I hope y'all like this next chapter. I'm updating really quickly before class. I anticipate busy-ness this next week, soI may not be updating. We'll see.

I got some interesting reviews. One from someone who thought this was "odd... but cool". Not sure what to make of that, but I roll with the punches. I'll take it. And I'm not dissing, in fact, I love that people find my work odd. I certainly don't find it odd, but then again, I am odd myself.

Then the reviewer went on to add my story to their favorites, so it must be a good kind of odd.Shout out toSageOfTheMinish, and Robinfan, too, who like my story so much it's going in their favorites! You two have impeccable taste!

Actually, the first thing that popped into my mind when I found out that Robinfan had put my story into her favorites was, "Why?"

Feel free to speculate. And enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter Three:

"Pocket Protector"

Jennifer awoke the next morning still feeling a little shaky. It seemed like ever since she got here she couldn't get a single restful night's sleep. Frankly, the whole business freaked her out. Destiny, prophesizing queens, and knowing that she was far, far away from home made Jennifer both terrified and frustrated at the same time.

Jennifer was never a big fan of fate and the fact that Destiny, or whoever, had yanked her from her life and set her in this world made her angry. Had she no choice? Whatever happened to choosing your own destiny?

At the same time, she knew that everything that was happening here was bigger and greater than she was. The thought that she was merely a pawn made her want to run away and never look back. But the other part of her wanted to fight it, too.

She slammed her head back down on the pillow. How could she ever get anything done if she couldn't make up her mind? Not that it mattered, as she didn't even know what she was supposed to make up her mind about. Destiny didn't tell her anything, really, only that she was need to defeat the shadows, whatever they were.

Stupid Destiny.

Jennifer needed to get out. She hopped out of bed and fumbled into some clothes, not really caring what they were. After getting a footman to direct her out, Jennifer walked out into the blinding sunlight of the market. Everything was normal out here, with the usual vendors, performers, and townsfolk going about their day. Jennifer wandered around for a little while, checking out the shops and stalls and watching some of the street performances.

She found herself wandering out towards the drawbridge, looking up at the huge walls surrounding the castle and its town. Suddenly, she bumped into someone.

"Oof, sorry," she said, looking at the man she had bumped into, and immediately blanching. She had run into the same guy she had ran into after class just two—two!—days ago. He looked exactly the same as she had left him, except probably a little more confused. When he recognized her, the color drained from his face much like it had just done on Jennifer's.

They stood there a long time staring at each other, eyes wide with fear and bewilderment.

Finally, Jennifer said, "You!" Not the brightest of responses, but a response nonetheless.

That seemed to snap him out of it. "What's going on?" he asked, a little wildly.

"I might ask you the same thing!"

"Where, where am I? Who are you?"

"Who are you?" Jennifer put her hands on her hips.

"I asked you first."

"Well… I asked you second."

They both stared at each other for a long moment.

"I'm Eric," he said at last.

"Jennifer." They eyed each other suspiciously for a little longer before relaxing.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Jennifer saw that he looked just about the same as she did when she first arrived, and sighed, feeling pity for him. "We're not in Kansas, anymore, Toto."

"I figured that much," he mumbled.

"We're in a place called Hyrule—don't ask me, I've never heard of it either. But, apparently, they've never heard of San Diego here… or Earth for that matter." She paused. "How did you get here?"

Eric looked at her, face unreadable.

"Let me guess… you went to bed, fell asleep, and woke up standing here?"

"Yeah," he said, puzzled. "How did you know?"

"'Cause the same thing happened to me."

"It doesn't make sense."

"Tell me something I don't know," Jennifer said and sighed. She squinted up at the castle, thinking of Destiny, and then turned back towards Eric. "Strange things are afoot at the Circle K."

----------

Jennifer brought Eric into the castle.

"Where's the queen?" she asked one of the footmen.

"Most likely in her quarters, milady."

Jennifer frowned at him calling her milady and Eric raised his eyebrows. She gave the guard a terse smile before saying thanks. She knew vaguely where Zelda's room was, and started heading in that direction. She probably should have asked the guard, but was too disconcerted by his language to give it a thought.

As they walked the hallways, Eric swung his head from side to side in awe, taking in everything he could about the magnificent castle. Jennifer watched him with a sidelong glance. He was handsome, with curling dark hair and light blue eyes. Jennifer silently wished her hair would curl as perfectly as his, but all she seemed to get out of it was limp waves. His eyes were quite amazing, deep and inquisitive, or maybe that was just because he was looking at her inquisitively. Jennifer looked away quickly and blushed that he had caught her staring. She dared not look back to see him smirk, amused, and a little bit thrilled, because of her gaze.

Instead, Jennifer looked up and noticed that the hallway they were in was unfamiliar to her. She was lost.

"Oh, great," she said under her breath, feeling even more embarrassed than before.

By some miracle, Link chose that moment to show up and save the day. He walked up to them and looked quizzically at Eric before turning back to Jennifer.

"Are you looking for Zelda?" he said.

"Yes! I mean, yeah, do you know where I can find her?"

"Come with me, I was just on my way to see her."

Jennifer followed him hurriedly, sending silent 'thank you' thought waves to him as furiously as she could.

Link led them a set of double-doors and gave a knock.

"Come in!"

And come in they did. The three of them walked into the finest bedroom two of them had ever seen. It was huge, with a sitting area by the doors, a large, raised bed in the far corner, and a balcony overlooking the castle town. Sunlight poured in through the windows and the open balcony doors. Link went to sit near Zelda, who sat next to an imposing woman with silver hair and flaming red eyes.

"Impa, this is Jennifer, the one I told you of. And Jennifer, this is Impa, my former nursemaid and a dear friend of mine," Zelda said.

The woman, Impa, gave a grunt of what Jennifer could only assume was greeting, and Jennifer gave her a timid hello.

"Who is this?" Impa asked gruffly, nodding towards Eric.

"Oh, this is Eric. He, um… I, uh, found him outside in the town. He's, uh, where I'm from, and he got here exactly like I did." Jennifer looked at Zelda expectantly, with a funny feeling that Eric was the man the queen saw in her dream.

Zelda did not disappoint. "This is the young man from my dream," she said, smiling at Jennifer, reading her thoughts.

"What?" Eric asked, perplexed.

"It's a long story," Jennifer supplied.

"This is the Protector, then," Impa said.

"Of course."

"The what?" Eric sounded taken aback.

Jennifer put a hand on his shoulder. "Like I said… it's a long story."

Bet you thought Jen's mystery man was Link, didn't you? Didn't you? I know, I'm good like that. This is quickly turning into an OC fic. Don't worry, I'll be throwing Zelda and Link in here, but I'm warning you, it's not all about them!

Fun Fact #36: This chapter was originally called "Familiar Faces," but I like "Pocket Protector" better, just 'cause it's so catchy.

coughREVIEWcough. Please, guys, I ain't too proud to beg!

Muchas gracias...

B-Storm