The Mask of Majora - Chapter 3: What Is It To Be Adored?
Link looked down at himself. His hands, his feet... he rubbed his face with his palms. He was a child again. Looking from the beautiful ivory rooftops of the Temple of Time to its decorative floors, his gaze fell upon the glorious Master Sword that sat before him, proudly shining in its pedestal. Link's determined look curved into a childish grin of triumph...
"We did it, Navi," he cried out happily, unable to contain his excitement. Navi, his most trusting friend, looked down at him with a motherly smile.
"No, Link... YOU did it," she said.
"Are you kidding?!" Link said to her incredulously, in the middle of a bound. "Without you, I would have ended up as Gohma chow!! I could not have done anything if it wasn't for you! I mean, you're the--" Link suddenly stopped when a strange feeling overcame him. He returned his gaze to the little fairy, which hovered inched in front of his face. "...Navi?" he began with worry.
Unnoticed by the boy hero, Navi's lower lip started to tremble. But he put a smile on for the child. "Link... you've become a wonderful, wonderful hero," he replied in a hushed tone. Link sustained to look at her with curious eyes. She continued. "And that is why... Navi can now return in peace to the forest."
A second or two maybe passed as Link soaked in to her words. His eyes narrowed slightly and then widened in awareness. "But-- But you're saying that--" he gasped when Navi started to back away, ready to fly off into the world. "No!! Wait-- Don't go, please!!"
His pleading only stung the fairy's heart even more as she was now nearing the temple's rooftop windows. Link ran after her in vain, as if there was no other way to go. Navi turned her back and left the heartbroken boy behind; she was long gone, but her whispered words still lingered in Link's young elven ears.
"Link... I adore you, Link..."
For a brief second, Link tightly shut his eyes to hold back the tears and attempted to fight this 'like a man'. As he opened his eyes once more, he was no longer in the stunning temple... but in the land of Termina. A dark, disordered land of Termina.
Pain... Destruction... Chaos...
Those three words explained plainly what Link saw around him.
Guards screaming as the moon breaks into their hemisphere.
An explosion... the moon bursts into flames...
Buildings crumble around them... Innocent children burning to their bloody deaths...
Link reared back, bracing himself for the impact. The last thing he beheld before he shut his eyes in fear... was the moon staring back at him... its blood-red eyes seemed to pierce right through him as it appeared to speak...
'I shall consume... everything...'
Link woke up in cold sweat, breathing heavily and reassuring to himself it was just a dream. He had fallen asleep on the divan in the inn's waiting room right after his lunch. Link sat up and looked down at his feet. He was still a deku scrub... not all of it was a dream after all. He lied back down, gripping at the divan's cushion. He hated these dreams that suddenly became nightmares... they always seemed so real at the start. Above all he no longer had someone to soothe him with kind words... not Saria... not Navi... no one. Tears started welling up in his eyes but he held back the sobs. Tatl -who had also been asleep- popped out from under his hat and looked at him.
"Rough night, huh?" she said. "You overslept. It's the second day and it's almost 10 'o clock! We're wasting time! Let's go!!" she nudged at Link's shoulder, and the child was still immobile. "Get up! We don't have much time-- we have to find out where the Skull Kid is before that creepy guy leaves town!"
"Moving on," Link said softly while standing up. He forcefully shoved aside all thoughts about Navi, though it really hurt. He expected to see Anju behind the main counter, but he instead saw a vaguely plump lady, looking down at some papers she was signing. "Excuse me...?" Link began. The lady kept signing papers, but she raised her eyebrows to indicate she was listening. "Is Ms. Anju around? I wanted to thank her for the lunch yesterday."
"She went out for a walk," the lady said. Then a booming thunderclap resounded, causing the decorative masks and picture frames on the walls to clatter.
"Out in the rain?" Link uttered in mild shock. The lady just nodded and turned her back, trying to finish her work in peace. Jumping to turn the doorknob, Link ran out of the warm, cozy inn and right into a cold, pouring thunderstorm. He headed back to South Clock Town, which was the lowest point in town so the place was pretty much flooded. Three inches, to be more exact. But apparently, this did not stop the workmen from building what Link had overheard to be the 'festival tower'. The pounding hammers were still heard, though now kind of muted by the rain and thunder. "Where could she be...?" Link wondered aloud.
Tatl flew in little circles around his head as if she was pacing impatiently. "You know, I'm sure she already knows that you're thankful. After all, you did eat all her sordid food," she said. Now, Link didn't really know what Tatl meant by 'sordid', but he had a feeling it wasn't a compliment, so... he ignored her. Southwest of South Clock Town, there was a path that looked pretty insignificant at the first-time glance. A small, rundown sign by the path said Laundry Pool. Link had no idea what compelled him to go down that road, but when he arrived at the pool, it just started raining harder.
In the corner near the pool, Anju was sitting on a bench looking down sorrowfully, holding a red umbrella over her head. But that wasn't enough to leave her dry; for the bench was completely soaked wet and the rain was so strong that it battered right under the umbrella. Link's compassionate ways led him to sit down on the bench beside her. Looking over at him, Anju couldn't even crack a smile. But the kindness in her voice was still there.
"Hello, young scrub. Have you found your mother?" she asked. Link smiled, not sure if he should answer that or not. He felt bad enough lying about that just once. Observing his smile, Anju figured he had found his mother already. "Well, I'm glad. I really don't know why any mother would not want to spend a day of shopping with a gentleman like you."
The boy looked down and swayed his feet. "So... how about this rain, eh?" he said. "It's, uhh... really rainy." He mentally kicked himself at the stupidity he had just blurted out. "I- I just wanted to say thank you for yesterday's lunch." Anju nodded, keeping a smile to herself. She was being pretty quiet.
Anju sighed. "Do rainy days make you feel sad, too?" she suddenly said after a moment of silence. Link looked up; unaware that such question would be directed to him. Another thunderclap resounded, making his sigh inaudible and he nodded yes. Anju did a small movement and leaned down a bit, trying to read the little scrub's expression. "But Deku Scrubs are supposed to like rain. At least one of us has a reason to be happy..."
"Why aren't you happy...?" Link questioned curiously. When he had met this woman, sadness was probably the last thing he thought that would ever overcome her. But here she was, sitting outside in the middle of a storm with no apparent reason. Anju did not answer this question, so Link took the hint and left her in her solitude. Finally out of the Laundry Pool, Tatl emerged again.
"Okay, so while you were asleep, I overheard that there was this Goron guy who's name was just like yours! Isn't that funny?" Link eyes widened. Goron Link? Could it have been...? Nah, it couldn't be. "Anyway, he was speaking to this weird guy last night about a professor who knew about this troublemaker that has been running around lately! I think it's the Skull Kid he had talking about!" she said excitedly.
"So I take it we should see this professor, right?" Link said.
"Of course! Follow me-- I know a shortcut!" Sure enough, Tatl led Link back to East Clock Town, and between all the hustle and bustle, she was able to find a passage hidden in an alley near the mayor's office. At the other side of this dingy passage was a small colorful atmosphere. There was stuff lying about everywhere in this laboratory-like building. Link ascended up the stairs to find an old man looking through his telescope. Since he was the only one around, Link figured this was his establishment. Before he could make himself known, Link's eyes drifted to a glass case near him. Inside, a stunning blue gem in the shape of a teardrop was encased. He stared at it in wonder, unaware that he was stepping closer to it, thus getting the old man's attention.
"I see you are quite intrigued on this Moon's Tear, young lad," he said astutely. Link jumped, and turned to face the man nervously.
"I... I'm sorry, sir," he uttered timidly. "If I am trespassing, I didn't-- "
The elder laughed heartily and looked down at the Deku Scrub with a twinkle in his eye. "Ohh no, young lad! In fact, you are much more polite than that little mischievous group of children that drop by here every once in awhile." Link tilted his head, not really sure to whom he was referring to, but didn't comment when the elder said something that caught his complete attention. "Those kids I suspect may have something to do with the unexpected appearances of that rebellious forest child..."
"Forest child?" Link said in bewilderment as Tatl gasped under the boy's hat.
"Yes, the children are known to have hooted at what we know as the skull kid, but we are not entirely sure if they do this out of encouragement or hate." He side-stepped next to the center of the platform, in which hanging above it was a colossal astral telescope. "Would you like to look through my telescope?" he asked; kind of getting off the subject. In pure curio, Link nodded yes and looked through the telescope's lens, unable to listen to Tatl's constant demands to ask more about the Skull Kid. Link looked around the land in awe. The lens couldn't allow him to look all over the land, but he could see the entrance from Clock Town to the fields of Termina. Focusing on the Clock Tower -were he had entered this world from- he looked to the very tiptop of the structure.
"Hey!!"
"What?!?" both Tatl and the professor questioned (Tatl was at Link's earshot and the professor couldn't hear her). The boy's mouth hung open as he look a step back and then he ran. Without a note of farewell, he jumped off the platform, down the stairs and back through the sewer tunnels that led back to Clock Town. Tatl emerged again. "What is it?! What did you see??" she demanded to know.
"The Skull Kid... was up... in the top of the... Clock Tower..." he said in between breaths as he stopped his sprint right in front of the Mayor's Residence. "Have... to tell Mayor..." He turned to the door and reached to open it when Tatl pushed against his forehead, gaining his attention.
"Isn't this assignment supposed to be your problem?!" she said. "You can't bring the rest of the town into this, kid!" Link's face fell; coping with the facts was not going to be easy. "Moreover, the Clock Tower only opens at the eve of the carnival... which is midnight tomorrow night."
Link looked up at her. Tomorrow night? "But-- But the Skull kid!! What if he leaves?! Isn't there another way?!"
"I'm afraid there isn't," Tatl said in a harsh yet vaguely soft tone.
Link glared frustratingly at the girl fairy, shocked at her lack of optimism and conviction. As far as he was concerned, Tatl was just another faithless face in a crowd that always attempted to bring him down. He tried to protest, but he couldn't... he just couldn't.
((Link's Point of View))
It finally stopped raining when evening came.
I spent most of the night in North Clock Town; a place that differed a lot from the rest of Clock Town's sections. There were a few trees prettifying the space and grass covered the ground where there was no road. It reminded me a bit of The Lost Woods... minus the slide, of course. Sitting on the playground slide's steps, I drifted off into a daze, humming Saria's Song and absentmindedly bobbing my head at the song's rhythm. I thought about going back to the Stock Pot Inn, but Tatl said it's best if I didn't. She said something about me caring about people way too much.
Okay, I had to admit-- I was mostly worried about Ms. Anju. I stopped humming and looked down at my wooden hands while I gathered my thoughts. It was so weird seeing her so sad. I really wanted to see if I could help, but in my stupid current body and the way I look it feels like I can't get away with anything I say. What I mean is... I'm just a toddler in everyone's eyes.
Sighing, I laid down under the stone-cold slide. It was less wet down there, so I pretty much could sleep here. My thoughts returned to Anju and her unbelievable kindness I didn't deserve. I wished I could repay that kindness somehow... but I guess I first had to find out about what was troubling her, huh? Her eyes looked kind of lost, really... not the kind of lost where you don't know where you're headed to... but the kind of lost when you have something missing in you. I know I've felt that way.
"...Navi..."
I closed my eyes mournfully. Her last words to me still echoed in my mind. Yet... I still can't understand why she left me. 'Return to the forest?' She was supposed to stay with me forever. She was my guardian fairy!
I shook my head and snapped out of it when I felt angry tears welling up again. Last time I thought like this, the outcome wasn't really good. Looking down at my arm I noticed for the first time that I still had my scar from that stupid broken bottle. But it looked more like a jagged crack on my deku body. I sighed and leaned back against the pillars. What was I thinking of in the beginning...?
Ohh, yes... Ms. Anju.
Maybe Ms. Anju lost someone the way I lost Navi. Someone she loved very much... someone she--
/THUMP!/ "Ow...!" I heard something nearby. Sounded like someone got hurt.
Out of instinct, I stood up immediately and poked my head out from behind the pillars, looking for the source. In the side of the road, I saw a shadow of a kid sitting down in an uncomfortable way while holding his foot. I was sure he was not much of a threat so I sprinted out and rushed over to help him. "Hey, are you okay?" I said in my new weird voice as soon as I neared him. He looked like he was around my age-- maybe ten or eleven years old. There was not much that stood out from him except that he was wearing a Keaton mask...
I reached out my hand to help him up, but the masked kid stood up by himself and shoved me into the path. I yelled in surprise. That hurt!! I wasn't as strong and well-balanced as I used to be, so I ended up falling on my back and awaking Tatl, who had fallen asleep on a tree branch. She fluttered down to me in a hurry, but not with a lot of concern (much to my displeasure).
"What happened now?" she said.
"That kid over just pushed me--" I looked before me and muted a breath. The kid was gone. He ran off as soon as I fell to the ground.
Tatl just looked even more annoyed. "What kid?? There's no one else here beside the gate guards!!" She shook her head and began to head back to the tree. "See-- this is what happens when you don't sleep. You start seeing things that are not there. Get some rest, kid."
Link sighed and solemnly walked back under the slide, but not before turning around and eyeing North Clock Town's exit suspiciously.
'Who was that kid...?'
---------------------------------------------
To Be Continued...