When Zelda entered her study, she found three men slumped in chairs in front of her desk. They were still dressed in their Hyrulian military uniforms. Upon seeing her, two of them quickly stood to attention. The third stared blankly at the floor, not standing even when his comrade elbowed him.

"It's alright," Zelda said. "Please sit. I've had tea sent for us."

"Thank you, Your Highness," said the man in the center seat, sitting again.

Zelda sat at her desk, observing them. The man who had spoken was the oldest, perhaps in his forties, and was sitting rigidly. The other two appeared younger than Zelda, barely out of their teen years, if that. The man on the left was staring intently at her, something like reverence in his eyes. The man on the right was the one who had not stood; she did not think he had even yet looked at her. Zelda felt a tightness in her stomach.

"Will you please tell me your names?" she said quietly.

"Your Highness, my name is Randolph," said the older man. "With me is Benny and Hans." He gestured at the men on the left and right respectively.

Hans finally raised his head at the sound of his name, but did not speak. Benny still gaped at her. "Is it true that you are a goddess reincarnated?" he said quickly.

"Don't ask the princess such stupid things!" Randolph snapped. He turned back to her. "I apologize, Your Highness. They are young; this was their first mission of this length, and they are not taking the losses well."

Zelda smiled uncomfortably. "It is fine. I am just a human woman, unfortunately, but I do have some power within me."

"Then you can go to the desert and – "

"I told you to stop telling the princess – "

"Peace, gentlemen!" Zelda said sternly. They fell silent. "Now, let us discuss what has happened. I am to understand that the mission went poorly. Please, speak freely," she added gently.

Randolph launched into an explanation, stopping only when a servant entered the room to deliver tea.

The group had made it to the desert, but did not even get to the Spirit Temple. They followed the map Zelda had given them, though it was difficult as many of the guideposts had fallen or were degraded. Even far from the Spirit Temple, there were noticeably more monsters than normal.

"I've been to the Gerudo Desert. I've fought Moldorms before," Randolph said, "Never so many at once."

As they got deeper into the desert, it only got worse. They were able to cross the River of Sand with relative ease ("Someone should repair that bridge though."), but after that the problems began. The sandstorms were so thick that it was difficult even to see the guideposts, making their map useless. Enemy attacks became more frequent the deeper into the desert they got; one soldier was shot by a Bulblin in the head. (Hans jolted at this. "His brother," Randolph said quietly. "I am so sorry," Zelda replied. She noticed the young man had not drank any of his tea.)

"It's almost like they were guarding the place," Randolph said. "Trying to keep us away."

"Monsters do not usually behave like that," Zelda said, biting the inside of her cheek. Unless someone is controlling them…

The group struggled their way through the desert. They thought they were getting close but found it nearly impossible to tell. That was when it happened.

"It erupted from a ground, a giant serpent," Randolph said. His voice was shaking now, bravado faded. "Or perhaps a fish. It had fins. When it landed, it… flattened four of us."

Zelda inhaled.

"We tried to fight – its skin was so thick our swords could not pierce it. Its jaw were… it ate…" he trailed off, clearly struggling to speak. "I apologize, Your Highness," he said weakly.

Zelda shook her head. "No need to apologize. I get the idea. How did you escape?"

Randolph took a deep breath. "We tried to run. It kept burrowing under the sand and erupting underneath people's feet; it was like it could sense them. Finally Benny threw his sword away. The thing chased after it; we were able to run away. But by then it was just the five of us left… we couldn't keep going."

"The five of you?"

"Rodrigue and Dean survived the attack but on the way back… a pack of Lizalfos – they sacrificed themselves so we could get away."

There was silence for a moment. Then Benny spoke. "Your Highness… we failed you."

"No, there is nothing you could have done."

"Your Highness, even if you do not believe you are a goddess… with your powers, you could…"

"Do not ask the princess to go there," Randolph said sharply.

"But she is the only one…" he cut himself at Randolph's look.

The only one. Could she defeat a monster of this magnitude? She wished Link were here still. You cannot rely on him for ever. She had light arrows. It was true that there was no one else. And could she allow the danger to stay?

"No, he is right," Zelda said finally. "Merchants use the desert to pass to Hyrule for trade. This makes us look weak to outsiders." And makes me look weak as our leader. "And if there is someone or something controlling the monsters, they cannot be allowed to continue. My magic is strong. I will have to go."


After a very long, very heated discussion with her advisors, Zelda returned to Ganondorf's cell once again. She knocked, opening the door. He was reading a book, which he put away when she came in.

"What was that about?" he said. "You were gone for a long time."

"I will be gone for longer still."

He raised an eyebrow.

She sighed. "You asked me to update you on the group that went to Gerudo Desert. They have returned. Three of the fifteen that I sent. The rest perished."

"How?" he demanded, standing.

"They did not make it to the Spirit Temple. They were attacked by a monster. A giant snake-like beast that moved through the sand and would jump out at them."

He exhaled. "That sounds like a Molduga."

"You know of it?"

"Yes, I've killed a few of them, though we tried to avoid them where possible. They are possibly the most vicious monster in the Gerudo Desert."

"You've killed multiple of them?" Zelda asked incredulously. "By yourself?"

He smiled smugly. "Usually with others, but yes."

A thought came to Zelda's head. Bad idea, she chastised herself. Horrible, terrible idea.

"Well, anyway," she said. "They said it seemed like it, and the other monsters, were trying to guard the path to the Spirit Temple."

"They were guarding it?" When she nodded, he narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.

"The knights didn't stand a chance against a monster like that," she continued when he didn't speak. "So now I must go. I may be gone for some time. I came here to let you know."

Ganondorf frowned at her, registering her words. "You are going to the Desert Colossus. To fight a Molduga," he said dryly.

"Yes," she said. "I will bring a group of knights with me, of course. But they will need my magic."

He continued to stare at her, his mouth open slightly. Then he glared, his face twisting into a grimace. "No you are not," he said dismissively.

"Excuse me?"

"You are not going to the Desert Colossus; that is insane and suicidal." His fingers twitched; he balled them into fists.

Zelda let out a startled laugh. "I was not asking your opinion," she said.

"I don't care what you were doing," he snapped. "You are not fighting a Molduga."

She watched him contemplatively as he glared at her. "Ganondorf," she said softly. "Are you worried about me?"

His eyes widened in angry shock; the silence felt nearly solid. Then he snarled, "Of course I am worried! If you die how I am supposed to get my magic back? You've been very clear on that."

"Yes, of course," she said, feeling somewhat deflated.

He relaxed slightly, breathing deeply. "Look, Princess," he said finally. "I am being serious. Getting to the Desert Colossus is impossible if you don't know what you are doing. There are near constant sandstorms. You need to cross this massive river of quicksand –"

"A bridge was built across the River of Sand years ago," Zelda interrupted.

He paused, clearly taken aback. Then he shook his head. "Even so, once you are passed that, you need to cross the Haunted Wasteland. Wooden posts have been erected as guides but they are near impossible to see when there is a storm and they only go a part of the way. Only a Gerudo can get through the final stretch – why are you smiling?"

"Ganondorf, do you think no one has been to the Spirit Temple – Desert Colossus, I should say – since the Gerudo left Hyrule? It is a historical site. The wooden posts you speak of are likely long gone but there are stone guideposts now. There are maps; many archaeologists have gone on expeditions there."

She almost laughed at his look of bafflement but felt it wise to hold her tongue. "Of course," he muttered angrily, "I keep forgetting…"

"I know that it is dangerous, and I may not have been to the desert before, but ordinary people do pass through it with some regularity." She tapped into her magic, letting light shine from her. Ganondorf met her eyes. "I can take of myself."

He looked away, glowering. A hand came up to the back of his neck; the other still in a tight fist. After a moment he relaxed, seemingly coming to a decision. He straightened as he turned back to her and lifted his chin, peering down at her.

"You must take me with you," he stated firmly.

She crossed her arms. "And why would I do that?" she said. Never mind that I had that exact thought only minutes ago.

"I know the safest way to the Desert Colossus; I have been there several times. I know the monsters of the Gerudo Desert and have experience against all of them. I have fought and killed Molduga. I have a personal attachment to the Desert Colossus – if some criminal is using it for some foul reasons, I want them dead. Most of all," he said, voice lowering to a growl, "I refuse to spend the rest of my life in this cell because you decided to be a fool and get yourself killed."

Zelda contemplated his words. Truthfully, it would make her feel safer to have someone who knew the desert with her. Especially someone who had experience with the snake monster – the Molduga.

"If I allow you to come," she said, glancing at the shackles tattooed on his wrists. "I will not be undoing the seal on your magic. You will fight as an ordinary man."

His lips curled into an arrogant smirk. "Even without my magic I am no ordinary man."

She bit her tongue. Could she possibly trust him enough to do this? Since their argument a few weeks prior, he had been well behaved, had not laid a finger on her or made any threats. She did not wish to grow his resentment towards her by leaving him alone with only his thoughts for multiple days or weeks. And for all of her talk, she was concerned about traveling to the desert. His knowledge and strength would certainly be welcome.

"Very well," she said. "I will bring you."

There was a flash of triumph in his eyes as his smirk grew. "If I am to accompany you, Princess, I have two demands."

She rolled her eyes. "Demands? As if you are in a position to have demands after you are the one nearly begging to come with me. What do you want?"

"First, from now on I want a bigger room. Not another prison cell."

"I… suppose that is reasonable," she said slowly.

He nodded. "Next, we are not going to leave for at least one week. I need time to at least attempt to train whatever worthless knights you intend on bringing."

"I – yes, fine," she said, surprised.

A satisfied smile came to his face. "Well then, Princess," he said. "I believe it is time you release me from this cell."

Zelda hesitated. Was she really going to do this? To work with her enemy, the man who had vowed multiple times that he was going to take her kingdom felt like the epitome of foolishness. You have already agreed; you cannot become indecisive now. Mustering her resolve, she stepped through the door, and dismissed the magic barrier across it. "Come along, then," she said.

He walked across the barrier slowly, stretching his arms as he did so. Out of the cell, he somehow seemed even larger, his presence filling the hallway. "Finally," he murmured to himself. "I was losing my mind."

Zelda watched him suspiciously, waiting for an attack, a threat, something to confirm her fears that she had just made a terrible mistake. When nothing happened, she cleared her throat.

"Come, we will go to my study," she said. "We must come up with a story of who you are."


Zelda spent much of her time then in a daze, lost inside Midna's mind. Through her eyes, she travelled to an ancient prison in the Gerudo Desert – where Ganondorf had originally been exiled, she learned – to find the Mirror of Twilight. Then it was to an abandoned mansion deep in the frigid mountains of Snowpeak. Then back to the Faron Woods, deep within an old temple from Hyrule's past. Each step would bring them closer to Zant, and then they would be coming here, to Hyrule Castle. The thought filled Zelda with equal parts anticipation and dread.

In her own body, she had been given free reign of the castle. Ganondorf had created some magical barrier around it so there was no way in or out. She knew she should take advantage of her newfound freedom, find a weapon, or a way to get messages through the barrier, but she was too often distracted by what Midna and Link were doing to make any real headway. Without the Triforce of Wisdom, she felt as though some intrinsic part of her was gone, and her thoughts were sluggish.

Occasionally she would become so lost in her own head that she would sit in a chair for hours, unaware of anything occurring outside her own body, until she would find herself being dragged from her chair by Ganondorf, who would take her to the dining hall and force her to eat.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked once.

"I need my little spy to be healthy, do I not?" he said with a smirk. Occasionally she caught him watching her with a concerned look on his face when he thought she was not paying attention.

After, he would walk with her throughout the castle grounds, his hand gently resting on the crook of her arm. Initially she would pull herself away, but she realized she found it easier to focus on her own body when he touched her. She didn't have the capacity to consider what that meant.

During their walks, he would question her on what Midna and Link were doing.

"They are on their way to the final mirror shard," she said now. "A city in the heavens…" It had occurred to her that she should perhaps not be so forthcoming with information, but Ganondorf seemed to have no interest in laying an ambush. ("Let them come to me," he said darkly. "I will end them then.")

"Legends say Hyrule was founded by sky beings," she continued. "The mirror is in their city. The Oocca."

Ganondorf paused, confusion plain on his features. "Oocca? I thought…"

"What?"

He looked truly bewildered for a moment, then shook his head, reshaping his expression to its normal cool detachment. "Never mind. I am not sure what came over me." He continued to walk, guiding her along. They came to one of the castle's gardens, a fountain surrounded by blue flowers. In the fountain center was a statue of a woman, the Goddess Nayru. Zelda had always found her stone expression disapproving. She and Ganondorf stood in silence for a time.

"It will not be long now until the hero arrives," Zelda said finally, glancing at him.

"Yes," he said quietly. "I have been preparing."

She tilted her head, looking at him quizzically.

"A way to catch them off guard." His eyes became stormy. "You will not like it," he said.

"What do you mean?"

A cruel smile. "Shall I show you?"

Before she could respond, he vanished. She looked around, confused. A moment later, she felt it.

Rage. Such rage burned within her. Hatred towards Hyrule, to what its king had done to her. She wanted to burn it all down. She wanted to make it hers and built it anew.

Hello, Princess, came his voice, deep inside her mind. She felt her arm raise against her will, light shining from it.

What are you doing?! She could not say the words out loud, could not move her mouth, or any of her body.

What better way to disarm the hero, Ganondorf replied to her inside her head, then to make him fight his own Princess.

Her body began floating above the fountain, light bursting from her chest. She raised her arms in front of her, forming a ball of light and throwing it down. It left a circle of obliterated flowers where it hit the ground.

"Yes, I think this will do nicely." The words came through her own lips, her own voice. She felt his smugness within her.

Stop this! Zelda thought.

Roughly he lowered her to the ground in front of the fountain. There was no pain when her feet hit the stone; somehow, he had made her skin hard like glass. Her head titled down, looking at her reflection in the fountain water.

What do you think, Princess?

Her skin had become grey, lines of corruption trailing down her neck and arms. This was not the most striking thing, however. Concentrating through her horror, she could see herself now through Ganondorf's eyes, and through them she saw two women within her reflection.

The first was the Princess of Hyrule. The hated daughter of his old enemies; if he looked closely, he could see the similarities to that child princess who had damned him. He could not stand the sight of her. He would destroy her and enjoy it. He wanted to wrap his hands around her neck, and squeeze until he saw the light fade from her eyes.

Beneath this was Zelda, gentle, lovely, spirited, tender-hearted Zelda. So brave, to stand up to one such as him. The answer to his loneliness. He wanted to protect her, to make her his. He wanted –

The vision was torn away and she was left staring at her normal reflection, the greyness gone from her skin. Ganondorf was standing beside her, his chest heaving. "Stay out of my head!" he roared.

Before she could remark on the sheer hypocrisy of this statement, he'd stalked away.