Chapter One

Childhood of the Fated Three

The wind blew in different directions all over in the twilight sky. The leaves of the trees whispered throughout the Lost Woods.

Three men stood together. One was still a pre-teen, carrying a silver baton. The one beside him was about seventeen, carrying an ocarina. The eldest man was about 18; he carried a fused shadow. They all looked the same, dressed the same, and died the same. A boy, who looked quite similar to them, was frozen in confusion. He had the same hair and eyes, but he did not dress the same. The men pointed their swords at him, and charged with high speed—

"Aggh!" Link jumped straight up accidentally butting heads with his friend who was trying to wake him up.

"Oh my Din… wh-what happened, Box?" said Link as he tried to catch his breath. "Well," said his red haired friend. "we got knocked out by thugs and are now being held in here for cash. What's it called… a ransom, I guess?"

"But Box… we don't have any guardians to pay for it…"

"Sad, ain't it? Well, there's nothing we can do. We're locked in this huuugge cell with a bunch o' other kids. Might as well lose hope like the rest of 'em right?"

"We…we can't just give up like that! C'mon, let's get these kids outta here."

"Dude. We're ten years old. How do you expect anything to happen?"

Link thought for a bit. It does seem somewhat impossible. Box was a quitter sometimes, but he was also different about it. Instead of getting angry, he would just say: "Oh well, I tried." and leave. Link knew his friend would need motivation, something that would get him absolutely desperate to get out. So Link thought of Box's favorite thing. He grinned along with a snap of his fingers. "Y'know…" he began. "We'd never be able to eat anymore pork chops if we stay here…"

Box bolted up. He ran his fingers through his long, bushy, red hair. "I do like pork chops."

"Yeah, so help me find a way out!"

The two scanned the cell's walls, looking for cracks or holes.

"Nothing on this side, Link."

Link was getting a bit frustrated. He kicked over a jar by the corner of the room, finding to his surprise a little tunnel he could crawl through.

"Hey, Box," he called to his friend, trying to be as quiet as possible under the sound of crying children. Link nodded in the direction of his discovery with his head as his friend walked toward him. "Awesome!" said Box, accidentally drawing the attention of other kids. Link gave him a look.

"I, uh… finally got pit hair!" Box said, with a goofy smile. He looked at his blonde companion, who was rolling his eyes. "We can't let the other kids know about this tunnel. And since you never wear a shirt, you have to keep your arms down. Now, cover up the entrance with that jar over there." Link crawled into the tunnel first, then Box, placing the jar in front of the tunnel. The tunnel was pretty tight from where they started, but the tunnel gradually got wider as they went further. Their tunnel ran on for quite a while. Left, right, straight, straight, right, left, left, left, and so on. Link had to kick his leg back at Box every once in a while, because his friend would complain about how long it's taking or he would make sarcastic remarks on Link's butt. At last, they finally reached the end of the tunnel, where they saw (other than another jar in front of them) a huge burly man with no weapon. Shivering with fear, the two backed up.

"Holy Nayru!" Box whispered to Link. "We've gotten this far, Link. How in Hyrule do we take out a guy like that?"

Link whispered into Box's ear, causing a grin to emerge on his friend's face. "Alright then, here I go." Box crawled out from the tunnel, holding the jar that had once blocked them. He slowly approached the man, then popped the jar onto his head. Box held onto the man's neck, causing the man to be confused. Then Link came out of the tunnel to, kicking the man over, hoping he was unconscious.

"Move Link!"

Link felt a wooden club just miss his long ear and whack the man on the head. The club came down multiple times. "Box, no! Don't KILL him!" hollered Link holding Box back.

Box was panting, with the club still in his hand.

"Well?" said Box, wiping his mouth. "Does he have the keys?" Link patted the pockets of the unconscious-and maybe even dead- man.

"Yup." He said, slipping the keys into his pockets. "So hey, where'd you get that club?"

Box tossed him a look that told Link: "don't ask"

They exited the room and looked for the other two thugs.

"Don't act so proud," Link muttered. "Killing will get you nowhere close to the Promised Li-"

He found himself being pulled behind a wall, being shushed by Box. Another man passed the two and had no time to react when the red head leapt and whacked his head.

"L-L-Link…?" he muttered. "I… don't want this club anymore."

"No, no, no, no. I might be the one caught holding it. Just leave it here."

"A-alright, I just don't wanna be a killer, dude."

Link slapped him. "You're going maniacal!"

"Alright, alright. Two men down, one more to go."

"Would that man be me, boys?"

Alright, I'm done writing this chap. :D

~ClicktheMuffin