Reality's Revenge

"What the hell?"

"Who are you?!"

"What's going on?"

"Sorry, no time."

"Wha-oomf!"

"AHHH!"

"No!"

'KABOOM'

"...no..."

…

- 1 Day Earlier -

"No!" A shout resounded through the autumn evening. "Link! Don't fall!"

A defeated wail soon followed. Then, a taunting voice jeered,

"Maybe you should play Kirby or Jigglypuff next time since you like to hang off the ledges so much."

"Shut up! You're a cheat!"

Light laughter filled the room along with the clicking and clacking of plastic buttons. After a crescendo of heavy button mashing, an aggravated snarl erupted.

"Geez! Hailey, you only use Peach! I'm trying every other character to get good at the game and you only use her!"

"Hah! I know what I'm good at and I stick to it. No problem with that! If you don't like it, Jack, don't play."

The two were back at their ferocious battle. Then the ever relieving male voice resounded throughout the room.

'GAME.'

There was a pause. Then an aggravated snarl.

"You win again. Big surprise, with the way you're cheating." Jack said dejectedly. Hailey giggled again.

"Do you want a rematch?" She asked with a huge grin on her face. Jack just gave her another angry look.

"How about we take a break and actually clean like we're supposed to." She gave him an indignant look.

"You really want to do chores instead of playing games, just because you don't want to lose to me anymore?" Hailey teased. Jack scoffed.

"That's it! One more," He sat down from his half attempt at getting up. It was a few minutes into their match and things were in Jack's favor that round.

"Hah, only one stock left. Feeling the heat yet?" He nudged Hailey's arm as they watched Peach go sailing into the distance.

"Not yet, boy!" Hailey shouldered him back as she readied to reengage.

"Don't call me boy, we're the same age." Jack seethed, the fight going on stronger than ever.

"Nope, I'm the oldest." She grinned.

"Only by a minute..." He grumbled through clenched teeth, trying to boost his concentration on the screen. "Go… go… GO! YES!"

The voice of finality, signaling the game's end, was again heard throughout the small bedroom.

"I won!" Jack yelled triumphantly while shoving a fist into the air.

"Hmm, what is that? Nine to one?" Hailey mocked, adopting a contemplative pose, "Man, I was so hoping for that even ten winning streak." Jack scowled at his sister.

"No need to rub it in."

They both stopped suddenly in their needling at each other, silent. Did they just hear…?

There was a distant ringing.

"The phone!" They said in unison and got up quickly, scrambling out the door and into the hallway. Bumbling towards the stairs, they were pushing and shoving to get in front of the other to reach the ringing phone that resided in the middle of the house, hanging from its cradle on the wall. Nearly tumbling to the bottom step, Hailey had a hand on the house phone first.

"Ha! I win again." She said, Jack only growling in response. She picked up the phone, "Hello?" Just after her greeting, her triumphant toothy smile dropped dramatically. Putting a hand over the receiver, she whispered to her brother, "Crap! It's mom!"

After a panicked few seconds, Jack had an idea. Whether it would work or not, he didn't know. It was better than doing nothing. He held his hand out for Hailey to put him on. She eyed him skeptically, then passed it over, crossing her arms, hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst.

"Heeeey mooooom!" He said sounding overly cheery.

"Jack? I thought you were your sister." He held the speaker a bit away from his ear so Hailey could lean in and listen. "I called to check and see how far along your chores have come." The two siblings made a face to each other before Jack tried his version of damage control.

"About that, mom," Hailey rolls her eyes and Jack elbows her in a 'Trust me' sort of way, "We were cleaning, but we stopped to make a snack, and wouldn't you know it, there wasn't anything we could make to eat!" He was putting great flourishes into his bogus speech and Hailey couldn't help giggling madly behind her hand. "We've been starving to death since then. We haven't been able to get anything done. We're so sorry mom." He hitched his voice at the end to make it sound like he was so sad to disappoint their mom like this. Hailey lost it at the last bit and snorted. He tried to shush her but was distracted by his mother's voice on the other end. She was also laughing.

"Alright, you two, enough with the theatrics." Their mom laughing at not doing chores was better than any alternative so they smiled at one another in victory. "I was going to head to the store because, yes, we were low on snacks," She emphasized the word as a jab, "So I'll stop on the way home and you guys have until tomorrow to get your chores done. Want to do Sloppy Joes for dinner?" The kids immediately perked up excitedly.

"Yes!" They both exclaimed. That elicited another chuckle from their mom.

"Okay, I'm on my way from work then. See you two in a bit."

They placed the phone back into its holder on the wall and gave each other a high-five, thinking themselves pretty clever.

"She must be in a good mood today," Hailey mused.

"Lucky for us." Jack said as he interlaced his fingers over his head and popped his back. "Now, what to do with this extra hour of free time I scored us..." He hummed in contemplation. Hailey put her hands on her hips.

"We could actually get some of our chores done. Maybe start on some of the laundry since that's going to take the longest," Hailey stopped mid suggestion at Jack's affronted look.

"After that heroic rescue, you would go and betray me like that?" He put a hand over his heart and took in a sharp breath. Hailey rolled her whole head with her eyes.

A different sound interrupted their banter this time, though it was still a loud ringing. The doorbell.

"Who could that be?" Hailey said quizzically. They weren't expecting visitors or packages. Maybe it was a door-to-door salesman? Whoever it was Jack was already headed to the front door.

"Jack, don't answer it." Hailey urged her brother. He just waved his hand behind him as he went up to the peephole. "Jack," Hailey knew not to open the door to strangers, especially when neither of their parents were home. Jack knew this, too. She went after her brother and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"It's the mailman." Jack reassured her as he unlocked the front door. Hailey pursed her lips in annoyance.

When the door swung open, a sweet looking older man smiled down at them.

"Hello, are you Jack and Hailey?"

The two paused at the direct address.

"Uh, yeah. I'm Jack." He was the first to regain his voice.

"Neat! I've got a package I need a signature for in your name." And he produced said package from just behind him, a long and slender brown box that stood a few inches taller over their teenage heads. The man handed Jack a little tablet and a stylus pen to sign on the screen. Jack did so and handed it back, still quite perplexed and surprised at this development.

"Thanks very much!" The man scooted the box towards them and then took his leave from their front porch and to his mail truck. The two children quickly gathered the somewhat hefty box inside and closed and locked the door.

"What do you think it is?" Hailey asked, her previous caution all but gone. Jack only shrugged as he inspected the outside of the thin package.
Just as the mailman had said, the addressee was simply to 'Jack and Hailey'. It was printed so no handwriting could allude them to who could have sent it. Then Hailey pointed out the return address.

"Michigan. Isn't that where Dad is on his business trip right now?"

"Yeah, you're right!" With no more reservations, he ripped at the paper and tape hiding whatever prize their dad had for them. It wasn't long before, between the two of them clawing at the wrappings, the package's contents were open to the light.

"Woah." They both breathed.

Inside the box was a pristine and shining sword. And not just any sword. It was an exact replica of a sword from one of their favorite video games.

The Master Sword.

"What in the world?" Hailey whispered with a huge grin plastered all over her face. Jack just grinned back, not really needing to say how stoked he was.

Then the phone began to ring again right next to them.

"Bet you that's Dad, now." He said as he ran up to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?" After a second, he nodded to his sister with a stifled laugh. "Hey Dad, what's up?"

Hailey joined him and he tilted the speaker so she could share the call again.

"Hey Jack! Did you and Hailey get my package?" Their dad sounded very excited on his end. Then Jack had a sly look and Hailey knew what he was about to do.

"Package? What package?" He pretended to know nothing of what their father was talking about. His next words made him sound nervous.

"Oh no. I got a delivery notice e-mail. I thought for sure-" It was when he started to sound disappointed that he had ruined his own surprise that Jack finally laughed out loud.

"Yes, Dad, we got our awesome sword!" He continued cracking up.

"Hah hah, very funny," Was all he could say before Hailey took the phone into her own hands.

"It's super cool, Dad. Where did you get it? It looks like it was expensive." Jack calmed down enough to listen for his response.

"Funnily enough," He had the joy back in his tone as he explained, "At an antique dealer up here. Thought it was a weird place for a sword from a video game to be. So I snatched it up thinking you guys might like it."

"We love it!" Jack said trying to recover from teasing his father.

"Good! I'm glad. So, what have you guys been up to? I've got some time to kill before my next meeting."

The three had a good time cajoling about tricking their mother and getting out of doing their chores and all that had been happening during their summer break from school. They hadn't seen each other in a few weeks and were having a great time catching up.

In fact, they were all so deeply entrenched in their conversation that they didn't hear the key turn in the front doors' lock and their mom come in.

"Hey you kids! Why is there a box with a sword sitting in the main hallway?" They peeked their heads around the corner with the phone still in their hands and giggled. "Guess that's Dad's doing. Also, come help with the groceries," She crossed the threshold and into the kitchen and dropped off the first load of plastic bags containing their dinner. They said their goodbyes to their father and handed the phone to their mother as she held her hand out expectantly for it.

"Hey honey, how's it going?"

Wife and Husband had their own little chat while the children unloaded her car. Then it was time to say goodbye.

"Yes, that'll be fine… Okay… See you in another week. Love you." She hung up the phone on the wall and turned to the kids who had just finished putting away the groceries in their rightful places. She gave them a warm smile. "Alright. Who's ready for some Sloppy Joes?"

…

After finishing their not-so-healthy dinner, and helping clean up afterwards, the two teens were free for the rest of the evening with the promise that all their chores they neglected would be done by the time their mother came home from work the next day. Swearing by it, the two headed back upstairs for some more game time.

"Hah! That was too easy!" Jack exclaimed as they topped the second floor and made a beeline for his room.

"Shh!" Hailey put a finger to her lips, "She might hear us."

"Okay, okay, whatever. What do you want to play?"

As they settled down on the floor in front of the small television that was connected to their Nintendo64, she put a hand to her chin.

"Weeellllll," she had unnecessarily drawn out the one word, "I'm pretty tired from beating you at every other game we have..."

"Hah, hah," Jack responded dryly. "You know what? It's my choice, now." Jack did not see, but Hailey shrugged behind him. "And I choose-,"

"Ocarina? That's a single player game." Hailey noted as she scooted closer to the entertainment system.

"Yup." Jack grinned. "That's what you get for being a sore winner." Hailey rolled her eyes as he placed the cartridge snugly into place.

"Alright, whatever."

They both loved this game, so it was no problem when one of them wanted to play while the other watched.

"If you get stuck on a puzzle, I'll gladly switch out."

"Yeah, yeah." Jack said as he turned the switch to the 'On' position on the console.

The screen fizzled from blue to black, followed by the appearance of the Nintendo64 logo. Then the soothing piano of the opening title screen blared through the tiny speakers of Jack's television. He quickly pressed the red start button in the center of his controller, bringing him to the file selection screen.

"I wanna start a new file, but first a little warm up." He said as he rubbed his hands together. Hailey rolled her eyes as he thumbed the analogue stick to the most completed file to choose from. The short selection tune chimed and the screen went to black again.

Link, the Hero of Time, stood at the entrance to Ganon's Castle, the ominous organ playing his sworn enemy's theme as the background music.

"Alright. Let's go." Jack was excited to show off his fighting skills. He had played this game so many times before. Even though he wasn't great at remembering the puzzles in the game like Hailey was, he had this final battle down to the letter.

They were both quiet as he maneuvered his way through the upward spiraling rooms. There was nothing more than mindless monsters in his way, besides the two Iron Knuckles. Not feeling like fighting them head on, they were easily dispatched with quite a few Bombchus. Then it was the long curving, golden hallway before the final boss room. Without hesitation, Jack opened the large door at the top of the stairs, triggering a cutscene, and readied himself.

"Here we go."

The camera overlooked the room, then zoomed up on Zelda's helpless face as the organ was coming to a crescendo. Link looked to the back of his hand where the Triforce of Courage was shining brightly. Then Ganondorf's and Zelda's responded in kind.

"The Triforce parts are resonating… They are combining into one again..." Ganondorf said as he stopped his playing. "The two Triforce parts that I could not capture on that day seven years ago… I didn't expect they would be hidden within you two! And now, finally all the Triforce parts have gathered here!"

He turned and flourished his stupid cape. Jack re-wrapped his fingers confidently around his controller.

"These toys are too much for you! I command you to return them to me!"

Purple energy surrounded the hero, and Navi the fairy lamented that she couldn't help. Thus began the battle.

"Don't let him hit you when you're on the side platforms. They'll fall." Hailey said.

"I know!" Jack whisper-shouted. She was good at puzzles, but he did all the fighting. That was how most of their accumulative gaming escapades went. He did not need her help for this, especially since he'd done it so many times before.

Suddenly, the controller he held gave him a nasty shock that made him drop the contraption.

"OW!" He yelped as the controller clunked onto the carpet of his room.

"What happened?" Hailey raised an eyebrow at her brother's outburst. But he was picking up the controller again without an answer to her inquiry. She decided not to pester him. After he retrieved his controller he was right back into battle-mode. Though, he wasn't doing as well as he talked himself up to. In fact, he was doing quite poorly.

It wasn't just missing the attacks to hit back, sometimes he would just stand there, doing nothing. Other times, when he did manage to send Ganondorf's projectiles sailing back at him, he struggled with pulling out the right ranged weapon to stun him.

It was so unlike him. He always, meticulously, had his side weapons on the same 'C' buttons. The only other reason he would have for performing so badly was anger. Was he really so mad at her for beating him in another game?

"What's going on!?" Jack demanded, penetrating Hailey's quiet musings. "The controller isn't working. I can't get Link to do what I want him to."

So he wasn't mad about earlier. Hailey silently breathed out in relief. She went into 'fix-it' mode.

"Here, pause," She demanded of her brother. He knew how she was when it came to figuring things out, so he did as instructed. "Unplug the controller and plug it back in again."

He did so and resumed the semi-final battle. It seemed to work at first, but then Link was off doing his own thing again. He growled in frustration.

"I'm losing this battle. I've never lost this battle!" Jack cried.

They stopped and paused and tried all of their working controllers but nothing fixed the fact that Link just did what he wanted half the time.

"Whatever. Ganon's so easy, I'll beat him even with this handicap."

Jack was mad now. He would beat the game no matter what his system decided to throw at him.

He played it like the game was two seconds ahead. It worked for a while. But then he started to notice differences from his button input to the way Link acted in-game. It was like he was playing with a lag, like he originally thought, but the more he paid attention to it, it was like he wasn't playing a game at all. After getting hit by yet another light ball from Ganondorf, he was done. This wasn't any old Ganondorf fight. There was something else going on. So he put his controller down on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Hailey asked, in the middle of reaching for his forsaken controller. Jack had his arms crossed.

"There's something wrong with the game. I can't do anything." He gestured at the controller at his feet. Before Hailey could try to begin figuring out what was wrong with the console or cartridge, they both heard Link's cries from the television set. Only, they weren't cries of being hit.

They were the guttural yells of an attack.

They both watched intently at the small screen that displayed their game. Link was still facing off against an afloat Ganondorf. But when the King of Evil sent his balls of light flying, Link retaliated with a spin attack that sent it right back to its creator. Without the direction of the controller.

"What?" Jack exclaimed, uncrossing his arms to stare at the T.V. "Did we unlock some sort of extra cutscene?"

"No, look!" Hailey said, pointing at the controller at their feet. The analogue stick and buttons were moving and depressing of their own accord, but Link in the game was following the phantom commands without fail.

"What in the world?' Jack said, mostly to himself. He scooted closer to the screen, just to make sure he was actually seeing was he was seeing. He did not notice, nor care, when Hailey was at his side, practically touching elbows with him, also surveying the television.

They both watched as Ganondorf let loose another ball of light towards Link. Then the hero swung his sword and sent the magic sailing back to its master. A direct hit! Link jumped the platforms and delivered some fatal wounds to the King of Thieves. But he was not yet defeated.

"Heh heh!" They heard Ganondorf chuckle. "You've got some spunk, kid. I'll give you that."

"He can talk now!?" Hailey exclaimed. Jack shushed her.

The Evil King was starting to struggle against the beating he was taking. But then his eyes abruptly swiveled away from the battle. And onto its watchers, Jack and Hailey.

Can he see us? Jack thought, anxiety rushing through him. He laughed at himself. It's just a game. There's no way that could be possible…

But then, Link's eyes followed Ganondorf's gaze and he could no longer convince himself that this was in any way normal.

"Don't."

Link's sight was set on the Gerudo King. Ganondorf merely leered in response.

Who's voice was that, Jack thought to himself just as the white energy ball engulfed his vision.

He screamed…

…

"Wha-?" Jack heard himself mumble. It took him quite a few moments to realize he had passed out.

"What?" He said again, putting a hand to his head. He took a look around.

He must be dreaming. That was what he told himself. He remembered that he was playing Ocarina of Time, and then, blank. So he must be dreaming now, because he could still see the room that Ganondorf had started the battle in.

The orange-ish stain-glass walls, the platforms, and Link and Ganondorf facing each other.

At that moment, Ganondorf was breathing heavily upon the center platform. And Link…

Link was in front of him, also breathing heavily. And looking back at him.

"Ar-are you two… Al-right?" Link said. It was the same voice he couldn't recognize earlier. It was Link's voice.

Jack only stared incomprehensibly.

This was a dream.

It had to be.

But why had he said 'you two'?

He snapped himself out of it only to find his sister, Hailey, unconscious right in front of him. It really only confused him further.

He whipped his head around, back and forth and behind him, trying to make sense of the situation.

He absolutely must be dreaming. Because he and Hailey were in the final boss room.

They were inside Ganon's Tower.

They were in the game.

"Hailey?" He leaned down to his sister's prone form. He didn't know what else to do. "Please wake up!" She would not stir at his touch. "Hailey..." He whispered desperately.

A deep laugh permeated the room. Jack and Link both looked towards Ganondorf. It was only then that it became clear to Jack that he was no longer in his cozy home.

And Jack was scared.

"Hey!" Link's voice cut through his indecisiveness. The hero was standing up, strong, defiant. "I don't care who I have to defend or protect. There's not a world or moment where you could possibly win!" Link was up right, sword in one hand and shield in the other, taunting the Gerudo King.

Hailey began to stir then and Jack was so happy he could kiss the ground. He wasn't alone in this.

"Wha-… where are we?" His sister asked, uncertainly.

"Uh," Jack really didn't know what to say. "Don't worry about it…?" What could he say without sounding like a lunatic?

He helped a dazed Hailey into a sitting position and they watched Link and Ganondorf go at it.

They both watched as Link kicked Ganondorf's butt, utterly.

Then Ganondorf was finished. He was so mad he threw up a bit. It was a little too real for the two teenagers to see. There was a bright flash of light and they all shielded their eyes…

…

…

…

"What!?" Jack yelled as he fell back onto his bedroom carpet. Hailey had a similar experience, though with less articulation. The two of them, both flabbergasted, could only exchange bewildered expressions.

Jack tried to put it into words anyway.

"What?" Hailey simply gave him a blank look.

"I have no idea."

The two sat in silence for quite a few minutes, neither knowing what to make of the situation.

The television was showing a full screen of blackness.

"That wasn't real." Jack said after a few moments of silence. Hailey shook her head.

"It couldn't have been." She responded. Then, "Wait, what do you mean? What did you see…?"

The two looked between each other, then both simultaneously looked at their Nintendo64.

"That couldn't be..." Hailey breathed as Jack lunged forward and checked out the console. It was on, but nothing was happening on the screen.

"I'm gonna reset it." Before Hailey could protest, Jack had flipped the reset switch.

It went to the blue of the T.V. screen, but then went to black. He tried again. Same thing.

"What?" Jack exclaimed. He tried the switch and the power button several times, but with the same results.

"Did we break the 64?" Hailey asked, knowing that was the least of their worries. Jack tried another Nintendo64 game. He put in the cartridge of Tetris64 and the monotonous music of the game started right up.

He didn't wan't to say it out loud, but he was pretty sure it was just their favorite game that was havinf problems.

"Well," Hailey said tentatively, "Guess we're playing Tetris."

Jack looked like he was about to say something indignant. But then he deflated.

"Eh, why not?"

Maybe there was something in the air. Jack didn't know. And he got the impression that Hailey did not want to talk about it either. She looked frightened. More than he'd ever seen her. He could digest whatever had happened on his own. He was worried about his sister, though...

They played their fill of the puzzle game, only stopping when it became too late to keep going. They both went to their rooms and to bed at their mother's behest, but neither would be sleeping much that night…

…

"'Hailey, Jack, I'm off to work. Please keep to your promise of getting your chores done today. Love, mom.'" Hailey read from the note on the kitchen counter.

"Well. She gets right to the point." Jack scoffed. His sister elbowed him in the ribs.

"We did promise."

There wasn't much else that was said between the two. They both were still in quite a state of shock after what had happened the night before. Between trying to figure out if they had been hallucinating or had been slipped some kind of… something or other… neither sibling could figure out anything. There was just… nothing...

Despite Jack trying to distract himself from his frustrations, he kept looking at the Nintendo64 that resided in his room. It was only the Ocarina of Time cartridge that was messing up and not any of their other games. He walked past it so many times taking his laundry to and from the washer. He paused and stared thoughtfully at one of those runs.

He was on his last load anyway. He could take just a moment to see what he could do about the game. He caved into his own curiosity.

He dumped his clean clothes onto his bed and got to his knees in front of the gaming set up. He carefully, slowly, as if that would help the game to work suddenly, placed the Ocarina of Time cartridge into the Nintendo64 slot…

"Jack," Hailey shouted across the hall to her brother. She hadn't heard his grumbling for a while and thought he might be slacking off. "Jack, mom's gonna be mad if you don't finish." No answer. She huffed in annoyance at her brother's non-answer and got up from her sitting position where she was folding her clothes.

She exited her room and walked down the short hallway where she saw her brother's door was ajar. She pushed it open to find Jack lying in front of his T.V., apparently passed out.

"Hah hah, very funny Jack," She said as she entered fully into the room. He did not respond. She crossed her arms and flared her nostrils. "Seriously, Jack, you can stop now." Still, he did not stir.

"Jack?" She wasn't concerned, but it wasn't like her brother to play pranks like this. She knelt down next to him. "Jack!" She yelled that time. "Okay, it's funny. Now get up and answer me!" She went to shake him.

As soon as her hand touched his skin, a jolt went through her and her vision went white…

…

Hailey had her eyes squeezed shut from fear. When the bright light encompassed her visage, she felt a fierce gale whip her about. It was like she had been pulled up by a tornado and thrown around mercilessly. Just as suddenly, everything had quieted and only a slight breeze brushed against her. She slowly opened up her eyes.

She was hugging herself tightly as she stood and looked around. Everything was still white. The fear was setting in deeper. Then…

"Hailey?" She turned swiftly. That was her brother's voice. She spotted him standing a few paces away where there had previously been nothing. She breathed out a shaky breath.

"Jack," she trotted over to him, "What's going on? What is this?" She was disheartened greatly when she noticed Jack did not have his usual confidence about him. He shook his head.

"I don't know." She knew her face fell at his words. He gave her a quick recount of attempting to get their Nintendo64 to work before he wound up in this weird place.

Well, at that point, they could rule out hallucinations if they were both experiencing the same thing. It was real, whatever 'it' was. And the fact that Jack had been tampering with the Ocarina of Time game again meant that what had happened last night was tied to what was going on right then. There was absolutely nothing the two of them could come up with to explain their circumstances.

"Who are you?"

They both jumped in tandem and turned at the new voice. It was a gentle voice, but it held authority all the same.

It was as if a fog had lifted and there were suddenly blue skies. Hailey grabbed onto her brothers arm. That whiteness she was so afraid of turned out to be clouds. And those clouds had been blown away to reveal someone the two could not possibly expect.

Princess Zelda stood before them with a look of surprise.

There was a moment where the three simply stared at one another. Then the princess' expression changed. It wasn't one of confusion, but of recognition. Not knowing what else to do, Hailey bowed.

"We beg your pardon, Princess." She said. Jack clumsily followed her lead. "We did not mean to-"

Her formalities were interrupted by light laughter. The two looked up at the Princess.

"There's no need for that." Zelda said. They both stood, looking between each other, not wanting to be the first to ask their questions. Zelda beat them to it.

"How very interesting. This is a chance meeting." She put a hand to her chin. Jack and Hailey also exchanged a glance.

"Does that mean you know why we're here? What's been happening to us?" Jack said. Hailey rolled her eyes at his forwardness. Zelda simply blinked.

"I can't say that I do." She confessed. The two twins' shoulders sagged together. "But," Her single word roused the two young ones. "It seems like…"

They were both waiting for her to speak. She blinked again.

"I apologize." She bowed before them. "I'm not sure what is happening. All I know is that I can feel a rift in time. One, or both, of you may have tapped into that rift, and that is what is causing… whatever it is that has been happening to you." Zelda finished with a flourish. She bowed again. "I am sorry that I am not of much help."

Jack and Hailey were enthralled by her proclamation.

"No!" Hailey said, bowing again, "That helps a lot!" Jack nodded fervently.

Zelda smiled sweetly at them. Then her demeanor became less candid. She actually looked quite sad. Hailey wanted to say something, anything, to make her smile again.

"What is it?" Hailey asked of her. The Princess seemed to shake herself of her reverie. Then her eyes flashed and she took on a serious demeanor.

"I fear you are both in harm's way." The twins both guffawed in surprise.

"Wh-what?"

"There will be danger in your future." She went on. Then she paused. "Ah." She continued with a smile, "But, you will be alright." She looked to the siblings and saw their identical scared expressions. "Oh, I did not mean to frighten you." Hailey was beginning to shake her head, but Jack was the first to speak.

"What kind of danger?" He asked abruptly. Hailey decided to shove her brother this time instead of rolling her eyes. Zelda grinned at them. Then she sighed.

"I can't see what will happen exactly. Your presence here, or perhaps more precisely the rift in time, has allowed me to feel your very near future. All I can see is that there will be strife, but you will be able to overcome it."

The future, especially the one that the Princess was foretelling, was terrifying. But Zelda's comforting words were almost enough to alleviate the fear of the unknown. Almost.

"Our time together is nearly done." Zelda said to the both of them. It showed very clearly on their faces that they had so many more questions and anxieties. She tried not to bite her lip. "Please, do not worry too much. You will not be alone in your struggles to come." She said to them. Her eyes lit up for a moment and she became quiet, like she had forgotten she held an audience. Jack and Hailey exchanged a glance. They watched as her brows furrowed. Then she turned to Jack.

"I am unsure why, but I feel I need to leave this with you." She produced an envelope from her person and offered it to him. Jack was surprised beyond all reason.

"Me?" He said, dumbfounded. She gave him a disarming smile.

"Yes. I feel…" She closed her eyes, "It will make its way into the hands it was intended. And you will help bring it there… Yes… that is what I feel."

"Okay." Jack said, unsure of himself.

Before any of them could say anything else, that gale that had brought them to the meeting place in the sky was whisking them away again…

Hailey awoke first, her eyelids flying open and her head whipping around to find she was back in Jack's bedroom. She tried to stand up so fast that she ended up falling right back down onto her hands in confusion. Then Jack shot up.

"What the-!" He was just as disoriented as she was. Hailey calmed herself as best she could and steadily got to her feet, stumbling a few steps away from her brother. Goodness, she was dizzy!

"What," She struggled to say, holding a hand to her forehead, "Just happened."

"I don't-"

He was interrupted by another unexpected gust of wind. Jack was far past these weird occurrences going on in his bedroom.

"What the hell?" He shouted before opening his eyes. Then he heard his sister gasp in alarm.

"Who are you?"

That couldn't be good. He looked up to see a strange man had appeared in his room. His mind went through several things at once: Front door was locked, mom would definitely have made sure of that. So how did this person get into their house? Was this the danger Zelda was talking about? Did he even really believe that the conversation between him, his sister, and the Princess of Hyrule (who was supposed to be fictional by the way) had even happened? And also, oh great, this new possible enemy was standing in front of the only exit to the room besides the second story window behind them.

Through his fast headache that was forming and all the jumbled mess of his mind trying to figure what to do, his mouth blurted the only thing that his brain could think in the midst of the madness.

"What's going on?"

"Sorry, no time." The intruder declared as he jumped towards Jack's sister. His head cleared up real quick after that.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Jack tried to scream, but he couldn't even get half of the first word out before the strange man had leaped at him, too. He grabbed him around the midriff, taking all the air from his lungs, and faced the window. Was he about to-

"No!" Jack cried. Hailey screamed shrilly as the three went sailing through the back window and into the cool air of the outside. Weird, he didn't feel them hit the glass. It was as if it broke before they even touched it. Just as that thought came, it went just as quickly when a huge explosion erupted right behind them.

He stopped trying to wiggle his way free from the strange man's grasp and stared helplessly as his childhood home was promptly reduced to cinders.

"...no..."

…

(A/N: I can't tell you how happy I am to have this chapter finished and posted. It's been a rough 2017 for me and my family and I have felt the sting of neglecting my story. After finding out some "interesting" news health-wise last fall, things are finally on the rise and I haven't felt this good for a long while.

I will also say that I had been stuck on this chapter for other reasons. Those being that I kept doubting myself and where this story was going. I've always had the idea. I just wasn't sure how it would translate into actual writing. Well, now I'm here and I'm going to have to keep up my mantra of "Just keep writing!"

Anyways, thank you to everyone reading! I truly appreciate your feedback and for sticking with me this far.)