"Damnit! We had them! Where did they go?" The soldiers rushed through the streets of the border town, their captain's voice magically ringing to every corner of the settlement. "How hard can it be to find two criminals?! Find them. I will accept no failures."

Shiek and Ganondorf crouched low as a group passed their hiding place. "They must have really wanted those chickens that we stole from them." The boy joked quietly, causing his guardian to stifle a laugh.

"Hush little Dagmire, you'll make me lose my concentration" She said, smiling behind her mask. How simple the situation was to the boy... How very different the reality actually was. She briefly wondered if she should have told him the truth. He was fourteen now, and far more mature and intelligent than even she had been at that age, but no, he was still too young. To innocent. He didn't even comprehend what he was yet, though Shiek had her suspicions that he knew more than he let on. And she still hadn't had the strength to tell him about the attack on his people that had left him in her care.

They crouched, hidden from the mundane search methods of their pursuers by Shiek's magic, waiting for either the night to fall, or the soldiers to give up their search. Then suddenly, both of them winced simultaneously as a sensation flared across their hands. Shiek felt a horror take hold deep in her gut as she glanced down to Ganondorf's right hand, there was a dull red glow emitting from behind his glove, and she knew that if any of her own hand could be seen, a similar glow would be seen as well. "Shit. What the hell is he doing here of all places." She quietly cursed to herself.

Ganondorf on the other hand was more curious than anything, "What is this Auntie Shiek? What's happening?"

"Trouble." She answered, an edge to her voice that the young boy had never heard before. "Listen to me very carefully Ganondorf, I need you to concentrate. Focus on the sensation in your hand and will the light to dim. If you don't, then we'll be in more trouble than even I could get us out of."

He blinked in surprise, but quickly did as the woman had asked. Turning his focus and attention inward to the strange feeling, he quickly felt it come under his control. Calming his heartbeat, he felt the light begin to dim, until it was all but extinguished.

Shiek let out the breath she had been holding, feeling the reaction from her own hand dim as well."Good, now devote a part of your mind to keeping that sensation under control. Just as I taught you when maintaining a spell." She briefly allowed herself a moment to relax, He wouldn't be able to pinpoint them now, and that would hopefully give them enough time to slip away undetected.

Link sat in the saddle of his horse, his narrowed eyes scanning the village. "He's definitely here." He said, holding his left hand up for all to see. Many of the soldiers whispered back and forth to each other in awe, as the mark of the Triforce pulsed with golden light. "I will brook no failure in this, the greatest enemy that our nation has ever known is hiding somewhere in this village. He must not be allowed to escape and continue to gather his evil powers." Glancing around the village, the king of Hyrule felt bile rise in his throat, "This whole village is tainted with the Dark One's corruption, I can see it, hanging over the buildings like a shroud. It must be cleansed. Burn it."

The soldiers quickly moved to obey their king's orders, all but one, who stood petrified in place, a look of pure horror on his face. Link slowly walked his steed over to the man. "Is there a problem, soldier?"

"You want us to burn this town, people and all, because one person is here?" The man asked, his voice quiet, but carrying an unmistakably rebelious edge to it.

"No." Link answered, "It is no longer a town of 'people' as you or I know them. They have been infected by the Dark One's preasence. Evil twists in their very souls like a snake, just below the surface. You cannot see it, for you do not possess the powers of the Triforce as I do, and as such, I forgive you of your ignorance. But I do expect you to obey my order."

"I can't do that!" The man's eyes widened in horror, "This is my home town my lord. I can assure you tha-"

He never had the chance to finish his argument, as the glittering blade of Link's sword flashed through the air. The force of the strike caused the soldier to spin in place, his hands flying up to clutch weakly at his throat as blood sprayed across the ground. The poor man was dead within the few moments it took him to fall first to his knees, and then forward, landing face first in the dirt, blood still flowing forth from the massive wound.

Link flicked the sword with contemptuous ease, causing the few drops of blood that had clung to the blade to splatter across the ground. "I'm sure that no one else has such tainted ties yes?" He called, his voice ringing clearly across the gathered soldiers. "There is no telling how long the Evil One has been here, anyone who has called this village home is to be considered tainted beyond redemption."

Every one of the soldiers present snapped to salute, their closed fist thumping against their chest, just above the heart. "Good." Link continued, "Now, cleanse this place of the darkness. Let the light of justice and truth burn it all away, leaving nowhere for the Evil One to hide!"

"Shiek?" Ganondorf suddenly asked as they crouched in their hiding spot, "What's that smell?"

Shiek took a moment to sniff the air, then her eyes widened in horror. "Oh no... no, no, no. Damnit! I should have known he'd so something like this." As she spoke, flames began leaping from the roof of the building across the way from them, "Shit. Ok, we need to leave, now."

Ganondorf froze at the sight of the fire, a look of shock on his face. "Wait, they set fire to the town? Why?"

"I'll explain everything once we're safe. But for the moment, just trust me. We're a team, yeah?"

It was clear to the boy that she was scared, but he couldn't tell why. However, something inside him told him to listen to her. "Right, we're a team." He nodded, rising into a sprinters crouch, ready to break into a run the moment Shiek gave the signal. "Ready." He said, once again calming his heart rate with pure force of will.

Shiek glanced up and down the road, ensuring that nobody was nearby, "Run for the open dessert. Even if we get seperated, we can find each other at the old cave where we used to hide out." At the boy's nod, she readied herself, "Go!" Dispelling the illusion that had hidden them, the two broke into a fast sprint, swiftly moving west.

As he ran, a part of Ganondorf watched the insanity unfolding throughout the village. People were fleeing their homes in terror, but it seemed that the soldiers were now aiming to kill them all, he watched as an older couple were mercilessly cut down as they fled from a burning building.

"There's nothing we can do for them." He heard Shiek say from just ahead of him. "The best that can be done is to get out of here alive."

Nodding silently in newly found determination, he put on an extra burst of speed, pulling ahead of Shiek. He could see the open dessert a few hundred meters ahead of him, if he could just make it there...

As his thoughts and body raced, a sudden instinct told him to throw himself forward. Listening to it, he dove into a roll, feeling the displacement of air as something lashed out at where his head had been an instant before. Coming up in a fighters crouch, he turned to get a look at who had attacked him, and froze.

Link couldn't believe his eyes. Ganon, his most hated enemy, had just darted out in front of his horse! The two locked eyes, the seconds seeming to stretch into eternity, and then finally Link broke into an insane smile. "So, the Goddesses truly do smile upon me today! Not only did they lead me to the lair of my foe, they then deliver him right into my waiting hands. It's been far too long Ganon, you look a little thinner than when we last met."

The boy seemed shocked at his familiarity, "You know me?"

Link burst out laughing. "You haven't yet remembered? Oh this is rich. How many times have our roles been reversed in a scenario such as this? And now I have the chance to end you before you can do any damage in this cycle, blessed by the Goddesses indeed."

Ganondorf suddenly felt a rage well up inside him; this man, whoever he was, was mocking him. Something inside the boy roared to lash out and tear the arrogant mounted man to pieces. He felt his hand raise, power gathering to be unleashed upon his foe, Link's smile widened as he raised his sword.

Then the world around them suddenly exploded in smoke so thick that they couldn't even see their hands, never mind each other. Link lashed out with his blade, hoping to kill the boy before he could slip away, however he found nothing. "Apologies, your majesty." A muffled voice sounded from the smoke, "But the boy's not yet ready to face you, so we'll be taking our leave now."

With that, a breeze swept through the street, blowing the smoke away, leaving Link, alone and furious. It was him... he had been right there! And he had escaped! His anger was such that none of his own soldiers dared to approach him. He raged for hours, until at last he collapsed, completely spent and exhausted. Finally, as the sun was setting, he called for the captain of the contingent of soldiers that accompanied him.

"Captain, let me make this abundantly clear." He began as the man entered the king's tent, "That boy who escaped us today is the single greatest threat to peace and order in Hyrule. I don't care what it takes, I don't care how it's done: find him and kill him."

"As you command my king." Secretly, the captain doubted that a single child could be worth all the effort, but he wasn't about to question his king at this point in his career. "The boy will die."

By the time Shiek finally set him down, Ganondorf was past the point of furious, but was also too tired to try to argue with her further. She had run for hours, putting dozens of kilometers between them and the mad King. And Ganondorf had raged and lashed against her arms for at least half of it.

He wasn't sure why, all he knew was that the man on the horse needed to die. And he needed to be the one to kill him. That single thought had consumed him as he had been carried away, an unstoppable hatred had welled up within him and had screamed for the stranger's blood. And Shiek had denied him that need.

Finally, as the sun was beginning to set, she at last slowed to a halt in a small hollow surrounded by rocks that would block out the winds that night, and set the boy back down. As soon as he was out of her arms, the woman collapsed, exhausted beyond words. Gingerly, she pulled away some of the wrappings around her arms, revealing enormous masses of dark bruises where Ganondorf had hit her trying to escape from her grasp. She sighed tiredly, and set about slowly pulling out herbs from her various belt pouches to mix into a healing poultice.

As she worked, slowly due to the pain, a pair of strong young hands pulled the ingredients away from her as Ganondorf sat down and took over, a look of shame in his eyes. "Just tell me what that was." He said, his voice uncharacteristically serious and mature, his eyes locked on the small mortar and pestle set that they used. "I've never felt so much hatred for anything. So why did I suddenly start acting that way?"

Shiek crossed her legs and gazed across the space at the boy. Again it struck her just how young he truly was, only fourteen years old, and already fate had asked him to take up the mantle of his destiny. Finally, she sighed again and spoke: "I've told you before that you are not like other children your age." Ganondorf simply nodded, "I had been wanting to wait until you were older to explain to you why that is... but it seems that this world just loves to ruin my plans. Alright... where to begin..." She paused for a few moments, collecting her thoughts. "That man on the horse, was King Link Chronalian Hyrule, he is the ruler of the lands to the east of this desert. He'd probably claim to rule the desert as well, but nobody else would ever agree with him. He is the reincarnation of the great Hero of Time, or the Hero of Legend as he is sometimes called. For as long as people have lived in this world, the Hero has been a force for good, he has worked tirelessly through the eons to ensure that the people of this world can live to see another day."

Ganondorf let out a derisive snort, "Oh yes, burning a defenseless village to the ground and butchering it's inhabitants is such a heroic thing to do." He then reached forward, taking Shiek's arm in his hand and gently began applying the poultice.

"I wasn't finished," Shiek said, groaning as the cool medicine pressed against her sore skin. "The man I just described, that is what Link usually is. That is who he has been since practically the beginning of time. He's been reborn thousands of times over the ages, and every time he has been the epitome of the term Heroic. But this time... I don't know what happened. He has changed, Where once there was courage, now there is paranoia. In place of the nobility and selflessness, there is a cruelty and depravity."

Ganondorf examined his handiwork, before nodding in satisfaction and going to work on her other arm. "Ok, so what the hell does any of this have to do with me?"

"This is where it get's complicated," Shiek continued, "Link isn't the only person who reincarnates. There are two others, the first is Zelda, normally her reincarnations have stayed within the Royal Bloodline of Hyrule, and she has led the nation through some of it's most difficult times. She reincarnated into this era, but she disappeared a long time ago, no one really knows where she is. It's the third reincarnation that concerns you however. Link's nemesis, and the greatest enemy that the nation of Hyrule has known; Ganon, the Great King of Evil. You." She finished, fixing her eyes on the boy, unsure of how he would react.

For several moments, the young boy said nothing. He simply finished applying the poultice to her arm, his face a very, very neutral mask. When he finished, he sat back, locking eyes with Shiek. "So you're saying that I am evil?" He asked simply, an edge to his voice that sounded like it belonged to someone considerably older.

Shiek flinched slightly at the tone in his voice, but kept her gaze locked with his for several moments longer. At last she looked down at her arms, and spoke, "I am saying that historically you have been evil. However, everything is wrong in this cycle. The Hero of Time has become a tyrant that could possibly rival you at your worst, and the one woman who could have curbed his insanity vanished, some say after losing all faith in the man she had loved. So honestly? I don't know if you are actually evil." He didn't look very convinced, so she continued, "I know two things for sure: first, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are the reincarnation of Ganon. And second: I know that I have done my absolute best these last fourteen years to raise you to be as good a person as you can be. Whether that sticks once your memories unlock themselves or not, I don't know. But I had to try."

Ganondorf thought quietly for a long time, then finally, he asked the question that would determine if he believed her. "How? How do you know that I'm this 'Evil King' guy?"

Shiek gestured to his right hand, indicating the mark that had been there since birth. "Because you bear the Triforce of Power."

Ganondorf looked down to the mark, remembering how it had flared to life earlier that day. "Ok, I'll bite. What's a 'Triforce'?"

Shiek smiled behind her mask, "I've told you the legend of this world's birth yes? The one about the three Golden Goddesses?" At his nod she continued, "At the end of that legend, when the Goddesses left this world, they each left behind a fragment of their power in the form of three golden triangle shaped artifacts. These three are collectively known as the Triforce. According to a different legend, many thousands of years ago, your incarnation of that cycle tried to steal the Triforce from it's resting place within the Sacred Realm, however, since your heart was filled with evil and a lust for power, the only piece you obtained was the Triforce of Power. The other two were sealed within The Hero of Time and the Princess Zelda, and all three have remained in their bearer ever since. Whenever the three grow near to each other, they can sense it unless one of them makes a constant effort to hide their presence, and even then it's not guaranteed to hide them."

The boy continued to look at the mark on his hand, the more he thought about what she said, the more it felt... right. As if pieces were falling into place that he hadn't even realized were missing. It was then that a thought occurred to him, "Tell me auntie Shiek, how is it that you know so much about all of this?" Shiek froze, she hadn't expected him to ask that, "From what you've said, the only people who would know all of this for sure are the three who keep getting reincarnated."

"I am one of the Shiekah." She said quickly, acting as if it was a simple fact. "There aren't many of us left, but we have been the guardians of Princess Zelda's bloodline for as long as it has existed. As such, the tale of the three has been passed down in my family as a tradition as ancient as out line."

Ganondorf frowned slightly, it was feint, but he got the most distinct feeling that Shiek had just lied to him. Or at the very least, not told him the whole truth. For several moments, he looked at her, wondering if he should question her about it. Finally though, he decided to let it go, Shiek had never once given him a reason to distrust her, and any secrets that she was keeping were probably kept that way for a good reason. "Ok, so I'm the reincarnation of a psychotic monster, and the psychotic monster in charge of Hyrule is the reincarnation of some big time Hero. And we both want to kill each other more than we want to breathe. Great... Now what?"

"First, we get some sleep." Said Shiek, securing her arm-wraps around the medicine to hold it in place for the night. "It'll be fully dark soon, and we've both had a long day. Tomorrow I'll start teaching you how to control some of the power that's going to start awakening in you now that your Triforce has awakened."

Ganondorf nodded, getting up and moving across the hollow to the edge of the rocks and curling up with his back against the solid stone. He sat there watching the sky above darken, and the stars appear, and he thought about what he had learned that night. The ancient King of Evil? Him? It didn't make much sense, but then neither did a Hero who randomly decided to be insane. Sleep came slowly, but it was not peaceful. His dreams were haunted by ghostly images of terrible battles, and of a darkness that seemed... alive, and it sought to consume him whole.

Shiek sat across the hollow, watching as the boy she had raised tossed and turned in his sleep. She knew that it was his memories attempting to surface, and with them... She rose to her feet and silently made her way over to the sleeping boy, gently she took him in her arms as she had when he was younger. The presence of the woman had an almost instant effect, the tension flowed out of his body as his dreams began to calm, and the Darkness seemed to recoil from her. "Sleep well, little Dagmire." She whispered softly, stroking a hand through his deep red hair. "You will need all of your strength starting tomorrow."