Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except the plot. All characters (save maybe a few OC's) and music belong to either Nintendo, or whoever is specified. Thank you, and enjoy.

Naru...

Din...

Fafore...

Many centuries ago, these three goddesses gave the people of our planet the Tri-Force, the power of the gods to grant any wish.

One man, Ganondorf, claimed that power for a little while and used it to create a world of darkness. The three goddesses punished him by sealing him and his dark world away, and soon after, vanished.

Legend offers that the darkness shall return, and on that day, the goddesses shall return to finish what they started.

Theme Song: Glittering Cloud by Imogen Heap

The Hero Within

It started a year ago...

After Mario's final fight against Bowser...

To think, she was still haunted by that day...

Mario was lying down in her arms. He had just saved her from Bowser once again, and normally this would be a happy ocasion. That wasn't the case this time though, for she could feel the life fading from him.

"Mario, please get up!" she screamed looking at the wound on his chest.

"I'm sorry Princess... I guess I can't protect you anymore..." Mario said with a sad smile.

"Stop it!!!" she screamed, both angry and scared, "You're not going to die! Do you hear me?!! I order you not to leave me!!!"

"Peach..."

"You promised me!!! You promised that you wouldn't leave my side!!!" she started crying, "Who's going to protect me?! I can't fight by myself!"

"You don't give yourself enough credit... You are strong... You just have to look deep enough..." Mario slowly held his hand up to Peach, who held it tightly, "I'll never stop loving you Peach... Good bye..." he then closed his eyes and became limp.

Peach didn't even try to get his attention, she knew he was gone. All she did was hold him close and wept. She looked up and saw Bowser standing in the distance. Her anger overshadowed her fear at the moment. All she wanted to do was make the culprit pay...

Make Bowser pay...

Peach woke up that morning. She slowly got out of bed and walked over tp her window. It had been one year since she was last attacked by Bowser, one year since she lost Mario, and one year since the sweet and loving Peach was lost as well.

Physically she looked the same, her hair still long and blond, her eyes still deep blue, but there was one key difference. Her eyes had long since lost their innocence, and the light that surrounded her had dimmed. She was once a very happy and loving person, but after loosing Mario she kept to herself more, seemed angry about something constantly, spoke in a low, at times monotonous tone, and was known to snap at people often.

"Princess, breakfast is ready," one of her guards said through her closed door. She didn't want to leave her room. Technically since she had her own private restroom she didn't really need to leave her room. Unfortunately, a private chef she did not have, and she still needed food. "Princess, are you up?" the guard asked. Peach was fed up with being interuppted so she decided to answer.

"Yes, I'm up," she snapped, "I'll be down shortly," she said walking into her private restroom to freshen up.

The guard walked away from the door. He took one final look at Peach's door, wondering what happened to the sweet and innocent princess he helped take care of.

Rise of the Goddess

Elsewhere in another palace, Princess Zelda was walking out into the courtyard to meet with her childhood friend, Link. Link and Zelda were two of the few people who believed in the legend. They had secretely been preparing for the day when the darkness was to return. Link sat outside holding his sword tightly, he was tense.

"This is something I never thought I'd see," Zelda taunted looking at her friend, "Link actually worried about something," At the sight of his friend the worry left Link's face. He stood up and they hugged, "I missed you Link," she said almost lovingly.

"Zelda, there's so much I have to tell you," Link started but Zelda put her finger on his lips.

"Later Link, I want to spend time with my best friend for a few hours first," she said softly. As she finished, two guards walked by. Both Link and Zelda let go of each other and tried to look professional. When they left, Zelda grabbed Link's hand and the two of them ran into Zelda's private quarters where Zelda immediately closed the door, and she and Link did something unexpected...

They started kissing passionately...

While it was known that Link and Zelda were childhood friends, what the people didn't know was that they were also lovers, and had been so for about three years now. It happened after Zelda's mother had died, Link had snuck into the castle to comfort Zelda. Being in Link's arms that day, something came over Zelda. Her heart was racing, her breathing became rapid, and pretty soon her lips were on his. It was on that day that they confessed their love for each other. As far as they knew, know one knew about it. It wasn't that it would be too problematic if anyone found out, they just didn't want things to get to complicated. So on the outside, she was the princess and he was her vassel of sorts, behind closed doors...well...this...

An hour later, they were finally done and were now lying in Zelda's bed under the covers, Zelda holding onto Link, Link just looking up at the ceiling, the tension slowly returning.

"What's bothering you Link?" Zelda asked, "You looked worried earlier, and now you're so tense I can feel it."

"I went to check on the seal just like you asked me to," he started, catching Zelda's attention.

"And?"

"You were right, it's weakening. If the legends are true then that means Ganondorf is likely to be set free."

"So, my premonition was true..." Zelda said looking worried now too.

"What form of action should we take?" Link asked.

"If the legends are true then we have to find the goddesses, only they can stop Ganondorf."

"So, when do I leave?" Link asked showing that he was ready to go anytime.

"Later," Zelda asked snuggling up to Link even closer, "I haven't seen you in a month. Right now, I need you here with me."

"Zelda..." Link couldn't resist Zelda when she spoke like that. He did want to leave as soon as possible, but he understood how Zelda felt. It had been a while since he was in the castle, and truth was, he need Zelda just as much as she needed him.

Rise of the Goddess

Toadsworth was walking through the castle looking for Peach. She had disappeared after breakfast and he wanted to make sure she was okay. As he walked through the halls he heard the sound of a sword being swung. He followed the sound until he made it to the training gym, where he saw a sight that shocked him.

"Princess?!" he exclaimed. Sure enough it was Princess Peach, holding a Long Sword, slashing at a training dummy. When she stopped Toadsworth ran up to Peach.

"Princess, what on earth are you doing?!" he asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Peach snapped, "I'm training."

"I can see that, but why are you training? The princess doesn't fight," Toadsworth tried to reason as Peach walked off.

"Well, maybe it's time to change all of that," Peach stated as if it were nothing.

"Princess, what happened to you? Ever since Mario passed away you've been a completely different person."

"Well I'm sorry if my sadness is disappointing you," Peach said in a sort of 'I don't care' kind of tone.

"I know that you are still upset about Mario's untimely death, we are all upset, but I think it might be time to move on," Toadsworth really should not have said that, because Peach turned around to Toadsworth and was totally enraged.

"Excuse me?! You want me to just 'move on' after loosing the love of my life?!" she snapped.

"Princess, I understand how you feel-"

"No you don't understand! Because if you did then you wouldn't be telling me to move on! He died protecting me! I was the one who held him when he died! You couldn't begin to imagine how much pain I'm in right now!" with that Peach ran off to her room.

"Princess!" Toadsworth called out, but he knew it was a lost cause. He just stood there, wishing that there was something he could do to ease her pain and suffering.

Rise of the Goddess

That night, an army of armored carraiges was slowly approaching the castle. Inside of the largest one was the Koopa King, Bowser. He hadn't attacked the Mushroom Kingdom in a year, that was because he wanted to raise the power of his army. He had finally succeeded in killing Mario, now he just had to take Princess Peach, and with her, her kingdom.

He jumped out of the carraige and walked forward to speak to his men. "My fellow Koopa's, one hundred years ago, the king of the Mushroom Kingdom exiled us to the Volcanic Badlands! Our forefathers vowed that they would get their revenge, and now here we are, the greatest army in the world, at the front gates of the Kingdom, getting ready to carry out what they sought out to do!" his men all cheered loudly, "Let us march forth, and take back what's rightfully ours!" after his men cheered again, he pointed to the gates and his men broke them down and charged into the kingdom, little did they know that a certain princess was waiting for them.

Princess Peach was standing on the roof of her castle holding her sword staring at the approaching army. She marched down to the throne room, where all of her men were armed and ready for war.

"The Koopa King is approaching!" Peach proclaimed in a tone full of strength, "When he reaches the palace then that's when we'll stike!" surprisingly, all of her men cheered. Seeing Princess Peach like this was scary, but in this situation they couldn't help but be inspired. Toadsworth ran up to Peach.

"Princess, please reconsider! If you go out in the front lines then you'll surly-"

"Shut up Toadsworth!" Peach shouted making Toadsworth stop, "This time we don't have Mario to defend us! Unless you want Bowser to take our kingdom, then get out of my way!" Toadsworth had no choice but to obey. She did have a point, but he still hated seeing her like this.

Outside in the village, Koopa's were attacking all of the buildings and the people. Normally the people would have had more confidence in these events, but this time they were terrified. Without Mario, what were they going to do?

Link had just made it to the Mushroom Kingdom, and was shocked by what he was seeing.

"Damn it! This isn't good!" he looked and saw a woman on the ground about to be attacked by a Koopa, "Hey, stop!" he ran up to the Koopa and slashed it away from the woman onto the ground. He then stabbed his sword into it's chest, killing it. He ran back to the woman and helped her up.

"Thank you, young man," she said with a smile.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"The Koopa King has started his invasion! There's nothing we can do!"

"What about Mario? Where's he?" Link asked. He had heard that Mario and his brother Luigi defended this kingdom and the neighboring Sarassa Kingdom, so he expected to see them.

"Sadly Mario passed away a year ago, and no one has seen Luigi since then!" the woman explained, prompting Link to pull out his sword.

"Damn it! Then I guess I'll have to do something!" Link ran toward the army and started fighting. He had yet to leave anyone in danger, so he decided to put a halt on his mission to find the Goddesses in order to help the kingdom.

Rise of the Goddess

A Koopa was knocked back from the castle as soon as he made it to the staires. Peach and her army ran outside in order to defend their kingdom, Peach actually in the front lines. She was surprisingly good with a Long Sword, but she had been training for one whole year nonstop. As she fought she had an enraged look in her eyes. She remembered how Mario died fighting these soldiers , and that just inspired her to fight even harder. Unfortunately she was slightly over powered, and she and her men were loosing the battle.

A Koopa knocked Peach onto the ground and rest of them jumped on her trying to tie her up, but she was tossing and turning giving them a hard time.

"Princess!" One soldier called out right before he was killed. As the Koopa's finally succeded in restraining Peach, all she could do was watch as her men were either killed or taken hostage.

Rise of the Goddess

Link and Bowser were fighting ferociously at the castle gates, but unfortunately Link was loosing. Bowser knocked Link onto the ground and broke out in laughter.

"The Mushroom Kingdom traded Mario in for a weakling like you?" he taunted as Link tried to get up.

"Damn it! This guy is strong!" he said looking at the large Koopa King who was two times his size.

"My liege!" a voice in the distance called out, Bowser looked and saw two Koopas walking over to them, Princess Peach tied up between them, "Look who we found trying to resist," he continued kicking Peach forward, who just fell to her knees from hopelessness.

"Princess Peach?" Bowser asked walking over to her, "This is a shock. You actually stood up to my men, and look where it got you," as he said that, Peach felt even worse. After trying so hard to stand up to Bowser, she still got captured, and this time Mario wasn't there to save her, "It's almost as pathetic as this guy trying to play hero," Bowser said refering to Link. Peach and Link's eyes met, and they could feel each other's emotions, Peach felt Link's courage, and Link felt Peach's fear and sadness.

(Play Song: Glittering Cloud by Imogen Heap)

Link got up and pointed his sword at Bowser, "Hey, who said I was done?" Link said, clearly exhausted, but determined to save Peach.

"Huh?" Bowser said turning to Link, "Come on kid, I'm tired of playing with you."

"Who's playing?!" Link charged at Bowser, but Bowser knocked him back to the ground.

"You are really beginning to piss me off!" Bowser shouted as he ran over to Link, and they continued to fight. As they fought, Peach just looked down in dispair.

"I'm sorry Mario..." she said in her head, "I tried to be strong... but in the end... I couldn't be you..."

"Why don't you give up?" Bowser asked getting fed up with Link's determination.

"Because I'm a hero, and a hero never gives up! Especially if there's someone counting on you!" Link proclaimed catching Peach's attention. He was exhausted, yet he was still fighting, just to save her. Peach was really touched to see that, but was horrified to see Bowser grab Link by the neck.

"How touching, too bad she's taken. Once I'm done with you, I'll make her my personal slave!" Bowser said choking Link.

"D, damn... it..." Link just barely got out.

Peach was horrified looking at this. Seeing Link in Bowser's clutches reminded her of Mario, who one year ago was in that exact position, "No!!! Stop it!!!" she shouted, just like in the past.

"Oh, you want me to stop playing with him and just kill him? Okay!" Bowser said with a toothy grin. He then began choking Link even harder. Peach looked down in anger and fear.

"Mario.... Mario...!" she said remembering his last words to her.

"You don't give yourself enough credit... You are strong... You just have to look deep enough..."

"No!!!!!" she said closing her eyes, not relizing that she was glowing, "I won't let that happen anymore!!!!!" the two Koopa's next to her were blown away by the energy coming off of Peach.

Link looked at Peach in shock, "No way..... She's....one of the.....Goddesses....?"

The ropes around Peach dissolved and she got up slowly. Just then, the symbol of the Tri-Force appeared on Peach's right hand. She held up her hand and shouted a phrase that she didn't consiously recognize, but she felt compelled to shout.

Fafore's Wind!!!!!!!

There was a bright flash and Peach was surrounded by a green gust of wind. Her entire body was glowing white and her pink dress dissolved around her and was immediately replaced with a white Sailor style top with a green colar, a golden bow on the front, and white shoulder pads, a short green mini skirt, long green gloves with the Tri-Force symbol on top, and green high heeled boots. A fancy sword with a green handle and a silver blade appeared in her hand, finishing the transformation.

Princess Peach had just turned into Fafore, goddess of wind and courage.

Bowser let go of Link and just stared at Peach in shock. What happened to Princess Peach?

"For too long, you have terrorized my people! You killed an innocent man who was trying to defend the kingdom and the people he cared about, and now you try to take another innocent's soul's life? I'm afraid I can't forgive you for that!" Peach proclaimed, making Bowser cringe in fear.

"I don't know what happened to you, but I won't let that stop me! Your kingdom will be mine!" Bowser charged at Peach, who just looked down in sadness.

"So, that's how it is?" she let herself shed one single tear for Bowser, and then looked up at him with determination, "Then you have sealed your fate!"

When Bowser reached Peach, she jumped straight up in the air, flipped over Bowser, and slashed at Bowser knocking him forward. Bowser was shocked, it felt like he was slashed by the wind itself.

Peach wasted no time rushing at Bowser slashing at him again. She knocked him into his two soldiers and began charging up her sword with wind energy.

Fafore's Final Slash!!!!!!

Peach dashed over to Bowser and his soldiers. Bowser jumped away, but his two men weren't so lucky. Peach dashed past them slashing at them with her sword. They began glowing, and instantly broke apart into tiny stars.

"She's trying to kill me!" Bowser finally realized. He then got up and rallied up his remaining men, "Retreat!!!" he and his men ran out of the Mushroom Kingdom and into their carraiges, riding off. When they all left, Peach fell to her knees. She then looked at her outfit and finally realized what happened.

"What is this? What happened to me?" she asked no one in particular.

"It's really good to see you Fafore," Link said walking over to Peach.

"Fafore? What are you talking about?"

"I think you should come with me, that is if you want to know what's going on."

Peach looked at Link in shock. Who was he, and how did he know what was going on? She didn't know anything, but she knew that in order to find out what was happening, she had to go with Link.

She had to go to Hyrule....

To be continued...