"I won't need to waste time with this pitiable charade any longer. I just need that mask returned to me. Hehehe."
The Happy Mask Salesman awaited the young hero Link, in the clock tower. Fitting really as he himself has nothing but time, and all he does is wait. The Menacing Moon grew larger overhead, set to hurtle into Termina and obliterate everything in sight in 3 hours. Instead of sulking in the shadows Happy Mask decided to take this time and observe what could keep someone "happy" in a crisis like this.
Happy Mask never moved, he just melted into the shadows surrounding him. He appeared from a corner in the market of Clock Town and set about wondering the streets. He watched as families huddled together and prayed to the Four Giants, cheering them on even against the darkness of Majora and the Menacing Moon. Some even called out to the deities of old, the 3 Goddesses to aid them in this time of peril.
"It's curious. These people when faced with absolute oblivion . . . sit and do nothing but say words. Hoping and praying and wishing that someone else do the work they feel they cannot."
The ever present grin on Happy Mask's face slowly faded as he thought about this. He had seen this time and time again on his travels to achieve his own ends.
"It always falls on someone else's shoulders to do the heavy lifting. Oh ho ho but these people are the only reason any of this happens in the first place. They sit and outcast the unknown and the different; turn a blind eye to the oppression and desperation of another, right until it bites them in the backside. Never truly knowing how much of a part they played in their own destruction."
He returned to surveying the people of Clock Town as they faced destruction. He chuckled to himself as he saw people trying to flee the imminent impact of the Menacing Moon.
"And run where I wonder? I've been watching the moon get closer for the last 2 days. Where were your senses then? Too busy being "happy" I suppose."
Having seen enough of Clock Town, Happy Mask again melted into the shadows. He wanted to see the rest of Termina in this wonderfully off putting state. He quietly flitted about the land, to the icy peaks of Snowhead, to the forest of the Deku Palace, to the Stone Towers past Ikana Valley, even under the Great Bay at the Zora hall . . . it seemed everyone had their one way of dealing with this crisis. The most curious of all to Happy Mask were the folks who were so content, so "happy" that they went about their business as usual. Completely fine to perish doing what they loved.
"Ah what a wondrous sight this is! These people have found what makes their life one of happiness!"
Happy Mask's eye widened at this. No longer squinted, his red pupils were visible and a maddening look washed over his face in an instant. He watched these people, dancing, singing, going about life as if it weren't an hour away from ending. He watched and craved their happiness, hands wringing about manically as his face remained frozen with the look of madness.
"These people don't NEED masks. They have found true happiness, one that conquers even sensible will to live. As long as they die doing what they love . . . this is what my masks need. This is what I need!"
Before Happy Mask went into an absolute fit of craziness, he felt a change in the air and watched as the Menacing Moon was no more. Link had beaten Majora's mask.
"Oh YAY it's almost in my hands again. When I have it, I'll be paying you "happy" people a little visit.
I. CAN'T. WAIT. Hehehehehe"
As quickly as he left, Happy Mask returned to the Clock Tower just in time for Link to arrive with the mask. He took the mask from the young hero . . . and felt nothing from it. The darkness, the apocalyptic magic held within was gone. He should have expected this; you don't get half-ass results from the Hero of Time. Doing what he does best Happy Mask quickly "placed" one on his own face. Thanking Link, Happy Mask quietly disappeared into the darkness.
Upon arriving at his destination, Happy Mask took a moment to take in what had just occurred. He gently took off his mask pack and placed Majora's empty mask back into the bag. A piece of tan porcelain fell from his face into his hand . . . his own Happy Mask was faltering. Dark mist began spilling out from the cracks of his mask. The Salesman let out a baleful sound, as if something much larger were laughing and screaming in the same breath. He ripped away the Happy Mask, revealing himself for who he truly was.
"All . . . the effort I put in . . . to obtain the power . . . within that mask . . . RAAAARGH!"
The Happy Mask fell to the ground. The Salesman's form shredded the remaining visage of the Happy Mask to reveal a tall pale figure, wreathed in shadows that radiated a dark menacing light. The figure that once was a creepy little elven man became a beautiful woman. Robes of black satin clung to her frame as long folds of lavender hair flared around her, dancing on the waves of power. Izalia, the Goddess of Void was quite furious.
"I have waited so long for the power of that mask to mature! For centuries I made sure that mask made to just the right person to accumulate the dark desires from them. Those Interlopers made it nigh impossible getting that mask back . . . but I got it. And it was BEAUTIFUL!"
The Dark Realm shuddered at Izalia's power as she let her anger flow. The denizens of the dark were however unaware of her existence; in fact everyone was. No one even knew the name Izalia at all. The Three Goddesses of Old saw to that.
"THOSE PEOPLE ARE MINE, YOU HARLOTS! YOU SELF RIGHTEOUS BACKSTABBERS! You think you're so clever, locking your own sister out of interfering with creation?! I suppose it did take all three of you to trick me out of my due yes? The power to seal me was always yours Din but you didn't know HOW. So Nayru helped you figure out your little scheme . . . but such a sweet and loving girl she is, she didn't have the heart to pull the string. . ."
Izalia remembered the day the sister created the Tri-Force and screamed another baleful sound into the darkness. She saw Farore's smug face in her mind, recalling every little detail of the deal her sisters made to seal her out of what was rightfully hers.
"Farore . . . you took it upon yourself to set the plan in motion. To use the manifest of your combined powers to seal mine . . . you even had the audacity to leave a little place where mine should have been. I swear upon the souls I have collected in these little masks that I will see you suffer my dear sweeeet sisters. You will know weakness the likes of which no other has felt Din! I will tear away all you hold dear and leave you confused and alone sweet Nayru! And dear courageous Farore . . . I will swallow this world of yours in darkness and leave you a broken mass of fear and doubt! All of their souls were to be mine when they had finished their pathetic little lives. . . . and they will be, as will yours. Soon."
Letting her anger subside, Izalia walked over to her discarded mask. She picked it up and began repairing the damage containing her anger had caused.
"Only those who have been touched by the Tri-Force can help me. Gannondorf . . . Zelda . . . Link. You shall be my salvation and this world's damnation. Their souls aren't going anywhere unless I take them so I have nothing but time. Shutting me out has created a delightful little loophole. Demise seems to have caught on. No person will stop reincarnating in this world until I have what -I- desire most. If I will not be given what is mine, I will just have to steal it piece by piece. As a creepy little man . . . who simply sells masks . . . to make everyone . . . y."