Dark Omen

As I grew older, the tension between Link and I thickened intensely, especially as I approached my thirteenth year. I was quickly becoming a raging adolescent, and this didn't go over too well with him. We began to pick fights with each other over every trivial thing that came to mind. I would often purposely provoke him by violating every possible rule I could, and whenever he would try to discipline me, I would talk back disrespectfully, sometimes causing enormous shouting matches that would result in me slamming the door in his face.

Yes, I admit now, I was quite the spoiled little smart-ass back then. But it was difficult to stop myself once I started, and my resentment for him grew so strong that I no longer cared what the consequences were. Well, at least until he took the Kokiri sword away from me and only allowed me to wield it during sword lessons, which were now given to me by one of the Hylian soldiers because Link claimed he was too busy with affairs of the kingdom nowadays.

My mother hadn't spent much time with me for a while either, but she had a much more justifiable reason. She had an entire kingdom to rule, and in my opinion, Link wasn't much of a help in that area. Anyway, I often found myself feeling terribly alone, and I always longed for some company.

I gradually got used to the fact that my mother was going to have a baby. Not just any baby, I would think bitterly. Link's baby. It had been around nine months since we discovered that my mother was with child, and her belly was swelled quite a bit by now. Everyone expected that she would go into labor any day now, and I wasn't looking forward to it.

And then came the day when my little sister was born. The procedure went as well as it could have, with Impa being the midwife, of course. There seemed no end to Impa's abilities.

They named her Leora because it was the ancient Sheikah word for "light." Leora was to be the light of their lives; the light of Hyrule. When I was allowed to see the baby girl for the first time, I grimaced. She was beautiful, with wide, bright blue eyes that sparkled like diamonds. They were even more blue than my own.

She was perfect; she was everything Link and my mother wanted for a child. And she was everything Hyrule wanted for its princess. Soon the unavoidable feeling of intense jealousy devoured me, and I began to hate my little sister before I ever knew her.

Mother hired a full-time caretaker for Leora, for she certainly could not take care of her while she had so many royal duties to attend to every day. I was temporarily satisfied with this; I could see my mother without having to encounter the little brat.

I remember one particular morning, Mother and I were in the library. Link was away for a few days, making negotiations with the Zoras. Weary of the diplomacy book I had been studying, I glanced out the window at the dark, foreboding clouds rolling in from the distance. Mother was sitting at a desk, humming to herself softly as she read and signed various documents. A knock on the door interrupted her song.

"Come in," Mother called idly. A soldier entered cautiously, appearing very nervous as he glanced around the room.

"Uh, Your highness," the soldier addressed her, bowing respectively. "I think you had better come quickly."

Mother paused in her work, looking up. "What is it? Is something wrong?" she asked concernedly.

"This way, Your highness," he said, rushing out of the room and gesturing for Mother to follow.

"Stay here," she ordered me, quickly running after the soldier. Needless to say, I was right at her heels regardless of her orders, much too curious to stay in the library.

The soldier led us out of the North tower and deep into the remaining rubble of the South tower, eventually stopping where a large group of workers stood in a clump.

"What is all this? What's going on?" Mother asked restlessly. The workers turned to face her and quickly bowed.

"We've found something, Your highness," one of the workers spoke up. He gestured toward the mounds of rubble behind him.

Mother walked slowly around the workers, searching the ground with her eyes. I followed her, and what I saw utterly stunned us both.

The sinister face of a man stared up at us from the rubble. His skin was olive green, and his long, sharply-pointed nose protruded from his face. The smug look on his face sent shivers down my spine. His blazing red hair was wildly curly, making his head look seem as if it were aflame, and he wore dark, intricately designed metal armor. I looked around the ground, realizing that it was a giant portrait of an oddly proverbial man that I knew I had never seen before, yet he looked strangely familiar to me.

I stared at his fiery red hair and grayish-green skin, observing the resemblances between him and me. And then it finally hit me.

It was Ganondorf. It was my father.

Before the shock could even register within me, I felt Mother's hand grab on to my shoulder for support. Looking up, I saw her shocked face as she stared at the enormous painting. Her fingers dug into my skin.

"It's so strange," I heard from behind me. The soldiers were talking amongst themselves. "How could something so large remain intact when the castle was destroyed?"

"What should we do, Your highness?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Burn it," she replied, still staring shakily at the dust-covered painting. She turned to the soldier. "And send for the Hero of Time."

Link arrived early that evening. I silently fumed as I watched him quietly comfort my mother. What about me?! I thought angrily. I had just seen the image of my father, staring me in the face and frightening me beyond belief, and yet no one was there to comfort me in my time of need.

"Your highness? Sir Link?" A soldier had appeared at the doorway, appearing rather shaken.

"Yes? What is it?" Link asked, still holding on to my mother.

The soldier hesitated before replying, "It's the portrait we found earlier of... you-know-who. It... it will not burn."

Link stepped forward, his brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean it won't burn?" he asked.

The soldier's eyes widened slightly and he shifted his weight nervously. "Uh... it seems to be indestructible, sir. We've tried everything to destroy it, but it remains intact. I'm afraid the problem is quite a mystery."

Link just stared in confusion and the room became completely silent. My heartbeat quickened as I tried to comprehend what was going on.

My mother whimpered softly behind Link, and he quickly turned to comfort her. I chose that moment to leave the two alone and headed for the courtyard, where I sat on the stone steps and cradled my head in my hands. I felt so lonely at that moment; my mind was clouded with a feeling of gloom.

Suddenly, I felt a strong urge to leave the protective walls of the castle and be out amongst ordinary people for a change. I hesitated as I thought of what had happened the last time I had gone down there alone, but then decided that I was older now, and wiser. Plus, I now had my sword to defend myself with, not to mention my newly attained skills from my sword fighting lessons.

Glancing around at the guards patrolling the area, I realized that there was no way I would be able to leave the castle without an escort. And the last thing I wanted to do was parade around town flanked by a couple of uptight, bad-tempered castle guards.

But before I could give up on the idea and fall back into depression, I suddenly recalled that as a child, Link had been forced to sneak inside the castle to see my mother. If I remembered right, he said he had discovered a tiny duct through which water from inside the castle flowed out into the moat. He had crawled through to find himself inside the castle gardens! Grinning to myself, I leapt up and ran through the castle gardens, toward the fountain at the edge of the wall. Good ol' Link, I thought to myself, temporarily forgetting my strong dislike for the man.

Happily noting that no guards could see me over here, I stepped into the water and searched the wall. Sure enough, the water escaped through a tiny passageway near the bottom. Bending down, I found that I could just barely fit through it…

…only to discover, much to my dismay, that the tunnel was completely blocked by a filter. Damn, I thought angrily. They must have put that in there when they were rebuilding this part of the castle. I had a creeping suspicion that Link was responsible for that idea.

However, after examining the filter, I realized it was made of wood. Cheapskates, I laughed to myself. I took a short trip to the kitchen and stole a knife; luckily lunchtime was over and the servants had yet to begin preparing dinner. I snuck back to the passageway in the fountain and began whittling away at the edges of the filter. It took about a half hour and quite a bit of elbow grease, but eventually I was able to break through.

When I reached the end of the tunnel, I discovered the water led to the castle moat, and I was forced to jump in. I swam around to the front of the castle and pulled myself out of the moat, being careful to avoid the guards standing along the pathway to the drawbridge. This wasn't so difficult, I thought. No wonder Link had been able to sneak into the castle so many times as a child. Well, the fact that not many guards were posted nowadays due to the constant peaceful state of Hyrule over the years also made it a bit easier for me.

As I climbed down a vine on the cliff past the castle's outer gates, I sighed with relief. I'd done it. I had outsmarted the guards and escaped from the confining walls of the castle. I walked casually down the hill toward the marketplace, trying my best to be inconspicuous.

The center square of town was bustling with all kinds of different people. I saw mostly Hylian peasants of all different shapes and sizes. Some were dressed in opulent garments, and some in plain clothing. Merchants sold their wares at numerous stands spread about the town, and crowds of people gathered in front of them. Children ran around in circles and chased cuccos, their laughter ringing throughout the area.

I simply stared for an hour or so, taking in all the sights and sounds. I walked around and looked at everything from different angles. I decided that I enjoyed being alone, walking around the marketplace like this. I would have to do it more often in the future, although next time I would be sure to dress a tad less like the Prince of Hyrule. And as long as I never got caught and I didn't stay out for too long a period of time, my mother and Link would never have to know about it.

A/N: Sorry, I haven't gotten a chance to work on this much because I've been caught up in my other fic ideas, not to mention the fact that I'm quite enthralled in Fierce Deity's story "Eternal Ark" right now. I'm working on it though. Again, thanks for the reviews and keep them coming!