(So... the Universe hasn't come back yet. I also suspect it is no longer in Hawaii. Postcards seem to indicate Tahiti. Or possibly Jamaica. It's hard to tell when your only reference is a somewhat generic beach photo.
Now... I don't own the Legend of Zelda. If I did, Zelda Wii U would be out by now, and I would be fired due to pushing an incomplete game to be released before it was ready. It'd be Sonic Boom all over again... *shudders*)
The room was spacious, echoey, and absolutely black. As in, you-could-wave-your-fingers-an-inch-from-your-face-and-not-see-it black. Lore, being who he was, promptly tried this to see if it was true. He ended up accidentally slapping someone in the face, although who it actually was was somewhat questionable.
A split-second later, the room turned deep violet instead, allowing the Links to see their surroundings. Dusk gave Lore a death glare as he gingerly touched his nose and did his best to ignore Midna's hysterical laughter in his head. The rest of the group was preoccupied with the room they were now in.
The walls were arched and somewhat disturbing-looking... and then they started in on the psychedelic colors. It wouldn't have looked nearly as creepy as it did if the colors had just been properly coordinated. There were some things you never, ever paired orange with and magenta was one of those things.
Sketch gained a scandalized expression at that.
The floor had a collection of thick white lines running across it that separated the... stone? Probably stone- separated the stone into six segments. And on the floor, leaning against one of the horribly-colored walls with an expression of pained stupidity tolerance, was Shadow.
"We found you!" Red cried happily, sprinting over to the darker Link and beaming. Shadow stared at him incredulously.
"...You guys are all complete idiots," he said.
"Oi! We are performing a rescue!" Lore objected.
"That's exactly why you're all idiots," Shadow sighed. "You just walked right into the fish-eyed freak's trap."
"'Fish-eyed... freak'?"
"Majora," Shadow clarified with a grumble.
"I thought Majora wanted you," Wind frowned.
Shadow shifted on the floor a little. "Maybe as a host, yeah. Evidently though, I also served as some very convenient bait for the Link it really wants to kill."
And oh, how thoroughly enjoyable it will be.
The group jerked as the voice drifted through a far wall and echoed around them. Curiously, it was impossible to tell the gender of the speaker. There were just enough qualities from both sides that the voice was completely androgynous.
"And here comes the Piece-of-Heart reject itself," Shadow muttered. The far wall noticeably twitched.
I am far better than a Piece of Heart could ever hope to be-
"OBJECTION!" Lore bellowed, finger pointed and distractive tactics engaged. "That statement directly contradicts a vital piece of evidence!"
...I beg your pardon?
"Here he goes again," Gen rolled his eyes.
"Previous Witness testimony has clearly stated that the Pieces of Heart are, and I quote, 'one of the single most useful items an elf-boy can have'. Not only does this item completely restore the health of the user, it actually adds to the previously mentioned health!"
Whether or not that is a desirable effect is based on consumer-
"HOLD IT!" Lore hollered. "Are you trying to tell me that the average consumer, who I remind the prosecution is not a demon mask, does not find the effect of regained health desirable? I find that hard to believe." Lore rubbed his chin, then whipped out another imperially pointing finger. "You've been lying to the court!"
Are you quite sane?
"We've been trying to figure that out for weeks," Steam said.
"I find the witness guilty of falsified evidence and request that they be removed from the stand immediately!" Lore declared.
There was a beat of silence.
"...Is someone going to be the judge, or am I going to have to pick that up as well?" Lore asked, annoyed.
"You do realize that none of the rest of us have any idea what you're doing, right?" Dusk questioned.
Lore scowled as the confusion wore off. "Dangit... I was on a roll too..."
It appears I will only have to torture a few of you into insanity, Majora mused, detaching itself from the far wall and floating over to the group. Most of you appear to already be there.
"And proud of it, thank you very much," Lore said, nodding.
You intrigue me. Majora cocked itself slightly onto it's right side. I will enjoy experimenting on your corpses once I have broken your minds.
"We should probably back away now..." Mask warned, doing exactly that. The rest of the group wisely followed his lead, dragging a complaining Shadow with them.
Oh, you can't escape me here,the mask whispered. This is my world... this is my reality. I wonder... how long will it take for you to snap? How long can I make you scream?
How long can I make you burn?
"It's... toying with us," Speck shuddered. He was currently one inch tall and clinging to Green's shoulder like a lifeline. Considering that he'd just had a nasty run-in with the entrails coming from the mask's back, his position was understandable.
Unfortunately, masks didn't have stab-able eardrums.
At the moment Majora was lazily drifting around the room, occasionally swaying back and forth as if it could hear music. From it's back sprouted the tendrils that Speck had... explored, which behaved not unlike those of a jellyfish. Disconcertingly, the mask always had its eyes facing the group. Large, yellow, unblinking eyes.
It was enough to give even Lore the shivers.
"Plan?" the Four asked plaintively.
"Shoot it with arrows," Lore said.
Gen frowned. "Any specific kind, or just straight-up arrows?"
"I dunno," Lore shrugged. "Just launch a volley and see what works. Between the eighteen of us somebody's gonna have something that'll work."
"...I'm gonna try the Fierce Deity," Mask spoke up.
The group stared at him in disbelief- then hurriedly dodged as Majora came spinning through and regrouped on a different side of the room.
"Have you got a brain in there?" Ocarina asked, rapping his older-but-younger self on the head. "Because I could have sworn you just said you're going to use the creepy mask that the small Majora child gave you."
"That's what I said," Mask agreed cheerfully, which was completely out of place given the situation.
"Normally, I approve of stupid stunts," Lore said. "Usually because I'm the one doing them. You're talking a whole other level of stupid here. Do you not see the large and glaringly neon sign screaming 'IT'S A TRAP!' hovering above that mask, or am I the only one here?"
Mask twitched. "I don't think it is, though. Tael, remember what you said about those kids and that tree?"
"Skull Kid's mindscape?" Tael clarified.
"Exactly. I think this is the Kid's way of lending us some help. He gave us a mask that can match Majora."
"...That makes no sense."
"Well, do you have a better explanation?"
Majora drifted lazily across their field of vision, softly cackling. Lore decided it wasn't going to attack again just yet and returned his attention to the argument.
"If you put that thing on and get yourself possessed-"
"I can just sing the Song That Gets On Everybody's Nerves, right?" Mask guessed, flashing a grin.
Lore rolled his eyes. "I was gonna say I'd hurt you right after I saved you, but that might work just as well."
Mask smiled briefly, then took out the Fierce Deity. Then, before he could second-guess himself, he shoved the item onto his face.
And his world turned white.
To the rest of the watching Links, Mask turned into a taller and more albino version of Ocarina before promptly collapsing in a heap. Gen leaned over his friend and poked around for a pulse.
"He's not dead," he announced brightly. "And he's also not actively trying to kill us. We've got progress!"
"He's also out cold in the middle of a life-and-death battle," Dusk pointed out dryly.
"Yes, well, that's less good. Who wants to be on 'Protect Mask' duty?"
"I'd rather not let myself get killed if I can help it," Ocarina said. "I'll guard him."
"And the rest of us are keeping to the 'Spam All the Arrows' plan," Lore nodded authoritatively. "Any questions?"
"Where does Shadow keep bombs that big?" Wind asked in a stunned tone.
The Links flinched and slowly turned around to see Shadow, very tired, very hurt, and very, very pissed, holding a bomb over his head that was at least three times the length of his body in diameter, easily.
"Hey freak-face," he called derisively, eyes locked on the swaying Majora. "Catch."
With that, he lobbed the gargantuan explosive directly at the mask. It was almost as if the bomb fell in slow-motion as it careened towards Majora, due to everyone's panic causing time to seemingly slow. In fact, one could almost say that Majora's already wide eyes got just a bit wider as the bomb came hurtling down.
And then it exploded.
Majora vanished into a fireball of death and nitro glycerin, while Shadow laughed maniacally and the rest of the Links ran screaming. Needless to say, there may have been a small amount of revenge packed into that one.
White.
Everything was white.
Oh, Mask knew there were things there. He could feel them. The fact that he seemed to be standing on something was proof enough of that. The problem was that the floor was the same color of white as what he presumed were the walls, and those were the same color as what he thought might be the ceiling. The ceiling was the same color as what was possibly a chair, and the chair was the same color as whatever he'd just tripped over.
On second thought, he appeared to have tripped over the chair. Which made what he previously thought was a chair... probably a table.
Then again, it was the exact same color white as everything else, so it was a little hard to tell.
"Great," Mask grumbled, the only spot of color as far as he could see. "I stuck myself in a null void. Ocarina is going to kill me once he lives though this."
His words echoed, then came back, then echoed away again. Mask groaned.
"And now the physics are whacked. Even better."
He took a few steps forward and ran straight into something white. He couldn't tell what it was, of course, it being the same color as the probable floor, walls, ceiling, table, and chair. Which made it all the more annoying-
"What are you doing here?"
Mask yelped and spun around, accidentally knocking his kneecap on what he thought might be the chair. The newly existing entity raised a pale eyebrow at him as he clutched his now-bruised joint and cursed the existence of sharp corners.
"Could you repeat that?" Mask gasped.
"What are you doing here?" the person repeated. Mask frowned and stood up.
"I'm not actually sure- oh, not again, I thought we found all of us!"
He looked to be about Dusk's age, or possibly a bit older. He was wearing a pale gray tunic and hat, with darker gray leggings and some brown boots. There was a two-bladed sword on his back, with the steel strips interweaving with each other and alternately colored green and blue. His hair was pale blond and his eyes were blank white. He had what looked almost like... war paint on his face, thick angular stripes of red on his cheeks and a thick blue down-point on his forehead.
"Have you met me before?"
"Well no, not exactly. But I know you look a lot like me, and I know a bunch of other guys who look a lot like you too."
The man shifted his stance slightly. "So it worked after all..."
Mask frowned. "Say what?"
"That is unimportant," the pale hylian said. "What is important is my question. What are you doing here?"
"My friends and I are fighting a mask called Majora," Mask explained. "I was given a mask called the Fierce Deity and I was trying to use it to help fight, but... well, I ended up here instead."
"The... Fierce Deity?"
"That's what I was told," Mask shrugged. "I guess you would be him, then?"
The man was silent, appearing to be mulling something over. "...I have been called that. A long, long time ago. So long ago that it no longer fits."
Mask tilted his head. "Would you rather me call you something else then? Because I've gotta call you something, I can't just keep referring to you as 'that tall pale creepy guy'."
Said guy twitched one corner of his mouth upwards ever so slightly. "You may call me... Oni."
"Why 'Oni'?"
"It was another name I was given. This one however, was more accurate."
Mask shivered.
"I have no interest in harming you," Oni told him. "But neither do I have interest in helping you. Tell me why you are here."
Mask frowned. "I told you. We're fighting Majora, and I tried to use the mask to battle."
Oni shook his head. "Why."
"What do you mean, why?"
"Exactly what I said. Why are you here?"
"I already told you!"
"No. You told me howyou are here. You have not told me why."
Mask narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you want from me!"
"Then figure it out." With that, Oni turned and began to walk away, fading out with every step.
"Get back here!" Mask yelled. "My friends are fighting and I need to help them!"
Oni continued walking away.
"At least tell me how to get out of here!"
Oni paused briefly. "...No." He took one more step and vanished completely, leaving a confused and rather indignant Mask alone in a world of white.
"THE BOMB WAS COMPLETE OVERKILL!" Blue screamed at Shadow as the Links ran around the circuit of the room with an absolutely furious and somewhat singed Majora right behind them.
"Totally worth it," Shadow smirked.
"IF WE SURVIVE THIS I WILL KILL YOU AFTERWARDS!"
Shadow somehow managed to yawn and look bored while in the process of running for his life. "Let me know how that goes."
"AAARRRRRRRGGGHHH!"
BURN, ELFLINGS! BURN! Majora shrieked in tandem.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Shadow muttered.
It should be noted that once one has spent time in the presence of the mentally deranged, the intimidation factor of the threats go down significantly. Shadow being who he was already gave him advantage in this department. Combine that with his previous experience with the mask and he essentially took nothing that Majora did seriously.
Essentially.
There were a couple things Majora could do that would get on Shadow's nerves, but... well, they were better left unsaid.
"FIRE ALL PROJECTILES!" Lore bellowed, and the Links who weren't in immediate danger promptly shot Majora with multiple arrows of various kinds. The result of this was that Majora was impaled with regular arrows, frozen in ice, thawed (and then burned) by fire, exploded by bombs attached to arrows (courtesy of Dusk), and seared by light.
Naturally, all this caused some damage. Majora lost control of its flight path and began flipping over itself, leaking something red that hovered in the air around its body. It began trembling, vibrating, almost, and then-
It grew a leg.
Lore screeched to a halt and gaped, only to get bowled over by the rest of the Links who had been running behind him. They all tumbled into a ill-tempered heap.
"Vio, I swear, if it's you on my leg this time I will-"
"It's not me," Vio interrupted. Blue frowned.
"Then who..." He turned his head to see a slightly traumatized Red laying frozen on top of his leg.
"Ah... sorry, Red. I didn't mean that."
"You sure?" Red squeaked, sounding higher pitched than usual.
"Definitely. And- Lore you idiot, why'd you stop!?"
"Majora is doing pirouettes," Lore said dumbly.
The group paused at that, then hurriedly disentangled themselves and stood up. Sure enough, Majora had grown two more arms, a leg, and an eyeball and was racing around the room alternating between ballet and Russian folkdancing.
"...Well that's just strange," Steam said. As if Majora had heard him, the... well, it was more of a marionette now, shot out a stream of multicolored energy spheres that exploded on contact with the ground.
"We think it heard you!" the Four cried as they dodged.
Majora started racing around the room again, occasionally stopping to aim a kick at one of the Links or attempt to disembowel someone with fancy footwork. That, and the fact that it apparently had some sort of choreography that made hitting the marionette much harder.
"Oh, this is gonna take a while," Wind groaned. Then dodged.
They were here.
Finally, they were here.
And oh, how fun it was!
Their fear as they dodged, trying with all their pitiful might to survive.
Their pain when an attack connected, the sound their feeble bodies made as they slammed on the ground, the walls, the ceilings...
This was pleasure.
The only regret Majora had was that it would eventually come to an end. But, even that would lead to a different sort of pleasure. One where the mask was free from the confines of Demise and free to destroy anything in the way. The Moon would crash, Termina would burn... And so would everything else.
Burn.
Burn in my fire.
Ocarina, standing guard over the unconscious Mask, shot Majora in the chest as it attempted to drop-kick Sketch across the room. Luckily it only got as far as dropping him before the arrow hit, and the marionette proceeded to collapse on the ground and throw what looked like a... temper tantrum?
"...The more we fight this thing the more confused I get," Dusk decided. "Why on earth is it doing that?"
"Maybe it likes to troll?" Lore suggested. Majora pounded the floor with its fists again as he said this and made a whiny, wailing noise.
"Yeah well, it annoys me," Sketch growled, hoisting himself off the floor. He glared at the marionette, drew his sword and Spin-Attacked.
"And that's for trying to use me for a football!" he snapped. And then promptly sprinted to the other side of the room as Majora leapt onto its feet, did a hot-floor dance, and attempted to commit murder through ballet.
"Anyone else wonder why it stopped talking?" the Four wondered from a safe distance. They had all four of their bows drawn and aimed though, just in case.
"Oh yeah, it hasn't threatened us with burning alive in at least three minutes," Steam agreed. "Maybe it lost vocal chords when it grew limbs?"
"...But it never had vocal chords in the first place."
"Hmph. Good point. Maybe-"
"PAY ATTENTION TO THE DANCING DEATH PUPPET!" Gen roared as he streaked by, followed by the majority of the rest of the Links. They in turn were being chased by Majora, which was once again doing the Russian Folk Dance and narrowly missing their heads with every kick.
"Sweet Din!" Steam yelped and dove out of the way, crash-landing awkwardly on the floor. The Four hustled to the left, releasing their arrows as they did.
Unfortunately, they missed.
"New theory!" Steam exclaimed from the floor. "It's concentrating so much on the limbs and the dancing that it doesn't have time to threaten us verbally!"
The Four watched Majora prance around the room while executing a high-skill pirouette without getting dizzy. "...Speaking of which, why the heck is it dancing?"
Meanwhile, Speck had returned to his usual size when Majora wasn't looking and was using the pirouetting as a tracking opportunity. He'd noticed that Majora paused for a small second after it stopped spinning and before it started running. If he could time it right...
Wait for it... wait for it...wait for-DODGE! Okay, good, still alive. Wait for it... There!
The arrow was released, and Majora went down, once again throwing a fit on the floor. It really was rather odd.
"Nice shot!" Realm complimented, coming up beside Speck. He wasn't out of breath in the slightest. In fact, the way he was breathing suggested he'd just taken a leisurely stroll in the park.
The rest of the group really envied his stamina sometimes.
"I just watched for an opening," Speck replied, feeling somewhat awkward at the praise. "Um... are we going to hit it now, or...?"
"Oh yeah," Realm remembered. "Everybody stab the thing!"
Everybody rushed in and duly stabbed the thing.
At this point, Majora had taken a good bit of damage. So, naturally, it responded by doing what all exceedingly overpowered villains do in a final fight.
He went to his Final Form.
It involved a lot of disgusting noises, some shrieking, more disgusting noises as various body parts were moved around, muscles, something that sounded disturbingly like a heartbeat, and silence.
And then one more squelching noise as Majora ripped two thick whips out of its arms.
"...Oh, that's nasty," Gen cringed.
The creature threw it's head back and let out a savage-sounding whoop, then thrashed its arms – and by extension, its whips – around in a dark red whirlwind. Caught off guard, not all the Links got out of the way in time. Sketch, Blue and Vio, Lore, and Steam were all hit by the cutting ropes.
"FARORE THAT STINGS!" Blue shrieked as the whip lashed across his chest.
"Be glad it wasn't your stomach," Vio grunted, one hand pressed on his shoulder. He'd been caught turning to run and as such had a lot of damage concentrated in one spot. "It's hard to drink a health potion when your stomach is hanging out."
Blue opened his mouth to make a retort but got sidelined by Green yelling, "Argue later, run now!"
He decided that was good advice.
Majora didn't make a move to follow them as it would have when it was the mask or the marionette. Instead, it remained standing where it was, back haunched, arms hanging, and the whips trailing all over the floor from where they had landed. Then, suddenly, it wrenched itself upright and began lashing its arms around like it was conducting music. The whips moved accordingly and streaked around the room with a speed that once again caught the Links off guard. This time they managed to dodge, but only just barely.
"Mask awake yet?" Lore said hazily. He'd been in the process of ducking when the whips had hit, and as such only had a cut to the head. In his opinion, he was fine because he could still swing a sword. In Gen's opinion, he had a concussion from the impact and decent blood loss because head wounds bled a lot.
Ocarina had moved Mask to fit behind the barricade of the two's shields, which were what was keeping the whips from hitting the two of them earlier. "No, he's still out cold," he replied.
"Which is exactly what you're going to be if you don't drink this," Gen scolded and pushed a red potion into Lore's hands.
"Don' need it," Lore slurred. "Vio's got shoulder... break? Needs more than me."
"No, he has a deep cut," Gen corrected. "And I've already given him some potion."
"Needs his arm... swingy sword..."
"And we need you to think clearly," Gen retorted. "Now drink this, dangit!"
"Don' like trains."
Gen blinked. "What?"
"WHY NOT!?" Steam roared.
"Chu Chu," Lore mumbled. "Chugga Chugga Chu Chu... tastes bad."
"I didn't get this from a Chu," Gen said through gritted teeth. "I got it from a Potions Master."
"Is it strawberry?"
Gen took a very deep breath. "Sure. Let's go with that."
"Don' like strawberry."
Gen just about broke the bottle, he was squeezing it so hard. A few feet away, Majora's whips slammed into the shield barricade for the umpeenth time. "...Then what flavor do you like?"
"Kumquat..."
Gen paused. Beside him, Realm frowned and whispered, "What the heck is a kumquat?"
"I have no idea," Gen hissed back. To Lore, he said, "Well that's perfect then, because I've got this kumquat flavored potion right here. Do you want it?"
"Yay..." Lore said, reaching for the bottle. He began drinking it slowly, but gained more enthusiasm the more he had.
"Finally," Gen grumbled. He turned to Sketch and Steam who both had whip cuts on their legs and said, "And you two had better not have any flavor opinions, 'cause if you do I swear..."
"Actually, I just wanted to ask if we had any of Grandma's soup left," Steam said, with Sketch nodding in agreement. Gen paused mid-rant and blinked.
"Could've said so in the first place," he muttered as he pulled out two soup-filled bottles and handed them to his patients.
Lore appeared next to him, holding out the now-empty bottle with a frown on his face. "This wasn't kumquat," he said.
"I thought you were joking! You had a concussion!"
"Why would I ever joke about kumquats?"
"Because you're you," Gen sighed. "I'm not having this argument. Anyone else need a potion while we're barricading?"
Everyone who wasn't unconscious sounded off a negative.
"Right." He peered over the shields set up at Majora, who let off another sequence of whoops and threw the whips around again. They clanged off the shields with a metallic noise.
"So can we go then?" Shadow asked impatiently. Where his wounds had gone, no one was really sure. Then again no one was really sure about anything Shadow did. "I still have a bomb or two I'd like to use..."
Blue glared at him angrily. "No more bombs."
Shadow shrugged. "Fine... I'll make sure to use them in a open area next time. Happy?"
Blue clearly wasn't happy, but he was also a bit too angry to make a coherent complaint about it.
"Work it out later, guys," Green warned. "Preferably when we're not about to die."
"So we're good, then?" Lore checked. Everybody nodded. "Great. Break!"
Mask officially hated the color white.
He'd discovered, on accident, that if he placed an item into the whiteness said item would be assimilated. That being said, when the white bomb's white wick caught on white fire to warn him about the white explosion, he was more than a little annoyed.
Eventually, he just gave up and sat on what he thought was the chair. On the other hand, it could have been the table. But then again, it could also be that thing he'd run into earlier.
...He basically had no idea.
He wondered how the rest of the group was doing. He knew they were fighting Majora, but as far as that went, anything could be happening. It wasn't like Oni was any help. Mask hadn't seen the guy since he'd walked away and vanished into the thin white air.
He sighed and perched his head in his hands. At this rate he was going to be stuck here forever, because he had no idea how to get out and Oni hadn't seemed willing to share that information. Geez, was this what Ocarina had to look forward to as him? Half an epic adventure and then stuck in a formless white nothing for the rest of forever?
"Can't do that to him," Mask mumbled. He stood back up with a sigh and glanced around for the umpteenth time. "At the very least I need to learn the way out so he can learn the way out... curse time-travel participles."
"A paradox?"
"Holy-!" Mask yelped, spinning frantically. Oni was standing a few feet behind him, observing with a neutral expression. "Don't do that to me, man..."
"Time," Oni said quietly. "You have experience there?"
"Er... well, more than the average person I guess..."
"I see." Oni nodded introspectively.
Mask waited for a few seconds. Then a few more. "...So, are you gonna help me get out now?"
Oni sighed. "You cannot leave if you do not know why you came."
Mask groaned. "This again? I don't know what you want me to say! I already told you how I got here. I don't know what else there is."
Oni furrowed his brow, white eyes narrowing. "...Let me tell you a story."
"I don't have time for a story!" Mask snapped. "I need to get back and help my group!"
"Why?"
"...What kind of question is that?"
Oni closed his eyes impassively. "And that is why you will listen. So?"
Mask sighed heavily. "Eh, what the hay. Not like I'm going to get anything else done in here."
"Sit," Oni said, nodding his head towards the white ground. Mask did so, and Oni crouched a few feet in front of him.
"A very long time ago, there was a war," Oni began. "The demons of the world rose up and endeavored to wipe the goddess' creations from the face of the earth. To save the people, the goddesses formed a plan to send them into the sky."
"That sounds like where Gen comes from," Mask said. Oni tilted his head.
"Gen?"
"Well, that's what we call him," Mask elaborated. "If you wanna get real technical, his full nickname is Genesis. He doesn't like it much though."
"...First...?"
"That's what Vio said it meant," Mask agreed.
Oni considered that for numerable seconds before beginning to smile ever so slightly. "I find that... amusing."
"Why's that?" Mask asked, interested.
"I am getting to that. Now, among the people was a young man favored by the goddesses. He chose to take it upon himself to pick up his sword and fight against the demons, to ensure the survival of the people."
"Sounds like he had a hero complex," Mask snickered. "I've got one of those too. Drives me nuts sometimes."
"...Indeed. But, though he was a fierce warrior, he was only one man. Eventually he was captured by the enemy forces and imprisoned. For many days the creatures tried to break him, to make him tell them how to reach the goddesses, but they could not make him talk. After time, he was left to his own devices and forgotten in the dungeons of the demons."
"...That's harsh," Mask said, wincing.
"The goddesses took notice of their favored warrior then, and sent him help. In a surprise attack on the enemy, he was freed and once more given the tools to fight the battle he had devoted himself to.
"It was about this time that the goddess' plans to save the people were put into motion. The people were gathered on a slab of stone, and that piece of earth was sent skyward. But the warrior stayed behind."
"What? Why?" Mask asked in surprise.
"The leader of the demons had caught wind of the goddess' plans. He sent the entirety of his army to stop the goddesses from lifting the people out of his reach. The warrior knew that if the demons were allowed to reach the people, all would be lost. And so, he chose to remain, to fight off the demons until his people were safe."
"...Dang," Mask mumbled.
"That day, the warrior fought like he had never fought before," Oni said. "He cut down monster after monster, felling hundreds with his blade and not caring about the injuries he received in return. All his energy was focused on one thing: making sure his people would be safe. Nothing else mattered to him in that moment.
"But nothing can last forever, and so it was true with the warrior as well. Once the people were safely out of reach, the warrior's will to fight dimmed and he succumbed to his wounds. In sorrow, the goddesses made him a promise as he lay dying.
"There would always be one of his blood to protect the people. Always, there would be one like him who would rise up against the evils that would threaten that which he had given everything for. And they made it so that he would be remembered..."
At this point, Mask was so caught up in the story that he didn't even have a comment. Oni let the silence sit for a few seconds before saying, "Why did he do it?"
Mask thought for a minute. "He... was protecting what was important to him. He didn't care what he had to give in order to accomplish his goal. He would do anything to keep them safe."
Oni nodded slowly in approval. "So then, why was he there?"
"Because..." Mask answered slowly, "...he chose to be. He knew what could happen to him and he chose it anyways. Because if he didn't everything he cared about would be lost. And because... well, I guess because if he didn't, who would?"
"Very good," Oni said. "You have passed."
Mask paused. "Say what now?"
"The warrior was the original Hero," Oni told him. "Every legend, every story you have ever heard about the Hero originated with him. The one who saved the people, the one who made all the Heroes to come a possibility. Him. He is reflected in you. And the reason he stayed behind on the earth is the same reason you are here."
"I never knew that..." Mask said thoughtfully. "Now I kinda wonder why we never met him."
"Now, you have a choice," Oni said. "You can return to the battle and join your friends as you are..."
"I sense an 'or' coming," Mask grinned.
"Or," Oni continued with an ever-so-slight smile, "you can return to the battle and join your friends as I am."
Mask blinked. "As you are? Why? Wait, that won't turn everything white, would it?"
"There were few who knew the warrior when he was alive," Oni said. "Often, his ferocity in battle and his willingness to kill was frightening to the people. To them, he was a demon in his own right, and they called him as such."
Mask frowned. "That seems... kinda jerkish. Doesn't really answer my- hang on..."
"To the demons, however, he was known by something more... elaborate." Oni continued. "Odd, considering the mental capacities of most demons, but given by them nonetheless. To them, he was known as the Fierce Deity."
Mask gaped. "You... You're... What?!"
"It is nice to meet you, Hero of Time," Oni said, inclining his head. "I am honored to see that my kin are still able to carry my conviction."
"But – demon – Gen – mask?!"
"I can and will explain later," Oni said firmly. "However, I believe that right now your friends and counterparts could use some help?"
"Right. Right," Mask said, shaking himself out of his disbelief. "Now, uh, how does this work...?"
"You say 'Hit this', and I say, 'How hard?'" Oni said, suddenly deadly focused. Mask's instincts promptly screamed at him to get as far away from this man as possible before it was too late. He swallowed, hard.
"You've uh, got a bit of murder intent going on there," Mask said nervously. "You mind toning it down a little? I'm having a hard time convincing myself not to run... screaming... in terror..."
"I would not harm you, nor your counterparts," Oni assured him, though still with that look in his eyes. It was the kind of look that said, 'Touch me and die. Touch my family and die. Touch my friends and die. If you hurt them, I will end you. Now that we've got that out of the way, would you like a cookie?'
For some reason, that just made it all the more terrifying.
Majora had ridiculous aim with those whips.
Not only that, but whenever someone got too close for the creature's liking, it would leap the entire diameter of the room and land on the other side. Alternatively, it would sometimes spin out of the way, ballet style. But that maneuver had a whole different set of problems because the whips would splay out and streak though the air to slice anyone getting too close.
And all the while, Majora kept whooping. It was loud and incredibly high-pitched, and it almost sounded tribal. Savage. Like it was hunting.
Therefore, the Links had decided very quickly that long-range was the best tactic in this case. But even then, someone would get hit by a whip regardless of where they were standing. In one particular instance, Dusk had been on the exact opposite side of the room, literally as far away from Majora as he could be, when a whip came in and slashed him on his collarbone.
Gen quickly decided that unless a wound was life or fight-threatening, the potions could wait until after the battle. He had a limited supply, after all.
All things considered, though, the Links seemed to be losing. They tried to hit Majora with their arrows, but the creature would swing its whips around and knock all the projectiles from the air before they could even hit. They'd tried close-up combat earlier in the fight, but that had turned out to be an incredibly bad idea, as Realm had nearly had his head taken off and nobody was willing to risk it again.
But then-
"GUYS!" Ocarina bellowed. "MASK IS UP!"
Lore ducked behind his shield as a whip flashed by and yelled, "TELL HIM TO GET HIS BUTT OUT HERE THEN!"
"Uh... I'm not sure that's a good idea," Ocarina said, much quieter. Despite their impending danger of decapitation, the rest of the group turned to see what had Ocarina so surprised.
Mask looked... well, different. Not like himself. Paler, that was for sure, with paint on his face and a helix sword on his back. But his eyes were completely white. No iris, no pupil, nothing. Just blank.
And they were dangerously narrowed.
"Umm... Mask?" Ocarina asked hesitantly. "You doing al-"
"Move aside."
Ocarina flinched. "...Are you sure you're-"
"I do not wish to harm you, but if you do not move out of the way, I cannot guarantee your safety. Move. Aside."
Ocarina decided it might be a good idea to move. Mask stepped past him and walked out into the main area of the battle, moving past the rest of the Links and towards Majora.
"What's wrong with him?" Red whispered as he went by.
"I don't think that's Mask right now," Dusk replied softly. "I think that's someone else."
"Well reasoned," the man who was clearly not Mask said without actually turning to face them. "Now please, move away so that I do not accidentally kill you by proximity."
"Well that's just peachy then, isn't it," Shadow grumbled. He then decided talking might have been a mistake as the pale man's head slowly turned, and his white eyes locked onto Shadow's red ones.
"You... are not mine."
Shadow twitched. "The heck does that mean?"
The man kept looking at him, even when Majora let out another whoop and flailed its whips around again. He didn't even notice when they scored the ground on all sides.
"No... not entirely," the man corrected himself. "An... echo? Not all Hero, clearly... but not evil either... Half-mine."
"I am not anyone's," Shadow snarled. It went completely unregistered as the stranger turned his head back to Majora, clearly satisfied with whatever he had concluded about the dark Hylian.
"And you," the pale man said, addressing Majora. "You would destroy my legacy, for fun? Because you can? So be it. Know that what I do now, is merely a result of your own actions."
'So... what are you going to do to Majora?'
'I will give the abomination what it deserves. Nothing more, nothing less.'
'That's specific. Is this part of that whole, I say attack, you say how hard thing?'
'...If that is how you make sense of it.'
'Let's go with that. While we're talking, am I gonna have any control over this, or am I just along for the ride?'
'I am borrowing your body to manifest my own. You have called me, and I will respond.'
'So, that'd be a 'No', then?'
'If that is how you make sense of it.'
'Okay... once again, real specific there, Oni.'
'You are fortunate that I am familiar with sarcasm, young one.'
'Don't you start on me. So, now that I've pointed out what to hit, is there anything else I should do?'
'Watch my actions to make sure I am not being too brutal. I have been told I go too far sometimes.'
'I'll... do that.'
'My thanks.'
Oni watched Majora impassively as it screeched and lashed out with it's whip-like appendages. He was aware of his spirit descendants yelling and dodging behind him, but they were inconsequential at the moment. He could afford to worry for them after the threat had been dealt with. The young one who had called him had pointed this creature as the target, and Oni could see why some would consider it to be a formidable opponent.
Key word being some.
Majora had been staring at him for some time, but now it made it's move. With another high-pitched whoop, the creature lashed out with it's whips again, aiming directly for Oni. Who merely sidestepped, drew his Double Helix sword, and slashed the weapon through the air sending white-blue energy streaking back towards his enemy. Majora had no time to dodge as the magic hit hard, and the creature fell to one knee, slumped.
Oni sprinted forwards and, with unbelievable speed, landed a sequence of blows on Majora all laced with the same energy from his projectiles. Each blow elicited another whoop from the creature, though these sounded more pain-filled than before.
Then Majora pulled itself together enough to make an escape, and leaped to the other side of the room before lashing out with its whips one again. Oni tracked it impassively.
"...Impressive. Not many can say they lasted beyond my first attack." He lifted his sword and pointed it at Majora. "Unfortunately, all this will bring you is more pain before you finally succumb. Prepare yourself, creature."
He charged.
The pale white god was a threat. Majora acknowledged this. What it couldn't understand was how this... man got here. It had heard the stories of the Fierce Deity, from the ancient times and the ancient battles, of how one sole Hylian had slain thousands of its brethren. But he had died in those times, in those battles. So how was he here? How could he be the one causing the pain?
The white-eyes ran towards him again. Majora lashed out with its whips, but the Deity seemed not to even notice.
And Majora felt afraid.
'Dude! You are awesome! How'd you even do that?'
"Praise acknowledged, but please refrain from speaking unless absolutely necessary. This foe requires some... concentration.'
'Right. Sure. I can do that. Sorry.'
"Okay, that's most definitely not Mask," Ocarina decided.
"Oh, this guy is way cooler than Mask could ever hope to be," Lore enthused. Ocarina glared at him.
"That's me you're talking about, you know!"
"Not yet it isn't," Lore said childishly. "When it is you, then you can take offense. But not until, got it?"
"Oh, most definitely," Ocarina said with a somewhat concerning smile.
Oni dodged the incoming whips with a grim determination. The creature was resilient, he would admit that. It seemed far more intent on keeping him away then before. Lashing with its whips, spinning to hold a circumference, leaping when he got too close. Of course, Oni had his own tricks, namely his sword's projectiles. Nothing Majora tried could keep them away, and the creature got hit far more times than it landed one.
Then, Oni saw an opening in the flying whips and took it without hesitation. He darted in, right up to Majora's legs, and swung a two-handed blow straight into the knees. Majora screeched and slumped heavily, giving Oni a much better range to work with. His one weakness, that he could never fix, was the fact that he was only about five feet tall.
When he was alive, it had annoyed him to no end. Although it was fun to kill the demons who underestimated him because of it.
He delivered blow after blow to Majora's body, discharging more of the blue-white energy into his foe's body and causing more and more damage with every strike. Then he paused, sword held ready for the final blow.
"When you join your allies, remember this," Oni told the creature. "Remember who I am and remember why you know. Remember the reason I defeated you, and when you return to your own, tell them. For the reason why I won is the reason why they will."
And he plunged his sword in right between Majora's two, wide, unblinking yellow eyes.
The room began shaking. Majora's body dissolved and was replaced with the usual black hole. Everything was vibrating. The walls were fading out, the floor was fading everything was fading...
White.
"They're awake!"
The Links came to lying on the ground with a concerned Tatl and Tael hovering over them. The sky was blue and notably Moon-free. Shadow was distinctly smoking due to the fact that he was in sunlight, and with a lot of pain-filled cursing dragged himself to the shade under the nearest tree.
And the Fierce Diety mask was lying on the ground next to the actual Mask, who was blinking blearily at the clouds.
"Remind me to never, ever do that again," Realm groaned, facedown in the grass. "I have never been so thoroughly confused in my life. And coming from me, that's saying a lot."
Dusk pushed himself into a sitting position. "I take it this means we won?"
"Well, the Moon's gone," Lore noted, also sitting up now. "And since we don't appear to have died a flaming, painful death, I would assume yes."
"Oh, that was so not fun," Steam grumbled. "I preferred Malladus. Much more sensible."
"We revealed his weak point by playing a song," Dusk reminded him.
"It was more sensible than this mess, okay?"
"Not gonna argue about that one," Lore said, standing up and wincing. He'd gotten more whip-cuts during the fight, most of them on his legs. "I look like I'm wearing red fishnet."
"Oh, that reminds me," Gen cut in. "Anyone who needs a potion, now's a great time for it!"
He was suddenly a very popular Link.
"By the way, Mask, what the heck was that?!"
Everyone paused in their bottle-opening to look at their friend in curiosity. Mask blinked.
"Uh, well... that was Oni."
Vio frowned. "And who exactly is Oni?"
Mask grinned. "Gen, you're not gonna like this. Turns out, you're not the first one after all."
Gen thought about that, then shrugged and went back to handing out bottles. "Eh, I'll live."
"Kinda hoping for a better reaction," Mask muttered. "Anyways, turns out there was this war before any of us, right? Oni was a hero who fought in the war, and when he died the goddesses made him a promise that there would always be someone to protect the people. That's us, guys."
"Cool..." Red breathed, eyes sparkling.
"I agree it's cool," Wind said. "But what was he... Oni, doing inside a mask?"
Mask furrowed his brow. "I don't actually know. I didn't think to ask, and he didn't really volunteer the info..."
He stooped down and picked up the mask with Oni's face. "I guess I could ask him... hang on a sec."
He put on the mask and promptly dropped to the ground. The group stared.
"...Is he gonna do that every time he puts that thing on?" Steam asked.
"Kinda looks that way..."
Suddenly, the mask fell off Mask's face, and the boy blinked at the sky for a second before growling, "Well that was helpful."
"What'd he say?" the Four asked curiously.
"Well, I asked him how he got in a mask. He didn't respond, so I asked if he was going to answer me. He said no. And then he kicked me out because I was using his mask to ask stupid questions and not because there was something he could hit."
Everyone blinked.
"...I guess he'll tell us when he's ready," Realm decided.
Tael took the opportunity to check on the Skull Kid and let out a squeal of excitement. "Skull Kid's okay!"
Sure enough, the small wooden scarecrow boy was standing a few feet off to the side, looking up at the sky. He had a strangely beak-looking mouth and two small eyes that looked like embers.
"Did... did you save me?"
The Links glanced between each other. Technically, Oni had been the one to take Majora out, but since he didn't seem keen on being around at the moment...
"Probably," Lore said. Gen whacked him upside the head.
Skull Kid ignored that and considered Lore's answer for a minute. "...Then... would you be my friends?"
"Absolutely," Mask agreed. The Skull Kid smiled and hobbled forward on his wooden limbs, then sniffed the air around the Links.
"You have the same smell as the fairy boy who taught me that song," he said, pointing at Mask. His eyes roamed over the group and stopped on Ocarina, where they widened considerably. "And you look like him!"
Mask and Ocarina exchanged glances. "Would that be Saria's Song?" Ocarina asked slowly.
The Kid shrugged. "I dunno what it was called, but it was catchy! I used to play it a lot, before I came here."
Ocarina tilted his head. "You mean you're from Hyrule-"
"I know! Let's do something!" the Skull Kid burst out, completely overriding Ocarina's question. The group stared at him.
"Well now... this is interesting."
The group turned to see the Happy Mask Salesman standing a few feet away, looking up at the sky. "The mask appears to have gone, but I still sense... an evil..."
He turned to the group, eyes closed and odd smile fixed on his face like always. "It appears you still have much work to do, young Heroes. I will not keep you, for I too have travels to complete. But make sure you keep your promise! I still do not have my mask back, and I expect you to uphold your end of the bargain..." His eyes somehow managed to glint unnervingly at that, regardless of their still being 'happily' closed. And with that, he turned and began walking away, only to pause a few steps later.
"Wherever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow," he said, turning his head to look at them. "However, that parting need not last forever... But then, that is up to you, isn't it?"
And he walked away.
"The people here get weirder and weirder," Blue commented.
"Yeah... oh, we need to get going," Mask said. "Majora should have left a hole around here somewhere, and we really do need to find it."
"Oh no," Lore declared. "We are whipped, both figuratively and literally, and we just went through some of the most mind-warping junk you can find. I don't care if you prank me for this or what you think my reasons are, we are taking a rest. And that's an order. Clear?"
"...Clear," Mask said, somewhat confused at the force behind Lore's sentence. Just then the sun went behind a cloud, and Shadow ventured out from his safe zone beneath the tree.
"If we're hanging around here for a bit, then I've got an errand to run," Shadow said. "Would... anyone like... to come... with... me?"
Everyone stared at him, mouths gaping.
"What!?" Shadow snapped.
"You just asked us to spend time with you," Wind said dumbly. "And I think you did it willingly."
"Who are you, and what have you done with Shadow?" Lore gasped.
Shadow gritted his teeth. "It's... occurred to me, that... this situation may have been my fault. Had I not gone ahead on my own... it's much less likely that I would have been caught. So I've... decided... to try and tolerate you people."
"...Well, it's progress," Sketch decided.
"But don't go expecting me to be a pleasant person," Shadow warned them. "I don't do personable. Got it?"
"Got it," the group chorused.
"Good. Now, I need to buy a cloak if I'm going to be around you people all the time, because I don't do sunshine. Who wants to pay for it?"
"...Still progress," Dusk decided. "I'll come."
"Eh, what the hay," Gen decided. "Sounds amusing."
"I can't wait to see the shopkeeper's face," Blue snickered. "I'm in."
"And I'll be coming to keep Blue out of trouble," Green sighed.
"If Green's going, I wanna come!" Red piped up.
And so it went, that eventually every Link went with Shadow to buy a cloak.
The shopkeeper's face was duly hilarious.
You guys would not believe my workload these past weeks. Personally I blame midterm. I now have a perfectly justifiable excuse for being so late with this chapter.
If you couldn't tell, I was channeling Phoenix Wright for Lore's rant. I feel it worked out well.
Also, this is why I rated this thing T. Partly because of paranoia, but also because Majora bumps up the rating level just by being present. The mask's got some issues. Violent, disturbing issues.
Oni, by the way, means demon. I thought it fit, for what I was using the character for. And also, it's kind of a fan name. Speaking of which, what did you guys think of what I came up with? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Pre-Skyward Sword Link, check!
Until next time,
Changeling
Thanks to Gabriel the zombie architect, KRPrime, Umi no Suirom, Stallord, khr1410, and Neo Rulez for favoriting/following!
NA: You have an interesting way of avoiding curse words. As for which Hyrule is next... Wait and See...
Talon: Well, it is an evil mask bent on the destruction of everything. If it's not creepy then there's either something wrong with the character or the player.
Nick Pillow: Yes, I know who the Hero's Shade is. But I'm not planning on using him, mainly because I've already addressed this via the goddesses, and also because having a dead Link is really creepy. And my story genres noticeably do not include Horror.
Fluffle Star: ...But Mask looks nothing like that in any of his games... And aside from that, I'm not using the Hero's Shade. Because it's creepy to have a dead Link running around. He's a skeleton.
The has-been who never will be: Tips for a fanfic... good grammar. It doesn't matter how good your story is, if you can't spell and have no idea what proper punctuation is, nobody is going to like it. And make sure you know your franchise. Nothing infuriates fans more than a cocky ignoramus spouting nonsense about their favorite characters and acting like it's canon.
As for the Fierce Deity, I feel like Mask is in control. Gameplay-wise, the Deity isn't exactly a Berserker. You can still control him the same way you control regular Link. In terms of the specifics... well, you'll just have to Wait and See...
The Shy Potato: Well, who am I to reject new readers?
PokemonTrainer: Yeah, I remember that. Great Spin, I believe? I haven't forgotten, I just haven't seen a good chance to use it yet.
Zyrex: Sure. Lots of my readers give suggestions. The cow thing was reader-suggested, and look how funny that turned out.