EEEEK!
All right. Well, this is the first time I'm doing something on/for . I tend to write my chapters per issue so they're quite short. I had considered grouping some of them together for this but I don't wanna subject you to too much in case it burns your eyes!
Um...yeah XD; If y'all like it, I'll make sure to have the longer chapters up. Be nice =3
(I claim no ownership of any character represented herein. All rights belong to Nintendo)
Behind the Mask
Chapter One
It's cold. Too cold. I barely managed to escape the torrential downpour without losing my fingers to frostbite or some other nasty infection. I managed to find shelter in the strange horseshoe-shaped rock outside the southern swamp. I sat, my back pressed up against the cold wall, with my arms around my knees, begging for warmth. I arrived in what a sign told me was Termina a few hours ago and didn't have anyone to stay with; I'm not exactly sure how I lasted this long, to be perfectly honest.
"Ungh." I rubbed my bare legs with my hands to warm them up but the icy water blowing in on the wind sent chills into my bones. I shivered again, directing my eyes to the floor, trying to think of something happy to distract myself.
"Quick, Tael. Hurry. In here," a girl's voice sounded out. It was barely audible over the thunder above but my ears perked up. I looked around; against the darkness brought on by the grey clouds, two fairies shone brightly as they also sought escape the cascading rain in my shelter. The one that spoke before was slightly larger than the other and was a bright cream colour. She was huddled against the smaller one, Tael, who was a deep purple with a red hue on the extremities.
"You poor boy…" Tael spoke sympathetically to me, observing my situation. I flinched at a combination of his words and the biting cold.
"Ungh." I cast my eyes away, wrapping my hands around my knees again. I did not need more judgement from them.
"Come on. We're going to need each other if we want to make it through this," the other fairy assessed. The two flew low and huddled in my arms. They were warm and despite the blistering temperature, they warmed my heart. I never had anyone to hold or to hold me for that matter. It was a strange feeling…being needed, wanted.
"I'm Tatl; and this is Tael, my brother," the white orb of light introduced herself. "What's your name?"
"Um." I never had to think about that before. "Everyone just calls me the Skull Kid," I said finally. I could tell she was taken aback and the shame fell into my stomach like a lead weight. It had been barely five minutes and I already disgusted them. Why was it always like this?
"…Skull Kid? Why do they call you that?" Tael asked. There was something in his voice but there was no disgust, no repulsion. It was genuine interest. This little fairy was taking an interest…in me? My only answer to his question was a half-hearted shrug and it was honest, I had no clue why I was called the Skull Kid.
"Well, it doesn't matter why. It's nice to meet you, Skull Kid." Tatl smiled up at me as she spoke, huddling close to her brother and my chest. My heart beat faster. I had friends.
"It's nice to meet you too, Tatl and Tael." I smiled. A thunderclap overheard startled us and I drew them tighter, holding onto the fairies as if they were my own life.
Darkness took over in spite of the occasional lightning bolt streaking across the sky, casting an eerie flash over the landscape. I shut my eyes to block out the noise. Nothing mattered because, so long as my friends were here, I was safe. My mind slipped into the abyss of sleep, its inviting warmth too great to resist.
'Cuckoooo!' a rooster crowed, rousing me from my slumber. I revisited the events of the night before and a guilty shiver coursed through me: I had slipped into my dreams and neglected the fairies. I opened my eyes, fully expecting them to have deserted me for my selfishness. When I saw they were still in my arms, dozing quietly, my heart leapt. A smile broke onto my face and my eyes watered but I held the tears back.
"Hey guys…c'mon, wake up," I roused the sleeping fairies. After all, it was six in the morning: time to get up.
"Mmm. What time is it?" Tatl asked groggily, shaking the last of the drowsiness from her mind.
"It's about six. The Cuckoo just crowed," I informed her, letting the pair go as they took flight.
"Really?" Tael chimed in. "What're we going to do with the day? Tatl?" He turned to his sister. "Can we play with our new friend? Please?"
"Sure!" the elder piped. "I mean…if he wants to, that is." They turned to me, awaiting some response. Like there was any other answer.
"Yes! Of course I want to!" I bounced to my feet, beaming.
"Yay!" Tael celebrated. "Lets go for a walk first? Stretch our wings." The little fairy was right: we did need to stretch.
Despite the horrendous weather of barely seven hours prior, the sun was shining and its brilliant rays illuminated the field. As we walked I worked on stretching out the kinks of sleep. Termina field really was a nice place; there were patches of grass scattered here and there as well as a beach to the west. There were some bad things about it too like the veiny heads of the Deku Babas that poked up from long grass to bite the feet and hands of unsuspecting strollers. I was glad to have Tatl and Tael with me as they had enough sense to fly over to any danger to warn me about it beforehand.
"Hey! Guys, come over here!" Tael had raced off on his own for the third time already and was bouncing around near the trunk of a large tree. Quickly joined by his sister and me, he suggested we use the tree to carve a memorial to the day. The task was long as I tried to help my friends carve a picture of the three of us onto the tree with a nearby jagged stone. Eventually it took shape and the familiar tingling that I had grown accustomed to with these fairies rose in my stomach again. We smiled, stepping back from our work.
"From now on, we're friends forever!" Tatl announced happily to eager agreements from the other two of us. Only a few seconds passed before the grumbling of my stomach interrupted the moment. I can't explain it but it was a moment that, although fleeting, was immortalised in our minds and felt like an eternity in seconds.
"Hungry, Skull Kid?" Tael asked sarcastically.
"Yeah," I replied sheepishly, a rogue trace of scarlet finding its way onto my cheeks.
"Maybe we should go to town? There're probably some good restaurants there we can get some food," Tatl suggested.
"I've no money." The feelings of failure crept up again.
"Hm. You need to eat and there's definitely no food around here. I suppose we could try the ranch. Tael and I past it when finding shelter from the rain."
"Would…they give me food…for free?"
"It's our best hope. C'mon!" The two balls of light flew off toward the large arch that was home to an odd looking bird. Its head was blue and totally void of feathers and there was a small tuft of white around its neck. The rest of its body was covered in a navy blue down with large bright eyes scanning the surrounding landscape. I ran past it, not trusting the avian that gave me such an extensive stare as I ventured along.
Milk road was full of strange things despite being very small compared to the field we had come from. The first thing that caught my attention was a small man flying around the road attached to a vibrant red balloon. He was constantly drawing on the paper in front of him so I assumed he was a mapmaker of some sort. Just below him there was a patch of grass that I could have sworn was moving. Maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me but it definitely looked like it was wriggling around.
"Come on, Skull Kid. Don't dawdle!" Tael called back; they had already reached the other end of the road while I took in the sights.
"Sorry!" I called back, scared that I upset the boy. I ran to catch up and found the gate to the ranch. It was huge. There were massive yellow balloons flying around everywhere but my stomach was begging to be attended to so I had to ignore them.
"Is anyone home?" Tatl called as we approached the farmhouse.
"Yeah, I'm coming now. Hold on, Talon," came the reply from inside. I was nervous; what was her reaction going to be seeing me turning up on her door asking for food and water?
The door opened with a creak and a woman stood on the threshold, her eyes drifting from one fairy to the other and finally to me.
"Hi. I'm Cremia and you are…?"
"I'm Tatl. This is my brother, Tael, and this is our friend the Skull Kid."
"How can I help you?" Her words sounded rude on their own but her voice was sweet. I could tell that she meant no ill to me.
"Well," I started. "I just came here yesterday and have no money for food. We past signs for your ranch and thought maybe you could help. I mean, if you don't…that's okay and I'm sorry for bothering you." I turned to leave, ready for the inevitable negative response.
"Of course we can. Come on in, we were just about to sit down to lunch anyway." I turned to find her smiling down at me, standing back to let us in. For the second time in twenty-four hours my heart swelled. People in Termina really were nice.
I shyly seated myself at the table opposite a smaller version of Cremia who introduced herself as Romani, the younger sister. A bowl of an odd but delicious soup was placed in front of me and hungrily attacked. The hot liquid enriched my body; I could feel it flowing into my stomach, filling me. I inhaled the delightful aroma and the feelings of acceptance came out again. This was heaven.
"You're welcome to stay the night if you don't have anywhere to go," Cremia offered. "I could talk to Anju about getting you a place in town at her inn if you'd rather have somewhere closer to the rest of the world," she added with a laugh.
"An-Anywhere would be brilliant. How can I ever thank you?"
"You can stop them," Romani interjected.
"Romani!" The elder chided the young one. "Don't start that again. There are no invaders."
'Invaders? Well, I dunno if it's true but I vow to do everything I can to save my new friends from harm' I thought to myself, glad to have someone to finally protect.
