A/N: Now I'm all paranoid after reading the TOS stuff. This is my first story, although I have meandered around reading stories. I'm writing this in the three-day delay before I can upload stories. (It's the fourth of July and I'm eating cotton candy. Life is good.) This is kinda pointless because it's just a practice piece, but I love reviews. (Hint, hint) So, here we go. Flames are accepted. (I'll be flaming myself all the way.)
Disclaimer: Firstly, if I owned Legend of Zelda then I would not be writing on a FANFICTION site. I would also be a lot richer then I am, and Link would spend a lot more time with his tunic off.
The Kakariko Village graveyard had a unique talent of being spooky and haunted even if it was brilliantly sunny outside. It was dusk now, and the slight drizzle that pattered down did nothing to dispel the gray fog.
None of the graveyard's tricks managed to deter the young man in green making his way through it determinedly. Link was familiar with this place. He had also seen many more horrific things than fog, rain, and Poes.
The Hero of Time's visit to the Kakariko graveyard was not entirely arbitrary. It held the headstones of several of the citizens who died the first time Ganondorf, King of Evil had invaed Hyrule. Link was hoping that maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to learn something about his deceased relatives. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea where to start.
"What're you doing here, boy?" A man's voice speaking the Hylian tongue cut through the ringing silence. Link jumped, surprised. Almost no one could sneak up on him, his pointed ears were far too sensitive.
"I'm..." Link trailed off. What was he doing? He shrugged and shook his head, hoping that the stranger before him would just use his imagination and go on his way.
"Visiting someone?" The man supplied, and Link just nodded. "Who?" Link was about to tell him that it was none of his business, but stopped himself. Perhaps this man had taken over the late Dampé's position as the gravekeeper. If not, he was still wearing the uniform of a Hylian soldier. Maybe he could help.
"Family," the hero replied shortly. He wasn't much for talking. Link fidgeted under the scrutinizing gaze of the curious stranger.
"You look familiar, boy," the man said finally. Link expected the usual revelation, the exclaimation of 'you're the Hero of Time!' and then the bowing, and all the obnoxious thanks and compliments. What actually followed surprised him for the second time that night. "Your eyes...I'd know them anywhere..." The soldier snapped out of his reverie. "Follow me, boy. I know who your looking for." Stunned, Link obeyed and was lead to twin headstones. He couldn't see the names in the darkness, and wished Navi was there to shed illumination.
"Your father was one of my best friends," the man informed him, "served with me in the army. Good fighter, honest man." He looked sideways at Link. "It was instictive for you, wasn't it? The first time something attacked you when you had a sword in your hands, you knew exactly what to do with it." He didn't wait for Link's reply. "That's not the important thing, though. Anyway, your father had a good heart, and women didn't think that he was that bad looking. Your mother included."
"Rosemary was hired as a serving girl for one of our officers. She was friendly, witty, intelligent, beautiful, everything a man could want. When they were married, Brett worried about how far his foot soldier's pension would stretch. They made it though, and were competely ecstatic when you came along. You have your mother's eyes." There was a pause in the soldier's story and the patter of the rain roared in Link's ears. This was hard to absorb all at once. Besides that, Link wasn't the biggest fan of sappy stories.
"You were maybe six weeks old when the Gerudo attacked. Your father told your mother to run to the forests because it was the only place that the desert theives dared not go. 'Protect our son,' he said, 'Protect the last link between us.' As we were forming ranks and preparing to charge, I told him that I would cover for him if he wanted to follow Rosemary. 'What kind of honor to my family would I be if I abandoned Hyrule in it's time of dire need?' He demanded. I told him that he was not the chosen hero, that the role would fall to one of his descendents. 'Exactly, Darren,' he replied, 'why do you think I had Rosemary run?' In the time that it took me to think this through, he added: 'Besides, I will fight all the harder if I know who I'm protecting.'" Darren paused again, and his face darkened. "I caught my first glimpse of Ganondorf that night. He was young then, only eighteen or so. We were winning at first, and we did win in the end, but Ganondorf was a demon. No one in the front lines stood a chance. We were all killed."
"All of you?" Link asked, surprised. Darren ignored his question.
"Never forget what your title stands for, Hero of Time. Remember what your family fights for." Link hung his head for a moment, knowing that wandering the world didn't really qualify as protecting and serving Hyrule. When he looked up, Darren was gone.
"Typical," he muttered in disgust before turning and striding back through the mist and out of the gates.
Behind him, the Kakariko graveyard remained silent as ever.
A/N: See what I meant? It's pretty pointless. Oh well. I'll leave you to REVIEW while I write and edit my next short story and try to fix my broken muse. (Ten reviews are needed for me to purchase his missing appendages.)