"An Act to Follow"
Disclaimer: Zelda isn't mine. And I can't think of a way to say that in a witty and droll manner, which is unfortunate. All original characters are © to their respective people, you know who you are!
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Author's Notes: Well, last time we didn't end with a cliffhanger. Maybe I will this time…Muahahahaha!! On with the show! As always, your feedback would be great! I'm reposting this, somebody forgot to spell and grammar check! Bad me! Bad! OK, enjoy it more now, seeing as it is grammatically sound and everything is spelled right!
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An Act to Follow - Part 5: One can run, but one can't always hide
He really hated these meetings.
Mayor Dotour shifted uneasily on his offical chair. He'd never known just why a Mayor would have use for such a fancy thronelike seating arrangement, especially one that was so uncomfortable. With a sigh, he turned his eyes on the Captain of the Clock Town Guard.
"Captain, are you sure these measures are necessary?"
The Captain nodded gravely, stroking his moustache. He wasn't wearing his helmet at the moment, but he still cut an intimidating figure. "Your Honor, for the safety of those in the city and for the good of the Festival, it is my belief that we must take all measures with extreme caution. We are still unsure of what exactly caused that disturbance last night. But for safety reasons, sir, it would be in our best interest-"
The Mayor sighed. "This is all very uninformative, Captain. What makes you so sure this wasn't just a skulker making a bad move or just some child poking things that shouldn't be touched? I refuse to make any hasty descisions just because you have a hunch."
Clearing his throat, the Captain stated simply, "Your Honor, we found evidence that whatever was in West Clock Town that night wasn't human. The tracks-"
Raising an eyebrow, the Mayor's normally tacit expression turned slightly concerned as the Captain continued.
"The tracks, sir. If they weren't Wolfos tracks, then I'm not a Captain. My comrades have convinced themselves otherwise, but I believe there may be cause for alarm."
The Mayor stroked his chin, agitated.
"Sir, there are many people in this town, many here for the Festival. If something were to happen-"
Mayor Dotour closed his eyes, nodding. "Yes, yes of course. But what can we do about…well…"
The Captain grinned. "I have contacts who deal with these sort of things all the time. His summons were sent already as a precaution."
Mayor Dotour blinked. "Are you sure this…contact of yours is trustworthy? He isn't going to, uh, work blatantly, is he?" The Mayor had an unpleasant vision of a man dragging a Wolfos corpse though the streets in broad daylight.
"Well," the Captain said, "He certainly does his job, if that's what you mean. And he's very discreet about…disposals."
"Well, thank the fates for that," the Mayor said. "Just as long as nobody gets hurt."
"Come back here!!"
Timbre was hardly discreet about his temper at the moment. The moment Tejina had heard him yell, she'd taken off into the crowd like a shot. No way you're going to lose me that easily, the boy thought angrilly.
She was quick, he'd give her that. How she managed to stay one step ahead of him was beyond him, maybe it was another magic trick. Pushing through the crowd, he caught the hem of her skirt as it swung around the corner, headed for the Laundry Pool.
Good. She'll be cornered in there, Timbre thought. Rounding the corner as well, he nearly flew down the incline. "I'm so gonna get you for this-huh??"
He stared at the Laundry Pool, which was completely devoid of anyone. The last thing on anyone's mind at the moment was laundry, after all. But that still didn't explain the girl's sudden absence. Unless… Timbre glanced around hastilly as he got that funny feeling again.
"I know you're in here!" He yelled aloud. "I don't know why you decided to steal from me, but I'm not gonna leave you alone until you give it back, you hear me?!"
A sudden movement to his right made him jump and turn his head. But it was gone again as quickly as it had arrived. Puzzled, Timbre scratched his head. Suddenly, something poked him in the back.
"Aaah!" A rather furious boy turned to stare into the grinning young girl's face. She was now wearing Timbre' headband. "Give it back. Now." Timbre grated between his teeth, almost at a growl.
"Tell ya what, Timbre. You catch me before I make it back to the Stock Pot Inn, and I'll give it back." Timbre lunged for her, but she dodged away, running back up the pathway to South Clock Town.
Holding back a dozen curse words, the infuriated boy quickly followed, yelling threats the entire way as he re-entered South Clock Town.
"Ooh, you'll be sorry you messed with me, I'll make sure y-oof!!"
He turned the corner so abruptly that he didn't have time to stop before colliding with someone who had been unlucky enough to be in his path. For the second time in 24 hours Timbre was flung backwards, sitting down hard. Whoever he had collided with, the boy thought, looking up, they were huge.
And he was right. An immense man that would have made Kei look scrawny stood impassively before Timbre. Luckily the man had stopped, for the immense size of the man's boots could have easily crushed the small child. Getting up slowly, Timbre's eyes remained riveted on the glassy optics of the stranger. He suppressed a shudder as he realized something.
The man smelled very strongly of the animal skins his clothing was made out of. It wasn't the most pleasant smell to the boy, and he chewed his lip nervously as he brushed himself off. The man's impassive eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
Taking a step backwards, Timbre stammered an apology. "I'm sorry mister, uh, gotta go bye!" He ran back down the alley to the Laundry Pool, scared out of his wits. Something about that guy would give anybody the creeps. But the fact that the man had been wearing Wolfos skins didn't help Timbre's opinion of him at all.
And the fact that he still had a girl to catch was still on his mind.
Looking both ways to make sure he wasn't still being watched, Timbre clumsily climbed up the wall, slipping a few times. Soon he stood on the thatched roof. The clock was easily visible in the distance, now that he was out of that crowd of heads.
If I'm going to win now, Timbre thought, I'm gonna need to take a little shortcut. And be quick about it, too.
Removing his trenchcoat, Timbre kneeled on the thatch, still on the lookout. Nobody in the crowd was actually bothering to look up, they were too busy with what was in front of their noses. Good. Quickly, Timbre folded the trenchcoat and rolled it into a small, neat bundle. Then, with one last suspicious glance, he changed form and picked up the bundle in his mouth.
If I'm quick about it, I can get away with doing this. All I need to do is run along these roofs 'round the perimeter of town 'till I'm in East Clock Town, then it's just a jump to the Milk Bar's roof, then another jump and I'm on the Stock Pot Inn long before that thief makes it back.
The wolf took off like a streak, running along the roofs without a sound.
Meanwhile, moments after Timbre had left, the large man he had collided with stepped into the Laundry Pool area. Glancing around, he rubbed his large chin thoughtfully. His chin felt rough, he hadn't bothered to shave in 2 days now. But he kind of liked that. It gave him a discouraging air. It was to his slight surprise that the young child who had bumped into him was nowhere to be seen.
"Kids," he grunted slightly. But no matter about disappearing brats. Besides, he thought, turning to leave. I've bigger fish to fry. He had an appointment to keep.
"So, where did Tim go?" Kat chewed her lip as Link shrugged.
"He got up, screaming about giving something back." Then he ran off after that girl from the magic show. Good luck findin' em in that crowd, now." He snickered slightly.
"The fact that Tim was actually on the dance floor is weird enough. Since when does he chase girls though?" Ty blinked. "That's not like him at all." His tail twitched.
"Yeah," Kat smirked. "He leaves that to you four."
Chiron, Link, Ty, and Nick suddenly laughed nervously, looking over at Sond, who grinned.
"Seems to me," Sond remarked, "that she stole something from him. She works in slight of hand, we all saw her at that show last night. Not too far from slight of hand to pickpocket, you know."
Nick nodded. "Righ'. So th' lobo's not girl chasin', 'ees… thief chasin'?"
"So it would seem," Chiron remarked.
"Gosh," Kafei said. "How can you tell the difference?"
So far, so good.
There hadn't been any shouts of 'Wolfos,' and no arrows had yet rained down on him. Gauging the distance between his roof and the Milk Bar's, he gathered himself up for an almighty leap.
"Oof." He landed slightly splayed on top of the Milk Bar. This kind of exercise was more of a cat thing, but Timbre didn't care about clumsiness at this point. He just wanted to get back at Tejina for stealing from him. And the whole 'dance' fiasco hadn't yet slipped his mind either.
Still nobody watching? Good. He gauged his next jump. This one was slightly larger, and it looked like he'd need a running start. Taking as much leeway as he possibly could, Timbre bounded forward and jumped again.
This time his landing was much more spot on. And still no cries from below. It looked like he was in the clear. Changing back, he flipped open the bundle, and shook the trenchcoat a few times to get the wrinkles out. A movement out of the corner of his eye made him turn his head.
A small girl in a green dress was sneaking among the crowd. As she saw the Stock Pot Inn, she broke from the rest of the crowd and headed for the building like an arrow.
Good, the boy thought. Right on schedule.
Tejina thought she was fully home free as she ran towards the Inn's door. Mere feet before the handle however, something dropped down in front of her, grabbing for her outstretched right hand.
She screamed in surprise as Timbre suddenly held her fast by her ungloved wrist. The trenchcoated boy smirked.
"Gotcha," he said.
Two seconds later he yelled in surprise as he suddenly found himself suspended 6 feet in the air by one boot. He stared wide eyed at the upside down and somewhat unpleased face of Keisou, who happened to be the one holding him.
"Hoy there," Kei grunted. "I saw you a couple of minutes ago runnin' after Tee. Why you chasin' my sister? Tee doesn't have cooties, you know."
"Uh…" Timbre stammered. "Hi Kei…it uh…wasn't like that." Timbre grinned out of sheer nervousness. His heart was still going like a hammer, and he felt rediculous and flushed as all the blood rushed to his head.
Kei coughed as he suddenly heard his name. "Wait a second, you're one of those kids me 'n Ana met yesterday noon." He squinted. "Kid with th' gloves an' trenchcoat. Timbre, wasn't it?"
"Uh, yeah." Glancing down (or up, in his case), Tim noticed Tee peering at him shyly from behind Keisou's leg. She was still wearing his headband too. "Do you mind putting me down?"
"First you answer a few questions," Keisou replied, stepping back inside the Inn. Tejina followed meekly.
Inside the Inn, Keisou and his prisoner turned several heads. Anju the inkeeper, who stood at the counter, raised an eyebrow. A scruffy-haired blonde turned his head from his plant-watering job, wearing a confused expression. Several patrons coughed politely, as if this scene was unpleasant to them. Kei paid them no heed.
"Alright," Kei said. "Question number one: why'd you chase Tee?"
Swinging slightly from inertia, Timbre stammered out in a loud voice, "She stole my headband! See, she's wearing it too!"
Blinking, Kei glanced down at Tee, who smirked innocently. "Question number two: How in blazes did you manage to catch her?" Kei said in a somewhat bewildered voice.
"Uh," Timbre stammered. He didn't want to lie, but there was no way he was going to tell the truth. Not in front of people! "Uh, I knew a shortcut," he said finally. There. Not a lie at all.
"Hmm…" Keisou smiled, letting Timbre down gently with a bump. "Have to admit I'm impressed. Tejina's a squirt. But I've never seen anyone get the better of her like that." Timbre brushed himself off. "Now, Tee…" Keisou kneeled down looking at his sister. "Stealing's bad, you know that. I want you to apologize, and return what you stole."
Tejina nodded, chewing her lip. Taking the headband off, she held it out at arm's length. Drawing herself to her full height, she spoke without sympathy with primly closed eyes. "I apologize for stealing, Timbre."
"Apology accepted," Timbre replied in the same tone, snatching the headband back and hastily tying his hair back up. At least his hair wasn't in his face anymore.
Turning her back with crossed arms, Tee stuck her nose up in the air. "Why you were so concerned about that thing I'll never know," she said boldly. "I was gonna give it back, you know."
Keisou sighed, his eyes closed. Tejina could be a proper little diva when she wanted to, something no amount of scolding could seem to change. The boy retorted hotly, "It's special. It was from my mother!"
"Well, she aught to make you a new one, that one's wearing out." Tee refused to turn.
Timbre stiffened. "My mother died a long time ago," he said fixedly, his voice somewhat forced. Turning on his heel, he headed for the door. Tee blinked, stunned. She turned her head a tiny fraction as she heard the door slam.
Frustrated, Timbre hung his head as he sat outside. It was about three o'clock now, and he was tired from chasing that thief. And to top it all off, he was now seperated from his friends. Swallowing, he held back several frustrated tears.
"Grr, why'd she have to say stuff like that?!" Timbre glared at the door. "She had no right to! None at all. First she embarrases me, then steals from me, and then gets mad when she doesn't win her little game. Huh." Chin in hands, Timbre stared resolutely at the world.
Two minutes later, the Inn's door opened, and Keisou stepped out. Glancing down at Timbre, he smirked. "Hey, why you still here?"
Timbre just shrugged gloomily as Kei sat down beside him with a grunt.
Blinking several times, Kei remarked. "I apologize for Tee's behavior. She's…really slow to warm up to people. She's like this with a lot of people. It isn't you."
Timbre sniffed. "Still, she didn't need to be so mean."
"Tee's just surprised somebody won at one of her 'games.' She doesn't like losing."
"Neither do I," Timbre remarked.
"Actually, I think she was secretly a little bit impressed. "
"Mmm?"
"You managed to surprise her with that shortcut of yours." Kei smirked. "Actually, I think it was good for her. Thinking you're invincible's a bad thing."
"Yeah."
"Tell ya what, Tim. To make up for Tee stealing your headband, and to celebrate its recovery, how about I treat you and your friends for some ice cream?"
As if summoned, Timbre looked up to see his friends approach in a muddle out of the crowd. They waved and yelled out random greetings.
"Hey there Tim!"
"You ran off rather quickly!"
"Didja catch th' vixae, lobo?"
Kei blinked, looking at Timbre. "Do your friends always speak like that?"
"Yeah, kind of a local dialect thing. Hey guys!" Timbre waved, cheering up a bit. "Kei says he's gonna get us all ice cream!"
"Hey great! Just so long as Link doesn't pour it down the back of my shirt!" Ty whooped.
"Don't worry, I won't repeat that again…" Link looked crafty.
The door to the Inn cracked open an inch and a blue eye looked out at everyone. "Kei," a small voice intoned. "May I please come too?"
Kei looked back at the door. "Tee, I don't think that's up to me." Looking at Timbre, Kei asked him a question. "Tim, is it alright if Tee comes with us?"
Timbre looked from the crack in the door to Keisou. He chewed his lip, staring at the ground. Sure, she'd been mean to him and stuff…but still, maybe she was just having a bad day. And if he said no, she might just pull some mean prank later in revenge. Besides, he could always just ignore her. And didn't everyone deserve ice cream? Not that he cared what she deserved or anything. So finally he just shrugged. "Sure, whatever."
Kei looked to the eye in the door. "Alright Tee, you can come with us. Just be glad Tim's such a nice lil guy."
Tejina squealed, running out of the door. She jumped into her brother's lap, throwing herself around his neck. "Oh thank you Kei!!" Kei inclined his head slightly, and Tee turned her head back, glancing at Timbre. "And thank you too, Timbre," she said, sounding slightly less stiff then in their last conversation.
"You're welcome," Timbre said, shrugging. He wasn't sure if he'd done the right thing or not.
All ten of them sat outside the merchant's tent as the afternoon passed on. For a while, nobody had said anything because everyone was too busy with their ice creams. Timbre just stared forward, pointedly ignoring Tee and not speaking much. Tim didn't plan revenge that often, but he was good at holding silent grudges. Finally, Tee blinked, looking at Nick, who was making faces.
"Is he okay?" she broke the silence, sounding concerned.
Ty smirked. "Raii here is just fine, he just gets brainfreezes really easy. He can handle anything spicy they can dish out. But even show him an ice cream cone and he gets a headache."
"I can still eat it though, Kaii." Nick retorted.
Kei looked for a moment, thinking someone had said his name. After a moment he shrugged. "So," he said finally. "You kids from around here? Never did find out before you ran off yesterday."
"Well…" Kat murmured. "Kafei's dad is the Mayor, you probably already know that. Chiron's from this town too. Link n' Sond are from Kokiri Village, and I'm from Kakariko Town in Hyrule-
Tee smirked. "I remember Hyrule. We been there lots of times, right Kei?" Kei just nodded as Kat continued.
"…Nick n' Ty are from Volcania-"
"Volcania?" Kei blinked. "Never been there before, heard of it though. Great big hotsprings and jungles and stuff there."
"What about Timbre?" Tee interrupted, looking at the boy in question, who flinched.
Kat looked at Timbre as if willing him to answer. Timbre just shrugged. "Uh, Tim's from far away," Kat finished for him, glaring a little.
Kei blinked. "I see. So what're all you out of towners doing here, then? Here for the festival? How'd you get here?"
"Well," Link said finally, "That's kind of a long story…"
"And then what happened?" Tee sat, wide eyed.
"Well, the giants held up the moon from falling, and then the Skullkid collapsed," Link said.
"Ooh!"
"And then, " Sond continued, "The mask he was wearing revealed itself to be Majora, the evil sorcerer! And he flew up to the moon!"
"And then what?"
"We followed him of course. And defeated him, and the town was saved."
"Wow!!" Tee seemed really impressed.
"Hmm…I heard about that crisis last summer. Otherwise I'd think it was all a tall tale." Kei leaned back a little.
"Don't worry, mister," Link remarked, biting off the tip of his ice cream cone. "Nobody in town belives us either."
"It's gonna spill all over you now, you know, now that you took the bottom off," Kafei remarked to Link.
"Oh, don't worry. Watch!" Tilting the cone so it was at a 45 degree angle, Link blew into the end of it like a blowpipe, launching his last scoop of ice cream (cherry flavored). It arced up into the air, and landed with a resounding SPLAT on the top of Ty's head.
"Yeow! Cold!!" Ty jumped up, shaking his head.
Kei blinked. Tee giggled.
"Nice aim," she remarked.
Ty turned towards Link, his red-violet eyes glaring. "I am going to kill you now, Link," he said in a deceptively calm manner.
Kat, Kafei, Chiron, Nick, Sond, and Kai all shook a collective head and breathed a collective sigh as Link and Ty completed more laps around the merchant's tent. Timbre and Tee were too busy to notice as a figure stood behind them and said nothing. Both noticed him and turned their heads at the exact same time.
It was Kasumi, of course.
"Hey Kas," Timbre remarked idly. Looking at Tee's confused gaze, he simply said, "Friend of ours," then proceeded to ignore her again.
Kasumi looked down at Tejina. He seemed to regard her a moment. "Evening," he said finally. After another moment of contemplation, he said, "Timbre, I need to talk to you for a moment."
"Uh, okay…" Kasumi moved away, and Timbre followed him, confused. Tee looked back at them questioningly. Stopping, Timbre turned his head and gave her a look that plainly said 'stay.' Then he followed Kasumi, finding him leaning passively against a wall. There were people around, but if they spoke in low voices, nobody would care to overhear.
"The Guards are suspicious. They called in an expert." Kasumi said simply.
"Whaddaya mean?" Timbre was still confused.
"They think there's a rogue Wolfos loose in town. They're afraid there'll be an attack, so they hired a hunter to catch it and dispose of it."
Timbre swallowed.
Kas continued. "I just thought you should be informed. Don't get yourself into trouble."
A bright yellow light suddenly popped out from under Kasumi's cape. It hovered directly in front of the boy's face, poking him on the forehead.
"Yeah, next time think before you sneeze!!"
Timbre sighed. "Hello Tatl. That was an accident. Wolves have senstitive noses. It tickles when you poke at my nose."
Tael appeared as a purple light, hovering next to his sister. "I apologize. She's working on her poking habit…"
"But it's so fun to annoy him like that!" Tatl whined.
Kasumi blinked. "…" Running a hand through gray hair, he looked at Timbre again. "I spoke to these two about last night. They had a lot to say."
The trenchcoated boy made a face. "Like what?"
"There was something else besides you and the faries in West Clock Town, yes?"
"Yeah…bu-"
"They told me all about that, no matter. Do you remember how the Guard Captain asked about Wolfos, and I said I hadn't seen any?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I didn't tell him this, but I did see something run out to Termina Field seconds before you showed up."
Timbre looked on with wide eyes. "Why didn't you tell the Guard?"
"Because," Kasumi said after a pause. "It wasn't a Wolfos, Tim. It was another wolf." There was another pause. "Take care, Timbre. Tell Ty and everyone I said hello." Having said this, he turned and walked mysteriously away.
Timbre wandered back to the group in a daze, the two fairies tagging along behind him. At the moment they were arguing over the best ice cream flavors, but the boy wasn't really listening. Still in a daze, he sat down. Tee gave him a weird look.
"He didn't stay for long," she remarked idly.
"Eh." Timbre stared off into the distance where Ty and Link were still engaged in a chase. The fairies bobbed over Tee's head, much to her delight and surprise.
"Ooh, fairies! Haven't seen any in a long time! Hello!"
Tael hovered in front of her face. "Hello, who're you? Are you friends with Timbre?"
Timbre looked at them out of the corner of his eye. "Uh…not yet." Tejina said carefully. Timbre snorted and looked away again. "My name's Tejina, but people call me Tee for short."
Tatl floated down. "Waiiit a second, I remember you! You were in that magic show? You gotta tell me, how did you dissappear out of that box?"
"Sorry, can't tell. It's a trade secret." Tee grinned.
"Aww, you're no fun!" Tatl scowled. "At least Tim's fun 'cause I can aggrivate him."
"How do you do that?"
"Well for one, he hates it when you poke him, like this!" Tatl demonstrated on Tejina, poking her in the nose.
"Atchoo!" Tatl whooped as she was sent flying.
Timbre looked up. "You allergic?"
"No," Tejina said with a wry face as she rubbed her nose. "Just ticklish."
Link sprinted by, well into his twentieth lap. Following behind him like a wraith was the vengeful Ty, who still sported a pink stain clearly visible on his white streak of hair. Ty's voice was loud. "That's it Fairy Boy, now my revenge will be doubly as horrible!"
"Only one day left, monkey boy!" Link yelled back at his rival.
"One day's a long time! Enjoy the time you have left! I'll teach you to hit me with ice cream! You'll be sorry!!"
"It was woooorrrth it!!!" Link's voice faded away as they both ran out of earshot, Ty still screaming curses at the Hylian.
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Well, more vows of revenge, and crazy happenings! And that scary dude will be returning, as it's pretty obvious who he is and what his business in Clock Town is. I don't know if a lot of people are reading this or no, probably not but that's ok! I want to finish this story. I'm not too sure how long it will go, I plan to write until I'm finished, and see how that works out. Please review, now that you're read. Thank you, grazie, merci, gracias, arigato, danke, obrigado, you get the idea! ^_^