AN: Hello! I'm very excited about this story, it's based off an idea my girlfriend had, and I'm actually going to write it properly, with a plot line and everything. No, this IS NOT Link/Ganondorf, this isn't really a pairing fanfiction at all, but there will be background couples, they just won't be the central focus of the story.
The main characters in this story are from OoT, with one major change: the events in OoT never happened, Link is not an orphan and grew up in Kakoriko Village, Ganondorf is evilly plotting and has yet to act on anything.
T rating for swears and bad innuendos sometimes.
Disclaimer: I definitely don't own any stock in Nintendo or anything, and no profit is being made from this fanfiction.
Prompt- ok so I may not known shit about those games but imagine this: both ganondorf and link set out to find zelda. they find her room at the same time only to find it missing. They set out together to find her.
Once, during the early ages of Hyrule, there was a self-proclaimed Dark Prophet, whose predictions of the future were woven with lies and misfortune. He predicted wars and terrors, lands overtaken by Twilight, a moon that would never cease falling, a world without a hero, leading to drastic floods and the land fading away. It was common knowledge that everything that was spoken through his mouth was exaggerated or simply made up, and that he held no true power.
One day, a traveler came to town. He carried many masks, and unnerved nearly everyone he spoke with. He seemed to move without really moving at all, to never cease smiling, and some of his masks seemed to be made of human skin.
This traveler spoke with the Dark Prophet, and sold him a book. He advised the prophet to write everything he had predicted and had yet to predict in this book, promising good things if he did.
The Dark Prophet took his advice, and wrote every day until his death. The traveler visited again on the day of the prophet's death, appearing to have not aged at all. He collected the book, and disappeared until many years later, during one of the more peaceful eras of Hyrule...
-Marketplace-
"Link, age 18...you say you've had experience in working?"
Link opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as soon as he started.
"Hmm, it says here on your resume that you helped these carpenter guys build a house when you were 14...you used to work at the Happy Mask Shop-ugh, that creepy store that used to be here?-and have had experience with a sword. And what's this about recommendations?" Link dug through his bag, pulling out a letter. "A letter of recommendation from Princess Zelda herself? Nice."
The Knight Commander raised his eyebrows as he read the letter. Then he laughed. "Childhood friends, huh? Heh. Are you ready to make a full-time commitment to training?"
Link nodded.
"Hmm...you have the job. Here's your informative packet." He pulled out a large packet of paper and dumped it into Link's hands. "Everything you need to know about your expectations and schedule is in there. Now, I know you might be confused as to why I hired you, I know this meeting ended up being very brief, but honestly, you can't be worse our older guys who we just let go. Even in their prime, they let an 11 year old kid sneak in! Can you believe that?"
Link laughed nervously, grabbed the packet, and ran into the wall next to the door, and then out the door of the newly established Milk Bar. The Knight Commander nodded.
"Good kid."
-Guerdo Valley-
"Sir, we have a visitor."
Ganondorf looked up from his war map of Hyrule and at one of his guards. "Who is it?"
She shrugged. "I'm not sure, he has a bunch of masks. Remember that guy who worked at that old mask shop in the Marketplace?"
"...no."
"Well, I'm pretty sure it's him. He says he wants to show you a prophecy book or something? He's creeping me out, honestly."
Ganondorf sighed. "Do you think he'll leave if we ask nicely, or should we throw him out?"
A scream sounded from the entrance room, and the words "I AM NOT A SLEAZY SALESMAN!" were heard, followed by various crashing noises. Ganondorf and his guard flinched.
"I think maybe you should see him, sir."
"Very well. Send him in." She nodded and left the room.
Out of nowhere, a man appeared. Ganondorf blinked. That...that was a lot of masks.
"Hello, good day to you! I was going through some of my old wares, and happened to find this book I think you'll be interested in!" The man pulled out an extremely old-looking book. "Here, why don't you take a look?"
Ganondorf grabbed the book, and frowned. "Hyrule Historia? Is this a joke?"
The man was not phased, and did not stop smiling. "I implore you to look inside!"
Ganondorf flipped through the pages. These seemed to be prophecies...some of which spoke of events that had already been said to have happened, such as the legend of the falling of the city in the sky. "This is some pretty dark stuff. Why did you think it would interest me?"
"It might be useful to know when Hyrule would be the weakest, would it not?"
Ganondorf's eyes snapped to the man's. "Excuse me?" The man gestured to the war maps. "...whatever. How much did you say it was?"
"For you? Nothing!" The man's smile seemed to grow larger. Ganondorf began to become unnerved. Well, even more unnerved then he had been. "I'll take it. Now get out of my site."
"Certainly!" And in a second, it was almost as if the man had never been there. Ganondorf stared at the book, and turned back to his maps. Outside, the salesman chuckled.
"Yes, quite useful indeed..."
Free things usually came with a price.
Link grinned as he made his way through the market. This was so cool! Although he probably wouldn't have gotten that job if not for Zelda's letter. Link sighed. Of course, even in a job where he'd be protecting her she managed to out-do him.
See, Link had been visiting Zelda since he was 11. His mother had sent him over to Lon Lon Ranch to get some milk, only for the cute ranch girl to explain that her dad was out at the market. Link gladly had welcomed this as an excuse to go to the market, and through his excellent spy-detective-hero skills, aka talking to people, had found out that the owner had dropped milk off at the castle and had yet to return.
So he naturally did the thing any 11 year old would do: sneak into the castle grounds. And naturally he got a bit sidetracked, and ended up meeting Princess Zelda.
He had returned home without the milk.
Of course, being friends with Zelda had plenty of benefits. She was excellent company, her stature made it possible for him to go almost anywhere with a letter from her, and Link ended up meeting and befriending some interesting people over the years. No, by no means was he upset about Zelda helping him out now and then...it's just...would people consider him as useful without him having to throw in Zelda's name every time he wanted to do something? Would half of his "accomplishments" even have happened?
Speaking of Zelda, actually, he realized that he should go visit her and alert her that yes, he had gotten the job. That was one benefit of the knight stature, he supposed. He wouldn't have to sneak in the castle anymore, something that was slowly becoming harder as they started to hire new guards. It was a wonder some evil plot-making prophecy-believing map-obsessive bad guy hadn't kidnapped her or something...
"You know what I should do? Kidnap Princess Zelda."
Kotake half choked. "What? Years of planning, and that's it? We should have burned down the Market 18 years ago, orphaning a small child who would've one day defeated us, and slowly befriended the king, while only two 11 year olds realized our plans! Then we could have struck with several curses, effectively wiping out most of the other races!"
"That's...a surprisingly good plan. You couldn't have told me that 18 years ago?"
"Maybe if you listened to me every once in a while...but nooo, after I messed up that one time..."
Ganondorf snorted. "I sent you to help lure the Goron's into a sense of peace and you cut off their food source. The point is that Zelda is a good bargaining chip. There's a prophecy in this book I was giv-stole. This old book I stole. There's even a map detailing how we should go about this...some of this stuff is impossible, actually, but the map itself is accurate, which is really impressive. I'd read the prophecy too you, but it's really long and if it was supposed to be poetic or something, that person failed. The gist of it, however, is that some otherworldly villain is going to kidnap Zelda when she's 18ish and only two enemies working together could save her. We're in an era of peace, and I don't think two rivaling neighbors are going to save the princess. The plan is foolproof."
Kotake started at Ganondorf. "Well, can't argue with a map. I'll go notify my sister. Want me to fly you over there?"
"Sure. The Hylians, and other races too, I guess, won't know what hit them! Well, they will in time, but it will be too late then!"
"Calm down, dear. Wouldn't want you to choke."
Link rolled his eyes. Honestly, the guards hadn't even checked his papers. Some system the castle had. Why hadn't he done that as a kid? He winced as he heard a way-too-loud voice from behind him.
"Ganondorf, king of the guerdos! I have important business to discuss with the king and the princess!"
Link snickered. Who named their child Ganondorf? Wait, business with the princess? He had to hurry if he wanted to catch Zelda before a meeting...
Ganondorf stared at the kid who had glanced at him, and then ran off. He sighed. Chivalry was dead, it seemed. He sped-walked to the room the map said Zelda was in. It only occurred to him at a point where it had long done past "creepy" that he was unintentionally following the kid.
Link glanced back. Ugh, what was with this guy? Didn't he know where the politic room was or whatever it was called? They reached the room at the same time, glancing at each other expectantly.
"Well, go ahead." Ganondorf said. "I'll just wait until you're done. Kidna-I mean, politics goes better when the other person isn't waiting for their friend." Link nodded and opened the door. Strange, normally he had to knock first, because Zelda usually locked her doors. The door opened all the way, and both Link and Ganondorf gasped. The room was is shambles! What had happened here? The two men entered the room, only to have the door slam shut behind them.
The final prophecy of the book had finally begun.