This chapter was rewritten as of 5/17/13

Revised a second time as of 10/01/14

Chapter 3 - Succumbed to Twilight

"You know you are only delaying the inevitable, Jethro. You cannot defeat me, nor will you protect the carrier..." The voice I heard was chilling and evil, something that made me want to curl up and hide. Made me want to run... to hide... to scream...

"You will not touch her!" This voice I recognized. Between each word, there was an angry clang of metal-on-metal. I recognized the infuriated voice as Jethro. "Not my Rose!" His voice sounded like he was struggling against something. Maybe he was fighting? It could be. Wait...where was I this time? I opened my eyes and looked around me, trying to identify it, but- no... This was Castle Town! But... but it was huge! And in ruins! What happened?!

Wait, it looked like I was witnessing that turn of events right then. It was raining, though everything seemed to move right through me like I wasn't there. I saw a battle going on, where the fountain sat in Castle Town in the present. There were many dark creatures, though none of them like the shadow beasts. These were worse. These were… demons. And it seemed that the worst of all of them was fighting a lone soldier.

The soldier's helmet had been knocked off during the battle, and I could clearly see his face. Bright green eyes, dirty-blond hair, and a kind-but-weary face - though that face was angry right now. This was the man that had starred in my dreams the past two weeks; This was Jethro.

He fought bravely, as though the demon man was as small as he rather than nearly twice his size, though he was slowly-but-surely losing. He was bleeding from a number of minor cuts, and a nasty gash on his left arm, and still he continued to fight to his last breath. I couldn't watch, willed my eyes in the dream to close, but they wouldn't.

The demon knocked Jethro back with a powerful bash of its shield, and he stumbled to the ground for a moment or two, long enough for the demon to take this last advantage. Grabbing his shoulder, the demon dragged him to his feet, and I saw its other hand readying its sword –

I couldn't help the scream that tore from my throat as the demon stabbed his wicked blade through Jethro's chest and through his back. Tears I hadn't realized were pooling in my eyes spilled over down either side of my face, and I was close to full-on sobbing as Jethro's agonized scream echoed in my head.

"Your daughter is mine!" the demon hissed, wrenching his blade from Jethro's chest. I heard myself screaming again when as his body crumbled to the wet ground, willing myself to move forward when –

"Celia! Celia! Wake up!"

I sat up with a jolt, feeling my skin was damp with a cold sweat and my heart was racing. I looked to see who had woken me.

"Rusl." I croaked, my voice scratchy. His eyes were sympathetic as he sat quietly. "I ... I didn't mean to-to wake you up... I'm s-sorry." I apologized, my breaths hitching between words. He shook his head.

"No need to apologize." he dissuaded. "Nightmares are something the people in this village have become far too accustomed to..." he then sighed. I cocked my head to the side curiously, waiting for him to continue, but he didn't, getting to his feet. "You'd best go back to sleep, if you're able. The journey to Castle Town is not a long one, but you'll need your energy."

I was sure both of us knew, however, that I wouldn't be going back to sleep, as Rusl returned to his room.

I stood up from the couch, taking a few moments to stretch, before going to the table. Uli had set out a small bit of food for me the night previous, for when it was time to leave. It was simple food, a few fruits, some bread and some cheese, and I took a small bit of each out of the small bag before exiting the house. Early as it was, I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep again. I was wide awake.

Being sure to keep my footsteps soft, I made my way out of the village and to Ordon spring. It was peaceful and quiet there, and I would be able to relax. Looking down at the food I had taken from the bag, I slowly began eating. To be honest, I felt a little sick. The gruesome flashes from my nightmare haunted me, even more so as I got the sinking feeling that that had actually happened. I shook my head to clear away the images from my mind, no matter how persistently they tried to worm their way back in. I couldn't deal with that right now. I didn't want to deal with that right now.

As far as my strange memories had gone so far, that had been the worst of them. The others, it seemed, weren't quite so terrifying. They ranged from things like talking with my father, to playing chase with other children, to even simpler things like drawing or reading. Though, I never saw the faces of the other children. They were a blur to me, though I couldn't deny how familiar the figures were. I felt a deep-rooted sense of longing at these small memories, though it didn't make sense to me.

Hearing that my memories would come back was one thing, convincing me was another. I wasn't ready to believe it yet. I knew I'd eventually have to come to terms with it, but right now I didn't want to. Even as they prickled at the back of my mind demanding attention, I pushed them back. I was Celia, and Celia was busy.

"You're up early."

I flinched when the new voice startled me from my thoughts, and I twisted to see who it was; Link. There would soon be a day when seeing him didn't send a jolt of anxiety through my gut – I'd practically idolized the guy when I was younger, give me a break! – but that was not the case yet, unfortunately. I kept it internal, though. I didn't want to give him a wrong message and have him think I disliked him, or something like that.

"I could say the same of you." I shot back, getting to my feet. "What brings you to the spring this early in the morning?" I asked conversationally. He shrugged.

"Can't sleep. You?"

"Same. Nightmare?" I asked. He shrugged. "Well, seeing as we're both awake, you up for that training session?" I suggested. It seemed like a good way for us both to get our minds off the things that had woken us. He seemed to think on it for a moment or two.

"Sure. I just have to grab the swords." he agreed. I wondered about the plural, but he'd already gone by the time I thought to ask. I'd just have to wait until he returned to see. When he did return, he had two wooden swords. One was his, the one I'd delivered yesterday, and the other seemed to be just a wooden staff with a sword-like handle on it. I was alright with it, though. God knows what sort of damage I could have done with a real one.

Link ran me through the basic sword attacks he'd shown the kids yesterday, and also showed me the fastest way to block them. I was already good at dodging, or the need to make a sudden move, so most of these were not a problem. The biggest difficulty was fighting the urge to jump back or run away.

I still didn't feel confident enough to try the jump-attack, but after little prompting from Link I made an attempt. It wasn't very bad, but it wasn't all that good either. I ended up stumbling when Link used his wooden sword to block the attack, and running right into him. I'd stammered an embarrassed apology, but he'd simply chuckled and shrugged it off.

Then came an actual round of sparring. I was hesitant at first due to the fear that I would either hurt myself or Link, but quickly loosened up. By the end of, say...the fifth round, I was completely having fun with it. But unfortunately, all fun has to end at some point.

"Hey, Link! Where are ya, bud?"

Link turned to the voice that had called him. I recognized it as Fado, and sighed a little.

"I suppose you have to go to work now..." I said, my tone betraying my disappointment. Link chuckled again.

"So I do." he agreed. "Feel free to stop by the ranch later, if you want." he offered. That made me smile again.

"Sounds good to me. I'll see you then." I waved as he departed from the spring.

For the next several hours, I simply hung around in the village. The kids were completely captivated with me, though I couldn't understand their reasoning. They thought I was cool, apparently. That was new. I hung around and played games with them for a few hours before I said short goodbyes, wanting to head up to the ranch. With Uli's permission, I had taken up an apple for Epona as well. When I arrived, Link was sitting on the soft grass and staring up at the clouds, and Epona was grazing nearby. Both appeared to be happy to see me, Epona nuzzling me delightedly when I fed her the apple.

"Hello again." Link greeted. I grinned at him.

"Hey." I greeted in return. For a while, that was literally the extent of our conversation as the two of us sat in the grass and gazed at the clouds. I was trying to find shapes in the clouds, but once I saw one that I swore looked like Zant's helmet, I stopped.

"So you've been to Castle Town before?" Link questioned from beside me. I nodded my head, not looking away from the clouds.

"Yeah." I responded simply. As far as I knew, I hadn't seen the town with my own eyes, but I'd technically been there before, when I played the game.

"What's it like?" he continued. I thought about it for a minute. What was Castle Town like? It was a lot simpler to explain to Colin, for some reason.

"..Amazing." I decided. "There's so much stuff to see, so many people to talk to, there's so much you can do there. There's a fortune teller, entertainment, and lots of shops. It gets even crazier on market days, when everybody's trying to buy or sell. That, and there's the occasional traveling merchant who can show up on the odd day. But there's so much more than that."

"My favourite places were Telma's shop, the Castle, and the Library. I learned to read when I was really young, and I always liked the books about the mythical creatures that I wanted to see. I liked books about animals in general, really." I didn't even know what I was saying anymore. I'd never been, so where was all of this coming from? "It's all so...I'd say amazing, but even then... I can't even describe some of it..."

And once again, our conversation seemed to trail off for several minutes. I was lost in my own thoughts as more of those smaller memories surfaced. More simple flashes, things I'd described in Castle Town as well as a collection of images that were too short to make any sense of. The whole thing was giving me a headache. I massaged my temples to try and relieve the persistent soreness, closing my eyes.

"Are you alright?" Link asked. I nodded.

"Just a bit of a headache. There's so much new stuff in here, it's overwhelming me a little bit." I admitted. I was met with silence, though I could practically feel the curiosity rolling off him. "I'm sort of getting memories back, but I didn't know they were there in the first place." I tried to explain. "I learned some stuff yesterday, and none of it makes sense."

I went on to explain the entry Rusl showed me, omitting the other-world parts, though it seemed I didn't need to.

"I remember reading that once. You mean... you came here from another world?" he asked, surprised. I nodded, but ducked my head a little bit. "And… now you've come back to help the Chosen Hero, right?" Another nod.

"Don't make a big deal out of it, please." I pleaded, a little bit embarrassed. "My problem with this situation is that I can barely use a sword, how am I supposed to help the Chosen Hero when the time comes? And I don't understand why I was sent away in the first place. The book said it was to protect me, but from what?" Another flash to my nightmare, and I shuddered to think that that demon was the reason I'd had to grow up on Earth. "It just doesn't make sense to me. That entry was… over a hundred years old. Why now? I mean, aside from the stuff about the chosen hero." I stopped myself before I could begin to rant about it, biting my tongue.

"I could probably help explain that, actually. My parents told me some of the stories when I was younger." he offered. I nodded mutely, motioning for him to go ahead. "Well, almost a century ago, there was some great evil threatening Hyrule. Unlike the usual evils, the Goddess' hero wasn't the one to defeat it. This time, there was a whole group of people. A resistance. They were the ones to defeat it. But before that, there was a young sorceress in Castle Town named Lillian, who married a knight under the Queen's service named Jethro. The two had one daughter, who was chosen by the goddesses to carry some mystical power. They never named it, as far as I know. The threat against Hyrule at the time was -"

"Astaroth, Demon King." I cut him off. When I realized that I'd done so, I murmured an apology and let him continue.

"Exactly. He was trying to find this power the girl carried, and he attacked Castle Town when he found out she had it. When he attacked, Jethro fought against him while Lillian used her magic to open a gateway to another world. She turned her daughter into a newborn child, and used another spell to-"

"To hide my memories away. But when I turned fifteen those memories started leaking back into my head. That was two weeks ago." I interjected. I let out a nervous laugh. "Sorry, I don't mean to keep cutting you off like that. It's just... it sort of came to my head." I apologized again. He shook his head.

"It's fine. I'm glad I'm helping you remember."

"I wish they'd just hurry up and get here, rather than giving me a headache trying to figure them out."

"Hey! Link!" I heard Fado holler from the barn. We both looked to him, though he didn't say anything until he reached us. "So, almost time for you to get goin', huh, Link?"

"Pretty soon." Link answered.

"Right. So how's about we finish up early today, bud?"

I stood up from the ground. "I'll let you get back to your work, Link. I'll meet you down in the village." I promised, pushing away the disappointment at my time with my biggest hero (*cough*crush*cough*) being cut short again.

"Celia, I have something for you." I heard Uli say when I entered her house to grab the food she had given me for the trip. After putting said food in my bag, there was suddenly a piece of folded fabric in my hands. Upon unfolding it, I saw that it was a thick, dark cloak. "It will keep you warm on cold nights. It's a two day journey from here to the castle, so you may need it. Winter's on its way, you know."

Winter is coming, huh? I fought the urge to laugh at my own stupid joke as I fastened the cloak. It was very warm, and surprisingly soft. Out of all the places, this would definitely be handy in Snowpeak, and it had been chilly out this morning when I went to the spring... I exited the house again soon after to wait for Link, and was surprised when a two of the villagers approached me. Talo and Malo's parents specifically, were the ones to come up.

"Well, it was nice meetin' you Miss Celia, even if you were only here for a little while. Thanks again for bringin' my son Talo home safely yesterday." Jaggle said, giving me a firm handshake.

"You're welcome. I'm glad he's safe." I smiled, but was quickly caught off guard when the boys' mother, Pergie, pulled me into a tight hug. I returned it easily enough, though I didn't ask. Instead, I simply returned her hug and said nothing. I understood what it meant to her that Link and I had rescued her son, somewhat; I didn't have children, I was way too young for that, so I doubted I could really understand it properly without that.

"Father, Link's coming!" I heard Ilia call. I looked just in time for her to jog up to Link and Epona, and Bo walk out of his house. I heard Link and Ilia talking, but from where I was I couldn't make out the exact words, and by the time I'd reached them they had stopped talking and had reached Bo.

"Oh, done herdin' for the day, Link?" Bo asked as Link reached him.

"Yes sir." he said, patting Epona gently from the saddle.

"Well, nice work." he said.

Link dismounted Epona and went over to the mayor as he replied, "Thank you, I try my best."

"That you do, lad. Now, the royal gift Rusl told you about is ready, so you should get ready for your trip to Hyrule Castle. Now, the royal family requested this gift specifically, so it's real special. It'd be...bad...if the representative of Ordon were to be late for such an occasion, you get me, lad?"

"I do, I'll leave right away." he replied. By now, I'd decided to join the conversation.

"When is the gift due at the castle?" I asked. It wouldn't matter anyways, since the sword would never get to it's location, but I was curious.

"Within the next few days. There isn't a terrible rush." Well, how are we supposed to not be late if we don't know when it would be considered late? That seemed terribly inconvenient, but I wasn't about to say anything.

"Link...what's this?" Ilia suddenly asked. She was looking at Epona's leg. "What happened? She's injured, isn't she?" The older girl's voice now held a tone of controlled anger. I felt for Link. His silence and guilty expression must have said enough for Ilia. "How could you!" she suddenly yelled. "You were pushing Epona too hard! I bet you hurt her leg jumping fences, didn't you!"

She was furious. I realized the injury she'd pointed out must have happened yesterday in the woods, though I wondered when. I stepped back from the situation as the girl got in Link's face.

"Now, now, Ilia... There's no reason to get so hot with him..." Bo tried to calm his daughter, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from snickering at the implications my sadly inappropriate mind made from that sentence. I hated Earth Teen humor, especially the dirty-minded variety. Ilia whirled to glare at her father.

"Father! How can you be so easy on him? You're the Mayor! You should start acting like one!" she snapped. That may have been a bit out of line, but I still said nothing. Bo hung his head, looking properly shamed, but I saw the look he and Link shared, making me want to giggle.

"Oh, poor girl. It'll be alright, Epona. I'll take you to the forest spring right now. Once we soothe you in the Spirit's Spring, you'll be better in no time." the girl cooed at the horse, before beginning to lead her away.

"I'll...come with you." I volunteered, following the older girl. Bo called to Ilia, but she ignored him.

"So... who exactly are you, then? I heard Rusl and my father talking about you yesterday, but I don't think we've met." Ilia spoke. We were in the spring now, and it seemed her fiery temper had cooled.

"I'm Celia. And you're... Ilia, right?" I introduced myself, playing innocent. She nodded her head from where she stood next to Epona.

"Celia... I'll try to remember that. It's nice to meet you." she half-smiled. I nodded in return, even though I knew she probably wouldn't be remembering much of anything again for a long while after today.

"Hey, Ilia!" Colin whispered from the gate. Both of us looked over, and Ilia went to open the gate to let him in. She closed it swiftly after. I would tell just from that that while her anger had cooled off, she was still very much upset with Link. Everything seemed normal for the next few seconds, before my eyes started acting up. I blinked, squinting as my vision seemed to blur and flicker from one scene to another. When the constant change started making my eyes ache, I simply squeezed my eyes shut for several seconds.

When I opened them, I was somewhere else entirely.

What the hell?

I was outside Telma's Bar, I knew this from the sign, as well as the familiarity of the location. There was a blonde woman, holding a young girl in her arms that was no more than three years old. She was wearing a dark blue dress, while the young girl was dressed in purple. They both had matching features as well, which made me assume they were mother and daughter. They were walking down the stairs into Telma's shop, and I could hear the girl chattering away senselessly, though I couldn't quite hear it.

Everything was still fading in, and by they time they reached the second flight of stairs I could hear it perfectly.

"-And daddy tol' me dat Unc'a Haedwal can turn intwo a dwagon!" the young girl exclaimed, squirming excitedly as she told the tale to the woman. "Is it twue, mommy?" she asked, her eyes bright with excitement. The woman smiled, amused, as she touched her forehead and nose to the girl's.

"Yes, Rosalie, what your father said was true about Haedral. But he likes to keep it a secret, so you can't talk about it, alright?" she said softly. The girl, Rosalie, nodded.

"Otay mommy. I can keep seekwets." she promised solemnly. Then the two entered Telma's shop, and I followed quickly after. The place seemed much more bustling than it had been in the games, though I was sure that was to be expected. The entire town seemed bigger.

"Hey 'Lil! How ya doin'?" a woman's voice called happily. I turned to see none other than Telma -albeit a much younger-looking Telma- standing behind the bar. 'Lil' turned to her, and her smile widened.

"Hello Telma." she greeted just as happily. "I thought it high time you finally properly met my daughter." she explained, picking the girl up in her arms. "Rosalie, I'd like you to meet a friend of mommy's. This is Telma. Telma, my daughter Rosalie." she introduced. The little girl grinned widely, and I saw a full mouth of white teeth, save for a few.

"Hiya." she waved at Telma. As Telma cooed and chatted with the toddler, I realized things were fading out of focus. Colours, sounds, feelings, all of it washing away until I found myself in the Spring again.

"Celia, did you hear anything I just said?" Ilia asked, and I picked up a trace of impatience in her tone. I shook my head to clear it.

"Sorry, I was sort of having a flashback," I apologized. "What were you saying?" Before she could reply I heard Colin gasp to my right. I turned my head so I could see.

"Link!"

Ilia turned as well, and I saw her glare on her face again. "If you've come to take Epona back, you can forget it!" she yelled furiously. "Why don't you think about what you've done for a change! I won't open that gate until you change your attitude!"

'I might...' I thought irritably. At this point in the game, Ilia had irritated me. It was Link's horse, and he had to go. It wasn't a matter of changing his non-existent bad attitude, she was just being hissy with him.

"Ilia, I think you're being a bit unfair." I admitted from where I leant against the rocky earth surrounding the spring. She looked over Epona's back at me, raising her eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You're not giving Link a chance to explain anything. If you'd ask, you'd know that Epona got that in the forest yesterday when we went to go save Talo from monsters." I said with a feigned nonchalant shrug. I saw Link's vague shape in the tiny tunnel behind Ilia, but quickly shifted my eyes away from the spot. Colin continued the explanation from where I left off, and finished just as Link emerged.

"I didn't know. I hadn't heard the details about Talo's capture. But Colin..." Ilia murmured. Then she saw Link and turned to Epona, who snorted irritably at the girl. Ilia let out a sound of resign. "So you still prefer your master over me, huh Epona?" I heard her quietly whisper. I rolled my eyes. No need to be so dramatic about it. Who knew how long Link had been her rider? I felt like that preference was a given.

The two continued to talk, but I fought the urge to stick my fingers in my ears and hum when things started getting sappy, with promises to come home safe and whatnot. Aside from the sap, I also wanted to do so to fight the jealousy I felt bubbling up. I had no right to be jealous. These two had pretty much grown up together. I was here for what, two days? Not even. I had no right. But if I'd been asked, I'd only have said that I didn't want to hear the sappy "Promise you'll come back to me," nonsense.

There was the sudden sound of multiple sets of heavy hoofbeats, before the sudden sound of splintering wood reached my ears. The attack had begun. The Bulblins rode in on their mounts, one guiding and one with a bow and arrow at the ready on each. I saw a few more pass by the spring, towards the village.

Ilia and Colin ran back further into the spring, but with two arrows from the Bulblin archers, they fell.

"Ilia! Colin!" Link yelled. Before he could take a single step towards them, the Bulblin directly behind him cracked him over the head. With a grunt of pain, the farmhand was floored. My world suddenly flashed red, and pain exploded on the back of my head; they'd hit me too! Why?

My body went limp, but apparently I was lucky as hell; even unconscious, my body turned to land face-up . My mind was blurry and my eyes wouldn't open, but I swore that through the water I could hear the sound of a loud horn echoing across the spring. King Bulblin was there. Summoning shadow-beasts? More of his own?

The hoofbeats returned, though they faded into the distance quickly. My head was clearing, enough for me to organize my thoughts and regain control of my body. My eyes sluggishly opened, and my body was reluctant to move as I sat up. I rolled so I was on my hands and knees, pushing myself back with my hands so I was standing. My head was spinning, my stomach churning. I felt sick.

Being sick would have to wait. Right now, I had to get Link up. I shifted over so I was kneeling over him, and started shaking him urgently.

"Link! Come on, wake up!" I yelled. Or, tried to yell. It was only a few seconds before he was conscious as well, but dazed. His expression suddenly became frantic as he looked around the spring, scrambling to his feet, but I was already running out.

"This way!" I called. I had taken off at a run, but Link overtook me before I had even reached the bridge. On the other end of the shifting rope-bridge, he skidded to a stop in the rocky crevasse that led deeper into the forest. I almost ran into him before I managed to halt as well. There, in front of us, was the barrier of the Twilight. I took a few steps closer as Link did, until we were barely two feet away. It was so… creepy. As we got closer, yellow-orange patterns began appearing, and the light behind us seemed to disappear all together.

The wall seemed to ripple on its own, like a stone dropped into a still pond. There were two ripples side by side. Suddenly from the centre of the ripple, a large, clawed black hand reached out, grabbing Link around the neck and yanking him in. A second hand came from the other, and I found myself being pulled in as well.

Let's just say that on my 'List of Things I Want to Do in Hyrule', being choked to death by a Shadow Beast is nonesxistent. It's not even on the list at all. But, here I was being choked to death by a Shadow Beast. I struggled for all I was worth, but the monster was unaffected. Black spots were appearing in my vision as I struggled to breathe, clawing at the hand choking me as I tried to pull it away.

Where was the triforce? Wasn't it supposed to go all glowy on Link and scare the shadow beasts off?

'Any time now..' I thought. As if it had heard me, I felt the back of my right hand beginning to warm, and a bright light. The Triforce was there. Right, I'd kind of forgotten I was supposed to have that. It still made absolutely zero sense, but if it kept me from dying…

The creature shrieked as if in pain, before flinging Link and I away from it. I cried out when I hit the ground, squeezing my eyes shut against the pain. I gasped for air as I got to my hands and knees, looking through the bleary haze to find Link. He wasn't far, but at the same time he seemed miles away. I felt my strength draining, fast. I wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer. Why did I feel like lead weights were holding me down, and why did it seem like they were getting stronger by the second?

With what strength I was able to muster, I crawled over to Link, putting a hand on his before another wave of exhaustion coursed through me. This one was stronger, and I barely remained conscious through it.

Out of nowhere, Link let out an agonized scream, before he... exploded. That's the only word I can think of. I heard the sounds of his bones popping and shifting, and when it was over, a grey and white wolf lay where he had. The transformation looked more surreal than I had remembered, and I reminded myself that that was due to the fact that it was real this time, not just a game. That still hadn't completely sunk into my brain, even as my memories were returning.

I felt myself slipping, and before I lost complete consciousness I used the last of my strength to put my arm over the wolf protectively. Then I was lost to the world.