-Zelda-

Zelda's nose tingled from the stench of soot as she gazed up towards the moon. The burning, ashen flavor reminded her of a particular man she had come to rely on and chose to consider friend, and left her wondering of his well being. The torch stands by her held their little red dancers and momentarily Zelda glanced to them. The dancers reminded her of a particular woman: Bi Ki, her mother.

'Mother, supposedly, was a dancer. Just how beautiful would her craft had been to gain the king's notice?'

Zelda momentarily allowed herself to wonder and meditate on the thought of her mother. The moments her thoughts could go in a famililial direction without sending ice into her veins were few and far in between, but in recent years was becoming easier. It had been years since she had laid eyes on that woman. She could allow herself the comfort of thinking without fear, of thinking herself far when, in truth, they were near.

She meditated for a short time before moving her thoughts away from that woman, and rather prayed. Something in her gave her the impression this night was an important one, and so was to be given a little extra... something.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sliding door. Zelda turned briefly and smiled to see her favorite concubine hug herself tightly in the cold and patter out onto the balcony. Zelda's two guards briefly turned their heads to notice her, the only sign of movement they had made in hours besides tending to a fire pot.

"Zelda..." Sarah whined. "Its cold! What are you doing out here!?"

"Ah, perhaps it is. I did not notice, not with the fire warming me. Come, warm yourself up. I was just thinking and praying."

Sarah rushed forward and put her shivering hands around the torches. She breathed in relief. Her gaze went out into the distance. The capital city was expansive, almost as far as they could see, and while they had seen the plains in the furthest distance, it was an impossible feat at night. Didn't mean Sarah couldn't try though.

"Thinking about the people?" Sarah wondered.

"About Ganon. Mother. The various nations. The opposing factions within Qin. Politics."

"The usual." Sarah concluded.

"Yes."

Sarah sniffed. "I don't understand at all so I'll just nod and pretend to know what you are talking about."

Zelda chuckled, smiling in mirth, "You have been with me a fair time, dear Sarah. I'm sure there are a few things you understand, even from your distant perspective."

"Perhaps... But all I know right now is it is entirely too cold for us to be out! Let's go back in!" Sarah punctuated her whining by suddenly leaning against Zelda with enough weight to make the princess stumble. Sarah struck her head on Zelda's shoulder and nudged in like a cat trying to find a position to sleep in. Zelda growled lightly but retained her patience, even if her composure was shattered.

"Sarah... you're going to give my guards the wrong impression." Zelda whispered through her teeth.

Sarah's response was to mewl.

Zelda sighed. "Fine. Let's return in-"

The words had barely left her mouth before the door was slamming open and shut again and her side was oddly vacant. She heard snickers and restrained-sputtering from the supposedly emotionless statues that were, at this time, struggling to contain themselves. Zelda sighed.

"Go ahead. Let it out." She whispered. The guards shook their heads urgently, though their lips were tight and eyes watering. Zelda entered her room and shut the door. She froze at the sound of sudden hysterics, but continued on as if nothing happened. The fireplace was lit and Andim curled in on herself on her stand.

Zelda turned a dangerous eye on the lump that was squiggling under the blankets. "You did that on purpose."

"I admit nothing!" Sarah squealed, giggling.

Zelda rolled her eyes and entered the bed, but would do nothing more than sit. "For that, you are not getting sleep until you answer my question. What is your impression of my world?"

"Aww..." Sarah whined.

"I'm serious." Zelda continued, neutrally. "You have been in my world long enough to have some kind of impression. I wish to know what it is."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Sarah continued making animalistic sounds of whining as she wriggled around until her disheveled head popped out and she blew hair out of her face. "Fine! Its like you're all from the tale of the hungry snakes."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "I do not know this tale."

"..." Sarah stared up at Zelda briefly, thinking about it, and coming to a sad conclusion judging from her falling composure. "Right... Its not the sort of thing your... mother would have told you. It was something mother told us when my sisters and I were bad before sleep. My sisters and I would climb together into bed and she would lecture us with one story or another. When I think of your world with its politics and things, it reminds me of the tale."

Zelda watched Sarah expectantly.

"I... uh... the tale goes like this: There were a bunch of hungry snakes. The first snake laid in wait and jumped on the first thing to move, only to be caught as it was a man's stick. The first snake was cooked and eaten by men. The second snake saw this and vowed to not fall to the same trap. The second snake laid in wait and also jumped on the first thing to move, and in choosing more wisely than the first, it found flesh and ate it... only to die as it had eaten itself in catching its own tail. The third and fourth snakes did not see the mistakes of the first two, but more wisely went for other flesh, only to find themselves enwrapped around one another in a tight embrace. Desperately they tried to seperate, but they had fused so closely that the act of seperation tore them in pieces. Other versions have them eating each other at the same time. When the men had finished eating the first they found a nest full of dead snakes and ate their fill."

Zelda listened to the tale, and afterwords thought more about it for a brief time. Sarah was right. Many things in politics were like this, and it was a dangerous lesson to be wary of. She didn't know who 'men' represented. Perhaps the people or lower nobility that were less power hungry and ambitious? But something struck her... The twin snakes reminded her of Ganon in a way. The man was so desperate to redeem something, to seperate himself from something that, by the given impression provided by his own words and actions, seemed to be coiled around his soul so tightly... and in recent times seemed to have been only hurting himself in the process. This 'demon' in Ganon... Was Ganon the demon or was the demon wrapped around him as tightly as the snakes were so that the two were as one?

Either way, in a way, Zelda considered that perhaps it was the duality that formed the demon itself. The snakes were not demon and Ganon, but Divine and Twilight, as it was their conflict that produced the demon. The demon was war and conflict itself.

Which meant the only way to fight was...

Zelda chuckled darkly, and a little sadly. Sarah snored, and Zelda moved her hair out the girl's face. "Dear Sarah... what does it say about me that I am willingly to set fire to the whole world over a word? What does it mean when my dream is to consume it all? Doesn't that make me the biggest snake of them all? Or perhaps my wrath and fury against this world is rivaled only by a demon."

-Ganon-

The demon looked upon the three. The first, a girl, stepped back. He breathed in the succulent smell of her fear. From her eyes, she recognized him, though he did not recognize her. She was just a mortal. She was no one of consequence. The second, also a girl, was on the first girl's shoulder and still. She was unconscious. The demon momentarily paused on seeing the girl's hair. It lit as brightly as the fire around him. He narrowed his eyes... Something about this one was special... like she was a part of him. The third though...

Courage.

The taste of his soul in the winds was one he knew well. No matter how many generations would come and go, or how many eons and millennia would pass, and though his form was different, Power would never forget. Their kinship could not be defined by any mere shell, though those shells may seek to contain them. As if in a reflection of that thought, that inability for their shells to truly keep them apart, Courage's mark lit brightly on his hand, as did Power's mark.

How many times had it been? How many times had they fought in this eternal dance? For what reason did they dance and towards what end? Did it matter?

These were thoughts for Wisdom. Power cared not.

Wrath came to the surface, and Power roared. Fire billowed forth from his mouth and the mortals scattered.

Power's gaze followed Courage in the thick smoke. It did not matter how they might hide. It did not matter how they might flee. Nothing, not time nor distance, would keep them apart. Courage called to him, as he did them, in a song that went beyond land and flesh and time. It was a dance akin to fate, perhaps. Though they had taken many forms, though they had started in different places, though they had many names, and even despite their own attempts to forestall it by sending Power to another realm entirely, they always found one another.

You cannot hide from your family.

Fire exploded up Power's blades, lengthening them several times over, and Twilight as snakes coiled around the flame, tightening it into a riggedly sharp mass of solid flame, and he swept them in Courage's direction. A burst of blue flame burst out of the smoke and along with a metallic clang, Power's blade and flames deflected slightly. Courage swiftly disappeared and reappeared elsewhere around him, as Power suspected, and Power brought his second blade down on him. Courage managed to avoid the brunt of it, but as Courage moved and gained distance, there was a faint hint of defensive recoiling, with a taste of spiking fear in his spirit. Power got him.

Power feasted on the fear and pressed his advantage. Words were said. Words spoken by the mortals. The girl and Courage yelled to him as much as each other, but their words were meaningless to him. He brought his sword on Courage over and over, and Courage was forced to do what he could, but it mattered little.

"Did you do it on purpose?"

"No, I swear to you on my honor as a former king of Majora, I did not transform into a demon by my own will... I have no intention to ever transform by my own will."

He had now. He had transformed on purpose. The reason was fleeting... Power did not recall the reason, but what mattered was that for the first time it was his choice. No one had forced him into this. This was what he wanted.

"Its simple then, don't transform and don't lose yourself to it."

He had not lost himself. He had found himself! This is who he was! Beneath the flesh and shells they lived in, beneath the face and smiles and eyes, this is who he was. This dance is who they were! It had been this way since the beginning. Power's very birth was to fight. The first word he ever heard was 'Fight'. There was no future. Only the present. There was no forethought. Only the need.

He needed to fight. This is who he was. This is what he was. He was conflict. He was war. This is the reason for which he was made.

Power caught up with Courage, though Courage tried to use fallen earth to keep them apart. Power took the stones and cast them aside. Power reshaped his fire and shadow blade as a tridant and jammed it down on where Courage was, only for Courage to be behind him and cutting him with foreign flame into his right wing.

The flame was of his kin, of his family, of Naryu's mercy and Din's judgement.

Why? Why did it burn him? Why would Din reject that which she had made?

"Do you feel it, brother? The Triple Goddess' rejection?... What kind of master rejects a devoted servant?"

Power roared in pain, even as the pain fueled him. The rejection seared into his soul and his Wrath echoed with a roar of its own. His fire grew darker, hotter, more all-consuming, all eating, all-destroying.

The demon flapped its wings wide, sending ashe and fire and smoke wildly in every direction, lifting himself up a short distance, and let his weight go to smash down on the earth. Though Courage fled from his flames, it chased him to the ends of their duel, as it always would... but Courage found a hiding place in the waters that were now purified of Twilight. Power strode up to it.

Power aimed his trident down upon it, to pierce it down to its bottom and burn it all away, to kill Courage and destroy the energies of the Fae.

"You cannot defeat me, borrower of false fire! I am the flame incarnate of the Fire Dancer. I am he whom the dragons borrow from and that gives man its power."

False fire...

What as fire, truly? Was it destruction? No. If so, then man would have destroyed itself to the last long ago despite their darker nature. It was man's power because it was energy, it was change, it was adaptation, it was to lord over nature and set it to one's will, it was the instrument to which Wisdom uses and Courage rises with.

Or at least it once was...

Seeing the Fae waters, momentarily gave him pause. This... this is what not flame was. This was not the foe he was set upon at birth. He was sent against the false fire. The dark flame. The hunger that consumes utterly, that destroys, that is death. As opposed to the fire that is warmth, adapting, and gives strength to struggle against death and... live.

Courage rose up from the water, gasping for breath. His breathless state, his weakness, fed Power's fury as, like a predator, he found his moment. He brought down his trident into the waters, but a being of shadow grabbed his trident and held it. The shadow held Power's trident firmly, even as a girl nearby cried in pain. Courage drew himself from the water, rose, and stabbed a fiery sword into Power's knee.

Power roared and fell to his hands and knees briefly. The others scattered again. Wrath seethed and Power hissed even as memory and voices chased him.

"You have done what I never would have imagined possible. You have... brought the demon low with words alone."

No! He was Power! He was Wrath! He was the strength of gods and man! All that is weakness should fear him! There is no place for the meek and lowly in his sight. He would not be brought low by merely-

"You don't know how hard it is to ignore this voice in my head. It tells me I must kill you. You have no idea how long I have tried to fight it... to ignore it. Altways I thought it was me... my own failing. Did I lack in control?... But now I understand. This voice was never my own. Or perhap it is more accurate to say this voice is my true self."

"No. You are Ganondorf Dragmire."

"And what is a Dragmire but a demon?"

"Is that truly what you think?"

"A sick heart from a sick soul. I am cursed."

"You know what a demon is for us...? It is a parasite. Holiness can exist unto itself, but evil cannot. It uses us as its vessel. It acts through us because it cannot survive on its own. A demon is not all you are, Ganondorf Dragmire, unless you surrender to it."

Power shook his head and banished the voices away. Power turned, and bringing a hand up to send a miniature sun into them-

"Its not what I expected."

"What?"

"Your hand. I would have expected it to be more... sinister, evil, or monstrous... but your hand is warm... for a demon your hands are amazingly human."

Wrath seethed. How dare Power bring up such pointless memories! How dare Wisdom interfere! Stop hesitating and finish it! Hesitation is for the weak, and Power is not weak!

"Power is a burden. It is a shackle for those of clear conscience and divine purpose. It yokes the responsible, tasking them to make impossible decisions. Power awards neither friend, nor ally. If the price of conviction is misanthropy, then the weak truly deserve a ruler."

If the price of conviction is misanthropy...

Wasn't he the grand executioner? Wasn't it his birth to fight and convict? To enact judgement upon those chosen by... the divine.

Din...

Power blinked. He caught himself still holding the miniature sun in his hand. Wrath coiled, he hissed, and plunged it deep into the ground with his hand. The earth shook and tore and fire rose up from hundreds of cracks. The fire melted earth beneath into lava that filled the cracks and scattered them. Courage found refuge on one of the larger places of earth, and Power strode to him. He walked through the lava, though it be only ankle deep, and stepped onto the plate. The plate shifted under his weight so that his side plunged into the molten pool and Courage had to steady himself.

Growing tired of the constant chase, Wrath lifted a hand up and with it shadow rose around them. Around the plate of earth resting amidst the lava pool walls of Twilight rose as hundreds of thick snakes that looked down on them, anticipating.

Power brought a sword down, and Courage evaded it. The sword cracked the earth and sent a fourth of it into the lava. Courage cut his sword into the shadow wall, but for every bit he cleaved through, there was a thicker wall within. He tried to jump up and climb, but it shook him off and he fell onto the earthen plate. Power brought his sword up and followed Courage.

Until Courage had nowhere left to run. Courage yelled something meaningless to outside the wall.

And fell to his knees.

Power blinked, surprised. Was Courage wounded? He did not look it. Outside of bruises and burns, Courage didn't look fatally wounded.

Courage lifted his hand and his mark glowed. Sensing an attack, Power lifted his right blade above his head to bring down on Courage and execute him.

How many times had he been in this position? He had executed many in this manner. He had nearly done the same with Courage when they first met in this cycle, in this very manner.

"Take it."

Power froze.

Courage repeated, "Take it. It's what you want, isn't it?"

Yes. Yes, it was. Wrath extended his left hand towards Courage to take his hand and rip it from him, even as Power kept his right hand up with the sword to execute him. When he was done with taking it from him... oh what he would do? He would extend his judgement further on the weak. He would come upon Kanyou, take Wisdom from her, and with the combined triforce Wrath could make any wish he wanted even beyond the powers and imagining of Depravation!

But just what was his wish?

War. Fighting. Conflict. Anarchy was fun. Anarchy was chaos. Chaos was Twilight.

No... that wasn't it. Power stilled his hand.

Yes! Wrath hissed.

"Mothers, as I get older, the wtrength of our walls become stronger. The power of our numbers become greater, and as they do, I feel caged. I sense the narrowness of this country. War. Peace. Whatever form it takes is fine. I just want the world to expand."

That was what he wanted. He wanted the world, not for the world itself, but for what it offered. He wanted to see the tallest mountains and deepest wells. He wanted his mouth to burn with the spieciest and pinch with the sourest. He wanted to shiver and sweat. He wanted to see himself in every color and every style. He wanted to test himself against the greatest, sail the largest wave, and fly faster than any bird. He wanted to see what was beyond the nearest mountain, the next hill, the next horizon. This is the fire that burned in men. This is what burned in his heart.

He wanted to be the freest.

But he would never be free... There was no hope in this world.

"Between the seven nations, the hundreds of tribes and cland and states within them, and the numerous races, there is only strife. From their perspectives even though we are all of Hyrule, we only exist to kill each other. The violence has brought about strong borders..."

There was no hope...

"There has been nothing but pain, strife, and constant war... In this ceaseless spiral, it may continue for another five hundred!"

There was no hope...

"I judged the son of Din to be of a different mind and ignorant of his transformation, so it was kept from him. I knew where his answers laid, but I hoped..."

It was foolish for the Fae to hope.

What was Courage doing? He was just sitting there with his hand up and his head down in a gesture of surrender. He had the oppurtunity as Power hesitated for him to strike, but he would not. He... chose to do nothing. No. Not nothing.

He chose mercy.

"Because, Lord Dragmire, you spared and helped me when I was before you. You defied the cycle of hatred our forefathers set in motion so many years ago. I think it right to continue to seek to reverse that cycle. Perhaps it is foolishness, but if I fail for my foolishness, I would rather fail while hoping and acting than while doubting."

Power's hand shook.

"I'm here to prevent there from being victims of another five hundred year war!"

"Do you think there is even one country that would accept such an idea?"

"If they won't, we'll use force until they do. Since in the absence of understanding to allow room for diplomacy, force is the language these generations understand... I will abolish all of Hyrule's borders!"

No borders... It wasn't a bad thought.

Despite everything, despite a lack of understanding, Wisdom and Courage both chose mercy.

Kill him! Rip his soul from his body! Take what is yours!

What was his? Power? Power was a burden. He had tried in his own way to do what he wished. He took what he wanted and acted as he will, and he got nowhere. Because he simply lacked the courage to do the one thing he had never done, and could never do. Even when he was brought to his lowest and wished for death he held onto some measure of pride. He held onto who he was. Who he thought he was.

He had failed...

He had failed to kill his true enemy, because he lacked courage. The courage to fight in any manner but what he knew. Not all things are fought the same way. Some things require adapting.

Power was adapting... and he had failed.

Power adjusted the grip on his blade and raised it so that its blade was pointed at the earth behind him, and he would bring it down in a mighty swing. His left hand reached out to Courage to take it and Power brought his sword up and through his true enemy.

-Link-

A burst of flame and shadow fell before Link and he cringed as he felt the source of the heat being merely inches away from his hand and head. A thunderous crash shook the earthen plate beneath him and made his ears ring.

Then... nothing. There was no sound. There was no movement.

Link kept his hand up, a sacrifice to buy the girls time to escape, but dared allow himself to peep open one eye. What met his sight was a solid wall of a man of fire and shadow fallen to his knees. His arms hung uselessly to his sides. His head was bowed and his eyes faced the ground. His blades fell from his fingers onto the ground.

And his hair fell around them. The bright red hair patted the ground and blew into the winds like scattered wheat. The same winds that bore away the thick, bright, colorful hair tore at his body, pulling away the fire and shadow as dew from glass. Until all that was left was a man.

Link slowly lowered his hand, uncertain and fearful. Beneath his hand was more of Ganon's hair, there was so much of it. Link looked down at it and gasped, understanding what it meant.

"The day I consider you my equal I will cut my hair."