A/N: Hey, guys. I hope you're enjoying the story. I'm working on a way for you all to ask me questions that you may have about the story since I know people always have some on their mind. I've created an ask dot fm account. My username is the same as my fanfiction name. Feel free to ask as many questions as you want. I will usually be able to respond within an hour of getting them. I want to be more interactive with the people who read my stories, so I think this is a simple but helpful solution. Anyways, on with the chapter. This one is a bit short due to it being more of a gateway chapter. It's meant to build up to the next chapter, which will be the usual length of 3000+ words.

There and Back Again

Chapter 11: Coincidence

You know, I was beginning to wonder whether Zelda would be ok with what I was planning to do. In order to get her out of her relationship with Ravio, I had to do something dramatic.

Something big.

I wish I could tell her so she wouldn't be so shocked upon it happening, but her reaction is what will make this work. I just hope my friend will take one for the team.

Anyways, it was the day before Halloween. Usually that meant hanging out and solidifying plans for Saria's annual party.

She really likes her parties. As much as a party girl as she is though, she had a good head on her shoulders. She just likes to have fun with her friends. Nothing too crazy.

This year, however, was different. She was still having a party.

Like she'd ever not have one.

I informed Saria of my plan to rid Ravio from Zelda's life. While she wasn't ecstatic that I was using her party as the foundation, she did agree that it was for the best. She almost hit me when I told her what I was planning on doing.

What I had Saria do was invite Ravio to the party. She told Zelda that as long as their friends, all of their other friends may as well get to know him better. Zelda tried to get me to talk to Saria so she wouldn't invite him, but I managed to lightly convince her that it'd be for the best.

I also had Saria invite my childhood friend, Malon. She used to live around here but moved to the Faron Province when she was 12.

Here's the thing about Malon. She's sort of a really... uhh... physically attractive girl. Yeah, that's a good way to put it.

She was part of the plan.

Speaking of Malon, I need to call her and talk to her about her role in this.

Yeah, I haven't told her yet.

I was sitting in my room throwing a baseball up to myself on my bed. I've been bored all day. I decided to give her a call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Malon. It's Link. I was wondering if you wanted to catch up before the party tomorrow."

Yeah, catch up. Little did she know that my true reason for meeting her was quite a bit more important than that.

I didn't want to tell her over the phone or text, so I thought going out to grab lunch or something would work.

"Oh, sure! It's been so long. That sounds like a great idea!"

Step 1, check.

"Awesome. How about we meet at the Milk Bar?"

The Milk Bar was actually pretty far from me. Malon and I lived in different provinces, so the drive would be an hour or two.

"I love that place! What time?"

Step 2, check.

"How about around 3? Driving there will take some time for me."

"That works. See you then, Link!"

I heard the tone that signaled she'd hung up.

Well, so far so good.

I jumped to my feet and threw myself in the shower. It was about 12:30 P.M. now, so I should probably leave by 1:15 P.M. at the latest.

Rusl and Aryll were both out of the house. Rusl was at a job interview. Hopefully they remember that he had an appointment with them.

Aryll was staying at a friend's house for the night, so I had the house to myself.

Normal teenagers would probably think that entails the throwing of a massive party.

I'm not normal.

I got out of the shower and dressed myself for the crisp Fall air. It was around 48 degrees out today, so I threw a sweatshirt on over my white shirt.

I left the house around 1:05 P.M. and made it to the Milk Bar at 2:55 P.M.

Right on time.

This place was a classic restaurant. There were Milk Bars in every province of Hyrule, but the original stems from East Clock Town in Termina.

I wasn't of legal drinking age, so the bar side was off limits. I told the waiter that I was meeting somebody and proceeded into the family section. As always, Malon was early.

She was a farm girl, so she was used to getting up early and such. I guess the earliness thing carried over into her normal life.

"Hi Link!" She ran up to me with a big smile and hugged me.

"Hey, Malon. It's nice to finally see you." She let go and walked me over to the table.

Malon had long, red hair and freckles from her nose to her eyes. She also had a knack for dressing in sort of a revealing manner. She wasn't that kind of a girl at all, but you might think so by just taking a glance at her.

That's why she was the perfect choice for my plan.

We chatted and talked about our childhood and some of the things that were going on with her life. Apparently her Dad, Talon, had just acquired some more land and it was going to greatly enhance what they could do with the farm. It's nice to see that her family is doing well financially. They'd always had trouble in the past.

"So Link, what's new with you?"

What's new? Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't tell her this.

Ah hell. I had to anyways in order for her to understand why her helping me was so important.

"Uhh. Well, last month I met the most amazing girl in the world."

She stopped drinking her water and nearly choked.

"WHAT!? Why didn't you tell me sooner!? What's her name? What's she look like? Is she cute? Does she talk to you? Are you even friends?"

She kept going but I tuned her out.

I knew this was coming.

I sighed. "Malon, shut up." She sat back in her seat and calmed herself.

"Ok. I'm calm. I'm calm."

We both laughed. "Her name is Zelda. Yes, she's extremely cute and yes, we are friends. Best friends, actually."

I saw Malon's face light up with excitement. "You finally found her! This is wonderful! Now more sad and depressed Link!"

Her reaction was better than I thought. I think I can get her to help me for sure now that she's so excited about Zelda.

"When are you going to ask her out?"

There it was.

"Well, that's the thing. I can't." I saw her roll her eyes. "Of course you can! Stop being such a tektite and man up!"

I let myself laugh for a second, then regained my serious composure.

"I can't ask her because she has a boyfriend. An incredibly controlling and verbally abusive boyfriend."

Malon got quiet. She was done playing around. She knew it was time to get serious about things.

"She's actually the real reason why I asked you to come here today." Malon looked up in confusion.

"Real reason? What's going on?"

Here goes nothing.

"I think you can help me get her out of that relationship. Her boyfriend, Ravio, won't allow her to break up with him. His father is the Minister of Lanayru. He says he can get his father to ruin any chances of Zelda's father from ever becoming Minister of Eldin. Oh, I forgot to mention that. Zelda's father is running for Minister in Eldin."

I saw Malon get angry. "That's so unfair! That's criminal! How can she possibly get out of that?"

I smirked to myself.

"I have a way, but you may not like what I'll need you to do." Malon got quiet.

"Look, Malon... I don't mean to make you uncomfortable..." She cut me off. "Please. I'll do whatever it takes to get your friend out of this. It's ridiculous."

I chuckled. Whatever it takes? You might regret those words.

"During the party tomorrow, could you ask Ravio for a ride home?" She looked up at me with disapproving eyes.

If she hadn't already figured it out, she was going to soon.

"Why would I do that?" I twirled my thumbs for a few seconds.

"Don't worry, it gets worse. While you're in the car with him... could you ask him to take you back to his place?" Malon's eyes widened. "Link... what's ridiculous idea have you come up with...?"

"I need you to get him to cheat on Zelda with you."

This was going to be a fun conversation.

She couldn't speak. Great.

"I've told Zelda that I have a plan. She'll know that you were playing along." She snapped her head up, shocked. "Playing? That's not playing! What if he tries to do something to me and I can't stop it?!"

My head fell. "Zelda and I will be right behind you guys. We'll be a few minutes behind. Ravio's father will also be home. Zelda knows his work schedule."

Malon looked away. She was clearly uncomfortable with this and I can't blame her.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Malon. But if you don't want to do it, I completely understand."

She looked back at me and smiled. "So the plan is to catch him cheating?"

"Yeah. We're going to have his father walk in on him. Zelda and I will arrive and ask him to get Ravio. That's when he'll see. His father will be so shocked by his son's actions that Zelda's reaction of breaking up with him will be perfectly justified. Ravio won't be able to blackmail Zelda into staying in the relationship if his father agrees with Zelda."

Malon looked at me with an ear to ear grin. "I can't believe you thought of something so elaborate. That's pretty impressive, Link. You must truly love her."

"I don't love her! I'm doing this because she's my friend and she deserves better." Malon smirked. She knows she struck one of my nerves.

I didn't love Zelda. She was just a really good friend. I've only known her for about two months. How could I possibly love her?

"I'll do it."

What.

"But you will be RIGHT behind me, ok?" She pointed her finger at me and gave me a menacing look. She was really skilled at that.

I smiled to her. "Of course. Thank you, Malon. You have no idea how much this means to me.

Step 3, check.

That went better than I'd anticipated. I expected much more of a fight and if it came to that, I was going to back down. I can't force her to do it. I can only ask her.

Luckily she agreed on her own.

She and I finished up and parted ways for the day. I was going to see her tomorrow, so no long goodbyes were in order.

I got in my car and jumped on the highway to head back to Eldin. As I was driving, I saw the new sign that was put up a month or so ago promoting the Temple of Time as a tourist attraction.

I hate that they did that, but it did make it so I'd be able to check it out sometime.

Wait, I'm right here. I may as well just go now. Rusl won't be home until late so I don't have a reason to be home yet.

Sweet. It's about time I checked this place out.

I took the exit that led to Faron Woods. That's where the Temple of Time was discovered. Apparently the tour leads you on an extremely precise path. There have been rumors that the only way to reach the Temple is by following that exact path.

It could also just be the way to get there. I don't really know.

I know. It makes no sense.

The line for the tour shouldn't be too long. I mean, it's been around for a month now, right? The hype should've died down.

I was wrong.

I pulled in to the lot and saw well over a hundred people lined up.

Wonderful.

I hopped in line and pulled my phone out so I could listen to music to pass the time.

It took around twenty minutes to just pay the lady at the booth. It was only $10, so that was a nice surprise. I was expecting $20 per person or something ridiculous since this place is so historic.

I joined my tour group and was led through the forest. The area was beautiful. It was completely untouched by man. Everything was completely natural and preserved in its original state.

My tour guide told us all that this area is believed to be called the Lost Woods. Apparently, the Hero had to trek through this very forest in order to complete his journey. Somebody asked why it was called the Lost Woods. The tour guide just laughed and said "next question."

When we arrived at the Temple, there was a massive line. Tourists were obviously taking their sweet time to snap pictures and videos of the historic spot. I waited patiently for my turn.

Upon getting in line to see the Temple, my hand started to hurt.

Why did this always happen?

As time went on, the throbbing intensified. Using my right hand, I squeezed my left hand to try and suppress the pain.

Finally, I was next in line to look at the Temple of Time. They weren't letting anyone get close to it. We could only look from afar. I could see two massive statues, a doorway, and a lot of rubble. The place was in complete ruins.

After what seemed like an eternity, it was my turn at last. I walked up to the balcony and looked over at the legendary Temple of Time.

So this is where the Hero first became a hero? Where he first realized his mission?

I felt honored to be standing where the Hero probably once stood, thousands of years ago.

There were several security guards blocking the stairs that led down to the ruins, so I walked forward and put my hands on the balcony rails to get one last, good look.

As soon as my hands touched the railing, the Temple ruins exploded.

What the hell?

I dropped like a rock to avoid getting hit by flying debris.

What was happening?

The archeology team started to push people back and yell for them to evacuate, The ruins were still shaking. The entire ground was shaking.

I got up and fell into the crowd of evacuees. As I was running, I looked back to see an older looking man staring at me.

At least, I think he was.

I broke the stare and turned my head forward. I don't know how I knew, but I could tell he was still looking at me.

What, was this my fault or something?

I followed the crowd back to the parking lot and saw tens of people lines up yelling for their money back. I didn't bother. I got to see what I wanted. I jumped in my car and started it up.

I pulled out and started to head home. I started talking to myself on the way home.

"How funny would it be if the ruins blew up because of me? As soon as I step up, the place goes to hell."

"What a coincidence."