Hi! :) It's hard to believe that it's only been about a week since I last updated. It feels like longer. xD And I realized today that this chapter was actually written in the beginning of January. Time is so confusing sometimes! xD Anyways, I'd like to say a huge thank you to Chaos Wielder and thespiritmaiden for reviewing and thanks to Argen-Lobo-Ridder for following the story! :D It really means a lot, you guys! :) Thanks!

Chaos Wielder: Aww! Well, thank you for remembering my stories! ^_^ And I'm sure you'll find a nice place soon. :) My best friend is actually looking for a place to live right now as well, and I'm amazed at how fast he, and everyone I know, is growing up. Someday I'll be the one looking for a house... Scary thought. o_O Anyway! xD Thank you so, so much for reviewing and reading this story! ^_^

thespiritmaiden: That made my day. Really, it did. Heck, it made my week. THANK YOU SO MUCH. ^_^ *hands you an internet cookie for your awesomeness*

The beginning of this chapter starts out with the characters from the prologue. It should be self explanatory, but if any of you are confused about who each character is, feel free to look at the author's note at the bottom. I made a nice, simple list that you can read. It should explain everything. :)

Enjoy! ^_^


Chapter VI:

Fado and Stalfos and Scares, Oh My!

"Okay. So? Then what happened?" asked Yuki eagerly during a long pause. "Did Cremia get eaten by a monster in the forest?!"

He looked so happy that, for a moment, the old woman wondered if he'd wanted Cremia to get eaten. She wiped her warm hands on her dress. "Well," she said cheerfully, "how about I go and fix some cookies now, huh?" She stood and headed into the kitchen.

"What? No!" Yuki seemed deeply hurt. "Who wants cookies at a time like this?! Hurry! We need to finish the story!"

"Yeah!" Kira and Riku agreed.

Jin rolled her eyes. "No, we don't. It's just that silly monster story you wanted to hear. This isn't romantic. This probably isn't even real! Besides, the characters are so dumb. Take Anju, for instance. Why should she even care about her brother after he ran away like that?" She sighed. "Speaking of which, it was pretty clever of you guys to put your names in a story that never happened. The little kids might not have noticed, but I did."

The old man was taken aback. It wasn't unusual for people not to believe the story, but he'd never expected his niece to be one of those people. "Jin... it really did happen," he explained.

She snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Was it you, Gramps?" asked Riku, climbing up onto the sofa. He pulled a blanket around him like a cape and stood tall. "Were you G... C... Canon-"

"Ganondorf?"

"Yeah! Was that you?"

The man laughed. "Of course not." Leave it to his grandson to think he was once the all-powerful dictator of Hyrule.

"Then who were you, Gramps?"

He didn't want to answer. He had been so weak back then - definitely not someone his grandchild would want to look up to.

Luckily, he never had to answer, because his sister did for him. "He is Grog." She stood and walked over to them, glancing at Jin. "I am Anju."

Grog's grandchildren didn't give the exact reaction he'd been expecting.

"Grandpa has a name?" Kira questioned.

Riku shrugged. "I always thought his name was Gramps."

Grog chuckled. "The farm girl, Cremia, is your grandmother."

"So..." Yuki trailed off. "That means her sister - the crazy one who believes in aliens - is... Mom!" He looked utterly disturbed. "How come no one has ever mentioned this before?!"

Cremia laughed, coming back into the room with a tray of cookies. "Speaking of Romani, I saw her outside. She should be coming inside in-" She stopped when the front door swung open and her younger sister stepped inside.

"Hello there!" Romani exclaimed, taking her shoes off before taking a seat on the rug like she owned the place. "What're you guys doing?"

Kira hurried over to her great aunt and gave her a big hug. "Grandpa and Grandma are telling us a story!"

"A story? I bet I'm in it!" She winked before ruffling Orenji's hair. "What do you think, Tiger? Should I be in the story?"

Orenju pushed her hand away from his head, but Romani noticed the grin on his face. She liked the kid. He never said a word, so she got to talk all day long sometimes - and he listened.

Cremia pulled the coffee table onto the rug and put the tray of cookies down.

Riku bounced on the couch impatiently as the others lunged for the cookies. "Can we hear the rest of the story now, Gramps?"

Grog nodded, smiling at his wife as she took a seat on the couch. Riku sat down as well, his face showing nothing but excitement.

"Okay. So, the next day," Cremia began, "I was walking through the Lost Woods."


She was half-expecting to hear the low growls of some kind of dangerous creature. But that's not what she heard.

Instead, the sound of the trees dancing together in the wind as the tiny, forest fairies flew around her almost sounded like music - a beautiful song.

It would have been kind of relaxing if she knew this was a safe, uninhabited area.

She glanced down at her outfit. Romani had forced her to wear pillows on her torso. The small girl had said that pillows would break her fall if she happened to trip.

Granny had advised her to buy a slingshot at that tiny, adorable store where those children played.

Cremia now clung to the small slingshot for her life as she silently wandered around the forest.

Her father had been terribly injured by one of Ganondorf's monsters. If she were to be injured, way out there, all alone... She would never be able to help her family. Baiko would suffer and Romani would be forced to fend for herself.

Cremia's hands clenched into fists and her eyebrows furrowed. No. She wouldn't let that happen - she couldn't. She would force herself to be brave. Nothing would scare her. She could face anything.

"Hi!"

Cremia jumped back at the sound of the voice and smothered a shriek. So much for being fearless. Thinking quickly, she grabbed a deku seed out of her pouch and readied the slingshot.

The short, blond child standing before her had cute pig tails and large, innocent eyes. "You sure are jumpy," the girl commented, not the least bit concerned about the deku seeds.

Cremia was taken aback and slightly lowered her slingshot. "Excuse me?"

"You shouldn't be here."

"Who are you?" Cremia questioned, beyond suspicious. She wouldn't put it past Ganondorf to hire a sweet, yet secretly vicious forest girl to trick people like Cremia.

"I'm Fado," the blond answered. "And you're a Hylian."

"No. Actually, I'm from-"

"No one other than the Kokiri should ever enter the lost woods. Something... bad could happen. Hehe!"

She had a crazy look in her blue eyes and Cremia had a strange feeling about this little girl. She held up her slingshot again. "Look, I don't know why you're here or what you want from me, but I don't have time for this. I'm searching for something."

Fado seemed to be curious. "What are you looking for?"

Cremia slowly lowered her slingshot once more and pulled a photograph out of her pouch. She reluctantly handed it to the smaller girl. "My father... He's hurt. The only way I can help him is to find those leaves. Can you please tell me where to get some?" She hated even explaining such a thing to a total stranger, but this little girl was her only hope. She could search for days and still never find the leaves, but Fado more than likely knew exactly where they were located.

Fado's eyebrows furrowed as she stared down at the picture in her hands. "This is a leaf from the forest! You can't take it!"

Cremia was slightly taken aback. "But you don't understand! It's for-"

She stopped when Fado took off running with the photo. "Hey!" Cremia shouted, chasing after her. "Get back here! I need that!"

Her confusion quickly turned into frustration as she ran after Fado, who was surprisingly fast.

Maybe that forest girl wasn't working for Ganondorf, but she certainly wasn't looking to help anyone either.

To make a long story short, Cremia ended up chasing the girl for a long time, but, eventually, she was far too tired to keep up and she could no longer hear the sounds of the other girl's footsteps.

She fell to her knees on the ground, trying to catch her breath. Without that photo, she might never find the leaves she was looking for. "Father," she whispered hopelessly, "I'm so sorry."

She looked up in time to notice a clearing in the middle of the woods in front of her. Something was placed in the middle of the clearing - something that looked like a house made out of various tree branches.

At first, she thought maybe it was her imagination running wild - maybe she'd been in the forest too long already.

But when she heard noises coming from the house-looking thing, she decided it was real.

Getting to her feet, the farm girl cautiously started toward the house. She knew there could be anything inside of that place, but maybe there was someone there who could actually help her.

She clenched her hands into fists and bravely stepped forward into the silence of the home.

She stifled a gasp when she looked around. The house - such a simple place built with simple things - was spotless. It was a little dusty, and the couch on the far side of the room seemed to be falling apart, but other than that, the home was very nice - even adorable.

"Maybe this is Fado's house," she whispered, walking further into the room.

She stopped in front of a desk and picked up one of the many books scattered about.

The Curse of the Lost Woods. By K.R. Forrest.

She flipped through the old pages, but didn't find much else except more dust. She set the book back on the desk before glancing around the house again. "Hello?" she called. Surely someone helpful would have such a nice home. "Is anyone here?"

She listened carefully, but heard nothing more than the whistling wind outside. "I guess not." She carefully untied the pillow armor Romani had wanted her to wear and tossed the pillows onto the sofa.

If only this place wasn't in the Lost Woods, she thought, content. Dad, Romani, and I could live here - away from the monsters and the craziness of Hyrule.

She smiled to herself, forgetting all about her previous worry. She slowly sat down on the sofa, admiring how nice this place really was. She was running her hand over the nice couch fabric when she spotted someone - or something - in her peripheral vision.

She looked up. The head that had been peeking around the doorway of another room disappeared immediately.

She stood, surprised at the fact the house truly did have an owner. "Oh, so you live here?" She hadn't gotten a good look at the person's face, but she was pretty sure it wasn't Fado. "I didn't mean to intrude. I was looking for something and I found this place."

There was no reply.

Cremia stopped walking a few feet away from the doorway. Maybe some forest children were very shy, unlike Fado. "Um... Well, I could use some help finding the le-" She stopped herself. "Finding what I was looking for."

Still no response.

She laughed. "Come on out. I won't hurt you." She made a point to take the slingshot and deku seeds out of her pouch and toss them onto the couch. "See? Everything's fine."

She could hear soft, almost silent, footsteps coming from the other room. She smiled, taking a few steps back to meet her new friend.

"Hi! I'm-" she started, before the person even emerged from the room. Her breath caught in her throat, though, when out came a somewhat tall Stalfos.

Before the monster could even react, Cremia involuntarily let out a high-pitched scream, disturbing the silence that once rested in the area.

The Stalfos, oddly enough, looked taken aback, but Cremia wasted no time.

In seconds, she had snatched her slingshot and deku nuts off of the couch and aimed one at the monster standing before her. "Stay back!"

The Stalfos cautiously took a couple steps back and Cremia took pride in the fact that she had the upper hand this time around. She tried to look fierce as she tightened her grip on the slingshot. "Now get back into that room!" When the Stalfos hesitated, she loudly added, "NOW!"

The Stalfos, surprisingly, obeyed and slowly went back into the room.

Cremia slammed the door shut behind him. "Y-You better stay in there!" she ordered. To make sure that happened, she sank down to the floor and put her back against the door. "Just stay quiet and don't you dare try to escape!"

She sounded awfully fearless, but she was beyond scared. Her heart was pounding and she feared she'd never get out of that house. Her father needed her and she was failing him. Again. Staring up at the ceiling, she sighed quietly. Dad, just hang on. I'll be there as soon as I can.

Outside, Fado grinned mischievously to herself. Her plan had worked perfectly. That Stalfos owed her a big thanks for this. She glanced down at the photograph in her hands. Maybe she'd keep it a little bit longer. After all, Cremia might end up needing Grog just as much as he needed her.


Grog and Cremia's grandchildren: Riku and Kira.

Romani's children: Jin and Yuki.

Anju and Kafei's adopted great grandchild: Orenji.

Make sense? ;D

Thanks so much for reading! ^_^

[Oh! I figured now would be a nice time to type this. I meant to write it in an earlier author's not, but I'd forgotten about it. If anyone is looking for some awesome fanfictions to read, PLEASE READ "The Imprisoning War" by Jane O'Callaghan (Grog's in that story, too ;D) and/or "Dragon Sword" by Ceu Praca. Those authors are amazing and I love their stories so, so much! Hopefully they won't mind me mentioning their stories in the author's note... o_O I just think great authors deserve great recognition for their awesomeness. So, check those stories out if you get a chance! ^_^]