Chapter 1: Running

"Come away, little lass, come away to the water/ To the ones that are waiting only for you/ Come away, little lass, come away to the water/ Away from the light that you always knew"

-"Come Away to the Water" by Maroon 5 featuring Rozzi Crane

Running.

I was running as fast as I could get my legs to go. It was a crazy, frantic run, a desperate sprint that made every muscle in my body burn, every bone in my body yell out in pain. I was cursing myself over and over again under excited breaths. I was cursing my stupidity; I was cursing how clueless I was. I was cursing the pain and the sweat and my teary eyes. And then I cursed my own uncertainty. Did the tears come from pain or emotion? Was this my body's way of telling me to stop?

I wasn't going to. I had gotten this far, hadn't I? But it hurt. So much. Every step I ran, I felt my feet wobble. Several times the muscles in my legs had almost given out and I had already been sent colliding with the muddy ground once. I didn't look like a girl anymore. If I even resembled something anymore, at the very least it was a miserable kind of creature, with the musty smell of energy exhausted hanging like some aura. My hair was dirty and clinging to my face in clumps. I could feel the dirt in it and I could feel my sweat seeping into the roots, dripping down the back of my neck. My skirts were ripped, my shirt was plastered to my body wet, and my shoes were damn near destroyed. I could feel the burning of scrapes on my knees and I hissed in annoyance at the scratches on my hands.

Yes. I wasn't a girl anymore. Just a miserable kind of half-being. Something that used to be normal before the rain and the mud and the exhaustion and the panic had taken over her mind. Didn't they say that people turned into Stalfos in these woods? Or was that just a silly rumor made up to cover up the truth- that people came into these woods, got lost and died of starvation or something? These were the Lost Woods for a reason, right?

I was pretty certain that, by this point, I wasn't a Stalfos. I was lost. Maybe not entirely normal anymore, but I was lost.

Each time I found a new turn, I found myself even more depressingly lost. Every tree looked the same to me. In the dark curtain of night, all of the trees towered over me like elongated monsters, claws reaching towards the sky, bark grinning at me. The grass lost its color and, for a moment, I felt like I was running on an ocean of blackness, kind of like I had reached the end of the world and didn't have anywhere else to go. I couldn't even see the stars or the moon or anything. All the animals were gone, all the fairies were gone. There was no light, no life and no sounds. There wasn't even any wind. Even the rain pattering all around me seemed soundless. There wasn't a storm. Just rain. Was there fog? I couldn't tell. The tears in my eyes made it hard to tell the difference.

Every time I think I had made some kind of progress, I found myself at another turn with more tunnels and paths. There was no clearing. Nothing. I was hopelessly lost, wasn't I? Maybe this is where the Stalfos thing came from. If you get stuck in these woods, maybe you died and your body became a Stalfos in a worse-than-death scenario. I wasn't sure, but I had the strangest feeling I wasn't going to be able to see how that played out. Either way, I'd be dead.

What was worse to me, though? Dying and becoming a monster? Or being alone when it happened?

I hated that dream. It was the same dream every single time with the same inner monologues with the same absolute fears. The only difference was that I'd wake up at different points. It didn't matter, I guess. If I was hopelessly lost, what use did I have for time? It was terrifying each time, though. And I'd wake up in the same condition I'm in now, sitting on my bed in a cold sweat, pinching myself to make sure it was real and looking around to make sure I was in my room and not in those forsaken woods.

I never stopped being scared, though, even after I had made certain I was home. It was the kind of nightmare that stuck with you for a long time after you woke up. I usually found myself making comparisons between that nightmare and certain real life situations. The similarities were astounding, actually.

"Malon, you need to get a hold of yourself." My father was very rarely strict with me. He was usually too passive for his own good, but when he actually acted like a parent, he was surprisingly wise. When he decided to be strict, there was a certain voice inflection he used. Judging by the tone of his voice right now, he was being serious.

"What…What do you mean?" I said, feigning surprise. Daddy knew exactly what was wrong with me and I knew it well.

"Don't play dumb with me." Daddy responded, somewhat sarcastically. He sat down across from me at the dinner table, placing his beefy arms on the table and rubbing a hand across his head. Ingo was over at the kitchen counter, fixing dinner. We usually never excluded Ingo for any of our family conversations. As far as we were concerned, he was our family. But, when Daddy was being serious, Ingo usually kept his mouth shut.

"I'm not!" I squeaked, crossing my arms. "There's nothing wrong with me!"

"I know what's wrong with you. Ingo knows what's wrong with you." Daddy sighed loudly, his eyes softening. "Sweetie, everyone knows what's wrong with you. It's written on your face."

"…" I looked down, my hands falling limply into my lap. "Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Is he going to come back?"

"Sweetie, you've heard the news." Daddy tried to sound comforting, but it was hard to do in a situation like this. I could tell that he and Ingo had the same hopes as me. We had all grown fond of him. But Daddy had reality to think about. How was our ranch going to survive now? "I loved that kid. Ingo did, too. But we have to stop and consider what we have right now. He's not here and we don't know…when…he's coming back."

"You mean 'if'." I corrected.

"I never meant 'if'." Daddy retorted, Ingo shaking his head as he took a pot of soup of the stove. "I meant when."

It takes me a minute to come to my senses. I can hear the clock chime off the next hour, and I realize that's still in the middle of the night. I didn't pay attention to when I went to bed, but I drop back into my pillows, guessing that it's only been only a couple of hours since I first fell asleep. Somehow, I get the feeling I won't be doing anymore sleeping tonight.

I'm scared, I realize. There are a lot of things to be scared of. But I've never been an easily frightened person before. And, yet, I feel so lost right now. What is it about that dream that terrifies me so much? Am I scared of being lost? Or am I scared to find what I was running after?

"Link, are you okay?" I asked innocently. He barely paid any mind to the plate of food I put in front of him. His eyes were glazed over in deep thought and I'm sure that the floor had never been more interesting to him in his life. Navi was floating around his head, blinking a bit in annoyance at the young man's sudden silence. I sunk into my chair across from him, not really defeated, but uncertain of what to say next.

"Link!" Navi scolded. "If someone's giving you free food, the least you could do is pay attention!"

"Oh!" Link's eyes blinked back to normal and he turned to me. Nervously, he rubbed the back of his head before starting at his food. "What do you mean 'am I okay'?"

"You're staring off expressionless into space while I put a huge plate of home-cooked food in front of you." I said dryly. "Of course I'm concerned."

"No reason to be concerned, okay?" Link shook his head, trying to be as reassuring as he could. There was a slight grimace on his face, though. I could tell he was enjoying the food, but it was hard for him to tell me he was okay. I guessed that he couldn't even convince himself of that anymore.

"How much more do you have left in your journey?" I asked after a moment of silent eating. "You've been at it for a long time. You're going to take a big vacation once it's all said and done, aren't ya?" I mustered up a playful smirk, trying to make him feel better.

"Two more Sages to free." Link answered bluntly, his eyes sparkling a bit with laughter he was trying to hold back. After another bite of food, his eyes went all back to business. "After that, it's the big goal."

"Ganondorf." I responded. "You can do it, Link. You've made it this far on your own. That's impressive."

"…" Link took another bite, contemplative. "Yes. I think…you're right."

Link had originally tried his best to hide from me all the details of his journey. When I met him as a little kid, we became fast friends, neither of us having very many beforehand, and he never spoke of what he was doing. Seven years later, after he had vanished, he showed back up again and it was hard to rekindle the playfulness of our original friendship.

At first, he only came once to save the ranch. We gave him Epona as a gift and he went off. I never thought he was coming back, but his visits became more frequent. Soon, he was visiting the ranch for several days at a time after every major objective. It was at that point, he explained to me everything about what he was doing. It was a little hard to believe, but I could tell he was truthful. There was something about his face that couldn't tell a lie.

"Talon! Malon!" Ingo's frantic calling snapped me out of my thoughts. Judging by the loud crashing sound from Daddy's room, it snapped him out of what he was doing, too. "Malon! Talon! Get down here!"

Daddy and I meet in the hall and both of us are only half-assembled. I have a sweater thrown over my nightgown for modesty's sake, but Daddy is still in his wrinkled pajamas, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Daddy hates to be woken up in the middle of the night, so there's mild irritation in his voice as he speaks.

"What in tarnation is Ingo doing back already?" Daddy snaps as he makes his way down the hall. "He's supposed to be in Kakariko delivering milk!"

"It sounds like an emergency, whatever the reason." I say, somewhat reassuringly. When we make it downstairs, Ingo is slumped in a dining room chair, his elbows propped up on the table. Judging by his red face and glimmering forehead, Ingo made a hasty trip back here. He turns to his, trying to calm his frantic breaths. Daddy sits down next to Ingo, placing a big hand on Ingo's shoulder while I put a big cup of water in front of him.

"Ingo, what in the name of Farore is going on?" Daddy asks, leaning forward.

"Talon, things have gone from bad to worse." Ingo states bluntly, taking a huge, selfish gulp of the water.

"What do you mean?"

"When I was in town, I was eating at the inn and listening to all the chatter." Ingo starts, looking down at the glass in his hand. "Well, you know those rumors about the princess being dead? They're wrong. She's alive."

"How do you know?" I ask, curious.

"She's going to be marrying Ganondorf, according to all the rumors I keep hearing from the castle town." Ingo shook his head in disbelief at what he was saying.

Ganondorf was supposed to have been defeated by Link, but he vanished after the last sage was freed. I remember the last time I saw Link, in the aftermath of his adventure through the Spirit Temple. He seemed in good spirits and I fed him a huge, home cooked meal to give him energy for his big battle. I wished him luck, kissed him on the cheek as a joke and let him leave.

But he never came back. And, by the sounds of it, he never made it to Ganondorf, either. Instead, he captured the princess and became the true ruler of Hyrule. Accepting this fate, the people made due and agreed to start rebuilding Hyrule Castle Town to make it livable again. Progress was minimal, though. Most were too scared to do much.

"I have yet to hear an official announcement from Ganondorf's officials, but I don't see why it wouldn't be true." Ingo explains. He had a tendency to panic, but during serious times, Ingo could be very logical. "If he married the princess, wouldn't that make everything he's done…legal or something? I ain't an expert on politics, but it makes sense in my head."

"Is this why you ran frantically back to the ranch?" Daddy lifts an eyebrow.

"No, of course not, Talon!" Ingo seems annoyed at Daddy's lack of faith. "I came because I did get something official. Ganondorf's officials came through and shut down a bunch of family owned businesses in Kakariko while I was there. The tavern, the shooting gallery and the potion shop were all victims. I asked one of 'em and he said that the government is aiming for a more unified workforce."

"A unified workforce?" I ask, now a bit scared at what the answer will be.

"I didn't ask any further, but I'm pretty sure that means Ganondorf wants to have all the businesses under the control of his new government. Family owned businesses allow too much inequality, said the official before I stopped asking." Ingo turns to Daddy with frantic eyes. "You know the ranch ain't gonna escape this, right? Once they've taken control of all the major business in Kakariko, you know we're going to be next!"

"Lon Lon Ranch has been under this family's control for years!" Daddy seems furious now, jumping out of his chair with energy I rarely seem him have. "This…This ranch did all sorts of business for the Royal Family and we've even done plenty for this jerk! This ranch will fail under anyone else's hands!"

"I'm not thinking we have a choice in the matter, Talon." Ingo tries to sound reasonable. "How are we going to stop it, especially if he marries the princess?"

"None of this would be happening if I knew where Link was." I mutter to myself, but Daddy hears me.

"Link ran off, Malon!" Daddy snaps. "I don't wanna sound like a jerk, Malon, because I want you to be happy, but that kid isn't going to help us anymore! When he does come back, it'll be too late and nothing he can do will be able to change that!"

"No!" I clench my fists in my lap. "I…."

"Malon, why don't you go to bed, sweetie?" Daddy calms down and sits next to me. "There is a lot going on and I'm going to discuss it with Ingo."

I was running again. And it was the same as it always was every time I found myself running through the forest. I was still pushing my body to beyond its limits, screaming out in frustration. I was still frantic, panicky, desperate, lost and scared. I still looked like a miserable waste of a person and every tree still grinned down at me like monsters.

What was I doing wrong here? Was all this running pointless or was I actually going to make it to my destination?

Perhaps this forest was built by emotion, and the key to making it out alive was to hope. Maybe all I had to do was dream and think real hard about what I wanted to find and I would find a path that led me right to it.

My mom told me a story about the Lost Woods. She said you would only get lost in these woods if you gave up and let yourself get lost. That's why Stalfos looked so horrific. They died because they gave up and can only attack people in hopes of killing them and not being alone anymore.

If I kept running, I would find what I was looking for.

A/n: There. Finally another chapter. I'm taking my time in putting these chapters out. I popped the last few chapters of Fallen from Grace out pretty quickly and I think, to a small degree, the narrative suffered a bit. This will be a longer story and I'm taking special care in crafting each chapter.

Though, for explanation's sake, I clarify something. This is sort of playing off the timeline where Ganondorf wins, but not really, because Link never fought him in this story. Consider this story unfettered by the official canon and just assume that it's another randomly made up mess that I felt like sharing with you all.