Shadow: Short one this week.

Wang: Aww...

Shadow: We don't own a thing.

Chapter 17: Panic

They came to on a misty field. They had their ears already covered when the Giant came and spoke to them. In the loud rumbling, it went on and on and on. When it was finally finished, it hummed to them the song that they had learned a long time ago with their first meeting with the Giants.

"This one thanks you guys again. We defeated a general called Gyorg. This was a particularly vicious general from the sounds of it. He then requests to rescue his brothers and to play the song to call them to help."

"Same info as before." Link grunted in pain. He was still badly injured.

"We'll wake up as the monster is coming towards us, right?"

"Right."

"Then we have to roll back time and quick." Tatl said. "You guys better get –"

"—ready." Tatl finished as they came to back in Termina.

Gyorg's body was rushing towards them, with a whole host of piranhas in its wake. Nadai's fingers flew quickly to her flute, and she played the Song of Time. Link reached out through the haze of pain to grab onto her ankle, and Tatl flew and grabbed onto a strand of Nadai's hair.

Time went backwards for them. Link's wounds healed and the poison left his body. It seemed that all of the worry and pain that they had been holding onto melted away. Reappearing in the basement of the old Clocktower, they were whole and clean once more.

"Did you see that blue circle?" Nadai asked.

"I did." Link stood up and took off the Zora mask, turning back into his normal self. "I don't get it though. That always led us to the Sacred Realm."

"And we're in Termina. That can't be it."

"Strange." Tatl flew about. "I feel, strange."

"In a good way?" Nadai asked.

"Yeah. Like I'm about to finish something great."

"One more giant and we can stop Majora. So yes, we're close to ending this all." Link stretched his shoulders. "So we go to the Canyon then?"

"That's in the east." Tatl nodded.

"There was a wind blowing that way, it should be faster to get there than before."

"There's been a wind blowing east for all three days we've been here." Nadai smirked. "And it's going to stay that way forever."

"Well, then let's get going." He turned to Nadai and paused. "Uh, you going to put your clothes back on?"

She looked down. She still wore the Gerudo Diving Suit. "I still have this?"

"Anything we carry must go back in time with us." Link shrugged. He winced involuntarily. "And I think that includes the pain."

"You feel it too?" Nadai absently rubbed at the back of one leg with her foot. The damage from Goht was still a dull ache in her bones. Less now, but still present if she thought about it.

"I think that while we get healed, it's not complete." Link sighed. "The more damage we take, the more we feel it later on. We better be careful."

"Look at you being all wise and all." Nadai smiled. "Give me a sec to get dressed. I'll meet you outside."

Link went outside, and looked up at the sky. He breathed in deep. It felt good to breathe the clean air, even if it was in the middle of a city. He could get used to breathing here. But he had to find Navi first. Unless Navi was meant to be gone. After all, if he and Nadai were becoming Wanderer and Lost, would that mean that Navi was truly gone? She was, after all, not present with their future selves in the future. What had happened to Navi?

"Ready?"

"I think," Link said slowly, "That maybe Navi was meant to leave."

Nadai paused. "What makes you think that."

"If we are turning into Wanderer and Lost, then where was Navi in the future?"

"Oh."

"She wasn't with the future us, and she from the past was with the us from the past. Either she is hiding and we aren't meant to find her, or…" He paused. "Whatever the case, I think that when all of this is done, we should…"

"I understand." Nadai put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll follow your lead."

"Thank you." He wiped away some tears and got out his ocarina. "Let's get going."

They played the Song of Soaring, and went up into the air. They reoriented themselves before flying off. To the north, Link could see Tingle slowly rising in the air. He felt a flash of anger and turned to the east. Off to the far east, just north of the forest, was a large expanse of dark brown. There was a large divot between the mountains to the north and the forest to the south. That must be where the canyon was, and where the last temple was located.

They flew east, and aided by the wind they made good time. They came close to the edge of the canyon when they came upon a hut. Outside was a giant. It wasn't the giants whom they were trying to recruit and save, this was a giant on a different scale. It was about the size of the Clocktower. It was bandaged and wrapped like a Re-Dead, but the bandages were haphazardly around it. Below the giant was a young girl with dark brown hair running in front of it.

Nadai could tell even at that distance that the girl was crying.

She went down, and Link had little choice but to follow. They came up next to the girl, and landed on the ground. She turned to them, eyes wide with tears.

"Help! Please help papa!"

"Where is he?"

Link got up off the ground, (another poor landing, again!,) and readied himself in front of the girl. "What is this thing!"

The girl pointed to the giant. "That's Pamela's Papa!"

"What?" Link shouted out. "How can he be your dad?"

Nadai shot him a look. "He has to be cursed, right?"

Tatl nodded. "I think so. There was a hermit and a daughter her when Skull Kid and Tael and I visited a while ago. Did he get cursed?"

"If he's cursed then we should heal him." Nadai took out her flute.

Link was about to do the same when the giant attacked. His Fairy Ocarina hit the ground as he defended with the Hylian Shield. He grunted in pain as he held the blow.

"Play the song! While I distract him!"

Nadai's hands flew over the Fairy Flute, and played the Song of Healing. The giant hit Link again and he went to one knee. The song didn't work. She played again. The giant had to succumb at one point, right?

Link cried out in pain as the Hylian Shield splintered with the next three blows. Defenseless, he flung the remainder of the shield at the giant's face. It struck him in the eyes, and Link blinked. He had never been good with long ranged attacks, so it was a miracle that he was able to hit the head, much less the eyes.

Nadai played the song again, and this time it worked. The giant howled in pain, and slowly shrunk in size. It took a good ten minutes, but by the end of it a man with a large nose and dark red freckles stood where the giant had. A large bruise dominated one eye, and his dark hair covered the other one.

The man fell to the ground in pain, and a mask hit the ground. It was depicted in the style of a Re-Dead, and Nadai shivered as she saw it. When the man hit the ground Pamela ran up to him.

"Papa!"

"Pamela? Where…what?"

"You were cursed." Nadai helped Link to his feet.

"What? I was…cursed?"

"Yeah." Link helped the older man to his feet. "Several stories tall and angry to boot."

"I…I'm terribly sorry." The man rubbed at his head. "I'm an inventor, and I live so far out here because it helps to not cause a scene. But it looks like I didn't do so well with that."

"I'm just glad we were able to help before you did any real damage."

Link looked at the remnants of his shield. "Yea, same."

"What were ye two doing so far east from Clocktown?"

"We need to go to the temple."

"Visitors from Hyrule rarely come to Termina was thoughts of going this far east."

"Let's just say we have a job to do over here."

The man followed Link's gaze to the broken shards of the Hylian Shield. "Let me help ye two." He smiled as best he could, but it came out more as a grimace. "It's the least I can do."

"We'll take what we can." Nadai smiled.

"Pamela, darling, go and start the fire." The young girl ran off towards the canyon. "Our house is close by. Let me give ye some provisions before ye go much further.

That was when Link and Nadai realized that they hadn't eaten in goddess's knows when. Nadai and the inventor went first. Link hesitated a moment. The curse that had cursed the inventor had become a mask. Dare he use it? He pocketed the Re-Dead mask and his ocarina and hurried to catch up with the others.

At the inventor's one-room hut, cups and bowls of coldish stew was laid out for them when they got there. Pamela was cutting up bread and cheese for them as well.

"Take as much as ye want. After this meal, we're going back to the town for the festival."

"It's probably safer there, right papa?"

"Safer?" Nadai looked up long enough from the stew to glance at Link. "What's been going on?"

"Things are pretty strange around here." The inventor explained. "There's something wrong from the temple. It's like it's calling all the evil in the area over to it."

"Evil?"

"There used to be a kingdom here, the Ikana Kingdom. There was a massive war here ages ago. And with that the Ikana Kingdom and those that lived here was destroyed. The survivors made Clocktown after that."

"So what, the armies of the dead are rising from the grave?"

"That's exactly it."

"That doesn't sound good at all." Link looked at the man. "And let me guess, this army of the dead is in front of the temple?"

"Close to it. The temple entrance is blocked off by conventional means. There's a singular path to it from the canyon floor, but it goes through the old Ikana Castle."

"Sounds like fun." Link finished his bowl. "We should hurry then."

"Ye still plan on going?" The inventor asked.

"Of course." Nadai smiled. "We have to."

The man shook his head. "Then let me show ye the backway inside the castle."

"Backway? Is there a second entrance?"

"It's close by." The man got up. "But before I show ye, let me help."

"Help?"

"I have a shield for ye, boy."

"A shield?" He perked a bit. "Hm?"

"Yer shield, it broke when I hit it, right?"

"It did."

"Let me give ye something I've been working on." He stood up. "Pamela, darling, can ye pack them some food? Then start packing yer things. When I come back we're leaving."

"Yes, papa."

He went over the fireplace, and pulled down a mirror. He blew on it, and a wide array of dust and soot came off of it. Using the edge of one sleeve he cleaned off the surface. He handed it to Link.

"I made the surface itself. Polish it right, and it can shine brighter than any light if ye point it right."

Link held up the Mirror Shield. "It's light."

"And strong too. Should be as strong as steel. Or stronger than it, I think."

Link smiled. "I'll take it, thanks." He slipped it on his back. "Let's get going."

Nadai took the sacks of food from the girl, and the three of them went off. They walked for about an hour until they came to a small stream trickling away. Things were becoming steadily browner and deader as they went further east. It was clear that the land was dead, and abandoned of all life save for what evil was being awakened.

"Go up this stream and ye should find a cave. That cave system was used as part of the sewers for the Ikana Kingdom. Ye should be able to avoid most of the monsters and evil spirits if ye go that way. There's some diverging paths in that cave, but follow the water. There should be an underground lake in there somewhere. Ye'll come out in a well in the courtyard. It's long since dried out, and it should prove useful for ye guys if ye want to get in."

"Sounds like a good plan." Nadai smiled at the man. "Get out of here."

"Stay safe." He nodded at them. "And thank ye, for saving me."

"Of course."

Link looked over the man's shoulder and spotted a far distant red dot. His stomach churned. It was Tingle's balloon. In such a short time he had crossed about half of Termina Field on the way to the east; and that was just with wind power alone.

"Let's hurry." He smiled quickly at the man. "Safe travels."

Without another word he hoisted his shield and went up stream. Nadai hurried behind him quickly, and the man went back home.

Time Stop: As you can see, things are diverging more and more from the original game the further we get in the story.

Static: Just like what happened for our last fic.

Time Stop: So, this one's short but needed. Our heroes need a break of craziness for what's to come.

Wang: What's to come?

Time Stop: ...

Static: Please Review!