So, what have I been doing for...how long now? A lot of stuff other than writing, it would seem. Yeah, I'm slow...but I seem to be in a Zelda kick of sorts, so there is a good chance I may update this again. Enjoy the insanely long chapter...the next two or three will probably also be long. :sweat:

As a note...I re-uploaded this. No one reviewed it, and the format was ZONKED, so...yeah. Here is is again.

My body hurt. That was the only thing I was consciously aware of. My body was a knot of pain. I slowly opened my eyes, but all I could make over were a few blurs. There was a blistering orange one, which I assumed was a fire, and a shape that looked remotely like a person. I tried to clear my eyes, but the shooting pain made me want to go back to unconsciousness.

The shape moved. "Oh, you're awake now, little hawk?" I tried to sit up again, but all I could manage was to move my wings and talons a little bit. The boy chuckled, and idly stroked the top of my head. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna eat you or anything. You're lucky you were alive, though, or you'd be on the spit instead of whatever it is I put on there." He turned to look. "Ah, that's right. A scrub. They don't taste good, and I don't think hawks eat them. I'll have to find you something, little hawk."

I looked blearily at him. He was obviously rather crazy to be talking to a hawk. And then again, what was he doing here? Had he came in behind Ganondorf or something? Oh well...doesn't really matter. Who knows how long I was lying here, anyway?

"Little hawk. That's not a very good name, is it?" He shook his head, and looked idly away for a minute before returning his gaze to me. "I'll think of a better one for you. But," he stood up, and dusted his hands off before reaching down and grabbed a sword from under a shield lying nearby. "Until then, I'd better find you some food you can eat." He walked off, hands behind his head, whistling.

I stared at him in a mixture of confusion and interest. He seems...nice and either insane, or out there. But nice. But even if he seemed willing to nurse my battered body back to health, I shouldn't burden him. It wasn't nice, when I was capable of walking just fine. And I needed to go look for Link, not to mention figure out how I was going to survive when I had no idea what was going on. I hopped onto my "feet."

Instant waves of brutal pain. I hadn't realized how beaten up I was. I hadn't hurt this badly since I tripped off a bridge in Kokiri and landed headfirst. I tried to adjust to the pain, lessen it, but no matter how I stood, it only seemed to get worse. I finally gave up and tried to take my mind off the pain by looking around, which didn't help too much, seeing as I collapsed halfway through my sweep of the area. It was really only a small campfire, with a patch of grass flattened where the boy had been lying, with a few other items. His small fire, with a spit and whatever it was he said he was eating. It didn't look particularly good. I personally wouldn't be surprised if it poisoned him first bite. Other than that, there was me, a small pile that I realized was his shield, sheath, and several other things that just looked like they had been idly picked up and carried around without a thought. And, of course, the small pile of bloodied glass shards sitting next to his shield.

He must have pulled them all out for me...how nice... The thought made my head spin a little. I felt just a little bit dizzy from just thinking about how long I must have been out if he had managed to do all that and I couldn't remember it at all.

I looked down at my body, and realized rather idly that I was also covered in bandages. My hawk's torso was simply wrapped in strips of blue cloth, which I realized was ripped. He had tended to all of my wounds for me. What kind of person would take a hawk that's near death, and nurse it back to health when they obvious don't have much food anyway?

I hopped back on my feet again. "Oi." I turned my sight, which was once again blurring with pain, to where the voice had come from. The boy was standing there with a dead rabbit in his hands and a serious look on his face. "Don't try to get away, okay? You're the first live thing I've seen in a while, I'd be sad if you left me." He grinned a little. "Besides, you look hurt...it wouldn't be smart to try to survive on your own at the moment."

He sat back down, fixing the meat to the spit, and watching me. I slowly settled back down to the ground. He smiled. "Good, little hawk. I doubt you understand a word I'm saying, but that's okay!" He glanced at the meat. "I'd give it about twenty minutes before you could eat it. You better sleep until then, huh?"

I didn't answer, but I could feel my eyes getting heavy. I wanted to return to my human state, but it did take energy to melt. Plus, the bandages would be awkward as a human. I'd have to get rid of them first.

I heard the spit still turning. The fire was warm, and I could hear the boy humming. But I closed my eyes and slept. I shouldn't have trusted him so quickly, so readily.

But...something about him told me he was safe. His presence nearby made me feel comfortable, as if I had known him for a long time. I was...almost happy to be with him. At peace, at last.

I opened my eyes with a jerk, and looked around me. The boy was asleep, snoring softly. His body looked tense, though. Like he could wake up at any second. The fire had been allowed to reduce to small embers, and I noticed his food was gone, although mine still looked warm over the fire. He hadn't woken me up to eat. I slowly got to my talons, and hopped a few feet away, trying not to make many noises or screech with pain. Both goals weren't going too well.

Finally, I got far enough away to safely rip off my bandages and turn myself back into a human. Grimacing, I realized that taking off the bandages had reopened the wounds, and they were now freely flowing again. Well. That was smart. I looked around. I couldn't remember any of the surrounding landscape-probably because I hadn't seen it-but I could hear the trickling of water off to the left somewhere. I began to push myself in that direction. I heard the water getting closer, and I deemed that I'd still be okay when I got there. My wounds weren't bad enough to make me totally worthless, after all. They just made moving painful.

Finally, I reached a small spring. I found out that it was freezing, but it was all I was going to get. I stripped off part of my tunic and started trying to clean the wounds more thoroughly. They didn't look as bad as they felt. I sighed to myself, realizing I hadn't thought of re-bandaging them. I'd have to leave them open...which meant dripping blood all over until they closed fully. I began washing the dried blood off as well, wincing as I touched them, and then paused.

Something was moving behind me.

I gulped to myself. It could be anything from something about to attack me to just a passing animal, but...I was totally unarmed. Trying not to make any more noises, I tried to lower myself into the river and hope it was dark enough for whatever it was to not see me. The crunching noise got closer, and I gritted my teeth, idly wishing I had just kept the tunic on while I was cleaning...the water was cold.

The noise stopped, and I heard a chuckle, and the sound of metal on metal, which my ears instantly picked up as a sword being sheathed. "Little hawk, you shouldn't be trying to escape! I'm only helping you, silly..."

I winced mentally. Stupid, stupid, stupid...I left those bandages back there! I tried not to make any more noise and simply wait for him to leave, but he seemed to want to find me. He was still walking around, but I couldn't see him. "Ah...I see your tunic, little hawk..." He chuckled a little. "I didn't think a normal hawk could be full of glass shards in a place like this."

I closed my eyes. Please, go away...

"Little hawk, I'm going to find you...you're still bleeding, you know. The smell of all that blood will attract stuff, and you're in no condition to fight." I could hear him walking around, moving along the spring's edges. He would find me at the rate he was going. The smartest choice would be to just go and let him find me...

But I'd really prefer to do that with a tunic.

There was a sighing noise almost directly above me. With a start I turned my head and opened my eyes and looked up at the boy standing on top of me with a "tsk, tsk," look. "Little hawk...bad, bad girl."

I honestly couldn't think of a way to respond. I just stared at him. He walked leisurely back over to the tunic I had dropped earlier and picked it up, and strolled back, clicking his tongue. I was still staring at him in shock. What was he thinking?

He offered the tunic to me, but I didn't move to accept it. "Ah, that's right!" He smiled and dropped it on the bank, just a little out of the water but still within my reach. "This is that whole 'guys don't look at girls when they're changing clothes,' thing, right?" I nodded slowly. He grinned and walked off a couple of feet, calling over his shoulder, "Okay, I'll just wait for you over here then!" Then I lost sight of him.

I slowly pulled myself up, and wiped at some of my cuts. They weren't bleeding as much anymore, but there was still a little blood seeping through. The spring appeared to have stopped it...and it was cleaner now. I sighed quietly and pulled the tunic back on, feeling it cling to me. I slowly lifted myself out of the spring, and managed to get half of my body out before I slipped and hit my head against the ground.

"Oomph!"

"Whoa, little hawk...be careful, you're still hurt." I looked up, my vision blurring. The boy was standing there with a slight smile on his face, and a hand extended. "Come on, there's food back at the fire...food is good..."

I could feel my vision spinning. I was getting unearthly disoriented again, and I was afraid I would pass out in front of him or something. His smile faded a little. "...Hmm, I think I ought to carry you, little hawk..."

I woke back up with a blanket on top of me. I sat up quickly, breathing heavily, and looked around. The boy was nowhere to be seen. I should get out of here while I can...

Then a shooting pain ran across my whole body. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes while trying to focus the pain away. With minimal success. I slowly lowered my body back onto another blanket and closed my eyes again. There was no point in trying to escape. Whoever this guy was, he had tracked me easily last time when he had still been asleep, even though I was injured and wasn't sneaking too well. There was no point in trying to escape when I knew I wasn't going to make it anywhere.

Besides...he seemed almost trustable. He hadn't done anything to me, even though he could have easily killed me or done all sorts of various things. I could feel my body giving up a little at the idea of being completely at some stranger's mercy, but there wasn't a choice anymore. As soon as I was strong enough, I'd escape.

"Mau, little hawk, don't look so sad!" My eyes sprung open and I looked up to see the boy standing there with the same smile he'd had the previous night, assuming that was how long I'd been unconscious. "You've been looking sad since I found you, don't you smile?"

I blinked a few times. ...Maybe it was just dumb luck he found me, he doesn't seem...too smart... He sighed and walked over to the small fire that was still burning and added a little more wood.

"Well, I'd say it's a little rude to be bad company to the person who saved your life, isn't it? The least you could do for me is to talk with me, hmm? Keep me company?"

I shook my head a little out of instinct. This boy...he was strange.

He rolled his eyes. "You're not very good at this, are you? Well, I'll start us off, then." He sat down on the ground next to me, looking right into my eyes with that persistent smile. "My name is Dávon. What's yours?"

I closed my eyes again. I didn't want to tell some stranger what my name was, no matter how nice he was. But...something about him just made it seem...okay. "...My name is Angela."

He smiled wider. "That's a pretty name," he commented, leaning back against the grass and breaking the eye contact, staring up at the sky instead. "Dávon's rather plain, I think. But Angela is pretty...so what brings you here?"

My face had gone slightly red. He was certainly strange. "...Dávon...I think it's a nice name." Small talk wasn't my strong suit...people had started scaring me at some point. I racked my brains for a harmless topic. "I...I followed someone in here. How did you get here? I didn't see you when I came in..."

He chuckled a little. "Following the love of our life, were we? I don't know how I got here, truthfully. I just sort of...woke up, found some moblin about to spear my head, and then started walking around. I found you on the ground near that spring back there, and...well, you know from there. So how'd you get here?"

My face went redder, and I sat up with embarrassment. "He-he is not the love of my life!"

Dávon chuckled again. "It's all right, Ang! You don't mind if I call you that do you? If you love the boy, it ain't your fault!" He looked at me and squinted a little. "You're a little young to have meet the love of your life though, aren't you?"

"...The boy I am chasing is my brother, Dávon. He is not the love of my life; he's the only family that I have."

Dávon was silent for a few minutes. "...But you do love him, right?"

"...As a brother...think next time before you go accusing people of being in love with their brother, okay?"

"I will, I promise." He smiled, looking back at me with a genuinely sorry look in his eyes. "I didn't mean to offend you, but if I said I was in here because I was chasing a girl, then you might assume that I loved her too, you know. And it's always best to make sure someone doesn't have a love interest before you give them a hug, isn't it?"

I shook my head. He just...didn't make sense. Almost every thing he said confused me, but it was interesting. I felt myself smiling a little. Maybe I should stay with him for a while. He'd probably make this place...fun.

"Dávon, how old are you?"

"Huh?" He turned and looked at me again, having turned to admire the sky while I had been thinking. He frowned slightly and then looked back at the sky. "...I'm twelve. Why?"

I blinked. Twelve? He acts a lot older...then again, I guess I do too... "Just wondering...you seem interesting for being so young."

"Hey," he said, turning and flashing another smile. "You're younger."

"H-Why would you say that?"

"I can tell...you're younger than me. Don't know how much younger, at least a year or two. But definitely younger."

"...You're right...I'm only ten...but how did you know that?"

"I'm a genius..."

"Dávon, are you ever going to answer my other question?"

"Whoa, touché! What other question? You've started talking a lot; I can't keep all of this in my head at the same time!" He smirked. "You were better quiet," he added with a wink.

"How'd you get here?"

"...I got here by an accident, it seems. I simply...walked in here. I don't think I'm supposed to be here...but, that's okay!" His smile turned into more of a wild grin. "That seems to happen to me all the time."

I frowned a little bit. "...What happens all the time?"

"I end up somewhere I'm not supposed to be, or I end up I'm not welcomed...I'm getting used to wandering around in random places!"

I smiled a little bit. "I wander too...but I go everywhere on purpose. I have to follow my brother and help him."

Dávon smiled again. "Man, you love that boy, don't you?"

"I told you-!"

"I know, I know, but I don't mean it that way!" He waved an arm. "I mean...brotherly...sisterly...ah, family love! You obviously at least like him a lot. Otherwise you wouldn't be running around the world or whatever chasing him, right?"

I blinked once or twice and then nodded. "...Y-yeah...he's all I really have, y'know. If it wasn't for him ..."

"Oh, you don't need to follow people to have fun! Y'know, have fun on your own and all that jazz?"

I shook my head. "No...he has a job too do. An important one. So I had to believe that I was here for...something. Since he was so important, it's not fair that I'm not. Link...he's one important kid."

"Link?"

"Yeah...that's his name."

"..." Dávon continued to stare at the sky for a while. "Interesting name," he finally replied. "Not as pretty as yours."

"Y-yeah...I know it's an odd name. I don't know why our parents named him that...I feel sorry for him, but...it seems that a line of Links are off saving the world or something. So...I guess destiny named him Link. Surprised it's not a more common name."

"Why?"

"You'd think every mother would want their child to save the world."

"Ah...mmhmm." I chuckled a little, watching him. His body was totally relaxed, and his eyes were closed. That slight smile that I hadn't seen leave his face yet was still etched on as well and a slight piece of his hair was waving in the mild wind that had picked up. He opened one eye and looked at me. I smiled slightly.

"A'ight, little hawk...go back to sleep."

I yawned almost as soon as I said it. "W-what? I'm not tired, don't be silly...I've been sleeping for a long time now."

"You've been unconscious. You're awake enough now to move, but you don't have any serious energy. If we needed to sprint somewhere, you'd be in trouble. Get to sleep. I'll find you some more food."

"What happened to the rest of my food?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Well, things spoil. I ate it, since it looked like you weren't gonna. Now go to sleep, little hawk." He stood up, brushing some stuff off his legs.

"Why're you still calling me that?"

He smiled again, a little softer. "Cause...that's what you are. A little hawk."

The last thing I really saw was him walking away and his long braid moving around energetically. Then I feel back asleep.

A lot later, I woke up and sat up and yawned in one fluid motion. I smiled to myself. It hadn't hurt insanely to do it. My body was more or less healed. "Hey, little hawk, don't go getting ideas now."

"Ideas like what?" I scowled without thinking about it. Man, had I already gotten used to him?

He chuckled, and I noticed with a little confusion that he was turning another spit with something on it. The amusing thing was, he was doing it with his eyes closed and using his feet. "Like getting up, running off, and leaving me alone." He grinned at me again, without even opening his eyes. "'Cause I know the first thing on your mind was healing so you could get better."

I stared at him in disbelief. How had be been able to tell that? "I...I wasn't thinking about that..."

"Aw, don't deny it. It's fine to admit you were gonna leave me without a friend in the world...the sad thing would have been if you had actually done it."

"...F-friend?"

He chuckled again. "Yeah, friend. I mean...heck, you're the first human I've seen around here. If we make ourselves enemies, then we're gonna be pretty miserable here, aren't we?"

I paused. That thought hadn't occurred to me-what if we were the only two humans in the entire Realm? The only other ones I was sure were here were Link and Ganondorf, and neither of them I knew about, either. I knew that Link would probably be with the Master Sword somewhere...but Ganondorf I didn't know. I hadn't known he was going to be here until he had entered. It was wrong. That I knew.

Link was I pretty sure I wouldn't be able to contact. And Ganondorf I didn't want to contact. So...that left the boy sitting next to me. Dávon. I gulped a little.

He opened one eye and examined the food he had on the spit and then looked at me. "...So you find being alone in a world with me scary, huh? Horrible?"

"Huh?"

He closed his eye again, his smile fading to more of a thoughtful smirk. "You don't like the idea of being with me any more than you have to, do you?"

"N-no, that's not it..."

"Aw, c'mon!" He opened his eyes and gave me a look that just made me feel...guilty. The sheer emotion he had in his eyes was impressive...and it caught me totally off-guard. "Don't lie about it, Ang. If you wanna leave, I'm not gonna make you stay, you know...you can go if you want to."

"I didn't mean...I mean, it's not like I wanted to leave because I didn't want to stay and talk with you or something..."

"Am I that annoying, then?"

"You're...unique. Friendly."

"And you can't wait to get away from me."

"God damn it, Dávon, if you're gonna get that upset about it, then I'll stay with you...I mean, it's not like I have anywhere else to go or something."

He sighed a little, and I heard him cluck his tongue. "Language...and yeah. But you could..." He didn't finish his sentence, just continued turning the spit with his boots. Finally he grinned again. "Hey, food's pretty much done. Wanna eat?"

I blinked. He dropped it...just like that? I nodded, and pulled the blankets off myself. "I should work some...I haven't swung a sword for a while..."

He nodded. "We both could. After we eat, we will." He stood up and starting cutting up the meat and handed a bit on another stick to me before sitting and eating a little. It was surprisingly good.

"...Dávon...I'm not gonna stay because I feel guilty or something..." I swallowed the meat I was eating and looked at him. He didn't look back, but continued to chow down on his bit of meat. "I'm gonna stay because...you seem interesting. And I think...we could have fun together."

He kept eating silently for a little, and I sighed and did so too. After a few minutes, he nodded at me. "Good."

After that, our conversation just seemed natural.

"Mm...where'd you learn how to cook, Dávon?"

He blinked. "...People learn how to cook?" He looked thoughtful for a few moments and then shook his head. "Nonsense. I just sort of put the food on the fire until its edible..."

"Either way, it tastes good..."

"Glad you enjoy it."

I smiled. Dávon was always a little spacey when he cooked food, even if he denied it. He didn't let stuff burn. It was rather amusing, really, because he denied being anything near a cook, and then paid his food the utmost attention. "Hey, Dáv..."

"Hmmm?"

"I thought you wanted to fight or something."

"Huh?" He looked at me with utter confusion, his smile half off his face. "Why would I want to fight with you? I don't wanna get you pissed..."

"No, not fight with me, you dummy!" I laughed again. "I meant...practice with swords and stuff. Remember, you said when I was better we could fight or something, remember? Well, I am okay now, y'know."

He chuckled a little. "You sure you wanna spar with me?"

I frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You're a girl! Don't think I didn't notice that yet! Everyone knows that guys are stronger and all that stuff. As a girl, you don't stand a chance against me!" I stared at him in mild disbelief.

Huh. Didn't know he was sexist...

He grinned sheepishly. "Nah, just kidding. That doesn't have anything to do with you not beating me."

"Oh? And why couldn't I beat you?" He sighed a little, and pulled his sword out of his sheath. He looked at the blade for a few minutes, before pointing out a little nick in it. I blinked. "...So what does this have to do with anything?"

"No point in hurting our swords, right?" He re-sheathed it and laid back down on the ground, kicking the spit once to turn it. "It's harder to sharpen swords without a block of wood or something. I don't wanna have them get dull...or break."

I sighed a little. "C'mon, we're not gonna fight for our lives or anything! Not hard enough to break the swords." He frowned a little, but his face returned to his usual smile within a second or so. "It's not going to hurt anything..."

"A'ight, a'ight...I'll beat you up..." He stood up, moving his long braid back behind his body. He pulled out his sword again, scowling mildly at the marred spot. "I'll have to clean you later, won't I?"

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my sword a little clumsily-it had been a while. I was used to using my bow, not my sword. I hadn't fought with it since the time I had accidentally gotten caught by a few rogue zombies and hadn't had a choice. Dávon raised an eyebrow.

"You sure about this?"

"Yeah. Come on already!"

"We can't fight on, we need a clearing or something. We'll step in the fire and burn our boots, and if our tunics burn off, then you'd be really embarrassed, wouldn't you?"

I nodded, rolling my eyes a little. "Where do you come up with these thoughts?"

"Trust me, if you spent enough time sitting still in one place, your mind would warp in ways that you never imagined possible." I shook my head at him again. "Whaaaaaat?"

"You're just crazy, blonde boy..."

"Blonde boy? Little hawk, you better not be mouthing off to me!"

I yanked on his braid a little and smirked. "Oh, and what if I am, Blondie?"

"Then I'll use my greater height and smash you into the ground like a bug."

I pouted. "That's not very nice, Dáv..."

"Neither is mouthing off to people, little hawk."

I sighed and stared at him sadly, fingering the hilt of my sword. "Mau, Dávon, are we gonna fight or not?"

He stood indecisively for a little bit, trying not to meet my eyes and mentally debating with himself. That all ended when gave him puppy eyes. He started walking. "C'mon," I heard him mumble. "If you really wanna..."

I grinned widely and gave him a hug from behind. He paused for a moment, moving his arms away from me as to not disrupt my hold. I broke off, walking ahead of him and grinning. He shook his head a little and followed, a half smile half thoughtful look on his face.

"Don't think too hard, Dávon. Your head might explode."

"Ooh, you're right. Wouldn't want that to happen."

A field wasn't hard to find. All we had to do was walk for a little while until the forest thinned enough for us to stand ten or so feet away from each other without running into trees. Dávon nodded and sat down on the ground. "This place is fine...look, Ang, are you sure you want to fight with me?"

"Ooh, you used my real name. Must be serious."

He rolled his eyes. "C'mon!"

I sighed a little. "Look, is there a serious reason you don't want to fight me?"

He shook his head a little. "Not...really, no. I just don't really wanna fight with you..." He grinned sheepishly.

"You're not fighting with me, it's a sparring match! You have weird logic, blonde boy!" I chuckled and wiped my blade off. "Now hurry up already, or the food'll burn."

He shook his head and stood up. "Hey, I'm ready girl. Just come at me whenever you're ready."

I stared at him for a few seconds and growled a little. "Don't take me so lightly as to just give me first attack!"

"I'm not taking you lightly...please, just take it. I'd feel rather mean taking the first hit against a girl-and I'm not being sexist or anything. I would feel mean doing it to almost anyone...and fighting with you is bad enough."

"We're not fighting!"

I took my sword and ran at him, taking the first attack with a little more annoyance. He's not even taking me seriously! He's still sitting on the ground! But as I got near him, he seemed to...sort of suddenly appear sitting and then suddenly be standing. But I didn't have time to think about that, seeing as his sword had suddenly gotten tangled in my hands as soon as I had stepped into range.

I took a step back, recovering my balance and trying to get a hold of my sword. Dávon raised an eyebrow. "You're faster than that."

I stared at him in shock for a second and then was forced to block a hit he sent at my stomach. I grunted a little, feeling him begin to slowly move my sword closer to my body. "So, what we fighting till?" I looked at him again in shock, losing another inch out of surprise. "I'm assuming you'd like first blood." I didn't comment, just kept trying to force him away. "Okay then."

He suddenly moved back, causing me to stumble forward. He grabbed the hilt of my sword with one hand-putting it over mine-and squeezed. I winced. He was strong, and now both of my hands were stuck. "Dáv-Dávon...l-let go..."

"Battle situation, little hawk. Would a moblin let go of your hand?"

He dropped his sword and grabbed one of my hands with his, and pulled it right off the sword. I hadn't realized he was strong enough to do it, but it made perfect sense. I was a lightweight to him.

He pulled my arms out farther on each side so I was very off balance. He chuckled a little. "That wasn't a very good fight, was it? I didn't draw blood, and you don't draw blood...it looks like no one wins. You agree we'll try this another time?"

I shook my head. "Dammit, don't keep treating me like I can't do any-"

He pulled a little farther, causing a slight bit of pain. "Language, little hawk, language...do you want to end this fight now or let me actually beat you?"

I gulped a little. He was hurting my back, and at this rate...I really wasn't going to win. "Fine. You win."

"Ah, ah, ah...it's a draw. There was no blood."

I blinked, and then gritted my teeth. "Dammit, I told you, I don't want you-"

He sighed loudly and released my arms, but wrapped his around me and pulling me towards him a little. I felt him press a little weight into me, and my words just sort of died. I was too surprised to really say anything to him. "Little hawk, I told you, I don't want to hear you curse anymore...you are a little lady, they shouldn't curse."

"S-sorry..."

"And I'm not going easy on you, either. I just don't want to beat you horribly on our first match."

"...First...match?"

He nodded, leaning his head against my shoulder. "You don't think I'm not going to improve your skills now that I know what you might be capable of, do you? Nah...duty as a friend, y'know. To bring each other to their potential."

"But I won't be able to help you..."

He grinned, and released me and spun me around to face him in the same motion. "Then here's our deal. You don't ditch me, I teach you how to fight well."

I stared at his face for a little bit. His was smiling, as usual-so far, I had only seen that smile disappear for a few minutes-but that wasn't what interested me. I fought myself drawn to looking at his eyes. I hadn't ever noticed how blue they were before...but they were pretty. They reminded me of Lake Hylia. They complemented his blonde braid, too. It made me wish for a few minutes that I had the same combination of looks.

The interesting thing about his eyes really was that they didn't look like they belonged on the face of a grinning guy; they looked like they belonged on a homeless man begging for food. I realized with a jerk that Dávon honestly just wanted me to stay with him. He'd be more than hurt if I ran off and ditched him as I had originally planned.

And with even more interest, I found the idea was no longer even slightly appealing. Dávon had managed to completely amuse and interest me in the time we had been together, and we got along better than anyone else I had ever talked with, aside from maybe Kailua. I smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a deal to me."

He grinned even wider, and this time his eyes joined in. "Good."

"C'mon," he yelled, waving his sword at me. "You can fight better than that!"

"I'm trying to!" I swung my sword and caught a moblin in the chest, and then ducked and rolled to avoid its wild failing. I could hear Dávon groan in the background.

"Aww, don't leave your sword in the thing's gut!"

I winced and turned in a very awkward way and yanked my sword out of the moblin's stomach as it fell, using its momentum to ease the action. I turned around and held my sword up just in time to parry a heavier hit from another moblin. I slid a few feet backwards, wincing and gripping the hilt of my sword very tightly in an attempt to keep a grip on the fight. I gritted my teeth and leaned forward, trying to push the moblin off its center of balance. It pushed back just as hard, until I suddenly ducked to the side and let it stumble forward, slashing its neck as soon as it was open enough.

Dávon clapped from his perch in the tree. "Good, good...extremely messy, a lot of missteps, and all-around stupidity..." He jumped out of the tree, putting his sword away and smirking a little, "but you're alive. That's always good."

I sighed. "Man, Dáv, I swear unless one of these bastards killed me, you'd just sit in that tree."

"Language," he warned, clucking his tongue. "We've spent a year on this. Clean up your mouth, little hawk."

"And I swear you'll never call me by my real name!"

He smiled. "I do call you by your real name. But it's cuter to call you little hawk, don't you think?" I could feel my face flushing a little, and he chuckled. "Well, I'll just pretend that's from all the work you did in the battle, won't I?"

I sighed and sheathed my sword, shaking my head a little. "Yeah, yeah, if you know what's good for you."

He smirked, putting an arm around my shoulder and making a sweeping arm gesture to the surrounding area. "So, where to today, little hawk?" I shrugged. He chuckled. "You never care where we go, do you?"

I shook my head. "Nah..."

"Why?"

I looked at him in surprise. He was still grinning, but his smile was a little more curious than before. "Why what?"

"Why do you never care where we go? You always just let me choose."

"Oh..." I looked up at the sky for a few minutes, and then shrugged. "I don't know...it just seems like I have no matter what we do, so why should I care what we do?" I smiled a little. "I mean, most of the time you don't know where we're going, we just go. Besides, we still don't know what's around here. We haven't explored much..."

"Yeah, I know." He took his arm off my shoulder and made a dramatic pose. I laughed, and he winked at me. "Come, fair maiden! Today, we go off to chart this...uncharted land!"

I kept laughing, still shaking my head. "You're a nut, Dávon!"

He shrugged. "That may be true...but we still should explore this place. We have no idea what it's like, and we've been here for almost a year. We have no idea what it's like outside this forest-in fact, we have no idea what it's like outside a certain part of this forest."

That surprised me. "There's no way it's been a year already..."

He chuckled. "What, having too much fun with me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, oh modest one, don't you know it. It seems like a few months at the most, not a year..."

"Hate to break it to you, but a few months is a year."

I lightly punched his shoulder. "Don't be smart. You're head'll explode."

He winced. "Don't like the sound of that one bit...perhaps I ought to be get to being the mule and carrying everything in order to prevent that, hmm?"

I smirked and nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me."

It didn't take long until Dávon had actually rolled up the blankets he had and somehow compressed them until they were easy to carry. And then we simply started walking. "...Oi, blond boy, do we actually have any plan as to where we're heading, or are you just kind of walking?"

"Definitely just walking."

I winced. "...Well, we could be stuck in this forest for the rest of our lives..."

"That's not possible...there's an end to every forest."

"Not Kokiri."

"Say what now?" He turned and looked at me, walking backwards and somehow managing to evade the trees. "Kokiri?"

"Yeah...that's a forest in Hyrule."

"Ah, Hyrule...I've heard of the place, never been there, though."

I blinked. "...Then where have you been?"

"Somewhere else, obviously...so much for little hawk being smart."

"No, Dávon, I'm serious!"

"There are other worlds beside Hyrule; you know...you've just never been to them. That's sort of how I got here, actually...I was trying to get out of my world and go to a more important world or something with better chances of getting rich quick, and I accidentally messed up the portal guy, because I sure didn't land in the center of the capital."

"Where did you land?"

"Inside a Castle...but there were no people." He shook his head. "Let's not think about it, it was disturbing. There were no people anywhere in the castle, but there sure wasn't anything else, either."

I frowned. "...Hyrule Castle Town...empty..." I shook my head. "You said you landed in here. The town in here must just not be right, because people don't live here. This place is an echo of Hyrule, so as long as Hyrule is fine, this place will show it...and the forest is still safe."

"Except all those moblins..."

"A lot of places have monsters in them! It's the natural way of things...there are good animals and bad ones. Some attack, some don't."

"...I don't know if you've noticed, little hawk...the only animal that hasn't attacked us is you."

"I'm not an animal, you nut case..."

"But as a hawk you were. I haven't even seen a butterfly..."

"Dávon, please...don't worry about it." I smiled a little. "We don't know what it's like here, we haven't explored enough yet."

He nodded. "...I guess." He sighed a little, still walking backwards. "Man, today kinda sucks, you can't even see the sky. I've gotten used-"

Thud. I stopped, and blinked, staring at Dávon, who had suddenly totally ceased to move. I shook my head. "...Man, that probably took care of a few brain cells. How you feeling?"

He winced. "Ow. My head."

"Aw...poor tree, an idiot ran into it!"

He pouted. Dávon, unlike most guys, could actually pout without being gay. He didn't look stupid or anything when he pouted, he looked sad, and it kinda made me feel bad every time he did it. I rolled my eyes. "You're being mean again..."

"Oh, I am not being mean to you. C'mon, let's keep moving."

"Where are we gonna go? You're the only one who has a prayer at recognizing this place."

I nodded, and grabbed his arm. "This way!" With that, I started running, dragging him behind me. He somehow managed to contort his body so he was running normally, but I was still steering him, running in the direction I was fairly sure Kokiri Forest was in. Every so often he'd flail and I'd have to practically pull him into me for him to avoid a tree.

Finally, we emerged from one of the tunnels of the Lost Woods, and looked around. It was eerily still in Kokiri Forest. It was night, so none of the Kokiri were awake, but it still seemed empty. I frowned.

"...There aren't any stray fairies, Dávon."

He shrugged. "Are there supposed to be any?"

I nodded. "It never gets this dark here...there are usually tens of fairies floating around here, so it's always light. It's the most beautiful sight in the world..." I closed my eyes, imagining all the fairies dancing around. I missed them. I hadn't been able to sit and peacefully watch the fairies for a long time now, and I missed them. I missed...everyone in Kokiri. I missed the life I had been living before Link had left the forest.

I wiped at my eyes, feeling a little bit of water in them. I gulped. I missed Saria, who had always been so nice to me...the twins, who had always been fun to chat with, and all the Kokiri. I almost missed Mido. And I missed having a little floating blob next to me wherever I went. I rubbed my eyes again. "...It's the most beautiful thing..."

Dávon shook his head, and stepped towards me, kind of slowly wrapping one arm around me in a sort of hug. "No, it's not..."

"H-how would you know? You've never seen it." I looked back at him, feeling my face trembling a little. I didn't want to cry in front of Dávon, but I couldn't help it. I missed my old life so much...

He smiled a little. He had that same sad look in his eyes he had when he had thought I was leaving-the sad tint. "No, I know it's not the most beautiful thing in the world...but I know what is." He wiped a little bit of water off from under one of my eyes. "Mau, little hawk, don't cry..."

I sniffled a little, wiping more at my eyes. "I-I'm not crying..." I felt his grip on me tighten a little, and I instinctively leaned in against him. For some reason, just resting all of my weight against him just felt natural. I looked back at the still forest, trying to figure out where everyone was. I could see the leaves of the Deku Tree, I could hear the splashing of water at the small waterfall-but that was all the movement.

Suddenly, I felt alienated. I felt like we were strangers and didn't belong, and that hundreds of hidden eyes were staring at us. I tensed, looking around with a slight sense of panic.

Dávon felt he tense and let go, looking around. "What's wrong?"

"...Dáv...it's late. Come on; let's go find a place to sleep."

"Can't we borrow a room from someone here?"

I shook my head, feeling a few tears threatening to return. "There's no one here, Dávon. No one."

We ended up going to check for my grotto, but it simply wasn't there. I searched for nearly ten minutes while Dávon watched, but my grotto just didn't exist. I finally shook my head. "It's not here."

"Then we'll just use this tree-house," he shrugged, pointing at Link's house. I frowned a little.

"That's Link's house."

"So?"

"Nothing wrong with it...it'll just be odd to not see him sleeping there."

"Well, if it's gonna bother you, then...I won't make you sleep there, you know..." He paused. "Man, you even stalk him in his sleep?"

"Oh, shut up. Come on, it's time we went to sleep...it's probably almost ten by now." I chuckled a little. I was getting a lot more sleep in the Sacred Realm. I was safer here, somehow. My body could relax enough for me to get more sleep.

We both climbed up the staircase and into his room. It was really dark in there, but we couldn't light a fire, obviously. I knew where everything was because I had seen his house so many times, so I got out some more blankets and prepared to sleep on the floor.

Dávon wouldn't allow that, though, so within a few minutes of a tackling match, I was sleeping on the bed, and he was complaining that the floor was hard. Then I threw a boot at him, closed the curtains, and went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to a huge pair of blue eyes staring me in the face. I jumped up with a start, hitting the eyes with my head in the process. "Oww!" Dávon fell off the side of the bed, holding onto his head. "That huuuurt!" I found myself unable to stop staring at him. The sight of a boy rolling on the floor, whining and holding onto his head was simply...odd.

Then again, so was the boy.

"Uh...sorry, Dáv..."

"Oh, I'm fine." He sat up, resting his arms on his legs like nothing had happened. "So, where to today?"

I shook my head, sort of accepting his strangeness. "I wanna explore the rest of this forest...I need to check out a couple of landmarks, so to speak."

He shrugged. "You're the boss...I have no idea where we are anyway." He stood up, stretching and wiping some stuff of his clothes. "...Hey..." he smirked evilly. "Think your any of your brother's stuff is here?"

I shook my head. "Wow...where do you think I got the blankets from? Of course his stuff is here!"

He grinned. "We should take a little for you, so you can remember him better...that would be ssooooo cute!"

Another book went soaring at his head, but his superior reflexes let him dodge it. "Yeah, right. I'm not that creepy."

There was a sudden violent wind outside-strong enough to kick up all the blankets we had been using and have them almost strangle us. Both of us spent a good two minutes protecting ourselves from them before the wind died down, and a rather bright glow filtered into the house. I could see Dávon shift his weight minutely so that he could fight if he needed to.

"Ang...will ya move over here for me?" He pointed behind himself, keeping an eye on the door. "If you arch, then we can take out whatever it is safely."

"It may not be dangerous..." Without arguing, I went behind him, drawing out my bow and nocking an arrow to it.

"Best to be safe, little hawk."

The door moved open, and I winced from the bright light, unable to aim at all. The glow quickly faded, and I moved quickly to aim an arrow at the surprised figure in the doorway.

"...Well...I didn't think anyone would be here."

Dávon and I looked at each other, and I wordlessly put my bow away. Whoever this old man was, he was obviously no danger-he was too out of shape to swing a sword anyway. "Excuse me, sir, but...who are you?"

The stranger smiled. "Ah...Angela, correct? I've heard of you. You," he added, looked at Dávon, "I can't say I know. What's your name?"

He smiled a little. "Mau, I'd say it was a tad rude to ask for names without introducing yourself first, wouldn't you agree?"

The man smiled in an almost grandfatherly way. "Of course...my name is Rauru."

I blinked. "Rauru...I know that name..."

He looked mildly surprised. "Have you? Where?"

"...From a book..."

He stared at me for a little longer and then sighed. "Then you already know that you can't contact Link while you're here...there's no reason at all for you to be here."

"I-I know..."

"Are you going to bother us?"

I shook my head. He nodded and then walked over to a drawer, and began casting spells and transporting things. "H-hey! What are you doing?"

"If I have to watch over him, then I will be keeping his things. He will be more comfortable that way, will he not?" He finished casting his spells, and walked back over to me. "I have no problem with you being here, but it's dangerous...I'd rather you go back to Hyrule. I can send you there, if you'd like."

I looked over at Dávon. "What about him?"

"Him I cannot send...my magic will not affect him for reasons you will not yet understand."

I shook my head. "Then no, I will stay here..."

Rauru nodded, and then walked out of the tree house. I gulped slightly, and looked over at Dávon, and then gestured towards the door. "C'mon. We have a lot of exploring to do..."