Generations

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Chapter 4: One of Us

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Although a soft drizzle coated the urban landscape, Kakariko's Saturday night-life was busy. Young people made their way between one party and the next. A lot of them obviously had a little too much to drink, and not all of them were above the legal drinking age. Among the crowds, two girls made their way into the nearest bar, walking past a slightly unhinged preacher and an expensive looking motorcycle - that no one was interested in smashing or stealing for once.
The friends talked excitedly among themselves. "What do you mean, you've never been in here before?"
"High Voltage? I thought it was a bit rough..."
"Dunno where you got that impression, Mel. Probably the safest place in the whole city. And considering I've never seen you drink anything stronger than orange juice..."
"You can talk, Lynna Bowman," Mellonie retorted. "You get high if you even sniff a drink in the near vicinity. And there isn't a guy in town who's safe from you, then. You big flirt."
She shrugged. "Used to be. I've changed, I've changed!" Lynna grinned. "To be honest, I'm really getting a crush on - I'll tell you inside." Mel glared, but her friend put on an angelic face and changed the topic. "I think it's live music tonight. New guy. Only showed up yesterday, but the boss was so impressed... supposed to be an absolute rock god! DJ's and plays his own instruments."
"What? Here? You know we never get any bands worth it..."

-

One figure seemed untroubled by the madness around him as he wandered through the streets. There'd been another rip only today and the resonance through the worlds was tearing on his nerves. This one hadn't healed over as easily as the last, and it continued to distort his senses. Somewhere nearby, there was a portal to another world that he couldn't as yet find. It would be best, then, for him just to listen until he found it.

The street preacher ranted his litany from the corner of the block. "The gods are among us! They walk among us as normal people, but they're watching us, they're..."
His collar was seized roughly. "You're right, friend," Oni whispered, lifting the manic evangelist to his eye-level. "But we don't appreciate the likes of you giving away the big secret. So try to keep it quiet, okay?" He put the preacher back down, and walked away.
It took it a while to register.
"Wha'... what did that guy mean, 'we'?"

Slightly dazed, he watched the departing figure. As far as he was concerned, his eyes were following someone in a black leather jacket and jeans that were the same colour, long platinum hair tied loosely back out of his face with a white headband. His face... that had been easily the most striking thing about him. At a first glance, he appeared young, perhaps only twenty or so - but something had given a lie to those years. The preacher hadn't seen the marble glow in the eyes that characterised the earthbound immortal, only the palest grey-blue irises he had ever known. No red and blue markings were visible on his face, except what looked like two faint slanting scars across the right cheekbone that took nothing away from his possessing features. Here, he was unrecognisable as a deity, or the hero he had once been.
In this world, Oni'kara thought to himself, that was probably the best way to be. One man's hero was another's villain, a fact he knew all too well. And the old beliefs, even his sisters' myths - what of them? The ancient temples, even the Temple of Time, were ruined - nothing but archaeology. The process had begun long ago, he knew... the names of the three goddesses, once so well known, were forgotten as thoroughly as that of their brother. On his travels, he'd met many girls by the names Farore or Nayru, none of whom had the slightest idea what they meant.
No Links, however. The thought pulled him up sharply. In all the worlds, except for the Heroes themselves, he had never seen anyone who shared the same name he once had. That had to mean something.

He turned the corner, heading for the back entrance to the same club the two girls had. Sometimes, some worlds, he could earn his way by the sword. In others - lesser talents were his best bet, and a mercenary could become a musician. Not under his real name, though. The management there had heard their new act's name was Kay Greenwood. He wasn't about to correct them, and expose a secret kept for two thousand years.

-

The performance was everything they had expected, Mel and Lynna decided, quietly watching. They hadn't ever seen someone do that with a guitar before. Although there was only one musician on stage, they were sure they could hear more instruments from outside. Something that sounded like a flute was following the guitar's notes. However, the technicalities of the performance weren't what interested the girls about him.
"Y'know, Lyn'? The way he's standing, from that angle - looks a bit like Link, doesn't he?" Lynna went red. "Sounds a bit like him, too... well, I'd say so, anyway."
"Uh... yeah..."
Mel laughed. "Oh... I think I've found out who your little crush is on, is it?" She paused, and made as if she was going to start chanting.
"If you dare say anything... I thought you were too old for the 'in a tree...' routine!"
Her eyes twinkled. "You're never too old for the classics."
"Get lost!" Lynna light-heartedly dug an elbow into her friend's side. She glanced around. "Hey, I think he's looking at us..." she hissed, jerking her head towards the platinum-haired guitarist, who had put his instrument to one side for a moment.

Smiling inwardly, Oni'kara turned aside from trying to listen in on the girls' conversation. Even over his own music, he'd heard them mention the name clearly. Right place, right time, he thought - sure that Lynna and Mel would never know how close they had come to the truth. "Okay," he started down the microphone. "This one's for... someone very close to me. The title's 'Forgotten Ones.'" Something I never have.
"Aww," Lynna murmured, as she heard the immortal's powerful tenor strike into song. The lyrics seemed strange - but in his voice, perfectly natural.

Suddenly, he stopped, and raised a hand to his head. The listeners looked up as the music finished sharply. "Excuse me. ...I'll be back in a little bit. There's... something I need to take care of..." Talk about an understatement, he thought, hurrying off stage. But there wasn't a suitable way to put what he was feeling.

"Did you see that?" Mel whispered, gesturing towards the departing figure. "Who does he think he is, walking out like that? Some sort of..."
"I... I don't know," Lynna mused. "I reckon he's got a good reason, though. Somehow... and you didn't see his eyes, then, did you?"
"Nuh-uh. What do you mean?"
"Maybe it's just me, but for a second, there was something very wrong with them..."
They turned back towards their drinks. Neither noticed the figure in the doorway pausing briefly, and raising a hand haloed with silver-blue light. Don't worry. I'll be back in no time at all...

-

"I'll see you around, hey? And thanks for the great party!" Zelda yelled, walking away from her friends.
"No problem, kid!" a voice said happily in return.
"'Kid?' Lay off... you're not that much older than me..." she grinned, not looking where she was going and turning down a side street. She was totally unaware of the noises coming from her destination.

"Masster will be pleassed..." a reptilian voice murmured, before its owner snapped forwards and snatched her up.
"You jerk! Let me go!" She began to struggle. This wasn't right. She'd thought it would be okay, that she'd be safe just walking from a friend's house after a party to a bus stop, but... "Look, you can have my cellphone, you can have my cash, just let me go, okay?"
"Cel-ppphone? You are what the master needs, pprincesss..."
"Princess? That's a new one! Just get your filthy... scaly... claws... off me..." Claws? Oh... my gods. Link was right... I should have believed him, but how could I, when... She tried to shove the lizard-man away, but the reptilian was too strong. "And who's this 'master', anyway? A creep like you?"
"The King Ga..."

"Let her go!" a voice yelled. It sounded a little like Link, Zelda thought, looking round wildly. A tall man - well over six foot, she guessed - in a leather jacket and silver shades stood silhouetted against the murky light. He was holding something - it looked like a knife, but the blade was transparent - high in his left hand.
"Whattt if I donnn't?"
"You don't have a choice." With one fluid movement, the stranger pitched the blade forwards. Zelda held her breath for a moment as it whisked past her ear, leaving a trail of blue light in its wake. The monster vanished in a wisp of dust and smoke. The only evidence left was the crystalline knife lodged in the wall behind her. Its owner started forward to retrieve his weapon.
"Whoa..." she whispered, overawed. "Thanks... whoever you are. You saved my life."
The stranger remained silent for a moment, almost as if he was listening to something. "I was just doing my duty, Zelda." He turned to leave.

"Wait! How did you know my name?" He didn't reply. "Hey - come back!"
That guy was too strange. A good aim, though. I thought I was dead.
How did he know my name, anyway?
Wish I knew his.
And I wish I knew what that... thing... was that grabbed me...

She wasted no time in getting as far away from the place as possible.

Unnoticed, her rescuer walked on alone. It's happened again. The same tale. Hundreds of years? History doesn't care.
But how, this time?
She was no princess. Hyrule's been a republic for 400 years. But she was still... There was no mistaking who she was! It was in her mind so strongly I couldn't miss it...
So... somewhere out there... if past lessons hold true... if I heard correctly...
He smiled, faintly.
Wherever you are, Link... I trust you to do your best.

-

Link stared at the ceiling above his bed, idly kicking his feet on the covers. It was strange how just a handful of little words could so possess the mind that anything else found itself flooded aside. Whenever his brain stepped back down into neutral gear, the same thoughts came pounding back in.
Can't be true. I'm no hero!
(Bet the others thought the same before they...)
What "others?" It's all just stories!
(Bit of a weird coincidence, then...)

He stretched his left arm out in front of him, staring at the mark across his hand.
Creepy coincidence, sure, but it can't be anything else, surely...
(You checked two other sites. They all said the same thing. That's a Triforce mark.)
Ha! Religion? Hardly my style... Link thought, an atheist and a sceptic. Load of nonsense. If there are gods, why don't they do anything?
(Because it's up to those like you. The heroes.)
Drifting further into an anxious form of reverie, the slamming of the front door shocked him back into consciousness. He could hear his mother's and Zelda's voices downstairs, followed by pounding feet on the stairs.

His sister burst into his room. He bolted upright, surprised. "Whoa! What's the hurry? Zel, you look like you've seen a ghost!"
"Not quite," she sighed, out of breath. "Link - I'm sorry."
He paused. "Sorry for what? Not like I was doing anything..."
"Not that. What you said on Friday. The monsters." She looked aside, and then back towards him. "You were right. I believe you now."
"Thanks." I don't know if I even believe myself any more. "Why the sudden change of heart?"
"...Because I've seen them myself. I was attacked on my way to the bus stop coming back from Riley's party. This overgrown... sheesh, this sounds so stupid... overgrown iguana mugged me. I was lucky there was someone there to stop it..."
"Wasn't wearing a cape and his underpants on the outside, was he?"
Zelda managed to laugh. "Nah. Biker jacket. But he ...looked like he'd done this sort of thing before."
"As long as you're okay." Link paused. "Take a look at this," he remarked, fetching a pile of printed paper and passing it over to his sister. "What does this sound like to you?"
She scanned down the page. "Since when are you interested in history?... Oh. I see. You think this is real?"
"I wasn't sure. But if you've seen the monsters too, and that one sounds like it was bigger than the ones I have... Maybe it even explains those creepy dreams I've been having. It's... it's got to be true. There's no way out..." He shook his head. "Do I look like a hero to you?"
"I'm trying to think of a diplomatic way to put this..." Smiling, she put a hand on his shoulder. "But if this is true, you'll surprise me somehow. I mean, if it is, it's your destiny to succeed, right?" With that, she left.

Succeed at what? What am I supposed to be doing?
He closed his eyes for a moment. It's got to be true, now.
All this destiny crap, all this stuff I've read... ugh.
Probably means I'm 'destined' to be beaten up a hell of a lot.
If that's the case...
What do I do?

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A/N: Sorry for being such a slowcoach, what else can I say? A big thank you to everyone who's had the patience to put up with my delays ^_^, a bigger thanks to anyone who's reviewed... Maniac Mosli, Shades of Oblivion, Eruantale, Son Mist, JA (and double thanks for the beta read), Wombat2820, Tifalee, anyone I've missed... hope I don't leave you guys hanging this long for chapter 5...
Until next time, sayonara!