I warn you now. This fic has highly to do with religion, even if it is a fake religion. If you don't like it, at least have the decency to flame me so I can get a good laugh. You'll also see song references throughout it. I don't own any of the songs referenced.
I'm only saying it once, as usual. I don't own LoZ.
Link walked into the town's inn and sat down at the bar. He wore a cloak over his clothes. His sword and shield were still visible, but the handle and sheath of the sword were wrapped in gray cloth, as was the shield.
"What can I get for ya?" asked the bartender.
"Just a small meal. Don't want to use my own food if I don't have to."
The bartender nodded and said something to a waitress, who ran off to the kitchen.
"So, what brings you to our humble town?"
"Ran out of food, the hunting's been bad, and I need more arrows."
"Sounds like you had it bad for a little while."
Link shrugged. "I've had it worse."
"Aye, we all have. You need a room?"
Link shook his head. "No, I tend not to sleep in villages. I'm not exactly a favorite of the monsters that rule the fields these days."
"Well, even if they were coming after you, the guards can take care of 'em. You look like you can, too."
"The guards aren't as good as they used to be. I'd rather avoid endangering anyone."
"Then why'd you come here?"
"Necessity."
"Oh, right, the food."
It was silent for a while, before the bartender asked another question.
"So, what is it that you do?"
"Vigilante justice. Kill monsters. Search."
"Search for what?"
"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
Link looked at him. "Angels."
"You're looking for angels? That's good, boy. Really now, what do you search for?"
"I told you."
The bartender blinked. He sounded serious. "Can I ask why you're looking for angels?"
"You could." He didn't need to know that when Link fought Ganondorf, the Master Sword broke, freezing him in time so that he never aged.
...He didn't need to know that he WAS the one who fought Ganondorf for that matter.
"I see. Whereabouts you looking?"
"This year, I'm spending the winter in the desert, past the Gerudo Fortress. The rest of the year searching around the rest of Hyrule."
"This year?"
"I go into all the neighboring countries as well, in other years."
The bartender thought for a moment. "If one angel appeared every year and stayed in one spot for a whole season, you have a very small chance of actually finding one."
"I know. I have time."
"How long have you been looking?"
"Not long." Not long compared to how long he would probably be looking.
"You should check the Temple of Ti—of the Three." The man caught his mistake. Link smirked slightly. Was this man what he thought he was?
"No, they wouldn't be there."
"Why not?"
"Angels show up in the strangest of places. You'll rarely find one where you'd expect."
"What if I expected to find one in a forest by a pool of water?"
"Then you could be right."
Another pause.
"Do angels have wings, like in the stories?"
"Sometimes. From what I've seen, the majority don't have them."
"How would you know if you were looking at an angel?"
"They usually have odd hair colors. Red, green, blue, white, and most any other color, now that I think of it."
"How do you know if they have a normal hair color?"
"You can tell by their eyes. They tend to have...something about them. You'd know it if you saw it."
"Have you ever seen an angel and just missed it?"
"No, I've seen a few. Talked to them."
"Then why are you still looking? Are you looking for a specific one?"
"Yeah...something like that."
"Good luck to you, then, boy, and hope that there's an angel that'll tell you where yours is."
"Found one recently will tell me after I do a favor for him."
"What's that favor?"
Link didn't respond. He was concentrating around him. He reached into his cloak and grabbed the handle of his Longshot. He spun around quickly and fired it at a lantern. The lantern dodged out of the way, and revealed a Poe holding it. Link drew his sword and shield. The sword, halfway up, became a different color. There was a jagged line where it must have been broken.
He jumped forward and lunged at the Poe. He struck it, but it hit his shield with its lantern, and the covering caught fire. He hit it again and it burned up, dropping its lantern and revealing its spirit. Link ripped the cover off of his shield, put out the fire, and then bottled the spirit.
"It's all right, everyone, just a Poe. I handled it." out of his cloak he pulled another cover and went to put that back on his shield.
When he sat down, the bartender whispered to him. "That was a Harkinian era Hylian Shield. I thought all of those were destroyed in the Crown War. Where'd you get it?"
"It was my ancestor's. He was a guard in the time of Queen Zelda. He didn't fight in the Crown War."
"Why not? Too much of a coward?"
"No, more like too old and too wise. My father told me about him. 'Stupid war,' he said, 'I'd fight in it, but I don't like Zelda's son, and I don't like any of the Androws either. Seems that it'd be better to let an old man end his days in peace.'" (A/N keep in mind, in medieval times, people didn't live very long. Two hundred years is enough for several generations to go by.)
"I see. And your sword, it was broken?"
"In a fight I had a while back. My ancestor had the steel enchanted by a magician, and that magician is long since dead, so I had to reforge it with normal steel instead of enchanted."
"It's an old sword, then."
"Properly cared for, it lasts a long time."
"Seems like you need to care for it a bit better."
"It was a tough fight." It'd be a lot more than just the sword breaking if anyone from this era tried to fight Ganondorf.
"You know, you could sell those for a lot of money."
"They're family relics. Why would I sell them? Besides, the Androws still have the Harkinian supporters killed on sight, even though the Crown War was two hundred and seventy years ago." Link's heart still ached when he thought of that conversation with Zelda.
(Flashback)
"Link, we need you! With your help, we can end this civil war and bring peace back to Hyrule!"
"Zelda, you know that I am and always will be your friend, but I cannot fight in this war."
"And why not?!"
"Because I don't trust your son as the king."'
"What do you mean? He'll make a fine king!"
"He'll make just as fine a king as any of the Androws. I'm not going to fight in a pointless war."
Zelda fumed. "You know what? I'm glad the Master Sword froze you in time! Now you can live forever, regretting that you didn't fight here, and you can think about how many people, good people, died because -you- didn't want to help!"
(End flashback)
They never talked again after that. Zelda was killed shortly afterwards, and her son escaped. The Harkinians were still hiding somewhere in Hyrule, waiting to rise back up and take the throne.
Maybe this time, Link would fight to set past wrongs right.
"Yes, I suppose you're right."
Link studied the man, searching for a certain mark. There—on his left breast, the corner of an hourglass poked out from under his shirt.
"You never answered my question," said the bartender. "What favor did the angel ask?"
Link once more ignored the question. "Is that an hourglass?" he asked in a hushed voice.
The bartender paled. "I was young and stupid," he babbled quietly. "I don't really believe in it!"
The hourglass on a sundial was the sign of the Goddess of Time. There was a sect of Hylians that believed that Din, Nayru, and Farore were not goddesses, and that it was just the Goddess of Time. They wore her sign as a tattoo somewhere on their body. This religion was declared illegal by the first King Androws after he killed Queen Zelda.
Link pulled down his collar, revealing the same tattoo. "Are you sure?"
The bartender's face regained its color. "No," he admitted, "I'm a follower. I just keep it quiet, for obvious reasons."
"Are there any others here?"
"My entire family, and a few of my friends and theirs."
Link reached into his cloak and pulled out a leather-bound book. He placed it on the counter. "I dare you to make a move. Freedom of religion starts with people worshiping in their homes."
The bartender took the book and put it under the counter. "Thank you, sir. Can I ask your name?"
Link's meal came as he thought about it. "You could."
Link spurred his horse to a gallop and went flying across the Hyrule Fields. In the time of the Androws, the land had deteriorated. The grass was no longer as green, monsters roamed the fields, and bandits went unchecked. The Stalchildren had been coming back every now and then. Even more rarely, a Stalfos might climb out of the ground. Every time he rode across these fields he wondered, what if I had fought in the Crown War? Would things have been different? There was, of course, no way of knowing. Link no longer had mastery over time.
He headed towards the Kokiri Forest. It was funny; the Bartender's guess was actually very close. The angel he had been doing a favor for was in the Sacred Meadow fairy fountain.
After several hours of riding (he had been in a village relatively close to the forest), he entered through a giant, hollow log. As he passed into the village, he was greeted by several Kokiri. They, unlike most others, remembered Link for who he was: The Hero of Time. They still praised him for his saving of the village. Unfortunately, they still didn't get that he was the same boy who left the forest oh-so-many years ago. He didn't have the heart to tell them that he wasn't a Kokiri.
Link wandered the Lost Woods for an hour. He knew the way, but it was a large area. Passing into the Meadow, he maneuvered around to the back, killing any deku scrubs that attacked him. As he rounded about to the ladder that would get him on top of the walls, He noticed a splotch of bright green hair.
"Saria? That you?"
She jogged up to him happily. "Hi, Link!"
He smiled. "Hey there. How you doing?"
"I'm fine, thanks. We couldn't find your angel. Sorry."
"You know you guys don't need to help me, right?"
"Yeah, but we want to. We're your friends. You don't want to be immortal, and even though we don't want to see you die, we're going to help you with what you want to do."
Link sighed. "I don't want to ask you to shirk your duties of maintaining the Temples to help me, though..."
"You don't have to."
"But if they aren't properly protected, couldn't--"
"It's not like we're completely ignoring them. Rauru was the only one who actually knew he was a Sage for the longest time. It'd take a few centuries of utter neglect for them to get to that state again."
"But..."
"Link. Don't worry about it. One of us will let you know if we find your angel."
"I'm hopefully about to find out."
"You might, if this is the last favor he asks of you."
"I think it is. The way he spoke when he asked it of me, it had a tone of finality to it."
"You never know. His voice is different, you could have misunderstood."
"It's possible," he shrugged.
"Well, you go find your angel, Link."
"I will. Thanks for everything, Saria. If I don't see the others before...before I'm done, tell them for me."
"Of course." She hugged him. "I'd tell you to stay safe, but I know you'll ignore it."
"I'm a safe person," he protested, "I just do risky things sometimes."
"Sometimes?" she asked.
Link rolled his eyes. "Don't get yourself in any trouble," he said, climbing up the ladder.
Inside the fairy fountain, Link saw a man with flaming red hair. He wore a white robe, as many stories have clichéd, but had no wings. The man was laughing as the fairies bobbed around and made shapes with their many forms.
He looked at Link. "Ah, Link, you're back. I trust that you have found homes for all of the books I gave you?"
"I have. Will you tell me the location of the angel I'm looking for?"
"That depends. What angel are you looking for."
Link pulled out the Master Sword and unwrapped the cloth around the hilt, showing the angel that it was the blade that was broken.
"So you look for the ones who forged the Master Sword?"
"Ones? There was more than one?"
"Yes, it took three of them to make it."
"What were their names?"
"That will become apparent to you when you find them. Currently, I only know the location of one."
"Where?"
"She is at the Spirit Temple currently, giving her devotions to the Goddess of Time. She will be moving before the winter comes."
Oh, wow, thought Link. Had I stuck to my schedule, I would have missed her!
"How will I know who she is?" he asked.
"She has hair as blue as the water, with eyes deeper than the sea," came the poetic reply.
"So she has blue hair and eyes," Link mused aloud. "Shouldn't be too hard to spot."
"You should hurry, Link," said the angel. "While I know she will move before winter, I do not know how soon she plans to leave."
"Right. I'm off!" I'll have some things to say to Nabooru. If the angel has been in her temple, then she's either really sneaky, or Nabooru hasn't been looking too hard.
All right, I think that's a good place to drop off for now. Can anyone guess who the angel is? I think I've made it pretty obvious, lol XD
Review please!
