hi I am here. I rewrote chapter 5 because it just felt wrong at the end. The beginning half is the same, whereas the latter half is pretty darn different.
Sorry for disappearing, I'm back now.
Chp 5- Time for more Time
It felt like they had been walking for an eternity, the twists and turns making it seem like they were hopelessly traveling in circles. They had had to dispatch a few sentient plants, and a bunch of Mad Scrubs on the way as well, only making the trip seem longer. Masks said he knew where they were, but it didn't look like they actually had a destination in sight.
The sounds of the forest, while pleasant and welcoming at first, had taken a turn for the worst. Creaks from the trees, rustling of the leaves, and various other noises from a plethora of animals and monsters trilled in the forest's shaded light. They morphed into a cacophony that sounded mysterious and dangerous. Red thought something was going to bust out of the trees at any minute to ambush the 7 of them...again. Of course, his imagination was far worse than what had already leapt at them, but it still wasn't a fun thought to consistently have.
Worry trickled through the group, despite Masks's insistent affirmations that they were all going to be fine.
Red really didn't know if he could believe that they were going to be fine, so he tried his best to keep close to the heart of the group. However, he also couldn't help himself to not ask if Masks really knew what he was doing leading them through the mysterious woods. "Masks…do you really know if this is the right path?"
The young Hero of Time continued forward, rounding a turn without slowing down. He glanced over his shoulder at Red and then looked ahead again. "Yup. Red, I know these woods very well. Well enough to not get totally lost at least...but sometimes it can't be helped. This is the "Lost Woods afterall." He shrugged and continued walking forward without faltering. After a few more moments of silent walking he slowed to a halt and pointed upwards. They had rounded another turn into a more open area with a wooden bridge leading a higher level of the forest ground to an archway made of a giant fallen tree. "Aha, see I knew it, we're almost there. Once we get up there on the bridge we...well I'll figure it out." He seemed happy...but it fell as quickly as it came.
Masks sank to the ground for a rest, giving the cue that they had a minute before continuing to their apparent destination which was now in sight. Vio chose instead to readjust his pouch on his belt. "Hmm, Masks, why exactly is it that you know the area so well?" His hand moved from his bag to rest on his hip as his inquiry continued, "I thought this was supposed to be one of those 'new location' things the other two mentioned earlier?" He made air quotes with his free right hand to further his point, which only made Masks roll his eyes.
All three of the 'Links' that the Four Sword Heroes encountered not long before had mentioned a place called 'Termina', and Tiny and Dusk had spoken of meeting Masks there by similar means that he and his brothers had. By just...coming upon it suddenly. Granted, they most likely hadn't been influenced by shadows that made them hostile and instead met in a more sociable manner than the four had...Vio cringed at that and let his hands fall.
"Yeah, uh, don't worry about that, Vio. I'm not from Termina anyway, I'm from here, in these woods specifically. Well, technically not now here but...ah look okay it'll be easier to physically explain when I find who I'm looking for. Proof too, heh." Masks shrugged and turned his back to the group again to instead stare up at the canopy above. Vio took that as the best answer they were going to get and went to see what the growing commotion behind him was.
Taking advantage of the rest's time to...rest, Red nudged Tiny and pointed a finger to the closest corner of the enclosed area they found themselves in. There were two large stumps, one larger than the other, and they suspiciously stood alone waiting for someone or something to approach it. This got the attention of everyone who wasn't staring at the sky to glance over as well, all of them inching closer until they were surrounding the two large stumps.
After a couple of moments or so, Masks decided they had rested enough and stood to stretch his arms while finally looking away from the sky where his mind threatened to dissociate itself. He shoved the feeling away and looked to where he found everyone else staring at the two raised platforms. Masks padded through the grass a few steps until he was among the rest of the gawking boys and finally realized why they were so engrossed. Honestly, he should have figured it was going to happen, and it may prove useful for some extra information. He smiled.
The fast and lighthearted rings of a flute began to swirl around them. With the commotion of 'children' around in this part of the forest there was no doubt of attracting a spirit. The music got louder and more playful, but still there was no player in sight around the two stumps. Deciding that maybe this was new to some of them, Masks announced what was happening.
"A Skull Kid is playing their flute for us to join in."
Tiny raised a finger that came among a nervous expression. "Uh! Masks, I thought you said that Skull Kid was...bringing that freaky moon down to kill everyone, right? Why are you so calm?" Oh, a good point actually, he must not know that there were more than one of them in the world.
Masks chuckled and shrugged. "Ah, this is a different Skull Kid, Tiny. The one who wants to kill everyone is in Termina, not here in Hyrule, and I'm not quite so sure it's his fault anyway." He gestured to the woods around them. "Skull Kids are forest spirits, that's all. This one right here is an old friend of one of my best friends, so I've hung out with him several times in the past. He won't hurt us, he just really likes playing music here, and one other area deeper in the forest."
He was wondering, however, why the mischievous forest spirit had yet to appear, but his gaze soon traveled onto Dusk. The 18 year old was standing the farthest from the stumps, but still close. Skull Kids liked children, but hated adults...Dusk was the only one there who could be completely considered an adult. If he were being honest, Masks wished to move right on past and leave the Skull Kid alone, but due to dealing with them a lot in the past growing up in a forest village close to their home...they didn't like getting ignored when they wanted to play music for a group of children. The spirits weren't malevolent usually...but they could be if wronged in a certain way, and after the particular Skull Kid in Termina, he didn't want to risk it.
Masks scooted his way to Dusk's side and nudged his arm. Said teen stiffened and then relaxed as his gaze landed on the young Hero of Time. "Hey Dusk, you uh mind waiting by the other side of the clearing? The spirits here don't care much for adults..." The reaction Masks received was a disappointed demeanor that morphed into recognition when he was informed that the kid would not appear if he, in particular, was nearby. He nodded, and walked backwards until his back rested upon a rock edge on the other side of the area. Masks sent him an apologetic thumbs up, and turned back to the stump.
Sure enough, a mischievous laugh replaced the faint music for a few moments, and in a swirl of leaves and grass a small wooden child holding a flute appeared on top of the highest stump. His face was concealed by a mask; a playful looking skull one that allowed the glow of his orange eyes shine through. He looked, for the most part, friendly. He stood there, holding his wooden flute up to his mouth underneath the mask expectantly, while staring at no one particular member of the group.
Masks fumbled with his bag, delicately pulling out a bright blue ocarina. He brought it slowly up to his own mouth and gave the spirit an expecting glance. The Skull kid looked excited, and hopped up and down alternating what foot he landed on. Immediately the spirit began playing a fast upbeat tune, Masks quickly joined in to the melody perfectly as if they had practiced this before. Seeing as how he said he used to hang out with the Skull Kid and another friend of his, it made sense that they'd have played music together before.
The performance only lasted a couple of minutes, but it was a lovely display. Masks trailed off, and the Skull Kid followed suit, laughing merrily. The young Hero of Time slid his ocarina into the bag resting on his belt and flashed him a small smile. "Hey, I remember you!" The Spirit pointed a wooden finger in Masks' direction, "You're friends with that nice kokiri girl who plays in the Forest Meadow! Wow, I thought the kokiri were all in hiding, I haven't seen you or any of your kind in a long time since the monsters came back into the forest. I miss pulling pranks on you guys!" Despite the statements, the Skull Kid giggled and crouched down on the stump to better gaze down at his company. A couple of the other group's members, such as Blue, found the imp to be...off putting and despite the happy music that had since subsided, kept their distance on edge.
Before delving into more important matters that might drive the spirit away, Masks started easy. "I see you're still wearing that skull mask I gave you, I'm glad you still like it so much!"
The Skull Kid nodded his head vigorously. "The other Skull Kids are so jealous of it, so I'm never taking it off!" He gestured off towards the distance, and put his flute away into a bag that slung around his shoulders. He was preparing to head off when the kid was finished talking, but stuck around until he did so. He had missed the nice Kokiri and her friend, it was fun to see one of them again and play music finally.
Masks chuckled back. "Of course," He leaned forward and raised a hand to cover one side of his face. It blocked off his voice towards the direction Dusk was standing off in the distance like he was telling a secret. "Say, Skull Kid, I got an important question to ask you."
He prefaced it as if it were important for only the Skull Kid, which worked perfectly as he looked interested enough to lift his mask up to show his face and nod. His beak clicked together. "Now, I know how much you hate adults," The Skull Kid let the mask lay over his face again and blew a raspberry with one of his hands in Dusk's general direction to prove his distaste. "but, did you happen to see if an adult that kinda looks like me, even wearing Kokiri clothes, went into the village today?" Now this really confused the rest of the Link's gathered around the two...even Dusk's great hearing wasn't enough to catch the conversation, even if he weren't so busy taking in the area besides the Skull Kid's section.
The Skull Kid stood upright and pointed to the village entrance. "Oh, that guy. I was watching him suspiciously, I think I saw him go there...today!" He laughed again and disappeared in a blink of an eye, spooking Red in particular so bad he fell over. "Lets play music again soon, little Kokiri!" The presence of the forest spirit ebbed away with the final message.
Concluding that strange interaction, the 6 younger boys regrouped with Dusk on the far edge of the clearing. That's where they were heading anyway, access to the bridge above was waiting for them with a ladder and a small gap to jump across. It was easy enough to get all of them up and on top of the bridge, leaving the last leg of the journey to enter the long enormous log into wherever Masks was leading them. He hadn't exactly given a concrete answer yet.
Halfway through the dark entranceway, careless meandering turned to hushed and crouched steps until Masks stopped and blindly faced the rest of them who had barely stopped before teetering into him. He started with a whisper, "Alright, we're entering the Kokiri Village now. I want you guys to lay low, the Kokiri don't get many...visitors. And lately hasn't been a very good time for them at all, so just...follow behind me quietly. I doubt any of you would want to just wait for me to go in and get out, so this is the best we're gonna get, I guess." He audibly sighed, and began to lead them forward again, keeping a few feet between him and Vio, Red, and Green. Tiny, Blue, and Dusk were just behind them stepping softly. Well, Blue wasn't stepping very softly, but it didn't matter much, since it would be very hard to not spot a group of 7 interesting people walking into a quiet and recovering village.
"Hey...before we get in the open, I keep hearing the word 'Kokiri' thrown around, what are they? And didn't that...Skull Kid call you one?" Green questioned in a hushed voice, squinting from the light that was now permeating the tunnel. They were almost in the village it would seem. "I'm assuming they're all friendly, right?" As friendly as the Skull Kid was at least, Green reasoned. He knew he wasn't the only one curious, but no one else seemed bothered enough to add on. If he were being honest, it seemed, especially for his three brothers, that they were all putting a whole lot of faith into someone they had just met within the past day and a half or so.
Instead of answering properly, Masks made a frantic shushing sound and cautiously stepped into the light. It...didn't last very long before he was halted by something, however. Or rather, someone. It was hard to tell, because it was so fast that the rest of the Links hadn't even made it out of the tunnel yet. Quite frankly, they could only verifiably make out what their companion was saying as the other person was too muffled in their hushed argument. The only thing they had heard correctly was the initial unhappy shout of Mask's real name. The stranger definitely didn't sound happy and from what they could hear, it seemed like a rather one-sided conversation.
Masks groaned, and then addressed the angry whispers. "uh, h-hey Mido! What? Yes, I know you're mad at me for leaving for so long. 7 years… okay yeah, I'll agree, 7 years is a bit much! At least you know that I didnt die after heading out of the forest...and- hey, really? There IS an adult that keeps walking around here saying he's me?" In a lower tone, most likely meant to be just to himself, Masks muttered, "gosh I thought I decided on not telling everyone who I was...hrnng, okay."
Louder to Mido, in response, Masks continued, rolling with it. "Well, yeah okay I see why you wouldn't believe that now with me in front of you. Mido please- will you listen just for one second? I promise I'll tell the truth...or at least as much as I have of it? Hell, this is already overwhelming." Suddenly, Masks didnt sound so confident.
"Look...Mido, that adult that keeps coming around here, is who he says he is. He's me. I know that sounds stupid, and yes it kind of is stupid. But, I promise." He paused for a moment, clearly figuring out the best way to continue. "Though...I didn't think I went around parading who I was to you guys, thought you would kick me out or something. You all already hated that there was an adult in the town, even if it was me...oh sorry whatever, that's probably me anyway." Mido made a sound that sounded more confused than angry.
Masks huffed thoughtfully. "Proof? I might just have some actually. Well, for starters uh, time travel. Know how the...Deku Tree got attacked by evil, and monsters came out? I left the forest to fight it. Lead me to time travel, and find out im not Kokiri. But," he hurriedly continued, "besides that I…well he went into the Forest Temple recently with you to clear out the monsters and make sure Saria was safe and could fulfill her job as a sage. Right? Then he made sure to clear all of the monsters out of the immediate area, if I'm not mistaken. So you and the rest of the Kokiri could come out of hiding." Masks laughed dryly. "If that is what I did" his dry laugh dwindled, presumably at 'Mido's' reaction. He raised a finger, "Oh, you're gonna like this one, then, I know I kinda don't."
Masks spun on the spot and urged the rest of the startled group of Links forward into the light. Stepping out of the tunnel and turning to where the two stood before, they came to realize Mido was just another kid with a fairy fluttering close behind him. A kid they just spooked the daylights out of. Poor kid had a whirlwind of emotions ram into him in the span of a few minutes.
Tiny waved at Mido with a very weak smile for a lack of a better reaction. Blue slammed his palm into his forehead a couple of times, Dusk shrugged, Red was staring past the kid at the rest of the near-empty village, and Green and Vio were simply at a loss too so they just smiled probably...a bit creepily at him. The four of them were never good with new encounters even before being spilt apart but now they were even worse at introductions because of it.
Mido waved back at Tiny slowly, his face morphing from surprised to slackened, expression dead. His mouth was a firm line, and he spun on Masks again with squared up arms. "Link! What the Hell is this?" He gestured wildly at the 6 newcomers. Pulling 6 people out of nowhere was strange enough, but they all...seemed way too familiar to him. And he Hated it. However, surprisingly, they all weren't as familiar as the adult that kept walking around, but he didn't know whether to be relieved or more upset over that. He instead growled, "Have you got scrubs in your brain or something? You come back suddenly after all this time, with this bullshit? Really, Link, what do you take me for?"
Masks hesitated before shaking his head in response to that particular acquisition, but Dusk couldn't help himself from snorting laughter at the scrub comment, killing the already tight mood. The young Hero of Time didn't even spare the Hero of Twilight a glance from his amusement but instead pointed at his house a bit down the main path of the village while looking at Mido. "I'm assuming he's in my house, right? I promise we'll leave as soon as we grab him... I don't blame you for being mad, by the way. I know you already didnt like me before any of this happened, this doesn't help that."
He paused and ruffled through the slung bag on his belt until he retrieved a small brown object he held with care. He outstretched it to the other kid, who flinched and then looked dumbstruck yet again. "oh, actually...Mido, for the trouble, I have something to give you. You can have Saria's ocarina she made using the Great Deku Tree's bark...so you can talk with her while she's off doing Sage stuff. I...have another way of talking to her anyway. It's the least I can do, for the trouble I caused. Just take it."
Mido hesitated, about to snatch it up. His fairy whispered something to him and his expression softened. He looked about ready to say something, but he instead huffed angrily and turned around. Mido began storming away down the main path, "Whatever weirdo, just go do what you're gonna do. Never been able to stop you from doing stupid stuff before." He disappeared into one of the homes carved out of giant tree stumps off to the left, leaving everyone else staring after him.
"Huh, figured he would have done that sooner." Masks deadpanned, slipping the ocarina he had been holding away into his satchel. With nothing besides their purpose for being there needing his attention, he lead the way slowly further into the small village. The air was palpable and stiff around the 7 of them, which only grew when he turned around and saw that none of his companions were following him. Thankfully this was alleviated by a much-needed acquisition.
"Hey, Masks? The Hell was that about?" Blue asked, his voice drawn out, tired. "The guy we're looking for is...you?" He wasn't so sure how much he believed that, but given his own circumstance he didn't have much of an argument. Blue just hoped that this didn't mean they would have to come upon the possibility of running into another set of the Four Swords Heroes. Four was enough.
"That's fine I can explain that much." Masks pointed to the house they were heading towards. A raised treehouse, the house's interior being carved into the tree itself, and blocking the entrance was a brown sheet of cloth. Beginning to head towards it again, the group slowly trailed after him this time after a small hesitation. "Well, Dusk here would know this, at least, but I've had to deal with time travel...a lot. During my first, well, journey I had to leave my home here in the forest so that I could get the Master Sword and stop...evil, you know that spiel." The young Hero of Time stopped at the ladder leading up to his house and turned around to face the group with a sigh.
He continued in a hushed voice, "But, the sword didn't seem to particularly like that I was only 13, or that the world wasn't damaged enough or whatever. I don't really remember what the Light Sage said. Basically the sword literally had me sealed up in the Sacred Realm for 7 years until I was quote-unquote 'ready'." He shrugged with glossy eyes and a slackened expression, "Slept through the whole thing really, so I was very suddenly thrown into a world 7 years past Ganondorf's takeover, and an adult. That freaked me out more than anything, I thought I was a Kokiri like everyone else in the village...forest spirits blessed by the Deku Tree who don't exactly age. Not like anyone told me otherwise,"
His expression morphed into a deep frown, but he anxiously waved off the concerned glances he was getting from his companions. "Look, it's fine, obviously I got sent back to my childhood, I'm 14, not 20 if you didn't notice. But anyway, no the reason why I know I…he's gotta be here is that I came by my house several times in the future and stuff, and everything around is nearly identical to that time, not before I got the sword. With everything going on now at least, I figured something more was up than my brand of time travel." He grabbed the ladder to begin climbing. "Maybe I came to the conclusion too fast and I'm wrong, but Mido and Skull Kid seem to prove it right with some discrepancies...but I still don't know if this is the best idea. It was my first idea, granted, but…"
It was quiet for a few moments as Masks turned his attention back to the balcony above. Tiny couldn't help but break it, "What... about Termina then? I thought we met you there, not here." He was also glancing at the balcony, staring at the faint blue light fluttering through the cracks in the cloth doorway, suddenly very curious about Masks seemingly endless oddities.
Dusk shoved Tiny's shoulder a bit startling the kid, and quietly scolded him on how what he asked was rude, especially considering the timing. Tiny ignored him, glancing up at the house once more. It was nicely carved, and rather large...for him maybe, but for someone of say Dusk's size it would be a bit...cramped. Masks clicked his tongue before answering but he did start climbing the ladder with a hand gesture that stopped the rest from doing so as well. Not like they would all fit up there anyway.
"I'd...rather not talk about that part, Tiny. I think I've been open enough." He had reached the top, clambering slowly onto the platform and out of sight for the rest of the Links below. Some of which were beginning to become impatient. Masks halted and held his breath.
"Hey, Masks, buddy, why'd you stop…? Didn't you say this was your house?" Green called.
No response.
After a few moments, however, a small trill of a bell rang and slowly a small blue light fluttered out of the doorway a bit drowsily. A fairy. She glanced around the balcony, before looking down and spotting Masks at the edge of the ladder. The fairy seemed to shrug and began to head back into the house before she stopped midair and rapidly flew into Masks' face where she moved in a small circle in front of him.
Masks, however, let out the breath he was holding, very shakily. He said nothing as he stiffly yet firmly shook his head, turned, and dropped down the ladder again. Without looking back at the house he had just quickly and silently departed, he frantically mumbled under his breath as he passed by the 6 very confused heroes. They didn't have a chance to follow or even watch where Masks departed off to before the fairy that had been left on the balcony came fluttering down in the air before the boys.
"Hey!" She trilled gaining the attention away from where the young Hero of Time fled and unto herself, "I thought…" The fairy sighed, counting the number of boys at the foot of the ladder under her breath. "This isn't right! Not one bit." She sounded very tired and exasperated as she quickly flew up and down in place. The fairy stopped in the air suddenly and booked it back into the house, leaving the 6 heroes alone once more.
Blue groaned and dragged Vio to the ground with him as he sat down on the ground. "Obviously this is going to take a while." Vio didn't complain as he complied and sat down next to his blue brother. Only Tiny joined the two of them, resting his arms over his brought up knees. Dusk contemplated joining them, but stayed put as he brought his chained hand to his neck. Perhaps Masks reaction was due to missing his fairy Tatl who was left back in Termina? He knew that he missed Midna for one thing, maybe seeing this fairy reminded him of his friend he left behind. But, if Masks older self was in his house and this fairy was here too...Dusk supposed he didn't understand after all.
It wasn't as long as Blue had exaggerated it would be before the light blue fairy fluttered out of the house again and into the open air above the 6 boys in waiting. A new larger figure, however, accompanied her. Atop the balcony, the figure shifted until his head poked over the railing. A very curious adult stared down at his new company, blinked a few times, and retracted his head. Mere moments later he slid down the ladder and stared once again at the newcomers gathered around his house. He spared a glance at his fairy.
The adult that had just descended looked from his fairy to the canopy above. "Now I know you said you wanted me to see this, Navi, but gosh, you could have warned me first. Do you at least have anything on them...or what I should do or something?" He moved his gaze back to the group in front of him after Navi shrugged and landed on his shoulder.
She trilled again after a moment, scaring the crap out of the guy whose shoulder she was on in the process. "Usually I have some idea, but this is new. However! There was another one of them too- he sped off when he saw me though...funny I thought he was actually you at first, Link. Funny, huh? These guys here didnt give me quite that same feeling, though they do seem…"
The adult hushed her softly. "That's okay Navi," He looked back to the group in front of him who had all sat down tiredly. He felt like sitting too actually but fought that urge. If his fairy guide who knew everything didn't know what was happening, he really didn't know what to do. So he did the most basic thing he could do. He shrugged and said hi.
The group started at him instead of even smiling or saying anything back. They were scrutinizing his appearance, his demeanor and really seemed to be staring at him, It was making him feel uncomfortable.
"You know," Blue broke the silence with a flippant wave of his hand, looking away and turning the attention away from the adult. "I at least thought he'd have that dumb green scarf around his neck too, if he's supposed to be Masks and all." The older Hero of Time lowered his hand to his side slowly and stared at the kid in blue. Absentmindedly his other hand came up to rub the back of his neck and noticing his supposed lack of green scarf. He'd never had one of those.
Vio again punched Blue in the arm for being so upfront, who only growled in response and claimed he had a point.
The adult found his very weak greeting crash before it really started. "What?"