Link had been awake for some time now, listening to the sounds of sleep that filled the house contrast sharply with the noises of mid-morning bustle in Kakariko Village.
He had been angry when he had first realized that Rayne had cast a sleeping spell on him, but the indignity had gradually lost it's bite. She had merely been concerned for his welfare and although she had handled the situation brashly her intentions had been admirable.
His eyesight adjusted to the dim light inside the house, the shapes of furniture that had loomed ominously above him becoming distinct. When the shadows cleared away completely he spied a broken mass of wood in the corner of the kitchen and recognized it with some embarrassment. It was the table he had upended when he had fled from the house after hearing of Malon's demise.
He flinched at the notion, closing his eyes once more in hopes that it would distract him, but inevitably his thoughts turned toward the young girl whose face he would never again see.
For seven years he had been trapped in the Sacred Realm, sleeping as his body aged and the kingdom fell into darkness. Malon hadn't seen Hyrule change either, although her reason had been far more significant than his.
He threw an arm over his face hopelessly, his heart weighing down heavily in his chest. He possessed the body of a man, powerful and agile, but his mind had not progressed quite the same. Plucked out of his world and forced to slumber for so long his emotions remained as they had been before. As he lay on the pile of hastily arranged blankets he found himself wondering that if Malon were still alive would she return his affections?
She would have aged, in both body and soul, her opinions and feelings changing to adapt to the flow of time. Would she still have accepted him? He would never know.
He felt the other presence in the room before he saw anyone.
"What is it Chronos?" he questioned, voice muffled around his arm.
"I suggest that you pick up the pieces of yourself Link." There was an softness to his tone that implied the words were not entirely meant, "I could feel your sickening self-pity from the other room."
Link lowered his arm and shot the black cat a look that would have felled a lesser being. As it were Chronos merely returned it evenly.
"You have no right to sit there and condemn my actions." Link spat, fiery rage rising up where he thought he had tied it down securely, "You are responsible for this, you and Kali, and whoever the hell else decided it would be amusing to play a game with everyone's lives."
Link waited for a witty retort, something that would prey on the weakness of his words, but none came. Chronos was silent.
"I have nothing left Chronos." he finally continued, the anger bubbling higher at his enemy's lack of response. "You took my home, my family, and the only girl I had ever felt anything for. And for what? For what reason? So that you and your siblings could laugh as we stumbled all over the place?"
A surprised look overtook Chronos' expression, "So you knew."
"That you weren't a servant? I'm young Chronos, not stupid. You may have introduced yourself as Time's retainer but I figured it out." The hero snorted sardonically, "You are Time itself, brother to Fate and Death."
Once again Chronos was quiet.
"How long have you three been planning this escapade?" Link growled, "How long have you been plotting to ruin Hyrule and it's people?"
"You misunderstand--"the cat began.
"Why did you pick me?" Link demanded, cutting him off, "Why do I have to play the part of the hero?"
"You were destined to lead the life of a–"
"Hero?" Link ended incredulously, "How can I be a hero when I can't even save the person I cared for the most? I loved her–"Link choked on the foreign word, surprised he had thought to use it, "I loved her and I never told her."
Wetness pricked at the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill over. He was dimly aware of Chronos crawling up the pile of unstable blankets, cursing slightly when he slipped and finally laying next to him.
"You've been hiding quite a bit back in that head of yours," Chronos informed him softly, bright green eyes trying to make contact with tearful blue ones, "Although not all of it is correct."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The cat instinctively knew this conversation was going to be a painful one. He had avoided it for much too long because he had not wanted to broach the subject he was still so unsure about.
"Really." Link said bitterly, a statement rather than a question and Chronos realized it was in response to his last few words.
Raising the courage he had worked so long to build up the black feline began to speak. "I am Time, you were right in that observation, though I scarcely know how you came about it. I acquainted myself to you as a servant because I thought it would make me easier to deal with. You would not have accepted me into your party unquestioningly had you known my true identity, would you?
"But I adamantly refuse to your notion that this world and the people in it are a cosmic joke to my siblings and I. We do not consider this a game, if we did I assure you we would not involve ourselves in it so deeply.
"The reason I accompany you now instead of abandoning you and hoping that you succeed is because I do care what happens to this world. I want to protect it and it's people just as you must. But I will not watch from the distance with my fingers crossed and depend entirely on you.
"I know that you have lost much in an undertaking you never asked for." the cat continued, sadness tinging his voice, "I can understand your anger at me, at my sister and brother, but we cannot predict everything."
"Even Kali?" Link questioned softly, face grim, "She is Fate."
"Kali creates the roads of Life and the choices one can make, this is true. But it is the person who is enabled to choose which path they take, which road they walk, not us."
Chronos sighed deeply when Link did not say more, the sound coming out as a purr. Perhaps they had made a mistake in doing this, in trying to rid the world of an evil by using the people in it. So many lives had been lost already, too many. Glancing at Link's wearied expression confirmed this. The burden was far too great for one person to bear, which was probably why Kali had made the split second decision of having two heroes without warning.
He cursed his sister internally, wondering if the sight of Link's pain affected her as much as it did him. She may have pushed the hero too far, Malon's supposed death had struck him hard. Chronos knew that he could confide in Link what Kali had told him but the risk was great. He had no real proof that the girl wasn't dead, only Kali's word which was not to be absolutely trusted.
Fate would lie if it suited her purposes. The whole point of her telling him such a lie may have just been so that he could pass it on to Link and give him false hope. The thought seemed plausible, though a bit cruel for her usual tastes. Then again what was Kali if not unpredictable.
Damn her for putting him in this position. Damn him for leaping into it willingly.
The cat jumped in surprise when a shadow fell across the floor. The soft scent of lavender wafted to his sensitive nostrils and he calmed. It was only Rayne come to see what they were talking about. But as soon as his guard drop he smelled something else that had been covered by her flowery scent and his spine curved in fear.
Magic, old magic was surrounding her, powerful enough to send the cat into a hissing fit and make Link stare at him in utter confusion.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She had awoken to the sound of two male voices speaking in furious growls. It took her a moment to identify one voice as Chronos and only a second longer for her to realize the other was Link. She sat up slowly, putting her feet down on the cold floor and listening through the open doorway.
"Hero?" Link's voice cut off Chronos' sentence, "How can I be a hero when I can't even save the person I cared for the most? I loved her–" Link's tone grew soft as if filled with pain, "I loved her and I never told her."
Rayne's heart clenched when she drew the conclusion about the topic of their debate and she fervently wished she had just remained asleep. She readied herself to lay back down when it occurred to her that after Link's last pronouncement the conversation had become more quiet.
She considered her options carefully. She could go into the next room and find the reason for the whispers or she could stay in her bed and wait for Chronos to return so she could question him on the happenings. She shook her head suddenly, amazed. When had she become so nosey? Their discussion was none of her business.
Even as she decided this a strange feeling descended upon her. Of their own volition her feet once again connected with the floor. Her sight began to blur as she walked and her body began to quake. Rayne recognized this feeling almost instantly. It was the same thing that had happened to her yesterday when Talon had stared at her so strangely, it had the same nauseating, mind numbing effect.
Once again the room shifted to be replaced by a different scene, this time into a rocky terrain that resembled a mountain path. The trail was passing her by quickly although she was still vaguely aware of the fact that her true body was slowly walking across the smooth wood of her floor. She could still see her room but it was faded, like one of her eyes was looking into a spyglass to see a distant landscape while her other observed where she stood. Still the rocks jutting out of the path were rapidly passed and she knew that whatever this experience was, whomever's eyes she was currently looking through, was in a hurry.
'She' turned the corner of the trail quickly and was met with a most unwelcome sight. Blood glittered in wet rivulets upon the rocky path, dark red unhurriedly turning a ghastly shade of brown in the sun whose heat Rayne couldn't actually feel. Following the course of the gore 'she' finally spied what it was still draining out of. Her eyes widened, both in real life and in the vision and her breath caught.
Link leaned against the rising slope of the mountain inside an unnatural crater, sweat glistening under his blonde hair and blood drying to a pasty consistency on his tunic. She ran up to him in the vision, kneeling down beside him and only then did it strike her. This was indeed Link, but not the one she knew. This Link's face was boyishly round, his hair shorter than she had previously seen it. His muscles were not as pronounced, they did not reveal themselves with every pained breath he took. This was Link as a child, and somehow she knew him, not because he resembled his older self, but because she had met him. But when?
She reached out to touch his wounded side, hand grazing against the crusted fluid on his tunic. Rayne gasped suddenly as pain seared her ankle. The images faded, the spyglass vision went out of focus and the mountain path disappeared to be substituted by a dark room, the living room, of Talon and Impa's home. She looked down to see Chronos retracting his claws and watching her quizzically.
Her hand was still outstretched, reaching for the little boy that was no longer there. She let her fingers curl into a fist and her arm drop to her side while she opened her mouth to yell at Chronos for interrupting, but she felt another's gaze on her.
Her attention shifted to see Link staring at her with interest and she felt the heat rise in her cheeks.
"What?" she snapped irritably, aware now of how exposed she was.
"What did you see?" Chronos asked, earning him a glare.
Rayne determinedly fixed her eyes on the floor, refusing to answer. What could she tell them? That she was seeing someone else's memories? Not only seeing them but recognizing them as something she too had experienced? They would think her mad.
"Rayne."
She raised her eyes to see that it had been Link, not Chronos, who had spoken her name. "What was it?"
She bit her lip, sighed in defeat, and then opened her mouth to talk..
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Navi had appeared out of Link's hat at the beginning of Rayne's telling so she was entitled to share the glances of utter disbelief the two males sent the young girl's way.
Rayne blushed hotly at the unwanted attention, "That's what happened." she insisted, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.
"Have you ever heard of anything like it Chronos, Navi?" Link asked the two immortals.
Navi shook her head, "Nothing quite like this. Maybe if they weren't memories as Rayne says they could be explained but as it is..."
"Link, do you remember a time when you were injured so severely on a rocky trail?" Chronos questioned.
Rayne looked at the cat wonderingly, he sounded as if he was drawing a conclusion.
Link's eyes narrowed, "Yes, I was coming back from Death Mountain. The Gorons hadn't been able to cure my wounds so I was coming to Kakariko to seek medical aid."
Rayne blinked, the vertigo that accompanied the vivid 'visions' was returning for another go. The room began to fade, the voices of her comrades disappeared.
Sharp hurt in her arm brought her back from the memory almost instantly to see Chronos releasing her wrist from his needle-like teeth.
"Don't go anywhere." he commanded sternly, "We need you to solve this."
Rayne cradled her injured wrist, sucking on the blood that welled up from the insignificant wounds. "Fine." she snarled, "But next time you want to attract my attention find a less painful way!"
"Very well." the cat agreed indifferently. "Now Link, who found you after you passed out on the trail?"
"I'm not sure who found me first. Granny was there, as were most of the townspeople, and–" Link hesitated, uncertainty alighting his features.
"And?" Chronos prompted.
"Malon." Link finished, gaze locked on Rayne who wanted nothing more than in that instant than to crawl into the darkest corner of the room and die.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Impa walked down the stairs, yawning widely and itching her face to wake up the numb nerves. She needed coffee, or at least some alcohol after last night.
Taking a look out the window she observed that it was well into the afternoon, the sun was already past it's half-way point in the sky.
When she turned back toward the kitchen she nearly tripped over a prone body on the floor. When she actually looked down she saw two teenagers, one cat, and one fairy curled contentedly on the floor, snores sounding out rather loudly for their sizes.
Impa smiled, a sniff at the air confirming her suspicions, there was still magic hovering there. Rayne must have accidently cast a sleeping spell on not only her friends, but also on herself. Impa shook her head slightly in amusement and continued on her way to the coffee.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
One by one the current occupants of the house filed into the kitchen, intent on finding something to edible. They were all silent, no one bringing up the conversation that had been held just that morning. As far as Rayne was concerned there was nothing more to talk about anyway.
They had gone around in circles for hours, gaining no real answers although Chronos had contributed little after his initial few questions. They had pestered him for his thoughts but he had remained steadfast in his silence.
Rayne was mixing a bowl of what she hoped would turn out to be pancake batter while she thought. It was possible that the memory was her own, she may have found a dying Link before anyone else and then run away in irrational fear. But why had the memory come to her in such a forceful way? Making her walk down it once more as though it was happening right that second?
She pushed it from her mind and concentrated on making breakfast instead.
Chronos jumped onto the table with a grace the Goddesses' had only granted felines and stretched. Rayne looked him over still finding it hard to believe that this annoying cat was actually Time itself in a material form.
She stopped in her stirring, "Chronos?"
"Hmm?" he froze in mid-stretch.
"Out of all the forms you could have taken, why a cat?"
Only quiet laughter met her query.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You're going to the Forest Temple?" Impa asked Link as he picked up his knapsack, slinging it on his back.
"Yes, I have to see what happened to the Kokiri, and if the Sage of Light was correct, I have to free the Sage of Forest and liberate the Temple from Ganondorf's minions."
"That sounds like quite the undertaking." the Sheikah murmured, handing Link the Master Sword when he requested it. "Would you like some company?"
Link shook his head, "You need to defend Kakariko, I couldn't accept your help."
Impa nodded slightly, having already anticipated such an answer,
"What about mine?"
Link and Impa turned to find Rayne already standing at the doorway in travel clothes, armed with a short bow, a steel dagger and a look in her eyes that informed them she was not in the mood for refusals.
Link's eyes darkened visibly, "No."
"She'll come no matter what you say, you know." Chronos informed him airily, jumping onto Rayne's shoulder, "Besides, she has a far more comfortable seat for me than you do."
Rayne was about to smack the cat in the head but then reconsidered when she realized that he had just said, in the rudest terms possible, that he wanted her to come. Her swat turned into a pat.
"It would be nice having another girl along." Navi informed Link, seating herself atop the young woman's head. "The gender balance will be equal this way."
Rayne smiled triumphantly.
"I will not have another woman's death on my conscience."the young man was perceptibly having a problem controlling his temper.
"I can take care of myself." Rayne snarled back, "Besides, you'll need someone with magical talent–"
"No matter how poor that talent may be." Chronos thought out loud, receiving the hit he had avoided earlier.
"And since I'm the only one Kakariko can spare right now, I'm your only choice." she finished.
Link looked pleadingly at Impa who shrugged, "Once she sets her mind on something it usually stays that way. I think you're stuck Link."
Link threw his hands up in frustration, "Fine, but you had better know how to defend yourself."
"I do." Rayne reported happily.
"Then let's go." Link headed out the door, in the company of Time itself disguised as a cat, a fairy, and a young girl.
Impa watched them go, a frown pulling at her mouth. Talon had not come down from his room all day.
She walked toward the stairs, toeing the pile of blankets out of her way and starting up the wooden case. She stopped at his door, knocking politely before barging in anyway.
He was in a chair facing the window, watching the distant forms of Link and Rayne disappear down the stairwell that led out of Kakariko.
"Ya let her go."his voice was hoarse.
"Yes."Impa didn't bother to lie.
"Why?"
"We can't protect her forever Talon, you know that, she needs to learn to be independent. Besides," Impa paused, "You should have seen how happy she was."
"Do ya think he'll keep her safe this time?"Talon asked, his tone almost desperate.
"Yes Talon," The Sheikah joined him at the window just in time to see Navi's light fade away. "I think he'll keep us all safe this time."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Notes: Another pointless chapter, but at least they're GOING somewhere now. I'm sorry if the 'visions' thing is still confusing, it will be cleared up eventually.
On to the reviews.
In response to The Pilot: It's so sweet of you to offer your services but are you really sure you want to? I have already scared off two unfortunate editors and I'm not up to frightening a third. If you still would like to edit after hearing this, say so in your next review and I will send you chapter 19 as soon as I crank it out.
P.S. Thanks for staying with this story for so long, and I'm happy you like the Rayne/Chronos comedy I have going.
In response to GuruGuru214: You clever, clever boy you. I must admit that is what I originally had planned for Dreamers but after I finally began to write it the whole thing changed significantly. So, no, he does not go back in time and save Malon so that she can be in the future. But that was a really good guess! I hope this chapter isn't 'horrible' as you feared, I have been working on it for a while but my writing doesn't really show that. Blah.
In response to Dream][Walker3: Oh damn, look I'm blushing! Thanks for reviewing.
