Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Zelda characters, they are all property of Nintendo. I do not own Marth either, since he is in my story too.
A/N: Oh my, thank you for the reviews I received for the last chapter! That made me really, really happy! Here are my thanks to Anime-Master7, ShadowedVengeance, GuruGuru214, dan heron, Selah Lahai Roi and Katsy. Thanks for the support! My special thanks this time are for Selah Lahai Roi, for your long, nice review! You had a lot of interesting points there, and it was greatly appreciated. A few words about this chapter, too: It's a pretty long chapter, and mostly written from Link's POV. I've tried writing with POV's before, and it's a funny way to write. I hope it's not confusing, and if it really was bad, I would like to know it if you review. Thank you.
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Chapter nine: Leaving
Marth's POV
Headache.
The pain was so intense, I could barely move at all. The first thought that flashed through my dizzy mind was the question "Am I still alive?" But as I didn't think there would be any pain in the heavens, I realized I was still alive, with a sharp pain in my left shoulder, a splitting headache and an intense thirst as well. It took a couple of minutes for me to recollect what had happened. I had seen Cremia's body, and had been hit by a spear, which had caused the deep gash in my shoulder. My sight was all hazy, but I realized that I was outside the town, on the back of a horse. Now wait a minute. On the back of a horse?
A man was walking next to the horse's head, holding its reins. A ball of purple light was sitting between the horse's ears – Tael! How glad I was to see him again!
"Tael! It's really you!" I exclaimed, causing Tael to wince, the horse to neigh and the man to turn around and look at me. It was... something strange about him. Not only was he carrying the biggest backpack I had ever seen, he also wore strange, purple clothes and had fiery red hair. But he smiled at me. I smiled back politely.
"That was about time, son", he said with an odd laughter. "Beginning to think you would never wake up, were we, Tael?"
"Where are we? How long have I been here?" I asked.
"We are halfway to Hyrule, young man", the stranger said. "I found you two hours ago, outside Clock Town. You looked bad, so I decided to take care of you for a while. Attacked by Stalfos, weren't you?"
"Yes, that's right." I nodded. I realized I was wrapped up in a warm, woollen blanket. The cold drizzle fell into my eyes, but it hurt too much to move, so I let it be and turned to Tael.
"I was separated from you and I couldn't find you again", he said. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you, Marth."
"It's all right. I missed you, I never thought I would feel so alone."
Romani, a small voice in the back of my head said. You would save her, wouldn't you, Marth? What is she supposed to do? She is only a child.
"Tael, what about Romani?" I said desperately.
"Don't worry about her, Marth", the fairy said. "One of the knights from Hyrule took her with him. She couldn't get to the ranch; the Stalfos had placed a huge rock on the Milk Road. She'll be all right."
I felt very relieved, but I tried not to think about anything as we approached the edge of the deep forest between Termina and Hyrule. After two long years, I would finally see my home again... by that time, I didn't know anything about the changes I would face.
"We should be in Hyrule by nightfall." It was the stranger's voice. I thought about asking him about his name, but I think I blacked out before I could.
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Four years later, Link's POV
"You think I can't do it because I'm a girl, don't you?"
"What?" Zelda's voice awoke me from my thoughts. I gave her a confused look. She had an irritated expression on her beautiful face. Her golden hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, her sky blue eyes gazed at me, and she had her hands impatiently on her hips. I felt very uneasy when she looked at me that way, it felt as though she was fully able to look right through my body. Literally.
"You think I can't do it because I'm a girl, don't you?" she repeated with an impatient sigh.
"No, I don't", I said to defend myself. "You're much better than me. I just..."
"You just what?"
I hated to argue with her, but sometimes she went on my nerves. Well, it's just natural for teenagers to argue, isn't it? Right now, we were talking about shooting a bird down from a nearby tree with the bow. Sometimes I said things I didn't mean, and hurt Zelda. She knew I was stronger and faster than her, and she wanted to be better than me at something. And she was: I wasn't as good as her with the bow. In fact, I was pretty bad. I had practiced with the sword instead of trying to become a good archer.
"Nothing. Fine, you can do it. I don't care."
"All right, as you wish", Zelda said with a superior smile. I watched her pull the bow string back, put an arrow on it, and aim carefully. I had not a clue what she intended to shoot, but I heard a zipping sound and a dove fell to the ground, the arrow protruding from its chest. Zelda smiled at me, and headed back to the village.
I had to admit, she had grown up. She wasn't the little girl I remembered anymore. I guess you could call her a young woman, she was soon fourteen after all. How did the time pass by that fast? Zelda wasn't a Princess anymore, she had left everything about her former life behind her a long time ago. Sometimes I thought about what would have happened if she hadn't got lost in the forest that day. Now I was just glad that I met her. I couldn't deny that I had been developing feelings for her, but I was sure she didn't like me the same way. She thought of me like... like an older brother. It was like we really were siblings, and the Kokiri people kept saying how similar we looked with our blond hair and blue eyes, our pointy ears and length... we were so different from them, yet so similar.
Sometimes I thought those secret thoughts, thoughts I would never share with anyone. I thought of growing old with Zelda, have children, moving out of the forest to see Hyrule... to discover the country together... but I always forced those thoughts out of my head. What were those thoughts, anyway? I wasn't supposed to think of things like that... we were only fourteen, just children, yet it seemed like I had been trapped inside that damn forest for a lifetime.
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"Hey, Link, are you here? I want to talk to you." It was Saria, my... best friend? To be honest, I wasn't sure about that anymore. I had been spending a lot of my time with Zelda, and since Saria had gone out with Mido that day, she said they were 'going steady', and she spend mostly of her time with him or with the other Kokiri girls. It's true, Mido and Saria – if someone had told me that several years earlier, I would have laughed – very hard - but people can actually change. Mido had not been the same person since Zelda and I saved him from that Moblin.
"I'm here, Saria! What is it?" I sat with my back against an old tree trunk. Saria sat down just opposite me in the soft grass, looking anxiously at me. Once again, I got that uneasy feeling. Why do I always feel so... so strange when I'm talking to girls? Now where did that childish innocence go? When I was younger, I could talk to anyone, well, except Mido, but that was before that incident with the Moblin... I had really changed over those four years! I didn't recognize myself anymore.
I had intended to let her speak first, but suddenly I heard words coming out of my own mouth: "I think I'm leaving, Saria."
"I'm not surprised, Link", she said slowly. "I thought you would leave the forest years ago. But you and Zelda are actually growing up, and I guess the forest is too small for you two."
She said it in a way that made me chuckle. "Maybe you're right. I feel trapped here, Saria. I need to see different things, talk to different people... I don't have anyone to talk to..." I interrupted, how would I say that? That I didn't have anyone to talk to about my problems? No, that wasn't the right word. I guessed the Kokiri wouldn't understand even if I told them everything – the things I knew, to be exactly – about puberty. Surely Saria liked Mido very much, but would she understand the feelings I had (or thought I had) for Zelda?
"You like Zelda, don't you?" Oh damn, she asked me. Why are girls so complicated? Why did she have to ask me that question now? Well, I had to answer it anyway.
"Honestly, yes I do."
"I see." Oh no, she giggled in that very girlish way. "Well, I know you're not the Link I used to know... you have grown up, and so have Zelda, but I don't know much about what you're passing through."
"No, I know."
"But I think it's time for you to leave this forest. To have lived here for fourteen years is long enough for a Hylian... oh, Link, you're still my best friend and I'll miss you terribly if you leave."
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"If you're leaving, I'm leaving too", Zelda said firmly. "I can't stay here alone, and I want to see what have happened out there since I came here. I wonder how Impa took it that day..."
"If we went to Hyrule Castle Town, we would find out", I said eagerly. "I can't understand why I'm leaving this forest now – when I've been here for fourteen years."
"Maybe we could stay in the Castle, until we had found another place to stay", Zelda suggested.
"I thought you didn't want to live in a Castle ever again?" I said.
"You're right, we – I can't return to the Castle. Maybe we could stay in Kakariko..."
"Kakariko?"
Zelda suddenly stood up again and walked over to the open window. She gazed out at the sunlit village, which seemed more peaceful than ever before.
"Maybe we could stay with Impa", Zelda exclaimed. "She has a house in Kakariko village, and I'm sure she would love to see us – me… again."
"That's a wonderful idea", I agreed and nodded, but I wasn't really aware of what she just had told me. I was thinking again, thinking of touching her lithe, delicate body, kiss her... I had to stop those stupid thoughts now, they were getting way too far. She didn't think of me as a possible boyfriend, did she? Probably not.
"I think we should leave in a few days", I heard myself say. Zelda turned around and – to my great surprise – hugged me. It was just brief, but I could feel her body against mine and her hands around my neck. I hugged her back, unsure of where to put my hands. She let go of me and smiled a happy smile. When did I start developing so strong feelings for her, anyway? She was just a very good friend for at least three long years, but since then, something had happened to me.
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We left Kokiri forest three days later. Before we left, Saria gave me something. It was a tiny Ocarina, cool and smooth, a little instrument that the Kokiri used to play. I hadn't played the Ocarina before, but I had always wanted to be a really good player, just like Saria. Sometimes she played a really nice tune, a tune that reminded me of the forest... when she first came up with that melody, I called it Saria's song.
"Thank you, Saria", I said, hugging her.
"You remember my song, don't you?" she asked me.
"Yes, of course I do."
"If you ever want to talk to me, play my song", Saria explained. "Then we will be able to talk to each other again..."
"All right, I'll try it", I replied and put the tiny instrument in my bag. "Come on, Zelda, I think we should get going. Good bye, Saria, I'll miss you. And... thank you."
She just looked at me, smiling. Zelda and I turned around and faced the edge of the forest. What would meet my eyes out there? I had never seen Hyrule before, and I couldn't imagine it. The Kokiri village and the Kokiri people disappeared between the trees, and none of us looked back. They belonged to our past now, and it was time for us to look forward.
Hyrule Field was big. Okay, it was more than just big. It was... vast, that's the word I would like to use. I had never seen a field that big, with trees and grass as far as the eye could see. Right in front of us was a hill, and I couldn't see what was behind it. To the west I could see the silhouette of a house far away, but I wasn't sure of what it was. I could also see a stone wall and a high mountain range by the horizon to the east.
"We won't manage in getting to Kakariko village in just one day", I heard Zelda state. "I think we should spend the night on Lon Ranch..."
"Lon what?"
"Lon Ranch", she explained and pointed at the house silhouette to the west. "I have been there once before, with Impa. A man called Talon owns the ranch, and he lives there with his daughter Malon and the worker Ingo. Talon and Malon are nice, but I remember I didn't like Ingo. There was something I didn't like about him... I can't remember what though."
Then there was an awkward silence. I thought about things I could possibly say to Zelda, but each time I tried to talk, no words came from my throat. Why did I feel so uneasy around her? We were the best of friends! But it was obvious that I felt a lot more about her now. How would I know if she felt the same? Should I tell her about my feelings? No, of course not, what if she didn't feel the same way? Oh Goddesses, love was complicated!
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A/N: There is chapter 9, and one of the longest chapters yet! I hope it turned out all right! I really enjoyed writing this chapter from Link's POV, so I might do that in the following chapters too, if it was good. What did you think? Do you want to see it in the next chapters? I thought about writing from Zelda's POV too. And there you have it, romance… I know nothing has happened between the two yet, but it's just a matter of time! There might even happen something between Link and Malon… It's pretty hard to write about a person's feelings like that, but I tried to do my best. In the next chapter I'll also write about the King and the new Queen, and what happened to Marth when he returned to Hyrule.
..::Hylian Heroine::..