After a two month hiatus, I'm back! This one is kinda like a crack-fic. Yeah, kinda... just start reading now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stock Pot Inn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With my eyes still closed, a piercing and recurring sound has been repeating itself every fifteen seconds. Oh… there's again…

"Somebody please shut that sink up…" I muttered to anyone in particular.

There was it again, the sound of another drop of water splashing on the sink. With a loud morning groan, I crawled towards the bathroom without opening my eyes. Now in front of the sink, I sent my hand to search for the tap, but just ended in an encounter with toothpaste tube. I gave up and opened my eyes which, were immediately closed again by the piercing sound of another drop of water. I grabbed my forehead and with the other hand, turned the tap close.

I rested my elbows at the sides of the sink grabbing my hair while staring at my reflect in the mirror and realized:

"A hangover? Seriously? Man…" I whispered to myself with half-closed eyes.

In personal experience, this was my first hangover and it felt like crap.

"But how?-I only drank milk yesterday—I think…"

This was one of the two most important matters that my father explained to me with a serious face in the past. One being about never drink too much, and another—uh… something about never drop the soap in prison or something like that…

Ok, let's recap, what happened yesterday? The memory isn't my forte, but this time was sharply difficult to get my neurons to work. I need to cool them down…

I took off all my clothes and crawled again to the shower and let my head being showered by the cold water. I stood like that a couple of minutes letting the water splash my face until something finally came up.

(Flashback)

After a long refreshing sleep, I found myself sitting at the bar table of the Milk Bar. It was full of its regular costumers. Now I was there as a simple client. I stared at the polished bar while resting my elbows on the bar table grabbing my head. I was uneasy and somewhat depressed. I just find out that my stay on Termina is going to take long time. But worse yet, I had to travel all along the land to get these elements or something. It was a grueling task yes, but there's no other way around if I want to really get back home.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and frowned thoughtfully.

(I still don't understand why he wants to me to get the elements as quickly as I can. But what he meant by saying that time doesn't flow the same in Termina as it does in Hyrule?…)

"Oh, look who's there!"

A low pitched and well known voice interrupted my thoughts; Mr. Barten.

"Al! how've ya been, kid?" Mr. Barten said behind the counter.

"Hey. I've been good…" I lied, but my depressed face uncovered the lie.

"You're a terrible liar. What happened?"

I rolled my eyes in defeat and decided to tell him.

"Ok, ok… this is the thing…"

I told him everything that happened to me since I got outside of Clock Town find the (old) Four Sword in between pauses of thirty seconds because of people demanding his service constantly. He understood my depression when I got to the part of collecting the elements.

"And, well, that is all there is to it"

"Uh, come on. Aren't you at least a little relieved because you found your horse?" He exclaimed while polishing a empty glass.

"Of course I am, but still… I thought that I could get home after giving him the stupid sword; I was hopeful, but I knew at the same time that it couldn't be that easy. And now, I can't help but feel off because my staying in here has extended more than I imagined…" I said while resting my arms in the counter.

(End of flashback.)

(So that what happened yesterday…)

But that still doesn't explain why I'm in a hangover. I mean, you can't get drunk because of milk can you?

(No, I've drank milk of the Milk Bar before and never-ever got slightly drunk.)

I dressed in my regular adventurer outfit and when I finished doing so, after putting my boots on, glanced at an irregular sight of an empty bottle in the desk at the side of the bed. I got curious and grabbed the bottle and saw its purple label with golden letters. My eyes widened.

(Could it be…)

(Flashback)

"Well, it appears that your quest has only begun then." Mr. Barten said.

I didn't respond, just continued giving him a sad face while seeing the polished bar table.

"Oh, don't be like that. Hey! I know what can cheer ya' up!" He went towards the large containers at the right side of the bar and came back with a medium sized glass full of a white-purple liquid.

"I know that I haven't let ya drink this one, but I think that you had already earned the right to drink it…"

I raised an eyebrow and knew what he meant.

"Chateau?"

"Yeh! This one's free and just for ya!"

"Hey Barten! Another round here please!" another client across the bar claimed for Mr. Barten's attention.

"Sorry, I'll be back in a minute" He went off to serve his other clients, leaving me with the glass of Chateau Romani in front of me.

I grabbed the glass and smelt its contents. It smelt rather sweetly than the other types of milk that the bar had.

(Just a little sip…)

Unfortunately, for me, a little sip equaled to a big gulp that left the glass with half of its contents.

At the time when the chateau entered in contact with my mouth, it tasted rather sweet without letting aside its milk flavor. But tasted more than sweet milk, it had something strange that made my throat slightly burn and when swallowed it, I felt strange smog spreading on my head, like warming it.

The flavor was strange to say the least, but I wanted to feel that warmth on my head again and drank what left in the glass. This time it didn't felt the same in my head, but started to like a lot the flavor of the vintage milk.

(How they can do this to the milk? How can they make it so sweet like this?)

The uproar of the chit-chats of the clients all around the bar seemed to calm down just a little bit. I turned to see all the clients, who were exactly the same, making their usual bar atmosphere. But the strange thing was that when turned my head, my sight was a little blur. I grabbed my forehead.

(Okay, now-this-is weird…)

(Background: Conker's Bad Fur Day Music: Birdy, Erm Beardy)

"Hey! Look! It's Alex!" Someone said behind me.

"Yeh! It's him!" I turned. They were Guru-Guru and the twin jugglers, common clients.

"Heeey! How ya' doin' pal?" The red clothed juggler said.

I exhaled air to respond, but was interrupted by Guru-Guru putting a hand in front of my mouth. "Don't say a thing! I'll invite you a round of Chateau!"

With no reason to say no, I accepted and drank along with them. I talked them about my adventure, but trailed off very often. We drank and drank Chateau all the night. The effects of the beverage took a huge toll on my head. The blur intensified every time I moved my eyes just slightly, I heard my thoughts more often than the real world. I was thinking strange and ridiculous things and chuckled every ten seconds. I couldn't help squinting. My head tilted to the sides slowly, revealing my lack of concentration. I spoke slowly and dumbly.

The purple headed man known as Kafei, came to the bar and sat in the chair at my side, obviously not caring who was sitting at the sides, just ordered a bottle of, uhh… not quite sure, a bottle of simple Romani milk I think. Because of a occasional stare to see who was, he acted like the spoiled kid that he was.

"Hey, you! You shouldn't be working or something else rather than staring at me with that stupid face of yours?" He spoke with pure vanity on his tone.

Luckily for me, I was so off at the moment that I didn't took that as an offence. No…actually I didn't pay attention to what he said. "Excuse me?" I replied.

He gave me a discontented glare. Before I could realize his annoyed face, I saw that his head was growing big.

His head twisted off in clock-wise direction while growing even bigger and getting purple.

Before it could do a complete turn, it spun in counter clock-wise direction until it got so big and purple and flew away, leaving a headless Kafei holding a glass of milk. It was so absurd that I burst on laugher.

And just then, between my laughs, the conscious and rational part of my mind told me that I was completely drunk, but I didn't care and let the stupid and happy side take over. For the first time in my life, I was drunk.

Seeing the world with the lucidity of a 90 year old man relaxed me for some time, throwing aside all the problems I was facing.

(End of flashback.)

"Chateau Romani" I spoke the name of the beverage marked on the label of the empty bottle. "Now I can die in peace knowing how it tastes…"

Mr. Barten always forbid me from drink it, and now, I know why: It was an alcoholic beverage. He said that only adults were allowed to drink it because of the responsibility that comes with its consume and repercussions; getting drunk being one of them. I chuckled.

(Tee hee… if my parents knew this…)

Oops, sore spot.

I stopped chuckling immediately when my parents came to my mind. The smile faded quickly and went serious.

I sighed deeply.

Better get this element crap done quickly as possible. I'll start my search for the elements today. I'll get the wind element first at the swamp of the south. I realized that the best start would be the easier terrain of a swamp, compared to the rougher terrains of canyons and mountains.

(Okaaaaay… I'll just gather my things and'll get moving)

And so, I did.

I gathered my stuff from the desk at the side of the bed, from the drawers, put my sword on my back, but left my shield in my endless pouch; I really don't like carry too much weight on my back and my sword is more than enough for traveling.

But I didn't find something that was supposed to be on its place in the drawer; my sleeved shirt with blue patterns that I had since I took my very first step on Termina. I raised my eyebrows when I noticed that it wasn't on my endless pouch either. I scratched my head in confusion.

(Where on earth is it?)

I just couldn't afford to lose it. Together with my sword, it's the thing that has most emotional value for obvious reasons; it was made by my grandma herself.

(Come on, think Alex, where you left it…)

I shot open my eyes when remembered where I left my cherished shirt; folded in the drawer next to the bed on Cremia's house at Romani Ranch. I facepalmed.

(Idiot! Why did I even folded it there!?)

I arched my back. (Hmm… just a little setback, no problem at all)

I don't mind make a stop at the ranch, that place relaxes me. To be honest, I'd spend most of my time in there rather than in this Inn. But it would feel strange to ask Cremia if could live in there. She likely may say yes, but nonetheless, I'd feel like a dead weight in there and make her life harder than it is now. I know well how hard can be to take care of a ranch, but just two persons? I'd like help them somehow if I could…

…

After going downstairs, I handed the room's key to Anju who, as always, had her baby in a cradle on her left side.

"Leaving again Alex?"

"Yeah. Not that I like it hehe…"

She let out a giggle, which made her hands shake in front of her mouth, making sound with the keys on her hand, which attracted the attention of her baby. He stretched his little arms up, asking to play with the keys.

She noted it and immediately brought a smile to her face "No no no Daniel. Play with these" She grabbed a set of big plastic keys and gave them to her baby, who brought them to his mouth. The key where too big for him to swallow them so there was no problem.

"Aww, so cute isn't it?" I said.

"You bet he is! Oh, by the way, today in the morning, a pretty girl with long blue hair came here asking for you. Umm, her name was, umm May?"

"Mia?"

"Um, yeah! Mia!"

"She asked for me? wha- what did you said to her?"

"What…? (giggle) of course I didn't said that you came drunk last night, you dummy!"

I blushed in embarrassing and shame.

"So you know…"

"Of course I know! I know everything that happens here at the Inn!" Her humble smile faded for the first time I know. "And I mean everything."

I was confused and somewhat scared at her serious stare. "Really?" I had to break the silence.

"Believe me; you shouldn't get nowhere near those twin dancers…"

This was starting to scare me. "I uh… gotta go now"

Suddenly, her always radiant smile came back to my relief. "Be careful out there Alex!" She turned to her baby to play with him.

"Y- yeah, bye!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ East Clock Town ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was confusing.

Anyways, Mia asked for me so I better see her before go to the field.

But first; left hand behind the shoulder…

There it was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ South Clock Town ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I knew where to find Mia, in the library at the west part of town. While walking through the people to get to said part of town, aside from all the uproar from the people around, a particular voice caught my attention.

"Are you going somewhere?" I recognized that bitter accent immediately. The Mask Salesman.

I turned. "Hey you… I'm going to west part of town if you don't mind." I crossed my hands in front of my chest.

"Did not I tell you to get the elements as quickly as you could? Don't give me a bad impression of you…" he said without wearing off his usual creepy smile.

"I know! I'm working on it! I was just going see somebody."

"You are not getting my point do you? Did your grandfather teach you to be so selfish like that?"

Those last lines of his felt cold in my back. "What!?"

"You better don't waste more time, go and search for an element right now, or something really bad will happen to all of us. And I won't make myself responsible for it…" He disappeared again in front of me speechless in the middle of the crowd.

I shook my head back to reality. Was that a threat? What does he know about my grandpa? I know he won't explain me anything until I get him an element…

I continued my way to west part of town, but not too far I saw the very same mask salesman standing at the gate. He was staring at me without moving. I gaped.

There was another gate leading to west part of town though, so I walked towards it, and there he was standing again, glaring at me with that mischievous grin at the distance.

"What the…" I muttered.

THAT is creepy. He won't let me get anywhere else but outside of town. He's serious about not letting me waste time, Mia will have to wait.

He wasn't in the south gate though, so I got outside to Termina Field.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Termina Field ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked at both sides, even though I knew that she wasn't around. Of course, I know her too well to know that she can't stand being still in one place more than five minutes…

I got out my old blue ocarina and played the tune that always makes her come to me. Epona's Song.

When I finished playing the song, I heard Epona running to me nearly until she was in front of me in a blink.

"Neigh!" (hmph, you again…)

"Hey, girl. Wait, where's your saddle?" I said obviously not waiting an answer. I knew where she was. She liked Romani Ranch, so I told her that she could go there if I took a while yesterday and, I did took a little while, so I can't blame her for not stay where I left her.

"We are going to the ranch, just a short trip, ok?" I said after petting her.

"Neigh" (I know that you left yer shirt there…it's always the same with you)

I hop on her back. "Come on!" and rode towards Milk Road.

(Background: Termina Field)

Riding Epona while crushing Chu-Chus and Deku Babas was fun, but we passed through the grassy field... and that smell… the smell that emanated from that rock was impossible to ignore now. I tried to not get too near it, but the smell, oh, that horrible smell of burned plastic was spreading further…

We ran past the grass field quickly and got to Milk Road faster than I thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Milk Road ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We passed swiftly Milk Road in direction to Romani Ranch and, totally lost in my thoughts, ignored everything around while staring frontwards.

(…What does he know about my grandpa…?)

Unbeknownst to me, I was sighted by two, long nosed brothers at the entrance of their ranch.

(Background: Conker's bad fur day music: danger lurks)

"Hmph! Ye saw dat big brother?" The one wearing blue garments said.

"Yeh, and it seemed most interesting, don't you think little brother?" The one wearing a yellow shirt said in response.

"Barten's worker got the lost horse at Romani Ranch, huh? I told you that if we could talk to the lady, we could have gotten it ourselves!"

"Don't be stupid! We both know that we don't have a good business partnership with Cremia, little brother…"

"Hey! You were the one who started to say that their milk is watered down!"

"But who was the one who suggested watering our own milk? Huh?" He demanded back.

"… Nevermind that…"

"Hey, we can still get the horse, you know…"

"You mean…" Then, the older brother nodded.

"Set the gates."

I have the next chapter done by now, but as always, i'll update it next Sunday, so have a little patience is always good :) Next time: Cremia's POV.