…

"HEY! Link! Look here! Look what I found!" A loud-mouthed child shouted at another boy, who was obviously older than him. The older boy had dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, looking over in the child's direction when he was called for. Quickly making his way over to the screaming child, he gasped at what he was pointing at. There was a girl with short dark brown hair that he had never seen before on the ground, unconscious. Link first noticed how small she was, but he would've guessed she was about his age. The boy who found her was already at her side, poking her hesitantly.

"Do you think she's alive?" he asked shamelessly. Link held back the urge to roll his eyes and took her by the wrist to check her pulse. Her heartbeat was faint, but it was there. Once he took his hand off her arm, his eyes widened and he gasped at what had run down her arm and onto his hand. It was blood.

"Look!" the younger boy pointed out with a gasp, lifting the girl's sleeves to expose the many scratch-like wounds across her arms, still bleeding. Turning paler by the minute, the girl's breathing became labored and Link quickly took her in his arms, standing up.

"Come on Talo, let's take her back to Ordon," He said in a rush, already on his way back to the village. The boy named Talo nodded quickly, running ahead with boundless energy. On the way back, Link took a good look at the girl. She had almost black hair, only slightly longer than his own, her ends being a reasonably lighter brown. She had a few wounds similar to the ones on her arms on her face going across her temple and forehead, a few on her cheeks and two that made an X over one of her eyes. Link grit his teeth as he ran back to the village, for some reason angry at what happened to her. It looked as if she had gotten violently whipped, and it made him even more uneasy when he could feel more on her back as he carried her.

"Link! Bring her over here!" Talo shouted once he had entered the village. Link ran over to him quickly when he saw that he had gotten help from Sera, and her daughter Beth. Talo was rapidly explaining the situation to them, and the young girl Beth was looking at him in disbelief. Her expression quickly turned to shock when Link came up to them and she saw he was telling the truth. Sera gasped at the sight and pushed Link in the direction of her house in a panic. Quickly but gently laying her down, Sera then came in and looked at her wounds. Link's eyes widened in alarm when he saw the rest of her. The girl had the same scratch-like wounds on her stomach and her chest, her back, her legs, and a few on her neck. Link had never seen anything like it before. Sera bandaged her up as much as she could, which took a while since they were practically everywhere.

"Do you know this girl?" Sera asked with concern in her voice. She had shed a few tears cleaning her up, obviously having as much trouble as he was looking at such a disconcerting sight. The girl couldn't have been any older than him was what hurt her the most. Link shook his head and looked to the floor.

"I've never seen her before in my life." He replied honestly. Sera stood up and put her hands on his shoulders.

"You're a saint, boy, you truly are. Did you see how pale she was? You saved her life." She praised whole-heartedly. Link blushed and scratched the back of his head modestly.

"Will she be okay?" he asked. Sera turned to look back at the now somewhat-contently sleeping girl.

"I think she'll be fine. I hope she wakes up soon." Link nodded in agreement. He was insanely curious as to who she was, and what could have possibly happened to her.

"You're welcome to stay as long as you want to." Sera added as she left the room, winking at him. Link smiled catching the hint, and stayed. When she left, Link was faced with a distraught Beth hiding from behind the door, unsure whether to come inside or not. Link looked at her sympathetically, knowing it was probably hard for her to see something like that when she was still young. He got on one knee so he was at her level and put a hand on her head.

"She'll be okay, Beth. Don't worry." He consoled. Beth said nothing, but put her arms around his neck as a tear ran down her cheeks.

"W-why would someone do that to her," she choked out. Link frowned.

"I don't know." was all he could say.

…

'I will consume…consume…consume everything'

The girl's eyes shot open, as she woke up with a gasp. Her eyes were as red as crimson, as they held a particular panic at the brief but terrifying memory. She grit her teeth and kept her eyes on the ceiling unblinkingly, as if frozen in her spot. After getting over her panic, she turned her head to look at her surroundings. Ignoring the burning pain in her neck, she blinked in surprise when she saw not that she was in an unfamiliar room, but at the boy sitting in a chair across from her, asleep.

"…Hero?" she mumbled sadly, as if recognizing the boy. Then she attempted to sit up, but ended up hissing in pain as she slumped back into her previous position. There was a stinging pain throughout her entire body, in some places more than others. Lifting her arms hesitantly, she noticed she was bandaged up pretty tight. Her arms, her midsection, her legs…what the hell happened? She wondered, trying to remember. Apparently her moving around stirred the boy from his already restless sleep, as he slowly opened his eyes, soon catching the girl's narrow tired ones. She looked at him innocently, and he blinked in surprise at the strange color of her eyes. He had never seen anyone with eyes as red as hers.

"You're awake." He said, not knowing what else to say. He guessed she was confused enough as it is, he didn't want to get wrapped up in her eyes and freak her out more than she probably already was.

"Who are you?" she responded slowly, paying no mind to what he had said, although she already had a pretty good guess as to who he was.

"Link. I found you hurt and unconscious in Faron Woods a few days ago." He replied. She looked at him confused.

"Faron woods..? What? Where am I?" she questioned, not recognizing the name in the least. Link chuckled.

"You're in Ordon village now. You know…in the Ordona province. In Hyrule?" He kept going when she never showed signs of understanding.

"Hyrule?" she mused, "Oh, great…" she said stressfully with a sigh, turning her head back to its original position.

"I'm guessing you're not from here," Link observed, attempting to keep a conversation. The girl closed her eyes.

"Nah…not even close." She responded, looking a little upset finding out where she was. Link tilted his head slightly.

"What's your name?" he asked, remembering she had never told him. Her eyes closed and he was almost convinced she had fallen asleep, before she responded.

"Emery. I'm from...a place called Termina." She replied as her voice faded, and she fell asleep.

'Termina?' Link pondered. He had never heard of such a place before, but it sounded so familiar. He couldn't help but smile at how innocent she looked as she fell asleep, as if she was completely unaware that she had practically been ripped to shreds. Link didn't notice how late he had stayed, and ended up falling asleep soon after her.

...