Well, I tried and failed to have a slightly faster update rate on my time off. Not sure what exactly prevented me from getting it posted quicker, but that's all in the past now. Oh well, it's posted now :P

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one

Stop, Think, Decide

The touch of sand beneath his feet. The cries of seagulls squawking in the skies. The sound of waves surging gently up the beach. Yes, there was no question that he was on the shores of Koholint right now.

Link breathed in deeply, capturing the salty scent of the ocean that stretched out before him. The moonlit shores calmed his senses, giving him excellent conditions to think by himself under. Since awakening into the real world, he'd been having trouble determining when he was dreaming and when he was awake. Were dreams meant to seem so realistic? Just like anyone else, he had awoken from nightmares in the past, heart pounding as he tried to comprehend just how realistic it had been. This, however, was like living another life, one in which Koholint was the world and the land of Hyrule was the dream.

Of course, he already knew that that was not the case.

"Watching the waves?"

Link jumped in surprise, shooting a glance to his left to see that Marin had snuck up on him. While she wore an amused expression from his reaction, it seemed that scaring him had not been her intention.

"Y-Yeah," he answered, regaining his composure. "I thought I might be able to spot some landmasses off in the distance, but I guess we're too isolated for that."

"Mm," Malon hummed, turning her gaze out to the horizon. "In a way, that's all the more reason to leave this place. I know I've said it before, but if the chance ever arises, I'm going to leave this island and start my life somewhere else."

Link felt guilty that he had forgotten about her dream to leave Koholint Island. His efforts to forget about Marin had not been entirely unsuccessful, but having her here to remind him of every detail about her sent him back to square one, possibly even further since he was being freshly reminded. Sighing, he shut his eyes, wondering if it would even be possible to forget.

"Link? Are you okay?" the redhead asked, stepping closer to him. Reopening his eyes, he could see that she was only inches away from him.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he reassured weakly. "I was just thinking about some stuff."

If he told Marin about the real world, would it help him on the road to forgetting her? After all, if he was able to establish with her that this was all a dream of his, then it might help his own psyche come to terms with it. The only problem would be actually telling Marin that she was part of some fake world. It wasn't exactly a light conversation topic to bring up, and Link was fairly certain that Marin wouldn't take too kindly to it if he simply told her that he was living at some other woman's home in the real world.

"Um, Marin," he began slowly, trying to find the best way to approach the subject. "I've…been wondering something."

"What is it?"

"Well…this might sound like a weird question, but…did I ever awaken the Wind Fish?"

Understandably taken aback by the question, Marin took a half step backwards and tilted her head a bit. For a while, she simply stood there with a funny look on her face, though it seemed that she was waiting for Link to add something else. Since there was nothing else for him to say in the moment, Link could do nothing but wait until she responded.

"I-I'm not sure how you could have forgotten, but yes, you did," she said in an oddly cautious tone. "I thought you might have noticed the giant egg missing from the top of the mountain."

Just as he suspected, this wasn't some alternate setting he'd subconsciously coined, but rather a false replica of what this place would be like if it had been a real location. "Oh, that's right. Heh, I didn't really think to check on that. Sorry, I've got another question: what happened after I defeated the nightmares, or do you know?"

Again, Marin gave him a funny look and tilted her head, though the hero did not have to wait as long for her response this time around. "It's kind of hard to describe… The world just started shaking, like there was an earthquake, so I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them back up, I was suddenly in some strange place where you were watching the island disappear. I…I don't like to remember, but we thought that that was the end, and that I was going to disappear with the island while you returned to your own world. I was terrified, but before I knew it I was sitting back at home again, nursing you back to health while you slept in my bed for at least two days straight. No one except for me remembers the island disappearing, so I've just sort of been pretending it was all a strange dream."

A strange dream indeed, made even stranger by the fact that she was already part of his dream right now.

"What's with all the questions all of a sudden?" she chuckled, gently holding his arm as she stepped towards him.

Trying to feel calmed by her soothing tone, Link relaxed a bit. "I've just been thinking… I mean, I wasn't sure if you really understood what it meant for me to return to my own world. Hell, the fact that I'm here now kind of gave me the impression that I don't fully understand it myself."

"Heehee, well, to be honest, I don't really get it," Marin giggled, turning to face the ocean with him, "but as long as you're here with me, I'm fine with being a bit confused. It's not like I expected that saving a mysterious castaway was going to be the most straightforward experience."

The hero smirked at what she said, but quickly felt his expression sink into a frown. As long as he was here with her… There was nothing hidden within that statement, and yet Link could only feel uneasy thinking about it. After all, he wasn't actually here with her at all. This idea that she was feeling comforted by his presence was simply the manifestation of his subconscious. If only Malon had provided him with some kind of advice for a situation like this. Of course, that would be asking for the impossible.

"Hey," Link said after their brief moment of silence. "What would you do if I actually had returned to my world?"

Marin turned to look at him, the breeze blowing her red locks behind her. "If you returned… I don't really know. Obviously, I would be upset, so it would probably take some time, but I suppose I would have to go back to how I was living before I met you."

That seemed reasonable enough, though Link was hoping that he would somehow be able to sneak in the fact that he had returned to his own world. Even if she wasn't real, it was hard trying to tell someone that they were nothing more than a fake, especially since he had such strong feelings for that person.

"What about you?" Marin turned the question back on him. "What would you do if you had returned back to your world?"

"Probably float around on the ocean for days, wash up on the shores of a desert, try to cross it and almost wind up dead before getting rescued by some rancher who just happened to be doing business with the all-female desert community. Then I might start working on his ranch to repay the kindness that he and his daughter, who looks eerily similar to you, showed by looking out for me."

"…Y-You're awfully specific," she snickered, lightly pinching him on the arm. "It's like you've done it before."

"I doubt you'd believe me if I said I had."

"No, I would not. But it makes for a funny bedtime story."

Well, he wasn't sure he could say that that settled it, but Link took her reaction as a sign that telling her would not make much of a difference. Now that he thought about it, there was nothing to gain by telling her of the real world, anyway. He wasn't exactly looking to upset her, and if this dream continued to, well, continue, then he wasn't sure that confusing or upsetting her would be the best course of action. Doing so wasn't going to help him forget about her – if anything, it would only make him think about her more.

"Is everything all right, Link?" Marin asked, forcing him to turn his gaze toward her. "You seem…a little different somehow. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but it's like you're…confused."

Link said nothing, continuing to stare into her mocha-coloured eyes. With each passing second, he watched as the redhead's facial expressions hardened, showing how concerned she was for his wellbeing. Unable to face her in such a state, he turned his gaze back out to the ocean and sighed.

"It's nothing to get worked up over…" the hero said quietly. "I guess you could say that I've…been having weird dreams lately. About the world I came from."

"Oh?"

Link hesitated for a moment, but slowly tried to form the words he wanted to say. "I don't think you'll be able to understand if I try explaining it to you. Whenever I'm in that world, though, I feel like I'm really alive, like I'm actually there, and that the fantasy world is this one where I'm here with you. Trying to distinguish the line between which world is real is…well, it's not really like anything I can describe in words. The only thing that's happened is more headaches than I've ever had to handle."

While it wasn't entirely true, Link figured that this would be the only way to explain the situation to Marin. From a relative point of view, entering the real world was nothing more than a dream; after all, he had discovered that he – or rather, his consciousness – could only be in one world at a time, leaving his body asleep in the other. Certainly, if he had no comprehension of this phenomenon, it would only make sense that Marin would not as well.

"Huh, I suppose dreams can be strange in that way," Marin said with a shrug. "But then, they're only dreams. Even if they turned out to be something more, as long as the headaches aren't causing you too much pain, I suppose it doesn't really matter what they are."

"Well, as long as they aren't causing you any pain, I suppose it doesn't matter what they are."

Without thinking, Link automatically moved to rub his left arm where the markings were. Was it merely coincidence that Marin and Malon constantly seemed to say the same sorts of things? No matter what sort of situation, Link felt as though he was always connecting the two of them together. Normally, he would consider such a situation to be merely an odd chain of coincidences, but under his specific circumstances, these chance quotes only made him associate Malon with Marin, thereby forcing him to think about her whenever he saw the farmgirl.

"Anyway, it's getting late," Marin yawned and loosened her grip on Link's arm. "Are you going to stay out here?"

"Yeah, I'm not feeling all that tired," he said, turning as she took a few steps back.

"Okay, don't stay out too long."

With a simple wave, Link watched Marin until she was completely out of sight from the beach area. Turning back around and slowly walking toward a palm tree, the hero took a seat at its base as he continued to watch the waves.

How long could he continue to keep up this charade? What was the purpose of keeping it up here, anyway? He knew this was a dream, and he knew that he would probably be waking up in the other world sometime soon. Was there something keeping him connected to this place on a psychological level? He cared about Marin a great deal but had never dreamt about her once before being sent to the real world.

Perhaps it had something to do with those markings. While he had originally intended to mention them to Marin, her somewhat clueless nature made Link reconsider his decision. Unlike Malon, who had stayed calm in the situation, Marin was more likely to panic upon seeing the marks, and would probably try to do something about them, even though their presence had no effect of any sort.

Realizing he didn't have any sort of mirror to look at them again, Link rolled up his sleeves and began stretching his arms in front of him, twisting in awkward positions in a failing attempt to look at them. Only able to see the uppermost marks, the hero wound up and, with all his might, swung his left arm across his chest, accidentally punching the tree trunk as the inertia carried his fist around. Cursing in pain, he shook his hand a couple of times and glanced upwards, only to regret it when…

∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆

Clunk!

"Ooh, ow, ow, ow!" a girl's voice sounded above him.

Grasping at his sore forehead, Link slowly opened his eyes, taking a few moments to focus. The brightness and slight daze from conking his forehead made his head spin, but he was soon able to get a good look at his surroundings.

"What's the big idea, Link? Falling asleep when I leave you for ten minutes and then headbutting me when you wake up?"

Sitting up slowly this time, Link looked to see Malon holding her hand to her forehead and groaning in pain. Trying to piece together what happened, it seemed that the coconut that fell from the palm tree in his dream was actually his body jerking upwards in this world while Malon was…leaning right over top of his face?

"Sorry," he grunted, continuing to rub his own forehead. "Why were you so close to my face, though?"

Malon's face reddened, though Link wasn't entirely sure whether she was blushing or simply angry, as her expression still showed that she was annoyed from what just occurred.

"Well, like I said, I only left you for about ten minutes while I was making the deliveries and I came back to see you snoozing away. I thought it'd be funny to stick cucco feathers in your hair or something, so I was leaning over you when you shot up all of a sudden and smashed my head!"

"So, to put it simply, your failed prank is to blame for both of our misfortunes…"

Playfully bopping him on the head, though fortunately not where he had hit his, Malon gave him a mean smirk and beckoned him to follow after her. "Hey, I brought you along with me today, so the least you can do is let me have some fun."

Shaking his head but allowing a smile to cross his lips, Link stood up and brushed off the hay from his clothes.

It was early afternoon now, and the two of them were wandering around Kakariko Village. At Talon's somewhat forcible request, Malon had agreed to take Link on a delivery trip, figuring it would also be good to acquaint him with one of the two local towns. Since there was no need to follow Malon around door-to-door while she made all the deliveries, Link had dozed off on a random haystack, which of course led to the incident that had given them matching, swollen foreheads. Luckily for Link, Malon wasn't the type to get very angry over things, but he knew that she was probably going to tease him for the rest of the day.

"So, do you know, like, everyone who lives here?" Link asked as Malon said hello to what had to have been the fifteenth person they passed by.

"Mm, not really," she mused, tapping her chin in thought. "It's more that everyone recognizes Dad and me because we're here at least once a week. I do know some of them, though, like Anju the cucco tender."

"Let me guess, you asked her to give you some feathers to mess up my hair with."

"Nope. I'd have to get them myself."

"Is she really stingy about their feathers or something?"

"No, no, she just can't touch them. She's allergic to cuccos."

"…Maybe she should have thought out her career path a little better…"

Despite Link's deadpan, Malon laughed at his dry humour and ran ahead a little bit when she spotted something in one of the shop's windows. Keeping his pace, Link followed behind as the redhead showed him around town, stopping every now and then to do a bit of window-shopping.

The two of them spent a good portion of their afternoon simply wandering around and checking things out. The village itself wasn't very large, but Malon seemed to have quite a few things to say about each stop they made, whether it was about the people that lived there, some odd fact about the building, or just a story that may or may not have had anything to do with the actual location they had stopped in front of. Regardless of that, Link found her enthusiasm charming, and it significantly redirected his attention away from Marin.

When the sun had moved down quite a bit, Malon led Link back out of Kakariko Village, practically dragging him by the collar as he whined about wanting to see Death Mountain. After all, how could he truly call himself an adventurer if he didn't explore a place known as Death Mountain?

"Mal, I know you said you were gonna show him around, but even I'm surprised by how long you kids were gone for," Talon jeered from the stables upon their return.

"Well, we would've been back sooner if Link wasn't so insistent on seeing Death Mountain."

"Hey, you can't even blame me for that; we didn't get to see it!"

"I said we could go another day!"

"Whoa, now, I better get out o' this lover's quarrel quickly!"

This had become almost a daily routine for Link and the ranchers, and he could honestly say that he enjoyed all of it. There never seemed to be a dull moment when these two were around. Truthfully, he had nearly forgotten about his intentions to leave after repaying his debt, partly because the days had passed so quickly that he could not recall how long he'd been there but also because he actually wanted to stay. Malon and Talon seemed more than happy to have his company, and for only the second time in his life, Link felt like he belonged somewhere as a part of the family. Perhaps saying he was a part of their family was a little too much, but nonetheless, he had become more than just a guest in their home.

"If you kids are done arguin'," Talon said once the playful bickering had died down a bit, "I need you to do some repairs on the corral fences. Some o' the wood's gotten too rotten to be of any use, so if you'd be so kind."

"I can do it," Link volunteered. "Tools and supplies are in the shed?"

"Yeah, thanks, kid. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be takin' a nap inside."

Chuckling giddily while Malon scolded him, Talon turned around and headed back into the house, apparently being completely serious about napping for the rest of the day. Paying it little attention, Link headed over to the shed on the far side of the corral. Grabbing the necessary tools and as much wood as he could carry in one trip, he made his way to the fenced area and began testing each plank for durability. Though he'd never used a conventional hammer and nails before, it couldn't be too hard to figure out…

∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆V∆

"Seriously, you handled a sword every day and only got a few scratches, yet the moment you pick up a hammer you manage to break three fingers on the first plank of wood?"

Chuckling while wincing in pain, Link watched as Malon wrapped the index, middle, and ring fingers on his left hand before pinning the bandages together with a safety pin. Once finished, she slid a dish full of ice under his swollen hand and somewhat aggressively (at least, it felt like it) pushed his fingers in.

"You're lucky we have a cold storage vault in the basement," Malon said as she began packing away the first aid equipment. "Most places wouldn't have any ice available like this, but since we have to store meat somewhere, we actually have ice to spare."

"Heh, well, I'm grateful for it," Link answered sheepishly. "I guess I'm just not good with blunt tools… Cuts are easy to fix, but these broken fingers could seriously hamper my productivity around here."

"I think the issue is that you didn't stop after you broke the first finger," Malon giggled, tucking the first aid kit back into one of the cupboards. "Honestly, I don't even know how you managed to hit your fingers more than the nails."

"Oh, I suppose you could do better?"

"Um, hello, I've lived here for twenty years; I've had to repair those fences at least a dozen times. The most I've ever gotten from doing that was a sliver or two."

"Tch, show-off."

Malon giggled again and started heading toward the front door. "I'm going to go finish – or should I say start – fixing the fence. I don't think there was anything else you had to do, so just sit there and keep icing your fingers."

With that, she quickly stepped outside and headed out toward the corral. From where he was seated, Link could actually watch her working on the fence through the window. He smirked as she took one look at the plank of wood he'd managed to nail on, shook her head, and pulled out the nails before redoing it herself. Apparently he wasn't much of a handyman.

Turning back to look at his bandaged fingers, a wave of nostalgia washed over Link. He could not count the number of times some kind soul had offered to patch him up after he'd been through some particularly rough trial. Of course, this wasn't exactly what he would call a rough trial, but the idea was still the same. If he had to remember all the times he returned to Marin's home, only to have her tending to his wounds before he could even say "I'm back," he wouldn't be able to count them all on two hands (at least, not in his current condition).

It was strange, though, thinking of all the times he'd gotten injured on Koholint. Since the events of the Wind Fish's dream had never really occurred, the injuries he'd sustained within it had not either. Link's body was already covered in scars before he wound up in the dream, but to have some of the more significant ones he'd gotten simply disappear from his body, well, it was akin to having his belongings stolen from him. Those scars held memories: memories of fighting and of healing.

"So, what'd you go and do this time?"

Glancing over at the staircase, Link spotted Talon walking towards the table he was seated at. Pulling out the chair across from him, Talon took a seat and got a closer look at Link's bandaged fingers.

"I guess you could say I'm not much of a carpenter," Link chuckled dryly, lifting his numb hand from the ice and placing it back down. "Managed to break three of my fingers nailing down the first piece of wood."

"Yeesh, didn'tcha say you were good with a sword?" an astonished Talon cringed.

"Sharp tools are fine, it's the blunt ones that I'm no good with," Link said, motioning the movements with his right hand. "At least with the sharp ones, you know to keep your hands away from the blade. Most blunt things need you to put your hand right in the strike zone."

"Say what you want, kid, but I think you're just a dummy when it comes to regular jobs and whatnot."

Link smirked, finding that he wasn't in the best position to retort to Talon's jabs. Instead, he turned back out the window, noticing that Malon had gotten significantly further along the fence in the relatively short amount of time she'd been out there. Considering how hard Malon worked, Link had come to terms with how much she liked to tease him about his own work ethic. On its own, he seemed like a decent worker, but comparatively, he was lagging behind…far behind.

"Are you still planning on heading off soon?" Talon asked after the brief silence. Link turned towards him, but didn't have a clear answer at the moment. "I haven't really been keepin' track, since I told you it wasn't necessary, but I'd reckon your debt's been paid off. You're free to take off anytime you like, jus' be sure to say goodbye before you do."

Feeling inexplicably guilty all of a sudden, Link dropped his gaze, unable to face Talon after hearing those words. "I-I…I suppose I should, shouldn't I? I mean, there's no reason for me to stay here now that I'm back to my regular self."

For a while, neither of the two men said anything, simply sitting at the table while the sounds of livestock and Malon's hammer filled the silence. Try as he might, Link could not seem to look Talon in the eye, though he could not seem to determine why. After all, Talon had just said that the blond's debt had been repaid, so he was not obligated to stay and help out any longer. Besides, by staying, he was just one more mouth to feed, and it wasn't like his presence at the ranch helped the animals reproduce any quicker.

Talon breathed deeply and cleared his throat as he began to speak. "Listen here, Link, if you want to leave, I won't stop you, but personally I think Mal really enjoys your company. I know you told me that you're still in love with some other woman or something, but I still want you to think about what I said to you before. I know it was sudden for me to spring somethin' like that on you, but you might just be the only one for her."

Wordlessly, Link turned to look out the window again, watching as Malon leaned against a stronger part of the fence and fanned herself with her hands. Turning back to face the man across from him, Link forced himself to meet Talon's gaze.

"The thing is, I still don't really know much about this land," the hero explained. "Being an adventurer, I'm perfectly capable of blazing my own trails and figuring out the geography for myself, but it's always nice to have a place to come back to. I think I'd at least like to stay here until I know a fair amount about Hyrule; it's not like I dislike being here…"

Talon hardly reacted as Link finished what he was saying. It looked as though the older man was waiting for him to continue, which, given the content of what Talon had been talking about, wasn't exactly something Link wanted to discuss right now. Unfortunately, it seemed that the bald man wasn't going to budge until he got at least a trace of an answer.

"I can think about it," Link sighed, giving in to the unyielding stare. "I really can't promise that anything will happen, though. I'm…not entirely sure I'm ready to feel that way about someone again, anyway. It was too painful the first time, and even now I…it still hurts…"

Slowly, Talon shut his eyes and let out a deep breath, as if he'd been holding it in the entire time Link had responded. "I s'pose I'll just have to live with that, then. When you've made up your mind, whether it's about stayin' or about Mal, just let me know. Anyway, sorry 'bout bein' so pushy about all o' this. I just want to make sure you an' Mal both have your futures figured out, separate or together."

As Talon got up and began heading towards the front door, Link called out to him, "Talon, you aren't…hiding something from Malon, are you?"

With his hand on the door handle, Talon kept his gaze forward for a moment, his expression blank. Just as a sense of worry began to settle within Link, the moustached man quickly turned to face the hero with a big, mischievous grin.

"Wahaha, no need to worry about me, Link!" Talon guffawed loudly, holding his jiggling belly with his free hand. "I didn't mean to send you for a scare or anythin'; besides, does this old man look like he's gonna be turning up daisies anytime soon? If your hand is anything to go by, I'd say that you'll probably wind up dead before I do!"

With his hearty laugh echoing throughout the property, Talon stepped outside and headed toward the corral where Malon was about half of the way completed. Looking at his bandaged hand again, Link smirked as Talon's words echoed in his head. Gently plunging his fingers into the ice again, Link curled his right hand into a fist.

"Better watch out, Old Man. Once this hand heals up, I'll be working ten times as hard to prove you wrong."

Hopefully it's clear as to why the general moods in Link's dreams and the real world are so different from each other. For the most part, things are going to stay this way until a certain point, and there will be quite a few revelations once that point is reached.

Malink fans, don't get too mad at me for how slow things seem to be progressing. Maybe it's just me who thinks things are progressing slowly because my updates have been rather abysmal (my apologies), but I hope it's clear that his relationship with Malon is growing closer, even if only a little bit at a time. Marink fans, I also apologize to you because of how lacking his relationship with Marin seems to be. It should be understandable as to why that is, but for two people that already have a pre-established relationship, no, they don't seem much like it (blame it on the fact that he's trying to forget her because she isn't real).

Thanks to G01den Unicorn 11 and MadSkillz for reviewing!

Thanks for reading and please review!

–GengaJupite