A note from the Hime no Argh—

This chapter's a bit short, but the following ones should be longer. I want to address a comment I received on Ganondorf's character in the last chapter. May I suggest not judging his character by the standards of Ocarina of Time or any of the other games? This is a slightly alternate universe fic, for lack of a better term. The characters are not necessarily their counterparts from the games.

Ganondorf most certainly showed intelligence and reason in Sidh's tent, as he's shown throughout the fic. When in previous chapters was it ever shown that he was an unreasonable and stupid man? You suggested that he should have gotten angry when the soldiers were badgering him. But he lives with hostility from his fellow soldiers every day since he came to the Hylian Kingdom. He's used to it. He's learned to deal with it. So no, he wouldn't have gotten angry over just that.

I believe characterization in fanfiction is extremely important. But let's face it, if I was being totally true to Ganondorf's character from any of the games, he'd be an evil tyrant already. I've done that in previous fics. But for the purpose of this fic, I'm taking liberty with his character. If I wasn't, Fallen Prophecy would be radically different.

Just something I wanted to point out.

Chapter 15
Warning

Wrapped up in Link's arms, Zelda cried for a long time in the chapel in the palace. Not since she was a little girl had she shed so many tears; it was as though all the grief and anger and fear surrounding her parents' deaths, the war, and her ascension finally poured out of her, here where she was safe. Link rested his chin on top of her head and held her tightly until her tears subsided at last; when she pulled away, the sadness was still there, but she felt a great deal better.

She also knew she must look like a mess. "Some women can cry and look beautiful," she muttered thickly, blotting at her face with her sleeve.

Link smiled and offered her a handkerchief. "It's a rare talent, I think." Then the smile faded from his face, leaving him with the same worn appearance as when he'd first appeared in the threshold of the chapel. It had barely been half a year since they parted, yet he seemed older, somehow; the look in his face told her that whatever he'd seen in the desert, it had changed him. She found herself wondering what he saw in her face, if the child she'd been last summer had gone from her, as it seemed to have gone from Link.

"What upset you so much, Zelda? I heard something—" Link hesitated, his eyes meeting hers. "Zelda, are you...queen?"

The gentleness in his voice when he said queen nearly undid her again; throat too tight to speak, Zelda nodded.

"Goddesses." Link closed his eyes, and when he opened them again they were bright with tears. "Then the king and queen...?"

"Mother—well, you know she was never really healthy after last summer," Zelda said shakily. "She took ill during the winter, and last week she finally passed away. My father was—he was so devastated. He—" She'd been about to repeat the lie, that he'd wasted away of grief, but when she met Link's eyes again the truth poured out of her. "He poisoned himself. He killed himself, Link! How could he—how could he do that? I know how much he loved Mother, but to leave me all alone—" Her voice caught, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"I know he didn't want to leave you," Link said quietly, tentatively. "He just loved your mother that much..." He sighed wearily. "I wish he could have carried on for your sake, though. You must have been so devastated after losing them both."

Zelda nodded. "There's more though. Link—" She looked at him again, still amazed and overjoyed that he was just alive, standing here with her. "Link, they had you on the dead roster."

Link stared at her. "They did? But why would—" Then comprehension dawned in his face. "Of course. After the battle."

"At Watersedge, you mean? What happened?"

Link smiled half-heartedly. "I fell off a cliff."

"You what?"

"Into a river," he amended. "It wasn't fun, but—well, I lived. I wandered around the gorge for a couple of days, then found a way out. I was miles from Watersedge by then."

"Did you try to find your company?" Zelda asked.

"No. I heard—" Link hesitated. "Someone mentioned a northern queen, and I put two and two together. I had to come back," he added gently. "I knew you would need me."

Her voice caught in her throat. "I—I don't know what to say. Link, I missed you so much. When I thought you had died, I—" He said nothing, gazing at her in a way that made gooseflesh ripple over her skin. She swallowed hard. "There's something I have to tell you. It's about Ganondorf."

The look in his eyes abruptly changed to something close to fear. "What is it? Is he all right?"

Zelda shook her head helplessly. "I don't know. He's missing. They think he was captured by the Gerudo."

Link's eyes widened. "Captured?" he whispered. "But the Gerudo never take prisoners!"

"I know. It's not likely—" Her voice caught again, but she swallowed and made herself go on. "It's not likely he'll survive."

Link turned away abruptly and slumped into a pew, burying his face in his hands. Zelda hesitated, then went to his side and sank down beside him, her arms encircling his shoulders. She could feel his shoulders shaking with repressed sobs, and closed her eyes to hold back her own tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry." She couldn't think of anything more to say, so instead she just held him as tightly as he'd held her.

After a few minutes Link drew in a long, shaky breath. "I won't give up hope," he said wearily, straightening slightly so that he could turn to look at her. "He wouldn't go down without a fight, Ganondorf." Zelda smiled briefly as he brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "No wonder you were so upset. You thought you'd lost all of us, didn't you?"

Zelda nodded tiredly. "Losing my parents was horrible. Losing Ganondorf would be—nearly unbearable. But with you here, I think I can go on."

"Good." Link took her hand and stood, pulling her to her feet with him. "Zelda, something happened in the desert that you should know about. Do you remember that woman, Fallen, who told our futures last summer?"

Zelda nodded. "How could I forget? But I haven't seen her since."

"Neither did I, not until—" Link hesitated, then reached behind him to close a hand around the hilt of a sword, sheathed in a scabbard on his back. "The night after I fell into the gorge, when I was still trapped down there, she came to me. I don't know how she'd gotten there, but..." He shook his head. "She told me I had to come with her, because ' we had work to do,' she said. She took me to a forge—it seemed to be set in the cliff face, but it wasn't there in the morning. I don't know where it was, really. Anyway, she made me this."

He unsheathed the sword and held it out for her to see. Even Zelda, who knew little about weapons, could appreciate its workmanship. The sword was beautifully crafted, finely tempered to help it retain its edge. There was a tiny Triforce engraved on the blade, just below the hilt.

"Steel from the sacred land," Link whispered, sounding mystified. "Three times to shape it, and blood...blood to bind it to its wielder..."

Zelda stared up at him, wide-eyed. "Whose blood?"

Link held out a hand; a pink scar was slashed across his palm.

Zelda cried out in shock and indignation. "That woman cut you open and bled you just to make a sword?"

Link shook his head. "She's not just any woman, Zelda. And I don't think this is just any sword." He looked down at the sword in silence for a moment, then met Zelda's eyes again. "I don't know why she gave me this, but I know what I need to do with it. Zelda, I don't intend to return to the desert. You need me more here, and not just as a friend. Fallen said something had chosen me, and I would need this sword. Even if I don't know what she meant, it's plain enough that something is going to happen in Hyrule, something that will change our lives, maybe forever."

He offered the sword to her, lying flat across his palms, a warrior's ultimate sign of fealty. "Zelda, I swear to you, if you'll have me," he whispered, "I'll protect you with this sword, in this life and all those to come."

The very air in the chapel seemed to shiver. As though in a dream, Zelda extended her hands over the blade of the sword. "As your life is mine, so is mine yours." The words flowed from her as though a chant for a spell, unplanned and powerful. Distantly she was aware that something very significant was taking place, but that part of her seemed far away. "Use me as your guide. We will never part, in this life and all those to come."

Link didn't move when she pressed the blade down to cut lightly into his palm, nor did she blink when he took the sword and cut hers. The pain seemed far away as he took her hand, entwining their fingers, entwining their blood. She shivered as a strange energy seemed to fill her.

Blood to bind...

Whatever spell seemed to grip them faded away. Link lowered the sword slowly, looking at their entwined hands.

"Why did we do that?"

Zelda shook her head absently. "I don't know."

Link turned her hand palm up to look at the shallow wound he himself had inflicted, and his brows drew together in a scowl. "I wouldn't do this. Something used us."

"Wouldn't you?" Zelda asked almost lazily. An unusual calm had settled over her, and she couldn't seem to bring herself to get upset over whatever might have used them, as Link seemed to think. "If you thought it was necessary to protect me, to keep us close?"

Link traced the shallow cut on her palm. "Blood to bind..." His lips formed the words soundlessly. Then he scowled again, raising his head and looking around the chapel as though searching for something, his hand gripping Zelda's tightly. "All right, show yourself! I know you're in here!"

"Link, who are you...?" A shimmer of silvery light behind her caught her eye, and Zelda whirled to face the altar. A woman in a long cloak and hood stood below the goddess sculpture, face hidden in shadows.

"Fallen," Link muttered.

She couldn't see Fallen's eyes beneath the hood, but Zelda knew they were fixed levelly on her. Goosebumps rippled along her flesh as Fallen inclined her head slightly. "Your Majesty."

Link stepped forward, placing himself firmly between Zelda and the cloaked woman. "What do you want?" he demanded. "What are you trying to accomplish here? First you give me the sword and refuse to tell me why, then you force us through that—that ritual—"

"You're wrong," Fallen interrupted calmly. "That was not my doing; it was yours. You subconsciously chose to bind yourselves to one another. The only entities guiding you were your own spirits."

"For what purpose?"

Fallen shrugged. "Were you not the one who said that 'something is going to happen in Hyrule, something that will change our lives forever'? Perhaps the answers you seek are within yourself."

Zelda had heard enough. Placing a reassuring hand on Link's arm, she stepped forward once more. "You called me Your Majesty, so you clearly know who I am," she said crisply, ignoring the slight quiver of apprehension that went through her when Fallen's eyes shifted toward her again. "You are standing unannounced and uninvited in the palace of the Hylian monarchy, having just witnessed a potentially dangerous ritual between Link and I that neither of us had conscious control over, and refusing to answer our questions. Why should I not assume you are a hostile intruder and have you arrested immediately?"

"Because no prison in Hyrule could hold me, and no mortal could harm me," Fallen answered without a moment's hesitation. "I have done nothing to harm you nor your consort, Your Majesty."

"No harm!" Zelda cried, grabbing one of Link's hands. "What do you call this?"

Fallen glanced almost casually at the scar across Link's palm. "A necessary step. It was the first. You and your consort have just performed the second."

Link scowled. "Necessary for what?"

Fallen shook her head. "I cannot tell you."

"Why?"

"I am bound not to."

"By whom?" Zelda demanded.

Fallen shook her head again, and for the first time there was something other than calm assuredness in her voice—frustration. "You still have no concept of what I am or why I am. You are like fish swimming in a bowl, and all you see is your world. Do you really think that merely because you stand before me in the domain you rule, you can order me to speak? The power that binds me is beyond you. I am beyond you. Now, listen.

"I cannot give you your answers, but I can guide you toward them. If you look, you will see the path. If you listen, you will hear the voices that call you. Forget mortal ties and concerns. They will only blind you. Wake to the world beyond your glass."

As suddenly as she had appeared, the woman was gone. Zelda started, but Link merely made a frustrated sound deep in his throat. "That is getting really annoying."

Zelda looked up at him, disturbed. "What does she want with us? I don't need this now." She knew she sounded childish, but she couldn't help it. "I have a kingdom to think about. 'Forget mortal ties,' she says—who does she think I am?"

Link ripped a long strip out of his tunic and wrapped it around Zelda's hand as a makeshift bandage. "Never mind what she said. You're right—you have to think about your kingdom. I'll worry about Fallen." He gazed at her in silence for a moment, holding her hand between his. "Zelda, I meant what I said, whether I said it consciously or not. I'll be your protection, your support. In this life, and all those to come," he added with a crooked smile.

Her smile felt tremulous but genuine. "Thank you. Link, I have a lot of work to do."

He squeezed her hand, reassuring. "Just let me know what I can do."

To be continued.