Title: TheLegend of Zelda: The Castle of Candles
Author: Soshite
Summary: After ST. Everyone dreams, everyone has nightmares. However, when those dreams and nightmares come into New Hyrule, things become dangerous. An old fairy tale becomes a reality when the gates between the Imaginary World and the Waking World are thrown wide open.
Rated: T
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Legend of Zelda series. If I did, certain people would still be alive. And possibly playable outside of Brawl. Because he is awesome. Oh, and the Gerudo would get more than a passing mention or wouldn't be suddenly thrown out of canon.
PROLOGUE
The Imaginary World
Once upon a time, there existed two worlds. One was the waking world, where people lived their lives during the hours where the light of the sun touched the earth. The other was the world of dreams, a land where those with strong wills thrived and the spirits of old lived. The world of dreams was called the Imaginary World and was a place where those of the past and present may meet.
The Imaginary World was ruled by a benevolent lord, whose will was great as his kingdom was mighty. It was his power that kept the darkness that infested his world at bay. The darkness that laid hidden within the Imaginary were the Nightmares, monsters made flesh by the fears of the people of the waking world. Once they had terrorized both worlds, but were sealed away within the Imaginary World and held under lock and key by its lord.
But that is another story.
This story is long after the Nightmares had been laid to rest; this story is a tragic love story between the Lord of the Castle of Candles and the Lady of Light.
The Castle of Candles, they say, is a grand old palace where the lives of people were kept, each represented by a single candle. Some candles were tall and new; others old, short and ready to flicker out of existence. It was the Lord's duty to keep watch over these precious lives, extinquishing them and lighting new ones as time went on in the waking world. To help him in his duties, he made the Dream Mirrors; they would allow him to keep an eye on the people of the waking world and to travel back and forth between them at will.
One day, as he was viewing the waking world, he spotted a young maiden of unparallelled beauty. The Lord fell deeply in love with her, but knew it could never be. They lived in two different worlds and even if she came to the Imaginary World, their love could only be temporary, for he could never leave the Castle of Candles and thus, never be able to find her.
However, despite everything, he sent her one of his Dream Mirrors, in the hopes that she would come to him on her own.
Eventually, the maiden came to the Imaginary World and fell in love with the Lord as well and brought light to the world steeped in night.
Unfortunately, there was mischief afoot.
In the Haunted Wasteland, a section of the Imaginary World where the Nightmares had been sealed, someone else had already fallen deeply in love with the maiden long before the Lord had laid eyes on her. He was the King of Winter, the spirit of the colder months of the year and ruler of the cold, icy region of the Imaginary World. In the form of a spirit he had watched and played with the young maiden in the waking world when winter had come; protected her and loved her like no other.
But her heart had never been his to have.
In his jealousy, he cursed the Imaginary World, releasing the Nightmares upon it once again. They ramapaged upon the Imaginary World, devouring all light that they came across, spreading fear and terror throughout the once peaceful land. The King of Winter used the powers of the Nightmares to separate the lovers, stealing the Lady of Light's candle and hiding it in a place where the Lord cannot reach...
"...And that's it, hahaha," Niko said, with a small chortle. His audience stared at him, their mouths agape at the lack of a proper ending, or the fact that Niko had managed to stopped himself from continuing on-and-on as he was wont to do. Either way, the way the old seafarer had ended his new tale was quite jarring and even Link managed to stay awake long enough to wonder what was supposed to happen next.
The person next to him asked the question that was on both of their minds.
"Is that it?" the girl asked, frowning a bit as she stared at the last picture on stand. It depicted the King of Winter in possession of a candle and the Lady of Light being frozen in a large crystal. She frowned a little, considering it. "You'd think there'd be more. I want to know what happens next. Does the Lord of the Castle of Candles get his Lady back? Or does the King of Winter win in the end? I want to know!" Niko smiled at Link's companion, chuckling.
"Hohoho...well, I wouldn't want to spoil the ending just yet," the old man said with a happy-go-lucky air. "After all, I haven't exactly finished doing all the pictures yet and there's no point in telling a good story without pictures!" Niko began to put the small theatre screen away, as Link and his friend got up from their seats on the carpet. "But never mind that you two, you should be headed out to the Spring Festival in the village. It only comes once a year, after all. And it's the best time for lovers to come together." The old man winked, laughing at the two friends as they blushed at the same time. "There's an old spring tradition you know; stare deeply into the mirror and make a wish about the future...if you wish hard enough, they say your future will be revealed before the festival's end."
Niko sighed wistfully. "Ah, what it is to be young again...Miss had been so lucky to have her wish come true...hohoho..."
As Niko was chuckling to himself as he muttered of days gone by, Link brought his friend back out into Aboda Village, where the festivities were just beginning. Colorful banners streamed from one roof to the next, coiled around tall trees and flapping along in the ocean breeze. People were milling about, setting up stalls and little attractions for the once in a year event to celebate the new Spring. Every year the Spring Festival changed its location according to the royal family and this year, it was Aboda's turn.
And neither Link nor his companion were going to miss it.
"Oh, Link, it's so cute!" she said, clapping her hands together in anticipation and excitment. The girl's long blonde hair swayed a little in its ponytail as she turned to face her friend for over a little over a year. "I can't wait to see everything!" She looked so happy and carefree, the Hero of the Tracks had to grin at her enthusiasm.
"Well, it's still a bit early to have any real fun," he said, taking her hand in his. "How about we take a walk, Zelda?"
The girl gasped and flailed in shock, then ceremoniously whacked Link a few times, all the while telling him to keep quiet. No one really paid them much mind, except for the seagulls, who flew off angrily as the girl disturbed them with her spastic behaviour. Whipping her head from side to side, she glared heartilly at the engineer who started cowering a bit from her. Roughly, she pushed him into a bush before diving in with him.
"Are you crazy?" she hissed, still glaring daggers at her hero. "Don't call me Zelda out here! I thought we agreed on calling me Tetra?"
"S-sorry! I forgot!" The boy was being very honest; he really had forgotten on the plan they had decided on, but could she really blame him? He was so used to calling her Zelda and only that for the last year or so and to have to call her by any other name felt odd to him. The fact that it was only for this one day made things even harder for the young teen.
Earlier that day, as Link was on his way to deliver some fish to the royal cook, he had been accosted by a Princess Zelda dressed up like a pirate of all things, asking him to sneak her out of the palace, yet again. It became something of a habit for the two of them in the days that follow Malladus' defeat; sneaking past guards and teachers alike just so the royal could get out into the real world for a few hours at a time. Most of the time it was only so she could visit with him in the Castle Town while he was off-duty, but sometimes the girl wanted to venture far for one reason or another. And he couldn't blame her. Zelda had spent most of her young life shut up inside of a castle, until events led to her travel her kingdom in the form of a spirit. It wasn't any surprise that she wanted more worldly experience under her belt—to know her people and country better.
He could never say no to her—when could he ever—and had carefully led the princess out of the castle and straight into his train, bringing her to Aboda Village where the Spring Festival was being held that year. Last year it had been in the Castle Town and Zelda had only been able to watch from afar as the townspeople celebrated the new year and prayed for bounty and luck as the months went on. This year, she vowed not to miss it.
The princess had planned everything from her getaway, to keeping the new chancellor away by saying she was sick and was not to be disturbed and would not be taking meals, to her disguise (which was a poor one in Link's opinion, but no one had suspected thus far) and alias while she was outside of the castle, where she should have been attending her duties. Alas, princesses needed to have fun, too, and this princess proved to be a lot more mischievous than Link had originally anticipated.
But he wouldn't trade her for the world.
SLAP!
"Ow!"
"Link, you're not listening to me!" Zelda complained, glaring daggers yet again. "And wipe that look off your face!" She added, having noted the dreamy look that crossed her friend's visage; it was both embarassing looking and goofy as far as she was concerned and probably none too innocent, she deduced. Link pouted and rubbed his aching cheek.
Although I wouldn't trade her for the world, I certainly wouldn't mind trading her right arm for something else...Man, she hits deceptively hard! Link thought glumly, mentally sighing at Zelda's abusive nature. "Sorry, sorry. I'll be more careful next time, Tetra."
Satisfied that she had gotten her point across, she smiled with a nod of her head. Holding her hand out, she helped Link onto his feet, even going as far as to help him dust off his engineer's uniform (he had originally arrived in the recruit's uniform, but changed when they got to his and Niko's house). Taking the boy's hand again, she led him back out into the open.
"So, Link, where shall we walk?"
Laughing nervously at her sudden mood swing—which he should have gotten used to by now, considering how long their friendship had lasted—the boy led them towards the shoreline at the edge of the village. The sun was still high in the sky, bright and cheerful; the sky itself was cloudless with the occasional seagull flying above the two of them. All the attractions of the festival were being held in the village proper, so everyone was there and not on the beach where Link and Zelda walked together, hand-in-hand.
She spoke up first.
"It's been over a year, hasn't it? Since Anjean and the Lokomo have left us," the blonde girl stated wistfully. "Since we defeated Malladus together..."
Link nodded with a soft grunt. "Yeah...it only feels like yesterday we were going through the Tower of Spirits together." He laughed a little. "I kind of miss it...a bit."
The princess tilted her head to the side, curious. "Miss what? Nearly getting killed every time we ran into a Phantom?" The engineer shook his head grinning.
"Nah. I actually miss being around you all the time, actually," he said, not quite realizing what he had just admitted, until it was too late. When it finally registered, the teen blushed pink and so did Zelda, a hand over her mouth in surprise. "Um...that is to say...you were pretty useful as a ghost, you know! You could possess things and stuff," he quickly added, rather lamely. He looked over at the princess-in-disguise, scratching the back of his head nervously.
The princess stared at him a few moments, her face frozen in a blank expression. And then disappointment filled her eyes, which confused Link a bit, before it disappeared. The girl scoffed lightly, pulling away from him. Crossing her arms, she looked out to the vast sea.
"Well, someone had to keep a cool head! You would have been in a lot of trouble if it weren't for me," she stated haughtily. There was the princess he knew; it didn't suit her to be sad and the point of their outing today was so she could have as much fun as possible. Link wanted her to always be smiling, a thought which kind of scared him a bit, but it was normal for friends to want each other to be happy, right?
"Honestly Link, you always had your head up in the clouds when you should have been concentrating on not being squashed by rolling boulders or falling into trap doors and—Link you're not listening again!"
SLAP!
"Ow!" Link cried, seeing stars from the force of the princess' strong slap. He actually went flying a little, falling with a thud onto the sand. From where he laid in a heap on the ground, he could see Zelda stomping off, her long hair swishing back and forth in the ponytail she had put it in. Groaning, the teen sat himself up painfully. Well, looked like he got her mad again. Served him right for walking down memory lane by himself again.
Link sighed. He had to make it up to her somehow.
Placing on hand to support himself as he sat there in the sandy shores of Aboda, contemplating ways to appease the anger of his princess, the boy's gloved hand came into contact with something hard in the sand. Curious as to what kind of rubbish or treasure he had inadvertedly found, Link brushed aside the sand to see a rusted handle. Frowning, he grabbed the handle and gave a sharp tug to unearth the item.
"Waaah!" came the boy's cry as he was sent tumbling into the sand again. He had pulled too hard and ended up falling backwards. And now, in his hands, was a dirty old hand mirror. He blinked. Who in the world could have left this on the beach? And for how long? The whole mirror seemed rusted over and the reflective sheen of the mirror's surface was really grimy.
Not a treasure then, he thought to himself as he gently rubbed at the mirror, to see if he could clean it. He managed a small spot where he could only see one of his eyes inside of it. Absently, his mind fell onto the old tradition of mirror wishing during the Spring Festival as he idly cleaned the mirror. All he had to do, he recalled, was look into the mirror and make a wish for the future and his future would be known. Almost immediately the engineer thought of a future with himself and Zelda in it, friends forever and smiled fondly to himself. Although she was a handful and got easily riled, he hoped the two of them will always share good times together.
That's my wish, he thought, holding the dirty mirror in one hand. A happy future.
He stared a few moments into the mirror, a warm breeze caressing his face and ruffling his hair. His gaze did not waver, but nothing happened, as expected. It was, after all, a silly superstition, even if he had meant the wish with every iota of his being. There was no use in wishing, after all. If he wanted a happy future with Zelda, he would first have to go chase after her and apologize for being such a blockhead. It wasn't going to be easy, but that was how life worked.
No point in chucking away this mirror, though. Maybe I can fix it up later...Yes, that was a practical idea. And who knew, maybe the mirror was something to behold, under all that grime and rust. Maybe even give it to Zelda as a gift later on, after the festival was over and he was back in her good gaces once again.
A plan formulated, Link made to put the hand mirror away when it suddenly flashed a bright light into his eyes. The boy was blinded momentarily and he wondered if he had caught the sun in the lense somehow. Once his sight cleared of black and white dots, he focused on the hand mirror, surprised to see a girl within it, a frightened look on her face. She was banging on the inside of the mirror, screaming soundlessly at him, pleading with her eyes to release her. When trying to break through the mirror did not suffice, she simply stared helplessly, her hands pressed up against the glass. Then those eyes closed in despair and she slid down, as the mirror suddenly froze over, her image disappearing. Link hissed as the handle was cold enough to bite and he dropped the mirror, staring in shock at what he just witnessed.
Cradling his nearly frozen hand, he bent down to inspect the hand mirror and saw nothing, but himself in its depths. No girl, no ice—nothing at all to indicate anything odd or strange. Just what was going on?
All of a sudden, a voice cut through Link's musings.
"Link? Liiiink!" called Zelda, having returned from cooling off somewhere in the village. She was some ways away from where the teenager was and seemed to be concerned, if the look on her face was anything to go by. The princess' brows were furrowed together in worry and the strange phenomena the hero had just experienced was pushed to the back of his mind. He would investigate the mirror later. Right now, he had a princess to soothe.
Swiping the mirror from the ground, he stuffed it into a pouch on his belt and went to meet the princess, unaware of the events about to unfold.
[END PROLOGUE]