(A/N): xxpaperheartxx here with a brand new story! This is my best shot at a Legend of Zelda fanfic! This takes place during Ocarina of Time, and involves my OC whose name you'll just have to read to find out! I have always absolutely loved the Legend of Zelda, my favorites being Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Twilight princess. However, I never knew how to start a story for Link! Once I read Aberrant Bliss's "And She Waited" (which I suggest reading), I just knew I had to take the chance and write my own! Bliss has been wonderful and reviewed my first chapter for me. That's about all I have to say for now! Read, review, message if you want! Let me know what you think about this first story.

My entire life, I have always believed in something else. I have always believed there was some kind of greater power governing everything, and everything we knew as humans was only half of the truth. There just had to be more out there than this small world we lived in. Constant wars, people killing other people with no regard for the fact that it was a life they just stole, and the filth we settled ourselves into. There just had to be more. This world was sick in more ways than one. The skies were no longer a pure blue color (not that I'd ever seen it as such in the first place). They were always polluted with either gray clouds, or clouds of dark smoke that billowed up from factories.

The people living in this world subconsciously sensed that it was no longer healthy, and because they couldn't identify the fears they felt deep in their hearts, turned on one another. Life became a sick game of seeing who could get to the top the fastest. It no longer consisted of enjoying a soft summer breeze, helping a neighbor who was struggling, or just helping the earth along. It was now all just a sick game to feel like we were getting closer to God. To rise higher than anyone else. It was all just a game that we were losing before it even started.

That's why I've always believed there was something else out there. Something everyone had forgotten about. Magic. I just knew there was somewhere, a place where magic still existed, where people fought valiantly for the things they believed in, honor was a law that everyone followed, and pure hearts were only a few steps away.

Of course I never told anyone this. Can you imagine what you would think if your friend or daughter told you that they were secretly hunting for that kind of magical world? You wouldn't believe them. You might even have them committed. It wasn't just a desire or a fantasy to me. I KNEW some place like that existed. It just had to. It was just a matter of figuring out how to get there. I always kept my eyes open, always listened to the silence, just hoping that someday, I would see what everyone was missing, and find my way to that magical world.

When I finally did find it though, it was more than I had ever imagined.

It was supposed to be winter by then, but there I was, in a spaghetti strap dress and a pair of jeans. My toes poked out through my sandals, slightly chilled from the mild weather. Sara, my best friend, had her arm linked with mine and was constantly bumping her hips into me while we walked. We were both laughing and talking without a care in the world. It was the weekend and we had nothing better to do, so we had decided to walk the Golden Gate Bridge.

Cars were zooming past us, honking their horns, riding the ass of the car in front of them and creating a strong wind that tossed our hair into the air. Sara had short hair, ending just under her chin, while I on the other hand had long hair. It was already at the small of my back. There really wasn't any point for it to be that long but I kept forgetting to get it cut.

We were almost to the middle of the bridge when a strong wind suddenly blew through. The two of us lost our footing for a moment, stumbling toward the railing for support. Sara squealed and I shouted out. Looking over the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge wasn't a fun thing to do.

Falling over it was even worse.

Someone (I never got a chance to see who) pressed their hand against my back and pushed. Hard. The last thing I truly remember seeing from my world was Sara's face. She looked completely horrified. Wind rushed around me. It stole my breath from me and roared too loudly in my ears. I couldn't even understand what was happening. I just got that horrible feeling of my stomach dropping and my fingers were tingling almost painfully. Somehow, I rolled over in the air to face the water below me.

It was approaching way too quickly. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shut my eyes. There was just something so transfixing about staring straight at imminent death.

'You shall live, human child.'

In my delirious state, I thought I heard voice coming from the water. There was a round patch of glowing light forming beneath me on the surface. It pulsed and grew even brighter. I finally shut my eyes, sucking up as much air as I could.

I screamed as loud as I could right before I hit the surface of the water. There was a blinding light, then darkness.

'He deserves to be happy this time.'

'You will serve Hyrule just fine.'

'This is your destiny.'

The voices reverberated around me in the perpetual darkness I still found myself in. Was I dead? Is this what it was like to die? 'I'm just going to float around in this darkness forever?' But instead of the cold dread I expected to fill me, I felt a strange warmth. It covered my entire body, and even seemed to be inside of me. There was the tinkle of beautiful, unearthly laughter as the warmth slowly faded from my body.

Then there was light again.

I didn't even have the chance to breathe before my breath was knocked out of me. My body smacked against something solid, prompting me to roll over onto my side and clutch my head. Air rushed into my lungs, and I greedily took in as much as I could. Tears of pain fell from my eyes. I stayed like this for at least ten minutes before my breathing was finally normal enough for me calm down. Something tickled my face as I rolled over.

"What the hell happened?" I was still lying on the ground in the fetal position with my head cradled in my hands. My eyes were screwed shut against the darkness I thought I was surrounded by. I took in one more shuddering breath and froze. Grass. I smelled fresh…grass? Why did I smell fresh grass?

"Is this what hell smells like?" I wondered out loud. Slowly, and very carefully, I let go of my head and opened my eyes. Grass, a brighter green than I had ever seen before, danced in the soft breeze that carried its scent to me. The blades were thin, but seemed strong and healthy. I watched in slight amazement as the simple foliage swayed in the wind. Sara's horrified expression flashed through my mind. I gasped and shot up, letting out a small noise of hopelessness when I fully saw where I was. Instead of being a hundred feet underwater I was in the middle of a massive field.

"What..." The strange grass stretched out as far as I could see. Its various shades of deep, rich green changing to a softer green all rolled and danced in the wind, creating the illusion of being at sea. Small hills dotted the vast field, truly making it seem as though it was alive. I noticed the few thin trees that were scattered around, and a long stone wall in the distance that didn't seem to really belong to anything. The air was warm and rich with the scents of this earthy place. Thick, fluffy white clouds drifted lazily along in the pure, blue sky. I took a few minutes to marvel at the color of the sky as well. My eyes eventually drifted from the sky and focused on a distant ring of red. It seemed to be surrounding the peak of a mountain far off in the distance.

'How strange.' I don't think I was fully grasping the situation yet. And the fact that I could see the silhouette of a castle as well didn't help.

I was forced back into my head when I heard the distinct sound of a sword being drawn. What? I loved sword fighting movies.

"Who are you?" Those were the first words he ever said to me.

I whipped around and scrambled to my feet. There, standing in front of another seemingly random stone wall was a man. He was, much to my chagrin, at least three inches taller than me. That made him about six feet tall. He was wearing some weird medieval green tunic with a belt around his waist. Underneath his tunic was a tight, white long sleeve shirt that I later came to realize was the Hylian version of a muscle shirt. He was also wearing really tight white pants and brown boots.

I couldn't help the small smirk when I saw the white pants and ridiculous hat. However, when I looked into his bright, clear blue eyes, I found myself transfixed. What was it I had said before? Something about 'there was just something so transfixing about staring straight at imminent death.' Yeah, that.

I felt fear once again when I noticed the giant sword he held onto. He held it protectively in front of himself, glaring at me over its lethal tip. "Who are you?" he repeated, his perfect tenor voice reaching me easily.

"I-.." the words died in my throat when he moved his sword. My eyes darted between him and the hunk of metal. "Bye!" I spun around, ready to book it toward the mountain thing. Before I really even moved an inch, his sword was at my neck, and my back was forced against his chest. I whimpered and leaned my head back against his shoulder in an attempt to keep the blade from touching my neck.

'This is it! I somehow survived falling over a hundred feet into the water just to end up in some freaky random field and now I get my head chopped off!' My breaths were coming out short and desperate while his remained calm and even.

"I don't want to have to hurt you." His voice was right in my ear.

'Too close!' I squirmed in his grip, but he only tightened his hold on my hands and pressed his sword closer to me. "I-I'm…" He finally seemed to understand that he was scaring the freaking hell out of me and pulled his sword away. I didn't dare to sigh in relief, squeaking when he spun me around to face him once more. He sighed again and sheathed his sword, letting go of my hands in the process.

"I'm-" I never gave him the chance to finish. He yelled out in surprise and pain when I smashed my head up into his.

No one expects the head-butt! [True story. I've used it before ; ) ]

It took a second for my head to stop spinning, but when it finally did I once again took off running. This time however, I ran in the opposite direction, rushing past his still dazed form. The sun had suddenly become very hot and it was no easy task to run across this stupid field. When I stumbled for the tenth time I could finally hear him running behind me. I wasn't about to turn around and see how close he was, so I just pushed myself go faster. My sandals had fallen off a long time ago, lost forever to this mysterious field. The trees of the forest were still so far away!

That's when the darkness took me once more.

Link had just gotten finished fighting his way through the Forest Temple. Saria was now awakened as a Sage, and he was off to the next Temple. But first, he needed a break. No less than three days ago he awoke in the Temple of Time to find out he was seven years older. Not only had he been frozen in time for seven years, but because of him and Zelda trying to do everything on their own, Ganon had won.

"He went in right after me, Navi." Link sighed and leaned heavily against the brick wall. Why were all these random walls in the field anyway? "We destroyed Hyrule because we just had to do it ourselves."

"Link…." Navi didn't know what to say. It was true after all. She fluttered sadly over his head, going around in lazy slow circles. Link sighed again, making her feel even worse. She landed heavily on his head, laying on her stomach and throwing her tiny hands onto his forehead.

Link didn't know what to do. Just a few days ago he was ten! It was strange, being in this adult body. So many things were different.

"Hey! Look!" Navi flew off his head and began bouncing around.

"What?"

"There!"

Navi pointed a small finger up to the sky. Link's eyes widened when he saw the orb of light Navi was pointing to. It slowly grew bigger, then suddenly a girl appeared. She seemed to float in the air for a moment before falling to the ground. If Link hadn't been so shocked, he would have caught her. His eyes were still glued on the girl, even when she groaned in pain and curled into a ball. He took in her strange clothes, noticing that she wore pants. What kind of girl wore pants?

"Is this what Hell smells like?" He barely heard her muttered words, but only became more confused when he heard them.

'Hell?' he mouthed, Navi shrugging her shoulders and looking back to the girl. She was still sitting down, but she was looking around at everything. She seemed to be marveling at the sky for several minutes before turning her gaze to Death Mountain in the distance.

"What-" Link narrowed her eyes when he heard her strange accent. At least she seemed to speak Hylian, but why did she sound so weird? Was she Gerudo?

"Who are you?" Link immediately went on the defensive, pulling out his sword and bending his knees. 'She looks harmless enough, but I can't be careless.'

The girl twirled around, her long, light brown hair fanning out around her. Link found himself momentarily lost in her eyes. They were green, but green like the forest. He felt a pang of homesickness but brushed it off. 'FOCUS.'

She seemed to be taking his appearance in, her eyes stopping for a split second longer on his hat and pants. She smirked, but the smile quickly vanished from her face when Link glared and shifted his sword.

"Who are you?" he asked again, trying to sound scary. She actually looked frightened, and he instantly felt bad.

"I-" Link was about to put his sword away when she suddenly turned around and started to run. Before she even got an inch away from him, Link caught her. He grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back. Link jerked her body toward him, angling his sword toward her neck. She felt cold against him and he noticed the goose bumps covering her skin. She whimpered, bringing him back to the situation at hand, and leaned her head back against his shoulder. It fit perfectly into the groove of his neck. Link was stunned for a moment, a rush of hormones he still wasn't used to yet flooding through him.

'NO!' he reprimanded himself. Link shook it off and pressed his sword closer to her. "I don't want to have to hurt you." He leaned forward so she could hear him clearly. However, she squeaked a little and began to squirm against him. Link tightened his grip on her.

"I-I'm…" Link felt bad once again when he heard the fear in her voice.

'She didn't even get one step away when she tried to run,' he reasoned. 'She can't be that dangerous.' Link sighed and let go of her. He spun her around, then sheathed his sword, all the while watching her for any sudden movements. "I'm-" He was about to tell her his name when a determined look suddenly crossed her face. Before he could take his sword back out, she rammed her head into his. Link stumbled back, sore and dazed.

"Dammit!" He cursed to himself when he saw her blurry form darting away from him. She had no clue where she was going, yet she headed toward the forest. Most people stayed away from the forest, for the fear that it was cursed. But here she was, running straight for it.

When Link could finally see straight again, he took off running after her. She kept stumbling, even losing the weird shoes she wore during her flight. Link decided he had had enough of chasing her and pulled out his boomerang. With perfect aim, thanks to Navi, he threw it right at her head. She made a small noise before falling heavily to the ground.

Link stood over her body panting heavily. He was exhausted. All he had wanted to do was rest a bit before heading into Kakariko to see if he could find anything out about the next Temple he was supposed to visit.

"You should talk to Saria," Navi suggested, sitting right on the girls forehead.

"Yeah." Link took out his ocarina and flawlessly played her song.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" Link felt his heart warm slightly at the familiar voice.

"Saria!"

"Link? Is something wrong? I felt a strange power just a few moments ago."

"That's why I called you." Link explained what had happened, and after a few moments of silence, Saria finally answered.

"Bring her back to the forest. I can't stay long, but I'll try to figure something out. You don't sense any evil from her do you?"

"No, none. She's actually pretty weak." Link was already leaning over to pick her up. She was pretty light too.

"Okay…Just bring her back to your old house. I'll meet you there." Saria left then, leaving Link to bring the strange girl home.

"My old home," He muttered. Navi fluttered around him for a while, darting forward to inspect things every once in a while. Eventually, she got tired and flew back to Link, hiding inside of his tunic for a nap.

"Where was your home?" he wondered out loud, looking down at the girl in his arms.