Full Description: After accidentally stumbling upon an alternate universe, Kid and Tetra joined forces with their counterparts in an attempt to return home. Unfortunately, due to a certain forgotten goddess and demon lord, their efforts were proven to be in vain. Now the true test will begin. With Demon Lord Ghirahim at the peak of power, it's a desperate race to preserve both worlds. As our heroes weigh their options, failure seems like the only one left, but how can that be when failure means the complete and utter destruction of everything they hold dear?

Spoiler warning for the following Legend of Zelda titles: The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass, and (possibly) Ocarina of Time.

AN: Everyone ready for the seaquel? (Ocean puns, anyone? ^ ^) On that note, I invite you to dive right into…

The Legend of Zelda: Linked Together

Chapter 1: Accepting Denial

The routine hum of Hyrule Castle Town was the same as it had always been. People shouted to announce their wares to others who were usually too engulfed in their own personal missions to take the time to listen. It was all about which apples were the sweetest, which flowers possessed the most pleasant scents, which bread was the most lovingly prepared, and which stalls boasted the best deals. The desperate voices of the less popular stall owners, who were notorious for selling many odds and ends that only the craftiest of people could find a use for, was simply another background noise to be ignored. Unless, that is, you happened to be a traveler. Then the items for sale seemed appealing, if not terribly necessary. Anything to take your hard earned money. That was how the main town of Hyrule functioned. It was a market after all. If there wasn't any attraction to waste money on, it would be very disappointing.

Even those who didn't normally make many profits, such as beggars and little kids seeking a rupee or two to spend on some frivolous thing their parents wouldn't purchase for them, were content in the day to day bustle of the town. The performing troupe, however, expressed the most fidelity despite rarely making any money of their own. Their music wasn't terrible enough to cause people to cringe and shield their ears from the sound, but it wasn't brilliant enough to entice people to listen either. The performers were stuck in this boring medium,and yet, they seemed happy to do what they did. Whether that was true or not, no one knew because no one had ever bothered to ask.

As for the inhabitants of Castle Town, they were generally normal people. Every town has an oddball or two, and Hyrule Castle Town is no exception. From the ageless bug princess to the lonely man filled with greed, the citizens of Hyrule paid little attention. Just as they paid little attention to the town lockdown, when soldiers were the only ones permitted to roam the streets and everyone else was confined to the safety of their homes without being told why.

Gossip was a natural phenomenon that occurred every day in Castle Town, so it came as no surprise when rumors of possible reasons for why the sudden lockdown had occurred began to spread like a plague. Some claimed it was a routine test, to see how well the citizens would react to an unexpected crisis. Others thought the royal family was just exploring the boundaries of their authority. Some dared to go as far as to say that one of Hyrule's neighboring countries had become unfriendly, and the town had been shut down so unwelcome foreigners could not enter.

The fortune teller, Fanadi, had a completely different theory and insisted that it was a precaution to protect the denizens of Hyrule Castle Town from a horde of monsters commanded by a white demon. Of course, no one believed her, and how were they expected to when, for only ten rupees, she would consult her crystal ball and tell them anything they wanted to know. Usually the answer was just what they wanted to hear, a bit cryptic and mysterious, but not so much so that it was impossible to decipher the meaning. The fact that the meaning of this message was quite clear, suggested that it was false.

Link knew that Fanadi was correct, as she often was, because he had faced that demon and his army of grotesque creatures. The demon that had been alive, supposedly, since the beginning of time and had escaped his prison to…well, Link wasn't entirely sure of Ghirahim's ultimate motive. At first he had thought that the evil sword spirit wished to spread darkness across the land, replacing the light with monsters and fear. Now he didn't know what to think. Ghirahim was gone. He was in another world now, but it wasn't a spiritual one. Most probably expected him to take comfort in the fact that the demon lord was no longer in the same realm. Yet, this fact only enhanced his anxiety because he knew where Ghirahim was. It was a place that, until yesterday, he'd never known existed, but that didn't mean he didn't care if it was doomed by the evil that had entered it. Why the demon had aspired to go there, Link had no idea. However, the exact reason didn't matter, for he knew it was ill-intended without knowing the details.

The way that the inhabitants of Hyrule Castle Town so casually dismissed the rumors and the lockdown all together, appalled Link, especially since everyone had been allowed out of their homes roughly one hour ago. Already the town was back to its usual self, the hum a little on the cautious side but not enough to disrupt daily habits.

Link couldn't dismiss the event so readily. In fact, he couldn't stop thinking about it, so the fact that the citizens of Hyrule didn't give it a second thought amazed him. He was also a tad envious of their ignorance to the situation. It wasn't just them that he wished to emulate. The entire world was the same. No matter what disaster befell it, time continued to march forward unperturbed. Nothing could interrupt it, and if something did, time never let that something mean anything to it. As a result, time continued, and Link found himself wishing to catch up. However, it was just too soon. Time had the ability to heal, but it was almost never fast on delivering.

Humans were different because, unlike time, they possessed souls. They had morals, and when those morals were violated it was very difficult to ignore the problem and proceed with life. Instinct screamed to fix the problem, but rationality screamed right back that it wasn't possible. Even an hour later Link couldn't bring himself to admit that they'd been defeated. It wasn't that Link wasn't accustomed to losing. He'd lost battles and games before, but they hadn't affected him much. Trivial things like sparring matches and childish activities did not hold dire consequences for losing. However, a loss of this magnitude was something Link had never experienced before, and he thought that maybe it was the natural nature of every person to try to find hope in something, even when it didn't seem to be available, that kept him clinging to denial.

Unfortunately for Link, the more he denied it, the more he realized that it was true. He had the right to deny their defeat for however long he wanted to, but the reality of it was that denying it would not change the truth. The truth was a force that none could mess with or alter. It was simply always real no matter how much you wished it wasn't. Upon coming to this conclusion, Link grew frustrated.

Ghirahim had deceived them so easily, or was it the goddess, Hylia? Honestly, Link had begun to think of them both as a conspiring force. After all, hadn't it been Hylia that started this entire fiasco? She was the one that had organized everything. She was the one that had left the riddle, deceiving them into thinking it would deliver Kid, Tetra, and their friends back to their own world, the world that she deliberately took them out of. Instead it was a ploy to get them to go along with her little scheme to eradicate Ghirahim for good. Her plans hadn't been well thought out, or Ghirahim got them in advance and adjusted his goals to intercept hers. Either way, Link had failed to see it. Even if he had meticulously analyzed the riddle piece by piece and ordered Fi to relay every single detail about Ghirahim she had stored in her large database, their chances of prevailing would probably still be lacking.

After all, they hadn't seen everything that Ghirahim was capable of just yet. Link was sure of that much. The demon lord had changed form to a point, and Link hadn't had the time, or frame of mind, to consult Fi for new information. Normally Link prided himself in overcoming any obstacle but this one just may prove too much for him to handle. The evil sword spirit was much more powerful and cunning than any of them had anticipated…

"Link!" Princess Zelda half whispered, nudging him lightly in the side with her elbow in case her words weren't enough to bring him out of his reverie. Pain pulsed in his midsection for a couple seconds as a result of the gesture, and he tried not to show his discomfort as he tore his gaze away from the open window he'd been staring at without really seeing for the past few minutes. Just as his mind wasn't completely healed from the confrontation with Ghirahim, neither was his body. Link snapped to attention anyway, straightening his slouched posture in the cushioned chair he sat in. He estimated that they had both been waiting alone in that room for at least a half hour, saying nothing to each other and letting their thoughts run wild.

His piercing blue eyes locked onto the newcomer's cold crimson ones in an instant. Red wasn't a natural eye color, and Link could count the number of people he knew with red eyes on one hand. That's why he knew who this woman was as soon as she stepped into the room. Her silver blonde hair framed her tanned face in the front and was heaped atop her head in a large braided bun. The attire she wore was appropriate for her position of Captain of the Hyrulean Royal Guard as the majority of it consisted of perfectly crafted armor, covering her chest, shoulders, knees, forearms, and hips. The fabric of her pants was coarse, yet tightfitting, and the heavy boots she wore thudded with every step, announcing her fearsome presence just in case the painted crimson teardrop symbol around her right eye and natural scowl she wore everywhere she went weren't enough to get the message across that she was a force to be reckoned with. Her appearance wasn't the only reason why Link knew who she was. He had only met her once before, shortly after the Twilight Invasion had come to a close, but her personality was one that couldn't easily be forgotten. Impa was not one of those forgettable people. She made a lasting impression on everyone she met and the more you tried to forget her, the more you ended up remembering her.

The King himself stepped into the room next, though Link wasn't sure if that was the correct terminology to use. Technically, Princess Zelda ruled the kingdom so there currently wasn't a king. He was simply the former king. Either way, he was still Zelda's father and while the smile he gave them both wasn't unkind, it wasn't welcoming either. He'd never actually met the king, or former king, before, so Link was a bit stunned to witness how unremarkable his appearance was. Other than a rather impressive unibrow and his regal attire, there were not many distinctive features. Overall, he was a man with a medium build and an average height with a graying head of neatly trimmed hair. Nothing too interesting or eye catching, although Link did notice that he shared the same eye color as his daughter.

Link forced himself to be polite, inclining his head slightly in greeting when he noticed Zelda doing so beside him. However, there was something he wanted to know and his formality didn't last long.

"Where did you take them?" Link asked as both Impa and Zelda's father approached the long conference table he and the princess were seated at. It was the same table that he had sat around yesterday with his companions, discussing their plan and exactly who Kid and Tetra were. Kid and Tetra who had been directed somewhere else by the guards that had intercepted them in the town square and ushered them back to the castle per orders. When the four of them had set out for the castle, for lack of a better option, none of them had expected such a greeting. Link and Zelda had been directed here immediately and ordered to wait. As for exactly what they were waiting for, that was not specified, but now Link predicted it to be a lecture of some kind judging by the people that had entered the room.

"If by 'them', you mean the two children that you were with, then they're perfectly safe in another wing of the castle," Impa answered him, her tone as hard as her armor.

"When can we see them?" Link questioned her, knowing that he would get nowhere with Impa by asking for clarification. The woman didn't work that way. She only disclosed the information she thought others should know which meant that most of her responses were vague.

"Depends," Impa said, coming to a halt on the other side of the wooden table and turning to face them, arms folded neatly behind her back.

"On…" Link prompted, his eyes momentarily resting on the king as he sat down across from them before returning to Impa.

"On your answers to our questions," the Captain of the Royal Guard replied calmly. Link was anything but calm at the moment and struggled to refrain from fidgeting in his seat. Impa's equivocal attitude wasn't helping matters.

"Which are…" Princess Zelda spoke up, encouraging Impa to continue.

However, it was her father that spoke next. "There are certain benefits that come with being in a position of authority for as long as I have. The most prominent, and helpful, I think, is the ability to sense when things are amiss in my kingdom. I've had this feeling for a while now, as I mentioned to you just yesterday, Zelda. Unfortunately, this sixth sense I have developed does not provide me with specifics. However, I am quite certain that you two know exactly what has been occurring for the past week."

"And, naturally, your recent activities have incited much suspicion from an outside viewpoint," Impa chimed in, "Think about it, the princess running off with the young man that had saved the kingdom just a year ago to engage in unspecified business. And that unspecified business remains a mystery even to her father. Get where this is going?"

'Wait a minute…she doesn't really think…' Link barely kept his shock from showing, and quickly turned to the princess to interpret her analysis of the situation. While her body language was reserved and proper, her ice blue eyes exchanged a look of bewilderment with his own.

"I-it's not like that!" Link exclaimed, turning back to the two adults who were carefully assessing their reaction and shaking his head fiercely. Link silently cursed himself for stuttering. That made him look guilty.

"Of course we weren't doing anything like that!" Zelda cried at the same time, rejecting Impa's implication. Link certainly cared for the princess, but he'd never even entertained the idea of dating her, much less running off with her as Impa was suggesting by her words and the withering look she was shooting them both.

"If that's not it, and I sincerely doubt it is, then I suggest both of you elaborate. Would you two care to enlighten us of what has really been happening in this kingdom as of late?" the king invited them. Link and Zelda were more than happy to comply, eager to rid the previous notion from their interrogators' brains, and replace it with the truth. However, they both found that they didn't know where to start.

After a moment or two of awkward starts and abrupt stops on both of their parts, the princess found her voice and stated, "A new evil recently manifested and we were attempting to eradicate it."

"And why weren't Impa and I alerted of this matter as soon as you learned of it?" her father asked, something more than a scolding in his tone. Something that Link thought he could identify as genuine curiosity.

"Well, we weren't positive of what it was exactly, just that it existed," Zelda answered, choosing her words with care.

"And we only found out what it really was a few days ago," Link added.

"So, Zelda, what compelled you to leave the castle in the first place, if it wasn't this trouble?" the king questioned, his eyes now focused only on the princess as he awaited her response.

"Well…I suppose it all started with the children. Link brought them all to me, the two we entered the castle with earlier and three others that have been staying here," Zelda began. Link was relieved that she didn't mention the manner in which he had brought them to her. Hero of Hyrule or not, he was sure he'd get in trouble for sneaking into the castle if the king, or former king, ever found out about it. "He explained to me how he met them and what led all of them to seek out my aid. Their situation intrigued me, especially since we knew so little about the children and where they were really from."

"So you embarked on this journey with two of the five children purely out of curiosity? Isn't that a bit reckless, my dear?" her father admonished.

"Perhaps," Zelda agreed curtly, "However, we thought that the light spirits simply had exclusive information for us, and I felt that I needed to know who these children were. I'd only find that out by going along with them. I might have changed my mind if one of us anticipated the journey to be so dangerous, but no one did."

"Your wisdom stretches far, princess, but apparently not far enough," Impa commented, "If you meet some strange individuals who won't specify where they're from or identify themselves then whatever quest you choose to travel with them on will most definitely be life-threatening. Besides, if you really wanted to know their life stories, why didn't you just ask?"

"It's not like we didn't try. Whenever we attempted it they'd either change the subject or provide us with vague answers," Link explained.

"Why didn't you just threaten to stop helping them if they didn't tell you the truth?" Impa inquired.

"Well, they just wanted to get home, and Zelda…er, Princess Zelda," Link corrected himself when he was given two disapproving looks, "and I agreed to help. If we threatened them, they'd know that the threat was only that. A threat. So there was no point. That doesn't even matter now anyway. We know exactly who they are and where they come from."

"Answer me this then," Impa challenged him, "If they wanted to return home so badly then why didn't they tell you where they were from? This all seems very suspicious, kids or not. If they're from a different country, they should have said so from the start. Otherwise-"

"They're not from a different country," Link interrupted, powering through the intense glare that Impa shot his way.

"So they're from here? Hyrule?" the king queried.

"No," Link shook his head.

"Link, you are aware that you are contradicting yourself?" Impa informed him, her tone at the very edges of patience, "How can they be both from and not from Hyrule at the same time?"

"He's not contradicting himself, Impa. It's true, if a tad…unbelievable at first," Zelda interjected.

"Explain," the princess's father commanded. Link and Zelda traded glances, silently discussing who would do just that.

"They're from a world that runs parallel to ours," Link said finally. "It's a different version of Hyrule."

"How is that possible?" Impa wanted to know, her tone of voice implying that she thought Link was fabricating wild tales to cover up the truth.

"The Hero of Time did it, unintentionally, at the conclusion of his journey. His actions caused time to split," Link elaborated. At the dubious looks he received from the two adults, Link continued, attempting to eliminate the confusion. "It's like two different endings to a story. One is good, the other is bad. Our world here, this Hyrule, is the result of the good ending. The other world is the outcome of the bad one."

"If the children come from a different version of Hyrule then what does that make them?" Zelda's father wondered.

"Our counterparts. Not all of them, just two," Zelda replied, "The two we traveled with this past week. Just like a different version of Hyrule exists, so do different versions of its inhabitants."

"So that's why that girl is dressed like a princess with symbols of the Hyrulean Royal Family on her dress. Because she's you, Zelda. And the boy was wearing a tunic and hat like yours, Link. He's really you," Impa concluded.

"They're not us. They are their own people just like anyone else," Princess Zelda clarified, "Their pasts are different than ours, as are their experiences. They are what we had the potential to become in the other world, the people we would have been, had we lived there."

"Interesting. And the others?" the king prompted, "Whose counterparts are they?"

"We're not sure who their counterparts are," Link cut in when the princess hesitated to answer. "It doesn't really matter. Two of them are friends of our counterparts and the youngest one is my counterpart's sister."

"Now that you've explained the children, how about explaining the dramatic increase in monsters and this new evil you two have discovered?" the king requested.

Link took a breath before replying. "To sum it up as quickly as possible, there's an ancient demon lord that has been trapped inside a sword for a very long time and he recently broke free from his prison. He had help from another villain in spreading monsters around Hyrule. That's why there has been more and more monsters popping up and making travel unsafe. Our original mission deviated to getting rid of this guy and that's the goal we've been working towards instead these last few days."

"Since you're all in one piece and monsters are no longer threatening to ambush the town, I trust that you finished the job?" Impa stated.

"Well…not exactly," Link confided, dropping his eyes to the tabletop and focusing on the swirling patterns in the wood.

"The plan that Link, our counterparts, and I made yesterday encountered…complications. Unfortunately, we were outmatched and ill prepared for the battle. The demon lord escaped," Zelda added to Link's confession. He was grateful that she had woken up pretty quickly after everything was over and done with. The whole walk back to town he had summarized the entire days events from his end of things for her. Explaining how and why Ghirahim had arrived without them and why Tetra's appearance was so different from before had distracted him from dwelling on their loss as he was beginning to do again now.

However, Link shook away the denial and tried to force in acceptance. They had lost, yes, but they weren't dead. That meant that they still had a chance to defeat Ghirahim, even if it was microscopic. Unfortunately, explaining themselves was growing dull. It was the last thing he wanted to be doing at the moment but there was no way that anyone in the room would let him wriggle out of it. Zelda, while she knew quite a lot, didn't know all of the details about today. There were things that only Link had knowledge of and would need to explain if their interrogator's asked for it.

"Escaped where?" Zelda's father inquired, wary of the response he would receive.

"To the other world. The world that our counterparts are from," Link answered when Zelda failed to respond.

"The same world that you two have been trying to return the children to? How did he manage to escape to a place that you can't reach?" her father wondered.

"He gathered all of the pieces of the Triforce, Wisdom, Power, and Courage, and put the sacred relic together. Then he made a wish and it was all over," the princess replied, her voice softer than before, as if even she didn't want to admit their defeat.

"Well, as long as that demon isn't in our world, I don't care where he is," Impa interjected.

"You mean you don't care what happens to the other world?!" Link exclaimed in a mixture of rage and astonishment at Impa's reaction to the news. He should have expected it though. Impa wasn't a very compassionate person. She was as brutal and swift-tongued as her many blades. Almost every thought she had made its way out of her mouth, which made for a very bluntly honest personality.

"Of course I care," Impa replied, in a hard tone that didn't convince Link at all of that statement. "However, if the Royal Family over in that other version of Hyrule doesn't have any precautions in place to protect their kingdom then they deserve whatever that demon lord brings to them. Besides, it's not our problem, so I have no reason to be concerned. We didn't know that world even existed before. Whether it lives or dies will not affect us in any way."

"So just because we didn't know it existed before means that we can just ignore it now?" Link wondered, struggling to keep from shouting as he stood up, "It's one thing to be ignorant. You can scrape up a meager excuse then, but choosing to ignore it is completely different!"

"Look, I know that you saved this kingdom once. I'll dare say twice since that demon is no longer present in this world. However, I've been the Captain of the Hyrulean Guard far longer than you've been a hero to this land, and there is a lesson that every soldier must learn at some point. We're all heroes in a sense; we all fight for this country to protect everyone and keep the peace. Yet, there are times when innocents are caught in the cross fire and there is nothing you can do to spare those lives. I understand that as a hero you strive to save everyone, but that's just not realistic. Sacrifices must be made," Impa lectured sagely.

"Ignoring an entire world in need isn't a sacrifice! It's practically murder!" Link shouted, indifferent to the fact that yelling could get him in even more trouble than he was probably already in for talking back to Impa. "There are people that live there! They have lives, families! What if it was reversed? What if our world was the one that was doomed and our only hope laid in the hands of those in the alternate one? Wouldn't you want them to help us instead of letting us all die, or worse, become slaves to a demon?"

"If it was reversed then, yes, I would appreciate the aid, but I would also understand if the other world didn't send any. I am quite certain that we could handle it on our own regardless if the positions were switched. However, seeing as the situation is not reversed, there is no use in entertaining the idea," Impa stated nonchalantly, "As I said before, if the other world isn't prepared for a disaster then that's their own folly."

"No, it's not!" Link cried, beyond frustrated by now.

Before he could progress his verbal attack any further or transform it into something physical, Princess Zelda stood up beside him and placed a hand on his arm in a silent gesture to allow her to speak. Link only complied because he knew that Zelda, being a person that had lived in the castle her entire life, had a chance of making Impa understand. "Impa, there is a reason why Link explained how the two worlds came to be in the manner that he did. Our kingdom is indeed the preferred outcome of the two that exist. The kingdom in the alternate world was not as fortunate as ours. It's very different, as we've been saying all along. The Hero of Time did save the other world, and in turn ours. However, he left a bit too soon, and once he left, he could not return. The evil remained there, dormant. It later broke free, and the people had faith that their hero would return once again to save them all. Unfortunately, he never did. Finally, upon realizing that their hero had abandoned them, the people prayed to the Gods who answered their desperate prayers with a torrential downpour. Hyrule, everything we know today, the fields, the forests, the mountains, the towns and villages, this castle, was flooded with water. Very few citizens escaped to the mountaintops and the evil was sealed away under this new body of water. So you see, there is no longer a kingdom, just an ocean and many islands. The Royal Family does not exist in that world."

"If the Royal Family of Hyrule does not exist then explain your counterpart. Why is she garbed in regal dress?" Impa challenged, crossing her arms over her armored chest as if securing her winning spot in the argument.

"She doesn't normally look that way," Zelda defended, "Her Triforce of Wisdom was originally split into two fragments. When she put the two together, it changed her appearance to fit her true heritage. She's the last person in the royal bloodline in her world, and you can't possibly argue that she should be prepared for something like this. She didn't know she was a princess until a year ago. Lives were not the only things lost in the flood."

"In that case, I agree with Link that something must be done for the other world," the king spoke up, turning all eyes on him, "If the parallel version of Hyrule really is a string of islands then their government system cannot be very organized or stable. If the demon is as powerful as you two foretell him to be then the people living there don't stand a chance of surviving. However, I am not endangering my only daughter in this expedition."

"I must-" Zelda tried but her father cut her off.

"Now, Zelda. I understand that you wish to help. I do, but you're place is here. This is your kingdom, and I would like you to have a good grasp on how to handle it properly before I leave this world someday. Lately you haven't displayed the responsibility and maturity that a good ruler must possess. There is still the issue of how to reach this alternate world, and I will excuse you temporarily from your other duties to allow you to help Link and the children discover a way there. However, you may not accompany them to the other world. Understood?"

"But the four of us couldn't defeat the demon! How are Link and the others expected to prevail if I can't help them?" Zelda pointed out.

"You all realize what you're up against now. Link and your counterparts can easily learn from past mistakes. Besides, I believe that some form of punishment is required for you, Zelda," her father replied.

"Why? I didn't break your other restriction! I had guards with me when I left the castle today, and I just went to the edge of the town," Zelda refuted.

"Correction, you had the entire army at your back without my approval," Impa rectified.

"You never said no," Zelda argued.

"I never had a chance to say yes or no because you did not ask me, princess. I suppose I should be wary of the food and drink brought to me from now on, hmm?" Impa wondered, quirking an eyebrow.

"What? What did you do?" Link inquired, turning to Zelda. He knew that last night she was preparing everything for today, but he had never thought to ask what that entailed.

"I just slipped some of a sleeping potion in her drink last night. That's all. It didn't do any harm," Zelda answered casually, her tone implying that it was a perfectly normal thing to do.

"Why didn't you just ask her?" Link wondered, stunned at the princess's response. He'd never thought of Zelda as particularly sneaky or mischievous before but apparently she could be when she wanted to be.

"Yes, why didn't you just ask me?" Impa emphasized.

"Because…truly, you can be unreasonable at times, Impa. Look how long this conversation is running. You don't like to agree with people. If I had asked you then you would have said no, or we would have argued the point for hours, or you would have told my father. We were so close to defeating him at the time, or so we thought, that I couldn't allow any delays," Zelda confessed.

"That doesn't make what you did right," the king pointed out.

"I am aware of that, and Impa, I'm sorry. It will never happen again, I promise," Zelda apologized, clasping her hands behind her back and bowing her head. She then sat back down and Link took that as his cue to do the same.

"I trust that you won't attempt anything of the sort again, however, these types of actions are childish, and I cannot exempt you from a punishment," her father said, returning to his original point, "As I said before, you can use your goddess given wisdom to help them figure out how to reach the alternate world, but you will remain here once a solution is achieved. Promise me."

The king's gaze was unwavering as he watched his daughter for signs of potential rebellion, and Link's eyes drifted to the princess as well. However, she was quite adept at concealing her thoughts when it was convenient for her and not even her eyes conveyed the subtlest of hints as to what she was thinking.

"I promise that I will remain here, father," Zelda sighed at last, the reluctance of the statement clear in her voice.

"Very good," the king nodded in satisfaction. "Link, you and the children are welcome to stay here for as long as you need. There's more than enough space. However, there is still one problem."

"What is it?" Link inquired. Between their loss against Ghirahim and not knowing how to get to the Great Sea, they had more than enough on their plate.

"Zelda's counterpart. I myself have not seen her, but if she is indeed dressed like a princess complete with our family crest then it is sure to raise suspicion amongst our staff, and I highly doubt that making the existence of the other world public would be wise." the king explained.

"That's not a problem. As Zelda said before, she doesn't normally look like that, we can just have her change back," Link assured him, happy that the solution was so simple.

"Then see to it that she does as soon as possible please," the Princess of Hyrule's father requested, rising from his cushioned seat. "I believe this conversation is over." With those posing has his departing words, he began to walk towards the exit with Impa following a respective distance behind.

"You can find your counterparts in the sitting room on the second floor," Impa called helpfully over her shoulder before she stepped out of the room and the door shut behind them both, leaving Link and Zelda alone once again.

"Finally, they leave!" Midna exclaimed, slipping out of Link's shadow to address both of them. "You're father's really unfair! I mean, I get where he's coming from and all but still. If we're really going to Kid and Tetra's world to kill that guy then we'll need you, Zelda."

"Once we find a way to their world, then I am coming along despite my father's wishes," Zelda announced.

"What? Have you finally found your rebellious side?" Midna teased, grinning.

"But you promised your father…" Link trailed off.

"Did I?" Zelda mused, unfolding her hands from behind her back and showing Link what she'd been concealing.

"Wow, Zelda. I think Tetra's been rubbing off on you a bit," Link commented after noting her crossed fingers and managing to crack a small smile for the first time since their defeat.

"Huh?" Midna wondered, confused, "I don't get it. What does that mean?"

"It means," Zelda said, a smile now replacing the solemn frown on her face, "that the promise I made was false."

The puzzled expression on Midna's face transformed into one of recognition and she exclaimed, "Oh yeah! We have something like that in the Twilight Realm. The only difference is, that when the other person is trying to make you promise something that you don't agree with, you slap them in the face!"

"Really?" Link asked. That seemed like a weird tradition to him. Not to mention that it wouldn't be much of a secret to the other person.

"No, not really!" Midna rolled her eyes at his gullibility. "You light dwellers are weird sometimes, but, hey, if you're going to help then I guess I can't complain."

"Let's go find Kid and Tetra. I'm sure they're upset about all of this," Link suggested, getting to his feet.

"Well of course they have to be upset! I can't believe that we lost!" Midna cried, her facial features hardening into a scowl. Knowing that Midna was just as infuriated about their defeat as he was made him feel a little better, but the relief was short lived as he realized that the feeling had to be even worse for Kid and Tetra. After all, they were still trapped in this world with no obvious way out of it.

Link, Zelda, and Midna, concealed in Link's shadow, left the conference room behind and made their way to the room that Impa had told them that their companions were in. As they approached the door Link was surprised that his unusually sensitive ears could not pick up any sounds from behind it. Once they opened the door he discovered why. No one was inside.

"Really, Impa?" Link muttered. Leading them to the wrong place seemed like something she'd do.

"Wait, I'm not so sure that she really misled us," Zelda spoke up.

Link gestured to the empty room, "Yeah, because we were expecting no one to be here."

"No, because the room wasn't guarded or locked which means that they could have easily slipped out," Zelda explained.

"Where would they have gone?" Link wondered as they both backed out of the room, and he closed the door.

"To find us?" Zelda proposed.

"Or their friends?" Link suggested as the thought occurred to him. Somehow that sounded like a bad thing, but he didn't understand why. So much had happened so fast that he was positive that during the conversation, or even before it, he'd forgotten something extremely important. He certainly couldn't forget their failure, that stood out a bit too prominently in his mind and he tried to push it back, so he could think a bit more clearly. After a few more moments of furious contemplation Link finally realized what it was and didn't even bother to stop the curse that passed his lips as a result.

"What is it?" Zelda wanted to know, but Link simply didn't have time to explain.

"I hope I'm wrong but…I don't think I am. Come on, we have to find them. Now," Link responded his voice grim. Thankfully his tone of voice was enough of an indicator to the princess that they had a brand new problem on their hands, and they both hurried down the hall, quickly interrogating passing servants or guards in hopes that one of them had witnessed a young boy in green and girl in a fancy pink dress heading in a certain direction.

Most claimed that they hadn't noticed anything of the sort but a select few reported seeing them, and it was the information gathered from these particular people that led the frenzied princess and hero to the castle's library.

The large room held all sorts of ancient pamphlets, records, articles, books, both new and old, legends, and various texts recounting the land's history. The book shelves were practically a maze themselves, and if one wasn't familiar with the layout, the chances of finding a desired book was nearly impossible. However, Link wasn't interested in the bookcases or their contents so much as the whereabouts his companions and their friends.

Amongst fallen books and scattered pages they found both of their counterparts. Kid and Tetra were sitting on the floor, completely silent. Despite not being able to see either one of their faces, Link was able to confirm his suspicions simply by the children's defeated posture as they sat on the ground side by side. The lack of people in the room was also a helpful indicator that Medli and Makar, the Sages of Earth and Wind, were gone, whisked away by a demon's wish to a world that might as well have been on the moon, for it was just as unreachable.