Ayuki Karpy

It's a Wonderful Life, Link

Disclaimer: No, I don't own anything at all!

Link got up earlier than usual, and felt an ominous fog coming towards him. Like today was going to be the worst day of his life. He might've shrugged it off…if he hadn't tripped and scraped his knee. To make matters worse, his hat flew off and Navi hit the floor. Hoo boy, Navi was ticked!

"LINK, YOU STUPID KLUTZ! CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING, RIGHT?" Navi screamed.

Link was shocked. His own fairy, the one who was always supporting him and almost never yelled except when there was something important, was more than yelling at him! She was screaming while he was getting dressed and it hurt his ears...a lot!

"Oops…..sorry, Navi…Didn't mean to….."

"Ugh, whatever, (stupid Hylian)!" Navi muttered.

Link was unsure of what to make of the situation, but decided to ignore it. Hopefully, Navi would be in a better mood. He didn't argue when Navi flew away.

"Still mad at me…." He muttered.

Anyway, he had to go over to Lon Lon Ranch to help Malon. Ignoring the stabbing pain in his knee, he ran all the way there. When he finally got there, Malon was grinning from ear to ear.

"Come on, Link, you know how the cows need to be milked!"

Link giggled and didn't notice the buckets that Malon filled with milk. He accidentally tripped and spilled the milk everywhere. Malon gasped, then her beautiful face flushed red with anger.

"I HAVE SPENT HOURS TRYING TO MILK THE COWS!"

"Sorry...I just..."

"YOU KNOW WHAT, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, YOU STUPID HYLIAN!"

Link nodded, confused and hurt.

'Okay, I managed to get Navi and Malon mad at me...So Ruto...Maybe she'll appreciate me!'

So, he trudged off to Zora's Domain, where the Zoras were having their annual fish-catching ceremony. Ruto was quite surprised to see Link there. Nevertheless, she welcomed him graciously. Link was also surprised to see the other five sages here, too. He was told that Princess Zelda could not come because she had an important meeting to attend to for the sake of Hyrule.

"Welcome, Link! My, it's a surprise to see you here!"

"Meh, just wanna have a little fun! Don't mind me asking but why are all the other sages here?"

"Oh, that's because our magic powers can allow us to go anywhere we want now that Ganondorf is gone."

Link nodded and was having fun, until he tripped over a rock and was tumbling down the path and into the feasting table. Everyone was watching with bated breath and laughed when Link was found covered with food stuffs. The sages, however, were flushed with anger. Darunia and Rauru were trying to keep their temper, and Impa, Saria, and Nabooru were also shocked at how the Hero of Time could be such a klutz.

"LINK, HOW COULD YOU! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A STUPID HYLIAN!" Ruto shrieked.

"I'm sorry...I just...

"JUST GO!"

Link was even more hurt by this reply and rushed off. He was fighting tears because everyone knew how foolish to have a 15-year-old man cry. He sighed and decided that his last refuge was Princess Zelda.

'Who knows, maybe she may have a few words to say, a few kind words to be exact.' Link thought.

Princess Zelda was just finishing up her meeting and was surprised to see Link there. Link smiled shyly and offered a bouquet of flowers.

"Oh thank you, Link! May we take a walk?"

Link was spending an enjoyable moment with Zelda, when suddenly he tripped and fell into a mud puddle, thus splattering mud all over Zelda's clothes. She was shocked, then angry.

"I'm sorry, Zelda..."

"Shut up...You have become more of a threat than Ganondorf, you STUPID HYLIAN!"

Link was dumbstruck and hurt. Holding back tears of humiliation and anger, he ran out of the castle and out of Hyrule town. When he was far away from Lon Lon Ranch and near the Gerudo Desert entrance, his exhausted legs told him to rest. When he sank down in the sand, he hugged his knees and wept bitterly. Link was full of tormented thoughts, about the one word that tormented him through and through.

'Stupid...Stupid...Stupid...' That word kept resonating in his mind. He lay down on the ground, trying to push the bad thoughts out. But no matter how he tried, one thought came to his mind.

'Hyrule would be a better place without you!' A voice hissed in the back of his mind. He shook his head, and rolled over the side of the cliff.

"!" Link screamed as he fell in the river below.

The ground was soft...was this heaven...Link rolled over, never wanting to wake up, but he had to because the light was imploring with him.

'Link...Link...Link...' The voice implored once more.

The light faded to a beautiful forest, and Link was lying on a swing. He didn't have any injuries on him, and in the distance, a beautiful maiden was sitting with a handsome man. They were a little older than Link, and they were smiling at him. Link eyed them warily. What if they would start yelling at him like all the others did?

"Link, come sit with us." The female said. Link nodded and took his place. The maiden's eyes looked familiar, having crystal blue eyes just like him. The man looked exactly like Link, except for the eyes.

"Um...if you don't mind me asking...where am I?" Link finally broke the silence.

"You're in the Mystical Garden of the Heavens, where all tormented minds with pure souls come here. They come here either to rest because they have been killed, or to decide whether to go back." The man explained.

"To go back to Hyrule? The place where everyone treated me like an outcast?" Link burst out, before mentally kicking himself for making such an outburst.

"I know how you feel. To be treated like dirt and never getting anything even though you saved the world. But then, the consequences of you not being in that world are much greater than you will ever imagine." The woman said gently while stroking Link's hair.

"Huh? What do you mean-?" Link inquired.

The man took one of Link's hand and the woman took the hand with the Triforce of Courage. Link was led into a vortex and everything went black.

Link found himself in front of his Kokiri home, which was ravaged by Deku Babas. He then realized much of Kokiri Forest was the same as well, with a young girl with green hair looking disgruntled. She was pretty, yet her face showed no trace of hope within her.

"SARIA! I'm here to help! Please, Saria, can you hear?" Link yelled.

"She cannot hear you, Link, because you don't exist. You see, you wished in your mind that you would never exist. So, here is your wish..." The man explained solemnly.

"But Saria wanted me gone, shouldn't this land be a little better with me gone?"

"No, it was your actions that saved Saria and the Kokiri Forest. In fact, this land was healed because you made it heal. Without you, this forest would have become devastated. As if it hadn't been when you pulled out the Master Sword and awakened seven years later." The man continued.

The woman gave him an annoyed look before returning her gentle gaze towards Link. She hugged him and Link felt safe in her arms. It was then that Link remembered something important.

"Navi, where is she?"

The woman just shook her head, and Link understood. Navi was...gone...gone from the Kokiri Forest, and gone from the memory of others. But she was not forgotten in Link's mind.

"This...this is bad. But someone is happy without me...If not Saria and Navi..." Link voiced aloud.

But his question was answered by another light...and a gentle pulling of his hands.

Link and the couple were in Goron City, and by the looks of things, Goron City was far from friendly. In there, dull-eyed Gorons were sitting near a platform. On the platform, it was-

"Darunia, what's happening?" Link asked, hoping he would get an answer. He did, and it wasn't pleasant at all.

"So, how are we going to get out of Ganondorf's reign? We know that it's either serving him or death!" A Goron piped up.

"SILENCE!" Darunia roared. Link cringed. Normally, Darunia would never raise his voice to a fellow Goron. Even if he was mad, he would be firm and yet gentle. But now, he had...changed. Then, Link realized.

'Of course, he has changed...He had never met me!'

"That's right...and because of the fact that you never met him, he's even more hard-hearted as ever." The woman sighed.

Link inwardly whistled. This was one heck of a personality change, and he had a feeling more were to come...

Link and the couple were now at Zora's Domain, where much of the lake was dry and frozen, and things got worse on from there. He could hear the Zora King yelling at somebody. It was Princess Ruto, and she was mad, even more so than when Link tripped and made a mess of the banquet.

"No, Father! I won't do it!"

"And I'm telling you you must! What, do you want to be dead?" Her father yelled.

"...What is going on?" Link said.

"The Zora King was given an ultimatium, given much of his tribe was wiped out. He either had to hand Ruto over to the Dark King, or else the extinction of his tribe would be clear." The man solemnly replied.

"No...No...NO!" Link screamed. He was weeping silent tears, not caring that the couple was watching, not caring that he was 15 years old, and not caring that he was the Hero of Time.

When he had stopped crying, he felt two gentle hands leading him into another portal, and he had a feeling that this one was the worst to come...

Link was in the Gerudo Desert, and his heart was squeezed like a Goron in Volvagia's grasp. What he saw was more agonizing than the Goron City, the Zora Domain, and the Lost Woods combined. This was madness and destruction all together.

"Oh my god! Where are Malon, Impa, Nabooru, Rauru...and Princess Zelda, importantly?" Link yelled.

He was teleported to a lavish room, where Gannondorf was enjoying himself and a lot of beautiful women, though angry, surrounded him. Impa was barking out orders to all the other girls, including Princess Zelda and Malon, and Nabooru was next to him, looking uninterested. Rauru, instead of being a calm old wizened sage, looked like a scared meek old minister.

"Wha...Wha...Wha..." Link was speechless.

"Child, what you are seeing...is the harem of Gannondorf. Although you have by now realized, without you ever existing, Ganondorf has taken over Hyrule." The woman said.

"!" Link couldn't keep it in, he screamed before darkness swept over him.

The next thing Link knew, he and the couple were in the Mystical Garden of the Heavens. The only thing was that the man was gone, and the woman looked forlorn and worn.

"I had it all figured out...and you didn't want to fool me because you knew I knew who you two were all this time. But...why didn't you tell me?"

The woman smiled, and gently hugged him.

"I would never take you for a fool...and because we have so much in common. The eyes, the manner of speech, the personality...I also hated it when my friends always yelled at me too."

Link looked at her. It was like seeing who he really wanted to see for 15 years.

"It's time to make your choice: to either come with us or to live with the people you care most about." The woman said.

Link pondered long and hard. His friends still needed him. On the other hand, to live with the couple...

"I want to live..."

The woman smiled and squeezed his hand gently. As he fell back into the realm of the living, he only thought of one thing.

'I love you...Mother...Don't leave me.'

I'll never leave you, Link.