A/N: for once, I don't have anything to say here lol. Hope you enjoy!
Welcome to Airodan!
Chapter 44
"Vaati...? Vaati!"
Her voice was swallowed by the forest without so much as an echo in return.
She sheathed her sword and turned in a circle. None of the trees around her looked familiar; none of the rocks had any markers on them. "Din!" she swore. In the midst of fighting, she'd let too much distance come between them, and now who knew where Vaati was; or where she was, for that matter.
Link took a deep breath. They had a backup plan for this. The forest had kept dumping them back where they started, so if she walked long enough, and Vaati did the same, they should end up at the same place. If that didn't work, Plan B was to follow the markers individually until they both found where the mysterious path led. At least her backpack was still nearby, not yet claimed by the fog.
As she walked, she kept her footsteps as silent as possible, eyes scanning for familiar landmarks, ears on the alert for any sounds from the fog. Nothing crossed her path, however, not even a falling leaf.
She tried to keep track of time as she walked. Five minutes. There was a pond with a tree right in the middle of the gray water. Ten minutes. A trio of obelisk-like rocks half-hid as shadows in the fog. Fifteen. She passed through a treeless clearing, the ground dead of any grass.
At twenty minutes, Link came to a halt. She should have landed back at the boulder with the roots by now. But she hadn't been looped back to anything yet.
"Stupid forest and its stupid magic..." she muttered. She couldn't even rely on it to take her out of the woods.
Plan B, then. Link scouted around for any markers. She backtracked to the three pointed stones; strangely, the woods did not interfere with her route. But the stones held no clues, and she was forced to just wander more.
Her breath was starting to billow out in clouds as the temperature slowly, subtly dropped as the day lengthened. Frost bitten grass crunches under her feet. The sky didn't waver from its evening gray, though. And as ever, the fog crept along the ground, swirling around the bases of the dead trees, swallowing up the light from her flashlight, hiding any sounds from the creatures inevitably sulking in the woods.
She couldn't find any markers. Link grabbed her phone from her backpack, but there was no signal. "It was worth a try," she sighed.
Hopelessly lost, the blonde turned to a hollow tree trunk, nestling herself inside. Neither back up plans were working. When she wanted to go through the woods, it had kicked her out; and now that she wanted to leave, she was stuck inside. Her backpack offered up no good solutions; just her forgotten sandwich and a warm blanket that was comforting but not useful for escaping a haunted forest. At least she had prepared for the cold. Link wrapped the blanket around her and chewed on her somewhat smushed sandwich.
For now, she would rest and try to think of a new plan, and hopefully no creepy skeletons would come across her hidey hole. She hoped Vaati was okay. Judging by the Darknut he'd conjured, his combat magic wasn't influenced by the forest, but he may be as lost and stuck as she was. She wasn't going to attempt to use Farore's Wind; who knew where she'd end up.
Something glimmered in the fog. Link swallowed her last bite too quickly and had to fight not to cough violently. Blinking through watery eyes, she watched the gray mist. Another little glimmer of light flashed.
Vaati? She wanted to call out, but she knew it was unlikely the light was coming from him. The blonde silently slid the blanket off and pulled herself to a crouch, keeping her gaze fixed on the now steady light.
It was a bright yellow, a concentrated spot of light that bobbed up and down. A hazy deja vu nudged at her. Was that...?
Suddenly, it flew closer, and she knew it was flying because she could see the tiny translucent wings in the little ball of light as it dipped up and down as though looking for something, giving a little chiming sound as it went.
"A fairy..." breathed Link. What was a fairy doing here?
The yellow sprite seemed to see her, because it stopped, wings fluttering fast and a higher pitched chime coming from it. Then it dashed over to her.
"Link! Link! I'm so sorry," a voice chirped inside her head. "I'm Aetl! I'm late, I'm sorry! There were a bunch of Stalfos—had to go around them! But I can take you there now!"
"Uhhhhh..." Link was too surprised by the sudden appearance of the fairy and the fact that it could talk telepathically to respond right away.
The fairy—Aetl bobbed up and down. "Link? Ooooh no... are you upset? Maybe you're upset. Oh I'm sorry!" Her light glimmered to a dull orange.
"No—no, I'm fine!" Link managed to get out. "Just, like... I didn't know you could talk."
"Oh! I don't have to talk if you don't want!" She (was it a she? the voice was feminine but Link had no idea if fairies had genders) flew a few feet away and bounced side to side, bright yellow again. "Just follow me!"
"That's not what I..." Link tried to amend, but Aetl was already heading away. She hastily shoved her supplies in her backpack and chased after the rushed yellow fairy.
With her little bell-like chime every time Link fell behind, Aetl led the blonde through the fog, taking sudden detours to the left and seemingly going back the way they came before making another swerve to the right and leaving Link without an ounce of direction left. She hadn't questioned following the fairy—she'd never heard of a fairy being evil or anything—but she was starting to question if this yellow one actually knew where she was going—where ever that was supposed to be.
"Almost there!" Aetl chirped as they climbed to the top of a rocky hill.
Link blew her bangs out of her eyes, sweaty despite the chill air. "Where is there?"
"Where you need to go! Just over this hill!" Before Link could ask any more questions, the fairy was zooming away again.
With a breathless chuckle, Link trotted after her mysterious guide, dodging roots sticking out of the ground. The fog seemed to be thinner here; she could see farther ahead than before. Excitement building, she sped into a sprint, following Aetl down a path that cut into the next hill. With every step, the fog disappeared from her feet, the air grew warmer, and the trees around her gradually shifted to luscious, green ones, decked in leaves despite the season.
The path suddenly widened into a clearing, bordered about by the forest, canopied by a solitary tree that rose from the center of the clearing and towered into the sky, a green ceiling that still let the sunlight filter down to the grassy field below it, encouraging white and pink and blue flowers to spring up among the blades of grass and to climb up the trunks of the trees. Link took a deep breath of warm, rich air, the gentle forest atmosphere calming her racing heart. She just stood there, mouth literally hanging open in awe at the forest paradise.
"We're here!" chirped Aetl. "I'll go let the Great Deku Tree know you're here!"
The Great Deku...?! Aetl was gone before Link could fully process her words. She craned her neck to look at the giant tree in the center of the haven. Was that...?
Aetl came back with a cheerful chiming. "The Great Deku Tree would like to speak with you!"
She nodded and swallowed dryly, following the yellow ball of light up to the base of the enormous tree.
The tree had a face. Thick bark formed heavy eyebrows set low over hollows that resembled eyes, and in place of a mouth, the bark formed a wide mustache. Link's composure almost broke at that. A mustache. It was enough to break through the nervousness and give her a smile.
"Welcome, Link, to Forest Haven," a deep yet gentle voice reverberated through Link's head, and she knew it was the great tree speaking.
Dumb with awe, she could only kneel to one knee and bow.
"Please, stand. We have been friends in many past lives, young one with the spirit of many centuries. It is always an honor, Hero."
Link wasn't even sure if she could stand, her legs were so weak. But she took a deep breath and lifted herself up, facing the Great Deku Tree. "It's a honor to meet you again," she said as loudly as she could. "Thank you for, uh... saving me from the woods..."
"I apologize for the trials you endured. The Lost Woods exist to protect this haven; I cannot allow dishonest souls to know of my existence. I sent Aetl to guide you here."
"What about Vaati? Is he okay?" Link frowned.
"He is safe, young one. He will not wander the woods long enough to succumb to its spells. Once you depart from here, Aetl will guide you to him, and you will be able to leave the woods."
"What spells...?"
Aetl chimed in. "Those who get lost in the Lost Woods too long become Stalfos or Skullkids!"
An image of the split Stalfos skull from earlier flashed into her mind, and she shuddered. That had been one of the missing people Zelda mentioned...
"You have come seeking wisdom concerning Ganon, have you not?" the Deku Tree rumbled. "I know not how much the outside world remembers of Hyrule's past... But the swords at your side speak much. I fear another Calamity fast approaches our kingdom."
"What do you know about Ghirahim?" Sensing a long conversation, Link sat cross legged on the mossy ground.
"Nothing, I am afraid. His entire being is filled with malice but I know not from where he comes nor why he seeks to resurrect Ganon. It is certain, however, that he possesses the ability to do so should no one prevent him."
"How do we stop him?"
"There exists a seal on the spirit of Ganon. Just as the seal on the Four Sword faded with the passing of centuries, so does the seal which rests upon Ganon. Were Ghirahim to wait another few centuries, his desires would no doubt be granted without effort. But I sense impatience in his actions. He will find difficulty in breaking the seal placed there by the Zelda of the last era..."
"Zelda sealed him away..." Link murmured. "Does that mean she could just strengthen the seal again?"
"Perhaps, young one, if she possesses the Tri Force once more."
"Well, we're good, then!" She gave the tree a thumbs up, then wondered if he could even see her doing that.
"Beware, Link." The Great Deku Tree's voice was becoming slower. "Should Ghirahim get his hands on the three pieces of the Tri Force, not only will he be able to free Ganon, he will grant him overwhelming power. Do not let the Tri Force fall into his hands..." His words faded.
Aetl bobbed up and down with a chime. "Oh, he fell asleep! He's always doing that."
Link couldn't tell my difference in the tree's bark features that could confirm the fairy's word, but she figured if she was an ancient tree with nothing to do but sit in the middle of a haunted forest with no visitors, she'd take lots of naps, too. She stood up and brushed off her pants. "Can you help me find Vaati and get out of the woods?" she asked Aetl.
"Yes ma'am! Follow me!"
It took them almost half an hour to find the mage. Aetl kept abruptly switching directions, chirping, "Oh no, he went that way, sorry! No, no, he's going a different way now! I'm sorry, we're almost there!" When they did finally catch up to him, he was not alone.
Aetl flashed red in alarm as a towering Darknut appeared from the fog, immediately turning towards them, sword raised in warning. A few feet ahead, Vaati turned as well, his red eyes quickly losing their hard glare when he saw who it was. "Link!" he called out. "For the love of—it's been hours!"
"Just got a little lost, sorry!" she greeted him cheerfully. At least it didn't look like he'd run into any trouble while they'd been separated. "I found the center of the woods, though! Oh, and this is Aetl," she gestured to the yellow fairy, who was keeping a wary distance from Vaati's Darknut guardian.
"Nice to see you've been off making friends while I've been searching for you. Can it get us out of here?" Vaati sighed and cast a critical glance at the fairy.
"Yes sir, Wind Mage, sir! I won't get us lost, I promise!" squeaked Aetl.
The pair followed her, the Darknut keeping watch from the rear. Link noticed Vaati walking closer to her than before. "I told you we should have followed the buddy system," she joked and nudged him with her elbow.
He didn't reply, but he didn't move away, either.
"...Anywho," Link cleared her throat. "I met the Great Deku Tree, and he told me..." She relayed the information she had learned.
Vaati nodded. "So basically we need to keep Ghirahim's hands off of Zelda. That must've been what he was trying to do at the New Year's party."
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too. But I don't think he's going to try that again, since you can teleport her just like he can; kidnapping her probably won't work. So, we keep him away from her, and we see if she can fortify the seal on Ganon."
"Wherever that is," Vaati added.
They halted as Aetl gave a quiet chime, flashing red in alert. They could hear heavy footsteps passing them in the fog, but the creature did not notice them, and gradually the sound faded.
"The missing people," Vaati muttered. When Link looked at him questioningly, he explained, "I ran into a Skullkid while I was looking for you. He just wanted me to play some video game with him on this really old handheld. I asked what his name was, and he said he thought it was Keni but he couldn't really remember. I checked some of the missing person reports before we came, and Keni Loren was one of them; he disappeared here five years ago. I think the people who get lost in here too long turn into those Skullkids and Stalfos..."
"Yeah, that's what the Deku Tree told me," murmured Link. She flashed him a smile and a thumbs up. "Good thing we've got a guide to get us out of here now!"
"We're almost there!" Aetl chirped, almost on cue.
She could see the fog beginning to thin as they followed the yellow ball of light. Link sped up, eager to get out of the haunted forest, but Vaati caught her hand, pulling her back. "Buddy system," he said shortly.
"But we're, we're almost out," stammered Link. His hand was cold but soft.
"Just until we're actually clear of the woods. Not letting the Hero get done in by some haunted trees, okay?"
So he'd been worrying about her... Link kept her eyes fixed on Aetl flying in front of them, trying not to let her hand be too stiff or squirm too much. Aetl paused, likely to see if they were still following, and her light shifted to pink. Link snuck a glance at Vaati, but he was staring stoically ahead, seemingly unfazed by it all. His hand was starting to sweat, though.
"We're here, we're here!" their fairy guide announced. Link hadn't even noticed the chain link fence show up, marking the border of the Lost Woods and freedom from its tricks.
"Thanks, Aetl! Don't run into any more Stalfos on the way back, okay?" Link bid her farewell.
She glimmered a brighter yellow and flew in a circle around the pair. "Bye bye, Link! Wind Mage!" She didn't seem bothered by Vaati's noncommittal grunt in reply. Dashing away, soon the fairy was just a distant light in the fog.
Vaati's hand slipped away from hers, leaving her with a mix of disappointment and relief. "Time to head back?" she asked with a smile to hide her discomfort.
"...Sure," he replied after a long pause.
The wind wrapped around the both of them, her vision darkening and the foggy, dead trees of the Lost Woods at last fading from sight.
