Why Me?

A Majora's Mask fanfiction

Summary: While in Termina, Link considers the purpose of his quest.

(A/N) I've only just started playing MM, so apologies if there are plot errors. Also, I don't own the Zelda franchise.

Having navigated the Goron temple for hours to no avail, Link was coming to his wit's end. Having cleared the room of enemies, Link sat up against one of the walls.

"What are you doing," Tatl asked shrilly. "We don't have much time, Link!"

"I'm aware of that," the boy growled. "I've been at this for hours, Tatl. Do you see any progress? I sure don't. I've been going in circles for hours." Link took from his equipment bag the pocket watch he'd gotten from the Happy Mask Salesman.* The fairy was indeed correct. Only 14 hours remained until Termina's doom. Link huffed and tossed the watch back in, rummaging for the Ocarina of Time. Upon finding it, he stared hard at the blue instrument in his hands.

"Why did it have to be me," Link wondered aloud. "Why is it that, of all of the people in the world, the Goddesses had to pick me, a ten-year-old boy, to save it from destruction? Twice! Why me?"

"You were here, and it was convenient for the Mask Salesman," Tatl responded sharply. "Simple. Now let's go! Rewind the cycle and try again! We have to keep going, Link!"

"Tatl," Link said brusquely. "Think about it. I was a kid living peacefully, though unhappily, in the forest. Then, I start to have nightmares, the Great Deku Tree summons me, and then, just like that, I'm off to save the world! But of course, I was too young to wield the Master Sword when things could still be fixed, so I had to be shut in the Sacred Realm for seven long years while Ganondorf wreaked havoc on Hyrule! Why couldn't it just be someone else who was actually old enough to wield the darn sword at the time before Ganondorf could get his hands on the Triforce? Then none of this would be happening! Come to think of it, the only reason I ended up here was because I was searching for someone I'd have never met if it weren't for the whole 'go save Hyrule' thing! If I'd never been chosen to go on the quest, I wouldn't have met Navi! I wouldn't have wanted to go searching for her after my quest was over! I wouldn't be here!"

Link took a deep breath before continuing on his rant. "Answer me this, Tatl. How in the Goddesses' names could a simply-raised ten-year-old boy, knowing nothing but childish ways, be fit to safe the entire world? And even with the experience of saving one world, how could the Goddesses be so cruel as to make said boy do it again, in another world, which, as far as I can tell, knows nothing of the the Goddesses, and on a ridiculous three-day time limit? Tell me,Tatl. How? Tell me."

The fairy was silent, pondering his words. It wasn't the first time he'd ranted about it. Previously, she had done nothing but brush it off as childish whining. But, seeing as it had come up yet again, she decided to finally listen to his words and think about the situation. And when she did, for the first time, take a metaphorical step back to look at it with a broader perspective, she found that his points were quite valid. Sure, he hadn't really been a Kokiri - he had told her all the details of his quest to save Hyrule, but he had indeed been but a child. He had known nothing of violence. For the love of the Goddesses, he hadn't even known that people could be evil enough to seriously harm, even kill, others.

His point about his having been too young at first to properly wield the Master Sword resonated with her particularly strongly. It did make sense. Sure, the wielder would have to be worthy, but the acquisition of the Spiritual Stones and Ocarina of Time alone, as she understood it, should be trials enough to test one's worth.

"Well," the fairy tried tentatively, "for one, the Kokiri Emerald could only be retrieved by someone in Kokiri Forest. Didn't you say they couldn't leave the forest or they'd die?"

"I mean, yeah..."

"So if they couldn't leave, and you were the only Hylian, it had to be you!"

"What if an adult had come into the forest?"

Tatl regarded him skeptically. "Do you really believe that could happen?"

"Maybe," Link said, sounding much more confident than he actually felt.

"And what about some of the other temples? What about the Spirit Temple? You told me there was a hole only a kid could possibly fit through."

Link sighed. "Okay, okay, I get it, Tatl."

But Tatl didn't press further. "I do understand, though," she said. "It is pretty cruel to make a child go through all of that. And definitely crueler still to make the same child go through something like this." The fairy considered making a bitter remark about his Goddesses, but decided that questioning the faith of a child was a bad idea, even if said child was rather mature. "It is pretty cruel, forcing someone to relive three days over and over, all to stop a moon from destroying the world." She paused, the words seeming to have still more weight as she said them aloud. "Get a little rest and then let's try again, okay?"

Link nodded absently. He took the Ocarina out again and soared to Clock Town, where he found a spot to rest. "Wake me in three hours," he told her.

"Three hours," the fairy acknowledged, bobbing in a nodding motion. She took pity on the boy before her, who was instantly asleep, his quest affording him little time to rest, even if he could reset time as he pleased. He had all the time in the world and yet, simultaneously, so little time. She gazed up to the sky, where the moon crept ever closer to the town, threatening to turn it all into rubble.

Three hours later, the fairy did as she was told, getting close to Link's face and making as much noise as her tiny being would allow. Link was up in an instant. "Three hours already?" He took out the pocket watch. "Darn it all." He sighed. "The Song of Time?"

"The Song of Time," Tatl confirmed. "Let's try this again."

As Link felt the all-too-familiar sensation of warping back to the dawn of the first day, he wondered how many more times he'd have to feel it. No matter, he thought. I'll just have to take it all one day at a time. Why me? Well, it didn't matter. He'd been forced into it and he had to get out, no matter how much time it took him.

* I know that the Mask Salesman doesn't actually give Link a watch, but I needed a way to represent the interface's clock. We always know what time it is in game, and we effectively are Link, so naturally, I like to believe that he always knows what time it is, some way or another.

(A/N) As previously stated, I apologize for any plot errors. I haven't gotten very far in MM yet.