Knowing Destiny

by Roewebot

Summary:

Years after Calamity Ganon had been defeated, a child is born in Gerudo Town. On one hand, it was nearing the time for a voe to be born, but on the other, it was much much too early for the bearer of the Triforce of Power to be seen again.

Chapter 1

There's nothing he hates more than destiny. The idea that each and every one of his actions are not his own, but instead part of a predetermined path that his body is forced to follow. A vessel created for someone much much older than he feels.

Or at least ...that's what everyone tells him. He doesn't feel like someone with centuries worth of memories. Doesn't feel like his life is hinged upon the final moment where his soul will be ripped from his body and set adrift until it is returned once again. The other two following him later, always later, like he is a beacon in the night.

He knows this isn't his first body, his first life, his first time being Gerudo. It's an intrinsic knowledge, like how he knows how to breathe. The knowledge is there, always has been, but he doesn't feel it.

At first he didn’t understand the looks of distrust and hatred sent his way since the day he was born. Having done nothing but exist, nothing but live a life that he wishes was his own but he knows belongs to someone else. Even if that someone else is him.
(But it doesn't feel like him, its disconnected like learning about someone from the past. And it is his past, more his than anyone else's, but it is not him. Why don't they get it? Why can't they get that he is not him.)

Of course, he understands it now, understands their trepidation and fear. After being told every single bit of his history he gets why they can’t trust him. But he's not who they say he is. Some harbinger of death and destruction and desolation. He doesn't feel the anger they say he will grow into. Doesn't feel the pride they say will be his downfall. He doesn’t want to become that person.

He fears the day that this monster of his destiny comes, fears the day that whatever beast is inside takes control and he no longer exists. He lives terrified that his future is written in stone, that no matter what he does or who he is or how he feels, one day he will succumb to a lust for power by his own volition. And while Riju swears that he has the ability to form his own path, he doesn’t know if he can trust that. Doesn’t know if he should give himself that hope.
In the end, all he truly knows is loneliness.
And loneliness isn't cold.

It's the searing heat of the desert. Scorching and burning, all encompassing with no escape. Sapping his energy and leaving him tired , so very tired.
It’s the searing heat of the desert. Gone in the night when the temperatures drop and warm bodies huddle together to preserve the right balance of temperature. Him, left out, left to fend for himself by a fire that burns if he gets too close.
It’s the searing heat of the desert. Where he goes, alone, often, no one caring if he makes it back in one piece.

--

Its on one of these days that he meets them.
Immediately he knows who they are, and they know him. Well they don’t know him, they know him. But something is off, wrong, different from what he expected when this day would come.
They are old. Not as old as Rima, so close to death and withering like a flower in the heat. But they are older than him...and that's not how this works. He always comes first. He knows both the stories and what his soul is telling him. He always comes first and they follow.
But here they are. Older than him, seeking him out before he has done anything.

“Ganondorf.”

He doesn’t respond, no one ever dares utter his name.
Why did they even name him that in the first place, tempting fate and rubbing salt in an already burning wound. It's almost like they want him to follow in his path. It makes no sense, but maybe the name has claimed him, another part of his destiny, and yet another thing in his life he can't control.

“Ganondorf.”

She speaks softly, as if talking to a frightened sand seal. The other stands there, posture relaxed, looking up at the boy sitting on the edge of bones sticking up out of the sand. They both look tired, and he's not sure if its from seeking him out or something else. Frankly, hes impressed they were even able to find him. It’s not like he tells anyone when he heads out to Dragon’s Exile.

“Ganondorf, do you know who we are?”
He turns to look at them, eyes telling them that he knows exactly who they are. Stiff posture telling them he is ready to bolt at any moment.
“Riju sent us to you.”

And that hurts. The one person who he has any semblance of respect for sending the people he fears the most. Part of him knew they were out there and coming, but he always assumed it would be later. He would finally mess up and the next bearer of the triforce of courage would come for him. But this is the one from before, the one who defeated him last. And it's not easy to look into the eyes of a man who has killed you. Not only in a past life, but in the current one as well.

“I haven’t done anything, you can’t kill me yet. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
He spits it out with as much venom in his voice as he can. Fear feeding the fire in his voice. He doesn’t choke on any of the words but he can feel the heat of tears building. He doesn’t want to cry in front of them. Terrified as he is, he won’t cry. Only Riju and his mother have seen him cry.
His mother when he was a baby and didn’t know anything more than screaming and tears. And Riju, who saved him from an early death when his mother saw the mark upon his skin and tried to burn him alive. Riju, who has seen him beg forgiveness for things he has never done, tears streaming down his face as he felt the guilt of centuries of destruction.

Link flinches hard at the words, a shadow crossing his face, darkening his eyes as he looks over to Zelda.
She’s frowning, eyebrows pinched together as if trying to translate the words that just came out of his mouth.
“Ganondorf…” She starts but trails off, not sure how to respond to a boy that expects you to kill him. But she’s more shocked when it’s Link that opens his mouth to respond,

“I’m not going to kill you.”
“You have before.”
“But it wasn’t you.”

And it must have been the conviction in Link’s voice, because Ganondorf could tell he meant it. For the first time he realizes these are the only people who understand exactly the ways he feels. They know the struggle of trying to figure out where they start and the other ends. The struggle of trying to explain to others that he is not him, they are not them. The struggle of trying to differentiate between the centuries of knowledge and their own memories.

It must have been something in his posture that changed, because in that moment of realization, the other two shifted their expressions into something knowing.
“Why don’t you come down from there,” Zelda starts, “and we go have some lunch. I think Riju mentioned something about Wildberry Juice and Mushroom Risotto with seared Porgy?”

He knows exactly what Riju did, promising the foods they don’t see very often out in the desert as a way to lure him back with the other two...and it’s going to work. But, and he will admit this to only himself, his curiosity about the other two was pulling just as strong.
So against every instinct that was telling him to run, the young teen, practically still a child, jumped down from his perch.

He didn’t follow close, leaving plenty of space between himself and the other two as they headed back to the town, but at the same time, all three knew that the boy was placing more trust in them than he had in anyone else before.

Chapter 2

Riju, after decades of leading a society with stricter rules and traditions than anywhere else she had traveled, knew that Ganondorf didn’t stand a chance if he was kept within these walls.
They were choking him, keeping him cornered and secluded from the world, only serving to fester the wounds he had from simply existing.
Say what one will about destiny, but she wouldn’t believe in it. There was too much left up to chance and no possible way a singular path existed for everyone. However, she knew Ganondorf’s stance on the matter, and knew that he feared it. But she strongly believed it would be his surroundings that ultimately decided his future, not some uncontrollable force beyond his control. And her people, who she loved, were going to drive him to the breaking point if she didn’t do something about it.
(How ironic, she thought, that the very thing her people feared was what they were going to cause. Instead of some destiny destroying the world, it would be the people, her people, pulling the strings of fate themselves to cause the very outcome of their nightmares.)

She had originally thought telling Ganondorf about the history of his heritage, of the Gerudo King and the Triforce of Power, would help him to understand the difficult position he had been born into. That by learning about his past he could shape his future into what he wanted it to be. But instead, she only served to further build within him the terror he felt for himself. Never mind the fact that by denying him his rightful position as the Gerudo King, she wounded his pride more than he wanted to admit.

He was born for a position of power, made for it, and to have the opportunity taken from him because of his own past actions was crushing. She knew this too, having also been born to lead, but at the same time she wouldn't wish this role on him.
She was successful because the Gerudo loved her, and she them. She had to work to gain this trust, its true. She knew, having been given a position above her station at such a young age, that she had to fight tooth and nail to keep it. But to put him in her position, to have his subjects hate him because they feared him, could only harm him more. She was only seen as underprepared, thrust into a position she wasn’t ready for, and that she could work with. But being seen as a symbol of death, no leader could come back from that. So she left him to his devices, to run in the desert and explore. She gave him as much freedom as she could, but it was far from enough.

She regrets not spending more time with him, but as the sole leader of the Gerudo people, her attention was already spread too thin. It was Lady Riju this, Lady Riju that, day in and day out, her presence required everywhere at all times.

“Lady Riju the water supply is low.”
“Lady Riju I met a voe and I need your blessing.”
“Lady Riju a Lizalfos colony is getting dangerously close to the walls.”

And so on went the list of things she had to do, even after all these years, a day of rest was few and far between. Therefore, it left little time to raise a child and she certainly couldn't ask anyone to help her. The Gerudo were scared of him, his own mother proof enough of what people are capable of when terror arises, and if word got out that the bearer of the Triforce of Power was already reborn, she would hate to think of who would come to kill him.

So she called for them, her dear friends, who she wrote correspondence to often and visited briefly when matters took her out of the desert. But she never brought the boy to them, and they never came. She knew they knew of his existence. She had told them herself. But she also knows that they know more than they let on, so much so that she would guess they knew as soon as he came into the world. But that is not her place, so she does not ask. But she calls for them now, hoping that maybe, out of everyone in this world, that they can be the ones to help him.
To save him.

She knew it was a risky move, she knew the of fear that Ganandorf has regarding them. While nothing has been said, she can hear his cries in the night. Begging for mercy, forgiveness, or help. She hears their names on his lips, screaming in fear, only cutoff when he jerks awake. Breaths coming out ragged with tears on the verge of spilling.

Neither of them talk about it.

She doesn’t know what to say. How could anyone who hasn’t lived a life more than once understand what is going on in a head that doesn’t fully belong to oneself? So she left it alone. Until she couldn’t take it anymore. A child, because that's what he is, doesn’t deserve this much suffering, this much pain, this much sorrow. It shouldn’t matter who they grow up to be, now, in this moment, they deserve to live and if Gerudo Town is eating him alive, she's going to do whatever she can to save him. Even if that means calling in the only people in the world he fears more than he fears himself.

--

She sees them coming from the window of her room. An odd trio walking together over the sandy plains: Two individuals revered across the land, and a child who could once again bring the world to ruin.
down in the center chair to wait. There was a long and difficult discussion to be held later, and she wasn't looking forward to it.

Chapter 3

Zelda knew meetings. Zelda knew heavy topics and tough negotiations. She knew when to back off and when to push, when to crack a joke and when to threaten. She'd brought a disaster stricken country back from the brink of collapse and formed it into the thriving center of trade it was today. But she didn't know how to argue with a child that was mostly convinced she'd play a part in his death.

 

Zelda knew heavy topics.
But she didn't know how to handle this.

 

"I'm sending you with them. You need to get out of Gerudo Town and see the world."
Riju didn't hesitate to tell Ganondorf what the exact circumstances were for the given situation. She was blunt and straight to the point, treating the conversation like any other. And while Zelda could appreciate that approach in most cases… maybe there could have been a little more finesse. 

 

"You just want me gone before I go crazy." 

"You know I don't think that's the case."

"Yeah, but everyone else does, and 'the voice of the people is the loudest' like you always say."

"And that's exactly why you need to go."

"Because you care more about them than you care about me."

 

The quick words thrown back and forth didn’t shock Zelda so much as outline the relationship between the two in question. Of course, it doesn’t go past anyone’s notice that the last line causes Riju to flinch back and then glare at the boy.
"Non I love you like my own son , and I love my people. There is enough space in my heart for the both of you. Quit trying to hurt me because you are angry."
Zelda sees a flash of guilt cross Ganondorf's face, the pet name a surprise to both parties, but before he can get a word in, Riju is continuing.
"You're a smart voe, you know it's because of their words that you need to go. You need to be in an environment that doesn't constantly berate you for living. I cannot provide that here." Riju, sitting on the pillow at the head of the table, leans over as if to lay a hand on Ganondorf's arm, but he jerks back before she can. 

"What if I don't want to go? What if I don't want to go with them ?"

 

Before Riju can say anything, Zelda, surprising even herself, speaks up.
"Then we are not going to make you. If you truly despise the idea of going with us, we will not force you. But we want you to come with us."
All the heads in the room turned her way, not having expected her to speak up yet, let alone already give the boy an out for the situation.  

 

"You also just want me nearby for when I go crazy."

 

Riju groans, "Can we please drop the idea that you are going to go crazy."

 

"Look," Zelda starts again, "if you want to keep believing that one day you are going to be overcome by a crazed madness, then who am I to stop you?"
She then looks at Ganondorf and catches his eye before continuing.
"But at the same time, let’s say you are right. You very well could snap and destroy the very world as we know it." 

 

Ganondorf, still looking at Zelda, narrows his eyes and starts to glare. She, in turn, hardens her gaze against his. 

 

"Why do you welcome it?" 

 

Previously, a cold shiver had run down her spine and settled in her gut. While she’d never been on the receiving end of this child's glare before, she knew it all too well. No matter when they met, no matter how their eyes connected, no matter if the golden color differed or if the shape had changed, no matter who he or who she were, Zelda would always recognize those eyes. However, with her question, the look on his face suddenly drops, shock replacing what before was petulance. He then starts to splutter out a response. 

"I- What- You-So you do think you should kill me!"

 

"I didn't say that. I asked why you are content to fail?"

 

"I'M NOT." The boy yells, voice strong and commanding attention, glare once again adorning his face. He responds like a lynel whose territory had been invaded, scared and angry, wanting nothing more than the threat gone.

 

Zelda, in the back of her mind, wonders where her previous thoughts of finesse went. Here she was stoking the fire, antagonizing a child instead of calming him down…but at the same time, looking at this boy was like looking in a mirror. While world destruction was not imminent this time around, the two were like the two sides of a coin. Where she had to fight tooth and nail, clawing her way down the path to her destiny, this boy had to do the opposite.  So she continued, no attempt to curb her words as she spoke. 

 

"Then why do you hide away here. What keeps you from trying to find a solution to your problem.” She feels both anger and desperation for the boy in front of her. “If I was in your spot, I'd be dying to prove everyone wrong."  

 

"Zelda…” Link murmurs from next to her, hand reaching out to ground her. He knows all too well what happens when unwanted memories resurface. The pain in her voice, only noticeable to him, giving her away as she is almost swept away into the years of pain she suffered not only at the hands of Calamity Ganon, but her own as well. Still, she has to ask her last question, has to make sure that Ganondorf understands that they are not here to play games and that he has to take action if he wants to survive. 

"What are you going to do about it Ganondorf?"

 

Her gaze has not softened. The ice in her tone matching the same ice that settled in her gut. Her gaze goads him to answer her, and she continues to stare him down. 

 

Everyone can tell that he knows what he wants to say. They can see the gears turning in his head as he just tries to figure out how. But most importantly they saw the anger drain from him as he realized what Zelda said and asked was true. That by hiding here, by pretending that nothing would happen if he just kept away from the world, then he would be complicit should things go wrong. And while they may not know the extent of what goes on in his mind, they knew the frank truth from Zelda had made its mark.

 

So with that he settles on a simple sentence to convey his complex emotions. 

 

“I’ll go with you.”

 

--

 

They head out the next morning. There is no fanfare, no mournful sobs. The desert is still cool as the sun barely peeks over the horizon and the town quite as the inhabitants slowly awake. At the main gate a small party has gathered. 

Riju can be seen hugging Ganondorf to her tightly as Buliara stands behind with a hand on her shoulder. Even in her older age she looks after their leader. But when Riju pulls away, she takes the hand that was on the younger and places it on the child’s head. Bending down you can see her give him a hug as well. It’s not as tight nor as long, but from it you can tell she too cared for the small voe. 

 

Off to the side Zelda and Link stand, waiting as the others say their goodbyes. They have a long walk ahead of them before they make it to the stable holding their horses from the even longer ride over. The bags over their shoulders are laden with water and food for the road. Most of their other supplies had been left with the horses to make the desert trek quicker. So as Ganondorf finally pulls away from the two women who raised him and walks over to the others, his own bag can be seen on his back. He’s carrying quite a bit more, but he insisted he would be fine, given that they were his belongings and he didn’t want to burden the others. 

 

In the end, no one shed any tears as the three walked out the gates, for this was not a goodbye forever, only a step onto the path that would provide a happier welcome home.

Notes:

This is just a personal project so I don't really have any big plans.... but I'll try to update as ideas come to me.
Thank you for reading.