Chapter Seven: The Monster Awakens

Within an underground shaft deep below the Phantom Island, Starfire and I sat down upon some rocks contemplating on how we could get back to the surface. From our position at the bottom the shaft was at least a mile high, and my hookshot was unable to latch onto solid rock, so climbing out did not seem like an option. Ordinarily a situation such as this wouldn't be a problem, as Starfire could simply fly us out. But for some strange reason, Starfire's ability to fly wasn't working right now; but why?

"Starfire, what happened? Why weren't you able to fly earlier?" I asked her.

Starfire was looking down at her hands, which were placed upon her lap in a somewhat timid manner. I hoped that my question hadn't made her feel bad.

"I… do not know." She answered. "I am usually able to fly quite well in dangerous situations such as before. But this time, for some reason… I could not."

"How does it even work? Your flying, I mean." I asked her.

"Well, Tamaranian powers are inclined by our emotions." She answered.

"By your emotions?" I questioned. "So the way you're feeling affects your powers?"

She nodded in response. She explained that the only other time that she had ever been unable to fly in a situation such as this was when she had felt unfamiliar confusion. I asked her if anything about our journey had been confusing for her. She shook her head, saying that she had greatly enjoyed being on this journey with me.

"The last time you felt confused… it involved Robin didn't it." I asked.

Starfire turned her head away from me, sporting a somewhat guilty look on her face. That must've meant that it had involved Robin, and she was worried that I might get upset about it. I insisted that it was alright if it was true, and that if so that it was all in the past.

"Starfire, maybe you should reactivate your communicator and contact the others for help." I suggested.

"If I did that then I would have to speak with Robin… and I know that he will have not gotten over the argument from before." She replied in a sour tone.

"Star, you can't stay mad at him forever." I told her.

"So long as he calls you a 'monster', I will be upset with him as long as I please!" She responded.

That was the only reason that she was mad at him? Because he was mean to me? I wondered if there was some other reason behind this as well. I asked her.

"Well… I guess there is one other reason." She confessed. "Even when I was still Robin's…umm… girlfriend, he did not really pay that much attention to me. The only times that we ever spent time together was right after our missions, or simply short conversations within the tower. And even then I could always tell that Robin was barely paying attention. I had always assumed that there was a kind person underneath his gruff exterior… a person like you. And while you were away, I had hoped that I could bring that person out of him. But I guess I was wrong…"

"No Starfire, you're right. He's definitely a good person. He's just… umm…" I began to say.

"A jerk." She interrupted.

"Uhh… that's not what I was going to say…" I said, even though part of me agreed with her. "Robin is just… closed-off. He just doesn't seem to completely trust everyone."

"I know that. I had just hoped that he might open up to someone like me. But truthfully, other than a… few instances, it never really worked very well…" She told me.

She once again looked down at her hands, as if pondering something. I looked the other way, also pondering something; pondering a question that I wanted to ask her, although I was not sure if this was the right time. I was about to ask her, but she apparently wished to ask her question first.

"Link? There is something I wish to tell you… something I have not told anyone else on Earth…" She said while twittling her fingers.

Something she had never told anyone else? Not even to Robin? I wondered what it could be.

"Starfire… is not my real name. Well, technically it is in your language, but on Tamaran I am known by the name… Koriand'r." She told me.

"Koriand'r? That's not the easiest name to say…" I said. "But then again, Link isn't really a common name either."

"If it is not too much trouble, I would like you to refer to me by that name whenever it is just the two of us together." She insisted.

It was no problem, but I asked her why. Her answer was that she wanted me to have a way to identify her that was different from how everyone else did, and that that way it would feel special for both of us. I found that heartwarming, but I mentioned that Koriand'r was still a bit hard to say every time. I suggested that perhaps I could say it in a shorter form; Kori for instance. She liked the sound of that, and asked if I could call her that from now on; when we were alone at least. I happily agreed.

"Starfi-…err... I mean, Kori. Can I ask you something now?" I asked her.

"Of course Link. You may ask me anything." She replied. "What is it you wish to know?"

"Umm… it's about what happened on the roof of Titans Tower six months ago… what happened between you and… huh… him. I just want to know… what does that feel like?" I asked her a little timidly.

"Do you mean the… lip contact? Link, you already know what that is like. The day that we met… do you not remember?" She responded.

She was speaking of when she kissed me on the day that we met. Tamaranians have the ability to learn any language through lip contact; in other words, through kissing other beings. But she had only done so back then so that she could learn english, and other than that it had meant nothing. I mentioned that to her, and asked again that I wanted to know how it felt when it did mean something, when there was feeling behind it, like when she had kissed… him.

"I just want to know because… I'll never experience myself…" I said.

"What?! Link that is not true! You will experience it one day." She insisted.

I was not sure if I agreed with her. After all, there was only one girl that I ever wanted to kiss, and she was sitting right next to me. But I knew that the chances of that ever happening again were very low. She reminded me that she had broken up with Robin, most likely as a way to make me feel better. But I mentioned that she only did so to save everyone from me when I had turned evil. She insisted that that was not the only reason; that it was also because she cared about me greatly. Back to the matter of my question, she said that the 'feeling' behind such a gesture is too difficult to describe in words, and that one had to experience it personally to truly know how it feels.

"Well… it's not like you could show me…" I said. "Umm… thanks anyway."

Starfire… err... I mean, Kori, took a moment to think about what I had asked her, and then smiled in a very cute manner.

"Actually Link, there is not anything at the moment that is saying that I could not show you…" She said.

When I heard that my eyes widened. She saw my expression and giggled. Was she really thinking about kissing me?! For real?! I asked if she was serious, and she nodded.

"St-… err… Kori, even if I actually believed that you would really do it, well… I'm… a little frightened from the thought…" I told her.

"Link, there is no need to be afraid." She said with a small giggle afterwards. "Why not simply close your eyes? That way it may be less frightening for you."

I felt a bit reluctant at first, even though in reality, this was something that I really wanted. As such it only took a few seconds for me to give in, and I closed my eyes. I was not able to see, but I was still able to feel Kori's face inch closer to mine. My heart was beating at an uncontrollable rate as I felt her breath right in front of my own.

All of the sudden however, a sinister laugh echoed throughout the shaft, and interrupted our moment. In an instant, Kori and I sat up in shock at what we had heard.

"Well well well, isn't this cute… if I had a stomach I would vomit!" The sinister voice said. "Heh heh heh… the look on your faces… priceless…"

The voice sounded as if it was echoing throughout not just the shaft, but across the entire island. It was as if all of the Phantom Island was speaking. But that couldn't be, could it?

"Link, what is going on?!" Starfire asked in fear.

"I'm not sure. But whatever it is, we are definitely not alone down here." I stated.

"Of course you aren't! You fools are the ones who brought me down here!" The voice bellowed.

We had brought this… whatever it was down here with us?! I then realized something; I've heard this voice before, right before I picked up that mask. That was the only other thing that fell down with us. As I realized this out loud, all of the sudden a shady object appeared hovering right behind us. It was the mask, and some kind of dark aura was billowing out from behind it. As it came into view, be both saw the horrific sight. The mask's eyes, once still and inanimate, were now able to move, and disturbingly at that.

"What is happening?! The mask is… alive?!" Kori gasped. "How is this possible?!"

"I don't know. But we can handle it. It's just a mask." I told her.

The mask, or monster, or… whatever it was, rotated its head from side to side as if adjusting a nonexistent neck. It stared at us with it's eyes parted evilly, which sent a shiver down my spine, and I'm certain Kori felt it too.

"I assure you children… I am more than just a mere mask… much more…" The mask monster claimed.

I could see now why this thing had been encased within that box. It was not simply a mask in the likeness of that monster from the drawings, it was that monster! I drew the Master Sword in preparation for whatever this monster might do, but when I tried to go into spirit mode, for some strange reason nothing happened! First St-… I mean, Kori was unable to fly, and now I couldn't use my spirit powers?! What was going on here?!

"Whatever kind of vile creature you are, we are not allowing you to leave this island!" Kori warned the monster.

She then drew the Spirit's Sword from its scabbard upon her back, which shimmered in the darkness of the shaft. The glow of the sword caught the attention of the monster, whose eyes widened, as if in shock from seeing the sword. The dark aura coming from the monster began to flame fiercely in rage.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT SWORD?!" It shrieked in anger. "HOW IS IT THAT YOU WIELD IT?! THAT ACCURSED BLADE VANISHED FROM THIS WORLD AGES AGO!"

Kori and I both had puzzled looks on our faces. How did this monster know about Star-… Kori's sword?

"If you are speaking of the Spirit's Sword, Link and I retrieved it from my homeplanet Tamaran." Kori informed the monster. "But how is it that you know of this sword?"

The monster paused for a moment, now with a puzzled look on its face; as much of a face as it had anyway. Then a second later it once again gazed at us with its eyes parted evilly, looking as if it had just realized something.

"Oh never mind that now. I am free once again!" It told us. "I must be going now, but I assure you… we will meet again."

With that the dark aura enveloped the mask. Before any of us could do anything to stop it, the monster zoomed past us, straight into the cave wall. The wall was blown apart, revealing a tunnel of some sort. The mask had apparently flown through, as there was no sign of it when the dust cleared. The good news though was that now we had a way out of here. Whether the monster had done this intentionally or not was unknown, but regardless, Kori and I put our swords back in our scabbards and proceeded through the tunnel.

As we were walking, I mentioned to Kori that when we confronted the monster, I had not been able to use my spirit mode powers. The whole thing was confusing, but Kori suggested that there may be something about this island that was affecting our powers. We couldn't be certain, but seeing as we couldn't find any other reason, we decided that was the case for now. After traveling for about an hour, we were finally able to see the end of the tunnel. We got out alright, although we were still upon the desolate Phantom Island. The area though was one that we had not seen yet; we were at the base of some kind of mountain, and there were several statues around us. They were old and worn down, but still relatively big. Two of them were facing each other, and the other, which appeared feminine, was in front of them as if staring at both of them. Kori noticed something upon the rocky wall ahead of us. We walked over to it, and saw that it was writing of some sort. In fact, it looked almost exactly like the writing in the book that Raven had given me a while back; ancient hylian writing. This concluded what Kori and I had been thinking; the Phantom Island was actually what remained of the land of Hyrule, the ancestral home of both me and Kori! And that monster from before; was that the thing responsible for all of this?

"Let me see if I can read this…" Kori told me as she looked closer at the ancient writing.

After a moment, she discovered that the writing was a story of some sort, that went like this:

Once upon a time, two men fell in love with a beautiful woman. One man was popular, and always the center of attention. But all he cared about was the woman he loved. However, the woman only had eyes for the other man. This man was lonesome and shunned by others, all except for the woman who loved him. There came a time when the two men got into an argument for the woman's love, and the intensity of their rage became so powerful that it could've melted stone. However, when danger threatened, the two men eventually settled their differences, and the light of friendship shone between them. As if a door had been opened.

"Link… does this story not sound… resembling?" Kori asked me. "It sounds a lot like the three of us and what we are going through right now: you, me, and Robin."

"It's just a coincidence Sta-… err… Kori. This story was obviously written hundreds of years ago." I told her.

"Yes I know. But it is very similar to the ordeal at hand; similar to the argument between you and Robin." She claimed.

It was then that we both realized that this was most likely what Lanayru had wanted us to see. This story of love and hate; that ultimately ended with the bonds of friendship. Perhaps this meant that I should just forgive Robin for the mean things he said to me and just return to Jump City. As I looked into her eyes, I could tell that Kori was thinking the same thing. We both decided that the best thing to do right now was to go home. We turned around and headed south, leaving the statues and the writing behind.

It was about three hours later before we returned to the shore of the Phantom Island, and Linebeck's ship was still waiting there. We climbed aboard and entered the cabin to find Linebeck sound asleep. I called out his name a few times and he sprang awake with a small blade in his hand.

"Oh, it's just you two! For the love of the sea, don't sneak up on me like that!" He told us while yawning.

"Sorry about that." I said while scratching the back of my head. "But we're ready to leave this place. We found what Lanayru wanted us to see."

"Really? And what exactly was that?" Linebeck asked us with one of his eyebrows raised.

"A story about friendship written upon a wall. It has convinced us to return home." Kori said with a smile.

"A story? A STORY?! You mean to tell me that I sailed to this god-forsaken place just so the two of you could read a story?!" Linebeck raged.

He kept rambling on for a while about how this was a waste of time, and energy, and that Lanayru could've just told us the story from the beginning. If he had done that though, we wouldn't have really learned anything from it. Linebeck shrugged and claimed that he was glad that we could at least leave this horrid place. He started up his boat, and we 'shoved off' as he put it.

"By the way kid… did you happen to see anything else on the island… anything strange?" Linebeck asked me while steering the ship.

"Umm… Why do you ask?" I asked him back.

"Cause while you were on the island, I saw this odd flaming thing shoot across the sky overhead. It looked as if it was heading to the mainland." He answered.

An odd flaming thing? I think both Kori and I knew what it was; the monster that I unintentionally freed from the black box in the ruins! What Linebeck saw was without a doubt that monster; and it had escaped from the island! He said that it was heading for the mainland, which was no doubt meant America. Where in America was it heading, and what did it plan to do when it got there?

Majora's Mask is now on the loose! As I said before, Majora becomes a main antagonist throughout the rest of my fanfiction, but some of you may be wondering what the mask was doing in the ruins of the Tower of Spirits? And on the adult timeline at that? For why it is imprisoned at the Tower of Spirits, it involves an origin story that takes place 1000 years before the events in this fanfiction (which I have yet to write, but I will). As for the timeline placement, yes Majora's Mask was first and so far only seen on the child timeline, but that does not mean it cannot appear on other timelines. Practically everything about Majora is still a mystery, so I thought he'd be a great villain to use in this story.

The remaining chapters will mainly focus back on Ian, the Four Sword, and Vaati.