I need to confess that I never played through OoT. ^_^" I got stuck somewhere in the middle and never mustered enough motivation to continue. When I reach that point in the story, I guess I'll have to play it.

Contradictions 5

Link had always had this bad habit of oversleeping. Other children would always force themselves to wake up in the morning, but not Link. He just couldn't see what was wrong in sleeping until he woke up on his own. Because of this Link was often scolded by his best friend Saria and even The Great Deku Tree.

"The day vanishes, if you sleep this long!"

"Your friends will play without you, if you just sleep all morning."

Link saw their point, but didn't think it was such a big deal. It's not like anyone of them was in hurry or anything.

This time however, he was in a hurry. In fact the time had never been this important in his life and he understood it. He had not overslept wasted his precious time in any way. He gave his everything to obtain all three jewels and return to princess Zelda as fast as he could.

He gave his all, yet it had not been enough.

The smell of smoke came first. Link didn't think much of it first: It reminded him of the times, when he and Saria had roasted deku nuts together. (They tasted awful, if eaten rare, but ok when grilled long enough.) He smiled to the thought. With all the sacred stones in his little bag he and Zelda would be able to end whatever schemes that suspicious man had up his sleeve.

Then Link would finally get his answers. Afterwards he would be able to go back to the forest and roast all kinds of foods with Saria again! Everything would go back to normal.

Except The Great Deku Tree would never return.

That's right. Link had chosen to leave for this journey partly, because it was the last wish of his only parent and teacher and partly, because he wanted to understand the reasons behind all of this. Even so, Link still did not know, what to do with the man behind his misery.

Link did not want to kill him. Sure, he had been very angry at first. Vengeful thoughts had almost consumed him whole. Thoughts like: "A murderer deserves to die himself." or "I will make sure The Great Deku Tree gets justice!" were constantly invading his mind. That was, until he remembered one of lessons, wise tree had once shared with them all.

A boy had accidentally severely hurt the fairy of his friend and that friend then had caused an accident to the other. This had put a crack in their friendship. In fact, their little war went so far, it began to affect the atmosphere of Kokiri forest. In the end The Great Deku Tree had been the one to solve everything.

"Revenge is never to be confused with justice. Should one take revenge he would be no better than the one that originally did wrong. Hatred is a dangerous thing, children. If it blinds you, you can no longer see reasons behind the deed. But most importantly: Revenge can, under no circumstances, never bring happiness to anyone. So instead of hating, try to understand and forgive. Those can seem to be the hardest tasks, but believe me children: The one who chooses the path of forgiveness suffers a lot less, than the one who chose the path of revenge."

He had snapped out of it. Forgiving was too much to ask. That would never happen, but he wanted to at least understand, no matter how hard it was.

In the end he had to wonder, whether his teacher had spoken from his own experience.

Being absorbed by his thoughts, Link hadn't noticed how near Hyrule Castle he had reached. He was woken up by Navi's small, panicky voice.

"Link, look!"

Link turned his head upwards. He hadn't noticed it earlier, because the sky was so dark, (It would rain soon.) but now he was sure of it.

Smoke. A lot of it.

Link ran. Was he too late? His fears multiplied every moment and when he reached the top of the hill they were all confirmed. Every single one of them.

It was not fair! Link had given his all up until now. He had battled monsters, helped everyone to solve their problems and fulfilled his task, but none of that mattered anymore. He had been too late.

As the Castle town was being eaten by flames and grey ash filled the air, Link just stood there and thought. He could not believe what was happening! It couldn't be true! Didn't the residents use fire to heat their homes at night? Could it be possible that some people had just accidentally set their houses in fire?

Not likely.

He could've stood there days, until he would've been covered with ash, mourning how powerless he was, but there were still things left to do. Navi made sure Link would snap out of it.

"Link!"

No reaction.

"Liiiiiiiiiink! Wake. Up."

He still wasn't listening. For the love of- This boy was such an idiot sometimes! Link was kind person that tolerated Navi, even when she spoke rudely. He also let her sleep in his hat. In the short time, Navi had known Link she had grown very attached to the boy, but in the name of Farore his habit of never listening to her was really starting to irk her!

"Link! For the Goddesses' sake! Listen to me, you stupid, green, vegetable! Snap out of it! We don't have time for this. Remember Zelda? She might still be in there!" Navi pointed towards the castle. "Stop sulking and start saving princesses, okay? Did you not make a promise to her?"

While Navi was short-tempered, she never raged without a reason. Even now she really did bring her point across. Upon hearing Zelda's name Link was like a new Kokiri.

Navi was right. No matter how badly he had failed, he was still able to keep circumstances from getting any worse. Even if all he could do was to help one girl escape, he would do it.

With that Link ran. He did not know, if he would even find Zelda, nor if it was possible to even get to the castle anymore, but he prepared for the worst. That's why he was really surprised, when the gates opened and he saw the very girl already escaping to the night. Link saw her only for a second, but he felt really happy that she was still alive.

That happiness was short-lived. Someone was chasing the princess. Link could not see clearly, as the ash made his eyes hurt and the flames created a contrast too strong to identify the figure. The Kokiri still had a very clear idea, who it was and it scared the breakfast out of him.

It didn't matter. He would delay Ganondorf if it was the last thing he would accomplish. With trembling knees Link stood before The Gerudo and his horse to prevent them from getting any further. Link knew he was no match for a giant man AND a horse, but he had to buy some time. He raised his hands in the air to signal that the other could not pass.

His pathetic attempt seemed to arouse amusement in the enemy. When he began laughing while the fire still raged behind him, Link was ready faint from sheer terror.

"Foolish child! Do you not realise, who you are meddling with? I am Ganondorf and soon I shall rule the world!"

Link wasn't exactly sure why, but he was definitely still alive. He must've been unconscious for quite a while, because when he came to the flames had already died down. Slowly he stood up. His back was hurting, but that was nothing compared to his head. It really felt like it would explode any minute now. Link couldn't even see straight as his sense of balance had taken to the hills. He could barely remember anything and honestly speaking, he did not want to. He didn't want to admit it, but apart from praying, there really wasn't anything he could do for Zelda anymore. But there was no time to get sad over what had happened.

Even with all the haziness he had to deal with, something about the earlier events kept bugging him.

He had been so scared, he hadn't noticed right away.

Something about Zelda. It had seemed like she had had something really important to say.

She had been waving to Link, but that was stupid. No one would want to wave happily in that situation. She had been chased by a bad man after all.

She had thrown something? The moat?

!

That cleared his head. Without even thinking Link rushed towards the water and jumped in. Somewhere in the background a tiny fairy was being noisy, not understanding her master's thoughts. Link turned a deaf ear, giving his full attention to whatever it was that Zelda had thrown.

Link didn't care when his clothes got wet, nor when his bombs became unusable.

A tiny glint revealed the location of a small item. Being about the same colour as the rocks around, it was a tiny miracle Link saw anything at all.

An ocarina.

It was the same type of instrument, Saria had given him, only this was shiny and perfectly polished. It had a tiny, golden crest on it. Link had seen the same crest before. It was planted anywhere that had something to with the royal family.

Then, this was the ocarina of time?

If Link thought seeing such a holy artefact lying if the bottom of filthy moat was surprising, he would soon reconsider his definition of "surprising." Upon touching the instrument his head began filling with strange knowledge. He would finally find answers for many questions, even if the most important ones would remain unanswered, until he was ready to answer to those himself.

What are the spiritual stones for? What can I do anymore? Where do I go? Did I fail?

"Go to the temple of time and all will be revealed."

For those who couldn't hear what Link was hearing, he looked like an idiot, just standing there, mouth open, in the middle of muddy water.

It wasn't the first time Navi had doubted, whether this boy really had what it takes to save the realm, but her doubts seemed to multiply every second now that she could get no reaction out of her petrified master.

A minute later she got the scare of her life, when the lightning-struck master suddenly snapped out of it and yelled to her face:

"Navi, we are going to find the temple of time!"

And then he just stormed off.

It wasn't really the sudden movement that startled Navi, but the change of character in Link's tone and overall aura. The boy that usually spoke so quietly and politely was now full of confidence determination. It's like he had just now matured by few years. Not that she was complaining. Not at all.

It might be better to follow him. Who knows, what he would do if Navi wasn't there watching over him?

The whole Kokiri forest would fit to live inside this "temple." And not just once, but twice! The temple was just so magnificently large, Link momentarily forgot, whatever his business there was. What he couldn't understand was, why to build the roof so high? No one was actually this tall, right? The whole building was made from light grey, gleaming stones. It was beautiful, but the lack of any kind of furniture meant that Link's every step would echo eerily from the naked walls, which made Link somewhat uneasy.

In the middle of the room there was some kind of pedestal with strange writing on it.

"You who possess the three holy stones: free the melody of times and your path shall be revealed to you."

It really did open!

A door in the back of the temple slowly cracked open as Link played the song. The echo, bouncing of the walls made the atmosphere feel very ceremonial. Whatever was behind those doors must've been very important! With high expectations Link walked in, only to be slightly disappointed, when all he could find was a single sword in the middle of the room. The sword had been struck to some kind of pedestal.

Of course. Link did, what would be anyone's first instinct. He would grab the sword to see if there was anything remotely special about it. But Link would not know, would he? The very second the sword would separate from its pedestal, Link's consciousness was already fading.

This was a booooooring chapter to write and it shows too. But finally the child-arc is OVER. Now HERE is where the fun begins. :D *hehehe*

Thanks for reading this far btw!