"Hey, listen!" a high-pitched voice angrily shouted.
A bright green fairy giggled, crossing its minuscule legs over the other. Only other fairies could even see each others' movement; to the world, they were just bright glowing orbs with fluttering wings, faintly marked with symbols or patterns sharing the color of their glow. "Well, Navi, I'm listening!" he jokingly replied, staring right at Navi.
"Link was a good partner, okay?" Navi angrily replied, jabbing the green fairy, Dio, in the arm. "Sure, his adventures nearly got me crushed and flattened more times than I can count," —Dio laughed, and Navi rolled her eyes— "But he cared!"
"Yeah. I mean, he wasn't the brightest, he needed you, Navi," Dio replied, standing and lifting Navi to her feet. He pressed his finger to her lips as she was about to argue back, lowly replying with a wink, "I know, I know." He jerked his head away from the tree branch that they had been sitting on for the past hour, exchanging a nod with Navi before leaping off of it. They spread their wings, fluttering through the air while looking around at all the other free fairies, each and every one of them hidden in the leaves of trees but glowing brightly in the night sky. Or, if they wished, they roamed freely, especially if they were older and had lived their lives.
Navi exhaled cheerfully, watching and eavesdropping on the passing conversations of many fairies. "You know…" she started, glancing at Dio as he flew on his back, "even after all those years and months with Link, I kinda missed this."
Dio chuckled, adopting a more casual pose than the one he already once had. "Really? I thought you missed him." Navi nodded, but they both were interrupted as a purple fairy approached them both, its glow a bit brighter than most. Dio smirked at the purple one, giving it a little salute with his hand. "Zade," he casually greeted, as Zade joined the two of them. Dio looked at Navi, quickly mouthing, 'Sorry to interrupt.'
Zade smiled. "Dio…." He yawned, stretching his arms high into the sky before glancing at Navi, who sweetly smiled at him. "Heh. Mornin', Navi," he greeted, rubbing his eye. "Sorry about… y'know… my attitude these past days. So much… uh… 'living' is kinda tiring to, er, someone as young as me." They all laughed a bit, but Zade's faded quickly, and right after he slouched and sighed. This change from the once happy-go-lucky and optimistic Zade wasn't out of the blue, though; his once-white shine had grown more blue and purple as he aged, which they all knew would eventually grow into a bright pink. His actual figure hardly aged, though, since the color of the glow was the only way to tell any fairy's age.
Navi smiled softly with tiny traces of a frown on her face, which was also around the same time that they neared a small hole in a large arm of a different tree. The one that belonged to what was left of the Great Deku Tree; at least, until he was eventually reborn through a method even they didn't understand. Legends tell that he was a creation forged directly by the Golden Goddesses, but Navi didn't believe them; the Great Deku Tree was certainly blessed, but it couldn't be that blessed. "So… what do you intend to do now, Zade?" Navi asked, right as they settled down onto the tree branch with the fairy home.
While she hid it, she felt pure fear as she realized that little flight had made her tired.
She wished time would stop, whether it be with Link or at home, she didn't want to die. What if she never really lived?
"Well," —Zade jumped onto a small twig sticking out of the branch, sitting atop it while bouncing his foot— "I… uh… I intend to go to the, y'know… fairy fountains. Maybe get caught by a lucky soul."
Dio nodded and flew up with a hand outstretched to Zade, glancing down at Navi quickly. "Even to the end, you wanna light up someone's world," —he winked and smirked— "don't you?" Zade slowly shook it, and after Dio flipped backward, landing back beside Navi. "We wish you the best, Zade."
Navi nodded, waving at Zade as they walked into the branch. They found the inside filled with fairies, still with that cheerful and sweet tone of the ones outside, but more tired and subdued. This was where the majority of the fairies stayed, mainly if they were still going through the agony of thinking about the Great Deku Tree, or the events under Ganondorf's rule. The voices consisted of the ones they knew, who had moved on and actually had a soul. This also happened to be her sleeping quarters.
They silently flew by a lot of the traumatized fairies, shivering as they heard their pleas and cries.
"I-I knew him a lot… you know? Better than most…."
"He was our guardian for Hylia's sake… what do we do now?"
"I think about… well… everyone who died, and… a-and… it j-just breaks me…."
"So many people died… didn't even get a chance to know what a fairy was… didn't get that comfort so many once did."
They shared their agony with the world, and in times like these, it truly showed.
Soon, she and Dio — very thankfully — ended up at their little branches, cut out to fit themselves with tiny bark covers. A nightmare to Hylians, but really nice to them. "Well… see you tomorrow, Navi," Dio casually said, turning over in his sheet to smile at her.
She hesitated before she quietly replied, "Yeah… you too, Dio."
Dio frowned gently, reaching out to brush Navi's face, which caught her attention again as she looked up and flickered pink. Not her glow, but her face. He chuckled a bit, before holding her cheek. "You're scared of growing, aren't you?" he softly said, as she adjusted herself a bit, gingerly looking into his eyes. She didn't even have to nod. Somehow, no matter what day or weather, he knew what she was feeling. Only her, though. "Look, Navi: It'll happen. We all grow, and we all have that moment where we start our lives over as someone else." She frowned and looked away, scrunching up in her sheet. "I know that's not what you want to hear. But it's what you have to hear."
"I know, Dio," she quietly murmured. "I… I just… I—"
He pressed his finger to her lips, whispering, "I know, I know." He nodded at her, turning onto his back and going to sleep.
She did the same, shutting her eyes, unfortunately letting her thoughts run wild. They came back around to the idea of… dying. The idea of time running out. The fear of never having lived through it all. Then… she began to ask.
Why couldn't every clock stop?
Even for a day?
She didn't care if she was back with Link, or living happily in Kokiri Forest with Dio and the rest, as long as time just… stopped.
She didn't want to know if she would fail to accomplish her big dreams in her tiny life.
She just wanted to stay where she knew it was safe.
A/N - Overall, eh.
I don't hate this chapter, but it took me a little while to cobble together what Navi wished for.
Next up… the big one.
Sorry I have nothing to say here, because Navi isn't supposed to feel… anything. Just an AI doing as told, like a worse Fi. I'm just referring to the material to base Navi's motivations off of, by the way, since she (he, whatever; I'm pretty sure no fairy has a guaranteed gender, but screw it) is just a helper menu disguised.
Love y'all,
Ebblenubble.