Author's Note: A few years ago, I took down all my stories after a pile of negative interactions with the fanfiction community. This story was originally published as "Spirit Tracks Remix" in 2011, and I recently decided to republish it with a few edits now that I have a pretty solid idea of where I want this story and its current "sequel" (Prisoner of Destiny) to go.
I was about 13 years old when I wrote this story, and as I read through it, the writing certainly reflects that. I've decided not to make too many heavy edits and try to preserve that slightly "childish" writing style because I think it does a good job of reflecting the character's young age as well. I like to think of it as a prequel, which paves the way towards an endgame idea I have for these stories and characters.
As always, thank you for reading, and please drop a comment, or constructive criticism if you feel the urge. I love to hear what readers think, and value all your thoughts!
If you were to ask me, I really wouldn't be able to tell you how it happened. All I remember is having some free time and being bored. Usually whenever I'm bored, I was allowed to pull out a story tablet, one of the ones with the moving pictures and sounds, and parts where you could pretend to be the hero. Those stories were my favorite, much more fun than reading the words of a story in one of the boring old books, or scrolls. Although I wasn't supposed to use the story tablets without my mother around because they were very hard to come across, and my mother would be furious if something happened to them. But she was gone for a few days, and all the chores she had left me with and everything else was done. There was just nothing to do!
I tried not to feel guilty as I went into the locked chest, using the key my mother kept hidden inside one of the scrolls on the shelf. Now I had a choice to make, because there were a few special stories to choose from.
There was the tablet with a pretty pattern on the back like a crying eyeball, but my mother never let me touch that one. She said it was special, and that I needed to wait until I was older to hear that story. I was already opening the story chest without her permission, and I didn't want her to be angrier, so I left the special tablet alone. There was also the story with the tower and the two children my age, but that one I had opened the most. That left the one with the pretty birds and the floating island, but the villain was pretty scary in that one too. The first time I had opened that story, I had nightmares for weeks about his creepy laugh and his evil eyes.
I hurriedly put that one back and picked up the story about the tower, carefully placing it on the floor beside me while I locked the chest back up and strained to push it back under the bed. Feeling the familiar feeling of excitement as I jumped (carefully!) onto the bed my mother and I shared, I settled back against the headboard, pulled a blanket around my shoulders to keep out the cold, and powered the tablet on. I yawned as I waited for the familiar beginning of the story to appear on the screen. It seemed to be taking a while today. Maybe the story tablets felt the cold too, and needed more time to warm up.
I hadn't thought I was sleepy at all, but for some reason I was having a lot of trouble keeping my head up. Stifling a yawn, I nestled myself under the blanket and propped myself up with a pillow so I'd be able to see when the tablet started playing the story.
I must have closed my eyes, because the next thing I knew, I was being poked in the arm. I mumbled sleepily, and drew an arm over my head. "Hey kid! Hey you! HEY!"
My eyes flew open in alarm as I scrambled to my feet. A bright, blue light seemed to be shining all around me, but rapidly faded away. As my vision cleared, what I saw was not what I had been expecting, and I gasped out loud.
I was standing in the middle of a stone floor, in a room with colorful tapestries hanging on the walls. Humongous pillars with weird symbols carved into them reached way up towards the domed ceiling, where a stained-glass window sparkled. I stared at it all, not entirely sure where I was, or what I was seeing.
"Where did you come from, kid?" A voice to my side said. I turned and stared up at a man wearing...armor? "I have strict orders to report any strange business around the castle." The guard continued. "But you look like you're just a kid, so I guess I'll let you go this time. Just stay out of trouble."
"Are you a guard?" I asked, my voice sounding small. "Is this...Hyrule?"
"Of course. Where else would we be?" The guard stared at me a bit suspiciously
I blinked, and suddenly remembered I had been laying in bed with the story tablet. I must have fallen asleep; I had been feeling pretty tired. That must be what was happening. A dream! I was actually dreaming that I was part of the story! I felt myself began to smile. This was the best dream I could possibly ask for!
"Did the ceremony happen already?" I asked the guard eagerly. "For the trains?" Maybe I would be able to see it happen in person. Before I woke up, hopefully!
"No, but the procedures should be commencing shortly." The guard sighed, tilting his head head a bit to look down at me. "Are you here for the ceremony?" He asked as a blonde kid in an engineer outfit walked up to stand beside me. My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I gaped at the other kid. It was him, it was Link! The hero with the train!
"Excuse me, which way to the Engineer Ceremony?" The boy asked.
The guard started to reply, but straightened up and saluted instead. "Chancellor Cole! Sir!" The guard said smartly, lowering his salute. An important-looking man stood in front of us and despite his small stature clearly made the guard nervous. He was wearing a bright green suit and two small top hats balanced on either side of his head. His hair and mustache were both a vibrant orange.
I clapped my hand over my mouth to hide a giggle. Chancellor Cole looked even more silly in person. "He looks like a leprechaun!" I whispered to myself.
"What's a leprechaun?" The hero asked, one eyebrow raised in confusion. I couldn't hold it in any more. I mean, "What's a leprechaun?" Who doesn't know what a leprechaun is? The Chancellor, who'd ignored the two of us until now, turned his attention to me as my laughter echoed off the walls.
"How dare you? Who are these ill-mannered children, hmm?"
"My name is Mia." I informed him. "And I'm not a kid! I'm almost old enough to do all of the chores by myself."
"And I think I might be late for the ceremony," The hero added.
Chancellor Cole hesitated as we stood there, hoping to get past, and stared at us with beady black eyes. Finally, he grumbled something about trains and frowned at a messy looking paper badge Link wore pinned to his black engineer's tunic.
"As unfortunate as it is, these two urchins do need to get past. Princess Zelda insisting on performing those ridiculous little ceremonies and all."
The guard saluted and stepped aside. I smiled at him as we walked past.
"Are you here to watch the ceremony?" Link asked as we walked down a heavily carpeted hallway and through two big doors.
"Yeah! I mean, I am allowed, right?"
"Of course! Everyone is allowed to come." He grinned. "You said your name was Mia, right? What realm are you from? I've never seen you around the castle before."
That was sort of weird. Usually people I met in dreams didn't ask me where I was from. "Um..." I fidgeted with my hands. "Well, I'm just visiting."
"Quiet, peasants!" The Chancellor hissed from behind us. I jumped in surprise, not realizing that he had been followed us. When I half turned around, I saw him exposing a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth. Yikes! That reminded me of something.
I turned forward again and whispered to Link, just in case I woke up before the scary stuff with Cole and Byrne happened, "Watch out for him. He's definitely going to be the bad guy."
"Huh?" Link stared blankly at me as we walked up a few steps towards a fancy throne with two doors on either side of it and guards stationed all around.
"Be quiet!" Cole spat, and poked me with one of his pointy fingernails. "You are clearly no engineer and you're lucky I didn't have you thrown out right when I first saw you."
I cringed as a strange feeling of fear ran up my spine. I knew it was silly to be scared, because this was just a dream and dreams couldn't hurt me, but Cole was really creeping me out. I was starting to feel like he could hurt me if he wanted to.
A fanfare of trumpets went off, and Link went up ahead and knelt front of the throne, his head bowed. The chancellor turned and walked rapidly over to the wall on the right side of the throne, taking his position between two guards. The look in his eyes as he stared at me made the feeling of fear stronger. But I was quickly distracted from Cole as one of the doors beside the throne opened and a girl walked in. She was wearing a pink dress and her blonde hair fell neatly down her back. I covered my mouth with my hands to muffle a exclamation of excitement. It was really Princess Zelda, standing right there!
I watched the rest of the ceremony, barely able to contain my excitement. It was amazing to feel like I was standing there, and actually a part of it! After Link had become an official engineer and received his parchment from the princess, I stared hard at the two of them, watching for what came next. Sure enough, the princess slipped something else into Link's hand, then turned and walked out of the room, followed closely by mostly all the guards.
I sighed in disappointment, realizing I hadn't had a chance to talk with her. Loud, clicking footsteps caught my attention, and I noticed that the Chancellor had left his spot and was stalking directly towards me. I gulped, a bit confused as to why he looked so mad. I felt like it would be bad to hang around, so I turned and slipped myself into the crowd of people leaving the room. I was jostled a lot, but made it outside of the throne room before Cole. Struggling to get out of the crowd, I ducked behind one of the large pillars I had seen earlier, and nervously waited, my heart pounding loudly in my ears. It's just a dream. Dreams can't hurt me, I reminded myself, trying to figure out why I felt so scared. Could the Chancellor in this dream possibly know that I knew what was going to happen, and was worried I would do something to try and stop it?
Footsteps came closer and I squeezed my eyes shut. My breath whooshed out of my lungs once he passed by my hiding spot, barely missing me. A few seconds later, I inched out from behind the pillar, looked down the hallway, and realized that it was Link who actually had passed me and not the Chancellor. I felt a rush of relief, and ran after him.
"Look!" He proudly held up his certificate. "I'm an engineer now!"
"That's really great!" I beamed. "What else did Princess Zelda give you?" Link frowned, then obviously decided to trust me.
"Just a letter. It said that she wanted me to meet her in her room and she had a favor to ask me. Oh, and to look out for the Chancellor. She gave me this map," He showed me a piece of paper with directions on it.
"Can I come with you?"
"Oh. Why?"
"Because..." I started, then stopped, not knowing what to say. "I just really want to meet her. And I have…something important to tell her. Something about Cole." I added.
"You have something to tell her about the Chancellor?" Link's eyes widened a bit.
"Yes, it's very important." I nodded, deciding that I would try to warn them of what was going to happen. "All of Hyrule is in danger!"
"Well then, we better hurry." Link stared at me for a moment, then started heading down a hallway I hadn't noticed before. We had started walking down a narrow, dim, and dusty-smelling passageway, when Link stopped in front of a wooden door and turned to face me. "Do you think the Chancellor is bad?"
"Yes! He's up to no good." I shuddered, remembering what happens next in the story.
"Really?" Link asked over his shoulder, as he eased open the door.
"I know that it probably seems too early to tell." I whispered as we tiptoed to another door right across from the one we had come out of. "But you have to believe me. He's really dangerous!"
Link cautiously turned the doorknob, and we stepped into a bright room. The sound of something like a flute being played floated through the air. The music was coming from the princess, who was standing with her back to us and playing a pan flute with green tassels.
Link brushed past me and stepped further into the room. "Princess Zelda?"
"I'm so glad you could make it." Zelda put her flute down in a holder and turned to face us. "I-Link...I thought I told you to come alone."
"Her name is Mia. She told me she had something important to tell you and that Hyrule is in danger, so she came with me to see you." Link explained.
"Is that so?" Zelda stared at me, her gaze flickering from my clothes, up to to my face, to my ears.
"I know I'm just in a dream, but I know about what's going to happen and I wanted to warn you!"
"You...believe you are in a dream?" Zelda blinked, her head tilting slightly to the side.
"I've watched your story so many times. This is the first time I'm dreaming about it, but I know what happens. I know that Cole will betray the kingdom, and try to overtake it." I told her in a rush. "He's probably attacking the Tower of Spirits right now."
"You have seen our...story?" Zelda repeated thoughtfully. "And the tower? The reason I asked Link here was to see if he would take me to the tower on his train. I've heard stories of a sage who lives there, and I want to talk to her and see if she knows what's going on with the tracks that connect at the tower."
"Alfonzo and I noticed the tracks disappearing lately too." Link added. "They have been disappearing everywhere."
"It's because Cole is trying to find a way to get rid of all the tracks for good." I told him. "But maybe we can stop him before it's too late!"
"Yes, that is what I was hoping for." Zelda continued. "The problem is, Chancellor Cole doesn't let me out of the castle normally. I'm pretty sure he just wants to keep me away from the tower."
Link asked, "How are you going to get out without any of the guards noticing? Their main duty is protecting you, after all."
Zelda pointed at a stack of green clothes folded on the floor. "With those, you can pretend you're a recruit; you should be able to walk around without any of the guards noticing you. If you can find some way of distracting them, Mia and I can sneak past. You will travel with us to the tower, Mia?"
"I wouldn't miss it for anything!" I felt my face nearly crack, that's how big I was smiling.
Please, please don't let me wake up anytime soon!