Okay people, this is my first fic EVER, so please be nice! I got the idea from other authors who have written stories according to this theme, and to all those out there who gave me inspiration, thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, blah blah blah, or any of the characters in it. I do, however, own Arden.

~Love Shouldn't Feel This Way~

*Arden*

I sighed, and turned on the television. I took a seat on my plush couch, sinking down into its deep blue cushions. The house was so quiet. I've never felt so alone before. I grabbed my grey N64 controller, and switched the power button on. The familiar start-up screen for Zelda, Ocarina of Time appeared across the screen, and the soothing music started. As I started playing the game, I realized how wonderful it would be to be there along with Link and all the other Hylians, free to roam, without such harsh cares in the world. As I played, I must have been drifting in and out of sleep, because a small purple swirl appeared in the middle of my T.V. screen. I shot up out of my chair, and tried to rub it off, but it kept on growing and growing. Something was sucking me inside, and before I knew it, I was in some sort of a swirling portal. That's the last thing I remember before I saw green grass, then darkness.

When I awoke, it was so dark out; I couldn't make out where exactly I was. Man, that was a weird dream. I must have fallen off the couch and hit my head or something, which would explain my pounding head. I moved my hands out from underneath me, to push myself up, but what I felt wasn't the cold wood floor of my room. It was grass…grass and dirt. I sat up, and saw the moon as it emerged from behind the dark clouds. I tried to get up as I saw a figure on a horse riding towards me. I got up and broke out into a run, a swaggering run. (Gimmie a break, I hit my head, and it still hurt!) Although I was on the track team at school, I knew I couldn't outrun this horse, and before I knew it, whoever was on that horse hit me on the back of the head with something extremely hard. Then came the blackness again.

When I awoke again, it was daylight. It didn't seem like I was in the same place I was before; it was a kinder, friendlier place. I sat up, and looked around. I was at the edge of a quiet river, and close by was a castle. I could see up ahead a flight of stairs, and to the right of me some sort of a ledge. The place seemed familiar…too familiar. This place looked like it was out of my Nintendo game, the OoT game...but it couldn't be. This was the weirdest dream I've ever experienced. So I stood up, and began to try to think of ways to get home. I walked up to a nearby tree, and took comfort in its shade. That comfort only lasted about 4 seconds, because a guy jumped down out of the tree, right in front of me. He scared the shit out of me, and to make things worse, he pulled out a mean-looking sword, and held it up to my neck. I backed up against the tree, but he persisted. Tears were forming at the corners of my eyes. This wasn't a dream; it was a nightmare. The worst I've ever had.

"Who are you?!" the man screamed, pushing the blade against my skin. I whimpered. "Who are you?!" he repeated, his blue eyes clouded over with hatred. A single tear dropped from my right eye.

"Please don't kill me," I whispered. "I don't want to die." My heart was beating a thousand miles a minute. For some reason, he dropped the sword, and backed off. My knees collapsed, and I slid down the tree, sitting on the ground.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" the man persisted, pacing back and forth in front of me. He looked just like...no...it couldn't be him...Link? What the fuck was this about? What happened to me? Have I really lost my mind?!

"I...I don't know...I.." he cut me off rudely and abruptly.

"You don't know who you are? Come on! I've had it up to here with strangers entering Hyrule, trying to hurt the innocent and take over. Like Ganondorf wasn't enough!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Hyrule? Gannondorf?! Then this was Link! and I was in Hyrule!

I was in deep, deep trouble.

"Listen," I said, standing up, and backing away from the Link-like man, "I don't know how I got here, but I don't intend on hurting anyone, and I certainly don't want to take over! The only one here that seems like they want to hurt anyone is you," I said, crossing my arms, and turning away from him. I was trapped inside a video game. How horrible and ridiculous was that?! I couldn't just tell him that his whole life was pre-programmed, poor guy, even though less than a minute ago he was going to kill me.

"Where are you from?" he asked again. I knew he wasn't going to let me leave until I told him something.

"I came...well…far away from here. I'm not going to hurt anyone, and I don't believe my business should be any of yours." I began to walk away, slowly, half-hoping he would stop me. Sure, he was kind-of goofy looking in the game, but now, in non-animated, real life, he was cute. Real cute.

"You must have come really really far away from here!" he said, somewhat cheerily. I turned around, facing him. His head was cocked to one side, and his eyes were darting all over the place. I didn't know what he was so fascinated with, and I could feel my face blushing. He took a few steps closer towards me. "Do all women dress like that where you come from?" he asked, a devilish grin appearing on his face. I looked down. It then dawned on me what he was smiling at. Of course! In the game, all women wore long dresses, and here I guess I must have been considered to be "scantily clad." I had a tanktop on and shorts. (Come on! It was summertime back…well…in the real world, and I was eighteen! Gimmie a gosh darn break for wanting guys to look at me! And it didn't help that my tanktop was my smallest, tightest one I owned, and that I had my favorite push-up bra on. Since my parents were off on a 3-month vacation, I was free to dress however I wanted. But anyways...)

"Well, definitely not all women, because if the really old ones did, it would be really nasty, especially if my mom dressed like this, but," the guy was chuckling. I shut my mouth...I had tendencies to go off on tangents when the occasion called for it.

"What about your ears?" he asked, still moving closer. He pushed my hair off my neck, exposing my ears. "I've never seen such small, oddly-shaped ears," he said, his obvious curiosity growing.

"Well, where I come from, all ears look like these," I said, shyly. "But what about you? I've never, ever seen ears like yours!"

"Everyone around here has ears like this," he said, letting go of my hair. He started walking towards the castle, and I followed him.

"You're not going to believe this," I said, running up besides him, "but I have no idea of how I got here. I don't know how far away from home I actually am, and how I'm ever going to get back. I've never been so scared in my entire life." He stopped walking.

"And my dramatic act probably didn't help matters much, either," he said, embarrassedly.

"No, actually, you scared the shit out of me," I said, sighing.

"Well, let me tell you that I am really, truly, and very sorry. It's just that seeing the sky turn red and rip open at midnight really didn't make me feel good inside, and investigating, usually by brute force, is just standard procedure. I rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry about that, too." I smiled.

"It's alright, I understand." I said. "My name's Arden," I said, holding out my hand.

"I'm Link," he said, looking at my hand strangely. I felt like an idiot just holding it out there.

"Aren't you going to shake my hand?" I asked. I hated being dissed.

"Shake?"

"Yeah, like this," I said, taking his hand. I gave him a firm handshake, then let it go. "It's a sign of friendship or respect when you first meet someone," I said meekly. "Well, it is where I come from, anyways."

"Well, you're in Hyrule now. Things are different here." he said, starting to walk again.

"That's for sure," I mumbled. "Well, Link, what exactly do you do here in Hyrule?" I asked, slowly. I felt so dizzy, and my head was throbbing. But I kept on going.

"Me? Oh, the usual stuff. Protect the innocent, kill the bad guy, save the day, y'know how it is," he said with a shrug.

"No, actually I have no idea."

"Occasionally I get to rescue the damsel in distress," he said, grinning.

"I wouldn't be in distress if it wasn't for---" I collapsed, again. As I was looking up at the sky, stars began to circle my head. I giggled.

"Oh my goddesses," Link said, dropping to my side. I could see his face…so pretty...tee-hee.

"Look, Link, a spotted elephant!" I said as a tiny purple-spotted elephant danced in the air above me. I could feel something sharp in my back. I felt hot blood seeping out from under me.

"Arden? Are you alright?!" he asked. I smiled.

"Of course I..." I then realized what was going on. "Oh, God, the pain," I said, holding my head as I turned on my side into the fetal position. "It hurts.." I said, whimpering. That's the last thing I remember before he picked me up.