Author's Note: Ok! I think you know the drill…I'm sorry about the short-chapter thing, and about the format…but I'm having an itty-bitty problem figuring out how to correct it. All comments, reviews, suggestions, reviews, ideas, reviews, and reviews are welcome!
Disclaimer: Default Standard Disclaimers Apply. I don't own anything that isn't mine.
Chapter 4: Legends
While Link was in shock over the changes in his appearance, Zelda, Malon, and Impa were deep in their council. Malon's retelling of the incident at the ranch and Zelda's revelation of her dire predictions had left all of them mentally worn out. When Zelda's feelings had been explained to Malon, a heavy silence fell over the group. Impa was the first to break it.
"This does not bode well for our young friend." With a sigh, she looked up and met the eyes of her charge and the ranch girl. "I do not know what has happened to him, but I have an idea of what it is doing to him." Startled, Zelda spoke to her attendant, pleading, "Then, you have seen something like it before? You can stop it?" Malon said nothing, only looked at Impa with hope in her eyes. Impa saw this hope, and felt terrible to break it. However, the truth is a principal of her people. Shaking her head, Impa started with her explanation.
"It has been said, in ancient legends, that if some outside force is brought into another's body, and the mind and body accept it, then the force may act upon the body of it's host, changing it to match the original body of the force. Legends say that this is not always a bad thing. Some adventurers of those time would allow their bodies to be changed for a short time, in order to use abilities that they would otherwise not posses. They could return to their original forms at any time that they wished, by simply removing whatever focus the spirit was concentrated in." Impa paused, her expression thoughtful. "If a malevolent spirit is used in such a way, it is entirely possible that it could try to take over the user, but only if it had gained a "toehold" of sorts, such as…" Here Impa stopped, thinking. When she didn't continue, Malon broke in, saying, "'Such as' what?" Impa was snapped out of her thoughts by the question, and she looked at the stressed farmer's girl.
"I really do not know." She confessed wearily. "But, I suppose it is not important at this moment. The questions we need to focus on are where Link has run to…" Zelda spoke up, continuing Impa's sentence. "How he acquired such a relic…" "And why he used it." Malon finished. The three girls looked at one another, the gloomy sadness and tension of before replaced by a resolute sense of purpose. They had a mission to protect a dear and beloved friend, and may heaven help any who got in the way.
Link lay in the shadow of the boulder he was camped by. Dusk was fast approaching, and the sky was stained in hues of orange and pink, the western horizon was a rosy red, countered by the dark blue of the eastern skies. Link saw none of the beauty. His focus was inside, his thoughts whirling around in a frenzied cyclone. Without warning, the hurricane of panic-stricken thoughts were quieted, and a voice spoke from the depths of his mind. Link knew the dark voice well. You should, it said, I'm your voice, after all.
"No, not mine." Link didn't realize he had spoken his denial aloud. It didn't matter. Yes, your voice. I am you, you are me, we are one and the same.
"No, you are something different." The voice just laughed. If not yet, then soon. Why do you continue to resist me? You cannot win…You saw the evidence in your own reflection.
"What makes you think you can be me?" The voice laughed again, louder, it seemed. I already told you, we are one and the same. I am a part of you that you cannot deny, cannot hide, I am as much a part of you as your shadow-twin…You remember him, don't you? Link was shocked that the voice knew about him, his 'shadow-twin' as the voice named him. The dark version of himself he had met in the Water Temple under Lake Hylia…but that had been in another timeline…and he wasn't really real, was he? So you do remember him? He is as real as I am, just in another dimension at the moment. He is half of you, as I am part of you, and the timeline makes no difference. He is always there: Light cannot exist without Shadow. Part of Link wondered what all that meant, and he filed it away in his memory for later examination, but mostly, he kept returning to one thought: How did I get into this mess? The voice laughed again, and before Link could stop it, he was plunged into a torrent of memories.
The flailing tentacles of Majora's Wrath whipped over to where Link crouched, shield at the ready. It did no good. The living whips wrapped around Link, raising him up into the air, crushing the life out of him, bit by bit. When the tentacles let him fall back to the ground, Link found he could not get back up. Tatl hovered over him, shouting his name. It took a few seconds for Link to register it. Gasping in pain, Link spoke to her around his broken ribs.
"It's okay, Tatl…I'm still alive…I can still fight…" But both Link and Tatl knew the lie as Link once again collapsed to the floor. Tatl racked her mind for a solution. Then she had it. "Link! The mask! You have to!" Link looked at Majora before answering. It was starting to come near them, sensing it's victim's helplessness. "Tatl, we don't know what that thing will do!" Majora was getting dangerously close now.
"I know! But we both know that Majora will kill you if you don't, and then you know what will happen to Termina! We don't have a choice, Link!" Link saw the truth in Tatl's words. One more hit from Majora would do him in, and he was Termina's final hope.
Although Link did nothing to alter the flow of time, it seemed to him that time slowed down. He vaguely saw Majora homing in for the kill, heard Tatl scream, but none of it seemed to hold any importance. Link's attention was held by the mask he withdrew from his tunic. It was shaped like a young warrior's face, with silver-white hair that seemed to glow with a radiance all it's own. The face had on war paint, blue and red. Link had no idea of what the mask was made of, but he knew there was nothing else like it in existence. As Link closed his eyes, he though he saw Tatl turn to face him, but if she said anything, Link didn't hear it. With a deep breath and closed eyes, Link put on the mask.
With surprising suddenness, the spirit in the mask set to work. Link felt his body warp and twist, felt some unknown magic suffuse his being. Then he felt the pain. There was always pain in a transformation, but not like this. This was a new type of pain, in a class all it's own. Link tried to scream but couldn't, as his mouth was reforming itself along with the rest of his body. Tatl watched in horrified speechlessness as Link's body grew to fit the mask. His chest deepened, his limbs lengthened, and his spine stretched out to a seemingly impossible height. Tatl could only hover above his shifting body, and she only dimly registered the fact that Majora had stopped as well, trying to asses this new threat. Link's body continued to shift, paying no heed to the two silent observers. Blue magic rippled over his tunic, changing the color to that of moonlight, complete with a pearly radiance. Over this was formed black armor that fit like a second skin, molding itself to Link's new form. The ripple of magic traveled over Link's body, issuing the final changes. His boots were enlarged, and over his arms and legs was placed a black covering. The magic reached Link's face, and blue and red markings appeared on his face. Link's hair was the last to change, the magic searing the color from sun-gold to platinum.
The Link that was not rose to his feet, and opened his eyes. That nearly made Tatl faint. His eyes were no longer the perfect blue they had been but moments before. In their place were eyes of pure white, showing no pupil, no color, and no emotion.
Link stood up. He felt vastly different. There was no more pain, from injuries or otherwise: he might have imagined it. In fact, he felt great. He hadn't felt nearly this good since…since he had been an adult. That was what he had been missing. He felt more complete as an adult, but Zelda had sent him back…but this was no time for memories. An enemy stood before him, one that must be crushed. Tatl forgotten, Link pulled a massive double-helix sword from a sheath on his back. Brandishing it before him, Link faced Majora. A tiny part of him wondered why Majora seemed to be backing away, as if scarred…Ignoring his doubts, Link spoke.
"I am the Fierce Deity." His voice sounded familiar…just like it had when he had been an adult. Only now, his words rolled off his tongue like thunder, reverberating throughout the room. The same tiny part of him felt alarmed: Why had he said he was the Fierce Deity? Where had that come from? Once again ignoring the warning, Link faced a terrified-looking Majora, and continued.
"Thy end is near, demon. Prepare thyself." With that, Link swung his colossal sword, a blade of blue energy streaking out to smack Majora's chest. The magic coursed over Majora, burning into it. Link fought Majora, striking again and again with his sword and the blue energy that he felt running through his veins.
And Link loved every minute of it.
Link didn't need the voice of the Fierce Deity to remind him of what happened after that. He had used his power to defeat Majora's Wrath. Majora never had a chance. The moon had been destroyed, and Termina saved. Link had woken up in Termina Field, near Epona, Tatl, Tael, and Skullkid. Not to mention the four Giants and the mask salesman, who was happy to have reclaimed Majora's Mask. Link hadn't questioned this until later. He had not taken off the mask, but he had woken up in his own body. The mask had disappeared. Link had said his good-byes, and rode Epona towards Hyrule. Link had gotten all the way to the lost woods before he found out what had happened to the mask. He'd thought it had been destroyed, and was thinking such when an eerily familiar voice spoke up inside his own mind. Link had nearly fallen off Epona as the voice assured him that he had not been destroyed. The mask had become a part of him, and the Fierce Deity wanted Link's body back. Link had refused, and from that day forth the spirit of the mask had been trying to force its changes on Link, a little at a time. Link hadn't thought it would succeed, until he saw his altered hair in his reflection.
Link had known then that it was imperative that he get himself out of Hyrule, and fast. The voice, once again laughing, assured him that he couldn't run, and with that the voice faded into the deep recesses of Links mind. With a sigh of despair, Link went to sleep.