The appearance of one should not deem who one truly is. Sparkly eyes to a pretty smile, everything is false. A demon's true identity is always hidden behind a mask. But for the events that are about to unfold, identity is truly nowhere to be found. In this town, everything happens for a reason.
~ Behind A Mask ~
Season I, Salem:
Corrupted
The steel digs into her wrists and she shrieks in agony, trying to scramble away.
"Let me go, you cowards!"
The entire town stands side by side, watching as she's dragged down the pathway by Link and Captain Falcon.
"You'll regret this decision! Don't say I didn't warn you!"
Toon Link and Pacman both scurry behind Peach's puffy, pink dress, unable to look at the dreadful sight.
"You will all be doomed!"
Up the steps and into Falcon's home, both Falcon and Link drag Zelda to the right through a small doorway into a room built by cemented bricks fit with iron bars in the wall and two wooden stools. They pass through one last doorway into a darkened room. Falcon quickly releases her of her cuffs and they both shuffle out of the room, slamming the door behind them.
"Keep me locked in here and I will destroy you all!" her roar echoes.
"She's gone completely insane," Falcon whispers, placing his hand on Link's shoulder. The Hylian soldier's eyes begin to swell up with tears and he sighs.
"I didn't want any of this to happen.."
"You'll be fine," Falcon assures him. "She'll get better soon."
"You will all see!" Zelda continues to shout.
"Go home, get some rest and come back later tonight. I'll allow visitors when she calms down," Falcon says. Exhausted, Link nods and heads out the front door, gently pulling the door shut behind him.
Falcon huffs, enters the small doorway to the right and sits down on one of the stools, staring through the bars at Zelda as she crawls around shrieking and grunting. Her eyes catch glimpse of his eyes glaring through the darkness and she comes to a halt.
"Give me food," she orders.
"No."
"I told you to give me food."
"And I told you no."
She clenches her fists, opens her mouth wide and leaps forward through the air, screaming as loud as she can. She grasps onto the bars and begins pulling harsly.
"Give me food!"
Falcon wobbles backwards and falls off his stool onto the floor in freight.
"Okay, I will be right back," he says.
Within seconds, she stops. She quickly pulls back towards the darkest corner of her cell and curls into a ball.
Less than a minute passes and Falcon arrives back with a piece of stale bread and a tiny shot glass of water. He passes the goods through the bars and she grabs them out of his hands, immediately digging into the bread.
She opens her mouth in disgust, letting the chewed chunks mixed with saliva drool from her mouth. She flings the remains of her bread at the wall and stares at Falcon.
"It's all I have," he explains.
She snatches the glass up from the ground and gulps the water down, letting out a roar. A loud sizzle fills the air and she tosses herself upwards. Falcon steps backwards as she begins screaming in pain.
"Stupid water! I promised you!" she shrieks as her lips begin to swell with redness. "You tricked me!"
"So what's going to happen with her?" Peach asks, shaking the dust off of her dress.
Mario sighs. "We'll know sooner than later. She's obviously not doing too good."
Peach begins to shake her head. "I can't believe it. Just yesterday we were both sitting down at my kitchen table, chatting away... Countless hours have gone to nothing."
"You still have a place in your heart for her, don't you?" Mario asks.
Peach nods. "I just don't have anymore time to give to her."
"Falcon said he's allowing visitors tonight."
"Why would he do that?" Peach asks.
"Because it will be our final chance to save her from whatever is happening to her. Familiar faces might bring back the memories."
A small grin fills Peach's face. "Thank you.. Mario."
"No problem."
She slowly steps forward, closing in on his lips.
A coughing sound makes Mario spin around, leaving him face to face with the doctor.
"Peach, we better go home now."
"It's not what it looked like," she tries to explain.
"I said we better go home now."
Doctor Mario slides past, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the narrow, stone pathway towards their house.
Mario stands frozen for moments, and just when the door to their house shuts, he quickly trails down the path and up the steps.
"What was that about?!" Mario hears the doctor roar just behind the wall as he places his ear up against the wooden door.
"It was nothing.."
"Nothing?! I'll show you nothing!"
"Put that down!"
Within seconds, shouting turns to screams.
"Get away from- stop!"
The screaming fades and all to be heard is panting and a soft cry.
"Do anything like that again and I'll do worse," Mario hears the doctor whisper, his voice hushed.
He doesn't need another warning or an alarm to go off in his head. He automatically leaps down the steps of the house, files down the path, scurries into his house and slams the door shut behind him.
"Three, two, one!" Bowser, Little Mac and Toon Link all shout in unison.
Pacman slams his hand against the soft, sandbag and watches as it wobbles and falls straight to the grass in front of him.
"Pathetic!" Little Mac shouts, Bowser and Toon Link beginning to laugh.
"It's not my fault that I'm not super buff!" Pacman squeals. He catches a glimpse of Toon Link continuing to laugh without mercy.
"Hey, you! Get your butt over here and try to do better than me!" Pacman shouts. Toon Link's laughter comes to an abrupt halt, his face beginning to blush.
"Me?" he asks.
"Yes, you!" Pacman exclaims.
The tiny child steps forward through the grass and helps Pacman lift the sandbag up, making it stand tall like a figure. He slides his sword into the sheath on his back and clenches his fist. He rises his hand into the air, and with all of his strenght he slams it forward against the bag, watching as it merely wobbles.
"You're both pathetic!" Bowser roars.
"I'd like to see you try!" Toon Link responds.
"Oh really? I will then!"
The two children fall silent, stepping back nervously.
"Watch this!" Bowser yells.
He pulls his arm back, charges it forward and punches the bag so hard it flies a couple of meters ahead.
"Now what did you have to say?" Bowser asks.
"Nothing," Toon Link replies. "Let Little Mac have his turn."
Bowser stands at the spot the bag landed at to mark his positions while Toon Link and Pacman carry the bag back to the start. "Get ready.." Little Mac says.
"Three, two, one!" the rest all shout together.
He draws his arm back high into the air, takes one step forwards, swoops his arm down and uppercuts the back, sending it high into the sky.
"Where did it go?!" Bowser shouts, his question answered moments later when the bag comes tumbling down out of the clouds tons of meters away.
"Oh my gosh.." Pacman whispers.
"He just.." Toon Link says.
"He just beat us all," Bowser continues Toon Link's sentence.
Little Mac lets out a chuckle. "They don't call me a champion for nothing!"
Falcon rings the bell at the center of the town hours later, crows drifting through the air cawking away.
"Gather around!" he shouts as the townsfolk begin to appear from out their doors.
Mario steps outside with his tophat on, and his mouth drops once he runs into a familiar face.
"What happened?" he asks Peach, looking at the gigantic bruise lashed across her cheek.
"Mayor Mario, we can speak another time. We have to pay respect to Zelda right now," the doctor says, gripping onto her hand harder and pulling her away.
"One by one, I will let you all go inside and visit her... Try and talk about the old times. She might come back to herself."
"But sir, what will we do if she doesn't get any better?" Pacman asks.
The adults of the town all stare at Falcon with evil looks.
"Uh, that will be discussed another time," Falcon says. "Let's begin."
Just like the jailor himself explained, they all step inside one by one, visiting the corrupted woman.
"My soul wasn't stolen. My soul was blessed," Zelda says in a calm, sweet voice to the figure behind the bars. "I don't like you. Give me someone else to speak to."
And so another person steps inside while the other leaves.
"You? You're a conniving little brat! Get out of here before I tear you to pieces!"
The cycle continues until everyone has had their visit, except for one person.
"And why would you be so happy to visit me?" she asks.
"And why are you going insane?" the figure bites back.
Zelda huffs. "I'm not insane. You're insane."
"I don't hide inside of closets and scream for all of eternity."
"He'd happily take you."
"Who?"
"Missurus est diabolus aliquos me. Diabolus est hic manere!"
"Don't start saying that mumbo jumbo crap that Palutena started chanting."
"Excuse me?" Zelda says.
"You're excused."
"Missurus est diabolus aliquos me. Diabolus est hic manere!"
She raises her hands and latches onto the bars, a green, swirling mist beginning to spiral from her finger tips.
"Missurus est diabolus aliquos me. Diabolus est hic manere!" she repeats, staring into the figure's eyes. Like a trance. Hypnotized.
Suddenly, Zelda stops. She gasps for breath and she falls backwards, further into the darkness of her cell.
"Where am I?" she asks. "What happened? Why am I in Falcon's jail?!"
"Missurus est diabolus aliquos me. Diabolus est hic manere!" the figure chants the familiar sentence.
"What? What happened?! You need to answer me!"
The figure raises their hand and Zelda is yanked back to the wall by an invisible force.
"Missurus est diabolus aliquos me. Diabolus est hic manere!"
Zelda's body slides up the wall into the corner and a force wraps around her throat. She clutches onto the invisible being, trying to free herself from the grasp around her throat as she struggles to breath.
"He- help.." she manages to squeeze out.
The figure lowers their hand and Zelda's lifeless body drops to the cold, stone floor, the figure soon stepping out the door into Falcon's home.
"Done?" Falcon asks.
The figure nods their head.
"You have lovely handwriting by the way. Your signature in the check-in book-"
"Where is this book?"
"Why do you need to know?" Falcon asks.
"Tell me now."
Confused, Falcon shakes his head.
"Why do you need to know?"
Falcon is pulled up into the air and he lets out an agonizing scream, his mouth wide open and his arms and legs stretched.
"Tell me where it is," the figure demands, their hand clenched into a fist slowly opening.
"What did Zelda do to you?!"
"That's it.."
The figure opens their fist wide and Falcons limbs try to shoot in different directions across the room, slowly pulling his body apart. His arms and legs eventually free themselves and fall to the ground while blood sprays everywhere. His limbless body falls out of the air and into a pile of blood.
The figure grins, stepping outside the house and shutting the door behind.
Author's Note:
Oh my goodness! I bet you weren't expecting that!
Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter three of Behind A Mask, Salem: Corrupted!
Whether you liked or disliked this chapter, please feel free to leave a review! I always love your support and it encourages me to keep my stories going! :)
But seriously... What about that ending? Who is this mysterious person?!
So if you couldn't tell, Zelda worked her powers into someone else's body, but are they really her powers? Get your Google Translate out if you want to discover more, otherwise you will be waiting for the final chapter to find out exactly what is going on :)
So Zelda's 'evil soul' (let's just say that for now) has passed onto another character... But who? That's the mystery of this Season! Obviously we're only getting the mystery in chapter three which leaves four chapters left, but I promise you that the mystery in future seasons will begin in chapter one/two. I just thought it was important to understand more about Zelda's... problems. xD
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, stay tuned for the next one!
Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeee! :)