Oh, my god. Well better late then never. Still updating daily, like promised. Sorry, guys, I got sidetracked with writing Fates of S.T.E.A.M. and admittedly, the X legacy collection.

Saria played her Ocarina at her hidden place. It was easier getting there. Ever since Ganondorf was arrested, the creatures were a lot more tame. Now just about anyone can get there with no trouble at all, provided they knew the way there.

Every time she did so she'd think about her friend. It had been three months since he left. Sometimes she would wonder if he found Navi. Or if he was okay. The outside world was a mystery to her. She feared what could have happened to her friend.

"Saria…"

Her head lifted from her instrument when she heard her name.

"What's wrong, Saria?" her fairy asked.

"I thought I heard someone call me."

"Really? I didn't hear anything."

"Saria…"

The girl stood up from the stump. "There it is again…I think it came from the temple." She said looking behind her.

"The Forest Temple? Nobody has been there for decades. The great Deku Tree forbade any Kokiri of fairy from entering it."

Saria looked at the tree near the entrance above her and ran over to it and carefully started climbing.

"Whoa, Saria! Did you not hear what I just said?!"

"I know but…I feel like something important is going on in there. I need to find out. You can stay here if you want."

"N-no way! It's my job to take care of you!"

Once Saria got to the top of the tree, she ran across it's long branch and jumped over to the entrance. She slowly entered the temple.

"Wow…it's pretty dark in here."

She walked towards the first door on a stone wall and opened it. She wondered around looking at the interior.

"Something about this seems…familiar."

She then came across a strange room. There was a hollow pillar with four torches around it, each with a differently colored flame.

"What is that?" Adnim asked.

"I have no idea…Wait…do you hear something?"

They looked around.

"Yeah…something's here…something that's…moving…"

They looked around to find the source of the ominous sounds. Then Saria noticed something and looked down. A shadow. A shadow shaped like a hand.

She looked up just in time to see two giant hands drop from the ceiling.

"ACK!"

One of them dropped on Saria. The other on her fairy.

"AHHHHH! W-what are these things!?" Saria asked, struggling in it's grip.

"Ngh! Let us go you creepy monsters!" Adnim shouted as the one holding her lifted towards the ceiling.

"Adnim! No!" Saria screamed as she was dragged into the pillar. It slowly went down to another floor. Once there, the Wall Master carried her down a hall with her kicking and screaming, while trying to lift her trapped arms.

"Stop it! Where are you taking me?!"

She was brought into another dark room and lifted to a platform before she was dropped onto it.

"Oof!"

Just as she started to get up, the Wall Master dropped onto her with another one alongside it. Each one held her arms in a tight grip, keeping her on her knees.

"Ow! Hey, that hurts! Let go of me!"

She then heard a strange sound. She looked up to see a black creature she had never seen before. And on it's back was a tall dark man. He looked down at her with a wicked grin.

"Found you…Forest Sage."

Saria was too scared to struggle or even speak. The man held a hand up and a purple circle appeared under her. Suddenly her legs were pulled into a void up to her knees.

"Sink to the depths of darkness!"

Saria screamed as she slowly sank further. Once she was waist deep, the Wall Masters let her arms go, but by then they would do her no good. She stared up with an arm reached out as it went past her neck. Soon only that arm and her face stayed above.

And then darkness enveloped her vision.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Saria shot out of bed. Sweet dripped from her face. It was night. She was sitting on her bed. Adnim flew over to her. "Saria, what happened? Another bad dream?"

The girl looked at her fairy. She was safe. They both were. It was all just a nightmare. Trembling, Saria threw the covers over herself, burying her face into her pillow, slightly curled up.

"Hey…Saria? You're starting to make me worry. Ever since Link left, you've been getting all sorts of scary dreams."

Saria just laid there, whimpering and crying.

Adnim sighed. She doubted Saria wanted to talk about it, But, it must have been frightening. "Come back soon Link. Saria's falling apart here…"

Saria didn't get much sleep. But she still went to her secret place and played her Ocarina. But occasionally she'd glance at the temple uneasily.

"Hey, Saria!"

A Kokiri girl ran up to her. "You gotta see this! It's unbelievable!"

Saria stopped her music to look up. "What is?"

"You gotta see for yourself, now come on!"

"Wha-whoa!"

Before she knew it, Saria was being dragged away by her arm. She was taken out of the Lost Woods. They went through the village before she recognized the path they were taking.

Her heart sank when she saw the remains of the dead Deku Tree. she then saw all the other Kokiri gathered in front of it for some reason.

Mido turned around. "Oh. Saria."

"Everyone? What's going on?"

"A few of us were going to pay our respects to the Great Deku Tree." The female Kokiri said as she let go of her arm. "Then we saw this."

Saria made her way through the crowd and if front of the tree was a sprout of some kind. It had two leaves on it.

"What is that?" Adnim asked.

Saria knelled in front of it. "Could this be what Link was talking about?"

Everyone stared at it intently. Suddenly something large popped out of the ground.

"EEEEEEK!" Saria was so startled she fell over.

Everyone else made panicked yelps at what rose up. But it didn't seem threatening. It was a roundish sprout, with a smile, and a stick in its mouth.

"Hi there! I'm the Deku Tree sprout! Sorry for making ya wait! Now I can grow and flourish!"

Everyone blinked.

"The…Deku Tree…sprout?" Mido asked. "Like…his successor or something?"

"Yup, Pretty much. Wow, I've been waiting so long to meet all of ya! And I'm gonna do my best to protect you all!"

There was some more awkward silence. Saria was the first to flash an exited smile. Many soon after her. She got back on her feet as the others approached.

"Wow! This is sooooo cool!" one of the boys said.

"Awww, look at him! He's so cute!" the girl that brought Saria laughed hugging it.

Saria couldn't help but laugh. But soon she remembered she made a promise to a friend. One she had to keep. She slowly approached the sprout.

"Great Deku Tree…I have something I need to give you."

She took out the Kokiri Emerald.

"Wow! What a pretty stone!" A girl said.

"Wait…ain't that the Kokiri Emerald?" one of the Know-it-all brothers asked. "Why do you have it?"

"Oh! Link gave you that, didn't he?" the sprout asked.

"Huh? Link? What the heck was he doing with it?" Mido asked.

"The Great Deku Tree gave it to him before dying." Saria said. "Before he left he gave it to me…to give to the sprout."

"Well, thanks, Saria!" the sprout said happily. "You both did a great job taking care of it."

Saria watched the Spiritual Stone slowly float towards the sprout, who gazed at it. Then out of the blue, the Deku Sprout opened its mouth and swallowed it whole in the blink of an eye. Everyone stared at it worryingly.

"What? It's safe in my stomach, ain't it?" the sprout asked before opening his mouth again. The stone floated back out. "And I can bring it back up if I ever need to." He added before swallowing it again.

"This is incredible…" Saria said before sighing. "I wish Link was here to see this…"

Mido growled tapping his foot. "Where is that moron?! It's been months since he left without saying a word, dang it!" Everyone looked at the self-appointed "leader" of the Kokiri with shocked eyes. "What are you people looking at? Do I have something on my face?"

"Mido…You're worried about Link?" one of the boys asked.

Mido's eyes widened, realising what he said out loud before looking away with his arms crossed. "O-of course not! It's not like I miss that fairyless loser! But it's an insult to the Great Deku Tree Sprout for even one of the Kokiri to not be here to greet him when he-

"Mido?"

"What?!" he grumbled looking at Saria. He was surprised to see a smug grin on her face. "Why are you looking at me like that?!"

"Did you just call Link a Kokiri? As in, one of us?"

"I…Uh…" Everyone else was smiling at him. Finally, the pressure became to much for him. "GAH! ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I MISS HIM! He just HAS to come back! What's taking the jerk so long!?"

There were some surprised gasps. But soon everyone was smiling and laughing.

"I miss him too…" another girl sighed.

"We all do." One of the Know-it-all brothers added. "The forest feels empty without the poor guy…"

"He'll come back." Everyone looked at Saria, who clasped her hands together. "He has to come back…he…has to…"

Everyone looked at the saddened Saria with upset looks of their own. They felt bad for her. And while none of them could say they missed Link as much as she did, they did feel like they lost a dear friend.

"There you guys are!"

Everyone's ears and eyes perked up at the familiar voice.

"Sheesh! When I arrived to see that the village was empty I thought something bad might have happened. You all had me worried."

Everyone looked around and saw a blond clad in green approach.

"What's everyone doing here?" a fairy, floating next to him asked. "Did something happen?"

Everyone gaped. They couldn't believe their eyes. Saria was the first to walk towards him. "Link…?"

The boy smiled as he saw his friend. "Hi, Saria!"

"LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!" Saria ran over to her friend and tackled him to the ground in a hug.

"Ow. Again."

"WE had YOU worried!?" Saria asked, crying into his chest. "You were gone for so long!"

Everyone ran up to them.

"Heh, heh. Sorry about that." Link chuckled, rubbing Saria's back, comforting her.

"What the heck have you been doing?!" Mido asked.

"Looking for a friend." Link smiled, looking up at Navi.

The fairy then looked up ahead. "Oh! The Great Deku Tree Sprout!

Link and Saria stood up looking at the young tree.

"Hi there! Good to see ya Link! You too Navi!"

"You know who I am?" the fairy asked.

"Of course, I do! I'm know all the previous Deku Tree knew! I also know why you left Link."

Saria turned to her. "That's right. Why did you leave him? He was worried about you."

"I'm sorry…The Great Deku Tree tasked me with looking after Link during his journey…once that was done and I noticed how much Link has grown I thought I wasn't needed anymore…And with the Deku Tree gone I thought I wasn't of any use to Hyrule…"

"Navi…" Link said holding his hand up to her. "I'm just one guy. I can't do everything no mater how much I change. I will need to rely on my friends."

"That's right! You both are our friends and are always welcome to the forest!" the sprout added.

"I hope so…" Link sighed.

"Link, you have to tell us what you've been up to!" one of the girls said.

"Yeah! Let's all go to my place!" Saria suggested.

Everyone laughed and ran towards the exit. One Kokiri stopped in front of it. "Hey, Link."

"Mido?"

"Saria was waiting for all this time ya know…because she really…Just don't go off on your own like that again! Next time I see you try that I'm gonna take the bolder from the maze and block off the forest exit with it! Ya hear me?!"

Link simply smiled. "Okay."

With that he left to join the others. Now it was just, Link, Saria and their fairies.

"So, Link. What will you do now?" Saria asked.

"I want to continue living here…for as long as I can anyway. I'll probably keep in touch with my other friends. But…eventually I'll grow up again. It won't be long before everyone notices that I'm not a Kokiri."

Saria nearly forgot about that. "Oh…what will you do when that happens?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe, I'll travel the world. Maybe I'll go serve Hyrule as a knight like my father. Or maybe I'll stay here…as a protector of this forest in case something like Ganondorf threatens this forest again. You know, I really wish I was a Kokiri. Then I'd never have to worry about leaving."

"Link…"

"But even if I decide to leave again…" Link smiled as he turned to his friend. "I'll always come back here to visit. My home. My friends. And you."

Saria smiled and hugged him. "And I'll be waiting for you every time."

Link hugged her back. "Thank you, Saria. For everything."

I love the Deku Tree Sprout's behavior. He's smart like the Great Deku Tree but more optimistic. It's what you'd expect from a kid Deku Tree. Okay, one more chapter to go. What's left to talk about? Find out tomorrow.