Had this sitting in my files for a long time.
Enjoy.
The Timeless Shadow
"What is past is prologue." – William Shakespeare
Chapter 11: Ghost of the Past
Two weeks had passed since Lilia's mom and her brother had kicked him out of the house. It was a long and strenuous route yet Link had finally arrived to Hyrule. Feeling conscious Link gave a fake identity to the guards. The guards didn't believe him at first but after some insisting and some money under the table. He was allowed to pass. He continued past the gates and into the heart of the city, he knew everything had changed and that no one would be capable of knowing it's him in this strange land.
Even though he knew that his clothing hadn't changed much. He still wore his kokiri hat. His white leggings were still alive and his boots and green vest caught the attention of anyone in the large city. Yet he ignored it all. The many looks questioning who he was, some mean glare staring at his back, yet he couldn't allow it to affect him. With that he kept walking even while he heard a woman speak: "how dare that man dress like the hero!"
Walking around, he studied every corner of the city with a critical eye. In every dark alleys he knew that would always lead to a good place to hide, but if the King wasn't stupid he would have those place with a few guards. Yet he was amazed, the people here appeared to be like in the old Hyrule but he knew better. Their attitudes were far more hostile than what he had experienced over fifty years before.
As he walked around the market streets he was pushed and nearly met the floor thanks to an accidental push. He grunted slightly but found himself talking to a female vendor that appeared to be around his real age. He smiled at the woman and she asked if he would be kind enough to buy him an apple. But his smile flattered he had no money. The last amount of money he had was gone to the guards as he had to bribe for him to enter the busy town.
"I'm sorry lady but I'm broke." He told her sincerely, yet she insisted.
"Take it, take it! That is... if you marry my granddaughter." The elderly woman said as she took a hold of his hand and winked at him, she was more likely asking him to marry her instead.
"What!" Link yelled exasperated all he wanted to do now was save Zelda and get back to the loneliness of the mansion in which he was trapped. Ironic, a hero had found comfort in solitude.
"Come on boy, I'm just kidding. But the offer is still up." The grandma said as she gave him a conniving smile, a smile that simply made him nervous.
"Oh, umm." The man in green said as he looked down where the woman was holding him in place.
"My, my how naughty of me." The woman said as she let go of his hand and faked a blush.
"Umm, yea. Hey is this always like this?" He decided to ask, changing the subject as he wasn't feeling really comfortable.
"No, I mean never! Selling here is such a bummer. Look kid, all of this is simply because the Queen is coming back from one of her escapades. I tell you that woman is always up to no good. I mean who retires from its position and it's not present when your child takes it. I tell you, I tell you..." Nearing the end Link had already lost all interest in the conversation but still nodded solemnly.
"Hey, thanks a lot for the talk!" Link said as he followed some suspicious men who went down an alley to his right, or maybe he just wanted an excuse.
Moving as sneaky as he could, Link found himself with his back resting against the back of the wall. The men were talking about things that weren't making sense but he could tell that they had noticed him. One of the men prepared to take out a knife but the other one stopped him. Finally deciding to ignore the presence they opened the door to the bar and entered it, making sure to close it with a loud bang.
The blue eyes of Link observed the small alley before going down the stairs and watching the door those men had entered. Without thinking or planning anything before hand he entered the room to find a stench of smells coming him way. Ignoring the smells of the cigars and licorice he moved forward and sat down in a chair next to the bartender. Many pair of eyes were on him and he felt nervous but it was slightly normal since he was new in the place.
"What ya' want to drink kid?" The bartender asked him when he noticed that the new comer hasn't left.
"Gimmie some milk." The blue eyed man said as he moved his hand to the money he had stolen when he found himself following the men.
"Milk? Hahaha!" The bartender laughed. "Look kid we are neither in Kakariko nor in the old Hyrule. Here we drink beer." The man said as he moved closer to the only blonde in green.
"I guess that isn't the best way to treat a costumer." Link said uncomfortable in the place but trying to defend his pride.
"Come on kid you're probably still a minor, this is no place ya' anyhow." The man said moving back slightly so that he could give Link some personal space.
"Alright, I'll be leaving then." Link said as he got up and left out the door, leaving the bartender stand in some slight shock.
"Guys keep an eye on him; he could be capable of destroying our plot." The man commanded and a small group of men followed out the door.
The men observing Link were good but the trained man noticed them due to the ability he had discovered on his way to the city. His sense of smell being identical to that of a wolf had him alerted for anything that could be silent enough to pass his ears. But Link didn't worried much, all he had to do was keep an eye out for them and evade entering any alleys.
As he walked once more into the market place he found himself staring at the old lady who had asked him to marry her granddaughter. All she simply did was wink at him and the blonde man found himself staring away embarrassed to the forwardness of the woman. A few minutes passed with him standing there doing nothing in particular and Link found himself listening to a roar of people.
Looking over to his right he saw that the whole market place left space for some knights that had arrived. Moving backwards he narrowed his eyes as he saw that the group was moving someone on top of a horse, in his eyes the sight looked pitiful. It was an aged female, her eyes casting a downside look.
He looked behind him to see the men that were following him, he noticed that they now had clenched their fist and some were holding themselves back. Then the words of the old lady reminded him who that person was.
"Look kid, all of this is simply because the Queen is coming back from one of her escapades." He remembered those words exactly and his eyes widened at the deteriorated sight of the woman he admired. 'What they did to you Zelda?' He thought as he placed his hand on the tilt of the sword. 'They better not have broken you or they'll pay with their lives.' He thought angrily as he felt a pang of pain in his chest.
Not being able to hold back anymore he ran forward and without using his sword he kicked the leading knight from his horse. There were loud gasp in the background and the swing to action from the unmounted knights. Link took out his sword and fought the men with the passion he had to hold back a few minutes ago. Pushing a few away from him he tried his best so that he wouldn't hurt or kill anyone, yet he knew he had hurt one mortally.
A zombie like Zelda sat on top of the horse, she saw what was going on but still hadn't been capable of reasoning who he was. She looked at him and thought that the man trying to save her somehow knew her. Then it hit her but it literally did. The man was kicked and he fell against the horse making her loose her balance and land on top of him. She gasped some air while the body under her grunted and tried to pry her off him. She wasn't as light as she used to be.
As the man tried to push the woman off him all she did was sit there and stare in shock. 'He's truly alive.' She thought as she pushed his hands off her and hugged him, making him fall flat on his back. He grunted from the weight and tried once more to push the aged Zelda off him so that he could fight and free her for real. Yet she didn't budge, it was all as if she wanted to get captured.
"Stop, Stop! Don't attack him! He's, he's..." The leader who was still sprawled on the floor tried to command but found his words tied in a knot. 'A wolf!' He yelled in his mind, but he knew followers didn't hear it.
The men that were assigned to follow him looked at him and decided to ignore him since the man wasn't acting coherently. Moving forward to the hugging pair they pulled the now kicking and struggling Queen. But the man in green was another thing, without any taunt needed he picked himself up and his sword, this one trusting it and making a clean cut on one of the knight holding Zelda. The man went limp and fell on the floor dead, but they knew that this wasn't the end of it.
One of the surviving men went behind him when he was still on his frenzy and knocked him out with the butt of his sword. When the Hero of Time went limp all Zelda could do was yell, an agonizing and broken yell.
A small army was stationed to the south of Hyrule Castle. Most of the people there had their families with them and were planning on coming back to them. Between those people stood Nick and his wife, the later who was giving the man puppy eyes. The man being as persistent as his father ignored the woman and her cute and cuddly and... He simply ignored it.
"Mai, I'm warning you." The blonde said as he grew tired of her trying every trick on the book twice in a row.
"Aha! You talked to me." The woman said as she balanced the baby in one arm so that she could point at her husband.
The man narrowed his eyes at her persistence and continued ignoring her like he had done for two weeks. 'That woman, I swear she's going to get me killed one day.' He thought angrily as he gave her the back, only to discover that it only made her go louder. He grunted mentally and started to think back on what he found so attractive of a woman that was nearly half his age.
"Mai don't you dare tickled me." He warned her but she took advantage of him anyhow. "Damn it woman the baby!" He yelled at her when he saw his daughter nearly fall from her arms.
"See you talk to me when something bad is about to happen. So when's going to be the sex? When someone dies?" She asked him with a strange gleam to her eyes.
"Why was it that I proposed to you again?" The blue eye prince muttered as he looked away from her, him being fully embarrassed by how direct she was being.
"Well it was because-" She started only to be interrupted.
"Lord Nick, Lord Nick!" A man ran over to the not so happy marriage. "Lord Yael has arrived with the other division." The man said once he had caught his breath.
Silence overcame and Nick grinded his teeth, he wasn't told who the leader of the other division was but now all he wanted was to beat the living daylights out of the man. On the other side the princess looked away thoughtful. 'Yael, Yael... is that the noble man that Zelda had an affair with? Must be, Nick rarely gets like this.' With those thoughts in mind and wanting to see if she was right, she told the messenger to bring him to them.
"Mai what are you doing? You are not the commander here." Nick said between his teeth.
"Too late, here he comes." The female replied, her once playful demeanor gone.
"And here we present you Lord-" The messenger started but ducked low due to a book nearly hitting him square in the face.
"I already know who he is." The platinum blonde snapped at the poor man who quickly ran out of the tent once he was dismissed.
The man who went by the name of Yael wasn't surprised by his leader's reaction. 'He vents anger for something that my brother didn't even mind.' He thought to himself as he tried to look as relaxed as possible but a face hidden behind the Prince made him smile. 'So he has himself a princess.' But when their eyes locked he knew that the woman already had a good idea of who he really was, all of that gave him the idea that this small reunion was not a good idea.
"Why did you call me in Lord Nick?" Yael said trying his best to hold back the feelings of punching his son wrestle him and then pat him on the back. Ironic, how a father could think of his own blood.
"How are the positions and divisions?" Zelda's son asked as he made a full round fist with his left hand, the other being in the arms of his wife.
The older man with the deep blue eyes started to tell the condition of his own division. Yet behind the leader of the revolutionary group, was the woman who had narrowed her eyes. She was connecting the dots on what the rumors from the nobles said, what her mother had seen and what her own husband had told her. However, away from the consensual relation everyone knew the man had with the Queen, was something that she couldn't place her finger on. 'Nick is his same face only with brighter hair and light blue eyes... could it be?' Seeing that she couldn't kill curiosity she promised that she would ask the man later in private.
"Halt!" The main knights said as they stood in position for the entrance of the Great King Markus, as he proclaimed himself to be.
All of the men stood at the entrance to the castle since the prisoners didn't deserve to enter the royal palace. As the men concealed their emotions behind the façade of great warriors the King made his presence known. He moved down the stairs and starred down anyone who dared to look at him in the eyes, yet no one truly dared. And he stopped in front of the dethroned Queen.
"Look up prisoner." He spoke in a perfect and eloquent Hylian.
"You do not deserve it." The old Queen replied her spirit alive once more.
"You wench!" The platinum blonde man yelled as he lifted his fist in the air, only to lower it when he thought of something better. And he kicked the woman in the knee. He laughed hard when he saw her buckle lightly, yet all she retaliated with was with a spit. In the spit there was some blood, yet Markus didn't bother. He simply turned his back on her and spoke to the guards. "Guards take her away."
"Yes, your highness." The knights holding on to Zelda replied strongly and pulled her up without taking any mercy for her. Yet another group of guards stayed behind and one of them made their existence known.
"King Markus, we got a man here that attacked us when we were bringing your mother to the castle." A cold but respectful voice stated. "He's unconscious at the moment but in a fraction of a few seconds he committed crimes that are only pardoned by death sentence."
"Don't you dare call her my mother," Markus yelled at the guard as he turned over and saw the group of men. "What did he do?" He asked as he moved closer to the knights, a man in green that was to its knees appearing on his vision. He was unconscious.
"He attacked our group of knights, killed two of our best men." The leader of the division spoke as he dared to connect his eyes with Markus icy blue ones. The knight shuddered as he found himself staring at a man with little to no emotion.
"If he did what you say so, prepare him a cell along with the special prisoners." The man with icy blue eyes spoke. With that Markus looked one more time to the unconscious man and made a small mental connection. There, the man in green appeared to be the same as the paintings they had of the Hero of Time.
'What a blasphemy of a man, disguising himself as the great hero... the people here truly disgust me.' Markus though as he gave his back to the knights of the castle he moved to enter through the main entrance, his mouth watering due to a medium rare steak that was waiting for him in the dining room.
Two immortal figures walked around the house in which they used to play when young. Every dark corner was known by them, but it wasn't the same as before. Instead of smiling and laughing like they used to do, they found themselves with murmuring looks. That is on the side of the immortal female, the male simply hid his feelings under a veil of coldness. Without thinking of their difference they both found themselves drawn to each other by an unknown force that was stronger than their will.
"We don't have much time left in this place." The woman said as she pushed away her sadness, a determined look appearing on her features.
"Murmuring will do us no good. Your daughter will probably have a few more years ahead of us; she's just in a small coma." The green eyed man spoke, as he tried his best to comfort the woman without giving himself out. In real life he had no idea of what fate could befall on the young child.
"Thanks... Nathan."
When those words left her lips he felt his lips pressing against gravity in an awkward smile. Eva noticed but didn't do a thing; it was good to see him try against his conscious will. 'If mom would have been alive she would surely have laughed. Maybe even my little Lily would have laughed at his silly face, yet she probably doesn't even remember her uncle.' The woman thought once more feeling some weight on her tired soul.
"Someday," the words came on their own account, yet Nathan didn't stop them. "Lilia will reunite again with her family, and maybe then." He paused, his mind going on over how to say what he wanted to. With that he continued, "she will notice how tied she is to both of us."
His words made the woman smile; he always wanted to see that in her. "It won't be easy for her but by then we'll probably be in our own heaven." The words were spoken slyly as she moved forward to hug the man's body, the man quickly reacting as he placed his arms around her frail body.
"She'll wake up soon; won't you love to leave her a message?" Nathan said as he gazed up to the old wood ceiling trying his best to conceal his flushed face; the closeness being something that still had him shy away.
"It's already been taken care of. Let us leave now; we still have a mission to finish." Eva said as she took her brother's hand in hers; a small smile appearing on her face as she left the mansion along the man that had joined her quest.
Late at night a hooded figure stood next to a small stream that passed close to the small army. The individual tried to hide its body from the light of the moon but the newcomer noticed the small and frail body. The man giving a slight chuckle laughed mentally at the woman's fail attempts to go under notice.
"Good try princess Mai, but you don't have the ability to go without notice." The man said barely above a whisper as he made his way to her side.
"Who are you?" The female asked slowly and cautiously as she stared at the body of water in front of her.
"Well my dear, you know who I am. I am Yael to my friends and Lord Yael to my underlings."
"Did you forget you are a high noble?" Those words from her and the man next to her tensed, yet she continued to speak. "It's a rumor among the nobles and I believe it to be true. The first born son of the King was an illegitimate son named Yael and instead of being vanished it was given the title of a high noble."
Yael was shocked, this woman here knew about his true past and not the fake one that the King had made for him and his mother. Nonetheless his look hardened, this was something prohibited from speaking of and this girl and most likely her whole family knew about it too. As he tried to find something to give a comeback or to defend himself, he remembered the necklace she was wearing when he first met her. He gave a small smile but stopped before she would notice, thought her hood wasn't the best to keep her eyes peeled.
"Well princess, if I'm not wrong your family was also one of high nobles, yet they lost their place." The female fist tensed and he could sense anger coming out of her soul. "I remember it pretty well too; I guess it was my entire fault. But think of it this way, it wasn't my fault that the sister of your grandmother fell in love with me." The man said as he started to study the stars above them.
"You know nothing about me, so don't talk." She said as a final effect in trying to the defend herself but she didn't had the ability to strike fear in the hearts of the people.
"Oh well princess Mai, allow me to cut this short for you. We all do not want the prince to notice your absence." His hands went up to his face and dried off some sweat that had accumulated. "I used to be Prince Yael the First. But when my father took a wife it was meant to be broken and I officially became an illegitimate child. Without abandoning me, my father gave mom his old titles of a high noble and I was educated next to my younger brother." Yael stopped there as if pondering what had happened next in his life.
"Aha?" Mai was intrigued and knowing this monologue from his part will take time she decided to sit down on the floor.
Lifting an eyebrow at her actions he merely shook his head. 'She's a grown woman but still a child on the inside.' After those thoughts came to his head he decided to continue with his story. "As I grew educated next to my brother, I was simply better than him in everything. Being a prince he was always given days to plan a proper strategy, while I was only given hours. It was the same with everything, he always took being a king very light, yet I was fighting for what belonged to me since day one. And then Zelda came in the picture, my brother married her simply because dad and the people said so... father never liked her anyhow." He was about to continue but a question arose from the young female.
"So you wanted her for you only?" Mai questioned as she thought once more of the many similitudes between the man and her husband.
"What? No, no, no I didn't meet her until Markus was born and that was eight years after my brother met her."
"Did he knew of... you know."
"Umm, not really... he was too absorbed in taking other women." Yael said lowly, he was so going to get it. "He never loved her and only slept with her because of having an heir; afterwards they simply became good friends, plus he quickly got a consort soon after Markus birth."
"So you are Nick's father?" Mai asked but it came out more like a statement.
"And Kain's." Yael answered as he observed the female's face. At first she was surprised but then it all stopped, she know could understand the great difference between Markus and both Nick and Kain.
After two weeks of being in the same cell and only having one meal a day, Kain had to find a new alternative to protect the little energy he had left. At this point he didn't think of anything nor tried to do a plan B. It was as if he had decided to shut down his body to allow it to be at a minimum, yet not even the little amount of light that he got was enough for him. He hadn't lost hope but it sure seemed like it.
At this time he was sleeping and nothing could wake him up. Not the rattling of the keys at the cell next to him or his door opening up. Even the grunt of two bodies being thrown harshly against the floor wasn't enough. For certain one of the bodies was on the opposite side of him but that didn't even bother to voice its thoughts, unlike the one in the other cell.
"Link, it's no use." The elder woman said to the man who continued to fight against his restrains. "Plus I don't want you to wake up my son." The once Princess of Destiny said as an afterthought.
"Next time they die." Link growled as a white wolf in his cell started going in circles, that being only a spirit.
"You broke the chains?" Zelda asked him astonished at his strength, as she heard some chains falling on the ground.
"They're not that strong." Link answered as he looked around, his hands and legs free.
"Oh."
With that silence ruled Link could be heard pacing around in his cell. 'Knowing him he's probably thinking of a way to escape.' Zelda thought as she remembered their childhood, back then his partner, Navi, used to be the brain of their plans. 'He must have learned a lot from her.' She thought once more as she heard him stop his pacing.
"Hey! Zelda," the blonde man who appeared with teen like features called, the Queen simply made a noise that she was listening. "How have the years treated you?"
"Link!" She half yelled half grunted. "Is that what you were thinking about?"
"No, I was thinking about Sheik." Link said with an obvious hint of sarcasm.
"Well they haven't been so great; unlike you I have an irreversible sickness." Zelda said but before the man in the other room could reply she started once more. "Everything was fine at first, but it grew more complicated over the years. So what about yours?"
"Heh, I can play the same game. I met people and got stuck in the same place for fifty years, beat that." The only man who was conscious answered, in this case placing the talk as a simple game. "Well what about this, the last thing this social butterfly did was have a wedding proposal."
"Charming." It was only one word but it made the two of them laugh at their past relationship. "Remember Ruto being your fiancé? No, no... Do you remember Malon?" Zelda spoke as a sly smile appeared on her face, annoying Link was one of her favorite hobbies.
"Aww... Zelda, come on! It's not fair; I know nothing of your life... except well... remember Sheik!"
"Now that's playing dirty! It was only admiration."
"Liar, you were blushing when you told me... no wonder you dressed like him. Hah! You were simply trying to impress him." Link said in a playful voice. "No but really, what about the things I don't know?"
"Well there's one person that took me away." Zelda said in a dreamy voice.
"To bed? Or to the next room?" Link asked fully knowing that it would get on her nerves.
"Link! You are such an ass. Forget what I just said." Zelda said as she found her past lover a little too much. Yet something came to her and she remembered her visions. "What about the girl?" She asked.
"She? You mean the one I met back there?" But Link knew the answer. "She's cute." And that was the end of his story, a sad smile appearing as he remembered how he had left her.
But before Zelda could make another comment or question someone in front of her decided to wake up. "Damn it can't I get some sleep! Or is that the new torture system? It's working alright!" And with that the Third Prince was awake and fuming.
It was a small cottage back in the Ordon Province; a few of the men were patrolling around, while others were resting the night out. It was only that inside that cottage that one could witness the small medical facilities it had, yet no doctors were in at this hour. Most of the high ranking people from the rebel group were at meetings and that left a young man to be all alone in the room. He was son one of the royal princes, his dark blonde hair shining with the light of a small open fire. His deep blue eyes looked down at the unconscious female, her form moving slightly as if something was disturbing her light sleep.
"Senia…" the man whispered lightly making the woman stir more in her sleep, a mumbled reply making him know that she was near awakening. "Hey," he whispered once more as his hand trailed the smooth curves of her face. "Come on baby," he whispered in her ear this time, his hot breath hitting against her cold cheek, that seemed to be enough. As the blond man backed away from the female, he found himself trapped by a pair of red eyes that stared at him.
Upon seeing who the person was, the woman by the name of Senia, smiled. It was a soft smile, making the corners of her mouth dangle lightly. "Hey," she answered back in a soft voice, her throat feeling hoarse as it appeared she hadn't used her voice much.
"How are you feeling?" The man asked as he took her good hand in his, his eyes feeling warm as he stared at her.
"Been better," she said chuckling, but stopped quickly as a sharp pain in her ribs advised her that laughing was not permitted.
"You gave me quite a scare back there." He said as he allowed his lips to brush against the back of her hand.
"How long have I've been out?" She asked as she looked around at her surroundings, this place appearing to be far from what she had last found herself in.
"I think it's been close to a month." That answer seemed to surprise the young sheikah as she looked around once more, yet the man holding her hand spoke once more. "We're in Ordon Province, you're safe." He said smiling softly at her, yet to make her feel more comfortable he squeezed her hand lightly.
"Where's Zelda?"
That made the blond man stop; last he had known was that she was captured by one of the knights division. Yet the real deal was, if he should tell the truth? He knew that as a sheikah, Senia could be very much capable of sensing his lie, if he were to lie. But what would her reaction be? Would she get up and try to march into war, or will she accept the situation and allow herself to recover? It was at that moment that the young male felt at a loss, his hands leaving hers as he took his head into his arms, his posture pitiful.
Senia looked at him from the corner of her eyes, her neck still in pain from her fall. She knew what he was probably thinking, and she also fought with his dilemma. Yet it was all completely spoken as her hand moved closer to his face, his dark blond hair moving up as his blue eyes connected with her red ones. There was pain in his eyes, a pain that spoke to her 'I failed you.'
"Niak…?" She said lowly as her hand trailed his cheek, his head resting lightly into her hand. It was a breathtaking moment, his eyes closing as he relished her touch.
It wasn't long before his breathing quivered, this time a sob resounding in the air as he freed his pain. With that his body moved forward and his knees fell to the floor, his head resting next to Senia's body.
"Niak…" Senia whispered as she felt his pain, no words needed to be spoken because she could feel it. Zelda had been captured.
Thank you for reading.
*This is not edited.