To think that the day seemed so good at first…
Rish crouches on all fours in the vegetable cellar, hands over his head. His mother, a tall woman with a few strands of gray even at the age of thirty, is bent on all fours beside him. The cellar is no more than ten paces wide and ten long, and completely dark. There had not been vegetables inside for ages, despite the name. This compartment below the floor of the hut had been set aside for an occasion such as this.
The terror does not leave either of them, however. The bandits had come so suddenly, carrying torches and swords and spears, ready to plunder. Rish's mother had gotten them below by a hair's breadth, and the boy presently realizes that it will take another stroke of luck to keep them from finding this place, too….
There is speaking too soon, and there is thinking too soon.
The wooden panel is ripped from its place, and the light hits Rish and his mother in the eyes. They can just register the shape of an older, bearded raider, grinning to show a mouthful of black and broken teeth.
"What do we have here?"
For a moment all Rish can do is stare, like a deer in the sights of an archer. Then, too suddenly, an unseen force pulls the bandit out of sight as he lets out a surpr isingly high-pitched yelp. Rish spends another moment in complete silence, then scurries up the rope ladder before his mother can stop him.
The bandit is laying spread-eagled on the floor of the hut, out cold. The boy jumps over him and through the open doorway. Two more figures come into view, standing perhaps fifteen feet away from him. One is another bandit, dressed in a surcoat of chainmail and a metal helm. He is swinging a sword with both hands, trying to hack at the other figure.
His opponent is a tall young man, dressed in a green tunic. Sandy blonde hair pokes out from a long green hat, and his face is set into a glare. He has a wooden shield in one hand and a sword of his own in the other.
The bandit's face is concealed by his helmet, but Rish can sense his desperation as he takes a wild swing at his enemy. The green-clad stranger blocks the blade not with his shield, but with his sword. He delivers two strikes with his leg, first a stomp to the bandit's foot, then a knee to the groin. As the bandit drops his sword and doubles over, the stranger swings down with his other arm, hitting the bandit's helmet with the edge of the shield. The man sinks face-down without a sound.
Rish cannot help but look from side to side. The huts, so similar to that of his own family, block his view. But he can already tell that the bandits have been defeated. He watches the green-clad swing his sword in a flourish and sheathe it across his back. Shield in hand, he begins to walk off into the distance.
Rish does not notice at first that his mother has joined him. When he does, they embrace, and stare after the direction of the wandering stranger.
"Another round for Link!"
"Here, here, here!" Ashei, Shad, and Auru, sitting at the circular table, raise their cider glasses. They see Link, sitting at the bar, modestly point his glass at him, but the three of them-the knights, the red-haired scholar, and the old adventurer-can see that both the gesture and his smile seem somewhat half-hearted. They each take sips, but Link manages to chug half of his third glass of the night.
Link puts the glass on the bar's wooden paneling and stretches his arms. He is still dressed in his green tunic, but he has left his hat with the sword and shield in the corner. There are no other customers around; bartender Telma had decided long ago that this would be a special hour for the group.
Rusl, Link's mentor from Ordon Village, sits next to him. He claps the younger man on the back. "Twenty bandits taken down in less than an hour? You'd have to be pretty sharp to sniff them out."
Link smiled weakly. He had in fact, sniffed them out. The black Twilight shard in his pocket poked at this thigh again, and he recalled taking it out and letting himself turn into a wolf again, just as he had done in the old days where she would….
Link paused, picked up his glass and finished the rest of the cider. Rusl's eyebrows drooped in worry, but his focus was cut off by Telma walking back to their spot after switching out some of the bottles on the shelf. The stocky, tawny woman is dressed the same as every night, with her red hair tied back and a low-cut gray dress hanging off her frame. She smiles at Link.
"How about we cut the praise and get on with the reward? I have something in the back, it'll make you feel super!" Telma leans forward as she says this, allowing Link a look down her cleavage.
The younger man smiles, but waves his hand and gets off his stool. He walks to the corner, puts on his sword and shield and hat, and walks into the night with Rusl staring after him.
Link hiccups as he climbs up the stone staircase leading back into Hyrule Castle Town. It's not an unfamiliar act to him anymore.
He has not done too badly, all things he considered. In the six months that have passed since the Twilight invasion ended, he had become a personal knight by order of Princess Zelda's decree, and has traversed the land as he had done before as he battled the forces of Zant and Ganondorf. Village after village, victory after victory. Of course, as he realizes now, he could never have expected it to be so lonely.
Midna was no longer around. She had left Hyrule for the Twilight Realm. He understood her desire and her duty. But in the six months that had followed her departure, he had not been able to muster the nerve to continue living at Ordon Village. In fact, he could not recall any gatherings among family or friends, except for nights like these, where he had plopped into Telma's bar.
Link hiccups again as he crosses the second cobblestone road of the night. Having abandoned his home in Ordon, he resides now in a section of the guards' barracks with his horse, Epona. True, it does not have a soft bed or windows, but…..he feels he had weaned himself of such things long ago.
As Link begins to walk through an alleyway, he hears a faint shout. Not a cry for help, not a plea for reprieve, but an angry ripple through the air. He picks up the pace, moving through the rest of the alleyway and sidestepping a couple buildings so that he is in the central plaza. He then sees what the commotion is about.
"Stop! Thief!"
Two guards, one tall and one short, both in uniform and carrying spears, are chasing a figure around the water fountain in the middle of plaza. The figure is covered head to toe in black, and he is holding something in his hand. He is not running too fast, but the guards still fail to catch up to him.
Link rolls his eyes before he jumps into action, moving to intercept the thief as he revolves around the fountain again. The young hero swings his arm up to the sword on his back, his hand grabbing the handle. He can see the thief more clearly now. He's covered in a one-piece suit from the knockdown, and a face mask obscures everything from the neck up except for his eyes, tiny dots squeezed too close to each other. His costume, in this better light, is not truly black but a patchwork mixture of grays and browns and reds. And the item in his hand, no doubt his stolen prize, is a sky blue ocarina with a gold band on the mouthpiece.
All these details flash into Link's mind and tune out just as quickly. He has to focus. He and the thief are just a couple feet from one another. He has to lunge forward, draw his sword and telegraph a blow with the sword before striking him down with the shield in his other hand. It will be an instant takedown.
Of course, Link's plan is based on the thief stopping in his tracks as he sees the sword flash in the air. He does not. Instead, he drops to his feet and swings out his leg in a wide arc and knocking Link off his feet. The hero barely saves himself from face planting by slamming his shield arm towards the cobblestone street. He drops the shield and lunges forward, pushing the thief on his back. With his left hand still on the sword handle, he grabs the tip with his right gloved hand and pushes forward, hoping to hold the blade to the other man's neck and make him yield.
But the thief is, once again, too quick for him. He does something very unexpected. He holds the mouthpiece of the ocarina to his lips and sings a few notes even as he feels the cold steel of the blade touch his skin.
Then everything goes white.
No buildings, street, no shouting guards. It's just Link and the thief.
Then everything comes back again.
There are cobblestones under Link and the thief once more, and there are sounds of people talking, and shuffling. More strikingly, there is now sunlight.
The air is crisp and the sun is bearing down on the pair. As Link is hunched over, stunned, the thief wiggles out and bolts as soon as his feet touch the ground, running through a crowd of Hylians.
Link struggles to his feet and sheaths his sword. The Hylians…some old, some young, men, women…are pointing at him and watching him and speaking to each other in hushed whispers. As if he had popped in out of thin air.
In fact, it dawns on him, that must be what happened.
He stumbles to his feet, ignores the passerby, and stumbles back through the alley he must have passed through. Then the sound came back to him.
"28!" The small man shouted, waving his sign! "Today is Day 28 of the new year!"
No…
Link scrunched his face. It was Day 230….wasn't it?
But the answer had already hit his brain.
He had gone back in time.
And he remembered this particular day…
"There it is! The last Fused Shadow!" Midna swipes the dark artifact from Link's hands." I'll just take that, thanks! Now, don't resent me for all I've put you through. I NEED this thing!"
Link's self-control lapses, and he huffs. Lakebed Temple had been tiring enough, and he had this imp breathing down his neck again. Even for the sake of the mission, he could not quite believe he was doing so much for her. Midna must have detected his change in mood, for she stops short even though she does not drop her devilish smirk.
"Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, I'm sorry for dragging you all over the place with me." There was an awkward pause. "So, shall we go?" She watched Link nod wearily.
Midna opens the portal, Link follows her to it, and the two begin their destination to the place that redefiness their relationship.
At least, for the old timeline.
Here goes my first try at a Twilight Princess fanfic! Here's hoping all goes well!