Chapter Text
After many days of travel and nearly running out of provisions– Link had no idea that his growing body would need this much food while exerting himself– Hyrule Castle’s spires appeared on the horizon.
At first, Link had no plans on where to go once he had left the Kokiri, but Saria’s absence had been bothering him since he was sent back to the day his adventure originally had started. Princess Zelda was the most likely out of any person in Hyrule to know why his best friend since childhood no longer existed.
Though, the princess may not exist either, being a sage herself.
That would be unfortunate.
Link continued onwards. The sun was still high in the sky, so he quickened his pace, ecstatic to finally see a man-made landmark after days of only tall grass and a few scarce trees.
—
Hyrule’s Castle Town was almost the same as Link remembered it from when he was a child– the first time he was, at least. There were only a couple of soldiers guarding the gates (poor security in his opinion), and when he entered the town center, it was just as alive and bustling as the first time he had stepped foot there.
Groups of people crowded around booths, shouting over each other until their individual voices blended into one unintelligible mess. Other, less busy booths were calling out their wares, attempting to attract potential customers.
Children ran around the fountain at the center of the market chasing stray dogs. Their mothers, who were sitting on the rim of the fountain gossiping, called out to them to be careful without sparing them a glance, then continued to gossip.
The only change since his last visit to Castle Town– before Ganondorf’s reign, at least– was that the Happy Mask Shop was no longer there. If it closed or never existed in this timeline in the first place, Link had no idea. He had always gotten bad vibes from the owner of the shop, so he decided to stay away from the building altogether.
With little to do in Castle Town– he was sure some of the game-runners would give him a weird look for trying to play a game at his age, and he had no rupees anyways– Link started towards the castle.
The last time Link had seen Hyrule Castle, it was a pile of rubble.
Now, its spires rose high into the sky, visible from nearly anywhere in the kingdom. On top of those spires, flags embroidered with the coat of arms of the Hyrulian royal family billowed proudly in the breeze.
The castle was just as grandiose and imposing as it was all those years ago.
Soldiers patrolled the outskirts of the castle’s lawn, making it virtually impossible to reach it without being spotted– to the untrained, at least– but Link had experience with the kind of chicanery it took to bypass the royal guards.
He eyed the large stone arch where a couple of guards were standing beneath the portcullis, their conversation inaudible due to the distance between them and Link. Knowing the soldiers were too engrossed in their conversation, He scaled the small cliff the arch was built into. The sword and shield on his back clattered together loudly, but the guards never indicated that they had heard him.
Once at the top of the cliff, Link unbuckled the sash that held his sword and shield. He set them down, comfortable leaving them without being stolen, confident that no one would climb up to that area.
The hero approached the castle without being spotted with ease. Many of the guards were either incompetent, didn’t care enough about their job, or were asleep (and maybe a little mix of all three together).
The part of sneaking into the castle that he loathed the most was next: swimming through the moat. The water wasn’t dirty or swampish– thank the Goddesses– but it was a pain to dry his tunic after he exited the water.
Link resurfaced on the side of the castle, next to the entrance of one of the castle’s many hedge gardens. He squeezed through a small opening in the stone wall– just big enough to allow his growing body to fit through– and emerged in a long loggia lined with bushes and columns, and fountains with statues depicting past heroes and the Goddesses alike.
At the end, was his destination.
From the exterior, Hyrule Castle presented itself as a fortress, capable of fending off even the strongest enemies. On the interior courtyards, however, beautiful stained glass murals let multicolored light into the halls. In the courtyards, many different species of flora and trees were home to songbirds and bees, and other insects. Even a minute in the main courtyard of the castle could quell the most boisterous child.
Link was no exception. His eyes drifted around the courtyard, taking in all the details of the flowers and carefully trimmed hedges that lined the walls. His ears, trained from many years in Kokiri Forest, were able to pick up the songs of individual birds. They almost drowned out the bubbling of the artificial creek that wove its way through the clearing and toward the largest window of the courtyard.
This window was simple, save for the ornate detail of its frame. It didn’t tell a story of the royal family or the legend of a hero from centuries ago, but it allowed for a clear view into the throne room of Hyrule’s King.
The current Hero of Hyrule stepped towards the window, carefully making his way up the steps.
Inside the throne room, there was no one, save for a few guards.
“You there!”
Link stepped back from the window and turned, panicked, thinking he’d been spotted. He scanned the courtyard rapidly, but no one was there.
“Boy in the green tunic!” There was the voice again. It was coming from the hedge on the furthest edge of the courtyard from himself.
The hedge, blooming with bunches of white flowers, rustled. Out of the bush tumbled a child with a head of messy blond hair carrying a large saucer, mumbling something about fairies and sugar. Their hair seemed to have been carefully groomed– at least before they had climbed into the bush. Now leaves and flower petals were tangled alongside carefully woven gems and ribbons. They were clearly royalty.
Link stared at the child who appeared to be his age, unable to form words at the sight of a member of the royal family… digging through bushes?
“Link!”
That shocked him out of his stupor. “You know my name?” He questioned.
“I’ve had visions of you,” the child explained, ditching the saucer by the hedge and making their way over to Link. “The boy with the fairy who is destined to save Hyrule.”
He didn’t have a fairy anymore, actually.
Link shoved those thoughts away, and with a closer look, realized that he recognized the child’s features. She was clearly older than the first time he had met her, and younger than the last time he had seen her, but this was Zelda. She was wearing a dress similar to the one she had been wearing during his final fight with Ganondorf, without the ornate details or jewelry, and her hair was cut short– almost boyish.
“Your plan doesn’t work,” Link blurted out.
The princess worried at her bottom lip.
After a few moments of silence, Zelda spoke, “In all honesty, that doesn’t surprise me. It was a plan that heavily relied on hypotheticals, assuming that Ganondorf wouldn’t be able to predict our movements.”
Link sighed heavily, relieved that he hadn’t upset Zelda by discrediting her plan.
“Then I assume you are here to warn me of that. Though I must ask,” Zelda paused, resting her chin on her knuckles. “How do you know that the plan fails? Have you been having visions, too?”
He shook his head in disagreement.
“You’re just guessing?”
He shook his head again.
“Then… you were there when the plan failed?”
Link nodded.
“That seems improbable, but I’ll believe you.”
Zelda bunched up the hem of her dress, revealing her muddied riding boots, and sat clumsily on the steps next to where Link stood. She glanced up at him, beckoning him to join her.
He sat, slowly and awkwardly, until he was eye-to-eye with the princess.
“Tell me about it.” Zelda leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. “Your journey. Tell me what happened, Link.”
—
The sun had begun to set.
The pair had talked for hours, though their conversation had changed from a more serious matter to a more enjoyable one.
“My advisor, Godan,” Zelda had been fretting over her treatment as a member of the royal family for the majority of their conversation now. “He believes that since I am next in line, the only successor to my father, I am to dress ‘the part’.”
The princess rolled her eyes and humphed, turning up her nose. “Whatever that means,” she continued. “I hate my hair, and I especially hate this stupid dress!”
Link only nodded, mouth agape and eyes wide, not entirely sure how to react to her outburst.
“Oh, Goddesses!” Zelda shot up, quickly turning to pull the hero up with her. “I forgot! Godan will be here any minute to show me to dinner.”
The princess shoved Link in the direction of the entrance of the courtyard. “Quickly,” Zelda hissed from behind him. “You must leave before he gets here.”
The young man followed the princess’ demand. When he reached the stone arch that acted as the courtyard’s entryway, he turned to bid farewell to Zelda.
There, Zelda stood, worriedly wringing her hands together, just as the last time Link had seen her after he had finally defeated Ganon.
“Link, I must tell you something before you go. It is a secret that has been kept by Hyrule’s royal family for centuries.” The princess looked up at him and met his blue eyes with hers. “There is a way to seal away Ganondorf. For good.”
Link’s ears perked forwards at that.
“I won’t ask you to do anymore for this kingdom, but I would like to give you closure, for all of your services to it and its people.” Zelda continued, standing tall with all the elegance of the queen she would become. “It is a dark magic that leads to the sister realm of the Sacred Realm, in which no one can escape, not even the Demon King, with all his strength. It may be our only hope to defeat Ganon forever.”
The hero nodded in understanding, turning to leave the courtyard again.
“Wait!”
Again, Link turned to face Zelda.
“I apologize. I never told you my name. ” The princess tucked a strand of hair that had grown long enough behind one of her elvish ears. “I assume that you know my name– the name given to me by my mother, the one everyone in Hyrule knows me as– but I wanted to tell you my true name. My name is–”
Zelda paused and broke eye contact.
“I feel as if I can trust you with this part of me, Link, even though I have never met you until today.” She picked at a loose string on her dress with her fingers, continuing to avoid Link’s eyes. “My name is Sheik.”
Link nodded, acknowledging the strength it took to reveal such an important part of oneself, though he knew Sheik was only looking at his boots.
For the third and final time, Link turned, exiting the courtyard and Hyrule Castle.
—
Link narrowly missed running into Godan on his way out of the castle. Just as he had turned the corner that led to the moat, he heard Sheik’s advisor calling out to him for dinner.
Letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, he exited the courtyard, grabbed his sword and shield from where he had left it, and returned to Hyrule Castle Town.
Castle Town was still bustling, despite it being moderately late in the day and time for supper.
Link scanned the town center, unsure of where he would set off to next. He could visit Kakariko Village, but he knew no one there so there was no use; He could go for a dip in Lake Hylia– it was a hot day, even with the sun setting.
The Temple of Time called to him from over the roofs of Castle Town.
Drawn in by memories he wished he could forget, he pushed through the throngs of people and toward the towering structure.
The gardens surrounding the temple were completely empty, the complete opposite of the liveliness of the town center. There was no life save for a few butterflies that flitted around the bushes.
Link absorbed every detail he could of the Temple of Time. The stone structure rose several stories high, almost rivaling Hyrule Castle's sheer size. Imagery of the Triforce was detailed in the stone and statues surrounding the temple, and incorporated into the stained glass portraits of Hyrule’s history.
The hero sat on the steps in the shadow of the great temple. He curled his legs up close to his chest and rested his chin on his knees.
There he sat, in front of the very place he had lost seven years of his life.
Initially, he had been upset at the circumstances that led to him saving Hyrule, but now that he’d had years to mull it over– years that he had actually lived– he understood that there was no other way. His own success and the safety of Hyrule relied on failure the first time.
He thought back to his last moments with the princess he had been sent to see by the Great Deku Tree in another time.
She must be all alone, he thought, if she even existed.
If Zelda still existed in some other parallel timeline, she would be responsible for rebuilding her kingdom from the ground up– literally, Hyrule Castle was in ruins.
Guilt washed over Link. He wished he had stopped Zelda from sending him back to his childhood– there was no childhood for him to live anyways.
He felt remorse for feeling anger towards her. She didn’t deserve it. It’s not like the princess knew he would be bullied and outcast more than when he had lived through his childhood the first time.
After all, the longevity of a kingdom was more important than a little boy’s feelings.
He looked to the sky, where the sun was bleeding across the sky in waves of orange and red. Dense clouds were rolling in from the mountains beyond the castle, and suddenly, Link was transported back to when he had stepped out of the Temple of Time after seven years of sleep.
Animated corpses waited for him in the town center, the flesh of their lips rotted away from the faces, revealing decaying teeth.
Everywhere he looked, Link could only see red. The clouds swirling around Hyrule Castle, tainted by Ganondorf, were red; The clouds swirling angrily in the sky were read; The low fog slowly rolling across the cobblestone streets was red.
Link’s heartbeat quickened until it was hammering in his chest. His breaths came short and fast. He punched at his chest, attempting to stop his oncoming panic.
Tears welled in his eyes, until slowly his breathing became more steady, and reality set in.
He wasn’t surrounded by red.
The distant sound of chatter echoed from the town center, reminding him of exactly where he was.
There were no corpses walking the streets. He hadn’t failed.
Link pushed himself off the stairs and stumbled to his feet, eager to get away from the temple’s oppressive shadow.
Castle Town had emptied in the time he had spent at the Temple of Time. Shopkeeps were packing up their stalls, telling jokes and sharing laughs with each other as they worked. The townsfolk still left in the plaza were making their way home, saying their final farewells to each other.
Next to the entrance of one of the main back streets, a red-headed girl stopped a woman on her way home. From her body language, even at this distance, Link could tell that she was worried.
The woman the girl had stopped continued on her way after she had apologized to her and disappeared around the corner and out of Link’s field of view.
The girl sighed, returning to the street corner.
Her waist-length red hair seemed familiar to Link, but he didn’t know where he remembered her from. Perhaps she was someone he had met on his journey, and he had simply forgotten her over the years.
Link approached slowly, ducking behind the fountain in the center of the plaza to keep himself hidden.
The redhead called out to another couple that were turning in for the night. They stopped where they were and the girl hastily made her way over to them.
The girl’s voice was barely audible from Link’s cover, but he was able to catch the description of the person she was looking for: an aging man, balding, with a mustache, and wearing denim overalls.
That description was the last piece Link needed to put the puzzle of the redhead’s identity together.
The hero had seen this girl on his adventure to save Hyrule. She was Malon, the girl from the ranch he had acquired (not stolen) Epona from. The girl with a singing voice that could calm the rowdiest of farm animals.
Something else clicked, and Link realized that he had seen the man the ranch girl was looking for– her father. He hadn’t paid any attention to him at the time, but the rancher had been dozing next to the entrance to the royal courtyard as he was sneaking in.
The couple the rancher’s daughter had stopped was leaving now, and she offered them a quick nod of appreciation. Once the couple was far enough down the street that she was sure they would be unable to hear her, Malon buried her face in her hands and let out a long, disheartened sigh.
Link took this as an opportunity to approach the redhead, scuffing the toe of his boot on the cobblestone to get her attention once he stood in front of her.
“Yes?” Malon turned to face him, her bright red hair turning with her. “Can I help you with something?”
Link nodded, pointing to the couple.
The redhead turned to where he was pointing. Her eyebrows screwed together as she tried to decipher what he meant.
Her expression lit up as realization hit her. “Oh! My father!” She spun quickly to face Link. “Y’know where he is?”
Link pointed to the castle, visible over the clay tiles of Castle Town’s roofs.
“The castle?” Malon puffed her cheeks, clearly frustrated, as if this had happened before. “Papa must have dozed off while making a delivery again, that lazy bum.”
“I dunno what I’m gonna do with that man,” she sighed, then bowed in gratitude. “Thank you. Even if it meant you snuck into the castle.” Malon winked.
Link sputtered, waving his hands in denial.
The redhead only snickered into her hand. “I won’t tell, I promise.”
He sighed in relief, and they shared a chuckle.
“Say,” the redhead started. “Do you need somewhere to stay the night?”
Link nodded slowly, quizzical as to why she was asking.
“I was right then. You are a traveler.” Malon smiled. “My father runs a ranch about a two hours walk from here, and I help him with the deliveries now that I’m grown up, y’see. We have plenty of rooms since it’s just us and Ingo. I’d be happy to lend one to you for the night for helping me find Papa.”
Link nodded urgently. He had no clue as to where he was gonna go after he had warned Sheik of Ganondorfs actions, but now that he had someone offering to loan him a room, he couldn’t say no.