Yet another long wait from me...sorry all =P

Past and Present

"But...why Zelda?"

"Everything that happened was my fault, and you lost seven years of your life because of me. You sacrificed those seven years to save Hyrule, and I respect you for that. But seven years...it's a long time, Link. You missed what it would have been like...to be a child."

"Zelda, I've had enough of being a child. Before I knew about this whole quest, before the Deku Tree called me to him seven years ago, I thought I was going to be a child forever. As a Kokiri at heart, I thought I was never going to grow up. But look at me now! I don't want to go back to my old life Zelda. Not if it means having to forget these adventures of mine. Not if it means...having to forget you."

Zelda looked away.

"Link..."

I stared at her hard.

"I don't want to go back Zelda. Not now, not ever. I've been through too much to go back now."

And as we stood there, thinking of what to do, memories of Zelda and I floated through my head, making it harder for me to do what she wants me to do.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I ran as hard as I could to the marketplace. I had finally done it. I had finally collected all the Spiritual Stones.

Now, to get to the Temple of Time.

As I got nearer, the clouds seem to have gotten darker and greyer.

"Oh great, a storm," I thought to myself. Oh well, Zelda always liked the rain, maybe we could play around before I get these stones back to the temple.

If only I knew that we weren't going to ever play together  in the rain again.

I slowed down as I got to the marketplace. The gate was closed.

Sighing, I sat under a tree and prepared to wait for the night.

Suddenly, I heard a mass of footsteps...no, it was...horsesteps?

I stood up and walked to the entrance. Horses weren't allowed in the marketplace.

The gate opened abruptly. I jumped back, mostly from shock. I gaped at what was before me.

Impa and Zelda were galloping Nate as fast as Nate could go. Zelda saw me and screamed, "Link! Catch!" and threw a blue thing at me. It landed in the water. I stared after them in surprise, wondering what was happening, but in a minute I knew why.

Ganondorf, clad in his black suit of armor, was chasing after them on his black horse.

He stopped when he saw me and said, "Hey, you, kid. You saw two people riding a white horse run past here, right?" and added menacingly, "Tell me where they are...or else."

I looked at him in disgust, unafraid, and said, "No."

"TELL ME NOW!" He yelled at me.

I bravely unsheathed my sword and shield and said once more, "No."

Ganondorf snorted and said, "Ha! A little kid, standing up to me? Never mind then, you're not worth killing anyway. Run along now, little boy." And with that, he rode off, laughing after knocking me over.

I stood up shakily, and rubbed my head for a moment. I was still in shock, but, otherwise, ok.

But the one other thing on my mnid was: Is Zelda ok?

I stared after where Ganondorf rode off, and for a second I wanted to play Epona's song on my ocarina and ride after him.

All of a sudden it hit me.

I looked over to the stream where Zelda had thrown the ocarina. I saw it at the bottom, jumped in, and grabbed it.

As soon as I got out of the water, I got paralyzed for a second, and suddenly saw something.

It was a message, a message from Zelda.

"Link...Link if you're seeing this, I'm probably already gone. Don't worry about me, Impa and I will be just fine. This is the Ocarina of Time. It gives you the power to change the road between times. I want you to play this song in front of the Pedestal of Time once you've returned the three Spiritual Stones. It is called the Song of Time."
With that, she taught me the Song of Time.

"Go Link; go fulfill your duty as the Hero of Time. I will see you soon."

And I snapped out of it.

Without wasting time, I ran to the Temple of Time, Zelda's words in mind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

**AN** -rubs back of head embarrassed- hehe...umm...first, an apology to everyone for not updating in almost 2 months...truth is, I didn't have enough motivation to keep writing this story...until now. Second, I thought I used the word "time" too much in this chappy lol... Once again, thanks to everyone that's even reading this fic, I know it's not much, but hey...every author has a first time, right? =) ~Yoshi~