Chapter 3: Damned; a Glimpse into the Past
Retrieval of the Royal Family's Heirloom Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "File Select" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Majora's Theme" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Recollection of Zelda" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Firelink Shrine" - Dark Souls III OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
"Song of Healing Demo" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 4 (Second Half) and 5 (First Half).
"#1 - Majora's Mask" - Theophany (Time's End ~ Disc 2) Scene 5 (Second Half).
In a desperate dash across the parallel city known only to the former Hero of Time as 'Clock Town', Link and Tatl find themselves working against time itself for the seemingly knowledgeable Happy Mask Man's words very soon take root within their minds.
"The thing is... I am a very busy fellow... and I must leave this place... in three days."
It is only when he at last finds every single Bomber in their 'hide and seek' challenge and reach their hideout, the astral observatory, that does he realise the true strength of the Happy Mask Man's words.
A colossal spherical rock in the sky threatens the very sanctity of the land of Termina and, indeed, perhaps even the world; the rock being Termina's Moon. Everyone that the pair of heroes have met in passing throughout this new land of Termina have all leaned heavily in the direction of evacuation as a result.
Simply put the land of Termina, and all of its people, are doomed.
And yet in spite of this gargantuan doubt and fear and even through the horrendous situation he finds himself in, the former Hero of Time finds comfort and sheer power, having appreciating the monumental challenge.
With the Moon's Tear, an asteroid having been discharged from the moon high above itself, Link and Tatl at last begin to enact the final stages of their rescue attempt...
Scene 1
DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY
-24 Hours Remain-
"Wait, wait! Hang on!"
Just as he had been informed with a chunky Deku Scrub flew toward them, carrying what appeared to be two large bags with it. Oddly, it appeared to be completely unique to its former brethren; a fact reflected in its spherical and round shape. Around its mouth appeared to be two green leaves, as if appearing to be a moustache of some kind. As it landed, rather gracefully at that, it spun around as it re-rose up from its seeming Deku Flower spot and similarly twisted a small hat on to cover its leaved head.
"Careful!" The Business Scrub warned, folding one of its slim arms under its right raised elbow, its right hand playing around with one of its leaved moustaches. "This is private property; my private property!" He claimed, an amiable enough tone to his smiling voice. "I'm sure you were just wandering in this direction; please don't take offence."
The listening Link merely grinned back, lightly shaking his messy blonde-haired head at him in response.
"Well... it's always nice to see another of us in the city!" The Business Scrub smiled on. "I tell you though... the town's carnival is beginning to look... dare I say..."
The frowning Link swung his head around in quick search and, sure enough, the place was almost completely derelict of people. No longer were construction men floating around holding large pieces of lumber and postmen jogging around in search of postboxes; not even the little dog was pattering 'round about the South Clock Town plaza.
Only the foreman of the construction crew stood at the foot of their unfinished building and Clock Town's resident guard at his post; two brave decisions indeed.
"Iffy...," the Business Scrub sighed lamentably, running a finger through his leaved moustache. "And with that great monstrosity looming over us..."
Again Link traced the Deku Scrub's words and found his topaz eyes narrowing in a mixture of trepidation and anxiety at the disturbing proximity of the moon's position.
Its hardened and, somehow angry-seeming glare, was fixated heavily on the city as if ready to drop at any second.
"Well... it's not looking good, I have to say it," the Business Scrub continued on, a disappointed frown in his tenor. "This is... probably a bit of a reach... but...,"
The frowning Link very slowly found his expression twist into a light smirk, knowing almost exactly what was coming.
"Would you happen to have... a Moon's Tear?" The older Deku asked, an unsure frown etched across his wooden expression. "Given your age I highly doubt that you would but still-"
With his confident smirk growing the silent-voiced Link brought out the asteroid that previously burned through the earth, a satisfied chuckle on his lips.
The Business Scrub, suitably surprised, leapt up as if jump-scared before rubbing his hands together in glee. "Incredible!" He exclaimed, his similarly-shaded eyes widening in shock. "H-Here! The title deed to this spot!"
Exchanging the valuable asteroid for the Deku Flower's title deed, the smirking Link merely nodded back as he watched the Business Scrub reach down into the flower, presumably his personal effects. When he resurfaced however, both bags in hand and hat worn off, he stood for a couple of seconds to face the little Deku hero.
"You should probably leave Clock Town too, little guy...," the Business Scrub lamented, a saddened tone to the far-away look in his eye. "I wouldn't want you to end up, well... you know I'm sure." He smiled on, a melancholic tone to his tenor.
"Don't worry about us," the grinning Link shot back, nodding his head up to the cream-shaded guardian fairy that hovered ever saintly above them in silent watch. "We'll be fine; we got a plan."
"I should certainly hope so," the Business Scrub smiled before leaping up, presumably to take off. "Take care young one!"
NIGHT OF THE FINAL DAY
-6 Hours Remain-
CRACKLE-CRACKLE...
CRACKLE-CRACKLE...
The sound, and sight, of the beautiful fireworks that lit up the sky made the frowning Link and Tatl look up from their spots on the clock tower's base, ever waiting and ready for the inevitable confrontation that was coming.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE...VRIP
DROOM-DOOM...
VRIP-VRIP-VRIP-VRIP-VRIP-VRIP-VRIP
As the giant mechanism above them whirred and called out loudly, as if to announce the festival that no-one was present for, a total number of seven very small platforms began to descend down to meet the heroes, becoming steps for them ascend with.
"Don't stop now!"
Tatl's sudden call made the determined Link swing his Deku head 'round in a similarly hardened frown, listening as ever.
"Look! Let's go; he's up there! My brother's up there!" She exclaimed, her cream-shaded light pinging as she flew up the chamber that opened up before them. "Come on!" She called over her shoulder.
Link set his shoulders straight and narrowed his eyes.
Even since fighting Kage Narumono and Ganondorf Dragmire this was easily one of the biggest challenges he had been faced with.
Even he felt some small sense of doubt when approaching it.
And yet, as always, he chose to ignore it.
I only have one option left, he thought.
It's time to cross it.
–
2
When the pair of heroes at last ascended to the clock tower's top Link found himself staring back at the floating Skull Kid.
I had my doubts before, he thought in a contemplative narrow of his eyes.
But you're him aren't you?
"You're the Skull Kid I met in the Lost Woods."
What made him become this way?
Was it that mask on his face?
The Skull Kid, as if somehow in response, merely stared back at him in eerie silence. He held the treasured Ocarina of Time in his left hand, tossing it up and down haphazardly as if envisaging something sinister and deranged.
"T-Tatl!"
The little magenta-shaded guardian fairy that Link remembered from his mugging in the Lost Woods flew into frame, a worried look etched across his dim light.
"Ah! Tael!" The smiling Tatl exclaimed out, hovering up as if to meet him. "We've been looking for you two!" She greeted before turning her milk-shaded light on the floating Skull Kid above them. "H-Hey... Skull Kid..."
The nameless lost Kokiri from the Lost Woods merely turned his head down to eye the hesitant guardian fairy, a kind of malicious look in the mask he wore as he did.
"W-What if you just gave that mask back, huh?" She tried with a worried frown in her firm if, light, voice. "Hey, c'mon... aren't you listening anymore?"
The narrow-eyed Link glared back at his levitating foe, opening his mouth to retort. "He's not listening, Tatl," the firmly-frowning Deku claimed, staring straight back at his eerie silent gaze. "It ain't worth the effort."
Although the hovering Skull Kid appeared to be listening in some form he did little to register any reaction; as if responding for him however, the purple-coloured guardian fairy at his side floated forward and hung in the air above them sagely to speak.
"Swamp, mountain, ocean and canyon...,"
Even the listening Link rose up his wooden eyebrows in surprise before exchanging a similarly clueless look with the quiet Tatl.
"Hurry...," Tael continued, a frown in his tenor. "The four who are there... bring them here..."
At last the silent Skull Kid moved to action; with childish-minded anger he floated up further to loom overhead before angrily swiping at the little guardian fairy, swatting him down a few yards.
"Shut up!" He exclaimed past the frightening mask he sported. "Don't tell them too much!" He warned. "Stupid fairy!"
Similarly appalled by the sight she had just witnessed, the wide-eyed Tatl pinged her milk-coloured light up as she re-opened her mouth to voice her disgust.
"What have you been doing to him?!" She exclaimed forward, her soprano a mixture of anger and voice-breaking grief. "Skull Kid do you still think you're our friend after that?!"
The nameless little forest imp turned to eye his pair of belligerents, a grin very quickly snaking up behind the eerie quality of Majora's Mask.
"Hmph...," he merely huffed out with, tossing the Ocarina of Time up and down through the air once more. "Well... even if they were to come now...," he began, his grin somehow widening as if in knowing. "There's no way they'd be able to handle me as I am."
The ghoulish little laugh, seemingly somehow enhanced by the similarly gruesome mask across his face, managed to give him a whole new perspective.
One that instilled doubt even in the former Hero of Time.
I can't fight him like this, he thought.
I don't even think I can fight him in my human form.
"Just look above you..."
The wide-eyed Deku, his attention garnered from his thoughtful spot below, found himself swinging his head up to eye the overconfident antagonist.
"If you both honestly think that this can be stopped... that I can be stopped...," he warned the pair, at last choosing to address the duo below him. His eyes widened behind the horrendous veil he wore, as if preparing to assault them. "Then just try!"
With that the little imp, clutching the Ocarina of Time tightly in his left hand, turned all limbs as far as they would go before swinging his head up and screaming.
SHRIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK...!
The nameless Skull Kid's cacophonous and nail-biting shrill-sounding screech made the narrow-eyed Link shut one of them in a wince of sheer agony. The horrifying feeling of the great malevolent power that began to seep from Majora's Mask was a powerful one indeed; even since facing Hyrule's forgotten king Ganondorf's Triforce of Power had anything even came close.
The holy Triforce, although godlike in divinity and strength with its own kind of neutral feel to it, this was something else entirely.
Demonic. Evil. Satanic.
It was pure sin incarnate.
The gasping Link had to stop himself from falling from the sheer wave of strength the otherworldly Aegir that the mask gave off.
All notions of victory almost immediately flew right out of the window, even for the formerly confident Hero of Time.
I have no chance here, he ruminated on silently.
What can I do against this?
As if reacting to the mask's dark urging, the dormant eyes within the scowling-faced moon high above them very quickly lit up.
Things are looking almost impossible now, the little Deku thought hopelessly.
What do I do?
If I'm going to die...
Then I'm gonna go down swingin'.
With that thought blazing through his once-Hylian brain, the little Deku form aimed his mouth up and toward the Aegir-charging Skull Kid, forming a small bubble of Quintessence that very quickly grew in size.
This ain't much, he began silently, his eyes narrowing as he took careful aim.
"So have it!"
FWEEEEEEEE-SMACK
"Hrngh...!"
As the large bubble of Aegir burst in the Skull Kid's face he found himself leaning back in recovery and his grip on the instrument in his hand began to loosen. Link's amber-shaded eyes widened, following its movement very closely. The apparatus gave off a light-sounding note as it finally dropped from the tyrannical touch of the Skull Kid's fingers and clattered rather noisily as it struck the wooden surface he stood on.
"I don't believe it...!"
It was strange to think so strongly of such a small object... but it was hope restored for the despairing young boy.
This is the planet's last chance, he thought.
I can't let it slip through my fingers again.
"Link what the hell are you doing?!"
He chose to ignore the frenzied Tatl's calls and leapt forward to grasp at the fallen treasure that the royal family entrusted to him. Almost immediately when he landed in a rather ungraceful roll and grabbed the instrument did his consciousness very quickly fade.
"You are already leaving this land of Hyrule, aren't you...?"
The frowning Link's cognizance, very dreamy and haze-like, drifted in and out as shapes began to form before him. He reached out his small arms and widened them when he saw his old human arms.
Is this a memory, he wondered silently.
The standing form of Epona rested next to him, ever seemingly ready to march.
Yeah, he thought in response with a nod.
I remember this.
It was only when he turned to his front however that he found a familiar form indeed that he saw only once before leaving for the Lost Woods.
Princess Zelda.
She was dressed almost exactly as he remembered; she sported her little headdress and royal garment that fit her rather well.
"Even if it was just for short time...," the young princess admitted, pulling the youth out of his thoughts. "Somehow I feel like I've known you forever." She laughed over at him, an odd kind of smile on her face.
Although the listening Link was deathly aware of the dire situation awaiting for him on the other side of his sentience, he couldn't help but grin back at her in his usual boyish style.
I'll have to go see her again when I get back, he thought.
"I know you're leaving and I won't press you why...," she admitted, lowering her head almost as if in some form of disappointment. Link's grin very quickly dissolved and his cheer soon with it. "But I believe in my heart that a day will come when I'll meet you again."
This time the former Hero of Time regained his grin and nodded in silent agreement.
"Until that day comes, please... take this..."
She reached forward and, with the holy Ocarina of Time within her hands, she smiled softly over at him.
"I'm praying," she spoke. "I'm praying that your journey be a safe one."
His grin widened a little; his confidence speaking for itself.
"And when all else fails... remember this song..."
Nostalgia, once again, filled his senses in great waves; when the smiling princess adopted a frown and brought the ocarina closer to her lips to play, the melody was a familiar one indeed.
The Song of Time.
Her whispers in his mind echoed on very quietly, complimenting the original composer's notes.
"This reminds me of us..."
Even while the notes very slowly faded into a blanket of white sky, Link found his form disappearing atop the slow trotting Epona, the smiling Zelda waiting ever loyally behind him. Her voice, as before, reverberated around the edges of his lingering memories.
"The Goddess of Time is protecting you...," Zelda's last words began, an odd kind of wisdom in them. "If you play the Song of Time... she will aid you..."
–
3
Link's strange dreamlike stare resumed for as long as he was unconscious; it was only when the angry Tatl swiped her small and modest form against his wooden head that the little Deku gasped and began to re-acquaint himself with reality.
"W-Where-?"
When the top of Termina's clock tower began to form before him once more his memory returned to him.
"Snap out of it!"
Tatl's exclamation, so shrill and and so urgent, cut through him like a knife.
"What are you doing lost in memories?! Put yourself together!" She called down at him. "Getting that old ocarina back isn't going to change anything!"
The little Deku Scrub rose his eyebrows and, very slowly, began to grin back at her in great spite to all of their rapidly-growing troubles.
It did not go unnoticed.
"Are you serious right now?"
"Tatl, what if I told you-"
"Are you insulting me with that look on your face?"
"Tatl just listen to m-"
"No!" She interrupted scathingly and abruptly, flying down very quickly to meet his wide-eyed gaze. "Don't you even understand our dilemma?! How are you going to fix this if you can't even fight him?!"
The standing Link, a hardened frown on his expression, soon swivelled it 'round into his usual confident smirk.
"Whatever you do Tatl... stay close."
Without another word he reached back and, like magic, pulled out an impressive array of horns, all pointed and directed forward. Resting in his small wooden hands appeared to be a similarly brass-shaded set of pipes, seemingly used for the horns behind him.
"T-That instrument...!" She spluttered out, her eyes widening behind her small frame. "W-When did you-?!"
The shut-eyed Link wasted no time in playing through the melody that princess Zelda had afforded him, another second chance. Before the high-pitched notes of the brass Deku Pipes overpowered his senses however he re-opened his amber-shaded eyes to narrow them directly at the glaring and nameless Skull Kid hovering high above him. The former Hero of Time's thoughts carried him through the deep annals of time and space, even as recent memories were born and died again before his eyes.
"I'll be seeing you again..."
"Let's talk... Link Firbrand."
The sound of a deepened baritone made the surprised Link widen his aqua-marine eyes. Just as before in his memories with Zelda he stood in what appeared to be a complete plain of nothingness.
Where am I, he wondered silently.
His memory very quickly caught him up however.
I played the Song of Time...
So I should have travelled back in time.
Where is this?
"Settle thy nerves, my son... you and your guardian fairy are both safe. As are the people of Termina."
The baritone that spoke to him, somehow seemingly so wise, began to manifest itself as a darkened shadow before him. The watching Link narrowed his eyes forward suspiciously and reached for his weapons before realising, oddly just as within his memories, he was Hylian again.
What gives, he thought.
Is that you Kage?
"No," the voice responded, the shadow's figure shaking its head slowly in response. "I am not Kage Narumono. You speak of the demonic incarnation of the holy Triforce of Courage; your second side... yes?"
Link's thin eyebrows rose up in sheer shock.
How much does this man know?
"I know enough, young Link."
He's reading my thoughts now?!
Who is he?!
"My identity... is of no consequence or even importance," the figure claimed in a second shake of its head. "You played the 'Song of Time'... yes?"
The frowning Link's eyes blinked before his brow furrowed thoughtfully; at last he decided to vocally answer the dark silhouette before him. "Y-Yeah...," he frowned, watching him carefully. "How do you know that?"
"I am the Sainted Three's agent," the shadow claimed. "Their 'Idol of Time and Space' I suppose...," he elucidated, an odd kind of sigh present in his deep baritone. "I answered your call."
Link's oceanic eyes widened in shock and awe.
This was Zelda's 'Goddess of Time'.
"B-But...," he began, brow furrowing in doubt. "You're a man... aren't you...?"
The silhouette hovering before him appeared to chuckle; the first truly human quality that Link bore witness to.
"Women are the bringers of life, yes?" He posed, effectively batting the query back to the curious young Hylian. "I find it a compliment to be thought of as a goddess... especially to match the virtue of the Sainted Three."
This guy knows about the Three Golden Goddesses, the wide-eyed Link thought.
Suddenly, memories of Zelda's and the Great Deku Tree's tales of time-gone past shot by and through him before he could even pin them down with words.
I know who this is, he realised silently.
Who was it?
There was a man that taught the teachings of Din, Nayru and Farore.
What was his name...?!
"These are the words of the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide; the last known contact of the Sainted Three."
"Chosen by the Sainted Three... this man, hailed as the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide for his contribution in the Continental Divide, passed on the good, honest principles of the teachings that the Sainted Three intended for their strength of Aegir."
It's him, the wide-eyed Link thought, realisation dotting the youth's complexion with amazement and veneration.
The 'Sorcerer of the Divine Divide.'
A cynical sigh in the air signalled the shadow's next eventual words.
"I don't like that name...," he admitted in a shut-eyed murmur of humiliation and shame. When he re-opened his eyes however Link saw the deep recesses of the strange and mesmerising ripple-like pattern in his own eyes. A profound and powerful shade of amethyst coloured the deep pools of his optics; something that didn't remain long open. "It bears with it, the disgrace of I and my clan, and the senseless murder of countless innocents..."
Realising he had, seemingly somehow inadvertently insulted the old man, the listening Link winced and re-opened his mouth to voice his regret.
"S-Sorry..."
He shook his darkened head softly in response, as if to wave off the matter. "As I say... it is not my individuality that matters," he claimed on, a light frown in his wise baritone. "But yours."
Surprised by the man's sudden call Link could only rise up his blonde-haired head as he listened.
"M-Mine?"
"You are the Hero of Time... are you not?"
The Sorcerer's words, spoken now with a notable tone of amiability and reverence, could only make the wide-eyed Link gasp in light surprise.
I suppose he would know about that, the youth thought.
If he's this Sorcerer guy.
"I envy you," the man spoke on, a smile dotting the shadow of his ripple-eyed figure. "To be so young and naïve and to have a destiny that drives away the darkness...," he began again, the rippled pools of his eyes shutting, as if in memory. "As opposed to calling it..."
The listening Link, his curiosity high, could only listen as he furrowed his brow, attempting to work out the meaning of the old wizened man's words.
He must have seen a lot to be saying things like this, the former Hero of Time thought to himself.
He's the Three Golden Goddess' last known contact.
Of course he's seen a lot.
The Sorcerer chuckled and seemingly ignored his inward thoughts before opening his mouth to speak. "Well... I shouldn't keep you any longer than necessary...," he began again, a smile dotting his shadowed form. "I should let you know this, but..."
The blinking Link stood in an unsure frown, awaiting his next words.
"I know exactly of what you seek."
The young Hylian gasped, his eyebrows rising up.
He knows Navi?!
Where is-?
"You will not find her here. Not in Termina," the Sorcerer claimed in a negative shake of his head. "But this place and its people... it needs your talents, Hero of Time."
Link's impatient frown very slowly softened up into a saddened, melancholic one as he listened.
He knew the man was right and though he wanted to leave to continue his search it wasn't the right thing to do.
There was that gigantic monstrosity that was going to crash down on Clock Town...
And then there was that frightening mask.
"There is no-one... not even within the descendants of my clan that can approach the obscene power of Majora's Mask," the Sorcerer illuminated, a hardened frown complimenting the similarly narrow-eyed look the rippled pools his eyes took. "You, I'm afraid, are this land's best chance at victory," he claimed before his brow furrowed, as if in determination. "Best chance at survival."
Link's oceanic-eyed gaze lowered in silent defeat.
He was right, he thought.
I have to help these people; I did the same for Zelda in my own country.
"Thank you..."
The young Hylian, surprised by the man's soft tone, could only re-raise his head back up to blink only to find a smile waiting for him.
"Ah... if only those that followed me were as virtuous as you..."
The listening Link winced very firmly, guilt filling him over his actions in the previous timeline.
I'm not nearly as righteous as you think, he batted back silently.
Not with Kage Narumono still waiting in the back of my left hand.
"We shall see...," the Sorcerer chuckled, a smile still flavouring his words, somehow sensing his silent inward reflections. "Now... I shall send you back in time, just as you require, and as far as I am able."
Link turned his blonde-haired head back up to eye the man, his senses stiffening once more to prepare himself.
"Beware the forgotten ones' power...," he warned, a new frown dotting his shadowed form as he spoke. "And beware the mask man..."
Link's eyes narrowed in scrutiny and memory.
He means the Happy Mask Salesman doesn't he, the youth thought on wordlessly.
"Although he will help you...," the Sorcerer claimed. "He is not to be trusted."
The little Hylian nodded his straw-haired head, eyes narrowing in agreement.
I guess I wasn't crazy for thinking how I did on that guy, he thought.
"Now... remain safe, Hero of Time," the Sorcerer spoke one final time, his shaded hands raising up and glowing dimly with the blue colour of his divine-like Aegir. "And remember..."
The Sorcerer of the Divine Divide's last words to him echoed within the recesses of his mind as his consciousness re-faded once more.
"I and the Sainted Three will always be watching you... my son."
–
4
DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY
-72 Hours Remain-
The sound of birds chirping, bustle around a busy town centre and construction workers rumbled back the consciousness that the frowning Link had once lost.
Tatl's voice was the call that made him swivel his Deku-shaped head up to frown up at her.
"W-What just happened?!" She gasped out, swinging her small milk-coloured light around in search.
Only South Clock Town remained in her view.
The construction workers marched around the metropolis with the lumber they carried across their large frames, the postman that did his early-morning rounds passed on by and even the little grey-shaded dog that jogged around this area continued his stride as if nothing had interrupted him.
It's just as he said, the young Hylian thought silently.
Everything has...
"Started over..."
The little guardian fairy, somehow reading his mind, could only stare back at the sight before her, unable to find any more words to register her awe.
Thinking quickly the frowning Link pattered forward in his little Deku march before swinging his head 'round to stare skyward and, sure enough, there it was; the huge unsettling scowling-faced moon that stared back at them.
It was in its original position back when he first entered South Clock Town.
"How the hell did you do all that...?" Tatl murmured out, a tone of contrasting incredulous lacing her words. "That song you played... that instrument...," she trailed off, her eyes slowly widening as if in realisation. "That instrument!" She said again. "If you managed to get back the Ocarina of Time, then-!"
"Yeah...," he answered her, at last, a narrow-eyed frown adorned on his wooden expression. "Maybe now I'll finally be me again."
"Ahhh... it's been quite a while young man..."
The Happy Mask Man's greeting, although spoken with the veiled sense of concern and goodwill he carried around him, made the listening Link furrow his brow in silent-eyed suspicion.
How does he know that, the former Kokiri thought to himself in scrutiny.
As far as he should be aware this visit should be instantaneous.
"Were you able to...?"
Regardless the frowning Link raised up the small royal-blue Ocarina of Time to view via his similarly small-shaped hand, watching the Happy Mask Salesman carefully indeed.
Even in spite of all of his suspicion however, nothing could have prepared him for what lay ahead.
"Ohhh, ohhh! You got it, you got it, you got it!"
As the man exclaimed out his sentence, an excitable tone shift to his voice as he shook the young Deku's form rather comically. Link, surprised, found himself turning his eyes 'round to the back of the large clock tower's chamber, a large device catching his sight.
A huge instrument, seemingly an organ as if from a church, filled the back end of the chamber. It reminded the watching Link of the similar instrument that he found his eternal foe Ganondorf playing in the ruined future he helped to save. Link's eyes widened in surprised silent thought.
When the hell did he install that?!
"Now then...," the Mask Salesman began, turning 'round presumably to walk toward his large organ. Flipping the long purple-coloured coat he wore so he didn't sit on it upwards, he sat down softly before turning his grinning-faced head 'round to face the stupefied youth. "Listen to this melody...," he spoke lowly. "And then please play along after me..."
The deep echo of the organ reverberated across the walls and managed to vibrate through the soles in the little Link's shoes. Although it was a strong and powerful melody it wasn't completely overpowering; there was something very oddly comforting in it. As he listened the frowning Link almost found himself entranced by it, unable to move.
"Get out those pipes..."
At Tatl's urging he blinked and, regaining his consciousness, shook his Deku-shaped head before pulling the Deku Pipes out as she and the playing Happy Mask Man instructed him to.
The high-pitched brass sound of the pipes echoed out on the next notable sequence, effectively joining the man's playing. As the sound of the comforting melody reverberated through his instrument Link's consciousness very slowly drifted in and out, his vision becoming hazy and dreamlike.
–
5
CLACK-CLACK-CLACK...
The wooden sound of an object hitting the ground, before very simply 'rounding to face upwards, managed to bring the shut-eyed Link straight out of his unconscious state.
Where-?
His memory very quickly returned to him and, as before when he turned back time with the assistance of the Ocarina and the Idol of Time and Space, his Hylian form was once again his. His oceanic eyes widened and, as he swung his head 'round and his body in odd spins to ensure his form had been reclaimed, he let loose a long-held relieved sigh as he shut his eyes and gripped at his knees, surely exhausted.
"This is a melody... that heals evil magic and troubled spirits, turning them into masks as you see forth," the Happy Mask Salesman spoke once more, bringing the surprised Link out of his shock to raise his blonde-haired head. "I am most certain that it will become of assistance to you in the future," he claimed on before his veiled grin grew even wider. "Should you find yourself in a horrific spot of danger like that again." He ended in a knowing chuckle.
If only I had access to that song earlier, the frowning Link mused on silently.
I'd have been able to send all those resurrected corpses I fought back to the Void without having to fight them.
"Ah... of course... I give you this mask in commemoration of this day," the man continued on. "Fear not for, if you wear it, you can safely take it off again," he smiled on. "The magic has been successfully sealed within."
Although he didn't trust the man's words, somehow, he knew he wasn't lying.
Link frowned as he bent forward and couldn't help but upturning it into a lightly-amused smirk as he grabbed it to stare into its eyes.
He'd laugh at the gargantuan amount of trouble he had been put through because of one simple problem if it hadn't nearly killed him.
What a bother, he thought.
"Now that I have fulfilled my promise to you...,"
The Happy Mask Salesman's voice made the smiling drop down to a frown as he rose his head up to face him.
"Then, please give me that which you promised me..."
The former Hero of Time, realising he did not carry the frightening and foreboding mask that the man sought, lowered his straw-haired head in an unhealthy mix of shame and disinclination. The Happy Mask Man, noting this, appeared to shake; the hand he stretched out forward, as if to receive his goods with, shook terribly in unyielding rage.
"Don't tell me...," he began, his smile still seemingly and eerily present on his face. "You did... get it back..."
The frowning Link could only wince in full knowing of what was coming.
"Didn't you...?"
The further uncomfortable silence that descended down upon the trio at last made him take action; with frightening and sudden strength the Happy Mask Salesman reached forward and lifted the surprised young Hylian into the air and shook him violently.
"What have you done to me?!" He exclaimed, his grin elongating into a livid and horrifying scowl. "If you leave it out there... something terrible will happen!"
The gasp that escaped Link's mouth as he pushed off of the man's grip, landing on his Kokiri boots with a shut-eyed cringe, could only cough from the earlier pressure as he turned his ear up to listen further.
"You may not know any of this...," the Happy Mask Salesman began again, his veiled grin very quickly dissolving into a knowing and dreading frown. "But that mask that, that cursed Skull Kid wears... is none other... than Majora's Mask."
Expelling one final cough, Link narrowed his oceanic-eyed gaze forward "M-Majora's Mask?"
"It is an accursed item of legend that is said to have been utilised in horrific forbidden black magic. The creators were said to have been a jealous tribe of former Hylians, like you and me, that turned against the Sainted Three."
As Link listened, very quietly, his brow furrowed as he pictured the mask the man was talking about.
All of this sounds strangely familiar, the young boy thought to himself.
Come to think of it...
Wasn't there a thing in the Shadow Temple that kind of looked like that mask?
The Fused Shadow.
That's what it was.
"It has been said... that whomsoever should wear that mask... shall be granted power beyond even children's limitless imaginations," the man continued on. As he illuminated more of the face-wear in question, Link's memories recalled the horrid and terrifying sensation he felt when the Skull Kid started screaming. "It is pure evil," the man claimed boldly, his confidence resolute and dreaded voice speaking volumes. "The godlike and divine power of the holy Triforce cannot even begin to approach the scale of Majora's Mask's Quintessence."
Somehow, in spite of his dealings with his earlier foes Ganondorf Dragmire and Kage Narumono, even with all of their frightening powers, Link couldn't help but agree.
He had seen, and felt, the horrifically intense level of strength.
It was not something he wanted to deal with again; at least not for a good while.
"According to the myths and legends surrounding this artefact... the troubles caused by Majora's Mask were so great...," the Happy Mask Salesman continued on, his eyes narrowing as he delved deeper into the story. "The forgotten ones... having suffered far too much too quickly... elected to hide the mask forever in order to prevent any more loss of life of their people."
Link's listening eyebrows rose to match his shocked wide-eyed and open-mouthed frown, his mind adding to the conversation.
It killed people?
Wait a minute, he thought.
The 'forgotten ones'?
Where do I remember that name?
"But, now... all those that once existed within this profane clan of people have vanished, seemingly very suddenly. So no-one in this world or even the next know of their existence, let alone their creation."
–
6
"... But I feel it..."
The Happy Mask Salesman's voice managed to bring him out of his daydreaming; the frowning Link rose his eyebrows as he listened further.
"I went to great lengths to find that blasphemous mask of sheer killing intent...," the man lamented sadly, his grin quickly dropping in favour of a melancholic frown. "I could sense the doom of a dark omen brewing... that unwelcoming feeling that makes your hair stand on end..."
Can't argue with that, Link thought on, a wince on his young expression as he did.
"And now...," the older man sighed, cupping the sides of his head in a display of sheer frustration and dread. "That imp has it..."
The listening Link could only avert his gaze, shame overtaking him.
It was one of the first times he had felt truly overpowered and legitimately beaten.
There was something in the quality of 'Majora's Mask' that made him doubt his own skills, even himself.
His mind went back to the wise words of the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide and he sighed quietly through his nose before re-raising his head to face the man.
"You helped me, so...," he began lightly, bringing in the older Hylian's attention as he did. "I promise you I'll help you get it back, as best I can."
"Really...?!" The wide-eyed Happy Mask Man gasped in a shocked whisper. "Why, Hero of Time..."
The listening Link's frown twitched.
I wish he wouldn't do that, the youth thought.
He shouldn't even know about that.
"I was almost certain you would tell me that," he claimed, rejoining his hands together as he re-shut his eyes and chuckled in his sociable smile. "Now... just as with Hyrule the fate of this country, and its people, rests squarely within your hands!"
Link couldn't help but exchange an unsure look with the silent Tatl as he listened, unable to find the words with which to respond.
"You'll be absolutely fine!" The older man continued, leaning lightly back as he extended forth both his hands; a gesture of veiled goodwill and encouragement. "Believe in your strengths... young Link...," he said, his grin growing somehow maliciously. "Believe..."