The Legend of Zelda: The Fairy Princess

by Danthemanwithaplan7

The lost story of the Hero of Time's final great quest. The journey he undertook after Majora was slain, to find what he had lost. Link & Navi An unrequited love One-shot.

I hope that all who read this story find some semblance of inspiration in it.

Dedicated to true courage and to all those who posses it.

I do not own "The Legend of Zelda" franchise. That being said, it is my firm belief that in any fanfiction of said franchise in which Link is not nearly always silent that he is then by definition 'Out Of Character.'

He rose from his bed, soaked in the cold sweat of fear. He turned around, searching for who had awoken him, sweeping his home with his eyes and perceiving nobody.

"What were you going to sleep all day? That's so lazy," the voiced sighed in disappointment, "why would the Deku Tree want somebody like you?" His face lit up in confusion as he failed to detect the source of the slight voice. "Hey! Up here." He looked up and was shocked to see the small glowing creature in his home. He hesitantly stared at the fairy, secretly hoping in his heart that his dreams were coming true and he would finally have a fairy of his own. "Right then. I'm Navi, and I was sent here to find you and bring you to the Great Deku tree. What is your name?" He nervously fidgeted with his blanket as he looked at the fairy. His heart fluttered with hope and he hesitated for a moment. She waited patiently for him to tell her his name, but as the seconds passed and he remained silent she quickly became annoyed. "What? Come on speak up. You have a name right?" The boy nodded in affirmation but remained quiet. She then asked, "Wait... can you speak? I mean I didn't mean to be mean there I just... assumed you could talk..." The boy shook his head as if to say that that was not the reason for his silence, and just stared at the fairy. She seemed like she was about to ask him why he would not speak when he quietly, very softly said,

"Link. I'm Link."

"There we go," happily said the fairy, "that's more like it. But why didn't you say that in the first place?" He was quiet for a few moments, then the fairy rephrased the question, asking, "Why don't you talk very much?" at this he thought for a moment, then looked at Navi with a smile. He opened his mouth and whispered again,

"Because words hurt people too easily." She seemed like she was shocked. She floated in amazement at the child for a moment before smiling and bobbing up and down in a fairy nod.

"I understand. Your a very compassionate young boy. I like that teeheehee." she giggled and floated down to sit on his blond hair. "Alright now that introductions are out of the way lets get going. You have an appointment young man." she looked down at his pajamas then added, "Get changed first though." The boy smiled and nodded, almost accidentally knocking her from his head. He then fussed over her with his hands and carried a very guilty, apologetic look on his face. "It's alright hehe. I'm fine, just hurry. I'm curious as to why the Great Deku Tree is being so peculiar about this all." He went about getting his tunic out of his drawers and putting his pajamas in his hamper. As he undressed he felt his cheeks warm up and looked at Navi uncomfortably. She emitted a few popping noises that he soon realized were her tiny fingers snapping. "Come on drop the modesty. What are you afraid of?" He puffed out his cheeks at her and dropped a piece of fabric over her, trapping her on the desk. "Hey! Let me out of here! Seriously!" He chuckled at his new friend.

As darkness spread and dampened out the memory a single thought pervaded his slowly waking mind.

"Don't go..."

As the memory of a dream faded he opened his eyes to the forest around him. The sun rising from the horizon filtered through the trees illuminating the dancing creatures who inhabited the mystical depths of the wood he felt so at home in. The man lifted himself up off of the ground and stretched out his sore muscles. He looked around himself for a moment, then lifted his fingers to his mouth and let loose a loud series of six whistles in a repeating musical pattern. On cue a beautiful red horse came running around a small grove of trees to return to her master's side. He smiled at his faithful steed, and affectionately brushed her white mane with his hands. He looked at the sun rising for a moment, as slowly the smile eroded from his face. Left in it's wake the lines of stress and exhaustion became visible across his face, the scars of struggles past lay in stark contrast to his tanned skin, dark bags revealing themselves below his eyes. In those eyes where only a moment before had lain a front of carefree joy, was now revealed a great and terrible exhaustion, the kind which no man should ever have to know. The faces of those whom he had lost, and he had shared a part in loosing danced before his eyes. He closed his eyes as he always did when this happened, and just as always a new figure then danced behind his eyelids. He saw her, so close that he had to fight the urge to reach out and try to grasp the phantom of the one whose loss had hurt him the most.

As he always did when this phantom haunted him he reopened his eyes, a new light reflecting in them. The light of inhuman determination, the determination which was reserved for the gods among men. A great and unflinching, unerring, and unbreakable force which had toppled greater foes than most men could dream up in their most terrifying nightmares. He felt the familiar warmth on the back of his left hand as his affinity with Farore glowed in harmony with his soul. He pulled upon the power latent within him, feeling it's supporting strength revitalize his body and mind. The mighty life force that the triforce imbued him with relieved his sore muscles and filled him with energy. With a sigh he set about his day, letting the pain of the phantoms wash away, forgotten, overshadowed by his determination.

He rolled up his bedroll and pulled out a light traveler's breakfast of bread and cheese. He affixed his supplies to his horse, and shouldered his gold gilded blade and his shield in the mirrored surface of which reflected a screaming face. His horse neighed in protest to the new weight of the supplies prompting Link to pet it's mane while saying softly and sternly,

"Epona." Epona responded to her master's voice immediately and ceased her complaining. He nodded at his steed and hopped up into her saddle. He grabbed her reins and with a gentle kick started Epona walking through the forest. For a few minutes he simply let himself settle into the saddle, looking about the forest with his focused blue eyes. Then he reached into his pack, pulling out a glass bottle with a small pink light inside of it.

He looked down into the bottle at it's captive, prompting the pink fairy to address him in it's slight squeaky voice.

"This isn't humane! How can you keep me in here so long! Normally fairies stay in bottles voluntarily you ass! Now let me go this instant!" Link narrowed his eyes at the fairy, not with menace, there was no menace in his eyes, but with a focus and determination that was clearly communicated to the fairy. "No! Absolutely not! I can't tell you where Navi is! No way! No! Uh-uh. No. We all know you are still looking for her and quite frankly you need to give up. Now let me go or I will tell a great fairy about this! It's been two months!" Link gently shook the bottle, rattling the fairy within. "Stop that! Stop! The answer is still no!" Link stopped shaking the bottle and carefully looked the fairy up and down. Then with a sigh he pulled out the cork that sealed the bottle. The fairy immediately darted out of the neck of the bottle and flew into his face. It blew a tiny trumpet noise that Link knew was a tiny fairy raspberry. The fairy then took off through the woods. Link waited for a moment, then swiftly kicked Epona's sides. Epona broke out into a gallop swifter than any other horse in the known world, in hot pursuit of the fairy. The fairy, realizing it was being chased, flew as fast as it could, darting between trees and bushes to evade Link. With a perception the likes of which only came from extensive experience he deftly followed the tiny creature, foiling all of it's attempts to loose him by having his steed leap over the bushes and round the trees. Eventually the fairy darted through a thick grove of brush, darting out of Link's line of vision. He swiftly jumped off of his steed and cut through the grove with a masterful midair stroke of his golden blade. This revealed an empty clearing, the fairy nowhere in sight.

Link paced up and down the clearing, his eyes scanning every nook, cranny and leaf within sight. His eyes narrowed at the empty space in the clearings center. He walked into the middle of the clearing and got down on one knee. He felt the earth underfoot with his hand, then nodded in surety. He pulled a small round blue bomb from a bag on his side and with a flick of flint lit it's fuse. He then ran out to the edge of the clearing and hid himself and his horse behind a large tree. The fuse burned out into the bombs core and the bomb exploded spectacularly, the force shaking the clearing and causing Epona to buck in surprise. After calming his horse Link walked into the charred clearing, staring intently at the hole that had been opened up in it's center. He walked up to it and without hesitation dropped down into it's black depths.

He landed hard on cold marble flooring, dropping to his knees to absorb the force of impact. As he rose he felt the cool, refreshing breeze he associated with the air surrounding fairy fountains. He saw a tunnel stretch out before him with beautifully tiled floors and marble pillars supporting the ceiling of the grotto. He walked down the tunnel, and the only sounds he heard were the echo's of his boots on the floor. He approached a bend in the tunnel cautiously, peeking around the corner as stealthily as he knew how. Around it he saw a crystal clear spring surrounded by fabulous pillars of glowing marble, and floating around it were about twenty small pink fairies. The fairies were all huddled in a circle around one fairy, who in as loud as they were able was recounting it's imprisonment at the hands of the Hero of Time.

"I'm telling you guys, we might need to start worrying. I mean it's been almost twelve years and he still hasn't given up. And he is getting more desperate too, I mean he kept me for two months trying to get me to spill the beans! He is a good guy don't get me wrong and he never hurt me or anything... but still..."

"We better report this." responded a fairy in the small crowd. Link spotted his opening and charged around the corner as fast as he was able. The fairy's all spotted and recognized the infamous Hero of Time, and began to scatter like skitter bugs with a rock pulled up from over them. Link chased the fairies but every time he got near one it would vanish into the air with a ripple of magic. Link grasped for these ripples but they simply passed through his fingers like air. Soon all of the fairies were gone and Link was left alone standing shin deep in the spring. He dropped to his knees and ground his teeth as he failed once again to divulge Navi's location. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as he beat his fist against the marble beneath the water. A tear escaped from his left eye and rolled down the bridge of his nose to fall off into the water. He watched as it impacted the water and caused tiny ripples to wave across the surface for a brief moment. He wiped his eyes on the back of his glove and picked himself up out of the water. He turned to leave the spring, his eyes once again filled with determination.

As he walked out of the water he looked upon the marble pillar directly to his left. Frustrated rage flashed across his face and he slammed his fist into the pillar.

The resulting thud echoed through the empty chamber. Link stopped and listened to the sound as it repeatedly came back to him. When it stopped he turned to the pillar and punched it again, this time putting weight behind the hit making it hard enough to cause his knuckles to bleed beneath his glove. The blood left a fist shaped stain on the column and he stared at that stain as the split skin on his fist rapidly healed. He once again saw the phantom of her dance before him, as memories of past conflicts and near mortal wounds she helped to talk him through surviving flashed through his mind. The tears once again threatened to escape from his eyes as the determination faded from his eyes to reveal near hopelessness. Then in a flash the hopelessness disappeared, enveloped in a ferocious focus that overcame his eyes. He roared and once again moved to strike the pillar. As he rolled his shoulder to propel the punch, the back of his hand glowed brilliant gold, revealing the brand of his affinity with the gods. He roared even louder and the light grew in intensity in tandem with his cry of desperate determination. Then he felt contact, and a loud crack resounded through the grotto. He remained frozen, confused as to the cause of such a noise. He was certain that he had not broken his hand as he felt no pain. The thought crossed his mind that he may have cracked the pillar, but he did not think that he possessed the raw strength to crack marble with his fist. He looked up to his fist, to locate the source of the sound and he saw cracks. But the cracks were not in the pillar, they were in the air itself. In fact his fist had never even reached the pillar, it was suspended in mid air against the cracks, the triforce on his hand still glowing brilliantly. With his other hand he reached out and touched one of the cracks, feeling a warmth from it. He pushed his fingers between the crack and they disappeared into it. Realization dawned on his face and he pushed his fist against the cracks with all of his might. The air rumbled and the sound of splintering glass echoed through the cave. He saw the cracks expanding through the air, golden light filtering through them to fall warm upon his skin. With a final mighty heave he pushed and the air shattered completely, revealing a jagged edged portal. Through it he could see countless fairies going about their business in a courtyard of sorts, although there was no floor. He took a deep breath and jumped head first into the gateway he had created in the air.

He fell through and found himself rolling along an invisible surface of sorts. He picked himself up onto his feet and stood upon the air as he looked around, the gateway through which he had come was nowhere to be seen but all of the fairies had frozen completely still. For a moment he wondered if time had frozen, then countless shrill cries erupted all around the chamber. The fairies darted everywhere in a bedlam of chaos at the sight of Link.

"Human!"

"Hylian!"

"Intruder!"

"Oh gods don't hurt us!"

"They want to turn us into fairy dust!"

"I don't want to die yet I'm only two-hundred years old! I'm too young to die!"

Link looked around and fell back to his knees. Tears of joy fell down his cheeks as he looked around himself at the realm of fairies. The realm was infinite in all directions, fading into a gray ether but the fairies remained within the confines of floating pillars. Between these pillars were a series of doors which opened before the fairies and closed behind them, around twelve doors in total. He wiped the tears away and raised his hands up non-threateningly, his palms turned out to show them that he meant no harm, but it only made them fly away faster. Soon he was alone in the wondrous courtyard of floating pillars and doors. He rose to his feet and looked around before choosing a door and approaching it. However as he walked across the lack of surface the atmosphere began to tremble around him. His footing was lost and he tumbled to his knees, as out of the air appeared massive ripples with ten epicenters scattered around the room. Out of the air emerged ten beautiful women of giant proportion with long wild hair and vines growing all over their bodies. Their feet did not touch the floor as they floated in circles around him, all staring at him with a mixture of confusion and concern.

"Link... please leave this place, you cannot be here." Said one of the fairies with long gold hair. Link recognized her as one of the Termina great fairies, and was glad that she was still recovering well from her ordeal under Major's foul magics. But despite this he looked at her with sad determined eyes and shook his head 'no'.

"Please Link... we don't want to do this to you." Said a red haired fairy from Hyrule. Link looked at them and rose to his feet, his eyes pleading for what he knew to be coming not to be. The fairies all sighed collectively before raising up their hands in front of themselves. Three of the fairies summoned crackling green lightning between their fingers which danced and emitted the smell of ozone. Two of them summoned brilliant flames of blue and rouge between their arms. The other five fairies all seemed to grab hold of the air itself, causing it to rush and swell around them in great gusts. Link looked upon them in shock, never had he imagined they would turn force against him, his friends and allies rising to banish him from their home realm. He closed his eyes, fists tightening, and he saw the phantom of her once more, this time closer than ever before. He opened his eyes and raise his hand up to the hilt of his sword.

In an instant the battle erupted. Lighting dashed to strike where Link had been only seconds before as he rolled to the side. As he rolled he drew his blade and shield, raising the later to deflect a jet of fire that was coming at him from a different direction. The shield's mighty magic drew in the flames, and he rolled his shoulder to point the shield's face at a fairy as she flew directly at him, arms covered in razor sharp winds. The flames leapt out of the shield and struck the fairy head on, knocking her backwards. Just as he turned to defend himself from another of the fairies he felt a blinding pain erupt in his right shoulder as he was struck there with green lighting. The momentary pause in his movement left him exposed and he was struck in the chest by the broadside of a fairies' wind coated arm. The blow knocked him off of his feet and sent him flying across the courtyard and into a pillar. Seconds later he came flying out of the resulting dust cloud, and slashed his sword at a fairy that had pursued him as he was sent flying. The sword made contact with her shoulder but rather than tear into her flesh it scraped against her skin, creating sparks as if she were made of solid steel. Link was caught off balance by the surprising uselessness of his blade, and the fairy engulfed him in bright pink flames. He roared in pain, then swung in a circle, pushing a magical pressure wave out of his blade to dispel the flames. The red wave of magic struck the fairy, but once again no harm was done to her. Link was again stuck a mighty blow by lighting and his smoking body rolled across the unseen floor from the jarring force of impact. Link recovered from the roll and moved with the momentum as he reached for another weapon. A fairy appeared before him, burning sphere ready in her palms to blast him square on, he pulled from behind himself a massive blade decorated with rose prints and gleaming in an unnatural color. He swung the great fairy sword, hoping that their magic within the blade could be turned against them so that he may defend himself. However with a burning palm held out, the fairy caught the blade with one hand. With a disapproving shake of her head she twisted her wrist, and the blade shattered into fragments. Link's shocked expression was short lived as he was hurled backwards in an explosion of green flames by the fairy. He emerged from the other side of the fire, eyes set, and his mightiest weapon drawn. His bow in hand, he knocked an arrow and willed the magic into it. The arrowhead glowed bright as a star as it transformed into an arrow of light, Link's mightiest tool. He fired the arrow at a fairy approaching him, eyes focused along it's flight path. The arrow soared true and made contact with the great fairies forehead, however it simply popped in a small flash of light, doing no visible damage to the mighty being. She flew directly at Link and with a movement too fast to evade wrapped her fingers around his neck and lofted him off of his feet. As Link struggled and kicked for freedom of breath, the fairy spoke to him with pleading eyes.

"Please Link! Stop this and go home! You draw your strength from the light, and we great fairies cannot be harmed by weapons of light! You cannot harm us here! Give up!" Link's eyes filled with a stone cold hardness as he set his heels to her chest and kicked with all of his might. This succeeded in breaking him from her grasp, and he back flipped to a safe distance as the fairies formed a circle around him, magic invoked and ready to cast him out of their realm by force. Link stared at the fairy that had held him, his unblinking gaze slowly breaking down her expression of sadness and turning it into one of exasperated anger.

"Why are you being so selfish Link! This isn't like you! You're not a selfish person! Why can't you let her go!"

Link's eyebrows furrowed and he quietly said, "Because she is the only one who didn't need me to protect them, and who tried to protect me." He reached into his tunic and pulled out a wooden mask. The cover of the mask depicted a pale faced man, with red tribal tattoos around his eyes and blue markings on his forehead. The mask had pale white hair and a blue hat, and its presence in the room seemed to dim the world itself. The fairies all froze where they were, shaking at the sight of the mask.

"L...Link... You can't do that. The last time you unleashed the dark war god it almost overtook your sanity. You... you would endanger our entire realm for yourself! Link this isn't you!"

Link looked down at the mask, feeling it call out to him trying to pull him to itself. "This is all... my one selfishness." He looked back up at the fairies who had been disarmed by his statement. Then in one swift motion he slammed the mask down on his face.

A sickening crunch of bones resounded as the mask constricted around his face. His body shuddered, as his shoulders pulled back and out of his sockets. Slowly the lips of the mask curled back with the sound of splintering wood. His back curled as one by one his vertebrae popped out of place, enlarged then popped back into place. His limbs grew longer, then rapidly fleshed out with new muscles. His empty white eyes glowed bright as the world turned dark. All that the great fairies could see for a few seconds was his glowing eyes as the light went out.

As he walked into the room his boots thudded lightly across the red velvet carpeting. The walls of the room were made of carved sandstone bricks, as were the pillars following in two rows on either side of the carpet as it crossed the length of the room. Link stared in curiosity at the suit of armor that sat upon a high backed throne of bricks at the end of the room. The breeze wafted into the room from the desert outside through a doorway behind that throne. Navi floated around his head as they took in the sight of the room. Navi then flew across the room and began to circle the head of the suit of armor, while Link slowly followed her across the room."This suit of armor is for soldiers called Iron Knuckles. It's so sturdy, and what a massive ax. Who would possibly wear such a thing, from what I understand it has hooks at the shoulders, spine, thighs, arms and waist intended to bind the armor to the wearers flesh. Basically making it so that if the armor comes off the wearer will die. " She shuddered in the air before returning to air above Link's head. As she alighted herself upon his head she looked down at his face. "It's funny to see you as a child again Link. Teeheehee you're all little and adorable again." Link blushed hard and shook his head from left to right to knock off the source of his embarrassment. The fairy simply laughed at him as she once again took to the air. "Why is it that you're only embarrassed around me huh?" Link blushed even harder and looked away from his companion. She giggled then in as deep a voice as she could muster she said "Look at me, I'm Link the bravest hero to ever live. I can fight dragons and dinosaurs without pissing myself but I'm scared of a fairy telling me that I'm cute." As she laughed at her own parody the two neared the throne and moved to pass by the left of it. As they did so Link turned to his right to stare at Navi. He pointed and accusatory finger directly at her and her laughter slowly died down. "Alright, alright I'm sorry. I-" and then Navi froze. She flew forward and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Get down Link!" Like a honed reflex Link responded to her command without a second of hesitation and dropped to the floor, just as a massive ax made a wide horizontal arc through the air precisely where he had been standing. Link rolled to the side and jumped to his feet to see what had attacked him. The suit of armor that they had thought to be empty had gotten up from the throne while Link's back was turned and had swung it's mighty ax in a devastating blow, which had destroyed the throne as if it had been made of compacted snow on a hot day. The iron clad foe turned to face the boy who had dodged their blow and silently began to march towards him. Navi flew to Link's side and said, "The Iron Knuckle had no weaknesses, you just need to keep hacking away at it's armor until it starts coming off. That's the only way to kill it. Link lowered into a steady swordsman's stance and drew his kokiri sword and deku shield. He charged forward and leapt at the Iron Knuckle. The being swung it's ax vertically, but Link nimbly sidestepped the blow, causing it to get stuck in the floor beneath the carpet. Link seized the opportunity and slashed his sword at the knight several times, his small enchanted blade leaving deep cuts and dents in the armor but doing no visible damage to the being inside of it. He leapt backwards as the knight swung a punch at him with one are while finishing removing the ax from the ground with the other.

"Inside?" said Link in a breath, watching the enemies movements and searching for an opening.

"Not sure, probably a monster of some sort. Just focus on not getting hit!" The Iron Knuckle swung it's ax in a low horizontal swing, which Link was forced to jump over. However the knight did not break the momentum of the swing, and instead rotated it's entire body as it brought the ax in a complete circle, while raising the height of the swing to match Link as he was trapped in midair. Link instinctively raised his shield as his final defense against the blow, but as the ax collided with it's sturdy magical wood the ax proved far mightier. The shield exploded in a hail of splinters as the ax then tore a massive wound in the young Link's forearm and knocked him clear across the room. The knight made no noise as it then slowly followed his trajectory, advancing with menace upon him. Navi flew to Link's side immediately. "Link! Oh my goddesses! I can heal this I swear! This-this isn't too big for me I-I can fix this!" She then began to fly in circles around his mangled arm, flinging dust upon it and focusing her magic as it rapidly began to heal. Link roared in pain with the process, experiencing the pain of his mangled knob of an arm returning to functionality, although the areas left in the wake of the healing were now covered in hideous white scaring. "Link I'm so sorry I should have known that would happen! I'm so sorry Link!" Link bit through the pain as he flexed his newly repaired fingers. He pulled onto his back his hylian shield and stood up. As he did so he also pulled out a bombchu from his bomb sack. With a low, under-arm swing he threw the moving explosive along a straight path at the Iron Knuckle. The small machine followed true and exploded on impact with the knight's left foot. The explosion resounded along with the rattle of steel as damage was done to the structure of the armor. Link then charged forward while flinging three small marble sized nuts at the knight's face. Upon impact they popped with a blinding flash, but the knight was unperturbed. It continued it's slow advance, swinging another horizontal strike at Link. This time Link back-flipped out of the swing range and waited till the circular swing on the knight lost momentum and caused the Iron Knuckle to loose it's footing. As it hopped on one leg while trying to remain upright Link ran in and swung his sword into six deep cuts along the breastplate of the armor. Then in the completion of his attack pattern he followed the momentum of one of his horizontal strikes and pushed magic into his blade. He struck the knight directly in the chest with a might red wave of kinetic magical energy, creating a massive dent in the center of the plate. He backed up as for the first time the knight made a sound. He could hear the knight wheezing and gasping for air as the dent in the breastplate restricted it's chest from expanding. Then it grabbed ahold of the ruined plate by the collar, and with a mighty feminine roar it tore the plate off. Watching the plate as it was tossed aside, Link could see the bloody hooks that had been pulled out of the body, and noticed the blood was not the blue or green of monster blood, but the red of men. With a shocked expression he turned to the Iron Knuckle and saw the torso of a woman wearing only chain mail and a traditional Gerudo breast wrap with several massive holes in her shoulders and abdomen where the hooks had been removed. The Kokiri sword shook wildly in Link's hand in shock and horror as he realized that he had been about to kill a human being. Navi gasped and shouted out, "You're a Gerudo? What... why? Why would you put on such an evil suit of armor?"

The sickeningly sadistic laugh of the woman echoed with a metallic ring out of the helmet of her armor.

"Why?" she said in a haggard voice attempting to mask from it the pain she was in. "For the glory of my Lord Ganondorf! The sorcerous and mighty 'King of Thieves' and rightful heir to the Gerudo throne! For him I put on this armor of penance and pain! He told me that his enemy would not kill a person, and that this weakness would allow me to kill him and take my place at my Lord's side as his consort!" she laughed maniacally and charged at Link, moving much more quickly without the added weight of her chest armor. "Now Die!"

Link remained frozen in place, unable to raise a hand against her knowing that due to her injured state any additional blow would result in her death. He weakly held his sword out before him and locked eyes with her through the holes in her helmet. He saw stead, angry, ferocious eyes filled with hate and blood lust. She looked through her helmet directly into his eyes and saw as his irises quivered and darted randomly around the socket.

"You don't have it in you to murder!" She swung her ax and Link spun around and covered his head in his hands. The ax caught Link across the hylian shield he was wearing on his back, sending him flying into a pillar with a sickening crunch. As the pillar collapsed on top of Link Navi cried out in horror.

"Link!" she flew in frantic circles above the rubble and cried out in panic. "Link! Where are you! Speak to me! Link!" The rubble shifted and Link pushed himself out of the pile to collapse in pain on the ground nearby. "Link fight her! She won't stop until your dead! Defend yourself!" Tears streamed down his face as he lay on the ground. The Iron Knuckle laughed sadistically and slowly waltzed over towards them.

"I can't Navi." quietly said Link between sobs. She looked at his eyes and knew immediately what Link meant.

"You can't be like him... like Ganondorf. Not even to defend yourself." She then spun around in the air as the Iron Knuckle reached the collapsed Link and raised her ax over her head.

"This is the end hero! Die of me!" she cried out.

"NOOOOO!" shouted the fairy at the top of her lungs. She flew directly at the Iron Knuckle's helmet and smashed her slight body against it. "Run Link! I will protect you!" She repeatedly smashed herself against the Iron Knuckle while raising the intensity of her glow into a harsh blinding light, succeeding in disrupting her concentration enough to drop her ax.

"You fucking fairy!" shouted the knight. "My eyes! Your fairy dust burns!" She swung her metal clad fist, missing the agile air born creature as it assaulted her senses. Navi glanced towards Link to see him frozen in horror. She turned and shouted at him,

"RUN!" but as her back was turned a fist from the foe connected with her tiny frame and knocked her to the ground, making a small snapping noise that Link realized were her wings breaking.

"Stupid bitch." said the Gerudo as she turned back to her ax. She picked it up and lowered the edge over the small glowing frame of the fairy. "You die too now." Just as she went to lower the ax blade a loud childish roar shocked her. Link charged at the ax and threw his body against it's bladed broad side, cutting deep wounds into his own shoulder in the process. He turned and pointed his sword at her chest and she laughed.

"You don't have it..." she then stopped as she looked into his eyes. His steady gaze was unflinching and focused, hard and distant like ice. There was no anger of hatred in them, but a kind of unspoken threat, that hesitation was somehow below this boy, and that nothing on this earth could stand in his way, not even himself. With a shaking hand she reached towards a small dagger on her belt. Then in one clean motion, without a moment's hesitation, plunged the Kokiri sword forward and upward through the Iron Knuckle's chain mail, deep into her upper abdomen aimed directly at piercing up to where her heart was. The two remained still, killed and killer trapped in a deathly embrace for a brief moment. The knight coughed and blood splattered through the holes in her helmet onto Link's head.

"Lord... Ganondorf... help... me..." and with that final plea spoken she slumped over Link's small body, dead. The weight of her armor clad body bushed Link down and smashed him against the floor so hard that with a series of sickening snaps several of his ribs and one of his legs broke. Link pushed her body off of himself, then stared with blank distant eyes at her blood on his hands as he struggled for every breath. After a moment he rolled over and crawled towards where Navi lay on the ground, glowing faintly and making small wheezing noises. He reached her side and rolled onto his back to lay next to her. Slowly and weakly he moved his arm so that his hand rested up against Navi's body in the only show of comfort his battered body could allow. She stirred at his touch and moaned as she regained consciousness. She sat up and gasped as she say the dead body of the Iron Knuckle and Link's blood stained hands. "Link! You... you did it... but I thought that..." Link smiled weakly, almost hollowly as he stared at her across the small distance that separated his face from her.

"It wasn't in self defense." he whispered so quietly that Nayru herself couldn't hear, only Navi could. She gasped as she realized the meanings of his words and began to cry. She hiccuped and sobbed as she looked at his battered and bloodstained body laying next to her.

"Link... I'm so sorry you had to do that. I'm so sorry." Link turned away from her, hiding his face while he gently waved his hand to tell her not to be sorry. She cried even harder.

As the vision faded Link attempted to hold onto the memory, the moment. He cried out with his heart,

"Don't cry Navi. I don't want you to ever cry."

As his mind reemerged from the vision he felt the familiar sensation of himself blending with the soul that inhabited the mask. Unlike the previous time that he had put on the mask of the war god the other soul was not hostile, demanding and painful. It did not assail him and try to conquer him as it previously had, but instead took it's place next to his own soul, melding voluntarily with him. As it was the last of his enchanted masks he had over the years frequently communed with the spirit trapped within it. Through his quiet and steady nature he had developed a friendship with the formerly spiteful and furious war god by listening to it's plight and offering heartfelt sympathy. He had learned that the god who referred to himself as the Fierce Deity had been trapped within the mask by the three themselves as punishment for an unspeakable crime he had committed in the distant past. The god's massive and powerful soul exuded warmth to Link's and absorbed the knowledge of their situation as they both slowly returned to sensory awareness of their bodies. Though it had seemed that much time had passed to Link he knew that only an instant had actually passed.

The great fairies remained petrified in fear, surrounded in darkness for only an instant. Then the darkness began to recede, seemingly being pulled back into the glowing eyes that shone through the darkness. Then as the light returned they were able to look upon the transformation that Link had undergone. The being that stood before them stood nine and a half feet tall, with broad shoulders and thick muscled limbs. His stark white hair framed his face covered in red and blue tattoos. His empty white eyes stared steadily towards the fairies, his face impassive but stern. His light blue garbs flowed in the breeze of the fairies magic and his black and gold armor shone in the light of their flames. He stared at the fairies a moment longer before his mouth opened to speak, revealing long ferocious canines.

"We are Fierce Deity." he spoke steadily in a monotone voice as deep as the sea is vast and echoing with an unearthly power. "We demand that we be allowed to see the fairy called Navi. Will you comply?"

The fairies set themselves into stances ready for conflict as one said,"Never! You may never see her again! Leave this place!" The god stood for a moment, his expression unchanged.

"Then we will take our audience with her by force!" he held out his hand and pale blue flames swirled around his fingers. The flames reached out and began to weave a shape in the air before him, then the flames dissipated revealing a massive blade floating before him. The weapon was comprised of two blades that twisted around one another in a double helix, each blade an unearthly pale color. He grasped hold of the handle of the blade and with two hands raised it above his head. His impassive expression then shattered as his lips curled back into a snarl and he roared with a force that shook the very air of the chamber. Blue flames surrounded the blade and he brought it down in a horizontal swing. From the blade shot off a spinning disk of blue flames that with swiftness too great for the fairies to react too struck the one who had spoken out head on. She screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground writhing as the blaze engulfed her body. He leapt forward and instantly appeared behind another fairy. He grabbed hold of her hair and pulled her head back as he struck her sternum with the hilt of his blade. A crunch echoed and the fairy coughed up golden blood as he tossed her aside. A lightning bolt flew from the hands of a fairy across the distance of the chamber and struck the deity in the chest, knocking him into a pillar. He emerged on the other side of the pillar unharmed and flung a blade of flame at the fairy striking her and surrounding her in its dark blaze. A fairy struck a blow to his shoulder with mighty winds, causing him to grunt. He then grabbed a hold of the winds with a glowing hand and pulled upon the winds themselves, pulling the fairy towards himself as well. With a great and terrible roar he swung his mighty blade at her shoulder, severing from her her entire arm. His furious scowl turned to the remaining fairies. They grouped together and set to defend themselves. With a terrible war cry the deity repeatedly swung his sword in a circle above his head, the blue flames around it growing larger and larger. Then with a final mighty roar he swung his blade horizontally, creating a massive circular shock wave of pale blue flames. The fairies that still stood formed a glowing golden barrier against it, but this barrier was shattered instantly by the wave and they were all consumed in the flames. As all of the fairies cried out in agony the deity turned to a doorway and kicked off of one foot, blue flames appearing beneath the other as it moved to the ground. At high speed he skated across the space and smashed through the door with his blade. He emerged in another infinitely expanding space completely filled with tiny floating glass homes. He flew past them all, searching through them for a sign of Navi. Then as he found not a soul he smashed through another doorway and emerged in an endless chamber filled with small bubbles. Each bubble held the image of a person in need, desperately crying out for aid, but this room too was empty. His scowl deepened and he roared as he entered another doorway, finding again not a soul. In this manner he travel through dozens of doorways from chamber to chamber across varied uninhabited spaces. Finally as he flew across a chamber filled with flowering plants he saw a massive double door and decided to enter that path. He smashed through into a vast blue chamber with dozens of waterfalls flowing upwards into the infinite sky. At the center a waterfall supported atop itself a crystal platform adorned in gold and silver. He flew to the platform and landed upon it hard, cracking it's crystal surface. He faced a massive crystal throne, upon which sat what appeared to be an elderly woman made entirely of crystal. She wore regal robes and carried in her hand a small scepter made of what looked like fabric. He shouted at her in a throaty roar,

"Where is Navi?" She stood from her throne and pointed a finger directly at him.

"You!" she said in a regal and commanding voice filled with authority. "How DARE you bring darkness into my realm of sacred light! You were told to leave her be but you refused to stay away! We owe you much hero, so I will not take your life for this offense against my kingdom, but you will NOT see my daughter AGAIN! I will banish you from this realm forever and seal all of the fairy fountains if need be! You are ignoring your duties as a hero in favor of chasing fairies and it ends now!" He roared at her with an inhuman fury, his entire body shaking of it. He moved to swing his blade, but the fairy queen moved her hand and flicked her fingers at his blade. The blade shattered and scattered as blue fire which dissipated. "The Goddesses gave the fairy queen complete control of this realm upon it's creation! I will tear that darkness from you particle by particle fallen hero!" She moved and punched the air sending him hurtling through the air and into a massive waterfall. She flung her fingers apart and the waterfall exploded inwards upon his body. His pain filled roar filled the entire space of the infinite chamber, and summoning all of his strength he smashed his fists together, creating an explosion of blue flames to scatter the water. He flew at full speed, his armor torn and his body bleeding pale blue blood from several wounds as he smashed into the Fairy Queen's abdomen with his fist. The blow shattered the platform releasing the deluge of water from below.

"NAVI!" He brought his other fist down across her back and punched her with all of his might. She coughed up bright white blood from the blow, but turned her eyes towards him and shouted. Her voice carried with it weight which knocked the deity off of her. As he tumbled from the blow she followed by making a clenched fist, stopping him in his tracks. She squeezed and he roared in pain. "Navi! Let us see Navi!" he roared as he attempted to break from the grasp of her power. She brought her other hand to her mouth and let out a whistle so sharp it tore at his flesh, tearing deep gashes through his armor and skin, threatening to tear his limbs from his body. "GUAAHHHHH!" he cried in pain. The queen ceased her whistle and looked upon his now limp form. Then suddenly his hand grabbed onto the force holding him. He pulled himself up to face her and with unflinching eyes stared at her. His weak fingers tried to grab the force and manipulate it but she simply squeezed him again. This time it did not stop his grip, despite the roars of pain it took from his throat. His grip slowly grew stronger and stronger as he focused all of his might. His triforce glowed on his left hand as he tried to bend the power and break free. She however turned her free hand and made a pinching motion towards his head. He felt a mighty force grab hold of his face and begin to pull. As the sinews snapped along the edge of the mask Link cried out anew in unparalleled pain. She pulled with the full might of her power upon the mask, attempting to forcibly remove it from him. His triforce glowed brighter as the mask fought to remain attached to it's partner. With one final push Link was able to break her hold upon him, but she too was able to remove the mask from him. In a bright flash of light his body returned to it's normal size, he floated there in the aether unconscious from the struggle and pain. Panting from the effort the queen rearranged her robes, as she looked upon his raged and torn form. His blood floated free in the gravity-less chamber of the queen. Then she heard a shriek. She turned to see floating in the shattered doorway through which Link had entered was what appeared to be a child made of crystal holding a doll shaped like a great fairy.

The small being screamed in horror, her hands upon her face. She flew with great speed down to Link's side as she looked upon his wounds. "Mother! What happened? Did we rescue Link from some great and terrible battle? Why is he here?"

"Navi, return to the bunker with the others, as princess of fairies you must care for the fairies there that are scared right now." said the fairy queen to her daughter.

"But mother! It's Link! I can't leave him here! I haven't seen or heard from him in over a decade!" she protested.

"Navi!"

"I just wanna talk to him! He probably wouldn't even recognize me anymore since my metamorphosis. I need to know why he never sent any messages or letters or... anything." At that moment ten battle worn great fairies flew into the chamber through the doorway, circling around the fairy queen defensively.

"My queen are you alright? The intruder didn't hurt you did they?"

"I'm fine, I took care of it. My his power was great indeed, his power has altered your very appearances." The fairies looked upon themselves to see that the blue flames had invoked a change in their bodies. Their hair was white as paper, and their skin was a dark lovely ebony color. They all now had four arms and their vines were burned away. With a wave of her hands the queen clothed them all in white dresses. "You actually all look very nice."

"Wait!" interrupter Navi. "What intruder? Is that why we were all sent to the bunker? Was... was it Link?" she gasped as the realization dawned upon her.

"Navi listen I can explain."

"No Mother! I want to know what all of this is! What is going on?" Links body stirred slightly, unconsciously he moaned out,

"Navi..."

"L-Link?" she gasped in shock. "Why is he saying my name? You said he had forgotten about me!" tears streamed out of her eyes as she pointed and shouted at her mother. "Tell me!"

With a heavy sigh the fairy queen set her jaw steady and faced her daughter. "I lied. He had not forgotten about you Navi."

"Wh-what? What did you just say?" shouted the crying fairy.

"He... he has been searching for you." Navi was silent in open mouthed horror.

"...how long... HOW LONG!" she cried out.

"... Twelve years. He never stopped looking Navi." Navi wrapped her arms around Links beaten and unconscious form, sobbing openly upon him.

"Link... you didn't forget. I knew you couldn't. I knew it." She turned towards the queen. "Why would you lie to me?"

"For your own good! You needed to return to your people. Your quest was over so you needed to come home! One day you will take my throne and you can't be caught up on things like... like..."

"Like Link? You knew didn't you! You knew that I was in love with him!"

"But he wasn't in love with you! That's why I lied to you!" Navi flew up to her mother and slapped her across her face.

"Navi!"

"Shut up! I didn't care! I... didn't care that he didn't feel the same. I just... wanted to stay with him. But when he didn't contact me... and you said he had forgotten... You broke my heart mother! He needed me!"

"Not the way you need him! His fixation with you is not the kind of love you seek to be returned to you!"

"I DON'T CARE! He loves me! Maybe not the way I love him but he needs me!" she turned to Link's body and wrapped her arms around his torso again. She lifted him up and began to float away.

"Navi! Where are you going!"

"Back to the human realm with him!"

"Absolutely not! You are the princess of fairies! I'm almost ten thousand years old! I will pass soon and you will become queen! You would abandon your people?"

"When that time comes I will return to lead our people. But I will never speak to you again mother."

"And what of him? What are you going to do, follow him around until he dies? And then what? You know what he is! The dog of the gods! He will return, reborn anew many times over! And every time you will meet him and he will see you as a stranger! He will fall in love with other women, human women! Will you be able to bear that? You're just a child you cannot know of love!"

"I'm seven hundred years old mother! I can make my own decisions! And if the time comes that he looks upon me as a stranger... then I will do everything in my power to aid him! I will love him forever!"

"Navi!" But her cries fell upon deaf ears as the fairy princess flew out of the chamber, and left the fairy realm carrying Link.

Link awoke surprised to feel no pain. He opened his eyes and saw the forest canopy above him, the light breeze of forest air upon his bare chest.

'A dream...' he thought as he stared hollowly at the sky.

"Morning." He leapt off of his mat in shock, instinctively reaching for his sword. But his sword wasn't beneath his mat where he always kept it while he slept.

"Twelve years and you still have the same habits. Here." Across the campfire his sheathed sword flew into his hands. He looked up to see a crystal blue being with the body of a child sitting on a log across the fire from himself. He stared in confusion for a moment before she again spoke. "What you don't recognize me? I'm hurt Link. You don't know an old friend when you see one?" Suddenly Link's eyes shot open wide and he vaulted the fire to reach her. He wrapped her up in his arms, hugging her tighter than he had ever hugged anyone in his life. "B-but how? How did you know it was me? I look so different now..."

"Navi..." he whispered. She smiled as tears of joy flowed down her face.

"Link... you found me. You found me."

Dear Readers,

Hello and I hope that you enjoyed my one-shot Legend of Zelda Romance. I had always been postulating about what happened to Navi, when one day I wondered if there was a connection between the fairy queen and Navi. That is what led me to the creation of this story. I had always felt that Link was compelled to find Navi because she treated him differently than everyone else did. She didn't expect anything from him, nor did she demand anything. She guided him on a journey he was already undertaking no compelling him to take on a journey. So I felt that they had a very unique dynamic between them. In any case I return to my other story soon and I would greatly appreciate reviews for this story.

Love,

Danthemanwithaplan7