Disclaimer: I no own Legend of Zelda

A/N: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This is where it FINALLY reaches a climax!! This part, at least. The action sucks, the dramatic tension sucks, and the emotional effect sucks, but enjoy anyways!! Lol.

Scroll IX:

Nightmare Come True

Nobody could eat much that night. They were all too busy trying to get what had happened out of Ralph. But he wouldn't say a single thing to any of them, just lay back and close his eyes.

It was midnight, and Din was still awake. She looked around. Where had the Skull Kid gone? She spotted a light in the nearby trees and went to it.

It was the Skull Kid. And Tael. And… they were arguing…

"Why'd you go do that, Tael?" the Skull Kid snapped. "Why'd you go help him? Now… now he'll definitely…"

'Huh…?' Din thought. 'They're talking about Ralph… aren't they? Why…'

"He'll kill Link now, Tael," she heard the Skull Kid say.

Her heart stopped. 'No…' Din thought. 'Never… Ralph'd never… He'd never kill Link!!!'

"How do you know, anyway?" Tatl's voice snapped.

The Skull Kid was silent. "Because…"

Din didn't want to hear any more. She ran back to the campfire and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to keep out the cold of the night.

Never… Ralph would never… would he?

~~~

It was nearly dawn when someone prodded Din's shoulder, waking her up. She lazily rolled over and saw Link a few inches away from her face.

"Ssh," he put a finger to his lips.

"Whadaya wan?" Din muttered.

Link looked over his shoulder. "Something's wrong with Ralph. I know he won't admit it, but… he looks a little weird."

"So?"

"So," the Skull Kid whispered from behind Link. "Link and I are gonna chell something out."

"What?" Din asked.

"Nothing important," Link replied. "Don't tell anyone where we've gone just yet. See you later."

Din nodded and rolled over, falling once again into a heavy sleep. It was late in the morning before she would be disturbed again.

~~~

Everyone slept late that day. When Din next awoke, Link and the Skull Kid still weren't back, and Ralph and Nayru were still asleep. Or so she thought…

Someone tapped she shoulder from behind. Din turned around, expecting to see Link, but instead, Ralph stood above her.

"Can I… see you for a moment?" he asked. "In private?"

"Uh… okay," Din said. 'Yikes! Something really is wrong with him. Link was right. I hope…'

~~~

"So…" Link stood with his arms behind his head. The Skull Kid was crouched on the ground, with his eyes closed. "What's going on here?"

The Skull Kid stood up. "Something's wrong here… can't you feel it?" he asked Link. "It's so cold. Something's happened here… something bad. And… I think it may have to do with Ralph's acting weird."

"Huh?"

"Didn't you see him last night?" The Skull Kid said, his voice down to a whisper. "He's evil, Link. He belongs to the enemy now. The Angel of Death. He may... You know… what'll happen soon, don't you?"

"What-!?"

~~~

"Um… what?" Din asked Ralph later, when the two were standing in an open part of the Lost Woods.

"Have you seen Link since last night?" Ralph asked.

"N-No…" Din lied. "I woke up before around sunrise, though, and I saw… I saw the Skull Kid go off that way…" she pointed in the direction she meant. But while she was occupied with lying, Ralph took a few steps closer to her and-

"Eyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Din collapsed on the ground in pain. Ralph had draw his sword and made a deep cut in Din's side.

"R-Ralph…" Din choked out. "W… why…?"

~~~

Farore jerked her head up ands gasped. She stood up quickly, and the chair she was sitting in thudded onto the ground.

"Goddesses!!" Impa gasped, standing up. "Farore, are you all right?"

'Din…?!'

~~~

Din panted, struggling to get up, but she collapsed. Ralph stood over her, and wiped his sword insouciantly.

"Answer me truthfully this time." he said.

"I-I did!!" Din cried.

The redhead smiled cruelly. "Wrong answer," he said, and stabbed the earth right next to Din's head. "Where is Link? He talked to you around the time you claimed you saw the Skull Kid run off. Where did they go? Answer me!"

Din put a hand on her injured side, the blood staining her hands. "…" she bit her lip.

Feh. This girl's so stubborn. I guess I'll have to look for him myself…

"What the hell-" Someone said. "!!! Din!!!"

"Din!"

Din turned around. Link and the Skull Kid were heading towards them, and had broken into a run when they saw Din on the ground.

"What's going on? Are you okay!? Din!" Link propped Din up and shook her shoulders.

"Y-You were right, Link…" Din choked out. "Something's wrong with Ralph… I can feel it."

At the same time, Link felt something pass his head, cutting off three golden hairs and impaling itself in the tree in front of him. Link turned around in fury. "Ralph, what's going on?!?!"

Ralph said nothing, just smirked. "Finally."

He walked over to the tree, pulled his sword out of it, and began to wipe it clean of sap and dirt, seemingly unaffected by everything that was going on. This only infuriated Link even more. He in turn unsheathed the Master Sword, and pointed it at Ralph's head. His victim was about to get up when he stopped.

"What in the holy Sacred Realm are you doing?!" Link spat.

Navi flew out of Link's hat, and instantly noticed what was wrong. "Link, watch out!!"

Ralph turned around, flinging his sword in front of Link's face.

"Gah!!" Link cried as he dodged, the blade barely cutting the edge of his nose. "Navi, what's going on!? What's wrong with Ralph!?"

~~~

Nayru awoke slightly dazed. Silence around her meant that everyone was off somewhere or still asleep-which she highly doubted because it was so bright out.

She perked her head up, her long ears catching a sound from the wind. It sounded like metal on metal-a sword fight, perhaps…

Nayru shrugged. Maybe Ralph and Link were just practicing. But she would like to watch; to see if Ralph had indeed gotten better.

She wearily got up and went into the forest. What she found was much worse than what she expected. Link and Ralph weren't just practice fighting; it was an all-out war. And… it looked like Link was… losing!! As Nayru watched, horrified, Ralph's sword came down on Link's shoulder, blood spurting from it. The Hero of Time also had many more flesh wounds all over. His sheath and sword belt were missing, too. He was weakening, but still alive. Ralph, on the other hand, was unscathed; Nayru couldn't even see a bruise.

"Wha-Wha-" Nayru stammered as the two boys went at it again, trying to kill each other. "Link!! Ralph!!!"

"Nayru?!" Din gasped as she looked up. "Get out of here!!"

'Nayru…!!'

Ralph let his guard up for just a split second upon this voice and looked to the side, but it gave Link enough time to strike. He thrust his sword towards Ralph's head, but at the last moment the latter looked back over and moved, and the sword grazed his cheek, leaving a relatively large cut.

You fool!!!

Ralph put his hand up to the cut, expressionless. When he removed it, his hand was stained with his own blood. Ralph looked up at Link, half a foot away, and swung the bloodstained hand; connecting squarely with Link's nose. Blood dripped down, mixing with the blood from a head wound. Link, surprisingly, went sprawling and hit a tree trunk.

Nayru gasped. 'Strange… Ralph shouldn't be able to do that-!!' she gave a little start, remembering the odd look he had given her last night. Something was definitely wrong; it all made sense now.

"Nayru!" someone shouted. "Help!!"

Nayru looked across the battlefield. The Skull Kid was flailing his arms, calling her over to Din and him. "Din's hurt real bad! Get over here!!"

Nayru ran straight across, not bothering to duck. "Din!!" she called. "Are you all right?!"

Din was fading in and out, but she nodded. "Let me see that…" Nayru removed Din's hand from her side and recoiled upon seeing the gash. "Ralph… he…" Din nodded again bitterly.

'This can't be…' Nayru felt tears spring up in her eyes. 'Not Ralph…'

She turned around, watching Link get injured again and again. "Why…?" she said in a very quiet voice.

"Link's a goner!!" Tatl wailed. "What the hell's wrong with Ralph!?"

"Ralph, cut it out!!!" Link cried and he landed feet first on the ground after attempting an aerial attack, "What's wrong with you?!"

"Nothing's wrong with me," Ralph said in a tone that was very unlike him and with a grin, "I told you, I'm perfectly fine. Now, I feel even better, because everything's clear now…"

"What's clear?!" Link yelled and moved closer.

Ralph anticipated this movement, and when Link thrust his sword out, Ralph used it as a spring board and landed behind him. Link turned around and leapt into the air again, ready to bring the Master Sword down on his enemy, no, his friend... Ralph looked up, picked up his sword, and thrust it at Link. The other fighter noticed too late, and Link could do nothing to save himself before the feeling of cold metal touched his chest and went through his body.

Link stopped, his breath catching in his throat. Ralph smiled evilly and thrust the sword an inch or two further. A hint of metal peeked through the back of the forest green tunic.

Link collapsed onto the ground, his face white from the effort of trying to keep from crying out in pain. Instead, he just looked up at Ralph, who didn't seem to care what he had done.

"R-Ralph…!?" Link gasped. "Wh…" Then he collapsed.

~~~

Zelda let out an audible gasp, and dropped the teacup in her hand. It fell to the floor and shattered.

"Zelda?!" Impa stood up, knocking over her chair.

"Link…" Zelda stood there with a dazed look in her eyes, then turned around. "LINK!!!!!!!!" she screamed out before she collapsed.

"ZELDA!!" the Sages ran to her. Only Farore remained where she was, the teacup trembling.

"It's happened… what Zelda said…" Farore said quietly. "…would happen… The Hero of Time… is gone."

"No!!" Ruto gasped for air. The room spun. It felt as if she would faint as well.

Saria let out a moan and began to cry. Nabooru knelt down and held the little girl tightly, and looked up at Darunia, whose worried, disbelieving eyes flickered over to Rauru, who exchanged glances with Impa, who looked at Zelda's unconscious form. This was a nightmare, that's what it was. Link couldn't be…

~~~

Din usually controlled herself very well, but the burning pain in her side and the sight of seeing Link die right in front of her was enough to make her start crying. Nayru stared blankly at Link's body, then at Ralph, and sunk slowly to her knees. Navi let out an audible cry and doubled over, sobbing. The Skull Kid, however, was trembling hard, both with fear and anger.

"You..." he spat. "He... he never did anything to you... he was your friend, and you... you..." The Skull Kid looked up, contempt and hatred in every feature of his face. "RALPH!!!"

Ralph had bent down and was proceeding to draw the sword from out of Link when he looked up, acknowledging the Skull Kid. The child stepped forward, more furious than he had even been in his life.

"I don't care if you were Link's friend or not, Do you think we can forgive you after this?! Or even let you live?!"

Ralph turned around, his sword out but stained in blood. "Funny," he said, still completely calm. "I don't recall asking you to forgive me."

"Good," the Skull Kid spat, "It'll make it ten times easier to kill you."

Ralph raised an eyebrow. "Awfully cocky, aren't you? How do you expect to stop me?"

The Skull Kid hesitated, then pulled something out. Its heart-shaped design and piercing orange eyes looked familiar… Tatl and Tael recognized it almost instantly; it was the Majora's Mask.

"Dummy!!" Tatl cried.

"N-No-!!" Din stammered.

"That's-" Nayru gasped. "H… how…!?"

"What is the meaning of this!?" Ralph asked.

~~~

"Wha-!?" The Skull Kid looked surprised as he looked at the mask in his hands, then looked up at the cheerful man above him. "You're… giving it to me?! After what I did?! Are you CRAZY!?"

The Happy Mask Man just smiled. "Oh no, little imp. I am quite sane."

"But-I-But-" the Skull Kid was at loss for words.

"You will need it more than I do," the Happy Mask Man smiled.

"Wha-!?" the Skull Kid cocked his head. "But-But don't you want it? You collect them, don'tcha?!"

"Well, yes," the Mask Man smiled, "Which is why I would appreciate it if you gave it back to me when we meet again, which will be when you do not need it anymore."

"…?" the Skull Kid just gave the Mask Man a blank look. "How do you know…?"

The Mask Man said nothing, just walked away. "Take care," he waved as he disappeared into the forest.

"…………………..Weirdo." the Skull Kid shrugged and pocketed the mask.

~~~

"… Guess this is what he meant when he said I'd need it…" The Skull Kid said to himself as he shut his eyes. The mask had been evil once, evil enough to control him. This was the only way he could stop Ralph, but what if he turned on the others…?

"Come ON, Skull Kid!!" Tael yelled. "Hurry up! Put the mask on!!"

"T-Tael!?" Tatl gawked as she looked at her brother, who had never before yelled like that.

The Skull Kid looked at Tael, then back to Ralph, the mask in his hands. Ralph just stood there, waiting. The Skull Kid made up his mind then and there. He needed the mask's abilities if he was going to stop Ralph at all… He hesitated no longer, and put it on.

Byaaaaahahahahahahahaha!!! Cliffhanger no. …er… I forgot. Lol!! I killed Link!! I'M SO BAD!!! XDXDXDXD But he's not gone for good. Quoth my friend Kristy: "He's a main character. He can't die." So how will he come back? I'll tell you next week!! XDXDXD