Chapter 2

Headaches and Voices

A young Sheikah boy stands across from a young Gerudo girl out in Hyrule Fields. The two stare at each other very intensely, waiting for the other to make a move. The boy stared deep into the girls large ice blue eyes, and she into his rich red eyes. They stood there for quite a while, until the boy threw a shuriken from complete nowhere. The girl drew twin swords from her sheath and deflected the shuriken. The boy put his hand behind his back, then chucked an arrow at her, which she also deflected. The boy took out a Wakieashi and began to run towards the girl. With her twin swords drawn, she did the same. The two went hurdling towards each other, then clashed with their swords. The boy, despite having a much smaller weapon than the girl, still proved to be a strong opponent. Their swords continued to collide with each other until the boy jumped into the air and behind the girl. She spun around and stopped the boy just in time. They stood there and looked deep into each other's eyes. Then the boy smiled.

"You have beautiful eyes."

"-Anubis!"

Anubis began to laugh, and Zelda smiled.

"I'm sorry for telling the truth, Zelda!"

"It's sweet of you to say that, but still. For the love of Nayru, Anubis- we were in the middle of fighting! You can't just pull that while fighting."

"Actually, I could. It would catch them off guard."

"It didn't catch me off guard."

"That's because you were practically expecting it."

Zelda smiled as Anubis kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey Anubis!"

Anubis and Zelda both turned around and saw Link on top of his horse Faron.

"Hey Link."

"Can I talk to you real quick about something?"

"Sure." He kissed Zelda one last time on the cheek, "I'll see you later." And he was off.

"YAHOOOOOOOO, ZELDAAAAA!"

"Romani!"

Coming down the path was a wagon with a picture of a cow and "Lon-Lon Ranch" on the side, with a young woman with shocking bright red hair and big brown eyes steering the horses. Zelda ran up to the cart which the girl had stopped and smiled up at her best-best female friend Romani.

"Hop in!" Romani proclaimed, "I'll give you a ride to Hyrule Castle."

"Well thank-you, darling!"

"Always a pleasure; Hiyup!"

Romani whipped the reign on the horses and they began to move.

"Well, first off, Happy Birthday girlie!"

"Aw, thanks Romani!"

"Are you doing anything special?"

"No, just time with my family at home is fine with me."

"Aw, c'mon Zelda, you're turning 17. Why don't you do something fun for your special day?"

"Maybe because I don't want to?"

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Whaaaatever." Romani rolled her eyes dramatically.

On the ride up to Hyrule Castle, Romani and Zelda talked about a bunch of girly stuff, like boys and gossip and fashion and swords. As they passed the gates to take the road up to the castle, Zelda asked Romani a bizarre question out of the blue.

"Hey Romani, have you felt like things are…dark?"

"Dark how?"

"I don't know it's kind of hard to explain. Like…like something really bad is going to happen."

"No, I don't…are you feeling alright?"

"Other than that, yes I feel just fine."

Romani looked at Zelda curiously, then whipped the reign one more time to speed up the horses. Zelda stared up at the castle, with all of its might and beauty. Man, was she lucky not only to be best friends with the prince of Hyrule, but both her dad and stepmom being tenants in the castle. As they entered through the gates to the castle walls, a servant in about his 30s waited on them.

"Welcome Miss Romani and Miss Jin, let me lead you the way to where you're supposed to go."

"Wait…" Zelda was confused, "We're supposed to be going somewhere?"

"Aw, Zelda, don't question everything, just go with-"

"No, I'd like to know where we're 'supposed to be' going to and upon who's orders!"

"The Royal family, and it's in the Great Hall."

Zelda was even more confused than before. No one in specific, just the royal family; not the king, or queen, or even prince? And why was Romani going too? She's just a sweet farm girl who delivers the milk. Zelda got off of the wagon and followed the servant per orders. As they walked to the Great Hall, Zelda's mind continued to spin. However, it stopped spinning once she was blasted with "SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Her jaw dropped, and she was speechless. All she could really do was smile widely, then she finally found her voice.

"Sweet Farore… You guys…"

"We were not going to do basically nothing for your birthday, sweetheart." Said a guy with big ice blue eyes and a baby face. This was Markus, Zelda's father, whom she held very dear to her heart. He walked forward and gave Zelda a huge hug. The next people to give her a hug were a tall, blonde Sheikah woman, her stepmother Peridot, along with her younger stepbrother Ike. After them she went around giving hugs to everyone, including Gelios, Petenu, Anubis, Link, and Link's cousin Phoebe, the Duchess of Hyrule who had super-light blonde hair and sleepy green eyes, and Zelda's best female friend. She bowed respectively to the king, a big hefty but happy man who looked like an older wider Link, and queen, a tall beautiful brown haired woman with narrow blue eyes, then turned to Romani.

"You knew about this, didn't you?"

"Since early this morning. Link put it together just today, and just for you."

"Aw, Link!"

She walked up to Link and gave him a huge hug. Zelda got some things for her birthday that wouldn't really interest you, such as a snow white shawl with part of the whole Triforce on it from Phoebe, a green magnifying glass shaped like the Sheikah emblem from Anubis, a necklace with the Zora symbol on it from Petenu, and a large 2-gallon of Lon-Lon milk from Romani (though Zelda does love Lon-Lon milk). Then there were more interesting things, such as a bow and arrow from Link that he made himself (who's a master archer), a Goron bracelet from Gelios which give its wearer super strength, and…

"A MIRROR SHIELD?!"

"Yes," Markus smiled, "It used to belong to your mother. She wanted you to have it when you were old enough."

Zelda's mother died when she was just a baby, but even though she hardly even remembers what she looks like (let alone knew her), she still misses her, wishing she got the chance to know her. Now, don't get Zelda wrong, she loves Peridot as a mother, but she still wish she knew more about her biological mother. All she knows about her mother she got from her father, and that is her mother was gorgeous and one hell of a fighter. Zelda has always felt like her dad was still hiding some stuff about her mother, though.

Zelda looked at her reflection in her newly obtained shield, taking in the fact that she was holding what used to be her biological mother's shield, then she had an epiphany: how do you use a shield? Zelda's never needed a shield, she always had her twin swords to defend her since her reflexes were so fast. Now she was holding the most powerful shield in her hand, a shield many have tried to remake but failed to make with the ability to store energy and then reflect back fully. This baby was crafted by the Gerudos themselves, with help from the Gorons when they used to actually be on any terms centuries upon centuries ago. Oh, she could get practice.

I mean, how hard is it to use a shield? She thought to herself.

Several servants brought out an assortment of food to eat to finish off the occasion, including a large cake with 17 candles. After Zelda blew out all of the candles (in one single blow!), everyone got a slice of cake. All of the teenagers (Zelda, Link, Phoebe, Anubis, Romani, Gelios, and Petenu) were all huddled together talking about many different things. All seven of them had grown up together, and were all close (minus Anubis and Petenu, who were never on good terms). Ike tugged at Peridot's leg, wanting to hang out with the "big kids."

"Well, you're going to have to ask them, sweetie."

"Okay!" Ike ran up to Zelda and tugged at her leg, "Can I join you guys?"

"Well…you know I'm not trying to be rude, but we're talking about big kid stuff, you wouldn't understand."

"But-"

"Hey, what if I give you a ride on Lanayru to make up?"

Lanayru was Zelda's horse that was so white she seemed to glow. She got her from Romani, and she named her after the Thunder Dragon Lanayru, one of the elemental dragons that protected Hyrule back when it was known as "The Surface," and her personal favorite of the elemental dragons. Even though Lanayru was male, the name seemed like a female name to Zelda. Ike personally loved Lanayru very much and loved going for rides on her.

Ike smiled widely and nodded his head repeatedly. Zelda smiled at him. As she turned back to the group, a searing pain suddenly attacked her brain. She screamed and clutched her skull and bent over in pain. She faintly heard some dishes break around her and soft *splats* of food hitting the ground. She looked up, her head still hurting, and saw that all seven of them minus Romani were clutching their heads. Romani was just looking around thunderstruck, along with everyone else in the room; everyone was staring at them worriedly.

"Oh my god, Link!" The queen yelled.

"Link, my boy, are you alright?" the king asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you too, Phoebe?"

"Yes, thank-you" she replied in an airy sort of way.

"Are you okay sweetheart?" Markus asked Zelda.

"Yes, thanks Daddy."

"How about the rest of you kids?" Peridot asked, putting her hand on Anubis and Petenu's shoulders…unable to reach Gelios' shoulder. All three boys nodded their heads.

"Romani, are you the only one who felt nothing?" the queen asked.

"That is correct, you majesty."

"This is very strange indeed." The king said under his breathe, "What could this mean?"

You'll find out soon enough!

"Who said that?"

Both Link and Zelda started turning around, Link turned to his mother and asked if she said anything. A look of deep worry sprawled across her face as she walked up to her son and put a hand to his forehead. Markus did the same to Zelda, but she swiped his hand away.

"I…need to use the restroom."

She started walking towards the door on the other end of the Great Hall, elbowing Link on the way.

"Ow!" he muttered under his breathe, then getting the signal, "Oh, yeah, I do too."

Link started to follow her out of the hall, then once both of them were out, they started sprinting down the hall. Once they felt they were far enough, they slowed down. Zelda turned to Link.

"Okay, I'm not the only one hearing voices." She said.

"You heard a voice too?"

"Yes! It was a girl's voice, it sounded all happy and it said 'you'll find out soon enough!'."

"A girl's voice? I thought I heard my mother saying that."

"But you heard the same sentence?"

"Yes."

"And we seemed to be the only ones who heard it…what could this mean?"

Link looked down at his shoes, then looked up at Zelda.

"It could've been the Goddesses."

"PfffHAAAAAHAHAHA! Yeah, like the Goddesses would talk to me!"

"But think about it! You heard a young girl's voice, and they say Farore was the youngest of the Goddesses."

"And you thought you heard your mother."

"…I might've heard Nayru."

"What makes you so sure it was Nayru?"

"I always imagined Nayru sounding like my mother."

"For all you know, it could've been Din."

"HA! Good one."

Zelda looked at Link with a "c'mon" sort of face. Din, Nayru, and Farore are the three Goddesses of Hyrule; Din of Power, Nayru of Wisdom, and Farore of Courage. The three parts of the Triforce stand for the three Goddesses; Din having the top piece, Nayru the bottom left, and Farore the bottom right. It's said the most powerful person wields the Triforce of Power, the wisest wields the Triforce of Wisdom, and the bravest wields the Triforce of Courage. The subject of wielding a Triforce hadn't been discussed between Zelda and Link for years, and back then it was a joke. Now they were trying to be serious, but…wielding a Triforce is much more than just having a little triangle and a title; when one wields a piece of the Triforce, you're gifted with special abilities and powers, such as the original Hero of Time Link, the original Princess Zelda, and the original Gerudo King Ganondorf. To think about wielding such power would scare anyone.

"Zelda, let's not worry about it."

"But what about six of us getting a sudden major migraine?"

"I said don't worry about it! …we should get back-"

"No…I… I just need to think. I'm going to go ride Lanayru through Hyrule Fields."

And Zelda left Link, along with her party. She went out back to the stables and walked up to a beautiful white horse, Lanayru. She pet her down her nose, took her out of her pin, and got on her back. As she left the castle, she heard the same young girls voice, but along with two others: one that sounded like the queen and one that sounded like how she imagined her mother would sound like.

Happy Birthday, Zelda.