As a disclaimer, this is a little bit of a filler chapter so that I can take a break from the main story. Tell me what you think in

Ch. XI

A Brief Rest

Link blearily opened his eyes to see the concern in the face of a man who looked very much like one of the carpenter brothers in Hyrule.

"Are you ok there little guy? Do you need a place to sleep?", the man inquired.

"I can let you rest in my room in The Stockpot Inn if you need a place to sleep for a little while. I saw that you just fell asleep in the middle of town, and I thought you might need a place to stay the night.". Link sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"I would like that very much, thank you.", he said. Link followed the carpenter to The Stockpot Inn and flopped into the bed that was offered to him. He was too tired to even thank the carpenter, and he fell asleep before he could learn what his name was.

Link walked into the dark tunnel in the Kakariko graveyard. He had gone there before, but the whispering that he heard coming from it was always ominous. He trudged forward, and he heard the whispers getting louder.

"Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred.", they said. Link had heard them a dozen times or more, but something was wrong. He glanced upwards and didn't see Navi, his guardian fairy

"Navi?", he called out. Suddenly, he was surrounded by darkness. In his mind, he could see hands plunging through the dirt, the huge gaping maw of a half-rotted monster. He ran blindly through the dark, getting more and more lost. He would always carry this place with him. His soul would eternally be stained black by the blood spilled by his hands. He would never leave.

Link woke up with a scream and grabbed his sword that was leaning against the bed. His eyes flew open, and he saw Tatl standing on the bed frame, looking shocked by his sudden outburst.

"What's wrong Link?", she cried, looking around. Link examined the empty room and took a sigh of relief. When he looked back at Tatl, he looked a lot calmer.

"J-just a nightmare, that's all.", he said, trying to form a faint smile. Tatl didn't believe him, but she decided not to bother him about it.

"I guess that since you are finally awake, we can can finally get a move on saving Termina!", she said. Link nodded and shakily sat up. He knew that he had a lot more work to do.

Link was about to go nuts when he finally found the last Bomber member. He had been searching for the final kid for hours! He quickly ran up to the kid and touched his arm.

"Yes!", Link exclaimed. He could now finally enter the Astral Observatory! He followed the final Bomber member to the rest of the gang, and their leader, Jim. Once Jim saw that Link had found the last member, his face fell.

"Oh, you found all of us. Fine, I'll tell you the password. The password is 43521. If you say that to Joe at the entrance, he'll let you in. Oh also", he said, "one more thing.". Jim dug around in his pocket, he fished out a small and slightly battered notebook and offered it to Link. "All members get a Bombers notebook as well. Use it to mark down your good deeds.", he said. With that, he and his friends walked off to each of their respective homes.

Link shook his head. He had expected something more… well, he didn't know what to expect, but he thought there might be a little more fanfare or something. He had been up all night, playing hide and seek with these mischievous little gremlins, and this is all he got? He grumbled as he walked towards their "hideout". That was, until he saw a man quickly running past him.

Link was in Northern Clock Town, and it was about midnight. Link had no idea what the man was doing, running around at this hour, but he decided not to judge him. The man was running towards the hunched figure of an old woman holding a large sack on her back. Link realized what was happening too late. The man threw a small wooden object on the ground, there was suddenly a blinding flash of light. A few moments later, the man was speeding away with the sack.

"Stop, thief!", the old woman cried. Link rushed forward and began chasing the man. The thief was oblivious to Link's charge and was laughing loudly at his successful robbery. As Link ran forward one more step, he leaped with all of his strength and tackled the man's legs. The sack went flying, and the man went sprawling. Before Link could do anything, the man shot upwards and sped away. Link knew that there was no use trying to catch him, so he grabbed the sack and lugged it towards the old woman.

When he arrived in front of the old woman, she smiled kindly at Link.

"Thank you so much for your help, young man. Here, take this,", she said, "maybe you can make your own fireworks show at the Carnival of Time.". She handed Link a round object from her bag. At first, Link thought it was a bomb, but he found that it was a mask upon a closer inspection! It was navy blue and had a small white skull painted onto its surface. The skull's eyes were hollowed out for Link to see through, and it was warm to the touch. Link thanked the old woman, and she walked off.

Link slipped the mask on and looked around. He didn't know what the old woman had meant by his own fireworks show, but he was certain that something explosive would occur. He pointed his face towards the ground and held out his shield to protect himself. He wasn't sure if he would be invulnerable to the mask's effects or not.

Link wasn't quite sure how to activate the mask, but he had a feeling. He imagined his magic power as a field all around him. He then focused and fed his magic power through the mask. As soon as that happened, a large explosion appeared in front of him! Link was surprised, but thanks to his shield, he wasn't hurt.

Link grinned in delight. It looked like he could use this mask to act as a bomb! He would never have to buy bombs again. Link's thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling grumble coming from his stomach. He realized that he hadn't eaten in hours! Tatl hadn't complained, as she wanted to act tough. When Link asked her if she was hungry though, she heartily agreed to go grab some food. She began to fly towards the center of town, where the food vendors sold their goods but stopped when she saw Link was heading the other direction.

"Where are you going, Link?", she asked. Link looked behind his shoulder and continued walking towards the exit of Clock Town.

"We don't have any rupees, remember? Besides, it's the middle of the night. I think I'll treat you to my cooking.", he replied. Tatl nodded in agreement, and followed Link without complaint.

During Link's quest to save Hyrule, he had learned how to cook from Malon and the Kokiri. He had a knack for making delicious meals and was always willing to eat almost anything. After another half hour of walking, Link had reached the edge of Woodfall and had pulled out his new bow. He quietly crept between the trees and waded through brackish pockets of water. After another few minutes of looking, Link found what he was searching for. He focused on his target. He took a deep breath, then pulled out an arrow and fired in one fluid motion.

Link dove forward and caught his prize before it could touch the muddy ground. In his hand was a roughly sphere-shaped brown object. Link tensed as he held it. He looked around, then sighed in relief. Tatl couldn't keep her questions in any longer.

"What the heck is that thing?", she cried. Link grinned, then cracked the object in half in his small hands.

Inside of the casing, was a golden honeycomb, dripping with honey.

"I learned how to steal bee's nests while I was living with some friends! We've learned exactly at what times all the bees leave, and while they're gone, we take the honey! This should go perfectly with what I have planned.", he said. Tatl blinked, She had expected Link to be hunting for a squirrel, or maybe a boar, but she hadn't expected this. She shook her head and just kept on following him silently.

After a few more minutes of gathering ingredients, Tatl was sitting on a log, while Link pushed another stick into the fire he had just made. Tatl watched in fascination as Link hummed as he added ingredients. Apples, some dried fruit from his rations, and the honey all cooked in a small pot that Link had somehow pulled from his bag. After another minute or two, the meal was finished.

"Tada!", Link said. He pushed a plate of the food he had made towards Tatl. It was a sliced apple that was roasted over the fire and had dried fruit with a drizzling of honey on top. Tatl was stunned.

"Where did you learn how to make this, Link?", she said. Link looked proudly at the meal that was laid before him.

"I learned how to make this when I was living with some friends. I like to call this a baked apple with Deku Hornet honey. ", Link replied. Tatl walked over and grabbed a slice. She bit into it and was amazed by how good it was. She nodded at Link and then continued to eat her food.

In the morning, the moon was looming closer. Link had begun to see a pattern in the days. Each "cycle" as he began to call them, had certain things that happened. For example, he had consistently been rained on every second day of the cycle. Today, was that day. Luckily, Link was out of the rain. He had gone into the bombers' hideout, and was surprised to see that it was, indeed, an astral observatory!

Link was even more shocked when he saw the old man who owned it though. He was the same old man who had lived in Kakariko Villiage! Or so Link thought. Link learned that his name was Alistair, and he had never left Clock Town to even buy Deku Nuts! Link began to feel unsettled. First, Anju from The Stockpot Inn. Then, there was the carpenter man who kindly lent Link his room. Now, there was Alistair from the Astral Observatory! He knew that something was strange about this land, and he wanted to find out what was going on.

Link shook himself out of his thoughts. Alistair had just asked him something, but he didn't hear it at first.

"Excuse me, what was that?", he said. Alistair chuckled, then answered:

"And they say that I'm bad of hearing! I said young man, would you like to use my telescope to observe the moon or stars?". Link decided there was no harm in trying, so he agreed. A few moments later, he was staring into the early morning sky. He looked towards the looming moon, and to his surprise, he thought he could see something blue streaking from one of its eyes. A moment later, he knew he wasn't seeing things. The streak of blue fell from an eye and crashed into the ground just outside the observatory!

"Is that what I think it is? Quickly boy, go outside and check!", Alistair cried. Link rushed outside through the thick wooden door and saw a small impact crater just outside. In its center, was one of the largest jewels Link had ever seen. It was even larger than the Goron Ruby, which was almost the size of his fist! It was an azure blue color, and it seemed to be almost glowing! He scooped it up, then carried it back to the Astral Observatory.

Upon seeing the stone in Link's hands, Alistair began to talk excitedly.

"That is a moon's tear! Those precious gemstones are very rare, and I only have found a few in my whole life! You sure are lucky. Here, keep it. I am sure that it will help you and your family a lot.", he said. Link did his best to ignore the part about his family. It was a touchy subject to him. Both of his parents were killed during the Hyrulean Civil War, and he knew next to nothing about them. He didn't blame the old man's thought, as he didn't know anything about his parents.

Link thanked the old man and began to leave. When he was about to touch the door handle to the exit, a scratchy voice called out:

"Waaitt! Look over here! In the corner!". Link looked and saw yet another familiar face. It was a scarecrow who looked remarkably like Bonooru from Lake Hylia.

"Thanks for waiting. I saw that you have an ocarina on your hip. Do you play it?", the scarecrow asked. When Link nodded, the scarecrow continued.

"I know a song that I think you might like! If ye play it backward, it almost seems like everything slows down! Alternatively, if you play the song faster, then time seems to speed up! The name of the song is… Huh, I can't remember. It has something to do with the time I think… Anyway, I hope you liked my advice!". And with that, the scarecrow sank into the ground.

"Huh.", Link said. He pondered about what the scarecrow had declared. Suddenly, he had an idea. He pulled out his ocarina, then played the Song of Time. However, Link played it in reverse. As he did so, everything around him seemed to slow down just a little bit. Droplets of water seeping through the ceiling seemed to spend more time in the air, and the air seemed to still slightly. Link grinned when he noticed all of this. Now, he could not only turn back time, but he could slow it down too!

He didn't know how the Ocarina of Time could have so much power, but he was suddenly very greatful for Zelda giving it to him. If he hadn't had it, he would've died in the first cycle! He tucked the Ocarina of Time back into his belt and ran through the exit to the rest of Clock Town.

By the time that Link had finally played the Song of time to return to the first day, he had done a lot. He had found two new masks, a heart piece, and even some more rupees that he stored in a bank! He had been gifted the bomb mask by the old woman, and another mask called the Bremen mask by a person who looked a lot like the strange man who lived in Kakariko's windmill hut. He couldn't seem to remember his name though. The Bremen mask had a tune carved into it that was very catchy. Supposedly it should make it a lot easier to make animals follow his orders!

As Link played the Song of Time, he wondered how much time had passed in Hyrule. How many days had passed by this point? 6? 12? He decided that once he went back to the first day, he would use his bombers notebook to write down how many days had passed. He began to fall into the void of white once more, and then, saw nothing at all.