Thank you, thank you to my wonderful reviewers. If you are wanting more ZeLink goodness, you will have to wait a few days until Link returns.

Chapter 6
Sent Away

--

When Link awoke the next day, he felt like the happiest person on the planet. For once, everything was going his way. He had a girlfriend, he was tough, yet knowledgeable, and he was willing to do anything for his country.

There was a knock at his door. Link, thinking it was Zelda, opened the door with a grin on his face.

A single guard stood there.

"King Rathos wants to see you in the main hall." And with that, the guard turned and left.

Link pulled on a shirt and set off down the stairs.

--

As Link descended the final flight of stairs, Rathos came into view. He was accompanied by another man, with short-cropped brown hair.

"Ah, Link!" exclaimed Rathos. "This man is from the Hyrule Military Camp in the Barrens."

Link shook the man's hand. "It's always a pleasure to meet someone who defends our country."

The man laughed. It was a hollow laugh, as if he was laughing at Link.

"I don't defend our country, though I am on the Reserve list. No, I run the Camp. It is a place where young delinquents can be sent to have them straightened out. I will expect you back here in 30 minutes."

Link looked at Rathos. "I don't understand. I'm not a JD."

Rathos sneered. "Oh, but you are. You would try to steal my daughter away from a man that could marry her and make her happy. You, young man, are a criminal."

"Liar!" spat Link, "Everyone saw what Ganon did. He hurt Zelda. I spent two hours by her bedside hoping she would wake up."

Rathos snorted. "No, fool, you spent two hours by her bedside so that when she did wake up, you could kill her. I am banishing you from the castle forever. You are not to see my daughter ever again, under pain of death. General Kaurem, take him away."

The man, Kaurem, grabbed Link by the arm and dragged him out of the castle, kicking and screaming all the way.

Link cried for Zelda, he cried for Saria, for Romani, Malon, Armand, anybody, to come and rescue him.

But no one heard him.

He looked out the back window of the car as it drove down the driveway, tears rolling down his face as he watched his beautiful princess slink further and further away from him, until he couldn't see her bedroom window anymore.

--

Zelda woke up with a start. She went into her bathroom and took a quick shower.

After drying ff and donning fresh clothes, she knocked on Link's door.

"Link? It's me."

She opened the door quietly, in case he was still asleep.

But he wasn't there. His bed was neatly made, and a single envelope lay on his pillow.

Zelda

The single word was written on the white paper.

She opened the envelope, and read its contents.

"Dear Zelda,

I have left. There is nothing for me here. Don't ask anyone where I went, I have instructed them not to tell. Everything that happened last night was a lie.

I don't love you, and I never will.

Goodbye forever

Link"

Her mind screamed in protest. It couldn't have been. He was so honest last night. Why would he do something like this?

She felt hot tears running down her face.

Her Link, her boyfriend, her one, was gone and wasn't coming back.

She lay down on his bed, and cried herself to sleep.

--

"Sweetie?"

Malon's voice woke Zelda from her sleep.

"What is it sweetie?" Malon, who was always so maternal, was the only person Zelda could trust with her feelings.

"Link left. He just up and left. He didn't even say goodbye."

Malon gave Zelda a hug, and Zelda burst into tears once more.

"I hate him…I hate him…" she choked through her sobs.

--

Link watched the passing trees get thinner and thinner until he found himself looking out at a desert. The car stopped at a massive brick wall.

"We're here."

Link got out of the car and followed the General through the wall and into a courtyard that had a pool in the middle, punching bags off to the side, and military courses in the back. They followed a path to a simple building. Kaurem pushed open the door, and Link stepped inside. There were three other boys sitting on rickety beds.

Upon noticing the commander, the boys stood and saluted.

"At ease boys. This here is Private Forrester. He's here for 5 years, same as the rest of you. Give him a bunk and show him the showers. After that I want you boys in the pool swimming laps."

"Sir, yes sir!" cried the tallest boy.

The general saluted, and left the room.

"Stupid bloody ponce…" muttered one of the boys, "Anyway…I'm Sheik. The shy one over there is Athos, and this big old guy is Porthos."

"The three musketeers?"

Porthos grinned. "We would have been…but our mother decided our names before finding out our gender. Our sister's name is Aramis."

Link chuckled.

Sheik stood and pointed at an empty bunk next to his. "That'll be your bunk. There's a loose floorboard underneath the one on the far side of it. That's where we keep our stash. Showers," he pointed at a door behind him, "are through there. Get changed. Sarge will be waiting on us."

Link changed into a pair of swim shorts that were folded neatly in a drawer labeled LF, and joined the other 3 boys outside.

Porthos nudged him. "The pool may look attractive," he whispered, "but it's rarely been over 60 degrees."

Link gulped, but dove in anyway.

He surfaced, gasping for air as the cold water sucked the energy from him.

"Get going private! 70 laps or it's dish duty for you!"

--

That night, Link sat on his bunk talking with Athos, Porthos and Sheik.

"Hey Link. Wanna have some fun with the Sarge?"

Link nodded, anything to get back at the bastard who had made him swim 70 laps in ice water.

Sheik tossed him a key. "That'll get you into the general's office. You can send messages to all the computers at the camp from there."

Link already knew what Porthos and Sheik had in mind.

--

Link stuck his head out the door, looking for the patrolman. There was no one around. He darted out and across the courtyard towards the general's building.

--

Link returned minutes later shaking his head.

"There are patrols outside the door into the building.

Porthos turned to Sheik. "I told you they would catch on eventually."

--

The next day saw the arrival of a new recruit. His name was Zant, and he was a major kiss-ass. He always made sure Link, Porthos, Sheik, and Athos were in proper uniform, and never complained about the freezing water.

But Link didn't like him. There was a familiar sense of impending danger around him.

Zant may have appeared like a good recruit to the General and the Sarge, but in the bunk room, he was anything but good. He hated Link with a passion, and so often took ridiculously long showers, and stole Link's uniform from his drawer.

There was one time that Link saw Zant talking to the General, and he could have sworn he heard "Master Ganon" and "Kill the boy" in the conversation, followed by an exchange of an envelope that was no doubt filled with money.

He prayed silently that the 5 years would pass by as uneventful as each day was.

One day, he went outside to watch the sunrise, and spotted a newspaper lying on the pavement. He picked it up, and read it aloud.

"Princess due to marry Terminan"

"Princess Zelda Harkinian was proposed to last night by Prince Ganon Dragmire, Prince of Termina, King of the Forsaken etc, after a royal supper. The princess is reported to have been a little disheartened at this, and almost reluctantly agreed.

We have no word on how her boyfriend Link Forrester feels about this, and when asked, Princess Zelda only said, "Link Forrester is not my boyfriend, and he never was. He can rot in the Barrens for all I care."

He stopped reading at this, and set the paper back down. She was due to marry Ganon.

Then it hit him.

Rathos never approved of him and Zelda being close, so he sent Link away to ensure that Zelda would marry a prince. And Ganon, being left to his own methods, sent a spy to make sure Link stayed at the camp.

Link felt tears run down his cheeks as he looked at the magnificent towers of Hyrule Castle in the distance. He thought of their wedding, and what they were going to right after.

Then he stopped crying. He remembered his training.

--

Flashback

--

"Now young Link. When you are emotional, you will do no damage. Let go of your emotions and you will become the most vicious killer."

Link closed his eyes and stopped thinking of all his aches and pains, all his sorrow and joy.

He opened his eyes, and charged Impa.

There was a flurry of blades, but in the end, Link was standing over Impa, a triumphant grin on his face.

­--

End Flashback

--

Link sighed. That had been many years ago, when he was more innocent.

He closed his eyes, and felt his emotions drain out of him.

Wow…this chapter is 1600+ words.

Anyway, R&R, because Link goes home in the next chapter, and finds out just how Zelda feels about marrying Ganon, and he discovers Ganon's plot.

Total story words: 7240

Roughly 29 pages

Teaser for Chapter 7

Link stood just outside the door. He could hear voices from inside. One of them was…Ganon!

"As soon as the wedding is done, kill the girl."