Chapter 2

Link slowed down as he approached the Academy village, keeping to the back road he was on as he made his way to The Academy. He pulled around a small grove of trees and found himself staring at the back side of the large building that loomed before him, towering over the grey cliffs that surrounded Link. And that was from the back side of the Hylian Academy, the front was a mix of statues, facades and towering pillars. Red brick, marble and sandstone compromised its structure, at least at the surface level. If you went around to the back, as Link had to go to every day, you would see simply red brick flatness. Well aside from a part of the building that stuck out in a half circle sort of shape. That was part of the Statue Hall, which he would be cleaning later that day. Link maneuvered his bike around to that "exciting" side, pulled under a rocky overhang and got off of his bike. After making sure it was covered with a tarp, he pulled off his helmet and goggles then stepped over to the back door. Unlike the front door which was a towering wooden gateway, carved with scenes of several notable Heroes in the past which could very well be in a museum, the back door was simple, a metal door with patches of rust on its dented surface.

He took a key ring out of his pocket and unlocked the door. It creaked open and a dimly lit, dirty stairwell led into the building's basement. Not exactly what the general public thought was down under their prestigious academy, but it worked for what it was used for. Which was storage and cleaning. He shouldered his bag, marching down the stairs as if entering some evil beast's dwelling, and if it were any older he could very well be doing just that.

Link pushed through a second door at the bottom of the stairs into the sanitation staff room. The smell of cleaning equipment and soapy water ever present in the basement rooms of the school. The room was set up in a half circle, the flat side covered with old lockers and the rest used for storing the trolleys and various tables, chairs and desks. Very exciting. The other janitors were already there, pulling on their gloves and filling their carts with various cleaning supplies and getting ready for the day. There were only five of us for the day shift, not much needed cleaning normally but hey, it was a large building after all. There was Link, of course, as well as Shadly, Kaepora, Jim and the guy we all referred to as "Ted". He was mute and old, but an incredibly hard worker. Jim was also from Latoan City, but was from the second tier. They didn't really talk much, but Link generally thought he was a good guy, aside from the time he found him napping behind the bleachers. Kaepora was the one who Link knew the best, and had helped him get the job in the first place. He had a lot of sway here in the academy, seeing as he was the only janitor to have been into Hyrule Castle, as a guard no less. But he retired and tried for a simpler life when Link wasn't nagging him about his time as a soldier, but more on that later. Shadly was the laziest member of the janitorial staff, and only had to keep the bathrooms tidy on account of that.

Link went up to his locker and tossed his bag in, the old locker creaking. He pulled off his jacket, pulling on a larger grey coat and a toss hat. His cart had floor cleaning supplies, so a mop, soapy water, sponges, two brooms and a few other items of cleaning value. Link sighed and grabbed the handle, already frustrated at the task ahead of him and the rest of the staff apparently felt the same way, who noticed his sigh and followed suit. Yesterday was the annual Picori Festival, and the party was a real mess to clean up, especially here at the academy where the second largest party was held in honor of this "sacred" day. In all honesty most people just used it as an excuse to drink, get a day off, and generally have a great time. Picori weren't even involved at this point, only in the name.

Then it happened

Did I get you? Well that's how Link feels every day of his life at the academy. Like something big could happen, but he just wasn't a part of it. But hey, that's just normal for every student here. Why? Because they are always waiting for their chance to be a hero. That's why every student had to get the Triforce tattooed on their dominate hand, so that if the Triforce of Courage returned… that's a story that should be told, at least in brief.

It happened three thousand years ago, Hyrule was on the brink of destruction as their world literally crumbled around them. The stars, the sun, the moon, all gone. Even the surrounding nations of Holodrum and Labrynna had been eaten up in this void. In a final moment of defiance and hope, the Triforce was called upon and all three pieces found. Power, Wisdom and Courage.

The Princess made the wish, high above the Castle Town in her throne room. "For all that I have done, see that my heart yearns to save the people that I lead. Help the people of Hyrule. Save your people!" After only a moment, the Triforce shone brightly and broke apart, soaring out and around what was left of the world. The three pieces glowed even brighter, and began to circle the Kingdom faster and faster until the sky turned blue, clouds littered the sky and the sun burned brightly again. A single guard was able to hear her words and spread them across Hyrule and the people praised their ruler and the Goddesses. All was normal.

However, the three pieces of the Triforce had exhausted themselves to save the Goddess's people. Wisdom drifted slowly back to the Princess, weakly glowing and no longer radiating the same as it had before. Power burst into thousands of fragments and was scattered to the wind and over the mountains to the west of Hyrule. Courage fell slowly to the ground, and rested there in a field until several farmers went to it, where they saw it had vanished in the fields of wheat, leaving only an imprint. But in this imprint were words, pushed into the soil, and they read: "Wisdom shall shine bright again when Power burns harshly in the west, and when my sisters are strong again, I shall return: The Courage in the heart of the Hero, to save Hyrule again."

This is the story that led to the creation of the Academy, waiting for Courage to return and a Hero to rise and save Hyrule from its troubles once more. But why the tattoos? That is simple. When courage does return, the other marks will disappear, and only the hero that truly has the Crest of the Royal family on his hand shall keep his. That is the story that led Hyrule to what it is today, a nation holding its breath.

Link turned the faucet off and hefted the pail from the sink and onto his cart with a grunt. His task of the day was to help Tim and Kaepora clean the Statue Hall. He grabbed the cart, pulling on his gloves. This wasn't going to be an easy task. He pushed the cart up a ramp and into the main hallway of the school, turning to his right and heading down toward the center of the building. He passed several classrooms, each labeled with the professor's name. None were lit seeing as the day after the Picori Festival was a day of rest. At least for most people. There were still those who would have to work, such as the Queen herself and most lower jobs that had maintenance to do to keep Hyrule ticking. Such as Link.

He passed under a large arch and into the Statue Hall. A very large room that was a little over four stories in height, while still being wide enough for a large crowd. Prominently in the center of the room was a two story marble statue of a hero, very default version of a hero though. A tunic, and that sock hat thing, a copy of the Master Sword held above his head and a Hylian shield bearing the markings of the Royal Family. The rest of the hallway was filled with the twelve prominent heroes of Hyrule, only a few of which had names to their faces. Some were young, most were around seventeen to twenty but there was a rather old looking Hero with a long beard and a wrinkled face. That was the Hero of Time as he was in reality.

On the far wall was a huge stained glass mural depicting the Triforce of courage above the Hero of Time as he was when he saved Hyrule, he was the one that most people thought of when they thought of a true Hylian Hero. The rest of the room was covered in banners and columns. The upper two levels of the Academy had balconies overlooking this chamber, with the third floor crossing over the center via a bridge. Banner hung from those banisters as well; blue, green and a few red ones as well. Well, that is unless it is the day after the Picori Festival.

The Hall was a mess, and only the Hero Statue was left untouched. The floor was a mess of garbage and spilled drinks, tables littered the area and were left covered with last night's meals. Various items were draped on the balconies and various hero statues, from cups to lipstick painted on the statues. Link rubbed the bridge of his nose, letting out a low sigh. While normally this would be left to the night shift if it were a normal party, but they did not have work last night due to the parties all over Hyrule. So it was up to Link and the other members of the day shift to clean the entire Academy from top to bottom in a day. Thankfully Tim and Kaepora were already busy at work, garbage bags out and cleaning off the tables. Another blessing was that the party was limited to certain areas of the Academy, but this mess would occupy them for most of the day.

Link pulled out his mop and pail and began mopping floors of stains and various other substances. It was hard work, for sure, but the pay was honestly worth it. While Link's home may be crap, it was a personal choice to keep it that way. He had plans, oh yes plans. A get rich scheme he had come up with who knows how long ago. Live like shit and save, save, save. That was it, honestly. He had saved up quite a large amount of rupees already. Yes, you heard me, rupees. Multicolor stones were still the currency of Hyrule. Well mostly, there was a coin system introduced during Great Britain's assistance in the Cold War. Pounds and whatnot, but it didn't hold. While he had been payed in these coins occasionally, they were worth quite a large sum in rupees. But hey, pay was pay and he had lived like this for a long time, all that was left to do was to keep working and saving. Mainly working, at the moment.

It took the three of them quite some time, but they had finally removed the last of the set up tables in the Statue Hall, meaning that it was finally clean. Shadly and Jim had finished with the other, less touched wings of the building, leaving the five of them done for the day. The large clock in the entrance wing told Link that it was roughly seven at night, and the sky didn't lie either. It was rather dark tonight, heavy cloud cover made sure of that. Kaepora clapped Link on the shoulder, startling the younger man out of his thoughts. "And you said we would all be fired." Kaepora said jokingly, smirking at Link. "But hey, at least the night staff didn't show up and ruin our great work!" There was a short pause before they, and the others, broke out into laughter, Tim smiling and tapping the floor with his broom. It was a running joke that they were the artists of the janitor shifts, the night shift being little moblins that can't clean properly and thusly, day shift has to make it all look great again.

Shadly spoke up, leaning partly on his trolley. "All right you lot, let's leave shall we? Don't want to have to fight any moblins with only a few broom handles between us." Another round of chuckles came from Shadly's little quip and they returned to the basement to put away their cleaning supplies. Link however, did so slowly. As did Kaepora. They each said their goodbyes to Link and Kaepora before setting off down to the village together, telling jokes and generally having a good time. Kaepora and Link however eyed each other.

They each pulled a broomstick from the closet, and stepped toward the open space in the center of the basement. They set to walking in a circle, facing each other on opposite sides. Kaepora twirled his broom in a series of motions, in the end pointing it at Link. Link followed suit, smirking at the end of his own little flourish. They stopped pacing in the circle, taking opposing stances.

"On my mark, Link…" The older man said, his tone hushed. Link nodded, and they stood as still as statues, knuckles white on their brooms.

"Go!" Kaepora shouted, and Link pulled his broom up, blocking a downward strike from Kaepora. Link stepped back, and knocked Kaepora's next swipe away before lunging forward with his broom in a horizontal slice. Kaepora's movements mirrored Link's previous as he simply swatted the strike aside, and went for a counterattack. Link's next block was flimsy at best, but he managed to maneuver his fellow janitor's broom to the side before jumping away from Kaepora. Link took a deep breath, getting back into his stance as Kaepora did the same.

"Good." He said, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Again. Go!" He lunged at Link, stabbing at him with his broom. Link pushed the stab away before countering with another horizontal strike. Kaepora jumped back, and Link grinned, pushing forward toward the old guard. Another horizontal strike was knocked aside, and Link went in with a stab. The broom found its way past Kaepora's guard, and with a startled grunt, it hit him square in the gut. Kaepora stumbled back, placing his broom on the floor for balance. He let out a few breaths, before looking up at Link, a small smile on his face.

"Always a first time for anything, I suppose." Kaepora muttered, loud enough for Link to hear.

"Well at least we know I'm getting better." Link replied, smiling widely while taking a breath. While he was no slouch when it came to fighting, he had nothing on the retired guard. The two of them had been doing this for at least four years, since Link turned fourteen, and that was the first time, he had actually hit the old timer. They started sparring and training on a regular basis when Link began working at the Academy, Kaepora had insisted on it after only the third week. When pushed for a reason his response was always the same. "Ordon's a dangerous province, especially in the lower tier of the city. I just want to see you get out of there with a head still on your shoulders." And it had saved Link a few times actually, primarily during a brawl near Link's apartment. He was able to take down (Not kill) the gang members who attacked him. But that was only because Kaepora had not only covered swords (brooms).

He had taught link the basics of a lot of forms, from fists and swords to hammers and staves. Link definitely was not a master of any of these, but he did show some promise in swordplay, so that's what Kaepora narrowed his teachings down to. Thankfully, Link was progressing faster than he had with the other types of fighting, and began to make each and every sparring match with Kaepora closer and closer. He hardly left feeling sore anymore, from bruises at least.

"All right Link, I think I'm going to call it a night there. This old body has had enough for one day of cleaning and fighting." He rubbed his belly as he put his and Link's brooms away. "I hope you didn't leave a bruise that would be hard to explain to the missus."

"Same here, with the tired thing, I'm beat from mopping down the Hero of Water." Link smirked at his own joke, but Kaepora didn't seem to hear as he tossed his own bag over his shoulder. "Good night Link, I will see you in the morning. Get some rest and be ready for tomorrow, I will have a little surprise for you that I think you will like." With that he pushed his way out the back door and into the night, leaving Link to his thoughts in the basement.

He walked over to the lockers, miming thrusts and swings all the way. It honestly was a great way to end the day, with his first victory and all. "But what could his surprise be?" He said aloud to the empty building. The giant, ominous, empty Academy of Hyrule. A shiver went down his spine as he said those words.

"I hate being alone in her" He muttered under his breath as he hastily pulled on his green jacket and slipped out the back door. Somewhat ready for his dark and cold ride back to the city.

Author End Thing

So! A little more than a week, I apologize. Life caught up with me and writers block kicked into full gear, but I am back into the writing groove! Sorta! I don't want to actually set myself a schedule for this, so I'm just going to say that I will try to update this more frequently than once a year. Hopefully every month or so. But Yeah! Heres Chapter two, where I tried to explain the academy and its purpose in Hyrule, as well as introduce you to Link a little bit, who is a little different from past Links in Hyrule's History! Mainly, he doesn't sleep forever, he's more rigorous than that. He has goals, which I will tear apart and then put back together in a different way. And that should happen, with any luck, in the next chapter or two! (Just the tearing up part)

Thanks .7965692, and TheBigOne for the reviews! I really appreciate them! And thank you Jerimiah for reminding me about this fanfic! If you ever want to ask me a question about this fic, anyone, just ask away in the review section or in a PM and I will try to answer it during the author section in chapter 3. Cya!