Clerk's POV:

With a sudden start, I shake myself awake and find myself sitting against a cold, hard wall with a couple of trashcans on either side of me. Scared, I carefully get up and look around before tugging on one of the sleeves of my tunic like I always do when I feel afraid. "Ma?" I call out nervously, trying to figure out where I am and where my home went. "Ma, where'd you go? Pa? Anybody?"

It's nighttime wherever I am, but the sky's really kind of murky, so I can't see the stars. The buildings on either side of me go up several floors, but looking up too far makes me dizzy, so I don't for very long. I have a headache too, it seems. All I can remember is playing by myself a little farther from my house than I was supposed to, using a stick to beat up imaginary monsters, but then a hole appeared and ate me up. It wasn't long before I blacked out after that, and I don't remember anything else until just now when I woke up.

After a minute, I take a deep breath and venture a few steps forward out of the dark space in-between the buildings, but only end up next to some path made out of black rock that has giant, noisy monsters on it with glowing eyes. Cars, or that's how some tiny part of me actually recognizes them, anyway. That's when I realize that I'm dreaming.

To tell the truth, I've dreamed of this moment at least a thousand times since it actually happened. Now that I know this is just a dream, I'm disconnected from little me. Now it's like I'm watching the memory instead of re-living it.

Little Clerk gives a cry of fear at the rolling 'monsters' and goes to hide back in the alleyway he came out of. There he stays for another hour, when suddenly, we can both start to hear something.

CRASH.

"Oh, great, Solar. Sure, let's go knocking trashcans over and letting all of Joplin know we're here. I know the Washington University Science Department over in St. Louis will appreciate your efforts to be discovered," a cold, sarcastic girl's voice grunts quietly.

Sounding a little bit embarrassed, a guy replies, "Ever-so-sorry, my dear; I tripped."

The girl snorts. "Of course you did. Hopefully the Humans'll blame it on... I dunno, urban raccoons, maybe?"

For another moment, nothing else happens, but then little Clerk leans forward in an attempt to see out of the alleyway again before giving a scared gasp.

An instant later, the girl hesitantly declares, "I'm going down this alley to check on something. I'll be right back."

The guy absentmindedly agrees and warns his companion not to get into a fight with any cats again, distracted by some car or something, probably. When I first got there, Solar was always wishing he knew how to hot-wire cars so that he could steal them. It wouldn't surprise me if some pretty sports car or classic was what was making him sound so absentminded then, but I wasn't on that end of the events, so I don't really have any way of knowing.

The one with the girl's voice works her way carefully down the alleyway and eventually chances pulling out a flashlight from the leather satchel she carries and turning it on. Little Clerk gasps with fear at her 'magic torch' and presses farther back against the wall.

Luckily for him, he's not able to hide anywhere, and the one with the flashlight sees him soon enough.

She gives a gasp of fear and turns off her light for a moment, afraid that she's been seen by a Human. Little Clerk whimpers, scared of the weird, round little monster with fluffy wings folded to her back who made light out of nowhere. The two stay silent in fear of each other, until she finally switches her flashlight back on and gives him a worried look.

"What are you doing out here, little guy? Alleyways aren't a safe place for little kids. Did you run away from home?"

The small boy shakes his head, so afraid.

After a second, the puffy 'monster' takes a careful step closer. "Do you know where your home is, buddy?"

Again, he shakes his head and manages to get out, "I'm lost."

With a gentle laugh, she comes closer again. "Well, I guessed that much. Do you know the name of your town? Do you live here in Joplin?"

Sniffling, the boy shakes his head again. "No. I live in my house with Pa and Ma. There are farms close by."

"Farms?" she whispers quietly, confused. "There aren't any farms anywhere near here." She comes closer again, right in front of the boy now. "You don't talk like someone from around here, either..."

"You're a monster," the boy finally whimpers, face still hidden in the knees he has pulled up to his chest. "'Monsters in the woods. Don't go in the woods, Clerk.' Pa was right. Monsters in the woods. The woods really are scary..."

The girl frowns at him deeply. "These aren't woods at all. There aren't any woods near here, either, unless you wanna count Forest Park over in... Clayton, I think?" Suddenly, a small smile appears on her face. "I know I look weird, but I promise I'm not a monster. I'm just a grumpy Star Warrior. Your name's Clerk, huh?"

The little boy nods and chances a look at her through teary eyes. "Clerk."

Again, the girl smiles. "Well, Clerk, my name's Sakura, and we'll try to get you home to your family." But after another pause, she frowns again. "You don't seem like a Human... your clothes are weird too..."

"What's a Human?" little Clerk asks, still scared.

Rather than answering, the Star Warrior gives him a hesitant look before reaching up one round little paw and pushing his shaggy dark-blonde-almost-brown hair back away from one ear. As soon as she does so, she gives a little gasp. "You're the Other Dimensioner we felt earlier. You're an... an Elf, right? From Hyrule?"

The kid knows the 'E' word, even if nothing else made sense to him. "Yeah. Elf. Everybody's Elves, 'cept monsters."

With a quiet laugh, Sakura shakes her head. "Not here, Clerk. Not here." She seems relieved, yet afraid. "I'm glad you're safe, but what are me and Solar going to do with an Elvin kid?" Suddenly, she looks up at him again. "Are you hungry or thirsty? Are you hurt at all?"

"Head hurts," little Clerk mutters, giving her a slightly trusting look. "Yeah, hungry and thirsty too."

She nods once and helps him up the best she can for someone quite a bit shorter than him. "Hopefully between the two of us Star Warriors, we'll be able to fly you back to our little shack of a shelter a couple hours off. There we can get you some food and water, and maybe some medicine..." She gives him a little smile. "We're going to take of you. I'm going to take care of you; I promise. Speaking of 'we,' I'd better tell Solar you've been found."

A second later, she gives a long, clear whistle that sounds just like a graceful cardinal, and someone answers from about a block away with a crow-like "CAW!" that the little guy can't help but giggle at. Even I manage a smirk. Solar never could whistle or sing. He didn't ever have even half an ounce of musical talent, as far as I know. Whenever he tried to sing, it came out as a pitchy croak, ha.

Smiling, the girl puff offers little Clerk a paw, which he cautiously takes in one hand. While they wait for this 'Solar' to show up, she gives his hand a gentle squeeze and tells him quietly, "Welcome to the Home Dimension, Clerk."

As suddenly as this memory started playing, I get yanked to a different one. It's from a little over a year later. Several other Other Dimensioners had showed up by then, but not really any other kids or any Elves. I still couldn't remember the name of the village I had come from, or what the year had been, or anything. All I knew by that point is that I was from 'The Legend of Zelda.'

Our shelter then, since it was winter, was a cave tucked into a hillside in Tennessee. As long as you stayed inside and snuggled up in a blanket or two, it was nice and warm, and, more importantly, safe. What I remember most about that shelter, though, is that it was where I learned to read.

And so it's no surprise that I quickly notice a slightly bigger Clerk curled up in a blanket with Sakura in one corner of the cavern that holds about eight Other Dimensioners, a picture book on his lap. "'Do you like my hat?'" he sounds out slowly and seriously, tracing a little hand under the words, but then giggles as he reads the next line. "'No, I do not like that hat.' 'Good-boy.'"

"Goodbye," Sakura corrects quietly, a warm smile on her face. "Good guess, though."

He makes a face, but then nods and starts reading again. "'Goodbye.' 'Goodbye!'"

Go Dog Go, if I remember right. One of my favorites back then. We had one Manga-Head who was Human-like enough to go to the local library for us as long as she wore a hooded coat and sunglasses to hide her funny head shape and huge eyes. Apparently the librarian teased her a lot for checking out a bunch of picture books every time (for me) on top of horror books (for Solar,) inspirational romance novels (for Sakura,) and comics (for her,) or so she always said. Her name was... Clairy, I think, but after more people showed up, she kinda just became another face in the crowd for me.

To tell the truth, the only person I ever really got to know that well was Sakura, except for somewhat Solar too. She was who I spent most of my time around.

The memory trip suddenly gets a lot more chaotic and random, throwing me from the cave, to the time I was eight and sick with the flu and Sakura was the one who nursed me back to health, to when I was ten and dragged a sword to her room in the abandoned hotel we were using as a shelter and asked her to teach me how to use it for the first time, to one of our swords lessons when I actually beat her in a duel, to when I was fourteen and Solar started showing back up and chatting with me occasionally like he'd never disappeared. Of course I thought it was weird that he didn't want me to tell the others that he was okay, but I never really questioned it. I mean, the guy was my friend, or so I thought. It was at least nice that he was always asking what was up and how we were all doing, how many of us there were then.

And then I memory-jump to this one time when Sakura and I were trying to find a new arrival. Since she couldn't fly me by herself, we were traveling in this ancient pickup I'd found in a junkyard and hot-wired (ha, something I can do that Solar can't.) Surprisingly, the ancient radio still worked, so Sakura was sitting in the passenger seat and switching from channel to channel whenever we were in an area without other cars and hiding by sitting on the floorboard whenever we got too close to a town or other area with any sort of traffic. Remembering this memory makes me frown. There was nothing special about that, so why'd my mind bring that up?

Some voice that sounds slightly familiar grunts in impatience, and I'm suddenly yanked to that moment just a few months ago when I ran from NYU to the subway in the pouring rain, my old, blue New York Yankees hoodie pulled up over my pointy ears. I feel a stab of guilt, but before I can really process it, I get shoved into a time years before, when I got in a shouting match with Sakura over whether I was old enough to start walking around the town nearest our shelter by myself sometimes as long as I was careful.

Like any fight between teenager and adult, it ended with her shouting "Fine!" and me shouting back "Yeah, fine, Mom!" Of course, that made us both pause.

"Are you just being all sarcastic, or?..." she asked with a frown and crossed paws, glaring up at me rather commandingly for someone who was only like a third of my size at that point. Like always when she got in a fight with someone, her wings were spread; whether as a fight-or-flight instinct or to make herself seem bigger, I've never really figured out.

"I'm not sure," I replied awkwardly, and we both laughed and ended the argument for the time being (in her favor, unfortunately.)

That was the only time I let slip like that, although I have to admit there've been several times that I've thought of her as being like a mom to me. That strange voice gives a small noise of satisfaction, and then suddenly I'm moved to that moment in the Final Battle when I got hurt and fell, but within an instant she was there and healing me.

Oh, hello again, guilt. What's that? I just keep doing more stuff to invite you to visit me? Well, shoot a boot, you're right. You might as well just move in permanently, for Shotzo's sake.

"So, it's simply obvious that she still cares about ye, dear boy, or at least she did then..." the weird voice murmurs again in almost-fascination. Now it's easy enough to recognize. Obviously, I'd know that disgusted-sounding 'dear boy' anywhere.

"What are you doing in my head?" I demand angrily, trying to push 'Solar the Second' out, but no luck. "Don't even answer that. Just get lost. I'm not doing anything else for you, no matter what you threaten. Nuh-uh."

With a dark chuckle, he disagrees, "Oh, but ye are helping me right now, boy. She still cares about ye, and ye obviously still care about her... Very useful information to have. Oh, how easy it is to get anything you want out of someone's mind when ye can just pop in via dream... I have to say, this is a very handy skill to have."

With another growl of anger, I try to kick him out of my mind again, but still no luck. "Just go away. Stay out of my life, why don't you?"

Before he can answer, someone from the real world thankfully shakes me awake. "Clerk. Clerk. Come on, get up. The Starcutter's just landed in Hyrule, and Mags doesn't want to stay long. We need to go."

Groaning, I rub a hand across my face and blearily blink my eyes open. "Sa-Sakura? Hyrule? What? Oh, duh. Right. Diplomacy mission." 

I'm leaning against a wall in one of the lower-floor halls of the Lor Starcutter, which isn't a surprise- that's where I usually end up dozing off on this ship, since I'm way too big for any of the beds, after all. Sakura stands at my side, pushing at my arm with one glove, much like the way she's always woken me up over the years.

With another sleepy groan, I sit up straighter and mutter meekly, "Good morning."

"Good evening, you mean," she corrects, no hint of jest in her tone like there would have been once upon a time. "Come on." With that, she turns around and walks off, expecting me to follow even though she's way smaller than me. Of course I do follow her, but still. She's definitely acting a lot colder toward me than she used to.

Right before we exit the ship, something crosses my mind. "Most Elves haven't ever actually seen a Star Warrior, even if you guys' existence is probably common knowledge by now. You think maybe we should use the old 'I carry you hidden in a backpack' trick?"

"Nope," she disagrees without thinking about it all that deeply and instead pulls a plain brown cloak out of her cape and puts it on around herself so all I can see is her eyes. "Elves come in all shapes and sizes in Hyrule, if the Legend of Zelda games are at all accurate, so as long as I stay in here, I won't have a problem. It's you, your hoodie, your sneakers, and your cargo shorts that'd be way more likely to get stared at."

That time, it sounded like she actually managed a bit of a smile as she spoke, but she still seems rather distant toward me. But with a nod, I agree, "You're right. As nearly always, Great Leader."

"Shut up," she actually chuckles, but quickly grows cold and serious again. "Let's go." With that she leads me out of the ship, and within a minute or so after, good ol' Captain Magolor's taken off into the wild blue yonder again.

"Too bad we have no way to stay in contact with them," I comment, only to get a disbelieving look from her directed up at me. "Well, we don't, do we? Not like you can get cell service in Hyrule or anything."

With a roll of her eyes, she tells me with a sigh, "Ever heard of magic, Clerk?"

Oh. Duh. "Well, yeah, of course I've heard of it, but I'm still getting used to it being, well, you know, a thing..." I sigh, and then remember part of why I haven't talked to her at all in so long. She's so at home here, and I'm... well, not. Sure, Nintendo World definitely beats hiding in caves and fallout shelters my whole life, but it's still weird. 

This woodsy part of Hyrule doesn't seem to have anyone in it, which is probably why Captain Magolor landed us here. Either that, or because he didn't want to explore the currently-planet-like point any more than to just land us on the beach and have us work our way into the woods from there. "Uh... Ordon Woods or Faron Woods?" I guess, trying to remember my in-game geography lessons. (Yes, those were actually a thing for me, growing up. Each new installment in the LoZ series made for more geography and history lessons. Only time you'll ever hear about kids dreading a video game's release because it means more homework, huh?)

Sakura doesn't answer my location-related quandary, just keeps plodding along quietly under the blanket of trees that block most of the beautiful purple and orange sunset. She was right, she does look sort of like some weird sort of Elf when she's cloaked like that... A weird old lady Elf, anyway, but I decide not to poke too much fun at her right now. She doesn't seem to be too happy with me, just like I've feared ever since I betrayed her and the others the first time. It's not quite as terrible as I'd always worried it would be, but it's definitely not any fun, either.

Suddenly, she pauses and glares back at me. "Just curious, but why did you help Dark Solar get ahold of the Master Crown?"

"He said he'd kill me if I didn't and wouldn't let you return to this time, just like I told Meta Knight," I remind her with a shrug and a stare at the ground. "I know, I know, better a hero's death than a coward's life... But... I dunno. I'm not good at being brave."

With a sigh, she keeps walking. "It's not that you're not good at being brave. You're very good at being brave. You're just also extraordinarily lazy at being brave."

"That doesn't even make sense, Sakura," I grunt and step over a gnarled, loopy tree root that she simply walked under. "How can someone be lazy at being brave?"

Out of nowhere, she spins around and jumps at me with her sword drawn. All I can do is yelp and cover my face, only to get another sigh in return. When I open my eyes, I see her looking up at me in disappointment, her sword sheathed again. "Like that. You don't even try to be brave. There's a dead branch right next to you that you could've used as defense. You could have ran, if nothing else. But all you did was cower. For goodness' sakes, you know I'd never hurt you, Clerk." With that, she turns around and starts walking again. 

Sighing, I stick my hands in the pocket of my hoodie and follow behind her, staring at the leaf-covered ground. Not too many of the leaves have fallen out here yet even though it's already Midautumn, but I guess that's because this area is so close to the coast. "Maybe so. But the other day with Dark Solar... Where could I have run? What could I have used to fight back against him? A candelabra?" 

"Like you said earlier, Clerk. A hero's death is better than a coward's life."

Now I'm getting a bit annoyed. "So you're saying you'd rather I'd have died, as long as Dark Solar didn't get the Master Crown?"

Again, she turns and gives me a sharp glare. "No, I'm saying that I'm very disappointed in you for always just letting him beat you around rather than trying to fight back in any way. I've seen you be very brave before, Clerk. I know you've got a hero's spirit in you somewhere. You're just really, really good at not showing it sometimes." And again, once she's finished lecturing me, she resumes marching straight ahead.

For the millionth time in the past months, guilt mopes within me again. "Yet again, you're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't keep betraying you guys, and I shouldn't keep avoiding you, but... I don't know how to make things up to you. You're the person I look up to most, even if you're tiny, and I betrayed you. How am I supposed to get you to forgive me?"

Voice gentler, she tells me as we keep walking, "I've already forgiven you, Clerk, for both messes. I just don't really trust you much anymore."

"But how can I earn that trust back?" I murmur sadly as I start to play a game of kick-the-rock with myself and a handy gray pebble I spotted in the underbrush.

It takes several minutes of silent hiking for her to answer. "To be perfectly honest, I don't really know at this point. Empowering someone to basically become the worst monster ever is a good way to permanently lose someone's trust." As she takes her cloak off just long enough to use her cape to fly over a cheerfully-bubbling stream while I hop across on a couple of rocks, she adds, "Besides which, part of me wonders if you're not really a coward and are actually working for him. It'd be believable; you and the first Solar were always a bit buddy-buddy when he was around. It'd make sense if you were persuaded to work for this Solar too."

"I only liked the first Solar until he started being a complete and total loserface, but by then I had death threats hanging over my head," I remind her impatiently. 

"The guy kinda faked his own death, really upsetting me in the process, or did you just happen to conveniently forget that?"

"I had no idea he was dead! You only ever told anyone that he was 'gone!' You're the one with the trust complex!"

Again, she spins around and glares at me, eyes flashing. Great, now I've gone and really struck a nerve. "Yeah, well, at least I wasn't so stubborn that I ended up dead because I couldn't allow myself to trust anyone or anything!"

Dumbfounded, I mutter, "What? We don't know anybody like that..."

Her expression becomes more neutral as she thinks over what I just said. "We don't? Maybe you're right... I'm not so sure who that would be after all, I guess..." With a sudden shudder, she starts walking again. "Come on. We have to get to the Castle Town."

We continue in absolute silence aside from birds and brooks for a couple miles, until I finally speak again. "You're sort of right... The fact that you were so upset about his being 'gone' should have tipped me off to the fact that he at least didn't leave on friendly terms. And the fact that he didn't want you to know that I was talking to him for years probably should have also clued me in, even before he started trying to get me to look for opportunities for him to kill you."

"You're only digging yourself a deeper hole, Clerk," she growls, obviously fed up with me. "So you were talking to him for years before you betrayed us? Great, I'm sure he was spoon-feeding you stories of how great it was to be evil that whole time. Probably promised you second-in-command if you stayed loyal or something?"

Offended, I shake my head firmly. "All he was spoon-feeding me was 'if you do this for me, I'll let you live' over and over again. You think I liked spying on you for him? He never promised me anything other than my life."

Quiet, really mad now, she replies, "And you actually believed him? Did you ever think he'd ever keep you around longer than he needed you? And what happened the second you started trying to help the other Other Dimensioners again?"

With a blush, I admit softly, "He told Snake-Lady to kill me along with you and MK."

"Exactly. And he's Meta Knight to you, not MK, bud." Irritated, she pulls her cloak tighter around herself. "I just can't believe you were that stupid."

With a glare at her, I point out, "Maybe I was just that scared. Who spent practically my whole life telling me to be afraid of everything, to always be cautious so I could stay alive and safe, huh?"

With a wince, she admits in guilt, "Me. But I honestly meant the best by that. I wanted you to be safe. Clerk... I loved you. I still love you. You're typically a really good kid, and I didn't want something terrible to end up happening to you. Maybe this is partially my fault... but you can't call me responsible for your own cowardice. I thought I'd at least taught you to stand up to your fears rather than just running from them."

"Ha, is that why we ran away every time Humans got too close to sniffing us out?"

"There's a difference between running from danger to stay safe and running because you're too scared to fight," she reminds me in a mutter, but I feel like I've made at least a bit of a point with her. "Just shut up, Clerk. You're not helping your case any."

Nodding, I do fall silent like she asked me to. I really am sorry for hurting her and anyone else, and I really do feel guilty about it. But like she just said, there's not really a way for me to make it up to her. I guess I'm just doomed to eternal guilt.

Hours pass in quiet as we slowly make our way from the Hyrule coastal forest to Castle Town. Once we finally reach the gates, it's probably past midnight again. Sakura's probably ready to fall over in exhaustion, since I'm pretty sure she didn't sleep at all yesterday, even if I did.

Since it's so late, the gates are closed. Sakura knocks on them, only to have them answered by a guard who gives us a grumpy look. "Merchants aren't allowed in till morning. Go 'way."

Rather than doing so, Sakura glares up at him and orders, "Get the Hero Link. I wish to speak to him. The situation is urgent."

The guard just snorts. "Sorry, Granny, but teh 'Ero Link don't 'ave time to be bo'hered by teh likes of ye."

Offended, she growls, "I'm not a granny, and you are going to let me in this instant, mister."

Awkwardly, I tell her, "Uh, Sakura... The point of a diplomatic mission isn't to make people mad at you..."

For the first time, the guard notices me and gives a raucous guffaw. "Granny and 'er fashion freak show coun-erpart, eh what? Get lost, teh both of ye." Again, he goes to close the little guard's door again, only to have the Cherry Star Sword suddenly pointed up at him and a winged Star Warrior (minus a cloak) giving him a highly-annoyed look.

"Oh gosh," I groan and facepalm. "Great. Just great. You and your temper. Now what's gonna happen? We should have just come back in the morning; that's what we should have done."

"Shut up, Clerk. You don't want me to 'run from my problems?' Well look, I'm not running from my problems. Maybe we'll learn something here, hmm?"

"You inn't a granny, you's a monster!" the guard gasps and runs off, slamming the guard's door behind him.

"Let's just go..." I groan, bouncing on my sneakers' toes in fear, but of course not. Sakura's got her temper up, so of course we can't just do that.

Rather than being at all logical, she flies over the walls and lets me in. "Come on. To the castle, bud."

Frightened, I stick my hands in my pockets again. "And what are we going to do there? Mug the guards if they don't let us in?"

In faked consideration, she shrugs, "Hmm... maybe. Been awhile since I've actually done any breaking and entering, so maybe we'll try that route first. Could be entertaining."

We don't even make it to the castle before a bunch of guards surround us, all with shaking crossbows and wide eyes. It's actually kinda funny to see all these guys, most of them big and burly with the exception of some bald midget with a huge nose, all so scared of one little puff. Of course, I don't blame them. I'm scared of her right now too, if only for the fact that she's gonna get us both 'deaded.'

Sakura takes a defensive stance, which actually makes Midget whimper in fear and drop his crossbow, which goes off and sends an arrow bouncing around the courtyard at perfect angles, making all the other guards start running in circles, trying to avoid it.

While Sakura and I both kinda just disbelievingly watch the chaos, someone almost silently approaches us from behind.

"Guards. What's happening?"

All of us freeze, even the arrow, which just nonchalantly falls out of the air and clatters onto the cobblestones just in front of a pair of leather boots. There in front of us stands Link himself, looking none too impressed with the Castle Town security.

"Uh... Sir Captain of the Guard Link," Midget bows, voice trembling. "We, uh, were trying to stop the monster."

With a raised eyebrow, Link kicks at the arrow in front of him, sending it rolling over once. "Whose?"

Everyone silently points at Midget, even me. Well, not everyone, I guess. Sakura just stands there silently, sword still drawn, looking over at Link.

Welp, this could all get worked out either really well or really badly, but I'm not too sure which just yet. So... I'll just get back to you later on that, folks.

Or should I say, To Be Continued. I've always kinda wanted to be able to say that, actually...

(I can't think of a very good title for this chapter, so it might change later. ^^)