The Legend of Zelda: The Fate of Hyrule

Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Link's POV

Johanna stays for a while. I teach her what she missed when she was asleep in history class. She says I'm a much better teacher. We get halfway through the book before she has to go.

"Bye, Link! Thanks for having me over. Let's do this again sometime!" She smiles at me and shuts the door behind her.

"Let's do this again sometime." I repeat her words in a whisper, making sure I heard her right. That's something people say on dates. And Johanna said that. To me.

Was that a date?

When I wake, I hear people chattering and running about. It's quite a comparison to the normally silent mornings. They must be getting ready for the festival. Today is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hero of Time's triumph against Ganon. They always make a big deal out of it, especially on big years like this. They have music, reanactments, and anything else you can think of.

"LINK!" My mom shouts from across the house. " Alan's here. Says you're supposed to help set up for the festival!"

Shoot.

I get dressed as fast as I can and am out the door in less than a minute. Alan's waiting for me. He's wearing all green, a tradition for boys on the festival. I check to make sure I remembered. Fortunately, yes. Alan looks like he's in a hurry. "Let's go," he says.

We start jogging along the path. "We were supposed to start twenty minutes ago," Alan laughs. "We're in the reanactment!"

"What?!" I shake my head. "I can't do that!"

"Don't worry. We're just rocks."

We come to the town square. Mayor Dotour stands near the fountain, giving orders. You can see he's in his "I'm trying not to strangle someone" additude. I can't blame him. Citizens are rushing to him left and right.

He sees the two of us, and his eyes widen. "You two!" He shouts across the square. "You're late! Go to the library for your costumes!"

Our costumes aren't costumes at all. Just bedsheets painted gray. Wonderful.

"Your cue is Ganon's laugh at the end of page 4. Take a look." Mrs. Buncombe, head of the town's drama club, hands us two crudely made scripts. "When you hear that, just fall down. Simple!"

Alan flips through the pages. "What do we do after that?"

She laughs. "Just stay still for the rest of the act!"

"But that's like twenty more pages!"

"Oh, honey. You don't understand. Imagine a rock just walking off the stage. Just imagine it. It would ruin the magic!"

After even more unecessary instructions from Mrs. Buncombe, we make our way back up to the square, even busier now. A not so sturdy-looking stage has been built, where a few of the actors stand. Alan and I join them. To pass some time, I watch as familar characters stroll out of the library. You can tell their costumes had a lot more work put into them. I spot a few of the seven sages, the hero, Ganon, and eventually Princess Zelda.

"Look how good their costumes are!" Alan points at a group coming onto the stage. "How come we're stuck with these crappy ones?"

"Really?" I look at him. "I'm glad we didn't get any big parts. I would probably die if I had to talk in front of that many people!"

Princess Zelda walks onstage. Her costume looks amazing, just like the pictures in my book. She wears gold, Triforce-shaped earrings and a jeweled crown around her head.

She catches me staring at her and smiles at me. It's Johanna. You can tell by her smile. She starts walking to me, but before she can go anywhere, Luke, dressed in the hero's costume, strolls onstage and puts his arm over her shoulder.

Did I forget to mention Luke? He's kind of Johanna's boyfriend.

Yeah.