(So this time, I've given the Universe the chapter off. ...Really. ...Okay, fine, it sorta abandoned me while it takes a trip to Hawaii. BUT, it will be back.

Now, then... disclaimer. I don't own the Legend of Zelda. A fact which I try not to think about because of how depressing it is. *mopes*)

Majora's Moon hung unnaturally in the air, only a few hundred feet from the top of the Clock Tower. The Links stood huddled on the clock face, all peering up at the grinning monstrosity and silently cursing their hero complexes.

Why did they always do the stupidly dangerous things?

"You're all idiots," Tatl said, unknowingly voicing everyone's exact thoughts. "The Moon is going to crush everything! Why aren't we running for our lives like all the sane people?"

"I thought you wanted to save Tael," Mask retorted.

"Tael isn't an idiot," Tatl snapped. "Unlike you crazy people, my brother has an intact sense of self-preservation!"

"I resent that!" Lore exclaimed. "I'll have you know that mine is perfectly intact, thank you very much. How else can I still be around to annoy you all?"

Dusk coughed discreetly. "Moon's still crashing, you know..."

At that point, a small darkly-colored figure toppled out of the Moon's mouth and plummeted towards the Tower, with a small dark-purple sphere shooting after it.

"Siiiis!" Tael shouted, streaking down from the sky in desperate pursuit of a thoroughly unconscious Skull Kid. "I can't stop him falling!"

"Oh, Din," Mask swore.

Wind snatched his Wind Waker out of his bag and hastily channeled the air upwards as fast as he could make it blow. The gusting caught the Kid and, since he was made of wood, slowed his descent considerably. Meanwhile, Realm had stretched Gen's Sailcloth between himself and a few of the other Links in an effort to catch him, while Gen himself rooted through his bag for the bottle of soup that was sure to be needed.

The Skull Kid flopped into the Sailcloth with a muffled thump, but thankfully stopped before he reached the ground. At any other time, the fact that his hat hadn't moved in the slightest would have drawn some interest. Unfortunately, the questionable laws of hat causality would have to wait.

"What the heck happened to him?" Steam asked in astonishment.

"Well, he's supposed to be Majora's... host, I guess," Mask said. "But I have no idea what all this is about."

Ocarina frowned. "Haven't I seen him before-"

"Probably, Termina's like that. Remember?"

Ocarina didn't look entirely convinced. "...Maybe..."

Tatl had flown directly to her little brother and was alternating between berating Tael for making her worry and checking him for injuries, which involved dragging Gen over and forcing him to do a check-up despite protests otherwise.

"Well yes, I'm the group medic, but that literally just means I carry the potions!" Gen protested. "I don't know anything about Hylian biology, much less fairy biology."

"Then give him a potion," Tatl retorted. "I don't care how you do it, just make sure he's okay!"

"I'm pretty sure I'm fine," Tael said futilely. Tatl ignored him and glared at Gen to the best of her fairy ability.

"Okay, look. I'll put some soup in a thimble or something and Tael can drink it if he wants to. Satisfied?" Gen asked. Tatl nodded pointedly, and Gen took that as a cue to start looking for the promised fairy-sized cup.

He dug through his bag for a few seconds before pausing and saying, "Mind explaining what happened to the Skull Kid, Tael?"

"Well, he's been acting kinda weird ever since he found that mask," Tael started. "But a couple days ago, it just vanished off his face. And it left this freaky hole in midair, right in front of the Kid's head. He didn't take that very well, see. He started ranting about how nobody cared for him anymore and how even the mask abandoned him."

Tatl stopped for a breath, and Gen motioned encouragingly while he kept rummaging for a thimble.

"That only lasted a few minutes though, because the mask came back out of nowhere. But... there was something wrong with it."

"How so?" Gen asked.

"It floated on it's own, and it was talking to the Skull Kid. It said that he and it had a new purpose now, and when they succeeded the entirety of existence would be eradicated. But... well, that kinda freaked both me and the Skull Kid out. The Kid told the mask that he didn't want to destroy everything everything, just the stuff that caused him pain. There were plenty of people out there who didn't deserve to be destroyed because they'd never had a part in abandoning him. And... the mask... it didn't really like that...

"It-it grabbed Skull Kid in these weird tentacle things and shot up into the Moon. I followed them, because I thought the Skull Kid might need help. I'm not really sure how long that lasted, but the mask kept trying to make the Kid wear it and Skull Kid kept saying no, and then the mask said something about burning and Skull Kid started screaming and-"

"You don't have to talk about that bit," Gen interrupted quickly. Tael took a deep, stuttering breath and slowly kept going.

"Skull Kid didn't really wake up after that... like, he mumbled some stuff, but he never opened his eyes or anything. I think the mask did something to his mind, because there wasn't any fire that I saw but the way the Kid reacted...

"And then this guy showed up. He was kinda confused, like he didn't know why he was there. He had these glowing red eyes... like, his entire eye was red, no pupil or iris or anything. And the mask took an interest in him. It said he was made of darkness, and it wanted to make him its new host."

Gen inhaled sharply. "Did he accept?"

Tael shook his head. "He called the mask... 'a misshapen fish-eyed eldritch freak' and said he wouldn't put something like that on his face if you paid him with all the blood of his enemies."

"...Yep, that's Shadow."

"I never got his name," Tael said regretfully. "I thought the mask would burn him too, but it just laughed and said it could be patient. And the guy called it a name... I think he said Majora?"

Gen shuddered, then realized he still hadn't found a thimble and dug back into his bag again.

"After that, Majora just kept trying. Constantly asking... Shadow, you said? Asking Shadow to be its host. I don't know why it didn't just take him by force, but it never did. And Shadow... well, he didn't like the mask at all. But he didn't seem to be able to leave, and it was like the longer he stayed the weaker he got... I started to think he would just give in, but he never did. Sometime during this, he found the Skull Kid on the floor and started moving him, bit by bit. I never let him see me, but I always watched him. He kept moving the Kid, whenever Majora wasn't looking, until... well, Skull Kid just kinda slipped through the floor. And I followed him down, and then he was falling, and... that's when you guys came in, I guess."

"Shadow pushed an unconscious kid out of a Moon to fall to his death?" Lore asked incredulously. The rest of the group had gathered around sometime during Tael's story and had all heard the ending.

"No, not like that," Tael said. "It was like... like Shadow was helping the Kid to escape. He knew the Moon was falling, because Majora gloated about it all the time. I think he thought, maybe the Moon was close enough that falling wouldn't kill him."

"Just injure him very badly," Gen grumbled, rummaging around just a bit more before pulling out a small thimble with a triumphant flourish. He dripped a bit of soup into the cup and handed it off to Tael, then crossed over to the sleeping Skull Kid and examined him concernedly. "I don't really know what to do about mental issues, though... I just carry potions. I don't think there's any potions for the mind. Maybe... is anyone here psychic?"

"I think we would have said if we were," Blue pointed out.

"Does sensitive eyesight count?" Steam asked. "Because, technically, I can see Zelda's mental projection of herself..."

"I thought it was her ghost, dude."

"She wasn't dead!" Steam snapped. "She just got... separated. Mind apart from body, and all that, you know?"

Gen frowned. "Okay, so we have a completely inexperienced possible psychic who isn't quite sure about actually being one. I don't know if that's progress or not."

"I'm leaning towards 'not'," Sketch decided.

"So we can't actually help the Skull Kid right now, Shadow is most definitely inside the Moon, Majora's been after him this whole time and the world is going to end in about an hour," Ocarina summarized. "Great."

Speck raised a hand. "Um, one more thing to add to that list?"

"I'd really rather you didn't..."

Speck ignored that and said, "There appears to be a proboscis coming out of the Moon's face, and it's kinda heading straight for us."

Lore blinked. "Say what?"

The group looked up and saw a rapidly descending tube of colored... stuff making a beeline for the unconscious Skull Kid on the ground. Dusk quickly snatched the small child out of the way and the column collided with the bare stone instead. It seemed to be somewhat stuck because it began twisting around and wriggling in what looked like an effort to free itself.

"...Well that's new," Mask decided.

"This didn't happen in one of those earlier Three-Day Cycle thingies?" Steam asked.

"Never got this far before," Mask replied with a shrug. "I always had to reset time due to impending death by fireball."

Vio examined the shifting column closely. "Do you suppose this could be a way to get up in there? It was obviously aimed for the Skull Kid, probably to bring him back. Maybe we could use it instead."

"Worth a shot," Green seconded.

"Then I'm coming with you," Tael said determinedly. Everyone within earshot immediately flinched and took one very large step back in an effort to avoid the impending explosion.

Which promptly failed spectacularly.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Tatl screeched. "TAEL, YOU ARE STAYING RIGHT HERE WHERE IT'S SAFE!"

"The Moon's about to flatten us! How is that safe?!" Tael yelled back, albeit at a noticeably lower volume.

"It's better than being up there with that... thing," Tatl spat. "You just told us the mask is basically a deranged psychopath! Why do you want to go back?"

"Because I want to help!" Tael shouted. "Because there's still someone up there with Majora and if we don't help him, who will!? Because if nobody goes to stop the mask, everything is gonna burn!"

"That's what these guys are for," Tatl argued, flicking a wing towards the Links. "You don't have to risk yourself."

Tael sighed. "Look, sis. For the past three days, you've been helping these guys to stop the mask and save Termina. You've been doing something. I've been cowering and hiding and generally being too afraid and useless to help. Right now, I have a chance to change that."

Tatl stared at her brother for a long moment. "...Now you grow a spine," she grumbled. "Right then. If you're going, then I'm coming with you. And no," she added in a preemptive statement, "there's nothing you can do to stop me. Deal with it."

Ocarina approached the pair of fairies cautiously. "...Have we got that all sorted out now?"

Tatl glared at him, and Ocarina winced. "Right... obviously. In that case, I think we're ready to go."

Lore stepped up to the pillar and stared at it skeptically. He stuck his hand in, twitched his thumb, then slowly moved all the way into the beam.

"Huh," he said. "Tingly."

"That's all you've got on the subject?" Gen asked. "Tingly?"

"Well, it is," Lore replied. "And on that note- oh hey, I'm elevating."

Sure enough, Lore was rising off the ground and traveling up the tube at a fairly decent speed. He spread his arms wide and flapped them with an idiotic grin on his face.

"You're not flying," Gen called up, annoyed.

Lore snorted. "I can dream. Now are you coming? Because sooner or later I'm gonna reach the Moon and I'd rather not be alone when that happens."

"As if we'd ever trust you to wander off on your own," Steam snarked, stepping into the tube.

"That's Realm's job!"

"No, Realm's job is to get lost," Sketch retorted. "Your job is to make the rest of us question your sanity on an hourly basis."

"I am not that bad," Lore declared, crossing his arms defiantly which made him wobble in midair a bit. The rest of the Links exchanged glances with each other. More than a few eyebrows were raised.

"Yes, you are," everyone told him simultaneously.

The inside of the Moon was not what anyone was expecting. From Tael's story, the Links had assumed that the interior was dark and sunless, the usual stereotypical villainous lair.

They were not prepared to see a cheerfully lit sun-filled meadow with a massive, gargantuan tree in the middle. They were even less prepared to see several children playing tag. And they most definitely weren't prepared for how those children acted.

"Masks... you have... a lot. You too... Will you be... a mask salesman?"

The group just stared, gaping.

"Uh," Lore said finally, swallowing, "what in Nayru's name is wrong with this place?"

"I don't know why, but this is far, far creepier than anything I was expecting," Gen agreed vehemently.

The child in the mask looked at them, emotionless. "You haven't... answered... my question."

"...Maybe," Mask answered slowly. "Selling masks seems like it'd be fun."

The child swayed. "Then I'll play with you. So... The masks... Give me some..."

Mask blinked. "Um... hang on." He dug through his bag for a minute, then pulled out a cow-shaped hat and said, "How's this one?"

The boy carefully lifted the item from Mask's hands, almost reverently, and the cow hat shrank down into his palms like water absorbed into the ground.

"Thanks..." the boy said. "You... You're a nice person... Aren't you?"

Mask shifted uncomfortably. "Am I supposed to answer that...?"

The masked child ignored him entirely. "Hide and Seek..." he decided abruptly. "Let's play. I'll hide..."

Everything suddenly turned white.

When the blankness faded, the Links found themselves standing on a grassy cliff that overlooked a bottomless ravine. There were rotating wooden platforms positioned at various intervals across the pit and on the ground were incredibly large pink flowers.

"So... any ideas as to what we're doing?" Steam asked.

"Hide and Seek, apparently," Wind answered. "I would assume we're the Seekers."

Dusk studied the gaps with a frown. "How are we all expected to traverse this?"

"Well, I've got my Deku Mask," Mask started. "Wind and Gen can fly, so that takes care of them, and the rest of you... Hookshots?"

"It does attach on wood, yeah," Ocarina agreed.

"Then that's a plan," Lore decided. "And someone please watch Realm, the last thing we need is for him to get lost in a teleportational dimension."

"Believe it or not, it actually wouldn't be the first time," Realm said cheerfully.

The plan went off as expected. Gen and Wind flew along- well, Wind did. Gen flew ahead and then complained about how slow everyone was being when they caught up. Mask did his Deku thing with the pink flowers, and everyone else grappled along with owned or borrowed Hookshots. In just a few minutes, the group was on the other side of the gorge, where there was a rather ornate door set in the rock face. On the other side stood the masked child, waiting.

"... You found me..." He sounded ever so slightly disappointed at that, which was shocking in itself. It was the first emotion they'd seen from the boy... but it vanished almost instantly as the boy kept talking. "Hey... I want... more... masks..."

Mask rummaged in his bag again and pulled out a misshapen gray rock-like one with uneven eye-holes. "Is this one okay?"

Like before, the child took the mask with extreme care and absorbed it into his palms. Then, startling everyone in the group, he laughed. "Heh. Heh...thanks... You're nice..." The boy calmed down, and, looking directly at Mask, said, "Umm... Can I ask... a question?"

Mask raised an eyebrow. "Uh... sure."

"Your friends..." the boy said, swaying. "What kind of... people are they?

"What does-"

"I wonder..." the boy interrupted, "Do those people... think of you... as a friend?"

Mask opened his mouth, then closed it, looking contemplative. And suddenly the world turned white.

The white faded and the Links found themselves standing once again in a sunlit meadow looking at a tree.

"What was that all about?" Dusk asked after a moment of silence.

"I... don't know," Mask admitted. "He asks some good questions though."

"Well, I think of you as my friend," Red piped up, looking determined. "And as my friend, I say you're a good person."

"Well said," Blue agreed, ruffling Red's hair. He squeaked and ducked out of the way, trying in vain to fix his bangs.

"Onto the next one?" Realm asked, pointing to the other children playing around the tree.

"Onto the next one," Mask confirmed.

"Masks... you have... a lot. You too... Will you be... a mask salesman?"

"Uh... Well, maybe," Mask said, wondering why he was repeating this conversation.

"Then I'll play with you," the boy decided. "So... The masks... Give me some..."

Mask reached into his back again and pulled out what looked like a bomb, with the exception of the fact that it was meant to be worn. The boy looked at it, then looked at Mask and said, "More..."

The next one that Mask retrieved was a mask that looked like the head of a pig. The boy took both masks carefully into his hands, absorbed them, and said, "Thanks... You... You're a nice person... Aren't you?"

Mask frowned, now seriously wondering why this was being repeated word for word. Luckily the boy didn't seem to notice, because he continued straight on with, "Hide and Seek... Let's play. I'll... hide..."

And the world turned white.

They were in a long, dimly lit cave with one lone path stretching out across a chasm. To their left sat a group of pots. Any and all other thoughts regarding their surroundings were immediately abandoned in favor of smashing said pots to smithereens.

Once that was done, and the contents of the pots scavenged, the Links resumed their analysis of the cave.

"Right, this calls for more flight," Gen promptly decided, snatching Dusk's pouch from around the Link's neck and upending the contents into his hand.

"Seriously, you could ask once in a while," Dusk complained to the now-a-falcon as he picked up the small black bag from the floor. Gen ruffled his feathers indignantly and took off, circling above the group in an impatient fashion.

Mask studied the path. "I think... the Goron mask," he said. After putting said mask on and transforming into the respective race, he turned to the rest of the group and said, "Everyone who's got a fast-running item, you should use it. And Realm..."

"I make no promises," Realm said resignedly. "Plus, I'm pretty sure I'm tempting fate right about now simply by standing in a dark cave."

"Just because it's you, that's probably an understatement," the Four sighed. They conferred with each other for a moment, then started walking off down the pathway. "We'll meet you there, Realm."

Realm frowned. "What?"

"When-not if-you get lost, you're going to end up in the most out-of-the-way place you could possibly get to, regardless of logic or relative ability to reach. We're going to meet you there."

Realm gaped, then considered the logic and decided it made a surprising amount of sense. "Hope you don't mind if I try to prove you wrong, though."

"Trust us, that would be a genuine pleasure," the Four groaned.

Mask waited until the Four made their way out of sight before curling into his Goron ball. "Everyone ready?" he asked.

The group voiced an affirmative.

"I'll start off slow," Mask told them. "Just until I get the hang of this place. Try and keep up, okay?"

With that, he took off. Above, Gen let out a cry which sounded suspiciously like "FINALLY!" to the Links and shot off after Mask. The rest of the group, using their various items to propel themselves, trailed behind and dearly hoped they wouldn't fall off.

A long while later, the Four, having reached a very, very out-of-the-way platform, were attempting to play Sheikah Says when Realm came jogging up out of nowhere. He screeched to a halt, stared at the Four, turned around to face the direction he had just came from, turned back to face the Four again, and blinked.

"Where have you been?" Realm asked with an air of exasperation.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You weren't there!" Realm exclaimed, gesturing wildly. The Four raised a simultaneous eyebrow, confused.

"You said you'd meet me there," Realm elaborated. "But you weren't there. I've been looking for you guys for ages!"

The Four blinked. "You got lost?"

"Of course I got lost, I always get lost!" Realm retorted. "You were supposed to be preempting me by being where I was eventually going!"

"But this is where you were eventually going!" the Four protested. "It's remote, ridiculously hard to find, even more ridiculously hard to get to, and there's a thirty foot gap!

Realm paused. "There is?"

The Four gaped, then shook their heads. "Never mind that. Where'd you actually end up?"

"You're never going to believe it," Realm said brightly. "Turns out, the actual exit to this place is incredibly hard to find, because all the paths look the same. So when I got lost, guess where I ended up?"

The Four collectively facepalmed.

"That's exactly what Lore did once the group found me," Realm noted. "Turns out, they got a bit lost and accidentally warped back to the entrance. What are the odds, right?"

The Four didn't respond, being too busy banging their heads against a wall to answer.

"...You found me..." the masked boy said quietly, once again sounding disappointed.

"Yeah, well, you would not believe how long it took to get here," Sketch grumbled.

The child ignored him. "Hey... I want... more masks..."

Mask suppressed a shiver and dug down into his bag. He guessed the boy would want two more, since he had wanted two beforehand, and thus pulled out a yellow mask shaped like a fox, and an odd mask/hat type thing that perched a pale man's torso on top of the wearer's head. The boy absorbed the items into his palms with the same reverence that he had shown earlier, then cocked his head at Mask ever so slightly.

"Umm... Can I ask... a question?"

Mask shrugged, hoping this wasn't going where he thought it was.

"You... What makes you... happy? I wonder... What makes you happy... Does it make... others happy, too?"

Mask opened his mouth to answer, but the world turned white before he got a chance.

"What is it with these kids and odd questions?" Speck wondered as the group materialized in the sunlit meadow for the third time. "Everyone has something different that makes them happy. Like, Lore enjoys insulting people sarcastically, but if Red tried that he'd feel terrible afterwards."

"What if they actually take it seriously and I really hurt someone?" Red whimpered.

Speck pointed at him. "See? My point exactly."

"I want to know what this has to do with Majora," Wind said. "By all rules of logic, there should not be a tree inside a Moon, much less sunshine and small creepy children."

"Maybe it's a tactic?" Steam suggested. "To throw us off, make us nervous?"

"One way to find out," Mask decided, pointing towards the tree where they could still see a couple children running around.

A few minutes later, the Links had confronted yet another masked child and were having a very familiar conversation. The only difference this time was that Mask handed the boy three masks instead of the previous one and two, and that when the whiteness surrounded them it left the group in what looked like an underwater piping system.

Sketch groaned. "Why did it have to be water..."

"You okay, dude?" Steam asked.

"I'll be alright," Sketch said slowly, eyeing the water with extreme prejudice. "Lets just get this over quick, okay?"

Mask slapped on his Zora face and said, "Does anyone have a rope?"

Lore promptly pulled out a large coil of the stuff and handed it off to Mask.

"Perfect. Now, anyone who can't swim, tie yourselves to this." He tied one end of the rope around his waist as he explained.

"You mind if I join in on that?" Sketch asked. "I think I'll panic less if I've got something to cling to."

"Okay seriously, how did you stay calm when we fought Bellum?" Blue said incredulously.

"Well, if you'll recall, there was the ever-so-slightly distracting problem of Lore being possessed," Sketch snarked. "I had more important things to worry about then!"

"I don't mind," Mask broke in. "Just try not to be dead weight. And be sure to hold your breath."

Not ten seconds in, the Links came to the conclusion that this puzzle was even worse than the last one. The tube was almost too dark to see in, the water felt like it was independently trying to drown them, and every fifty feet or so the pipes split off into two identical paths that were impossible to tell apart. They couldn't even use Realm's wacked-up sense of direction because he was attached to the rope with the rest of the Links who couldn't swim.

As a result, it took the group nearly an hour to find the exit. There were also several failed and soggy attempts to create a map, a prototype of an underwater lamp that died within the first thirty seconds of it's life (Steam was devastated), a Deku Stick that Ocarina released into the water in an attempt to follow the current that they immediately lost-and later found when it completed a pipe circuit and clocked Vio on the back of the head, and so much trial and error that nobody could keep track anymore.

And just to top the whole experience off, the masked boy only seemed disappointed that they'd managed to find him.

He wanted three more masks, which he received, then tilted his head slightly. Mask braced himself for the coming question.

"The right thing..." the boy began. "What is it?"

Mask blinked.

"I wonder... If you do the right thing... Does it really make... everybody... happy?"

Then once again, the world turned white with nobody quite knowing how to answer that.

Again, the sunlit meadow. Again, a group of confused Heroes. And again, a discussion about the question.

"...Does anyone else think these kids are all obsessed with being happy?" Steam asked.

"I think it's a bit more than that," Dusk answered. "It's like they're trying to make us think about how we live."

"So this one, with doing the right thing," Gen began, "it's almost like they're coming from someone else's perspective. As far as we're concerned, we're doing the right thing by taking down Majora and finding Shadow. But from Majora's standpoint, that would completely ruin all it's plans. In other words, not happy."

"They're reflecting the Skull Kid's viewpoint," Tael suddenly said. "Who he thought his friends were, what made him happy, and how when his friends did the right thing it made him unhappy. I think... I think this might be the Skull Kid's subconscious."

There was silence for a moment.

"So... when you said Majora did something to his head..." Green realized.

"We'd better talk to the last few kids," Lore decided.

The fourth child wanted four masks, which really didn't come as a surprise given that pattern of the last three. The conversation, which almost seemed scripted by this point, also went as expected and the world went all white in the usual fashion.

When the blankness faded, the Links found themselves in a square room with ornate walls, one door, and a small group of pots in one corner.

These were immediately destroyed with enthusiasm and gusto.

Pot contents collected, the Links then went through the door and found themselves... in an almost identical-looking room to the last one.

"Not again," Steam moaned.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Realm encouraged. "There's only one other way to go from here."

"That's how the last one started..."

Realm sighed and started across the room, only to leap back as a Dinolfos dropped from the ceiling, brandishing a sword and wearing a surprisingly tasteful set of armor. It hissed at the group threateningly. Or, what was probably meant to be threatening if the Links hadn't been spending their last few months facing off against mentally compromised villains intent on destroying them/the universe.

"Is it sad that at one point I found these guys intimidating?" Dusk asked as he eyed the new opponent.

"Depends on how early you met them," Ocarina replied.

"Probably about a third of my way through," Dusk decided.

"Nah, you're good."

The Dinolfos, taking offense at being ignored, hissed louder and made some slashing motions.

In response, he received multiple bombs to the face.

"That was easy," Blue smirked as the unconscious lizard disappeared and the next door opened.

The other rooms went much the same way. Enter through door, fight enemy, exit through different door. Wash, rinse, repeat. The only main difference was the enemies they fought within each room (a Garo, Darknut, and whether or not the exit door required a Hookshot or varying other item to reach. It was, by far, the easiest Hide-and-Seek game the group had played so far.

The masked boy, like the others, seemed ever so slightly disappointed that he'd been found, but didn't say anything about it. Instead, he asked for more masks, which Mask grudgingly gave to him.

"I spent all that time collecting those things and I give them all to creepy children who look like the Happy Mask Salesman," he grumbled. Luckily the masked child ignored that.

"Your true face..." he said. "What kind of... face is it?"

The entire group stared at that one. "...What?" Mask said.

"I wonder..." the child continued. "The face under the mask... is that your true face?"

The world turned white.

Once again, the Links materialized in the meadow, but slightly more creeped out than the last times.

"I... have no idea what that one meant," Vio admitted.

"I don't think anyone does," Red agreed.

"Maybe he was talking about how you really feel about something?" Speck suggested. "When you show the world one emotion, but you really feel something else?"

"Could be," Vio mused. "But for some reason I feel like it's supposed to be more complicated that that."

"Hey, there's still one more child," Gen interrupted. "Up under the tree there, see?"

The Links peered at said vegetation.

"Wonder why he's not running like the others were," Dusk said.

"Well then," Lore replied, "let's go find out. Shall we?"

The group walked up to the lone masked boy sitting at the tree trunk. He had his knees curled up to his chest, his hands resting on his knees, and his chin resting on his hands. His mask was more colorful than the others-

"He's wearing Majora," Mask hissed frantically, recognizing it.

The entire group took one very large step backwards.

The boy slowly lifted his head and stared at the Links through his mask. "...Everyone has gone away, haven't they?"

Curiously, he didn't seem to actually be asking. It was more like he was confirming something he already knew. Then he continued with, "Will you play... with me?"

The Links exchanged nervous glances, then Lore stepped forward.

"...Yes," he said, taking in a deep breath as he did so. "We'll play with you."

The boy stood up at that, and gave the Heroes a once-over. "You don't have any masks left, do you?"

Mask flinched guiltily and dug around in his bag. He paused, bit his lip, then slowly pulled out his Deku mask and, as if the gesture pained him, offered it to the boy.

"Not that!"

Mask, having not expected that reaction, jumped a good six inches into the air and nearly dropped his item before he managed to shove it back into his bag. The relief on his face was palpable as he told the boy, "I've only got that kind left."

"Well, let's do something else then," the child decided. "Let's play good guys against bad guys... Yes. Let's play that." He suddenly produced a mask from out of nowhere and thrust it into Mask's hands, who stared at it in surprise.

"It... it looks like me," he said, considerably confused.

Lore leaned in for a better view. "Hey, it does," he realized. "That's weird."

"The Fierce Deity..." the child said suddenly. "I wonder... can you control it?"

Mask swallowed. The masked boy didn't seem to be speaking as a child anymore.

"Are you ready?" the boy asked ominously. "You're the bad guy. And when you're bad, you just run. That's fine right?"

The Links began to feel that this wasn't such a great idea after all.

"So... Shall we play?"

Before anyone could answer, the world faded away. But this time, everything turned black.

Okay. I know I said about a week, but I don't know why I was that idiotic. Updates happen whenever I finish them, which right now means during the little bits of free time I have once all homework is done and all tests have been studied for. You have been warned.

You know, I honestly thought I was gonna get to Majora in this chapter. Whoops. And to ALL you people who have been incessantly asking me about the Fierce Deity almost since day one... here's your answer. And no, I will not be using it as a kill-all solution in every single chapter. They're the Links, not Gary Stues. Nobody likes those.

Until next time,

Changeling.

Thanks to chaosspeer, Sayla Ragnarok, Peace Wing, Vulpimaru, angel88441, Eevee on the Move, and TheStrangeAuthoress for favoriting/following!

TooLazyToLogIn: If I did that, it would probably end up in a probable misadventures continuation. Probably will, actually. That's a good idea.

the has-been who never will be: Cool tip, you can type in your favored username as a guest when you leave a review. As for paradoxes... well, I'm sort-of kinda planning a sequel/continuation which will hopefully chronicle general mischief and misadventures that the Dimensional Links have afterwards. You don't really think I'd put myself through all this work with these characters and just abandon them afterwards, do you? ;)

Talon: Good!

Fading Sunlight: The cows do defy logic in some ways... I might do that.