One thing I forgot to mention. The name I gave Saria's fairy is Minda backwards. Am I implying anything by doing that? No. I did however get around to making a cover image for this as you can no doubt tell. It's simple, I know, but it's something, right? Anyway, next chapter!

Seven years. It had truly been seven years. Seven years since he met Navi. Seven years since he left the forest. Seven years since he last saw Saria.

He went to the Kokiri Forest to make sure they were all okay. But the place had more monsters than normal. And Saria was not at the stump she would play at. Now he was in the Forest Temple. He had to find her. He had to talk to her. Dark thoughts filled his mind. What if the monsters had slain her? Or what if they took her prisoner? The thought of a crying Saria, chained in a dark cell, made his blood boil.

He finally reached the final room. He made his way up the stairs to the circular platform. "This looks like the deepest part of the temple…Saria! Saria, where are you?! It's me, Link!" Suddenly bars rose up from where he entered. He turned around to see the way off the platform blocked off. "What the-A trap?"

His fairy looked behind them and screamed. "Link!"

Link heard a sound and looked behind him. He saw a familiar black horse. And an even more familiar man on it. Imagines of their first encounter in front of the castle flashed into his mind. "Ga-Ganondorf?!"

The horse let out a cry and the man chuckled. He put a hand over his face and white flame enveloped his head. His face changed. It had a skull face horns and yellow glowing eyes. His horse started floating in the air.

"It's some kind of evil spirit haunting the temple!" Navi said.

The Phantom Ganon charged into one of the many identical paintings surrounding them and somehow went inside it. It went deeper into the background before disappearing.

"How did he…?! Where'd he go?!"

"Link, behind you!" Navi yelled.

Link looked behind him to see the phantom jump out of the painting behind him and shot a lightning blast from his staff to the ground. Link rolled out of the way, but the attack spread along the ground in multiple directions. One of the bolts shocked Link, who barley could stand after the painful shock. Then the phantom ran back into another paintings.

"Argh! Coward! Alright then…" Link took out his bow and scanned the paintings around him. As soon as galloping reached his ears, he turned around and fired. It hit the horse right as it was coming out, who ran back into the painting without its master. Phantom Ganon floated alone above the arena.

"What did you do to Saria?! Where is she!?"

Ignoring him, the phantom charged at Link with his staff. The hero blocked the first three hits before being kicked to the ground. With the air knocked out of him Link groaned in pain.

The phantom laughed as he raised his staff.

Link grunted as he pushed himself up slightly off the ground. "Saria…"

Another bolt of lightning gathered in the weapon.

Link pulled himself to one knee. "My home…"

The Phantom shot the bolt towards the downed hero.

"My life!" Link swung the Master Sword at the bolt, deflecting it right back at the phantom. It screamed in pain as it was hit and drifted to the floor. Link got up and ran towards the downed foe with the Master Sword in both hands. "GIVE IT ALL BACK!"

With a jump slash, he cut through the phantom. It yelled in pain as it's body started to dissolve.

A familiar voice echoed in the room. "Hey, kid, you did quite well…It looks like you may be gaining some slight skill…"

"Ganondorf?!"

"But you defeated only my phantom…When you fight the real me, it won't be so easy!"

"Where are you?! Come out and face me coward!"

"What a worthless creation that ghost was! I will banish it to the gap between dimensions!"

A purple void appeared below the phantom. It clutched its head as it became whit flame and was swallowed by the void.

After that, everything was quiet. Link clutched his sword and gritted his teeth. "GANONDORF!" He started looking around the room blindly. Waiting for his voice to echo again. But all was silent. "SHOW YOURSELF RIGHT NOW! I'LL DESTROY YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Navi flew in front of his face. "Link, calm down! We're not ready to fight the real him yet!"

Link growled as he fell to his knees. He was tired. He was angry. And as much as he hated to admit it he knew Navi was right.

"Link…I'm sorry. But we will stop Ganondorf. We'll make him pay for what he did to the Great Deku Tree, the forest and everyone he hurt."

"…You're right…"

A blue light appeared in the middle of the room. "That looks like our way out." The fairy said.

"But we still haven't found Saria." Link pointed out. "Was Mindo wrong? Did she leave? Or did that phantom…what if she's…?!"

"Link, take it easy!" Navi cried as her friend grew hysterical. "I'm sure she's fine! She isn't in the temple, so she must have escaped somehow! Let's get out of here and look for her!"

"R-right."

Not entirely convinced Link stepped into the light. His body started to float as a crystal formed around him. He was engulfed in a bright light.

When he could see again he landed on a familiar blue platform. "This…is the Chamber of Sages…why…?"

A figure rose up from the green circle in front of him.

"Thank you…Because of you, I could awaken as a Sage…I am Saria. The Sage of the Forest Temple…"

Link's eyes widened. It was odd seeing her shorter than him. But there was no doubt that it was his friend. "Saria…you're a Sage?!"

"I always believed that you would come. Because I know you…"

Link took a step forward. "Saria…I-

"No…You don't have to explain it to me…Because it is destiny that you and I can't live in the same world."

"What? What do you mean? Once I destroy Ganondorf you can go back, right?"

"I'm afraid, it is not that simple, Link."

The hero looked to see another Sage. The first one he met.

"Rauru? What do you mean?"

"Even for you and the Master Sword...Ganondorf has become too strong to destroy. Our only option is to seal him into the Sacred Realm. But once we do that, the Sages must remain here to maintain the seal. Probably forever."

Link felt his heart crumble. His eyes widened. "You mean…Saria has to stay here? She can never go back? She'll never see her friends again? I'll…never see her again? No…there has to be some other way! Can't somebody else take her place?!"

"Link it's okay." Saira said. "I know what I have to do."

"This isn't fair! What did you ever do to deserve this?! I finally found you and now…" Link's fists were balled up and shaking. Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Link…I wish I could stay. I really do…But I have my duty…and you have yours. I know it hurts…but we have to protect Hyrule."

Link slowly stepped towards Saria. Once he was in front of her he dropped to his knees and gripped her shoulders. Saria smiled sadly and put her hands on both sides of his face. "You've grown so much Link."

"Saria…I don't want to leave you."

"Don't worry…even if fate separates us, we'll always be friends."

"…Saria…I really wanted to keep that promise with you." Link let out a small sob before he reached into his tunic and took out Ocarina. Not the one Zelda passed to him. He played a familiar song with it. The one Saria taught him.

Saria's eyes widened. "My Ocarina…you kept it?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"I just though…after you received the Ocarina of Time you wouldn't need it anymore."

"What? Saria, just because I got a new Ocarina doesn't mean I would just…throw yours away! Maybe it doesn't have the Ocarina of Time's special powers, but…this is still special to me. It was given to me by you."

Tears welled up in the Kokiri's eyes. "Oh Link!" She smiled hugging him. "I…I can't begin to tell you what that means to me! Thank you!"

Link hugged her back. "If I play your song…I can still talk to you, right?"

"Of course. Talk to me whenever you want."

"I will. I promise." Link said standing up.

"I will stay here as the Forest Sage and help you…Now please take this Medallion…"

Saria held her hands up and a bright light flashed above them. A green token dropped down to Link, and slowly descended into Link's hands.

"Thank you, Saria…for everything. I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so long."

"Don't worry Link. Well…I guess this is goodbye."

Link pocketed the Medallion. "Yeah…Oh, wait. One more thing." Link said crouching down to her.

Sari looked up at him. "Huh?"

Without warning Link's hands went to her sides.

"Hup."

Next thing Saria knew she was off the floor. "EEEEEEEEEK! LINK! What's the big idea!?"

Link smiled as he held her up. "You're so light. It's weird seeing everything I grew up with so much smaller now." He placed Saria over his shoulder with his arms around her.

"LIIIIIIIIIINK! Put me down!" Saria screamed with her legs flailing and her hands banging against Link's back. Navi and Rauru laughed as they watched.

Link eventually placed her back on her feet. "I'm sorry."

"Well you oughta be!" Saria said, turning her head to the side with her arms crossed. She didn't want Link to see her red cheeks or her smiling face. She tired to sound as angry as she could, with little success. "Treating me like a little kid…"

Link laughed as he patted her head. "No, not for that. I couldn't help myself."

Saria looked up to him with a confused expression. "Then what is it?"

Link frowned. "My existence as the hero is why you're stuck here. I feel like I took your life away."

"Oh, Link." Saria gave him another hug. "You gave my life meaning. And I'll always be grateful for that."

After Link hugged her back and they had a minute to embrace, he stepped back to the centre of the platform.

"Goodbye Saria…"

"Goodbye Link…"

Tears fell from their eyes as a blue light surrounded Link. Saria watched as he and Navi drifted away.

"I will always be…your friend…"

"Oh...I see...Saria won't ever come back..."

Link stood if front of Mido, who had a depressed look on his face. "I'm sorry."

"But...I...I made a promise to Saria...If Link came back, I would be sure to tell him that Saria had been waiting for him...Because Saria...really...liked- Mido sighed and looked up at the Hylian. "Hey you. If you see him...I'm sorry for being mean to him. Tell him that, too."

Link smiled. "I will. I promise."

"Thanks. Though I doubt he'll ever forgive me for all of it now."

Link grinned as he turned around to leave. "You'd be surprised."

Mido looked up at him in surprise. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Link stopped and looked at the sky. "Hey…isn't this forest great?"

"Uh…are you feeling alright, mister?"

"Just seeing it…put's me at ease. Believe it or not, my best friend lived here. She loved this place as much as I do. As much as I wish I could stay here, I can't." He then looked back at the Kokiri. "Mido…Promise me you'll look after it."

"Of course!" the boy smiled proudly. "Such is the duty of the great Mido, leader of the Kokiri! After all this forest is my home! And it was Link and Saria's too! I have to keep it and everyone safe for their sakes!"

Link nodded as he left. "If you do that…I think Link would be more than glad to forgive you. Goodbye Mido."

Link left after that. He left the Lost Woods. Left the Forest. He stopped once he was on a bridge. The same one he and Saria were on when he received the Ocarina from her. He looked back at the hallowed-out log that lead to his home. "Goodbye, my home. Goodbye, my friends."

Taking out Saria's Ocarina, he played her song as he left the forest.

"Goodbye, Saria."

I feel the part where Saria awakens would have been a lot more emotional if Link could talk. And even as it is it gave me the feels when I first played the game.