Dead Letters

By Perfect Soldier 01

"A dead letter is a letter that has never been delivered because the person to whom it was written cannot be found, and it also cannot be returned to the person who wrote it." The Rasmus

Chapter 1 - Calling of History

Link's POV:

The skies had been as clear as a summer's day in Hyrule, the clouds supporting us underneath the unravelling turns of the white haze. That moment had been forever etched into the stone tablets of my mind, and I could never forget, even when awake, the look in Zelda's eyes. Every night since then I had been reliving those few moments in time, watching helplessly as the scene played out before me. I had come to notice the trembling of her hands, the unshed tears in her eyes, and the mourning inside her heart as I met her each night in my dreams. Every time her fingers brushed against mine as I held out the ocarina to her, I felt my heart skip a beat and my breathing become slightly more laboured. I too had come to learn of this strange longing for her, and when I closed my eyes at night it was all I could think of.

Seven years had passed since then, and I had finally lived the life I had missed; the life in my dreams I hadn't wanted. I had spent most of my years residing in the castle as the Kokiri were beginning to become suspicious of my growing height. I had left the forest and went to the only person I knew who would help me: Princess Zelda. She seemed to know something that I didn't, something very important about my past but I had never pushed the matter, for I was confused as it was without having to add to the tangled memories in my head.

It was never easy growing up in the palace, for these dreams filled me with such love for the princess I could never look at her straight in the eye. While I was back in the land of the living I could never 'love' her in the way I seemed to have once done in my dreams. A mere peasant like myself wouldn't even dare think such forbidden thoughts. Truth be told though, Zelda had grown to be undeniably beautiful, and I often watched her from my window when she was diligently tending to her flowers in the courtyard where we'd first met seven years ago. Yet she was always out of my reach, an unattainable treasure I could only gaze upon…

I didn't even have a past I could remember. The only time I knew anything about myself was when I fell asleep, becoming the courageous Hylian hero who had rescued all of Hyrule from the evil Ganon. Or maybe it was a figment of my imagination…what I wanted to be...so Zelda would perhaps glance my way….

"Link?" a gentle voice snapped me back into reality. "May I come in?"

"It's open," I called from where I was lying on my bed. The oak door opened revealing the very person who had invaded my thoughts.

"Good morning Link," she said smiling. I returned the greeting, my eyes subconsciously trailing her every movement. "Did…did it happen again?" she said all the more nervously. I sighed and nodded my head. I remembered the hazy afternoon when I had taken a chance and told Zelda about these strange dreams. It had taken a lot of unfinished sentences and more embarrassment that I'd wanted, but for a reason unknown to myself, when she had placed her hand delicately over mine and looked at me the words came…and I couldn't stop them.

Zelda sighed quietly and crossed the length of the room and opened the large windows, allowing fresh air to waft into my chambers. "Link, I have something important to tell you." She said, her back turned. I swung my legs over the side of my bed, watching her hands come to rest over her heart. "I too had a dream last night…about the very same thing." Her voice was shaking slightly as she turned round to face me. "I'm not exactly sure why you or I have been dreaming of the past…but something must be stirring in Hyrule that we are unaware of yet…Will you help me?" she said gazing directly at me.

"Of course." I said. 'Your prophecies are never wrong Zelda.' I added silently.

"Thank you Link," She said gratefully. "Please, come with me. I need to show you something."

We walked in silence to the Royal Library and Zelda directed me toward a table covered in old, dusty scripts. The pages were old and flimsy as she turned each page carefully to where a bookmark protruded out of the mass of dull grey ridges.

"Here," she said pointing to lines of old Hylian text that I couldn't understand. But instead I looked at the pictures illustrating the ancient tale, and I gasped in shock at what I saw.

"It's me…" I whispered as I sat down, staring at the triumphant picture. A man in identical clothing stood piercing the King of Evil with the legendary Master Sword. My eyes trailed downward and I saw Zelda and myself on the clouds exchanging the Ocarina of Time, just like in my dreams… "What does this mean?" I asked aloud to myself.

"I don't know Link," Zelda answered. "I found this earlier today, and I thought that we should look at it, seeing as how it seems to concern both of us." She said taking a seat next to me.

"Is this what happened?" I said, feeling somewhat frightened by this sudden revelation about my past. She nodded. "Then, in my dream…I really was sent back in time…but why? Why would you send me back when I wanted to stay with you?" At once I clamped my hand over my mouth, realising the horrifying words of truth that had just sprung from my lips. Zelda's face lit up in shock, her cheeks becoming a darker shade of red as she stared at me in disbelief.

"L-Link, I - " she started, all control vanishing from her voice.

"I'm sorry," I interrupted. "Please forgive me, it was…I mean - " I said begging for mercy, but my words became frantic and they tumbled over each other, not making any sense at all.

"Link," Zelda said more firmly and her eyes caught mine in a friendly but terrifying gaze. "It's all right, calm down. You're forgiven." She said calmly, the hues of her face returning to the pale white of her skin. But it wasn't enough to ease the encroaching fear creeping into my heart, and the violent thumping inside my chest was overwhelming everything else.

"I just remembered…I need to go and…do something…" I mumbled, wanting nothing more than to leave the awkward situation. Rising from my chair I walked briskly out of the library without looking back, restraining myself from breaking into a sprint. I heard Zelda call after me, but as soon as I was out of the great wooden doors, I ran down the hallways to the place farthest from where she would come looking for me.

'I'm just a peasant, an ordinary peasant. I'm not a prince or even a hero…' I reminded myself. 'I have no right to say things like that to the princess, and Zelda would never look at me that way anyway…and if the King found out about this, I might as well start packing my bags now…'

I rounded a corner and sighting some maids, I slowed down to a walk. Checking behind me, the corridors were empty, and I made my way down to stairs and walked outside toward the barracks before the maids could cast any strange looks as to why I seemed a little out of breath. The clean air was a welcome change from the stuffy library and I breathed in deeply, taking in the smells of the new spring.

Picking a sword off from the grey stone barracks wall, I drowned myself in the dance-like movements of thrusts and parries, forgetting all about the last few moments that I wished I'd never lived through. I struck the wooden post in the middle of the training grounds again and again; venting out my self-anger at my stupid actions until the sun dipped behind the surrounding hills and cast midnight blue colours across the sky that bled into the blazing reds and pinks of the sunset. But as I came to finish the sequence of movements I'd begun, I blinked, and suddenly the post wasn't there. Expecting to drive my sword into the wood, I fell forward onto the floor when I realised there was nothing to hold my weight. Rubbing my head, I wondered what had just happened, and I screwed up my eyes in annoyance that I'd missed the target. I picked myself up off the hay covered floor and turned around to possibly see where I'd gone wrong, but my mouth almost dropped open when I saw the post standing right where I thought it should have been. I stared back and forth from my sword to the post, utterly confused by what had just happened.

'I think I've been working too hard,' I thought.

I replaced the sword on the rack and left the empty training grounds feeling a little surprised at myself. I had never missed a target when I had trained solo, and even when I had company, I blocked everything they threw at me.

'Speaking of which, some company would be nice right about now…' I thought to myself as I walked through the quiet, deserted walkways. As I crossed through one of the courtyards, I half-expected Zelda to be sitting on one of the stone benches like she always did when the weather was fine. Unconsciously I craned my head round the corner to check, but then I realised that it was far too late for her to be out here in the cold.

I hadn't seen the princess for the remainder of that day, and I was somewhat relieved. Although I'd nearly told her my deepest secret, her beautiful face still haunted my thoughts, and I wanted to apologise properly. I walked back inside the castle toward my chambers, tired from a hard afternoon's training, but just as I was about to open my door, a voice beckoned me from behind and my heart sunk to my stomach.

"Link! There you are," Zelda said without the expected disgust or hatred in her tone. "I've been looking for you." My hand retreated from the doorknob and I turned to see her walking swiftly toward me. But as I stood still, her form became blurred in my eyes, and the walls decayed around me, becoming windows to a different age. I rubbed my eyes, confused at what was happening. I heard voices from another time and past conversations slipped into my ears. I saw people walk by me, their appearance as faint as the noises around me. Images appeared on the walls and I was standing in what seemed to be an old marketplace, surrounded by small mud-baked houses.

"Link!" a muffled cry came form in front of me. I saw Zelda running toward me incredibly slowly, her hand outstretched. But with each movement she made, I saw in her images of a younger Zelda. I ran to her, reaching out for her ever changing hand and pulled her close to me, afraid that she might disappear.

"What's happening?" I shouted amongst the growing noises of the ghosts and of the weird voices whispering chilling words in the air.

"I-I think the time streams are being disrupted!" she cried. "Listen!" and straining my ears, I heard the exact conversation we'd had that very morning. "This looks like old Hyrule, before the castle was built…but that was centuries ago." She said, and I blinked.

Everything had disappeared.

The walls had transformed back into the flagstones, and the floors had regained their royal red carpet that stretched down the hallways. Then I realised that I was still holding Zelda to me protectively, and I hastily freed her from my embrace, looking away immediately.

"That wasn't just me was it?" I said, looking around me. Straightening out her dress, I saw Zelda look at me out of the corner of my eye.

"No, it wasn't. I saw all that too," she said. "Link, I never got to finish telling you this, but I think the reason these dreams are occurring is because when you - I mean, the Hero of Time travelled through time, he disrupted the time flow."

"So that's why the training post disappeared…" I mused to myself, but Zelda heard me and looked at me strangely. "Oh, nothing." I said.

"Not that," she said. "You actually believe me?"

"Of course I do…Y-Your prophecies are always right." The words stumbled out of my mouth before I could control what I was saying. Her eyes softened, and I felt more words beginning to tumble through my lips. "Back then…you were right about Ganon…weren't you?" I said scratching my neck.

"And you were the only one who believed me…" she said almost a whisper.

"Do you remember too?" I asked quietly, knowing I was now treading on very thin ground. From her answer it seemed that through the dream we both had, she had also gained the previous princess Zelda's memories of that age. But did she also know of the love that I had once felt for her as well?

"Yes," she said, her eyes averted. "Come, there's something you should see." She said breaking free of her reverie, her voice more serious than before. Like an obedient dog I followed after her toward the direction of her own royal chambers. I waited outside as instructed while she walked into her quarters to presumably retrieve something of importance. Maybe it had something to do with my past…or perhaps it was a long lost translation of the text we were reading earlier.

I heard clicks of a lock come from within, and I noticed that Zelda had left her door ajar. From where I stood I could see the lavishly decoration and ornamentation adorning her chambers, completely different from my own, plain living space.

'I don't deserve to live in such a place,' I thought. But then I realised something. ' Why do I live - '

Zelda came through the door once more interrupting my thoughts, and she brought out something hidden in her gloved hands. Moving one hand away, underneath lay a shining blue ocarina, the symbol of the Triforce embedded in the mouthpiece.

"Is that?" I said as Zelda offered the legendary ocarina to me.

"The Ocarina of Time," she said finishing my sentence while smiling up at me. However that moment was short-lived as once again the corridor began to shake and crumble into a different time. The floor abruptly gave way, my feet sinking into the carpet as I drifted downward through the stone. I felt as though I was in water as a unusual force was weighing me down all around me, and I continued to drown further into oblivion.

"Zelda!" I cried, reaching blindly for her hand.

"Play the ocarina Link! I think this is a time stream!" I heard her say from somewhere beside me. I put the instrument to my lips, and I was astonished when my fingers played a haunting melody without ever having learnt the rhythms or pitches…at least not in this age…

A blue light suddenly surrounded me, but I hadn't found Zelda yet. Frantically I scrambled around in the invisible liquid before the light swallowed me completely. But it was too late. I felt consciousness slip from my mind as I was enveloped by the bright light. The last thing I could remember was something hugging my waist tightly as I lost all sense of direction, time and space.

AN: So, how was that? A little strange I know, but it will make sense later. Please, please, please review, as I really want to know what you think of this. The reason for Link being a little OOC is that this Link, as you may have gathered, isn't the same one from OoT. This is the Link that Zelda sent back in time, and who has lived a life in peace without battles or anything of that nature.

hint Please review! :D