(walks into this chapter seven years late with a starbucks)

Okay I'm genuinely very sorry for the delay... I lost my motivation to write, like, at all...and I'm finally getting back in the saddle. I never intended to abandon this, so... I WILL FINISH THIS!

Night of the Final Day
12 Hours Remain

Kafei spent the remainder of the day watching and waiting once he found Sakon's hideout. It was nestled at the edge of the canyon beside the river – just where the man promised it would be. The door was made of solid rock and refused to budge when Kafei pushed, pulled, and slammed against it. He would have to wait.

The watching part of his day was easy. Kafei crouched behind a boulder (after making sure it was, in fact, an actual boulder, and not another one of those awful creatures) with his purple head just barely poking over the top.

Sakon appeared once, in the middle of the day, with his full sack slung over his shoulder. Kafei nearly darted out from his hiding spot to slide into the door behind him – and stopped. The moment of hesitation cost him, because the stone door slid closed again, and Sakon was disappearing around the riverbend.

I need the boy in green. I can't do this alone, Kafei thought with a sigh. And the fact that Sakon had a full bag meant he was going back to the Curiosity Shop to sell his stolen wares. He would be back by nightfall, just like before.

Kafei just needed to wait a bit longer.

And waiting was the hard part. Kafei thought it would be easier now, since all he had done for the last few days was wait: to find Sakon, to get his mask back, to see Anju again. But now he was at the end of it all, and he didn't think he could bear the suspense for another minute longer. His entire body felt tense, a wire waiting to snap.

The sun was just on the cusp of setting when Kafei heard someone running up to his hiding spot. He froze and peeked around the rock.

He relaxed. It was only the boy in green and his fairy. He should have realized; the boy's footsteps were quick and sure, while Sakon moved oddly, tiptoeing from place to place. It would make sense, given that he was a thief.

Kafei stepped out from behind the boulder. "You made it," he said, relieved in spite of himself. Of course the boy was going to help him. How could Kafei doubt him? There was something special about this child, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Well, yeah, the guy at the Curiosity Shop told us what was going on," the fairy said with a scoff. "So what's the plan?"

Kafei took a long, slow breath (much to the fairy's impatience; he couldn't see her face, but he saw the irritated way she hovered around the child's head). "I found him, green hat boy... He's using this place as his safe house for keeping his stolen goods."

He motioned to the stone door. "Apparently, his name is Sakon. He came to the shop last night, and I followed him. His storage for the things he's stolen is on the other side of this rock door. The Sun's Mask is surely there... and only Sakon can open this door. The only way in is to wait for him to arrive."

"Are you sure he'll be back?" the fairy asked.

"He left with a bag full of stolen goods to sell. He did the same thing yesterday when I saw him at the Curiosity Shop. He'll be back." Kafei looked back to the boy. "I'll wait... I've made a promise to Anju. He'll come back around sundown. That's our only chance. If he sees us, he'll run away for sure. We'd better both hide here."

The boy joined him behind the boulder, and his fairy tucked herself into the folds of his hat (Thank the Four Giants, Kafei thought; the light she gave off would give them away for sure once the sun had fully set).

The sky overhead began to darken, and the first stars began to shine. Every once in a while, Kafei felt the earth shake under their feet. He knew it was the moon, but he was afraid to look up and see its face leering down at him, mocking. Do you really have time to be waiting around like this? It seemed to ask. You will be crushed with the rest of them. You will never see Anju again.

"Have you been up to the village? Ikana?" Kafei asked the boy instead. What a stupid question, he thought, as soon as the words left his lips – but the boy in green's expression was calm, neutral. He nodded.

"Oh. I haven't. It doesn't have the best reputation," Kafei said. "My father is the mayor of Clock Town and I think even he's only been there once, to talk to the family that lives up there. I couldn't imagine living alone in a place like that. I wonder how they're doing?"

Kafei was aware that he was babbling, but the distraction kept his hands from shaking. Days of waiting for the chance to confront Sakon and he was so nervous. He thought he'd be steadier, more confident than this, when the time finally came.

The fairy suddenly made a sound like a jingling bell. "I don't think you should be worrying about them right now," she said, her voice muffled by the boy's hat. "Look!"

Kafei and the boy looked around the boulder.

Sakon.

The thief was finally returning, his sack empty and a spring in his step. Worst of all, he was still smiling, which was utterly beyond Kafei. Even if he had made a fortune selling his stolen goods, how could anyone smile with that moon pressing down on them? What would the rupees be worth if it fell?

Kafei tensed, but Sakon didn't see either of them. The thief opened the door and stepped inside his hideout.

"Now!" Kafei whisper-yelled, and leapt as soon as Sakon was safely inside. They slipped past the door before it slid closed again and found themselves in a large and well-lit room.

It took Kafei's eyes a few moments to adjust after the darkness outside. Sakon had already disappeared, and this first room was empty – but there was a single door just ahead. He rushed forward and opened it.

The room beyond was larger, and filled nearly floor-to-ceiling with wooden boxes and all kinds of other junk. Kafei hardly noticed it all, because in the display case just in front of him...

"Ah!" he gasped.

The boy came up beside him, sliding to a halt in front of the case. The bright orange mask inside had been placed almost lovingly on a velvet mat. Its hollowed eyes stared up at them.

Kafei's heart was full.

"It's the Sun's Mask!" he said, nearly breathless with relief. "It's been here, all this time..."

He stepped forward and put his hands on both sides of the glass. It didn't move, no matter how hard he pushed.

Kafei turned to the boy. "Could you-"

Ka-clonk.

Kafei looked back to his mask. The back of the case had opened up, and a conveyor belt was carrying it away.

No.

Kafei nearly tripped over his own feet in his rush to get to the open door beside the case. The door slammed in his face as he reached it.

No!

All of that time waiting and hiding... The time he had spent avoiding Anju and their families while he tried to find this mask...

Part of Kafei wanted to give up. What could he even do now? Sakon had been waiting for him, clearly, so he could hold the Sun's Mask in front of him like a carrot before he cruelly snatched it away. One last moment of hope before everything was ruined.

But he couldn't. He almost gave up on Anju once, years ago, when he was still young and stupid enough to run away to Romani Ranch.

Not anymore. Never again.

Kafei looked back to the display case. His mask was still being carried away, but there, at the base, he could see that the floor was raised.

A switch?

Was that what turned the conveyor belt on and locked the door?

He looked back to the boy and pointed at it. "Hurry! Step on the switch!"

"What?" his fairy huffed. "Are you telling us what to do?"

Kafei had no time for her sarcasm. "It's some setup where the door stays open only while the switch is pressed!" he said. "Please-"

The boy didn't need to be told twice, despite what his fairy said. He ran forward and stepped on the switch.

The door in front of Kafei opened, but it was too soon for him to be relieved; the belt was still moving, and he could see another closed door in the room beyond.

"Sakon is toying with us," he said. "He's made this into a game. I'm sure he's watching. We have to hurry before he takes the mask and escapes."

"Don't take too long. It looks like there's some kind of chute at the end of this conveyor belt," the boy's fairy said. She seemed excited, despite her protests earlier. "Once it's gone, it's gone!"

Kafei's heart was beating wildly in his chest as he looked around this new room. It was broken in half by the belt, and on his side there were four blocks. He pushed on the closest one – it didn't budge. He threw himself against another-

It moved! The block slid forward. Ka-chonk. A door opened, but it wasn't the one on his side of the room – it was the door by the display case, where the boy and his fairy were waiting.

"That's no good... This isn't the switch," Kafei said. "Go check that that room. There should be some sort of mechanism. Please! There's no time!"

The boy looked to his fairy. "I don't like him... But is there a choice? Should we help him?" Kafei could hear her say. His stomach was in knots. He begged the goddess and Four Giants for their help, please-

"But...not moving ahead in the face of danger when you know it's for the better is just like Tael," the fairy continued, resigned. "That's it... Let's go!"

The boy nodded and rushed into the other side of the room. Kafei could have cried, he was so relieved – but instead he waited by his locked door, tensed and ready to run. There was no time.

The boy in green made quick work of whatever was over there – it sounded like a fight of some sort – and Kafei's door slid open. He ran through and found-

A floor covered in switches. They were all the same size, but a myriad of colors. He stopped short. I can't press all of these in time! he thought, looking nervously at the conveyor belt; his mask was already moving through the room with him.

Kafei stepped on the nearest switch – nothing happened. Sakon would never make it that easy. He stepped on another, and then another- No! This was taking too much time. He would never finish.

Okay, think. Sakon isn't that smart. What's the obvious answer here?

Kafei's gaze swept over the floor. There were switches in gray, in gold – and one in the farthest corner, blue. It was the only blue switch he could see. Kafei smiled.

"Get ready!" he called to the green hat boy. He stepped on the single blue switch. Ka-chonk. Kafei moved to the next door and waited impatiently while the boy fought whatever was on his side of the room.

His mask was nearly out of sight when his door finally slid open. Kafei ran through, always half-expecting to see Sakon there, but was confronted with more blocks. He grunted with impatience, pushed one, and found a golden switch, but he knew the drill by now when pressing it did nothing. He shoved another out of the way and found a blue switch hidden in the back.

Sakon is an idiot, he thought as the boy's next door unlocked. He was probably expecting me to come alone.

An animal howl came from the boy's side. Kafei's heart leapt into his throat. What kind of monsters was Sakon keeping in this place? Was the boy in danger? He wanted desperately to look, but someone needed to keep the switch depressed in case there was trouble. Still, if something happened to that child and he was at fault...

There was one more pitiful howl, and Kafei heard his next door open. He pushed a final block out of his way and stepped into what looked like the end of Sakon's frustrating maze: two more switches, and the hole where his mask would fall if they weren't in time. Kafei stepped on the closest switch and watched the door on the boy's side of the rooms open. The child rushed through and stepped on his switch.

A trapdoor over the hole closed. The Sun's Mask dropped neatly to the floor in front of them.

Kafei was almost too scared to walk toward it. What if moving meant that the trapdoor would open back up and he'd lose the mask forever? He hesitated, breathless, until the boy's fairy gave him a rough shove in the back.

"Come on! Weren't you saying there was no time?" she said.

Kafei's feet left the switch – and nothing happened. He grabbed the Sun's Mask and cradled it gently to his chest.

It felt real now. Everything was going to be okay. He could finally finish this.

"We did it," he said. "I have to get back to town. I-"

Something caught the boy's gaze. Kafei spun around and saw Sakon in the room behind them, trying – and ultimately failing – to sneak away without being noticed.

"Oh," Sakon said, quietly, when he met Kafei's gaze.

Kafei could only imagine how he looked: exhausted, angry, and all of it coming from the face of what Sakon thought was a child. Kafei all but stomped toward the thief, his wedding mask still pressed protectively to his chest.

Sakon cowered. "P-Please, a guy's gotta make a living somehow! Besides, I knew you'd get it eventually! A kid like you's gotta be smart, haha..."

Pathetic, was the first and only word that came to Kafei's mind at the sight. The thief who didn't think twice about stealing from a child was begging at his feet. Kafei sighed.

"Just get out of here," he said.

Sakon's head snapped up. The boy's fairy trilled behind them.

"After all of that?!" she demanded.

But Sakon wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Thank you, thank you," he sputtered, pushing himself back to his feet and tripping over his own two feet in his haste to leave.

"What was that for?" the fairy asked. Her wings were rigid and she was shaking.

"He's pathetic. He doesn't deserve our time. And besides... the moon is going to fall anyway. It would be cruel to do anything else," Kafei said. "I have to get back to town before it's too late."

The ground rumbled beneath Anju's feet. All of Clock Town was absolutely silent; even the construction team had stopped their work completely, opting instead to leave the forsaken town and seek shelter on Termina's outskirts. Anju was sure others must have stayed behind, but for the moment, it felt like she was the only one left in the town.

Her wedding mask lay in her lap and Kafei's pendant was clenched in the palm of her hand.

She looked up at the clock on the wall, still ominously ticking away. It was well past midnight, nearly early morning.

The Carnival of Time would start soon.

And then the moon would fall.

"He will come back," Anju had told Mother as she left with her grandmother. "I know he will."

Mother looked at her with pity in her eyes, but she was done trying to force her daughter not to stay behind. She put a gentle hand on Anju's shoulders and squeezed it.

"I love you," was all she said before they left for the ranch.

Anju had returned to the room she once shared with her mother and took the mask from the mannequin that was also holding her wedding dress. It was a beautiful, flowing garment made of white silk and lace, with a spray of flowers to adorn her hair. Those and the lily bouquet had been delivered that morning by the florist, who handed them to Anju with a sad smile.

"I still made these, just in case," the woman said. "You would have made a beautiful bride, Anju."

Anju's fingers curled tighter around the pendant. Kafei would keep his promise. She knew he would.

He had to.

"The Carnival of Time is my favorite. I can't wait to get married during it one day!" a purple-haired boy had told her once, many, many years ago, as fireworks exploded overhead.

Anju remembered blushing. She was too young to know what love felt like, but she wanted desperately to be closer to the boy in the Keaton Mask. "That would be a lot of fun."

And years later, two teenagers exchanging a kiss beneath the Clock Tower as the midnight bells rang and another Carnival of Time began. The first notes of the Indigo-Go's latest song started from somewhere in the center square.

"We'll exchange our wedding masks here," Kafei whispered in her ear. Anju's legs were weak, and she clung to his arms.

"My mother is still mad at you," she said, though she was giggling.

Kafei pressed his lips to the space to the hollow of her throat. "We'll be adults by then. What can she do? I promise, Anju. I'll never run away again. I'll always be here for you. I promise."

She looked up at the clock. The sun would be rising soon. They were almost out of time.

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Anju desperately wiped them away, but they kept coming. She couldn't stop them. She buried her face in her hands.

The front door downstairs slammed shut.

Footsteps pounded up the stairs.

But they sounded too light to be an adult's... Was it the child with the fairy again? Anju knew he meant well, but she couldn't help feeling disappointed. She sniffled and rubbed at her face as her bedroom door opened.

"I'm sorry, I-"

She stopped.

It wasn't the boy in green. It was a different boy, and this one was smoothing back his mussed – and familiar – purple hair as he stepped inside. His expression was shy, but his eyes were bright and warm when he looked at her.

He held up the mask in his hands. It was the perfect image of the sun.

Anju tried and failed to push herself to her feet. Her legs shook too hard, so she knelt on the floor.

"I..." She swallowed unevenly. "I have met you before."

Images of those first few Carnivals of Time flashed through her mind. Dancing with the mayor's son. She couldn't see his face behind his Keaton's Mask, but she could hear his muffled laughter.

"We were still young. We made a promise... Didn't we?"

Years later: the Carnival when he'd promised to exchange masks with her. He'd tried so hard to sound confident when he asked her for her hand in marriage, but she could hear the tremor in his voice. She'd smiled and kissed away his doubts.

"The masks of the sun and the moon..." She held up hers. She'd spent months crafting it, making sure it was perfect. She knew Kafei had done the same with his, though he'd said she couldn't see it until their wedding day.

"We were to exchange them on the day of the Carnival of Time..."

The boy smiled.

She'd know that smile anywhere.

"Anju," he said, "I'm sorry I was late."

There was no hesitation in her words. "Welcome home."

Anju opened her arms, and Kafei rushed into them. He didn't need to explain a thing. Something horrible had happened to him – to both of them – these past few weeks, but none of it mattered anymore. He was safe. He was home. She pressed her cheek to the top of his head, relieved, unburdened for the first time in so long.

Kafei pulled gently away and held up his mask.

"Let us exchange the promised masks. I've waited so long for this," he added fervently.

"Me too."

Anju touched her Moon's Mask to his Sun. There was some sort of ancient magic that woke only during the Carnival of Time, and it was the reason why most couples only married after it began; it bound their masks together until they were one, a perfect symbol of their union. Anju and Kafei held theirs between them when it was complete.

Kafei reached out to clasp her free hand in his own. The floor rumbled beneath them, and the bells began to chime the new hour. The quakes only worsened.

None of that mattered anymore. She was no longer afraid of the moon or what would come after. Anju pulled him close.

She felt safe, even as the world came to an end all around them.

"We shall greet the morning together."

Sorry for not including Link in the final scene like in the game... It felt kinda weird having him there off to the side, so...

I say as I write the in-game version of Sakon's hideout LMAO