Just in case you couldn't figure it out, this story is from Link's perspective, and Navi is nowhere to be found. Also, this will *not* be a complete copy of Majora's Mask, or Kokeshi's poems. Now *that* would be infringement.

Just checking.

Thank you again, Kokeshi!!! Your ideas are wonderful!!

I'll try to come up with the next bit soon.

-Shawshank

Part Two – The Sea

The sea.

It must be the most beautiful thing in the world, even though I've never seen it before – until now. As the sun sets over the water, I watch it, my heart breaking along with the waves on the shore. The lonely calls of the gulls pierce my thoughts. The roaring water soothes me, and I lay back on the sand, suddenly tired. Then I realize the truth.

I've been tired; not just now, but for a long time. I've been tired since I discovered that my whole life would be years of restless wandering, searching for the truth about everything. I've been tired since I found out that I could know everything and I especially couldn't know myself.

I've been tired since I understood that the one person I had loved since before I even knew her didn't really care to know I existed.

Right now, though, I'm at peace. It's a strange feeling, peace – it's like just *not* feeling. Instead of the constant aching, there's nothing. Not even numbness.

Just…nothing.

The foamy water rushes up and bathes my feet, sealing up all of my blisters and making my scars disappear. I wiggle further into my spot on the smooth, warm sand, not caring that I'll get sand in my hair and clothes. When I open my eyes, the sky is darkening in time with the sinking sun.

I used to think I belonged to the forest, if for no reason other than I had grown up in it. I loved the trees and the thick, damp vegetation; I loved the insects and ferns and the specks of magic all the same. The smell of earth on my hands was the sweetest perfume I knew. I was reluctant to leave the forest at first, and not only because I thought I'd die. I didn't want to leave all that I had come to know – I was afraid of what I had never seen before. I didn't want to leave my only friend in the world, Saria. I just couldn't leave what had been my childhood.

That all changed when I saw the field.

Hyrule Field is seen by most as a useless plain. For them, it just makes the journey between cities longer and more dangerous. They don't want the field there. For me, it was different. I didn't care that I could have been killed within seconds. It was an open space, bigger than any I had seen before. It was amazing! The grass beneath my feet was dry and long, not damp and short and cared for, like it was in Kokiri. No, the grass here was wild, untamed and free to grow wherever it wanted to. There were overgrown paths, but they didn't matter. All that counted was the openness, the total freedom and the luxury to go wherever you wanted.

I soon found the little river on the left side of the castle, which I still hadn't worked up the courage to enter. Yeah, I admit it, I was a chicken – but, this was a *Princess* we were talking about, here! What I didn't know then was that the idiots in the castle didn't even know the Kokiri existed – all of the messengers and explorers they had sent to the forest had never come back, so they assumed that they had been lost. And if their messengers had gotten lost so easily, then it was *obvious* that anyone else who tried to live there would get lost, too. Us Kokiri, however, knew different. We had seen the results of their various expeditions to the forest; we had heard them transforming into monsters. Thanks to the castle, we had an overpopulation of Stalfos, and guess who was 'volunteered' to go and kill some of them? Yep, you got it. Me.

After all, I was the most adept Kokiri in the forest – at fighting, anyway. Not at making friends. Even after I came back successful, having killed one extremely pissed off Stalfos, nobody seemed to really care. They figured that my story of a glowing ball of light zooming out of nowhere and bopping the thing on the head was nonsense. So, I was labelled the forest lunatic - *again* - and promptly ignored. Even Saria had a little trouble believing me, until I told her that I couldn't remember anything after that.

It was true, though. After the ball of light bonked the Stalfos, everything went black. My next memory was of staggering into the waterfall pool, staining its clear water with bright red ribbons of blood.

That was my first sign that I was *different.* Kokiri blood was a dark red, so dark it was almost grown – mine was practically neon red. I knew I was healthy, so I wondered what was wrong with me. Maybe the Stalfos had poison on its sword – maybe I was dying! But, no. The healing properties of the pool took hold, and I sat in the pure water, watching as my strange blood was absorbed into the moist bank. I moved to sit under the softly falling waterfall, enjoying the numbing feeling of it crashing down on me. 

Then I fell backwards into the water, watching helplessly as it covered my face. There *was* poison on that blade – the Stalfos had covered it in Milkweed, a plant that, if eaten and absorbed into the blood, caused total paralysis and eventually death.

The Stalfos had cut me and made me bleed. I knew the effects of Milkweed – I had accidentally eaten it, a long time ago, mistaking it for a dandelion leaf. I had almost died, before Saria came back from the lost woods with a strange red plant that I didn't recognize.

I watched tiny bubbles flow out of my mouth in a steady stream. Now I would drown, and air was mere centimetres away. I hated this feeling of helplessness. I knew that I had been poisoned, and I knew that if I could just sit up, I could breathe – but no. The surface was too far away, and the Milkweed concentration was too strong. I would drown in the shallows of the Healing Pool, held down by the waterfall I had loved since I first saw it. How ironic.

When my vision started to cloud, a few minutes later, I saw a wobbly shadow pass by through my peripheral vision. I blew an extra big bubble, feeling my chest compress. The shadow wobbled in place, and as the clear spot above my face faded away, I saw Mido's face through it. I mentally sighed. That was the end of my last hope. Mido would rather watch me drown than do anything – I knew that for a fact.

I closed my eyes and ignored the thrashing of the water around me as it all wilted away.

***

The sweet, mellow sound of a gentle breeze blowing through the leaves at the very tops of the trees greeted me as I opened my eyes. From what I could tell, it was early morning – the sun was gentle, and the world had this feeling about it like it was stretching, or coming out of the sweetest dream. I had that feeling too – it was a beautiful feeling. I saw several large, crimson leaves laying on the stump in the middle of my treehouse, with a bowl beside them. I got up, my bare feet warm on the old wooden floor. There was a strange reddish paste in the bowl, and when I held it to my face, it stank like nothing else. I stuck out my tongue and put it down, going to my dresser to pull out one of my many white shirts, wrestling it on over my head. Just when I got stuck with my arms above my head, a voice interrupted my peaceful solitude.

"What do you think you're doing out of bed?

I tugged hard on the shirt, forcing it down over my head. I squinted, trying to make out the person standing in the doorway, framed by bright light. It was Saria.

"You have to rest! Get back in bed!"

"I just got up! I'm not tired!"

She walked over to me with a determined look on her face. I held back a gulp.

"I don't care if you're tired or not. You need to heal."

I stepped around her, heading out into the light.

"I'm just going to walk around for a bit. Then I'll rest. I can't sit in a bed for my whole life."

She climbed down the ladder as she spoke. "Well, you've *been* in bed for the past week."

I sat on the edge of my little balcony in awe. "A week, huh? I've got a lot of living to do!"

Saria looked up at me, then broke down laughing. "Well, you're going to have to rest up a lot more before you can start 'living'."

I smiled at her and dropped down, landing heavily on my ankles. Then the shock kicked in, and I danced around in pain, picking up my feet and clenching my teeth. My mood darkened when she practically fell over laughing. I walked off, shoulders hunched.

"Fine. Be that way."

Her eyes immediately went all watery, and I cursed myself for being ten kinds of a fool.

"Link, I'm sorry." Of course, the side of me that had been teased and laughed at for my whole life wouldn't listen to the side of me that screamed to keep the one friend I had.

"Saria…I just want to be alone, okay? Just leave me alone."

She sighed and walked away, dragging her feet and leaving two trails of discoloured grass. My heart sank even lower, and I walked off alone, not paying any attention to where I was going.

That was why, when I ended up in the Lost Woods, I was surprised. I spun around in circles, looking at the grass and trying to figure out where I had come from; however, the magic in the air had given water back to the grass as soon as it was deprived of it, so there was no telltale discolouration.

I stopped where I stood when I heard soft weeping echoing around me.

I tried to follow it, but I soon found it impossible. The trees were amplifying the sound, and whenever I tried to follow it, it sounded like it was coming from somewhere else.

When the sobs quieted down and the rich, haunting melody of a fairy ocarina came floating through the thick air to my waiting ears. The sound was so clear and perfect that it didn't echo, and I was able to follow it through the awakening woods to a strange thicket.

Saria sat on a stump at the far end playing her Ocarina, and a huge stone slab lay on the ground between us. Close to the wall of trees on the left was a round stone with an oddly familiar eye carved on it. The eye caught my gaze, and it stared at me, stopping me in my tracks. It told me of before, of now, and of what was still to come. I shuddered, and it smirked at me with an invisible mouth.

I tore my gaze away somehow, and looked at my feet. I suddenly realized that I was walking up a flight of stairs that was more like a ramp, because the steps were so old and worn that you could see the grass poking up in the cracks. I became aware of the feeling of ancientness about the place, like I was stepping through an invisible portal and back in time. I shivered and kept looking at the clearing that called to me.

Above Saria's head, a broken off flight of stairs led to a gaping doorway. An old, rotting tree stuck up oddly right beside the stairs, and strands of ivy formed a curtain over the doorway. The whole structure was made of stone, and built right into the thick brush. It looked like it had been there since the beginning of time, and it fit right into the forest, almost enough so that you wouldn't really notice it unless you were wide awake and looking for it.

I looked even harder, and saw that Saria wasn't alone in the clearing.

A woman with long, wild, and wavy brown hair with ivy woven into it was sitting beside her, leaning her back against the mossy stump. She was staring at the sky, and her eyes were a shade of blue that made me think of utter freedom and joy. Her body was draped in ivy and purple blossoms, and a short toga made of supple brown leather kept her decency. She had dirt under her fingernails, and she was barefoot. She had a look about her like she was above everything else, and though her skin was browned with sun, it had an ever-so-faint pattern of sun dapples on it. She looked like she *belonged* to the forest, and the forest belonged to her all at the same time. Her hair brushed the ground as she turned to face my direction. Her eyes darkened to a deep blue that made me think of midnight, and she stared right at me. She got up to meet me, and she walked towards me with the grace of something old and wise beyond anything I had ever known. I held my breath as she came close, not wanting to breathe lest she vanish. She smiled a bit at me and gestured at me, bidding me to come closer. I took a shy step forward, and she kissed my forehead. I felt a spell wash over me, and I looked up at her in wonder.

"What is this, my lady?" She held a finger to her lips, and spoke without making a sound.

( Come and see, child. )

I followed her over to Saria, and I took in my breath sharply when I saw the bright trails on her cheeks that showed she had been crying. The beautiful lady heard me and looked down at me, disapproval in her gaze.

( You hurt your friend, Child of the Forest. You are far too rash. Perhaps you are not who we thought. )

I felt a sudden need to prove myself. She smiled again and clamped a hand over my mouth.

( No. Do not make a sound. We are invisible to Saria. )

I walked in front of her, watching as her face muscles contorted in some sourceless pain.

( The source of her pain is you. Now do you see what you do to others who are not so cruel as you? )

I nodded and let my head hang. She laughed lightly, and small strings of light danced in the air around her.

( Now you know. You will not hurt others again, will you? )

I shook my head no, feeling very chastened. She nodded in self – satisfaction, then turned as if to go. I stretched out a hand after her, wanting to ask her a million questions. She stopped and turned her head sideways, not quite looking at me.

( You have questions for me, boy? So does everyone who meets me. Perhaps I should hide away where no one can find me. I do not like answering questions that cannot be answered. You will know who I am in time, boy. You will know. )

She turned back to face the trees, which seemed to be stretching out their branches to her, begging her to come back to them.

( I will answer one question that I feel burning in your mind. My name is of no importance, and I cannot tell you who I am. I can tell you who you are. )

She whirled around suddenly, her eyes on fire. I felt the spell of invisibility weakening on my skin.

( You are a Child of the Forest. Never let anyone tell you differently. ) She bent down to stare into my face. ( Never let the Lost Woods leave your heart, Link. If you do, you will never find peace. Remember this well, and never tell anyone of our meeting. I bind you to secrecy for all of your days. )

She turned again and faded into thin air, leaving me to appear in front of Saria, who suddenly had a lot of questions. I shushed her and apologized, holding her when her tears flowed onto my shoulder. I promised to be her friend forever, and to never hurt her again.

At least I kept that promise.

The tide has come in now, and the water is up to my chin. Instead of trying to escape my certain fate, I let the water come. I wanted to go floating off over the horizon, and never come back. I *wanted* to leave it all behind.

I only panicked when the water became tar, a black, sucking pool filled with the bones of all the beings I had ever killed. Their hands pulled at my clothing and my ankles, and I floundered in the thick mess, looking for a way out. I grabbed onto the brightly painted boat that had suddenly appeared, but to no avail. The bubbling tar pulled me under, and the bones danced around me in glee. I opened my eyes and saw the surface, a million miles away. Then my feet sank into the mud at the bottom of the ocean of black.

I screamed.

***

I sat up abruptly, my skin chilled because of the dew that had gathered on the grass during the night. I sucked in air, hoping to forget the sea of tar that was still fresh in my mind.

I fell backwards, and the dew sunk into my clothes and made them stick to my back. My hair was damp now, and I was starting to get really cold.

Night had fallen while I was asleep, and the stars overhead twinkled brightly. I remembered where I was.

I was lost in the Lost Woods – oh, the irony. The skull kid, the freaky talking mask… all of it comes rushing back to me. I shake my head, trying to clear my cluttered head. It's only then that I notice the bony hand on my shoulder.

I jerk away from it, afraid that it might be a Stalfos; only when I look up at the face that owns the hand do I stop. It's the man with the red hair and inhumanly huge grin, whose eyes never seem to be open. He is leaning over me, not just to wake me up, but to stop himself from tumbling backwards due to the huge sack on his bent back. I stand up slowly to face him, thinking that he must get some pretty bad back pains in the morning. He bows to me in ancient Hylian custom, and I bow back. I'm starting to like this guy.

"Well, hello there, young man. What might you be doing here?"

I decide the real story is way too long, so I cut it short. "I'm looking for…something."

"Ah. I think that is what we are all doing, hmm? Looking for something. Do you know what it is you are looking for?"

I shook my head, sighing. "No, not really. I'm just looking, I guess."

"I see, young man. Well, I wish you luck, I suppose."

I look at him like he just grew an extra head. He's the only person I've ever met who hasn't asked me for something. People expect so much from a hero…

"Yeah, good luck to you too."

I turn to go, walking off in the direction the skull kid went yesterday. I'm stopped by that same thin hand grabbing onto the back of my tunic. His high – pitched voice is in my ear.

"Boy, I can help you if you help me."

I whirl around, effectively forcing him to let go of me.

"What? What are you talking about? No one can help me. It's too late."

He winks at me, like he actually knows what I'm talking about.

"That's where you're wrong. It is never too late. About that scar on your leg…"

"Yes? What about it?"

"It is not an ordinary scar, is it?"

"What's it to you? Get to the point!"

He half turns away. "Well, if you feel that way about it, I guess I won't help you after all…"

I stop him. "Wait. I'm sorry. Please, tell me what you mean."

He turns back to me, the goofy grin back in place.

"I can heal the effects of that scar. Of course, I can't get rid of the scar itself, but I know someone who can do that for you."

I narrow my eyes at him. "And what would you want in return?"

His grin widens, if that's even possible. "I want you to find my mask."

I gulp, hard. "Which mask is that?"

He pulls a little book out from some hidden pocket in his purple jacket. He flips through the pages, clicking his tongue, then stops at one with a loud, "Ah ha!" He folds the book open and hands it to me upside down. I turn it around slowly, dreading what I might see.

It's there. Those eyes, the spikes, the cryptic designs carved into a heart – shaped slab of wood. I almost throw the ratty book down.

"This is Majora's Mask. This is the mask I need back. If I do not get it back soon, I feel that very dangerous things will begin to happen!" He turns the page for me, and the picture changes to a bunch of silhouettes dancing around a fire, intricately painted.

"This mask was used in ancient hexing rituals, until the evil was chased from it. But as of late, I've felt that that mask has had a mind of its own! I dared not put it on, for fear it might possess me; but whomever has stolen it from me will obviously not be so cautious."

His long, almost translucent finger trailed onto the next page, and I followed it. There was a figure that I was pretty sure was human, wearing Majora's Mask. A powerful aura of purple radiated from the human, and all around it was darkness. I swallowed again.

"As you can see, Majora's Mask has great power. The longer this mask is free of the spell I cast on it, the more power it will gain, until it can destroy entire worlds! You *must* find this mask and bring it to me!"

I almost started to shake my head, until I realized that many, many people would die if I didn't find this mask. Still, that little voice in the back of my head whispered, "No. Don't do it. More people will die if you go! You will have to kill if you go!" I ignored it and nodded, sealing my fate.

I started to walk off, but his voice halted me in my tracks.

"But…there is one thing." I turned to him, waiting. "I am a very busy person, and I must leave this place in three days' time. You must bring the mask to me before the three days are up."

I advanced on him, my temper having boiled over the breaking point while he spoke.

"WHAT? ARE YOU INSANE?! YOU WANT WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE THE MOST DANGEROUS MASK IN ANY OF THE WORLDS, AND YOU'RE GOING TO JUST *LEAVE* IN THREE DAYS, EVEN IF I DON'T FIND IT?!"

He shuffled his feet around. "Yes, that's pretty much it."

"AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO IF I *DON'T* FIND IT, HUH? WHAT THEN?"

He waited for my breathing to slow back down. I clenched my teeth and my fists, counted silently to ten, then released the breath I had been holding. The red hot part of my anger flowed out of me, and just the ice coldness was left.

"You will find it. You will find it in the three days. How do I know this? I do not."

I just stared at him.

"I know you will find my mask. You are destined to find it. I see it in your eyes."

My anger completely escaped me, although I tried to hold on to it. I felt alive when I was angry. I just nodded and left the clearing, shaking off the fear of something unknown to me.

"Link!"

I drew my sword in a flash, not caring that I looked really stupid, wielding something about the size of my forearm as if it could save my life, though few were aware that it actually could. But the Woods were empty. Even the weird guy with the hands and the sack was gone, as though he never was. Now that I think of it, he had some of that air around him, like he was above all else. Like the lady with the vines in her hair and the magic in her hands.

Wait a second. Could he be…like her? An Immortal who did something wrong, fated to live a thousand lifetimes among mortals as punishment?

Nah.

*** 

When the saviour of the worlds had departed, I followed the Mask Salesman instead of him. I needed to talk to him – he owed me an explanation. But I didn't show myself for a while, and so I overheard his conversation with a fairy I did not know. She seemed to be angry with him.

"What do you mean, you don't know where he went? You have to keep track of these things!"

"I'm sorry, but he walked off, and I could not follow. Strange things happen in these Woods of the Lost. You know that firsthand."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have followed him!"

"Yes, it does. For some reason, my magic weakened. We must be close to another world."

"No, really? You *think*? I can feel these things from miles away!"

"Yes, I believe you, but that doesn't change the fact that I cannot become invisible in this part of the woods! The portals between worlds cancel out all kinds of magic, you know that."

"Yes, yes, I know. Well, we'd better start following him, I guess. We can't really find him any other way."

"He will sense you following him. Even now, we are too close."

"Relax. We'll be fine. Loosen up a bit, man! I've been waiting for him for centuries – I'm not going to let him just slip through my fingers!"

"Of course. But…uh…oh, my…"

"What?"

"Turn around."

"Why the -:

"Just do it."

The fairy slowly floated around in midair. I only then saw that the Salesman was gaping straight at me. Now the fairy was as well. Apparently the portal had cancelled out even *my* power. I walked towards them, trying to seem friendly.

"Mask Salesman. We must talk."

He fell to his knees before me, being the humble, good man that he is.

"M-my Lady, y-you wish to talk to m-me?"

"Yes, you. Please, stand up. I am not yet Immortal."

"If I may ask, my Lady, how long?"

My gaze turned from his eyes to the sky. Oh, how I missed my home in the heavens far above!

"When the saviour of the worlds has finished what he is meant to do, I will be returned to my rightful place."

His jaw dropped.

"My Lady, I apologize. I sent him on a quest -"

"Yes, yes, I know. Do not be concerned. It must happen, along with many other things, before the boy can rest."

"Of course, my Lady."

I spoke to him again, still looking at the sky. Laughter was in my voice. He could always make me laugh.

"Get up, man. You of all people have no need to bow before me. I am still mortal, for now."

He got up, his back bent under the huge sack he always insisted on carrying around for some reason. Even if he had been standing up straight, I would have towered over him. Most of the Immortals were taller than the average Hylian. The small fairy danced around my face. Had the Salesman not put me in such a good mood, I probably would have been annoyed. Now, though, I was merely amused.

"Are you going to help us find Link, my Lady?"

I nodded graciously.

"Yes, I must find him, and tell him what he has to do. Then I must wait…and then, when the time is finally right, I must rest. Salesman?"

"Yes?"

I smiled at him, hoping my eyes were friendly.

"Please, come along. You will be our base. You will tell this fairy and I how soon he will complete his task. Do you agree to this?"

"Yes, my Lady. How could I not agree?"

I smiled at him and laid my hand on his shoulder, feeling him trembling under my touch. I hoped that he was trembling with happiness, not fear. I hated striking fear into the hearts of those I love.

"Be not afraid, Salesman. You are under the protection of all those above."

"I know, my Lady. I do not fear. I rejoice."

"Thank you, Salesman. Now, fairy, we will walk together, as equals. No more 'My Lady' this, and 'My Lady' that. My name, good fairy, is Farore. Please, walk with me, and tell me your name."

As we entered the thick brush, walking side by side as long time friends may do, she spoke slowly, but surely.

"My Lady – I apologize. Farore. Farore, my name is Navi. Navi the fairy."

***

Hah! Navi *is* somewhere to be found!

Anyway, not much to say. I love all reviewers, and Kokeshi, for allowing me to write this story!

Sorry it took forever for an update – I got stuck in a feedback loop, and life was getting complex. Anyway, see you next time!

-Shawshank