AN: GO BACK A CHAPTER! I updated twice this weekend, so make sure you didn't miss the previous chapter which was uploaded yesterday! Especially for plot reasons THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!

Suggested Soundtrack: Grandma's Theme from Windwaker


Link couldn't believe it. His father was staring at him from the TV of one of Ganondorf's tapes. Why did Ganondorf have a pictovid with his dad in it? And why was Ganondorf in it? How did Ganondorf and his dad know each other?

"SHADOW! SHEEEEEEEEEIK!"

He heard a tuffle, then Sheik screaming, "Sit on your butt, dead heart man!" before the prince came careening into the living room and skidding to a halt. "What's wrong Link? You sounded like you were dying!"

Link said nothing, or rather, COULDN'T say anything. He merely pointed at the screen. Sheik looked. "Huh? . . . wait, Link, is that your dad?"

Link nodded dumbly.

Shadow finally speed-walked into the living room, ignoring Sheik's demands for him to slow down even further. "What? Did somebody—hey, Link, whatcha watching?"

Link was still staring at the screen with his mouth wide open, so Sheik filled him in. "Uh . . . Link's watching a pictovid of his dad when he was a teenager?"

Shadow gawked at the screen. "THAT'S your dad?"

Sheik gawked at Shadow. "You know him?!"

"Well yeah. Remember that tape I was telling you about? Ravio was in it, too."

Link turned his face away from the screen to gawk at Shadow. "How do you know my dad's name?"

"Oh my gosh!" Shadow grabbed his hair. "I can't believe he's your DAD!"

Sheik raised clawed fingers to the sky. "WHO IS HE?!"

"He's your DAD?"

"YES!"

"Okay, everybody CALM DOWN, you're worse than my girlfriends!"

Shadow and Link both turned on Sheik. "Hey!"

"Daddy!"

Everyone turned to the voice. Aryll stood at the end of the living room, having just walked in, and she beamed at the TV. She ran to it and started jumping up and down. "Daddy daddy! Link! Daddy!"

Finally Granny walked in. "My goodness . . . I haven't seen her this happy all day." She looked at the pictovid and smiled. "Are you all watching family videos? But Link, I thought you were working."

They all gawked at her. "Grandma," said Link, "This isn't my family video. This is Shadow's . . ."

Granny frowned. "How can that be? Ganondorf and Ravio never knew each other, did they?"

"They're both on this video," Link said.

"And on other ones," Shadow said. "He was Dad's best man at his wedding."

Link leaped out of the couch. "Are you serious?!"

"That's not all. He was like my mom's best friend or something. They hung out together ALL THE TIME."

"But what happened? How come I've never heard of Ganondorf before I moved here? Why didn't Dad tell me about him? About you?"

"Dad said they had a falling out, and . . . well, Mom died. Dad never told me about you, either . . ."

Link looked at Granny. "Grandma, did you know anything about this?"

Granny's forehead crinkled in worry. She clasped her hands harder than normal.

"Grandma?"

Granny sighed and relaxed. "I wanted to wait a few more years before telling you. You just lost your parents, I don't want—"

"What is it, Grandma?"

"I think we should go home to discuss this, dear."

"No. I . . . please tell me, Grandma."

Instinctively, Sheik and Shadow shuffled closer to Link. Aryll seemed to notice something was wrong, and she stepped closer, too.

Granny slowly walked to a big armchair and sat down. The large thing was built for Ganondorf, not Granny, and it dwarfed her tiny frame in a cute way. "Shadow, correct me if my hunch is wrong, but is your mother's name Hilda Lorule?"

". . . Yes."

"May I see a photo?"

Shadow left and returned a few minutes later with the picture, which he handed to Granny. She took a long look at it and sighed. "I thought so."

"Grandma?"

She set the picture in her lap and looked at Link. "I don't know Shadow's mother besides her name, and her photo. Your father did know her. But before I go into that, there's something I need to tell you about your own mother.

"My daughter, your mother, is your stepmother."

The world tipped over. Link grabbed the sides of the couch to steady himself. "What? Mom was . . ."

"Your stepmother, dear."

"But . . . but that means—"

"She didn't give birth to you, Link."

"But—but—but I—I look just like her!"

"Well, you're not disimilar, so it was easy for your father to keep it a secret. He didn't want you to feel . . . unloved. He didn't want you to think your real mother abandoned you. Although, now, I wonder what he was really thinking." She looked at the photo again. "He must have been in so much pain . . . When your father and your . . . your stepmother met, you were already born." A smile crossed her features. "You were such a cute little baby, and so strong. I only saw you in pictures at first. I still lived here and you lived in Outset at that time. My daughter said you took to her immediately. I think that's what got your father to get to know her. Oh, he was a mess, I knew right away from my daughter's letters. I've never seen a man so destroyed, and yet so determined to rise above it. I knew something terrible must have happened in Castle Town to make him move all the way to Outset. I was nervous, of course, he'd never held a job for longer than a few weeks . . ." She smiled again. "But your father, he proved he could change. He made my daughter so happy . . . but when they got married, they chose not to tell you that your mother was actually your stepmother. You didn't seem to mind, and she loved you, Link, like her own child, I know this. She loved you more than anything in this world, you and Aryll both."

Link had his face in his hands. "This can't be true. My mom is Lily Knight."

"No, Link, I'm sorry . . ."

He raised his head and snapped, "Then who IS she?!"

Granny waited for Link to calm down. "That I didn't know until this very night, I'm afraid." She glanced down at the photo of Shadow's mother.

"Okay," said Shadow, his ears twitching with a hunch and also too much excitement. "What does my mom have to do with all of this?"

"Well . . . there was one time Ravio opened up to me about your mother, Link. He told me her name and showed me a photo. That photo was of the same woman in this photo, the one of Shadow's mother."

An electric shock ran through everyone, except Aryll, who was gnawing on one of Ganondorf's expensive pillows looking confused. Sheik saw, and swiped the pillow away from her, saying, "BLEEEEH! Who knows what chemicals reside in Ganondorf's furniture. Animal remains, fish scales. Lead maybe. Don't eat that, Aryll."

"Bad man pillow," Aryll said.

Sheik nodded. "Yes. Very bad man pillow."

"My mom . . ." Link whispered, then looked at Shadow, "your mom . . ."

Shadow grabbed him by the shoulders. "LINK! Link, you're my twin!"

"Your what?"

"We're brothers! OH MY GOSH!" Shadow bear hugged Link, wiping tears from his eyes. "I finally have a brother!"

"I have a . . ." Link slowly returned the hug. Slowly the good news was overriding the hurtful news and Link's face began to clear. "I have a brother? But we don't even look like twins!"

"Well duh! We're fraternal. Happens all the time with in vitro!"

"In . . . vitro?" Link looked entirely lost. Suddenly his eyes sharpened. He held Shadow at arms' length. "WAIT! DOES THIS MEAN GANONDORF IS MY STEPDAD?!"

Looks of horror crossed all the teenagers' faces. Aryll had three pillows in her hands, and was beating them into the carpet while saying, "BAD MAN PILLOW! BAD MAN PILLOW! BAD! BAD!"

"Oh dear," said Granny, standing up, "I think I'd better go find that man's number and tell him to come here right now!"


Ganondorf stared at the wreck that was his living room, and the ten pairs of eyes staring expectantly, and with some horror, at him. "What . . . happened?"

Everyone pointed at the still frame of Ravio on the TV screen, even Aryll, who was simply following along. Ganondorf pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

Suddenly Link was on his feet. "You KNEW." He fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. "You KNEW I was his son, and you didn't say anything!"

Ganondorf tried to speak, but Link cut him off. "You told me to stay away from Shadow! HE'S MY BROTHER! Why would you do that?!"

Shadow's face showed hurt. "Dad . . . you did know? You knew the whole time?"

"Of course I knew!" Ganondorf snapped.

"But, then why . . ."

"Look, there is a lot more to this story than you realize—"

"You DID know his name, didn't you?" Shadow cried, "You never 'forgot' it! You lied to me! It was YOUR idea to have him be the best man at your wedding. He was your foster brother, wasn't he?! You knew this whole time and you didn't tell me!"

"Shadow, calm down, your heart—"

"NOW I'LL NEVER KNOW WHO MY DAD WAS BECAUSE HE'S DEAD!"

Ganondorf's face suddenly contorted with rage. "THAT'S HOW YOUR FATHER WANTED IT!"

Shadow backed off, breathing in sharply, but Link forged forward. "Shut up about my father! You don't know him!"

"YOUR FATHER WAS A FOOL!"

BAM! Ganondorf staggered backward, his cheek stinging. He touched it gingerly, impressed.

Link was breathing heavy, holding his aching fist. "DON'T!" Link shouted, red faced. "EVER CALL MY DAD A FOOL! MY DAD WAS NOT A FOOL!"

Granny tried to calm Link down, but stayed a few feet away. "Link, dear, please go outside . . ."

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Link shouted, so loudly his voice began to crack from strain.

Ganondorf looked to Shadow, but he only folded his arms and looked away.

Sheik held Aryll, who was frightened by Link's behavior. Usually if she punched somebody, it was LINK who stopped HER. She'd never seen him punch somebody!

"Link, dear, your father wouldn't want this!" Granny tried again.

"I DON'T CARE! YOU KNOW WHY I DON'T CARE?! BECAUSE MY DAD IS DEAD! HE'S DEAD!"

"I KNOW HE'S DEAD!" Ganondorf shouted back, but this time his face held pain, pure pain. "You think I LIKED keeping it secret? You think I WANTED my foster brother dead? How do you think it felt learning about his death from a NEWSPAPER?!"

"Ganondorf, stop setting such a bad example!" Granny scolded the man who was supposed to be the adult in the room.

Ganondorf took a deep breath. "I loved my brother," he said. "And it was precisely because I loved him that I've kept this secret so long!"

Link wasn't sure he believed or liked what he was hearing, but both he and Shadow had calmed down enough to listen.

Forcing himself to unclench his fists, Ganondorf looked away for a moment to collect himself. "I suppose I should start at the very beginning . . ."


AN: Woo-hoo! What did you think of the big reveal?