A/N: I forgot to mention it last week, but this fic has now received Fanart from a couple of people. Please check either tumblr, or the AO3 version of this fic for links.


Falling Apart


Link's body felt abnormally heavy and sluggish when he came to, his head a haze. He noted that he felt chilled, and soaked to his core. Slowly, his vision began to return to him.

He was lazing on a root nearly as large as those of the Deku Tree on his stomach, limbs hanging limply over the side. Deep water spread out below him, with no land in sight. He groaned, reaching a hand up to his head before slowly trying to push himself up into a sitting position.

"Took you long enough to wake up."

Link startled, grabbing hold of the bark beneath him. His gaze shifted to the side. Ruto was seated a few feet away from him, legs crossed, watching him with puffed-out cheeks. "Honestly, I was starting to think you would never wake up."

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake Link!" Navi zipped by from behind the princess. Link caught himself wondering what they had been talking about without him.

"We've been waiting for forever," Ruto bemoaned, stressing the last word as if it was such a burden to wait. Link averted his gaze. "Honestly, I should have left you behind with all the trouble you caused me!"

He flinched, but then her tone softened, if only just a little. "Although… You looked cool...cooler than I thought you would, anyway, for a common spirit... But only just a little!"

She slowly stood up and stretched, looking over to Link with a mischievous glance, then moved her arms to clasp her hands behind her back. "Well, anyway, you saved me back there, and probably saved Lord Jabu Jabu too, so I guess I'll reward you." She turned to pick something that had been hidden from his view by her, then turned to hold out the glistening blue stone she had picked up earlier. "Navi said you guys needed to borrow this?"

Link stared for a minute, then nodded quickly. "O-oh! Oh yes we do!"

Ruto smiled coyly. "Well… First of all. My mother gave it to me and said I should give it only to the man who will be my husband. You might call it the Zora's Engagement Ring! Are you prepared for that kind of commitment?"

To that, Link only tilted his head. What the heck was marriage?

Fortunately, Navi came to the rescue, avoiding any awkward conversations. "Ruto, we already went over why that wouldn't work. Besides, we don't intend to keep it forever, just long enough to help save Hyrule!"

To that, the zora giggled. "I know, I know. I couldn't help but tease a little though. All that's true, but I suppose I could let it be borrowed for a bit, so long as you promise to return it as soon as possible. Just… don't tell my dad, alright?"

Link nodded quickly and eagerly. Of course! Anything to get it! Anything to be able to finish their quest.

With his agreement, Ruto held the stone out in both hands, Link accepting it with both of his.

He slowly turned it over in his hands, taking in the stone's details. Three carefully chiseled blue stones, identical to each other had been set together in a triangular cluster within a golden bevel, small golden lumps separating the stone's insets.

After stashing the stone away with the others, he carefully stood up, ignoring the aches in his body as he found his balance.

Only then did he stop to question how he was going to leave.

In the distance, he could see the stone platform that he had been on before being sucked up by Jabu Jabu. Speaking of the sacred sprit, the giant fish was nowhere to be seen, though he suspected that he was swimming somewhere in the depths of the pool. As far as he knew, the only way out was back past the Zora King, and he doubted they would take lightly to his passing through again, even with Ruto to back him up.

If she would back him up.

He turned his gaze to Ruto. But before he could open his mouth to say something, she spoke up.

"Let me guess," she started in a sing-song voice, rocking back on her heels a couple times. "You need a distraction so you can get out of here? Navi told me all about it while you were out cold. Just leave it to me." Without explaining, she backflipped off the root, landing in the water with a big splash before swimming to the surface. "How good are you at swimming?"

Link gave her a shrug. "Good enough, I guess."

"How long can you hold your breath?"

He gave Navi a sideways glance. "Do I breathe?"

Navi hummed in response. "I think you do? But the question is do you need to, to live?"

"I dunno?"

"Well the point is," Ruto cut in, that there's an underwater tunnel back in Zora's Domain. I can distract a bunch of people, and you two can sneak out through there."

"Hold on," Navi said. "Link might not need to breathe, but I do. How are both supposed to go through this tunnel?"

Ruto hummed in thought, then her face lit up. "Oh! I have an idea!" She flipped and dove under the water, diving for the floor of the pool. When she returned a moment later, she held out two items: a jar just a bit bigger than Link could comfortably carry in one hand, complete with a cork stopper, and a large, silvery scale.

"You could use these! I have a few of these bottles down there. Navi can stay inside the bottle while you swim through, then you can let her out when you get to Lake Hylia."

Navi visibly shuddered, making a jingling noise, and on Link. "I'm not so sure about that… wouldn't it be better for us to just leave through the main entrance?"

Ruto shook her head. "Even though you have to have connections to come in, the front is always watched by at least one zora. But no one but us, or people with a direct blessing from us, can get through the underwater cave. It's too far for most hylians to swim."

Link gave Navi a sideways glance "Couldn't that hurt her though?" he questioned.

"Not for that little of time. Hylians stick fairies in bottles all the time, in case they're mortally wounded.

Link did not look at all convinced, but he nodded regardless. "What about the scale?"

"This is a zora treasure," Ruto explained. "We share them with hylians that earn our trust and admiration for their skill in the water. It douesn't let you breathe underwater, but it will protect you for a short time, so long as you have it close by."

"Well… Navi began slowly. "If you don't think there's any other way…"

"Not without being chased halfway across Hyrule by a bunch of angry zoras."

Navi let out a sigh. "This could have been prevented if we had just talked to the King in the first place, instead of trying to sneak past like we were up to no good. Are you sure about this?" Link winced and turned his head.

"I'm sure it's fine," the girl said. "It takes zoras maybe a minute to swim through. I'm sure it'll take you longer, but with everyone's attention on me, that should be plenty of time."

Link finally nodded and relented. It was not like he had a better solution, he supposed. After a moment, he hopped off into the water, swimming for shore as quickly as he could. The longer he was in the water, the more the water seeped into the bark and wood that made up his outer layer, and the higher the risk of rot, if he was not careful.

It took Ruto maybe a minute to swim to shore, and him perhaps twice as long. For the moment, Navi flew overhead, not eager to enter the bottle until it was necessary. He took a moment to shake off and squeeze out as much water as possible once they reached the stone pier he had stepped out onto before. Sure, it really did not make that much of a difference, since he was just going to get wet again soon, but it made him feel a little better. He'd have to sit out in the sun for hours after this to get to a more natural water level: not so wet that he'd rot, but not so dry that he'd catch fire easier.

Ruto left first, limping back into the cave opening he'd come out from before. He followed a little way behind, giving her enough space to lure any zoras away, to keep their attention.

As he neared the throne room, he could already hear the commotion.

"Princess Ruto! You're safe!"

"Princess Ruto has returned!"

"By Nayru's Love, you've returned to us!"

The king's back was to him, and the king attention was to his right. He took that to mean that Ruto was to that side. Slowly and carefully, so as to avoid making a splash, he approached and slipped past. Several Zoras had spilled into the room, all eyes on Ruto. She seemed to be soaking in the attention, as her injury was attended to.

"Oh, it was horrible" she groaned, bringing the back of her hand up against her forehead. "Poor Jabu Jabu had been infected with evil parasites and had swallowed me up on accident as a result of them messing with his head!"

Link let out a sigh of relief as he made his way down the stairs, not a zora in sight. Though voices still filtered from above.

"I knew that kid in the green was up to no good. He was probably involved in this whole near disaster. Princess Ruto, did you happen to see a monster wearing green while you were in there?"

Link paused, listening, hesitating, needing to know how Ruto would respond.

There was a moment of hesitation in her voice. "Well… I didn't encounter a monster… but..."

He continued to move, not wanting to listen further. Not wanting to risk letting himself be hurt more.

The route Ruto had mentioned to him led him back down the stairs in the same general direction as where he had caught the small fish he had used as a gift for Jabu Jabu. It had to have been less than a day since he'd done that, but it already felt so far away.

As he neared the location however, he took a sharp right, avoiding the shop and any zoras that might have been there, heading towards the deeper water. He paused at the water's edge, and pulled the bottle out, carefully peeling out the cork.

"Are you ready?" He asked Navi.

"As I'm going to be," she replied in a voice tinged with anxiety. She carefully landed inside the bottle and waited for Link to seal it back up. It wasn't totally airtight, the cork a bit small, but it was airtight enough to keep her safe for how long they expected to be down there. Once he was satisfied with how secure it was, he carefully placed the jar in his bag. Silently, he lamented the fact that his whole bag was not waterproof, risking water damage to most of his stuff. At least the bomb bag appeared to be, at least.

He could see the pillars Ruto had told him to look for below. With only a second's hesitation, he jumped, bubbles escaping past him as he sank towards the tunnel. Then he began to swim.

Surprisingly, the tunnel was fairly well lit, luminous algae giving the walls a faint blue-green glow.

He was left with his thoughts for a moment as he swam. It allowed him to think about what the zoras had expected out of him. And what Ruto had thought of him. It gave him time to think about how Navi had not come to his defense and had instead told him to just put up with it until they found their way out. He wondered if Navi thought of him as a monster too.

Soon, fortunately, he began to see brightness up ahead. He propelled himself forward, towards the light, eager to be out of the cramped, underwater space.

The waterway opened up into deep water. He quickly propelled toward the surface, sputtering out water as he breached. He turned his head this way and that, finding the closest shore, and paddled towards it. Once he was completely on dry land, he flopped. Only then did he fumble for his bag and pull the bottle he had held Navi in, releasing her back to the world.

She shook, flicking off a bit of water that had seeped through. "Never again. That was terrible." She turned her attention to Link. "It looks like it's…. Early afternoon? Wow, we were in there longer than I thought. Why don't we go up that hill over there and rest for a while? It should give you a chance to dry out."

Link groaned at the prospect of getting up, especially when his limbs felt so heavy and burdened, but he sat up anyways, then climbed to his feet and trudged up hill, just beyond two small fields of crops. There, he flopped down once again.

Navi landed on his chest. "Sleep well, Link."


"Saria?"

Link spotted the kokiri girl laying on her stomach a good distance away. Why would she choose to take a nap here, out in the open forest? When she did not respond, he began to walk towards her. The space between them seemed to stretch out, and for a time it seemed like he would never reach her. He began to run. But it made no distance. He grew no closer.

But then suddenly, he was there.

"Saria?"

She did not respond when he spoke her name. Perhaps she really was asleep. But she had fallen asleep at such an awkward angle... He reached down to lift her, to try and reposition her.

And recoiled and dropped her when he realized how stiff, how cold she was. When he noticed her open, hazy eyes.

He looked down. His hands were covered in blood.

He screamed.


Link jerked awake with a start, accidently throwing a sleeping Navi off of his chest. She let out an alarmed cry, tumbling through the air as she tried to right herself. It took him a moment to realize that he was still at the lake. Still laying out in the sun, though the sun was already starting to set now.

Navi groaned on the ground a short distance away, before slowly raising back into the air. "Link, are you okay? We aren't being attacked, are we?"

The skull kid shook his head slowly. "No," he said. "... Nightmare."

"I see. Do you want to Talk about it?"

"Not really."

She said nothing in response to that, instead returning to rest in his lap. He was quiet for a while. Content to sit in silence. Well, content enough, even though it gave his mind a chance to dwell on his nightmare.

"Are you hungry?" She finally asked.

He shrugged in response.

"I'll go look and see if I can find us some food around here. Why don't you stay here and relax for a bit? I'll come get you once I find something."

"Okay…"

The fairy took to the air, brushing up against Link's cheek for a moment before taking off higher into the air, leaving Link alone, to stew on his thoughts, to think about his dream.

He'd been unwilling to talk about it with Navi at the moment, too stressed, too disturbed. Too afraid that he might have killed Saria in the dream.

Too afraid that she would tell him how much of a monster he was. How right the dream was about him. Monsters killed people, and if he was a monster…

Food would distract him, maybe. What was taking Navi so long? He looked up from his wallowing and was reminded of the field in front of him. He was used to taking fruit, nuts, and berries from the trees of the forest, but that was food too, wasn't it? Whoever was growing this probably wouldn't miss just one plant, right?

He stood up and cleared the space between himself and the plowed field and decided to just pluck a plant off the end, a stubby green plant with small purple flowers at the top. He pulled at it and, to his surprise, felt more resistance than expected. He tugged, and then dug a bit into the dirt and to his surprise, found a network of fist-sized brown lumps in the roots. He was quick to pull them all loose. Satisfied, he took the plant down to the lake's edge to wash off some of the dirt.

Technically, he could have just ate it as-is, but he did not care for the taste of dirt. As the lumps in the root system had been the most substantial part of the plant, he decided to try that, taking a big bite with a satisfying crunch.

The plant had an earthy and somewhat watery taste. Link quickly decided he did not care much for it but finished off the lump he'd been eating regardless. Sitting the rest to the side of the water.

"Link!" He heard Navi call out somewhere behind him. He turned back to see the fairy flying at him at a surprisingly quick pace.

"There you are. Are… did you steal someone's potato plant?"

Link looked to the fairy, then back to the plant he'd eaten from. An excuse… he needed an excuse… On impulse, he grabbed the plant and threw it as far as he could into the lake.

"What plant?"

Navi let out a long, frustrated sigh, deciding not to try and debate him. Her tone when she spoke was notably disappointed, however.

"Never mind, just… since you seem like you already ate, why don't we get going. If we leave now, I think we could make it to the castle by morning."

Link wilted just a bit at her tone. Normally, he wouldn't mind the judgement of his mischief. He and Skull Kid did it all the time, and it was all fun. But after his encounter with the zoras, after his last two nightmares, after being judged by nearly everyone - at least, it felt like nearly everyone - since he had left the forest… it stung more than he would like to admit.

"Okay," he said quietly, standing up. He took a second to dust himself off. His clothing was basically dry now, and he had even dried out somewhat, feeling just a bit lighter. Enough to make him not feel sluggish, at least.

He let Navi take the lead as they made their way back up the hill away from the lake. Only then did he notice the single, large building nestled by the lake. He wondered if they were the one that had planted the fields. It seemed like the most logical answer.

Only once they had left the lake behind them did Navi speak up.

"So, Link…" she began slowly. He flinched at the tone. "You know it's not okay to take other people's things, right?"

He hesitated but nodded.

"Then why did you do it?" When he said nothing, she added, "why did you take that potato plant from the field."

He was quiet for a moment, before responding in a soft, but blunt voice, "I was hungry."

Navi jingled, and flew lower so that she was eye-level with Link.

"I understand being hungry," she admitted slowly. "But you still can't take other people's things." When he said nothing, she sighed and flew higher up again.

"I don't like getting on to you, Link. I know being mischievous is in your nature. But there's a difference between mischief and being mean. And taking other people's stuff is mean. Taking other people's stuff is something that… well, something that monsters and bad guys do."

The one comment he dreaded. That one offhand comment that could hurt so much. The idea that Navi viewed him as a monster too. As she continued flying ahead, talking, oblivious to the fact that he had stopped, the world felt like it swirled. He did not want to be here. He wanted to be somewhere far away. Even being alone back at the lake would be better than being berated.

His gaze shifted to a cove of trees and undergrowth in the distance. And in that moment, he knew he where he could go to escape.

"I know it's hard for you Link, but you have to try if you want to fit in the world outside forest. Do you understand Link?"

Her question was met with silence.

"Link?"

Navi turned to look back at the skull kid, but Link was gone.


Ganondorf was having an… unpleasant day, to say the least.

His morning had started out well enough; Breakfast with the royal family had proven invaluable, a look at just how much trust the king had put into him, even if his daughter had not. When the young princess had lashed out at him, insisting that he was a monster of ill intentions, she had just been sent away, and he had been apologized to. That much had gone not just according to plan, but even better than expected. It worked in his favor, that the king had so much faith in him and so little in his daughter.

No, it was after he left the castle that things had gone downhill.

His first stop had been the Goron City in hopes that perhaps Darunia's stubborn pride would have given in by now. Even if they had cleared the front levels of the mines, the dodongos under his influence would have pushed back, and hopefully driven them back out. He had traveled alone on horseback, leaving his horse in the care of a young redheaded woman in Kakariko as he continued up the mountain on foot.

But when he arrived, he could quickly tell things had gone even further off of his plans than expected. Instead of starving like he had hoped and expected, the gorons were flourishing. Darunia would not even meet with him! He left the city with nothing to show for it, not even a glimpse at the ruby to assure it was still there.

His next stop had been the edge of the Lost Woods, where he met with a couple of allied mad scrubs. The news there had been mediocre, at best. On the positive side, he had managed to best the Deku Tree. Leaving the sacred Kokiri Forest exposed to the evils of the world. On the other hand, he had lost Queen Gohma - a valuable, if expendable ally. And to top things off, the Sacred Stone of the forest had been nowhere to be found, likely hidden amongst the forest folk, or else sent off to be hidden somewhere.

He gave to the scrubs a glass bottle filled with cursed seeds that he, Koume, and Kotake had created. Seeds that they could plant in the forest to curse the ground, to allow wicked things to take root and drive out the useless kokiri, so that he might give his allies a new base to operate from. He promised to send in moblin guards as soon as he could get his forces into castle town as well.

After a short lunch of salted, provisioned beef and day-old buttered bread, he had decided it was time to check up on the last of his projects; the curse on Jabu Jabu.

Spreading the curse was easy enough; all he had to do was infect a handful of fish in Lake Hylia, and then allow those fish to make it to Zora's Domain, to become part of Jabu Jabu's meal. With them, he sent a few persuasive words. Find the blue stone. Take it by any means necessary. Or take the girl captive, her rescue would pay handsomely. Now it was time to see how much good all his hard work had done. Hopefully better than the previous two, at least.

He made his way up the broken, winding trail towards Zora's Domain in silence. The hylians apparently did not see fit to travel this way very often, as the path was broken and in disarray. It made sense; in all the time he had been working to get on the king's good side, to influence him, he had only heard of zoras visiting the castle, not of castle guard visiting their homeland.

How ironic, that they would treat their historical allies only slightly better than his people.

Upon reaching the waterfall at the end, he reached into a satchel at his side and pulled out a piece of parchment with the crest of the royal family on it. "Hear me, zora guard," he began in a deep, commanding voice. "My name is Ganondorf. I come here bearing the crest of the royal family of Hyrule. I am here to request an audience with your king. Please, provide me with entry, so that I may fulfill this request."

A pause. The waterflow slowed a few seconds later, just enough for him to come through.

Zora's domain was absolutely beautiful. He would do what he could to spare this place once he rose to power, even if he did nothing to spare its people.

He found the domain surprisingly quiet. The only zora he saw was the single guard watching the entrance, who seemed shocked to see who he was, but quickly hid his surprise.

Ganondorf bowed slightly to the guard. "Good afternoon, dear zora, I trust everything is going well?"

The guard nodded quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly. Perhaps trying to hurry on out of this conversation. "Much better than we could have hoped, sir. Can I… Help you with something? Or actually, can I see the crest you mentioned?"

"Of course," he replied, letting his voice drip with honey. He pulled the paper free again and held it up for the zora, speaking in the meantime. "I would hope everything is going well with your people." Privately, however, the statement gave him a twinge of concern. Had his attempt to infect Jabu Jabu failed? "Could you perhaps allow me an audience with your king?"

The zora gave him a nod to the paper, allowing him to put it away. "I can direct you to his room, but I cannot promise he will have time to speak," the zora said.

Ganondorf frowned slightly, putting on a show. He hoped it was for reasons he had set up. "Really, how so. Is all alright?"

"Well enough," the zora explained. "Princess Ruto has returned to us after a several-day disappearance." He lowered his voice slightly. "She claims to have been eaten by Jabu Jabu, and then helped by a heroic forest spirit and fairy, but you didn't hear it from me."

That is… concerning, Ganondorf thought to himself. But out loud he instead said, "I'm glad to hear that the princess is safe. Is there anything else I may know about the situation? Perhaps there's something I can do to be of assistance?"

"Nothing else I can tell you that isn't strictly zora business, sir."

He fought the urge to scowl. "I see. I'll go ahead and try my luck with the king."

After a quick explanation of directions, the gerudo was on his way up. His cape billowed behind him as he took the ramp upwards, a dark shadow amongst the bright blues and greys of the cave.

As he neared the top though, he stopped, voices catching his attention. He moved to sidle up against the wall in an attempt to appear as if he was resting, waiting, when in fact he was listening carefully to the conversation going on.

"So, you're telling me that this forest spirit just happened to just come in, kill as many parasites as possible while also protecting you, and then ran off?" One voice said.

"Yep, that's what happened!" a younger voice replied.

"Ruto… as much as I want to believe you, sweetheart… what kind of motivation could he have had for helping you? Are you certain it wasn't a trick? How do you know he wasn't the one who infected Jabu Jabu in the first place, to gain your trust?" He suspected that the third voice must be the king, from the affection in his tone towards Ruto and the strong, commanding tone of voice.

"That's absolutely silly, father. What good would it do him to do that?"

"Perhaps he was an agent of darkness," the king pointed out. "He could have been trying to get our sacred stone, in hopes of entering the sacred realm."

"Why… what purpose would that serve him? Besides, he had a fairy with him. Fairies are blessed by the goddesses, aren't they?"

Ganondorf heard it, the hesitation in Ruto's voice. He remained still, not wanting to draw attention. If a spirit with a fairy had come here… could it be related to Gohma's demise? Could it be why they did not find the sacred stone in the forest? It seemed too likely to be coincidence.

"Ruto, you know the story passed down in our family. That stone is one of the three keys to access the sacred realm, the location of one of the most power artifacts in the world. I know that it is best to give people the benefit of the doubt, like I've taught you. But when it comes to a stone that unlocks that great of power, we can't afford to take chances. Do you understand?"

"...Yes daddy…"

The overheard conversation gave him everything he needed to know. His mind was troubled as he turned and headed back down the path, back towards the exit. The zora guard caught him on the way out.

"Ah, any luck?"

"Oh, he was quite busy," Ganondorf replied carefully. "I will just have to return another day. Thank you for allowing me to visit your beautiful domain."

"We are both allies of Hyrule, gerudo. It was my pleasure to let you see our home."

Ganondorf nodded. "Indeed. I look forward to my next visit."

With that, he left, hurrying down the dilapidated path as soon as he was out of sight. His mind began to work quickly.

Someone had begun gathering the stones, right under his nose. A spirit… He had seen a forest spirit around the castle not that long ago, had he not? And if he had been gathering up the stones, especially if he was gathering them at Zelda's request…

He would have to move his plans into action sooner than expected.

The king would fall, and so would the princess. He would do anything in his quest for power. Even if it meant killing a child.

Even if it meant shedding his humanity.


Link was not sure how he managed to end up in the cove of trees (though upon future introspection he would realize that he had managed to use magic under the pressure of the moment.) Despite that, he did not stop to think about it. Instead he started walking away from where he thought he left Navi. Anger, frustration, hurt, and other emotions clouded his judgement. He did not want to talk to her. He did not want to be with her. He just wanted to be alone for a time.

Even though he knew he needed to take the stones back to the castle, that was not enough to sway him to turn back. Not right now. Why did he need Navi to go with him anyways? Why should he bother to go back at all? He kept walking in silence for a while, glancing back behind him every so often, watching for Navi. The only thing that gave him a general idea of the direction he was walking was glances of the moon that he got through the branches.

Soon, he found the trees and brush thinning out. On the horizon, he could just barely make out the outline of a large stone wall. After a moment of introspection, it occurred to him he'd seen this before He not be far from the forest he called home, as he had passed the crumbling stone wall on his way to the castle.

For a moment, he considered turning away, heading back to the forest. Skull kid would not care; holding all three stones, he would be hidden away from Ganondorf, and the two of them could go back to old times. But Saria…

He could not bring himself to disappoint Saria.

He began to walk across the field towards the stone wall. Navi was nowhere in sight… perhaps she had doubled back to see if he had gone back towards the lake? It did not matter. He could do this without her. What all had she done for him anyways, besides gripe at him about the things he did?

She did watch his back a few times, and she did sometimes give him advice on how to fight monsters...And she had gone to get the potion lady when he had been injured in Dodongo's Cavern, had she not?

...But still, he could do most of those things without her. He could take care of himself, watch his own back, and figure out how to fight enemies on his own.

He passed the wall on the left side, climbing up a hill. He had a general idea of where to go next, but even with the light his eyes gave off, and his decent night vision, he could not see the silhouette of the castle in the dark from here. He rubbed a thumb against the hilt of his sword nervously. He needed to find shelter, probably. At least till daylight.

As he looked to his left, he realized that there was a dark blotch against the starry night sky, of something raising up and blocking out hundreds of the tiny twinkling stars. There. He would make his way there and see what it was, then perhaps rest there before moving on.

His trip was mostly quiet, except when he occasionally hummed a tune to break the silence. Nothing dared to bother him out here. He wondered if he would see the stallchildren, but they seemed oddly quiet tonight. Or else, they only stayed near the castle town. On one hand, the companionship sounded nice, and they would at least understand his struggle of appearing monstrous in the eyes of many. On the other, he kind of wanted to be left alone, left to stew on his feelings in silence.

At one point, he thought he heard the sound of something big racing across the open fields, thought he caught a glance of a hooded figure riding with haste atop a dark beast, a lamp bouncing at their side, giving him just enough light to make out that much of their features. He made sure to steer clear of them, veering even further towards the tall structure in the distance. Not wanting to risk starting an altercation.

As he made his way closer to the structure, he realized that the majority of it was not a structure, but a hill, sloping steeply up to its crest. The top had been mostly leveled off, a tall, wood and metal fence surrounding the top where the sheer stone walls did not He made his way around the structure until he found a gentler slope leading to an opening- a gate that had been left open.

He knew he should not be here – Navi would have been scolding him insistently – but curiosity convinced him to step inside.

Inside of the fencing were a few long buildings, each one dark and unlit. Following the path between them led him to a small pasture surrounded by a smaller, more open fence with the gate closed. A well-trodden path surrounded the gate, giving him a sense that this area was used a lot for something.

He made his way over to the fence it surrounded. In the field were large animals like he'd never seen before with long, thick necks and thin muscular legs, and with a tail made of hair, similar hair sprouting from the back of their neck. They reminded him of the beast he had seen racing across Hyrule Field just a short while ago.

"Navi what are they?" He asked out loud. Then he remembered he had left Navi behind. Right… He shook his head quickly before grabbing hold of the wood fencing and scrambled over. Never mind Navi, he did not need her to deal with this.

He tried to approach one of the animals, curious, wanting to find out more, but as it caught sight of him approaching, it whinnied and took off across the field. He started to give chase, but stopped himself when he caught sight of another, smaller animal of the same type nearby. It pawed at the ground with one foot, watching him as he approached. Unlike the bigger animal, it allowed him to come all the way up to it as it huffed air. He slowly moved to its side, and carefully began to reach out a hand.

Apparently, it was not too keen on the idea of being touched, however. Before his hand could reach, it turned and bucked, a powerful back foot kicking him in the stomach, knocking him back several feet. He cried out and quickly clutched where he had been hit, wincing.

"What was that for?" He hissed to the animal. Was it because it did not trust him? Was it because of what he was?

The animal did not answer, only turning to race off to the far side of the field.

Link wheezed as he edged away from the group of animals, now less keen to approach. He could make out an odd structure on the other side of the field, away from the animals. He began to hobble towards it. As he got closer, he could tell that it was a wooden structure, open on three sides, only closed against the gate. It had a simple flat roof, and two benches underneath. He decided to sit down for a moment, to look over the damage.

As he lifted up his tunic, he could feel a bit of sticky sap sticking to it. Fortunately, his hard exterior had managed to take the brunt of the blow, and the damage seemed only barely more surface level, though small cracks in the bark allowed sap to ooze out, attempting to seal the wound. He decided to quickly change back into the cleaner goron tunic, pants and all, rolling the tunic up high enough so that it would avoid getting sticky.

Unfortunately, there was not enough space between the bench and the wall for him to lie there, so he decided to lay down on the wooden surface, finding it uneven, but no more uneven than what he was used to.

It was weird, resting like this without Navi after the last two weeks. Peaceful in some ways, but uneasy in others. Quiet, but perhaps too quiet. He could keep going to the castle, but it would make no sense to keep going until the sap had time to try, and until daylight so that he could tell where he was going.

So, with those thoughts in mind, Link fell into a fitful, uneasy sleep.


Malon liked to wake up early. Earlier than her night-owl father, earlier than grumpy old Ingo, earlier even than the morning sun.

As usual she went through her morning routine: stretch, brush her hair, put on her dress and boots, eat a light breakfast of bread and cheese - something simple just to tide her over until everyone else woke up - and then go out into the field to check on the horses.

It had been her routine for two years now, but she had found special importance in it in the last few months, since beautiful young Epona had been born. The young filly had been skittish and distrusting from the day she was born. To everyone but her at least. She hoped that by spending time with her in the fields, she would slowly convince her to open up more to strangers.

She hummed a little tune as she tiptoed out the door, closing it softly behind her with a quiet click. The sun was just barely starting to rise, tinging the sky grey-blue, but not yet high enough to give it a rosy morning glow. She was light on her feet as she made her way down to the fields, tilting her head from side to side in rhythm with the song she was humming.

But as she approached the horse field and carefully undid the gate, she began to feel as if something was off. Something was different in the field. Scrutinizing the field gave her insight as to what was setting off alarms in her head; all of the horses had gathered at one end of the field, some scraping a hoof across the ground, one letting out a nervous whinny. Epona stayed near the edge of the group.

A few of the horses looked up as she stepped inside and closed the gate behind her. She had been raised around the majestic creatures; she could not fear them. But how anxious they were behaving worried her. She did a quick headcount, in case a wolfos had somehow inside and slain one. She was always worrying one would get inside, with her dad always leaving the gate open. But all of the horses were accounted for. So, she turned her attention to the side of the field unoccupied and began to cautiously walk towards it down the center.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and she began to think maybe someone had just left a pitchfork laying around and it had spooked the horses, or perhaps a snake had passed through. But as she turned her attention to the little bench shelter from the rain her father had built a while ago, she finally caught sight of what was probably the source of the horses' anxiety, something she could only barely make out in the early-morning light.

Laying on the far bench was a small, dark figure, clothed in red.

Malon stopped in her tracks, watching the figure cautiously. Who were they? Why was there someone here? Why was there an intruder in their farm? She stood frozen for several minutes, watching the figure. But when they never moved, her fear turned to curiosity. Slowly, she crossed the remainder of the field until she was close to the stranger.

Their skin was rough - she was not sure if it really classified as skin, as it had more the texture of bark and wood. They were wearing a red tunic, along with brown trousers that seemed perhaps a bit big on them. A long, pointed hat hung off the side. She could not make out where their mouth actually was, or if they had a mouth at all. And where there should have been eyes, there were only two blank sockets.

As she stared the stranger down, it occurred to her that she was pretty sure she had seen him before, not that long ago, back near Hyrule Castle when she was waiting for her dad.

As she looked over the creature - a skull kid, she thought she remembered him calling himself, what was his name again? Her attention was turned to his stomach, where his tunic had been pulled up. The wood there was cracked at a single point of impact, an amber substance having oozed up from the cracks. She tentatively placed a hand over it, noting that the substance was a bit sticky, but mostly dry, and pushed down just a little.

The boy sat up with a gasp.

She let out a squeak, pulling back her hand quickly. His eyes had flickered to life, two glowing blue orbs inside the previously empty sockets.

The two nervously stared each other down for a moment, until recognition finally seemed to flare in the skull kid's eyes.

"You're… Malon, right?"

So, he did have a mouth. That's right, he had to have, to have played music before. Malon nodded slowly, carefully, trying to think back to the boy's name. "Yes… and your name was… Link, right?"

"Mhm..." He said slowly.

She considered her options for a moment. He couldn't stay here; he was scaring the horses! And she doubted Ingo would take well to him being here, and even her father would be skeptical of letting a forest monster stay around.

"You're hurt," she stated. "What happened?"

"I got kicked by the, um…." He gestured his hands wildly for a moment, trying to describe something before just pointing to the herd. "By the small animal when I tried to pet it. It's really not that bad though."

"You tried to pet Epona?" She tilted her head. No wonder he'd been kicked! She reached down to grab his hand. "Well, don't feel bad, Epona doesn't trust anyone except me. You can rest a while if you want, but you can't stay here in the pasture. Come with me."

Link stared at her hand for a moment, seeming skeptical, but he went ahead and rose up.

Malon lead him back through the gate, and back around the pasture to a tall building on the far side. When she opened it, he found himself in a small room full of wooden crates and hay.

She gave the skull kid a grin. "If you need some time to feel better, you can stay here. Dad and Ingo don't have to come in here for a couple of days, so you should be safe to hide out."

Link nodded slowly. "...Thank you."

She giggled, watching him settle into a pile of hay with her hands behind her back. "Okay, wait here, I'm going to go get you some bandages, so you don't get that sticky sap stuff all over your clothes."

Without waiting for an answer, she left the building, racing back across the field back to her house. The sun was now actually peeking over the horizon. She would have to hurry if she wanted to get done and get back without raising suspicion, especially under Ingo's watchful eye. He was a funny man, Ingo, always whining about the work and complaining to himself. But for the most part, he was harmless.

The door creaked open. She tried to walk across the wooden floors as quietly as possible, making an attempt to avoid particularly creaky boards. It only took her a moment to find a roll of bandages. With them in hand, she made another trip across the fields.

As she opened the door, she found Link had set up a pile of hay against one of the crates and had sat himself down against it. He had the ocarina he had been playing on the day she had met him in hand, brushing a thumb against the wooden surface.

She quietly cleared her throat to get his attention. He looked up quickly, then stashed the instrument away in his bag, shifting to sit up.

Malon took a seat to his side and adjusted his tunic before carefully beginning to wrap the bandages around his torso. As she worked, she attempted to make conversation. "So, forest boy, have you learned any new songs lately?"

Link shook his head slowly and said nothing.

She frowned, continuing to work in silence. But after a moment another conversation starter came to her head. "Say… wasn't there a fairy with you before? Where is she?"

Link flinched and lowered his head. For a moment, Malon expected him to not answer, or to perhaps say something had happened to the fairy. But finally, he answered in a monotonous voice. "She… We went separate ways last night, that's all."

She watched as he clenched a fist around the fabric of his trousers and suspected there was more to it than what he said, but decided not to press the matter, instead turning to a more lighthearted question, patting the wrappings as she finished them off. "So, these clothes are a lot nicer than the ones I saw before. Where did you get them?"

"Hm?" He looked up, taking a minute to process the question. "Oh, they were a gift from the gorons. They're supposed to be blessed with magic that protects whoever's wearing it from heat and flames. Or something like that."

"You got to meet gorons? That's so cool!" She paused to place the remaining bandages in his bag and noticed that a lot of what was inside had become waterlogged, so she instead pulled everything out to dry, noting that most of the food was ruined, and turned the bag inside-out. "So, what brought you to Lon Lon ranch anyways?"

"I was on my way back to the castle," Link admitted. "Sort of. I wanted to stop and… rest for a bit first, I guess."

"Hm..." Malon frowned, staring at him for a moment, before a cucco's crow caught her attention. She shook her head, stood up, and dusted off her dress. "Well, I don't think you're telling me the whole truth, but I'm not going to push it right now. I have to go now, stay here, alright? I'll try and bring you something to eat tonight after dark."

The skull kid seemed to shrink in on himself, turning his head to look away and bringing his arms up close to his chest. But he nodded slowly in response. "Oh, okay…"

Satisfied enough, Malon turned to the door and stepped outside, giving Link one last look before clicking the door shut.


Most of Link's day was spent laying restlessly. He considered contacting Saria and Skull Kid, but he could not bring himself to do so, considering he would have to explain where Navi had gone. He considered leaving and moving on, but then he remembered that Malon told him to stay put; he would rather not risk a run-in with distrusting adults. So, he stayed in the tall building, bored out of his mind and left to dwell on negative thoughts. What if something had happened to Navi after he left her behind, defenseless? What kind of hero leaves their companion behind? He was not worthy of being anyone's hero, he was just a childish coward.

Occasionally he would hear noises from outside: shouting, whinnying, and other animal noises. But as the day wore on and he tossed and turned restlessly, the sounds slowly faded to the sounds of crickets and cicadas, and the hooting of an owl somewhere nearby. He wondered how Kaepora Gaebora would feel about him leaving Navi behind.

At some point he decided to sort through his items to see what was still good and what had been ruined. Most of his food had been ruined, save for his last skulltula leg and a handful of nuts and berries. The ocarina was fortunately fine. As were his slingshot and boomerang. His bomb bag looked fine too, though he wasn't sure if the bombs inside had been damaged. All three stones were fine. And of course, the mask he had taken for Skull Kid was there. Something was missing though, he was sure of it, but it would not click in his head. He laid back and tried not to dwell on it.

But finally, he heard the sound of the door clicking open. He sat up quickly, and fortunately was greeted by Malon's face peeking in. She glanced back behind her, and then held out an arm to gesture for him to follow. "Come on forest boy, I want to show you something, bring your ocarina too. Or your flute. You had a flute too, right?"

Link paused, looking over his items, and picked up the ocarina. But he realized with dismay that he couldn't find the flute, an old gift from Skull Kid. That's what was missing, how could he have forgotten about it? Could it had fallen out when he swam through the tunnel? Or perhaps it had been burned to ash in Dodongo's Cavern.

Crestfallen by the discovery, he slowly picked up the ocarina and followed behind her with a sullen expression.

"So, this is a racetrack for the horses," Malon explained as she led Link around the outer ring of the pasture, pausing to pass back a loaf of bread. "Have you ever ridden a horse?"

Link shook his head quickly. "What's a horse?"

The girl turned back to look at him with a quizzical expression, then laughed. "The animals in the pasture, silly, come on hurry up!"

He picked up the pace, racing to catch up behind her as she reached the gate. She quickly opened it, allowing him inside before closing it again behind him. Then she stepped out into the middle of the field, a flurry of fireflies flying up around her, twinkling in the near darkness. They always reminded Link of fairies, but even smaller.

When they reached the center, she gestured for him to pull out his ocarina.

"I wanted to teach you a song," she explained. It's a song I made for Epona, the horse that, um… that kicked you."

"Gee, thanks…"

But he brought the instrument up to his mouth regardless, listening as she began to hum, slowly repeating the notes until he had the simple twelve-note melody down.

A whinny not far behind him made him jolt. The horse that had kicked him before had come up behind after hearing the song. It trotted over to Malon, rubbing its snout against her cheek, then it turned to approach him. He shrank back cautiously, but instead of rearing up and kicking him, it instead rubbed its face up against his, and he felt a tongue lap against his cheek. Malon giggled as she watched.

"She was probably uncertain at first, but I think she likes you! You must have a good heart, if she trusts you this much."

Link had been laughing and giggling as the filly nuzzled up on him, but when Malon spoke up, he stopped, his hands lowering to his sides. "I'm… not so sure about that."

The girl tilted her head, frowning, and let out a humming noise. "Why not? You seemed so lighthearted and carefree before."

He glanced down, taking a long breath, and let ou the anxiety he'd been hiding. "I… left my friend behind in Hyrule Field, I abandoned her, and now I don't know if she's alright, or if I'll be able to find her."

Malon tapped her chin, brows furrowing. "So, you're worried about her? Well… Even though it's bad that you left her behind, don't you think the fact that you're worried about her is proof that you're not a bad person?"

"I… I don't know."

Malon puffed her cheeks up, gesturing towards the gate. "Well, if you're so worried, then why don't you go find her! Don't you have a clue where to look? Where would she have gone? You guys had something you were doing, right?"

He paused for a moment. Considering. She did have a point. Would Navi have gone back to the forest perhaps? No, if they had been separated, she would have expected him to go do what they had promised. What if she was waiting there now, looking for him?

He looked up into the sky, noticing dark clouds rolling in as the last rays of sunlight died away. Then he looked back to Malon. "I… think need to get to get to castle town as fast as possible. What's the quickest way there?"


A/N: Whew, that was a bit of a long chapter, huh? And with two chapters in two weeks, at that. I considered cutting it into two, but there wasn't a good spot to cut it without making one chapter have very little happen. SO instead, I left it together. This chapter involved a lot of setup for the next chapter, which should be... interesting. The next chapter will bring us to the end of the child era and hopefully should be up before the end of the month. Things are about to all come crashing together for the end of part one!