A/N: In this huge-ass chapter, we reveal the earthlings' real Goddess-given roles as well as have some foreshadowing on what's gonna happen during the next few chapters... YO HO HO~

Ryo/Niagra/Link: LE EXCITING!

A/N: And just a quick note, Ikana Canyon here is much bigger than what the game had us explore; for example, in the game, the Music Box House was literally just across the river and a few feet up the hill from Ikana Castle, but in this story the length of the river from the Music Box House to Ikana Castle is at least a quarter mile. So in the first scene of this chapter Nicole is not washing Brian's shirt in the river in plain view of Ikana Castle, hehe.

Okay, AAAND OFF WE GO!


-:: Last time ::-

"Then, I will meet you all at the entrance to the tower when you are ready."

They nodded.

"Well, 'til then," Brian waved to him. Everyone turned to follow.

Seth watched them go.

Yet Nicole trailed behind everyone else. And right before she went through the doors, she turned around.

He watched her, anticipating.

But Nicole still couldn't find the words.

… So instead she ran back to him, just wrapping her arms around his shoulders tightly and without a sound. Seth returned the embrace wordlessly, closing his eyes.

After a bit Nicole pulled away, and with a sheepish smile she waved at him one more time before running to catch up with the others.

Seth remained quiet, but after hearing the throne room doors close, he released a heavy sigh and turned around.

While her embrace did provide comfort, he still couldn't entirely shake off those memories of Stone Tower…

` Ikana Canyon :: Dawn of the Second Day + 9:25am `

"Whoaaaa chiggy bah leh heeey…"

Brian yawned as he squat by the river beside Pamela's house, watching as beside him Nicole wailed in a wannabe-Jamaican accent while she scrubbed his outer brown shirt with some soap.

"Soomala keboya~ OHHHH LALA HEE RRRRRRRRIZA!"

After parting with the Ikana Royals the night before, the team went to find a place to crash. And since the first thing they saw after exiting Ikana Castle was the Music Box House, they knocked on the door and Pamela's dad was nice enough to lend the team their living room, bringing out extra blankets and telling them to push back the dining table so everyone would have room on the floor.

It was literally seconds before the seven lay down and promptly knocked out. Talk about a stressful day...

Brian was the first to wake, and after cleaning himself up in the river he noticed weird dark green stains on his shirt from yesterday so he attempted cleaning those too. It wasn't long before Nicole popped out of the house and snatched the shirt from him, saying he wasn't doing it right.

"I don't even do the laundry at home, of course I wouldn't know," Brian yawned, now just in his jeans and dark beige tank, scratching at his head.

"No problemo, that's why you have female friends, 'nam sayin'?" Nicole gave the shirt one last rinse before squeezing the excess water and inspecting it. She handed it to Brian. "Boom. Clean."

Brian said his thanks.

"GOOOOD MORNING, WORLD!"

"Too early Gil," Brian grumbled as he hung the shirt on a clothesline.

Gilbert stood on the tiny porch, opening his mouth to reply before the door opened again and smacked into him. "Ow!"

"Whoops! Sorry babe!" Ines laughed and leaned over to give him a good morning kiss. Gilbert grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist—

"YO DO THAT BEHIND THE HOUSE, I DON'T WANNA SEE," Nicole yelled, covering her eyes.

"PFT, you don't have to be jealous!" Ines cackled. She tapped Gilbert's nose. "More kisses later, but for now I want to take a bath—"

"EEWWWWW!" now both Brian and Nicole droned.

"NOT WITH GILBERT, YA PERVS!"

"Not that I'd mind," Gilbert had to murmur. He received a smack in the face.

Nicole was still covering her eyes. "Jeeeeez, teenagers nowadays."

"C'mon Nic, let's go to the spring! I'll go get Hayarpi," Ines ducked inside the house, then came out again with a half-asleep Hayarpi, some soap, and a bottle of L'Ore*l kids shampoo she borrowed from Pamela.

The three went on their way to the spring but Nicole gasped as she spotted the bottle. "Whoa Ines, that shampoo's a lie—"No Tears" my ASS!…"

Gilbert and Brian were quiet as the girls disappeared over the hill.

After a bit Brian looked at the other boy. "So where's Link?"

The blue-haired boy eyed him. "Hm? Still sleeping, I think."

"Oh really."

"…"

"…"

… They grinned.

"Ok ok, on three…!"

Gilbert's head flung back, unable to hold in his amusement and dry-laughing into the sky.

Brian snickered. "All right, one… two… THREE!"

"Huh?—" Link jolted at the yell, then screamed as he woke up in midair only to land with a gigantic SPLASH! in the river. "AAAGGHHHH!"

"AHAHAHAHA! BAAAHAHHAHAA!" Brian was cracking up (for once in his life) at the sight of a confused and disgruntled Link halfway submerged in water.

"Agh! The heck! I was having such a good dream, too…"

"AHAHAH LOSER! LATE BIRD GETS NO WORMS! BAHAHAHA!" Gilbert cackled. Brian had to stop and give him a 'wtf' look.

"Hardy-har, very funny," Link grumbled and got to his feet, about to climb out the river… when he realized he needed a wash anyways, so he peeled off his tunic and just started washing right then and there.

Gilbert stopped laughing too. He pointed. "Hey! Don't just turn the situation in your favor like that!"

"What?! I needed a bath, what're you gonna do," Link dunked his head and scrubbed at his blond hair.

"…" Brian scooped up some mud and threw it at the Hylian.

"ACK!" Link yelped as he felt the cold solid, then gasped as he noticed what it was. He glared at Brian.

The Spanish boy already had another mudball.

Soon the two were hacking mud at each other, laughing and screaming while Gilbert held his vest up to protect himself…

` Meanwhile, on a Moon not-so-far-away… `

"Gah! Why am I so exhausted?!"

Majora scoffed from a few feet off. "Quit complaining! It's your fault for abusing my power like that."

"I wouldn't have had to abuse it if you'd only let me kill them in Termina Field right from the beginning! Why didn't you let me?!"

"If you'd only stuck to my plan you wouldn't have failed."

"But I did stick to the plan, I took one of them!"

"YOU TOOK THE WRONG ONE!" Majora finally snapped, flying at Skull Kid's face and glowing threateningly. "I told you to take the GREEN one, not the black one!"

But Skull Kid only turned away, huffing and puffing. "Goddesses, what's the difference! Didn't you say they were like a House of Cards?! What difference would it have made if I took a different color—"

"All the difference! Besides, where was your mind during the battle? Didn't you notice how hard it was to kill that one girl alone?"

… Skull Kid went silent.

Of course he noticed. But like the child he was, he wasn't going to admit defeat so easily.

Majora continued anyway. "Yes, I did say they were like a House of Cards… steal one, they'd all be useless. But as you discovered the hard way, actually killing one of them is more difficult than you thought; that girl, with black hair and red eyes who looked like a centipede? She just wouldn't die, and whether it was her or any of the other pests in that cage, none of them would be easy to kill either because of their Goddess Pieces!"

"Then why'd you tell me to get one if I couldn't kill them in the first place?!"

"Fool! I said to get the one in green, because he is the easiest to kill! Compared to the others, his powers are dormant. That's why I specifically instructed you to aim for him," Majora had to scoff here again, just flitting off in annoyance. "But you just had to f(beep) it up when you snatched the other girl instead…"

Meanwhile Skull Kid gaped. "Wha—! Then if that was the case why didn't you say anything!"

"You couldn't even listen to simple instructions, I wanted to see how far you'd get. As expected, not very much, as now you're the one groaning and sore while the others are off having a stupid mudfight…"

Skull Kid 'what?'-ed.

Majora said nothing.

And Skull Kid just huffed again and crossed his arms, then winced at his rather sore muscles.

It was quiet.

… But after a moment.

"That other kid, with the purple eyes," Majora started. "… He certainly has it out for you."

Skull Kid sat up at that. "I know, right! And it's not like I know why. But he's a pain in the ass. If he wasn't dead already I would totally kill him."

"You can't even kill those who are still alive, so your threat isn't very convincing."

Tael gasped from the little corner he'd been occupying this whole time. "Ooooooh!"

Skull Kid threw a rock at him. "SHADDAP!"

And with that Majora just chortled evilly and flew off.

` Ikana Valley `

Link wasn't sure how he ended up learning it, but soon he found himself in a circle with the rest of the earthlings, yelling and shaking his fist as he played rock, paper, scissors with the rest.

"KAI BAI BO!"

"YESSSS!" Nicole cheered, withdrawing from the circle and doing a pelvic thrust.

Round 2.

"KAI BAI BO!"

"AW YEAH!" Ines cheered as well, boogie-ing her way backwards while Hayarpi, Gilbert and Brian groaned.

But the blond looked lost, still holding his 'paper' in place. "Wait, what?"

"Our paper beat their rocks, so you don't have to go get food," Ines giggled.

"Oh." Pause. Link threw his hands up. "WOOOO!"

"YEAAAHHH!" Nicole skipped up to him and Ines and took their hands and the three danced in a circle around the losers.

"Fiiiine, we're going, we're going!" Brian grumbled, shooing them away as he picked up his sheath and slung it over his chest.

"Don't forget Anju's meat pie!" Nicole reminded.

"YEAH, YEAH!" Brian waved dismissively at her as he walked off.

Hayarpi and Gilbert just laughed and waved at the remaining four before heading down the cliff to retrieve breakfast, since there was nothing to eat in Ikana Valley… and they didn't want to bother Pamela and her dad again, as it didn't look like they had a lot of food for themselves in the first place.

After the three's silhouettes disappeared in the distance, Nicole placed her hands on her hips and turned to Ines. "So!"

"Hm?"

"Shall we start that mental and physical training Seth was talking about?"

An enthusiastic nod.

The two girls turned to Link.

The blond eep!-ed at the sudden attention. "Uh. What."

Ines grinned and adjusted her gloves. Nicole was already forming an energy ball in her hand.

Link gaped. "Wha… h, hold on a second, I—"

"You'd better start running, Linky-poo!"

"AAAGGGHHHH!"

` Later `

"You're up, Gilly!"

"Sweet!" Gilbert took Hayarpi's hand, being pulled to his feet as they traded spots and Hayarpi sat on the grass.

After retrieving some meat pies and other foodstuffs from Clock Town, the three returned and joined in the training started by Ines, Link and Nicole. And because they figured Link needed the most training since he was disadvantaged by not having powers, they were focusing on attacking him.

Surprisingly—or maybe not so surprisingly—the Hylian was doing quite well. He was utilizing all his tools to his advantage, using the Mirror Shield to reflect magic attacks, the hookshot to pull himself to safety, the bow and various magic arrows for long range attacks and whipping his sword out upon close combat.

"Man, look at you, Link!" Ines grinned as Link dodged another one of Brian's fire spells. "Dodging that fire like your life depended on it!"

"But it does," Link smirked back as he held up his Mirror Shield at her.

Ines blinked, and then she screamed when fire shot out of the shield her direction. When did Link absorb Brian's attack?!

Nicole had gotten tired and was fooling around with Ronald as Ronald skipped around the grassy area they were training at. She was basically skipping right behind him, following his tracks wordlessly. Ronald gave her a 'wtf' look at first but seeing she wasn't going to attack him or whatever, continued skipping around merrily.

Link cackled as he watched Ines run around with the ends of her hair on fire and Brian trip over some tree roots Ines summoned. "… Well, I think I won that one."

"Good job Linkeh!" Gilbert cheered.

"Thanks, man!" Link phew-ed, taking a swig of milk and looking around…

Meanwhile Tatl was eyeing Link in interest. "Wow."

Hayarpi eyed her. "What?"

"He's better than I thought."

"You keep underestimating us," Hayarpi giggled. "Again, didn't we tell you about Hyrule? The King of Evil, our titles of "Heroes and Heroines of Time," the Six Sages?! … Or well, seven, if you include Zelda…"

"ZELDA! HISSSSSSS!" Ines hissed as she fell to the floor and did stop, drop and roll.

Tatl gave Ines a weird look.

But she quickly looked back at Hayarpi, pouting. "I always hear those names, but not any details…"

She watched as Gilbert (finally) realized Ines's hair was on fire and frantically ran to her to put it out while Brian laughed at them. After a bit Ines recovered and decided to sit out, while Gilbert and Brian started an epic Fire vs. Water match a little ways off…

The fairy's gaze shifted to Nicole, who noticed Link was free and ditched Ronald to join him instead.

But when Ronald noticed no one following him anymore, he went up to Link and Nicole too. Immediately he spotted the sheathe on Link's back, eyes widening and hanging around the Hylian but not saying anything…

"… Errrr, can I help you," Link mumbled when he could ignore Ronald no longer.

"Your sword," Ronald smiled. "It looks… lovely. Can I have a better look?"

"What? No, go away," Link sweatdropped and walked off.

Ronald followed him. "W, Wait! Just for five minutes, please!"

"No!"

"OKAY FINE! FOR 1 MINUTE! COME ON!"

"GO AWAY, MAN!" Link growled as Ronald continued following him around, nagging like an old lady…

Finally Ronald just reached a hand out, stopping Link in his tracks as he grabbed the blond's wrist. "PLEASE!?"

"AHH! LET GO OF ME!"

Nicole gasped as she watched. "HEY! DON'T TOUCH HIM!" She sheathed (?) her sword. "DON'T WORRY LINKY-POO, MOMMA'S COMIN'!" she ran over to help.

Tatl raised an eyebrow as she watched them. "… And I don't get that, either."

Hayarpi, who'd been watching the other scene of the boys training, blinked at her. "Get what?"

"Nicole. And Link."

The brown-haired girl blinked before bursting out into giggles. "Ohh! Yeeahh, I thought they'd be together at first too but apparently Seth is for Nicole and Link has Romani—well kinda—so I guess destiny doesn't work that way—"

"HAYARPI WHAT THE HELL!?"

Hayarpi sweatdropped at suddenly being yelled at. "What?!"

"NO! I wasn't talking about Nicole and Link like THAT..."

"Oh-! You weren't? Teehee!"

"No! It's just… why is Nicole like... that?"

Hayarpi tilted her head. Tatl gestured at the scene to the left.

The Armenian girl looked—and there was Nicole sitting on Ronald's stomach as she used one hand to hold his arms above his head, while the other pinched his nose and yanked his head around. Link was standing beside them wearing an exasperated expression as he pulled on Nicole's shirt to get off Ronald... though admittedly he was only half-heartedly pulling. Cuz really, Ronald did deserve some beating for all the stuff he did to Kafei plus all the crap he stole from everyone else… but anyway.

"And when I say like that, I mean: why is she so… overprotective of Link?" Tatl wondered. "Sure he gets into trouble a lot, but usually it's only for a few seconds before he takes care of it on his own."

"Right," Hayarpi mumbled, but before she could answer Tatl continued.

"And I know you guys are close and everything, but just how she tackles Tingle, or that guy with the blue-shirt—… or anyone suspicious, really, who's within 5 meters of Link, and especially how she got kidnapped by Skull Kid in Link's place…" Tatl scratched her head. "I dunno, it's all just… a liiittle bit …"

"Extreme?" Hayarpi offered sheepishly.

Tatl sweatdropped. "Well, yeah! She's always so stubborn and reckless… cuz, I mean, isn't Link your leader for a reason? We just saw him own Ines and Brian, even if the other two do have powers and Link doesn't. He's better at swordplay than Nicole, and I'm pretty sure she knows that, yet she continues to be so protective… I won't lie, at one point I did think it was cuz she liked Link in that way."

"Um… yeah, we tried that already."

The fairy looked to Hayarpi. "What?"

"We tried that… as in… Nicole and Link. In that way."

… Tatl made a face.

Hayarpi laughed, waving her hand. "But that was way back, in Hyrule! We played matchmaker and everything, but obviously it didn't work out since they're more like siblings than lovers… which is absolutely fine, cuz if it did then Seth wouldn't have a romantic interest," the Armenian girl giggled.

Tatl almost fell over. "Er, okay… so is that why Nicole is overprotective? Cuz she sees Link as a sibling?"

"Well… yeah…"

Hayarpi drifted off here. The fairy eyed her for a moment.

Then after a bit… "Okay… well, is there something more?" Tatl tried to prod. "I mean, did… something else happen in Hyrule before?"

At that, Hayarpi looked down, going silent.

Tatl watched her expression.

Finally, there it was again. Tatl was never able to forget the expression everyone wore after Woodfall Temple, right after she'd asked how the group met the Queen of All Fairies, Keikya. She'd never seen anyone try as hard as they did to hold back their feelings, and, such intense emotions clouding up in their eyes.

And how old were these kids, thirteen, fourteen-years-old? Two years after it occurred, yet still, a reaction like that?

It only piqued Tatl's interest even more.

So she continued to gaze at Hayarpi, waiting.

… A moment, before Hayarpi gave a soft sigh. "Well, okay… remember before, when I told you about how we met Keikya?"

"Yep; there was a big dragon, Link got into some accident, then Keikya appeared and helped, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. But it wasn't just any accident. Goddesses don't appear for mere accidents…"

Tatl blinked.

Hayarpi lowered her gaze.

"Link… he was killed."

Hearing that the fairy's eyes widened, unable to hold back a small gasp. "W… What?"

Hayarpi nodded, wringing her hands at the memory. Tatl noticed that as well, and suddenly she felt extremely bad for bringing the topic up in the first place. The fairy remembered the word "accident" so she thought it wasn't a big deal... but death?

"Y… Yeah… I-I don't really want to go into detail, but that's… what happened. Brian, Nicole, and I saw it happen with our own eyes. Ines and Gilbert came afterwards, but the feeling we all shared when Link was on the ground, just, not moving at all… his pulse had faded, his skin was cold, and his heartbeat was gone…"

Hayarpi looked up at the fairy.

"Tatl, there was really a time when we lost him. When our team had actually lost a member…"

Tatl's eyes softened.

"That feeling… of complete loss and helplessness. No matter how many days, months, years pass… it never goes away. You never forget something like that. What hurt the most, though, was that three of us were there with Link. We had three chances to save him, yet each chance slipped away before any of us realized…

"Of course, we were saved when Keikya appeared. There was still a destiny to fulfill. The prophecy of our adventure in Hyrule spoke of six heroes; we literally wouldn't be able to finish the quest without Link. Nor did we want to. Cuz as dorky and annoyingly good-hearted he is, he's our best friend… and so a Goddess came in our time of need and brought him back to life."

Tatl nodded again, still listening.

Hayarpi released a sigh she didn't even know she was holding. It never occurred to her how difficult it was to talk about this topic; probably because no one ever mentioned it again when Link was restored, but still.

"But, yeah, back to your question," the Armenian girl sweatdropped slightly in getting off topic. Tatl smiled softly in understanding and gestured to continue. "Nicole's so protective of Link because of that event. Of course the rest of us became protective too, also because he's the youngest in our group, but Nicole especially because she was, and is, still very much attached to him…

"And Tatl, I don't know if Keikya, Aurees, or any of the other Goddesses told their reps about this…" Hayarpi leaned forward, voice lowering to a soft tone. Tatl went closer too. "As you know, us earthlings are 'representatives.' But Ningehre visited me in a dream recently… and she said that we don't just represent elements and regions. We're all here to guide the Hero of Time in certain… areas."

Tatl raised an eyebrow. "Areas?"

"Yes. For example, Brian is a focused person. Brian keeps Link on task and doesn't let him get too carried away with whatever side-missions he's taking on. Ines has a strong attitude. She is Link's leaning sword—she encourages him to be strong no matter what obstacle. Gilbert is optimistic, and reminds Link to keep a positive outlook and mind, as it's important to have that kind of mentality considering what we're doing. And me, not to be conceited, but I'm smart, right?"

"A little," Tatl grinned.

Hayarpi giggled. "Yeah. When Link can't figure something out, I offer insights that he possibly would've missed. We all support him."

"And Nicole?"

"Nicole…" Hayarpi smiled. "Nicole's different in that she's something tangible for him. She is, quite literally, Link's defense. The Hero of Time has a large burden on his shoulders… he has to fight several opponents, is in risk of injury any time, any place. We're in that position too, but Link is the most important. He's our leader. He's the Hero of Time himself—and his duty is to protect many, many others… but while he's busy protecting other people, who's going to protect the Hero of Time?"

… Slowly, Tatl's mouth formed an 'o' shape.

Hayarpi kept herself from laughing at the fairy's face.

Tatl though just pounded a fist into her other hand. "That… that makes a lot of sense!"

"Right? That's exactly what I told Ningehre!" Hayarpi giggled. "Though keep in mind that none of us knew about this in Hyrule! We were just a bunch of kids thrown in from another dimension and told to help this short blond kid save the world." She laughed a bit here. "In retrospect we were pretty accepting of such a huge task… but when you're a kid you don't really question these kinds of things, I suppose."

The fairy had to smile a bit. So they were still 'foolish kids' back then, huh?

"Anyway, so we didn't know our actual roles back in Hyrule… but that doesn't mean the roles didn't apply back then too. They definitely applied, albeit not as strongly as in Termina. I offered my input when we were lost, Ines encouraged our strength, Gilbert kept us positive, Brian kept us focused, and Nicole protected us… now that I think about it, she really did kill a lot of things for our sake… or maybe it was cuz she was less sane back then, who knows."

Tatl almost fell over. Hayarpi went on.

"But yes. So you see, when the dragon killed Link, we all felt like we failed; but since it was Nicole's duty to actually protect him, she was the most affected. Although she didn't exactly know it was her duty to protect him, her conscious probably felt it, and so she became mentally scarred. She failed her duty, along with failing her best friend… so when we arrived in Termina, her mentality vowed to never let anything happen like what happened in Hyrule to Link ever again.

"Hence…"

Hayarpi gestured at the scene. Tatl looked.

"YOU BETTER NOT GO NEAR LINKY-POO AGAIN, YA LIL (BEEPBEEPBEEP)!" Nicole held Ronald by the collar and dangled him over the stream.

Ronald sobbed. "OKAY, OKAY!"

"YA PROMISE?!"

"I-I PROMISE! LET ME GO, PLEASE!"

"Let you go? Well, fine! If you say so!" she cackled and released him. The guy fell into the stream and was washed away… somewhere… wherever the stream led.

Link sighed; he'd given up on trying to stop Nicole so now he was just crouched beside her. He poked her boot. "Are you finished?"

Nicole grinned down at him. "Yep!"

"Good. … Look, it's Seth!"

"WHERE?!" Nicole whirled around.

Then Link started cracking up.

Growling, the raven-haired girl reached over and chucked the Hylian into the stream too.

… Until she realized what she did.

"AH LINK NOO I'M SORRY! WAIT HOLD ON!" she sweatdropped heavily and jumped in the stream after him. … Then she remembered she couldn't swim, so ironically it ended up being Link who dragged them both back to shore.

Hayarpi and Tatl sweatdropped HEAVILY at them.

"So did my story answer your question?" Hayarpi giggled as she looked back at the fairy.

"Pretty much," Tatl sweatdropped, now watching Link chuck Nicole onto the pier, then Nicole helping Link out of the water. She looked at Hayarpi somewhat guiltily. "Oh, and I didn't mean to make you remember all those horrible memories, sooo…"

"Oh it's okay~ somehow it feels like a weight's been lifted off my chest," Hayarpi gave a reassuring smile. "Besides, being with us for so long you deserve to know more about us too."

The fairy looked off. "I'd tell you more about myself but there's nothing to tell. Tael and I literally fooled around our whole lives, and fooled around some more when we found Skull Kid. Now here I am."

"Well, rather you with us than with Skull Kid."

Tatl blinked and looked at her. Hayarpi pat Tatl's head before getting to her feet, then walked over to Link and Nicole who were squeezing their clothes dry.

"Hey kids! Need some help?"

Nicole laughed as Hayarpi used her wind to blow them dry again. "I love your powers, Hayarpi! Most useful thing ever!"

Beside her, Link's blond hair fluffed up like a dandelion. Nicole giggled, reaching into the river to wet her hands before flattening Link's head. He didn't do very well with blow-drying, apparently.

Tatl was quiet as she watched them.

But now, she was thinking quite hard.

Somehow, hearing Hayarpi's story had reminded her of another tale she'd heard a long, long time ago…

… But what was it, exactly…

… And why did it feel… ominous?

While everyone was chatting, Gilbert and Brian were still in the middle of their epic Water vs. Fire fight, but to be safe (and fair because the river beside them gave Gilbert a huge advantage) they moved from the grassy hill to the large, rocky area right outside the graveyard. Ines was sitting on a nearby rock, watching.

"Taaake… THIS!" Gilbert raised his arms and a column of water burst through the floor, heading towards Brian.

Brian braced himself, the column following him as he ducked behind a boulder. When no one came out from the boulder for a while, Gilbert raised an eyebrow and approached it—but somehow Brian tackled him from behind and held a fireball in his face. The blue-haired boy watched as a wall of fire encircled them.

"Gotcha! I win!" Brian smirked.

"Not really," Gilbert returned the smirk, snapping his fingers—

The Spanish boy paused as he heard distant rumbling… he looked up, gasping as he spotted water careening over the cliff, dousing them both and putting out the fire. Ines squeaked and climbed onto the boulder behind her, not wanting to get drenched again. Meanwhile the current caught Brian and washed him off Gilbert elsewhere.

After the water tailed off Gilbert sat up, wiping the water from his face but laughing at the same time. "Bwaahaha! Looks like I win!"

He looked over to see Brian kneeling a little ways off, drenched and coughing out some water he accidentally swallowed.

"Whoa, you okay man?" Gilbert scrambled to his feet and ran over to him, holding his hand out.

Yet Brian only slapped his hand away. "Leave me alone!"

"Oh—okay," Gilbert sweatdropped at being snapped at. But he just watched as Brian hacked out the last of the water and stumbled to a standing position. He tried cracking a joke: "Heh, well, in a battle with fire against water, it's kinda expected that water's always gonna put out the fire, right?—"

"You won already so quit rubbing it in my face!"

Gilbert mentally eep-ed.

He was quiet as Brian briskly walked off, all the while violently ruffling his hair dry while Gilbert stood awkwardly… the blue-haired boy turned to where Ines sat.

'He's mad!' he mouthed.

'Duh.' Ines mouthed back. She waved her hand Brian's direction, gesturing to make a truce.

Nodding, Gilbert ran to catch up with him. "Hey man, relax, I was just kidding."

"…"

"Dude come on, don't be mad—"

"Shut up!"

"But I—"

"Just back off!" Brian finally snapped, turning and throwing his hand up.

The blue-haired boy yelped, bending backwards and barely managing to dodge a fireball. It exploded by a circle of rocks a few meters away.

"Hey, hey!" Ines's voice rang out as she jumped down from her boulder, running to stand between the two guys. She gave the Spanish boy a look. "Cool your jets, Brian! We're just training… don't take it so personally!"

Brian didn't say anything, just looking off.

Ines looked back at Gilbert in worry. "Gilly, you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I think that Matrix move I pulled to dodge Brian's fireball messed up my spine a bit," he revealed sheepishly.

"I can fix that!"

The two looked over, seeing Nicole scaling the cliff and jogging up to them. "My brother taught me this thing where I lift you from behind and it cracks your back and it feels REAAALLLY good—"

But Gilbert was already running away.

Nicole sweatdropped, running after him. "HEY COME BACK!"

"NO WHAT IF YOU BREAK MY SPINE!"

"I WON'T, I PROMISE!"

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOOOUUU!"

Ines blinked as Hayarpi, Link and Tatl went up to her. "Hey, guys."

"Hey." Link gestured at Brian who was still sulking a few feet off. "Is… everything okay?"

Ines followed his gaze, looking a bit sheepish. "Oh… you saw all that?"

"Yeah, that was nasty," Tatl sweatdropped. "What happened?"

"He just… I don't know, I'm not sure why he snapped all of a sudden."

Hayarpi glanced over at him. "Want me to talk to him?"

"N… nah, he'll get over it—" Ines sweatdropped when she saw Gilbert trying to hide from Nicole behind Brian, but the latter was glaring DAGGERS at him. "… Onnn second thought, maybe you should."

The Armenian girl nodded, already heading his direction. Tatl followed curiously.

"Anyway, we've been training all day and the sun's setting, so I think we should find some dinner and get some rest," Link informed. "I can't think of anything else we've gotta do so this might be our last night before we enter Stone Tower."

"Well Seth just said to prepare physically and mentally, but I dunno, I feel like I'm ready!" Ines said optimistically, rolling her shoulders back. "I know I was freaking out earlier but Seth's ghost stories can't scare me forever!"

Link only managed a slight smile, looking off into the distance at Stone Tower's silhouette.

Ines blinked at his expression. She cleared her throat. "Hm… well what about you, Link? You ready?"

A slight pause—if Ines wasn't paying attention she wouldn't have noticed it—but Link just nodded, giving the pink-haired girl a wink. "'Course I am! Ghosts don't scare me either!"

"Yanno we've been saying that this whole time but every time we run into something weird we scream our heads off," Ines giggled. She reached over, slinging an arm around Link's shoulders. "Come on, let's go get some grub!"

Link just nodded as the two started on their way to Termina Field…

"… that kid and his anger issues, jeez…"

Ines froze at the voice.

She glanced at Link.

"Uh. What'd you say?"

But Link was looking back at her. "Huh?"

"Did you say something?"

"No, I… I thought you said something."

"I didn't say anything…"

"… fireballs and crap, if I could I would've…"

"There it was again!" Link suddenly jumped, shaking his head. "IS THAT A GHOST!?"

"AH! I DON'T KNOW! ARE WE HEARING VOICES?! IS THIS THE EXORCIST ALL OVER AGAIN!?" Ines sobbed, not even caring that she didn't make sense.

"Whoa, wait! You guys can hear me?! Please, I need help!"

Ines bust out a wooden crucifix, holding it in front of her and reciting quickly in Spanish. "PADRE NUESTRO QUE ESTAS EN EL CIELO SANTIFICADO SEA TU NOMBRE—"

Meanwhile at the word 'help,' Link went the practical way and instead of a crucifix he bust out his Lens of Truth. A sweep of their immediate area…

Sitting inside the circle of rocks he spotted a soldier wearing a weird stone mask covered in ash, looking right at him.

Link stared back through the lens. He moved the lens—the soldier disappeared. He moved it back in front of his eyes… back, forth, back, forth…

"… Yeah… can you help me out?" the soldier sweatdropped.

Link gasped. "Are you dead!?"

The soldier gave him a weird look. "Obviously not, I'm talking to you, aren't I?! Though I would've been dead if I didn't manage to dodge your friend's fireballs, friggin' alskjddsf…"

Link looked confused. "But… how did… so why are—"

"Listen, while I've got you here, can you do me a favor? For some reason you two are the only ones that didn't run away screaming when I called out for help. I'd really like to get back to town but I'm too injured to move… do you have some red potion?"

"Red potion…" The Hylian gasped and started running towards Brian. "BRIAN, BRIAN! RED POTION!"

Brian looked up from talking with Hayarpi. "What?"

"Oh—are you okay?"

Brian made a guilty expression. "Yeah. I didn't mean to snap like that. Sorry."

"I see. But apologize to Gilbert, not me," Link grinned. He pointed at the rocks. "Anyway there's an injured man over there! Can I have some red potion?"

Both Brian and Hayarpi looked at where Link was pointing but they didn't see anything, other than Ines still walking around reciting and holding out her crucifix. Tatl raised an eyebrow at that, about to ask until Brian wordlessly handed Link a bottle of red potion and the Hylian ran back to the rock circle.

The soldier gasped as he spotted the bottle in Link's hand. "That's it!" Link handed it to him and he practically inhaled the contents in less than three seconds. In no time the soldier stood up. "PHEEEW! NOW THAT'S SOME GOOD STUFF!"

"Oh, and sorry about my friend. He didn't mean to almost kill you with fire."

"That's fine, just tell him to control his anger issues or else it'll get him in the end."

Link sweatdropped, nodding.

Meanwhile Ines had shut up and was just giving Link a huge 'WTF' look as he conversed with thin air. Tatl, Brian, Hayarpi, and Gilbert had the same expressions. Nicole sobbed and clutched Hayarpi's arm. "OH NO! LINK'S UNDER IKANA'S SPELL!"

Link ignored them. The soldier pat him on his shoulder and gave a grin. "Anyways, thanks a bunch, kid. Really."

"You're welcome~"

"I don't have much to give you in return, but I guess you can take this weird mask I found lying around. Sorry it ain't much." The soldier took off the stone mask he was wearing, handing it to the blond.

Tatl and the earthlings screamed as a soldier suddenly materialized out of nowhere in front of Link.

Link heard their screams and eyed them all weirdly for a second before the soldier waved and skipped off towards Termina Field. His gaze went back and forth from the soldier, the mask, his friends… then he muttered a long, drawn out 'ohhh.'

"Link! Who was that guy? Where did he come from?!" Ines gasped. She stuck the crucifix to his face and started praying again.

Link sweatdropped and pushed the crucifix away. "He's no one bad! He's the guy whose voice we heard earlier… but, the reason why we couldn't see him was this." He held up the mask.

Ines blinked. "What's that?"

Gilbert shoved his way between them. "The Stone Mask! Wear it with C to become as plain as stone."

"Really? Lemme try!"

Link handed her the mask. Ines put it on her face… and the moment she did, she completely disappeared from sight.

Link and Gilbert gasped. Nicole snapped her fingers. "Man! If we had that during the Pirate's Fortress it would've been so much easier."

"Well we didn't, so get over it," Tatl mumbled. Nicole sweatdropped at being shot down so fast. "And it's not like that'd be useful this time around either, since I'm pretty sure spirits can see everything whether you're invisible or not."

"Who knows, maybe it'll come in useful another way," Link shrugged as Ines took off the mask and materialized back into view. She handed it to him and he threw it in his dimensional bag. "Anyway I dunno about you guys, but I'm still hungry!"

"ME TOO!" Nicole cheered.

"When are you not," Brian grumbled.

But he only sweatdropped when Nicole grabbed everyone and pulled them towards Termina Field.

` Stock Pot Inn :: 6:53pm `

Anju was off trying to get her grandmother to eat something, so it was just the six humans and one fairy that sat on stools around the island in the center of the Stock Pot Inn's kitchen.

"… So, I was thinking," Gilbert spoke up. "I know we've only been really training today, but I feel like we've got a lot done… and in my opinion I think we're ready to just go to Stone Tower."

"Right? That's what I was telling Link earlier, before that dead guy popped up and distracted us and all," Ines agreed.

"He wasn't dead."

"Whatever."

"Are you sure you guys aren't being overconfident like usual?" Tatl mumbled.

But at that, everyone else looked at her in surprise.

"Whoa, Tatl! You don't want us to reset?" Gilbert gasped.

"It's not that I don't want you guys to reset, of course I do! The sooner we finish Stone Tower, the sooner we can kick Skull Kid's butt and get Tael back!…" Tatl's voice lowered slightly here. "It's just… well, Seth sounded pretty serious about Stone Tower. So like, you guys shouldn't go until you're sure you're physically and mentally strong enough… until you're absolutely positive that you're… ready…"

The fairy drifted off when she noticed everyone giving her snarky smiles.

Her eye twitched. "What? What's with those faces?!"

"Hmm, I dunno Tatl," Hayarpi smiled slyly. "We say we're ready but you're contradicting us."

"It just sounds risky!"

Brian smirked. "No, you just sound like you're worried."

Tatl blinked at that, before her mouth gaped and she shook her head madly.

"W-W-W-W-What?! N-NO!"

"Why are you stuttering?"

"Aw Tatl, don't think I forgot what you said when Sharp was using that 'killing-song' on us," Ines grinned, then pitched her voice higher to copy Tatl's. "OHHH, INES! YOU WERE RIGHT, I DON'T WANT YOU GUYS TO DIE I'M SORRY FOR ALWAYS SCREAMING AND BEING ANNOYING I LOVE YOU GUYS DON'T DIIIEEE!"

"GAHHH I DIDN'T SAY THAT!" Tatl attached to Ines's face and pulled at her hair.

"AHAHHAA!"

"You totally said that, I wasn't completely conscious but I heard that tidbit for sure," Gilbert cackled.

Beside him Nicole though looked like her puppy died, or as if someone pushed Link off a cliff. "Wait, Tatl said all that…? Aw, dammit! The ONE time I pass out, I miss that of all things!" She plucked Tatl off Ines's face and smothered her in a hug. "AWWW TATL, YOU'RE SO NICE! WE LOVE YOU TOO!"

Meanwhile Tatl's face looked like a ripe tomato as she waved her arms frantically. "GAH, NO! I TAKE IT ALL BACK, JUST RESET TIME ALREADY AND GO TO STONE TOWER! GYAHHHH!"

Everyone else around the table laughed at the fairy's embarrassment.

"Heh, so it's settled! We'll sleep well tonight, then tomorrow morning get supplies, then reset." Brian confirmed. "Sound good to everyone?"

"Yup!/Okay!" came the cheers from the rest of the team.

… Except for one.

Instead of voicing out approval like the rest, Link just wore a half-baked smile and nodded weakly before looking down and monotonously sliding a bread roll around his empty soup bowl.

He didn't notice the earthlings occasionally casting concerned glances his way. It's not like they didn't notice that he was rather quiet since they got to the inn.

After a bit, Tatl sighed in relief as she finally escaped Nicole's grasp, flying over to the window to get some night air.

And conversation continued into the night.

But after a while, Nicole raised her hand like she was in a classroom.

They sweatdropped when she didn't talk right away. "Er, yes Nicole?" Hayarpi called.

"So, we've been training real hard today, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah…"

"Plus beforehand, Iggy forced us on a stressful time-sensitive mission that we barely managed to accomplish, and then before that friggin' Skull Kid almost killed us all, sooo… I've got an idea!"

"Oh no," Brian mumbled.

"NO I swear it's a good one: how about, instead of going right to sleep and then resetting, why don't we have a bit of fun?"

"Fun?!" came Tatl's automatic reaction from the window.

… But then she thought about it, then shut up and faced outside again.

"Ooh, no objections for once?" Nicole grinned.

Tatl rolled her eyes. "Well if you're going to Stone Tower tomorrow then you might as well have some fun before you all die."

The humans almost fell off their chairs at Tatl's remark! Caring-Tatl was nice while it lasted.

"You know what, that actually does sound good," Brian mumbled after thinking about it. "We do have a whole day left in this cycle after all."

Nicole nodded. "See! And we don't even have to wait until tomorrow, we could start having fun RIGHT NOW! All the game places are still open, right?"

Gilbert looked down at his soup. "But, we're eating right now."

She almost fell over at him. "Fine, AFTER!"

Everybody paused.

"Well?"

Link was surprised when the earthlings turned to him. "Huh?"

"Is that okay with you, boss? That we postpone our reset a bit longer?" Hayarpi smiled.

Link sweatdropped, only shaking his hands in front of him. "Well, I, whatever you guys decide, I don't mind, really!"

"Awesome! C'mon guys, let's have some laughs before we enter the HORROR known as Stone Tower!" Nicole cackled, nudging Ines. "Gurl you still owe me a target shooting rematch at Honey & Darling's shop!"

"Rematch? I won that fair and square, but I guess I can beat you again if you really want it," Ines smirked back.

The two girls began bickering on their way out. Brian and Hayarpi hopped off their stools too, Brian slinging an arm around his girlfriend as they followed them out the kitchen. Link smiled a bit at everyone.

"Hey—I thought we were still eating!" Gilbert sweatdropped, unmoving.

"You eat too slow," The Hylian laughed, about to hop off too when suddenly…

A blood-curdling scream!

"AAAIIIIIIEEEEEE!"

Followed by a slam!

Link and Gilbert jumped off their stools and ran into the hallway, instinctively unsheathing their swords. "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

They saw Brian, Ines and Nicole pressed up against the hallway wall, looking as freaked out as they possibly could while across them…

"UNGHH, UFNNGGG!"

A hand was sticking out of the toilet, clutching Hayarpi's ankle and pulling her towards it.

Tatl gasped as she flew into the hallway at all the noise. "AHH! WHAT IN NAYRU'S NAME IS THAT?!"

"I DON'T KNOW BUT IT'S GOT ME AAHHH EWWW HEEELLPP!" Hayarpi cried in panic, reaching out.

Brian got over his shock and darted forward, wrapping his arms around Hayarpi's waist and pulling her. But the hand was pretty strong, its iron grip unwavering. "DUDE, WHAT THE HELL! LET GO OF HER!"

"BRIAAAAAN!" Hayarpi sobbed.

"UNGGGHHHH!" The hand was moaning.

"Just cut it off!" Ines yelled.

Link unsheathed his sword, raising it above his head and aiming—until the hand suddenly said actual words. … Or well, the voice beneath the hand. … Assuming there was an entire person attached to it anyway.

"PA-PA-PA-PAPER, PLEASE!"

Link froze mid-swing.

Ines gave the hand a weird look. "Paper?!" she yelled incredulously. "So, there's someone down there? Are you stuck, do you need help?!"

"NO, JUST PA-PA-PAPER, PLEASEEEE!"

Everyone gave it more 'wtf' looks. "But… you're in a toilet! Even if we give you paper it'd get wet—"

"PLEEASSEEE! (sobsobsob)"

Everyone paused for a moment.

"… Well this is unusual," Gilbert sweatdropped.

"JUST GIVE IT SOME GOD(BEEP) PAPER SO IT'LL (BEEP)ING LET GO OF ME ALREADY!" Hayarpi shrieked.

Everyone sweatdropped at Hayarpi snapping—of all people—and quickly looked around for paper… Link ran into the kitchen and spotted an envelope on the counter. "Oh! Found some!"

"HURRY!" Brian yelled.

Link ran back into the hallway and took out the envelope's contents. "OHH WAIT, it's the thing Kafei sent to Anju—"

"WELL we all know nothing's coming out of that in this cycle, next time!" Nicole snatched the letter (Everyone sweatdropped heavily at her) and just threw it at the hand. "THERE! PAPER! GO AWAY!"

"PA-PA-PAPER?!" The hand released Hayarpi's ankle. Brian immediately dragged her farther away. The hand felt around the area for a bit, touched the letter on the floor, cheered, snatched it, and receded into the toilet as if nothing ever happened.

… A brief silence…

"… What just happened right now," Ines mumbled.

"I don't know but I want to forget it! Let's leave already!" Hayarpi sobbed, scrambling up and running down the hall. Nodding in agreement everyone followed hurriedly.

Tatl though had to make a face. "Goddesses this inn is weird."

"I know right, how does Anju keep this place running—" Nicole squeaked as Anju herself popped out of her grandma's room. "WHOA THANKS ANJU FOR DINNER OKAY BYE!"

Anju watched as the seven slammed the front door close. She shrugged before walking down the hall; maybe she'd visit her longtime bff in the bathroom for some late night gossip…

To curb their distress caused by the hand in the toilet, the seven headed over to North Clock Town to play some games as Dekus in the hole beside the fairy fountain.

… Soon however they realized the game wasn't very exciting after all, so after winning back at least what they paid to play the six turned back into humans and beamed back up to the surface. Yet right as they reappeared in North Clock Town, a rather familiar scene was playing out in front of them…

"GIVE IT TO ME!"

"NO! THESE ARE MY BOMBS, GET YOUR OWN!"

"Oh jeez, Ronald yet again," Ines sighed, watching him push the old lady over and run off with the bomb bag over his shoulder. "Can we just knock him out. Seriously. Like, forever."

But beside her Link already had his bow loaded and aimed. "Don't worry guys, I got this!"

Hayarpi gasped. "Wait, DON'T USE AN ARROW—"

Link fired.

The arrow tip caught hold of the bomb bag, igniting a fuse… and then the entire bag of bombs blew up, taking Ronald with it.

… Silence.

Hayarpi gasped, covering her mouth.

Ines and Nicole stared in disbelief.

Gilbert and Brian's mouths hung open.

And Link had frozen, staring at the space where Ronald was standing just SECONDS ago.

But nothing was there.

Nothing…!

"You…" Tatl whispered. "You killed Ronald!"

"You bastard!" Jim yelled in the background.

Link looked to his friends, panicked. "I, I…!"

"Oh my…" the bomb lady started, walking up to them. "You'd think it would never happen to you. But one day, it just does. Oh well, thanks for trying to help anyway…" then she walked off.

It was silent.

Gilbert walked over to Link, holding out his ocarina.

Link took it and instantly played the Song of Time.

` South Clock Town :: Dawn of The First Day + 6:00am `

Once the team emerged from the clock tower, Link played the Song of Double Time.

` North Clock Town :: Night of The First Day + 6:00pm `

"I'M SORRY!" Link cried as he ran towards Ronald who was standing behind the slide looking suspicious—

"What? I'm not doing anything suspicious!" The man yelled back in defense. "… Really."

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL YOU! I'M SO SORRRYYYY!" Link sobbed and clutched the man's legs.

"Murderer…!" Nicole whispered beside him. The blond sobbed harder.

Ronald finally noticed the bawling kid, shaking his leg. "Hey, what the-! Get off me! You'll blow my cover!" He looked around. "Ah, I mean-!"

"Yeah yeah," Ines sweatdropped, prying the Hylian off. "You're not doing anything suspicious."

Ronald nodded. "… Really."

"Mmmmaybe we should rest now after all," Hayarpi laughed sheepishly, trying to brush off the weird feeling of seeing someone die abruptly then seeing them alive again a few minutes later as if nothing happened.

Gilbert sweatdropped. "Yeeeeaah, let's just go back to Anju's…"

Nodding, the team followed, Link still yelling apologies at Ronald as he was dragged away…


A/N: So much Ronald in this chapter! Hehe. Anyway, OOOOH you gaiz, Stone Tower is gonna be a good one! ANTICIPATE IT! ;D

Niagra/Ryo/Link: nagami is now a full-fledged adult-kinda with responsibilities and taxes and stuff so really THANK YOU GUYS FOR YOUR PATIENCE! WE'RE ALREADY AT THE LAST TEMPLE WTF AHH!

A/N: THANK YOOUUU! (big hugs!)

Niagra/Ryo/Link: (dances around the 'REVIEW' button)

- nagami c.