Author's Note: I have many unpopular opinions about the Zelda franchise, one of which is that I actually prefer Phantom Hourglass to Wind Waker. I know a lot of people who are very fond of WW, but I ended up enjoying PH much more. I think I liked the scale better—fewer sidequests distracting from a plot that still felt enough like a world-ending crisis, even though Ganon wasn't involved. I also liked how challenging the Temple of the Ocean King was, especially in this day and age where far too many games cater to lazy/casual gamers. But all of those reasons pale in comparison to a very simple one: Ciela. You all know by now how much I love Navi, so I think you'll understand how my heart leapt when I heard her cheery little, "Hey!" that sounds exactly like Navi.

Then one day my sister and I were talking about PH, and out of nowhere we came up with this idea. I actually got tears in my eyes when I realized what it all meant. This little AU has healed wounds I've been carrying in my heart for something like fifteen years. That might sound overly dramatic for a 1998 game, but that's just how my heart works. I didn't know how much I needed this until I wrote it. And don't worry, there will be a continuation chapter later on. Also, I'm working off my memory of PH and what details I found on the Zelda wiki, so my apologies if there's something in here that's horribly inaccurate.

Timeline: Phantom Hourglass AU

Theme 36: Precious Treasure

Ciela watched as the mists thickened, creating an opaque curtain between her and Link. Shutting out the world she had come to know and love. Closing a door on a cherished chapter of her life. She watched until Link's wide eyes faded from view—filled with sadness, but also acceptance. He understood (as much as he could) what she was, and why she couldn't stay with him. He didn't need her. He had Tetra and her crew, not to mention Linebeck (small comfort though that might be) and all the other friends he had made along the way.

Finally, Ciela turned away from the wall of mists to face her companions. The other Spirits fluttered over the Ocean King's head, watching her. The fairies' gazes were curious, while the tufted eyes of the enormous whale blinked slowly, as if in a nod. "Well, then, Ciela," the Ocean King said in his deep, booming voice, "now that the world has been saved...there is a choice laid before you."

"Choice?" Neri asked, bobbing up and down in confusion. "What's he talking about, Ciela?"

Ciela gazed into the Ocean King's warm eyes, full of the wisdom of the ages. Ever since she had regained her memories and remembered what she was, this knowledge had been lurking in the back of her mind. There had been too much going on to think of it, too much at stake to work through what it all meant. But now that Bellum was defeated and she no longer had to worry for the immediate safety of her friends and everyone else in the world, she reached into those dark corners of her mind and fully embraced the knowledge hiding there.

"I wasn't always the Spirit of Courage and Time," Ciela said softly, looking down at her hands that glowed golden against the grey-blue of the sea below. "Or...maybe I was...and I just hadn't awoken yet. I wasn't ready for this much power...this much responsibility..."

"What do you mean?" Leaf fluttered closer, peering at her as if trying to detect some difference in her appearance. "Haven't we always been the Three Spirits?"

"No..." Ciela said slowly, thinking hard. "I mean, yes..."

"You have always been the Spirit of Courage, Ciela," the Ocean King rumbled, his voice sending ripples in all directions. "It merely took Time for you to realize it."

Ciela listened closely to his words. She could practically feel the wisdom dripping from them. She had to stretch so far back to remember what it was like before she knew she was the Spirit of Courage that it almost hurt. But there was something back there she needed to remember...something so important she had guarded it carefully against the wear of time. As a fairy and a spirit, she could go on living for hundreds of years—thousands of years, maybe even forever—and like anyone else's, her memories began to fade.

But now it was like she had reached for a small chest in a dusty corner of her mind, a precious treasure like the ones they had pulled up from the bottom of the ocean. And when she opened it up, its contents were intact even after all this time.

A life. A face. A name.

"Link," she breathed. Not the Link she had just said goodbye to—not the Link who always talked about his sister and his grandmother, not the Link who reefed sails and weighed anchor and outmaneuvered pirates like he'd been born on the waves. It was another boy with blond hair and blue eyes, another boy dressed all in green, another strong hand holding a sword, another voice crying out as he fought to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

The other Link was a lonely boy who had grown up in the forest, not a happy child who played on the calm beach of a sunny island. The other Link had faced hardship and prevailed. He had known loss and grief and fear, but he never backed down. She had seen him smile, heard him laugh, smelled his sweat and felt the warmth of his touch.

He would reach out to cup his hands around her, he would pull her up to the side of his cheek, and he would whisper...

"Navi!"

Ciela opened her eyes, not realizing she had closed them, and found the others watching her. The Ocean King blinked patiently, as if he knew exactly what was spinning through her mind, while Leaf and Neri frowned in consternation.

"My name was Navi," she whispered, looking down at her glowing body again. "And...I used to be blue..."

"Like me?" Neri asked, bobbing with a startled jangling sound.

"But there was a boy!" Ciela said, ignoring Neri and flying closer to one of the Ocean King's eyes. "Another boy named Link! It was...another time, another place... And we were trying to go back in time, but then...we got separated."

The Ocean King blinked again. "The winds of time blew you here, my dear," he said calmly. "It was that journey that awoke the powers that slept within you. And a good thing, too," he added, a smile crinkling his eyes, "for we greatly needed those powers in this time."

"But...what about Link?" Ciela demanded. "My Link, I mean the old Link, I mean...you know what I mean! What happened to him?"

The Ocean King closed his eyes and dipped his head slightly. "I am the spirit of the oceans, Ciela. I do not know everything."

Ciela thought carefully for a moment, but she knew that her mind was already made up. "I have to go back to him," she said. "I remember him...calling my name, screaming as he went one direction and I another..." She thought of the fear in his eyes then, and somehow she knew that he had set out looking for her. That he had searched high and low, trying in vain to reach her when all along, she had been blown so far into the future that his life's quest was hopeless from the beginning.

"You mean...you're leaving?" Neri asked in a small, stunned voice.

"But we just found each other again!" Leaf protested.

Ciela smiled sadly and took one red hand and one blue in her own golden ones. She looked into the faces of her friends, thinking over the long ages they had spent together, protecting the world and upholding order. "The world is safe now," she said. "And I'm leaving it in good hands. You'll watch out for Link, won't you? This Link, I mean. He'll do fine on his own. He has such wonderful friends, and so many bright things waiting for him in his future. But the other Link..."

She looked wistfully out to sea, as if she could see his form on the horizon. "He needs me. I don't regret the time I spent here with you, but...I think that's where I'm supposed to be now. Or then. Or...you know what I mean!"

Neri squeezed her hand and smiled bracingly. "Then go. I think you know what you're doing."

But Leaf looked worried. "Will you be able to go so far back in time, though? It sounds like you traveled a long way just to get here. Can you find your way back?"

At that, Ciela smiled confidently and put her hands on her hips. "Well, I am the Spirit of Time, aren't I? I should be able to handle a little time travel, don't you think, Gramps?"

"Yes," the Ocean King said slowly, "but it will require vast amounts of power to travel so far. The magic blew you here last time, but now you will have to provide the power yourself to make the journey. If you do this, you will no longer have the power of the Spirit of Time."

That dampened Ciela's spirits a little. She knew what that meant: This was a one-way trip, and there could be no mistakes. If she ended up in the wrong time, she couldn't try again. And she would never be able to go back to this time to start over or see her friends again.

"This is the choice you must make," the Ocean King said. "Think carefully before you decide."

But Ciela—Navi—smiled softly. "I made my choice hundreds of years ago."

She raised her hand in farewell to her friends, and the golden glow of her body grew brighter and brighter till it was all she could see. She felt the rush of time pushing her backward, faster and faster, hurtling through the ages to a time before waters covered the earth.

The glow seeped out of her body, and with it she could feel her power over time leaking away. It left her body glowing blue—less vivid than Neri's body, but somehow more natural. She was diminished, but she didn't really mind.

Who needed to be the Spirit of Time when she could be the guardian fairy of the Hero of Time?