Author's Note: I've broken this fic into chapters to make it easier to read. Nothing else has changed except for some grammar fixes.

Chapter 2: As Times Passes

Back in the present Ruto smiled at the memory as she climbed out of the river she had been swimming in to speed up travel. No matter the direction or strength of the flow, water was never an impediment for a Zora. She looked around and saw that it was still well into the night. She still had quite a large portion of Hyrule field to trek until her destination, but she probably had enough of a head start that no one from the castle would be able to catch up to her to take her back. For the last several years Hyrule field had been at an unprecedented level of safety for travelers. It was said that the evil that had plagued the land in the years before had been from a sorcerer from the Gerudo desert, Ganondorf.

He had been the King of Hyrule's advisor at one point before Princess Zelda of Hyrule and Link had exposed his plans to steal the sacred power of the Goddesses. Ruto had suspected that there was more to the story than what was publically available to everyone. Link had gone around and collected the three stones said to open the door to the sacred realm, and had gathered them up almost a month before Ganondorf had been arrested and executed. Something else had happened, but no one had ever told her what. Link and Zelda both seemed to know more, but they were both tight lipped about the topic.

Zelda and Ruto had been friends for years, playing together when their fathers had been in royal conference with each other. Ruto respected the other girl, despite her bragging about how she was a much better princess. Zelda had…gifts. She saw things other people didn't, and knew things she shouldn't. Zelda never showed them openly in front of Ruto, but the Zora Princess was smart enough to put two and two together. So, when Zelda told her she had no idea about the story behind defeating Ganondorf, Link's role in it or where the green clad boy now was Ruto hadn't believed her.

Shortly after news of Ganondorf's treachery had reached Zora's Domain the rulers of the various races had been asked to meet at Hyrule Castle for a summit. Ruto had traveled with her father, curious to confirm rumors she had heard. A strange boy in green clothes and a fairy had traveled around Hyrule saving it from various evils. Ruto knew this had to be Link. She had heard it said that he currently resided at Hyrule Castle, a special guest of the King and Princess. The Zora Princess had been excited to meet him again, but also a little scared to check out another one of the rumors, that the strange boy was dating Princess Zelda...

Ruto had arrived at the castle and had found to her delight that Link was in fact staying at the castle. He was safe, healthy, not dating Zelda and apparently glad to see her. Together with Zelda they played together practically non-stop while emissaries arrived for the summit. There were several times during the summit though that Link was called in for reasons unknown to her. Ruto wasn't allowed in during those parts, to her chagrin. During the parts she was, she decided to instead play with Link. Her father would fill her in on anything important, and had actually seemed happy that she was playing with kids her age instead of harassing him.

Ruto had enjoyed those days the most of her childhood to that point, minus maybe meeting Link. Playing with the boy she loved had been like a dream, but something had been off about him. The most obvious change had been the lack of his fairy companion Navi. When Ruto had asked Link where Navi was a look of utter sadness had flittered across his face. The next moment he had smiled at her like usual though.

"She's gone," he had replied. "She went back to live in the forest."

He had refused to say more, but Ruto had known something was wrong. The lack of his friend wasn't the only change that seemed to have affected him in the month since they had first met. At times he seemed much, much older than he had before, or should have been able to be. Certain sights or phrases seemed to cause him pain, sadness or longing. There was one point that when playing Ruto had caught him staring at her with a look unlike any she had ever seen on him before. He hadn't seemed to know that she could see the look of sad longing on his face, the same she had seen on her father when he was thinking of her mother.

When Ruto had been about to leave for Zora's domain Link had pulled her aside to say goodbye, something she had thought she would need to be the one to initiate.

"Have a safe trip back to Zora's Domain," Link had said, looking shyly at his feet instead of looking at her. "I had a lot of fun playing with you these past few days."

"I enjoyed playing with you too," Ruto had replied, smiling back at him. He couldn't see her, but she didn't care. She had spent two months worrying that Link would never return to her, that he had just taken the Spiritual stone from her or if he did return, she was just forcing him against his will. Playing with him, and hearing him talk like this had taken a huge lode off of her heart. "If you ever want to play again, remember that you're free to visit Zora's Domain. There will always be a place for you there."

She paused for a moment. He still hadn't looked up at her, but she knew he was listening. She managed to choke out the next line, feeling her face turning bright red with the effort.

"And I would also love to see you again," finished Ruto. Without warning Link moved forward and enveloped her in a tight hug. She had gasped in surprise at first but returned the hug. Neither of them said anything, just keeping the embrace for several minutes. The two children had only broken away from each other when Ruto's Father's voice had bellowed through the halls, telling her it was time to go. Ruto had looked once more at Link and flashed him a smile.

"See you again!" she had said happily, dashing away, her face burning red, and a stupid grin refusing to leave it.

Time passed quickly for Ruto after that. On arriving back to Zora's Domain her father decided to increase her studies and training for becoming Queen one day. Her freedom to run off was restricted by the mass of tutors lining up outside her door every day to teach her whatever subject they took the most pride in. History of the Zora's, History of Hyrule Continent, History of the Kingdom of Hyrule(focusing mostly on the Hylians themselves), classes on etiquette and culture of the multitude of races that populated Hyrule(way more than Ruto cared to count, with more seeming to appear daily for her to learn about). In addition to all this Ruto was finally allowed to do something she had never thought to be able to do; fighting lessons.

Since the Summit at Hyrule Castle her overprotective father had actually relaxed several of his previous restrictions on her. This included wielding weapons, or being allowed to even be near a weapon. Her combat instructor seemed to be a fan of the legend of the Zora Warrior Queen Rutela, who her own name was derived from. This meant that her instructor believed that she could shape the Zoran Princess into a Warrior Queen worthy of the legend. The first few months she didn't even touch any weapons, just conditioning training. Every night she went to sleep sore. At least the lessons gave a reprieve from all the other more boring lessons. Then it was deemed ok to start with weapons, starting with boomerangs. Her child's toy didn't even compare to the heavier weapon she was trained with. Misjudging distance and speed was a common starting mistake which led to many smacks to her chest, arms and sometimes, unfortunately, her face. She went to sleep even sorer after weapons training.

Her days were too packed to do any of the messing around or relaxing she had done previously. Her only period of rest came when she had to deliver the offerings to Lord Jabu Jabu. Eventually though she started to adapt to the rigors of her new daily life. Excessive soreness was a thing of the past and concentrating on boring chatter and recalling and reciting facts was now something she could do on demand. Slightly more than a year after the summit Ruto finally found time to do something she had been meaning to for just as long. One night after a slightly easier training session than normal, she sat down at the desk that had sat basically unused in her room up to that point. Taking a pen to paper Ruto composed a letter to Link. In it she described everything she had been doing up to that point, apologizing for taking so long to write. She filled several sheets with idle chatter, every couple of sentences asking for details about the different aspects of his own life at Hyrule Castle. The letter ended with an invitation to visit if he had nothing else to occupy himself. Satisfied with all she had written, Ruto had passed out later in the night than usual.

It was already the afternoon when she found that her father had ordered she be allowed the day off for rest and relaxation. He had taken the offering to Lord Jabu Jabu himself already. Ruto had been angry to find out about it after the fact, but she realized quickly that her father meant well, and that she did probably deserve a day off. She had asked her father if a messenger could deliver her letter anytime soon. He had replied that someone would be heading to Hyrule Castle on routine business in two days, and that it could be delivered then. Impatient but knowing only the Goddess of Time could speed it up, Ruto spent the rest of the day writing a similar letter to Zelda, although only half as long as the one to Link. The messenger left on time two days later with both letters, leaving an excited Ruto behind.

Ruto's days after sending the letters quickly turned back into the same grueling challenges that they had been before. Her excitement at sending the letters tapered off a bit with each passing day until, after two weeks of no news, it started to morph into anxiousness. The messenger had not returned to the domain either, so Ruto reasoned that maybe something had delayed him in the Castle and the excitedly written responses from Link and Zelda were just burning a hole in the middle of his bag, chaffing at the delay of being delivered to her. The fantasy of the messenger trying to catch flaming letters with his hands amused her for a bit, but even that didn't help as the second week ended, morphing into the start of the third. She tried to distract herself with lessons and training, but not being able to hear promptly from two of the people she held most dear was driving her crazy.

Halfway into the third week the messenger finally showed up, apologizing profusely to her as he found himself confronted immediately upon entry to Zora's Domain by the angry young girl. She let him off easy though due to news that a plague had closed all traffic to and from Castle Town. Grabbing the letters, practically ripping the messenger's arm off in the process, Ruto rushed to her room to read the two letters now in her possession.

Tempering her excitement, Ruto had started by reading the letter from Zelda. It had read much like similar letters had in the past. Pleasantries, descriptions of daily life, mostly all still the same, a description of the plague that had gripped Castle Town in the week the messenger had been in the area, a description of how Link was doing well (this being the part Ruto cared the most about), and some closing statements. Ruto found it all interesting and would probably pursue it later, but she had hardly finished reading the letter before dropping it onto her desk and tearing into the letter from Link. His handwriting was much messier than Zelda's neat, compact script, something that didn't really surprise her. His letter conveyed all the friendliness and boyish excitement she had come to expect from him. It detailed his days relaxing in the Castle. He had started to train with the cities soldiers, and had even managed to best a few. Every word made Ruto feel glad for him and his well-deserved happiness, but she couldn't help but admit that a part of her wished he was doing it at Zora's Domain instead. Link's letter also included a section on the plague from his point of view, although luckily it hadn't affected anyone in the Castle. It sounded like a nasty thing, and Ruto made a note to check with the messenger to make sure they were doing ok. Link's letter ended politely, and Ruto put it down, contemplating what she had read.

Everyone seemed to be doing well, and she was glad of that. But something seemed slightly off to her. She read both letter's once more, paying more attention to their actual contents. Rereading Link's message something struck her as odd. For one, he didn't mention any of the times they had played together that weren't with Zelda. Second was the absence of any mention of the promises they had made, either to get married or to visit Zora's Domain. Third was the position of the parts about the plague. It seemed off and when Ruto thought about it the timing made no sense between when the letters should have been written and when the plague would have happened. Why were the mentions of the plague not on different sheets that had been added to the letters after the fact? And finally, looking over the letters for a third time, Ruto realized they had been written by the same person. The writer had been trying to cover it up in tone and by using their off hand for Link's letter, but how they wrote the symbols were of the same style. It seemed weird to her that Zelda and Link would both write symbols exactly the same, when they had learned on opposite sides of Hyrule.

Ruto had taken the letters in hand and rushed off to meet her father. He had been debriefing the messenger and the two had gotten unusually silent on her entry.

"Ah, my darling Ruto," said her father, speaking first. "I am in the middle of a meeting right now, do you need something?"

"I just thought I'd come and see how Mikau was doing after his trip," she replied, referring to the Zoran messenger. "I had heard rumors of plague in Castle Town and I was rude before on not checking on his well-being on greeting him."

I am doing well Princess," responded Mikau after a moment, finding his voice but still sounding a bit shocked that she would care. "It was a nasty piece of work."

"So, I've heard," said Ruto casually. "The letters I received said that lots of the servants in the castle had come down with the plague; nasty greenish boils."

"Yeah, it took down a large part of the staff before the healers got things under control. It was the reason for my delay, they wanted to make sure everyone was completely healthy before anyone could leave or enter."

"Yes, that does sound bad, luckily it never happened," replied Ruto dryly, her anger at being lied to starting to show.

"Never happened?" replied a confused Mikau. "What are you talking about Prince-"

"I'm talking about these letters!" yelled Ruto, marching up to the messenger and waving the pieces of parchment in his face. "It's all a lie. These letters say that no one in the castle, not even a servant got afflicted. And no mention of greenish-boils. You on the other hand would have me believe that stuff had happened? So, which is it?"

"Princess…." replied Mikau weakly. He seemed in distress, and her father spoke up to his rescue.

"It is not Mikau's fault," replied the Zoran King. "He was asked to lie by Princess Zelda and the King of Hyrule, and I agreed."

"Why?" asked Ruto, tears forming in her eyes. "Why are all of you lying to me? Who really wrote this letter from Link? Why hasn't he come to visit me yet like he said he would!?"

"We lied because we care," replied the Zoran King softly. "Princess Zelda agonized over many days to write that letter. As I understand it she lied to stop you from being hurt because she cares for you. You see, Link has disappeared, and no one knows when he'll be back, or even where he went."

"What?" replied Ruto, too shocked to say anything else. Link, gone? It couldn't be. He had promised to visit her. Not only did he break his promise, he had left to somewhere without even saying goodbye? "I don't believe it. He couldn't have…."

"I am sad to say that he did," replied her father, sounding sincere.

Ruto couldn't even manage anymore words, she just broke down and started to cry in the middle of the throne room. She collapsed to the ground and sobbed. Eventually someone came over and wrapped her in a warm comforting embrace, but it wasn't the one she wanted at the moment, so she just continued to weep.

Ruto promptly shut herself away from the rest of the world, ignoring the friendly calls to leave her room. All tutors and teachers were promptly turned away, and she only accepted the food brought on trays and left outside her door. She turned away her father also. She didn't want to see anyone at the moment, except the one person she knew who would never show up.

This went on for a week before she finally came to a realization. Sitting around and crying wasn't getting her any closer to Link. He was gone, and probably not coming back. If she wanted to see him again, and get some answers for his actions, she'd need to find him herself. Ruto started by writing a letter to Zelda, explaining that she knew everything, and that she would like any answers she could be given. With the letter finished she secured it in an envelope and dropped in off in the mail room, surprising the courier at the desk as she smiled politely, almost cheerfully, at him. And then, she joined her father for dinner. He was thrilled to have her, but kept gently trying to probe if she was really ok. Ruto answered all his questions cheerfully, never letting on to her real plan.

Her lessons started up again, and she surprised her tutors by being more of an active student. They were pleasantly surprised to find her derailing their planned lessons for questions of her own that they were more than happy to answer. Ruto directed such questions about the geography of Hyrule and the surrounding lands, the Lost Woods, the inhabitants of the woods the Kokiri and such topics. In combat lessons, she pushed herself even further, impressing her teacher with her progress. But at night, alone in her room she sometimes felt as if her goals would never be accomplished. She only needed to stare at the letters on her desk to know that she had to keep going. Unsurprisingly, Zelda never responded to her letter.

Almost a year passed before Ruto had the chance to enact her plan. Her father had to head to Hyrule for another council meeting, and Ruto was going to join him. She convinced him that she was fit to travel and happy to see Zelda and the Castle again. Maybe he was just desperate to believe her, but her father allowed her attendance. Soon they were packed, Ruto's bag slightly larger than in previous years. She insisted on packing herself, and if anyone looked they would have seen a shockingly large amount of travel and survival gear, weapons included. The group of Zoras set off across Hyrule field, a necessary action since they had to bring supplies and objects that would not fare well if they travelled through the river. They stopped off halfway at Lon Lon Ranch to avoid the hottest part of the day, which was a lot more inconvenient for the water dwellers than the Hylians. The three who ran the ranch were happy to see them and their business and made the Zoras feel welcome. Ruto was attended to by a Hylian girl her age named Malon, who was the daughter of the man who ran the ranch.

"-father spent most of his day sleeping, can you believe that! A grown man slacking off!" complained Malon. The girl hadn't stopped talking since her and Ruto had walked off to relax in a shaded corner of the ranch. In the middle of the field horses ran back and forth. Ruto was glad for the break and the company. The ranch girl was quite amusing to listen to, but it was her next words that sent a shock through Ruto. "Although he is better now. I don't know what the Fairy Boy said to him, but my father seemed to reflect on his ways."

"Wait, did you say, 'Fairy Boy'?" asked Ruto, surprised to hear the other girl mentioning him. "Do you mean Link? He walks around with a small sword, green clothes and a fairy companion."

"Yeah, that's him!" said Malon excitedly. "So, you know him?"

"Yes, very well," replied Ruto. "Have you seen him recently?"

"Sadly not. He dropped by slightly over a year ago, bought Epona, that's one of our best horses, although she's still young, she really got along well with him, and left."

"Do you know where?" asked Ruto, hoping to get a hint.

"He didn't say," replied Malon casually. She didn't seem too perturbed by things and hadn't seemed to notice the despair Ruto was feeling. "He disappears for months at a time, I'm sure he'll be back eventually with Epona and the usual cocky smile on his face."

Before Ruto could try to find out more though, it was time to continue travelling. Ruto said goodbye to Malon with a polite smile, but inside she was full of turmoil. Why didn't anyone else seem to be worried about Link? Did they not care about him? Or was she just worrying too much? Should she have more confidence in him? These thoughts haunted her as the Zoras finished their trek across Hyrule Field and arriving at the gates of Castle Town. They were welcomed inside and brought quickly to rooms in the castle. Food was supplied without fuss, the staff knowing how tired they must be from their trek. The council would be the next day, for now the Zora's and other guests were allowed to eat and go to sleep without any hassle.

The next day Ruto attended breakfast with her father. Zelda was sitting in the hall also, but upon noticing Ruto she finished eating quickly and left the hall without a word. Then after breakfast was the council, which was mostly just a get together so that everyone could report on their realms. No one from the secretive Kokiri village was there, not that they ever showed. Ruto knew Link was from there but he was the only one to her knowledge from the Lost Woods who had ever actually left. She had hoped to confront someone from there about Link, but that had been an unrealistic dream in the first place. Among all the topics that the council discussed though, Link was never one of them. It was like everyone had forgotten about him. Only small hints, like the Goron leader Darunia having named his son Link and other off-hand mentions showed that they still remembered the boy.

After the council was over, Ruto finally managed to chase down and confront Zelda.

"Hello Zelda," greeted Ruto cheerfully.

"Good afternoon Ruto," replied Zelda politely. "Are you enjoying the council meetings?"

"Nah, they're pretty boring. I'd rather be doing combat lessons back at home," she responded. "They don't really talk about anything interesting or of worth, like lying Princesses or missing boys in green clothes."

"I should probably be goi-"started Zelda, turning to walk away. Ruto moved forward, grabbed her by the shoulder and twisted her around so that they were face to face.

"No you don't," said Ruto firmly. "I have been waiting a long time for an explanation that has so far never come. There is no one else who can tell me what you can, so please just tell me."

Zelda's features softened at her begging and desperate tone. She sighed before taking Ruto's hand off her should and looking right into her eyes by her own choice.

"Know that I really thought it was better for you not to know. I wanted to stop you from being hurt, so I tried to pretend to be Link. I wanted to delay things as much as possible, hoping he would return on his own. You figured things out much quicker than I would have liked."

"Shortly after your last visit Link bid me farewell. He didn't tell me where he was going or why. Nothing I said could deter him from leaving. I think he had been planning to leave sometime when you had been visiting, and had known that the day was coming. With just a polite farewell he left across Hyrule Field."

"You don't know of any reason he would do so? Or where he would have gone?" pressed Ruto. Zelda seemed torn about telling her something, the conflict clear on her face.

"Link himself made me promise not to tell you this story long before he left."

"Please, if you have a clue, I need to know," begged Ruto.

"You know about Ganondorf, the Gerudo man found plotting against my Father and sentenced to death a few years ago?" asked Zelda, seemingly changing the topic.

"Yes," replied Ruto, confused about the relevance to Link's disappearance.

"Well the one who found out about the treachery was me. I had a dream, a vision from the Goddesses about an evil man trying to steal the Legendary Triforce and about a boy with a fairy who would defeat him."

"That was Link, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Link came here directly from the forest. He had been charged by the guardian of the woods, the Great Deku Tree to come visit me to stop this evil. At my behest, Link collected the three Spiritual stones, of which he already had one, and used them to unlock the door to the sacred realm before Ganondorf."

"So that's why he was in Zora's Domain?" asked Ruto, feeling slightly nauseous. "He was after my mother's stone at your request?"

"Correct," replied Zelda sadly. "But Ganondorf had caught on to us. He used Link's entry to get into the Sacred Realm himself and collect a piece of the Triforce. Due to his evil nature, the Triforce was split in three, the other two pieces choosing two new owners. One was myself and the other Link. Ganondorf sacked the Castle and I hid with my nurse Impa, being trained in the ways of the Sheikah warriors."

"I don't remember hearing about the castle being sacked," replied Ruto, confused.

"You won't because it didn't actually happen. Not in this timeline. When Link unlocked the Sacred Realm, and received his piece of the Triforce, he also came upon the legendary Master Sword. He was its chosen wielder, but he was also still too young. The sword locked him in time until he was old enough to wield it. Seven years later he was free and discovered a hellish land where Ganondorf ruled. Link bravely freed the eight sages who protect the land and defeated Ganondorf, but at great cost. He was granted one final boon though. Link was allowed to return back to our time, both to stop the events of his future from coming about and to live out his lost childhood. Due to his actions, we now live in a time where Ganondorf was stopped and strife never known."

"And Link, has all of his memories of this?"

"Yes, he does."

"And you?"

"I was also made aware by my future self, the wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom and the Sage of Time."

Ruto was quiet for a few minutes, digesting all she had just heard.

"Who else knows this?" asked Ruto softly.

"Every one of the rulers at the Summit," replied Zelda calmly.

"Including my father?"

"Yes."

"And Link made you all promise not to tell me?"

"Ye-"

"Why would he do that to me!" yelled Ruto, her voice booming down the empty stone hallways of the Castle. "Why could I never know about all he had to suffer?!"

"Because he didn't want you to know about such suffering. What both he and the land had to go through. I doubt he wanted to ever think about any of it again."

"And he left to escape all of that?"

"No, he left to find Navi," replied Zelda. "She was with him through all of it. She was his best friend. He probably wanted someone like her who could relate to his experience so that he could come to terms with it all. But she left as soon as Ganondorf was defeated. Her mission was to stop him, and sadly after that was done, she had to return to the forest."

"So, he is in the Kokiri forest," commented Ruto. "Where exactly in the forest is he? Why hasn't he returned yet? Have you sent anyone out to find him?"

Zelda just shook her head sadly. "I don't know where in the forest he is. I doubt it would matter if I did anyways, only the Kokiri can find their way through the forest. Every mortal who enters will eventually get lost in the woods and is said to become a stalfos. It's why we haven't sent anyone to find him, I doubt they'd ever return."

"I refuse to believe that that has happened to Link!" yelled Ruto, her voice booming down the empty castle hall.

"I don't like it either," replied Zelda. "But it seems like the truth."

"How do you know that?" asked Ruto. "Has your piece of the Triforce or any of the Goddesses told you something?"

"I've been told and seen nothing," replied Zelda, her voice sounding slightly bitter. "Link and Navi are barred from my sight."

Then come with me and we can find them ourselves!" insisted Ruto. "Together I'm sure we can return them safely home!"

"No!" Zelda yelled, causing Ruto to flinch back from the unexpected outburst. Zelda looked slightly apologetic but her features hardened in determination. "I promised Link that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Specifically, to you. I will not ever break that promise."

Ruto felt tears coming to her eyes as Zelda's words registered for her. "I appreciate that but don't you see that we need to find him! He's done so much for us, it would be horrible just to leave him to die! I love him, I can't just leave him like this!"

"And what if my worries are nothing and he returns to Hyrule Castle to find you've gone after him and gotten yourself killed or lost in the woods?" asked Zelda. "How am I supposed to explain that to him? How do you think it'll make him feel to lose another person he cares about again? How do you think it'll make me feel if I have to lose you…"

Ruto rushed forward and enveloped Zelda in a tight hug. Zelda let out a small squeak of surprise but returned the hug. Ruto broke of and just stared sadly into the other princess's eyes.

"I'm sorry for pushing you so hard on this," apologized Ruto. "You've been having a hard time with all of this too and I've been inconsiderate. I won't go after Link, I promise."

"Thank you," replied Zelda, tears coming to her eyes again. The two princesses hugged once again, Zelda crying into Ruto's shoulder, all the stress of the past year finally being released. Ruto had just whispered comfortingly into her ear, assuring her that everything would be okay. Zelda had passed out that night from built up exhaustion and Ruto and feeling slightly guilty but also confident that she was doing the right thing, had snuck out of the castle.