THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE IMPRISONING WAR
Written by: Malibu
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Based on the story and characters of Shigeru Miyamoto

"Your wish will be granted…your every desire can be yours…Now, touch it with a wish in your heart…"

"But…what about Zelda? I…can't…"

"…"

Link awoke from his peculiar dream with a strange stiffness in his legs, a throbbing pain in his side, and a strange sense of deja-vu. He rose from his bed, picking the straw that came from his pillow out of his hair. He looked at his hands, and then he remembered. He saw the triforce mark on the back of his left hand, shining up at him in a gold, iridescent glow.

He stood up, wincing as every joint in his body popped, as if he'd pumped a gallon of air into them. He stretched his arms behind his back, and let out a huge yawn, allowing his jaw to also pop. He then looked around, wondering if Navi had possibly heard Link's awakening. But when he looked around, the familiar glow wasn't there. Navi was gone.

"Oh, yeah," Link said softly. "Navi…" His head drooped as he remembered that Navi left him. She had to. He wasn't even a Kokiri, was he? Link couldn't remember. So many thoughts swirled like wind through the deep canyons of his mind that he didn't know for certain where he was, or what he had just done, or what he should do now. Finally, he grabbed his green vest and threw his arms through the holes. He picked up his hat and the ocarina of time fell out of it. He then broke down like a Pinto, crying in agony more over the emotions he'd held in than anything else. Sure, he'd saved the world, but he had been torn from his bed and into a life-threatening quest he'd never even known he was in. Sure, he got to see the world and meet the princess, but he'd found out he was a Hylian and not a Kokiri, and his new fairy had to leave him, and he'd been thrust through time over and over again, and it finally caught up to him. Sobbing, he wiped tears from his face, and knelt to pick up his ocarina. He then remembered Zelda giving it to him, the night he'd opened the Door of Time to begin his trip to the future. Since then, he'd always thought of it as some sort of link to the past.

His frown quickly turned to a smile as he then took up his sword and shield, and buckled them to his back. Link armed himself with everything he owned, including his bow and quiver, his boomerang, and his wallet. After he was ready to depart, he pulled the curtain door aside, letting the light flood his treehouse. He squinted slightly while his eyes adjusted, as he took a deep breath of the forest air. He then wiped the mask of sweat and tears off his face with the back of his hand. And that's when he remembered.

"Damn!" Link groaned, as he tore the sword and shield off of his back, and hurled them into the corner of the room. "I need to stop doin' that!" He'd been "doing that" ever since the adventure of Link had ended. See, while he was out, he'd done the same morning routine every single day. He rose from bed, stretched, woke up Navi, and dressed to leave. But, now that the journey had ended, he still did that routine.

Link reemerged from the treehouse and then took two quick hops in place. He then swallowed hard, and took a huge, deep breath.

"Okay, this time I'm gonna do it! Let's go!"

Link suddenly and quickly leapt off of the treehouse balcony, jumping over the ladder, cartwheeling into the air, and finally landing perfectly at the foot of the ladder. His wallet had come loose during the acrobatic leap, and it smacked the ground beside him.

"Yeah! I finally did it!" Link cried, "A perfect landing!"

He bent over to pick up his wallet, and he let out a tremendous Bronx cheer. Link giggled at the juvenile sound. "Now that was a wind waker!"

Shaking his head in bewilderment, Link began to jog slowly towards the main square of the Kokiri forest, looking for his best friend, Saria. Instead, all he could find was his old rival, Mido. He was sitting on a stump, and Link could see that he was whittling a stick with a pocketknife.

"Uh, hey, Mido! What's up?"

Mido didn't look up; he kept whittling.

"Uh, Mido? What's wrong?"

Mido then took the pocketknife and threw it into the dirt, and it stuck there like some sort of crooked post. He then held the stick out to Link like a sword. "What d'ya want, kid?"

Link let out a laugh, but it came out uninspired, and very nervous. "I, uh…I was just wonderin', if…ya' know…"

Mido picked the knife back up, and resumed carving the stick. "Ya, I know. You want to see Saria, huh?"

"Um, hey, you guessed it!"

"She's at the forest temple, Link," Mido said softly. "Prayin' to some oracle of ages or somethin'."

Link held up a finger, but Mido continued, "Or maybe it was an oracle of seasons…"

"So, Mido," Link said, crouching next to the log Mido sat on, "what'cha carvin'?"

"A sword. I'm making four of them."

Link laughed. "Four swords, eh?"

"Yeah." Mido stood up, grunting as he did so. Link saw that he was now taller than Mido was, and he wondered if he had noticed it at all. "Why don't you go find Saria, huh?"

Link nodded. "No prob, Mido. Catch 'ya later." Mido didn't acknowledge this; he kept whittling his sword. Link turned towards the Lost Woods, thinking to himself that without his sword and shield, he'd have to evade the deku scrubs unarmed, as Saria did. Except Saria had that charm that the wild animals respected, and all Link had was deku nuts, a wallet with 24 rupees, and an ocarina. Link silently reprimanded himself for not taking it after all.

Soon, he entered the woods, and he began to make his way through the thicket of trees, following the path Saria had taught to him long ago. At least, in Link's mind. Link remembered coming through here before, trying to reach the temple. As an adult, it was easy to push through the forest, which had died off without the Great Deku Tree. Of course, that hadn't happened yet. That was in the future, or was it? It didn't matter, really. Link then noticed the reason it seemed so hard to navigate the woods. He didn't have Navi with him, and it was too dark to see. He hated not having her brilliant luminosity helping him to navigate the woods. Suddenly, he missed Navi very much.

Link entered the clearing of the Sacred Forest Temple after a short five minute hike. He leapt onto a small ledge nearby the opening to the woods, and then hiked up to an even higher, wider cliff, and Link was now almost 30 feet in the air. Above the meadow, he could see deku scrubs, waiting to shoot the first imprudent person who went in unarmed and oblivious to their looming danger. Link remembered being struck by the very hard nut of a deku scrub, and the massive, purple contusion he'd had on his chest for weeks afterwards. As he trudged on, Link saw pixies glide lazily by, and he felt a sudden twinge of sorrow in his heart. "Navi," Link cried, unaware that he had spoken out loud. "Where are you?"

After approximately fifteen minutes of this seemingly eternal hiking, Link reached the rather long gorge that connected the meadow and the temple. Silently, he crept along a small, rocky outcropping of only about two or three inches, praying that it wouldn't buckle under his weight, not only because he was over twenty feet in the air, but also the threat of deku scrubs and moblins below. Without his shield, he would be a sitting duck, and he'd surely get pelted to death. This didn't matter in the end, however, as he made it, rather easily to boot, and he finally reached the huge, majestic marble staircase that took him to the actual meadow the temple was inside of. He leapt from the ledge and onto the stairway, creating a loud, resonant echo from his boots landing on top of the stone. He admired the beauty of the stairs as he ascended them, and he again thought of Navi, and how her radiant glow had replicated off the stone like a broken mirror when they were here last.

As he reached the top, he immediately was overwhelmed by the brilliance of the sun, coming through the opening in the treetops that made the meadow. The huge granite pillars of the temple, old and devastated by age and years of humid air, stood like sentinels in the otherwise empty clearing. They were swathed in vines and plants, and looked like huge, stone giants, or some sort of primitive folk, dressed in a shroud of green. He saw hundreds of fireflies, fairies, and other things flitting nonchalantly through the mild summer air. Link felt like playing his ocarina, but figured he could do that when he found Saria, so he stopped. Maybe, she could play alongside him, with his old fairy ocarina. They could make a new song, and play a duet, like they used to. Before.

Suddenly, Link froze. A shadow was visible, however so slightly, from behind a log's shadow. He realized that this was probably an enemy ambush! Thinking fast, he quickly reached for his sword and grasped nothing but air, and he hated himself even more for leaving it behind. As sweat began to form a transparent veil on his brow, he quickly leapt up and onto the stone ledge of the temple entrance, and he pulled himself up on top of it. He would get this attacker at his own game. He crawled into position to attack, and prepared to leap down onto his adversary, where he could end it in one or two blows. The creature was eating something! Link imagined that it was some sort of hapless forest creature being gobbled up as an appetizer for him, the main course!

Just then, the ambusher unexpectedly rose to their feet. Link saw an opening, and leapt into the air.

As Saria stood up, she turned to see a figure in midair, about to strike her!

Link saw her, and quickly yelled, "Move!"

"No!"

He smacked the dirt floor with a sickening thud, and he felt the air quickly rush out of his lungs, as if they were balloons with the ends untied, and someone decided to stomp on them.

Saria knelt next to her would-be attacker, and couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Link, what in the world were you doing? You could've hurt someone!"

Link groaned, and rolled onto his back, holding his midriff with both arms. "I…th…thought that…you…"

Saria smiled at him, and he cocked a half smile back, tears rolling out of his eyes. "At…least…"
She placed a finger over his lips, and slowly shushed him. He stopped groaning, and got halfway to his knees. He spat, and saw no blood, so he knew he was okay, at least. When he'd fought Ganon, and was hit by his staff, and knocked into a stone pillar, he spat soon afterwards and it was pure blood. It was some sort of internal bleeding or something, and a few broken ribs, also. If not for Zelda's healing abilities, he might have died.

Saria helped Link to his feet, and walked him over to a log nearby. She had a whole picnic lunch there, including a heaping wooden bucket full of crystal-clear water. "Here, Link. Have a drink of water." She smiled at him. "It'll help you out, all right?"

Link shrugged. "It's worth a shot, I guess." He drank it, and suddenly, the throbbing pain was gone. He felt fine. "What in the heck?" He gaped at Saria, overwhelmed. "What…what is that?"

"The water of life, silly! It is a special water found in this glade. It restores your vitality if you're sick, hurt, or parched. It's the purest water in Hyrule!"

Link remembered hearing the potion shop lady in Kakariko Village saying something about her needing the Water of Life to create the ultimate potion, or something. He then looked at Saria, and Saria looked back.

She began to laugh. "You…look so mature when you smile like that."

"And is that a compliment?"

"Maybe it is, but I'm wondering why you were up on that overhang?" Link's face went beet red, and he leaned back. "I, uh, well…you know how it is, right? I mean, um…I was…just trying to see you from…a different…angle?"

Saria shook her head, and reached into a picnic basket next to the log. She pulled out an apple and offered it to Link, which he declined, and she then took a bite out of it. "One thing about you, Link. You're a horrible liar. So it's a good thing you're always so honest."

"I'm sorry I lied, Saria." He wiped a tear from his eye, and let out a laugh. "Truth is, I thought you were-"

"I don't need to know why. I'll always trust you, Link."

Link felt the irresistible urge to show his feelings to her, that he loved her, but he wasn't sure if that it was even possible to love her. He was a Hylian, and she was a Kokiri. It was impossible, but…

"And I you, Saria."

All of a sudden, the sky went dark above their heads. Saria rose to her feet, and dropped the apple to the ground. As she did this, an extremely cold breeze shot through the glade, and Link also stood up, frightened.

"Link!" Saria cried. "I'm scared!" She quickly grabbed Link's hand.

"Yeah," Link said, nodding his head in agreement. "Me, too." Link remembered hearing Saria tell him once that the Sacred Forest Meadow always was warm, and the sky was always clear. There had never been a cloud above, and it had never been this freezing, either.

Saria squeezed Link's hand. "There's something wrong." Link explained. "That's the only possible reason." The fairies and fireflies began dropping to the floor, and Saria let out a cry. The sky was very dark now, and it was now extremely cold. Goosebumps broke out on both of Link's arms, and when he looked at Saria's, she had them, also.

Link quickly picked up the basket, and began to head towards the forest, leading Saria along. "We need to head back now!" he exclaimed, rushing down the stairway. "It's too cold! It might rain!" As he spoke, steam from his breath rose into the cool air, and Saria, who'd never seen that in her life, let out a cry of terror. As she did, her own breath made the same steam that caused her scared reaction.

Saria began to cry. "I don't understand…" All of a sudden, she pulled from Link. "Wait! Our ocarinas!" She dashed back up the stairs, and Link turned to stop her. As he did, his foot slipped off the stair, and he fell to the stone, smashing his chin against the stair. Saria quickly returned, carrying both of their ocarinas, and helped Link to his feet. He turned his head and spat, and it was pure blood. Then, they began to sprint madly into the maze of trees and cliffs. Luckily for them, the deku scrubs were long gone, scared off by the cold air. As they ran, the skies suddenly opened up, and a mix of rain, snow, and hail began to fall upon them. Saria began to scream, and Link took his vest off and threw it around her shoulders, covering her head to protect her from the falling chunks of ice. He immediately regretted it, as the cold air penetrated his brown undershirt like it was mesh and the ice smashed into his head like bullets. He began to shiver uncontrollably as the rain turned to a blizzard, and snow whirled all around them. They continued to run as fast as they could to the safe covering of the Lost Woods.

As they reached the opening to the woods, the snow was up to a few inches off the ground. They continued to run, pushing through the trees, and Link suddenly thought once again of Navi. If she was out there in that storm, she wasn't safe. It didn't matter, because they still had a ways to go, and it was getting even more freezing. It was about 15 degrees by the time they came out from the trees, and into Kokiri forest. Even though there was a clearing in the trees, the snow wasn't too bad here yet, but it was enough that the entire village was now a transparent shade of white. Link and Saria both sprinted towards Link's treehouse, which was the only house in the village with a fireplace. They quickly ascended the ladder, and went into the house. Then, Link grabbed his Hyrulean Shield off of the wall, and fitted it into the doorway, which he had rebuilt so that he could use his shield as a barrier. It was more or less a fear thing, due to his nightmares, but it worked great in this situation.

Saria sat on Link's bed, trying to catch her breath, as Link quickly started a fire. Saria's fairy floated out from under Link's vest and began to hover above her as she sat there, panting. Finally, Link got the fire going, and then he opened vents on the front and back sides of the house, and another in the roof. Next, he grabbed a few blankets, and replaced his vest with them on Saria's shoulders. He'd bought them in the Hyrule Castle bazaar for 25 rupees a pop, and he'd bought three of them, but never used them until now. No reason to.

For what seemed like an eternity, they sat there, warming back up, as the snow finally began to fall at an alarming rate outside, which Saria examined with fearful inquisitiveness. The only sounds were the crackle of the fire and the swirling howl of the wind outside. Link did remember this happening to him once on Death Mountain, when he was in the future as an adult. While hiking up the mountain, a sudden flash of cold air and then a gigantic blizzard forced him into Goron City for the better part of a day. In this case, he also had Saria to worry about, but she would be fine in here, as long as the snow stopped before too long.

As the time slowly passed by, and the blizzard showed no signs of finishing, the conversation was minimal between Saria and Link. Link's thoughts kept drifting to poor Navi, who was somewhere out there, and probably dying. Saria just sat on his bed, watching the endless white so thick it was like a fog.

Suddenly, Link leapt to his feet. "Oh, that's it!" He reached down and took his ocarina from the wood floor. "I'm so stupid! I could've stopped this!" He took the ocarina to his lips as Saria's face brightened. "Link! You're a genius!"

He began to play the Song of Storms.

As he played, and each enchanting note rose into the air of the small house, Saria watched Link with a passion for the song he was playing, although she had never heard it before. Each note floated pleasantly into their pointed ears, and ended sharply and cleanly. Finally, Link ended, and the pair became absolutely still. They both listened for the sound of wind.

There was none.

Link stood up, a smile on his face. He removed the shield from the doorway, and gazed out into a calm air. Saria then leapt from the bed, and into Link's arms. They began to dance and laugh, happy for stopping the dreadful storm.

Until Saria's fairy got their attention. They both went outside to see what was wrong, and both of them let out a gasp.

The snow was a foot below the ladder's top.

Hesitantly, Link crept out into the snow, sinking to his knees, he looked for any sign of a house not under the snow, but he saw none. "They're trapped in there!" Saria cried, and they both trudged into the white sea. As they did, they had absolutely no idea on how to save them. It was foolish for them to think they could dig them out bare handed.

Saria turned to Link. "Do you have any bombs?"

"Yeah. I have two. That wouldn't do us any good."

Saria moaned. "I guess you're right."

But then, he brightened. "The Sun's Song! The Sun's Song might work! If I alter the song a little, it may make the sun

break through a little bit. Maybe! Maybe we can melt the snow!"

Saria shrugged a nonchalant shrug. "It's worth a try, I guess."

Link began to play the Sun's Song. Again, as he played, Saria had a strange look in her eyes, one of admiration and pride that it was her best friend making these absolutely beautiful notes. As he continued, the sun began to move overhead, and suddenly, Saria felt a bit warmer.

And warmer.

Link replaced his ocarina, and notices that the air was warming back to the normal, mild temperature of the Kokiri forest. The snow began to melt, slow at first, but then it rapidly began to melt. Seconds after he finished the song, the snow was already backing down halfway to the ground. And less than a minute later, the snow was completely gone. The air was a bit humid, but otherwise, the forest was saved. Again, Saria and Link held each other, but this time tears were in both of their eyes. This was a joyous victory for them.

Saria looked at Link, who was smiling. "Do you think that the Forest Meadow is fixed, too?" He nodded, and she beamed. "But, I don't understand why the weather changed that quickly."

"I don't get it, either. Especially it being a summer month in Hyrule. It's not snowing anywhere, at least here."

"What about the rest of Hyrule?"
Link stared off, in deep thought, at this sudden, shocking development. "If Zelda was in trouble, she could call me, couldn't she?" But was Link that sure? Why wouldn't she have called when he was out, on his last adventure?

Saria stood up from the log, which was still damp from the snow. She pointed to the opening in the trees. "You should go check on her, Link. She could be in trouble." Link nodded, and quickly rose from the log. He ran to his house, and armed himself with everything he used on his journey. Then he slid back down the ladder, and returned to Saria, who was back on the log. "I'm gonna go find her, 'kay?" He looked into her eyes, and she stood up. Then, she hugged him, and he hugged her back, surprised that she did so.

When they separated, he had a tear in his eye, and Saria did realize that she cared about him, but she felt the urge to tell him so disappear when she thought about how he'd changed lately. He'd grown up a little, and was now taller than her. She didn't know if Link noticed it, but she had a hunch that he wasn't truly a Kokiri.

Link turned away, and began to run towards the trees. He pushed through the narrow path and soon emerged on the bridge leading out into the Hyrule Field. He stopped, remembering that this was the spot he and Saria had parted before he left the forest for the first time. She had given him her ocarina, and they had parted. He felt a sense of nostalgia, and missed the times before, when he felt a part of them, and felt he could be their friends, but now he thought that he was an outsider. Unbeknownst to Link, the Kokiri had been gossiping about him, saying that he was acting extremely strange and almost afraid to talk to them.

Link continued through the trees and emerged into the Hyrule Field. Just as it did every time he left the forest, the sunlight burned into his eyes, and he held an arm up, squinting through the light. But, unlike that first time, he quickly adjusted to it, and he continued, trying to blink the purple spots in his eyes away. The grass spread all over the horizon, as far as you could see. He drew his sword, and then noticed that the field wasn't affected like the forest was. The weather was warm, the sky was clear. He thought that maybe some sort of freak storm had coincidentally passed over the forest. But that was impossible, considering that they were in the midst of the hottest month of the year. The logic for it happening wasn't there, and Link finally gave up trying to think, groaning at the mild headache that the problem had presented to him.

As he walked, he could smell the sweet scent of pollen and grass in the summertime, and he let the sunshine beam down on his skin, warming it pleasantly. The only thing messing up this beautiful summertime picture was a gigantic cloud over Kakariko Village. Link stopped walking and stared at this titanic mass hovering over the beautiful town, obscuring the view of Death Mountain. It seemed like it was about to let loose a ton of rain upon the quaint town.

Later that day, as Link was about two-thirds the way to the castle, he could see the Lon Lon Ranch looming on the horizon to his left. Unlike the other places, this seemed unaffected by the latest strange events happening all over Hyrule. He remembered when he and Navi had met Malon in the Hyrule Castle Market, and she had called him "fairy boy". He also thought of how beautiful she had been when he'd gone into the future and helped her save the ranch from Ingo.

Link's thoughts turned towards Saria, and he then began to fear that he'd left Saria alone unwisely. He felt that, for some strange reason, she was in danger, but he was already almost to the castle, and he concluded that Saria wasn't in trouble; it made no sense.

Unbeknownst to Link, he had bigger problems than Saria's safety to worry about.