Chapter One: Setting the Stage

"No, wait!," Link yelled, hoping to stop what was happening. But it was already too late. His voice was too high pitched, the weight on his back too light, and the blue glow surrounding the teen-turned-boy far, far too bright. He took his hands off the Master Sword only with regret. The sword had been his companion for many months in the quest to restore the Sages, and it would've been a blatant lie to say he hadn't become attached to the legendary blade.

Link quickly searched his body, as well as a magic pouch he'd had for longer than he could remember, for gear. There wasn't much to find. No boomerang, no bombs, no slingshot and no spells. Link didn't even have any Deku Sticks. His total inventory consisted of Kokiri Sword, Deku Shield, Deku Nuts, and Fairy Ocarina.

"I'm sorry, Link," Navi suddenly spoke up, voice betraying great sadness, "but I can't be your companion anymore. I've gotta go now." Before Link could say a word, she flew up and out the window at the back of the temple. Link was also sad, extremely so, but he couldn't help reminiscing at the irony of their first meeting. She'd been so annoyed then, but in the two years of their lives it had taken to complete this mad quest, the two had really grown close. It was then, in the middle of reminiscing, that the boy realized that he actually had two sets of memories.

The first was familiar, one Link knew he'd experienced. It involved the Deku Tree's death and the spiritual stones, and it connected to his memories of the alternate timeline. The second set was different. In this set of memories, although Mido had still been annoyingly stubborn and made Link get a sword and shield, the Deku Tree had been fine, and merely told Link of his heritage. Link had left the forest, been given his Ocarina by Saria, and then journeyed to castle town in search of answers. He'd found the door of time open and tried to pull out the Master Sword, failing to do so. They ended there, as he stood, linking the boy perfectly to his situation. New memories for a new timeline, he supposed.

Link sent a silent prayer to the goddesses for their actions. The deities may not have sent him back, and he really hadn't wanted it, either, but they'd certainly done their best to enforce Zelda's wish, and for that the boy was yet thankful. He felt comforting heat in his left hand, and looked down to see the Triforce of Courage glowing faintly, silent acknowledgment from the goddesses. At least he still had that, for all the good it did him. He walked through the door of time, and it slid shut behind him, further closing Link off from the Master Sword, and he looked down to see that the spiritual stones were also absent. First, Link tried a warp song, the Minuet of Forest. A breeze picked up, his clothing fluttered, a faint smell of grass carried through the air. But ultimately, the spell failed. He sighed. Just one more thing that he could no longer do. The newly former hero left the temple, turmoil in his mind reducing him once more to just a boy.

As Link wandered through Castle Town, he became even more confused. His new-could he call them false?- memories were telling him to be in awe, just like a child should, just like he had been every other time he'd been through the place before drawing the Master Sword. But Link's old memories were too strong. Through them, he saw redeads, shriveled, desolate corpses with leathery skin, and screeches that could paralyze the strongest man. He saw burnt-out buildings, the bare ashen husks of the same ones he saw before him. Link saw bleak sky and blood-soaked ground, choked with ash and evil from the nearby castle and it's dark master. From them, Link inherited instincts, alert and ready for battle even there, the boy's hand already reaching for the boomerang his body refused to believe was not waiting at his belt.

It had taken Link weeks to master the weapon, it's nuances and quirks, but that had been the last weapon Link had ever needed to master. When the boy had awakened from his seven-year sleep as a teenager, as a hero, Link had assumed that his body was compensating for his mind when he moved about, his motions fluid and natural. When Link had wielded the Master Sword for the first time, the blade perfectly balanced, his movements perfectly executed, he had assumed it was the mystical nature of the sword itself that allowed it's instant mastery.

But when Link had won the race against Dante's ghost and been given the hookshot, there was no denying it. Before the ghost had even given him instructions, Link had found the triggers, launch and release. He knew trajectories, gravity, the length of the chain, the exact amount of force behind it. Link knew, in that crowded square with a child's body, that even if he so much as pried up a flagstone, he'd know exactly how to use it as a weapon. The Triforce of Courage would help it's bearer. In the graveyard, with the hookshot, Link had realized this, and been glad for it, but in the castle square, with his mission done, Link felt the shadow of a thought, a feeling which would soon grow into hatred, a wicked, bitter contempt for this so-called gift the goddesses had seen fit to bestow upon him.

The people of castle town did not know of Link, of his trials or of his troubles, but one thing was certain even to them, and that was that the oddly dressed, carefree child with the fairy who had wandered into the temple of time minutes before, like so many others, could not be the same individual who had just come out of it. Only the fairy's absence was outwardly different, but this new individual was darker somehow. He was grim, sorrowful, serious. Somehow, they knew that whatever he had experienced in those few minutes within the temple had stripped the boy of his innocence, and had changed him irrevocably. As Link walked slowly through the town and across its drawbridge, crowds parted for him to move by, and he knew that they recognized his difference, and it saddened him.

Link visited the Gorons. There was nothing wrong with them. The gate to the path had never been locked and Dodongo's Cavern had never been tampered with. Link visited the Zoras. They were also perfectly alright, and like all the Hylians and all the Gorons were completely ignorant of the alternate timeline. Link visited the Gerudo. Well, he tried to at least, and before getting kicked out managed to learn that Ganondorf had never existed. The one male, destined to be born every hundred years, simply hadn't been. This, like the pieces of the Triforce, was one thing that could not be reversed. Ganondorf's soul was already trapped in the Sacred Realm, and when seven years passed, the sages would be taking up the mantle of his continued imprisonment.

Finally, the only thing left for the boy to do was go back to the Kokiri, but even there he felt unease, for Link was no longer a child, and the forest no longer his home. Eventually, after a week of meaningless travel, Link settled at Lon Lon Ranch, still burdened by his experiences.


A/N: It may or may not be obvious, but this is a rewrite(well, more of a re-imagining), of the first example of fanfiction I've ever written. This was almost three years ago, in seventh grade, and subsequently ended up as absolute crap. I've actually been sitting on this and the prologue since last summer, but progress on the second chapter, which is much more interesting, has slowed down a lot. I kinda saw this coming, and was going to wait until the whole thing was done before posting, but now I've decided that a review or two could be just the thing to get my ass moving. So yes, needless to say, please review. It would be awesome if it had some specific points in it, but honestly a simple positive review would be awesome. Not to say that i don't tolerate negative reviews, just so long as they're constructive and/or specific.