Into The Woods [Legend of Zelda]

Written by MarLuna

+standard disclaimer applied

Summary

[Modern AU.] Zelda finds herself lost in forest and drawn to a tune that she's never heard before. The song was created by a ghost boy, Link, unable to neither speak nor leave the forest. Zelda, left with his ocarina and her own horrible talent for music, is determined to find the truth behind the spirit and why he's so attached to the land. Old allies and foes return, blurring the truth into a giant puzzle. Can Zelda figure out in time, or will she join Link in the forest to play forever?

Chapter One: A Dance

There were trees. There were way too many trees. They were dancing around me, mocking me. They shimmied intricately and incited me to salsa. But I couldn't just yet, because my dad refused to let me take dance classes. He said they would make me above the rest of the class and that I should stay normal instead. Normal my butt! He knew nothing about being normal! I just got lost in a forest for crying out loud! No one I knew ever had that happen. They broke their phones or mussed up their hair or fell over splat on their faces, but not me. I had to be the one with the unlucky stupid forest around me. My best friend Impa would laugh if she saw me like this: walking in circles, tears rolling off my cheeks, along with a despairing posture. Ugh, I knew it, it had to be the end for me. My mediocre life of sleeping in every Saturday morning and yelling at my cat for eating all my hair ties was now over! This dance the trees were doing had to be some sort of death dance where their foe gets so confused and mortified that they get dizzy and die. Yes, that had to be it. In fact, I was already feeling dizzy. Oh, I knew I should've eaten the last cookie this morning! I don't want it to end like this!

I was overcome with weakness and fell over, the grass tickling my ears and blending with my hair. The trees still swayed and swam in and out of my vision. I closed my eyes, unable to take it. If this was what happened when people died, then I don't even want live through it again! I couldn't even bare the mere thought of partnering up with a tree in a dancing competition! I hoped it passed quickly. I couldn't take it any longer!

Music started to play from a distance.

I snapped up in surprise. It wasn't any day that random people played music in the woods for the fun of it. It had to be a sign! If there was music, then it meant there was someone playing an instrument in order to play that music! That was my ticket out of here! ...Unless the music was one of the tree's way to get me to dance with them. If that was the case, then no thank you, I'm running in the opposite direction. I'm gonna find myself a real dance partner.

My natural strong sense of curiosity couldn't be quenched, so I ventured forth and practically ran as if hell was on my heels to find the tune. I wasn't a very musical person as well, so my ears had a super hard time telling what song it was and even the mere direction it was coming from. But eventually, I made it to a clearing, with a tree stump and a person standing on top of it, forest animals surrounding him. He turned to me when I arrived. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Blond hair pushed back under a green cap, blue eyes that looked like they could electrify you, and a tiny body that exuded leadership and purpose. The strangest part was the strong sword attached to his back, too large for his person but yet it seemed so fitting there. The boy beckoned me closer.

My boots scrunched in the grass as I approached and it spooked the forest animals. I scowled, because it made me seem like I was the boogie man coming down to hunt this kid and it wasn't a nice feeling. They ran back to the trees and I stared at them longingly. I stopped walking near the boy and stared at the instrument in his hands. If that's what had called the animals, then he just needed to play a song again and they would re-flock to him without caring for my presence. As if reading my mind, the kid lifted the odd contraption to his lips and breathed the melodious tune from before once more. I closed my eyes, enjoying the sound now that I was actually much closer. This was something I enjoyed! Not math, not friends bickering like idiots, not my cat meowing for the tenth time for me to open the window, not even my dad singing in the shower every morning, but this, this moment of tranquil and soft music.

What if this boy was an angel here to carry me away to heaven? I mean, the trees were dancing me to death, so it was only fitting that this kid that seemed both pure and tainted would be the one to choose my fate and lead me to my final end. Unless he was planning to do the same thing that the trees were and make me dance too. Then I was going to have to run away and get lost again. Like, I know partying is a fun time, but it was not the reason I wanted to stay lost in this forest forever. For example, give me a buffet and gosh darn it, I would sell my soul just to be able to eat everything on it forever. That's how to win my heart, with food, not music and dancing.

The music stopped. The kid held out his tiny instrument at me.

I stared and stared and just simply stared at it. Then I looked up at him, and he nodded at me to take it. I didn't do anything though, instead go back to staring at it like an idiot. I was supposed to play that thing? Me? Of all the musically talented people in the world, me? I couldn't even tell apart one type of musical note from another! Even my music teachers flinch at the mere thought of me learning to play an instrument and developing that kind of talent. They knew how bad I was with understanding sound, and heck, even I did. There was no way that if I took that instrument that the animals would stay surrounding us. They were going to scream and whine and explode at the mere unpleasantness of the blasphemy I would create.

"I can't play instruments." I told him simply, with a look that told him that he should've known better. And he should've, by the flabbergasted look on my face. I mean, really, learn to read the mood, kid. If my face says no, then I'm sure to say no too. It's prefect logic.

He stayed quiet and insisted with a jerk of his hand and head that I should just take it.

I grumbled but took it to appease him. He smiled and waited, but I didn't play it. I wasn't going to play. I wasn't going to go and make everyone explode just because this kid got too lazy to play for himself. No siree. I was a nice person, you see. And not blowing up people using the horrible sound I knew I would produce was a nice thing. I was going to stay nice too. No amount of this boy's frowns and nods and coaxing was going to change my mind. I was a strong independent woman who didn't no music.

"Do you know the way out of this forest?" I finally addressed the real situation in mind. He tilted his head at me in confusion. "I'm lost and I want to go home."

He pointed to the instrument in my hands.

I scowled. "No. I'm not going to play. I want to go home."

His face scrunched up, eyebrows furrowing and nose wiggling. I waited for him to answer. He didn't speak again, but this time took the instrument back from my hands. I didn't really mind since it wasn't mine in the first place. With a deep breath, he started playing again, stomping his feet in place as a different tune came out of the instrument. His fingers danced fluently over the instrument, at a different and speedier pace than the first I had heard. It sounded like an easy march, and the animals around us trotted excitedly on their feet. Once he was sure we all were focusing on him, he started to move, and the animals followed him in line, just like the leader of a marching band. He did a few circles around the clearing, ensuring that we were all following him, before he explored further and into the dancing trees. I followed at the end of the line, behind a chattering deer and squirrel. We snaked and coiled around trees, dodging what seemed like a safe path and making our own in zigzags. It was a long line, and it felt like he was purposely extending the time and the road to the exit. Just when I was going to give up on the boy, thinking he was dragging me in circles, the music stopped abruptly. The animals, as if brought out of a trance, looked around before bolting apart, a few even leaving us to go back and about their daily business. I continued and found the boy. He was staring longingly past a set of trees, at what he couldn't see.

"Where are we? I want to leave this forest." I repeated the command, hoping it would snap him out of it.

He simply raised his hand and pointed past the trees he was fixated upon.

"That's the way out?"

He nodded.

"Aren't you coming with me?"

He shook his head.

Well, I had to agree with him. I don't think the authorities would be quite okay with letting him frolic about the city with a giant sword on his back.

I raised my hand as a salute. "It was nice seeing you."

He nodded and bowed his head a little as his own show of appreciation or respect. I was about to turn and be on my merry way when he motioned for me to take his little instrument again.

I scowled and shook my head. "That's yours. I don't need it."

He held it closer towards me, an insisting look on his face.

"No, no, it's yours—" I held out a hand and shook it around as a no. "—I can't play instruments."

He ignored me and pushed it into my hand. I whined and complained, trying to return it back, but he dodged me skillfully. With a little silent laugh that brightened up his surprisingly grim features, he danced away, back from whence he came. I watched him go, calling out to him, but he refused to listen. He danced with the trees, as if he belonged with them, and with a final meaningful glance sent my way, he vanished into thin air, like wisps of smoke stretching into the sky from a dim fire.

I had mingled with a spirit in the forest.

And the ocarina in my hands reflected three golden triangles within its surface.