This chapter perhaps not so good. I’m not sure. But I think it’s better than before, although it does combine a lot of the chapters from the previous version. I know Link doesn’t talk a lot, but it’s a bit frustrating having him not being able to talk at all. I guess that’s my talkative nature, though! (Hint: I’m a lot like Rana, except I have different neuroses and wasn’t trained by ninjas.) Part of my frustration also comes from the fact that I don’t like describing things that happened in the game, in cutscenes. Either it’s not really that important (Ordona emerging from her pool) or my writing skills can’t sum up the awesome enough (Link discovering he’s in human form again). Although I’ve been up all night writing this. When I edit it, I’ll probably be able to make that last bit more awesome.
I did some reading on the Zelda Wiki about the official Timeline for the Zelda games, and it’s kind of depressing! Especially the differing fates of Ocarina Link. I kind of prefer my own headcanon. Which I guess is why it’s my headcanon. Also I’m really not sure I can accept Spirit Tracks into my headcanon in the first place. Maybe yes, maybe no. It’s difficult just accepting that Old Hyrule was destroyed in Wind Waker, you know? Hyrule can’t be GONE-gone. It’s like, the life of this entire land only lasted a few thousand years, from its (second) settlement after Skyward Sword to its submersion and eventual destruction in Wind Waker. Can’t it go on forever? I know there were periods of darkness and war in Hyrule’s history, but that’s what the Heroes are for, is to stop the darkness. And sometimes they don’t get a happy ending (the Hero who took on the Shadow Tribe comes to mind) but often they do, because they go through blood, sweat, and tears to banish the evilness trying to take over Hyrule and they kind of deserve it (a happy ending). Basically I have too many feels for the Zelda series and its handsome hero and its lovely land. And also I can’t deal with three timelines at once, that’s just weird.
Man, I think I might have stayed up a mite too long. That last paragraph is rather formless.
Also, having watched Skyward Sword, I think in that game Link was able to physically acquire the Triforce and use it not just because it’s super awesome and about time it was actually featured in a Zelda game besides the first one, but also because there is a Triforce of good characters. Link and Zelda are there, sure, but there’s also Groose, and for the first time, we have a Power good guy. It’s kind of awesome.
Chapter 2: Reunions
He stirred groggily some time later. How much later, he had no idea. He grunted and snorted, and his voice was not his own.
He struggled to his feet, shaking his head to clear it, and… wait, he was on all fours.
His hands were paws. His feet were paws. His nose was long and covered in short, soft fur. He panicked and tried to jump backwards from himself, but he didn’t go far as his left paw was chained to a ring in the centre of the dark stone dungeon in which he found himself.
Then he really panicked and darted as far as the short chain would let him, snapping at the air, a noise in his chest that sounded like it would grow into a desperate howl if only he knew how to howl. He bit at the ring around his wrist frantically.
Someone tittered outside his cell, and instantly he drew back, on his guard.
There was a shadowy figure there, small and curvaciously shaped. He caught a glimpse of a red and yellow eye, and orange hair.
“You’re in a bit of a state, aren’t you?” said the creature. Well, yes, he was. He had been a Deku, a Goron, a Zora, even a demon, but he had never been a wolf before, and frankly, it was disturbing him a lot.
“I’m so glad I found you,” said the creature, disappearing for a second and popping up in front of his nose, right in his personal space. He growled warningly. “You think you’re scary, huh? Well, if you want to get out of here, you might want to start acting a bit more friendly, hmmmm?” Its – her voice was like Navi’s, but sharper. Her body was black and white, with strange green runes and designs on it. She was actually kind of cute, if not for the terrifying horned stone headdress she wore.
He swallowed his next growl and sat back as best he could.
“That’s a good little wolf, eeheehee!” the creature snapped its fingers and a tiny spark of orange energy snapped the chain binding him to the floor. “Now, I bet you’re wondering where you are, aren’t you?” She drifted backwards, passing through the iron bars on the front of the cell in the form of a hundred tiny bubbles, and then recoalescing into herself again. “If you can make it out here, maybe I’ll tell you!” She stretched and yawned, and then winked at him, giggling.
Well that turned out to be simple enough. There was a loose bar in the cell, and he set his broad wolfy shoulder to it until it bent enough that he popped out into the corridor outside his cell.
The being was nowhere to be seen, at least not until she sprang out of nowhere and landed on his back. He jumped and bucked, trying to dislodge her, but she clung on and then grabbed his ears. It hurt.
“Look, now,” she said reasonably. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll help you escape this place, but in return, you must obey my every command!” There was an unconsciously arrogant tone in her voice, as if she found it only natural that he should want to obey her commands. He didn’t trust her, especially since she hadn’t told him where they were yet, but on the other hand, she had set him free, and she was the best chance he had of getting out.
He growled, but stopped bucking.
“That’s a good boy!” She patted his side roughly. “Now go forward, into the next cell.”
She guided him through the cells, and eventually to a great tower with a spiral stair. Under the stair, he heard a moan and cautiously crept closer to check it out.
There was a guard huddled there, in armour and a familiar-looking uniform. Except he was a ghost. He shivered and moaned again. “Am I even safe here? Where did these horrible black things come from?” He stared right through the wolf and his strange rider.
“Eeheehee! He can’t see you! That’s the nature of the state of where we are. Some soldier, huh? Hiding under the stairs. Maybe we should get him a bed to hide under. Oh well. Keep going. Up the stairs! There’s someone I want you to meet.” She tittered again, obviously enjoying some private joke.
He scampered up the stairs and out through the door at the top.
He emerged into light and wind and the top of a wall. It was the inner wall of some castle. It would have been a marvellous castle if not for the eerie gold and black lighting. The great central tower rose high into the sky, glimmering and pale, and each of the towers of the inner wall stretched out bridges to it. Down beneath the wall, he could see strange colourless trees and other plants, clearly some kind of garden. The sky was pitch black, with glowing golden clouds fluttering across it as if in a high wind. Bits of black stuff floated up into the sky. He wondered… had he been taken to some distant and cursed kingdom?
“Have you guessed where we are yet?” giggled his rider.
He began to shake his head, and then caught sight of the crest beneath his own feet.
A stylized bird, with outstretched wings and the Triforce for a head… That was the crest of the Royal Family of Hyrule. This was no distant kingdom. It was home. Zelda had done a wonderful job of rebuilding the castle. And yet… what had happened to it?
The creature on his back yawned impatiently. “Come on. I still need you to meet this person. I think you’ll like her. Just in that next tower along the wall!” She kicked his sides and he started forward with a yelp.
Black bird-things with giant, un-bird-like heads attacked him, and he snapped at them, driving them back.
There was no door on that side of the tower that he could see, and the birds were close behind him, but there was a window, and he leapt for it. The birds gave strange screeches, deprived of their prey.
The inside of the tower was dark and it took his eyes a second to adjust. His rider, apparently not needing anything like that, kicked him again, urging him up the stairs.
There was a wooden door, and it stood partly ajar. He pushed it open with his shoulder and walked in cautiously.
On one side of the room was a fireplace, a tiny table, and a worn chair, on the other, a hard-looking bed. A cloaked and hooded figure, not a ghost, stood with its back to him, staring out a window. It was too small to be Ganondorf, but he growled before he caught that the Eye of Truth was emblazoned on the back of the cloak.
The figure gasped and turned to him quickly. He met brilliantly blue eyes peering at him from under the hood and over a purple scarf.
“Zelda?” he tried to gasp, but it came out only as a wolfish yelp.
She took two steps towards him, and then sank to her knees, glancing at him all over. “Link? Is… is that you?”
“It certainly is, Princess,” giggled the creature on his back, floating up like a helium balloon. Link glanced down to his left paw, where the Triforce glowed golden.
“How did you get here? Where… how… I’m so glad you’re back, even if the Twilight has done this to you.” She reached out and hugged him, burying her hands in the soft mane of fur on the back of his neck. He rested his head on her shoulder. He was glad to see her too.
“Well obviously he can’t answer any of your questions,” the little imp snorted.
Zelda drew back and looked at her. “Midna, this is no laughing matter. My guard was questioning me about you today. The shadow creatures are looking for you. You have to be more careful.” Midna turned her back in a pout. “Why are they looking for you?”
“I don’t know,” Midna replied sulkily. “You tell me… Twilight Princess!” She laughed again, bitterly now.
“Midna,” Zelda sighed before turning back to Link. “You must have so many questions. I can only answer a few… Two days ago, Hyrule Castle was attacked. I don’t know where they came from, and they seemed to come from… some kind of portal in the sky just inside the main gates, but it was an army of black monsters, not any kind seen in this world. My soldiers fought as they could, but three years isn’t enough time to build an army from scratch. They were completely outmatched. The creatures fought their way to the throne room at the top of the main tower… I could feel them coming. They destroyed my personal guard. They didn’t approach me directly… But their leader appeared then.”
“Zant,” Midna spat onto the stone tiles next to Link. “The Usurper.”
“He gave me a choice. Either I would surrender, or he would destroy the entire kingdom.” She buried her face in her hands. “If I had fought on the front lines, perhaps more of my soldiers might have been saved…” Link nuzzled her shoulder. “Anyway, I surrendered, of course. But this is almost as terrible, for even though the people yet live, it is only as ghosts in the Twilight, and their lives are shrouded in fear. Oh, Link, please help us! I’m such a terrible Princess, only three years and already the kingdom has fallen again… I’m glad that at least I sent Rana away to Ordon before any of this happened…”
Link’s eyes went wide and he jumped to his feet, his mouth hanging open.
A door slammed open at the bottom of the stairs.
Midna sprang onto Link’s back. “Okay, we gotta go! See you later, Princess!”
“Talk to the Light Spirits!” Zelda said, her blue eyes anxious and sad. “They may be able to help you regain your true form and lift the Twilight.”
Link dashed down the stairs to the window he had entered by and scrambled through it. He hoped his scrabbling hadn’t been heard by the guard, but the guard was making enough noise himself that he was probably safe. And Zelda was probably safe too.
Midna bounced along the roof ahead of him, and he followed more slowly. The birds seemed to have found other things to do.
“So, you going to go back home?” Midna asked him. “But how are you going to get there? And what will you do when you get there? Don’t you have something to look after?”
Link looked at her sidelong.
She spun round, and first Link saw Colin screaming, and then Ilia screaming. Right. He needed to find those two, and Epona, as soon as possible. What should his first priority be? Rescuing them, returning the kingdom to normal, or returning himself to normal?
“Well, I guess I can send you back home to take care of that,” Midna said, still in Ilia’s guise. Her face looked haughty and clever, not an expression he would find on Ilia’s sweet face anytime soon. “Little Midna is happy to help!”
Before he could answer, he felt a tug on his head, and he dissolved into little black squares that rose into the sky…
He resolved, back into a wolf, in the Spirit’s Spring outside Ordon Village.
“Oh, right,” came Midna’s voice, he couldn’t tell from where, and turned around in a circle. “You’re not going to turn into a human anytime soon! Might want to stay away from your friends, or they’ll just kill you! And that would be anti-climactic. You didn’t think it would be so easy, did you? Well, get your hero stuff and meet me in Faron Woods.”
He looked up. The sun had apparently been setting while he was in Hyrule Castle, and now it was late dusk. He needed his sword and shield, did he? He wasn’t sure how he was going to get into his house in wolf form. But he would try.
He trotted slowly down the path towards his house.
He almost didn’t dodge the sword in time. He sprang backwards, his fur bristling, and growled.
“Stay back, Wolfos!” cried a girl’s voice, and he got a faceful of Hylian Shield. He whimpered and ran, dodging sideways out of her way. He needed to get far enough back that he could show her the Triforce on his left paw without her taking his head off… or his tail.
There was a fairy… No, two fairies! Was… that Navi? And… Naeri? So that must be…
“Rana!” he barked, flinging himself backwards.
“Go on! Git!” Rana cried, driving him back towards the forest. He had forgotten how good she was with a sword, and she had obviously been improving. How was she even alive?
He was pinned against a tree, and put forward his left paw, leaning away from her and closing his eyes. She didn’t notice and dove in for the kill, until Naeri flew into her head, knocking her back.
“Will you stop and look at this wolf for a minute?” the quiet fairy scolded. “It hasn’t attacked you yet, and just look at that!”
“That… is a Triforce,” Rana said. Link opened one eye and peered at her. “And that wolf is wearing blue earrings. And it has blue eyes. And it’s kind of afraid of me. You know what I think that means?”
“It’s Link!” Navi cried happily, fluttering around his head. He couldn’t help but grin. In fact, the widest, stupidest grin of his life was spreading across his face.
“It is Link!” Rana answered Navi, and tackled him.
He landed on his back with a grunt, with all hundred and twenty pounds of Hylian girl sprawled across him. “Hiiiiii,” she said.
He licked her face. She giggled.
“Good to see you, Link,” Naeri said. “We have been wondering where you were.”
“I told them about everything up until you vanished yesterday,” Navi said gravely. “What happened? I guess you can’t tell us yet. But isn’t this crazy? Rana’s alive!”
“Yeah…” Rana snuggled him closer. “I guess I gave you a bad impression three years ago when we parted. I’m so sorry! I’ve caused you so much pain for, what, ten years? That’s – I’m so sorry!”
He wagged his tail, making her giggle again. She kissed his nose and he blinked at her. She was so cute.
“Perhaps we should move this… to a more defensible place?” Navi suggested, and Rana and Link began to pick themselves up. Rana rested a hand on his back as they moved towards town. “Back towards the edge of town. So, Link, here’s what’s happened since you were gone. All of the children and Ilia have disappeared. I’m guessing you knew that Ilia disappeared, and Epona, since you were with them… Did you see them where you ended up?” He shook his head. “That’s a pity. There were a couple of Bokoblins poking around. Rusl took care of them, but he was injured. He would have been done for if Rana hadn’t shown up. She didn’t know you lived here, but I saw her and went to talk to her, but she hasn’t told the rest of the village yet. We’re leaving that decision up to you.”
“Thanks,” Link said, and it came out as a pleased rumble.
“So, I know you can’t tell us what happened, but is there anything that you need?”
Link paused. How to tell them? He moved behind Rana and nosed at the sword on her hip and the shield on her back.
“You… need your sword and shield?” she asked, and he nodded.
“I don’t know what good they’ll do you in this form, but I’ll get them for you,” Navi said, fluttering up to his house.
“Navi’s been telling me about your adventures!” Rana chirped, plopping herself down on a round of wood near his house. “It sounds super exciting. I haven’t done that much since… since Ganondorf. I guess you want to know how I’m alive, huh? Well I guess you left five minutes too soon, because apparently, by the time Zelda came back from seeing you off, the Great Fairies were working on me. And then the Goddesses showed up. It was kind of crazy. They didn’t stay for long, just long enough to rebuild… well, the entire country! It was mindblowing, to say the least. And so the entire kingdom had a big party for, like, a month, and then went back to work. The Gorons and Zoras are a lot friendlier and less reclusive than they used to be. It’s pretty cool. Oh! And Saria and the Kokiri are doing well. They’re still living in the forest, and no one but me and Zelda and the Sages really know that they’re there. I’ll take you to see them sometime. If you can’t get turned back into a human, I bet they’d love to have rides on you!” She giggled, and Link laughed with her, with his eyes.
“Naeri and I travelled around the kingdom for a bit, and it’s super gorgeous everywhere, but I spent a lot of time in the castle with Zelda. She wanted me to help her train the guards, but they’re… well, normal guards are not Sheikah, so it was difficult for me. Also I can’t use a spear. And their shields are cool, but they have little feet on the bottom, and that’s kind of silly? Anyway, so I’ve learned a lot. Reading is kind of tiring, but I did some of that, and learned a lot, and I met a lot of important noble people. Some of them are nice, and some of them are not, and some of them are just weird.”
“A couple days ago, she sent me away. She was really worried about something. I think she had another vision. But she wouldn’t let me stay! I could have helped her with… whatever’s coming up! Or has come up. I don’t know. There is that weird barrier across the bridge. I’m not sure when it went up, but it was definitely after I arrived.”
“Here’s your stuff,” Navi said, dumping it on the ground in front of him. “Isn’t this exciting? You two can adventure together, just like old times! When we were kids!”
“I thought fairies didn’t age,” Rana said curiously. “Naeri, do you age?”
“A lady never tells,” Naeri said solemnly. “But no, I don’t,” and her light brightened with a teasing smile.
“Want me to hold on to your gear?” Navi asked, and Link nodded. It vanished, taken away into Navi’s hammerspace, and he rose and looked towards the forest.
“We’re going into the forest?” Rana asked, and he nodded. “To the Spirit’s Spring, maybe?
They set off, and as they passed the Ordon Spring, his attention was distracted by a strange blotch in the sky. He turned towards the Spring.
“Link?” Rana called behind him, and when he growled, she unsheathed her sword.
A strange creature fell from the blotch in the sky, and then two more. They were those tentacle-disk-faced things that had captured him. His growl rose into a bark, and he lunged at them. Rana was close behind him.
The two of them were faster than the strange creatures. He dodged the large claws and sank his teeth into the neck of one of them. It tasted awful, kind of oily, but he grimly clung on to it. He could hear Rana grunting in exertion behind him, and the ring of her sword.
The creature fell limp and he whirled on another one, clawing and biting at it. The third had fallen to a thrust from Rana’s sword.
Together, they took down the last one. Link grabbed its arm in his jaws and hung on, growling, and Rana stabbed it. Perhaps it wasn’t fair. But that wasn’t something they could easily consider.
The monsters exploded into little black particles and faded.
The Spring began to glow with light, and both Link and Rana backed up apprehensively.
The waterfall grew still, and one single droplet fell into the calming water, spreading perfect ripples. From the centre of the ripples a large sphere of light rose, and Link gradually became aware that the sphere rested in between the horns of an ethereal goat.
“Greetings, Hero,” said the Spirit. “I am Ordona. I thank you for saving me from those creatures.”
“What would have happened?” Navi asked anxiously.
“They would have stolen my light, and then all of Hyrule would have been under Twilight, lost forever to darkness. But now you have saved me, and in doing so begun your journey. And only just in time. The enemy struck swiftly, and much damage has been wrought.”
“Hey, give him a break!” Rana said. “He hasn’t had an easy time either. I mean, he’s a wolf! Can you help him with that?”
“I cannot. My brother Faron can, but Faron Province lies under Twilight. You must save Faron’s Light and bring it back to him. Can you do that?”
Link nodded firmly.
“Thank you, Hero. None of your visible companions may go with you into Twilight. They would all become ghosts.”
Visible companions? Was Midna still around?
Rana sagged. “Aw. Well, I’ll guard this village for you. Can… Should I tell them who you are, Link?”
He shook his head. It would be better for him to do that himself.
“Okay. I’ll let you do it when you get back. Though if you’re not back soon…”
He grinned at her, a wolfy grin. Of course he would be back soon. He’d tear through all the Twilight in Hyrule to get back to her, now that he knew she was alive. Now the nightmares would finally stop.
“Hero,” the gentle voice of the Spirit brought his attention back. “Go carefully. The enemy is powerful, and no one yet knows just what they can do. I can now protect Ordon Province from the Twilight, but Zant still teeters on the edge of complete victory. Go now, and save my brother.”
He nodded again, and the Spirit burst into white light.
Rana turned to him. “I guess you’re setting out right away? Even though it’s nighttime?”
He nodded. The sooner, the better. And the things the Spirit had said made it sound like he was behind on something. Well, he couldn’t rescue Hyrule in a day. But everything began somewhere.
“All right. I’ll stay by your house and guard the village.” She hugged him, and he licked her ear. She giggled at that, and let him go. Navi handed her the sword and shield, and she buckled them on him awkwardly. They certainly didn’t fit properly; his chest was a lot deeper than it was when he was in a human form.
He trotted down to the wall of Twilight that still barred him from the bridge into Faron Woods. Midna popped out of the ground beneath him, startling him. She looked different in this non-Twilight state of the world, all transparent. “You want to go into the Twilight?”
He knew she had been with him all along. He just knew it. He nodded and she floated back through the wall, making ripples in it.
A massive orange hand ripped through the wall, seized him, and dragged him through before he could so much as bark in surprise.
The other side of the wall was much the way he remembered it. The Twilight was certainly a strange place.
“Oh, how lovely it is to be back!” Midna chirped, landing on his back again. “The warm enveloping darkness of the Twilight is so beautiful. Don’t you think? I guess not. What are these things, anyway?” She picked up his sword and shield off his back. The shield went over her face, and she swung the sword wildly. Link ducked. “I know you crazy people use these tools to fight with, but… why? They’re so awkward!” She flung them down onto the ground and went back to lounging. “I guess I can hold on to them for you until you need them.” She snapped her fingers and they disappeared with a poof. “Do you hear that?”
Link had heard that, a high-pitched heart-breaking keening sound coming from the Faron Spirit’s Spring ahead. He approached it.
There was a faint shimmer in the pool as he approached. “Hero… please… find my Light… find the tears of Light…” He nodded and ran off into the forest, although he really didn’t know what he was looking for.
But he could smell it. The Twilight land smelled funny, but there was something about the tears of Light that he could sense with his animal senses. He doubted he could sense them in human form. But small, glittering purple insects had eaten them, and he had to destroy them first. It took him hours, running all over the forest, nearly as far as the Lost Woods, before he was able to find all the scattered bits of Light.
Hours later, when it was almost dawn, he returned to the Spirit’s Spring, and dropped the Light in. “I guess that’s it for the Twilight in this area,” Midna said. She sounded disappointed. “Well, I’ll see you around, okay? I still need your services.” She vanished into the ground.
Another sphere of Light rose from the pool, and the spirit Faron, in the form of a monkey with a long feathery tail, curled around it.
“Thank you, Hero. You have lifted the curse of Twilight from this Province of Hyrule. Monsters yet remain, but the people who live here are no longer ghosts. And you yourself have been healed.”
Link started. He hadn’t realized he was standing on two legs again. And Faron had apparently seen fit to outfit him in his green tunic and chainmail, along with the rest of his adventuring clothes and his sword and shield. He pulled his shoulders back proudly. He was young and strong. He was ready to go.
“Your task is only just begun, I fear. Speak to the Sage of Forest, and she will direct you to the source of the monsters. I wish you good fortune, Hero. Farewell.”
Chapter 3: Martyr Complex