Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda is the intellectual property of Nintendo. I make no money from this work and write it simple for the pure pleasure of daydreaming about the awesome world of Hyrule.

Edited 10.20.2011. (Catching all the little him/me/I mistakes. There isn't any retconning.)

Summary: My eyes are your eyes. My thoughts are your thoughts. My senses are yours to explore my world. My emotions you will feel as if they were your own. My name is Link and for the duration of this story, it will be yours as well. After all, you are me and I am you.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
You Are Here
Chapter 1
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

It was as if the very sky itself had caught fire.

I stand trembling the wake of a white, four-legged creature that tears away from me. It carries two girls, one of which who is very tall—taller than any girl I've seen. I cannot make out their faces. The scenery is blurred so heavily by smoke that I begin to choke on it.

The fire is all around me!

My heart beats rapidly in his chest. Tears leak from my eyes.

I can't breathe here!

A black creature that reflects the firelight paces out from the flame's depths. It seems as if the beast has hair made of flame and that its eyes shine with the fire as well. A very tall, broad, dark-skinned boy sits upon its back, as flame-haired and ember-eyed as the creature he rides. But the eyes are all I can see in detail.

They are eyes of a kind I've never seen before and never want to see again. I have no name for the cold, scalding fire I see in them.

The smoke wreathes around him. It's as if he's wearing it. The fire licks at him, but does not harm him. He is its master.

One hand lifts and begins to glow like the sun that sometimes peaks through the canopy of the Woods. A flick of the wrist and the sphere is sent hurtling towards me.

It connects and I scream, shooting upright in bed, heart pounding and eyes wide.

"Geez, I can't believe the fate of Hyrule rests on the shoulders of such a lazy boy! Oh! You're awake! Finally!" A tiny, high girl's voice rings somewhere above my head but I pay no mind to it, still partially in the hold of my nightmare.

My eyes are slow to register the space of my tree house and once I had, I gratefully sank back down at stared at the fairy above me. That dream has come far too many times these past lunar cycles. I don't want to dream that dream anymore. I'm so sick of it that my heart hurts.

"I'm not lazy, I was having a nightmare," I say flatly, angry. Mido is always accusing me of laziness. "What are you doing in my house? I don't recognize you."

"The Great Deku Tree asked me to fetch you!" The fairy declares, flying lower. "I'm Navi, Link. Nice to meet you!"

I see past the glow, at the hand-sized fairy within. A pretty girl-fairy with wide bug-like eyes and hair in tiny braids, some coiled atop her head, some loose, dressed in a leaf-fiber dress, vine-fiber bracelets woven with tiny morning dew beads on one upper arm and both ankles and wrists. Her light was a pretty shade of cobalt blue.

No two fairies have the exact same color, except for Fountain Fairies which are only a singular hue of pink that no other fairy has. The Fountain Fairies are really just globs of Great Fairy magic with wing-like 'strings' attached to hold the magic blobs together. Guidance Fairies, like Navi, would die if they were ever forced to heal. They also only have cool colors as their spectrum. None of us Kokiri knows what kind of fairies are all the warm colors. It doesn't concern us…or so I've been told by the others' fairies.

"The Great Deku Tree?" I blink as I push myself back up.

"Yup! Now come on!" The fairy flies behind my head and begins to push against me with as much strength as she can muster.

My stomach growls. "At least let me eat breakfast, please." I wasn't entirely sure this wasn't some elaborate trick on Mido's part. He and the others have done stuff like this before. I'm wiser now…I think, but a part of me still hopes that the Great Deku Tree does want to see me.

I am a fairyless Kokiri…I should have a fairy companion, like all my brothers and sisters, but I don't. I try not to sulk about it…but it's difficult. I have to do almost twice the work of anyone else in the Village to prove I'm not a 'broken branch', like Mido says, and can keep my own council without a fairy companion to guide me.

"Do you mind if I share?" Navi asks meekly. "I haven't had much chance for food either."

I pause and then carefully repress a sigh. "Alright." I don't want anyone accusing me of abusing a fairy, which was punishable by exile from the village. I cut up parts of the raw tubers and mushrooms I'm going to eat into fairy-sized pieces. "Is it enough?"

"More than!" The fairy alights on the table and begins to eat. I do my best to ignore just how much this hurts. Sharing meals with one's fairy is something we're supposed to do and it silences me to share this meal with a random fairy sent to fetch me.

I'm quick about my meal, but I don't feel very hungry anymore. Navi's presence only reminds me that I'm different from the others. There has to be something wrong with me that no fairy wants me. I have always held the private opinion that I'm sick. Maybe I am a 'broken branch', but I won't let anyone else realize that I agree with Mido. I might as well get lost in the Forest.

Some animals in the Forest were born with defects and most didn't survive past birthing and those that did always had shorter lifespans.

I've decided I'm like those animals.

'Perhaps…,' I realize, 'perhaps my time had come and that's why the Great Deku Tree has called me.'

I look around my house, wondering if I should make everything tidy. I decide not to, because surely Mido would want to take my tree house over (he has always been jealous of my house) and it would annoy him to have to clean up everything before rearranging it to his liking.

"I'm done!" Navi chirps.

"Me too," I reply, collecting the hand-carved wooden dishes to put them to soak in a bucket of water. Dishes are done at the end of the day, after all meals are taken.

I grab my belt and cinch my tunic to my waist, then walk to the ladder while tugging on my long green cap and secure my money pouch to my belt.

I'm almost to the ground when I hear a voice call my name, "Link!"

My head turns to look over my shoulder. There I see Saria, my truest friend in the Village, racing down the slight incline with her green fairy Iren.

"Morning, Saria," Link called, managing a small smile for the grass-haired Kokiri girl. "Hi, Iren."

"Good morning, Link," Iren replies courteously. He doesn't like me anymore than Mido and a few of the other Kokiri do, but at least he's polite…if only not to upset Saria.

Kokiri, I have long since noticed, have large, deep eyes and are thinly boned—we look a little like small trees moving through the Lost woods at a distance with their boots of soft, flexible wood bark sometimes padded with Wolfos fur (as mine are—a gift from Saria) and green clothing woven of a leaf fiber and decorated with flowers and vines for accessories. Their hair has the colors and texture of plants within the Lost Woods. Because Father Deku was unable to move from his grove, each child had a fairy companion to help them judge right from wrong, to remind them of tasks that need doing, and to join in the Kokiri's play afterwards so that everyone has at least one companion.

I know I'm none of the above. My bones are thicker and while I wear nothing different from the rest of my brothers and sisters, I do not have their fluid grace, and my hair is more like animal fur and an unusual gold blonde color I cannot seem to match to anything quite right. My eyes are smaller, more clearly colored. And I have no fairy, which is something very difficult not to dwell on.

'All my other differences wouldn't be so noticeable,' I think, 'if I just had a fairy like the rest.'

I jump the last couple rungs to the ground.

Another difference I have noted was that my body isn't as tough as everyone else's. All these things complied into a list of reasons why I'm sick and was probably going to die soon.

I turn to Saria, wondering at her sudden silence. She is not looking at me, but the cobalt fairy light above me. "What?"

"A fairy! A fairy's finally come to you, Link!" Saria beamed at me. "Did you know her light matches your eyes?"

I grimace. Though it's kind of Saria to say it's more like a lance through the heart, "Uh, no…Navi here just came to tell me the Great Deku Tree wanted to see me."

Saria deflates, realizing she's accidentally picked at the injury, but then she goes right back to giving me a brilliant smile. She knows to apologize would only wedge open the wound further. "Is that right? It's quite an honor to talk to the Father. I'll wait here for you, okay? Go and see Him!"

I blink at Saria a moment, then nod and run off while waving goodbye to her and Iren.

Mido is in front of the path that leads to the Great Deku Tree. Silently, I groan. This was going to be an unexpected chore.

"What are you doing here, Mr. No Fairy," Mido ribs, gleefully watching my approach. He's glad of the chance to make fun of me.

"The Great Deku Tree has summoned Link!" Navi says.

"Whaaaaat?" Mido drawled, looking rather put out. "But he's not even a real man!" Then he does a double take at Navi and looks at me. "Hey! When you'd get a fairy?"

"I didn't," I reply stonily. "Navi's Father Deku's messenger, that's all."

"Hmph!" Mido crosses his arm, his fairy Cecelia mimicks his movements and plops down on top his head. "Doesn't matter either way if you don't have a sword or shield prepared!"

"Huh?" I stare at Mido, wondering if he made that up just now. "A sword and shield?"

"Sheesh! Are you hard of hearing?" Mido snaps. "I don't get why the Great Deku Tree would summon you instead of the Great Mido."

I snicker. Great Mido…yeah right!

Mido puffs up, glowering at me, "This isn't funny…!"

"It is when you're pouting like a little boy!" I jeer, giving a grin. Then I jump the stream before he can retaliate. I spin and cup my hands to my mouth. "I'll be back with that shield and sword, Mido!"

I jump over the water again and run into the Store. I've been to the Store a bunch of times. The wooden Deku Shield costs 40 rupees. I've saved what rupees I've found for a long time. I've enough for them.

I rush back outside to wave the shield in Mido's direction, nearly hitting Navi.

"Sorry, Navi," I apologize.

"It's fine!" Navi giggles. "Do you know where to find a sword?"

"Not a clue, do you?" I ask.

"Nu-uh! Hey, maybe your Saria friend knows."

Saria does know a lot about the Lost Woods.

"That bum," Saria sighs, when I tell her about Mido. "He's so mean to everyone…but it's a good idea, I should've suggested it. The Woods…well, I think I saw the Gardener to put it simply."

I flinch.

Mother's Gardener—a monster called a ReDead whose shriek is a warning for Kokiri to return to the Forest. It is the only monster of its kind in all the Lost Woods, Saria has told me, and it's different from the normal kind (though Saria doesn't know what the normal kind looks like either).

The last time we heard her shriek, there was a forest fire that surrounded the entire Village. We were perfectly safe, my siblings and I. Mother does not permit the fires to enter the Village.

But that was when I became afraid of fire. I eat my food raw rather than start a cooking fire and curl up in layers of blankets to keep warm during winter seasons. It's silly, really, but I don't like fire.

"Anyways, go up there," Saria points to the ledge above our heads that's even with my tree house. "There's a hole that leads into a special part of the Woods. You can find a sword there." She gives me a sad little smile. Does she know something I don't? Or has she known what I've long ago deduced about myself? If anyone were to know, it would be Saria. She's the only constant throughout my short collection of memories.

"Thanks, Saria," I say.

Navi and I go up to where Kane was practicing flips while his violet-blue hued fairy Rosa kept count. Navi darts through a small opening that would've been more than enough for normal Kokiri, but was a little snug for me. I had to wiggle forward on my stomach to get through.

I hear some sort of loud grinding rumble when I pull myself out of the hole and dust off my clothes. "What's that sound?"

"That." The fairy points to my left.

I watch in shock as a bolder twice my height came spinning around on the path and back out of sight.

"You have to get around that," Navi remarks.

"What?" I shout.

Navi squirms a bit. "If you follow it when it comes back around, it should be easy, Link!"

"And if I get squished?" I ask.

"Well…you…you've got to get a sword, don't you?" Navi's cobalt blue light tinges pink. "Just…just follow the rock!" She darts off and I sigh. I hurt her feelings.

I watch boulder roll by again. "I'm going to punch Mido for this." And then I give chase.

It isn't moving as fast as it appears, I realize, and it was easy. Navi is waiting at a turn off for me. "How does it keep movingin a circle like that, Navi?"

"Forest magic," Navi says simply. "The Kokiri Sword is just over there, in that big chest."

"Thanks," I reply, oblique apology for my earlier harshness coloring my tone.

"You're welcome," Navi says. And I know I'm forgiven.

The Kokiri Sword isn't much longer that my arm, once I've fetched it from the chest. I have Navi stay well out of my way as I swing it experimentally, having only ever done play swordfights with sturdy branches fallen from trees (pretend fighting is one of the few games I'm really good at) made of a glinting material Navi says was some sort of metal (and that there were a lot of types of metals) that reflects the sun.

I remember the dream, how the black creature with fiery hair had reflected the light of the fire. Was the creature covered by metal? Or was it a metal creature? I think it's the former, because the white creature had not reflected the fire like the black one.

Though the sword is a lot heavier than a stick I'm still able to hold it easily in my left hand (Navi said to use it in my dominant hand and I'm a leftie, the only one in the Village (another point of contention with Mido). The blade was very sharp. It was a tool, not a toy. I can tell.

I hold the shield and sword at the same time, just to get used to doing it. I've done it play with a branch, but holding the Kokiri Sword is…different.

I'm not sure I like the difference. The longer I stare at the silver blade, the more a weird, tight feeling in my stomach grows. No, I really don't like this.

"Okay, let's go," I say quickly, sliding the sword into the sheath that is now belted over my shoulder and manage to hook the shield onto it as well. I wait for the boulder to roll around again and follow it back out.

My mood lightens considerably by the fit Mido puts on when I show back up, shield and sword thumping against my back.

"How'd you find the Kokiri Sword?" Mido demands. He's still stubbornly trying to stop me. He'll relent though if he wants to avoid getting in trouble, but I humor him.

"I asked Saria," I reply honestly.

Mido stomps off to the side, "Well, even with all that stuff, a wimp is still a wimp! I, the Great Mido, will never accept you as one of us!"

I try not to grimace and quickly go down the path. Those sorts of words are the ones that really hurt.

"Shoot! How'd he get to be the favorite of Saria and Father Deku," I catch Mido grumbling.

I nearly trip into a stiff-necked Deku Baba that's spinning around on its stalk. The weed hasn't gotten enough water, obviously.

Being Saria's favorite would be nice…but how could I be a favorite of Father Deku?

Navi flies ahead. "Great Deku Tree, I'm back! I've brought Link with me, too!" The encouraging note within her voice worries me for some reason.

"Oh…Navi…thou hast returned," the Great Deku Tree replies. I have to listen extra hard to the creaks of wood and his leaves' trembling to understand Him and that's troubling. I haven't had to focus on listening for the Great Deku Tree since Saria first brought me to the Village. "Link…welcome, child. Listen carefully to what I, the Great Deku Tree, am about to tell thee…."

Mido's resemblance to our Father is suddenly uncanny.

"…Thy slumber the last several moons must have been tiresome for thee…full of nightmares…."

I stare rudely at my Father for a moment, astonished. "How did you know, Father Deku?"

"The servants of evil gain strength and as their vileness spreads through the lands corners, it causes nightmare to those sensitive to it. I have felt it…and verily, for thou is also attuned to such things, have felt it." The Great Deku Tree makes a sound in His branches I can only equate to a horrible cough.

"Father Deku? Are you alright?" I lean forwards anxiously.

"Link, the time has come to test thy courage. I have been cursed." There's another horrible 'coughing' and several leaves begin falling from His spread of branches. I catch one. It is still a bright healthy green, but then it rapidly browns and crumbles to dust. "I need you to break the curse with your wisdom and courage. Dost though have courage enough to undertake this task?"

I falter. What could I do about a curse?

Maybe that's why you were born so different, my mind whispers (a hopeful part that I did not realize I have). You've been the best in the pretend swordfights. Maybe you're the only one who can do anything about a curse.

How long has the Great Deku Tree been dying? He sounds like he's bad shape.

"Perhaps you do not yet have confidence in your abilities…," the Great Deku Tree creaks. "Return to the Kokiri Forest to—"

"No! I am!" I'm quick to say, though interrupting is rude. "I was just surprised that you chose meto come. I'm….

I trail off uncertainly. Then I finish, "I'm so different."

Something like a reassuring laugh comes from Father Deku, "You are both more and less different than you believe." The words end in a ragged cough.

Those words chill me through to the core than the cough.

"Then enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi the fairy, for thou must aid Link and Link—listen to Navi. She is knowledgeable for one so young. Listen to her," the Great Deku Tree says. A knot in the wood that resembles a lower lip sinks to the ground, presenting a mouth through which I'm to proceed.

I tremble as I walk to the gaping opening and step as lightly over the lip as I can.

Another wracking cough is what hurries me further inside the Great Deku Tree.