Chapter Text
It had been two long days of fighting but finally all (or at least the majority) of Hyrule submitted to the dark king who used his growing power to wipe his adversaries from his path. Ganondorf won. With the addition of the secret tunnels in the castle, learning every weak point and how the princess herself was able to breach her own castle, it was easy for numerous Gerudians to move in undetected. The adrenaline that surged through him had been intoxicating as he called upon that energy and finally released the beast inside tearing everything around him apart brick by brick. It was such a powerful release that once it opened he couldn’t stop it. He wanted this whole place to burn. It was already too late to stop him, the bright side of attacking in the middle of the night was how unprepared the other side was, they might have well just surrendered there and then. Ganondorf led his army with fury as he did what he couldn’t do ten years ago, he mowed down guard after guard unleashing the unbridled fury that had been festering for the last decade. Every comment he had chosen to ignore, every look, every snide remark, he let it all out as he beheaded the king of Hyrule himself in his own bedchambers, soaking in the choking sounds of that greedy bastard that had the audacity to look surprised it happened… but there was one issue. Where was the girl? If she was allowed to flee it was only a matter of time before his new reign would end. And what was worse? If legend was true, she would use his own son against him. No. That couldn’t happen. That wouldn’t happen.
He was furious as he searched the entire castle and town for her, but she was gone and no one had seen her except one guard near the bridge into the town. The dark king had marched to the guard in question who trembled and bowed in his presence sputtering about the white horse fleeing into the field, he begged for mercy before Ganondorf impaled him with his sword ceasing the pathetic cries and begging to be let go. He should be happy… everything worked according to plan. But… why wasn’t he? His anger would rise and fall like an unpredictable tide, flaring to dangerous levels then subsiding to mere irritation with even a little touch of sadness. His thoughts would dwell on his son as he took life after life, the blood of his enemies staining his armor, his clothes, his skin, but it didn’t wash away the guilt that came now as he realized the happy little trips to Hyrule were over. Hours stretched on, the worse his guilt became and it was starting to overwhelm him as no one had seen the boy either. He hoped his son was alright, the last two days were spent fighting, but silently worrying about little Link. He was itching to go to the desert (where the boy should’ve been taken if he hadn’t been captured) and see his son for himself hoping he was unscathed from this. His anger and fury ebbed the more the worry grew, each thought he had about his little boy seemed to force back the malice inside, almost like Link was fulfilling his part of the legend without even trying. The longer he spent at the castle in his destruction, the more he realized he had no idea if his son was truly safe. No confirmation from anyone, no report, just death and destruction.
Every now and then a panic would surge in him as he would wander the destroyed castle with thunderous footfalls, his minds eye picturing his little boy trapped under a beam from the ceiling, cold to the touch with the light gone… but he searched the castle himself, dug through debris much to the confusion of the other Gerudians around him and never found anything. It was a relief… but a huge worry at the same time. He couldn’t feel the circlet nearby, and he had hoped that meant the child was safe. If not, hell was to pay to all. The malice shifted in him at that, feeding off of that simple thought to destroy it all. It came at him in moments where he would succumb and find himself lost in that darkness in his heart, often times coming from the other side in confusion with holes in his memory and only the tales of those around him telling him the chaos and destruction he brought in those moments. He could feel him losing himself the more this demon took over him. He fought the malice worried he would hurt his son, a migraine forming in his skull the longer he pushed against that horrid voice that screamed at him to continue on, the voice of the demon Demise who used him as a vessel. With great power came a cost. But his son gave him a different kind of strength, one that felt almost more powerful than this dark magic.
But there was something else, a whisper in his ear he could identify but it made him uncomfortable… though he refused to show it. It started to come after the first day, a small whisper too quiet to make out, a cry perhaps? No… a plea. A voice he couldn’t pinpoint, calling to him and urging him for help. The longer it came and went, the more irritated by it he became fueling his frustrations even further. He felt pestered, as if cursed by the goddesses with this little pathetic voice that rang in his mind every now and again, intermingling with that demon that raged, both trapped in the same small space. Would it ever be quiet again? And honestly, after what he did here, who in their right mind would call for him?
When he finally made it back home there was a rush of whispers from the women, their king returning covered in blood and various battle wounds, but there was this darkness in his eyes and they all saw it, shielding their daughters from the beast that was now walking among them. The sun was setting on that second day from Hyrule’s downfall, the light washing over the valley casting everything in a warm orange glow, but even then there were these dark shadows on the man’s face that highlighted the evil lurking within. He was different, unfamiliar, something about him now had an aura of death and brutality… He paid them no attention, walking over to the guard of the living quarters who knelt on one knee.
“Your highness.” She greeted with respect as he looked down at her. “You were successful-“
“Out of my way. I’m here for my son.”
The guard moved out of the way with her head bowed. “No one has seen him since-“
“Since what?” The king growled, his tone full of ice.
“Since… he went to the colossus with Nabooru.”
~•~
It had been two days of hiding and waiting near the temple before the blonde realized he needed to go home. It was too cold in the colossus, the cold winter wasn’t just something in Hyrule it was all the way out here too in the dark and the sand, and if he didn’t do something he would get sick, that and he had no food or water. He spent his first day praying silently, hiding near the entrance so he could make a quick escape if needed, but even in the temple the air was crisp and he wasn’t equipped to deal with the cold. He hoped his father would come for him, but as the sun rose on the second day he realized he may be alone. Koume and Kotake didn’t know he was there, and he sure wasn’t going to tell them… not after he saw what happened to Nabooru. Link figured it wouldn’t be too bad to get home, he could make it himself, he would return home and wait for his father who would fix everything. He had seen it done many times and ventured with his father his entire life, crossed the colossus dozens of times, but as soon as he started across the wasteland a wild wind had picked up and everything became harder to see. He squinted against the brutality, his lungs choking with sand and debris as he was pushed back by the sheer force of the wind. Something had unsettled the desert, he knew where to go but everything was dark and shrouded in shadows, the storm blocking out the sun and making it even harder, he couldn’t make out the landscape anymore. He walked for what felt like hours, and just when he thought he got it he stumbled out of the wind and back towards the spirit temple. The boy blinked in confusion coughing out the sand and staring at the temple.
The hopelessness crept up on him as he realized he just walked in a big circle and didn’t even know it. How would his father get through that? And if his father couldn’t… the boy dusted the sand from his hair and took a breath trying to figure out where to go from here. His stomach growled uncomfortably and his throat was tight with thirst. There was a small area a little ways away that sometimes had water when the rare rains swept through, but that hadn’t happened in a long time and it was parched just like him. The little boy felt frustrated and against better judgement went into the desert again determined to make it home.
By the time the sun was setting on the second day since he had fled home, he was so thirsty and exhausted, barely a wink of sleep in the cold desert. He made his way back to the temple with the sun dropping to the horizon, ready to give in and ask Koume and Kotake for help, but as he made it to the steps he stumbled and fell to them sinking into the stone with a dry cough. His tired blue eyes fought to stay awake, but they slipped closed and all he could think of was his father. Was he okay? Why was he gone so long? Where was he? Was he too trapped in the desert? As the little boy started to slip unconscious, he silently prayed to the spirits for help.
~•~
The colossus was unsettled, more so than normal, and that whisper was now a clear cry. It became painfully obvious when he entered the desert, that whisper in Hyrule was his son who was pleading for help and he was somewhere on the other side of the chasm, a voice that was familiar yet foreign, words strung together from a boy who couldn’t utter a single one of them. It was eery and unsettling and struck him with a fear that the child had already succumbed to the harshness, that now the voice was all that remained as his spirit wandered the desert forever. But no… he wasn’t dead, not yet, that voice that was persistent and hopeful in Hyrule was now weak and faint, but it was there. The king moved faster, reaching out to find that circlet that was doing it best to protect the child, but it couldn’t keep him from starving or becoming too dehydrated, it wouldn’t stop him from getting sick from the cool night air… it was protection but flawed.
The darkness in him swirled in his chest feeding off his own distress and frustration, but his terror for his golden haired boy kept it from ever bubbling up. The sand was blinding him, a hand over his eyes as he squinted and followed where the magic called for him. The darkness over took the desert as the sun sank below the horizon, the sand in the air so thick the moonlight would appear in flashes before drowning the king in darkness again, but still he persisted, determined. His feet sunk into the sand making him move slower and having a harder time pushing through, but he’d hear another cry and it would force him to trudge through the sand that just wanted to swallow him whole. He would not let it.
When he finally made it to the clearing he could feel that dark magic getting stronger as his desperation grew, all he saw was a little blue bundle illuminated by the moon at the stairs of the temple and he took off running. Fear held him tightly, its icy tendrils stretching unnaturally through him as it pierced every part of him in a terror he had never once experienced, silencing that malice, silencing everything and solely focusing on the little boy on the stairs who was shivering weakly in the cold air. He dropped to his knees lifting the boy quickly, holding him tightly and wishing he had something to cover the child in. His sunburnt skin was warm to the touch yet he shivered and he looked very ill, the little boy coughing weakly and shivering without even enough energy to open his eyes. The fear became something new in the king, something in the pit of his stomach that was ripping him apart from the inside, tearing through him like a wildfire that was full of despair. He had never felt pain like this before in his life, it was worse than a burn, or even being stabbed, he felt tears prick his eyes as he held the little boy close. He felt so desperate as he looked to the heavens, the full moon shining brilliantly down to him as he let the tears fall.
“Please don’t take him… don’t take my son… Hylia please no…” He pleaded to the heavens succumbing to something he never wanted to do. This child, his destined enemy, was the very thing he found himself praying to a goddess he didn’t believe in for. Perhaps She would see past the king and look only to the little boy who deserved nothing but Her love. He was innocent, he didn’t deserve this fate, he deserved to grow old and have a family, to live happily, to die satisfied and warm in his bed not freezing to death in this wasteland.
~•~
The next day had slowly passed and Ganondorf worried his son would never recover, he nursed teas and medicines into the child and ordered every available person to go find a fairy promising a mighty reward for whoever managed to catch one. The women complied, not because their king ordered it but because of how loved that little boy was here. There was a tension that Ganondorf was failing to notice, the other women now looked at him with reservations and fear, but he was too focused on the boy to bother to see how his people were. The dark king himself wasn’t sleeping very much, he stayed by the little boys bedside as he coughed and wheezed. He had caught a bad case of pneumonia, the village doctor had warned him not to be around the boy or he would get sick too, but the king didn’t care. He could feel the other and he felt so weak, if he hadn’t worn the circlet-
No. The man shook the thought from his head and grit his teeth at the idea.
All of Hyrule now feared this massive beast, this conqueror, this force to be reckoned with, but none of them would see how the same beast paced the small room and hovered over the child, trying to nurse him back to health and watching over him as he slept. This giant beast who roared with authority now shedding tears in private as he watched over the little Hylian who had wedged himself into the other’s heart.
By the end of the first day, Link had recovered a bit, the herbs and medicines they were able to take from Hyrule working while they sought out Hylia’s healing magic… with the king of Hyrule gone and no heir, Ganondorf took the throne himself and with that he marched a small army in to gather medicine and food for their own village before returning to his sons side in haste. Since the attack, people had fled to the town nestled under the towering mountains leaving little resistance for him to take whatever he wanted. He took great care of Link even at the expense of his own health, he didn’t care.
By the start of the second day in the early hours, before the sun had even begun to rise, those blue eyes fluttered open and the boy coughed out a deep cough that sent stabs of pain through his heavy chest. His eyes drifted to his left where he saw familiar red hair, his father resting his head on the bed still sitting in a wooden chair next to the bed, his arms under his head holding himself up from smothering in the blankets while deep breaths passed in and out of the large man. The king awoke to a small hand gently resting on his cheek, he sat up instantly in worry but his gaze softened as he looked to the boy who looked a little better. Still greatly sick, but better.
Water. The boy signed and at once Ganondorf grabbed the cup on the small table and guided his boy to sit up and drink.
“I will send for soup, you need food. You look better. How do you feel?”
Link shrugged and gulped down the water like he hadn’t had any in days, his throat still tight and dry and his body heavy and weak.
“Slow down.” Ganondorf lectured receiving a small glare. “There is plenty of water. Please.”
Link’s glare softened and he complied sipping on the liquid that was doing little to quench that pain in his throat.
“What were you doing?” The king demanded asking what had been weighing on him for the last day. “How could you venture to the temple by yourself? Do you understand what could have happened?”
I wasn’t alone.
“The witches wont help you cross back.” The Gerudian grumbled.
Nabooru took me, but the desert wasn’t so bad it was when I tried to come back it was bad.
“She left you there?” The anger rose in him. At once he stood ready to stomp out the door but he was stopped as a pillow was thrown at him.
You have to help her! Koume and Kotake took her! Link sighed quickly, a look of desperation in his tired eyes.
“Why?” The man almost laughed at that.
I don’t know. But the way the blonde’s eyes widened a little and how he quickly looked away told a different story.
“What happened?” Ganondorf asked cautiously, his voice lower in a warning, his little son flinching back and fidgeting with the blanket. He sat on the bed and stared down to the little boy who was pretending not to notice. “Answer me boy.”
I went into the temple. Into the other part, the hole. She needed something to help you, gloves-
“Where are they? The gloves, where?” The man demanded, his voice dark and cold which caught the attention of the boy who stared up in shock. This wasn’t the voice of his father… it sounded like a monster. Something deep within him told him to lie and his hands shook as he signed.
I don’t know… she was taken away and I went to pray instead.
Link stared up at his father with worry as he watched the other stare back and think about what he was just told, the Gerudian’s face was hard and… angry. There was something wrong with his father’s eyes, something the little boy couldn’t pinpoint. Zelda had once said there was darkness in his father’s eyes, was this what she meant? Was it because he actually knew the truth?
Ganondorf sighed heavily, his face relaxing as he closed his eyes processing this new information. Only Nabooru would know the power those gloves held and what they were hiding. Betrayal. That was the only word for it, but it sounded like Koume and Kotake had taken care of her already, then there was nothing he could do.
“I am going to get you some soup. I will be right back.” He stood and left quickly leaving his son in confusion.
Link sat in worry in the darkness, the only light was from a small lantern on the side table that wasn’t producing a lot of light. The boy wanted to get out of bed, wanted to chase after his father, but another round of coughs hit him and he was doubled over feeling like his lungs were about to leap from his chest.
A large hand pat against his back and he realized his father came back so quickly, but his thoughts washed away as another cough tore through him leaving him breathless and gasping.
“The night is hardest when it is cold outside. Drink.”
Link sipped on hot broth that burned at first but the more he drank the more it soothed that itchiness in the back of his throat. What about Nabooru? He pressed on.
“She committed a crime here. She used you. She will face punishment.” Link’s face widened in shock, the bowl slipping out of his lap spilling to the floor as he pushed himself up trying to protest but he was gently pushed back down to the bed. “No. She made her decision and look what happened. You’re now sick because of her selfishness. This is why we have rules.”
The little boy turned away from his father feeling tears prick his eyes. At once that guilt fractured the kings spirit and he found himself relenting and trying to come up with something to make this child feel better. Anything.
“She will… serve her time at the temple since that is where she committed the crime, you may not see her but… I will allow you to write letters, I will give them to Koume and Kotake and if she writes back I will give them to you. I know how important she is to you, but we cannot show favoritism to those who directly harm our people. She must serve her sentence.”
The blonde turned back to his father with a look of fear, but determination. Then I too should be punished. I too should go to the temple and work, I helped her.
“You were tricked. That is different.” The Gerudian would never allow those hags the freedom to punish his son.
But-
“Consider this illness your punishment. Now rest.” The king commanded cleaning up the spilled bowl.
Something felt… off but Link couldn’t identify what it was. He tiredly watched his father clean the floor and contemplated what all of this was about. He could see his father was angry, but there was pain too wasn’t there. The little boy snapped his fingers getting the others attention.
Are you okay?
“Yes,” Ganondorf breathed out with a small laugh, “I just have a headache is all. You need not worry.”
The days had passed and Link finally got better, the pneumonia had run its course and while he still had a pestering cough he was back to his usual self, though a little more reserved. He learned of Hyrule’s attack against them, how Ganondorf had no choice but to fight back, how he tried to reason with them but the king of Hyrule had ordered him and his son dead. So they truly had no choice. He learned King Daphnes had perished and that Zelda had fled. He learned the Hylians were plotting against them, and that if Link wanted to go to the land he needed to be protected.
You will be with me. The boy had clarified but Ganondorf shook his head.
“I have things to do here. You are free to go to the lake when it gets warmer, but you will have at least two guards and you will wear the circlet.”
Link tried to be optimistic, obviously his father had a lot of work to do now, but on his first journey alone to the lake that next spring, he felt so lonely. All winter, his father had spent at the temple with only a few nights at home. Those witches were doing something to him, he knew it. His father was now complaining of these horrible headaches and looked like a shell of himself, Link started writing letters to Nabooru asking what was happening in the temple, she had written back that everything was fine.
It was midday in the middle of spring, the trees were beginning to bloom again, soon it would be warm enough to swim again. Link lay on the shore watching the fish in the water swim around, little red, and yellow, and green, and blue, the way they danced around one another undoubtedly happy for the company. But he was alone now. The boy was sad, growing more quiet as he felt his father move away from him more and more each day. He had the guards of course, but they didn’t play with him, and his sisters were becoming young women who now had duties of their own in the village. He had tried to busy himself, helping his people like his father told him to, but now it seemed as if everyone was acting weird, and he was often told he wasn’t needed and that he should find someone else to help. His acts of rebellion over the winter garnered no action from his father other than a strongly worded letter to knock it off.
So now, here he lay. He would be 11 soon, no father, no sisters, no Nabooru, no friends. Just himself and his letters to Nabooru. She encouraged him, made him feel wanted and better, made him believe one day things would be better. He was so focused on the fish he didn’t even realize he was being watched.
“What are you doing?”
Link jumped out of his skin and threw himself back in shock as just at the shore in the water was a small Zora watching him.
“Rude! I am not so ugly to scare someone!” The girl huffed glaring at him, her purple eyes reflecting the light as she swam closer approaching the shore. “Why are you here?”
The boy cast a look over his shoulder, his guards were a ways away protecting the entrance to the lake, neither noticed him or the Zora.
“Don’t ignore me! It’s not polite especially to a princess!” The Zora girl snapped at him. “Who are you? What’s wrong? Can’t talk?”
He shook his head and her eyes narrowed.
“Oh please! I was just joking!”
But I really can’t. The blonde signed with a soft glare.
“Oh! Wow! You. Weren’t kidding were you?”
You can understand me?
The girl snorted and rolled her eyes. “Obviously! How do you think we communicate with you people in the water?”
He blinked in shock at that.
“Anyway. I guess you don’t know who I am, otherwise you would have acted more dignified. I’m Ruto, princess of the Zora. And you are?”
Im Link-
“Well that’s a weird name isn’t it. Though I found Hylian names often are a little strange. So why are you here?”
Link huffed and glared softly at her. My name is not weird.
“I mean… it kind of is right? Like, your name is like a link in a chain? Weird. You still haven’t answered my question.”
I like to come here. My father usually brings me but he’s-
“I heard a lot more Hylians are coming here. There’s even been Gerudians. Have you seen them? They’re so scary!” The girl squealed. “Better keep an eye out for them! They have been attacking the gorons!”
Link looked confused as he tilted his head. Why?
“I dunno.” The Zora sighed floating on her back. “But that Gerudian king has been there a lot.”
No… he’s been at the temple.
“Last I heard, he made it so they can’t go get food in their caverns. And there’s rumors he’s going to send a dragon to eat them!” Ruto shivered at that.
She was wrong. His father didn’t have that kind of magic, his magic was protective and small.
“I’m glad he can’t do that to us! He’d have to like… freeze the whole lake or something! He could never do that.” She laughed to herself and then swam closer to him. “Do you like to swim here?”
He cautiously nodded.
“I like you. You listen to me, everyone else makes me feel crazy. You’re my friend now how does that sound? Friends with a princess, how lucky you are! But if you’re going to be my friend you need to have this to help you, I’m not slowing down for you now.” She reached into a pouch attached to her left leg and pulled out a blue scale the size of her hand. “Here. This will help you since you don’t have fins or gills or anything fun.”
The boy looked at the scale in confusion, but he could feel magic in it, strange magic that was far different than his father’s. It was… warm. Thank you.
“Why don’t you come in here? I could take you to the domain.”
It’s still too cold I’ll get sick. He shook his head.
“Ugh that’s right. Hylians are so weak.” She huffed and moved to the shore sitting next to him.
He had never seen a zora up close before, her skin was smooth and slick, like a fish but with no scales. Her head was shaped like a shark he had seen in a picture book once, and her fins along her arms and legs moved every now and then helping the water drip off. Even her feet were webbed and smooth, she caught him staring and at once he looked away in embarrassment.
“Never seen a beautiful princess before?” She mocked sitting straiter. “Very rare to meet one. I’m the only princess left too so you should feel extra special.”
What happened to Zelda?
“She ran away no one has seen her. I heard that evil Gerudian king went out to kill her!”
He wouldn’t do that!
“Then you haven’t seen them! You must be somewhere far from the castle, those Gerudians are everywhere it makes my fins twitch just thinking about it!” She huffed crossing her arms. “You know they killed Lord Jabu Jabu? And they stole my mother’s sapphire! They’re nothing more than senseless thieves!”
You’re wrong! He angrily signed back before getting up and stomping away.
~•~
“They use rumors to try and make us sound bad.” Ganondorf explained. They were in the little boys room sitting on his bed, the blonde was demanding to see his father and tried to cross the desert himself which got the other to finally come home for a day at least.
She said horrible things about you, about us.
“That’s what they do. They want you to be afraid, that’s why Hyrule hates us so much.”
She said you stole from them!
The man stiffened at that and sighed softly. “She wasn’t lying about that, but let me tell you why. Hyrule told you they accept everyone right? That we are all masters of our own land so long as we abide to the royal family of Hyrule?”
He nodded cautiously looking at his father with a hard look, suspicion crept into him as he listened.
“The Kokiri had their emerald, the Gorons have the ruby, the Zora had their sapphire, what do the Gerudians get? What was our gift from the royal family?”
The boy sat stumped at that, his memory shifting to earlier that year. “Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. It only opens with the three gems and when someone has the ocarina of time.” Zelda giggled in his memory.
“They have this… power in their temple. The Hylians are holding something and we need the three stones to stop them, I believe they intend on wiping us from the desert. It’s why they attacked I’m sure.”
And the Hylians have an ocarina. The boy signed feeling worse at that. Everyone had something… but them. Once again, his people were left out. Zelda claimed all of us could live in peace but she was lying wasn’t she?
“Exactly. They don’t want peace, they want control. They force the other lands to be against us because they know if we joined with other forces we could easily wipe them out.”
But now you’re king of Hyrule, you could just talk to the others.
“They do not listen. Do not be fooled, this bias goes back far, back to the time of the skies. I don’t want you talking to that Zora girl again. She is bad, her and her father are both bad, they fill your head with lies and fantasies, they want you to turn against us too.”
I would never do that! The boy leapt from the bed now standing tall and proud. They should be nice to us! We are people just like them! We shouldn’t have to be pushed to the colossus! We deserve to live free too!
“That’s my boy.” Ganondorf grinned softly ruffling that longer blonde hair, when did it get so long?
We have to make them understand us! We will make them understand us!
“In due time.” Ganondorf promised. The boy stared at his father and frowned.
Your head still hurts. He said as he noticed the dark circles, how the man sat with his eyes half open, how his jaw was tight in discomfort.
“Yes. It is fine.” He waved it off before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small yellow envelope. “I brought this for you.”
Link’s face lit up as he recognized the handwriting on the envelope. At once he tore it open and read the letter from Nabooru smiling as he did so.
“What did she say?”
She wants a pictograph. She wants to see how I’ve grown.
“Then we will get that for her.”
I told her you’re not around much anymore, she said you need to do better.
“I know.” Ganondorf sighed resting his throbbing head into his hand, that dark beast in him threatened by the presence of the boy. Since it was released, it felt impossible to push it back.
Why can’t you come home more?
“Because I am the king of Hyrule now. I have more responsibilities, and I just want you to know I’m still here for you. You can write me letters too if you want, that way we can still talk even when we aren’t together.”
You should come home more.
“I will… try.” The man replied feeling that conflict bubble. “But I need to leave to go back to the temple tomorrow.”
The boy ran over to his desk fumbling with a few papers before he returned and handed over three more letters for Nabooru.
“I will take them to her. She misses you, but she understands what she did was wrong. She wanted to tell you she was proud of you.”
The boy grinned at that. Tell her I said hi, and can you take her some fruit? The yellow ones are her favorite.
“I will do that for you.” Ganondorf promised.
~•~
By the time the sun was rising, the king was back at the temple hunched over a table near a window. He spread out the new letters and skimmed over them, reading about all of the things his son was doing without him. He sighed heavily, the pain in his head subdued for the moment as he sat on a wooden chair and grabbed a quill with ink. With experienced hands, he matched Nabooru’s handwriting perfectly and began to write the replies. This had been going on for months, and whenever Ganondorf went to tell his son he couldn’t send letters anymore, that little boy would light up and grin as he would present more letters for Nabooru. The child missed her greatly, and he told her about everything in his letters.
So Ganondorf decided since it wasn’t safe for him to be around his son a lot, these letters were how he would keep tabs on the boy. Not only did they give him a feeling of importance, but they kept him focused on being better behaved. Before when he would want his father, it was spouts of anger, temper tantrums really. Now he would get angry and write to Nabooru, sure he still threw things and yelled, but he wasn’t attacking and running away, that was the important part. That and now he didn’t have to grieve the loss of someone who had cared for him since he was born, it was a winning scenario.
He had given an order to have a pictograph made specially for his son, the letters weren’t enough he wanted to see the other. The man didn’t realize how long the boys hair had gotten, how much taller he had become, how much stronger he was until he finally went back to the village. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he missed the boy.
So he wrote the letters popping some of those yellow berries from Hyrule into his mouth as he did so, pretending to be Nabooru and ensuring the boy felt proud and loved. He would never tell Link the truth, and at this point he couldn’t help but notice how many truths this child would never get the opportunity to know.