Zant sat in his hotel, staring straight ahead, lost in thought. He was so filled with awe, with hope, with inspiration after meeting with Ganondorf. Just one meeting with the man! That's all it had been! But still, so impactful!

It was during his reverie that a woman entered the room, dressed in a black nightgown, bright red hair hanging unadorned behind her. "Zant?" she said softly. He didn't respond. "Zant, honey, are you okay?"

When he looked up at her, she noticed that there was a strange glint in his eyes. "Oh, Midna, I'm feeling wonderful," he told her. "When I met with Ganondorf today, I met with a god! The power this man has…it's incredible! And he wants to help us! Help the Twilit! Can you believe it, Midna?"

She shook her head as she sat on the bed beside him. "No, Zant, I can't. It just doesn't sound right. It's all too easy, too good to be true. I'm not sure you should trust this man. If he can sway your opinions this easily, there's no end to what he might be able to do." She closed her eyes, laying her head on his shoulder with a smile. "Besides," she added as he started absently running his fingers through her hair, "I know you have a weakness for redheads. Just make sure you don't do anything stupid or reckless."

"Midna," he said, "If you met him, you'd understand. I'd do anything to help that man."

She sat upright, looking at him seriously. "You haven't done anything yet, have you Zant?"

He remained silent.

"Zant, honey, what did you do?"

"I did what I had to, Midna. The Twilit have been oppressed by the people of Hyrule for too long. Ganondorf can change that. We're not starting a war, but he has our help if we need it."

"You pledged our armies to him?" she asked, dumbfounded. "Zant, what the hell possessed you to do such an idiotic move without consulting anyone else?"

He stared at her, the conviction in his eyes cutting into her. "Come with me, Midna. Meet with him. I made the right choice. Trust me, you'll understand."

The Children of Kokiri looked up as Link's engine cut the silence of the park, most of them with clear distaste. Saria—Link could tell it was her, even at a distance, by her green hair—stood, quickly making her way over to him.

"I'm glad to see you're well, Link," she said, Makar rattling with glee by her bare feet. She glanced at Navi. "And I see that the Guide has found you."

"I have a name, you know," Navi muttered under her breath."

"Good to see you again, Saria," he said, welcoming the green-haired girl with an embrace.

She stepped back once he released her. "We know why you're here," she said, suddenly serious. "You need the Pendant of Courage."

He chuckled. "You guys are good. The Deku Tree tell you that, too?"

"No, Link. Ganondorf knows. He's determined to stop you. And he got here first."

Link froze. "Ganondorf is here?"

"Not quite. But one of his minions arrived just before you." She pointed to the giant tree's foliage. "It's already up there, searching for the pendant in the highest branches."

Link looked up and swore. "How the hell do I get all the way up there?"

"Yeah, there's no way he'll be able to carry me up," Navi added.

"The Deku Tree will provide," Saria answered with no hesitation.

"No, Saria, honestly, there's not even any branches until about halfway up the trunk. There's no possible way I'll be able to climb that. Also, no," he added, glaring at Navi.

Saria gestured back at the giant tree. A thick vine had started unfurling, dropping almost to the ground. "As I said, the Deku Tree will provide."

Link sighed and sprinted over to the vine, Navi on his heels. "Navi, what part of 'no' didn't you understand?" he asked as she jumped onto his back.

"You'll need me," she said, clinging tightly as he started climbing the vine. "I know all about this sort of stuff, and I can help with the fighting."

"But you're too heavy—" he started, a moment before the vine retracted, yanking them both upwards. Navi's arms tightened around his neck as they shot up, cutting off his air supply.

The vine came to a stop right above a thick upper branch. "Dammit, Navi," he groaned as she dropped onto the limb. "You don't have to cling so tightly, you know."

"I didn't want to fall off," she said, as if that excused everything. "Come on, let's start climbing!"

He grabbed the back of her dress, halting her, and cocked an ear into the air.

"What are you—"

"Shut up for just a second, would you?" Off to the left, there was a faint scratching sound. "This way," he said, motioning her to follow.

The branches weaved around, making a bit of a maze out of the foliage, but they were also large enough to walk on easily. Link had no problem keeping his balance. Navi didn't either, actually doing some skipping along the branch. The scratching noise was coming from up above, but it would pause, and when it started again, it was louder. It was obviously searching for something, and they were getting closer to it.

Whatever they were following was directly overhead now. Link slowly drew his sword from its sheath, looking up as the skittering stopped.

There was nothing there.

"Watch out!" he heard Navi scream, half a second before something slammed into his side. He fell, just barely managing to wrap his arms around the branch, sword clenched tightly in his fist, dangling hundreds of feet above the ground.

"Link!"

"I'm okay!" he yelled, swinging his body forward and wrapping his legs around the branch. "I'm fine, just grab my sword so I can get back up!"

"Uh, yeah, about that! It's sort of right above you."

Link looked up, a giant, crablike creature staring down at him with its single eye. He swore, pulling his sword arm off the branch. "Navi, what the hell is this thing?"

"It's a Ghoma," she yelled to him. "Nasty things. You'll probably want to go for the eye."

"You think? It does sort of only have one."

"No, I mean it's armored pretty well. There's still a strong glassy film over the eye, but that's where the armor is weakest."

It snapped a claw at his arm, and he let go to dodge, now dangling only by his legs. "Well, I'd do that, but I can't really get a good swing like this. Could you at least distract it or something?

"Hey, Ghoma!" Navi yelled in response. "Over here!" The giant eye turned from Link to the small girl in annoyed surprise. A second later, a few shots rang out, driving the giant crab back. It really must be armored well, Link thought, if even bullets can't get through.

He swung his body upwards again, catching hold of the branch with his right hand and driving his sword into the bark with his left. Grabbing the blade, he hoisted himself back up onto the branch. He quickly yanked the blade back out, watching as the Ghoma staggered back under the gunfire. Then it blinked, shook its head quickly, and reopened the eye once more. The protective lens didn't even look scratched.

"No!" Navi wailed behind him. "I could have sworn I was doing some damage. It looked like it was cracking and everything!"

Holding his sword defensively in his left hand, he motioned Navi forward with his right. "Navi, try that again. At the very least, we can distract it for a bit."

"Okay," she muttered, "But if it didn't work last time, it probably won't now, either." She stepped forward, unleashing a round on the eye as the Ghoma approached. It paused, held up by the bullets, and Link was certain that he did, in fact, see something starting to give. But when it closed its eye, reopening it just a few seconds later, it was as if they had never attacked it in the first place.

"It's regenerating," Link muttered to himself. "Navi! Get down on one knee. Don't let up with the bullets!"

"But I'm wasting them," she moaned before throwing a quick glance back at him. He had already started sprinting away. "Hey! Hey, Link, I can't do this myself!"

He stopped, turning around. "Trust me," he said.

She turned back to the monster, gun wavering unsteadily as her hands trembled. The Ghoma charged, determined not to let the girl's bullets slow it again. "Link?" she screamed as she fired. "Link! It's gonna kill me!"

Link sprinted as quickly as he could towards the girl as she fired. It was working. The protective lens was weakening. Just a few feet behind her, he jumped, vaulting over her, and jamming his sword into the Ghoma's eye with all his strength. The lens cracked as the tip pierced it, plunging deeper inside its body. It tried blinking to heal the wound, but the blade kept the eyelid from closing. "Take that, you bastard," Link muttered to it, shoving the blade in further as blood and goo started seeping from the wound. Then, the eye went dim, and the body went limp, slumping to the limb before toppling out of the tree, sword still lodged in its eye.

"You, uh, sorta dropped your sword there," Navi told him.

"It'll still be there when we head down. The pendant should be there too; it had it in its claw."

"Right, and what do we do, just jump?"

Link nodded at a vine that had started unfurling behind the girl. "The Deku Tree will provide."

Pendant safely in a pocket, sword cleaned and back in its sheath, Link headed back to his motorcycle. "Thanks, Saria. For all your help."

"Come back anytime," she said. "I'll be right here."

He waved as Navi hopped onto the back of the bike. "I'll see you later, then." He started to climb onto the bike, but a ringing stopped him. He pulled out his phone, frowning as he saw that it was an unknown number. "Hello?" he said as he answered the call.

"Hello, hero," a man's voice replied. "I see you've killed my Ghoma. And I can see that I've underestimated you."

"How the hell did you get this number?" Link demanded.

"I have my ways," Ganondorf said. "Now, listen carefully, I have a question for you. Whould you happen to know who is staying in house 139 on Kasuto Street?"

Link's heartbeat doubled in speed. That was the address Senator Zelda had given him. "Sorry," he said, his voice the only calm "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Interesting. Very interesting. Because you see, I have some very good sources that indicate that there are currently two people residing there who happen to be very close to you."

"Listen, you bastard, I don't know what—"

"Boy, you've made the mistake of standing against me. I would have been more than willing to just let you live your life like a normal person. Hell, I would have even stood for you killing my Moblins. But when you decided to actively fight against me, just because that bitch of a senator asked you to, you crossed a line. When you started off that stupid quest of yours, you crossed another one. Killing my Ghoma and retrieving the Pendant of Courage? That was the third strike against you. You need to learn what happens to those who stand in my way."

There was a silence. "I'd hurry, boy," Ganondorf told him. "You just might get there in time."

Aryll sat at the kitchen table, chin rested on her hand, staring off into space.

"You're really worried about him, aren't you?" Ilia said, glancing back at her as she washed the dishes.

Aryll shook her head. "I just can't stop thinking about him. Wondering if he's all right. Hoping he's safe. Worrying that he's not."

Ilia chuckled. "You really are in love with him, aren't you?"

She moaned. "Ilia, we've had this conversation already."

"I know, I know. I just think you need to face the truth."

"Ilia!"

"Oh, calm down, Aryll, I'm just teasing. Mostly."

Aryll sighed. "I just feel so useless here. Like there's something I could be doing to help him. I mean, I grew up on the streets. I know how to fight when needed. I just don't see why this is something he has to do on his own."

Colin emerged from his room, wearily rubbing an eye. "Hey, Colin," Aryll said as he approached. "What's the matter, buddy? Couldn't sleep?"

Colin nodded. "I'm scared," he mumbled. "What if Link doesn't come back?"

"Aw, come here," she said, sitting him on her knees and pulling him into a hug. "It's all right," she said. "He's fine. You just have to have a bit of courage, Colin. You can't go through life scared all the time. Hey, remember that time you almost drowned? You finally got bold enough to take baths again, didn't you? And now water barely scares you at all. It's kind of like that with this."

Colin nodded. "Okay," he said quietly. "I'll try."

There was a knock on the door. "Excuse me," Ilia said, slipping out of the room to answer it.

"Maybe that's him now," Aryll said to Colin, bouncing him on her knee. He nodded eagerly, jumping off her lap to follow Ilia. Aryll sighed and hurried after him.

"Hello?" Ilia said, as she started to open the door. A powerful blast forced the door open, and a large, monstrous man—not really even a man at all, stepped into the house, pulling out a sword, thrusting it into Ilia's chest. The woman staggered, clutching at the sword, and collapsed to the ground as he removed it.

Aryll looked down at Colin, who was trembling with fear. "Colin!" she hissed. "Run! Don't worry about me."

Colin ran, but only to the fireplace. He grabbed a metal poker, holding it out defensively like a sword.

"Colin, just go! I'll hold him off!" She turned back to the beast of a man. Now that he was fully in the light, she could see that he had a greenish skin tone, bull-like appearance, and stubs where horns had been filed off. This man was definitely not Hylian. And he would definitely not be easy to fight.

She spat on the floor, mentally slipping back into her street habits. She was fighting for her life now, but she was fighting for Colin's life too. This wasn't a fight she could afford to lose. If that meant falling back into her old street self, so be it. With a yell, she threw a punch into his large belly. She probably hurt her own hand more than she had hurt the man, as he simply shrugged the blow off without even flinching, headed for Colin.

"I'm not going to let you get away with what you did to Miss Ilia," he said, trying to sound tough and failing. The man looked at him, puzzled, before grabbing the poker, plucking the boy out of the air and effortlessly tossing him aside, sending him sliding across the floor in a crumpled heap.

Aryll jumped on his back, fingers desperately searching for his eyes. "Don't you dare touch him, you son of a bitch!" she screamed as he tried to toss her off his back. "You understand, you mindless brute?"

The man stopped struggling, as if she had hit a nerve. He reached up, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her over his back. The air rushed out of her as her back landed hard on the floor. With almost no effort, he grabbed her by the neck, gave her an angry glare, and slammed her against the wall. Her head collided with the wood, and she gasped as darkness invaded the edges of her vision. She fell to the floor as he let her drop. She attempted to stand, but couldn't even pull herself onto her hands and knees. Her awareness came and went, and she had no idea how long she lay there or what was going on.

Heat, she thought once, in her more aware states. She tried lifting her head, and could just barely see the flickering light. Fire. The house was on fire. She was going to burn alive. She had to get out. She had to save Colin.

She struggled to her feet with a yell, managing to go a whole two steps before collapsing back to the floor, slipping into unconsciousness for good this time.

By the time Link arrived, the house was already in flames. He stood at the end of the block, dropping to his knees as his legs gave out under him.

"Link, what's going on?" Navi asked, legitimate concern in her voice.

"Just stay on the bike, Navi!" he snapped at her. "Stay on the damn bike and leave me alone!"

Pulling himself to his feet, his legs feeling like rubber, he started into a stumbling run towards the house. A gloved hand grabbed his shoulder as he approached, yanking him back into the deserted street.

"I warned you, Link," Ganondorf said solemnly, no hint of victory or joy in his voice. "I'm truly sorry it had to be this way. But since you insisted on continuing with this, I did what I had to."

"What the hell did you do to them?" he demanded, voice wavering. "Tell me what the hell you did!"

"A mercenary by the name of Bulblin. He's the best at this sort of thing. Keeps his silence. No one will find out he works for me.

"Look," he continued as Link glared at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to bring them into it. But to stop you, I have to crush your spirits. The kids are gone, Link. You have nothing worth fighting for anymore."

Link, enraged, rushed Ganondorf, tackling him to the ground, throwing punch after punch into the man's face. "You think this will stop me? Do you, you bastard?"

Ganondorf laughed as Link continued his savage beating, merely shoving the youth away. He stood, spitting up blood. "You're not ready yet, child. Give up now, before I get serious about this. This is your last chance to walk away from this foolishness. Cross me again, and you will die."

"You think I'm afraid?" Link spat. "You thought that a senator was sending me on a fool's errand, so killed the two people I love most in the world. That's not what you wanted to do. I was never really fighting against you. It was for them. But now that you've killed them, that sure as hell isn't the case anymore." He stared at the senator. "I'll take this chance to walk away, but only because I know I can't beat you yet. But you'd better be careful, Ganondorf. Because now, this is personal."

He turned and headed back to the bike, where the barefoot, blue-dressed girl sat gaping. "Come on, Navi," he said. "We've got a long trip to Death Mountain."