Chapter 1: A Humble Beginning

"Do you see any?" called a voice.

"No!" another answered, "You?"

"No..."

Two Hylian soldiers stood in the smoldering ruins that was once a city near the eastern border of Hyrule. The city they stood in was the latest in the string of deadly attacks performed by what was thought to be another kingdom. The king of Hyrule sent a fraction of the Hyrulean Army to the city to search for survivors, but so far, they've found none.

"Has anyone found any survivors?" the Hylian Captain asked after the group met back up.

The soldiers all glanced at each other before they confirmed the negative.

The captain sighed. "Well, I guess-"

Cough...Cough...

The group all turned toward a ruined house.

"You guys hear that?"

"Yeah. Sounds like someone did survive."

The team ventured into the building and searched around for the survivor, when what sounded like a baby's cry broke the silence, followed by a pair of "shushing" sounds.

"Over here." a soldier directed, pointing down at a cloak which took the shape of a person, its curves suggesting a woman. As his partners neared him, he removed the cloak to find just that, a woman, badly wounded and barely clinging to life with her back turned to them. She slowly turned her head toward the soldiers and stared for a moment.

"My husband," she said, "Where... is he?"

One of the soldiers looked across the room at a corpse lying on its back, far too bloody to be identified. He looked at the woman and shook his head. She sighed as she began to tear up.

"I... I need medical help..."

"All the medical equipment as well as anyone who knows how to use them have all been destroyed." the captain reported, "It'll be hours before we get to the closest available medical facility. I'm sorry to say... but you're not gonna make it."

The woman sighed again as two stray tears left a wet trail on both sides of her face. "Then... could you at least... take my baby somewhere safe?" The woman strained as she rolled completely to face the soldiers, revealing a small, blonde-haired boy.

The soldiers all glanced at each other thoughtfully.

"Please..." she sobbed, "He's only a few days old... He deserves to live his life. Please... don't deny him that right."

"We'll take him," the captain answered, "but I don't know if he'll still be safe." The captain reached down for the baby.

"Wait... please... let me say goodbye..."

The woman looked down at her son as she spoke to him, "It's time for you to go now..." she began in a soft voice, "You'll be leaving with the soldiers... and we might not see each other for a while." she paused as she broke down into a few quiet sobs, "But that's okay... because I know you'll be taken care of... You may not find someone else to take care of you when I'm gone... so you'll have to be a big boy for mommy until then, okay? It's gonna be hard on your own... You'll have to depend on only you when you go through the hardships of life and you might not have anyone to turn to when you get into trouble... but I know you'll make it... I believe in you... I don't know what you'll do with your life... but whatever you do... make mommy and daddy proud, alright? ...I love you..." When the whispering ceased, the soldiers could see her shoulders shake as she brought her son in close for a fond embrace. The soldiers waited patiently, knowing that the woman didn't want to let her son go; which was understandable. After all, she would never live to teach her son the lessons of life that he couldn't learn on his own, she would never live to see him grow up into a young man or marry, and worst of all, he wouldn't even remember her. If things took a turn for the worst, he would grow up not knowing what it's like to have a parent figure, or to feel the love a parent would show him... and there was nothing she could do about it. "Goodbye... Link." she whispered to her son before giving him a kiss on the forehead and using what little strength she had left to hold him up for the captain.

The captain looked into the woman's teary, pleading eyes before reaching down to take the baby. No more words were spoken as captain led his soldiers away. The woman struggled to stay awake to watch the soldiers walk away with her only child. Then, when they disappeared from view, she sighed before shutting her eyes...

...and allowing death to take her away.

"Damn it..." one of the younger soldiers cursed, "This is the third attack this month and we aren't any closet to finding the bastards responsible for all this..."

"Calm down." the captain ordered, "We'll find out who's doing this eventually... but until then-"

"What, are we wait around for more people to die? Whatever asshole is doing this is killing innocent people! We can't just sit by and-"

"That's enough." the captain interrupted, "Remember that you're speaking to your captain."

The soldier sighed, "Right... sorry."

As the Hylian Captain reported, it took several hours to get back to Castle Town, a very large city behind Hyrule Castle. There, they took the boy to the castle, where the entire army would decide what to do with him.

"I think his mom said his name is Link." the Hylian Captain reported, "So... what're we gonna do with 'im?"

"Did you check the orphanage?" another captain asked.

"Yeah... but there's no more space available."

"Well, none of us can take him; we barely have time for our own families!"

"Well what the fuck are we gonna do? We can't just abandon him; he's a damn baby!"

"What's with all the commotion?" a new, deeper voice asked.

"General!" the captains exclaimed, turning to face him.

"What's this I hear about a baby?"

The captains glanced at on another before one held the baby out for the captain to see.

"Hm... she's a cute little thing isn't she?"

"This is a boy, sir. Hence why we call him 'he'."

"Oh..."

"My team found him in the ruined city we went to. His mother begged for us to take him sonewhere safe before she died."

"I see... and you've already checked the orphanage?"

The captain nodded.

"Hmm... now this is a dilemma..."

"Sir." a captain began, "If there's nowhere else to keep him, why not keep the child here?"

"...I don't think the Solar is very hospitable for babies."

"But what other choice do we have?"

The General sighed as he weighed their options, "I... guess he can stay here. But we have the ask His Majesty first."

"The king isn't exactly a very merciful person. Are you sure he'll say yes?"

"Either way, we can't keep him here without the king knowing; we might get in trouble. Any objections?"

The room was silent.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

About an hour later, the General gathered most of the soldiers who had been present when Link was brought into the castle to share the king's answer with them.

"Is everyone here?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." a soldier answered, "All the soldiers currently in the castle, anyway."

"Good, good." the General glanced down at Link, who currently lie asleep in one of the beds, quietly snoring. "As I'm sure you all know, I asked if this baby could stay here in the Solar until we can find him a home."

"So what did he say?" a captain asked.

"He's letting us keep him here, but... on a more permanent basis..."

"WHAT!?" everyone in attendance exclaimed in unison.

"He wants us to keep him here so he can begin training to be a soldier at a young age."

"That's bullshit. I joined the army to fight, not to be play nanny for a baby."

"Be that as it may, His Majesty obviously had the well-being of the kingdom in mind when he made this decision. He wants this boy to be the best soldier Hyrule's ever produced."

"Well," a captain chuckled, "I gotta admit; there's really no better way to do that in our current situation. Though I don't entirely agree with cramming a bunch of combat oriented stuff into this child's head."

"Well, you can talk to His Majesty about that later. For now, we gotta figure out how the hell we're gonna make time to raise this kid."

Despite what one may think of having a bunch of hardened soldiers raise a baby, there were actually very hospital people in the army. As it turns out, there were quite a few soldiers who didn't have time for a child of their own despite wanting one, so, at times, they actually looked forward to spending time with the baby. After a few years the boy began training, and actually had a natural talent for swordplay, and loved to practice it. And because he technically didn't have a home to go back to, and the older soldiers couldn't always spend time with him, it was really all there was to do. Despite that, he never really grew bored of it, and saw every day as a chance to improve himself. In light of all this, one could imagine that Link's life was perfect. But, as everyone knows, there is no such thing as perfect. And once Link reached the youngest age for a child to begin training for the army, these imperfections would make themselves known.

To be continued!