Ugh, this story. I tried, I swear. I just could not figure out a graceful way to do this part. I rewrote it about a thousand times. Guess we're stuck with this one. XD


Chapter III.
Where There's Love Overflowing. ("We Are Pilots" by Shiny Toy Guns)

November 27th, 2010 (221 HT) continued

They found themselves in a complete quandary for seconds on end. Link stood up immediately, alert. He didn't know where they were. He stood guard over her, glancing around. Unarmed, unready for whatever this was, if it was bad. He found himself in unfamiliar territory, and for the first time in years, he was frightened.

"That's not usually here..." she'd said, reaching her hand toward a beautiful, sparkling white light floating above the fountain, floating around the unicorn heads.

Meghan opened her eyes, straightening up to sit on her knees. She looked around, holding her hands tight to her chest, longing to clutch her aching heart.

"Link…" she breathed, half crying. "Link…"

"Wait...don't...wait!" he'd screamed.

"It's OK," he started, thinking she was upset. He was looking around at a landscape unfamiliar to him, not at Meghan. "We'll find—"

"Link…" she said again, nearly speechless. The desperateness of her words silenced him. Her hands shakily lowered, pulling tendrils of green from the ground with weak fingers. She stared at her hands, heart racing, the smell of the ripped blades of grass bringing back memories.

He reached his hand down to her cheek to comfort her. "I don't know where we are, but we'll find our way b—"

"My god, Link…I'm home," she said, tears streaming down her face as she looked up at him.

He turned to look at her. She stared up at him meaningfully. She was hugging herself, still knelt on the ground as though she was too weak to stand up. He knelt down to hold her, putting his hands on her arms. He stared with wide eyes at her, trying to figure if she meant what he thought she meant.

"Link! We're home!" she repeated. He just gave her a blank stare. So many thoughts went through his head, and very few of them were positive ones. Home? As in...?

"Earth, Link! Look where we are!" she yelled, crying and smiling.

But there was a feeling of disbelief in his stomach. He couldn't just so easily let this be real. His mind clicked and turned its gears, like a clock working to move to the next second. This couldn't be right. He couldn't help old suspicions from finding their way into his head. This had to be Ganon's doing. He was exploding as he contemplated the thousands of conclusions he came to. He looked around again, searching for anything suspicious.

She turned and pointed to a beige house before them. "It's my house."

"It's your house?" he asked, his hand hovering near her shoulder to hold her back, in case she was about to take off to it.

"Yes! Link, look!" She tore away, attempting to run to the house as he held her back. "Look…" she whined, pulling at his grasp, barely registering why he was trying to hold her back. "My parents are home! Their cars are in the driveway." She was excited, unable to think, wanting to act before knowing why she was there, why this was happening. "Should I ring the doorbell? Should I go right in? I haven't been here in years…am I allowed to just go in? It might scare them."

"Megs, hold on," he said, his voice even and quiet. "Think about this."

She shook her head, refusing. She would believe anything but this being wrong. She would believe anything but the fact that this could be a trap, an illusion, or something bad. She refused to entertain those opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She frowned at him. "No, no, no. You think it's him." He looked him in the eyes, anger in hers. "No, no, no!"

He made a face, feeling a bit silly in that moment. It'd been over two years since he'd slain the monster, and there had not been even a sliver of his evil power present in Hyrule since then. But it also wasn't unbelievable that Ganon would lie low and-

"Do you feel his presence at all?" she asked, sounding accusatory.

It was difficult to remember the sensation, but he knew that he had, at one time, been able to feel when Ganon was nearby. He had been able to feel Power of the Triforce, but now, he felt nothing but his own power. He felt emptiness where Wisdom should be, but if they were truly in another world, that was to be expected. Zelda was not here. But there was no emptiness in the place of Power. It just wasn't there.

"No, I don't," he admitted. "But...we still have to be careful, all right?"

She barely smiled, letting out a short breath and nodding her head. "I'm home," she said, as though this statement would explain everything.

She pulled free of his loosened grip on her hand and jogged to her front steps. Slowly, she ascended, feeling the wooden banister on her way. She had flashbacks of returning home from school, following this same path with her bookbag on her back, her brain full of knowledge, and thought, Now I'm a teacher.

She reached her hand out to touch the door, her fingers lightly feeling it. It was slightly different than she remembered, maybe painted over since she'd been here. She wiped away her tears as best as possible. Was this real?

Link's mind was still reeling. Could this really be her home? Was this some sort of illusion? He glanced around again, having a terrible feeling this was too good to be true, but Meghan was very clearly pulled straight into the trap.

It was their anniversary, and all they'd been doing in Hyrule was going to see whatever surprise Meghan had for him. She'd led him to a cave in the woods by their home, inside which a fountain decorated with marble unicorn heads lay. By her surprise and curiosity at the glistening, crackling illumination of unidentifiable magic, he assumed this apparent portal was not part of her surprise for him. Link turned to look behind himself. There was an identical, glowing oval of light there, punched into a tree trunk. She could never help her curiosity, and so when she reached for it despite his warnings, he'd followed straight behind her.

She turned to him again. "Link! My parents! Oh, crap! We're married." She put her head in her hands. "Should I tell them right away?"

It had just been a few hours ago that they lay blissfully in bed, not expecting this at all. "Meghan, listen. This is all too strange," he said, still attempting to get to to think clearly. "How did we get here? Think about it."

"I don't know, but we're here."

She couldn't think of a reason this wouldn't be real. Evil was abolished in Hyrule. Ganondorf was dead. Long dead. No one she could think of would be wishing revenge on them now. Especially after all this time of peace.

Could she deny that there could be another source of evil in Hyrule? Could she deny that, somewhere, something or someone was wishing ill upon Link? No, of course not, but...

She worked up the courage to ring the doorbell, and then she stood back a step, Link's hand squeezed tight in hers. He looked at her, worry growing as they waited. She shook with anticipation and fear. He was tense with apprehension, trying not to look threatening, but still wary of who would answer the door. He took a step forward so that he was slightly closer to the door, should he need to shield her from something.

Her stomach flipped. Would her parents recognize her? Of course they would recognize her! She was their daughter! But she must look so different! And what would they think about Link? Her questions clouded her head, so that when the door finally opened, she barely realized.

A confused woman stared from the doorway to the face of her child, mutated so that she was sure she was hallucinating. Though Link had never laid eyes on the woman, he recognized her. He saw Meghan's face in the lines of this woman's.

They were both silent for a moment. Meghan's knees grew weak. Link put his arm around her, to hold her should she lose her strength.

"Ray?" the woman called shakily, summoning Meghan's father. She grasped the frame of the door with her left hand, her right reaching for someone to stand beside her. "Ray?" she called, slightly louder, slightly more frantic.

More tears rolled down Meghan's face, smiling as her breathing hiccupped. Her father came into view hurriedly, and another look of shock joined the bunch.

"Mommy…daddy…" she whispered, air barely moving between the lips that formed the words.

She sprang forward to her mother, gathering her in a hug and crying into her. Her mother's hands shakily found her back and returned the embrace as she, too, began to sob.

Her dad came forward and joined the bunch, and Meghan moved one of her arms to fit around him too. The three were in wordless sobs for a long time.

Link stood back to give them space. It was so strange, to apparently be in her world after all this time. She'd described it for him many times, but it was still so different. There were strange objects everywhere, and the trees were not like any he'd encountered in Hyrule. It even smelled different. Her parents were virtual strangers to him, but perhaps it was Meghan's familiarity with them that made her parents feel so familiar. To know Meghan's face so well for so many years, then find that there were people who shared her features sparked unexplainable feelings in his gut.

"Where have you been, Meghan?" her father was finally able to ask.

"It's such…such a long story!" she choked, breaking into a fresh set of tears. "I missed you so much…"

"We missed you so much too," her mother said.

Three and a half years. They all thought it. How so much could change, yet nothing changed at all. The world still turned. The sun still traveled across the sky. Three and a half years was everything and nothing at all.

Meghan finally lifted her head to look at them. They looked so much older than she remembered. She didn't doubt that her sudden disappearance years ago had done some of that to them.

They were taken aback by the way she looked as well. Her lighter brown eyes, silky skin, and pointed ears were the most obvious changes.

"Why do you look like that?" her mother asked, wiping her face of tears. Her father took off his glasses and cleaned them so he could see properly, then replaced them.

"It's such a long story. I want to tell you all of it!" she cried, trying to keep a smile on her face, but her conflicting emotions kept fighting.

"What happened to you? Are you OK? Please tell me!" her mother demanded.

"I'm fine, mommy! I swear…I've been OK all this time, I really have."

They all hugged again, barely able to let go of each other.

It was a while before anyone acknowledged Link. Meghan heard him shift behind her. She turned her head away from her parents and smirked at him. They followed her gaze.

"Link," she whispered. He smiled hesitantly at her. He glanced at her parents shyly, a blush on his face. Before they could ask, Meghan moved away from them. "Mommy, daddy, this is Link," she said, going to take his hand in both of hers. He looked from her to her parents. "He's my…" She paused, flipping their grasped hands so her left was on top, displaying her ring. "He's my husband."

He felt a bit embarrassed. "I'm truly very honored to meet you, finally," Link said with as much respect and politeness as he could muster in his shocked voice. He nodded his head a bit after making eye contact with both of her parents.

"What?" her mom exclaimed, wobbling a bit on her feet.

Meghan took a deep breath, grimacing. "It's part of that super long story that I have to tell you."

"Oh!" Link said, looking at Meghan, as though he'd just remembered something. He freed his hand from her and extended it to her father for a handshake. Meghan smiled and laughed through more tears. With disbelief, her father returned the handshake, then Link offered his hand to her mother. She was hesitant, as though unsure whether Link was real. They shook hands, nonetheless, and with his shy smile, deposited his hand back into Meghan's.

"Should we...go in?" Meghan asked, for once the only person oriented to all possible realities. She was only one who knew where she had been for the last three years, and the only one who recognized both Hyrule and Earth as her homes.

Her parents parted, allowing her to pass them. Link let her hand go, allowing her parents to follow behind her. She removed her shoes and her long hair, tied in a ponytail, swung back and forth as she practically galloped down the front hallway of her old home. She led them all to the kitchen table, across the house. She brought her hands to her mouth, unable to keep fresh tears away. Small details about the home she'd grown up in had faded, and being back felt surreal. They sat around the table, Link awkwardly last. She could tell that he looked uncomfortable, so she reached to him and squeezed his hand. He no longer seemed apprehensive because of potential danger, but because...these were her parents, and he'd never met them. And none of them had been expecting to meet each other.

"Well…um…where do I begin?"

Her mother reached for her hands, her arms…anything to prove she was really there. She ended up stealing Meghan's hand from Link. Her father took the other. "Where did you go?" her mom asked. "Where have you been? Do you even know how worried we were? We almost gave up. We've been through so much..."

"I know, mommy. I knew from the moment I was gone that you would be worried. remember, Link? But there was no way for me to get back. But I'm OK! I have been ever since I left. Nothing bad really happened." She frowned. Nothing bad...only a few brushes with death. But they didn't need to know that. "OK, let me start from the beginning. Mommy, daddy, this is going to be a little weird and you'll probably not believe a word I say, but I promise that I can prove everything. And I'm not crazy!"

They nodded.

"OK. So. When I was still fifteen, eheh, you're going to think I'm nuts…but...gods decided to get into a fight and the human god thought that, for kicks, he'd symbolically send a symbol of destruction into Hyrule, while at the same time really knowing that I'd do absolutely no harm and maybe in fact help Hyrule. I don't even know what they were fighting about." She spoke quickly, blending her words together because she knew the story would be unbelievable. "Hyrule is...in another world. Created by different gods."

"You're joking, right?" her mom asked.

"Actually, no. There are a lot of things I can do to prove to you this really happened. Like, these gods actually like talked to me and stuff. Ugh, I guess that sounds crazy too. Like...uh, look! Link, show them your hand."

He didn't know why at first, but he realized she was talking about the Triforce. Would her parents really take this as a symbol of the goddesses?

"I know it's hard to see, but there's this triangle on his hand that the goddesses of Hyrule made and he's like…the epitome of courage." She showed the glowing triangles on his hand to her parents. "And my best friend in Hyrule has the Triforce of Wisdom on her hand. And like the gods changed me into Hylian…sorta." She pointed to her ears, which may have been her best evidence yet. "But that's another story."

Her mom was getting that worried look. She stared deeply into each of her parent's eyes in turn, getting emotional at just being with them. She told them a shortened version of Link's story, about his destiny as the savior of Hyrule.

"Meghan, this sounds like a story you're making up," her dad said. "Are you...OK?"

"No, daddy, please. I swear I'm telling the truth. I mean...look! I have the scar!"

She stood up and lifted her shirt slightly to reveal the six-inch scar just above her navel.

"Jesus! Are you OK?" her mom asked, scared for her.

"Relax, mommy! I'm obviously fine. This happened over three years ago."

"Oh," she said, sinking back into her seat. She was weak. She began fanning herself.

"So you're…like her too?" her dad asked Link. "With the ears?"

Link nodded, shy. "Yes, I am."

Her parents were thrown off by his accent. Meghan had never really thought about it. When she first arrived in Hyrule, she was too scared and busy to notice it, and by the time she was no longer scared for her life, she was already used to it.

"But we're weird and stuff because Hylians can't bleed and they have an extra organ and stuff." She and Link nodded.

"You can't bleed?" her mom asked her.

"Well…actually, it's weird. Yeah, when I first became a Hylian—er, someone like us with the pointy ears—I didn't. But after another part of this big long story, I sorta became like half human, half Hylian and I do bleed now, even though I look like this, but not really like a human…"

"How can you just not bleed?"

"Well, we have blood. They have blood, but it clots quicker than ours, so it never actually leaks to the outside."

"I've never…" her mom started, "I've never even heard of that."

"Yeah, I hadn't either."

"Where were you, really?" her mother asked angrily. "What is wrong with you? You've changed."

Meghan was trying to break through to them, trying to get them to understand and believe. "I told you. Today is our two-year anniversary, so I was going to show Link this amazing place called the Unicorn Fountain. But then we saw this portal thing, and now here we are! I think it came out of the mulberry tree in the front yard!" She was laughing, desperate. This wasn't going to work. They wouldn't believe her, unless maybe she brought them back to Hyrule.

"So all this time you've been gone, you've been in fantasy land. You're another species and you don't bleed. And you're married."

"Yeah, mom. But, no, I do bleed. Link doesn't, though. That's all true." Link nodded in total agreement, but he wasn't sure if anyone noticed. "I swear, and we're not crazy. I can prove it to you any way you want."

Her parents didn't know what to say. What was this crazy, strange story? Was their daughter OK? She'd always been imaginative, but not to such a point where she believed that stuff had really happened. Then again, there was this guy sitting across from them who agreed with the things she said, and also looked a lot like her, with the ears. It would be hard to fake that. And Meghan hadn't hiccupped once in her story.

"In Hyrule, they don't have modern technology," Meghan said quietly, after silence. "Link has never seen most of this stuff before," she said, turning to smile at him, sad all of a sudden. Meghan stood in the kitchen, looking over all the things she hadn't used in years. Her father looked at Link deliberately.

"So...I'm sorry. Your name is Link?" her dad asked. Link turned his head quickly toward him, his eyes wide.

"Yes, sir."

"What do you do for a living?" her father asked shakily, wishing for some semblance of normalcy.

Small talk? Good, a change in subject. Meghan whispered in Hylian, "Your job…"

Her parents gave questioning glances at the quick exchange of words in some language they'd never heard. "I'm a primary school teacher. Mathematics…and sword skills."

"Oh," her father said, approving of the…somewhat…normal vocation. "I like math," he said, trying to find common ground. "You speak another language?" he asked the two of them.

"Yes, sir."

"His first language is Hylian. I learned it too after a while." She stood at Link's side.

Meghan was trying too hard to make everything explained for both sides. She smiled. She was probably making herself look more and more crazy. She put her head in her hands, unable to remain optimistic any longer.

"I'm really telling the absolute truth, really. I hope you guys believe me." She felt tears in her eyes, again. They nodded. She jumped and hugged her parents in turn, squeezing them tight.

"Link, look. I want to show you some things." Link stood. She smiled at something before her. "See this?" she asked. "This is a phone! Remember?"

Aware of her parents' eyes on him, he said quietly, "I remember. You've told me about those many times."

As Meghan explained a few things to Link, her parents watched silently. What was this beautiful creature their daughter had turned into? The best they could explain it was that she had turned into an elf, like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie. And what of her story? Was this really true, or was there something wrong with her? It seemed so fake, but there was the other guy who agreed with all she said. He seemed really gentle, somewhat shy and quiet. They figured he was nervous to be around them. As she spoke to this Link kid, though, her connection to him became more and more apparent.

At the same time, Link didn't know what to think either. She told him what everything was for, but it was hard to take it all in. After a few seconds of her talking, his thoughts led him elsewhere and he merely nodded in reply to her explanations.

"You don't have to know how it works. I don't know exactly either. It just does. Something to do with electrons flowing." She did a dance, her hands wiggling.

Meghan looked over to her parents. She smiled at them, hopping back to see them.

"Mommy, daddy, I love you guys. I can't believe I'm back here. This is so weird! It's like a dream! Who's the president? Must have changed by now!"

"We love you too, but we still don't understand. Right, Ray?"

"I don't even know. This is just like a dream right now, or maybe like the last few years have been the best dream ever. Because, like," she sat down, "I missed you guys so much at first, but I had to learn to deal with it. I never thought I would come back. I thought I would be there forever." She laughed. "So who's the president?" Not that she would even know anything about the new president, but it was probably something she should know, now that she was here.

"You've been gone for so long…we missed you so much. We thought you were…we thought horrible, horrible things."

Meghan's smile was gone. "No, mommy, and I'm so sorry I couldn't let you know. I tried in the beginning, but there was nothing I could do. We tried so hard. I'm fine, because of Link. He always protected me, from the first moment I got there. He was right there with me. I don't want you to ever worry anymore. I'm here and I'm safe."

"Are you going back?"

"Crap!" she cried, turning back to Link. "Is the portal still open?" she asked, standing. Her mouth was wide open.

"I don't know," he said, slightly worried himself. Neither had thought of that till then. What if it closed? Meghan was at the door in a second; Link right behind in breathtaking speed. Her parents stood, looking behind them. They were so fast!

Meghan rushed with Link now at her side to the mulberry tree in the front yard. She sighed with relief when the swirling white hole in the tree became visible. She stopped walking, smiling.

"I was scared for a second," she told him, her hand to her chest

"Me too," he said.

She turned to go back inside, but he held her arm gently. "Meghan, this is so strange," he said, out of earshot of her parents.

She turned back to him. "I know, Link. I can't even imagine how you feel. With everything, my parents…sorry, they're, like, acting weird too. I mean, can you imagine your fifteen-year-old daughter disappearing so suddenly and then suddenly returning, like, almost four years later? It's insane. It's all so insane.

"I don't know what I'd think. And coming back married. I feel wrong somehow…like now I haven't even asked your father because I never thought it possible."

"Don't worry about that. That's an archaic way to do things, anyway. He'll love you, I swear. He's the nicest person ever. See him trying to have a normal conversation with you? It's just a shock. And we've been married two years today. It's not like we were going to wait two years to ask him. Don't feel awkward with them. They're really sweet."

"I'll try."

"Link. You don't need to ask permission to love me. Oh my goddesses, I can't even imagine what my mom was like! She's a nervous wreck to begin with! She probably had a heart attack." As she had for years, she tried to ignore the guilt she felt for disappearing. What it would do to them. She'd had a brief moment back with her parents when she'd been killed more than two years ago, but it was never enough for her, and her parents wouldn't even remember that short time because it was technically another timeline.

He had to laugh. Heart attack. It seemed so long ago that she'd told him about that, but still he remembered it like yesterday.

"Let's go back. There's still a lot that I have to explain to you. This is sooo cool! You'll finally know what I was rambling about all that time!" she laughed as they walked back.

He smiled widely. Just the way she tried to smile. She really tried so hard, despite everything she was feeling.

"Link! Just wait. Just you wait! For TVs!"


A young woman stood in front of a small house in the woods. Her pale, delicate hand knocked at its wooden door as her husband, the love of her life, stood beside her with a smile on his face.

They waited for a moment outside the door for someone to answer it. After a few moments, she called, "Meg? Link? Are you home?" She stopped and thought for a moment. "I still do not feel Link," she said.

No one answered the door for Zelda and Luke, nor did anyone speak, but a whine sounded from the dog inside. "In fact, I do not feel him anywhere." She was suddenly acutely aware of a strange absence of presence from her consciousness.

"Really?"

Luke knew that Zelda could feel Link's presence because of their connection through the Triforce. The nearer he was, the better she could sense him. Usually, he was within awareness.

"Meghan said they'd be back by now, right?"

He checked his pocket watch. It was past noon.

"Yes, she did. Maybe they left a note."

Zelda opened the door with a swipe of magic and the two were greeted by 150 pounds of slobbering dog at the door.

"Hey Liam, I guess Meghan and Link aren't home yet," Luke said. They let the dog out to do his business.

"I wonder where they could have gone? Somewhere in the far reaches of Hyrule? I really cannot feel him one bit." She couldn't say that something so simple worried her, but it was the first time in a while that she felt so empty like this. In a way, it was nice. Link had moved so far away in part because being able to feel each other's every emotion was draining after some time.

"Well, then we'll come back later. They'll be back eventually."

"Yes…"

"Is something wrong?" he asked, detecting the worried tone in her voice.

"No. But I cannot help but feel very uncomfortable right now. It is weird…different. I really cannot feel him at all."

"You worry too much! You know they're fine."

"You're right." Zelda smiled, ushering Liam back inside.

"Knowing them, they probably discovered the portal to an alternate dimension and are hanging out there."

She laughed. "You are crazy, Luke."

"And proud of it."


Ok, guys, now think about the amount of time between when I last posted a chapter and when I posted yesterday. That's how long Meghan was in Hyrule away from her parents. Now you can imagine how Meghan's parents felt! XD