A/N: This is my first story ever! I'd like to thank all those people who helped me on my story as I worked these long eleven months to get it started: Mrs. Peggy, who let me borrow a N64 with version 1.0 or 1.1 of Ocarina of Time, in which without it, I would never have been able to start this, Mrs. Almquist, my English teacher, who did the edits and made sure my story didn't look like another dumb kid's stupid idea to popularize a already-popular game, and the Tumblr artist Tarokujo, also my neighbor and friend who worked hard on the cover photo for this story! And now, with thanks done, I present to you the biggest project I have ever done in my life: Legend of Zelda: The Triumvirate!

The Forbidden Forest was a cursed place, the bards of Hyrule had said. Go in there, they said, and you die. Or worse. This meant nothing to the cloaked person who entered the Lost Woods at dawn.

It was hard to tell the figure's gender or even race, as the cloak completely covered its body. It strode purposefully, as if knowing where to go; for indeed the figure knew where to go and what to do, and by noon it had stopped, having arrived at the base of a large tree, which seemed older than the forest itself.

"Great Deku Tree! It is I, the ambassador from the other world!" The figure cried, cupping a hand on the side of its face.

From the voice, one could tell the figure was a male. The hand, having been shown briefly when the sleeve slipped down to the wrist, definitely would not have been recognizable to even the best of Hyrule's creature experts. The hand seemed like a cross of a human and a dragon; The formation was similar to a human, but it was covered in golden scales. The fingers flexed and bent the same way as a human's, but instead of fingernails, the ends of each finger contained a medium sized, very sharp claw. The figure, whatever he was, was definitely not of Hyrulean origin.

The figure waited, but no response came. Did I arrive too early? He wondered. I'm sure I got the time right…

Just then, a melodious music began to play, capturing his interest. The music sounded beautiful, he noted. Almost as if it had some power of its own. A power to lift spirits. Then he frowned. Wait, is that an Ocarina? His mood went from cheerful to dark again. He started to remember another ocarina, one that—

"My most humble apology for making thee wait." Boomed a large voice, jolting the figure to the present. "I saw thee vexed out, so I hath asked a Kokiri girl to playeth a song. Doth thee like it?" The mysterious creature saw that the tree was moving—it moved its bark around to produce a face and create sounds, which would translate into the Hyrulean language by magic.

"The music is beautiful, I'll grant you that," The figure said. "But the song is played on an ocarina, which reminds me of… then."

The bark of the tree made a sigh like sound. "Doth thou has't proof that thee art... a Dragonian? Thy proof is necessary." The Deku Tree asked. The figure gave a threatening growl, but obliged.

As his cloak fell away, the scales on his hand—as well as the rest of his body—flashed in the sunlight. He had the appearance of a bipedal dragon, with his feet like his hands—similar to a human's, but had the characteristics of a dragon. He had sharp talons for toe nails, his tail was the same length as one of his legs, wrapped loosely around his body, the tail ending in a sharp and dangerous barb, and a beautiful pair of wings, each twice the length of his arms, the web a darker gold than his scales, while the bony ridges were a lighter shade. His eyes were pale silver—much like the moonlight. The rest of his face was completely dragon-like, except the tip of the snout was a lot closer to the face. The creature—experts would call him a freak of nature—was right to be unhappy. With the sunlight reflecting off his scales, he was visible to everyone for nearly a whole mile.

"My name is Julian," The creature said. "And I'm sixteen in Dragonian years. Is that enough proof for you?" The Deku Tree sighed. "Thank Nayru. I just needeth two more things ere I wilst pray pardon me the situation. First, a student. She hath been intrigued by the creatures that roam this land, and wanteth to maketh a bestiary on them." He was silent for a long moment, which, to the relief and dismay of Julian, the music ended.

Then, the Deku tree spoke once more, sounding weaker all of a sudden. "Navi… Navi, where art you? Come hither…" A small blue sphere with a pair of wings descended from the branches of the tree. A faerie… Julian realized seeing the faint outline of a woman against the bright light faeries usually portray.

"Great Deku Tree? What's wrong?" The faerie called Navi asked, concerned.

"Oh, Navi the faerie… Listen to my words… Doust thou sense it? The climate of evil descending upon this realm… So evil we needeth a dragonian" Julian nodded, and Navi turned to look at him.

"But It'll pass, right?" She asked, turning back to the Deku Tree. "This place has always been safe from monsters and evil. Nothing evil has managed to penetrate our wards, which are strengthened by you. Surely nothing bad would happen here… Right?"

The Deku Tree sighed. "Malevolent forces, even now, are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule. Thee art correct. For so long, the Kokiri Forest, our home and source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining the order of the world… But… Before this tremendous power, even my own is as nothing... It seems the time has come for the Boy Without a Faerie to begin his journey…"

Julian was confused. Surely all Kokiri had a guardian faerie, right? "The youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of truth and justice…" the Deku Tree continued. "Julian, this is the second thing I needeth… Navi…Julian…go now! Find our young friend and guide him to me… I do not have much time left."

The words hit Navi deep in her gut, and even Julian reeled in shock. The Great Deku Tree was dying?! The memories Navi had of him…

Navi saw herself, sitting on the "nose" of the Great Deku Tree. They were talking… Navi was learning about the forest… hearing stories along with the other Kokiri about the world beyond… She saw how he raised her, supplying his own leaves to give her the life energy she needed to become an adult… When he started tutoring her on the monsters that roamed the Lost Woods… Even whenever she got in trouble for wandering into the Lost Woods by herself, without telling anyone, getting lost and having to call for the Great Deku Tree to get her out…

Suddenly, all these memories, as well as her time with him, became precious. "No!" She cried. "I don't want you to die!" She started to cry. The tree seemed to smile sadly.

"It'll be alright, Navi. Fly now, Navi! Fly! The fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends upon thee!"

Grudgingly, she turned and followed Julian. Julian reached into a satchel he had and picked the cloak. As he pulled it back on, he said to Navi, "Continue onward. I will follow you, but I must stay hidden from the Kokiri. They do not need contact with outsiders… yet."

O-0-O

Soon they managed to find the building where the boy was. Even though it was noon, the boy was still asleep.

"Wake up!" Navi shouted, banging into the boy. "Link, get up!" he just simply rolled over.

"Link? How do you know his name?" Julian asked.

"Well, duh, there is only one boy that has no Guardian faerie, and that's Link."

Julian sighed. "Regardless of his name, can Hyrule's fate really rest on the shoulders of such a lazy boy?"

Navi started ramming into Link. "Link, the Great Deku Tree has summoned you! Din… WAKE UP!" with that, she rammed into Link's nose with her full might, causing his eyes to flicker. "Huh… Wha?" he said, then noticed the dragonian and faerie. "YAAAH!" he screamed, jumping off the bed and grabbing a jar. "Holy Farore! Who are you people?!" he demanded, preparing to throw the jar at Julian.

"My name is Julian." The Dragonian said calmly. "And this is my student on Monster Biology and your partner, Navi."

Navi paused, missing a wing beat. "You'll tutor me on the monsters outside the Forest?!" She said. Julian nodded. Navi was very happy, until she remembered that the Great Deku Tree was dying. "Whatever." Navi said. "We need to get going, right now!"

Link finally put the jar down, but there was still mistrust in his eyes. "I'm only following you because of the Deku Tree. I swear to Nayru, if you try anything…"

Their happy introductions done, they left the house. As Julian was about to exit the house, he saw that a Kokiri girl was running toward Link's house. "Yahoo! Hi, Link!" She shouted. Julian hissed in frustration and retreated back into the house. Suspicious, but getting the message, Link climbed down the ladder to his house.

"Wow, a faerie!" She said when Link approached. "Finally, a faerie came to you, Link! Now you're a true Kokiri now, Link!" Link, remembering that Julian said Navi was to be his partner, smiled. "Yeah." He said. "I'm glad to finally have a faerie, too! I wish I could chat with you, but my faerie says the Great Deku Tree summoned me."

She cocked her head in puzzlement. "Is that right? The Great Deku Tree summoned you? It's quite an honor to talk to the Great Deku Tree! I'll wait for you here. Get going! Go see the Great Deku Tree!" She exclaimed. Julian, knowing that she would wait a long while here, decided to go out through Link's back window.

"So who was that?" He asked Link.

"I won't tell you anything, except that her name is Saria." Link said. "Lay a finger on her, and I swear— "

"Just cut it already, okay? I'm not out to get you." Julian said in exasperation. Link just continued to glare.

What is wrong with him? Julian griped to himself Sure, I broke into his house, but he didn't even have a door, for Nayru's sake...

Unfortunately for him, Link, and even Navi, their troubles were just beginning.