*Author's Note*- Greetings and salutations readers. Thank you kindly for sticking around and waiting for as long as you have for this chapter to come out. I do greatly hope that you enjoy it and can't wait for the next chapter. It took me so long as, unfortunately, I lost my father to ALS, November 10th of last year, 2015, after battling the disease for only a year. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, is a very-very serious condition in which you lose all control of your body, essentially becoming slowly paralyzed as each day passes until your diaphragm gets weaker and you eventually stop breathing. There is no cure for the time being. While it was too late, he is in a better place, in my opinion, no longer having to deal with such an evil disease. For more information or to support the search for a cure for others afflicted, please visit the ALS Association at its respective web address, and thank you on behalf of all mankind.

Chapter 11

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(Link's P.O.V)

[Time: 12:45 P.M. (Afternoon)]

[Date- Month 4 'Mid-Spring', Day 12, Year 1522]

[Location- Hyrule, Hyrule Field]

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Everything rushed through my head as I tried to figure out what was going on. The letter from Saria was a lot to take in. Numerous questions arouse from her words. To begin with, I wondered when Malon sent the Kokiri girl a message through the mail, as well as why she didn't bother to tell me. I'd been pushing myself to get to the Forbidden Forest in order for me to inform everyone of my well-being. Last time I showed up in the village after being away for several weeks, Saria nearly killed me for worrying her to death.

Taking everything else into consideration, however, I found much bigger problems. Whatever it is that's causing the issue plaguing Kokiri Village, it's going to have to be snuffed out. Wolfos, as Saria mentioned, would most likely be my biggest concern, as they're far more dangerous than Deku Babas or Chupas. No matter how I look at it, I knew that for Kokiri, just about any danger was a serious danger. 'The Great Deku Tree-… I mean, the Deku Tree Sprout, has to be protected at all cost. I can't let nasties run a muck and threaten the livelihood of our sacred one.' Though I was a Hylian, culturally, I remained steadfast in my Kokiri beliefs, including the relationship I still hold for those that raised me. Family is very important in this world. After going through all that they did in order to save me, dealing with Malon, helping her keep me alive, it left me with a debt that could never truly be paid. Despite that, I felt obligated and willing to lend a hand until the job is done. From the sounds of things, in response to how I'm feeling, I'm probably not even going to leave the forest until I felt assured everybody within is once again safe. 'Time to put these skills of mine to use. Good thing I was already on my way too.'

Lowering the letter as I re-read it, I gave Epona's sides a gentle kick to spur her momentum. I'd made the decision to make haste immediately after finishing up my brief discussion with the Post Man. Several minutes in, we came closer to the treeline of the Forbidden Forest. Summoning all I had inside me, I prepared myself for what I might see.

Seven years from now, in a time that will no longer exist, when I returned to the Kokiri Village and witnessed its demise; it made me sick to my stomach. Seeing corruption take hold of the place I grew up and adore, to watch evil grip the land and suck it dry of the majestic nature residing here, it was too much to bear. At one point, I even promised myself that I would never dare allow my home to succumb to the blight of such hatred ever again. Saria and the others were miserable, and if they're miserable, then I'm miserable. In fact, I might as well be off to cheer people up, including myself, as I have to retrieve the Ocarina of Time as well.

"Alright, Epona… Are you ready?" I asked the filly as she galloped toward the entrance of the Forbidden Forest, receiving a neigh from her while staying on the path as to avoid wildlife. "Don't worry, I won't get you lost. I promise." Gradually, a small smile came to my lips as I thought about the last time I went to where I was going. Be that as it may, this time, things would be different as my emotions were no longer in control over me. Epona likely sensed this confidence as she sped up until we arrived at the tree-tunnel, which pierced the thick foliage to make an opening. Without any hesitation, I was quick to let her keep going, traveling fast from Hyrule Field, into the entrance of the Forbidden Forest.

Same as each time I return, my lungs filled with the heavy atmosphere dripping in dew. It made me cough, but, felt good, almost nostalgic in spite of me not being gone for that exceedingly long.

Coming out onto the rickety wooden-bridge, Epona's horse hooves clattered on every plank. Glancing down, nothing was out of the ordinary below. Slowly, my heartbeat increased as I formed a plan on what to do. Thinking about it more, I could easily get rid of what it is that's causing all of the commotion; I only hoped deep down that it's a fluke, that there's no real reason to why trouble shows up in the village one day. Nobody or nothing caused the trouble to be there. Intuition is a useful ability, but, it can be wrong. Telling if it's right or if it's wrong is difficult. I, on the other hand, have a feeling that something's up, like I thought before.

"Chupa never come toward the village. They love swampy areas… Every now and then, Deku Babas grow in inconvenient areas. Then again, the Kokiri usually pick them from the ground before they can grow into the dangerous adult plants… Hmm..." Getting closer to the next hollowed out log, I kept thinking aloud. "As for the Wolfos problem, I'm going to have to do what I have to do." Now and then, I wish there was a type of barrier I could put up to stop things, monsters, from literally walking into the village, strolling in without anything or anybody there to stop it. Adjusting myself on the saddle, feeling the sword on my back, I knew I'd need it later on. Without anything to prevent creatures from waltzing in, I'll have to fend them off. 'Following a few dead Wolfos, they'd stop coming around. Beasts are smarter than people give them credit for. I learned that the hard way through fighting them as often as I did.'

Whinnying, the equine stopped for a brief moment, coming to a dead standstill. It startled me to an extent as I didn't expect her to do that. I had to hold onto the saddle so she wouldn't throw me off with the sudden decrease in speed. Whatever it was that was happening, it wasn't ordinary. Epona's too smart as well as loyal to be stubborn during a time of great importance like this. "Huh? What's wrong girl?" There had to be an explanation other than it being her fault. "Show yourself!"

With one hand on my sword and the other cupped around my ear, I listened silently. Nothing other than ambiance was heard for a while. The bond between Epona and I left me feeling at odds. She could sense the danger during the times that I couldn't. 'I trust you.' Using what I'd learned of horse communication and behaviour, I saw her ears indicate that she was feeling threatened, her nostrils flared and her eyes widened. Judging by that, I knew I was right. There was someone or something ahead of us, in the final hollowed log leading into the Kokiri Village. There wasn't any other way to enter, thus, I had to prepare to take on the challenge of that which resided inside an abnormal darkness.

'Wait a second.' Just prior to barging forward, I formed an idea. Opening up the pouch of mine which held several items for my journeys, my hand reached inside to root around for about three particular nuts that I could definitely use at a time like this. Deku Nuts. Once found, I pulled one of them out, not needing multiple. Instead of risking a chance of unknown danger, it was much easier and wiser to simply throw the nut with great velocity, allowing it to strike halfway through the hollowed out tree. In a bright flash, the log was lit up enough to see any signs of that which made Epona not want to go toward. As fast as a bolt of lightning, I could see a thin bulbous creature drop from the top of the inside hollowed log. Not enough time was given for it to fully register what it was, not until I heard a certain huffing chatter.

"Deku Baba..." My lips spoke with a sneer. Kicking my heels against Epona's side, she started moving across the rest of the span of the rickety wooden bridge. Giving the filly more motivation to go faster, she picked up the pace while I drew my sword. She didn't have to worry about the creature, for I knew I could kill it without any problem in the least. "Yaah! Giddy-up!" It was still abnormally dark inside the log, so, I had to use judgment to determine how far from the beginning of the log I was the monster. Hitting darkness toward the center, with no light able to penetrate that far sideways, I counted to three whilst hearing the chattering grow louder. "1… 2… 3..."

Swinging my sword with a slice, I could not only hear, but, feel as well while the blade obviously ripped straight through what was likely the stem of the Deku Baba. A distorted shriek filled the log before the beast gargled and then went silent. Only a hissing sound was heard, as toxic fumes were emitted from its throat during death.

"Excellent..." I praised myself plus Epona with consideration on how well she did. With a smirk on my face, we came out of the log into the other side of the Forbidden Forest tree-line. Kokiri Village awaited. "Now, here I come." Several steps passed in advance to me sheathing my sword. I wasn't entirely sure how safe it was. Due to that, I stayed wary and with my hand at the ready to grab any weapon I needed. Traveling down the path leading to the Kokiri Village, I noticed right away that there was a particular absence of any Kokiri. It wasn't too surprising since I had already encountered a monster, but, it still frustrated me that my beloved family can't enjoy the outside like they were meant to. If the Great Deku Tree were still here, he would never allow a monster to get close to his children's encampment. Without the tree deity, everything fell upon me. I was the one who had to figure out what the cause of these beastly migrations are.

"SARIA!" I shouted for her, hoping to get anybody's attention that was around. "MIDO, FADO! ANYBODY!? IT'S ME, LINK!" Looking around while on horseback, things did seem quite strange here for whatever the cause. The air tasted like musty dirt instead of fresh vegetation, light barely seemed to make it through the treetops even though it was midday, when the sun was at its peak, even the water looked slightly murky, as if someone spilled something inside of it. Here and there, even grass seemed down, dying in certain spots; going as far as to have been replaced by more Deku Babas waiting for a victim to come close enough for them to chomp on. 'What's happening here? This isn't right… All of this in a couple of weeks? Malon was just here and she never mentioned anything about plants wilting or water corruption.' I started to seriously worry now, getting Epona to trot around the village until we arrived at Saria's house, my first and foremost stop.

Dismounting Epona, I took one last look around prior to making my way inside. I was slow and steady with my movement, careful since I was unsure of that which was on the other side of the curtain draped door. "Saria?" Arriving on the other side, nothing was too out of the ordinary in the house. It was empty, but, with obvious signs that it hadn't been that way for long since a chair was tipped over and a bowl of food laid spread out amongst the ground. "Saria?" I repeated, still hoping that I'd get a reply. "Saria, come on. It's Link, come out from wherever you're hiding." Deep down, I knew she wouldn't be hiding from me. If she were nearby and heard my voice, then, I know she'd reveal herself. My only concerns were that there was something really bad that happened. "Hello?"

Nobody was in here, it was clear. Turning around, I nearly made it back out of the house preceding a small thump I felt through my boots. "Huh? Who's there?" From my voice, the thump repeated and even accompanied itself with a tiny scratching sound. It came from near the clay pots lined along the wall. The first thing I thought was that a person might be hiding inside of one, but, I wasn't overly sure about that. My hand moved behind my back where it gripped the handle of my sword as I stepped closer. "Come out right now unless you want to get stabbed!" Honestly, I didn't want to stab the pot since it would break. Saria's scowl would likely hurt worse than whatever hiding inside could possibly dish out. "I mean it!"

Growing ever closer, with my other hand, I reached out to tentatively grip the lid. I selected the right one, for I felt it wiggle as soon as I did; leaving no doubt in my mind that there was most certainly something inside of it.

'Okay, that's it.' Eventually, whenever I felt ready, I yanked the lid off the top of the clay pot. My feet jumped back some as I nearly expected whatever within to come jumping out. Instead, nothing really happened. Due to being away from the window, and it not being very bright outside, I couldn't really see inside, though I wasn't daring enough to reach inside either. I had to scratch my head on this. Expectations can be a letdown, especially whenever you expected something big to happen. "What the-...?"

Unfortunately, lowering my guard in confusion was a mistake. Having least anticipated it, sending me into a heart pounding stumble, a bulging mouth shot up from within the depths of the pot, snapping at me ferociously as if to try and rip my face off. "By the Goddesses!" Fright didn't take me overly long to overcome, and yet, by the time I did overcome it, the creature slithered forth, revealing itself to be a special Deku Baba known as a Baba Serpent. The beast was viciously bloodthirsty in its attempts to get to me. Being a Baba Serpent, it appeared as if it had been severed from its roots by whoever it was trying to kill the first time; which was likely Saria or another Kokiri, taking into account the things' location. It snapped it jaws harder and harder as it came after me, so hard at times that several of its teeth busted onto the floor, even more so when I stomped on it.

Poison was my main concern as I knew exactly how dangerous it can be. Each bite it tried to take out of me, I had to dodge for the risk of losing a limb, or worse. The beast was intent on getting me. Eventually, once I drew my sword, I had to figure out how I wanted to dispose of it. Slowly yet surely, I backed out of the house while using my shield to deflect its ferocious attacks. "Come on you nasty little freak!" I taunted, stomping my foot in order for it to feel my vibrations through the ground. Despite it being an intimidation attempt, it grew fiercer, not about to back down from getting to its prey. "Alright then! We'll play rough!"

Spinning the sword in my hand, now that we were out of Saria's house and out into the open, my feet strafed to the left as I tried to circle behind it. Going at it from any angle other than the front was most ideal. Surprisingly, it flipped around with its stem squirming violently, close to as fast as its jaws continued to snap. Hissing, it growled at me, bellowing a deep grumble unlike that many wouldn't think a plant to be capable of.

"Dammit!" Trying again, the result was the exact same. "Well, aren't you just the village menace!" Seeing as of how it refused to do anything other than lunge at me, I wasn't sure if it was either desperate, or intelligent for its kind. The banging picked up as I moved closer, allowing it to slam its body against my Hylian Shield multiple times over. "Oomph! That's right, tire yourself out!" While it was occupied, I slashed at it a few times. One slice cut through its hard shell-like exterior, but, it didn't do sufficient damage to make the thing so much as stop for a brief moment. The other five strikes missed as it was being too jerky for me to focus on stabbing.

Once my strategy surfaced, I began fighting with more vigor. Using the plan in my head, I decided to end this as quick as I could since I still needed to find out what happened with the rest of the Kokiri. "Come on! Come on! Come get a nice tasty bite out of me!" Jumping back, I allowed it to feel more comfortable with the extra fighting room. The less threatened it felt, I knew it would use fewer of its own antics out of despair. A beast such as it didn't think like a Hylian, but, I could still fool it through my own superior knowledge; which is precisely what I did. When it was ready again, it charged forth, slithering as fast as it could while its bulbous head frantically jumped back and forth to help it chase after me.

Reaching within striking distance, the attack resumed. It leapt toward me using all of its available might, hissing and foaming from the mouth the entire time. Skillfully, as the plant-monster was in the air from its bounce, I motioned to lightly toss my Hylian Shield up in the air, keeping it vertical. My feet automatically began moving as everything timed perfectly. The shield came down just as the Baba Serpent landed on the spot that I had been at previously, prior to my moving. Together, it planned out right as it smashed its face into my shield, discombobulating it long enough for me to circle around to grab the end of its severed stem. As if it was a rag doll, I held a firm grip on the stem during the time I took to swing it back and forth, swinging it backward to smack its head on the side of Saria's house, then returning with a powerful overhead slam onto the rough ground in front of me. Immediately, using my sword, I made my own jump, vaulting forth prior to directing my sword downward, plunging it directly into the beast's head, stabbing to the dirt beneath to receive a shrill screech of terror from it. Pulling on the sword, it tore through the creatures fibrous insides while splitting the outside shell upon which formed its body.

"Gotcha!" I gloated a smirk as I yanked my sword to the side, slicing it clean in half until its green, juicy, sap-like body fluid spilled out amongst its now deceased remains. "You won't be a threat to anybody anymore."

Withdrawing my sword, I wiped it off onto the grass in advance to sheathing it. For a moment, I took the opportunity to look around my surroundings in hope that somebody may have heard all of the commotion. 'Geez, did nobody hear? Nnn… Goddesses, I hope they're alright. If they're not-…' Exasperatingly concerning was where Saria was and how a Baba Serpent got inside her house, in a jar. My greatest fear in the world is likely something happening to the green haired Kokiri that took care of me, raised me, for as long as I can remember. 'No… No, they're fine. Everybody's fine, they're not stupid just because they're Kokiri and can't fight very well. If they were in too much danger, they would have gone into hiding.'

"SSSSSSssssssssssssssssSSSSSSssssSSSSSS!" A grumbling hiss sounded from behind me, forcing me to spin around quickly to realize that, in the midst of battle with the Baba Serpent, I had inadvertently backed into a stationary Deku Baba, and it wasn't very happy about my presence at all. "Oh, Shit!" I shouted, reeling back as it made a single snap at me, nearly getting to my face; close enough where I could feel the air moving from its jump. The only thing stopping me from getting bitten was my hands, which clutched both of its jaws. "Grr! How many of you things are there!? Right when I put my sword back too!'

As a young boy, I had a small problem keeping my strength up against what is practically a spring loaded set of chomping teeth. Losing stamina, the Deku Baba started shutting its mouth around my hands, which was extremely bad. I wasn't about to lose my hands, that's for sure. Summoning all my strength, my determination to overpower my enemy, it channeled through the Goron's Bracelet, giving me the spare strength I needed to pry its jaws open again. Going further, as I grew angry, it went even further until I pulled so hard it broke the beasts mouth, ripping its bottom jaw clean off, away from its hideous head. It screamed nearly as loud as the Baba Serpent did before collapsing to its death.

"Jeez… What the?" Dropping the beast's lower jaw, I spun around in a small circle to make well sure there wasn't anything else around me. Thankfully, there wasn't, so, I swiftly grabbed my shield to not be caught without it. 'Things truly are bad here. If I had known, I would have come much quicker.' Part of me grew curious as to of what was behind the cause of all this. 'Is it a coincidence that these creatures just decided to invade the village? Is Ganondorf doing something from where he's hiding? Is it something else?' Contemplating it, I soon came up with another plan. I needed to find Saria and the others first, then clear out the Meadow around the Great Deku Tree's remains to get answers from the Deku Tree Sprout himself. It was my only hope of figuring things out without having to do it by myself. 'I don't have all the time in the world either. Time for me to hustle.'

Whistling, Epona came back. I had to give her a bit of petting to get her to calm down, but, she eventually relaxed. "I know, I know, girl… I don't like poisonous things either. I'm really lucky I didn't get bitten." She neighed softly as I mounted her for a quick ride to my tree house. Passing Saria's place, we turned to go down the path leading toward mine.

Before long, Epona abruptly stopped, making me sigh as I saw yet another Deku Baba; this one being still buried in the ground awaiting a victim. "By The Goddesses… Something's definitely wrong…. Ughh… Okay, Epona. On three, we're going to ride passed it. Ready?" Pulling my sword from my back, I began counting down with my heels at the ready. "One… Two… Three!" On three, my heels kicked at her sides as I whipped the reins. She knew I wanted her to run and did just that. The filly was aware that I'd do anything to protect her, that I wouldn't let her bet bitten. Clomping onward while leaning to my right, I readied the sword for a slice. It worked perfectly, same as my previous attacks. The very moment Epona's hooves grew near, sending vibrations through the ground, the Deku Baba arose from its slumber to look for what was making all the ruckus. In advance to even letting it gather its bearings, I held the sword out straight with a rigid arm, letting my blade slice directly through it from all of the momentum.

"Great job!" I praised, talking to Epona as we approached my tree house. Glancing back to look around for anymore enemies in the immediate area, I saw as the Deku Baba's top stem and its head landed on the ground with a thud. Finished with clearing out the main road, the next step was dismounting Epona. Although she wasn't happy with having to stay behind, as a horse, there wasn't much she could do seeing as of how my house is quite literally built slightly beneath the treetop. "You stay right here, okay?" She whinnied in response as I looked around again, one last time, just so that I could make sure nothing would bother or attack her during the brief few minutes I'll be away. The following moments were spent ascending the ladder with my sword still drawn. It had been a while since I last climbed the ladder I was. In a way, it was comforting to be home again; if only it could've been under better circumstances.

'I have to set things straight while I'm here. Until then, everyone needs to be found safe and sound… I have to find them… I have too...' Before long, I was at the top of the ladder. To my dismay, a strange noise made me stop. Chittering, it grew closer until I felt the vibration of something approaching. There was absolutely no telling who or what it was. My best hope was for it to be friendly, one of the Kokiri. "Hello?" I said aloud. "Who's there?"

With my hand at the top rung of the ladder, I reached up to feel around, not wishing to risk getting my head injured. Instead of hearing a response, there was an ensuing slick, juicy sound followed by a putrid smell. Moving forward, the second it brushed up against something spiky and slimy, in a jerk, I retracted my hand, gasping while hearing the chittering speed up. "Oh no!" There wasn't any doubt in my mind as to of what it was. Knowing I was right, it was no surprise when the creature upon which I'd felt, jumped to lunge at me; ending up quite literally falling on me through the opening of the hatch to the ladder.

"CHUPA!" Having the terrifying beast on my back was enough to freak me out, temporarily causing me to lose control over myself as well as my ability to fight back. The succeeding struggle forced both of us to from the ladder. Taking a decent twenty foot drop, then landing on my back, I was out of the game in a daze until I heard Epona squeal. As quickly as I could, I gathered my bearings, dusted myself off, and then rose to my feet using my sword as leverage. Thankfully, Epona was merely upset, not hurt. She didn't like poisonous critters, that I knew.

"Get back, Epona! Get back!" I commanded, getting her to step back several paces. The Chupa was upside-down, on it's back, with all six of its creepy little legs flailing wildly. Being a nasty monster, its body was equally atrocious, consisting of a round sphere that served as its body. This shield was hard, like a shell. In the center were its legs, and finally, in the front was the hole where its jelly-like head protruded from. Speaking of which, watching as its skinny neck as long as a bundle of rope shot out, trying its best to latch onto me to drink my blood; it got me ready to deal with the critter; if only my left shoulder wasn't hurting quite badly from the fall. "Ughh… Dammit."

Raising my blade stretched a muscle, but, it weakened it as well, forcing me to go rigid and swing it overhead. "NNYAAAH!" In full intent to cleave the beast in twain, the sword slammed down into the dirt, not getting a strike on anything as the Chupa rolled out of the way to save itself from death. Watching its beady little eyes land on me only brought out a fury of more attacks; strikes, stabs, jabs, anything that I could do to kill it. "You things made a big mistake by coming here!" Despite my best efforts, it avoided each attempt to hit it; even going so far as to leap onto the end of my sword at one point. "Vile filthy monster!" I shouted while lunging at it, slashing forward prior to watching as the Chupa jumped a great distance to attach itself to a nearby tree. During the time it was on the tree, it turned to get a better angle, allowing itself to prepare for a more coordinated attack.

I tried to deal with it; running up to the tree so that I could stab straight through it to the bark. That strategy backfired swiftly. Defending itself, its legs crawled further up the tree to make sure I wouldn't stab it, then it let its head lunge out of its shell, stretching five feet in length while its flat head bared its fangs with intent to sink them into me. "Doauuha! Yuck! By the Goddesses, you things give me the heebie jeebies!"

Spinning around, I protected myself from its poisonous bite by letting it collide with the Hylian Shield on my back instead of my bare skin. After the clank, it retracted its head. I tried my best to go after it, trying the tactic of severing its head. If I cut through is neck, it would be dead, and thus no longer a problem. I literally ran to catch up, slamming the sword down as hard as I could. Yet again, however, it outmaneuvered me as it retracted its head too fast for me to get it or bring my sword back up to so much as try again.

"Ughhh!" The exact same pattern repeated several times until I had had enough. The creature itself was frustrated as well, for it had come down to the point where it was striking numerous times in a single throw of its long neck and head, a rarity for their kind, but, proof of its own desperation. "That's it!" I finally exclaimed while shielding myself from another series of vicious bites before it jumped to another tree, making me change the position of my shield lest I wanted to get bitten. Changing things up again, I decided to run back to Epona. As fast as I could, after taking an extraordinarily brief second to calm the filly, I rustled around inside my bag to remove my bow and arrows. There wasn't too many arrows left, but, it would be enough. It had to be enough.

'This shouldn't be too hard.' I thought, readying the bow and arrows to be shot. 'What's going to be the most difficult is getting a shot through its neck while it switches back and forth from tree to tree.' Generally, Chupa are fairly intelligent, more-so than their gooey cousins, ChuChu. This one, on the other hand, seemed smart as it literally picked up the pace on jumping whenever it saw me using the bow and arrows. "What the-...!?"

Frustration flowed through my veins while trying to target the ferocious critter. Eventually, I even crouched with the intent of getting a better shot. The trouble I faced was from its attacks. I had difficulties managing to keep my aim on top of it as I had to dodge its thrown head at the same time. At one point, its fangs succeeded in puncturing a hole in my shield; a shock to me.

"Okay…" I soon uttered while devising my own ingenious plan. "I've had enough of you. There's no way I'll let you leave here after coming into the village." Once a Chupa finds food, it WILL be back to check for more. Knowing that it wasn't going to cease moving either, I planned ahead of time by aiming for the next tree that it was going to jump to. In that moment, as I readied the bow with my sharpest arrow, things around me slowed down. Every way possible, I planned for this to be a perfect shot. Upon release of the arrow, it flew through the air at the exact same moment the Chupa made its leap toward the next tree. A mere second later, perhaps even less than that, after the Chupa latched onto the tree, the arrow I released struck it directly in the head between its beady little eyes, puncturing its slimy brain to essentially nail it to the tree. It shrieked loudly, but, before long, it was quiet, as the life quickly drained from its disgusting body; hanging from the tree, swinging back and forth.

"Yes!" I gloated in my success, giving myself a satisfactory arm pump. "I knew I could do it." Now that it was out of the way, I felt much safer. Having a Chupa hanging around the village is unnerving, so, I know Saria and the others will be glad to know it's gone. Standing back up, I waited a good five minutes to one, make sure it was dead, and two, to stay on the lookout for anything else. Each time I think that I've dealt with nearby enemies, another one reveals itself. With my plan being to still investigate my house and find the others, I had to be sure there wasn't anything else close by that could do harm to me. Had the Chupa bitten me, I might have been near death right about now.

"Alright. Here I go." In a matter of a minute, I placed my bow and arrows back inside of the bag attached to Epona's saddle. "You stay right here, and I'll be back in a little bit." Rubbing my shoulder, I made sure to keep my sword drawn like last time. Despite all that I'd been through, I didn't trust myself on being sure there wasn't anything else in the nearby area. Deku Babas, Baba Serpents, Chupas; it was extremely dangerous here. On my climb up the ladder, I eventually held my blade up as I ascended higher. Upon reaching the top, I was swift to get to my feet, standing on the balcony of my tree house, another place I hadn't been in quite a while. 'No more Chupas.'

Thankfully, without anything to get in my way, I was free to move on with a quick walk on the balcony. From up even higher, I could see that there was indeed several more hostiles in the immediate area. Multiple Deku Babas littered the garden, preventing any Kokiri from harvesting plants to eat. Toward the meadow upon which the Great Deku Tree's remains including the Deku Tree Sprout resided in, there was a solid line of Deku Babas. The monstrous plants were everywhere, as if they were an infestation. Never before had I seen so many of them in one place, much less inside the supposed safety of Kokiri Village.

"What in the world is going on here? I've never seen it like this before, not even when it was Ganondorf causing it." Shaking my head, it was hard to look at the disaster laid out before me. This was my home town, and it sickened me to see it in such shambles.

After I had had enough of the ugly sight, I made my way inside of my tree house. 'Home sweet home.' The wooden smell took me back. I had spent the majority of my life here, living out of this tree house. Vividly, I can recall helping to carve each piece of furniture in the room, and the nights Saria spent with me when I was too scared to sleep on my own.

The layout of the room was pretty much the same as the other houses, with a few unique contributions to make it specific to me. In the center, there was a handcrafted wooden table, to the right, was another table, one which I ate my meals at. On the left, I had a large wooden cabinet with my clothes in it, some clay pots, farming equipment, as well as a washbasin with a mirror; finally, in the front was my bed, a window, and a bulletin board. Things truly didn't change around here all that much. Nostalgia was unavoidable. Moreover, I became melancholy as I longed for the comfort of a certain green-haired Kokiri who raised me since birth. Worry increased each second I was unable to find trace of ANY Kokiri.

"Hello?" I soon called out, despite not truly expecting a response. "Is anybody here? It's me… Link." Following some time to make sure I was alone, my next step came to be gathering supplies. There was actually several things upon which I'd either stowed away from a time like this, or had merely left here without thinking I would need them. Going over to one of the clay pots, I lifted the lid; thankfully not concerned with the possibility of a Baba Serpent being inside of it. From within, I took out several bundles of arrows, a sharpened Deku Stick, three unlit bomb flowers, and a silver dagger. Those would all be of great use. For the time being, they were stowed on the table in the center of the room until I had everything else collected.

Seeing as of how there was nobody there for me to talk to, I remained silent while working. For some odd reason, I went to grab the pillow from off my bed with the intent to take it to the ranch with me as a memento, but, I realized that it was gone; odd. Moving on without much time to be curious, I decided that it would be best to gather some more clothing, attire that had been custom made for me by Saria and I last summer.

Shortly thereafter, I made my way over toward the wooden cabinets next to the washbasin and mirror. 'My reflection's looking rather dark in here.' I thought, momentarily prior to having a chill run down my spine. If I had seen correctly from out of the corner of my eye, it looked almost as if the shadow version of me, the Dark Link I had encountered earlier today at the clothing store was there, in plain sight, mimicking each step I took. 'Wait! There's no way!?' Jumping back about a foot, my eyes latched onto the mirror, staring hard at it to examine every single detail there was to see. Shockingly, as soon as I directed my vision toward the reflective surface, all that I saw was myself staring back. No afflictions, no dark shadow looming over me, no wicked grin on my face that wasn't truly there on my end.

Whatever I thought I had seen, clearly it wasn't correct. Now that I reminded myself of it, I felt stressed, overworked at the notion of being unable to deal with all of these impeccable mysteries. In any case, there wasn't a Dark Link hanging around inside the mirror world, ready to reach out and grab me like there was previously; at least, what I believe to be previously. As usual, to an extent, I had to doubt myself, to wonder if what I saw was true and not some trickery of Ganondorf's. The being known as Dark Link was nothing more than a shadow summoned from to floor to serve the Gerudo King's every desire, every will; nothing more and nothing less.

"Come on, Link. Keep it together." Giving myself a gentle slap to wake up, proceeding a minute to rub my eyes and blink, yet again, I carried on with what I was originally doing. This time, I didn't let anything stop me. All I needed was a few pairs of clothes and then I'd be able to leave in search of the others. In the end, I had a feeling I would probably wind up searching every house in the village. After all of that, I'd start out with clearing the rest of the village of monsters. To get the Ocarina of Time was going to be another story entirely. Nonetheless, I had to be sure to try and find the magical musical instrument before leaving the forest. The longer it stayed out in the open, out in the elements, it risked getting broken or at the very least, fractured.

Opening the cabinets, I was in for the shock of my life, almost more so than with what I thought I had seen in the mirror. "What the-...!?" I exclaimed, skidding backward some as my blade was swiftly drawn from off the table in the center of the room. Nothing would have prepared me to know that there would be somebody hiding where I store my clothes. The very first thoughts to race through my mind were that of extreme disturbance. After I settled down some, seeing that they were asleep, I wanted to know why they were there.

A brief moment after calming down, I realized that it was a green haired Kokiri, which meant only one thing. "SARIA! SARIA, ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Dropping my sword to reach out, the instant my hand landed on her side, she screamed in fright; squirming violently until she quite literally fell out of the cabinet with a gentle thud. At first, I gravely worried in exasperation whether or not she was still breathing. Now, more than anything, I feared that she was injured. "Saria!?" After the flop, she stared up at me with her eyes adjusting. She looked extraordinarily tired, much more than I'd seen her as in a while. Quickly, I looked over her body to make sure she wasn't hurt. There didn't seem to be a single mark on here, and that made me feel much safer.

Ultimately, as she stared up at me, her rapid breathing subsided down to normal levels. "L-Link!?"

Nodding, I smiled weakly, trying my best to calm her down. I didn't understand what was going on at all. But, I was happy she was alright. For my sanity, it was great I found her uninjured. However, judging solely by her fright, I feared for the others as well as what caused her such great distress. "Yeah, it's me… I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't even know you were in there until I opened it and saw you." Before long, as her senses returned to her, she jumped up to knock me down with a tight hug.

"Oh, thank the Goddesses you're okay! I was so worried about you!" Hugging her back, I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. Hearing her in such distress was upsetting. "Me? Look who's talking! Ehehe… I was looking all over for you. I went to your house, then I stayed in the middle of the village for a while. What in the world were you doing in my dressing cabinet?" As she looked up at me with sky blue eyes, her cheeks began to flush from my question, causing her to look away in embarrassment. In response, I raised my eyebrow as I didn't understand. "Ehh… W-Well. I was sleeping since it wasn't safe over at my place… I… I figured it would be safe here… and… I mean, well… It smelled a lot like you in there, so, I managed to go into a deep sleep. T-That's why you scared me." Tapping her fingers together, acting shy, she continued to stare at me with an awkward blush until a small gasp ensued from her. "Oh! Did you say you stopped by my place!? You didn't open any of the clay pots, did you!?"

Nodding to answer her question, I made sure to let her know that I was fine first. "Yeah… I did. The Baba Serpent won't be bothering you anymore, don't worry."

The following minute was spent gazing at one another. Both of us refused to budge from our embrace. However, Saria was putting extra love into this; caressing my cheek and delicately stroking fallen strands of golden hair out of my eyes. Her breathing steadied out and she relaxed knowing that there wasn't any danger in the area. More time was taken to rest though, than was actually needed. It merely felt extremely comforting to be in her loving arms. These were the consoling arms I'd consecutively dreamed of during nightmarish times. Being a Kokiri and me being a Hylian didn't matter in this aspect. Whenever I was being held by her like this, despite being her size now, I wanted to rest my head against her chest or in her lap and take a nice nap. Even though I seriously never spoke about it, she was the closest thing to a mother I ever had, and I'll always admire and respect her for that.

"I got your letter..." I spoke softly, trying to keep going and not let myself release my guard. "I came as soon as I could, and it looks like I made it just in time. Can you tell me what's going on? Where is everybody and why is there so many monsters in the village?" Softly pulling away, we both stood up to our feet, leaving me to grab my sword from off the ground prior to hearing her response. "I don't honestly know what's going on, Link. Something bad's happening, that's all I genuinely know. Since Malon took you out of the Lost Woods, things have been getting worse and worse around here… Creatures started coming out, like they were following you or something." As strange as it sounds, I had to take it into consideration that something like that was possible. Besides that, I wondered if it had to do with me. Perhaps the timing wasn't a coincidence at all. Perhaps my removal from the Lost Woods actually caused all of this.

"It's not your fault!" She suddenly exclaimed. "I mean, I'm not blaming you! It just began around that time. Ever since, it's gotten more dangerous around here each day… Right now, the others, besides Fado, are all sealed up inside of Mido's house. He didn't want anybody else going outside when it's so dangerous around here..." Sighing, she sniffled then continued. "I've never seen it like this before. Kokiri Village has always been a peaceful place, and now look at it. We can't even tend to the Deku Sprout or gather our own food. What are we going to do?"

As best as I could, I attempted to calm her down by placing my hands on her shoulders. "Saria… It's okay. I promise, now that I'm here, I'm not going to leave until I know everyone here is going to be safe." No matter what, I vowed that. Malon and the others could wait if it was truly the dire matter that it appeared to be. "You promise?" Saria asked, gaining an instant response from me. "I promise." In addition to my smile, I gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze to let her know that I was there for her. She hugged me again to show appreciation. Hugging back, it was then that I noticed somebody missing. A cheery little fairy I'd always seen with the green-haired girl wasn't in the room.

"Hey… Where's your fairy?" As soon as the question left my lips, she gripped the back of my tunic tighter, squeezing me in the hug even further until it was pretty tight. For a moment, I worried, but, thankfully she mostly waved off the concerns. "Laila's with the other fairies, watching over the Deku Tree Sprout since we can't get to it… They'll make sure to tend to it. Yet, we have to find a way through the meadow to protect it. Our fairies aren't fighters, you know that." Nodding, it was true. I knew that Fairies didn't have any skill in combat. And how could they? They're only several inches tall, not much of anything toward the scale of certain enemies I've encountered on my journey. "We've tried everything. Those… Those stupid Deku Babas are stubborn and won't quit growing back, no matter how many we chop down. There must be at least thirty of them clogging up the path toward the Great Deku Tree."

Considering how I was already in progress of eliminating every Deku Baba from the village, I figured by now that she would have realized I was taking care of the situation. Information was good regardless. Ending the hug, my next objective was to most definitely clear out the path to the meadow. "I have a plan. The reason why I'm in here is to collect supplies… I'm thinking Bomb Flowers might clear out a cluster of them, then I could take down the rest on my own." During the time I gathered a few undergarments and tunics, her eyes widened a bit. "That's… That's actually not a bad idea. But, I want you to be extra careful with Bomb Flowers. They're highly dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt."

Her motherly concern never grew old to me. Not once have I disliked her caring nature. However, there have been times I've gotten a bit annoyed. "Saria… Don't worry. I've used them hundreds of times. The Goron's taught me the perfect way to work with them, so, I don't even worry about premature detonation anymore."

She watched intently as I gathered clothing and then shoved it on top of my bed for taking home later on. My answer was satisfying enough to calm her down. Giving myself a few more minutes to collect anything of use, my eyes were drawn to the washbasin and mirror on the right side of the room. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary. My suspicion simply led me to continuously watch for any sign of a shadowy entity. It still didn't make any sense at all for this shadow version of me, this Dark Link, to exist at the time being. What I had fought previously, the evil interpretation of me, black with red eyes, that was a manifestation of my negative traits brought out by a curse Ganondorf used. This time, whatever that is causing the apparitions must be something different.

"Hey… Uhh… Saria, have you seen anything unusual?" As soon as I said that, I knew I should have said it differently. She cocked her head to the side prior to giggling with slight sarcasm. "Are you kidding me? Look around, Link… It's never been like this before. We ca-..." From right there, I interjected to clarify. "No, No… I mean, have you seen anything unusual, anything not related to the Deku Babas?" Again, she didn't appear to fully understand what I meant. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Now I decided that it might be best for me to forget about it. Obviously she hasn't seen any dark entities or she would have mentioned it by now. There were more important things to attend to anyway. "Nothing, never mind." To my dismay, waving it off after bringing it up wasn't a thing Saria particularly enjoyed. Every now and then, she really shows how nosy she can be. "Uh-uh… What do you mean, Link? Tell me." Knowing she would persist, I gave in almost instantly, deciding to inform her of what I've seen. "It's a long story. Getting to the point, I've seen this shadowy figure lurking in mirrors twice today. Once at the clothing shop in Hyrule City, and then once here, in my mirror… I don't know why I keep seeing it, I only know that it's not a good thing. It tried attacking me through the mirror in Hyrule City, saying that 'EVERYTHING WILL BE CONSUMED', just like Majora. I don't know if there's a connection between the two; if this shadow and Majora are one in the same, or working together… *Sighs*… None of it makes much sense."

Although I did indeed need somebody to talk to about the things I've seen, I grew afraid I'd told her too much, things she didn't know how to answer. With her mouth agape, she soon replied. "It came out of the mirror? And, who is this Majora?"

"Yeah… It reached through the mirror like it was going to grab me or something." Purposely, I left out Majora. It was a mistake on my behalf on mentioning it. All that the Happy Mask Salesman said to me revealed the confusion over the world known as Termina. Termina was an obstacle course, with Majora as well as the Skull Kid being the obstacles. The goal of it all was to finish and come out alive, to emerge victorious, clinging to life to prove I wasn't done due to the fact that what is supposedly my main purpose in life was over. Truth be told, I doubted anything from Termina was real now. Given that it's unbelievable, it was unlikely that Majora had anything to do with what I've seen recently. 'This time, I know I'm in the real world, my world, the world I'm native to, whatever it should be called. There's no chance I'm imagining or dreaming about a shadow trying to attack me. Not this time.'

"I… I don't know what to say, honestly..." She replied. "I guess I can say I haven't seen any dark shadowy figures coming from inside any mirrors." After a while, as I resumed gathering the last of what I needed, I noticed that she appeared relatively anxious about something. I knew her. Saria was never anxious unless it was a thing she just couldn't understand. Being the maturest Kokiri, she's too strong willed to get upset, disturbed, or angry very easily. 'Is she not telling me something?' Looking at it from outside the box, I didn't tell her something either. We're both hiding something from one another. What I kept out of the conversation, that of Termina and Majora, it wasn't relevant at the moment. Nevertheless, I prayed to the Goddesses that what she wasn't saying was not important. Before long, however, even that wasn't satisfying enough as I grew ever more curious. 'Ughh… Geez, what is it?'

Coming to my conclusion, to make it fair, I decided I'd tell her anything she needed to know, so long as she did the same for me. "What is it?" I asked, unable to stop staring at her concerned expression. "Huh?" She responded, ceasing the slightly cute lip-biting she had ensuing. "It's nothing… Nothing." Raising an eyebrow, it was obvious it wasn't nothing. She knew it wasn't nothing either. As I stared, soon enough, she gave in and divulged what she wasn't telling me. "Well… Maybe it's not nothing. It's quite strange actually… *Sighs*… The Know-It-All Brothers could explain better than me, but, from what I understand, a strange thing happened. You see, when Malon pulled you from the Lost Woods, we had to give you a tonic that brought you back from the brink of d-death..."

'Is… Is she crying?' My mind interrupted, noticing a tear running down the side of her face. I wanted to say something to her, yet, she was busy talking still. "We knew the tonic worked whenever you coughed up this black tar-like gunk. The Know-It-All Brothers said it was a mixture of your death and the curse of the Lost Woods. I guess they were slightly wrong though, which they weren't very happy about… Whatever it was you coughed up, it vanished during cleanup, literally. I wiped it off the corners of your mouth about a hundred times using this cloth here." Lifting a small piece of cloth, I could see that there wasn't anything on it. "And yet, when I was getting ready to wash it, there wasn't any black-goo. It looked just like this, as if I hadn't used it for anything."

Hearing all of that was quite strange. There truly wasn't any explanation I could offer, as I didn't know how it could be possible for some disgusting slime I coughed up to suddenly disappear. The relevancy regarding this fluctuated rapidly. I wasn't able to figure out if that had to do with anything. It's highly doubtful, in my opinion, that phlegm has anything to do with the disaster outside, in Kokiri Village. Regardless, it is quite mysterious, just not one I'm overly interested in at the moment. With all of the other stuff I have to focus on; an evil shadow spirit, my lost Ocarina of Time, getting the Kokiri Forest back into order; I have no time to focus on anything else. Another thing being kept in the back of my mind is the curious bewilderment over Saria's sudden sadness, her heartbreaking tear.

"I'm not really sure what to say about that. I guess, maybe it soaked into the cloth or something. Wash it anyway, see if anything nasty comes off it, then you'll know it seeped into the fabric and didn't vanish… Right now, I'm going to go clear out the path leading to the Great Deku Tree and the Deku Sprout." The image of Saria's tears was burned into my retinas. Among anything, I prayed to the Goddesses that I could fix this place, to restore it to its beauty and make her happy again. 'That's it, I'm sure… She's upset because this place is in such shambles. That's all it could be.' Throughout it all, I remained fixated on my goal as I walked toward the door leading out. I had the Bomb Flowers I needed, and even extra supplies. Considering that, I had faith I could pull this off. It's imperative that I make it where the Kokiri can tend to the Deku Tree Sprout. The Fairies doing the work instead wasn't a wise idea. Kokiri needed their Fairies; they'll get cranky and feel alone if they're left without their guardian sprites for too long.

Abruptly, it donned on me that the reason Saria was being so emotional might actually be because she doesn't have Laila, her appointed fairy. The other Kokiri are likely suffering the same distress. More motivation flooded me as I walked out onto the deck of the tree house. Once I was done doing all that I had to do, I knew I'd have to come back for the rest of my supplies. Making Epona haul them all over the place wasn't the wisest of ideas.

On my way down the ladder, I heard what sounded like voices talking, Kokiri for sure. It was off in the distance, but, not too far. Knowing the others were okay was a huge burden lifted from my shoulders. At first, I was scared when I couldn't find anyone. Knowing Saria's okay merely gave me the strength I needed to complete my task. Bound and determined, there wasn't anything or anybody that was going to stand in my way this time. My eyes scanned the area quickly as I ambled over to Epona. The voices weren't in the vicinity, so, I had a feeling they were closer to the meadow surrounding the Great Deku Tree. Epona took delight in seeing me return, plus, I was glad nothing tried messing with her while I was inside, almost out of earshot.

"Link, wait..." Saria's voice called out from behind me, making me turn to look as I mounted Epona's saddle. She took her time, slowly descending the ladder prior to coming closer to me. "I'm going to go with you."

My eyebrows both lifted in surprise, as I didn't expect her to want to accompany me. In reality, I didn't want her to come with me, for I feared over her safety near obsessively. The last thing on the face of the planet that I wanted to happen was for her to get hurt because I couldn't protect her adequately enough. "What? Are you serious?" Responding to my question, she held her hand out to me, wanting me to assist her in climbing up onto the saddle. "Of course I'm serious. This is my village, Link. I'm not going to just let it stay ruined… I want us to be able to come out here in peace, and not have to worry about getting our toes bitten off from a Deku Baba rising up through the soil."

Saria had always been quick to inform me how she wasn't a defenseless weakling. However, I've yet to have seen her so much as raise an open palm to something. Nevertheless, taking her hand, I knew better than to try and refuse her. "Alright, I'm not going to stop you. Be careful though, that's all I have to say." She wasn't hard to lift into the saddle. I was a bit shocked actually. It's been a while, and I've begun to gradually grow taller than her. Before long, I had her up on the saddle, holding onto my shoulders from behind. Surely, it must've been quite a sight. "I won't get hurt, don't worry… Ugnn. This is my first time riding a horse though. Hnn… It's a bit uncomfortable. Aren't you practically doing a split?"

In spite of the urgency and situation occurring around us, I let out a brief chuckle as I directed Epona to turn around. "No, my legs aren't spread that far to reach the stirrups… You'll get used to it, trust me. My butt was so bruised the first time I rode, I thought I wouldn't be able to sit down ever again." To that, she giggled softly. Her hands fell from my shoulders to wrap around my waist. It was a better grip, she knew this as did I. At any rate, it was embarrassing, making my cheek flush incredibly lightly. "Okay… I'm not holding you too tight, am I?" Gently, I shook my head as I whipped the reins to get Epona moving on through the village. Our stop would be the path toward the meadow. "Uhh, no… You're fine. It's good to hold tight, I don't want you to fall off."

Out of the millions of things the green-haired Kokiri had taught me during the time she brought me up, it was odd to be teaching her something for a change; not that she minded. To my partial dismay, she hugged me tighter, resting her head on my shoulder as the filly trotted to where I wanted her to go. 'What in the-…? What is she doing?' Delicately, I could feel her long ear brush up against mine, tentatively rubbing it as if to soothe the both of us. It didn't take long either for our cheeks to become pressed together. She felt warm, more so than usual. My brain told me this was embarrassing. On the other hand, my body enjoyed her amazing touch. A few of the nights I slept in the hayloft of the barn in Lon Lon Ranch, I wished I could've had Saria with me, to cuddle up to her, to have her hum or sing me to sleep, to rub my back, to love me in ways I'd deeply missed since 'becoming' a Hylian. 'I just kept thinking of Malon instead.'

Instantly, my cheeks reddened as I thought about a pressing issue. Malon, the farm girl, we had a unique relationship. To an extent, I'd say we were beginning to move away from friendship and into another area, one higher up than friend. Saria, the green-haired Kokiri girl who raised me from birth, all I've ever known of love from came from her. She was my best friend, my mother, and sometimes a companion. When I had my crush on her, when I was eight and a half, I wanted to move on from what I have and take it further, to the next step. Though she let me phase out of what was a brief time period, there were several occasions where she'd shown interest, interest in me. She was sweet, kind, caring, and so unique. Being around her makes me want to smile every second of the day. There's only one other girl who makes me feel that way.

"When did you get such broad and manly shoulders?" Saria whispered to me while leaning her head against mine. "Each time I see you, it's like you're getting bigger and bigger." What she said was true, as I was indeed growing in size, progressing more each time we see one another. "T-That's because I am. I've been working on the ranch everyday, and that's getting my muscles bigger. Plus, well… Ehe… I'm a growing boy, what can I say?"

Saria giggled, kissed my cheek, and then replied. "I suppose you're right. I just can't help other than to remember when you were a baby and only came up to my knees. Oh, you were so cute!" Now was my turn to bite my lip as I held back frustration brewing within me. "You're handsome now. Like a knight in shinning armour." The way she continued gently whispering into my ear was too stimulating. It made my body feel weird, in ways I wasn't sure what it meant. Why she was doing this was anyone's best guess. All I knew was that it felt wrong in a certain way; how she was eliciting excitement within me, that wasn't supposed to happen. Those were feelings I'd felt only with Malon, not with Saria. "You have to be the most good-looking boy in the whole village, you know? How in the world did I manage to raise such a successful young man… such a… suave, an elegant and clean-cut boy; just like the Great Deku Tree said you'd one day become."

Her cheek actually pressed against mine further, causing me to release a small moan from the close proximity. As her left hand scooted up my chest, I felt it clamp over the spot where my heart is. Obviously, she could feel how it was racing. She was making me go crazy, and yet, I didn't understand at all. I was confused, extremely confused upon that which she's doing. "I'm so happy to see you back on your feet, Link. I worried about you so much, I couldn't sleep right at night… I can't sleep unless I know you're alright."

Nodding my head, I choked up an answer as my heartbeat sped up in excitement. "I… I'm sorry… I w-was fine. Mr. Talon just didn't want m-me to leave the ranch for a while until he was s-sure I was healthy again." I felt her bright blue eyes focused on me. Her gaze was practically singing a hole in me. My arms whipped at Epona's reins to get her to go faster. What was happening made me feel funny inside. Logically, the only thing to come to mind was how she seemed to be incredibly aroused for no apparent reason. As a Kokiri, I didn't even think she was capable of acting in such a way. Saria always told me that romance was a Hylian thing. Due to that, the reason why I consider her my mother instead is because that is how she wanted me to perceive her; it's what she was and is to me.

"It's okay..." She whispered soothingly into my ear. As she held onto me tightly in areas that don't normally get held. "Once I got Malon's letter, I knew you were alright and I felt as ease." From behind me, she began running her left hand's fingers through the back of my hair, caressing and combing it like I was her baby boy again. In spite of acting strange, which would complicate the situation further, I stayed calm as I replied. "I… I didn't even know that she had sent you a letter until I read yours earlier and you told me."

Giggling, she said. "Malon really likes you, Link. It's no surprise that she wanted you to stay with her." There really wasn't a need for her to tell me that. I knew all too well of the farm girl's feeling's for me. It's a touchy subject, mostly since I was new to the concept of romantic love. Considering myself to be 'in love' was plain weird. All around, being attracted to her was special, as all similar relationships should be. Malon, a Hylian girl, is the first to catch my attention like that, far more so than my crush I had on Saria in the past. To have the Kokiri girl, whom I now consider a paternal figure, coming on to me, it was almost upsetting in a way. "Y-Yeah, I know… I know… It's complicated though."

"Love is always complicated, sweetie." She responded, making me turn my head back toward her so that I could see her deep blue eyes. Finally, once I blushed, she took notice. I didn't want to say anything. In a way, I was glad she realized it, even if it took as long as it did. "Hey, what's with that blush? Are you feeling okay?"

Rolling my eyes, I couldn't believe she didn't understand what she was doing. Perhaps I was merely misinterpreting things. "I'm fine. Y-You're just embarrassing me." She cocked her head to that, not really getting what I was trying to say. If she truly didn't realize how she was making me feel, then it was more or less my fault for overreacting. "What? How? I'm just saying, love is an extremely complicated emotion. It always has been, since the dawn of history." Shrugging, I tried to pass it off as nothing more than confusion. She's always been clingy with me. This time isn't any different, and I shouldn't act any different. 'There's no way a Kokiri could have feelings for a Hylian like me, especially if that Kokiri is the one who raised this Hylian.' Having multiple thoughts coursing through my mind made me feel as though there was a hundred things going on. No matter what, I had to persevere. There were many other things of much greater importance than anything emotion related. "Nothing. Never mind, it doesn't matter."

Epona made it to the path which led toward the Great Deku Meadow. From there, despite Saria trying to figure out what it was that I meant by being embarrassed, I decided that it would be best to dismount from here. A short walking distance wouldn't be any problem, for sure. Pulling on the reins as well as lightly digging the heels of my boots into the filly's sides, we came to a halt shortly after. First, before anything else, I hopped down from the saddle and helped Saria down like a gentleman, something I'd grown accustomed to with Malon.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright? Your face is pretty red." Momentarily, having my inner-vision switch back and forth between a cute farm girl and a strangely aroused Kokiri, who's my best friend and paternal guardian, it's no surprise my face is red. To be completely honest with everybody, including myself, I never thought I'd have a girl take an interest in me in such a way, much less two girls. Then again, if I was mistaken, it was my fault. "I'm fine… *Ahem*… It… It's just…. Why did you say I was good looking?"

The green haired Kokiri girl lifted an eyebrow while letting go of my hand, having successful landed on her feet from dismounting Epona. With a light blush on her own cheeks, less so than me, she replied. "It's true. You are growing into quite the studly young man." Using her vocabulary like that was also awkward. Never before in my entire life had I heard her use the word 'studly'. In all actuality, it was quite flustering. Regardless, I grew a tad suspicious that something wasn't right. Following the time it took to lose the red cheeks, I narrowed my eyes, coming closer to her with an inquisitive look on my face. I was examining her, making sure she really was Saria; not that I expected her to be an imposter or anything. "W-What?" She asked through a stutter as my face grew closer to hers. At about two inches apart, I stopped, letting our eyes gaze into one another's.

"Nothing… You're just… You're acting strange." Through the analyzation, I watched as she visibly shivered, as if she was slightly upset. Her eyes gradually shifted downward, watching my lips intently as I continued speaking. "You really don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I know how to use Bomb Flowers, don't worry."

Several seconds passed without a response from her. She merely stood there, staring at my lips as if she was captivated beyond all possible words. Never before had I witnessed her in such a state, and it was beginning to worry me. 'Is there something wrong with her?' I thought, trying to get a grip on the reality of the situation. 'This is… This is freaking me out. Why is she literally coming on to me? I mean, it's obvious, there's seriously no doubt about it.' Most times, Kokiri relationships end with the highest being kisses. Here, Saria was acting like she wanted me. 'Why would she want to kiss me like that? She's Saria, my friend… Doesn't she realize how I feel about Malon? Ughh… Wait… How do I feel about the redhead? Am I saying that I do love her? What about Saria then? What do I feel toward her? Dammit!'

When the time came that I could bring myself back to sanity, I had to shake my head, to break myself away from fantasy. There were things that needed to be done, and this wasn't one of them. If anything, it could wait until later, when I have free time. For now, I had to re-focus my attention on my current objective. Apparently, Saria didn't take my advice on letting me go alone, as the moment I took a step forward, she did the exact same.

Before long, the both of us heard voices and a rustling sound coming from up ahead. With the plan of leaving Epona behind, I made well sure that I had all of the equipment that I needed to take care of myself. With my sword and shield on my back, the satchel around my shoulder had everything else; Bomb Flowers, arrows, ect. The voices sounded like a boy, perhaps Mido or one of the Know-It-All Brothers. No matter who it was that they were, I was going to be glad if it was Kokiri. Knowing that Saria's alright was great, but, now I want to see the others safe and sound as well. "Did you hear that?"

Both of us acknowledged the voices, and without anything else to do, we ran toward it. Instinctual, I drew my sword. There was absolutely no telling what could be around the corner. From up above, before I left my tree house, I could see there was quite some bit of Deku Babas blocking the route. Unfortunately, from then to now, something could have changed for the worse. The only thing I was glad about was the fact that I was able to briefly take my mind off the embarrassing events of prior with Saria. Right now, I was hyping myself up in preparation of whatever it might be that we encounter.

"GHAAA! CURSE YOU STUPID PLANTS!" I heard the voice yell just in advance to me coming around the corner. I was sure it was Mido, and it turned out that I was right. The orange haired Kokiri was standing off to the side, away from a mass group of Deku Babas, all up snapping their jaws at him, even the ones further away. "There's no way the great Kokiri leader, Mido, is going to let you foul things block him from getting to the Deku Tree Sprout!" He shook his fist at them, but, did nothing. As such, there was nothing he could do without even coming equipped with some form of weapon. "You just wait until you dry out and we use you as kindle wood!"

Usually, I'd chuckle over something like that, since I know Mido isn't the best fighter in the world, being anything other. Instead, I let him know of our presence so he wouldn't freak out from our sudden arrival. "Mido, what are you doing?"

Instantly, he spun around and stared at us both with a look of anger stricken across his face before he managed to relax. "Link! Saria! What are you two doing here!?" With my sword still drawn, I walked closer to the line of Deku Baba littering the gap consisting of the path. "Having a cup of tea. What does it look like I'm doing? Saria wrote me a letter about how bad it was here, and now here I am."

He growled at me in frustration as I examined the Deku Babas. Nothing looked 'out of the ordinary' regarding their appearance, nothing to discern them from the rest, nothing which made them unique from any of the others. "Do something!?" Mido interrupted my thoughts, responding to my previous statement. "There's nothing you can do unless you have a hundred men rounded up to start slashing away! Look how this this is! You can't possibly take on all of these little snappy-jawed freakazoids!"

Saria tried to calm down the orange haired Kokiri, yet, he wasn't keen on doing so. Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult to defeat such a large quantity of Deku Baba clustered together like they are. To a Kokiri, I can see where it would literally be more or less impossible. However, I'm neither a Kokiri nor a normal Hylian, and I'm not going to come back with a dozen soldier to chop down pests like these. Bomb Flowers are considered exceedingly dangerous to children of the forest. Without a need for them, most aren't even aware of how to use them, being unable to make an attempt at picking without having them explode. For somebody trained directly by the Goron's on how to use them, this will be no sweat at all.

"Calm yourself, Mido. I've got this." I told him as I unlatched my satchel. "Ughh! Why did you even come back!?" He replied "You've already caused enough trouble!" At that, I stopped with my hand holding the Bomb Flower from within the satchel. I didn't appreciate being told something like that. It hurt, more than he might have expected. Everyone here in this village has always been considered family by me, even the ones who shouldn't, who were rude to me and might still be rude to me. These people took me in and raised me for as long as I can remember. There were times where I was pranked, bullied, and heavily annoyed. And yet, they never did anything to hurt me. On the contrary, they constantly protected me, not allowing me to leave the forest due to the belief that it was certain death which awaited beyond the tree-line. I had asked myself on numerous occasion why it was that they didn't want me to go out there; my own answer led back to them caring about me. Now, for him to speak to me in such a way, it was upsetting.

"Mido! You hush your mouth!" Saria shouted at him furiously. "Link came back here to help us! You should thank him, not be mean!" In spite of how he should act, he remained obstinate. He didn't care if I was back to help, he was upset and that was all there was to it. Being as self-centered as he is, nothing else mattered other than his own uptight opinion. "You're wrong, Saria! It had to be him, I'm telling you! As soon as that girl pulled him from the Lost Woods, things keep wandering in like they're ready to make themselves at home! Ughh! You can't see that though because you're so busy being all lovey-dovey and motherly to him!"

My eyes narrowed as I thought about what he had said. If it was true that this all started after I had been dragged from the Lost Woods, then there may need to be an investigation in order afterward. Regardless of my thoughts, Saria continued to stick up for me as she always has. I could have said something back, but, to be honest, I was too busy actually thinking of a way to solve this and put a stop to the terror going about. "Mido, why don't you just go back home, huh!? You're causing trouble when Link's just trying his best to fix things and bring peace back to the village." After realizing that the argument wasn't going to end itself any time soon, I decided to go through with my plan by myself, ignoring them as they bickered back and forth.

"Oh, and I'm not trying to restore some peace to the village!? Why is it that he's always your saviour!? I can do stuff too! I'm the Great Kokiri Leader Mido! UGHH! Besides, I already said that it wasn't possible to get rid of all of these Deku Babas!" Lifting the Bomb Flower from the satchel, I shook my head toward what Mido had said about being a great leader. At times, he showed wonderful leadership skills, and others, he showed that he was just a giant jerk with an ego as big as a Deku Scrub's face after suffering an allergic reaction from eating a spoiled Deku Nut. "It's not that, Mido! You're just being mean!"

I held the Bomb Flower in my hand while looking back at them. "Umm..." I tried to interjected "You should move." Instead of listening, on the other hand, they merely kept going at each other, ranting and raving like fools about how things were bad and that they needed to be fixed. Once I was sure they weren't going to stop, I shrugged and carried onward. Pulling the fuse-like stem, all I had to do was give it a solid yank to ignite it. The hissing sound signified its ignition and I knew I had only a few seconds to make my next move. "Bombs away." I teased nonchalantly while reeling back to take aim. It was thrown thereafter, right in the middle of the clustered Deku Babas. Being the plants they were, they didn't even care what it was. Anything that came close was ate with no regard. A Deku Baba near the center considered itself lucky as it caught the Bomb Flower in between its jaws, trying to swallow it with noticeable trouble until it flat out began chocking on it.

Moments away from detonation, my forthcoming tactic had to be pulled off flawlessly to work. Out of my satchel, I removed six Deku Nuts and then rolled each down the blade of my sword, using my intuitive skills to stop all of them near the tip. 'Why did I think this would work?' I momentarily doubted myself in advance to knowing I had to proceed or miss the opportunity. All the nuts stayed at the tip, from there forth, I swung the sword upward and out, thus flinging all of them off into the air prior to landed with a snapping bang inside the cluster. Mido and Saria ceased their quarrel at the moment, the same moment multiple Deku Babas froze in a shocking daze, unable to move themselves from the paralyzing effect of the Deku Nut. Shortly afterward, the Bomb Flower detonated into a great bursting explosion, which incinerated the Deku Baba that ate it, several others nearby, and utterly destroyed a large group surrounding that.

Surprisingly, everything had gone according to plan. A large circle had been cleared in the middle, and those on the outskirts were mostly frozen in paralysis. Inside me, I was shouting for joy that it worked. Saria and Mido were stunned in their own way as they couldn't believe what I had done. From then on, I wasn't done. If anything, I was merely getting started. What was left of the Deku Babas had to be exterminated and my shining blade was the right source to cut them down like twigs in a fire. Running into the left side group, I did the same as I had done quite a few times; holding the sword horizontally to make it simple by slicing their stems. Staying stiff, they popped up after getting cut, fell to the ground with a squeal, and then perished under my boots as I ran further.

The right side group of Deku Babas likely could have been dealt with the same way, by running and slicing. However, unfortunately, I knew the effect of the Deku Nut weren't going to last much longer. With that in mind, I gripped my sword tighter and performed a spinning maneuver toward them, crossing the burnt ground where the Bomb Flower exploded and slashing several more while I spun. Following that, the paralysis wore off and the remaining four Deku Babas lined up in a single row shook their heads before going berserk by bashing their heads against anything near and coughing up noxious fumes that smelled like rotten Cucco Eggs. Tactfully, to take them out without having to get close to the rank scent they emanated, I threw my sword at the right moment, taking off thereafter toward them all. My sword flew through the air at great velocity before impaling three of the remaining plants, slicing through them all until they were skewered like a kabob.

Finally, to end it, I ran toward the last one as the three that had been shanked fell to the ground. Jumping up, a bit of acrobats was needed as I had to successfully land a hardy kick to the side of the Deku Baba's head. The killer weed took its tumble until I simply stomped on it to make extra sure that it was dead. With sappy blood boots and stains on my clothes, I gave the area a quick look around to see if there were any remaining enemies. There wasn't. All around, the entire gap which had been filled up against the path-line was chalked full of dead plant life; plant life that wanted to kill Hylian and Kokiri life. Eliminating such a large quantity wasn't all that hard for me. However, it had been a while since I used all of my abilities like I've already started doing.

"That's that then..." I uttered under my breath, uninterested in showing off at the moment despite my subtle victory. "Now, to get to the Deku Tree Seedling." Picking up, then Sheathing my sword, I carried on. There wasn't much on my mind now, for some reason. It was as if the fight had cleared my head, leaving me thinking freely and intently focused on that which I was doing. With my adrenaline flowing, pumping, and pulsing I felt as if I could rule the world. Nothing, at the moment, was beyond my reach, so, I knew that I'd be perfectly capable of protecting the Kokiri as well as the Deku Tree Sprout, plus, in my valiant efforts to both retrieve the Ocarina of Time and allow The Forbidden Forest to return to normal.

Crunching beneath my boots as I walked was the hard yet broken shells of most of the Deku Babas I had destroyed. Once I completely made it passed the singed ground from where the Bomb Flower went off, I turned around to see Saria and Mido still standing in the same spot they had been in previously. They looked shocked, as if they couldn't move. Only whenever I raised my arms in a curious manner did they break out of their trance. Saria was the first to speak, with that of course being an enthusiastic praise in advance to having her walk toward me. "Woohoo! Good job, Link! I knew you could do it!"

They both followed now, and I felt happy that I was able to do that which I did. Never did I doubt my skills, yet, I wasn't sure if I was going to pull it off flawlessly. As for Mido, he was visibly gritting his teeth in frustration prior to giving in, relaxing in relief that I managed to clear out the path to the Deku Meadow."Grr…...Ughh… Yeah. I'll admit, that was pretty friggin' cool." My eyebrows lifted in surprise on that one. I never expected him to half-ass apologize as well as admit that I did the impossible. It's fairly dubious that he'd matured, considering the years of pranks and bullying he put me through; on the other hand, I did appreciate it. As the Hero of Time, I was appreciative that he felt grateful toward me. "Since when did you learn those awesome moves?" He asked with interest, making me smirk. "A well trained swordsman never gives out his secrets, Mido. But, if you must know, I fought off far worse than that throughout my adventures in the outside world."

Saria stared at me with a glazed-over look on her face. I worried that something was wrong until she smiled at me with rosy cheeks. My only option was to look away, to ignore it again. I didn't know what she was thinking, and I probably didn't want to know either.

"Let's hurry. I want to check on the Deku Tree Seedling to make sure it's okay." Mido spoke again, now reorienting his mind toward our most important goal. Together, we sped up, walking through the winding path ahead of coming out in the Deku Meadow. My fears popped up for a moment, giving me the speculation that there could be more enemies nearby. As a greatest concern, it would have been horrid had I encountered a swarming plague of Deku Babas, all surrounding every single inch of of the Deku Meadow. Thankfully, to my highest luck, there was nothing other than a horde of fairies floating about, with most of them grouped around the Deku Tree Seedling.

Somehow, I began looking at each and every one of them, examining them as well as their little face I could hardly see. Up next to the Great Deku Tree's remains, there was a single fairy, a blue fairy, floating around his face as if to visual it, to remember the days in which the elderly tree-god watched over all of us, his children, with ever loving benevolence. Alarms went off in my head as I tried to figure out which fairy this was. By instinct, I knew well that it looked quite familiar, one that I had seen many times before.

'Navi?' My sub-conscious projected thoughts to the rest of my mind, forcing me to suddenly become shocked. 'Navi!?' It continued until my mouth moved on its own, without me making it say what it did. "Navi..."

Saria heard me, but, Mido did not. Nevertheless, I got my answer when the fairy spun around to look directly at me, and then calmly floated away. "No, Link… I'm sorry." Saria replied while the fairy I had initially assumed to be Navi mingled in with the others. "That's Tenanye, one of the Know-It-All brother's fairies… I hadn't mentioned Navi because I was waiting for you to bring her up. Just know that I noticed her absence, and I'm here for you if you ever want to talk about her."

The excitement that previously filled my body slowly faded away, leaving me with nothing other than sadness until I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. Looking down, I could tell they belonged to Saria. She could tell as easy as putting on a shirt that I was upset about it. I just didn't want to talk about it, at least, not yet. "It's alright, Link." She said, making well sure I was okay. In reality, I was okay because I had to be. There wasn't any other satisfying ways to be if I was to remain strong like I am now. "What Navi did was a good thing, and while you might not realize it right now, later on it life, you'll be glad she did all that she has." A single sigh drifted out of my nostrils as I hung my head. This time, Saria was wrong. I'd never forgive Navi for leaving me the way she did, in my greatest time of need. Moving on wasn't a choice, it was forced.

"Let's just get moving." I replied coldly, not in the mood to talk about the fairy that abandoned me. Saria let go of me and we all walked over to the Deku Tree Seedling, where a bunch of the forest's fairies had gathered, all tending to the small seed to the best of their ability, and it looked to be as if that was enough to sustain it. At least I could feel some peace knowing that it was alright. Mido and Saria both sprinted, running as fast as they could toward the Deku Tree Seedling. Their fairies flew to them respectively. Immediately, I noticed a change in their behaviour once they were together again. As Kokiri, it would seem that they're heavily dependent on their fairies. Everything, from their mood and attitude to their healthy well-being.

"Laila!" Saria shouted as her little fairy fluttered around her. "Breena!" Mido shouted as well, both him and her enjoying the affection from their lovely fairies, the fairies they're lucky to have had since their birth. Even though I was jealous to watch them enjoy the love of their guardians, I was glad to see them happy, glad to see the Deku Tree Seedling safe and sound. However, within the shadow of the Great Deku Tree's remains, there left a constant feeling of dread from within me. The superior confidence given by my previous fight had disappeared, leaving sullen depression. I tried my best to think about others in life; Malon, Saria, Talon, even Ingo. Unfortunately, looking up at the rotting wood, I wanted to cry more and more. It hurt to have so much gone from my life, especially to have it be gone so quick, often without a moments notice.

Physical scars are no more painful that mental, upon which I'd received plenty of the two. 'It hurts…' I thought, clutching my chest while staring up at the Great Deku Tree's remains. 'Why did you have to go too? Why couldn't you have stayed since Navi didn't want to? I need someone wise like you were, I need guidance too… I… I'm still your child, am I not?' Thinking like that wasn't a very good idea, as it only served to worsen the dark feelings of despair encroaching upon my heart. I hung my head with a sigh. There wasn't anything I could do and I knew it. Fate had a way of putting its foot down and not letting you do a damn thing. 'Why can't things be easier than they are sometimes? I just don't get it.'

It was frustrating, all of it, but I was positive that being this way wasn't going to do me any good. Continuing onward, I had to perk up and snap out of this wave of sadness I've encountered.

"Saria..." My lips spoke, forcing me to move on with my next task. "I need to talk to you for a minute." With a smile plastered on her lips, she turned to face me. Everything was good and fine in her opinion, so, I didn't expect her to be as down as I currently was anyway. However, I couldn't smile. I just couldn't. Not at a time like this, while feeling the way I do. "Sure, what is it?" Mido was busy talking with his fairy, giving me the time I needed to discuss what I had to with Saria, and then depart for the Lost Woods. "Well… Now that most of the village is safe, I need to get moving. My next objective is in the Lost Woods."

The green haired Kokiri girl stood without saying a word for multiple seconds. All of the sudden, her face reddened until she simply shouted. "WHAT!? ARE YOU MAD!? THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN GO BACK THERE!" During the time I cringed, her fairy, Laila, fluttered around her with an inquisitive look on her tiny face. The sprite knew that it was odd for her Kokiri companion to be so brashly loud. It was even more proof that the time without being in each others company had afflicted her to an extend; mostly emotionally. All of that would, of course, dissipate as they stayed around one another more. To my dismay in-progress, for now, I was stuck with her the way she is. "No, but, I have to go back there for-..." Cutting me off, she was quick to respond. "FOR WHAT!? NAVI!? I'M TELLING YOU, LINK, WHEREVER SHE IS, SHE'S NOT IN THERE!"

Mido was definitely aware of what was going on now. With Saria screaming at me, I wouldn't be surprised if even everybody back in the village heard and knows about this. "What!? You're going back to the Lost Woods!? What's wrong with you!? Are you some sort of stupid idiot or something!?" All of it soaked in as I continued to merely stare at them. I wasn't exactly sure of what words to use or what to say. Saria's comment hit the hardest, as in truth, I wasn't looking for Navi anymore. Anything that had to do with her was gone now, I had moved on. "No… I'm not a stupid idiot, and I'm not going back there for Navi."

Both of them continued staring at me as if I had lost my mind. On the other hand, Saria seemed to soften up some as she began realizing how rude she had just been. "T-Then… What are you going back for?" She asked, like she should have done in the first place. I didn't want to go back there, that was for sure. If it wasn't for what I had to get, I wouldn't go back likely ever. "When Malon found me, she left behind something I had, an ocarina, a very important one at that." Hearing it wasn't a foolish thing I needed to go back for made her calm down. Still though, she didn't want me stepping one foot in there without a fairy. The chances of me getting lost again were high. My only hope to make it through is the marking left behind by this Skull Kid Malon supposedly encountered. At the start, I'd have to find where the marking were, and that was going to probably be the most difficult part. "An ocarina? Why don't you just use mine again so you won't have to worry about going in there?"

Shaking my head, it made me feel slightly better to know that she was looking out for me, still just as concerned for my safety as ever. "Sorry, Saria… But, it wouldn't be the same. This ocarina is special. It's the Ocarina of Time, bestowed upon me by Princess Zelda of the Hylian Royal Family." Her face lit up once I finished talking. Either she knew of the Ocarina of Time, possibly having a strange psychic recollection of events to come; that, or she knows it must be important if it was given to me by Princess Zelda. "Are you sure?" She asked again, making it clear that she really-really didn't want me to go. "Yeah. I have to go… I shouldn't get lost again though, because Malon said there was a trail left behind by the Skull Kid she ran into out there, the one that supposedly took care of me while I was unconscious. Some sort of paint marked on trees, leading back to the spot where I was found."

"Timi made a trail?" Mido unexpectedly spoke. "That's… Hmm… I'm actually surprised at that. Most Skull Kids prefer it if their home, where they reside, stays unknown by most." I could only shrug as I didn't meet or speak to the imp. The majority of all Skull Kids I had found on my journeys were child-like mischievous bastards with nothing better to do than harass people. I knew that it wasn't the case with all, but, there were still quite a lot that were. "I guess. Malon's not the type to be a liar." Although I said that, I wondered about the note she sent to Saria. I never heard the farm girl mention anything about sending mail out to the Kokiri Forest.

"How far did it stretch; the trail?" Saria inquired, making me wonder more upon how hard it was going to be to locate a halfway mark amongst all the trees strewn across the dense forest. "From what I understand, it's about a mile in the Lost woods, leading about two miles further to his location." She squinted with a gentle wince at hearing a mile. In reality, I know why. It was going to be seriously difficult to find it if it's not in a straight line toward the village. Earlier attempts at asking Malon for directions led to her saying that she was too scared to pay attention, that she let Epona do all the work on that while she was busy fighting off Wolfos. "That's not going to be easy to find, Link."

Nodding, I pursed my lips as there was no other way to retrieve my priceless artifact of great power, my Ocarina of Time. "I know all of that, Saria. Trust me… Before I got your letter, I was planning to come back anyway to see everyone and get this thing out of there. There's no way I'm just going to leave it there." She and Mido continued to look annoyed, yet, there was nothing more that I could truthfully say to them. They had to let me do this. This time around, there wasn't going to be any stopping me. Once I'm intent on doing something, I rarely stop until I've finished it. If, for some reason, they don't want me to go, I'll have to anyway, so, with best hopes, I awaited a response.

"Fine..." Saria soon gave in with a sigh prior to hugging me tight. "But, just so you know… I'm coming with you." My eyes widened as soon as I heard her response. Certainly, I didn't expect anybody to come along with me into such danger. I actually thought they'd be more arrogant regarding the location considering everything that I'd gone through and they had gone through to keep me alive after dragging me from the depths of the woodlands. "What!? N-No, Saria… You should stay here and get some more rest, I can take care of it myself. The village is safe now, there's no need to worry about anything."

Alongside a huff, she placed her hands on her hips with that mother hen look she always had when she dealt with me. "Pfft… Yeah, right. So we can see Epona come back without you again? Link, we've already been through this once, and I'm not going to let it happen again. If I had known you didn't have Navi with you, I never would have let you go into the Lost Woods so carelessly in the first place." We remained with our eyes locked on each other until she resumed with more maternal concern. "If you're going in there, I'm coming with you and that's that. No 'Ifs', 'ands', or 'buts' about it."

As annoying as it was, I found myself eventually agreeing with her. In the long run, I didn't want to be in there by myself, I simply feared for the safety of anyone else that decided to come along with me. Saria, being a Kokiri with a fairy, she'll be able to keep me safe from the effects of the Lost Woods while I keep her safe from what's in the Lost Woods. "Fine..." I soon gave in and accepted her company. "You can come along, but, stay close to me. I don't want you to get hurt." She nodded in agreement in advance to walking over, gently grabbing my arm like she used to do whenever I was little. "Don't worry about me, Link. I'm stronger than I look."

Being the Forest Sage, Saria was right, more so than she was aware of. Thinking more about it, she'd been in the Lost Woods on her own throughout multiple situations. Nevertheless, that was in a future that will never be. Right now, she's merely Saria, the Kokiri girl that raised me from birth. She's not the Forest Sage, that part of her hasn't awoken yet, and might not ever awaken as long as there is peace in Hyrule.

"Well, I'm going too." We heard Mido say, making us turn to him as his fairy fluttered around him and then said. "Really!? Wow, you're on a roll today, Mido. Since when have you been so heroic?" Along with a coy smirk, he chuckled with the same inflated ego he always has had. "What are you talking about, Breena? I'm Mido, the Great Kokiri Leader! I'm always heroic, which is why all the girls in the village can't get enough of me." While staring at him, Saria and I eventually broke out into laughter, with Saria being the one to say. "Haha! You're joking, right?" In response, he glared at us. I knew that he wasn't joking, that he really considered himself the leader of the Kokiri or a ladies man, but, that's all lies he made up to make himself look better. Without a shred of doubt, hands down, Saria would be a far better leader than him. Even the Know-It-All Brothers would be a better council than Mido is capable of imagining. "What do you mean?" He asked with his hands on his hips. "I'm fantastic at this!"

Eventually, I just rolled my eyes and then turned around with the intent to leave. If they wanted to come with me, then I wasn't going to be able to stop them. Again, it felt as if there was safety in numbers, I only feared for the possible outcomes if I had to fight something. Mido might be better off in a fight that Saria, and yet, I don't want either of them getting themselves into any danger. If one of them got hurt, or worse, I don't know if I'd be able to forgive myself. The Lost Woods is a cruel and unforgiving place. I should know, considering how I experienced the curse myself.

"What about your horse?" Saria inquired about Epona, making me wonder what she meant. "All three of us can't fit on her back, somebody is going to have to walk." Mido sighed instantly before holding up his hand as if to volunteer. "I'll walk. You two go ahead, and I'll try to catch up to you when I can."

While I was quite surprised that he bothered to volunteer, I also knew that a plan like that would never work out well. Having Mido walk and Saria and I on Epona is a flawed idea. One, I'm not overly sure if I want to be that close to Saria again with the way she acted so strangely the first time. Secondly, there's no way he'd find us if we split up like that. The Lost Woods is a huge place, and it's named as such for a good reason. Though Kokiri and their fairies never get lost, they can lose track of one another while they're both inside the area afflicted. Epona is ten times faster than Mido could ever run. That being the case, he'd seriously never find us or we'd be done by the time he did catch up.

"No..." I replied, interrupting them. "We're all walking. Epona's too fast and it'll be difficult to spot something like a small mark on a tree if she's galloping full speed." They stopped in their place when they heard that. I don't know why they would expect anything other at this point. It was obvious why. "Are you sure? We might be walking for a while."

I knew that. Nodding, they knew I was aware too. "Of course. If it's too much, you can always stay behind… You'd be safer here anyway." We stopped at the path leading out of the Deku Meadow. From here, we needed to decide what our course of action was going to be. The quicker we did this, the sooner I could relax as well as be at ease with no worry over the safety of the Kokiri or the Ocarina of Time. "Oh, you'd just love that; wouldn't you?" Mido retorted. The orange haired boy glared at me angrily then made a childish face; sticking out his tongue and holding his index finger and thumb up to his forehead to make it look like an 'L'. "Well, guess what? It's not happening… I'm going, and Saria's going too. Somebody has to keep you alive."

Shrugging, I took one look back at the Deku Tree Seedling and then said. "Alright, suit yourself… How about the other Kokiri? What are they doing?" Saria, looking at Mido for a response, to which he did soon give one. "They're resting in my house. I figured it would be best if they all stayed under one roof until safety is fully restored to the village… Now that those stupid Deku Babas are gone from the path, they'll probably be out and about within the next couple of hours, as soon as their fairies begin returning to them."

The fairies, all of the ones from the village, those who hung around with their kid Kokiri were floating around the meadow, keeping it safe like a miniature army. Still, I felt safer with the thought of the Kokiri themselves taking care of the Deku Tree Seedling. Being much taller, they can defend it far better and nurture it quicker than the little magical imps would be capable of. Nonetheless, as long as the Deku Tree Seedling is safe, I was at ease. With the majority of the village cleaned up, it was better as well. Now was definitely time to move on with my next objective. Having Saria and Mido with me might not be as bad as I'm expecting it to be, then again, it could very well be a complete disaster. All that I could do was proceed anyway, regardless of whether or not it took a long period of time or was frustrating. The sooner this was done, the sooner I could rest assuredly.

"Okay then. Let's go ahead and get us a move on then." Turning around, I began to get serious. I wanted to get serious. This was no laughing matter, in spite of the fact that Saria did just that for a reason unbeknownst until she replied to that which I had just said. "'get us a move on then?'… Where did you learn such broken language?"

Chuckling, I told her the truth without much of any worry. "Mr. Talon, from Lon Lon Ranch. He's a really nice guy, but, talks like a hick... Look, we need to get going, for real this time… This is very important, Saria. The Ocarina of Time is direly essential. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, it could cause utterly catastrophic mayhem for everything and everyone." Turning back, I started to make my way through the path leading to the village. They followed behind closely. Mido, having listened to what I just said, happened to raise a decently good point. "Wait, what? How powerful is this thing exactly!? Could this be our cause of what's making things so terrible here!?"

On my way passed the spot where I slaughtered all of the Deku Babas, I thought in my head prior to speaking aloud. 'I doubt they'd believe me if I told them of all that the Ocarina of Time is able to do. Manipulating time, changing the weather, warping me to locations set by the Golden Goddesses during my great journey; it's not a child's plaything, it's not meant for somebody to toy around with and sing a song along to.' Narrowing my eyes, I continued to ignore Mido for the time being as Saria watched me, awaiting my answer. For me, I was sure we were alright. 'If Ganondorf or some other evil entity found it, they'd probably hold onto it until they knew how to use it. With the mark of the Royal Family painted on top, there's little to no doubt that it isn't a mere novelty… Hmm... However, should a regular person encounter it and try to play it for music, they could unwittingly unleash untold atrocities unfit for its purpose.'

"I doubt it..." I finally said while approaching Epona. It truly didn't seem very likely, despite there always being a small chance. "It takes skill to use it. If you just blow through it like any ocarina, it's just going to make the sounds. Whoever it would be; they'd have to be luckier than a Zora dodging rain to actually get it to work with its intent." Epona neighed with her big brown eyes latched onto me, watching everything that I'm doing. As I grew close, I gently took her reins and led her by them back into the Kokiri Village. Mido still didn't like the idea of how this powerful relic, the Ocarina of Time, had be left behind by me. "Think about it, Link. You say that you lost it when Malon pulled you out of the Lost woods. Well, when you were pulled from the Lost woods is exactly whenever all of this crap started happening! Ughh! You know I don't believe in coincidences!"

"Relax, Mido. I don't think that's right..." Saria said while contemplating the matter on her own. "Why would it all happen right after he was removed? Malon said that you had probably been there for several days. Why wouldn't all this, all that's happened to the village, why wouldn't all of this have happened while he was in the Lost Woods, not just after?"

The orange haired Kokiri boy shrugged in response to what Saria had asked. He didn't know, and neither did I. The three of us were completely unaware of the cause, that which made this village, the place where I grew up, a nightmare. "I don't know! I'm just trying to understand this crazy stuff!" No matter what, I was going to set things straight before I left to head by to the ranch. I'd be unable to rest easy at night knowing it was this bad here if I returned without making a difference. To an extent, I figured that it might perhaps be possible to use the Ocarina of Time, once recovered, to restore everything to its original glory. Considering that, it would be mighty nice if Mido calmed down. He'd be a much better companion if he focused on the task at hand. "Calm yourself, Mido. This isn't the time to act like an immature brat… Things are bad, I know, I can see that with my own two eyes. What we need to do, is carry on to get this done as fast as possible. The sooner we get in there, the sooner we get back."

Coming into the village, I could see that nothing had changed. Briefly, I had thought I saw a small figure in the window of Mido's house; what could perhaps have been a Kokiri looking out. If so, then it was true that they likely felt the return of safety as their fairies are less stressed from local danger. Passing that, we walked passed the other houses before Saria abruptly gasped. "Look! Who did that!?" She pointed to a tree, and looking at it, I realized it was the one where I had shot the Chupa in its head, pinning it to the tree where it was hanging. "Oh… Ehe, that was me. It was up on my balcony, so, I decided to kill it since I didn't want anybody getting hurt."

Mido grunted, but, Saria praised me by clapping. "Yay! Those things creep me out so badly! Though, I really don't like applauding the death of things." Momentarily, while coming up on the small, freshwater stream which flowed through the village, I waved off Saria's dainty attitude. The Chupa wouldn't have thought twice regarding a bite to anyone that got too close; I knew, as I was one of the people that got too close. "They're so gross. I'm just glad I took care of it and didn't leave it to wander around here." Going onward, as we came to the freshwater stream, Mido said. "I'll tell you what's gross, drinking this water. I don't know what happened, but, it's polluted… Look at it."

Earlier, whenever I had first arrived at the village, I had seen how bad it was. It was true as well. The water was murky, with green algae floating on top. Anyone who drank from that would be extremely sorry. This was highly unusual as well, as I've always seen this stream crystal clear. At times, I'd spend a solid hour relaxing in it; drinking, bathing, soaking. Now, it was useless and disgusting. Although it was how it was, I didn't see or know how anything could make it this way. Traveling alongside the stream, there didn't appear to be any actual source of the gunk clogging up the waterway. In fact, it seems almost as if the vileness just appears out of nowhere, tainting the freshness of everything.

"Yeah, I noticed it whenever I came in… It's… It's rank. But, I don't know how to fix it. The Know-It-All Brothers and Fado know more about irrigation than me." Crouching down, I took the liberty of scooping a handful of water into the palm of my hand. I almost wished I didn't, however, as it was definitely bad, worse than I expected it to be. The sediments floating around were everywhere. Back when the stream was built, long before I was born, the Kokiri laid out rocks, then covered them with pebbles, just in order to keep the bottom and side from being in the dirt. With that in mind, I don't get why the water would be so nasty. 'Something isn't right, that's for sure.'

Suddenly, a gurgling sound took me and everyone else out of thought. Bubbles formed in the water as a clear indication of there being something under it, something breathing and coming up fast. "What's that!?" Saria asked in exclamation. There wasn't any time for me to react properly though, as something swiftly came flying up out of the water. Mido and I both fell backward, landing on our rears. Quicker than him, I returned to my feet and drew my sword as I realized then what it was. "Baba Serpent! Everybody get back!"

Epona clomped away some as the Baba Serpent lunged its way out of the water. It was disconnected from its roots, same as the other one. It didn't make sense, none of it. I wanted to know why it was underwater, and yet, I was busy trying to protect myself and others from the monstrous beast. Swinging my sword, I didn't miss, but, it outsmarted me by biting my blade, latching on in a way that kept me from being able to stab it. "Dammit!" I cursed, trying to sling it off as best as I could. The ensuing sound of more bubbles sent shivers down my sides as I noticed two more spots forming in the water. "You've got to be kidding me! More of them!?" To in fact be right was a letdown. On the other hand, my worries increased tenfold as I saw what it was that was causing the bubbles. Rising up from the depths of the water, two Chupa ambled onto the bank, crawling up out toward me. "CHUPA!" I shouted this time, making sure Mido and Saria knew.

Everything was happening so fast, and yet, I wasn't about to let anything bad happen to anyone. Gritting my teeth in anger, I lifted my leg to place my boot on the top of the Baba Serpent's head, slowly pushing it off the blade of my sword thereafter. "Yaa!" Stabbing downward, I pierced the plant's lip, but, nothing more. I had to pull back in order to make a few slices at the emerging Chupas. "BACK!" I shouted again whilst keeping the monsters at bay. Although I was outnumbered, I knew I could take them on, just not how.

Things took a radical turn as something happened. As I remained stern on my sword motions, getting in several good strikes on all three, I heard multiple heavy puffing sounds followed by impacts, squeals, and thuds. My eyes flitted around until landing on what was my enemies. The two Chupas and the Baba Serpent laid dead in front of me. Upon closer examination, I saw long darts sticking into each, right in critical areas. They came from nowhere, and yet, I quickly looked around to see who it was that did that. It wasn't me, so, it had to be somebody else. "What the-…?" Forcing myself to adjust, my eyes flew back and forth while on the lookout for any other enemies in the vicinity.

Mido and Saria noticed the abrupt death of the creatures that tried to kill them. They knew it wasn't me who did it either. In fact, I'm shocked that whoever shot the darts was as skilled as they are. Two Chupas aren't anything to scoff at. I was terrified of the one; dealing with one more, plus another, is extremely stressful. Unlike the majority of my opponents, combat with a Chupa is one-sided. Being as extraordinarily poisonous as they are, it'll only take one bite from them to take me out.

"They… They're dead." Saria said while confronting the deceased monsters. "Who did that?" She turned to me, then Mido, before looking around like I was. All of us expected it to have been somebody far away, at a distance where they were safe, yet, had plenty of range left to shoot their darts. To our surprise, we were completely wrong. For the time being, we heard more puff sounds, followed by squeals which made us look over at the dying Deku Baba in the Kokiri Garden. In the center of its head was a dart which had pierced all the way through its hard external shell to puncture its brain. "WHO'S THERE!?" I shouted loudly, wanting whoever it was to reveal themselves to me, considering we must be on the same side. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Shh, you're going to throw off my game." A girl's voice responded to my screaming until a light rustling sound made me look up, and just in the nick of time too, for two boots were swiftly on their way down toward the ground, directly where I was standing. Jumping out of the way, who landed was a minor shock. The blonde headed Kokiri girl held a blowgun with a bandolier full of darts wrapped across her chest diagonally.

"Fado!?" Mido and I exclaimed at the same time, in perfect unison. She smiled while staring at us with her casual blue eyes. "Yep, it's me. Seems like you guys and girl could us a little help, so, here I am." Briefly, we all refused to stop staring until it was Mido who broke the silence with his incessant yammering. "Have you lost your mind!? Get back inside and stay there until it's safe!" In spite of him being stone-cold serious, Fado rolled her eyes at him with a smirk. "Oh, please… You don't need to protect me. I can take care of myself, obviously." Pointing at the dead critters by my feet, I started to think that she was right. Hiding above, on top of the wooden bridge spanning the from one house to another, she picked off our enemies like a professional, which was highly surprising to me. 'Not that I couldn't have taken them all on myself.'

Never before had I known Fado to have any form of offensive maneuvers. However, in a future that will never be, one seven years from now, she was oddly absent from the village. Thinking about it, the only time I saw her was whenever I was trying to help Grog, a sickly and depressed Hylian who wandered into the Lost Woods with the intent of dying, willingly committing suicide. She was aggressive to me in a very rude way, although I wasn't sure if she was aware of who I was or not. Nevertheless, I'm in shock. This was all quite the surprise.

My vision focused on the dead Baba Serpent and the two dead Chupas before I turned to stare at the still dying Deku Baba in the Kokiri Garden. In all honesty, I'd rather take her with me than Saria or Mido. Then again, in a way, I'd be happy if she stayed here to protect everyone with the blowgun. Now wasn't the time to overly concern myself with the mysteries of girls. I'd like to know how or when she found the time as well as the interest to learn such a dangerous sport, but, for the time being, I found myself feeling lucky. Mido seemed to feel similar somewhere along the lines. He continued to keep his eyes on her while rubbing the back of his neck. He and Fado had always been close in terms of relationship. I knew he didn't want her getting hurt, but, now he knew how I felt about him and Saria coming along with me.

"What are you three doing? Err… Mido, I know what you're doing, but; Saria, what are you and Link doing out here?" In response to Fado's question, Saria and I looked at each other. However, unexpectedly, Saria returned to that awkward bashfulness as her cheeks reddened and she was forced to look away. "N-Nothing really..." She tried stuttering until I sighed and picked up for her. "We're trying to get this place cleaned up. Saria sent me a letter saying that it was bad here, so, I came back. I'm not sure why this all started after I left, but, I promise you that I'll fix it all before I leave... There's no way I'm going to let this place stay like it is." Saria nodded as if to agree with me while Fado held her hand to her chin.

"I thought I felt something change in the air around here about ten minutes ago." She replied. "Was that your doing?" Once I figure out what she meant, I let her know the good news. "Yeah. I've cleared out the path leading to the Deku Meadow. It's safe to go back there now." The smile that came to her face made me glad I did what I had done. They needed my help, and I pulled through the same as they did whenever I needed their help. "That's great! I can't wait to tell the others! We've been waiting for our fairies to come back to us for so long, we've practically forgotten what they look like!" Giggling, Saria laughed with her. "That's not true! It's only been a couple of days… You better not have forgotten." Fado shook her head teasingly at the joke and then turned to me. "So, what's your next move? Clean the ChuChu out of the Great Deku Tree? Filter the sludge out of our water? Regrow the plants the Deku Babas destroyed?"

Shaking my head, I found it slightly interesting that there were ChuChu inside of the Great Deku Tree. Malon had mentioned something about having to kill a few of them, but, I thought that they would have dealt with the remaining amount after she left. To have them still here, after several weeks, plus having just been in the Deku Meadow where I wish that Mido or Saria would have mentioned something about them as I was there; it all got under my skin, making me wonder what in the world was going on here.

"No. Actually, I'm heading back into the Lost Woods to retrieve an important thing of mine that I left behind… Before you freak out, know that Saria and Mido are coming with me, so I'm not going to get lost." Luckily, I said that last part in the nick of time, for she looked as if she was just about to express concern until I mentioned what I did. "Well, be careful..." She replied. "I think I'll go ahead and make an attempt to kill off the ChuChu in the Great Deku Tree. My darts are solid, but, I don't know if they'll do any good against creatures that are practically jelly." Motioning toward the bandolier with darts, I once again wondered when she got her blowgun and whether or not she made it by herself.

"That's up to you. After I retrieve my Ocarina, I'll head back and see if I can lend a hand clearing them out with you." Having expected her to agree with me, I found myself surprised whenever she cocked her head to the side as if I had said something fascinating. From there, she turned about face to direct her attention toward me. "An Ocarina? Hmm… Ocarina…... I might go with you then."

Both of my eyebrows lifted in amazement as I found myself forming a whole search party just in order to find the Ocarina of Time. However, I wasn't overly thrilled to hear about how she wanted to join us. I'd much rather that she stay here and protect the village than accompany me. "Umm… That's okay, you don't have to." I spoke, wavering in my voice every so slightly as I attempted to avoid sounding rude, which was the last thing that I wanted to do. She waved me off almost instantly. "I want to, no worries." With a wide smile, she stepped over closer to us, signifying that she was joining us. "Besides, maybe I'll get to shoot more monsters with my blowgun. I'm getting a lot better at using it."

As she ranted about her blowgun, I took a moment to think about the safety of the other Kokiri. Leaving them here alone, I wondered who would take care of them. The Know-It-All Brothers could possibly keep watch, for I know that they're perfectly capable of defending themselves and their family from harm. According to Malon, it was them who saved her from a Wolfos attack by throwing Deku Nuts at them. Regardless of if they were okay with the choice to be the sole protectors for the time being, I had no choice other than to move on. I had to find this Ocarina, just to get it over with and not have to worry about something bad happening to us.

"Fine… Let's get moving then. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can be back here relaxing." Although I sounded a tad annoyed, it was only because I was looking out for the well-being of others. I cared about everybody in this village as if they were all close family members; mainly because they basically are considering how they all raised me.

It is because of that upon which I feel responsible for everything that's happening inside the village. This is my true home, where I grew up, where I love every spec of soil laid out amongst the ground. Nothing would ever change my mind on how I feel toward this wonderful place. Seeing it like this, locked down tight with nothing getting done, resulting in a pileup of work as well as highly overgrown weeds, it makes my heart hurt. I didn't know how it was that I was going to fix the sludge in the stream, but, I'd use my sword to stab anything threatening the peace and tranquility this sacred place deserves. Saria, Mido, and Fado should be well aware of my intentions seeing as of how I returned as requested, even going as far as to come back before I knew they needed me.

Things needed to be forced back to normal, and I have a feeling that I'm the only one who can do that. Saria, Mido, or Fado would have done it last week if they could. Right now, it's up to me to safely get my party; Saria, Mido, Fado, and Epona, into the Lost Woods where we can try to recover the Ocarina of Time. Returning here afterward, I'll look into the cause of why things are as bad as they are here.

As we all moved down the path, heading toward the break-off which led toward the Lost Woods, I found myself feeling more glad that others were accompanying me. I knew for sure that Malon would be ecstatic to hear that I didn't risk going by myself again. Perhaps the others are going due to that very reason. Saria I knew for sure was merely tagging along to make sure I didn't get hurt or lost again. Since they took care of me, I'm going to take care of them, like the family we are. Without any doubt, this is what the Great Deku Tree would expect of me. As the Hero of Time, I'm responsible for protecting that which I can. That was something I had to realize; that I was gradually ever so slowly growing to understand. Just because I stopped Ganondorf, doesn't mean I'm done being who I am.