Author's Note:
This story takes place after Twilight Princess, but Ocarina of Time fans should not be disappointed. References are many.
Reviews are most welcome, flames are not. This is my first fanfic, so be mild.
If I owned Zelda, I would not be writing a fanfic, I would be putting my ideas into the next game in the series. Therefore, you must suffer through the following disclaimer:
Zelda, its characters and locations and the storyline of Twilight Princess belong to Nintendo. The only Zelda-related things I own are my TP game disc and this story's plot.
On to the story.
Runs in the Family
The afternoon sunlight fell through the round windows of the small house onto the wooden planks of the floor. The entire room was mostly made out of wood. It was small and comfortable, and was also built on a tree.
A young man was sitting at a small table, writing in a book of thick paper. He had a black quill in his left hand. Beside the book were an inkpot and a brown leather pouch.
The man's name was Link. He was now known throughout his country, the country of Hyrule as the Hero of Light, or sometimes the Hero of Twilight. The bearer of a part of the divine power known as the Triforce, the part that bestowed Courage upon the holder, Link had saved the entire land from the evil that had infested it.
Hyrule had been taken over by unnatural twilight from a different realm, known to Link as the Twilight Realm. A sorcerer named Zant, who had usurped the throne of the Twilight Realm, had tried to take over Hyrule, too, by covering the land in darkness. The ruler of the land, Princess Zelda, who also bore a portion of the Triforce, that of Wisdom, had been forced to surrender the kingdom to Zant, or else have her subjects killed.
Most of the people of Hyrule had then been turned into spirits that were unaware of the monstrosities around them. Link, on the other hand, had been turned into a wolf as soon as he entered the Twilight.
With the help of the true ruler of the Twilight Realm, Midna, who had been transformed into an imp by Zant, Link banished the artificial Twilight in each province of Hyrule, restoring his human form each time, and found three dark magic artefacts, the Fused Shadows, that Midna needed to defeat Zant. However, Zant proved too powerful, changed Link back into a wolf and left Midna severely injured. Zelda revived Midna, and directed Wolf Link to find the Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane.
Link found the Master Sword, and was then able to switch between his Hylian and wolf forms at will, with Midna's help. Both of them had then found the pieces of a magical mirror in various locations. When they had the entire mirror, they went to the Twilight Realm, and proceeded to defeat Zant.
However, Zant was not their final enemy. He was under the influence of the demon thief named Ganondorf, who had tried to take over Hyrule several times throughout history.
Ganondorf held the Triforce of Power. It was said that he had, a hundred years ago, been responsible for the splitting of the Triforce into three parts in the first place. He had been thwarted in his schemes by the bearers of Courage and Wisdom and banished to the Twilight Realm.
So it had been this time also. Learning that Ganondorf had been the source of Zant's power, and that he had taken over Hyrule Castle, Link and Midna went there and fought him.
The ranch hand from Ordon Village in south Hyrule, bearer of the Triforce of Courage and wielder of the Master Sword, had killed the evil king.
Link was hailed as a hero by all of Hyrule, more so when the people came to know of the efforts he had made over months, and the services he had done all the inhabitants of the land, while he rid the land of evil. Midna had returned to her realm to become its Queen again.
Link felt only peace and contentment. The entire adventure had been tiring, but somehow enjoyable. It was amazing how many friends he had made, across races and even different species, and how well he now knew the land.
The brown pouch beside him was part of a larger set of clothes, known simply as the Hero's Clothes. They had been worn by the legendary Hero of Time.
The Hero of Time had been the first bearer of Courage to defeat Ganondorf. Link had been named after him.
In fact, the Hero of Time received the Triforce of Courage after Ganondorf first tried to claim the entire entity. Being impure and unbalanced in his nature, Ganondorf had only received the portion that he most believed in: Power. Wisdom and Courage had gone to the Princess of Hyrule (also called Zelda) and the Hero of Time then.
The Clothes were magical, repaired themselves and had lasted through the worst of conditions. The pouch in particular, could hold any number of items, compressing them to hold them, and weighed absolutely nothing.
Link was now making an inventory of everything he had collected over the years. Even magic pouches need clearing out.
His list ran as follows:
Bottle x 4 – blue potion, blue potion, empty, lantern oil
Fishing Rod x 1 with Zora Prince Ralis' Coral Earring
Gale Boomerang x 1
Hero's Bow x 1 with quiver of 100 arrows – note – belonged to Hero of Time
Iron Boots x 1 pair
Bomb bag x 3 – each holds 60 bombs, two full, one with bomblings
Clawshot x 2
Spinner x 1
Ball and Chain x 1
Dominion Rod x 1
The slingshot and lantern he had got in Ordon were in his pocket and on his table respectively.
Someone knocked on the door. Link got up, crossing the wooden planks of the tree house, and opened the door. His best friend Ilia, a girl about his age with short brown hair and green eyes, was outside. The two of them had grown up together, and Link's adventure had begun with Ilia and the other village children being kidnapped by Bulblins, goblin-like creatures who used to follow Ganondorf.
He let her in and closed the door.
"Hi, Link. My dad wants you to come over to our place for lunch today."
"Yeah, I'll do that," he said simply, walking back to the desk. She followed him and looked at the list.
"Are these what you picked up while you saved us all?" she asked. Link smiled.
"Yeah. I just thought I should write it all down, you know? I've already written all about what happened last year, and the stuff in that pouch saved my life millions of times."
Ilia smiled and drew up a chair. Link began showing her the contents of the pouch.
"Here's my bow – the Hero of Time used it. The Gorons who live in Death Mountain had it stashed in their mines. And this is the Gale Boomerang –there's a Fairy of Winds inside, so it can make small whirlwinds as it flies." Ilia nodded. She had seen these before, when Link had escorted her and the barmaid of Castle Town, Telma, to Kakariko Village.
"Bottles, fishing rod, your dad's Iron Boots, bags full of bombs," Link said, pulling each thing out. "This is called the Spinner. You stand on it and press this switch with your foot to start or stop it. It's not that fast, but you can climb up walls and cross quicksand with it. It's also good for fighting large crowds of Bulblins. Or giant skeleton monsters," Link said with a grin. Ilia shuddered.
"What's this?" she asked, picking up the Dominion Rod. The orb of energy at its end glowed brightly.
"Dominion Rod. A relic of the Oocca, who live in the sky. I found it in the Temple of Time. It can control statues." Ilia just looked awestruck. Link went on.
"These are clawshots. You can pick up far-off things, or grapple to vines or targets with them. This ball and chain was used by a monster in the mansion in Snowpeak in the northeast. And I think that's about it."
Link put his hand into the leather pouch to check if he had left anything inside. His eyes widened. Ilia noticed.
"What is it?"
"There's something else."
"What?"
Link took out his hand. He was holding a pair of silver gloves, shiny and flexible, that somehow seemed incredibly strong.
Link's eyes widened. Images kept flooding through his mind, that of the three triangles on his left hand, a warrior in golden armour in a landscape in the clouds teaching him to fight like the Hero, and books in the library of Castle Town and the now-rebuilt Hyrule Castle.
"I didn't put that there," he said.
Link got up and ran to the bookshelf beside the desk. He took down a large volume that Princess
Zelda had given to him. After his adventure, she had told him about the Hero of Time and the Triforce, which had helped explain a lot of things he found out while on his quest.
"Link, tell me what's going on," Ilia said patiently. He put the book down on the desk and looked at her.
"Zelda told me about the Hero of Time, right?" She nodded. He had, in turn, told her. "And this book describes the adventures of the Hero, including all the things he used and the people he met."
"Go on," Ilia said.
"And the clothes I wore through my quest, the ones in that chest," he pointed, "belonged to the Hero of Time. The pouch came with the Clothes." Ilia nodded, understanding breaking like dawn upon her face.
Link turned the pages of the book until he came to a drawing of a pair of silver gloves exactly like the ones now on the desk. The page beside it was titled "The Silver Gauntlets".
"They let the Hero of Time move incredibly heavy objects like they were feathers, even when he was a child. He found them in the Spirit Temple in Gerudo Desert, and used them to make his way through the temple and find the Mirror Shield, which he then used to defeat the witches known as Twinrova. They were a Gerudo artefact," Ilia said, reading from the book.
"That means..." Link began.
"The Hero of Time's stuff is still in that pouch."
***