A large group of guards could be seen down the hall. Most of the guards had their guns aimed at the group. A tall man stood in front of the group, clearly in charge. He had on black long coat with gold trim. The triforce was on the back of the coat. His dark skin made him stand out from the others as well as his orange hair.
Link froze, he couldn't move the moment he saw him. There was Ganondorf, he recognized him. All those lives he had battled him he could never forget those nightmares with him in it. His heart was pounding, even after all he had gone through he still was scared of this man.
Navi winced as Link didn't move. She looked back at him, she knew that look. Her ears went low, she looked back at the group. That man must be from Link's past. It must be Ganondorf, she remembered how he described the man. She whimpered a little, this is why he was acting off. She wanted to tell Autum, but Autum clearly was marching ahead to meet the group.
Celtic stopped between Autum and Link. He looked back at Link, why wasn't he coming? The look on the teen's face was fear. He didn't like this at all. What more his wife was just walking up to them with no extra thought.
Autum paused putting her hand on the poor guard's shoulder holding him next to her side. "Go on." She spoke up to the kid moving her hand off of him. She looked to Ganondorf trying to size him up. It was clear he was in charge of this group.
Ganondorf watched the kid run up to them. A couple of the other soldiers pulled him to the back asking if he was ok. Ganondorf walked up to Autum looking at her. "You must be the one in charge of this little group. You claim you have information on the hero of hyrule. What proof do you have? On that, I will decide if you can see the queen."
"No. We don't have to tell you anything. If the queen does not want our information then we will leave. It's clear we found a backdoor into this place. We have lots of information we would be willing to sell to the other side. We thought we would offer up this information to the queen first for a price, but we will ONLY talk to the queen." She snipped, not dropping a beat. She had locked eyes with him not standing down. "I am sure me and my group will easily get through your guards. I mean you have children in your group. It's clear war has hit you hard and you don't have the man power to truly fight back against the group who could fight."
Celtic looked back at Link, the kid froze up. Out of all the things they had done Link never froze up. Even with who knows what adventures he did with the other kids, no mention of him doing this. He glanced back at his wife, who luckily hadn't been pummeled to the ground yet. He jogged up to Link. "Link."
Celtic bit his lip and put his hands on Link's shoulders. "You need to snap out of whatever is happening" he spoke up. Link shook some when Celtic touched him. He could feel his heart racing. "We need to be on the defensive and you standing here freaking out isn't helping. You can freak out later ok. Right now who knows what stupid thing Autum is doing up there." He explained to the teen.
Link's ears went low as he looked away from Celtic. He rubbed his arms some trying to get the feeling away. "I-i.." He didn't know what to say, they could win against Ganondorf right? If he dared turned sides they could fight and win?
"Link." Navi piped up as she held onto his arm. She studied him as he looked at her. "Come on before Autum does say something stupid, Celtic is right about that." She was hoping to get his mind off of Ganondorf.
Link nodded some, he winced as Navi started to pull him some down the hall. He looked to Celtic who walked up next to him. "Come on Navi, you shouldn't be pushing yourself." Link spoke up as he pulled on her arm some. Navi looked back at him and smiled weakly.
Ganondorf stared at Autum trying to figure out her true motive. His attention went to the three who walked up. His gaze went to Link, he seemed familiar. What more he seemed to be garbed in clothing that was once worn here. He wore the garbs of what the hero was said to wear. Was this a ruse? He looked back at Autum whose patience clearly was running out. He needed to make a decision. "You leave all your weapons here and bags"
Autum watched him. Hoisting her bag off her shoulder and dropped it to the ground in front of him. She then pulled the gun out of the holster from her back holding it to him. "You hear him, weapons and bags now." She looked back at the three of them. When he took her gun she pulled her short sword from her back and held it to another guard. She backed up as the other three surrendered their weapons and their bags.
Autum was fine with this, she knew that she and Link both had access to their swords if needed. Even with an anti-magic barrier she could still feel the connection with her blade. As for Celtic, he was pretty much brute force. Navi seemed to be doing better, so she would be able to move out of any harm's way even if she couldn't teleport. She watched the guards walk off with their belongings. Looking to Ganondorf he opened the door they were next to.
"In here." He spoke quietly as he walked into the room. He knew that he would have to be on his guard with this group. What more the teen, it bothered him that he couldn't pinpoint why he recognized the boy. Maybe he was the Hero, not someone they dressed up to look like him.
The group headed into the room. It looked like it was set up to be a conference room. A woman who was in her mid 20's with long blonde hair. She had on a blue long coat that had gold trim. She had a button up white blouse. She stood up from a chair, walking towards the group. She paused studying the group as they filtered into the room.
Link's eyes stopped when he saw the woman. It's not how he remembered her, her youth was gone, she was now a woman. He walked up and knelt down before her. It was more or less instinct, he was in front of the queen of hyrule, his queen. All that ran through his mind that he betrayed Hyrule and left. He let it fall into shambles, this was his fault. It scared him that the queen could punish him for his actions.
Zelda looked down at the teen who knelt before her. Her eyes glanced to the others. Navi walked up next to Link and she bowed. As for Autum she crossed her arms and looked to Link clearly not impressed by the boy. As for Celtic, he looked more or less confused and couldn't make a decision for himself to bow, kneel or do nothing.
Her eyes trailed back to the teen as she studied him. She recognized him from those years ago. Yet here he still looked like a young youth as for herself had aged. She let out a light laugh as she covered her mouth not to be rude. "It has been years since anyone has knelt or bowed before me. As traditions have changed over the years." She spoke softly, a smile went across her face as she moved her hand. "You may rise, hero. As well as your companion." She looked to Navi.
Ganondorf stood next to the door against the wall. He was watching the group ready to defend his queen. It seemed the renegades that had broken into their compound, one was the hero of the stories. Though, it was clear his companions were not of Hyrule.
His blue eyes trailed up to the queen. Slowly Link got to his feet and looked away, clearly ashamed. He winced as Zelda walked up to him. She moved her hand under his chin and moved him to look at her. "You have not aged much since you were dragged into the castle years ago." She spoke softly to him.
Link blushed some of her soft touch. His ears went low. "I-I" he could feel a lump in his throat. He didn't know what to say to her. He wanted to just tell her he failed Hyrule and that was why.
"The boy was taken off the planet to save his life and time moves differently there." Autum explained as she watched the Queen's expression. She still didn't know how to feel about this whole little scenario. What more Link's face was filled with guilt, clearly for his choice of not returning here.
Zelda looked at Autum and then to Link and as she moved her hand. "It seems the goddesses were watching over us." She spoke up as she walked over to the small conference table in the room. "Come sit."
"No, I decided not to come back to Hyrule. I had the chance to and I didn't. I chose to stay." Link confessed looking at her. His ears were low and he felt like the state of Hyrule was his fault. He watched her sit down at the table.
"Sit, it's clear you are blaming yourself for something you have nothing to do with." Zelda spoke as she waved her hand to the chairs.
Link looked to Navi who walked up and took his arm. She walked him up and they sat at the table. Link looked at the table clearly still feeling the guilt. He looked to Autum who sat down putting her feet up on the table.
Navi frowned at Autum, clearly no manners in front of the Queen. She let out a sigh of frustration, at least Celtic was just sitting at the table. Looking to Link she could see all that hidden guilt he had coming up. She wished she could do something to take it all away from him.
"Link." Zelda spoke up to get his attention. "You came back here because they called you back, didn't you?" Link looked up to her, that voice then must have been one of the goddess calling him home. "It means you weren't meant to come back, till now. If you had been here who knows what they would have done to you if you were here. We are lucky it seems the goddesses have left us a glimmer of hope." She spoke to him.
Link stared at her and then looked to the table. How could he be there hope? Hyrule looked to be destroyed. "What happened here?" Autum spoke up, as much as she would like to help Link out of his self doubt they were stuck here. It meant they needed a plan, she couldn't make much of one without knowing what happened here.
Zelda's attention went to Autum. "About 5 years ago, a group who came from the stars arrived. They told my father that they could bring Hyrule into a Golden age. My father hoping for the best of Hyrule allowed them to bring technology here. We did have a few good years, but they used that time to build an empire. They clearly did not share all of their technology with us. They held back so they could use it to rise up against Hyrule, when they got what they wanted." Zelda slowly got to her feet as she walked over to the crest of Hyrule on the wall.
"It seemed they came to Hyrule because of the secret we hold. So when they figured out how to get it, they rose up." Zelda explained. "My father lost his life in defending Hyrule and I took over his role and continue to fight for Hyrule." She looked at the group.
"What is this secret?" Celtic spoke up. He was trying to keep up with it all. "Is it something I mean worth taking over this planet?" He frowned, not sure what could be that special.
Debating if she should tell them, though the hero was with them. If the hero has trust in them, she would as well. "The triforce, it was a gift from the goddesses to Hyrule." Zelda explained as she pointed to the triforce on the crest. "The three pieces were each a gift from our goddesses, Din, Nayru, and Farore. Each piece gives the holder power and if all pieces are brought together it is said that the person is granted any wish." She spoke as she looked to her right hand.
"They have two of the pieces." Zelda spoke as she started to walk back to the table. "They figured out how to take them from a holder." Her tone was heavy hearted. She wished she could have done more to protect it, but they came with so much force. She looked to Ganondorf who looked away. She knew he felt the same way as she did about it. They both were stripped of their triforces with no effort. "Though the third piece is still missing." She paused next to Link and looked down at him. "I must ask, do you know where it is?"
Link looked at his left hand. Slowly he moved his hands off the table. Looking up to Zelda, "Yes." He spoke quietly. Should he tell her? He hadn't even told Autum about it. Him and Navi agreed that it was better that no one knew about it. The queen would have had one, meaning these people took it from her. This meant she was right, he was the hope for Hyrule. "I have it, my queen."
A grin went across Zelda's face. "Good, then we still have a fighting chance." Zelda spoke up as she looked to Navi, Autum and Celtic. "And it's clear your companions are not from here as well. Meaning they will be able to aid us in knowing more about the technology they use against us that we don't understand."
Autum looked at Link, a bit surprised that the boy hid that from her over the years. Then people have rights to keep secrets. Also having something like that and the wrong people found out who knows what would have happened. If she hadn't had her memories unsealed, she probably would have tried to take it from him and then search out the others.
"I don't know how much help we will be, we came a bit ill prepared." Autum spoke up, she still was hoping the group would not mention Navi's ability. She still wasn't fully willing to trust this queen.
"Just your knowledge alone would be grateful to us. They clearly made sure we didn't know about certain technologies, such as ones that can take out all tech. And then some of the deadly weapons they have." Her voice trailed, she had lost many in this war.
Autum sat on the thought just knowledge would aid them. "Have you used devices that allow you to search up information, via a touch screen?" She rather not be stuck or the others just trying to explain tech.
Zelda nodded. "Yes, but that tech is all fried. We don't have the resources to even build something new." She sighed as she walked over sitting down. She looked to Autum.
Autum pulled out her phone and pushed a couple things on it. She glanced at the table and then to her phone. She sent out one more text to Eznik, knowing he would be to get supplies. Tapping a couple more buttons. She was waiting for it to clear out data and reroute certain calls. She knew her phone wouldn't be trackable so it would be best here.
Zelda seemed smart and should be able to figure out. Autum slid it down the table towards Zelda. "Take it, it seems they couldn't live without the command-net. So they set up a satellite to be able to connect to the command-net. Meaning you can look up anything on that and get info." She explained.
Zelda picked it looking at it and then to Autum. "Are you sure?" Autum nodded. "It's fine, Link has one, Navi and so does Celtic. Also this will allow us to contact each other as long as they don't use a strong emp."
"Emp?" Zelda asked her, her ears were a bit low. Her guess is what the outsiders used to knock out the tech. "Electromagnetic pulse, depending on the type it can blow out the circuits on a lot of things. That one should be able to withstand a medium one. I'm sure all the tech they kept you limited to was stuff they could knock out with a low grade one, so they wouldn't affect their own tech. " Autum did her best to explain.
"Thank you. Er.." Zelda winced, she didn't have a name. What more she didn't even introduce herself to these people. The young hero kneeling through her off of her game, what more she didn't expect him to just show up with outsiders. Zelda got to her feet. "I have been ill mannered. I didn't even introduce myself, I apologize. I am Queen Zelda and my fiancé over there is Ganondorf, I doubt he introduced himself."
Link stared at her as if he just was a deer in headlights. Engaged to Ganondorf?! She would know right? He was a descendant of evil right? How could she? Did he steal her triforce? No she said they both were gone.
Zelda looked to Link seeing his expression of confusion. "In this life, the evil has not filled his heart. He came and saved me when they came for my triforce piece, which led to his being taken as well." She spoke quietly. "We were both imprisoned for some time, till some of his men freed us. He nursed me back to better health from prison. So in that time we bonded, just in this time of war, marriage has been out of the picture." she explained to him.
Link looked over to Ganondorf, not sure how he felt about this. It felt off, but then again who knows how many years he was really gone here. He looked over at Zelda who took a seat back at the table.
"I'm Navi!" Navi spoke up hoping to break some of the awkwardness. She looked over to Autum and Celtic, hoping they would introduce themselves. Also hoping Autum would maybe have some manners.
"Autum." Autum spoke up as she was trying to piece together somewhat a plan in her head what little information she had so far. What more it seems possible the lack of supplies might hurt them even more. It's clear when these outsiders came they already had a plan to make sure they always had an advantage. Meaning they might have done this before.
"Celtic" he spoke up as it was his turn. He looked at Zelda. Not what he imagined a queen to look like. His guess it was just another title people put on. Such as Captain or Upper, he was really hoping for something more majestic, maybe it was just how Link described his planet.
Zelda looked at the group at the table. She had prayed hard to the goddesses that they would bring their hero home. They finally came through and brought him home along with others who would become the heroes of Hyrule. She prayed that she wasn't putting too much on their shoulders.