Author's Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda. I am earning no profit from this story other than the enjoyment of writing it and sharing it with others. I hope you all enjoy reading it! Feel free to let me know what you think by giving this chapter a review.
Twilight pointed out all the different landmarks as they walked. The walk took several hours, and everyone except Wild seemed exhausted by the time Twilight pointed out his own house. It was on the side of a huge lake. There weren't any other buildings around.
"Wow," Sky breathed. "It's huge!"
"I know," Twilight agreed. He knocked on his own door.
"Master Link is not home right now," a voice called through the door.
"Well, he is now!" Twilight called back.
The door swung open. An older man wearing a suit was standing there. "S-sir! You're back! Everyone thought you and the princess had been captured!"
"Me? Captured?" Twilight laughed. "Nah!"
"Well, I am most pleased to see you're home safe, sir," the butler said with a smile. "And... I see you made some new friends."
"Ah, yes," Twilight agreed. "Eduardo, meet Link, Link, Link, and Link. Links, meet my butler, Eduardo."
"You're...all Link?" Eduardo stuttered.
"Yeah," Twilight replied. "Crazy, huh?"
"We all have codenames!" Wind exclaimed. "I'm Wind, that's Sky, he's Time, his name is Wild, and your master is Twilight."
Eduardo smiled at Wind's enthusiasm. "Well that's a bit much to take in. But, please come in, sir."
"Thanks, Eduardo," Twilight said, entering his house. "And please tell Vernon to prepare dinner for five."
"What would you like me to have him cook?" Eduardo asked.
"Whatever's easiest," Twilight shrugged. "Tell him it doesn't have to be super fancy. We're all just tired and hungry."
"Of course, Master," Eduardo agreed, already setting off down the hall.
"Well, I'm impressed," Time said. "You know his name. Most nobles don't bother to learn their servants' names."
"Of course, I know his name!" Twilight snapped. "I know all my servants' names. Just because I'm a noble doesn't make me a rich brat."
"Of course, it doesn't," Sky agreed.
Awkward silence followed.
"I'm hungry, where's the food at?" Wind asked.
Twilight smiled. "Right this way." He began walking down the main hall and towards his dining hall. He opened the door for the rest of his group. The ornate wooden table could seat at least twenty people. An exquisite, crystal chandelier had been lit, and cast a pale white light across the entire room.
"This is where you eat every night?" Sky breathed. "It's beautiful."
"A bit lonely if you eat by yourself every night," Twilight sighed. "That's why I host dinner for my servants every other Saturday."
"I bet they love working here," Wind said
"I hope so," Twilight agreed. "That's my goal."
"I think you're doing a fine job," Time said.
"Oh, but where are my manners?" Twilight laughed. "Please, everyone be seated!" He sat himself at the head of the table, and everyone else sat down in a chair close to Twilight's seat. As soon as they were seated, several servants brought out steaming plates of food. Twilight thanked each one personally and asked one to thank the chef for him. Then they all began eating, the five heroes enjoying their first meal in countless hours.
"So, Time," Sky began after everyone was comfortable. "That explanation you owe us?"
Time sighed. "You're really not letting this go, are you?"
"I have a right to know," Sky replied steadily.
"Yes, yes you do," Time muttered. "Very well. You sure you want to do this now?"
"Quite sure," Sky agreed.
"Can we back it up a bit?" Wind asked. "I'm still confused."
"When we visited Wild's world," Time began, "the voice used the wind to open up my bag. It pulled this out." Time grabbed the mask from his bag. Sky looked like he wanted to burn it.
"That bad, Sky?" Twilight asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you hate something so much."
"It was terrible," Sky mumbled, still staring at the mask. "Worst thing I've ever felt."
"Hello? I'm still lost," Wind insisted.
"Yeah, I was getting there," Time agreed. "And the monster blew it onto Sky's face…" he trailed off.
"I got this," Twilight butted in. "The mask...possessed Sky, I guess. Turned him into this crazy powerful being. Almost killed all four of us."
"How did you stop it?" Wind asked.
"I kept talking to Sky," Twilight replied. "Told him to keep fighting it."
"And then I regained control," Sky finished. "And ripped that thing off my face."
"The mask looks like your face, Time," Wind observed.
"That's why I owe them this whole explanation in the first place," Time sighed. "...The mask was given to me on my second adventure. I had found a land called Termina. The moon was going to crash into the earth in three days' time. I did everything I could to save it, but I ran out of time. Luckily for me, I have a way of resetting three days…"
"How?" Wind asked.
"Another long story for a different day," Time answered. "But anyways I reset the three days. And I tried again. And again. And again. I made a little progress each time. Eventually, I made it onto the moon to face the thing that had sent the moon crashing down in the first place. A being known as Majora. Majora...gave me this mask."
"And you took it?" Twilight cried.
"I was twelve!" Time snarled.
"That's how old I was when I went on my adventure!" Wind retorted.
"Well, perhaps you're wiser than I am," Time said sarcastically. "But Majora promised me the mask had great power. I knew it was wrong, but as I was, I knew I stood no chance of defeating Majora. He was too powerful. So, I took it. I put it on to fight him. And the mask possessed me. Fortunately, it didn't like Majora very much and killed him. But I could not get it off. The mask, called the Fierce Deity Mask, returned to Termina. All the people practically worshipped it. Called it a hero.
It hated the attention. I barely kept it from killing everyone in that town. Instead, I got it to leave Termina. The mask allowed me to say a brief goodbye to one of my friends, then forced me to put it back on. After that, it took me two years to get the mask off again. Two years of being trapped in my own body. Two years of fighting against the Fierce Deity. When I finally defeated it, I ripped the mask off and shoved it in my bag, where I thought no one would ever find it."
"Why didn't you destroy it?" Wild asked.
"Because destroying it would've released the Fierce Deity trapped inside," Time replied sadly. "Anyways, once I got it off...my markings were there. My eye was white."
"Can you see through that eye?" Sky asked. "I've noticed that whenever you blink its only with your blue eye."
"No, I cannot see through this eye," Time answered. "And in fact, I have no control over it. It never blinks or closes. I sleep with it open."
"That's a bit creepy," Twilight shuddered.
"I suppose so," Time shrugged. "At this point I don't care anymore. But back to the story. I got the mask off at last. My markings were there. My eye was white. I still wielded the Double Helix Sword. And I had aged. I was now fourteen. I had not realized how tall I had gotten. It took me several weeks to adjust to my new height. To remember how to walk or function by myself again. Once I had sort of figured myself out, I returned to Hyrule. To the only one who brought me any pleasure. Malon. She was the only one who didn't run from me. And now, she's my wife."
"I'm glad your story has a happy ending at least," Sky said with a hollow smile.
"I suppose," Time whispered. "Well. There's your explanation. You happy now?"
"Well, happy isn't exactly how I'd describe how I feel right now," Twilight replied. "Man, Time. I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
"Of course, you didn't," Time scoffed. "That was the point of me not telling you, wasn't it?"
Twilight nodded sadly. "Well, while we're here anyone else got any heartbreaking stories they'd like to share?"
"Without all the sarcasm," Sky said pointedly, "I do think it would be good if we shared a little bit about ourselves. We're a team now, yet we're still basically strangers. We haven't had much opportunity for talking, but we have one now."
"I'll start," Wild volunteered. "I'm not one for talking much, but I'll start. I am my Princess Zelda's personal knight. 100 years ago, our kingdom was attacked by a great beast known as Calamity Ganon. Zelda and I were destined to stop it. But...I failed her. I was gravely injured, leaving her to fight the beast alone. She had her servants take me to the Shrine of Resurrection. It was completely untested, but it could supposedly heal any wound. And so, it did. 100 years later, I woke up without even a scar left to show for my trials. But I also had no memory."
"You forgot everything?" Wind breathed.
"Everything," Wild agreed. "I recovered some of my memories by visiting places I'd been before, but most of my previous memories are lost to time now."
"You mean...you have like… a gap? In your memory?" Sky concluded.
"I suppose," Wild shrugged.
"That's...awful," Sky said sincerely.
"It is unimportant," Wild insisted. "After I recovered enough memories to know who I was supposed to be, as well as retrieving the Master Sword from the Lost Woods, and some other things that I don't feel like explaining, I headed to Hyrule Castle to defeat Calamity Ganon. The princess had held him there for 100 years, awaiting my return. I attacked the monster and killed it, and peace was restored to Hyrule."
"But your memory…" Sky began. "Like. What do you not remember?"
"How to read," Wild listed. "How to write. My last name. My parents."
"You don't remember your parents?" Sky whispered, horrified. He sounded more torn up about than Wild did.
"Join the club," Twilight snarled. "My parents left me to die. Rusl, my father figure, found me in a river wrapped in a blanket, floating in a basket. He raised me as his own son, but I've lived in my own house since I was nine. I started working on our village's ranch when I was ten."
"Heroes are not meant to have happiness," Time sighed. "In addition to the tragedy I've already shared with you, I also never knew my parents. My mother and father lived during a great war. My father was a soldier in the Hylian army, or at least that's what I've been told. He died in battle while my mother was pregnant. My mother ran away to Kokiri forest and gave birth to me there. She died during childbirth. I was raised by the Kokiri, a clan of strange and kind beings that never grow up."
"Yeah, I never knew my parents either," Sky sighed. "Though I have no idea what happened to them. I... never asked. I was afraid of the answer. I grew up in our school's dormitory. The teachers raised me. I was happy for a long time. Until my adventure began and Zelda, my best friend, was taken. You see, we lived in the sky, and no one knew what was below the clouds. Zelda fell down to the Surface after an awful tornado flung her off her Loftwing. I tried to catch her...but the wind was too strong.
That night, I met Fi and she led me to the Master Sword. Back then it was known as the Goddess Sword…"
"Hold up," Wind interrupted. "Fi? Who's that?"
"Oh, you haven't met her yet!" Sky laughed. "Forgive me. It's so hard to keep track of, who we've told what. Fi, say hello to Wind."
Fi flew out of Sky's Master Sword, earning a "Whoa," from Wind.
"Hello, Master Link's friend, Wind," Fi said. She turned to Sky. "Do you need anything else, Master?"
"No, that's all, thanks, Fi," Sky said with a smile. "Anyway, as I was saying I met Fi, found the Goddess Sword, and headed down to the Surface to find Zelda. I found her, but she had to fulfill her destiny or something before she could come back. But she was being hunted. By this evil being named Ghirahim. He called himself the Demon Lord. I saved her from him several times. Eventually, we both learned what our destinies were. I was the hero picked by the Goddess Hylia in order to stop the resurrection of the Demon King, Demise. And Zelda...was the reincarnation of Hylia herself. In order to seal Demise away, Hylia had to be reborn as a mortal. And that was Zelda. Zelda…" Sky hesitated, his eyes watering.
"Hey, it's alright, man," Twilight said gently. "Whatever happened is over now."
Sky nodded. "Zelda...went back in time. Like, a thousand years or something. And sealed herself in this...this cocoon. She said she needed to in order to keep Demise sealed away. She did it...right in front of me." Sky was completely crying now. "I returned to the present. Obtained the Triforce."
"Wait," Time interrupted. "You got the whole Triforce? Not just the Triforce of Courage?"
"Yeah," Sky agreed, his voice cracking. "Why?"
"I only have the Triforce of Courage," Time explained, showing off the Triforce mark on the back of his hand.
"Hey, I have a mark like that!" Twilight exclaimed, showing off his mark.
"I had the Triforce of Courage too," Wind added. "But the King of Hyrule used it to drown the rest of Hyrule."
"What?" Twilight asked.
"It's not my turn yet," Wind said with a wink.
"I have no idea what the Triforce is," Wild admitted. "But that symbol is familiar. Perhaps I just don't remember. When this is over...I shall ask the princess."
"May I continue?" Sky asked, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Yeah, go ahead," Twilight replied.
Sky nodded. "Anyways. With the full Triforce I wished to destroy Demise so Zelda could come back. And my wish came true. Demise was dead. I went and got Zelda. But Ghirahim had other ideas. He captured Zelda and used the portal we'd opened to go through time. He returned to the past, where Demise wasn't dead, and began reviving him with Zelda's body. She wasn't dead yet, but she was dying. I saved her, but Demise had already been revived. I killed Demise, and everything was peaceful again. A few weeks later...I asked Zelda to marry me. She said yes." Sky smiled sadly.
"That's great!" Twilight said happily. "Your story has a happy ending too. Mine...doesn't. I was minding my own business, enjoying my day off from work on the ranch with my best friends Ilia and Colin when we were attacked by monsters. I was knocked unconscious and left behind, but Ilia and Colin were captured. When I woke up and realized they were gone, I ran out of my village and into the woods. The area there was covered in Twilight. Basically, that means that anyone there turns into a spirit. Except me and Princess Zelda. I turned into a wolf and she remained unaffected. A monster that lived there captured me, after I transformed and passed out, and took me to Hyrule Castle. It threw me into the dungeon. I escaped with the help of a little imp who went by the name of Midna. And then I met Zelda, who was being held captive in her own castle. She explained to me that the entirety of Hyrule had been taken over by a man named Zant, who claimed to be the King of the Twilight Realm, this parallel realm where it was always, big surprise, twilight. Zant had covered all of Hyrule in Twilight. So, I slowly undid the Twilight in a process that's long and boring and doesn't need to be explained for the story to make sense. Along the way, Midna and I found these powerful artifacts known as Fused Shadows. I was getting ready to fight Zant with them…"
"You mock me for taking the Fierce Deity Mask," Time interrupted. "Yet you collected something called Fused Shadows? Yeah, that doesn't sound ominous at all."
"Hey! Sarcasm's my thing!" Twilight snapped. "And Midna insisted they were safe. But anyway, it didn't end up mattering. Zant ambushed us and stole the Fused Shadows. He cursed me, returning me to my wolf form, and injured Midna. I hurried Midna to Princess Zelda, hoping she could heal her. Zelda did heal her, and told me to find the Master Sword, which would undo my curse. So, I went and found it, and Midna told me we needed to use the Mirror of Twilight in order to access the Twilight Realm, where Zant was from. While we looked for the Mirror, Midna revealed to me that she was from the Twilight Realm yet had openly opposed Zant's rule."
"So, she's a rebel?" Wild concluded.
"Basically," Twilight agreed. "We found the Mirror of Twilight, but Zant had broken it into four fragments. He had sent the fragments to very obscure places. I recovered all four fragments with Midna's help, then we finally entered the Twilight Realm. We took on Zant, and Midna killed him. Before he died, he said that his Master had risen, and that he would be revived so long as his Master lived. So, with that news we returned to Hyrule Castle and took on Ganondorf, who had been running everything from behind the scenes. Ganondorf possessed Zelda, we fought her, and Midna broke the possession using the Fused Shadows we had recovered from Zant. I fought Ganondorf's bestial form, Ganon, a giant boar, and beat him again. He took on this weird shadowy form, and Midna said she'd hold him off. I told her no, that we'd do this together, but she insisted. She teleported Zelda and I out of the castle. Zelda and I watched the castle crumble from Hyrule Field. But...Ganondorf emerged from the rubble. He...he was holding the helmet Midna always wore. He snapped it in half right in front of me…" Twilight trailed off, staring into space.
"She...died?" Wind breathed.
Twilight nodded. "Yeah. But I had to keep fighting. Zelda and I fought Ganondorf in a horseback battle, and we won using Zelda's Bow of Light and Light Arrows. Then I fought Ganondorf in a final one on one sword fight. And I beat him again. He finally died. And... Midna had been revived by the Light Spirits, basically my world's guardian deities."
"So, you do get your happy ending!" Sky said, clapping his hands.
Twilight shook his head. "I'm not done yet. I learned that Zant had cursed Midna into the imp form I had become so familiar with. But dying and being revived had undone the curse. Her true form...was beautiful. I fell in love with Midna...the rightful ruler of the Twilight Realm. But I was unsure how to explain how I felt. So, I said nothing. The next day, we returned to the Mirror of Twilight so Midna could return to her realm and begin fixing her kingdom. I wasn't worried. As long as the Mirror of Twilight was around, I knew I'd see her again. But...she broke it as she left. Completely shattered. Totally beyond repair. I haven't seen her since."
"Wow," Sky sighed. "That's quite a story. And... I'm so sorry."
Twilight shrugged halfheartedly. "Yeah whatever. I'll get over it... Wind's turn."
"Okay!" Wind began enthusiastically. "It was my birthday. I got these clothes that day!" He pulled at his green tunic. "When a boy comes of age on my island, they get these clothes in honor of some legendary hero who saved the world a long time ago or something. But anyways. Later that day, I was enjoying my birthday with my little sister, Aryll, and then this huge bird came. It was being followed by a pirate ship. The ship was shooting cannonballs at it. The bird was carrying someone. It dropped its cargo in the woods at the top of my island after a cannonball got pretty dang close to it. I was curious and went up there to check it out. I met Tetra, who the bird had been carrying, and we exited the woods. Aryll had been following me, but that bird swooped down and carried her off. I was angry. No one messes with my little sister. Not even giant evil birds. Tetra explained that the bird had been after her and expressed her condolences that it had taken my sister instead. But I wasn't having any of that. I forced Tetra to let me board her ship and follow the bird. So, we followed it. We ended up in this place called the Forbidden Fortress. I found where Aryll was being kept, as well as several other young girls, but the bird picked me up before I could free any of them. It showed me off like some mouse it had caught to a man wearing all black. The man told the bird to throw me into the sea. And so, it did. I fell unconscious as soon as I hit the water. I woke up in the back of this talking boat who called himself the King of Red Lions. The boat told me the man in black was this evil guy named Ganondorf. It said the only way to stop him was to find this super powerful sword called the Master Sword. So, I found these three pearls that I needed to in order to prove my worth. Once I did that, this huge tower rose out of the sea…"
"Probably the tower we were stuck on," Twilight observed. "That was the biggest building I've ever seen."
"Did it have a bell on top?" Wind asked.
"Yeah," Twilight replied.
"That was it then," Wind agreed. "Anyways. I ascended the tower, rung the bell to let the world know I was worthy of the Master Sword, and a portal opened up at the bottom of the tower. The King of Red Lions and I entered it, and it took us to this castle at the bottom of the ocean. Also, I could breathe for some reason. But the castle was frozen in time. There were all these monsters that weren't moving. I explored it and found the Master Sword, which restored the flow of time to the castle. I fought off all the monsters and returned to the Forsaken Fortress to fight Ganondorf and save Aryll. I beat the giant bird and Tetra's crew saved Aryll while I went to go fight Ganondorf. Ganondorf revealed that the Master Sword's power had dwindled and so it would be ineffective against him. Tetra tried to save me, but he beat her as well. Some Rito friends I made earlier in my journey saved Tetra and I from getting killed by Ganondorf. The King of Red Lions took both Tetra and I back to the castle under the sea and explained that the castle was part of a kingdom known as Hyrule. It had been drowned like, a long time ago, in order to stop Ganondorf from killing everyone. He was supposed to be stuck there. But the King of Red Lions revealed that Tetra is Princess Zelda, the true heir of Hyrule. The King of Red Lions also revealed himself to be the last king of Hyrule."
"Wait…" Time interrupted. "Your...boat...was a person?"
"Yeah, apparently," Wind admitted.
"Wow," Twilight said. "And I thought turning into a wolf was weird."
"Yeah, no kidding," Wind agreed. "But anyways. The King insisted Zelda, or Tetra, should stay in Hyrule while I go and restore the Master Sword's power and find the Triforce of Courage. I did all that, the King of Red Lions declared me the Hero of Winds when the Triforce of Courage bonded with me, and returned to Hyrule, but Zelda had been taken. I hurried to Ganon's Tower, where Ganondorf had taken her. I fought against this huge puppet he created and beat it. So Ganondorf himself challenged me. But I got caught off guard and was knocked unconscious. He summoned the Triforce of Courage from me and the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda, as well as his own piece to complete the Triforce. He wished for Hyrule to be... undrowned, I guess, so he can rule the world. But the King of Hyrule touched the Triforce first, and he wished that Hyrule be completely covered in water, and that Ganondorf remain there. Enraged, Ganondorf attacked me again. I had woken up at that point. Zelda and I battled Ganondorf, and we beat him. I stabbed him in the head with the Master Sword, turning him to stone. We said goodbye to the King of Red Lions, and then we were taken back up to the surface of the sea. Tetra allowed me to stay…"
"Okay, hold up," Twilight butted in. "Why are you calling her Tetra again? I thought she was Zelda."
"Well...she is," Wind shrugged. "But the King wanted us to forget about Hyrule and start new lives. So, I started calling her Tetra again. Back to the story. Tetra allowed me to stay. We've been searching for a new land to call home ever since."
"What about your sister?" Sky asked.
"I visit her often," Wind said. "But she stayed on my island with my grandma."