Link woke up the next morning completely disoriented. He'd been hoping that it was some sort of hallucination, or a dream. But when he sat up and looked around the cramped apartment, he knew it had really happened. Link rubbed his eyes, frowning, and went to the kitchen area for food. He looked around curiously at the small but unfamiliar bits of equipment, realizing after a few minutes of study that these newest of strange mechanica were a woodless oven, and a massive ice box. He was surprised to find the milk was kept in a container that was clear like glass, but flexible like thin wood. He entertained himself with this for several minutes before finally pouring himself a glass and having some bread with honey(found in a cupboard, a very thin and translucent kind of honey) for breakfast.

To his surprise, on the floor near Saria's apartment key was a little envelope. Inside were several furry-feeling bills in different colors.

Figured if you are who you say you are, you probably need some modern cash, right? Maybe buy yourself some normal clothes.

Alongside the money was a carefully folded map. Link went to his toolbelt and put both items inside, pausing when they did not vanish into the magical 'holes' that his belts retained.

All of his weapons beside his sword were gone.

Link checked every one carefully, but each yielded the same result; they would go into the pouch, but no further than its dimensions actually held.

He sighed and made sure the pouches were secure, picked up Saria's apartment key, and went on his way, leaving his sword behind. It made him nervous, but he could not risk another scene.

So he went out, and explored the town.

The sheer height of the buildings kept pulling his eyes upward, so he did not see most of the weird looks he got on the street as the people flowed around him. Now and again he stopped, rechecking his map; Saria had neatly dotted on the map for him where clothing stores were, as well as her apartment.

When he got back to the main city area, he had to stop and look it over. There was something comforting about it; some sort of structure to the buildings. It hit him that the layout was a greatly expanded version of the castle market. As he walked by the buildings, looking them over, he could confirm this was so; there was a confectionary where the sweets baker would be, a … very loud 'game' shop where the toy shop would have been, and it did not take him long to find a clothing store that looked as if it would have something more sensible for him to wear. So, he went inside.

It was brightly lit, and the clothes were neatly arranged; one side with clearly womens' clothing—skirts and flowy tops. He turned, seeing the men's section on the other side, and started rifling through them.

"Can I help you?" asked one of the employees, walking up to him with her hands folded and a smile on her face. She looked Link's current attire over a few times, and resolutely looked back to his face. "Must be laundry day?"

Link looked back to the rack of clothes and grabbed several green shirts. "I think I've got it."

She nodded and walked back to the counter, and Link focused instead on the pants. How was he supposed to figure out the fit of these things? He grabbed a few pairs of those as well, and went up to the counter. The employees immediately turned away from each other and toward him with wide, false smiles.

"Did you want to try those on?" the girl from earlier asked.

"Yes, please." Link was relieved at the suggestion. He followed her to the back, and shut himself in one of the tiny changing closets. Inside was a mirror, and he stared at himself for several minutes, trying to confirm that he was still himself. His original clothes were filthy; something he hadn't realized until now. No wonder they'd stared at him as if he were odd. He quickly changed, and to his relief he found the second pair of pants fit well. Link studied himself again, surprised at the change. He looked a little different now, in a subtle way. He still needed a wash, but now he appeared… revolutionary? he supposed. It was like meeting dignitaries from another country and noting the strangeness of their clothes and customs, only he was the one adapting them.

Link changed into his dirty clothes and went back to the counter, where the girl and her coworker, a boy, turned and nodded to him.

"All set?" the girl asked as she reached for the clothes.

"Can I… wear these out?" he asked as he handed them over.

"Sure, once they're paid up and we take off the security tags, you can change," the girl replied with an easy smile.

The bell over the door rang, and Link turned out of habitual curiosity. A girl with wild curly hair walked in, followed by a burly man in an impeccable suit. She wore a flowy, deep blue top over tiny shorts and strappy wedge sandals that laced delicately around her ankles.

Link was handed back the clothes with a shopping bag for his current attire, and as he turned to go back to the changing room, the girl shouted, "Link!"

He stopped and turned, looking at her again. Who was she this time?

She ran over to him and hugged him around the neck, but only for a second; she quickly stepped away. "Oh my goddesses, Link. Did you spend all night out partying again?" She laughed and slapped him on the shoulder.

In that split second of contact, her left hand on his left arm, he saw her as if through a veil or screen; her blue, mottled fish skin and dark, wide eyes.

"Ruto!" he shouted in surprise, making the connection. She laughed again.

"So what, were you at some sort of Medieval rave or something?" Ruto asked, gesturing to his clothes.

Rave? "Something like that," he replied slowly. "I actually was going to change into something… better."

"Oh honey, wait until you at least shower first," she replied, shaking her head. She linked arms with him and pulled him towards the door. "So when did you get in town? Where are you staying? Why didn't you call me?" she asked as they stalked out.

"I just… dropped in the other night. Staying at Saria's. It was to be… a surprise?"

"Ohhh," Ruto replied, winking. "You thought I'd tell Zelda? Come on, I can keep a secret. So Saria's, hm? I'll drive you that way and you can change."

She pulled him to a huge, gleaming black car in front of the store, and they climbed into the back, along with the hulking man that followed her; a knight, Link assumed.

Ruto took a swig from a water bottle, sighing. "It's so hot out today, I'm dying of thirst all the time." She handed him a bottle as well from a compartment filled with ice.

Link looked out the window at the massive buildings, then back to Ruto.

"So," she started, with a shrug, "what are you and Saria up to tonight?"

Link shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. I don't know when she comes back or anything."

Ruto smiled at him. "I would probably assume about six or so; that's usually when her office closes. You guys should totally come out tonight; I'm supposed to go with Zelda to House of Skulltula tonight, they have a new DJ spinning."

Link nodded slowly. Zelda and Ruto would never have gone to the house he knew of by that name. But if it meant he could find Zelda, if she even was the Zelda he was looking for—

Cold washed over him unexpectedly. What if he hadn't ended up in the same 'place' as their queen? What if she was in an entirely different universe from this one?

"And that way, maybe you could reconcile with Zelda."

Link paused and slowly lowered his water bottle. "Hm?"

Ruto was staring at him with hard eyes now. "She came back six months ago and had a nervous breakdown. What did you do to her?"

Link shook his head. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

Ruto threw the cap from her empty water bottle at him. "Yes you do! You broke up with her! You really broke her heart!"

Link shook his head again. "We… It was nothing like that. Trust me."

"So if you guys meet tonight, there won't be some sort of huge dramatic blowup, right?" Ruto leaned back, her arms folded.

"No."

Ruto sighed and looked out the window at the passing buildings. They pulled up to Saria's building, and she followed him up to the apartment, looking out the window and studying Saria's plants.

When Link emerged, she smiled briefly at him, but looked his hair over. "It's gotten really long."

Link shrugged. "Has it?"

Ruto nodded. "I shouldn't be surprised. You guys moved away a couple years ago." She looked at him again, closer. "Right?"

Link tried to smile. "Yeah, of course."

Ruto turned away slowly, heading back to the door. "Let's go to lunch."

And so, they went.

They got home not long before Saria, who smiled at Ruto in surprise when she saw her. They hugged briefly and Saria went to her tiny kitchen to make something to eat.

"We should order sushi," Ruto called from the living room. She'd turned on the Teevee, and Link couldn't help himself but be fascinated as he watched and learned how this modern town worked.

Saria snorted. "You know I can't afford that, and I'm vegan anyway."

Ruto shrugged. "They make veggie rolls, you know." She stretched out her legs. "Are you coming out tonight?"

Saria reappeared from around the wall separating them, holding a cup of iced tea. "What's going on?"

"House of Skulltula?"

Saria wrinkled her nose. "They only play dark wave, I'm not a fan."

Ruto groaned. "You gotta try something different once in a while."

Saria turned to her unexpected guest. "What about you, Link? You haven't been back in town for too long—

"And already gotten in trouble." Ruto ruffled her hair. "He told me that the police were climbing all over his ass. I told him that I could talk to Dad about it, maybe he could cut a deal."

Link shrugged his shoulders. "I… I can follow along with the plans you already had, really."

Ruto's face brightened, and Saria sighed, knowing she was overruled simply by Ruto's stubborn nature. "It's settled then; Skulltula is ours, tonight."

Ruto and Saria napped away the last of the day, while Link sat up. He made a plate of cheese, bread, and grabbed a beer before settling in by the window to watch the sunset and think. Would this Zelda be the one that knew him? Or would she be like the other girls he had met here, and mistake him for some other version of himself?

Link finished his beer and food, and put the dishes away. On a whim, he again checked his waistbelt, but nothing. The pouches were resolutely empty.

As a wandering warrior, Link had endured some loud moments. A thunderstorm breaking overhead out of nowhere in the middle of the night, the booming sounds of Goron drums, Bongo Bongo's own hellish device, and the pounding of Ganon's paws on cracked cobblestone.

The noise he encountered now, was on a slightly different level.

It was loud, and clashing, and vibrated inside his bones. The club was full of foul smoke and the smell of stale alcohol, sweat, and even a little of blood. People were packed together in tight clusters, and the tiny skirts on some of the women, that only inched higher as they wrapped their legs around their dance partners.

Link rubbed his eyes, unsure if it was the smoke, the stale air, or the constant hum in his head, like a dull ache. It was not his Goddess' presence, it was something different, something more familiar and yet strange.

Ruto shouted something, he caught the words 'drink' and 'bar' and watched her slip into the crowd like smoke. He turned hopefully to Saria, who was staying close, and wearing a bright green bob wig that oddly, comforted him. She'd worn it before he left, at the Ikana Carnival during Hallow's Eve—

Link shook his head and rubbed his eyes again; and the unfamiliar memory faded.

"HEEEEY!" came a voice that rose above the noise, and Link turned and was caught in the middle of a powerful hug. A Goron style hug. He gasped for air but was a second too late; thankfully, the hug was only a second longer.

"I THOUGHT YOU GUYS HATED DARK WAVE!" the hulking man shouted, adjusting his shirt. Link looked at him in bewilderment, and the humming in his head abated just a bit as he made the connection—

"Denno!" Link cried out. Darunia's kid, of course! It should have been more obvious to him, really.

He hugged Saria too, but a little gentler than he had hugged Link. Ruto reappeared near them through the throng, holding a bottle of water and keeping her other hand in a tight fist.

"LET'S FIND SOMEWHERE TO SIT!" she shouted, hugging Denno.

There was a clear advantage to his size; the people parted around him without so much as a thought, and the little band of partiers followed behind him in a cluster. Link kept Saria between himself and Ruto, worried she would get swallowed up by the people if he didn't.

They did, miraculously, manage to find a wide booth in the back of the club. Ruto remained standing as they settled in, and she opened her hand, revealing a small bag with several small, multicolored pills inside. She took one and offered the bag to Denno, who took and passed down. Saria hesitated, but, cautiously, Link partook. Engraved on the pill was the Triforce.

Ruto took hers and took a swig of water, and passed around the water bottle.

"I'M GOING TO FIND ZELDA," she shouted, gesturing towards the throng. Denno nodded and settled back into his seat. Link swigged cautiously at the water, and in a fit of hindsight, he wondered if it was so wise a choice to take something without asking what it was.

After a while, the world seemed to smear left and right, but Link felt as if he were drifting up and down. He realized quite suddenly that he was grinding his teeth and had made little tears in the upholstery of the chair. Denno was gone, lost in the fog of screaming lights, as were Saria and Ruto. When Link looked around, his head twinged more powerfully than ever, and he stared at Zelda.

She sat, casually sipping a bottle of water, but he could tell by the minute movements of her hands and jaw that she was suffering the same effects as he. Her eyes were dilated in the dark light and from the drug, and they were circled with dark, ashy makeup. There was a vibrancy under her skin; a dim gold glowing, like shining a light through vellum.

Link looked down at his hands, and realized he had the same effect, but it was far brighter. He forced himself to exhale, realizing he was holding his breath.

When he looked up again, Zelda was looking at him.

"She puts the bottle down," he muttered. Zelda put the bottle down, though she could not have heard him.

"She moves over," he added as an afterthought, not realizing that he was reading her most minute of movements, as if he were in a battle, and interpreting them out loud.

Zelda moved over, sitting next to him.

"Hey," she said in a soft voice. Despite the quiet of it, he could hear her perfectly. Link took a slow, deep breath, and exhaled just as slowly.

Zelda put her hand on his shoulder, and in those moments he saw her as he had known her in their place; regal, knowing, wise, and carrying a weight quite heavy for her age. He blinked hard and willed away the vision, and when he opened his eyes again, she was back; her blond hair trailing down her back in tiny braids and her eyes that calming blue; but the drug had leaked a little bit of madness into them.

"It's okay," she said, nodding, her glow leaving faint trails in the air. "I'm right here."

Link reached out and hugged her, then, and Zelda hugged him back. He realized that they were both shaking a little bit.

"You're acting like you haven't done this in ages," Zelda muttered in his ear.

Link pulled back slowly. He had to look in her face, he had to know if she was the right one.

"Zelda, we have to go back."

Her eyes narrowed a fraction. "Go back where?"

Link swore and shook his head. "Not her, not her."

Zelda frowned and leaned back. "What are you talking about? That I've changed? I haven't seen you for six months, Link, and you expect me to stay the same? That's a little hurtful."

"No, I'm sorry… Zelda, but I am looking for a different you. It's you but it's the you I know," Link tried again, but he could tell he was losing her.

Zelda stared at him hard for several minutes.

"Did you take something else tonight?"

Link shook his head emphatically. "No, no. I don't… Saria can explain this, she understands." He turned to find her, but she was lost.

"I am not… I am not the Link that you know. And-" he stopped her before she went to talk, "not in a, 'I've changed' way, but in a way that I am telling you I am not the Link from here, that you know. I am from somewhere else, a different… place entirely."

Zelda tilted her head. "Okay," she said quietly. "Say that I believe you. You don't know me? You've never met… me?"

Link nodded.

"But on the same hand, you do know me, but it's not this me right now."

Again, he nodded.

Zelda shook her head a little, incredulous. "This is too much for me, I think. We'll have to talk when we're sober."

The night crawled and danced past; the moments were slow, but whenever Link checked the cell phone Saria had left on the table for him to watch, it would be a half hour, an hour later. Not once did he dare go out into that throng of people; he was having a hard time not interpreting their dancing as aggressive movements when he was sitting ten feet away. Zelda sat near him most of the time, and ordered sodas and waters from the rare waitress. She paid and pushed a glass down to Link when she noticed even his ice had been devoured.

Link's heart was beating hard, but not quickly. He chewed mercilessly on the straws that came with his drinks, and he vowed to himself to not take any strange little pills ever again.

By six in the morning, Saria reappeared, her clothes soaked with sweat. She reached out and gestured for Link and Zelda, her face haggard. "We should get food!" she shouted.

Ruto and Denno appeared not long after, their eyes equally manic. They helped Link and Zelda pry themselves out of the booth, and they all clustered together behind Denno's imposing form to cut through the crowd, which had not thinned much, despite the hour.

Saria's car was too small to fit everyone, and she was also the only one sober, so instead they walked down the block and went into a grimy donut shop, where several other partiers had gathered. Link was surprised to find he was ravenous.

The cashier looked at him with tired, barely-awake eyes as Link stammered, looking around; he'd barely been able to pay attention to the boards.

"Uhh… iced coffee, and… two Bavarians… and a ham and cheese sandwich, thanks." Iced coffee? Was that what he thought it was? People paid for cold coffee in this city?

Despite his reservations, the drink really was quite delicious, and he ate in huge bites. They all ate like that, saying little, trying to get their fill as quickly as they could. To his relief, Link realized that the colors were turning normal as the sun slowly rose, and no longer did their skin shine and glow from within; just with the glitter that had rubbed off on them from another person. Zelda caught his eye and nodded, and he nodded back. Despite that he hardly did anything all night, he felt good, he felt comfortable now. He'd found his friends.

When they were done, they threw out their wrappers and walked out into the weak morning light.

When Link next woke up, he realized he had really, truly, come down. He felt slightly nauseous and his mouth was dry. Slowly, he sat up and looked around. He wasn't in Saria's apartment, to his confusion. This apartment was much larger, with a similar layout. There was some quiet music playing from behind a door, and Link slowly stood up off the couch he'd been asleep on. Looking around, though, he realized he was in Zelda's apartment; he recognized some of the wall décor she'd had in their place.

He peeked behind the door with the music; it was Zelda's room, he could see now, and she was asleep under the covers. He moved back, a little embarrassed, and went to see if he could find some water or something to drink.

To his surprise (and suspicion), he was able to figure out the TV fairly fast, and when Zelda finally shuffled out, yawning and smoothing her unbraided and frizzy hair, he'd been engrossed in a show about making bolts for bridges.

"Well, at least that hasn't changed," she muttered from behind his shoulder. Link looked at her, then back at the screen.

"It's fascinating stuff; these tiny little pieces of metal that make massive structures, weighing thousands of tonnes…"

Zelda shook her head and went to the kitchen, returning with a glass of water. She sat at the far end of the couch, curling her feet up.

They watched until the end of the program in silence, and Zelda grabbed the remote, hitting mute.

"So, Link-but-not-Link," she started, looking at him.

He turned, and her gaze was suspicious, and a little angry.

"Please, let me explain."

"The mere fact that you deigned to get high off your ass with me in a club, hug me, talk to me, tells me that either you are blowing off everything you put me through, or all that crap you rambled about last night is some sort of weirdo sci-fi truth," she snapped. "You see, the Link I know, knew, abruptly left me six months ago, after four years of being together. You, or he, decided that maybe we were too serious, or something, or maybe, that you hadn't seen enough of the world, and had to do this before you could settle down, because apparently I would have no interest in going with you?"

Apparently, the Link of this world did not have as much tact as his current replacement.

"Your Highne—Zelda." Link put up his hands in defense. "I will tell you exactly what I said last night. I am not from this realm. I am from a different time and place, where you are a ruler, and I am your appointed Guard Captain. I came here because you-but-not-you disappeared inside a cave, and when I followed, I fell into this town. Would the Link you know have charged into a restaurant with a sword, terrorizing innocent people?"

Zelda frowned. "No, of course not. Unless he had a bad trip, and even then..."

Link reached for her hands, but Zelda pulled away. He pulled his own back to his lap. "Considering how I reacted to whatever that was last night, do you really believe I am the same person?"

Zelda looked him over slowly, determined and thoughtful. Link waited patiently, holding her gaze. Finally, she slowly shook her head. "No, I really don't."

Link sighed in relief.

"So then, where is your Zelda?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head. "I don't know. I wouldn't even know… where to begin looking for her. I was hoping that since everyone seems to think that I'm this realm's Link, that you would be her, but…"

He leaned back into his seat, frowning.

"Not everything's quite so cut and dried all the time, is it," Zelda muttered. She sighed and stood up, going for her keys on the table. "Come on, I'm taking you back to Saria's."

Link stood up and followed her to the door, reaching out and putting his left hand on her left shoulder. "Zelda?"

In that second, he could see her true self; and it was the queen of Hyrule in that echo image, looking world-weary, but safe.

Since she had vanished into this world, she had forgotten who she truly was.

"What?" her modern day counterpart replied.

"I'm sorry for your suffering, truly. Whether it's my fault or… the other me."

Her eyes softened briefly, but the flinty hurt and rage iced them back up quickly.

Saria was unnervingly bright and chipper when Link knocked on her apartment door. Zelda had simply dropped him off in front of the building and pulled quickly back into traffic with hardly a good-bye.

"I have the day off from labs today, thank the Goddesses, so if you want I thought maybe we could meet with Ruto's father to discuss your case?" Saria held out an envelope to Link. "This came this morning; probably has your court date."

Link opened the letter and frowned. It was indeed, a reminder of his court appointment. He saw his lawyer was again Gaebora, and in a way this brought him some comfort; a familiar face, someone to offer advice when he would need it. He folded the note again and set it down on the table.

"So, what did you and Zelda do?" Saria asked.

Link shook his head. "Nothing, really. I… I don't actually remember much of last night. All I really know is we left the club and I woke up at Zelda's place."

Saria nodded. "Do you remember anything?"

Link frowned. "What about? Last night, not really. Well—" he thought carefully. "I could see auras. Is that normal with this drug?"

Saria looked at him in surprise. "Auras? No. Unless you mean around the lights? Lights were really bright and fuzzy?"

"No, around people." He gestured helplessly around his shoulders. "Like on Zelda, hers was huge and bright gold, and I could see her as the queen that she is in my world. When did you say she came here?"

"Back to town?" Saria tapped her chin as she thought, leaning against one of the walls. "About… six or so months ago. She practically had a nervous breakdown; screaming that she wanted to go home, that she needed…" she glanced at Link and went red and looked away, "… that she was scared and lonely, and demanding to know where you were. We couldn't tell her anything; we figured you'd had a nasty falling out."

Link straightened up, his eyes focused. "Saria. Did Zelda tell anyone she was coming home? Who did she find first?"

Saria also went very still; it seemed she'd quickly picked up on Link's thread of thought. "No, she didn't contact a soul. We finally found out she was back in town from her law school mentor, Impa Ivanova."

Link's eyes widened. "She… she had a breakdown? Ruto mentioned the same thing. Saria, last night, when I was seeing those auras, Zelda… she was the Queen. The one I know."

Saria nodded slowly. "No shit… but—you were high. It could have been just a hallucination."

Link shook his head. "But it could be her! When I met Ruto, when she touched me, I saw her as she is in our world. When I put my hand on Zelda's arm, I could see her as the queen, I could see who she was."

"But did Ruto disappear from your world?"

"No, she didn't.." Link sighed. "But I think it's her. I think… she forgot who she is."

"And why do you think that?" Saria asked quietly.

Link looked at her dead on. "Because I'm starting to forget."