"remember"
Retold by Mugen K. I. Kagemaru

My friend Sam told me to write this down and put it somewhere. I'm still trying to make sense of it all, but I haven't found any leads that could help. Most of them were just trolls being stupid, the rest were dead ends or just plain red herrings.

Anyway, here goes, I guess.

It started with a black void. I couldn't even see myself. I couldn't move, either.

A voice spoke from somewhere I couldn't see.

"I'm glad you came back..."

Came back? What does that mean? Did I leave?

"We can remember the good old days together..."

Kinda hard if I don't know what you're talking about.

"Do you remember where it all began?"

No. Why don't you tell me?

"We've been waiting for you..."

So you're part of a group?

"Come to us..."

Uhm... Okay, then. Where are you?

An image, the Happy Mask Salesman in Termina's clock tower, complete with that damned chortle of his.

The voice spoke again.

"Come to us..."

Dammit, where are you?

I wake up in a valley. Looking around, I see three buildings in the distance. As I approached them, I heard the Song Of Unhealing, but very quietly, only catching a few notes every now and again. I made up my mind to check the middle building first. I pressed myself against the wall and peered in to find...

Nothing at all, which surprised me.

Had there ever been anything in there?

Since there was nothing there that I could see, I left and went to the building to my right. I still wonder if that had been a good move.

Inside the right-hand building, a corpse was lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. It was Link, and he was dead, apparently for some time as well, considering the blood pool was already dry. He was lying face-up, and his eyes had been gouged out.

As I examined the body, a hushed voice whispered from behind me.

"He's not moving anymore..."

I won't lie, that caught me off guard. I dove to the left and looked around. There was no-one there, just me and corpse. But then, who had spoken? Maybe I imagined it?

Seeing nothing else of interest here, I left that building and went toward the one on the opposite side. As I got close, the birdsong suddenly stopped, instead it sounded like I was underwater. And I swear I could hear someone choking, like they were drowning. The Song Of Unhealing grew louder as I continued to approach the third building.

When I got inside, I looked around. I noticed BEN in the front left-hand corner, just out of sight. As soon as I turned to face him, it slowly starts to get darker. Also, my body began to feel heavy, and I couldn't move very well as I tried to leave the building.

Suddenly, BEN appeared right in front of me, and I couldn't look away from him. After a moment, he blinked out and then back in, this time he was in my face. Then he just vanished after a second, leaving me in a void like before.

And just like last time, that first voice spoke from nowhere.

"I can do anything..."

Quite the god complex you have there.

"I wonder, what do you think of me?"

What does that mean? Are you BEN?

"Isn't it easier to dismiss what scares you as lies?"

For some, maybe. Depends on the person, I say.

"Isn't it safer to just play a game?"

Can't sit inside playing games all the time, you know...

"It's been such a long time..."

Really, now? How long? Couple months? A year or two?

"We've been waiting for you, Kaizell Ventus..."

You... You know my name?

"Come and play with us..."

And if I say no?

The voice laughed.

Again I awaken, back inside the building with BEN in it, though he isn't there anymore. I guessed it was nighttime, considering it was all dark now. Since there wasn't anything in the building now, I decided to leave. When I got outside, the earth suddenly rumbled.

Looking up, I see Majora's Moon in the sky, staring down over the scene. I decided to check and see if anything else had changed. The middle building was still empty, and Link's corpse was still in the other one. The whispering voice didn't speak this time.

As I looked around, BEN kept randomly appearing behind me. The first time I only noticed him out of the corner of my eye, but sometimes, when I looked back at him, he'd appear closer than before. He seemed to just be stalking me, as he kept disappearing every time I tried to get near him.

Eventually, a beam of light appeared, apparently reaching all the way up to Majora's Moon. I could see shapes resembling humans rising up from the ground around it, slowly floating up towards the moon. Seeing nothing else to do, I decided to walk into the beam of light.

Apparently, this was the wrong choice, but I didn't know that then. The earth rumbled again, and I was suddenly lifted off my feet, and pulled towards the middle of the light beam. I couldn't move, but I could turn in place and look around.

I looked up at the moon, and saw it was slowly falling from the sky, heading right for me. A moment later, a numbers appeared, arranged like a timer, counting down the minutes.

A few seconds, and then the Happy Mask Salesman appeared a few feet away. He laughed again, and I was now completely paralyzed, and thus I couldn't look away. He slowly raised an arm. Was he beckoning me, or reaching out to me?

"Time is running out," he said.

Suddenly, whatever was holding me still wrenched my face up so I could see the Moon. Now it's closer, and still falling.

"You can't escape your fate," the Salesman said. "You've made the wrong choice..."

I could hear the Song of Unhealing again, while my face was brought back down to look at the Happy Mask Salesman, but now BEN is standing to his right. His eyes are missing, blood dripping from each socket, and he looked like he was in agony. As suddenly as I had seen it, it was gone, and he was as he usually was.

They spoke in unison now. I was right, it HAD been BEN's voice that I had heard in the black void.

"You can't fight what you don't understand..."

"It's fun to watch you play..."

"It passes the time..."

Suddenly, a gravestone appears on the Happy Mask Salesman's other side. Though I couldn't move my head or the rest of my body, I could still move my eyes to look at it. There was a name engraved on it. Squinting, I could make out the words.

KAIZELL VENTUS

This was... my grave? But, how could that be? I'm right here!

"Too late to wake up now," the Salesman said. "Too late to change the future."

Over and over, he repeated those words.

"Too late to change the future."

"Too late to change the future."

"Too late to change the future."

"Too late to change the future."

"Too late to change the future."

"Too late to change the future."

"Too late to change the future."

"Too late to change the future."

"Too late to change the future."

As he went on, BEN slowly vanished, leaving just the Salesman and the headstone with my name on it.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" said the Salesman, mockingly.

As suddenly as he had spoken, the Happy Mask Salesman's face contorted in anger. I only had time to register this before light flashed before my eyes. Was I dead, or was I being taken somewhere?

It was with that flash of light that I awoke in my bed, sweating. It was a few seconds before I found my voice.

"What... What the hell?" I gasped. "I was... dreaming? Was that a dream?"

As if on cue, I heard the Salesman laugh. Startled, I looked around, but there was no-one there.

It's been a few days since I had the dream, so my memory is a bit foggy, and I might have missed something.

It doesn't matter, either way. I just want to know what that whole thing was all about.