The Legend Of Zelda: Divine Intervention
Quincy007
Author's Notes: This is my first Zelda Fanfiction. Aside from the usual begging to review and be gentle, I figured I should let you know about my take on the Timeline Link lives in. When he was 10, Ocarina of Time happened, turned 17 once, and had to go back. Shortly after, he had Majora's Mask. When he was 15, A Link to the Past occurred. 15 and a half Link's Awakening. (He's not sure if it really happened or if it was a dream.) When he was 17 again, The Original The Legend of Zelda took place. When he was 18 The Adventures of Link happened. He is now 19 almost 20. I take equipment from all over any of the games, but I'll probably stay close to the 64 games, as those are the most people are familiar with.
Enough with my ceaseless prattling! On with the story!
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He sat on the grass, alone. The water was slowly lapping the sides of the small island. His blue eyes were gazing at the moon, and the stars. It was better when you were alone. It was what he always told himself. No one can hurt you when you're alone. You can't hurt others. Just occasionally make sure they're still alive and call it a day.
When he was younger he never thought about being alone. Sure, he never had a partner until a few years ago, but that ended rather abruptly. He still had friends, even though they would not admit it. When he left home to meet his destiny he met lots of people, all of whom he would be proud to call friends. He would want nothing better.
But his destiny got in the way. He had to save the world. So anyone who got caught between his sword and the evil of the lands was not going to live happily ever after.
As if on that thought, he pulled out his sword. The Master Sword, which had been sharpened, refired, and even remade by a fairy still held the same evil smiting powers. It was a beautiful sword; the blue alloy reflected the dark light. He didn't fully understand why the sword chose him, or if it even had choice.
He put the sword back in its sheath and looked at the sky again. He had saved this world and so many others numerous times, but he couldn't feel pride in what he did.
He killed. Sure they were evil beings, but then there were innocent beings as well. He remembered talking to a guard on a rainy night when he had turned fifteen, just before the he had been charged with the quest of the Pendants and Crystals.
He had said that it was only a matter of time before he was affected too. It was but days later when the soldiers were in all out kill him mode. How many of them didn't have to die?
He had forced to deal with death at a very early age. He wasn't but ten when he watched Mikau die.
The events he experienced as a child when he first left his forest home, and the adventure in Termina afterwards…He still had nightmares. He always thought that he was just to young to do it, but he just couldn't say no to Zelda, and then he had to his horse back…
As much evil as he thought he did, he realized he did do a lot of good. Preventing the destruction of a world on numerous occasions had to mean something.
"Yea, right. Anybody could have done it, fate just stuck it with me because I'm expendable."
He sighed. Was it worth it? The Pain? The loneliness? On this starry night he looked to the sky and told himself yes one more time.
He sat down again and watched the moon float across the sky.
*
The cry of the chicken woke him up. He stared at crystal blue sky and realized that people were coming soon. This was a beautiful day and the appeal of the lake was great. He put on his lead boots and pulled on his Zora Tunic. He floated down to the bottom of the lake and entered the temple below the island of Lake Hylia.
Sitting just outside the entrance, Link laid out most of his equipment and began to clean and care for it, as the menial and simplistic movements helped him think. Starting with his sword, he let the scabbard dry as he used a cloth to wipe down the blade. He actually made it shine before he was satisfied. Picking up his bow, he inspected the string, and his mind began to wander.
It seemed that life was like the string of a bow. It starts out fresh and lenient. As it grows older it gets used more often, only being cared for so long as it does its job. Then it gets too old and gives too much, and snaps. It needs to be replaced which the user is glad and eager to do, because you can't be without a bow.
"My life, not life in general." He mused as he heard the satisfying twang from the bow.
He could draw the same parallels from any of his equipment, from his chain mail armor, to his Ocarina. He looked at his huge Mirror shield; glad he didn't have to use that horrid screaming face one he picked up in Termina. When he thought of shields, he always first thought of his Hylian Shield, the one that he'd rescued from far to many LikeLikes. He stole that one from a grave, him being the cheap bastard he was. He could have easily afforded the 80 rupees, but he still went into the graveyard and took it. The graveyard had always been a source of neat and magical items. But did that make him no better than a grave robber? At least he didn't resell the items he found, in fact all the items he had liberated had saved his life, did that justify it?
"No. But it can't bother me that much, as I never returned the items."
He set the shield down and decided to pack up his gear, as he was pretty dry now, and most of the stuff didn't require servicing.
He pulled out his well-kept Ocarina, and mused on the melodies he knew. The ones that were useful to him now, the ones Zelda, in the guise of Sheik, had taught him. Each had a meaning behind it, most of which he'd forgotten. They were just tools to be used. He played a quiet melody, his favorite. He felt that queasy, super speed motion feeling and gave a small 'oof' as he landed on his duff in the Temple of time. The priest there gave him an odd look, but said nothing. Link refrained from dusting himself off until he left still pondering why he was being this way.
"Everyone thinks I'm the salt of the earth, so why do I think different?"
He realized that it was his natural shyness and humility that made it so. He didn't like other people; he would only hurt them.
He walked into the town square and was pleased to see that the conversation didn't fall like a rock, like it used to. He would step into a room and all conversation would stop. It annoyed him that people thought so strongly of him. He decided it was best to stop showing up so boldly. He took to slinking around, and staying out of sight. It helped mostly, but the rumor-mill had given him the ability to appear out of thin air.
He sat on the edge of the fountain, and stared up at the sky, the clouds wisped by, not a care in the world; since they weren't aware of themselves it was very possible. He continued to look up at the sky and found himself oddly at ease. The way the clouds shifted and floated any which way they wanted, no scroll made thousands of years ago controlled their destiny. He had often thought about looking up the scrolls that pertained to the Hero of Hyrule, or the great champion, or the Hero of Time, or the Last of the great knights. Or however many names he went by. Then he decided that if it was important, somebody who spent his or her days doing it would tell him.
He sighed and moved his gaze from the sky, and gave a slight gasp of surprise to see a small child, a young girl, standing a few inches from him. He reeled back, and almost fell into the fountain. Breathing slowly, he looked at the child, "Yes?"
"Are you Link?"
He nodded, "Yes, I am."
"You don't look like him." she said, as if she knew what she was talking about.
He smiled, his patience seemed to be infinite with children, "Oh? And what does he look like?"
The child's eyes lit up at the okay to speak his mind, "He's 8 feet tall! With muscles as big as rocks, His smile is bright and shining, and he is never caught unawares." She said wagging her finger at him.
Link chuckled, "Maybe, but then if you know what he looks like, why did you ask me if I was him?"
"Because you resemble him. That smile when you looked at the clouds, it was so nice and simple; you weren't smiling for anybody but yourself. That's the stuff Link is made out of."
"I think you may be right. There is no point in pretending any longer. I am actually…I don't know. I've been pretending to long."
She laughed, "Whoever you are, you're funny."
"Thank you."
A woman, about his age he guessed, approached, "Anya! You shouldn't talk to strangers, especially…famous ones." She flashed him a smile, which he knew by now was just meant to lure him in. The false smiles that everybody puts out.
"It was no bother Miss. I'm sure we both learned something. Have a nice day."
Link began to walk away and he smirked. The innocence of children made it all worthwhile. Those few seconds of pure fascination and wonder at the world, of seeing it fresh for the first time. Before tainted by the cynicism of the world.
He didn't doubt that he was cynical; he had experienced far too much not to be. Every switch was a booby trap, and every damsel in distress might be a demon in disguise. He wished he could keep that innocent way of looking at the world.
He blinked a few times. And looked at where he stood. He was inside the castle. In Zelda's rose garden. How the hell did he get here without once being stopped? All it would take is a single image spell…
"Hoo-boy."
Sitting down on the steps he looked at the simple garden, and smiled. He always found certain softness in his being for flowers, why he had no idea.
"We're very different, you and I." He said to a simple red rose, "Aside from the obvious, you're a tiny flower, I'm the greatest Hero Hyrule has ever seen.
"You seem to have no purpose other than to look beautiful and make the world a more cheerful place, and I don't know why my purpose is what it is. I've saved the world; you are the world I saved. It's all very confusing, but why I'm talking to a flower is beyond my comprehension. Some people would think it's a sign from the Goddesses."
He remained silent for a while longer, concentrating on not thinking at all. It was difficult and eventually he just laid back and let his mind take him for a ride.
Being here, in Zelda's garden, made him think about all the times he'd been here. He'd snuck in once, and got charged with a quest. He came a second time, to find out she too remembered. He had broken into the castle on numerous occasions, sometimes to save her, other times just to see if he could. This castle seemed to be the source of his problems. Not once had he ever had a quest that didn't involve the royalty of Hyrule. Well, there was that one quest he went through to awaken a Wind fish, but he was never really sure if that was a dream or not.
"I wonder how my life would be different had I not come to the castle at all…"
He frowned when he knew that he would be dead, as would thousands of others. But this thought brought no happiness to him it only saddened him deeper.
Why was it that people were so evil that they had to try to take over the world? Was it in their blood? He doubted it, as he'd seen far to many people change their ways in either direction. He could blame circumstance or upbringing. He doubted that the great Ganondorf tried to rule Hyrule with the power of the Triforce because he didn't get any hugs as a kid. Maybe that particular ultimate evil was the exception. Gannon was put on the earth to make his life miserable. And everyone else's.
But that wasn't a problem. He'd bested Gannon four times already, and after that last time he was pretty sure he was dead. There wasn't even ash.
"I hope."
As he watched the clouds move along the sky for the second time that day, he tried to think optimistically, which doesn't work when you are forcing yourself to do it. After three failed attempts he gave up. He put that down as a first.
"I'm just to damn stubborn." He said as he thought about how long it had taken him to get some of the equipment he carried with him. Like those bottles…god that was a pain. He searched for those 10 big Poes or what seemed like weeks.
As he thought about it, he realized he rarely ever failed at anything he did. Sure he may spend about a million rupees at the Target range getting it right, but he'd win that big prize, or get the monster.
He was about to think of something else, or maybe even that little moment of clarity that would make him want to live again, when he was interrupted.
"Hi Link!"
He lifted his head off the ground to look around. He meekly waved his hand and let his head fall back. "Hello Princess."
"You really needn't be so formal."
"Only showing the proper respect."
"…When have you ever done that?"
He frowned at the insinuation. It was true that most of the time he was with Zelda he wasn't exactly mature, of course he was just turning 20 this spring. He never did really grasp why people like Zelda got put up on a pedestal and people like him, well…people like the villagers, were not. She was just as Hylian as the rest of them. "Since your father made that point to me last time I was here."
"He was just upset. You know how he gets when something isn't just right."
"He hates me." Link said it flatly, no malice or complaint in his voice. It was a fact, he just did. Link never did anything to warrant it in his opinion, but he wasn't King.
"Well…I don't know what to tell you."
"I didn't ask you to justify it for him. I was merely stating fact." His voice was getting a little bit more cold than usual. He'd have to work on that.
She chuckled a little and sat down next to him. When Link sat up he realized that laying down with that shield and sword on wasn't good for his back. "You are always so serious. When did you last relax?"
"I think It was when I was 17 for the first time." He said evenly. He was always a little resentful that he had to go back and live for seven years when he was already a serious ass kicker.
"Are you sure?"
"I was fishing. For no reason. I decided to blow off…I think it was the Shadow temple. I wasted about two days doing nothing."
"I think you may have forgotten something in there, but if you say so…"
"That is the last time I remember relaxing." He said stressing certain words to get his point across. He had problems with memory. He wasn't like the princess. She heard, saw, experienced something, she remembered it. She even remembered all of her dreams even the nightmares. A curse in the form of a gift he supposed.
"What were you doing just now?"
"Thinking."
"About?"
"Lamenting my life in general."
"Link…"
He was sitting on the ground staring up at the sky again. "You think I'm too serious? Or just too depressing?" He felt an itch on his left hand, were the little bugs out this late in the year?
"Are you happy?" She asked it like it was important.
He just looked at her like she was crazy for asking it. He almost responded sarcastically, but decided against it. He may be cynical, but he did respect other people's feelings. "No."
"Ever?"
He looked at her. He knew what she was getting at. "I don't feel good about anything Zelda. Very rarely do I feel at ease. I don't even feel excited or good after I defeat an enemy. Its…"
"Common. Link, you've been everywhere and you've seen everything. There is nowhere left for you to go. You thrive on adventure and excitement, but its still the same old Hyrule. And there is no enemy anymore, what's left for you to do?"
"I don't know. Isn't it written down somewhere? The rest of my life was."
"You can look if you want."
"Nah. Its better if it's a surprise I guess."
They sat there for a few more minutes, when Link felt a cold chill run up his arm. He stared at it, and realized Zelda was looking at it too. "What's wrong Link?"
Link wasn't sure, and the pain throbbing in his arm was keeping him from answering. He pulled off his golden gauntlets and looked at the Triforce mark on the back of his hand. It was glowing. But it never hurt before.
"I…have to see the Triforce." He gritted out and pushed himself to his feet.
"Link, you can't just…never mind." Zelda was going to mention that you needed to be royalty to see the Triforce, but Link was in his dangerous moods. Besides, he was the rightful holder of the Triforce, but only they knew that.
Link slowly walked away, and Zelda ran up to him. "Link, can you use an Ocarina warp?"
He gritted his teeth and clenched his left hand, "Not at the moment. This going to suck." He let out a breath and slid the gauntlet back on.
Zelda grabbed his arm and muttered something. Link felt that queasy feeling of sudden movement, and he found himself back in the Temple of Time. At least this time he didn't fall down. The priest didn't bother to give an odd look at them, because Zelda was there. Link mumbled thanks and walked up to the Alter with the three stones spinning idly.
He gave the Ocarina to Zelda and he waited. When the doors opened he walked up to the pedestal there and drew the Master sword. Stabbing it down into its former resting place, he felt that warm light envelope him. He also noticed the Princess coming along for the ride.
The Sword used to act as a trigger to send him back and forth through time. Link later learned that by playing a different song at the altar you could go straight to the golden land. And that was where they were now. The sun made everything glow a soft yellow, which gave it a 'golden' look. Link pulled the Master Sword out of the block, and walked to the main room.
"Link…this doesn't feel right."
"I know. Something is askew. I'd put money down that its Gannon."
And you would lose A soft Melodic voice sifted through the walls and in the air.
"Nayru." Link said looking around. "You can show yourself, I don't care."
Hrmm…Maybe later.
"Link? Did you just say…?"
"Yes. Nayru, One of the Goddesses. Wisdom, if I remember my legends correctly."
Zelda noticed he was speaking normally. "Does your hand hurt anymore?"
"No. They did it."
Sure, blame it on me.
"I didn't say you did it. I said they did it. I know it was one of you, because sending a telegram is too easy."
Hah, you're still as funny as the last time you came here.
Link smirked. "Well Last time I was giddy on magic potions and a combat high. Now…why am I here?"
There was a small pop as a young woman, with long Blue hair appeared to his right, "That's a good question Link. I'd like to answer it for you, but you know the rules."
He nodded, "Yea, yea, no direct helping."
Zelda was a little amazed at the whole thing. Link looked at her, "You've never been here before?"
"The family hasn't used the power of the Triforce in years. The last time I was here was when I became Crown Princess when I turned 12. I had no idea it had changed so much."
"I liked the old school architecture better, so here we are. Oh, introductions. Princess Zelda, this is Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom. Of course she always gets wit and wisdom confused. Nayru, This is Princess Zelda, heir to the throne of Hyrule and all that."
"A pleasure. We don't get visitors down here very often."
"I thought that you resided in the heavens, not the golden land."
She shrugged, "No one is ever here anyway, so we come down every now and again for some R&R."
Both of them heard Link give a halfhearted snort. Zelda looked apologetically, "He doesn't believe in relaxing."
"I know. Poor child." She turned her gaze back over to Zelda, "You impressed me I expected you to begin groveling when you learned whom I was."
"Groveling shows that you think the other is superior, and if they are superior then you are weaker. And a Princess of Hyrule is not weak." She said, reciting it out of an old text that her father made her memorize.
"I'm glad I came down here, Din would have been likely to smack you for that."
Link smiled, "If I would let her. It's still my duty to protect the Princess. Even from irate Goddesses."
"Yes. And that keys in very nicely with our topic of discussion today. "Your duty as Hero of Hyrule."
He sighed, "I have to kill again don't I?"
Nayru put a hand on his shoulder, "This we also have to discuss. This pessimist thing works good for playwrights of tragedies, but it just won't do for you."
"Well, how do you put a positive spin on the messes I get this world out of?"
"Starting a brand new adventure full of magic and mystery, where you rescue damsels and become very rich from it all."
He blinked. Twice. Then he looked over at her, "That was actually very good. You should be an optimist."
"Na, I'm a realist. Wisdom remember?"
"you could be wise and optimistic. I could buy that."
She sighed and shook her head. "As cynical as you are, your innocence is amusing."
Link shut his mouth and began to think of why they would go to such lengths to bring him here. He stopped listening to the conversation and thought. If it were Gannon they wouldn't be wasting time with small talk, though they are immortal goddesses, so why do they care?
It wasn't a natural disaster, he wasn't that powerful. He has to able to kill it or outwit it.
"Link? Are you in there?" He snapped out his musings as he felt a tap on his head. The two of them backed away as his hand had already gripped the Master Sword. He let it go and looked around. They were standing in front of the Triforce.
"When did we get here?"
"You walked over here. I was rather taken aback, just ignoring your goddess like that."
"Sorry. I was thinking."
She smiled. "About what?"
"What my next quest is going to be. I assume that is why I'm here?" He looked blankly at them.
Zelda frowned, "Assumptions are the Mother of all Screw-ups."
He shrugged, "I have to assume. I'm in a room with three levers. After pulling two and they don't work, I assume that the last one does."
"Isn't that more of a logical conclusion?"
"No, because sometimes it isn't true."
The two looked at him and shook their heads. Link was the oddest person they knew.
Nayru looked at the Triforce, "To be quite honest, I don't have the faintest clue as to why you are here. Think the Triforce knows?"
Link shrugged, "I tend not to trust things that don't have a brain."
"Now you are being difficult."
"Its true. If a rock came up and started talking to me, I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it. I don't know where its brain is, therefore I don't know if it has one, if it doesn't have a brain, it is either possessed or altered. Trust me. Its not good."
"Ask the Triforce Link."
"Okay, fine." Link pulled off his gauntlets and touched the Triforce. His eyes glazed over, and then he fell over.
"Link!" Zelda shouted, and caught his tumbling body. She set him on the ground and looked at the Goddess, "that was supposed to happen right?"
"I don't know. I don't use the Triforce."
"You made it!"
"I made 1/3 of it. All we did was make sure that a person who was balanced got to touch the whole thing. After that…it makes it own rules."
"Link! Are you okay?"
There was a small poof this time, and another beautiful woman, this time with dark green hair appeared next to the fallen hero, "Nayru, look at the mark."
"Who are you?" Zelda asked, though she thought she knew…
"Farore Goddess of Courage."
The Triforce mark on the back of Link's hand was changing rapidly from almost nonexistent to glowing brightly. Sometimes all three sacred triangles would appear, sometimes 2 or just one. It was a sure sign of the turmoil inside of him.
"This is not good. Didn't we have someone write a scroll about this?"
"If not we should have."
Zelda looked at her own mark, and noticed it wasn't going weird on her. "My mark is normal."
"We know, he the forces in him aren't equal, but he is the holder of courage. When he touched the Triforce, it tried to split. But it can't, so it knocked Link out to make separating easier."
"Why isn't he balanced? He seemed the same."
"There are more forces under the Triforce than just the big 3. each Triforce can separate into eight pieces right?"
"yea."
"Each piece is a different characteristic under the main one. For example, Power would have anger, aggression, lust, cruelty, fear, etc. He has been letting a few go uncared for. Not consciously, but his lifestyle as the Hero brought him with little else."
"What can we do?"
"Not much. He has to find his own answers. What we can do is make it less stressful on his body."
"How?"
Farore and Nayru hit a piece of the Triforce, and it split. Courage and Wisdom found their places, but Power hesitated before winking out of existence.
"We forced the Triforce to split. Now he has to deal with his own turmoil dealing with Courage. What was under that Farore?"
"Strength, honesty, doubt, nobility, bravery, justice, sacrifice, and intelligence"
"Intelligence?"
"There are very few smart Courageous people. Its easy for a stupid person to be courageous because they don't realize what they are doing or why. That and they have a tendency to do incredibly stupid things that can be called brave."
"Like charging a whole battalion by yourself?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
Nayru looked at the pedestal where the Triforce once stood. "Who gets Power?"
Zelda frowned, "Gannon used to have it."
"He's dead. Way dead. Can't be him."
"We have to find it. Otherwise the pieces won't resonate and reform, even if Link conquers his own insecurities."
"Shouldn't Din know?"
There was a loud crack as a gorgeous woman with red/gold hair appeared. "I don't know. I can tell you it's a Hylian."
The four of them looked down at Link, who's breathing had evened out, and he looked at rest.
"We should go now. Din?"
The redhead sighed and pointed in Link's general direction. He began to float a few feet off the ground and stayed there. She walked over and took off his armaments. She gingerly touched the hilt of the Master sword and smiled as it didn't spark or electrocute her or anything. "Picked me this time."
"This time?" Zelda asked.
"The Master sword has its own magic, that we have to abide by. Only one Goddess can handle the weapon, and it seems to randomly pick one. Last time it was Nayru." Din said as she strapped it around her waist. She also picked up the Mirror shield.
"Umm…if we're going to Hyrule, then you had better not carry weapons. Especially that one. There are no Female knights in the kingdom, and everybody knows what that sword looks like."
"They won't ask."
"Okay…your funeral."
The three Goddesses looked at each other as if remembering something. "Crap, she's right." Din said.
Farore nodded, "By going to Hyrule, we're bound by the laws of life and death."
Nayru smiled, "Link survived this long hasn't he?"
"He's not dead. Just…incapacitated." Farore corrected.
Zelda looked at Link worriedly, "Will he be all right if we leave him here?"
"Nothing can hurt him in this state. When he comes to, he can wait. Besides this will probably take ten minutes tops." Din said.
Nayru grabbed the Bow and quiver. Farore looked over his stuff quickly and grabbed the Longshot, and Power Bracelet. Zelda was kind of surprised he still had that, she never saw him without the Gauntlets.
"So if you go to Hyrule, you're mortal?" Zelda asked as they walked to the transporting pedestal.
"Sort of. Our bodies can die, and we resume our position as Goddesses. But that means we can't interfere. Only by taking a physical form can we mess around. That is why an act of god doesn't exist. The only miracles are the ones you make happen."
"I see. So no god like powers?"
Din smiled, "Sort of. We can't reshape the world, raise the dead, or anything like that. But we would be around the most powerful mages on your plane of existence."
"Oh."
There was a blue flash and the room was empty except for the sound of Link breathing.
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Well, that's the prologue/chapter 1. If it starts out kind of nonsensical, it's because I'm showing how messed up Link is, and this is why the Triforce is in turmoil.