Never My Destiny

by Galaxy Girl

Five Sages are awakened, and Ganondorf grows ever nervous of the fulfillment of the prophecy. Meanwhile, asleep deep in the Spirit Temple, she remembers the past they shared and her hatred for him grows...

9. Ten: Evil's Kin

Never My Destiny

The World's First (Serious) G/I!

By Galaxy Girl

A/N: GOOD GOD, HOW LONG'S IT BEEN! Well… sorry about that, guys. It's a little thing called "college".

In any case, congratulations to SilverHikari, who nailed last chapter's trivia question right on (several million years ago). Some of Ganondorf's creepy dialogue last chapter was based on two songs by the Finnish metal studmuffins Sonata Arctica, "The End of This Chapter" and "Don't Say A Word". They're a really awesome band, even if you're not really into metal (I'm not!) so I suggest checking them out. Plus, their lead singer is probably the sexiest man in the entire world. Woof.

Anyway, this chapter shies away from the serious G/I a little bit as it's told mostly through the perspective of Nabooru. We'll also get a little bit of a look at Link and Twinrova, too, but that doesn't mean I'm done torturing our two star-crossed lovers yet. And it especially means I'm not changing the story into a Link/Zelda. Seriously. I'm not big on that pairing. It's so overdone. And I'm a Link/Nabooru shipper anyway. Waahaahhahahaa.

---

Chapter Ten: Evil's Kin

---

Corruption.

Corruption was always the root of the problem. Power and wealth and noble blood do not cause misery and pain. The root of suffering is the corruption of those who hold that power.

The golden power of the gods, the Triforce, was a neutral power. It took on the characteristics of whoever it touched—if held by a person of good heart, it would become a benevolent power to bless the land of Hyrule in its light.

If held by a person with a selfish heart, or a heart filled with selfishness or wrath, it would engulf the land in darkness and suffering.

Hyrule suffered because the Triforce had become tainted.

And now, he sought to change that which corrupted it.

---

The girl wiped the nervous sweat from her brows as she peered out from behind the target. The sun was hidden behind hazy clouds today, a perfect day to escape from the boring shadow of the fortress and play outside.

Her hands tightened defensively around the flag, a red silk scarf with a few torn edges from the many tug of wars held over its possession. She carefully tucked it in the top of her shirt, looking up again and taking a deep breath to make sure nobody could see her.

The horseback archery field was devoid of movement. It was just her, the flag, and one hundred yards to the other side where she'd be safe.

Slowly, quietly, she took a few steps out from behind the target, feeling the hot sand crunching in her shoes and around her feet. She stumbled a few steps, still wary of hidden watchers down the field, and broke into a desperate run.

An alarm went up from behind the other targets.

"SHE'S GOT IT!"

"You were supposed to be on guard!"

"Go get it, go get it! Run! She's over there!"

"Oh no you don't!"

The girl let out a burst of victorious laughter as she sprinted by the frantic guards of the other team, darting out from behind the targets that lined the course and chasing after her. One tripped and landed on her face in the sand. The girl already had a huge head start on them, and the safe zone was only 20 yards away now! This point was in the bag!

Her long red ponytail whipped behind her, grazing her neck and back as she relished the feeling of the wind rushing past her. She loved the sound of the sand kicked up behind her, a whooshing like the beat of a brush on a drum.

Victory was hers!

"Eat my dust, you- AH!"

All at once, someone slammed into her and knocked her to the side, forcing the words from her throat in a heavy grunt. The flag flew from her grasp and she hit the ground, sand stinging in her bare skin and a huge weight landing right on top of her. She yelled out in frustration and pain, grabbing at her arm where she could feel a bruise starting to form.

She rolled over beneath her tackler and took a few swings at him. "OW! Dammit, Ganny! That really hurt!"

"Watch your mouth!"

"I don't have to!"

"Watch your mouth and watch where you're going," her assailant grinned, reaching behind her and plucking the flag from her arm's reach. He held it up over her and waved it teasingly. "Caught ya, Nab! You lose!"

"Ganondorf, that was AWESOME!" a breathless voice cried out from behind him.

A small entourage of Gerudo girls, Ganondorf's team, appeared behind him, giggling and wiping sweat and sand from their faces and bodies.

"I told ya, you can't lose if I'm on your team," Ganondorf boasted, rolling off of his cousin and tossing the flag over his shoulder. "Good try though, Nab. You were all by yourself for the last half an hour and you still almost won."

"Well of course," Nabooru sat up, tossing her hair over her shoulder and dusting off her arms. "I'm the greatest!"

"Not as great as me, though," Ganondorf grinned, extending a hand to help her up. "Next time we'll be on the same team."

"Oh, NO!" one of the other girls groaned. "Don't do that! You guys are unbeatable that way!"

"Those games only last ten minutes," another whined.

"Girls!"

The kids turned simultaneously to see Marya standing near the gates, arms crossed.

"I thought we said dinner would be ready soon! That means you stay inside the fortress," she shouted, a scolding glare on her face.

"Aw, Mama, it's been sandstorming for a whole week! If I didn't get outside for a while I was going to rot," Nabooru called back, slumping down into a heap on the ground.

"Well, whatever the case, dinner's ready NOW. Get inside, you girls," Marya stepped to the side and waved in the direction of the fortress.

The other girls begrudgingly trudged back down to the fortress, kicking up sand and gossiping loudly about how "We were SO close, we almost won that time!" and "I was hiding for like, an hour. Nobody would have found me."

Nabooru and Ganondorf lagged behind the others, conversing quietly.

"You really hit me HARD, Ganny," Nabooru stuck out her lip in a childish pout, rubbing her arm. "I'm gonna have a bruise there."

"That's revenge for when you kicked me in the head last week," he replied shortly. "And besides, I can't help but play rough, Nabs."

"Why's that?"

"I'm a boy. Boys play rough," Ganondorf shrugged.

"Do they?" Nabooru honestly didn't know.

"I'm guessing so," Ganondorf didn't know either. "I mean… I'm… I didn't mean to hurt you," he sighed.

"Hey, don't worry about it, you were just playing," Nabooru shrugged him off.

"Pick up the pace, you two!" Marya shouted impatiently.

"Hold your horses, Mom!" Nabooru rolled her eyes.

"And I'm not a gi-irl," Ganondorf called in a sing-song voice, rocking back and forth on his heels. "You distinctly only called for the girls to come in."

"Don't be a smart-ass," Marya playfully tousled his hair as the two reached her side and she turned, leading them back towards the tremendous cliff dwelling just as the sun began to sink over the wastelands to the west.

---

The landscape of that wasteland remained largely unchanged, even after twenty-one years of periodic sandstorms and the burning hot sun scorching down on it day after day. Just west of the Gerudo Fortress, the Haunted Wasteland stretched on for nearly ten miles, a god-forsaken area of dust and storms that was rumored to have taken the lives of any non-Gerudo traveler dumb enough to head out there.

It was natural, then, for the ancient Gerudo to have built their most sacred and revered place, the Desert Colossus, on the far side of that wasteland.

Depicting the Gerudo mother goddess of the sand, the Colossus was a holy place to the Gerudo and jointly served as the Spirit Temple, legendary ancient home of the Spirit Sages and the resting place of some of the most sacred Gerudo artifacts.

It was not an easy place to feel welcome in. Beyond the elaborate and beautiful main chamber, the inner sanctums of the Spirit Temple were filled with death traps and obstacles that made even the bravest Gerudo nervous.

It didn't help that there were rumors circulating through the Gerudo people about the Iron Knuckles, mindless and soulless statues brought to life by ancient magic. Created to guard the treasures and the sacred ground of the Spirit Temple, they were said to be impossibly hard to stop or outrun.

What the Gerudo didn't know was that the Iron Knuckles were, in a way, not as scary as they were rumored to be. They were not statues that had been animated by magic.

In a way, they were even scarier. It was not ancient magic that animated those statues—it was the bodies of living Gerudo warriors imprisoned within the armor.

Koume and Kotake, Ganondorf's grandmothers and the elder witches of the Gerudo tribe, knew all about this. It had been their idea, several centuries ago, to create the immortal guardians of the Spirit Temple. Through a series of experiments and rituals involving Gerudo "volunteers" and the darkest of their black magic, the sisters found a way to brainwash and imprison Gerudo women inside the massive suits of armor, connecting their minds and souls to the animation of the armor as long as their bodies could hold out.

Once the Gerudo within the armor died of exhaustion or old age, her soul would remain within the armor and transform it, essentially, into the "soulless" monsters whose legends frightened generations of Gerudo children.

It was not a short process to transform a Gerudo into an Iron Knuckle. It was actually quite difficult. Koume and Kotake had had plenty of practice in doing this over the years, and found many subjects for their experiments in the "traitorous" or "dangerous" members of the tribe who Ganondorf deemed unsafe to be allowed a free mind. The Gerudo had no idea the blank, emotionless soldiers who walked among them were actually in preparation for becoming Iron Knuckles.

There was only one Iron Knuckle "living" among the Gerudo at this point in time. She used to be called Nabooru.

It was like she lived in a dream: a strange, blurry dream that she could never exactly grasp. Her mind was filled with feverish hallucinations, memories, flashbacks of things that had been, but she could not see past the fading laughter and the voices, past the sand and the sunset, past the illusions.

Her body felt hot and sticky with sweat. She could feel sweat clinging to her bare skin, soaked into something cool and made of fabric on all parts of her. She could detect the salt and the odor as she breathed in and out, impure air that was musty and stale. She could barely move and she couldn't control her movements. When the voices told her to walk, she would walk, but with no grasp of where or why.

Her body was weighed down by a heavy garment. It must have been armor… that would explain the sweat and the weight of it all. She could barely hear the sound of her feet scraping against the stone beneath her, the clicking of the plates as they slammed into each other on her feet and knees. Her axe was heavy but she could not set it down.

She could not speak. At least, not what others could determine as speech. As the memories and thoughts flitted through her mind, some of them would vocalize into soft moans or helpless cries. But never words.

When words came out, they knew it was time to fix her up again.

As the last of the desert sunset faded away in her mind, Nabooru opened her mouth and gasped in the sweaty air, letting out a short cry. "GGN!"

"Quiet, servant."

"We just can't have a peaceful evening at home, can we?"

Nabooru wriggled and writhed in her iron prison, her eyes clearing, the memory still trailing in her harnessed mind. The Iron Knuckle was trembling and thrashing as she moved about inside it, still crying out short, incomplete thoughts as syllables. "GGGN!"

Koume and Kotake appeared in the room from their private chambers, looking very displeased. The two witches waddled towards their slave and eyed her suspiciously.

"She can't have broken free of the last spell we cast already," Koume said, shaking her head with concern.

"She's growing more resistance to our methods, it seems," Kotake echoed her sister's thoughts and placed her hands on her hips, glaring at the squirming body visible between the cracks in the armor.

"That shouldn't be possible, Kotake… All the others who we'd kept under our magic for this long became exhausted and died! This bitch shouldn't be able to hold up under the strain of our spell," Koume burst out. "Much less find a way to fight it! You must have botched something last time."

"Me? Botched?" Kotake spat each word like the mere suggestion was poison. "I didn't do anything differently last time, Koume! If there's any change in the spell, it MUST have come from you."

Tears poured down Nabooru's face and she threw her head back, nearly sending the helmet flying off behind her. "GANON!" she screamed fitfully. "GANONNN!"

The two witches leapt back and stared at each other in stunned silence.

"She's breaking free again! She must be!" Kotake pounded her fist into her hand.

"This can't be happening! It's only been two weeks since her last treatment!" Koume stomped her foot heavily on the floor.

"Lord Ganondorf will be very displeased," Kotake spat.

"We'll have to plan on our last resort, then," Koume sniffed, snapping her fingers. Fiery chains grew from the sides of the Iron Knuckle's throne and up, wrapping around her hands and feet and binding her body still. Her head still thrashed back and forth, broken noises coming from her throat and occasionally forming into the name. "GANONNN! GGAANNON!"

"Lord Ganondorf requested we don't," Kotake warned her icily.

"He may change his mind when he hears about this. We'll have to send him a message."

"Have you forgotten? She's dead. We'll have to go speak to him face-to-face."

"Oh… yes," Koume sighed. "Quite a temper our grandson has."

Kotake grumbled under her breath as she turned back into the shadowy doorway that led to their chambers. "I'm going to hate to be the one to tell him this."

"Nonsense, Kotake… What's the worst he'll do to US?"

---

"I said you weren't to fool around with Nabooru's memory!"

Koume and Kotake jumped a bit as Ganondorf's voice rose, and they cowered beneath him on the stairs leading to his throne.

"Did I not command," he said in a very impatient voice, facing away from them and glaring at someone across the room that wasn't there, "That the Iron Knuckles be PERFECTLY obedient, and incapable of escape?"

"A-And the others have been behaving as you requested, my lord!" Koume spoke up shyly, raising an ancient and crooked finger. "They all require annual refreshment of the spells that keep them bound to the armor… But Nabooru in particular has been…"

"She breaks out of the spells much quicker than the others, my lord!" Kotake picked up where her sister left off. "Her last treatment was merely two weeks ago and she's already acting belligerent… thrashing about, screaming… SPEAKING…"

"Speaking?"

Ganondorf turned around slowly and raised an eyebrow at his elderly grandmothers, his face darkening. "All of the Iron Knuckles are able to speak, are they not?"

"Well, sir," Koume and Kotake said in unison.

"Nabooru was…" Koume began.

Kotake finished. "… having issues, my lord."

"Of what sort?"

"We were forced to take away her ability to speak several weeks ago. Her speech patterns indicated levels of thought far beyond those allowed to an efficient Iron Knuckle," Koume explained.

"She began screaming and muttering," Kotake shivered. "Horrible, treasonous things. Things that my lord would not want one of his servants to be saying."

"Such as?" Ganondorf waved a hand and gestured for an example.

"I believe one was, 'YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, GANONDORF YOU MURDEROUS SON OF A-'" Koume shrilled before Kotake closed a hand over her mouth.

"She screams your name frequently, my lord… it is most distressing to hear," Kotake nodded nervously.

"And what is wrong with a memory of my name?" Ganondorf questioned suddenly, pacing towards them. "My own cousin should know my name, shouldn't she?"

"My lord, if Nabooru continues to be allowed to… to remember, she will soon gain the strength to break free of our spell altogether. She is strong-willed, and it is already a struggle to keep her contained," Koume told him in a dark voice.

"Nabooru must remain under our control, my lord… She hates you more than any and all of the other races put together," Kotake added.

"Precisely what is it you want me to tell you?"

Ganondorf had sat down in his throne and cradled his head in one hand, glaring at the witches between his fingers. "Don't you think I know that? What do you want me to do about it? Order you to completely erase my cousin's memory? Simply because she hates me and wants to destroy me, somewhere within that empty shell of what was once her mind?"

"My lord… the seeds of belligerency and rebellion must be hunted down and destroyed before they are allowed to sprout," Koume spoke up.

"Nabooru is a powerful woman and you know it. She will not keep silent if we allow her mind to go free. She will defy you and try to defeat you at any opportunity."

"She is not the type for underground movements and secret plots, my lord. She will openly defy you… and she commands much respect among the Gerudo. If she were to influence them against you…"

"They are already against me, Twinrova."

Ganondorf looked up with a sneer that sent both witches a few steps back away from him out of sheer nervousness.

"The Gerudo are well aware I'm weak. They knew it from the moment I was crowned and it's all been a ridiculous façade since then, to keep it under wraps… You two have done abhorrent things to the people I'm supposed to be leading to keep it quiet that they are losing faith in me… and it has only served to worsen the situation. They already know I can only control a fraction of the Triforce's power," he said viciously. "It is no secret that I'm losing control in this kingdom with that GODDAMNED HERO OF TIME running around!"

"Lord Ganondorf, you are still the Great King!" the witches screamed in unison.

"You are a god! You were born the first male in a hundred years and you carry the blood of the next great god within you! You are our lord, our master, you cannot be defeated!" Koume gushed reverentially, bowing with a bit too much gusto.

"You are the great light of the Gerudo people, Lord Ganondorf! For centuries, we have been enslaved and forgotten by the Hylians and the rest of Hyrule, but you have taken us from the bottom to the very top! We own it all now, Lord Ganondorf!" Kotake joined her.

"We will NOT see you and the rest of our people fall from this heaven! The Gerudo must be kept in reverence of you and your greatness! If we lose them, we lose everything!"

"Treason against you will NOT be permitted! Nabooru must be kept under control like the others! Talk of rebellion must be silenced, as Marya was—"

"I told you not to say that name in front of me, EVER again," Ganondorf interrupted in a voice cold as death.

The two witches drifted off and waited for him to shift his murderous gaze away from them and towards the table before him.

Koume was the first to speak. "My lord, the other Triforce pieces cannot be far away! Once we have seized them and you hold all three of the sacred parts in your hand, it won't matter what the Hylians' silly legend has done to defy you! The Gerudo, the people, everyone will know what we know… that you are a god!" she consoled him.

"Do not worry about the Triforce. We have the matter well in hand. And as for Nabooru… perhaps my lord will find it more fitting if we do not erase her memory, but we instead destroy—"

"Don't touch her."

Ganondorf eyed them from behind his clenched fists.

"My lord, she is treasonous and must—"

"I think you've done enough to her already. Don't touch her."

Koume and Kotake eyed each other nervously. "My lord… what if she continues to break out of our spells?"

"Cast more. Leave her mind alone and if she dies, I will see to it personally that no immortality charm can help save the two of you from what I'll do as punishment."

The witches stared at their grandson in shock. "Lord Ganondorf…" they spoke up together.

"Now leave. I've things to attend to."

They shuffled out of the room as quickly as possible.

---

Ganondorf let out a heavy sigh and let his head fall back as he gazed up at the dark ceiling of his tower room. His hand tightened around the arm of his throne, and his eyes drifted closed.

It had all been so simple before she came back.

The clock was ticking. Five Sages were awakened and there was one more left to be summoned. Ganondorf had heard the news from one of his guards stationed outside Kakariko. The townspeople were all atwitter with the gossip about the Hero of Time and his secret travels through Hyrule, liberating temples and awakening Sages. Time was running out for him.

Koume and Kotake were afraid of rebellion? Ganondorf almost laughed. There was rebellion all around them. He'd been stupid and naïve to think otherwise… if he ever did think otherwise. He'd known there were people out for his blood a long time ago. When it turned out that his aunt was their ringleader, however; that had been a shock.

Seven years ago, near the beginning of his reign, Ganondorf had announced a loyalty cleansing within the Gerudo. Though most of the tribe followed him with the mindless obedience that was expected of them, he knew there were murmurs of disagreement from more conservative Gerudo that didn't think highly of his murderous coup d'état. There were interrogations and interviews… those who passed with flying colors were appointed positions as Ganondorf's personal guards. Marya had been among them.

Those who passed, but were less ready to throw themselves forward to die for him were given duties at the fortress itself. The dangerous ones, the ones who doubted him and disobeyed and even—of all offenses—disagreed with him were given to Twinrova to be made into "special" guards, the Iron Knuckles.

Nabooru had failed the loyalty test, but she was Ganondorf's own cousin and had always been strong-willed, so nobody had a second thought about it. Nabooru was different than the others. So she disagreed with Ganondorf's policies? So what? She was NABOORU.

Until the day…

It had come as quite a shock to the other Gerudo when Ganondorf punished Nabooru for her treason. It took less than three days from when they caught her for him to have decided, perhaps in a fit of fury, that she was unfit to have free thoughts of her own.

But even though she was the most wildly rebellious of the tribe, Ganondorf didn't kill her. It had never even presented itself as an option. In fact, he'd specially requested to Koume and Kotake that they only use a minimal amount of brainwashing on her. Her memories were to remain intact, no matter what.

It wasn't so hard to believe… Nabooru and Ganondorf had grown up together. She was his best friend, and his cousin. Almost like a younger sister to him.

But that day…

Nabooru hated him and he knew it. Their falling out seven years ago had happened so quickly he could barely even pinpoint the place where it started, but he knew full and well that somewhere within her imprisoned mind, Nabooru was filled with loathing towards him.

And Twinrova were right. Nabooru was a powerful enemy. She did command a lot of respect among the Gerudo, as Ganondorf's closest of kin. She was strong, a great warrior, intelligent and highly praised as a thief.

He stared at the carpet before his throne and remembered the outburst at his grandmothers. They were probably right, after all. If Nabooru were allowed free, she would be the loudest voice against him. She would march straight through the palace and kill him herself if she wanted to. There would be nothing to say or do to her to keep her calm and under his command.

It would probably be safer if she was dead. Or if she was left alive, but cleansed of her memories and personality and ingrained with unquestionable loyalty.

Marya's face floated through his mind. Her face in those last critical seconds of her life, as she'd implored him to spare her and rethink what he was doing. Close examination could reveal her blood still staining the carpet just a few yards in front of him…

Every time he tried to think about killing Nabooru, he remembered Marya and her expression. Days in the past, carelessly playing together on the archery range or on the roof of the fortress. Nights where they stayed up until dawn talking in their cots.

His right hand grazed the back of his left, the warm mark of the Triforce showing beneath his gauntlet. Two more pieces. Two more pieces and it could all change. The corruption, the greed, the selfishness and the bloodshed could all change.

He needed to keep calm. These feelings… this rage, they would go away. All he needed to do was keep calm until the other two Triforce pieces were located. Somewhere in Hyrule they were hiding within two other people… and his troops were out searching for them at that very moment.

Soon, all that was wrong with his life would be fixed. All he had to do was change it…

---

"Who does he think he IS?"

"He's getting too big for his britches!"

"Oh, surely, Kotake, he wouldn't DARE speak to us that way!"

"He's losing his mind, Koume. He MUST be!"

In a sealed-off chamber of the Spirit Temple, the two witches cowered around a morbid and black cauldron, brewing something black and bitter-smelling.

"After all we've done for him… after all the way he's come… he wouldn't DREAM of letting us fall again!" Koume stirred the mixture with the end of her broomstick, huffing disgustedly off to the side.

"That ungrateful little brat!" Kotake stirred the coals in the fire pit beneath the cauldron with her broom. "He's been acting like a fool these past weeks… The stress must be getting to him!"

"That must be it, Kotake," Koume agreed, shaking her head. "The Ganondorf we know would never give mercy to such a dangerous creature."

"He's sentimental, Koume," Kotake huffed. "He remembers fondly his childhood days with her."

"He would never think fondly of the times he spent with US," Koume sniffed, wiping away a tear from her tremendous eyeball. "After all those afternoons of tea and chatting…"

"We taught him everything he knows! We made him what he is! We are the ones who have given him the power to rule this kingdom-- not the rest of those greedy thieves and ESPECIALLY not that traitor aunt of his!" Kotake shouted, tossing a few coals into the mixture itself.

The potion bubbled and broiled, letting off a great exhalation of steam and taking on a strange and unearthly glow.

"Imagine a Gerudo King of Thieves shirking his duties and obligations for some outsider woman," Koume shivered in disgust.

"You think he's still caught up with that?" Kotake gaped in disbelief.

"He has not said or done anything to indicate as much in the past few weeks," Koume grumbled, "But he is behaving like a bratty teenager, much as he did back then…"

"It's unheard of. How could he betray his ancestors that way?" Kotake agreed. "Our beloved king he may be, but a fool at times."

"We did not give birth to and raise four generations of Gerudo thieves to watch them fall from grace again," Koume snarled. "I will not see him destroy everything we've worked so hard to accomplish!"

"Nor I! Whether or not he demands we leave the girl intact, she is a danger to our kingdom and she must be destroyed," Kotake hissed.

"Do you think he'll be quite angry, Kotake?"

"Oh, undoubtedly, Koume," Kotake tossed her head. "But he will see that we have only gone against his will to protect him and his kingdom!"

"Do you think he'd be so against it if we'd told him the truth about her, Kotake?"

"If Lord Ganondorf found out that his own cousin was the Sage of Spirit, he'd most certainly hit the roof, Koume!"

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

"I suppose we shouldn't have been TOO surprised," Koume grumbled. "The Goddess of the Sand always passes her power to a Gerudo female."

"And it only makes sense She would choose the flesh and blood of the King of Thieves," Kotake added in a mutter, stirring the potion herself.

"I don't personally think he'd care whether or not she was the Sage," Koume rolled her tremendous eyes. "Lord Ganondorf is delusional when it comes to the select few people he cares about. He would still demand we keep her alive and keep her memories intact."

"Do you think Lord Ganondorf will care," Kotake cackled, "If we bind his dear cousin's flesh with the armor she is imprisoned in?"

"It would certainly put a stop to this rebellious nonsense," Koume agreed, rubbing her hands together. "She will have her memories, and we will have our servant. And Lord Ganondorf will never know the difference."

"He won't have to know," Kotake snickered suddenly. "Hohoho… How would he know she'd changed at all if she were never released?"

"Hehehe," Koume joined her, smiling wickedly. "Our brew is nearly finished… It should sit and thicken for several hours before we administer it to her."

Within the cauldron, the potion began to bubble softly.

---

Seated in her throne of stone, Nabooru had begun to cry out again. Her words were growing louder, more pronounced, with less of the labored grunts and moans that characterized the speech of an Iron Knuckle.

"GANONDORF!" she screamed through the echoing halls of the temple. "GANONDORF!"

Tears poured down her cheeks as she became aware of the dream she was trapped in. She grew desperate, thrashing within the armor, trying in vain to move her bound arms and legs and escape. She was aware of the memories flowing through her head now, memories slowly piecing themselves together into an answer to the burning question.

Where am I? What happened to me? Why can't I move?

…Who am I?

I'm Nabooru… My name is Nabooru. I'm a Gerudo…

My mother's name is Marya. That's right… her name is Marya…

I live… I live in a fortress… No—A temple? Where…

Oh yes… I live in a temple now, because my cousin… Ganondorf…

Ganondorf? Ganondorf…

"GANONDORF! YOU BASTARD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, pausing her struggle as the memories came rushing back.

GANONDORF! GANONDORF…

---

"Ganondorf?"

The door creaked open on rusty hinges, and Nabooru peered into the room nervously. Across the room, lying on his side on a cot was a dark figure, facing the wall and never moving except to breathe.

She barely made a sound as she stepped across the stone floor towards him, daring to call out his name again. "Ganny?"

Gently, she set a hand on his back and he cringed, letting out a short yell of pain. She pulled away and the dull torchlight showed the deep red stain of blood on her hand.

"Ganny! A-are you okay? What happened to you?" Nabooru had a seat on the edge of the cot and he curled up into a trembling ball, his face buried in his hands. "They didn't… they didn't do this to you, did they!"

"I won't do it…" he muttered in a throaty voice, worn out from screaming. "I won't do what they say… I won't!"

"What did they say?"

"I'm never to see her again… I'm to become the king. I won't… They can't make me! I won't do it!"

He rolled over slightly to face Nabooru, tearstains visible on his pale face. "You understand, Nab! You have to! You have to understand me, please!"

"Of course I do!"

"You won't make me… you can't… you wouldn't…"

"I would never make you do anything, Ganny!" Nabooru's eyes narrowed fiercely and broke her stare to glare at the crack of light streaming under the door.

"You're the only one I can count on… you and her, Nab…" he muttered again, gazing at her forlornly. "You're the only ones who care who I am…"

"Hold still… stop trying to move," Nabooru ordered him, stepping over to his dresser and taking a candle. She held it to one of the torches until it lit, then stepped back over to take a look at her cousin's wounds.

"Oh God… Ganny, your back is…"

He didn't say anything, but rolled over and buried his face in the pillow and groaned.

"Stay here… I'll go get some water and clean you up."

"They'll get you in trouble," he moaned.

"Like I care," she said shortly, and set the candle back in its holder before racing out the door.

"Nabooru!"

Nabooru stopped abruptly, and the water from the bucket in her hand splashed against her legs and soaked into her pants as she turned to face her mother. Her other hand clung tightly to a few rags.

"What are you doing with that?" Marya asked impatiently, crossing her arms.

"Ganny's hurt!"

"I know. You are to leave him alone," Marya said sharply. "He needs to learn to deal with pain. He was punished for his insolence, and you need to stay out of it."

"And what did he do that was so bad?" Nabooru demanded.

"Young lady, don't you dare take that tone of voice with me!" Marya's eyes slitted and she glared at her daughter. "You know how important it is that Ganondorf learns to act within his station! His behavior has been absolutely unacceptable and he must learn to behave like a king! We must continue this until he has learned his place!"

"His place?"

"His place, Nabooru. As the King of Thieves."

"He doesn't want to be a king, Mama," Nabooru hissed back. "If anybody had bothered to ask him what he wants—"

"This isn't a matter of what he wants, Nabooru!" Marya snapped. "I know what he wants! But the fact of the matter is that he cannot have it. Our very survival depends on it. He was born into his duty and we must ensure that he carries it out!"

"By beating the hell out of him!"

"You watch your language, young lady!"

"What's WRONG with you people? Why are you doing this to him, Mama? There MUST be another way!"

"Go to your room, Nabooru!"

"Make me."

"I said go to your room! Put that bucket down and go immediately to your room!"

"You can't make me!" Nabooru replied, glaring at her mother furiously.

Seconds later, Marya brought her hand across her daughter's face in a resounding slap, leaving a red mark that stung like fire.

"You also need to learn your place, Nabooru. You are to do as you're told," Marya said coldly, meeting her daughter's eyes with an expression that meant business.

Nabooru stiffened her arms. She would not touch the burning spot on her face—defiance wouldn't let her.

"I know my place, Mama… and it's helping my family."

She turned abruptly and marched down the hall without another word, throwing open Ganondorf's door and slamming it shut with her shoulder.

Ganondorf eyed her from across the room, weary eyes barely visible in the darkness. Nabooru set down the bucket and the rags and returned to the door, holding it closed with one hand and quickly doing up the bolts with the other.

"There. Let's see them get me out of here now before I'm good and ready," she said with a triumphant grin, retrieving her supplies from the floor. She had a seat on the cot behind him and motioned for him to sit up and face away from her. It took a moment, and he winced the entire time.

"Take off your shirt," she ordered, "However little of it's left. Now bend over."

There were several minutes of uncomfortable silence as Nabooru did her best to wash the whip marks on his back and shoulders, save for the water dripping back into the bucket as she wrung out the rags. "They're… not SO bad," she said cheerfully. "It's mostly a lot of blood… they'll heal better now that I've washed away all that stuff."

"She didn't want you in here?" Ganondorf finally muttered.

"No… she sent me to my room," Nabooru replied.

"Why didn't you listen to her?"

"Because. You're hurt. You need help. That's what family is for," she said with a smirk, patting an unhurt bit of his shoulder. "I don't know what's gotten into Mama… She never used to be this way."

"The others have gotten to her," Ganondorf said spitefully. "They can't stand the thought of me being their king. I'm too weak."

"No you're not."

"That's what they say. They say I'm weak and a fool. I'm not fit to be their king and they want Marya to fix me."

"You are too fit to be a king. Just not the kind of king those loons are used to," Nabooru said with a decisive nod. "You know… like Sultaroff the Great."

"My great grandfather," Ganondorf snorted. "He stole more than any Gerudo to date."

"And it's because he was a bloodthirsty maniac," Nabooru huffed. "The others don't understand that times have changed. We can't just run around and steal whatever we want from whoever we want anymore. We're not the barbarian horde they like to think we are. There are rules now. Their problem with you is that you understand that… you're progressive."

"Me? Progressive?" Ganondorf smirked.

"You believe in chivalry. Women and children should be off-limits. Killing is never appropriate," Nabooru nudged him with her elbow. "Taking lives and taking money and property are entirely different things."

"I think we should be able to love whomever we please…" he said under his breath, but Nabooru had been able to hear him.

"That's right, Ganny. They think you're the maniac."

Ganondorf couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "Dear Din. We'd better watch out for my wild ideals."

"See? You'll be a great king, Ganny, no matter what my mother and the others say," Nabooru assured him.

"I'm not going to be the king."

"Hm?"

"I'm not going to be the king," he repeated. "I have no desire to. There's a girl I'm going to marry and she's not a Gerudo. I'm going to leave as soon as I get a chance to."

Everything Nabooru had ever been taught was screaming in the back of her mind. Everything she'd always known about her cousin— he was "special", he was "the king", he was "a god", he must be respected and eventually refresh the bloodline…

It was all drowned out by that rebellious streak a mile wide. "Good for you," she grinned. "Good for you, Ganny."

---

In another hallway of the Spirit Temple, another human figure was making its way down the corridor as quietly as possible.

"I can't decide if it's hotter in here or out there," Link said under his breath to the faintly glowing fairy behind him. The young man wiped sweat from his brow and sighed, hands tightening around the hilt of his sword.

"I sense something nearby," Navi warned him. "Be on your guard, okay?"

"Am I ever not?" he reminded her quietly.

As the pair continued down the hall, the fairy the only source of light in between the torches, they continued listening to the ominous scratching noise up above them.

"Do you think Nabooru's still… alive?" Navi asked nervously.

"I hope so… Sheik didn't cover what happens if one of the Sages dies."

The scratching noise grew louder and closer, and both of them stopped in their tracks.

"It's closer now."

"I think it's coming from the ceiling!" Navi hissed.

There were a few tense seconds of silence before Link instinctively leapt backwards and avoided the pounce of a grotesque monster that dropped from the ceiling. It appeared to be a rotting hand, unnaturally enlarged and crawling slowly towards him with the aid of its fingertips.

"Gods, I hate those!" Link grunted, holding his shield defensively before him.

"LINK WATCH OUT!" Navi shrieked suddenly.

Sidestepping artfully, Link avoided the pounce of another Wallmaster as he lured the first in towards him. With a sudden charge, he brought his sword up and through the palm of the giant hand, sending spatters of blood streaming from the wound and all over the walls and floor. A second thrust assured that it was dead. It vanished in an unholy burst of light as the second hand began its attack.

Link dodged a mad attempt at a grasp, and whipped his arm upward to sever a finger. Somehow moaning and squealing in pain, the Wallmaster attempted to scamper off to recover before Link ended its life with another well-placed chop.

The corridor was silent once the second creature had vanished.

"Let's get out of here," Link said quickly, rushing towards the end of the hallway and towards the door. "The sooner we find Nabooru the better."

"I agree," Navi sighed and followed behind him.

---

Link…

Oh yes… there was a boy named Link… I met him in the temple.

Why was I there anyway?

Ganondorf… he was my friend, wasn't he…

"GANONDORRRRF!" Nabooru screamed out again, beginning to sweat in exhaustion.

---

"Is it true, Ganondorf?"

Ganondorf looked up from the table and eyed his cousin in the doorway. Her hands were placed on her hips and her hair hung nearly in her face. She was breathless from running.

"Is what true?" he replied shortly.

"You didn't really… You didn't really kill the Hylian king, did you?" she gasped.

The other Gerudo standing around him eyed Nabooru with apprehension. She was treading on dangerous territory all of a sudden.

"Leave us," Ganondorf said as he stood up, gesturing for the other Gerudo to leave the room.

Once they had gone, Nabooru continued inside and slammed the door behind her. "Ganny, it's not true. It can't be… you wouldn't do such a horrible thing. You didn't, right?"

"I did," he said maliciously, a smile sneaking onto his face. "I killed him. I held him in my hands and I ended his life with a spell."

"For the love of Din, WHY?" Nabooru burst out. "How could you do such a stupid thing?"

"You question my actions?" he hissed.

"I question your INTELLIGENCE! Ganondorf, the KING OF HYRULE! We're not talking some small two-bit ruler here! He's got allies! He's got guards and armies! They'll be here to annihilate you before we can tie our shoes and get our battle armor on! We don't stand a CHANCE against the Hylian Alliance!" Nabooru yelled.

"I've already put a dent in his guards," Ganondorf smiled again, an unsettling smile at the memory of those bloodstained bodies in the corridor. "And I'm not afraid of his armies… without a leader, they will have too many complications to mobilize very quickly. I plan to be rid of them even before they get that far."

"You're declaring war on Hyrule. That's just peachy," Nabooru spat with disgust, slamming her hand on the table. Maps and diagrams of the regions of Hyrule jumped from the force. "Did you even stop to think what would happen, Ganondorf? Or did you lose your temper again and kill him because you felt like it?"

"Don't you DARE question my motives, Nabooru! And I'd mind that tone if I were you. I am the Gerudo King of Thieves… and shortly, I will be the king of all Hyrule," he said in a dangerous voice.

"You're delusional," she retorted. "You're absolutely delusional. What makes you think you'll get away with this?"

"I have power, my dear. Power that even the King of Hyrule couldn't fathom harnessing…"

She realized he was staring, unceasingly, at his left hand.

"What's gotten into you?" she asked. "What's happening to you, Ganondorf?"

"I'm waking up," he replied, "From the little dream that your mother and her friends have raised me in."

---

Oh, she could remember that. Nabooru blinked in her unseeing existence, but shadows were starting to appear in her vision. She could make out the inside of the helmet.

How did she get in here, anyway?

She remembered doubting him. She remembered being scared and worried about him, worried about the man he was becoming and the things he'd done in those first few weeks before the war. She remembered the loyalty examinations. Yes… she remembered those very well.

They were all brought in to see him and he would question them about things he had done and what they thought of it. The others spoke what they knew he wanted to hear, but she'd spoken her mind. It didn't come as much of a surprise when she failed.

It didn't surprise her much when he finally decided what to do with her. Nabooru knew, Ganondorf knew, everybody knew that he didn't have the heart to kill her, or send her to become an "experiment" for Koume and Kotake. Ganondorf needed to be rid of his outspoken cousin, but not TOO rid of her. Somewhere where her influence over the Gerudo would be kept quiet, but somewhere where they would not be able to forget about her.

That is… Ganondorf needed to use Nabooru's influence. It was the only way he could get the other Gerudo to follow him as blindly as he'd like them to. She needed to live so she could give orders… but not directly.

"Nabooru… you will be in charge of guarding the Spirit Temple," Ganondorf finally decided one day before an assembly of all the Gerudo.

"The Spirit Temple?" Nabooru wondered out loud. "It needs guarding?"

"Certainly," Ganondorf said in a tone of voice that suggested he thought otherwise. "It is the most sacred site of the Gerudo, dear cousin… I wouldn't dream of assigning a lesser woman to guard it."

"My lord, I must protest," Marya had said quickly, standing up but keeping her head low to him as she did. "Nabooru is one of our finest soldiers… If we are to wage this war against the Hylian Alliance, we mustn't keep her isolated from the rest of the troops."

"On the contrary," Ganondorf replied without so much as a pause, "I think Lady Nabooru's presence at the fortress will be detrimental to the… morale of the others."

Nabooru snorted. "As you wish," she said with a smirk.

Marya eyed her nephew, then turned her attention back to her daughter. She frowned slightly, and bowed again. "My lord… may Nabooru and I please be excused?"

"Yes," he sighed, turning his attention to the others in the room. "Now… as for the rest of you, our attack on Hyrule Castle will take place in three separate waves…"

"You've done it now, Nabooru…"

"Done what?" Nabooru frowned at her mother and crossed her arms.

Marya glared at her as she shut the door to her private bedroom behind them. "What did I tell you about being respectful to him? You failed the loyalty examination! He's not going to put up with your disobedience for long!"

"Ganondorf wouldn't dare harm me," Nabooru tossed her head cockily and folded her arms over her chest as she sank into a chair. "He knows better than that."

"Does he? You haven't noticed he's changed?" Marya glared at her daughter viciously. "For Din's sake, Nabs… You must obey him! Please! I don't know what's happened to him in the last few weeks to… to make him behave this rashly, but… Please. For your own safety, you mustn't egg him on!"

"I'm not egging him on, Mama," Nabooru said sharply. "I'm showing him that we won't stand for his behavior."

"The thing is, sweetie," Marya leaned on her dresser and stared worriedly at her, "They will. They will do whatever he says."

"Why?"

"It's been raised into them… It's been raised into him. He knows they will obey his every command, no matter how horrible…"

"You're telling me that we are the only two Gerudo in the whole fortress who can think for ourselves? Nobody else sees what he's doing is wrong? Nobody else can remember the code! You DO NOT KILL. You DO NOT STEAL FROM WOMEN OR CHILDREN!"

"I know that!" Marya sighed.

"I know that too, and so do the others! We CANNOT be the only ones who disagree with him! What about Aveil! Lena! They can't possibly…"

"Perhaps, Nabooru, but the difference between them and you is that they are keeping quiet about it."

"What good does that do!"

Nabooru stood up and kicked a chair in fury. "Why is he doing this anyway! Ganny's not like this! He knows… he knows better!"

"I know he does, baby… but we can't… don't do anything foolish, Nabooru, I'm begging you," Marya sighed, hugging her chest. "I think you'll be safer at the Spirit Temple than here… if you stay quiet, perhaps he'll forget about…"

"He'd better damn well not," Nabooru snapped. "He KNOWS what he's doing is wrong. And if he doesn't, I'm going to remind him."

"Nabooru, don't…"

"Why not!"

"You're just going to get yourself in deeper trouble than you already are."

"He's my cousin, Mother! I'm not going to let him ruin… ruin himself!"

Marya sighed heavily and blinked back what could have been tears. "Nabooru… please don't get yourself killed. I'm begging you. Be careful, please."

"I'll be careful, don't worry," Nabooru tossed her head. "It's just the Spirit Temple… we've been there with Ganny loads of times."

"There's more to it than that if you're going to be living there," Marya said sternly. "Stay out of the inner chambers. That temple was built to protect the ancient, sacred treasures of the Gerudo… there's things in there you wouldn't believe."

"What, monsters? Big deal," Nabooru tossed her head again, sending her ponytail flying in her face.

"I'm not talking about the monsters," Marya said quickly. "I'm talking about the old witches."

"Those hags?" Nabooru snorted and crossed her arms. "I'm not afraid of them. They're just a couple of short, wrinkled bags of bones."

"They are incredibly powerful. They taught Ganondorf everything he knows about sorcery," Marya reminded her sharply. "They have helped to care for him since he was a child. They are devoted to him and they too, will not take lightly to you disobeying him."

Nabooru faced her mother with a deadly serious look on her face. "I'm not going to let it slide, Mother. I will not abandon him to damning himself like this. You know the real Ganondorf would never forgive us if we did."

"I know… but please, please give it a rest for a little while?" Marya whispered with tears in her eyes. "I couldn't bear to see you hurt, Nabs. Please, just wait a little while for him to cool off before you do anything."

"I will, Mother."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

---

The Sacred Realm was more than a location. It was almost a separate kind of dimension. It was in Hyrule and yet it was apart, almost like a pocket of space that no ordinary person could reach. It was the place where the three goddesses hid the Triforce when they ascended back to the heavens after creating the world.

Historians and theologians suspected that there were several small gateways into the Sacred Realm, used by the Ancient Sages for quick and easy travel around the land. These gateways were supposedly represented by elaborately carved stone plates that rested on the ground near each of the six temples of the land. However, they had long ago lost their power and were nothing more than decorations now.

The one true gateway to the Sacred Realm was the Temple of Time, still standing in the decimated Hyrule Castle Town square. It served as a conduit between the Mortal and Sacred Realms, and it was one of the only places in Hyrule that the truly faithful could hear the voices of the spirits echoing from the other side.

There were only a few mortals in the world rumored to have passed between the worlds.

The first of them was Ganondorf, who had descended into the Sacred Realm in order to take the Triforce in the first place.

The second, according to popular legend, was the Hero of Time—a legendary hero who could manipulate the barriers of time and space in the Sacred Realm to travel back and forth through the time stream.

The third, and the subject of much debate, were the Sages. As long as their respective temples were cleansed of evil and the spirits within could hear their calls, the Sages were able to pass between the sacred barrier and back and forth between the two realms.

But for the strongest connection to the Hero of Time, for the easiest transfer of power to his body and his blade, the Sages remained in the Sacred Realm during times of trial.

However, the Sages were unique in that they could somehow exist in both worlds at once. Though their bodies remained beyond the barrier, channeling power from the Chamber of Sages, their souls and their senses and their minds could still exist in Hyrule. They could see, hear, and touch things in the Mortal Realm without any effort at all.

---

And that's how Impa could theoretically hear and understand him as he prayed to the dark altar in his tower, kneeling before a flame and reciting the ancient mantras in his most treasured spellbooks.

"Great Din, Lady of Flame, Golden Goddess of Power, I beseech you. Guide me in my pursuits, bless me with your grace, pity my weak mortal soul and grant me your favor…"

Ganondorf sprinkled a handful of dust on the sconce, creating a brief flicker of light and a wisp of smoke rising from the flame.

"Great Din, Lady of Flame, Golden Goddess of Power, I offer my blood in your honor. Drink of my blood, accept my sacrifice, find me worthy of your gifts and provide me with your infinite knowledge…"

He picked up a dagger from alongside the many open books, and drew the blade across the inside of his arm. Holding it over the flame, he rose slowly to his feet and pulsed his fist, dripping a steady stream of blood into the fire.

The flames sparked, flickered, and began to roar. They morphed from the normal orange to a deep red and darkened to purple, casting indigo light across the chamber and illuminating his face.

"Great Din, Lady of Flame, Golden Goddess of Power, Patroness of the Triforce of Power, I am your humble servant. My most gracious praises to you and your divine sisters… I ask as your eternal slave, my lady, allow me to partake in your wisdom. Find me worthy, my lady; tell me where the other Sacred Triangles rest… Show me their carriers! Show me where Princess Zelda is hiding! Great Farore, Golden Goddess of Courage… tell me who carries your power in the Mortal Realm!"

The flames roared higher than ever, creating a vacuous wind that turned the pages of the books around him and he kneeled lower to keep from being drawn in himself. Ganondorf breathed heavily, closing his eyes to receive the forthcoming vision.

A child stood in the middle of a field… Hyrule Field. A white horse carrying a woman and another child ran by. A man on a black horse appeared…

Then the children were covered in shadow, and red eyes with Sheikah tattoos opened from the darkness.

What? A Sheikah?

Pale hands reached from the shadows and suddenly, he could feel them on his shoulders. He flinched at their touch—ethereal, almost imagined, but warm… very warm. They slid down his shoulders and up his neck to cradle his face, and the body the hands belonged to was suddenly kneeling before him, lifting his head.

Ganondorf opened his mouth to utter something, but stopped himself. Speaking would stop the spell… Interrupt the vision. He must keep his eyes closed and stay quiet.

Lips brushed his forehead— he inhaled shortly as he realized what was going on. Purple flames… shadows…

His eyes opened and the sconce burst, the flames erupting in a final flash of heat and light, then extinguishing into themselves and leaving nothing but coals in the sconce.

But in the split second before the flames vanished, he could see her. She was only a silhouette, a ghostly figure in the shadows that had stopped his vision and interrupted his ritual to the goddesses.

Such interruption could only be the powers of a Sage.

---

Yes… yes, I knew that part.

Ganondorf was acting strangely and I was worried…

Mother told me to be careful. But I…

Why am I here?

That day…

Link was there… but he went into the temple, and… that day…

He found me… Oh… Oh merciful Din, he found me.

My memory… I can remember that…

---

The sand was hot and absolutely miserable, the way it sank around her to fill in and create a perfect mold of her body. It flowed into her mouth and almost her nose, but she had the foresight to stop screaming before that point. No matter how hard she struggled it was heavy and gritty, pressing her down—further and further she sank into its grip, well aware of the black magic taking her deeper and deeper…

The next thing she knew she was back inside the Spirit Temple. Her eyes opened wearily and closed almost immediately—the only light in the room was a brightly burning torch off to one side and her head ached something terrible.

"She's awake, Koume."

"I can see that, Kotake."

"You!" Nabooru burst out, knowing precisely who the voices in the shadows belonged to, even if she couldn't see them. Her mouth and throat were dry and parched and her skin gritty and chapped from her capture in the sand. She sat up—or tried to, anyway, finding her wrists and ankles bound to the altar on which she laid. "Ah!"

"Don't struggle too hard, pretty one," Koume said softly.

"T'would be a shame to work your lovely body into a tizzy," Kotake finished for her.

"Shut up!" Nabooru was quite annoyed, glaring daggers at the witches who'd put a stop to her plans. "Who do you think you are, doing this to me? If I get out of these binds, you rotting old bints—"

"We saw you in the temple with a child," Koume rasped.

"We heard you plot with him to steal the sacred treasures," Kotake added. "You are a traitor."

"A traitor? I, Nabooru the Lone Wolf? Don't be absurd!" Nabooru snapped. "What you heard was me performing my assigned duties! I'm in charge of protecting the temple from outsiders. That child was a foolish explorer and nothing more, and I took care of him as required!"

"Desperate falsities, Lady Nabooru," Kotake's voice echoed through the darkness. "Outright lies. We saw him enter our chambers. We are aware of your depressingly moral policies towards our people's ways…"

"But we cannot conceive any self-respecting Gerudo thief allowing the tainted presence of a male Hylian child in our sacred temple," Koume concluded with a touch of disgust in her voice. "The Silver Gauntlets are gone."

So the kid had gotten all the way through… what a little trooper, Nabooru thought off-handedly, while the other side of her mind got to work formulating an excuse for this.

"Were I not so concerned with protecting myself from the crones with whom I share the temple, I would not have slipped up in my guard duty," Nabooru replied airily.

"You arrogant little whore!"

"How DARE you speak to us that way?"

"And how DARE you accuse me of treason! You old bags have the nerve to approach me, the flesh and blood of the King of Thieves, and accuse me of plotting against him? If Ganondorf heard you carrying on like this-"

"Oh, cousin, lying is so unbecoming of a woman of your stature."

As though confirming her fears, another torch lit up and the silhouette of her cousin entered her field of vision, his eyes blank and a disconcerting smile on his face. By his side and finally visible stood the two witches Twinrova, Koume in red and Kotake in blue, both holding their broomsticks at attention like soldiers in the royal guard.

"I'm sorry to have had to take you this way, my dear… but you know I have a tendency to lose my temper when I learn unsettling bits of information like this," Ganondorf's voice was dripping with sympathy—false sympathy and she could tell it just by looking at him.

His eyes were slowly sparking into a dangerous fire, and Nabooru had a sinking feeling this is what her mother had begged her to avoid. "Ganondorf, you're letting them treat me this way!"

"I've ordered it, Nabooru. You're a traitor," Ganondorf said darkly.

"You don't really think that, do you?" her mouth fell open in shock and she took in a few short breaths.

"It's a shame, Nabooru…" Ganondorf approached her, lifting his hand and tilting the altar… no… a slab, upright so she could look at him. "Of all people in our tribe, I thought that you… you were really the only one I could always trust."

"You're joking! You ought to trust me rather than those shriveled hags!" Nabooru cried out. "Ganondorf, you don't honestly think I'd betray you? I would never betray you! I would never be disloyal to you!"

"Stop your filthy lies," Ganondorf seethed at her. "Or have you forgotten your unfortunate failure in my loyalty inquisition? Koume and Kotake have proven themselves far more trustworthy to me than you."

"You believe them!" Nabooru burst out, half-appalled and half scared out of her mind. "G-Ganny, you honestly can't—"

"I am your king, you ungrateful little bitch," he interrupted her in a deep growl. "I am your king and you shall address me as such!"

Nabooru had never once addressed Ganondorf as her superior. Not once.

There was a long moment of silence as she mulled this over, swallowing heavily and staring in disbelief. Ganondorf merely continued smiling at her and made a vague motion with his hand. "Koume, Kotake, if you would, please… prepare that which we discussed earlier."

"Yes, my lord," they said in unison and vanished, leaving the King of Thieves alone with his second-in-command.

For the first time, Nabooru felt herself growing frightened not for her cousin, but of him. This was the first time she had been face-to-face with him… Not the bright-eyed young boy in the archery field, tackling her and taking the last flag for himself. Not the silent shape in the darkness, barely making a whimper as she cleaned the blood from his wounds.

This man… he was the King of Thieves. The legendary Gerudo lord who'd slain the King of Hyrule and planned within weeks to take the rest of Hyrule along with his throne. This man slaughtered innocents to perform his own bidding.

She'd never think for a second to betray her beloved cousin, to plot around his ambitions and to renege on his trust in her. And she most certainly would not cower before him or shiver in fear at the thought of his wrath.

But this man, this King of Thieves, was an entirely different animal.

She backed as far against the slab as she could and never taking her eyes off him as he came closer.

"You can't be serious…" she let out in almost a whimper. "You can't be…"

"I suggest you answer everything I ask you to, Nabooru, for your own sake," Ganondorf threatened. "And if you lie to me, you won't believe how angry I can become and how much it's going to hurt you when I do. May I count on you going about this the easy way?"

She didn't reply, instead staring at him defiantly.

"Answer me."

She remained silent until he lifted his hand and unceremoniously backhanded her, sending her reeling and jolting to the side until her chains stopped her and she caught herself, wincing at the pain and stumbling back to her feet.

"Care to test me again?" Ganondorf leaned towards her, placing one arm on each side of her to trap her into looking straight into his eyes.

Nabooru faced him with the same disgust in her expression, breathing heavily and ignoring the red mark on her face. She mustn't cry… she mustn't touch the mark… Defiance wouldn't let her.

"If you think I'll spare you because you're my family, you're sadly mistaken again, Nabooru," Ganondorf warned her viciously. "On the contrary, I'm more than willing to bring you into a world of pain like you've never imagined. Now address me."

"Ganny," Nabooru spat.

She cried out as he grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled, hard. "Who am I?"

"Ganondorf!" she squirmed in his grip.

"My title, you arrogant worm."

"Lord Ganondorf," she finally sneered, struggling to move away until he finally released her.

"You will tell me the truth, won't you, Nabooru?"

"Yes, my lord," she snarled sarcastically.

Oddly enough, he seemed to accept this small victory and backed away from her, pacing slowly in and out of the torchlight across the room. "Now, according to the witches Twinrova, there were… strange goings-on in the Spirit Temple today. Perhaps you could help me to clear up this nasty little rumor. It seems there was a boy in the temple?"

"Just a child. A small child, couldn't have been older than ten," Nabooru replied hurriedly.

"A Gerudo child?"

"No, a Hylian. A young boy," she grew intensely nervous at the thought of what might happen if Ganondorf managed to pinpoint the identity of the bright-eyed kid who'd so boldly questioned her there in the foyer of the Spirit Temple. The boy she'd gotten to know in his short visit…

"Ah, I see," Ganondorf nodded as though this cleared something up for him. "But why was he there?"

"All young boys have thirst for adventure. You must understand the feeling," Nabooru replied casually. "I don't think it was too long ago you were a boy yourself, exploring as far into the Spirit Temple as you could go."

"Hm," Ganondorf smirked at her. "But I am the King of Thieves, Nabooru, and you are my first mate. The blood of the desert courses through our bodies. You and I have a right to be inside the sacred temple of our Gerudo ancestors. But a filthy Hylian child has no such right… in fact; his very presence there was something of an abomination against the Goddess of the Sand."

"So I've come to understand," she smiled, still as calm as she could possibly sound given the circumstances.

"Indeed… Curious, though, how a child that young could even reach the temple. How did he get through the desert?"

"I don't know," she mumbled quietly.

"How did a child that age survive the Haunted Wasteland?"

"I don't know. I ran into him inside, I didn't see him come."

"You are responsible for placing troops at the entrance to the Colossus, Nabooru. Where were your troops?"

"I sent them away."

"And why ever would you do such a thing?" Ganondorf's voice had adopted a dramatic tone of utter disbelief.

"I didn't want anyone else involved in what I was doing," Nabooru went on unabashedly.

"I see," Ganondorf drifted off. "Let's come back to that in a moment. I want to know more about this child… What was his name?"

"I didn't get his name," Nabooru snapped quickly. The very last thing she needed was Link getting dragged into all this business with Ganondorf himself. As long as he had the Silver Gauntlets, there was a chance he could carry out her wishes by himself…

"You spoke with him for quite a while. And you did not get his name?"

"No," Nabooru was vaguely aware of her pulse quickening as his voice and his words got more and more wicked. "You act as though I befriended the boy. I merely caught him trying to sneak into the temple and told him to leave."

"So you did tell him to leave?" Ganondorf sounded shocked.

"Yes. I told him the temple was no place for kids and told him to buzz off."

"Ah, truly dutiful of you, my dear cousin. And if it had ended here, I may have been a bit more relaxed when Twinrova told me the news. But it didn't end here, Nabooru… Somehow, that child ended up slipping past your guard and breaking into the inner sanctum of the temple."

"Yes," she replied without hesitation.

"And you told him about the Silver Gauntlets?" Ganondorf had placed a patronizing bounce in his voice, drawing back towards her with a very plain expression.

"Yes."

"And told him to get them for you?"

"Yes."

"Dear… my dear, dear cousin…"

Ganondorf stood before her, his arms crossed impatiently but his voice still carrying a calm and practiced lilt, an eerie lilt that made his words several times worse than they would have been without it. "I'm afraid I really don't understand what in the world you could have been thinking. Why would you ever think I'd be stupid enough to place you in that temple without proper supervision? Why would you ever believe I would miss something like this happening behind my back?"

"I suppose I didn't mind if I got caught," Nabooru replied haughtily.

"You've always been a brave girl, Nabooru. Remarkably stupid and arrogant, but brave to the very last," Ganondorf smiled at her and drew closer, leaning against the slab again and speaking softly into her ear. "On the other hand, I suppose I too, was stupid in assuming that even after all your past belligerence, even after your proof of disloyalty and your tendency to do foolish things in the name of morality, I was willing to forget about that and trust you enough to give you the position of my closest lieutenant."

"Don't worry, Ganny, you're not the only one to have made a dumb mistake," Nabooru whispered right back. "I was stupid in accepting your offer."

"And why do you say that?" he seemed to be almost daring her to speak her mind.

"Because I'm not like you. I may be arrogant and a fool, but I'm not so weak as to be dragged into assisting the murder of innocents in a pointless war for the sake of your vanity," Nabooru hissed, eyes boring furiously into his. "I broke the taboo. I let a child into the temple and I sent him to steal the sacred treasures for me, and I'd do it again, a thousand times, if given the chance. And if I had those Gauntlets on my arms right now, I'd break out of these chains and take your life without a second thought."

"You would betray your people, your position and your reputation all in an attempt to betray your own flesh and blood?" Ganondorf's voice was rising.

"No. But I'd do it all in a heartbeat to kill a monster like you."

There was a short moment of silence, broken first by the sound of the door opening at the far end of the room and second by a pointed sigh from Ganondorf.

"I see… I'm sorry you feel that way, Nabooru. Unfortunate…"

A tall silhouette appeared behind him, and a quiet giggle filled the darkness. "May I proceed, my lord?" a sultry feminine voice asked hopefully.

"Who is that?" Nabooru said suddenly, squinting to see through the shadows.

He ignored her question and shook his head sadly, his voice now laced with poison and loathing. "Unfortunate indeed. Despite my better judgment, I truly wanted to keep you around, Nabooru. My dearest friend, my sister, my cousin… I suppose it would be futile to ask you to reconsider? After all… You once swore to always support me. In the dead quiet of the night, in the darkness of my room, you swore to always be there for me…"

"I made that promise to the boy on that cot, the bleeding, miserable boy who sought to rule his people with love and liberty, Ganondorf," Nabooru felt tears stinging in the corner of her eyes. "The boy who wouldn't think for a second to take a life…"

"Are you still going on about that?" Ganondorf finally lost his temper and Nabooru flinched at the sudden rise of volume, though she had been expecting it for quite some time. "I should think that you of all people, Nabooru, would understand the intensity of my feelings towards that man! That king, his people! They took everything from me… absolutely everything!"

"Everything? Your mother, your dignity, your beloved outsider woman? Oh yes, quite a loss, but what about your people? Your family, Mother and I? And what of yourself?" Nabooru snapped. "These things are still here, Ganondorf, and you're the one risking them in the name of glory and power!"

She had barely taken in a gasp of air when a hand wrapped around her throat, an iron fist squeezing and cutting off her breathing. Seething yellow eyes bore into her, and a golden light from the back of his hand threatened to blind her with its brilliance.

"Don't talk to me about power, you insignificant little whore…" he snarled furiously. "You don't know the meaning, you haven't the vaguest inkling of what it means to have power…"

"Wh-" she choked and squirmed to escape his grasp, eyeing the light on his hand with shock.

"Power is not the ability to control yourself, not the strength of your swordplay or the influence you hold over others," Ganondorf breathed down her neck, lifting her off the ground and pressing her harder back into the slab. "Power is not ruling a people or making decisions that turn the tides of fate…"

Nabooru screamed suddenly as the female shape in the shadows released the lock on the slab and it fell backwards, flattening back into the altar it had begun as. She made an attempt to kick away her cousin's vicious assault but realized, with terror, the binds on her legs were tightening, squeezing hard enough to leave marks on her skin.

Ganondorf held her down, pressing her firmly against the stone with the force of his full weight, though only his hand and trembling fingers remained wrapped around her throat. She cried out again as the binds on her hands tightened enough to draw blood, leaving her helpless to whatever it was Ganondorf and that woman were planning.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, "Get the hell away from me! If you do anything to me—"

"No, no, my dear, that's not power either… Power mocks the very notion you take it for; the ability to take down an innocent man in the back alleys of the market and force him into procreating with you—it mocks the way I could do the very same to you if I felt like it, right now," Ganondorf stroked her hair in a way that made a chill of disgust run down her spine. "Power… power is much greater than ridiculous human wants like lust and violence…"

The room was getting brighter, more torches drawing in closer to the altar and the shape in the shadows becoming more and more clear. A tall woman, obviously Gerudo, oddly luminescent hair parted perfectly in two halves above her elaborate headpiece…

"The power I speak of is the very power of the gods. The ability to create, elaborate, downscale and destroy on a whim. To raise mountains and carve canyons, to draw rivers and widen lakes, to create life in the trees, the animals, the people… and to take them away just as easily. This is the power that was promised to me ever since I was a child… Since the day I was born into this anomaly, this cursed freak of nature, this body, everyone has told me of this supposed power of mine. I am the Gerudo Lord… the birth of a new bloodline, the chosen son of the Sand Goddess, the mighty King of Thieves… but no one has ever been able to give me this promised power. I lacked any power at all… I was nothing but a weak child treated as a god, yet unable to use my power for any significant purpose and especially not for my own personal happiness."

Nabooru's breathing had quickened as she was well aware something was going to happen to her. There was energy in the air, a strong energy that seemed to be flowing from Ganondorf, his presence and his words and into everything else. That light… the light was the source, but what in the gods' name was it?

Ganondorf lightened his grip on her throat and drew a finger up her throat and chin instead, as though examining her. He brushed a few strands of ruby hair out of her eyes and continued to speak.

"Since I was a child, I had realized this weakness of mine, this void where my supposed godhood was absent… I wondered constantly who would be the one to finally give me this power. My mother could not… nor could Marya. Nor could you, Nabooru, or any of the other Gerudo. All the wisest leaders of the races couldn't give it to me. Even Harkinian, the king of all kings, the ruler of all Hyrule as we knew it was helpless and could not give me what I sought. I finally realized, when I tried and failed to use this power of mine to save her… the one person I wanted more than anything else in the world… that nobody could give me this power. If I wanted it, I had to take it. And until I laid my hands on the Triforce, Nabooru… there was a feeling of helplessness, a terrible trapped helplessness, like I was locked away in the dark far away from light or love or anyone who could possibly help me…"

"The Triforce?" Nabooru inhaled suddenly, as the final puzzle piece clicked into place. "Th… Oh Din… holy shit, Ganondorf, you didn't…"

He smiled at her beatifically and wrapped his hand around her chin, his thumb forcing her head to tilt back and look him straight in the eyes. "Yes… I took it, my dear… And let me tell you, Nabooru… this power is wonderful…"

"You monster… You MONSTER!" Nabooru screamed. "You've damned us all! Every last one of us, you stupid, STUPID idiot! How could you… how could you be so stupid! Do you know what happens when a mortal touches the Triforce? Do you understand what you've done, you fool!"

"No, Nabooru, it is you who does not understand," Ganondorf snarled. "You've never known what it feels like to be a prisoner… you couldn't possibly understand the feeling of finally breaking free of your chains and seeing the world, unsullied by illusions and lies, the true face of the world for the first time… You poor, ignorant little girl. Perhaps you would allow me to help you understand?"

"If you kill me," Nabooru roared suddenly, "I swear to Din, Ganondorf, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. I'll come back from the grave to make you regret it…"

"Of course I won't kill you," Ganondorf assured her with a cruel smile. "I only wish to make you see… Perhaps, when you understand, we can go back to living like old times my dear, my friend… my sister."

"You are no brother of mine and never will be!" Nabooru screamed, cut off as he forced her mouth open with his thumb.

The woman in the shadows stepped forward, a beautiful and ageless sorceress and obviously some form of the ancient witches. She smiled and lifted a glass vial, thin and filled with some unknown liquid.

It was hot. It stung and tasted bitter as it slid past Nabooru's lips and down her throat, sending a terrible nausea and dizziness through her body as she coughed.

"When you wake up, Nabooru… you will understand," Ganondorf's voice was the last thing she heard as she slipped into a daze, a permanent daze that she would never wake from. "Sleep well, my dear… and dream of your freedom."

---

But what happened after that?

… nothing… nothing's happened…

I'm still… I'm still asleep.

Dreams… but they aren't dreams, they're memories… this was my life, I'm still… still sleeping…

She wriggled in her armor, truly feeling the weight and the sweat and the heat for the first time. She could hear voices… aged voices, the voices of those witches around her, voices that had ordered her around for ages… at least as long as she'd been asleep.

But she wasn't dreaming anymore. For the first time in years, she could see, hear, smell and feel. She was aware where she was and what was happening. She could not take the final step out of the dream, however, and could not control what she was doing.

But she could hear… really, for the first time, she could hear.

A door slammed open and a short figure rushed inside, robes rustling around her small frame. "Kotake!"

"Yes, Koume?"

"He's here!"

"What?"

The Ice Sorceress dropped the spellbook she'd been perusing and leapt to her feet, spinning towards her twin with terrified suspicion in her voice. "What do you mean he's here?"

"The Hero of Time."

"WHAT!"

"The Hero of Time is within our temple," Koume said in a tone that was not the least bit amused.

"Hohoho, sister, fear not," Kotake chuckled. "He is but a scrawny young man. Our temple is laden with traps and our little pets. And if he gets lucky enough to make it past those, one of the Iron Knuckles will destroy him."

"That's just it, sister," Koume interrupted her. "He has evaded the traps and killed our little pets. He has also destroyed the Iron Knuckles."

"WHAT! All of them?"

"Yes, he has destroyed all of them."

"That is not possible. He could not have gotten to them. This side of the temple is sealed from the main chamber. There is no way he could have broken our seal!" Kotake huffed,

"He appears to be wearing the Silver Gauntlets, which are more than capable of breaking that seal," Koume continued to be the bearer of bad news. "He waltzed right past our seal and into the inner sanctum, destroying all of our lovely Iron Knuckles as well as helping himself to the remaining sacred treasure, our lovely Mirror Shield. He is on his way to this chamber as we speak."

"Ridiculous," Kotake grumbled. "Why would the boy be coming here? He knows not of our presence."

"He is not searching for us, sort to speak," Koume hissed. "Do you hear the voices of the ancients echoing through the temple? Do you hear them crying out? They are searching for the Sage of Spirit, and the Hero of Time has come to help them find her."

There was a long moment of silence as both witches eyed the silent suit of armor seated on its throne.

"He is but a boy…" Kotake was still trying to argue.

"He is a Hero of Time, and there are five Sages channeling power to him as we speak!" Koume hissed. "Do you know what will happen if he awakens the girl?"

"Six Sages," Kotake filled in the blanks, under her breath. "Enough to fill out a rather terrible prophecy."

"'One will rise to oppose him from where he least expects it, and if the Sages are united, he will fall from grace and lose everything,'" Koume recited. The old witches had heard the prophecy themselves many times throughout their spells and divinations for the sake of their grandson. "What shall we do, Kotake?"

"We have no choice, Koume! We will end that boy here, in this room…"

"You suggest we fight him?" Koume sounded horrified. "He is no mere boy, Kotake!"

"We shall not fight him, Koume. Our minion will," Kotake gestured over her shoulder to the Iron Knuckle.

"We have not yet administered our new potion to her!" Koume warned. "She is still loose of our spell! Ordering her into battle now could be disastrous! She could turn on US!"

"We haven't the time to worry about such things!" Kotake hissed. "We shall order our minion to destroy him, and should the unlikely occur and she be released, we shall take her and leave before she can be fully awakened."

"And leave that boy running around in our temple?" Koume burst out.

"We are the witches Twinrova, Koume!" Kotake snapped. "We will deal with him ourselves should it come to that, and he will be SORRY if we must be the ones to take him out… We shall utterly destroy him and secure a future for our lord."

"I hope you're right, Kotake," Koume still looked uneasy, even more so as from outside came the sound of a chain lowering from the ceiling, and footsteps approaching the chamber door. "The hero is already here!"

"Get into position, Koume," Kotake said calmly. "We shall put this boy in his place, one way or another."

---

The pair were silent as the door slid open and Link stepped into a dimly lit room, fairly similar to several of the other chambers he'd encountered inside the temple. Stone columns lined a red carpet leading to another stone throne, upon which sat the most elaborate Iron Knuckle the young hero had yet seen.

And on either side of the throne stood a pair of elderly witches, short, shriveled and ancient, each holding a broomstick in her gnarled fingers.

"It looks like we have a guest, Koume," Kotake said, glancing over her shoulder at the intruder.

"Looks like it, Kotake," Koume replied, glancing over her shoulder as well.

"What an outrageous fellow he is to intrude so boldly into our temple!" Kotake said incredulously.

"We should teach him a lesson…" Koume echoed.

"Cut the theatrics, hags," Link said suddenly, pointing his sword in their direction. "I'm here for the Spirit Sage!"

"Trust us, boy, we know," Kotake hissed in annoyance, turning around to face him. "What an obnoxious boy you are!"

"We've heard of your attempts against our lord," Koume turned around seconds later, her voice irked to match her sister's. "Seen your handiwork, destroying the creatures he worked so hard to create and bring to life…"

"Word gets around fast," Link said casually. "But you'll get to see for yourselves if you don't let her go."

"Let who go?" the witches giggled in unison.

"Nabooru. I saw you take her, seven years ago," Link's voice was laced with poison. "She's a good girl… and I won't allow you to harm her any longer."

"Seven years ago?" the witches echoed.

"Oh… Kotake!" Koume burst into laughter. "Don't you recognize him?"

"The green clothes and the blond hair, Koume?"

"Yes… I do believe we're facing the outrageous little boy who intruded so boldly into our temple all those years ago!"

The witches burst into laughter, high pitched cackles that echoed eerily throughout the room and made Link cringe at the shrillness.

Kotake brushed white hair from her face and spat viciously, "My, how time changes things! He's grown taller and his face has lost all that baby fat!"

"But time can't change everything," Koume chuckled, repeating the same motion. "He's still scrawny, still a runt, and still too weak to do anything useful…"

"Stupid, too," Kotake snorted. "You honestly expect that we'd have left that traitorous bint alive after all these years?"

"If you're looking for the Sage of Spirit, you ought to start in a sand dune outside," Koume added wickedly.

"She'll still be there. Mummified by now."

"The sand sucked all the moisture from her pretty little skin."

"You're bluffing. She's alive and I know it," Link shook his head and took a few steps forward, weapons still drawn. "I can feel it. And you will let her go, witches, or I'll force you to."

"It is a shame you'll have come so far only to fall dead before us, Hero of Time," Koume smiled evilly.

"Yes, five out of six Sages? Not bad work at all, Hero. We commend you for your perseverance, truly… an admirable attempt," Kotake concluded.

There was an eerie moment of silence as they stared each other down.

"However…" the witches said suddenly.

Koume waved her hands and her body was suddenly engulfed in magic, her hair erupting into flames and her broomstick lighting up with the red light of her element. "You are a fool to think you can overthrow the Great Ganondorf, boy."

Kotake's magic wreathed her hair in a frigid blast of mist and ice, blue light covering her broomstick and her body. "Even with the aid of your ridiculous Sages and that worthless little sword. What do your people call it? The Master Sword?"

"That toy is a thumbtack compared to the power of Ganondorf, the Great King of Evil!" Koume cackled.

"And we shall not allow our lord to fall into oblivion because of a weak child like you!" Kotake added.

Link made a move as though to charge them, but stopped as suddenly, the Iron Knuckle rose from her throne and stepped forward.

"We'll leave you to play with our little minion, Hero," Koume said as she vanished in a burst of fire.

"We do hope you'll enjoy her company… she's quite a charmer," Kotake concluded, vanishing in a burst of her own ice.

An axe materialized out of thin air and fell into the Iron Knuckle's hands, and she began to approach him with her order sinking clearly into what existed of her mind.

KILL HIM.

Nabooru was helpless but to watch from her newly conscious state as her body willed itself into attack, swinging and lunging her tremendous axe at the agile young man as he ducked behind columns and barely missed being chopped in half.

"Link be CAREFUL! This isn't your ordinary Iron Knuckle!" Navi shrilled from over his shoulder. Link gave a determined nod and didn't take his eyes off her for a second, examining her and her armor, planning his strikes, where the blade could do the most damage.

KILL HIM.

Link…

Is that you, Link?

Yes, it's him… damn, look at how that kid's grown! Look at how he moves… much more impressive than that tiny little guy slashing away at those Armos in the main chamber…

The Master Sword's blade glanced off her armor and nearly threw Link off balance, though he recovered in time to duck under a vicious strike aimed directly for his head. The Iron Knuckle followed through with a punch, but Link was barely able to block it with the gauntlets on his arms, gleaming silver…

"This one's not getting hurt! It's like the Master Sword can't cut through her armor like it could the other ones!" Link backed off as fast as he could, even as the Iron Knuckle continued her mindless march towards him.

"I said it's not an ordinary one! I don't understand what could be different about it… The other Iron Knuckles were suits of armor animated by the soul of a Gerudo who was imprisoned in it until she died, but this one…" Navi tried to reason her way through the strange signals her magic kept giving her. "It's almost as though…"

---

"See, these Gauntlets… They'll allow even a little guy like you to push huge objects and throw them around like they're made of paper."

"Really?"

"I ain't messing with you. You must notice that huge wall blocking the eastern passage… it's a seal, but the Silver Gauntlets can break that seal."

"Why are you telling me this? Why should I trust you?"

"What makes you say something like that, kid? Didn't your parents ever teach you to respect your elders?"

"You're a Gerudo, just like Ganondorf…"

"Kid, you've got a lot to learn about people… Ganondorf and I are nothing alike. I'm gonna give it to you straight… I want those Silver Gauntlets so I can get into the eastern side of the temple where his subordinates live, and figure out what they're up to. If you crawl through this little hole for me, run inside and get those Gauntlets, I'll do you a favor."

"Just a favor? Lady, there's gotta be hoards of monsters in there…"

"I'll make it a really good favor, all right? … Oh, jeez, don't look at me like that, kid! You're too young for me! I'd request you wait a few years before I repaid you like that."

"I'm not exactly sure I know what you're talking about."

"Well, good… All for the best then. You'll get it when you're older. So what do you say, do we have a deal?"

"Yes… deal."

"Excellent… smart kid… I didn't catch your name."

"Link. My name's Link."

"Good. Smart kid, Link… I'm Nabooru. And for the time being, we're in this together…"

---

Link eyed the creature with a sudden realization, gritting his teeth.

"She's still alive in there."

"What?"

"I don't know, but I have a sinking suspicion I know who she is… How do I get her out of there?" Link asked, circling between pillars to impede the monster's progress towards him.

"That's really dangerous, Link… this isn't your average spell you can just break without consequences. You could accidentally kill her trying to release her from magic this powerful!"

"I know, I know, but we don't have a choice! Tell me where her weak points are, where the magic is most powerfully binding her?"

"I don't know!" Navi said with frustration. "I can't… If you give me a minute I can try to pinpoint where the armor is connecting to her, but…"

There was a slamming noise and the sound of stones hitting stone, as Link barely snagged Navi and pulled her out of the way in time to miss another deadly axe strike, so powerful it destroyed the column they'd been standing behind.

"A little haste there, Navi!" Link broke into a run across the room to give them more time to figure things out.

"Her helmet!" the fairy screamed. "Try her helmet! Knock it off!"

"I'm on it!" Link crouched like a cat and waited for the Iron Knuckle to turn and face him again, then sprang into a full run, dropping his sword arm down below his knees for the proper leverage…

The Iron Knuckle raised her axe and was seconds away from bringing it down and embedding it in Link's ribs for the fatal blow…

Then there came the sound of metal striking metal and something hit the floor behind the Iron Knuckle, followed by the louder sound of an axe dropping out of armored hands.

This light…

Nabooru gasped in horror at the sudden brightness, striking her wide-open eyes suddenly enough to cause physical pain to her. The cool, stale air of the temple room hit her in the face as hard as an avalanche and she stumbled.

This feeling…

Magic was emptying from her body, draining out from her shoulders, arms, hands, fingertips, legs, feet and toes. A stagnant heart started to beat again, coursing suddenly warm blood through every inch of her and her senses returned in full force.

No longer held together by magic, the aged straps of her armor began to snap. Her shoulder pieces went limp and slipped down, dragging the arm and gauntlet pieces with it and clanging to the floor. Her chest piece and waist guards were soon to follow and she tripped suddenly, stepping out of her boots and stumbling to the ground… oh, the ground, she could touch it and feel it…

She lay motionless on the floor of the temple, catching fresh air in her weary lungs and trembling, shivering in the cold. Her body was drenched with sweat and she was quite a sight… her lovely pink silk clothes wrinkled and stained, her skin pale and clammy and her hair in a terrible knot. Weak fingers clutched at the stone floor and tears leaked from her eyes when she began to realize…

She was awake. She was awake, she could see… hear, feel, smell and taste… she could think! Memories came flooding back to her, more memories than the turbulent ones she'd experienced the past several hours.

"Oh my gods! Look, you were right!" a high-pitched voice let out.

"Nabooru! Oh gods, Nabooru, are you all right?"

Touch… human hands. Fine young fingers, pale and white grasped her shoulders and lifted her to sit up off the floor. She clutched with her own hands and clung to the body that lifted her, wrapping her arms around it and holding it close, feeling warmth, softness, the only warmth and softness she'd known since… since seven years ago. Tears coursed freely down her face and her voice was moaning of its own accord, weakened, worn out from disuse, but at last she found words. Other words besides his name and the threats she'd scream upon remembering what he'd done…

"Link?" she coughed. "Link, is it really…"

He was still scrawny, she noted, his teenage body quite devoid of any impressive amount of muscle. Kind blue eyes looked into hers as he lifted her face with concern. "Are you all right?"

"Do I damn well look all right?" Nabooru snapped, though she didn't really want to sound cruel.

"Link, give her a break! She's got to be terribly weak!"

"Oh, jeez, here…" Gloved hands placed a glass bottle in hers and helped her lift it to her lips. "Drink this. You'll be all right, just have a little potion…"

It tasted warm, like hot soup but with an oddly sweet herbal flavor that slid down easy, much easier than the last sip of potion the witches gave her. As it sank into her body she could feel herself becoming more energized, and her breathing slowed back to a normal pace.

"I'm glad you're all right," Link said calmly. "We were worried about you."

"We?" Nabooru's head was still spinning and she didn't feel she could really think straight yet.

"We… the Sages. And Navi and me, too. We saw the witches take you under the sand, and… frankly, we thought you were dead."

"I feel like I was dead," she moaned, clutching her forehead. "Wait… the witches… oh Din where are the witches?"

"They left… they'll be back, I'm sure, but they think you're ripping me limb from limb right now," Link smiled uneasily. "We've got to get you out of here so they won't take you again."

"Like hell they'll take me again!" Nabooru burst out, allowing Link to help her stand up but quickly falling back to her knees. "No way… I'll never… never, never, they won't do it…"

"Sadly mistaken again, Nabooru."

With simultaneous voices and two bursts of magic, the witches reappeared in the room, hovering near the ceiling on their brooms and looking extremely annoyed.

Nabooru let out a quiet scream and Link stood, drawing his weapons again. "Leave her the hell alone…"

"Oh, how annoying!" Koume cursed. "Do you know how long it took to tune her exactly to Ganondorf's specifications?"

"Now you've ruined her!" Kotake added. "It will take AGES for us to spin that spell again!"

"DAMN YOU TO HELL!" Nabooru screamed. "YOU WON'T HAVE ME AGAIN, YOU HAGS! NEVER!"

"Never is a strong word, little girl," Koume threatened.

"You'll see what such arrogant confidence will get you," Kotake added.

Two glints of light, one red and one blue were suddenly shining in the corners of Nabooru's eyes, and with a strength she hadn't known she had at the moment, she sprang to her feet and sped towards the chamber door, desperate for escape. Her legs were still weak and her body didn't have the energy to take her far, but she stumbled and was just close enough…

"NABOORU!" Link screamed behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder for just a second.

Suddenly, her body was engulfed in light and there was the feeling of flying away, out through the ceiling of the temple, out of the desert… out of the world.

---

Good morning, cousin… lovely to speak to you again.

You were right about one thing all those years ago, Ganny. I didn't understand, but now I do… I understand everything. I've finally awoken.

I understand that you're no longer the man I knew, and that I will destroy you, utterly and completely, no matter what it takes. You've woken me up indeed, dear cousin…

I am the Sage of Spirit. And you will have no sympathy from me.

You've squandered it; everything… everyone who ever loved you has turned against you. Your people think you weak. You killed my mother. I will never forgive you for what you've done to me…

And your precious outsider woman? Hahahaha…

Your days are numbered, Ganondorf. You have sinned and you will be destroyed as punishment.

The Sages are united.

You will fall from grace, and you will lose everything.

And no one in the world will pity you, King of Evil.

---

"My Lady Din has forsaken me…"

"My lord?"

"Yes… my Lady Din has forsaken me... how could I have been so stupid? I was foolish… foolish to have taken her sacred power into this world and corrupted it…"

Aveil was the youngest of Ganondorf's several trusted lieutenants and the mother of his second daughter. She normally served as the head of the fortress troops, but had recently been recruited to serving him in the palace in Marya's stead. Despite the nature of the relationship she'd had with him in the past, she did not often spend time with him and had not yet witnessed how seemingly delirious he became when things did not go as planned.

She gritted her teeth and took a few steps away from her lord as he paced around his throne, smiling, talking almost to himself—and if to her, then she had no idea what he was talking about. It was nonsense… Baffling, ridiculous nonsense—but by the way he spoke he recited it as though it were common fact.

"It is no wonder I have failed, and failed so many times… I wield a weak power, a power extinguished by greed and lust…"

Aveil had been afraid of this, when she heard the news… received the orders to come to him with a report. Normally the reports were simple, number of kills, current food supplies and the state of critical battles across the kingdom.

Today's report was quite distressing.

Troops surveying the Spirit Temple had found them—or what remained of them in any case, a pile of dust sprinkled with blood and strips of ripped clothing, a gleaming blue and red jewel marking the place where they had fallen as a single body.

The battle had no doubt been fierce, as the scorch marks and melting slicks of sparkling ice could explain. It was obvious that the two old hags had done their best, but in the end brought down by the vicious swings of a holy sword.

And as if that weren't enough, there had been voices echoing through the temple for the first time in many years—the voices of the spirits, long silenced by the presence of the old witches in the sacred halls. Voices that laughed and spoke of vengeance and justice, voices that warned of the coming of a prophecy…

Voices that reached Ganondorf in his sleep that night and were just confirmed by Aveil's report.

"The Triforce pieces alone are weak… easily tainted… and I, I was vain to believe I could protect it by myself… The divine power of the goddesses doesn't stand a chance against corruption… the vile, impure corruption of the mortal world…"

"I'm afraid I don't understand, my lord," Aveil spoke up quietly.

"The Triforce of Power, my dear," Ganondorf turned to her, sweeping across the room to the altar upon which he cast his dark spells, brushing away the accumulated ashes and clutter. "Its power is unlimited and undefeatable, is it not?"

"That's what the legends say, my lord."

"The legends are wrong… the legends speak of a Triforce uncorrupted by this filthy mortal realm. That is the piece which possesses unlimited power… the power of the gods, the power which my birthright grants me," Ganondorf explained hurriedly, as though this was a major epiphany to him. "Yes… how could I hope to attain godhood with a tainted power? It is not surprising, then, I would fail… fail to destroy him, fail to take her…"

Aveil shifted uncomfortably behind him as he continued talking to himself.

"Things must change… I must destroy the corruption in this tainted power… I must purify it… Yes, I understand now… With the other two pieces of the Triforce in my grasp, I shall be able to cleanse away the corruption…"

"My lord? I don't understand what you mean…"

"Great Din, Lady of Flame, Golden Goddess of Power, I beseech you. Guide me in my pursuits, bless me with your grace, pity my weak mortal soul and grant me your favor…"

With a wave of Ganondorf's hands, the altar was engulfed in flame as it had before. "Great Din, Lady of Flame, Golden Goddess of Power, Patroness of the Triforce of Power, I am your humble servant. My most gracious praises to you and your divine sisters… I ask as your eternal slave, my lady, allow me to partake in your wisdom…"

He turned suddenly and lunged towards Aveil, grasping her by the arm and yanking her towards him roughly. She let out a sharp cry as he crushed her against the altar with his body and held out her arm. "Ah, my lord! Don't!"

"I offer blood in your honor. Drink of this blood, accept my sacrifice, find me worthy of your gifts and provide me with your infinite knowledge," Ganondorf droned on, drawing a long knife across both Aveil's arm and his own, inciting a cry of pain from his lieutenant.

He ignored the way she shivered and moaned, watching the blood pooling and dripping slowly off Aveil's fingertips—her own deep red blood mixing with Ganondorf's, which glowed with a faint and unreal tinge of gold.

The flames burst again, swirling and roaring up towards the ceiling as misty smoke poured from their crests. He fell to his knees, shoving Aveil away roughly and sending her sprawled out on the floor as he raised his hands.

"Tell me where she is! Tell me where Princess Zelda is hiding!"

This time, no interruptions could distract him. Visions filled his head, smoke and flame, heavy and intense, visions of a forest… a dark forest…

---

A shadow leapt through the trees, eyes set straight ahead and never turning from their destination—the Temple of Time, where he was waiting for them…

Them? This lowly Sheikah boy?

No… no, not at all. The Princess of Destiny. The Seventh Sage of Time.

The Triforce of Wisdom…

---

The flames smoldered away and the smoke began to clear, and Ganondorf leaned against the altar in exhaustion, Triforce piece shining brilliantly on the back of his hand and a vague, empty smile on his face.

Aveil clutched at the bleeding wound on her arm and began to crawl away, terrified out of her wits as he began to laugh, a cold, empty sound.

"I will cleanse this power… I will cleanse this world… And I will become, truly, a god."

---

You've squandered it; everything… everyone who ever loved you has turned against you. Your people think you weak. You killed my mother. I will never forgive you for what you've done to me…

And your precious outsider woman? Hahahaha…

She speaks constantly of your demise. She plots with the other Sages how best to kill you—she shows not a bit of concern for you, thinking only of what she will do once you are dead and how Hyrule will improve after that day.

It's hilarious… you pine and you angst and you drown yourself in your sorrow over losing her and your deepest affections for her and she doesn't return them in the least.

But by all means, Ganny. Plot away at how best to win her back. Scheme your black little heart out in desperation for the woman who no longer loves you, if she ever did.

I hope it's all been worth it, you pathetic bastard.

---

Corruption.

Corruption was always the root of the problem. Power and wealth and noble blood do not cause misery and pain. The root of suffering is the corruption of those who hold that power.

The golden power of the gods, the Triforce, was a neutral power. It took on the characteristics of whoever it touched—if held by a person of good heart, it would become a benevolent power to bless the land of Hyrule in its light.

If held by a person with a selfish heart, or a heart filled with selfishness or wrath, it would engulf the land in darkness and suffering.

Hyrule suffered because the Triforce had become tainted.

And now, he sought to erase that taint and purify the power of the Triforce—first, by reclaiming the two lost pieces from their carriers and elevating himself to godhood. Time, nature, fate, the divine, the world itself, everything would be his to control.

And then, he would reshape the entire world. The corrupt world, the world of greed, violence and lust that had twisted his noble intentions and stolen his deepest desires.

The entire world was corrupt, and Ganondorf was the only one who realized it. And now, he intended to fix it.

---

Woooow. Talk about denial. Somebody's CRAAAAAZY… ANYWAY- Once again, I apologize for the extremely long wait for this chapter and also for the lack of nice G/I, for those who were waiting for it after so long. Next chapter will be the giant crazy climactic chapter and the final battle, and the chapter following will be the final one—the epilogue.

And boy, oh boy is it gonna be depressing.

So, er, thank you for reading, everyone, now go have yourself some ice cream and cheer up:D