Here. Chapter 1. Insert standard disclaimer here. Onward, my stalwart friends.

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Chapter 1

The Boy Without a Fairy

The nightmare was always the same.

The darkness was complete. Only the wind could be heard, blowing, whistling, screaming as it rushed past. Then, gradually, a light would begin to appear. Two, no, three lights. Two had the flickering quality of torches. One was coming from a small ball no larger than the boy's fist, which was floating in the air, suspended on two large wings.

So the dream could not possibly be true, or else it was not him in the dream.

The boy in the dream had a fairy.

He did not.

The light would grow until it illuminated the scenery. It was indeed nighttime, and the light was indeed coming from torches: two on either side of something. The boy in the dream, for it couldn't possibly be him, was standing on the edge of a gigantic plain or field of some kind. He had no idea where this image came from. Only the Great Deku Tree, the guardian of the forest, and a chosen few fairies had ever seen anything outside of the forest, so how could this place be real either?

The boy was positioned before a huge stone building surrounded by a large stream. A wooden bridge was pulled up for the night, and the torches were on either side of it.

All of a sudden, the bridge came crashing down. The boy jumped and peered into the darkness through the gate. For a few moments, nothing could be seen. Then the sound of galloping hooves reached his ears, and a white shape emerged from the shadows. He leaped back just in time as a pure white horse flew across the drawbridge. Its rider was carrying somebody else as well.

A girl.

This could also not be right, for the only girls he had ever seen had light green hair and green or green-blue eyes. This girl had golden hair and eyes like the water of the stream beneath her. She gazed at him as she was rushed past, and then rapidly vanished out into the field behind him. Hearing another horse's whinny, he turned back to the castle and...

There he was again.

The man with the strange golden eyes and dark skin.

The man with black armor astride a black horse.

The man with the cruel smile and the evil laughter spilling from his lips.

The man who appeared in every nightmare he had ever had.

The man who would raise his hand and black fire would materialize from the air around him and gather around it like moths to a flame. The ball of fire would grow and grow until it was larger than his head. Then it would come speeding towards him, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it...

There was another strange thing about this dream. In most people's nightmares, when the frightening things happened they would try to run away. They would cower in fear or beg for mercy.

But not this boy.

The mysterious man in the black armor was frightening beyond all imaginings, and the boy could feel the fear inside him bursting to break free. But he never ran. Even when the man hurled his ball of black fire at him, he would not try to hide. A strange feeling would be burning inside his chest: a feeling of confidence, a feeling of defiance.

This boy, this young, small-looking boy would not run away. He would not hide. He would not beg for mercy.

He would not be cast down.

Navi the fairy was on a mission.

The Great Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest, had requested of her to go and find the boy without a fairy and bring him back with her. The Deku Tree never commanded, but he never needed to. So impressive and intimidating was he that any request he made was granted instantly. Naturally, Navi had flown off immediately, his parting words still echoing in her ears.

The fate of the forest... and all of Hyrule... rests in your hands.

Was the boy really that important? But the Deku Tree had asked it, and so she would obey him. He gave all the fairies of the forest a safe shelter from those who would hunt them down, just as he gave all the Kokiri eternal life. The one condition was that their immortality only lasted inside the Kokiri Forest. If any Kokiri were to leave the forest, they would die within a day.

Navi was quite a pretty girl, even for a fairy. Like all fairies, her body was concealed by a bright sphere of light, except for her four long, graceful wings. Her natural color was a lovely blue-white, but she could instinctively change color whenever she sensed something strange nearby. She turned a darker blue near a friendly person, yellow when she knew there was danger nearby, and green when she felt a secret treasure. She was as intelligent as it is possible for fairies to get, and she had a secret pride: The Deku Tree had once told her that she was among the wisest creatures in the forest. If she had a flaw, however, it was her jealousy.

Just where was this boy, anyway? All she knew about him was that he had no fairy. Was that him over there, pulling weeds by Mido's house? No, there was a fairy next to him. How about that one picking up the rocks? No, he had one too.

Ouch! Navi rubbed her head and glared at the wooden fence that had stopped her. She could usually fit through there. Was she putting on weight? Anxiously she examined herself, but she seemed just as slim as usual. (Another of Navi's faults, and indeed all fairies, was that she was rather vain.)

Was that him up on the tower? No, that was most definitely a girl. That one by the log she knew as Mido, the boss of the Kokiri. On the roof of the store? No. What was she doing up there anyway? Nope. Nope. That left only one house to look in. He must be in there!

She fluttered cautiously into the tree house through an open door curtain. At first she could see nothing because of the gloom. Then she heard quiet sobs from the other side. She floated gently over. A boy was lying asleep, fully clothed, on a bed. He was crying quietly, and whispering in his sleep.

"No! No! Get away! I won't tell you anything! I'm not afraid of you!"

Navi remembered what the Deku Tree had said about the boy. "An outcast, plagued by nightmares."This must be one of those nightmares. She felt immediately protective of the young boy, wanting to defend him from whatever horror was so frightening him.

"Hello?" she said softly. The boy stopped whispering, but tears still coursed down his cheeks.

"Hello?" she repeated. "Wake up. The Great Deku Tree needs you."

Nothing. Navi decided to try getting him awake by other means. Pretending that he was out of earshot, she said casually, "How can Hyrule's future really depend on such a lazy boy?"

That got him up. He sat up slowly, wiping his face. He stared at her with huge blue eyes, kicking his legs.

"The Great Deku Tree asked me to stay with you from now on. He wants to speak with you," Navi continued. Oh, he was adorable! All fairies had a soft spot for children, and Navi in particular fell in love instantly with a pair of big blue eyes like his.

"A... fairy?" the boy said in amazement. "A fairy came to me?"

Navi smiled and giggled. The boy grinned and dove forward, hugging her to his chest. She wriggled free as they both laughed.

"What's your name?" Navi asked curiously.

"Link," the boy said with a shrug.

"I'm Navi," the fairy said brightly. "Hello, Link."

"Hi, Navi. Wow... I don't believe it!" Link continued. "Now Mido can't boss me around anymore! But... oh, you said the Great Deku Tree wanted me? Why?"

"I don't know," Navi replied truthfully. "Follow me!"

Link pulled back the curtain over the door. As he and Navi exited the house and reached the top of the ladder, they heard a call from below.

"Yoo-hoo! Hey, Link!"

A girl with green hair and stunning blue-green eyes was running towards them on the path below, waving. She was very pretty and wore the green tunic of all Kokiri, but with a darker sweater underneath with matching girls' boots and a belt. Navi recognized her as Saria, one of the oldest and definitely the wisest of the Kokiri. Link recognized her as his best friend. She stopped in shock, her green fairy fluttering distractedly above her head.

"A fairy came to you? Oh, Link, I'm so happy for you! You're a true Kokiri now. Come down here so we can talk!" she called, her face breaking into a wide smile.

Link practically jumped down the ladder, still managing to land on his feet. He ran over to his friend.

"Oh, she's beautiful," Saria said rapturously. Navi blushed deeply. "What's her name?"

"Navi," Link said, putting a hand up to pat Saria's fairy.

"What a lovely name!"

Navi decided that she definitely liked Saria.

"Where are you going?" Saria asked, smiling at both of them.

"To the Deku Tree," Link replied proudly. "Navi said he wants to see me."

"Will you tell me about it when you get back?"

"Sure, Saria."

"We have a deal, then. Now go on, don't keep the Great Deku Tree waiting."

Link waved and ran up the slope to the main path. He looked around his home for a minute. The Kokiri children were all up and about, laughing, playing, shopping, or just talking. There were so many familiar faces to be seen. He had known these people for all of his ten years, and they had known each other for much longer. Some, such as Saria and Mido, were a few centuries old, but the Kokiri never grew up. As long as they remained in the forest and were not killed by monsters, they could live forever. If any Kokiri left the forest, he or she would die.

Even if he could, Link doubted that he would ever leave the forest. This was his home, these were his friends. He couldn't stand to leave them.

"This way," Navi said, tugging at his cap. He jerked out of his reverie and followed her down the path to the right, behind Saria's house. They came to the small stream which ran through the forest, and he hopped on the floating blocks placed there for just that purpose. When they reached the other side, Link saw the huge canyon passage that led to the Great Deku Tree's domain. He stepped eagerly forward, but...

"Just where do you think you're going?"

It was "Mean old" Mido, the boss of the Kokiri. He stood with his hands on his hips, staring at Link. They were exactly the same height, but somehow Mido always seemed so much taller than everyone else. Link braced himself.

"The Great Deku Tree wants to see me," he replied, standing up straighter.

"Huh!" Mido snorted derisively. "Why would he want to see you? You haven't even got a fairy!"

"Er... Mido, I do have a fairy."

Navi fluttered out from behind his cap, floating in front of Mido so that he could take a good look at her.

"Eh? What's that? You have a... what? How did this happen?" Mido spluttered. "Oh, it doesn't matter. You can't possibly hope to help the Deku Tree with whatever he wants you for if you're not properly equipped! You can't go see him unless you have a sword and a shield. Now buzz off!"

Link walked away a few steps, having a whispered conference with his new fairy.

"What now?"

Navi shrugged, the ball of light surrounding her making the motion as well. "Find a sword and buy a shield, I guess. There should be one on sale in the Kokiri Shop for, oh, forty rupees or so."

"Where am I going to find that much money?" Link asked, eyes widening. Forty rupees? He'd never had that many rupees in his life!

"We'll search for them," Navi decided. "Try in those bushes over by your house."

Link crawled through the bushes and found a few rupees on the ground beneath them. He stood up triumphantly and slipped them into a pouch on his belt.

"You were right. Now what?"

"Sometimes rupees are hidden by the fairies under rocks and in weeds. There's a bunch of rocks over by Mido's house."

Link ran over and was met by a Kokiri boy who was also picking up rocks.

"Mean old Mido told me to pick up all the rocks by his house. Will you help me, please? I'll let you keep anything you find while doing it."

Once they had thrown all the rocks into the wall of Mido's house, Link had collected a few more rupees. He asked the boy where he might find more. The boy glanced around furtively and whispered, "Don't tell him that I told you so, but there's some rupees in a bunch of treasure chests in Mido's house."

Link nodded and whispered, "Thanks!" before entering Mido's house. Since nobody would ever try to steal anything or hurt anyone (usually), nobody's house had a lock on the door. Inside Mido's house, there were four treasure chests lined up neatly. In the first two, there were single green rupees. In the third chest was a tiny, glowing heart. Link poked it and gasped as it soaked into his hand.

"What was that?" he asked Navi.

Navi shrugged again. "I don't know. Some sort of healing magic, I think. But you didn't need healing, so it didn't do anything."

Link nodded. That might come in handy later. He opened the fourth chest and found a blue rupee, which was worth five greens.

"Great!" he exclaimed. "Now I have... fifteen rupees. Um... I guess we'll have to do this for a while."

He exited Mido's house and looked around. There seemed to be a girl lying on top of the tall tree-tower in the center of the village waving at him.

"Hey, Link!" she called. "Come up here and I'll give you something cool!"

He gave the thumbs up in reply. "Now how exactly do I get to you?" he muttered. Then he saw a thin rope leading to a different tower off of Saria's roof. Another rope led to the girl's tower. They went over to Saria's house, nodding hello to a boy trying to pull some weeds.

There was a sort of ramp that went up around the outside of Saria's house. He climbed up onto it and followed it to the rope.

"I can do this," he said, more to himself than to Navi. He took a few steps onto the rope. Being a Kokiri, he had naturally had experience walking along very narrow objects with his friends, but none quite as high as this was. He inched slowly along the rope, very nervously, until he reached the first tower safely. He heaved a sigh of relief and turned to the other rope.

"Ready, Navi?" he asked his fairy.

"Ready when you are," she replied, rubbing up against his cheek for a moment, then backing off to float above his ear.

Link took a deep breath and edged onto the rope. This one was much higher than the other one had been. He knew that if he slipped off of this one, it would really hurt!

As if on cue, a wind suddenly swept the forest, knocking him off balance. He began to fall, but he grabbed the rope at the last moment. He hung there, panting. After a moment he collected himself and tried to climb back up onto the rope, but he nearly fell again. He shifted his hands slightly...

Wait a minute! He could use his hands to swing himself along the rope! He began to move along the rope again, one hand after the other. Finally he hit against the tower. Readying himself for a possible fall, he let go of the rope with both of his hands and switched them swiftly to the edge of the tower. Grinning, he pulled himself up. Navi immediately flew at his face.

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" she cried. "You could have hurt yourself!"

"I've fallen farther than that, Navi," Link retorted, brushing her away. The girl gazed at her in awe.

"You have a fairy?" she said. "Congratulations! Look, you can see the whole forest from up here."

Link looked around. You could indeed see everything. He waved at the people on the ground.

"Here's your prize for getting up here in one piece," the girl said with a wide grin. She handed him a blue rupee.

"Thanks!" Link said happily. He peered down over the edge. "Think I can jump from here?"

"Land in the stream," the Kokiri girl advised him. Link gauged the distance and leapt. He fell for a second or so, then landed in the stream with a tremendous splash. He surfaced and sprayed water at Navi, who had followed him down. She shrieked and splashed him back. Laughing, they clambered out of the water.

After a few minutes of wandering through people's houses, Link had accumulated a total of thirty-one rupees.

"Where now?" he asked Navi.

"Try on the hill," she said, fluttering toward the hill on which stood the Forest Training Ground. He ran up it and found a network of fences inside of which were a few signs and a lot of weeds.

There was a Kokiri boy in the corner who called out to Link. When they went over to him, he said, "Can you do a backflip? I can. See?"

He flipped over backwards and landed on his feet.

"Use your fairy to keep me in sight, and then do what I did."

Navi flew to the boy. Keeping his eyes on her, Link bent his legs and flipped as the other boy had. He landed on his feet. A little wobbly, sure, but he did it! The boy rewarded him with a blue rupee.

"Are you small enough to fit through that hole?" the boy asked, pointing to a small opening at the base of the cliff. Link, as it turned out, was indeed small enough. He crawled inside, Navi leading the way, and came out in some bushes. He stood up and glanced around a nearby corner. He cried out and pulled his head back as a gigantic boulder rolled by him. A few moments later, it rolled back the way it had come.

"Go for that alcove, Link. Now!" Navi cried. They darted across the path and reached another one filled with bushes. Link picked up another green rupee. Another boulder rolled in front of him, and he and Navi dashed in front of it as it slowly began to roll back. They ducked into another alcove, panting. Then they turned to see a treasure chest sitting in front of them.

This one was much larger than the ones that had held the rupees and the heart in Mido's house. Link, ever curious, pushed up the lid and reached in. He pulled out a sheathed sword and a note:

The Kokiri Sword, given to us by Farore. Use it well.

"This was given to us by a goddess?" Link asked incredulously, pulling the sword from the sheath and examining it. It was a plain blade which would have been much to short for an adult, but it was perfect for a child or a Kokiri. "I found a sword! Hooray!"

He sheathed the weapon and looked in the chest again. There was a leather belt that could be used to sling the sheathed sword over his shoulder. He pulled it on and placed the sword on his back, where he could easily reach it.

They dodged the boulders and crawled out into the main forest again.

"Let's try cutting some weeds, Link!" Navi urged him. The boy jumped a fence and hacked at the weeds, slashing horizontally and vertically until they were all gone. Two green rupees fell out of them. They jumped the second fence and read the sign sitting there.

Stab Me

They glanced at each other and shrugged nonchalantly. Link stabbed the sign, and a blue rupee popped out.

"Now we have enough to buy a shield!" Link said with a grin.

The Kokiri Shop was easy to find. It was the only building in the forest with a red roof. Link waved to a girl sitting on the roof of the shop and entered. The shopkeeper smiled at him.

"What can I do for you today?" he said, hopping up and down to be seen over the counter.

Link pointed at a wooden shield with a red symbol painted on it. "How much is that shield?"

"Forty rupees," the boy replied instantly. "Solid Deku wood. A real bargain."

"We'll take it," Link said, emptying the forty rupees from his moneybag.

Navi and Link left the shop a minute later with the Deku shield slung over the Kokiri's back over the sword.

"Now we'll show Mido," Link said happily.

They ran back to where the boss Kokiri was still standing guard.

"Why are you here again? I told you that you couldn't see the Great Deku Tree until you had a sword and a shield!" Mido said. "What? Oh, so you bought a shield, but... What? Is that the Kokiri Sword?" He shook his head disbelievingly. "Fine. You can go, but you'll still never be one of us!"

Hurt, Link began to walk away down the canyon. He distinctly heard Mido muttering something like "Shoot! How did he get to be the favorite of Saria and the Great Deku Tree? Huh?"

This put him back in his previous good mood. He admired the canyon as they strolled through it. Its walls stretched higher than the tower he had been on with the Kokiri girl.

Not paying much attention to where he put his feet, Link tripped over a tree root. He raised his head to see a strange, withered-looking plant before him. Even as he watched, it sprouted rapidly until it towered over him on a long, spindly stem. Worse, it had grown something like a head with long, snapping jaws!

"Link! It's a Deku Baba!" Navi shrieked. "Watch out!"

Link rolled out of the way as it lunged at him, brought up short by its stem. Snapping angrily, it recoiled for another try. Acting on instinct, Link unsheathed his sword and slashed at its stem. It gave an eerily non-plant-like scream and broke in two, the head vanishing in a puff of blue flames. All that was left of it was a medium-length stick.

"Maybe you should keep that," Navi advised. "It's not much in the way of fighting, but it might be useful otherwise. Link nodded and slid the stick across his back along with his sword.

No sooner had they continued, however, than two more of the Deku Babas sprouted from the ground. Link dispatched them both in the same way as the first one, by slicing horizontally through the stems. They, too, left him sticks to collect.

They met no more opponents the rest of the way. As they neared the end of the long tunnel, Navi stopped him.

"Are you ready?" she asked quietly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Link asked, puzzled.

Navi shrugged, or at least the light surrounding her moved a bit in that way. "He's very big," she said after a moment. Link could tell that wasn't it, but he didn't want to push the subject.

"I'm ready for anything," he said with a grin.

"Then let's go," Navi concluded, leading the way into a large clearing.

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Stay with me, the fun stuff begins next chapter! Please review!