Wow, I slack off too much. O.o;

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Chapter Eight: Hakuna Matata!!

A silent, mourning mood hung over all the people of Hyrule. The loss of their king and princess in the same day showed no hope for the people. Without the king, there was no stability and without the princess, there was no future.

Many people, dressed in black, gathered at the base of Hyrule Castle to hear the departing speech from the king's brother. The loyal friends to the royal family and servants stayed close to the mourning queen who had lost so much more then what her people had lost. Ganondorf, dressed in his regular black armor, cleared his throat and began making his speech.

"Daphnes's death was a terrible tragedy...but to lose Zelda, who had barely begun to live," Ganondorf began. Impa bent her head in awful pain and Potho did his best to comfort his queen. Link sobbed quietly into his mother's dress.

"For me, it is a deep, personal loss," Ganondorf continued in a saddened tone. "So it is with a heavy heart that I assume the throne..." Ganondorf looked up and began talking louder. "Yet out of the ashes of this tragedy, we shall rise..." the dark man's voice began growling louder. "To greet the dawning of a new era..."

Suddenly, the people were aware of the Gerudos emerging from the town walls. Children tried to hide in their mothers' cloaks and some parents ushered their families to return home. Everyone in Hyrule was afraid of the Gerudos, because of their murderous streaks. Daphnes had sealed them off to their desert when he became king, but now...the people's worst fears was coming true.

"In which Hylian and Gerudo come together. In a great and GLORIOUS FUTURE!!" Ganondorf finished his speech and raised his hands to the heavens. Daphnes's Triforce of Power was on Ganondorf's hand and it glowed with flashes of bolting light. The laughter of the Gerudos blended in with the sound of the Triforce's power.

In the far distance, the well loved Sage of light, Rauru, shook his head and wiped his tears away. With a deep sadness wracking his soul, he went back into the Temple of Time. Before he could go further, he spotted the painting he had done of the princess on the day of her birth. He summoned some water magic and threw it over the painting and walked away before he could see the smearing lines.

In an unfamiliar land, Zelda was lying on her side. She was dehydrated, starving, weak and tired. She hardly even noticed the buzzards circling around her, preparing for the next meal.

But the buzzards were completely unaware of the oncoming wackos, preparing to shoo them away...in the most hilarious way possible.

A crazy and wild looking Zora girl ran onto the scene, dragging a hapless green haired girl with her. The two weirdos began screaming, slapping and kicking the buzzards away from Zelda's body.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah! Get outta here! Get out, get out. I SAID GET OUT!" The Zora girl said, wacking one more buzzard away. "Whoo!!"

"I love it. Bowling for buzzards," the green haired girl said, laughing. She noticed Zelda lying on her side and went over to investigate.

The Zora girl, not noticing what her friend was doing, dusted herself off and continued to laugh a high pitched laugh. "Gets 'em everytime. Ahahaha!!"

The green haired girl poked at Zelda and blinked. "Hey Ruto. You better come have a look. I think it's still alive."

"Ewwww..." Ruto, the Zora girl, rushed over to the fallen princess. She picked up a hand, felt for a pulse then screamed when she saw what it was. "JEEZ, IT'S A HYLIAN!!" Ruto stumbled back and grabbed the green haired girl. "Run, Saria, MOVE IT!!"

Saria refused to move and pulled her arm away. "Hey, Ruto, it's just a LITTLE Hylian!" The forest girl went closer to Zelda. "Look at her. She's so cute and all alone!!" the Kokiri cooed down at the unconcious princess. She then looked up at Ruto. "Can we keep her?"

Ruto pulled Saria's ear and yelled into it. "Saria, are you NUTS?? We're talking about a Hylian, Hylians SHUN people like us!!"

"But she's so little!" Saria protested, rubbing her ears.

"She's gonna get bigger," Ruto bluntly stated.

"Maybe she'll be on our side!" Saria tried again.

"A-huh! That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. Maybe she'll be..." an idea went off in Ruto's head. "Hey! I got it! What if she's on our side? You know, having a Hylian around might not be such a bad idea!" The Zora stroked her chin and grinned.

"So we're keeping her?" Saria asked hopefully.

"Pffth. Of course. Who's the brains of this outfit?" Ruto snapped. Saria slung Zelda over her shoulders and thought for a minute.

"Uhhhhhhh..."

"My point exactly." Ruto wiped the sweat off her brow. "Jeez, I'm sundried. Let's get out of here and find some shade." With that said, Ruto ran off, strutting while Saria struggled to keep up with Zelda.

A few minutes later, and with a bit of sheer luck, the crazy pair managed to find a small watering hole within the field. Ruto first splashed some water on herself and started dousing Zelda's forehead. Zelda twitched and Saria poured some water into her mouth, allowing Zelda time to swallow in between drinks.

Within a minute, Zelda was fully awake. She looked around and saw who had saved her, a Zora and a Kokiri.

"You okay, kid?" Ruto asked.

"I guess so..." Zelda replied in a hazy voice.

"You nearly died!" Saria said, worriedly.

"I saved you!!" Ruto said, putting a hand on her chest and looking self important. Saria jabbed Ruto with a stick and Ruto winced. "Well, uh, Saria helped. A little," she quickly added.

"Thanks for your help," Zelda said, gloomily. She got up, stumbled a bit, and began walking straight into the grassy field.

"Hey, where you going?" Ruto asked.

"Nowhere..." Zelda just kept walking. Ruto kept watching her with interest and curiousity.

"Gee, she looks blue..."

"I'd say a sunny gold!" Saria piped up.

"No no no no, I mean she's depressed," Ruto corrected.

"...Oh."

The pair of friends trotted up to Zelda. Saria was the first to speak. "Kid, what's eatin' you?"

"Nothing, she's at the top of the races. AHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAA!! THE RACES!!" Ruto burst into laugher. Zelda just looked down and Saria made a face. Ruto realized her bad joke and cleared her throat. "So? Where you from?"

"Who cares? I can't go back," Zelda replied, dully.

"Ah, you're an outcast! That's great, so are we!" Ruto said with enthusiasm.

"What'cha do, kid?" Saria asked.

"Something terrible. But I don't wanna talk about it," Zelda coughed weakly.

"Good, we don't wanna hear about it!" Ruto jabbered.

Saria was less then impressed with how Ruto was behaving. "Come on, Ruto. Anything we can do?" she asked Zelda.

"Not unless you can change the past," Zelda answered.

Saria pondered that for a second. "You know, kid, in times like this my buddy Ruto here says 'You gotta put your behind in your past.'"

"No no no!" Ruto said, waving her arms.

"Uh, I mean..." Saria paused. Ruto took over.

"Amateur. Lie down before you hurt yourself," she told Saria, who looked embarrassed. Ruto turned back to Zelda. "It's 'You gotta put your past behind you.' Looks, kid, bad things happen and you can't do anything about it, right?" she asked.

"Right," Zelda replied, but Ruto poked her nose.

"Wrong! When the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world!" Ruto said, waving her arm out in front of her.

"Well, that's not what I was taught..." Zelda said, unsure.

"Then maybe you need a new lesson! Repeat after me!" Ruto cleared her throat. "Hakuna Matata."

Zelda looked puzzled. "What?"

"Ha-ku-na Ma-ta-ta!" Saria stretched out the syllables. "It means no worries!"

"Hakuna Matata…what a wonderful phrase…" Ruto sang.

"Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze!!" Saria followed. Curiously, Zelda followed them both into a forest and the two friends pushed the princess into a bush.

"It means no worries! For the rest of your days!" Ruto said, sliding up next to Zelda. Saria was fanning Zelda with a giant leaf.

"It's our problem freeeeeeeee philosophy… Hakuna Matata!!" Ruto and Saria sang out. Ruto extracted Zelda's hand and filed down a long nail.

"Hakuna Matata?" Zelda asked.

"Yeah! It's our motto!" Saria said, gleefully.

"What's a motto?" Zelda asked.

"Nuthin'! What's a motto with you??" Ruto cracked and burst into laughter. So did Saria.

"Hahaha! You know, kid…these two words will solve ALL YOUR PROBLEMS!!" the greenhaired chirped happily.

"That's right! Take Saria for example!" Ruto said. The two of them stood side by side in front of Zelda.

"Why…when she was a young Kokiriiiiiii"

"WHEN I WAS A YOUNG KOKIRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!" Saria sang in an opera voice.

"Very nice…" Ruto said sarcastically, while cleaning out her ear.

"Thanks!"

O.o Moving on…

She found her aroma lacked a certain appeal, she could clear the Kokiri Forest after every meal!" Ruto sang enthusiastically.

"I'm a sensitive soul! Though I seemed so thiiiiiiiiiiiiiick…" Saria sang sadly.

"And it hurt that my friends never stood down wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind!! AND OH THE SHAME!!" Saria sang loudly.

"She was ashamed!!" Ruto said, sliding next to Zelda again.

"Thoughta changin' my name!"

(Oh what's in a name??)

"And I got down harder!!"

(How'd you feel??)

"Every time that I…"

Ruto gasped and clapped a hand over Saria's mouth. "Saria! Not in front of the readers!!" the Zora said, breaking the fourth wall and looking at you.

"Oh, sorry," Saria said and smiled at you readers. Zelda blinked in confusion.

"Hakuna Matata!! What a wonderful phrase!" Ruto and Saria sang. Ruto was pulling on a vine that Saria was sitting on and Zelda was watching with interest.

"Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craaaaaaaaaze!!" The two friends sang while swinging past the princess.

Finally, Zelda got into it and began singing with a spotlight shining down on her. "It means no worries! For the rest of your daaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyys…"

"Yeah, sing it, kid…" Ruto said, swinging off and sliding on the ground next to Zelda. Together, they sang the next line. "It's our problem free…"

"PHILOSOPHY!!" Saria sang, landing next to Zelda and Ruto with a loud smack.

"Hakuna Matata…" The three of them finished off.

Ruto and Saria lift a bush up a bit deeper into the forest, revealing a beautiful swamp. (Can you guess where they are yet?)

"Welcome…to our humble home!" Ruto said.

"You live here?" Zelda said, amazed.

"We live wherever we want!" Ruto said, happily.

"Yep! Home is where your rump rests, heh!" Saria added.

"It's beautiful…" Zelda said, breathlessly. The trio walked a bit further into the swamp, past the Tourist Center and into a secluded area.

Saria belched loudly. "I'm STARVED!!"

"I'm so hungry, I could eat a whole Lon Cow!" Zelda exclaimed.

"Ahahahaha…we're fresh outta Lon Cow," Ruto said, tacked aback by Zelda's request for something they never get.

"Any Tektite Soufflé?" Zelda asked, hopefully.

"Nu uh," Ruto responded.

"Octorok steak?"

"Nope," Ruto said. "Listen, kid, if you live with us, you have to eat like us…" she noticed a pond with fish swimming in it. "Hey, this looks like a good place to wrestle up some grub!" the Zora swiped her hand through the pond and picked up a fish.

"Ew, what's that?" Zelda asked, disgusted. Obviously, she had never seen a fish before.

"A grub. What's it look like?" Ruto asked, eating through the live fish.

"EWWWWWW, GROSS!" Zelda shrieked.

"Mmmm…tastes like chicken," Ruto said, oblivious to Zelda's reaction.

Saria was harking down another fish and finished it off with a forest mushroom. "Slimy, yet satisfying!"

Ruto grabbed another delicacy. "These are rare delicacies. Mmmmmm…" she picked up a deku nut and peeled the shell off. "Piquant… with a very pleasant crunch…"

"You'll learn to love 'em!" Saria said, with a mouthful of fast food she stole from the tourist center.

"I'm telling you, kid, this is the great life…no rules, no responsibilities…" Ruto said, absentmindedly picking up a mushroom. "Ooh! The golden capped kind!" she said with glee and munched it down.

Zelda was still unsure, so Ruto approached her with a selection of Deku Nuts, seeds and Mushrooms. "Well, kid?"

Zelda picked up a nut with some hesitation. Back in the castle, she had only eaten the best food available, so this was so new to her. She shrugged. "Oh well, Hakuna Matata…" she said, picking up a red capped mushroom. She harked it down and smacked her lips. "Slimy…yet satisfying…" she said with a small smile.

"That's it!" Ruto said, grinning. She threw some seeds up in the air in celebration.

Seven year had passed in almost an instant for the trio of friends. Zelda had grown from a ten year old child to a thirteen year old with growing womanly features to, finally, a seventeen year old girl. She had discarded her old childhood clothes a long time ago and replaced them with clothes she got from the tourist center Saria and Ruto often took things from. Now she was wearing a mint green skirt and a blue, sleeveless tight top and carried a sword on her hips. She had learned to swordfight back in the main town as a means of helping to protect her friends from any danger. Ruto was too bossy to learn and Saria wasn't smart enough, nor big enough to hold a blade.

Together, the three friends marched on a log and sang their favourite motto song.

"Hankua…Matata…Hakuna…Matata…Hakuna…Matata! Woo!"

"It means no worries..." a now adult Zelda sang with a more mature voice. "For the rest of your dayyyyyyyys..."

"It's our problem free...philosophy..." the three of them sang loudly. "Hakuna Matata!" Zelda finished, but continued to lay down the beat. Ruto jumped away and jumped off a cliff and landed in a deep pond below. Saria followed, creating a slightly bigger splash then Ruto did. Zelda finally grabbed a vine to swing in, but it broke, creating the biggest splash of the three of them. They all jumped out and shook themselves off to get dry, the continued to boogey into the forest to the beat of Hakuna Matata.

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CHRIST, I thought I'd never finish this. I started the first half a few weeks ago and it took me almost an hour to finish the last half. O.O

You know what to do now! Praise my hard work!! (Or review. That works too.)