Chapter 2: Raphael

A vice begins by choice. But thorough such things as heredity, intelligence, and mental exhaustion this choice become inexplicable, or is refined into something criminal - Jean Cocteau, Opium: Journal d'une desintoxication

It was about 2 o'clock when they reached the first village; they had spent about five minutes walking through fields of animals. It was a small, dirty, dusty, lifeless village. The people wandered around aimlessly and utterly disenchanted.

"I've never seen people look as depressed as this, what in the name of the goddesses has happened here to make them so disenchanted?" Link asked quietly to Siegfried

"France is in total chaos, the country is fighting over religion. Plus the Nobles have quarreled constantly and only have thought of their petty interests and self-preservation...the commoners, tired of constant warring, have given up hope. The world is filled with people whose soulless, meaningless lives make them no better than the dead. There is no hope for them and they'll likely die soon."

"Well that's got me depressed now," Link commented

They continued on, just as they were turning a corner of an alley after seeing the way ahead was blocked with debris, they saw a blue streak run across the way ahead. It came back and turned down the alley Link and Siegfried were walking down.

Siegfried narrowed his eyes, and a slight smirk crept onto his face as he recognized the figure in front of him. The man walking down the alley was of a fairly average height; he was slim and had blonde hair that reached halfway down his neck. He wore navy blue trousers, boots, gloves and jacket with a black turtle neck type shirt and red waistcoat underneath. He staggered down the alley, in his left hand was a long single edged sword, a rapier to be precise and his right arm was curled around a bundle lying against him.

The man looked uncertainly behind him, not noticing Siegfried and Link in front of him. Link looked over to Siegfried and saw the smirk he was wearing on his face.

"I take it you know him," Link muttered to Siegfried

Siegfried nodded "This... is Raphael," he murmured

Link looked back to the man who was now drawing ever closer. Siegfried cleared his throat and Raphael's head shot up; he took a small step back as he saw the two blondes standing in front of him.

"Who are you, what do you want?" he growled

Siegfried's smirk grew even more.

"I'm not surprised you don't recognize me" he answered

"What?"

"You've fought me before you should remember that at least," Siegfried then brought the Zweihander (two hander for anyone who doesn't know any German) forward and folded his arms on the top of the crossbar and leant forwards, the Zweihander was about 5 foot 6 long altogether, the same height as Siegfried himself, the blade was about 4'6 in length, it was also fairly wide and thick and incredibly heavy, it was a wonder he could hold it up. This particular zweihander was named Requiem.

Raphael stepped back and his eyes widened as he began to realize who was standing before him. He narrowed his eyes

"Nightmare?" he said quietly, his voice questioning

Siegfried nodded silently. Raphael shook his head in disbelief. Link was leaned up against a wall watching the two men with interest.

The two sat down on some nearby crates and talked quietly in a business like manner, apparently there was no friendship between them, just knowledge of each other. Siegfried gave Raphael a very terse account of how he had returned to normal and regained his sanity.

Raphael looked over to Link and flinched his head towards him.

"And why is the boy with you?" Raphael questioned

"Ask him yourself," was Siegfried's response "Link, come here!" he shouted

Link, who had previously been daydreaming about Princess Zelda, snapped out of his reverie and walked over to the two grown men.

"What?" Link asked, he snapped a little bit, he was quite annoyed at them interrupting his thoughts. Siegfried looked at Link and answered him.

"Are you going to tell Raphael why you're here or not... I've explained to him about you coming from Hyrule."

Link nodded and sat down on a crate opposite Raphael; he eyed him cautiously for a moment and saw the bundle Raphael had in his right arm move slightly. Raphael saw this and unwrapped some of the blankets from the bundle, the bundle turned out to be a young girl about ten years old, she had reddish brown hair tied back into a French plait but her eyes were closed and most of her face was hidden in shadows. The skin that Link could see on her face was extremely pale, almost completely white, and she looked tired and subdued and extremely ill.

"She's my foster daughter, but as you can see she's ill, I need to find a doctor to help her, my mansion was burnt down so I'm desperate to find help for her," Raphael explained "But why are you here?"

Link cleared his throat. "I come from Hyrule as you've already been told, but Hyrule is in trouble. A sorcerer named Ganondorf is trying to take control of our world again. I defeated him before but he's striking back now, harder than he did before. He's trained his armies again and has five allies from this world; Siegfried," he motioned his head towards him "has identified them as Cervantes, Astaroth, Charade, and Necrid. I've come to this world to find warriors who are strong enough to help me stop them."

"And you want me to help," Raphael questioned him, not without disgust "and what makes you think I'd help you, what's in it for me... why is Nightmare helping you?"

"Nightmare is helping me to... redeem himself... as for what's in it for you." Link paused

"Yes," Raphael asked

"You love your daughter and you want to get a doctor for her, but you have no money, right."

"Yes, what are you getting at?"

"If you help me overthrow Ganondorf... I can get help for your daughter in Hyrule, free of charge... I live in Hyrule castle with the king; he'll do anything to protect his country and daughter so he'll definitely help you, if you help me."

"That sounds like a bribe to be honest."

"It's not a bribe it's a proposition, a deal... I scratch your back, you scratch mine," Link clarified

Raphael looked down at his daughter

"You'll get Amy a decent doctor if I help you?"

"The top doctors in Hyrule, the king's royal physicians," Link promised

"Alright, we have a deal" Raphael announced and stood up and offered his hand towards Link to seal the deal. Link shook Raphael's hand and turned to Siegfried.

"Any other ideas of where to find someone who'll help us," Link asked him

"Yes... Japan, but it would take us a few months to get there and you haven't got that time,"

Link gave a small grin

"We can take a shortcut through Hyrule, take Amy up to the castle along the way, and go to Japan."

"How are we going to get to Hyrule though, it's good distance away by the sounds of it," Raphael stated.

Link reached down to his belt and pulled out the Ocarina of Time

"Wow... a blue ocarina, that's going to do us a lot of good," Raphael smirked, sarcastically.

Link turned around mounted Epona, Raphael and Siegfried followed, standing by the sides of the horse. Link played the Prelude of Light and touched each of them on the shoulder. They all disappeared in a small swirl of light.

Raphael and Siegfried were extremely disorientated when they arrive in Hyrule. They both sat on the floor, looking around in amazement. What had been a small dark, dirty alley a few seconds ago was now a temple with sunlight streaming through the windows. They were sitting on a large pad with a triangle split into three on it and a circle under it with patterns on it. They looked behind them to see an alter with three beautiful stones set on it.

The first, on the left was an Emerald with a gold swirl like a 'G' with a tail around it, the second, in the middle was a Ruby with a gold 'V' around it, the third, on the right was a Sapphire, with a gold 'T' shape with crescent moons on the ends, the Sapphires (three of them) were set on top and underneath the arms of the 'T'. The sunlight shone onto these making them shimmer.

Link smiled to himself at being back in his home country.

"Welcome to Hyrule," he said to the two Europeans sitting on the floor. "Come on, we better get out of here and up to the castle." he dismounted Epona who was standing in the temple with them. He took her reins and began to walk towards the door, Siegfried and Raphael got up quickly and followed Link to the door.

Outside there was no hint that evil was trying to take over Hyrule. The sky was a clear bright blue, with no clouds to be seen anywhere, birds sang softly in the distance, trees were covered in pink blossoms and bright green leaves and the two pools of water to either side of them were clear and deep. In the distance the sounds of music and people could be heard. Link walked along the grass path leading Epona down the steps and the two humans walked behind Link, amazed by the beauty of Hyrule. They walked into the town where people were going about their usual business. Shoppers haggled with merchants for lower prices, children ran around the town shrieking with joy and others just sat relaxing on the edges of the fountain and benches that were dotted around. However, precautions had been taken because there were guards posted at the entrance to the castle, four on the path that lead out and two at each alley entrance. Link, Siegfried and Raphael began to walk to the castle; they walked up the path without any event and in silence and passed through the gate to the castle and it was suddenly there, Link stopped for Raphael and Siegfried who were looking up at the castle, but after a minute he moved on, the other two saw this and jogged to catch up with him. They came to the top of the path and the guard lowered the drawbridge for them.

Link handed Epona's reins to a servant, telling him to put her in the stables

"And make sure she's ready for riding again by three o'clock," Link shouted after the servant. He turned to Raphael and Siegfried who were standing behind him, looking around.

"Follow me and don't say anything to the king unless he asks you personally. OK." Link told them

They nodded and followed Link into the castle, looking at the flowing tapestries to the sides of them and at the domed ceilings and chandeliers above. Link knocked on the door to the throne room and walked inside, the king wasn't on his throne, so Link turned to one of the guards.

"Where's the king, I have to talk to him?" Link asked. The guard flinched his head towards the door and Link began walking towards it. He knocked on it and heard a voice.

"Come in," it called.

Link walked inside with Raphael and Siegfried following.

The king sat in a chair at a large oak desk that was in front of him, he had short dark brown hair and light blue eyes. He wore a golden crown set with precious stones and a red robe with a triforce and three goddesses on the back of it. He looked at Link and smiled.

"Link, you're not supposed to be back until next week, what's happened?"

Link tipped his head towards the king and answered.

"Your majesty," he began "I know that I'm supposed to be back on Monday, but there has been a slight change of plan."

"Oh," the king asked raising an eyebrow

Link began speaking in Hylian to the king, so that the Europeans couldn't understand what was being said.

"Sala ta cuna se, a hava dau sesroh del may, te saraham un fo Raphael, te reoth fo Siegfried. Siegfried haseaha greeda atha ethem may, talu Raphael haseaha unis greeda atha ethem fined dey ethit san kinefa."

Which translates as:

"As you can see, I have two people with me, the taller one is Raphael, and the other is Siegfried. Siegfried has agreed to help, but Raphael has only agreed to help if we heal his daughter."

The king sat for a minute, thinking about this, it seemed fair, to help Raphael's daughter in exchange for his help to the country.

"Raphael," the king said. Raphael looked up and looked at the king, Link had now moved to behind the king's chair.

"You will help us, if we help your daughter?"

"Yes."

"Very well, Link, take Raphael and his daughter to the infirmary," the king ordered

"Yes, sire." Link walked to the door and opened it and Raphael and Siegfried walked out, Link then bowed to the king and left.

He led them through the winding corridors and down to the infirmary.

"So that is your king?" Raphael asked

"Mmm Hmm," Link answered

As Link turned a corner he bumped into Zelda.

"Link," she shrieked as she threw her arms around him, her face buried in Link's shoulder. Link chuckled lightly and disentangled himself from Zelda's hug. Raphael and Siegfried stood behind, both looking at Zelda as she hugged Link.

"Link, you're not supposed to be back until next week, what's happened?" she asked, smiling at him.

Link explained to Zelda what had happened.

"It's great that you're back, I missed you," she murmured

"Uh, Princess," Link said uneasily "I've only been gone for a week...and I'll be leaving later today as well."

"Oh," Zelda's face fell as he said that

"I won't be gone as long this time though," he put in, trying to cheer her up a bit.

"Ok, I'll see you later Link," she smiled and walked away, tipping her head towards Siegfried and Raphael in acknowledgement of them.

The two Europeans glanced at each other.

"Pretty, isn't she?" Siegfried muttered to Raphael

Raphael looked at Siegfried, closed his eyes slowly and nodded silently. Amy, Raphael's foster daughter, stirred in his arms, and it suddenly reminded the Frenchman that he needed to get her to a doctor. He cleared his throat to get Link's attention; Link however was leaning against the wall, waiting for them. He turned around quickly and began to lead them through the corridors again. After about two minutes they came to a very solid looking mahogany door, with a sign in Hylian above it. Link knocked on the heavy door and slowly turned the handle and pushed it inwards, as he did a smell of disinfectant immediately reached him, and he recoiled from the smell.

Inside the room was fairly large, ten beds sat in the room, five on each side each with a small bedside table and oil lamp beside it. All of the beds were covered in pure white sheets, all ready in case of an emergency. Link glanced behind him at Raphael, who was silently surveying the room, Siegfried stood back, apparently detesting hospitals for some reason.

"I'll wait here, I have no business coming in with you," he mumbled

Raphael seemed to agree with him and looked at Link who sighed and pushed the door open fully and began to lead Raphael down the rows of beds and to a small office. He knocked on the door a couple of times and waited for an answer.

The door slowly creaked open and a doctor about 30 years old stepped forward.

"Link...can I help you?" he asked in a friendly tone.

Link smiled and began to explain to the doctor about Amy. The doctor nodded and opened the door wide.

"Raphael," Link addressed him, "I'll be waiting outside the door with Siegfried."

Raphael nodded his head and stepped inside the room holding Amy. The door shut behind him with a click and Link headed out to Siegfried.

He opened the heavy door and saw the German standing and looking extremely bored. Link closed the door and sighed.

"We'll have to wait here for him," Link informed him.

Siegfried merely grunted. They stood in silence, when footsteps began to approach; two people were walking down the corridor.

A servant suddenly ran up to Link, spoke to him briefly in Hylian and walked away; Link shouted something after him, the second person was a young man about the same age as Link. He had dark blonde hair and greenish blue eyes, was the same height and build as Link and looked almost exactly the same as Link apart from the hair and eye colour. This was Liam Dalher, (pronounced 'Dal- Hair') Link's 'twin' brother as he was called. In reality both came from different families and backgrounds, but were known as twins because of their similarities.

He walked up to Link and smiled, speaking to him in Hylian, Link nodded and smiled back in reply to his friend, who quickly turned around and walked off.

"And that was?" Siegfried asked.

"That was my 'twin'" he said the word 'twin' sarcastically "brother, Liam. We're not real brothers but everyone calls us twins because we're almost completely identical."

"Oh, in what way?"

"Well for example... we look very similar as you can see, we have the same birthdates, hobbies, likes, dislikes, jobs, skills, allergies, height, build, weight and we're both left handed, stuff like that. Although we do have different backgrounds and families."

"What's the difference in your background and families?"

"My background is different from Liam's through the fact that I'm the Hero of Time and have had many adventures. I grew up in the Kokiri forest and have traveled all across Hyrule and many different lands.

Liam, grew up in Hyrule Market Town, and has never ventured far. He took up his job here at Hyrule castle shortly after I defeated Ganon, his family had lost a lot of its wealth through the seven years under Ganondorf's rule, so he was sent here by his mother to work." Link explained

"And your families?"

"Liam's family was fairly well off. He has four siblings, two brothers and two sisters, a mother, father and numerous relatives. His siblings are all older than him. His eldest brother Zefram is 8 years older, Aaron is 7 years older and his two sisters, Grace and Hope, who are twins, are 5 years older. He really didn't get along well with them as they usually completely ignored him... his mother Honor , is a very nice lady, who genuinely cares for all her children and would do anything to save her family, she is very sweet, gentle, kind and is very willing to help anyone in need and she was friends with my own mother. Liam's father... is totally opposite, and in my opinion a total nutter." Link paused to get his breath back, and frowned at the thought of Liam's Dad.

"And you think he's insane because..."

"He's an extremely nasty, spiteful, power craving man. He suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. And I mean obsessive. You see he's a totally obsessed perfectionist. All his side of the family suffers from it. You see his parents were extremely strict and they in turn have passed it onto him, he's had his whole life planned out practically since he was able to talk. He decided at what age he would have his first friends at, how many there would be, then when he would get his first job, when he would get engaged and marry, and if something doesn't go according to plan...he does his nut."

"So it wasn't much fun for Liam and the rest of his family?"

"Well no, not quite. You see when Liam's mum and dad got married he decided how many kids he wanted and when they would be born and what sex they would be. He decided he wanted four kids, first two boys and then twin girls. And this was exactly what happened so he was happy. But when Liam's mother got pregnant with Liam, his father did his nut, Liam was..." Link dropped his voice "a mistake. He tried to get his wife to abort, but she was firm on keeping him. So when Liam was born, his father alienated him and spoilt all the other children. He beat Liam and punished him for the most insignificant little thing, he wouldn't let him go out to play, and he made him do all the housework so basically his life was a misery,"

Link paused. "When Liam's family fell into poverty, he came here to serve as a guard, just as I did. We met the same day and instantly became best friends."

"Charming father," Siegfried commented "So what about your history?"

Link lowered his eyes and head.

"I told you, I grew up with the Kokiri and became the Hero of Time," muttered Link

"I mean your parents, you said the Kokiri didn't grow up and besides you're a Hylian."

Link looked up at Siegfried, upset. He realized that he probably wasn't aware of the fact that Link's parents were dead and Siegfried said he had killed his own father. "He probably will think I'm a wimp for crying over the fact I never knew my parents, he most likely hasn't cared about anyone in his entire life"

Link blinked several times, looking away.

"I...My...I've never known my parents, they died when I was a baby, which is why I was brought up with the Kokiri," muttered Link, tears welling up in his eyes

"Oh...I apologize...I didn't realize that you were a...well...orphan," Siegfried mumbled, sounding surprisingly sincere (if you can imagine a mass murderer with an extremely low growling voice sounding sincere).

"It doesn't matter," Link said, brushing it off

The door to their right slowly creaked open and a very somber faced Raphael stepped through

"Well?" Link asked, wanting to know the young girl's outcome.

"The doctor said she should be fine in a few days she just needs to rest, eat etc. and she should be fine."

"So...everything's alright, why the long face then?"

"To be honest I was rather hoping....doesn't matter."

Link let it drop; he wasn't going to do any good pressuring Raphael when he was in a downed mood.

He turned away.

"Well, seeing as how we still have some spare time and you might be staying here for a few days in between looking for people and confronting Ganondorf, I suppose I better find some rooms for you to stay in hadn't I?"

"I suppose so" said Siegfried, wondering what Raphael had been going to say

Link turned away, heading up the stairs, the two Europeans following him. After five minutes of uncomfortable walking, Link turned to the two men standing behind him.

"Just out of interest...OK, maybe not ... can either of you ride a horse?"

Siegfried nodded while Raphael shook his head.

Link couldn't believe this...he walked up to the rooms, showing Siegfried to his and Raphael's to him.

"Feel free to wander round the castle, if someone asks what you're doing here, just say you're with me and I said you could have a look around...and all the people speak English so don't worry about not understanding them. Siegfried...can you be back in your room by three o'clock if you don't see me before then, I need you to come to Japan with me and point out any body who could help us out."

"What about me?" Raphael asked, sounding almost disgusted that he was being left out.

"Seeing as how you can't ride a horse...and we can...we'll be going on horseback. Having two on one horse would slow us down and you walking would slow us down even more. Besides I thought you might like to stay here so you can check up on Amy every now and again." Link answered

Raphael nodded his understanding and went into his room, Siegfried was about to say something to Link when a man walked up to them.

He was tall, about 5'11 and very muscular, he had to be about 25 years old...give or take a year. And he was good looking. He had a soft boyish face, vivid ice blue eyes but with a grey, almost silver quality about them and dusty darkish blonde hair, that covered his right eye. It was also fairly obvious that the man wasn't from around here, in fact he didn't have the elfish look of the Hylians about him, and he was definitely more normal human in appearance. His clothes gave him away too; he wore a pair of navy blue combat trousers, a black close fitting t-shirt with a high neck and a brown fleece jacket, with a white short fur collar.

"Hi," he greeted Link,

Siegfried was silently surprised, from the man's boyish looks you would suppose he would have a fairly light voice to match his features. Instead, his voice was quite low and unexpectedly quite deep, but still possessed a smooth gentle quality.

"Hi, Leon," Link greeted back

"Back early aren't you, thought you wouldn't be back for a couple of days yet."

"Oh, well. I have a few reasons...besides did you want me to be gone longer?" Link asked

The man smiled slightly and shook his head.

"So who's this?" he asked, flinching his head towards Siegfried.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce you...this," Link said, motioning to the German "is Siegfried, he's come to help us fight against Ganon and Siegfried this is Leon," he stated motioning to the man.

Siegfried tipped his head slightly in acknowledgement and greeting.

"Guten Tag," Leon greeted

"'Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" Siegfried asked

"Ja."

Link watched the two talking in German for a little while in amusement. It seemed that when he was speaking his own language, Siegfried relaxed and was a little less hostile towards people, at the moment a slight smile seemed to want to creep onto his face.

"I wonder if he realizes Leon is American...I don't suppose it really matters though a language is a language."

The two men stopped speaking and looked at Link.

"...What?" Link asked, looking somewhat apprehensive

"You mean you don't speak German?" Leon asked, seemingly astonished

"Noooo," he answered slowly

"Oh my God! I've finally found a language that Link can't speak" the American exclaimed

"What?" Siegfried asked

"Link can speak like...12 languages; I suppose he learns them from all the traveling he does.

Don't ask him to list them though; you'll be here 'til doomsday." he smiled slightly at the German, then led Link away for a moment to talk to him privately, he then left silently.

"So what's his story?" Siegfried asked when the man was out of sight.

"Leon?...What d'you mean?"

"Well, his not from around here, or my world...so where's he from?"

"Leon is from a more modern world than yours or mine; anyway, I think he said he comes from America. He wandered through a portal one day that led to Hyrule and it closed behind him. We met and he explained the situation, we became friends and the king allowed him to stay because he felt sorry for him."

"Why did he feel sorry for him?"

"Leon is 26, he married a woman called Claire Redfield when they were 24 and had a kid together when they were 25. The king feels sorry for him because he knows what it's like to loose family, Leon really cared about them"

"Shame."

Link nodded silently, and then walked away. Siegfried went to lie down in his own room.

Link arrived automatically at Zelda's door and walked inside after knocking. He smiled at the beautiful young woman sitting on her bed, looking at him.

"How are our guests?" she asked

"Well, Siegfried seems to have brightened up a bit, but Raphael's still a bit down, supposedly about his daughter, but I think he doesn't like being here, it's only natural, since he isn't used to it but..." Link trailed off.

"I'm sure he'll come to his senses."

"Anyway, how has Leon been as your bodyguard?"

"Great, he'll be taking your job soon," she teased

"See? I told you that you would be alright with him...did Ganon visit again?"

"Yes, I have to say it's a good job that Leon was in the meeting with us."

"Why?" Link asked, suddenly worried over the thought that situations might have gotten out of hand.

"Ganondorf...he got rather annoyed and took a swing at me...but it's OK. Leon stopped him and forced him out of the castle with the help of some of the guards...he's a lot stronger than he looks. But now I'm afraid that Ganondorf will be even more malicious when he attacks. It's not Leon's fault, but he seems to think it is."

"Leon? He sounded rather upset when he talked to me a few minutes ago. Quite shaken up it seems, I've calmed him down...but he's still worried. I think it's reminding him of his family, poor guy. He said that since he came here we've been so kind to him, and he would hate to loose his new family. He's not turning his back on his true family...but I suppose he does need some one to care about, and someone to care about him."

"Hmmm" Zelda mused

"He still doesn't realize that we care about him and that we do see him as part of our family...I think."

"I'm sure that with all the current events, he will realize soon though."

"Maybe, I'm gonna go back to my room and get some rest before we leave, sounds like it's going to be a long day."

Link kissed Zelda lightly on the lips and then left her room heading down to his.

Link woke up at about quarter to three. He ran up to Zelda's room and explained to her that he and Siegfried would be leaving again soon. She nodded, giving him a good-bye kiss and wishing him luck in finding more people.

He headed down to Siegfried's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Siegfried's rough voice called. He lay on his back on his bed, arms on the pillow underneath his head, and staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Link asked

"Sure, I was actually waiting for you."

Link smiled and left the room whilst Siegfried got up and joined him at the door. They walked along side by side. Though the two were still silent, there didn't seem to be as much tension between the two as there was before.

They reached the stables five minutes later. It was quite an amazing sight at the stables, about twenty different coloured horses stood tied up outside their stables, about fifty more horses were bolted up inside and thirty ran freely in the massive green pasture nearby. All the horses seemed to be happy, there were all strong, glossy coated healthy looking animals and seemed to be unafraid of Siegfried's unfamiliar form. The multitude of horses seemed to neigh in greeting as Link walked past them, and he smiled stopping to give a quick rub behind the ears to some of them. He reached a stable about half way down and came to a stop in front of it.

"Hi Epona," he greeted the mare, rubbing her nose with his hand. He was about to unbolt the stable door, when she put her nose in front of it to stop him. Link raised an eyebrow at the horse's odd behaviour, Siegfried let out a small chuckle as the horse pushed his hand away time and again, every time he reached for the bolt.

"Fine, get yourself out then" Link snorted, stepping back.

Epona merely bent her head down to the bolt, closed her teeth around it and pulled the bolt back, then trotted out to meet Link, looking for all the world too smug for her own good. Link chuckled as she nuzzled against his hand, looking for praise.

"Alright, alright...good girl...so you've learnt a new trick, huh? Bet the stable lads aren't too happy about that."

"You can bet they're not," said a tall man in his late thirties as he walked up to Link. The man was well built and slim, his body covered in horseshoe shaped scars and bruises.

"You been re-shoeing the stallions again?" asked Link as the man approached him, motioning towards the bruises.

"How did you guess?" he muttered sarcastically "and what do you think you're doing praising that horse after its little 'trick'?"

Link didn't answer as the man huffed and walked off.

"Is he always that moody?" Siegfried asked

"Yup, he just doesn't like me because he can't believe a warrior, especially who hasn't dealt with horses for that long, can beat him a, 'stable master' at his own game."

"Childish."

"Very."

Link walked into the stable grabbing the various bits of leather tack that were hanging on the stable's low cut separating wall. The wall was designed so that the horses could see and touch each other but not inflict any major harm.

Link dropped the tack on the floor and grabbed a brush from inside the stable and began brushing Epona's glossy coat.

Siegfried looked at the horse while Link brushed it. She had a deep chestnut coloured coat, a pure white mane and tail and a strange white, lightening bolt pattern on her face. Her legs were all perfectly symmetrical in pattern, changing from chestnut brown to pitch black and then stunning white and slightly feathering at the bottom. The German man really admired the animal.

Link began sliding all the tack onto the horse, tightening the straps and adjusting the way it lay on the animal's body, smoothing out any mistakes. He then attended to her feet, picking them out with a hoof pick to make sure she could walk comfortably and sure footedly.

"I have to say, I admire the way you're so devoted to your horse," Siegfried stated

"Well...I promised the girl I got her off that I would take good care of her, plus Epona deserves it, she's very loyal to me so," Link responded

He tied her up and moved down the row of stables, assessing each of the horses, before selecting one for Siegfried. He led the animal out of the stable.

"Will this guy do for you?" he asked the European, handing the reins to him.

Siegfried took the reins and walked the horse up and down, gauging the horse's strength and reliability.

"Sure, he looks good. But let's see how he reacts to me."

He offered a hand to the horse whilst Link stood back and watched. The horse stretched its head out to touch Siegfried's hand, sniffing it and then turning to look at the man; he put a hand on the horse's head and rubbed it.

"Looks like I've made a friend," he commented, turning to look at Link.

Link had a look of near astonishment on his face.

"What?" Siegfried asked, surprised by Link's reaction.

"That is amazing.... That horse has been here for five years. He won't let any one near him for too long, and he certainly won't let anyone ride him. Looks like he's found someone he finally likes," Link smiled at Siegfried.

Siegfried turned to look at the horse. It had a pitch black coat, mane and tail. Its tail had a very small white tip at the very end of it. On the horse's neck, there were a few small patches of a shimmering brownish-red coat that ended near the animals forelegs. They spotted down in uneven patches, and around the horses mouth was a small ring of hair, of the same colour. The colour and positioning of the patches, made it look like the horse had been drinking blood. However, it was a very beautiful animal nevertheless, it held its head high and proud, it was large and strong, and an absolutely magnificent and rare looking specimen...and the horse knew it.

"He's so proud, he's amazing and he knows it...but apparently he has a very gentle temperament when he finds someone he likes. Of course, the fact that he's a stallion could have something to do with his pride," Link stated.

"What's his name?"

"....Umm....Nightmare, is the name the stable lads gave him."

"Uh...ironic, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but coincidence nevertheless."

Siegfried smiled at the young Hylian, and led the horse up to where Epona was tied up, along with the tack and a brush. He quickly took hold of the horses halter and handed Link the brush, who began to the groom the animal.

"Since he's so hard to handle, he hasn't been groomed thoroughly for a while so I'll take a bit of time doing it...I know this isn't going to be a parade, but he could use it and his feet need sorting out as well."

In a matter of 30 minutes, Link had amazingly managed to thoroughly brush the horses coat, mane and tail. Pick out its feet, trim the stallion's hooves, re-shoe it and saddle it up. All with Siegfried holding the halter of the horse.

"Thanks for holding him. He really needed that grooming. Usually to do that it would take about 8 stable lads, the stable/horse master and I, and it would take all day."

Siegfried made no comment, just tilted his head towards Link for a moment and rubbed the horse's forehead.

"Are we ready to go?" Siegfried asked

"Sure."

The two blondes mounted their horses and left the stables of Hyrule castle.

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A.N: Due to people noticing lack of punctuation etc. I have re-written the first two chapters and will subsequently be having them checked over by a friend. Secondly, I do apologise if the characters (especially Siegfried) stray from their personalities, it is partly intentional if Siegfried seems a bit softer than usual.

In the first chapter when Siegfried 'spills his guts' as someone described cough Jing Royale cough it was merely to speed up the meeting to get on with the rest of the story and add some background to the characters even if everybody already knows it.

And last but not least Leon (from Resi Evil) is there just because I needed a spare character who was one of my favourites to guard Zelda and I thought it might be good to keep the time distance thing (E.g. Ocarina of Time) there (I don't know why but shrugs)

Oh and sorry about the 'noticable, badly placed' passages. I just couldn't be bothered re-wording them, they were copied straight from the gametc.

And yes, I like Wesker (no, he probably won't be in the story)