A/N: Okay, by now you've figured out that this isn't your average OoT novelization. I have one thing to say to that: Duh. If it were your average OoT novel, why would you read it? Mostly, I just want to add to the depth of the story. If I were to write verbatim, word for word, the exact adaptation from home console to black and white, what in the world would be the point? That wouldn't be my story. This is.

I tell you this for two reasons. One is that many things have already occurred that are different from the game, such as the whole quest for the gauntlets, and my personal time-travel system. This is how I think I can best interpret the ideas expressed in the game. Also, I have some personal ideas to express in the story, which will soon come to fruition. That is reason number two. Things are about to be VERY different. Well, I'm adding a lot. I won't get rid of any of the important stuff. Link and Navi have some stuff going on now, once again, so I'll see ya later. 

A Hero's Path

Chapter 28: Fairy Folk and Foreigners

The creature's wail ended with its descent into darkness, and only faint echoes in the large room remained. Link's attention now turned to Saria. She was still just fine. Her eyes blinked suddenly. She raised her hand to her head and rubbed it while the other rubbed her eyes. She opened them wide and stared at Link.

"Saria? Are you all right?" Link asked.

She didn't say anything. She just stared, wide-eyed at Link. Finally, a single word escaped her lips.

"Link?"

He knelt down next to her. "Listen, Saria, I don't know why…"

"No, you don't have to explain it to me," she said. "You and I are different people, from different worlds. You were always so adventurous, and I was a bit of a recluse… It is destiny that you and I can't live in the same world. You're now an adult and I'm still a child." She stood up and met his eyes. "But you are the savior of Hyrule."

She hugged him tightly. "Are you the one I'm waiting for? That man said I would wait for you. It's funny. I think I always was waiting for you."

Navi floated quietly. She respected Link's time with Saria. She was his oldest friend. However, a faint green glow meshed with her usual blue. If only Link still loved her as much as Saria!

"I think I'm supposed to play you a song," Link said.

"I can't play with you," she said. "Remember when you came to the Forest Temple, and said that evil man broke your ocarina?"

Link nodded. Saria pointed over to some shattered clay pieces on the mosaic floor. "His horse stepped on it."

"It's okay, Saria," Link said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I know," she said. "It was old, though. The Great Deku Tree gave it to me. But I don't need it to remember him, right?"

"Yeah."

"But now I can't commune with the spirits."

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay. I get the feeling… This song you want to play can help everything, right?"

"I don't know. I just have to do it."

Link raised the blue ocarina to his lips again, closed his eyes and remembered the song Sheik had taught him earlier that day. He began to play the song once more. As he played, the pictures all around the room seemed to jump out in his closed eyes. The quiet brook in the dark forest came alive. A strange, ringing sound surrounded him as he played. It grew into a melodic harmony to the minuet, until Saria finally stopped him.

"Link…" she said. "The spirits of the forest are…"

"What?"

"I can hear them, clearly. I'm not even playing my ocarina!"

"What does that mean?"

"There was once a man named Mudora of Forest. He was a Sage, the keeper of this temple. He speaks to me now… and he tells me my real name. I am Saria… of Forest!"

"You're the Sage?"

"Yes! Thank you," she said. "The song you just played let the call of this temple reach me…"

Link turned around and saw that the ringing sound was coming from the Triforce image of the mosaic. It was glowing brightly. Saria took his hand and led him into the gap between the three triangles. Everything glowed bright blue, and the three of them were caught up in the air, and floated through the ceiling.

Link opened his eyes to find himself standing in the Chamber of Sages once more. Saria stood on a green platform with a strange symbol on it before him.

"Link," she said. She looked so much older and wiser under the bright glow of the chamber. "There is still so much to do. You must awaken the other Sages. Then we can all stop that wicked man, Ganondorf. I will stay here as the Forest Sage and help you. Now please, take this Medallion."

She reached forward and handed Link another coin, like Rauru's, only green and with the symbol of her stage in the chamber.

"You must go, Link. The Great Deku Tree told me… he has more to tell you. You must go see him now! Goodbye, Link."

He didn't have a chance to say anything. He started to float upward again in the blue glow. But Saria managed to say something to him.

"I will always be… your friend…"

Link slowly descended into the forest, between thick, bare branches. As he came down, he realized they belonged to the Great Deku Tree. His bark was all gray and every leaf had fallen to the ground. He lowered to the ground, gazing at the Deku Tree's dead body.

Finally, his feet touched ground in a parting of the sea of leaves that flooded the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. Before him was a tiny sapling. Light shone directly down upon it and exalted it. He stared at it curiously. Navi turned away from the Deku Tree in reverence.

He leaned over the small sprout and looked at it closely. Why had he dropped right here. He looked up at the Great Deku Tree's face. His final expression was one of peace.

"You…" Link started. "You're gone aren't you? You can't tell me anything, can you?"

Suddenly, the sapling shot up. It expanded outward as it rose and caught Link right in the jaw in its sudden rush upward. He fell backward on his rear end. Navi turned back around to view the strange event. She started laughing.

The tree that now stood in front of Link was about as tall as he was. The majority of its trunk was a young, pleasant face, as one of a child. It had stubby arm-like branches. Suddenly, it spoke.

"Hi there!" Its voice was kind of squeaky, childish voice, like one of the Kokiri would have. It seemed somehow overjoyed to be alive.

Link rubbed his jaw. "And you are…?" he said.

"I'm the Deku Tree sprout! Because you and Saria broke the curse on the Forest Temple, I can grow and flourish! Thanks a lot!"

"You're welcome?" Link said. He was almost intimidated by the cheerful presence of this tree.

"I'm sorry if I seem really happy. I am a sapling, after all!"

"Right…"

"Oh, hi, Navi!"

"Hello," she said a little bit awkwardly. "How do you know me?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm the Deku Tree sprout," he said, as though that explained everything. Link and Navi just stared at him, waiting for him to finish. "I'm the Deku Tree reborn!"

"Oh!" Link and Navi said in unison.

"Hey, have you seen your old friends? None of them recognized you with your grown-up body, did they?"

"Well, just Saria."

"That's because the Kokiri never grow up! Even after these seven years, they're still kids! I know you know that much! But you must be wondering why only you have grown up!"

"I figure the goddesses did this to me."

"Well, sort of…"

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?"

"Well, they do it to all Hylians. You see, Link, you're not actually a Kokiri! You are actually a Hylian! I am happy to finally reveal this secret to you after all these years!"

Link just stared in amazement, without saying a word. "I… but I lived here!" Link said.

"Yes. Yours is a somewhat complicated story. But it had to be in order for you to survive the war. You see some time ago, before the King of Hyrule unified this country, there was a fierce war in our world. One day, to escape from the fires of the war, a Hylian mother and her baby boy entered this forbidden forest. The mother was gravely injured. After what Ganondorf Dragmire had done, this made the baby boy the only surviving member of the Knights' bloodline! Her only choice was to entrust the child to the Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest. The Deku Tree could sense that this was a child of destiny, whose fate would affect the entire world, so he took him into the forest. After the mother passed away, the baby was raised as a Kokiri. And now, finally, the day of destiny has come!"

"I'm a Hylian?" Link said. "I'm that baby?"

"Yes, and you were always bound to leave this forest. And now, after all these years, you have learned your own destiny."

"I have to awaken the Sages and stop Ganondorf. That's it, right?"

"That's right Link. You must save the land of Hyrule! Now, Link, break the curses on all of the temples, and return peace to Hyrule!"

Link nodded. Something about what the Deku Tree had just said sounded very final, so he left the meadow, and entered the village.

All of the Babas and Scrubs were gone now, and the Kokiri were out playing in the forest. Link didn't want to disturb them, so he hurried to the bridge.

As he crossed the bridge, he noticed one kid sitting on it, looking down on the valley below. It was Mido. He seemed kind of sad. Link tried to pass him as quietly as possible.

"Are you done already?" Mido said without looking up. "I figured with all those guys, it'd take a lot longer."

"Yeah, I'm done," Link said, stopping behind him.

"Did you get that man? The evil one on the horse?"

"Yes," Link said. He didn't think he'd tell Mido that it wasn't the real Ganondorf. But a thought crossed his mind. "You said he tricked you. What did you mean?"

"It was a long time ago. I don't remember how long. I'd stopped growing. It was just before that kid left. Link. That man met me when I was walking out at the edge of the forest. I just wanted to see outside. That's all I wanted to do."

"Why? What happened?"

"He said he'd heard about the Great Deku Tree. He said he wanted to meet him, but couldn't get through the Lost Woods because of the barrier."

"Mido," Link said solemnly. "Please tell me you didn't…"

Mido sobbed heavily. He spoke very softly. "I led him here, to the bridge. That was it, that's all I did. He went to see the Great Deku Tree." He sobbed again. "After that, I kept doing bad stuff so the Great Deku Tree would summon me." He started shouting now. "I could see he was sick. I knew! I kept doing these bad things to see the Great Deku Tree as much as I could. I knew he was gonna die! And I knew all along that it was all my fault!"

Mido stood up and flung his dagger off the bridge. Then he started to run off. He stopped at the end of the bridge closest to the village, and turned to talk to Link again. Tears fell unashamedly down his face.

"She won't ever come back will she? I…I made a promise to Saria. I was supposed to tell Link. So, listen up!" He wiped his tears with his sleeve. "Saria was waiting for you, poophead! Why'd ya have to go and leave her here all alone? She really liked you!" He ran off into the village. Link just stared in amazement.

All of the revelations of today were frustrating him. All these things he didn't know about himself and his life were being thrust at him in one day. Now, Mido was the one who let Ganondorf in the woods? He must have been torn up over it. No wonder he took out his anger on Link.

Link started walking slowly away from the village, toward the field. Navi floated behind. Finally, she said something.

"Well, now you know," Navi said. "Wow. A Hylian. Who would have ever guessed?"

"Shut up," Link said. He didn't want to hear the word "Hylian". It was now tainted in his ears. In it echoed everything about his life that he had no control over. The word now meant to him nothing other than a puppet, a pawn in the games of the gods. His life was not his own. Now he was a Hylian.

"Someone's really grumpy today," Navi said. "Link, it's not that bad, really."

"Did you know?" he accused.

"No, of course not. Why would you think…?"

"It doesn't matter. You would have forgotten anyway. You don't know anything about me, about us anymore."

"Link, that's a low blow." She burst a strange violet color.

"You know what, Navi?" he almost yelled. "All my life I wondered why I didn't have a fairy, but now I know why. I'm not supposed to have one. I'm not a Kokiri. I always wanted one. I wanted to know what it was all about. I wanted someone I could share everything with, someone I could spend my life with. But it's obvious to me now that I'm not really supposed to have a guardian, guiding, fairy partner."

"Link, what are you saying?"

Tears streamed down his face again. "Navi, Hylians don't have fairies. We're not…" He choked.

"Link, you're not serious!"

"I wanted to share my life with a partner I was destined not to have. And all that I shared with you was handed back to me. My life is not your life. My life is not my life, Navi! Go do something with your life, while it can still be called yours! Go write your book! I'm a Hylian. I'm supposed to live alone."

Navi was stunned. Link stepped out into the red light of sunset on the fields as she just hovered in place. He would come to his senses. Any second now, he would turn around and apologize, and she'd tell him they'd work it out, and everything would be fine. But not once did he turn around. She watched him walk off across the dead fields, over a hill, and out of sight.