I'll keep it short. This is a new chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited. I love you people.

Just so we're clear, I don't own Zelda.

Link had forgotten just how much there was to do in Clock Town. In fact, the town had seemed to have almost grown since he was last there.

As he and Zelda walked the streets together they found themselves avoiding everything from construction to people to small sharp objects sticking up from the ground and everything in between. Street vendors sold various foodstuffs from the recently-added marketplace in the South district, by the Clock Tower. The number of children in the North district had increased significantly with the expansion of the playground there. The shops in the Western district attracted more business than ever, it seemed, and the Eastern district, known for its many attractions, was more crowded than Link had ever seen it before. And he had seen it many times.

"It almost reminds you of Hyrule Castle Town," Zelda pointed out. Link had to agree, it kind of did. Only today, it was even busier than Castle Town.

The pair were dressed casually; Link wore a long-sleeved blue shirt with white trim at the cuffs while Zelda sported a nice white sundress with pink floral patterns adorning its surface. Link had left his cap back at the house and had tied the back of his long blonde hair into a ponytail. Zelda wore a white hairband, her hair completely pulled back, and carried with her a brown wicker basket as Anju had politely requested that the two of them go run a few errands for her while she tidied the house for them. Link had been hesitant to say yes, but finally, after a few brief scoldings from Zelda, he'd decided that it would be the right thing to do.

"What's first on the list?" he asked, glancing around at the many shops and buildings surrounding them.

With a brief glance at the small slip of paper Anju had handed her, Zelda said, "Groceries. Anju needs ingredients for supper for the next three days."

There it was again. Three days.

As he tossed the thought aside, Link said, "Well, I'm sure the marketplace has some fresh produce, and I hear there's a bakery in the Western part of town now. You take the vegetables, I'll get the bread. Let's meet back here, at the Clock Tower, in, say, twenty minutes?"

With a nod Zelda walked away, a slight bounce in her step, leaving Link standing there, slightly mesmerized by her movements. She really was a pretty girl. She deserved better than how Link had treated her the past few years.

Link mentally chided himself. Now was not the time to have an epiphany. Now was the time to get bread for Anju.

To make a long story short, he was able to get his bread with time to spare. He had delivered it to Anju and made it back to the Clock Tower five minutes before Zelda even paid for her side of the groceries. He had become rather skilled at making the most of the time he had. His three days in Termina seven years ago were both a blessing and a curse to him.

No, they were definitely just a curse.

As Zelda returned to him she asked him where the bread was, and she just rolled her eyes when Link proudly told her he had already given it to Anju. "This is why you're the Hero here," she chuckled.

Yeah. He was the hero. He didn't need to be reminded. Just the fact that he was here at all was proof of that. And as fate would have it, he had only three days to be that hero. Again.

He must have looked pretty glum at Zelda's remark, and after a moment she said, "Hey."

"Hey what?"

"I'm sorry, Link. I didn't mean... I was just trying to be funny. I didn't want to hurt you."

"No, I'm fine," he insisted.

"No, you're not. I know it hurts you. Stop trying to save face in front of me. We're in this together. I can't feel your pain with you if you won't admit to feeling it yourself."

"Look, Zelda, now's not really the place to be having this conversation."

"Then let's go somewhere else!" Zelda exclaimed. Link shrugged and nodded. They walked into the field together through the South Town Gate and sat down in the grass near the entrance to the town.

"Link, sooner or later you are going to have to accept that you can't escape this," Zelda told him, taking his hand. He instinctively jerked his hand away from her as if he had touched a hot stove, but after a moment of consideration he realized he had already shut her out enough.

He picked at the grass around him, avoiding eye contact with her. "I didn't ask for this, Zelda," he said solemnly. "Either time."

"Well, I didn't ask you to drag me along with you, and yet I'm here." She paused. "We both are."

Zelda was right. Link hated when she was right.

"Link, I'm worried about you. I don't like seeing you like this. Why do you put so much pressure on yourself? Eventually you're going to have to let go."

Link sighed. "I don't know," he said. He threw himself back carelessly into the grass. "I don't understand why of all the people that could be chosen to be a hero, the goddesses had to pick me." There was a long pause. Zelda didn't say anything for a while.

She grabbed his hand again, and this time he didn't pull away. "Look," she told him firmly, "I'm not saying it's going to be easy. But you bear the Triforce of Courage. Does that mean nothing to you?"

"How can I be the bearer of courage but harbor so much fear?" Link asked. Zelda laid on her back so that her head was right next to his. She looked at him, and he looked away.

"Courage isn't the absence of fear," she said, "as much as it is conquering what fear you have. Nobody is fearless. But few people can be courageous. You have to be." She paused. Gently she put her hand on his cheek, silently asking him to meet her face-to-face. "If not for Termina, then for me."

Easier said than done, Link thought. But he knew he needed to give her a chance. After all, he brought her to a strange land she didn't know filled with strange people she'd never met. He couldn't exactly leave her on her own.

So he decided he would be courageous. For her.

A new sense of determination filled his heart. He was, after all, the Hero of Time. He had saved this land before, he could, and would, do it again.

And then he remembered the Wolf's question.

The Wolf had asked what Link was trying to accomplish. He wasn't totally sure. He knew that he had to somehow "save Termina," according to Kafei, but what did that mean? Last time it was an evil mask summoning an evil moon. What was it this time? Was it the Wolf? Or was it something else, something bigger? Did Kafei even know about the wolf?

He decided the first thing he would try to figure out was why Kafei brought him here in the first place. Standing, he said to Zelda, "I need to talk to Kafei. Would you like to come?" She nodded, and he helped her to her feet. Together they walked back into the town.

Two hours later, Kafei had gotten them nowhere. After several minutes of silent thinking, he had simply told Link that all he knew was Termina was in trouble. He said again that he couldn't explain it, but he figured that if anyone could figure it out, it would be Link. When Link asked him about the Wolf, Kafei said he hadn't heard anything about a wolf.

"So basically you're asking me to find all the answers," Link had asked him, trying his best not to show his annoyance on his face.

"Well, yes. Link, I'm so sorry I don't know more, but-" Link held up his hand.

"It's fine. Really. I'm happy to help." With that, he and Zelda walked out of the house and back into the town square.

"What now?" Zelda asked him. Link sighed. He wondered the same thing. At this point in his previous adventures he might have asked Navi or Tatl for advice, but this time around Zelda was his companion, and she was even more clueless than he was.

"I have no idea," he finally said. "But I might know where to start looking."

"And where's that?"

"Let's try the Woodfall Temple. Maybe I can find a clue or something there."

"Great! Let's go!" Zelda said, then looked down at her dress. "That is, once I change into something a little more adventure-y."

"I still don't understand how a place this nice can be called a swamp," Zelda said as they paddled down the stream. Link chuckled. If only she knew...

"I guess over seven years the water cleared up a bit. Nowadays I bet you could even drink from this river," Link said, running his hand through the cool water. "Back when I was here the first time, you couldn't even put a finger in this water without feeling the sudden urge to throw up." Zelda laughed at this remark, and Link smiled. She was right, Southern Swamp did feel a lot less swamp-ish. Maybe it wasn't just lipstick on a Dodongo.

He looked down at their shoddy rental canoe from the Tourist Center. "This thing doesn't really look like it's in great condition," he said. It really didn't. Most of the slats holding it together looked like they were rotted and the nails were rusty. Zelda shrugged.

"They probably only use one boat," she replied. "I guess the most we can do is hope it doesn't break apart or something."

For a while they just paddled in silence, but eventually Zelda asked him if he was in the mood for his story yet. At first he was compelled to say no. But he knew that closing himself off to her for the billionth time wasn't going to accomplish anything. So he consented.

"After I regained consciousness, I found a Skull Kid rummaging through my stuff. He took the Ocarina. He played around with it for a while, but when he saw me all hell broke loose. I still remember it like it was yesterday..."

"Epona! Come back!" Link screamed. His stubby little legs wouldn't take him very far. Stupid kid-running, he thought. He was used to almost a full year of running with long adult legs but now that he was back to being a child, that evidently wasn't an option.

Epona did not come back. The Skull Kid and the fairies disappeared deeper into the forest. After what seemed like hours of chasing them, he finally found the Skull Kid in a small clearing. The light shone through the trees in such a way that it seemed to make a spotlight on the Skull Kid. He had on a really colorful, funky-looking mask that almost looked like a spiky heart with eyes.

"Your stupid pony was so disobedient," said Skull Kid. "I did you a favor. I got rid of it for you. Tee hee!" The inhuman giggle of the creature hurt Link's ears. What did he mean by "get rid of?" Link was horrified.

"Oh, you look upset. I don't like that face. I think you need a new one."

Link's everything began to hurt. He screamed, but no sound would come out. Goddesses, the pain was indescribably unbearable! It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

And then, just like that, it was over.

Then he saw the scrubs.

Giant deku scrubs. Surrounding him. Everywhere.

Link had never been afraid of deku scrubs. Sure, they were a pain in the butt, but they weren't scary. These ones were.

Link ran but went nowhere. He tripped. The scrubs kept coming toward him. They didn't look like they intended to stop.

Then there was only one. Ten times bigger than all the other ones, this one only had to take one step to catch up to Link. It inhaled, as if it was going to shoot a nut out of its snout. Link was sucked into it's mouth.

Darkness.

Then he heard the laughter of the skull kid. "That's better. I love your new face! It really suits you. Tee hee!" Link noticed a puddle. He gazed into it, hoping to find a trace of his reflection.

When he saw it, he wished he hadn't looked.

There had to have been a mistake. It was a dream. This was just a really bad dream. That's all it was. He was going to regain consciousness right now, and keep going through the forest until he reached wherever Navi was, and then it would all be over.

He would soon find out that he wasn't that lucky.

"The skull kid turned you into a deku scrub?!" Zelda asked, obviously shocked. Link nodded and chuckled.

"A lot more happened, too. After three days I found out the Skull Kid was causing trouble in Clock Town and was going to call down a moon to destroy the whole place. It was about to happen, too. But I got back the ocarina right before the moon landed on the clock tower. Somehow I played the Song of Time and managed to turn back time three days. A strange mask salesman told me to go to Woodfall. That's how I ended up here the first time."

"Wow," Zelda said, shaking her head. "I'm sorry."

"It was frightening, to be honest. To be something I wasn't. I felt like I was in somebody else's skin." He paused and waved his hand to the giant wooden building in front of them. "But enough of that for now. We've arrived."

"It's huge," said Zelda flatly. Link agreed. It was huge.

He turned to the Princess. "Shall we?" he asked her. She nodded.

Together, they walked hand in hand into the temple.