Author's note:
This chapter makes me want to shoot my 12-year-old self in the head.
Chapter 14: Panic and confusion
Link was even more shocked than before. Sure, he had been to Hyrule before -a few times, actually- but why was it not underwater anymore? Why did the air smell of life? Why? Then he remembered the vortex. He stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out the potato-shaped instrument.
"Hey, that's mine!" the other boy exclaimed. "That's my ocarina!"
"This is an ocarina?" Link asked. "I've never seen anything like it…" He sheathed his sword and held it with both hands. The boy did the same, reaching into his shirt and pulling out what looked like a clone of the ocarina.
"This is daft," the boy said. "That's mine, but…" He felt the edges of his own.
"I was just walking in the field, when I saw someone lying on the ground," the boy explained. "It looked like it could have been one of the other kids from my home village, but I wasn't so sure."
"I was, well, a...friend... gave me this box, and I opened it, and there was the ocarina, with some sort of song in it…"
"What song was it?" the boy asked, and Link hummed the tune.
"T-that sounds exactly like the Song of Time!"
"What is it? I mean, what does it do?"
"It sends you forward and backward through time."
"Whoa…" Link looked back down at the ocarina. "So, um…" He looked back up, at the other Link. "How did you know that it was the Song of Time?"
"Well…" The boy looked down at the ground, scuffing it with his boots a little. "I used to it sometimes."
"For what?"
"Uh..."
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a shriek from the castle. Both Links leapt up from where they were sitting on the dewy grass, and they both ran over the bridge and into the marketplace.
There was a girl about their age, wearing a powder-blue dress, trying to climb out of the fountain in the center of the market, and a woman in purple armor was running over to her. Even though the girl was soaking wet, she looked like she was enjoying herself- she was laughing and pushing her blond hair away from her face. Link -the one from the past- laughed and walked over to the girl and helped her out.
"Having a fun morning, princess?" the boy said, and the girl smiled.
"I thought I had better balance than that," she said with a grin.
The woman in purple walked over to Link, said a brief thank you, and attempted to lead the girl away, but was unsuccessful. Then, the girl noticed Link- from the future. He hurriedly messed up his hair a little and pulled his hat over his ears before she took a good look at him.
"Hey, Link, who's your friend here?" she asked, and the past Link stumbled over his words a little.
"Uh- ah, um- this is my friend, from the forest... Milo."
"Milo?"
"Yeah!" The future Link said. "I'm Milo... Who are you?" The girl smiled and clasped her hands behind her back, then tilted her head forward a little, a drop of water running down the tip of her nose.
"My name is Zelda... Princess Zelda."
So this girl was Princess Zelda! She didn't look much different from Tetra, who had more of a serious boyish-attitude. But if they stood together, they would look like twins, or maybe best friends. Then, Link noticed that Princess Zelda was looking closely at his eyes.
"That's strange," she said under her breath. "You look just like Link, but you have green eyes..." She then stepped closer, but Link took a step back in response, and the other Link put a hand on Zelda's shoulder.
"Shouldn't you be having breakfast right now?" he asked, and Zelda gasped, then ran toward her body guard's retreating back in the distance, yelling for her to wait up. Both Links grinned, and they both walked out of the market place, back into the field, in the general direction of Lon Lon Ranch.
"Hey... Link?" Link panted as he jogged alongside his ancestor. "Is it okay if I just call you... Lee?" 'Lee' smiled and nodded.
Meanwhile, Tetra knocked on the door to the cabin that they had all discovered the Golden Talon in, and where she saw Link last. Without waiting for an answer, she turned the doorknob, and the door swung open.
"Link, I wanted to tell you, dinner's rea-" she started to say, but then she paused. "...Link?"
The room was totally empty.
She walked out and closed the door, then opened it again, feeling foolish but wanted to make sure that it was true. Link was still not there. She then headed back up to the deck and asked Aryll if she had seen Link. The answer was negative. She then asked Natasha, as well as Quill and the crew, but the answer was the same: no one had seen Link leave.
She headed into her cabin, sat promptly on the bed, and pulled out her Gossip Stone. Tetra stared into the deep blue depths of the stone, the inside seeming to twist with every heartbeat- but the image of Link was not there. It was just like holding Link's stone in her hand instead of her own.
"Link? Can you hear me?" she spoke into the stone, but it made no difference. Where was he?
Link took a deep breath as he approached the female foal- a filly- in front of him. The filly, who had a bridle on, as well as a lead rope, stood still except for occasionally pawing the ground.
"There there... that's a good girl, Epona," Lee, who was holding the lead rope, cooed, patting Epona's withers. The girl who was standing next to him, Malon, watched the other Link in amusement.
Link took another step forward and put his hand on Epona's nose. She snorted, making him pull his hand quickly away.
"Horses aren't so bad, are they, Milo?" Lee said with a grin. "Milo" put on a slight smile and nodded. Of course, on the Great Seas he had never seen a horse before- nor cows. But here, there were no pigs. Hyrule was very different from the seas.
Epona shook her head and tried to pull away from Malon, Lee, and Link, so Malon walked over and unclipped the lead rope. Epona pranced off, toward were the other horses were grazing. Lee then grabbed Link's hand and dragged him toward the exit.
"Where are we going now?" Link gasped, and Lee paused, then looked at him in the eye.
"There is so much to show you- assuming you've never been in Hyrule before- we're going to Hyrule Lake and the Fishing Pond!"
They both ran out of the ranch and back into the field. Then they headed around the walls of the ranch and down a hill. It was all Link could do to keep up with his ancestor.
"Pant... pant... are you sure we're going the right way?" Link called out, and the other Link stopped, and then turned around to look at him.
"I'm very sure. What, are you afraid of running? I do it all the time."
"I'm more used to sailing." Naturally, Lee had no idea what sailing meant or was, so he stayed silent and kept running, Link just barely keeping up.
They finally reached the gates to the lake, and Lee showed him a ladder on the side of the wall. They sidled along the hill and jumped down onto the other side. Then, up a hill, and they were both facing a majestic clear... (what else could I say?) lake. The air smelled pure and untainted, and a flock of birds were flying overhead-
Lee dragged Link to the water, and then let go before jumping in. Now, Link was used to swimming, after being knocked out the King of Red Lions many times before. He followed Lee, swimming so well that he was actually reaching their destination before Lee did.
"My goddess, how do you swim that fast?" Lee called out to Link, but there was no response.
They climbed up onto a small bit of land that was sticking out from the natural stone wall, where a small house rested. It had a poster of a fish next to the door. Link was about to read it when he was dragged inside.
It turned out that the house was a gate to a small, isolated fishing pond. Lee put 40 rupees on the counter to the right, and the man there handed the seemingly-twins two rods. For once, Link was not dragged forward, and he walked toward the pond with Lee, pole in both hands.
Fishing turned out to be quite interesting. He had done it before, but had never used a rod- only the line and hook. Lee showed him how to let out line and wiggle the hook, as well as reel in the fish. While waiting for the fish to bite, they sat on the sandy shore and chatted.
Tetra walked in a couple more circles before sitting down on her bed, next to Natasha and Aryll. Quill was leaning against the doorframe, watching all three.
"I'm sure he'll turn up soon," Natasha remarked, but Tetra just stood and started pacing again.
"Where is he? What is he doing?" she muttered to herself over and over, watching her feet. Then, she looked up and turned to Quill.
"Are you sure that you've checked the whole island?"
"Tetra, I've told you before... yes, we have searched the whole island, and even this ship. We cannot find him anywhere." Tetra groaned and this and sat on the bed again, next to Natasha.
"Do you think... he'll come back?" Aryll whispered, looking like she was about to cry. Natasha put her feathered arms around both Aryll and Tetra, and tilted her head forward.
"I pray that he will," she said quietly. "He is the Hero, after all."
Quill watched the three girls in amusement. It was not the nature of a pirate to take a strong liking, or even feel worried, for a non-pirate like Link. Tetra did seem to soften up ever since she met Link, anyway...
Lee was dragging Link- yet again- towards Gerudo Valley, perhaps to show him the waterfall that brought water to Hyrule Lake, when a thundering of hooves sounded behind them. The two boys spun around in place, looking for the source of the noise, and had to dive out of the way; seconds later, where they were standing before had been trampled by three horses and their riders. The riders were wearing navy robes that had hoods on them, but the hoods were down, so they could see that the three all sported brown hair.
Lee didn't even need to drag Link; they just both ran after the riders, toward the valley. The grass soon merged into hard, sun-baked ground, and the horses' hooves started kicking up dust, forcing Lee and Link to move off to the side.
Finally, the three slowed down, and then stopped, hopping off the horses and hitching then to a fence. The two Links ducked behind a rock, watching the men's every move.
Then, one of them turned to face the rock, and Link gasped in surprise before being pulled down by Lee. That man's face was Andrew's! Was it possible that Andrew was this man's reincarnation? And why was he with these two other people?
"Those men look pretty suspicious to me," Lee whispered to Link.
"Uh... I guess," he replied. They turned around to peek over the rock again.
The men were standing around a small circle of stones, and they were holding hands, eyes closed, heads tilted forward. In the center of the circle, there seemed to be a little blip of light, and then it enlarged, looking like a puddle of light, and a figure colored in white seemed to rise from the depths of the light-
"This is getting really suspicious," Lee whispered to Link again, but there was no response, for Link had never seen magic as advanced as this- whereas Lee had.
The figure, who appeared to be a woman with long flowing blond hair, rose from the light and hovered above the ground for a second, looking like she was asleep, and then her feet touched the solid rock. The white seemed to pour away from her body and the colors returned to her skin and dress, and she opened her eyes, the pool of light suddenly vanishing. The three men breathed out a sigh of exertion, as the girl rubbed her temples.
"You get a headache from being raised from sleep in the realm of heavens, you know," she said, in a voice that sounded... real. It sounded like other voices were simply from toys or old records; her voice was as clear as a bell being struck in clean air.
She pushed her blond hair away from her face and looked expectantly at the three others. Lee and Link, curious, kept watching over the rock. Suddenly, she looked in the direction of the two boys. They quickly ducked, and she stared at the spot for a moment. She then refocused her attention on the others.
"Shall we start?" one of them said, and the others nodded, and all four held hands.
"Northern mountains; southern swamps; eastern coast; western desert; Goddess of Paths and Warping is in our presence! Hear us and bring the two worlds together by a realm of forests!" they chanted, voices echoing in the still air.
Dark clouds gathered overhead. They seemed to roll over the sun, turning the whole sky black, and the sunlight seemed to fade away from the world, plunging their sight into darkness, as if it were night.
"Establish a link between Hyrule and the parallel world!" they said, but the girl was silent.
"What shall you name this world?" she suddenly spoke up, and the other three appeared to be startled. They looked at each other, waiting for someone to say something, but no one spoke up. Finally, the man facing the woman rose his chin, putting on a confident look.
"The land shall be named Termina," he sternly stated. "In honor of the Termina brothers."
"Very well then," the goddess replied, and raised her hands, the others doing the same, and a light shot though the clouds from the sky, so bright that the world looked black and white. Lee and Link that to squint to see what was going on, the brightness hurting their eyes. The group of four in the distance did not move.
The beam finally faded away, color fading back in, and the four lowered their arms. Lee, tired of sitting in one spot for so long, grabbed Link's hand, and they both crawled away to safety, still shocked from the sorcerery they had just seen.