This one's a rather special chapter. It's the story of how Link ended up in Kokiri Forest. I thought about putting this up as a one-shot but decided I could tie it in with the current story. Anyways, because this chapter was originally intended to be its own seperate fic, it has more of a drama element to it. Nonetheless, I tried my best to add in the randomness you've come to expect. And who knows? You just might learn a few surprising facts along the way as well.

Without further ado, I present to you...

LoZ Origins: Link

14 years prior to current story:
Hyrule Castle...

The king of Hyrule entered the castle looking as tired as a businessman during an economic depression. He slowly made his way to his bedroom and opened the door. What he saw only served to drain what little energy he had left.

"Zelda! How many times do I have to tell you not to use your brother as a pinata? Do you want him to suffer from brain damage when he grows up?"

"But daddy! He ate my doll!"

"What? Link is this true?"

"I like pie."

"..."

Hearing the commotion, the queen quickly made her way into the bedroom. The queen was a pretty woman in her late twenties. She had long blond hair and blue eyes that reflected the clear sky. One could instantly tell that Link had gotten most of his looks from his mother. Anywho, she took note of the strange situation in the room and decided to put an end to it before her husband had a nervous breakdown.

"Alright kids. Daddy's had a busy day today so let's let him have some rest. Zelda, please take Link down and apologize for using him as a pinata. Again. Link, you apologize for eating Zelda's doll."

The two kids mumbled something incoherent to each other. With a sigh, the queen helped Zelda untie Link and ushered the two kids into their respective rooms. Meanwhile, the king flopped down onto his bed like a dead fish. He remained in the exact same pose until the queen returned.

"I'm guessing the peace talks didn't go down so well?"

"Ugh. You have no idea. No one's willing to negotiate for a truce. I just spent the last five hours exchanging death threats with the Goron, Zora, and Gerudo leaders."

"That bad, huh? Well, don't worry too much about it. I'm sure things will get better soon."

"I doubt it. No one's willing to forget about the reason that started this war."

"Speaking of which, you never did tell me why this whole war started. What exactly happened?"

The king's expression suddenly turned sheepish. Knowing he had to answer his wife, he mumbled something quickly in the hopes that she wouldn't catch it. Unfortunately for him, she did.

"WHAT? THIS ENTIRE WAR STARTED WITH A FIGHT OVER WHO GOT THE LAST COOKIE?"

"Hey! Everyone knows that the last cookie always tastes the best! Pity it was destroyed during our initial scuffle. Besides, we're not talking about any old cookie here!"

"What was so special about it? Was it some kind of magical cookie that would've granted it's owner three wishes or something?"

"No. It was a chocolate chip cookie."

The king suddenly found himself in the same situation that Link was in a few minutes ago. Even worse for him was the fact that his wife had been a former tennis champion in her youth. It was into this awkward scene that Hyrule's leading general walked in.

"Umm..."

The queen noticed the visitor and stopped her relentless beating of the king. She turned towards the general with a smile on her face.

"Oh, hello there General Talon. Didn't see you there for a second. I suppose you have important matters to discuss with my husband?"

"Er, yes. It's imperative that I speak with him right away."

"Of course! If you don't mind, I'm going to excuse myself from this meeting."

General Talon waited until the queen was out of sight before helping the badly beaten up king out of his bonds. He allowed the king a few minutes to bring himself together before saying anything.

"Umm, sir? I've come to ask about that discussion we had the other day."

"Oww. Can you remind me again what that conversation was about? I'm having a hard time thinking right now."

"It was about my resignation, sir."

The king immediately snapped to attention.

"Resignation? What for?"

"Sir, I've already told you. It's time I left all of this war business behind. I've got a family now that I need to take care of. Besides, there are plenty of young soldiers that could easily replace me."

"No, there isn't! You're the best tactician and fighter this country has! If you leave, we'd be overrun in a matter of days!"

"If I may say so, sir, that's not the case. This war's almost over. Every one of our enemies are exhausted from the fight. If we can claim one more victory, we can end this war for good."

"Fat chance! The leaders of those nations are dead set on fighting to the last man!"

"Indeed they are. However, if their armies face another major defeat, the citizens of those nations will call out for peace no matter what their leaders may say."

"If that's true, why do you need to leave so badly? Couldn't you stay until we can obtain this crucial victory?"

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't. My wife is a rather busy woman and we have no one else to look after our kid."

"And what exactly is your wife's occupation?"

"She an ambassador to the Gerudos."

"Really? That's news to me. Did she accomplish anything there?"

"She's the one that reopened the trade routes between Hyrule and Gerudo Valley."

"Wow. Give her my thanks, will you? I was nearly dying when they closed off their Leever trade. Those things are delicious when they're roasted!"

"Er, yes. So, are you going to accept my resignation?"

The king gave a large sigh before answering.

"Very well. You can leave by the end of next week. I'll need some time to find a suitable replacement for you. How about that one guy who can use playing cards as a weapon?"

"He'll do just fine. Anyways, thank you, sir."

"Yeah, yeah. Just one thing before you go. What is your kid's name?"

"Malon, sir. Malon LonLon."

xxx
Later, in Link's room...

"...and so, the brave little plumber saved the princess from the turtle/dragon/mutant/thing. The End."

"Mommy. Story stupid. Read me one sister reads me."

"Zelda actually read something for you? That's a shock. Okay, which book did she read?"

"This one."

"Let's see. Feminism: Why Boy's Are Stupider Than Girls..."

"Sister read this many times for me."

"I really need to have a talk with your sister. By the way, did you brush your teeth?"

"Umm, yes?"

"Of course not. Link, would it kill you to listen to your own mother for once?"

"What you mean?"

"Like not putting your hand in the fireplace. I told you a hundred times not to do that."

Link quickly pulled out his hand from the fire causing it to come out medium-rare rather than well-done. The queen merely gave a sigh before giving Link some Red Potion to drink.

"Well, they do say boys mature more slowly than girls. I just hope that's true."

The queen picked up Link and was about to tuck him into bed when the alarm broke out. From the grounds below, numerous shouts were heard above the bell tower's tolling. The queen quickly stepped out of the room with Link still in her arms. She stopped one of the palace guards that was heading out towards the commotion and asked what was happening.

"We're under attack!"

"Yes, I can tell that much! Who's attacking us?"

"Everyone! The Gorons, Zoras, Gerudos. I think they mean to end the war here and now!"

With that the guard went off to join the rest of the soldiers downstairs. The queen summoned her personal escorts and was about to head for her husband when a large crash sounded from outside.

"Fall back! The enemy has breached the outer wall! I repeat, fall back!"

The queen was about to ask one of her guards about what to do when an arrow suddenly pierced through the guard's neck. More arrows followed, killing all but three of the queen's personal guards. The queen and Link remained unharmed thanks to the soldiers protecting her.

"Who's there? In the king's name, I demand that you show yourself!"

Evil laughter echoed throughout the hallway in answer. Suddenly, a hooded figure in a blood-red cloak appeared before them. In his hands was a crossbow that was apparently the weapon that had killed the soldiers. The guards immediately raised their own weapons towards the intruder.

"Who are you?"

The assassin threw away his crossbow and revealed two thin blades hidden underneath his sleeves. With a sinister smile he turned to answer the guard's question.

"I don't see the need to introduce myself to someone as insignificant as you. All you need to know is that my mission is to kill the royal family. And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Oh really? Then take this!"

One of the guards suddenly pulled out a deck of common playing cards using some sort of magical force. The cards immediately fanned out so that they formed an arch behind the soldier. Then, with expert precision, the cards flew out at the assassin with enough force to pierce through a boulder.

"Ooh. Fancy."

With that said, the assassin simply used his twin blades to cut down all the cards that came hurtling towards him. In a few seconds, all the cards were cut into perfect halves and lay underneath the assassin's feet. The soldier stared in shock at what had just happened.

"Well, enough warm-up. It's time I got on with my job."

Moving faster than the human eye could perceive, the assassin moved forward and sliced through all three soldiers. They were all dead before their brains could even process what had happened.

"Pathetic. I don't see why my employers even bothered to think of you guys as a threat. I bet I could...!"

Suddenly, a frying pan came flying out of nowhere and hit the assassin dead on the face. In his dazed state, he could just make out the queen holding the said weapon.

"Wha? Where'd ya get a freakin fryin' pan?" the assassin managed to slur out.

"I always keep one around for emergencies."

The queen scooped up Link in her arms again and bolted for the stables. It pained her to leave her daughter and husband behind but she knew that if she went looking for them, she would only put them in more danger due to the assassin that was after her. For now, her first and most important priority was to ensure the safety of her son.

Luckily, the queen didn't run into any problems on her way to the stables. She quickly selected the fastest horse and got up on it with Link still in her arms. With a yell, she urged the horse forward. Within a few minutes, the queen and Link made it out onto Hyrule Field using one of the secret side routes leading out of the castle. Behind her, the castle burned as the armies of the greatest military forces fought each other.

The queen was just contemplating her good luck when something whizzed by, grazing the horse's leg. The horse whinnied in pain and shock but the queen managed to keep the horse under control. She looked back and caught a glance of her attacker. Apparently, the same assassin from before had gotten a position on one of the castle's surrounding walls and was firing at her with his crossbow. The queen kept her head low and urged the horse to go faster. Just when she thought she was safe, she felt one of the arrows pierce through her shoulder. She let out a cry of pain but managed not to fall off. A few more arrows came flying by but they all fell short of their mark. The assassin could do nothing but watch helplessly as the queen made it out of his range.

"Damn. I should've brought my sniper rifle."

Suddenly, the assassin's communicator started to ring. With a look of apprehension, he answered it.

"Yes, sir?"

A hologram of a tall, shadowy figure with long hair appeared before the assassin.

"Well? Is the job complete?"

"I'm still working on it. The queen managed to escape but I did hit her with a poisoned arrow. She'll be dead soon enough. As for the king..."

The shadowy figure silenced the assassin with a wave of his hand. The assassin waited nervously for his employer's response.

"So, our leader's predictions turned out to be true... Very well. You have played your part in this... little charade. You shall receive your payment as promised."

"But, sir! What about the rest of the royal family?"

"There is no point in trying to eliminate them anymore. The moment the queen escaped you, the destiny of this world had already been decided."

"Umm, you do realize just how cheesy that sounds, right? I mean, you just sounded like that pharaoh guy from Yu-Gi-Oh."

"Shut it. For now, retreat back to the rendezvous point. You shall receive your pay there."

"As you wish, sir."

With that, the assassin turned off the communicator and silently vanished into the night.

xxx
Outskirts of Kokiri Forest...

The queen laboriously made her way deeper into the forest. The horse had long since succumbed to the poison, leaving the queen to continue on foot. With every step, she could feel the poison slowly sapping the life out of her. However, she knew she couldn't die just yet. She took another look at her son and knew that she had to make it... to where, though, she did not know.

Truth be told, the queen didn't even know why she had entered the forest in the first place. Maybe it was the poison, but it felt as if someone, or something, was beckoning for her. And whatever lay at the end, she just knew that it meant safety for her child. With a renewed determination, she continued onwards. After what seemed like hours, she stumbled into a large clearing with a gigantic tree in it's center. Much to her surprise, the tree suddenly spoke out.

"Huh? Who goes there? If it's about the loan payments for the casino, I don't have the money yet!"

With great effort, the queen moved out into the clearing. The tree stared in surprise as the queen continued forward until she was standing directly in front of him.

"Er, do I know you?"

That's when the tree finally noticed the wound on her shoulder. The skin around the wound had taken on an unnatural green tinge. Even with that one look, the tree knew that she had been poisoned.

"Who are you? Is there something I can do to help?"

The queen suddenly collapsed onto the ground before she could say anything. With the last of her strength, she made sure that Link landed on top of her so as to protect him from the impact. The tree knew with absolute certainty that the woman was now dead. Awakened by the fall, Link looked around in confusion, not understanding what had just happened. This brought the tree's attention towards the young child. He took a close look at Link and suddenly gasped in surprise.

"It... it can't be! Those blue eyes! And that blond hair! It's unmistakable! He's... he's... a Nazi!"

"How dare you call my son a Nazi!"

The tree gave a girly shriek in his surprise. Floating in front of him was the transparent form of the queen's ghost. Apparently, being dead had done nothing to diminish her personality.

"What? But you're dead!"

"Of course I'm dead, you overgrown salad!"

"That was uncalled for. Speaking of which, why in Farore's name are you here? Shouldn't you be in the afterlife or something?"

"I couldn't pass over to the other side because I was too damn worried about my kid! I'm not going to leave him in the care of some filthy casino owner! That would be a horrible environment to raise a kid!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on a second. I think we got off on the wrong foot here. Look, let's calm down and start over from the beginning, 'kay? My name is the Great Deku Tree but you can call me GDT for short. I'm the guardian spirit of this forest. So, who are you?"

"How do you not recognize the Queen of Hyrule? Don't you ever watch the news?"

"Well, we get pretty crappy reception here in the forest. Plus, television hasn't been invented yet so we really shouldn't even be having this conversation in the first place. Anyways, you're actually the Queen of Hyrule?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

The Great Deku Tree took another look at Link and gasped once more.

"Then it has to be! This kid is the fabled 'Child of Destiny!'"

"Child of what?"

"The Child of Destiny. He's the chosen one who will grow up to save all of Hyrule from some great evil. I was told by the Goddesses that a child of royal blood would arrive here one day. When he did, I was to take him in and raise him as one of the Kokiri."

"You've got to be kidding me. Link? Save the world? I don't know what you've been smoking but it's obvious that it's done something to your brain."

"Of course, the Goddesses never said anything about an angry queen coming to haunt me. Hold on a second. I need to call my superior about this."

xxx
Somewhere in the outer heavens...

Farore was busy filling out a stack of paperwork in a classic office style setting. Suddenly, the telephone started to ring with annoying consistency. With a frustrated sigh, Farore put down the paper she was working on and picked up the phone.

"The Divine Realm. Farore speaking. How may I help you?"

A long string of inaudible chatter answered her.

"Hang on second. Who is this?"

The Great Deku Tree slowed down just enough so that Farore could finally understand who was talking.

"GDT, is that you? Look, if you want another loan for that new casino, you can forget about it. You still haven't payed back the 40 million rupees you initially borrowed. What? This isn't about the casino? … The Child of Destiny? It's time for that already? Well, you know what to do once he arrives. ... What do you mean there's a slight complication?"

Suddenly, Farore heard the sounds of a loud argument taking place on the other side. After a while, an irate sounding woman answered.

"Hello? This is the Goddess Farore, correct? Well, this is the mother of your 'Child of Destiny' or whatnot. I'm here to state a few complaints with your arrangements. For starters, I'm not going to leave my child in the care of a casino-owning tree."

Farore gave another sigh before answering.

"Look miss. The Great Deku Tree's excellent with children. If you didn't know already, he's the caretaker of the entire Kokiri race."

"So what if he is?"

"The Kokiri are all children. The point is, he's more than qualified to look after your child."

"As if! Link needs someone around 24/7 to make sure he doesn't kill himself!"

"If you're complaining so much, I'm guessing you have someone else in mind for taking the job?"

"Of course I do! Me! If you're the freaking goddess, just zap me back to life and I'll gladly take care of him!"

"Oh. You're a ghost right now? You have my condolences. Unfortunately, regulations clearly forbids the act of resurrecting the dead. If I broke that rule, I'd probably end up doing four hundred years of paperwork."

"WHAT? That's the only reason you can't bring me back to life? I'm going to...!"

The GDT quickly moved the phone away so that Farore didn't have to listen to the cascade of profanity and death threats. While the queen continued with her rant, the GDT suddenly came up with a genius thought. As soon as the queen stopped to catch her breath, the GDT quickly cut in to propose his idea.

"Ahem. Excuse me ladies, but I just thought of something. How about I turn the queen here into a fairy? That way she can stay in this world and look after her kid."

"A fairy? How would I be able to look after Link as a freaking fairy?"

Farore decided to answer that question.

"Every Kokiri has a guardian fairy assigned to them. Their job is to look after and advise the children. As a fairy, you could do the same for your kid."

"There is a catch, though," the GDT added. "I'm afraid that once I change you into a fairy, you'll have no recollection of your human life. I can transfer over your personality, but your memories will be lost. I know the idea isn't perfect, but this is the only way that you can stay with your kid. The final choice is up to you."

For once, the queen seemed at a loss for words. Dead silence seemed to fall over the entire clearing as she slowly made up her decision. Her eyes turned towards her son who was currently gnawing on a rock. Seeing that, she immediately knew what she had to do. With a sigh, she turned back towards the GDT.

"Alright. I'll do it. Just promise me that you'll remind me to look after my son once I forget everything."

"Of course. You have my word."

"If it makes you feel any better," Farore put in, "I'm going to have to erase Link from everyone else's memories as well."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because too many people already know who Link is. After all, he is the Prince of Hyrule. If he is to become this land's savior, he must have absolutely no connections with his past. He must appear out of obscurity and make a name for himself with his own hands. It may be a lonely life, but such is the path of a true hero."

"Nice. Did you write that yourself?"

"Yep. Spent a few millennium coming up with it."

"Huh. Well, enough talk. Let's get this whole business over with."

"Very well. I wish you good luck in your new life."

"Thanks. I'm sure I'll need it."

With that, Farore hung up the phone. The Great Deku Tree also put away his cellphone and turned once more towards the queen.

"If you're having any second thoughts, now's the time to reconsider."

"No thanks. My mind's already made up."

"As you wish. The transformation will take approximately seven years to complete. When it is time for Link to embrace his destiny, I will assign you to look after Link."

"Hold on a second. Then who's going to look after Link during those seven years?"

"I shall ask one of the Kokiri to personally look after him during that time. She's the attentive type, so Link should be perfectly safe with her. Besides, I think it would be more practical to have you supervise Link during the time of his journey."

"I guess so. By the way, how long will this new body of mine last? Or do I have to spend an eternity as a fairy?"

"No. Once you realize that Link has grown beyond your care, you can choose to ascend to the afterlife. There, you will regain your true form as well as your memories."

"Then I guess I'll be stuck as a fairy for a very long time. There's no way I'll ever accept the fact that Link can take care of himself."

"You might be surprised. Anywho, there's one final thing that needs to be addressed. What do you want to be called once you become a fairy?"

Once again, the queen thought long and hard before coming up with her decision.

"Navi."

"Navi? What kind of name is that?"

"It's to symbolize the fact that I'll always be there to navigate Link through his life."

"Eh, it's your choice. If you've got any final words to say to your kid, now's your final chance."

The queen turned to face her child for potentially the last time.

"I guess this is good-bye, Link. I pray that you can manage to stay alive until I return. Just remember to never stick your hand in the fireplace. And don't even think about trying to eat a Deku Shrub while I'm gone. You remember what happened the last time you did that. Anyways, I know you'll grow up to be a fine hero one day. An incompetent one, but a hero nonetheless. That's why I'll always be there for you, even if it's as a fairy. Good-bye, my son."

Unfortunately, Link was still too busy gnawing on the rock to hear his mother's last words. With a final face-palm, the queen's ghostly form disappeared into a glowing ball of light which was then sealed inside the Great Deku Tree. There, she would slowly change into Navi: the fairy that would one day both guide and terrorize Link throughout his entire journey.

And thus, the legend began...