Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Sorry I delayed posting this. I feared that the first chapter, and maybe the second, would be too sad, and wanted to finish this short story before you guys started crying and disliking it for that reason.

I got the idea for this fic from an image on deviantart. I would tell you which one now, but my comments below it will spoil the story.

One little thing about this fic. It contradicts what I personally believe happened at the end of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, both according to the 'official' timeline and the almost identical timeline I made a year or two before Skyward Sword and Hyrule Historia came out. In both of them, I believe that Zelda on the original future timeline sends Link back to before they first met (hence why Zelda reacts like their first meeting). But for the sake of this fanfic, I needed it postponed to the point where Link first touched the Master Sword.

Just because I'm uploading all the chapters at once doesn't mean I won't appreciate individual chapter reviews.

I'm not going to have any more big AN's till the end; I don't want to ruin the flow of the story.

The clearing was small, and had large earth walls on every side. The entrance to this very secluded hideaway was a narrow passageway cut into the front side with a proper stone staircase. To the left of the entrance, an small, odd, round boulder with a crying eye carved into it lay. From about a third of the way of the entirety of the natural side walls from the entrance back extended a large mansion. It was ancient, and the stairs that lead from a hexagonal landing to the door in the back of the clearing were almost lost to time. A large willow with barely any leaves had grown next to what remained of the upper landing. It was very tall for its kind, but only one top of the two diverging bows had grown outward to the side. However, the bows were lopsided; one was barely a stump while the other was very long. It didn't have any secondary branches yet, but the sturdy bow almost made an arch over the faded majesty of the top of the staircase.

Opposite a surviving pillar for the lost staircase was an old tree stump. A little girl was there, and the clearing was what she called her secret place. She was wearing a one piece sleeveless shirt and shorts, almost the same color as her hair and the young leaves in the forest around her, darker green boots, hairband, and a long sleeved shirt underneath her one piece, and a brown belt. There she sat, on the dead stump, forlornly playing a small instrument. She stopped playing for a moment to reflect. Even though it had been years, she could remember it almost like it was yesterday. This was where she last saw her dearest friend.

She had been sitting on that very stump during that fateful day. Her friend wasn't very talkative, but that didn't matter to her. It didn't matter that not all the other children would play with him. It also didn't matter that one of the older boys would pick on him. She saw that he was a nice boy, and became his closest friend.

A couple weeks before, he had left their village without a warning. She had been on the bridge to the Outside at the time. The bridge that separated life and death, according to their guardian. Knowing that he had to leave, all she did was bid him farewell and give him a gift; a small instrument, hand crafted, and just like hers. As he disappeared on the other side, she hoped that the guardian of her people was wrong, and that Link wasn't dead. "I be waiting for you..."

A day or two later, as she was listening to the forest in her secret place, she heard a mysterious song emanate from it. Curious, she lifted her instrument and started to play along. After a few minutes of playing the short song over and over, someone appeared at the entryway. It was her close friend. Glad that he returned back alive, she gave him a hug. "I hoped you'd come back! And you found my secret place! Don't tell anyone around it!" They then stood there together, soaking in the calm beauty around them. She was holding his hand, but he wasn't gripping back. "This place, it feels important to me. To us," she said, gazing at her best friend. "Something important will happen to us here, I can feel it." She then pulled out her small instrument. "The forest spirits taught me a song. Want to play it with me?"

Slowly, but surely, her best friend learned the song. When he successfully played it all the way through, she heard him speak to her. It wasn't true speech; she could only pick up on his thoughts and emotions. It wasn't perfect, but she could understand him well enough, and they could speak no matter the distance. With this special connection, he told her about everything he saw Outside. Huge clearings, large piles of earth in the distance, a new version of the mansion behind them but bigger, four legged animals they could ride on. All this and more were shown to her in memories and emotions. She also saw a girl with red hair and a girl with nice clothes. She felt what her best friend felt for them. She knew about his mission for the well-dressed girl, and that he couldn't stay. Was the impression she got about her and him, together here in the future, wrong? "Please don't forget this song. Promise?" The boy gave her a yes through the connection. "If you ever want to talk to me, play our song. You can talk to me anytime." The boy then rushed down the stairs, the way he came. "... I'll be waiting..."

Over the course of a week, he would call to her, telling and showing her what he had seen, sometimes even using his memories. The people he'd meet were strange. A few of them were normal, but many others looked similar, but bigger and at least a little different. He went into the big pile of earth and fought monsters, as well as inside a big creature with no arms or legs and skin made out of little shiny stones. Said creature was in a big pond. She saw another girl. She looked different from every other girl he showed her before. This girl was almost normal, but blue. Her forehead was large, and seemed to have either purple jewels or extra eyes on either side. There was skin between her long toes, and long flaps like folded or wrinkled fairy wings on her forearms and either side of her hips. This girl seemed to care for the boy as much as she did. The forest girl thought she looked weird, but pretty. Her friend, however, was a little scared of the blue-girl, and the forest girl could understand why.

One day, he called to her in the middle of the night. She was confused by his feelings of loss. When he sent over a memory, she understood. A big person with dark skin had destroyed the village of big people and the big mansion. He saw his well-dressed friend escape on one of those riding creatures, and leave him with an instrument like her ocarina and the one she gave him, but blue. She comforted her mourning friend, and suggested that he listen to her and do her last wish. Agreeing, but still in need of comfort, he kept the connection up while moving. From his strong emotions, she was able to see his most recent memories, as if the was walking alongside him.

They walked into the village. It was half destroyed, and most of the good half was on fire. Outside an wooden entrance cover lay a man in metal, dying, trying to get into the burning building. But her friend ignored him. He turned the opposite way, and entered a grand big building. He placed the special emerald of the Deku Tree on the table, as well as two other gems. He then tried to play the song on his ocarina. However, nothing happened. He then pulled out the one the other girl gave him. Looking between his hands, she knew what was going to happen. "No!" She pleaded. "Don't do it!" But it was too late. He dropped her ocarina onto the stone floor, and the connection was broken.

A few days later, she was sitting in her secret spot. Ever since that day, she hadn't played her ocarina. She was heartbroken; her best friend had thrown away her precious gift to him, and hasn't spoken to her since. Crying her eyes out, her hands grabbed her ocarina. She stared at it in surprise. Ever since that day, she never played the tune she taught her friend. She almost threw it away, but something stopped her. Her song was playing. She realized Link was trying to contact her!

Surprised, and a little desperate, she opened the connection. However, something startled her. Her friend seemed... different. He was more serious than he sounded the last time they spoke. What surprised her was when he sent over a month's worth of memories. Too much to take in slowly, she was jostled by how much there was and could only see glimpses. She saw her friend, but as a big person. How everyone but her village seemed to become bigger or weaker with time. She saw him fighting many monsters, whether they ran, crawled, swam, dug, or flew. He helped a riding creature and that red-haired girl at their big house. The blue-girl talked about an interesting concept he couldn't explain well, with either emotions or memories. The words she heard were fiancee and marriage. The blue-girl said they couldn't be together in this 'marriage', which made the forest girl happy, even if she didn't fully understand what it meant. She also saw him save the well-dressed girl, who seemed to be the leader of the big people, and how she cared for him.

She also saw how one of his first thoughts, after he was in his big body, was to her safety. How he rescued her, that she was one of the few who remembered him from his smaller body, and how she said they couldn't be together. 'It can't be it!' she thought to herself. 'I definitely felt a connection back then! We're meant to be together forever! We must be!' She also saw his companion leave when he last returned to his normal body. How her brave friend met the leader girl and told her what the dark big person was up to. How he then entered the woods to look for her and his companion. How he got lost, and only recently thought to call to her.

It was then that she realized that even after such a long adventure in such a short time, he truly cares for her. He didn't drop her gift for no reason, but because he needed the power of the blue instrument. "I'm sorry!" She cried to him over the connection. "If only I played our song! Then you would have known how to find me!" Thinking quickly, she raised her ocarina to her lips and started playing. But it was too late; he was already too deep into the forest.

For months, or maybe it was a year, he would play their song and talk to her. He told her every time that he was all right, and she kept telling him she was playing their song almost all day, every day. However, one day, he didn't call her.

It had been almost two years since she last talked with her best friend. She knew, thanks to his memories, that she was destined to be a Sage, should the need for one ever rise again and the previous one was dead. But until that time came, she remained loyal to her lost friend. She played her ocarina as often, and as loud, as she could. She even tried to experiment with songs, hoping that a lucky combination would allow her to reach out to him, rather than the other way around. But none of them would work.

As the sun began to descend towards the horizon, she kept playing, slowly losing hope that he'd return to her today. As the sun set, she finally put away her ocarina. However, after a few seconds, the song started up again. There he was, sitting on the upper landing of the mansion, playing her ocarina, not the blue one that other girl gave him! He then jumped down, landing perfectly on his feet. It was then that she noticed it. Her best friend had grown! 'So it's true,' she realized. 'He is one of the big people from Outside. He'll grow bigger, then weaker, and die. Why couldn't he have been one of us? We never get bigger, we never grow weaker, and we never die if we remain in our safe forest!' "I waited... for you to come back. Every day for two years, I was here, playing our song. What happened to you?"

The boy looked uncomfortable, as if he didn't know how to explain it. Understanding, she raised her ocarina to her lips, in complete sync with her friend. Together, for the first time since she taught it to him, they played their song. This time, she was somewhat prepared for the onslaught of memories. She saw him enter a tree, after his lost horse and the other girl's ocarina. How he entered what was clearly another realm, and that he would go back in time over and over. He would help everyone each time. How he got close to a red-headed girl who looked like the other one from Outside. She watched as he defeated the evil mask, and how he had to leave for Hyrule the next day. He didn't find his companion yet, but it was because he now had let her go.

But most importantly to her, she saw him help a blue haired boy, Kafei, and a red haired big girl, Anju, get married. She then understood just what marriage was, and what it implied. She also saw the blue haired boy's hesitance beforehand, and understood that 'young' people shouldn't get married, or be with an 'older' person in such a way. 'Now that I know about marriage, I'm confused. I want to be with him for the rest of... his life. But will the others of our village accept him as he gets older? The 'older' people, the Hylians,' she remembered what they were called, finally understanding the flashback he shared of the Deku Sprout, 'definitely won't accept us being together.'

She still remembered what she now believed was a prophecy of their future, and decided to take it into her own hands. "I see... A lot has happened to you since you left. Please, stay here and rest. The others remember you from when you're a kid! They won't mind if..." She was interrupted by another set of memories. These ones were from the alternate future, memories he didn't share with her before. The other children didn't recognize him. The childhood bully didn't either, and said it was a good thing he had left. She now knew he wouldn't be accepted. "They can change! They can accept you, if I tell them who you are!" He sadly shook his head. "Please stay, for me." Surprised at this, he rubbed her hair, like he used to do when he was younger. He then gave her a big, warm smile, and she returned a smaller one. "I waited... All these years I waited for you. I... I care for you, and think I love you."

Shocked at this, he removed his hand from her head. He then sent her new memories. Memories of the red head in the middle of the big field. Of Termina's red-haired girl, named Romani. How dazed she looked the first time he met her. How they were playing together after he turned back the clock and learned how to open the way in early. Many times, he would turn back the clock, just to spend all three days with her and her older sister. He and Romani would spend the days shooting balloons, running around, and participating together in the dog races nearby. She saw Link fail to defeat the floating kidnappers the first night with her, and how they were what made her dazed and wiped her memory. The forest girl felt his feelings for her, as well as his homesickness and longing for Hyrule's red-haired girl.

But what shocked her the most was that Romani taught him how to speak. Now that she knew the full truth, he closed the connection and opened his mouth. "Sorry I grew up. I can't stay with the Kokiri anymore."

She was shocked at his voice. It was rough, like it was rarely used. But it was also soft and gentle, the boy she once knew shining through. Proud that he could finally talk, and in anguish that he wouldn't stay, she stood up on the stump, gave the much taller boy as big and tight a hug as she could, and bawled into his bigger, stronger shoulder. "Please don't cry. You are my first, and my best, friend I ever had. I'll call to you and visit often. I will never forget you. I promise." Calming down, she released her best friend from their hug, now ready to let him go. As he reached the stairs, he turned around. "I'll come back and see you later, Saria."

Saria could only watch as her childhood friend left their secret haven. She looked back towards where she first saw him that day, and couldn't help comparing herself and the boy to the mismatched bows of the overhanging tree. One stayed close to the trunk it came from, and the other reached out to explore, leaving the one it was destined to be with behind in both distance and age. For a little bit, Saria feared that Link would grow old too fast, and die before she could see him again. After a moment, she whispered back to where he used to be, "I'll be waiting here... Link..."