The Legend of Zelda - Banished Hero (Coming Soon)

A/N: Name is subject to change :)

The Legend of Zelda

Banished Hero

It's years before the terrible reign of the King of all Evil. Ganondorf still resides "peacefully" in the desert. The King of Hyrule still has control over the kingdom, and the princess Zelda is still a small girl. Castle town’s biggest problem is a homeless boy who's cunning enough to take the merchants' food right out from under their noses, and nobody knows this boy is the hero meant to save Hyrule in the future.

It's the golden age in the lands of Hyrule, and Princess Zelda meets the ten year old theif without a home after sneaking out of the castle one night. She knows all too well that her father is having trouble with the boy, and so, just despite the King, she befriends him.

The Princess makes a point of bringing food from the castle to him every night, knowing they have plenty to spare in the castle kitchen, so the boy doesn't have to steal anymore. Soon, the towns people begin to think that the theivery has stopped, and all seems well in Hyrule Castle Town. Then, something awful happens.

One night, a terrible storm is raging. The boy is hiding out in a sheltered alley, with the food Zelda had left for him tucked safe and dry under his shirt. That night, that awful night, Zelda's mother quickly grows terribly sick. At first, no one is worried. They have the right food with the right healing properties for the Queen stored in the kitchen, and plenty of it. When they go to get it, they are quite shocked to find the stock of food diminished down to the last few. It wasn't enough to save the Queens life.

This was the food that Zelda gave to the boy in castle down, some of which he still had tucked into his shirt as he tried to keep warm and dry. After hours of the sickness, the Queen slips into a comatose state. Not long after, the castle guards find the boy in the alley; they find the food he has. They take him to the King.

Knowing the boy's past, the King quickly accuses the young boy of sneaking into the castle to steal the food. At first the boy protests - he didn't steal it - but when the King asks him where he did get the food, the boy remembers his promise to the Princess not to tell anyone that she left the castle at night.

So he lies. He tells the King he did steal it.

Maybe things wouldn't have gone so wrong if the Queen hadn't died that night. The boy is shackled and thrown into the cold, damp, dark dungeon for days, until the people and the King can decide what to do with him. Princess Zelda visited him every night he was there. She told him she was sorry, over and over again. He told her she had nothing to be sorry for. Her kindness had kept him alive, he was returning the favor - it was the least he could do. She had nothing to be sorry for.

Finally, a decision is made. The boy is held at fault for the Queen's death. A town meeting had been held. The villagers already hate him for taking their food. Most women argued that he was just a boy; that they couldn’t do that to him. The Princess was a child, but she still got a say in to her father. She didn't blame the boy, she blamed herself, though she didn't tell him the last part. She would have voted in the boys favor, but her vote didn't count. She told her father as much. He did nothing. The vote barely took against the young boy's favor, but it was enough.

On the fifth day after the Queen’s death, the boy was banished from the lands of Hyrule. By the sixth day, he was gone. No one ever saw him again.

No one but the Princess missed the boy. She missed his courage. His smile. She felt guilty - for her mother’s death, for the boy’s banishment - for seven years.

That's when Ganondorf reared his ugly head.

With no one there to stop him, the King was forced from the throne. Zelda disappeared. And the boy, long since gone, knew nothing about what was happening in his home lands.