Link woke up that morning, not feeling like himself. He felt very weak, with a fiery burning in his head. Before he could even take three steps, in an attempt to struggle through this weakness and pain, he collapsed on the cold stone floor. Something was definitely not right with him, something unnatural.

A few hours had passed before anyone knew what had happened to Link. The first one to see him was Zelda, lollygagging her way through the halls of the castle. Upon seeing Link, her expression turned to one of alarm, Link was never this way. He was the epitome of the persevering hero. She immediately threw herself at him, hoping to find out what was wrong, very concerned with his well-being.

Nervous, she asked him, "Link, what's wrong?"

When she failed to get a response out of him, she shook him, worriedly calling out "Link! Link! Link, please answer me!"

Soon enough, he had regained his consciousness, though barely. He weakly responded, "Hey, Zelda," in a weak attempt to pretend that everything was just fine.

"Link," she said, "what's wrong?"

Painfully he stated, "It burns," finally admitting that he wasn't himself.

More worried than before she asked, "What burns? What happened?"

With the last of his consciousness, he told her, "I don't quite know what happened. Give me time and it will pass." And with that, Link was reduced to a state little more than excruciating sleep, not fitting for a hero of his caliber.

At this, Zelda cried, the hero shouldn't have to have this happen to him. The devoted princess stayed by her hero's side, hoping to help him in whatever way she could, but his eyes wouldn't open. He breathed painfully, but he breathed nonetheless.

From a distance, Ganondorf saw his curse was in effect, giving him the perfect opportunity to take over Hyrule. Smirking, he slipped away in the shadows to his fortress, chuckling to himself. With a little luck, he believed that Link would soon perish and finally be out of his way.

Every night and every day Zelda stayed watching over Link, making sure she never left his side, nothing could happen to him on her watch. It certainly was a change from how it had always been: Link watching over Zelda. Nonetheless, she wouldn't leave her hero alone; it just wasn't worth it to leave him alone.

Over the next few weeks, Link had not regained his consciousness, while Zelda did anything she could to get the hero out of this situation, anything. However, he had made some progress in this time; his breathing was no longer painful and the fiery burning had subsided slightly.

A few days afterwards, Link finally spoke again. Though he was still weak, he had some consciousness. "Zelda," he called out in an almost inaudible tone.

The princess, still waiting by her hero's side, said to him in return, "Yes Link?"

"Zelda," he began, "I have something to tell you. Ganondorf is on his way. You're going to have to fight him without my help this time. He will be almost impossible to defeat, so you'll have to come up with something good."

To this the princess responded, "I can't Link. I won't leave your side; you need the help and you know it."

Fading, he said, "You have to do this Zelda. You can do it without me. If I can…" It was then that the hero lost his energy completely, back to his undesirable sleep, the accursed submission to his weakness.

In her mind, every word Link said was vital and worthy. If he believed in her, then she would do it for him. He was her hero, and faith from a hero was reward enough to attempt to succeed against the evils of the land. He was Ganondorf, he had been defeated before and he would be defeated yet again.

Zelda gathered the Hylian army to subdue Ganondorf in his charge for the castle. The band of Ganondorf's minions was the standard: stalfos, moblins, etc. At first the Hylians were able to subdue and succeed in battle against these foes. However, one thing changed the flow of battle for them. Suddenly, the fallen monsters returned with more strength than they had before, as Ganondorf would not easily let his limited minions be vanquished so easily.

The soldiers, caring for Zelda, told her to take Link and retreat to another location, quickly, realizing that that new twist could only spell defeat for the Hylian army. Obeying their advice, Zelda gathered the ailing Link and took him to the forest, his old home.

After setting Link back down on his bed in his house, she pounded the floor in frustration. She thought, frustrated, 'Why couldn't I do it? So what if he's Ganondorf? Before he's been beaten; now he's weakened and I still can't seem to beat him. Why? Why? Why?'