Link didn't want to become the hero. In fact, he was scared and just wanted to go home with his new fairy partner, Navi. But things don't always work out that way for the heroes of Hyrule...
Danger lurks in his very shadow and heartbreak appears to...
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When they finally halted at the outside of the forest, the children tumbled out and went wild.
"We lived!" one little girl whooped and everyone cheered. One boy, who enjoyed making people laugh, ran up and hugged a tree.
"They still exist!" he shouted joyously. Link leaned against the cart, smiling and watching as Uli led a group of girls in a twirling dance. The younger ones cried and hugged each other and even some of the boys were misty eyed, although they tried not to let it show. Uli ran straight up to Link and kissed him, right on the mouth. Navi laughed and Link turned a brilliant shade of red.
"We never would have made it without you," she told him, her hands on his chest and her big blue eyes looking into his. "I'm sorry for shouting at you the other day. I was just frightened at what was going to happen to us. Please forgive me."
"Of course," Link replied, a little huskily. "I can't stay mad for long."
She took him by the hand and led him towards the forest's cool shade. "You look a little sad. Why?" she murmured to him.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Really," Link answered.
They wandered farther from the group until their shouts were faraway and soft.
"No you're not. I mean, you're all beat up and stuff; I'm sort of surprised that you're even standing. But something is bugging you. I can just tell, you know?" She turned and held both of his hands in her own. "What's wrong?"
Link sighed and bowed his head. "I know there's a lot to be sad about, but also a lot to rejoice over. I just feel confused about which one I should show the most, you know? Whenever I smile, I see Beetle and remember that he's gone forever, so I stop smiling. But when I just sort of stand on the side and watch everyone being happy, I feel like a killjoy. I just..." He shook his head. "I don't know, really. Everything's so messed up and mixed up that I can hardly sort through my own feelings. A little girl should never have to call to her friends that they're still alive. As wonderful as it is to be alive, they shouldn't ever be forced to think about death. I...I feel like this is all somehow my fault. If Beetle was here..."
Uli took him by the side of the face and gently bumped foreheads with him. "It's not your fault, Link. Everything that's happened, it's just a terrible fate, thrust upon each and every one of us. And everyone has to deal with it in a different way, in their own way. Depending on how you deal with it, it will make you who you are someday. What path are you going to take Link? And it's not a rhetorical question either."
"I..." Link felt even more confused then before. Uli was right, and he knew it. Decisions made him who he was. If he'd declined helping the Deku Tree, he'd still be in the Lost Woods. If he'd backed out of running up that wall, he, Navi, and Lenae would all be dead and he would have never become a Lon-Lon. "I want to help them. I want to be the one who gets everyone out of this kind of stuff, but I always just land myself in trouble when I do. Or I make it worse, or do something stupid. Like putting on that mask. I nearly killed them, and I didn't even mean to! And while I was fighting off a bokoblin, I had this freaky flashback of something I did while I was inside the Deity. And I did it again, except it was...me this time and I couldn't...I just...I hate it. I hate hurting them. The bokoblin who gave this to me? I murdered his brother." He nodded towards the ivory charm. "If only we could speak the same language, I could tell him that I was sorry. He wouldn't have given me anything then, I'm certain. He would've tried to kill me for it."
