Link's eyes slowly opened. He stirred, trying to get a grip on his surroundings. Link remembered nothing: he told Malon good night and that was it. Something put him on his ass and it wasn't the bud. Not something...someone. He was intentionally drawn to wherever he was. How did he know this? Simple: he wasn't anywhere in Hyrule.
All Link saw was white. As far as the eye could see, nothing but white. However, as Link walked forward, he realized that there were solid walls and a floor. There were even doorways, as he walked right into an empty doorframe. Smacking his head and shoulder, he bounced back. The invisible wall only turned the faintest of green, just enough for Link to see an outline of where to walk. Into another room of pure white, only this time he saw a red glow from the walls. The faint random flashing of the red boundaries told him where to go. Into one more room, where Link saw him.
Ganondorf Dragmire.
A little more healthier than before, Ganondorf was still thin and paler. But obviously he was beginning to catch his strength again. He had a new look: the long ugly nose he once had was now normal sized. His fire orange hair was standing up in spikes, and his black cape was now dotted with small white and gold patterns.
"Hey kid."
Link immediately went on the defensive. "What the hell am I doing here?"
"Well, duh. I brought you here. Since you didn't use the Door of Time, you're not here physically. Only in spirit. You're still passed out in your bed. But you'll be there until I decide you can go." Ganondorf was standing. Everything around him was a normal color: the closer Link came to him, the more everything in the room began to take shape. Link was taken back by this. As Ganondorf moved around the room, the aura of colors followed him as the place he once stood returned to white.
"I'll be quick since we don't really like each other. Without the Triforce in its complete form, the Sacred Realm is a world of nothingness. I have only now learned to use my Triforce of Power to see my immediate surroundings. You being in contact with me enables you to do the same. Now, instead of a blank prison I have something resembling a home now. But that's not the point, Link."
As the power increased, eventually the entire room became visible. It had stone-built walls with a few torches. In the room were two chairs and a desk littered with papers. Ganondorf sat at the desk.
"Please, sit."
Link did so, not removing his eyes from Ganondorf.
"Look, man, ease up. I might want your blood, but not now. It's the opposite...we have to work together."
"What? No, fuck that." Link got up as quick as he had sat down. "You're evil, pure and simple."
"No, Ganon is pure evil. I'm Ganondorf, a human being just like you." Ganondorf stood up. "Fine, we'll do it like this. Even though everything was returned to the way it was, the Triforce went back with you and Zelda. I kept my piece, but was doomed to remain here, a place where time doesn't exist. You and Zelda, you've forgotten all about your pieces. I'll never know how: you've had these powers for all this time and never used them. Even when facing Lych, you did not use the Triforce. You defeated him by yourself. Kid, you've got the guts. I respect you for that. But you can't get that lucky again."
Ganondorf pointed directly into Link's face. "Something else is coming, and you'll need a lot more than a lucky shot with a bong to defeat this. You'll need the Triforce. All of it."
"So? All the more reason for me to take you down by force and do what I should have a long time ago."
"Idiot! I don't know if you figured this out or not yet...but the Triforce has a little side effect on its bearers. Watch this." Ganondorf then pulled a large sword from his belt.
"Link, you want to kill me and take the Triforce of Power? Go ahead." Handing the sword over, Link took it. He examined the weapon for a moment, making sure it was not fake or a trick.
"Stab me already, man." Ganondorf opened his outer tunic and exposed his chest. Link shrugged, and crammed the blade in as far as he could, stopping when the handle touched Ganondorf's chest.
"Now...pull...it out..." Ganondorf coughed up blood, and wheezed heavily. Link pulled the blade out...and slowly over the course of thirty seconds Ganondorf's wound sucked in all of the blood lost as it closed up, leaving nothing behind. Not even a scar.
"Yeah, dude." Link was beyond shocked: he almost fainted right then and there.
"We're virtually immortal. The only thing that can stop us is ourselves. So do I have your attention?"
Link nodded slowly.
"Good. Anyways...you're going to need the entire Triforce to defeat this enemy. And as you can tell, I'm not going to just give up my part. If I could, I wouldn't anyway, but if you surrender your piece willingly you die. And there's no way to extract a piece by force, take it from me. I tried, remember? So you're going to just have to take me with you. We'll meet up with Zelda. Only then will I give you any more details."
Link was as skeptic as could be, despite the miracle Ganondorf had just performed. "No way."
"Are you scared I'll be a bad guy again? I'll give you even more proof. I told you, I'm not the King of Evil. Ganon is here too. Come with me." Ganondorf motioned for Link to stand beside him. Link walked over. As he faced Ganondorf, Ganondorf encased the two in an amber crystal.
"And here we...go."
On the word go, everything became white. It flashed from black to white before becoming totally black. Finally, the two stood at the bottom of a giant rockface. It was pitch dark save a giant moon glowing an eerie blue. The bare rockface had a giant inscription in Hylian with each letter at least fifty feet high. A single enterance to a cave inside the cliff stood in the middle of the writing.
"Ganon, King of Evil, rests here."
Link walked forward, but Ganondorf stopped him.
"Don't. Ganon's grave is sealed. This is the true seal of the sages. I'm no threat. I can even leave this realm once I regain my full strength as a human. But the evil you faced...the real terror of Hyrule, is inside that cave."
Link saw the seal in the form of the six Medallions: three on each side of the doorway. Nobody could see the seal itself, but walking through the door would get you zapped instantly.
"I don't understand."
"Okay, kid, the Triforce changed me. It made me somebody I wasn't. Believe me, I was NOT planning on destroying the world like I had. My intentions with the Triforce were a little more homorable: I merely wanted a land for the Gerudo people to call their own. A place where my people could flourish and not be persecuted by the desert hell. But something took over. My simple wish for my people turned into a quest to destroy everything. Eventually Ganon, the evil side of me, adopted his physical form of that demon you fought. The best thing you could have ever done for me was end my human life in Hyrule. I returned here. And a few moments later, so had Ganon."
"Alive?"
"Barely. This is when I learned of the secret of the Triforce and its immortality. It's why I survived in this world. But it came at a cost: I had to finish Ganon off myself. You did a hell of a job, kid. Ganon was so weak would have never harmed another soul. Except for me. I was the only one he could still mess with. In his weakened state, Ganon attempted to fuse himself with me permanently. But he could not succeed, and I basically just cut off his air supply and left him for dead in that cave. Upon my exit, Rauru appeared to me. He let me know I had done the right thing, and I would be rewarded so long as I did not let evil reposess my soul. He and the other Sages then sealed the cave, acknowledging that Ganon was indeed dead. The price I paid was the loss of most of my powers. Even with the Triforce of Power, a part of me was dead."
Ganondorf reactivated the crystal, and the two again stood inside of a jewel.
"Link, we have to stick together. You, me, and Zelda. She is a part of this too."
"Nuh-uh."
Ganondorf grunted and smacked his forehead, then began to raise his voice with Link. "God damn it, Link. How do I convince you? Huh? What do I have to do?"
Link felt something. He looked down at his left hand. The faint glow of the Triforce of Courage stared back at him. As it pulsed, it relayed to Link the urgency of Ganondorf's plea for help. That connection could say more than any words ever could. Link understood now that Ganondorf's pleas were not merely tricks: whatever Ganondorf was talking about, he was genuinely concerned about.
"There. Now do you believe me?"
Link nodded. "Before we do this...what could possibly be so bad that you're willing to jump realms and align with me and Zelda?"
As Ganondorf began to spin the crystal, he only said two words.
"You'll see."
Link woke up. He was alone.
"Ganon..."
Sitting up, he checked outside his window. It was barely morning. Rubbing his eyes, he swung his feet out of the bed and got to his feet. "What the hell was that all about?"
Looking out his window again, he sees Saria walking out towards his house. Quickly looking for his trusty green tunic, he finds it and throws it on. Saria is now coming up the ladder. Link finds his hat on the floor. Yanking it up, he positions it on his head as Saria peeks into his house.
"Morning Link!"
Link came outside, squinting at the light. "Hey Saria."
"The Deku Tree...he summoned for you. That's highly unusual. I wonder what he could want...." Saria trailed off. "Probably just wants to say happy birthday."
"Yeah. Probably. I'll get down there now." Link goes for the ladder and slides down as usual. However, upon entering the Deku Tree meadow, he sees the Great Deku Tree...with Ganondorf seated at his trunk, looking back at a very puzzled Link.
"Oh...hey kid. There you are."
