Work Text:
Link earlier memories aren’t from the forest he grew up in, they aren’t with the little fairy Navi that might as well be his mother; no they are of Saria and Mido, at the orphanage they call home.
Link never remembers how he got there, his parents, his life before then was all a mystery to him. His first memory was of the nice man who ran the orphanage; the man who handed him food every day. He remembers how Saria looked before, she had deep brown hair that always seemed to get tangled, it's why she had cut it so short. Mido was the ‘bully’ in the orphanage, Link however thought it was because he was hungry, like so many others in this weird house.
The nice man that fed him made the children learn ‘skills’ as he calls them, learning how to make fire, making shelters, working with animals; the nice man said it would help them get adopted. One girl, who called herself Hila, told Link there wasn’t a point, that a family would never adopt any of them, especially after the war.
Link should have known something was up when the weird lady showed up to talk to the nice man. Something about the lady rubbed Link the wrong way, maybe it was that her eyes were slightly too far apart, or how her teeth look slightly too sharp. He should have known by the way the nice man reacted to her talk, the way his eyes held such fear but was trying to hide it behind a big reassuring smile. The nice man was worried about something but he never told any of the children.
Link remembers the day their life changed very clearly, the day they all became Kokiris.
It had been sometime in the afternoon when the nice man said he wanted to take the children to a special place to play and that they should grab any toys they wanted to bring. Link opted for a bag of pretty much everything he owned, the young boy never liked to leave it behind, before the large group of children got ready to leave. However before they left the nice man tied some very long strips of rope around the children, Link had to guess it was probably the length of the weird place they called home. Link faces must had confusion written all over it because the nice man explained.
“I don’t want you guys to get lost, it’s dangerous to get lost in the woods” He said with that force smile.
Link didn’t like the nice man’s worried look but Saria and the other children seemed to be fine with it so the young boy followed as well.
To which they began their walk into the woods.
They walked and walked for a long time to the point each step filled Link with dread. Link wished he knew why the forest filled him with the horrible feeling but he could shake it. He went as far as taking a shell necklace, that must have been given to him by his parents, and breaking it and dropping it as he walked.
Finally they got to a clearing in the woods, a little grove with a stream cutting through it.
“Alright go play” The nice man said unroping most of the rope that he tied to his arm for the walk. Almost all the children took the order and began to run around, picking up the little frogs or playing in the water.
But not Link.
Link stood by the nice man's side, only ever looking at him when he asked why Link wasn’t playing. Link couldn’t shake the feeling he was having, he had it all the way of the walk and coming to the grove only seemed to make it worse. It felt like the time the big mean dog came to their house and just barked and glared at them, however there was no big mean dog, at least from what Link could see.
Saria must had noticed Link standing alone before grabbing the young boy and physically dragging him away from the nice man. They played by the water picking flowers, Link would often look up to see the nice man who always replied with a wave. Eventually Link got lost weaving the water flowers into Saria’s brown hair, ignoring Mido grumbles of wanting Link to play with him. Finally Link was finished with his flower crown and turned to the nice man to see his reaction to his creation.
But the nice man was gone.
Link let out a cry which seemed to alert the other children as well. The young boy ran down the path he had known they had taken to get here. The nice man had to have just walked away for a minute, or look for a snack! He always told them how dangerous the woods were when you were alone, he wouldn’t leave them alone! He was nice!
Link felt a jerk back, as he looked back he realized what happened. He...They were tied to a tree.
Link ran back to his bag to take out a knife, something that was left to him by his parents. To which he slowly began trying to cut the ropes off the tree, not any easy task given his short nature. By the time all the children were free the sky had been painted with the colors that ment night was coming. Soon the children began to bicker, do they try to leave the forest following the path they took, or do they wait it out and walk in the morning.
It involved into a big argument, Mido went as far as to shove Link down. Saria finally yelled at the group of bickering children, opting for the idea of spending the night in the forest. Link and the other children, while not liking the idea, helped the best they could; some finding the edible berries they had read about while Link worked to build a roaring campfire.
By the time the sky was blanketed in darkness the group of children had a fire going and were eating some edible berries and plants for their dinner. Some of them were eating less than others but that's what they had to do.
Link couldn’t understand why but he felt that something was watching them, he was the one who voiced they stayed together after all. He still expected to see a big scary dog jump out at them, yet he heard no growling...it unnerved him.
“I need to pee” a little boy, Zazo, stated.
“Well, go on then,” Mido said with annoyance in his voice. Zazo started to get up off the ground.
“No!” Link yelled standing up “Something out there, dangerous” screamed in his broken speech.
“Shut it Mr nobody!” Mido screamed at him which Link responded with his tongue sticking out. Saria seemed done by their actions.
“Link if it bugs you so much you can go look after Zazo” Saria states as Links nods and follows the other boy. They weren’t trying to go so deep into the woods, when they weren’t far enough to not see the light of the campfire anymore Link forced the other boy to stop.
Zazo just seemed to scoff at Link and gave Link a shooing motion to at least get some privacy. The younger boy gave an eye roll back and turned around to look towards the campfire. Link tried to shake his scared feeling by looking around at the rushing of the leaves or the dancing fireflies. It wasn’t until he heard some snapping of branches and the whimpres of Zazo that snapped Link to reality. The young child immediately turned around and ran to help his fellow friend.
Then he saw the creature.
Zazo was pinned by a giant creature, it had to at least be the size of the nice man. The giant creature reminded Link of the small lizards they would catch, considering it’s body was covered in scales. It had a pair of wings and long scaly tail; as well as long claws and teeth. The creature’s weirds legs supported it’s body as a clawed hand pinned the boy’s head, the creature's face was close to Zazo with a fanged smile. Zazo just whimpered under the creature’s grip, too scared to scream.
Link finally snapped out of his shock before realizing he needed to do something. The creature was to focus on Zazo to even notice Link had appeared.
Link grabbed his knife running up to slash the creature’s chest; it let out a scream and releashed the shaking child. Link immediately grabbed Zazo while the beast was distracted and ran, just ran.
Until finally they were back at the campfire.
“Guys what’s wrong?” Saria asked the shaken boys that ran back to the campfire.
“Monster!! Monster out there!” Link cried out before going up to Saria and pulling on her arm “We need to go! Go!”
“Stop!!” Mido said pulling Link off Saria and shoving him down.
“Mido enough!” Saria screamed as she helped Link off the ground. Saria soon turned to the other boy.
“Zazo what happened? Was it a monster?” Saria asked the boy.
Link watched as Zazo stared down at his feet before looking around the group, the boy's eyes finally stopping on Mido. Link ignored the sheering that Mido gave him but something in his mind chilled when he saw Mido turned to Zazo and gave him a look before pointing a thumb at Link and laughing. Finally Zazo seemed to look up to face Saria.
“No..there was no monster” Zazo said in a shaky tone “I don’t know what Link is talking about”
Zazo looked towards Mido with a smile as Mido said something positive before making fun of Link. However Link couldn’t stand this, was Zazo going to risk their safety for Mido’s approval?
“LIAR!!” Link cried out as he made a move to run over to the boy, only to be stopped by Saria “You saw! You saw!”
Saria immediately tried to pull Link into her arms to comfort him, and when he broke free of that, Hila, Lote, Vetho and Kiroi came over to hold his hands and try to calm him down.
It didn’t help Link, he knew what he saw, that creature had to be the eyes watching them, it had to be! And they wanted to stay in the woods while that sharp creature was still running around. Why couldn’t they be in their weird home, with the nice man that fed them?!
“What’s wrong with the baby?” Mido had said making it very clear he was talking about Link. Something inside Link snapped and as he freed himself from the others grip, he tackled Mido to the ground throwing punches to any spot they could land.
“Your fault! Your fault!” Link screamed as he threw punches, if Mido wasn’t such a bully, if Zazo didn’t look up to him; they would all be safe.They would all be safe. Finally hands wrapped around Link pulling him off Mido, some of the boys stopping Mido from retaliating and attacking Link.
“Enough!!” Saria screamed, putting herself between the two boys “You guys need to stop!”
“I’ve had enough of him!!” Mido screamed as he pointed a finger in Link’s face “If you can’t deal with staying in the forest then leave!”
“Fine…” Link said breaking away from the kids holding him back. He went to his bag trying to pack his knife and other stuff. Mido and the other boys grumbled at the idea and some of the other children seemed to follow Link.
“Link you can’t go alone, you said it yourself it’s too dangerous to go alone” Saria stated holding onto Link to try to stop him from going off in the night.
“He wouldn’t be alone” Vetho said as some of the others girls nodded “He’s is safer, has skills”
Link couldn’t help but smile as he grabbed a piece of wood to light it on fire making himself and the girls a torch for the dark night. Link grabbed onto Saria’s arm trying to pull her to come with him, however Saria pulled back.
“I need to stay here and make sure Mido and everyone else is safe; we’ll see you in the morning” Saria said with a smile as Mido smirked from behind her. Link felt dread fill up his body, he knew what he saw and if Saria didn’t follow him..what would happen? However Link could feel the eyes of the creatures on him, he felt like the snaps of the branches weren’t just the wind.
Link allowed some tears to fall before taking out a wooden instrument that had been left with him when he had been dropped at the house. He shoved it into Saria’s arm with a quick bye and turned back to the path; off white seashells almost seemed to glow under the fire of his torch.
To which Link and his little group began to walk.
The group walked in a slow past, the girls grabbing each other's hands as well as Links. Normally Link’s first instinct would be to run as fast as he could and dragged the girls with him, but he knew better, one Hila was a lot smaller and couldn’t run as fast and two if that creature were hunting them, they would take notice of the fast moving children. Just like that mean dog when it bite him.
“Link!” a voiced cried out, causing the group of kids to stop. They turned to see Dedu running up to him, his face stained with tears.
“Monster! Heard sounds! Ziru was with me, it got her!” Dedu cried to Link as he tried to grab the boy's tunic. Link and the girls were trying to get the boy to calm down. “Oh the way here, heard screams” the boy cried out.
The group finally got the boy to stop freaking out and to take a breath. It didn’t last long before another creature landed behind the boy, causing the children to scream. The creature immediately grabbed Dedu who screamed and thrashed at being held in the air. Link took his torch and stuck the fire to the creature’s skin.
The creature let out a scream and grabbed the boy closer with it’s sharp claws before spreading its wings and flying up into the air. Leaving a confused Link and a group of scared girls. Dedu was taken by the creature, the children watched in shock. The girls were freaking out as Link tried his best to calm down the girls. Then Link heard a scream.
It was Saria’s scream.
“Saria!!” Link screamed out as he dropped his torch and ran towards the campfire, leaving the girls behind. He would later learn that him leaving sealed the girls fate.
Link ran and ran until he finally got back to the campfire, he could hear the screams and cries of the other children. He tightened his grip on his knife, and was looking around for answers. Why was this happening? Why were they being attacked?
A sound finally brought him out of his thoughts, he remembered it from the time Saria had cut her hand on some broken glass...Saria was in pain. Link ran towards the sound and finally found Saria, he nearly dropped his knife in shock.
A different beast was over Saria and was holding her down with the sharp claws. The beast head was buried into Saria’s neck completely unaware that Link was even close by. Saria let out a wheezing sound through the pain, tears falling down his face. The unsettling part to Link was Saria hair, the once deep brown hair was slowly becoming deep green starting at the top and working down. What did this mean? What was the beast doing through to Saria?
Link finally snapped out of his shock, grabbing the knife and jumping on the back of the creature, plunging the knife into it’s back. The creature screamed out, red staining it’s teeth while a red and sickly orange pooled around Saria’s neck. Link was originally going to grab Saria and run like he did with Zazo, however that wasn’t the case.
The creature hit Link with its tail, sending Link flying back into a hollow log. Getting his head knocked around made Link pretty dizzy. The creature seemed to be speaking in a weird language to the forest, likely very angry. Link finally got a good look at Saria, she was pointing to the log next to Link.
‘Run’ Saria mouthed to her friend ‘please run’
The creature turned back to bite Saria, however another a creature came down from the trees. It was fluffy however it was sharp and spiky like the other one; it was looking at Link with twisted sharp teeth.
Link took a chance and crawled into the dead log, thanking his small body. He crawled and crawled away, he could hear the creature screaming in their weird language.
Link finally stopped crawling, turning to look back towards the opening; he realized one of his boots were missing. He could see Saria from the whole in the log, her once brown hair was now just a memory, now a fully forest green. He saw the creature's arms come into the frame to pull Saria off the ground. Link started to cry but then he remembered Saria’s advice.
‘Run!’
He needed to run. He could crawl out of the log, finding where these paths lead. He could escape the forest! He could get the people from the town to help his friends!
Link crawled and crawled through the logs, which seemed to be a traveling system. Each step forward gave Link more conficance to help his friends, he would help them and hurt the creatures that hurt them. He finally got to the end of the log, he stayed inside and listened to see if the creatures were around. He heard nothing.
Link freed himself from the logs, taking a second to gather where he was at. He smiled to himself, he was close to the exit of the forest, he was close to freedom.
He was free.
Link ran towards the exit of the forest, he would run across the field and go home to the nice man. He would tell the town people of the weird creatures, he would bring them back and he could help Saria.
Then something tackled him to the ground.
Link screamed, swinging the knife at whatever knocked him down. However when the knife was knocked out of his hand he felt something wrap around him, keeping him in place. Link finally opened his eyes seeing the beast above him.
Unlike the spiky ones from earlier this one was fluffy like a moth, it explains why the tail wrapped around him didn’t hurt him. The creature brought its hand up to Link’s head. Link tried to scrump up, protect his neck from the creature.
The creature let out a snort that Link would guess was a laugh, before grabbing Links head, forcing him to reveal his neck. The creature gave an open mouth smile, rows of sharp teeth greeted him as sickly orange venom fell down from the creature's mouth.
Link closed his eyes and let out an ear splitting scream, as sharp teeth pierced his neck.
Then Time woke up.
Time opened his eyes but then immediately groaned as pain shot through his left eye. Bringing his hand to rub his bad eye he took note of his surroundings. He was in Wild’s Hyrule in his Korok forest, there were no Kokiris, there weren’t any fairies. He let out a sigh as he brought his hand up to scratch the mark on his neck, the one Navi had given him when he was only six.
Something in him wanted to allow the mark to be out in the open, maybe if it was exposed to open air it would finally heal over, maybe the Kokiri symbol on his neck would be lost with the rest of the scars he had.
Time breath in the forest air trying to force down those thoughts. He knew it was dangerous to do so, and the fairies already flocked to him because of his Kokiri nature, he couldn’t imagine the conflict if they saw his mark. Even if the Kokiris aren’t around anymore, something tells him that the fae wouldn’t just stand aside.
Time just signed and looked towards his side, it appears that Four had fallen asleep next to him, holding onto Time’s tunic like a little child. Time smiled to which a sound made Time turn to his other side.
Time suppressed a snort at the sight. Wind was curled up in his sleep and he had apparently taken a Korok hostage in his sleep. The Korok seemed unhappy in its current situation as it was trying to wiggle for freedom and saying small little sounds, however Wind apparently slept like the dead because he didn’t wake up.
Time decided to help the little Korok freeing it from Wind’s grip, replacing Wind’s teddy bear Korok with his own arm. Having a toy to grab Wind drifted back to sleep, and Time grabbed Four to bring him closer in.
Time leaned back onto the forest ground, the little Korok looking at Time with his new freedom.
‘Thank you,’ the Korok said to the older hero.
“No problem” Time whispered to the Korok, closing his eye to slowly fall back to sleep.
‘We missed you link’ the korok said.
‘Wait? What!?’ Time thought to himself as he opened his eye. In front of him was Saria.
A quick blink and the form of Saria turned back into a Korok, who gave a simple wave and began to tottle off into the forest.
Time just took a deep breath and brought the boys closer. The Kokiris gone, the koroks had taken their place. Their were no more fae that kidnap children and taking them into the forest. They were only in Time’s hyrule.
Right….