Into The Woods [Legend of Zelda]

Written by MarLuna

+standard disclaimer applied

Summary

[Modern AU.] Zelda finds herself lost in forest and drawn to a tune that she's never heard before. The song was created by a ghost boy, Link, unable to neither speak nor leave the forest. Zelda, left with his ocarina and her own horrible talent for music, is determined to find the truth behind the spirit and why he's so attached to the land. Old allies and foes return, blurring the truth into a giant puzzle. Can Zelda figure out in time, or will she join Link in the forest to play forever?

Chapter Three: Strawberry Delight

When the kid saw me again, nearing him and clutching my head, his face was an amusing scene. He jumped up from his tree stump, excited, and started running over. However, he stopped abruptly when he saw my disgruntled face. He motioned to my face, probably curious as to why I was holding my head like I was having a brain freeze from a quickly drank slushie.

"I fell when I came here. Don't worry about it, I'm not gonna bruise or anything." I tried to soothe him but he didn't look convinced. I instead tried to distract him by lifting the bag I was holding and mentioning to the stuff inside. "My friend baked us pies if you'd like one?"

He lit up like a Christmas tree. He nodded his head so fast I had almost confused him for a bobble head. I set the treats on his favorite tree stump and unpacked everything (pies, plates, utensils, napkins, etc.). When I glanced back up, I saw that we were surrounded by the kid's usual possy of wild animals. I glanced at him in worry.

He did a classic silent laugh before motioning me with his hands to play my ocarina.

Even though it was a tranquil moment and speaking would break it and might even scare them all away, I had to. "I don't know how to play it."

He shrugged at the fact and motioned again for me to get it.

I sighed with a bit of frustration. He wasn't going to stop until I did it, was he? He was like the pet parrot that my dad had gotten when we had lost my mom: he kept yelling at us for food and the only time he'd stop was when we fed him. Otherwise, he didn't care for me. He was a jerk bird like that. I was somewhat glad when he died because then he'd stop eating my homework and my teachers would get less upset with me letting him do it (it got to the point where I had to take pictures of him doing it to stay credible). He was still a good bird though, he loved sitting on my dad's head and chirping at him when he felt lonely. I wouldn't say I missed him though. He was still such a jerk to me.

But this kid wasn't that stupid bird, he wasn't going to ignore me once I did what he asked of me. He was a good kid. Well, as good as you can get with that scary giant sword on his back. I was curious as to why he had that. My thirst for knowledge could wait though.

I grabbed the ocarina and held it close to my mouth. I made a deal with him. "I play but you teach me." He nodded enthusiastically, not realizing how difficult the task was going to be. I felt almost bad for him. Almost, because I knew from experience that this would end up like any other music lesson I've ever had; the teachers quitting out of frustration and assigning to someone else until there was no one left to help this poor golden haired maiden learn to be more ladylike. At least, that was what ladies did in the olden days. They played instruments and sang beautifully and did housework and cooked and took care of the children and blah blah blah. They always seemed so romanticised that I wasn't sure if it was real or not. The music part mostly, because the rest was sexist enough for the time.

The kid mimicked me, though not holding anything in his hands and feeling less silly than I felt. He changed his finger positions and I mimicked him. He frowned at me. I tilted my head at him in confusion. He motioned for me to blow into the instrument. I shook my head at that. I couldn't even dare make a noise with this. I was going to scare all the animals away!

He read my expression and did three notes with his hands. I copied them and he smiled. He repeated them and he had me practice them until I could time my hands to the beat of his before learning the next ones. He didn't push the issue of me blowing into the ocarina yet. I think today was working on getting me comfortable with the instrument and being able to focus on my notes instead of the sound.

We kept it up until my arms got tired and I demanded a break. Without much convincing, we dove into the pies. The Oracle's prediction was spot on with my favorite strawberry pie, and I swear I saw the kid giggle at the cheering I did when I realized it. But there was something a little odd with his behaviour. He stood back, afraid to near me or the food. When I sliced the delicious tart and handed it to him, he waved me a 'no thank you'. I frowned at that. The Oracle had predicted that we would eat pies together and have a grand ol' time. This odd behavior was oddly out of the question.

"My friend made these for us. Don't be shy and have some!" I cheered him on. He gulped, the sugary treat looking absolutely delectable in his eyes. It wasn't something you could so easily say no to either. He had amazing self control. I practically begged him with my eyes to take some, trying not to look absolutely pathetic.

He slowly nodded and reached out.

I held out his plate to him again.

His hand looked like it had grabbed onto the plate so I let go. I watched in what felt like slow motion as the dessert slid from my fingers, melted through his, and splattered on the ground. The event didn't register properly in my mind. It was like I was rejecting what had just happened.

"Sorry!" I yelped, grabbing napkins and cleaning the mess from the surprisingly well kept sparkly green grass. "I thought you were holding onto it! Sorry!"

I glanced up at his face. He was frozen in place, looking at his outstretched hand that had so desperately tried to catch the slice of pie. He was mortified. It was like something like this had never happened before. Had he never dropped food before?

"Hey, its okay, I'll get you another piece," it was weird consoling a stranger. The way he reacted reminded me of little kids making their first mistakes and never being able to forgive themselves for it. I lived near a daycare so I knew how to deal with them. This kid looked to be older than them, though younger than me, so it was hard to see him never make a mistake before.

I placed a hand on his shoulder.

I felt nothing and my hand kept going forward, right through his body.

I froze and stared at my own hand, almost mirroring what he was doing.

I... went through him? He wasn't there? He... he was a projection? A figment of my imagination? But even when I inspected the ground and tried to figure out how he was here, there was no sign of any third party interference. I could only just gape. He... was a ghost? A spirit?

"The ocarina!" My mind immediately rejected. He was holding onto the ocarina and then gave it to me, and even took it back for a little. He couldn't be some sort of ghost spirit if he could hold onto it!

I ran back, grabbed the instrument, and gave it back to the boy. He grabbed it, looking confused, and unlike the pie, it didn't drop to the ground and make a huge mess. I took it back from him. I gave it back. I took it again. He was getting more and more confused and although it didn't make sense, I kept going "the ocarina! The ocarina! You can hold the ocarina! You're one step away from being a ghost!"

He shook his head at me and pointed to something. I followed his gaze and realized he was pointing at the small golden glowing triangles that were imprinted in its form. I stared and realized that one of them seemed to be a lot brighter than the others. Then he took it from me and the one bright triangle dimmed, and another of the two left started to glow bright instead. This was a confusing statement from him.

"Are you saying that... only three people can use this ocarina? Whoever you've assigned to those triangles?" He both nodded and shrugged so I took that as an almost yes. I felt like I was missing something but it wasn't something that I felt I could figure out just yet with him still not speaking a word to me.

I knew what my next step was though. I needed to research this magical ocarina that could let ghosts play it. I needed to figure out its secrets in order to understand how this little ghost kid came to be.

I sat back on the tree stump, ate my pie, watched the forest animals come and go to interact with the kid. He would take the ocarina and play for them, many tunes I could and couldn't remember. Even if he didn't know it, he was doing it to distract himself from me eating in his face, since he couldn't do that and it would make him upset. So I hurried to finish the food and put it all away in the bag.

"Hey..." I realized I didn't know his name and then nearly slapped myself in the head because duh this kid couldn't tell me his name even if he wanted to. "...can we keep practicing?"

His face brightened tenfold and he quickly bounded over. He dropped the instrument in my hands and was already ready with his hands holding an invisible one. I lifted the flute to my lips, copied him, and for once, finally, decided to blow and make music.

Just a little answers to reviews:

Machina per Dei: 10 bucks for MM Link B) And yeah sorry for taking so long, I tend to get busy during the summer

kelpiejh: I'm glad to hear you like the story so far! I'll try my best to update it as fast as I can!

Missy Mist: Thank you and I hope the story will continue being to your liking!

Lionhearted: Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate it! And I'll try my best to keep this story going far!