From the Dust

by zestycrouton

The long-awaited sequel to Hit List. A year has passed since the Ordon High Massacre, and what was meant as a harmless class trip results in a horrifying struggle for the fate of mankind and the secrets kept so long in the dark. "History cries, as one from the dust, raising a silent voice of warning... There is much we could learn, if we would but listen." AU

10. A Reason to Fight

Chapter 10

A Reason to Fight

With a high-pitched grunt and a graceless crash, Kafei Dotour was ejected from the darkness and collapsed onto the dirt floor. Breathing raggedly through the mask on his face, his too-small chest heaving, Kafei blinked a few times and struggled to find his bearings.

Cold, compact gravel lay beneath him. Above, the sky was a startling shade of dark violet, thick with massive lavender clouds that surged like the turbulent sea, flashing with the occasional burst of heat lightning. The air was humid, but the breeze cool, and he could smell dirt all around him. Wherever he was, he wasn't in the museum anymore.

Groaning, Kafei pushed himself gingerly to a sitting position, bringing his free hand up to cup his head and stop it from spinning, and froze, eyes glued to his palm.

Yellow fur had sprouted along every visible inch of his skin, covering the appendage like a fuzzy latex glove. It didn't stop at his hands, either; he could feel the hair continuing up his arm, around his shoulder, down his back, across his chest… his entire body was covered in fur. His nails were now black and stuck out of his fingertips like claws, and he could feel the same had happened to his toes, making his mismatched boots now uncomfortably tight.

Blinking rapidly, he brought his hand up to his head to run his fingers nervously through his hair, only to find his progress impeded by two large, soft shapes jutting out from the top of his head. Ears. He had big, fluffy ears now. And to top it all off, the muzzle he'd been seeing between his eyes wasn't part of the mask he'd been wearing earlier; it was real, now. He could feel it, make his little brown nose twitch, inhale through the wet nostrils… he opened his jaw and felt his teeth with his hand. Nope, those were definitely real.

That wasn't the worst of it, however. A sharp pain had started from his lower back the moment he sat up, and it wasn't until he reached around behind him that he realized why.

He had a tail. A massive, fluffy, bushy tail.

He'd been turned into a fox. Well… more like a humanoid fox who walked on two legs and had opposable thumbs.

Perhaps the normal thing to do in this situation, upon waking up suddenly in the middle of nowhere under a purple sky, half transformed into a woodland creature, would be to have a complete and total psychological breakdown and go into a raging fit of hysteria. However, after the day Kafei had had, spontaneously turning into an animal just felt par for the course.

Sighing to himself in a way that was more despondent than confused, Kafei clambered awkwardly to his feet, kicked off his boots, and let his eyes sweep the area, clawed toes scratching absently at the ground and reveling in their freedom. Everywhere he looked, he saw dark brown earth and eerie purple sky. Behind him, the dirt rose up in massive hills, stretching higher and higher towards the heavens; to his front, the earth sloped sharply downwards, allowing him a rather impressive view of the surrounding landscape and its distant forests and lakes, all of which seemed oddly dark and gloomy. He must be on some sort of mountain… but where? The closest mountain he could think of was Death Mountain, but that was back near Kakariko, and last time he checked he was in Castleton, hours away…

He raised a hand/paw and scratched at his fuzzy chin, mulling it over. What to do… what to do…?

A familiar voice echoed from somewhere above him.

"Hahaha!" it snickered tauntingly, "Look at you! You look ridiculous!"

Kafei groaned. Farore, not this punk again…

Rolling his eyes, he cocked his head up to the sky and asked, somewhat apathetically, "Really, kid? Again? Turning me into a child wasn't enough for you, so you had to go one step farther and make me an animal? Well congrats, you win the title of 'biggest douche in Hyrule'. Can I go now?"

He supposed he ought to be grateful that he could still talk with his mouth all deformed, but he hardly noticed, attention focused rather disdainfully at the voice echoing from the heavens.

The masked boy snorted. "Can you go? No way! We haven't even started playing yet!"

"And I guess I can't just choose not to play, can I?"

"Nope!"

Kafei sighed. "Yeah, ok. Whatever. Just get on with it."

There was a pause, and then, "Wait, what? You're not gonna yell or scream or freak out?"

Kafei shrugged. "Would there be any point?"

"I mean, no, but… You're no fun!"

It was Kafei's turn to snort. "Oh well… If I play, will you turn me back to normal?"

"Maaaaybe…" The masked boy sing-songed playfully, "If you beat my game…"

"Right, because that sounds totally reassuring…" He pawed the ground again in irritation. "Alright, whatever, let's just get this started."

"The Hero was clever." The voice started abruptly, "Age after age, the Hero was often forced to struggle through puzzles and riddles, challenges and scenarios where the rules didn't always make sense. Let's see how you do. Illusions are always deeper than they appear… Can your mind pierce the deception that hides your reflection, or will you forever be trapped in a world that is not your own? This is a test of your perception."

Kafei had frowned when the voice had begun its axiom; there was something odd in its tone, something altogether different from the immature child who'd been taunting him moments before and the boy he'd met in the museum. However, as quickly as the voice had come, it had gone, leaving Kafei to his thoughts in his tiny fox body atop the windy mountainside.

A game, huh? Judging by the way the masked boy had been treating him all night, this game of his didn't seem like it was going to be particularly fun.

Deciding he may as well get a look around, Kafei turned and began trotting along the ledge, glancing around absently, at a loss for what to do. Some game… there weren't even any rules, and he hadn't really given him an objective. 'Pierce the deception'? What in Din's name did that even mean? Was someone tricking him? His fox body felt pretty real… 'Hides in your reflection'? What reflection? All he saw were mountains and purple thunderclouds. Where was he, anyway? Couldn't the boy with the weird mask have told him that much at least?

Scowling, at least as much as one can be said to scowl when you couldn't exactly figure out how your facial muscles worked, Kafei glanced down at his odd, furry body and the filthy clothes he was wearing, and growled, tail twitching angrily behind him.

The boy in the mask had commented on Kafei's less-than-energetic response to his bizarre situation, but to be fair, it wasn't exactly the first time such a thing had happened that day. Not that he was alright with being in this odd, mutilated body, but he'd already sort of gotten used to not being his regular, tall, devilishly handsome self over the course of the last few hours, so waking up half-fox wasn't too terribly difficult to come to grips with. At least he had claws now instead of pudgy little baby fingers…

Everything had started to go wrong after he'd arrived back at his hotel earlier that afternoon. He'd spent the day at the Museum of National History alongside his girlfriend Anju and their longtime best friend Cremia. The three had grown up together in Termina, spending nearly every waking moment of their lives running around Cremia's father's ranch and getting into all sorts of wacky adventures, but after Cremia's parents tragically passed away, she and her younger sister had moved away to Lon Lon, and she'd lost touch with Kafei and Anju even though their families had also moved to Hyrule a few years later, though they had still sent the occasional Christmas or birthday card.

After graduation, Kafei and Anju had decided to attend the same university up in Kakariko; she was studying business, thinking about working at her mother's inn, and Kafei had elected to follow in his father's footsteps and seek out a career in politics. A month into their stay they bumped into Cremia who they didn't know would be attending the same college, and after an ecstatic reunion, their friendship picked up right where it had left off. It was almost as if she'd never left, and Kafei knew Anju was grateful to have her 'sister' back. It was tough leaving all their friends in Ordon behind, especially after how close they'd grown after the shooting, and Cremia's presence was a welcome distraction.

It was Anju who'd decided the three were going to visit the Hero of Time festival in Castleton upon learning about the mask exhibit in the Museum of National History. One of Anju's many, many quirks was that she was particularly fond of masks; something to do with Terminian culture and how they reminded them all of the Festival of Time from their childhood. Interested in the Hero of Time himself and eager for a spur of the moment vacation, Kafei had readily agreed, and Cremia seemed delighted for the break, so the three set off on one of those typical cliché college road trips, cracking jokes, eating junk, and just having a great time…

Kafei, however, had something else weighing on the back of his mind. Something that had kept drawing him back from the fun and spontaneity of the trip, something that was eating away at his nerves, making him jumpy and anxious and impatient…

See, he was trying to decide whether or not he ought to propose.

Of course, that wasn't all that shocking. He wasn't really sure where the idea had come from, but the two had been together for years, she was his best friend, he could hardly imagine his life without her, and after nearly losing her the year before he was dead certain that he never wanted to be apart again. He knew she'd say yes if he asked, he knew his parents would consent, he knew Cremia would be ecstatic, his friends in Ordon would flip, and even Anju's folks would be ok with it, though her mother would still cast him distrustful looks every now and again… No, the problem was their age.

They were only nineteen, still freshmen in college, barely out in the real world, and here he was playing the mature, responsible adult. He just felt so young… not that it was unheard of, getting married before twenty, and he knew that he and Anju could make it, but just because something could be done, didn't necessarily mean that it should, right? Would it put a strain on their relationship? Should he wait 'til they were older, better established, more mature? Did he listen to the social stigma, telling him to calm down and examine his priorities, or tell the world to screw it and let his heart lead the way? Was it better to leave things as they were, knowing that everything was perfectly fine between them, or take this giant, unexpected leap forward…?

Basically, Anju wasn't the only one grateful to have found Cremia again. Acting both the part of Anju's concerned best friend and his own loving sister, they'd talked through his doubts and concerns after he'd finally managed to work up the nerve to ask her opinion. She'd cried from joy initially, but now just seemed frustrated that he hadn't worked up the nerve to actually pop the question yet. She was very impatient, that Cremia… She even threatened to set her little sister Romani on him if he didn't wise up. Apparently, she was a pro at archery nowadays. So when they'd returned from the hotel and had begun settling into their rooms to rest for a bit before heading out that night, he caught her arm when Anju was in the bathroom and told her of the half-formed plan that had been mucking about in his head since the museum- that he take a page out of Termina's book and pop the question with a mask, knowing how Anju loved them- and Cremia practically threw him from the room, demanding that he get to work or she'd ask Anju herself.

And so, leaving his confused girlfriend with some made up excuse, he'd booked it back across town on a bus, determined to get back to the museum before it closed and take a closer look at that wedding mask Anju had been so fascinated by earlier that afternoon…

He hadn't counted on the traffic being as horrid as it was, hadn't counted on the unorthodox route the bus would take, or the fact that the sun was already going down… When he arrived, the museum was closed and his hopes were shot. Deciding he'd simply have to come back tomorrow, he turned around, shoulders slumped, and made to walk away from the museum's front doors, utterly dejected…

And found a boy, floating in the air in front of him, laughing.

There'd been confusion, a blast of darkness, a wave of cold…

And the next thing he knew, he was a child.

The next few minutes were sort of a blur. He was small, he was naked, and he was out in the open where anyone could see him. All he knew is that he snagged a toy mask out of the garbage in order to hide his face from any security cameras and fled from the scene and into a nearby alley, basically hyperventilating, where he'd met Tingle the hobo. He'd been terrified at first, convinced the man was a pedophile, but the smelly homeless man had been surprisingly kind, giving him clothes and food, telling him there was a way back into the museum, making odd statements about magic and demons that at first sounded insane, but the more he considered his situation, the more he came to realize…

Magic had to be real. The legends were true. He wasn't sure how, he wasn't sure why, but there was one thing he was dead certain about: something in that mask had a power that cursed him into his childish state, and until he returned to normal, he couldn't bring himself to face Anju again. Not like this. So he'd stalked the museum, haunting it like a wraith, waiting for the moment that the masked boy returned... Imagine his surprise when he'd found Zelda and Colin instead.

They hadn't recognized him, and he hadn't really expected them to. He was curious as to why they were there, curious as to why they seemed so determined to get into the building, curious as to if they knew something about the boy with the mask and the magic he'd so long thought was a lie…

And then Tingle had called Zelda 'Princess', and it hit him with all the force of a freight train. He'd seen the mark on the back of her and Link's hands, he remembered the way the shooting had ended, with two of his soon-to-be favorite people and the homicidal maniac Ganondorf alone at the top of the school, how the shooter that ought to have taken his life had his gun malfunction at just the wrong moment… Zelda was the Princess. Which meant Link was the Hero. Which meant whatever was going on, whatever was happening to him and the others, directly played into the legends of the Hero of Time. The thought ought to have scared him, but if anything it cemented his resolve.

Link and Zelda were his friends, they'd each saved each other's lives. If they were in danger, Kafei was going to do everything in his power to help out. Besides, he needed to find a way to get back into his proper body. Leaving wasn't an option. And if staying and playing this masked boy's game was what he had to do, then so be it.

Only… He still had no idea what he was doing. Which brought him back to now.

Pausing at the crest of another hill, gazing out into the distance, arms akimbo, Kafei felt his frustration mounting. Honestly, was it too much to ask for a little clarification here?! You can't expect someone to play a game and then not explain how the game is played! What was he supposed to do?! Climb the mountain? Descend the mountain? Was the answer over in those woods way off in the distance? By that river? In that lake? Near that massive golden pyramid?

Wait, what?

Kafei blinked rapidly as though his eyesight was foggy and squinted off into the distance. It was far and hard to make out, but it certainly looked like a giant golden pyramid… but what did that mean? It was definitely the oddest thing he could see, but did that mean that was where he was supposed to go? What did a pyramid have to do with his reflection or distortion or whatever the masked boy had said?

Suddenly, the sound of rapid footsteps could be heard approaching from behind.

Kafei whirled around, body hunched, claws extended, teeth bared, ready for anything.

…anything other than a six-foot-tall octopus man wearing a purple and gold shirt, a bulging sack on his back, and what almost looked like a slimy patch of reddish hair.

"Oh, goodness, yes, hello!" the man cried in a high, unctuous voice, clapping two suction-cupped tentacles together and bowing stiffly, his heavy rucksack bouncing on his thin, slimy back. "Well well well, young man, what a pleasure seeing you here!"

"Uh…" Kafei replied blankly, still struggling to take the bizarre sight in. The octopus's head was distinctly rotund, with two squinty eyes at either side of the floppy cranium, and yet he couldn't see a mouth anywhere. How was it talking?!

"But you seem troubled!" The man/octopus exclaimed, "You poor, poor child! How might I be of assistance on this glorious day?"

Kafei glanced momentarily up at the angry purple sky. Glorious day, was it? Well, perhaps it was for an octopus man. Who was he to judge?

"Well, actually, uh…" He hesitated, then shrugged. May as well ask, it's not like he had anything to lose. "You wouldn't happen to know how to get out of here, would you? I'm kinda stuck, see, and-"

"Yes, yes, of course!" The octopus interrupted, nodding emphatically. "Speak no more, I understand completely! What you seek lies above us on the mountain's peak! A mighty fortress, a sinister evil… Yes, boy, you surely seek what lies hidden in the Tower of Hera!"

"I… do?" Kafei asked, bewildered.

"Naturally! Oh, but it is normal to be afraid, but for one such as yourself, it should by no means be a difficult task! You must simply believe in yourself… Believe…"

"Great." He said quickly, taking a frantic step away from the stranger; he'd grown unnaturally still and had begun leaning forward, narrow eyes widening maddeningly. "Well then, I guess I'll just go… find whatever… in the tower of… something…"

"Tower of Hera!" the octopus corrected jovially, snapping out of his trance. "High on the mountain's peak! Nasty place! But within you shall find what you seek, shining with crystallized light, and in its own reflection you shall-!"

"Reflection?!" Kafei blurted out without thinking, his mind casting back to what the masked boy had said. "That's it! That's what I'm supposed to find! Thanks, octo-dude!"

"Wait, young man!" The octopus cried as Kafei turned and began speeding up the mountain. "It is dangerous to go alone! Take this!"

And from the bulging sack on his back, he withdrew a tentacle, wrapped around the hilt of what looked like a bizarre, long-handled knife.

"This," the octopus began, "is a special blade… used by the Hero of Legend himself. Crafted by the finest Goron smithy in the land, or so they say…"

Kafei blinked as the weapon was dropped delicately into his waiting hands.

"It's… broken."

It certainly was. The long pommel gave the impression that the sword was likely once one of great length and power, only now the blade couldn't even reach a foot beyond the cross-guard and was heavily scratched and dusted with age, the tip coming to a jagged point where it had snapped off.

"Yes indeed! Now, be off young hero! And beware; evil lurks within the tower. Have faith…"

When Kafei looked up again, the octopus was gone.

He sighed.

Stupid.

Attempting and failing to purse his non-existent lips wryly, Kafei let the blade dangle at his side as he turned and began to scale the mountain, thoughts on the Tower and the masked boy's game. Could it really be up there? The way back to reality, to his friends, to Anju? And when he reached the real world, would he be back in his real body again? Only one way to find out, he supposed… But just how dangerous was this tower, anyway?

He lost track of time as he climbed. A stitch developed in his side, and he bitterly thought about how fragile children's bodies were as he forced himself onwards. The humidity in the air matted his fur to his flesh, and his tongue hung out as he panted rhythmically. How much further was this tower anyway…?

Thinking of the Tower brought his thoughts to the octopus man. If the man had known that the way out was in the tower, why hadn't he gone in himself? It really must be dangerous if he preferred to live life as a cephalopod rather than face whatever was inside. Was that what octopi were? Cephalopods? Anju would know. She knew all sorts of weird facts like that… She was brilliant… Gods, he missed her.

He reached a cliff face and followed it along, staring blankly at the ground before him as his thoughts wandered to what Anju was doing at this moment, what sort of bizarre games Zelda and Colin were being forced to play, where Link was along with the rest of his friends from Ordon High, and why the masked boy had felt the need to go through all this trouble just to play a stupid game…

He rounded a boulder, and suddenly there it was. Rising out of the crust of the mountain, stark against the flashing purple sky, a massive stone tower stretched upwards towards the heavens; he'd found the Tower of Hera.

The building itself was hewn out of some odd reddish-brown stone, a slightly lighter shade than the mountain itself, and sat approximately seven or eight stories high, each story slightly smaller than the one below it, creating a sort of oddly tall, skinny pyramid look. Columns were carved into the outer walls, though they seemed weathered and faded, the engravings upon them nearly lost to time and basically indecipherable.

The land around the tower was completely devoid of vegetation, much like the rest of the mountain, and contained only the same hard-packed gravel he'd been walking on since arriving in this dark, twisted land. The tower itself was built onto the edge of the cliffside, almost as if it were designed to defy the normal rules of nature, and out of the front a single narrow staircase was extended, connecting the tower entryway to the earth below.

As he approached, Kafei found himself overtaken with a powerful sense of unease. Just looking at the tower made him shudder and he very nearly turned back. A man trapped in the body of a child, half-transformed into a fox, and wielding naught but a broken sword? He was a dead man. Er… Dead man-boy-fox-thing. There was no way he could get out of this alive.

And yet… Did he have another option? The masked boy's 'game' claimed he had to find the truth in reflection or something, and the octopus man had claimed the pathway back to reality was found somewhere in this tower… And not just back to reality. Back to his old self. Back to Anju.

He needed to be a man again. He had to be. How would she react if she saw him in this state? Would she believe? Would she scream? Could she ever look past his youthful face? Or worse, the fur and snout? Most people would claim in their ignorance and arrogance that they could, that they would never be so shallow, that true love conquers all, but when faced with the actuality of his condition… Beauty and the Beast was always his least-favorite fairy tale.

Squaring his shoulders and summoning up every ounce of courage his tiny, fuzzy body contained, he tightened his grip on the old, tarnished blade and stepped forward, bare feet padding softly on the dirt, and mounted the staircase.

Inside the tower was a different experience than the world outside. The air was chill and still, thick stone walls blocking the wind and what little sunlight broke through the purple storm above. The room was spacious and empty, massive slabs of unadorned stone paving the floor, illuminated by medieval torches that hung about the walls that mirrored their outer companions in exactness. Whatever sort of building this was, it clearly wasn't meant to be ostentatious. Everything about it, from design to decoration, was simple and to the point.

A single metal winding staircase sat in the middle of the room, leading up to the floor above. Kafei worked his tongue in his oddly elongated mouth, trying to spread what little moisture he had in his body around. How long had it been since he'd last had a drink? That climb hadn't been easy on his frail little body. He was so thirsty…

The stairs rattled as he ascended them, throwing any thought of stealth or secrecy out the window. He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter; if the ground floor was abandoned, why on earth shouldn't the upper floors be?

Arriving on the second floor, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. This room was empty too, just like the one below. The only difference was that it was slightly smaller. The next staircase was against the wall dead ahead, and Kafei started towards it, but not before noticing that there was another difference between this floor and the previous.

Two massive circular holes could be seen in the ceiling above, leading up into the next room. He couldn't see well enough with the flickering torchlight to tell what was up there, but the holes gave him pause. Were it not for the fact that they were completely identical and perfectly round, he'd have assumed that the ancient edifice was crumbling away. Asking himself why on earth anyone would willingly leave gaping holes in the floors when designing a multi-storied building, Kafei reached the second stairway and clambered up, the pads on the bottom of his feet flinching away from the icy coldness of the dark metal.

It was on the third floor that he realized he wasn't alone. Noticing movement as soon as the top of his head passed the level of the floor, Kafei paused, gripping the railing of the stairs firmly in his clawed hands, staring intently into the gloom before him, eyes peeled and ears drawn back.

Four shapes were moving frenetically about in the darkness. Had he been fully human, he might not have been able to make out exactly what they were in the semi-light of the torch flames, but foxes were nocturnal creatures. Still, he had to stare for a while to be sure that what he was seeing was actually what he was seeing.

They were worms. Massive worms, to be sure, about half the size of his current body, and they were oddly rotund. They had enormous circular heads, almost perfectly spherical, with great protuberant eyes that bugged out comically on either side of their face, staring blankly in opposite directions. Their bodies were made up of four separate segments, each one round and shiny, each one smaller than the last, forming into an odd sort of tail. Hundreds of tiny legs sprouted out of the segments, propelling them ever forward. He supposed this made them centipedes rather than worms, yet try as he might to think otherwise, no other word fit them quite as well. They were… worms. Fat, round worms.

Kafei watched them for a moment, guarded, trying to see if there was some sort of plan to their movements, some way he could map out a course across the floor that wouldn't involve them spotting him, but there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the way they were moving. In fact, they seemed to bounce right off the walls and each other, massive heads jiggling like beach balls as they ricocheted off of their surroundings, changing course with every collision, never once gaining or losing speed.

They seemed to bounce off invisible walls in the middle of the floor, however, and it wasn't until he slowly exited the stairwell and gingerly began creeping across the room that he realized why. They were bouncing off the edge of the holes that had been left in the ground. There was a small barrier of brick around the holes, perhaps half a foot high and an inch wide, which prevented the massive insects from tumbling to the bottom floor, though they wouldn't save him should he stumble over one himself.

Oddly enough, it was this knowledge that gave him the courage he needed to cross the room. Sure, if he got too close to one of the worms, it was libel to knock him over and possibly off the edge and into the room below, but this seemed to be the creatures' only means of offense. They had no mouths that he could see, no hands, no claws, teeth, mandibles, or stingers. It was a creative security system to be sure, but not one that was particularly effective.

The stairway into the next floor stood directly across the room from him. Watching the bugs with careful eyes, Kafei hastily darted across the room, tail swishing nervously behind him as he went. There was one thing to say about his new body; he was certainly speedier.

He could see that the ceiling above also had holes in the floor, and prepared himself accordingly for more of the odd worms, but as he reached the fourth floor of the Tower of Hera, he found himself once again alone. By now, he'd advanced far enough up the building for the room to be only half the size as the one on the ground floor. The holes in the floor were also smaller than in the room below them, but still wide enough to fall into, and there were once again holes in the ceiling. The stairway stood across from him. He advanced.

A great shrieking cry filled the chamber, echoing horribly off the stone walls as Kafei skidded to a halt, padded feet sliding on centuries of gathered dust as his eyes raked the sky to find the source of the noise. Immediately he ducked as a massive winged shape soared over him, nearly lopping off his head.

Heart hammering, Kafei scrambled to put distance between him and his assailant as he whirled about, trying to get an idea of what it was. He was met with the form of what appeared to be a large winged lizard flapping frantically for altitude, framed in the light of one of the torches. It had mottled green scales and large, leathery wings, an unmistakably reptilian head with a stunted, snake-like nose and a mouth that opened to reveal a row of sharp, glistening teeth. A helmet of iron protected its cranium, while scarves and chains adorned its neck and chest, and not but a ragged loincloth to cover his waist. It carried in one hand a wide, flat sword, the point of which widened at first before tapering into a point, almost like a spear tip. In the other hand, it held a round, brass shield with a red gem embedded in the center.

For a wild moment, Kafei was certain the creature before him was another person-turned-animal like himself and the octopus man, only to have it open its mouth and let loose another shrieking cry and dive forward, shield out first, sword drawn back, ready to strike.

Kafei scrambled back on all-fours and barely managed to get out of the way; being part fox was having its advantages, he certainly moved faster than he'd anticipated. Still, he nearly ran right off the edge of one of the holes in the ground, and teetering for a moment, realized for the first time that the holes overlapped; toppling off the edge would send him tumbling down two stories, not just one. A fall he wasn't too keen on making.

Regaining his balance, Kafei dove again, this time towards one of the walls as the monstrous lizard swooped by overhead once more, and he racked his brains for ideas.

He could try to escape up the staircase, but with the holes in the floors and ceilings, the monster would have no problem following. He couldn't even run from the tower; the monster could follow him down two floors, he'd be shish-kabobbed in no time. The mammal's fight-or-flight instincts took over, and Kafei acknowledged the only option he had before him: he needed to kill the lizard to proceed.

The word 'kill' sent a tremor through him, and in his mind's eye, he saw a plain, ordinary boy lying face-first in a pile of dirt and broken pottery, a bloodless bullet hole in his back. He jerked his head roughly as the monster wheeled around, preparing for another fly-by. No, this wasn't the same. This creature wasn't human. It was a monster, it was evil, it attacked him first, and it was in the way of him getting his body back and returning to Anju.

A plan formulated in his brain; one part human ingenuity, one part feral fox-like instinct. He stooped to all-fours once more, ears laid back, teeth bared, and placed the hilt of the sword in his jaw to free his hands. His eyes zeroed in on the reptile, defying nature's laws, flying in the air like a bird… The monster hissed, drew back his sword, inclined his wings, and dove- and in a flash, Kafei bolted forward as though to meet him.

He'd watched the creature dive a few times already and knew that moments before it meant to strike, it ducked its head behind its shield as though to protect its face as the full force of its weight collided with its target. The moment it moved its head and prepared for impact, Kafei twisted his body with an agility that would have been impossible for a child, jerking himself to the right and sidestepping the monster. He spun on the spot, claws scratching on the ground, dust on the floor billowing up in agitated clouds as the lizard blew past, shield extended, not realizing what had happened, and Kafei threw himself forward, closing the gap between their bodies in an instant.

The lizard was faster than he'd given him credit for. Rather than rapidly flapping his wings in an attempt to regain altitude as he had the last few times, the monster instead landed on the stone floor with a crunch, massive talons digging into paving stones, and whirled around, swinging the shield in a wild haymaker that would have put down any normal man.

Kafei, however, wasn't a man- he was a child. Much smaller, much lighter, much more agile, he barely managed to duck the shield swipe and, utilizing his forward momentum, pounced upon the surprised lizard, knocking him backward onto the floor, crushing its wings beneath their combined weight.

The monster screamed and slashed wildly with its sword, but Kafei managed to catch its wrist with his left hand, the elbow of his right crushing the creature's throat. Struggling to hold down the much larger, much stronger monster, Kafei hastily dropped the broken blade from his mouth and caught it in his right hand, stabbing it hastily into the monster's unprotected chest.

It let out a hiss of agony, body convulsing beneath him, head thrashing wildly back and forth until with a mighty heave it threw him off, the broken blade coming with him.

Kafei landed in a painful heap just feet away from the hole, and hastily pushed himself back up on shaking limbs, waiting for the lizard's retaliation.

He needn't have worried. The monster was still, eyes staring blankly into the darkness, black blood dripping slowly from its wound. With a flash and puff of black smoke, the creature vanished, and Kafei let out an exhausted breath, hardly daring to believe his luck.

He'd won! He'd actually killed it! Wait 'til he told Anju! Haha! Ha… He hadn't doubted himself for a moment… Legs quaking, he lowered himself to the floor and put his head beneath his legs, breathing heavily, suddenly feeling the urge to puke.

A soft 'wooshing' sound met his large, fluffy ears, and he perked his head up wearily, worried about reinforcements, only to find that a large chest had appeared in the room before him.

Kafei blinked in surprise. Well, that was certainly odd. Was this some sort of reward for killing the monster? His thoughts drifted back to what the octopus man had said, and he hastily scrambled to his feet, hurrying towards the chest. Could this be what he was searching for? The 'reflection' or whatever it was that he needed to win the game? Hardly daring to breathe, he opened the chest.

Inside was cloth.

Frowning, (or rather, lowering his eyebrows disconcertedly,) Kafei reached down and plucked up the white silky material, holding it up to see. As it unfolded, he realized at once that what he was holding was actually some sort of cape. The fabric was feather light and as smooth as satin, cool against his dirty, fuzzy fingertips, and yet the cape did not smudge. It almost seemed to repel dirt, the snowy white of the top almost glowing in the darkness of the tower. The bottom of the cape was a rich navy blue, and the ends were divided into perfect jagged triangles. It seemed regal and oddly ceremonial. He wondered if he was even supposed to be touching it.

Carefully, he swung it around his shoulders and fastened the golden clip in front of his throat. It hung loosely from his small frame, the bottom dragging on the ground, and he drew the sides more firmly around his torso, feeling at once extremely foolish and as though he were fulfilling a childhood dream. He kinda felt like a prince… A prince who was trapped in the body of a fox.

Kafei scowled again. All well and good that he found this prissy cape, but what did this have to do with his reflection? And why wasn't it taking him back to reality, or turning him back into a man? Was this not what he was waiting for? Not the solution to his problem? Could it be that he'd need to climb all the way to the top of the tower to find his answer? He didn't want to, but he couldn't think of any other course of action

He didn't bother removing the cape as he took the next flight of stairs and ascended to the fifth floor. There was no one around to tease him for it and to be honest, it was the least of his worries as far as his appearance was concerned. Besides… it kinda made him feel cool…

The fifth floor had more of the strange, bouncy worm things, easy enough to skirt around. But he could tell by glancing at the ceiling that the sixth floor was going to have a problem. Sure enough, upon scaling the next flight of stairs and examining the room, he was met with one massive, gaping hole that stretched from wall to wall, completely blocking his access to the second half of the room which bore the windy metal staircase and his path to the top of the tower.

Kafei felt frustration and disbelief overtake him. What in Din's name was he supposed to do now? He didn't have anything he could use as a bridge, there weren't any ropes to swing across, and the walls were too smooth to attempt to simply climb over the gap. The hole was maybe five or six feet long… In his older body, he'd say he could try jumping it. He was hardly a marathon runner, but he was tall, and he felt sure that with a good running start he could clear the gap. The only problem was, he wasn't in an adult's body, he was in the body of a much smaller child… He was lighter, sure, but he also lacked long legs, and his smaller size made the hole seem larger by comparison…

Then again… he was also part fox. His fight with the flying lizard had shown, if nothing else, that he was certainly faster than he had expected. Maybe if he utilized his innate fox skills… Could foxes even jump? Was anything he was thinking right now making any sense?

Desperation and a lack of anything better to try had him taking several steps backward and facing the hole, determination steeling his gaze as he focused in on the jump he was about to make, tail swishing anxiously behind him, hands and feet on the floor, nails bared.

He counted down from five, ignoring the voice in the back of his head that was telling him this was a bad idea, and then bolted forward, ears lying back, cape billowing behind him in the wind. He reached the gap, put his foot on the edge, and leaped as high and as fast as he could.

His little fox body sailed upward with unexpected grace, and for a moment he wildly considered letting out a cry of jubilation at his success, until he realized that he wasn't falling yet.

His cape had streamed out behind him, opening up like a kite, and as his small body sailed over the gap and beyond, he felt as though the wind had gathered beneath the luscious fabric and was carrying him higher, higher, up nearly towards the ceiling… and then suddenly he was going back down, only he wasn't exactly falling. It was more like he was… gliding. Like he was riding the stagnant air of the tower across the room like a human paper airplane. A line from a movie he'd loved in his childhood came to mind: 'falling with style'.

Finally, after a dramatic few seconds, his feet touched back to the ground and the cape fell lifelessly around his shoulders. Kafei was left staring blankly at the wall, mouth agape, trying to understand what had happened.

Was there a gust of wind rising from the hole that had carried him aloft? No, that can't be it, he'd have felt it when he passed over… Had gravity ceased to work for a moment? He let his knife dangle by two fingers before dropping it to the floor. It fell with a clank. No… Gravity seemed unaltered. So then… was it his cape…?

Feeling a little foolish, he fluffed the cape a bit then decided to test it by giving a little hop. At once he rose four feet in the air, his cape inflating like a hot air balloon before he gently drifted back to the ground. Blinking, he tried a stronger leap, and once again he soared far higher than he ought to have and landed gently ten feet away. A grin flashed across his face and he leaped once more, sailing like an astronaut on the moon, pirouetting gracefully and landing with poise on the floor before the stairway.

A delighted laugh tore itself from his mouth. He had no idea who'd given him this cape, or why it did the things it did, but it was amazing. Clearly, it was magical, but the only magic he'd come in contact with thus far was the sort that turned you into adolescent man-fox abominations. It was nice to see not all magic was stupid. He couldn't believe he'd stumbled across something so incredible… he couldn't wait to show Anju.

His grin turned into a grimace. Anju. Right. Need to get out of this place. Careful not to tread on the fringes of his cape, Kafei turned and bolted up the staircase, eager to be free of this tower.

The seventh floor was unlike the others. Narrower than the firsts, but also much taller, Kafei exited the staircase and paused to let his eyes travel up the walls and toward the distant ceiling, a feeling of unease growing within him. The seventh floor also bore two holes in the ground like most of the other levels, only there weren't any worms or lizards, and there wasn't a spiral staircase awaiting at the other end. Instead, a large, circular staircase started on the right side of the room and followed the wall around and up to the fourth floor before extending like a bridge to a large, dark platform that he assumed was the eighth floor that hung suspended from the ceiling. He could hear sounds emanating from the distant platform; something loud and ominous, like a heavy creature dragging itself across the ground.

Kafei groaned. Why couldn't it just be another winged lizard?

Padding hesitantly across the room towards the start of the staircase, he gingerly began his climb, padded feet taking the steps two at a time as he kept his eyes locked on the platform, awaiting his first glance at the source of the noise.

He didn't see it 'til he'd nearly reached the top, and when he did he felt his fear and trepidation melt away into something that resembled relief mixed with confusion. There on the platform sat a single, massive worm. It was essentially a much larger version of the ones he'd met downstairs, complete with bright, coppery carapace, enormous googly eyes, and four perfectly round body segments that bounced off the edges of its platform with alarming speed and power. One bump from this thing would send him tumbling down to his death, no question. A fall from that height would almost certainly kill him, assuming he hit the ground. His other option was to fall through one of the holes on the seventh floor, and in that instant, he knew with certainty that all of the holes on the previous floors were lined up. Falling from the platform and through a hole on the seventh floor would have him toppling not one, but eight stories down. There was no realistic hope of him surviving that. It would be better to not fall.

He arrived at the top of the staircase and slowly made his way down the bridge, examining the massive worm. Whatever this thing was, it was almost certainly the mommy of the ones below, but how was he supposed to beat it? Above, high on the domed ceiling, he could see what looked like the bottom of a ladder. He supposed that, just like with the lizard, he was expected to kill the worm and, if he succeeded, the ladder would fall down, granting him access to whatever treasure he was supposed to find here. The only problem was, there was no way he could kill this thing. His blade was stunted and broken, and he'd almost certainly get hit by it before he could do enough damage to hope to kill it. What else could he do? What other option was there?

Kafei licked his chops anxiously, letting his clawed toes scuff against the metal bridge as he thought.

His father had always told him that in politics, as well as in life, one had to be able to examine a problem from an angle the opposition didn't expect you to. If a rival presented you with an issue, you were not to tackle it in the way they wanted, no matter what. You always had to find another way of resolving the situation, one they didn't see coming, one that made sure you came out on top… The masked boy wanted him to kill the worm to reach the ladder. But what if he could reach it another way?

Placing the hilt of the sword in his jaw again, Kafei hurriedly backed up to the wall and braced himself on the floor, just as he'd done when fighting the lizard. He took several deep, calming breaths, eyes glued to the worm, watching its movements, waiting for just the right moment…

With a snarl he put on a burst of speed and shot forward, hands and feet drumming loudly on the metal flooring, cape streaming out behind him like a banner as he closed in on the worm who bumped against a wall and turned towards him, bulbous eyes staring blankly in opposite directions.

At the last moment, just when it seemed he must collide headfirst with the creature's massive head, Kafei leaped high into the air, cape catching him and helping him soar upward, far higher than he ought to have been able to jump.

When he reached his peak, Kafei did a somersault, cape folding, losing his ability to glide, falling down atop the monster at the speed of gravity. He touched down feet first on the monster's head and was flung back with incredible force as if he'd landed atop a springboard, the monster's face jiggling like pudding. Kafei shot straight up through the air like a bottle rocket at a speed that made his eyes water, cape inflating, jump elongating beyond what was natural…

A wild laugh escaped him as he neared the ladder, and extending a victorious hand, he seized the bottom rung and dangled for a moment beneath it like a funny piñata. He took a moment to catch his breath before pulling himself upward, careful not to tangle the cape between his legs, and left the massive chamber and the giant mother worm behind, entering the top of the tower.

The first thing he noticed was that the room was tiny, maybe six feet by six feet with four large windows looking out into the mountains around them. Kafei barely had time to notice them, however. There, at his feet, on a plush red carpet, was a large mahogany chest. Excitement and anticipation tore through him as he fell to his knees before it and pushed it open with trembling hands.

Inside the chest, resting on a pillow of satin, was a small, shimmering pearl. Without pausing to think, Kafei reached out and touched it.

There was a blinding flash of light, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw the tiny orb clutched not in clawed, furry yellow digits, but in the pink, pudgy fingers of a young boy.

"Yes!" Kafei cried, leaping to his feet, suddenly ecstatic. "Yeah, I'm a boy again! Woo!"

He punched the air victoriously and spun on the spot, positively beaming.

Wait a minute…

"Hold up," Kafei said to himself, tone flat, cutting short his celebrations. "What's going on? I'm a little boy. Why am I still a little boy?"

It was true; though he was no longer part fox, the masked boy's first curse hadn't been lifted. He was still a child. Moreover, he was still in the tower on the mountain. Hadn't the octopus told him that his way out was in this tower? What was the deal? Had he been lying?

A scowl worked its way across Kafei's childish face, and he clenched his fingers resolutely around the pearl and knife in his hands, ready to scour the mountains 'til he found that lying eight-legged freak and gave him a piece of his mind. He turned to the nearest window and noticed something lying at his feet. It was the fox mask he'd stolen from the garbage outside the museum to hide his identity. Hesitating for a moment, he bent down and gingerly put it back on. Nothing happened, he remained a human child.

Nodding to himself, he pushed himself up onto the window ledge, broken blade in one hand, pearl in the other, and leaped from the top of the tower, trusting the wind to grab him.

First, the masked boy messes with him, and now the octopus man? He was sick of these games! He just wanted to get home to Anju.

The height of the tower provided him with an incredible view of the mountains, and as he gently floated down to the ground, he was able to catch a breeze and ride the winds down the hills, traveling far faster than he had been on foot. He made zig-zag patterns down the mountainside, wind tossing his hair, peering through the eye slits of the mask, searching for any sign of life that might be that dirty lying octopus man. He didn't know what his game was, but he was going to make sure he regretted messing with Kafei Dotour.

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, he spotted movement over to his left. He angled downwards, swooping low like a predatory hawk, and alighted on a small plateau with remarkable ease. Nayru above, this cape was amazing. Being turned into a kid and then a fox was almost worth it just because of his fancy new accessory. His friends would be so jealous.

Lost in admiring his cape, he nearly forgot his reason for landing. Glancing upward, he was met with the awe-struck faces of not one, but two individuals; a red-skinned crusty looking goblin thing with pointed ears and a horn on its head, and a tiny pink jellyfish creature with feet. Neither one was the octopus man. Kafei frowned behind his mask.

"Dude…" said the jellyfish. "That was awesome."

"Shut up!" snapped the goblin, giving the jellyfish a sharp kick, sending him bouncing away. "Hey, fox-face! Give me your cape!"

He stepped forward, hand outstretched, but Kafei raised his dagger in warning and the goblin immediately backed off, looking nervous.

"Alright, listen up." He grated, trying to sound intimidating. "I'm looking for someone. He's… well, he's an octopus. You seen him?"

"Uh…" The goblin stuttered, casting the jellyfish a nervous look as it waddled back over.

"No, we haven't seen any octopus around here… Just us, actually. Who're you? You new? Want to make some friends?"

"Shut up!" The goblin spat again, giving the jellyfish another sound kick.

"Great…" Kafei grunted, letting his knife drop back down. Now what was he supposed to do? This mountain could be massive, but if these idiots hadn't even seen the octopus man…

"Why do you want him?" The goblin asked, shooting Kafei a dubious look.

"He told me that the way out of here was in that stupid tower. I went through it, but there wasn't any 'reflection' in there at all, just some stupid pearl."

"Y-you got it?!" the goblin gasped, stumbling backward, looking stunned. "You got the Moon's Pearl?!"

Kafei removed his second hand from the folds of his cape, revealing the glistening white gem.

"Uh, yeah?"

The goblin made a sudden lunge for it, but Kafei swiped at him with his knife, driving him back again.

"No fair!" the goblin shouted, suddenly furious. "We've been trying to get that for ages, and some new guy shows up outta nowhere and steals it from us?! GAH!"

He spun on the spot and punted the jellyfish for a third time.

"Right, well…" Kafei muttered, feeling slightly disconcerted. Really, he felt bad about the way the goblin was treating the jellyfish, but he didn't have time to deal with this. He needed to find that octopus man and get out of here, fast.

Turning on the spot as the goblin continued to rant, he turned and raced towards the nearest cliff, launching himself off it and soaring up into the air. Now what was he supposed to do? The octopus man could be anywhere by now. He might have even left the mountains. How long had he been in the tower anyway? It hadn't felt like very long, but without being able to see the sun through the blanket of purple clouds, it was any man's guess.

He let his eyes rake the distant skyline. Forests, lakes, a river…

A gleam of light caught his attention, and he turned to look over in the direction of the large golden pyramid he'd seen earlier.

Well… it really was the most conspicuous thing in the area. And it was rather shiny. Maybe that was what the reflection was the masked boy had talked about.

Angling his cape to the right, Kafei soared on in the direction of the distant pyramid, the feeling of irritation he'd felt earlier growing in his chest. This had better be the place he was supposed to go.

---

The phrase 'the silence was oppressive' had never really made as much sense to Colin as it did at that moment.

Eyes clamped shut, arms thrown protectively over his head, he remained in his position half-kneeling, half-crouching upon the cold, hard floor, waiting for the strange white-haired man to hurl another statue in his direction or something equally terrifying, and yet… everything around him had grown deathly quiet. There was no sound. Why was there no sound?

Whole body tensed and ready for anything, Colin slowly lowered his arms and peeked one eye open.

Warm light flooded his vision, faint and yellow-brown through the multiple shards of the massive stained-glass window that stood before him. He felt his jaw drop involuntarily; never in his life had he ever laid eyes upon something so massive and ornately beautiful. Or so ancient. Eight feet wide and nearly three stories tall, something about the way the window looked, myriad shards of brown, yellow, and red glass glued to a massive wooden frame, gave the impression of great age. They weren't placed in any particular pattern either, but rather the disharmonious arrangement seemed intentionally set to catch the eye and change the color of the natural sunlight and enhance its beauty. It was an impressive sight, one he doubted he'd ever forget as long as he lived… and yet, he was almost certain there was no window in the museum's storage room.

Turning on the spot, Colin felt fear slowly beginning to rise in his chest. He wasn't in the storage room. Dirty cement floors had been replaced with stoic marble slabs, grungy walls were now smooth white brick, endless shelves of odd curios had been replaced with the occasional decorative vase lining the walls. There looked to be a podium against the wall to his left with two ugly old statues, and on the far side of the room was a doorway, maybe half a football field away. Other than that, the room was empty, nothing to be found in the grayish-amber light save for him and the awful, all-consuming silence that smothered his ears and made his skin crawl.

He was alone.

"Zelda?!" Colin bellowed, the sound tearing painfully at his dry throat, echoing offensively off of walls that probably hadn't heard a sound in centuries. He didn't care. "Zelda?! Weird fox mask kid? Hey, where are you?!"

His cries reverberated hauntingly throughout the room for a moment and were gone. He swallowed gruffly. Ok, Zelda and that kid were missing, and he had no idea where he was… think Colin, think… what would dad do?

A familiar giggle cut through his thoughts, distorted and mocking. Shoulders tensing, Colin backed nervously against the window and let his eyes dart about the room in fear. He knew that laugh. It was the laugh of that boy who floated in the air, the one with the strange mask, the one who'd made everything go dark. But where was he?

"Look at you, all holed up in the corner like a rat!"

Colin jumped; the masked boy could clearly see him, but Colin had no idea where he was… Figures. Cameras, maybe? Was that why his voice sounded so odd?

"Where am I?" Colin managed, throat tight. "Where's Zelda? What have you done with her?"

An undignified snort echoed throughout the room. "Don't you already have a girl? And here I thought you were the virtuous one. Seems like somebody's priorities are a little screwed up..."

"Shut up!" Colin snapped, anger spiking at the reference to his ex-girlfriend. "Just tell me where my friend is!"

"Well you can't have it both ways, man. I'm trying to do you a favor here. Give you the chance to finally prove yourself! I mean, how is your girly friend gonna feel when she finds out you wanted to rescue some other girl instead of her?"

"What are you…?" Something cold and dark settled in the pit of Colin's stomach. He and Zelda had made the trip here to the museum in the dead of night originally because Zelda had thought their friends might be in danger. If Midna was at the museum, it stood to reason that Sheik was there. And if the both of them were together doing something related to saving Link, then no way would Aryll let herself be left out. He had hoped they'd been wrong about that, but… Apparently, she was here in the museum. But where? Was she trapped here in this building too? Was she in danger? Did she need his help?

The boy cackled again, voice odd and distorted. "Judging by your face, I think you made your decision."

"Tell me where Aryll is!" he roared, anger getting the better of him.

"Alright, alright, sheesh… We'll make it into a game. Listen up."

Suddenly, his voice changed; darker, smoother, more confident.

"No hero was ever the Hero without a heroic cause worth dying for. Ready for yours? The girl you love is in danger. Can you navigate the puzzles of this dungeon quickly enough to save her, or will your one and only shot at being the hero vanish with her dying breath? A passion that defines… This is a test of your heart."

The masked boy's cackle faded off until it was gone, replaced once again by the same oppressive silence.

"Hey, wait!" Colin shouted, stepping forward and whirling around, looking for a boy he knew wasn't there. "Come back! What kind of danger?! What do you mean, dying breath?! Answer me!"

Silence was his only response.

Colin's heart was pounding furiously inside of his chest. Aryll… the girl he loved was going to die. Aryll was going to die. Aryll was dying. Aryll, dead. Gone forever.

But he could save her.

Desperation and determination stole over his heart with equal ferocity, and he clenched his fists, arms trembling. He could do this. This time he'd save her, and he'd do it without putting anyone else at risk. Here and now, he was finally getting the chance he'd been longing for; the chance to show her that he wasn't the same boy he was before the shooting, that he was a hero in his own right, like Link. And maybe she'd still never take him back, and maybe she'd still never forgive him… but if she'd at least just talk to him again… maybe then everything would be ok.

Colin set off at a quick jog down the room towards the distant doorway, white tennis shoes kicking up clouds of dust as he went. Wherever he was, be it part of the museum or no, hadn't seen human life in a long, long time. He didn't have time to worry about how he got there, however; Aryll came first. Nothing else mattered.

As he made it to the halfway point, his eyes were drawn to the statues on the podium to his left. Maybe podium was too strong of a word; it was more like a raised platform, six inches higher than the regular floor, about six feet in length by three, resting against the wall. It was the statues that actually got his attention though; made of some sort of dark, pitted stone, the stoic figures resembled gruesome human heads with arms sticking out where the ears ought to be. Each statue had a large cartoonish jaw, with the lips of the mouth parted in a rictus of pain, revealing massive teeth. The eyes were sunken and hollow beneath a heavy brow, and it almost looked as if it was supposed to be wearing a conical hat of some sort, but the details had weathered away. In one hand the statues carried a large rectangular shield, and in the other a massive hammer.

Perhaps the oddest thing of all, however, was what was on the wall between the statues. Colin slowed his jog to a walk, and then stopped completely, staring in consternation. There, etched high into the wall above the statues was an oddly ornate carving of a massive owl, wings spread wide, talons in front as though poised to strike. The markings on its face vaguely resembled a mask. An odd choice for a castle or temple like this to have, but who was he to judge another's culture? He couldn't say for sure exactly why it caught his attention, but a moment later he found himself looking at what was attached to the wall beneath it, between the two statues; dangling from some sort of medieval wall hanging complete with the Hyrulian Royal Crest was a sword and shield.

Colin licked his lips. The masked boy had said there'd be danger ahead… a weapon would probably come in handy. Then again, he didn't really know how to use a sword. He'd taken a couple of classes once because he thought it was awesome, but his father had told him that swordplay was an archaic tradition that wouldn't come in handy in the real world, and he'd transferred to more modern self-defense classes and started spending more time at the shooting range with his father. Really, he'd rather have a pistol right now, but beggars couldn't be choosers… he may as well take what he could get.

Stepping up on to the platform, he approached the sword and shield and examined them wryly. The shield was wooden, with what looked like striped horns stylistically burned into the face. It was a little shorter than he expected a shield to be, and a little wider at the top, almost like an upside-down triangle that had been rounded out a bit, but it would do.

Reaching up, Colin lifted the shield off the wall mount and slid his arm through the leather band on the back, grasping the handle firmly. Well, at least it fit and didn't seem like it was about to fall apart. He'd had his doubts; who knows how long the thing had been here? As for the sword, Colin reached up and plucked it off the rack, examining it with no little disdain. The sword was entirely made of wood. A wooden sword. Who even made wooden swords?! What was the point! Was this supposed to be a toy? There wasn't even a cross guard, and the blade (if you could call it that) was slightly curved, almost like a scimitar, meaning that it was primarily meant for slashing, not stabbing. Not that Colin was an expert sword fighter by any means, but limiting his options for combat didn't make him feel more confident. Well, the tip was a little pointy, maybe it'd handle a stab or two, but he just knew that whatever level of sharpness the thing had would be gone after just a couple of strokes. He was basically holding a fancy bludgeon. Of all the stupid, useless, pathetic things for him to find…

A loud hum echoed on either side of him, making his teeth vibrate inside his skull. Tensing, Colin glanced to his left just in time to see the once lifeless statue suddenly turn to face him, eyes glowing an otherworldly blue, and raise its hammer.

Colin hurled himself backward with all the grace of a wounded gazelle, landing in a painful heap on his back and dropping his sword just as the hammers struck the wall where he'd been standing with a loud crash, shattering a couple bricks. Hastily pushing himself to his hands and knees, he flipped himself over and crawled forward, desperate to reclaim his wanna-be weapon. Breathing raggedly through his nose, he hazarded a fearful glance over his shoulder towards the statues. As one, they lifted their hammers back up and turned on the spot to face him, massive crystals on their backs now hidden behind them as their eyes glowed with rage, and the two began slowly hopping forward.

Colin blanched.

Living statues… that could hop. First flying kids, now this. Farore, this day was getting weirder by the second…

Stumbling to his feet, Colin turned and bolted in the direction of the exit, eyes wide, sword and shield held awkwardly in his hands. He could hear the statues slowly thumping after him, but at the speed they hopped, they'd never catch up. A good thing, too; how are you supposed to fight creatures made of stone?!

Just as he drew close to the doorway and was beginning to feel victorious, a figure stepped out from around the corner, a heavy metal gate suddenly slid into place blocking the exit, and Colin felt all hope of escape die inside him.

It was a lizard.

Or, well, not exactly. It was a big lizard, human-sized in fact, and it walked on two legs. If that wasn't strange enough, it carried a curved sword in one claw, and it was wearing what looked like a chest plate, only it barely covered where his sternum should be, leaving his entire belly open. The plate secured itself around its left shoulder, which was adorned with red spikes, and he had of all things a red scarf tied around his neck. All in all, it looked like something you would see in Star Trek. Only, Colin didn't have a blaster gun and he couldn't count on Spock to save him… Well, at least he wasn't wearing a red shirt.

The lizardman looked around slowly, head hunched down and sword held at the ready, letting its long tongue peek out of its mouth to test the air and swishing its tail back and forth. Suddenly it perked up, eyes widening to show vertical slits in place of pupils, and jerked its head in Colin's direction, letting out a hiss.

Colin swallowed.

This was bad.

Lowering its head and letting out a high-pitched shrieking battle cry, the monster charged forwards, sword at the ready, ready to impale him through the heart with extreme prejudice.

Panic flooded his senses. Letting out a wail that was less manly and more 'preschool' than he'd like to admit, Colin scrambled backward, away from the lizard and his now-barred exit, desperate for somewhere to hide, somewhere to escape, somewhere to go…

But there was nothing else in the room except for the statues who were steadily getting closer and the walls lined with pots.

Hysteria was a funny thing. It could prompt a person to do things that they would never do under any normal circumstances. Under the influence of sheer mind-numbing terror, Colin ran straight at the wall and began drumming his fists against it, calling out to no one in particular, "Help! Open up! Get me out of here! Somebody! Hey!"

Breathing erratically, his eyes darted about, searching for help, but to no avail. Behind him, he could hear the lizard man rapidly approaching. Time was running out. He had to figure something out, fast. But what?

Without really thinking, he stuck his foot into the mouth of one of the nearby pots and turned, kicking it towards the lizard man with a savage grunt. He missed spectacularly, the pot crashing against the wall a good fifteen feet from the lizard and shattering into a thousand harmless pieces, but it was enough to distract the creature for long enough to find another pot and try again.

This one sailed straight towards the creature's gut but was slapped away almost absentmindedly by the monster. Colin didn't vary in his course; the only thing going through his head was one constant, blood-curdling scream of terror. He was afraid. He was very, very afraid.

The monster was maybe six feet from him when he stuck his foot into the next pot and stumbled, tried to support his weight on the foot half stuck in the vase, and let out a sharp gasp of pain as he rolled his ankle. Wincing, he shook the pot off his shoe and pressed himself flat against the wall, trembling shield held in front of his face. He was sniveling. He was actually sniveling. Oh, Goddesses, why was this happening to him? What had he ever done to deserve this?

Only he knew full well what he'd done to deserve this.

The monster lashed out with its free hand, startling Colin and making him yelp in fear, claws rattling against the wooden shield, moving it away from its position in front of Colin. The creature was far stronger than he was. Before he could pull the shield back, the massive reptile quickly struck, landing a glancing blow against Colin's cheek. Stinging pain flared through him, making him gasp, and he felt blood begin trickling down his face.

The creature took a moment to let loose a stream of hisses that Colin assumed was supposed to be laughter, but he didn't have time to focus on that. The slash across his cheek and the resulting surge of pain had snapped him out of his fear-induced state of hysteria. Blinking a couple of times as if he was waking up from a dream, Colin took sudden stock of the situation and felt something bubble up from inside him. Rage. White hot and fierce, it flooded his body, obliterating any doubt or insecurity, gathering up the terror he still felt and using it as fuel to make his anger burn even hotter.

With his sudden clarity came a single thought:

This lizard was in his way; he needed to save Aryll.

With a hoarse grunt, Colin lashed out with his shield, punching the still chortling lizard directly in the nose. It stumbled back a couple of steps, disoriented, and before it could recover Colin struck with his sword.

The first blow came from overhead, smashing the lizard a little clumsily on the side of its face and slamming into its shoulder plate. Following through, Colin struck again, this time from below, and managed to catch the creature right in its throat, where the jaw meets the neck. The wooden sword was hardly sharp enough to decapitate the thing, but it did leave a particularly nasty bloody gash.

The monster let out a hiss of warning, stepping back, but before it could retaliate Colin struck a third time, this time as an awkward stab with his curved weapon, catching the creature right in the chest below its armor between where he could see its ribs were. The blade didn't bite deep, but it was enough; the monster stumbled back clutching at its chest, mouth working in silent, surprised agony, blood bubbling into its mouth from where his wooden blade had barely punctured its lung. It collapsed on the floor, twitching, and was still.

Colin let out an unsteady sigh as its body suddenly exploded into black dust and vanished.

"What in Din's name is going on here?" he panted softly, staring at the blood-soaked tip of his weapon.

Well, no sense in standing around. Aryll still needed him, and he'd fight his way through fifty of those things if that's what it took to save her.

Turning around, Colin barely had time to scream and put his shield up before the hammer of one of the statues came crashing down on top of him. In the terror of his fight with the lizard, he hadn't even noticed the statues approaching.

Thanks to his shield, the hammer blow glanced off to the side without doing any permanent damage to his body. Unfortunately, he heard the shield crack when the hammer struck, and his entire left arm was now completely numb. Stumbling to the side around the statue, he found himself face-to-face with the second, who was standing just behind the first.

Oh, Din, he whined internally, how exactly do they expect me to fight these things?!

He leaped out of the way just as the second's hammer fell, and as he stumbled forward to get some distance, he heard the sound of shattering glass.

Turning, he was surprised to see that the hammer of the second statue had shattered the crystal on the back of the first. The first statue went rigid, body spasming before it began to hop in psychotic circles at an incredible speed, hammer smashing wildly around it before it suddenly went completely still… and exploded.

Bits and pieces of statue debris bounced off Colin, and he was forced to stumble back even further to escape from the smoke. Eyes watering, unable to see, he heard amidst the sudden chaos the unmistakable sound of a second statue tantrum, and sure enough a moment later, the second statue exploded, showering Colin in another wave of pebbles and smoke.

Coughing, Colin emerged from the cloud and stumbled towards the gate, hardly able to believe his luck. The second statue accidentally killed the first, and then the first blew up and killed the second. That couldn't have gone better even if he'd planned it. Actually, what would he have done had that not happened? Stayed trapped in that room until he died of dehydration? Probably. He was a lucky man indeed.

Or… maybe not. Upon further inspection, the gate was still closed. Colin took in the entire doorway with a pensive frown. The gate didn't have any hinges; it had slid up from the floor, but tug as he might he couldn't get it to retract. The only thing of significance was just beyond the gate, out into the hallway. Against the distant wall he could see a glowing red diamond. Did that have something to do with anything?

Turning around to examine the room once more, his eyes landed on what he'd missed in all the smoke. There, sitting in the center of the room, was a chest.

Hesitant, Colin approached, wary of just about anything. Where had this thing come from? Who sent it? What if the chest came alive and tried to kill him? Was there anything in this building, alive or otherwise, that he could trust?

Nudging the lid with his sword, he used the wooden blade to flip the chest open and peered inside.

There was a slingshot.

At first Colin was confused. Then annoyed. Then he remembered the crystal just beyond the gate into the hallway, and his eyebrows raised. Sticking his blade under his arm, he gathered up the slingshot, snatched a pebble from off the floor where the statues had blown up, and darted towards the gate, eager to be on his way and rescue the girl he cared about more than anything in the world.

It took him seven tries to hit the stone. Slingshots were harder to use than guns, it would seem. Or at least that's what he told himself. He wound up gathering a bunch of pebbles from off the floor and stuffing them in his pocket so he didn't have to keep coming back for more. Still, when he finally did hit the diamond, he was rewarded with a loud 'DING!' and the satisfying sight of the gate retracting back into the ground.

Colin sighed, sticking the slingshot into his back pocket and gathering up his sword.

He had no idea where he was or what was going on. The only tools at his disposal were children's toys. Apparently, demonic monsters stalked the earth. His friends were gone. And Aryll was in trouble.

He didn't know if he was the right man for this job, but then again… there didn't seem to be anyone else. Looks like he had to press on.

Just hang on, Aryll. I'm on my way.

---

"Alright, Red," Linebeck muttered, "here's the game plan: we've got two more of these knight dudes guarding the way out. You sneak around on the right side and play one of your stupid flutes to get the guard's attention. I'll go around on the left and break this dumb pot to get the other guy's attention. Then, we'll run back around and we can chuck something at the switch to get out. Sound like a plan?"

"Uh, sure. I guess. But Mr. Linebeck…"

"What? What's the matter?"

She sent him a doe-eyed look, her bottom lip puffing out. "Are you sure you want to break your magic pot?"

Suddenly stoic, he clapped a hand on her shoulder bracingly and replied, eyes boring into her own, "Red… I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life."

She gave a wistful sighed and nodded, and he straightened up.

"Alright. Now… Break!"

As his female teenage ginger companion hurried around the corner and off into the distance, Linebeck took a deep breath and steeled himself for the task at hand. Traversing the insides of this ship was quickly becoming a tedious affair. Every hallway was clogged with more and more of these haunted suits of armor, mindlessly patrolling for reasons he couldn't understand, and they'd been forced to resort to Marin's magic wind stick on multiple occasions. The only problem was, said magic wind stick couldn't do much more than temporarily knock them over, which usually just attracted the others who were milling about with the incessant clanging. Needless to say, he'd been doing a great deal more running in the past while than he'd done in the last decade. At least Jolene would be thrilled… well maybe not thrilled, nothing ever made that woman happy, but she'd have one less thing to pester him about in the future. Assuming he had a future, that is.

Which brought him back to now. This was the third level they'd been forced to sneak through, and it was getting progressively more annoying. The last floor included weird little helicopter robot sentries that would announce their presence to the soldiers, and to get through he'd had to suck one up in his magic jar and then spit it out to hit the target so they could open the gate and advance. He wasn't sure who the wackjob was who invented this odd little funhouse of death, but there was a murderous part of him that wanted to hunt him down and brain him with his magic pot.

This floor actually seemed fairly straight-forward, all things considered. They'd gotten past the first guys without too much difficulty, until Linebeck had dropped his pot, alerting everyone around them to their presence. They'd been forced to run around like headless chickens and had barely made it to the safe zone before being chopped up by Sir Empty Head and the other knights of the round table. Yet another reason for why he hated this pot; it was useless except for the most nuanced of moments, and he couldn't stand lugging the darn thing around. It didn't fit nicely in his pocket like the hourglass. Speaking of which…

As Linebeck turned the corner and advanced down the short hallway towards the intersection where he'd make his distraction, he tugged the little hourglass out of his pocket and examined it once more.

For a national treasure of the Phantom Isles, the thing wasn't all that impressive. The top and base were blue, with some simple designs on the edges and a carving of what looked like it was maybe supposed to be a water drop on the flat side. The glass was clear at least, and the only thing of note was the golden sand within which remained stationary on one end no matter which way he turned it, which told him that it was either so old it didn't work anymore, or else it had never worked and the hourglass was a waste. Or maybe not… maybe the sand inside was actually gold. Hmm… suppose if he were to break it and steal the gold, then blame it on the crooks…? After all, there were no cameras to see him, no one would ever doubt what he said…

A mischievous look crossed his face. Glancing around, he quickly set the pot down and took the hourglass in either hand, pinching his tongue between his teeth and struggling to find out how to open it. He was close enough to the intersection that he'd be able to hear when Red made her distraction, and all he had to do for his was chuck the stupid pot at the wall. He had a few seconds to kill; he knew the girl would take forever trying to decide which flute deserved the honor for her to play. She was weird like that.

Frowning, he grasped the hourglass by both ends, trying to see if he could maybe pull one of them off like taking a cork out of a bottle, but no dice. Undeterred, he then readjusted his grip to try and twist one of the edges off. He squeezed his eyes shut and grunted, twisting with all of his might… but it was no good. Panting slightly and blinking his eyes open, it took him a moment to realize something was wrong.

The world had gone black and white.

Linebeck felt his jaw drop. Oh, Din, he'd finally done it. That simple act of physical exertion had caused him to go color blind! He knew he should have been taking better care of himself! Or maybe… was this some sort of physical repercussion from repressed war trauma finally catching up to him?! Why not, every other negative aspect of his life could be traced back to the Labrynnian Civil War… Although, it could have something to do with the shooting last year… Hmm, you think he could get some healthcare benefits from this? Maybe some tax deductions?

Well… this colorblind world wasn't so bad, really, once you got used to it. He always did like black and white movies. And it was quieter, too. Though he couldn't go around calling that Marin girl Red anymore… What did red hair look like when it was black and white? At least Jolene's hair wouldn't have changed…

What was taking Red so long, anyway?

Deciding he'd had enough of waiting for her, he hefted the pot and prepared himself to chuck it and run. Red would just have to learn to be faster next time.

Swinging it back and forth in his free hand, he counted in his head. One… Two… Three!

He threw the pot and turned to run.

Only, after taking a few steps it occurred to him that he hadn't heard the sound of it smashing on the floor.

Curious, he turned to look over his shoulder and was met with an odd sight. The pot was floating in the air, exactly where his fingers had released it.

Perplexed, Linebeck slowly walked back to the pot. Was this some other strange ability? Not only could it suck things it and blow things out, it could hover in the air? Well, that was highly annoying. He was trying to break the dang thing! Why did this pot insist on infuriating him?! Aggravated, he placed a hand on its side and gave it a shove.

It moved only the distance that his hand was touching it, and stopped as soon as their physical contact ended.

Irritated, Linebeck scratched at his stubble as he examined the pot. Well, this was just great, how was he supposed to make a loud enough sound now? If the pot didn't want to be broken, then he supposed he couldn't break it. Maybe he could break the hourglass…?

He hefted up the hourglass and made as if to throw it at the wall, and stopped. The hourglass was still blue, even though everything else in the world was black and white. The sand inside was still gold. And it was trickling.

Blinking rapidly, Linebeck held the hourglass up to his face for a better look. The sand was trickling sideways and was almost fully depleted. He turned it upside down, and it continued trickling upwards against the flow of gravity. He righted it, and it kept trickling towards the bottom.

"Weird…" Linebeck breathed, giving it a shake. Nothing happened.

Why was it working now when he couldn't get it to work before? Was the hourglass somehow responsible for the lack of color in the world? Was that its magic ability?

"Well, that's awfully lame." Linebeck grumped, "You could have at least had magic floating-in-air powers, like this here jar-"

The last of the sand trickled to the other side of the hourglass, and the color suddenly returned to the world without warning, and the pot, which had been floating stationary in the air, suddenly whizzed across the hall and slammed into the wood with an almighty bang before dropping to the floor and rolling noisily back towards Linebeck's feet.

Linebeck stared at the pot in stunned disbelief.

"…You didn't break?!" He cried, outraged. "Why won't you die?! What kind of demon pot are you?!"

The sound of heavy, clanking footsteps steadily approaching reached his ear, and Linebeck panicked. Pocketing the hourglass and scooping the apparently indestructible pot up in his arms, Linebeck turned and made a run for it, heading back towards where he was supposed to meet up with Red.

What had happened though? Sucking all the color out of the world was one thing, but stopping the pot from falling? The two had to be connected, because the moment the color return, the pot resumed its course towards the wall. Did it maybe take away gravity? No, because he was still standing on the floor… Then maybe… did it stop… time?

He didn't have time to think about it any further. As he rounded the corner, Red came darting into view, scarlet hair streaming behind her, skirts billowing and effectively hampering her running skills. Women and their clothing- he'd never understand.

"Hurry up!" she cried, grabbing him by the arm and turning in the direction of the gate that blocked their passage onwards. "We got to go!"

"Sorry!" Linebeck panted, struggling to keep up his pace. Din, he really was out of shape… Maybe he should have taken that gym membership his coworker had offered him. "I got a little hung up over there… I guess this pot is indestructible after all."

"Huzzah!"

"Not huzzah! I hate this pot! I want it dead!"

"Well, that's not very nice."

"Shut it, kid!"

"Look, there's the switch!" Marin cried triumphantly, pointing up towards the target just above the chain link fence blocking their way to the pink-tiled room and advancement through this maze of nightmares.

On either side, the suits of armor they'd distracted noticed their presence and turned, charging back towards them.

"Quick, we've got to hit it!" Marin wailed.

"I've got this!" Linebeck shouted triumphantly. "Go, indestructo-pot!"

With a grunt, he twisted and hurled the pot up at the switch. Predictably, it didn't break, much to his chagrin, but the gate slid open anyway, which was better than nothing he supposed. Snagging the pot before it hit the ground, the two hastily jumped into the safe zone, and the suits of armor vanished.

"We did it!" Marin cheered, doing an impromptu victory dance.

"Yeah…" Linebeck panted. "Though you know, this really wasn't all that challenging. I mean, other than being chased by suits of armor bent on our destruction, all we really had to do was hit a switch to open the gate. Whoever designed this should probably get fired, it was way too easy."

Marin shrugged. "We've been over this. They probably had to make the games easier for the kids, otherwise it wouldn't be fair."

"Right. Because this is a game show filled with homicidal suits of armor, and we're worried about kids not being smart enough to figure out how a switch works."

"I blame public television."

Linebeck groaned. "Whatever, kid. Let's just see what the next floor has to offer."

The two turned, expecting to find another ladder, and were instead met with a doorway.

"Where do you suppose this leads?" Marin asked.

"To our excruciatingly painful deaths, I have no doubt." He muttered bitterly, pocketing the hourglass and grabbing the handle, throwing it open. They were met with a corridor lit by torches in brackets. Exchanging bewildered looks, the two stepped inside.

"Well, this is weird," Linebeck commented idly, resting the pot on his hip and plodding along. Glancing at his companion, he noticed a particularly peculiar look on her face. Her brows were furrowed and her nose was all scrunched up, as though she were bothered by a strange scent.

"You alright there, kid?"

Her eyes suddenly bugged out.

"I can smell the sea!" Red cried ecstatically, hurrying ahead. "Mr. Linebeck, I think we did it! I think we're out!"

Linebeck blinked, caught off-guard, then took a deep whiff. Without another word, he picked up his pace, heart thundering in his chest. Marin wasn't the only one who could smell the ocean; the air was thick with the salt of the sea, and the occasional gust of wind ghosted down the corridor, kissing their cheeks. Were they really there…? Was the end of this nightmare really in sight…?

As they rounded the last corner, Marin let out a delighted squeal. They were outside. Finally, after what felt like an eternity trapped in the masked kid's stupid game, they were free…

The corridor dumped them out onto a narrow part of the ship that offered a lovely glimpse of the sky. A small smattering of stars could be seen in the dark sky to the west, but a light was beginning to shine on the opposite side of the horizon, spreading pinks and oranges into the deep blue like accidental splashes of paint on canvas.

Linebeck felt his breath catch. It had been years since he'd last been on the sea. He swore in his youth that he'd never sail again, but now… now that he was forced back here against his will, he remembered why he'd loved it so much. The boat rocked back and forth lazily in the predawn, waves lapping against the wooden siding in a gentle rhythm, wind tousling his hair… He was free. Nobody to tell him where to go or what to do. Solidarity… the dream of any man…

Marin stepped to the left, the only direction they had left available to them, standing at the edge of what he assumed was the prow, taking in the view. Linebeck moved to join her, eager to experience the sunrise at its fullest but stopped as something caught his eye.

Directly in front of where they'd exited was a wall, with the prow of the ship being off to their left. The wall wasn't bare, however. Just across from him was a door… a wooden door with a simple, modern brass doorknob, the kind you wouldn't expect to find on a wooden ship, especially not on the prow. But the strangest part was the plaque on the door. An oddly familiar plaque made of white plastic with the words 'Employee's Only' stamped across it in black lettering.

Linebeck knew that plaque. He knew that door. It was the same door that could be found in Castleton's Museum of National History in the room dedicated to the Outer Islands. He knew the door because he'd passed by it so many times. It was a janitor's closet. He knew for a fact that it was the same door because the sign was chipped slightly on the bottom left side, just like the sign from the Museum. Why on earth would that same door be here on this pirate ship in the middle of the ocean?

Forgetting his surroundings, he strode forward and grasped the handle, turning it decisively and throwing it open.

Inside were a bunch of mops and brooms, some buckets, and a myriad of chemicals and other sorted cleaning supplies like ceramic cleaner and polish and antibacterial hand soap. Not the sort of things you'd expect to find on a ship, but exactly what he knew they had in the museum.

What in Farore's name was going on?

"Hey Red!" Linebeck called over his shoulder, frowning into the dark closet, mind whirring. "Come and check this out real quick."

There was no answer.

Turning to look over his shoulder, he found Marin standing in front of the prow staring out at something he couldn't see, eyes wide, hair billowing behind her in the wind.

"Kid, you alright?" Linebeck asked, readjusting his grip on the pot; stupid thing got heavy after a while.

Marin slowly turned to glance at him and jerked her head, motioning for him to move closer.

Curious, Linebeck shut the door and walked over to join her.

"Hey, there's a closet over there from the museum full of cleaning supplies. What do you suppose that…"

He let his question trail off stupidly, eyes finally catching hold of what Marin had been staring at.

There, on the very edge of the prow, facing the rising sun, was the shadowy figure of a man wearing a silly hat and a cape.

"I don't think we're alone…" Marin whispered softly, resting a hand against the rope rails that he just now noticed had been placed along the sides of the prow.

"No kidding." He retorted dryly. Honestly, she could be a real Einstein sometimes… "The question is, who is he? And what does he want?"

No sooner had he spoken than a tremendous metallic crash sounded from behind them. Whirling about, they were greeted with the image of a massive metal gate now barring the way from where they came. Linebeck swallowed nervously; he'd had no intention of reentering the ship, but now that he was stuck on the prow with this mystery person, the option of a possible retreat suddenly seemed very appealing.

Linebeck and Marin's eyes met with mirrored looks of apprehension before slowly turning back towards the man.

The wind picked up, ruffling through their clothing, and the man turned to face them, cape billowing in the dawning light.

Marin let out a sudden loud, theatrical gasp that would have put most actresses to shame.

"Look out!" She cried, throwing her hand over her mouth and pointing dramatically, "It's a…! It's a…!"

"A pirate?" Linebeck supplied, cocking his head to the side and scratching at his chin. "Or a robot maybe? Both? Uh… a skeleton? Or…"

Marin gasped again, cutting Linebeck off and making him flinch.

"Look out! It's a skeleton robot pirate zombie!"

Well, it certainly looked the part. The sky was starting to brighten, and now that he could see more clearly he was able to pick out a few details about their unknown guest. It was obvious from the way he looked to the way he moved and the way the morning light of the rising sun glinted off his body that his entire frame was made up of metal. The way that he was constructed, however, gave the impression that he was oddly thin and skeletal by design. Apparently being a skeletal robot wasn't unique enough for him, however, and he'd decided to deck himself out in pirate paraphernalia. He had on a large pirate captain's hat, some striped pants, a pair of black boots, an old-fashioned overcoat with thick seventeenth-century shoulder pads complete with cape, and a necklace of golden coins strung about his metallic neck. On his face, he wore a black eye patch over his fake mustache and creepy, skeletal grin. A grin which he turned on them, made all the more unsettling in the half light and threw his cape off into the ocean.

It was only then that Linebeck noticed the cutlass in one hand and the large hook in the other. With a rattle, the robot pirate began charging down the prow towards them, weapons held aloft.

Marin and Linebeck simultaneously latched on to each other and screamed in terror.

"What's going on?!"

"I dunno! He wants to kill us!"

"I'm too young to die!"

"Well, I don't want to die either!"

"Well then go and do something!"

"Me?!" Linebeck squawked indignantly as Marin ducked behind him and shoved him forward. "Why me?!"

"Because you're the big, strong man! You're supposed to do the protecting!"

"No way, kiddo!" Snatching her by the forearm, he quickly spun them around so she was in the front. "I won't be the man responsible for setting the entire feminist movement back by fifty years! Show us some of that girl power!"

"But I'm just a kid!" She wailed, twisting his arm and diving back behind him again. "I'm not ready to deal with this! It's your job to defend the weak and helpless!"

"Well, how am I supposed to do that without a-!"

"He's right behind you!"

Linebeck and Marin let out twin screams of feminine panic. Whirling about, Linebeck barely had time to shove Marin backward before a swipe of the pirate robot's blade would have cleaved him in two.

"WhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?!"

"Use your magic pot!"

"Hiyaa!" Linebeck roared, hefting the pot and hurling it at the skeleton. It smacked painfully into the robot's face and bounced off the side of the boat, falling into the ocean.

"That… isn't quite what I meant." Marin stated lamely as the pirate captain stumbled backward a few paces, clutching at its face.

Linebeck shrugged. "Hey, at least it did something useful for once."

There was a growl, and Linebeck turned his attention back to the robot who was straightening back up, glaring murderously in their direction.

"And now I need you to do your job! Find me a weapon, quick!"

"Like what?!"

"Anything!" Linebeck wailed, dodging another slash. "Anything! A stick, a squirrel, a banana- anything!"

"But I… oh! Be right back!"

And with that, Marin ran away.

"Red!" Linebeck cried, cowering back against the wall of the ship as the robot pirate bore down on him. "Hurry! Hurryyyyy!"

"Here!" Marin cried, reappearing behind Linebeck, arms laden with things from the supply closet. "Take this, you freak!"

She lobbed a small metal bucket in the robot's direction, missing by a good five feet. It sailed harmlessly over the edge of the prow and was gone.

"That's not helping!" He cried, leaping out of the way as the enemy's sword slashed at the wall, leaving a massive scratch where his body had been only moments earlier.

"Take this!"

Linebeck suddenly found a mop shoved into his hands.

"What am I supposed to do with this?!"

"Clean house!" She cheered, punching her fist victoriously into the air.

"C-clean…?!" Linebeck spluttered, left eye twitching. Really? Puns? At a time like this?

"Watch out!"

Twirling around, Linebeck barely managed to get the mop up in time to deflect another slash.

"Haha! I'll swab your deck!" He bellowed fiercely, slamming the mop head into the creature's face and moving it up and down. Hey… this pun thing wasn't half bad. It made him feel downright heroic, it did.

The pirate appeared stunned for a moment, then deftly slashed its hook at the mop handle, snapping it clean in two.

Linebeck let out a shrill squeal and cowered against the wall.

"How about this?!"

Marin finally brought the Wind Waker out to bear, sending a powerful gust of wind at the enemy. The air whistled uselessly through his clothes, doing nothing.

"You're supposed to be helping, Red!"

"Uh… Uh… Ok, um… how about…?"

She ruffled through her purse and brought out one of the flutes he'd found earlier in a chest. Screwing up her face, she randomly placed her fingers on the keys and blew into the mouthpiece.

The shriek that emitted from the rusty metal instrument was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the single most painful, annoying, migraine-inducing sound ever to have been heard on the Goddesses' green earth. Linebeck clamped his hands over his ears, falling to his knees in agony, trying to stop his brain from exploding within his skull. Shockingly, through tear-filled eyes, he could see the robot doing the same at his side.

Unable to take another second, Linebeck lashed out with his hand and snatched the instrument from the surprised girl's hand.

"What is wrong with you?!" He snapped.

"Robots!"

Turning, he swung the flute in his hand and intercepted the cutlass with a clang and a spray of sparks. The robot looked every bit as surprised as Linebeck. Stepping back, the robot swung again, and Linebeck deflected it with the flute. Once more he swung, with the same result.

A wild laugh escaped Linebeck's throat. "Look at me, I'm Errol Flynn!"

With a flick of its metallic wrist, the flat of the robot's blade struck Linebeck's hand and the flute joined the pot and the bucket out into the ocean.

"Or… not."

"Let me try this!" Marin called out before putting another flute to her lips and preparing to blow.

"No, wait!" Linebeck cried, and even the robot looked terrified, but it was too late.

Marin blew, and Linebeck steeled himself for complete and utter auditory torture. Only the sound that emanated from the instrument was anything but torturous; high and pure, it echoed out harmlessly across the ocean before fading sweetly into the distance.

There was a pause as Linebeck and Marin, and even the robot, glanced around as if expecting something strange to happen.

"…Was that it?" Linebeck asked.

"I guess." Marin sighed, looking a little deflated. "Maybe these flutes really aren't magical."

"Graah." The robot replied consolingly, raising its sword and preparing itself to skewer Linebeck through the gut.

Something fluttered by overhead.

As one, the three combatants glanced up, searching for the source of the sound and felt their jaws drop. There, soaring out of the dark sky, was the unmistakable form of a massive blue bear.

Linebeck and Marin screamed, latching onto each other and retreating back to the janitor's closet. The Robot tried to fall back to the far side of the prow, but it was too late. With a feral roar, the massive creature swooped down and slammed into the metal monstrosity, knocking it over the safety ropes and into the pitch-black ocean below before flapping away.

"What the Flintstone Vitamins was that?!" Linebeck squawked. "What on earth is going on here?!"

"I dunno!" Marin squeaked. "Do you think the robot's gone?"

Exchanging bewildered looks, Linebeck and Marin ran forward towards the prow and peered off over the ledge. The surface of the ocean bubbled and frothed where the robot pirate captain had taken his dive, but he never came back up.

"…I don't think he can swim." Marin said after a moment.

"Yeah… He picked a strange profession, all things considered."

There was a 'whoomph!' from behind them, and the two turned to find the bear sitting back on his haunches on the prow, staring at them expectantly.

"Um…" Linebeck asked, suddenly nervous, licking his lips and backing away from the large, carnivorous mammal. "Did you bring this thing here?"

"I guess?" Marin replied. "The flute must have summoned him. Do you think it's friendly?"

"I don't really want to find out." He answered resolutely, taking another step back.

Marin stared at the bear for a second, shrugged, and then stepped cautiously forward, one arm extended.

"Hey there, big guy…" She murmured sweetly. "I'm Marin. Did I call you here? What's your name?"

The bear opened its massive jaws, revealing a multitude of sharp, glistening teeth and responded to Marin's question with a loud yawn.

Marin's eyes grew wide. "Oh my Din… He… Is so… Cute!"

With a girlish giggle, she leaped forward, throwing her arms around its neck and burying her face in its fur, scratching behind its ears as she gushed over her new pet.

Linebeck let out a weary sigh, rubbing at his face. He was beginning to think that he'd been drugged. This day was simply getting weirder and weirder…

There was a flash of light followed by a light thump, and Linebeck turned to see a ladder had appeared on the wall between the janitor's closet and the hall that led back down into the belly of the ship.

"Hey Red, I think we found where to go next."

"Goodbye, Moosh!" She called out, ignoring Linebeck and waving emphatically as the bear lifted off his haunches and flew away on impossibly small cherubic wings.

"Moosh?"

"That's what it says on his collar."

"Huh. Well hey, there's a ladder. Ready to see what the rest of the ship looks like?"

She shrugged. "As long as there aren't any more robot pirates skeleton zombies, I'm good."

"I hear ya, sister."

Grasping the wooden rungs in both hands, Linebeck quickly hoisted himself up, Marin trailing along behind him. Excitement and trepidation were warring inside of him; excitement at finally being free of those stupid hallways and suits of armor, but trepidation for whatever was awaiting them on the deck of the ship.

The ladder only had to reach about eight feet before Linebeck reached the top and could pull himself up. Carefully, he peeked his eyes above the ledge and scanned the area for imminent danger.

There was nothing. The deck was abandoned.

"Well?" Marin called from below.

"…I think we're clear." He said, feeling surprised.

"Cool beans. Can you hurry up and move?"

Harrumphing, Linebeck hastened onto the deck and helped Marin get to her feet behind him. As one, they turned and examined the empty deck in the growing light.

"Wow." Marin breathed at his side.

"Yeah." Linebeck echoed.

They were on the deck of an old-fashioned wooden ship, the kind they sailed hundreds of years ago. The wood was worn, a lovely light beige shade that looked brown in the half-light. Massive white sails billowed in the wind above them amid ropes and pulleys. Just ahead, twin staircases led up to the back of the ship where the helm could be seen behind a darkly lacquered balcony. In all, the ship's design was simple, yet perfect.

"It reminds me of my father's fishing boats, back when he used to let me go sailing with him as a kid."

Linebeck shot Marin a look, eyebrows rising in surprise.

"Your father used to take you sailing?"

"Uh-huh." She chirped, smiling broadly as she stepped forward, running her hand across the rails. "I'm from Koholint. My father used to take me out on his boat all the time. There's nothing I love more than the sea… well, except for music maybe."

A newfound sense of respect for the odd little ginger was building unexpectedly within him.

"It reminds me of my old steamship." Linebeck found himself saying, walking slowly towards the mast, eyes rising towards the sails. "Back when I lived in the Phantom Isles, before the war. Inherited it from my grandfather. I used to ferry people between islands for money. It wasn't a very glamorous job, but… I enjoyed it."

"You're from the Phantom Isles?" Marin asked, surprised.

"Yup. I've been to Koholint lots of times. Mabe Village was one of my favorite spots as a kid. They used to have this festival every year with this silly sideshow attraction called 'Trendy Game'-"

"You've played Trendy Game?!" She spluttered, looking utterly floored. "I love Trendy Game! I used to play it every year, but I could never beat the high score!"

"Thirty-two thousand?" He asked slyly, sending her a crooked smile.

"Oh, uh… yeah, I think that's how much it… Wait, how did you know…?"

Her eyes grew as wide as saucers, and Linebeck turned away to hide his laughter.

"No way…" She breathed. "No way are you the Trendy Game master!"

She let out an unexpected squeal and Linebeck flushed.

"Ahh! I can't believe it! My friends are going to be so jealous that I actually met you! I can't wait to tell them!"

"Ah, yeah, well…" Linebeck coughed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He wasn't used to being praised for anything, even something as silly as Trendy Game. "That's assuming we ever get back home. I don't know if you've noticed, Red, but we're sort of in the middle of the ocean… which puts the kibosh on your museum game show theory."

Marin deflated like a punctured balloon.

"Oh yeah… Where do you think we are? And how did we get here?"

"I dunno, kid." He mused idly, thinking about the janitor's closet from the museum. "I really don't know…"

Marin sighed, walking forward and examining the rigging. "It's a shame we don't know how to sail this thing."

"Speak for yourself." Linebeck grumped, stalking down the deck, heading past the mast and towards the stairs that led to the helm. "Didn't I just tell you that I grew up in the Phantom Isles and owned a steamship? I know how to sail an old wooden sailing boat."

"Really? Oh wow! Mr. Linebeck, you're so cool!"

Linebeck stumbled but righted himself quickly.

"Oh, uh… thanks, Red." He kept his back to her, not wanting to show how red his face had just become. What was going on with this girl? She'd complimented him more times in the last few minutes than he could remember being complimented in his entire life. There was an uncomfortably warm feeling growing in his chest, one that almost felt like affection for the scrawny, red-headed twerp. Something needed to be done about this.

"What can I do to help?" Marin asked as Linebeck took the helm in his hands and began turning it.

"Um… I don't know. Wanna climb up to the bird's nest and see if you can spot any land?"

"Aye-aye, captain!" She chirped, mock-saluting and giggling playfully before turning and scrambling up the ladder beside the mast. Linebeck shook his head. Kids today watched too much tv.

As she climbed, yellow sundress swaying in the breeze, Linebeck turned and took in the small wooden ship with a smile. Old fashioned though it was, there was something invigorating about being behind the helm of a boat again. Though something was odd… Judging the size of the ship from what he could see on deck, there was no way they'd traveled through as many halls and floors as they had to get here. The ship simply wasn't that big. It wasn't possible. And why was the deck abandoned when they'd gotten here? Wasn't somebody steering it other than the crazy robot pirate? And what about the blue bear? And the Wind Waker? And the Phantom Hourglass? And that pot that he'd thankfully managed to lose over the side of the boat? What in the Goddesses' name was going on?

"Um… No, I don't see any land, Captain Linebeck!" Marin shouted from the bird's nest.

"That's alright!" Linebeck called back. "Just stay up there and keep lookout, ok? Let me know as soon as you see something!"

And stay away from me. He thought uncomfortably. The last thing he wanted was to get attached to one of these stupid kids.

"Ok!" She chirped. "I'll just practice my new instruments!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." He muttered, turning his attention back to the sea.

A high, clear whistle could be heard from above, followed by a giggle. Linebeck shook his head. This girl was far too easily amused.

A shadow fell over the ship.

Blinking in surprise, Linebeck barely had time to tilt his head up before it was upon them. A massive bird, almost as large as the ship, with blue and red plumage and an odd metal mask over its face swooped down out of the sky with a ferocious cry, talons extended, ready to attack.

"TSEEEER!"

"Ahhhhh!"

"RED!" Linebeck shouted, throwing his hand out uselessly, but it was too late; the monstrous creature's talons closed around the ginger girl in the bird's nest in a moment and snatched her away. Seconds later she and the bird were gone, flapping away over the seas, Marin's screams echoing over the vast expanse of nothing all around them.

"RED!" Linebeck cried again, running to the side of the ship, desperately wracking his brain for something he could do, something he could use to save her, a gun, a cannon, anything-

There was a massive boom and the ship suddenly pitched forward as though it had collided with a sandbar. Caught off guard, Linebeck was flung forward, off the side of the ship and into the sea, inky black water swallowing him whole. He fought to right himself in the swirling waters, but he was sinking fast and the faint light of the predawn wasn't enough to pierce the darkness around him. The ship vanished from sight, he couldn't tell which direction was up, and before he knew it, he was lost to the churning tide.