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~Chapter Three~

I dream I stand in front of Hyrule Castle. It's a stark contrast to how it was during Zelda's celebration. It's gray and depressing, matching the gloomy weather. It looks abandoned. The trees have no leaves, and look like they've been struck by lightning. And the rose garden is bare, dry weeds choking the ground, except for one blood-red rose. I walk over to it, determined to save it from dying, but it turns midnight black in front of my eyes, eventually withering and dying.

Castle Town doesn't look any better, it's just as sad and abandoned and gray as the castle. It makes me sad.

Suddenly, soft footsteps echo throughout the city, getting closer to me. I turn around to see a cloaked figure walking towards me, head turned down. But it isn't the man I saw during the celebration. Whoever it is, I feel like they won't hurt me. On the contrary, I feel like I need to protect the figure.

The figure looks up, and her face takes on a look of happy surprise. I'm just as surprised to see the beautiful Princess in such a sad place. Her features seem to light up the area with color.

"Link!" Zelda says in relief. How does she know my name? Why is she so happy to see me? Not that I'm complaining...

"It worked," She whispers more to herself than me. What worked? She looks me in the eye. Her eyes are so beautiful. "Link, listen to me. I only have a few moments. A prisoner has escaped the dungeons. He's very, very dangerous, the whole city is terrified. He was last seen near Ordon, a few hours ago. I'm positive he's after you, Link. He wants you dead. And I'm pretty sure he knows exactly where you are. You and Cody need to get out of Ordon, immediately. He'll kill you Link."

"Where do you want me to go?" I ask, surprised that I'm able to speak. I want to ask how she knows so much about me, but decide to let it go. Her information frightens me too much.

"Kakariko Village. You'll be safe there."

I nod.

The dream changes.

I stand in the desert, the sand and wind whipping my face. I cough as the grit finds its way into my lungs. A harsh laugh sounds out around me.

"So, you're the Chosen Hero?" The voice says mockingly. "You look just like your father." My father?

Another figure emerges from the dust storm. My breath catches in my throat. This time, the cloaked figure isn't Zelda, it's the man from Castle Town. His eyes swirl with hatred directed at me.

"You and your precious princess don't stand a chance against me, not this time." He snarls. "I will be the first to defeat the almighty Hero."

The dream shifts once again.

I stand in the Lost Woods, light streaming through the trees. Birds chirp and I smell the pinewood. I love these woods. They're close enough to Ordon that Cody's never minded me spending most of my day out there. Epona and I go for rides, I practice my archery and sword skills, and sometimes I just go for long walks. Being here makes me feel free.

"Hello, Link."

I turn around in surprise to find an elegant woman in green standing beside a tree.

She smiles at me. "It has been a long time since we last stood face to face."

"I know you?" I ask. She nods.

I get a hazy memory of me walking through the forest. I was maybe 5 or 6. When I turned around, I saw a woman I didn't know smiling at me. The same woman who stands in front of me now. At first I thought she was my mother, but before I could ask her any questions, she was gone.

The back of my hand begins to burn.

"The ancient power inside you is awakening," She says. "The time has come for you to rise to your destiny of being a hero."

"Who are you?" I ask.

She smiles. "I am Farore, goddess of courage. And you, Link, are my Chosen." I begin to ask another question but she silences me with a finger. "What Nayru's Chosen, your princess, told you is correct. Din's Chosen, Ganondorf, is once again coming for you. I am afraid your parents' attempt at keeping you safe has done nothing to stop the former Gerudo King. He will kill you Link."

"My parents? They knew he was after me?"

Farore nods sadly. "Yes, child. That is why they left. To keep you hidden."

"How does leaving me keep me hidden?" I ask, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice. It surprises me. I've never felt angry at my parents before. It sounds stupid to admit it, but even though I know Cody knows why they left it never really occurred to me that they left intentionally. I thought maybe they didn't have a choice. But they did. If they had wanted to keep me safe, why didn't they just take me with them?

"Ask them when you see them." The goddess tells me.

It takes a full minute for her words to take effect on me.

My parents are alive?

I know that should make me feel happy, overjoyed really, and it does. I've dreamed about meeting my parents since I was a kid. All these years, I haven't known whether or not they were alive, and now here's the goddess Farore herself telling me I'm going to see them soon. I am glad, but at the same time it fans my anger. They've been alive for all these years, and not once have they come to see me or even tried to make contact?

She sees the conflict of emotion on my face and smiles sympathetically. "Do not judge them too harshly child, they have their reasons for not contacting you. They love you deeply, and all their actions have only been to keep you safe."

Suddenly, harsh laughter rings out through the forest. The same laughter of the man in the cloak.

Farore's eyes go wide. "He is here."

I wake up in a cold sweat, my breathing ragged. What kind of dream was that? It was so vivid, I felt like I was actually there.

And something tells me that I was.

"He is here."

I jump out of bed and run upstairs. Why am I so worried about something that happened in a dream?

Because it wasn't just a dream. It was real.

A storm is raging outside, thunder booming with a powerful crack and lightning filling the room with white light. Rain pounds on the exterior of the house. And in it, I can hear the cloaked man's laughter.

"Cody!" I burst into his room.

Cody sits up abruptly. "What? What? I'm here. You need a bandage or fairy tears?" He slurs sleepily.

"Something's really, really wrong."

"So... fairy tears?"

"No, Cody, I'm fine. But in a few seconds you and me will be the exact opposite of fine."

He blinks his bleary eyes. "What d'ya mean?"

I bite my lip. I'm going to have to tell him about Sheik and Castle Town, and when I do he won't be harmless, sleepy Cody anymore. And I'll have to come to terms that I betrayed his trust in me and lied to his face. "Um... Ganondorf's coming..."

He's suddenly wide awake. He springs from the bed and runs over to me, grabbing both of my shoulders. "Where did you hear that name?" He whispers in an urgent voice.

His fierce blue eyes draw a confession out of me. I stumble through how Sheik and I met, and all of our visits to Castle Town, ending with the one just a few hours ago and how I met the cloaked man. I tell him about my strange dreams, enforcing the part about Mom and Dad being alive. He suddenly looks 90 years old.

"Cody... I'm so sorry." I say with a choked voice. It hurts to tell him about this, to see the obvious disappointment in his eyes. "I really am. It's just that... I'm 18 years old. I feel trapped here, I needed to get out. And not just to the Lost Woods, I needed human contact other than people I've known since I was 4. But I really am–"

"No Link, I'm sorry." Cody interrupts in a weary voice. "I knew I wouldn't be able to keep you here for much longer. I knew that when you became a teenager. I was just trying to keep to your parents' wishes." He smiles sadly. "But that's the problem. You're too much like your dad. He never would've put up with staying here for so long. And as for your Sheikah friend, I've known about him since you were 14 and talked to a bush for three and half hours. I'm guessing he was behind it, right?"

My cheeks heat up and I nod. I knew he would notice that. I told him we should've gone into the Lost Woods instead.

He smiles and claps my back softly. "Link, I'm not happy that you went behind my back. But you're forgiven. To tell the truth I expected you'd do it sometime. You're definitely Taylor's son."

I grin at the comparison. I decide that now's a good of a time as ever to ask him what he knows about my parents leaving. "Cody, about what Farore said about Mom and Dad... I know you know, and I might as well know if she says I'm going to see them soon..."

He nods. "Yeah, I knew that would come up. I know everything about your parents leaving, I'm one of the handful of people they told. I was happy to take you." He ruffles my hair. "You really are so much like Taylor. But Marni's in you too."

"But... where did they go?"

He laughs ruefully. "Closer than you'd think. And it's actually a coincidence with your dream. They went to–"

Before he can finish a loud crash comes from downstairs. He and I both gasp and whirl around.

"What was that?" I ask.

Cody's face is grim. "From what you've told me, it's Ganondorf." He turns to me, his face dead serious. "Link, go, now. There's a secret hatch in the closet, you can get out that way. Go to Kakariko, like Zelda said. I'll meet you there."

"Wait, back up you'll meet me there?" I shake my head. "No. Either you're going with me or I'm staying here with you."

"Link, don't be an idiot!" The force in his anxious voice surprises me. "This isn't a game. Ganondorf wants you dead, and he won't hesitate to do it. I'll stall him. He doesn't want me so odds are he won't kill me."

"Isn't this Ganondorf the ex-Gerudo King? The guy who betrayed all of Hyrule and almost killed us all?" He nods. "Well if he killed hundreds of innocent Hylians, Zoras, Sheikah, Gorons, Mogma, Oocca, and Gerudo, his own race, what makes you think he won't kill you?"

"I don't. All I know is that your father didn't give up his life to protect you only to have you get killed by the man he was protecting you from."

Another crash comes from downstairs, closer this time. I hear harsh yelling. Is that him?

I look at Cody. I can't talk. He's put up with me for 14 years, been a dad to me. He raised me. How can I just leave him to die?

He puts his hand on my shoulder. "Go Link, tell your folks I said hi."

I bite back tears. I haven't cried since I was 8. "Cody... I... thank you... for everything."

"You're welcome, kid. Go!" He pushes me into the closet and slams the door.

I frantically search the floor for the hatch. Come on, come on...

There it is! I pry it open and slip through it. I drop down into a musty, pitch-black tunnel. I stumble along the path, painfully aware of the yelling coming from Cody's room. I guess Ganondorf's found him.

The tunnel ends up leading to the stable, right into Epona's pen. She neighs in surprise at my sudden appearance. I can practically see the wheels turning in her head. This is the second time tonight I've come in here, what's going on?

I quickly saddle her up and mount, prompting her to get out of the stable as fast as she can. As she does I can here the garbled speech of Moblins alerting Ganondorf of me escaping. I push Epona faster. Kakariko Village is fifteen minutes from here. Can I make it? I can hear Moblins mounting their horses and riding after me. I have to try.

Fifteen long, tense minutes later, I can see the Sheikah village in front of me. I can make it.

But when I'm within a few feet from it, I cry out in pain as an arrow grazes my arm. I grimace as a warm trickle of blood slides down my arm. Okay... OW! My breath begins coming in ragged and my vision goes in and out of focus. It was only a small cut, why do I feel like my heart's stopping? My breath catches in my throat as I look at the wound. The edge is turning a sickly green and yellow, it looks like it's infected. Poison. The arrow must have had poison on it.

The world blurs as I enter Kakariko. The Moblins stop at the gate, not daring to go up against the Sheikah. I made it, but I'm so dizzy I can't think straight.

As the poison flows through my veins, I slide off Epona and hit the ground. I'm too weak to stay on...

Sheikah yell all around me, ordering fire against the Moblins and help for me. A familiar pair of crimson eyes appears over me, and they're filled with rare emotion. Confusion. Panic. Shock. Fear.

"Link!" Sheik yells. His voice gets fainter and fainter. "Hold on Link, I'll get you help..." His voice fades off. My vision dims, and I slip gratefully into the darkness.

How did such a great day end up so horrible?