This is my first Legend of Zelda FanFiction, much less my first MaLink fanfiction. I'm in favor of the ZeLink pairing through and through, but the concept for this story was too good to pass up. It's mostly finished, so I'll be posting a few chapters at a time.

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Prologue
Dreams Foretell

Zelda woke screaming. It took her a moment to realize where she was, finally calming down. The guards who protect the entrance of her chamber had already crashed through the solid oak doors, worried looks on their faces.
"Princess! What is it?"
She waited a moment before replying. "A dream, that's all... if you'll excuse me, I have to... to get my rest." Bowing respectfully, the guards filed out of the room. As soon as the latch clicked, Zelda was on her feet, standing at her bedside table, quill in hand, scribbling on a piece of parchment. She was hurriedly writing down everything she could remember about her dream before it was lost, forgotten.

She walked from her castle to Hyrule Field... there, she saw the kingdom as it is now. Peaceful. Serene. She blinked. Hyrule Castle Town, the field, everything changed. It looked like the world she and Link prevented from ever arriving, the world that now existed only in memory and darkest nightmare. Ganon's world. Striding from the shadow was a figure clad in darkest purple. She perceived him as a good friend, a close ally, but he was troubled. Could Ganon be returning? Light flashed cold rays across the sky. The image split. In one, she saw herself standing beside the stranger on the hilltop, overlooking the verdant, peaceful paradise that Hyrule was today. The other image was dark, dismal, terrifyingly so. The Princess saw something that made her heart stop. Lying in a pool of blood was Link, the one who had stemmed evil's tide once already! Beside him was Malon, her longtime friend and companion. The strange figure lay behind them. Not a one of them was moving. Dead? Maybe... The final sight she had seen before waking in a cold sweat was Ganondorf, holding a dark blade aloft, victory stamped on his harsh features as he released a spell to end her life.

"Omens abound in this dream," she said to herself. "I need to contact Link and the sages... Maybe they'll have a better idea of what's going on. I'll have to get in touch with Malon too, since she's obviously involved. It'll be great to see her again..." She sighed, getting back into bed, though she doubted she'd get much sleep. "It's terrible I have to spend so much time away from my friends."

Link slept fitfully at Lon-Lon ranch. The milk sales had been good, and the farmers had managed to expand their home and add a guest-room. Malon had asked him to spend the night, and he had accepted gratefully. It was a long ride back to his house through the rain, even with Epona. His dreams were dark and disturbing, with visions of destruction and death all around. Finally, at dawn, his nightmares reached a crescendo: He saw a man clad in purple, himself, and even Malon fall battling Ganondorf. The Gerudo was about to finish off Zelda when-

"Link! Time for breakfast!" Malon opened the door of the guest room, a cheery smile on her face. Link sat up and pulled on his tunic, shaken by the dream. "Be there in a minute," he managed to call back, managing a smile.

He told himself that it was just a dream, that it could never happen. Ganondorf was sealed behind the barrier of the Sages, trapped in the Evil Realm, so securely bound that he doubted escape was even remotely possible within the next thousand years or so. But he couldn't shake a feeling of foreboding... the dream was much too real for it to be just a figment of a sleeping mind. It was too similar to that night, eight years ago, when his life changed forever. He resolved to ride to the castle the day after next, and see Zelda about it.