Chapter 1 End of a Good Dream
Ha! Yes! It is not joke. The Great Hammermaster has now reached into the realm of fanfiction for "Link's Awakening." Yes, a worthy quest indeed. This first chapter will summarize the end of Link's Awakening, with my changes added. You will like I think. Then the next chapter will begin what happens after Link's Awakening. So read this chapter, and continue please. Leave a kindly review as well please. Oh, and I haven't played Link's awakening, so I apologize for any mistakes I may have made while writing this beginning. But I researched it, so it should be farely accurate. If you find anything downright despicable, inform me immediately and I will fix if it I see it fit to.
He fought them, cutting into their foul flesh of darkness. And in the end he triumphed, putting an end to their existence, smiting his enemies ruin upon the stone ground. The nightmares had been defeated, and peace could once again come to Koholint Island. Link sheathed his blade, and sighed happily. Now he could live out the rest of his days here. He didn't really want to return to Hyrule. He wanted to stay here, with the seagulls, with the island, with Marin.
"THE ISLAND IS GOING TO DISAPPEAR!"
Link looked up, startled at the loud voice which suddenly sounded.
"What?" Link said, as the cavern began to shake.
Suddenly his thoughts on peace seemed false.
"OUR WORLD IS GOING TO DISAPPEAR! OUR WORLD... Our World..."
"What!" Link shouted, realizing that in casting down the nightmares he had awoken something greater, and more terrible.
Suddenly a section of the roof split off, and a hole was split in the ceiling. Then, down from the hole issued the brown owl which had aided Link many times in the past.
"Congratulations!" it shouted, fluttering about seemingly filled with endless joy.
Link on the other hand felt as if something bad was beginning to happen. Some ancient demon awoken to reek havoc upon the earth.
"You have defeated all of the Nightmares Young Sir. I mean Link!"
The Owl continued flying about in ecstasy.
"The Hero! Link the Hero! You have proven your wisdom and courage and power! I am the guardian of the Wind Fish's Dreamworld. But one day the Nightmares entered the dream and began wreaking havoc."
"Dreamworld?" Link said in surprise and alarm.
"Koholint Island," the owl said nodding.
"Its just a dream?" Link said sensing more and more that something was wrong. "But that doesn't make any sense!"
"The Wind Fish awakens!" the owl shouted. "See you later Link. Hoot!"
The owl then turned, and flew back out the roof while laughing as if he had just cracked a tasteless joke.
"No wait!" Link shouted.
But the owl was gone. Suddenly before him Link saw a massive shape begin to appear. The ground around him disappeared, and Link felt himself floating in open air. But everything was dark.
"I AM THE WIND FISH!" a mighty voice roared, as a gigantic winged whale floated up in front of Link. "LONG HAS BEEN MY SLUMBER! AND I DREAMED, AMAZING DREAMS! KOHOLINT ISLAND... IS JUST ONE OF THOSE DREAMS!"
"What do you mean Koholint Island is just one of those dreams?" Link demanded of the mighty being before him.
"IN MY DREAM APPEARED A GIANT EGG SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE, ANIMALS, PLANTS! AN ENTIRE WORLD!"
The gigantic whale shook its bulk and slapped its massive fins together sending strong wind throughout the chamber.
"BUT VERILY IT IS THE NATURE OF DREAMS TO END!"
"To end?" Link said. "So Koholint Island, Marin, Tarin, all that was just a dream?"
"YES!" boomed the mighty fish. "A DREAM THAT YOU AND I SHARED! QUITE ENJOYABLE, WASN'T IT?"
Link couldn't imagine how lightly the Wind Fish treated Koholint Island. But if it was just a dream, what difference did it make.
"So if it is just a dream, then when you awake it will all disap..."
Realization hit Link hard, as if a blade had been plunged into his heart.
"YES! ALL THAT WILL BE LEFT IS A MEMORY! CARRY IT WITH YOU LINK! COME! LET US AWAKEN TOGETHER!"
The image of the Wind Fish began to disappear into the darkness before Link. It was beginning to awaken.
"No!" Link shouted. "This can't be happening!"
The island would disappear. Marin would disappear. Marin, the only one Link truly loved. No!
"PLAY THE EIGHT INSTRUMENTS!" the voice of the Wind Fish echoed out of the blackness. "PLAY THE SONG OF AWAKENING!"
Link looked around, unsure of what to do. He had the eight instruments, and he knew how to play the Song of Awakening, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to. He didn't want to wake up. He wanted to remain asleep, if all this truly was a dream.
But how could a dream be so real?
"LINK!" the great whale spoke again. "PLAY THE SONG OF AWAKENING! THEN WE SHALL AWAKEN!"
Link kept thinking. He didn't want this dream to end. He didn't want it to go away. The hero decided that he would stay behind in this dream world, for it was to wonderful to be an illusion. And if it was, then compared to it, the real world seemed unimportant. Link knew that he would rather side with something wonderful, even if it truly was false.
"LINK!" the Wind Fish bellowed. "DOST THOU HERETH ME?"
"I hear you!" Link shouted.
"THEN PLAY THE SONG OF AWAKENING!"
"No!" Link shouted.
"WHAT?"
But Link didn't care to explain. He turned around, and saw the door to the room floating a good distance away from him in the black air. Link began flapping his arms, and realized that he could sort of swim through he air.
"IF YOU LEAVE THIS CORIDOR WITHOUT PLAYING THE INSTRUMENTS, THEN... THEN..."
"Then I will remain asleep!" Link countered. "I will keep dreaming this wonderful dream, even though it is too good to be true!"
"YOU WILL STARVE TO DEATH IN THE REAL WORLD!" the Wind Fish shouted.
"And whose fault is that?" Link said, turning towards the voice. "Mine? No. It was YOU who refused to tell me from the very beginning that this was all a dream. It was YOU who did not tell me so that I would make sure I didn't fall in love with Marin. And it was YOU who pulled me into this dream of yours!"
"DO NOT BLASPHEMY ME LINK!" the mighty whale bellowed. "I AM A GOD!"
"A god of what?" Link challenged. "A dream world? Yes. That is all that you control. And now your dream world is disappearing. Soon it will be mine. For you will awaken, and this dream will end, but I will stay asleep, and keep dreaming! This is not your world. This is MY world!"
"YOUR WORDS ARE FOOLISH LINK! VERY WELL! YOU WILL LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS DECISION THEN! ALL THOU HAST TO DO IS PLAY THE EIGHT INSTRUMENTS! BUT YOU WILL NOT! SO YOU WILL NOT COME WITH ME WHEN I AWAKEN! I WILL NOT HELP YOU AT ALL! THE DREAM WILL FADE, AND WHAT WILL YOU BE LEFT WITH THEN? PAINFUL MEMORIES OF MARIN! YOUR LOVE FOR HER IS FOOLISH BOY!"
"So much for Hero," Link said. "But no! I refuse to wake up!"
With that, Link grabbed the handle to the door, and pulled himself out of the dark world of emptiness.
"THOU SHALL PAY FOR THIS!"
But Link ignored the voice. He cared not for the eight instruments. He cared not for the Song of Awakening.
I will stay asleep and claim this island as my own!
Link dashed down through the island, desperately flying for Mabe Village. Something about what the Wind Fish said made Link feel as if something bad was going to happen even though Link knew he wouldn't allow himself to wake up. When the ground began to shake Links fears were beginning to become confirmed. Link flew into the village like a bat erupting from the underworld.
"Marin!" Link shouted. "Marin! Where are you!"
"Link!"
"Marin?" Link turned, and saw the beautiful redhead running towards him with her arms open in an embrace.
Link ran towards her, and caught the poor girl in his arms. She looked distressed, she knew something was wrong.
"What's happening?" she asked, as the ground around them shook.
"The Wind Fish is awakening," Link said as they pulled away from each other.
"But that's good," Marin said, "isn't it?"
"I..." Link stopped.
He wasn't so sure that it was a good thing anymore. Suddenly a bolt of lightning fell from the sky and incinerated Marin's house. Marin screamed, and jumped into Link's arms. Link held her tightly, a look of determination and protectiveness etched on his face. He was no longer a fighter, he was a guardian.
"THIS IS MY WORLD!" the voice of the Wind Fish roared. "MY SUBCONCIOUS MIND CREATED IT, SO I CAN CONTROL IT! AND I SAY THAT TARIN MUST DIE IN THE RUINS OF HIS HOME!"
Link turned, and saw Tarin's hand reaching out from the ruins of the house. But he was dead. Link held Marin tightly to his body, so that she wouldn't turn and see her father's dead body. At this point it was best that she didn't know.
"You are no god!" Link shouted with righteous indignation. "You are a demon! A god would be merciful!"
"THOU SHALT NOT BLASPHEMY ME LINK! I AM A GOD!"
"I refuse to believe it!" Link shouted. "Why can't you wake up and leave the dreamworld with me? I don't care if it isn't real. I must have it!"
"I SAY THE WORLD SHALL DISAPPEAR LINK! AND IT WILL DISAPPEAR! IT MUST COME TO AN END!"
"And no salvation for its inhabitants?" Link said. "You will not see that they survive?"
"THEY ARE DREAMS! DREAMS! THEY AREN'T REALLY PEOPLE! I CAN MAKE THEM WHATEVER I WANT!"
Link watched as Tarins crumpled body suddenly turned into the body of a Nightmare. Link gasped in horror.
"YOU SEE MY POWER? IT IS GREAT!"
The nightmare rose to its feet, and approached Link and Marin. Link began backing away from the mighty demon which approached him, leading Marin along with him.
"THIS WORLD WILL DIE! YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE LINK! NOW IT SHALL FADE! BUT THE NIGHTMARES OF THESE MEMORIES WILL FOREVER PLAGUE YOU IN YOUR DREAMS! YOU WILL BE FOREVER HAUNTED BY THIS LOSS!"
The Nightmare drew closer. But it was not like the Nightmares Link had faced before. It was a tall being of about twenty feet in height. It was black, black as night. And its eyes were the color of blood. It looked evil. It looked dark. All of the other nightmares had just appeared to be black creatures, but this one looked as if it was true evil.
"I BRING MIGHT!" the Wind Fish roared. "THIS IS MY DREAMWORLD! AND I AM AWAKENING! IT WILL FADE!"
Suddenly the nightmare began to disappear. Its black flesh slowly became less and less solid, until it dissipated into the air, like smoke.
"I GIVE UP MY DREAMS OF THE NIGHTMARES FIRST! FOR THEY ARE UNPLEASANT!"
"What's happening?" Marin cried, pulling away from Link.
"AND NEXT I GIVE UP THE ISLAND ITSELF!"
"The island is going to disappear," Link said.
"What will we do?" Marin asked. "I know! We can grab some pieces of wood and fashion some sort of raft. Then you and I can escape together!"
Marin smiled happily as she said this, causing Link's heart to flutter. Perhaps she truly loved him back. But then he realized that this made the situation even worse.
"No Marin," Link said sadly. "You will disappear with the island."
"What?" Marin said, with shock in her eyes.
Link struggled for the words to explain the situation.
"All of this," Link said, stretching out his arms to include the entire landscape. "All of this is just a dream. This entire island is all a dream which the Wind Fish is dreaming. The town is a dream. This house is a dream. You are a dream. And I am a real man. Now the Wind Fish is awakening, and the dream is ending, but I refused to wake up with him, for I... I..."
"You what?" Marin prodded.
Link was going to tell her that he loved her, but he couldn't find the courage to say it.
"I care too much about you," Link said, softening what he would have said. "I don't want to live... without you."
"Oh Link," Marin leaned against him and embraced her hero tightly.
Link hugged her tightly to him, savoring his last moments with her.
"But wait," Marin said, looking up into Link's eyes. "How can I be just a dream? Dreams aren't alive... and, well... maybe I don't understand what it means to be alive since I am but a dream, but I feel very much alive!"
"I'm sorry," Link said softly.
"No!" Marin said firmly. "I think therefore I am! I can think... I can... I can sing!"
Tears came to Link's eyes as she tried so hard to prove to him that she was not a dream.
"I won't disappear!" Marin said, as tears began pouring down her cheeks as she continued her denial. "I am alive. At least, I believe myself to be alive. So when the island disappears I will not, for I am greater than a dream."
Link smiled sadly.
"Of course you are," he said. "You are greater than any dream I have ever had, and any that I probably ever will have."
"I won't disappear," Marin said, "you'll see. You'll see."
"We'll see," Link corrected her.
"I AM WAKING UP!"
The colors surrounding Link began to bend and fold as the island began to grow dim.
"The island is disappearing," Marin said, looking over everything.
She then looked at her hand. It was still solid. Link's heart leaped inside of him. Maybe she would survive. But no. Slowly they both saw the colors in her hand begin to dim.
"No," Marin said. "No!"
Tears began flowing down her cheeks in a steady stream as she realized that she was indeed going to disappear with the island. Marin sniffed, and looked up at Link. His face held a look of heartbreak, a look of complete sadness. Any heroic happiness had been washed away. His eyes were downcast, but he remained solid. Marin sobbed, and hugged him again. Then, she brought her face up to his, and kissed him sweetly on the lips. Link returned the kiss, not knowing if she did this because of the circumstances or because she truly loved him. But as they kissed, something came upon both of them. Some foreign but surely welcome angel lit upon each of them. True love, not always recognized, but surely one of the greatest things in the world.
They ended the kiss, and pulled away from each other. Marin's flesh slowly began to turn transparent as the dream continued to end. The tears that had been welling up in Link's eyes finally fell from the cold betrayed pupils and rolled down his cheeks. They joined hands, and looked back at each other as Marin faded further and further from existence.
"WHAT ONCE EXISTED CEASES TO EXIST!"
Her bright sapphire eyes became dim, but the tears remained the same as before.
"WHAT ONCE WAS SOLID FADES AWAY INTO SMOKE!"
Her warm hand began to feel lighter against Link's skin, and the warmth began to disappear.
"WHAT ONCE WAS LOVE SOON IS FROZEN!"
The lovely face that stood just inches from his own faded into the transparent sky behind her.
"AND ALL FADES AWAY..."
The lovely hand which clutched his own no longer was there. Link closed his hand on the air where Marins hand had once existed.
"Marin," Link said through the tears which now flowed down his face at regular intervals. "I'll never forget you Marin. I'll never forget you."
"...goodbye...link..."
Link barely heard it. On the breath of the wind he felt it, Marins voice, speaking for the last time.
"Marin!" Link shouted when he heard her voice. "Can you hear me? I love you Marin. I love you! I always have."
Silence. Tears began pouring from Link's eyes again, and he began to cry.
"And I always will Marin," he said. "I always will!"
But there was no sweet face to smile up at him. No sweet voice to respond. No sweet song to sing. Nothing but the fading sky, and the darkness behind it.
"...ALL...FADES...AWAY..."
Soon Link awoke to find himself drifting in the empty sea clutching tightly to a mass of broken wood. A shadow fell over him, and Link looked up to see the mighty shape of the Wind Fish cross the sky. The curse had been broken and the Wind Fish had awoken, but Link didn't care. All he had now was a heavy heart, and an empty soul. He drifted through the empty sea. The Wind Fish had left him in the middle of the ocean for dead. And that didn't seem like such a bad idea to Link.
Its so sad... I have been wanting to write this for so long. Don't worry people, this will have a happy ending at the finale. Trust the Great Hammermaster. A very happy ending. Dang, I'm such a hopeless romantic. But that's okay, I like it this way. Farewell.