"It doesn't look like seven years have passed," the little fairy said, flying towards the door leading out into Hyrule Castle Town. "It looks like nothing's changed."

"You're right…" the young male muttered, looking around. "Something's different, though." His eyes shifted back and forth, nervously looking for whatever it was that had changed.

The simple truth was that, to this duo that had slept for seven long years, nothing appeared to have changed in the time they spent in limbo.

But everything had changed.

"It may look like nothing's changed," a voice from behind them said, "But looks can always be deceiving."

"Who are you?" the fairy demanded.

Link spun, pulling out his sword and shield in case he needed to defend himself, and the first thing that caught him of this new stranger was the red eye and blond hair. The rest of this stranger was a mystery; everything else was covered in some piece of clothing or cloth.

"I am Sheik, a Sheikah," the blond said to the duo. "We won't have much more time that can be spared."

"You must go to the five temples, located in a forest, a volcano, a lake, a desert, and a village and free each of the sages from their slumber," Sheik continued.

"Is that really it?" Link asked, a little doubtful.

"No," Sheik replied. "Before you go to the temple, head to Kakariko Village, you'll find something there to help you on your quest that will be vital to if you'll win or lose. But, before you even depart from Hyrule Castle Town, though, head for the castle."

"The castle? What for?" Navi asked.

"You'll see," Sheik replied.

"Well, looks like we're heading for the castle," Link said, putting his sword and shield away, wanting to leave before Sheik said something else that sounded ominous. He ran at a light jog out of the Temple of Time and was met with the sound of groaning.

Link's eyes darted from side to side. Just one glance around the area; and he knew everything had, indeed, changed. The temple remained untouched, but the groaning coming from the Market and the fact that everything around them had been destroyed had been enough. Link could even swear he heard Death Mountain getting ready to explode a few miles away.

From behind Link, Navi flew out and, also hearing the groaning, said, "Those better not be Redeads!"

"I think they are," Link replied, setting forward at a light trot to try and find a safe way to the castle, hopefully without alerting one of the Redeads.

The moment he stepped into what used to be the Market, though, he figured it wasn't going to be that easy. It looked like the whole Market was crawling with the groaning figures of Redeads, though 'crawling' may not be the correct word for the still bodies standing or crouching around the destroyed area.

"What-?" Navi started to ask, but fell silent at Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time and played the tune he learned from inside one of the graves at Kakariko Village's graveyard, which was also infested with the groaning bodies.

The simple tune did the trick. The Redeads froze, their groaning all but ceasing, and Link went into a full-out run heading for the castle, leaving Navi with little choice but to follow him.

The fairy caught up to Link as he arrived at once was the palace of Hyrule, only it was very different. It was, literally, hanging over a pit of lava, for one, and it didn't look like there was any physically possible way to reach it.

"I'll get it this time!" they heard a voice cry.

Link and Navi looked, slightly surprised that they had missed the figure standing a few feet away at the first look of the place, though the fact he appeared to be wearing a brown fighter jacket made him blend into the surrounding area, if only slightly.

The voice in question belonged to another male that they momentarily thought was Sheik, only this male had blue eyes with what appeared to be glasses settled comfortably on his nose and a mischievous grin on his face. The other defining detail to the fact that his wasn't Sheik was the fact that there was a cowlick stubbornly stuck upwards.

Link and Navi could only watch, trying to figure out what this guy was doing, as he looked up at the palace; walked backwards far enough to bring him to the wall of rock behind him, and bent down, bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly as he stared at the palace, a determination filling his gaze.

Navi realized what he was trying to do a moment before Link did. "He's going to try and jump!" Navi cried.

Link ran at the mystery male the same moment the man cried, "Charge!" and started running for the gap and the palace beyond.

Alfred F. Jones didn't realize what happened until he had been pulled to a complete stop, struggling to run forward some more in a hopeless attempt to overcome whatever force stopped his forward progress. After a few minutes, he sighed and turned, straightening Texas from the now lopsided position on his face as he did so, and asked, "What the hell?"

Link replied, "You're welcome for saving your life!"

"You nearly choked me!" Alfred retorted.

Navi flew up and said, "Stop fighting, both of you!" She turned to Alfred and asked, "What were you doing, about to jump off the side of a cliff into lava? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"I don't have a death wish, and I wasn't trying to jump into the lava," Alfred replied. "If I wanted to do that, I could pull a Lord of the Rings stunt with the volcano over there." He motioned to Death Mountain in the distance, obviously not caring that the duo didn't get his 'Lord of the Rings' reference. "I'm trying to reach the palace."

"Why?" Link asked, staring at the palace with concern on his face. That really wasn't the same palace from seven years ago.

"Because, this creep is holding my friend hostage," Alfred stated. Without prompting, he went, "Yea. We were just minding our business, walking through the field one day when suddenly this creep ran up on a creepy black horse and grabbed him! Of course, Arthur's one to fight, but it was obvious the creep was stronger than him by a lot, so Arthur took a major risk and changed into his more powerful form. Only when he changed the creep laughed and said, 'So you are the one I've been looking for', or something like that, knocked Arthur out, and ran off with him. I didn't have a horse so it wasn't easy for me to follow him when he ran off and I just now learned that's where he keeping Arthur!" By the end of Alfred's rambling, he pointed at the palace, a frustrated look on his face. "I know he's got Arthur in there, so I'm going to get in there and rescue him, whether Arthur likes it or not!"

"Why?" Navi asked simply. She may not have known who was in the palace, but just from what they've seen, this guy must've been powerful.

Alfred said, "Because, I'm a HERO!"

"Sure…" Navi muttered. "Well, who was this creep? Did he mention a name?"

"I think he mentioned it…Ga…Ganon…dork? No, that wasn't it. Oh! Yea! Ganondorf," Alfred replied, snapping his fingers.

Link sighed. "That would make sense, only the question would be why he'd kidnap someone that wasn't the princess. Who are you, by the way?"

"The name's Alfred F. Jones," Alfred said. "You?"

"I'm Link, and this is Navi," Link replied.

Alfred nodded, saying, "Well, thanks for trying to help me, but I'm going to need to continue my heroic venture of getting in that palace and saving Arthur!"

Link and Navi looked at each other in exasperation. It was clear the gap couldn't be jumped, but Alfred was going to try it anyway? He was going to get himself killed.

"Go with them," Sheik said from a few feet away.

"How long have you been there?" Navi asked.

Sheik didn't reply, instead walking over to Alfred and saying, "Even if you were going to get into the palace right now, you would be overpowered. Your friend is trapped as the Britannia Angel and is being forced to help Ganondorf. If you were to try and help him right now, you wouldn't survive."

"Then how am I supposed to help him?" Alfred asked.

"You must find the one that's got equal power to the Britannia Angel, and once you do, you must convince him to help you through the rest of your quest," Sheik answered. "For the moment, you must go with Link and Navi, and help them."

Alfred looked skeptical. "And if I do that, I'll be able to help Arthur?"

"Yes," Sheik replied. Now, the Sheikah turned to Link and Navi. "Head for Kakariko Village, then for the forest where the sage sleeps."

Link asked, "What about you?"

Sheik neglected to reply, saying, "Good luck."

With those parting words, Sheik left.

Alfred sighed, before turning to the palace and muttering, "I will save you Arthur. After all, that's what a hero does."

Link and Alfred shook hands before the trio made their way back to the Market of Hyrule Castle Town.

As they entered the Market, Alfred complained, "These guys are a pain to get past! It took me forever to get past them last time and-"

"Shut up!" Navi told him.

"I don't need to listen to you!" Alfred retorted.

Navi replied in a way that's best left unsaid.

Link left the two to their bickering and played the Sun's Song, freezing the Redeads in place again. "Come on, guys," Link said as he finished, breaking up the growing argument, and walked through the Marketplace like he had all day.

Alfred and Navi, still muttering threats to each other, followed after him as they left the Market and Hyrule Castle Town.

"Well, let's go," Link said, turning towards the active Death Mountain. "Kakariko Village it is."

The trio set off for Kakariko Village, unaware that someone was watching the whole thing.

xxx

"Another one?" Ganondorf muttered, before turning to the subdued angel he kept close by. "Tell me, where is this one?"

"Say the magic words, bloody wanker," Arthur snarled back. He had tried to escape numerous times before because he didn't want a wounded ego, but had since given up, Now, though, if there was someone else that could help Alfred, Link, and Navi, then he wouldn't tell Ganondorf where this equal was if he could help it.

Ganondorf sighed, walking over to Arthur and grabbing him, shaking him as he hissed, "I wish to know where your equal is."

He dropped Arthur to the ground, knowing now Arthur couldn't refuse it now.

Arthur took a moment to get his head straight before muttering something and waving his wand dejectedly. "Lake Hylia," Arthur finally replied, bitter. He hoped that, every time he tried that, Ganondorf would get sick enough of saying 'I wish'.

And he simply wished that he didn't have to grant the wish when someone said it.

"Lake Hylia…" Ganondorf muttered. Who could possibly be at Lake Hylia? Surely not the Zoras, he had already dealt with them. Frozen them all into blocks of ice.

No, there had to be someone else there…someone he missed the first time…

/AN

Thanks for reading this chapter! I'm looking forward to writing the rest of this story!

NOTE 1: This is following the 64 version of Ocarina of Time.

NOTE 2: I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update.

And for those of you that don't know, 'Texas' is the name of Alfred's glasses.

R&R Please!

AN/