A/N: Chapter 2! YAY! I'm so glad I'm already this far. I'd like to thank my reviewers for their comments:
Twisted Mackeral: Thank you for your honesty. I'll be checking those tenses soon, though I'm now concentrated more on doing the story.
MythCreaterWriter: (Gasp) I am in your favorites list! Thanks for your comment, and here's more.
Diclaimer: I do NOT own "The Legend of Zelda" or anything related to that. It's all property of Nintendo.
Curse of the Twilight
Act 2
Hopes
Toaru Village.
A nice, quiet town in the outskirts of Hyrule. The only real concerns here are avoiding the bees to get honey, herding the goats, and of course, motherhood. In this quaint village lived a certain young man by the name of Link. Link was a special boy among the residents of the village. Perhaps it is because he was a very helpful person, doing everything from carrying stuff for the women to cutting firewood. Perhaps it is because he is great with the kids. Perhaps it is because he has a very unique birthmark, seemly a symbol of great things to come. Whichever the case, Link was a well-loved character among townsfolk.
"Here you go, Mrs. O' Nary." Link said, while giving the lady a basket of goods.
"Why thank you, Link dear." Mrs. O' Nary thanked the blonde teenager, giving him a blue rupee. "Here, have some rupees for your trouble."
"Really? Thanks." It was rare that Link received some reward for his actions, but when one showed up, Link was not hesitant to accept it. Oh, no, not at all.
After helping Mrs. O' Nary, Link headed for his house to grab a snack before heading to the ranch, when something caught his attention. It was some sort of bird, but it looked like it had a difficult time staying I the air. The bird couldn't hold it anymore and fell somewhere behind some hills just outside the village. Something inside Link told him to search for that bird, so without second thought he ran out of the village and to the hills. When he found the bird, the poor thing had a broken wing and it was gasping for air. Link, determined to help the struggling bird, carefully picked it up and went to his house.
First, the bird opened its eyes lazily, but suddenly shot them wide open, trying to recognize what was that place. It was surely not outside. The bird tried to move, but the left wing was tied and covered, and it was impossible to move.
"You shouldn't move." The bird heard a voice. The bird looked around until it saw the source of the voice: a young man, in his mid-teens, doing… something on a table. "You took quite a nasty fall out there. You should rest."
Link, the young man, walked to the bed where the bird lay, with a paste on a leaf. "So, you're a hawk." He began talking while taking off the bird's bandages. "We don't see many hawks around here. You must be lost." He tried to apply the paste on the hawk's wounds, but the bird started to screech and move. "Hey! Calm down! This is just some medicinal cream. It doesn't hurt." Link could see a hint of mistrust coming from the hawk, so he decided to apply some of the paste on himself. "See? Now trust me."
The hawk looked hesitant, but allowed Link to apply the medicine on the broken wing. At first, it stung, but then it felt soothing. Link took special care that the procedure would be as painless as possible. After he finished and rebandaged the wing, Link picked up the hawk and helped it to its feet. The hawk felt dizzy and tumbled, but Link held it before it fell. Eventually, the hawk was capable of walking, and even standing on Link''s hand. After this practice, Link gave the hawk some food. Since he didn't knew exactly what hawks ate, Link decided to mash up a piece of bread and a deku nut together, hoping the hawk would like it. By the bird's seemly incessant eating, he inferred it did.
When the sun was at the highest point in the sky, Link unbandaged the hawk and took it outside to practice flying. At the beginning, it was hard to even flap the wings properly, but eventually, the hawk could fly short distances. Awestruck by the small showcase, some kids approached Link and, being their usual curious selves, started asking questions.
"Cool. What kind of bird is that?" A boy asked.
"This is a hawk, Chico." Link answered.
"Where did you find it?" Zaza, the youngest girl in the group, asked.
"Well, you see, she fell right off the sky this morning and I took 'er to my house. I've been taking care of her since." Link explained.
"Poor thing. Is she ok?" Yoa, the oldest girl, asked.
"Of course. It seems it would take more than a simple fall to take this bird out."
"She?" Kip questioned Yoa's words. "Come on. It's obvious he's a he. Right, Link?"
"Actually," Link confesed, "I'm not really sure. I know it's a hawk because Mrs. O' Nary told me."
"Hey, Link, are you going to keep it?" Fehn, the smallest, asked.
"I don't know. Perhaps the bird needs to go back to its home. I wouldn't stop her then, now would I?"
Suddenly, a girl about Link's age appeared and stormed over to the kids. "What are you doing here? You should be in class." She said commandingly.
"Come on, Illa. We were just…"
"But nothing, Kip. Or do you want me to tell your mothers?" She taunted. Grudgingly, the kids began walking to the school.
"Spoilsport." Link accused Illa. "This is education too, you know. Nature." He said, pointing at the hawk.
"I hate to break it to you, but taking care of a bird isn't exactly nature." Illa corrected.
"Okay, Illa, you win." Link said playfully, the quickly changed the subject. "I'm guessing you didn't come here just for the kids. You need something?"
"Oh, yeah." Illa said as she remembered. "Mr. Tarin wants to talk to you in the ranch."
"Oh, that' right!" About the… and what I… and our… Thank, Illa." Link then ran off to the ranch. "We should talk again sometime."
Illa sighed sadly at Link' words. "We rarely do."
At the ranch, Tarin was sitting by the stable, wiping bucket of sweat off his forehead. It was a really busy day, made especially tiring by the fact that Link was not there to help him. After finally herding that final unwilling goat into the table, he was pooped. Right at that moment, Link made his entrance, hawk in hand.
"Hey, Tarin. Heard you were looking for me." The blonde teenager shouted.
"Link, great timing." Tarin stood up, although he still leaned on the stable's wall. "I see the bird's gotten better."
"Yup." Link answered. "Pretty soon, she'll be ready to fly on her own."
"Good, 'cause I need you, Link." Tarin picked up a box from the ground and gave it to Link. "You'll have to do today' fishing."
"Fishing?" Link whined.
"Normally, I'd do it myself, but I'm tired, and I still haven't checked on my cuckoos at home today." Tarin explained.
"But it's going to take me the rest of the day." Link complained.
"It's called work. Get used to it."
Link sighed. "Okay." He dropped the hawk on the ground and picked up the rest of the materials ad headed to the dock, hawk closely behind. There, he mounted a boat, and rowed his way to Toaru lake.
Meanwhile, the sheikah search party was still on the trail of Princess Zelda's kidnappers. Although there have been clues to lead them on, progress was slow at best. It was the fourth day, and things were on a standstill. Still, a bad ad things were, never once did Impa lose hope.
"Don't worry, Princess. We'll find you. And then, I'll make those barbarians pay. I swear they'll…"
Suddenly, a voice outside her tent interrupted her train of thought. "Lady Impa, may I?"
"Sure, Makkid." Impa said. The sheikah second-in-command made his way into the tent.
"Sorry for the interruption, Lady Impa, but I have a question." Makkid began.
"Sure, you may ask." Impa allowed.
"With all due respect, Lady Impa, but why such an intense search?" Makkid asked.
"Well, she is the princess." Impa answered coldly.
"Are you certain that's the only reason?" Makkid questioned.
"I'm certain." Impa scowled
Makkid looked at Impa carefully, finding a hint of hurt in her face. He then looked outside to see if anyone was approaching. Satisfied that they were alone, he sat in front of Impa, and looked straight at her face. "Come on, Impa." He pleaded. "You headline a search when you could've stayed behind. You're pushing yourself too hard. I once heard you praying for the Princess' safety. There's something else hidden beneath this." Impa remained stoic. "Come on. You know me. You can trust me." Impa looked down in deep thought, then looked back up with a softer look on her face. "Now, tell me what's going on."
Impa sighed in defeat and began. "All right. But get ready, Makkid. This is kind of a long story."
"Look at this." Link showed the hawk his contraption composed of a fishing net tied to rocks at the bottom, and to the boat and a tree on the top ends. The end tied to a tree also had a bell tied to it. "With this little invention, the fish will practically catch themselves! Now we can sit down and relax." He sat down, back against a tree, and took off hi gloves. The hawk suddenly became enthralled by some strange markings on Link's right backhand.
"What are you looking at, this?" Link pointed at his mark. The hawk seemed surprised and looked up at his face. "This is my birthmark." He explained. "Some people said this is a Triforce symbol, the same that's on the Hyrule Castle area. I haven't been there, so I can't tell you if it's true. But look at this." He pointed at the lower-left triangle, which was darker than the other two. "This one I said to represent courage. Apparently, that means that I will overcome any hardships, and someday I could become a hero." The hawk was hanging on Link's every word. "Heh. I don't see that happening, though. At least not while I'm still around here."
Link then turned his attention to his bag. "I knew we were going to be here a long time," he said, pulling a piece of bread, "so I brought a little something for us to et in the meantime." He then cut the bread, and gave a piece to the hawk while he took a bite of the other piece. The hawk just stared at the piece of bread, and then at Link, as if in deep thought. When Link turned to look at the bird, however, the hawk quickly turned to look t various points in the scenery, then began pecking the piece of bread.
Just as the bread was eaten away, a ray of light temporarily blinded the hawk. Upon regaining sight, the hawk could see that sundown was approaching. The bird looked at Link, who was busy drinking a jug of water, then took some short hops back, then finally flew into the foliage. Upon hearing a noise within the tree, Link looked around, only to briefly see the hawk flying up and out of his sight.
"Not even a goodbye. Oh well." Link sighed. Right then, a ring of the bell broke his line of thought. "But right now, there are fishes to be fried." He donned his gloves again, and began the difficult process of pulling a few dozen fish out of the water at once.
"Oh, Daddy, I miss you. I miss you so much."
Princess Zelda lay huddled in a corner, inside an abandoned tower in the dark of the night. It was freezing that night, and since the princess didn't know how to make a fire, all she could do I try to cover herself as much as she could and wait out he undying night.
"Impa… dear Impa, where are you? I need you."
Zelda felt like crying, but made an effort not to. She made it a point to stay strong and not to lose her sanity, even at these severely adverse conditions.
"I have to remain calm. I have to find a way to lift this curse."
Zelda suddenly had an idea. She looked down to her clothes, and dusted it off to uncover the Triforce symbol on it. She pondered the possibilities for a moment, but quickly shook off any thought of it.
"I… I can't do that. I can't risk… I don't want anybody getting cured because of me." Zelda told herself. "There ha to be another way." She told herself. The truth, however, was another. "Who am I kidding? I have no other choice." Her painful decision was made. Zelda, knowing there was no turning back once it began, tried to catch some sleep.
"All I can do now is pray to the gods."
To be continued.
And with another chapter completed, now comes the time where comments are expected. For those brave enough to comment on this story, know that I accept everything, from the best praises to the worst flames. In fact, it would be best if you were brutally honest with me about this work. Finally, I thank you all for reading my fanfic, whether you leave a comment or not. Stay tuned for the next chapter, coming soon.
Lightweight 20-05.