Prologue: The Pursuit for Recognition

Scour for the Lost Companion Arc

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.

Featured Music: "Opening Title" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Orchestrations. Chapter Briefing.

"Inside a House" - The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).

In the vast, deep land of the country of Hyrule... therein echoes a myth. A myth held with dearly by some and controversially by others within the confines of the Royal Family.

The myth of a boy who, after battling evil across time and saving his country, crept away from the motherland that had made him a living legend.

Finished with the godlike duels he once waged across time, this boy chose to embark on an expedition. This expedition, so secret and so personal, was one that resonated within him for years to come; never to leave him.

A single effort of naive-minded hope. A hope that carried him through the near futile battles for the war-torn country of Hyrule.

A hope that, when even the demonic shadows of his ill-begotten destiny began to loom overhead, saved him from himself.

This hope...

Was Navi.

Scene 1

"I know, I know!"

"If you knew then I wouldn't be giving you into trouble over it so often!"

Malon's voice, as always, had the power to make him feel guilty as if he had somehow committed a terrible crime.

In a temporal sense, he had...

He just didn't tell her of it... couldn't tell her of it.

"Honestly...," the young fire-haired girl huffed, swinging her similarly small arms up to fold forward. "You're gonna hurt yourself one of these days!"

The listening Link found the defusing smile on his face transform slowly into an overconfident grin.

She rolled her eyes at him, exasperated. "Or at least hurt Epona," she clarified, this time in a small smile of her own, seemingly somehow unable to resist. "I don't want her injured!"

He turned his eyes away from her; a brief grin on his expression that told volumes. "Trust me, Malon," he spoke this time with a comforting tone as he began to approach her, lowering his oceanic eyes to make contact with her own. The Kokiri-dressed youth rose his small calloused hands to take hers; although she was still seemingly resolute in her hard-boiled temper she obliged him regardless. "I won't let that happen."

His words, so full of confidence and yet so genuine, left a lasting impression on the young Hylian farm girl; she found herself widening her eyes and dropping her hardened exterior. A very small blush began to grow below her eyes as she pulled her fingers free from his, turning away from him in obvious embarrassment.

Link couldn't help but grin in short-won victory. Although he had used his mental maturity advantage it was always one that served him well.

"W-Whatever..."

Even as she spun around to face her back to him, a sign of his victory however small, she just as quickly turned back to face him and regained her firmly-worn frown.

"I know it's only been six months since Epona gravitated toward you..."

He smiled, lowering his sea-shaded eyes in remembrance to having used his memory of Epona's song without this timeline's Malon having taught it to him.

It was easily the best way to re-introduce himself to her or, depending on how one looked at it, introduced.

Time travel was sticky business indeed.

"But you know I care don't you?" She asked, tilting her head at him as she did. "Dad and Ingo care too y'know," she pointed out before gaining a slow grin as she turned her red-haired head over her shoulder, almost as if the men were standing behind her. "Even if they can't express it very well."

"Don't worry."

The young Hylian's confident voice marked the similar tone change that looked right at home with him; as Malon swivelled her flare-haired head to re-face him she rose her similar-shaded eyebrows in surprise.

"I won't fail," he added, his young voice devoid of any self-doubt. "That I can promise you."

It was a wide grin that somehow suited him to a tee; the indicator of a confidence that, could probably be considered his greatest strength, and also his greatest weakness.

What a contrast, the smiling Malon thought to herself, shaking her head as she stepped forward to approach him. She kept her thankful smile upon her young face as she placed her hands across his arms, readying to embrace.

"Just be careful," she clarified, rubbing her hands across his tousled and scruffy Kokiri Tunic, as if to smooth its creases out. "I know you take a lot of risks and..."

He leaned forward and brought her close with a surprising speed that startled the little maiden into gasping, her similarly small hands hovering just above his back.

"I'll come back to you..."

When she finally gained the nerve to rest her fingertips across his back he pulled her away from him with the same sudden force that made her gasp earlier. When she had her similar-eyed gaze on him he held her arms with his own, leaning to the side in the confident smirk she had known him for. When he re-opened his mouth to finish his declaration she couldn't help but smile back at him.

"I promise."

"Herrrrrre y'go Mr. Dodongo Busterrrrr! Good as new!"

The Biggoron's gargantuan hands lowered in its similarly wide smile as it gripped the tiny blade in its possession by comparison. The eyebrow-risen Link rose up his hands to receive the graceful gift, his joy similarly soaring.

"All right!"

His exclamation marked the return of his overjoyed and open-mouthed smirk; he swiped the newly re-forged Kokiri Sword's hilt as it dropped to approach him. With a small series of swings, purely for practice, the grinning Link bore witness to the beautiful work of the blacksmithing magic of the Gorons.

The small-sword, now no longer looking like a simple knife, was one to be taken seriously and a fearsome one indeed; although the blade itself had been sharpened many times over its length and girth were both still on par. The main difference however was its gloriously-constructed hilt; having used up the little ruby that the Kokiri once stored within it for a gift, Link had merely asked the huge Goron to 'surprise' him in its design.

And surprise him he did.

Although it looked fairly standard enough, the hilt now boasted a beautiful bright-yellow steel that hearkened back to the youth's unknown legends. The grasping part of the hilt as well had been expertly crafted, perhaps to increase ease of use.

Biggoron had easily outdone himself.

"Really great stuff Biggoron...," he nodded his blonde-haired head in his gratefulness as he marvelled at the blade, holding it up in the sunlight for all to admire. As he lowered it however he re-rose it but only to place it within its old sheath hung on his back, now with a fashionable and practical belt across his torso. "How much do I owe ya for it?"

The humongous mountain of a Goron merely laughed off his words, one of his similarly huge hands rose up as if to ward off the request.

"Ask the legendarrrrrry Dodongo Buster for Rrrrrupees?! Big Brrrrrother Darunia would have my head!"

The listening Link shut one of his oceanic eyes as he brought up his small hands to fold forward, his toothy grin threatening to split his face. "I bet he would!" The former Hero of Time chuckled well-naturedly. "It's been too long since I saw him...," he murmured this time, his open mouth soon closing into his smile as he lowered his eyes as if in thought. "And Barkner too."

"You should go see them! I hearrr they'll be in Castle Town!" Biggoron nodded his gigantic head, a morale-raising grin atop his rocky complexion. "Big Brrrrrother's always asking about you!"

His ego having been stroked, even just a little, the overinflated youth unfolded his arms to rest them atop his green-capped head, his closed-eyed grin warm and radiant.

"I mean, who can blame him," he shot back, more of an objective statement than a question of conjecture. "I am the legendary Dodongo Buster, after all!"

Biggoron laughed and, with great physical strength several times beyond that of the boy, it rumbled all throughout Death Mountain and its surrounding crater. He lowered his huge left hand, palm open. The standing Link re-opened only a single eye before flashing his companion a thankful grin before he laughed as he slapped his right hand in a returning high-five gesture.

"May yourrr new sworrrrd always strrrrike true!"

The listening Link grinned as he swiped his palm against the rocky Goron's own, a wink on his young face. "You know it!"

–

2

"Thanks Epona..."

With a light sigh of effort Link slowly dismounted the similarly small steed, a smile on his face as he did.

"You'll be okay out here... right?" He asked the intelligent young colt, petting her thin brown coat. She snorted back at him and appeared to be nodding her head; a sign of affection and affirmation to his response. He chortled lightly, his grin re-appearing on his complexion. "What did I ever do to deserve you?" The boy grinned, pulling her in softly for a short hug before patting her mane of white hair. "I'll be back in a Deku Nut's flash!" He called over his shoulder as he turned to rush toward the open drawbridge.

It had been a total of six months since Link had returned to his childhood; half a year since the cataclysmic battles he had once been called the 'Hero of Time'.

Although he missed the moniker and having some kind of purpose in his life what he truly missed was the companionship he had lost, not only in the woman that sent him back but in the former Great Deku Tree's trump card; an ace in the hole that, on more than one occasion, saved his life.

Navi, the fairy.

The last time he remembered even seeing her was within the Temple of Time; upon returning to the holy chapel after choosing to warn this timeline's princess Zelda of Ganondorf's intentions, he could not locate her inside. Especially not now that they had no choice but to keep the Chamber of the Master Sword sealed so as to avoid another disaster.

In spite of any regrets he may have had however his words at least did not fall upon deaf ears; with the divine power of the holy Triforce of Courage to back his claims, princess Zelda even managed to rope in her interested father; the fair and just Daphnes Nohansen. Although he had previously vehemently denied his daughter's prophetic dreams as sheer fables he at last bent his will, if only to the appearance of the godlike Triforce itself.

Agreeing to keep the time-travelling Link's story secret to within the confines of the royal family itself, Daphnes at once apprehended the traitorous Ganondorf and his military force that accompanied him into Hyrule. Now at last free of his duty the former Hero of Time left to re-acquire his relations with former friends, including Malon and those of Lon Lon Ranch, the Gorons of Death Mountain and those of Zora's River.

However not before the perceptive Zelda chose to gift her new and old companion the royal family heirloom; the Ocarina of Time. Although she did this once before in Link's own timeline to prevent their enemy's takeover she did this now out of appreciation; a gesture not lost on the knowledgeable Hero of Time. In spite of his melancholy over the loss of what could have been with princess Zelda in the previous chronology he gracefully accepted the new Zelda's gift, safe in the knowledge he had been given by her alternate self.

Everyone in this once war-torn country had been given a second chance.

A second chance in the lives that were once lost in the alternate Hyrulean Second Civil War.

It did his guilt and nerves very well indeed for him to meet the once deceased Barkner and Alwyn, truly indebted to the Sainted Three for their mercy on his culpability.

That said, however, he thought...

"I still haven't re-met Raynard..."

His quiet and deeply-contemplative thought carried his slow march through the stone steps of Hyrule Castletown, his destination the market ahead of him.

If he was working in the Hylianis Militaris Ordinis in the future I came from, he thought...

Then surely he'd be living here somewhere?

He let out a saddened sigh through his nose as he swept his oceanic-eyed gaze around the lively metropolitan, unable to see hide nor hair of the last seeming survivor of the Van Garrick clan.

It was then, however, that he double-took for his eyes widened at the sight waiting for him at the Hyrulean market bazaar; two male forms stood, one folded-armed and one with his rocky arms across his hips. A Zoran and a Goron.

Rather amazingly, it was Alwyn and Barkner respectively.

They appeared to be engrossed in conversation with one another, seemingly having been previously acquainted. When the low-smiling Alwyn's sapphire-like eyes briefly wandered in his direction they widened and, following his talking partner, the similarly-faced Barkner swung his surprise 'round and grinned widely. When they both waved him over the standing Link couldn't help but laugh as he broke into a run, weaving in and out of the busy marketeers.

"Pipsqueak!"

Genuinely thankful to hear the Goron's ever lively greeting Link laughed as he fast approached him, reaching up to hi-five the taller form before him, a similar-faced grin on his expression.

"It's the big man!"

The two shared a brotherly laugh together; a true indication of the friendship they could have once shared in the original timeline.

It was something Link was very glad he was able to rectify.

Knowing the folded-armed Alwyn was as stoic as ever however he swivelled his grinning-faced head 'round to eye the tall Zoran before rising his left hand to salute in quiet greeting. The older male, somewhat amused by the display, took on a small grin of his own as he stood folded-armed before slowly nodding in recognition.

"What are you two doin' here?" The former Kokiri questioned, his grin replaced by a simple wider smile as he swung his eyes between them. Alwyn's smile grew if only by a little as he exchanged his look with the wincing Barkner.

"It's um... funny you should say that..."

Even in the way he spoke the listening Link somehow knew it was a trap; when he sensed a new gaggle of presences coming out of the bazaar ahead of him he widened his eyes in search of it.

"Darling!"

Sure enough the small, but ever rambunctious, princess Zora stood next to her large father; king Zora De Bon as well as the Gorons' great leader, Darunia.

"Oh Din please no."

Even as he murmured out his famous comical last words, the little Hylian's daring and sudden escape was halted by the grinning-expressed Barkner; with a single one of his mighty Goron arms he grasped at the scruff of the youth's Kokiri Tunic and lifted him up for all to see his boots flail wildly.

"Hey!" The similarly small Ruto called out, her wide smile soon plunging into the spoiled, annoyed scowl she was known for. "Put him down!"

As they all watched the proceedings Barkner and Darunia let loose a burst of booming laughter fit only for the mountainous Gorons. Even the stoic-mannered Alwyn's grin threatened to split his normally firm-expressed face.

Link grunted as he both systematically landed and was knocked to the ground as Ruto collided into him with a crushing hug. As always he contorted his face into multiple displays of comical agony as the Zoran sovereign mercilessly assaulted him with childlike kisses.

"Oh I missed you!" She called out. Finally finished with her greeting smooches she instead wrapped her finned arms around his green-clothed body firmly and smiled, her ruby eyes shut in glee. However her good mood, sadly, was not to last; in a feat nothing short of incredible she swivelled mood around as the young Hylian in her grip began to sit up from his confinement on the ground. "The last time I saw you was last month!" She pointed out angrily, pulling herself back to place her finned hands across her hips; a truly offended stance indeed. "What's with that?!"

The listening Link rolled his sapphire-blue eyes in response as he opened his mouth to murmur back a half-hearted response. "You're lucky I go to see you at all..."

"What was that?!"

Suddenly realising how close she was to his weak spots the young Hylian very quickly about-faced his attitude and re-faced her with a shaky-laughing smile, zig-zag and all.

"I-I said I'm lucky I get to see you at all!"

The watching Darunia and Barkner let out boisterous laughs all the same in a show of hilarity, positively enjoying the heart-warming scene. While the watching father to Ruto merely shook his head in a disapproving sigh as he balanced his walking cane, the similarly silent Alwyn displayed a contrastingly amused smirk on his face.

"Hmph!"

The folded-armed, spoiled attitude Link knew her for returned and with a vengeance at that; as she stood back up to face him with her surprisingly tall posture, she frowned heavily down at him.

"And don't you forget it!"

The listening Link inwardly rolled his eyes as he pulled himself back up to his feet, placing his own small hand across right hip, allowing his second to hang limp at his side.

"So what is the plan then?" The smiling Alwyn chucked in, his own arms similarly folded. "I hear you're looking for something."

"Yeah...," the young Hylian responded, reaching down to pat out and dust off the lower half of his tunic and his bare knees, a grin on his face as he re-rose it to eye the tall Zoran man. "And I ain't gon' quit 'till I get it." He shot back in his confident, half-joking tone of voice, a grin in his face and in his words. When Ruto opened her mouth to announce her next request however her father was quick to shut her down.

"Can I come with?!"

"NO!"

The wide-eyed Link even found himself shouting out in simultaneous instance, a horrified fear in his eyes.

I can't face another journey like in Jabu Jabu with that, he thought.

And cross-country or wherever Navi's gone to.

Although it had been six months in technical terms, even due to time-travelling and it feeling like a lifetime ago to him, any more time spent with Ruto in that capacity was far too soon. The small guilt that followed his negative thinking soon passed whenever she insulted him.

Which, of course, was far too often.

Finding the situation rather humorous the watching Alwyn and Barkner exchanged quick glances before laughing in their own respective fashions; a simple restrained titter and a clamorous explosion of amusement.

"What do you mean no?" The Zoran princess warned him, leaning her face forward as she placed her small hands across her hips, as if in protest somehow. "Do you remember who I am?"

Finding her rapidly-increasing proximity disagreeable the zigzagged frowning Link hovered his blonde-haired head away from hers, his mixed feelings of obligation similarly waving away before he could successfully pin them down.

"I guess you'll owe me then...," she began again, this time her successful, impetuous grin returned to her expression as she joined her small hands to rest behind her. "When you get back."

The listening Link was far too polite in the upbringing that Saria gave him to voice his retort.

"That'll be the day."

"Ah, little Link! Welcome!"

"Hello... Mrs. Thomas."

As always the lightly-smiling Link bowed in a display of respect as he faced the person before him; an older woman perhaps in her late thirties to forties. She was a tall woman of whimsical breed that seemed to belie her realistic sense of good and well-being within the peaceful country she lived in. Although she was always rather pleasant with him he found almost on every occasion he visited the orphanage she ran in Hyrule Castletown, she had an irritating habit of always commenting on the choice of lifestyle he was originally burdened with.

Children are to be shielded from violence; the philosophy of a wise enough woman, he thought.

But the less she knows about me the better, the former Hero of Time countered silently.

"Come in, come in!"

Her bright and cheery attitude did little to lower the guard he had on as he stepped through the building's main lobby and out of the town's back alley.

"Ah! Please don't forget to-?"

His initial laughing tone to shake his head of the matter that she was so fond of put her swiftly at ease. "The boots... I remember."

Even as he sighed lightly in dropping to his rear, rather ungracefully, she turned to smile down appreciatively as he grunted and huffed in removing the wore and weathered brown Kokiri Boots. He dumped them in his usual thoughtless and unsophisticated fashion before turning his frown forward as he marched on after her. It was only when she lost her smile and she stepped on by him to re-adjust his seemingly faulty placement that he very lightly winced in his regret.

Saria always used to say I could be insensitive, he admonished himself silently.

"Well, I'm sorry to say you'll be missing the children today," she reported as she stood back to full stature, 'rounding to face him as she stepped on through with him. "They're on a field trip with Ms. Hayes to neighbouring Kakariko Village," she announced as the two walked through the wooden door before them and into the well-designed classroom awaiting. "She's certainly got her hands full!"

"I'll bet." Link bantered the woman's laugh back with a complimenting grin that made her smile widen, even if just a little.

"But..."

The sound of a small folder being pulled from the underside of the hardwood desk before her echoed through the narrow-eyed and listening Link's small and pointed ears.

Here was the information I wanted, he thought.

This is what I've waited more than eleven years and a forgotten lifetime to hear.

"We've finally found your last known relatives' names and identities!" She smiled as she presented the long slice of paper, procured directly out from under the folder placed neatly enough on her desk.

Link's own smile soon dissolved in a firm-expressed narrowing of his oceanic-eyed gaze, his earlier cheer soon replaced by a deep desire for the knowledge she possessed. He nodded up at her wordlessly; an attempt to drive forward their communications as quickly as he could as similarly respectfully as he could.

It was an odd mix.

As she leaned down to his level and bent her knees to do so, she reached forward with her free left hand and began to draw the long bangs of his blonde hair out of his eyes. Although slow and led up to, the act managed to take the embarrassed youth off guard enough that he coughed very softly and took a wary step back from the soft touch of the woman.

She always had this annoying habit, he thought.

Why can't you keep your mitts off me?

"I'm sorry...," she apologised, a similarly soft smile hanging on her face to match the odd saddened look in her eye. "I know this must be a lot to take in so suddenly. We don't have to-?"

"Yeah, we do."

His harsh counter, so firm and fierce, made the listening Mrs. Thomas widen her eyes even if a little. Realising he was being far too rude and blunt he shut his eyes and his hardened frown flinched terribly; a realisation of his mistake.

She'll understand, he thought.

This is important to me.

"No, I'm sorry," he rectified his frown soon switching to a more patiently-held if, vaguely tense, smile. "Saria taught me better 'n that." The youth added as he chuckled, raising up his small left hand to rest behind his green-capped head; a reminder of his usual well-natured ribbing.

The frowning Mrs. Thomas very slowly regained her own smile as she undertook the information he fed her, nodding. "Ah... yes... Saria..."

The standing Link winced and made ready to flee, almost as if he were dealing with a rabid Cucco.

I shouldn't have mentioned her, he thought.

She hates when I do that; why couldn't I have remembered that?

He inwardly cursed his greatest weakness and prepared for the inevitable talking to that she was going to give him.

"Well... anyway...," the long brown-haired woman chuckled lightly before she held forward the piece of paper she had previously been dangling for him, as if a forbidden prize. "Here. You deserve to know."

Her odd choice of direction made him rise his eyebrows before, very slowly, reaching his left hand forward to take the firm paper. It crinkled lightly in his touch as she passed him it delicately; a promise to come for the shaky-fingered ex-Kokiri. He turned it around to eye it hungrily and widened his deep-cerulean eyes down at it, anxious and restlessness driving him on.

Firbrand, L.

Date of Birth: 680

Date of Death: 709

Profession: Market Stall owner

The woman's face was, as most of these forms had, a picture drawn using rather talented artistry; it depicted a smoothly-faced frowning woman staring back at him, her long hair coloured in with what appeared to be blonde hair and in a suspiciously similar style to his own.

I guess I get my hair from her, he thought.

"F-Firbrand...," he murmured, eyes narrowing down at the woman's face before soon raising up to face the teacher above. "What's her first name?"

"I believe it was 'Lisa'," the smiling Mrs. Thomas claimed, pointing one of her slim fingers down at the 'L' resting on the page he once surveyed. "I'm sorry to say that I never really knew her... or your father."

"My father?"

"I couldn't dig up any information on him I'm afraid," she chuckled sadly; a melancholic apology. "I guess the organisation in the Hylianis Militaris Ordinis could use some work."

Link's eyes lowered in thought and memory to how Hyrule's king's military force was so easily overpowered.

The woman wasn't wrong; their leadership could have been handled a lot better.

"W-Wait...," he murmured out again, his mind connecting the dots he was slowly given. His sea-shaded eyes narrowed as he spoke. "Does that mean that-?"

She nodded, a light smile on her face. "I believe he, also, was within the ranks of the Hylianis."

So he was a knight, the listening Link thought, his eyes very slowly narrowing as they lowered once again to take in the image of his deceased mother.

I guess he's where I get my skills from.

"So they died... in the same year I was born... huh." The frowning Link mumbled out thoughtfully, his mind attempting to piece together the chain of events that led to their demise.

Wasn't the year 709 the end of the last Civil War, he thought.

I should have done more research.

Mrs. Thomas nodded as she raised her hands to rest on her bent knees, opening her mouth to respond. "Yes...," she nodded gravely. "We're still not entirely sure of the actual facts that led to their... passing... but from what I was able to piece together I hear she was able to make it out of Hyrule Castletown."

He rose up his blonde-haired head in a narrow-eyed frown to listen, genuinely interested.

"The place was...," she began again, a tiny falter in the form of a near unscaleable wince that made the watching Link furrow his brow contemplatively.

"It was a war-zone, literally..."

His impolite, if patient interruption, made the woman rise her chestnut eyebrows in response.

"Wasn't it?" He asked, curious and all.

From what he was able to remember, the Great Deku's sprout in the ruined future he once came from illuminated what truth he was able to make out; his deceased mother had somehow managed to make it as far as the limits of Kokiri Forest.

An incredible feat, considering the country was embroiled heavily in war.

She must have gotten injured on the way, he thought as he briefly lowered his eyes in contemplation.

"Y-Yes...," the listening Mrs. Thomas nodded, a nervous little chuckle in her tone, as if unsure somehow. "I still remember how we were all evacuated; I believe the Gorons' reinforcements were delayed from arriving – something to do with a problem atop Death Mountain – and, as a result, our own men were losing heavy number to the invading Zoran forces."

That'll be why things were so desperate, he thought.

Thinking back he was downright shocked that the likes of Alwyn, Ruto and even king Zora could meander around Hyrule Castletown, even if it had been over ten years since the war.

"I guess ten years really is a long time."

"I'm not sure how far she got; we all lost contact with Lisa that day," the frowning teacher continued on, drawing the youth's attention once more. "I suppose she must have gotten as far as that forest in the south if it were those... Kokiri that sheltered you." She finished, a kind of restrained smile on her face. The listening Link returned a similar kind of smile, knowing of her wariness on the odd forest and its similarly strange inhabitants.

It had a fairly negative reputation within the city.

"I hear your father also passed on during the war; it's a shame," she continued on, a kind of saddened frown dotting her expression. "For a young Hylian boy to be living with the Kokiri, it's..."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes again.

Don't do this again, he thought.

"She hates the fact I live there."

"Well... I'm just glad you're alive," she claimed, her amiable attitude and smile returning in full force as she leaned forward to embrace him. Again he was taken by surprise and grunted as shot his small arms to his sides. "Maybe one day you can meet a very lucky family here." She finished as she pulled back from him to rest her hands delicately upon his green-clothed shoulders. He laughed back at her nervously and anxiously, unsure exactly of what to say to her.

"U-Um... s-sure..."

–

3

"I'll bet that was awkward."

"Yeah; you ain't kiddin'," the grinning Link batted back, leaning himself casually against the door-frame of her house, deep in the Kokiri Forest. He folded his small arms in his well-enthused grin as he continued. "Seems like almost every time I go there I get told I've to be adopted."

"So you've said." The listening Saria retorted, her emerald-green eyebrows rising up lightly in her own seemingly knowing smile. She remained as busy as ever, bent over forward as if searching for something under her similarly small bed.

"Can you imagine?" He shot over in a jolly laugh, his grin widening a little. "A family takin' me in?"

"But they wouldn't."

Saria's sudden and somewhat firm tone made him almost drop his grin altogether in surprise; he blinked as she at last stood to her feet, having seemingly procured what she was previously searching for. As she about-turned to face him she re-opened her mouth.

"Because you're one of us," she claimed, adding a small grin as she spoke. "Right?"

The listening Link shook off his surprise and nodded in his regained grin, his usual cheer returned to him. "Right!"

She watched him for a second or two after he spoke almost as if looking for some kind of indicator that he was lying, her emerald-haired head tilted lightly to the side as she did. When she couldn't find it she merely reacquired the smooth smile she wore so well as she stepped forward to hang out the belonging she was seemingly searching for earlier.

"Here," the little Kokiri girl began, a melancholic far-away look in her sapphire-blue eyes. "Take it."

Link's earlier joyful grin was very quickly lost to a much more serious and hardy frown; at last he was able to read the atmosphere that she was attempting to create. He reached forward and took the belonging she hovered out before him; seemingly a necklace of all things. A long string held it together and, on the necklace itself, was a very small ruby; a familiar looking ruby indeed.

Isn't that the jewel that was once inside the Kokiri Sword, he thought.

But I've already used that in the timeline that I came from.

So if she has one of those, then...

"It's okay," Saria whispered softly, a smile on her similarly unblemished face. Seemingly reading his very ruminations she stepped forward and hung the pendant over his head and onto his neck. "It's from... that... isn't it?" the seemingly young Kokiri stated, nodding her green-haired head toward the reforged blade hanging on his back. His deep-azure eyes widened and he opened his mouth to begin making excuses for it and explain the inconsistency. "It's okay," she repeated, this time in a smiling laugh as she shook her head at him. "I know you're not the same Link I raised."

That must have made her realise.

But to have made those kinds of connections with the limited information she possesses, he thought.

"I don't know how you managed to do it...," she began again, this time with a cheeky mixture of a raised eyebrow and a small grin on her face. "But it doesn't matter to me."

"It doesn't-? W-Wha-?"

"Even if you're from a completely different reality, it makes no difference to me," she at last clarified for the surprised youth. "You have no guardian fairy and you may not even be the child I loved."

He found his cheeks growing red with comical embarrassment and he swerved them to avoid her eyesight. She didn't give him much option for room however and stepped forward to embrace him in a hug one might give their child.

"Because, to me...," she began again, shutting her eyes in her contented smile, her words successfully carrying her love. "You've always been him."