Title: Reflections
Rating: G
Author: Toilet Paper Roll
Section: Games: Legend of Zelda
Summary: After freeing the Forest Sage, Link thinks upon his own past as a Kokiri and his future as the Hero of Time.
Warnings: One-Shot
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Legend of Zelda or anything that is related to it. It is owned by Nintendo, all related companies, and the original creator. Thank you for your time.
The sounds of the forest were louder and stronger then they had been in the days before, with so many things having come out of their hiding. Many of the fairies were now fluttering about the meadows and gardens, looking more happy then they had been in years. The monsters that had been calling the forest home had withered away into mere weeds amongst lush grass and sparkling water. The trees no longer had the shadow of darkness hanging over them, the light from the sun illuminating the leaves and branches once again. Things were starting to look like they had seven years before.
In the meadow where the large Deku Tree now slumbered eternally, a boy sat not too far away from it, in front of a small sprout as he watched it. He had his sword and shield laying next to him, side-by-side and recently cleaned of blood and dirt. The same couldn't be said of his own clothing, which still had the stains of battles fought not too long ago. A small fairy rested upon his shield, quietly sleeping before moving on with her companion. She had been with him this far and would see him to the end, until the last battle was fought and won.
The boy looked no older then seventeen, perhaps no younger then fifteen, and already he had lines of aging around his eyes. He held the waning curiosity of a child of ten but that soon was leaving him for the more openness he was facing. His eyes lacked the happiness he had as a small child; a happiness that was stripped of him only a week before. He knew it wasn't fair but he had no choice in that matter or the matters of the future. Whatever does come will come, he knew.
This being was now an outcast of two worlds: that of the world he grew up in and of the world he belonged to. He had spent all of his young years living in his same forest as a Kokiri child, always under the eye and protection of the last Great Deku Tree, and left as someone without a home. Now, after finding the truth of who he was and why he was there, he felt more alone then he had before. Now even his own fairy could fill that void.
The fairy stirred in her sleep, yet that was not enough for her companion to take notice in it. Instead, his focus remained on the Deku Tree sprout in front of him as it soaked up the rays of the ever present sun. It had remained silent after telling the boy the truth, speaking not even to the child-like Kokiri that came to visit. The sprout kept its silence, just like the boy was.
The Kokiri barely acknowledge this new presence inside their forest, keeping all whispers and secrets to them. He did not care what they were talking about, as he figured all the words were spoken about him. They didn't even know who he was much less how he was allowed inside a sacred forest. It was better this way, he thought; without them knowing, he could leave as quietly as he came. He would only be a fleeting memory to them once this was all over with and he cold resume the life he had before.
Tired of watching the sprout doing nothing, the outside stood up and stretched after many hours of sitting where he was. Then he started to walk around one of the large roots of the prior Deku Tree, still amazed at the sheer size of it. The bark had turned into a darker shade of grey shade the last time he had seen it, the brown leaves piled high around the massive trunk where flowers used to bloom. The roots became higher and longer as he went around the trunk, his movements stopping when he came to a root that was still taller then he was. He wasn't surprised at that, since many of the roots were just as long and tall as some of the other trees that grew inside the forest.
He looked around, seeing that he had climbed over more roots then he could as a child, like a Kokiri. That didn't mean much to him as he took several steps to the trunk and knelt by it, carefully brushing the leaves away. It didn't matter that the dead leaves were moving away from the dead trunk; he just felt at ease touching these leaves of a place he had spent many years of his life in. He loved this forest as if he were a true Kokiri, the children of the forest and of the Great Deku Tree.
He stood up with a fallen leaf in his fingers, a soft smile playing on his lips. He remembered the seasons of falls past that were spent endlessly in the leaves. It was the season in which the forest began to move into slumber, before the forest went into it's long sleep underneath leaves and snow. The winter months were spent as the months of slumber and inside games, before the season of rebirth came and went like the passing wind. Those days were spent dusting the last of the snow off of the flowers and poking at the new buds of life that came from the ashes of the old.
The summer days were spent playing in the water that gathered near the meadows, carefully splashing friends and fairies with droplets of water. The warmth of the days dried them off and ripe food was found waiting for them on the outskirts of the forest, ready to be eaten. The nights often held little to no clouds, with the stars and moon shining brightly above like a blanket. A cool breeze followed, moving over the Kokiri as they laid on their backs to watch the heavens above.
That was then, during the days when he had more innocence inside of him then he did now. He had seen the pain of battle many times, wishing he had not entered such a horrible thing. He couldn't change what had happened before, like he couldn't change the path he was destined to lead. He had so many things that were ahead him that he didn't know where to continue or where to stop. He knew what he had to do but doing it would be hard, harder then anything he had done before.
He frowned, releasing the leave from his grasp, watching it flutter to the ground. He wanted to crush the leaf into tiny pieces, like his life had become since he had taken on the quest the princess had handed down to him. He had been thrust into something he did not want to be a part of nor did he want to take on the role that he felt wasn't meant to be his. At least, not in a way that he was ready to take on as a hero or as a child. He spent many years inside a prison he did not know he had been put in until he was awoken.
He turned around, moving back around and over the roots of the massive tree that had once given life to all of the forest. He wanted to kick the roots and scream at the trunk but it wouldn't be worth the energy he would put forward in doing that. He knew, like everyone that lived in the accursed land, that life wasn't fair. The rest of the land had gotten by with what they had been given, if they had been given anything to start with. How could he give them back what they had lost without loosing something of his own? Hadn't he already lost something that he had cherished?
He clenched his fists in anger, walking around the last root to where he had left his belongs. The fairy was now awake from her sleep, moving over the shield for a moment before she flew over to her friend. She moved around his head several times before finally resting upon the rim of his hat, as the boy knelt down and picked up the shield. He placed it back upon his back like he kept it so many times before, his hands then moving over the hilt of the sword in which he had first seen seven years ago. It was a perfect sword, well crafted and held as a symbol of hope and was a barrier to a realm that was just in need of help as this land was.
Standing up, the hilt pressing firmly into his left hand, the hero turned towards the mouth of the entrance of the meadow, his body moving towards it slowly. He didn't want to leave the forest in which he would always call home, yet he felt it was time for him to leave and continue on the journey in which he had to go upon. The path wouldn't be easy, often wandering off of it before finding the way back onto the path that was meant for him.
He stopped at the entrance to the meadow, looking over his shoulder at the towering shell of a tree and the small sprout that would eventually take it's place. His frown became a smile, taking a silent vow to destroy the one that had started all of this and allowing the evil to seep into something that was so pure. That would be his promise to this forest, to someday rid of everything that caused everything to become a wasteland.
He turned his head back forwards, the smile still upon his lips as he walked away from the meadow and into his destiny.