The weekend came as a relief for all of them. No school, no bullies, no riding lessons, and no parties, for a change.

As an attempt to cheer up Sora - Link was very attentive when he wasn't lost in thought - Link had invited him and Riku to spent the Saturday evening at his house. Sora had been absolutely sure Riku would refuse the invitation, but he asked about his other friends, the boy had simply said:

"It's cool, I'm with you guys".

Sora had the hardest of times containing his enthusiasm, oblivious to the death glare Link was shooting at their white haired friend.

Sora had never been in such a place in his life. The whole house was entirely made of wood: the walls, the furniture, even the place where you put the mattress (whatever that's called). He could hear chickens and horses outside, there was enough space for them to goof around, and the woods were just ahead. He knew what people in school said about Link: he didn't own a lot of money. But as he examined some of the weapons hanging on the wall - for decoration purposes, obviously - he couldn't imagine anyone being unhappy in this place.

Knife, slingshot, bow and arrows, boomerang, hook shot? Strange choice… He stopped at the wooden swords and glanced at them in awe.

"Wanna try them?" Link and Riku exchanged a proud smirk.

"Sure!" Sora stepped back and Link grabbed two of them, then turned and motioned for the others to follow him outside, through the back door.

"Let's see how you fare". Link threw one of the training weapons and Sora caught it in the air, smiling devilishly. "Not bad."

Link grabbed his sword with the left hand and pointed it at Sora.

"Riku taught me everything I know." The kid said proudly as he took his place in a very good, yet not perfect position.

The boys started fighting slowly at first, weighing each other's moves. Riku watched them from the porch. He had to admit, this was kind of fun. For a moment there, it looked like Sora could really put up a fight, but then Link gave a stylish turn - he loved showing off at this kind of thing - and disarmed the kid. The sword fell near Riku's feet.

"And I taught him everything he knows". Link stood tall and proud.

"Not everything…" Riku muttered.

The three of them laughed. Riku was next against Link. It was hard to believe, but the three boys were having fun together.

Meanwhile, three girls were having fun at the Koopa Café. Sure, tweeting, taking selfies and gossiping was a different kind of fun, but it was fun anyway. "So get this" Peach put her shake back in the table and read a text from her phone aloud. "The school was thinking about getting a school pet and the janitor suggested it should be a turtle. A turtle."

"OMG" Daisy covered her mouth with her hands "That is sooo scary"

"I know, right?" Peach looked truly concerned for her safety. Zelda rolled her eyes. This girls were afraid of everything. "Speaking of scary things… how's the horse boy, Zelda?"

"I thought you called him stable boy"

"Whatever, Daisy, it's not like he deserves a real nickname, anyway."

Daisy sank in her side of the booth. She was absolutely, positively sure that if they were boys, Peach would beat her up all the time for no reason and she couldn't be a match for her - even if Peach wore hills (still as a boy… wait, what?). Daisy's mind was kind of confusing, even for her.

"He's, like, fine." Zelda half replied, half sucked at her iced tea. "He doesn't talk much, so I don't know"

"Well, do you really expect someone like that to know more than ten words?" The three girls laughed loudly. A clenched fist started trembling, pressed against the cushion on the next booth, back to back with Zelda. "What I'd pay to see that guy wearing a tux for prom"

"Do you imagine?"

"Like, as if"

"Ha, ha, ha, omg"

The waitress was headed over to their table, but her eye twitched when she heard the brilliant conversation and she decided shooting herself would be a better idea.

"Well, maybe you won't have to pay." Zelda had a shy smile on her face. The other girls went deadly quiet.

What?

"G's taking you to prom" Peach ordered, more than asked.

"He hasn't asked yet."

"But he totally will"

"Then he's gonna have some competition"

Peach and Daisy exchanged a look and smirked. It almost looked like they were plotting real evil deeds.

"I totally wanna see his face when he finds out why you're doing this"

"Oh he'll be devastated" Daisy fake- cried "You were the love of his life, Zelda, how could you be so mean?"

"He'll just have to get back to loving horses" Zelda said and they all started laughing again

Navi managed to stop her impulse to rip out the girl's blonde hair and feed it to her, just barely. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Kairi gave her a comforting squeeze and tilted her head towards the entrance. Navi noded. She had enough. She pulled her hat a little to make sure it covered her hair. It was growing longer than she usually let it, but she was kind of digging it.

The two girls practically slithered out of their seats and all the way to the door. A bunch of boys were coming in as they walked out. Two of them were red heads and they recognized the others from school as well. The girls made their best efforts to cover their faces. It should be easy, since they were both wearing sunglasses.

"Hot stuff" They heard one of them say as they passed. Were they talking about them?

"Who are they?"

"Who cares?" The boys laughed as they made their way to the Princesses' booth and demanded food.

The final bell rang and Navi felt like she was hovering all the way to the school front door, lost in thought. She wanted to get out before the other students came flooding out of their classrooms. Link was bound to come out sometime and she just had to wait outside.

At first she had felt stupid. Kairi had come to her Friday afternoon, claiming she had to tell her something horrible. Navi didn't have a hard time believing her words, it wasn't the first time she heard about the Princesses being mean to other people. But this was different. This was personal.

This was about Link.

Navi said she wanted to hear it firsthand and then Kairi insisted on them spying on the girls. Despite the blue haired girl's protest, Kairi 'disguised' both of them with hats and sunglasses and dragged her to the mall.

After the initial, completely embarrassing - this is so not gonna work - shock, the girls found themselves having a little fun. A couple hours later, no one had, in fact, recognized the girls, which made it easier for them to stalk their prey as they pleased.

Navi had had a conflicted time when it started to get dark and the Princesses hadn't even mentioned Link yet. Part of her had been obviously relieved that nothing bad was going on, but her inner child playing detective really wanted to solve the case. That until they followed the girls to the Koopa Café.

Now she was dwelling over something even worse: how was she going to tell him?

She knew Link wasn't that comfortable around girls. It was so unlike him to let a girl into his life. Of course, there was herself, but Link and Navi had been friends since they were about ten, so it didn't really count. She figured part of the reason was that he never had a mother (nor a father, but at least Mr. Deku was a male figure in his life). Also because girls tended to stare at him a lot. Not to blame them, Link had always been such a handsome kid and had grown even better.

He wore green well, she noticed when he saw him emerge from the crowd in his green hoodie and matching beenie. Sometimes she thought if he actually had money, he would be more like the Princesses and less like himself.

Here it goes.

Link frowned, hands inside his pockets, as he walked side by side with Navi. He knew there was something wrong the instant the words "hey, listen" had escaped his friend's lips. It could only mean something really good or really bad, and judging by her tone, he had gone with the latter.

"What are you now, Navi the spy?" He asked after a long silence, more calmly that Navi had expected. They were heading towards the Deku stables. He had told her he couldn't be late for his riding lesson with Zelda, but she was more than welcome to walk with him. She had waited for a good few blocks before dropping the bomb.

"Link, didn't you hear what I just said?"

That she isn't really interested in me? Navi had spared him most of the details. He paused for a moment.

"Look, you have nothing to worry about." He said. "It's not like we're going out, I'm just teaching her how to ride a horse."

But she knew his friend better than that. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he didn't tense or anything.

"I just… don't want you to get hurt." That had come out a bit more dramatic than she thought. To her surprise, he laughed.

"Look at you, all worried about me." He messed her hair a little.

"Heey"

"Everything's fine". He said. They had reached the stables already. He turned to look at her and found what he feared: she wasn't convinced. She was smiling sadly at the ground, playing with a streak of blue hair. "So, you're spending quality time with Kairi now?"

"And you with Sora." She replied. "They make a cute couple, don't you think?"

"I suppose you could say that…" He started setting the horse for Zelda, while Navi rested on the fence, watching. "I doubt he'd ever do something about it, though. Help me out here"

She pushed herself forward from the fence heavily and started pacing towards Link. He walked over to the other side of the horse and threw a belt - "hold it tight" - and she had to stand on a bucket in order to reach it. Link rolled his eyes and tried to hide a laugh, coughing. She ran a hand through the animal's brown, soft fur. It seemed to like it.

"He's still young. He'll do something about it sooner or later"

"Still young?" Link finished with one side and came over to where Navi was standing. "And what are we, old? They're only a year younger than us."

"True. But they still seem a little childish to me." She gave him the belt and he started with that side.

"Kind of. I can't explain why, but I have a strange feeling about him." He paused for a moment. "Do you ever feel like there's something that you should know about, but you don't?" She lifted an eyebrow. "It's as if… As if you were losing something you didn't even know you had. Do you think I'm crazy?"

He turned to look at her. Her expression serious, her hands at her hips.

"I've always thought you're crazy."

He half smiled and kicked the bucket she was standing on, softly. Or so he thought.

She lost balance, yelled and started waving her arms, trying to stabilize herself. The horse ran away, scared by all the noise and movement, which only made it worse. Link hurried towards her and stood where the horse had been not a second ago. He caught her half way to the ground and cushioned the fall with his own body.

There was something odd about this.

He had instinctively wrapped a hand around her waist and pulled forward so she would fall on that side and not the other one. However, once they were safely on the floor, his firm grip hadn't lessened. He could have never told by the way she dressed - all the lose blouses, long shirts and big coats -, but she actually had a nice body.

Suddenly, he became too aware of the situation. She was on top of him, her hands on his chest, her legs sprawled upon his and his body refused to obey his brain's desperate orders to move. They were both staring deep into each other's eyes, still in shock. Their faces inches apart, lips parted. Was he leaning forward?

"Ahem"

Two faces turned around and blinked at the sight of a blonde girl standing with her arms crossed and tapping her foot.

Navi pushed herself up in one jump, at the same time straightening her hair and her clothes as fast as she could. Link felt stupidly guilty. Why was he feeling guilty? He wasn't doing anything. He felt the warmth spreading all over his face and turn away, trying to stand up as less awkwardly as possible.

"I'll, uh, go get the horse". He made the mistake of briefly meeting Zelda's gaze. She looked furious. There was nothing to be pissed off about. She was falling. He caught her. End of story. I mean, sure, they may have lingered for a little longer than necessary and he may have noticed she smelled nice, but that was no reason to get upset.

What right did she have to get upset, anyway? And why did he feel so guilty? And where did the damn horse go? And why couldn't he stop blushing?!

He brought the animal back to the house, to where the girls were standing.

"What is she doing here?" Zelda asked. He noticed the question was directed to him, instead of Navi, as if she wasn't there. The girl took the hint… and stepped all over it.

"I was helping Link set up everything for your lesson." She said in the same tone.

"Well, everything looks done to me. That means it's time for you to go."

Link tensed. He knew his best friend more than anyone in the world. He knew exactly how she reacted to that kind of treatment, especially coming from someone like Princess Zelda. One of the things he admired about her was how she never let people disrespect her. In this particular case, however, he met her gaze (was she blushing too?) and begged her to please, please, please not explode.

She took a deep breath and puffed her cheeks.

"I guess it is." She finally said. She started rocking her arms back and forth, while cautiously stepping away. "So, have a nice class and see you later. I mean tomorrow… maybe. Not later. Alright, bye."

Thank you. Link mouthed at Navi, helping Zelda up the horse. Navi raised a hand and turned to walk away, when she heard something moving around the hay.

"Wait, wait!" Zelda shrieked. "What was that?"

"Nothing, Probably just a rat" Link replied in a low voice.

"A rat?! I can't concentrate with a rat lurking the place. Please, please, please get rid of it."

Link and Navi rolled their eyes at the same time. He sighed and leaned over to see what the fuzz was about. He didn't want to leave Zelda alone on the horse.

"It's ok, I got it" Navi said, walking back to examine the place. "It's nothing."

"Oh, good." Zelda had a hand on her chest, clutching her hart.

"Just a chicken. It must have escaped the pen."

Link's eye twitched. A chicken?

"Get. It. OUT. GET THAT CREATURE AWAY FROM ME"

He wasn't very fond of chickens.

Sora was screaming in his sleep again. He got lucky this time and woke up before his parents. He already ran out of horror stories to tell them instead of his real nightmares.

He had the giant key in his hands and he was fighting, but this time not against the shadows. Against Riku. Over Kairi. In the middle of the fight, Riku turned into someone else and suddenly he turned into the shadow. His own friends -people who in real life he had no idea he had never met, but seemed really fond of during the dreams- wouldn't recognize him. And then he started falling again, it was like being swallowed by the darkness.

That was weird. Why would he ever be fighting Riku, his best friend? That was impossible. Whatever. It was just a dream.

He sat up in the bed and ran a hand through his slightly wet hair. He seriously needed to tell someone. But it had to be someone who had nothing to do with the dreams, so Riku and Kairi were not a possibility.

He sighed and went for the window. He stared at the black sky, sprinkled by so many stars and wondered what it would be like to visit one.

Out in the woods, another pair of blue eyes was staring at the stars. Link was resting against that big boulder he had found Sora sleeping by that day.

Nothing happened. So why was he still thinking about it?

He sighed. This was useless. He took out the ocarina and considered for a moment. He did not feel like playing the one that reminded him of Zelda. He held the instrument up in his hands, against the stars, and examined it. It looked more expensive than the one Saria had given him. How was that tune she'd showed him, again?

It was like… No, more like… Hmm…

He placed it on his mouth and started playing some random notes, at the same time trying to remember the melody. After a little while, he almost got it. It was a little more upbeat than his usual melodies, but equally as nice.

Yeah, that was it. Since all the songs he knew started with repeating the first three notes, they kind of came easy to remember. Even if ten years had passed.

He sighed, pocketed the ocarina and stood up to leave. He needed to get some sleep before school tomorrow. He shook the grass out of his pants and was about to take the first step when something caught her eye.

It was a little girl, all dressed in green, with green hair and blue eyes. For all the fantasy movies Link had seen, the first thought that popped into his mind was that if there was such thing as the spirit of the forest, this was it. But that was absurd.

"Are you lost?" He asked. There was something familiar about her… He could have sworn he had seen her before, somewhere. Wait…"Saria?"

The sound of his phone vibrating against the wooden nightstand woke him up. It was a text from Sora:

'Meet me at the spot'

And then another one.

'Please?'

Link rubbed his eyes, his vision was still a little blurry. He was tired… How could he not be? He had spent the previous night thinking about girls. He got up and started walking downstairs. And what 'spot'? Did he mean the place with the boulder? Was that 'the spot' now?

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide open. Should he even… go back to that place, after last night?

Nothing had actually happened, but… After calling the girl's name, she had let out a shy smile. He turned around to see if anyone else was there, but when he turned back, she was gone. It had to be his mind playing tricks on him. He had been tired, and also he had been thinking about her. And also, also it was impossible. The girl he'd seen last night was a clear fragment of his memories. Had it been the real Saria, she must have been seven years older. She must have grown up… right?

Ok, now he was being ridiculous. Of course everyone grew up. He shook the thought out of his head and poured some coffee into his cup. He finished it all in one drink and grabbed his backpack before heading outside.

Sora was already there. Link found him sitting on the rock, feet dangling a few inches above the ground, working on a paper on his lap.

"Homework?" He greeted. Sora lifted his head and grinned. He didn't want to admit it now, but he had the slightest of feelings that maybe he wouldn't come. He took of a pair of earphones Link hadn't seen before and stuffed it all in his backpack.

"Yeah. I forgot this is due today. I've had a lot on my mind." He replied.

Link stood against a tree and looked around a little… just in case.

"So, what is it?" Link asked casually. Sora's expression immediately fell. He opened his mouth and closed it several times, obviously struggling for the right words. How could he put this in order to not sound so crazy?

"I've been having these weird thoughts lately". He finally said, staring blankly at the ground. "Like, is any of this real… or not?"

He paused.

"Come again?" Link raised an eyebrow. Sora sighed. Yeah, that came out weird.

"Just… Sometimes I get this feeling like there's something I'm missing. Something bigger I should be doing, besides this."

What? That I should be doing something far greater than school? That I should be worrying about something worse than girls?

"Like there's this something you should know about" That everyone else is unaware of. "And you could do so much if given the right opportunity to prove yourself. And when you do stuff you like, you kind of feel…" Closer to it. "And in a way, you want to wake up everybody and scream 'Stop this!', cause everything they're doing… this life they're living seems…" irrelevant. But no one would get it. "You know what I mean, right?"

…

"I have no idea what you mean"

Sora sighed. He had been so sure Link could feel it too… Oh, well.

"Why'd come looking for me, anyway?" Link asked. "Why not any of your other friends?"

"They wouldn't take it seriously. Maybe you don't feel the exact same way, but you don't seem to think I'm crazy either."

"I don't."

A moment passed in silence. Link hesitantly took out his ocarina and started playing his usual melody. After going over it one time, he curiously looked around, half expecting something to happen. But nothing did.

"That's pretty." Sora's words cut through Link's thought. "How is it called? The song."

Link considered for a moment. "Zelda's Lullaby."

"Can I try it?" Sora asked, extending his arm towards Link. He placed the ocarina in his hand and let it go. Sora wiped the mouth piece with his sleeve and blew. After a few tries, he was getting the hang of it. He started playing a little melody of his own.

"How do you call that one?" Link asked, a little impressed.

Sora shrugged.

"Dearly beloved."

"You have really big feet, man"

"And you have weird pointy ears".