Before I begin, I just want to have a sort of introduction. This isn't my first story, but this is my first fan fiction that I've posted. I've done another fan fiction a long time ago; it was also Zelda based, and it was a chat room between Hyrulian characters (I was like, 10, gimme a break ). Anyway, I suddenly had an urge to write another fan fiction (even though it's 7 years later) and it's about… Zelda. (What else?) Why? Because I felt like it, that's why . No really, I just wanted to make a story about Zelda with a twist to it. Hope you enjoy. Feedback welcomed!!

Chapter One- Prologue to a Journey

I never had a close relationship with my father. Ever since I was a little girl, people would always say "Aria, see how brave your father has been for us? He is our hero." "Look how much you resemble your father already! You should strive to be like him. Make him, and us, proud." I was only 5 years old when this all started. I may look like him, but you can imagine how quickly I got tired of hearing all of this. I wanted to play and be a pretty girl and wear cute frilly dresses. Whenever he was home, he would only want to try and train me to be like him. I didn't want to go train with my father or fight with wooden swords with the boys. I know everyone was expecting me to follow in my father's footsteps and ensure peace, and I even had thought about it once or twice; but my wanting to be was destroyed.

One bleak and rainy evening, a messenger came and wearily handed my mother Maron a letter, dirty and ripped but neatly folded clothes, and a tiny package. It was half soaked, but its message was clear. My father was lost in battle. He was dead. I remember the blank face my mother had when she read the letter. I remember after she finished reading it, she folded the letter and took the items, nodded at the messenger, turned around, and shut the door. She didn't want to believe it. I tugged at her skirt.

"Mommy, what's wrong? Is it daddy?"

She stroked my hair. "Daddy will be away for a little while sweetie. He is far away, fighting to protect us."

I remember getting angry after hearing this. I didn't realize at the time that she meant that he was dead.

"Of course he's gone! He's always gone! He's always leaving us behind…!"

My mother kneeled down and grabbed my arm to pull me close. She looked directly into my eyes and said in a stern voice that I had to be strong for her, and for him. "Aria, you promise to help mommy look after the horse ranch? You promise to help mommy be strong too?" I think when she said this I subconsciously realized that he wasn't coming back. I didn't want to believe it, and I don't think mother believed that he was really gone either. I started crying as I nodded and we embraced. I think we may have stayed like this for what seems liked forever. I was sad because my father and I were never close, and now it was too late. I felt regret, even though I didn't know what that was at the time, and anger and so many mixed feelings.

As the years went by, my feelings of sadness grew to hate. I blamed him for everything. Sometime late at night I could hear mother crying. She missed him; we all missed him. I blamed him for making her so sad. Our horse ranch wasn't doing too well either. We didn't make enough money to hire farmhands and also support ourselves, so it was just me and my mother, and occasionally her father (my grandfather) Taron. He would come by to help out. He was old, and eventually we had to take care of him. This put more stress unto us, but we couldn't turn him away after all he'd done for us. The monsters came soon afterward. They ravaged towns and the countryside. It was only a matter of time before they made their way to Hyrule and the ranch. This seemed to confirm for me that my father was really dead; otherwise he would've come to destroy the monsters by now. It felt like he would walk in at any time now. "I'm sorry I'm late!" He would say. He would pick me up and I would be his pretty little girl again. He would kiss my mother and she would be happy that he was back and that we were finally all together again. But this wasn't going to happen now. The town people started blaming us for the monsters, even though they knew we had no control over that. They just wanted someone to blame. They became more and more hostile towards us as the monsters became more and more numerous. Eventually the townspeople chased us from our own home and we had to flee. We stayed with friends in Kakariko village for a little while, until it became too unsafe because of the monster attacks.

"Aria, we're going to your father's village." She told me one evening as we packed what little things we escaped with. I never thought about where my father had come from. I know he told me stories of all the places he visited, but he never mentioned anything about where he was from. "Where did he live?"

My mother thought for a little bit. "There's a secret way your father taught me, just in case we needed to go there in an emergency. His old village is...Kokiri village…;in Kokiri forest." Ah, I knew my father was an elf-boy. I played with my ears that I inherited from his genes and sighed. Something told me this was only the beginning of an adventure, and I wasn't too enthused about it. We prepared to leave that evening, despite my protests that monsters were more aggressive…and hungry…at night.

Well, that was the first chapter. How did you like it? I wonder if it was too depressing. It seems Aria can't decide of whether to love her father or to hate him. Comments welcomed; the more you comment, the better this story will become! Thanks for reading.