200 Years Later

Sunlight kissed his pale skin as his eyes narrowed. He hadn't expected a mere boy to progress this fast. He would be at the temple in no time.

The demon lord also hadn't expected Hylia's savior to be human. He knew, of course, that some sort of peoples created by the damned goddess would be after the girl he needed. But he never thought it'd be a human (and a human child at that!).

A few beads of sweat rolled down from his forehead, and he wiped them away before they could get into and sting his eyes. Ghirahim could have just waited in the cool, but dank, temple for the boy to eventually wander in, but following behind him was so much more interesting. Every time the boy would trip over a root or accidentally stumble into a a hive of bees, he'd snicker under his breath. How did Hylia think that this child could beat him?

He did, however, have to give this human some credit for his sheer beauty. The demon lord had only seen a few humans before, and that was before Demise was sealed away. The few humans he had seen were typically older and quite wizened due to being thrown in a dungeon. So to see one like this, was surprising at the least.

As he leaned forwards a little bit more to better see the hero, a twig snapped under his weight, and the Hylian turned around quickly. Ghirahim ducked back behind the tree, hoping the boy would just think his ears had tricked. There was no such luck for the demon lord.

The boy's eyes were narrowed, and he placed a hand around the hilt of his sword. Ghirahim could hear footsteps getting closer to his hiding spot, and he held his breath.

Honestly, he had nothing to worry about. If need be, he could just kill the human boy right here and now. His own strength was surely the greater of the two. But all of his pathetic life, he had trained for this day. He had worked on countless combat techniques and strategies to end the life of this mortal in the temple. It just didn't seem right to end this journey so early.

Plus, he had made so many personal sacrifices to make this day and battle between them absolutely perfect. He had risked everything to be perfect for this day. He had fasted and puked so much that is was only a matter of luck that he had survived to see this day. Not to mention, he had taken up rather... Impractical methods to make sure he never slacked off during training. He wanted this boy to be in awe of him as he plunged his sword repeatedly through the hero's body until the boy was soaked in crimson.

So when the boy almost came upon to where he cowered, the demon lord whisked himself away with a flurry of dark magic. He reasoned it would be better to just wait here in the temple anyways.

---

There was a long pause. "Link."

It was an unusual name for a human. The word had demonic roots, coming from one of the earliest civilizations built by Demise. However, the demon lord couldn't dwell on that fact for too terribly long.

"So Link, do you prefer to die at the end of my sword, or would you rather me snap your neck? It really doesn't bother me in the slightest," Ghirahim sadistically babbled.

He saw the boy- Link -unsheathe his sword, and he couldn't help the grin that came over him. "Did you really just draw your sword. Do you realize who I am?"

"An overconfident bastard?" Link sarcastically guessed, causing Ghirahim to narrow his eyes.

"Not quite," the demon growled, "I'm Demon Lord Ghirahim, more commonly known as the reason for your death."

The demon folded his arms across his chest, and took languid strides towards the younger male. At this, a look of worry mixed with confusion swept swept across Link's features. The hero took a few steps backwards, not letting the distance between them decline. He didn't understand why his enemy wasn't drawing a weapon. However, his train of thought was broken as he accidentally backed himself up against a wall.

Ghirahim snapped his fingers, teleporting in from of the other before the boy could run away. He quickly grabbed Link's left wrist, prying it down, so he would drop his sword. "Lesson one, Hero: Never trap yourself between a wall and your enemy," Ghirahim lowly hissed.

Not giving the other much time to react to his statement, he retracted a fist and punched the boy square in the face. Despite his lithe frame, the demon packed enough force into the hit that he could feel the other's nose break beneath his fist. A small tide of crimson flowed down Link's face and stained his glove.

Despite the small victory, Ghirahim felt no satisfaction. It had been too easy. He had expected this to be a fair battle, him against a trained warrior. Instead, he got a mere child who had probably never held a sword before this. Just from looking at his build, it was obvious he was inexperienced in combat. Muscles from training were just only starting to develop. Despite his frustrations at the unfair battle, he hit the sky child again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Until, he felt the boy beneath him stop struggling. He let go of the hero, and watched him collapse onto the ground. He was still breathing but only barely hanging on to consciousness. Blood slowly trickled from his broken nose and busted lip down to his neck, where it spilled onto the floor.

Ghirahim raised an eyebrow as blue eyes defiantly blinked rapidly for a second, before the boy clumsily sat up. He wasn't as weak as the demon had thought. Link wiped his mouth off on the back of his hand and turned his attention up to the demon in front of him. Then, the hero laughed and Ghirahim just stared on in confusion.

"Of course the anorexic freak is still stronger than me," Link exclaimed, still bubbling with chaotic laughter.

Ghirahim kneeled down in front of the boy, waiting for his laughter to cease. When that didn't happen, he slapped him. The hero grew quiet at the subtle sting, fear quickly returning to him. "You're lucky that I'm not going to kill you right here and now," the demon lord snarled. "But if you ever care to call me that again, I will not hesitate to snuff out the pathetic existence of your life. Do you hear me?"

Link nodded quickly, and Ghirahim sickly smiled. "Good boy," he purred, running the back of his gloved hand down the side of the boy's face.

The hero flinched at the contact, and tried not to gag as he felt his own blood smear across his face. Ghirahim finally retracted his hand, grimacing at the pinkness of his once ivory glove.

"You know," the voice startled the demon lord as he stood up, "if we weren't enemies, you'd actually be rather attractive."

For once, the great Demon Lord Ghirahim was speechless, heat rushing up his neck. Link grinned devilishly, his confidence returning at the reaction he received, proud of himself that he has been right. He had found the demon lord's weakness.

Suddenly, he looked forward to their next battle.

A/N: Nintendo would probably be cringing right now if they knew how OOC I was making their characters.