Missing Link (Bonus Chapter)

-Tangled Tinsel-

"Papa! Papa, wake up! It's Christmas!" Link shrieked, bouncing up and down on the bed as his father began to stir and groan.

"Link…" the man sighed, forcing one eye open, "I specifically instructed you not to wake me before dawn."

"But, look! It is dawn!" the boy insisted, pointing frantically at the faint, barely visible light that could be seen out the one window in the room, "See? Look! Looooook!"

"Yes, Link. I have eyes," his father said, "Perhaps you would like to wait until it is light enough to actually see your presents…?"

"Papa. Aunt Koume and Aunt Kotake are witches. I'm sure they can give us some light to see," Link said.

"What if they do not wake easily?"

"I already woke them up a little while ago," he explained, "It took me a while, but they're both up and ready to open presents." Mr. Dragmire sighed. It was worth a try, anyway. Unfortunately for him, the child would not be swayed.

"So, come on! Get uuuuuuup!" Link wailed, grabbing his father's arm and attempting to pull him out of bed- with limited success.

"Why don't you start opening presents without me…?" he suggested. Link pouted.

"No! You said you'd get up as early as dawn! You said you would! You did!" the boy protested. But, he was right. Mr. Dragmire swore under his breath.

"Papa!" Link gasped, "You said we should never say that!"

"My apologies…" his father said, "I will come." Link grinned as the man slowly untangled himself from the sheets and slid out of bed. The boy staggered back toward the door and nodded toward a room down the hall.

"C'mon, c'mon, Papa!" Link whined, "You're going way too slow!"

"Calm down, boy!" his father growled, "I am coming. Go on ahead."

"But-"

"Go!"

Link pouted and opened his mouth to protest, but, thinking better of it, he sighed and ran down the hall. With a groan, Mr. Dragmire rubbed his face and proceeded to trudge out of his bedroom and down the hall. When he finally reached his family, he found them to be sitting around the rather small tree- at least in comparison to his own size- that Koume and Kotake had enchanted. Small orbs of light shimmered on and around the branches, and one, large, star-like orb danced about at the very top of the tree. While the twin witches sat in chairs nearby, Link sat at the base of the tree, ripping open a present from the two.

"Oh!" Link exclaimed, "It's a wooden shield! Oooh, and it has Hyrule's bird emblem on it! Thanks!"

"Try putting it on your arm," Aunt Koume said.

"We made this shield very special!" Aunt Kotake added. Link slid his arm through the strap on the back of the toy.

"Oh, wow!" he said, watching in awe as the toy shield transformed from wood to metal.

"It's magical…" Aunt Koume began.

"…so it's still wooden, it only looks like it's made of metal," Aunt Kotake finished.

"It is an illusion," they said in unison.

"That's… that's amazing!" Link said, "Thank you!"

"Good morning," Mr. Dragmire said, announcing his arrival. They turned.

"Papa! You finally made it!" Link said, a huge grin instantly forming across his face, "Oh, here- this is from Aunt Koume and Aunt Kotake." He grabbed a present from under the tree and handed it to his father.

"Thank you," the man said, settling down on a chair. As Link eagerly grabbed and handed out more presents, Mr. Dragmire began unwrapping his present. He frowned, having difficulty removing the paper.

"I… cannot-" he grunted, but was interrupted by the paper suddenly loosening. Now, it was stuck to his hand. Shocked, he tugged on it until it started to peel off. With such force, it flew off and he accidentally jerked it to his face. He grunted fiercely in protest as the wrapping paper now clung to his face; covering his entire head. In desperation, he tried to pry it off, unable to breathe, but with no luck.

"What's wrong, Pa-" Link began, turning as he noticed the loud grunts his father was making. His eyes widened in fear as he saw the bright red wrapping paper and bow clinging to the man's face; as tightly as if it were a mask.

"Papa!" the boy gasped, coming to his father's aid. He climbed up onto the man's lap and reached up to tear the paper off. From the wrapping paper came a loud, hissing sound as the bow leered at Link.

"Aunt Koume! Aunt Kotake! It hissed at me!" Link cried, falling back.

"I told you we shouldn't have used that cling-wrapping spell!" Aunt Koume barked at her sister, rolling her eyes.

"You told me?" Aunt Kotake shrieked, "I told you that-"

"Please!" Link shouted, "You have to help him!"

"MMMPH!" Mr. Dragmire agreed.

"Yes, alright…" they muttered. Jumping down from their chairs, they began waving their hands about, chanting. The wrapping paper writhed, seemed to wither, fall limp, then drifted gently to the floor.

"Papa! Are you alright?" Link asked, crawling back onto his father's lap. The man gasped for air, then nodded. The child sighed with relief.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried!" he said, sliding his arms gently around his Papa's neck, "I don't want to lose you, especially on Christmas! That would be awful!" Mr. Dragmire put an arm around his son and smiled.

"So!" Aunt Koume said, clearing her throat, "Who wants to open more presents?"

"Yes, there are plenty more under the tree!" Aunt Kotake added. Mr. Dragmire and Link stared.

"Presents!" Link shrieked happily, bouncing off of his father's lap, clearly over what had just happened. Mr. Dragmire sighed and shook his head.

"See, here," Aunt Koume said, handing the boy a present, "This one is from your Papa." Link immediately tore through the paper and jerked the box open. He frowned, slightly, as he lifted the gift out of the box.

"It's a stuffed moblin," he said flatly, noticing that the eyes of the toy were looking in opposite directions.

"I thought you liked that kind of thing," Mr. Dragmire said, "You liked the toy Kargaroc I gave you last year."

"Well, I… yes," Link admitted, turning the little moblin this way and that, "erm, well… thanks." His father nodded. Once several more presents were opened, Link crawled behind the tree and gently picked something up. He stood up, careful to hide the thing behind his back, and with a smile, turned toward his father. His smile quickly faded at the sound of a snore.

"Papa!" he shouted, seeing the man asleep in the chair. Link placed the present he was about to give him beside the chair as he climbed onto his father's lap again.

"C'mon, Papa!" Link pleaded, shaking him. He pouted and crossed his arms when the man did not wake.

"If you don't wake up, I'll… I'm going to decorate you just like the Christmas tree!" the child threatened. Still no response.

"Fine."

Link, glancing over at his aunts- who only smiled at the idea- leaned over and grabbed some red ribbon off of the floor and tied it on his Papa's long nose. He snatched up some more and tied the man's long black hair up in bows. Jumping down, he grabbed some of the tinsel off of the tree and draped it all over his father. He looked around for something else.

"Here, dear, use this," Aunt Kotake said, handing him a string of their magic lights. Link grinned and wrapped lights all around the chair. Soon, Mr. Dragmire was a living, shining Christmas decoration, lights blinking all around him. Still, he remained asleep, completely unaware of the mischief his family was causing.

"Papa!" Link called, bouncing on his heels, his hands innocently folded behind his back. This time, the man awoke with a groan. He tried to stretch, but found himself tangled up in a strange mess.

"What-" he began, but glared accusingly at his son, "Link, did you do this?" Link bit his lip, trying to hold back a grin, and nodded.

"Why have you tied me up like this?" his father asked, crossing his eyes to see the ribbon tied to his nose. He wrinkled his nose to try to wriggle it off.

"You wouldn't wake up, and it's Christmas," Link said, but, after a warning glare from the man, he added, "…a-and I have something for you." Mr. Dragmire raised an eyebrow, unable to raise anything else. Link bent down and picked up the item he had left beside the chair.

"My medicine," his father guessed. With a nod, Link handed it to him as Koume and Kotake magically removed all of the mess, leaving the man free to move again. Taking the glass bottle, Mr. Dragmire popped the lid open and sipped a bit of its contents.

"…this is not my medicine," he said, after a pause.

"No, it really is!" Link said, "I just… I asked Aunt Kotake if she knew how to add a good flavor to it, because I know you don't like how that blue potion tastes, even though you have to take it everyday. Anyway, she did, and Aunt Koume told me that she knew where to find some mint. There wasn't much, but… there was just enough for you to have some good tasting blue potion for today and tomorrow. It's… it's my Christmas present for you." Mr. Dragmire smiled.

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome," Link said, grinning, "Merry Christmas, Papa."

"Merry Christmas, Link."

-Merry Christmas, everyone! I've been up since about 4:00 A.M., unable to go back to sleep, so, I wanted to go ahead and post this. I planned to do that, anyway. After all, this story begins when Link (he's about 9 and a half years old, here) wakes up Ganondorf at about, I imagined, 6:00, give or take. I decided on that time, because I'm never allowed to wake anyone else up in my house before 6:00 on Christmas, which is driving me nuts this morning, because, well… Link's reaction at the beginning of the chapter is based on how I react every Christmas morning.

Anyway, I want to give a friend of mine some credit for several ideas for this bonus chapter. They include: the chapter title, "Tangled Tinsel", the idea of Ganondorf falling asleep, Link decorating him because of it, and Koume and Kotake's magic cling-wrap wrapping paper.

Also, one last note, well, two, really- because I know this a rather long author's note- every bonus chapter in this story will be called a "Missing Link", so when you see that in the chapter title, you'll know that the chapter doesn't take place directly in the storyline. But, the other thing is that I'm about half way, or little more, done with the next chapter. It's sort of a filler, but after that it should be more exciting.- TwilightFairy928