Notice: This story is set apart from what originally happened in Majora's Mask. I only own my invented characters, but everything else such as the locations and enemies belong to Nintendo.

Chapter 1: The Musical Box House

It was a peaceful August morning in Ikana Canyon. A soft breeze gently shook the few the trees that were on the eastern side of the canyon and some Guays were flying peacefully in the sky; it seemed a perfect day for the Anderson family to move on. Below, the river that divided eastern and western side of the canyon was running calmly. Not a single person alive seemed to be there, for the exception of four figures climbing the long, old wooden staircase that leaded to the high eastern side.

"So, this is our new home then, dad?" Owen asked with an eyebrow raised when they finally reached the last stair of the wooden staircase, looking at the only house in an open clear field that now expanded before them.

"C'mon son, is not that bad" said Mr. Anderson to his eldest son while leaving on the grass the heavy suitcase he had been carrying for hours to pat him in the shoulder.

"I think is great, Dad," said Sara while hugging his father to cheer him up.

"Thanks, sweetheart" he said accepting the embrace of his daughter, "I promise you guys that this is only while I get a decent job."

"Don't worry, dad" said his last and youngest son, Eric "We can handle this."

When Sara broke apart from his father, the four of them continued to walk down the lane that led to the old house. The sun was starting to rise on a hill opposite to them.

As they slowly approached the house through the field, they were starting to have a clearer view of it. It was a medium-sized house, with a waterwheel to its right. Something on the house drew Sara's attention.

"Uh? What's that?" asked Sara amazed pointing something big that was on the top of the old house with her short finger.

"It's a… bell of a trumpet?" said Owen frowning. They were now just a few yards from the old house. Indeed, a gigantic bell of a trumpet protunded from the roof of the house. "Dad, you didn't tell us that you bought this house from a freak!"

"Owen, shut up!" said his father indignantly, "He was a very generous man for selling me this place for an extremely cheap price."

"No wonder why…" said Owen under his breath still looking at the old house. Sara giggled behind him.

Eric continued walking while looking at the enormous bell on the roof awestruck, when suddenly his father grabbed him swiftly by the arm and pulled him backwards.

"Eric, what are you doing?" Mr. Anderson said concerned to his son, "The bridge is over here!"

Eric stared down and saw that a dried river was in front of the house. He had been looking the whole time the bell that he didn't notice it. His father brought him back to earth just in time; he was about to fall into the dried river when his father stopped him.

Shaking his head for his stupidity, Eric raced after his father, sister and brother, who were crossing a small bridge over the river at the other side from where he was.

"Wonder why the river is dried up?" Sara asked his brother as they crossed the bridge.

"Dunno," answered Owen.

As Eric caught up with them, he saw his father inserting an old bronze key in the keyhole of the rustled wooden front door of the house. There was a cracking sound and Mr. Anderson pushed the door open while removing the key from the keyhole.

The front door led to what seemed like a very antique old-fashioned living room. It consisted of three uncomfortable-looking sofas and a big wooden shelf full of thick books at the end wall. Everything seemed to be covered by a thick layer of dust. The walls were multicolor; several straps of vivid colors of about fifteen centimeters each one after another completed the walls.

"Well, I was right when I said the previous owner was a freak" said Owen with a funny look and staring at his father in triumph.

"Well… he was just creative, I suppose…" said his father nervously, "Still we can paint the walls of a different color if you want."

"I kinda like it," said Eric looking at the walls with his green eyes open wide, "It reminds me of a circus…"

"You said the owner had a daughter, right Dad?" asked Sara directing to his father, "Maybe it was her idea of painting the house like this… You know, if Eric likes it, then other kids might too."

"Yea… he mentioned something about a daughter… Pamela, or something she was called."

"Why did they move out?" asked Sara.

"Why they wouldn't?" muttered Owen bitterly to himself.

"The man told me that he found a better job at the swamp, so he built a house there," replied Mr. Anderson while putting the heavy suitcase on the floor.

"Eww, on the swap?" questioned Sara disgusted.

"Any place better than this one," said Owen bitterly.

"Owen that's it!" said Mr. Anderson angrily, "I know you are mad because you miss your friends back in town but I'm sure you will find some new…"

"Yea, whatever" said Owen interrupting his father in middle-sentence with disdain. "Let's go watch the other rooms" he suggested eagerly as he opened a door on the left side of the room and disappeared behind it. The other three stared at each other and then followed him. The new room consisted of a crossover of a kitchen and a dinning room. A great amount of light bathed the entire room from a big window behind the stone oven. From there, they had a clear view of a green hill on the distance. A colossal weird construction that resembled three cactuses was easily distinguished among the tall trees of the hill.

"Wow… what's that?" said Sara pointing the weird tower. It wasn't necessary pointing it, though; Owen and Mr. Anderson were also watching it with interest. The only one who wasn't watching it was Eric, whose height didn't permit him see through the big window.

"The Stone Tower," answered Mr. Anderson with a mysterious tone in his voice.

"The what?" asked Sara, not giving credit to her ears.

"Stone Tower," repeated Mr. Anderson.

"I remember that Andrew mentioned it once…" said Owen trying to remember the conversation he had with his friend back in Clock Town.

"What is it?" asked Sara with curiosity.

"What are you talking about?!" said Eric demanding an answer.

Everyone ignored him, though, and Mr. Anderson was looking for the correct words to explain them to his daughter.

"It's a colossal tower built centuries ago," explained Mr. Anderson, "The legend says it protects something extremely valuable at the top of the tower."

"And what is at the top of the tower?" asked Sara.

"Nobody knows," answered Owen remembering what his friend told him, "Countless warriors tried to reach the top but all of them died in the way. Andrew told me."

"But why they died?" said Sara fearing for an answer.

"There are thousands of obstacles and traps inside," said Mr. Anderson. "And there's suppose to be a keep at the top of the tower where the treasure lies, protected by the most evil monsters ever imagined."

Nobody said anything. Owen kept watching the tower as if hypnotized. Sara was meditating his father's words and shot frightening looks to the tower constantly. The little Eric simply stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what his family was talking about.

"But don't worry," said Mr. Anderson quickly looking scared of his son and daughter reactions "They never leave their fortress. Err… why don't we go upstairs to check our beds?"

The three of them stopped staring at the tower and they, along with Eric, started climbing the old staircase that led to the upper floor. The wide and only room upstairs seemed more like an attic. The walls were all the same as downstairs, with strips of different colors. The first thing the four of them noticed as they came in was the missing part of the bell that protunded to the outside. It was connected to a big black box at the end of the room. Three old beds filled the rest of the room, one lined after another. There was also a wide-proportioned wardrobe at the side of the bed on the farthest right.

"Only three beds?!" exclaimed Mr. Anderson with rage. "That bastard told me there were four!"

"You know, it's okay Dad," said Owen comprehensively, "It's not your fault; I can sleep on the sofa if you want."

"Wow, that sounded very… mature from your part, Owen. I'm impressed!" said Mr. Anderson with mild surprise on his face to his son, who grinned broadly "Well if you insist… okay then."

"I want to sleep in the bed farthest from the wardrobe!" squealed Eric before stopping himself from saying it.

"Oh, c'mon Eric, don't tell me that you believed that dumb story of the Gibdo in the Wardrobe grandma told us last week?" said Sara rolling her eyes.

"No!" said Eric immediately faking a courageous expression, which faded away almost instantly and was replaced for a scared face "But… it's just to be sure…"

The others three laughed at him and Eric merely watched them with a grumpy expression.

"Okay," agreed Mr. Anderson after he stopped laughing, "I will sleep in the bed closest to the wardrobe, Eric will sleep in the one closest to that weird black box, Sara can sleep in the middle one, and finally Owen will sleep on the sofa downstairs. Agree?"

The rest of the family nodded approvingly.

"Now, let's start to work," said Mr. Anderson in a somewhat business tone. "Sara you start cleaning all the rooms downstairs. Owen, you go down the river and fetch some fish for lunch. I will start cleaning here upstairs. And Eric…Err… just try not to bother any of us too much, okay?"

"No way! I wanna help too!" complained Eric, "C'mon, please, please!"

"Okay! Okay! Calm down!" said Mr. Anderson thinking hard, while the other two sons laughed, "Mhmm… the previous owner told me this house had a basement, but to reach it you had to go through a secret trapdoor. But he didn't mention exactly where it was so, why don't you start searching for it?"

"Okay," agreed Eric with a grin, feeling rather useful.

Okay then, so, everyone to work!"

The other three nodded and quickly returned back downstairs, followed by their father, as he needed the required items before cleaning upstairs.

"So, see you in half an hour," said Owen loudly as he departed the house with a can of bait in one hand and an old fishing road on the other.

Meanwhile Sara was on the kitchen, thinking where the broom might be.

"Dad, do you know where the broom is?" Sara asked him as he entered the kitchen.

"Um… in the cupboard, maybe?" suggested Mr. Anderson.

Sara nodded and she opened the cupboard beside the dinning table. There were several spoons, forks and knives of different sizes and colors, placed orderly in the upper part of the cupboard. In the section below were flasks that contained several common ingredients used for seasoning and flavouring, such as salt, sugar and pepper, but some flask also contained weird stuff: "Moth Wings", "Firefly Powder" and "Poe Essence" were some of the few flasks Sara dared to read. Finally, on the bottom part was the thing she was looking for: a broom, accompanied by a mop and a jar for holding water.

"Stupid staircase," cursed Owen gasping for breath as he finally reached the bottom part of the canyon, standing in front of the wooden bridge that permitted to cross the river.

He crossed the bridge midway, and sat down as comfortably as he could on the edge of it. He put the fishing rod at his side as he grabbed the can with both hands to open it.

"Hey! Who are you?" asked a male voice at his side.

"Oh, damn!" exclaimed Owen, startled. He did a reflex movement and accidentally threw the can of bait he was holding into the air, just for it to end in the river's cold waters with a splash.

"Crap!" exclaimed Owen in despair.

"Dude, I'm really sorry," apologized the guy next to him.

Owen turned to the guy. The young blonde man was sitting next to him, with a terrified expression of what he just did. He looked the same age as Owen, not older than twenty but not younger than sixteen, for sure.

"It's okay dude, it wasn't your fault" replied Owen comprehensively, "Is just that I thought no one will be around" he said confused, "I thought no one else lived here, in fact" he added.

"Well, actually I thought the same," the guy laughed, "So you now occupy that old house with the waterwheel?"

"Yea, me and my family," Owen answered, "We just moved today".

"Damn, I thought no one would ever buy that crappy house," the guy answered, "No offense" he added.

Owen laughed. "Yea I know, but we had no option".

"The previous owner wasn't right on his mind," the guy said seriously.

"Why do you say that?" asked Owen curiously, "Well apart from the trumpet on top of the house and the weird coloring inside."

"The owner was a researcher" the guy answered.

"What's bizarre about that?"

"Well, he wasn't what you can say a common researcher," he explained, "He was obsessed with what he called supernatural phenomena, such as Poes, Gibdos, fairies… and that stuff."

"Oh…" said Owen surprised.

"Anyway, I'm Aden," the guy said stretching a hand to Owen.

"Owen," he introduced himself and accepted the handshake.

"I thought there was just me and my family" admitted Owen, "We didn't see a house apart from ours when we came, where do you live?"

"Well, it's a bit lost of view because of the trees in the forest, maybe that's why you guys didn't see it" implied Aden.

"Yea, maybe" said Owen, "Anyway, I'm glad to have some company in this misery place".

Aden laughed. "Why don't you guys come to our house sometime? So I can introduce you my family and you introduce me yours as well."

"Sure," agreed Owen. "Shit, now I'm in trouble" he added remembering now the can of bait which was sunken on the river's floor. "I was supposed to bring some fish back home."

"Well, then I'm glad I brought some of this," smiled Aden as he pulled a can of bait from his jacket pocket. He grabbed his own fishing rod and stared defiantly at Owen. "Let's see who catches more".

Owen stared in surprise and then laughed. "Octoroks are worth two points."

"Eric, stop getting in the way!" exclaimed Sara furiously as she was trying to broom the floor with Eric moving across the room.

"I'm looking for that trapdoor!" he justified himself.

"Then look somewhere else, you are in my way!" replied Sara as a cloud of dust erupted out of the oven as she swept the broom near it.

"Okay, then" said Eric grumpily, "I will look in the sitting room then".

"Thanks" answered Sara in appreciation.

"Yea…" said Eric lazily as he exited the kitchen.

After a few minutes, Sara's job in the kitchen was finished, so she decided to move on to the sitting room. Eric was still there, inspecting every corner of the room for that trapdoor. She continued with the sweeping, starting on the opposite corner of the room where Eric was. After getting the sweeping done, she moved on to the pluming.

The books on the shelf were covered in dust as well, so her task would take some long time, she thought. She was having some difficulty reaching the upper part of the shelf, as she had to stand on the tip of her feet to reach it. She accidentally made a book fell over the shelf as she was sweeping away the dust from it.

"Oh, cheeses," she said, bending over to grab the fallen book. When she was about to stand, a cast of shadow that appeared out of nowhere draw her attention. She followed the source of it to the window. Her heart started pumping faster, and an expression of shock appeared on her face. There was a small girl standing outside of the window, wearing a night gown which was covered in mud and had holes and cuts all over it. Her bare arms had some serious fresh wounds and blood was coming out of them. But nothing scared Sara more than the girl's face. Her blue eyes were staring strongly at Sara, making her shiver and feel emptiness on the inside, as if her life was sucked out of her. The intimidating look of the small girl was getting more penetrating, and Sara's eyes started to water as she couldn't look away from her eyes. Her head was starting to spin; she wanted to turn away but something kept her staring at the girl.

"Hey, sis!" exclaimed Eric. His voice made Sara stare away from the girl and look at his brother, and, when Sara looked again at the window the girl was no longer there.

"Uh? Are you okay, sis?" asked Eric concerned as he saw the aspect of his sister. Sara was sweating, and her heart was still pumping in fear of what she just saw.

"Yea, I'm okay," she lied trying to sound calm. "Anyway, why did you call me?"

"I found it!" he cheered, pointing the trapdoor that was now visible after he pulled the rug covering it away.

"Oh, yea, nice" said Sara trying to sound happy and expressing a fake smile. She still couldn't get over what just happened. Who was that girl? Why she was covered I blood? And how she disappeared? A million of questions where spinning in her mind, but none of them she managed to answer. She had the feeling that, sooner or later, she would find out who the girl was.

Notice: This story is set apart from what originally happened in Majora's Mask. In this story Link doesn't exists, and what he did in Ikana Canyon (healing the wandering souls, recover the river's flow, defeating Twinmold, etc.) doesn't exist in this story. Thanks for reading.