Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They are the property of Nintendo.

In this story, Zelda didn't send Link back in time at the end of OOT and he went to Termina as an adult. This chapter takes place about at the same time as the first so the events are

synchronized.

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LINK

"There is danger. I can feel it in the trees. I can smell it in the air," Saria whispered to a bewildered and confused Link.

Despite the fact that Link had no clue what she was talking about, he patiently listened to Saria as she told him of her vision she had encountered in the Forest Temple,

knowing well that she would eventually reveal what she was dying to tell. The little Forest Sage was sitting cross-legged on the floor in Link's tree house, her short, green hair swayed

slightly in the breeze from an open window. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of shocking blue. Eyes that held deep knowledge and wisdom. They also held...magic.

The two were inside Link's tree house, which was carved into a large moss tree. The house consisted of one large room with furniture carved out from the actual

tree. A leaf carpet sat in the middle, where Link and Saria sat crossed legged. Katl, Saria's guardian fairy, was sleeping soundly in Saria's tunic. Link's house was located inside a village

known as Kokiri village. It was a small village located inside a lush green forest, with all the houses carved at the bases of thick trees. The odd thing about this village, however, was

that it was inhabited by children. Children that never aged called Kokiri. Link, however, was not a Kokiri himself. All though he had grown up believing he was a Kokiri,

he was in fact a Hylian. He wasn't even a child anymore, and was well in his twenties. He easily exceeded twice the height of each inhabitant in the lost woods.



Even though Link knew he was not a Kokiri, the forest was still "home" to him. After the fall of Ganondorf, the King of Evil, he had returned to the

forest despite Zelda's invitation to live in Hyrule Castle. It's not that Link disliked being Hylian, it was just that he was not yet used to the idea.

Another thing about Link, however, was that was not even a normal Hylian. Chosen by destiny, he was to save Hyrule, the country that he lived in,

From Ganondorf himself. With the help of six sages, and Zelda, the princess of Destiny, he banished Ganondorf to the dark realm.

Link's mind wondered away from Saria's future predictions slightly as his eyes lingered on his The Master Sword which was hanging over his bed, sheathed. That

blade had a tale on it's own, and was so legendary, Link felt honoured that the blade had picked him to wield it. His eyes travelled to the rest of his equipment which he had

accumulated during both oh his adventures. Things like a bow and arrow, his hookshot, and bombs were all hung neatly above his bed.

His eyes then lingered on the Fierce Deity Mask he had acquired during his battle with the spirit of the evil god, Majora. It was a brilliant shade of blue, with

splashes of green strung over it. Empty, black eyes stared icily back at Link. A chill ran down his spine as he laid eyes on it. That mask had helped him defeat

Majora, but at a terrible price. When he had put the mask on, he had been filled with a surge of power. Evil power. All he had wanted to do was kill. Kill just

to see blood trickle down his sword, just to see the victim fall to the floor lifelessly like a rag doll. Kill just for fun. After Majora's defeat, it had taken him all of his energy to overcome

the power of the mask, and when he did finally take off the mask, it sucked him of all his power and life force. He would have died if Tatl, a fairy who had helped him in his adventures

in Termina, hadn't given up her life to heal him.

The fierce Deity mask was his only connection to Tatl, so he kept it as a

memory, and not a tool. His other masks were his three transformation masks: The deku mask he'd gotten after playing the Song of Healing when Majora (who was using the body of a

skull kid as residence) turned him into a baby deku scrub, the Goron mask which allowed him to turn into the Goron Warrior, Darmani, and the Zora mask with which contained the

spirit of the now dead Zora guitarist for the Indi-Go-Gos, Miaku. Link still used some of these masks in his battles. He chuckled as he remembered the first time he'd gone to see

Ruto, the snotty Zora princess who was desperately in love with Link even though they were two different species, in his Zora form. The Zora princess had literally jumped on

him.



"Hey! Link! Are you paying attention?" Saria snapped irritably, jolting Link's wondering eyes to her.

"Sorry Saria, could you maybe start over? You've lost me."

Saria sighed.

"OK, here goes: I was playing my ocarina in the Forest Temple, when suddenly, I felt a great disturbance in the aura surrounding Hyrule. It was as if Death Mountain had burst

open. The shock knocked me over. I saw, as in a dream, a flaming mass, descending from the sky. At first, I thought it was Din, because it was a huge fireball. Then I saw it was a

massive burning metal object. I have never seen anything like this before. It was heading toward the town, and then, it changed its course and crashed into the castle. Right before

impact, a metal ball fell out of the object. I passed out and when I woke up, I was so shaken that I came to tell you."

"Did you see if anyone was hurt?"

"Zelda was killed."

"WHAT?" yelled Link.

He jumped up, pulse racing.

"She can't be!"

"It is inevitable, Link. She will die."

Link grabbed Saria and shook her.

"Quick, Saria! When will this happen? I can save her!"

"It is too late, it has started. She will suffer great pains." Saria was in a trance.

"Saria!"

Link shook her. Saria's eyes closed, then fluttered open.

"Link, there is a slim chance that you can save her."

Link raced to the door.

"Wait!" Sari yelled at Link, who had already sprinted out of his tree house, and bounded down the ladder. "If you have to go, you'll need someone to help you!"

"Who?" Link asked hastily, landing lightly on the ground, and preparing Epona with great haste.

Before Saria could answer, something stopped his hasty preparations. It was a ball of pink light heading speedily towards him. The ball started bashing against his face,

squealing in a high-pitched voice, a voice Link knew, he knew it very well.

"Link! Link!" said the fairy "I've missed you so much! I can't believe it!"

Link was stunned.

This fairy...His fairy...The one he'd shared so many toils with. They'd saved each other's lives more times than he could remember.

"NAVI!" Link yelled and he grabbed the fairy and held her to his eye level.

It was Navi. She smiled at Link and fluttered around his head. Link was in shock. He had not seen Navi since the day that they had defeated Gannon. Navi was the cause of

Link's quest and subsequent adventures in Termina. He had developed a strong bond with Tatl, but nothing compared to his friendship with Navi. He remembered when he was young,

before he became the Hero of Time, when he was "The kid without a fairy". He remembered Mido's taunts, his tricks, him taking every opportunity to remind Link that he was different.

Then there was the day. The day he was woken from a nightmare by Navi. Then there was the death of the Great Deku Tree, his meeting with Zelda, and his battle against Ganondorf.

All these memories came flooding back to Link.

"What happened Navi? Why did you leave me? Where have you been?" Link asked Navi.

"One question at a time Link" said Navi "I left you because I needed to restore my magic. When Ganondorf caught me in his magic vortex, I was weakened. It was all I could

do to help you finish him off. After that, I needed to return to the woods or I would die. There was no time to explain."

"Well couldn't you have sent me a message?"

Link was annoyed. He was delighted to have Navi back, but if he'd known, he wouldn't have left for Termina.

"Navi, do you know that I went out looking for you and I ended up in Termina and I had to save the world from an evil god who wanted to bring the moon down to kill

everybody? Do you have any idea what I have gone through since you were gone? How much I've wondered if I would ever see you again. How much I have worried about you? I love you

Navi! Don't I mean anything to you?"

"Link, please" Navi said

Link saw that tears were falling from her eyes.

"Link, I couldn't. I was so weak, I couldn't do anything. I had no sense of being. My mind was shut down. Believe me, if I could, I would have seen you as soon as possible.

Link, I love you to, but fairies without magic take a long time to heal. It is painful Link. I could have chosen to die instead, but I wanted to see you again. I suffered for you. So you see,

we both went through a lot to see each other again."

"Oh, Navi" said Link "I am sorry. I-I was just so overcome, I didn't think. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I can Link. Now, are we going to save Zelda, again?"

Link checked his equipment: Longshot, bombs, bow, and arrows. he was ready. He also took his Goron mask along. For sheer brute force, nothing could match the power of

a Goron. Link jumped on Epona, waved good-bye to Saria, shoved Navi under his hat, and took off through the woods. He edged Epona on. He knew he had little time. If he could get

to the castle before the disaster, maybe he could warn the people and they could evacuate. While they were riding, me managed to give Navi a quick synopsis of his adventures in

Termina. Navi was a little jealous that he had gotten another fairy, but she was glad that he had not had to face the horrors of Termina alone. Navi remembered when Link had first

entered the Great Deku Tree; He had freaked out at the sight of the skulletas. It had taken many weeks before he had gotten more confident about his fighting abilities and had

stopped running away whenever he saw a monster.

Link looked up at the sky. There was no sign of the ball of fire Saria had told of. Link rode on. He passed Lon-Lon Ranch and saw Malon loading milk jugs onto the cart. She

waved, but Link didn't have time to say hello, every second counted! Link looked up for the second time, and this time, he saw it: a orange dot in the sky, growing bigger by the

second. He urged Epona on. He had to warn Zelda!

Link shot across the drawbridge that led to the marketplace. He was out of luck. It was market day, and the streets were crowded. Nobody had seemed to notice the

approaching ball of fire. Link shouted at the people to clear the way, but the crowd covered his voice. Link hopped off Epona and ran through the crowd, cursing as he went. He

finally got out of the mass of people and up the path leading to the castle. But it was too late. Already he saw the ball of fire, streaking towards the castle. Link watched in horror as the

object hit the castle on the south face. There was a tremendous explosion. Link screamed in despair and ran towards the castle. As he ran, he remembered something: the throne room

was on the east side of the castle, maybe Zelda was still alive.

Link arrived at the castle and his heart sank when he saw the mess. Dead guards and peasants, rubble everywhere. How was he going to get in? The main entrance was

blocked by debris. As Link pondered, he noticed something approaching. He spun to meet it. It was a human figure, clad in a red metal armour. It looked a little like an Iron Knuckle.

Where it's right hand would be, there was a large metal cylinder with a hone in the middle. It looked at Link, and spoke:

"Where am I? Is this a feudal world? What galaxy is this? Hey, I'm talking to you boy!"

Link felt a surge of rage. Nobody called him "boy", nobody.

"Who are you and what is your business in Hyrule?" Link asked the figure.

"Hyrule? There is no such entry in my data banks. Is this an unregistered planet? If so, I am putting you under arrest for violation of Intergalactic Law. If my ship were in order

I'd..."

"Wait, your ship?" said Link "That thing that crashed into the castle is yours?"

"Well, yes, I was too low to detonate the ship, and I could not crash it into the settlement."

This thing must be one of Ganondorf's creations. It looked like one, and it had attacked the Royal Palace. Link blood was boiling. He unsheathed the Master Sword.

"Prepare to die, unholy creature!" he yelled and charged at it.

Link struck the creature at the midriff, but his sword clanged off the metal armour. The creature raised its right arm and a sphere of fire came out of it. Link sidestepped it

and circled closely around the creature, Navi buzzing around it, trying to find a weak spot. Since his sword was useless, Link grabbed his bow and an arrow. He blesses the arrow and

knocked it on the bowstring. The tip of the arrow glowed a bight yellow. He fired off his light arrow at the thing and was satisfied to se it hit its mark and penetrate the armour. The

creature screamed in pain and charged at Link. Link drew his sword and started to parry the blows the creature was trying to land on him. He was about to fire another light arrow when

the creature fired a bright blue beam of light from its right arm. The beam streaked towards Link, and wrapped itself around him, pinning his arms. Link struggled to free himself, but

it was impossible.

"Now," said the creature "If you'll listen to me, I can explain."

"Let him go!" yelled Navi

The fairy bashed against the creature's head, with little impact.

"I'm not going to hurt him," it said "I just want to explain what happened."



"My name," it said, "is Samus Aran. I am a bounty hunter. Many years ago, I was hired by the Space Federation to stop a parasitic alien species called Metroids. Space pirates

had seized a Metroid and were breeding them to unleash them onto the galactic civilization. I infiltrated the pirate's headquarters on planet Zebes, and successfully destroyed the

Mother Brain. After the defeat of the Mother Brain, I hunted down the Metroids to their home world on the planet SR388 to destroy their queen and eradicate the species for good.

Unfortunately, I overlooked a single Metroid egg. When it hatched, I was unable to kill it. It followed me as though I was its mother. I brought it back with me, and it was discovered

that the Metroid could be harnesses to provide energy. The facility where the Metroid was kept was attacked by space pirates who stole the larva are returned with it to Zebes. I

followed them to finish them off and save the hatchling. In my final battle with Mother Brain, the hatchling saved me, giving up its life in the process. I succeeded in defeating Mother

Brain, but the universe lost the promise of using Metroid for the power of good. I was travelling to Nimdar when I was attacked by space pirates. I battled with their leader, Ripley, who

seized control of my ship and sent it towards a star. I managed to avoid being toasted, but the gravitational field must have thrown me off course and damaged my ship."

"So, you're not from Hyrule?" asked Link.

"No. I have never heard of Hyrule"

"Is that armour your body" asked Link.

"Partially" said Samus "I am a cyborg. Half machine-Half human."

"Well, Samus, if you could let me go, I need to save Zelda."

"Who is Zelda? And why should I release you?" asked Samus "How do I know that you won't attack me again?"

"I am sorry I attacked you. I thought you were one of Ganondorf minions."

"Who is Ganondorf?"

"Look, Samus, let me go, and I'll explain everything, as soon as I save Zelda."

Samus paused. Could she trust this boy. He seemed honest, and apparently, there was a life in danger.

"Alright," said Samus, "I'll let you go, and I'll help you rescue this "Zelda". "

Samus withdrew her grapple beam and Link collapsed on the ground. Samus helped him get up.

"Thanks. My name is Link, by the way."

"Alright Link, let's go."

They sped towards the castle. Link couldn't help noticing that Samus was moving at a great speed. He guessed it must have to do with her armour. When they go to the

entrance, Link got out several bombs and was about to light them, when Samus stopped him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to blow all these rocks out of the way." Link replied.

"No! You'll probably cause more damage than good. The structure was weakened by the impact. It won't survive another one."

"So what do we do?"

Samus strode up to the debris pile that was blocking the entrance. She mentally calculated the chances of her being able to clear most of the large rocks with her damaged

suit. It could be done, but it would require time.

"Link, I think I can move most of the boulders, but you'll have to help."

Link pulled out the Goron bracelet and put it on. Samus was already working on the largest boulder. Link grabbed hold of it, and pulled with all his strength. The boulder was

not moving. They kept pulling and, slowly, the boulder began to move. They only had time to jump out of the way before the boulder rolled over. There was not time to cheer, there was

no telling if Zelda was still alive. They moved away most of the large boulders until there was enough room to enter the castle.

"Alright," said Link "I'll go first, you follow"

Link jumped through the opening into the castle and Samus followed him. They landed in the main hall. The only light came from the hole they had made. Link improvised

some torches with two Deku sticks and they set off in the direction of the throne room, where Zelda would most likely be. As they walked through the deserted halls, Link kept his ears

pricked for any sounds: the palace was as quiet as a tomb. Samus kept her scanners on, searching for any life forms. The inner structure of the castle seemed to be intact, but Link

didn't want to push his luck. They reached the throne room. Here, the windows were shattered and glass was strewn all over the room. There was nobody. Suddenly, Samus' scanner

showed a life form nearby. They searched until they discovered a servant, buried under a pile of rubble. His breathing was irregular and his pulse was fibrillating. Link withdrew a red

potion and forced some through the teeth. colour started to creep back into the man's face. His eyes opened and he sat up.

"What happened?" he asked "I was coming into the room when I felt something hit me, and I blacked out.

"Where's Zelda?" asked Link.

"The Princess? She went to her room. I crossed her in the hall on my way to the throne room."

"Look, stay here, we'll come and get you." said Samus.

The man looked at this figure, clad in metal and he obediently nodded. Samus and Link took off towards the stairs leading to the second story of the castle. Here, the debris

were more numerous. They had to crawl under and climb over the obstacles. They found many bodies, but all were dead. Samus cursed herself for causing the loss of so many lives.

"Samus, it was better that you crash your ship in the castle than in the in village. The death toll would have been much higher." Link said to comfort her.

Samus nodded, but she still felt a pang of guilt when they uncovered the body of yet another dead servant. They finally reached the door to Zelda's room. Samus checked her

scanners, but she could get no reading from inside the room. There was no trace of BTU's (body thermal units) from inside the room. Even if there was a dead person inside, there

would have been a signal. Link opened the door and they entered the room.

Zelda was lying on the floor, a huge rock suspended over her. She was staring, wide eyed at the rock, and Link understood that she was using her magic to keep it from

falling onto her. He quickly explained the situation to Samus.

"So that's why there was no signal." said Samus "Her magic aura must have blocked my scanners."

"What do we do?" asked Link "We can't break her concentration. If we do, that rock will come crashing down on her. It is probably taking her an enormous mental effort to

keep it up."

"Could we run up and grab the rock so she could get out?" suggested Samus.

"No. I couldn't hold up the rock, even with my Goron bracelet.

"According to my calculations, my suit couldn't support that weight."

"Wait," said Link.

He slipped the Goron bracelet off his arm and placed it on Samus'. Samus felt an incredible power surge through her body. Coupled with the Goron bracelet, her suit was now

twice as powerful. But it was still not enough to support the rock. Link had thought of this. he slipped on the Goron mask and he felt his bones stretching and reforming to transform

him into his Goron form. Link hated transforming. It was always strange to have his body rearranged in weird ways. It was not painful, but he automatically expected it to be painful,

which in itself was very painful. He actually preferred transforming into the baby deku scrub since when he transformed, it didn't feel like his bones would snap from being stretched.

Samus watched his transformation, amazed. When the metamorphosis was complete, Link explained his plan to the still amazed Samus.

"I now have the strength of a Goron. You have the Goron bracelet, which increases your strength. With the two of us, we should be able to grab the rock and hold it long

enough for Zelda to get out from underneath."

Samus nodded in assent. They positioned themselves on either side of the bed and together, they rushed forward and grabbed the rock. Zelda looked confused. She

hesitated.

"Zelda! Get out!" grunted Link as he struggled with the weight of the rock.

Zelda rolled out from under the rock and Samus and Link let the rock drop. It hit the floor with a thundering crash. The vibrations shook the already weakened foundations of

the castle. The walls started to crumble and the castle began to collapse.

"Quick Zelda," said Link "We have to get out of here!"

"No time!" said Samus as a large section of wall fell between the and the door.

They were trapped in the room with the castle crumbling around them.

To be continued...

Author's note: Thanks to Sonic1015 who is helping me with this story. Read his fic!