Chapter Thirteen

Link wasn't sure what he expected when he met Faron. Another goat, maybe a sheep? Something similar to Ordona at least. However, when the glowing monkey curled around a ball of light spun out of the spring in front of him, he was reminded that he knew nothing about this particular Hyrule.

He blinked, waiting for the light spirit to finish forming, watching in amazement at the process.

"Hero, Ordona mentioned you."

Link nodded, holding out the vessel, "She gave me this. I'm hoping to gather enough energy to contact the Goddess of Time, to try to fix all of this."

Faron nodded, "Yes. She told me of this as well. I can only add my hope to yours that this will succeed."

Link watched as the flower in his hand glowed. He shut his eyes, waiting for the light to fade, before seeing a second petal unfurl. Both gave off the same pale white light.

"Thank you!" he said brightly before tucking the flower away.

"Anything we light spirits can do to help, we will." Faron responded, "The fate of every land is not something to take lightly."

"Trust me, I'm not." Link pressed his lips together, very serious, "I promised my sister we'd go home together. We can't do that if our home is destroyed."

"Your loyalty is commendable, a trait you share with other heroes."

That made him smile again, "Ordona said you could point me to the next light spirit?"

"Yes. Please pull out your map." Faron instructed him.

Link did so, confused as he looked over the Great Sea.

"Flip it over."

Still puzzled, Link continued to listen to him. As soon as he turned the page over, ink began spreading over it, covering the blank side of his Sea Chart. Borders, mountains, rivers, all of them drew themselves into place until he had a complete map of Hyrule.

A grin stretched across his face, "That's a lot easier than how I got my map."

"The glowing points will represent the other spirits." Faron said.

Link nodded, making note of the tiny dots. They were on opposite ends of the map, which wasn't the greatest for travel, but he could make it work. At least now he knew where to go.

"I don't suppose you know anything about the other two people who fell through to this time?" he asked hopefully, "Ordona mentioned a hidden town and a city in the sky?"

"Both visitors have arrived. One is severely injured, and much closer to you than you yet realize." Faron said cryptically.

Link raised an eyebrow at him, "What do you mean?"

"Some rips in time were closer than others. Others span hundreds of years." was the spirit's answer, "I can show you their locations on the map as well, but I have no guarantee that these visitors will stay where they are now. If they have moved from their current location, simply ask the next spirit to update the map for you."

"Simple enough." Link said, content with that. He looked at the map again, seeing another two spots glowing. One was towards the north while the other was near the spirit to the west.

"I wish you luck in your journey."

"Thanks again for all your help!"

Faron didn't respond, fading away. Link watched as the forest stopped glowing, returning to its simple, peaceful atmosphere. He turned back to the map, studying it. The next closest spirit was to the east. It also looked like it was near a town. He could stop there, get the next blessing, and restock on his supplies. After that, he could circle to the north, grab that time traveler, and then together they could head to the last spirit and time traveler. Overall, it was a fairly simple plan.

He put the map away and began walking down the path through the forest once again.

He was just thankful that this time, he didn't have to go through a lot of dungeons for this particular quest.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Shad yelled out in frustration, "There is no bridge in this part of Hyrule! There is no cliff! No river! And there are certainly no stairs!"

"And yet, here they are." Midna drawled, almost sounding bored.

"I know Hyrule! I've traveled all over it! I have the map memorized!" he could almost feel a vein pop out in anger, "This isn't possible!"

"And now you know how I feel about my portals." She rolled her eyes at him, "Look, obviously something has happened. That's why we're going to Kakariko, remember?"

"But what if Kakariko isn't there now?" Shad questioned. "I mean, look at all this! This-this isn't possible!"

Midna huffed, "You don't get angry very often, do you?"

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Cause you're really bad at it." She laughed.

He groaned, "I don't need the teasing right now."

"Too bad. My wolf is currently gone so I have no one else to poke any fun at."

Shad sighed in defeat, "Fine."

Midna pouted, "It's no fun if you give in so easily."

"Then let's find Link so you can tease someone properly." he suggested.

"Agreed." she said before disappearing back into his shadow.

Shad shook his head at the impossible bridge behind him and the even more impossible stairs before him. It really was completely implausible for these things to be in this section of Hyrule. However, there was nothing he could do about it now. The best he could hope for was to climb the stairs and hope that the pathway to Kakariko was at the top. Provided that nothing had changed too much, this was still the direction he needed to go.

The stairs were steep and Shad was out of breath when he finally reached the top. Rounding the last corner, he stopped in shock, the sight in front of him even more impossible than the one he had just seen.

Midna flew out of his shadow, staring at the giant sign in front of them with a mirrored look of astonishment.

"Is that…"

"It can't be."

"But it says…"

"Must be wrong."

"Are you sure?"

"...No."

The pair exchanged a look that showed exactly how lost they were.

In front of them was a completely intact, almost overflowing with people, Kakariko. The sign above them proudly stated 'Kakariko Village'. It looked nothing like the rundown, nearly abandoned, village either of them knew.

The buildings weren't falling apart. Instead, they were strong, steady, with bright colored roofs. There was no spring, but there was a well on the far end. Two redheaded men, they must've been twins, stood joking by a tree and a woman was running around, chasing a Cucco, yelling at it to get back in its pen.

"Could it just have the same name?" Midna wondered.

Shad shook his head immediately, "There is only one Kakariko Village in all of Hyrule, I can guarantee it."

"Then what in the Light Realm is this?"

"I…have no clue." his shoulders slumped in defeat. Nothing was making sense, not since he had fallen in that water.

"Maybe they're refugees from Castle Town." Midna guessed, looking very thoughtful, "After all, it was basically destroyed. We should find Renado and ask."

Shad nodded in agreement and Midna went back into his shadow.

He slowly made his way into town, looking around in amazement at all the changes. The layout was nothing like he remembered and he couldn't find the shaman's hut. He did find the entrance to the Graveyard, but that was the only thing that was familiar. Since when did Kakariko get a windmill?

Shad stood there, watching it in confusion as it spun around and around.

"Are you ok?" an old man in a long blue robe asked him after a moment, having been walking nearby and seeing Shad looking lost.

Shad just shook his head, "I have no clue anymore."

The man smiled, "I understand. Many of us felt the same way when we first came here after our homes were destroyed."

"How did you know I just got here?"

The man shrugged, "Intuition. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I'm looking for Renado. He should be here."

"I'm afraid I don't know any Renado." the man shook his head sadly, "But we have gotten many people fleeing here and I don't know everyone. He could still be here."

"No, see Renado is the shaman of this town, he's in charge." Shad corrected him gently, "Everyone should know him. He'd be looking after you."

"I'm sorry, but there is no Renado in charge here." The man told him, "Impa was the leader of the village, but she left quite a while ago."

"Then, who is in charge?" Shad asked nervously.

"Lately everyone has been looking towards Link for answers." the man said.

Shad's eyes widened and he could almost swear that he felt his shadow freeze at the words, "L-Link's here?!"

The man backed up, almost alarmed at Shad's sudden excitement, "Yes, he's taken residence in Impa's old house. He's new to the village, like you, but after he fought off that monster the other day, everyone began looking to him for protection and help."

"What kind of monster?!" Shad asked hurriedly.

"It was massive, bigger than a house. Some kind of bug. It flew around, diving on the village, until Link stepped forward and fought it off. He threw some bombs until the thing couldn't fly anymore, then finished it off on the ground. It was very impressive." He smiled excitedly as he recounted the story.

Shad's face broke out into a wide smile, "Where did you say Link was again?"

"Impa's house." he pointed to one of the buildings behind Shad.

"Thank you!" the scholar tossed over his shoulder, bolting for the house immediately.

The old man watched him run away, shaking his head in confusion. "Tourists." he scoffed.

Shad made it to the door in record time, pounding his fist on it as hard as he could.

"Settle down, settle down! I'm coming!" a voice yelled at him from inside. Midna rose out of his shadow, waiting with him impatiently.

The door opened and Shad's breath caught.

The one who opened the door was definitely Link, but he looked wrong somehow. There was something, multiple somethings, that were different. He was taller, his hair was a lighter brown, and his face was less angular than Shad remembered. The worst of it was when Link looked at both him and Midna and there wasn't a spark of recognition in his eyes.

"Can I help you? Do you need a place to stay in the village?" he asked cautiously, looking particularly wary of Midna floating in the air. Shad saw Link's other hand stretch behind him, looking like he was grabbing for something.

"You…don't know us, do you?" Shad asked, shoulders slumping as he already knew the answer.

"Should I?" Link asked.

There was a beat as his words sunk in. Then, Midna landed on the ground, scoffing to herself, "Of course."

"Excuse me?" he asked, obviously confused.

"Just my luck." she muttered, "Finally find Link and it's not even him."

"Breathe," Shad told her, "We'll figure it out."

She avoided looking at him. Shad sighed and turned back to Link, "Sorry, you just look like a friend of ours. We were just hoping that, well, that he would be here."

Link relaxed, "I understand. Some other people in the village have made similar comments. Come on in, I'll make you some tea."

He opened the door. Shad walked in gratefully, but Midna was quiet, staying near the edge of the room. It wasn't a large house, but there was a loft above them. Strangely enough there was a cow in the corner, happily munching on some hay.

Shad settled in at the table, looking over the map there while Link put down the sword he held, making his way over to the fireplace and starting some water to boil.

"My name is actually Link. I know that probably doesn't help much," he shrugged, "Is there anything you can tell me about your friend? Maybe I've seen him around."

Shad barely heard the question, eyes widening as he took in the map, "Midna, look."

Sighing, she came over, taking the seat next to him and looking in confusion at the map, "What?"

"Look," he insisted.

"Looks like a map of Hyrule." she said disinterestedly.

"You don't see anything wrong with this?" he huffed.

Midna shook her head, "Nope. Forest, desert, lake. It's all there."

Shad opened and closed his mouth in disbelief.

Midna just shrugged, "Who needs a map when you can portal around? Link always took care of it. I never really looked at it."

"This isn't Hyrule!" Shad finally spelled it out, "The names of some of the places are the same, like Lake Hylia, but others are completely different! And almost nothing is in the right spot!"

"I know what you mean." Link chuckled. "I had the same reaction when I first saw it."

"See!" Shad said smugly to Midna. She ignored him.

"I take it you aren't from around here either then?" Link smiled, setting out the mugs.

"I thought I was." Shad huffed, leaning back in his chair, "Now? I have no clue."

The swordsman lifted the teapot, pouring out the steaming water and adding in the tea leaves, "Why don't you start from the beginning? Tell me everything, it might help."

He sighed, accepting that it was the logical thing to do, "Well, I'm Shad. This is Midna. We…ended up in Castle Town recently. We thought we would find our friends here. We had plans to meet up in Kakariko Village, but nothing is like we know it should be."

Link looked at them curiously, "Like you know it?"

He nodded, "Places aren't where they are supposed to be, the map is different, the village has completely changed, Midna can't find any of her portals. None of it should be possible."

Link leaned back, eyes wide, "Did…did you swim here?"

"Swim?" Midna asked skeptically.

"Were you tossed into water unexpectedly?" Link clarified, "Did you swim for a while before ending up here?"

Midna and Shad exchanged a look, surprised.

"Yeah, we both did."

"Me too."

"W-What?" Shad sputtered.

Link nodded, "I was trying to get back home, about to step into the Gate with Zelda, when I-"

"Zelda? You know the princess?!" Shad cut him off.

Link looked confused, "I know Zelda. I don't know what a princess is."

"How do you not know what a princess is?" Midna scoffed.

"We don't have any where I'm from?" Link guessed.

"You don't-" Shad was more confused than ever, "Where are you from then?"

"Skyloft, above the cloud barrier." Link said.

Shad stood up in a flash, legs hitting the table and causing the tea to slosh and spill.

"Woah!" Link cried out, holding his cup up so it wouldn't dump on him, "Watch out!"

"What's with you?" Midna glared at him.

Shad ignored her, leaning forward to look at Link intently, "Did you just say Skyloft?"

"Yeah, do you know about it?" His eyes flickered back and forth between the other two, unsure of what was going on.

Shad could've sworn his heart stopped. "Skyloft…my dad used to say, well, it's a myth, a legend really, b-but-"

"Spit it out already." Midna snapped at him.

"Skyloft is what the Oocca used to call their city in the sky."

"Yeah, that's because it is a city in the sky." Link shrugged again as if it was obvious, "I don't know who the Oocca are though."

"No you don't understand," Shad leaned even closer to Link, "The Oocca called their city Skyloft more than a millennium ago."

"W-What?" Now it was Link's turn to look confused, "That can't be right."

"Are you sure you live in Skyloft?" Midna asked him.

Link nodded vehemently, "All my life. I only recently started traveling to the Surface, to try to save Zelda."

"No, Zelda was captured by Zant and Ganondorf." Shad corrected him. "Then turned into a statue."

"No she wasn't. She took herself to the past to power the seal on the Imprisoned. We were on our way back to the present when-" Link cut himself off with a groan as something seemed to occur to him.

"What is it?" Midna asked.

"We were on our way home, back to the present," he repeated himself, "We used a Gate of Time."

Shad and Midna exchanged a confused look. "Where are you going with this?" he asked.

"Something must have gone wrong. It didn't send me back to the present, it sent me thousands of years into the future," Link explained with another groan.

"That…makes sense." Shad admitted, thinking the theory over.

"Wait, so you are a Link from the past?" Midna clarified. At his nodding, she continued, "Then that means you could be the ancestor of our Link. That would explain how you look so similar!"

"Agreed." Shad said thoughtfully, "Although that doesn't explain what happened with us. We all 'swam' here, for lack of a better term, and your portals are still missing. Plus Hyrule is completely changed."

"Maybe you two got caught in a ripple effect of my time traveling?" Link suggested.

He considered it, "Not impossible. We were both in the castle at the time. We could've been dragged along for the ride. If we were, the biggest question is how to get home from here."

Midna huffed, crossing her arms, "Well don't look at me. I've always stayed away from time magic, for good reason."

"I'm just happy to finally have an answer." Link admitted, "I've been losing my mind trying to figure out what happened."

"Us too." Shad said.

"I wonder if that could also explain what happened to Zelda." he mused.

"What do you mean?"

"She and I were going home together, using the Gate. On the way, when that weird water struck, I lost hold of her. I actually lost my sword too, this is my old training one that I kept in my bag." Link pointed to the sword he had set down earlier, "I don't know where she ended up, but I found Zelda here in this village, but…she, well, it might be easier to show you."

He stood up, guiding them to the loft. Curious, they both followed. When they reached the top and Link pointed towards the bed, both Midna and Shad were struck with a feeling of deja vu.

Zelda lay on the bed. It was undoubtably her, but so much younger than either of them had seen her before. Her hair was a pure blond as opposed to the brunette that they were used to.

"She's…changed, obviously." Link frowned, hands on his hips as he looked at her, "And nothing I do will wake her up. I've tried everything I can think of, potions, fairies, even the Triforce."

"I'm…not sure." Shad muttered.

Midna floated over to her, holding out a hand just above Zelda's. Nothing happened and she growled in frustration, "I can't wake her up either."

"So what do we do now?" Shad asked.

They didn't have an answer.

Professor: I had to rewrite this chapter multiple times. This was the best version I came up with. In one version, I actually had Midna and SS Link fighting. I couldn't figure out a way to get them to trust each other after that. *facepalm*

Anyway, for anyone who is interested, the monster that the old man says Link fought to save the village is actually the boss from the Forest Temple in Spirit Tracks. One of the easiest bosses in the game (in my opinion at least) and I think that any of the Links could easily handle it.

Thanks for reading!

Reviews:

Excuse Me and FCL (Sorry, I would PM you, but you are both guests. If that ever changes and you get accounts, just let me know, I'm always happy to talk!):

Please don't fight! I'm glad you two were able to work things out! I had the idea for this story close to 10 years ago now and it's grown since then, the plot massively evolving/influenced by new games and other fanfictions. I just want to share it with everyone and hopefully make something that everyone can enjoy!

I know this story is very confusing right now. Other people have mentioned this to me as well so if there is anything I can do to help, just let me know! I have no problem putting a list on each chapter if that is what it takes! Just let me know and I can start doing that in the next chapter! I plan for the main plot to get introduced around chapter 20-ish right now, but I would like to do at least one scene for every character I hope to include, along with just having some fun with setting up the story/showcasing characters. However, I know this can make things difficult and boring for the reader, so I may end up skipping some characters that we already know are lost in time, such as Quill or Pipit. I haven't officially decided yet.

I can share some stuff though that will hopefully help clear up some of the confusion.

The line breaks represent moving to a different character/world. Just read a little while into it and hopefully it will be obvious, but if it isn't, let me know!

I do plan on including a lot of side characters, particularly some of my favorite ones that I think get overlooked by the fandom (such as Shad, for example). I love Link and Zelda, but they do tend to steal the spotlight. Not that they don't deserve it, but others should get their time to shine as well.

I also included lots of characters because I do have a plan for them moving forward that is focused on the plot. It will make sense when we get there, so I just ask for patience until that moment!