I've published two chapters, and there's already inconsistencies between the old story and the reboot. I guess my work's cut out for me…

Random fact of the day: Bill Gates wrote a consoling letter to his biggest competitor and technological rival, the dying Steve Jobs, who kept it by his beside. If that doesn't warm your heart, I don't know what will.

UNDERSCORE

"Anju!"

"Link!" the redheaded girl called. As she turned away from her cuckoo pen, her bobbed hair swung around her head, earning a scowl of annoyance from its owner. Pushing it back into place, she smiled at her friend. "How are you feeling? I haven't seen you in a few days, so I was getting worr-" she stopped abruptly, noticing me shyly half-hiding behind him.

"Link, who is this peppy girl?" I whispered.

"Link, who's your friend, and really? 'Peppy'?" she asked.

"Who, her?" Link replied, gesturing toward me, which seemed quite difficult with my clutching his arm. "Oh, uh… heheh! Nobody, really. Just a friend who needed a place to stay. She needs some riding clothes so we can travel together. It'd be great if you could loan some to her. Could you loan her some? Riding clothes, I mean," Link rambled, obviously realizing the impression he was giving.

Anju's eyes shined brighter as Link's face got redder, eventually getting to the point that he could tell she was in her own little world imagining who-knows-what. He shut up before he gave her an even worse idea to spread around town as gossip. Instead he just waited for her reply. It wasn't what he expected to hear.

"Malon's gonna be so jealous!" Anju squealed, startling some cuckoos into flying away from the coop. "I mean, you and she are always totally hanging out together! There's a pool going around for people to guess when you pop the question!"

Oh, dear, I thought to myself. Is this another female companion he forgot to mention? Then I questioned why I even cared, and did not dare to answer myself.

"Wait, what?" That seemed to be news to my companion. "Malon is just my friend! Why would I want to be with her like that?"

Anju just stared at him, folding her arms and waiting for the light bulb to click.

"Oh, Din…" he muttered, the implication dawning on him. "Does Malon… like me that way?"

"Whoa…" Link's friend replied, her expression one of total shock. "You must have been the only one who didn't know. Anyway!" Anju exclaimed suddenly, startling Link and making me tighten my grip on his arm. "You said this girl needed a riding outfit? No problem! Come on in, girl, and let's see what your style is!"

I debated going with this hyper girl for a moment before relaxing, letting be led into her Anju's house. The last image I had of Link before closing the door was his grin, his hand lifted in a half-hearted, two-finger wave.

"Okay, girl," Anju said, turning to me as she opened a wardrobe in the corner. "Spill it."

As I walked off to kill time, I heard a yelp of surprise from Anju's place and high-tailed it to the other side of Kakariko before my imagination got the better of me. I hoped that Anju wasn't working the poor girl around too much. She had been through a lot, I assumed; enough to shut down her own mind.

There was no sense in worrying about Serenity, I decided. Anju was a good friend of mine, and she wouldn't do anything untoward to someone I entrusted to her. Instead of stressing out, I played with some cuckoos, tossing them down the well and watching them struggle until they managed to fly back to safety. I did that for a few hours until I got bored, then realized what time it was and rushed back to check on the girls.

Anju was just leaving the house. I thanked the gods that girls had an even worse habit of losing track of time when it came to clothes than I did when it came to chickens. Anju turned to look at me, grinning. She pulled Serenity's hand, and the blue-haired girl stepped out the door and into my line of sight.

They were simple clothes by all means, but she was stunning nonetheless. She had on a simple tunic, shaped similarly to mine only tan and with a small collar and wide leather belt, a pair of skin-tight leggings and brown boots. Her face was slightly red, noticeable no matter how she tried to hide it, and I grinned.

"You look nice, Serenity," I complimented her. Seeing her demure smile made my day that much less boring, and I smiled wider. "Thanks for the clothes, Anju. How much do I owe you?"

She smirked. "The chat we had was entertaining enough, so I'll let you go, no charge," she winked at me, handing me a decently-sized satchel. "Here's a change of clothes for later. It's just a dress and shoes, so don't you dare pay me!"

I thanked her and turned back to the goddess, godling, demigod, spirit, or whatever Serenity was. "Well, this is all we need, girl. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, Link," she replied, stepping forward to take my arm. Without thinking, I reached out to meet her with my left arm. This time, I got that bad feeling about it just a split second too late.

When I took her hand in mine, the Triforce mark on the back of my hand suddenly flashed, then took on a steady glow. Serenity gasped and I snapped my arm away from her, but the glow continued rising in intensity. I began feeling faint, the same as when I had visions. My eyesight began fading, and I felt a strange warmth envelop me as I lost consciousness.

Princess Zelda stood in her tower, the Triforce marking on the back of her left hand flickering. Under normal circumstances – no, scratch that: nothing about the Triforce was "normal", or even consistent. But the Hylian princess had an instinctual notion that her hand should be glowing more brightly than it was.

Zelda looked into the sky from her bedroom window, the look on her face grimmer than ever before, including the times Ganon managed to land hits on Link in the final battle. She sensed the worst possible situation had arrived, and doubted Link's ability to tell. Her handmaiden, Impa, stared at her from the shadows, understanding the seriousness of her mistress was a mask for true terror.

"There is nothing wrong with confiding in me, princess," Impa stated. "I don't know what's got you so riled up, but it can't be as bad as you imagine. So there is no reason to stress, do you understand?"

Zelda muttered something in reply, but Impa was unable to catch it clearly, aside from the word "imagine". Asked to repeat herself, Zelda shouted, "I can't imagine it! Impa, this is awful! I do not understand how this could even be happening!"

"Zelda."

The princess froze, gripping her windowsill. Her attendant only dared drop honorifics when there was a matter of life and death to be discussed. Zelda didn't reply, opting to wait for Impa to continue.

"Things are different from seven years ago. You have Link, and the Seven Sages. Does Rauru know what is causing you stress?"

Zelda shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't been going to his lectures. They're boring, and I thought they were unnecessary. But now…" she folding her arms, gripping their sides, "I'm more scared than I have ever been before."

Impa chuckled. "You know, Link has been attending Rauru's lessons diligently for months. He doesn't pay attention, but if Mister Laziness Incarnate can do it, you can spare a few hours a week. As for what you are so afraid of… It's Ganon, isn't it?"

"He's awakened. This is what I feared so dearly, what I begged Link to go back in time to prevent. He is stronger, and my power is weakening. I don't know why."

"Link, wake up!"

I felt a rustle, and opened my eyes. Serenity was looking down on me, and I realized I was using her lap as a pillow. I sat up quickly and saw we were on Anju's floor, but felt lightheaded again and had to lie back down before I passed out again. Looking up at her, I grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, do you mind if I rest for a few minutes?"

She looked down and her hair fell forward, tickling my face. "No problem, good knight," she said teasingly. "Visions deal quite a lot of psychological damage to the viewer, I hear."

I struggled to remember what "psychological" meant. Rauru had used the word quite a lot in his talks about magic, but working my brain even for this little memory was killing my head. Actually, I think the headaches I was having were psychological damage, but I didn't have time to figure it out. My hand was glowing again, and I fainted.

This time, there was darkness. Opening and closing my eyes had no effect whatsoever on my visual ability. I began feeling around, and realized I was floating suspended in the air. Resigned to wait until the Triforce showed me whatever it wanted to show me, I hung there upright. What happened next blew my mind.

A giant, glowing, golden head appeared in the shadows. Being the only source of light, it was hard to look at directly at first. It spoke. "Dark! I command you to come to your lord!"

On demand, another shadow appeared, this one humanoid standing on some invisible floor before the monstrous spirit. It knelt on its right knee, a mirror-imaged mockery of the Hylian knights' pose. "My lord, why have you summoned me? You are weak, and the seal on you by the light ones is still strong."

"Do not advise me on what I shall do with my power!" the head snapped. "I have a mission for you. It is one that may finally satisfy you, and one you might actually complete."

I gasped, recognizing the voices. I had only heard shouts in my encounter with him, but the human shadow's voice was easy enough to guess. It was, after all, my own voice. Dark Link stood before me, and the spirit he was addressing could only be a distorted form of Ganondorf, corrupted by the Master Sword's wounds and the Triforce of Power.

He spoke again. "You are a pathetic creation, a simple test of the Triforce's power. Yet I grew to trust you as a worthy assassin, only to have you fail me in the pivotal test of killing your own original. But I grant you one last chance. For one period of thirty days, I shall be recovering the power I had in life. During that time, I grant you a gift."

As Ganon's spirit spoke, a golden light began enveloping the shadow me. I realized what was happening when the light took the shape of three golden triangles, taking the form of a larger triangle. I reached out to stop it, but found I couldn't move. The light grew brighter, but still just reached out into the darkness to reveal more darkness.

My fears were confirmed when the top triangle flashed as the other parts dimmed, and the mark of the Triforce appeared on Dark Link's right hand. Ganon had given my doppelganger the Triforce of Power, to be used outside of the Sacred Realm. My vision began dimming, and I knew my Triforce-given sneak-peek was almost at its limit.

As I fought to stay asleep, the last words I heard were, "You have thirty days. Find the divine girl in the hands of he who wields Courage, and my bonds shall be broken. Kill her or bring her to me, I care not which."

Snapping awake and panting for breath, I stood up quickly, grabbing Serenity's left hand with my right, dragging her quickly through the village. I didn't say a word to Anju, and I knew I would regret it later, but I was in a hurry and knew exactly where I had to go. The one place I knew I was safe no matter the situation, the place I knew like the back of my hand, where I could set up traps and hiding places, and hole up until danger was past.

I was taking my holy charge to Lonlon Ranch.

Yeah, my procrastination got the better of me. I wrote some stuff in the meantime, but wrote about 500 words of this chapter three weeks ago and ditched it. So here this is, a bit later than usual.

~F4R