A/Ns this is a shorter chapter than usual, and I'm loving that people are reviewing my stories sends out the love but I've decided to make my updates weekly. So, now every Thursday, I will update this story. It's just 'cos of homework and the evilness of reality that's making it hard to make time to write. But I will try to keep this promise; every Thursday, from now on.
Chapter 4-Masks and Wolves Reveal Themselves.
You were not expecting me, were you?
You were expecting him.
He's not coming again Rose.
He can't ever come again.
'Who are you?' Rose asked, the mask's mad eyes unnerving her.
I am the Majora.
Suddenly she was falling, deeper and deeper, plummeting into the never ending chasm of the mask's pupils. Images of her life flashed all around her, pain thrummed through her head as bright colours passed her by, coming to a stop on an image of her at six years old.
It was the day after her birthday. She was standing alone on the walkway outside her flat, looking out at the vast expanse of bright pinpricks that dotted the blue velvet of the night sky. There were still helium balloons cellotaped to the door of her flat.
Her mother stepped out, standing behind her. 'Ain't you cold out here?'
'I love the stars,' Rose's younger self said, eyes still glued to the dark sky, 'I want to see it out there, mummy. I want to see the stars up close.'
'Maybe, one day you will,' Jackie said, ruffling her hair, 'but for now you're gonna have to do with the glow-in-the-dark ones on your ceiling. Time for bed, little missy.'
Younger Rose tried to stifle a yawn, 'I'm not even tired yet.'
'So I can see,' Jackie picked her up, smiling as her daughter giggled and tried to struggle.
'I don' wanna go to bed!'
'Tough! Maybe you'll see the stars in your dreams.'
As she tucked the young girl into her bright pink bed, she dropped a light kiss on to her forehead. 'Goodnight Rosie.'
'Goodnight mummy.'
Rose blinked. She was falling through the endless tunnel of her memories, snatched words forcing through.
Have a good life, Rose. Do that for me. Have a fantastic life.
I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you…
I've done it again, picked another stupid little ape.
She came to a stop in the warm, steamy room in the sanctuary base on Krop Tor, staring at the screen.
And the lost girl, so far away from home. The Valiant child who will die in battle so very soon.
'Stop it!' Rose screamed, closing her eyes and looking away from herself as angry tears slid down her face. 'Majora, stop this now!'
The sanctuary base faded away, leaving only the darkness and the mask.
But my dear, it said, I am merely showing you the truth.
'And what truth is that?' she yelled, 'That I should be with him? 'Cause guess what? I already know that!'
No, my child. I am showing you the error of your ways. The Bad Wolf and the Storm. They can only hurt each other. How can such opposites possibly live in harmony? This was how it was always going to be.
Her mind flashed gold, and it seemed that gold was drifting around her, a stark contrast against the cold darkness of her surroundings.
'But is a Storm not a blessing to a hunted Wolf?' she said in someone else's tongue, her voice melodious and shot through with power and darkness and light, 'Does it not hide a Wolf's prints, wash away her scent? You know nothing of this universe, creature of the darkness and the wicked. You are tiny. Hiding in the darkness of insanity. You know only the hurt of being outcast by your fellows.'
The mask seemed to be pulling away, fear suddenly radiating off it in waves that Rose could almost taste. 'My Storm was my shelter,' she said slightly quieter, but suddenly it rose to a harsh pitch, 'and I will not live until I find him again. And if you should torment my anxious subconscious again, my wrath shall know no bounds. I shall rip the wretched life from your wooden body and watch your soul burn to cinders. Now be gone!'
Rose awoke, a glittering gold dust falling all around her- no, not falling- it was flowing from her, emanating from her clammy flesh, bleeding from her every pore. She sat bolt up right, fear drumming through her veins like liquid flame.
The powdered gold followed her, weaving in great waves and rivers around her as her skin became coated in a thin metallic sheen. She breathed raggedly, gulping the air, but the air was thick with the gold. It was choking her. Every gasp burned her throat, every breath out expelling great clouds of gold.
Terrified tears were cascading down her cheeks as her eyes burned, gold stains blossoming over the hotel duvet and her pyjamas, turning them gold as well. Her hair flowed around her head like a halo, threads of gold in the flood.
'Be calm, my child,' her voice said with the same powerful melody as in the dream, her mouth in another's control, 'I am not your enemy.'
Who are you? Rose screamed in her head, her voice refusing to work for her own mind.
'I am the Bad Wolf. I will return you to the Lonely Angel lost in the storm.'
'Rose?' There was a knock on the door and the gold seemed to blow away. 'Rose, sweetheart, I heard you talking, let me in.'
She breathed hard, gasping the clean air as her hair fell into its normal position at her shoulders and her bedclothes returned to their pale blue, if a little damper selves.
She threw off the duvet, looking down at her shaking hands, noting the metallic gloss was gone from her flesh.
She opened the door, letting Jackie enter and closing the door behind her.
'I heard you shout,' Jackie said, turning to see her daughter in tears. 'Wha- what's the matter?'
'What's happening to me mum?' she sobbed as her mother pulled her into a gentle hug.