Chapter III: Surprise

 

Agahnim entered a dark passageway, returning from his failed attempt at gaining the support of Dark Link. The hall was wide, lined on each side with statues of monsters and demons with glowing red eyes which served as the only source of light in the place. The glow from the statues casted an eerie red tend to the otherwise unlighted corridor as Agahnim approched a large sickly green colored door on the far end.

 

Agahnim placed his hand on the door causeing it to glow faintly before cracking apart and opening with magic. He walked and took his seat in front of six other figures shrouded in darkness.

 

"Welcome back brother Agahnim..." Said the raspy voice of the figure on the far right. The man talked barely above a whisper as if his vocal cords had been forcefully torn out. Agahnim cringed at the sound.

 

"I greet you fellow counselmen." Agahnim said with a short bow.

 

"Where you able to gain the obedience of the shadow?" Asked the voice of a young woman, who by all rights didnt sound like she belonged there.

 

"No Angata..." Agahnim said lowering his head. "The boy is more stubborn than he looks..." Agahnim rubbed his neck remembering the incident from earlier that day.

 

The young woman, appearently named Angata spoke agian. "Then I trust you did away with him?" Angata's calm voice suddenly took on a demonic tone

 

"No, he-" Agahnim began but was suddenly cut off.

 

"Your mission was to attempt to gain the support of Dark Link. You were to kill him if he refused!" Yelled a deepthroated voice of the man in the center. "This is not the result I expected from a member of the Counsel of Evil!" The mans eyes took on a yellow glow that cut through the shroud enveloping him and fellows.

 

"I know... He will be a problem if he decides to fight agianst us, but it matters not. We won't need him in the end." Agahnim pulled out a glowing deep violet colored sphere, and tossed it to the yellow eyed man. "I already obtained what we needed from him anyway..."

 

"How did you recieve the Orb of Shadow without the aid of the only one who could remove it?!" Asked to similar elderly voices in unison, belonging to two equally similar figures in the counsel.

 

"Hm..." Agahnim laughed softly. "It's amazing what a few of Ganondorf's pawns can do with the aid of a little Black Magic... I won't spare you the details of their fate before I got the orb from them. I really doubt you'd like to know." Agahnim said with an evil smirk.

 

"Well done Wizard..." Said the deep voice of the figure which silent up to this point.

 

"Now all we must do is wait until the time is right..." Angata mused.

 

"And then Hyrule will be ours!" The deepthroated man finished for her laughing sadistically.

 

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Link walked through the corridors of Hyrule Castle silently evading the patrolling guards. He'd done this many times before however never late at night. The darkness however was an aid as his deep blue tunic was easily concealed by the shadows. Slowly he made his way to Zelda's room. When he reached he silently opened the door and entered swiftly closing the door behind him.

 

Zelda was sleeping peacefully. It had been some time sense their dreams were disturbed and both were glad for that, however Link had other plans for this particualar night. She looked even more beautiful asleep. She wore a silk nightgown and her face was set with a smile.

 

Link gently brushed some of Zelda's hair from her face and leaned to her ear.

 

"Hey Zel..." Link whispered sweetly in her ear. "Wake up..."

 

Zelda slowly opened her eyes blinking away the last bits of sleep. She saw Link sitting there staring at her mischeviously.

 

"Link...?" Zelda asked still half asleep. "What are you doing?"

 

"Get dressed" Link said simply.

 

"Why?" Zelda asked sitting up.

 

"I thought we could have a night out." Link said taking her hand and leading her from the bed.

 

"Oh? That sounds fun!" Zelda said giving Link a peck on the cheek. "What is on that man's mind I wonder..." she thought smiling, entering the large walk in closet.

 

A few minutes later she emerged from the closet wearing a white sleeveless dress with A large golden Triforce on the lower half.

 

"Wow..." Link said. "Your more beautiful everytime I see you."

 

"Link... Stop!" Zelda giggled her face turning red.

 

"It's true..." Link said smugly.

 

"Yeah yeah... So were are we going!?" Zelda asked excitedly.

 

"Well first I thought we'd go to the market and I could show you some of the games they have there, and then well... That part is accually a surprise." Link said giving her a wry smile.

 

"What about the guards?" she asked.

 

"I'll take care of them..." Said a voice from behind them, namely Impa's.

 

"I asked Impa to handle things while we're gone." Link answered Zelda's unspoken question. "Come on! We'll take Epona."

 

"Ok."

 

Link took Zelda's hand and began to leave the room.

 

"Thanks Impa." Link said looking back.

 

Impa gave him a smirk. "Have fun."

 

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Link and Zelda left the castle without incident. Link was adept at sneaking passed the guards and soon they were to the stables on the castle grounds. They entered silently taking care not to wake up the horses and approached Link's private stall with Epona inside. The horse snorted happily seeing Link and let out a soft "neigh"

 

"Shhhh... Easy girl..." Link said stroking Epona's mane while he opened the stable door leading Epona onto the pathway leading to the gate which separated Hyrule Castle from the market square. They walked Epona to the gate, the gaurd was sleeping with his back on the wall of the archway.

 

"Shhh..." Link said bringing Epona to a halt and motioning for Zelda to stay there. Link snuck up to the gate and slowly pushed it open, taking care to make as little noise as possible so not to rouse the sleeping gaurd. When it was open enough for Epona to fit through Link motioned for Zelda to lead Epona out of the gate. She complied and they were soon in the market square. Normally Hyrule Market was packed with many people, from residents or those on errands to those on vacation or on business. At night however the only thing crowding the streets were the stray dogs who roamed around at that time.

 

Zelda looked a little unsure seeing the dogs approaching them curiously. "Link... Are you sure about this?" Zelda asked

 

She held a hand to her mouth holding out a yelp as one of the dogs, A small golden haired puppy nudged her ankle with it's nose. Link laughed slightly.

 

"Don't worry Zel. The dogs are all pretty friendly. mostly they just follow you around."

 

"Ok..." Zelda said still a bit unsure, then looking back down to the puppy 'he seems innocent enough...' Zelda thought. following Link.

 

"Were to, Milady?" Link asked in an embarrassingly fake regal tone.

 

"Hmm... Hey what's that place?" Zelda asked pointing to a large two story building near the path to the drawbridge that lead out of the city and into Hyrule Feild.

 

"The Treasure Chest Shop, huh?" Link said with a sly smile.

 

"A shop that sells treasure chests?" Zelda asked confused.

 

Somehow Link knew she would say that. Poor girl never got out much, but it still took everything he had not to laugh, more at his own memory than at Zelda's comment.

 

"No it's a game." Link said laughing. "I don't know the owner gave it that name."

 

"Well it IS my first time really spending some time here..." Zelda pouted

 

"No Zel... I wasn't laughing at you." Link said quickly. "I remember the first time I came in here 7 years ago. I saw thought the same thing, I walked in and the owner asked if I wanted to play. I was so clueless having just come from the forest that I didn't know what he ment. I pointed to a gold chest behind him and asked 'How much is that one?' I was so embarrassed when I found out they didnt ACTUALLY sell treasure chests"

 

Link suddenly broke out into a fit of laughter. And Zelda couldn't help but laugh as well as the image of the little boys face when he found out his embarassing mistake. They both stood there laughing for a while before finally they stopped and looked at each other red faced from laughing so hard...

 

"The owner has NEVER let me live that down!" Link exclaimed. "Though I always seem to win his game so I guess that's payback enough."

 

"Really? Thats something I'd like to see. Lets go!" Zelda said grabbing Links arm and leading him into the building.

 

The shop owner looked up and gave wide grin as he saw Link enter. 'Here it comes...' He thought.

 

"Were you satisfied with your last purchase Link?" The shop asked sarcastically.

 

The shop owner was a very large man with a dark skin tone. He stood behind the counter nearly seven feet tall. His arms were muscled however he had a kind, almost playful feel about him.

 

"Yeah, yeah Balius. I was just telling my girl here about that." Link said giveing Zelda a look that said 'See what I mean?'. "Seriously, we're here for a game."

 

"Well you came at the right time thats for sure. I got a special prize up if you can win it this time." Balius said matter-of-factly. "I won't say what it is, but let's just say it would be a gift fit for a princess..." Link's eyes lit up in realization of his comment.

 

"You know?" Link asked.

 

"Of course!" Balius chuckled "Your little show at the Her Highness' party has been the only thing people have talked about today."

 

"By Nayru word spreads fast..." Link muttered under his breath.

 

"I take it this is Princess Zelda?" The question was more of a statement. "It's an honor to meet you Milady"

 

"Please Balius just call me Zelda. I hate formalities." Zelda said smiling.

 

"I've heard that about you!"

 

"Here!" Link yelled tossing Balius a red rupee.

 

"Hey Link, you remember it's only 10 rupees right?" Balius said confused that he would pay double even though he'd played the game numerous times.

 

"I know, I want Zelda to come with me." Link said grinning

 

"Oh alright, Here catch!" Balius called tossing Link a rather large door key which he caught. "Good luck, though I know I'm wasting my breath saying that."

 

Link Unlocked the door and he and Zelda entered the first room, a green walled room with two chests on top of a slightly raised platform.

 

"Something says... That one." Link said pointing to the chest on the right. He opened it and retreived a key like the one he'd used on the door before.

 

"See the aim is you pick one of the two chests. one has a key, one has a rupee of a certain value in it, we want the key. see the color of the room?" Link explained as Zelda looked around. "That's the color of the rupee in the wrong chest. The aim is to get to the gold colored room, thats were the big prize is."

 

"Oh. I get it! Thats why it's called the 'Tresure Chest Shop'" Zelda said understanding.

 

They went through many similar rooms. Zelda noticed that Link wasnt kidding about his luck. In seconds they reached the gold room Link spoke of earlier. on top of a raised platform stood a single chest trimmed with gold. Link opened the chest and removed the prize inside. An beautiful looking amulet made of pure silver which had a large flawless diamond as the gemstone. Link smiled.

 

"Happy Birthday Zelda." He said holding out the amulet to show her.

 

Zelda smiled. "Link..." She said as Link clasped the amulet around her neck.

 

When he was finished she asked "How did you do that?"

 

Link shrugged "Don't know... I've just always been lucky at this game. In all honesty I could've used the Lens of Truth to see what was in the chests before I opened them but I've never accually needed to."

 

Pretty soon they made it back to the first room were Balius waited.

 

"Knew you would do it." He said seeing the amulet around Zelda's neck.

 

"Thanks Balius!" Link called as they left.

 

Outside Link took Epona's reigns and He, Zelda, and Epona headed for the drawbridge. When they got there they saw an unexpected sight.

 

"Hey Link!" Yelled the guard in an all to familiar voice.

 

"Cyrus!" Link said recongnizing the face to go with the voice.

 

"Impa explained things to me, so I relieved the guard that used to here. Figured you could use a bit of help." Cyrus explained.

 

"Impa's always thinking ahead. I was wondering how we'd manage this" Link muttered to himself.

 

Cyrus let down drawbridge for the couple. and they walked out onto the vast field of Hyrule.

 

"Thanks Cyrus!" Link called

 

"Don't mention it!"

 

Link helped Zelda onto Epona and then mounted the horse in front of her. Zelda wrapped her arms around Link's waist

 

"Ready to go? Link asked Zelda.

 

"Yeah!" She replied.

 

Link tapped Epona's sides with his heals and she started broke into a gallop. The two rode off to the south, toward Lake Hylia.

 

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Dark Link rose his hand up, conjuring a small ball of black and purple flames in his hand. He smiled sadistically.

 

"My power has almost completely returned... It's only a matter of time now." He mused. "I hope you'll be ready for the rematch, Link."

 

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Link and Zelda arived at Lake Hylia. Link looked up at the sky. The moon was high and the stars shined like diamonds on the black sky. "Perfect..." he thought. Link dismounted Epona and helped Zelda down as well. stood behind a hill near the entrance to the lake, Link stroked Epona and fed her a carrot.

 

"Zelda..." Link said taking her hand. "Close your eyes. This is the surprise I was telling you about."

 

Zelda did as Link asked. Link lead Zelda over the hill and onto the rope bridge which connected the mainland to the small Island at the center of the lake.

 

"Link were are we going?" Zelda giggled using Link as a guide.

 

"You'll see..." Link said smugly leading her on.

 

A few minutes later they had arrived at the center island. It was a round patch of land in the middle of lake Hylia, relitively plain save the old tree, Temple platdorm and the stone with the fire arrow legend inscribed on it.

 

"Ok... Open your eyes." Link said.

 

Zelda did so and was amazed by what she saw. The crystal clear waters of Lake Hylia were like a mirror reflecting the heavenly bodys in the sky above. the water stood unmoving, undisturbed reflecting the lights of the moon and stars.

 

"Link... It's beautiful..." Zelda whispered her mouth gapping at the site.

 

"Yeah... It is." Link said.

 

Link looked down and saw a small rock lying at his feet, which gave him an idea. He picked up the rock tossing it in the air and catching it as he rose.

 

"Watch this." He said tossing the rock into the water.

 

With a soft splash the rock hit the water causing the reflections to dance on the ripples were it landed. Zelda stood there watching the show of lights without saying a word until finally the water came to a rest once agian.

 

"I've never seen Lake Hylia at night..." Zelda admited.

 

"I know... That's why I wanted to bring you here." Link explained

 

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..." She said softly still mesmerized by the clear water.

 

"Not me. I've seen something much more beautiful than this could ever be." Link mused

 

"What?" Zelda asked turning to Link.

 

Link took Zelda in his arms and kissed her gently.

 

"You." He said with a wan smile.

 

"Oh Link..." Zelda cooed wrapping her arms around his neck.

 

Zelda pulled Link to her kissing him passionatly. He took her in his arms and returned the kiss stroking her golden hair. Link lowered slowly taking Zelda with him and picked her up behind her knees literally sweeping her off her feet. He walked slowly into the water, still holding Zelda, his lips still pressed to hers as he slowly entered the deep blue waters.

 

The water was cool, but not freezing. Link let Zelda's legs go, still holding her waist as they floated in the middle of the lake looking into each others eyes not knowing what to say at first. Link brushed a lock of Zelda's delicate hair from her face and finally said the words that he had been searching for.

 

"I love you, Zelda."

 

"I love you to, Link." She whispered her response.

 

They drew each other close once kissed once agian, no longer noticing the world around. Zelda was his world, and Link was hers. They let the Peaceful lake take them under, continuing to kiss as they were soon submerged under the water. Zelda floated beneath the water with her face turned to the surface, Link faced her as they broke off agian, still holding each other's hands. Link smiled and brushed her hair from her face. She returned the smile cupping half his face in her hand. They shared another long kiss before heading back to the awaiting shore of the island.

 

"That was wonderful..." Zelda whispered.

 

"I hoped you'd like it." Link said.

 

He looked at her with loving eyes.

 

"If we we're married now... The things I would do to prove how much I love you..." Link mused.

 

"And I, to you." she replyed grinning

 

He eyed her up and down. She was so beautiful. Her skin was visible beneath her thin soaked dress. Link could have taken her right there, but held himself back. It wouldn't be good if the Crown Pincess of Hyrule were to be impregnated before her marrage. He loved and respected her to much to do that to her. If he could fight an evil king and his armies to save her, he could fight off his own urges for her until the time was right.

 

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After another half an hour of silence, just enjoying the company of each other they rose to head back to Hyrule Castle. They walked on the small bridge hand in hand back to the shore on the other side of Lake Hylia. They walked to the entrance were they'd left Epona. She was still there, waiting obediantly for her master's return. Link helped Zelda onto the saddle and sat infront of her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and they road off to Castle Town.

 

Along the way Link felt Zelda's head fall to his back. He gently brought Epona to a halt.

 

"Zelda?" Link asked.

 

His only response was a small noise from her lips. She was asleep. Link smiled to himself and urged Epona on, Slower and at a more steady pace so not to disturb her sleep. When they reached the castle Link opened a telepathic link with Cyrus.

 

"Hey Cyrus, can you lower the drawbridge for us?" He asked

 

Telepathy was a common skill among Hylians, All the subraces from the Gorons to the Gerudos knew it on some level.

 

"Sure thing, Link" Cyrus replyed

 

"Don't lower it to loudly. Zelda's a little tired." Link warned.

 

Cyrus complied and lowered the drawbridge slowly, and without making much sound. Link entered and saw his friend smiling to him. Link dismounted Epona, carefully supporting Zelda before he lifted her still, sleeping form into his arms.

 

"It looks like you guys had fun." Cyrus whispered playfully, looking at Zelda. Link smiled

 

"Think you can give me a hand Epona?" He asked.

 

"Sure."

 

Cyrus took Epona's reigns and lead Link back toward the castle. The guard at the gate was still slumped to the side sleeping unknowing of Link and Zelda's absense or return. Cyrus silently opened the gate, and closed it as the four of them entered.

 

"Thanks agian Cyrus. For everything" Link said in gratitude.

 

"I'll take Epona back to her stable. You get inside and get Zelda to bed." Cyrus replied

 

"Good luck with Malon." Link said giving him a sly half smile as he walked through the castle grounds to the castle itself.

 

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Impa rose up from a chair she had been sitting in waiting for Link and Zelda's return. Seeing Link enter carrying Zelda brought a smile to her lips. They truely were a perfect couple.

 

"Welcome back." She said. "Have a good time?"

 

"It was great..." Link said in rememberance.

 

Link placed Zelda gently on her bed. She had a small smile on her face and her breathing was slow and peaceful. He could tell she was having a pleasant dream.

 

"She's so peaceful." Link thought out loud.

 

"I don't think she's ever looked happier." Impa said. "You're perfect for her Link, you know that? She loves you."

 

Impa then left back to her own room, leaving Link to watch over his goddess in private.

 

"And I love her..." Link said kissing her head.

 

He turned to leave back to his room but stopped when he heard her say one word, one name.

 

"Link..." She said in a soft sleep filled voice.

 

The sound brought a smile to his lips as he walked silently down the white-walled corridor back to his room.

 

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Authors notes: I think this is so far the best chapter myself. Not only because by now I've had a bit of practice withe the prologue and chapters one and two, but also because I planned this one out alot more than I have the last ones.

 

Some of you may be thinking by now, "This looks more like a Romance than a General story,". Well I must say for right now you are right, but that's for good reason. Keep in mind this story takes place in the direct aftermath of Ocarina of Time. Therefore, Link and Zelda have just been through a whole lot. I thought they deserved a break so I spent these last few chapters focusing more on their relationship. The next chapter will have a pretty big fight in it so if your looking for that kinda thing then well you'll get your wish in the next chapter :)

 

We also see that now there are two forces working agianst Link. His old nemesis Dark Link who's bent on revenge, and the mysterious Counsel of Evil, who as of now we only know the names of two, and the appearance of one, namely Agahnim. I haven't played A Link to the Past yet, but I've seen Agahnim used by many people, and I rather like the character so I used him.

 

Notice anything familiar about the love scene toward the end? If you've played Final Fantasy X then you should. I;ve been a pretty big Final Fantasy fan myself for a while, as well as a Zelda fan, and I always thought that scene was the most perfect love scene ever made in a game, and as they say "If it aint broke don't fix it" so I simply changed the dialogue, setting, and made the characters Link and Zelda, keeping the overall structure the same, and well, there you have it. If you made the connection I must say, nice job. I hope some of you did.

 

Sorry about the long note, but as I said; I put alot of effort into this one, and as such I guess I had alot to say to. :)

 

 

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