I do not own the Legend of Zelda.

Chapter Two

A Triforce of Wisdom Thing

A young Zelda was sitting in her room, contemplating the blank piece of paper before her. While Link had been in Termina reliving the same hellish three days again and again, Zelda had been realizing a great many things.

She dipped her pen in ink and drew a line across the page. But in a sudden thought she crumpled it and chucked it towards the trash bucket. It missed.

Now she drew two branches, and after sitting down to examine them for a time, began feverishly scratching dashes across them and littering the white space with carefully refined ten year old scrawl. How odd her nurses found her behavior, but as usual, they never questioned Princess Zelda's choice of pastime.

Zelda smiled a little at the word. Pastime. How very funny. She was after all, thinking about time, the passage of time, and the past, all in her pastime. How fitting.

At last she lifted her pen and blew the page dry. She smiled at her plan. It made a lot of sense. It was all the confusions of her memories fit neatly into a square sheet of paper, all so sensibly. It was the past that now lay in the future and the current turn of events, all organized into her nice visual. She was quite proud of herself.

But the Princess frowned. There was still a problem. A rather large problem. She had tried to help the boy, but she had known instantly she wasn't the one who could. She was too young and knew too little of battle. She had tried to help besides the fact but…at twelve years old even a princess only holds so much power. The King wouldn't hold for a screaming boy to wake the castle dwellers, much less stay with his princess. And Zelda couldn't explain the whole thing to her father—he would think her mad. Her maids already did. The only person who could vouch for her was a kid in green off the street.

She examined the paper once more. If she didn't do something about the boy however, there was a chance his problems would become irreversible. And besides the fact she didn't want the permanent hell life of anyone on her hands, he would never be able to save the kingdom in a situation like that. And he was the only one who could stop Ganondorf before he rose to power again. Or in the case that he did rise to power, Link was still the only one who could stop him.

But a boy traumatized to insanity could never do that. Besides, it panged Zelda's heart to think of him. There was no one who understood everything he'd been through—and there was no way he could explain it. He's seen things Zelda couldn't imagine, faced trials she failed to comprehend. She had tried to comfort him, but comfort wasn't what he needed.

What Link needed was someone who not only knew what he'd been through, but had knowledge of what to do about it. And, Zelda thought, the only person with any idea of at least what he'd been through was himself. He had seen things—wait no, that was it! That was it! She had it!

Zelda practically spilled ink all over her dress as she rushed from the room. She halted midstep. But that was so risky, she risked rupturing the space-time….no, no she didn't. The only thing it would affect were Link's actions in the future, and that was exactly what she needed it to do.

Link walked around Castle Town morosely. He no longer had any desire to go bowling or to play archery games. As if in a dream he chased down an old lady's dog and returned it to her, yet again. But the lady only worried at the deep bags under his eyes. And Link didn't have the heart to console her. He was in need too much for kind words himself. He'd tried to tell himself that "It would be okay," but he only found himself dwelling on the fact that he was the reason it was okay. He had saved Termina and brought peace to Hyrule. If he couldn't help himself, he didn't see how anyone could.

As he was wandering he found himself in front of the Temple of Time. Maybe if he understood the magic behind it, he would understand his misery a little better, he thought, taking a step up to it's grand wooden doors.

"Link! Hey Link!" a familiar voice shouted to him. He turned in surprise to see none other than Princess Zelda running towards him, deserting her escorts, a crumpled paper in her hand.

"Zelda?" he asked.

"That's Princess Zelda to you, young man!" one of the guards near the Temple snapped.

Zelda glared at the soldier. "He's my friend. I owe him very much. He can call me whatever he wants," she turned back to the little Hero, "I've found a way to help you."

"A….way to help me?"

"Yep. You'll have to follow me."

Link followed Zelda into the Temple of Time. "I'm not sure it will work right now," she added, signaling for the guards to stay at the entrance, "because it involves a lot of very complicated things."

Zelda's life, Link had learned, involved a lot of very complicated things. He often wondered if this was why she had the Triforce of Wisdom, or if it was because she had the Triforce of Wisdom. Either way, it was all very confusing.

"What do you know about timelines?" Zelda wheeled on Link.

"Umm, well…they explain when things happened in time," he tried.

Zelda considered this. "You are right," she said, "but do you know anything about the timeline?"

The timeline? Link was confused.

"It would be normal if you didn't," Zelda consoled. "I'm not sure anybody else does." She walked up the steps to the place where the Master Sword was housed. Link followed, hoping sincerely he wouldn't have to take the sword. But he paused, as Zelda stopped walking and stood there in the chamber, her arms wide and her eyes closed. He figured it was a Triforce of Wisdom thing.

Zelda turned to him again. "We are very lucky," she said, "I have a few minutes to explain."

Link's face fell to shock.

"When I sent you back in time, it created a loophole in time, you could say. But in reality it's more like a split. In other words, there are two Hyrules, one where you and I are adults and one where we are kids—that would be the one we are in right now.

"Do you remember how I spent seven years as Sheik while Ganondorf rose to rule and then you defeated him and the seven sages sealed him away?" she asked. Link nodded. Zelda took a deep breath before continuing, "That time still exists," she said simply, "And things will go on to happen in that timeline. You—or rather your older version, will get married and have kids. And in the same way, things will continue to happen in this timeline—most importantly that when Ganondorf tries to rise to rule again you will stop him before he has a chance. And in doing this, will be two alternate Hyrules, with the same past up to a certain point, but completely different futures."

There was a pause as Link considered this. "What does this have to do with me?" he asked hesitantly. The presence of the Master Sword was unnerving him a tiny bit, and he wasn't quite sure why. While Zelda's Triforce Shard had made her able to see alternate dimensions as well as the past, future, and present rolled together, Link's seemed to be doing nothing. He was afraid of a simple sword that, in a future he would no longer live, he had used with no fear at all.

Zelda saw this. She gave Link a hard look, boring into him with her blue eyes. Link was taken up short, and swallowed deeply. Had he done something wrong?

"How long has it been since Termina?" Zelda asked.

"H-half a year," Link stuttered.

Zelda nodded. "And it still troubles you?"

"Y-yes."

Zelda put her hand to her chin, and, still staring into Link with her sharp eyes, said, "I know that it's hard for you. You have seen things I can never imagine. And that's why I'm doing this for you." Link set his face as best he could.

"Link, you need three things right now. A friend, a home, and time. Promise me that when you get back, you'll be ready to ready to face the world again?"

Link nodded solemnly.

"Alright. You'll need your Ocarina."

Link tightly grasped the blue flute in his hands, as Zelda pulled out her own flute, which was tiny and gold. She played a simple melody, a variation on the Song of Time. Chills ran up and down Link's spine at the memory of how many times he'd stopped the end of the world with that song.

"Before you go," Zelda said, "Know this. You'll be going into the future that I sent you back from. Nothing that you do will affect the past, so don't worry about that. You will, however, meet the Link from that timeline."

Link nodded slowly. "Oh," Zelda added, "and the older Zelda won't know about this. She and I, like you and the older Link, have become two separate people, living two separate lives in two separate Hyrules."

Link nodded again, raising the ocarina to his mouth. "To get back," Zelda finished, "you only need to play this song again." She then smiled a little. "I'd say goodbye, but I'll be seeing you again very soon. Good luck, Link."

And with that, she played the melody again, and Link closed his eyes and repeated it.

The world spun. Forces blended midair in front of Link, and inertia tugged him three separate ways, which funneled down into two directions, until at last he was whirling away, churning as time smeared together.

He dropped out into a stone hallway, the ocarina still to his mouth, his brain filled with the sensation of having fallen but his body planted firmly as if he had never moved. Turning, he saw a green courtyard and a large wooden door. It smelled of rain and wet stone. He raised his hand and knocked three times.

In answer to the man in green who opened the door, he held out the Ocarina of Time.

And that, my friends, is why it is called A Link from the Past.