Hey, I'm back! To those of you people who said you didn't like Zelda's family, they will reappear later, but not for a while.

To Find The Future, Find The Past

Chapter Twelve

Out of the Shadows

Link was walking along the street on his way home from school.

It was strange… Yesterday, Zelda had promised to call him when she got home, but he hadn't heard from her. Nor did she show up at school today. Link was a little worried, and instinct told him to stop in at her place and check up on her.

He dropped his bag with his younger brother, Peter, and made his way to her front door. He knocked twice, before her mother answered it.

"Hello, I'm Zelda's bo—" Link caught himself just in time, "Zelda's friend. I just came to see if she's OK, cause she didn't show up at school today."

"She's not here." Her mother spat, and slammed the door. Link was surprised, to say the least. He knocked again. No one answered. He stood there knocking on the door for a good five minutes or so. No one came to the door.

Giving up, Link sighed and went home.

MEANWHILE

Zelda stared out over Hyrule Field. She was thankful that all of the monsters that were said to haunt the fields were all extinct. There wasn't another living creature for miles. Not as far as she could see, anyway.

'If only Link were here…' her mind sighed, but she pushed the thought back. She could not afford to get lost in this sub-world.

"Let's go!" Navi, Tatl and Tael flew out from behind her, scaring her.

"You're not coming." She said sternly, and began to walk off.

"The Great Deku Tree said that we were to stop you from getting lost!" Navi flew in front of Zelda's face.

"The Great Deku Tree said I have to accomplish the first leg of the quest alone." She retorted.

"That's what they said about the Hero of Time," Navi protested, following her, "But I still went with him! Let us help you!"

Zelda considered for a few moments. The fairies would know their way around, and she would want company eventually…

"Alright," Zelda sighed, "but no stuffing around! I mean it! Do not annoy me!"

The three fairies cheered to show that they agreed. They all flew and hid in the folds of Zelda's clothing.

Zelda began the hike, and was immediately glad that Saria had procured these bigger garments, seemingly from nowhere. When Zelda had asked where she had gotten them from, Saria simply smiled and replied that 'the forest has it's secrets'.

Zelda was now wearing a proper-sized dress. It looked like a dress that a common woman would wear in colonial times, but it was a pinky colour. She had a ribbon to tie her hair out of her face, and she was wearing pink slip shoes with re-enforced lining. They made walking a lot easier than with the boots on.

The Great Deku Tree had instructed her to make her way to Hyrule Castle. There, she would find something that would identify her as a royal, and there would be many things there that she would need to learn from the library, and training grounds, etcetera, etcetera.

Apparently, the castle was not deserted, like she had initially thought. Yesterday, when she had met the Great Deku Tree, he told her that the Sheikah, the shadow race, had survived the attacks from the east, and were all hiding in the castle somewhere. Her first task was to find them.

Zelda hiked for the better part of a day. It took her at least two hours to catch her breath when she arrived at the market. She headed straight for the fountain in the middle of the plaza, and took a long drink of the cool, flowing water. The archaeologists who would have inhabited this market had their funding cut on Monday, and had left yesterday. She was alone, basically, and had to find the people that were supposedly inhabiting the huge castle in front of her.

Walking through the market, she came up to the Castle Grounds. She had walked up to the gate, and realised something. How was she supposed to open it?

"Navi?" she said tentively, "I could use a little help, please."

The fairy flew out, and surveyed their surroundings.

"You can't open it." Was all she said. Zelda made a snatch for the tiny ball of light out of frustration, but she flew higher. Zelda chased the tiny thing around the corner until it stopped in front of a thick vine.

"Climb this." Navi instructed, as she flew back into Zelda's clothing with Tatl and Tael.

Zelda looked at the vine with uncertainty. Carefully, she placed her foot on a reasonably strong-looking branch, and hoisted herself up. It took a few minutes, but she made it to the top without falling off.

Pulling herself up, she panted and laid down on the cool grass. After about five minutes, she struggled to her feet, and began to walk.

She walked across the top of the gate, pausing right in front of one of the stone soldiers. They all seemed to be running towards a particular spot, spears out. They must have spotted an intruder before they were turned to stone.

Zelda continued moving, and came up to the drawbridge, which was thankfully open. She entered the castle, and surveyed the vaguely familiar surroundings.

Smelling food, she quietly made her way through the castle, sticking to the cover of the shadows for some reason. She followed the smell through the castle's many hallways and corridors, and eventually began to hear noise. As she neared the source, the doors to the Great Hall burst open, and about three hundred men, women, and children came marching out. They all halted when they saw Zelda standing in the middle of the hall like an idiot.

"Who are you?" one man demanded, in a language that was not English, yet one that Zelda could understand, "What are you doing here, outsider? Answer me!"

Zelda spluttered and stared at the spear he was waving around. She was scared, there was no denying it.

"ZELDA!" one of the women exclaimed, coming to embrace her, "Saria told me you would be coming! Let me look at you!"

The older woman held Zelda at arms length, and examined her.

"I'm terribly sorry to be rude," Zelda piped up, "But who are you, and how do you know me?"

"I am Impa." The woman proudly stated, "Queen of the Sheikah, and the immortal Sage of Shadows. Have you really forgotten that much, Princess?"

"You're immortal?" Zelda gasped.

"Yes. I am one of few Sages that received the gift of immortality. Micha! Sharkas!" she barked, "take her to the Royal Chambers, and get her cleaned up! Tonight, we shall feast!" This was met by the approval of everyone in the hall.

Zelda was carried off by two young girls, presumably her own age. They took her down a familiar corridor, and stopped in front of the door that Zelda had opened the last time she was here.

The door to the Princess' chambers.

"It's nothing like the rooms that you have in the outside world," one of the girl said, while the other one fished around for the key, "but we've tried to make it as comfortable as possible."

The other girl finally found the key, and the door swung open. Zelda stared. They certainly were expecting her. They must have been for a while.

The room looked almost exactly the same as she left it, but several of the things were new. The pillows and blankets on the bed, for one.

The girls led her to another room that Zelda didn't notice before. In it, there was a steaming hot bath. They told her to bathe, and that they would be waiting in the main area, readying suitable clothes for 'Her Majesty' to wear.

They left the room, and the fairies came flying out of the clothing that she was already wearing, scaring the life out of Zelda, who had forgotten they were there.

"Come on, Tatl, Tael," Navi immediately took charge, "Let's give her some privacy. We can go and investigate the grounds. See if we can find out just what went on here. Would you like that, Zelda?"

"Yes, please." Zelda agreed, mainly to get rid of them. Upon hearing this, the three fairies flew out a nearby window.

Zelda stripped, and eased herself into the hot water. It was quite relaxing. She submerged herself, then reemerged after a few moments, letting the water wash over her hair, face, and neck.

She washed her hair with a nearby liquid soap. She hadn't washed it in a few days, so she was glad to have this opportunity. Once again, she went underwater, and rid her hair of all the soap suds.

She wiped her eyes, and reached for a bar of soap. She then proceeded to scrub off all of the sweat and dust of the hike. The water was filthy by the time she was done. She didn't know she was so dirty.

She stepped out of the water and circled around, searching for a towel. Finding one on a rack across the room, she wrapped it around herself.

She opened the door a tiny bit, to see if those girls were still out there. One of them caught sight of her, and raced to the door. Before Zelda could close it, she pulled the resisting Zelda out into the open. They had clothes for her, underwear and all, arranged on the bed. Zelda looked at something that looked suspiciously like a corset.

"Do I have to wear that?" Zelda motioned to the corset with her free hand, trying to speak their language. She managed to get it out, but she had a shocker of an accent.

"Why, yes, of course!" the young women looked shocked that she even had to ask, "How else do you think everything will fit you? Everything has such a small waist, and the hips and bust are always much bigger than the waist."

She held up the blue gown, and Zelda saw that it was true. She was definitely not going to fit into that without a corset.

Zelda reached for it, but faltered. She shot a nervous look to the girls who were standing there, watching her every move. They seemed to get the message.

"You put the corset and stockings on," one of them said.

"Yes, and we'll wait outside." The other finished.

"Call us when you have it on, we'll come in and tighten it for you." the first one said again. Zelda nodded, and they exited the room through the main doors. Zelda looked at the undergarments.

"How medieval…" she muttered to herself. Hadn't they heard of just a plain old 'bra and undies'? Apparently not. Either that, or they didn't agree with them.

She struggled into the stockings. She had never put them on before. She was not really one to do the girly things, until a few days ago. She didn't see the point. The stockings were exactly the same colour as her skin.

She eyed the corset again. Holding her breath, she picked it up and squeezed herself into it. Even when it wasn't done up, it was too bloody tight! Making sure it was on the right way, she called out to the attendants. They entered the room, and began to tighten it. It was like torture.

"Suck it in, Princess." One of the girls coached her, while the other one tightened it even more, "That's it… Just one more inch…"

Eventually, after many painful minutes for Zelda, the corset was tightened to the attendants satisfaction.

"I still think it could have gone one more inch…" One of them was saying as they helped Zelda into the tight gown.

Zelda turned to survey herself in the mirror. She was shocked at what she saw. She had always been thin, but the corset made her look more… how to put it… womanly. It accented her figure, and made her look a bit older, too. The dress itself was gorgeous. It looked exactly like the dress that she wore in her dreams, except it was blue, not pink.

Without a word, the girls left the room, and Impa entered. She sat Zelda in front of the mirror, and took a brush to her hair. As she was doing this, she began to speak.

"Zelda, you must prepare. It will take a while before you are ready to see Rauru. I am thankful that you were able to get here so quickly. Had you come at the time the prophecy said you would, there would have been problems… You must stay in hiding for a year, and train, if you have any hope of succeeding."

"A year! To succeed at what?" Zelda demanded, "It's about bloody time I got told exactly what's going on!"

"You mean no one's told you?" Zelda shook her head, "Well, you're right… It's about time you knew. Very well… Almost exactly one thousand, eight hundred and eighty five years ago, the Christians to the east were marching towards Hyrule…"

NOTE: there will be switches between times for the next few chapters. You need to pay attention to the bold writing, OK?

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