Chapter Two: Clock Town

(Dawn of the First Day, 6:00 am, 72 hours remain)

The sight that greeted them was nothing short of surprising. They had entered a town set seemingly in the medieval ages, with people going about their daily business here and there, and some burly men apparently working on constructing a wooden tower in the middle of the square. A man with a square jaw and short gray hair was busy ordering them around. "Hurry up, all of you! We only got three days before the carnival!"

The group of baleful polymorphs couldn't help but listen in on the following conversation as one of the workers walked past his boss. "Boss, I really think we should flee…" the man began before he was sharply cut off.

"YOU IDIOT!" the boss roared. "Don't believe those silly rumors! The carnival's gonna go on like always! Get back to work!"

"Rumors…?" Link muttered almost to himself.

"So where are we going to find the Skull Kid?" Edd asked Tatl.

"I don't know!" she answered. The others looked at her murderously, to which she replied nervously, "But…um, I know someone w-who might know!"

"Please, enlighten us," Edd responded.

"The Great Fairy who lives in North Clock Town! She should know!"

"Wait…Great…Fairy?" Edd said, disbelieving. "There's no such thing as…"

"Do I look like a figment of your imagination?"

"But I…no, I guess not."

Truthfully, Edd didn't know what to believe anymore. He had believed all his life that everything could be proven by science, that magic and fairies and monsters didn't exist. Now here he was in a foreign town in a foreign land stuck with an elf kid, a fairy, and worst of all, Marie Kanker, and all of them were currently talking plants. I wonder if Ed and Eddy will come looking for me, Edd thought to himself. And with Marie here too, what's to stop her sisters from looking for her too? And if the others got involved…Sarah would probably try to find Ed, Jimmy would just blindly follow her, Nazz would go too because she can't stand the idea of kids going places by themselves, Kevin would go with her because he likes her, Rolf would join because he likes adventure, and Jonny will come because he's…well, Jonny.

Edd sighed and pinched his forehead. He really missed his hat, and these thoughts about the other kids back in the cul-de-sac did nothing to ease his tension. Marie turned his way and couldn't help but glance at the scar. It was an ugly thing, a long white line that was completely bereft of hair that ran down the side of his forehead down to his ear. "Double D…you…alright?" she asked.

On any other day she would have just wrapped her arms around him and planted kisses while he cried in terror, but this wasn't any other day. Everything had gone topsy-turvy, and here she was in some bizarro alternate universe with people straight out of a cliché fairy tale. And there was something about this whole thing that made her feel uneasy, a sense of foreboding that loomed over her like a cloud. The only ease she got from this whole mess they were in was that she was in it with Edd. As she glanced once more at Edd's scar, she thought, If only I knew how he got that. It seems to trouble him a lot…

Edd looked up at her, and for once his eyes didn't look like they were about to pop out of their sockets in fright. "I'm just…thinking about the others. With me gone, my friends will probably start looking for me, and your sisters are probably going to start looking for you as well. It makes me ill to think that they might find their way here and get wrapped up in this mess as well."

Marie found herself wondering the same thing. She always fought with her sisters, but they did care for one another and stood by each other through thick and thin. She was sure they'd tear up the forest looking for her. Hell, the Eds might even let them come just because they're both missing a teammate, Marie thought wryly.

Suddenly they were all brought back to reality by a low growl. All three Deku looked ahead and saw a dog, a large terrier to be exact, growling angrily at them. Because of their small stature, the dog was as big as they were. And worse, they were weaponless. "Umm…any ideas, Link?" Edd stuttered as sweat started dripping down his forehead.

"…Run."

"Gyaahh!" they all cried as they turned and ran up one of the ramps with the dog close behind.

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear!" Edd yelled as he tried to run as quickly as he could.

Sadly, his human form was lackluster enough. His current Deku form made his running no quicker than a normal stride. The dog was catching up fast. The others weren't faring much better, as they were only barely running faster than Edd was. Suddenly, Edd tripped over his own two feet and fell face-first to the ground. "Gahhh! Help!" he cried in terror as the dog came close.

Hearing his voice, Marie suddenly spun on her heel and ran towards him. Seeing her do this, Link skidded to a halt as well. The dog was growling fiercely at Edd, who was too scared to move. As it prepared to pounce, he suddenly heard Marie cry out from behind him, "Hey, get away from my man, you mangy mutt!"

The dog looked up in time to see Marie's boot collide with its snout. The dog yelped and jumped back, shaking its head and glaring at Marie. The middle Kanker sister pointed at the dog in a way that actually made her look menacing. "Bad dog! Go on now, get!"

The dog, visibly terrified that its prey bit back, turned tail and fled back the way it came, yipping all the way. She made sure the dog was gone before she turned to Edd, who was just staring at her in shock. "What?" she asked. "You think I'd let some stupid mutt make a chew toy outta you?"

She offered him a hand to help him up. After a moment's hesitation, Edd took it and pulled himself up. He looked at her, and couldn't help but blush as he said, "Um…thanks, Marie."

"Ahem," came Link's voice from off to the side.

They both looked at him. "You got guts, Marie," Link continued. "You remind me of a friend of mine. She's a real tomboy, kinda gets her in trouble a lot."

Marie smirked. "I like her already."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on, let's go!" Tatl cried in exasperation.

"Ah, right, right," Edd coughed.

Without another word, they followed Tatl towards North Clock Town. To get there, they had to go through East Clock Town, and as they entered the vicinity, they noticed a pair of men who looked identical to each other save for one wearing red and the other blue who were partaking in a two-man juggling act and dancing as they did so. They all marveled at them for a moment before the red-shirt spoke. "Funny things are happening, aren't they? Funny, funny."

"You're telling me! Have you seen the moon? Its face used to be so happy and blue-eyed, but now it's so big and red-eyed and angry!"

"And that's not the only thing? Stuff's been going on in the swamp too! Did you hear about the kidnapping?"

"Oh my! The kidnapping?"

"Yep! But then the kid woke up! Haha, get it?"

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho!"

The two men didn't break stride once, but that wasn't what the Deku kids were focusing on at the moment. "What did he mean with the moon?" Edd asked, confused.

They then decided to look up, and were astonished by what they saw. High above the Clock Tower, but far closer than it was supposed to be, was the moon. "GOOD LORD!" Edd exclaimed, horrified. "As close as it is, there's no way the moon can hold its trajectory without succumbing to the laws of gravity! It's…it's going to fall!"

The others could only look on in horror at the moon that loomed above them. What was worse was the fact that there was a face plastered on the moon's surface, and that face was contorted into an almost manic smile. Its eyes were disturbingly similar to the eyes of the Skull Kid's mask. "I…I hope the Great Fairy knows what's going on…" Tatl whimpered. "C-come on. We should probably hurry."

They all swallowed before heading into North Clock Town, which was strangely empty save for a slide in the corner, a dead tree, a fence, and a ramp leading towards a cave. "This way," Tatl said, heading towards the cave. The others dutifully followed and watched as she disappeared inside.

They were almost there when they heard Tatl scream in horror. Startled, they ran inside and saw a fountain of some kind. There were marble pillars connected together at the top, and water ran down the walls from above and sank into a puddle on the ground. But that wasn't what caught their attention. Tatl was floating there, visibly shaken, as she stared at a group of strange creatures with wings on their heads that weren't much bigger than a normal fairy. "G…Great Fairy…" Tatl stuttered. "What…happened to you?"

As the three Deku kids caught up with her, all the glowing creatures spoke as one. "Oh, kind young ones. Oh, Tatl…Thank goodness you are here. My form was shattered by the masked Skull Kid, and one of my parts has wandered off into the town. If I am to reform, the stray fairy must be brought back here with all due haste…"

"Whoa…" Edd gasped. "The Skull Kid did this to you? How?!"

"It was that accursed mask of his…Such an item of wicked power is not meant for a child's hands…Please, bring back the Stray Fairy wandering around Clock Town, and I will help you on your quest."

"We will," Link assured her. "Come on, guys. We've got a stray fairy to find."

"D-don't worry, Great Fairy!" Tatl added. "We'll fix you up!"

They then left the cave. Once on the other side, Link turned around to face his companions. "Okay, if we split up, we can cover a lot more ground more quickly. Tatl and I will search East Clock Town. Marie, you look around West Clock Town, and Edd, you'll cover South Clock Town. Everyone understand the plan?"

They all nodded to one another and split up to go search.