BEHOLD. The beginning of a wonderous(ish), and exciting(ish) side-jorney into the world of Hyrule! (In a way.) Our hero, the main charactor, is bouned to embark on a quest for so many things, I can't be arsed to list them here! I said arse! I'M FUNNY!

But, in all honesty, this is an orignal tale Set in the OOT/MM era of the Zelda games, 5 years after OOT. All non-orignal charactors are of course by Nintendo.

Quistions? Comments? Love letters? Go ahead. Review. Like the wind.

"You know, it's like that time…"

"You think so?"

"Almost just like it."

"You're not talking about that time in the doctor's office, right?"

"Why would I think of that?"

"You always seemed to like talking about it."

"What are you talking about?"

"What are you talking about?"

"…You know what? Nevermind…"

"Well, honestly."

---

You can't help but think about it. Why settle for more than you need, when you get what's in front of you? Why does it seem with every generation, monarchs grow more power-hungry, over anything? What happened to Heros, instead of Mercenaries? Is it me, or is the world moving through an ever downward spriral of dispair, always taking two steps forward, and nineteen back? Maybe I just think too much. I guess It comes with the job, being a mercenary myself. Don't know why I chose that path. Couldn't really care why. Maybe it's the constant Killing. Sure, it's part of the job, but it doesn't mean it stings at times too. I'm lucky enough I don't have the nightmares my co-workers have. Which is odd, seeing as they're grown men, and I'm-

"Hey, Kid. You gonna get over here for the job auction or what?"

"… Just get me something. As long as it ain't big."

"Ain't big? Kid, you know as well as I do the big jobs are the point of this!"

"Not everything has a point worth looking at."

"You're screwed if you think like that kid."

"…Whatever."

"Whatever? …If you wern't a kid, I'd knock you off your feet so fast, You'd-"

"A small job. Just give it."

I didn't even turn to face him. I didn't care. Seems that's how I work nowadays. Do I like that? Not as much. I wouldn't mind sitting around the bartable, shooting the brease with a beer in my hand. There's only 3 problems with that. I don't like most of these guys, These guys don't like me, and I'm underage anyway. I tried beer once. Left a bad taste in my mouth. Not the best.The other's said it was an "aquired taste", that I'd like it when I was older. I bet my Dad would have said that too.

If he were alive that is.

I sighed to myself, then turned and walked over the the bar, where the auctioning off jobs was going on. This guilds preety tightly woven. Course, one disagreement, and that's thrown out the window. I heard an arrow wizz by as I entered the room. One member fewer a second later.

"Kid! Over here." He called to me again, holding up a piece of parchment in one hand.

"What happened this time?" I asked as I joined him at the table, serving myself up a cup of Ginger beer.

"Misson with the Gerudo's. Again."

"Typical. Some of these guys should just give up. A misson working with all women won't do anything for them. Espically ones as prideful as them."

"At least it's not the Zora. You remember what happened last time a misson from them poped up, yeah?"

"Guy didn't even make it back. All for some bare Breast? Spare me."

"Well, what are you going to do, hm?"

"Not my problem. Not like I'm them."

"You're a mercenary too, you know. Same as them."

"…"

"Don't worry over it, Kid. You're better than them."

"Yeah. You get me a mission?"

"Yeah. Preety big too."

"I could have sworn I told you NOT to get be a big one."

"Couldn't help it. Besides we're both doing this one. Bodyguard misson, you know?"

"You need a bodyguard after 15 years with the guild?"

"That's not-"

He raised a fist as a threat over the joke. Poor guy. Like a defensive little child. He stared with a look for a few seconds, then sat back down, grumbleing for a sec.

I chuckled. "Looks like you need a couple of anger management classes."

"You know as well as I do. Hyrule doesn't have classes for anything. And I ain't gonna pay for some overly egotistic horse to carry me over to the next country. You can forget that."

"And yet this Kingdom is so secussful, without anything to teach. It's a surprize if someone were to know basic Math skills..."

"It's the royal family. All the teachers and sages making a fuss ofer the princess and all."

"Ah, yes. The princess Zelda. Quite a beautiful girl. Wouldn't mind meeting her in person. Better than the common girl you find in the market place."

"She'd be right around your age. 15, hm?"

"About. Since my birthdays not for 26 days."

"That would make her… about 12 days older."

I looked at him with a bit of surprize. "You know basic Math?"

"My parents. I'm not orignally from Hyrule you know."

"Oh, that's right."

"But that's how I got here. Tired of it all, you know?"

"Not really. Parents died long ago."

"And that's how you got here?"

"Better than the streets."

"I guess so."

I glanced around for a sec. With the missons cleared out, the pub was nearing being compeltely empty, if not for us.The bartender looked up from cleaning up a few drinking gauntlets, and shouted over.

"Closing time, boys! Better get gone soon."

He looked over back to me. "Come on. I still got to tell you about the misson."

"Right. Who are we guarding?"

"Well, I didn't check myself. Kinda grabed one at random. But it seems like a good one, I'll bet." He laughed to himself over a joke that didn't seem to get spoken to me, as he opened up the parchment that had the mission intel. He then stopped.

"Well?"

"… Looks like you'll get a chance to meet the princess after all."

"How so?" I asked as we left the tavern.

"She's the target."

"Her birthday, hm?"

"An extra measure if protection, if you will."

"Stupid." I summed that up. "Everyone knows the races have been at a complete peace since the Great war 5 years ago."

"Now I'm the one surprized." He spoke. "You were only 10 at the time, right?"

"What of it?"

"Nothing. Just surprizing you'd know about that.

"Either way. When do we start? End?"

"Till the day after her Birthday, starting tomarrow."

"We'll stay at the castle?"

"They've got it all covered."

"Great." I said, half scarcastly. "A life of luxery for 2 weeks."

"I know! Isn't it great?" He said like a little school boy.

"As long as I don't get attached."

"To what? The castle, or the princess?"

Joke. I knew that HAD to be a joke. "This isn't some crazy love story, Alex." I remarked as I turned to the alleyway I called home.

"Just sayin, Zach. Just sayin."

Yes, Typos and random capitalizations were abound in this chapter. Unfortunatly, for some reason, my Word spell-checker isn't picking up any of them. God do I need XP.

You want MORE of that? Yes? No? Well, it all depends on if you want it. And MY MOTIVATION!

-Zdr