No disclaimer this time, we've got more important things! Somewhere along the way (and I'm really not sure how I missed this), we hit 200 reviews. Only problem is, we hit 200 about 99 reviews ago, so in about another chapter or so I'm gonna celebrate 300 reviews. I find that ironic, intensely depressing, and fantastically exciting all in one confusing mess.

Secondly, WE HIT 100 FOLLOWS! I have no idea who it was, BUT WE MADE IT! MILESTONE FOR THE WIN! So really, what we've got here is a post-200, pre-300 review party and at-100 follows party all combined into one, big explosion of streamers and internet cupcakes.

Couldn't have done it without you, guys. To quote myself, you make all the self-inflicted plot-holes worthwhile.

"I think," Mask said, peering up at the sky and the monstrosity of a Moon, "we're on the First Day."

Blue frowned. "Did you just capitalize that?"

Green thwacked him on the head. "Will you stop?!"

Blue rubbed his head and shot his leader a cranky glare, but stayed silent. Mask decided to ignore this and continue what he was previously saying.

"As I was saying, First Day. So we've got about two days and twenty-three hours before the Moon gets close enough and the Clock Tower activates so we can get up there."

"You want to get closer to that thing?" Speck squeaked.

"That's where Majora should be," Mask replied. "The sooner we get there, the sooner I can beat the crud out of it and the sooner we can leave."

"I like leaving," Speck agreed. "Leaving sounds good."

"Hang on. You're saying we've got three days to kill before we can do anything?" Gen asked.

Mask shrugged. "Pretty much. That's how time works here."

"So... what're we gonna do in the meantime?"

Mask frowned. "Well... there's that photography thing in the Southern Swamp, there should be a concert of sorts happening over in the Great Bay, Snowhead Mountain's covered in... well, snow, and there's all the activities that go with that, if we wear the right mask the Gibdos over in Ikana are having a breakdance competition we could participate in, there's a Deku butler who will race us, there's some sort of puppy racetrack in the Field... or maybe it was near the Ranch, I don't remember. Oh, there's also-"

He was abruptly (and impressively) bowled over by four ounces of furious fairy.

"LINK YOU COMPLETE JERK, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

She looked like a normal fairy, really. Glowing ball, pair of wings, white. But her attitude-and her temper-somehow made her seem a thousand times more intimidating.

"I-HAVE-BEEN-LOOKING-FOR-YOU-EVERYWHERE!" The fairy screamed, punctuating each word with another impact to Mask's head. "DO-YOU-HAVE-ANY-IDEA-HOW-THAT-FELT?! INFURIATING!"

"I would have guessed painful," Mask wheezed. The fairy paused.

"Oh, am I hurting you?" She asked, sickly sweet. "WELL GOOD! YOU DESERVE IT! YOU LEFT ME, YOU IDIOT!"

"...I think we should let them finish their reunion... from a very safe distance," Dusk decided.

"Everyone," Mask said, wincing. "This is Tatl. Tatl, this is everyone."

Everyone waved. Tatl, in a concerningly silent fashion, circled around the group and gave off the inpression of intense scrutiny.

"Why are they dressed like you, Deku-Boy?"

Ocarina made a strangled laughing noise. "Deku-Boy?"

Tatl whirled on him. "Something you want to say about it?"

"...No..."

"Hmm," Tatl said, looking Ocarina up and down. Then-

"Why are you wearing tights? Those are women's clothes, what's wrong with you?"

Mask burst out laughing, earning him a glare from his younger-but-older self.

"Why is that funny?" Ocarina snapped.

"Admit it, we thought the exact same thing!" Mask snickered. "We just never bothered to change!"

Tatl bobbed, confused. "'We'?"

"That would be the other introduction," Mask said. "See, they're all me."

Tatl flickered in the fairy approximation of blinking. "I don't see, actually. Aside from Tights here-" she indicated Ocarina with a wing flick "-none of them really look all that much like you. That one's a redhead, for crying out loud!"

"I resemble that!" Lore retorted.

"No, they're all Link," Mask said, trying and failing to explain himself better. "They're just from different periods of time."

"No, you're Link," Tatl said in a voice which clearly stated she thought Mask had lost it. "And I don't know what time periods you're talking about. Termina has always been Termina, nothing more."

Mask facepalmed. "You're not getting this. Look, remember when I told you I was from a place called Hryule?"

"I still say it's impossible, but go on," Tatl replied.

"Back in Hyrule, we have different time periods that signify different eras in Hyrule's history. These guys are from those different time periods."

Tatl flickered again. "Alright, say I believe in Hyrule. I still don't think these guys are your... what, duplicates? Clones?"

"Wrong universe," Blue corrected. "We can't use Double Team, that's the Po-"

He was promptly dogpiled by half the group. Tatl stared.

"...He's weird," She decided. Then she turned on the rest of the group and, in a rather imperious tone, said, "You in the hat!"

The Links glanced at each other and tried to figure out who she was talking to. Tatl made an exasperated noise.

"I can't exactly point, you know. The tall-ish one, with the eyes."

At that point, Dusk decided she was probably talking about him. Having spent most of his adventure being called a Blue-Eyed Beast and getting told he had the eyes of a wolf, being addressed as such wasn't that unusual for him. He cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "Uh, yeah?"

"Where are you from?"

"Well, in my time, Hyrule got invaded by an alternate dimension and started transforming into stuff called Twilight, capital T. I got turned into a wolf and had to reverse the Twilight to fix myself and Hyrule because this guy named Zant was-"

"Alright, geez!" Tatl interrupted. "Sorry I asked."

"Believe me now?" Mask questioned. Tatl gave him what was probably a glare if her natural glow hadn't been in the way.

"I'm reserving judgement on your sanity until I get proper clarification."

Mask opened his mouth, paused, then closed it, deciding that the argument was pointless. Then he remembered something and spoke up anyways.

"Exactly how long has it been since I 'vanished'?"

Tatl did the fairy approximation of a shrug. "Dunno, probably an hour at least. Maybe less."

Mask blinked. "I was gone for less than an hour and this is how you react?"

Tatl sniffed indignantly. "I do not appreciate being abandoned."

"I didn't abandon you!"

"Well how was I supposed to know? You just up and disappeared on me, what else was I going to think?"

Mask flailed his arms wildly. "Maybe I went to the bathroom! Maybe I went to do the world a favor and exterminate Great Fairies from existance! Maybe-"

"Nobody needs an hour to use the restroom," Tatl snorted. "Besides, you promised you would help save my brother! Why would you waste time on something so stupid when Tael could be in danger? Think of the important things!"

Realm cleared his throat. "Uh, guys?"

"I will!" Mask retorted, ignoring the interruption. "For example, Majora is very important and we still haven't gotten rid of it yet! Remember that?"

"Well, duh. Kinda hard to forget, if you ask me."

"Guys..." Realm tried.

"So stop fixating on me and concentrate on the goal here!"

"I am focused on the goal! Saving my little brother!"

"Seriously, I think we have a problem-" Realm began.

"It's a package deal!" Mask cried. "We stop Majora, save Clock Town, and get Tael back! And we fix some other stuff along the way!"

"So then why are you just standing there and why aren't you working on a solution?!" Tatl shot back.

"SHADOW'S MISSING!" Realm bellowed, finally annoyed enough to use volume. The group stared, as did most of the Clock Town residents within earshot.

"Er... not to be unconcerned, but how do you know he's gone?" Dusk asked.

"Has anyone seen him since the fight back in Wind's Hyrule?"

Wind frowned. "Well, not really. He disappeared after Ganondorf went down, but that's just normal Shadow. I figured he'd meet up with us in the next one."

"It's strange how he always knows," Steam added thoughtfully.

"Then shouldn't he have popped up back in that forest, before we jumped down the hole?" Realm said.

The group considered this.

"Maybe, but how do we know he isn't somewhere in here?" Gen replied.

"I dunno, I just feel like we should have found him by now."

"He's Shadow," Sketch said. "We all know he runs on his own time by now. I say we give him a few hours or so, and if he still hasn't turned up, we go and look for him."

"...Sounds reasonable, actually," Lore decided.

"Who's Shadow?" Tatl asked irritably.

"Right, that's it. We're going to look for him," Gen declared, four hours of waiting later. "He may be a troll, and an annoying one at that, but he always checks in before running off to who-knows-where."

"Thank you," Realm agreed.

"Not to rain on the parade," Speck said, "but where would we start? If Termina is anything like Hyrule... we've got a lot of ground to cover."

"Okay, look," Mask said. "I know a guy we can ask about Shadow. I don't know how he does it, but I swear this guy knows everything. Just... fair warning, he's a bit... off."

"Seriously, who the heck is Shadow?!" Tatl demanded. Everyone ignored her.

"Would we know him?" Lore asked. He prided himself on being a bit off and made it a point to meet the others like him.

"Just Ocarina, probably," Mask replied. "He calls himself the Happy Mask Salesman."

For some odd reason, the Happy Mask Salesman lived inside of the Clock Tower/Tree thing, in a side room which, for some other odd reason, seemed to solely house a massively sized and ornate piano/organ thing.

The Salesman himself was a whole other level of odd.

"Hello again," the Salesman greeted, eyes squinted, mouth smiling, and completely unsurprised at the multitude of Links in his room. "Oh my... you seem to have met a more interesting fate this time, haven't you?"

He never stopped smiling. Ever.

"Please tell us someone other than us is seriously creeped out by this man," The Four whispered to the group.

"You're telling me," Speck whispered back.

Mask swallowed. "You could say that," he replied to the Salesman. "I was actually hoping you could help me again..."

The Salesman squinted more. "Hmm... you've lost something. Or rather... someone, yes?"

"Er... yeah. His name's Shadow, we were wondering if you've seen him around...?"

The Salesman turned and walked back a few paces to his piano, where he stroked the wood of the lid. "I see many people from many places. Which was one your friend? Well, that I cannot say, not without a better description. 'His name is Shadow' does not give me very much to work with, you see."

"He looks like me," Dusk said, stepping forward. "Only he's all dark colored, like he's made of it, and his eyes glow red."

"Ahh... him. Yes, I did see that one, oh, hours ago by now. He seemed... interesting." The Salesman sat down at his intrument and began to softly play a slow, somewhat sad song. "He had no interest in my masks... such a sad, broken creature he must be..."

"Uh... Regardless of his mental state, we really need to find him," Mask prompted. "Do you know where he went?"

"Oh yes," the Salesman replied. He leaned low over the piano and began swaying with the music, caressing the keys almost lovingly. The Links shuffled uncomfortably as they waited for him to continue.

When he didn't, Mask decided to prompt again.

"Where did he go?"

The Salesman abruptly stopped playing, cutting the song off on a sharp note that echoed in a disconcerting manner. The Links shivered involuntarily.

"He went... elsewhere."

"Define elsewhere," Ocarina requested. He then decided talking was a mistake as the Happy Mask Salesman zeroed in on him as though taking a kill shot.

"Oh, now this is interesting," the Salesman said through his glued-on grin. "You... you have yet to meet the terrible fate, while this one..." He turned to Mask with the same intensity. "...This one already has. My my, you have been busy." He somehow managed to widen his smile even more. "Very busy."

"Answer my-er, his question, please," Mask said, trying and failing to avoid the Salesman's squinted eyes. The Salesman drooped, disappointed for some reason, but never lost his smile while doing so.

Then he recovered himself and said, "Elsewhere is difficult to describe... after all, it is anywhere but here. But your darkly colored friend seemed to have a somewhat... specific destination in mind. He said it was calling him."

"Did he say what?"

The Salesman shrugged. "I thought it rude to ask. He had his business with his calling, and I have my business with my lovely masks. But I am still missing my precious item... have you retrieved it yet?"

"I've almost got it," Mask replied, ignoring the now confused faces of his friends and flapping his hand in a 'I'll explain later' gesture. "But... I do have one more question for you."

"By all means, ask away," the Salesman said, still grinning. "Questions are the spice of life, after all."

Mask inhaled deeply. "Majora. Why did you-"

"DO NOT SPEAK IT'S NAME!" The Salesman hissed, eyes suddenly and frighteningly open in a seemingly uncharacteristic display of fury. Most disconcerting of all, was that he was still smiling. It was as if his mouth was permanently frozen in that shape, and it made him all the more unnerving.

Then, just as suddenly, the Salesman calmed down and was abruptly normal again... well, normal for him, anyway. The odd thing was that there was no movement in between anger and normality, he simply jumped from one emotion to the next like he was switching frames in a picture.

"Forgive my outburst, but in this place, in Termina, names hold a... special power. To refer to the Mask in that way can cause... terrible fates. Terrible... fates."

Tatl decided that hiding behind the Links seemed like a very good option right then.

"But, that one time when you told me it's name-" Mask started.

"As I said," the Salesman interrupted, "names have power here. To know your enemy, you must first know it's name. A necessary risk, and one that I took knowingly. You would do well to be more careful in the future."

Mask nodded slowly, not quite understanding but also not really wanting to continue the conversation any longer than necessary. "Then... thanks, I think, for your help."

"Believe in your strengths," the Salesman called after the group as they left. "Where you are going, and what you will do... you will need all of them."

The entire group gave a sigh of relief as the doors of the Clock Tower closed behind them again.

"That man, right there," Blue said, "was creepier than Zant, I swear."

"Rhyme," Red giggled. Blue sent him a good-natured glare.

"And I thought Lore was a redhead," Steam quipped. "He just out-gingered you. Effortlessly."

Lore pouted.

"Okay, he was not like that in Hryule," Ocarina said. "Either I was just really oblivious at the time, or he got seriously messed up between now and then."

"Was he even helpful?" Realm asked. "I feel like we just went there to get creeped out or something."

Mask sighed. "Well, I would agree with you, if not for the fact that he was a little helpful. He did see Shadow, and he did give us a clue. He said Shadow was being called somewhere, remember?"

"Yes," Gen agreed. "But you're the only one who knows your way around. What's here that Shadow would be drawn to?"

Mask counted on his fingers for a moment, muttered under his breath, then smiled. "Who's up for a trip to a ghost zone?"

Nobody raised their hands.

"We're going to Ikana Valley," Mask sighed. "There's only a few ghosts there at the most and most of them are underneath the gravestones."

Somehow this failed to make anyone feel better about it.

"The main problem we're going to have are the Gibdos," Mask continued, frowning. "We're going to need Blue Potion, Bombs, Magic Beans, Deku Nuts, Bugs, Milk, Fish in a Bottle, Spring Water, Hot Water, and a Big Poe. Any questions?"

"...Fish in a Bottle?" Lore asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know why they want it, they just do. Any other questions?"

"I can take care of the Poe," Dusk said, hand raised.

"That wasn't a question..." Mask muttered. "But okay!"

"I've got one," Wind said. "Are you sure Shadow would be drawn to a place like Ikana?"

"Taking into account the natural creepiness of Termina, Ikana is by far the most creepy of the lot," Mask said. "At least, it's the creepiest thing within range, I personally think the Moon tops the charts in that category."

There was a lot of muttered assents at that statement.

"Now, Shadow has always struck me as the kind of person who enjoys things that are creepy and disturbing, agreed?"

"Agreed," the Links chorused.

"So it makes sense that that's what he'd be drawn to. Therefore, Ikana Valley seems to be the best choice. Make sense?"

"Yeah, it makes sense," Wind said. "I just wanted to be sure, is all."

"Good. Now, who here is good at fishing? We're gonna need at least two that are small enough to fit through a bottle neck."

"Oh," Mask said, staring at the hole in the wall next to the large Castle Gate. "Yeah, I kinda forgot about that. My bad."

"You forgot about the shortcut?" Dusk growled-literally. His wolf was showing through.

"It's inconspicuous!" Mask protested.

"I sat for three hours trying to catch a small enough fish and you're telling me you forgot because it's INCONSPICUOUS?"

"...Pretty much, yep."

Dusk, who had been looming larger and larger over Mask during this conversation, abruptly collapsed back to his normal (but still taller) size. "Just... try and remember next time okay?"

He walked off, muttering crankily to himself about time management and the difficulty of trapping a Poe.

"So, turns out we won't actually be needing any of that stuff I mentioned," Mask said, turning to the rest of the group. Gen, laden down with multiple jars of various items and liquids, dropped his burden with a grunt, which was promptly followed by a crash. Three Bugs and a multitude of Deku Nuts made their escape in various directions.

The Deku Nuts didn't get very far, though.

"Aw, dangit," Gen complained. "I liked that bottle..."

"Then why'd you drop it?"

"It was heavy!"

"Well you were doing fine until just then..."

"Psychology of the mind," Gen explained. "Until I realized it was pointless to carry it, I didn't think it was all that heavy. Once it became pointless, then there was no reason to hold it. So I didn't."

"Guys, c'mon," Green said, successfully distracting the argument. "We're still looking for Shadow, remember?"

"He wasn't under the graves, in the Music House, or just wandering about, so that leaves the tunnel and the Castle, right?" Vio added. "That's what you said."

"That is what I said," Mask agreed. "Follow the not-leader, everyone."

With that, he ducked into the tunnel.

"Not-leader?"

"He's not Lore or Gen," Wind explained to the Four. "Therefore, he's not the leader. And he said so."

"...Oh-kay..."

"I honestly don't know why you're confused," Lore said as he pushed past into the tunnel. "I thought we all established our lack of sanity ages ago."

The Castle of Ikana was large, cold, stony, and had a distinct lack of Shadow in it.

On the bright side (which turned out to be literal due to Mirror Shields), the King was pleased to see Mask again. He considered the breaking of a curse to be akin to owing one's life... afterlife. Something along those lines.

On the dark side, he hadn't seen Shadow either.

"Why is he a floating head?" Steam asked in a hushed tone.

"Why can you perform a summons by saying 'I Like Trains'?" Gen whispered back. "Life is weird. You just gotta go with it."

"You people are weird," Tatl muttered.

"Regrettably I have not seen this person of which you speak," the King said in his echoey voice. "And I can assure you that no one has entered the Stone Tower, as to do so without my knowledge is an impossibility. I apologize for my inability to provide you with the aid you seek."

"That's okay," Mask said. "We just appreciate you taking the time to help. If you don't mind me asking, have you heard anything that might clue us in?"

"There is a darkness that gathers in the center of this land," the King intoned hollowly. "A great celestial body of untold evil descends to wreak havoc upon the lives of the living."

"Er... I kinda knew that already..."

"Have you tried looking there?"

"First place we looked, actually," Mask replied. "Except we couldn't reach the actual Moon, that won't be feasible until the Thir- never mind."

"That is all I know..." the King droned. "May you have success in finding your friend."

"Thanks for your time," Mask said, giving a little bow. Ocarina elbowed him in a nonverbal question, to which he received a "What? He is a King, you know."

"He talked funny," Blue decided once the group was back outside in the main area of Ikana. "And he was kinda repetitive. Like when he said 'the lives of the living'. Of course we've got lives, we're living!"

"He called Shadow our friend," the Four noted. "Is he our friend?"

"Can't really call him our enemy," Wind replied. "Not with the way he hangs around and spends his time not attacking us."

"And we still haven't found him," Dusk sighed. "I feel like we just wasted this entire day on things that were more creepy than they were helpful."

"We did what?" Mask said, blinking. He peered up at the sky and winced. "Oh... my bad. We should head back to Clock Town. There's a few places that you don't wanna be at night and Ikana is one of them."

The group started walking. Slowly because it really was rather dark and they couldn't entirely see where they were going. A fact which was showcased rather well when Realm tripped over... something, and faceplanted spectacularly into the dirt.

"Ow..." he groaned. Gen swooped down and picked up his friend by the arms.

"Come on, you," he said. "The last thing we need is you getting lost in a haunted graveyard in the dark."

Tatl blinked.

Shadow, by general rule and natural inclination, was usually fond of the dark. One, it concealed him marvelously and made for excellent stealth attacks that scared the pants off his targets. Two, the darker it was, the stronger he tended to be. It was a point of annoyance to him that the Links almost always traveled, fought, and generally did stuff by day, and rested by night, but he was (grudgingly) learning to live with it.

Three, it was less painful than sunlight. There was a reason Shadow didn't openly travel with the rest of the group, and that was because it stung. He supposed he could buy *coughstealcough* a hooded cape or something, but that seemed far too flashy and... colorful. Maybe he could dye it black. That might work.

The point was, Shadow enjoyed darkness. Which was why it was such a novel situation when he found himself wishing it wasn't quite so dark in here.

You are different.

Shadow glared at the seemingly empty room. "What was your first clue, my glowy red eyes or my sparkling personality?"

You hold a darkness inside. And yet... you follow them. Why?

"I don't follow anyone," Shadow snarled. "They just happen to be a convenient means to reaching my goal. Which, unless I'm very much mistaken, you are not a part of, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let me go now."

I think not. You intrigue me, little Shadow. You could be so much more if you only let me show you...

"Whatever it is you're offering, I'm not interested!" Shadow spat. "If I'm going to get stronger, it's because I'm going to do it myself! I most certainly will not let some thing control my every move. I got enough of that from Ganondorf."

A chuckle echoed across the room. Ah, so that is what you are. One of them mentioned you, once... I may not have paid the best attention at the time. I was discovering the joys of burning sea life. But you were spoken of. Briefly.

"...What?" Shadow asked, confused. "Sea life? What do you-"

His eyes got every so slightly larger as a thought ocurred to him. "Wait. Burning... and sea life... you mean Bellum?"

Is that his name? I admit, I never bothered to learn, he always seemed so... insignificant.

"Ah... crud," Shadow decided. "You wouldn't happen to be Majora, would you?"

Somewhere in the darkness, the thing chuckled again.

You are smart. Good. You will do nicely.

"Listen here, mask" Shadow growled. "One thing I absolutely refuse to be is someone else's puppet. You can say whatever you want, I will never let you own me!"

Own you? Majora sounded genuinely surprised. Owning someone is so... simple. I prefer possession. Much more screaming from the host that way, it's really rather intoxicating.

Suddenly, Shadow thought, sunlight seemed so much more appealing. Maybe he really ought to look into that cape.

Wow, this took a turn for the darker. I blame Termina, this place is so hard to write while keeping a good sense of humor.

Basically, this is me trying to hold a plot while keeping to the confines of the Three Day cycle. The sidequests just seemed so... boring. The whole thing with Kafei is far too overdone, and all the others just weren't as important, so this is what I came up with instead.

Here's hoping I didn't just depress anyone.

On a completely unrelated and entirely self-promotional side-note, I have written a oneshot. In my usual bad entitling style, I have called it To Each His Own. Anyone who remembers that idea I had a while back about Galactus and Unicron having lunch, well, I finally got around to putting it in words. Check it out, if you want. I think it's worth looking at, but then again, I wrote it. I'm supposed to feel that way.

Until next time,

Changeling

If you see any typos, let me know!

Thanks to Black Silverclaw, killroy777, DarkRaptor4, GrandNinjaMasterRen, Skyforged, and Naminamae for favoriting/following!

Kareemcodling519: ...Okay... I'm not entirely sure what you're mad about, but I think I got the jist. First, I never said Demise had the Triforce of Power. What I said was that some of his "Incarnation of my Hatred" people were Bearers of the Triforce. Demise does not have it himself. Second... I take it you want the goddesses to be more involved the way a deity would be? It's true that I normally use them for humor... I guess I'm taking the 'Watch But Do Not Interfere' rule a little too far. Thanks for the tip on that. Thirdly... I know Steam has nothing to do with the Triforce. If I said he did, then that was a mistake and I apologize. And you could have gotten your point across entirely fine without the curse words, using the f-bomb was entirely unnecessary. And I'm also not sure why you mentioned Sonic the Hedgehog...? But at least I'm doing something right, because you're apparently still following. Thank you!

PsycoFangirl: The rant was actually based off the entries in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I probably let that stuff influence me far too much, but eh. I find it hilarious.

LordofGaming: I might use one of those Realm-gets-lost locations... sounds sufficiently amusing.

Guest: My thinking was, that since Ganon was technically possessing/controlling Vaati at that point in time, their holes would overlap and thus appear to be one singular hole.