And A Time To Die

Rae (No help from Norailbainesokru, thank you very much)

Link slumped against the wall of Impa's House in Kakariko Village. Sweat trickled from his forehead, and his breathing same more slowly than before. He had spent the entire day turning Hyrule inside out in search of his fairy companion, Navi.

"Navi" he muttered weakly, his voice hoarse from yelling. "When I find you, I'm going to get you good..."

A high pitched, fluttery laugh erupted nearby, causing Link to jump up, his already sore muscles aching from his long impounded reflex. "Who's there?"

A girl about his height, probably around his rather independent age of 16, stepped from the other end of the house. Her skin was tinted a light blue, and her eyes were deep navy colored. Hues of blue were embed in her curls of hair, falling so daintily in her face. (I'm thinking Mint from Mew Mew) She wore a ragged sort of dress that was (surprise surpise!) sky blue, and the most interesting thing about her were two butterfly shaped wings on her back that matched everything about her; blue. Teardrop shaped gems were around the corners of her eyes, and glitter was sprinkled about her face.

"Hey!" Her voice was...familiar.

"Um..do I know you?" Link tensed a bit, already reaching for his bag of Deku Nuts. The girl smiled.

"Hey! Don't you remember me, Link?"

"How do you know my name?" The remark was cutting and sharp, causing the girl to pout.

"I didn't think I'd been away that long, Link. I just left yesterday, and I thought you-"

"Wait...Yesterday?" Link's eyes grew wide. "Navi?"

Another giggle. "Yep! I did this for you, Link! What do you think?" She turned around like a model, spinning slowly and doing an almost catwalk. Link stood there stupidly, his mouth open.

"Link!"

"Yeah?"

"Pay attention!" Navi's familiar voice was laced with the conviction it had always been with, but the spark in her eyes showed she was happy-no, estatic.

"Wow, Link! Do you really want to?"

"Yes, Princess"

"Ahem?"

"I mean, yes, Zelda." Link was blushing furiously at having this mistake being pointed out to him many, many times in this single conversation.

"Well, then, I guess I could give you permission."

"Hey! I don't need permission!" Link was indignant. "I'm the Hero of Time!"

"Yeah! Hero of Time!" Navi echoed, and Link knew she was surpressing a giggle.

Zelda looked at Navi with a wry smile. Navi winked back at her, mouthing 'Thank You' silently. Link looked at both of them with a confused face.

Answering Link's unasked question, Zelda said, "Navi, did my plan work?"

"What do you think, Princess Zelda? It worked rather well, don't you agree?"

"YOU did this?"

"Yes, I did Link. You sound surprised?"

Link muttered something incoherently and kicked at a rock. "Well, we better be going, eh Navi?"

"Right! Lets go!"

"Link!"

The checkerboard room was trailing a stready trickle of blood. Link blindly stumbled into it, the wounds on his chest and legs making him weak and tired. He hardly heard Navi call out to him.

The ceiling ceased to fall. Navi was using her magic up quickly to keep him safe. She pulled him as far as she could, but it was underneath a section of ceiling that would crush them both of Navi's magic failed. Navi kneeled in from of Link, trying to heal his wounds, forcing the last drops of Lon Lon Milk into his mouth.

"Please, don't die Link! It's going to be alright!" Navi secretly cursed her stupidity. Why had she allowed him to revisit the Forest Temple for training! Now she could lose what she had become human for...Love.

"No Navi...It wont be."

"But if you do reincarnate, I'll be gone!"

"It's ok, Navi..I'll make it..."

Her magic was being sucked up by the force of the Forest Temple. She felt something probing her magic, and she let it through. It was Zelda, adding her worry and strength to Navi's magic. Navi thanked her, tears running down her face.

"Link, you can still live! It will be alright, and-"Another probe. It was Ruto, adding her strength as a Sage, her former childhood crush pushing her power beyond Zelda's own.

"No, Navi. Grief divided is made lighter; with everyone else you'll be alright." He smiled weakly. "The Hero of Time isn't needed anymore...the goddesses are taking me..."

"No!" Saria added her strength to Navi. Her Forest Magic would be the most helpful, but it was her burning, true desire and love for Link that took Navi aback- Saria loved him too? No! Link was hers- where had Saria been when Link was on his journey? All safe and snug in the Chamber of Sages- Navi deserved Link!

"It's alright, Navi...Life is like a candle. Mine was long because of my destiny; and there is a time to burn, a time to spark, a time to relish in the feeling, to get caught up in emotion..." he touched her tearstained cheek, "but as there is a time for the candle wax to run out, there is a time to die..."

"No!"

"A time to die..."

"No, Link!"

"My time has come..."

Navi pulled Link to her. He was barely alive.

"I love you! Don't die!"

But Navi felt his heart slow and stop. Felt his fingers grow cold, his body go numb. Tears racked her body as she stared into his lifeless face, his gray eyes. She did what she had meant to do long ago.

She kissed him.

Felt his cold lips against hers. Her tounge slippind into his mouth as she kissed him, tears splashing on the cold ground. She poured all her life into that one kiss; the anguish of his death, her worry every time he was hurt, her love for him.

Saria's magic would last long enough for Navi to escape. Navi looked at her own hands, blood stained from wounds not her own, but Link's. She put her head on his shoulder as Saria's magic weakened and failed. One last tear fell from her cheek.

"A time to die..."