I believe that it had been at least good ten years since I last left this scenery behind and not so much had changed from then to this moment where I take hesitant steps toward my old home where I vowed to never return. Everything was perfectly as I left it since eternity of life is pretty much guaranteed to anything or anyone born within the boundaries of the forest and stays within the boundaries of the forest.

I looked down to the fading blue light of the fairy who gave up that eternity for the sake of Hyrule. Death was a strange thing for her kind. Her kinds were immortal, guarded by the magic of the Kokiri Forest or Fairy's Fountain. So why is she dying?

Remember, that she was a fairy to a boy without a fairy. What she had done was noble and honorable… yet the price the titles demanded was the cost of her immortality. With me at her side, she exited the forest to the world outside, exposed to the cold winds of the night, to the extreme heat of volcanic craters, to the suffocating pressure of waters, to the hollow abyss of tombs, the sweltering might of the sun, and finally to the hellish darkness that frail creatures of light could not possibly survive from. For the safety of her land, to obey a command of her beloved master and for the sake of a confused and a lost friend, she bore through all that and now it was time for her to pay her price.

Her once warm and cheerful blue aura that rang warm sensation throughout my body was now nothing more than a faint blue light gently held in my palm.

I gazed at her fondly just before noticing that there was a child looking up at me. "Hello," He said.

I looked at him.

He was a Kokiri but was unfamiliar to me. Must have been given life after I've left this forest. Obviously he didn't recognize me either, because he then said "Who are you?"

I smiled to him. "I don't really have a name. What's your's?" I wasn't going to give away my name. He would tell the other Kokiri. It was best if no one knew of my being here in the forest.

Although I missed them all terribly.

"Hete," He said, proudly. "I'm on a mission to rescue the Forest Sage!"

I gave him a blank look.

"Rescue her?"

"That's quite right, mister."

"…Why?"

"Well… because… I want to be a better man than Mido. He's always bragging about how he's so great and he is the protector of the Forest Sage and things… But by rescuing her from stupid Mido, I'll be better than him!"

I laughed. Oh, Mido… how he hadn't changed a bit. Well, he would always be a child. Children do not change often. How I've missed him as well… "Well, whoever Mido is, he must be a huge show-off that must hog all the glory for the Forest Sage to see," I said.

"Yeah! How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess…" I replied.

"Well, I'll be off… where are you off to, mister?" He asked.

I looked back to Navi. "Somewhere… my friend needs to go to," I answered.

Hete shrugged. "I hope you find it! See ya!" He ran off.

I just stared at him.

I wished I was the kid at the moment. I wished I could seek out to her so openly, so freely… so free of any guilt or doubt… although he had no idea where he was even going, at least I would have a joy in my heart that I'll find her someday.

But I wasn't Hete, I was Link.

And Link was not to seek her although he knew exactly where she was.

I walked a bit further into the Forest, making a wide loop around the village.

"Link," Navi suddenly called me.

"Don't talk."

"It's okay. I know the precise moment when I shall die. But listen to me."

"What is it?"

"Link, do you have an empty bottle with you?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. My voice shook as I said, because I knew exactly what she meant and she knew me far too well to stop and explain what I already knew. After all, she had no time to waste.

"I'm dying, Link, and I don't want to waste the moment of death that the fate had granted me. Take me to the Fairy's Fountain in the Lost Woods… when I glow violet, take your bottle and-"

"Navi…" I cut her off, abruptly.

"Think about it, Link. Over the time we've had together, I've become your best friend. I know your feelings for her. I know that if you can see the way to be with her, you would take it. This is your chance."

That was true. But, "Even if I become immortal by receiving your life energy, she's a sage. I'm a… a…" There was a problem. Exactly, what was I? I was nothing.

The Hero of Time. That was the only way to explain who I am. But now that everything is over, now that there was peace ruling the land, I was nothing.

"The sages are nothing more than slaves, Link. Same with us fairies. There is a secret I've discovered… and the Great Fairies decided to end my life sooner because of it. " Navi said.

"What?" I said, infuriated.

"Link. Listen to me. Take me to the Fairy's Fountain. A second before my soul escape this useless body of mine, I will emerge with one of the healing fairies. You already know what a dying fairy and a healing fairy makes. Use your bottle to capture me. You'll need it," Navi said, distantly.

I closed my eyes.

Navi was offering to become a Life Fairy which grants immortality to one mortal. This also meant that her soul would not rest in peace, but rather cease to exist as it is consumed by the mortal who receives the fairy's immortal life. Ironically, only the complete fusion of a dying fairy and a Healing Fairy can become the Life Fairy.

"You can't do that, Navi. I won't let you do that."

"If you are to consume me, you will become immortal," Navi said, quickly. "But remember, there is a secret I learned that cost me my life. If an immortal such as the Forest Sage is to consume me… she will become a mortal soul. Just like you."

Neither of us spoke to one other for a long time as the sun sank lower in the horizon and the world surrounding me was dyed to a golden hue. It was night time when reached the tiny village that brought back a rush of emotion. Tears threatened to escape my eyes as place of my childhood remained unchanged in front of me.

The same place where she and I were both children.

Now we were too old to play such games like we did back then.

"Hurry Link," Navi whispered. "I haven't got much time now…"

I turn my steps towards the Lost Woods.

I'm getting dangerously close to her.

And it makes me frightened.

This is a selfish thing to do. And more than anything else? What if Saria declines? What if she had forgotten me? What would happen if the chance that Navi grants me with her own life just shatters and she had died for nothing at all?

The hollow echoes of my footstep through the tunnel only served to crescendo that fear.

I remember the very first time that I passed this place. It was long ago. This place never welcomed me inside - not back then, and not now. First, it kept me off with horrifying tales of children that never returned, Second, I had to go find Saria twice with both times faced with a rather intimidating enemies, and now it's just a place forbidden for me to enter for this is the very place she dwells. For in the deepest part of the hollow, dead tunnels, stays someone I've lost forever, interdicted by destiny itself.

I sped through the maze once I've reached the Sacred Forest Meadow. It was not even a maze to me anymore since I've been here too many times already. The Fairy Fountain existed just before the stairway that would lead into the Forest Temple. I entered the pit where Fairy Fountain lay beneath.

Navi then left my hands and fluttered close to the ground.

"Navi, I'll carry you," I hurry towards her.

"No, Link. Let me."

I listened to her as I held in my desire to take her in my hands. "Navi… you don't have to…"

"You don't deserve pain, Link. You deserve everything better," She said faintly.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and the sensation was strange. I had not cried in years. I wiped the annoyance off of my face and ran after her. "Navi!"

"Ready your bottle, Link."

"Navi, hold on!"

"There is no time to hold on," Navi said as she flew to my face. She leaned against my cheek for what felt like a kiss. "I love you, Link. Take my gift. It's the only thing left that I can offer you."

I slumped on my knees.

I didn't want her to die.

I didn't want to take her life.

But then again, mortals were selfish. For I knew, deep inside of my heart, I wanted Navi to do this.

I wanted to be with Saria.

I wanted to trade my friend's life for my happiness.

And she was willing to let me.

A pink healing fairy gracefully came next to my blue friend.

"Good bye, Navi… thank you… I'll never forget you…" I said.

"Be happy," were her living soul's last words before her blue aura fused with the healing fairy.

Everything grew violet then as I shielded my eyes from the blinding light.

When the light faded, everything was back to normal. I was kneeling by the clear waters, the marble pillars standing and shining, and the pink fairies flying about gracefully. Except, there was one radiant violet fairy flying in the middle of the fountain. It flew towards me ever so gently and landed on my outstretched hand.

It was the Life Fairy.

I captured it in the bottle and rested my cheek on it. "Navi…" I called out.

I wasn't sure if it was sadness, thankfulness, or guilt that I felt right then but it also could have been all of them infused with each other, making it an emotion where no definition was possible.

But her death gave birth to a hope that had not existed before.

We will either be united to die as one, or we will be torn apart for eternity.

It was all up to her now.