The Legend of Zelda: Urban Legend
Chapter One: Fate's design
After the fall of the Dark Lord, Hyrule was brought into a time of peace. Time passed, new threats came and were overcome, and Hyrule slowly changed. As the ages passed, the battle between the Dark Lord and the Great Hero soon passed into legend, and then myth, and finally was forgotten all together.
Centuries later, a young man named Link began having bizarre dreams. Wearing a green tunic and wielding a sword and shield, he battles a menacing dark-skinned man. His enemy knocks him to the ground and a girl with light brown hair and a regel dress comes to his aid. With both looking in fear, the evil man rose in the air and hurled a ball of magic at them. Link struck the ball with his sword sending it back at the man. It strikes him and paralyzes him in mid-air. The royal girl draws back a bow and fired a shining gold arrow at the evil man. Link jumps in the air, and just as he is about to stab his sword into the man's chest his alarm clock goes off and Link wakes up.
Link's eyes popped open but he stayed motionless in his bed, still trying to figure out the meaning of the dream, the same dream he's been having for the last two weeks. As he mulls over the significance of his re-accruing dream, a slender feminine hand blindly slaps him repeatedly in the face. "Anju? Anju." The half-asleep brunette stopped hitting him looking slightly confused. "The alarm is on your side of the bed."
Anju looks on the other side of the bed and stretches out her hand to stop the clock's buzzing. "Sorry Link." She bends down kisses her boyfriend and gets out of bed to go to the bathroom.
Link turns over to address the person sleeping next to him, "Kafei? Next time you and Anju want to sleep together, why don't you do it at her place?"
The purple-haired young man sits up and looks at Link, "What are you saying? You don't like having Anju over?"
Link sits up as well and rubs the sleep from his eyes, "No, it's not that. Trust me it's good to not have to cook every night, especially after work, but don't you think it would be better if you two had a bed to yourselves?"
"Link, come on you know we only have one bedroom."
"Yeah, but why do we only have one bed?"
"Have you seen the size of this room?" Kafei gestures to the rest of the room, which just barely has enough space for the bed they're sitting on and the two dressers against the wall. "Besides, it's not like we've ever had sex with you in the bed. That'd just be weird. Whenever you're in here before we get home we always use the couch."
"Yeah, I know I hear you." Link shutters at the thought for a moment. "Kafei, I'm just saying, Anju's family owns a hotel. There has to be plenty of rooms you two can use."
"That's a very good point Link," Kafei gives his roommate a pat on the back, "But you know the down side of your family owning a hotel?" Link gave him an unsure shrug, "They can burst in at any time to find a guy plowing their daughter."
"That's a good point too. But how does Anju feel about this?"
Kafei waves the question off and gets out of bed, he stretches as he continues, "Ahh, Link, we've been friends since we were kids. Hell, you helped get me and Anju together. Thrust me, she doesn't have a problem with you shearing a bed with us."
Link gives him a look, "You do know that makes it sound like we're polygamists or something right?"
Kafei blinked and thought about what he just said, then with a slightly disgusted look, "Yeah it kinda did didn't it?" Kafei shook his head to get the mental image out then left the room.
After showering and putting on his favorite green hoody with the symbol of Farore, his patron goddess, on its right shoulder, he enters the living room of his and Kafei's small apartment to see Anju in the kitchen making breakfast for the two roommates. She sang softly as she cooked and swayed gently to the music in her head. As Kafei enjoyed the show, Link sat down at the counter that divided the living room and the kitchen. Anju placed some scrambled eggs and a few strips of bacon on three plates and gave two to Link and Kafei. After taking one bite, Kafei closed his eyes savoring the taste, "Mmm. Honey, you are a great cook. Maybe even better that Link. No offence dude." Link just glared at him before continuing to eat. He had to admit though, Anju could cook.
Once they had finished breakfast, Kafei and Anju sat down on the couch and held each other as they watched T.V. Link grabbed his skateboard and headed for the door. "Dude we really need a car." He said as he opened the door.
Kafei shot back, "Yeah no kidding, man!" Link chuckled as he exited their apartment.
Link rides his skateboard down the street on his way to work, his mind wondering as he avoided any pedestrians he passes by. A few blocks away from his house, Link bypasses a girl about his age with light brown hair. When the girl's face is within Link's field of vision, time seems to slow down. He was mesmerized by her. She was pretty to be sure; soft features, baby blue eyes, with a fair complexion. But that wasn't why he couldn't take his eyes off her. This girl was the same girl from his dreams. Link was so focused on her that he lost his balance and fell off his skateboard. She runs over to Link to help him up, "Oh my god! Are you okay?"
Link was dumbfounded. Put her in a fancy dress and expensive jewelry and this girl, who Link has never seen in his life, would look exactly like the girl he'd been dreaming of for the past few weeks. And she was helping him after a fall, just like his dream. "What is going on?" He unwittingly said out loud.
"Oh, you must be dizzy from the fall. Come here." She took his face in to her hands and looked directly into his eyes. After examining them for a second she backed off, "It doesn't look like you have a concussion. Are you going to be alright?" She sat on her knees looking at Link with worry in her eyes. Link was staring at her like she was a six armed alien or something. "Um, my name's Zelda Nohanson. What's yours?"
Zelda. Her name was Zelda. But why was he dreaming about her. He had never met this girl before, he was sure of it. But she had been in his dreams for weeks, helping him just like she was today. And to make things even more confusing, being this close to her made Link feel…good. Like being with an old friend he had known for years. And the back of his left hand was tingling strangely. This was the strangest day of Link's life and it was only eight-thirty AM.
Link was so deep in his reserves that he didn't realize that he was still staring at Zelda. "Um. Hello?"
"Link! Link Masters. My, my name is Link Masters."
"Uh, okay? Well…I have to go to school now." Zelda got off the ground and went to collect the books she dropped when she came to Link's aid.
Link followed her trying (and failing) to make conversation with his dream girl. All he could come up with is, "Uh, am I dreaming?"
Zelda was confused by Link's strange behavior, she started to think that maybe he did have a concussion after all. "No? I don't think you are." Link kept staring at Zelda. From Link's standing point it was understandable, you meet someone who looks exactly like someone you've been dreaming about, it only makes sense that you'd be a little stunned. However, Zelda didn't know about her presence in Link's dreams, so she was just weirded out by the strange new boy she had just met. "Uh…I should be going." And started to walk off.
"Okay. Yeah. I gotta go too. So I'll just…" Link gets his skateboard and starts riding past Zelda it in the opposite direction he was going. After a minute he realized he was going the wrong way and turned around. He passed Zelda again and gave her a small wave. As he rode away from her, Zelda couldn't help but keep looking at Link until he was out of sight. He was kind of weird, but he was cute too. She wondered if she would see him again; probably not.
Link rode his skateboard as fast as possible to his job at Telma's Dinner. He burst through the door, hopped off his board, quickly greeted his boss, Telma, and strode into the kitchen to find his best friend Midna. "Dude! She's totally real!"
Link's outburst surprised the orange-haired Goth so much she dropped the plates she was carrying. "God damn it, Link! Telma's gonna kill me! Wait, who's real?"
"Zelda Nohanson." Link said while stooping to help Midna clean up the food she dropped.
"Who's Zelda Nohanson?"
"The girl from my dreams."
"Aww…" Midna's expression softens by Links words, "'the girl of your dreams.' That's so sweet."
"No, not of my dreams, from my dreams. Remember that weird dream I've been having lately?"
Link and Midna throw the broken plates and food away and Midna looks through the window to the counter, "Fado, tell table 3 there's been a problem with their order. Give 'em as many free refills of coffee as they want and tell them that their bill will be reduced by twenty percent."
"Make that Twenty-five percent, hon." Telma interjected, "We can take the extra expenses out your pay check." Telma gave Midna a "friendly warning" kind of look and went back to taking orders.
Midna put a weak smile on and said, "Yeah, no problem boss." Her smile falls off and glares bloody murder at Link. "You will pay for this. Now what were you babbling about."
"That dream that I was telling you about."
"You mean the one where you fight that Gerudo guy and that girl in the princess outfit shows up?" Midna asks as she goes to the grill to re-prepare the food Link made her drop.
"Yeah I met that girl today."
Midna stares at him for a second, "How is that possible?"
Link walks over to a coat rack, takes an apron from it and puts it on. "I don't know. I was on my board, rode past her, and there she was; the spitting image of the girl from my dream." He took off his green hoody and joined Midna at the grill. "I was so caught off guard I fell off my board and practically went mute. She probably thinks I'm mentally challenged or something."
"Can you get the fryers?" Midna directs Link to the deep fryers to make the French fries that will go with the BLT and steak and cheese sandwich that she's making. "Y'know, sounds like you're really into this girl. She pretty?"
Link stiffened at Midna's comment. "Uh, well she is kinda cute. But I wouldn't say that I'm into her. I mean I saw her in a dream weeks before I actually met her. I'm sorry if I sound a little fixated, but come on how often does something like that happen?"
"Right I'm sure you're not even thinking about Zoë."
"It's Zelda." He corrects Midna as he empties the cooked fries onto two plates; a clear tone of annoyance for mispronouncing Zelda's name in his voice.
Midna chuckled at Link's tone, "Yeah you're not interested at all." She finished the sandwiches she was working on and prepared the plates for table 3. She places them in the window to the counter and rang the bell to alert Fado that the order was ready. She picked up another order and read it out loud, "Grilled chicken sandwich, no mayo, on wheat bread. Six piece buffalo wigs. And deep fried onion rings. Got that Link?"
"No problem." Link went to work preparing the next order as soon as Midna was done reading it.
As he worked, Midna could tell that this Zelda girl was still on Link's mind. "Link, look. I don't think you should give this dream chick to much thought. You don't know where she lives or how to find her. The chances of you meeting her again are a million to one. Maybe you should just forget about her."
Link thought about Midna's advice for a minute. Finally he sighed and looked at her, "Yeah, maybe you're right. There's no point in getting obsessed with a girl I'll probably never see again. I guess I should forget her." Midna nodded and the two of them got back to work.
During the lunch rush Link delivers the food to the tables as well as helping prepare it. He sometimes uses his skateboard to quickly get around the dinner, that and it keeps he job from getting too boring. After delivering another meal, Link was rolling back to the kitchen when he accidentally bashes into a costumer. The both of them crash to the ground and Telma yells out to Link, "Link! You okay there sugah?"
Link worked out the shoulder he landed on and called back to her, "Yeah, Telma, I'm fine."
"Link?" The girl's soft voice called the young skate rat's name and he whirled around to see a face he had been visualizing all day.
"Zelda. You…I can't believe…I gotta go for a minute. I'll be right back." And Link scurried back into the kitchen. He walked up to Midna again and said, "Dude! She's totally here!" Just like before Midna was thrown off balance because of Link's outburst, but he managed to catch the plates before they fell.
Link placed the plates in the window and rang the bell then turned his attention back to Midna, who was pissed off. "Would you stop doing that?"
"I'm sorry, but she's here."
"Whose here?"
"Zelda!"
Midna was stunned. The girl Link dreamed up shows up at his job. What kind of Twilight Zone insanity is this? "I have to take a look at this chick."
Midna strode towards the door to the front, but Link steps in front of her, "Wait, you can't go out there. Zelda already thinks I'm a klutz, if I start parading her in front of my friends she might think I some kinda creep."
Midna looks at Link for a second, "You really do have a thing for her don't you?" Link just glares at her before walking out the kitchen. Link sees Zelda sitting at the counter; he walks past Telma and Fado to get to her. "Hey Zelda, what are you doing here?"
"Well I had a job interview in the area, and I got kinda hungry so I just decided to see what this place was like. I can't believe you work here."
"Yeah I know. How weird is it that we run into each other twice in the same day." Link felt the same feeling of familiarity that he sensed when he met Zelda the first time and the back of his hand began to tingle again. How can you feel so nervous and so at ease around someone you just met? Link heard Telma forcefully clearing her throat down the counter and giving him a wicked look. Link knew that look basically meant "Stop flirting and get back to work or I'll fire your butt." So he turned back to Zelda and asked, "So, uh…is there something I can get you?"
Zelda giggled knowing that Link might be in trouble with his boss. She grabs a menu and looks it over as Link readies a pen and pad to take her order. After about a minuet she addressed Link again, "Do you still serve breakfast after noon?" Link nods his head, "Then I'll have a short stack with a side of eggs and a cup of iced tea."
"Alright then. Midna!" Link places the order slip were Midna can find it to make the order.
Midna calls from the kitchen, "Your gonna have to help me with some of these orders Link." With a smile, Link excuses himself to make Zelda's meal.
About five minutes later Link walks the plate of food out to the young woman he felt a strange connection to. "Here you go Zelda." Link places a medium sized plate in front of her with a stack of three pancakes topped with vanilla ice cream and scrambled eggs sitting next to it. Link also handed Zelda a small syrup pitcher for her pancakes and a cup with her tea.
Zelda poured the syrup over the pancakes then used her fork to cut out a section and take a bite. Her face lights up as she chews the pieces, "This is really good. Did you make this?"
"Uh yeah, I did." Link blushes slightly because of Zelda's praise of his skill in the kitchen. "I actually learned to cook from my grandma. I'm just working here to help pay for college."
"Really, where do you go?" Zelda asks in between bites, careful not to talk with her mouth full.
"Lanayru University, I'm an Art major."
"I go to Lanayru too, as a History major. I just transferred there about two or three weeks ago." About the same time that Link's dreams started. This is just one coincidence too many for Link's taste.
Zelda coming into his life had to mean something, he just didn't know what. It had to have something to do with his dream, but did that mean that they were gonna have some epic battle against a Gerudo guy. That's impossible isn't it? The Gerudo are all women. There isn't a guy among them. Nothing about this made sense to Link. He had to find out more about Zelda. "So, Zelda…"
"Hey! Can you help me back here, please!" Midna yelled from the kitchen.
Link glared angrily at her then turned back to Zelda. She looked at him, "Back to work then, huh?" Link gave her a slight shrug. "Well then…" She pulls a piece of paper and a pencil out of her purse and started writing, "This is my cell number. Give me a call sometime." She handed him the paper.
Link looks down at the paper and smiles, "Wow, girl number. Alright, I'll call you." Link walked back to the kitchen without taking his eyes off Zelda. He bumped into Fado and tripped over his skateboard before stumbling into the kitchen. Zelda smiled at Link's retreat. He really was kind of strange, but there was something about him she couldn't put her finger on. Something that drew her to him. She had ever just given a guy her number like that, but for some reason she really wanted to see Link again.
As Zelda went back to her meal, Link was showing her number to Midna, "I don't know what's more surprising, that you got a girl's phone number or that she's as cute as Zelda."
"You're hilarious y'know that?" Link stuffed the number into his back pocket and got back to work. But as he does, Link notices a faint outline of a triangle on the back of his left hand.
Zelda finished her meal shortly after Link left. She got up to pay the diner owner and caught a glimpse of Link through the window connecting the front and the kitchen. She waved at him and he waved back. Telma noticed this and gave Zelda a knowing look; then said to her, "Y'know, Link is a fine young man. I'm sure any girl lucky enough to spend some time with him would be pretty happy. What do you think sugah?" And gave her a wink to emphasize her point.
Zelda wasn't sure how to react to Telma's question. "Uh…well…I mean…uh, I, I have to go. Bye." And with that she left the diner as quickly as she could.
Telma just laughed to herself, "That girl is totally head-over-heels for that boy."
Zelda returned to her dorm room around seven, exhausted and at the same time exhilarated. She flops on her bed and startles her roommate who had failed to notice her entrance. "Oh, god Zel. Has anyone told you that you could be a ninja or something?"
Zelda sat on the edge of her bed to address her friend, "Sorry Malon. I'm just kind of tired, and excited, and a little confused."
Malon sat on Zelda's bed next her, "Okay, well tell me what happened. First start with the interview. Did you get the job?"
"Yeah I did. You're looking at the new clerk at 'Sky Temple Books'. The owner, this guy named Shad, said that I knew more about Hyrulian history than anyone he's met."
"That's great Zel!" Malon gives Zelda a big hug before continuing, "but I have to point out that's probably one of the geekiest things I've heard someone say." Zelda playfully slaps Malon on the arm and she pretends it hurt. The two girls laugh until Malon gets them back on track. "Okay, okay. Now what else happened today?"
Zelda was a little embarrassed by what happened with Link, but if she and Malon were going to be friends like she hoped they'd be, then she should talk about boys and stuff like that. "Uh, well I kind of met this guy today…"
"Really? Well tell me all about him! Is he cute? Does he have a car? Does he have a friend with an even better car?" Malon became very excited by the notion of Zelda finding someone, and Zelda could also see that she was a little shallow.
"Well his name is Link Masters, he is kind of cute, I don't think he has a car, he works at a diner on Spring Water, and the only friends that I know he has are a girl and this guy who wasn't all that good looking." Zelda counted off all the information on Link that she could think of, but left out his odd behavior.
Malon thought about what Zelda had told her about the boy she met, "So, he works at a diner and he doesn't have a car?" Zelda nodded, "What a prize." She got up and walked over to her own bed and stretched out.
Zelda suddenly became very defensive of Link, "Well he is very nice and easy to talk to. Even if he is a bit unusual." She immediately regreted her choose of words.
"Unusual? Like how?" Malon's interest was renewed by this new bit of information. Zelda mentally cursed herself for letting that slip. But what's done is done. So she began to tell her roommate about how she and her would be boyfriend met. After the whole recounting, Malon retaliated with, "I think he's a freak. You should change your number before he calls you."
"Malon, I'm not going to do something like that. Besides, he's not that bad. I mean, he didn't seem as strange in the diner." Zelda thought about Link for a minute. "Although, it is a little weird that I gave him my number. He's one of those skater boy type of guys I'm not usually into. But something about him just called to me. Like…I don't know, like I was meant to meet him."
Zelda returned from her deep thought to see Malon looking at her with a big cheesy grin on her face, "Aww that is so cute. Love at first sight, I always wanted something like that to happen to me." Zelda chuckles softly at Malon's comment. But then something catches Malon's eye, "Hey, I didn't know you had a tattoo. I wonder why I never noticed it before."
"What are you talking about I don't…" Zelda trails off as she looks at the back of her right hand, and she sees it: a gold triangle shape. Zelda wasn't sure what was going on. She never even thought about getting a tattoo. But then were did this come from?
Unknown to Zelda and Malon, their dorm room has been bugged. Just outside of their window a young man swaying back and forth with a slightly deranged smile listens to Zelda trying to take Malon's attention off the mysterious tattoo on her hand. After hearing what he felt was enough, he pulls out a cellphone to make a call, "Zant? It's Sakon. Sounds like the girl developed the mark. She's the one Lord Ganondorf has been looking for. How are things on your end?"
Zant, a man around the same age as Link with a skull cap and various tattoos, sits in a car across the street from Telma's spying on the skater. "I can't tell if he's the one. I wish the mark was somewhere easier to spot. I mean, on the back of the hand, what kind of shit is that?"
"Well that's where Lord Ganondorf said the mark would appear. So that's where we have to look." Sakon began to walk away from Zelda and Malon's dorm as he spoke to Zant.
"Fine." Zant knew that Ganondorf had his reasons for giving him and Sakon their orders and he shouldn't question him. Ganon had always made the right decisions that made everyone who worked for him a lot of money. "Still, this seems pretty out there, even for Ganon. I mean, why exactly are we following this girl around? And what's up with this pretty boy skater guy all of a sudden?"
While Zant was speaking Sakon started staring at a nearby lamp post that just switched on in anticipation for night, "Yeah, I don't know. The girl is really pretty too. Pretty. Hey do you thing Lord Ganondorf will let me keep her?"
"You know our orders Sakon. Once we're sure that the girl has the mark, she dies, end of story."
"Oh, right." Sakon began to pout at the thought of losing the "Pretty girl".
Link's shift at Telma's ends at seven-thirty most nights, to cover up the strange symbol on the back of his hand, which is slowly becoming more and more clear, he put on a pair of fingerless gloves he sometimes wears. He and Midna exit the diner, Midna still giving him a hard time about him somehow screwing things up with Zelda. Zant starts up his car to follow Link and find out if he really does have the mark like the girl. "Sakon, blonde's on the move. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay, later Zant." Sakon hung up and stuffed his phone in his pocket. "Oh, the pretty, pretty girl." Sakon began skipping along the sidewalk, with Zelda still in his warped little mind.
