Part 3: Stranded in Hyrule's Downfall
"Open... Open your eyes...Wake up, Link…"
HIs tunic feels damp and heavy, his body fatigued, but the Hero Across the Ages managed to open his eyes as instructed. The first few moments are quite hazy, but as his vision adjusts, he finds himself underneath a clear, blue sky, the sun quite blinding. He hears the sound of water brushing up against the land, his hands caress a grainy ground...he's on a beach, he immediately deduces. The desert doesn't have this much water to produce such a rough sound and...wait.
Wait just a moment.
Link shoots up, A beach? No no no… He was at Hyrule Castle, he was fighting Volga with Zelda, he was getting yelled at by Proxi. How the hell is he on a beach? The last thing he remembers is attacking Volga, then there was a light… Maybe he was transported somewhere in Hyrule? Yeah, that had to be it. Sighing, the Hero looks around to his left and right, seeing no one else in the area. Who was that voice...why did it sound familiar?
"Link." Link raises his eyebrows in familiarity with the recurrent voice. He almost curses his luck as he turns around and looks up to the Queen of Hyrule. She sits in the trees, her red eyes bearing down on him while the lower half of her face is hidden by her white scarf.
"Why are you dressed as Sheik?" he asks as he rises to his feet. "And where the hell are we?"
"Both good questions, but I'll answer the second one and let you figure out the second. I do not know where we are, but it is not Hyrule."
"How are you sure?"
"Ever seen anything like that in Hyrule?" Zelda points to her left and angled above to a distant mountain range. Following her finger, Link spots a large white object with purple spots. He might be wrong...but it looks like a giant egg on the highest mountain peak. Once she's sure he sees what she refers to, Zelda jumps down and steps over to her unfortunate companion. "For all my life, I've traveled to many foreign lands. Termina, Labrynna, Holodrum, Twilight Realm, Hyrule in the past if that counts...but none of these lands have a feature such as that. I think...we've done it again, traveled through time."
Link groans internally. "Great...wait, but to what time period? If this isn't Hyrule, this isn't our timeline. Maybe the other timeline, maybe this is an island in the Great Sea? It's not Windfall, Dragon Roost, or Forsaken Fortress." Link looks to his right, seeing a bustling harbor. "Seems this place gets attention. Maybe you're wrong."
Zelda glares at Link as he walks away. "You would love that, wouldn't you? For me to be wrong?"
"I wouldn't dare say such a thing, Your Majesty."
"My name is Zelda."
"Queen Zelda, if I recall correctly?" Link pauses and places a finger to his chin, falsely thinking. "Are you the Queen of Hyrule if we're indeed outside of our place in time in Hyrule, or anywhere in the world? I guess not. That would make you just 'Zelda.' to these people. You are right for once."
Zelda curses as she angrily steps forward. "Look, I'm not happy about this arrangement as much as you are, but for the love of Din, can you try to get along with me for once. When we're back at home and taken back our kingdom, you can go back to fucking the common whores of Hyrule."
That stuns Link long enough for him to forget his retort. She knows about that? He doubts Joshua has told her, the prince hasn't been around Zelda long enough and has an even greater reluctance to speak with her. Has she… Of course she would. It explains how she knew where to send him the letters. Joshua was in one place, his kingdom, but for the mobile Link, it only makes sense he received each letter if Zelda always knew where he was and what he was doing. "Why?" he asks as he walks after her.
"Why what?"
"Why were you keeping up with me all these years? You've never care much for rumors, but for the absolute truth. That's who you are as the Bearer of Wisdom, as trained under the Sheikah Clan. That's the only way you truly know that."
"Of course I did. As for why… It proved useful in the end. We both have a responsibility to this country."
"Don't you dare throw responsibility in my face!" Link's raised, sharpened tone pauses Zelda. "If anyone is not upholding their responsibility to Hyrule, it is you. Four wars we have fought, three underneath one collective title, and in three of these four, it is you who lost and me who put things back together. If it wasn't for me, Cia would've overtaken Hyrule. If it wasn't for me, Ganondorf would still be ruling Hyrule. If it wasn't for me, you'll be dead right now, on the end of Volga's spear."
"And if it wasn't for me, you would be a soldier or marginal recognition, possibly patrolling some backwater village. Or maybe you'll still be a goatherder of no recognition, with no responsibility, Maybe you're right, maybe I am responsible and maybe you did bail me out may times. But there's so much more responsibility that you could have yet you're welcome that I am relieving you of it. You think I just kept tabs on you because I needed to, in case what did happen actually happened? No. I did it for the first few weeks hoping you'll return. I did it for the first few months praying that you would come back. I did it for three years because I just wanted to make sure I wasn't alone in the world because the man I still care so much for was not where he should be." Zelda turns away, facing the ocean. "But I guess it is a crime for me to care about you, Link."
"You're right," Link says without thinking through his anger. "Why continue to care? If I held on as long as you did, I would've returned."
"Is that the truth...or is that what you tell yourself?"
Link exhales sharply and continues walking to the harbor. "It is whatever keeps me going to the next day."
Blending in with the new arrivals in the harbor was easy for the Hero and Princess, especially now that they were silent. Though he didn't like the situation they were in, Link made sure Zelda stuck close to him, and Zelda was like-minded in that regard. Being that they only knew each other, it made sense not wanting to unwillingly separated.
Koholint apparently is the name of this land, and it was an island. Link, not as worldly as Zelda, never heard of such a place; Zelda knows the map of the kingdoms by heart but it is safe to say that every individual island is a troublesome task to store in memory. She still believes that if they were in their time period, a place with such activity and a landmark like an egg on top of a mountain would be known to her to some degree. But if this is another time period, maybe it is of the Great Sea and a place Link and Tetra of the other timeline don't know about.
Passing the harbor market, the pair walk underneath a sign that reads "Mabe Village". The town is small in comparison to Castle Town but it seems to a similar size to Hateno Village. Definitely bigger than Ordon, Link's hometown. Entering the village, Link and Zelda begin to think about two different things to do first. Link, figuring that they'll be here a while, wants to secure lodging; Zelda, not wanting to be here for long, want to find out just where they are exactly. No better place for that than the library in her sight.
"I think the village is a good enough place for us to split. You know where to find me." Link looks at her destination and nods. Good enough for her, Zelda marches towards the library. In her mind, she decides that her Sheikah gear might be too...threatening for such a small place. Thankfully, her younger adventures through time prepared her for disguises of all kinds. As she walks through the library door, she instantly switches her clothes. She wears a blue and white shirt, a light brown waistcloth, dark brown pants, and brown shoes. She keeps her hair short but has a braid across her head.
Cheerfully Zelda glances around, her objective the history of Koholint and the world around it. She doesn't expect Hyrule's history to be contained in detail, but even a slim description of the country is enough for her to place her destination in the flow of time. If only Lana was here, this would be easier.
This is the first time Zelda has thought of the Guardian of Time. Where is Lana? Is she here with Joshua on Koholint? No, Zelda doubts it. Only her and Link were at Hyrule Castle...but there's no sign of Impa or Spryte. Could it be she's totally alone with Link? A younger Zelda would find that amazing, but this one finds it dreadful. She is right, the quicker they return to Hyrule, the quicker they can separate.
"Let's start here," Zelda says as she picks up The Complete History of Koholint Island, The Dreamland. Finding an empty table, Zelda begins to read the book. Against her nature, she skips past the legends of the island, heading straight to the written history. Once there, she slowly skims for any mention of Hyrule or any of the other kingdoms, Labrynna, Calatia, and Hytopia.
An hour later, nothing comes of it. Any mention of the other kingdoms is so brief that it is doesn't help. Frustrated, Zelda sighs and rubs her forehead. This is harder than she thought it would be. If there is no way to find out where they are in history, then how does she begin to formulate how to return? If only…
"Sleeper wake, dreams will fade, although we cling fast…"
"Was it real, what we saw? I believe." Zelda holds her head up after automatically singing the verse. She knows the song, 'Ballad of the Wind Fish,' as her mother used to sing it to her when Zelda would have nightmares as a child. In turn, she sings it to her son. Looking around, she locks eyes with a redhead woman a short distance away in the history section. She looks a little younger than Zelda, though being twenty-six is still young to Zelda. Smiling, the stranger walks excitedly in her light blue dress to Zelda, her brown eyes lit with curiosity.
"You know the 'Ballad of the Wind Fish'? That's amazing!"
Zelda nods. "Same to you. I guess its fate to meet another who knows it."
"Fate? I'll say it is more like a dream." The woman takes a look at the book Zelda is reading. "The Complete History of Koholint Island, The Dreamland. Interested in history, huh? I am too." Her face becomes more solemn as she continues talking. "I have this dream to leave Koholint. I would like for me to meet a guy, fall in love, and explore the world. See other lands. But every day, that seems to be just a fleeting dream. Guess that's why they're called dreams. How about you, miss? How have your dreams treated you?"
Zelda sighs. "To be honest, my life has been nothing short of trouble. And my dreams...they never have been good things."
"Premonitions of the end of the world? I kid." The girl takes the book, not seeing Zelda's face drain of blood at the accuracy of her guess. When was the last time Zelda had a good dream she can remember? Bad dreams she can name off the tongue. The dream of Hyrule being swallowed by darkness, which coincided with CIa's invasion; the one about the dragons, which made no sense until this very moment now that she thinks about it. She never told anyone about it, how she would dream of the sky breaking apart, and seven flames spreading fire across the land. No, Zelda does not recall a good dream. All she knows are nightmares.
"Here."
Zelda takes the green book the girl is giving her, her hopes immediately soaring. "Hyrule Historia?"
"Mhm. A trader brought this a few weeks back. It's my favorite book on the land of Hyrule. Have you been there? Or do you come from Hyrule? Wait, the ears are a giveaway. You're Hyrulean."
Zelda sees no point in lying. Pointed ears are exclusive to Hyruleans, after all. "Yes, I come from Hyrule. I'm afraid I have not introduced myself. My name is Sheik."
"Marin." The girl, happy to make Zelda's acquaintance, asks her a question that takes her by shock. "If you're from Hyrule, then you must remember when this 'Agahnim' took over Hyrule and imprisoned the princess?"
Zelda frowns. She knows an Agahnim, a former advisor of hers who turned out to be in league with Ganondorf. He did help take over Hyrule in a sense, but...never one did he imprison her. "What?"
"And is it true that there was a Hero of Time? Did he really lose to this Ganon person?"
Zelda grabs Marin's arms, silencing the islander. With that done, Zelda asks her question. "Did you say that the Hero of Time...lost to Ganon?"
Marin slowly nods. "That's what the book says. Why? Is it wrong?" Zelda ignores her as she skips pages to the section with the timeline of Hyrule's history. She gasps as she scans the figure, her hand to her forehead in shock. Marin is right, the Hero fo Time lost to Ganon, thus starting this timeline. She had heard of this era before when Impa fought Agahnim. He spoke of a time when the Hero of Time failed, but to think she would set foot her herself...presents other challenges.
If Link and Zelda are here, that means that this is a significant point of their legend. That means Link, the one that is supposed to be in this timeline, is either present or they managed to avoid his presence. But a more pressing concern...can they even return home?
"Sheik, are you okay?" Marin asks in concern. Zelda doesn't answer, quietly handing Marin back the book and rises. "Thank you for everything. I should go check on my friend, he's probably found us a room to stay...or exploring the island."
"Well, if you want, please come to my home. I would love to hear more stories of Hyrule, especially from people who lived there. I'll serve dinner."
Zelda believes it is a nice thing to do considering Marin did help her. But as the stories to be told... does she go along with this alternate timeline's history or the one she knows? Zelda will have to decide soon, but for now, she merely accepts Marin's offer. "We'll be there."
Meanwhile...
"So Mr. Hero has made it back home. I hope he's okay there. Hopefully he can stop Yuga...and make HIl see what she's doing is wrong. If only you could, Ravio." A young man, dressed in a large purple robe, stares at the sunset. Smiling, he turns to the house he's "renting" and goes inside. "Well, until then, I'll-EEEPPPPP!"Three long, sharp, pointy prongs threaten to make Ravio a kabob as he is pressed between it and the interior side of the door. At first, he believes monsters have invaded the house, but upon further inspection, it is two people. One with a mean glare of golden eyes, another with sympathetic purple. Ravio cares to stare into the purple ones. "Please don't kill me, take whatever you want! I'll give you a discount!"
"Joshua, let him go. He's harmless but he might be helpful."
The olive-skinned male with red hair drops Ravio and recedes his weapon, but he still stands threateningly over him. Oh how he wishes he got the bracelet back from Link, then he could have merged with the wall. Somehow, Ravio gets the feeling the man would have not been deterred by such a feat.
The man steps away, allowing the woman to approach. Ravio takes her hand and rises up to his feet. However, he is still confused by the pair's presence. If they were here to rob him, they would have hurt him or worse by now. "Sorry about my friend there, he's just on edge. My name is Lana, that over there is Joshua. We've sorry to invade your home, But we have a few questions about this land...and maybe if my friend didn't scare you too much, I beg for your help."
Ravio slowly nods. "I'll try, but I'm not sure how much help I can be myself. I'm not from this world myself."
Lana looks to Joshua, puzzled. "Well, there goes our luck...wait, what do you mean. You're Hylian, are you not?"
Ravio shakes his head. "No. My name is Ravio, and I am from the ruined kingdom of Lorule."
Lana suddenly drops her jaw and turns away. She looks to Joshua, an answer settled in her mind. "Joshua...we're not in a distant land in another part of the world. We're not even back in time."
"Then where are we?"
"A whole new history of Hyrule."