8/31/02
ME: Sorry for the long wait everybody. I had a busy summer. Plus, I had some problems with this chapter. But, I'm proud of the way it turned out.
Zelda: Will Link be ok?
ME: For the millionth time: YES!
Zelda: Just making sure.
ME: ::sigh:: Anyways, If you haven't noticed, I changed my penname. I'm now TimeSage. I've also changed my writing style a little bit. As soon as I get more time, I change the previous chapters.
Response to reviews:
NPC Gary: Yea, I let Ganondorf take the stones. I have a really good reason too. I can summarize it into one word, what was it? Oh yeah, PLOT!!!! BTW: I'm a guy!
Death-Demon-Xero: Thanks for pointing out that mistake. I'll probably change that ending, but for now let me explain what happened. Link was too distracted with the arrow going through his leg to notice Ganondorf (honestly, I don't see how anybody can divert their attention from their leg if it has a big arrow sticking through it). By the time he put his attention back to Ganondorf, he had already finished charging his attack, and wasted no time throwing it. Link couldn't move out of the way (leg hurts too much) and had no time to search for Nayru's Love; thus, he was knock unconscious by the attack. I know it's kind of stupid. Oh well.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Zelda. 'Nuff said.
Key
"blah" = speech
'italics' = thought
"*italics*" = exaggeration
-------- = scene change
~*~*~ = time/ p.o.v change (3rd person perspective)
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The Legend of Zelda: Save the Past
Chapter 7: Hideouts, Reunions, and Kidnappings
Link regained consciousness. He opened his eyes to look at his surroundings. He was lying on a bed in some kind of room. A large blanket was laid over him.
"About time you woke up," chimed a familiar voice.
"Navi?" Link asked. He looked above him to see his fairy hovering above him. "Where am I?" he asked as he attempted to get up. But as soon as he moved his right leg, an excruciating pain shot through his body.
"No, don't move," cried another familiar voice. "You injuries haven't healed yet."
Link turned towards the direction of the voice. As he thought, Malon was standing there at the doorway.
"Malon? Where am I?"
"You're at the ranch, silly," she replied. "Well, to be more precise, you're in one of the guest rooms (A.N: Yes, I know there aren't any extra rooms in the game.). My dad found you in the middle of Hyrule Field, badly injured and unconscious." Malon sighed. "What's going on Fairy Boy?"
Link sighed in frustration. He didn't believe Malon should know about what's going on.
"Nothing, I was just attacked by stalchildren," he lied. It didn't work though.
"Somehow, I have a hard time believing that. What really happened?" she asked again, more sternly this time.
Link gave another sigh. "Fine, if you really want to know, I'll tell you. But you must promise me you won't tell *anybody* what I'm about to tell you."
"No problem," she assured him as she walked over and sat down next to him.
And with that, Link told her of what was happening. Of course, he only told her of the events in the current timeline. He felt that it would be best to leave out the fact that he experienced this (or at least *some* of this) before.
"Wow, is that true?" Malon asked.
"Yea, it is."
"Wow." That was the only.
"Wait, you believe me?"
"Oh course, Fairy Boy," she replied. "Sure it seems kind of weird, but with all that's happening lately, what isn't?"
Link chuckled. "You know, you're wiser than most people give you credit for."
"Thanks," Malon said, blushing a little. She then got up on her feet. "I'm going to start on lunch. I'll bring a bowl of soup up to you, ok?"
"Thanks," Link said politely. Malon smiled in response and walked out of the room. After she left, Link laid down on the bed. His leg was still hurting. He knew Malon was right; he couldn't go anywhere for some time now. He could only lay low and hope for the best.
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Meanwhile, Impa and Zelda were hiding inside an underground shelter, hidden behind the giant bookcase in Impa's house (original, huh). The shelter itself wasn't much. It consisted of a table (with chairs), a cauldron which hung over an area for a fire, several cots for sleeping on, and a few shelves. Impa was busy cooking a kind of stew in the cauldron. She was wearing the usual outfit, except she also had a coat on. Zelda was sitting at the table, looking upset. She was wearing a simple green dress. Her shoulder-length hair fell freely. She was depressed, mostly out of worry for Link. It's been two days since Ganondorf attacked the castle. She was confident her father was ok. It was Link she wasn't sure about. There hasn't been any word from him since he left them to stop Ganondorf.
She prayed he would be ok. He was her first real friend. He was her only real friend.
"Zelda, lunch is ready," called Impa as she approached the princess, a bowl of stew in each hand. She placed one of the bowls in front of Zelda, and then placed one in front of herself.
Zelda look at the stew for a second, then pushed the bowl of stew away. "I'm not hungry," she muttered. She then got up and began walking towards her cot.
"You're worried about the boy, aren't you," Impa stated more than asked. Zelda stopped in her tracks. Thoughts of Link raced through her mind, and her head hung lower.
"…Yes," she admitted.
"I wouldn't worry, there's something about that boy that I don't understand. But something tells me he'll be ok," Impa said, attempting to cheer up the young princess.
Zelda turned to Impa, a small smile tugged along her lips. "You're probably right. Thanks." She then walked the rest of the way to her cot and laid down. Something inside her told her that Impa is right, that Link was out there, somewhere.
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It has been over week since Link woke up at the ranch. He had spent most of the first few days in bed. Ingo was out on vacation when they brought him here, and wouldn't be back for a few more days, so Link could use his bed without trouble. Once his leg got better, though, he began helping out around the ranch. It was currently night time, and Link was sitting on the 1st-story roof of the house, with Navi sitting on his hat.
"I hope Zelda is ok," mumbled Link.
"Well, since Hyrule has yet to be infested by monsters and darkness, I believe she is just fine," joked Navi.
"But still, as long as Ganondorf holds the Spiritual Stones, how can we stop him?"
"I don't know. We need to think of something. You know where Zelda is hiding, right Link?"
"Yea, but still. What if Ganondorf…," Link stopped suddenly. He thought he saw and heard somebody in the ranch.
"'What if Ganondorf' what?" asked Navi.
"Did you see something just now?" Link whispered.
"No," Navi replied. They listened for a little while, but heard nothing. "It was probably a horse, or a cucco."
"I don't like this. Something tells me we better leave now."
With that the two went inside to grab Link's equipment and to write a note.
It turned out that what Link saw was one of Ganondorf's minions, who was currently hiding around the side of the barn. He couldn't hear what they were saying after Link spotted him, but he decided not to risk getting caught. A little while later, he saw the boy go inside. He then quietly stepped out of the shadows.
"I better tell Lord Ganondorf about this," he muttered as he left the ranch.
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As the sun slowly appeared over the mountains to the East, Link, riding Scarlet, raced towards Kakariko Village. He was wearing a cloak Malon had given him while he stayed at the ranch so that he couldn't be identified. He couldn't waste anymore time, and left earlier that morning, before the sunrise. As the sunrise ended and the sun rose higher, Link rode across the bridge over the river and towards the nearby tree. He stopped Scarlet and tied her with some rope he "borrowed" from the ranch to keep her from running away (A.N: He doesn't have a song for her, so she could run away for good if he's not careful). After he was satisfied with the knot, he made his way up the stairs and into Kakariko. It wasn't until they were walking through the village that Navi thought of something.
"Link, do you know exactly where in the house they are hiding?" she asked. Link stopped dead in his tracks.
"Uh… oh no," Link said, realizing he didn't know where they would be; not to mention how to make them know he'd arrived.
A sweatdrop formed on the back of Navi head. "You… you're kidding, right?"
"Nope, but I'm sure we'll find them," Link said as he continued up to Impa's house.
~*~15 minutes later~*~
Link and Navi were tired. They searched everywhere they could think of for a passage where Zelda and Impa were hiding. They even tried yelling for them, but Impa and Zelda couldn't hear him.
"This is just great. What are we going to do now?" Link grumbled. He learned back onto the bookshelf, his elbow accidentally pushing one of the books. To his surprise, the book began sliding inward (towards the wall) on its own. Suddenly, Link gave a yelp as he jumped away from the bookshelf, which was now opening inwards (with surprisingly little noise), revealing a passage. It was a spiraling staircase, going down.
(A.N.: Ok, I know this chapter sounds really stupid so far.)
"Link… what just happened?" Navi asked, turning towards her partner.
"I honestly have no idea," Link responded. "I have a feeling they are down there, though." He was about to yell when Navi stopped him.
"Link, wait! We don't know what's down there, we should play it safe," suggested Navi. Link nodded and the two slowly made their way down the stairs. Behind then, they heard the secret door creak back into place.
~*~*~
Impa was finishing making her and Zelda's lunch when she suddenly stopped. She could have sworn she heard something.
"Impa, is everything alright?" asked Zelda.
Impa only gave a gesture for Zelda to keep quiet. She heard a faint tapping sound, gradually getting louder.
"Somebody's coming," Impa said. She quickly grabbed her sword and stood against the wall around the corner of the stairway, waiting for whoever it was to arrive. Zelda stood beside her. Suddenly, the footsteps got louder, and louder, and pretty soon a cloaked figure appeared. As soon as the person stepped off the stairs, Impa immediately knocked him with the blunt side of her sword. The figure dropped to the floor like a pile of bricks. Impa was about to deliver the final blow when Zelda cried out.
"Impa, don't!" she cried.
"Why not?" Impa asked. Zelda didn't reply, she just pointed at something next to Impa. Impa turned around to see a blue light hovering over the now unconscious person in the cloak.
"I remember that fairy, her name it's Navi," explained Zelda. "And that means…" Before Impa could stop her, Zelda rushed to the person's side. She removed that hood, and what they saw gave them both relief and dread.
"Link," Zelda whispered.
~*~*~
Link gave a scream as he awoke. He had that same nightmare again. The one with Zelda and himself in what appeared to be the Temple of Light. As he calmed down, he began to look around his new surroundings. He was in a room that seemed to be underground. There was a lantern lit, illuminating the room. There really wasn't much more than a table and some shelves.
"Finally, you're awake," a familiar voice chimed.
Link turned to the direction of the voice. He was relieved to see it was only Impa. She was sitting at the table drinking something.
"What happened?" asked Link.
"You were knocked unconcious for a few hours. It's mainly my fault. I heard somebody coming down the stairs, and thought you were one of Ganondorf's minions; especially with that cloak."
"That's ok," said Link. "You had no way of knowing it was me. By the way, where's Zelda?"
"Asleep right next to you," responded Impa.
Sure enough, when Link looked to his side, he saw Zelda sleeping on a cot a couple of feet away from him. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. He decided to leave her be, so he got up and sat at the table across from Impa.
"How long have I been out for?"
"I would say a whole day at least," replied Impa.
Suddenly, they heard somebody mumbling. Link and Impa both turned to the cots. Zelda was waking up. Slowly she got up and looked around. As soon as she saw Link, she immediately jumped up.
"Hey Zel-" Link didn't even have time to say hi before Zelda practically tackled him to the ground with a hug.
"Link! You're awake! You're here! You're ok!!!" Zelda was obviously excited to see that her friend was ok. Link blushed a little and slowly returned the hug. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds until, as usual, the mood was broken by a certain someone.
"Ahhh, what a cute scene," Navi chirped. Link and Zelda immediately broke apart. Zelda turned a bright red, and Link gave Navi the usual death glare.
"Anyway, it's nice to see you two again," said Link.
"Same here," replied Impa.
"What happened to you Link?" asked Zelda.
"From what I'm told, I was knocked unconscious when I faced off with Ganondorf. When I woke up, I was at the ranch. Malon told me her father found me and took me and Scarlet to the ranch. My leg was injured, so I had to stay there."
"Is that all?" asked Zelda.
Link shook his head. "I think Ganondorf has the Spiritual Stones, because I can't find them, and Malon and Talon said they hadn't seen them either.
Zelda and Impa both stared at Link, dumbfounded.
"I'm sorry," said Link, hanging his head.
"No, it's ok. You couldn't do anything more," Zelda said, trying to cheer Link back up. "Besides, he can't do anything without the Ocarina of Time, just like you say."
Link managed a small smile. "Yea, I guess you're right."
"What are we going to do now?" asked Zelda.
"We need to somehow get the Spiritual Stones, but until we figure out a plan, we need to gather up the Sages."
"Well, we have one so far."
"Wait, who are you talking about?" asked Impa, who until then was quietly listening to the conversation. Link and Zelda only looked at her. "…Wait, you don't mean me do you?" Link and Zelda only nodded.
"You're the Sage of Shadow," Navi confirmed. Impa just sat there, speechless.
"…So, anyways we need to get the Sages, and then…" Link continued his conversation with Zelda.
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Ganondorf was not in a good mood. He had just spent over a week looking for the princess during the day, and even spent the last couple of nights searching, but came up empty. He finally gave up looking himself and sent some of his servants to look instead while he stayed at the castle. Why he didn't do that in the first place, nobody knows.
'I'm starting to regret killing that boy after all. It would make this whole thing a lot easier.'
Suddenly, there was a knock on the large doors to the throne room.
"Enter," announced Ganondorf. As commanded, the doors opened and a figure walked in. It was a Hylian knight (emphasis on 'was'). After the main attack, Ganondorf found a few knights left. Instead of killing them, he decided to just put them under his powers and make them work for him.
"M'lord," the knight greeted as he bowed.
"What do you want?"
"Sir, while you were gone, I saw the boy. The one that's supposedly dead."
"…Stop kidding around!" yelled an annoyed Ganondorf.
"Sir, it's true. I saw him one night at the ranch. He had what looked like a blue light with him. I think it was a fairy. From what I saw, it was definitely a boy. I think he was wearing green clothes. I heard snippets of their conversation. They were talking about the princess and the Spiritual Stones and such."
Ganondorf listened to what the possessed knight said. He believed he was telling the truth, since not many others knew what the boy looked like or the fact that he had a fairy.
"You say he was at the ranch, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
Ganondorf grinned evilly. 'I think things just got a lot easier. Soon, I will have the Ocarina of Time and then, the Triforce!!!'
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Malon was busily brushing one of the horses in the barn. Link had left a couple of days ago, while everybody else was still asleep. He wrote that he felt that something wasn't right, and that he felt she and her father would be safer if he left early. Of course, he took the cloak with him. She wasn't mad though. She probably would've forced him to take it anyway. Things were back to normal, though Malon hoped he was ok, since his leg still isn't healed.
Suddenly, Malon heard the sound of footsteps outside. She was about to go look, but then she remembered what Link told her about the attack on the castle. She decided to stay in the barn. She was about to go look for a hiding place when the door blew open. The explosion surprised her enough to fall. When she got back up, she couldn't see much since dust filled the room. Suddenly, a figure approached her through the cloud of dust. It was without a doubt Ganondorf.
"Where is the boy?" he asked coldly.
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Link ran through Kakariko Village as fast as he could. He was for the most part quiet. The people he ran by, however, more than made up for than his silence. It wasn't him they were screaming about, though. It was the Gerudo female that was chasing him with a couple of dangerous-looking blades.
(A.N.: Nabooru's blades look pretty much like the curved ones the Gerudo guards wield.)
"I told you that was a stupid idea!" Navi yelled at Link. The 'stupid idea' Navi was referring to happened just a few minutes ago. Link and Navi were having a pretty easy time collecting the sages, mainly since they already remembered Link. Nabooru, however, had yet to meet Link; so she was as stubborn as ever. When Link finally gave up trying to convince her she was a sage, he played the Nocturne of Shadow, and at the last minute grabbed her arm. After they arrived at the graveyard, and Nabooru regained her senses and realized what he had just done (grabbed and kidnapped her in her opinion), she immediately went into a fit. She immediately drew out her swords and slashed at him. Link dodged, hopped off the alcove they were on, and ran. Nabooru followed. And thus, the chase began.
Link and Navi ran (or flew in Navi's case) towards Impa's house. As much as Link wanted to try and calm Nabooru down with force, he knew it wouldn't be wise to attack a sage. Nabooru was right behind them, chanting a Gerudo-warrior cry. They quickly entered the house and slammed the door right in Nabooru's unsuspecting face (ouch!). They knew that wouldn't stop her for long, so they quickly ran to the bookshelf and pushed the book that activated the switch. As soon as the door got far enough open to let them in, Nabooru had succeeded in busting the door open with her foot. Link and Navi immediately ran (and flew) downstairs, Nabboru not far behind. The bookcase automatically closed again soon after she went past.
~*~*~
Zelda and the other 5 sages were quietly waiting for Link to return. Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching, along with a voice.
"…hhhhheeeeeeEELLLPPPPP!!!!!!!!" Link yelled as he ran down the stairs. Impa didn't know what was going on, but she got her sword out anyway. Suddenly, Link practically flew around the corner. He ended up losing his footing on the last couple of steps and fell to the ground. Nabooru appeared not a second later. Her swords were already up. She began to swing the swords down at Link, oblivious to the fact that others were in the room. Before her swords could reach him, they were stopped by another sword. Impa's sword. Nabooru wasn't expecting this, thus, she was temporarily distracted with shock. Impa noticed this and used it to her advantage by thrusting her sword upwards, sending Nabooru's swords flying right out of her hands.
"I really don't want to fight a fellow sage," Impa said as she lowered her sword.
"I'm telling you, I'm no sage!" yelled a still stubborn Nabooru. "You're working for Ganondorf, aren't you?"
"How could you say that!" screamed Impa. "We're out to destroy Ganondorf! And we can't do it without your help!"
Before Nabooru could reply, the whole room began to shake. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped.
"What was that?" asked a startled Link.
"Probably just a qua-," before Impa could finish, the shaking began again, even more powerful than before.
"Ok, that was no quake. Navi, go see what's going on," Link said.
"I'm on it," she replied. She was about to leave when Zelda spoke up.
"Wait, how is she supposed to get out? The door is closed."
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Link said, scratching his head. Everyone else sweat-dropped.
So, after Link opened the door, Navi flew out to go see what was going on. She returned about 20 seconds later, silent.
"So, what's up?" asked Link.
"T... there's a fire. It looks like it's coming from the ranch."
Everyone fell silent.
"What!" Link exclaimed. He wasted no time running up the stairs.
"Link, wait!" Zelda called, but he was too distracted to hear.
"Don't bother, he isn't going to listen, trust me," said Saria. "I better go stop him before he-"
"No, I'll go," said Zelda, cutting her off. She then grabbed Link cloak, which he had left. "We can't risk any of you guys getting hurt."
"But we can't risk losing you, either!" Impa yelled, but Zelda was already running up the stairs.
"Those two are not much different from each other, are they?" Saria said, more stating it than asking.
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Link ran through Kakariko Village as fast as he could. His was worried about Talon and Malon. Before he knew it, he was on the bottom of the stairs. Indeed, there was a lot of smoke coming from the direction in which the ranch was located. Link just stood there and stared in disbelief. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, all he saw was a cloaked figure; but he knew who it was anyway.
"What are you doing out here, Zelda?" he asked.
"Making sure you are ok," she replied. Link just sighed and walked to Scarlet, who was tied to the tree. (A.N: She hasn't been there the whole time since Link left the ranch. Sometimes, Link rode her instead of using warp songs)
"I can't believe Ganondorf would do something like this," Link said while untying the horse.
"You think Ganondorf did this?" asked Zelda, who had followed him.
"There's no other explanation. Those quakes were probably caused by explosions, especially since there were only a couple of them. If it was a real quake, there would have been more," explained Link. He finished untying Scarlet, then climbed on top of her. "So, are you coming?" he asked Zelda.
"Sure," she replied. Link helped her climb on behind him. After she got a good grip on his tunic, they set off to the ranch. After riding for about 15 minutes, they arrived at the ranch. There wasn't much of a fire left, since most of the flammable stuff were either already burned or obliterated.
"Strange, nobody's here," Link said.
"I think they believe that it would be wise to stay away from a tragic event, especially with all that's going on."
As they reached the entrance of the ranch, Link noticed something brown on the ground. It was the sign that usually stood over the entrance. Upon closer inspection, Link noticed something on it. Link stopped Scarlet and dismounted.
"Link, what are you doing?" asked Zelda. Link didn't reply, he just continued walking to the sign. When he reached it, he saw what it was that was attached to it. A piece of paper. Link took it off the sign and look at it. There was a note written on it in messy handwriting, but Link managed to read it anyway.
*I know you're still alive kid. The girl and her dad are with me, unharmed. If you want to keep it that way, bring me the princess and the Ocarina of Time to the castle. I'll be waiting.*
"Link, are you ok?" asked Zelda, who rode Scarlet to check up on him.
"I'm fine," he replied. He then got back on Scarlet. "Come on, we've got no time to lose." He immediately kicked Scarlet into a run.
"What was that you were reading?" asked Zelda.
"A ransom note from Ganondorf himself. He has Malon and Talon captured, and wants you and the Ocarina of Time in exchange."
"Does that mean they're ok?"
"Yep, but something tells me that they won't stay like that for long."
"Do you have a plan?"
"You bet. We are going to give Ganondorf what he wants..."
"What!" Zelda exclaimed, shocked at his answer.
"We're going to give him what he wants; temporarily."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry, you'll see," Link assured her. Zelda, though, still wasn't sure about this plan.
"Link."
"Yes?"
"If Ganondorf does anything to me, you do know it'll be your head, literally."
"Well, there goes that plan," Link joked. Zelda just glared at him. They traveled the rest of the trip in silence.
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ME: Oh man. This is incredible.
Link: What is?
ME: Not counting the author notes and key, this chapter came out to exactly 4,152 words. That's almost 1,500 words longer than last chapter (which was the longest up till now).
Link: Wow. I guess you really are getting better.
Zelda: I agree.
ME: Thanks guys. One announcement: This fic is almost over! There are only a few more chapters left. Next chapter will be a little on the short side, but the two after that will be really long. Then another short chapter. Finally, the epilogue.
Link: What's going to happen in those chapters?
ME: You'll just have to wait and find out. Until next time-
*Stay cool and see ya later!*
ME: It's good to be back! ^_^
*TimeSage*