A/n: I know the whole 'kids from earth getting sucked into a game' is a huge, overdone cliche, but Majora's Mask is one of my all-time favorite games, and I happen to be a particular fan of that genre. And so, this story was born. I have one of my oldest and dearest friends to thank for helping me with ideas and certain parts of the story. This story wouldn't exist without her. Also, thank you ahead of time for anyone who takes the time to read this. I hope you find it enjoyable.
-Chapter 01: The Game in the Attic-
Dylan swung open the attic door and poked her head inside. She coughed, waving her hand in front of her face as a cloud of dust erupted from the movement of the door. When the dust settled, she peered into the dim light from the single circular window set near the rafters. Old furniture, knick-knacks, and piles of boxes covered the wooden floors.
"Geez, Mom, this attic is a mess," Dylan commented, looking over her shoulder at her mother, Kay Walters, who was currently climbing the rickety old staircase.
Her mom came to stand beside her and Dylan slid over to one side to make room. Kay crossed her arms, surveying the state of the attic. "I guess this is what happens when you get a house for such a good price," she said. She sighed, running a hand through her dirty blonde hair. "We'll have to get this place cleaned out, I guess."
Dylan fiddled with one of her ash brown braids. "Isn't the moving truck coming soon?"
Kay glanced at her phone. "They'll be here in about 15 minutes." She returned the phone to her pocket. "Calynn is coming over, right? I want you and her to start going through some of this stuff while I help the movers. Pack what you can in boxes and see if you can push them by the door. Maybe we can get the movers to help us take this junk to the dump." She sighed again, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Dylan jumped as the doorbell rang. "That must be her now!" She scrambled back down the stairs, forgetting in her excitement to see her cousin that she was terrified of the stairs and needed to cling to the rail for dear life. Reaching the bottom of the attic stairs, she raced down the regular staircase leading to the first floor and practically ran into the door in her eagerness to open it. Standing outside on the porch was a girl around Dylan's age, her honey brown waves tied in pigtails. Dylan's face broke into a huge grin and she threw her arms around the other girl's neck, squealing and jumping around happily.
Calynn returned the giant embrace with enthusiasm. It had been so long since she and Dylan last saw each other. "I'm glad you live so close now!" she squealed. "No more seven hour drives." Her drained tone reflected the painful car rides. Despite being cousins, the two felt as close as best friends, always texting the other about life's troubles and the newest happenings in their lives.
"So…" Calynn commented, getting Dylan's attention and breaking the long awaited hug. "As I texted you before, I brought support!" She grinned motioning to the two girls behind her. Dylan hadn't even noticed them standing there. Her shyness around new people instantly took hold.
"I'm Ashby and this is Leslie," the taller of the the two girls, who stood about an inch or two above Calynn's 5'4. She held out a hand which Dylan took. "It's nice to finally meet the famous Dylan. Cal has told us much about you. It's like you've already been here for weeks."
"Cal would not stop talking about you. That's definitely the truth," Leslie agreed with a slight roll of her almond-shaped brown eyes. Cal shushed her slightly sarcastic remark, earning another eye roll. She straightened her black miniskirt before fidgeting with the hem of her equally black t-shirt. "So have you been to Edgeton before?" she inquired in a gentler tone, trying not to let her sassy mood ruin Dylan's first impression of her.
Calynn giggled lightly. "When she visits me, though we don't normally go out on the town," she answered for her cousin since Dylan normally didn't like talking to strangers, at least until she'd been around them for a little while. Wanting Dylan's approval and hopefully acceptance of her friends, Calynn tried her best to keep the mood of the room as light as possible. "So, what's Auntie want us to do first? I didn't see the moving truck so I assume it's something to do with cleaning." She sighed, slouching at the idea of cleaning all day. Chores were the worst. She couldn't help noticing that Ashby, on the other hand, instantly perked up at the mention of cleaning. How anyone could enjoy cleaning was beyond fathomable in her mind.
Dylan mentioned something about the attic in a soft, rather shy voice. "Then let's get started in the spooky attic while it's still light out and we can see stuff," Cal urged. Dylan led the way to a small closet upstairs which hid a narrow stairway, and one by one, the girls climbed up. "Gosh…. So much dust." Calynn twisted her nose at the attic's musty smell. "Let's prop this door open and start finding some treasure, girls," she teased with a light smile.
They were cleaning and organizing for what seemed an eternity before Calynn let out a groan as loud as a lion's roar. "If we don't do something fun soon, I'm gonna keel over and die," she stated, dramatically flopping down on an old couch. Feeling something wet on her bum, she jumped up instantly. "Gross…"
Ashby giggled lightly. "And I wouldn't mind a snack. But we are almost done…" She surveyed the attic, which was now almost completely cleared of the junk, the boxes all neatly stacked near the door per Kay's request. "We can go a little more, can't we, Cal? Let's start a game and maybe that will help. We can play while we clean," she suggested, dusting off her pale pink and looking over to Dylan for approval.
"No more cleaning! We have to do something soon before I die in this smelly old attic," Calynn groaned. The others giggled.
Dylan, who was starting to warm up to Calynn's friends-they both seemed nice and funny in their own way-couldn't help taking pity on her cousin. She was starting to feel a little worn herself. She was considering making a suggestion to go downstairs and find a quick snack, when Calynn leaned against a part of the wall that had been covered in boards. The boards gave way and she fell through with a loud crash, her entire body hitting the floor.
"Calynn are you okay?" Dylan cried in alarm. All three girls rushing over to see what had happened. As it turned out, the boards had hidden a small, separate area, complete with a couch and an old tv set.
"I didn't know it was a fake wall…" Calynn began to say defensively, before she got a good look around and stopped short. "Hey, it's another room!"
"Cool, it's like a secret hideout," Leslie commented, ducking under the remaining boards.
"I found our new headquarters!" Calynn laughed, darting farther into the room and plopping down on the couch. Fortunately, this one wasn't mysteriously wet.
"This is neat," Ashby remarked. She and Dylan followed the other two into the room.
Calynn caught sight of something and rolled off the couch. "Dylan! Do you remember this game?" she called, kneeling on the floor in front of the joined her and her eyes widened, seeing the item Calynn was pointing at. An N64 rested on the floor in front of the tv, complete with a controller and a game in the console bearing the title 'Majora's Mask.'
"Oh, wow! I haven't seen this in ages," Dylan said.
"We could never finish it because we were such babies." Calynn giggled at the recollection.
"Hm, I've never played," Ashby said, kneeling daintily down beside the two cousins. "Why don't we take a break and play a little? We can work on it together and finish it," she suggested.
Leslie nodded in agreement. "I only ever played the first half hour or so of this game. It might be something cool to do as a group."
Dylan blew a layer of dust off the console. "I wonder if it still works…" She turned the tv on and flipped the switch on the console. The tv flickered to life and the 'N64' logo appeared on the screen before changing to the game's intro. "This is amazing! So cool!" Before anyone could say anything else, she had jumped up and flopped down on the couch. "Come on, Cal!" She patted the seat beside her, then looked at the other girls. "Oh, um, does anyone else want to sit on the couch? I don't mind sitting on the floor," she added a little self-consciously, hoping she hadn't been rude.
"I'm fine with the floor since this is your place," Ashby said, finding a slightly clean spot on the floor near the couch and taking a seat.
"Leslie can have the couch. I'll sit right here," Calynn declared. She plopped onto the floor in front of Dylan while Leslie took the couch.
Once everyone was comfortable and ready to go, it was agreed that Dylan should play first since it was her house. "This feels a little like Jumanji," Dylan said. "You know, the new one where they find an old video game while they're cleaning the school basement. Maybe we'll get sucked into the game!"
"No, don't say that!" Calynn cried in terror.
Leslie gave an evil grin. "Maybe only Cal will get sucked in."
"Nooo!" Calynn grabbed on to Dylan's jeans. "It's not true, right?"
Dylan patted Calynn's arm. "No, it's not true. We'll all get sucked in together." Now that she was starting to get comfortable around everyone, her more joking nature was beginning to emerge.
"Nooo!" Calynn resumed her crying while Leslie looked to be thoroughly enjoying the moment.
"You ladies are so funny," Ashby said.
When they were done teasing Calynn, Dylan picked up the controller, starting a new game, and they all sat back to watch the opening cutscene. A long time ago, when they were about six or seven years old, Calynn and Dylan had found Majora's Mask among Calynn's older brother's things. He'd thought it was hilarious they wanted to play it and had eagerly encouraged them to do so. The result was that within a few minutes of playing, the two girls, who were both quite timid, had been clinging to each other because it was 'too scary' and had given up not long after. Even now, at 14, Dylan still found the game more than a little eerie.
The cutscene soon ended, leaving Dylan to have Link do some impressive acrobatic jumps across a series of stumps in pursuit of the Skull Kid. She led him through the tunnel, where he then staggered on the edge of a tall cliff and fell into a dark abyss. There wasn't anything particularly strange about the kaleidoscope of masks, clocks, and ocarinas that spiraled up from the abyss Link had fallen into. The attic was already dark, so no one noticed that the room around them had begun to slowly fade away, as if black shadows were eating it from the outside in, until all that remained was the couch, the tv, and the little space of floor where the girls sat. Then, the tv began to grow larger and the spiral seemed to reach out for them.
The girls jumped up in alarm then, but it was too late. The floor and couch disappeared, leaving only the kaleidoscope swallowing them up, drawing them screaming into the void.
Ashby was the first to land on the large, pink petaled flower. The other screaming girls landed on top of her one by one until they were all laying sprawled together on the hard ground, all moaning in pain and confusion. Ashby heard another groan and, looking down, found that she was seated on a boy. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, quickly standing up and brushing dirt off of her skirt. "Are you alright?" She held out her hand to help him up.
"Ow," the boy muttered. He took Ashby's hand, allowing her to pull him to his feet. He was several inches shorter than her, his blonde hair covered by a green hat which matched his tunic. A pair of long, pointed ears stuck out from beneath his hat. He was several inches shorter than Ashby, even an inch or two shorter than Leslie. Judging by his appearance, he couldn't have been more than 11 years old. "I'm ok," he said. "What about y...um, what?" he faltered, noticing that all of the four girls were gaping at him.
Calynn was the first to speak. "Link?"
"Yeah? How do you know my name?" Link asked. He looked around, taking in their surroundings. "Where am I?"
Before anyone could say anything else, a brilliant flash of light blinded them, followed by a familiar, high-pitched giggle. Their eyes adjusted to the light and they looked up to see the Skull Kid floating in mid-air, his pesky fairy companions hovering nearby.
"Huh? Who are they?" the Skull Kid demanded, eyeing the four girls. He shrugged. "Well, whatever." He began to taunt Link, telling the boy how he had gotten rid of his beloved horse. Tears sprang into Link's eyes and even the girls were horrified by the implications. How could anyone be so evil? Link's hands clenched into fists and he reached for his sword as the Skull Kid continued to make cruel jeers at him. The imp laughed again. "Oh, come now… Do you really think you can beat me as I am now? Fool!"
The creepy purple mask covering the Skull Kid's face, began to shake side to side and a dark purple and yellow aura seeped out from it, creeping toward Link and Ashby standing beside him. The wrongness of it made Ashby's skin crawl and her stomach twist with nausea. Then a searing pain crashed through her skull like the worst migraine she'd ever experienced. She grabbed her head, doubling over and whimpering in pain. The girls and Link cried out in alarm, rushing toward her as Ashby collapsed onto the ground.
Ashby opened her eyes. She stood alone in a dark place. She squinted, straining to see around her, but it was impossible to see more than a few inches in front of her face in the utter blackness. A smell drifted to her nose-the scent of dead, rotting leaves-and then a strange sound reached her ear. It sounded almost like rustling, the padding of some small animal moving through the bushes. Ashby loved animals and nature, but something struck her as off about this sound. It made the hair on her neck rise. She looked around again, trying to make out any shapes in the blackness, too terrified to take a step forward.
She heard the sound again, closer this time. And again. Then suddenly, she was surrounded by strange, leaf-covered creatures with glowing eyes. They closed in around her, their bodies rustling, drawing in upon her. She let out a noiseless scream and ran in the opposite direction, covering her ears against the awful rustling. She was running, running, but still that sound pierced into her mind, filling her head and smothering all her thoughts. All she knew was fear. Fear and that dreadful noise. She didn't see the creature chasing her until its form loomed over her, swallowing her up in darkness.
Now she found herself curled upon the ground, writhing as her insides burned. Her skin felt as if it were shattering, tearing into shreds like the crushing of dead leaves. And then, suddenly, it was over. The pain ceased and she could finally breathe normally once again.
Link and the girls watched in horror as the dark aura surrounded Ashby's collapsed body and she began to scream and writhe in pain. Link and Calynn tried to touch her, but the moment their hands drew close, the aura snapped like lightning, burning their skin and making them jerk back. When the aura swallowed her body up completely, Dylan shrieked, grabbing onto Calynn for support. They clung to each other, wide eyed. And then, in the space of just a few seconds, the aura seeped into Ashby's body and disappeared. Only, it was no longer Ashby that lay on the ground before them.
The small creature almost resembled a tree, its body made entirely of wood. Leaves piled around the top of its head, forming into a bulb which almost resembled a bun, much like the one Ashby's hair had been worn in. A petite pink dress covered its small body, and it wore brown boots similar to those Ashby had worn. The girls all stared, vague memories of the game they had played long ago stringing together in their minds, of Link being cursed into the form of a Deku Scrub by the Skull Kid. Only Link was standing right here, fully human, before them, and Ashby…
The Deku Scrub that was Ashby caught sight of her reflection in the puddle at her feet. A pair of glowing orange eyes stared back at her from a face entirely unrecognizable. It brought back hazy memories of strange, rustling creatures. The hands she lifted into the air didn't feel like her own anymore than the face which looked up at her from the water. It felt as if something had been glued to her face, and if she could just peel it off, she would return to her normal self. She attempted to do just that, struggling to strip the wood from her face, but it wouldn't come off, no matter what she did. Finally, she collapsed to her wooden knees, panting for breath.
"Tsk. I missed," the Skull Kid said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. In the face of the nightmare before them, they had all but forgotten his presence. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. You won't be able to follow me."
The imp began to float backwards just as a door opened in the back, leading into what appeared to be a cave. Link sprang to his feet. "You're not getting away!" he shouted, darting after the Skull Kid.
"Tatl, take care of this," the Skull Kid ordered.
One of the fairies, the one which glowed yellow, sprang toward Link, flying around his face and ramming into him. In his Hylian form, it didn't do much to phase him. He merely swatted her away and resumed his chase. The fairy scowled, her tiny hands forming into fists. She looked around for something that would be effective at stopping him and spotted a vine growing not far from the door.
"Guys!" Leslie exclaimed. "I remember this. We have to follow the Skull Kid!" Dylan and Calynn stared at her blankly, while Ashby remained too shocked by her transformation to register what was happening. "Don't just stand there. We have to hurry!" Leslie urged.
Dylan and Calynn sprang into action. Calynn, who was closest to Ashby, grabbed the Scrub-she was thankfully quite light-and the four of them made a dash towards the open door, which the Skull Kid was already nearly through. At that same moment, Tael grabbed a tendril of the vine, using all of her tiny might to pull it across the doorway, intending to trip Link. Link and Dylan saw it coming and jumped over it and through the door, but Calynn, whose vision was partially blocked by Ashby's leafy bulb, tripped on the vine. She fell face first with a shout. Hearing Calynn's fall, Leslie and Dylan stopped and grabbed the girl and the Deku Scrub, pulling them through just before the door slammed shut.
"S-s...Sis!" a small voice shouted from above. Looking up, the girls saw the other fairy fly toward the door. He put his hands on it, his purple glow shimmering with his alarm. "Tatl!"
"Tael!" they could hear a muffled voice from the other side. "Skull Kid, wait for me! I'm still here!"
"That useless fairy," the Skull Kid spoke, hovering nearby, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Skull Kid!" Tael cried, his voice filled with hope as he flew up to the imp. "Please open the door for Tatl!"
Not far from the door, Link rose to his feet, drawing his sword from its sheath. He faced the Skull Kid, his blue eyes burning with fury and sorrow. "What did you do with Epona?" he demanded. He leapt at the imp, raising the sword above his head, but the Skull Kid merely levitated to the side, dodging the attack.
"Who cares what happens to that stupid horse?" Skull Kid said. "All of my plans are getting ruined. Come on, Tael, we're leaving." Turning around, he began to fly deeper into the cave.
"But Skull Kid!" Tael followed the imp, grabbing onto the ends of the red hat he wore in a vain attempt to stop him. "What about Tatl?"
The Skull Kid threw his hand up, knocking the fairy roughly to the side. For a split second, he hesitated, as if he hadn't met to hit Tael, but he quickly shook it off. "Forget it. I don't need such a useless fairy around. Now, come on!" Tael wavered, briefly looking back at Link and the girls, before hurrying to catch up with the Skull Kid.
"Come back!" Link shouted, rushing after them.
"Come on, let's stick with Link," Leslie said.
"Tael! Skull Kid!" came the muffled voice from the door.
Dylan paused, looking with uncertainty at the door. "Shouldn't we open it?"
"Why? She'll probably just go right back to helping the Skull Kid," Leslie pointed out.
Leslie had a point, but Dylan still didn't feel right about leaving the fairy trapped in there. "But doesn't Link help her in the game? What if we mess something up by not helping her?"
"I agree with Dylan," Calynn piped up.
Leslie still wasn't fully onboard, but not wanting to risk messing with the story, she relented and the girls dug their fingers into the bottom of the door, attempting to lift it. It was unexpectedly heavy, taking all four of their combined strength before they were finally able to lift it. Once they got it started, the door opened the rest of the way on its own, hitting the ceiling with a bang that sent dirt floating down on their heads.
"I don't remember Link having this much trouble in the game," Leslie said, combing dirt out of her dark auburn hair.
The moment it opened, the yellow bob of light which was Tatl darted through the doorway. "Skull Kid, thank you!" she gasped, then paused, eyeing the girls. "You're not Skull Kid," she said, her voice dripping with disdain. "...Why are you all looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?" Glancing around she found Skull kid and her brother were gone. "So that stuff…. Back there…. I apologize so… Take me with you!" she pleaded to the four girls. She would never have admitted it, but traveling alone could be dangerous for a fairy. Especially going into town, she ran the risk of getting caught by some curious bypasser and put in a jar. And then there was Tael, who was still just a child… So she gave the girls her most innocent expression, hoping they would take pity on her.
Leslie folded her arms, a half smirk forming on her face. "I don't know," she said dryly. "I don't know if a simple apology is going to be enough." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "We just need to find Link and the Skull Kid, so we don't really need a fairy tagging along, especially someone who's in cahoots with the Skull Kid."
Tatl's light quivered, but she quickly did her best to control it. "I said I was sorry! Look, I know where the Skull Kid is probably going, so I can help you out. Deal?" She bobbed about anxiously, hoping they would see reason. Leslie, satisfied that she had teased the fairy enough and gotten her to agree to lead them to the Skull Kid, relented. Dylan and Calynn exchanged glances and sighs of relief that they could keep moving now, and also chimed in their agreement to the plan.
When no one opposed her deal, Tatl dinged in the air happily. "Good, then it's settled! I guess the name's Tatl," she introduced herself, waiting to hear what their names were.
"I'm Calynn… this is Ashby," Calynn spoke first, giving Ashby a worried glance. Ashby still wasn't talking much, probably still in slight shock over what had happened to her. Dylan and Leslie introduced themselves in turn.
Once everyone's names had been exchanged, Tatl clapped her hands together. "Now then, let's hurry and catch that Skull Kid!"