Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Zelda.

Author's Note: SPOILERS Based on the Twilight Princess & Ocarina of Time, I'm making the assumption that Twilight occurs about…100 years after OOT and Windwaker is about…300 years after OOT. Majora's mask lies with OOT. This tale spans those eras, starting with OOT and MM, and then TP.

This is just my interpretation, enjoy 

Edit: This chapter has been fixed up so all tense flow smoothly. Passages written in italics are when Link is about 7, passages that are not (excluding prologue) are Link when he is around 15-18 years.

Prologue

I could not fathom why nor comprehend the situation before me. Always I am left to be alone. I had read the legends of him, the hero. The one who lived in the ancient Hyrule. I knew the faith, of those three goddesses who shaped this land. I knew of the ancient stones, the lost Deku tree. I did not know what was to become of this land in the future.

For years I was just another boy in the village of Ordon. I was to marry Illia. My horse, Echo was just a horse. I did not know my mother or my father. And now…I am he. The hero of time. My horse is the later generation of the great Epona.

I feel…something for the princess. I cannot place it…something so foreign. It is almost as if I am slowly becoming him, taking on what he feels in place of my own. He loved her. Loves her. And yet I know he can never be with her; she can never be with him. The sage and the hero of time. He loved another. A green haired child. An old sage. He held affection for a spirit of water, adoration for a girl of the land. He felt the lust for a woman of great thieving and sacrifice. And I…I loved too. I loved a young girl, whose innocence and gentle ways could win the heart of so many.

And I loved a courageous woman. An Amazon of victory, of power and darkness. She was the shadow in which I longed to hold.

As I sit here alone, waiting to be called upon again in a new form… I know that for a brief time I loved them all and loved none. This is my story, his story, their story…

Chapter 1

The Ancient World

When light first shines on Hyrule, when the Kokiri children have not been lost nor the ancient tree forgotten, when evil has been slain, the hero returns.

He wanders aimlessly in the dark woods, a young Hylian of thirteen. He has tasted blood, honour and defeat. He is wiser than many of the ancients. Holds more courage than warriors. He knows of passion and lust, has experienced love and loss. Trapped within a body he no longer understands, he wanders.

He reaches the edge, walking into familiar surroundings. "Lost woods…" he reads the sign with relief. He recalls all the violence that ancient power had wrought onto Hyrule.

"When is Saria coming home?" He turns to see the concerned face of Mido.

"She is not coming home." He shifts his feet, looking down. Despite all his battles, he feels…out of place when he must report the loss of one. "She is well. She is not…she is well Mido. That is more than anyone can ask for." He turns to walk away, feeling a hand grab onto his bare arm.

"You'll always be nothing here. You are not like the rest of us." He watches Mido with only understanding.

"I know." He walks away, following old trails back to the quiet village.

"Link…link wake up…Link…" Soft hands stroke the hero's forehead as he stirs himself awake. "You fell asleep." His eyes stare into a striking azure.
"I'm sorry Zelda I-"

"You do not sleep well in the forest. It has no peace for you." She pulls away from him, a blush tingeing her cheeks.

"No." She nods her head as she looks out on the soft courtyard of her castle. Often he would come. He was her only true friend, her only companion in her isolated state of being a princess. Her isolated state before knowing her fate.

"You were gone a long time…is there…is there someone Link? Someone you miss?" She watches his face when he turns away.

"I should go…" He stands and bows before her.

"Link…you are getting taller, soon becoming the man you once were." Roses appear beneath her tender flesh. "There is work for you at Lon Lon Ranch…It will get you away from the forest, from memories that pain you." He walks away in silence.

"One day Link, you will be able to laugh again…"

They run across the small plots of grass, laughing as spirits dance high above them. Innocence exists only in the woods of the children. They hide under fallen trees and sprint across lasting bridges.

"Link! Try and catch me!" Her melodic tease rings through the air.

"You know I will Saria!" He tackles her to the ground as they play. The sun sets slowly in their world. In the aftermath of innocence they sit crossed legged, facing each other. Link watches her fairy dance across her shoulder. She notices his state of being, his state of mind.

"You'll get a fairy someday Link…" He nods his head, drawing patterns on the ground. "Hey…Link?" She blushes.

"Yes?"

"The…other children have talked about this thing people do when they are in love. It's called…Kissing? Have you…ever kissed someone before?"

"I've never been in love before…so no."

"Neither have I…Do you think love exists?"

"I don't know. What is it?"

"I don't know…" Link watches her facial expression turn to sorrow.

"Saria… since when do you trouble yourself with such trivialities?"

"There is love in this forest Link…there is life." Saria pulls out her ocarina, soft notes whistling in the air.

"Yes there is life, we are life." Saria paused, a moment in time. Time to her was only just a moment. Her life was compromised of precious moments. She did not feel the age that seeped into Link's bones.

"Sometimes Link…I feel that you are different from me, different from all the Kokiri children of the forest." She smiles softly, setting her ocarina down onto the ground before moving closer. "And then you are not 'different'. You are just...special. You are quiet and concerned and have…a different sense of destiny than us. You do not connect with nature in the same way that I do." She leans closer, pressing her soft lips to his cheek. "And that is why I like you. Because I know that what you lack in the understanding of the forest, you have great amount in courage." She pulls away, a red tinge blushing her porcelain cheeks. She stood and held out her hand, helping the young boy up as they walked away through the labyrinth of passages into the warmth of light.

He shifts out of dreams. Of memories. The hay scratches his back and yet he feels nothing. He watches the moon set high in the sky, over the vast ranch. Here is he plagued by memories. Memories of the young girl who slipped through his fingers by destiny's strong hands. Two years had passed since he walked once more through the lost woods, Kokiri village. He tends to the horses, cleans the stables. He stays in the far, North West tower, in a small little room he had discovered years ago. He knows he must soon forget her. Often he tries to call her. "Do-do-do…do-do-do…" She never replies. Sometimes he can still feel her near him, still hear her voice. He knows that she is beyond the material world, in the realm of the gods. He feels the night drawing to a close as the sun begins to rise. Shifting from his place, he walks over to where the cows are and begins to milk them, cooing soft melodies. Since he came to this ranch, he had not visited Zelda. He could not bring himself to see her. She was…She was there, in flesh and blood, with golden hair and azure eyes. He knew, in his growing state he wanted something he could not explain. So he came here, where a young girl had been so kind, so teasing and bright in nature. A girl whose ranch he had saved from a villainous man. He always adored her. Felt something. But it would never be as pure as what he felt for Saria, never as strong as how he feels for Zelda…

Later he walks to the stables, the crisp air alerting his senses. He lets all the horses out, then milks the other cows and moves to let the chickens wander in the pasture.

"Morning Grasshopper…" He turns to stare into soft beauty.

"Good morning Malon…I trust you slept well?" She nods, her hand grabbing his arm lightly and pulling him towards the house.

"Come, you must eat something…you never eat Link." He pulls his arm slowly away, feeling her hand glide across the fabric of his tunic, shivers against his bare hand.

"I do not need to eat at the moment."

"For me?" He smiles softly.

"I will eat for you." She leads him away to the small house, the sun sitting high in the sky.