Chapter 1: The Boy Without A Guardian Fairy

The warm morning light shimmered down through the branches of the trees and sprinkled the village with glowing dots of yellow.

The small, wooden huts that sprouted from the ground were silent; their inhabitants asleep.

Except one, whose owner was wide awaken, focused on the task at hand...

The little house was dark inside, the only light being the small amount that shone through the square window by the doorway, which was covered by a curtain, blocking out the outside world.

Quiet noises came from the single-roomed hut; the slices of a knife chiseling soft and malleable wood. The boy's hands flicked down, lifted back up, then flicked down the wood again. Shavings of oak fell to the floor of same material.

"Hmm..."

The boy mumbled to himself, making comments on his work before placing the knife on the night stand to his right. He then reached for an elastic string and started to wrap it around the wooden structure he had carved. He tied it tightly to the two ends of the wooden object, and cut the extra bits off.

"There." murmured the boy, "Hopefully it doesn't break like last time."

Link pushed himself off of his bed and jumped to the door. He reached his hand up and quickly pulled the curtain back.

The light flooded in immediately, temporally blinding Link, as the room had been dark till now.

The boy walked out onto the porch balcony and leaned over the rail, examining the rest of the village. He eyed every house and spied every path, searching for any sign of Kokiris who were out and about. Seeing no one in sight, Link leaned back and smiled largely.

"Looks like no one's out," he says to himself, "so I can go without any problems!"

Filled with a burst of energy, Link turned and slipped down on the ladder. He placed one foot below the another and dropped to the ground once he was close enough.

Still grinning like an idiot, Link ran across the village and headed to the small cliff on other side. He lifted himself up onto the cliff and continued trekking up the hill and climbing the ladders up higher till he reached the top. He glanced over his shoulder, taking a peek at the village before running into the overgrown woods.

These woods were dense and thick, choking out any light that dared to travel to the ground. The Lost Woods, The Forbidden Forest, The Sacred Grove; the place had many names but it had one fact that was well known by everybody. Only those with the blood of the Kokiri could survive in the forest. All the others would become monsters; roaming the woods eternally.

As he walked through the sea of trees, Link looked about the forest canopy.

"Hmm...there has to be some out now..."

As he continued to walk, his search soon came to an end.

"There we go!"

Link spotted a bundle of bright orange fruit in the tip of a distant tree; around seven or eight in number.

He fumbled at the small brown sack he kept tied to his belt and clumsily pulled out a round nut about an inch tall and an inch wide. Holding between his thumb and index finger, Link placed it in the launch pouch of his slingshot and pulled the elastic string back to about his eye. Aiming carefully at the bundle of fruit, he let go of the string and watched the Deku nut fly towards its target. Still holding the slingshot up in anticipation, Link held his breath as the Deku nut hit the thin branch of the tree. The slightest crack came from the branch...

...and it broke off the tree.

Quickly lowering his weapon, Link ran for the fruit, catching it in his arms right before it hit the ground. He had gotten the entire bundle this time! And the string didn't snap either!

"Yes!" he exclaimed to himself, "Just as I wanted it!"

Link balanced the fruit in one arm as he slid the slingshot into the side of his belt and then placed the bundle carefully on the ground.

Crouching down, he examined each fruit individually, checking to make sure that they were ripe like he had thought. The skin on the oval-shaped fruit was soft, yet not squishy. It also was a bit fuzzy. There weren't any sore spots on them, and they had no bumps or anything of the sort. They appeared to be perfectly ripe!

"Best ones yet." Link whispered to himself.

Picking the bundle back up, Link began his trip out of the woods.

Though the forest was a very confusing place, one you could easily get lost in, Link had memorized every twist and turn in it and knew the way also knew the way to Sacred Meadow, a place hidden within the deepest part of the forest and right in the center. It housed an ancient temple, one long abandoned by its caretakers, who had begun to turn against the spirits and attempted to destroy the temple. If Link remembered correctly, he had, at some point, been told by the Great Deku Tree that this occurred long ago, when the protection charm was first placed on the forest to keep it safe. And this charm had been placed to stop all non-Kokiri from disturbing the sacred place as those caretakers once did.

As Link lingered on his thoughts, he subconsciously walked the path out of the woods, having wandered down it many times before.

The sun shone brighter and brighter as the trees gradually subsided and the entrance drew close. The village soon was in full view; all its little houses as still as ever.

That is, until Link noticed a movement in the quiet setting.

Slowly and carefully climbing down a ladder to reach the bottom of the cliff, he leaned a bit to see what the movement was.

"Dang..."

The other Kokiri had started to wake up.

"Wonderful." Link sighed as he touched ground.

Link was not so excited to see the others up and going already because he didn't want them to see him. He wasn't doing anything wrong, Kokiri went and gathered fruit from the forest all the time. But, the other Kokiri weren't the nicest to him. Link was teased and made fun of often. And they had their reasons, they just weren't the greatest ones.

Every Kokiri has a guardian that accompanies them: a sprite or, fairy, that comes to them at birth. These companions were one of the special things about the Kokiris; fairies rarely stayed with the other races unless it was for the purpose of healing. Since every Kokiri has one of these sprites, wouldn't it be strange if a Kokiri...didn't?

Well, that was exactly what Link's case was: he was the only Kokiri who didn't have a guardian fairy.

The oddity of this was the logic behind all the other Kokiri's teasing.

Link hated having to deal with them. He could bear them alright, but he preferred to avoid them.

As he reached the bottom of the cliff, he saw that the village appeared to be awake now, Kokiri running back and forth, playing games, sitting and chatting, and just acting like kids in general.

Well, no use trying to hide now.

Having decided that he could easily race to his treehouse from where he now stood, Link put one foot in front of him and began to run towards it.

Hugging the fruit bundle to his chest, Link accelerated slowly as his boots hit the ground below. He leapt onto the large, square stone steps that poked out of the mud in the deeper part of the creek and landed on the next stone as he jumped to the edge of the stream of water.

And as right as his feet touched land, a bright shine of light flashed in his face and he was startled into falling backwards and splashing into the creek.

Pushing himself onto one knee, he put his hand to his eyes. rubbing the water out from his eyes, Link glimpsed up to see the one person he disliked most.

"Where are you going off to, eh?"

Mido, a Kokiri with russet hair that stuck out from his cap and a torn up green outfit, was looking down at him, smirking at the fallen Link.

Hating feeling less worthy than Mido, Link stood to his fullest height, coming out only slightly taller, and frowned at Mido.

"I'm just going home, Mido."

Mido's smirk grew wider as he spoke his next line.

"So, you're finally leaving the forest then?"

At this, two other Kokiris who stood behind Mido had grins to match their whispering giggles. They constantly made comments on how Link didn't belong here; that he wasn't really home in the forest.

And Link felt a twist in the knot of his patience and acted on that feeling.

"My home is here, just like yours!" Link shouted loudly.

A few other Kokiri turned to see what was happening, but at the sight of Link they merely faced away and laughed silently. Many of the Kokiri were on Mido's side. Link didn't belong here.

"Ha! Only Kokiri like me live here! And you're no Kokiri." He stepped towards Link, putting his arrogance out for everyone to see.

Link's face, for the first time today, shifted to a doleful look of near pleading. His eyebrows lowered as he yelled.

"But I am!" After his shout, his teeth gritted.

What a weak looking face I must've made just then...

"Oh, really?" Mido pondered, "Then where's your guardian fairy?"

Link stepped back, his boots soaking up more river water as he moved. This was what he asked himself everyday, every minute of every hour. What was the answer? He didn't know.

His face dipped down at the water, and he asked himself once more. Then, he reminded himself: he was different, and he knew it. But why?

Sure, there was the absence of a guardian fairy but, what about him was different from them.

Was his true difference good, or was it bad? He didn't like these thoughts, he felt weak with them flocking his mind. He felt much better when they were elsewhere. He felt strong.

Strength... he had strength without these thoughts. He didn't need the negativity that they caused. He didn't need them.

"I..." Link mumbled.

His face stiffened strongly and he quickly lifted his face to Mido.

"I don't need one."

Mido's face lessened a bit at this. Nevertheless, it rose back to its scornful self sooner than thought.

"You need one to get through the Lost Woods." he retorted.

Link plainly pointed up at the entrance to of the place in mention.

"I just did without one."

Mido fell silent, his face glazed over and his mind processing attempts to find an area in which he could further tease. However, he was spotting none.

Link began to feel some pride over how well he had built his walls of defense within just a couple of minutes.

And with that, Link stepped on the muddy creek side and began walking past Mido and the observant spectators.

Mido snapped from his daze and called Link out.

"Well, whatever! That proves nothing! Nothing at all!" Mido stared at Link, "Are you listening?"

Link kept his speed and headed for his home, his sanctuary.

And as his feet touched the dirt path to his treehouse, Link felt the soft thud of many small rocks hitting his head and the base of his neck.

He turned around to see a shouting Mido and a group of others holding pebbles.

"Just go away No-Fairy! Go away!" they all shouted together.

"We don't like you!" exclaimed a group of girls.

"You're stupid No-Fairy! clamored some Kokiri sitting on their rooftops.

"You don't belong here! Leave!" called out the many Kokiri.

Link stared at them all and soaked in all the remarks, all their hateful words. His blue eyes shook with peaking tears, and his lips quivered with sorrow. But most importantly, his heart shivered at the faint truths that may lay behind the phrases he heard. The some, repeated words that echoed in his ears everyday.

"Oh look," a voice murmured near him.

Link was pulled from his rooted thoughts when he felt his slingshot being yanked from his belt.

"What's this? A slingshot?"

Fado, a girl with bright blonde hair pulled into two side buns, held the carved, wooden weapon up to the sky.

"Hey! That's mine!"

Link jumped towards the girl in hope of retrieving his weapon.

The girl avoided all the grabs at the slingshot, sneaking around Link so as to keep him from taking the weapon back.

She faced him and her red freckled face lit up in a devilish sneer, her green eyes pierce Link's own blue ones.

"This stupid thing? Heh, I know."

Link just stared stupefied at her.

"Of course that thing is yours!" Mido yelled as he ran to the girl's side, "That's why it's so poorly made."

Poorly made... but I worked so hard on it...

The criticism of something Link took so much effort in making, even criticism from an enemy, struck Link's heart. He just couldn't win, could he.

Link rushed at them once more, yelling, "It's not poorly made!".

But his voice didn't sound intimidating. It was full of sadness and devoid of true rage.

"Oh really? Hey Fado pass me the stupid thing!"

Fado handed the slingshot to Mido, and a loud crack was heard.

Link stared silently at the cause of the sound: two wooden pieces snapped in half; the slingshot.

He ran to the remains of his workmanship, picking up the pieces of wood and broken elastic.

"Like I said, poorly made."

Everything slowed as Mido and Fado walked away from their crime and the rest of the Kokiri went back to their daily lives. Everything slowed as Link held his shattered slingshot. He stayed there for a long time, sitting on his knees. Soon, he lifted his head to his house, and he solemnly departed for this little home.

Link cradled the wood pieces in one arm and balanced himself on the rickety ladder that lead to his porch. Once he reached the top, he parted the curtain door and walked into the dim room.

He placed the pieces on his stump night stand before he collapsed on his bed. He lay there, wrapped up in the soft blankets, crying silently.

He just wanted to go to sleep. He just wanted to go to sleep so bad.

But, he knew that even then he wasn't free.

Link had been having nightmares recently. Nightmares that made no sense and involved people and places he had never seen before. He often woke up in a cold sweat over these, and wished they would stop. He shouldn't have to put up with these problems in his dream world.

But he felt tired, too tired to care whether nightmares haunted him.

And he felt himself drift into a heavy sleep.