Hey! Thanks to all those that reviewed! Here's chapter 1. I hope you like it.
This is part of a memorial. See the next chapter for the story.
Link yawned and stretched out. He was lying in Hyrule field, near Lon Lon Ranch, thinking of old times. It had been seven years since Gannondorf had been sealed away, and Link had been sent back in time. It had been a little under seven years that he had defeated Majora and saved Termina.
When Link returned from Termina, he stayed with the Kokiri for a year or two, but then he left. He had to return the Ocarina of Time to Zelda.
He'd snuck into the castle quite easily. But when he'd gotten to the courtyard, Zelda wasn't there. Link hadn't known what to do. So he went back to the town for the night. The next morning he went to the castle again. And again Zelda wasn't in the courtyard. So he went to leave. He was nearly out of the castle when the guards caught him. And he was, consequently, brought before the king. He could still remember that day.
Flashback
Link was shoved into the throne room by one of the guards. He scowled at the man, but bowed before the king. He looked up so he could see through his hair. The king was sitting on his throne, and Zelda was sitting next to him. He could feel the power of Shadow behind Zelda's throne.
'Impa must be there.' he thought.
Link felt his left hand burn slightly and looked to it. The Triforce mark was glowing slightly. He looked up slightly and found Zelda looking at her hand too. Link knew that he couldn't hide his hand without making it obvious, so he just hoped that no one looked at his hand.
The king was looking at Link. He didn't look angry that Link had broken into the castle; in fact he looked rather amused.
"Why did you break into the castle, lad?" he asked. Link thought quickly.
"Well, I came for several things, sir-uh, your highness."
The king smiled. He didn't seem to mind the slip. But the guard did. He whacked Link with the end of his spear. Link barely acknowledged the hit. He felt Impas shadow aura blaze angrily for a few seconds, then it died down as she calmed herself. Link risked a glance up and saw that Zelda didn't seem too happy about it, either. It also seemed she remembered that Link had the Ocarina. The king looked mildly displeased, but it passed.
"Well, what are these things?" asked the king.
"First, I found this near the castle gates and thought it should be returned." Link said, pulling out the Ocarina of Time. The king looked slightly shocked, Zelda looked fearful. Link couldn't see the rest of the people's faces, but he could hear the gasps.
The king got over his shock.
"You say you found this near the gates? Why would it be there?" the king asked, more to himself.
Zelda, ever the wise one, came up with an explanation.
"Perhaps when those robbers broke in the other day they took it, but dropped it as they were running."
Links head snapped up.
"The castle was robbed?" he asked, then, remembering whom he was bowing before, he put his head back down. The guard hit him again.
"Don't hit the boy!" the king said to the guard, some anger slightly evident in his voice. The guard bowed and backed away.
The king smiled again and looked down to Link.
"You're not from around here boy?"
"No, sire. I come from the Kokiri Forest."
"But I thought that the Kokiri were just a people of legend." said a female voice. Link figured that it was from one of the lady's in waiting.
"The Kokiri are very real. You just haven't seen any of them come out of the forest."
"Why?"
"Because they'll die if they leave the forest."
"Yet here you kneel before us, not dead. Speaking of which, you can stand up now, lad." said the king.
Link sighed and stood up.
"Now, lad. If you are a Kokiri, and Kokiri die if they leave the forest, then why are you not dead."
Link took a deep breath.
"I'm a Hylian. My mother took me to the forest when I was a baby. She died there, and the Great Deku Tree took care of me. I was brought up thinking that I was a Kokiri, but I'm not."
There was silence around the hall. Link could feel hot tears burning at his eyes and wished they would leave. He hung his head. The king let out a long sigh.
"Lad, I think the first thing you should do is give the Ocarina to us. Sheik! Can you please get it?"
Sheik? Wasn't Zelda Sheik? Link heard footsteps coming towards him. They were light, but years of fighting (even the years that had never been.) had made his senses rather accurate.
Link looked up slightly. There, standing before him, was a Sheikah boy that looked like a younger version of Sheik. Link put out his left hand and gave the Ocarina to Sheik. He then remembered the Triforce mark and ,as soon as Sheik had the Ocarina, he quickly brought his hand back.
Yet from the look in Sheiks eye he had seen the mark anyway. Yet he said nothing. He simply turned and walked over to Zelda. Wait. How could Zelda and Sheik be in the same place? They were both the same person. Weren't they? He'd have to ask Impa later.
"I think you should stay here for the night, lad. We'll discuss the other topics tomorrow. Now where shall we put you?"
Impa stepped out from the shadows.
"I'll take him to find a room, your highness. I wish to ask the boy a few questions."
"Yes. Good good. Speaking of which, what is your name boy?"
"Link. My name is Link."
"Okay. Link, if you could please follow Impa."
Both Link and Impa bowed and left the room.
Link walked along the hall behind Impa, head down. He could only hear the heavy thump of his boots hitting the floor, Impas own light footfalls and the sound of their breathing.
Link glanced around him. They were walking along a heavily decorated hall. Tapestries and paintings lined the walls. Link glanced up at Impa. She looked over her shoulder at him. She then sighed and stopped. She turned so she was facing Link.
Link stopped and looked up at her. Impa sighed again.
"Why are you here, Link? Why did you come to the castle?" Link swallowed.
"I felt that I had to return the Ocarina to Zelda."
"You said that you came for a number of other reasons, as well as that one." said Impa.
"I also came to see if I could take up the job of a guard or something like that. I can't go back to the Kokiri Forest now. And, apart from fighting, I'm not that good at anything else." Link said with a shrug.
Impa looked at him.
"There's something else isn't there, Hero of Time." Link flinched slightly at the title. Impa found this strange. He didn't flinch at a hit, yet he flinched at his title.
"Yes, there is. I was hoping I could find out who my parents were."
Impa looked at him. There wasn't anything wrong with wanting to know who his parents were. I would just be very difficult.
"Have you got anything that could help with finding out who they were?"
Link nodded.
"I have my mothers name. Her name was Amaora. And the Deku shrub said that I look like my father. I don't know how he knows though. The Great Deku Tree never left the forest, and my father never entered the forest before."
Impa nodded.
"Well, tomorrow when you see the king, tell him everything that you've told me. Though I don't think that you're old enough to become a guard yet." she said. "Come now. We'd better find you a room."
End Flashback....... for now.......
Link stretched again. The sun was shining down on his smiling face as he remembered the next day, when he had spoken to the king.
Flashback........ yet again.........
"So I was kinda hoping that you knew someone that could help."
The king stroked his goatee, seemingly deep in thought.
"Amaora. That name sounds strangely familiar, like I've heard it somewhere before. Hmmmmm."
The king looked down to Link.
"It will probably take a long time to find out who your parents are, it could take weeks, months, possibly years. And it would no doubt cost a lot of money if it took that long to find anything."
"I'd be willing to use all the rupees I have to find out who my parents were. Even though I haven't got that many to begin with."
The king looked at Link. The boy seemed desperate. But, then again, if the king were in his boots he'd want to know who his parents were, he'd want to find out if he had any relatives.
"You also said that you wanted to become a guard, am I right?" Link nodded.
"During my travels I have fought against and defeated many warriors and monsters, and I saved Termina."
The king looked surprised.
"Termina? We have not heard about Termina in a long time. Ever since the Battle of the Gods, when the trade route was sealed up for Terminas safety. How goes Termina?"
"Last I heard, which was a few months ago, Termina was fine. Clocktown has a new mayor and the whole place is free of monsters."
"Ah good. We will have to open the Trade route again." He leaned back in his chair a little. "So you say that you have done all these great deeds. But just how strong are you? You realize that I will have to test you, don't you?"
Link nodded.
"Good. Do you want to be tested now?"
Link nodded again. "It's not like I have anything else to do."
The king stood and stretched before walking to the door. "Come on, Link."
Link got up from where he had been sitting on the floor, brushed himself off, and jogged over to the king.
The king smiled at him, then walked through the door.
"Whoa!" was Links reaction when they walked into the test room. It was huge, a little bigger than the ballroom. In the center of the room was a pool of water.
The king looked at Link, then at the room.
"This is the Sheikahs Training Room. I would have taken you to the normal training room but you seemed so confident in your skills that I brought you to this one. There are 15 rooms in total. This one is the first one. You have to swim through the water, which we count as the second room, to get to the next one. The rest is up to you to find out about. You can use anything you already have to try and complete this. Be warned though. No Hylian has ever completed this course. Impa and myself will be watching you throughout the course. You may start whenever you're ready."
The king turned and left the room.
Impa stood before a large mirror in a room next to the training room. She looked at Link as he stood there, thinking it seemed.
She heard the door open and close behind her and the king came to stand next to her.
"Do you think the boy will finish the course?" he asked her.
"Link is a strong boy, and he's smart. He'll finish. Or at least he'll get to the last room."
"You seem to know the boy well, Impa. Have you met him before?"
"No. But I have heard about him."
"Oh. Does the name Amaora sound familiar to you?"
"Yes. I could have sworn that I've heard it only a few years ago. But that may just be me."
"No, I don't think it's just you. I've heard it before too."
"Oh well. Lets see how Link fares in this nightmare course."
Link looked around the room. The room looked very plain, except for the pool of water in the center.
Link walked over to it and looked to see if he could see the bottom. He could, but it was a long way down. As an adult he might be able to hold his breath for that long, but as a child he defiantly couldn't. Wait. Yes he could.
Link reached into his pack and pulled out a mask. The face of a Zora stared back at him.
"Mikau." Link murmured. "Please lend me your body."
Link turned the mask around and placed it on his face. And screamed. He could feel his body changing through the huge amount of pain. Then it was over and he looked down at the zoran body. He smiled and dived into the water.
"What the? How'd he do that?!?" exclaimed the king.
"It seems the boy holds powers that we have yet to account." said Impa, impressed.
'What other secrets do you have, Hero of Time.'
Link swam through the long passage. Scratch the thought of being able to hold his breath; he'd need the Zora tunic for this place. He rose up. After swimming down for a long time he'd had to go right, into a long passage. He was nearly halfway along it now.
How did the Sheikahs hold their breath for so long?
As he rose, his head broke the surface. He looked back along the passage to see that, as soon as you entered the passage, if you rose straight up you'd be able to breath. Link shrugged and continued swimming, now along the surface, until he reached the other wall. He swam down to go through the opening but found it blocked by bars. Link swam back up and looked around for a lever or a button. He saw a small alcove (I think it's the right word.) cut into the wall to his left and swam over to it.
There was a small stone bench sticking out and above that was the symbol of the Triforce. Link got up and sat on the bench and reached for the Ocarina. He pulled it out and was more than a little shocked to see the Fairy Ocarina. Then he remembered. He gave the Ocarina of Time back yesterday. Oh well.
The Ocarina turned into Mikaus guitar and Link played Zeldas Lullaby.
He heard a grating sound and looked to see the bars rising up. He put away the just-turned-back Ocarina and dove back into the water.
He surfaced a few moments later to find himself in a room that looked like the first one, except this one had a Stalfos in it.
Link quickly got out, staying on the other side of the pool from the Stalfos and took off the mask. As soon as he was back to his normal self, he drew his shield and sword and launched himself at the Stalfos.
Impa and the king looked at the mirror, the king with a shocked face and Impa with an impressed look.
"The boy didn't lie when he said he was strong." said the king.
"But this is only the third room. He still has 12 more to go."
11 rooms later, Link was having a rest before he went into the last room. After going past the Stalfos he had experienced rooms of fire, ice, sand and jungle like conditions with weird weather, as well as a large variety of monsters. There was also a room with parts of the floor missing, which he couldn't see. He figured that these particular rooms were to resemble the temples. There was one room that was extremely bright. After finding a place where the light didn't touch, Link had looked around it to find that there was a hole in the roof where a ray of light was coming in. It then hit a mirror, which reflected the light into another mirror, and so on and so forth. There were holes on the floor, blade traps and other nasty things for a blinded person to fall into in this room as well. Link was glad that he hadn't taken a step in the wrong direction.
And now he sat in room 14, once occupied by an Iron Knuckle, drinking water from a small canteen.
He didn't know what was in the last room, but as it was the last room, it had to be hard.
He stood up and stretched. He was ready now. He drew his shield and sword and stepped into the room.
It looked like the first room, minus the water. There was a door on the other side, which Link figured was the way out. He took a step forward, shield and sword ready. There was a slight flash and Link saw two figures in the middle of the room. They were slightly transparent. One was a young lady with long blonde hair; the other was a tall man, who looked oddly like the Fierce Deity. They were dancing, a waltz, to music that didn't exist. It was only for their ears. The girl rested her head on the mans shoulder, eyes closed.
Link heard her whisper 'I love you'. The man sighed, as though relieved. 'Amaora'. Links eyes widened. Amaora. His mothers' name. The two revolved slowly now. Then the woman opened her eyes, blue and bright as sapphires, and stared straight at Link, before disappearing.
"No, wait!" Link called out. But the figures were gone. Then Link felt it. There was someone else in the room.
The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and his ears pricked up, listening as hard as he could. He quietened his breathing and listened harder. There! There was someone breathing, as quietly as they could, in the shadowed corner to the right of Link. Link reached out with his soul as best he could. There was a slight Sheikah presence. That meant that it was either Impa or Sheik. Impa was watching him but he would have felt her if she was in the room. So that meant.....
"Sheik." Link said quietly. That was all the Sheikah boy needed.
He darted out of the shadows and ran towards Link. His ruby eyes fixed on Links own. But Link was watching the boys' legs. Now Link wasn't gay, but years of traveling and fighting (including the years that didn't exist) had taught Link that looking at an opponents legs could help him figure out their next move.
Sheik was only a few feet away from Link when he put a lot of his weight on his right leg.
Link immediately knew what Sheik was going to do and, as Sheik pushed off his right leg and darted to Links right, Link slid over and, throwing his shield on the ground, put his fist in front of him.
Sheik, shocked by this move, couldn't slow down and slammed stomach first into Links fist. He keeled over a little, winded, and coughed up a little blood, before collapsing on Links shoulder.
This time both the King and Impa were shocked.
"He anticipated Sheiks move. That's something even some of the most elite warriors can't do!" exclaimed Impa. She knew Link was good, but she didn't know that he was this good.
The King regained his lost composure.
"The boy is truly a great warrior. Perhaps he can become a guard. But at his age he is still too young. What to do, what to do?" the King said, stroking his goatee.
"Perhaps he could train with Sheik until he is old enough. The ability to anticipate his opponents' next move would be a great skill for Sheik to learn. I will have to discuss the idea with the two of them. If that's ok with you my lord?"
"Of course, of course! It's a wonderful idea! Perhaps both boys could learn something from the experience."
"Good. Now lets go see the boy."
Link raised Sheik a little higher on his shoulder. He was quite light. Link walked over to the door and opened it, only to walk into another room. He walked in cautiously. The king had only mentioned 15 rooms hadn't he? Then a door on his right opened and the King and Impa came in.
Link sighed. He'd had enough of this place.
"Well done Link! That was splendid! You have truly proved yourself here. And taking Sheik down so quickly! Well, that doesn't matter right now. I will have to talk with you tomorrow, I'm afraid. I have to take care of some things. I'm sure Impa can find something for you, can't you Impa?"
Impa nodded.
"But shouldn't we take Sheik to the infirmary, or give him a potion or something?" asked Link.
"Of course. We'll take him to the infirmary now."
The King smiled at them.
"I'll see you tomorrow then, lad." said the King. And with that he walked off.
Impa started walking toward the door. Link followed, Sheik still on his shoulder.
They walked through the door into another room, past a huge mirror, which Link looked at briefly, and through another door. Link found that they were standing outside the door to the Training room.
"The training rooms go in a circle. One part of Sheikah training means that the Sheikah in general has to run the course several times in a row."
Link sighed, happy that he didn't have to do that again, at least for now.
As they walked towards the infirmary, Link couldn't stop thinking of the dancing couple. The girl, who could be his mother, and the man, who looked a lot like the Fierce Deity. Could that man be his father?
"Impa?" Impa looked at Link over her shoulder.
"Hmm?"
"Who were those people in the last room?" Impa let out a sigh.
"Truth be told I haven't got a clue. Though they do look familiar. That's the first time I've seen them in the training room."
"Oh. Ok. It's just......I remember the man said 'Amaora'. I think...I think the girl was my mother."
Impa looked at Link. She could have sworn that she'd seen those two only a short time ago. But she couldn't remember from where.
"Think of it later, Link. We're at the infirmary. I still want to know how you anticipated Sheiks move!"
Link smiled.
"Maybe I'll tell you, someday."
End Flashback..............unless it's required again.
For the next 5 years, Link and Sheik had trained together, learning different things from each other. The two had become extremely close friends.
When the two turned 15, they were separated. Sheik was sent on a 1-month training course out in the wilderness. Link was put into training to become a guard. But that was not to be his fate.
Link was also trained to be an ambassador. The king had said that when the Trade Route was reopened, he wanted Link to go and give a welcome to Termina and invite the people to the Festival of Time. Link agreed and now, 2 years later, a 17-year-old Link waited for the Trade Route to be reopened.
Link had been placed in charge of minor problems, like boarder skirmishes and the wiping out of monsters. He still rode on Epona.
When Link had first started his training as a guard he had been told that castle librarians were searching through the listings (It says when people were born, when they died, etc) for the name 'Amaora'. So far, he hadn't heard anything.
Link got up and stretched. He had just come back from wiping out a large group of Stalfos near the Western side of Hyrule. He had to be back at the castle by sundown. But it was only a short ride away, and the young teen wanted to relax a little.
Link rarely had time to relax now. He'd get back from one mission, report what was happening, and be off on the next one by the next morning. But he couldn't complain. He was forcing this on himself. He knew that he should stay at the castle for a few days just to get well rested and fed. And, maybe, to talk to Sheik. He hadn't spoken to Sheik or Impa since he was first sent out in the field. He hadn't spoken to Zelda since he first arrived. But, then again, he wasn't supposed to.
Link let out a low whistle and Epona trotted over. Link smiled and stroked the mare's neck.
"Epona. We're heading back."
Link swung himself onto Eponas back. He kicked her a little and they were off.
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