoy!

Chapter 13

Ganondorf walked the empty halls of the temple, his mind uneasy with the upcoming arrival. He had his fears that he had not expressed with Nabooru. Nabooru had been paying careful attention to him and the people he interacted with as the days to the arrival approached. It had been centuries since a Hylian had been invited to the desert. He needed guidance.

But that was not why he came here. He hated them and he hated coming to their home.

"You are quite a stupid king, aren't you?" A voice crackled from above. He scowled as he watched Kotake stared at him from her broom.

"Playing games? Wasting time? Have you not listened to anything we taught you?!" Koume screeched as she flew beside her sister. Ganondorf rolled his eyes, displeased with their genuine unpleasantness.

"I have come here to ask a favor." He demanded as he strived to make out their faces. The witches lowered themselves, their disgusting, gnarly toothed grins made his skin boil. It reminded him of when he was a child, when the witches would see him off to bed. It reminded him of an animal about to strike its prey. And to them, he was just that. He knew he wasn't their master, they served a higher king, an invisible demon with the power of the gods. A helpless being he was becoming more and more acquainted with.

"What is it, young master?" Kotake coughed sarcastically sweet. He frowned, there was something odd about them. Ever since he was a child he was accustomed to their dark, cruel ways but now their recent kindness upset him.

"I need to create an army. I need some sort of mechanism…" He explained. The sisters looked at each other, thoroughly confused.

"What for?"

"They are a repercussion, a plan if I can not turn the peoples head. A tool in obtaining Hyrule if the king continues to refuse peace. Most importantly, they will force anyone who disapproves of the decision of war. I learned my lesson the last war of what people do when they are frightened."

"You haven't obtained peace with the king! If you are ever going to enter-"

"The sacred realm is a fairy tale! There is no triforce! There is no prophecy! Just the devil himself you force me to reside with!" He barked. Koume threw her wand at his face, striking him in the cheek.

"How dare you! How dare you disrespect our master! You are his precious vessel and without you, the world cannot become whole again! His reign will bring endless good to followers! And you, his chosen vessel, dare reject his ways?!" She howled, raising her arm for a second strike.

"Stop! Demise will be most displeased with us!" Kotake warned, looking at the blood the slid down his cheek. She was almost mesmerized by it. "He's still mortal."

Ganondorf looked up, the witch's eyes fixed on him in astonishment. He wanted to kill them. He wanted to make them pay for what they had done to him as a child. He wanted them to beg for mercy, but he had to bide his time. He needed them, they had made him a reliant son, incapable of achieving anything independent from them.

"Of course I'm mortal… it's your savior-"

"No, Ganondorf. You will become immortal, and soon. You are going to become something much greater… your body will be his. You will do his work, you will sit silently in his mind, watching him unfold himself until he decides what to do with you. It's your destiny." The fire witch's eyes looked beyond him, as if she had received a vision, but it had been many a year since she had. The only thing she could see was her master in a desolate empty space, a world beyond reach, the gate between birth and death, the human soul.

"So I will be his puppet? A toy of destruction in ruin? A plaything of the gods?" His voice was low and quiet, with a somber tone.

"You will be his greatest ally. Is your army his ally too?" Their eyes narrowed as they looked for him to falter. It was all he had in him to reply.

"Yes…"

The witches nodded before flying above head, laughing as they did. The fire witch flew away but the ice witch remained.

"Has he ever whispered to you Ganondorf?" She asked, her curiosity something he did not want to indulge.

"Yes."

"Have you tried to repress it?"

"No."

"Has anything ever been able to silence his words?" Kotake sounded almost terrified as she asked, as if she was afraid the answer would be yes.

Ganondorf's mouth felt dry. He suddenly remembered that night almost a year ago. The girl. The voice in his head. The silence. He knew better to say anything though. She had silenced the devil himself and he hadn't thought of it that way until now.

"No." He replied sharply, though his mind stayed on the outline of the memory. Kotake nodded, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Good voe. Demise will reward you greatly."

And with that, she vanished.

oOo

"Leaving so soon?" The queen of Hyrule asked softly from her bed. The king stared out the window, watching the young princess play in the courtyard.

"I'm...afraid so." He replied calmly, pulling his hands behind his back. Her dried lips curved into a weak smile.

"You're nervous. You... are afraid of something. Come, sit. Tell me your troubles." She invited, struggling to shift herself in the bedding. The king sighed as he sat in the char beside the bedside.

"It is mostly trivial things. I do not need you to worry yourself into illness." He replied as he helped her adjust. She laughed hoarsely, her pale skin transparent in the light.

"No, my time in coming. I can't be much worse. Now tell me before I die of anticipation."

The king's eyes wandered her weary face, angry that she had mentioned her death.

"Do not tease me in that way! You know you are in no condition to talk that way!" He snapped. Her smile faded, the skin on her lips cracking, bleeding ever so slightly.

"I only...want answers." She coughed. The king clenched his hands.

"I am worried about the trip itself. Ganondorf wants peace. I see no need. The people are happy to be separated! We survive in our own ways! He does not need us! He lost the war, we won, now he must see the consequences of such! I am teaching him a lesson better than any scholar could!" He grumbled bitterly, his eyes trying to hide his growing frustration. The queen coughed then sighed.

"But you weren't happy to be... separated at one time. You invited her in...with open arms." Her speech was becoming slurred and slow, her tired body trying to do its best.

"That is not what a meant." He spat back peevishly. "Not only do I have to reside there but he requires that I live in the same manner they live! What sort of fiendish host must I stay with?"

The queen let out a short gasp, the pain returning to her body.

"A clever one." She murmured miserably. He cocked a brow.

"Oh?"

The sunlight danced across her bed, making her sickly body look like a ghost in the light.

"He grew up with women...all around him...we get what we want, we know how." She replied with a quiet giggle. The king smiled gently, brushing the hair from her face.

"That you do, that you do." He agreed halfheartedly. She closed her eyes, the room was too bright for her weakening eyes.

"You should take a woman with you…"

"What in Hylia's name for?" He scoffed. The queen squinted to make out his scrunched up, condemning face.

"If you want to outsmart a man...who knows the tactics a woman uses...you should have one there to call him out… it's a childs war between you two… it's going to be my dying wish you end this…" She replied before leaning back into the cushions. He heaved a heavy sigh before kissing her forehead.

"I will bring a woman only because you request so." With that statement, he drew the curtains and left the room. He wanted to say his goodbyes before they left tomorrow at dawn but figured at his return he would make up for it. What he did not know was that the queen would die before he returned. That is a moment that he would never expect, his final breaking point…

He closed the door tightly behind him, the captain of the guard strolled along the hall, patrolling the area.

"Captain."

"Yes,sire?"

"Do you have a daughter?"

"Yes, sire."

The king nodded.

"She will join us to the desert."

The captain wanted to protest, explain why his daughter wasn't fit, how her marriage was approaching, her childish obsession with the Gerudo, but he couldn't. He could not risk Gardel's rising position nor losing his.

oOo

"Children! Come!"

Grace frowned as she slowly walked into the room. Her father and brother had never confronted her about her gloominess these past few weeks. They didn't care to. There was too much to prepare for with the wedding approaching. She faked happiness when the chancellor came and continued her lovers facade for her family's sake but she wasn't contented. Gadrel was to be made a knight as well and she couldn't make her father's pride come falling down.

"Father." Gadrel nodded as he sat at the table. Grace stood behind him, watching her father's eyes glow with thought. He didn't say anything for a very long time, the silence frightening his children.

"The king," he began, "has requested I join him on a journey."

Grace smiled wildly, the first genuine happiness she had shown.
"Papa, that's wonderful!"

The old man laughed weakly, his forehead wrinkled in thought.

"A journey to the desert. I will be there as his private guard as he stays with the Gerudo for...political reasons." He explained gently. Gadrel huffed. He loathed the Gerudo more than anyone Grace had known.

"Living with those scum? For how long?" He mumbled coldly. The man lifted his head and scratched his beard, trying to remember the exact dates without success.

"About three months...I think." He replied gently.

Grace's eyes sparkled with bewilderment. She wanted to go. She wanted to confront Ganondorf with thoughts and accusations, she wanted to know what was right and wrong, she wanted her questions answered, and she wanted to give her final letter to him. She wanted him to know the happiness and the heartache he had caused her. Most importantly, she wanted to see him.

"The king requested I bring one of you."

Grace looked at Gadrel who snickered. There was no when in the underworld he would be caught dead in that excuse of a country.

"So you are bringing Grace?" He asked with a sneer. Grace looked at her father anxiously. The old man shook his head.

"I am afraid the king required it so. I'm just afraid that your childish fantasies about the Gerudo will heighten again."

"Father! Listen to yourself! If anything the harsh reality of the desert will mature her, make her finally realize why we had been in the right all those years!" Gadrel urged. Grace bit her lip. She wouldn't have to say anything, she could see it plainly in her father's face she was leaving. The old man heaved a tired sigh.

"Pack your things. We leave tomorrow at dawn."

oOo

The blonde haired boy sat straight up in his bed. Tears began to fall from his eyes as he thought back on his dream, his heart still racing. Why did the man keep coming back? Who was he? Why did he kill him? Who was the little girl? Why was there blood in the air? So many questions danced through his head. He had never seen a world so dark before. Was that what laid beyond the Kokiri borders? He would never leave if that's what he would see.

"Another nightmare?" A voice asked gently. He turned to see his friend, Saria, smiling down at him. He nodded slowly, letting out muffled gasps as he wiped away his tears.

"I heard you scream. I came as fast as I could. You scare me when you scream in your sleep…"

It was true. She had sprung from bed frequently recently due to his night terrors. Each time she had either found him asleep or in a panic in his bed. They were becoming almost routine.

"Aw! Shut up loser! We're tryin'na sleep!" A voice called from outside. Mido, it had to have been, the natural prankster and troublemaker.

Saria ignored him and turned her attention back to the boy with a grin.

"Should I tell the Deku Tree? Maybe he knows what this is all about." She suggested, but he shook his head. He didn't want the Deku Tree to know. He wanted to become brave. She leaned forward, her green hair tickling his face as she gave him a hug.

"Link?"

He looked up at her, his eyes red from crying.

"Do you want me to stay for the night? Maybe you won't have bad dreams if I do."

He nodded slowly.

"Thanks, Saria…" He whispered. Saria smiled. He didn't talk much, but she didn't mind. She could understand why he was so quiet. Mido and his gang were always on him. He was a Hylian and that meant he was different. Beyond that, they did not know what a Hylian was other than the mysterious woman who had came here with Link several years prior. Saria saw Link as a little brother and cared for him deeply. The Deku Tree said they had destinies. She didn't understand what that meant either, but she was sure it was important. She yawned, curling up on the floor beside his bed.

"Goodnight Link."