Chapter 2 – The Cell (Or, The Vegetable In A Box, Waiting To Be Cooked)

A being that looked like a cross between a Stalfos and a giant bird of prey was advancing on Princess Zelda, slowly backing her towards the window. She looked strangely blank-eyed, as though she didn't care if that creature touched her, if it dragged her out the window and killed her. She was more haggard and looked more weary than Link had though she would, but he didn't care. She was *here*, in the same room as him!

Losing his head, Link shouted, "Zelda!" She turned to look at him, and his heart sunk at the look on her face. She didn't know who he was…

She frowned in confusion. In that instant, the Stalfos struck out, hitting her under the chin with its shield; it sent her flying into the wall next to the door, where she lay in a crumpled heap.

Completely forgetting about the winged Stalfos, Link dashed to the princess, falling to his knees beside her. He licked his lips nervously and placed a gentle two fingers on her neck, rewarded by the vein pulsing beneath his scarred fingers. She was alive, and she would be fine; but he didn't care. Hatred burned his blood, and he turned to the creature that had dared to strike her, tightening his grip on his sword.

The thing had a sword, too; it was red, jagged, and cruel, and Link was pretty sure that the blade was poisoned – Stalfos often rubbed poison onto their swords to ensure victory. Its shield was different than the Stalfos' he remembered from the other future, though; it wasn't round, but diamond shaped, and the colouring was different. The center was a fiery mix of orange and yellow, and there was a border of blue; however, the border wasn't ordinarily shaped. It shot out tendrils into the flame in a controlled pattern, and Link knew he had seen it before, though he couldn't think of where. He grinned and moved away from Zelda, backing the thing towards the window, as it had been trying to do to the princess.

It snarled at him, and he laughed at it, knowing that within about five minutes, this creature would be toast – at least, it would be if it was half as good as the other Stalfos he had fought in that other future.

They crouched in one place, silent, waiting for the other to move first. The Stalfos folded its huge wings, and Link adjusted his tunic so it wouldn't restrict his movement. And still, they waited.

As a huge crash of thunder echoed through the sky outside, a bolt of lightning flashed right outside the window, blinding Link, who sucked in breath and rubbed his eyes with his right hand, backing up a few steps. The Stalfos, willing to take advantage of any weaknesses, lunged for Link, landing a hit on his right shoulder; it bled profusely, and Link's entire arm was numb. He tugged off his shield, still with stars in his eyes, and lashed out blindly, hoping to hit it somewhere. When he could see properly again, he laughed out loud. He had managed to knock its sword out of its hand, and it was clutching what remained of its arm, howling. Dust leaked out of the wound, creeping towards the bookcases; as Link watched, the dust ate away the wood, destroying all of the books that fell onto the floor as the bookcase dissolved.

He turned back to the Stalfos, ready to fight some more. The Stalfos had picked up its sword and shield, but instead of even trying to arm itself, it merely gathered its things in its arms and turned away from Link, making for the window. Link shouted after it, "What, too cuckoo to go again?" It turned and gazed at him nonchalantly, then hopped onto the windowsill. Suddenly, it stopped; it shuddered to a halt, then turned, stiff and silent. It spoke without unfreezing its mouth from its permanent grin.

"The princess will be mine."

The voice grated through the room, deep and unyielding. Link winced as the sound assaulted his ears, but he was unable to shut it out.

"Run while you can, little *Hero*."

Laughter issued from the still body of the Stalfos, then it spread its wings, stretching them, and jumped out of the window, shattering the glass. Rain swept into the library, ruining even more books, but Link couldn't move. That voice… the owner of that voice was as elusive as the origin of the symbol on the Stalfos' shield. The rain gathered on his face, running into his eyes, and he squinted, trying to expel it. Water washed out the deep wound on his shoulder, and Link could see the barest tinge of yellow in the water running off of him; the sword had been poisoned, but luckily the rain was washing it away. He stepped to the window, looking out into the driving rain, but wasn't able to see anything flying off into the distance. For an instant, he thought he saw a dark shape in the rain, but when a bird flew past the window, struggling against the rain, he reasoned that it had been that little songbird. He reached out and caught the bird, bringing it inside, into the light. It was a tiny little bluebird, and it fit into his palm like it was made for him. With a jarring pain in his heart, he was reminded of Navi; he let it go, and it fluttered around the library, finally landing on top of one of the surviving bookcases, where it twittered out a short little melody as if in thanks. Link smiled and turned away from the window.

Next thing he knew, there was a spear deep in his thigh, a dagger below his ribs, and a sword pointing at his throat. He coughed weakly and fell to his knees; he picked up his own sword, and the blade at his throat dug deeper, sending blood running down his chest. However, he only used the sword to cut off the long shaft of the spear, knowing he couldn't take it out without risking bleeding to death. He got up slowly, pushing the sword at his throat away with his bare hands; more blood ran down his arms, dripping onto the floor. He looked with watery eyes into the faces of the King and the Elite Guard Oran. It stung him especially that Oran would attack him; the same Oran who had given him a chance to live six long years ago. He rubbed the painful tears out of his eyes and looked closer at Oran, and saw the light of madness in his eyes. He shuddered and tried to back away, but the King signaled to Oran, who took both of Link's arms and held them behind his back, holding him in place. Link was immediately relieved of the rain pelting against his back; he could hear the water dripping on the floor, and was relieved when the King ordered Oran to cover up the window with his shield. Oran obeyed, and most of the rain was cut off, leaving Link cold and shivering, blood still running down his body in small rivers.

"So. Link has returned to try and kill the princess, yet again; and, yet again, he has failed. I see you have destroyed a great number of my books, boy."

Link could not reply. History repeated itself as the King looked down on the boy he had been suspicious of since he first laid eyes on him.

"Well, boy, you've committed High Treason, *again*, and you've destroyed some of my property. I think death by beheading is too clean for that."

Link gulped. If Zelda would just wake up…

"I think a two weeks in the dungeon without food or water will teach you. If you aren't dead by then, we'll string you up on the south tower for carrion feed. What do you think of that, Oran?"

"I think it sounds fitting, Your Highness. A very good idea."

"Thank you, Oran. You are redeemed. Please escort Princess Zelda to the infirmary. Oh, and the Prince will want to know that his bride to be is injured." Zelda was betrothed? Link closed his eyes, hoping this was all a dream.

"Should I bring *that*, as well?" Oran pointed to Link.

"No. He can keep those wounds as a reminder to never cross the Royal Family."

The King smiled, and Link fell to the floor. Maybe her future husband wasn't that bad. No, that couldn't be true; he could tell by the lines on her young face that she was not living a happy life in the castle. So, Zelda was to be married, he was a dead man; everything left him in that moment. The King laughed at him, lying prone on the floor.

Suddenly, anger rose up in Link. How dare he do this? How dare he take Zelda's life away from her, when she could have done so much with it? How dare he kill Link, when all he was trying to do was protect his best friend in the world! He gritted his teeth, trying to rise, but his energy was sapped.

He caught a glimpse of Oran carrying Zelda in the opposite direction as the King dragged him back to the poker room.

"Prince, we have caught the lunatic, as you can see. He will waste away in the dungeons."

A greasy, rather high-pitched voice answered the King.

"I see. Then all is well. Hurry up, will you? I want to get in another round before dinner."

Link was amazed to see the King nod, then continue walking, dragging Link by the collar of his shirt.

"So, boy. What do you think of Zelda's future husband?"

Oh, crap. That high, whiny voice belonged to Zelda's betrothed? He almost gagged.

"He'll be quite a competent ruler, from what I can tell. He's been trained for it since he was born. Can't say he's as advanced in the looks department, though. Oh well. The prices we mortals must pay."

Link winced as his spine was jarred by an irregular stone on the floor. He managed to raise his head, and nearly moaned when he saw the trails of blood smeared on the floor. He shut his eyes and waited for it all to end.

"I must say, Zelda is turning into quite the proper little wife. She hasn't gone outside in – oh, quite a long time – and she spends her days in the library, reading. Of course, you'll know that, won't you? You've probably been stalking her."

Link shut his eyes, wishing it all away.

"You know, I had her memory doctored. I had that old hag in Kakariko brew up a memory potion; she has no idea who you are. Oh, did that hurt your *feelings*?" Link had squeezed his eyes shut, making himself believe it wasn't true. Why was the King being so cruel? He had never meant to do anything wrong…

"Oh, and remember Oran? He helped you escape six years ago, didn't he? Well, a few years in the dungeon made him realize he was wrong. Of course, the restricted food helped too…"
Link gulped, and a single tear trailed down his cheek. He had been betrayed.

"I only kept Captain Vespin as a part of the guard because he's the only one competent enough to be Captain. When he's done training Aaron, I'll be forced to kill him. Too bad."

No, not Vespin…

"We've been talking, Aaron and I, about raiding the forest. After all, you come from there, don't you? There must be some kind of village there."

Link gritted his teeth, trying to block out the King's voice.

"My subjects there haven't paid their taxes in far too long. Maybe I'll keep you alive for a little while longer; you can help dig their graves…"

Now the King had gone too far. Link cried out, struggling to free himself from the King's strong grip. The King laughed, watching him wiggle around on the floor, trying to snap the ropes, as he had once been able to do; but he was no longer as strong as he had been in the alternate future, and he was weak from the blood loss. All he could do was struggle as the King slammed him against the wall and started punching him; all he could do was try and hurt the King as much as he could until the older, stronger man hit him hard under the chin, knocking him out.

Link's now limp body fell to the floor, and the King poked it with his toe; he was out cold. He smiled to himself and continued dragging Link's unresponsive body to the dungeons, *accidentally* making him hit walls and dragging him over rough spots on the floor on the way.

When they finally reached the dungeons, the King dragged Link down the final flight of steps and threw him into the cell farthest away from the stairs and gagged him, signaling the guard to lock the cell. He strode away, proud of himself, and went to find some water to wash his hands with.

***

When Link came to, he wasn't entirely sure he was even awake. All he could see was darkness, and when he tried to sit up, he just fell onto his side. He winced and hissed through his teeth when he landed. The wounds were still there; he had jarred the dagger sitting in his stomach, and the spearhead in his leg was throbbing. His shoulder was just starting to scab over; he moved gingerly, so he didn't rip it open again. He slowly crawled in one direction, and when his head softly knocked against a cold, damp, rotting wall, he gritted his teeth against his monstrous headache and kept crawling, following the wall with his left hand.

He hit another wall, and kept going. Then he hit another wall. Finally, he was rewarded by the coldness of iron bars against his shoulder. He grabbed onto a bar with his left hand and used it to hoist himself up.

The guard, who was standing across from him, slouching against the wall and falling asleep, jolted awake when Link gingerly cleared his throat. The man's hand closed around his spear, and he tried to move backwards. He made sure his back was flush against the wall before he spoke.

"What do you want, prisoner?"

Link, who was still regaining consciousness, suddenly realized he could only see out of one eye. He poked cautious fingers around his left eye; it was swelling and tender. Obviously, the King had given him a black eye. He gritted his teeth and said, through a sore throat, "Where am I?"

The guard grinned. "Well, mate, you're stuck here with me, in the dungeons. Nothing to do but sit around and wait to die."

Link pressed his face to the bars.

"No use trying to escape, kid. The King'll have my head if you manage to get out."

Link was tired, falling asleep on his feet. His head rolled against the bars.

"So, spare me the usual 'I'm innocent' crap and I won't poke you with my spear, okay?"

Link sat down slowly. So he wasn't dreaming, then. All he could do was sit here and die a slow and painful death – the kind of death he had sworn to himself he would never suffer.

"Well, what're you in for, mate? The King didn't tell me when he dragged you in, just kind of left in a huff."

Link slowly lowered himself onto his back, using his left elbow. He had to drop the last few inches, and he almost cried out when his wounds were jarred again.

"He thinks…I tried to…kill Zelda…"

The guard's eyes widened.

"You tried to kill the princess? Whoa, no wonder he didn't even take you to the infirmary before he threw you in here. Why'd you want to do something like that? I hear she's actually pretty nice."

Link shut his eyes, concentrating on keeping his sobs to himself.

"I won't even…say I didn't…want to…"

The guard smiled in a satisfactory kind of way.

"That's kind of you. You want to know why I'm stuck down here?"

"Got…nothing else…to do."

The guard laughed loudly. It echoed in the dark, candle-lit hall.

"Well, it's kind of funny. I let some kid escape some years ago, and the King hasn't forgiven me yet. I haven't seen daylight in six years; one of the other guards brings me food."

Link grunted.

"Tell you what, kid. Since you're all busted up, and you seem like an okay guy, I'll give you a little bit of my food. I need to brighten up my day *somehow*."

Link wrapped his hand around the hilt of the dagger, preparing himself for pain.

"Now, why don't you tell me where you come from? I mean, what's your history?"

Link took in a few extra breaths, noting the pressure on his lungs from at least two broken ribs.

"Don't want to say, huh? I understand. Well, I grew up right here in Hyrule Castle Town…"

Link's breath caught in his throat as he slowly pulled out the dagger, finally allowing half-dried blood to bubble up out of the wound. He didn't care anymore.

"Don't mean to brag, but I was a crack shot at the Archery Game…"

He had promised himself he would not die a slow and painful death. He would not give the King the satisfaction.

"All I wanted to be when I grew up was an Elite Guard. My dad was one, after all…"

Link whirled the small blade around in his fingers, catching it and bringing it down to his own throat. The guard didn't notice; he was lost in his own reminiscing.

"My dad used to say, 'Tarun, m'boy, I know you don't mean to knock over everything you touch…"

Link almost stopped himself. It was Tarun… he was still sane, and still on Link's side.

He *almost* stopped himself.

"Well, anyway, I'm stuck down here now. You know, for some reason, you strike me as familiar. What…*what* are you DOING?!"

Tarun deftly reached out with his spear and knocked the dagger out of Link's descending hand, and it clattered into the corridor. The old guard shoved it away with his spear and smacked Link with his spearpole; the hard wood left a red welt on Link's uninjured left arm. He winced and managed to growl out, "What did you do that for?"

Tarun stared down at him. "Well, what the hell did you expect me to do? If the King found a dead body in his cell instead of a dying one, he'd kill me too!"

Link gritted his teeth and said, "Yeah, fine but…what did you…*hit* me…"

"To knock some sense into you, boy! If you're going to survive this, you can't be killing yourself!"

Link laughed weakly. "I'm not going to live through this. Even if I survive for two weeks in here, I'll be eaten by birds, if I don't die of blood loss first."

Tarun shook his head.

"What, you think I won't help you? I recognize you now. You're that boy from six years ago, eh? Yeah, I thought so. What's your name again? Mink…no, Lind…no…"

Link's dry lips parted again. "Link." Tarun's face lit up. "Ah, yes, Link! Good kid. Always nice to me. Well, now I can repay the favor. But if you provoke the King to kill me, I can tell you that nobody else in here will be quite as willing to help you out. Though he'll probably kill me anyway for helping you…oh well. I'm sick of living down in this cave."

Link licked his lips, only managing to get his tongue stuck. He pressed his lips together to free it before he spoke again. "I owe you my life, then, Tarun. I owe my life to you twice over."

He smiled. "Not really. Well, you think what you want to, I guess. But I don't want you pulling any more stunts like that, all right?"

"Yeah, no more."

"No more stupid stuff. Also, if anyone comes down to see you, just act like a lunatic. The King might think you went crazy running from the bounty hunters for six years and forget about you."

Link laughed softly. "Not likely."

Tarun laughed too. "Good point, mate. Still, I'd pose as little threat as possible if I were you."

Link smiled a little bit. "I will."

"Now, that idiot Luc will be down here in a few minutes with my food. I'll give you some water – you can use it to wash out your hurts. Until then, just be quiet – sometimes he comes early."

"I'm a vegetable sitting in a box, waiting to be cooked."

Tarun laughed again, and Link almost laughed with him. He would survive this.

***

One week later, Zelda was sipping a cupful of watery soup while reading a book about ancient legends. She really would have liked more soup, and she would have liked it to be a bit thicker, but her betrothed insisted on keeping her 'thin and beautiful.' And she was certainly in no place to argue with him. After all, she was going to be his wife. Soon, she would tend to his every need without complaint. This was just practice.

She told herself that married life would be a joy, but in her heart she knew that she was not looking forward to being tied down, to being at the beck and call of a man who barely knew she existed. Besides, he was not much of a man. He was a short, scrawny little thing; in fact, Zelda herself was taller than he. Prince Gaesry, her father told her, would be the best ruler Hyrule had seen in a century, besides himself, of course, and she didn't argue. She had no idea what the prince was like, and she didn't really care.

She sighed and shut the book, placing it on the table. Sometimes she wished she wasn't born a girl; more often, she wished she wasn't born a Royal. Her life seemed like a big blank, somehow. She could barely remember what she did from one day to the next.

Zelda tipped back her head and downed the rest of the soup, pleading with her stomach to stop growling for more. She put the book back on one of the many beautiful oak shelves, staring at a large burn mark on the floor. Zelda wondered why that was there. She had a faint recollection of something with wings, but it couldn't have been an angel.

However, she hadn't been alone in the room with the thing with wings. Maybe the other person that had been there was the angel…what room had this all occurred in, anyway? And who cared? It didn't matter anymore. It was just another of her flights of fancy, useless in everyday life.

Angels didn't exist, Gaesry would say; angels were just some made – up creature that people believed guarded over them, when what had really happened was a stroke of good luck. And Zelda thought he was right. Everything she thought of these days was a flight of fancy, something made – up. Maybe even that angel she had seen in the room, protecting her…

Her eyes blanked over, and she ceased to care for a moment. Then her ears picked up a distant sound. Was it another made – up thing? No, this was real. She walked out of the library, paying no mind to her escort of guards. Zelda followed the sound, walking through halls she barely knew, and wound up in the depths of the castle, lost amid the dungeons. The sound was louder here, and it would have hurt her ears had she cared. She dismissed her guard escort, despite their protests, and had them stand at the entrance, so she wouldn't lose her way. Zelda tended to forget her way out these days; she blamed it on forgetfulness. She walked softly down the hall, her soft satin slippers making little noise on the damp stones. A drip of mossy water fell onto her skin, but she only brushed it away. What *was* that sound?

Luckily, Zelda's basic instincts had not been wiped away by the memory potion, and so she was able to walk silently and stay in the shadows without wondering why she was doing so. She also knew that the source of the sound was a person, and that person was in pain. The sound had stopped for the moment, and her eyes widened as she rounded the final corner in the maze of dungeons and saw the cause of the noise.

A guard was standing outside of a cell that was apparently occupied, because he was speaking to something beyond the bars. He held his spear loosely in one hand, and the spear was poking through the bars and into the dark cell. The dungeon guard was looking away guiltily, doing nothing to stop whatever was happening. Zelda inched closer.

She still could not see anything inside of the cell, but she could hear the words the guard was taunting the person inside the cell with.

"You should see her eyes. They're blank – she's stupid now, since you've been gone. She wanders the halls all day, then gets lost because she can't remember where she is or where she was going."

A small voice from inside the cell whispered, "No."

The guard poked the occupant with his spear, and was rewarded with a muffled grunt.

"Oh, yes. It's true. There's no use denying it."

"No…"

The guard jabbed his spear through the bars again, with more force. The occupant let out that strange sound again for a few seconds. Zelda realized what it was now – it was agonized screaming. She winced.

"Oh, sorry. Did I poke your *cut*? Oh, is that blood I see? Didn't know you were so *weak*."

The person in the cell sobbed. She recognized that sound right away. It came from her mouth often enough, after all.

"You know, I think your *cuts* are looking worse. What's that yellow stuff caked on around them? Guess they're infected, huh? Oh, too bad. Hopefully the crows will still want you for breakfast. It'll be easier than killing you myself."

The prisoner was breathing hard.

"Oh, yes. Did you know, the King has given me permission to kill you, if the birds and the infections and the starvation don't kill you first? I'm looking forward to that, believe you me. This is what you get for two counts of High Treason, sonny boy. You get to die twice over."

Zelda sucked in her shriveled stomach and pressed herself against the wall as the guard walked past, and she was pretty sure it was the man who had taken her to the infirmary the other day. But why had she gone to the infirmary again? Oh, well. She crept a little closer, inch by inch, and heard the other guard whispering to the man in the cell.

"I'm sorry, mate, I couldn't stop him. Would have made him suspicious. But, you know, you really should take that spearhead out."

A grating voice answered him. "If I do, I'll bleed to death. It's cutting into a major blood vein."

She knew that voice, from somewhere. She walked closer, forgetting to silence her footsteps.

"Well, mate, I don't know what else I can do but give you water to wash it out with. If you want, I can try and sneak up to the infirmary – uh oh."

Zelda froze, knowing the guard had heard her. She could barely make out movement in the cell, and one rough hand appeared, tightly clenching one of the iron bars. The rough voice she knew spoke again.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Zelda swallowed, trying to relieve the sudden dryness in her throat, and stepped into the light. The guard relaxed a bit when he saw that it was only her, but she saw the person in the cell tighten his hand until the knuckles were white. She heard him breathing heavily again.

"It's me. Um…I just came to see…why you were…making that noise."

She shuffled demurely forward, not meeting either of the men's eyes. She looked into the cell.

"You know, you were…screaming, and I saw…the guard."

The man in shadows moved forwards, as close to the bars as he could get, so close his nose was sticking through two of the bars and his blood-stained green clothing was visible in the dim candlelight. She drew in her breath sharply and stepped back. The man's voice was strangely husky.

"Zelda. You're…you're here."

She stepped back further and raised an eyebrow.

"Do I know you? I'm not sure…"

The man snarled, making Zelda jump, and spoke to the guard.

"She doesn't remember?" The guard shook his head. The man in the cell ran his fingers through what she could see of his blonde hair.

"We have to make her remember! Somehow…"

The guard shook his head sadly. "I don't know. She seems to be getting worse every day. Gets lost at least twice a day recently…" She wondered who they were talking about.

The man snapped his fingers. "I know." He turned to her. "Zelda, don't you remember me? It's me, Link. You know, your friend? When you were ten?"

She shook her head slowly, her mouth falling open. Link, whoever he was, snarled again and slammed his hand against the bars. She moved further backwards, closer to the guard.

"Well, I think I'll be leaving now…"

"NO! Stay. Just wait a minute. I have a feeling…"

She nodded. Her father had told her to never question what a man told her to do, especially her husband.

"Tarun, get that torch from the wall. Bring it close to the bars. If she sees my face, it might jar something loose." Tarun nodded and retrieved the torch, placing a guiding hand on the princess' shoulder.

"It's all right, now, he won't hurt you. We just want to help you out."

Her eyes widened in fright, but she walked forward, not knowing what else to do. Tarun held the fire as close as he could to the bars.

"You see him, princess? You know who he is?"

She just stared in shock. Link stared back, unable to believe that Zelda, *his* Zelda, could be so…so *compliant*. He slid his hand through the bars, but his wrist stuck between the bars. Zelda reached up and touched his hand instinctively, then blushed and stepped back. Link grabbed her hand, keeping her there.

"Zelda, you have to remember. They've done something to you, *he's* done something to you…brainwashed you with something…"

She looked into his blue eyes and got a flash of something. Green leaves, magic, happiness…

"I…know you, from somewhere…"

Then it hit her. The person in the library!

"Hey, you're the angel! The angel in the library! What are you doing down here?"

Link stared at her, unable to believe that she still couldn't remember how they had been the best of friends in childhood. He slid his hand higher, still caught between the bars.

"Zelda, come closer. I won't hurt you, I promise. Please…"

She took a few steps forward, until all that separated them was the bars and an inch of air. He stretched out his fingers and touched her forehead, looking inside of her mind, trying to stir up something.

He touched on a dream, one she had had over and over, that meant something, that she had forgotten…

Link closed his eyes and fell into the dream, and when Zelda fell limply against the bars, Link knew she could see it too.

The shouts of many guards and the blistering heat of the torch fell away as something which should have been remembered but was not took over their minds.

***

Wow, that chapter was *really* revamped! I amaze even myself! That was kind of weird, though, but I needed it to be more tragic, I guess…now I'm just rambling…ignore me and read the next chapter. And feel free to tell me how much better the revamped chappie is than the old one! Heh heh…

-Shawshank