I don't own the Legend of Zelda

Centuries passed. Time flowed rapidly like a river, ever changing, never still. Wars were fought, forests burned, towns built and heroes came and went; yet Ghirahim remained ignorant of all this, asleep in his mighty blade, long forgotten. His sleep was not a peaceful one, his spirit remained restless, it yearned to be awakened and wielded once more. Ivy snaked its way up the pedestal and curled around his handle. Wild foliage grew up around the clearing, but animals wouldn't dare approach it, sensing the evil presence there. So Ghirahim was alone, deprived of the company of a fellow life form. He seemed destined to stay this way for all eternity, until one day when a green clan boy happened to stumble across him.

Link had just returned the master sword to its rightful place in the Sacred Grove and had decided to go home for a well earned rest after his long adventure. However, he got lost very quickly. Nothing looked familiar to him in this maze of trees and dead ends. He looked around, wondering if the skull kid was playing a trick on him but there was no sign of the mischievous skull kid or his annoying puppets.

"If Midna was here she'd laugh at me for getting lost so close to home." He muttered to himself as he fought back brambles along a narrow, winding path. The path became narrower as he trudged on. After half an hour of walking without getting anywhere he made to turn back, only to find, to his amazement, that the path behind him was gone. Instead thick trees blocked his path, so he now had no choice. Sighing to himself and thinking longingly of his bed, he pressed on. Brambles caught at his clothes, ripping them and scratching his arms until they bled. The overhead branches bent low along the dirt path, so that Link had to stoop to avoid them.

Eventually he came to a clearing, which was empty save for a stone pedestal in the centre which contained a sword as black as the night sky with an impressive jagged blade and an upside down triforce mark near it's hilt. While the master sword had emitted a heavenly glow, this sword seemed to absorb the light, casting a darkness around it. Link's instincts told him to turn away, to put as much distance between him and that sword as he could but before he could move a muscle a hoard of bokoblins and baba serpents appeared out of nowhere. Gripping his trusty Ordon sword tightly, he obliterated those nearest him into clouds of coloured smoke. He sliced through bokoblin after bokoblin but they continued to press at him from all sides. One knocked Link's sword out of his hand, which was soon lost amongst all the chaos. With no other option, Link used his shield to force his way through the mass of bokoblins and the snapping jaws of the serpent babas until he was at the very centre of the clearing. With no time for second thoughts, he placed both hands upon the jagged sword's cool hilt and lifted it out of it's pedestal with surprising ease. The sword felt strangely natural in his hands, like it was meant for him. He swung the massive blade at his enemies, who seemed to cower at the mere sight of it. It made Link feel so powerful, invincible almost. However, this feeling ended abruptly when a baba serpent seized him around the middle and another latched onto his sword arm, disarming him for the second time. He felt them sink their sharp teeth into his skin, as the last remaining bokoblins came closer, banishing their crude weapons. He struggled against the babas' vice like grip but only succeeded in kicking his sword further away. Link reached out for it but it was just out of his reach. "Come on just a little further." He said to himself. As the baba serpents bit even more furiously and sunk their teeth deeper into his skin, he was convinced that this was the end. "Guess this is it." He said dejectedly as he closed his eyes and waited for the final blow.

But it never came. Instead with a sickening crunch the baba serpent holding his middle was severed in two and released him, so that Link fell to the floor with a groan. The one on his arm soon followed. Rubbing his sword arm he looked up at his saviour. Looking down at him was a man unlike any Link had ever seen before. He was much taller than Link and his skin looked like it was made from the same dark metal as the sword had been. In fact Link had a sneaking suspicion that this man was the sword somehow. His eyes were pure silver, with no pupils and seemed to be filled with a great sadness. In his chest there was a diamond of the same colour and his hair was white and unnaturally smooth; Link had never seen such an unusual hair style. His body was covered in patterns of bright white diamonds which seemed to shine. Link blushed as he realised that the strange man wasn't wearing any clothes. But he relaxed a minute later when he saw that the man had no need to; he didn't seem to have a gender. The man held out his hand towards Link. After a moment's hesitation he accepted it and was brought to his feet. Link noticed for the first time that all the bokoblins and baba serpents were gone; the stranger must have taken care of them too.

"T...thank you for...er... saving me." Link said awkwardly as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. To his surprise the man looked sadder than ever and, in one swift movement, sunk to his knees. "Are you ok?" Link asked gently, truly concerned for the strange man. The man spoke in a deep, demonic voice, yet he sounded almost respectful and apologetic. "Don't thank me. I...I owe you so much. I'm... I'm sorry. I regret... all that I did. I made a mistake... I see that now."

Link stared at him, open mouthed. "You must have me confused with someone else." He said sympathetically. "I don't know you. You owe me nothing."

The man shook his head and now pity as well as sadness was evident in his face. "No you don't understand, skychild."

"Skychild? What's a skychild?" Link tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"You are...you were. In a past life when I...I killed you." His voice cracked on the word 'killed', making Link feel bad for him. "I want to ask, no... I want to beg for your forgiveness. Please, it's the only way for me to get rid of this...this sickening feeling of guilt."

Link looked sympathetically at the broken man at his feet and he was reminded painfully of the golden wolf, who had died with regret and was unable to rest in peace. He spoke kindly to him. "It's ok, whatever you did before it doesn't matter now. I forgive you."

The man looked at him in amazement, they stared at each other for a moment in complete silence. "So... you never told me your name. I'm Link." Link said breaking the silence.

"I am Ghirahim. Lord Ghirahim. You don't really forgive me?" Ghirahim was in disbelief.

"Of course I do." Link replied with a small smile but far from reassuring Ghirahim, this only seemed to upset him and all the feelings that he had kept bottled up for centuries came pouring out.

"You can't forgive and forget that easily! Do you know who I am? What I did? I threatened you, repeatedly. I stole your friend! I killed you and sacrificed her to resurrect the demon king! I've killed thousands without any regret at all! Can you forgive all that?" Ghirahim's voice rose steadily at he talked. He couldn't believe that the hero had really forgiven him, it couldn't be that easy. Nothing was that easy, ever.

Link didn't know what to say. So he bent down and clasped the demon into a tight hug. Ghirahim froze for a second; he had never been hugged before, but then he relaxed in Link's arms. "It doesn't matter what you did, we all make mistakes. What matters is that you changed and tried to correct your mistake." Link whispered to him. Ghirahim nodded and Link released him.

Ghirahim stood up, all his anger had evaporated and he felt lighter than he had done in a long time. "Thank you, for forgiving me. You have eased my pain greatly, I finally feel... free." He paused for a moment, as if a thought had just occurred to him. "However, I appear to need a new master. Perhaps you need a new sword? I'm a truly unique and powerful sword as you've seen. And my old master... he's most likely dead now, besides he had replaced me after I had outlived my usefulness. So you could be my new master, we could work together." He said hopefully.

Link nodded. "I like that idea."

Ghirahim bowed with a smile. "So do I, master."