"I guess it's going to have to hurt,
I guess I'm going to have to cry,
And let go of things
I've loved to get to the other side.
I guess it's going to break me down
Like fallin when you're trying to fly,
Sad but sometimes
moving on with your life
starts with goodbye."

~Carrie Underwood~

Shards Of Time

An Ocarina of Time FanFiction

Chapter 6: Goodbye

A deep blue light faded from around him, and he ended up crumpling to the ground without the full support of the light any longer. He allowed the Deku Shield to clatter against the grass of the Meadow, letting his arm to grasp the cut on his left arm. Mido stood over him, crossing his arms with a look that made Link feel weak, looking back over to the Great Deku Tree with a slight gasp. He glanced up himself, discovering with his very own eyes that many leaves lay in a large mound across the Meadow – branches even snapped in half and the bark of the great tree shadowed over; its colour faded long ago.

"Great Deku Tree!" Link broke to a steep run, despite the deep cut in his arm from where Gohma barely missed him. The battle was long and tiring, which was showed in how high the sun had risen in the sky ever since he and Mido had entered the Great Deku Tree, and he barely managed to find some use for the Kokiri Sword with no experience with a blade; but the Shield couldn't have been more helpful.

Mido did help, but he was quaking almost as much as Link was. "Link, the eye is her weakness! Hit her eye!" Navi had kept screaming in his ear, even if Link had nothing on him at the time to hit her in the eye with – other than the Kokiri Sword, but it's not like he wanted to chuck it straight at her eye and lose it just as quickly.

Yet Mido, which Link had to thank his lucky stars for, had taken the Slingshot which Link had made a few days back and decided to use his brain along with the item after he had retrieved the Kokiri Sword and soon discarded it when he realised what to do after Navi's countless screeches at her partner; especially when he got hit in his arm. He could barely hold the sword in his hand when he slashed at her eye, especially when his own eyes started acting up when Link thought about how bad that must felt with her own eye.

But it was all for the Great Deku Tree, and it was very worth it when they beat her together.

"Well done, Link," the Great Deku Tree rasped, his branches creaking sadly. "You too, Mido. I knew that thou wouldst be able to carry out my wishes and has demonstrated thy courage." Link discarded the Kokiri Sword and the Deku Shield on the way as he collided with the large shard of vegetation, begging to the Three that he will make it through this.

Link sighed as he stepped back from him, hope sparking within his chest as I asked, "So you're okay then?" He couldn't help but pause for a moment. "B-But what actually did this to you?"

The tree's closed mouth creased into a small smile, a sad one at that. "A wicked man of the Desert cast this curse upon me, Link. And because of this, my end is nigh." He cried out as if he had taken another hit from Gohma. Mido was without a reaction. "Though yours and Mido's efforts were successful in breaking the curse placed upon me, I was doomed before you had even started..."

"That's cant be true!" Link shouted, hitting his hand harshly off of the bark without a care when he only hurt himself. "You said... you said... you can't die!"

At the sound of Link's shouting, he could hear numerous growing behind me, but he couldn't care less about them. His only guide in life, his only protector, was losing his life because he couldn't realise... "Do not blame yourself, as I knew of the signs far before you had to awaken." Link lifted his glassy eyes up at him in a silent question. "Yes, the time has come for me to relay the message to you that I have been waiting to pass onto you."

He sniffed and rubbed his eyes a little, resting his side against him as Link listened intently to his wise words; his mind too confused to even think into his past words about being awakened too much. Mumbles of conversations over what had occurred was sounded before Link soon drowned them out, not trying to listen to them. They aren't dying after all, were they?

"This evil man from the Desert uses his vile, sorcerers powers in search of the Sacred Realm that connects to Hyrule; for it is in this Sacred Realm that one shall find the relic of old: the Triforce, which contains the essence of the Gods," he explained softly.

He sniffed again. "T-The Triforce?

"Thy knows the legends of this sacred relic, as I have taught this to you since thou was but a mere child." He paused again. "Thou must never let the man in black armour to lay his hands on the golden Triforce. Thou must never suffer that man to enter the Sacred Realm of legend with his black heart, as it was he who has sapped my power."

The last part set Link off a little, and he struggled to keep it all back as he sunk further into the bark. "I-I can't do this." I whisper. "I can't..."

"Do not grieve for my passing, Link, as I have been able to tell you of these important matters." He says, cutting me off before I can fully lose his emotions again. "Thou standing before me... you are Hyrule's final hope Link. This is why I must ask you of one more favour before I depart."

He straightened a little and looked upwards once more. "Anything, Great Deku Tree..."

"You must leave this Forest and move towards the place that entered your slumbers many moons ago, Hyrule Castle, as you shall surely meet the Princess of Destiny who will guide you from there," he explained. "Take this Stone with you and give it to her. This Stone must never been seen by the wicked man, as it was that which the man wanted so much as to place this curse upon me."

Leave the Forest? This sparked a reaction from everyone. If the Kokiri leave the Forest, they'd die not too long after they had stepped out into the outside world. Something wasn't right with what the Deku Tree is saying, not that Link would ever doubt him; as either they have been lied to about the Kokiri's nature, or he really was not a Kokiri like Mido always told him that he wasn't...

He snapped his head across to one of the branches when we picked up a twinkling sound, noticing a tiny spark of glowing green rolling off of the branch and literally floating down towards him. He knew that the Forest is a place of magic and mysteries, though he never thought that he would see things like that in such a moment.

Link held his hands out as the Stone hovered above his hand before slowly landing into his palms. The Stone seemed to be a fancy representation of the Kokiri symbol: a large green jewel decorated with a swirling design moving out to outline the stone in a strange metal (gold, I think), a small part of the metal sticking out at the bottom as well. "The Kokiri's Emerald!" Someone gasped from behind.

"The future depends on thee, Link," the Great Deku Tree whispered softly, and he could tell that his end really was coming. You don't know how much you love something until it is gone, and Link thought that he wouldn't ever know how much he had cared for the Great Deku Tree even when he was... no, he didn't even want to think about it yet. "Thou art courageous, Link. Navi..."

Navi, who had peeped out from underneath her partner's hat ever since they returned to the Meadow, rose from his head and up to the Deku Tree's face. "Yes, Great Deku Tree?"

That small smile on his face grew as she hugged his nose. "Please aid Link is his journey..." He coughed loudly, scaring them all as his voice grew even quieter and even weaker as he said finally, "I entreat ye, Navi... farewell..."

His whole figure creaked and groaned as he took his final breath, one of the branches breaking so much that it lands in half off to the side due to his weakness. The colour of his bark, had never knew it could be so ghostly pale, grew even paler until it is a old grey colour – a colour never seen before in a bright place like the Kokiri Forest. From behind him, Link heard some wail in sorrow while some merely stood and stared; silent tears streaming down their pale faces in horror. He sunk onto his knees when he attempted to get onto his feet, the Great Deku Tree's words spinning through his mind as he clutched the Emerald tightly.

"You must leave this Forest and move towards the place that entered your slumbers many moons ago." His whisper echoed through his mind as he gathered the strength to rise onto his feet again, the cracks in his bark criss-crossing all over his fragile form. "Take this Stone with you and give it to her." He turned back to his friends, and those who chose not to be his friends, feeling a heavy burden on his head over the fact that although the Deku Tree had said that it wasn't his fault, Link still had to leave the place he had been told never to leave.

His eyes noticed the Kokiri Sword and the Deku Shield lying across the grass like children's toys, his shaky hands guiding his over to reclaim them. He placed the blade in a sheath that he never realised was there until now, and fixed the Deku Shield onto his back with some struggle; the Kokiri's Emerald held in a death grip.

He walked slowly across the Meadow, not even daring to look back at the Great Deku Tree – knowing that he would only get even more upset than he already was – or at the rest of the Kokiri, until he heard, "Y-You're leaving?" He turned to see Fado behind him, her sapphire eyes brimming with tears as she took his free hand. "Y-You can't d-die as well."

He gulped so loudly that he heard it like an explosion. "I have to..." he whispered quietly. "I have to help carry out the Great Deku Tree's will."

"But you can't!" One of the Know-It-All Brothers cried out, rushing up to pull him back into the group. "You know what the Great Deku Tree said: we'll die if we leave the Forest. We don't want any more people d-dying!" He burst out into tears, dropping onto his knees. Fado passed Link a sympathetic look as she knelt down to help him. The rest of the Kokiri, he noticed Mido at the back, suddenly rushed up to him in hopes to trying to make him stay. But deep down, he thought that they know that he wanted to follow out the Deku Tree's will of taking the Kokiri's Emerald to the Princess of Destiny; whoever she was.

"I'll be back once I've taken this," I held up the Stone. "to who I need to take it to and then—"

"Just let him go, for the sake of Farore." We all looked and turned to see Mido pushing his way through the crowd, tears flowing from his own eyes as he added, "Let's just s-see how much of a Kokiri you really are. If you a-are one, then you'll come back, but if you don't then—"

Someone cried out loudly and cut him off. "Mido, how could you say that?! The Great Deku Tree has just died! You can't just—Link, wait!"

He broke away from the group halfway through and sprinted off, the different sides of the Deku Tree's will making his head spin so much that he felt like it was going to fall off. As the tiny spirit orbs whizzed past his face, he barely noted the drawing he head made at the bottom of his house of him fighting a dragon with a Fairy at his side. He had a Fairy now, as she was following him from a few paces behind, but he didn't think that he would ever have enough courage to fight something like a dragon.

But after all that had happened, he never knew what would happened by the time that he left the Forest.

Then he skidded into a stop when his feet hit the bridge leading out of the Forest over the grassy terrain of the Meadow. He stared at the over-turned log that called for him, beckoned for him to dash through it into his demise without a care in the world. But could he do it? Of course he would want to see the world (and prove Mido wrong), although he could die in the process.

Could he actually do that?

He took a step forward, Navi waiting apprehensively on his shoulder, his resolve wavering and almost tipping over the edge when he heard a soft voice ask from behind, "So, you really are leaving then?" He whirled around, watching the spinning spirit orbs dance in Saria's eyes. The twinkle in her eyes was understanding, though sad over what had happened over the Great Deku Tree.

"I-I don't know," he whispered back in response. "I wish that everything was different."

She held her hand up in an empathetic way, stopping him before he could go off again. "I wish that I didn't have to be like this. I always knew that you were different from me and my friends, but I never thought that all of this would come down to everything that has occurred on this day."

"I know that I'm different, Saria," he muttered. "You don't need to rub it in..."

She shook her head and stepped closer to him, pushing her dark head-band back through the her bright green hair. "I don't mean it like that. I just... can sense something different about you than I can sense with the Kokiri, Link, something unique. But it isn't something to be taken harshly." She paused, knowing what he was thinking more about. "And take no notice of Mido. He may always say that, but he's more upset than ever now. You know that."

He sighed. "Yeah... I guess I do." A long moment of silence occurred where neither of them speak. He watched as the midday sunshine sparkled off of her features, reflecting into her eyes and forming the crystals of tears that carefully slipped from her pale cheeks. Before he could do anything else, he drew her into a deep hug and let hi emotions fall again. She soon pulled away and took his hand into both of her own, putting a small brown pouch into it. "What's that?"

"Remember when you gave it to me for my birthday a few months ago?" He raised his eyes to meet hers and nodded, recalling the day like it was yesterday. "You made it for me because I kept moaning that I had ran out of space for my money. Not that I need it really..."

He breathed out a tiny laugh and a natural smile appeared on his face, the tears being consumed by the edges of them. "But why are you giving it back?" He asked curiously. "I thought that you liked it..."

"Hey," she let go of one hand and cupped his cheek, brushing away the tears. "I love it, and I love you. Never forget that. I want to give it to you because the Great Deku Tree helped me to charm it a while back to I can put in as many things that I want to. But now that you're going... I thought that you could have something to help remember me."

His smile turned into a frown. "But I couldn't ever forget you," he promised to her. "And I'm sure that I'll be back soon."

And then she gave him a look that I've seen a lot when she looked at me. A look that said that she knew something that he didn't. It never used to bother him at first, but being there then, it really did. She soon shook her head and pulled the bag strapped over her shoulder around so she could take something out of it. "And I want to give you this as well..."

She held out a small object to him, and he recognised it immediately. "I can't take your Ocarina, Saria, you know that." The small cream Ocarina lay in her hands, decorated with her name in green ink, his own name scribbled in horrible handwriting around the mouthpiece when she first played it with him.

"I want you to have it..." She choked back a sob. "Because we'll be best friends forever, w-won't we?" She placed the Ocarina into his hand and curled his fingers around it, helping to tie the pouch to his belt at the side. She rested her hand atop his and started getting emotional again, so he bought her into another hug – not sure of what else to do in this situation.

Her eyes soon fell on the exit of the Forest. "Saria, I..."

"Don't," she sobbed. "Just... play the Ocarina and come back to the Forest someday, okay? And... think of me from time to time too." She finally let go of his hand, but he don't even think about putting the instrument away. He stared at her glassy eyes like he couldn't see anything else in the Forest but her. Her eyes, they were really beautiful when the sun was out like that.

He kept watching her as he took a single step backward, his heart screaming for him to stay while his brain told me to carry out the Great Deku Tree's will with all due respect for him; both of them soon leading back to the Forest, I hope. The weight of death doesn't feel so harsh on me, but I don't know why.

Navi soon rose from his shoulder and held a hand out to Saria. "I'll protect him for you, Saria. I'm Navi, but just know that he'll always be okay with his Guardian Fairy nearby to help him." His eyes filled with tears as Saria held her finger out for a handshake, her heartfelt words touching as she turned to her companion. "I think it's time, Link..."

"Won't you die if you leave the Forest?" He didn't like the word "die", but it had been said too many times that day that it almost sounded natural for a thirteen year-old like him.

She shook her head slightly. "I'll get tired from time to time, but I'll be okay. The Great Deku Tree chose me to be your Guardian Fairy and cast a spell upon me to help. Don't worry about me. It really should be me worrying about you when it comes to being a Guardian." On this, she flew back underneath his hat, her warmth surging through his head as he turned his gaze back to Saria.

"I have to do this..." he whispered softly.

She smiled sadly. "I know." I take another step backwards, then another. I took one more while still looking at her when she called out, "Wait!" He halted immediately, watching her with sad eyes as she moved closer to him, holding the hand with the Ocarina. "Please don't forget me." She moved even closer until her lips brushed his cheek like a mother would for a son. His reaction was shocked at first, until he found himself to sad and numb to stop it. When she finally pulled away, she was so close to his face that could feel her breath against his skin.

There's only one thing that he could say as her hand cupped his cheek again. "I promise."

She pulled away with tear filled eyes, and his body reacted without his mind wanting to. He was running away before anything else could stop him, and the rush of the wind ahead of him blocked out by the emotions threatening to burst free as his feet left the Forest and he finally found himself free as he ran into either his independence or his demise.

But both was heartbreaking...