I woke up the next morning with a pillow to the face and an intense whisper.
"Zeldaaaaaaa! You're sleeping next to a boy." I forced my sleepy eyes open, only to be met with another pillow to the face. "Link and Zelda, Sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-AHH!" Tetra's mocking whisper was abruptly cut off as I snatched the pillow from her and hit her in the face with it. I sat up, half-amused, half-pissed off at Zelda's childish behavior. Suddenly, I felt the couch move beneath me. No wait. Not the couch. I looked down and remembered that I fell asleep next to Link. I sprang up from the couch in embarrassment, angry with myself for letting Tetra catch me in such an embarrassing moment. And of course she would hold it over my head forever. It's what little sisters do.
"Tetra." I grumbled, hitting her with the pillow one more time for good measure. "Don't you dare tell Sheik about this." Sheik was protective me as it is, and with this whole Ganondorf business going on, if I was anything less than prim and proper, Sheik would never let Link within 20 feet of this house again. Tetra just giggled with that mischievous glimmer in her eye and scuttled off to the kitchen.
"I'll keep quiet if you make me banana pancakes!" She called. I sighed. Our dad used to make chocolate chip pancakes. I was brought back to the wrenching reality of how drastically my life had changed in the past month. The weight of it was almost too much, until I felt strong hands on my shoulders and a soft kiss on my ear.
"Let's go make your sister some breakfast." Link murmured to me, rubbing my shoulders and flashing me the most knee-weakening smile I've ever seen. I took his hand and led him to the kitchen, where I started to rummage through our cupboards for ingredients. Tetra grabbed a mixing bowl, and Link looked around until he found a spatula to mix with. Together, the three of us began a nauseatingly domestic montage of making banana pancakes. By the time I had flipped the first round of pancakes, Sheik's sleepy ass had dragged itself downstairs. I almost did a double take when I saw him.
"Damn. You are awake before noon?!" I teased. "I never thought I'd see the day. You want some banana pancakes?" Sheik perked up at the idea of food. I don't think he ever got past that stage of puberty where teenage boys have to consume twice their body weight every four hours. He sat at the table and quietly observed me, Link, and Tetra finish up breakfast. Link was a natural with her, encouraging her to talk more about seahorses or mermaids or whatever it was that she was obsessed with this month, asking her questions, and playfully teasing her. How was he so perfect? I beamed, feeling like I had won the freaking lottery as I served my family breakfast. I saved some batter for Midna and Illa for when they woke up, and sat down to eat, not even realizing how ravenous I had become. I scarfed my pancakes in two seconds flat. That's kind of the funny thing about being stalked by a creep: you kind of forget about self-care altogether. But now that I had my entire family supporting me, I could feel my mind relax a little. "Okay." I sighed, pushing myself away from the table. "I am going to take a shower. You kids play nice." I shot a sharp glare at Sheik and dashed up the stairs.
The shower felt nothing short of incredible. For the first time in close to a month, I didn't get the uncanny feeling that I was being watched. I took my time, letting the hot water work the tension out of my shoulders. I eventually got out, and got dressed in a plaid skirt, a plain black crop top, and some black tights. After brushing my hair and slipping on some shoes, I ran downstairs, only to be met with an empty living room. Where did Link and Sheik go? I wondered. I mean, it's not like they could have left me here alone, right? Just as the panicked thoughts began to settle in my brain, I heard playful shouting coming from outside the front door. Link and Sheik burst through the door, passing a basketball between them.
"I can't believe you beat me in my own house!" Sheik boomed, a wide grin apparent on his face. "That's never gonna happen again, you know. I went easy on you this time. But now that I know that you can play, I'm gonna bring it!"
"Suuuuure." Link joked. "You keep telling yourself that." I gaped at the two of them.
"I leave for fifteen minutes and you guys are already best friends?!"
"What can I say, I'm charming. That's why you fell for me in the first place isn't it?" Link chuckled, throwing an arm around my shoulder. I rolled my eyes.
"Goddesses! I swear if you weren't so cute I'd sock you in the jaw." I teased, poking his stomach. He smiled at me with a devilish glint in his eye.
"I'd like to see you try." He suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist, hoisting me up in the air, and playfully bodyslamming me into the couch.
"LINK!" I shrieked, unable to keep the giggles from erupting out of my mouth. Tetra, obviously excited by the stark change of mood in the household, jumped into the fray, again grabbing a throw pillow and hitting me and Link. Sheik swooped in and plucked Tetra out of the fray, spinning her about like our father used to. I smiled to myself. It was nice to see that even with everything that has happened, my family and friends were still my family and friends. They would always be there for me. And they are always be able to find the joy when I can't.
My contemplative moment was interrupted by a knock at the front door. In an instant, all of the tension about Ganondorf from the night before returned on the faces of my loved ones. Sheik was the first to move, squaring his shoulders and walking toward the door. Link followed. Tetra looked at me, slightly confused, but fully aware of the fear that wafted though the living room. A pit settled in the depths of my stomach, and I knew that I wasn't going to like what was behind that door. Minda, as if she was psychic, appeared at the bottom of the stairs with the same tense look on her face as the four of us. She quickly dashed toward the door where Link and Sheik shared a mutual look that seemed to say "whatever is behind that door, we will protect this house". After the longest moment of my whole life, Sheik opened the door to reveal exactly what I feared most. Or rather who I feared the most: Ganondorf.
He was dressed nicely, his intimidating form clad in a full suit. Tie, dress shoes, the whole nine. And he was holding a single lily in his hand. Sheik, Link, and Minda visibly bristled, falling into formation almost immediately and creating a wall to shield me from view. He simply smirked.
"I've come by to pay my condolences in person. I stopped by a couple of days ago, but nobody was home. I trust you got the flowers?" He looked between Link and Minda's shoulders and directly at me.
"You're not welcome here." Sheik all but growled. Ganondorf chuckled.
"I see you've told your friends." He continued to address me. "I think I remember telling you specifically not to do that." My legs went numb with fear as Ganondorf started forward, only to be pushed forcefully back by Sheik. "Oh you really don't want to do that my friend." Ganondorf shook his head as his eyes began to…glow?
Suddenly, there was a sharp, searing pain in my left hand, almost like a constant burning. I let out a sharp gasp, followed by a scream when the pain didn't go away. Dark spots crowded my vision and I dropped to my knees. I grasped my hands together, hoping to find the source of the pain, but all I could see was gold light coming from the place where my left hand used to be. I looked up at the others, who weren't even looking at me. The only thing I saw were the blurry figures of Midna, Link, and Sheik blocking Ganondorf from getting inside. And I swear that Link and Sheik's hands were glowing too. I took one more breath, hoping to ward off the darkness that threatened to close in, but it didn't help. A wave of heat crashed over me and I fell into unconsciousness.
I awoke in a temple of white marble. Constant choral chanting seemed to come not from singers, but from the walls themselves. The ceilings stretched higher than the sky itself, and light poured in from the copious skylights above. I was lying on my back in the middle of the floor. The stone underneath me would normally have felt cold on my back, but I felt nothing but pleasant warmth. I sat up. The pain in my hand was gone. In fact, my whole body felt light and warm, a vast departure from the sleepiness I felt before I went unconscious. Standing up, I gazed in wonder at my new surroundings. The temple was HUGE. And spacious. At the far end a giant woman was carved out of the marble on the wall. She was sitting cross-legged, with a calm look on her face, and in her hands was a triangle divided into three smaller triangles. In front of her there was a small pedestal where one could stand with the same triangle marking. I took a few steps forward, craning my neck to keep the sculpture in my line of sight. I reached my hand up to touch her, when a voice sounded behind me.
"We've been waiting for you." I whipped my head around to be met with what must have been a dozen other women standing in a semi-circle who weren't there before.
"Well." My mouth spoke before I even had time to process that a bunch of women just appeared out of nowhere. "Sorry I'm late." A few of the women shared an eerily similar smirk, but most of them just looked confused. The woman from the center of the semi-circle stepped forward to address me. She was pretty. Beautiful even. All of them were. She had blonde hair that was tied with two green ribbons in the front. She wore a shin length pink dress with a blue diamond on the chest. A white cloth hung around her shoulders, and a few ornaments and decorations hung from a belt at her waist. Her blue eyes were kind. Maybe the kindest out of all of them. She smiled softly at me before speaking.
"You have my sense of humor. It's been a long time since one of us had my sense of humor." I shook my head in confusion and looked down at myself. For the first time since waking up I realized that I wasn't wearing my own clothes anymore. Instead I was wearing a light, flowing dress that seemed to flutter without any wind behind it.
"W-Who are you?" I stuttered. I somehow sensed that I wasn't in any danger, but the confusing surrounding my situation clouded my mind. "Where am I? What do you want from me? Where are my friends? Oh God Ganondorf! Did he-" Panic settled in when the kind-eyed blonde woman stopped me.
"It's ok. It's ok." She comforted me. "You are safe. And so are your friends. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing can get to you here. As for us, I am Zelda. And so is she." She pointed at one of the women. "And so is she. And so is she." She kept pointing. "We are all the Zelda's who came before you. And we are here to guide you toward you destiny."