Nintendo created all the characters and places and stuff. I just made the story up. The cover was done by Zeliga of DeviantART
Chapter Twenty Five - Don't Look, Don't Know
"Malon; we've got days to go, we have to leave the ranch; my friend is waiting." Ezekiel pleaded, crouching on one knee by a bed
"I doubt that I'll be able to move far; the horses are frightened of me now. They know what will happen." Malon whispered leaning back on her pillows; rubbing her swelling stomach.
"Surely you would recognise them. Come to the window." Ezekiel begged helping his wife to sit up, Malon groaned and edged herself forward as best she could, her stomach hanging over her belt. She gasped and brought her hands over her face
"Evening, Malon!" a cheery voice replied from the ground. A tall man no older than thirty stood leaning against the stable opposite the house dressed in a dark green tunic and long sock hat; short blond hair was tied up just under the sock to show a bouncy fringe above his crystal blue eyes and welcoming smile; his ears raised when his companion nudged his cheek, a chestnut orange mare with a snow white mane and black eyes that showed she was in perfect condition.
"I found him." Ezekiel smirked, waving a hand to the man
"Doesn't he have a family of his own now? I've not seen him since we were teenagers." Malon asked trying to climb off the bed
"No, he's been...living rough these past few years in my country." Ezekiel sighed "Come on man, give me a hand!"
"I'm coming!" the man replied opening the door downstairs "I'm not used to stairs now, you know!"
"Why does he keep going to Termina? Why can't he stay here?" Malon squeaked as the blond man's head popped in from the hallway
"I'm a man of many faces, Malon. I'm not really for staying in one place all the time." the man spoke holding his hand out, Ezekiel moved her free hand over his shoulders and got into position to lift Malon up
"You haven't changed a bit, Link." Malon grunted, holding her stomach as the man took her arm and mirrored the position that Ezekiel had
"On three…one, two, three." Ezekiel said; the men lifted Malon up as carefully as they could; their strength allowing them to bring her down the stairs towards the living room; pausing for a moment to breathe.
"Where have you been all these years?" Malon questioned, the man sat himself down
"I've been looking after his-my family; I go by the name Tempus now. But never mind me, look at you! You're still as pretty as I remember and about to bring a child into the world!" Tempus smiled pinching her cheek while Ezekiel packed some food up in a basket; his eyes constantly looking over his shoulder to the window
"You need a shave." Malon winced holding her friend's chin in a hand
"Why does everyone keep telling me that? It's a bit of stubble! I don't wear this face often you know." Tempus groaned shaking his head "Anyway, I'm going to help you get to a Fairy Fountain near here."
"Why would-ah-I need to go to a Fairy Fountain?" Malon grimaced squeezing Tempus's shoulder till he cringed
Ezekiel and Tempus exchanged a glance. "Honey, I don't want to lose you or our child."
Ezekiel sighed, bringing his voice down to a whisper "Li-Tempus knows the safest and easiest locations for Fairy Fountains; we can stay in them for as long as we want."
"Fine. Let's go." Malon winced "I can't wait to see Epona after all these years!"
The child let go of his hand, raising his head up to let cracks form on the glass; Link squeaked and put a hand up to the glass but the child did not even bother to look at him; the last of the glass clattered on the floor to reveal another drawing on the stone behind it. Another little sapling was carved into the stone, but this time it was larger and was covered in spring leaves with the tiniest of details; Link shivered and rubbed his shoulders only to bring his right hand forward to see that there was a spring leaf in it; he quickly found the blossom he had been given from the previous mirror and held them up;
Blossom of the spring
Leaf of the summer
There were two more mirrors. He was sure of it. The part he was not sure of was why he wanted to look at them, they gave him no clues to finding his father, no, they raised more questions on why he left them, did he not love them? And that man, the one that had helped them get to the Fairy Fountain, that voice, he had heard it before, very recently in fact, and his words, they sounded like they had more meaning than his parent's knew. What did he say again?
"I am a man of many faces…" That meant he had a double life. Why would he need a double life? He could understand given the fact he was banished if he was still in Hyrule but his father had said he had been living in 'his country' Was this 'Tempus' from a different nation originally? Or was his father? Link groaned and leaned back against the walls with his head in his hands; Pippa wormed her way under his arm and leaned on his side, puffing her chest out as she sat. She knew he was confused and did not really know how to deal with it.
Zelda opened her eyes to stare at the huge chime that hung from the ceiling, made out of dried seaweed that when it bounced off other chime pieces it blew a tune that changed depending on which way the wind was blowing from the window in the roof. She sat up after listening to the gentle tune for a while and smoothed out her tunic before slipping her boots on. She had not seen Link since they-she argued, she wondered if he was alright, but her first stop was to check on Cole, he was not one for sleeping in, he would be playing a few sour notes on the giant piano made from polished bone in his room out of curiosity in his room but his door was swinging on its hinge and his bed was empty; there were no Zora in the Hall to ask if they had seen him so she glanced into Link's room; again, empty, the bed was still made from the morning before, had he even returned last night? Rolling her eyes she dragged her feet to Rosie's room and cried out in horror at the sight that met her eyes; Rosie's bed clothes were torn on the floor and the furniture was destroyed, not to mention the door was broken, what had happened last night?!
She backed out of the room and ran out of the Hall.
"Cole?! Link?! Rosie?! Where are you?!" she screamed out to sea, causing the few Zora in the sea fishing for their breakfasts to raise their heads from the cover of the waves.
"What a pair of lungs you have." a female voice cooed removing a closed clam shell from around a young Zora's finger.
"Lulu!" Zelda cried rushing up to a Zora in a dark blue dress "Have you seen the others?"
"Not since yesterday I'm afraid, have they gone missing?" Lulu replied patting the child on the head
Zelda rolled her eyes "Duh!"
"Manners, Zelda, you may be a Princess but that is not excuse." Lulu spoke, her voice sharp
"Sorry. I'm worried, that's all." Zelda replied looking at her feet
"Rosie is sick is she not?" Lulu asked "Rumour has it that the Plague of the Dead is changing people into ferocious animals."
"It's the first I've ever heard of it." Zelda said swallowing hard, reminding herself of Rosie's room
Claws.
Zelda went pale, if Rosie had turned into a beast, then it was possible that she could have eaten Cole! Or worse, Link could have shot her! He rarely missed so Rosie had claimed and he had stolen from a shop with nothing but a bow and mask for two years.
"Zelda, are you alright?" Lulu asked, Zelda did not answer and stared forward. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a large inhale before revealing a dagger from inside her boot. Without another word, she turned on her heel and walked in the direction of the river.
Rosie groaned and raised her head from the grass; her head was spinning, had she been sleep walking? Why was she here? She pushed herself up off the ground; pulling herself into a crouch, she was so cold! She made an attempt to stand up but it was no use, she was famished and freezing. She glanced down at her bare knees rubbing them with her hands…why were her knees bare? Where were her clothes?! She let out a shriek that sent a roosting bird nearby squawking in a panic
"Ow. Man, what happened?" a moan came, Rosie lay back on the floor her backside winking at the sun
"Cole?" Rosie squeaked, spotting his legs sticking out behind the roots of a nearby tree
"Who's that?" Cole's voice called, the legs moved
"Don't you dare turn around!" Rosie snarled folding her arms
"Rosie? Oh thank goodness, it was a dream; I dreamed you were eaten by a Wolfos." Cole whispered holding up Rosie's tattered tunic in his hands "Um…the reason you don't want me to look is…"
"Yes, give it!" Rosie screeched.
"I honestly don't know why I had it!" Cole squealed when Rosie came out from behind the bushes in the tattered tunic, the tears going across the stomach and legs; she held the left shoulder in her hand to keep the chest upright, she was thankful in the fact that Cole was a gentleman. "Would you um like my cape?" Cole offered holding it out to her; Rosie snatched it out of his outstretched hand and wrapped it around her shoulders, tying it tightly around her neck.
"I don't know how you got it." Rosie grunted, giving him a rather hard slap on the cheek
"Ow!" Cole yelped rubbing his cheek "I'm telling you, I found it on the floor in your room in a dream, I don't know how I got it in real life!"
Rosie slapped him again "Well you obviously went in my room!"
"Cole?!" Zelda's voice rang over the horizon
"Zelda, over here!" Cole shouted waving a hand to the silhouette of a young lady thrashing through the forest
"There you two are! Where have you been?!" Zelda roared giving him a light slap on the arm "You've had me worried sick!"
"We're not even sure how we got here." Rosie spoke, stamping on Cole's foot
"Hey, stop it! I didn't do anything!" Cole grimaced "We must have slept walk!"
"What?" Zelda said swallowing hard "The rooms are all empty, yours is in a frightful state, Rosie, and well, Link's hasn't been slept in."
"He's still not back?!" Cole spluttered holding his arm "When did he last eat?"
Just like he had been summoned, they heard a snore nearby, glancing up into the trees they found Link lounging over a thick branch high in the tree; his bow and quiver hanging from the branches above and dog curled up on his lap with a rope tied around her waist. They all opened their mouths.
"How long has he been there?" Zelda stammered, Cole closed her mouth with a hand
"I want to know how Pippa got up there, never mind him!" Cole said giving a nervous chuckle "Dogs aren't really for climbing trees."
Rosie rolled her eyes and stood at the roots of the tree before swinging up onto the nearest branch at an almost blinding speed, her feet hardly pausing for footfalls as she made her way to wake him. Link gave her a dazed look, almost like he had just managed to get to sleep; hardly noticing his sister shaking his shoulders
"Oi!" Rosie shouted giving him a smack on the back of the head, Link opened his eyes fully and lost his balance, dropping down the branches like he were a ton of bricks till he hit the floor with a groan, his bow slipping itself on his shoulders. He rubbed the back of his head, squeezing his tired eyes shut in a yawn. Pippa landed next to him, jumping down from branch to branch carefully and slowly, grinning as she did so.
"I know exactly how you feel. I've had enough of you women hitting me and he's had it more." Cole grunted helping the sleepy and sore bloke up
Zelda came closer to them "So what now?"
"Breakfast." Rosie answered sliding down from the trunk, Link tugged at Rosie's arm as a young woman came out of the bushes, Cole jumped out of his skin.
"It's you! You saved me in the dream!" he stammered pointing a finger at the woman that took Link's arm
"Who are your friends, Link?" she asked, Zelda turned bright red.
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Well, that dart Aurora hit Cole with certainly confused him, didn't it? But Tempus and Ezekiel knew each other, are they from the same land? Or from different ones? Ezekiel seemed to be a caring man, why would he leave Link and Rosie? Does he even know what's happening to them? Pippa climbed a tree, that's new, how did she even get up there? Why would Tempus be banished? Is that why he hates the royals? SO MANY QUESTIONS!