Author's Note - This is my first and only fanfiction that I had originally written in 2009. I was only 15 and I am now 22. Sooo, big age difference comes with more mature writing and characters. As I begin to write the new chapters (chp 11+), you'll see the difference! In the meantime, I'm just revising the chapters I've already written. Let me know what you think!

I also imagined Link around 17 in TP (even though he was supposedly 16), so he'll be 19 in this story since it's a year and half (almost 2 years) later. :)

I know my beginning chapters are a bit eh but it gets better! Just give it a chance, yeahhhh? :DDDD It's a really developed story, and I have really put my heart and soul into it. There will be some romance, but it's more Adventure/Action/Angst/Friendship/Romance but yeah I can't choose them all!

Shoutout to SheikahLover for beta-proofing my story! Thanks girl! Check her out! :)

-o0o0o-

Chapter 1: The Treehouse

"Come on, Link! C'mon!" Little Talo shouted, tugging on Link's hand. "C'mon! You walk soooooooo slow!"

"What is it, Talo?" Link asked. Originally he was supposed to be at the Ordon Ranch helping out Fado with the bails of hay, but the children had 'kidnapped' him from his house, and before he knew it, they were off, walking in a group towards the Ordon Spring. The children were blabbering about something in the forest and were very eager to show him. For the past two weeks Link had seen Talo, Beth and Colin running back and forth in the direction of Ordon Spring. Link, curious, had once tried to inquire on their activities but Malo always intercepted him, telling him to mind his own business.

During their walk to the Spring, Link recalled Colin mentioning something about a treehouse at the Annual First Day of Summer Ordon Barbecue. Link smiled at the thought. The children had so much spirit.

"You should see it, Link! It's HUGE!" Beth exaggerated, as she usually did. "It has a little kitchen, and a couch, and a—"

"Oh, shhh, Beth! Let him find out when he gets there!" Talo yelled, interrupting her.

"But—"

"No!"

"Fine," She grumpily folded her arms. "But I was just getting to the part where—"

Colin chimed in, "You know Beth, Talo is right. You should just let Link see it when he gets there."

Malo smirked. "Wow. Colin and Talo actually agreed for once."

Talo shot him a dirty look. "Shut up!"

Beth whined and then hugged onto Link's strong arm. "But, Link wants me to tell him!" She looked up at him, batting her eyelashes. "Right, Link?"

Link chuckled. "Let me see it, Beth." He leaned down and whispered, "You'll ruin the surprise, okay?" He winked making Beth nearly faint.

"So, this treehouse… it's a treehouse, right?" Link inquired with a light chuckle.

The children all replied with "Yup! Sure! Of course!" and one "Duh" from Malo.

Link laughed. Together the kids were always entertaining. "Okay. So, you say this treehouse has a kitchen and furnishings, right? How did you all build that?" Again, his curiosity was getting the better of him.

Colin shook his head. "We didn't build it. We found it."

Link raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Where, exactly, did you find it?" His eyes narrowed as he surveyed each child. Each of them looked away unable to meet his gaze except Malo.

Beth was the first to blurt out, "Don't get mad, Link, but we found it in the Faron Woods! Near that really pretty forest! Oh, it's sooooo pretty, Link!" She laughed, hoping to relieve some of the tension.

Link halted, surprising some of the children holding on to him. "You mean the Sacred Grove?" He stressed. The kids knew they weren't supposed to venture into the woods unless accompanied by Link or a parent—preferably armed with a weapon. There were dangers other than monsters that roamed through the Forest, and the children weren't equipped with the knowledge or experience on how to combat them.

Talo stopped short. "The Sacred-what?" He didn't know what Link was talking about.

Link scratched his head with his now free hands. "The Sacred Grove…where Midna and I found the Skull Kid."

Colin cocked his head. "What are you talking about Link? Who's the 'Skull Kid'?" He shared a confused look with the others. They didn't know who or what Link was mumbling about.

Beth stomped her foot, feeling jealously course through her. "Yeah! And who's Midna? Your girlfriend?" She stressed the word with such obvious distaste that Link couldn't help but laugh.

"No, Beth. She is not my girlfriend. She is – was – a friend." It had been a while since he got over Midna, but every so often, he did miss his dear friend. They had done a lot of travelling together and shared many adventures. It was still hard for Link to forget how much time had passed since the last time he saw her.

Talo and Malo looked at each other and shrugged.

Talo then gripped Link's left hand again and tugged him forward. "So, are we going or not?"

Link suddenly fell out of his daydream and back onto earth. "How did you guys find it? You know you're never supposed to go beyond—"

"The Ordon Bridge. Yeah, yeah, we know. Chill. Ilia was with us," Malo replied, walking ahead.

Link raised an eyebrow. "Ilia was with you? Since when does she have an interest for going in the Faron Woods? And where was I in the midst of all of this?" He asked aloud in disbelief.

"It was two weeks ago, during the barbecue. You were helping our parents get ready, and Ilia took us out for a little fun," Talo explained, laughing when he saw Link's face. He found Link's expression to be fairly comical.

Link cocked his head. "That doesn't sound like her at all."

Beth squeezed Link's arm harder. "I know! Maybe it's that boyfriend of hers…"

Link chuckled. "Maybe."

Not too long ago, Ilia had met a boy from Castle Town when Rusl had gone back to the town for a meeting. Rusl had brought Link and Ilia for a ride, and by chance Ilia met Izekiel. Before she knew it, she and Izekiel were dating. Apparently Bo, her father and the mayor of Ordon, wasn't very happy about the whole thing, and made Link swear that he would watch out for them, which he didn't. Link trusted Ilia and knew that if she felt anything was wrong with Izekiel, or if he made her feel uncomfortable that she would stop seeing him, and come to Link for help. But in fact, it appeared Izekiel was making Ilia happier than she had even been. Link was happy for her.

Soon enough, they finally arrived to the edge of the Faron Woods, making their way down the makeshift bridge to the Sacred Grove. The villagers decided to have access to it after Link mentioned it in his journey of saving Hyrule. The adults wanted to see its beauty with their own eyes. However, as they entered the Grove, Link couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched. Because the children had intercepted him while he was en route to work, he was unarmed. He supposed he could use his fists as weapons, if needed. After all, he DID wrestle the Gorons with his bare hands… and won. But figured he didn't need to use violence. It was probably just the Skull Kid watching over them.

As they made their way deeper into the Grove, Beth shrieked. "There it is! There it is!" She let go of Link and ran toward it, along with all the other children, except for Colin, who stayed by Link's side.

"Isn't it cool?" Talo asked from atop a rope ladder. "And fun too!" He swung the rope ladder back and forth, almost knocking Beth off her feet.

"Hey! Watch it, will ya?" Beth hollered.

Talo only stuck out his tongue which infuriated Beth even further.

Link looked down at Colin, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you go ahead? I'm going to look around."

Colin nodded, running off before whipping around. "Wait! You're not coming?"

Link nodded. "Yeah! I'll be there in a minute," he said, giving a reassuring smile.

He walked off to his left, following the path of turquoise rock and grass. The Sacred Grove was beautiful, and somewhat chilling in a way. He walked past the waterfalls that blossomed into crystal clear ponds and celestial trees. He eventually found himself at the ancient Hyrule Ruins. The door that led to the Temple of Time still remained standing, the Triforce symbol etched across the stone. Link wondered if he could still enter the door, but figured he couldn't without his Master Sword, which was left safely in his basement back in Ordon. He put his hand on the door and sighed. He was going to miss his adventures with Midna. She was so cocky, and he would miss those little unique things about her. He once again fell out of his daydream as he heard youthful laughter. He decided it was time to return back to the treehouse. He smiled when he saw the four kids running around, playing and pretending to be overly-strict versions of their parents.

Talo caught a glimpse of Link and waved to him. "C'mon Link! Come and see it!"

Even though Talo was twenty feet up in the air, he was still as loud as a cucco. Link climbed up the rope ladder and entered the treehouse. To his surprise, his head did not hit the ceiling, as the ceiling was quite high.

That's strange, he thought. Whoever built this treehouse must have been as tall as Link, who stood at six feet and two inches. If the kids didn't build it, who did?

Maybe the adults built it, he theorized. But wouldn't they have mentioned it? And, if they built it, why not build it in the village or closer to the village?

Link looked about the wooden house, and Beth was indeed correct. There was a small kitchen, with a small table as well. He also saw a couch made entirely of hay, grass and wood. The rest of the house was empty, but provided the children with plenty of room to play in. Out of the corner of his eye, Link noticed a small necklace sitting atop one of the shelves in the kitchen. He walked towards it, and picked it up gently. It was made of leather, with an ornate obsidian pendant. He'd never seen anything like it.

Someone has to live here. But, where could they be? How did I miss this before?

He placed the necklace back down, and sat on the floor, facing the children. He watched them play for ten minutes before Malo said, "Well, don't just sit there. Do something."

Beth sat beside Link. "Hey! Why don't we all tell stories?"

Talo laughed. "That's dumb! Let's keep playing tag!" But as he talked, the rest of the children had already sat in a circle with Link. Talo sighed and joined them.

Beth clapped her hands. "Okay! Who wants to tell a story first?"

Talo raised his hand and Beth nodded to him. "Yes, Talo?"

Talo sat up proudly. "I volunteer that Link tell us a story!"

All children but Malo replied with, "yeah!"

Malo frowned. "But we've heard all his stories. We already know he defeated Ganondorf with the Princess' help. What else did he do?"

They all sat in silence, thinking. Then Beth broke the silence. "Oooo! Tell us who Merna is!"

Link grinned. "You mean Midna."

"Oops. Yeah… her." She blushed wildly.

Link sighed. "Well, you all know how the Twilight once took over Hyrule, right?"

"Yeah." They chorused, eager to learn more about Link's adventures.

"Well, Midna is the Princess of the Twilight. She is of another race, known as the Twili. I met her in the Castle dungeon when I was first turned into a wolf. She helped me escape, and ever since then, helped me throughout my journey…" Link trailed off.

"What did she look like?" Colin asked, noticing Link's subtle change in demeanor.

Talo bounced up and down. "Did she look like a demon?" He was highly enthralled. He never knew there was a different race apart from the Gorons, Zoras and Hylians. He tried to envision the Twili people but nothing came to mind. He needed and wanted to know more of what they looked like.

Beth smirked. "Was she ugly?"

Link held up his hand. "Hah! Enough questions." He ran a hand through his long, golden blonde hair. "Well, she had two different looks. I first met her when she was small, like Malo's height. She and I were both cursed by Zant, who overtook her kingdom, and turned her into, well... this miniature demon looking thing, you could say."

Beth's smirk grew larger. "So she was ugly!"

Link laughed. "She wasn't 'ugly', Beth. Just…different. She was small with black and blue skin, and bright green tattoos all over her body. Her hair was also bright orange, like her eyes."

Beth folded her arms. "She sounds ugly to me."

Link sighed. "If you say so." He decided to continue. "Well, when I defeated Ganon, the curse was lifted from her. Midna looked entirely different. Her skin was still blue and black, her hair was still orange. But, she looked more like a princess, I guess you could say. She was also taller than me—"

"TALLER THAN YOU?!" Talo shouted, shocked.

The children covered their ears and groaned. Typical Talo. He was never very good at keeping his thoughts to himself and was very good at deafening those around him.

Link nodded. "Yes Talo, she was taller than me. She was very elegant and very beautiful."

Beth cast her eyes down and pouted. "Aww."

Link winked at her. "Don't worry, Beth. You'll always be my girl."

Instead of almost fainting, she just tossed her hair over her shoulder and said, "Duh! Of course I am!"

"So… that's my story, kids." Link looked out the entrance of the tree house. "It's nearly sundown. We should be heading back."

The children awed and pouted, not wanting to leave, but Link knew he would get lectured big time by their parents if he didn't play the authoritative adult role. So, one by one, the children and Link descended the rope ladder and headed back to Ordon. But what Link didn't know was that Beth, in her innocence, had stolen the leather necklace from the treehouse. That little act of thievery would soon change Link's life forever.