Authors Note: I swear it will get better from here… this is just the prologue.
Boots pounded down the cobblestone street as a small Deku boy crashed through the crowd. He could hear the guards, and an angry merchant, yelling.
"Stop!"
"Halt!"
"You thief!"
He clutched a sack protectively to his chest as he stumbled on a loose stone and nearly fell. He righted himself and continued running, weaving between people in a frustrating zigzag pattern. He could see town guards in front of him now. He veered to left, his floppy hat nearly falling off his wooden head as he darted down a narrow alley. He then slowed, noticing a strange purple glow emanating from an abandoned shop's window.
"I've got you now, Deku kid."
He felt a gloved hand grab at his shoulder and reflexively jerked away, diving through the window of the shop. There was a loud hissing sound, and the glow faded. When the guards kicked down the door they found it empty, with no sign of the violet light.
Katonju lay back and stretched happily, feeling the sun warm her face. She laughed, and said gleefully, "This is so great! It's so dark in town all the time, but out here in Zora Bay..." She didn't bother to finish. Jimmi, her best friend, always knew what she meant anyway. He nodded, seeming strangely nervous, and twisted his hands together. "Er, Katonju--"
"Relax; my mom would never leave the inn, what with the festival coming up and all the people needing somewhere to stay. Besides, she thinks I'm studying zombies in Ikana with your mom."
"No, I need to say... oh never mind."
Katonju looked at him for a moment, trying to decipher his strange hesitation. Then she sighed. Things had become complicated between them over the past years for some reason. Jimmi asked her quietly,
"Are you going to the concert tonight?"
"Of course I am! I never miss a Zora concert!" Micki, Lou, and Jessjess, some of her Zora friends, were in a band called the Indigogos. They played with their mother and their mother's friends. Their four siblings, however, had found other professions. For instance, Evvi was a treasure hunter, while Reia ran a boomerang game at the beach, not far from where they currently were.
"Wait." Katonju snapped out of her reverie, listening intently. The sound of hoof beats echoed against the cliffs. The two teenagers could hear a quiet voice they both recognized.
"Good morning, Fisherman. Have you seen a young girl and boy go past?"
A woman with fiery hair was questioning the Fisherman outside his hut.
"Oh, that's just great," Katonju whispered to Jimmi "It's Cremia!" Her mother must have sent her. How could she have found out so quickly?
"We should hide, maybe?" Jimmi suggested. Katonju nodded, edging along the cliff face towards the passage to the waterfall. They had only seconds before Cremia--
"Hey! I see you!"
The two teens began running. Jimmi slipped on some seaweed left by the tide, but Katonju made it to the stone passage. Jimmi heard her scream. He scrambled to his feet in time to watch her pulled by long, violet tendrils into some sort of purple portal. It shrank to a pinprick and vanished, taking Katonju with it.
On a stormy afternoon on the side of a mountain rearing out of the sea, a young Rito boy stood gazing out at the ocean. It would be his last time seeing this view as a flightless child.
"Are you ready, Aroon?" A voice asked behind him.
Without turning he knew who was speaking.
"Almost," he replied to his twin sister Allis. He gathered his thoughts and gave her an almost convincing smile, but she knew him too well. She hooked her thin, featherless arm around his. "It won't be that bad."
She led him into the main chamber where a party was already going on. He had been to many of these parties before, but this time was different. This was his party, his and his sister's, because the next day they would come of age.
At Dawn Aroon woke up. He was given nothing but water and blindfolded. He and his sister were led outside. Then their ordeal began. They removed their blindfolds and began to climb. Aroon's stomach growled loudly.
"Just a bit further," his sister laughed, reaching down from the ledge she was kneeling on to pull him up. He looked past her, over her shoulder, and saw that their goal was just ten feet away.
Allis and Aroon looked at each other.
His sister smiled. "Ladies first!"
She leaped up, grabbing at another rock spire. Aroon followed. As he hoisted himself over the edge, he saw the dragon. Valoo. Fat and red, reclining on the rocks, smoke tumbling out of his nostrils. His sister looked back at him, panting from the climb. The old attendant, Medli, hobbled forward. Aroon rolled his eyes, sure she was going to babble about the 'adventures' she'd had when she was young. None of the Rito children believed her at all. But today the attendant was silent. She merely handed them delicate wings cut out of thin, pale paper. The twins laid them on the rock before the dragon. For a moment, nothing happened, and then Valoo breathed fire, surrounding the wings with light. Instead of burning, however, the wings seemed to shrink to a pinpoint, and then began to glow. The twins stepped forward, taking their floating lights in their hands. They shut their eyes, swaying as if surrounded by a strong wind. And then it was over. They looked down at their arms, feeling a new power in their muscles and bones. Aroon shook his arm once, fiercely, watching as feathers burst out of his skin, becoming a wing. He looked up, eyes glistening with thankful tears, at Valoo.
Valoo was gone. In his place was a swirling purple portal. He stared at it, and heard music. Medli was playing her harp, a song he'd never heard before. She opened her eyes and looked straight at him.
"It's time for an adventure, boy."
A purple tentacle shot out of the portal, wrapping around his wrist, and pulling him closer to the light. Allis screamed, backing away. Then he was pulled through, and he couldn't hear her anymore.
Myro carefully tuned his Fairy Vio, holding his green hat to his side with his elbow. It was weighted down with the few rupees he'd been able to make today. His hat, along with his clothes and Gipis, his fairy, were bad for business. The towns' people seemed to all think that the small Kokiri was dressed up specially to play "The Ballad of the Hero of Time". It was a song he didn't know. When he told them this, however, they seemed disappointed. The only songs he knew were traditional to the Kokiri; dancing songs, mostly, but also a few with strange powers. He finished tuning, and tucked the small, round body of the instrument under his chin, holding the bow in his left hand and the end of the instrument in his right. He carefully put the bow to his strings, and began to play. The powerful song hung in the air, and as people turned to him, their eyes drooped tiredly. The girl nearby was already on her knees. Myro continued to play until he was the only being still on his feet in all of Castle Town Courtyard. The Zoras selling fish were sleeping leaning against a young brunette woman clutching a chicken. An old woman in a blue dress was using a small, fluffy dog as a pillow, its jeweled leash looped around her wrist. Myro lifted the bow, looking around. No one stirred. He picked his way between the sleeping forms as his fairy reprimanded him.
"This is wrong, Myro. Even if we don't have enough money for food, you shouldn't steal it!"
"Shut up, Gipis," Myro replied tiredly, swiping some bread from a small stand at the edge of the market place. He took the five rupees from his hat, all he had been able to make, and left them on the counter, nearby the hand of the owner. It was less than half of what the bread was worth. He looked around.
"You shouldn't use that song for things like that! It's sacred!" Gipis continued a running commentary, telling Myro everything that was wrong with the situation. Myro rolled his eyes.
To anyone else the small green fairy's yells would sound like random dings, but Myro, his bonded Kokiri, could understand him perfectly. Unfortunately.
"Hey, what's that?" Myro looked up at the purple light that showed around the corner.
"Urg, I feel sick. It must be magic. Don't go any closer!" Gipis instructed urgently.
Myro ignored him. "Maybe it's worth something?" He walked closer, Gipis following him. They rounded the corner. If anyone had been awake, they would have heard a yell and an alarmed ding. But no one was awake. When the townspeople were finally conscious once more, all they could find of the thief was a small, green and pointy hat lying in the dirt.
"REEN?!" Reen jumped behind a crate, hugging her mother's ornate staff close, and trying desperately hard to stay hidden.
"REEEEEEEN!"
Another scream echoed through the hall of the fortress. Reen leapt to her feet and started running. She dashed for the stairs, and sprinted up them three steps at a time. Why had she thought it was a good idea to steal her mother's Swordstaff? Sure, it had been fun to show off to her friends, to talk about how she would be Gerudo Chief one day, but when her mother found out--
"REEEEEN!!"
She winced and put on an extra burst of speed. Reen turned into a room that was divided into three: two cells with bars and one main to connect the two, with pots at the corners. She leaned against the doorway with one hand, panting. She felt a tug at the scarf around her neck, and turned. The scarf was pulled away into the cell as she turned to look.
Later, a guard entered the room, and found it empty. The Swordstaff and the Gerudo heir were not found that day.
"Tomorrow is your sixteenth birthday, Dar," his mother said.
"I know, I know, Sheikah right of passage, earrings, blahdedah I got it." Dar said tiredly. He had had this speech before. Although he was only half Sheikah, he had never known his human father, and his mother had raised him in the way of her people.
"Well, yes," his mother replied, "But there's something else. I would like you to meet someone." Dar was intrigued. He followed her out of the wing of the castle they lived in, and through the gardens. His mother greeted the guards by name as they passed. Finally, they entered the Queen's Courtyard; somewhere Dar had heard of but never entered. The court yard was surrounded on all sides by white stone walls, except for the door, and had a river running along the edge. There were flowers in square pots, and strange paintings, of creatures Dar had never seen, could be glimpsed through the windows. But Dar's eyes were drawn by the two tall Hylians standing on the raised stone dais. One was holding a well-wrapped bundle in her arms. Dar dropped to his knees before the King and Queen of Hyrule.
"Rise," Queen Zelda commanded him. "Impa, you say the boy is reliable?"
Dar's mother nodded. "Yes, Milady. His name is Dar."
The Queen nodded. "Dar, please look at me."
"Your Highness?" The regal woman placed the bonded she was holding in his arms. Dar looked down at the face of a tiny, golden haired baby.
"This is Prince Lee"
Dar drew in his breath. In his arms he held the future king of Hyrule.
"When he is older, Dar, you will be his body guard and his best friend, just as Impa was for me. You will be there whenever he needs something... Whatever happens to his father and me."
Dar looked at them, surprised.
"You never know. Just because we are monarchs does not make us immortal."
He turned his eyes on the baby in his arms, surprised by her answer. Prince Lee slowly opened large, sky-blue eyes. Then he smiled.
"Ooh, that's his first smile! I am so jealous!" Queen Zelda sounded much less regal now, and friendlier.
Dar smiled back at the baby. "Yes, your majesties. I will care for him to the best of my abilities. I-- I will give my life for him, if necessary." Zelda nodded, satisfied, as Dar handed back her son. Dar bowed to her, and then to the ever silent king. He glanced at his mother. She beamed, pride radiating off her face.
Later that night, as Dar sat in his room and remembered the Prince's first smile, a purple flash illuminated the room and he was gone.
Authors Note:
Katonju: Goddess! ANOTHER ONE?? You just can keep your mouth shut, can you?
Well, for those who were curious.
Deku boy is from Termina (you'll learn his name later.)
Katonju is as well. She is the daughter of Kafei and Anju.
Aroon is from The Great Sea (windwaker world.) Yes, that is the same Medli
Myro is from Hyrule, after Ocarina but before Twilight. (NO VAMPIRES IN THE ZELDA WORLD!!)
Reen is also from Hyrule.
Dar is from Hyrule. Just like Katonju, he is from directly after the game took place. They're the only ones whose parents are in a game. (His mom is Impa, if you missed that.)