Author's Note: Special thanks to everyone who's read my previous works. This was a long time in the making, as I wasn't as focused this time around. But it should be something special nonetheless. I'll still help out with * references.


Chapter 5

It definitely surprised Saria to see Malon approaching the Forest Temple. But more than that, it amazed Saria that she was alone. She and Link were in love and were usually inseparable. Why was Malon alone? Had something happened? Or was Link looking for the mask?

Saria and Sodo came out and ran up to the seemingly tired farm girl. She seemed to be out of breath. Saria hadn't seen Malon for at least a month when they were stuck in that parallel Hyrule with Link and Princess Zelda*. She wished she were happier to see her, but seeing Malon alone raised a lot of questions.

It was Sodo who broke the silence. "Malon? You look tired."

"I've been walking all night," Malon said, breathing heavily. "I need to sit down."

Saria led the farm girl to a wall and sat her down. "Malon, what are you doing here alone? Where's Link?"

Silence. It was a long silence that started to scare Saria.

"Link…" Malon began. She struggled to find the right words. "Link's…disappeared."

That hit Saria like a ton of bricks. She was completely speechless. She looked up at the sky, watching the falling moon, and immediately realized what that meant. It could mean that something terrible had happened to Link and the world could be doomed.

"He's disappeared?" Saria asked rhetorically. "Malon, where'd he go?"

"I have no idea where he went," Malon answered. "I just woke up one night and saw that he had left the ranch. He wasn't around anywhere, but he was just gone."

Saria realized this could be disastrous. "Malon, did he disappear before or after the moon started falling?"

Malon took a deep breath. "Before. He's been gone for weeks. At first, I thought he went out for a stroll or for a visit here or somewhere else. But now, I don't know where he is…or if he's even ok."

Saria stood silent. She looked up at the sky again. If Link had disappeared, then something was terribly wrong. If he was gone, then who would be left to stop the end of the world?

"Come in, Malon," was all Saria could say. "You could use some sleep."


Chapter 6

They hadn't moved from their spot on the courtyard. Mido and the other Kokiri were still there looking up at the moon. Aside from a few occasional arguments, it had remained completely silent. But Mido saw Sodo peeking in through the door.

"What are you doing?" Mido asked curiously, finally breaking the long silence.

"Uh…n-nothing," Sodo answered nervously. "I just wanted to see if everyone was still here." He seemed a bit edgy. "W-Well…time for me to go." Closing the door, Sodo left as quickly as he had came.

"Well, that was weird," Rala observed.

"What's with him?" Miso asked.

"Maybe he's just nervous from our impending doom," Somi tried answering. "I mean, aren't you all a little edgy knowing that our world's ending?"

Everyone agreed.

Just then, an idea hit Mido. "Well, if our world's about to end, then we might as well make the most of it."

"How do we make the most of this?" Fala asked.

"We're about to die," Ralo added.

"I knew it," Dore smirked. "The pressure's gotten to him. Mido's cracked."

"I have NOT cracked!" Mido snapped. "I'm just proposing that we do a little something on this occasion. A feast."

Everyone looked strangely at Mido.

"You…want to have a feast?" Dila asked slowly.

"But feasts are for celebrating," Sofa noted.

"You're going to celebrate us all dying?" Miso asked.

"No," Mido groaned. "This is not to commemorate our impending deaths. It's more like to commemorate the final days of our lives. If we're going out, we might as well go out with a bang."

Silence.

"Hmm, I think I see what you're saying here," Dore finally said. He stood up and looked at all the present Kokiri. "Well, I think Mido's right."

"You do?" Dila and Sofa asked. They looked at their brother in bewilderment.

"Don't give me that look," Dore frowned. "Just because we're all about to die horrible deaths doesn't mean we can't indulge ourselves during these last few days."

"My sentiments exactly," Mido said excitedly. "So I propose we spend the next few days hunting down a few Deku Scrubs…no…a few DOZEN Deku Scrubs and have one giant feast."

"When is this giant feast?" Mira asked.

Mido looked up at the sky. "Judging by how close that moon is, I'd say we have about a week. So we'd better get moving. The girls can set up a giant table at the courtyard and the rest of us can go out into the Sacred Forest Meadow and hunt a few dozen Deku Scrubs. By the end of the week, we'll be indulging ourselves in one giant last meal."

Everyone seemed to be murmuring affirmatively. They seemed to like this idea, which was pretty amazing in itself. No one seemed to like Mido's ideas. It must've been a sign of the Apocalypse…Mido shook his head. These weren't thoughts he wanted to have when the moon was so close to crashing.

"So when do we start?" Miso asked.

"We start now," Mido said proudly. He pulled Miso up and dragged him along. He noticed that the Know-It-All brothers weren't following. "Aren't you three coming?"

"We'll catch up to you," Dore shrugged. "Besides, we thought we'd give you a head start."

"And just what's THAT supposed to mean?" Mido demanded.

"It means that you and Miso couldn't get a Deku Scrub to save your lives," Dore answered. "I'll bet we can bring back at least twice as many as you."

"You're on!" Mido shouted. Mido was never one to turn down a challenge. It wouldn't look good for his image. His ego wouldn't let anyone like Dore show him up.

Dore smirked confidently at his brothers. "This is going to be easy."

"We'll see how easy it is!" Mido shot back. "We'll meet outside in five minutes and split up. And we'll see who can get more Deku Scrubs."

"Why do I have a feeling they won't get very many?" Rala whispered to Domi.

"Never mind that," Mido said dryly, having heard Rala. "You girls just get everything ready for our final feast. This may take a while."

Having said that, Mido dragged Miso behind him and made his way out of the temple, closely followed by Domi. He soon found himself followed by the Know-It-All brothers. The battle lines were drawn and this time, Mido wouldn't let Dore outshine him. Especially since this would be their last competition before the end came.


Chapter 6

It had been a few hours since Malon arrived. Saria's heart just compelled her to let Malon rest, even though from the looks of the moon, they wouldn't have many hours left. She had Malon resting in the basement of the Forest Temple. They were in the room in which Link defeated the Phantom Ganondorf, where none of the Kokiri would see her. The last thing Saria needed was for them to make a fuss of this. They had enough to worry about.

Sodo suddenly walked back in. "They have no idea she's here."

"I think it's a good idea we keep it that way," Saria said. Just then, Malon woke up. Saria walked over to the weary farm girl. "Feeling better?"

"Not exactly," Malon replied. "I'm just worried. I don't know where Link's gone."

Saria needed to learn some details of this disappearance. Their whole world might depend on it. "Malon, do you remember the last time you saw Link?"

Malon lay on the ground thinking. "I…think so. It was a few weeks ago…"

It was late. A full moon was clearly visible in the Hyrule sky as it had been for the past few hours. Having finished her chores for the day, Malon figured that she would go to sleep. She made her way out of the stable and started walking towards her room. But a familiar face stopped her at the door.

"You aren't going to sleep already, are you?"

Malon nodded tiredly. "Come on, Link. I've had a hard day and I just want to get to bed."

Link just shook his head. "Malon, you always used to stay up late. Don't you remember when we used to watch the sun rise together?"

Malon smiled gently. "Of course I do. It was just YESTERDAY!"

"Oh, right," Link said sheepishly. "Wasn't that just beautiful?"

Malon giggled. She saw where Link was trying to go with this. "I know you want us to have one of our romantic nights, but I just feel tired. I need to get some sleep." She started walking past Link and into her room.

"What should I do though?" she heard Link ask. "I'm not tired."

"Go play with Epona or something," Malon yawned. "Or go have a staring contest with Ingo. I don't care, just let me SLEEP!"

Malon slammed the door and plopped into her bed. She immediately fell asleep.

Hours passed…

**CRASH**

Malon woke up at the sound of lightning. She looked at the cucco clock to see that it was only two in the morning. But she immediately noticed that Link wasn't in his bed. He still hadn't gone to sleep. As much as she didn't want to, she pulled herself out of bed. She knew she would find Link in the stable talking with Epona. She made sure to tiptoe down the stairs as to not wake up her father (as if THAT were possible) and walked out the door. The farm girl covered her head as much as she could as she crossed through the rain and into the stable. The first thing she noticed was that it was seemingly empty.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?"

Malon turned around to see that Ingo was still up and finishing up his chores. Ingo still had his surly expression, but he wasn't who Malon was looking for.

"Ingo, have you seen Link?"

Ingo paused to ponder that. "I haven't seen him. Are you sure he wasn't with you?"

"I haven't seen him," Malon answered. "He's not in bed and he's not in here. Where could he be?"

Before she could let Ingo answer, Malon walked out of the stable. Bracing the heavy wind, she walked into the corral. It was empty. Link wasn't there either. Just then, she heard Ingo again.

"I wouldn't worry about the boy," Ingo shouted from the stable. "Maybe he just went for a walk."

It sounded weird to Malon. Who would take a walk in the middle of this heavy rain? But she remembered that this was Link. He might have had another of his prophetic nightmares and walked out. He might have gone to Hyrule Castle, or more likely, he might have gone to the Forest Temple to visit Saria. That had to be it.

Not thinking any more of it, Malon went back to bed.

"I thought he'd be back," Malon continued. "If he did come here, I knew he wouldn't be back for a while. But then days passed and the days turned into weeks and there was no sign of him. And I decided to look for him on my own."

"Did you try Hyrule Castle?" Saria asked.

"I tried, but there's something going on over there," Malon answered. "Security's the tightest it's ever been and I couldn't get in. I think something might be wrong."

"You think it has anything to do with Link?" Sodo asked.

"Maybe," Malon shrugged. "There's always the possibility that Zelda had a message sent to Link and he might have left on short notice. But if that were true, then why wouldn't they let me in? I told them who I was and they recognized me, but they still didn't let me in. I think something might have happened to Zelda too."

Saria looked up at the sky again. "Link's disappeared and Zelda may be missing. And there's a giant moon falling down on our world, undoubtedly from Majora's Mask. Somebody's behind this."

"But who?" Sodo wondered. "Who would remove Link and Zelda and then send a moon crashing down to destroy our world. It doesn't make sense."

Malon stood up. "It doesn't make sense to a person. But if there's anything I've learned about Majora's Mask, and I've learned quite a bit from Link, it's that no one's thinking straight when they're wearing that mask. They don't control their own actions, they're always under the influence of the mask's evil."

"So what do we do?" Sodo asked.

"We have to find Link or whoever's wearing the mask," Saria answered boldly. "Link might have some idea of what's going on with the moon and may have some kind of lead. But if we find whoever's wearing the mask, we can get it off and put an end to all this."

"Wait a minute," Sodo said sternly. "You can't be serious. Saria, you told me that Majora's Mask almost killed Link. I can't let you or Malon get in the face of that kind of power. Who knows what could happen?"

"We have no choice," Saria shot back. "If we don't go, we'll all be doomed. We've got to leave right away. There isn't much time."

Sodo seemed a little more nervous. "B-But Saria. You can't go. You don't know what'll happen."

Saria didn't know what to think of that. At first, she thought Sodo was getting worried for her safety again. She admired that about him, but this was a dire situation. She couldn't let him stand in her way. Then she got an idea.

"You're right, Sodo," Saria said. "I don't know what I'm thinking. Malon and I would be so defenseless out there."

Sodo's demeanor wasn't changing. This frustrated Saria. Being in love with each other also meant that they knew everything about each other. He was seeing right past this charade. But Saria still had another trick up her sleeve.

"Of course, if you were to come with us, I'm sure we'd be fine. After all, you're such a strong guy."

"Saria…" Sodo said in a nagging tone. "What do you take me for? I am not Mido and I am not Dore. I'm not falling for this."

"Fine," Saria sighed. "Just come help me see Malon out."

"I guess I can do that," Sodo said a bit nervously. He walked out of the room, leaving Saria alone with Malon.

"Don't worry about him," Saria told Malon. "I'm sure he'll see things my way soon enough."


Chapter 7

At the foot of the exit leading out of the Forest Temple, Saria and Sodo were ready to say goodbye to Malon. Or so it seemed. Saria wasn't giving up just yet.

"Wait, Malon," Saria suddenly said. "I just remembered something. Sodo, could you come with me really quick?"

Saria smiled as Sodo followed her to another part of the temple. Apparently, he hadn't known her as well as he thought. Saria stopped in front of a door with Sodo stopping shortly after.

"Sodo, could you find that bottle I left in there?" Saria asked, with a hint of a grin.

"Uh…ok," Sodo replied.

He walked in the door a bit reluctantly. Saria realized that he must have heard her suppressed chuckling. When he was all the way in, Saria slammed the door shut behind him. She quickly pulled out a key and locked the door. All Sodo could do was bang on the door in vain.

"Saria! Let me out of here! You don't understand! You can't go! Let me out!"

Leaving Sodo locked in, Saria walked back to the Forest Temple exit. She saw that Malon was still waiting out there.

"What happened?" Malon asked curiously.

"I told you he'd see things my way," Saria grinned. "I convinced him to let us go while he stayed and watched over the Kokiri. So, let's go. We don't have much time left." She just about pushed Malon out of the temple. After all, they were in a hurry.

Sodo desperately tried to get Saria to open the door, but it was no use. She was probably gone by now. He felt so stupid. In the whole month she had been back, he hadn't told her of the true danger of her leaving the temple.

Saria didn't realize what would happen if she left the temple for too long*. He didn't doubt that Saria could find Link and he didn't doubt that she could stop whoever was wearing the Majora's Mask. He had a lot of faith in her. But what she didn't know was that if that disaster were averted, there would be another one to follow. Saria didn't know that if she was away from the temple for too long, then the Sages' seal would break…

…And Ganondorf would be unleashed on the world once more.


Chapter 8

It had been a month since the four strangers had left Hyrule*. But to her, they weren't just strangers. They were her prophecy fulfilled. Her world had been in turmoil from everything that had gone down in Lake Hylia. The Hylian Civil War had taken its toll on the entire Hylian populace.

The Hylians had spent years fighting each other and there seemed to be no end in sight. Especially since the Kokiri refused to take any action. They were far too apathetic. But she knew that something had to be done, but the other Kokiri refused to listen to her. But then she saw the prophecy.

In her prophecy, she had seen four mysterious strangers appear from a portal. They had come from another universe, but she didn't know what it meant. That's when the four strangers came to Hyrule Castle. They were immediately arrested by the Kokiri guards and that's when she decided to go see them. They were an unusual bunch. One seemed to be a Hylian princess, even though the notion of a Hylian princess was unheard of. Another one was a gentle farm girl who seemed out of place with the other three. Another one wore a strange tunic and carried a sword. And the fourth one was the one who really got her attention. She was a small girl who wore a turtleneck and green shorts. But she also had green hair and a very familiar face. Then she saw it. It was her. It was almost as if she were looking in a mirror. Indeed the resemblance was startling.

The four had a purpose. It had to do with the legendary Majora's Mask. Somehow, the prophecy said they would combat the mask. And it did happen. An evil wizard wore the evil mask and he began to attack Lake Hylia. But more than that, he went after the four strangers. However, his evil was overcome and the mask was removed. The mask, however, refused to give up and killed the wizard in its evil rage. It began to attack, but it was also overcome in the end.

When the mask was defeated, the Hylian Civil War ended soon after. It was thanks to her new friend, Amanecera, who found evidence that the Hylian Civil War was completely unnecessary. The war ended and the four strangers returned to their own world, a world just like Hyrule.

However, it was not over. Word was out that a warlord was not happy about seeing the end of the Hylian Civil War and he was willing to take action. But whatever his plan was, she would go find out.

The four were her friends. And Princess Saria refused to let anything happen to her friends. Whatever this warlord had in mind, she had to stop him before it happened. Whatever sick and twisted plot for revenge he had, she had to assert her power and put a stop to it.

"Is that it?"

That was Amanecera. It took some doing by her parallel self, but Princess Saria convinced the rest of the Kokiri cabinet to accept Amanecera into Hyrule Castle.

"I don't think anyone else would live out here."

That was Sodo. He went missing for a long time after the Kokiri cabinet had become more and more apathetic. He left to live out in the Sacred Forest Meadow with a reclusive Amanecera. They had become friends and in asking him to come back, Princess Saria couldn't bear to separate them. She was glad that they had moved into Hyrule Castle. They were her only two friends. None of the other Kokiri seemed to like her or even care about her.

"This is the place," Princess Saria said. "And this is where we'll find our answers."

She looked ahead to her target. It was a small cave on the outside of Hyrule Field. The area was deserted which was perfect for a hermit like Gnome. And Gnome would have the answers she was looking for.


*-See 'A Place Like Home…?'


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