Birdsong filtered through the trees, the small creatures hopping among the branches and on the ground below, pecking for seed. A blaring trumpet broke the silence, causing the birds to take flight and hide as a Skullkid danced about, sounding his instrument as he went. He turned around, hopping from one foot to the other in a playful manner as he waited for the arrival of a very important guest. "Follow Ticktock! Never lose sight of Ticktock!" he called, happily dancing about. A hand emerged from the tunnel that the Skullkid had opened, planting itself on the side of the tunnel and slowly pulling an elderly woman through. "Slow down," she said with a soft chuckle, "I'm not as young as I once was."

"Come! Come!" the spirit urged her, dancing about and scurrying forwards. The old woman sighed softly but wore a proud smile on her face as she moved along, taking her time to move along the ruins of the temple and make her way down to the bottom level where the child was headed. Ticktock came to a stop, standing before the two motionless sentries that guarded the doorway into the Master Sword's sanctuary. The old woman gradually made her way forward until she was standing next to the spirit, placing her hand on his shoulder and smiling down at him. He looked back up at her as she reinforced a gentle pat upon him, stretching out with her other hand. "Va'sar," she commanded, causing the door to glow brightly and open the way before them. She lowered her hand, spent and exhausted; even the smallest effort of invoking the ancient language forced her to use a great deal of strength. Ticktock took her hand gently and lost his playful nature, guiding her forward with a slow, patient gait. They climbed each step, careful not to slip on any of them as they moved beyond the grove's grounds and into the sanctuary. The mists dispersed as the pair moved deeper, heading straight for the pedestal containing the Master Sword. Ticktock stopped just before the blade, looking up slowly at the old woman. She smiled back at him, "Thank you, old friend." The child giggled and beamed at her, pleased with himself. The elderly took a moment to gaze at the blade, smiling fondly as the memories began to roll in: she had been present when Link had finally placed the blade back into the sheath, ending his role as the Chosen Hero of the Twilight Era and turning back to live a life of peace with her. "Such fond memories," she said softly to herself, trailing off as she reflected on her life with Ticktock at her side.

A great light appeared above the sword, causing the two to look up and spot the spiritual sages materializing before their eyes. "Have you reached a decision, Maiden?" one of the sages asked.

The woman nodded, "It's time." Ticktock gripped her hand protectively, causing the elderly to look down at him with a soft smile. "It's okay, Ticktock," she assured him, "I'm not leaving you behind; you're going to come with me."

"Mom and me are going on an adventure?" the Skullkid asked, receiving a nod from the woman. "That's right," she replied, "we've been given quite an honor, and you get to stay with me as long as you like." Ticktock looked very pleased and jumped excitedly, his hand still clasped around hers. The woman looked back to the sages, "The decision was made long ago, not long after my husband passed away; he always knew I was destined for more than just saving the world from evil." She looked beyond the pedestal, spying the clean grave buried beyond. She smiled; the Chosen of Hyrule would forever remain encased in her symbolic blue crystal, the corpse never aging or decaying and providing the next ancient spirit that would guide the next Chosen yet to come.

The sages looked to her, "Long ago it was your greatest fear to fail, and to be forgotten by those you loved. If that fear still dwells within your heart, we will honor your wish of returning to the village you covet and living out your last days there. You need not fill the shoes of one long-passed from this age, as you have more than earned the right to your chosen lifestyle."

The woman smiled softly and shook her head, "I am too old to worry about being 'forgotten'. I am only human, and eventually we are all forgotten."

"Have you left anything left undone that you desire to be completed, Maiden?" the sages inquired, leaving the elderly to smile more broadly, "I have fulfilled all that I set out to do, great sages, and although my name will disappear from memory when I go for the last time, I know that my lineage will live on in the hearts of my great-grandchildren. Even that lil' old history book of mine won't make much sense to them, since they'll forget my name, but that doesn't matter to me since I've given them a life ahead of them to look forward to. They don't need to remember me in order for me to know that they will thrive."

Ticktock looked up at her, "Does...Mom want me to stay behind and watch over them? They're so fun to play with..." The woman got onto her knees shakily and placed her hands on the spirit's shoulders. "Would you rather stay and play with them, Ticktock? I don't want you to feel as if you're leaving your friends behind; I know that the youngest has the strongest bond with you, and if you leave, he may not remember you. I want you to be happy, dear one," she said softly. The Skullkid lowered his head in thought before shaking it and climbing into her arms, holding to the woman tightly.

"No," he said, "I'm going with Mom. I want to go home." She smiled softly and closed her eyes, rising up with the child in her arms and addressing the sages once more. "I will answer the call once again," she said, "however that duty...I don't know if I'm worthy of filling it. It just seems so...grand."

"No stature is too grand for the Maiden of Fate," said one of the sages as the others nodded with them, "and most certainly not the role as the Sage of Water; you would be more than gladly-accepted into our ranks, and we readily await your presence among us." The woman nodded and shifted Ticktock in her arms, bringing out the Tenebrous Crystal to hold in her palm.

"Before I go through with this," she said, "there is one more thing that I need to do...something that may prove useful in one way or another, but ultimately I cannot separate myself from; it is my duty to carry the powers of darkness as the Avatar of Darkness along with me." The sages nodded and raised a hand out towards the woman as she raised the Crystal into the air. Ticktock floated out of the woman's arm as the powers of the sages rallied around the Crystal, causing the old woman to stand in awe as the artifact planted itself on her forehead and embedded comfortably, sending warmth through her. As the darkened blue crystal merged with her, her body began to undergo dramatic changes, transforming her body and receding the damage time had done to her. Her hair became long and golden, two long blue strands hiding within her bangs. The white robes of the spirit beasts clothed her and etched the symbols of the Zoras along the fabric. An arm bracer with the engravings of the Zoras appeared on her left arm, and loose jewelry formed where once tainted dark jewelry had been. When the transformation was done, both the girl and Ticktock marveled at the changes.

The woman looked at herself and faced the sages as they addressed her once more. "Maiden of Fate, you have been chosen as the Sage of Water, filling in the temporary role of Queen Rutela and solidifying it with your presence. As you have become an entity beyond mortality, this plane of existence will no longer house you as it once did before, and so the Sacred Realm is where we must go now."

The new Sage smiled warmly and breathed out; it was time to leave. She looked to Ticktock and reached out to him, allowing the child to take her hand. "Let's go home," she said, grinning as the Skullkid giddily danced in the air and landed once more, taking her hand and hobbling forward as a staircase formed before them.

Silver laughter of joy rang out from the Sage of Water as she moved on from Hyrule with the Skullkid to keep her company in the Sacred Realm, the both of them moving steadily up the staircase of light until they vanished without a trace and left the timeline intact.

◼~~~~~~l~~~~~♦~~~~~~l~~~~~~~♦~~~~~~~~l~~~~~~~~◼~~~~~~~~l~~~~~~~♦~~~~~~l~~~~~~~◼

In another place, in another time

"Jacqueline? Hey, Jacqueline!"

I blinked and looked away from the beautiful sunset. "Hmm? Sorry, I didn't catch that," I said, slightly flustered that I hadn't noticed Thomas' numerous attempts at getting my attention. My best friend chuckled, "Don't tell me that you fried your brain picking up all the garbage on the highway, or did you ever have that many brain cells to begin with?"

He laughed as I feigned a punch in his direction, my arm swinging as I grinned, "You'd know that from personal experience, wouldn'cha?" After we had a few short moments of fun I planted my hands back down on the bench and looked back to the view. I had just finished another day of community service and was enjoying a calm and relaxing evening with Thomas at a park that stood on the hill of my neighborhood, overlooking the rest of the complex and watching the lights of the house begin to outshine the last rays of the sun before twilight began to fall. The breeze was pleasant and I inhaled deeply with a smile; only one more week before my sentence was cleared and I could go back to a normal life.

"Nah," I finally replied to my best friend, "I just had a little on my mind is all. Daydreaming, y'know?"

"I'll say," Thomas agreed, "you've had so much on your plate ever since I was in the hospital and even after they checked me out! It's incredible you're not stressed out from the student loans and the hours you put into community service!"

I smirked, "They are a pain in the ass, but you know something? For some reason, I feel like things could be a helluva lot worse; I'm just not sweating the small stuff. What's more is that you're out of bed and back to your old self, and that was the biggest hurdle for me." I leaned back until my spine gently made contact with the bench and I watched as the sun began to sink deeper and deeper into the horizon. "So what were you daydreaming about?" Thomas asked, breaking the silence.

"I dunno," I replied, "I guess I was dreaming about flying--well, no, not just flying; there were monsters too, but I totally kicked their asses in my dreams! Castles, temples, magic, just weird random shit!"

The brunette smirked, "Been listening to the nerds next door? They keep getting angry at their Dungeon Master or whatever and lose their dice all the time! Found a weird twenty-sided one in the grass the other day!"

"They make those? That's gotta be rough on the gamers," I commented with a smirk. "I honestly don't know why I dream about that stuff, but I don't really mind it at all; it's a nice change from the restless nights I had running from the cops." My hand fished in my jacket pocket and pulled out the mysterious blue stone I'd gotten months ago, inspecting it briefly before putting it away. Thomas hunched over, folding his hands together. "Hey, Jack."

"What's up, Thomas?"

He looked over to me with a somber look, reluctant at what he was about to say. "Listen, Jack," he said, "my application got accepted; the letter came a few days ago, giving me detail as to what's expected of me. My job's going to start up in a short while, and it's going to take me out of Nebraska and across the States. I'll be moving away soon..."

"...Oh," I said, hunching over to come level with him, "I...didn't know that."

Thomas combed his hair with his fingers, scratching the back of his head bashfully. "I--I didn't know how to tell you. You've gone through so much and worried while I was in the hospital all this time, and I honestly didn't expect the company to accept my application, but they did! Everyone's happy for me except, well, me."

"I'm happy for you too, Thomas," I said, causing him to look at me. I smiled, "So what if you have to go out of state for your job? That doesn't mean we won't see each other again, right?"

The young man grimaced, "I don't know, Jack; we won't be able to hang out as much as we did before, and I don't know what to expect from this company! They've always been a trustworthy organization to get in touch with, according to the Yelp reviews and the feedback ratings."

"What was it called again? Something that good may be too good--not that I'm trying to cast a shadow on your chances at a neat job," I said. Thomas smiled, "It's a global company called 'Golden Triune' and they're saying I'm the cream of the crop of applicants that they've been looking for; there was a sudden dive in the stocks and they need someone to help bring them back up before they go bankrupt. The world really needs their support, and if it were to crumble...well, it'd be bad news all around!"

I grinned, "Sounds like you're the perfect hero for the job, then! Nobody can crunch numbers and math like you can, not to mention budget like a hermit!"

Thomas smirked, "Yeah, well, I don't think I'm anything like a 'hero', Jackie; that sounds way too grand for this. It's just a corporation."

I leaned forwards on the bench, straightening up to look at him sincerely, "I don't think that's true at all, Thom! In fact, I think you'd make a fantastic hero in some other alternate world, if there was one!" Thomas looked at me in a stunned manner, the wonder in his blue eyes spreading a comforting warmth through my heart. "Really?" he asked me, "what sort of hero do you think I'd be?"

"I can see you being the main hero that brings that corporation to victory, Thomas; some gallant knight that fights for good and never turns his back on his friends!" I looked to him and winked, "And of course you'd need a sidekick or a guide, which is me!"

Thomas smiled fondly, "I wouldn't choose anyone else as my partner, Jacqueline, but again, my job's taking me across the country! If my sidekick wasn't at my side, I don't know what I'd do; you always make things seem brighter and more adventurous than how I see them."

I shrugged, "I don't see any problems with travel; I've been thinking of moving on from my parents and Fremont for a while now, and all I'd need to do is transfer my college credits to another spot where you work and then just pick up where I left off! Who knows; I might find a job around the area and we'll find a way to keep in touch!" Thomas' eyes flashed with alarm, "It'd be expensive to move your things, Jack, and the travel--are you sure you'd be able to make the trip?"

"Thomas, please, don't sweat the small stuff!" I said, blowing a wet raspberry out of my lips in a carefree manner, "It's not like I'm the first person to do this, yeah? Loads of people have had it worse, and there's been bigger trouble that I've faced than a little move!"

Thomas grinned, "You'd know more about getting into trouble than anyone else, wouldn't you?"

I aimed a thumb at my chest, puffing it out with pride, "That's me: Jacqueline, trouble-extraordinare!"

"And I wouldn't have her any other way," Thomas said, his cheer rejuvenated and his fears quenched as he grabbed me in a hug and started messing my hair. I protested, squealing and shoving his face as we both laughed and broke free. I smoothed out my hair and chuckled at him, seeing him smiling warmly back at me. "I'll talk things over with my parents and see if they can pitch in and help me," I said, "since I should get a move on before you actually leave Fremont. The less I linger around the neighborhood, the less I have to worry about what I can't change." Thomas stood and put a hand on my shoulder, nodding, "I understand, Jacqueline, and I'll be there right next to you to help you in whatever way I can." I took his hand and held it affectionately, warmth spreading through me and a missing piece in my heart fitting into place.

"Ready to head out, partner?" Thomas asked, and I grinned, "Right behind you, partner!" He took his hand in mine and gripped it firmly, the both of us making our way back down to the neighborhood to get ready for a new life and adventure ahead of us.