Disclamer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda or its characters!

Link and Colin's Fishing Adventure

"Link….Link!" Link's eyes shot open as he heard his name. He closed them again and yawned, stretching his arms above his head. He struggled sleepily to get the blankets off of him. Finally, he was able to kick them off onto the floor. After a few more seconds of laying drowsily in bed, he got up. Swinging his legs over the side, he took a few steps, got his feet tangled in the blankets, and fell on his face.

"Ow…jeeze…who's calling this early anyway?" he rubbed his nose and proceeded to look out his window. He had only made it up a few rungs of the ladder before the voice called again.

"Liiiiiiiiink! Are you awake yet?"

Link paused halfway up the ladder. "Colin." He scrambled up the rest of the way and looked out the window. Down below was Colin, holding a fishing pole.

"Hey, Colin! What brings you here so early?" Link called down.

Colin frowned. "You didn't forget about our fishing plans, did you?"

Link mentally slapped himself. 'Yes I did.' "Of course not! I was just getting ready!" he turned and ran a few steps before spinning on his heels and looking out the window again. "Give me just a few minutes!"

Link stumbled around his house, throwing on some clothes and trying to locate his fishing pole. He jumped down to his basement, not taking a few seconds to light a lantern and immediately regretted it. He tripped over at least six random items before actually finding the darn thing. A few seconds later, he was out the door.

"Hey, Colin! Sorry to keep you waiting!"

Colin smiled sweetly. "It's no problem."

They made their way down to the fishing hole, talking casually the whole way. Link took in a refreshing breath of air. Ever since his long adventure to save Hyrule, Link took comfort in every small moment he had in his home town. He glanced down at the smaller child who looked truly happy to have Link spend the day with him. Link liked Colin and didn't mind accepting when he asked him to go fishing with him.

Link plopped his fishing line in the water and sat down on the shore. He motioned for Colin to sit beside him. Colin tossed his line a few feet shorter than Link's. He sighed. "I can never cast my line very far…"

"Here." Link put his line on the ground and scooted closer to Colin. "Let me help. See all you need to do is look out at the water, find where you want to be and with just a little flick of the wrist…" Colin re-cast his line and it flew farther. "There you go! That went farther than mine!"

"Haha!" Colin laughed. Link smiled and picked up his own line.

Minutes passed. They caught no fish and said hardly anything. The day was so peaceful, birds chirped happily, the wind blew softly, creating a cool atmosphere. No words were needed to express the fine weather. Though Colin decided they needed to make conversation.

"Hey Link?"

"Hm?" Link had reclined into a laying position and was staring calmly at the sky.

"When you were off on your adventures, were you ever lonely?"

Link frowned. For a split second, he thought about telling Colin about Midna, but decided against it. "Sometimes," he said, "But then I would think about you and the other kids and our home. It got me through hard times."

Colin giggled but immediately changed his attitude. "I suppose I felt the same way. Talo and the others were with me…but I felt so far from home. Thinking about you and how hard you try kept me from being sad."

Link felt like a frog had jumped up his throat. "Colin…" he smiled. It made him feel good to know the little boy looked up to him. Link thought for a moment. He thought about Midna, how she was with him the entire time. And now she was gone. He felt slightly alone now. Sometimes expecting to hear a distant laughter in the shadows or a figure lurking there. A normal person would think it weird but every once in a while Link listened or watched, even though he knew he wouldn't see her. Not thinking about reality, Link said aloud, "I won't see her…"

"See who?" Colin asked.

"Dah…" he stared at the child as his mind left the land of the thinking. "….What?"

"You said-"

"I must be tired." Link ended the conversation there. He knew that it probably wouldn't be a problem to tell others of Midna. For some reason, keeping her a secret made it hurt a little less.

"Were you scared?"

"You're just full of questions today, aren't you?"

Colin shrugged. Link sighed and tilted his head back, "Maybe a few times."

"Like when? Did you ever think you were going to die?"

Link sat silently for a long time. He furrowed his brows and stared across the water. "You know….I never really thought about that. At the time I knew that I couldn't die. The world needed me so if I were to die, I would let down so many people. That's the reason I was careful…so I could finish my job. I never worried about dying because I was afraid of death…" he trailed off.

After a moment, Colin said, "I wanted to stay alive and keep everyone alive so that you would have something to come home to."

Link was caught a little off guard. "What?"

"I kept telling myself, 'You have to stay alive and stay strong for Link, so he has a reason to.'"

"I suppose…" Link paused, thinking hard about what he was about to say, "You guys were my reason. I should thank you."

Colin laughed again, "But seriously, you're invincible so we didn't do much!"

"Wh-…I'm not invincible!"

"Are to! I mean, who could battle a huge ogre on horseback and on a narrow bridge and survive? Only you could!"

Link smirked, "Well I suppose I might be slightly invincible."

They both laughed, and for a few minutes, neither of them said a word.

"Link!" Colin shouted suddenly.

"What!" Link was startled and looked around. Instead of seeing anything, he felt something. The tug of his fishing pole. He snatched up the pole before it could slide into the water and reeled in the line. After a struggle, he was able to lift the line out of the water. A fish at least a foot long had taken the bait.

"Yes we caught a fish!" Colin exclaimed triumphantly.

Suddenly there was a flash of brown and the fish had disappeared. Link and Colin turned their head just in time to see Sara's cat with the fish in its mouth. Link could have sworn he saw it snicker. Within seconds it was gone. Link let out a cry of despair.

"No, not again!"