Prophecy Be Damned - (MajorMario x Matttheman89)

[Major Mario]

Since time immemorial the story had been the same. A great and powerful evil would rise and wreak havoc upon the land, a courageous hero would emerge and do battle with it and a wise princess would either assist in the matter or seal away the evil completely. Power, Courage, Wisdom- The bearers of the Triforce, the most sacred of Hylian artefacts, were bound by fate to cross paths. The circumstances and settings would differ across generations, but the general premise was still the same. For those who knew the story well, they figured events would play out just as they always have; they had become complacent and arrogant over the years.

Alas, the legendary hero who would bear the Triforce of Courage and the Blade of Evil's Bane proved to be a wildcard. Instead of a stalwart and handsome young man with wild locks and a fierce determination in his heart, the hero was instead a woman who, though beautiful in her own right, wore her heart on her sleeve and was criticized for it. Link grew up in a village on the border between Hyrule and the Gerudo Desert, and though she loved Hyrule and the Hylians who came to visit, she prefered the nomadic and mysterious Gerudo. There was a deep-seated bias, of course, given that she was raised by a Gerudo despite being 100% Hylian. For many years she looked to the tall, dark-skinned woman as her adoptive mother and helped out with trade and commerce where she could, what with her mother being a well-established merchant.

But this wasn't the only wrench in the prophecy. A heroine was a surprise to be sure, but far more alarming was Link's friendship with a special Gerudo named Ganondorf. Blissfully ignorant of her role in life, Link delighted in this rare Gerudo man's company and made a point of getting together with him whenever he and his entourage would visit the village on their way through to Hyrule. It certainly helped that the two were nearly the same age, but also that Link was cheery, compassionate and sympathetic towards other races, especially the Gerudo.

Fast forward a few years and Link found herself garbed in the legendary hero's green tunic sporting a near-indestructible Hylian shield and the Master Sword... and with a world of troubles on her mind.

"Gotta take this slow," she murmured to herself as she advanced upon a heavily-fortified encampment erected in the sands of the Gerudo Desert. Night had fallen and Link hoped that the low light coupled with the chill from the desert would make her infiltration easier. "Easy... Easy now..."

Hyrule, perhaps the whole continent, was in turmoil. Link wasn't an ignorant lass, but she was out of the loop being so far from Hyrule's central Castle Town. She heard rumors that the Gerudo people were engaged in hostilities towards Hyrule, that dark forces were set to advance upon the land and much more. The woman, by definition a merchant's apprentice, figured herself ill-suited to fight a war and would have sat out on it completely had it not been for the raid on her village. Monsters- Link wasn't quite sure what they were or who they belonged to, or if they were monsters at all- ruined her village, killed her adoptive mother and set her path in motion. In fleeing from danger Link stumbled upon her 'destiny', though it was the rumor that Ganondorf, her childhood friend, was behind all that was going wrong in the world that spurred her on.

Even now Link crept through the encampment, dodging the light from torches and sticking to the shadows as Gerudo sentries patrolled about. She had a feeling that Ganondorf was in this encampment, but why he was here and what his intentions were proved to be a mystery for the buxom Hylian. Apparently, Ganondorf was the enemy, the bearer of the Triforce of Power and the evil that needed to be vanquished from the land, and yet Link couldn't see him as anything other than her friend- perhaps more than that. She refused to believe that this Gerudo man, the very same one she had laughed and cried with over the years, could ever become some evil bastard in need of a sword through the chest. Link needed answers, and she needed to see Ganondorf.

"Now... Which tent is yours," Link wondered as she took notice of a row of large tents deep within the encampment.

 

[matttheman89]

For reasons that had long since been lost to the passage of time, it was only once every one hundred years that the Gerudo would see the birth of a male to their tribe; a male that, by the laws of Gerudo culture, was destined to become their King when he came of age, leading them to prosperity and good fortune...or just another generation or so of living in the harsh desert as fierce warriors and thieves. Yet this generation saw the birth of a special, foreboding male; one involved in a prophecy that foretold dark times on the horizon for the land. This male, this seemingly innocent babe only mere moments separated from his birth, had come into the world with a special crest upon the back of his hand - the Triforce, or more specifically, the Triforce of Power associated with a legendary King of the Gerudo that would become this babe's namesake.

Ganondorf; The King of Darkness.

It wasn't all doom and gloom for Hyrule as a result of this Gerudo's birth though...at least not at first. Born in an era of relative peace across the Kingdom, the boy's early years were focused on educating him in the arts necessary to make him a strong King capable of not only leading his people, but defending them with his own two hands, should the situation ever arise, and he took to these lessons like a Zora to water, showing great promise as a warrior. There were also many diplomatic missions into the Kingdom of Hyrule itself, in the hopes of fostering greater relations of peace between the Hylians and the Gerudo, and while they were typically welcomed, even young Ganondorf could sense a sort of tension between their two races, a gap that remained to be crossed...if it were even possible.

It was during this time that Ganondorf made his first - perhaps only - true friend. Situated near the border between the lands of the Hylians and Gerudo was a village where both races lived and comingled, and there lived the adopted Hylian daughter of a Gerudo Merchant named Link, whom had been the first person to see and treat Ganondorf as someone other than a future King. Over time, her cheerful kindness and compassionate nature endeared her to the Gerudo male, and they'd struck up a strong friendship. They visited often; laughing, playing, training, swapping stories and legends, occasionally even going on a small, seemingly harmless adventure or two that more often than not landed them in their fair share of trouble with their caretakers. It had been happy times.

Now though...they were but a distant memory.

Time had passed, and things had changed. Ganondorf was no longer a little boy, blissfully ignorant of his destiny, but a young man aware of what it meant to not only bear the Triforce of Power, but to share the name of a legendary Evil King...and what his actual connection to that namesake might be. Tensions between the Gerudo and the Hylians were at an all time high, and as if that wasn't bad enough, monsters were roaming the land with aggression that hadn't been seen in ages...almost as if they could sense something that had them agitated and ready to go into a frenzy. Ganondorf could sense that something too; a darkness...and what unsettled him the most about this darkness was...he thought it was coming from him.

Now, standing with his back turned from the entrance to his tent, located within the center of the desert compound, Ganondorf was pouring over various parchments detailing this or that, when he sensed...something, and looked down to the symbol of the Triforce upon his hand. Sighing softly and closing his eyes for a few seconds, he waited, letting his keen senses tell him when this intruder was slipping into his tent...likely after mistakenly checking most every other one in the encampment.

"What are you doing here, Link?" he asked stoically without turning around, wondering if he was about to take a sword through the back, and if he should even try to stop her.

 

[Major Mario]

Indeed, Link had checked nearly every other tent in the center of the encampment, though she hoped she wouldn't be faulted for that. A combination of checking everything 'just to be sure' and the heroine's greed, wanderlust or curiosity, whatever one wanted to call it, running rampant, Link soon arrived at Ganondorf's tent. She had originally believed that she was being stealthy; her posture was small, crouched and concealed compared to the Gerudo sentries who were tall with (mostly) exotic red-colored hair. Alas, the blonde-haired heroine was as stealthy as a Goron, and in the sand she was even less so. She sank into a deep pocket of the coarse, rough and irritating stuff and stumbled into Ganondorf's tent.

With Ganondorf being, well, himself, there was no need for Link to search any further. The Gerudo dominated a room whenever he occupied it, and even if you weren't looking at him, you would certainly feel him present. A dark chill shot up the woman's spine as the man spoke. Her hand raised to the purple hilt of the sword on her back and she too wondered if the man was about to take the blade through his back. Link remained silent for a moment as she searched Ganondorf's back for any indication of the animal, the monster, that he was rumored to be. She needed to know if she was about to draw her blade on a great evil... or someone who frequented her thoughts for all the right reasons.

In the end Link stepped forward. She crossed the threshold and made her way inside only to stop at a safe distance away from her target.

"I wanted to see you," she said, her voice low and melodious. "I wanted to know if the rumors are true, the ones I've been hearing about you. There wasn't a single sympathetic word to find in Castle Town, or all of Hyrule for that matter." Link paused, glanced over her shoulder at the tent opening and realized something. She spoke again, though more to herself. "You knew that I would come, didn't you? The sentries should have spotted me from a mile away, but uh... here I am, huh?"

 

[matttheman89]

There was a long moment of silence that passed without either of them speaking following Ganondorf questioning her presence, yet he could feel his friend's eyes upon his back, and within that overwhelming silence, the sound of her hand reaching for the hilt of a sword could be heard, prompting his dark expression to harden even further as he steeled himself. In the end though, the imagined and expected attack never came - at least not yet - and Link only came a few steps closer, now likely standing within the light inside the tent yet still far enough away from him that she could be considered out of his immediate reach.

A wise decision...even if it did hurt a little to think that even she no longer felt safe in his presence.

"...and if they were true, what would you do...?" Ganondorf replied as Link spoke of the negative stance so much of Hyrule had taken against him and his people these days. He was no fool; the Royal Council of Hyrule had seized upon an opportunity to paint the Gerudo as the villains they so wished them to be, and with history on their side, it hadn't taken much to persuade the common folk that there was validity to their argument. Perhaps there was, considering the circumstances. Regardless of the circumstances, it wouldn't be an inaccurate statement to say that there had been some...hostilities...between their people in recent times, though any actual conflict could only be described as skirmishes at best...at least by Gerudo standards.

A sound escaped Ganondorf as Link put two-and-two together as to how easily she had been able to make her way through his camp - a sound that almost could have passed for laughter - and his head turned slightly, though his face was still shrouded in shadow. "Let's just say I had a feeling." he began. "Of course they did. You know, for someone who was raised by a Gerudo, you move with all the subtlety of a dodongo."

It was a dry joke, but one that hinted at the joviality that Ganondorf often shared with Link in the past when they were children. There might have even been a hint of a small grin on the edge of his face within the darkness...but if there was, it only lasted the briefest of instants, and Ganondorf was serious once more. "So...now that you're here...will you strike me down?" he asked suddenly, finally beginning to turn around so that they could see each other face to face for the first time in years.

Tall, broad-shouldered, hard muscled as if he'd been chiseled from stone, and handsome to boot, Ganondorf had grown up well in the years since they'd seen each other last, clearly no longer the boy she once knew, at least not in appearance. Yet, he could see that the same was true for her, and his eyes widened near imperceptibly as the young girl from his past had been replaced with this buxom, curvaceous woman that stood before him now. Knowing that this was no time for such things though, he remained steadfast, looking into her eyes as he stood before her.

"I have ordered the guards to ignore your comings and goings tonight. I'm defenseless. You could kill me right now, and by the time I've been discovered, you could be long gone. What will you do?"

 

[Major Mario]

When Ganondorf turned around, Link saw her old friend. The look was somewhat marred thanks to the passing of time and the stress of the Gerudo's position, his 'destiny', weighing over him, but coupled with the light, dry joke he made earlier, Link could still see him. He was older now with a heap of troubles on his mind, but the same could be said for Link. She was a woman now with desires, needs and aspirations. Hopefully neither of them would choke on said aspirations.

There was no need for Link to answer Ganondorf's first retort. They both knew what she would do, even if it pained her to do so. For a moment the heroine stood still, blue eyes scanning the floor in thought.

"I'm not gonna kill you," Link finally stated in an incredulous tone. She wasn't quite sure who she was scoffing at; Ganondorf for offering the idea or herself for mulling it over. "How could I?" Standing there before the might of the Gerudo King, Link found it difficult to concentrate on her next words. She scuffed the sand/rug beneath her, eyes downcast for a moment longer until she finally turned to gaze up at Ganondorf. "So, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. Well... Might as well show you, actually."

Ganondorf had answered her question well enough, even long before he opened his mouth. Link doubted the rumors circulating around him and the Gerudo- her bias was her friendship with the man, but it was a bias she was unwilling to part with.

"I'm defenceless too, you know." The heroine took a few steps forward and tugged at the straps keeping the Master Sword's sheath pinned against her back. With a few undone clasps, the Blade of Evil's Bane sank to the sand along with the sturdy, stalwart Hylian Shield. Apparently the Master Sword was one of a very, very small number of things that could harm Ganondorf, or so she was told. For Link, she figured turning her back on her friend would be much more lethal than any pointy sword through the chest. "I... I don't want to fight. I don't want to be Hyrule's Hero if it means killing you. Ganon," she cooed, using one of many nicknames for him, "I'll probably go down as a traitor, but... I'd like to join you. Whatever your fight is, whatever it is that you're dealing with, I want to help you through it all."

 

[matttheman89]

There was another moment of silence as Link seemed to be contemplating her options, leaving Ganondorf to wait impassively, even as he wished that this long-desired reunion could have happened under practically any other set of circumstances. Out of all the people in the world, she was the last person that he'd ever want to have this sort of showdown with...yet, here they were. Even his closest and oldest friend was now aligned against him; their fates sealed.

Then Link finally broke the silence, and Ganondorf blinked in surprise as she refused to strike him down, unable to bring herself to do so. "W-What?" he replied, his stoic demeanor finally breaking as the situation began to go in a direction he hadn't been expecting, leaving him to watch incredulously as she came closer while dropping her sword - the Master Sword, of all things - and her shield to the sands. "J-Join me? Are you serious?"

On the one hand, to hear Link say these things was...very, very heartening. He could have hugged her...or perhaps done more...but he remained where he stood, keeping her at a distance, fighting off the urge to smile by shaking his head and glancing away from her. "...no. You are Hyrule's Hero. It is your destiny to protect the land; to stop-" he paused then, closing his eyes with a grimace and tightening his fists as he stopped just short of saying what he was afraid to say. "-to stop any darkness that threatens the land."

"That is why...you can't join me. You can't be dragged down like that because of me." Pushing her away like this was more difficult than he could have imagined, but he knew it was the right thing to do. "You have a destiny to fulfill...and perhaps...so do I."

 

[Major Mario]

Though Link had grown up as a tomboy, she liked to consider herself well-read and a bit of a poet. In fact, she had dreams to travel the world and make the money supporting her efforts through being a bard, though the life of a merchant seemed certain for her back then. Reading and writing came naturally to her and proved to be an enjoyable pastime. Whenever the sand became too much for her and brought an end to her physical fun, Link could always delight in a good book while swathed in the warm embrace of a blanket. Her eloquence and knowledge wasn't much to shake a stick at, but it did allow her more variety when it came to banter and most things conversational.

She stood there before Ganondorf, dumbfounded that he would strike her down in favour of defeatism. Link felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, her breath quicken and her heart drop. This was not like the man she knew at all. There were a multitude of ways that she could handle this now, yet most of them could instigate something Link didn't want to see to its end. Her first instinct was to snap and shout, then it was to chastise, then it was to stand still and say nothing. Simply put, Link was put in a difficult position... one that she didn't have words for.

In the end, Link moved closer to the 'destined darkness', just as defiant and determined as when they had first met.

"Since when did either of us believe in destiny, Ganondorf?" Link replied with a sly, sad smile. "But alright, if you want me to humour you, then so be it. If it's my destiny to protect the land by putting a stop to the darkness that threatens it, then what better way for me to do it than to join you? It sounds like you need someone to keep you grounded, to keep your spirits up and fight your demons. I want to be with you... I want to help you, and I won't let a silly thing like destiny tell me otherwise." Closer she came until the blonde-haired heroine was within reach. Link went deeper and reached out for Ganondorf's arm as she tried to slip her fingers in between the Gerudo's own. "I know you're not a monster. I'm going to stay," she assured, "and I'm going to help you see that; no matter what it takes."

Link paused for a moment to let the words sink in. Then, she spoke again.

"Come on, Dorfy... What do you say?"

 

[matttheman89]

Having known Link as long as he had, Ganondorf should have known that she wouldn't be dissuaded so easily, yet he still refused to meet her eyes as she continued to try and convince him that she was right, attempting to maintain some sort of distance between the two even as the busty heroine came closer and closer. Her seemingly boundless optimism and determination was refreshing...especially in such dark times, but the Gerudo King remained hesitant, even as part of him pined for her aid, and more importantly, her companionship.

"And what if you're wrong?" Ganondorf finally replied, his deep voice becoming soft as Link came with arm's reach and reached out, allowing her to intertwine her fingers with his own before closing them around her so that they could hold hands - a sort of intimacy they'd often shared as children and one he hadn't with many others since then - and he shook his head again. "What if - deep down - I am what they say I am? And even I'm not...what if they never see me as anything but they want to see?"

The use of an old, affectionate nickname from their childhood gave him reason to blink, and he finally turned to meet her gaze once more with a resigned, yet wistful expression to his face. "You always were stubborn..." he said, the barest hint of a smile tugging at his lips. Taking his own step closer so that they were within one another's guard, he wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace as he felt his resistances crumble. "I've missed you, Link. There hasn't been a day I haven't thought about you." he continued, finding that he was enjoying holding her like this more than he had actually expected.

It might not have been an outright admission or agreement to her help, but it was a start.