ONE
******* Ganon’s piggish eyes went wide as Link rammed the Master Sword through his gut. He looked down in surprise at the place where metal met flesh. They seemed to be locked in time, the whole universe pausing for this single moment. Thoughts ran in sluggish streams through Ganon’s mind. The foremost of which was that everything had gone wrong. He was supposed to be king right now, sitting on the throne with the Triforce in his hand and the world under his feet. Then his thoughts flowed down a different course. If he died, he was going to take Link, his arch nemesis, with him. As if waking from a dream, he narrowed his sunken eyes and met Link’s dark blue gaze. Link started to pull the Master Sword out, but he was too late.
Ganon grabbed Link’s hand and chanted something incomprehensible. Both of their respective Triforce symbols glowed. A sharp gasp from Princess Zelda echoed into the night. Bright white light filled the air as everything faded from Ganon’s view. Then suddenly the light winked out and he found himself in the Temple of Time. The Master Sword clattered to the floor in front of him. He looked down, but there was no gaping wound in his torso, no blood.
Ganon laughed triumphantly. That boy would never learn. This was the third time Ganon had been killed just to find a way out of the situation.
He whirled around and stalked out of the Temple of Time, his booted heels clicking on the polished marble floor. Once outside, it was apparent that the world had altered. Under his rule, Hyrule Castle Town had been deserted. Well the same could be said about it now, except it was also in shambles. The remains of a house to his left toppled further as he stalked past it. Smoke rose in billows from the ashes of dying fires and the whole place was eerily silent. Loose rubble was haphazardly strewn about the ruins of the city and when Ganon inspected closer, even the city’s general layout was different. A slight movement caught the corner of his eye and Ganon yanked a short red haired man out of the shadows. His hand on the man’s throat, Ganon lifted him up off the ground.
“What happened here?” he demanded. The man gasped for air and squeaked out,
“T-the other army forced the townspeople out of their homes, s-sir. The armies fought.” Ganon’s grip loosened slightly.
“What armies?” The man’s brow furrowed, looking at Ganondorf as though he was dumb.
“The Gerudos and the Hylians, sir. Didn’t you know?”
Ganon set the man on the ground, but kept the hold on his throat. He was slightly surprised . He hadn’t expected his spell to throw him back THIS far in time. That meant...Link was just a baby!
“Where did they go?!” he grated.
“Towards Kakariko.” the man wheezed. Ganon tossed him unceremoniously to the side. Making his way out of Hyrule castle town, he headed in the direction of the looming mountain to the west.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nysia ran low in the shadows of buildings, hushing the crying bundle in her arms. She grasped the child closer and hurried past a man on horseback, engaged in battle with two of the local farms men, who were armed with pitchforks. Nysia tried again to determine what had started all of this. War had been breaking out across Hyrule, the last fierce battle being at the very gates of the castle. Then, not more than two hours ago, her peaceful Kakarikan life had gone shattering around her ankles like so much fragile glass. Gerudian soldiers had apparently followed the fleeing Hylians to Kakariko to continue the skirmish. Innocent bystanders such as herself had been caught in the fray.
Nysia had left Hyrule Town for Kakariko just after the birth of her son. The pregnancy itself was a mystery to everyone, as she had never been with a man. Smiling down softly at her beautiful sapphire eyed boy, Nysia never saw the two soldiers approaching. As a Gerudo parried her opponent’s sword, she momentarily lost control of her own weapon and it found a target in Nysia’s shoulder. Nysia screamed in pain, drawing a new bout of cries from the infant she was clutching to her chest. The Gerudo spared her a glance, then shrugged and pulled her sword from Nysia’s body, resuming her battle with the other.
Nysia blinked and stumbled away. Seconds dragged into minutes as she fought the urge to collapse. It would be so easy to just give up, but where would that leave her precious son? No, she had to get him somewhere safe. Hugging the crying child to her bosom, her vision wavered and then settled on the bright green trees of Kokiri, far in the distance. It was said that all who entered, perished. That only the fabled children of Kokiri could survive in those woods. Maybe her son could join them, she thought with a faint smile. Determinedly, she set that as her destination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ganon strolled calmly into the chaos that was Kakariko. He had no interest in any of the many skirmishes taking place in the village...yet. His present goal was to find a certain blue-eyed, blond haired infant. He searched his knowledge of Link’s past for a clue of where to start looking. The boy had been Hylian, but he came from Kokiri. Most likely his mother had left him there after she died.
Ganon dragged a man off his horse and swung up onto the saddle. Riding towards the forest, he noticed a figure stumbling in the same direction. A wail clashed with the sounds of the battle behind him. Ganon reigned in front of the figure, halting it’s progress. The person lifted its head and he noticed it was a woman. Wide blue eyes peered up at him from under sharply slanted dark blond eyebrows, erasing any doubt in Ganon’s mind as to her identity. This was Link’s mother.
Her skin was too pale, as though she’d lost a lot of blood. Judging by the stain spreading on her clothing, it seemed she HAD. Ganon leered at her, and saw hope die in her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Deku Tree felt a bad omen. He knew they were supposed to receive a very important child soon, but something had gone dreadfully wrong. This did not bode well for Hyrule at all.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If Nysia had possessed the energy, she would have screamed in desperation. She felt her will to get to Kokiri crumbling under this man’s self-righteous gaze. She knew she was going to die, but she didn’t want to leave her son in the care of such a cruel looking man. Her body, however, chose that moment to give up, and Nysia fell to her knees, hearing her last link to this world let out a wail. Link, she thought, and smiled wistfully; it had a nice ring to it. But then her vision faded to black and Nysia died, her arms still wrapped around Link.
Ganon dismounted and stuck the tip of his boot under the dead woman, rolling her onto her back. He gazed dispassionately at the crying child in her arms. It would’ve been so much more fun to kill Link when he was cognizant of his defeat; to smirk in his face and see the look in his eyes when he realized that Ganon had won. It would’ve been so much more fun to hear Link scream.
Then, as these things happen, an idea struck Ganon. As annoying as he was, Link was a remarkable swordsmen. It came with being bred by destiny to kill, Ganon supposed. He remembered thinking more than once that if the rotten boy hadn’t been on the opposing side, he’d have won. But what if Link had been on HIS side? He’d be invincible. And here was Link himself, just a baby, susceptible to whatever Ganon might teach him.
The tyrant let out an evil laugh at the innocent child on the ground. It would give him great pleasure to corrupt Link’s soul. Imagine the look on Princess Zelda’s face when she was killed by her precious ‘Hero of Time’!
He picked Link up by the blankets and sniffed in distaste. Turning on his heel back towards the battle, he deposited the kid in an empty house. He’d come back for the brat later, but now he had more important items on his agenda. After all, he had a throne to overpower.