A/N: Thank you to Loki and Guest for reviewing! You both made me so happy :) Thank you everyone else for reading too. Ultra thanks to dreamingsilver, my beta reader. Due to her super powers, this fic evolved into something better. Go check her out. She's great!

url: (slash)u(slash)708700(slash)dreamingsilver

A/N: This chapter is a direct continuation from Ch. 3.

A Child Sleeps Softly

Link woke up in a body that was too tall, too big. When he stumbled into the town square, the townsfolk slowly turned their heads, staring at him with empty, rotted eyes, the flesh falling from their bones. As he ran, he caught sight of Hyrule Castle; its towers were sunken in an ominous black fog. A voice rose from deep inside of him, telling him to take sword in hand, to slay the beast within. But while his destiny pulled him towards his enemy, Link's heart pushed him out of the ransacked town and over the crumbling drawbridge. The field opened before him, and beyond lay a strip of green. The wind blew in his face, bringing the scent of damp pines, dogwood, and moss. He was going to Kokiri Forest. He was going home.

Crossing Hyrule Field on foot was a full day's journey, and Link didn't rest until he'd reached the edge of the woods. By then, a swollen moon hung in a black, glittering sky. The trees loomed overhead, and the air grew cold as he stepped into their shadows. Link's knees ached and his boots cut into his heels, but he pushed himself onwards by thinking about how, in just a few minutes, he would be able to soak himself in the cool water of Kokiri Pond, to see a village full of smiling faces.

The first person he ran into was Mido. The Kokiri blocked Link's path into the village, his face twisted into a scowl. He looked just as snobbish as Link had left him, and the sense of familiarity made Link smile. But when Mido asked how a man had made it through the woods with his humanity intact, the answer died on Link's tongue. The child inside of him—the lonely child who wanted friends and feared the impending rejection—pleaded, No, don't speak…

"So many monsters, and now a man in Kokiri Forest!" Mido grumbled to himself. "It's all because of that one kid Link. I'll bet my whole house that it was he who killed our Father, our Deku Tree."

Link's breath caught in his throat, and something twinged in his chest. Navi was about to fly out of Link's hat, her mouth full of curses, but the young man tugged the cap snug around his ears and changed course for the Lost Woods. Link tried to ignore the sting of Mido's words—it was Mido, after all—but something inside his stomach had gone cold. Still unused to his new body, his legs knocked and bumped as he walked, and once he tripped over a half-hidden ledge. Mido laughed and shouted after him, "Don't come back!"

Link needed to see Saria. She, out of everyone, always knew what to do, and seeing her smile would be well worth a trip into the Lost Woods. It was said that rarely should one enter the woods with a doubtful heart, but Link decided that this venture had to be one of those exceptions. The forest had grown gloomier over the last years. The canopy was so dense that it blocked out the sky. Lichen crawled across the ground and up massive tree trunks, giving everything a sick, ghostly look. Sometimes he thought he could hear the faint sounds of an ocarina, but every time he strained to listen, the song would fall short, the darkness hushing his very breath.

Then—blackness, thick and full like someone had snuffed out the moonlight, a candle in the wind. Link couldn't see anything, yet some uncanny instinct pushed him onwards, as if something horrible would happen if he stopped walking. In fact, when he listened carefully, he could hear something shifting in the darkness behind him. Link spun, whipping out his sword to face whatever creature was following him, but he saw nothing but shadows—shadows that writhed and screeched and stretched their arms toward him, crawling up his legs. Link stumbled, falling through brush and bramble. His heart beat louder and louder, as if it were pulsing right between his ears. He tried to breathe, but his lungs felt like they were being squeezed, wrung out like a rag. Suddenly, a flash of light, like lightning, and he dashed for the illuminated treeline—

—and burst into the middle of Kokiri Village. He skidded to a stop, dizzy and disoriented. Then—screams. The other Kokiri fled at the sight of him, ducking into the shadows or behind trees, or shutting themselves in their houses. Link stood in the empty clearing, feeling more a stranger than he had ever felt in his life. He caught sight of a reflection in a house's window and saw a face—an old face—and after moments of blinking and staring, he realized he was looking at himself.

Link needed to be alone. Thankfully, his treehouse was just down the path. A few of the ladder rungs broke on his way up, and he scarcely pulled himself onto the balcony and through the door. The floor and walls were covered in dust. His cot lay in a pool of moonlight. Link's limbs had never felt heaver. He was ready to lose himself to the darkness of sleep, but then he realized that he was far too big for his own bed.

It was then that Link realized this forest was no longer his home, and it never truly had been. Who he was or where he belonged, he did not know. The Great Deku Tree hadn't called Link before him to speak of love and kinship; the only reason Link had a fairy now was because he was on a quest. He wasn't a child of the forest, just a child that was lost.

Peeling away the dust-choked quilt, he kneeled and let his head drop onto the mattress. He could feel a pressure mounting in his chest, clawing its way up his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut, tried to swallow and choke it back down, but a small, quivering sound forced its way through. Suddenly, his face was wet, and his shoulders were shaking.

A light flickered—Navi fluttered onto his cheek and stroked aside a strand of hair. "It's okay," she said. "I'll watch over you."

After a moment, Link wiped his face and let out a shaky sigh. He curled up on the floor and slowly, softly, lost himself to the night.