Chapter 17: Running the Horror Through; A Trip to the East
Ruins of the Forgotten Ones Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Termina Field" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Ikana Canyon" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"No Time to Mourn" - Resident Evil II (2019) OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Secret Hope" - Resident Evil II (2019) OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Song of Healing" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 4.
In an explosive finish to match the storybook tales of old, Link and his two female companions manage to blow apart the Gargantuan Masked Fish Gyorg and in doing so, save the oceans of Great Bay. Having previously sacrificed his life in order to vainly rescue Lulu's missing Zoran eggs, guitarist to the Indigo-Go's and renowned Zoran warrior 'Mikau' infiltrates the egg poacher's den; the nearby Gerudo Pirates' Fortress.
Unfortunately for him and his comrades at Zora Cape however, he fails and with it, loses his life in the ill-chosen endeavour.
Having entered Great Bay in order to purify these lands, Link and Tatl waste no time in putting the fallen guitarist's soul to rest and moving on to save the irregularities plaguing the oceans. In following in Mikau's footsteps the two heroes stumble upon a young Gerudo girl seemingly imprisoned within the very fortress she is allied to. When he confronts and rescues her from her cell however, the two heroes gain a powerful ally and one where they not thought to look for one; in recruiting 'Flyssa' they not only gain information on the people they fight against but an extra pair of swords to help battle with.
While they locate four of Lulu's precious Zoran children they clash with the current leader of the Gerudo Pirates; a ruthless and fierce woman by the name of 'Aveil'. She reveals Flyssa's true name and her annexation of her own forces over the previous leader's; another woman by name of Joanna. Having been murdered in cold blood by Aveil, she instils an order of merciless savagery; an ideal that the rest of her troops find a twisted sense of altruism in. When the heroes clash with Aveil herself however, she falls to the combined efforts of the fallen Mikau, Link and Flyssa.
Their morale heightened by their previous success, Great Bay's champions free a young seahorse and gain access to a two-mile deluge known only as 'Pinnacle Rock'. In doing so they at last locate the final three missing Zoran eggs and reunite the little seahorse with his mate; an act which sees the pair in rewarding the Hero of Time with a prized Piece of Heart. With the road open to Great Bay Temple Link, Tatl and Flyssa easily overturn the great evil that Majora's Mask had previous breathed into it; all through a horrid creature by name of 'Gyorg'.
In great spite to their resounding successes however, Link and Tatl are left with the grim reality of leaving their Gerudian companion behind; a notion that she simply cannot understand. Although he attempts in vain to explain the truth behind the mission that the fabled 'Sorcerer of the Divine Divide' gave to him, he inevitably fails and and the two children can only exchange one last gift with one another.
"Maybe you could... give me one more thing before you go away."
It is a request that he fulfils regardless of the emotional trauma they both suffer as a result of and, with it, he uses the Sorcerer's powers to travel back in time once again three days' worth. Having rescued three out of four of the Holy Four Giants Link and Tatl can at last begin to see the end of their long journey together. Resting far to the east are the forgotten lands of 'Ikana'; a war-torn country that has seen much toil, hardship and even many great familiar horrors that Link has encountered previously in his journeys.
It is now in these forbidden and abandoned borders that the Hero of Time attempts to shine his rays of light on...
Scene 1
DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY
-72 Hours Remain-
"I can't believe they just gave you that..."
"I bet it was guilt," Link shot back in a grinning chuckle as he tossed the Garo Mask up and down methodically, Epona's light trotting carrying them around the dry and dusty parts of eastern Termina Field. "Maybe they knew somehow that we knew," he offered over his shoulder, a satisfied grin ever flavouring the tone of his tenor. She rolled her eyes in response, as per however. "I guess it was the best way to shut us up and make sure we don't-"
"Yeeeee-hee-hee! You there!"
The group of heroes froze in their march almost as immediately as the odd voice shrieked at them; Link swung his narrow-eyed glare skyward toward the voice's point-of-origin and wiped off his grin in favour of a more serious frown.
He soon relaxed his stance however when he saw the form sitting up top.
An oddly-clothed figure sat upon the extremely-steep hill high above, deep-purple rags and carrying a similarly strange wooden stick.
Weird, the watching Link thought to himself, cobalt-blue eyes narrowing at the old man's form.
He looks almost exactly like that Poe collector from Hyrule's ruined future.
Thank Din that ain't a reality anymore, he added silently.
"Ikana Hill beyond here is the place where spirits with troubles and lingering regrets wander...," the hooded mystery man spoke, a kind of odd smile in the tone of his voice. "It is no place for a child...," he claimed, his voice soon elongating into a lightly-malevolent chuckle. "Even for one such as you..."
The listening Link watched the red eye survey him quietly from the figure's high spot, sitting atop the overly steep cliff high above.
That's where I have to go, the frowning youth thought to himself, furrowing his brow.
That's where the last Giant's hiding.
"What do you mean?" He called back, cobalt-blue eyes narrowing in thought and recognition. "'One such as me?'"
"I know who you are... Hero of Time."
The words and the knowing chortle with which he spoke them managed to make the listening young Hylian widen his eyes in his own inevitable thought.
"How does he...?"
"My former people's graves rest behind me...," he spoke again, a frown notably in the tone of his voice. "You may know them as... 'the forgotten ones'."
Link's brow furrowed in realisation.
Just like that, he thought.
A whopper of a puzzle piece falls smack in my lap.
Is this where the Forgotten Ones lived? But then if so how did they get through to Hyrule?
"The same way I came in, probably..." He answered himself in a thoughtful-eyed murmur, lowering his blonde-haired head as he spoke.
Suddenly most of what the Happy Mask Salesman told him all began to make sense.
And yet still there were more questions.
"Oh yes...,"
The mystery man's knowing chuckle, so oddly malevolent and sinister, broke the young hero's concentration and made him yank his head up through his thoughts.
"The powers of the forgotten ones are or, I should say, near limitless," he claimed, lightly dangling his bare feet across the edge of the cliff he sat on. "Your country has no more protection than this one from their blasphemous powers of old..."
Link's eyes narrowed and he near pulled back Epona to jog off in safety, his anxiety rising.
Is he reading my mind now, he wondered silently.
"How do you know where he's from?"
Tatl's sudden and fiery impertinent interjection made the listening Hero of Time widen his eyes in her direction, his head unmoving from its current position.
"He could be anyone and you think he's from Hyrule?" The brash little guardian fairy batted back, growing the insulting grin she liked to rely on so usually in her impudent retorts. "I'd say that's a big leap personally."
"Why... yes... yes of course...," the sitting figure chuckled in response, somehow similarly knowing. "You are... quite right... little fairy...," he began again. "He could simply be... anyone... couldn't he...?"
But even the listening Link didn't believe him; as he sat upon his loyal steed, he found his brow furrowing a second time and his head tilting to his lower left side, eyes narrowing carefully as he did.
He knows exactly who I am, he thought.
How, I don't know.
"But I bet it has something to do with those 'forgotten ones' he mentioned'."
"Ah... that mask..."
The man's voice, so soft, made him widen his eyes again out of thought before swinging his head down to his side-belt to trace his gaze.
Sure enough, it was the Garo Mask he was playing around with earlier.
"That is the mask of the leader of a clan loyal to the forgotten ones...," the robed man claimed. "A group of shinobi that once worked as their night-time guardians... nameless men and women that would spy and die for them at will."
As he listened, Link found himself pulling up the Garo Mask to look back into the odd pair of eyes resting within.
When he had put it on before, he felt the eyes lighten up as if in knowing of being worn.
Yet now with no power to draw on they remained dim and grey... lifeless in nature.
How strange, he thought.
"It is a history... stained with blood."
The man's speech beginning again made the listening Link swing his straw-haired head back up in response, eyes narrowing again.
"But with that...," he claimed, poking the Boko Spear he carried directly down at the mask in the youth's hands. "You may be able to put these wandering spirits to rest... once and for all."
The frowning Link turned his head to exchange an unsure glance with the thus far quiet Tatl; a look she returned to him, seemingly also unknowing.
FRRRUMP...
Almost as if in response to the mystery man's words, a small-sized tree rose up from the ground next to him in complete contrast to the wasteland they all stood in.
"We'll see... if you have what it takes...," the man began again, locking his similarly narrowed gaze with the watching Link's, his robed figure very slowly fading in and out. "Oh 'Hero of Time'..."
Having entered Ikana Canyon through the small tree the mysterious figure offered to them, Link and Tatl made the jump into climbing what remained of its steep hills and platforms by way of Octorok and similarly small-sized trees littered around said platforms. Even when standing above the high-rise waterfall, now defunct from time-without-use, the young Hylian felt an odd kind of foreboding in the air.
It was somehow familiar to him.
"Do you... sense that...?"
"Yeah...," he answered his guardian fairy, sky-blue eyes narrowing as he marched slowly through the area, surveying it with a similar gradual wariness that bordered on paranoia. "I don't like it...," he continued, shaking his blonde bangs softly in narrow-eyed thought, his vision caught on what appeared to be an open doorway far-off to their right across the defunct waterfall. "It reminds me too much of Kage."
"Who's Ka-?"
WHOOSH
In an abrupt and sudden interruption a small hooded form shot up out of the ground, somehow having camouflaged itself within in spite of the obvious lack of cover. Completely lost for words, Link and Tatl could only freeze absolutely, eyes locked on the robed figure.
Strange, the narrow-eyed Link thought silently to himself.
He looks just like that mask... the 'Garo Mask'.
His eyes widened in sudden realisation; a fact reflected in his next rumination.
"This is a Garo..."
"Sensei!" The figure spoke, seemingly a male's voice. "You called?"
In spite of the nameless figure's initial camaraderie, however, its lit-up grey eyes from behind its hood widened a little and it reached forward with its right hand.
SHHHHHING...
The sound of steel being unsheathed from within its very robes echoed on out and its blade poked out from underneath its clothing to point directly at the blonde-haired youth.
"That monstrous, hateful Aegir...," the figure began lowly, seemingly a Garo itself, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "What in the name of the Yami-Shin'nyū-sha are you...?!"
Before the wide-eyed Link could even answer the nameless Garo's odd question however, a second sword materialised from underneath his cloak and a ring of Quintessence-powered fire encircled them both.
–
2
In a rather surprising acrobatic back-dash, the Garo managed to somehow conceal its entire small form within the ring of fire that he himself had generated; it was something that filled the watching Link and Tatl with anxiety.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Stay calm."
SHIIING...
As the Gilded Sword and Hero's Shield unsheathed from his green-clothed back, Link kept his face stony to match the quiet fierceness of his eyes; a fact that managed to make the fearful Tatl double-take in his direction. He watched the intense fires that burned all around them, darting around almost as if following something.
"This is exactly what he wants," he continued, glaring quietly in his simple frown as he spoke. "Sowing confusion in the ranks are some of the easiest ways to decimate entire forces," the narrow-eyed youth claimed, his young tenor taking on an uncharacteristic seriousness and formality. "That's all... he..."
FWOOSH
"Wants!"
CLANG
In a single movement the narrow-eyed Hero of Time leapt to his side in sudden evasion, seemingly having predicted or followed his nimble opponent's abrupt charging assault. In his evasive manoeuvre he slammed the Gilded Sword down on the re-appearing shinobi's own twin swords before swiftly responding with a leaping sidekick to the face.
SLAM
"Gurgh...!"
As the nameless Garo was sent spinning almost seemingly endlessly through the air, time appeared to slow for the pair of adept swordsmen; the glaring-expressed Link slowly began to spin through the air himself in his recovery and, almost as soon as his boots touched safe ground, he shot off in bloody-minded pursuit.
SWIPE
As he flew across the air he swung the Gilded Sword in a savage horizontal-arching slice; an assault that the wide-eyed Garo saw coming, for as he flipped backward in recovery he ducked his robed head downward to avoid the incoming aggression. As he did, however, the mysteriously-dressed shinobi shot his small and pointed shoe directly into the youth's exposed lower stomach.
SMACK
"Hurngh...!"
"Link! No!"
In response to the frightened Tatl's exclamations the similarly wide-eyed Link found himself kneeling down, his two hands likewise lowered to grip at the fresh injury that stained and shot through his stomach. Although it was only a few seconds worth of inaction it was more than enough for the nimble little ninja; as he recovered from his earlier assault, he grunted lightly as he tossed forward one of his long and curved swords. As it sailed through the air almost soundlessly, a very tiny whine accompanied it, leaving all who watched with some idea to its eventual landing.
SQUELCH-STRIKE
"Argh...!"
In a similarly quickened manoeuvre, the Garo managed to effectively trap the wide-eyed and newly-injured Link by landing his weapon directly into the youth's right knee; a barbaric and cruel depiction that left his life's blood crawling out onto the battlefield beneath them.
"L-Link! You have to get up!"
In spite of Tatl's pleas, he didn't seem to listen; the Garo widened his eerily glowing greyed eyes before leaping upward, seemingly disappearing completely from view.
"LINK!"
Acting on the little guardian fairy's very inward and outward fears, the robed shinobi re-appeared high in the air and descended downward in a master stroke of acrobatics and swordplay; as he plummeted down to meet the young Hylian he flipped forward and narrowed his eyes as he gripped his last curved sword with both hands, clearly intending to end the duel then and there.
It was only when his weapon passed through the very form of the wide-eyed Hylian that the Garo widened his eyes and realised he'd been tricked.
But by then it'd had been far too late to react.
"HEIT!"
SQUELCH-SCREEEEEEEECH
In an incredible turnaround, the grinning Hero of Time somehow re-appeared within the skies to deliver a finishing counter-attack; one that saw him similarly gripping to his weapon with both arms in a likewise gesture of strength, descending earthward to stab the Gilded Sword directly through the ninja's robed body. The watching Tatl, of course, could only gasp out in much-needed relief; a notion that could only begin to frustrate the poor agitated guardian fairy.
SQUELCH
The Gilded Sword made a gut-wrenching sound as it was tore violently and staunchly; something that made the watching Tatl nearly gag in disgust.
"R-Regrettable...," the Garo spoke out in a chuckling laugh, his own life-juices decorating the brown battlefield beneath them in a powerful crimson. "Although you were my rival... you were spectacular..."
This time Link dropped his earlier morale-raising grin to practice swing his Gilded Sword, relieving it of any blood on which it carried.
"I shall take my bow by opening my heart and revealing my wisdom...," he began again, his body dropping and turning to face him; a weakened shell of its former self. "The ancient power of the Shinzui... and of the Niylahns rests before you...," the Garo claimed, re-raising his narrowing grey eyes as he spoke. Tatl could only exchange glances between them in genuine curiosity but the wide-eyed Link, his eyes caught within his former enemy's, could only stare back half-way in recognition. "Oh fallen 'Akuma'..."
Link's brow furrowed in puzzlement, unable to decipher the word. "A...kuma...?"
"Belief or disbelief rests with you...," the Garo began one final time, reaching behind him presumably for an item of some kind. The watching youth's senses stiffened but, somehow he knew it was little to be concerned about. "To depart from this world... without leaving a corpse..." He started again lowly, rising up the item in question. When the sun's gaze met with its round body the watching heroes widened their eyes and gasped in realisation.
"It's a bomb! Run!"
"That... is the way of the Garo clan."
DROOM...
Although the explosion was small, it was no less powerful; even as the gasping Link heeded his guardian fairy's wise advice and back-dashed to safety, he watched the nameless Garo completely disappear within the blast of his own making.
He really was telling the truth then, the narrow-eyed Link thought to himself.
So then what did he mean by those words?
'Niylahns', 'Akuma'...
"And what's more... he knows about the Shinzui..."
"What in goddesses' name was that?!"
Tatl's sudden shriek forced him straight out of his furrowed-browed thought; he swung his newly-gained wide-eyed frown up to face her and blinked.
"W-What?"
"I mean...," she began again, this time with a noticeably gasping and frustrated frown in her voice. "What the hell was he talking about?!" She exclaimed out incredulously, perhaps even more surprised than he. "I didn't get a word of it!"
The frowning Link stared back at her for a second before furrowing his brow a second time and wandering his eyes back down to the ground, seemingly silently brooding. The floating little guardian fairy glared back at him in a humorous exchange of expressions; between deadpan annoyance and simple frustration she let him know at the very least.
"You did I bet," she batted back this time, eyes likewise narrowing. "Didn't you?"
He winced.
"I mean... kinda...," he groaned back, rubbing the back of his green-hatted head in a dubious frown. "I only got some parts of what he said."
"Well, tell me then!"
He slowly turned his head up to frown back at her, a sort of examination in the assessing of his cobalt-blue eyes.
"Are you sure you wanna hear this?"
His question, so weighted and heavy with the new tone his usually-so-cheerful tenor took, left the hovering Tatl surprised.
Regardless however, she nodded in response.
"Y-Yeah... of course."
"Zelda... my Zelda," Link began, resting his small-sized back up against the long dirt wall behind him, similarly small arms folded as they stood next to Ikana Canyon's resident owl statue. "She gave it a name."
"Z-Zelda... your country's princess?"
He nodded.
"She gave what a name?" Tatl pressed him, hovering her form downward a little to face him. "What are you talking about?"
"Know anything about the Holy Triforce?" He batted back almost as quickly, sky-blue eyes lightly narrowing as he tilted his blonde-haired head at her. She blinked back at him curiously.
"Not... much...," she began doubtfully. "Just that it was supposed to be a holy artefact of your people."
"It's true... in a sense," he answered her, nodding his head to the side in thought as he briefly shut his eyes before continuing. "You know about Aegir too, right?"
"Y-Yeah...," she nodded her small bulbous form back at him. "The lifeblood of-?"
"The world, yeah," he responded, eyes lightly narrowing again. "Well, inside of this Triforce thing is an Aegir so powerful and so godlike, it gives normal people the capability to usurp a nation. Maybe even the world."
Tatl widened her eyes in shock. "B-But that's... that's not possible... I mean... a takeover would have happened by now if-"
"A takeover has happened by now Tatl."
Again she could only stare back at him in puzzlement. "W-Wha-?"
"I'm from a time where my country was stolen by a man of the Gerudo," he explained briefly, brow furrowing as he spoke. "Remember? I'm supposed to be the-"
"'Hero of Time'...," she answered her own query in a realising gasp. "Of course... but... well then what about-?"
"There's... something that lives inside of the Triforce," he interrupted her in a light frown. "Something demonic. She called it an 'unholy manifestation of the holy Triforce'."
Tatl blinked curiously at him.
"Sounds like a stupid story you'd tell your kids, don't it," he chuckled in a humourless laugh, a forced smile drawn across his face as he lowered his eyes as if in memory. "But it's true."
"And how do you know?"
"Because I have a piece."
His hardened tone of voice, spoken so boldly and fiercely as he shot back up his narrow-eyed gaze, made the listening guardian fairy near balk in sheer astonishment.
"Y-You what...?"
Opting this time to let his actions speak for him, he uncurled his arms and rose up his left hand to face her, back-first. Just as he had displayed to king Daphnes of Hyrule, there it was; the golden triangle of courage itself, glowing away back at the gobsmacked Tatl.
"Oh my lord..."
"You've never seen this yet... and I hope you won't, but...," he began again, retreating his hand back into his own gaze as he lowered his eyes to stare back into the depths of the golden glow beneath him. "That thing that lives inside of the Triforce... I've mentioned it before."
"What thing? What are you talking about?!" She exclaimed, half in frustration and half in impatience.
"Kage Narumono."
At last the wide-eyed little guardian fairy chose to remain silent, her satisfaction growing as her memories recalled the name having been spoken mere minutes ago.
"It's... I mean... he's... like a reflection of me," he explained briefly, re-rising up his eyes to frown back at her. He couldn't help but chuckle however, lowering his eyes in thoughts to memories. "Heh...," he chuckled. "Sheik called him 'Dark Link'... if I remember..."
Tatl, curious but still opting to show respectful silence, tilted her body to the side in curiosity.
"Anyway..."
He sighed, re-folding his arms as he leaned his body back against the wall behind him and re-opened his mouth to continue.
"Zelda gave it a name," he reiterated, bringing himself back to his original point. "She called it... the 'Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai'."
"Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai...," Tatl murmured out in repeating. "'Essence of'... of something or other- I don't quite-"
He nodded. "'Essence of the Triforce'," he answered her. "Yeah; you're right."
"Oh..." She murmured out again.
"It's essentially a darker side of its host," he explained once more. "An energy-based force of Aegir that magnifies its host's strength by millions, maybe even billions."
"Oh my god..."
"But at a price," he added narrowing his eyes. "The host loses its will to feel and its attachment to its humanity," the youth spoke, his words almost seeming having been spoken verbose. "It's a power that's, apparently, driven people insane before."
"W-Well no damn wonder...!" Tatl hissed back at him, eyes widened as she flew down directly in his line of sight. "When were you gonna tell me about any of this...?!"
He winced lightly and turned his head away from hers. "I mean... it's never came up, thankfully, but..."
"Oh yeah, yet!"
He rose an eyebrow in half-curiosity, swinging his oceanic eyes 'round to her form.
"Hmph...," she huffed out, annoyed and all. "Well... at least you told me now..."
He couldn't help but crack a low grin on his face as she responded.
"S-So wait a minute..."
He raised another questioning eyebrow and dropped his grin.
"What about this 'Niylahn' thing and- what the hell did he call you again?"
His eyes lowered again in thought, a similar sense of curiosity filling the space of them.
"'Akuma'."
"'Akuma'...?" Tatl murmured out, her own eyes narrowing behind her milky-shaded form. "That one I don't know," she admitted. "Not yet anyway."
"Mm, same," he agreed. "Whatever it is though, it doesn't sound good."
"It must all connect in some way or other, surely," Tatl batted back, a curious-eyed frown in the tone of her voice. "I mean if this Garo mentioned those names like that, then..."
"Hrm...," Link murmured out, half in thought and half in agreement. He turned his renewed grin back on her however and nodded as he re-opened his mouth to speak. "I guess we'll find out."
–
3
Having skirted carefully past the odd sight of a group of Gibdo marching 'round a nearby house, Link and Tatl managed to follow the disused waterway's path up to what seemed to be a suspicious-looking cavern.
And a well-founded investigation it was.
"What business have you in the Ikana kingdom, land where only the dead roam free...?"
The voice that spoke, a heightened pitch that gave the pair an idea of a young man, echoed across the walls of the cavern they stood in; a drab and saddened cage fit only for the deceased.
WHOOSH...
In a surprising sound and sight indeed, the form of a spectre shot up from what appeared to be the very air itself, materialising before the two. As it hovered high into the air it gripped what looked to be a conductor's baton and a lamp, its robed clothing suggested some connection to the royal family of Ikana.
He looks just like Sharp from Hyrule, the narrow-eyed Link thought.
So then what connection do you have?
"This is no place for one as full of life as you...," Sharp began speaking again, a light grin in the echo of his baritone. "Or... is this your desire to join the ranks of the dead...?"
Although the glaring-eyed Link opened his mouth to retort, Sharp decided to speak once more.
"That is fine...," he began again. "If that is the case... then sleep gently to this melody of darkness that the great composer, Sharp, shall play...," he explained briefly, the grin in his voice growing. "And join the ranks of the dead."
"L-Link!"
"Hmph...," the glaring-faced Link began before upturning his firmly-held frown into a grin of confidence. "Amateur..."
With that single word he brought up the Ocarina of Time and played a melody he had not even remembered since his last adventure.
He played the Song of Storms.
"W-What...? Th-This song..."
Sharp's voice predicted the surprise that he laced his next words with; a tone reflected in the widening of his deep-green eyes.
"It can't be..."
Almost as if in response, his form began to very quickly dip in and out of reality before eventually completely fading; a reaction that gave birth to yet another. As the wide-eyed Tatl watched on, water from beneath the seemingly empty hole beneath the disappearing Sharp slowly began to fill up and, eventually, fill out into the waterway the shocked view of the hovering little Tatl, the waterway and, indeed the very mechanism that powered it, creaked back to life once again; with the assistance of the last note of the Song of the Storms, echoing through the dank cave they stood in, Link drew the ocarina down and cast his satisfied grin forward.
"Oh it sure can Sharp old buddy...," the grinning youth began again, toothy and all as he spoke. "Nothin' gets by me."
WHOOSH...
Just as he spoke the floating form of the small-sized spectre materialised once more above them, this time a different quality shining in his green-shaded eyes.
"Ah, Flat, my dear brother...," he started, a regretful nature entering his calmer baritone. "Please... forgive your foolish brother, who dreamt of the royal family's revival..."
This time Link found his grin slowly shifting into a contended smile, casting his eyes upward to stare back at the hovering ghost-like form above him. At last Sharp took notice of him and gifted him with a light smile of his own.
"Ye who do not fear the dead...," he began again. "With my brother's melody, you have broken the curse that I foolishly placed upon myself," he claimed, shaking his head as if in some form of shame. "In my arrogance and my melancholy for time's-gone-past... I wished the revival of the Ikanian royal family to rid this once beautiful land of the forgotten ones' infestation."
Link's cobalt-blue eyes narrowed forward in recognition, easily catching the initial name-drop.
"And also... of the dreaded Himitsu Shakai."
This time the former Kokiri widened his eyes in surprise, unable to recognise this term.
"We dead... we should not linger in this land," Sharp spoke again, a newly-gained smile upon his face. "Although this sounds as an excuse... it was a trick of the masked one."
"Skull Kid..."
Tatl's whispering response marked the likewise realisation within the listening Link's own eyes; a reaction he noted in a simple turn of his blonde-haired head.
"If you truly do not fear the dead..."
Sharp's beginning again made the quiet-toned youth swing his head back in his direction, a business-like frown upon his face.
"Then the royal family of Ikana require your assistance," he claimed, his emerald-green eyes narrowing forward. "If you can sever the bond between this curse in the land of the forgotten ones and us..."
Link's eyes widened again, his senses peaking at the mention of the group he had been pursuing once more.
"Then we can finally... rest in peace," Sharp claimed in a simple, respectful nod. "But to do that... you will have to seek out our formerly-living king... Igos Du Ikana; the greatest swordsman in all of Termina."
"Igos Du Ikana...?"
Link's narrowed eyes shot between his hovering guardian fairy and the similarly floating form of Sharp as he listened on quietly and intently.
"Only he knows a way inside the forbidden lands of Stone Tower...," Sharp explained briefly, his form very slowly shimmering in and out of existence; a mark of their conversation coming to an end. "He awaits one such as you; a ray of light to break the darkness holding our lands."
The young Hero of Time remained respectful and silent during the formerly-living man's speech, frowning as he did.
"What say you young one?" The former composer began. "Will you listen to my... final request?"
Link chose to remain silent but only for a second; his confident and charismatic grin soon re-appeared across his face to match the optimism he was known so well for.
"I ain't no ray of light, lemme tell ya...," he began lowly before his grin slowly expanded as his straw-haired head lowered, a kind of bold quality in his oceanic eyes that emboldened the rest of his spoken words. "But I'm definitely here to help," the youth responded. "We'll be home in time for dinner!"
As if somehow satisfied by the boy's joking-like tone, Sharp let out a very-visibly soft smile and shut his eyes to match, before gradually fading out of existence.
The sound of the nearby phonograph, large and brass, hung in the air as the pair of adventurers left the dank cavern behind them. Seemingly as if in response to the oddly ominous-sounding music the group of Gibdo that surrounded the house appeared to have gone missing; something that the narrow-eyed Link took note of.
I wonder what they were looking for, he thought.
"Psst... Link!"
Tatl's whisper made him turn his attention back forward and, sure enough, there it was; a little girl standing not far from the door she seemingly came out of, her gaze fixed on the newly-flowing pathway of water next to her house.
"I see her..."
His response was as quiet as her own; a barely audible whisper that carried his words toward her floating form as quietly as hers did.
What's your story, he thought to himself.
Why are you living out here?
As the little girl eventually turned, presumably to leave and march on up the hill to the top-left, Link at last made his move; in narrow-eyed determination he kept his form low and sidled along the water's pathway and the building next to him, watching and waiting. When she had gone far enough for the youth to be sure however, he reached for the door.
–
4
When inside the music box house, the noise hadn't gotten any better; as half-expected it grew louder with proximity. Link cast his oceanic-eyed gaze across the living area ahead. A simple table, cloth and chairs sat ahead of them; the cornerstone of any small family's furniture. The fireplace on the right decorated with two vases next to it on either side gave it a finishing touch but not after the wide-eyed youth managed to get a look at the poster hanging on the wall ahead.
Oddly enough, it was of Lulu from Great Bay; advertising the Indigo-Go's next concert.
He couldn't help but hold back a grin as he turned his cobalt-blue eyes 'round on the staircase leading to his lower-left. As he marched down it he turned his gaze across the contents below his eyes were soon caught by the sight of large speakers blasting the grating melody that he had somehow grown so used to.
This must be where they play it, he thought.
So it'll have been the water restoring that made this instrument work again...
"Interesting."
As he stepped on down the staircase laid before him, thoughts rolling through his head, he laid eyes across the odd pieces of machinery sitting in the left corners and sides of the new basement he marched through. Strangely enough, only a closet situated at the very back of the room appeared to be the only sight worth seeing. Link couldn't help but exchange unsure firmly-held frowns with the watching Tatl before agreeing to step further forward in a single nod. Almost as surely as they did however...
FLUMP
MOAN-MOAN...
In a single movement, the closet burst open to reveal its insides; another Gibdo. The standing Link's brow furrowed as he watched it suddenly take notice of him; as with all predictable ReDead and Gibdo, it began its long and slow march forward to feast.
Odd, the frowning Link thought.
"This one doesn't look like the others..."
Sure enough upon its bandaged body and head appeared to be its face.
It was odd enough to even take note of given Gibdos normally being covered head-to-toe in bandages.
"Tatl... I think that-"
"Yeah... yeah I do too."
And that was that; the listening young Hero of Time nodded dutifully before pulling out the royal family's heirloom. Raising it to his lips he shut his sky-blue eyes and began to visualise the healing hearts of the very melody that he played; a final gift to him from the mysteriously-dressed masked salesman.
The Song of Healing.
MOAN-MOAN-MOAN-MOAN...!
MOAN-MOAN-MOAN...
SHHHHIIIIING...
In a single dazzling ray of light the Song of Healing did its job and more; by somehow reaching through whatever dark curse enveloped the man's body with, his last groans and grunts were indeed that – his last.
CLACK-CLACK-CLACK
As the man's curse, seemingly manifested as a mask rolled off his face and onto the ground beneath him, the wide-eyed man was at last revealed; dressed in what appeared to be a long white coat usually reserved for doctors, he sported a striped blue shirt and a light green pair of slacks to go along with the white shoes he wore.
"F-Father...?"
"Ah...?"
The man, surprised, turned his head up from his self-examination before casting a soft smile downward before similarly kneeling on ground level.
"Father!"
Somehow having run past the standing Link's senses, the nameless little girl rushed toward the nameless man in the coat before colliding with him in what seemed to be a powerful embrace. The Kokiri-bound youth couldn't help but drop his frown into a softened satisfied smile as he drank in the sight before him.
A parent and its child.
"P-Pamela!" The man exclaimed, eyes widened as he drew his hands across her small form. He rose up his oddly-shaped brown-haired head and cast his frown forward, a puzzled frown lacing his tone. "W-What have I been doing this whole time...?" He asked her curiously, his eyes narrowing as if looking through his memory for answers. "Have I just been... dreaming...?"
"Y-Yeah...," the little girl sniffed, burying her head on his blue-striped chest. "Y-You were just having a nightmare..."
The man, somehow realising that there were more to what she was saying, narrowed his eyes before slowly softening them. He lowered his head and smiled as he embraced her.
"Thanks... for waking me up... Pamela."
As he watched Link bent down in silence, hoping not to disturb the two, before picking up the fallen mask at his feet. He rose it up with the rest of his body and stared down at it, his old examining frown taking point. A mass of bandages and a pair of holes for what seemed to be eyes stared on back at him; the Gibdo Mask.
He shot the mask upward through the air and balanced it on his raised index finger, spinning 'round as he turned his newly-gained grin on the hovering Tatl and gave her a grinning wink.
She rolled her eyes in frustration, as she so often did.