The Forgotten Hero

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda, this is a fanfic blah blah blah, do I have to explain this?

Cover art was done by suzumiyamisa from devianart

A/N: I've made the prologue in two parts so that I could give the story a little bit of context. I sort of took facts from the game and manga adaptation of Ocarina of Time and skewed them togerther, but that's fanfic for ya!

Also this story is one of those start off slow then picks up kind of story's, and that means that you'll have to wait until Chapter 9 excluding the prologues, sorry. But, It's all part of the plan, hope you enjoy!

And yes, this is a Hero's Shade fanfic.

ACT 1 – Back to the Past

Prologue Part 1

The two of them stood there for a while, staring at each other. They were merely children, Hylian children. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed and fair skinned, the boy was only ten. He wore a green tunic, and a slumped green hat that was pointed at the end. There was a small sword on his back and a shield that bore the insignia of Hyrule, a red bird with its wings spread out and three stacked golden triangles above its head.

Standing across from him was a girl of the same age and race. She had slightly paler skin than his, brilliant blue eyes, and a white head scarf covering her blonde hair. She was wearing a white and purple dress with all sorts of royal markings. After all, she was a princess. Her innocent expression of surprise quickly changed into that of joy.

"You're okay!" She exclaimed. Then she bowed her head in apology, "I'm sorry I left you in the market place…Impa got very worried about me, but I was even more worried about you."

The boy didn't know what to say. What's going on? He thought. She sent me – his train of thought was derailed by the realization – to the past… "You know, I didn't even tell you my name?" Oh, so this is where we were…are… "My name is Zelda, I am the princess of Hyrule, what is your name?"

"I'm Link." The boy replied.

"The boy from the forest." She added.

"Yes," he confirmed with a smile. "I am from the Kokiri Forest." Was my voice always this high? He thought. Zelda gestured for him to come closer. He walked up the steps of the small stone patio that she was standing on, he could hear the gentle sound of the water flowing around the perimeter of the garden, just as he remembered it. This is where he learned about the fate that bound them together. I can't believe that this is happening…again. It was so strange to him, in his head he had the voice of a man, but whenever he would speak it was the voice of a child.

She looked at him in a very scrutinizing way, top to bottom, and then back to the top, but in the end her gaze fixed on his face. "What?" he asked. "No, seriously."

Without blinking, her gaze of blue fixed on his, she said. "There's something different about you."

"Like what?"

"You aren't the same as you were in the market place, you look more mature." She said, her eyes narrowing.

"Huh?" Does she know? Impossible, he decided, she just learnt his name.

"Or maybe this is just your serious face, you must've been so worried about me that day, awww." She teased with her hands on her cheeks. He smiled, and also blushed."Wait, it just hit me." She said suddenly.

"What?" Link said with a hint of curiosity, which was surprising to him because he remembered exactly how things had gone the first time and how they should be going, and as of now things were not going according to how they should have been. The girl's eyes searched for something about his head before saying, "Where's your fairy?"

"Whaddya' mean 'where's my fairy?' She's right here!" He pointed to the area near his hat.

"You keep it in your hat? Can she breathe in their?" This is new. He thought.

"No, no," Link said shaking his head, he pointed again at his hat. "She's right here." He said with a confident smile.

"Where?" The girl said, she was quite clearly puzzled.

"Can't you see?" He was starting to get impatient. Every second that passed by seemed to turn him back into a ten year-old. Zelda stared at him blankly.

"This isn't funny." She said crossing her arms.

"I'm not joking." He said. "But you might need your eyes checked because she's right here!" He cried out before scolding himself, he didn't want any guards showing up. "Navi. Naviiii. Hey! Listen!" Usually that was enough to set her off, what's her deal this time. He searched the air above his head, where could she be? "Come on Navi. I need your help, your making me look like an idiot in front of the princess. Navi?" He called to the wind.

The princess cocked an eyebrow, "Who needed their eyes checked?" Link's face dropped, he had gotten so used to having a fairy that he didn't remember that she had just left him. How had he forgotten so quickly? And what will he do now?

"What's the matter?" Zelda asked. "You are the same boy from the market aren't you? You mind explaining what's going on?" She looked at him intently, her gaze piercing right through him.

"Umm…I don't think you'd believe me." He could feel a lump in his throat rise.

"Please, do tell me." She said. She was well composed, as if she were a young lady, already many years ahead of herself. Just like the Zelda he knew. Just like the Zelda he loved. It was so strange for him to stand there and tell her the whole story about how he had first met her, and how she was the one that had sent him on a treacherous journey to obtain the spiritual stones of fire and water, but when he had finally returned to town, Ganondorf had already layed siege upon it. And in the process of trying to protect the sacred realm by waking the blade of evil's bane, he had unknowingly thrown it wide open, thus allowing the Evil King to obtain the Triforce of Power. He told her about waking up in the Temple of Light, after a seven year slumber, about the Sage of Light known as Rauru. How he faced countless enemies one after the other, motivated by the one thought that he might get to see his precious Zelda again (he left this part out). And even when they at last met, they were interrupted when the Ganon kidnapped Zelda. That was when Link had gone practically knocking at the Evil King's front door, finally given the chance to confront him. He had won, twice. And with the help of Zelda and the Sages, Ganon was locked up in the Sealed Realm. He then explained the part about how Zelda had sent him back to the Temple of Time to place the Sacred Blade back into its pedestal, therefore regaining his lost seven years as well as enabling him to shut the Door of Time before Ganon would ever know it was opened.

"And that," Link said in the now late-afternoon sunshine. "Is how I ended up here. You see now? It's all so complicated that even I have trouble keeping the facts straight." There was a long silence, and a soft, warm summer breeze blew through the garden sending ripples through the grass and causing the flowers to gently dance in the wind.

"Wow…" What else could she say? They were both sitting on the steps now, staring out at the garden, a luscious green, with crystal clear water running like a sort of beautiful moat around the perimeter. "So, you know what I was doing, staring through that window?" She asked at last. He nodded. "And you also know of my dream?" Again, he nodded, then added,

"I had the same one." Zelda turned to face him, her soft, innocent face looked pitiful now.

"So that means, only a few hours ago you had defeated him."

"Uh-huh." He stared at his now small toes. Even now the deafening sound of thunder boomed in his head, as well as the wretched roaring of the beast that the evil king had become. For him it was quite astonishing, yet, here he stands, with Ganondorf speaking with the King of Hyrule through the window behind them.

"It must be very difficult to be you right now. For all that you've been through, all because of my mistake," She began.

"What? No! Please, don't say that!"

"But, t-to imagine." She shivered. Tears began to roll down her cheek. "I, I would have *hic* sent y-you to d-do the same t-thing all over ag-g-gain." She managed through sobs. Her crying made Link's eyes well up, but he fought the tears back. He reached into his pack and pulled out a small, half-dirty handkerchief, and handed it to the princess. She found the clean side, a mere quadrant of the square cloth, with which she wiped away her tears.

"Does that mean you believe what I say?" He asked. As if to answer his question she pointed an unsteady finger to his left hand. He lifted it up, and lo and behold there it was. On the back of his left hand two golden triangles could be seen supporting a lone triangle on top. The bottom left triangle was emitting a soft golden light that reflected off of Link's face, the gleam in his eyes visible to Zelda.

"For that individual who has stared at the very face of evil, who possesses unmatched bravery, for him alone is the Triforce of Courage." She said in a low voice, her tears had stopped, but a solemn expression still remained. "I couldn't deny it even if I wanted to; for you truly are the Hero of Time." More silence followed. Link continued to stare at his hand.

He was the first to break the silence. "So," he started. "Now what?" This prompted Zelda to get up from where they were sitting and approach the glass from across the stone patio, she began peeking through the window just like before. The King was there sitting on his throne like usual but the Gerudo had left. She placed her head in her palms which rested on the window ledge, she closed her eyes and squeezed her temples furrowing her brows as if looking like she was thinking would help her come up with an answer. In the end came her reply, the garden now being a soft pink as the sun finally began to set and everything became still, "I don't know…"

Thanks for reading guys, Special thanks to K'ger who helped me out on this project. Be sure to read & Review!