Link ignored the pain in his body, panting as he moved forwards, eyes flicking to each side of the path, desperate for a glimpse. He knew the fickle nature of fairies, and he knew that they would have fled from such destruction. It was impossible to know how many fairies resided in the Lost Woods at any time, but there was always a lot. It couldn't be hard to find what he was looking for.

A sudden pain caused his step to falter. He steadied himself with Impa's spear, gingerly touching the wound in his back, the sting of pain drawing a hiss from between his teeth. It reminded him of his mistake, of was on the line. He couldn't afford to rest. "Saria…" He steeled himself, then continued quickly. He opened his mind to the Lost Woods, letting it act as a guide. He continued forward. How far down were the fairies? What if they had moved, how would he save Saria? Despite his best efforts, panic began to creep into his mind, and he began to franticly look around, but not seeing what was before him. Frantic, frantic. He was panicking, and he couldn't control it, he was-

Here.

Link came to a stop, panting and looking around. That voice, was it a thought? Or-

Movement caught his eye and Link froze. A flutter of wings. He turned, and it moved into the trees and out of sight. Link took a deep breath, calming himself, and followed slowly. He rounded the tree and saw more movement, flitting between the trees. Something brown and golden.

"Please, don't run away." He spoke softly, doing his best not so scare it away. He trailed behind, moving as carefully as he could. "Please, I need your help." He rounded the tree and found a golden butterfly, fluttering softly in the air. Strange behaviour for a butterfly, only if it was a butterfly.

Link approached slowly. "My name is Link. My friend, Saria- she's Kokiri. She's dying. I need…" The words got stuck in his throat. "Please… I can't… I'm sorry, please…"

The butterfly hovered for a moment, then fluttered closer to him, towards the end of the spear. Link was still and, slowly, the butterfly settled on the wood of the weapon. At the very moment they made contact, the butterfly erupted into a brilliant light, burning away at the illusion. The fairy sat at the end of the spear, its body barely visible behind the glow of her soul. Link opened his hand for the fairy to rest in, which the fairy nestled into with a giggle. Despite his desperation, he failed to move. He stood there, with spear in one hand and fairy in the other.

"I'm sorry…" He whispered.

Impa wrung blood out of Links now red stained cap into a puddle of blood next to her before pressing it back against Saria's wound. The young Kokiri had lost all colour in her skin, and she there was scarcely a sign of breath. Impa could feel Saria's blood flow slowing, and didn't know if her heart was still beating, but if it wasn't she couldn't risk trying to to get it beating again. Beside Saria was Esco, motionless if not for the occasional twitch in her limbs or wings. She didn't know how long it had been since Link had gone out searching, though the fact Saria was still alive meant its couldn't have been long, but every time she wrung the blood out of Link's cap, the seconds seem become shorter. She pressed he fingers to Saria's neck, struggling to find a pulse. She was almost out of time.

"Impa!"

She glanced over her shoulder to find Link stumbling towards her. He dropped the spear and almost tripped over himself to get close, falling to his knees in a puddle of blood besides the two of them. In his hands, he cradled a winged ball of light.

"You did it?" She allowed an uncharacteristic amount of emotion to creep into her voice.

"Yeah." Link nodded slightly, focusing on Saria. "She's still alive."

"Barely." Impa returned both hands to the cloth at Saria's wound. "Blood flow is slowing down, and there are barely any signs of breathing." She raised her gaze to Link. "We need to use the Fairy."

Link nodded slowly, and began to move forwards, then froze. Impa frowned and went to ask him what was going on, but noticed something. His jaw was clenched, hands shaking, but strangest, his eyes were wet.

"Link…" She said softly. "We're about so save her."

"I know." Link whispered. "It's just…" He swallowed. His eye's drifted to the fairy, then to Saria and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were steeled. At his nod, Impa removed the cloth to reveal Saria's wound and stepped away. Link parted his arms and the fairy laughed as it steadied itself in the air. It turned to Link, and even though it was hidden by the light, he knew the fairy was smiling.

His voice was clear. "My friend. I need you to save her life. Please."

The fairy was still for a moment, bobbing in the air as if floating on ocean waves, and then, it flew to Saria. Link instinctively took a recoiled away from Saria as the fairy circled around her body. The fairy moved faster and faster, fragments of light breaking off and settling on Saria, until it flew and settled directly on her chest. Slowly, Saria's flesh began to glow, her veins casting shadows against the trees. Her intestines were pulled back into her body, and new, crimson muscle blossomed inwards, melting together as they made contact with each other, twisting slowly until it formed the correct shape, steam rising from Saria's reformed stomach.

Skin grew over the scratches on her arm, scars forming over where her skin had been torn, then faded into her arm, erasing any signs of harm, with the same happening over her stomach, with skin creeping over her muscles, starting pale before darkening to match her natural tone. Eventually, the word was completely closed over, and the glow began to fade from Saria's body, her face once again. Link lunged forwards and put his ear to her mouth, and felt her soft, consistent breath against his skin. He pulled back and let out a sob of relief.

Slowly, the fairy raised off Saria's chest, drawing Link's eye. It's light dimmed, and Link managed to so see the face of the fairy, and it was smiling at him, completely blissful. As it's light began to break apart, guilt stung in his mind.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said as the fairy dissolved in the air. It had fulfilled its purpose, and with it was it's life. Link watched the fairy dissolve into sparks, and felt like his heart was torn in two. "I'm so sorry." Impa stepped forwards. She didn't know what was going through Link's mind, but she assumed it was painful.

With a small gasp, Saria's eyes shot open, and Esco shot skywards, blazing once again. Saria blinked before settling her gaze on Link.

"Oh." She muttered.

Link jumped at her, wrapping his arms around her neck and weeping into her shoulder. Slowly, she pulled him in tight with a hug of her own.

"I thought I'd lost you." Link sobbed.

She smiled. "I'm fine, honestly."

Impa knelt down besides them. "Welcome back, young lady."

"Oh, hello." Saria broke away from Link. "It's nice to, ah, meet you."

Impa nodded. "My name is Impa. And please, don't exert yourself."

"Thank you, Impa. But, please, I'm fine. I feel great." With surprising ease, Saria got to her feet and smiled. "Wait, I'm so rude! My name is-"

Impa chuckled. "No need to worry about formalities, Saria. I'm covered in blood and exhausted, I'm hardly presentable."

Saria let out a small giggle. "I'm not very presentable either." She meekly looked at her feet, then let out a small shriek, causing Link to spin around in a panic. "Is this all my blood?"

Impa nodded. "Yes. You almost died."

"Woah." Saria took a deep breath "It's odd. I don't feel like I almost died. I feel… normal."

Link looked up from the ground. "The fairy healed you completely." He said slowly. "It took away all the pain and trauma, and then restored your body."

Impa nodded. "They are the only forms of healing that can completely cheat death. It makes them a valuable resource." At that, Link's face darkened, but he remained silent. "It was lucky that we could find one."

Saria poked at the holes in her clothes. "Lucky… yeah."

Esco settled on Saria's shoulder and pressed herself against the Kokiri's cheek. "I thought it was over"

Saria smiled. "It's alright. We're alive. Link saved us." They turned to Link, who offered a weak smile for them. "Thank you, Link. We can't say that enough."

"Yeah, well." He slowly rose to his feet. "What would I do without you two?" His eyes moved to Impa. "The Swordsman…?"

"Long gone." She sighed. "We will see him again, but I doubt it will be soon." Link nodded slightly, then returned his gaze to Saria, before walking over and hugging her. When he finally broke away, Impa picked up her spear and stood straight. "We should return to your home. There is nothing more we can do."

Saria nodded her head and agreement and started to move, but stopped, and turned to Link, offering her hand. He stared at it for a moment, blank faced, before he reached out and took it. With that, the children held hands and followed Impa back to the Great Deku Tree's domain, with Link cherishing the warmth he felt in his palm.

Hello everyone.

This is the other half of the chapter I was talking about. Not too great, but it's not crap.

A few things of note. One! I've gone back and edited some of the earlier chapters. Nothing big, just trying to make Hyrule feel bigger than before, with Sheikah teleporting the kids a fair distance rather than having them all ride together and arrive within 5 minutes, because HOLY CRAP that was dumb, am I right?

Two! I still aim to finish up part 1 by the 25th for the second anniversary of this fanfic, so there should be another chapter then as long as my school work isn't too intense. Don't worry, it will get done, and there won't be a hiatus after part 1 is finished, its straight on to part 2.

Three! I thought that is was kinda pathetic to have nothing as the cover for this story, so I started drawing something for the cover; the Swordsman. While it's not 1:1 with the original description, and is still a work in progress, I want to put something there and this is the one thing you guys have no reference towards. I'll keep you posted on that.

Finally, this is just a small thing. Next month will be... something. I'll turn 18, I'll hopefully start part 2, and most importantly, Devil May Cry 5 is out. So next month will be weird. Just a heads up.

Love you all, feel free to tell me how great or crap this chapter was in the reviews.