Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, maaaaaaaaaan

Paradise

It was not that he never knew fear. He simply did not let it rule him.

Chapter 5

Midna angrily kicked sand at the fire.

"… and that's the forty-SECOND reason why you're an idiot! You didn't seem even remotely surprised that that… whatever it was, was there! Which, obviously, means that you knew it was! You have a death wish or something?" she ranted on and on.

The stranger sat on the ground, being annoyingly patient with her, Midna thought. It wasn't healthy for someone to show such a lack of emotion, especially after what had happened the previous day. But that wasn't the real reason she was angry. She was actually upset that she hadn't managed to stay calm, like he had.

It was stupid to be envious of such a thing, she knew that. But she couldn't help but feel like little more than a frightened child. Midna hated being treated like a child.

She trailed off, finally ending her angry rant, and the stranger stood up, silent as ever.

Midna sighed, put out the fire, and again they began to walk.

Kafei watched as more and more people filed into Kakariko. They were used to getting small groups of people a day, but this…

These were not just nomads looking for a permanent home. They were men and women with a desperate air about them. They all came with guns and other, more crude weapons. Kafei recognized the looks that many of them wore on their faces. They were tired, and angry. They were bitter, but not yet broken.

They wanted to fight.

"But," Kafei muttered to himself, "Why are they all coming here?"

"I called them here," answered a voice from behind him.

He turned to look at Impa, the unofficial leader of Kakariko. She was an older woman, but everyone knew that she was much more fierce than she appeared. She had lived longer than many who had settled here, and it was often said that she would still be there long after the current residents had passed on.

"Something has changed, Kafei. Haven't you felt it too?"

Kafei stared at the throng of newcomers. He thought of his daughter, he thought of the world that she had been brought into. He felt a strength within him that had gone unnoticed for a long time. Or perhaps, it had only just manifested? His mind was instantly drawn to that day, many weeks ago, when that strange man had come…

The stranger. Impa had said that something was changing. When he looked into the eyes of the crowd of people that had now formed, he knew what she meant. He looked at her.

"Yes," he said quietly.

The white-haired woman stepped up on the edges of a well, so all could see her. The sight of her demanded absolute silence. She spoke.

"We are all here for the same reason. No longer will we tolerate this existence that has been forced upon us. One where children starve while grown men fight over sand, and rust, and broken stone."

She paused, and took in the sight of nearly a hundred men and women, their eyes hardening at the truth of her words.

"And while the rest of us bleed and suffer and die, one man relishes in his stolen wealth. You all know of who I speak! It is Ganondorf, the liar, the murderer, the Bandit King! He has damned us all, and for what? So that he might sit atop the throne of a dead land! But we, it's people, are not as dead as he might think!"

At this, many began to cheer. The flames of inspiration burned within them. They wanted to fight, to take back the homes of their ancestors, to punish the evil man who thrived on the pain of others.

Impa continued, her own eyes alight with passion.

"I say no more! We have stood idly by long enough! It is time we marched to that damned castle, and threw that foul creature down! Our numbers may be small, but we have something that Ganondorf and his men will never understand. We will not fight for ourselves, but for each other. For our friends and neighbors who have suffered, for-"

"It's impossible, you know."

The quiet voice somehow managed to be heard by all, even over Impa's speech. She stopped speaking immediately and looked at the person who had interrupted her.

It was Sheik.

Many of the people who had lived in Kakariko for longer than a year began to whisper to each other, as a murmur of discontent pulsed through the crowd. Sheik began to walk towards Impa.

"Sheik," she said. "You have returned. It has been a long time."

Sheik ignored her.

"Ganondorf… can't be killed. He is immortal."

There was silence. Despite this ludicrous claim, Kafei felt his heart sink. He knew that others were experiencing the same thing.

Impa tried to regain control.

"Sheik, surely you-"

"I'm sorry. But it's the truth."

Sheik looked Impa in the eye, and told them all his story.

It took Midna a moment to realize where they were. It was strange, seeing as they were just outside her home. She snorted at the thought.

'Not exactly a place I'd like to call home,' she thought to herself.

It was an interesting sight to any who did not live there. The people who had settled here lived in the remains of what appeared to be some form of interconnecting cave structures. They were in buildings of red stone, which appeared to be carved out of the sides of the crevice that the two wanderers now stood in. It looked as if it could have housed hundreds of people at some point.

Now, it housed no more than thirty men and women. Midna's "family."

She looked at the stranger.

"Why are we here?"

If he was surprised by her suddenly withdrawn tone, he did not show it. Instead, he pointed beyond the settlement, towards the lands that had been desert long before the world had died. Midna remembered hearing something about a temple being out there somewhere, and groaned inwardly. Naturally, of all the people she could have chosen to travel with, she would pick the one who wanted to prance about in unexplored ruins that were, knowing her luck, full of some kind of demonic creatures that feasted on human flesh.

She shook her head, and then attempted gain some amount of control for once.

"Well if we're gonna go, let's go. No sense sitting around a place like this, right?"

The stranger looked up at the sky, where the sun was beginning to set. He looked back at her.

"What? So it'll be impossibly dark and freezing cold. I'd rather suffer through that than stay in one of those dusty old caves."

He raised an eyebrow at her, as if to inquire on the current state of her sanity.

Before she could think of some clever lie to get him to agree to circumvent the settlement, a horridly familiar voice called out.

"Midna! Where have you been?"

"Ah, shit," she muttered dejectedly.

The stranger watched as, out of one of the "dusty caves" appeared an elderly looking man. He was evidently in good health for his age.

"It's been two days! Days, Midna! We thought you had died! I specifically remember telling you that you were NOT to leave the…"

The bald man shouted on and on, as Midna adopted her safety mechanism. Her eyes shifted out of focus, her mouth opened slightly, she tilted her head to one side, and proceeded to ignore everything the old man was saying.

"Are you even listening to me?" he finally yelled.

"Not really," she replied, scratching at her cheek absent-mindedly.

The stranger continued to go unnoticed. He felt that this was probably a good thing.

Half an hour later, Midna and the stranger were sitting on the floor of one of the caves with the old man, who had introduced himself as Mayor Bo. The "Mayor" part seemed to irk Midna for some reason, and the two had only just finished an argument over his use of the title.

"Hmph," Mayor Bo began. "I won't lie to you boy. Normally, we don't like strangers in this settlement."

The stranger realized that he was being addressed, and turned his attention to the speaker.

"However, I am grateful that you protected Midna. She's still too young-" (Midna puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and looked away) "-to be out on her own, and I'm glad that she was with someone as honorable as you…" Mayor Bo trailed off, realizing that he didn't know the young man's name.

The stranger remained silent, and it became obvious that he intended to stay that way. Bo decided not to push him, and continued to speak.

"At any rate... Knowing Midna here, I would guess that she didn't willingly lead you back here."

He glanced over at Midna, and she looked away from him to glare at the wall. That was all the conformation he needed.

"I feel that I have to ask, why exactly did you come here?"

The stranger continued to not speak a word, and Midna felt it was time for her to intervene. She began to explain that their guest was on some sort of spiritual journey…

At the conclusion of Sheik's tale, there was a stunned silence. Then began the murmurs. People in the crowd began to whisper about how impossible it was, that it couldn't be true. Others began saying that there was no hope after all. Impa stood, deep in thought. Finally, she looked back up and spoke.

"That does explain a lot."

The whispers ceased. All eyes were upon her. She continued.

"When I was just a child, my mother told me a story. She said that it was a story she had heard from her mother and so on… about how the world used to be."

Impa found it difficult to continue. The truth finally dawning upon her made it so much harder to accept the story as what it truly was… history.

"Back when there were trees and grass, back when massive cities stood and housed hundreds and hundreds of people… there was peace. Our ancestors had fought many horrible wars, and had finally managed to end them once and for all. The leaders of the nations came to realize that if they did not stop fighting amongst themselves, they would end up destroying our entire race. I'm not really sure about the details after that. But the rest I remember very clearly."

From within the crowd, Sheik let the words wash over him. Somehow, he knew what was coming next.

"There was a type of weapon, a sort of giant bomb. It was called a nuclear warhead. It would have to be about one hundred years ago now… a man rose to power. After four generations of peace, it is understandable that the world was unprepared for a hostile takeover. This man was ruthless and terrible, and he did not hesitate to kill anyone who opposed him. After a few short months, he had every person on the planet bowing down to him. But it wasn't enough."

Kafei ground his teeth together, a sudden understanding dawning upon him.

"He found these nuclear warheads, thought to be sealed away and protected forever. For some reason… for some reason… he fired them. And now, here we are."

Impa tried to look everyone of her people in the eye. In some she saw anger, some sadness, and others confusion. When her gaze met Sheik's, he nodded.

"Yes. Here we are. And he still lords over us, arrogantly claiming the world as his own. Ganondorf… it seems impossible that it's the same man and yet…" Impa sighed.

"And yet I know it's true."

It was dark when they came for him. Those men. It was the dead of night, and he heard someone force their way inside. She let out a scream, and he ran for her as fast as he could. He was too late. The men had her. They said that they worked for someone, a name he did not recognize.

They said that if he didn't come with them, she would die. He didn't even attempt to resist. As they took him away, he heard her cry out after him. After that, everything was dark. They kept him blindfolded for a long time, what could have been days, or even weeks. When at last he could see again, he didn't know where he was.

They made him stand on the edge of a ravine. They threw things and laughed at him, said that it was only her their master wanted. They said that he could die for all they cared. Finally, one man kicked him hard in the chest, and he fell. He felt pain for a long time before he realized that he was alive.

He was afraid. He didn't know where he was, didn't know what was happening. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He managed to stand, and found that by some miracle he had no serious injuries. He walked to the object. He observed it for a while, not daring to touch it. He closed his eyes.

When they opened, his fear had left him. He no longer felt pain, he was no longer confused. He knew what to do.

He walked through the wasteland, leaving footprints in the sand. The wind quickly blew them away, as if attempting to erase any proof that he existed. But he walked onward.

He did not lose hope.

The stranger awoke to unfamiliar surroundings. Slightly disoriented, it took him a few moments to remember where he was. After Midna had explained the details of the stranger's journey to Mayor Bo, the old man had insisted that he stay away from the temple ruins.

"The trip alone would probably kill you," he had grunted. "And even if you did make it, who knows what you'd find?"

Bo had then insisted that the stranger stay the night with them, to repay the kindness of protecting Midna. He had informed the distraught girl that she would be sharing her room that night, so the stranger could "make sure she didn't do anything stupid." She had protested quite vehemently, but gave up in the end. They had thrown an extra mattress on the floor, and that was where the stranger had been sleeping until now.

He silently rose from the makeshift bed, and collected his few belongings. As he made for the doorway, a small voice spoke out.

"So, you're going out to that temple after all?"

The stranger said nothing.

"I'm not gonna try to stop you or anything, don't worry." Midna sat up in her bed. "I don't suppose… I don't suppose you'd take me with you…?"

He still didn't say anything. She let out a little laugh.

"I didn't seriously think you would. Well, it never hurts to ask, right?" She attempted to smile a little and failed miserably.

The stranger turned and looked at her. She didn't understand why she was so sad at the thought of him leaving. They stood (well, Midna was sitting, technically) in silence for a few minutes. A final question came unbidden to her mind, and she blurted it out before she knew what she was doing.

"What's your name?"

He studied her face for a few moments. But just as he opened his mouth…

"No, never mind. It's… it's better if I don't know. Please just… be careful, okay?"

Midna had looked away, avoiding his amazingly blue eyes. If she knew his name... if she knew, it felt like it'd be harder to accept that she would probably never see him again. When she finally looked up again, he was trying his hardest to smile. It was so close to being a sad, fond smile… but it was as if he had forgotten how. That thought brought her close to tears.

It wasn't a very long smile, and he spent a few moments kicking at the dirt awkwardly before finally turning around and leaving. Midna could feel, in that small span of seconds, that there was a deep pain within him. All she could think of, as she fell asleep once again, was that she wished she could have helped him somehow.

The sunlight came through the window and woke her a few hours later. She got up, heaved a heavy sigh, and glanced at where the stranger had been standing. So great was her melancholy, that she almost didn't notice. There was something strange about the floor near her doorway. She moved closer to inspect it, and realized that the dust that usually caked her floor had been disturbed.

It took her a few moments to realize that it was a deliberate pattern. She just couldn't make sense of it. In a sudden burst of inspiration, she took a few steps and stood exactly where he had been standing. She turned to face the interior of her room. She looked down at the pattern and saw a word.

'Not a word,' Midna realized. 'A name.'

His name.

"That dumbass," Midna laughed. "I told him that I didn't want to know."

Nevertheless, she turned and left the room, a content smile upon her face.

The temple was gone. It wasn't like the others, where there had been ruins or rubble. A flat stone dais lay in front of a massive crater.

There was nothing left.

He sat upon the dais, and looked out at the sand that surrounded him.

He stayed there for a long, long time.

"So what if it is?" Kafei found himself speaking aloud.

Impa, Sheik, and all the other men and women turned that gazes towards him. His heart filled with a firm resolve, Kafei continued to say what was on his mind.

"Does it really matter if all of that is true? What does it matter if Ganondorf is immortal? We're still going to fight him."

"Are you crazy?" Someone shouted. "He'll kill us all!"

"The same thing will happen if we do nothing," Impa replied. She thanked Kafei with a glance.

"If we fight, there's a good chance all of us will die. If we don't fight, it's guaranteed that we will all die," Sheik spoke up, surprising everyone. "I may have said that it was impossible, but I never said that I wouldn't try." He finished, with grim determination.

"Hell yeah! What he said!" shouted a new voice.

The crowd turned to see a small group entering through the main gates. They appeared to be mostly teenagers. However, even the most fragile of them wore a look similar to Sheik's.

"Who might you be?" Impa asked.

The boy who had shouted out stepped forward.

"I'm Mido, of Kokiri Village! We're here to kick Ganondorf's ass straight back to hell!"

Inside the ancient castle, the Bandit King gave the order. All of his men were to prepare for battle.

Soon, they would march out to claim the world in the name of their leader.

Their king.

Their God.

A/N: Next update might take a while. Sorry, but Chapter 6 is kicking my ass and I don't know when I'll have it to the point where I'm happy with it :( Until then, um... don't stop breathing? I guess?