Winged Ones - Ch1 Extension

With peace restored to the world, and a new future upon the land, Link was given the chance to live out his childhood in peace… but his life had been forever changed.

Link tried to enjoy the childhood that had been returned to him, to live those seven years he lost once before…But he had been an adult, a warrior, he had seen much hardship and he carried this hardship with him…


The boy felt too out of place in the Kokiri forest, having seen so much of the outside world and its hardships… Link felt as if his presence destroyed the innocence of the land which held the eternal children of the forest...

But the young hero had another reason to leave… he wanted to find his dear friend who had vanished without a word or a trace when peace was restored to the land.

Link did go in search for her... and in the process ended up in a very unfamiliar place.
He had stumbled upon a passage to this other world by accident while searching the Lost Woods.
In this new land Link became an unsung and forgotten hero once again. He was not gone for long, not much longer than three days, but to our hero this journey felt more like lifetime as he faced each day with sickening dejavou. His days repeating, reliving the dangers of the world, reliving the sorrow of others and sharing their anguish over the world's end, and end which Link fought to prevent…

In this land Link experienced the end of the world time and time again. Healing lost and broken souls and taking on their forms so he could restore peace to the loved ones they left behind.

And in the end he had returned empty handed, and he returned with an even greater emptiness in his heart as he left new friends behind and carried with him the memories of this land filled with death and loss.
The only thing remotely uplifting that Link gained during his trial of time in this other land were the many masks he had obtained, these masks remained as the only proof he was ever in the land of Termina…


When Link returned to Hyrule he built a lean-to outside Lon Lon Ranch.
He had hoped to stay with Malon, to live in the barn and take on the roll of a stable hand… but the weary hero found that she had made a new friend in his absence, a boy, the young lad who in the future that almost was became the potion shop keeper Kakariko village.

The sense of belonging Link once felt at the ranch, the place where he used to seek shelter and sleep alongside Epona in the future that almost was, the feeling of sanctuary he used to have in the barn...had vanished.
He could see her new friendship was already stronger than what meager relationship Link ever had with the ranch girl...a relationship that was lost in a future that only the likes of Link were forced to remember...




Link had been missing for quite some time, and when Zelda did finally receive news of the young hero she was not happy to learn of the boy's current whereabouts. She disapproved of the fact that Link was living alone in the wilderness, and so she came out in person to invite him to live in the castle.

Zelda became even more upset when she saw for herself just how lowly the hero's existence had become. The shanty that the boy was calling home was not fit for an animal let alone for her hero, and his unkempt and woesome appearance troubled her deeply.

Impa and Zelda stared at the green clad youth, his expression was listless, his eyes tired. The boy's clothes were torn and dirty, his body covered in scars with a fresh wound on his arm.

"I…" she started and then paused. Zelda stared at the blood, not sure what to say. She had not seen him for almost a year and this is not the sight she had expected to see."…You're bleeding, what happened."

"I got careless, nothing more."

The following silence was sickening.

Impa stepped forward.
"Don't… I want to ask him." the princess chirped. "Link, come stay at the castle, please."
"No."
"Come on, you cannot be comfortable living like this! I mean that is your house? A tattered cloth held up by deku sticks? It may be fine now but come winter you'll be sleeping in mud!"
"I've slept in worse." he said flatly, remembering the night he spent in the Shadow Temple during his heroics in the future that almost was.

Zelda was still stern "And what about food?"
"I get by, it's no different than how I lived before."
"But you don't have to live like before anymore, this is a new future…come on, just come home with me for a while, at least for one night. A hot bath, a soft bed, a real meal."
Link looked at her with his tired blank eyes.
Zelda puffed up "Fine then, do it for Epona if not for yourself. She looks a little thin and her coat is a mess, if you two came home with me she'd get fresh oats and a proper grooming."

The reclusive hero looked over at the young horse, the only companion that connected his past and current life…he then looked back to the princess.

Zelda reached down to take the boy's hand…Link accepted her grasp….but did so with a cold look in his eyes...



The young hero planned to stay only until he got what he needed to build a cabin in the group of trees between the entrance to the Kokiri forest and lake Hylia. Link wanted to build his own little sanctuary where he could be alone, with a lock on the door to keep everyone from meddling in his life, like Zelda was doing just now.



But days turned into weeks, and Link remained at the castle, awkwardly adapting to palace life. He spent most of his time in the field out back with Epona, he refused to sleep in any of the spare rooms and instead slept in an empty stall …just as how he used to sleep in the barn of Lon Lon Ranch in the future that almost was…and if it weren't for Zelda's constant encouragement he likely would have never left the barn.

Alongside dealing with his new place at the palace Link also had to adapt to his returning friendship with the Princess Zelda.

The young princess surprised Link with how outgoing she was. When out of the public's eye she went from being a primp and proper princess, to being a troublemaker and tomboy, to being a mere child. As time went by at the castle Link found himself somewhat envious of the princess… Zelda's behavior showed that she was in a sense stronger than Link for she had managed to let go of the harsh past she had gained in the future that almost was and had allowed herself to enjoy being a kid again.


Zelda often tried to share her regained childhood with the young hero, but he always shook off her advances and instead watched her from the shadows with those listless eyes. It pained the princess to see how battle weary Link had become. She tried to get him to open up, to talk about what went on in that year since they last saw each other…but he hardly talked at all, let alone shared his feelings.
She did everything she could to try and get him to open up, including trying to respark his sense of adventure, sneaking out of the castle whenever possible, and dragging Link along with her.


"…Why the hell do I have to come." Link snarked as he crept through the dark courtyard.
"Because, you have been doing nothing but mope around the castle, a change of scenery would be good for you." Zelda said with a forced cheerful tone…
She had hoped that Link would have perked up by now…When the princess first brought the young hero home she figured Link's behavior was just due to a lack of food and sleep, from living alone in the rough…But it's been weeks now and he still seems so withdrawn.


A figure watched them in perfect silence from the wall above, her red eyed gaze following their every move. Unlike the guards Impa had no interest in keeping the two from escaping the castle, unlike them she knows that these two are not children who need to be protected or coddled.

Instead she watched them quietly, studying the young hero of time. The boy concerns her, for the way he lingers around the castle reminded the wizened Sheikah of a feral animal.

Like a feral animal he sulks in the shadows and watches everything around him with a look of distrust…His senses and mind so accustomed to constantly being on edge that his nerves have become frayed and numb…his emotions calloused.

She watched the young princess pick her way through the darkness, to a hole in the garden wall, knowing this adventure was the girl's way of trying to reach out to this feral child. The sage of shadow watched from above, hoping that Zelda's attempts may one day break the gloom that follows the hero…Impa felt that Zelda may be the only one who can help, for she and Link share the same history… While the sages may remember the future that almost was, their experiences do not compare to that of the two children of destiny.
Impa hoped that through their shared destiny Zelda may be able to help the hero of time see and enjoy the peace he had restored the world.


"Why do you even bother to sneak out like this. You've seen all of Hyrule, there is nothing left to explore…" Link whispered begrudgingly as he followed the princess through the same courtyard he'd snuck through once before…back when his quest as a hero was new and exciting.

"Even if I have seen all of Hyrule sneaking out is better than lofting around here. The castle is so boring, when I was this age in the future that almost was, I was already running around exploring as a Sheikah."

Link stopped, his face and tone were quite gruff "Ya wanaa know what I was doing when I was last this age…sleeping…For seven years I slept…and I might as well be doing that now…The world does not need me anymore, and even if it did …I'm not sure if I'd fight to save it."

Zelda's brows furrowed, she'd had enough of the boy's cold nature, she got right up into his face and scolded in a whispering tone "Damn it Link! Do you think you are the only one who's had a tough time!" she pulled up her sleeves revealing rows of scars, marks she had not shown to anyone "I put my life on the line as well, while you slept I lived on the edge of existence in hiding from Ganon. I may be a princess again but I was once a warrior of Hyrule the same as you and like you these scars did not vanish when time was reset."

Link sat in shock. The boy stared at the marks on her arms, he then glanced down at his own scared limbs…he smiled.
Zelda was taken aback by this, it was not what she was expecting and furthermore this was the first time she had seen him smile since the boy's return.

"Come on, lets get going, we are wasting moonlight." Link whispered, passing the princess. "Lets head over to the Lost Woods tonight…I want to tell you of a land called Termina."
"Okay." She said brightly with a broad smile.
The change she felt in him just now may be subtle but, this felt more like the hero she used to know.


Impa above smiled as well, the Sheikah then set off to see what she could do about causing a delay between the night and morning guards so that the two may sneak back in with less of fuss this time.