Disclaimer: Zelda is copyrighted by Nintendo!!!
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Saria slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times to get them adjusted to the bright light. She rolled over and saw her fairy sleeping next to her on her pillow, shivering a little. Saria sat up in bed and pulled her covers tightly about herself. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she ran to her window.
"It snowed last night! Katya! It snowed!" Saria cried happily, jumping back onto her bed.
Her fairy flapped her wings excitedly from the pillow she had been sleeping on. "Really? Let me see! I want to see!" She quickly flew to Saria and landed in her silky, green hair. "Ooo…so pretty…"
It looked as though the Kokiri forest had been transformed into a winter wonderland. The little houses were covered in a thick blanket of snow and delicate, diamond-like icicles hung down from the branches in the trees, and snowflakes had frozen onto parts of the windows, creating beautiful designs on them. The sky was perfectly blue and cloudless. The sun's light caused the snow to sparkle like stars in the night sky.
Saria grabbed a pair of mittens and her scarf and ran outside. The other Kokiri were also beginning to romp around in the snow. Some were building snowmen and others were having snowball fights while some simply sat around, admiring the beauty of winter. Saria watched them play for a while and considered joining them.
"If we have a snowball fight, I promise I'll be on your side." Katya said, getting excited.
"How do you know the other team won't accidently mistake you for a snowball?" Saria asked her fairy who was currently glowing white.
"Hey Saria!"
Saria turned around in the direction of the voice. "Hi Mido!"
Mido, the self-appointed leader of the Kokiri, swaggered up to her, looking very bossy and pompous…as usual. "Do you want to be on my team for the snowball fight?"
"Mido's got great aim!" His fairy piped up. "You don't have to worry about a thing! He'll protect you!"
"Yeah!" Mido agreed.
"What's the point of a snowball fight without the risk of getting hit?" Katya asked, flying in a slow circle around Saria's head.
"Maybe I'll play with you later." Saria said, ignoring the disappointed look on Mido's face. "I have to do something first."
"…Oh, okay then." Mido said, looking slightly suspicious.
Saria could feel his gaze on her as she made her way towards the lone tree house, but ignored it. She looked up and could see a melancholy looking boy sitting on the ladder with his head resting in his hands. A small blue light was hovering near his pointed ear.
"Hey! Link!"
Link and his fairy looked up in surprise. "Oh…Hi Saria."
Saria climbed up the ladder and sat down next him. "Do you want to be on my team for the snowball fight?" She asked.
"But no one will let me play with them…If I'm on your team, then they won't let you play either." Link answered, looking even more depressed.
"Nonsense! Of course they'll let you play with them! Come on!" Saria said, tugging on his arm.
"But…I'm still Mr. No-Fairy, even with Navi." Link said, pointing to his fairy. "They'll never accept me as just Link."
"Yeah right. That only because you never give them a chance to change their ways. Come on!"
"But --"
"No more buts! Just come with me. They'll let you join, I'm sure of it!" Saria said and dragged a protesting Link along with her as she headed towards a group of Kokiri.
The Kokiri stopped throwing snowballs when they saw Saria approaching with Link trying to brace himself so that Saria couldn't drag him any further.
"Hi! Can we join you?" Saria asked, pointing to Link and herself.
The others looked at each other in silence. Finally, one girl said, "Sure, why not? The more the merrier!"
"Yeah!" Chorused the rest of the group.
"I want Link on my team!" Saria and Link heard a couple people yell out at the same time.
"No! Our team!" A few more people yelled back.
Saria stifled her laughter at the sight of two of the teams fighting over which team Link should be on while Link stared at them, dumbfounded.
"See? I told you they'd let you join." Saria said with a rather smug grin on her face.
Link blushed a little, "Okay, so you were right."
"No she is not!"
Every stopped what they were doing as Mido stomped up to Link. "Get out of here! You're not welcome among us any more!"
"But Mido!" Several Kokiri argued.
"He killed the Great Deku Tree! Why do you welcome the murdering loser to join you in your fun and games?" Mido roared at them.
"What proof do you have that Link really did kill the Great Deku Tree?" Saria demanded.
Mido's features softened a little, then hardened again as he glared at Link. "He was last seen with the Great Deku Tree before he died!"
"Something could have happened in between the time Link was with the Great Deku Tree and the time he died, but that doesn't mean necessarily had anything to do with it!" Saria yelled.
"So then what's the sword for?" Mido growled, pointing to the sword that was slung over Link's shoulder. "Is the sword for cutting down the grass in front of my house? Of course not! That sword is meant for killing! What better a target for a murderer than a giant tree that can't move?!?"
Several people gasped. Saria eyes flashed dangerously, "What…did you say…about the Great…Deku….Tree?" she said, struggling to control her temper.
Mido ignored her and struck Link down in the snow.
"Link!" Saria cried, rushing to his side.
Navi threw herself at Mido, "What was that for you mangy, no-good, stuck-up, pig-headed, lazy jerk??? How dare you do that to him!!! Die! Die! Die!!! He never killed the Great Deku Tree! I was with him the whole time!
"Oh! Now you're trying to cover up for him!"
"You wish, peanut brain!"
Link sat up in the snow, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth. The look on his face was of pure hate as well as of hurt feelings. Without a word, he got up and, not bothering to brush the snow off, and left swiftly.
"Not look at what you've done!" Saria snapped.
Everyone looked surprised. Saria was the generally the nicest, happiest, and most patient person they knew. They had rarely seen her get as mad as she was now. Everyone was beginning to cower a little, all…except for Mido, who stood glaring at her.
"He deserved it! And why should I care anyways? He's not even one of us!" he yelled as Saria stomped away.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Link? Are you in here?" Saria peered into Link's tree house. She was answered with the eerie silence and an empty feeling in her heart. Saria walked in and looked around. There were fresh tears on the floorboards and several of Link's things, namely his sword, shield, slingshots, deku nuts/sticks/seeds, and the ocarina she had given him the first time he'd left the forest, were all gone.
"No…he couldn't have left…not without telling me first…"
"He did leave the first time without telling you." Katya pointed out.
"Because Mido, that jerk, forced him to!" Saria said with a hard edge to her voice. "But…still…he could have left me a note…"
"He did." Katya pointed out again.
"He did? Where?" Saria asked anxiously as Katya flew over to her with a piece of paper. The paper was tearstained and had smudged most of the ink, making it very difficult to read Link rather untidy, 'I'm in a hurry' scrawl.
Saria,
I'm really sorry, but I can't stay here anymore. Mido's right, I'm not one of you and I never will be. He'll never give me a chance to become a proper Kokiri anyways. The Great Deku Tree sent me a quest before he died, one that required that I leave you and the forest behind. The time has come for me to leave you once again if I am to fulfill my destiny. I'm really sorry I couldn't get the chance to say goodbye.
~Link
"Then…he really did leave." Katya said, her glow dimming a little and her wings drooping.
Saria didn't say anything and was biting her lip to keep herself from crying. Tears silently ran down her face and she swallowed hard. Katya saw this and flew to her partner, cuddling against Saria's small, child body, doing her best to make Saria feel better. Losing any friend was always difficult for Saria to get over, but Link her best friend in the world. She had raised him from an infant and loved him as a mother would love her own child.
Saria held Katya tightly against her body, her tears continued coursing down her face and gradually fell asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Christmas that year was especially lonely for her. She had never made up with Mido and the other Kokiri were afraid to bring up the matter of Link when talking to her. Saria would lock herself in her home while the other Kokiri would dance and laugh and celebrate. The pain and emptiness in her heart was more than she could bear. She often preferred to be alone, hoping that Link will come back. The other Kokiri knew to avoid her when she was in a depressed state. She was like this the first time Link had to leave the forest. Only last time, she was with him when he left.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Years went by and Link never returned. Saria slowly began to allow herself to be drawn towards the Lost Woods more and more often and staying for longer periods of time. She began to explore further into the ancient temple she had found by the sacred meadow.
"Funny how I never noticed it before." Saria often murmured as she and Katya were walking through the building.
Katya would always reply with a faint jingle.
Together, they explored every corner of the temple, knew every block used to build it, but could not understand why it was here, what secrets it held, and why she was so drawn to it.
One day, when she was exploring the several marking on a large block in front of what she assumed was a door, she felt a warm sensation in her body. She felt as though the great burden of her sorrows had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders and a strange feeling a happiness filled her heart.
However, she was just beginning to feel a rather familiar presence when Katya suddenly screamed, "Saria! Look out!"
Saria tried to turn. But before she could, she felt something heavy strike her in the shoulder. She struggled to see what had hit her and caught a quick glimpse of a bleached skull face with glowing red eyes just before the world turned black around her.
~*~*~*~*~*~