The Legend of Zelda: The Return
Chapter 3
Have you ever wished for anything? Over the years I've wished for lots of things. I've wished I was mean enough to smash in Milo's face. I've wished I had a fairy. I've wished I was a Kokiri. But I'm not, I won't, and I never will be. I wished once that Malon would notice me. That wish came true. I've also wished that Sheik would be straight with me for once. That one hasn't happened yet, but I still cling to the hope that someday he'll fall off his high horse and hit his head really hard or something. Then maybe he'll come around. And then there's the biggest wish ever. I've wished many, many times over the years that I knew who I was and where I came from and what I'm supposed to be doing. And I've never even come close to having that last wish come true. Not once in my entire life.
Until now.
For some reason, as I'm running for dear life through the deserted streets and alleyways of Hyrule's Castletown, dragging a beautiful princess in a torn and tattered nightgown behind me, and being chased by demons and monsters and freaks right out of my nightmares, I feel more like myself than I ever have. It's like I can see the answers to all the questions I have about me and my past dangling right in front of my face. This feels so natural . . . so normal . . . so . . . so me.
If there is anyone – anyone – out there who understands this, please explain it to me. Because right now, I'm sorely confused.
I'm not anyone special. I'm just Link. The cocky, sarcastic, know-it-all kid from the Archery Shop. I'm not a –
HERO OF TIME!
Great. Just great. Psycho Me is back. My free hand – the one not holding the princess' – instinctively rockets over my shoulder to draw my sword . . . and closes on thin air.
I don't have a sword.
I've never had a sword (I had a really nice steak knife once . . . but I don't think that counts in this case, and besides, I definitely never wore it over my shoulder, so that still doesn't explain why I was so absolutely certain that there was a sword hanging over my shoulder).
There is something seriously wrong with me tonight. I'm starting to get creeped out.
An arrow zips past us, grazing my shoulder. I swear. Zelda gasps. Blood starts to ooze down my arm.
Ow, ow, OW!
"We've got to find somewhere to hide!" She shouts at me. I just manage to keep myself from making a sarcastic comment about her grip on the obvious. She's a princess after all, and Bruiser did tell me to mind my manners. I cast a quick glance over my shoulder. I can't see Psycho Me anywhere. But what I do see isn't much better. She's right. We do have to hide.
The question is where? There is an army of Moblins invading the Palace. Can't go there. There is an army of Moblins chasing us through the streets. Definitely can't turn back. I've already seen one man die tonight. I don't want to see anything like that ever again. Maybe we should head for Hyrule Field. Get the stupid, ugly things out of the city.
Another arrow zips past my ear. They're getting closer.
Maybe I should just throw the princess at them and scream something like "Eat her not me!" and run Hell-for-Leather back to Bruiser's.
Bruiser's!
Sweet merciful Din, how stupid can I be! Bruiser will know what to do!
But first I've got to get rid of the goon squad tailing us. I shove my hand into my pouch and fish around as we run. Finally I find them. Deku nuts. Perfect.
I grab four of the little nuts and skid to a stop, whirling around.
"Link! What . . ."
"Run!" I tell her, hurling the nuts at the ground in front of the Moblins. They flash brilliantly when they strike, blinding anyone (mostly Moblins) who looks at them. I, however, have already changed course and have hauled Zelda into a very dark alleyway. I push her against the wall and press myself over her. Her nightgown's too light. They'll see it. My clothes are darker.
And to think people made fun of me for wearing green all the time . . . it just might save my life tonight.
The Moblins mull around in confusion for a moment after the light has gone away, shouting things at each other in their horrible, guttural language. Then, as one, they surge forward again, racing down the streets in an attempt to find us. Zelda and I stand perfectly still, not daring to breathe, until we're sure the Moblins are gone.
It takes me a full moment to realize the suggestive position the princess and I are in – her, pressing her back up against the wall in a nightgown that's hardly decent. Me, one arm on each side of her, pressing in against her . . . She realizes it before I do though, and promptly shoves me away with a huff.
"Was that necessary?" She demands suddenly, her face scarlet as she attempts to push her nightgown back up over her shoulder. I raise an eyebrow at her.
"Of course not," I say, wincing at my own tone. "I could have let them see you and shoot you and kill you and eat you. I can call them back if you like."
Is it just me or is it getting brighter? It's not morning time yet . . .
She crosses her arms and glares at me.
"You haven't changed a bit," she says angrily, the covers her mouth in horror, as though she shouldn't have said that. I stare at her in confusion.
"What?" I demand. "I've never met you in my life!"
"Sorry," she says quickly. "I . . . you just, reminded me of someone is all. I got confused."
"Uh-huh," I say, eyeing her warily. I briefly wonder if all princess's are like this one – stark raving mad. "Well, unless you have a better idea, I'm going to get you to wait here," I say. "Then, I'm going to get Bruiser – the guy I live with – and he and I will get you out of here, and away from these Moblins, or whatever they are. Do you have family or anything somewhere else? Where are you going to be safe?" She's looking at me now, with this sad expression on her face. "What?" I ask. She shakes her head.
"Link, I'm not the one who's in danger," she says. The growing light illuminates her eyes. Where is that light coming from? I can still see the moon just above her head. I raise my eyebrow, cross my arms, and shift my weight from one foot to the other.
"Uh-huh," I say again. She frowns at me.
"I'm serious," she says. "The Moblins aren't here for me. I was just a bonus."
"Then who were they here for?" I demand. "Why else would an army of evil monsters be in Hyrule Castletown, if not to kidnap it's princess?" She looks like she wants to explain but doesn't know how. "Look, it doesn't matter right now. We'll figure it out once I get Bruiser."
"Link, I don't think going after Bruiser is a good idea right now," she says. "I . . . um . . ."
"What?" I demand. "Look, there's a rather large amount of monsters running amok around the city. I've got to go warn Bruiser if nothing else. Besides, he can help us. He's been almost everywhere in Hyrule. He'll be able to help us. He might even know why they're here. You never know!" I turn around before she can argue further but I freeze as soon as I do so and my heart stops beating.
A thick plume of smoke is rising above Castletown. The growing light is coming from the flames that are growing bigger every second, spreading through the city. From here it looks like the epicenter of the blaze is the Market. The Market . . . where Bruiser's shop is.
I suddenly feel very, very, weak.
"Farore . . ." I swear softly, steadying myself with a hand on the wall. "Bruiser . . . the Archery Shop . . ." I lurch forward – to do what I don't know, I probably won't even be able to make it to the Market. The flames will keep me back. But I've got to try. I've got to!
"Link no!" Zelda cries, grabbing onto my arm and pulling me back. I turn around to face her and in her eyes I can see it. She knows. She knows what's going on. My face hardens. And she's going to tell me. I rip my arm out of her grip and whirl on her. She shrinks back.
"What's happening?" I demand. "What's going on? Why are they doing this?"
"I . . . I . . ."
"Who are they after?" I cry furiously, advancing on her.
"Link, please, you don't . . ." I pin her against the wall – not roughly, but not gently either. Inside my mind that tiny little voice that tells me when I'm being stupid is flipping right out. You do not pin the princess of all of Hyrule up against a wall and threaten her.
Unfortunately I have this awful habit of ignoring that little voice . . .
"Tell me," I hiss. "I know you know. Who are they after? Why are they doing this?" She looks into my eyes. She looks like she wants to cry. She turns her head suddenly, closing her eyes.
"You," she says softly. "They're after you. They want you dead, Link."
"That doesn't make any sense!" I cry, turning away from her furiously. It doesn't make any sense – but somehow I know she's right, and that makes me even madder. "I don't believe you! I'm going after Bruiser!"
"Link, please!" She cries. "Bruiser's dead! He has to be! There's no way the Moblins would let him live once they found out you weren't with him." I turn on her suddenly, her words sharper than any arrow.
"They knew I was with him?" I whisper. "That's why they're burning down Castletown? Because of me? Because they can't find me?" She knows what I'm thinking. She can see it in my eyes and she rushes towards me, intent on stopping me, but before she gets to me I rip an arrow out of my quiver and nock it to my bow. She stops just before she runs into it. The tip of it is pointed at her pretty little forehead. Her eyes widen and she freezes.
"So what you're telling me," I say slowly as Castletown burns behind me, "is that if they get me they'll go away and leave everyone alone."
"Link, please," she says desperately. "I know that's what it sounds like, but that's not it at all. If you give yourself up to them . . . terrible things will happen. They won't stop. It will only get worse. If they catch you . . . this will happen to everyone, everywhere. No where will be safe. Link, please. You can't give yourself up to them. Look, I know you don't understand this. I know . . . I know you don't know what's happening, but you have to trust me."
"Trust you?" I cry. "Trust you? Why in Din's name should I trust you? My day was going GREAT until I met you! I should be blaming you!" She says nothing but continues to stare pleadingly into my eyes.
"Link," she whispers. Her blue eyes are so familiar . . . they're so pretty. "Link, please." She reaches out slowly and touches my hand . . .
Gannondorf is no longer. He killed himself. Brought his own castle down on top of him with the last of his strength in an attempt to destroy Zelda and I. Hatred will do funny things to people.
I never thought it would turn him into this though . . .
Gannondorf is no longer, all right. He's Gannon now.
And he's kicking my ass.
Gannon raises his huge club to the sky and screams – an inhuman sounds that makes me feel like my head is going to split in two. The club comes swinging back down with a speed that belies his size. I don't even have time to think before it crashes into me, catching me in the chest, picking me up off my feet, and throwing me across the ruins and into the solid wall of fire. I scream as I strike the wall and bounce off of it. The Master Sword goes flying over the barrier and embeds itself in the ground at Zelda's feet.
"LINK!" She screams. Clutched in her hands Navi stares at me helplessly, her tiny wings crushed . . . she's too weak to shout my name. Too weak to fight with me. I know she wants to . . . poor Navi. "LINK! GET UP!"
How is it possible I'm still alive? Goddess . . .I've never felt pain like this . . . I cough weakly, not surprised in the slightest by the blood that come out of my mouth when I do so.
"GET UP! LINK PLEASE!" She cries, falling on her knees just on the other side of the boundary. "Please . . ." She whispers, tears streaming down her face. I look at her eyes . . . I'm always looking at her eyes . . . they're so pretty . . . they remind me of the Ocarina . . . they remind me of Kokiri forest . . . of Zora's River . . . of Goron City . . .
Saria, Ruto, Darunia, Impa, Naboruu, even Rauru . . . I like their eyes too. I wonder why . . . they've all got something in common. I can see something in all of their eyes . . . now what could it be . . .
"Link! Please!" I blink twice, coming back to the real world. Towering over me is Gannon, ugly pig face turned up into a nasty grin. "LINK!" Zelda screams again as Gannon leans down and wraps his hand around me. He picks me up as though I were nothing more than a toy. I must be a pretty pathetic sight. Blood covered and broken, one arm hanging limply over his fingers, the rest of me engulfed in his huge hand, the only weapon I've got left is the Deku nut that has somehow made it's way into my hand . . .
Some Hero of Time . . .
I stumble backwards, dropping the bow and arrow and clutching my head tightly as the images and feelings and sensations assault me . . .
Gannon lifts me up in front of his face and I suddenly find myself staring down into his ugly pig eyes. They're so small . . . not like the rest of him . . . small and black. I don't like his eyes. I never did. Even when he was Gannondorf. Even when his eyes were burning embers, instead of ugly little black pig eyes. Whatever it is I see in the others' eyes, I don't see it in his . . . I don't see anything in his eyes. There's nothing. Not even a reflection.
And then it hits me.
I understand now.
When I look into the eyes of the Sages . . . into Zelda's eyes . . . I can see myself . . . I can see who I am . . . who I'm supposed to be . . . that's what's missing in Gannon's eyes. I can't see me . . .
Gannon screams but I can't hear him. I hear the Ocarina . . . the most beautiful Ocarina music . . . it's not the Song of Time, or Zelda's Lullabye, or even any of the other songs I've picked up since this whole thing started . . .
It's my song.
Link's Song.
My song.
And suddenly I don't need to see myself in his eyes . . . because suddenly, I am myself.
I cry out and fall to my knees, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. I don't understand . . . what is this?
I suddenly feel myself being lurched forward as Gannon opens his mouth.
Stupid little pig thinks he's going to eat me.
Hilarious.
I straighten suddenly with renewed strength and hurl my last tiny Deku nut at him with everything I've got. My aim is perfect . . . the nut strikes one of his ugly little pig eyes and explodes with it's typical ferocity. Gannon screams again and drops me as he clutches his eye and stumbles backward, tripping over a rock and falling over.
The fire barrier suddenly dissipates as Gannon loses concentration. Wasting no time I pick myself up and race over to the Master Sword. I pull it out of the ground and hold it up. It feels good. Like an old friend . . . I look at it's blade and see my reflection staring back at me . . . smiling through a blood covered face.
Definitely an old friend . . .
Gannon screams behind me and I whirl around. He's managed to get up to his knees. One of his ugly eyes is swollen shut. Blood is running from it.
Wow. That looks painful.
"I'll hold him," Zelda says, suddenly at my side. "You finish it off." She wraps her hand around mine and lifts the sword with me. "Use this sword . . ."
Like I'd use anything else . . .
I remain on my knees, with my eyes closed for a long time after the vision has stopped. It doesn't even register at first that Zelda's wrapped her arms around me and is whispering "It's all right, Link . . . shhh." Over and over.
Goddess . . . I can't stop trembling . . .
What's wrong with me?
Why do I keep seeing these things?
Why are these monsters after me?
What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? Bruiser's shop is ashes by now . . . Bruiser might be dead . . . where else can I go? Where else will we be safe?
At times like this, other people turn to their goddess. Whichever one they happen to worship.
I don't have a goddess to worship. My eyes snap open suddenly.
But I do have a Temple . . .
"Come on!" I say, leaping to my feet and startling Zelda. I grab her hand and take off at a dead run.
"Wait! Link! Where are we going?"
"My temple!" I shout back to her.
It's not really my temple. It's just a temple. To what, I don't know. There are temples all over the place in Hyrule. Six if my memory serves me right. People use them to pray and worship and whatever else it is they do. All of them, that is, except for mine.
My temple stands alone in a quiet corner of Castletown. I never see anyone go there. Someone must, I suppose, since it never gets dusty, or anything like that. Maybe someone goes there to clean up, I don't know. But no one goes there to worship. There's not even statues or plaques or instruments. There's just a stone slab lying on the ground with the symbol of Light on it, another stone slab set into the floor like an altar with three empty slots in it, and then another stone slab set into the wall with the symbol of Time on it. The rest of it was just marble pillars and black and white tiles on the floor and huge, clear, windows set high up on the walls.
I like to go there sometimes. I always feel safe, and protected, and . . . well . . . home, somehow. Sometimes, when I lay on the flat stone with the Light symbol on it, if I close my eyes I can almost hear music: da daaa da, da daaa da, da da daa daa, da da daa, daa da da daaaaa.
I look over my shoulder and realize that Zelda's frowning at me . . .
Damn. Must have been singing out loud . . .
Any embarrassment is driven from my mind however, when I finally manage to spot the glistening white spires of my Temple. I speed up.
"Link!" Zelda gasps in protest. She can hardly keep up as it is. Too bad for her.
I cast another glance behind me as we run, making sure we're not being followed.
We're not.
Now if my luck can just hold out . . .
We make it to the Temple and I release Zelda's hand as I fly up the steps and crash into the heavy wooden door, sending it creaking inward slowly.
Stupid door. It's not usually this hard to open . . .
After what seems like forever I've finally opened it up enough for me and Zelda to squeeze in.
I realize then why it was so hard to open the door. There's something laying against it on the inside.
And that something is Bruiser.
"Bruiser!" I cry, shoving the door shut and dropping to my knees beside him. "Oh, Din! Bruiser! Say something!" Bruiser coughs weakly as Zelda drops to her knees beside me.
"Stupid kid," he says. "I knew you'd come here . . ."
"Link, something's wrong," Zelda says quietly, frowning as she looks around.
"What are you talking about?" I cry. "Of course something's wrong! Bruiser's dying! That's what's wrong!"
Stupid kid, hisses an all too familiar voice. I gasp and whirl around and to my feet. Perched on top of the altar shaped stone – half hidden in the shadows – is the Psycho Me. I knew you'd come here . . . Zelda suddenly screams behind me. I turn again. Bruiser has his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight. Painfully tight from the look on her face.
"Bruiser!" I cry. "What are you doing?"
Stupid kid, hisses Psycho Me. Bruiser suddenly begins to decompose, falling apart as I watch in horror until nothing is left of him but a Stalfos. A hideous, ugly, Stalfos . . . and it has Zelda.
Hero of Time, Psycho Me whispers sibilantly. It jumps down off of the altar and walks toward me. I find myself sweating profusely and backing up.
"What do you want?" I demand, taking stock of my weapons as it advances. "Why are you doing this to me?" Not good. All I've got are my arrows and my hookshot and a pouch full of random items. Even Zelda's magic arrows aren't much good without a bow. That thing is still advancing on me. "What do you want?" I repeat. My back suddenly strikes the wood of the door. I could make a run for it now. Maybe if I ran fast enough . . . out of the corner of my eye I can see Zelda struggling furiously against the Stalfos.
I can't just leave her here . . .
Your blood . . . Psycho Me hisses. Your blood . . .
"I KNOW!" I shout at it. It actually pauses for a minute, startled. "I KNOW! I GET THE HINT! My blood will open the seal, yadda, yadda, yadda!" It cocks its head to the side and stares at me in puzzlement for a moment at my outburst. Even Zelda and the Stalfos have stopped moving and are blinking at me. This moment would be comical if it weren't for the fact I'm probably going to die . . .
Psycho Me holds out his hand and makes a gesture and I'm suddenly – for no apparent reason – flying through the air towards the large stone set in the wall. I can see it coming. I can picture in my head what's going to happen when I hit it . . . at this speed? I'm gonna go two dimensional that's what . . . I close my eyes and brace myself for the impact . . .
. . . and sail right through the door.
"Wha . . ." I open my eyes just in time to see the floor rush up to meet me. I slam into it and skid for a long way.
I went through it . . .
I went through the door . . .
How in Nayru's name did I know it was a door?
I push myself to my feet and look around – immediately struck by the same de ja vu that has been haunting me all day. I've been here before. It's impossible, but I've been here before!
I'm in an octagonal shaped room, in the middle of which is a set of octagonal shaped steps that lead up to . . .
The instant my eyes fall on the sword all other thoughts are pushed from my head.
That sword . . .
I slowly walk up to the base of the steps.
I know that sword . . .
I walk up the steps to the pedestal in which the sword is embedded.
That's the Master Sword . . .
I wrap my hand around the hilt . . . it feels good . . . like an old friend . . .
This is my sword . . .
I move to pull the sword out of the pedestal, but I catch a glimpse of movement in it's blade and I whirl around as Psycho Me comes out of nowhere with his black blade and slides it through my gut.
Your blood . . . he whispers as I fall slowly to the ground, still clutching the blade with all of my strength.
Will open . . . I slide down beside the blade, landing half on the Pedestal and half off of it, one hand still somehow in the air and clutching the sword.
The seal . . .