Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda. Don't sue.

"Speech" – Speech

'Inner thoughts' – Inner thoughts

A/N- Who'd of thought I'd update this fast? Many thanks to all of my reviewers, and especially thanks for telling me to change the rating, I completely forgot to rate it. That could have ended up bad, but thanks for the heads up. And now, on with the story.

Chapter I: Some Things Never Change

Hyrule Castle Town

'I can't believe that stupid, worthless, Shiekah/princess/crossdresser sent me back in time too far,' thought Link darkly. 'She just couldn't have let me return back the normal way, now could she!'

Lost in his angry self-dialogue, Link didn't even notice that he had escaped the guards oh so watchful eyes and was currently in the middle of the bustling market. Tearing himself away from his distressing thoughts, he glanced around the market place for a healthy distraction.

'Hmm, there's always the tavern,' Link started musing, 'But it's not exactly easy for me to get in with my current form. I guess I'll just settle for the shooting gallery.'

"One round of the archery contest, please," asked Link politely to the game shop owner.

"Aw, the widdle kid wants to play a game," said the burly shop owner, "Here ya go, for one round of the slingshot game, it'll be five rupees."

Link had a scowl on his face. Without a word, he slapped down 20 rupees, the cost for the advanced level archery game onto the table. He stiffly walked up to the bow rack, grabbed a decent sized bow, strung it, and stood at ready on the firing line.

"I like you kid, you've got spunk!" said the game runner, "I'll tell you what, I'll make this round free."

Link slowly put down the bow, gave the shopkeeper an icy glance, and reached into his wallet. He threw four more glittering red rubies onto the table.

"One hundred rupees says I hit all of the targets, with a perfect bull's-eye," said Link quietly, before he turned back to the targeting range.

The shopkeeper gave him a tight smirk. "A hundred rupees, eh?" He laughed, saying, "It's as good as mine!" The shopkeeper turned around and set it for the hardest setting, which he had just developed. Not a single person had ever topped a score of one target on his new machine. The shopkeeper turned to the boy, a sick grin on his face.

"Get ready, set, GO!" yelled the shopkeeper.

Instantly, colorful rupee targets shot out from the myriad holes scattered throughout the target range. Link, without missing a beat, grabbed an arrow from his quiver and started firing away. This hardest of all targeting ranges boasted a total of fifty targets, all of which you had only one shot at. Also, the quiver for the contest was limited to fifty arrows, so accuracy was key. Link's arm was soon a blur, arrows seeming to materialize in his hands. The shop was filled with the resonating of the bowstring, as the shopkeeper's grin slowly faded into a weak smile, and then into a full-blown frown.

Fifty short seconds later, Link turned around and grabbed his money back. "Keep the your end of the bet, I think you'll need it to revamp your course. It's getting way too easy," said the young Kokiri cockily. Link walked out of the shop leaving the flabbergasted shopkeeper in total disarray.

With a burst of self-confidence from his total victory at the archery game, Link wasn't all that perceptive as to his surroundings. He soon all but crashed into a young redheaded girl.

"I'm so sorry!" blurted out Link, as he held out a hand to help the young girl up. Link instantly recognized her as Malon, the cute farm girl from Lon Lon Ranch. "Are you all right, Ma--, er, man, that was a tough fall!" said Link, managing to avoid using Malon's name as they hadn't been introduced in this timeline.

"Yes, I'm fine, how about you?" inquired the energetic young girl, "I've never seen anyone dressed like you before, are you from the forest? What's your name? Do you have magical powers? Where'd you get that sword on your back? And how come you don't have a fairy like forest kids are supposed to?"

The sudden waterfall of questions took Link slightly aback. His last encounter with Malon had been with a silent and saddened young woman, not with a cheerful and bubbly young girl.

"Whoa, one question at a time!" cut in Link, "Yes, I am from the forest, my name is Link, I don't really have many magical powers, the sword was a gift from the forest, and I don't have a fairy because, well, it's a long story."

"A long story, huh?" started Malon again, "I have plenty of time. You see, my dad Talon owns Lon Lon Ranch, my name's Malon by the way, and he's delivering milk at the castle, and he's always falling asleep somewhere and staying their for hours. He always leaves me alone when taking a delivery, but by now I'm kind of used to it. I always give him a hard time when he's late."

"Well, the short version of the story is pretty simple," said Link, "My fairy accompanied me on a very long journey, and she was worn out by it. She said she's looking for a place...to rest," trailed off Link.

"That's too bad," sympathized Malon, "I always wanted to meet a fairy. Anyways, you want to help me find my dad so that I can give him a hard time for being late? Trust me, it's really funny!"

Link's mind drifted off to how Malon was seven years from now. The dark circles under her deep blue eyes, the tormented, haunted look on her face... 'Hmm,' mused Link, 'Maybe Zelda was right to send me back.'

Shaking himself out of his memories of a future that would never again exist, Link turned to answer Malon, "Sure, That sounds like fun!"

A/N: Another chapter done, though they're still kind of short. I'm building up the plot and I'm still developing my characters, don't worry, it'll get much more interesting and action-full later. Also, about the cursing, I thought it would have much more than it did, but it's just not fitting in with my writing style. Just in case though, I'll leave the rating up, since I'm planning on Link having a kind of mature sense of humor. I'll update the first few chapters quickly since I know where they're heading, but this will probably be a pretty long fic, so don't be surprised if the updates start getting spread apart. If I haven't updated in about a month, send me an angry e-mail to get me off my lazy behind. Thanks again to all of my reviewers, please continue to read and enjoy!

Update: As with others of these first chapters, I've fixed up the formatting and some minor grammatical/spelling errors.