Disclaimer: Hey! It's not like you own "The Legend of Zelda" either.
Summary: Link returns to the Kokiri Forest after an extended stay in Termina. A reunion and a chance to begin anew sounds all well and good, but an innocuous looking New Year's Eve party can turn everything upside down. Strange feelings start to arise between old friends.
When you're reading this, think "Midsummer Night's Dream."
Warnings: far too much contemplation, the rest of the story will be much lighter
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Thoughts are in italics
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Prelude: A Moment's Reverie
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The sun was already far past its peak and sinking slowly down into the horizon by the time a lone boy reached the Hyrule wall. His lengthened shadowed twisted over the rocky ground of the field as he passed through the stoic stone gates.
It had been a long time since he had last seen this familiar monument. Now dyed a blood-like red in the fading light, it reminded him of the conditions under which had last lived here, and why he had left. It was two years ago in fact, the day he left his homeland to find...a few different things.
The simplest of those was a lost friend. His guardian and companion Navi had left so long ago, out a window in the Temple of Time. Gone without a word as to where she was going or when she'd be back. He hoped it was when, not if. The fear of not knowing had worn on him until he decided the best course of action would be to just look for the fairy.
Another thing was adventure. People continually told him that he was destined for great things, and if adventure wasn't seeking him out, he felt almost magically compelled to seek it himself. He was neither violent nor rash, and he certainly didn't seek glory or wealth. But somehow he managed to throw himself in harms way.
It would always seem a perfectly good idea at the time: duck into a burning building with the Goron tunic to save a life, help a community fight off a group of bandits, or find a missing son or daughter. But each quest brought new obstacles and only further obscured him from his goal, until finally he couldn't even remember what that was.
Thus, he heart-wrenchingly turned his back on the people who needed his help and returned here. He couldn't fix the world, but he'd at least ensure peace in part of it.
The last item on his agenda was the whole purpose of the quest, to find himself. Seeing as the whole moon fiasco had taken all of three days, he had had a lot of time to think during his stay over in the other land. For ten years had found his perfect niche...well, maybe not that perfect...but at least he had fit.
Then, in a few weeks his entire world was stood on end. He had been lied to about his heritage and kept in the dark about his role as the bearer of the Triforce of Courage. Furthermore, throughout his entire battle with the Ganon he had been manipulated. The dark lord pushing on one side, the Princess Zelda pulling on the other.
Each move he made had been choreographed by plans laid out before he had even left the forest. He couldn't rely on destiny to guide his life forever. He had to take charge and carve his own niche into Hyrule.
He had returned to do just that.
The boy heaved a sigh, his unseeing eyes sweeping over the landscape while his mind was still trapped in his daydream.
There were more productive things to be doing than dwelling on the past, though. He needed to think about the future. There was so much he needed to catch up on and so many people he needed to revisit. Of course, this only brought another wave of memories crashing around him.
He had missed his friends, that's for sure. Darunia, Ruto, Malon, the crazy windmill dude...Saria. It had been far too long since he had seen his best friend. The ocarinas' communication trick wouldn't work between worlds, so they had been cut off for more time than they had in all of their previous lives.
Princess Zelda was definitely worth mentioning, too. During his brief existence at the age of seventeen, he had felt more than just friendship for the ruler, but now reverted to a child, those feelings were mangled and impossible for him to understand. Visiting her would be the second thing he did, but first...
Link broke from his reverie and looked up to see the arched entrance of the Kokiri Forest. His feet had instinctively taken him to the place he considered "home," even if that could never be. It was now well into the night and the stars were the only illumination he had to see by. Link gathered a deep breath and took the first steps into the pitch-black forest.
He was finally home.
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To be continued...
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Next chapter: Saria enters the fray, Mido get a long overdue reality check, and how do you get a cow upstairs?!
Sooo....?
Not much happened, I know, but if you didn't fall asleep, you'll probably find the rest of the story much better. (Note to Self: you're supposed to make the first part interesting so people will want to read it, d'oh!)
Ooo! Ooo! There it is \/ Do you see it?! It's the review button! O_O