Chapter 1 (Age 10)

"Hey," he'd heard someone say. It was a young voice, someone about his age. Link looked up and saw a boy with dark blue hair standing over him. "You're the kid with the dead mom."

Link's fists tightened, but he didn't move. His mom always told him not to pick a fight with anyone or Knights like her would come and break them up.

"I'm talking to you!" the kid said again, only this time, he pushed Link on the shoulder. "Don't you speak? Your mom died, right? She's the one who fell."

Link's eyes shot up.

"What? You didn't know? How stupid can you be? You don't even know how your dead mom died? What are you, a baby? They don't tell you anything? Are you weak like her? She fell off a Loftwing. What kind of Knight falls off a Loftwing?"

Blood was pumping in Link's ears. His hands shook as he struggled to keep it all in, but this kid's voice… his stupid smug look…

"Answer me already, Stupid! That's what I'm going to call you from now on. 'Stupid!' You know that stupidness runs in the family?"

Link woke up in a cold sweat. He hated having that dream. Mostly because it had once been real. Three years wasn't enough time to process the loss of his mom. The constant fear had become such a norm for him that he no longer remembered what life had been without it. This dream happened almost every time he knew he'd have to spend time with Cawlin and Strich away from others. And there was supposed to be a field trip. That dream came along with any days he might need to ride a Loftwing as well. That was something he would never do, so long as he lived. No. No Loftwings.

He put his head in his hands, trying to shake off the dream, but it only came back stronger as a memory rather than a dream.

He felt his body lurch forward until he was distracted by a small voice. "Hey!" Small hands were pulling him backwards, away from the blue-haired boy. The small blond girl turned her attention to the boy. "Stop it!"

He looked over the small girl in his path. Instructor Gaepora's daughter, Zelda. Blonde haired and blue eyed with a determined look in her eyes. She had to be his age, maybe even younger. He hadn't taken her up on her offer to play, but he'd seen her with others. She was the only one who'd approached him since moving into the Academy. Everyone else had kept their distance from 'that silent boy.'

He'd never forgotten the overwhelming urge to fight Cawlin that day, and it didn't matter how long ago it had been. It was still almost a daily occurrence that he had to deal with Cawlin and his equally annoying henchman Strich every day.

And until now, he'd managed fairly well. He had some friends… sort of. He was friends with the chatterbox… with Zelda. O, at least, he thought they were friends. And he was around her friends a lot, though they tended to ignore him more than anything. Only Zelda ever truly made the effort to communicate with him, though. With the others, they might ask him something and then forget that he didn't talk. That was fine for a game like tag where no one needed to say a word, but not for many other games. Only Zelda would make sure to ask questions he could answer. Yes and no, or things he could point to. She made an effort, and he made one with her. He tried to satisfy her curiosity, but he felt like a disappointment. He could see it in her eyes sometimes. And that's when he would slip away again, hiding in his room for days at a time.

This was one of those times.

He knew that everyone would try to convince him to go to the Lumpy Pumpkin. Anytime they went, he knew he was disappointing Instructor Gaepora. He disappointed Zelda. He disappointed himself.

He wanted nothing more than to shock everyone and get on the Loftwing, then scream into the air. But life wasn't that easy.

Then there was a knock at his door. Link sighed, ready to hear it again. He went to the door, determined to open it, but his hand wouldn't turn the knob.

"Link, please," Gaepora pleaded through the closed door. "Everyone is going. You should come as well. I know you don't like it, but you have to try. You're ten. You need to ride a Loftwing someday."

Link placed his head against the door with his eyes closed and let out a deep breath.

For years, Gaepora tried to get Link to participate in anything. He rarely went to class, taking his books into his room instead. He never spoke. Gaepora was concerned for the boy, but there was almost nothing left that he could try.

The boy had to see him as a bad guy, he thought. The only real interactions he had with him were when he was begging him to join the other kids, or pulling him away from Cawlin and Strich, two boys who couldn't seem to keep their mouths from running in his presence. And no amount of discipline seemed to stop them.

Gaepora rested his hand against Link's door for a moment before giving up and going back up to his room to prepare for the trip.

Link stood still, listening to the sounds of footsteps all around him. It was a trip only for the kids of Skyloft, so the knights-in-training in the surrounding rooms didn't seem to be too busy. Only a few were taking the group over to the nearby tavern in the clouds. But the floor upstairs, where Gaepora and the other professors were coordinating, was like a crazed stampede. Link wondered if it was Zelda making all that noise in the room directly above him.

Figuring he could use the distraction to sneak out, Link stood and pulled his boots on before cracking the door and peering out. It seemed clear. If anyone was there, it would only be the chef, and he rarely had a difficult time sneaking by her.

He closed his door silently, and snuck past the door, but he was met by a more annoying sight than the chef.

Cawlin and Strich were sitting on the floor, waiting for Gaepora, presumably.

Instinctively, Link started to back up, knowing that when both of them were together, things usually escalated quickly.

Cawlin looked Link over. "You're not coming with us, are you?"

Link didn't say anything, but his fist clenched at the other boy's tone.

"Oh, Strich, he isn't! He's scared! Little Link is afraid of the Loftwing again. Like his mom should have been. Hey, Link, how's it feel to be orphaned by a bird? I mean, a stupid bird? That's all it took for your mom to go down? And I thought she was a knight."

It took everything, everything¸ in him not to rear his fist back and slam it into Cawlin's jaw, but Link clenched and unclenched his fist in an attempt to shake the comments. He let his nails dig into his palm, momentarily distracting him just long enough to keep his mind from the words. It was the only thing he'd found that kept him from fighting. And oh, he wanted to fight.

"What?" Strich asked with a snicker. "Can you not hear Cawlin? Forget a stupid bird, your stupid mom raised a stupid kid."

And with that, Link broke. He lunged for Cawlin, who was closer, and landed one quick jab to the side before Strich was on him. The two boys wasted little time trying to restrain Link so they could get a few easier hits in, but Link rarely went down without a fight.

He whipped his head back, bracing himself for the pain. And it hurt when he heard the impact with Strich. Strich's hands loosened their grip and Link swiveled out of his grasp, pushing Cawlin away so he could have some room. But they were on him again, recovering all-too-quickly. Link realized he had missed hitting Strich anywhere too painful.

He felt a hard pang in his gut and his arms were pulled back until he felt like they were going to be pulled out. He didn't cry out, but he kicked out at Cawlin, connecting with his shin. Cawlin howled and kicked right back in an enraged retaliation.

"Link!"

Link barely heard the voice. Everything was whooshing in his head as his body tried to ignore the pain every hit from Cawlin brought. He felt Strich jerk to the side, and he let go of Link for a moment to react to the voice.

Link was out of energy, unable to break free of Strich's single handed grip.

"Get off him!" the voice said again.

But this time, Link recognized it.

He turned his head toward the voice and his eyes spotted Zelda pulling Strich's hand back as hard as she could.

"This doesn't concern you, Zelda!" Cawlin panted pushing Zelda away hard enough to knock her over before punching Link again.

Black tinged the edges of Link's vision as his body slowly decided to give up and go down, though his mind tried to get him to his feet.

Zelda was back up, calling for Link as she tried to stop Cawlin once again.

A small part of Link's brain was still conscious, and he could see what was about to happen. And that's all Link's body needed to spur him to act.

Link pulled free of Strich and pushed himself up, moving between Cawlin and Zelda as he attempted to push her away. Cawlin had only reacted. She was trying to stop him from his mad flurry against the stupid loser Link. If he'd been in control of himself, of course he wouldn't have swung at Zelda. That's what he told himself.

But Zelda hadn't been the one to take the punch.

Link had put himself between them just in time to feel Cawlin's fist connect with his spine, sending him forward into Zelda. She'd tried to catch him, but she was off balance from Link moving her aside.

That was the end. The rest of Link's body gave out, and his feet stumbled over each other, collapsing into a hard ball on the ground.

Zelda's wide eyes met Cawlin's. He looked equally horrified, realizing what might have happened to her, as well as what he'd actually done. And if Gaepora's daughter had been knocked unconscious in a hallway fight, Cawlin would never see the light of day again. He'd never be a knight. At this rate, he wasn't sure he still had that chance now.

Strich grabbed Cawlin and took off through the door with him in tow, leaving Zelda in the hallway with the unconscious boy.

She looked at the stairs where her father and the other instructors were already racing towards them. The boy she played with but hardly knew, the one who never spoke, had put himself in more danger for her. And what's more, she realized, was that she did the same for him.

She took a step back, letting the adults take over. Her father was holding her, asking her something, but she couldn't hear. Her mind raced, terrified at the overwhelming instinct she'd felt to step into a fist fight for this boy.

"Zelda!" she finally heard Gaepora say, looking away from Link and at her father. "What happened here?"

She knew Link was the one who swung first. She'd been in the other room with a book on the desk, having already packed for their trip. Cawlin and Strich never knew how to filter themselves. It wasn't Link's fault. He couldn't control that his mother died, or that two bullies were constantly reminding him of that fact. He could only control when he swung. But Zelda? She could control everything. He protected her. It was her turn to return the favor.

"I saw it all. Link came out of his room and came this way. It looked like he was going to go to the kitchen." She thought quickly, desperate to keep Link out of trouble. "Cawlin and Strich were there and started making fun of him for not coming with us today. They made fun of him, that he was afraid of flying and that his mother was stupid. Then, when he didn't respond, they started to hurt him. He fought back. I tried to stop it when they were hurting him more, but Link tried to protect me before he got hit. I promise, I saw it."

She glanced at Link, who was being looked at by Instructor Horwell. There was some blood on the ground, and the events started to catch up to her. She could feel tears stinging her eyes, panicked breaths catching in her throat. She looked at her father with wide fearful eyes. Goddess, she'd nearly been hit in a hallway!

She was sure that Gaepora was crying as he hugged her tightly against him. "Zelda, love, don't ever get in the middle of a fight. You could have been hurt if it had been worse. Someone might have accidently hit you."

"But Link—"

"Not now. Rest assured, Cawlin and Strich will be punished, but Link will be disciplined too. No potential Knight can display this behavior."

"He was defending himself! And me!"

Gaepora sighed and hugged Zelda tightly. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"But the Knights fight."

"No, they train together. The Knights don't fight each other in hallways. Go back to your room, Zelda. We won't be going to the Lumpy Pumpkin today."

Zelda watched her father say something to Instructor Owlan before leaving the Academy. Horwell scooped Link's small body up in his arms and disappeared behind the walls, leaving Zelda alone in the entryway.

A/N: I already had this one written, but from here on, the chapters should be a bit longer, especially as people start getting into the same social circles.