Chapter 1

A sandstorm of blues raging around me…

This wasn't supposed to happen…

Zelda didn't say this would happen…

A cold, cruel laugh echoed through my mind… Ganondo-

No! The Trifo-

A hand yanked me backwards from the Master sword…

Screaming as I was pulled from my body and into the abyss…

Darkness… Cold…

You have led me to the gates of the Sacred Realm… Yes, I owe it all to you, kid!

No…no! Another pain replaces the cold. Blinding, agonizing. There was no escape. Chanting sounded above my own screams. The laugh followed me as a whirl of blue surrounds me…

I gasp awake and shoot forward in bed. Immediately I reach behind me to pull out my sword- But there's nothing there. My hand closes on empty air.

I ran a hand through my hair and pulled the sticky, wet shirt off my back. It's just a dream, Nolan Cooper, just a stupid dream. I lay back down and closed my eyes against the headache forming behind my eyes. The dreams always faded away. Even now, the only thing I could remember was the blue… and the laugh, that horrible laugh.

In a desperate attempt to banish the thoughts, I leaped out of my bed and crossed the hall to the bathroom. I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water across my face. I looked in the mirror and almost blanched at what I saw.

My usual straight black hair was sticking up in every direction and my face was white as paper. It was an odd contrast that gave me a ghoulish terrified appearance. I almost looked crazy. The dark circles under my eyes showed how exhausted these nightmares really made me. Sighing, I left the bathroom and made my way down to the basement.

My makeshift dojo was waiting for me. A punching bag hung from the ceiling, a couple of weights were crowded in the corner, and the old pipes served as my pull up bars. I threw my socks off to the side before stepping on the mats. I started warming up by stretching my legs and jumping a bit. It was colder down here because of the cement walls. My sweat was already drying in the frigid air. I eyed the sturdy bar in the middle of the room before jumping up to grab it and pulling myself over it.

1…

I'm Nolan Cooper.

2…

I've never owned a sword.

3…

And I've never met someone who can laugh like that.

I stopped counting and just focused on my breathing and the exertion of energy. The world faded into a simple routine of exercise and the dream left with it. I flipped and twisted; kicked and punched; pushed my body to the limits till I was dripping with sweat and my body was tingling with power. I dodged and weaved the swinging punch bag as if fighting a real opponent. I practiced my footwork a bit to keep me on my toes; starting with drills that involved stepping in and out of an old truck tire.

Needless to say, I was in there awhile. The sun had raised by the time my little brother, Kevin, came down to get me. "Nolan. Mom made bacon. You better get in here before I eat it all." Then he was gone. He'd learned early on that no one was welcome when I was training. Breathing heavily I followed him up the steps and stopped by my room to throw on a dark green shirt and some deodorant. Good thing my sweat was dry. Then I made my way to the sunny kitchen.

My mom was standing by the oven with a skillet full of bacon popping away. She was a rounder woman with mousy brown hair and large brown eyes. She could be quite stern at times, but very kind to people who've earned it. Even though she wasn't my real mother, I loved her with all my heart.

Currently she was whistling what sounded like a Christmas song, although it was almost summer break. Kevin was seated at the wooden table already reaching for another biscuit. I was hoping to escape Moms notice for a few seconds longer when Kevin looked up from his plate and shouted, unnecessarily, "Can we go to the park after school today Nolan, pretty please? Mom told me that some mama goose laid her eggs under the slides and they roped it off and I wanna go look and-" I waved him down.

"Alright, sit down." I took a seat across from him. Mom still didn't look at me. Something must be wrong.

She slid a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me then turned to Kevin. "Why don't you go get ready for school?" she told Kevin in a strange voice. He looked between the two of us innocently.

"Is Nolan in trouble?" he asked, stubbornly staying in his chair. His brown eyes flickered back and forth suspiciously. "He was just working out Mom."

I felt proud that he would defend me like that, even when he had no idea what was really going on. "No, I'm not I trouble. She just wants to talk to me. Go on." I nodded to the hallway that led to the bedrooms. He jumped down off his chair and raced from the room.

An awkward silence filled his space. Sensing her intentions I linked my hands in my lap and said, "I'm fine, Mom."

"I heard you screaming last night. You were not fine." Her voice shook slightly.

"Did Kevin hear me?" No answer. "Then I'm fine."

"Was it the dreams again? Is that why you can't sleep?" she reached over and smoothed the bruises under my eyes. "We can get you help, if that's what you need. I can-"

I stood up abruptly. "I don't need help." I almost hissed. "They're just stupid dreams. They'll go away if I just leave it alone. I don't need a damn therapist telling me that I'm," I stopped to take a deep breath and run a hand through my hair. "That I'm crazy." I finished in a whisper.

She stood up to give me a hug which was a bit difficult seeing as I was a couple inches taller than her. She pulled away and placed a hand on my cheek. "You are not crazy Nolan. We'll figure this out when you get home. We'll discuss our options." Seeing my dubious look she backed off a little. "You can't continue like this forever. Waking up at 3 in the morning and training till the sun comes up. Your body may get a work out, but this isn't healthy for your mind." Kevin ran back in at that moment with his red book bag strapped to his back.

"Are you done with your serious talk yet?" he asked boldly. "We're cleaning out lockers today and watching movies in class. I don't wanna be late."

Mom kissed our cheeks and tousled Kevin's hair. "Have fun, kiddo. Don't throw away all those empty notebooks that you have either."

"I won't. C'mon Nolan. I bet I can beat you to my school." He flew out the door before I could answer.

"Does he ever slow down?" I asked more to myself before I took off after my skinny little 11 year old brother.

I walked into school only a little later than usual. The halls were empty as I worked my way through the small school to my first period class. Miss. Taylor was taking call when I opened the door. As naturally curious humans, everyone looked making my entrance less all the more conspicuous. Miss. Taylor looked up from her chart and peered at me through thick glasses.

"It's nice of you to join us, Mr. Cooper. I trust you have a good reason for being late?" I tried not to cringe at her voice or laugh at her badly applied make-up.

I cast a look at my classmates who were looking eager for a funny excuse. Smiling, I bowed formally to her. "My dog was having puppies." I said simply. A girl sitting near me leaned over to whisper loudly to her friend, "That would explain the smell." The class started laughing and Miss. Taylor took a second to quiet everyone down.

"Take a seat Nolan." She gestured at the class then turned her back on me. I made a beeline for the very back where my friend Micah was sitting. As soon as I was seated, Miss. Taylor started talking about Shakespeare and how brilliant his works were.

"Dude," Micah whispered, "you don't have a dog."

"I had that dream again." I whispered anxiously. Out of all my friends, Micah was the only one to know about the dreams. I wouldn't have told him, but when he stayed at my house last month he caught me in one of my screaming fits. I was bullied into telling him.

"That's the 4th time this month." He sounded worried. "What do ya think it means?"

"If I knew do you think I'd be this worried? It was different this time. I remember something besides the laughing. It was a name." I stopped talking as Miss. Taylor passed us a paper on Romeo and Juliet. "Whoever I am when I'm dreaming he was angry at someone. Someone named Zelda."

"No talking." Miss. Taylor snapped at the class.

Micah leaned over to get in one last word. "That's a girl's name."

My pencil hovered above my paper as I processed what he said. A girl? I'm dreaming about a girl?

I heard about the new kid when I sat down at lunch. My table was full of the coolest kids in school. Micah joined me on my right and John took the seat to my left. Just like always.

I surveyed the cafeteria just to pass the time while the other kids talked about their plans for the summer. Although I sat with them, I was nothing like them. I was only cool because I knew how to fight. I wasn't deluded into thinking these people were my real friends. They only liked me because I was a good body guard. That and I helped all their parents at some point in time. Yeah, that's Nolan Cooper; the helpful, the kind. Someone needed something fixed in town, they called me. If they needed something lifted or cleaned, did they tell their children to do it? No, they called me. I was too nice to tell them no.

Micah nudged me with his elbow and I brought my attention back to the table's discussion. "Have you seen the new kid Nolan?" John asked. The others leaned in with wicked smiles.

"A new kid? Who would join a new school at the end of the year? Especially here." I bit into a greasy fry.

"I saw him in my math class. His name's Sheik something-or-another." The new addition, Derrick, piped up. He was a tall thing with big ears, but he was a star in basketball. "He seemed really quiet."

"What do you mean 'he'? It could be a she for all we know."

"You're telling me you don't know if the new kid's a girl or a guy?" I asked in amazement. "Can't you tell, John?"

John snorted contemptuously. "It doesn't look like either. I've seen 'em a couple times in the hall. Looks like a real-"

I cut him off. "Sure you want to finish that sentence John?" I stared him down dangerously close to the edge. He scooted down the bench a little.

"You haven't seen him yet." He said, changing his tune. "He looks like kind of odd." He looked away from my glare and his shifty eyes rested on something behind me. "Look. There he is." He lifted a finger to point this new kid. I turned expecting some cross dressed creep, like all their stories suggested, but what I saw was… well normal looking.

Sheik was sitting all alone at the far end of a lunch table with long dirty blonde bangs covering his eyes. From where I was sitting I couldn't see the rest of his face because it hung so low over his food, which looked untouched. A pair of dark denim jeans sagged low on his hips and a white t-shirt, with what looked like a red eye emblazoned on the front, hung loosely on his thin frame. True, he looked kind of feminine with his long chopped up hair and his petite frame, but not at all like a freakish man/lady.

"I don't see the problem." I finally said to John, whose eyes were narrowed at Sheik. "He looks different, sure, but not bad different."

Micah laughed. "You haven't seen his eyes yet then." A couple of the guys shifted uncomfortably. Derrick actually went white. Micah shot everyone a look before turning to me with a mischievous smile playing across his handsome face. "Why don't you go sit with him then? I dare you."

"What's the problem with his eyes?" I insisted. Nobody spoke up.

"Go on Nolan. Go sit with drag queen over there." Micah taunted. He knew I hated it when people bullied others. He was baiting me.

"Fine. It might be better than sitting with a bunch of losers like you guys." I picked up my tray and swung off the bench with ease. There was a collective laugh as I travelled the length of the cafeteria to the bench across from Sheik.

I opened my mouth to say something, but a feeling so powerful clenched my gut. I tried to shake it off, but I had this horrible sense of foreboding. Something was very wrong. If I did what I was about to do, things were going to change. The feeling reminded me of the dream. As if I had done something horribly wrong and I'd somehow lost already.

I would've turned around. I should've. But the jeers that would get thrown at me if I chickened out were too much. Swallowing my fear I opened my mouth again to speak, "Hi. I'm Nolan Cooper. You looked kind of lonely over here so I was wondering if you wanted company." Sheik raised his head and I resisted the urge to scream.

His eyes were blood red.

A/N: Thanks for reading! This idea came to me so suddenly and I loved it so much. It may not make sense right now, but wait a couple chapters and it'll all make sense. If you liked this or you just want to tell me how much I suck, leave a review. I answer to all, but the most hateful flames. Until the next update!