This chapter contains swearing and violence. And England. (For everyone reading outside the UK, I will be using British spelling and the occasional British idiom throughout.)

The Legend of Link:

The Bastard Prince

1. Hyrule

"I don't understand why you're so angry." Deep within a University hall in the UK, a long-haired brunette clutched her new Nintendo Switch to her chest as she argued with her 'boyfriend'.

"I'm angry because you blew off our date - again - so that you could go buy a new console and game with your dad, Zelda!" He shouted at her gesturing to the box she had clasped to her chest.

In all fairness, this was true.

A week ago, Zelda's father had asked her to come with him to the local Game to buy a Switch and Breath of the Wild at midnight yesterday - the day it came out. There had been no hesitation in her voice when she said yes, hell, it wasn't until she came back this morning that she realised that she'd ditched Danny for the third time… That week.

In her defense, most guys would have realised that she wasn't that interested by now. But this guy…

"Dan, you should have realised I was going to get a Switch on the night of release, you know me and Dad buy every Zelda game at launch," she said as she put her Switch back on her desk. "I'm sorry I forgot to tell you, but I put it all over Facebook, you could have seen it there and pointed it out to me through that."

"And have everyone see that we are having relationship problems?!"

"We're not even in a relationship!" Shouted she, exasperated by it all. She'd had less than four hours sleep and had only been awake for half of one when Danny came knocking on her door earlier. All she wanted to do was play her game; she couldn't be dealing with his crap right now.

"Well… I want to be. What do you say?" Danny stood in her door way, scuffing his shoes as he finally got to the point that he had been dodging the last three times he had asked her on 'dates'.

Really, it took all of her strength not to laugh in his face after everything he'd said to her this morning, all the profanities he had yelled as her friends and neighbours walked past her ajar door. "I say: I will always choose a game over a guy. Ta-ta, Danny."

As fast as she could – which wasn't actually that fast due to his squirming - she pushed him out of the room, listening to him mutter, mumble and yell swears at her as she did, nodding politely to anyone who was still lingering in the corridor. With him finally out of her room, she locked the door and set up her new console.

It brought a pang to her chest to do this without her mother.

Sure, it had been a decade since her death, but this was always something she had done with her: set up the latest Zelda machine and play the latest installment. Indeed, it had always surprised her how her mum seemed to know exactly what was going to happen and when in the game, it was almost as if she had experienced them herself in some cases.

As she cleared a space to sit on the floor, her back against her bed, Zelda thought about the last game she'd played with her mum before the car accident that took her, and her aunt Immy, away.

Twilight Princess.

It brought back so many memories when she played it again in HD with her dad last year. Both of them were in tears by the end of it, not because of the story, but for it being the last story they had shared with Zelda Sr.

Shaking her head, to get rid of the sad memories and the fact that she wasn't able to play with her dad today due to his work (and her lectures which she was skipping), she started up the game on the TV, a stupid grin on her face as she watched stills of Link flash over the title screen. The grin persisted as she saw the title come on a black screen, her hands shaking in excitement as the game started up.

Then something odd happened.

In all of the gameplay she had seen prior to release, the Princess could be heard faintly calling Link's name, telling him to open his eyes. What Zelda heard was her own name, coming in the tones of a familiar voice.

Were her ears deceiving her, or was her mother calling her name from within the TV, telling her to open her eyes?

"Zelda…" It was faint, so she lent up to the TV and stared at the still black screen.

"Open your… eyes…" A pool of colour filled the centre split of the screen, unfocused but depicting a green field with a clouded sky above. Confusion persisted in Zelda's mind.

"Face the truth, Zelda…" The split on the screen opened wider, letting more of the distorted field into Zelda's view.

"These are no legends." She was certain it was her mother's voice and unconsciously reached for her, raising a hand to the split of colour on the TV screen.

"It's time for you to learn, Zelda… Learn about your lineage…

"Open your eyes, Lost Princess… Face the truth of the Legends."

Deep blue eyes were reflected back in the screen and Zelda saw the determination on her pale face as she reached into the screen; resting a hand on the floor to support her on her knees as she looking into the screen.

"Come, Zelda. Come to me…!"

Reaching her birth-marked right hand to touch the opening on the screen, she felt it ripple under her touch like a water surface. Frowning, she reached further in until her entire forearm was submerged in the screen and the field it showed.

Completely confused by the phenomenon, she began to pull her arm back, afraid of the unknown living just beyond her screen. As she began to pull back, something grabbed her from the other side, pulling her hard. With a gasp, her entire arm and shoulder became submerged in the screen, her head followed soon after.

"Ow!" Exclaimed she as her head collided with the top of the screen, causing her to close her eyes in pain as she was pulled the rest of the way through. When she opened her eyes again - rubbing her wrist that was sore where it had been forcibly grabbed - the scene before her was something she had only seen in her games.

Before her was an open expanse of field, dotted here and there with trees, a cobbled path running across the length just to the right of her. There were no sheep - the kind of which you could find dotting almost every field of this size in the UK - but there were… Things wondering around the field. They were definitely not human, but Zelda doubted they were animal either.

It was a lot for her mind to process as she sat slumped on her knees, staring at the scene before her. But there was no doubt.

Zelda had been dragged into Hyrule Field, though from which era she couldn't yet tell.

Shakily trying to get to her feet - knowing it would be foolish to continue to just sit and stare - the girl unknowingly attracted the attention of a Kargarok. With a screech it flew right at her, directly in her line of sight. With no other options, Zelda did what anyone in her confused, unarmed situation would do:

She screamed and threw her arms up to protect her face as she curled up defensively.

Just as she was about to close her eyes, as the creature bore down on her, a shock of movement entered her field of vision, coming in from her right. There was a clatter of hooves on stone and a whinny as Zelda lowered her arms as saw someone vault from the horse next to her with a "Hyah!"

With his right hand holding a long bow and his left drawing the string back, the man above her shot an arrow straight into the Kargarok's face, causing an instant, spasmodic death. The man fell to the floor in a crouch as the bird-monster did, putting his bow back onto the arranged mass of straps on his back. Zelda could see a short sword sheathed beneath his tunic as it rode up, it's handle ready to be draw in the left hand. There was also a quiver secured just above it on the straps on the tunic, facing the same direction so that arrows could be drawn quickly without falling out.

Zelda's eyes quickly rose from where they were focused on his weapons, thinking that if he turned around he would mistake her for staring at something else in the same area (though she had to admit that it did look good, just not something she wanted to be caught looking at when she first meet someone). Her eyes instead rose to his torso that was hidden beneath a relatively shapeless, unbleached wool tunic that seemed to be only held on thanks to all the straps securing his weapons.

Finally, she looked up at the face of her saviour.

Chiselled and sharp, almost square jawed, secured onto broad shoulders by a muscular neck. His eyes still faced forward and were framed by long, dark lashes; in the sunlight, the irises appeared a clear, pale green, contrasting with his pale but work-tanned skin and almost black hair secured at the nape of his neck with a tattered piece of torn cloth.

Zelda had never been the kind of girl to judge a guy based on his looks, but she was on the brink of uttering a two syllable 'damn' at the guy she could only assume was the Link of this Hyrule.

That was, until he spoke:

"Take that, you fucking bird! Think you can attack someone on my watch? Not likely, fucker! Why don't you go tell your big-billed bird friends what it's like to attack someone while I'm around? Oh wait, you can't, 'cause you're dead, bitch!" The man in front of her taunted the dead bird-monster loudly.

And just like that Zelda's illusions were shattered, much like that Kargarok's skull.

"Your ability to taunt and swear at a dead monster is very impressive." Zelda mumbled as she finally got to her feet, wiping grass and dirt from her legs. Stood next to him, she noted his height wasn't quite as impressive as it had seemed from her spot on the floor, he seemed to be only a few inches taller than her, though she was a tall 5'8" herself.

"I'm glad you approve," said he in reply to her mumblings, oblivious to the sarcasm. When not yelling profanities at dead creatures, his voice was light with an indeterminable accent - being in what she suspected was Hyrule, Zelda hesitated to call it European. "I like to make a point of yelling at anything I kill to warn off any other monsters who might try."

"Well, you've done a truly excellent job…" She muttered in response, her voice still dripping in sarcasm.

"Thank you." He took the compliment and turned to face her fully, squinting a little as his looked her up and down - likely taking in her tight black tank-top featuring a Triforce print, her three-quarter length leggings and ankle-high red Doc Martins. She certainly didn't look like she belonged in this field (or this world), but she stood her ground anyway, eyes hard when his met them again.

"I do have a question for you though." He raised his hand to scratch at his chin.

"Oh?"

"With a voice as lovely as yours, why in Hyrule do you only seem to use it to mutter sassy comments under your breath?" There was a charming grin on his features again and if she hadn't seen him squint, she would have thought it a permanent feature.

But all Zelda could really think in that moment was about how red her cheeks must have been as she turned her face away and mumbled a 'thank you' to him for saving her life.

"I'm sorry, darling, I didn't quite catch that." He joked, cupping and turning a pointed ear towards her. She noticed how it was pierced all the way to the tip with studs increasing in size from tip to lobe, where a small hoop rested.

"Thank you for saving me, I don't know what would have become of me if you hadn't been here." Zelda said in a clear and louder voice after a deep breath to decrease her blush, turning to face him again.

"You're welcome. And if I hadn't been here, you would have been that fucker's dinner." He kicked the bird's wing to make his point.

"Well then, thank you twice as much."

"You really are a sassy dear, aren't you?" Curiosity filled his tone when he asked this time, obviously not expecting her to answer. "Where did you come from, anyway?"

"Oh, I, uh…" She fumbled for an answer, not knowing exactly how to tell him she had been transported here through her TV in another realm. With a sigh, she realised she had no good answer for why she was sat in the middle of a field, so she muttered a half honest answer, "I… Don't really know how I ended up here…"

"Ah," the man breathed, seeming to understand much more than she'd said. "Well, you're going to need a place to stay while you get your bearings, how 'bout I take you to a hotel?"

"Um, thank you, that would be nice of you."

"Alright then," smiled the man, clearly glad to get something sorted. He turned to his horse - a chestnut coloured mare with a white snout, mane and tail - and grabbed a wool cloak. "Put this on, I don't want your fashion sense to attract the wrong kind of people."

"Thanks…" Zelda mumbled as she took the cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders. It was surprisingly soft and warm, making her realise how cold her exposed arms had been.

"Not a problem, now up you come!" He grabbed her right hand in his left to help her up onto his horse.

"Wait, I-" She said, worrying about the fact that she had never been on a horse before as the man took her hand. Zelda's protests were cut short when their hands connected, a vibration of power coursing through her veins at the connection. With a gasp, she looked down at their hands and noticed her half-triangle birthmark was glowing gold. A paler gold Triforce outline appeared around it, showing her mark to be half the leftmost triangle. Glancing at the man's hand, she noticed that the entirety of the rightmost triangle was glowing a deep gold ringed in cyan.

Suddenly, she snapped her head up to squint at the man before her and noticed that his pale turquoise - not the green she had originally thought - eyes were wide as he stared at her, his lips slightly parted in surprise. He shook his head and hardened his gaze as he looked at her again.

"What's your name?" Asked he finally, breaking the silence that had descended on them, their hands still connected but no longer glowing nor vibrating with power.

"Zelda." She replied clearly, knowing this was no time to be mumbling in confusion, slight fear or sarcasm.

"Just as I thought…" The man mumbled, turning slightly to finally help her up onto the horse, ignoring her squeals of protest.

"Listen, Zelda," spoke he seriously as she looked down at him from atop the horse, his choppy bangs nearly falling into his eyes as he looked up. "You're not going to be able to go around calling yourself 'Zelda' here in Hyrule, that name is reserved for the royal family. I recommend you call yourself something similar, like Zoelda."

"Zo-elda?" She repeated incredulously. "You want me to go around calling myself 'Zoelda'?"

"Yes. Just trust me on this and do it, Zoelda. Names have enormous power here in Hyrule, you don't want to let just anyone know who you really are."

"Oh, is that what you do then?" Asked she snappily as he got onto the horse and settled himself behind her. "Do you, the man I assume to be called Link, the Hero of the kingdom, not go around calling yourself Link because you don't want anyone to know who you are?"

Grabbing the reins of the horse from around her, the man erupted into laughter. Deep, rich, mocking laughter.

"Darling, everyone knows who I am." He said it bluntly and simply, just a hint of cynicism and mocking beneath the words that could have gone unheard if not for his accent. "But, like you, I am not allowed to go by my birth name. So call me Alarink, not Link. Okay?"

"Okay… But why are you allowed to be known and I am not?" The girl now calling herself Zoelda asked simply as he cracked the reins and the horse bolted into motion, instinctively following the cobbled path before it. Suppressing a squeal, she gripped the saddle tightly enough for her knuckles to turn white.

"Because," Alarink whispered into her ear as the horse galloped across the field. "You have just set some timeline changing events into motion, my dear."

AN:

So, this chapter was written probably early June, can't say for sure though and, if I remember right, across two, maybe three sittings.

Literally the only purpose of it is to get Zoelda out of England and into Hyrule and to introduce her and Alarink as main characters; the sassy Brit and the not-what-you'd-expect Hero. Danny's only purpose is to show her single mindedness towards the Legend of Zelda, he really isn't important so think of him what you want.

I knew a while before I started planning the story that I wanted Alarink to be introduced majestically and then break all your first impressions of him as the hero of Hyrule by having him swear at a monster. It's just the perfect way to show exactly who this character is, with influences from other game, book and TV characters thrown all together to make someone so unique that I honestly can't tell you his original inspiration anymore. He's just Alarink.

And good news to anyone thinking that Zoelda is just another damsel in distress, I'm fairly sure this is the only time she's saved by monsters in the entire story - she kills the rest herself, as you'll see soon. Her inspiration has been lost over the course of writing as well, though she's also influenced by characters in the same games, books and TV shows as Alarink, but ultimately she's just an opposite Princess Zelda - she takes care of herself as best she can in a world she's not so familiar with, she only relies on Alarink or the others (introduced in a few chapters) for direction and guidance in a world that's not her own.

So yeah, I'll let you see the rest for yourself as they grow with the chapters.

Anyway, any other questions, advice on how I could improve, anything really - you can review here or find me on Twitter.

Hope to see you for the next chapter next Saturday in which we set the scene and introduce Zoelda to this world a little more! (It's a little bit long as I tried to cover all the general introduction stuff in one chapter.)

~WWQ