Chapter 2

Something wasn't right.

He knew something wasn't right the minute he got back to the Tower.

The sensation of white magic, a specific kind that he hadn't sensed since that day four years ago, was all over the place. It was the same... and somehow different. And as soon as he determined in which room it was strongest, he knew exactly what happened.

The man sprinted up to the room in question, growling to himself the entire time. He broke out of the hallway and immediately turned his gaze to where his prize had once been. The purple crystal where he had been keeping that boy. Sure enough, the crystal was no more - pieces of it were all over the room. The boy was nowhere in sight, and the man couldn't sense his presense at all. The remaining sense of white magic of that kind he remembered so clearly was weighing heavily in the air.

No doubt about it. One or both of them had found a way to return here from where he had sent them. And, judging from the magic remnants, they had managed to keep the boy alive outside of the crystal, and made their escape already.

Perhaps not swallowing his pride and finishing off the kid back then instead of hanging him on the wall like a trophy had been a mistake after all. But no matter. What was done was done.

The man stomped over to the window and gazed out at the dark, shadowy world he had created for himself. He had all the power he desired, even if his power was hampered by what that brat of a princess had done before disappearing. Still, what he had was more than enough, and if not for one thing, he wouldn't be threatened by the fact that those kids had gotten back together. That one thing was the Master Sword. Even with all of the power he had obtained, the Master Sword was still a threat to him. After sending those other two kids back where they came from by destroying the Ocarina of Time, he had planned on taking that blasted sword and locking it away somewhere, but mere seconds after the Ocarina was destroyed, the sword had faded away. Disappeared into thin air, leaving behind only little specs of light, that soon faded as well.

To this day, he didn't know where the sword had gone. He was sure it still existed somewhere, but he hadn't found it.

And now, for the first time in a very long time, he was worried. If those kids found the sword before he did, he would have a serious problem.

He hadn't been able to find Princess Zelda, either. After she stole that from him, she disappeared into the night and had yet to show herself again. He wanted it back, and would stop at nothing until he found her again.

And those blasted sages continued to be an annoyance... them and their little pockets of safety for whomever still remained alive in this destroyed Hyrule.

He couldn't just sit in the Tower feeling proud of himself anymore. If one wants to keep a good thing going, one has to work to keep it going. There were a few messes to clean up... and the fact that the boy escaped could set things into motion that would bring him down. He wasn't about to allow that.

Until they appeared, though, all he could do was continue to search for the princess, and the sword. He would bide his time for now.

With his cape swirling around him, the evil king Ganondorf turned around and disappeared back into his dark tower.

"Take that pan off the burner!" Gordon urged his sister. "You're gonna torch our breakfast!"

"Look, man, Mom's eggs were always underdone," Lydia replied, keeping the frying pan firmly placed on the hot stove. "I like mine thoroughly cooked."

"That's not steam! It's smoke!"

"Look, just go away. I've got things under control. Go watch TV or something. I'll handle the kitchen."

"So, should I call the fire department now, or what?"

Link appeared in the kitchen doorway just then. His hair hung loose, messy from a night's sleep. He wore only a pair of jeans and all of the bandages that were wrapped all the way around his torso. "What's going on in here?" he asked, resting one arm up on the door frame. Right away, his nose twisted as it caught the scent of burning food.

"Lydia's about to burn down the apartment," Gordon replied in an annoyed tone.

The girl scoffed, shifting the frying pan a bit on the stove's burner. "Oh, I am not."

The Hylian took a look at what Lydia was doing, and caught sight of some scrambled eggs that were turning black fairly rapidly. "Actually, Lyd, I think those are burning..."

"At least this way you know they're safe to eat!" she insisted.

"Seriously, Lydia," Gordon muttered, "You're cooking ashes now."

"Okay, so they're a bit overdone. Only because you've been distracting me. But, relax, I'm not about to burn the place down."

With timing that was nothing short of mocking, the food in the pan suddenly burst into flames. Smoke billowed up into the overhead vent as Lydia jumped back, swearing loudly, holding her arms up in front of her face.

"Ext Ball!" Gordon shouted, and a little black ball of energy appeared over the mini-bonfire, which then sucked the flames into itself. The boy grabbed a hand towel and wrapped it around the pan handle, tossed it into the sink, and turned on the water. Both of the boys stared at Lydia blankly as steam poured from the sink while the pan cooled.

Moving slowly, as if she would somehow avoid the stares if she did so, Lydia reached over and turned the stove off. She smiled as innocently as she could.

"...See? We didn't need the fire department." She giggled.

Gordon threw his arms up in the air and groaned loudly. "Okay, out, out!" he shouted, pushing his sister out of the kitchen, to where Link was still standing, who was trying to disguise his laughter as coughing from the smoke. "Go do something that does NOT require fire. I'll make french toast. Go, go, beat it!"

"Come on, Lyd," Link said, leading Lydia by the shoulders away from the kitchen and the angry Gordon. "Let's watch TV for a while. That's fairly non-destructive, right?"

"Can I help it that I'm a walking disaster in the kitchen?!" Lydia groaned as she dropped down onto the couch. "I mean, I try..."

Link opened the large windows that lead out to the wooden balcony, to let some of the smoke out. He then sat in the chair adjacent to the couch, slowly and carefully, as if trying to make sure something inside him didn't break on the way down. Once safely in the chair, he leaned back and said with a laugh, "Well, you're not exactly used to using fire in moderation."

Gordon's voice sailed out from the kitchen, which was now finally starting to air out. "She's not used to doing anything in moderation!"

"Shut up, man," Lydia shouted right back, "or you're going to wake up one morning hanging off the side of the balcony by your ankles!"

Link laughed again. "Easy, easy," he coaxed as he looked on all sides of where he was sitting. "Uh... where's that thing that makes the TV go on...?"

"Oh, you mean the remote?" Lydia asked. "Actually, I dunno... Oh, here we go. Between the couch cushions."

She pushed the power button and the TV hummed to life. After flipping through several channels of soaps and news, she finally stopped on a Simpsons rerun. Link seemed to enjoy that show, even though he had to ask Lydia to explain the jokes half the time, since he wasn't that familiar with her world yet. He was mostly amused by the physical comedy, because he said it reminded him of how the three of them always acted during their more light-spirited, simpler days. Lydia's random assults on either of them or whatnot.

Speaking of the old days... Lydia more at peace now than she had been in years. Even though she had been acting irritated all throughout the scene in the kitchen and up until now, she was actually very happy. Link was alive and okay - the old group was back together, and until Link recovered, they could afford to be carefree here in the safety of Lydia's apartment. It was very refreshing.

It had been a little more than a week since Lydia had gone into Hyrule and found Link somehow alive. The first couple of days after she brought him back to this world were tough for him physically, since he was so severely injured. Even though Lydia's spell had closed the wound, his body was still in a state of shock from the injury. He couldn't leave the couch on his own. Every time he got hungry, or needed to make a bathroom trip, he needed help just to move, nevermind walk.

But he was doing much better now... able to get himself up and around the apartment when he needed to. His recovery ability was already remarkable, nevermind the assistance he'd been getting from the periodic healing spells throughout the week. He was feeling so much better that, while still sore, he felt ready to go back to Hyrule. They would probably wait another few days before making plans like that, but Link was ready. Something was motivating him that he hadn't talked about yet...

While Link spent the week recovering, when not helping him to do so, the two sorcerers kept busy.

The first thing was Link's clothes. His tunic was messed up beyond repair - horribly torn and stained. Since their mother was good with that kind of thing, Gordon took the tunic home with him, hoping she could make a replacement for him. Absolutely elated to hear that Link was somehow alive after all, she gladly accepted, and said she'd even make some improvements to the outfit. She was due to be finished with it in a day or two from now. Later that same day, Gordon returned to the apartment, but not before stopping at a department store and buying Link a few sets of clothes to wear in the meantime. Lydia also spent almost an hour trimming his hair and making it look nice again, since it had become so overgrown.

Any spare time during the week was spent in the spellbooks. The most important thing at this point was to figure out how to use that dimension-breaching spell in reverse, so that both of them could go to Hyrule. At the present time, they still hadn't gotten it figured out - the only thing they'd accomplished was to modify the spell enough to not only be able to cross space, but time, as well, like they used to do with the Master Sword. But Gordon was certain that the solution to the reverse-portal-opening problem could be pinned down in another week or two, so he decided that he would remain here to continue work on that, and Lydia would go back to Hyrule as soon as Link was well enough.

As for going back to Hyrule, like already mentioned, Link was anxious... and yet Lydia got the feeling that he, at the same time, didn't want to.

A couple days after being brought to this world, he acted like he was going to finally tell them what had happened during those last four years when he was imprisoned in Ganon's Tower... but he backed off at the last minute, as if shying away from a really painful memory.

Even though she knew she shouldn't pry, Lydia tried a couple more times during that week to get him to tell her what had happened, because it was obvious that something DID happen. But he didn't budge. He always changed the subject or just wandered away.

He had yet to say anything.

Lydia left it alone for now. The time would come, and she knew it. It just wasn't now.

Another pressing question was what had happened to the Master Sword. Link didn't have it when Lydia found him. He had everything else, but the sword was missing. The sheath was still in his possession, but it was empty. Obviously, it had been stolen by someone. Perhaps Ganondorf was keeping it somewhere. If he had it, stealing it back was really high on the priority list, since Link confirmed that he no longer had the Triforce of Courage. Ganondorf had indeed taken it for himself. Getting the Master Sword was essential - they needed that edge in the battle that would undoubtedly come.

What about if they couldn't get the sword back right away? They'd still need another weapon for Link in the meantime, and just any sword probably wasn't going to cut it.

There was also the Ocarina of Time. Lydia knew full well that one couldn't just dust a magical artifact like that - especially the Ocarina. She knew Maya had made sure of that. It could be broken up, but not completely destroyed. Meaning, the pieces of the shattered Ocarina probably still existed somewhere. Perhaps Ganondorf had those as well, or perhaps they were disregarded, buried in the eroded dirt somewhere in Hyrule Field. Lydia doubted the broken Ocarina would be of much use, but if the situation came up where it would be required, it was good to know that the Ocarina could be somehow recovered.

Also... the people of Hyrule. It was true that Lydia had only seen the tip of the iceberg, but Hyrule seemed pretty deserted. Where was everyone? Dead, or simply in hiding? What had become of Zelda and the sages?

So many questions, not enough answers. But one thing was absolutely certain. The only way to restore Hyrule to its previous state was to defeat Ganondorf and get the Triforce. According to the old legends, if someone with a good heart obtains the Triforce, peace will be brought to the world.

Heh, if only it were that easy, Lydia thought to herself.

"Food!"

Gordon's call from the kitchen interrupted her thoughts. The kid was done making breakfast already?

Link was the first one up and seated at the dining table. Lydia couldn't help but smile as she sat next to him.

"It's good to see that you've got your appetite back," she said. "You were pretty thin when I found you, but you're looking much more healthy now."

"Yes, I don't suppose one looks all that great when that close to death." Suddenly realizing that that reply was a little too cryptic, Link smiled playfully to brighten things back up. "Yeah, so, now you can't hog all the food for yourself. You've got competition again."

"Oh, pfft. You're still in recovery. Think I'd be shallow enough to try to eat your fair share as well as my own?" she asked as Gordon set two plates of french toast down in front of each of them. Lydia picked up her fork and eyeballed Link's plate. "...Yeah, you'd be right. Gimmie." She stabbed one of the pieces of toast on Link's plate and put it on her own.

Link scoffed loudly.

Gordon rolled his eyes and wandered back into the kitchen for the syrup, as well as his own plate of food.

"I can't believe you sometimes," Link grumbled.

The girl giggled. "You're too healthy now. You're officially no longer immune to my acts of selfishness," she said, laughing as she made fun of herself. "Not gonna go easy on you anymore."

"Too bad for me, I guess. ...Say, about what time is it now?"

"Oh, it's, uh..." She turned to look at the clock in the living room. Almost noon. Looks like they were having breakfast for lunch. Oh well.

She turned back to the table. "It's almost noon," she reported. "Kinda late for french toa-" She stopped speaking when she realized that her plate had been robbed of one piece of toast, which Link was now eating, acting as if nothing was wrong.

She eyeballed him. "You sly jerk. That was not very nice."

"Fire with fire," he replied indifferently. "Eat your own breakfast."

"Serves you right," Gordon said, sitting down across from them with his own plate.

Lydia smiled to herself and went to work on her food.

It was several minutes before anyone said anything of any significance. It was Gordon that finally said something that mattered. "Link," he asked, "how are you doing? Overall?"

"Hmm? Oh, I feel quite well," the Hylian replied, mopping up the leftover syrup with the last bit of his toast. "I could go back anytime."

"Then, why don't you two go back to Hyrule tomorrow?"

Both Lydia and Link froze, staring at Gordon.

"Tomorrow?" Lydia asked. "I know Link says he's ready, and I may even agree, given he has another night's sleep to recover a little more, but doesn't that seem a bit soon?"

"You're right. But, when you think about it, any time is going to seem like it's too soon, right?"

The other two looked at each other. With a sigh, Link nodded his head in agreement.

"I got a call this morning," Gordon continued. "Your new tunic is ready. So, I think I'll go home and stay there tonight. I'll come back here tomorrow to continue working with the spellbooks."

Lydia pushed her plate away, signaling she was done. "Working on getting the reverse of that spell figured out?"

"Not only that."

"...Not only that?"

Link raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "What else are you working on?"

Gordon pushed his plate away and rested his elbows on the table. "Well, Lydia and I theorized that Ganondorf took the Master Sword. That made some sense at first, but I get this feeling that it's not as easy as all that. ...I think it may take some time to get the Master Sword back."

"Even if he's just got it locked up in his tower somewhere?" Lydia asked.

"Don't you think he'd want it as far away from himself as possible?"

"Hmm."

"It may take us time to find it. Therefore, I think we need to find a replacement weapon for Link in the meantime."

Link looked over at Lydia. "Does this world have weapon shops?"

"Eh, nothing that's not mostly decorative," she replied, "but a regular sword isn't going to cut it." She returned her gaze on her brother. "I think I see where you're going with this."

"Yeah. We need to find another sword that has some kind of magical qualities."

"That can't be easy. What do you suggest?"

"Well, you know how we should be able to not only cross dimensions now, but time as well, if necessary?"

"I'd rather avoid it, since time travel can get messy and... wait, are you suggesting we travel to another time to find another magic sword?"

"If it comes down to it, yes."

Lydia raked her fingers through her hair. "Oh, man..."

Link seemed unaffected by the idea of it. "Would you be able to find one?"

"That's what I'm going to work on when I come back tomorrow," the sorcerer replied, "after I send you two back to Hyrule. We can't make any moves until we have a way to fight, so the best thing to do may be for you two to have a more careful look around Hyrule, and see what's going on, until I find a suitable replacement for the Master Sword somewhere in the time stream."

"Man, I don't like this," Lydia complained. "Too many things can go wrong..."

"Do you have another plan?"

"Of course not. Just thinking out loud."

Link looked over at her. "I think your brother's plan is a good one. Yes, it's a little risky... but it's all we can do at this point."

"You're right. I know."

The Hylian looked at Gordon again, and asked, "How long do you think it would take?"

"Well, assuming I'm capable of raking through the time stream like that... A thorough search would probably take a couple of days."

"That should give us enough time to find out more about what's going on back in Hyrule, so we'll be better prepared for what's coming later."

"Hopefully."

With that, Gordon stood up and said, "I think I'll go now. I really need to go home and rest my mind for a day."

"Okay," his sister replied, also standing. "Yeah, I think I'm going to rest, too. We've both worked pretty hard this week. Thanks for sticking with me for so long."

"You bet. I'm just glad I could be of help for a change," he said as he put his shoes on and fumbled for the keys to his truck.

"Oh, please. You've always been helpful. You're the smart one, remember?"

"Heh, yeah, I guess. What would you do without me?"

"Yeah, yeah, now beat it," she said, playfully shoving her brother out into the hallway. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Right. Rest well." With that, the boy turned and headed down the stairs.

Stretching her arms up over her head, Lydia wandered back into the apartment, quietly walking back to where she had left Link. She re-entered the dining room area and was about to ask him if he wanted to watch a movie or something, but stopped short. Link was still sitting in the chair with his arms crossed, but something about his eyes was different, as they stared unfocused at his breakfast plate. They were filled with worry, fear... He was thinking about something very intently. She had seen that look before - the one he always got when asked about what happened to him... The room was very silent - the only sound that reached her ears was the sound of Gordon's monstrous vehicle starting up outside.

Lydia cleared her throat, and Link looked up at her, shaken out of his momentary trance.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he replied with a soft smile. "Just thinking..."

"What about?"

Link said nothing. His smile faded, and he stood up from the chair. He passed her without saying anything, and sank into the living room couch. When the TV was turned on, it was obvious to Lydia that the conversation was over.

Denied again.

Link wasn't normally the type of person to keep things from her. Whatever it was that was causing him so much worry and upset must have been something pretty serious for him to not want to talk about it. Lydia would just have to accept that he wasn't going to talk until he was ready. Even though, being the type of person she was, she wasn't satisfied with that, she was just going to have to believe in him.

As she started to clean up the breakfast dishes, she thought about how all she could do was be as supportive as possible when he was ready.

She dropped the dishes into the sink, and was going to clean them, but lazed out, and wandered into the living room to watch TV with Link instead. She sat down on the couch next to him as he flipped through the channels, looking for something interesting to watch. Something to get his mind off of whatever he was thinking.

Something on the Discovery Channel must've intrigued him, because that's where he stopped, setting the remote down on arm of the couch and leaning back. After a few minutes, Lydia noticed that he was looking at the TV screen, but didn't appear to really be watching what was on. His mind seemed to be on something else still.

"Hey..." she coaxed.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly.

With a soft sigh and a smile, Lydia reached over for his hand. "I can't even begin to imagine what happened to you. But don't feel pressured. I'll listen when you're ready. When you're ready, okay?"

Link finally smiled a bit. "You're really weird. Somehow, you pick on me so much, and yet, you manage to take such good care of me at the same time."

She giggled. "Girls are good at that."

He reached around and put his arm around her. "Thanks for everything."

Lydia moved herself closer and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You bet. You owe me bigtime for this week, though," she said playfully.

"Yeah. I know."

The sound of a laughing hyena filled the room as the TV showed a pack of them sitting around in the shade.

"...What in the world...?" Link wondered out loud.

"Hyenas. Nature's jokers."

"Oh. Relatives of yours, then?"

"Look, don't make me throw you out that window. Because I will."

The afternoon continued much like this. Just the two of them, relaxing... Each trying to at least momentarily forget what they were going to be facing tomorrow. Neither was much looking forward to it, but knew what had to be done. At least they still had one more day to be carefree before the world was once again upon their shoulders.

"Ugh. Enough for now."

Lydia scowled at the piles and piles of papers and books scattered across her desk. She had spent the majority of the afternoon and early evening studying them and taking notes to leave for Gordon to look at after she and Link went back to Hyrule. Maybe she could help him get a headstart on what still needed to be done. But she had been doing it for several hours without a break and her eyes were starting to involuntarily flutter in and out of focus. Taking that as the sign to stop, she slowly got to her feet, trying in vain to rearrange the papers in some way that would make sense to someone who hadn't been working with them first-hand. She felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder, just below the neck, and tried to massage it out with her left hand.

She looked down upon her work, however cluttery and disorganized, with a smile of satisfaction. Maybe Gordon would be able to make sense of all this. They were close to getting the dimensional-travelling spell to work in reverse. Very close. There were just a few small little details to work out, and, unfortunately, those little details were proving to be quite evasive. But if they didn't take the time to work those details out, the spell could go horribly wrong and put them at the bottom of an ocean or something. Better safe than sorry.

A thought of Link crossed her mind just then, and Lydia wondered what he had been doing all afternoon, while she had been in the spare bedroom shuffling through papers. She had heard him channel-flipping until a couple hours ago, when things grew quiet. Maybe he was taking a nap - he sometimes did that around this time of day. Normally she would have gone out to check on him, but she was so involved in what she was doing at the time that she didn't dare stop halfway, for fear of losing her place and needing to waste two hours finding it again.

The same instant she thought of Link, she also felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. She hadn't taken Link outside nearly enough. He had been outside a few times in the last couple of days, but for the most part, he was always closed into this apartment, which must've felt so small to him, who was used to wide open spaces. He always seemed so refreshed after a trip outside. Lydia couldn't help but grin as she remembered his first car ride. She had to go for some groceries and he asked to come. After making sure that his long ears were properly concealed by a hat, to avoid attracting the attention of everybody on the street, she introduced him to her Buick. He was scared to death, with one hand gripping the seat and the other digging into the door, looking ready to bail out at any moment. Lydia had thought it was hilarious, and even went as far as to suggest that maybe it would feel more natural to him if he were to ride on the roof instead. He was quick to insist that he was fine.

Stretching her arms over her head as she walked, Lydia finally emerged from the room and turned down the hallway that led to the living area. To her surprise, the room was empty as well as quiet. As her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, she checked the rest of the rooms in the apartment, but Link was still nowhere to be found.

"What the hell...?" she asked out loud.

At a run, she headed for the door, somehow stumbling into her shoes along the way. She ducked into the hallway outside of her apartment and headed down the three flights of stairs as quickly as she could. The outside door appeared around the corner as soon as she was on the ground floor. She seized the doorknob and shoved the door open with her shoulder, breaking out into the dim light of sunset. Skidding to a stop, she needn't look far - Link was seated on the curb of the parking lot with his legs stretched out in front of him, looking startled, obviously wondering why Lydia was in such a hurry. He was dressed in the same jeans from that morning, but had now added a loose-fitting white T-shirt, and his ears were tucked into an old Detroit Tigers baseball cap, from which his long hair was sticking out in all directions.

"What's going on?" he asked, starting to stand up.

"Nothing," Lydia answered immediately. "I was looking for you. Wondered where you had gone."

Sitting back down and stretching out again, Link replied, "Sorry. You just looked so involved in what you were doing that I didn't want to bother you."

"You're so damn quiet, I didn't even hear you leave."

"Sorry about that."

"Where've you been? Have you been here the whole time?"

"Hm? Oh, no, I've been out walking. Getting some fresh air." His face lowered to look at his feet. "Just thinking."

Lydia's heart softened. Thinking about whatever was bothering him so much, no doubt.

"Hey," she said, "I'm thinking of ordering something for dinner. Hungry?"

Link seemed to forget whatever was on his mind, and his face brightened up again. "I'm always hungry."

He followed her inside and up the stairs, back to the apartment. As soon as he was inside, he took the hat off and dropped it on the couch, and spent a minute raking his fingers through his hair, which was still hanging loose, and rubbing his ears a bit to get the blood flowing again. Keeping them tucked into that hat was uncomfortable.

He heard Lydia's voice sail out of her bedroom at the far end of the hallway. "I'm thinking of ordering pizza. You cool with that?"

"What's pizza?" he called back as he absent-mindedly straightened the placemats on the table.

She laughed. "You have much to learn about my world."

The girl wandered back out to the living room carrying the little device that she had called a "sell fone" or whatever it was. It made little beeping sounds as she pressed the buttons in a sequence that she seemed to have memorized, then talked into it about the "pizza" she was getting for them.

Link wandered away as she talked, and suddenly the balcony looked very inviting. Excusing himself, he opened the glass door, stepped outside, and closed it behind him. He rested his arms on the wooden railing and watched the sunset, a grim expression on his face once again.

Back inside, Lydia hung up the phone and put it down on the table next to her. "About fifteen minutes. Pretty good for this time of week," she said aloud, not realizing she was alone until after she had finished saying it. Link had gone out onto the balcony. She crossed the room and slid the door open.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Mmm-hmm," was the barely-audible response.

With her jaw set, Lydia stepped out onto the balcony herself and closed the door. She stood next to him and rested her arms on the railing, much like he was doing. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again right away. If she wanted anything to happen, she wanted him to start it. So, she just occupied herself for now with watching cars go by.

About five minutes passed, and Link said nothing. His eyes were glued to the sky, which was turning redder and redder by the second. Lydia almost missed it, but she managed to catch sight of a tiny smile on Link's face.

"The sunset is the same here," he said. "Our worlds... may not be as different one would think at first glance. We... may not be as different as one would think at first glance."

Lydia smiled.

"But," he continued, his voice starting to sound sad, "Hyrule hasn't seen a sunset like this in a long time."

Images of the broken and destroyed Hyrule Field entered Lydia's mind again. She had been trying to push those images out all week, but now they were flowing back in unchecked.

Another minute of silence passed, until Link spoke suddenly.

"I don't regret it, you know."

Lydia looked at him, and saw him touch his chest as he smiled at her, tracing the line of the scar he now beared there.

"This," he said. "I don't regret it." He turned back to face the sunset again, and sucked in a breath, as if psyching himself up for something. "Four years ago... Wow, I can't believe it's only been four years. It really felt so much longer to me."

The girl turned toward him, wanting to say something to console him, but at the same time, not wanting to interrupt.

"I didn't come to," he continued, "until some time after Ganondorf destroyed the Ocarina of Time and sent you two back home. Of course, at the time, I didn't know he had done that. He told me that you two had just left on your own. Said you had 'abandoned' me." He saw Lydia about to protest out of the corner of his eye and quickly added, "But I knew that wasn't the truth - I knew he was just trying to get a rise out of me. Trying to make me feel worse about the situation. It didn't take me long to figure out what he had actually done. ...Just before he put me to sleep with his magic."

"So you were asleep the whole time?" Lydia asked hopefully.

Link swallowed hard. "No."

The girl's heart dropped.

"I was most of time, but not the whole time. Every now and then, Ganondorf would wake me up..." His mouth curled into a bitter sneer. His fists clenched and unclenched, over and over. "...And he would spend hours telling me in detail... the damage he was doing to Hyrule. Every time he destroyed another area... every time another race went into hiding... He'd wake me up, tell me all about it, and then put me to sleep again."

Lydia's hands shot up to her mouth in shock. Tears welled up in her eyes. What a horrible thing to go through. It was no wonder he had been so hesitant to talk about it.

"When we go back there tomorrow," he continued, "the state of Hyrule won't be a shock to me. I already have a picture in my mind of how bad it is. He was keeping me alive... just to make me suffer more."

Link pounded the railing once.

"Not only was I defeated, he wanted to make sure I knew what the result was, in grueling detail. He couldn't let me die and just be done with it! It's not like I can do anything for Hyrule! It wouldn't have mattered if I had died!"

Suddenly, Lydia's hands seized his shoulders unusually strongly. She turned him to face her, reared her arm back, and with a shout of rage, slapped him right across the face as hard as she could. Link recoiled and fell back against the railing, his hair falling down to hide his eyes.

His left hand slowly rose and he held his face where she had hit him. He looked up at her, and was surprised to see that she didn't look angry - she looked incredibly sad. He knew that what he had said was wrong the instant after he had said it, but the dam was already ruptured... the damage already done. Emotion came pouring out of the girl.

"So, so, things would have been better that way? It wouldn't have m-mattered?" she stammered forcefully. "What Ganondorf put you through saddens me to no end, and only makes me feel worse about taking a whole four years to figure out how to get back to Hyrule. But you're not the only one that has suffered!"

Link straightened up again, still holding his face... his stomach twisting into a knot as he realized his mistake.

"I can never repay the gift you gave me by protecting me during that battle," she went on, "...sacrificing yourself so that I could live, but at the same time, I was wounded anyway. Emotionally. I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. I didn't care what happened to me! With you dead, my life was over, as far as I was concerned!" She was shouting now, despite her best efforts not to.

Link cut in, barely above a whisper.. "All this time... you thought..."

She was crying now. "Yeah, that's right, Ganondorf didn't tell me that you were still alive before sending us back here. He even went as far as to tell me about how it was all my fault! And I believed him! All these years, I've had to live with the fact that not only was the person I loved dearest in the world dead, but it was my fault! Think about that before you say that it wouldn't have mattered!"

She swallowed hard, trying to compose herself, and continued to speak, in a more controlled voice. "My going back to Hyrule last week wasn't supposed to be a rescue mission. My only purpose was to finish what you started. I thought that it was the least I could do for you. Instead, I found you. Alive. ...My whole world changed in that instant. My life had meaning again. My heart was full again." She wiped her eyes, steadied her voice further, and looked at Link with a kind of maturity and sense of wisdom in her face that he had never seen before.

"Whether you live or die does matter. Not only for the people of Hyrule that are still counting on you and are waiting for you... but to the people that love you. Me.. the kid... even Zelda, wherever she is." Her voice buckled again. "It matters to us."

Link let go of his sore face, moved forward, and pulled her into an embrace. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

Lydia sighed. "...I know you didn't. I just wanted to... make sure you understood... what you mean to us... to me. We need you."

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry that it was so hard for you. I'm sorry that you suffered... and at the same time, I'm touched that you care about me that much."

"I've just... missed you so terribly..."

Neither of the two said anything nor moved for several minutes. They simply stood there in each others' arms as the sun continued to dip lower into the sky... a pleasant wind blowing through their hair.

Finally, Lydia pushed away with a big smile on her face. "So, we're at an agreement, then, sir?" she asked, trying to sound authoritative as she attempted to lighten the mood again.

The Hylian smiled. "Yes, I think so."

"So we're going to stay alive, by any means necessary?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And, what are we going to do now?"

"We're going to go back to Hyrule, find Ganondorf, tear him apart, and set things right again."

"And then?"

"And then we'll spend our days peacefully, bickering and stealing food from each other, and giving your brother a hard time in general. Oh, and then you're going to teach me how to drive."

Lydia scoffed. "You want to drive the car? You almost wet yourself the first time you were in it!"

"I'm feeling daring."

The girl placed a hand on Link's shoulder. "But... before all of that...?"

Link smiled. "Pizza."

She patted him on the chest triumphantly. "Good boy. I've taught you well." She smiled, and her eyes danced with the emotion she still felt. "We'll make sure that Hyrule gets to see another sunset like this. Let's promise that to each other, all right?"

"...All right."

"Heh. Looks like we're officially back in business," Lydia replied with a characteristic grin. She glanced down into the parking lot, and her eyes widened. "Pizza!" she yelled as she made a bolt for the door, almost smacking right into it in her haste. Yanking the glass door open, she disappeared into the apartment.

Leaning over the balcony railing slightly, Link saw a rusty white car with a gaudy glowing sign on its roof attempting to work its way into a space just outside. Resting his arms on the railing again, he watched the sunset for a few minutes more, much more relaxed than he had before. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Maybe they really did have a chance.

If only they could find a sword. The whole thing rested on finding a sword to use until they recovered the Master Sword, where ever it was. ...What could have happened to it? Ganondorf probably would indeed want it as far away from himself as possible... unless that's what he wanted them to think. Perhaps it would be wise to look for it first where they didn't expect it to be.

And then.. of course... there was always the other question... Did the Master Sword's disappearance even have anything to do with Ganondorf at all...?

Link's thoughts were broken by Lydia's voice, as the white car pulled away and disappeared around the corner. He leaned over the side and saw her down on the sidewalk, holding a large box.

"Hey," she called up to him, "can you buzz me back in? I left my keys!"

The Hylian smirked evilly. "And that's my fault... why?"

"C'mon, just let me back in."

"But I feel like giving you a hard time about it instead. Y'know. Watch you squirm."

"Long Ears, if I weren't afraid of people seeing me, I'd fly up there and kick you right in the nose! Now open this door or I'm gonna eat this whole pizza by myself! None for you!"

Link merely rested his chin in one of his hands, and looked amused.

Lydia stamped her foot. "Door! Now!" she yelled up again, obviously failing in her attempts to not smile or laugh.

"Okay, okay. Relax."

He disappeared into the apartment as Lydia continued her stream of playful cursing and threatening down below.

The buzzer rang at about ten o'clock the following morning. Knowing who it was, Link pushed the button that he had learned opened the door downstairs. A couple of minutes later, there was a knock at the apartment door, and Link opened it to find Gordon standing there, as expected. He was carrying a brown paper bag with him, which he promptly pushed into Link's arms.

"Here you go," he said. "Mom hopes it fits you okay."

"Thanks," Link replied with a smile, glancing down into the bag, which was surprisingly heavy. Neatly folded in the bottom, he could see a mass of thick, dark green cloth. Before he could look more closely, Gordon asked, "Where's Lydia?"

Link set the bag down on the table, and absent-mindedly smoothed wrinkles out of the clothes he wore. "I think she's still sleeping."

"Laaaaazy."

"I'll get her up." With that, Link headed toward the back bedroom, but not before taking a quick detour through the kitchen.

Gordon wandered over to the window and opened the shades, letting in the late-morning sunlight. As he watched the particles of dust dance around in the sunbeams, he was suddenly startled by a loud clanging noise, repeated a few times, which were followed by his sister's screams. Seconds later, Link came running into the living room again, laughing to himself, and shoved a pan and wooden spoon under the couch. The Hylian sat himself on the couch, and tried to look innocent. Lydia wasn't long to follow. She skidded to a stop at the entrance of the room, with one hand planted on the wall. She was wearing a long night shirt with a cartoon character on it that hung almost to her knees, and her hair was full of tangles. Though she wasn't wearing her glasses, she had no trouble finding the person she had chased out here, whom she immediately smacked in the head. Link pretended to recoil from the strike, and stretched out across the couch cushions, playing dead.

"I'll...go..get..dressed..." Lydia muttered through her teeth, and went back to the bedroom.

Link sat up again, obviously still amused with himself.

"Nice," Gordon said with a chuckle.

"I thought so."

Lydia's voice sailed down the hallway. "Hey, kid?"

"Yeah?" Gordon answered.

"I got a ton of work done last night on the spell - think you can take a look at my notes? I just think we're really close now."

"Okay." With that, he went down the hallway and ducked into the spare room.

Left to himself, Link took the opportunity to wander back over to where he had set down the paper bag with his new clothes in it. He picked the bag up, once again surprised by its weight, and brought it back to the couch, emptying the contents on the cushion next to him. All he needed was a new tunic - his white underclothes, gauntlets, boots, and the rest of his equipment was still usable. Sure enough, only the dark green overtunic and matching hat tumbled out of the bag. So why was the bag so heavy?

The answer revealed itself the minute he touched the clothes. The inside of them was lined with small metal rings. Link could hardly believe it. He quickly seized the tunic with both hands and checked it again, as if thinking that his hands had lied to him the first time. Sure enough, the inside of his new clothes was laced with lightweight chainmail, which was slightly visable at the neckline, sleeves, and bottom hem of the green fabric. A childlike smile crawled over Link's face in excitement. Chainmail was rare in Hyrule, as it was quite expensive, since some thought it had magic qualities - the way it was heavy when you held it, but surprisingly light when actually worn.

Upon closer examination, he noticed that the chainmail wasn't actually attached to the new tunic - it was its own seperate shirt, meant to be worn seperately underneath. Added protection in battle, but if he ever needed to do some serious sneaking around, he also had the option to not wear it. He shook the shirt a bit, and the chainmail appeared to be fairly lightweight as chainmail went, and made a surpringly small amount of noise. He could probably even still do some sneaking around while wearing it.

Lydia came into the room then, wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She was pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she approached Link. "What are you so giddy about?" she asked.

All maturity forgotten, Link jumped up and pushed the new tunic into Lydia's hands. "Look, look, look!"

"...Oh, wow. No wonder this took a week. She had a chainmail shirt made for you!" She gave the clothes back to Link and said, "Today's the day, so gather your stuff up and get ready."

Not about to complain about trying on the chainmail shirt, Link hurried into the back bedroom, where all of his equipment was stored in the closet.

Gordon came out of the spare room just then, holding a stack of uneven papers. He had a wide smile on his face. "Way to go!" he told his sister. He fumbled through the stack until he found the sheet he was looking for, and held it up excitedly, allowing the rest of the stack to flutter to and all over the floor. "THIS was exactly the piece of information I needed!"

"So you've got it figured out?"

"Yep! I should be able to get us back from Hyrule once we go there. All I have to do now is recopy everything into an order that'll make it easier for you to learn how to do it. But first..."

Lydia raised an eyebrow. "First?"

Her brother crossed the room with a very smug look on his face, and made himself comfortable in the cushy TV chair. "I know I said I was gonna rest last night... but I spent the evening and half the night working."

"Working on what?"

The boy smirked again. "We'll wait for Link to finish getting ready."

And so they waited. Lydia sat on the couch and fidgited the entire time, glancing at her brother now and then, who was humming to himself.

After about ten minutes, Link emerged from the bedroom and met the other two in the living room. He looked better than he had looked in a long time. His hair was re-braided and tucked into his hat, like he always used to wear it. His new tunic appeared to fit perfectly, with little bits of the light chainmail showing from a few places. Though without a sword, his sheath was strapped to the usual place, and his shield was also in its usual place. As he entered the room, he was adjusting his old gauntlets to a more comfortable position on his arms. Even though he was wearing chainmail, it was surprising how quiet his movements still were.

"Wow, look at you." Lydia said with a smile.

Link reached up, shifted the hat a bit, and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "It looks okay, then?"

"All you need to complete the look is a sword."

"Speaking of which..." Gordon said suddenly.

Lydia motioned for Link to sit down on the couch next to her. "The kid's just dying to tell us something."

"Oh?" Link asked. "Did you figure out how to work that spell in reverse?"

"Yeah, but that's beside the point," the boy answered. He leaned forward in his seat, and the other two leaned forward slightly in response.

Gordon folded his hands in his lap. "I know I wasn't planning to comb Hyrule's time stream until today. Y'know.. looking for a new sword to use until we find the Master Sword. But... I was sitting around last night, and I ended up working on it until almost five this morning."

Lydia sighed. "You were supposed to be resting... We can't have you falling asleep in the middle of the day."

"I wouldn't worry about it. I have to stay here again so that I make sure you two go to the right place."

"What do you mean?" Link asked.

Gordon smiled triumphantly. "Change of plans. I've found a sword."