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Chapter 5

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Saria had never gone to search for the Deku Witch before. The Deku Witch always came to her. The Kokiri knew how the witch hid in the foliage, intertwining with the greenery, hiding amongst the branches and the bark. Camouflage was her best weapon, and it only made it harder for Saria to find when it was raining in the middle of the night.

"Oh, where are you?" she whispered to no one in particular, figuring the witch would probably not hear her anyway.

She pushed past some shrubbery; feeling the slick wetness of the small leaves brush past her face, mingle with her fingers. Twigs crunched under her feet, leaves slid on the mud as she walked, indenting in places or submerging in dark, deep puddles where the forest floor fell. Saria didn't have trouble with this. She knew every crevice and branch of the forest. She could walk through it with her eyes closed if she had to. But she didn't dare to, anyway.

Something smacked her square in the jaw, sending her flying back in a nearby tree. The bark shredded her clothing, ripping the material, scratching her back. She yelped in shock, feeling an edge of pain shoot up her spine. A black figure loomed above her, blocking the slaps of rain on her forehead and into her eyes.

"So," the voice was harsh, "you have come back?"

Saria wobbled to her feet, using the tree trunk for support. "Why did you slap me?"

The Deku Witch reached out a gnarling, long branch. "It was a reflex." Saria took it, and the branch pulled her up the rest of the way.

"I need your help," the Kokiri said exasperatedly.

"Oh?" the witch wrapped a branch around her waist, pulling Saria closer to her hard bark. "Have you reconsidered my offer?"

Saria thought for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing. Her mind had seemingly made it up by herself. "Yes…" she inhaled deeply, as if her response was enough to knock the breath out of her. "I've reconsidered."

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Ayden tumbled past a small grove, a pond surrounded behind an array of scrubs and tall branches. There was nothing else in sight- no fairy, no firefly, no sound, nothing. He breathed in a shaking breath, finding it hard to breathe after so much running. Impa had told him to not waste his breath; he only had little- enough to make him suffocate himself if he didn't take it easy. And he hadn't at that moment. He flopped down on the uneven ground, his back resting against a tree trunk, stray grass tickling his hands that rested at his side.

Something shuffled from beyond the foliage near the pond. He narrowed his eyes, his heart still pounding, and his breaths coming out in a short wheeze. Forcing himself, he crawled onto his hands and knees, and then proceeded to the location where the noise had come from. He could feel his face warm and his nose begin to run. An odd vibe flushed through him, sending his senses to pick up every scrap of detail around him, every sound, every smell. Impa called it the "Sheikah's sixth sense". It only happened when there was danger somewhere, and the mode would simply switch on in their heads. She also said he was terrible at picking things like that up, which had attributed to hours of constant training.

But, he had wandered farther off in his head. A twig snapped, and he stopped in his tracks. Glancing down, he realized it was he that had caused it. His knee was scraped, his pants torn. He fought the urge to let out a whimper, and continued to scuffle past a large shrub. Something moved in front of him. His breath caught, as did his collar. A sharp branch dipped from a twisted tree, leaves falling onto its trunk like hair. He tried to untangle the cloth, but it was gnarled into the branch's protruding claws, as if it had especially caught his collar on purpose. He would have laughed at it, hadn't he looked up, into sickly yellow eyes.

His own eyes would have caught the movement when he saw it, but the ones he stared at had narrowed so suddenly, and before he could move- he was being tossed into the air. Sharp branches, bark, and paper-thin leaves grazed his face and arms, cutting him and scraping against him like mini paper cuts all over his face and limbs. Then he stopped in midair, his back making contact with a thick, protruding branch. He gasped, the air finally knocked out of him.

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The Deku Witch laughed gaily, watching the still form of the copper-haired boy fall to the forest floor with a thud. She outstretched her twisting hand and caught him by the collar.

"A snoop," she rasped, eyeing him with little interest, "Wonder what he's doing out here all alone. In the biting cold."

A large droplet of water fell on Saria's head, a continuance of what had already been happening before. Even the black cloth over her head couldn't protect her from the seeping wet.

"How could you do that?" the Kokiri ran toward the witch, ready to tackle her back and release Ayden. The witch cackled, stepping away. Saria's boots slipped on a puddle of mud, and she skidded, falling on her side.

"Don't test me, child," the Deku Witch dropped Ayden, the short fall to the ground enough to make Saria yelp in astonishment. "You want this potion, don't you? The one that will make you mortal, for eternity…? Well, for the rest of your mortal life, anyway."

Saria scowled, "Yes, but you can't hurt him."

The Deku Witch smiled, tossing a careless glance the boy's direction. "He has nothing to do with this. Now, you know my terms, don't you? You know what you must do for me?"

The Kokiri glared in contempt, her words edged with a hint of malice, "Yes. I do."

"Good," the Deku Witch beamed, "Bring the two here; I don't care how you do it."

Guilt gutted Saria's chest. She nodded forlornly, "I will- when it's time." The Deku Witch's words sounded worse in the Kokiri's own voice. She had pretty much betrayed everyone, even her own life.

"Now," the witch's arm uncurled before her, a small vial at the tips of her gnarled fingertips, "Drink this, and take the quickest route out of here."

Saria snatched the vial out of the witch's hand, glaring at it as though it would bite any second. The dark, black liquid reminded her of the witch's heart, but now it would be apart of hers. She couldn't believe what she was doing. But they had shaken on it- she tried to remind herself. There was no going back.

Popping the top off, she watched the liquid bubble and swirl in the glass. She placed the rim to her lips, afraid to breathe in the scent the potion might contain, but once she whiffed it- she forgot her troubles. She thought she smelled roses, the humidity of the rainy weather gone.

"Saria?" the voice was weak, barely audible against the loud pitter-patter of water drops against the leaves and the ground.

She lowered the vial, turning to Ayden. He was watching her in bewilderment, ready to ask her what she was doing.

"Drink it, Saria," the witch hissed, her yellow eyes glowing menacingly, "You made the deal, now go through with it."

"The forest hears everything," Ayden choked, rolling onto his side to see her better, "that's what the Deku Tree said."

"In this case, boy," the witch glared, "I'm the forest."

Saria knew she was right; she knew the witch's past, her rebellion against the Deku Tree, and also the fact that she had made a deal.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, her eyebrows furrowing. The black liquid cascaded down her throat in a flurry- feeling as though it would drown her. It tasted like blueberries, sweet and ripe, until it began to burn. It spread through her body, not just down her throat. But she felt it, up her back, down to her toes and her fingertips. The vial dropped from her fingertips. Her eyes burned, every raindrop lashing against her skin like scolding hot water. She crumpled to the forest floor, motionless, her vision gone black.

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