Threads of Destiny

Chapter 1

An elder man, nearing his late forty's sat behind his desk, filling out paper work. The never ending pile of papers always appeared as if by magic whenever he wasn't looking. Normally the task would not be so difficult, usually done within an hour or two, but this time, it was truly difficult. This time he had to select the four top most students for the wing festival race next month. The winner of the race would automatically be raised up to the next year of the Knight Academy, without having to take all of the rigorous exams and tests. However, that was currently the issue.

So far only two of the students in the junior year class seemed capable of being able to participate in the race, Link and Groose. While it was true that Link was sometimes lazy, the boy could do anything if he set his mind to it. Groose on the other hand was more of a "get in my way and you'll regret it" sort of person. What made matters worse; Groose had an infatuation with his daughter Zelda. The red head has disrupted class on multiple occasions to try and impress her, but the results were usually the opposite and got him in trouble.

Link on the other hand was his daughter's best friend and it was extremely rare to see the two of them separated. He knew his daughter had a crush on the boy, but something just always seemed mysterious about Link, ever since he had met him.

The winds were howling something fierce. The gusts were too strong for even the most able bodied knights and their loftwings. The night patrols had to be called off, and the citizens warned not to go outside. Fog had rolled in shortly after the sun had sunken beneath the clouds rendering visibility to nothing. Gaepora, an instructor at the Knight Academy sat at one of the tables in the cafeteria having a conversation with his old friend, and fellow instructor, Owlan.

Both instructors wore the traditional cream colored robes and had similar scarves. Gaepora's was brown while Owlan's was blue. Gaepora's blonde hair was beginning to grey a bit, but Owlan had always had grey hair so it was hard to tell how old he was just at a glance. Owlan took a sip of his coffee before looking back at his friend. "Nervous?" he asked. Gaepora raised an eyebrow. Reading the questioning look in his eye, Owlan continued. "Aryll is seven months pregnant now, are you nervous about becoming a father?"

"No, not that much, I mean I have worries here and there, about this and that, but I find that fretting about things just makes them worse," Gaepora responded.

"That's a very wise sentiment," Owlan commented. "So, what are you going to name the child?"

"Well," Gaepora thought about it for a moment. "I guess if it's a boy, then I'll name him Kafei, but if it's a girl then Zelda," he decided. Owlan raised an eyebrow at the name choices.

"Really? Why-"Owlan was cut off as a sound reached Gaepora's ears.

"Come," it said as if speaking from the wind. The man immediately rose to his feet and looked at the other, both with questioning looks on their faces.

"D-did you hear that?" Gaepora asked. Owlan shook his head, giving his friend a quizzical look.

"Come," the voice said again, the sound dancing in his ears like a whisper in the wind. Being the brave one, Gaepora made for the door. Ready to brave the weather, the man reached for the door knob leading outside.

"What are you doing? The weather is too dangerous to go out at this time of night!" Owlan tried to council.

"I have to find out what that voice is," he replied.

"What if something happens, what about your family?" Gaepora didn't reply, but neither did his resolve break.

"Stay your hand Gaepora," an elderly voice said behind him. Both he and Owlan turned to see the headmistress of the academy descending down the stairs. She was elderly, older than anyone else in Skyloft. She wore a white robe and had a long yellow scarf around her neck. She had a walking stick in one of her hands. Her eyes, a deep sapphire blue, her long silver hair was kept in a long series of pony tails. "I will go, there is something unusual about this voice," she said.

"You mean you hear it too?" Gaepora asked joy sweeping through him at the revelation that he wasn't going crazy. The headmistress turned her head in his direction as she approached the door.

Gaepora reluctantly stood aside for her to pass. "I will return shortly, you two should get some rest, you two or the only ones up at this late hour." The two teachers both looked at her with surprised expressions before looking back at the clock to see just how late it was. The two of them quickly cleaned their dishes and placed them on the drying rack. "I expect both of you to be well refreshed and ready for the student role call tomorrow morning," to told them in a commanding voice as they passed her by back up the stairs.

The next morning all of the students as well as the instructors were surprised when the headmistress arrived for the student role call with a baby wrapped up in her arm. It was a well known fact that both of her sons had died fighting off bandits plaguing the northern colonies. Once roll had been taken and the students departed for their lessons Gaepora approached and asked about the child.

"His name is Link, and while he has no parents to speak of, he is a citizen of Skyloft. Until he can look after himself, I will," was all she said. That was the end of that subject.

With a shake of his head Gaepora got his mind back to the task at hand. Today marked the eighteenth year since Link had mysteriously arrived in Skyloft. A man in all rights, the boy was more than ready to take the exams to move to the next level, as were many of the students in his year, but only he and Groose technically qualified because they had their skills balanced in all areas, unlike the rest of the students. Of course all of the students had applied for the race to try and skip out on their exams. In order to qualify for the race you had to be passing all categories of the proctored areas with flying colors, a tough challenge.

However, this was causing a bit of trouble because the race required at least four contestants. Well, he could make an exception in this case and pick to students who fell just short of the requirements. That left him with three possible students, Cawlin, Stitch, and his daughter Zelda. With a last train of thought Gaepora selected the four contestants for the race, and wrote their names down.

The headmaster rose from his chair, picked up the bulletin and left to post it in the lobby in front of the massive cafeteria. But before he left he took a glance out of his window to the sparring field just outside of the armory.

Eagus, Commander of the Knights of Skyloft and the combat instructor at the academy, stood clad in his olive uniform with his sailcloth tied around his neck like a cape, fastened in place with a golden brooch. A metal helmet rested on his head instead of the standard cap. He was large, muscular man and always had his sword nearby. On his arms were steel wristbands designed to have the same strength and efficiency of a shield, but without the loss of an arm for the equipment.

Standing before him were all of the junior class students, clad in practice armor and armed with wooden swords. Among the rows of juniors, only one stood out among the rest. Zelda was one of the very few women who enlisted in the knight academy and was the only girl in her entire class. Karane was the only other girl in the academy close to her age, but she was in the senior year, soon to graduate to full knighthood.

Zelda shifted uncomfortably in her tight leather armor. The armor that the students practiced in were originally designed for men, not women, but that didn't stop her or numerous others throughout the course of history. Her long blond hair was tied back in a series of knots held together by her green and pink ribbons. The leather chest piece hugged her frame tightly and made it hard for her to breathe if she strained herself too much. The straps bound her legs also had their fall backs; they were stiff and restricted her flexibility, restricting her to simple maneuvers. The gloves on her arms were bound tightly and seemed to weigh down her entire arms.

She knew that in her senior year she would be given her own set of chain mail and the standard colored uniform. She relished the day when she would no longer have to wear such heavy restricting armor. It made her feel bulky. She turned her eyes to the person next to her.

Immediately to her right was Link, he was out fitted in a similar fashion, but with much more comfort. Zelda personally like seeing link all outfitted, it seemed to suit him for some reason, but she always preferred the "happy-go-lazy" look to "war time" Look. She realized she was staring at him when his eyes darted to meet hers for a brief second.

"Alright listen up!" Eagus suddenly called out. "Today's exercise will be simple, as the race is coming up and I'm sure all of you want to be in prime condition for it and the exams," he continued, walking down the rows of students as they stood at attention.

"I will split you into teams and give each team a flag, you're objective is to take the other team's flags before they take yours. There will be four teams at a time, The final team remaining will be declared the winner and will have the honor of sitting back and watching the rest of the class run laps!" he continued. Everyone's eyes lit up, Eagus's laps were brutal, a "run till you drop or the bell rings" scenario.

"However, you're team can move on without you, If you are struck even once, you will be classified as "killed" and will be removed from the exercise, and of course be deemed as a loser," he added. "No, I shall break you up into teams of five." Eagus went around and randomly picked out groups of students for teams. As he came down the row, pulling students out Zelda prayed to the goddess that she would be on Link's team.

"You two will be with Fledge, Strich, and Cawlin," Instructor Eagus told the two of them. Zelda let out a sigh of relief. She received a playful nudge from Link and the two of them joined their team mates and received their team flag, a simple blue standard.

Groose, a large young man with flaming red hair pulled into a pompadour and yellow eyes glared at Link as the two childhood friends passed him. Just from the look he gave, it was obvious that Groose was both envious and enraged at Link. He was put on one of the other teams, but luckily for the red head, he was on one of the teams facing Link's first, that put a smile on his face as he devised a plan to defeat him.

'Yeah, First I'll beat him like the slacker he is, then I'll prove to Zelda why I'm so much better, then she'll fall for me and the two of us will live happily ever after and he will be miserable!' Groose thought to himself with satisfaction. "Der her her," he laughed quietly under his breath.

Once the teams had been selected and the first four given their standards, they moved into the obstacle course which was modified to hold four small forts, one in each corner of the arena. The forts were simple wooden bunkers each with two rooms, an entrance and one with a staircase leading to the top where the flag was kept. The rest of the students waited in the bleachers surrounding it, waiting for their turns.

The moment the instructor rung the bell, Groose gave off a war cry charging off on his own to the blue team as they were going over the final parts of their strategy. Seeing what was about to happen, and knowing Groose, Zelda immediately readied her practice sword and swung at the big oaf before he realized that Link's whole team was surrounding him.

"Groose, you have been eliminated," Eagus called out, catching everyone's attention. The eliminated contestant threw down his blade and snarled in rage at Link. It was then that he realized he didn't see Zelda. That was also when he felt a blade against his back. He turned to see a reproachful look from the blond. With an irritated huff, the red head stalked off the field, mumbling how much of a weakling Link was for needing a girl to protect him.

"Ok, guys, so we all understand the plan?" Link asked after Groose stormed off the field. The blue team nodded and took their respective places. Fledge guarded the flag, Cawlin and Strich secured the small fort, Zelda and Link both stepped outside, ready to take on the other teams.

"Say, Link, when class is over want to head to the Lumpy Pumpkin with me?" Zelda asked without having to face him. She could see him smile out of the corner of her eyes.

"Sure thing," Link responded in kind, but first, let's deal with these guys," he said as he readied his sword. Zelda faced the one coming challengers and leveled her sword. They fought through the other teams, double teaming the more skilled and other wise parrying and attacking opponents when they focused on the other. Each defended the other. As one student was about to strike Zelda in the back with his blade, Link moved with such speed and grace Zelda had never seen before. He knocked back the opponent's blade, jabbed him in the chest then spun back around to catch the comrade of a fallen team mate who tried to take advantage of the opening. It was over in the blink of an eye, Zelda couldn't tell if it really happened or not, it was so fast. Link had always been a prodigy when it came to sword play, for some reason, no one could beat him; even some of the upper classmen had trouble fighting him.

Within moments the round had ended, with the opposing teams either completely eliminated, or their standard captured. Link's team hadn't suffered a single casualty either as Cawlin and Strich defended the entrance to their fort. The team returned to the bleachers happy with their victory and pleased to know that they would not have to run. They watched as the rest of their class mates dueled and more victories made.

Afterwards they sat on the bleachers watching the losing teams run laps. "Better keep running Groose!" Cawlin taunted, laughing to himself. Stitch looked sort of phased out as if he wasn't really paying attention to the rest of the class, more fixated on what was going on in the distance. Fledge looked the most relieved as he watched his class mates trek along on the track. Zelda was just glad to get out of that stuffy armor.

"You know Link, I can't see how you can be so comfortable in that stuff, it's just so… stuffy," Zelda tried to find the right words. Link couldn't help but chuckle.

"I don't find it comfortable either, but I'd rather be uncomfortable than injured," the dirty blond haired boy replied. The girl couldn't argue with that logic. "You were good out there," he added. Link could feel the edges of his cheeks becoming warm.

Zelda blushed a little bit as well. "Not as good as you, I can't believe you moved that fast," she replied. Link blushed more.

"I don't know what came over me, you were in danger and well…" his voice trailed off.

"It was sweet of you, thanks," Zelda replied with a smile. The academy bell sounded off in the distance, signaling the end of the class. Those who were running either collapsed or cried out in relief. "Well Link, I'm going to go freshen up a little bit, so meet me in the lobby in a little bit ok?"

Link nodded and watched as she disappeared up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. "Well well well," a voice said behind him. Link didn't even have to look behind him to see who it was.

"What do you want Groose?" Link asked half heartedly. The irritation at the red head was as sharp as a blade in the blond man's voice. He turned with his arms crossed across his cream colored shirt. The red head also crossed his burly arms across his own blue shirt.

"You out of the picture," Groose growled. "Zelda is mine! I deserve her, you don't!"

"What! You Deserve her?" Link exclaimed. "Since when do you own or deserve anybody?"

"Ha! You think you're so smart, you know exactly what I mean!" Groose stepped closer to Link. "Don't give me any of that "we're just best friends stuff either!"

Link balled his fists; he began wondering if the oaf's eyesore of a hair style impaired his brain. Whether that was the case or not Groose was trying to pick a fight, and if he kept trying to drag Zelda into it he'd gladly oblige the larger student. "I mean come on; you can't even defend yourself out there Zelda had to do it for you! You're pathetic, she deserves a real man, like me, not a weak little shrimp like you! How can you protect her if she has to protect you?" Groose goaded. Link took a deep breath to try and calm himself down.

A large crowd had gathered around them by now as the students just finishing their classes were attracted to the commotion. "Says the first guy eliminated in the exercise, who also just so happened to have been eliminated by said girl within seconds of starting," Link fired back. The crowds' eyes went to and fro between the two of them.

Groose growled at the last comment. "At least I'm not ruining her life, dragging her and the academy through the mud. What can you have to offer her? You have nothing but a name, no family, nothing!" Link felt his temper flare. "If she continues to hang around you, she's going to be wasted on worthless spec like you and become stupid and worthless herself."

"Don't you dare insult Zelda!" Link yelled. That was it, something snapped inside of Link. "Do you hear me!" He charged towards Groose but someone held him back.

"Stop Link! Don't do it, don't stoop to his level!" Zelda pleaded into his ear quietly. She had wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled with all her might to stop her best friend from punching Groose square in the jaw.

"Ha! And once again Zelda to the rescue," Groose mocked.

With another deep breath Link gritted his teeth together and gave in to the young woman. "Groose, I challenge you to a duel. You go to the dueling circle first thing in the morning tomorrow and I'll be waiting for you there," Link challenged his face hard and his voice cold. The buff red head gave an amused chuckle.

"Yeah I'll be there, I don't expect you to be there though," Groose said before turning and walking away triumphantly, leaving the fumed Link behind to glare into the back of his pompadour. The spectators moved aside for him to get through, Strich and Cawlin right behind him.

Eagus stepped forward and faced Link. "Normally I do not condone personal duels, but I will make an exception in this case, only because you are protecting your friend's honor, I will be the judge tomorrow morning, good luck," he said before walking away.

Letting his anger flow out of him, Link calmed down as he absent mindedly leaned against Zelda for support, her arms still around his torso. Before he was able to say anything, she gently guided him away. The crowd watched the two of them disappear outside the academy doors before dispersing.

End of chapter one. The prologue was dark and depressing I know, but that was the wrapping up of Hylia's story, from here on I'm focusing on Link and Zelda starting before SS and through it. There will be minor tweaks here and there but the plot will be the same (somewhat) Hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think! Please and thank you!