So, this is my first published Zelda story, and is actually a rewrite of a previous fic I wrote but never published. After rereading my old one, I thought 'Gee, this story really sucks and is horribly written, but I like the idea.' Thus, this was born. If it's still badly written and not really that good, (i.e., SUCKS), please tell me how to improve! Thanks!

-DarkScales

P.S.: I don't know if I'll continue this or not. Please let me know if I should!

Oops! Almost forgot the disclaimer!

I don't own anything, Nintendo does. (Though if I owned it, Dark Link would definitely have more appearances...)

Link sighed and ran a hand through his jet-black hair, absentmindedly combing out the numerous twigs and leaves caught in the messy locks. How in the name of all Dark World Hyrule had he gotten himself into this mess?

Oh yeah, it was all Talo's fault.

It had started when the village children were daring each other to climb all the way up to the top branches of the large tree in Ordon Village to grab the rupees on the very top. Talo, naturally, was the first to accept and quickly scrambled up the vines. Unfortunately, upon trying to tightrope-walk across the thin branches the rupees lay on, his courage failed him.

As a result, Talo was now on his belly and hugging the tree branch in a death grip, a mere few feet away from the free money. After he'd made it clear he wasn't going anywhere, Ilia had wandered by looking for Link (probably going to scold him about Epona's miniscule cut from getting scraped by a twig) and promptly began berating them for being so reckless and endangering their lives, etc etc. She'd then gone after Link, hoping he would be able to climb up and rescue the wayward child. Thus, Link landing in his current situation over thirty feet up in the air with a kid stuck in a tree who looked like he was going to wet himself at any second.

Wonderful. Just wonderful. It wasn't that he didn't care for the kid, it was just that he was always rescuing him from situations like this. Unfortunately, as Talo had gotten older, his "situations" had become ever more perilous. Last year he had to be rescued from a band of bokoblins in the forest, and only the previous month he'd nearly gotten eaten by a deku baba while gathering firewood. Apparently he'd thought that one wooden stick would be enough to kill a giant evil plant monster. Obviously his logic was very flawed.

"Come on Talo, it's not so far. Just slide on over, and don't look down. Yeah, just like that. Relax, you're really close... gotcha." Link muttered, reaching out and grabbing ahold of the young boy. He instantly whimpered and latched on to the ranch hand, who quickly shimmied down the tree and deposited him safely on solid ground.

"Oh, Talo, Link! Are you two alright?" Beth asked, blushing slightly as she glanced at the older boy. He pretended not to notice and nodded, sending a quick smile her way that caused the girl to blush even deeper and make that weird hip shake thing she always did while fluttering her eyelashes at him. Again, Link pretended not to notice.

"Link! Now that you're done rescuing Talo again, would you mind herding up the goats for me again? They just don't seem to want to listen to me lately." Fado asked, jogging up to link. Link nodded to him and left to go get Epona, who was grazing on the long grass by his house.

"Come on, girl. Time for a bit of exercise." He said softly, stroking the chestnut mare's flank soothingly. She nickered in response and nuzzled him, making the teen laugh slightly. Then he picked up her reins and led her through the small village to the ranch, stopping only to let the kids pet her and Ilia warn Link about the consequences in he got her injured jumping fences like he did last year. Boy, did he never hear the end of that one!

Link yawned and stretched, throwing off his covers and stumbling blearily out of bed. After changing out of his nightclothes and eating a quick breakfast of bread and goat's milk with Ordon's famous Ordon Cheese, the teen set to work cleaning up the basement of his house.

By midmorning, Link was barely through the first half of the room. It seemed that his basement was larger and messier than he'd originally believed, and probably should have cleaned it out sooner.

Yep, definitely should have cleaned up down here sooner. He thought, sneezing on the cloud of dust that had puffed out upon his removal of an old moth-eaten blanket from the shelf. He found many dead bugs in the corners, and there were spiderwebs practically everywhere. The entire room smelled like something had died in it, and was that a dead mouse in the corner?

"Huh, what's this?" Link muttered to himself, reaching in and removing an ornate, hand-held mirror from the back of the shelf. There was a beautiful border of engraved fake jewels along the edges, with carved-out pearls and diamonds and rubies. The paint, no doubt once vibrant and beautiful, was now dusty and faded with parts of it peeling off. The rest of the mirror was simple wood, and when Link flipped it over he found a riddle on the back. Holding his lantern up higher, he read the words aloud.

"Light and Dark,
Black and White
Are but Two Sides of the Same Rupee.
In Your Hand, Hold You the Key
To Unlocking the Door
That Divides Them.
Only a True Hero
Can Open the Way"

Link stood in silence for a moment, processing the words in his head. What in the name of Dark World Hyrule does THAT mean? 'Only a True Hero can open the Way?"

"Huh. Well, this is something to think about." He said, heading back upstairs. He decided to take a break from the cleaning for the moment and investigate a bit more. Maybe it was just him, but it seemed like there was something about that mirror that intrigued him, made him want to solve that riddle and figure out what it meant.