* * *
*Click, click, click* The sound of soft yet quick footsteps and heavy breathing filled the halls of Hyrule Castle that night. A ghostlike white figure brushes past. You wonder, Am I seeing things?
Chilly midnight air surrounds a desperate girl as she runs blindly for an cloudy destination. Hair a mess, tear stains and fresh tears smearing her face, carelessly still shrouded in a white nightgown, she just runs.
Anyone present would ask the question previously stated. Am I seeing thing? After all, who in their right mind would expect the Princess of Hyrule to be running down the halls of the castle at midnight, wearing nothing but her nightclothes? Who in their right mind? Of course, the girls they're seeing isn't really who they think she is. And that is what makes all the difference.
* * *
When April awoke again, she expected her annoying sister, her mom, maybe. But instead, she was greeted by that same familiar, yet unfamiliar, view of another girl's life.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" she screamed as she sat up in the bed.
Impa came running to her. After all, it's not every day you just hear someone wake up and randomly scream "what?", is it?
"Tell me, how in hell is it possible to be having the same dream for what seems to be two real days in a row? HOW, I ASK YOU!?" April cried as she threw up her hands in frustration. "This dream is getting weirder and weirder! I swear, I'll never play Zelda that much again!!! I wanna PLAY video games! I don't wanna LIVE them!!" (A/N: I couldn't help it. Yes, I got that line from Sailor Moon, the first episode. :) )
Impa just watched as Zelda threw this strange fit before even venturing to say anything. "Here's a stupid question. Are you all right?"
"Does it LOOK like I'm all right!?" April yelled. "How can I be all right if I'm going crazy!? NORMAL people don't have such freakish dreams!"
"May I remind you, first of all, that you are not a normal person," Impa supplied.
"That's one right thing. In many respects, I'm not a normal person at this moment."
"True. Not a normal person. Nor, normal princess it seems now. You are usually okay after you have those dreams. Why is it so different today?"
"One, because odd, weird, strange, bizarre, crazy things are happening inside my head at this moment. And two, I'm not the princess." April hopped out of bed.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, here. My name is April, not Zelda. I'm thirteen, not ten. I'm a brunet, not a blonde. I live in the United States of America, not Hyrule. Hyrule is a nonexistent dimension from my Zelda game on Nintendo 64! AND I'M FREAKING LIVING THE LIFE OF MY FAVORITE VIDEO GAME CHARACTER! What is up with that!?" April panted.
"You're starting to scare me. It's early. Go back to bed, and then, maybe you won't feel so crazy."
"Point taken. Maybe, if I sleep, I'll wake up!" April again prepared to wake up as she climbed back into the bed.
"That makes sense," Impa said, as she left.
* * *
"Well, it seems you got your hopes too high, chica," April said to herself as she reflected on what was causing her midnight escapade. Her crying had stopped, but her running, if anything, it had only gotten more desperate. Her day couldn't get any worse. Her LIFE couldn't get any worse. She refused to live in a dream world.
* * *
"Okay, so apparently that didn't work," April said out loud as she peered out of the bedroom door after a couple more hours of sleep. "But, it's cool. I'll just find something to wake myself up with. If this is a dream, I will wake up if I get hurt really bad. So..." She went out and surveyed the halls for anyone in the halls. No one. So, she commenced with her plan. She saw the marble pillar ahead of her. She walked up to it, drew her foot back as far as she could, and...
"OW!! Owieeeee! That hurt like a piece of crap! What did you do THAT for, moron!?" she asked herself when her foot bounced back at her from the pillar.
"So, apparently, that didn't work, either. How am I getting hurt in a dream? Okay, whatever. Time to try something more drastic!" she babbled to herself as she went off to find something more effective to wake herself up.
"Ah, HA! IDEA! Idea, idea, idea, idea, idea!!" she called out as she screeched to a halt. She whirled around and ran back to the bedroom. She hurried over to the large windows leading to the balcony and yanked them open. She hopped out, and looked over the stone barrier at the moat below it. Her window seemed to be to the side of the castle near the secret entrance to the castle courtyard. It was different, still, than in the game, and it was weird to view it from about ten stories up. She was lucky, though, that at least her window wasn't facing the front of the castle. It was perfect.
"All right, just climb up here..." she said as she grabbed hold of the barrier and pulled herself on top of it. She stood up, and looked down again. She almost reeled back and feel over when she saw how high she really was, but she managed to regain her balance. "Oh, high," she said in a daze. "TOO HIGH! MUST GO DOWN!" She almost stepped back up over the barrier on to the balcony, but instead, she stopped herself. She worked up every ounce of courage she had, closed her eyes, and threw herself off the edge.
'What are you thinking? You are the most crazy person I've ever met. And that's saying something!' her mind told her as she seemed to fall in slow motion. The wind whipped through the few strands of loose hair from her hat-like head covering as she plummeted to what she hoped would be consciousness.
* * *
"Hope," April mused. "Such a fickle thing."
Her desperate run was still breakneck pace, and it refused to halt until she found what she was after. She knew what it was she wanted. She only needed the right way to it.
The marble which made clicking sounds against her feet felt to her like a laughing spectator. It seemed to say to her, 'Do you even know what you're doing, little girl?' April would have answered this question with a no, except for the fact that part of her, an unknown, deep part of her, did know exactly what she was doing. It was the part of her that was screaming at her to stop.
* * *
*SPLASH!*
Cold, clear water came up from under her to drench April in its crystal contents. Cold, being a word. Freezing, being a more accurate one. This, and also the realization that she was wearing a white skirt shocked April and caused her to struggle to the surface faster.
"Well, that was DUMB! And, it didn't even WORK!? What a gyp!!" April cried as she thrashed her way over to the stone walkway bordering the moat. She pulled herself over the side of the walkway and fell out onto it as she coughed and sputtered from all the water in her mouth. She was a little too cold yet to stand up.
A single girl stood awkwardly, leaning against a fence nearby. She had seen the girl in purple and white plummet from a window in the castle to the water below. She gaped as that same girl pulled her way out of the water and collapse onto the sidewalk. She hardly moved except for her coughing.
"What r' ya tryin' to do, kill yourself?" a voice behind April demanded. She lifted her head up to the voice. In front of her, leaning up, cross armed, against a black iron fence, was a young Hylian girl. She stood with a worried yet indignant expression on her face, and glared with piercing sapphire eyes that screamed with the need for an answer. Her fiery red hair hung down to her waist, and came across her face in unruly bangs. Hylian, definitely, for her pointed ears. She had an oddly Southern accent, and clothes of a ranch girl to match. For someone so young, she had a pretty face.
"Well, that was halfway my intention," April complained as she stood up. "Why do you ask?"
"'S not ev'ry day ya see Princess Zelda flingin' he'self out a window," the redhead answered, approaching her.
"You know who I am. I don't know who you are. I am in a need to know people who know who I am," April mused.
"Well, ev'ryone knows who you are," she said, laughing slightly. "but, 's no wonder ya don' know who I am. I 'm Malon, of Lon Lon Ranch. 's a pleasure, Princess," Malon said.
"Call me Ap-um, I mean, Zelda, of course," April almost gave away her real name.
Malon gave her an odd look. Then, she smiled as if she was going to laugh, again.
"What?" April asked.
"Your...skirt!"
"Huh!?" She looked down. "OH! Crud! Er," she looked back to Malon, who was now laughing out loud. "I would laugh, if it wasn't me. So, now, I gotta be going inside now. So, I'll do that. See ya, Malon!" she called out as she backed up and ran for the castle main gate.
"See ya!" Malon called from behind her.
April ran to the gate, and luckily for her, she was able to sneak around the occasional person all the way to her room up in the top of the towers.
* * *
"Getting hurt, falling, all normal parts of a dream wake up call are non existent. One thing is for sure. If I do this, there's no way I will be able to stay asleep."
'Asleep,' her mind teased her. 'And, are you asleep, 'Princess'?' This only made April run faster toward what she was sure would be coming soon.
She was still paying no mind to the part of her that was silently screaming at her to stop running.
* * *
Once dressed in something dry, April made her way out of the room, again. She had no clue what she would do that time. She was plain out of ideas. She also didn't know what else to do until she woke up. During the game, you never know what happens to Princess Zelda when Link is off getting the Spiritual Stones. So, April decided to simply try to find her way to anywhere in the castle that would be worth looking at.
She hadn't really paid it much mind earlier, but now, she noticed that the castle was like a live history museum. She had seen all the decorations and everything, the architecture...but what really caused her to notice was when she reach a hallway full of ancient suits of armor. It looked exactly like something you would see in a history museum. She explored further down this corridor, and found herself going through two huge double door into a large library. The bookcases were massive, and April saw several small staircases branch off to round pillars of books. She wasn't one for books, yet she found this fascinating.
She walked through the narrow corridors between the book shelves, and she dragged her fingers over some of the spines of the books. She expected to find titles like "The Lord of the Rings", "Oliver Twist" or "To Kill a Mockingbird", but she, of course, found volumes of books she had never seen. One said "A Complete History of the Hylia Dynasty, Vol. 2". She though, who would ever want to read something like THAT!? She did see one book that caught her eye, though. It read, "The Legend". It looked like it could be an interesting fiction book, or something like that.
April tried to pull it out, and found that it had obviously not been pulled out in a long while. It was extremely hard to get out. April tugged at it with all her might, and she almost went reeling back when it did slide out of its prison. The oddest thing happened after it was removed. April heard a groaning sound, like the sound of an old door which hadn't been opened in years. She turned to her left, and on the wall there, she though she saw the tiniest crack.
She went over to the wall, and timidly put a hand up to it. Nothing. She touched it more gingerly, and jumped back in surprise when the wall moved to the side to reveal a dark and narrow passageway, lighten by only a few dull torches. It was so full of dust and cobwebs, it looked like nobody had used it in more that a quarter century. Just when April was about to step in, a voice behind her made her jump.
"What do you think you're doing?" it asked.
"Um, I...uh...the book, you see, and......" she mumbled, turning around. She saw a gray old woman standing there before her. She was short, and she had her silver hair tied up in a bun. She could have been a Native American, but with an odd and very faint Irish accent.
"You're better off not getting yourself mixed up in that, lassie.....yet," she added with what seemed to be a twinkle of mystery in her eyes. April thought she could almost see the woman smiling.
"May I ask, who are you?" April asked as politely as she could.
"You will know soon, lass. All will reveal itself in due time. Remember, though," she added with newfound importance. "....don't go near that corridor until the time is right. Only know, you have somewhere to go."
April had not the faintest clue what she was talking about. She looked over her shoulder back to the corridor, but it had started to close. "I don't understand. What..." she started, but when she looked back, the woman was gone.
"My, people come and go so quickly here," April said, with her best Dorothy voice.
* * *
"Weird old lady," she muttered. "Does she enjoy just going around and scaring people with mindless gibberish?"
She wondered if anybody in the castle had heard her by now. If so, she didn't care. She would be gone before they got to her, anyway. She considered she wouldn't care even if they came to her. She wasn't going to give up on her plan. And that part of her was not going to stop screaming.
* * *
April walked quickly out of that library. She had suddenly lost interest in that old lady, and every other thought concerning themselves with her or that book. They were simply NOT going to enter her mind at the moment. April was also not paying attention as she neared the halls at the front of the castle, and didn't notice another presence before it knocked her flat on her back, with it going down the opposite way.
"Well, somebody's 'n a hurry," the voice complained from across the hall.
"Oh, hi Malon." April didn't even have to look up. She recognized the voice right away. When she did look up, she say Malon smiling at her.
"Hey, Princess," Malon said to her.
"You don't have to call me that," April said, felling uncomfortable. "Anyway, what are you doing in the castle? I thought your dad already went back with you to the ranch."
Malon seemed surprised at this. "How'd ya know 'bout that?" she asked.
'Oh, I know from playing the video game,' popped into April's head, but she didn't voice it. "It's a funny story. I'll tell you later." Later, she thought. She would think of some excuse, later.
"Anyway, what are you doing in the castle," April asked again.
"Well," Malon blushed slightly. "I...wanted to see you. To see 'f you were okay. Fr'm your lil'..." Malon put her hand up and made a gesture as if it was falling.
"Oh, that. I bet you wanna know why I did that, huh?" Malon nodded. "First of all, yes I'm okay. Second, I probably couldn't tell you in a million year why I did that. Even if I did, I'm sure you wouldn't believe me."
"Try me," Malon said.
"Later."
"You jus' wanna do ev'rythin' 'later', don' you?" Malon giggled.
"Why is it that people always laugh at me?"
"'cause you're funny."
"Oh, really? But how about if I did....THIS!?" April squeaked as she pulled Malon's loose bandanna off from around her neck off. She turned around and ran a few steps, then turned back. "HOW 'BOUT NOW!?"
"YOU! You bring me that back, right now, ya hear me!? Malon called after her.
"Come and get it!!" April called to her.
"NO!"
"CHICKEN!!" she called. At this, Malon smiled mischievously and ran after her. She chased her through the hallway, all the way calling for her to give it back, and all the way with April calling back no.
April stopped suddenly when she felt something cold from the hall in front of her. Malon skidded into her back, and then quickly grabbed the bandanna and fastened it, again. April saw what she had felt from down the hall. I'll give you three guesses on who it was. And I'll give you a hint, his name is GANON!
Ganondorf walked quickly past the young princess, hardly noticing that she was there. Her saw her, no doubt. His mind told him not to worry. He would deal with her when the time came. She wouldn't be a problem when the time came for his to get rid of her.
Malon saw April staring at the dark figure in the hallway. She saw the dark face that April put on when he had safely walked past.
"Who's that?" Malon asked in a whisper.
"Ganondorf," April spat out, also in a whisper.
* * *
"Ganondorf," April mused. "I wonder, what would happen if Zelda suddenly failed to exist? I'm sure Ganonjerk would surely have his way, " April babbled, but it didn't matter now, not to her in the least.
She also had thoughts of the ranch girl, Malon, at the same time. What would happen to her? To Link........?
She almost slowed down her desperate run, but kept up her pace as she pushed these thoughts out of her head. That same part of her which had been screaming at her, however, would not release these thoughts completely.
* * *
The giggling of little girls could be heard drifting from the topmost tower of Hyrule Castle. At the core of this tower stood a powerful telescope.
"Stupid! What does she think she's doing!?" A certain blonde and redhead pair made interesting use of the telescope by spying on the unsuspecting people of the town below
After their little encounter with Ganondorf, and Malon had her bandanna safely back in her possession, April had asked Malon if she wanted to stay in the castle for a while longer. April liked the people here, and she wanted to know about this one, Malon. She was an interesting character.
As they watched the people in the town down below, April started to look again around the circular room they were in. It was full of old papers and other various astrological tools besides the telescope scattered around. April also saw books of many kinds, and then suddenly something caught her eye. It was a small table with only one candle on it. It seemed very conspicuous, considering that every other piece of furniture in the room was covering in various items.
She tugged on Malon's sleeve as she laughed at the people down below. Malon snapped her head up from the telescope, and April pointed toward the table.
"An', tell me, what is so facinatin' 'bout a candle?" Malon muttered.
April knew something was up with it. So, she walked over to it, and pulled on it, only to find that it wouldn't budge.
"So?" Malon questioned when April looked to her for a reaction.
April suddenly had an idea, and she twisted the candle around. When she did this, she heard a familiar grinding sound. When she looked back to Malon, she saw her looking across the room at a newly opened corridor.
"So, there," April countered.
* * *
"Seems like I'm just running into secret passages all over the place," April muttered under her breath. "I wish I would find a secret way that would help me with THIS, though," she complained to nobody in particular.
April was becoming quite sick of running, but she knew if she didn't do this now, she'd never work up the courage again. That deep part of her wished that she would have to stop running, so her courage would fail.
* * *
"It's so beautiful," April said. The sunset was now turning a deep red, and the orange around the setting sphere was a color to remember. Not spoiled by pollution and ridiculous street lights. The chilly wind slowly twirled around two girls. Grass waved, and night creatures could be heard just about to come out for their nightly performance.
The corridor that the girls found had, surprisingly enough, lead to the roof of the castle. Up at the top there, there wasn't much but the roof, itself. Curved places of a blue tile, and some scattered rocks. One perfect place for watching the sunset. April had wanted to go back, but Malon insisted that they watch. She said she could never the whole sunset form her ranch.
As the ball of light disappeared, April thought of something.
"Oh, yeah, Malon?"
"Hm?"
"It's getting dark. What were you going to do?"
"Oh." Malon seemed to just realize that night would soon be coming in on them. "I s'pose I was gonna go home..."
"But, it'll be all dark and stuff. Listen. Why don't you stay here for the night? It's not like you have something to do, right?"
"Well, not really, but...."
"Oh, come on!" April interrupted. "Last time someone came here they left at night, and I thought it was a dumb idea. Why don't you stay? Please?"
"Um,"
"Come on! Don't be an idiot like that guy was," April tried to convince Malon.
"Guy?"
April turned her head away. "Oh." She wondered if she should tell Malon. But then again, why shouldn't she?
"Tell me! I'll stay 'f you do."
April brightened up. "Okay. I'll tell you once we go inside."
The two disappeared back into the castle as night engulfed the grounds.
* * *
'April, listen to reason! Why would you even think of something like that? You'll ruin everything? You'll throw everything away if you keep running. Stop. Just stop!' That same part of her continued to weigh down upon her heart, and would not give up in its quest to keep her from reaching her goal. April somehow ignored the heavy feeling, even though now even her desperate pace had been let up.
* * *
"Oh, but I think ya do," Malon teased April as they sat on her huge bed in the room April had woken up in that morning. April was telling Malon about Link. She had causally left out the part about the Spiritual Stones and all that jazz.
"I do NOT!" April hollered back.
"Yes, you jus' HAPPENED to wanna dance with 'm, even when you didn' know how!"
April pushed her off the bed, then bent over the side to look at her from above and said, "Look. You're at a party with a bunch of adults. You, the fish chick, and some guy are the only kids there. What you gonna do!? Just sit there and EAT!?"
"Not ME!" Malon giggled.
"Are you tired yet!?" April asked.
"Nope!"
"AAAAAH!!" April cried as she brought her pillow down on an unsuspecting Malon's head. When she brought it down to strike her again, Malon caught it, and it wound up right in April's face. April grabbed another pillow, and after not too long, the room was snowing goose feathers. Both girls were on the floor, laughing their heads off.
* * *
'That was you're last coherent moment before you decided to go NUTS! APRIL!!! Listen!'
Same part of her. Same story. Same refusal to believe or listen to anything.
* * *
April woke with a start. It was dark. A light down the hall, maybe, but nothing else. April got up and expected to feel carpet. She felt stone.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Malon curled up on the floor next to the big bed, wrapped in a ton of blankets.
"No, no, this isn't real," she told herself. This wasn't happening. Why did she keep waking up in this!?
Without thinking, she ran out of the door. Jumping wasn't enough. She knew immediately something that would be.
The only thing she overlooked was a certain redhead watch her leave, then follow after her.
* * *
April ran with even more intensity now. She could see it. Just up ahead. A pale light was shining out the door of the room. Perfect for her. She would be able to see what she was doing.
The big room which the banquet had been held in was her destination. When she'd left, she noticed a display on the wall. Some old stuff, like you'd find in a museum. Not much of interest. Then, anyway.
As she screeched to a halt in the room, she could see it over in the far corner of the room. The things she had seen earlier yesterday. 'Ha. Yesterday,' she thought, ironically.
She walked over to it. The silver glitter of the treasure in this crazy midnight treasure hunt. 'Hardly,' she told herself, as she smiled sadly.
"What does she think she's doing!?" Malon asked herself as she followed the princess into the dully lit banquet hall. She was looking at something. Something was shining from a display, Malon wondered what it was.
April stopped short when she was close to the object. She suddenly had tons of visions fly into her head. Of her sister, her friends at school, her parents, her annoying little brother, games she liked to play, things she liked to do. Then, people she met here. Link, and Impa, Malon...
'Just do it,' she told herself, roughly. She wondered, as she reached out her hand, what anyone had put a thing like this here for. Whatever the reason. She didn't care. She brought her hand closer and closer to the cool surface of metal, just inches away.
Malon saw the princess reach for something. What was it? She couldn't see clearly, from so far away. She dared a few steps closer to her, and saw when she was about two or so yards away, what it was.
A dagger.
April looked down into her reflection from the glittery surface of the blade. She most likely looked like a mess. Who cares, she thought. I'm gonna be gone in a second, anyway. She pointed the potentially deadly blade at where she thought her heart should be.
Malon, at seeing what the princess held, and not seeing anything else to do, ran at the girl.
April stood stock still, and the dagger slipped out of her grip as she felt small hands around waist. The metal made a terrible crashing sound as it dropped to the floor. Suddenly, what she had been about to do hit her like something she'd never felt before, and she didn't realize she was crying until she tasted salty tears in her mouth.
Malon, still holding on to the girl, brought them both down to floor level. She turned the other girl around in her arms, and was about to ask what in the name of Din she had been about to do. But, the look on her face, and the tears that were now flowing freely from the girls eyes, made her stop.
April, without thinking, flung her arms around Malon. She didn't know. She just, didn't know. Everything was coming at her so fast. She was now trembling and crying into Malon's shirt front.
Malon knew she could always ask, later. Right now, she thought the little princess just needed someone to be there for her. None of the two knew exactly what was going on, and April was especially confused, and maybe glad for Malon being there. Yes, she was. She would always be, grateful for that one moment where luck, and maybe destiny, had decided to intervene.
* * *
***Ah. Well, okay. Again, don't ask where this chapter came from. It just popped into my head. I wrote it, here it is, now, live with it and REVIEW!!! Review, because I WILL NOT make my crazy monkeys stop annoying you all unless I get a few more good ones. :)
Hehehe. Okay. Love, from, SailorZelda~