Recovery of the Triforce by Rachel_13 This is the shortest story in the trilogy. I know that you people reading this have read Quest for the Sages, otherwise you may almost be clueless. That's a warning note, so I'll start the story... ____________________________________________________ It opens in a dark cave, not in Hyrule. There is a man, with black hair and brown eyes, and a woman, with orange hair and purple eyes, there. The cave is kind of homely, maybe even cozy. "Why do you have to go? Can't you just stay here?" The man asked. The woman shook her head. "You cannot change destiny. I have to go to Hyrule, and there's nothing either you or I can do about it." "Yes I know, but why?" The woman smiled up at him. "Don't you understand? You don't need to know why, just that this is goodbye. For how long, I don't know. Just know that I love you, and I always will." She smiled, and the man opened his mouth to speak. "Karin, be careful. I love you, if you got hurt, or killed..." he let his words drift, for he didn't want to think about things like that. "Anderson, don't you know by now I can take care of myself?" "I do, but you've never gone this far from home, I mean, you're leaving the entire country." She put her hand gently against his cheek. "I'll be fine. Just trust me please." With that, she smiled and totally disappeared. Anderson sighed. "I hope you're right Karin." Meanwhile in Hyrule, the sun was just coming over the horizon. It slowly crept up on the castle, where Zelda had just woken up. She sat up in bed after a pretty bad nightmare. It was of last year, and the wizards, and of not being able to help Link defeat them. But this time it was different. This time she dreamed he didn't survive. It was very terrible indeed. At the castle gate a woman arrived dressed in peasant clothing with brown hair and eyes. "I need to speak to the Princess. Please let me pass." She implored. "You and about one million other people woman. Go back to the poor house you came from." The woman disappeared, just vanished, and appeared inside the castle. "You can't rely on guards any more." She thought aloud and then sighed. She went up to a tower and hoped it was the princess's. She went up the stairs and opened the door. The princess turned her head and looked at the woman. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my bedroom?" She demanded. "I'm Anita. I came to tell you some bad news." Zelda looked at Anita. (Or so she called herself) "What kind of bad news?" She questioned. Anita sighed. "I have heard that Ganon has escaped his seal. I don't know how, just that he attacked my homeland. He destroyed my village. Only me and my husband survived." ____________________________________________________ Zelda was taken aback by this information. "Apparently he has gotten some power that is higher than the sages, or found a way to defy you." Anita added. "I have to tell Link immediately! Thank you for this information!" Zelda said. "He may be headed for Hyrule at this very moment! Be careful outside the castle!" Anita cried after Zelda, who was now rushing out of the room. Link was just waking up when he heard a knock outside his door. "It's Zelda. Let me in!" Link rushed out of bed and opened the door. "Hi Zelda. What's wrong?" He inquired, looking at her slightly pale face. "It's Ganon, he...he...he escaped somehow. He may be heading here now." Link looked at her strangely. "He what? Are you sure?" Link demanded. "A woman came in here claiming he attacked her village. I think we should believe her." Just then Anita walked in. "Sorry to disturb you, but I think you should believe me too, since I saw Ganon with my own eyes." She remarked. "You're the one bringing the news? Do you know anything else about it?" Link asked her. "I know he was muttering something about 'getting back what belonged to him' and how 'the Triforce of power' or something like that was his." She answered. "Thanks." Link said. Then he turned to Zelda. "I thought Ganon had the Triforce of power. How could he have lost it?" "Well, I don't care how, just that if he doesn't have it, we can get it and complete the Triforce." Zelda admitted. It was true that they already had the Triforces of wisdom and courage, but only all three combined could destroy Ganon. "May I ask what has been going on? What is the Triforce? Does it have some kind of power?" Anita asked. She already knew the answer, but she had to make her disguise more realistic. "Anita, come with me. I want to show you something." Zelda told her, taking her arm. "What?" She inquired. "I'll show you what the Triforce is. This way!" "Zelda, what are you doing?" Link demanded. She didn't give an answer, just motioned him to follow her. Link sighed and rolled his eyes, but he followed them. Zelda stopped at a yellow door with the crest of the royal family on it. "We're here!" She stated. "Yes, but where is here?" Anita asked, looking at the door. She already knew that too. Her guise was working. If they ever knew who she really was... ____________________________________________________ Zelda opened the door and shoved Anita inside. Then she and Link followed. Anita's eyes fell upon two triangles hinged together. She went up to them and realized they were the only source of light in the room. She sensed an unfamiliar magic about them, and she looked at the empty space above them. "Is this the Triforce?" Anita asked. She hated asking dumb questions, but she had to. "Yes it is, but it's not complete. Ganon had the third piece," Zelda pointed to the empty space above the triangles, "and we sealed him away in the sacred realm. He must have dropped the Triforce of power. I don't know where, but we're going to find it." "Exactly how are you going to find it?" Anita asked. "The other Triforces are going to lead us to it." Link offered. Anita looked confused. "They can guide us to the other one, since they are originally hooked to it." Anita nodded her head, understanding what she was being told. Meanwhile, Ganon was in his cave, he had already come back to Hyrule and had gotten to Death Mountain, pacing back and forth. "Is there anything I can get you?" His servant, Eeris, asked shakily. "GET ME MY TRIFORCE!" Ganon screeched. "Y-yes sir. We're working on that as you speak. Anything else?" Eeris asked, now cowering behind a boulder. "Get me my magic orb." Ganon then commanded. Eeris clapped his hands and the orb appeared in front of Ganon. "Thank you Eeris. At least someone around here is trustworthy." "Show me the Triforce of power NOW. I command you!" He yelled at the orb. The orb clouded for a minute, then turned black. "Curse this object! Why can't it show me my Triforce?!" Oh well, too bad for you Ganon. It starts getting boring, Ganon just yells at Eeris for a while and tries to look at 'his' Triforce in the orb unsuccessfully, so let's go back to the castle. Zelda is asking her father if she can go look for the Triforce, Link is getting ready, and Anita is trying to piece together information. "But father, I'm the only one who can use the Triforce. Link can't touch it, and Anita isn't even a Hylian. Please let me go!" Zelda pointed out. "Well, I know I'll regret this later, but you may go." Her father said. "Thank you!" She said, kissing him on the cheek. ____________________________________________________ Let's see...I know that Ganon lost the Triforce, but it has its own magic, so I can't find it with mine. We'll have to rely on Zelda and Link's way of doing it. Maybe if we get close to where it is I can use my finding spell, but not until then, Anita thought. Link, as I said, was readying himself. He sharpened the edges of his sword and polished his mirror shield, and got some bottles of medicine. Zelda went to the Triforce room, and picked up the two hinged Triforces. "You three are to leave tomorrow. Please come back, if not with the third Triforce, then with your lives." The king said to them. "I don't want Hyrule's future to be killed looking for something that could have easily been kept where it was." He added, looking at Zelda. "Father, you can trust us. You know how good Link and I are with weapons, and I'm sure Anita can handle one." The king nodded. "I trust you. I just don't know what I would do if you were killed too..." Words I know all too well, Anita thought. Just then a man burst into the room. He looked strange. With black hair and brown eyes, he didn't look like a Hylian. "Anderson?! Is that you? What are you doing here?" Anita asked. "I came looking for Karin. Do you know where she is? She's in danger!" Anderson shouted. "I don't know where she is Anderson. If I see her I'll tell her you want to see her, I'm sure she'd come right home." Anita replied. She had to lie again. She did know where Karin was. Anderson nodded. "You're sure you'd tell her? I hope I can trust you. Tell her I love her too." Then he left. "Who was that?" Zelda asked. "That was Anderson. He was looking for his wife. Apparently she's in danger..." Anita informed her. The rest of the day went by quickly, and Ganon is still screaming at that crystal ball of his. -Narrator snickers at him- I'm also going to take this short time to say...ha ha! I know where the Triforce is and they don't! Naner naner naner! -Narrator sticks out tongue at Ganon and those seeking the Triforce (yup, Zelda too)- Oops, Ganon broke his crystal ball by banging his fist into it. He's gonna have to get that fixed. Okay, now back to the story... ____________________________________________________ The next morning, Anita is awakened by a knocking at the door of her guestroom. "Anita, it's time to leave!" Zelda said through the door. Anita quickly got up, threw some clothes on, and left the room, following Zelda. Link was there too. "Why did we get up this early?" Anita asked. "We have to leave early, like right now." Zelda told her. They went to the Triforce room and Zelda picked the triangles up. "Can't forget these." She muttered. Then they snuck out of the castle. "The Triforces are tugging towards the Temple of Time." She pointed out. So they all ran towards the ancient Temple that once stood in the market, but has now been moved to the entrance to the market. They went inside and looked around. "Not many places for a Triforce to hide are there?" Anita remarked. "It might not be in here, maybe somewhere in the past." Zelda pointed out. "Wouldn't it still be in the present too?" Link asked her. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know." "Um...if it is in the past, how do we get there?" Anita inquired. "With this." Zelda responded, holding up the Ocarina of Time, a sacred relic passed down by generations of the royal family. "What does that flute have to do with anything?" Anita asked, already knowing what it really was. "It's the Ocarina of Time. It can transport someone to the past, but not to the future." Zelda told her. "The Triforces seem to want us to go to the back of the temple, not the pedestal." Zelda muttered. They went to the back of the temple. There was a mark like the Door of Time used to have. Link got out the Ocarina and played the Song of Time on it. (All these 'of time's' are getting on my nerves, how 'bout you?) A portion of the wall disappeared, revealing a passageway. Since when was this ever here, Zelda asked herself. "Come on, let's go through." She said aloud. They walked down the dark corridor, the Triforces providing their only light. They came to a dead end, but when Link examined it closely, he saw a crack in the wall. "Stand back!" He cried. He hit the wall hard with his sword, causing it to crumble. A square doorframe replaced it. ____________________________________________________ They continued walking, and there it was, the Triforce of power. "This was too easy..." Link said. Anita looked closely at it. "It's a trick." She said simply. "How can it be a trick?" Zelda asked her. "The magic feels different. The Triforce magic is, well, green. This Triforce's magic is black. It doesn't match. It has to be fake, an illusion." Anita pointed out. "You're right. It is different." Zelda agreed. "We've been lead on a goose-chase." Link said. "So where could it really be? The Triforces are tugging toward that fake one." Zelda exclaimed. Anita went up to the third 'Triforce' and touched it. It dissolved in her hand. Under it was a key. "I think we're still on the right track." Anita took the key and looked around. Behind her was a locked door to which the key fit perfectly. She opened the door and stepped inside. It was completely dark. "Zelda, Link, come here! I found something." She said. They came in and the Triforces lit the room. It was a large cavern carved out of rock. It looked old, and ancient Hylian writing covered the walls. "It says 'he who holds the Triforce will be victorious.' What does that mean?" Zelda wondered. "I don't know, but I have a feeling it's not good..." Link muttered. "It also says 'he who has two may find the third with his heart.'" Zelda looked at Link. "What do you suppose that means?" She asked him. "It means that to find the third Triforce, you must trust yourself and strangers." Anita said. "Who here is a stranger?" Link asked. "I am." Said a voice. A woman stepped out of the shadows of the cavern. "Who are you?" Link asked her. "I am everyone. I am everything. That's all you need to know. I am a stranger, at least, I am to you two." She said, pointing to Link and Zelda. "What about Anita? Does she know you?" Link asked. "She does. I'm her mother." "What?! How can you be my mother? She died, I watched her die!" Anita shouted. "That wasn't your real mother. I must thank you for releasing me, I've been here for quite a long time." "What is your name?" The woman sighed. "You don't need to know my name. I know where your Triforce is." Zelda jumped. "Where is it?" The woman pointed to Anita. "You know too. Use your power to get it." Then the woman vanished. ____________________________________________________ "What did she mean by 'you know too'?" Link asked suspiciously. Anita hung her head. "I don't know." She lied. In her mind, she was using her power to find it. "I know where it is!" She suddenly cried. "Where? Where is it?" Zelda asked her. "It's in the center of the cavern." Anita replied. They ran to the center. "Well?" Zelda said. "Hold up the Triforces." Anita said. Zelda held them up over her head, and they started glowing brighter than ever. Zelda let go of them, and they hung in midair. A triangle of equal size came down from the ceiling and connected with the others. "It's the Triforce of power!" Zelda shouted. The Triforces were all together, but something wasn't right. The three didn't notice it though. "Come on, let's go back to the castle." They all agreed and left the cavern. They were running down the corridor when it started to cave in. Huge rocks started falling from the ceiling. "Run!" Zelda and Link cried at the same time. Anita was going as fast as she could, but she got hit by a fairly small rock. (Don't worry, she just got a bump on the head from it.) She kept running. They reached the beginning and ran out into the Temple of Time. Link played the Song of Time again and the wall reappeared. Zelda had the complete Triforce in her hand, and they all left the temple. They decided to get some food at the market. "While we're here, want to visit Jjin and Mirah?" Zelda asked Link. "Sure. That would be great." He replied. Zelda and Link led Anita into the back alleys to a house. They knocked on the door and a woman, about nineteen or twenty, with black hair and green eyes opened the door. "Link, Zelda! How nice to see you!" She said. She led them inside. "Who is this?" She asked, looking at Anita. "This is Anita. She informed us that Ganon had escaped." Link told her. "Well, nice to meet you Anita. I'm Mirah, and this is Jjin." "We can't stay for long, we just came for a visit." Zelda said. "We were about to have dinner. Would you like to join us?" Mirah offered. "Well, that would be nice." Zelda said. So they sat down and had dinner. Nothing really interesting. After dinner was over, the three companions left for the castle. "You know, I think that was still a little too easy. I mean, why was no-one guarding it?" Link said. "Well, only one who had the other two could get it. It was practically guarding itself." Zelda told him. ____________________________________________________ They got to the castle and went inside. The king was waiting for them. "You're back! And you got the Triforce!" He noticed. "Yes father. We found it in the Temple of Time oddly enough." "Well, I must say you three are amazing. First, you and Link rescue the six sages, and then you, Link and Anita find the third Triforce! I don't know what I'd do without you." He said. They put the Triforce back, and went to bed, since it was late. The next morning Link woke up after hearing a sharp cry. The first thing he thought was that Zelda was in trouble, but then he realized it was coming from outside. A whole army had gathered, and it wasn't the Hylian army! He rushed to the window and saw Ganon at the back of the crowd. He rushed to Zelda's tower to find that she was already up. He went to find Anita, and she wasn't in her room. She was standing at the door. "I know, Ganon's army is about to attack. Go warn the king!" She said. Link rushed to the throne room where the king was seated. "Sir, Ganon has an army outside, and they're prepared to attack." Link told him. "Ready the troops! Get them out there! Zelda, we need the Triforce's magic!" The king barked out orders, which were hastily followed. "Link, I want you to be careful out there. You're like a son to me." He said to Link. Link nodded and ran outside. There were tektites, moblins, wolfos, ReDeads, stalfos knights, etc. Behind them all was Ganon. You can guess how scared the soldiers were. "I WANT MY TRIFORCE BACK!" Ganon yelled repeatedly. "What's his problem?" Anita asked. "He's always been like that." Zelda said between blasts of magic from the Triforce. Link was battling two tektites and one moblin all at the same time. He sliced the moblin's head off and stabbed the tektites through the heart, killing them. A stalfos ran at him, and he took one or two blows before finally breaking it apart. The battle raged on for a few hours, and it never seemed to cease, only lessen. The Hylians would seem to be winning, then Ganon's army. Anita didn't know what to do. She used her mental powers to blow some of each of the enemies up, and it was just enough. All of the ReDeads and moblins were gone, and only a few tektites and stalfos knights remained. The rest of the enemies had cowered and run away. ____________________________________________________ Ganon came forward, unseen by anyone in his invisibility spell. He grabbed Link by the neck of his tunic and let go of the spell. Link had been caught unaware. "Hello you little pest." Ganon said to him. "How are you?" He added, almost grinning. "Let me go you overgrown lizard!" Link cried. He tried to kick and hit Ganon, but it was no use. He was caught. In one last hope, Link tried to jab him with his sword. It was a futile attempt. "You want me to let you go? I'll let you go." Ganon retorted, and threw Link hard against the castle wall, about fifteen yards away. Zelda witnessed the whole thing. "LINK! No! Die you evil creature!" She screamed. "You can't kill me without the complete-" He stopped there after seeing the Triforce, all of it, in Zelda's hands. 'WHAT IS YOUR WISH?' it asked her. "I wish to get rid of Ganon." She said. Suddenly he vanished. (Allot of people have done that haven't they?) Zelda rushed to where Link was laying, motionless. "Someone get a doctor!" She yelled. About an hour later he was inside the castle, in the care of the finest doctors. Anita was with them too. Zelda had a lot of time to think. She realized she'd always loved him (awwwww, how sweet!) but she didn't notice her feelings until now. It might be too late to tell him, She thought, wiping a tear from her eye. Just then Anita came out of the room. "Anita! How is he?" She asked hurriedly. "Well, there's some good news, and some bad news. I'll tell you the good news first." Anita told her. "What is it?" "Well, the good news is that he can wake up at any time." "And the bad..." "Well, the bad news is that he...he may not wake up at all." Anita said, sighing. Zelda was feeling dizzy. The words he may not wake up echoed through her mind. "Are you okay?" Anita asked. "I...I don't know." Zelda replied. She was trying hard to keep the tears back. They wouldn't stay, so she let them come. They stung her face, but she hardly noticed. She walked out to the courtyard, which was still clean since the battles had been fought out front. She wanted to talk to Impa, her old friend, but she was nowhere to be found, so she just sat under a tree crying. A few minutes later, she was called in to see her father. He was crying too, but better at hiding it. "Zelda...if you want to see him, you can. I'm sorry..." He said to her. She nodded and went up to hug him. "At least Ganon's gone. I wished for him to go away on the Triforce and he vanished." She let go of him. "I think I will go see him." ____________________________________________________ As she walked up to Link's room, a feeling of dread swept over her. What if he's already dead? What if Ganon hurt him too badly? There were so many what if questions she couldn't separate them. Not all of them were bad, but most of them were. She got to the door and opened it quietly. Inside was Anita, but no doctors were there. "Anita, what are you doing here?" Zelda asked. Anita's head hung down. "I haven't been at all truthful. My name isn't really Anita. I don't even look like this normally." Zelda looked at her. "What do you mean?" She finally asked. "What I mean is that I've been in disguise the whole time. I changed my appearance to fool you." As she said that, her features began to blur and distort. When it was done, she had orange hair and purple eyes. "You're a Gerudo?" Zelda asked. "No, I'm a wizard. My real name is Karin. Anderson is my husband, and I think he was trying to warn me that Ganon was coming. I'm sorry." She said. "You wouldn't be able to do any kind of healing spell or anything, would you?" Zelda asked hopefully. "No, I'm not trained to do that. I wish I was, but I'm not." Anita, I mean, Karin said. Then she went back to looking like Anita. "Can I keep calling you Anita when you look like that?" Zelda asked. "Sure, just don't let Link know I'm a wizard, if he wakes up I mean. I'll leave you here alone." Then Anita walked out of the room. (When she's in guise I'll call her Anita, if not I'll say Karin.) Zelda looked at Link and started crying again. She couldn't stand to see him like that. She sat on the bed and took his hand. She'd never felt so torn up in all her life, even when her mother died. She was thinking about her now. For the love of Nayru, please don't let him die, She thought. The whole time she was there she hoped he would wake up, but he didn't. Let's get on with this... A few days later (The same thing was going on for these few days) Zelda again went into Link's room. He looks so pale, she thought. She almost wished he'd either wake up or go ahead and die. Just then a doctor came in. "Has he changed at all?" He asked, hoping he had. Zelda shook her head. "Isn't there any kind if medicine or something you can give him?" She asked. The doctor shook his head. "I wish there was princess, but there isn't." Zelda sighed. The doctor left the room and she looked at Link again. Please wake up, She silently asked. As if by magic, Link opened his eyes. "Link! You're awake!" She said. "Zelda? What happened?" Link asked weakly. "You had a bad fall, from what I hear." Anita said from the doorway. She looked relieved as well as Zelda. "I guess I did." He said. ____________________________________________________ As soon as Link was well enough to sit up, he started asking questions. Zelda was doing her best to answer them. "How did you get rid of Ganon?" He asked. "It was the Triforce. I wished it would get rid of Ganon, and it did." She replied. Zelda was about to give Link some more details when he pulled her towards him and kissed her. -Narrator giggles at the mushy love in her story- When he pulled away, he looked at Zelda and realized she was smiling. Anita was nowhere to be found. "I've always loved you Zelda. I guess I just didn't know it." Link told her. "I think that's the way I feel about you Link." Zelda replied. I think a lot of people were happy to know that Link wasn't seriously injured or anything. (Although after what he went through I don't see how. I guess Anita, or Karin, had something to do with it.) Zelda certainly was. Link was up and walking around in maybe four or five days. Hey! Don't lose interest now! It's not the very end! I have a little more space, so sit back down! -Narrator sits reader back down in his or her chair for a little while longer- Now, we still have to talk about Jjin and Mirah. The big thing is...they secretly got married! (Shhhh! It's a secret!) You'll read more about that in the next story, so don't get ahead of yourself. To this day, Ganon (if he's still alive) can't get that darned crystal ball to work properly. He wasn't killed, just moved far away from Hyrule. See, Zelda said she wished to get rid of Ganon, instead of saying she wished Ganon was dead. So he's just in a far away country. Eeris went with hi too. Let's finish with Karin, and then Link and Zelda. Karin appeared back at her house after deciding that Link kissing Zelda was none of her business. "Karin! You're back!" Anderson exclaimed, picking her up in his arms and kissing her sweetly. "Yes, and you wouldn't believe how exciting it was!" Anderson looked at her. "Hey, where were you when I came to warn you Ganon was attacking?" Karin looked shocked. "You knew Ganon was coming? How?" She asked. "I saw his troops. So where were you?" Karin grinned. "That girl Anita, remember her?" Anderson nodded. "Well, that was me. No-one could know, though." Karin said. "How did you do that?" Anderson asked. "You remember, I'm a wizard." "Oh yeah, I practically forgot." Well, they're catching up, so let's go back to Link and Zelda... "Link..." Zelda said, looking into his eyes. "What?" He asked. "I'm glad you're okay." She said. He grinned. "So am I." He looked down at her and realized just how lucky he was. He put his hand in his pocket and smiled again. "Zelda?" He began. "Yes?" "I...um...I've wanted to do this for a long time." "What Link?" He got down on one knee. "Zelda, would you marry me?" He asked, pulling a ring out of his pocket. Zelda beamed. "You know I would!" She exclaimed. Then she pulled him down for another kiss. Well that's about it for this story. Hope you enjoyed it! The last part of the trilogy...well...I'll let you read it for yourself...