A/N: I just finished re-playing Ocarina of Time and felt so sad that the cinematic didn't continue beyond the moment of Zelda and Link meeting. So I've taken it into my own hands! Expect lots of fluff and some love triangles! Oh and also, I know that young Link is really young so I've taken it upon myself to re-age him in this particular story. He's about... say... 17? I know this goes against the timeline, but OH WELL. Young Link is TOO YOUNG for some of the stuff he's going to be experiencing in this story.

Chapter 1: The Return

A startling noise woke him, shaking the inexplicable dream from his mind momentarily. Sitting up, he swung his legs over the edge of his wooden bed and stretched. The others never complained about their beds –- mere logs with a deep trench cut into them – but he couldn't understand how they thought them comfortable. Groaning, he shoved the complaint back into the further recesses of his mind. He wouldn't give them yet another reason to tease him about being different.

"LINK!"

He stood quickly and poked his head out, squinting in the morning light.

"Saria?" he called, running a hand through his haphazard hair and grabbing his hat from the shelf by the door. He fit the hat snugly onto his head and then emerged from his tall treehouse. "What's going on?" Link sat on the edge of his platform, his feet finding the rungs on his ladder and resting there casually.

An extremely pretty girl with long hair the color of pale spring grass was frowning up at him, her hands at her hips. Her fairy wasn't visibly shimmering and buzzing all around, which meant it was probably sleeping the morning away in the cozy nook between Saria's neck and shoulder.

"What's going on?" Saria echoed, her voice becoming more and more irritated. "You were supposed to be up hours ago. You're the laziest boy I've ever seen – everyone else has been up since sunrise!"

Fighting down a smile, Link tried to assume an apologetic air. "I must not be a Kokiri after all," he murmured in a pseudo-sorrowful voice. Saria stamped her foot but didn't bother to retort – it was a sensitive subject with him and he knew she would be treading carefully here. "All right, all right. I'm up now, aren't I?" he sighed, turning around to climb down the ladder. "It's just as well, my dreams are coming back."

"Really?" Saria asked, her interest piqued. Ever since Link's mysterious return from 'Outside' years ago, he'd been plagued by odd dreams of people he'd never met and places he'd never been. She insisted that by examining the dreams Link would be able to discover what had happened in those few weeks that he'd been gone. But Link shook his head impatiently, not willing to revisit the frightening emptiness in his memory of that time in his life. Sometimes deep into the night, he could just remember the faint melody of a familiar song but try as he might he could not bring it into his conscious thought.

"Nevermind," he said more sharply than he intended. Saria waited silently. "I can almost remember the song," he said softly.

"Maybe if you used your Ocarina..." Saria suggested slowly. The Fairy Ocarina Saria had given to him before he left the Kokiri Forest still hung on his belt, though he didn't use it regularly enough to merit its place. Still, it was a comfortable and familiar weight and being without it made him feel extremely naked and defenseless.

"Are you sure you don't want it back?" Link said after a while, shifting his weight. "It's yours after all... and I'm back – I've been back—"

"It's yours now," she interrupted calmly, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. At times like this, when her words were calm and her eyes shielded in a mysterious wisdom, Link felt almost as if he were back in the misty realm of his dreams and forgotten memories. "What?"

He had been staring. Looking away, Link let his gaze wander to the high rising land beyond the Forest shop. There was an opening in the side of the hill and suddenly Link remembered another melody, cheerful and bright. One that reminded him of...

"...saying that you stole it, even though I keep telling him what really happened with the old Deku Tree. Are you listening?"

"What?" The memory fled at Saria's impatient question.

"Mido is telling everyone that will listen that you stole the Kokiri sword and used it to destroy the old Deku Tree."

Link frowned in puzzlement. "That was years ago, why is he bringing it up again? And now?"

Glancing about her, Saria tapped her guardian fairy awake and whispered, "Let me know if someone comes near, okay?" The fairy, apparently communicating telepathically with Saria, fluttered away after a moment in which she stretched becomingly in the morning sun. Link tried not to feel the familiar yearning for a fairy of his own.

"Listen, something is happening to the forest surrounding our village." Saria was speaking quietly and intently now, and Link was sure that this was the reason she had come to speak to him this morning. "The fairies have been chattering about some threat looming near, and the Deku Tree's leaves show signs of yellowing." They were in the heart of summer – no leaves should be turning colors. Link frowned.

"Why..."

"Mido is trying to put the blame on you in some way. He's never forgiven you for saving the Deku Tree and returning the hero. He says..." she took a deep breath "...since you've got the sword, you should go out and face this new evil, whatever it is. BUT. I got here first to tell you: DON'T GO." Link opened his mouth to protest, but Saria rushed on. "Just think what happened last time, Link! You left and we didn't hear from you for weeks. You mysteriously appear in your house with no memory of what happened after you left the forest. Something must have happened, and someone doesn't want you to remember. The Kokiri die if we leave the forest. You must've gotten something from the old Deku Tree that protected you from it, but you don't have that now – whatever it was. You can't just venture off. No matter WHAT Mido says."

Link held up his hands to stop Saria from launching into another long winded passage. He couldn't understand how she'd think he needed to hear this from her. He felt just the same as she did and wanted no part of the Outside after his previous experiences. Remembering bits and pieces of what had happened inside the Deku Tree was bad enough. He could barely bring himself to look at the various prizes and weapons he'd found stashed in his trunk – a boomerang, several mysterious gems, and glowing, pulsating crystals, just to name a few. He didn't want to remember and he didn't want to go Outside.

"Calm down Saria. You know I wouldn't go Outside, no matter what Mido says. Why are you so worked up?"

But Saria didn't have time to answer because all of a sudden, they heard someone cry out – "HELP!" Freezing for a moment, Link leapt to his ladder and rushed inside his house. Throwing the trunk open, he strapped on his Kokiri sword and grabbed his Deku shield.

"LINK!" Saria's scream was like ice shooting through his veins. Link flew out the door and was horrified. Three giant wolf-like creatures were struggling to capture Saria. There were more wolf-monsters all over the village, attempting to kidnap the Kokiri. Taking a deep breath and gathering courage from gods-knew-where, Link swung down from his high perch and landed with a smooth roll. He ran for the nearest creature and brought the sword down in a jump attack that cleaved through its armor. The creature dropped Saria's legs and turned to face him. Heart thundering, Link paced around the monster. Spurred by instincts he didn't know he had, he leapt to one side as the monster took a swipe with its claws. Taking advantage of that brief moment where the monster's back was turned, he landed another enormous slash of the sword into the monster's back. With a hauntingly human cry, the monster burst into purple flame and disintegrated to the ground. Struck by its terrible demise, Link stood still for a moment and struggled to gain his breath.

"YOU!" Another wolf-creature growled, mangling the language with its throaty voice. "THIS IS THE ONE WE WANT. ABANDON THE OTHERS!" it called. As one, the Wolf creatures dropped all the Kokiri and gunned straight for him. If there was a time to panic, this was certainly it. Link didn't understand why he felt so calm. He found himself crouched low and calling upon some inner magical pool that had been undisturbed for years. As they bore down on him, he released this unknown energy and found himself spinning, his blade bright blue with magical power. The monsters fell back, screaming and howling.

The lead creature hung back and glared at Link. "You, boy. There's no need for fighting. Hand us the Spiritual Stones and we shall leave you and your people."

The Spiritual Stones? What?

"No," Link answered, his voice strong and steady.

Growling with hatred, the monster stepped closer. "Our master told us you would be stubborn. Give us the Stones, you stupid boy. Or face the wrath of Ganondorf!"

Without thinking, Link shouted, "Ganondorf is DEAD! And so is GANON. His evil is gone, resealed into the Sacred Realm for all time!"

The monsters coiled back from his verbal attack as if stung. "You speak lies, you know nothing! The great master will return for us!" But the wolf-creature sounded unconvinced.

"He will never return. I saw to that personally." Link was amazed at the words issuing from his lips. He knew they came from some deeper, unfathomable part of him. They sounded right and sane to him even though he had no idea what they meant.

"YOU!" The wolf creature lunged for his throat, but met Link's blade instead. With a gurgle, it fell to the ground, rolled its head back and howled – long, keening, and despairing – before disintegrating. The entire pack of Wolves burst into purple flame and vanished into the ground.

Shaking, Link sheathed his sword and stared blankly at the ground before him. Before long, he realized that all the Kokiri were staring at him in awe and terror. Spontaneously, the crowd burst into cheers. "LINK! LINK! HERO OF THE KOKIRI!" they cried. A solitary figure sulked in the background before slinking away. Link sank to the ground.

"Link, are you okay!" Saria rushed to his side, her grip on his arm was painfully tight. Her face was paler than he had ever seen, and he thought he could see marks on her face where her fingernails had dug into her skin.

"Oh my god, Link. Oh my god." She hugged him and held him for a long moment. All this time, Link had not spoken. Now, seeing the dispersing crowd of relieved children, Link let loose a shaky breath.

"I don't know," he said hoarsely, "where any of that came from." He was gripping the Deku shield so hard that his knuckles were white. "It felt right, fighting them. I knew what I was doing. I wasn't scared at all. And... and where did that magic come from? I didn't know... I didn't know Kokiri had magic reservoirs."

"We don't," Saria whispered. "But Link..." she ventured slowly. "I think we both know you're really not a Kokiri."

He looked up at her, stunned. "But..."

"You'll always belong here, Link, it's not a question of that. But look at you – you're 16 now and you look like you're 16. Kokiri never age, Link. Look at me."

And Link looked. He saw for the first time what he had been blinding himself to all these years. He was slowly growing and aging, and the others were not. He lowered his head onto his knees, letting out a long, slow breath.

"Then... if I'm not a Kokiri... What am I?" he asked. "Why did I forget everything that happened in those weeks? Why am I here? What do the dreams mean?" he looked up and met Saria's deep, violet eyes.

"I don't know," she whispered.

"Me neither," he sighed. A long moment passed between them. Something within him seemed to be grinding into place. He'd waited six years to do this, but somehow he knew that he must. All this time, he'd been ignoring his mysterious dreams and pretending the emptiness in his memories didn't bother him. But now it was time to go to the Outside and try to rediscover what had happened to him during that time. He had to find answers. And he knew where to start.

"I'm going to see the Deku Tree," he decided. He got up quickly, brushing himself off and extending a hand to Saria. She took it, pulled herself up, and held on. When he didn't get his hand back, Link looked into Saria's fathomless eyes.

"And then?" she said softly, her fingers entwining with his.

"I don't know," he said. "I need answers."

"Will you come back?"

"Yes."

Saria smiled wistfully and dropped his hand. "It was never meant to be," she said sadly. Link's heart beat a little faster.

"What..?"

"Us," she answered simply. "When we were younger I thought we were destined for each other. But as time passed, I knew something was different about you. You never got a fairy. You thought that was something horrible, marking you as different. I thought it only confirmed my thoughts. You're not a Kokiri. You're something far greater. And I only wish..." she smiled. "Well, it doesn't matter. Go. Go to the Deku Tree. Promise you'll come back and visit?"

Link opened his mouth to protest. Visit? This was his home. He'd be coming back to live. Before he could say anything, however, Saria leaned forward and kissed him soundly on the lips. Warmth flooded his body, his senses were reeling, and world seemed to spin. Still, the only thing he was aware of was the soft warmth of her lips pressed against his.

She pushed him away and whispered, "Goodbye Link," before turning to run away.