Hello, this is my first post since a discontinued Inheritance Cycle fic' a long time ago, but I hope you enjoy this short oneshot. It takes place towards the ending of Majora's Mask, following a theory that the game was actually just all in Link's head. Hope you enjoy.
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"No! Don't play the song!"
But she did, only sending a sorrowful glance back at him, and the haunting melody of the song of Time rang through his ears like a wretched siren's song.
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Link sprang awake from where he'd previously slept comfortably against a tree in the middle of Termina field. Judging by the sun, he'd been sleeping for three hours.
Link sighed; time seemed to be his bane. In Hyrule he'd been forced to warp back and forth through it to finish his quest, and now here in Termina he had no choice but to relive the same three days over and over again.
The worst part was not that it was the same three days though – no- although that in itself had its own quality of madness. It was that every time he'd exited the clock tower he'd been greeted by the same mindless people again as if they'd never met before. As if they'd forgotten he'd even existed.
That they all looked like his former friends in Hyrule only taunted him the worse.
Even Tatl, his companion on his goddess-forsaken quest, reminded him of his first companion Navi, who he had by now realized he'd never see again.
They'd spent hundreds of cycles, each of the same three days, working towards the point they were at; the final showdown against the skull-kid to reclaim the demented Majora's Mask.
Even now, as he rode Epona - whom he had rescued from Romani Ranch - into Clocktown, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of loss. Another quest ended. Another of his dwindling constants gone. It was almost too much to bear in this endless farce he'd endured for the goddesses.
As he made his way to the clock tower, he could see the ugly sight of the moon bearing down upon Termina, forced by Majora's mask ever closer on a collision course.
He walked up the clock tower and upon reaching the top he saw the Skull kid, as always hovering just above arm's reach.
"Well if it isn't you again! Come to play with me at last have you?" The Skull kid taunted.
Without deigning to reply, Link took out the Ocarina of Time and played the Giant's song, bringing the four giants all the way to clock town in preparation to halt the moon's descent.
This however seemed to stun the Skull kid; his hovering ceased and he fell towards the ground, immediately running up to the Giant of Ikana Canyon.
"Friend! It's me, Skull kid! Why did you leave?!"
The giant ignored him. It didn't seem to recognize him, and upon realizing this fact the Skull kid seemed to wilt.
"Why friend? Why have you forgotten me?"
Link quickly stepped forward and slashed the riotously colored mask, tearing it free of the Skull kid to land a few feet away and lie motionless.
Curious, he peered at the face that had so long been obscured and had to choke back a gasp.
It was his face, younger perhaps but down to every last eyelash they were identical.
The face peered up at him, and the mouth spoke.
"They've all forgotten. Why?"
Link felt a gripping pain in his chest, and empathized with the Skull kid. He'd lost all of his friends when he'd been sent back. Lost everything to powers he didn't know or even fully understand.
He knelt down and touched the Skull kid's shoulder, trying to give him a little comfort. For the moment, the world seemed to cease…
Until he realized that it had ceased. He was sitting underneath another tree, Epona standing over him worriedly.
"It was just a dream?"
He couldn't believe that all of his efforts in Termina had never existed; had all been in his head.
Realization seemed to take hold of his mind for a moment, and the quiet of the glade seemed absolute.
Then, Link nodded to himself, and quickly mounted Epona.
Looking back on Hyrule – for he was certainly no longer in Termina – he quickly turned away and shot off into the morning mist towards a new adventure.