Note: This chapter...well it took a long time, but I think that was only why I could write it. It's pretty serious for sometime than it's funny...I couldn't have written it straight through...so sorry. Ok...so PLEASE use the poll on the my profile, god damnit!


"Link…Hero of Time……and Meeko…Heir of the Light Sage……stand and face your destiny!" Called a profound voice as Link rose from his prone position. When his sight adjusted, Link found a dark room lit by a wavy-glowing platform, which gave the chamber a feel of water. The podium that Link was on was covered in water, save a few islands of colorful stone. Situated on one of the islands was an elderly man dressed in flowing orange robes. With his bushy, white beard and an intimidating look in his eyes, the man continued his speech, "Do not fear, Hero…I am one of the sages that watched over Hyrule…"

"What's happened…" Link asked in panting tone. The experience of death looming in front of him was a normal for Link, but he was never as close to it as he was with Rinkar. If Meeko and he were there a second longer then they would be dead……Meeko…MEEKO!! Where was she?! Twisting all around for his lost companion, Link distinguished Meeko's white garb torso lying at his feet.

"Do not worry for the Yellow Maiden…" The man consoled as Link bent down to check on Meeko's health, "It appears that she might take some time to recover from her state of shock."

The feeling of guilt washed over Link. Meeko should have never have been caught up in such a horrifying turn of events, she was almost killed!! Despite her impressing powers, Meeko was still an innocent in Link's eyes…and with everything that happened in the wasteland and Ganondorf's castle……she should never have been there…

"What happen to Hyrule…" Link posed to the sage for an answer, "How could the sages…the goddesses…how could they just abandon the world to person like that?!"

"……" The man took the question in, contemplating it in detail, "…The defenders of our world, man and god alike, met the fate of all who opposed Rinkar…extinguished."

Extinguished……? Did Rinkar have that much power? The Great Deku Tree did said that everyone who was affected by time was in danger…but even the gods? If it was true, then what hope did Link have of stopping him?! The despair on Link's face prompted the ancient sage to go on…

"Link…even though the scoop of Rinkar's strength seems immeasurable…you still have a chance to stop him…" the sage's words filled Link with doubt. What could he do anything against Rinkar when Link's greatest foe, Ganondorf, was so easily struck down, "…Link…defeat Rinkar in the past…and end this vision of the future from ever happening!"

It so simple…OF COURSE!! Rinkar himself said that he still had to finish his work, so Link could stop the madman before he ever achieves his goal. The realization restored Link's optimism and revitalized his mission to save the world……Link would never allow such a destroyed future to become true.

"Link, Hero of Time…save the providence of our realm…go back and stop Rinkar!" The sage exclaimed, "But before you go back…I will tell you the source of the dark sorcerer's power…an ancient weapon crafted by a great race…infused with glory of Eternity……the Chronos Scepter…

"Ages ago…a great war was fought by two powerful kingdoms. The war drag on for years, neither side taking the advantage…that was when the rulers of Hylia decided to step in. With their vast knowledge, they created a weapon that controlled time itself and could decimate armies. In the end…the weapon was never used……One side of the war accomplished a grand victory…with new, dark magic……but…the spirits of Hyrule stripped the victors of their power and banished them from the Light…"

The sage's story was all too familiar to Link…The race of invading dark sorcerers…punished for their misgoverned attempt to use old magic to claim the Triforce……the story of the Twili, Midna's people. The old sage added on to the telling, though…the Chronos Scepter…a weapon of mass-destruction that would be used to end a war? Link didn't see how the death of millions could help the relations of two nations…if two wrongs do not make a right, then how would one colossal wrong do it? At Link's feet, Meeko stir awoke Link from his thoughts and he looked down at her in concern.

"Please tell me I'm not dead…and I don't have to spend all eternity with you…" Yep…she's ok…

Link placed an arm around her waist as she grabbed his shoulder, then he pulled Meeko up. The sudden movement made the girl dizzy and she took a moment to collect herself. Then she realized just how awkward a position they were in, Link's arm nestled about her and Meeko holding onto him. A blush started across Meeko face, but Link didn't seem to care in the slightest (that insulting to Meeko, just a little). When was the last time I was held by a boy, the maiden silently thought. She thought back to her when she was inducted into the Hyrule's Cluster for Young Temple Maidens, how all friends and families bided Meeko off with kisses and hugs……did that count? No, this was different! This type of thing was supposed between Izunoo and her! Not this guy……well…he was REALLY cute-NO! Meeko pushed herself away from Link, almost stepping off the stone island they on.

"Hey, are you ok now?" Link asked and received a meek nod from the girl (is Link really that dense?).

"Where are we-" Meeko began but stopped when she noticed the orange robbed sage standing in front of them.

"Do not be afraid, Meeko…" the sage related, "I am an ancient sage of Hyrule…that watched over your life with great interest…being that you are my descendant!"

"Y-you are……Rauru?!" Meeko got a nod in reply, "Then…then this is…!"

"Your presumption is correct…" the sage retorted, "You are in the Chamber of Sages, inside the Temple of Light…"

"Then we're in the Scared Realm!! Oh my Goddesses!! This can't be HAPPENING!!"

"Now that you are conscious, Maiden of Light…you can leave with the Chosen Hero and assist him in the journey…"

"WAIT!! I can't go yet! I have so much to ask…I don't know where to begin!!"

"You must leave!" Rauru said franticly, "…the dark ruler of this world is drawing near!!"

"Rinkar!" Link exclaimed.

"Even the Scared Realm is under his dark power…I am the last sage to remain this long…You must return to the past!!"

As Rauru finished speaking, the same rumbling that shock Ganondorf black fortress started to quake in the hallowed hall of the Temple of Light. Suddenly a section of the wall burst away, rain rocks down onto the three. A figure stood tween the substantial gush in the wall, cackling……Rinkar…

"Keh keh keh……First the King of Evil and now the Sage of Light! I'm really clean house today!!"

Rinkar joke didn't amuse Link…This bastard was going to destroy the whole world, Link thought in horror, all in the name of his form of justice. I had to get back and finish off Rinkar in the past!!

"Go!!" Rauru shouted as a ball of yellow light shaped next to Link and Meeko, "I well send you back to the year that you came from…now GO!!"

"Meeko! Let's go!!" Link bellowed as he yank on Meeko's arm.

"No, wait! We can leave him!!" Meeko pleaded. She couldn't abandon Rauru, her own history!

"He's dead, Meeko!" Link choked out, towing the maiden to the portal, "They're all dead…"

Stepping into the light orb, Meeko and Link felt a sensation of displacement…as their bodies and souls were flung back through the centuries……

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"We haven't much to work on about this area…"

Impa and Izunoo were in the Hyrulean Hall of Records, a highly unused part of the Castle. It was actually just a reasonably large room, lined the shelves full of scrolls and tomes. They contain the most ancient to the most up-to-date information in all of Hyrule. The two had occupy a pair of seats at a long table that run along the center of the room, voices hasted to avoid the unwanted attention (it was quite legal…want they were doing).

"It seems that this new group…the 'Horse Head Marauders'?…they've taking up business there" Izunoo appeared over the reports detailing desert events, "Why haven't I heard of them before?"

"There a fledging organization in comparison to the Gerudos and have little in numbers" Impa answered, "But what they lack in tactics and manpower they make up in brutality. There symbol is a decapitated horse's head on a pole that's held at the lead of the raiders."

"…Sound friendly…"

"The marauders are made up of former prisoners from the abandon Arbiter's Grounds…" Impa handed Izunoo a paper with person's illustration on it and continued, "Their leader is a former high security inmate…probably the most dangerous of the lot…"

Izunoo stared down at the picture and saw the Hylian man staring back: The man had bushy eyebrows along with a long beard that continued pass the margin of image. The top of his head was bald, either by choice or naturally, and hook nose lay under fiercely drawn eyes. The man's eyes were most detailed part of the illustration…as though the artist hadn't been satisfied with how he drawn them and kept adding more and more until his was content. Izunoo knew why the artist would have had trouble with this prisoner's eyes…because he had seen eyes like these before……They weren't the everyday eyes that someone would see and Izunoo was thankful for that…these eyes harbored malice toward the world……eyes of a murderer, a slaughterer, a man who wanted the world to burn……There was a name in the bottom margin of the paper…"Hagen"…followed by another title…"Steel Skin Scourge"……

"Mmmhh…" Izunoo took a couple more seconds to look at the picture, "…I might have problem with this one. But nothing that I couldn't handle……I doubt I that I'll have to…"

"Izunoo…I don't want you to do something stupid out there, ok" Impa said to her brother, her apprehension cracked through her normal, serious tone, "It isn't just the Gerudos and Marauders out in the desert…the Bulblin tribes have been acting up as well."

"If Ganondorf's out there…I'm going…" Izunoo related to Impa with dead-set eyes, "…and he's not going to the dungeons this time…"

Impa had onset of remorse. Had she place her only brother and only family on mission that he never come back from? But Ganondorf was out there…plotting his return. They need to at least know where he will be coming from and what he had at his disposal……But Izunoo wouldn't stop there…he sought to end Ganondorf…not for justice, though. Izunoo personal vendetta against the Gerudo for what he did to both of them……to Impa's and Izunoo's parents…

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In the dark corners of the imposing Temple of Time, a lone figure silently lurked. It was Rin…looking for her ditsy b.f.f. and trying not to get caught herself. The Temple was closed at this hour and NOBODY was allowed in! Meeko, though, hadn't return from her duties at the Temple and Rin was starting to get worried. The Temple of Time at midnight created an eerie atmosphere of shadows and normally inviting objects became foreboding demons of impossible sizes (damn it's scary in here at night!!). At the very end of chamber, Rin saw something she never thought she EVER see. The Door of Time…built and closed millennia before Rin's birth…was opened……

"The Door of Time……but…h-how?" Now Rin had two choices:

Find an adult……boring…

Check it out herself

Well…Rin never saw herself as being the boring type, so of course she went in (yes…go into the dark room you've never been in before…great idea!!). As Rin walked through the small hallway between main chamber and this new (old), oval chamber…what she saw was even harder to believe than the Door of Time being opened…………Yes the Master Sword was there, BUT BESIDE THAT!! Was that Meeko…on top of a HOTT GUY??

"MEEKO?!" Rin exclaimed waking the two up.

"Rin!! Thank the Three that we're back…" Meeko sighed, the nightmare finally over. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and tried to stop her speeding heart. Meeko had enough epics for one day…

Link was relieved as well. If Meeko knew this girl, then their back in the past…where Rinkar was……Link could find him and stop the tyrant from ever becoming the insane 'god' of the world. The girl Meeko had called her Rin was standing over them. She had long hair…as long as Meeko's, but her hair was bunched together in two ties and hanged over her shoulders. Rin's hair was colored black with just a few streaks of blonde at the bottom of the tied off sections. As Link stood, he saw that Rin was a little taller than Meeko (though still shorter than Link) and she sported the same robe-like dress that Meeko wore. Her light purple lipstick matched the darker plum of her eyes……

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't see anything!" Rin hastily said, "I'll just go and let you two be…"

"RIN!! What did you think we were doing?!" Though Meeko guessed what the raven haired girl was thinking. Her clothes were dirty…Link's clothes were dirty…yeah…but NO!! "Rin! You know I'm saving myself for my one true Izunoo!!"

"Nothing wrong with getting the lay of the land before you buying a house!" Rin tried to calm her disgruntled friend…didn't work…

"Seriously, nothing like that happened." Link jumped in before Meeko could bounce on Rin, "Just a lot of weird stuff happened and we ended up in that way."

Rin turned attention toward Link…Wow…Tall, well toned muscles, and a face to scream for! Meeko knew how to pick them…Holy Farore…if she didn't want him then Rin would for sure take him!!

"Oh! Yes. If…If you say so…" Rin shyly replied, put forth her best innocent act, "I just could never imagine myself in such a…affectionate position…"

"HEY!! Didn't I just say it was like that!!" But Meeko might as well be a million miles away because Rin didn't even register her anymore.

"Oh my! I never got your name" Rin continuing her naive performance (she's pretty good actress).

"I'm Link-" Link started but was quickly interrupted by Meeko…

"RIN!! Would you stop your innocent-flirter act!!"

"Oh my, Meeko!" She didn't stop, "How could you think that I'm FLIRTING at a time like this!!"

Meeko just gave a 'When aren't you'-look and proceeded out of the sword chamber. It was too late at night to play around and the maiden was exhausted from all the damn time-traveling. This left Link defenseless in the mitts of Rin…

"So…I guess I'll leave now…" Link said, trying to shift past Rin but she snared his arm…

"Oh no!! You can't be walking all alone at this hour!! Let me find you a bed at the dormitory!"

"NO!!…I mean…No that's not necessary!" Link struggled for his arm back, but the girl was on him like flypaper.

"Please!! Don't go…its too dangerous!"

"I think I can manage…"

"Please…at least stay the night in the lobby of the Cluster's main building! It's really comfy!"

There's no stopping this girl!! Link finally collapsed to Rin's will and nodded his head. Rin had sweet, never-did-anything-wrong smile on her face, but in Link's mind the smile was a satanistic, there-will-be-blood grin. Mighty Din…Link's going to need all the strength you have for tonight……


Author's Note: So...that was chapter...well whoever reading this needs to review or review more. MuffieMaster is like the only one who's keep the reviewing up-to-chapter, so pick it up people. I don't care how you review anymore. Just put your two bits in and I'll be happy. I'm hoping to get thousand reviews and shift through them to get the data I need. Thanks again Muffie.

Edited 9/22/08: Muffie now has a few follow reviewers.

There's something that I noticed...Hagen is the name of the raiders' leader...Hagen is the name of the mayor of Castle Town. That was stupid of me. Mayor Hagen was taken was taken from Minish Cap, but Marauder Hagen is an orginal creation. I named him after a character in a Celtic tale...too much theology studies, sorry. I used his name in future chapters, so I can't change it now. Sorry for the confusion.