A/N: To avoid future heart attacks, I’m rewriting this with my now improved grammar and WORD’s spelling program. If you read the other one, well, hope you enjoy the new version. If you didn’t, then DON’T P The new version is so much better, really nods You don’t want to go back and look at the old one, NO! Beta reader signup is also available! So, if you want to help little me, just say D

I’m forced to say this once again: this is fanfiction. It’s not canon, hence why I’m allowed to introduce new characters made by my oh-so-bored mind insert evil laughter here

Enjoy! And… leave a review in the end? Pretty please?

Chapter 1: Mutual Prophecy

Some would dare say it was going to be a normal, busy day just like any other; it was nearly noon, with the warm sunrays fully spreading across the whole land of Hyrule when quick steps were heard across the Castle Courtyard.

“Crystal, where are you?” a panting Zelda shouted as she walked into the courtyard, “Crystal?” she scanned the room with her azure eyes, and finally caught a glimpse of a familiar form.

“Yes?” the figure asked rather impatiently, stepping out of the shadows which engulfed her. She was of average height, smaller than Zelda, and with broad shoulders; her light brown hair, slightly past her waist, flew freely behind her; and her eyes, of the strangest shade of grey looked directly into Zelda’s, surprise written all over them.

A smirk crossed over Zelda’s rosy lips, “I finally found you. Father asked to retrieve you.” Crystal raised an eyebrow, wordlessly questioning Zelda, “Oh, it seems we’re visiting the Gerudos.” Zelda blurted out, her right hand writing a semi-circle in the air.

“What, Father’s trying to negotiate new laws with them, now?” Crystal inquired with raised eyebrows.

“Probably.” Zelda sighed and nodded, “What matters is, you need to come along.” Her azure eyes then lowered themselves to her sister’s dress, which was torn, with several loose threads showing here and there, and dirt all over the bottom part, “Crystal, what have you been doing?”

Almost instantly, the youngest girl gained a distant look on her face, her grey eyes gazing past the criticizing look Zelda had splattered all over her features. If there was one thing Zelda found enthralling in her half-sister, it were her eyes; they were of an amusing sort, almost, for if you looked deeply into them, it’d seem that you were seeing the bottom of her gaze and yet, at the same time, nothing beyond it. And that was what was just happening now.

“Do you believe in prophecies?” Crystal’s words cut off the brief silence like a blade, sharp and quick, causing Zelda to shiver slightly.

“Y-yes, I do.” Zelda stammered a reply, remembering all the true prophecies she’d had in the past, prophecies no one but her and… him had been willing to believe in, “Why?”

“I saw one.” The other girl stated, her gaze now trailing back to meet Zelda’s, “About us meeting a man… when we were in a trip with our father.” Zelda’s mouth dropped slightly, revealing her amazement to her sister; she’d had that prophecy as well, only to her, it wasn’t just a man they’d met…

They’d met Link.

“What is it, Zelda?” Crystal asked, worry on her voice. Zelda blinked a few times and shook her head briefly, one of her gloved hands waving in front of her face. It’d surprised her that she and her sister… her half sister had dreamed the same thing. But then again, even though they were connected only by their father, they shared plenty of things, dreams apparently being one.

“I also had a dream like that last night.” Zelda gulped before asking, “Was the man blonde, with blue eyes and wearing a Kokiri tunic?”

Crystal nodded, “You dreamt him too?”

“Yes…” Zelda tilted her head up, looking at the peaceful blue sky above them, “He’s…” she closed her eyes, nostalgia intoxicating her mind with bittersweet memories.

“What?”

“He’s the Hero of Time, Crystal.” She explained with a smile, and it was Crystal’s turn to be surprised.

“The man that fought Ganon, that held the Triforce… The man that saved us all?” her last sentence came out in a high-pitched squeak filled with surprise.

“Yes…” was all Zelda managed to reply, remembering that, when Ganondorf’s threat struck, she’d… died. Just like their father had, and it ached to remember, even though that, to put it bluntly, it didn’t matter now. She’d turned back time and no one but Link and the Sages remembered what had happened in those dreaded seven years of despair, “But now’s not the time for this. We must get back, for our father wants to leave.”

Crystal nodded in acknowledgement, approaching Zelda quietly.

“You know, you really should take care of your clothes.” Zelda said monotonously as she waited for her sister to come to her.

“They don’t have feelings, Zel. They’re just clothes.” Crystal retorted.

The typical teenage reply…, Zelda added to herself in irony, “Where were you this morning?”

“I was here for all the morning.” Crystal stated almost bitterly.

“Liar!” Zelda shouted playfully.

“Fine! I went to the market. Alone.” The youngest blurted out defiantly. Zelda opened her mouth to speak, but Crystal cut her off, “And before you ask me why, I can defend myself pretty well. You know that, Zelda.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt you can.” Zelda’s tone was sly one, with half-closed eyes complimenting it perfectly, “But what will you do when a thug two times your size seizes you? It’s too dangerous, sister!”

“But it’s also fun!” her eyes grew brighter with childish contentment, accompanied by an even more childish question: “Or you’re going to tell me you’ve never gone to the market all by yourself, Zellie?”

“That does not matter.”

“You went. You went and you’re trying to make me stop from going myself!”

Okay, now THAT is absolutely childish, was all Zelda told to herself, “My reasons were important. And come now, let’s change that dress before father catches you in those clothes.”

“See, now that is something I agree with!” Zelda smirked and they left the courtyard, with Crystals’ chirpy voice recounting her the latest Hylian news. But her mind… her mind was wandering in the past memories of her and him.

Meanwhile…

“LINK!” yelled a joyous Saria to a tall figure that had jut arrived the forest, “You’re… back!” a smile was spread across her face, sincere and true.

“Hey, Saria!” Link greeted with a smile as well, dismounting Epona in the process, “How are things here?” he frowned at the sudden grave expression that had formed in Saria’s small face, “What, Saria?”

“Things have been… strange, Link.” The green-haired girl confessed, shaking her head softly, “Very strange.” She added and then asked if he’d found Navi.

“No.” Link lowered his eyes in sadness, but saw, from their corners, the image of a grinning Saria, which surprised him entirely.

She giggled, a girlish, soft giggle, “I thought so. She arrived here yesterday, Link.”

Link’s eyes bulged, his mouth stuttering with his own words, “Wh-what? Navi’s here?”

The green haired girl gave him a nod in reply, “Yes. And she’s been in your house ever since. You should go see her, Link.” She knew those words were useless, but she said them nonetheless. She saw Link’s mouth split open with a genuine smile and she couldn’t help but to smile with him. Link sprinted to his house and she followed him. Not far behind. He was much bigger than her now… Just like he’d been when he had awoken her as a Sage, seven years ago. Only that back then, he was still a child at heart, locked away, sleeping in the Temple of Time for seven years and now… Now he’d lived those seven years and the Kokiri girl could see by his features that he’d grown not only outside, but also inside.

“Navy!” she heard his deep voice shouting, waking the small fairy from her deep sleep. She shouted his name in return, her delicate features glowing with happiness, the kind of happiness you gain when you’ve met someone after a long, long while.

It was quite a cheerful meeting, his and Navi’s. The way the fairy nestled on his hands, the way he played with her small head, caressing it, the way they laughed together… It was so heart-warming, so filled with friendship, so full of good sensations, sensations she hadn’t seen in such a long while…

“Where were you?” Saria heard a somewhat mad Link ask, “I searched for you for six years, Navy… Six years I spent looking for you!”

It had been a while since the Sage of the Forest had seen tears fall from Link’s eyes. Seven years ago, to be more precise, when he’d left the Forest to explore the Hylian Fields and went searching for Princess Zelda. And Navi… Navi was crying too.

“I am so sorry, Link. I could not stay. You were not a Kokiri, and our duty had been fulfilled… I could not stay with you.” The fairy whispered, sobbing occasionally between words, “But now… He’s coming back again, Link. That is why I was allowed to come.”

Saria, who’d been leaning against the doorstep, watching them, took a step forward, eyebrow cocked, “Who?” asked both her and Link at the same time, their smiles now undone.

“Ganondorf…” Navi darkly said, and the cold air of the chilling evening entered the room, accompanying the heavy silence that had now been formed…

At The Castle

Crystal had always found the Throne Room to be sardonically empty and cold. The velvet red curtains were covering the windows, blocking away most of the light coming from the sunset, and candles were hanging on the walls everywhere, to make the same effect. The cold marble walls were shining brightly, reflecting the candlelight, and the pearl white floor was a perfect mirror, always so tidy and polished. In the end, there was her feather, sitting on a chair so high, made with wood from the Lost Woods, crowned by the symbol of the Hylian Kingdom, woven in a silken blue fabric and embroided with threads of gold.

Yes, she hated that room. She hated it and its emptiness, its coldness, its abuse in perfection. But most of all, she hated that omnipotent chair, commonly called “the Throne”, which seemed to confer whoever was sitting on it an incredibly giganting amount of power, whether that person was or wasn’t capable of holding it.

Not that she hated her father nor thought he was incapable of running a Kingdom. It was just… she feared the kind of things that could be done in case the wrong person sat there. Just that.

“My daughters! Finally!” her father greeted, “I thought we’d have to leave the trip for tomorrow.”

“I am sorry father, to have caused you trouble.” Zelda sternly said, “But there is no need to cancel our trip to the Desert. Crystal had been in the Courtyard all along, taking care of the flowers. We only took so long, because she had to put on a new dress, for her former one was dirty with earth.”

The King examined his younger daughter, now clad in an exuberant green dress, vivid and fresh. She immediately bowed down to him, muttering an “I’m sorry for making you wait, Father.”

“I accept your apologies, my daughter.” The King stated, “But please, let’s go now. I have important business with the Gerudos, and an even more important surprise for you, my daughters, when we arrive.” He rose from his throne, the chair Crystal hated so much and walked past them, “Come on, let’s go.”

Crystal moved her sight to her sister, who, by the look on her face, was clearly wondering what the “surprise” was, “Thanks Zel.” The younger princess whispered.

Zelda didn’t speak. She just smiled faintly in reply, staying like that until they reached the carriage, and even when inside it, she still rarely uttered a word.

Her own little world, apparently, was where she was in, and she had no intention of letting go of it just now.