In the Land of the Stream of Life
"The patent in E4 is waking up." Rang a voice over the intercom.
"That's good to hear." Commented a nurse who was leading the bartender from 7th Heaven, a twenty-tree year old with long, raven hair and wine-coloured eyes in black clothing, to the said room. "You may get to actually question him."
"Maybe." Tifa nodded. "What happened to his weapons?"
"The Turks took them for examination." The nurse stopped at room E4. "There you are, Ms Lockheart."
"Thank you." Tifa nodded as she started into the room.
This was becomming a regular occurence; people dressed strangely appearing out of no where. So regular, the Turks got her to help them out in questioning those people. This guy, well, he was pretty baddly banged up. Tifa doubted he'd remember what happened to him. In her left hand was a clipboard with many sheets of paper on it, most of them questions she was required to have answered. Luckily for her, this was only a part-time job, and Marlene, although she was only six, was pretty good at covering those off-peak times.
Link glanced at the door as it opened. He was still in his normal, blood-stained green tunic, but his hat was cast aside on a table, and his mud-covered boots on the ground beside him. His weapons, rupees, everything was gone. He watched the raven-haired woman enter. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed, hands in his lap.
"Who're you?" He asked.
"My name's Tifa Lockheart. I'm here representing the ShinRa Turks. You are?" Answered the bartender calmly. After doing this so many times, she got used to the introduction.
"Link."
"Link what?"
"Just Link. I haven't a last name."
"Oh." Tifa sat in a chair beside the bed. "How're you feeling?"
"Besides the fact that I just woke up having no clue of where I am, and my head's killin me, I'm fine."
"You're in Edge, Link." He gave Tifa a blank stare. "The town around the ruined city of Midgar."
"Edge? Midgar? Where in Farore's name am I?" Link raised an eyebrow.
"Who's Farore?" Tifa asked. Link gave her a dull look as if to say 'you're not too bright, are you?'
"The Goddess of Wind and Courage."
"Is that according to your hometown's beliefs?"
"Yes."
"Alright... Do you remember anything before you came here?" A silence lingered for a few moments, before Link spoke.
"Yes. I was fighting my Shadow in the Lost Woods, unaware of a good friend of mine watching. We fought for awhile, but I misjudged them, and they took advantage of that. They were about to kill me, when my friend, a Sheikha called Sheik, who's also the princess of my kingdom, jumped from the shadows and took the blow, but it went through her, and stabbed me..." He choked on a few words. "I drug the two of us out of the woods, headed for a near by village. I made it to the steps, then collasped. I then blacked out. I don't remember anything after that."
"Lost Woods?"
"A forest where trasspassers become walking skeletons."
"Sheikha?"
"A ninja-like race favouring Shadows over Light."
"Kingdom? Where are you from, anyway?"
"The Kingdom of Hyrule." Link answered. Then it dawned on him. This was just like the Termina incident. He wasn't even in the same world as Hyrule anymore. "You... wouldn't have heard of it."
"What became of your friend?"
"As far as I know, she made it alive."
Silence as Tifa scribbled some things down on the clipboard.
"How long have I been here for?" Link asked.
"A few months, I guess." Tifa answered him. "Just long enough for you to recover. They should allow you to leave soon. Now," Tifa stood up. "I'll be leaving." With that, she left.
Tifa walked back to the bar, scribbling answers down on the papers. She glanced up at a motorcycle parked outside the bar.
"Cloud must be home." She commented, before entering the bar, which had closed while she was gone. She closed the door behind her, smiling at the familiar setting. Some chairs were up on tables, and a spikey-haired blond man around her age was putting chairs on the remaining few tables. Tifa smiled at him.
"Hey, Cloud." She spoke.
"Tifa!" Two children, a boy and a girl, both around 6 years of age, popped up from behind the counter. They both had brown hair. The blond stopped and walked over to her. His clothing was a navy blue.
"Hey, Tifa." His eyes had signs of tiredness in them, but you could tell he was trying to hide it.
"You go upstairs, I'll finish up." Tifa turned to one of the tables.
"Where've you been, anyway?" Cloud asked. Both children looked at Tifa in alarm. Both of them had been told of her connection to the Turks, but Cloud hadn't. And Tifa doubted that he'd be very happy upon hearing that she was working for the company that practically ruined his life.
"In town." Tifa replied.
"What's on the clipboard?"
"Stuff."
"Can I see it?"
"Why? Do you need to?"
"Maybe."
"Marlene, Denzel, go upstairs, please." Tifa turned to the two kids, who nodded and darted up the stairs to their room.
"Tifa, I know you're hiding something." Cloud said, a serious tone in his voice. Tifa sat the clipboard down on the table and leaned against it as the blond with glowing blue eyes picked it up and read through the papers. "You're working for the Turks."
"No, helping out." Tifa replied. "You've heard of the strange appearances of people seemingly from other worlds, right?"
"Ya..." Cloud looked through the paper. "You've interveiwed four people so far?"
"Yes."
"What about Marlene and Denzel?"
"They'll be fine."
"You know what it gets like when someone gets too drunk."
"I know." Tifa nodded. "They're not the only ones. Reno's also interveiwing people."
"Just, be careful, Tifa. You know how ShinRa can ruin someone's life."
"I know." Tifa whispered. Cloud put the clipboard back on the table, and went upstairs, leaving the raven-haired bartender standing there.
A couple days passed, and Link was finally released into Edge. He hadn't any money, only something that told him to go to 7th Heaven as soon as possible, but he hadn't a clue where that was. His clothes were outlandish for this town, but without any money, he couldn't buy anything that fit in. Plus, his tunic was still blood-stained, as no one had bothered to wash it while he was unconscious. He constantly played the Ocarina of Time, hoping to feel the connection of magic he usually had, but it never returned. He felt cut off from magic, from home. Not even the Triforce responded to anything. The symbol just looked like an adverage tattoo.
Occasionally, a few people would listen to him play various songs he'd learned in his journey, and songs he'd composed himself. Someone threw him a couple 'gil', as everyone called it, just enough to buy a half-decent meal, that actually had meat in it. He wasn't sure what type of meat it was, but it tasted a lot like cucco. He was unable to read the signs, as the Hylian runes were different to the runes of this world. He sighed; he had no weapons, no money, nothing. A few more days passed.
One day as he wandered through Edge near sunset, the voice of a shopkeeper rang out. He reconigsed it almost immedietly
"GET OUT!" He looked over to see Tifa kick one obviously drunk man out of a bar.
"She's awefully angry." The man said in drunken slurr as he passed Link, tottering about and walking in zig-zags. Tifa then noticed Link as she turned to go back inside.
"Link!" She motioned for him to enter. He did so, following her inside. Standing at the bar was a man with spikey blonde hair and glowing blue eyes. "Link, meet Cloud, Cloud meet Link." She introduced the two of them, before taking over the bartending duties. Cloud, smartly, got out from behind the bar. Link glanced around at the pairs of eyes watching him, but took no notice. The bar was unusually crowded, much more crowded than the bar in Castle Town by far.
"So, you're Link." Cloud walked over to the Hylian.
"Yes." Link nodded.
"What happened to your ear?" Cloud indicated his left ear. Link's hand shot up to his pointed ear, and gasped. He couldn't feel a point on his ear anymore. He raised his hand to his other ear and found it to be pointed as normal. Cloud walked over to Tifa, noting the expression on Link's face.
"What's with him?" He whispered.
"I don't know." Tifa replied, whipping a glass with a cloth. She checked the clock. "One hour 'till closing." She told Cloud, who nodded and passed it on to the patrons.
About a half hour passed, and Tifa walked over to Link.
"What's wrong?"
Link shook his head.
"Want something to drink?"
"I haven't any money."
"On the house." Tifa turned back to the bar, pausing. "Just come over if you want anything." She added.
Link gave in a few moments later, but not knowing what any of the drinks tasted like, he told Tifa to pick something. She nodded, and handed him a glass of beer. Link drank slowly. It was the first time in awhile he had actually thought about home, about the Sages, Zelda, who, as far as he knew, could be dead. He got lost in his thoughts, and sat there until awhile after closing. Neither Tifa, nor Cloud bothered him as they started cleaning up.
"Link." Tifa lightly shook his shoulder. Link looked over at her.
"Yes?" He asked her.
"You haven't any money or place to live, so... how about you work here with us in exchange for lodging and a bit of money?" She asked.
"You sure?" He asked. Tifa nodded.
"Plus, we need someone to keep an eye on Marlene and Denzel, the two kids living with us, when both me and Cloud are gone. Marlene can work the bar pretty well, so we needn't worry about that. What I worry about is some of the drunks we get here."
"Alright, then." Link nodded.
"Here." Tifa passed him a plastic bag before starting towards the stairs. "Oh, the guest room is the one across from the bathroom." She added before going up. Link looked in the bag, seeing that it had clothing probably bought from the local clothing shop. He smiled, before heading upstairs, and into the guest room.
Link woke early the next morning. He had changed into the clothes Tifa had given him durring the night; a pair of black pants and a grey shirt, on top of which he wore a grey hooded jacket with the hood down. He headed downstairs, finding Tifa putting chairs down onto the floor. Link silently helped her with the remaining tables, showing that he'd get to work straight away. Suddenly, jolting both and breaking the silence, a knock rang on the door.
"Tifa, it's me." Rang a man's voice. Tifa walked over to the door and opened it. A man in clothing the colour of Cloud's, but more like suits than battle clothing, with long red hair tied back in a pony tail entered. He had goggles on his forehead, something Link had to stop himself from raising an eyebrow at.
"Reno, what's up?" Tifa asked.
"Just stopping by. Got your text last night."
"Ah." Tifa nodded. Reno turned to Link.
"Ah, so you're the newest edition to inter-world travellers."
"Apparently." Link shrugged.
"Alright. Tifa, Link, mind comming over today some time?"
"I don't." Tifa replied. "Cloud's got today off again, so I don't need to worry about Marlene and Denzel."
"Alright. I'll see you again." With that, Reno turned and left.
"He wasn't exactly to the point." Link commented.
"But it was brief. The Turks are like that." Tifa told him as they returned to preparing the place for opening.
Link served drinks while Tifa made them and told him which table to take them to. At noon, Cloud took over as Tifa and Link left.
"Where're we going?" Link asked her as they started walking.
"There's a building currently being used as 'Turk HQ' right now. That's where we're going." Tifa replied.
Link was still trying to get used to life here. The air stank. It wasn't clean like the air in Hyrule, and at times it was so polluted he had a hard time breathing. A gunshot rang in the distance, causing Link to jump.
"What... was that?" He asked Tifa.
"I dunno... let's check it out." She turned in the direction of the noise, where a commotion was starting.
"What's going on?" Tifa asked a light-haired man in the crowd.
"Tseng of the Turks just shot a member of a resistance band." Replied the man.
"What are they against?" Tifa asked, a look of familiarity in her eyes.
"This inter-world investigation." With that, the man turned away. Link and Tifa pushed their way to the front, watching as two people in outfits like Reno's started walking away - a man with black hair down to his shoulders, and a woman with short, blond hair.
"That's Tseng and Elena." Tifa told Link quietly. "We'll probably be seeing them again." Link nodded, glancing around. Whoever had been shot was gone. "You okay?"
"Hm? Oh, ya, I'm fine." Link replied.
"Let's go, then." Tifa turned with Link following behind her.
After a bit of walking, Tifa stopped at a three-story building, before knocking on the mahogany door.
"Who is it?" Rang Reno's voice.
"Tifa."
With that, the door opened, although no one was there, Link entering behind Tifa. The bartender led him into a high-tech room with a circular table in the center, motioning for him to sit down in a chair, before she sat in the one next to it.
They sat for a few minutes, before Reno, a bald man in the same clothing, and the two Link had seen in town entered, sitting in four other chairs on the other side of the table.
"Your name's Link, right?" Asked the black-haired man in a tone of authority.
"Yes." Link nodded.
"My name in Tseng, to my right is Elena," he motioned to the blond. "To my left is Rude and beside him is Reno, whom you've already met." Link nodded in reply.
"Where are you from, Link?" Elena asked him.
"Hyrule. Somewhere in another world." Link replied. "This isn't the first time I've ended up in a world other than Hyrule."
"What was the first?" Elena asked, curious.
"I fell down a seemingly bottomless pit while chasing someone who stole my horse, and ended up having to save that world from an evil..." He paused, noticing how stupid the next word would sound to them. "Mask." Elena bit her lip, in what Link could tell was her way to keep from laughing. "Magic's the lifeblood of my home, and the worlds closest to it, like Termina, the world I ended up in last time." Elena blinked.
"Link." Tseng spoke. "Can you remember from when you awoke, what happened the day you fell unconscious before waking up here?"
"Would dawn be okay?" Link asked, getting blank looks in responce. "I'd been traveling that night, and hadn't slept." He answered the unanswered question. Tseng nodded.
"I had reached the edge of the forest at dawn, and proceded in cautiously. I'd been sent there by the Princess of my kingdom to investigate something about an unnatural shadow tormenting the natives of the forest, the Kokiri, something identified by her mentor and guardian as a Shadow Incantation, created from the darkness in someone's heart, their opposite. After I wandered for awhile, I came to a clearing, where the shadow was standing in the center. I slowly moved closer, when he suddenly turned to face me. The shadow was my shadow, something I thought I destroyed years before. But his return reminded me of something; that timeline was destroyed to create peace." Link paused, looking down. "We fought for awhile, the entire time unaware of the person watching us. We could tell what the other would do next, and how to counter it, for our moves, weapons and abilities were the same. But I misjudged him at one point, when he used a combination of moves I normally wouldn't. A moment before he would've killed me, the person watching us burst from one of the trees, and got in the way of his attack, taking the brunt of the blow. His sword stabbed through her, and got me as well. I don't remember much after that..." The formerly silent Turks looked at each other, as if the tale was unbelievable.
"Why were you sent in?" Reno asked.
"I was the hero of the land, known in the legends as the Hero of Time." Link was going to continue, but Elena cut him off.
"The one chosen to weild the Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword?"
"Y-yes." Link stuttered. "How?"
"We had another Hylian here a few days ago, along with a regular world traveller and his companions, who are residents of this world, and a few others." Elena earned a warning glare from Tseng.
"...S-" Tifa was going to say something, but stopped herself when the Turks glared at her.
"Who was the Hylian?" Link asked, trying to keep his excitement hidden, but failed, miserably.
"A ten year old girl." Tseng started. "She was weak, and startled. She always seemed to feel like something was missing. We sent her to Kalm with other inter-world travellers, where we're going to try to reunite people from the same worlds."
"What about the resistance group?" Tifa asked. "What's being done to stop them?"
"The Turks are working on that as we speak, Tifa." Tseng answered, before looking to Link. "We're going to have to ask you to go to Kalm in about a week's time with us." Link nodded. "For now, you two may return to 7th Heaven. We'll keep you updated."
Link and Tifa nodded, standing and leaving the building.
"Tifa, what were you going to say earlier, when Elena mentioned that they'd talked to some people a few days ago?" Link asked the bartender as they started back towards the bar.
"Nothing important." She answered as they arrived back at the bar and walked in. She walked over to Cloud, who'd been standing in the corner, watching the room. A young girl, only around six with brown hair, braided with a red ribbon tied in it, was behind the counter. Tifa said a few things to Cloud quietly, before taking over from the girl. "Go upstairs, Marlene." She said to the girl, who nodded and left.
Link watched the scene unconsciously, deep in thought. Another Hylian, here? In the town he'd be going to in a week's time? He had a bad feeling about it deep down, but he had to go to Kalm. He tried to think of a ten year old girl he knew, and came up with the names of a few Kokiri. He hoped that it wasn't a Kokiri, with all his heart. If it was... they wouldn't last more than a month, if lucky.
