A/N: Me again. Hope everyone liked chapter 1, chapter 2 is now ready to go, and here it is! Let me know what you think.
-o-
Link's head still buzzed with his new knowledge. The Hero. Farore. The Triforce. Evil. Him. For he fitted into all of this, at least according to the Elder. Personally Link felt that he fitted in just fine in Fallhollow Village, with Faru and Quin and the rest. And right now what he wanted more than anything else was to fit into his bed. But he knew he could never disappoint the Elder.
But where could he even start? Two bearers of the marks of the Goddesses and a great evil somewhere in the land of Hyrule, and he had never even left Faron Woods. How was he supposed to find them? He decided to go back to his house, in case one of them had decided to take up residence there. He fished under his bed until his fingertips brushed something soft. He pulled out the green tunic and held it up. The Elder had given it to him on his tenth birthday, on one of the few times he had seen the old man other than tonight, and told him that he would need it one day when he was old enough to wear it. Link supposed now was that time, as it would be easier to move and fight in than his normal village clothes.
He hurriedly pulled the tunic over his head, then headed out the door, returning a few seconds later. He examined his sword, laying where he had left it propped against the wall. He picked it up, and after a moment's hesitation strapped it on his back. He wasn't very good with it yet, having had only a few hours' practice, but even if there were no monsters in the woods he had heard stories about attacks in other parts of Hyrule. He hoped that maybe any monsters would be so scared by the sight of him wielding a sharp piece of metal they wouldn't realise he was just as likely to injure himself with it as them. Finally ready, he left his house, jumped to the ground and headed for the gates of the village. Just as he reached them, a figure stepped out of the shadows to his left. His hand reached instinctively for the hilt of his sword, stopping when he recognised the red hair even in the pale pre-dawn light.
'What are you doing out this early?' she whispered, clearly not wanting to be discovered. 'You're never up before noon! And why are you dressed like that? Where are you going?' Link stilled the barrage of questions with one of his own.
'What are you doing here? Spying on me again?' For a moment Quin looked hurt by the rough tone of his questions, but it was gone in an instant.
'I saw you coming out of the Elder's house! Link, what's going on? You're scaring me!' Link stopped, shocked. This was the first time he had ever heard his rival admit to any kind of weakness, and he realised she was genuinely worried.
'Look Quin, I don't have time to explain now. The Elder sent me out on… an errand. I need to leave now, but I promise I'll be back soon, okay?' Quin couldn't hide the relief on her face, but it was still mingled with concern. Link opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could say a word the breath was knocked out of him as Quin hugged him tightly.
'Just promise me you won't get killed, dumbass,' she whispered in his ear. 'Otherwise I'd have to start hating someone else.' With that she ran off back to her own house, leaving Link dumbfounded.
-o-
Link was still pondering Quin's strange actions as he wandered through the woods, the sun now high in the sky. What she had shown was almost like affection for Link, something he had never seen her show before for anyone. He was shaken out of his thoughts as the trail he was following split in two before him. He had decided that the best way to find the other Chosen Ones was to leave Faron Woods entirely and explore the rest of Hyrule. With any luck, the other two wouldn't be as good at hiding their identities as he was (as he had managed to hide even from himself), so hopefully he would find some clue as to where to search. He knew it was a vague hope and unlikely to work, but at that moment he felt so completely lost that surely any step, no matter which way, would be in the right direction.
Link hesitated, then took the path that led to the north, as this was the shortest way to the edge of the forest. As he did so, he heard a crack to his right. He turned, and two deep blue eyes stared back at him. Link gasped as he recognised the girl from the tree he had seen the day before. She looked shocked; clearly she hadn't expected him to see her. Suddenly she turned and fled through the woods.
It took Link several seconds to register what had just happened, but when he did he immediately set off after the retreating figure of the girl. He was fast, but so was she, and unlike Link she seemed to know where she was going. Several times he called out to her to wait, but she either didn't hear him or ignored him. Finally Link burst out into a small glade, and his eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright sunlight after the dappled shade of the dense forest. He looked around, taking in the single tree at the centre of the glade and a small waterfall leading to a pool at the back, but the girl had vanished.
Cursing inwardly at having failed to solve the mystery again, Link was about to leave when he heard someone land hard on the ground behind him. He turned but was immediately met by a sharp sword pressed against his throat. The girl stood in front of him, azure eyes narrowed.
'Who are you? Why are you following me?' she asked. Link just stared, open mouthed, but finally managed to speak.
'I was going to ask you the same thing! First at the tree yesterday, then watching me with Tam, then just now! Why are you following me?' The girl just scowled more deeply, then lowered her sword and turned away. Link realised that she was going to leave yet again, so he quickly drew his own sword.
'Please tell me you didn't just do that,' the girl said quietly, her back still turned. Link swallowed hard. He hadn't thought this through, hoping that the idea of being faced with a sword would be enough to stop the girl. But as he took in her rough clothes, easy to fight in, the well-worn sheath on her back and the practiced grip she had on the sword still in her hand, he realised that this girl was very likely a much more experienced fighter than he was. At the very least, she didn't look like the kind of person who would be scared by a mere sword. She sighed.
'I really don't want to fight you, kid. I saw you and your friends yesterday. No offense, but you are the worst swordsman I've ever seen, and that's saying something.' Link's apprehension turned to anger at this, and he held his sword with more authority. For the second time in two days, he felt a strange power in his arm, and as he looked down he saw the mark on his hand glowing faintly. The girl sighed again, then swung round and met his sword with her own.
'So be it. If you want to get yourself killed that badly, I'd be happy to oblige.' Without warning she swung her sword, aiming a blow directly at Link's head. He blocked it, but was unprepared for her second attack, which left him with a shallow cut across his ribs. He lunged, aiming to slash the girl's thigh, but was parried and her counter-attack cut a searing line across Link's shoulder. As he desperately blocked more furious attacks, Link wished fervently that he had listened to his instincts: the girl was a far better fighter than him, and he was being beaten easily.
Suddenly the tip of the girl's sword was behind the hilt of Link's own, and with a flick of her wrist she disarmed him, tossing his sword to the other side of the clearing. Before he could react, her foot swept his legs out from under him and as he tried to get up he felt her sword once again pressed against his neck. He stared up at her. He knew he was beaten, but surely she wouldn't kill him? But her cold eyes made him doubtful. Suddenly the sword was pulled away and her hand replaced it. Link kept staring, now truly confused, and as he looked he saw what he had originally thought was a scar on the girl's hand was a bluish mark, made up of three circles each with a crescent moon, a symbol he recognised as that of Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom.
Despite his shock he eventually recovered enough to grasp her hand with his own, and the girl pulled him up. As she did so however, Link's mark of Farore glowed brightly, making him gasp. The girl appeared not to notice this, as she turned away and sheathed her sword. Link, still absorbed in his hand, looked up at her in surprise. He was still confused as to why she hadn't killed him, and now she was putting away her own weapon? Clearly she felt he wasn't going to put up a fight, and he agreed with her. The many wounds she had inflicted were nothing more than cuts, but they still stung and he wasn't in a hurry to acquire any more. She laughed at the expression on his face.
'You look surprised, kid. Don't be. I admire fighting skill, and you were pretty good.' She smirked. 'Well, for a guy.' Link narrowed his eyes at this. The mystery girl was starting to remind him a lot of Quin. He went to retrieve his sword when he noticed the girl preparing to leave.
'Wait, who are you? You still haven't said why you were following me!' The girl sighed, but stopped.
'Look, kid- What's your name? Link?' The girl paused for a minute, almost as if she recognised the name. 'Well alright. Look Link, you don't need to worry about me. I followed you because I thought I knew you, but seeing you now I realise I was mistaken. Anyway, it looks like you're leaving these woods, and I've got no reason to follow, so I guess this is the last you'll see of me.'
Something in her tone made Link blurt out, 'Come with me!' The girl stared at him in shock, mirrored on Link's own face. He had no idea why he'd said that, and he was sure the girl would laugh at him again, but she just stared.
'…What did you say?'
Spurred on by her confusion, Link replied, 'Come with me. I've got this great quest thing I need to do and I have no idea how to do it and you've got that weird mark thing like I do and I was supposed to find you and I could really use your help!' He paused for breath and the girl was still staring.
'What mark?' she asked suspiciously. Link was relieved that she hadn't immediately bolted, so he held up his own hand.
'This one, the Mark of Farore. You've got the Mark of Nayru. I need to find someone with the Mark of Din so that together we can defeat some great evil that's apparently been threatening Hyrule.'
'You know about that?' the girl asked quietly. 'About that evil being?'
'No,' replied Link, 'which is why I need you to come with me. I don't know what I'm doing. I've never heard anything about evil other than occasional monster sightings, and if you do know about this then I'm going to need you.' He was still calming down from his earlier outburst, and the change in the girl's manner alarmed him. But equally mystifying was her mention of an 'evil being'. Link suspected that the girl knew a lot more than she was telling him, but he also knew that he needed her knowledge if he was going to make any progress. Mixed with this was his elation at already having found one of the two people the Elder told him to find. But while he was running this though in his mind, the girl was still silent. Then she shook her head slowly.
'I… I can't help you. I'm sorry. But I can't go through that again.' Without another word she ran off between the trees.
-o-
This time Link didn't hesitate to run after her, unwilling to lose her again. But to his surprise after a short time the girl slowed, and as Link approached he saw the signs of a rudimentary camp, with a pack, food and the remains of a fire. He decided that this was probably the closest thing the girl had to a home. As he got nearer to her she turned and was about to speak, most likely to tell him to leave her alone, when Link spoke first.
'What happened? What can't you go through again? Why won't you help me?'
The girl now had some of her old fire in her eyes as she replied, 'Remember when I told you earlier not to worry about me? You'd do well to take that advice.' Link was about to retort, but thought better of it. Evidently whatever had happened was not something she wanted to talk about, especially to a stranger. But Link did need her help, so he continued.
'Look, I know you're immediately going to say no to this, but please just hear me out. My village is near here. Actually you probably already know that, but anyway. There's an old man there, the Elder, who told me about all of this. Could you just come with me to see him? After that I promise I'll leave you alone. You'll never see me again if you don't want to.' The girl appeared to be considering this when a horn sounded between the trees. Immediately she drew her sword.
'Bokoblins. Can you fight? Because if you can't, or you won't, then stay out of my way.' Link replied by drawing his own sword. 'Good. But seriously, I'm not going to babysit you. These monsters aren't too strong, but they can still kick your ass if you don't watch what you're doing. Just try to stay alive, okay? We'll talk afterwards.' Link had no time to reply for at that moment four red monsters burst through the trees, each brandishing a short sword.
The girl immediately swung into action, slashing at the nearest two. Link followed her lead and leapt at one of the others, who blocked, throwing Link off balance. Its friend slashed at Link, but he rolled out of the way just in time, then stabbed upwards with his own blade and managed to injure one of the Bokoblins. It retreated, yelling in gibberish to its friend, giving Link time to check on his companion. She had already taken down one of the monsters, and as he watched she executed a spin attack, knocking the other one to the ground. Before it could get up she leapt up into the air and landed with her sword down, straight through the Bokoblin's heart.
Link suddenly realised how grateful he was that the girl was on his side. He also realised that the girl had been going easy on him when they fought before. Very easy. He turned at the sound of a cry and blocked a wild attack from the uninjured Bokoblin, before slicing across its chest and stabbing it through the leg, causing it to fall. Link hesitated, unwilling to kill his handicapped opponent, but at that moment the choice was made for him as he felt a sharp blade slice down his back. He grunted in pain, then turned and cleanly ran the final Bokoblin through with his sword.
He heard another animal yell from behind him, and out of the corner of his eye saw the formerly fallen Bokoblin lunging at him with its sword. Link had no time to raise his sword and was bracing himself for the skull-cracking impact when the monster's chest suddenly sprouted a sword. The thing stopped, looking down stupidly, before the sword was withdrawn and the Bokoblin fell to the ground dead, revealing the girl behind it holding her bloodied sword.
For a few moments the two Hylians stared at each other and the carnage in the formerly peaceful clearing, too out of breath to do anything else. Then as the adrenaline left him Link's back screamed in pain, causing him to cry out. The girl's eyes widened, then she ran to the other side of the clearing. As Link's vision became blurred from the pain he felt betrayed, that the girl was running off to leave him to die, but as he collapsed to the ground she ran back, holding something red in her hand.
'Drink this! Quickly!' she said, and with the last of his strength Link obeyed. The liquid tasted familiar, and he recognised it as healing red potion. Thank the Goddesses the girl had had some with her.
As the pain in his back faded and his vision returned to normal, Link managed to gasp out the words, 'Thank you.'
'Don't mention it.' The girl replied. She looked at him critically and a sly grin crossed her face. 'You were right. You really can't take care of yourself, can you? Okay, I guess I could come see this Elder person with you. I mean, if I don't you're just going to get yourself killed, aren't you?' Despite her insults Link was relieved by her words. Finally, he was getting somewhere. He only hoped the Elder would be less cryptic than last time. The girl helped him up, gathered her few belongings, which comprised of her pack with her sword, blanket and an old book, and came over to Link. 'We'd better get back to that village of yours.' With that, she set off, leaving Link still standing there. She looked over her shoulder and called back, 'By the way, my name's Zelda.'
