Ghirahim hadn't expected this. Any of this, really. Quite frankly, though he was loathe to admit it, he had been fairly certain that he was dead. That damnable sky child was simply too strong, stronger than his master even, all thanks to the hateful power the golden goddesses had bestowed upon him. He had been strong before that had happened; Ghirahim had fought him back when he was just an ordinary boy, but back then the sky child had barely been able to fend him off. For that brat to be the one to kill him… humiliating.

But he wasn't dead. He was very much alive, and he was staring down into the eyes of the brat who had almost killed him.

"Link!" A tiny, shrill voice screeched. Ghirahim's eyes snapped towards the sound, finding its source was an angry little yellow fairy, bobbing around behind the boy's head. "What is this?! Who is this?! What did you DO!?"

The boy simply shrugged. "I didn't think the spell would do that."

"You… you performed a magic spell you found on an ancient cavern wall… and you didn't even know what it would do?!"

What on earth was happening? Were they ignoring him? Why wasn't the sky child cowering in fear, knowing he had released his mortal foe from the brink of death without meaning to?

"Aw, come on Tatl!" The boy huffed. "You can't figure out what a spell does unless you try it first!"

"Are you trying to tell me it didn't come with instructions?" The now red fairy demanded.

"…Well, there might have been…some…" The boy ducked his head and shuffled his feet, looking abashed.

He couldn't believe it. They were ignoring him. Him.

"You…! What if it had brought down the moon again, huh?! Or summoned those monsters from the sky that attack the ranch sometimes?! Or turned you into a frog-" The boy giggled at that. "Stop laughing! It's not funny! You could have summoned a monster-"

Ghirahim decided that this was the opportune moment to voice his discontent and shot out his hand, snagging the snarling fairy from the air.

"AAAAAHHH! MONSTER! LEMME GO!"

"Stop making sounds at once!" Ghirahim commanded. He turned to glower at the sky child. "Well, sky child, I am hurt. We finally reunite and you don't even have the decency to scream in fear upon looking at my beautiful visage once more?" The boy's eyes widened, and Ghirahim smiled. Here it comes, the rant, the furious tears, the begging for mercy-

"I'm really sorry, but… I don't actually know you."

…What.

"Well, I mean, I kind of do. You came out of my sword." The boy pointed, and Ghirahim turned stunned eyes to see a gleaming, diamond patterned sword on the ground near him. "But I had no idea you were in there. I've had this sword since I was a kid, so I wasn't really expecting someone to pop out of it, you know?"

Ghirahim had stopped listening to the boy and was instead staring intently at his face. Now that he was really looking, the boy was smaller than the sky child - much smaller, in fact. He wasn't an expert on human physiology, but he was fairly certain that this was an actual child, and not in the degrading sense that he had used to nickname the sky child for his naivety. Could the sky child have actually bred? Was this tiny doppelganger his spawn?

"Um, did you hear me?" Ghirahim snapped out of his thoughts.

"Hm? You say something, little one?" He sneered. Yes, little one. That was a good name for the tiny sky child spawn. He mentally patted himself on the back.

"Can you let Tatl go? I think you're squishing her." The boy pointed at his hand, still holding the seething, struggling fairy.

Ghirahim thought about this for a moment. If the little one was truly the sky child's brat, than there was a good reason to believe that his beloved master, Demise, was indeed dead. And if that was the case, what exactly should he do from this point on? His eyes flicked to the sword that lay beside him. Technically, the brat was his new master if he wielded the blade that he resided in. Perhaps he should play along and use the brat to get to the sky child for revenge? Oh, that would be fun…

"Of course, little master." Ghirahim bowed, a little too deeply to be earnest. "Your wish is my command." He let go of the fairy, who zipped into the little one's hat for protection, all the while snarling curses at him. The little one beamed at him.

"Thanks, Mr. Sword-"

"Do not call me that." Ghirahim cut him off abruptly. "My name is Ghirahim, little one. Do not ever forget that name."

The boy seemed completely unfazed by his sudden shift in attitude and simply nodded, picking up his sword (which looked far too big for him) and sheathing it behind his back. Ghirahim was a little disappointed. He had assumed that human children would be easy to cow, considering their fragility. He had no prior experience with children, of course, but something seemed off about this boy.

It mattered not. Soon he'd have his revenge, and after that… well, one step at a time.

.

.

.

Something was happening, Skull Kid had no doubt about that. The barrier between worlds and time had thinned, and something was moving behind them. He had already warned his best friend, Link, the boy who had saved him from that mean mask, but he was starting to think there was no need.

"I don't think it's coming here." Skull Kid said decisively. The violet fairy nestled in the warmth of his hat stirred.

"What isn't coming here, Skull Kid?" Tale asked sleepily. Without his older sister to boss him around, the little fairy had stayed up far past his bedtime.

"The evil. I think it only cares about Hyrule." Skull Kid stretched happily. "That's good, looks like Link won't have any work to do after all, tee hee!"

"Aw, come on Skull Kid." Tale chastised. "You know even if it doesn't affect us Link will still want to help."

Skull Kid looked a bit sulky. "But then Link won't be able to play with us…"

"That's ok! We'll just come up with a bunch of really fun games to play when he comes back! And we can draw him pictures! You know he loves our pictures!"

Skull Kid nodded eagerly. "Drawing is fun!" he cheered. "I'm going to draw Link with all of the heroes he's going to meet!'

"Heroes?" Tale was confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"Link isn't the only hero fighting the evil! So when he kills it, we'll have lots and lots of new friends! Where's the green crayon?"