Chapter 1
Ganondorf laughed as he swung his dark blade down, crashing into Link's shield, shattering the already damaged shield into mere kindling. The black steel of the blade bit into Link's arm, tearing into his flesh as if it were a hot knife going through butter rather than muscles, tendon and bone. Link bit back a cry of pain as rivulets of hot blood poured from his wound like the rushing Zora river. Link hopped back, avoiding yet another slash from the Demon King's ugly blade. The Hero of Time feinted left and slashed to Ganondorf's side, hoping to cut through the man and end the duel but to no avail. The Gerudo caught Link's blade, the Master Sword, with his own and struck Link in the face with his gauntleted fist.
Link's nose broke with a crunch, blood gushing down his face as he stumbled. Ganondorf laughed once more. The King of thieves stabbed, aiming for Link's chest, but the hero slapped his blade away and slashed at Ganondorf's face. The man stumbled back with a roar of pain, clutching at his now ruined eye. Link moved in for the finishing blow and swung his blade downwards. Clink. Time seemed to halt to a stop as the Dark Lord caught the blade of evil's bane in his gauntleted hand. Ganon's dark blade thrusted into Link's stomach, ripping through his Kokiri tunic and chainmail.
Zelda screamed in horror and Ganondorf laughed as Link collapsed to his knees, blood pooling on the floor below him. "For a boy, you were skilled. But not skilled enough to kill a God." Ganondorf boomed, his eyes glowing crimson with malice as he summoned a sphere of crackling dark magic in his open palm.
"Zelda…I'm sorry." Link muttered, guilt and self pity washing through him like a tidal wave, hurting him more than any of Ganon's sword strikes. The Hero of Time, who was foretold to bring back the light to Hyrule and save it from the Dark Lord's tyranny, had failed.
"I am not a cruel God, hero. Give me the Triforce of Courage, and I shall give you a clean death, if you refuse you shall die screaming. Either way, I will have what is mine!" Ganondorf said, a cruel smirk on his face. Link was dying, he knew, there would be no winning this fight, the sword in his gut told him that much.
Link summoned all the courage and strength left in him and spoke. "Never. I will never bow to the likes of you!" Ganondorf's smirk turned into a grin as he laughed once more.
"Then you shall die terribly, Hero!" The ball of darkness flew from the Evil King's palm and slammed into Link's chest. The Hero of Time screamed and saw no more.
The red and gold banner of house Lannister rippled in the breeze coming from the Sunset Sea as Link glared at it from the peak of Casterly Rock. It was said that the Rock was taller than both the Hightower at Oldtown and the Wall in the North. "Why can't I come with you Uncle?" Link asked the man standing next to him petulantly.
"Because your Lord Father said so, Link, and I agree with Tywin for once. Old Valyria is a dangerous place for one so young." His uncle Gerion said gently, as he placed his broad hand on Link's shoulder.
"I can look after myself! Ser Broom says I'm a prodigy with the blade like Jaime and I'm half horse with how well I can control Epona." Link shouted angrily. He excelled with the blade due to the experience he had in his past life. Sometimes Casterly Rock's Master-at-arms, Ser Benedict Broom, would joke that he came into the world with a sword in his hand, but he would never say such a thing in front of his father. Lord Tywin Lannister never tolerated any talk about his beloved Joanna Lannister, whom Link had killed coming into the world. It seemed that in both lives, Link would never know his mother.
Gerion dropped to one knee in front of Link, and caught his chin, forcing him to look Gerion in the eyes. "I swear to be back before your one and tenth nameday, you never know, I might find some Valyrian Steel arrows for you." Gerion said with a wink before sobering and turning serious. "You look tired, are the dreams bothering you again?" Gerion asked.
"The dreams always bother me Uncle." Link said shortly. It was true, he would always dream of his past life, most of them dreams would be nightmares. The worst of them would always be of the night he died, sometimes it would differ, his memory of that night was foggy. Gerion and his older brother Tyrion always tried to comfort Link and distract him from them. Tyrion with tales of his other brother Jaime and Gerion would teach him to juggle or some mummer's trick. The last time Link had met his brother and sister, he was just a baby, it was said that King Robert didn't like visiting the Westerlands and that was why they never visited. Other, darker rumours said that his sister didn't wish to visit him because he killed their mother. Gerion called them a load of rubbish, but Tyrion would never say.
"Well do try and get more sleep, Link. Maybe even try some milk of the poppy." Gerion smiled with sympathy, Link hated milk of the poppy. "Now come, it's time for dinner, I hear the cooks are cooking something from the Reach tonight!" Gerion said with a grin before tickling a laugh out of Link as well. Gerion never failed to make him feel better. They descended from the peak in companionable silence. It was said that the Rock was impregnable, in its long, storied history Casterly Rock had never fallen to a besieging force. Even after thousands of years of being mined, the Rock was still rich with gold veins, this made House Lannister the wealthiest house in Westeros. One of the many things he and his father clashed on was their opinions on the Rock's wealth and the smallfolk. Link believed that the smallfolk should be generally treated better and that their gold should be shared not hoarded. Lord Tywin on the other hand, disagreed, he viewed the smallfolk as mindless sheep to be used and controlled.
Once they arrived in the great hall, the sun had long since set. Like all the other rooms and halls in Casterly Rock, the great hall had been carved into the mountain itself. A great ironwood table had been set out, imported from the North due to the quality and strength of the wood, at the head of the table his father sat on a solid gold throne, its armrests moulded in the likeness of a roaring lion, his family sigil. The Lannisters were a huge family, with many side branches and cadet families, but most of the main branch were in attendance that night. To his father's right sat his uncle Kevan. Kevan was a tall, broad but portly man with green eyes and a strong jaw. To his right his wife and three children sat, the eldest, Lancel, being of an age with him. Across from them, his aunt Genna sat. In her youth, it was said that his aunt was a beautiful woman, but with age she had gotten fat. His aunt was an intelligent woman who loved to dote on him, she was the closest person he had to a mother. Her four children sat next to her, the youngest being a few years younger than him. Her husband Emmon Frey was sat at the end next to his brother, Tyrion. A slight from father no doubt. Tyrion and his father's relationship was complicated to say the least. Tywin viewed Tyrion as a stain on their family's legacy and hated how much he whored and drank.
He was to sit to his father's left, next to him sat his cousin Tyrek who was of an age with him. Tyrek was son to his father's younger brother, Tygett who died of the pox. Tyrek was a quiet boy, who had never quite understood Link or why he defied his father so much. Link smiled at him as he sat and Tyrek hesitantly smiled back. Gerion and his bastard daughter Joy Hill sat next to Tyrek.
Dinner was always a quiet affair, with little chatter and less laughter. His father hated laughter, some said that it reminded him of how weak his own father, Tytos, had been and how he loved to laugh. A thick soup of barley and venison was served first, after that came fresh trout baked in clay. Once the main courses had finished sweetbreads and baked apples with cinnamon were brought out for them to eat. All the while, his father had not said a word to him, only talking occasionally with Kevan about some report or the other.
The only person to go against the unspoken rule of not being lively was Gerion, who made sweet little Joy laugh so much her thick venison soup came pouring from her nose. Link and Tyrek laughed along with them, until Tywin looked over with his cold emerald gaze, snuffing out all the joy and merriment like a flower wilting in a Northern winter. Link moodily turned back to his lemoncakes after that but couldn't eat anymore, finding his appetite ruined by his father's actions. It was said that his father's joy died when his mother did. It's fitting that my death in Hyrule of the people's hope and my birth in Westeros caused the death of my father's joy.
As he dismissed himself and walked the long walk to his chambers, he realised that there was one positive to his terrible dreams. They reminded him of the cost of failure. I will not fail again.
Hello everyone! I am Linkpotter98, and this is my first story, the Song of Link Lannister. For new readers this is a story about what if the hero of time was born as a Lannister, and how he would react and change the events in the books. This Westeros is based on the books only. For regular readers I have rewritten this first chapter because I wasn't pleased with it. This is my first fanfiction after all, there is always room for improvement.
Thanks for reading and please review, I am always open to constructive criticism!