Hi guys! Christmas Holidays! Hence the sort of Christmasy theme to today's chapter. PEACE AT LAST! Well, saying that, I have a solo music exam on Russian Christmas day! CHRISTMS DAY GUYS! –cries in a corner- So I have plenty of revision to do…*sighs* but other than that, I can somewhat relax. My migraines are making their infamous comeback. Yesterday, I had beast ganon charging round in my head. I couldn't think or anything. Went to the cinema and when I got home, it was really bad, couldn't think or anything. Slept for 14 hours straight. So that's why I didn't update last night. I'll try update more often over the holidays. Anyways, I'll stop self-pitying now and get to writing.

Chapter 11

Ghosts of Christmas Past

It was dark. He was in, a cave of some sort…no…in a hollow created by the roots of a great tree. Pine needles blanketed the floor, filling the air with comforting heady scent. It was warm, animals slept around him, their scents wrapping round him like a blanket. Epona was there, but she was...younger…somehow. No more than a filly. Her legs disproportionally long to the rest of her. Her mane was shorter, sticking up like messy hedge. Beside her, a lynx slept. Her tawny coat a wondrous mix of autumn, ranging from gold markings around her eyes to rich dark browns colouring the tufts on her ears. Chestnut and crimson leaves danced across her pelt. It was as if the feline embodied the very spirit of autumn in a world of eternal summer, a single splash of colour in a dark green coniferous world. Next to him, a slender wolf, her pelt as black as night with the same grey marking on her forehead as himself. Wing-like markings swept down her body, distinctly different to Link's own. She was curled round him protectively. Next to her a wolf couple slept. The wolf closest had a bulky form similar to Link with the same wild mane, her fur the same as his own. She had no markings upon her, save for the stark white wing-like shapes like those on the black wolf. Behind her, he could just see the gold pelt of a wolf, but none of his features could be distinguished.

"Can't you sleep?" the lynx asked, her whispery voice bringing forward memories of falling leaves dancing on the autumn breeze.

Looking up at her, it was evident eyes the colour of setting sun. She reached out with her muzzle and licked his forehead.

"Do you want me to sing you a lullaby?"

The lynx looked out towards the entrance of the follow, where the sentinels of the forest, the towering pines leaned protectively over the group, sheltering them from the soft rain that fell. In the night, an owl couple called to each other.

Quietly, the lynx began to hum. Her voice joined those outside. The babble of a nearby brook, the calling owls, the whisper of the wind, the rustle as the breeze lifted the pine needles and rolled them across the ground, the faint drumming of rain. It weaved a melody of peace and harmony around the pack and sleep embraced him once more.

"Sleep well my little moonling." The lynx's voice floated like the moon's reflection on a still lake through his consciousness.

Link's eyes flickered open, the song from his dreams fading away like a wondering echo. It took him a moment to place himself. The dream was still fresh in his mind, and for a moment he thought he was still in the forest. Then the real world asserted itself and he found himself on the edge of Lake Hylia. A dull throb pulsed in his chest where the Goriya had stabbed him and his body was stiff. Epona's slow sleeping breath ruffled his hair and her coarse mane rubbed against his ear. Silver lay next to him, her paws twitching as she ran in her sleep. Reluctant to move and wake his companions, Link peered passed Silver's head at the ashen remains of the fire. Lana lay beyond them, the lights on her head fin pulsing lazily. Floating with her legs cross beside her was Ruto, looking decidedly bored. She fingered the ghostly zora sapphire round her neck.

"Can't you sleep?" Epona whispered.

For a moment, Link was transported back to his dream.

"She loved you so much." Epona continued, sensing Link's disquiet.

Over the years, watching Link grow up, the mare had come to know his thoughts almost as well as Link himself.

"She would look after you when we were busy. You would always recount the adventures you had with avid excitement. It was the most we would hear you talk. You would go on for hours. You used to talk all the time. It was getting you to shut up that was the problem. There was always some question you had, or story to tell."

Link shifted so that he could see the mare. Diamond tears glinted in her eyes as she looked across at the moon as she hid herself beneath the mountains.

"Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if we hadn't abandoned her."

Link lifted his hand and put it on the mare's neck.

"You remind me of her, the real Nubia. Always ready to help someone else without any thought for herself." Epona continued.

Now Ruto had turned her head to listen to the mare.

"Once I remember, it was my mother's birthday. I'd made her a necklace as a present. On the morning of the day before her birthday, I lost it while I was out training. I was only little then. Younger than Colin even. I was so distraught when I couldn't find it. Nubia went out at the crack of dawn and searched the entire forest. She was out there until long after the sun had set. And then she came back, just as the moon was fleeing before the sun, the necklace in her hand. I never asked her, or implied anything of the sort. She just came in and handed it to me without a word. Then she grinned and hugged me before disappearing out the door. In the doorway, I remember her stopping and saying. 'She's in the clearing. You'd better hurry if you want to catch her before she leaves.' I didn't get a chance to thank her later that evening. She just shrugged and asked me to pass on birthday greetings to my mother. It was only a necklace, I could've made another. Indeed I did, I had started one when I had given up all hope of finding the first. I gave it Nubia as a thank-you present. She promised me she'd wear it always. She kept to that promise, for the next five years, right up until that night. She never took it off."

Ruto looked down at the sapphire round her neck. Memories of Link giving it to her after locating it in Jabu's belly. She remembered seeing him after the timeline was reversed. Of him coming to her, with his handcrafted version of the jewel from his lost lifetime, handing it over with such anticipation. She had kept the gift. An eternal reminder of her lost love. Even as he had fallen in love with another. She had given him the real sapphire, withholding its true value. She remembered seeing him, as he had left, Epona beside him, no longer a boy but a man. Drawn now to fight an evil once more. Phantom tears ran down Ruto's face as she faded in out of sight, clutching the gift Link had given her all those years ago. She remembered the lights that had lit up the sky over the lost woods as he had fought. And she remembered Epona's return. Of her collapsing at their feet, exhaustion stilling her heart. Bloodied foam dripping from her mouth, wounds bleeding, her fate sealed long before her flight by the lance of shadow, still buried in her chest. Malon's sharp anguished cry ripping the silence. The woman clutching Epona, rocking back and forth, blood staining her clothes with death. Him slumped over her neck. Of his wife's screams of grief, Zelda clutching his daughter as she cried, fighting to reach her father. Empty eyes staring up at moonless night, the glow extinguished on his palm. The howls of the mourners filling the night with the anguish and raw hurt laid bare to the world. Not like that. Not in that horrible way. They never deserved that. Not that…

Ok, this is my Christmas chapter, a couple of days early. It's like half eleven over here so I'm going to sleep before my migraine gets any worse. I'll try to update tomorrow when I get back. If not, then probably on Monday or something. Sorry, if I ruined your chirstmas. I'll leave it up to you whether you believe the Majora Mask death theory or not, cause I left it open. Which do you think fits better? –looks back over story- How did I come to this conclusion? I started out so happily…I blame Of Mice and Men. See if you can spot the foreshadowing and foreboding.