Ch. 3 of this thing I'm working on.

[KirbyVictorious]

'Tis a--now don't run away now, please?--Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; and LOZ: Majora's Mask fanfic.

Now I know you might not know what Ocarina of Time is about, or maybe won't remember, so I'm going to explain everything you need to know before you read--it isn't much. You dno't even have to read it; I try my best to explain everything in the story itself. But do if you want.

*spoilers*

Link is between 9 and 11--I think it's 11--and lives in Kokiri Forest until the Deku Tree, guardian of all the forest's inhabitants, asks him to go inside the tree and free him of a curse. Link does so, Tree sends Link on a quest to find Princess Zelda, Tree dies. Link finds Zelda, she sends him to run errands for her, blah blah blah...and eventually Link meets Ganondorf, who is after Zelda and her power and whatnot. to make a long story short, what he wants (power of the gods in physical form) lies in the temple of Time, which has super-secutiry on it--you need all the stuff Zelda made Link get, plus you need to be of a proper age to become the Hero of time, because only the Hero can touch the Master Sword, which acts as a key.

Link was nowhere near the proper age, so he was put to sleep in the temple for seven years, emerging when he was 16-18; he found that Ganondorf had taken over the world with the power that Link unwittingly unlocked for him, and went on a quest to stop him by finding and freeing seven sages. Before he could discover the seventh one, Zelda summoned him from her hiding place for the past seven years and revealed that she was the last sage--and then ganondorf kidnapped her. So melodrama, dungeon, blah blah, and then Link and Ganondorf have it out. Of course Link wins, and Zelda and the sages seal him into the dark realm, where the power of the gods had once been. Then Zelda feels guilty for stealing link's life, pretty much, so she sends him back to his eleventh year so he can live his life properly this time. We see nothing after that but the Master Sword in its place, a peaceful Hyrule, and Link meeting Princess Zelda for the first time--again.

I mention Nabooru, who was a sage (I may be wrong, but I think to be a proper sage you have to die) and rupees, which are Hyrule's currency (also India's, but not important.) Green rupees are the smallest of amounts, and I think they're worth something like a nickel or dime.

Not entirely confusing, really. And then comes Majora's Mask, which you don't really need to know anything about--basically Link goes to look for his fairy (everyone's got one) and gets lost, and ends up in Hyrule's alter-world or soemthign like that.

Anyway, brief background over. On with the story!

(I'm trying to create a new vision of Link--Link-the-somewhat-coward, Link-the-child-who-acts-like-a-child, which people don't do often, truthfully. Also, Deja vu is a major thing in Majora's Mask, because Termina is supposed to be like a crappy xerox-job of Hyrule with freaky rules and people, and it's something I have to deal with a lot. stare Nice to let it out.)  

[KirbyVictorious]

I remember the first time I stayed over at Malon’s when I was eleven—in mind and body. It was fall, and her ranch was covered in fallen leaves and frost; she taught me how to ride a pony all day, and when the sun went down we sat by the fire while her dad made us apple pie. She asked me if I liked it, and I nodded—I didn’t even know what it was—but the moment I tasted it, I knew I hadn’t done it justice. Nothing, nothing at all that had ever been in my mouth had tasted so sweet and hot and wonderful. It was better than sweet spring water from the Lost Woods over fresh strawberries; it was better than anything that could ever have come from Kokiri Forest.

No matter what happens to me, I hope that I will never, never forget that day…there are so many memories I don’t want to lose, but they keep slipping away like grains of sand….

Déjà vu.

In Hylian there was no word to describe the unsettling familiarity, the eerie feeling of I’ve done this before, but I can’t remember when. Giving a word to it would not have helped Link much—he still wouldn’t have remembered when or why. But maybe it would have been a little more bearable to know how to explain it.

There were many feelings his vocabulary didn’t have the ability to define: déjà vu, a sort of distracting buzz in the back of his head saying something’s wrong, but I don’t know what, and the odd sensation of living a lie, having a mismatched body and brain—one too old, the other too young. But there was one feeling that dominated the rest, a feeling he knew and could sum up very well: fear.

He had first known fear when he had seen monsters in his home, Kokiri Forest, things with no souls and darkness dripping out of them as he’d fought them off wildly with his fragile shield and tiny dagger. However, he was stronger than most of them, and the fear lessened over time; he could do it with no more fear or guilt than cracking open an empty nut, for that was all they were.

But then he had seen the demons’ queen, Gohma, a curse in the shape of an enormous spider…. He’d frozen, and only the thought of the Deku tree, guardian demigod of his home, and the knowledge that the spider was sucking the life out of him could galvanize him into action. As Gohma had died and crumbled away he’d fallen to the ground, his rapid heartbeats rocking his entire body, paralyzed by the mere thought of the monster.

Over time the larger creatures as well failed to scare him; occasionally one would come at him with the shape and agility of a sentient being, and only when he saw the darkness that composed them was he able to strike. They were all hollow, mere puppets of something bigger; killing them meant nothing. They usually came back later anyway, refusing to remain defeated for long.

Link had seen no worse injuries than a bruised cheek before his eleventh year, but in his journeys after that he saw violence everywhere he went. Homes, cities, cultures destroyed; people disappearing and died; people being used by darkness and cursed by hatred—this frightened him as well, and he wouldn’t have been able to go on if he hadn’t reminded himself that he could help, he could defeat the monsters that hurt people…and thank the goddesses that he hadn’t hurt anyone….

…yet.

There was Nabooru, of course…she had been used as a puppet by two witches…he’d seen only the darkness and attacked, failing to recognize her beneath her armor and shroud of evil. And she had died…he had not killed her directly, but it was his fault. Again, he had to convince himself of his own virtue before he could go on…. Nabooru had been used by the witches, who served Ganondorf, the creator of all the monsters and misfortune in Hyrule. By killing the witches, he was hurting Ganondorf, and the closer he came to killing the evil king, the better.

And he finally had…. Nothing, nothing at all could have prepared him for that battle.

Fighting for one’s life is not like fighting an inferior monster, or even a larger and smarter demon; Ganondorf’s creations were made with barely a fraction of his overall strength, none really equal matches for Link as he had grown and improved. They all had had a weak spot, a way to be defeated that required only speed, intellect, and a special tool. After so many hits they were dead; all he had to do was find the flaw and pummel it a few times.

But Ganondorf was a mortal being, shrewd and strong, constantly changing strategy and moving with frightening speed. Link had felt panic closing in on him, dulling his senses and reactions, and could only think, I’m going to fail, I’m going to die, he’s going to kill me, as he dodged, blocked, and scored clumsy hits wherever he could.

And he’d gotten away…for a time. He and the Princess Zelda had run, but Ganondorf had caught up…he had trapped them and unleashed unnatural power to transform himself into something resembling an enormous beast. And again he’d moved erratically, unpredictably, and violently, crashing after Link and swiping at him with eighteen-inch claws when he tried to gain some distance, but he was blind, thoughtless, consumed by darkness, and this made it easier for Link to destroy him. Princess Zelda and her sages had locked him away for good, and peace had returned to Hyrule.

And that’s when Link’s memories ended. He had found himself drifting around in a strange place, everything in his mind a blur; all he could remember were the strongest memories, like apple pie, meeting eleven-year-old Zelda for the first time, Gohma, Ganondorf. They stood out, lucid and bright against a myriad of unfocused images.

He knew Zelda had sent him back so he could live his live properly this time, as an eleven-year-old boy should. The threat to Hyrule was over; the fear should be gone for good.

So then…why was he still afraid?

And he was, he truly was…. He found himself eleven and vulnerable, with only his short dagger for protection, surrounded by monsters, darkness, and déjà vu—the unfamiliar combined with the familiar. Ganondorf haunted his dreams and lurked on the periphery of his thoughts; he skulked behind trees and walls, waited for Link in the darkness. Link ran away from him, wishing desperately for better memories to drown Ganondorf’s out; he became convinced that Ganondorf had escaped the Sacred Realm and was after him, and Link was not eighteen or strong or brave anymore—he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t beat him this time, not in this strange place so close to and yet so far from his beloved Hyrule. The fear heightened, strengthened, tainted every breath and footstep and set him constantly on the edge.

Link was a foreigner in his own homeland, a native in a place filled with strangers…and no matter what he did or where he went, he was always, always afraid.  

[Oukow]

Kirby, I love you even more- which I thought was impossible- but I so...soo...SO love your more than I did before I read this.

A Legened of Zelda fanfic....?
I am...at a lost for words!

I knew of Link since I was a like four years old! We have those games on the Nitendo 64~! ANd I'm currently at the second temple in Majora's Mask. {<.<; due to the fact that I can now comprehend what to do, I'm actaully going to try to beat the game, unlike other times}

So far, this is completely awesome. Your words as always are wonderfully used. I love the line but they keep slipping away like grains of sand and the idea of starting out with the character's memory is something I've always liked.

I cannot wait for more; I'd love to see this new vision of somewhat coward Link/Link who acts like a child more.

Kirby, you are my hero, not Link. {though I still and will always find him awesome >w<}

xoxox
heart  

[KirbyVictorious]

heart heart heart

I layed OoT first when I was 7 >< and was in love with it sense. Did you know that my gamecube (which has Wind Waker and the collector's edition and Twilight princess >< and not much else) has lasted for SIX YEARS?!?!?

I'm glad that you like it. >w< YAY! I get to be a hero!

PS: if you need help wth Majora's Mask, i've beaten it. ninja althoguh the second time, I got stuck in the fourth temple....still haven't beaten it, because I have like three hours to kill this thing before I have tos tart all over again.  

[BlackHawkGS]

Link is eleven? See, I thought I read somewhere that he was suppose to be 9, but that never made much sense... oh well.

YES, I LOVE THE OCARINA OF TIME! That and Majora's Mask have to be some of the best stories ever told. I actually prefer the ending of Majora's Mask more, because it just gets insane towards the end... but yeah.

Anyway, great writing as usual. A few nitpicky things:

-A few of the ending paragraphs all started with "and". Just repetitive. Nothing big.
- Sages had to die? Because I'm pretty sure Saria was still alive through all of that and she was a sage. But I could be wrong.
- Link stayed the night at Malon's? eek Link is such a pimp.

And I find something strange about Zelda letting Link go back in relive his memories. Technically, seven years after Zelda sends him back as a kid to go relive his life, won't the original Link wake up in the Temple of Time and Ganondorf will take over the world? What will happen to the new Link that's suppose to be reliving his life? Does he just go into hiding and wait for the old Link to go through the adventure of waking the seven sages, etc?

Yeah... not sure if that made sense. Just something that's bugged me for awhile.

Otherwise, good job! Looks like it'll be epic.  

[Oukow]

Six years? =o wow... We had to get a new one last year, but twas a gift and reused so a win.

I will keep thiat in mind next time I ever get stuck! 3nodding

I've played WInd Waker, but since it was being borrowed, I never got to finish it... =/ ;~;  

[KirbyVictorious]

BlackHawkGS

Link is eleven? See, I thought I read somewhere that he was suppose to be 9, but that never made much sense... oh well.

YES, I LOVE THE OCARINA OF TIME! That and Majora's Mask have to be some of the best stories ever told. I actually prefer the ending of Majora's Mask more, because it just gets insane towards the end... but yeah.

Anyway, great writing as usual. A few nitpicky things:

-A few of the ending paragraphs all started with "and". Just repetitive. Nothing big.
- Sages had to die? Because I'm pretty sure Saria was still alive through all of that and she was a sage. But I could be wrong.
- Link stayed the night at Malon's? eek Link is such a pimp.

And I find something strange about Zelda letting Link go back in relive his memories. Technically, seven years after Zelda sends him back as a kid to go relive his life, won't the original Link wake up in the Temple of Time and Ganondorf will take over the world? What will happen to the new Link that's suppose to be reliving his life? Does he just go into hiding and wait for the old Link to go through the adventure of waking the seven sages, etc?

Yeah... not sure if that made sense. Just something that's bugged me for awhile.

Otherwise, good job! Looks like it'll be epic.

Starting sentences with conjunctions is a bad habit/fetish of mine. I just like the way it SOUNDS.

Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask are the absolute greatest video games ever made. I only wish Majora's Mask wasn't so effing hard; I can't beat it without the guide and even with it Twinmold defeats me stare

I'm pretty sure sages have to die. They always get kidnapped by/go to fight the boss, and they usually aren't there when you finally arrive. Nabooru, Darunia, Ruto, Saria, and IMpa all just mysteriously disappeared, and Saria said that she'd never see Link again....sigh. I'm pretty sure they died.

Link is kind of a pimp when Malon's concerned, though not in the MM part of the fanfic...which is most of it. Because Romani is really smoking something in MM...can't blame poor Link, really.

Zelda stole seven years of Link's life indirectly so he could be her b***h and save her country for her, so she felt it was only fair to send Link back. BUt the Dark Realm transcends the space/time continuum obviously, because when she sent him back Ganondorf was still locked away. Thus, he could have a normal life and do as he pleased without doing Zelda's chores every few minutes. That's my interpretation of it....

Yay! Epic! I love it when people use that word. >w<

And Krissy, you WILL get stuck wink just let me know and I shall help.

Wind Waker was awesome, it was the first Zelda I ever beat. >< When I played OoT it was only for a few minutes, mostly I just watched my cousin slaughter helpless things.  

[KirbyVictorious]

Chapter One: Clock Town
Link found himself outside a familiar city. Clock Town, said the sign by the gate, though he wasn’t sure why he could read the strange lettering.
It was made out of the wrong stone, said his brain, and there was no drawbridge or castle. He couldn’t say why the city should have these things; all he knew was that the tower rising over the walls seemed wrong, obtrusive. And yet it was familiar, eerily so; he’d seen it before. Déjà vu.
He didn’t want to go in there; he was scared of it and wanted very much to run away. But there were monsters out here, and he was too hungry to keep fighting….
He braced himself with a breath and a firm grip on his dagger, and stepped through the gate; blinking in confusion at the sudden light and noise, he kept carefully in the shadows as he absorbed the strange city.
The tower was bulky, thick, and just WRONG altogether; it was a clock tower, an institution that he was very unused to, yet seemed somehow fitting for this city. It was a maze of a place, with alleys and plazas and streets thrown together and high walls surrounding it all, shops and stalls crowded together as life flooded through the narrow channels. The people that passed him without a glance were strangers, there was no doubt of that; he knew nothing about them, not even a name…and yet he felt that he’d seen them all before. He saw things like Hylians, yes, but also rock creatures, fish creatures, strange little things here and there that no one paid attention to—they were something new and frightening, yet he was as unsurprised as the city folk to see them. Though strange, that they should be in a Hylian town….
Link followed his feet and found that he knew where he was going. The layout of the city was ingrained in his mind, just not a part that he could conjure up and view as he wished; it was more a sort of memorized path that his feet would remember long after his mind forgot. He remained in the shadows as much as he could as he passed a patch of grassy land like a park that was familiar, with a bench and a playground that was not; he followed an alleyway down several turning, labyrinthine paths and emerged into a bright and bustling plaza.
A platform rose in the center of the plaza with stairs attached—obviously a place where public announcements were made. Behind it was the clock tower’s entrance, and in its shadow was a little stream that flowed straight through a grille in its wall. A few stalls lined an entrance out of the city, the venders calling to shoppers as they brandished their wares. Link smelled something like cinnamon—like warm apple pie—and couldn’t bear his hunger anymore. He scurried through the crowds, out of place in his green Kokiri tunic and hat and tough little boots; it did not help that no one in the city was carrying a weapon of any kind, either. Mothers with their children edged warily away from him, and he felt many harsh, curious, or frightened stares at his back as he approached the stall.
Warm baked apples with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled generously over them; Link’s mouth watered at the sight and smell of the food. He was too small to be noticed by the busy vendor, who only saw him after he had slipped the apple off the platter and taken a heaven-soaked bite. Wonderful, so wonderful, so like apple pie and yet so different…déjà vu, but in a good way….
“Hey,” snapped the vendor, glaring down at him—what a strange accent he had, and the language filled Link with even more overwhelming déjà vu; like his but not like his. “You gonna pay for that, kid?”
Pay…oh, yes. Link had forgotten about money. He dug in his bag for rupees he was not entirely sure were there; but to his surprise, he found quite a bit of them piled together at the bottom. He took a few green rupees out and set them carefully on the stall, keeping his eyes down.
The vendor scooped up the tiny green rupees and frowned at them, and Link, afraid, opened his mouth to ask if that was enough….
…but nothing came out.
Link tried again, his eyes widening in fear—nothing happened, nothing moved, his vocal chords remained still and silent…he tried desperately to form a word, one word, but all that came out was a hoarse, shaky breath…oh goddesses, oh goddesses, he couldn’t speak—
The vendor grabbed the front of his shirt, and suddenly Link found himself dangling two feet off the ground with their noses pressed together. “What in the Dark Realm is wrong with you?” the vendor snarled. “What is this? What, you think you can pay with pretty colored glass, kid?”
Link tried to cry out, but nothing happened; he was mute, unable to explain or understand. Why was this happening to him?!
“Hey! Answer me!” the vendor growled, shaking him hard—Link’s vision blurred with the motion and sudden burning tears, and he kicked and struggled and made motions with his mouth that were supposed to create sound of some sort, but didn’t. The baked apple slipped from his fingers as fear overtook him….
But the apple never hit the ground; Link’s honed ears heard nothing falling underfoot. As he realized this he was suddenly released; he landed on his feet and reoriented himself at once to see a strange man pulling the vendor politely back. The new man walked with a slight hunch beneath a bulky haversack, a broad grin situated permanently on his face, his bright eyes staring at everything at once; and Link’s apple was in his hand.
“Hehehehehe,” chuckled the man—the hairs on the back of Link’s neck rose at the sound. “There’s no need to be so…VIOLENT, is there?” He dug into his pocket and pulled out what looked like four ordinary green rupees, only Link sensed at once that they were strange currency quite different from his own. “There, no harm done.” He handed Link his apple, which he took and bit automatically, his heart still pounding in his chest. “Come along,” said the man, beckoning with a finger and turning away. He strode toward the clock tower in an odd way reminiscent of Gohma, but Link could see no more darkness than usual in him—still, was he expected to follow this stranger?
But the vendor was still glaring at him, and there was nowhere else to go, so Link, on his toes and preparing to run away at the slightest provocation, followed closely behind the strange man as he led him through the entrance of the tower.
The man closed the double doors behind him and gestured to the inner doorstep, his pale hand flashing in the dark. “Why don’t you sit and eat?” he offered. Link was too tired and hungry to argue; he flopped onto the step and started decimating his breakfast, munching on every bit of edible fruit including a good bit of the core and sucking dry whatever was left as his eyes grew accustomed to the dark.
“My, you were hungry, weren’t you?” the man said with another approving chuckle. “Stay put, and I’ll bring you some more—don’t move, now, that would be very unappreciative.”
Link nodded—if he was getting fed, he wasn’t going anywhere. His hunger dulled his sensed, and his dagger gave him too much confidence—he had never heard of poison in Hyrule, and wouldn’t have thought of it now regardless.
The man chuckled and disappeared, the light temporarily blinding Link as he watched him go.
Stomach still growling, Link turned and took a good look around the room. All he could see in the gloom was a metal railing leading downward and then turning. Curious, he stood and placed his hand on it, following it down a sloping path and around a hairpin curve. Down here was the stream he’d seen before, which turned a few gears and levers bigger than he was; these continued upward until he could no longer see them. A bridge crossed the stream, but all there was on the other side were a few patches of fungi and a door.
Link crossed to the door and took a good look at it. For some reason he could not fathom, he wanted very much to go inside it; but there was no handle, gap, or hollow for his hands, and no matter how he pushed and shoved it was as unmovable as the stone it was made of. He stood there and stared at it for a long time, fighting back tears again; first he was trapped here, and then he was suddenly mute, and now this….
The door leading to Clock Town opened, and the man’s voice called him. He jumped and hurried away from the door, the smell of food beckoning him irresistibly. The man offered him a clay plate piled with food and chuckled yet again as Link sat down to devour it.
“I did tell you to stay put,” said the man. “You mustn’t go wandering around down there, a gear could fall and crush you or the stream could sweep you away. You are a rather curious child…. Heheheheh.”
Link nodded, too busy eating to ask questions. A dozen different delicious things were piled in front of him, many that he could not even begin to describe—he ate every bit of it except a few bite-sized pieces of what looked like grilled fish; Kokiri did not eat meat. The man did not miss a single detail.
“You don’t eat living creatures, do you?” He chuckled. “Yes, I thought you wouldn’t.” He watched Link lick his fingers for a moment. “I knew that you were from the Forest the moment I saw you.”
Link froze with his finger in his mouth; he removed it, wiped his hands carefully on his tunic, and looked expectantly up at the man with his hand set firmly on his dagger. The man grinned and chuckled.
“Yes, I know where you’re from, and I know how you got here, and how you can go back. But don’t be too hasty now—” the man wagged a finger at Link as he jumped to his feet. “I didn’t say I would tell you.”
Link scowled at him and drew his dagger halfway—he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“None of that,” said the man calmly. “Allow me to introduce myself.” He held out a hand for Link to shake, which he merely glared at. “I am the Happy Mask Salesman, traveling from place to place, from world to world to sell my wares. To Hyrule, to Termina—what does it matter? All have wonderful wonderful masks to buy and sell.” He bowed with a flourish. “And you, young sir?”
Link could only blink at him, feeling frustration simmer within him as he was forced to remain silent.
“Ah, I see.” The Salesman nodded. “You can’t talk. That’s fine, just fine—silence is sometimes needed to contemplate the mysteries of the world.”
Link scowled at him.
“Do you remember how you came to Termina?” the Salesman inquired politely. Link thought about it, then shook his head—he really couldn’t say he did. “Well, I can remember it clearly; it was just a few days ago. You came out of that stone door downstairs—Hey!”
Link heard nothing after that—he took off and ran, skidding down the path until he smacked into the door. He started pounding it with all of his strength until the skin on his hands split and started to bleed; why wouldn’t it open, why wouldn’t it open?
He stopped, panting, and threw a desperate, hateful glance at the door and at his bleeding hands. As he fought the urge to cry, clenching his fists against or perhaps in spite of the pain, a tall, thin shadow fell across him.
“If you would have let me finish,” the Salesman said patiently, “I would have told you that it sealed behind you. Quite troublesome, really; I use that door to travel from Hyrule to Termina and back again. Now, I can open it again, of cou—”
The Salesman chuckled as Link swiveled around, the dagger point quivering at the Salesman’s stomach. “I can,” he repeated, “but quite truthfully I do not want to. You see,” he continued, ignoring Link’s dangerous glare, “something was stolen from me. And something was stolen from you too, young Kokiri—do you remember what?”
This threw Link off quite a bit; he faltered and blinked, trying to remember. And suddenly he did, and felt the unmistakable pang of loss clench his stomach—he jerked his bag open so hard that a few stitches split and started rummaging wildly through it. Where was it, where was it, where was the Ocarina of Time?!
“The ocarina?” queried the Salesman with a knowing smile. “Yes, I saw you fighting with him for it; he stole your pony too, you know, a pretty copper thing. I was coming out of Termina, you see, my businesses completed for a time—this door leads right into the Lost Woods, do you know of them? Yes, you would; the Kokiri are a wonderfully friendly people by the way. But I saw you from the shadows—he ambushed you and stole the ocarina and the horse, and you chased after him through here…he put a dreadful curse on you, you know, but nothing I couldn’t handle with the Song of Healing. And I saw him coming and made to stop him—I recognized you, of course, the princess declared you a knight—” She did? I don’t remember…. “—and I like to keep up with the news. But he attacked me too, the dreadful ruffian, and stole…he stole….” The Salesman’s face suddenly transformed with fury. “HE STOLE MY MASK!”
Link started and backed away as the Salesman started to pull at his hair and rock back and forth with anger and grief. “My mask, my beloved mask, the one mask I would never sell! Majora’s Mask! He took it, he took it, the DIRTY THIEF!”
Link blinked in confusion as the Salesman sobbed for a bit, and then the minor breakdown was over; the Salesman stood tall again, wide, eerie smile back in place.
“Do you know of the Majora’s Mask?”
Link shook his head.
“Then I shall tell you. Many ages ago, there was a tribe called the Majora that practiced dark and evil arts in the names of false gods. They were wicked and cruel, and showed no mercy to themselves or any other; with their black magic they created a Mask that contained their darkest powers and would bring out the evil in any being who wore it, strengthening him until he had enough power to match the gods. It was a terrible power that no mortal should possess, and the Majora were destroyed because of it.
“Now, never mind how I got that mask, but it’s very valuable and my favorite, really—and I desperately need it back. Young man, how about a deal—if you find that fiend and get back my Mask, I will open the door for you and lead you back home. Will you do it?”
Before he had even finished speaking, Link was nodding fervently. Simple, it would be too easy…all he had to do was fight one monster and he could leave!
“There is a slight problem, though….” The Salesman was still smiling, but in another sort of way entirely. Link’s stomach plummeted. “You see, I need to leave here in three days from tomorrow, young man, because in three days this world will not be a very happy place. Yet I cannot leave without my Mask—if it does not leave his hands and return to mine, it will not matter which world I am in—both will be very unhappy places indeed, and I do not like unhappy things. So if you do not return with the mask in three days, I will be forced to leave you behind. Is that clear?”
Link nodded and swallowed, suddenly nervous—three days?! How was he supposed to find the thief in three days? And he didn’t even know who he was….
“Good. All you have to do is find that wretched Skull Kid—do you know the Skull Kid?” Link, surprised, nodded—the spirit in the Lost Woods had been the mysterious ally in many of his games. “Ah, yes, I thought you might. He is not the same as before; he is twisted and evil from the Mask’s influence. You must get it away from him at any costs, young man, or he could very easily destroy the world. In fact, I’d say he’s already begun.”
Link gulped again. The Salesman smiled. “As I said, the world will not be a happy place in three days. Shall I show you why?”
He took Link by the shoulder and led him across the bridge, up the pathway, and through the doors. Link winced at the bright sunlight as the Salesman led him to the base of the platform in the plaza outside, stopped him, and turned him around.
“Now look up,” the Salesman commanded.
Link did, shading his eyes against the dying sun—and screamed silently, screamed and screamed in fear as Ganondorf’s yellow eyes glared down at him.  

[Voxxx]

heart  

[[.Disposable Dweeb.]]

I was a lot more familliar with Majora's Mask and I must say you are doing a great job. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.  

[Galladonsfire]

Yes, this is a very detailed description of LoZ MM. It really gives a outlook of how it were if you were Link in a way Way to go! Also on the Déjà vu part, being as I experiance Déjà vu quite often, I can see where this would really play a huge role in the entire LoZ series. Déjà vu is almost like 2 realities but you remember it so so clearly allready happening. Almost like something from a dream.... Exellent Job!!!  

[Oukow]

As you would say it Kirby..... SQUEE!!!

That Mask Seller always has given me the creeps. >< And you did a good job with writing him, he also gives me the creeps.

Yay! For Chapter One! heart  

[KirbyVictorious]

Chapter Two

(wondering if I should move this. Maybe when I stop being lazy, and can prove I'll keep it up. But it's getting so much publicity here! emo )

Anyway.


Chapter Two: Fairies
The yellow eyes were watching him.
Link averted his eyes from the giant meteor hanging in the sky. It resembled a giant sphere of rock with an evil face etched into the surface and yellow eyes that followed Link wherever he went. It was Termina’s moon, and since the Skull Kid had come to possess Majora’s Mask it was always in the sky, day or night. It was getting bigger by the day; in three days it would be gone.
Three days…three days to find that stupid mask, three days to get out of here, three days to live. If the Salesman—and every superstitious Terminian in the town—were correct, then in three days the world would be destroyed. And as the Salesman had carefully explained, Termina and Hyrule were so deeply connected that if one should be destroyed, the other one would eventually follow.
Link checked his bag yet again for his ocarina—nothing. The only things in there were the things he needed to survive—tinder, matches, food (a gift from the Salesman) and money. The Salesman had gladly taken the money—supposedly given to Link by Princess Zelda when she had supposedly knighted him—and exchanged it for currency that he could use in Termina. He had taken a bit more than he had given back for himself, but Link didn’t mind—he owed the Salesman his life…and his service.
Why did he have to be brought here? Why, why, WHY?! Things followed him in the darkness…they watched him with yellow eyes as he tried to sleep…he found it impossible and strolled restlessly down the city’s alleys for awhile, but they still followed even when he had started to run….
Eventually he was too exhausted to move anymore. He chose a resting place—a sort of garden with a pool and a chorus of frogs—and curled up beneath a bench, shivering with cold fear. The things grew braver and drew closer, closer, closer, until they could almost touch him, but they didn’t; they just stood around him and mocked him.
Leave me alone, he would have said, had he possessed the power of speech again. Get away from me….
He could not kill them…he could not even see them. He was completely at their mercy. As more came, as they closed in on him, he started to cry—why was all of this happening to him? After all he’d done, why couldn’t he just be happy in his forest?
As he curled up and sobbed with fear beneath the bench, something happened to the dark spirits—they seemed to back away from something nearby, very slightly, and then disperse altogether. Link felt their absence and looked up—a tiny sphere of light was dancing away and back again, hesitating, little gossamer wings fluttering anxiously behind it.
Link squinted at it for a long time. Navi? he whispered.
Navi, or whoever the fairy was, drew back again, then grew bolder and approached him. He sat up, scrubbing tears from his eyes, and held out his hand for her.
Navi! he thought—he didn’t need to speak aloud for her. Though he may have gotten a fairy very late in life, they were just as deeply connected as any of the Kokiri pairs. Where have you been, Navi? I’ve been looking all over for you….
And he had been, he recalled—he’d been in the Lost Woods because he had been looking for her. Somehow, when he’d been sent back in time, she had disappeared. He had felt empty and sad without her….
The fairy finally spoke…and her voice, to his dismay, was familiar—and unfamiliar. She was not Navi at all. “Um,” she said softly, “are you okay?”
He sighed, drew his hand back, and shook his head, turning away so he wouldn’t have to face her.
“I…I’m really sorry about what happened…before…really, I am…he made me do it! Well…not really….”
Link arched an eyebrow at the fairy, confused. She seemed startled; her wings flew rigidly upward.
“Don’t you remember? In the Lost Woods…?”
Link shook his head, slowly this time. The fairy shrank in defeat.
“Oh…you don’t remember anything? Okay then…. Um…I’m Tatl. My brother Tael and I…we…we WERE friends with Skull Kid, but then he started doing awful things…Tael’s still with him though, so I can find him, easy! And…I’ve been following you—don’t be mad!—and I think you can get that Mask away from Skull Kid…you can, can’t you?”
Link stared at her.
“Can’t you talk?” Tatl asked him warily. He shook his head. “Oh…I’m sorry…. But, well, do you wanna know where Skull Kid is or not?”
Link sighed and nodded—if he was ever going to get out of here, he’d better get started.
“All right…I know where he is, but I don’t know how to get there and…and no offense! …but I don’t know if you can beat Skull Kid now. He’s gotten too strong…but I can help,” Tatl said quickly as Link glared at her. “I’ll take you to the Great Fairy, she’ll help you out! And she’s really smart, she has great advice…come on!”
Tatl bobbed away, then turned back and seemed to beckon him; he sighed again and reluctantly followed. At least her light kept the monsters away….
“...and maybe the Great Fairy can help you talk again…or she can at least tell me your name…..” Tatl chattered on as she led him through the sleeping city. Link tried his best not to look up at the glowering moon as he made his way to the part of town he had entered from, where the small park and an inconspicuous hole in the wall lay. Tatl led him to the hole and bossed him around until he crawled through, following him to the other side.
It was instantly cool, but in a good way; he shivered not from the cold, but from the intangible yet obvious excess of magic in the air. The muddy ground disappeared a few feet away beneath a pathway of stone, leading to a circular cavern with a clear pool resting within. Link approached the pool cautiously, reaching out his hand to touch one of a million little golden specks like miniature Tatls that flitted and darted through the air.
“Oh no!” squealed Tatl. “Great Fairy, what happened to you?”
And a broken, hoarse voice answered, the echo of a grander woman’s: “Tatl…Tatl, is it…you?”
“Great Fairy, I’m here, I’m here! Who did this to you?!”
“Skull…Kid…I underest…imated…his power….”
“SKULL KID!” Tatl glowed red with fury. “Don’t worry, Great Fairy, I brought you someone that can help! See, here he is!”
The little golden specks congregated in the center of the fountain and carefully approached Link, swirling around him in a golden haze; he tried not to breathe any in. His stomach churned, and he felt sick—how was this helping him? What could the Great Fairy do in this state? He recalled the Great Fairies of Hyrule, the ones who had blessed him with power and weapons, and shuddered as he looked again at the myriad of golden specks.
“The Hero,” murmured the Great Fairy’s voice. “I can help you, Hero, but first you must help me…find the last piece of me hiding in this city, quickly, and I will aid you.”
Link wanted to mutter something very rude indeed, but he could not speak. He’d wasted seven years of his life before doing errands for supposed royals…he hadn’t minded at the time, but now all he felt was bitterness.
The Great Fairy’s fragments moved closer to him. “You must be brave, Link,” she told him softly. “You must believe in the good of what you’re doing, or soon you will cease to be on the right side of the battle.”
Link stared at his boots, puzzled—what did she mean? What battle, and what did it matter which side he was on?”
“Selfish desires are what caused this darkness,” she whispered to him. “Now go, find my last fragment…then I will help you, but first you must help yourself.”
She withdrew; Link backed clumsily away and turned to run—anything to get away from that eerie echoing voice, the whispering demon that wanted him to turn against himself…he had never been brave, but he WAS good…he WAS….
He scurried out of the cave and ran to the park with Tatl close behind, climbing onto the playground and burrowing himself into a corner. He shivered with the sudden cold, feeling tears p***k his eyes again…what did she know, the stupid fairy, she wasn’t even a whole person….
He immediately felt sickened by his own cruelty—what was the matter with him? The self-doubt made it worse; he didn’t know who he was anymore.
“Hey!” Tatl bobbed in front of him, wings fluttering in agitation. “What are you doing? We have to find that last piece, the Great Fairy said so!”
Link brushed her away and hid his face…he was still so tired….
“Please, Link? You can sleep after, I swear…. PLEASE, Link, she needs you, you couldn’t feel how much pain she’s in! Please!”
It MUST hurt, to be shattered into a thousand pieces…Link shuddered at the thought and hugged himself more tightly, wishing the darkness would go away.
“Please, Link? I can’t do it without you…you gotta help me beat Skull Kid, Link, he’s got my brother convinced that he’s right and my baby brother…he can’t know any better…please, Link….”
A good person, said Link’s mind, would do it—a truly good person would get up and put their own needs aside for everyone else. The Fairy’s words whispered across his mind—selfish desires are what caused this darkness—and he felt sicker than before. What was happening to him? Why couldn’t he be like he used to; why wouldn’t he just help her?
He hated the sadness in her voice, hated the thought of being selfish and evil…. So he pushed himself up, dusted himself off, and stared at his feet, waiting for Tatl to say something.
She bounced with excitement and happiness, and for a moment he felt that all this might be worth it somehow. “Great! That’s great! C’mon, Link, I think I already know where to start!”
She took off, and he ran after her, wishing more than anything for the sweet relief of sleep. He forced himself to keep his eyes open, searching for the tiny golden speck in the darkness. Tatl led him through all four parts of the city, zooming this way and that and searching in tiny places that he could not reach. He fell behind, and she slowed; but even so, he was too tired to go on before they saw any trace of the fairy piece.
He sank to the ground and rested his head against the cool stone of an abandoned alley, shivering from the cold. Tatl flew at him, bobbing dizzily with worry; he hid his face from her bright light and ignored her pleas.
“Link! Link, are you okay? Look, I promised you could sleep after we found it, and you can, but we HAVE to get it now! Link, c’mon!”
He did nothing, said nothing, ignored her presence entirely.
“Link! Liiiiiiiiink! Link, c’mon!”
Tatl persisted in vain; finally she gave up, ordering him to stay put while she searched alone. She took his silence for an agreement and disappeared, calling in her tiny voice for the fairy piece. Link watched her go, a familiar painful emptiness creeping into his chest. Without her light, the shadows closed in on him again, and there was nothing he could do to make them go away, no matter how much he begged them in his mind. Curious, malevolent ghosts with bright yellow eyes, they grinned with malice as they trapped him, growing closer and closer….
Tatl heard him crying and came zooming around the corner, but she was too late—the monsters had already touched him, filling him with icy, empty darkness. He shivered and sobbed with fear as Tatl babbled meaninglessly above him, alarmed and afraid.
“Link, Link…it’s okay, Link, I’m sorry, I won’t leave again if you’re scared of the dark, I didn’t know….”
He understood nothing she said; she seemed to sense that she wasn’t helping, but was too moved with a pity that tinted her aura a light purple blue to do nothing. She dulled her glow slightly and moved closer, creeping in between Link’s arms and cuddling against his chest. She had no physical warmth about her—she did not even possess a body of any kind—but she exuded goodness and warmth, and he felt the pressure in his heart ease and disperse. He felt a sudden, unexplainable tenderness for her, and carefully took her little glowing self into his hands and hugged her close, still crying but feeling more like himself, more GOOD than he had ever felt in Termina.
“Everybody has a fairy, you know,” Tatl told him quietly. “Even if they can’t see it. It’ll be okay, Link, I’ll be your fairy now…you don’t have to be sad anymore….”
He had no words to show her his appreciation or even acknowledge that he had heard; he curled up around her, pressing her firmly to his cheek like a child with a doll. Navi was brave and defiant and good, Navi had kept the darkness away when he had faced Ganondorf…without a fairy he was nothing, half a person. But Tatl….
Tatl gasped. “Link,” she whispered, “look!”
He looked up and immediately let her go, limp with wonder: a tiny glowing golden speck hovered at the end of the alley, swaying nervously in their direction, the final fairy piece.
Link sat up and stared at it, and Tatl froze with anticipation: “Hey!” she called cautiously. “Great Fairy! It’s us, come on, we’ll take you back….”
The tiny dot seemed braver and flitted carefully toward them, stopping to hover a few feet away. Link, filled with awe and the thrill of success, automatically reached out his hands to welcome the little thing. It came closer, seemed to want to come, but it still paused just out of reach; it was nervous, afraid.
“Come on,” urged Tatl, and Link gave it a beseeching look…he wanted to hold it and feel happy again….
The fairy piece backed away, and Link suddenly understood; it was afraid of him. His arms dropped, and his eyes filled with tears again; alarmed, the golden speck started and flew away, darting around the corner. Link started to cry in earnest again as Tatl flew after it, leaving him alone in the darkness.
But she was not out of sight long; she flew back, pressing herself against his chest again. “It’s okay, Link,” she soothed him. “Fairies don’t like sadness and crying and dark things, they like it when people are happy and laughing. Cheer up and it’ll come back, I promise…c’mon, Link, you gotta cheer up….”
She let him hug her until he stopped crying at last, then detached herself and bounced around his head. “Hey Link, why’d the Great Fairy call you Hero? Did you do something?”
He nodded.
“What? Save the whole world?”
He nodded again, but then made a face.
“Why…it wasn’t very fun, was it?” No, it was not. “But you’re good at fighting, arencha Link?” Yes. “Ah, I knew you were! You shoulda seen Skull Kid when you jumped him in the Woods…he would’ve run off screaming if he didn’t have that mask….” Tatl made a dramatic noise and pretended to quiver in fear, and Link couldn’t help but smile. He saw the golden fairy shard approach, coming nearer by the second, but made no note of its presence.
“And Tael wanted to play your ocarina, but I wouldn’t let him because he can’t sing worth a rupee, he sounds like a toad being stepped on by a Keaton…you better not let him sing or you’ll be deaf too….”
Link laughed soundlessly, and Tatl flew in loops and helixes with mirth; and suddenly the fairy piece was close, and Link held out his hands, and it came, settling in his palms like a docile butterfly. He held it to his face, and it touched his nose briefly and seemed to smile at him.
“You did it!” Tatl squealed, bobbing about with joy. “C’mon, let’s go back now—“
Link held the little fragment carefully as they made their way back to the fairy fountain. The little golden speck followed Tatl into the hole in the wall as Link followed after them, his weariness eating away the relief and joy he had felt before. The fairy piece zoomed away to rejoin its fellows, who welcomed it with bright glowing and swirls of happiness. Link edged closer to get a better look, thoroughly confused and dizzy from the speck’s recital. The swarm of gold twirled about and pieced themselves together again, and the Great Fairy was suddenly standing before him.
She was a tall, slender woman with thick orange hair that flowed to her knees, clothed in a dress made of vines. She had the perfect, generic features of demigods and radiated a bright golden glow. She hovered in the air, bending down so she could peer into Link’s face.
“That’s better,” she whispered, and smiled. “Link,” she said in a louder voice, straightening herself, “Skull Kid is going to destroy this world with the power of that mask—you know that. But Tatl was right—you don’t have the strength to stop him by yourself.” She gazed thoughtfully at his answering scowl. “I understand you’ve faced worse before, Hero, but you understand that you no longer have the body of a hero. You will have to work to gain that strength again, if you want it. And before you did not work alone; you had the sages to help you. Nor do you have to work alone this time.”
Link blinked at her; the Great Fairy took his face gently in her hands, her breath like wild clover and honey. “Magic,” she whispered, closing her eyes, and at once Link felt a wonderful power coursing through him, the feeling of strength and the ability to achieve the impossible. He smiled as the familiar sensation coursed through him—he had forgotten.
“Magic!” Tatl bounced excitedly, swooping around Link to get a closer look. “Wow! Link, you can do MAGIC? Showmeshowme—”
Link and the Great Fairy ignored her. “What weapons do you have, Hero?” the Fairy asked him. Link slid his shield onto his arm and unsheathed his dagger to show it to her, making a helpless gesture; This is all I have. The Fairy studied it critically.
“If you want a stronger weapon,” she said slowly, “You should visit my sister to the east. And my sister to the west can give you a stronger shield…but for now….”
And she raised her hands, forming a shimmering sphere of light between them; it grew and brightened to a blinding intensity, then dispersed. The Great Fairy plucked the wooden bow, just Link’s size, from the air and handed it to him along with a tube to put it in and a quiver full of arrows. He looked it over excitedly, admiring the make, the string, the weight.
“It is a good bow,” the Fairy said approvingly, “and will never break. And that is all you will need, Link.”
Link froze, staring incredulously at her. This was all he needed? Skull Kid had an evil ultra-powerful mask and enough power to make the moon fall from the sky, and all he needed was a bow and some magic to defeat him?
“You have something he does not,” the Great Fairy assured him, as if she could read his thoughts. “And you have your memories.”
Link, eyes wide and disbelieving, pointed an accusing finger to the outside world and held up three fingers. I HAVE THREE DAYS TO SAVE THIS PLACE AND YOU GIVE ME THIS?!
“You’ll be all right,” the Great Fairy assured him. Link stared at her until Tatl nudged him.
“Thank her,” she hissed. “We gotta go.”
Link made a face, bowed to the Great Fairy, and ran out of the fountain and into the sunlight. Three days to find Skull Kid, beat him with his tiny bow and dagger, and get the Dark Realm out of this world—this was ridiculous! He’d had seven years to get stronger the last time….
“Link?” Tatl said shyly. He glanced at her, then kept going. “Link, remember? I know where Skull Kid is….”
Link skidded to a halt, giving her his undivided attention now. Finding him would have been the hard part…considering their time limit. He glanced at the moon, then looked quickly away.
“Link, he’s up there…he’s on the Clock Tower,” Tatl murmured. “He likes to stand up there and watch everything…that’s where he pulled the moon down from….”
Link pointed to Clock Town’s tower for confirmation. “Yes,” Tatl assured him. “But Link—Link!“
He ignored her, running at full speed for the southern plaza where the clock tower entrance was. Tatl called after him, bouncing around his head, but he brushed her away and kept running—the quicker he got this over with, the quicker he could get home….
He paused to open the door, and that’s when Tatl struck. “LINK!” she insisted, flying into his face. He scowled at her. “The entrance is up there,” she told him, gesturing upward; there was a platform twenty feet above his head, sure enough. He shrugged and made for it, but she stopped him again.
“Link, it’s not open.”
He shrugged.
“It’s not gonna open until the day after tomorrow.”
This made him pause. What? He gave her a look, and she explained with a sigh. “I tried to tell you. The door to the clock tower only opens on midnight of the night of the festival, which is in three days.”
Link made a frustrated gesture—three days was too long! The moon would fall by then!
“I can’t do anything about that! We just have to wait until it opens…we can prepare before then, we’ll be ready….”
Link made gestures with his hands to ask the question; how did Skull Kid get up there in the first place?
“I dunno. He probably used that mask. I bet he’s up there now…if we could find somewhere high, we could see him…Link, we’d better get familiar with this town, there might be someone here who can help us…Link?”
Link blinked and rubbed his eyes, swaying on his feet. I have to sleep first, he told himself, and looked around dazedly for somewhere soft.
“Oh,” Tatl murmured. “We better find you a bed…let’s try the inn, maybe they have somewhere…you’ve got money….”
Link followed her to the east end of town, where the door to the inn sat unobtrusively around a corner. He pushed it carefully and entered, taking in the inn’s shady coolness, its generic dark green color scheme, its worn front desk and dirty, scuffed floors. It wasn’t especially clean, but it was homey, and he felt welcome—his house in the Kokiri Forest hadn’t been especially clean either. He cautiously approached the front desk.
“Welcome to the Traveler’s Inn,” said the young, nervous-looking woman behind the desk. “I am Anju. Are you, perhaps…Mr. Link?”
Thoroughly bewildered, Link nodded. Anju smiled a smile that didn’t touch her eyes. “Good, we have a room for you…right this way….”
He followed her into a hallway and up some grimy stairs. “It isn’t very clean,” she murmured to herself, running a finger along the moldy wallpaper. “I haven’t felt up to it since Kafei…since he….”
She led him to a room halfway down another sunlit hallway, handing him the key. “Thank you for visiting,” she said vaguely, and drifted back downstairs. Link unlocked his door and studied his room; dirty, yes, but tidy, everything in its proper place even if dust-coated. It had a bed, a chest of drawers, a fireplace, and a table, and not much else. He rather liked its simplicity; it felt very much like home.
He took off his boots and climbed into the bed; Tatl settled by his shoulder, and her warmth kept the darkness away as he slept.
Link slept all night and woke just before sunrise, too comfortable to get up. He slept in until Tatl awoke a couple of hours later, jumping up and bouncing around his head until he was annoyed enough to move. He put on his boots and went to explore the inn, open by now; a bath and breakfast would have been very nice indeed. But the inn was determined to be its dirtiest; it possessed no bathroom that he could access, and the breakfast was nothing but a grisly sort of porridge. Anju dithered about, mostly sitting against the other side of the front desk, murmuring to herself how little she felt like doing anything since Kafei…but that was as far as she ever got.
The other tenants, twin dancers and twin jugglers and a haughty man who looked like a very rich Ingo, passed and paced by now and again; the dancers were friendly and said that Anju hadn’t cleaned anything or done anything right for the past few weeks. One recalled that Kafei was the name of her boyfriend, who was missing. Link felt bad for Anju, but he realized that there was not much he could do; and anyway, if he didn’t hurry, she’d be a flaming bloody doorstop like the rest of the world in two days.
Link left the inn and headed for a place called Laundry Pool, where the stream formed a pool for people to wash in. Tatl politely looked away as he stripped and climbed in, scrubbing himself with a rock from the bottom. He swam around a little bit, enjoying the peace as long as he could. Tatl bounced against the water’s surface, light enough to skim along like a water bug, then dived into the water and lit up the murky bottom. It didn’t matter to her either way; she needed no air and had no skin.
He lay on the bank awhile to dry, then dressed again and looked around, recalling what Tatl had said yesterday. If they could find a high place, they could see what Skull Kid was doing….
“You should probably look around for someone who knows the city,” Tatl suggested brightly. He followed her, drifting through the familiar-yet-not-familiar town and people-watching. It was ten o’clock, and mothers were out shopping while their children played in the streets. Link noticed a conspicuous lack of people, especially men. He mimed the question to Tatl.
“A lot of ‘em ran away, to other places,” she explained. “Since the moon is falling and everything. And the men? They’ve all been recruited as soldiers, I bet; skull Kid’s been causing havoc, and someone needs to fix it all.” She nudged Link pointedly; he felt a nervous knot in his stomach. Tomorrow night….
In the eastern plaza, Link’s eye caught something suspicious: a group of boys younger than him gathered together and whispering. He studied them, and then one caught sight of him and alerted the rest; immediately they swarmed over to him, until Link, startled, was surrounded.
“HI! Where’re ya from? What’s with the funny clothes? I like your hat! WOW IS THAT A KNIFE?! What’s that glowy thing? Who are you why are you here--?”
Link let Tatl fly into his hat, blinking in confusion. He tapped his throat to show them that he couldn’t speak. “Awwwww!” they chorused in unison, then continued pelting him with questions. “Well whatcha here for? Do you need anything ‘cause we know everything and everyone in the whole town, yes we do—”
Tatl prodded the top of his head. “Ask them!” she whispered. How? Link wanted to ask, but instead he mimed as best as he could that he needed to see somewhere high.
“Ah! The secret place the secret place!” The boys slapped hands and laughed excitedly with some unknown secret. “We’ll show ya—”
“Hold on now!” said another little boy, taller than the rest; the other four snapped to attention. “We can’t just bring him to our hideout! It’s a secret! He has to pass the test first!”
The other boys shared awed glances with each other. Link waited warily to see what this game might be.
“Hide and seek,” declared the leader.
Link rolled his eyes.
The morning and half the afternoon were spent chasing all five of the kids down after a one hundred sixty-seven second start or something; Link didn’t bother waiting long enough; he shrugged and followed the footprints of the kids. Perhaps he could have found them all sooner if he hadn’t stopped for lunch and a nap in the sun; they weren’t the best hiders, though they could run pretty fast. At half-past three, Link had won the game.
They led him to their hideout, which seemed questionable to Link at first; a downward path led to an underground dungeon-like affair, several spider nests, and poor drainage. But then the path ascended again, and Link found himself in a brightly colored, psychedelic jester’s-worst-nightmare sort of building. The kids dragged him up four flights of stairs to meet an old guy—an astronomer who had been attacked by Skull Kid a few days ago—and stated that if he wanted to look around, this telescope was the thing to do it with. Never mind the bothersome naked eye; this thing was twice as slow and yet three times as cool. Link sighed and patted Tatl, still in his hat, before taking a look.
He was further east than he thought, and a point south as well; he was outside the city, not as high as the clock tower but far away enough to make up for it. He scanned the countryside—a forest, a mountain, a glimmer of water to the west—before setting his sights on the clock tower. At first he saw nothing, but the astronomer taught him how to zoom in, and slowly a small speck grew larger and came into focus….
What looked like an ugly imp, dressed in orange and dancing drunkenly beneath the macabre moon, was standing bold as brass atop the clock tower. Link drew in a breath and took a closer look; this was his enemy. The imp wasn’t that big, about his size or maybe smaller…but he was wearing a purple mask with multicolored spikes and yellow eyes, a mask that for some reason gave him the same shudders as when he thought of Ganondorf. The imp was not intimidating, but he would be formidable. Could Link be stronger…?
He would be. He’d be ready….
That day and the one after, he persuaded the kids—who called themselves the bombers—to practice swordfighting with him with sticks, and fight him, and anything else he could think of to prepare that they’d see as just a game. He couldn’t tell them what he was doing it for, but they guessed that he was going to go beat up some enemy—they admired his skill with weaponry and encouraged him endlessly that he was much, much stronger than whoever his opponent might be.
Tatl found it both amusing and endearing, and when Link was resting for a moment she told him, “Isn’t it nice to have friends?”
Link shook his head; these mindless little boys weren’t friends. He didn’t have any here, and he wasn’t going to make any….
But the part of his heart that was not tainted by Majora’s darkness thought of poor Anju, and the innocent little kids, and all of the soldiers and workers too brave to evacuate with the rest. And he knew somehow that it was no good…the falling moon would destroy this entire world….
If he defeated Skull Kid and returned the mask, would it really save all of these people? Would it stop the moon, or just deliver justice to the one who caused all of this?
For the first time, Link asked himself, Am I doing the right thing?
He had never questioned himself or his duties as a hero before; if he had ever doubted, he had had to convince himself that his path was right to keep from despair, knowing that there was nothing else he COULD do. But now…what if there was something else?
“Link? You okay?” Tatl asked him. Link shook himself, nodded, and resumed his practicing.
A nervous knot began to build in his stomach on the third day; it worsened by the hour, and he wasted quite a bit of precious time hiding from the yellow eyes—twice as close now as the day he had arrived—and calming himself. I can do this, I can do this…. But what if he couldn’t?
There was no can or can’t—he had to try, and he’d only get one chance anyway. What concern of his was it if he died or failed? There was nothing he could do to stop the moon from falling then….
He assured himself, but he was afraid; he had never felt so weak, so normal, as he had imagining himself waiting for the world to end like everyone else. At least he could fight before the end…at least he had something to wait for, to live for….
By nighttime, he was alone; the boys had not run, unaware of the danger and without parents or soldiers to help them, but had insisted that it was their duty to station themselves in the town. It was the night of the festival, but there was no one in clock town. And if Link failed, there never would be.
He sat at the top of the playground’s slide, sore but edgy from adrenaline and fear, trying to relax himself into the calculating, fierce battle mood, the feeling he got when he was facing a formidable opponent. I can beat him, anything can be beaten if you find the weak place…. He was not powerless, he was not weaponless, he was prepared and strong and experienced and for the goddess’s sake, he must be nineteen by now in his mind….
But technically he only had twelve years of memory or so, even though his body had at one point been eighteen, so would that make him nineteen? Or maybe nineteen, plus another eleven, so thirty? Or was he eleven, like his body? How old WAS he?
He pushed the question from his mind; if he didn’t focus, he wouldn’t be getting much older.
The sun’s last rays disappeared, and the night wore on. The moon never moved, unless it happened to move downward; occasionally there was a bone-rattling rumble, and Link felt Ganondorf’s evil eyes burning at his back. He shuddered and tried to calm himself down—I can do this, I can do this—as he counted each second clunking from above.
Ten chimes…eleven chimes….
Midnight….
Donnnng!
“Link!” Tatl cried, vibrating—Donnnng!—with nervousness and fear, but he was already—Donnnng!—moving; in a daze—through which his mind was unaware of what he was walking into, but his body was –Donnnng!—painfully the opposite as it shivered, wavered, and slowed—he—Donnnng!—slid through the silent streets…Donnnng!...there were no more people left in the town, no one left—Donnnng!—to say goodbye to—Donnnng!—or hear goodbye from….
He broke into a run—Donnnng! Donnnng!—and reached the southern plaza before the clock stopped chiming.
Donnnng!
Tatl was shaking; Link’s heart was racing….
Donnnng!
In the darkness, behind the glowering moon, the clock tower moved. Something shifted, something fell with a deafening clunk, and something thudded open…a darker darkness lay menacingly at the top of the stairs leading to the entrance.
Somewhere in the city, someone let off a dozen fireworks at once.
The clock tower was open. The Festival had begun, and ended.  

[KirbyVictorious]

Chapter Three: Skull Kid
The top of the Clock Tower was nothing but flatness, stone that curved downward at the edges yet was wide enough to forego any immediate danger at the center. Above Link, the moon was huge; it took up half the sky and blocked the light of almost all the stars. Termina stretched in all four compass directions, each its own little world. The night was still….waiting.
The imp, the Skull Kid, was uglier up close as he hovered somehow ten feet in the air; horny, dark-skinned, and misshapen. He didn’t seem at all surprised that Link was there; he merely chuckled an eerie chuckle that echoed and set Link’s nerves on edge. The horny little hand with its tough skin like rawhide reached inside the imp’s shirt and brought out Link’s iridescent-blue Ocarina of Time, flipping it easily up into the air and catching it.
“Looking for something, fairy boy?” inquired a voice that was childish, yet echoing with menace; hearing the voice—especially as it sneered Malon’s nickname for him—but seeing nothing behind the mask gave Link the most frightening feeling; this was not natural, this was not right.
But the imp didn’t have a chance to say or do anything else.
“TAEL!”
Tatl zoomed past the imp, ignoring him completely as she dive-tackled a darker, purplish sphere hovering behind him.
“Tael, Tael, where have you been, how could you leave me behind?”
“Sis!” cried Tael joyfully, and if fairies could hug each other until they suffocated, these two did just that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were still in there, did that kid get you out?”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t remember any of it, poor kid, but Tael, listen—LINK!”
Link, ignoring her, lit an arrow aflame with magic and pointed it straight at the Skull Kid. Give me my ocarina, you b*****d, said his eyes where his mouth could not.
The Skull Kid laughed his eerie, hair-raising laugh. Tatl fled to Link’s side, but her brother stayed, shivering behind the imp.
“You think you can stop me?” taunted Skull Kid, in the catch-me-if-you-can tone of a child. “Not with my mask! With my mask I can do anything!”
Link rolled his eyes, tightened his bow, and gave the imp his hardest death glare. When Link had been eighteen, that glare had paralyzed enemies like a ReDead’s howl. The imp was either brave, stupid, or extraordinarily strong.
“You want my mask, don’t you?” the imp accused, still speaking childishly, in a voice all wrong with the tone, the pitch, the words, and the menace mismatched and ill-fitting. “You want it for yourself, you want to stop me. Well, you CAN’T, it’s MINE!”
“He doesn’t want it for himself,” Tael said suddenly, in a low monotone. “Does he, Tatl? He wants to destroy it…it’s the mask’s fault….”
“Yes, Tael, yes!” Tatl cried. “Don’t keep helping him, Tael!”
“Sis…do you remember…? Swamp. Mountain. Ocean. Canyon. The four who are there…bring them here, T—”
The Skull Kid let out a harsh yell, his hand swinging out and smacking the fairy hard. “Stupid fairy! Watch your mouth!”
Tael staggered and shied away, shaking harder now and seeming utterly shocked.
“SKULL KID!” Tatl screamed. “Do you think you’re our friend after that? STOP IT!”
The imp cackled. “I don’t need you anymore, Tatl! You only ever yelled at me. I’ve got better friends now! Powerful friends….”
The imp giggled and stared proudly up at the moon as Tatl quivered in anger, and Tael in fear. Link stood very still, still pointing his nocked arrow at Skull Kid. “Well, even if they did come now,” the imp bragged, “they couldn’t stop me! No one’s taking my mask away from me, you’re too late now!”
The imp cackled again, then screamed—screamed a long, vicious wail that shot through two octaves and made Link drop his bow and cover his ears, screaming soundlessly in pain. Tatl and Tael, possessing no eardrums, merely shot away in fear, huddling together in Link’s shadow. A deep rumble shook Link to the core and filled his head, and he feared that he was going insane from the agonizing sound; but then the screaming stopped, and he looked up and saw the moon’s dead yellow eyes glittering in the light of the fireworks—zooming at and around it like useless missiles—and staring at him as they moved closer and closer.
The moon was falling; it would destroy them first, then the rest of the town, in minutes, maybe even seconds.
NO! Link’s body moved without his help; he knew that his dagger was useless and instead lunged for his bow, nocking a new arrow and firing again and again at the monstrosity. They missed and missed, falling short—and then they hit, exploded, hit, exploded—
The Skull Kid laughed, and Link saw through the battle haze two bright spheres diving out of nowhere to attack him—Tatl and Tael. They did nothing but annoy him, and he swatted at them like they were bumblebees, but the distraction was enough; Link nocked an arrow and fired it straight at the evil imp’s heart.
It missed, of course it missed. The demonic power of the mask was something Link had grossly underestimated. But though the Skull Kid pulled himself away, he was not fast enough to escape the fairy bow. The arrow sliced deep into his arm, and he gave forth an earsplitting shriek and automatically let go of the object in his gnarled hand as black blood gushed out of the wound….
Link dove forward and grabbed his ocarina, holding it tightly to his chest. The little object that had decided the fate of another world, sent him through time, and saved him countless times…. He might die before another heartbeat, but he wasn’t going without it.
Skull Kid screamed again, and Link pressed himself against the ground and covered his ears, fighting hard against the pain. The imp continued to scream, writhing in midair as he clutched his injured arm, but the scream lessened in intensity and became broken, stuttered. Link stumbled to his feet, slipped in a puddle of the black blood, held himself steady again, and looked up. The moon was a hundred yards away; he started shaking in fear, already imagining being crushed by the monstrosity.
“Help, someone, please help!” Tatl shrieked, and Tael started to vibrate and make a sound like a sob and moan combined. “Someone, anyone—we need more time—Goddess of Time! Please!”
The name struck a chord in Link’s memory…Goddess of Time…?
“Take the Ocarina of Time,” Zelda had said to him before he had left. “If you are ever in need on your journey, play the Song of Time, and the Goddess of Time will aid you….”
The Song of Time…!
Link put the ocarina to his fumbling, quivering lips and blew a weak, shaky note.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Tatl screamed at him, out of her mind with fear. “DO SOMETHING, DON’T JUST SIT THERE AND PLAY—!”
But Link had found his calm, his ocarina peace, the inner tranquility he felt every time he played the instrument. The moon was falling, yes, but he was beyond it now…he could remember every song he’d ever learned, ever composed…the Song of Time….
The melody crept into the air, unheard over the rumbling at first…but the notes peaked, and Tatl and Tael froze in shock and wonder….Link continued to play, smoothly and softly, but the notes seemed to echo in the night until they had drowned out the Skull Kid and the moon…. It was only him now, only him and his fairy, be it Navi, Tatl, or Tael. Just them, in his own misty, peaceful little world….
He finished playing. The moon was low enough now to block out all light, all hope. Fifty feet….forty-five feet…forty….
And then everything stopped. Froze. Turned backward. Link heard a clock ticking, somewhere, as the sounds of screaming and rumbling faded and the world dissolved into white.  

[Oukow]

><; Few!
I thought Link was going to die there! ;~;