Welcome.

Disclaimer: The setting of Hyrule, and LoZ in general, as well as the characters Link, Navi, the Sages, the Deku Tree, Zelda, the Great Fairies, and the various races in general, belong to Nintendo. This is well-known to anyone reading on this site. Obviously. Anyhow, the characters Fire, Fae, Leron, Artemis, and…er…future characters as yet unmentioned are mine.

This is one of two Zelda fanfics I'm working on – I've got more of this one written than the other, so I'm just posting some of this one to begin with.

FYI: This story's cast is almost entirely OCs. Link himself does not make any appearance (although he is mentioned) in this story. The main character, Fire, from whose POV this story is told, fills the vacancy left by Link – essentially, he is the new Link for a new LoZ tale, but does not adopt the name.

I hope you enjoy. Other Zelda fanfics you may like better than mine are done by Rose Zemlya – Legend of Zelda: The Return and Legend of Zelda: Reconciliation. Both of them are better than the majority of published works in terms of story content and the greatness with which they are told. Anyway, now for my summary-intro-thing.

Summary: When Fire, a LoZ (especially OoT) fan on summer break after his first year of college, tries to play Ocarina of Time, strange things start to happen. He soon finds himself in the Lost Woods, 75 years after the events of OoT, chosen by the goddesses as the new Hero. Partnered with a purple fairy named Fae, he is forced to reluctantly step into Link's shoes, which he finds to be much more difficult than playing a game. The world is a lot bigger and scarier than the depiction on the screen, and with only the Triforce and a devoted fairy friend as his guide, he sets forth to uncover the threat to Hyrule he has been sent to eliminate.

Mostly OC cast, Fire's POV.

Finally, a note on the chapter titles. Each chapter has two titles: one about Fire, and the other about Fae. Oh, yeah, and the fact that the descriptor says Romance…yeah, I think it'll become obvious who the romantic partners are in the first chapter, if you can't already guess just from the summary and the title of the story.

And so, it begins.

-

One: From Home to Hyrule, or The Fey…and Fae

My name is Alex Blacks. Not that I ever have gone by that name. I go by the nickname Fire. I don't remember when I got that nickname, or why. I like it, though. Better than my real name. I think when I move out on my own I'm going to legally change it. "Fire Blaze" or something. Yeah, that would work.

Of course, that's assuming I ever get the chance to move out on my own. I'm on my own now, but … well, it's a really complicated story. I'll start at the beginning.

I had pretty much always liked The Legend of Zelda, ever since I first found Ocarina of Time in a game rental store back when I was the same age as young Link – eleven. Back then, I found the game so hard; and I definitely needed a strategy guide for the Water Temple. That thing was hard. Really hard. The graphics were excellent for the times. I wince a little now, but my vision is colored by my memories, so it doesn't seem too bad. The game isn't so hard anymore, either. Still, it is my favorite Zelda game. Why, I'm not quite sure. But who cares, really?

So when one fine summer day after my college freshman year I decided to pull out the old N64 and plug it into the TV, I picked good old O-o-T to be the first game I'd play. For some reason, though, the system wouldn't turn on when I flipped the switch that day. In retrospect, that probably should have been my first clue that something weird was going on. Instead, I panicked because I thought that the thing might be broken.

"Why won't you turn on?" I whispered quietly, flipping the switch several more times. My eyes were wide with fear. "Turn on!" I checked all the wires and tried again. Nothing. "Please don't be broken!" I pleaded with the game system. "Trying to buy another Nintendo 64 in this year will be way too hard; I'll have to try eBay or something!" I reached to remove the game. It wouldn't budge.

"What?" I tugged on it harder. Was I going to lose the game too? No! I collapsed on the floor beside the TV and buried my face in my hands. Two forms of hysteria were fighting for dominance – tears and screams. The tears won out.

"No! I…why? This can't be happening…" I sobbed. For several minutes I, an eighteen-year-old college boy (I skipped a grade), cried over the loss of my favorite game and the system I play it on. A part of my mind was glad that my parents were off elsewhere. I didn't want to be seen like this. I probably looked like a little kid.

Eventually, I looked up. The system, which I had left in the on position, suddenly blinked the light on. Switching my gaze immediately to the TV, daring to hope, I blinked away my tears. The screen stayed blue. No picture, no sound. Nothing.

I glanced back at the 64. I'm not really sure how to describe what I saw. It looked like the consol and the game were…melding. The game sunk down into the consol, and the 64 started to change shape slightly. I couldn't really tell what was happening, it was all sort of hazy. The one thing I was sure of was the light – it started blinking rainbow colors. I felt the wind begin to blow…which made no sense, since I was in the basement. I blinked as the wind shifted and blew into my eyes. When I opened them, I could see a golden hand touching the back of my left hand – I'm left-handed, like Link. But why a golden…suddenly I wasn't thinking about the golden hand. A searing pain leapt from my hand and rushed throughout my body. I hadn't felt pain like this since the time I wrecked my bicycle on that gravel road down that one hill. Incidentally, that was the only time I had passed out before. I proceeded to do so again.

*

When I woke up, I didn't have what everyone always writes about in their stories. I didn't have that moment of confusion and disorientation where I couldn't remember what happened or where I was. No, I came awake with a start with full brain function. I still didn't know what happened or where I was, but I did remember what I had perceived to happen back in the basement. I say "back in the basement" because I was quite clearly not in the basement any longer. Instead, I was lying flat on my back in the grass, staring up through a canopy of trees at the blue skies above. Definitely not my basement.

After lying there for a minute or two, trying to figure out what the blazes had happened, I gradually stood up. I had to brush my blond hair out of my eyes. Wait – blond hair? I'm a brunet! Then I remembered that I had been planning to dye my hair flame red, so I had bleached it. Looking down at myself, I discovered that I was all in one unbroken piece, wearing the same blue jeans, brown T, and grey sneakers I had been wearing earlier. I didn't hurt anywhere, which was really strange. If I was in enough pain to pass out, I would expect to still be hurting. I studied the back of my hand. There was a strange shapeless bruise in the center of it, covering about half of my hand. I poked it gently, but it felt normal. Weird.

Well, I might as well take in my surroundings, I said to myself. No point in panicking now. This definitely wasn't a dream – it felt too real – but it was so far removed from any reality I had ever known that the part of me that would be freaking out about being alone in the middle of a forest without a clue as to where I was didn't bother acknowledging the situation. If it made any kind of logical sense, I'd probably snap and lose my head. As it was, though, my subconscious didn't think it was real, even while my consciousness did. How's that for oddness?

A forest, I concluded redundantly. A deciduous forest, I remedied. A deciduous forest, during the daytime, with a warm temperature, I added. Just where am I? I wondered. I randomly chose a direction and began walking. Standing here wasn't going to help anything. I might as well look for something or someone to help me figure out where I was.

I had been walking for scarcely a half hour when I heard some kind of commotion. It sounded like someone was running through the underbrush at top speed, either chasing or being chased. I turned my head toward the sound as it got closer and stopped walking. Probably stupid, but the little part of me that told me when I was being reckless was apparently having a sleepover with the panicky part. I spotted a small purple glowing orb rushing through the trees, straight toward me.

It smacked into my chest, which nearly made me stumble from the impact, and I reached out my hand to catch it as it fell. Now that I could see it close up, I could tell that it wasn't an orb at all, but a purple aura surrounding a small purple-skinned, purple-haired, purple-clothed girl with transparent wings. Immediately, I recognized what it was. It was the right size, after all, and had looked like a glowing orb from a distance. This was a fairy.

The girl, who, if ages for fairies are anything like ages for humans, looked like she was around my age or maybe a little younger, pushed herself up to her hands and knees. She was breathing hard. I could hear her tiny breaths and see her body shaking. She looked like she was about to collapse. Struggling to stand, she turned her face toward me. Her exquisite features showed absolute panic. My heart went out to her.

Then the boy came crashing into my sight. He was thirteen or fourteen, wearing a loose T and what seemed to be leather pants. In his right hand he had a large glass bottle, and in his left was a cork stopper. My mind flashed back to Link in the fairy fountains. It was obvious what he was trying to do.

He stopped short and stared at me, surprised. Noticing the fairy still half-standing in my hand, he grinned and stepped forward. I took a step back and held the fairy closer to me. He cocked his head at me, puzzled. Then he said, "Could you just hand me the fairy? I've been chasin' it for several hours now. "

"No," I said firmly.

"But I got first claim!" he protested.

"I'm not letting you put this fairy in a bottle," I responded.

This appeared to confuse him. "Why not?" he demanded. "That's what you do with captured fairies. It's perfectly normal. I've got quite a collection already. Purple's one of the colors I'm missing." He took another step forward, getting a little excited. "See, the different colors have different powers," he explained. Why on earth was he telling me this? "Pink is the most common, adventurers use them all the time 'cause they have healing powers. Yellows can see the weaknesses of any living or undead thing. Greens can read any language and see in the dark. Blues are really rare; they have the powers of yellows and greens. Oranges…well, I don't know much about them, although I'm told that the Great Fairies are really oranges that learned to use their powers to the max. And then there's purples, which I also don't know much about. Anything, really. So you understand why I need that fairy."

I glanced down at the fairy girl. I could see in her little violet eyes, she was pleading with me. I had made my decision. I looked back up to the boy, who was watching me expectantly, and slowly shook my head.

"No. I don't care about your collection. This fairy is scared to death of you. I'm not handing her over. Don't you care about what the fairies feel? They aren't objects. They're people!"

"The pink ones actually like it in the bottles, you know," he told me.

"Well, this purple one doesn't, so leave her alone," I replied hotly.

"Look," he began, "this fairy is going to be part of my collection –"

I glared murderously at him and interrupted. "No she isn't!"

"What are you going to do to stop me?" he asked.

"Whatever I have to," I growled. I meant it, too.

He frowned. "Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Fire," I answered. "Fire Blaze. And if you don't want to get burned, you'll get the 'force out of here right now." 'The 'force?' I didn't know why that popped into my head, but it sounded less vulgar than the two other options that I'd heard at school. I'm guessing 'force is short for Triforce, since I'm obviously in the Zelda world, probably Hyrule, judging on what's happened so far. I took a step toward him.

It was a bluff, obviously. While I was perfectly willing to fight him to protect the little fairy, the truth was that I would probably lose. I was not exactly the paragon of athleticism. He was convinced, thank goodness, and he laughed nervously. I took another step, this time beginning to mumble what hopefully sounded like an incantation under my breath. I sure hoped that they had magic spells in this world…the only ones I knew of were the ones given to Link by the Great Fairies. The kid turned and ran.

I waited until he was out of sight and then sighed. Phew, I pulled it off. That was close.

The fairy in my hand sat down, legs together and toes pointed at me, and leaned back on her hands to prop herself up. Her breathing had slowed, and she looked incredibly relieved. She smiled at me gratefully.

"Thank you," she said in a beautifully musical voice, like a bell. Maybe like a bell is a bad description, since her voice didn't tinkle. It was better than a bell. It was kind of high-pitched like a bell, though.

"N-no problem," I stammered in response, returning the smile. I think my subconscious has started waking up. The amazingness of the situation had started to hit home. I was in, most likely, Hyrule. I was holding a fairy in my hand. I was talking to said fairy, having just saved her life. And I was in the middle of a forest, with no idea how to get out. My panicking portion went into overdrive, but it was mugged by the fanboy in me. My brain was having trouble functioning. If something didn't drag it out of the rut it was in, my head was going to explode.

"My name is Fae," she offered. I grabbed onto that as a foundation. A solid fact – the fairy's name is Fae. "It is nice to meet you, Fire."

"The pleasure is all mine," I returned. I was pretty sure that wasn't true – she was probably pretty glad to still be uncaptured – but I was definitely glad to meet her. The little purple fairy in her little purple shorts and shirt closed her eyes briefly and smiled some more.

"I can feel that you are special," she pronounced suddenly. She lay down on her side and reached over and touched the bruise on the back of my hand. I felt a tingling sensation.

"I don't know about that," I said. "Actually, there's a lot of things I don't know. Where are we?"

Fae turned to look at me and rolled up into a sitting position again. My arm was starting to get tired holding her there. I found a large rock and sat down on the ground in front of it, setting her gently down onto the rock so I could still look at her. She raised an eyebrow.

"You don't know?" she asked me. I shook my head.

"We're in the Lost Woods."

I stared at her for a few seconds, allowing that to sink in. All right, I was definitely in Hyrule, or at least its outskirts. I was also in one of the most dangerous areas for an outsider to be. Stories said (or at least that annoying little Kokiri girl said) that strangers in the Lost Woods would wander until they died and turn into Stalfos. My panic started rising again.

She must have noticed, because she fluttered over to me and looked me in the eye. "Don't worry," she reassured, "nothing will happen to you. You're with me, a fairy from the Woods. That boy is in much greater danger if he doesn't find a Lost Passage out."

Her words calmed me, but I couldn't resist asking, "What's a Lost Passage?"

She flew back to the rock and sat down. "It is a concealed magical passageway that connects the Lost Woods to another part of the world. There are many of them, and they lead all over Hyrule, and even some places beyond Hyrule." She put her tiny hands in her lap and looked upward.

I remembered about the warp passages in a few places in the game. That must be what she was talking about. I studied the fairy as she stared at the clouds through the leaves above. I had never really given much thought to what the fairies looked like when I had played the games. The Great Fairies were pretty ugly, no matter which game, and I thought the cartoon fairies of Wind Waker looked ridiculous. I preferred the glowing balls of light; I sometimes thought that they must look more detailed than just glowing balls with wings, but I never wondered what they looked like. Now, however, I couldn't help but feel that my ignorance had lessened my appreciation for them.

Fae was…well, beautiful. There was really no other word that described her so well, except perhaps exquisite. Her wavy purple hair fell down just past her shoulder blades. She was shapely and delicate-looking, as if she was some glass figure sculpted with care. Her chest was smaller (obviously I'm talking about proportions, or this would be unnecessary to say) than that of many girls I knew, but she wasn't flat. Her legs were long and, like the rest of her, beautiful. Her arms were perfect and delicate. Her face was smooth-featured, and her eyes seemed like gems. Her skin looked (and felt, as I remembered from holding her) smooth. Yet somehow, I sensed that despite her delicate appearance, she had great inner strength and that her body was much sturdier than it looked. I wondered if all fairies were as beautiful as her.

…Am I falling for a fairy?!

I thought about it.

Maybe I was.

I needed to get my mind on something else.

"Um…Fae?" I said at last.

She looked tilted her head back down to look at me. "Yes?" she replied.

"Can you take me to some place where there are other people – I mean other people my size?" I asked.

"Of course," she said simply. She seemed so calm and happy and peaceful. She was smiling again. "Where do you want to go?"

"Hm…" I hesitated, thinking. Where did I want to go? Kokiri Forest? They were all kids, not exactly my size, but it would certainly be interesting. Kakariko Village? That seemed the most normal place. The Castle Town? Medieval-ish city…that had the potential for a lot of bad, but also a lot of good. Lon Lon Ranch? Mm…nah. Goron City? Not my size. Zora's River? Well…I can swim, but not that well. Gerudo Valley? Heh – yeah, right. I'd get killed. That was pretty much everywhere in Ocarina of Time. I was guessing this was based on the Ocarina of Time version of Hyrule, since that game had sent me here. But really, there had to be some other settlements somewhere for Hyrule to be a substantial country. Then again, maybe it wasn't a substantial country, just an important one.

"Wherever is closest, whether by walking or Lost Passage," I said finally.

"Kokiri Forest it is, then," she declared. "But may I rest a little bit longer? I'm still rather tired."

"Go right ahead, Fae," I said quickly. "You deserve some time to recuperate after being chased like that. Stupid kid."

She smiled at me again. Man, she's even prettier when she smiles. … No! Mustn't think like that!

"Thank you, Fire." She leaned back and fell over onto her back on the rock and closed her eyes, arms outstretched. So small, yet so….no, no, no! Think about something else! Falling for a fairy is a stupid, stupid, stupid idea.

I sat there in silence for about ten minutes, lost in my thoughts, which I successfully kept on things other than the fairy. How did I get to Hyrule? What was that golden hand? Why am I in Hyrule? What's that bruise on my hand? What from the games is true and what is false? Am I going to live? What are the Kokiri really like? Am I in the same time as Ocarina of Time? Will I meet Link?

"Hey Fae," I said suddenly. "Will you tell me a story? A true story or a legend. I think I may have come in through a Lost Passage from somewhere outside of Hyrule, and I want to know whether what I've been taught about this place is true or not."

"A legend? Why not just what is right now?" she questioned.

"Well…because I know a story, and I'm not sure if it's about the past, the present, or the future."

She sat up, interested. "Really? That is unusual. What is the story?"

I sighed and leaned against the rock, facing away from the purple girl. "Link, the Hero of Time," I said, "lived among the Kokiri as a child, but he had no fairy to be his partner. One day, after a night full of nightmares, a blue fairy named Navi came to him to be his partner. She told him the Great Deku Tree had summoned him. When he spoke to the great guardian, he learned that an evil man had placed a curse of the kindly spirit. Sword and shield in hand, he entered the tree and broke the curse, slaying the great Queen Gohma. Sadly, however, the tree still died, and Link was made to leave the forest, with only his good friend Saria to see him off.

"He broke into Hyrule Castle and met with the Princess Zelda, who was a child like him, and who instructed him to collect the sacred stones. He had one, that of the Kokiri. So, he went and aided the Gorons, whose best rock cavern had been taken over by Dodongos, and received their stone. Then, he entered into the fish Jabu Jabu and saved the Princess Ruto of the Zora, receiving the Zora's Sapphire in return. Excited, he returned to go to Zelda. With her aid, the Ocarina of Time, and the Stones, Link was going to get the sacred Triforce before the evil man, King Ganondorf of the Gerudo.

"But Ganondorf chased Zelda away, and it was all she could do to give him the Ocarina and a tune to play. Opening the gateway in the Temple of Time, he drew the Master Sword, blade of evil's bane. It sealed his too young body and spirit for seven years, however, and Ganondorf seized the Triforce. Unexpectedly, it split into three – Power for the King, Wisdom for the Princess, and Courage for the Hero.

"Seven years later, the Hero awoke, and with the aid of Zelda disguised as a Sheikah man named Sheik, he freed the temples of Hyrule from the clutches of evil and rescued the sages – Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru. Rauru dwelt in the sacred realm, and Zelda was the seventh sage. Along the way he obtained magic from the Great Fairies. When she revealed her identity, Ganondorf snatched her away, and Link chased him to his dark tower. He battled the King, who upon death became the monster Ganon, only to be defeated once more and sealed away. Zelda took the Ocarina, and sent the Hero, who had learned to travel through time during his journey, back to his childhood one last time. Then he laid the sword to rest and Navi flew away to places unknown."

Wow, I didn't think the story would take that long to tell. Maybe I should have summarized the kid years, too.

"That has a lot of detail," Fae remarked after a long pause. "Except for the going back in time at the end of it, that story is true. It took place about seventy-five years ago."

I turned to her. "So, everyone from that story is dead now?"

She looked hesitant. "Not everyone."

"Who's still alive?" I asked, surprised.

"Well, Ganon is still sealed away," she answered, "and the Great Fairies are still around. The new Deku Tree, which sprouted when Link was saving the world, is still alive. Nobody knows whether Navi is still alive or not; on the day the Hero died, she left Hyrule."

"How long do fairies live?" I wondered.

"It varies. Anywhere from fifty to a hundred and fifty. The Great Fairies are getting old, since they weren't exactly young during the Hero's time."

"What about you? How old are you?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Not that old. I'm sixteen. I will probably live into my eighties or so."

I covered my laugh with my hand. "I didn't mean you looked old!" I choked. "I thought you looked around my age and was curious. I'm eighteen, by the way."

"Oh," she said, her slight frown turning into a grin. We both laughed aloud. Wow, her laugh is enchanting… when we get to Kokiri's Forest, I'm going to have to find out if she's typical of fairies or not.

"Well, I'm finished resting," she said, standing up and jumping into the air. "Follow me."

I traipsed through the woods after the purple light as the sky grew darker beyond the canopy. It was probably around sunset when we finally came upon a clearing and I realized I was looking at the village of the Kokiri. All the houses were carved, or perhaps grown, out of trees. There was a stream running through. Ladders went up to the taller houses, and bridges crossed through the air. It was relatively free of underbrush. There were a number of green-clad children running around, generally having a good time, and little balls of light chased after them. Most of them were pink, but I spotted a green and a yellow. One of them, a green-haired boy, noticed me and ran over.

"You're a stranger, sir! Did Fae bring you out of the Lost Woods?"

"Yeah," I said, shooting her a thankful look. "I would have died for sure in there."

"Well," said a tinny little voice, which I pinpointed as coming from the red fairy above the boy. Wait – red? I thought they were supposed to be pink! "I'm just glad you didn't get caught by that no-good Hylian hooligan, Fae. Collecting fairies in jars, he was. Tried to capture me, 'till he realized that the Deku Tree would strike him down for it. 'Oh, a red fairy,' he squealed, 'I didn't know pinks could get that shade!' What a jerk. In case he didn't notice, I'm a guy fairy, and we come in slightly different shades, y'know? Besides, what's that got to do with anything?"

Sure enough, the loud-mouthed red fairy was a male. He looked a little older than Fae – I guessed maybe in his mid-twenties. He had flaming hair cut short, sharp, elfin facial features, and an otherwise similar body structure to Fae's. His eyes were like red garnets. Color-wise, of course. Neither fairy's eyes actually looked like gems in any sense but sparkle and color. He wore the same style of clothing as Fae. However, whereas Fae was slender and beautiful, this guy was slender and …well, he might have been attractive, if he didn't hold himself just so and act so cocky.

"Fire here saved me from him," Fae informed the fairy.

"Your name is Fire?" queried the boy, surprised.

"Yes," I responded hesitantly.

"The Deku Tree told us you would come!"

"Well then, let's go drop him over at the old guy, Leron," exclaimed the red fairy.

"You shouldn't call the Great Deku Tree 'the old guy,' Arty," Leron said reprovingly.

"And I should think that after living with me for twenty-three years you'd know to call me Artemis, little twerp."

"Um, you're the one who's little," I interjected.

They both turned to me in surprise. I think that they had forgotten I was there.

"To the Great Deku Tree!" cried Artemis, zipping over to Fae and snatching her hands, pulling her along through the air. Her wings fluttered rapidly as she tried to stop, and she attempted to tug her hands free.

"Let go, Artemis!" she protested.

I easily walked up to them, as she had succeeded in slowing them down. I grabbed Artemis at the waist between my forefinger and thumb.

"Let her go," I said softly.

And he did. Nervously. Leron didn't seem to realize what was going on, which I was glad of. I didn't want to risk the wrath of the Kokiri. I'm pretty sure a village of eleven-year-olds could beat me up pretty badly. I let go.

Artemis fluttered away from me, looking shaken. I didn't blame him for looking that way, but I didn't feel sorry for him. I glanced up at Fae, and she smiled at me gratefully before flying closer to me. I felt a strange surge of pride.

Artemis kept silent the rest of the way. Leron talked about the village, but I gave up trying to understand anything after a while, since I didn't know any of the people. When we reached the Deku Tree I gave a gasp.

This tree should only have been seventy-five years old.

It was the biggest tree I had ever seen.

It had to have been at least forty feet in diameter at the base and four to five times that tall. Down near the earth was a giant face that looked as though it had been carved into the trunk. When the four of us approached, I heard a deep, groaning, creaking, yet sturdy voice.

"So you have come, one who calls himself Fire."

The tree was talking to me.