Hey everyone! this is my first fanfic for a couple years now-- it takes place after Twilight Princess and contains full chapters dedicated to flashbacks that would occur during the game.
A word of warning, this story contains a lot of original characters. One of my favorite aspects of the Zelda Universe is its incredible culture and people-- I really adventured that in this story, so keep that in mind. This story contains quite a bit of Hyrule and it's people. As a result, I had trouble deciding what exactly the genre is; it has adventure, heartbreak, friendship, romance, mystery, family, spiritual, all of it. So it's very general, I guess. But please don't read if you're just going to point a finger at me and scream "Mary Sue!" because I don't care what you think. I tried to create fun characters that I could imagine in this universe and I don't need your type of review. I do, however, love helpful critiques and anyone who wants to contribute civilly to grammar, story, characters, etc. Critique is definitely welcomed!!!!

Anyway, thanks for reading that spiel. I hope you enjoy my storyyy!!
(disclaimer:: all familiar characters, places, etc, are property of Nintendo....do i really need to say this? it goes without saying! :P)

~o~n~e~~d~a~y~~i~n~~l~o~v~e~l~y~~h~y~r~u~l~e~

I woke up that morning with a feeling of rejuvenation and health. I don't know if it was a universal feeling that everyone got that day at that second, or if my subconscious told only me…but the death of a demon sent the kingdom spiraling into a Golden Age. There was beauty and wealth everywhere; in every corner, Hyrule flourished.

This sudden growth is what awakened in us after the death of Ganon.

Who knows if it was his last death, but that is what we believed. As I child I was always told the story of the great Hero of Time and Princess Zelda; I've read the books and I've looked at all the memorials and beautiful stained glass windows; I've found the stories written on stone in the graveyards. And I felt proud to be of the same generation as the great Princess' descendant, who shares the same name. I was proud to work under her and proud to even be near her, even to walk on the same tile flooring or on the same carpet in her bed room as I cleaned it.

My family has been working underneath the Royal Family for ages. My grandfather even claims that we were in the castle at the era of the Hero of Time. We are, in fact, spread out among the castle staff and we do hold high places, so I cannot fully doubt him. My mother is a head chef, my eldest brother works as a guard of the throne room, my younger brother works in the stables as a hand (he is only 12), and my sister and I work as maids, mostly of Zelda. We are most often in charge of cleaning hers and her father's rooms. With a little luck we are able to see her brilliant study, but for the most part we just clean gowns and wardrobes, and tend to many things around the castle.

We, the staff of the castle, live under the castle in a series of apartments and kitchens and living quarters. Most of us, anyway. I room with my sister and a few other female employees in one of the many rooms, but I also have a room set aside not far from the Princess' quarters if for any reason she is sick or needs tending to (this room of course not only mine but also a handful of other maids).

So it was on this morning that I awoke in a place that wasn't my own bed under the castle, and yet I felt safe here. Sitting upright quickly, the sun from the window beamed over my eyes and I went blind for a second. My heart felt light and I fluttered to the kitchen of the home I was staying in.

"It feels like it will be a great day today!" I announced to my surrogate "mother", Laina, as she placed a plate of breakfast muffins on the table. No one else in the household had woken up yet, it seemed to me.

"What are you talking about? It's a horrible day," she said shortly. I was a little taken aback by the curtness of her reply; it frustrated me a little since the answer I received was so opposite to the wonderful feeling I had woken up with.

"Why?" I finally asked.

"Haven't you looked outside? Haven't you even thought of looking at the castle?"

Truth was I hadn't.

"Boris and Thor are already down there, you missed them."

Boris was the father of the household I had been staying in since the golden wall surrounded the castle and shut everyone in (and me out). I was unable to return to my family and through the kindness of their hearts this family took me in. The mother, Laina, was a baker and used the downstairs as her storefront with a kitchen in the back, and the apartment upstairs as the home. Thor was the son – I had known him briefly from visits into the town; he was my age.

Quickly changing out of my night gown and running a brush through my hair, completely forgetting shoes, I ran outside into the morning sun; the pavement under my bare feet hadn't even been warmed yet by the brilliant rays and there was a contradiction between my skin and the core of my body.

Around the fountain I found countless people, the majority of them were the town's women and most famous gossips.

"You're barefoot, Nell," said Emi, a woman who owned the nearby café.

"What happened? Where's the castle?" I asked, ignoring her statement. I looked past the wall and all I could see was ruin. There was some castle left, mostly its main structure, but my heart sank to the pit of my stomach at the sight of my destroyed world, my home, my family.

"There was a loud boom last night, didn't you hear it? Well, it was more as the sun was rising…" she chattered on with some of the other ladies about the precise time.

"Where's Thor?" I interrupted.

"He left with a bunch of the other men to investigate. But really you should just wait here for them to return; they'll be back soon enough."

Again I just ignored her and rushed past everyone.

"It's a mess up there, you shouldn't be barefoot!" she called after me, but her voice was quickly drowned out in my head.

I suppose I really shouldn't have been barefoot. Now that I look back on it I feel extremely foolish. I would have gotten up to the castle much quicker had I not been spending a lot of the time skipping over particularly ominous looking shards of stone. Everything looked so broken and so crushed…it was frightening to think of what type of creature could have done this.

Finally I spotted the men. Many were just standing there, shaking their heads, a few were debating and others were venturing out onto the grounds and across the courtyard. I called out to Thor as I saw him and he turned around to see me trip onto my knees. Quickly I got up and rushed to him.

Thor was a gentle looking young man with a boyish grin that melted most ladies' hearts. In the past few years he had really grown up to be quite fit and he always walked around like he was very proud of his accomplishments, which made his presence irritating. But then you'd look at his smiling face and adorable gestures again and you'd suddenly forgive him for being cocky and swear your name on his kindness.

"Thor, are they alright? Who was inside? What have you found?" I spat hysterically. I must have looked like a mad woman; my hair was down and somewhat messy, I was barefoot, and the tie in my dress was twisted awkwardly.

Thor just looked at me, irritating me yet again. I gritted my teeth. Finally he gave me a nervous smile and put a heavy hand on my shoulder.

"We haven't found much, but don't worry, we haven't even really gone inside. See? That entire section there is intact, and from what we've seen the lower levels look like they might be fine."

For some reason his overly positive feedback was not satisfying for me and I just sighed, standing up straight and looking at him skeptically.

"Why aren't you wearing shoes, anyway?" he commented.

"I….sort of rushed out the house too quickly."

"Right…well, we've got it all right over here, you can go back."

"I don't want to," I said stubbornly.

"Whatever," he huffed, "just be careful around here, alright?"

Thor started to walk toward the ruins of the castle and I followed aimlessly.

"Has there been any sign of the Princess?" I asked quietly.

"You would have heard about it."

"What do you think happened here, anyway?!" I shrieked as I dodged a falling stone from the wall above me. Thor looked over his shoulder very seriously, grabbed my waste and lifted me over a stone in front of him. I blushed slightly but went on walking, soon coming to a familiar set of pillars…

"Here's the entry hall," I sighed, looking up. I closed my eyes and imagined those beautiful chandeliers that used to hang down and light this beautiful marble room. Doors surrounded me in my memory, leading to all sorts of wonderful places in the castle. In my bones I could feel the evil that seethed in these hallways and felt relief that it was no longer there. What remained, however, was this wreck. I opened my eyes.

Thor was already on the other side of the great room, feeling the corners of a door that hadn't fallen.

"This one's blocked," he said under his breath.

"That leads to a hallway, to a dining room, and kitchen. From the kitchen is the staff quarters," I recalled, more for myself then for him.

"Then we've got to get it down, right?" he said, looking up at the door.

Soon we were no longer alone in the entry hall; others were starting to explore more in depth. The conference room of the first floor was uncovered in no time; half of it was exposed from the other side, we discovered. An entire wall was missing, and there was no ceiling. Looking up you could see right into the throne room, through four floors. The sight of the destruction made my heart sink even deeper into my stomach...this time I could feel it pierce my insides.

It had been a few hours since my arrival and progress was still very, very slow. Feeling slightly sickened, I turned around and headed for the courtyard.

"Nell, be careful on the way back to town. I don't know how sturdy that bridge is," called Boris in his gruff, very mean sounding voice. He looked old in the face, with a white beard and squinted grey eyes, but his body was strong and capable. A bit discouraged by the recent turn of events, I just nodded; I didn't really care if he saw my recognition or not.

Outside the ruins I stopped on the steps and looked out at the vast courtyard. I looked down at my feet and wriggled my toes; they were numb from the cold marble floors inside the ruins. Forcing myself to look up once more at the devastated courtyard, I stepped forward off the steps into a feeling that was very close to floating. I'll never forget the feeling I had when I first laid eyes on that sight. At the end of the courtyard, I saw something so wonderful it eased all my pain and all my disappointment; she settled my stomach and I no longer felt worried.

It was Zelda.

Standing majestically at the ruined gate, there was an ever loyal crowd following behind her. There was a glow that she brought to the atmosphere and in our future I could see the castle being rebuilt to be so much better than it had ever been – and not just the castle, but the entire kingdom. I could see her making her way across that courtyard, and my legs were suddenly immobile. "Princess," I gasped as tears spilled down my face.

When she finally reached the steps, the people around her were silent, all following her faithfully; it was practically the entire town. She stood next to me for a moment and looked at me, and I thought I saw the corners of her lips curl gently. Immediately I collapsed to the ground, my nose touching the stone beneath us and my knees folded under me. I bowed before my Princess and breathed heavily trying to stop crying.

I could hear her peaceful hum of a laugh above me and I felt so at ease.

"Please stand, Nell," she said, and her voice sounded like music.

My face flipped up towards her and slowly I stood. "You remember my name," I thought aloud, but very quietly.

"Yes. And not to worry; we'll restore the kingdom soon." Zelda spoke to me very soothingly. Subtly she nodded her head to me and closed her eyes. When her head arose she looked forward with wise, blue eyes, and walked into the ruined castle. Walking behind her was the Hero…Link.

He stepped out from the front of the crowd and stood with me, watching the people walk. They looked questioningly at him, as if they wanted to stay there with him, which was only reasonable since everyone knew now that he was the great Hero. However, they continued following our Princess.

As the last of them passed he turned and looked at me with those big blue eyes I had grown to truly admire since the Golden Wall appeared.

His expression now was very relieved and calm. He smiled at me gently as he said, "I'll need your great sewing skills again," and he looked down to reveal a giant tear up the front of his tunic, exposing his chain mail.

I gave him a fleeting smile in return and replied, somewhat stupidly, "I don't know if that's fixable…do you really want a stitch up the front of your favorite tunic?"

He dropped eye contact and let out a little huff of a dry laugh, "I guess not."

"Hero…" I said quietly, and I got down on my knees and bowed to him. I felt the need to repay him; I felt like I was so indebt to him! The feeling was overwhelmingly powerful.

He stepped back and laughed for real this time, but I could tell it was sort of nervous. He kneeled down and put a hand on my shoulder, trying to persuade me to come back up to his level.

"Nell, could you please try to sew up my tunic?" he laughed, ignoring my gestures of my inferiority. I got a little irritated.

"You saved my home; you save all of us. Please let me bow."

"Oh come on," he pulled me up forcefully this time, and I started to feel stupid again.

"Okay!" I exclaimed. "I'll fix the tunic!"

"Thanks," He said playfully.

I turned around to hide my blushing. "We better follow them, right?" I smiled and we walked together to the conference room, where Zelda stood above her people and spoke about politics and reforms, etc. The sound of her voice made the people calm and secure.

Standing next to Link I felt so safe. I suppose my teenaged heart really loved him, but my head really didn't know if that was just gratefulness and pity for having such a task of saving the kingdom thrust upon him, or if I actually did. I knew for a fact he didn't return my feelings. Often when I took care of him he told me all sorts of stories and retold many of his memories…he told me of his village, Ordon, which I had known of even before I met him. He told me about Ilia and all the children there. He would always talk of her with such affection in his voice, I knew that he probably loved her. Both of us were coming of age, and something in my conscious told me that when he got home he would probably marry her…and return to his life. He barely ever spoke of his duty as the hero, however.

It saddened me but, then again, we all have our places.

Zelda's speech was inspiring to everyone, of course. Everyone was very enthusiastic about rebuilding. In one swift motion, everyone started yelling and jumping, and hugging the people near them in celebration. Link and I had already moved towards the center of the crowd by this point so automatically we were smushed left and right. A couple times I was grabbed by people, some I knew well and others I had barely even seen before. It was so loud but I couldn't help but start laughing, crying…just as everyone else. I looked over at Link, who was also grinning from ear to ear. People were more civil in expressing their joy towards him, but he was still getting so much attention. In the chaos in reached past a few people who had moved between us and grabbed me around the shoulders, pulling me into a giant hug. He held the back of my head and whispered close to me, so that I could hear, "You saved my life. Thank you."

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thanks for reading, I know that that was a LONG chapter (I don't normally write that much)! please review, and I hope to see you next chapter (which will be shorter)!