Disclaimer: I, the author, do not owe Legend of  Zelda®: Ocarina of Time™ or any of the game characters used in this story. Original characters are owned by the author of this story. All Rights are Reserved.

It was when Saria saw the look on Link's face as he entered Kokiri Forest that she knew this would not be a happy visit bearing good news. His expression was withdrawn, as if he had lost feeling or emotion, and his lips thin with what looked like hidden grit teeth behind them. His eyes were downcast as he walked in, something he never did, neither looking up at her or at the bundle he held in his crossed, tensed arms.

"Link?" Saria called out in concern, running up to him the same way she had when she had seen him exit his house all those years ago with his own fairy. "What's wrong, friend?"

Link stopped and slowly pulled his head up, his eyes cast in a shadow for a moment, enough to send a shiver up the Kokiri's spine. Eyes that were once so bright and set on saving Hyrule were now dull with lines beneath his eyes of a deep shaded purple.

"Oh, Link," she whispered. "What has happened?"

Something she never would have expected of the mighty hero of destiny to do, something she never would have thought a strong-willed person like her friend Link would do, she watched in shock as he sank down to his knees in front of her. He held out his arms, the bundle nestled almost prefect in his large, yet thin, gloved hands.

"What's this?" Saria asked, her voice having been only full of questions since he arrived. She took the bundle from him and found warmth seeping through the cloth into her own flesh. Whatever was inside was alive and tingling with a sensational aura that covered her in awe and amazement. Cradling the bundle in one hand, she pulled back the cloth until a tiny face with closed eyes, breathing heavily in a deep sleep, was revealed to her with a peace-cream complexion and a head covered in golden strands. She was looking at; she would not be surprised, at the mirage of Link's own infant youth.

"A baby," she stated, without question or shock. "Your baby."

Link, his head completely bowed down, nodded. Tears fell from his hidden face down to the soiled ground where he knelt, and Saria felt her own tears on the verge of overflowing.

"My daughter…" he whispered suddenly. His voice was so hoarse that it startled his friend, the baby slightly stirring in her arms.

"A girl…" Saria said. "What is her name?"

"I do not know what to call one such as her…" he stopped. His head slightly lifted, enough for her to see his eyes glazed with tears, his gaze and mind in another world. "And than again, I dare not give her one, or she'll be hunted."

"Hunted? By who? Why?"

"Because she is the daughter of destiny. Because she is my daughter."

And there came that shiver again, only this time it came with companions of terror and fear that quaked her very soul. "Link. No…"

His fingers curled into his palms, making a tight fist that was almost half the size of her head and slammed into the ground. "I thought it would be done with me. But I found out she will have her own destiny to meet, one that has no other option, no other choice for her to live as she wants."

"But Link…when you had saved Hyrule, your life was given back to you, and you were able to prevent the destruction of the land and its people."

"While her destiny is to cause destruction! To all life and history!"

Again he had startled her with his outburst, but the words sank in immediately after, and her eyes went wide, holding the babe with trembling arms.

"Link, what are you saying?"

"Dreams came to me," he began, than shook his head. "No, nightmares. Since her birth, I slept with visions of the past, present, and future. The past was of my own life and how she came to be. The present was of good times and happy occasions, but it was not to last. The future held a world where only ruins and corpses covered a fallen Hyrule. Only crumbled rock could be seen as the eye's gaze into the horizon. It was all black and covered with ash of Hyrule's life now obliterated, and in the distance stood only one man, a haunting laugh the only thing that still thrived in the atmosphere.

A soft gasp came from Saria's lips, glancing down at Link's daughter. "Ganondorf?"

"I am uncertain but who else could it be? Than the dark clouds that hovered over the sad land parted, and even he was destroyed in the light."

"In the light? Are you saying that it is of good will that will destroy Hyrule?"

"Whoever reigns in the end…it does not matter," the sad hero whispered. He looked up and stared at the bundle of innocent life nestled in Saria's arms. Seeing his gaze, she held out his daughter to him. With uncertainty and hesitation, he stretched out his own arms and cradled her close to his heart.

"By the Triforce…I almost took her life," he said to no one. Saria shook her head.

"You did the right thing by not doing so," she said. "Perhaps there is some way, Link. You just have not seen the vision yet. Perhaps there may be another way and your daughter—"

"Saria."

Her name came with an edge as if an enemy, her tongue caught and her legs frozen in place even though she had the sudden desire to take off running madly. "Y-yes?"

"Take her…take her to the Deku Sprout. Watch over her."

"Of course, but why?"

"Just keep her hidden. If she stays here, he surely cannot find her. She must not know of whom or what she really is, much less what her destiny is and he must certainly not tell her."

"You mean Ganon—"

"Yes," he cut off sharply. It was clear he had no wish to hear the name.

He stood back up with an expression of determination, yet he was hiding what Saria could clearly see. Looking down at his daughter, with a complexion as fair as his and strands of golden-brown hair already beginning to slow, Saria could almost see tears in his eyes as he handed the babe back to her. Slowly he turned, and with heavy feet began to walk off.

"Link."

He stopped but kept his back to her.

"Where shall you go? What shall you do?"

"I'm going back to the Sacred Realm, to make sure Ganondorf is never freed. I will do anything to protect Hyrule…anything to protect my daughter."

And with that, he was gone.