Disclamer: Zelda and all characters from the game belong to Nintendo. Only Kaylia is mine.

Wee thanks to WingsofFury for becoming my Beta reader. Here's the new and improved first chapter.

Legend of Zelda: Guardian of Time

Chapter 1: Awakenings

Deep within the boundaries of the Lost Wood grew a massive tree. Now, most would wonder what was so important about a single tree; discounting this tree, though, would be a mistake. For this was by no great shakes a simple tree; this was the Great Deku Tree, the Guardian Spirit of the forests and father of the Kokiri.

What are the Kokiri, one may ask. Why, the Kokiri are no more and no less than the eternal children of the Forest, forever young. Young, that is, as long as they stay within the forest that bore their name. Each young Kokiri, one might be fascinated to learn, has the most delightful of creatures to watch over them. Every Kokiri in the forest has a little fairy to teach and guide them as they go through their daily lives. Every Kokiri, that is, except one.

Though only one child has no fairy, it is not only this that makes that special child stand out. Where most had hair of the fairest of shades, hers was the darkest of blacks. Where the others had light colored skin, hers was a pale gray with stripe-like black runners that covered her body. Her eyes, though, seemed identical to those of one other Kokiri, a bright emerald that was not unlike her tunic and cap.

Of all the Kokiri, she was the most unique, between her looks and the lack of a fairy this child's life was quite difficult. She was teased and only one other had even given her the kindness of friendship; many a night would pass where upon she would fall asleep with tears staining her cheeks.

Navi, on the other hand, was a mischievous little fairy, flying about the forest happily until she noticed something was not quite right. At first it took awhile for her to see just what it was, but when she did her eyes widened.

Silence.

Not a sound could be heard about her, neither the song of a bird, nor the chirp of a cricket. Something was wrong, terribly wrong and for the life of her, she did not know the cause.

Frowning, the tiny fairy flew faster through the forest. While she did not know what could be wrong, she did know that the Great Deku Tree might have an answer. The wise old tree always seemed to know everything that happened within his domain.

Upon her arrival at the clearing that held the ancient tree she gave out a cry of dismay. With but a look at the Guardian Spirit she knew what was wrong. Something terrible had happened to him. His leaves were withered, falling to the ground in large numbers. The bark itself seemed to be rotting away, leaving discolored patches all over him.

"Great Deku Tree!" she shrieked, "What is happening?"

Her cry caught the tree's attention as he looked up at her, his voice filled with pain. "Navi.. Navi.. Quickly.. you must bring the one that has no fairy to me.. time is short.. bring the child to me.."

"But what is happening?"

"There is no time little Navi.. fetch the child to me.. quickly!"

She cried again, pained by the very sight of the Spirit's weakened state. Flying as fast as her tiny wings could carry her, she appeared a veritable blur as she entered the Kokiri Forest. Where was the fairyless child? Not by the village shop, nor at the training ground, this left only one place where the child might be found. flying in through the window of a small house on top of a tree, she gave a squeal of delight as she found the child that the Deku Tree wanted.

"Kaylia! Kaylia!"

The child, ironically enough, was fast asleep, curled up beneath the covers of her bed. Frowning, Navi began to bounce on the dark haired Kokiri's head.

"Wake up! The Deku Tree wants you!"

Kaylia only rolled over swatting at the fairy in her sleep.

"Talk about a lazy kid!" Navi did the only thing she could think of to wake the child up. Hovering next to one pointed ear she screamed. "FIRE! Your house is on fire!"

Kaylia jerked at the scream, getting tangled in her blankets before tumbling out of the bed. Looking about frantically expecting clouds of smoke, she frowned as she saw there was no fire at all. "The hell?"

"Kaylia! Kaylia!"

Narrowing her eyes, the girl turned toward the source of the call. Blinking as she saw a fairy hovering in her room and rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't still dreaming she scowled. "That wasn't funny!"

"Sorry," Navi, it seemed, at least had the decency to look sheepish. "But the Deku Tree sent me to summon you to him."

The girl stared at the fairy warily for several long moments. "Did Mido put you up to this?"

"No! The Deku Tree really said he wants to see you right now!"

Sighing as she extracted herself from her blankets, the young Kokiri nodded. She didn't quite trust the fairy after that fire joke. If the Deku Tree did want her and it wasn't another prank then she'd have to go. That did not mean, however, that she would go out unprepared.

The first thing she grabbed was her belt; it was a simple one, with places to attach pouches if needed. The first of which of course was her wallet, filled completely with rupees. It was amazing what one can find exploring the forest. Next of course was the dagger given to her by her only friend in the entire village. After that came the Deku Shield that quickly slid into its place on her back. She never went anywhere without it; at least not since the time Mido and his friends got it in their heads to pelt her with half rotten fruit and rocks.

The toy sword, of course, would not do. While good for practicing or hitting the boys with whenever they decided to drop a creepy crawly down the back of her tunic, it was not much good for anything else and after the nightmares she had been having, she was not about to go down the path to the Deku Tree without a decent sword.

With a nod to Navi, the young girl made her way out of her home. Sliding down the ladder she turned to see one of the more pleasant sights of the Village: her green haired friend Saria running up to her. The other girl's eyes lighting up as she saw the fairy now perched on Kaylia's hat.

"Kaylia! You finally got your Fairy!" Squealing in delight as she hugged her friend.

"Er, actually, according to her, the Deku Tree wants to see me…"

Saria's eyes widened in surprise, "He does?"

"Yeah he does. 'Least thats what little Miss firebug said"

"Hey! I'm not a firebug!" came the tiny yell.

The green haired Kokiri couldn't help but giggle at the exchange, "The path to the Deku Tree has become more dangerous recently. Mido won't let anyone pass unless they have a sword and shield."

"Figured as much. Got the shield, just need a sword."

"Well," Saria pondered for several moments, "The only sword I know of is the Kokiri Sword."

"And that's where?"

"Hidden behind the training yard. Just look for a hollow log, and be careful there's a trap."

Kaylia definitely didn't like the sound of traps. She had had her fill of them, loosing count of how many times she had ended up hanging by snare, "And how do I get by this trap?"

"Oh, it's not that hard. It is kind of hard to miss."

Sighing at the mischievous gleam in her friend's eyes, she shook her head. Giving Saria another hug, Kaylia started walking, blinking every time she got stopped when others noticed the Fairy riding on her hat. At first she was wary, but all they did was congratulate her on finally getting her fairy.

Crawling through the hollow log, she wondered just what kind of trap guarded the sword. Was it a snare or a pit? Her answer though came just as she found a large dirt path that stretched to the right and to the left of the one she was on, a path on which not even a single blade of grass grew. Frowning as she heard a slow rumbling that seemed to be coming closer, she looked in the direction of the sound. Her eyes widened in surprise as she darted back, just in time to avoid the huge boulder that rolled by.

"Hard to miss my ass."