Eleven
“You look good, kid.”
Link scowled, as Nabooru ruffled his long hair. She’d been giving him nothing but trouble since they’d sent Malon back to her father.
He grumbled, knocking her hand away. “How many rupees will it cost me to forget you saw me like this?”
“Double the Hyrule Treasury on its best day. Hey, if we’re lucky, maybe I can buy you a dress before this is over.” She chuckled, and moved past him, toward the bar. It was a small tavern, but loyal to their side even now. At Nabooru’s suggestion they decided it was the best place to try and regroup, to make their next plan of attack.
Link frowned, watching as the thief leaned against the bar, talking to the cloaked figure who had not moved once since they arrived, trying not to draw attention to himself. Ganon had kept his distance from all of them, and Link was happy for it, even with the way Zelda kept scolding him with her eyes. It was just too much to accept, too much to understand and try to forgive - even if he acted nothing like the evil sorcerer Link despised.
//It isn’t just looks. He’s a part of Ganon, he has the /Triforce/. No one can expect me to trust him.//
Ganon looked over Nabooru’s shoulder, and Link glared back, knowing he shouldn’t have gotten the satisfaction of watching him shrink back and turn away, but unable to feel bad about it. He glanced away before Nabooru could turn to scold him, twisting his drink in one hand, staring at the firelight. He asked the question, when it seemed no one else wanted to.
“So, what do we do with him?”
It seemed a rather pathetic hero’s gathering, he and Zelda and Impa. The rest of the Sheikah preferred to guard outside, a few other patrons purposefully ignoring them and their conversation, though he still kept his voice low. Zelda had her scarf down, chewing a little at her bottom lip. A sign of just how nervous she was, and one that looked rather silly on a boy. He hated the uncertain look in her eyes, another thing he could blame on their impossible captive.
“It seems he and Nabooru have become fast friends,” Impa murmured. “Her manner is coarse, and yet she is cunning enough not to mistake an enemy for an ally. He has made no sign of any plan or plot against us, and seems to have no magical powers. I am not sure he even knows how to hold a weapon.”
“All right, so he’s not our enemy.”
It was a lie, pretending this had already been decided upon, that he trusted this second Ganon any more than the first, but like it or not, Link knew there were bigger issues here. It was frustrating beyond words to see the last piece of their victory, the Triforce of Power right there in front of them, and be unable to do anything about it.
“Is there any way to reunite the Triforce, now that we have all three parts?”
“I don’t know.” Zelda shook her head helplessly, and he knew she’d been pondering the same question for quite some time. “All that information was in the temple, with Rauru, and it’s all gone now. I don’t... I thought it might just come together, once the three of us were close enough. Ganon certainly seemed to think so.... the other Ganon.”
“Maybe it is because he is not entirely Ganon, and cannot give up the Triforce completely?” Impa leaned forward a little, ghostly arms fading slightly into the tabletop. Link hadn’t asked how she’d ever managed to sit down in the first place. “If what Nabooru witnessed was accurate, then there truly are two Ganons. Our enemy, and this less hostile one, a facet of our foe.”
“His good side.” Zelda said softly, and though usually Link loved her for her gentle nature, her belief in the good in all people, this time it just made him angry.
“He’s Ganon, he doesn’t /have/ a good side.” Link closed his eyes, not really wanting to say the next words but knowing he had to at least put forth the notion. “We could kill him, and attempt to take the Triforce that way.”
“Link, no!”
He flinched from the horror in her voice, not something he ever enjoyed hearing, especially directed at him. For all his irritation, dismay and disbelief that a dark creature like Ganon could have any sense of kindness, Link also knew he was not a cold-blooded murderer. Achieving the union of the Triforce through violence – it wasn’t right, it would warp everything good they meant to achieve with their victory.
“I know, I know we can’t do that. I just...” He sighed, leaning his head in his hands. Zelda’s hand was on his arm, and he tried to take the peace he could in the weight and warmth of it, needing a plan, needing a goal to fight for.
“We’re so close, Zelda. Are we ever going to get there? Is this nightmare ever going to be over?”
Zelda took his hands into her own as Impa moved away, giving them some privacy. The princess comforting her hero as best she could, neither one of them noticing how Ganon was watching from the bar, the expression on his face shadowed by the cloak he wore, but his eyes still glinting sadly beneath.
-----------------------------
Talon was doing his best to make tea, but his hands kept shaking so badly he was afraid he would either spill or crush the fragile cup. A slight chirp from the other room let him realize just how long he’d been working at the single drink.
“I’m coming!”
By the time he was finished he had only enough strength to get across the room and collapse in his favorite chair, listening to a rustle of feathers as Malon swept across the room to his side, making tiny worried noises as she tipped her head to peer into his face.
//My girl... my beautiful little girl.//
He hadn’t needed the note tied to her leg to tell him it was Malon, he’d known from nearly the moment she’d landed, tapping on the windowpane. The note had provided a few extra details – that dark creatures were chasing them, and Link had wanted Malon where she would be safe until they could make a plan. The bird had cried out sharply when he’d read that part aloud, feathers fluffed, and it was the first time Talon had smiled since she’d disappeared, to see her so disgruntled over being protected.
The llamas had been bleating so badly since her arrival that he’d had to cover their enclosure entirely. A panic not entirely unjustified, Malon had swooped down and snapped one up the moment she flew in the door, holding it in her beak for a long moment before realizing what it was, quickly returning it back to the pen. After that, he’d left a window open for her to go out hunting as she chose, and tried not to think about it further.
~Still Malon. Don’t be sad.~
The arm of the chair was dented and splintered where her beak had cut into the wood, tapping out simple messages, mostly to reassure him. It was a code all the Hylian soldiers had known, and all of Link and Zelda’s forces too. Talon sighed, sipping at his drink and reaching out a hand, Malon leaning into his touch with another soft sound, nipping affectionately at his fingertips.
“I don’t expect you to stay here, but I hope you’ll at least listen to Link. He wants you to be safe.”
One eye tipped up to him, and even though she had shifted form he still could see his daughter there, her determination and strength beneath the changed shape.
~Trust me. I know what to do.~
A day later, he raised his arm to the morning sky and she took flight, not moving toward the capitol but flying straight toward the sea. Talon had written the note she slowly tapped out, had understood her plan, though he had no way of knowing if it would work or not.
All he could do was follow her advice, and trust her.
-----------------------------
It was late into the night when they finally went to sleep. So many days of resting at all hours had left Zelda exhausted, and with the village all around them the sense of Dark Link and his minions had faded – maybe waiting for an order from Ganon, or simply disinclined to attack them in cities, among allies.
Link stayed still until he was sure Zelda wouldn’t wake, and gently rolled out of the narrow bed, slipping the Master Sword over a shoulder, just in case. Impa was sitting near the bottom of the stairs, and looked up as he passed, but said nothing. It wasn’t the first or last time he spent most of his night pacing restlessly.
A small balcony at the other end of the hall gave him easy access to the roof, and before long Link was swinging his way up onto the edge, pulling himself up to sit and look at the stars from the highest point in town. It was nothing as impressive as the Deku Tree, but it wasn’t bad.
The night was very quiet. Every now and then, Link would hear a random noise – a chicken, or a bell, or something else that had no place this late in the evening, but he assumed it was only the effects of the Chaos Glass on the crickets and frogs. The feel of foreboding in the air that he’d sensed before Dark Link’s attack was nowhere to be found.
He thought he’d killed that monster, and because Link was alone now he could shiver. He hated those red eyes, the way they burned out from his memories, mocking him, sneering as they reached deep inside to cut at his heart. Dousing him with doubt and fear, and he could deny it all he wanted, but the emotions were acid, and burned whether he admitted it or not.
//You destroyed him once, you can do it again.//
But nothing was the way it had been, and even when he’d banished Dark Link before, it had been anything but an easy fight. Link did not look forward to the rematch.
He hoped Malon would reach her father safely. She’d wanted to fight for him, even without words he could tell that much, and he’d had to plead with her to leave instead. Dark Link had come too close to killing her, a loss that would have been too much for him to bear. Saria’s death had been enough to last him the rest of his life and beyond. If nothing else, her father needed to know she was alive, and they couldn’t afford to backtrack and tell him, or risk leading Dark Link there.
It had finally been enough to convince her, though she’d nipped off a piece of his hair in protest before flying away.
The thought made him smile, though it quickly fell away at a rustle from the bottom of the roof. Link had a hand around the scabbard of his sword, cautiously moving into a crouch when a pair of eyes peered over the edge. It was the last person he expected to see.
“I’m sorry.” Ganon said softly. “Am I bothering you?”
“Not really.” Link nearly winced at his own cold tone, and just as quickly admonished himself for caring what this creature thought of him. “Is anything wrong?”
“No. No, everyone is asleep. I just...” A long, long pause. “May I join you?”
The hesitance in his voice stopped Link short. He had never heard Ganon at any other volume than a commanding roar, and at those times he was paying too much attention to the fight, focused on finding a way to kill the villain to care about his words. Still, this sounded nothing like the evil sorcerer, uncertainty not something he believed his enemy could even fake. Ganon hadn’t moved, still waiting on his word.
“Sure.” It wasn’t like he had anything else to do.
Ganon had always moved with surprising stealth for a man of his stature. Link looked away, over the rooftops, a little surprised to see one of the Sheikah, gleaming eyes just visible where he lay on a nearby rooftop. Link pulled the Master Sword back a bit, and let his muscles relax slightly. If Ganon tried anything, the Sheikah would insure his death before he could even tumble off the roof.
Testing him, just to see what might happen, Link stretched out, folding his hands behind his head and leaving most of his body an easy, open target. He could tell Ganon was watching him, but there was nothing threatening in his pose, no suggestion of sudden violence. Link tried to tell himself he wasn’t being silly to keep expecting it.
“So, you used to be a prince?”
Odd enough that he had joined Link on the roof. Having a conversation with Ganondorf was something he didn’t really want to attempt without a few drinks in him first.
“No, that was Zelda. She was a princess, before the Glass shattered. I was just a boy.”
A boy who loved a girl. A girl who needed a hero.
“Ah.” He heard Ganon finally sigh, shifting positions on the roof until he was laying on his back as well. “I don’t remember the stars being this beautiful before.”
Link frowned. “You remember?”
Ganon glanced at him, but the expression on his face was an ever-changing chaos, and Link couldn’t decipher it by moonlight alone.
“I remember... certain things. Books I’ve read, some music, and the stars.” He lifted a hand, pointing to the patterns that Zelda had taught him. “Farore’s Spirit... the great Horse. Din’s blade, that one.”
Link watched in amazement as he kept going, naming off more and more pictures in the sky, things he knew even Zelda hadn’t heard of. Not just constellations, but how different stars would affect the earth, the placement of certain signs and the position of the moon bringing about drought or abundance, flood and famine or gentle rains.
“The Gerudo need to know so much, just to survive, but I hoped I could do more than that. Give them more science, more knowledge, to help our people survive.”
Ganondorf had been a leader, and a scholar, before he had lost his way in the darkness. Link listened, shocked by the gentle wisdom in this Ganon’s voice, something he could barely remember – the last voice he had heard like that belonged to Zelda’s father.
“What /are/ you?”
Ganon stopped, lifted both hands, staring at them as if they could provide the answers the stars refused. “I... I don’t know.”
A ‘good’ Ganon seemed a little too pat, too simple to be believed – but if this were the Ganondorf that might have been, the one who had existed before he’d chosen the darkness...
“I think there should be a meteor shower soon, when the stars move just a little bit more. I wonder if I’ll be around...” He trailed off. “I don’t deserve to be, though. I know that. I’m a monster, aren’t I? I hurt you, and your friends.”
Link shut his eyes, trying not to form an answer. He didn’t want to be having this conversation – no, he wanted to be having it a little while ago, before it really sunk in that this Ganon might not be his enemy.
“Ganon murdered a gentle, dear friend of mine, and destroyed my home, and killed our king, Zelda’s father. He’s enslaved the land, and all innocents live in constant terror as Hyrule grows ever darker. He wants ultimate power, to ensure the entire world is forever locked in shadow. If I’d really thought you were him, if I was sure, I would have killed you by now. But Nabooru...”
It was difficult, to watch her with him. How close they were after so short a time. So obvious, how much the thief wanted him to be the solution. How much she’d always hoped for a true leader for their people, a philosopher king in place of the tyrant – and now, in a way, it had happened.
“Nabooru likes you, and no matter what I think of you, I can’t ignore that.” He felt his heart sink just a little, at Ganon’s slightly perplexed expression. “You know about your people, right, their history and culture? Ganon is the only king Nabooru has ever known – she’s been wishing all her life for a leader worth following, someone who isn’t cruel and power-mad. A leader like you.”
The Gerudo’s eyes grew wide. “I don’t think...”
Link shook his head, feeling a swell of bitter laughter that couldn’t quite pierce his current cynicism. “I don’t either, and Nabooru probably doesn’t realize she’s doing it. You should start considering it, though. If we could destroy Ganon, and put you on the throne in his place...”
“You don’t want that.” Ganon rubbed at his hand again, the gleaming symbol on his skin, and Link felt another sharp burst of anger, this bumbling, stupid twin of his enemy, able to stand in his way even without a weapon in his hand.
“I haven’t /wanted/ most of the last few years. I didn’t want the Sages to die, or the King. I didn’t want Saria to die, or my home to be destroyed, or listen to Zelda cry when she thinks I can’t hear. I’m willing to do what it takes to make things better – however small the step, however little good I think it might do. Letting you live, however, is all I can deal with right now.”
He braced himself, preparing to stand up, wishing there was a way to quickly storm off a rooftop. Link shifted the Master Sword to his left hand, catching the tip of the scabbard against a raised shingle, only to have both shingle and sword slide away the moment he loosened his grip.
Link bit back the curse, stretching quickly – but it was Ganon who caught the scabbard, wrapping his other hand tight around the hilt to ensure a steady grip.
“I...” Ganon faltered, as Link stared at him. “Your sword...”
“Pull it.”
“I didn’t mean...”
“Draw the sword.”
Ganon flinched at his flat, demanding tone, but complied, carefully shifting the magic blade in his much larger hands and finally, gingerly removing it from the sheath. He held it flat for a moment, reflecting a little of the moonlight across the blade, and looked up warily as Link stood, staring down at him.
“I... owe you an apology.” Link dropped to one knee, head bowed, the best measure of regret he could manage on the slanted roof. “I was wrong about you, and I let my anger and hatred for Ganon obscure the truth. I didn’t want to think that things might be more complicated than I wanted to face, and that was very unfair of me.”
“I don’t... I don’t understand.” Ganon proffered the sword again, obviously disconcerted with having Link bow to him. “You didn’t do anything...”
Link smiled a little, reaching up to take the Master Sword back. “You know what’s special about this blade, don’t you?” He didn’t have to look to know that Ganon was shaking his head.
“It is a weapon of valor and light – and only a pure soul can wield it.” Ganon looked down at the sword in stunned surprise as Link slid it back into the scabbard.
“The other Ganon could never have touched this sword, let alone draw it as you did. I should have seen, though, that you are not my enemy. All that has happened has made me overcautious and quick to anger. I have judged you very harshly, and unfairly - for reasons you are not responsible for, and cannot change.”
“It’s a-all right. I understand, and you didn’t... I didn’t... Thank you.”
Ganon relaxed visibly as Link went back to sitting on the roof, though his eyes strayed now and then to the Master Sword, looking down at his own hands in even more amazement than he had studied the skies. Link eventually lay back on the roof, and they rested for a while in a peaceful, contemplative silence.
“So... Nabooru likes me?”
Link laughed, and after a few moments was rewarded with a sound he never thought he’d hear – Ganon chuckling as well, a truly happy sound.
In the deepest part of midnight, for a peaceful stretch of time, the better part of a villain and the better part of a hero stretched out side-by-side, and watched the stars.