Chapter 5 -Confessions

The two boys passed through the doorway to the Inn. Entering Link noticed that the tables were empty, Anette must have closed down the restaurant for the day. Link made his way between the rows of tables, as the two made their way towards the stair case. As they reached the bottom of the stair case, the brunette owner of the inn, also know as Link's aunt walked out of the kitchen. She was looking down at her hands as she was wiping them off on a towel.

"Hey Link how was your trip to the market?" She asked as she looked up. She blinked then grinned "Oh my-you brought a friend home? Well hello there my dear" The woman said as she made her way over to the young men. Z raised an eyebrow as he remained silent. Annette held out her hand "hi there!" She said happily with a grin "I'm Links aunt, it's a pleasure to finally meet one of Linkin's friend, you know ive never met one of his friends before."

Link's face became red as he began to blush deeply. Link chuckled slightly as he felt the embarrassment begin to kick in, then he looked at Z. "She's kidding-- I have all sorts of friends"

Z raised an eyebrow as he silently stared, Z had a poker face which was extremely hard to read. Making it impossible tomake out what he was thinking.

Link then turned to his aunt. "I'm just picking up a few things and--"

"Are you plan on going somewhere?" His aunt asked

Link paused, how could he go about this... He sighed. "...ineed to leave Castle town.. by tonight.. you see there'sthis-"

"Its okay...you don't need to explain" His aunt said as she looked down.

" Annette? is everything okay?" Link questions.

His aunt waves her hand "yes in fine you boys go ahead"

Link paused he was ready to say more but Z nudged him and then tapped his own wrist, as if to say their on a time limit. Link nodded silently and the two boys began to ascend the stairs. As they reached the second story Link spotted the Zora known as Kolin. He was only a few paces from the stairs.

He waved "Hey there bud, where you heading too in such a hurry?"

Link came to a stop causing Zel to bump into him, luckily he was excellent balance and didn't stumble over or fall. "warn me next time you decide to stop walking..." Z grumbled. He glanced over to the Zora and the two stared at each other

The tall Zora tilted his head "whose your friend?" Z crossed his arms, but remained silent. Kolin and Z kept each others gaze for a long time, both remaining silent as they stared the other down, finally Z turned to Link.

"Go ahead. I'll meet you downstairs in 5 minutes" Z said.

Link nodded and continued up the stairs, well that was certainly weird...But he was on a time limit. Making his way up the rest of the stairs he quickly made his way back to his bedroom. He pushed the door open, making his way over to the small hatch in the wall and shuffling through the items Link grabbed a large rucksack.

He was getting ready to stand when he spotted the sling shot, an object which he had for many years, he became an excellent shot. Link grabbed the object and shoved it into the rucksack. What else would he need... He jumped to his feet, then made his way over to his dresser, Link began to shove clothes into the rucksack. He paused as he looked up.

Rauru, his pet owl sat perched on the dresser he was still fast asleep. Link gained a small smile as he gently rubbed the top of the owls head. He let out a small smile and let his hand drop to his side.

"I remember when you found him" A voice said to him from the doorway of his room.

Link turned and spotted his aunt, he chuckled quietly. "yeah...you wasn't exactly too happy about me harbouring a wild owl...I don't remember how I got you to agree to allow me to keep it"

The woman chuckled, he kept her arms behind her back as she leaned against the doorway "...you didn't have to do anything...I just saw how much it meant to you so I decided to let you keep it...You really are leaving...aren't you?"

Link nodded silently... What could he say to her? Would she even believe him? "...yes...I promise though, ill be back sooner than you know, won't even notice me gone and when I get back ill tell you all about it"

"...I never told you just how much you look like your mother... ill never forget the day I met her" The woman said as she looked down.

"...what do you mean?... I thought you two were sisters??" Link questions as he turns and just stares at her.

"...I think it's about time I confess something to you" She let out a sigh and looked up at the boy.

It was 18 years ago...Before she became the owner at an Inn, Annette was a guards for the city, she patrolled the walls. Making sure the city was safe and there were no attacks... Though there never was. Granted there was the occasional sighting of a smallstalfos, but usually the enemies were easily dispatches by a single arrow, and were never actually interested in entering the city.

It was a cold summers night around 2 am, the other guards on post were asleep. She was pacing around the walkway on the top of the wall, the nights were always quiet, the guards who patrolled the city had more action than the guards patrolling the walls.

Annette sighed as she leaned against the brick fence that was a bit taller than waist level, it was there to make sure people didn't fall over the ledge. That may sound ridiculous but has happened several times before the fence.

She stared out at the massive field before her eyes, a field that stretch further than the eye could see. She grinned as she imagined all the other landscapes around Hyrule. She was the age of 19, probably one of the youngest guardsmen, but even as a young gal she was still better than a great deal of the other guardsmen.

That's when something caught her attention, in the distance she noticed something approaching the castle. She nudges one of the other guards on duty. "Hey somethings approaching the city" She told the guard.

The guard grumbled something incomprehensible as he began to snore louder. Annette rolled her eyes, she grabbed the bow that was laying on the ground near the sleeping guard, grabbing an arrow, ready to shoot what ever was on its way.

What ever or whom ever it was, was approaching the city fast. She kept hold of the arrow as she prepared to launch it when the object became clear. It was a white stallion, she lowered the bow and noticed a hunched over figure clutching to the back of the horse. Looking around at the fellow guardsmen they were all fast asleep.

The horse managed to get only a handful of feet from the castle walls when the figure stumbled off the horse, then slowly dropped to their knees, still hunched over. Annette, with her sword at her hip ran over to a barrel and pulled out a long rope. She tied one end of the rope to the stone fence and then dropping the other end over the wall she quickly scaled down the wall.

Annette quickly made her way over to the figure kneeling near the horse. "Excuse me are you okay???"

The person looked up, it was a woman with long bright blonde hair, and pale skin. The woman was wearing a regal purple gown that bare a golden symbol of some sort of bird and three triangles. Her tear-stained bright blue eyes had a desperate look to them, the woman was in dire need of help. "Please... help me" she begged weakly.

That's when she saw it, the woman was clutching a small child, an infant in fact, bundled in blankets. Taking a closer look she also couldn't help but notice the woman's side covered in blood, most of which was dry. "Don't worry I'm going to get you help-- ill get the others" Annette said as she began to stand up, the woman suddenly grabbed her arm before she could

"No...you can't...please" She begged

Annette shook her head, surprised by the sudden outburst. "What do you mean-- you need help your bleedingan-"

"It's already too late for me...and if they find him...please..." The woman weakly held out the baby. Annette quickly reached back and took hold of the bundled up child. "...he is special.." the dying woman continued. "...the fate of this land...it's now in your hands...take care of my boy...please" she said weakly

Annette stared at the women for a moment before looking back down at the child. The baby was awake and seemed surprisingly calm, bright blue eyes met with her own green eyes. She gained a small smile as she pulled the babyclose. "...Hi there... young one..." The baby let out a giggle then wrapped its tiny hand around her finger. She couldn't help but noticed a marking on the back of his hand... Three yellow triangles...just like the woman's dress. She stared down at the child... "the fate ofhyrule?" she asked quietly. "...what do you mean by that??" Annette asked as she looked up.

The woman from before was gone, without a single trace, even the white horse that brought her to the castle had vanished. If not for the child in her hands she probably would have believed it was all just a dream...

"She was gone... just as quickly as she was there... I only ever saw her for a handful of moments... but her face has haunted me to this day...I could have helped her...but all she wanted was...well... for me to protect you..." Annette said as she finally looked up at the young man who stood before her. "So I did just that, I took you inside and went home...the following day Iwas relievedfrom being a guard due to leaving my post...within a year I had bought this building and started my very own restaurant..."

Link stared at the woman in the doorway, completely in shock...Everything he knew about his life... Was a lie. He had no relation to Annette, he couldn't believe what he was hearing... that means he wasnt born in the city, he was probably never meant to even grow up in the city...He didn't even know who his parents were...Everything began to make sense. Why she never spoke about has parents or why she hardly ever let him venture too far from home... Granted she probably viewed it as protecting him..

Link placed hos hands on his dresser as he stared at the ground, he could feel his breathing begin to get heavier as a pressure began to build up in his chest. He felt shaky, and his knees felt as if they were going to give in. Was he having a panic attack?! Well clearly anyone in their right mind probably would after discovering something like this... The events of the day began to flash before his eyes. BetweenZel, Gannon, the power of the Triforce, him being some chosen hero of time and now this...

His aunt quickly made her way over to him and pulled him into a hug. "Its okay-- just breath... I know I probably should have told you this sooner.. but I just couldn't bare the thought of breaking this kind of news to you...I'm so sorry my dear boy... find it in your heart to forgive me..."

Link pulled away, he shook his head as he tried to calm down. "I-...I need some air..." Link said as he snatched his rucksack off the ground, he quickly made his way out of the room and down the stairs.

After a long while Z exited the Inn, he found the other boy laying on the ground just outside the door, staring up at the sky. Z raised an eyebrow as he walked over and sat beside the other boy. The two of them remained there in silence for several minutes.

"...you look pale.." Z pointed out

Link sighed and pushed himself up, he leaned against the wall as he sat beside the other boy. "...my entire world was just flipped upside down in the matter of three hours..." Link said, he still felt a bit numb inside, but at least he was able to breathe now.

"...Sorry about that..." Z said as he looked over at the other hylian. Link was paying him no mind, he was staring up at the blue sky, watching the clouds dance across the sky. He remained silent, as did Z. As Zel watched the boy he couldn't help but notice how Links eyes seemed to sparkle in the light. He shook his head before standing up. "Alright break over... we need to head to the outer wall, its at least an hour and a half walk from here... once there I have some friends whom can help us get outside the walls...From there we travel three days and three nights until we reach my village..." Zel reached a hand out.

Link looked up at Z, he nodded, taking his hand he pushed off the ground and stood up. Zel pulled his hand away and then walked off, Link grabbed his bag then followed along.

Annette watched from the window as they vanished from sight, she sighed before making her way over to a table and sat down. Sitting across from her was the elderly Gerudo woman.

"Oh pull yourself together...they all leave the nest eventually" Koume muttered as she poured Annette a glass of tea.

Annette wiped a single tear from her eye as she grabbed the cup. "I know... I just never imagined it would be like this..." She said as she took a drink of tea. The tea had a strong taste of mint and another flavor that she couldn't pinpoint... Almonds maybe???

"It's never easy watching them leave... only thing you can hope for is that you raised them right" Koume said as she pointed a finger at the woman

"...do you have kids Koume?"

"Sortve...adopted a girl a long while back... me and my sister raised her. We raised her tough and made her the best she could be...even taught her all the dark magic I knew..." Koume explained

Annette blinked a few times. "...dark magic??"

"You know very proud of her I am, shes the real leader type... has a thirst for power...you know one day verrry soon she will become the new ruler of this land...the only thing standing in her way is that little rat you raised" Koume said as she let our a low growl. "Oh but I'm not worried...hes no match for my girl...shell rip the life from that boy so fast he wont even realize he's dead" She said with a cackle.

Annette blinked, she slowly realized that the woman was serious. She quickly got to her feet.

"Ohhhh-heheheheI wouldn't have done that"

The room began to spin, Annette stumbled back before she suddenly collapsed to the ground. Her legs giving out on her, an overcoming feeling of weakness washed over her.

Koume only continued to laugh. "You humans. Soooo pathetic..don't you know? Never accept a drink from a witch- hehehehe" She stood up from her chair and stared down at the brunette. "Not much time left...tisk tisk tisk, I was so hoping the poison would have a better effected...the last person I gave it to went into a fit of spasms... oh well. I guess they all can't be amusing..."

Annettes vision began to blacken...She couldn't help but to think... her boy-- Link, he wasn't safe... he needed to know...he-...he...

Her eyes slowly fluttered close. Koume sighed. "Oh well..." She looked out the window at all the humans passing by, she gained an evil grin. "not long now...soon your whole world will crash and burn...hehehehehe"