Link at 9

The first thing Link saw as his vision became clear was his hands wrapped around the Master Sword's hilt. The sharp blade was pointing down and was placed over its pedestal. As the radiant blue rays of light surrounded Link, he also noticed his hands had become tiny again, as opposed to the adult ones he had only seconds prior.

Link's stature had returned to when he was a kid, as the Master Sword's hilt was merely a few inches below his chin; but that was only because both of his legs were placed on top of the pedestal itself. Navi was floating right next to him just as the blue rays dissipated completely and Link was back at the Temple of Time.

He stepped off the pedestal and took a moment to look around. 'I'm… I'm back.'

His thoughts were interrupted when Navi flew right in front of his face and shouted, "Hey!" The sudden burst forced Link to step back a bit. "Link, you did it! You defeated Ganondorf and saved Hyrule! The Great Deku Tree was right to trust you all along."

Link chuckled. "You helped me through most of it."

"Yes… But you did all of the fighting."

Link took a look around at the temple then back at Navi. "What happens now?"

"For you? You go ahead and enjoy your life. You have earned it. As for me… my work here is done."

Link's expression turned to one of sadness. "So you're leaving?"

"Don't be sad, Link," Navi replied as she flew closer to his face. "You are Hylian. Hylians don't need fairies. You will probably forget all about me in a few years."

"I doubt it," Link replied as he forced a smile on his face. "Good-bye, Navi."

"Good-bye, Link. I wish you luck wherever you may go."

Navi turned away from Link and slowly began to levitate up towards the window above. Link raised his hand in front of his eyes to shield them from the sun's rays, allowing him to only see the blue trail of sparks that Navi left behind. He could not see when she actually left, but the sparks were no longer visible, and he was finally left alone.

Link sighed and looked back down at the Master Sword's pedestal, admiring the blade that had helped him fight throughout most of his journey. He reached into his pocket and found that the Ocarina of Time was gone, just as expected. It had been replaced by the wooden one Saria had given him long ago. At least, to him it felt like long ago, but had actually been just a few days.

He raised the ocarina up to his mouth and played a single note that echoed through the room. He parted the ocarina from his lips soon after, taking some time to closely look at the instrument. Narrowing his eyes, a thought came to his mind that caused him to instantly open them again.

'Zelda!'

Putting the ocarina back in his pocket, Link turned and began to run out of the Temple of Time. He had initially forgotten that he was back in the past, and was confused when everything looked green and colorful instead of the brown and dead colors from the future. Several birds chirped as they flew by, but he paid them no mind as he ran towards the city's market.

The citizens all talked, laughed, and danced with one another. To Link, it seemed as everything had returned to normal, but to everyone else it was the simple matter that nothing ever really changed to begin with.

Link ran past the market and made his way up towards the castle. He memorized the route he had taken the first time and managed to sneak past all of the guards patrolling the courtyard until he reached the cistern on the side of the castle.

Talon was sleeping on the side of the cistern, blocking his only way inside. Rather than wake him up, Link ran up to Talon at full speed and used his body to boost himself right over the water, exclaiming "Hyah!" as he did. Despite the commotion, Talon never budged and continued to mumble in his sleep.

Sneaking through another group of guards, Link managed to reach the castle's gardens, where he saw a young Princess Zelda standing right outside a window.

Despite his attempt to slow down and walk stealthily, Link's footsteps were still heard as he walked closer to her. She turned her head and gasped when she saw him, placing her hand over her mouth as she turned her back to the window. "Who?! Who are you? How did you get past the guards?"

Link opened his mouth to speak, but instead only stuttered. For some reason, all he could do was stare at her as she waited for some type of answer that never came. He raised his hand but immediately brought back down, taking a few steps away as Zelda tilted her head in confusion to his strange behavior. And still, Link could not bring himself to speak. Something was keeping him from doing so.

"Are you okay?" Zelda asked.

"I…" Link began to say, "I'm sorry. I'll just leave."

Before Zelda could ask anything else, Link turned away and began walking back the way he came. He did not even bother to sneak around; he just let himself be found by a guard and he was carried all the way back to the castle's entrance.

He paid no mind to everyone else in the market as they walked around and made his way to the small pond located in the center. The laughter of the dancing couple nearby was the only thing he could hear as he rested his arms on the railing, sighing as he saw his reflection in the water. A chicken ran past the front of his leg, and a little girl followed it closely behind.

Link remained resting against the railing for a while, thinking about how he had reacted towards Zelda. The thought of being with her was the only thing running through his mind during his entire trek around Hyrule. And when the chance finally came, he hesitated.

"Excuse me," said a young female voice from behind. Link turned around to face whoever spoke. It turned out to be Malon. "You just came from the castle, right?"

Link remembered Malon fondly from his time in the future; how she was forced to work by Ingo, otherwise he would have harmed the horses. She was so grateful to Link when he helped Epona escape and allowed Talon to reclaim the ranch. But now it seemed like she did not even recognize him.

He cleared his throat and replied to her original question. "Uh, yeah."

"Do you by any chance see my father? Round guy with a mustache and ponytail? He was delivering a shipment of Lon Lon Milk to the castle but hasn't returned."

"I did. He was sleeping on the ground."

Malon crossed her arms and waved her eyes. "Ugh, he always does this. I'm gonna give him such a scolding when he gets back home."

"Do you live here?" Linked asked, trying to act like he did not know her.

"I actually live outside the city. In Lon Lon Ranch. Have you ever been there?"

"Uh…"

"Although" Malon interrupted, "I think I would remember if you ever stopped by. I've actually never seen you around here either."

"I haven't," Link abruptly answered. "I, uh… I'm not from around here."

Malon smiled warmly. "Well, I suppose you could come by the ranch any time and I could show you around. You're gonna love the horses, um… I didn't catch your name."

"Link," he replied. "My name is Link."

"Huh. Link… Well, I'm Malon. It was nice meeting you. I gotta go see if I can get my dad out of the castle. Bye."

Link simply waved at her as she began to happily skip away. Even after his depressive state just a few minutes prior, he actually found it in himself to smile.

He turned and decided to make his way back to the Kokiri Forest, taking one last look at Castle Town on his way out.

Link at 11

Link's entire chest hit the ground with hard impact. His green tunic had become completely brown due to the mud, which was caused by the rain currently falling. He grunted and stood back up, giving an angry glare to Mido and the two other Kokiri boys standing beside him guarding the entrance to the forest as their fairies flew above them.

"You see?!" he shouted at one of the boys. "Everyone called me mean for always being hard on you. Well, now it turns out I was right to mistrust you all along. You're not a Kokiri like us!"

Saria ran up from behind the group and gasped when he saw the state of Link. "Leave him alone, Mido!"

Even though Link knew Saria was a Sage, and found it difficult interacting with her knowing the fact, she was still one of the few friends he had left in the Kokiri Forest.

Mido turned to face her. "I made a difficult decision letting him live among us again after what he did to the Great Deku Tree. And now I know I should've kicked him out a lot sooner. Look at him! He's clearly gotten taller!"

Everyone turned to look at Link as he stood up straight from the ground. His height had clearly increased several inches in the past two years, something that no other Kokiri experienced. Now, he was the tallest person in the Kokiri forest.

"It's still wrong to just throw him out like that!" Saria complained.

"He's an outsider! He doesn't belong her anymore. He never belonged here to begin with!"

"Mido!"

"No, Saria," Link said, "he's right."

"Yeah!" Mido said, then raised an eyebrow at Link. "Wait, what?"

Link sighed as he wiped away some of the mud. "I don't belong here. I never did. And I fully understand why you would want me out of the forest. If it makes you feel better, I'll just leave and never come back."

Mido was clearly enjoying himself, as evident by the large grin on his face. "There you have it. He's leaving. That's one less pest for us, guys. Let's go celebrate!"

The other two boys laughed and followed Mido as he went back inside the forest, grumbling in between his words. Saria stayed behind and walked towards Link as he finished wiping off most of the mud from his tunic.

"Where will you go?" Saria asked.

"I don't know," Link replied. "But I'm sure there are plenty of places where I could spend some time on my own."

Saria looked down in disappointment to see her friend go. "You know, I don't mind that you're not a Kokiri. And I don't care what Mido says. You're still my friend."

"Thanks," Link replied as he forced a smile.

"Will we ever see each other again?"

"We might. Until then, I guess this is good-bye for us." Link reached into his pocket and pulled out the wooden ocarina. He extended his arm over to Saria. "Also, this is yours."

"Keep it," she said as she gently pushed the ocarina back at him. "It was gift."

Link nodded and put the ocarina back in his pocket. Neither of them said another word; there was nothing but the sound of the rain falling as Link turned around and began to walk towards Hyrule Fields. Saria waited until he was fully out of sight before she went back into the forest.

The drops of rain continued to fall on top of Link as he walked through the large grassy fields. His green tunic still had brown stains from the mud; stains that Link knew would possibly never wash off. However, his attire was the least of his worries at the moment given everything that he had just been through with Mido and Saria. When he reached the center of Hyrule Fields, Link had three choices. Either go to Castle Town, Kakariko Village, or Lon Lon Ranch.

Kakariko Village seemed like the best choice since he did not have the rupees to afford a place in Castle Town. Then again, he doubted that anyone from the village would welcome him into their home, except for the cursed skulltula children, but there was good reason as to why that was not an option. It would be a while before he would be able to build his own, which would cost even more rupees than settling down in Castle Town. So the most appropriate choice was obvious.

He turned and began walking in the direction of Lon Lon Ranch.

Even with the dark clouds in the sky, Link could tell the sun was beginning to set. All of the horses and cuccos had been taken inside on account of the rain. Luckily, the lights at the ranch still appeared to on, meaning there was someone home.

Link walked up to the door of the ranch and gently knocked three times. He heard slight mumbling coming from inside, along with the clucking of the cuccos. He knocked on the door three more times, this time even louder, and the mumbling got louder.

"I'm coming!" a man shouted from inside. Link waited until the door was opened by who turned out to be Malon's father, Talon, who rubbed his eye and yawned as he just got up from sleeping. "A boy like you shouldn't be out during the rain. What can I do for you?"

"I was just… wondering if I could… possibly spend the night here," Link said nervously. "I don't have anywhere else to go."

Talon studied him for a while as he yawned. "Well, as long as you don't mind sleeping on a haystack with a bunch of cuccos pecking at you, you're welcome to stay for the night."

Link smiled and walked in as Talon gestured inside. He was careful not to step on any of the cuccos as he walked past, remembering a horrible experience he had with them once when he accidentally stepped on one of their feet. Managing to get past them safely, Link lied down on the haystack that Talon mentioned as the rancher lied down on a box.

"If you need anything, just-"

Before Talon could finish his sentence, he dozed off and went straight to sleep. The sound of his snoring and the clucking of the cuccos was a bit more noisy than Link would have liked, but he simply shrugged it off as best he could and lied down on the haystack until he was tired enough to sleep through the stormy night.

When the sun rose the next morning with the cawing of the cuccos, Link slowly opened his eyes to find that he was completely buried inside the hay. He coughed as he felt some of it in his throat and barged out of the stack while picking them off from his tongue and shaking away the ones in his hair and hat.

Talon was still sleeping on the same box as the previous night and had not moved a single muscle. All of the cuccos were gone and had already been taken outside, leaving Link with the just the loud sound of Talon's snoring. Link sighed and got up from the haystack.

Careful not to wake Talon up, though he thought it would be nearly impossible, Link walked outside and was met with the warm rays of the sun. The horses had already been left to roam free in their fenced area, and Link could see them from his current position. Wanting to get a closer look, he walked towards them while passing by the group of cuccos.

All of the horses were either eating some of the overgrown grass or were just running around the field. There was one particular horse that was a bit smaller than the others in the center of the field. One with a whit mane that Link recognized all too well, along with the orange haired girl standing next to it.

"Malon… Epona…" Link mumbled quietly.

Epona was eating grass off the ground as Malon stood next to her. Despite the sounds of the neighing horses, Malon's singing hit Link's ears more than anything else. He had to admit he always enjoyed hearing her sing every time he stopped by the ranch during his trip to the future; and her singing was no less angelic despite her being younger.

Link went through the gate leading inside the large horse pen and walked over to Malon. She was currently facing the opposite direction, so she did not notice Link until he stood just inches behind her and said, "Hello."

Malon gasped and turned around to face him. "You startled me. I didn't know we had a visitor."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to," Link replied.

Malon tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, studying Link. You look… familiar. Have we met before?"

"Um…"

"Oh, yeah! Link! I remember you. We met a few years ago in Castle Town. It's hard to forget a face like yours. Gah, I mean…" Malon trailed off and cleared her throat. "So how have you been doing?"

"I've been doing okay."

"Really?" Malon asked suspiciously. "Must've been doing quite a lot to get your clothes all muddy."

Link looked down at his tunic to find it was still heavily covered with a mud stain. "I' uh… I haven't been doing that well lately, actually. You probably didn't notice, but I spent last night sleeping in your house."

"Wait… were you the one sleeping in the haystack? I thought there were just some cuccos playing around in there when I walked past this morning."

"That was me."

"But what happened to your own home?"

Link rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "I got kicked out."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Malon replied while rubbing her arm.

"It's okay. I'll only be staying here for a bit until I can get back on my feet somewhere. Your father shouldn't worry for very long."

Malon studied Link for a moment as he looked towards one of the nearby galloping horses. "You know, Link, you'd be more than welcome here."

"What do you mean?" Link asked, confused.

"I could speak with my father about offering you a job here at the ranch. You'd be able to live here… and I'm sure Mr. Ingo would greatly appreciate the extra help around the place."

Link's eyes widened at Malon's offer. "Are you sure? I mean… I wouldn't wanna be a burden."

"Not at all," Malon reassured while smiling.

Link thought for a moment, exchanging glances between the ground and Malon as she waited for an answer. "Okay. If your dad will allow me…"

"Trust me. He will."

After a few seconds of smiling at one another, Malon snapped out of her trance. "Oh, since you're gonna be spending more time here, I wanna introduce you to someone." She grabbed Link by his arm and pulled him closer to Epona. "Link, this is Epona. Epona, this is-"

Before Malon could properly finish introductions, Epona neighed and raised both of her legs in the air, starling her and Link. The horse turned away from them and galloped to the opposite side of the pen, putting in a good distance between them.

"Strange," Malon said. "She's usually not like this. I guess she's a bit shy of you."

As Malon kept her gaze on Epona, Link reached into his pocket and pulled out his wooden ocarina. Malon turned around with a look of awe and surprise when he began to play Epona's song.

The melody hit Epona's ears as soon as it began playing, and the small horse began to gallop back towards the familiar tune just as quickly. Right when Link finished playing, Epona was already standing right in front of him, sniffing his muddy tunic as he chuckled and rubbed her white mane. Meanwhile, Malon still looked dumbstruck at the two.

"Wh-where did you learn that song?" Malon asked Link.

He turned to face Malon while still rubbing Epona's mane. He failed to think of an excuse considering that he had not been taught the song from her yet. "Um… I heard you sing it earlier and I figured it was worth trying out. You have a… beautiful voice."

For a second, Link thought he had spoken too much at the end of his sentence, but Malon simply smiled as a blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said while joining Link in petting Epona.

The rest of the morning was spent in complete silence. The few times Link and Malon ever looked at each other was with smiles on their faces.

Link at 15

Multiple drops of sweat came down from Link's forehead. He had just finished arranging all of the hay around the stables into small piles; a task which lasted nearly the entire afternoon. He breathed a sigh of relief and wiped away the sweat from his brow, then turned to face Ingo as he sat on the far end of the stable drinking water.

"Hmm. Not bad," he said, criticizing Link's work. "I have to admit that I, the great Ingo, once thought it was stupid of Talon to hire such a young lad to work on the ranch. But you have done good work so far in the last four years. Not as good as mine, but still good."

Link sighed and forced a smile on his face. "Thanks."

"You still have a lot to learn, however. I, the great Ingo, didn't get to where I am in just a few years. For today, just go ahead and bring all of the horses inside the stable. It shouldn't be too hard for you, should it?"

Ingo chuckled as he finished his sentence and walked out of the ranch. Link just took a few minutes to catch his breath before going outside, where the rays of the setting sun shined down on his face along with the pleasant feeling a cool breeze.

The horses were all still happily galloping around their pen. Some of the older ones were going at slower pace than others, but their legs were still strong enough to carry around their bulky upper bodies. Epona was among the horses as well, now nearly a fully grown horse capable of carrying a person on her back.

Link opened the large gate that led into the stables. He put two fingers on both sides of his mouth and whistled loudly-a trick that Ingo had taught to the horses when it was time for them to sleep. And suddenly, all of the horses turned towards the stables and galloped inside on their own, each entering their own private stall where they ate some of the hay. The only horse remaining that did not enter the stables was Epona.

She remained standing inside the pen, as was normal with her every single afternoon. Link kept the door to the stables open just enough so that he could fit Epona through but not enough so that the other horses could escape as he walked over to her.

Epona had gotten used to Link being around during the years. She did not run away from him whenever he got close, but she was still trouble when it came to following instructions unlike all of the other horses.

"Come on, girl," Link said as he petted Epona's neck. "It's time to go join your family." Epona neighed lightly and remained in her spot without moving. Link sighed in frustration. "You know I like you, Epona, but you do this every day."

Epona just sputtered with her mouth and tapped her foot on the ground. Even after she stopped, however, more tapping on the ground could be heard, which confused Link. It was only when he turned around that he realized it was Malon walking towards him with a warm smile on her face.

"Having trouble?" Malon asked when she got close to him.

"She's always like this. I can handle it."

Malon walked forward and placed her hand on Epona's neck. "You know, sometimes I wish the horses didn't have to stay locked up in here. The again, it would also be trouble if they all escaped."

"Yeah," Link replied.

As Epona moved her neck upwards, Link was able to catch a glimpse of something. An unused horse saddle was lying on one of the bleachers inside the pen. Link smiled and sneaked away as Malon focused on Epona to grab the saddle. When he walked back, both Epona and Malon were startled when he placed the saddle on top of Epona.

"What are you doing?" Malon asked.

Link put his finger over his mouth and shushed her. He tightened the straps of the saddle around Epona, surprised that she remained perfectly still during the whole process. Once the saddle was firmly placed on top, Link made sure all of the straps were fully secured.

"It fits you perfectly," Link said to Epona. He held on to the saddle and pulled himself up on top of Epona, sitting perfectly still as she got used to having some extra weight on her back. He chuckled and extended his arm towards Malon. "Hop on."

Malon hesitated. "Have you ever ridden on a horse before?"

"Trust me. It'll be fine."

While still a bit nervous to get on a horse with Link, Malon extended her arm up and accepted his help in climbing onto the saddle. Epona shifted a bit but remained mostly still on her feet. Malon wrapped both of her hands around Link's waist, both of them thankful the other could not notice the other's blush.

"Wow. Epona is a lot stronger than I thought," Malon said. "Okay, I've ridden on horses before, but never on Epona. So what you might wanna do is-"

"Hyah!" shouted Link as he forced Epona to go forward.

Malon screamed as Epona stood on both of her hind legs and began to run forward very fast. Malon tightened her grip around Links waist as he simply laughed while holding the reins. He steered Epona so that she passed in between the stables and the house, leading her out into the open of Hyrule Fields.

The speed in which Epona ran through the grassy plains made Link's and Malon's hair blow back with the wind. Her breathing was slow and steady as she went uphill without having to drop her speed. When she reached the top, Link pulled back on the reins and forced her to stop, leaving them with a full view of most of Hyrule Fields and Castle Town in the distance.

The way the sun's rays shined warmly across the grass made Malon widen her eyes as she looked at the breathtaking view. The circular cloud over Death Mountain caught her attention the most, as it always had every time she laid eyes on it.

Link just laid back and took the moment to look back at her; the way her shining blue eyes looked at the beautiful surroundings. And during that brief moment, Link had to admit she did look very beautiful at times. Though he would probably never openly admit it.

He gently pushed Epona forward again and she began to ride across the fields once more. Link could tell she was enjoying it as much as Malon was from her time being ridden outside of the ranch's walls.

When they reached the outskirts of Zora's River, Malon looked down at the clear water and saw their reflection in it as they rode by. She chuckled and looked up at Link. "You're pretty good at riding. Where did you learn?"

Link tried to come up with an appropriate answer. "I've been practicing with the other horses behind everyone's back. I hope you didn't mind."

"Not at all. You've really gotten the hand of this!"

Link made Epona go faster and led her south towards Lake Hylia. During the trip, Malon kept her chin resting on Link's shoulder, letting the breeze hit her face and blow her hair back. She was about to let her eyes close before she noticed the two gates blocking the way into the lake, and Link seemed to make no attempts at slowing Epona down the closer they got.

"Uh, Link?" Malon asked nervously. "Maybe we should stop." Rather than responding, Link narrowed his eyes and kept Epona riding at the same speed while heading straight towards the gate. "LINK!"

Malon closed her eyes and prepared to fall off Epona as the horse would either crash against the fence or suddenly stop. Instead, however, she was forced to open them again when she felt a jolt as Epona jumped right over the fence. There was a second fence right after the first, which Epona jumped over as well without any problems.

Link chuckled as he looked back and saw Malon clinging her arms around his waist for dear life. She had buried half of her face into his back and used the other half to breath heavily through her mouth. When she opened her eyes again, she was surprised to see they were all still intact.

"Did… did Epona just jump over the gates?!" Malon asked.

"You don't give her enough credit sometimes," Link replied as he petted Epona across her neck.

When Lake Hylia came into full view, Link began to slow Epona down as they reached the water's edge. She came to a full stop right in front of the scarecrow, Bonooru, where they got a full view of the shining lake and the lakeside laboratory.

Malon quickly got off and began to take deep breaths. Link also began taking deep breaths once he did not have her tight grip around his waist. When Malon finished catching her breath, she began laughing and began rubbing Epona's mane playfully. "You did really great, girl!"

Link smiled as Epona rubbed her forehead against Malon's. He got off of the horse and walked over to her, stroking Epona's mane as well. "Did you enjoy the ride?"

Malon turned to him with a smile. "I loved it. Thanks."

While Epona went to the edge of the lake to drink some water, Link and Malon both sat down in front of the scarecrow while staring at the sunset. The water became more orange and more shiny the further the sun went down, making for a spectacular view.

Link sat with his legs extended while supporting himself with his arms against the ground; while Malon sat with her arms wrapped around her legs as she rested her chin on her knees.

"I've only been to Lake Hylia a few times when I was little," Malon said, "and I always remember enjoying the view just as much as I do now." She turned her head to look at Link. "Especially with you."

Link smiled and took a deep breath through his nose. "Well… anything for a good friend."

"Yeah…" Malon directed her gaze forward again. "Friend…"

In the brief moment where she was not aware, Link took an opportunity to take a quick glance at her. Once again, he could not help to be entranced by the way she looked. There was a point in time where Link thought Zelda was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. But after spending only a few years with Malon, he was not very sure about what to think anymore.

Maybe it was the way she smiled; maybe it was the light running across her flowing orange hair; but Link knew one thing for certain: He would gladly give up his past life as a warrior a thousand times over if it meant spending the rest of it with her, no matter how different that life would be in comparison. If only he could express it to her.

For now, there was only one thing Link could do. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the wooden ocarina, and began playing a soft melody.

The song resembled Epona's song in several ways, except for the addition of several notes and being played slower. Link had his eyes closed while playing, so he did not notice Malon's smile as she watched him attentively, and then rested her head against his shoulder.

Link continued to play the ocarina as Malon slowly drifted off, neither of them aware of Bonooru slowly dancing behind them to the melody as they both looked at the sunset.

Note: This will be a Two-Shot. Expect the next chapter soon.