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Chapter Text

Prompt 1 - Waking Up Restrained

Timeline - Set during Majora’s Mask

Link’s heart was pounding so loudly in his chest, it was a marvel that the pirate Gerudo couldn’t hear it from where he was hiding.  He just had an extremely close call, almost being seen by that woman.  In fact she was still glancing suspiciously at the large crates he was hiding behind only a few feet away.  The orange haired pirate seemed to be debating on whether she should investigate what she wasn’t sure she saw.

This went on for an unnervingly long time.  Link watched her from a small crack that formed between two crates.  Maybe she could hear his heartbeat, or see him.  It only made sense as to why she was staring for so long.  At long last she looked away when another nearby pirate said something to her.  It was in their Gerudian language, so the boy couldn’t understand what was being said.  Whatever it was, it caused the woman to abandon her suspicion, as she walked away without looking back at where he was hiding.  The young hero let out a breath of relief.  He didn’t know if the Gerudo Pirates were like the Gerudo Thieves, but the thieves were far from understanding when they caught him snooping around.  In fact they were downright brutal; he’d probably still sport some of the bruises if it hadn’t happened in a previous timeline.

So he really didn’t want to find out what these vicious pirates would do to him if he was found, so Link decided to wait a bit before moving to make sure she wasn’t still watching.  He glanced up at the sun above him to get a general idea of what time it was.  It was still the first day, but it had to be late afternoon by now.  It wasn’t until he arrived in Termina he truly appreciated how fast seventy-two hours pass by.  Three days could pass in a blink of an eye sometimes.  Sure he still had just above sixty hours left but that would fly by quick enough.  He hadn’t found any of the eggs yet, and there were seven he needed to find.  Three of which weren’t even in the fortress.  The boy sighed again, there wasn’t time to linger here any longer.  

Taking another glace between the crates to see if the coast was clear, and seeing that it was he crawled his way out from behind the crates.  Being as quiet as possible, Link shifted his weight onto his feet, so he could be ready to make a run for the nearest door.  He glanced behind him, before turning around to make a beeline for the door.  Unfortunately he only made it a few paces before being forced to halt.  The Gerudo lady he had been hiding from before stood there with her spear pointing right at his chest. “Halt!” the woman ordered.  The boy looked behind him to see if there was a chance to run, but another woman also with a spear, stood behind him.  Apparently she hadn’t lost her suspicion, he’d been set up.  Knowing that there was nothing else he could do, Link lifted both hands over his head in surrender.  

The two women began talking very fast in their Gerudian language, and after a moment the one who stood behind him grabbed both his wrists and pulled them behind his back.  The other one seemed to have noticed Tatl for the first time and tried to make a grab for her.  “Tatl fly away!” Link shouted at her, “Save yourself!” 

The fairy seemed to do it without a second thought, flying out of sight as quick as a flash.  Even though he was the one to say it, Link was a bit dismayed that she listened without any type of complaint or hesitancy.  Yes, the two had been forced to team up, quite reluctantly, and she showed her hatred for him from the very beginning.  But the boy had thought that maybe things were getting better between them, at least enough for her to think twice before abandoning him to whatever these pirates had in store for him.  

Neither of the woman seemed to think pursuing the fairy was important.  The young hero felt his wrists being tied up behind his back, and after a sharp pain hit the back of his head everything went black.

The boy woke up some time later in a very damp dungeon, still restrained by the rope his hands were tied with, and a pounding ache in back of his head.  Link groaned softly against the pain, and took a moment to get his baring’s again.  When he finally recalled all the events that led him to this point, he jolted up into a sitting position with alarm.  This caused his head to sear with pain, but at the moment he didn’t’ really care.  What day was it? How long was he out? They only had three days before the moon falls, had he been out for hours or days.  Was it the final day?  He looked down at his belt and was relieved that the Ocarina of Time was still hanging off his belt.

But with his hands tied behind his back there was no way he could play the Song of Time.  Not to mention he didn’t know if Tatl would go back in time with him if she wasn’t there next to him while he played.  Not that she didn’t deserve to be left behind, she did leave him without a second though.  Sure he told her to, but it did hurt a little bit that she didn’t’ question it.

A sigh escaped the boy’s lips.  Now was not the time to dwell on hurt feelings.  He needed to find a way to get untied and out of captivity.  There wasn’t much time to think before the door to the dungeon opened and two Gerudos came inside, spears in hand.  Without saying anything to him, they approached Link and pulled him roughly to his feet.  Then he was marched by spear point out of the room and through the fortress.  He was led up and down flights of stairs, and through countless doors until they reached the room where he overheard the pirates talking about the Zora eggs.  They brought him right up to where the look alike Nabooru stood, and forced him onto his knees.  The pirate leader looked down at him with cold eyes as the two other women who had brought him spoke quickly to her in their native language.  He assumed they were explaining to her who he was and why they brought him to her.  

This went on for several moments, the cold looks each female kept giving him, gave Link a feeling of foreboding.  Finally a decision seemed to have been made, and one of the Gerudo’s grabbed the top of his head, fisting his hat and a large chunk of his hair.  The young hero let out a groan of pain as he was forced once again to his feet, and led out of the room.  From there they took him up, and up, and up endless flights of stairs both in and out of buildings, until they were finally at the very top of the pirate fortress.  Link could see as far out on the great bay as possible.  

Several other Gerudo women seemed to be waiting for them at a cliffside.  Whatever they had planned for him, it wasn’t going to go well for him.  Link had a nasty idea of what they were going to do, and his thoughts were confirmed when they finally reached the other pirates.   One of them tied a rope around his legs, and attached to the rope was a brown sack filled with something heavy.  Most likely rocks.  By this point the young child was struggling madly against their hold, kicking his tied feet and attempted to bite any flesh that came close to his teeth.  Apparently these pirates were much more vicious compared to the Gerudo Thieves in Hyrule.  Get caught once and you're dead.  

Unfortunately he was much younger than he was when he was dealing with the thieves, so his struggles were in vain.  It wasn’t long before he was flung off the side of the cliff, the water below getting closer and closer.  He just barely remembers to take a deep breath before crashing into the water.  His skin tingles from the impact, though the young hero didn’t have the time to think about that.  He tried with all his might to wiggle out of the rope that bound his hands, and when that didn’t work he tired to bend backward enough undo the rope tied to his ankles.  That was even less effective as he was unable to even reach the rope with his tied hands.  The heavy sack soon dragged him down to the very bottom of the ocean, he could feel the ocean water press against his ear drums.  He must be deep.  By this point his lungs were burning for air.  It would not be long before he passed out from lack of oxygen. 

The boy continued to struggle out of the ropes that bound him, even as his vision began to fade into black.  The last thing he noted before passing out was the feeling of water rushing through his mouth and into his lungs.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Prompt 2 – In the Hands of the Enemy

Timeline - Set during Majora’s Mask

Tatl knew that she could do nothing to aid Link, especially when it came to fighting off two women from the most ruthless pirate group she’d even known.  That was the main reason she had fled when Link told her too.  Though she did fly away, she did not actually leave the young boy.  The fairy had simply flown to a safe spot, where she could think of a plan to rescue her comrade.  Tatl had lived in Termina long enough to know what the Gerudo do to people that got caught sneaking into their Fortress, and that was execution.  She figured probably the best course of action would be to go to the execution site, and wait for them to bring him there.  From then she could figure out how to save him. 

With that thought, she quickly flew up to the top of the fortress, around the cliffside that had a sheer drop into the ocean.  She found a nice rock to sit on while she waited.  It was hard to say how long she had before they would show up.  There was a small possibility that they would decide to keep Link as a prisoner, or slave.  But that was pretty rare, and usually only happened to female intruders.  It wasn’t long before her suspicions were confirmed, as a few pirates came up to the cliff.  One was holding a large burlap bag, and she held it open while the others filled it up with large rocks.  They were obviously getting ready for the execution.  

Tatl began thinking about how she was going to rescue the young Hylian.  She could always try a sneak attack; to get them to fall off the cliff themselves, and hope that Link doesn’t fall off with them.  That seemed pretty risky, so she tried to come up with something different.  As she pondered, the fairy glanced around and saw something off in the ocean.  Was that… yes! It was a Zora!  She had no idea what it was doing hanging out in the ocean, but if the fishman… or woman was still around when Link was thrown into the ocean, she could go ask for their help. Now, was the question of whether she should go ask for his help now, or wait until Link was thrown over.  Both options could end badly.  If she left now, there was a chance she’d miss him being thrown over the cliff and not know where he hit the water.  That would make it harder to find him.  But if she waited, there was a chance the Zora would swim away before she had the chance to ask for help.  

She eventually settled on keeping a close eye on both the Gerudo, and the Zora.  If the fish person started swimming away, she’d chase after them.  But as long as they stayed, she’d wait until she was sure that she’d be able to know where to find him.  The fairy waited with bated breath, her tiny heart pounding anxiously.  She kept thinking that she would have had enough time to fly down, tell the Zora what was happening and get back up here, if she had not hesitated.  But what kept her from moving was thinking that she had already lost her chance and that he could show up any minute.

After what felt like forever, she began hovering in the air ready to make a quick break to tell the Zora to keep watch on the ocean, when she saw the boy’s green clothes off in the distance.  He was being brought at last.  Link didn’t seem to be struggling all that much, so he must not realize yet what was about to happen to him.  

It was actually really hard helplessly watching her partner, as they prepared to throw him off the cliff.  It wasn’t until they began tying the rope around his ankles that the kid seemed to realize what they had planned, because that was when he began struggling.  The pirates seemed ready for this as they didn’t really seem fazed by his struggles. The fairy turned away, one last time to make sure the Zora was still there.  The moment Link was thrown from the cliff, Tatl quickly flew to a spot where she could see where he landed in the ocean.  

When he hit the water, she quickly darted over to where the Zora was.  “Help! Help!” Tatl began shouting, probably much too soon.  It was unlikely that the Zora could hear her yet.  She continued to frantically scream for help until the fishman turned to look at her.  It was now easy to tell that the Zora was male.  “Help! The Gerudo’s just threw someone off the cliff.  They’re in the water now!”

Luckily the Zora didn’t ask any questions.  In fact, going by the look in his eyes, he didn’t seem surprised at all to hear this information.  He tensed with alertness, “Show me! Quick!” and then promptly dove underwater.

Tatl didn’t need any other hints, and quickly zoomed across the ocean over to where Link had landed.  Zora’s could swim pretty fast, but not as fast as she could fly. Even though he got a head start, she soon passed him.  He swam right above the surface of the water, probably to watch where she was going.  When she got to the spot where Link had crashed through the water, she began bobbing up and down in the air over the spot.  The Zora probably couldn’t hear her from under the water so she hoped this was a good enough signal.

It seemed to have worked, because as soon as the Zora reached the spot, he dived deeper into the water and was soon lost in its murky depths.  Tatl held her breath as the seconds ticked by.  Why was it taking so long to find him?  Was the water that deep?  Or maybe she had misjudged exactly where he had fallen.  Then at long last the Zora broke the surface for the water, with a very pale, sodden young Hero in his arms.  The boy was completely unconscious, and didn’t appear to be breathing.  She refused to consider the possibility that he was already dead.  Without a word the Zora swam over to a nearby piece of land with Link still in his grasp.  He ignored Tatl’s anxious questions about whether the boy was ok, while laying the unnaturally still child onto his back and moving to kiss him.  

The fairy was about to ask the Zora what the heck he was doing, when she saw Link’s own chest suddenly rise and fall.  The fishman lifted his head up a moment then repeated what he did before.  This is when Tatl realized that the Zora was not actually kissing Link but rather giving him breaths because he wasn’t breathing himself.  She’s heard about this type of thing from word of mouth, but had never actually seen it done before.  

It didn’t actually look like it was helping very much, and was about to say something about it when Link’s body suddenly gave a shudder.  The young hero started coughing and water protruded from his mouth.  The Zora quickly shifted the child so he was laying on his side while he continued to cough up water.  The coughing soon turned into gagging, and he was soon throwing up the food he had eaten that day.   With a grimace Tatl turned away, not having a very strong stomach herself.  She didn’t look back until the sound of vomiting dissipated.  By then Link was lying back on his back violently shivering.  “Come lie on his chest fairy,” the Zora spoke for the first time, in a somewhat garbly voice.  “He needs to be kept warm.” 

Tatl was not so keen on that suggestion, as it looked like some of his vomiting session had gotten the front of his tunic.  But the poor boy was shivering so violently, the fairy knew that his needs were more important than her comfort.  So swallowing back her own gag reflex, Tatl settled herself right in the center of his chest and began fluttering her wings in a way would spread her fairy heat more.  Link looked down at her, his eyes widened in surprise, “T-Tatl?” he asked through chattering teeth. 

She couldn’t help but smile at him, “Hey there kid…” 

“T-Tho-thought… y-ou le-ft-” 

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Tatl responded with a smirk.  “I had to save your skin again…” 

Link managed to smile back at her, though he still shook horribly.  This made the fairy worry, though she tried not to show it.  The Zora approached the two of them, “I’ve sent a message to Zora Hall.  Help will be arriving soon.”   

Chapter Text

Prompt Three – My way of the Highway

Timeline - Set during Ocarina of Time

“Link, maybe we should take a break now,” Navi’s suggestion flowed through the air, as the fairy stared down at her young companion.  The boy looked exhausted, as the two of them had been making their trek up Death mountain for over a day now.  A few hours ago, Link and Navi had come across some Gorons who were able to get them some information about the second spiritual stone.  Apparently the red stone is the main attraction at Goron City; on display right in the center so its shining light brightens the whole city.  

After Link naively asked why the stone was providing light to the city instead of the sun, the rock citizens could not help but stare at him like they were wondering if he was joking or not.  After several moments of awkward silence Navi finally had to tell them that it was a legitimate question, and that Link wasn’t from the area and didn’t know anything about Goron City.  Apparently the entire city was built inside the mountain, which made the place more like a cave than a city.  The Goron’s also said that the city wasn’t too far away; but at this point Navi was assuming that he must have meant ‘not too far’ by Goron roll standards.  They’d been hiking the mountain for three hours since, and had yet to even see a sign stating that the City was coming up.

Link was dead on his feet at this point, and welcomed her suggestion with a weary nod before collapsing on the ground.  “You should probably drink some more water,” the fairy continued offering her motherly advice.  

The boy responded by pulling his glass jar filled with water, out of his bag and uncorking it.  They were doing okay on their water supply at his point, but the food was beginning to run low.  Hopefully there will be food they could eat at Goron City.  “How much further do you think it is?” Link asked as he raised the bottle to his lips and took a long drink.  

“It can’t be too much farther?” Navi stated optimistically, sounding more sure than she actually felt.  In her mind she was saying, it better not be much further.  They were so far away from Kakariko Village now, there was no way they’d be able to ration their food in order to make their way back down the mountain.  There just wasn’t enough left, and Navi was familiar enough with the Goron race to know they could not just assume there will be food they can eat.  Goron’s lived off of rocks, and did not need to store human food in their cities and villages.  She could only hope.

The two of them rested for almost ten minutes, giving Link enough time to recuperate his energy, rehydrate, and eat a little bit from their nut stash.  Navi did not voice her concerns about food to the boy, as he had enough on his mind to think about.  In fact the rational part of her stated that she was more worried than she actually needed to be.  They were about a day and half away from Kakariko, and it's not like either of them were going to die from starvation in that time.  There were also plenty of editable enemies living on the mountain they could hunt down.  It’s just that worry has seemed to become Navi’s second nature when it came to Link.  A part of her just knew that she would end up failing him because he wasn’t a true Kokiri and they didn’t share the real Kokiri-Fairy bond.  “I’m ready,” Link’s voice broke Navi from her thoughts.  

Link stood up onto his feet, and began gathering up his gear.  Soon they were once again back to climbing the volcanic mountain.  It was another half hour before the two finally came across a sign post that read, ‘Goron City one mile ahead.’ 

“Finally!” Link said as he read the sign, exhaustion clearly apparent in his voice.  

Navi couldn’t help but empathize, as they were both running off 4ish hours of sleep and had been literally hiking all day long.  “We should get there before nightfall at least,” she said glancing up at where the sun sat.

Knowing how close they were, gave them both a second wind and before they know it they were approaching a giant opening in the side of the mountain.  The entrance was decorated with flowery banners and tribal pictures carved into the walls.  You almost didn’t need the large sign posted at the entrance reading, ‘Goron City, Welcome!’     

Those Goron’s were not kidding about needing the Spiritual Stone to light up the city, because when the duo walked inside the mountain opening, their surroundings were so dark Navi could barely see anything.  This either meant that the stone didn’t help much with brightness or it wasn’t where it was supposed to be.  Considering how bright the forest stone was, it was probably the latter. Navi instinctively brightened her natural glow against the surrounding darkness.  Except for the various burning torches scattered around, there was no scorce of light whatsoever.  They were immediately greeted by a Goron that was curled up asleep next to the entrance.  “Good evening!” he greeted in a low groaning voice.  “Welcome to Goron City, home of the Gorons.  What is your business here?” Navi could tell he was trying to sound happy and enthusiastic, obviously this was his job, but there was something forced in his tone.

“Well… we just have some questions about the Goron’s Ruby,” Navi asked, recalling how the other Gorons they ran into, referred to the Spiritual Stone of Fire as the Goron’s Ruby.

A frown crossed the Goron’s face, which gave the fairy an uneasy feeling.  The Gorons were generally a peaceful race, but it was always a bit scary to have one frown at you.  “Well, any inquiries you have about the Ruby, you should ask Big Brother.  Unfortunately you have not come at the most ideal time.  Big brother has taken the Ruby and locked himself up in his personal chambers.  We have not seen him for several days now.” 

Well that explained why it was so dark in the city.  Link and Navi decided to take some time talking to the city’s residents, in order to get an idea of exactly what they were dealing with.  It was clear by the way all the Gorons acted that something was wrong, but it wasn’t something they were supposed to be talking to strangers about.  Though some smooth maneuvering, and Link’s cute innocents; they were able get some information.  

Apparently, there was a rock shortage on the mountain, which was the Goron’s main source of food.  So the whole tribe was basically half starved at this point, as they’ve had to start rationing food.  Their leader, Big Brother Darunia, took the Spiritual Stone from where it sat in the center of the city, and since the stone was the cities main light source, many of the Goron’s were falling into depression from spending so much time in the dark.  The last bit of information, they got from the guard stationed outside of Big Brother’s chamber.  Apparently the last time Darunia said before shutting himself in was, “I will wait for the Royal Messenger to come.” 

“But I am the royal messenger,” Link insisted to the guard, hoping it would help them get past the door.  

“It’s true,” Navi added.  “We were sent by princess Zelda herself to gather the three Spiritual Stones.” 

“Unfortunately that won’t get you very far with Big Brother.  His allegiance is to the King right now, not the princess.” 

A look of disappointment fell over Link’s face, as he sighed deeply.  Navi assumed he was thinking the same thing that she was.  Princess Zelda’s letter probably wouldn’t help them either.  “Link,” Navi suddenly perked up with an idea.  “What about the song Impa taught you?  She said it was a special song that you can only learn if you are connected with the Royal Family.” 

“Oh yeah!” Link responded suddenly excited.  “The song she would play to Zelda as a lullaby.  I almost forgot about it.”  The boy grabbed the Fairy Ocarina Saria had given him, off of his belt and placed the instrument to his lips.  He began to blow and like magic the notes of Zelda’s Lullaby flowed through the air, softening the hearts of everyone who was within ear shot.  

Barely a moment passed after the instruments tune died away before a booming voice responded from within Big Brother’s chamber before them.  “The Royal Family Messenger has come! Send him in quick!”

The Goran stationed at the door looked quite shocked to hear the chief Goron’s voice so unexpectedly.  “I… I guess you should head on inside.  Big Brother wishes to see you.” 

Link and Navi walked past the Goron, through the dark tunnel that led to the chamber, a strange feeling of foreboding coming over them.  It wasn’t so strange when they finally walked into the chamber, as they watched the large Goron’s face harden into a thunderous look. “What the Heck!” he roared so loudly it could have shook the stone room.  “Who are you!?”

Darunia was far bigger than any of the other Goron’s they saw, almost twice the size even.  So feeling terrified at being yelled at by him was a bit of an understatement.  In fact no one would have blamed the kid if he had wet himself right then and there.  “I… ah…” Link stammered with his mouth hanging open.  Navi had to give him prompts that he managed that much.

“When I heard the song of the Royal family.  I expected their messenger had arrived, but… you’re just a little kid!” Darunia continued to shout, and Navi  was pretty sure the room actually shook this time. “Has Darunia, the Big Boss of the Goron’s really lost so much status to be treated like this by his Sworn Brother, the King?”  The Goron finally turned his rage filled eyes away from the two visitors, and walked towards the opposite wall muttering angrily to himself.  Link was still trying to find some words to form, which was far more than Navi was able to do at the moment.  Her ears were still ringing from the sheer volume of Darunia’s voice.     

The Goron’s muttering continued a few more moments before his temper exploded again making both Link and Navi jump, “Now I’m REALLY Angry!” he swung his body around to face them again.  If Darunia looked angry before, he looked downright livid now.  “Get out of my face now!”

Link had taken several steps backward towards the exit at this point.  Navi spied tears beginning to from in his eyes; it seemed he’d abandoned the idea of trying to speak up.  “S-Sir would you please stop yelling-” Navi started but was quickly cut off by the angry Goron.

“This is my chamber; I can yell all I want!” Darunia thundered, effectively silencing the fairy. “Do you want to know why I’m in such a bad mood right now?”  He continued without waiting for another.  “Ancient creatures have infested the Dodongo’s Cavern, we’ve had a poor harvest on our special crop Bomb Flowers, and our Tribe is experiencing starvation and hunger because of the rock shortage!  But…” he suddenly trailed off seemingly in thought.  His eyes glanced away from them for just a moment before snapping back to the travelers. “This is a Goron Problem! We don’t need any help from strangers!” 

Darunia lifted his large hand and two sausage size fingers clicked together with a loud snap!  A moment later two large Goron’s came into the chamber, and each grabbed one of Link’s arms. Navi saw Link wince with clenched teeth at their iron like grip on his limbs.  It seemed that the finger snap was some sort of premade code because the new Gorons did not ask for any directions but proceeded to drag Link out of the room; and not gently.  Link winced and whimpered the entire time.  “You don’t have to handle him so roughly!” Navi shouted as she quickly flew after them.  “Just let him go! We can leave on our own!”  Her protests fell on deaf ears, and they continued dragging him though the underground city.  When they reached the front entrance the Goron’s promptly threw him out like he was a piece of garbage.

“Link! Are you ok?” Navi asked as she quickly flew over to check on her companion.

The boy rubbed his hands over the slow forming bruises on his biceps, sniffed and tried to discreetly wipe away the tears that were trying to leak from his eyes.  “Y-Yeah… I think so…” he sniffed again.

With a sigh, Navi shook her tiny head.  “What a jerk! I can’t believe he just did that?  I mean, you’re just a kid.” 

“I think that’s the exact reason, why he did that,” Link replied with a trace of bitterness in his voice.

A short silence followed as both contemplated what they should do next.  Had they already failed the Princess.  “I mean; he didn’t even give us a chance to explain ourselves!” Link finally broke the silence as anger took over his feelings.

“I know,” Navi responded with sympathy.  “But what can we do about it? It’s not like we’re in any position to overpower him.” 

“We’ve come too far to give up now,” Link growled with a determined look on his face.  A glare was shot at the entrance.  “I don’t care what he says, or who he is.  He’s going to at least give me the chance to have my say!” 

Navi had never heard Link talk this way before, or even act like this.  Maybe the Goron’s comments about him being a little kid affected him more than she originally thought.  With determined steps Link walked back through the entrance to Goron City, and Navi followed quickly behind him.

Chapter Text

Prompt Four – Buried Alive

Timeline - Set Post Wind Waker

Pain.  Every inch Link’s body felt varying degrees of pain, the worst of which was in his leg which he suspected was broken.  The other pains were from the various cuts and bruises from all the debris that had fallen on him.  As crappy of a situation he was in at the moment, the boy had been lucky in all honesty.  Having an entire wooden structure fall to pieces on top of him, could have easily been his death.  By some miracle the worse hit was a piece of stone falling on his leg, which was followed by an ominous crack and major pain.  

There were a few pieces of wood to hit his head, but luckily that major part of his body was spared the most.  Though the debris pieces had fallen around him enough to effectively stop from moving his head around.  Link could only see the light shining through the hole he’d entered out of the corner of his eye.  The islands scattered across the great sea were covered with holes that led to underground caverns leftover from what lay beneath the ocean.  Link and the other pirates had stopped off on a new island they came across to the explore, and see if they could turn it into a new home for them.

Given the young hero’s past experience with exploration, he could no longer resist checking out a random hole in the ground.  They almost always held some sort of treasure down there for him to find.  The unfortunate part of his current predicament was that, after getting into an argument with Tetra and needing some space; Link went off by himself without telling any of the others.  So now that he’s literally buried alive several hundred feet underground, the chances of him being found in a timely manner were much lower.  

Laying there with nothing to do but wait, did give him time to think and reflect, which usually wasn’t a good thing.  For only being thirteen years old now, Link had sure gone through a lot of crap in his short life.  He’d probably seen more traumatizing things in the last year and a half than Orca had seen in his entire life.  Yes, he’d come of age when he turned twelve and that’s when this all started; but despite being considered a ‘man’ according to island traditions Link figured that most boy’s his age were still in training and not immediately thrown into dangerous combat like he was.  

Link tried to shift his body around but stopped when a sharp pain shot through his leg.  How long had he been down there now? He doubted it had been any longer than a few hours, but it’s easy to lose track of time when he can’t see the sun or the moon.  Also, time tends to feel slower when you have nothing to distract you.  How long could he even last down here without food or water? Link was fairly certain that Tetra wouldn’t leave the piece of land without him, even when she was upset.  But could they find him before he died of dehydration; he hoped so.  But what if they didn’t, he’d never see… Tears began to fill the boy’s eyes as his thoughts turned back to his family.  Before leaving he had promised that he’d one-day return to Outset Island to see Aryell and his Grandmother again.  He didn’t want to think about the look on their faces when they read the letter, Tetra would send saying that Link would never be able to keep his promise.  

What would think they if they found out how he met his end.  It would probably kill his grandmother.  There’s nothing worse than having to bury your children, which she had to do when his mother.  But adding your own grandchild to the list of people you outlived.  She would be devastated.  He caught a glimpse of what happened when both him and Aryell disappeared from her life.  The thought of putting her though that again, was too much for Link.  

Tears were streaming down his face at this point.  They had to find him! They just had too.  Maybe if he started calling out for help, they might hear him.  It was never really clear to him if you could hear anything that happened when you’re so far down.  If only he still carried around the gossip stone that Tetra was connected to.  He could use it to call for help. 

The tears quickly turned into sobs as he continued to think of all the near death experiences and battle’s he’s lived through; and the one thing that takes him down is being buried alive and not being found in time.  Thinking about his family, and the fact that he may never see them again.  The things he wished he could have told his Grandmother, the warnings he should have given Aryell.  Link had been so consumed in his own misery he didn’t hear the other voices at first.  “Link! Link are you down here!”  When his mind finally connected with the voice Link remained speechless for a few moments.  “Link!” it sounded like Gonzo’s voice.  “If you can hear us, say something!”

Could it really be true?  Had he been found already?  How long had it been? “Here! I’m here!” Link shouted out.  “Please help! I’m stuck!” 

“I see him! Link! We’re coming!” That was Zuko’s voice.  Link sighed with relief, but a few moments later he suddenly felt silly.  Why had he started freaking out and have a meltdown so quickly.  He had probably only been down there a few hours at the most.  Hopefully they didn’t hear him sobbing, so he could deny it all.  If they did he could blame on his broken leg.

Chapter Text

Prompt Five – Where do you think You’re Going?

Timeline - Set During Wind Waker

Link had never really had any problem with claustrophobia before, and he’d spent many hours crawling through hollow logs, under houses; squeezed into tiny cupboards while playing hide and seek.  Never had had a moment where he felt fear of small spaces.  The boy supposed that he shouldn’t be too hard on himself, considering how high stress the current situation was; and not to mention he was still nursing a pounding headache from when he met the fortress wall not too long ago.  

In his disorientation, it did not take Link very long before he was caught by the guards at the Forsaken Fortress, and thrown into a jail cell. If only he’d been able to hold on to his sword, he could have easily fought off those monsters… Ok maybe easy was still a bit premature of him, he hadn’t had that many lessons with a sword.  But he felt so helpless at being thrown over a shoulder and carried to a cell without any type of fight.  So after throwing a brief pity party for himself, Link searched around the locked cell and managed to come across a hole in the wall just barely big enough for him to crawl through.

Which brings him to where he is now.  Feeling stone press against him on all sides, and feeling claustrophobic for the first time in his life.  This little… ‘tunnel’ you could call it, wasn’t even a straight line from one room to the next.  He had to squeeze around corners, and feel his way through the pitch black darkness; trying not to think about bugs or critters that could take a bite of him for disturbing their nest.  After what felt like forever, he finally turned another corner and saw a glimmer of light coming from the light that a burning torch gave out.  He made for the exit, ready to not feel so squished, and tumbled out of the wall; landing on stone ground with a grunt.  When Link found his boundaries again, he saw that the little path was literally an exit out of the jail cell.  The young hero was literally in the same room he just left but on the other side of the bars.  At least whoever ran the fortress right now didn’t feel to need to have guards watch him.

Link left the room though the short hallway which led into another room. This room was two stories, and he stood on the upper area.  There was another door on the other side of the room, but it wasn’t reachable from the enormous gap that led to the to the area below.  One look beneath his feet, told Link there was no leaving in that direction.  It was crawling with guards and other monsters.  There was however a lantern hanging from the ceiling hanging low enough to jump to.  Neko’s little game he had Link play no longer seemed so pointless.  

Hoping he wouldn’t make too much noise, Link backed up a few paces and took a running start towards the lantern.  Upon reaching the edge, the young hero took a magnificent leap, and reached both hands out so his fingers could wrap around the hanging rope.  Link held his breath, as he hung onto the rope, hoping that no one noticed the hanging boy from overhead.  After several tense seconds with no one below looking up at him, the boy felt confident to start swinging the way Neko explained, in order to build momentum and jump to the next platform.  He was able to successfully make it to the other side, and head through the door, being careful to make sure there were no guards behind it.

He was met with an empty stone hallway, with a door on the other end and two outdoor ledges on either side.  One ledge showed the open ocean, while the other ledge showed the inside of the Fortress, with its streaming lights in search for intruders.  He was able to get another look at where the seagulls were flocking, which is were Aryell was probably being kept.  The little girl was sweet enough to be a magnet for anything, and seagulls were certainly one of them. 

Though the next door, was a room identical to the last, and Link repeated what he did before.  Using the lantern hanging from the ceiling to get from platform to platform, and effectively avoiding the guards.  He continued to go from hallway to hallway, using the ledges on either side of the hallways to keep track of where he was in the fortress and how close he was getting to where Aryell was being kept.  He had to hide under a barrel in order to tiptoe past some guards as he got closer, and eventually came across an area with a very narrow ledge he could sidle across.  Everything was going great until a strobe light landed right on him as the boy made his way across the ledge.  Being in no position to run or hide, the guards were on him quickly, and before he knew it, Link was once again locked in his cell.

Before he even had a chance to make his way up to the hole he escaped through last time, the stone in his back pocket vibrated, causing him to jump.  “Link! What are you doing!” Tetra’s voice came through the air, sounding very annoyed.  “Time is of the essence, so stop fooling around.  You’re never going to get anywhere in that place with those strobe lights turned on.  You need to figure out how to turn them off.” 

Link ground his teeth together in annoyance.  Who was she to get snippy with him, when he was the he still sported a major headache.  He could have figured that out himself if his head was clear.  So instead of retorting he let out a sigh and got ready for round two.

Chapter Text

Prompt Six – Please….

Timeline - Set During Ocarina of Time

Link sat on the ground next to the castle gate draw bridge.  The vision he had fallen into after retrieving the Ocarina of Time from the castle mote still reeled in his mind.  In the vision Princess Zelda taught him the Song of Time, then told him he needed to play it inside the Temple of Time.  But after coming out of the vision, getting to the Temple of Time didn’t seem like such a priority.  He didn’t know where the temple was.  Instead he felt a sinking feeling of shame.  Shame that he hadn’t made it in time.  He took too long.  Even the princess hinted at that by the way she said that she tried to wait but couldn’t delay any longer.  

The boy thought back to everything he had done since he left Princess Zelda.  Maybe he got one too many hours of sleep he could have been using to defeat the Dodongos… or maybe if he had just left Princess Ruto to go off by herself when she first asked, he could have found the stone before her.  The hours he had spent carrying around the fishbrat and taking her snarky orders still left a bad taste in his mouth. But almost immediately after having that thought his guilty feeling increased, as it really would have been horrible if he’d left the princess on her own.  Even if she was a rude brat, had he the chance to go back and time redo his time in Jabu Jabu’s Belly, he would have still stayed with her. 

A gentle thud in the side of his head, brought his mind back to the present.  Navi was trying to get his attention, “Hey!” she called out.  “Come on, sitting around isn’t going to help anyone.  The Princess gave you that ocarina for a reason.  What do you think we should do with it?”

Link shook his head slightly to rid him of his guilty thoughts and bring him back to the present.  “I think we’re supposed to take it to the Temple of Time…” he told the fairy thinking back at the words Zelda had said in his vision.  “Do you know where that is?” the boy didn’t hold much hope that she did.  Why would a fairy from Kokiri Forest know anything about the Temple of Time?

Surprisingly she did perk up at the name.  “The Temple of Time?  The Great Deku Tree has mentioned that before.  No, I’m not sure where it is… but I do know its somewhere near the Castle’s Town Market.” 

The smile broke through the boy’s downcast face.  He still felt the weight of failure on his shoulders, but at least they weren’t at a dead end anymore.  If Navi was right and the Temple was near the town, then they should be able to ask around and figure out where the temple was.  He stood up on his feet, brushing away the dirt that had on his green tunic. “Then we should go looking for it,” he said and explained to Navi about the vision he received from Princess Zelda.  After hearing it, Navi agreed with the boy’s logic.  So the two of them heading inside the castle towns gate. 

When they first passed the open gates, it was immediately clear that something was off.  The townsfolk still milled about as if nothing was wrong, but if you looked closely at the patrolling guards you could see the look of worry on all their faces.  Some of them were gathered in small groups whispering urgently to each other.  Link cautiously approached one of them, figuring they could probably give the best directions towards the Temple of Time.  “Excuse me sir-” Link began.

But before he even got the chance to ask, the guard cut him off.  “Laddie, I don’t know what you’re doing here all by yourself.  But it's very dangerous right now, so go home and find your parents.  Resident instructions will be given soon.” 

The guard’s orders wasn’t really something he could follow.  But it gave him enough information to know that something bad had just appended, and trying to argue with the guard would only waste time.  He’d never give Link directions to the Temple if he was trying to get the kid to go home.  So Link just nodded his head, and left to search for someone else he could ask.  He had no idea if Navi wondered why he didn’t press the matter, but she didn’t ask so the two continued on silently.  They were going through the towns back alleys when they came across a very disturbing sight indeed.  

Laying on the ground surrounded by a pool of what could only be blood, was a single guard.  Link couldn’t stop himself from wondering if the guard was dead, going by his still figure, closed eyes, and chin resting against his chest.  With a gulp, and the feeling of dread prickling over his skin, the boy slowly approached the man.  The sound of Link’s boots on the cobblestone street jarred the guard into movement, showing that he was not dead to Link’s relief.  “Unnngh…” the man groaned softly.  “Are you the boy from the forest...?”  Link went down onto his knees in front of the guard so they could share eye contact.  Why would he ask Link if he was the forest boy?  The young hero nodded his head anyways.  A look of relief passed through the guard’s eyes, with a deep shuddering breath he continued, “I-I-I’ve finally met you…” 

Link could not help but look down at the guard’s wounds.  He sounded like he was in so much pain.  The man’s arm covered the injury as it was wrapped around his abdomen.  “I-I-I have something to t-t-tell you…”  The guard coughed and Link was alarmed to see a small amount of blood protruding from his mouth.  Maybe he should run to get a potion for the man, but the guard seemed so desperate to get his message out, it kept the boy frozen in place.

“Ganondorf, the Gerudo King of Theives, betrayed our King…” a trickle of blood began to creep down the corner of the injured man’s mouth and he swallowed with another shudder.  Link felt the tingling sensation in his skin sink deeper into his bones.  This was further confirming his assumptions that he had taken too long.  “Zelda’s nanny Impa, sensed danger and escaped from the castle with our Princess. I tried to stop Ganondorf's men from chasing them… but…”  Link didn’t realize he had halted his own breathing as he listened to the guard’s testimony.  “The Princess was… waiting for a boy from the forest… that’s you… she wanted to give something to the boy…” 

The man must have been talking about the Ocarina of Time.  How did the guard get all this information?  The child jumped when the man unexpectedly grabbed his arm in a vice grip.  Link attempted to pull away but the guard only held on tighter, and the two locked eyes.  “If you received it from the princess, hurry… to the Temple of Time…”  The guard let go of Link’s arm and pointed behind him, “T-There…” Link glanced behind his back to see where the guard was pointing, and saw a very tall pointed building off in the distance.  Was that the Temple?

Before the child could contemplate it any further and guard gave one final shudder, as his eyes slipped closed and he stopped moving.  The uneven rise and fall of his chest didn’t even continue.  Link’s blood went ice cold as he realized that the man before him… was dead.  One would think with all the monsters Link has taken down, seeing the death of some man he never knew wouldn’t do much for him.  But this was the first time the boy had ever seen another human die.  He couldn’t even put into words what it felt like.  Heart thudding like mad, Link stood up on shaky legs and slowly backed away from the very still man.  The boy continued to back away until his back felt the cool stone of the building behind him.  “Link…? Link!” Navi called trying to get the boy’s attention; alarmed by the horror stuck look on his face.  Link did not answer her; he did not hear her.  He did not see her… he felt nothing at all... 

Chapter Text

Prompt Thirty – Now Where did that come from?

Timeline – Set During Ocarina of Time

Link choked out a screech of pain as he felt the knife impale his body, and he collapsed to the ground.  The boy looked down at the injury, and saw that the knife had hit him on the right side of his lower abdomen.  In too much pain to really think about the consequences, Link grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it out of his body with another yell.  Taking steady breaths through the pain, the young hero glanced around, partially surprised that the Lizalfos hadn’t taken another attack on him.  It turned out that Navi had begun frantically zooming around its head in order to distract it.  The creature was using its sharp claws to swat at her, and luckily she seemed too fast for its swings.  

The boy knew that he didn’t have time to wallow in his pain, Navi couldn’t distract him forever.  Luckily Link had already finished off other Lizalfos that had appeared with this one.  It had caught Link by surprised when the monster had actually thrown the knife at him, since most of the time these creatures only slashed their knives at him.  He was unable to move away fast enough, and ended up getting stabbed.  With it brought a new level of pain he didn’t think was possible.  In all the scrapes, cuts, and bumps he’s experienced, nothing compared to this.  The young hero tested all his limbs, and everything seemed to still work properly so he took that as a good sign.  That pain which had been starting to lessen somewhat, intensified the moment he stood up.  For a moment Link thought he was going to fall down again.

But with gritted teeth, the child remained standing and readied his sword to continue the fight.  The only good thing that came from the monster throwing the knife at him, was that it no longer had a weapon to use against him.  Not that his claws weren't deadly enough to give him damage.  That is what the Lizalfos used for the remainder of the fight.  

Even though he was in pure agony, Link managed to slay the monster at last.  With the adrenalin wearing off, the boy finally collapsed and allowed himself to feel the pain of the injury.  This made it ten times worse, so all he could do was scream and cry in pain.  “Oh no Link!” Navi called out, flying over to him as fast as her wings would let her.  “Great Goddesses, let me see?”  

Sniffling against the sobs, Link gently raised his tunic up to uncover the stab wound.  It actually didn’t look as bad as it felt in fact in the short time that had spanned since being summoned by the Great Deku Tree, he had seen far worse injuries than this one.  Though it was bleeding some, he had always thought a stab would just pool blood everywhere.  Other than the bleeding it looked like a pretty clean wound.  Navi seemed to agree with him because after looking at it for a moment she said, “It doesn’t look too bad.  But we should bandage it up before anymore enemies come.”  She glanced around the room a moment.  “Do you think you can make it out of this room, we’re probably better off bandaging you up in an area that’s not so hot.” 

Link couldn’t argue with her logic.  They had been fighting the reptilian beasts in an area filled with lava pits, and sweat which had already been glistening over the young hero’s body, was now pouring down his face.  Going by the nausea pooling in the pit of his stomach, there was a good chance he’d be vomiting soon.  So yes, leaving this room was a good idea.

With a deep breath to keep his stomach under control, Link gritted his teeth and made an attempt to stand up.  The movement caused pain to explode from the wound, giving him a dizzy spell, and effectively keeping him on the ground.  The child tried real hard to not scream in pain, but was only able to keep it at a low groan. Navi hovered over him concernedly,  “Woah, ok just take it easy.”  The fairy took a glance around the room as if hoping someone would pop out and be able to help them.  When no one did she looked back at her charge.  “All right, just take a deep breath and try again.” 

After four failed attempts at standing, Navi had all but given up, and was telling him stop trying and just get his bandages out.  Link however was feeling worse by the second, and knew that if he didn’t get out of this heated area he’d soon pass out and probably die from overheating.  So with a yell of determination he made one last attempt at standing up, and managed to stay upright this time.  Using the cave wall for support, the boy stumbled his way out the lava pit room.  He did not stop until he felt the cooler air of the cavern on his skin; that was when he allowed himself to collapse on the ground.  It took all but two seconds for his stomach to determine that it had suffered enough abuse, and expelled all the food he had taken in that day.  This wasn’t very much, so he ended up dry heaving a couple minutes before the stomach spasms stopped.

Link laid on the ground taking deep gulps of breath, relieved that he was out of that heated room.  Hopefully no Dodongo’s would come by, because in his current weakened state he’d be able to do nothing against their attacks.  Black spots began dancing in front of his vision, Link could hear Navi saying something to him but he couldn’t make out what.  It was as if every inch of his body protested, with a rolling stomach, the sharp pains coming from his wound, and the pins and needles sensation all over the rest of his body.  The child practically welcomed the darkness that came with passing out.

When Link came around, he was surprised to actually feel a little better than he did before he passed out.  He was still in the middle of Dodongo’s Cavern, lying on the floor in a heap.  Navi was lying nearby fast asleep.  He gently lifted up his tunic to exam the stab wound, figuring he could check that out himself before waking the fairy.  In fact, he probably would just bandage it up himself before waking her.  The poor fairy hadn’t slept very much since they had left the forest, usually staying up the stand guard while he slept.  The only real chances she had to sleep was when Link took non sleeping breaks, because she needed to stay on constant alert when they traveled.  

It was hard to get a good look at the wound, in the caves poor light.  The only light around were torches that the Goron’s placed before the cave got infested with Dodongo’s.  But he could see enough to note that though the wound still oozed, it had stopped actively bleeding.  So he took that as a good sign, and pulled the bandages out of his pack.  He placed a wad of cloth on the opening, then wrapped another cloth around his waist to hold it in place.  Once he was satisfied that it wouldn’t fall off in a fight, the boy stood up to see how the pain was now.  It was still painful to move and walk, but the pain had died down quite a bit.  So he was confident in finishing up his promise to Darunia.  “Hey Navi,” the boy gently nudged the fairy with the tip of his boot.  

Navi awoke suddenly, shooting into the air and looking around.  “Link!” she sounded startled at the sight of him.  She probably didn’t expect him to be standing already.  “How are you feeling?” 

“Better than before.  C’mon we should keep moving.”  Link picked up his pack and slung it over his shoulder.

The fairy still looked hesitant.  “What about your injury? Is it still bothering you?  And we still need to bandage it.”

“Already done,” Link reported with a smile, and then lifted his tunic up to show her the bandage.  

For some reason Navi didn’t seem too pleased with this information.  “I wish you had let me help you bandage it.  Are you sure you did it right?   An injury like that can get infected if it’s not dressed properly.” 

“It’s fine Navi,” Link replied with a hint of sulkiness in his voice.  Sometimes he couldn’t stop himself from regressing into the child he actually was, and before he could stop himself there was a pout in his lip along with a very whiny, “I don’t need your help with everything.”  The boy felt bad almost immediately after saying that.  Navi was his guardian fairy, and feeling the need to take care of him was only her nature.  “I’m sorry.  Didn’t mean to say that.” 

The fairy sighed, looking quite like a mother.  “It’s fine… You're sure you're ok, right?” 

Link nodded his head.  “Yeah, let's just hurry and finish clearing out the Dodongo’s.  I’m ready to leave this place.” 

Their trek through the rest of Dodongo’s Cavern was relatively uneventful.  At least until they met the source of the infestation.  The King Dodongo.  Link was lucky not to get roasted alive by its fiery breath.  Luckily he had picked up some bombs in the cavern and was able to destroy the beast by throwing them into its mouth.  According to Navi the Dodongo’s stomach is its weak point so since the bombs exploded into its stomach it only took a couple bombs before its internal damage became so severe it could no longer function and simply rolled into a pool of lava and burned up.

After getting the Spiritual Stone from Darunia, they decided to take a few days rest in Kakariko Village before continuing their quest to get the third Spiritual Stone.  The Goron had suggested they travel up the mountain and see the great fairy that lived up there.  But they had no rupees for a potion at the moment and both knew with his current injury, Link was in no condition to be climbing mountains.  So it was a mutual agreement to wait until the boy was mostly recovered from the stab wound before going up to see her.  They would go try and get the next stone in the meantime.   

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for his injury to start bothering him again.  In fact it was the morning after they had left the Dodongo’s Cavern, that he awoke to find the wound extremely painful and tender to the touch.  He did not dare take a look at it, for fear at being told off by Navi.  Plus, he didn’t really want to admit that she had been right about having him wait for her before bandaging his injury.  Hopefully if he just took it easy and rested, it would be fine by the time they decided to continue.  

How wrong he was. The boy felt steadily worse with each passing day.  By the time Navi told him that they had rested enough, he was feeling achy and chilled.  There was no way he’d be able to continue hiding it from her.  Maybe he could try passing it off as coming down with an illness?  No that wouldn’t do, she was smart and would insist on taking a look at his stab wound.  Though Link knew that he was only delaying the inevitable, he still tried to appear that everything was normal.  Navi seemed to be in too much of a hurry to notice the subtle signs of distress he let off while they exited Kakariko Village.  If it hadn’t been for the extra tenderness of his stab wound, the child would have just assumed he had caught a cold of some sorts.  Going by his pounding head, chilled skin, and achy joints; Link wanted nothing more than just lay down and sleep.

“I’ve heard that the third Spiritual Stone is being guarded by the Zora tribe, so we should head towards Zora’s river.” Navi suggested once that had come down the steps of the village, and Link nodded in agreement.  He feared that his voice might sound too pained if he spoke aloud.

They had only been walking through Hyrule Field a few minutes before they crossed paths with a wagon.  Link recognized the driver as Talon, the man he had woken up while back at the castle.  Seconds after that a familiar looking red head poked her face out from behind the wagon’s front canvas.  “Papa look! It's the fairy boy.” 

Talon pulled on the horses reigns, bringing the wagon to a halt.  He looked the boy over a moment before responding, “Well I’ll be… it's the little boy that woke up at the castle.  I never did get a chance to thank you for that.  It wasn’t safe to have left Malon alone for so long, so I’m ever grateful that you were there to wake me before something could happen to her.” 

“Oh Papa, I would have been fine,” Malon giggled from behind her father.

“We’re on our way to the castle again for another milk delivery.  Can we give you a ride anywhere?” Talon asked.

Link opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated because he really wasn’t sure if that would help them or not.  He certainly liked the idea of less walking.  Navi responded before he had the chance to, “We’re not headed in that direction, but thank you.” 

The man just shrugged his shoulders in response.  “No worries, but at least let me give you something as a thanks for waking me earlier.” He turned to look back at his daughter, “Malon would you grab a bottle of milk for the boy?”

Malon disappeared back into the wagon canvas, and the sound of clanking glass was heard.  A moment later she was running around from the back of the wagon with a milk bottle in her hand. Link’s stomach rolled uncomfortably at the thought of drinking milk right now.  Though he did enjoy drinking the creamy stuff, he was feeling quite nauseous at the moment.  Malon held the bottle out of him with a smile, “Here you are Fairy Boy!  Some of our best milk, fresh from this morning.” 

Link tried to smile back at her, but going by the way her eyes suddenly narrowed; it probably came out as more of a grimace.  Hopefully he could just take the milk and make a quick getaway before the girl alerts any suspicions to Navi.  Unfortunately, when he reached to grab the bottle from her, he accidently knocked it out of her hand.  It landed on the grass next to them, thankfully not breaking.  The boy made a dive for the bottle, and tried to apologize; but the pain that came with the sudden movement cut the apology short.  “Oh no! I’m- ahh…” Link fell onto his hands and knees gritting his teeth against the pain coming from his wound.

“Link! What’s wrong?” Navi shouted, alarmed by his sudden destress.  

Malon was already crouched down next to the young hero, looking concerned.  She placed a hand on his arm, but quickly drew it away before moving it to his forehead.  “Oh my goodness! Papa he’s burning up!” 

“Hmm?” Talon questioned, pulling the break on his wagon and jumping down to get a better look at the injured child.      

Malon helped Link lie his body on the grass, and boy, did lying down feel so much better than standing.  In fact the boy didn’t want to move ever again, it was just too painful.  Navi seemed to have only just noticed how pale and sickly Link was looking now, and she wasn’t happy.  “Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling this way?” 

Taking this as a rhetorical question, Link didn’t respond.  Talen crouched down next him, and placed a large hand against the boy’s cheek.  “Yes he does have a touch of the fever.” 

“It must be his injury,” Navi said, giving Link a disapproving look.  Before saying to Talon, “Check his stomach.” 

The older man pulled the boy’s tunic up to his chest, and at the moment Link was feeling way too miserable to be embarrassed about Malon seeing him in his underwear.  The wound was most certainly infected; you could see his swollen red skin creeping past the bandage.  Talon began to removing the bandaging, and fearing that he might be sick at the sight of injury; Link shut his eyes and looked away.  There was tense silence that followed the cloth being taken away from his skin, and that could only indicate how serious the injury was.  

After what felt like forever the silence was broken by Talon, “We need to get him back to the Ranch.”  Link felt his tunic being pulled back down over him, and then strong arms lifted him up.  His eyelids had begun to grow heavy since he closed them, and it took some effort to open them and see where he was being taken.  

Of course he was in Talon’s arms, and being carried over towards the back of the wagon.  “Oh Papa, is he going to be ok?” Malon asked fearfully as she trekked behind them.  

“I can’t say for sure darling,” Talon replied as he laid Link down in the back of the wagon.  Malon climbed in after, and quickly grabbed a blanket that laid folded in the corner and laid it over his shivering form.

Navi floated down till she settled on his chest, eyeing him with concern.  The boy glanced down at her with a guilty look.  “I’m sorry Navi… he croaked out in a shaky voice.  The prickle of tears began to sting behind his eyes.  “I should have let you help me with-” 

“Shhh…” the fiary cut him off in a gentle voice.  “We can talk about this when you're better.” 

Navi could not help but blame herself for Link’s condition.  She should have noticed his declining health long before collapsing from a fever, or better yet she should have insisted that she check on his wound before they left Kakariko.  What she really should have done was not fallen asleep in Dodongo’s Cavern so she could have helped her charge dress the wound properly.  She was really failing her guardian fairy duty as of late.  

Deep down, the fairy knew that she shouldn’t be too hard on herself.  Though only the Great Deku Tree and herself knew this, Link was not a real Kokiri.  He was in fact a Hylian child, that the old forest guardian had decided to spare and raise as Kokiri.  And because of this, she could not really form a real bond with the boy, like other guardian fairies did with their Kokiri charges.  When a fairy is assigned to a new Kokiri child, the fairy is able to form a special bond with the child.  With it, fairies can actually sync up with their charges thoughts and feelings, and even be able to feel their pain.  So since Link was not a real Kokiri, this bond could not be forged.  So it made it more difficult to take care of the boy the way a guardian fairy is supposed to.

Right now she was sitting on a small table next to the bed Link was lying on.  Once they had arrived at Lon Lon Ranch, Talon brought the injured child into the house and laid him on a bed.  Link seemed to have passed out during the ride, because he was no longer groaning every time he moved.  Malon aided her father by supporting the boy’s body while Talon gently stripped the tunic from his body, then undid the bandage.  The stab wound, he had gotten only days ago was looking absolutely awful.  The skin around the wound was tight and swollen, looking an angry red, and the wound itself was seeping a greenish yellow fluid.  The fairy was honestly having a hard time controlling her own stomach at the sight of the gaping wound.  Talon had instructed his daughter to go boil some towels, while he grabbed a red potion bottle from a nearby cupboard.  “We’ll need to try and get him to drink this when he wakes,” he told Navi before leaving the room again.

After that, they were left alone for a while.  All she could do now was sit there and blame herself for being the worst guardian fairy ever.  She felt so useless right now; sitting around doing nothing while her boy lay there slowly dying from an infection that they could have avoided if she had only done her job.  Quite a bit of time seemed to pass before the door opened again, and Malon came in with a tray of steaming towels.  She placed them on the table next to Link forcing the fairy to move spots.  “Those need to cool for a bit,” the girl told Navi.  “I’ll be right back, please don’t touch them.” 

With that, she left the room again.  Navi just sighed to herself.  The feeling of uselessness was growing stronger with each passing moment.  They weren’t left alone for long this time, just a few minutes passed before the red head returned with small bowl in one hand and an armful of fresh bandages in the other.  She set everything down on a nearby dresser, then picked up one of the steaming towels with a pair of tongs.  “Can you remove the banket from the wound please?” 

“Isn’t that going to hurt him?” Navi asked, feeling hesitant to cause the boy any more pain.  She was feeling quite over protected of him right now.

The girl frowned slightly with a pitying look.  “It will, but this is the only way to properly clean the wound, and try to stop the infection from spreading.” 

Not being able to think of any argument against that, the fairy nodded before pulling the blanket back.  She did wonder where Talon had disappeared too, and why a child no older then Link was left to do this work.  Malon gently dropped the towel onto the boy’s injury, and then quickly moved her hands to his shoulders.  It didn’t take long to figure out why she did this.  Link’s eyes snapped open the moment the steaming cloth hit his wound, and an agonizing cry of pain belted from his mouth.  If the girl was not holding him down, the young hero surely would have flung himself off the bed.  Link weakly struggled against the girls hold for a few minutes crying openly.  

Soon he didn’t have strength to struggle anymore, and just sobbed.  After a bit, she removed the cloth from the wound.  There seemed to be a mound of yellow pus on the underside of the cloth, and around the wound.  Malon used the cloth to gently clean the wound before applying a fresh towel.  “Where did your father go?” Navi couldn’t hold back from asking any longer.

The young girl actually smirked at the question.  “He fell asleep while waiting for the water to boil,” she finished this with a soft giggle.  Honestly Navi didn’t know why the girl found this amusing.  She herself was a bit taken aback by the news and even felt a bit annoyed.  The ‘responsible’ adult was downstairs taking a nap, leaving his young daughter to care for the dying boy they found on the road.  Navi’s thoughts must have shown on her face because Malon then said, “Do not worry.  My mother was a skilled healer, and she taught me everything she knew before passing away.  My father does not have the hands needed to care for the wounded, in fact I am the one who usually tends to our wounded animals.” 

Malon continued to apply the steaming hot towels to Link’s wound until the tray was empty.  By the time she removed the last towel, and wiped the last remaining pus away, Navi was in total agreement with what the girl had said.  She definitely knew what she was doing, because the injury looked so much better now.  The girl applied a salve she had grinded together to the wound before dressing it with fresh bandages.  

The young hero looked much more comfortable now, and was about to fall asleep again when she stopped him by gently slapping his cheek.  “Hey, don’t go to sleep yet.  You need to drink this first.”  She tipped the red potion that Talon had brought up earlier into his mouth.  It was a long process but the boy was eventually able to drink the whole thing.  Then with a final sigh, she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.  Navi thanked Malon for all her help, and also apologized for her doubtful thoughts.  It must have been late in the night now, because Malon went to bed shortly after that.  Navi stayed awake though, feeling the need to keep watch over her child.  It was probably safe to sleep right now, since Link seemed to be doing better.  But she felt like too many things had gone wrong recently because she had fallen asleep.  The fairy knew that she couldn’t stay awake forever, but she vowed to be much more aware of how the boy was doing from now on.  She would never let something like this happen again. 

Chapter Text

Prompt Eight – Where did Everybody Go

Timeline – Take’s place between Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.

An outcast.  That was a term Link become familiar with at a very young age.  He was nine years old the day Navi came to him.  By that time, he was well aware of why all the Kokiri treated him differently.  He had no fairy.  After a Kokiri child is born, a fairy companion is chosen for them before their first year is up.  That never happened for Link.  Year after year he grew up, but no guardian fairy was blessed onto him.  

For the first few years of Link’s life, he was too young to realize that the other forest children treated him differently.  As he grew, the boy slowly became aware of the treatment. Conversations would suddenly stop when he approached, no one ever offered to teach him anything, or join in on a game they were playing.  They would cast odd, and uneasy glares in his direction when they thought he wouldn’t notice.  They’d stare at him, while whispering to each other behind their hands.  

He was different.  The boy without a fairy.  Being different was a sin in their books.  Link sometimes felt like he was carrying a disease, and anyone that came near him could catch it.  In some ways, he felt like it would have been better if that was the case.  That was at least a more understanding reason as to why he was being ostracized.  There was only one Kokiri that didn’t treat him any differently, and that was Saria.  Even though the Great Deku was the Kokiri “Father” of sorts, Saria was the one who actually raised him and she was much more of a parental figure then the old tree ever had been.  And though she had always been there for him in his younger days, the fact that he was not a Kokiri child at all, but a Hylain caused a rift to happen in their relationship.

They still cared deeply for each other, but the knowledge that he was Hylian made them both aware that their friendship would never be the same.  He would grow into a Hylian man, and eventually pass away.  Though Saria did not awaken as a sage like she did in the future, she would still remain a child, destined to live in the forest for the rest of eternity.  Since the Great Deku Tree’s death, Link no longer had the protection the deity offered, to stop him from becoming a Skull Kid.

So knowing that it would be the most painful thing either of them did, Link entered the forbidden forest one last time, to have a tearful goodbye with the only person in this world he knew for sure loved him.  Fate can be so cruel…

Then there was Navi.  For a while the young hero had thought she loved him like Saria did.  She had never left his side even once, during their adventure through time.  She protected him, and gave him advice.  Cheered him up when he was feeling down, both physically and mentally guided him through his dark moments.  But in the end she ended up leaving him too.  Barely a moment passed since he was sent back to relive his childhood, when she floated away into the sunlight without a single word.  That was the last time he saw her.  That was the moment Link began to doubt whether she really loved him or not.  Even if she had to leave because he wasn’t Kokiri and couldn’t have a guardian fairy, she could have at least said good bye.

The boy had such mixed emotions when it came to Princess Zelda.  He was pretty sure she cared about him to an extent.  But there were moments, in his thoughts that he downright hated her.  Too often it felt like she only cared about him saving Hyrule.  And everything she had done “for him” hasn’t exactly worked out in his favor.  First she tells him to pull the Master Sword, which ends with his spirit being sealed for seven years, given Ganon access to the sacred realm.  Then she decided to send him back in time to relive the childhood he lost, not even asking for his own opinion on the subject.  This left him with complicated emotions, having all the memories of being an adult.  It sometimes felt like he was still mentally sixteen, yet forced to be inside his nine year old body.  Then what does she do when the young hero goes to tell her about everything that happens in the futures?  She doesn’t go tell him to collect the spiritual stones again, or even take a moment to acknowledge everything they’ve been through together.  Ok he should give her some slack in that area, as in that timeline, the Princess doesn’t remember.  As far as she’s the concerned, it’s the first time they’ve met. 

What she does actually tell him, is to take the Ocarina of Time and leave!  Supposedly this would stop Ganondorf from entering the sacred realm.  So again that’s another person in his life that walked away from him… or maybe in Zelda’s case shooed him away.  Actually when Link thought about it, it seemed like every person that ever showed him any kindness walked out of his life in some way.  Except maybe Malon.  There was certainly a special bond between the two that Link felt every time he visited the ranch, but it scared the boy.  Link didn’t want to risk getting close to her.  For fear that she would walk away from him next.  

The young hero currently sat in the middle of Hyrule field, musing over all this.  He knew that he should probably do what Zelda told him, and leave the land.  Would anyone even notice if he left?  Something in his gut told him that no, no one cared about him enough to miss him.  Where would he go if he left?  It’s not like he had friends or family to go seek out.  He could always go search for Navi.  He often debated on taking a journey to find out what actually happened to his fairy companion, but would that even be worth it?  Why take the time to find someone who probably didn’t even care about him? 

Night had fallen some time ago, and it was beginning to get cold.  So Link finally stood up from where he had been sitting and stretched his limbs.  The moment he stepped off the path he had been resting on, a skeletal hand popped out of the ground, followed by another hand.  They clawed at the dirt, until an unhuman like skull rose up from the ground.  Seconds later a full Stalchild was out of the ground and clanking its way toward him.  Another one had appeared on his other side.  The child drew his Kokiri sword and began slashing at the skeleton until their bones broke apart and disappeared.  But two more replaced them almost as soon as the previous ones disappeared.  Link wasn’t sure if he was ready to spend the rest of the night fighting these creatures.  Going back on the path wouldn’t work anymore, they’ve already been awakened. 

It probably would have been a better plan to wait out the rest of the night on the path, or at least stayed on the path until he found some type of place to take shelter.  But the boy had been so lost in his own pity party, that he momentarily forgot about the stalchildren.  Running away didn’t even help, as they were relentless and would just come after him.  Link could have laughed at the irony.  The only creatures in this land that cared enough about him to chase him when he tried to run away, were enemies that wanted to kill him.

With this revelation in mind, a deep feeling of utter despair fell over the young hero.  Maybe it would be better to just give himself up the only creatures that cared about him right now.  The boy dropped his sword, and collapsed onto his hands and knees.  The first stalchild that reached him, quickly slashed at his body with its long dead fingernails.  Link felt his tunic rip, and his skin get grazed by its sharp edges. The others had approached as well, and soon felt them all relentlessly slashing at his body.  Stroke after stroke.  He screamed and cried out with each hit, not caring if anyone heard him.  Blood was beginning to pool around his body from all the slashes.  Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, morning came before they could finish him off.

With the sound of the crowing rooster off in the distance, all the stalchildren went back to the graves underground.  Link was left a bloody mess on the ground.  He figured that he would probably bleed to death now.  He couldn’t help but have another bitter thought; that even his enemies had left him.  Maybe death wouldn’t even be kind enough to give him the peace he was longing for.  A nearby howl broke him of his bitter thoughts.  Link recognized that howl, only a Wolfos could make that sound, and it chilled his blood.  He cracked his eyes open, just to make sure it was really true.  Sure enough a gray Wolfos, just a few yards away, was staring right at him.  The boy already knew that he was too weak and injured to stand a chance against this creature.  It would end his life, and it wouldn't be a peaceful one.  

A low growl could be heard coming from the Wolfos mouth.  Link quickly squeezed his eyes shut, and waited for the creature to run up to his defenseless body, and sink its teeth into him.  That didn’t happen however.  Instead he heard soft cautious padding of paws walking hesitantly towards him.  Then he felt its wet nose on the nape of his neck, and move down towards his legs.  What was the Wolfos doing? Trying to decide which part of him would taste the best.  Then he felt the wet saliva of its tongue licking gently at a wound on his arm.  The boy was so taken aback by this, and the next thing he realized, the Wolfos laid down next to his body.  The creatures own body wrapped around him like a mother protecting her baby.  Then it began licking his face.  For some reason, this creature that should be wanting to kill him like those stalchildren, had decided to take pity on him instead.  

Even though he was receiving kindness from the most unexpected thing imaginable, Link couldn’t help but wonder.  How long before you leave me too?  

Chapter Text

Prompt Nine – For the Greater Good

Timeline – Set during Majora’s Mask

Link shifted his body around on the ground, attempting to find a comfortable spot to fall asleep while Tatl’s insults still rang in his ears.  He spared a glance over at the fairy, who was sleeping as far away as she dared.  The boy could only hope that things would get better between them, because as it stood at the moment things were not going well.  The fairy, in his opinion was rude, annoying, and possibly evil considering how she was friends with the Skull Kid, but Link at least tried to be civil with her.  Tatl on the other hand was downright hostile towards him.  Was he really that unlikable?  

With a soft sigh, Link shifted again.  Sleep was far from his mind.  Why was he allowing Tatl’s salty words, affect him so much.  He was literally lying on the ground in the middle of the night dwelling on the nasty things she had said at every chance she got.  This was still new to the both of them, they were only on cycle three.  The last cycle was spent prepping for their first trek south towards the swamp area, and Tatl had made it very clear her feelings about it.  Apparently if he had only been older or smarter or just less of an idiot, he wouldn’t need any prepping, and they could have explored the swamp during the last cycle.  Idiot was the fairy’s favorite term for him; Link had lost count how many times she’d called him that. 

A prickle of tears unexpectedly welled in the young hero’s eyes, causing him to rapidly blink while shaking his head.  Keep it together Link!  He berated himself.  He couldn’t start crying now with the risk of waking Tatl.  She already thought he was too childish. 

His eyes once again fell into the sleeping fairy’s glowing form.  Why was he even putting up with all this?  Link was the Hero of Time for crying out loud.  Savior of the entire nation of Hyrule… which no one even remembered him doing because it technically didn’t happen.  Link’s mind was trailing down a dark path now, if the boy wasn’t careful he’s soon spiral into a depressive state, and tears would be inevitable.

Why was he doing this? No one had asked him to save Termina! Sure the strange Happy Mask Salesman had asked him to get his stolon mask back.  So in a roundabout way the man’s request involved stopping the Skull Kid and thus saving Termina from the moon crashing down on it, which meant that the Happy Mask Salesman request was to save Termina.  It had started out as a trade.  He would help Link turn back into a human and in return Link gets the mask back.  But surely in his human form he could easily find a way to knock the little imp out cold and steal the mask.  So why was he spending his time trying to save a bunch of people who probably wouldn’t even remember him doing it.  Why was he helping a feisty little fairy who treated him like garbage, save her little brother; both of whom were the reason Epona got stolen in the first place.  

Why couldn’t he just act like the ten year old he was, and be selfish for once in his life.  His entire life he’d felt like the scum that stuck under one’s boot.  The only two beings that ever treated like anything human were Saria and then Navi.  Now they were both out of his life, probably for good.  Saria was connected to a forest he had no protection to go into, and Navi had left without even saying good bye.  Link had always thought his fake guardian fairy had liked him, even loved him.  But maybe he’d been wrong.

The boy continued contemplating for several more moments before the answer finally came to mind.  Why did he keep doing this? 

Because he was a hero.  It coursed through his blood somehow. He’d been chosen by destiny, the proof still shown on the back of his left hand.  He would forever be drawn to people and lands that needed a hero to save them, no matter how young he was, and he would always agree to help them.  Why? Because it was the right thing to do, Destiny had engraved it into his brain.  Sometimes it felt more like a curse than a blessing...

Chapter Text

Prompt Ten – Blood Loss, Trail of Blood

Timline – Set during Wind Waker

The trail of blood that Link left behind was an alarming amount.  The young Hero of Wind’s, limped his way back to the small boat that was waiting for him, desperately trying to hold the gaping wound on his side closed.  His efforts didn’t seem to be helping all that much, as the blood continued to flow from behind his fingers, dripping down his leg and creating large puddles on the ground.  The boy knew that this wasn’t good.  He needed to hurry or he might pass out from blood loss.

The injured child could make out the orange boat from a distance; hopefully the old wise boat had a potion on hand for him to drink.  Link had to actively tell himself not to look at the wound.  He had never been much of a squeamish person, but seeing your own blood pour out of you like a fountain was an entirely different scenario.  His stomach lurched every time he looked at the wound as well as the bloody ground that was left in his wake.  When the boy finally reached the King of Red Lions, the boat's wooden face clenched into a look of worry, “Oh Link… what have you done to yourself?” His deep voice was relatively calm considering the situation.  One might have thought he had just discovered Link in the aftermath of falling into a thorn bush.

Honestly the boats lack of urgency in his voice calmed the young hero slightly, it made him think that maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was.  Maybe it wasn’t.  He didn’t feel that much pain, though that could be from the adrenaline, or maybe it was a symptom of blood loss.  Whatever the case was, Link had a hard time believing that his injury wasn’t that serious.  The old boat was probably just trying to keep Link from panicking.  “W-Was a Darknut…” the boy fell to his knees in front of the boat, still clenching his side.  “Couldn’t block i-in time…” 

“We will need to get that taken care of immediately,” now Link could hear the urgency in his voice, he could even make out some well masked alarm.  The boy’s fears were confirmed… he was in a very serious condition.

“Do- do you have any p-potions stashed away…?” 

The King of Red Lions looked troubled, “I’m afraid I do not…” he turned his dragon head away from Link to look out at the vast sea.  After a moment he looked back at the injured boy, “We’re fairly close to Windfall Island, do you think you could make it there?” 

From what Link could conclude he didn’t have a choice.  He had to be able to sail there, it was either that or bleed to death.  Unless… “W-What about the Beetle Shops?” 

“Some of his shops sell potions, but not many,” the old boat’s voice was getting graver by the second. “I feel like time is not on our side, and it would be unwise to blindly check their shops.  Our best chance is to sail for the nearest island that have potions, which is Windfall.” 

The boy nodded his head shakily, knowing that the King was right.  And the longer he stood there debating about it, the more precious time and blood he lost. Taking a deep breath, Link stood up on trembling legs, gritting his teeth against the pain.  Since the adrenaline was dying down, his pain was slowing growing.  He stepped into the ocean water, and saw the blood dripping from his body get washed away in swirls against the waves.  Link didn’t know if Gyrog’s smelt blood the way that sharks do, but he better be careful anyways.  

Getting into the boat was a clumsy, painful effort; by the time Link was in the boat and standing in position to sail, the King of Red Lions had his head turned around, looking at him with deep concern.  “Are you sure you can do this?” 

“Don’t... really ha-ve a-a choice on it…” Link said through gasps of breath.  They both knew this statement was true.  The dragon shaped boat could not make it to Windfall without Link at the sail.  So the boy had to do it or die trying… literally. 

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Link pulled the sail out of under compartment of the boat, and set it up for sailing.  “You’ll need to change the wind’s direction, for optimal speed,” the old boat reminded him.  

So Link pulled the Wind Waker out of his pocket.  It took him three attempts before he played the Wind’s Requiem correctly.  This was only because the first two times he tried doing it one handed since he was reluctant to let go of his side.  The blood seemed to come out so much faster when he wasn’t putting pressure on it.  He finally had to give in, and just try not to fall over while he played the short song.  By the time the wind was blowing in the proper direction, a large pool of blood had formed at Link’s feet.  There was no more time to waste.  Keeping one hand on the rutter, Link had his other hand plastered on his injury while he sailed.  The King of Red Lions was correct in Windfall being nearby.  He could already see the small island off in the distance.  But it was still miles away and he’d lost so much blood already; could he make it?

Link could only grit his teeth while sailing, and try his hardest not to look down at the pool of blood slowly growing at his feet.  It seemed like the Gyrogs were indeed a lot like sharks because it wasn’t long before he could see their fins on either side of him.  This was indeed unfortunate because now on top of everything else, he now had to avoid their attacks.  Luckily they always attacked one at a time.  The boy had hoped that his blood would stay contained inside the boat, but it seemed like its liquid seeped through the cracks in the wood.

He started noticing the pain in his side dying down; this either meant that he was going into shock or the adrenaline rush was coming back.  Either way he was grateful for it, because he could focus more on sailing.  Soon Link began feeling light headed, which wasn’t a good sign.  Windfall Island was growing bigger with each passing second, but it wasn’t happening fast enough in his opinion.  It was getting harder and harder to avoid the Gyrog’s attacks, the close calls were becoming more and more frequent.  The King of Red Lions must have sensed Link’s peril because he suddenly said, “We’re almost there Link.  Just hold on a little longer.” 

Dizziness was beginning to accompany his lighthead, as well as a bit of nausea.  “King… I- I don’ feel slo well…” Even Link was alarmed by the slur of his words.  His legs began to shake unsteadily, and black spots began to dance around his vision.  They were almost there though.  The young Hero was able to make out the people milling about on Windfall Island.  Luckily the Gyrogs began to disband away from them as they approached the island.  But they were still some distance away from the Windfall when Link finally collapsed face first into the boat.  A salty matalic taste entered his mouth as he began breathing in the bloody sea water that had pooled into the bottom of the boat.  

“Link!” The King of Red Lions called out in alarm, “Roll over onto your back before you drown.” 

Unfortunately the injured child had no energy to do this.  So the old boat swung his head back far enough to grab Link’s arm with his teeth and ungraciously roll him onto his back.  The boy groaned loudly at the harsh handling, but still surprisingly had not passed out yet.  They were close enough to Windfall Island for the King of Red Lions to cruise his way to the docks without Link’s help.

As they approached Windfall Island’s dock, the King of Red Lions also known as Daphnes, turned his head around to check on the young lad again.  Link still appeared to be conscious, as his eyes were still open.  But the glazed look in his dark orbs indicated that he wasn’t all the way there mentally.  The old King of Hyrule had to work very hard not to show how alarmed he actually was about Link’s condition.  His wound was very, very serious and he had already lost a substantial amount of blood.  But allowing the young child to know this and letting fear overtake him would have made the situation much worse.  He just hoped that he wouldn’t be too hard to flag someone down to help them.  Daphnes may be the ruler of the lost kingdom, but in his current form, he was useless off the sea.  

Luckily it was daytime now, so there were plenty of people milling about.  In fact, the man who was standing at the dock’s when he pulled up had noticed them almost right away.  It wasn’t hard to miss a young injured child lying in a boat full of blood, so it wasn’t surprising to see the man gasp in horror, “Oh sweet goddess Farore!” the man ran up to the boat and squatted down to his knees as he looked down at Link.  “Who could have done this!” 

Most of the time Daphnas tried not to reveal how he was a talking boat to the various islanders, since most tended to panic when he did.  But they were in a state of emergency right now, so he turned his wooden head to look straight at the man and said, “There is no time to lose.  You must go get a potion for him, quick! He does not have much time left!”

The man looked alarmed as the realization that a boat was talking to him, but sternness in his old King’s voice seemed to strip any panic the man was feeling.  So he only gapped for a moment before nodding his head and quickly running away.  Daphnes looked again as the boy lying on him, his eyelids were beginning to droop slightly.  “Stay awake Link!” he called in a firm voice, “It won’t be much longer now.” 

The boat was actually quite surprised at how long it was taking.  People sold potions all over this island, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get their hands on one.  Even if he didn’t have any rupees, no one would let a kid die just because there was no one to pay for the medicine he needed.  Unless no one believed the man, hopefully he left out the talking boat part.  Daphnes was just wondering if maybe the man thought he was going crazy and wasn’t going to come back when he came running down the hill towards them.  The King was unsettled to see that he had nothing in his hands, but a moment later he saw the young woman who ran the Cafe following him.  In her hands was a bottle with red liquid in it.  

The lady gasped when she got close enough to see Link in the boat.  “Oh my goddesses Candy, there really is a boy bleeding to death!” 

“I told you I wasn’t lying!” Candy yelled at her.

“I’m surprised he’s still conscious,” she mused to herself.  “Quick! Get him onto the dock, we need to try and feed him the potion before he passes out.” 

Candy once again went down onto his knees next to the boat, and snaked his arms under the boy’s shoulders before heaving him out of the boat and laying him on the dock at gently as possible.  Link only gave a few whimpers at the treatment, but still managed to stay awake.  The woman quickly uncorked the red potion bottle, and bent down next to the injured lad.  With very careful handling she poured small doses of the potion into Link’s mouth, waiting for him to swallow before pouring more.  The results were instantaneous.  The blood flow slowed to a stop, then the skin around the wound began to reform.  

The only thing that did not change was the paleness of his skin.  This probably meant that the potion did stop the bleeding and heal the wound, it did not replace all the blood Link had lost.  “Bring him to the Cafe,” the woman said to Candy after the young hero had taken the whole potion.  

The large man carefully scooped Link up into his arms without a word, and the two of them walked away, neither taking a glance back at the boat which had brought the injured boy here. 

Link’s return to consciousness was a slow process.  His weakened body was resistant to its mind's fight towards wakefulness.  He must have been recovering from a bad bout of flu, so his Grandmother was surely nearby.  He could hear background voices around him, but couldn’t make out what was being said.  The amount of different voices heard didn’t seem to make sense.  It sounded like a crowd of people were milling about.  Even if everyone that lived on Outset Island gathered in one room, it wouldn’t sound like the number of people who could only be in the next room.  Maybe he wasn’t home right now… but if he wasn’t home then where could he be?

This very wonderment was what got the young child to pry open his heavy eyelids.  The world was a swirl of blurry colors when he first looked around.  Link had to blink a couple of times before his vision cleared, and he could finally see where he was.  Unfortunately, he still didn’t recognize where he was.  It looked to be someone’s room; lying on a bed, but nothing in the room belonged to him.  Memories began filling his head, and he was able to piece together how he might have gotten here.

He certainly wasn’t home on Outset Island, and hadn’t been for weeks now.  He was on a mission to save his sister Aryell.  Then he recalled getting severely injured from a Darknut, and having no potion to heal.  It didn’t feel like he was still injured, but he quickly removed the blankets from his injured side to check.  He was no longer wearing the green Hero’s clothes that his Grandmother made, but instead was donning a large brown garb.  He lifted up the dark material to see his side.  Though the last thing the young Hero remembered was trying not to pass out while sailing to Windfall, someone must have gotten a potion down his throat before he passed out, because the only thing left of the once gaping wound was a small scar.

The sound of the bedroom door opening caused Link to quickly cover himself up with the blanket again.  Gillian the young lady who ran the Cafe on Windfall Island stepped in the room, “Ah, ah, ah!” she tutted, striding towards him.  She pressed a firm hand on his chest and pushed him to lay back down on the bed.  “Don’t even think about getting out of that bed.” 

Link opened his mouth to speak but she effectively silenced by placing two fingers on his lips and saying, “Shhh!” The young woman readjusted his blankets then left the room as abruptly as she entered with a firm, “Stay there.”  Not even daring to disobey, the child laid his head back down on the pillow with a sigh.  He wasn’t alone for long, after a few moments Gillian returned with a mug of something in her hands.  “Here drink this,” she squatted down on the bed next to him and held the mug up to his lips.  The boy reached his hands up to grab the mug and attempt to take it from her hands, but she firmly kept it in her grip as he drank the liquid.  

He wasn’t sure what exactly the liquid was.  It wasn’t water, but it also wasn’t any type of potion he’d ever drank.  He finally settled on it being some type of medicine that didn’t taste as bad as most medicine’s do.  Link drank about half the liquid before thinking he couldn’t stomach anymore and pushing the mug away, hoping she would take the hint and not force him to drink the whole thing.  Her demeanor so far made him wonder.  Luckily she seemed to be happy with the amount of liquid he consumed and set the drink aside.  “You are to remain in bed for the next few days,” her tone left no room for argument.  “You’ve lost quite a bit of blood and need to regain your strength.” 

The child’s mouth hung open in shock at her order.  He couldn’t stay in bed!  There were things he needed to do.  Ganon wasn’t going to be waiting for him to get better to continue his evil reign over the seas.  But before he could voice any of these concerns, Gillian was gone again.  Well, it didn't matter.  No one was going to force him to lay around for days.  With determined stubbornness that would have surely gotten him in trouble with his Grandmother, Link tossed the blankets off his body and sat up in the bed again.  He looked around for his green tunic, wondering what had happened to it.  

It must have been covered in blood, which was why it was taken off of him, so hopefully they just washed it rather than throw it away.  He next stood up to begin looking around the room, when a great wave of dizziness overtook him, forcing the boy to lay back down again.  Ok… maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to rest a bit.   

Chapter Text

Prompt Eleven - Struggling

Timeline - Set shortly after Majora's Mask

It had been huge news among the Kakariko Village residents.  People went from one group to the next, talking in urgent worried voices.  Someone had come down with The Fever in Hyrule Castle Town.  The deadly sickness that has already taken many lives is nothing new to hear about.  Its chokehold has been sweeping through the land of Hyrule for weeks now, with news of another death coming every day.  

The initial breakout is said to have started among the Gerudo Thieves.  Word around the village is that The Fever has struck over three quarters of the Gerudo’s Tribe, and half the population had already been taken by the disease.  Link did not know exactly how many women lived among the Gerudo, but he had been around them enough in his time travel experience to know that they were a mass number of people, and half of their population must have been at least hundreds if not thousands.  Now The Fever was steadily spreading among the residents that lived around Lake Hylia, and its surrounding regions.  

It had not yet come to the Village of Kakariko, but what made the news about The Fever now being at the Castle so big, was how close Hyrule Castle was to the Village.  Only about a day’s journey on foot, and the residents of Kakariko were always going to and from the Castle Market in order to do business or trading.  The chances of the Village being inflicted with the disease had suddenly become much more likely

Link himself had not quite understood what was to be so fearful about ‘The Fever’ at the beginning.  Growing up among the Kokiri that never left their sheltered woods, the forest children had never heard anything about plagues or pandemics.  Sicknesses would go around Kokiri forest every year during the winter months, and pretty much everyone got sick.  But there was never anything to panic about.  They had to stay in bed a few days, while whoever lived nearby took care of them.  After that, everything went back to normal again.  It didn’t take long for Link to learn that there were some sicknesses out there so bad, that you often didn’t survive if you caught it.  So it would make sense that panic would come around in fear of catching a life threatening illness.

With the amount of times Link has almost died during his adventures, the boy wasn’t really all that worried about himself.  His embedded heroic nature however caused him to worry about everyone else in Kakariko.  This whole pandemic business had actually left him feeling quite helpless.  Unlike the other times Hyrule had been in danger, there wasn’t much he could do with battling a traveling sickness that was killing people.  It would be so much easier if the sickness was a tangible thing he could just slaughter and it would all be over.

It only took a couple days after the announcement of fever in Hyrule Castle for Link’s regular lifestyle to change drastically.  He was helping out at the village mercantile, restocking the shelves when someone walked into the store and began talking to Ilia the store owner.  Navi had drilled into him long ago about how eavesdropping was rude, and that he always should mind his own business.  But in his mind, there was nothing wrong with eavesdropping as long as no one found out he was doing it.  So Link slowed down his movements in an effort to perk up his ears and listen.  “- six more people have fallen ill with The Fever.  Sahasrahla had ordered us all to go into quarantine,” the man who came in said to Ilia.

This was the not the first time Link had heard someone say something that made no sense to him.  It had happened quite often when he had first left Kokiri forest, but after having a couple of adventures and distant travels under his belt it had been a long time since that’s happened.  This alone caused the child to completely drop what he was doing and go out to blatantly listen.  Ilia had a horrified look plastered on her face at the news, “Oh no…” was all she was able to say.  

“I know…” the man who had come in with the information responded also looking grave.  “You’ll need to close up the shop as soon as possible.” 

Close up the shop? It was barely midday.  What was going on?  “What’s happening?” Link couldn’t hold back his silence any longer.

The man looked over at Link.  The boy had seen the man around the village from time to time since he had come to live here, but he did not recognize the man by name.  “We’re under quarantine now lad.  You’d best head home as quickly as possible.” After saying this the man tipped his hat too Ilia and left the shop.

“What’s quarantine mean?” Link asked turning to the young shop owner. 

Ilia just looked at him sadly, and with a deep sigh responded. “It’s basically a form of home isolation.  So you need to go back home, and don’t leave again for any reason.” 

“For how long?” Link asked looking mystified.  That sounded like something that would get boring really fast.

“Until Sahasrahla says its over…” 

Sahasrahla is the head Elder of Kakariko Village, and Link had lived in the village long enough to know that whatever he said goes.  There was no argument.  So with that said, Ilia began getting everything ready to close the store, and Link had nothing else to do but grab his own stuff and head back to Anju’s house.  

After returning from Termina, Link had nowhere to go since returning to Kokiri Forest wasn’t an option for him anymore.  The forest was only for Kokiri and since he wasn’t a real Kokiri, but instead a Hylian, and he would eventually turn into a skull kid or stalfos if he tried to return and live there.  Impa had advised him to come to the village because there would be families there willing to take him in.  Sure enough, almost at once Anju’s family had welcomed him into their little chicken farm.  Well… at least Anju and her mother welcomed him.  Anju’s father Mutoh hadn’t been all that welcoming.  Not that he had been unwelcoming, more like indifferent to the idea.  He barely says a word to Link, spending most of his time complaining about how useless his workers are.   

Link seemed to be the last one to get home, since the house was filled and a bust with conversation when he entered the house.  Anju had been talking to her mother by the kitchen stove when he walked in, and all conversation stopped at his appearance.  “Oh good Link, you made it back.” Anju said turning her worried gaze onto him.  “I was wondering if someone was going to need to go and fetch you.  I assume you’ve been told the news.” 

“That we’re under quara- something?  Yeah,” the boy replied with a sigh.

“Quarantine,” Anju’s mother corrected while her daughter made her way over to the boy and examined him with a critical eye.  “Have you been feeling all right Link?” Anju asked, and ran a hand over his forehead to check for a temperature. 

The young hero batted her hand away, “Yes I’m fine.” He had a nasty suspicion that Anju was going to use this as an excuse to overly mother him.

Despite his gesture of annoyance, Anju continued looking for signs of illness.  “If you ever don’t feel well, I want to let us know right away.  Understand?” 

“Yes mother…” Link replied sarcastically, brushing away from the young woman’s doting.  

“This is all a bunch of hosh posh!” Mutoh exclaimed to the room at large as Link took a seat next to him at the table; and with a dark chuckle he added, “No one in the village has even come down with it yet!” 

“Father shh!” Anju shushed him in a desperate voice, shooting a glance at the back bedroom. “Nana’s trying to sleep!” 

Mutoh growled in response but didn’t say anything else.  Link just looked around the room at large.  Was anyone really expecting them all to stay in this house without leaving?  The only times everyone was in the house together was at night when they were all asleep.  The boy could already tell that this was not going to go very well.  And as it turned out, Link had been absolutely right.  Cabin fever set into the household by the next day, and it seemed like everyone was arguing with each other about everything.  Link had not realized how much of a neat freak Anju’s mother was before now.  What went from occasional comments about cleaning up after oneself, quickly turned into her constantly barking out how messy everyone was.  

Anju turned out to be a very pessimistic woman, which she must have learned from her mother.  When Anju began voicing her worries about whatever consumed her thoughts at that moment.  Her mother would not only agree with her, but began voicing her own concerns about the subject.  Soon the two would feed off of each other until, according to their perspective the world was ending.  Mutoh didn’t seem to truly understand until now just how senile his mother in law actually was.  And the woman’s constant comments about things that didn’t make sense, or mistaking everyone for someone else was a new topic he added to his list of things to complain about.  Link in particular got tired of hearing the old man’s complaints, and had never truly appreciated how easily he could escape from listening to him before the quarantine went into effect.

Though what actually annoyed the Hero of Time the most was everyone’s constant bickering among each other.  He made an effort not to participate in the bickering, which usually resulted in him being a silent mute among the babble.  Luckily his original thinking that they all had to stay in the house wasn’t entirely correct.  They could venture outside to do whatever they wanted or needed to do, as long as they didn’t leave the cucco farm.  That is the only reason he hasn’t gone crazy by now, and Link found himself spending more and more time with the cucco’s, feeding and gathering their eggs.  He was sometimes joined by Anju who seemed to use this chore as her own escape from the house. 

They both silently came to a mutual agreement not to talk about anything that had to do with The Fever or quarantine, because the times they were both outside together; their conversations were carefully tread around current matters or there was no conversation at all.  The days dragged on and on.  After almost a fortnight in quarantine, Link began to wonder if battling through The Fever would be easier than staying cooped up with these people for even one more day.  And keeping his cool while everyone else around him lost it was much harder to do than one would think.  It was only a matter of time before he snapped.

Unfortunately, it had to happen when literally everyone in the house was present.  When the quarantine was first announced, Anju had insisted that they at least eat dinner together every evening.  Apparently in her mind household bonding would get them all much closer and make the whole ordeal easier to bear.  Link however didn’t think it was working very well.  If anything, everyone took advantage of the extra ears to listen to their griping.  “And now! Since we’re so behind on our construction, the shooting gallery won’t get completed by the deadline.  Do you realize how many rupee’s I put into that project!” Mutoh was grumbling to the table at large.

“If this doesn’t pass soon, we’re going to go into major debt and could lose the farm!” Anju’s mother responded as she listened to her husband's ramblings about his business.

“Not to mention my lazy workers.”  Mutoh continued his rampage not appearing to be listening to what his wife as saying.  “It's hard enough getting them to start working, with all this time off, it’ll be a nightmare getting them back in the groove.”  

“Oh mother!” Anju cried in horror.  “Where would we go?” And the two woman began their own rampage about how they were all about to live a homeless lifestyle. Being homeless wasn’t that bad, Link had done it for a couple of years.     

“Tortus would you please go get my knitting needles before Ruport gets ahold of them?” Anju’s grandmother was looking at Link when she asked this, so she was probably addressing him.  But everyone had become accustomed to just ignoring her when she got like this.  She seemed to be under the impression that there was a dog wreaking havoc on the house.

Link was the only silent one at the table.  Nursing a headache with one elbow propped up on the table, and his head resting in his palm.  He really just wanted to go to his room and lay down, and he wasn’t really all that hungry anyways.  But he knew that if Anju ever found out about his current headache, she would completely freak; thinking it was The Fever coming upon him.  If he really thought it was that, then he’d certainly say something, but the real reason his head was pounding was because of all their loud voices sniping, grumbling and complaining at each other.  So it was best to just wait it out, silently push the food around on his plate and try to ignore the table talk.  “Maybe I could get permission to go around selling eggs to the other villagers.  I’m sure there are people in need of eggs by now; it would bring in a little extra rupees,” Anju suggested to her mother. 

“That will only buy us so much time, we may make more by selling the cuckoo's themselves- Mother what are you doing?” Anju’s mother cut off what she was saying when Anju’s grandmother suddenly stood up with an almost full plate of food.

“Rupert keeps whining, so I’m giving him some food,” the old woman croaked out and spilled the whole plate on the ground.

Anju sighed at the mess she would not have to clean up, but Mutoh bristled angrily, “For Goddess’s sake woman!  There is no dog!” 

“Please don’t speak to my mother that way!” 

“Well I’m through putting up with her-!” 

“Would everyone just shut up!” Link unexpectedly shouted, surprising even himself but he could not take the sniping any longer.  The entire table was now looking at him in shock, including Anju’s grandmother, which was saying something because it was near impossible to get her attention.  At the moment though, Link could care less.  The growing anger that suddenly surged through him was still sizzling at the top.  “For two weeks now, you’ve all done nothing but argue and snipe with each other and I’m sick of it!” The boy ended this spiel by tossing his barely touched plate of food to the side, splattering half the room with bits of stew and potatoes, and stalking outside.  

“Well!” Anju’s mother started, sounding thunderstruck and highly offended.  “Never have I seen such a display of behavior.” 

Mutoh grunted in approval, looking just as outraged with his arms crossed over his chest.  “He certainly needs to be taught a lesson. I’ll straighten him out with my belt, I will,” the man moved to get up from the table. 

Anju reached over to grab his arm.  “No Father!  Maybe he has a point.”  the younger woman knew she needed to elaborate on this when this was received with confused looks.  “If you don’t count what just happened, I feel like Link’s behavior since the quarantine started has been pretty good compared to the rest of us.” 

At hearing this, Mutoh bristled with indignation but didn’t follow the boy.  “He still should control his emotions in a civilized manner!” Anju’s mother said shortly.  

“I know… I will go and talk to him,” Anju replied and left the table. 

Link did not go far.  Not that there was anywhere he could go.  The village had people standing guard with weapons to make sure everyone abided by the quarantine rules.  The boy knew that his outburst had gone too far this time.  It wasn’t often he lost control of his anger, and it was probably because of that it always turned out like a big spectacle when it did happen.  He didn’t have much practice on how to blow off steam in a civil way.  Link highly doubted he would escape without some sort of punishment.

It wasn’t long before the door opened, and the young hero turned to see Anju walking over to him looking grim.  Link realized right then that he wasn’t ready to be punished yet, he’d hoped that they would spend more time debating on how they would deal with his outburst.  Maybe have a few arguments first.  That didn’t seem to be the case.  Link did the only thing he could handle right now, and burst into tears.  This only caused the child to feel even more stupid about himself, sometimes it was just so hard to be him and no one really understood it.  Sure in size and stature he was only an eleven year old kid, but with all the time travel he’s messed with, it felt like he had already relived the seven years he missed while sealed in the sacred realm.  And that didn’t even really happen.  Goddesses! Thinking about his life always gave him a headache.

Anju’s footsteps could be heard approaching him, and Link prepared himself to hear her start yelling at him.  To his surprise however, instead of hearing shouts, he felt her wrap him in a warm embrace.  The boy stiffened for a moment before melting into her comforting arms, reaching his own arms around her slim frame and crying into her chest.  It had been a long time since he had been held like this, and Link never realized how starved he had been for this affection.  Anju responded to his cries of despair with soft shushing words while rubbing gentle circles over his back, “Shh… shh, it’s all right little one, it’s all going to be ok.  Shhh…”   

It was quite some time before the boy’s tears slowed down, and his sobs turned into the occasional hiccup.  “I’m sorry Anju…” Link said in a highly crackled voice.

The woman responded with an almost amused sigh.  “Now Link… I know things have been tough for us all lately, but don’t you think throwing your food around was a little much?”  Link’s eyes cast downward in shame.  She was absolutely correct; he had been way out of line and had no words to respond.  After a couple moments of silence Anju said, “You know… we’ve been running low on food.  What you think about going to the pond tomorrow all by yourself and catching a bunch of fish we could eat for supper?” 

Link’s face broke into a smile at hearing that suggestion.  That sounded like the best idea ever, getting him off the farm for a bit, but not so far he’d run into trouble. He nodded enthusiastically.   “Now how about we go back in and see if Nanna hasn’t giving all the food away to the dog yet,” Anju suggested with a sly smile.  The boy responded with another nod and began walking towards the front door.  “But you should probably apologize to my Mother and Father.”

Chapter Text

Twelve – I think I’ve Broken Something

Timeline – Set Mid Majora Mask

Link felt his heart give a great leap into his throat as he felt his feet slip on the tree branch he was standing on.  Luckily his reflexes kicked in, and he managed to grab the branch right above his head before he plummeted towards the swamp water below him.  The child couldn’t stop himself from staring down at the pinkish poison water right below where he hung, and tried not to think about what would happen if he had fallen into the swamp.  “Close call,” Tatl commented without any concern in her voice.

Trying to ignoring the fairy, Link gritted his teeth while swinging his legs around in order to get back on the branch he had just slipped off.  Though he had to admit, it was difficult blocking out her impatient tisks and sighs.  He was finally able to graze the tip of his boot on the branch and slowly got back to standing in the tree rather than hanging.  “I still don’t understand why you don’t just put the Deku Mask on.  It would make passing through the swamp way quicker.” There was a nasty edge in the fairy’s voice that made it clear how much she really despised the boy, and resented having to travel with him.  It didn’t really seem fair in Link’s opinion, because at least at the moment no one was forcing her to stay with him.  She could leave whenever she wanted, and had so far chosen not to.  So what gave her the right to gripe at every annoying thing he did.

Unfortunately, Tatl’s current complaint wasn’t completely without reason.  They had spent this entire cycle trying to figure out the source of the swamps poison water, and had taken to hopping from tree to tree in order to get around.  She also had a fair point that being in his Deku Scrub form would make maneuvering through the poisoned water much easier.  Scrubs in general can’t swim so they simple hop their way over water; and given a Deku Scrubs weight and the amount of Lilly pads scattered in the swamps water, he could easily hop from Lilly Pad to Lilly Pad without issue. 

So why was he so reluctant to take this rout.  It had absolutely everything to do with the Deku Mask.  The mask itself gave him an eerie feeling, and going back into the scrub form only reminds him of how helpless he is while in that from.  So it made perfect sense in Link’s mind to avoid placing that mask on his face more often than necessary.  Not really seeing the point in trying to explain this to someone who was actively trying to find reasons to hate you, Link continued to ignore her comments.  Choosing to focus his mind on jumping to the next tree.  Not really knowing what they were looking for didn’t make things any easier.  The man who ran the Swamp Photo Contest mentioned a Deku Scrub Palace somewhere in the swamp, so there’s a possibility of getting information from them. 

A soft gasp escaped the child’s lips when he almost slipped again.  “If you fall and crack your head open, I’m going to laugh so hard,” Tatl callously commented. 

Honestly Link was more worried about falling into the poison water rather than hitting his head.  The patches of earth below were getting few and farther between. This made the likeliness of falling on the ground very low, and falling into the swamp water very high.  He could only assume that the poisonous water would burn and sear his skin and death would come in moments.  Nothing was alive surrounding the poison water, even the floating Lilly pads had turned a sickly yellow color.

Still refusing to respond to the fairy’s rants, Link took a moment to stop and analyze the area.  The swamp was so much bigger then he originally thought.  Before him was nothing but trees, with no sight of a Deku Scrub Palace or even the swamp witches that supposedly lived in the swamp area.  With quick glance down at his feet, Link continued taking a step onto a nearby branch he thought would hold his weight.  Unfortunately, the branch was weaker than it appeared, and it snapped under his weight so quickly that even the child’s reflexes couldn’t catch him.  It was only by sheer luck that he fell over a patch of earth to land on, but Link had still been a good fifteen feet in the air.  So when he landed on the ground below, there was an ominous CRACK!  Pain exploded in the kid’s ankle, and shot up through his leg.  The first initial onsite of pain caused an uncontrolled scream to escape from the young hero’s lips.  But not wanted to appear weak in front of his newest companion, Link bit down very hard on his lip to stop himself from crying out again.

From somewhere above him came a jingle and this was followed by a soft chuckle that could only come from Tatl.  Well at least she was enjoying herself, even if it was at his own expense.  The young hero tried to glare up at her, but he didn’t know how intimidating he came across as he was trying very hard not to burst into tears at that moment.  “Oh don’t give me that look,” Tatl said in an almost business like tone.  “I warned you, that I would have no sympathy if you fell.  You should have just listened to me.”

Link wanted to respond with something snarky, but feared he would start sobbing if he opened his mouth.  So instead he clenched his jaw tightly and struggled his feet.  He used the tree trunk as leverage and managed to stand up again, but the moment he put weight on his injured foot; the pain rekindled in his ankle causing him to once again fall back to the ground.  

To say that Tatl was unhappy to see this happen would be an understatement.  She let out a very colorful string of curse words Link had never heard before; ending with, “Are you really freaking serious right now?” 

The child made one more attempted to stand up, and it ended with the same results.  He settled himself with his back against the tree trunk and gently prodded his injured ankle.  “I think it's broken.”

“Well that’s just perfect!” Tatl snapped sarcastically, and started flying away.

Link almost couldn’t believe his eyes.  Sure he knew that Tatl wasn’t fond of him, but would she really just up and leave him.  “W-Wait! Where are you going?” the boy cringed at how helpless he sounded.  Yes, at the current moment he was pretty helpless but he could at least stop himself from sounding like a baby.  

“Where do you think idiot?  I’m going to find some help.” 

Tatl didn’t offer any other explanation and continued to fly away until she was no longer in sight.  Even though she just said that she going to get help, and really had no reason to lie to him.  Link couldn’t help but have a foreboding feeling that she was never going to come back.  Honestly she didn’t actually tell him that she was going to come back; just that she was getting help.  Maybe she was going to tell someone that a helpless injured boy was sitting the swamp, and just leave after that.  Go back and join her brother and the Skull Kid afterwards.  Link would not be surprised at all if that’s exactly what happened, it seemed to be his lot in life to have everyone abandon him.  Not saying that he would miss the fairy all that much, she was kind of a jerk.  But he didn’t like the idea of being left for dead when he was so vulnerable. 

The swirl of emotions, along with the searing pain coming from his ankle finally brought the tears he’d be so desperately trying to hold back, flowing down his cheeks.  Not long after that, the child was sobbing harshly into his open hands.  It was times like this, when he wondered how much of a hero he really was?  Seriously what kind of hero cried over something as silly as an injured ankle.  Even trying to blame it on his personal abandonment issues felt childish.

Link was so consumed in his own self-pity that he didn’t even try to register how long he sat there crying like the helpless child he was.  But he was still sobbing when a voice called out, “Hoy Laddie, don’t be worry’n. We’re coming now!”

With a hitch of his breath, Link glanced up from his cupped hands; glistening from all his tears, and blinked through the blur of tears that still filled his eyes.  He was very surprised to see Tatl’s glowing orb flying back to him.  Following closely behind her was a bearded man in a canoe boat.  Apparently Tatl hadn’t abandoned him, the little fact brought a some warmth to his chest.  It was quickly extinguished with the fairy’s next words.  “Aren’t you supposed to be a hero? Why are you crying like a baby?”  The child wanted to toss a glare at her and make some sort of defense, but he didn’t seem to have the energy.  So instead he ended up just crying all the more hard.  He heard Tatl give a frustrated tisk, muttering something under her breath, but didn’t actually say anything else to him.  

After a few minutes the man riding in the canoe finally approached the patch of land Link was sitting on.  “All righty, where ya injured?” the man asked as he approached the sobbing boy and knelt down in front of him.

Link swiped his arm underneath his running noise with a loud sniffle before pointing at the injured ankle.  He had expected the man to ask him what had happened, but he did not. Instead, the man remained silent while he examined his ankle closely, gently probing with his fingers.  Even though his touches were gentle, Link could still feel pain searing through the limb at each prod.  He managed to stay silently until the man started pulling his Kokiri boot off, then he couldn’t hold back the pained whimpers.  Tatl wasn’t in his line of sight right now, but the young hero could only assume that she was rolling her eyes at how whiny he was being.  Even Link was somewhat embarrassed by his pitiful sounds.  

It took some time, but Link was finally able to slide his foot out of the boot.  It revealed a very swollen and purple bruised foot.  “Unfortunately Lad, it looks broken.”  

That information wasn’t all that surprising to Link, but it still didn’t soften the blow in the least.  Broken bones took a lot longer to heal than other types of wounds.  Luckily they had a time reset option; but thinking about all the cycles they’d have to waste while he healed didn’t sound very fun.

“Great…” Tatl didn’t seem very happy about the news either.  “How long will it take to heal?” 

“Well that depends,” the man responded looking away from Link’s swollen ankle to look up at the fairy.  “If you use the aid of potions then it will take around three weeks.” 

“What!” Tatl shouted and Link understood her outrage.  Three weeks?  That was a full seven cycles.  How would he ever sit around to allow the moon to fall for all that time. 

“If you don’t use the aid of potions it will take three to six months,” the man continued. 

That sounded even worse.  “Why would you even consider letting it heal without potions?” for once Tatl and Link seemed to be on the same wave length because he was just thinking the same thing when Tatl asked.

“Well it can be risky, healing bones with potions.  Since they speed up the process so much, there’s more of a chance of the bone not healing correctly.  That type of complication requires surgery to fix.  Many folks think it better not to chance it.” 

Tatl and Link looked at each other for the first time since Tatl had left to fetch help, and came to the same agreement.  Three weeks was bad enough, but there was no wait they’d be able to wait three to six months.  Link didn’t even want to calculate how many cycles that would take.  It was better to take the chance.  “I go with taking potions,” Link finally spoke.

“All right, if yer really sure,” the man responded and gently lifted Link into his arms.  “I’ll need to take ya back to my hut, so we can set the bone and wrap it up good and tight before you begin taking potions.” 

Link just sighed in response.  It was going to be a very long three weeks, and he wouldn’t be surprised at all if Tatl decides to leave him before it's up. 

Chapter Text

Thirteen – Breath In Breath Out

Timeline – Set During Ocarina of Time

The smoke lingering in the air was thick, causing Link’s eyes to burn.  Breathing continuously brought violent coughing, as the boy’s lungs protested against the unclean air. After being sworn in as an official ‘brother’ to the Goron leader Darunia, it was suggested that they go up death mountain to see some Great Fairy that lived up there.  Why the Magnificent Fairy chose to live on an active volcano was beyond the boy’s understanding.  Link knew that Death Mountain was an active volcano, and he’d heard from enough of the villagers that it was dangerous to be so near the volcano.  But he figured that meant it would be an early death if it suddenly exploded while he was up on the mountain; not that there would be so much smoke in the air there was no way to escape and find fresh air to breath in.  Apparently the mountain gave off small explosions regularly, causing smoke and rocks to tumble down the mountain.  

As heavy as the Hylian Shield was, it had saved his life on more than one occasion during their trek up the mountain.  When the volcano begins to rumble, both Link and Navi quickly take cover under the shield so they don’t get hit by the falling rocks.  “We should be getting close,” Navi announced after hearing the kid’s crackly cough again.  Not that she sounded much better.

They had just reached a very steep part of the mountain that they would basically have to rock climb up.  “How do we know if we’re even going up the right side of the mountain?” Link asked is a raspy voice sounding alarmingly like the old men from Kakariko village who smoked too many pipes in their lives.

“I could fly up a little ways and look around,” the fairy suggested.  She hovered a little higher up in hopes of being able to see through the dense smoke.

Feeling like he needed a break anyways, Link nodded in agreement.  “Yeah… I’ll wait here,” he sat on the ground with a heavy sigh.  “But make sure you fly down here quickly if you begin to hear any rumbling.” 

“I will, promise.” 

With that, the glowing fairy flew up the mountainside and she soon disappeared into the smoke.  It wasn’t long before she came back, which either meant good news or bad news.  “We’re really close!” she told him happily.  At least it was good news.  “There’s a ledge about thirty feet up.  The Great Fairy’s fountain is located on the ledge.” 

“Great!” the young hero responded happily, and was quick to get to his feet.  It’s amazing how good news can put a new spring in your step.  He was ready to climb.  But not before he coughed again into his elbow.  This time little black flecks were left on his skin, which made him more than a little alarmed.  Link quickly wiped the residue away before Navi could see, and placed both hands on the rocky mountainside to start climbing up.

Climbing up a mountain wasn’t as hard for Link as one would think.  He didn’t spend all his time in Kokiri forest climbing trees.  There was plenty of large rock sculptures nature had created for him to climb around on; and finding small holes and handles to grab onto were not much different from climbing up a large tree trunk.  Link had plenty of practice climbing during his short life, mostly due too outrunning Mido and his gang when they decided to play their favorite torture Link game.  So while the young boy had no problems with the climb, his fatigued body was already taking in large amounts of dense smoke filled air.  It was getting harder and harder to breath as each moment past.  He tried to hide it from Navi, but all the coughing and wheezing was enough to know that Link could no longer try to deny it.

“We’re almost there Link,” the Fairy encouraged as they were both aware he was in no position to stop and rest.  Climbing back down would void all the work he’d already done, and jumping down from the height would result in injury.  The only option was to keep climbing. 

Eventually it got to the point where Link was beginning to feel lightheaded because he couldn’t quite catch his breath, so he ended up halting in his climb.  He rested his head against the warm stone trying to breath in air that felt way too thick.  He choked on the smoke and coughed instead.  “Come on Link!” Navi urged sounding quite alarmed. “You’re so close. Just another two feet and we’ll be on the ledge. 

With a nod of his head, the young hero summoned every ounce of strength he had left and climbed the rest of the way up the mountainside.  It was the greatest feeling ever, to feel the edge of the ledge and pull himself up onto it.  By the time he fell into his back at the top of the ledge, Link was wheezing heavily, and little black specks were forming in his vision.  Every single time he thought he felt the most miserable ever, a new misery happens to him.  His eyes were burning along with his lungs which was made even worse by the fact that he couldn't catch his breath.  “Link!” Navi’s voice rang through his fog filled mind.  “I know the air is really smoky right now, but you need to start taking slower breaths before you pass out.” 

Link nodded his head in acknowledgement, and focused on taking slower breaths.  He closed his bloodshot eyes against the unhealthy air; wasn’t a whole lot he could do to stop himself from breathing in the smoke.  At a second thought, Link pulled his green hat off of his head and placed it over his mouth, hoping it would filter the air at least a little bit.  

“Hopefully the Great Fairy can use her magic to heal you, and maybe even help protect you from the smoke until we get back down the mountain.  Link just nodded his head without responding verbally, still trying to catch his breath.  He opened his aching eyes, and glanced around; eventually catching sight of the fountains entrance.  He looked away and closed his eyes again.  He just needed a few more minutes

Chapter Text

Fourteen – Is Something Burning?

Timeline - Take’s place during Majora’s Mask

“Are you sure you want to be messing around with that thing?” Tatl’s voice broke through Link’s musings as he examined his newly acquired mask.  It certainly wasn’t a mask he should walk around wearing.  Totally circular with a single skull painted on the front.  According to the old lady that gave it to him, the mask could produce an explosion as powerful as a bomb.  The point of putting that kind of power in a mask was beyond him, but Link still had a strange interest in it.  Maybe it was because behind the sword, shield, and hero status, Link was still a ten year old boy.  And boy’s his age tended to be fascinated with things that explode.  

Not that Link would ever admit this to anyone, but he always got excited when one of his tasks required using bombs or bomb flowers.  It was just so cool to watch things explode into teeny tiny pieces. “Don’t worry,” he told the fairy offhandedly.  “I’m sure it doesn’t activate that easily.”  

The boy tentatively placed the mask over his face.  There were no eye holes to see out of, so it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to walk around with it on.  He wondered what you had to do to activate it.  “What are you doing?” He heard Tatl ask in a shocked voice.  “Are you out of your mind, don’t put that thing on!”  

“Oh relax Tatl.  I’m only-” BOOM!

It happened so quickly. The boy grabbed the sides of the mask to take it off, and then he heard a loud explosion.  The next thing he realized he was lying on the ground, a terrible burning pain coursing through his body.  The mask was no longer on Link’s face; he didn’t know, nor cared where it landed.  The only thing he cared about now was stopping the pain.  A loud groan slipped past the child’s lips, and he gritted his teeth together willing away the tears that threatened to fall.  Link was not going to start crying right now, like some baby.  He was the Hero of Time for crying out loud, and could handle a little explosion.  It’s not like he’s never been injured from an explosion before.  There were certainly times he’s misjudged the distance away from the bomb he had set, or a dead Dodongo took him by surprise.

So then why did this seem to hurt so much more?  Possibly because this was the closest he’d ever been to the explosion.  “Oh great goddesses! Are you ok?” Tatl quickly flew over to check on her companion.  Link did not answer her, too focused on not breaking down in sobs from the pain.  “You’re an idiot, you know that!” the fairy continued nastily.  “You’re lucky you’re not dead, or maybe you would have been luckier to be dead.  That sure looks painful.” 

It felt painful too.  But Link was sure he’d had worse injuries than this.  So hoping that it would make him feel a bit better to see an injury that felt worse than it actually was, the boy raised his head up and looked down at his body.  It wasn’t a pretty sight at all.  His once green tunic was now black and charred looking, and the skin on his arms and legs were covered in angry red blisters.  The ugly sight opened the floodgates.  Tears began to freely slip past his eyes and roll down his cheeks, and no longer able to hold back the sobs, he was soon freely crying.

The pain was just so great, that the young hero could no longer hold back his shrieks of pain.  The world around him was turning white as his mind could not focus on anything but the pain.  Tatl’s distant voice said something, but Link’s mind couldn’t comprehend what it was that she said.  He thought she might have started yelling for help, but the boy wasn’t quite sure.  She probably was because soon he heard more voices, but still couldn’t make sense of what they were saying.  The pain that was just starting to dim in the slightest, renewed when strong arms lifted his body up.  Link’s mouth opened and he let out a wail so high pitched, he would have been embarrassed if he hadn’t been in so much pain.

He tried to tell whoever was carrying him to stop and put him down because searing pain coursed through his limbs with every step they took.  But the child found that he could not because every time his mouth opened to speak, a sob came out instead of words.  After what felt like an eternity, Link was blessedly laid down on something soft.  This did not ease any of his pain, but at least the movement had stopped aggravating the pain.  “The doctor’s on his way,” he heard someone say.  

A doctor? What was that?  The word sounded familiar, but it wasn’t something he often heard during his years in Kokiri forest.  It was something that he heard every so often from Hylains during his adventures.  It was still hard to think because his mind was still trying to focus on the burning sensation that attacked his body, but from what he managed to recall, a doctor was a special type of healer, or potions master that helped people when they got really sick or injured.  Was he really that badly injured?  The thought of being so badly injured that a doctor was coming for him, gave the child a feeling of foreboding.  He’d never even seen what one looks like.  But if they made the pain go away, Link didn’t really care what they were like.

Link was only in the bed for a few minutes, when chilly wet cloth’s were gently draped over his burnt skin.  Soon the child’s sobs of pain turned into sobs of relief, it was as if the wet material was leeching the heat from his blistered skin.  The relief didn’t last very long unfortunately.  When the cloths began to lose its coolness, the burning pain slowly returned.  All Link could do was softly whimper and cry while the minutes dragged by.  The boy could now comprehend enough to take note that he was now in the Stock Pot Inn; didn’t recognize the room, but was all too familiar with the run down shabby look of the Inn’s walls.  He must have been in one of the staff rooms, since those were the only rooms he hadn’t been in.  

The door to the room opened, and Anju came in with a new set of wet cloth’s that she laid over his skin, giving the young hero temporary relief once again.  After what felt like an eternity the so call doctor finally arrived.  He was part of the human race, as Link had wondered if he might be a Zora or Goron, an old hunched back man with very long pointed years, and round glasses so big it gave him a bug eyed look.  The man walked over to the bed he laid on, and gave him a piercing look.  Link had no idea if he was supposed to do anything; but in all honesty, moving had become so painful he didn’t think he could do anything but lie there

Using very gentle hands, the doctor pulled back the wet sheet that covered his body, so he could examine the ugly blistered skin that lay underneath.  “Have you tried removing his clothes yet?” the old man asked in gravelly voice.

Link heard Anju say something in response, but he couldn’t quite comprehend what it was that she said because the pain in his body, which had already been growing, became unbearable when the sheet had been removed.  The boy’s constant whimpers once again turned into pitiful sobs. The doctor and Anju were still conversing with each other, and then Tatl’s angry voice pierced the conversation. Nothing anyone said seemed to make any sense, it almost sounded like they had begun speaking a different language.  Link did not even realize that he had clamped his eyelids shut, until he realized that someone was gently pressing a cloth over his nose and mouth.  The young hero just barely had time to take note of the bittersweet smell he was breathing in, before he knew no more.

When Link’s cries finally faded away, and his body stilled; Tatl released a breath she didn’t even realize she had been holding.  She must have been holding it for a while because a wave dizziness passed over her, forcing the feisty fairy to land on the nearest solid object.  She often wondered what could she have possibly done, that was so terrible the goddesses felt the need to pair her with this annoying kid as punishment.  

Ok, maybe she was being a little harsh.  All in all, Link was a better companion than the Skull Kid had ever been, he’s much more selfless and willing to put himself in harm's way to help someone else.  The thing Tatl usually dwelled on, was how it was a lot more fun hanging out with the Skull Kid than it was adventuring with Link.  Sure the Skull kid played lots of pranks and was downright mean sometimes, but it always consisted of goofing around, playing games, and laughing.  Nowadays, all she did was follow Link around, giving him warnings and suggestions while he fought off monsters and did anything, anyone asked for… Seriously, what’s wrong with saying no, once in a while.  She sometimes wondered if he had become a yesman because it was the only way to get people to like him, wherever he was from.  And honestly would it kill the kid to crack a joke? She hadn’t seen even a hint of a smile from the kid since their journey began.

Maybe she would be able to tolerate the boy a little more if he wasn’t so young.  He was just a ten year old kid, and his youth caused him to often act without really thinking it through.  The amount of times Link jumped into battle, or go into a hard to reach area without taking a moment to figure out what the best strategy was, Tatl had lost count.  It usually ended with him getting injured or giving them a major setback in some ways.  Honestly, for calling himself a hero, the kid sure made a lot of stupid decisions… like almost blowing himself up!  Why did he never listen to her advice?  Why did that lady give him the mask in the first place?  Serious what was that old lady thinking, giving a child a mask that literally blows up.

The fairy let out a heavy sigh.  All that aside, she was relieved that they finally gave her companion something to ease his pain.  Even if it was knocking him out.  Listening to him whimper and cry like that had wrenched her tiny heart.  Despite how annoyed she got with the boy, she had also grown to care about him as well.  When she saw his body get thrown across the field from the exploding mask, her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly flew over to check on him.  One look at his blotchy blistered skin made her realize she had been silly to hope that the blast didn’t do too much damage.  The only part of his body that didn’t seem to have been affected from was the parts of his face that were covered by the mask.  

They were at least lucky enough to be near the entrance of North Clock Town, so she was able to quickly find a guard to help them.  There wasn’t really much the guard could do to help them.  He only briefly questioned what happened, before realizing now really wasn’t the time to be asking questions.  So without waiting for an answer, the guard picked up Link’s writhing body, and carried him over to the Stock Pot Inn.

Of course Tatl had already known from previous cycles that the Inn was totally booked because of the carnival, so there was no chance in getting a room.  But luckily the lady that ran the Inn, Anju, understood the importance of the situation and allowed the guard to bring Link into her own quarters.  “What happened to him?” Anju asked the guard, looking horrified at the boy’s blistered skin, and charred tunic.

“I’m not sure,” the guard replied, looking just as horrified.  “I found him just outside North Clock Town; the fairy over there brought me to him.”

Tatl glared at the two of them.  She hated the way people talked about fairies like they can’t hear or understand what they were saying, but chose not to comment on it.  “Go get Dr. Borville, quickly.”  Anju ordered the guard, who quickly left.

Anju left the room shortly after the guard left.  She was back after a few minutes with her mother, and a bundle of wet sheets.  They were in conversation about what had happened to Link, and his condition.  The fairy found it funny how no one but the guard had thought to ask her what had happened, the actual being that had brought attention to the boy.  Anju with her mothers help, unfolded the wet blanket and draped it over Link’s body.  The boy’s cries faltered a moment before continuing, though less intense than before.  It wasn’t until his sobs slowed to soft whimpers that Tatl knew for sure that the sheet was helping.

After what felt like forever, the doctor finally arrived.  The first thing he did was remove the sheet from the kid’s body so he could look at the damage.  This of course caused the young hero to begin crying in pain again.  Both Anju and the doctor ignored them while they talked about how the burns happened and how best to treat them.  Tatl who was already feeling like she had been listening to the kid’s cries too much, finally shouted at them to stop talking and start helping.  Their conversation stopped mid-sentence.  Anju looked surprised at being interrupted, Dr. Borville just pulled a small cloth out of the bag he brought, poured some white powder on it, and pressed it to Link’s nose and mouth.  Seconds later the kid was out.  Anju then turned to the doctor like they hadn’t been interrupted and asked, “What should we do?” 

Doctor Boreville cleared his throat, which did nothing to help his gravelly voice, and then responded.  “Well we need to remove his clothing in order to properly treat the burns.  This will be difficult however since parts of the tunic he’s wearing have melded with skin.” 

Tatl winced sympathetically at hearing that.  That sounded extremely painful.  She had never known that a single explosion could cause so much damage to the body.  She had seen the boy brush with explosions before, but he must have been much further away from them because none of them had ever caused burns this severe.  She sure wished there was more she could do to help him, all she could do now was watch helplessly as the doctor with the help of Anju cut away Link’s tunic.  They were very careful not to pull at the parts which stuck to his skin.  The kid would never be able to wear that tunic again.  Hopefully it would regenerate next time they reset time.  The fairy was fairly confident it would happen, because for some reason every time they started a new three day cycle his clothing returned to the way it was the first day Link came into Termina.

Anytime he got a rip in the material, it would magically rebind after he played the Song of Time.  Unfortunately, this didn’t work with injuries he got.  There have been times Link got clawed or stabbed through his tunic, and after they reset time, the whole in his tunic from the wound disappeared but the wound itself was still there.  This meant that he would still have his burn injuries when they reset time.  Once all loose pieces of the young hero’s tunic were cut away, the old doctor began using water and towels to gently rub away the material that was stuck to his skin. Though it certainly wasn’t pretty under Link’s tunic, it seemed that the clothing gave some protection against the explosion, as it didn’t look as severe as his exposed skin was. 

Since she was no longer able to help Dr. Boreville, Anju turned to the fairy and finally asked her if she knew what had happened to him.  It certainly took long enough.  Tatl took a brief moment to debate on whether she should lie or tell the truth; she eventually settled on telling her, “Some idiot gave him an explosive, and he was an idiot for messing with it…”

The doctor must have been listening because after the fairy spoke he responded with.  “Well sometimes little boys need to learn things the hard way.  It’s just too bad the lesson had to be so severe.” 

No more was said about the incident.  Once Link’s body was clear of all his clothing, Dr. Boreville pulled out of bottle of something purple.  It didn’t seem to be something you drank, because when he uncorked it, the stuff that poured out was paste rather than a liquid.  He rubbed the stuff all over the boy’s burnt flesh.  Considering almost every inch of his body had some type of burn, this took a while and used up almost half of the once full bottle.  Once he was finished, the doctor handed the bottle over to Anju, who accepted it without a word.  “This will need to be applied twice a day until the burns are healed,” the old man explained.  “There should be enough for one more application, then you’ll need a get a refill from the old hags that live in the swamp.” 

---

When Link finally came out of his drug induced sleep, it was already the next morning.  The burns all over his body still hurt terribly, but not quite as nad as they had before.  The injured boy glanced around the room, until his eyes fell on Tatl.  The look she was giving him looked just like the way Saria did in his younger days, when she caught him doing something particularly naughty.  It was a mothering type of look.  The words Tatl said next were much more callused then Saria ever said to him.  “You’re an idiot, you know that…”

There wasn’t much the kid could say about that; in truth he somewhat agreed with her.  Even though the events that took place the last few hours were fuzzy at best, but clearly remembered what happened up to the explosion.  He should have listened to her about that mask.  The fairy brought Link up to speed on everything that had happened since he was taken to the Inn, and why he was now wearing a completely different outfit.  They ended up waiting till it was almost evening on the final day, before resetting time.  They wanted to make sure that Link could be at least somewhat mobile, when the next cycle started.  It was soon clear that they need to give him more recovery time next cycle, because even though he could walk now, it was still extremely painful for him.  

Anju had managed to get a couple more bottles of the purple medicine from the southern swamp witches.  She must have had someone go get it for her because according to Tatl she had not left the Inn since Link arrived.  So the young hero made sure that he had the bottles with him, before playing the song of time, so they wouldn’t need to immediately rush to the swamp and get more.

As they both expected, resetting the clock caused Link’s Kokiri tunic to return looking green and unburnt.  But unfortunately his skin was still severely damaged.  Link would probably need the entire cycle to recover, and maybe even the next one.  At least with the Ocarina, time was on their side.

Chapter Text

Fifteen – Into the Unknown

Timeline – Set between Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask

Malon held out a cupped palm filled with oats, and Epona quickly pressed her snout into the palm and lapping up the small grains.  The horse snorted happily at the treat, and Malon responded with an affectionate clicking of her tongue, then patted her neck.  Epona’s ears which had been hanging low in lazy relaxation, suddenly shot up and twitched; having obviously heard something only horse ears could pick up.  With a snort, the young horse suddenly took off running towards the entrance of the ranch.

“Epona!” Malon called out to the horse; almost sounding like she was rebuking a child and ran after her.

Since Epona was much faster, she was soon out of Malon’s sight.  When the young girl finally caught up with the horse near the front entrance it was clear why she had taken off so suddenly.  The little foal was currently nuzzling up to a young boy wearing a green tunic.  “Link!” Malon called out happily, and ran over to greet the boy with a hug.

“Hey Malon!” Link returned the greeting and hugged her back

“I’m so glad you're back!” Malon gave his body a final squeeze before he releasing his body and smiling brightly at him. She hadn’t expected him to return for at least another week, so this was a nice surprise.  “So what did the Princess want?” 

The question caused the smile to slide off his face. The look of happiness he always showed when he saw Malon was replaced by a look filled with pain and grief.  It was the look he had on his face the first day she met him all those months ago.  Through her friendship, she’d managed to bring a smile onto his face; but there were always times his mind would trail off in thought, or when he thought no one was watching him, that the look would come back.  Malon knew he’d experienced some type of trauma before she met him, but he refused to tell her what happened.  So she just made it her goal to make sure she was there for him in any way he needed her.

Link’s first response to her question was to pull an ocean blue ocarina instrument from his belt and show it to her.  “She said that I need to leave…” 

“Leave?” confusion clouded Malon’s face.  That made no sense.  Why would the Princess give him such orders, and what did the ocarina have to do with it?  “I don’t understand, why?” 

The boy’s eyes shifted away from her face.  He looked like someone who’d gotten his feelings hurt and was trying very hard not to let it show.  “It’s kind of a long story… but Hyrule is in danger.” 

That explanation didn’t lighten any of her confusion.  “In danger?  From what? Why would she tell you to leave and not anyone else?” 

“I’m sorry Malon,” Link met her face again, eyes beginning to fill with tears, as he must truly feel bad about what he’s telling her.  “I can’t tell you… I’ve been sworn to secrecy.  What I can say is that I need to protect this ocarina at all costs, and the best way to do that is to leave the land.” 

Malon just shook her head.  This did not make any sense to her, “Where are you going to go?”

“I don’t know…” 

Anger now began to fill Malon’s being, and she was unable to keep the sound of out her next words.  “So what? You’re just going to head off into the great unknown, and hope for the best!?” Why would Princess Zelda give such orders?  She’d heard from the ranchhands outrageous stories about their fair Princess and her strange ideas and stories. This sounded like some crazy idea that would not benefit anyone, and most likely hurt this boy who was already suffering from trauma.  “Did these orders come from the King, or from the Princess?  You know that you don’t have to follow her orders! She may be the Princess, but she does not yet have the right to give out orders to Hyrule residents.”   

Once again, the boy’s gaze turned away.  “Malon… I wish to the Goddesses that I could tell you everything… and maybe you don’t trust the Princess, but will you trust me?”

A heavy sigh escaped the girl’s lips.  Why did he have to ask her that?  “Of course I trust you but-” 

“Then trust me when I say that this is the best way to save Hyrule from the danger that it's in.”

Malon bit her tongue in order to stop herself from saying something that would offend the boy.  But as she certainly trusted Link in many aspects, she didn’t completely trust him to make life changing decisions at the moment.  He’s a young boy who’s gone through a major trauma that he refuses to talk about.  “Then let me go with you,” she eventually begged hoping that maybe if she went with him she could convince him to stay or at least find a safe place for him to stay.

“No Malon, I can’t let you go.  It could be dangerous.” 

“All the more reason why you shouldn’t leave!” It was now Malon’s turn to release the tears, as her eyes began to sting and burning trails slid down her cheeks.  

Link looked horrified at the sight of her tears.  “Please don’t cry Malon! I’ll be ok, I promise.” 

The girl sniffled, and wiped the tears from her cheeks.  It seemed that there was no talking him out of this.  So she resigned herself to allowing this to happen, but not before giving him one request. “Then promise me this… promise me that you’ll come back.” 

Her heart sank when he looked down at his boots, though she wasn’t surprised by the response.  He was literally walking into the unknown.  Leaving the familiar land, he grew up in, to uncertainty.  Of course he couldn't make that promise.  After a moments silence he looked back at her face, “I promise I will try.  But I have to wait until the danger has passed first.” 

Malon nodded her head, accepting the promise. Knowing it was the best she was going to get.  “Take Epona with you,” at least that way he wouldn’t be all alone.

“Are you sure?” Link asked taken aback.

“Of course,” she responded without hesitance.  “She loves you, and you can keep each other company.” 

Link brushed his hand over the neck of the young horse who still stood reliably next to him.  “Thanks Malon,” he smiled at her.

The young girl smiled back at him, but inside she had a terrible feeling.  This did not seem right at all, in fact this seemed like a very terrible idea. Somehow Malon had the feeling that she was never going to see that boy again.

Chapter Text

Twenty-three – What’s a Whumpee gotta do to get some sleep around here?

Timeline- Set during Majora’s Mask           

Sometimes Link wondered if Majora’s Mask really was the most evil mask ever made.  He’d come across many masks during his time in Termina so far. Most of their powers, if they had any at all, were pretty harmless and sometimes quite useful.  But there was one mask he’d recently added to his collection that could actually stand up against the terrifying mask that has influenced the Skull Kid, and that was the All Night Mask.  You may ask what could be so terrible about that mask, to make it possibly more evil than Majora’s Mask.  Well, we would have to go back to when Link first came into possession of the mask.  

It was by random chance that he found it.  It had not been the first time the young hero entered the curiosity shop during the last hours available during the last evening before the moon fell.  Yes it wasn’t a place he visited too often, let alone so close to the end.  But Link had clear memories of entering the shop before playing the Song of Time for whatever reason, and it hadn’t been there.  But then there was one cycle Link had spent questioning people about the missing Kafei, and he decided to ask the shop owner before calling it a night and playing the song of time.  And there it was.  A strange looking black metal mask with eerie red eyes.  “We have no business for kids in here, now scam!” the shop owner snapped at him.  Link had gotten used to this greeting; he says the same thing every time he enters on a new cycle.  The man’s tune usually changes when he realizes that Link has rupees on him.

Out of habit, Link shook his bag of rupees so that the gems jangled inside.  The boy could almost see the shop owner's ears twitch at the sound.  “Hem-hem,” the man gave a false cough as a way of cover then offered a sickly smile at the young hero.  “My apologies good sir, I thought you were someone else- may I help you?” 

Sometimes Link would play around with the shop owner for a few moments, and start walking out while the man yells his apologies and gets him to return.  It always gave him and Tatl a good laugh afterwards, but Link was too mesmerized by the strange mask.  Why had it turned up now, and not any other time.  The boy approached the counter, eyes still cast towards the mask.  He had fully intended to ask about Kafei when he entered the shop, but when Link opened his mouth to speak he asked instead, “What’s that?” and pointed at the mask.  

“Ah… you have an eye for fine taste,” the shop owner said in his usual oily voice.  “It just came in today.  Don’t know much about it, but I hear its call ‘The All Night Mask’.”    

“How much is it?” Link asked.  Yes he usually didn’t buy the masks that he collected, as they were normally given to him.  But every mask he’d laid his hands on had been helpful to him in some way, and he didn't know why it would be called “All Night Mask” but it would probably be helpful to him at night or something.

“Well it is quite expensive, 500 rupees.” Link could hear Tatl give a disgusted scoff at hearing the price.  Yes it was rather steep, but it’s not like he had a hard time getting money and saving rupees.  Somehow the rupees that he put in the bank magically carried over from cycle to cycle.  “Of course a young lad like you, could never afford such an item.  Perhaps if you returned with your parents we could work something out,” the shop owner continued.  

Link just glanced up at his fairy in response.  He didn’t have that many Rupees on him, but it wouldn’t be hard to get them.  Tatl returned his look with a piercing glare, clearly saying without words, “It’s not worth it!”  But how did she know it wasn’t worth it? They didn’t even know what it did.  The mask could very well carry a useful power that could help them defeat the Skull Kid.  He did get the Stone Mask for free, but would have gladly paid 500 rupees or more for that useful mask.  But on the other hand, she could be right.  It would be a gamble paying that much for a mask that could end up being as useless the Postman’s Cap.  The biggest question was if it was the worth the gamble? “I’ll think about it,” Link finally said to the shop owner and left completely forgetting his reason for going there in the first place.

“You can’t be serious Link!” Tatl shouted as soon as the door of the curiosity shop closed.  “You’re not really going to let that old windbag swindle you like that.  500 rupees is way too much for a mask.” 

“How do you know?” Link retorted looking up at her again.  “We don’t know what powers it has?  Maybe it would be worth it?” 

“If it even has any powers, and if it did, no mask could be so powerful that it would be worth it to play 500 rupees.” 

“It’s not like we don’t have the money for it?” the boy pretty much had it settled in his mind, and started heading over to where the banker sat. 

Tatl followed him, tingling her annoyance at him.  “Well maybe you should think about it a few days before deciding to throw 500 rupees away?” 

This is the first cycle I’ve seen that mask, in the curiosity shop.  I don’t know why it's there now, but if we let it go now we may not ever see it again.”  Link made it over to the bank, and after ignoring Tatl’s comment about that being a good thing, the young hero pulled out just enough rupees to get five hundred in his wallet and headed back to the curiosity shop.

The shop owner was surprised to find Link come back so shortly with the right amount of rupees, but was only too happy to take his gems in exchange for the mask.  The boy had to listen to Tatl’s lecture on how much of a stupid decision that was for a few minutes before she ended with a huff.  To be honest he didn’t really listen to her much, and spent the whole rant turning the mask over in his hands examining every inch of it.  The mystery behind the mask and whatever power it holds had almost mesmerized him.  “So what do you think it does?” Link asked Tatl, telling the fairy that he hadn’t listened to a word she said.  

“How should I know?” the fairy spat just as the ground beneath their feet rumbled.  It indicated that they were quickly running out of time.  “But we can figure it out later, best play the song before it's too late.” 

Link spared a glance at the falling moon, “We still got a couple of hours,” he said and looked back at the mask.  “It's called the All Night Mask.  So it must be helpful at night right?” 

“I guess so,” Tatl responded with no more bite in her voice.  She settled herself down on Link’s shoulder, seeming resolved to the fact that Link’s mind was now going to be preoccupied until he figured out the secret to that mask.  “Maybe it helps you sleep at night, and if that's the case you wasted your rupees.”  

Ignoring the fairy’s snide comment, Link placed the All Night Mask over his face.  He figured that since it was night now, he might as well try it out to see what happens.  The metal fit snugly around his cheeks, and even fit his pointed ears perfectly.  As if the mask was made specifically for him… Link glanced at his surroundings, maybe it would give him the ability to see in the dark.  To his disappointment however, nothing seemed to happen.  Nothing looked different, he didn’t feel any different.  The boy’s heart sank as he realized Tatl may have been right, and he wasted rupees on a useless mask.  “Well…?” the fairy suddenly spoke, waiting to hear his verdict.

“I’m not sure.  Nothing seems different…” the child stood up so he could get a better look around.  

“I told you, you would waste your rupees getting that mask.  That guy totally ripped you off.” 

Link felt his pride clam up indignantly at the words.  He didn’t want to admit that she had been right, it was too soon for that.  The mask had been on his face for less than a minute, and there was every chance he just needed more time to figure out what it did.  “Just because I don’t notice anything yet, doesn’t mean the mask is useless.  Every mask we’ve found so far has some sort of use, we probably just need more time to figure it out.” 

Shortly after this, Link removed the mask and played the song of time so they could reset the three day cycle.  There really wasn’t any reason to put the mask back on again until nightfall, so it stayed in his bag during that first day.  Tatl wanted this to be a rest cycle since they didn’t get very much sleep during the last cycle, and though Link would have normally argued against this he didn’t put up much fight since it gave him an excuse to test out the All Night Mask.  So as soon as the Stock Pot Inn opened, Link stole the Knife Chamber from the Goron that had the same name as him and the two settled themselves in the room.  Link laid down on the bed, intending to get some sleep so he could stay up as late as he could with the All Night Mask tonight.  He was certain that all the secrets about the mask would be revealed if he wore it long enough during the night. 

Unfortunately sleep seemed very far away, as he spent the entire day staring off into space thinking about the All Night Mask, and what mysterious powers it held.  There was almost a strange pull in his mind to put the mask on again.  He resisted it though.  It's called the all night mask for a reason, so he didn’t see a good reason to put it on now.  Unless…

A sudden thought hit him.  Maybe the “All Night” in the title meant that the mask made it night all the time.  If that were true, it could literally stop the clock, give them endless time to save the giants, defeat Skull Kid, and stop the moon from falling!  If this was the case, he didn’t get ripped off, in fact he would have willingly given all the rupees he saved up in the bank for such a powerful mask.  A couple more minutes down this train of thought and Link was now certain that this is what the mask did, why else would it be so expensive.  He threw a glance over at Tatl to inform her of this revelation, but she was fast asleep on his hat next to him.  Not feeling right about waking her, the boy gently got off the bed and went over to where he set his bag of masks.  

Nothing seemed to happen when it tried it last because it was already night time.  But now if he tired it on, the sun would certainly disappear and daylight would cease until he took it off again.  With his heart pounding with excitement, Link placed the All Night Mask back over his face and took an expected look out the window.  The sun still showed brightly as it always did on the first day, but maybe it just took a few minutes.  Link spent the next 20 minutes determinably staring out the window, as if he could will the sun to go away early.  But nothing happened.  Time seemed to flow like normal.  He finally took the mask off again with a sigh.  He probably just needed to put it on at night, then the time would probably stop and never cease.  

The young hero tried yet again to fall asleep, but was still unable too.  After a couple hours he gave up and spent the remainder of the day examining every inch of the All Night Mask hoping to find some type of hidden message on it.

It was a couple hours before the sun was do to set when Tatl finally awakened.  When she saw her companion sitting up in bed staring intently at the All Night Mask in his hands she couldn’t help but ask, “Did you even sleep at all?” 

“Yes!” the boy lied defensively, but the look his fairy companion returned told him that she knew he was lying.  He looked away from her in order to avoid her piercing gaze he couldn’t really see from her fairy glow but knew that it was there anyways, “I wasn’t really all that tired.” 

Tatl shook her small head and chose not to push the issue.  “Well did you figure out how that mask works yet?” 

“I think it probably makes the night go on forever.  I figured we can try it out tonight.  While I’m wearing it we can do some rupee hunting.” 

“That’s a good idea, since you practically wasted a third of our funds on that mask,” Tatl agreed with a nasty snarl in her voice.  He’d show her…  It was not a mistake buying that mask, and he’d prove that to her even if he had to wear the mask forever to do it. 

As soon as Link heard the first howl that indicated the night wolfos were coming out, Link placed the All Night Mask over his face, and then the two companions headed out towards the streets of Clock Town to stock up on some rupees.  They did this every few cycles when they needed to take a break from the regular journey.  After countless days of reliving the same cycle, they had a specific route they followed when searching for rupees.  There were several hidden chests in Clock Town that held a silver rupee.  Termina field was filled with monsters that dropped rupees when they were killed, and there was even a thief that got stuck up in a tree that he could steal his rupees from when slamming into the tree.  Link felt no guilt in stealing from this man because the gems they took he probably stole himself.

During all this, Link would constantly look up at the sky to see if he could see any changes in the night, anything that could tell him if the night was going to go on forever.  He couldn’t tell though.  In Hyrule he could see the night pass by watching the position of the moon.  But here in Termina the Skull Kids bewitching of the moon caused it to stand still in place except for the way it slowly inches towards the land. 

A quarter till midnight, they headed back to North Clock Town so they could save the old bomb lady.  Link found out that if he shows her that he already has a Blast Mask she gives him rupees instead.  As the child sat on the ground with his back against the tree waiting, he began to notice the effects from having gone so long without sleep.  Fatigue had settled into his bones, and his eyelids were heavy with tiredness.  Would he be able to make it through the night?  He probably should have tried harder to sleep earlier.  They managed to save the old bomb lady without too much trouble, though Link noticed his sword action seemed a little less steady than normal.  

After the lady rewarded them with the rupee gems, Link finally gave in and admitted to Tatl that he was too tired to continue on for the night.  So they decided to return to the Stock Pot Inn for the remainder of the night.  Still believing that the mask was going to make the night go on forever, Link chose to keep the All Night Mask on while he slept so he wouldn’t mess up the magic.  He assumed that after sleeping he’d wake up a few hours later to find it still dark out.  The only problem was that he didn’t seem to be able to fall asleep.  He tossed and turned for hours, contemplating the power of the mask he wore and glancing out the window to see if there was any change in the amount of darkness that showed through the window.  A few times he wondered if it was just a bit lighter than it was before.  After a while he could no longer deny the fast approaching daylight.  

When the boy rolled over to look out the window, and saw the first peeks of the sunrise; a wave of irritated anger came over him.  He had been wrong, the mask had done nothing to the night.  He’d officially run out of ideas, what the hell did that mask do?  With a frustrated growl, Link tore the mask off his face and threw it across the room.  Its metal made a loud clang against the wall, waking up Tatl from her sleep.  “Hey! What’s the big ide-” fairy cut herself off in recoil when she turned to look at Link.  “Dear Goddesses Link!?” she sounded both alarmed and horrified.  “Did you even sleep?”

“No I didn’t!” the child snarled with a venomous voice.  He gave a fierce glare out the window at the ever growing daylight then turned the glare over towards the fairy as if daring her to say ‘I told you so.’      

Almost as if she knew exactly what he was thinking, Tatl looked over at where the mysterious mask laid on the ground.  “I think its time for you to stop trying to figure out what powers that stupid mask has.  It's causing you to go crazy.” 

“I. AM. NOT!” the boy spat out angrily.  “I will figure out what it does, and I will prove to you that it wasn’t a mistake to buy.” 

With that, Link angrily shoved the blankets aside, and stomped over to pick up the All Night Mask.  He shoved it inside his mask bag without ceremony, and then began to put all his gear on.  It was obvious to Tatl that he was getting ready to go out so she made a very hesitant suggestion.  “Shouldn’t you maybe get some sleep first?” 

“Been trying to do that all night!” Link snapped back at her without looking.  A vague part of him whispered that he was being a bit of a jerk right now, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.  This was quite uncharacteristic of him, which should have set off some red flags, but all Link could think about was the All Night Mask and proving to Tatl that it was worth every rupee he spent on it.

Tatl knew that something was terribly wrong with her travel companion.  She initially waved off his rather nasty behavior to his sudden case of insomnia.  No she did not live under a rock her whole life, she probably knew more things about the world then most fairy’s do.  Yes she was aware of the symptoms humans get from sleep deprivation.  As far as she was aware of, the kid was running off of five hours of sleep.  That was how long they last slept during the last cycle, which was during the morning of the final day.  So using her own rough math calculation in her head, Link had been awake non stop for around forty hours.  That was almost a full two days, so it’s no wonder he’s all snappish right now.  

No, the lashing out behavior was not what was bothering her.  What was bothering her to the point of worry (almost), was his sudden obsession with the All Night Mask.  At first it seemed like he was nursing a wounded pride for spending way too many rupees on a mask they knew nothing about.  Now there seemed to be something more sinister behind his behavior.  The obsession was stopping him from sleeping and if that went on for too long they were going to have issues.  Link left the room without even asking if she wanted to join him.  Under normal circumstances she’d have been spiteful towards this action and not leave the room until he offered an apology.  

But this was not a normal circumstance, so she chose to follow after him.  More because she felt it was a civic duty rather than anything else, to make sure the little doofus didn’t go get himself killed because he wasn’t in his right mind now.  The kid spent a good half hour or more wandering around Clock Town with no apparent destination in mind.  At times he’d suddenly stop to glance around the area he was in, as if confused about where he was.  The fairy was getting a little more than concerned by the time he left clock town and started marching through Termina Field.  She was pretty sure that he was in no condition to pick a fight with any enemies, and this assumption was proved correct when he started fighting a chu chu jelly.  It's almost embarrassing how badly he fought against the low level enemy.  

If she hadn’t been so worried about the child, she’d be taking mental notes on every single blunder he made to use as blackmail for later.  When he came into his right mind again, he’d surely be ashamed to be reminded that he’d gotten his ass kicked by a chu chu jelly.  After a bit, Link was finally able to slash at the monster and cause it to burst into a mess of sticky jelly that would eventually reform.  Tatl had not realized how sluggish the boy’s mind actually was until she witnessed how long it took for him to grab the potion bottle it left behind.  

Normally you had plenty of time to grab the item chu chu’s left behind, and run before it respawns.  By the time Link had reached down, picked up the bottle, dropped it, and picked it up again; the chu chu was already reformed and descending on him.  It hit him in the back, causing the young hero to fall forward, the potion bottle flying out of his hand yet again.  Not being able to take it anymore, the fairy flew around the chu chu jelly, to distract it, giving Link enough time to run away, seemingly forgotten all about the potion bottle he’d fought so hard for.  Once Tatl was sure that Link was far enough away that the chu chu wouldn’t go after him anymore, she zoomed after him as fast as her little wings could take her.  Chu chu’s generally had the attention span of a goldfish, so about three seconds after Tatl was out of sight and seeing no one else to attack, it went about it’s own business again. 

Link was sitting down in the sand near the entrance of Great Bay, huffing and puffing like he’d just ran several miles.  Tatl had never seen him look as terrible as he did now.  And she had seen him through a lot of injuries and illnesses, so that really said something.  His skin was a pasty pale, black circles lined around his bloodshot eyes.  One might think he was from the Ikana Valley of undead residents.  “T-Thanks….” the boy said breathlessly taking huge breaths.  Tatl wondered if he might pass out.  “J-Just give me a-a min-ute.” 

The fairy really didn’t know what to say to him.  She took a long glance around Termina field in hopes of seeing someone that could possibly help them.  By the time she looked back at Link, he was lying on the ground with his eyes closed.  She jingled with alarm, wondering if he’d died or just passed out.  He was still breathing, so it must have been the latter. 

Termina field was certainly not the most ideal place to take a nap, as it was always crawling with enemies.  But Tatl could not help but feel grateful that he was finally sleeping.  She would have to just watch over him until he awoke.  She settled herself down on a nearby rock, thinking it would hours before he awoke.  You could imagine her surprise when he woke up barely two hours later, looking no better but seemed intent to continue on with the day.  She grew more worried when he dug through the mask bag and pulled the All Night Mask out, and placed it over his face again.  “What are you doing?” alarm was evident in her voice.  The fairy had begun to wonder if it was the mask itself that was causing this sudden change in her companion.

“Why are you putting that on?” 

“I still need to figure out what powers it has…” 

Over the next few cycles, Link continued to intermittently wear the All Night Mask.  The days were spent following Link’s own delusional mind as he pursued enemies only he could see, and followed senseless directions only he could hear.  The boy ignored Tatl’s insistence that the mask was making him go crazy, and countered all her worries that the Skull Kid had bewitched him and the All Night Mask was the key to breaking the curse.  Soon he was going on about how everyone including Tatl was conspiring against him.  Several times the boy had screamed at her to leave him, before running away himself.  

At seemingly random times, Link would suddenly fall down and sleep anywhere from forty minutes to three hours.  Then he would wake up and continue on.  The only thing these instances had in common was it was during times Link did not wear the All Night Mask.  One day, Link seemed to have finally reached a breaking point.  They were at the Cucco Shack in Romani Ranch when the child suddenly grabbed his head and screamed at the top of his lungs.  Grog was the only other person close enough to hear the scream; he looked over at them and said, “I know… I wish there was a way we could stop the moon from falling…” 

Once there was no more air left for Link to scream out, he collapsed to the ground next to the gossip stop that stood inside the shack.  The boy laid flat on his back very still and silent, making Tatl think that he had fallen asleep again.  But after a moment the fairy heard soft sobs coming from his body.  She had lost count of the amount of days that passed since Link purchased the All Night Mask, and she noted how this was the first time he’d cried since the ordeal started.  Going along with the sobs was a soft incomprehensible whispering.  For a moment Tatl thought it was coming from Link, but a moment later she realized it was the gossip stone.  Those mysterious stones were usually silent, and when you heard whisperings from them it meant they were trying to give you a message.  “Link…” Tatl turned to the boy who was still sobbing softly.  “Put the Mask of Truth on.  The stone is trying to tell us something.” 

It took a few minutes for Tatl to get the message across from Link, but she eventually coaxed him into putting on the mask.  It was the first mask he’d put on besides the All Night Mask in days.  Once the mask was placed over his face, both could hear the mysterious voice of the gossip stone.  “A torture device of insomnia seems to be in your possession…. Be wary… anyone who wears the mask will be unable to sleep…” 

The words hung thickly in the air, and what followed was a tense silence.  The news wasn’t surprising to Tatl, in fact now that she knew the truth she seemed to have known it all along.  She was brought out of her musings by the sound of a wounded animal.  When she turned towards the sound, she saw that it was Link.  He had rolled over onto his stomach and was now sobbing earnestly into the ground.  It was a terrible sound that came from his lips.  The fairy knew exactly what the wounded animal was.  It was the child's pride, the realization that he’d been wrong this entire time, and the consequences he’d suffered from not listening to her.  Long ago were the days where she belittled and insulted the kid.  Tatl had nothing but sympathy for him now.  So she landed on the ground next to his face and nuzzled into his cheek.

It had taken Link almost a full three cycles to fully recover from the lasting effects that the All Night Mask had on him.  They now both knew it was a truly evil mask, possibly more evil then Majora’s Mask.  Its powers seem to seep into your mind and linger there.  Calling you to put the mask on again, and again.  Telling you that the mask would save you from the torture it put you in.  But for some reason, Link decided to keep the mask in his collection.  Possibly because he had spent so many rupees on it.  He never wore it again, and even to this day.  He had to resist its tempting call to place it over his face again, its flowery lies that it would save you from all that harms you.  Maybe it is more evil than Majora’s Mask. 

Chapter Text

Prompt Seventeen – Dirty Secret

Timeline – Set several years after Majora’s Mask

She really needed to tell Link. That much was for sure as far as Malon was concerned.  But as she stared at the young man who was currently doing target practice with his bow and arrow; Malon knew it was the wrong time.  She had truly believed he’d recovered from his time spent in Termina; for the most part at least.  The various times he would wake up screaming in his sleep never fully went away.  But there was a brief period of time he’d gone back to the Link she had first met all those years ago.  

Something happened however, about two years ago.  Around the time the Gerudo King Ganondorf had his very public arrest; Link suddenly became quite resentful towards Princess Zelda.  This surprised Malon at first, since they seemed quite close at one time.  At least before Link had left for Termina.  He was such a mess on his return, there wasn’t much reason for him to go visit the Princess.  But he never gave Malon any reason to believe that he was no longer on good terms with the Princess.  Until the arrest happened.  

Then his eyes began to darken with resentment when Princess Zelda or the situation with Ganondorf were mentioned.  In the time it takes for one to snap their fingers, the happy carefree Link she had fallen in love with, was gone.  Only to be replaced by a moody young man who only reserved his smiles for her.  The nightmares he had on occasion quickly went back to an almost nightly occurrence.  Malon had not seen his nightmares get that bad, since he returned from his recovery time at Kakariko Village.  Link stopped eating again, and began having these episodes where his mind would wander away for hours on end.  It was always terrifying when that happened, because it seemed like his mind left his body, leaving an empty shell in its place.  When this happened, Malon was the only one who could pull him out of it.

So Malon chose not to tell him.  At least not yet.  Not until he’s doing better.  So she waited, hoping Link would snap back to his normal self again.  Maybe telling him was just what he needed to get the results she wanted.  But there was also the possibility that telling him would simply scare the daylights out of him and make everything worse. She was too afraid to take that chance.  

Some days passed by.  Malon was in the stables milking the cows when she heard the door open.  A glance over her shoulder, and she saw Link walking over to her.  A bright smile painted her lips, and she stood up wiping her hands on her dress before approaching the young man.  “Hi Link,” she greeted and wrapped both arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss. They always had to wait until they were alone with no one nearby before they could be intimate with each other.  Link responded eagerly to the kiss, but Malon could feel that something was off with him.  Pulling her lips away from his, she gave him a puzzled look before asking.  “What’s wrong?” 

A regretful sigh escaped his mouth.  “Malon… I…” he sighed again. “I think I need to leave.”

Both arms fells to her side, and she backed away, shaking her head in disbelief.  Why did she keep having to hear some version of those words over and over again?  “Why Link?” she asked angrily.

Link winced at the snapping anger in her voice.  “I just need to take some time for myself, to find some healing-” 

“Why do you need to leave in order to do that?” she barked voice rising in volume.  “When has leaving ever actually done anything to help you!?” 

The teen actually smiled at that.  “Leaving to go recover in Kakariko Village helped me.” 

“I still think you would have recovered just fine here!” she shot, turning away from him and crossing both arms over her chest.  The anger was building quickly, seen by the way her shoulders heaved up and down.

“Please Malon,” Link pleaded with her, reaching out and grabbing her hand.  “We both know I’m slowly losing myself.  I’m… just carrying too much regret.  I’ve made so many mistakes in my life; living with them is becoming too much.  I know that its weighing on you as well, and I love you too much to keep dragging you down with me.” 

Tears began to run down her cheeks, as Malon felt her heart begin to break.  Link pulled her into his arms, and resting his chin on top of her red haired head.  She buried her face into his chest and began to sob, “Please stay Link, we can work though this together.” 

Malon felt the young man’s arms squeeze her more tightly, and plant a kiss to the top of her head.  She’d been in this situation enough times to know that there was no talking him out of it.  When he made up his mind to go on one of his soul searching journeys, nothing anyone ever said or did would change his mind.  It was just the way he coped with all the trauma he’s been through.  “I promise this isn’t goodbye… at least not forever.” 

“I know that…” she replied attempting to smile but not really succeeding.  It had been a long time since the last time she had this conversion with Link, and she had come to believe that it wouldn’t happen again.  So this took her by surprise.  “Link…” if she was going to tell him; now was the time.  She could only hope that the news would maybe change his mind.  But as she stared into his bright eyes, still haunted by the years of trauma he’d experienced at too young of an age, a terrible thought entered her mind.  Maybe telling him would be the last straw to his sanity, and be the one piece of information that scared him so much he’d never come back this time.  “... Just be careful.  Hyrule’s not as safe as it was when we were kids.”  Link smiled at her, leaning in to give her another kiss on the lips.

Link spent the next couple of days packing and getting ready.  On the day of his departure, he saddled up Epona with all his gear and belongings.  The time had finally come to say good-bye.  He pulled Malon into a tight embrace, giving her a kiss on the cheek.  Her father and several other ranch hands were also there to see him off, so that was the most intimate he could get with her.  She didn’t mind through; they’d had their proper farewell the night before.

“Take care Link!” her father said giving him a firm handshake.  “Don’t stay away too long.” 

Similar exchanges were given, and with a final squeeze of Malon’s hand, Link pulled himself up onto Epona.  For another time too many, Malon had to watch the love of her life ride away from her.  He would return though, that she was sure of.  He always did.  There was even a time he’d admitted that he couldn’t promise his return, and he still did.  She would tell him when he returned.  As Link’s figure became a smaller and smaller speck, Malon’s hands which rested on her bust were lowered to rest over her slightly raised stomach.  By the time he returned… there would be no more hiding it.

Chapter Text

Prompt Eighteen – Panic at the Disco

Timeline – Set during Ocarina of Time

Embarrassing moments.  The times in your life you wish you could forget, but always crop back into your memory and remind you about how stupid you were in that moment.  Link had a vast amount of humiliating moments in his short life, most of which involved Mido during his growing up time in Kokiri forest.  You’d think the moment Mido scared the boy so badly Link had literally peed his pants in front of the entire laughing village, would always stand you as the worst.  

Surprisingly though, the moment his mind always went back to was a moment only Navi had witnessed.  Maybe it’s because she’s a creature he deeply cares for and having a stupid moment in front of her really stung, or maybe it was just because it really was his own stupidity.  Unlike Mido being a jerkwad, and causing the embarrassment himself, this particular incident was no one’s fault but his own.  It happened fairly early in his adventure, in fact it happened the day he had met Navi.  The two of them had been inside the Great Deku Tree trying to find the source of the curse that plagued the forest deity.  

It hadn’t even been the first large chest he had opened.  It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been.  But the slingshot was just so small sitting in that large chest, it was hard to reach.  Any large chest Link opened, he had to practically climb all the way inside in order to get the item out.  The slingshot was no different, but since it was so small, the boy ended up reaching even farther inside to grab it.  Why put such a small item inside a large chest was beyond him.  He’s not even sure exactly what happened, but suddenly his shins that were pressed against the edge of the chest slipped, and the young hero’s body lunged forward slightly.  Link’s head smacked against the side of the chest, causing the whole thing to jostle.  Then with a loud snap, everything went dark.  Not because he had passed out or anything, but because the chest lid closed on top of him.

Link had kept his dignity at first.  Despite feeling a bit claustrophobic, he did not initially freak out.  Just rolled his body around so he could sit up, and pressed both hands on the underside of the chests lid and pushed.  He was dismayed when the lid didn’t budge, and still managed to keep a cool head.  The boy got into a squatting position in the chest, so he could use the strength of his legs to help push.  The lid still didn’t budge. “Hey Link?” Navi’s confused voice spoke somewhat muffled from the other side of the wood.  “Are you coming out of there?” 

Apparently she didn’t realize that he was trying to do just that.  Wasn’t Guardian fairy’s supposed to have a connection with their chosen Kokiri?   Not that he’d ever heard of mind reading, but he’d thought she should be able to tell that he wasn’t just sitting in there playing a game.  “Come on Link!” she called again slightly louder now.  “This is no time to play hide and seek.” 

Ok, so that’s exactly what she thought.  “The lids stuck!” Link squeaked out, not sounding very dignified, as he wanted to.  But the claustrophobic feeling was beginning to intensify, and was it just him or was the air getting thinner?

“What?” Navi’s voice sounded like she still didn’t quite believe him. 

“It won’t open!” Link’s voice had suddenly risen to a shout, as panic started to set in.  He was going to suffocate in here.  The boy began pounding on the chests wood, breath quickening.  “Help! Help! Get me out of here!” 

Link’s sudden and very undignified panic seemed to get Navi to finally believe that he was really stuck, because the next time she spoke, her voice was very serious.  “All right Link, just calm down!  I’ll try and get the latch.” 

Whether it was because Link began hyperventilating or he was indeed losing oxygen, it didn’t really matter to the boy.  All that he was aware of, was that as each second passed, it was getting harder and harder to breath.  Not long from now he’d pass out and then die.  Tears of fright began leaking from his eyes, and sobs were then accompanied with his shrieks of terror.  “Let me out! Let me out!” 

“Link, you need to calm down!” Navi shouted through the cracks in the wood, but the boy was barely listening to her.  

Thinking back on the incident now, Link couldn’t tell whether he’d been inside for a few minutes or a few hours.  He could tell you, that he’d spent the entire time screaming bloody murder, and crying his eyes out.  All the while kicking at the wood and ripping his own fingernails off in an attempt to claw his way out.  Finally, and also quite suddenly, the lid of the chest snapped opened, shining light onto the boy’s red tearstained face.  As quick as a flash, Link scrambled out of the chest, and backed away until he hit the wooden wall of the Great Deku Tree.  A quick glance told him that Navi was nowhere to be seen.  The child took half a moment to wonder where his companion went and how the chest opened, before his emotions took over again.  

His back slid down the wooden wall behind him until he was seated on the ground, and after wrapping his arms around his hunched legs, Link lowered his head and sobbed into his knees.  Fear, relief, and humiliation, swirled through his chest, and released through the large tears running down the boy’s pale cheeks.  He stayed like this for another undermined amount of time before he heard someone calling out his name.  “Link? Link!” the boy recognized the voice as Navi’s.  “What’s wrong?  Are you hurt?” 

No… just embarrassed beyond believe.  Seriously who gets themselves stuck inside a chest, and then totally panics when they can’t get it open.  Finally Link managed to pull himself together, figuring the longer he stayed crying like a baby, the more he would degrade himself.  It took even more time to finally turn his head to face the fairy.  At least she was looking at him with sympathy and concern, and not the humor Mido would be giving him.  Link could only imagine the ridicule he’d get from the Kokiri leader, if he ever found out about this.  “Are you ok?” Navi asks again.  “You really had me scared there, I had to go ask the Deku Tree to help get you out.” 

Well that explained where Navi had disappeared to, and how he magically got out of the chest without any help.  The Great Deku must have used his own branches or something to unlatch the chest. Eventually with a nod of his head, still feeling deep shame within his gut.  Thankfully Navi chose not to comment on what had just happened.  She ended up having to go inside the chest to retrieve the slingshot for him, since he wouldn’t go near that chest.  They continued on after that, not mentioning the incident.  Navi made sure to hover close to the chests lids when he had to climb inside to retrieve an item, in order to hold it up if the lid ever tried to shut on him again.  It wasn’t until they had made it out of Dodongo’s Cavern before he was even remotely comfortable opening large chests again.  Even after the many months that had passed since that event, it still sticks out as one of Link’s most embarrassing moments. 

Chapter Text

Prompt Nineteen – Broken Hearts

Timeline – Set during Majora’s Mask

Link took a steady aim at the ghost that was slowly approaching the barn.  The arrow hit its target right through the eye, and its eerie glowing figure vanished.  The boy reached behind his back to grab another arrow, only to find that his quiver was empty.  A whispered curse fell from his lips; he should have stalked up on arrows before coming.  Link thought he would have enough, but had severely misjudged how many extra arrows Romani kept in the crates by her house.  There was at least another forty minutes before daylight would come, and that was way too long.  He had been stupid to take such a risk, especially when the boy knew exactly what would happen if he didn’t stop the ghosts from attacking the barn.

Though he knew it was all in vain, Link still tried to intervene in Romani’s capture.  He bolted towards the barn door.  Some of the invaders were already traveling through the wooden walls.  Romani’s scream, sounding so much like Malon’s, could be heard inside.  The sound of a bow ejecting an arrow, sounded shortly afterward.  She was trying to fight back, which she should be running.  Link had tried to persuade her dozens of times to just stay in the house while he deals with the invaders outside.  But she would have none of it, which made it always Link’s duty to make sure he shot down all the ghosts.  

The young hero pounded on the barn door with his fists.  “Romani! I’ve run out of arrows! You need to get out of there!  Escape through a window!”  At some point after the young ranch girl goes into barn, the door gets jammed.  Because each and every time this happens, Link is unable to get through the door and save her.  He only has about a minute after the ghosts start invading the barn, before she and the cows are taken.  So that doesn’t leave him much time to break the door down.  

“Grasshopper! Grasshopper! They’re breaking in, I need help! Grasshopper!” Romani’s terrible screeches could be heard through the walls.  Link began kicking at the door with her foot, knowing there was no use.  He’d known that it was all over the moment he realized he was out of arrows.

Sure enough there was another terrified scream from the young girl, and then what followed was the same series of events Link saw every time he accidently failed the events, and what he saw in his nightmares every time he chose not to help the girl during a cycle.  Because he knew this is what happens each and every time he does something else on the first night.  The roof of the barn blasts offs leaving a giant whole in the ceiling.  Then the cows come out.  One after another, they are raised slowly out of the barn and disappear into a large ball of night.  And after the cows, comes Romani.  A final tortured scream erupting from her mouth, until she too disappears into the ball of night.  Then the light vanishes, and everything goes quiet.

One might say you’d get used to it, at least after seeing it a few times.  But anyone who actually witnesses Romani’s abduction would agree with Link.  That’s not a sight you’d ever get used to.  Fortunately, he’d only failed a couple of times before this and both times he immediately ran from the Ranch as fast as he could.  Totally horrified at what he just let happened, and as soon as he was able to get a hold of himself, Link would reset time so he could try again.  Whatever those invaders do to Romani, he never wanted to find out.  All Link knew was that anytime he chose not to help the young ranch girl, the next time he saw her she was broken minded.

Something he’d never, ever want to associate with someone that resembled Malon. 

This time through.  He didn’t run away this time around.  For an undetermined amount of time, the boy was knelt down on his knees, starring up at the sky where he’d last scene Romani.  It almost felt like he was filled with ice that had numbed his entire body.  It was easier to feel nothing at all, rather than the overwhelming guilt.  Was it possible to just will her back?  Reset time by just a few hours?  

Maybe if he just waited here, he could save her from having her mind tortured beyond repair.  How long before they brought her back?  He knew that she was back by the final day. Do they keep her throughout the second day, and return her on the third? He decided then and their, that he was going to find the answer to all these questions.  It didn’t matter what else he had planned for this cycle; he would wait at the ranch all day today if he had to.  However long it took for her to return, he would wait.   

Link did not inform his fairy companion Tatl any of this, and she had been patiently waiting for him to pull himself together.  Actually considering her track record, it was surprising how long she’d stayed silent.  But of course she was never able to stay quiet forever, so she finally called out, “A- Link?  Don’t you think we should get going?” she questioned with great hesitance.  She didn’t actually know the boy’s history with Malon, and how both ranch girls are identical to a tee.  But she was at least aware of how touchy he can be when it came to the sisters.  “There’s not really… anything else we can do here…” 

A heavy sigh fell from the child’s lips.  Ignoring his companion would only annoy her, so he turned his head in the direction of where the fairy hovered.  “I’m going to wait for them to bring her back,” his words came out firm, with no room for argument.  

But of course this is Tatl he was talking to, and she always ignored those subtle hints.  “Why? How is that going to help?” Link looked away from her without answering.  He didn’t feel like explaining his reasoning to the fairy, she’d be least likely to understand.  When it became clear to the fairy that Link wasn’t going to answer her she added.  “What are you going to tell her sister when she wakes up?” 

Honestly Link hadn’t really thought about that, and he took a few moments to ponder before answering.  “I’ll just pretend that I’m here looking for Romani and pretend that I know nothing.” 

There was a jingle of annoyance that came from the fairy, but she didn’t argue with him.  Then came the longest silence that ever happened between the two companions without either being asleep.  Link sat on the ground looking up at the sky, while Tatl hovered around his head making impatient noises every so often.  When the first peaks of sunlight began to show behind the hills, Link started preparing a speech for Cermina when she woke up and asked why he was there.  Maybe she would already notice that Romani was gone and wonder where she was.  He’s have to carefully control his emotions.  Knowing that Cermina would be up at any moment, Link had stopped looking up at the sky and begun watching the house for signs of life within it.  Maybe Cermina actually saw her sister get returned.  He had never tried asking her what had happened to Romani, mostly because he usually avoided the Ranch during cycles where he was unable to help save the cows.  “Um… Link?” Tatl’s voice suddenly broke the silence.    

The boy was still trying to work out what he would say to Cremina, so he ignored the fairy.  She just wanted to voice out how impatient she was getting.  She continued with her tingle chime and a more urgent, “Link!” 

A sudden painful tug on his ear, tore Link from his thoughts.  By reflex the child swatted the air by his ear and turned towards his companion.  But before he could voice his annoyance, he saw the reason why Tatl was trying to get his attention.  The glowing light had returned, just as big and as bright as before.  Link raised a hand in front of his face to shield his eyes from the brightness.  A sudden thud of something heavy hitting the ground was heard then almost instantly the light disappeared.  

When Link removed the hand from his vision, he saw Romani sprawled on the ground in front of them.  A sick feeling welled in his stomach as he thought about how they literally dropped her like a sack of potatoes, or a piece of garbage they were through with.  “Romani!” he called out and ran over to where she lay.  

Without really thinking about aggravating injuries, Link rolled her body over so she laid on her back.  With a couple blinks the young girl opened her eyes, and the moment Link gazed into her orbs he knew that it was too late.  There was no life whatsoever found in her eyes, she might as well be a walking corpse.  Apparently whatever they did to her, they did while in captivity.  Probably picked at her brain until there was nothing else left, damaged beyond repair.  The boy could only look at her with a horrified gaze.  It was at this point he realized how much worse this had made the whole incident.  Why had he decided to wait and see when she would get back, it hadn’t made him feel better.  In fact, it made him feel worse.  

Romani slowly sat up, the blank look never leaving her face. Link had a sudden foreboding feeling that he needed to leave.  Right now.  But he resisted the urge, because it just didn’t seem right leaving her like this.  Tatl must have felt the same thing because after a moment she said, “Link, I think we should get out of here.” 

Unfortunately, her suggestion was too little too late.  “Romani! Are you out here?” Cremina’s voice was suddenly heard coming out of the house.  Before Link even had the chance to think about trying to hide, the young woman came out and saw where they sat on the ground.  “Link is that you?  What are you two doing out here so early?” 

Cremina began walking towards them.  The young hero’s mind screamed for him to run, but he was suddenly frozen in place.  The older ranch girl quickly noticed something off about her sister as she got closer to where they were sitting.  “Romani?” she questioned, eyes narrowing slightly.  Link really needed to leave now, but the more he thought about it, the heavier his body seemed to get.  When Cremina finally realized that something was wrong with Romani, she was quick to run over to them.  “Romani! What’s wrong?” Cremina asked falling to her knees in front of the girl.  Link scooched backwards to make room for her.

“Link, we need to go now!” Tatl’s voice had reached a desperate tone now, and Link knew the utmost importance of leaving was.  But for some reason he remained frozen in place, unable to tear his eyes away from the two sisters. 

“Romani!” the older girl was now yelling in fear, giving the young girl a soft shake in hopes that it would pull her mind back from where ever it had gone.  “Dear goddesses what happened to you!” Cremina’s eyes darted to look at Link, accusation flared within them.  “What did you do to her!”

The boy opened his mouth, he wanted to say- he needed to say, for her to understand that he had done nothing to her.  That he had tried to help her.  But the words wouldn’t come out.  Maybe it was because a part of him thought that he was the one responsible for what happened.  Of only he’d shown up with enough arrows, or if only he’d aimed better and not missed those few invaders.  If only he’d been strong enough to get through the door.  He could have saved her from this. “I- … I’m s-sorry…” the young hero managed utter.  

The older ranch girls face had turned ugly as terrified anger filled her emotions.  Before he realized that it was happening, Cremina’s angry face was right in front of Links.  The woman’s hands were clenching his forearms like iron clads.  “What did you do to my sister!” she screamed into his face while shaking his body.  She continued to scream and shake his small frame, demanding an explanation.  But the boy could not understand her words anymore.  He could hear her yells, but couldn’t make any sense of the words.  The image of Malon’s beautiful face, twisted and gnarled with anger, was being branded into his mind.  He could see the trace of tears forming at the corners of Cremina’s eyes, and Link could feel the stinging prickle of his own tears threatening to fall.

After what felt like forever, Tatl finally intervened. She flew into the young woman’s face, effectively startling her enough to let go of the boy and fall back for a moment.  Link, on instinct jumped to his feet and ran.  Ran as fast as he could away from the ranch.  Not even bothering to check if his fairy was following him.  It’s unclear how far he actually ran before falling into his face, and sobbing.  If it was ever possible for his spirit to get shattered, it had now happened.  He had never experienced an out of body sensation before now.  He couldn’t feel anymore.  He could see himself lying in the middle of Termina field, sobbing into the ground.  But why was he standing there watching it?  

Link never found out what happened after that.  The next thing he recalled was waking up in the Stock Pot Inn with a wet cloth over his forehead, and the sensation that his spirit was still shattered.  It took another full cycle for Link to recover from this event, and the only thing he could recall from that cycle was Tatl continuously saying that they were never going by to Romani Ranch again.  But every single time she said this, Link would think this.  That’s never going to happen…

Chapter Text

Prompt Twenty – Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore

Timeline – Set Pre Ocarina of Time

When Link first learned about the Lost Woods, he didn’t think much of it.  It was a forbidden place that no one should venture into according to the Great Deku Tree.  This was something the old forest guardian had been telling Link for as long as he could remember.  Having an audience with the Old Tree was far from unheard of, but didn’t happen daily either.  But it seemed like every time the Great Deku Tree spoke with him, there was always at least a mention of never going into the Lost Woods.  Apparently going through the forbidden trees caused children to turn into Skull Kids, and the boy just assumed that the deity was just worried about him, and probably told the other Kokiri children the same thing when he spoke to them.

It wasn’t until after he turned five, that the child began to question how true the warnings were about the forbidden woods.  Mostly because that was when he was old enough to wonder where Saria often disappeared to.  Being the one who gave Link the most attention, Saria was a type of sergeant mother to him.  She was the one who cared for him during his infancy years.  According to the female Kokiri, some of the others took care of him also during that time, but Link could only remember Saria.  She also taught him games, played songs for him on her ocarina, tended to his minor injuries, and came to his house to check on him every night before she went to bed herself.

But there were also long stretches of time where she was nowhere to be found.  Luckily this never happened when he really needed her.  The girl always seemed to have a magical ability to know when he was in trouble and needed help.  Always showing up within minutes after injuring himself, having a nightmare, or falling ill.  But there were plenty of times he would go searching for her and failing to find her anywhere

Asking the other Kokiri children where she was, didn’t seem to be helpful.  When Link was younger, he accepted their vague answers of, “Oh, she’s around.  She’ll be back later.  She’s having a quiet time.” But now the boy wanted more elaborate answers, and started to continue questioning her whereabouts.  Most of the children just told him off about being less nosy, but one day Fado made an offhand comment, “She’s probably in the Lost Woods.” 

“What?” Link almost couldn’t believe his ears.  Why would Saria not heed the Deku Tree’s warnings about the Forbidden Forest.  All he could think about was the stories about how all the children that entered the woods turned into Skull Children, and even adults weren’t spared. They turned into something called a Stalfos.  Link had never seen one before, but from the stories he heard, they were terrifying skeletal beings that attacked anyone that came near them.  Even though Saria was well over a hundred years old, she still appeared as a child like all Kokiri did.  So she would likely turn into a Skull Kid instead of a Stalfos.  But even though a Skull Kid didn’t seem as bad, the boy couldn’t bear the thought of his best friend being turned into such a creature.  It didn’t take long to come to the decision.  He had to go into the woods and rescue her.

Not even taking the time to stay and listen to whatever Fado was saying to him, Link quickly ran towards his house.  He had absolutely no idea what he would need for his excursion into the woods, but he was sensible enough to know that going in with nothing would be a big mistake.  Unfortunately, being a five year old fairyless Kokiri, meant he really didn’t have much to begin with.  So the young boy found himself helplessly staring around his treehouse looking for something that could be useful in this dangerous adventure he was going to embark on.  Other than some blankets for his bed, and a table to eat off of, Link pretty much didn’t own a thing.  Some of the Kokiri had a small knife that they carried around, but Saria thought he was too young for such things.  He didn’t even have a dull spreading knife.  The most dangerous thing in his house was the wooden fork he used at mealtime.  The boy picked it up with a soft sigh and put it in his pocket.  It was better than nothing he supposed. 

There really wasn’t much else he could bring that would be helpful.  He didn’t even own a bag to carry food in.  So he grabbed a handful of nuts from his table, and stuffed it into his pocket before leaving the house.  The young child deliberately took the long way to the woods entrance, going behind all the Kokiri houses so as to not draw attention to himself.  He really didn’t know how Saria managed to get into the forbidden woods without someone stopping her, but he didn’t chance the wrong person finding out and reporting him to the Great Deku Tree.

Upon entering the woods, Link almost expected for a rush of chills to pass over him.  Or least something to indicate why the woods were so forbidden.  He was surprised to see that the Lost Woods looked and felt like the rest of Kokiri Forest.  Ok maybe the trees were a bit more congested, but there wasn’t a swarm of Skull Kids, or Stalfos that attacked him.  Not that he would know what they looked like.  It just seemed like a regular forest.  But the fact that it didn’t seem dangerous at all, made the child feel a bit nervous.  Maybe something was going to jump out and ambush him.

Link took a glance back at Kokiri forest, just barely noticeable through the thick patch of trees.  Should he turn back? He didn’t think anyone would blame him for doing so, he was in a place that was strictly off limits, and the longer he stood there, the more uneasy he felt.  But if he went back and later found that something happened to Saria, Link didn’t think he could ever forgive himself.  With that thought, his mind was made up.  The fear of what could happen to his friend far outstretched the fear of what could happen to him.  So with a gulp, the child continued onward.  “Saria!” he called out, but not too loudly for fear that some forest monster might hear him.  “Can you hear me!” 

The only sound that responded was the distant sound of a crow cawing.  After walking for a few minutes with the occasional call for the Kokiri girl, he heard the sound of a snapping twig, followed by the rusle of a bush.  The boy quickly glanced in the direction the sound came from, but saw nothing.  But the feeling of being watched came over him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.  He was starting to question his decision of coming in here.  He could have talked to the Kokiri leader Mido, or even better gone straight to the Great Deku Tree with his concerns.  Thinking now, those all seemed like much more sensible ideas then just coming in here with a wooden fork and handful of nuts.  He should turn back before he gets too lost.  Unfortunately, the young Kokiri came to this decision a few steps too late.  When he turned around to head back to the village he saw nothing but clumps of trees that all looked the same.

Wishing that he had paid better attention to the direction he was going, Link chose a direction at random and could only hope he would either find Saria or his way to the village.  Now he was beginning to understand why they were called the lost woods, after a few more minutes of walking he was utterly lost.  Not to mention the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach was constantly growing, the rustling sounds he heard from time to time didn’t help either.  “Te he he he…” an eerie giggle came from out of nowhere and echoed around the tree’s.

“Wh- who’s there?” Link asked in a shaky voice, unable to hide the nervousness in his voice.

This was followed by another eerie giggle, and then something stepped out from behind a tree.  It was a small creature that looked to be made completely of gnarled wood.  It wore an orange tunic and straw hat that hung over its glowing yellow eyes.  This could only be a Stalfos or a Skull Kid, and going by the size of it Link suspected the latter.  The creature giggled again, then spoke in a strange squeaky voice, “Lost boy…” 

Link began backing away, as the creature began moving towards him.  “Lost boy has no light…” the creature spoke again, and raised the flute that was in his hand up to his lips and played a little tune.  Within seconds five more of the creatures came out and surrounded him, all giggling to themselves.

There was nowhere for Link to run, as they were zoning in on him.  So he took out his wooden fork, ready to put up a fight.  The boy swung the fork at the first creature that tried to grab him.  It jumped out of the way, easily avoiding his attack.  Another creature grabbed him from behind, and was able to easily take the fork out of his hand and toss it aside.  The young child screamed and began struggling to get away.  He was easily overpowered, and pinned to the ground.  Link burst into tears doing the last thing he could think of, “No! No please! Don’t! Help! Help! Someone help me!” 

The creature’s sharp wooden hands began clawing at his skin, he could feel it ripping and blood starting to flow.  Was this what it was like to turn into a Skull Kid?  It happened so fast?  Saria was probably already one… oh why did he come into here?  But then… it suddenly all stopped.  The hands left his body, and there shuffling footsteps faded away.  Link was in too much terrified horror to find out why they were leaving, so he just laid on the ground crying.  They were probably finished and he was now a Skull Kid himself.  The boy was about to look up at his skin to confirm, when he felt his body get picked up by someone bigger than him.  He recognized the gentle handling right away, and wrapped his arms around Saria’s neck and sobbed into her chest.  “Shh… Shhh… it’s ok Link.  You’ll be ok,” she soothed softly.

Link only cried harder.  He had never been so terrified in his life, so that along with the relief that he had found Saria and she was ok caused the tears to flood from his eyes.  It was quite some time before the child was able to stop crying, and he was still hiccuping in her arms when Saria asked, “Why did you come in here Link?  Were you not warned not to?” 

The child sniffled before answering, “I… I heard that y-you had come in.  And I… I thought I needed to rescue you…” 

Saria just hugged him tighter at hearing that.  “Oh sweet child… I supposed you were not told why it was unsafe for you to come in.”  She tilted Link’s chin up so he could look her in the eyes and wiped a few stray tears away.  The Kokiri are safe to travel through the lost woods, as long as you have your guardian fairy with you.”  She motioned at her fairy companion floating next to her.

“Oh…” Link couldn’t help but blush at that, and get that outcast feeling he often got from being the only Kokiri that didn’t have their own fairy.  “I wish someone had told me that…” 

“It was very dangerous for you to come in here Link.  You were lucky I got here in time.  But I do appreciate your concern for me,” the female Kokiri hugged the younger child again, and looked more closely at his bleeding skin.  Most of the cuts were shallow so it wasn’t too bad.  It looked a lot worse than it actually was.  “Come on, let's get you home and I’ll clean you up.”  With that Saria lifted the boy into his arms and began walking back toward the village.  Link shut his eyes and snuggled closer into her body.  He felt safe. 

Chapter Text

Prompt Twenty-One – I don’t feel so well

Timeline - Set Pre Wind Waker

The smell of Grandma’s island famous apple dumpling recipe wafted through the air.  Though the scent usually smelt heavenly to Link’s empty stomach, leaving his mouth to water; now however it left him feeling slightly nauseous.  Link had woken up that morning feeling slightly under the weather.  He opted out on telling his grandmother this, since she already had enough to deal with right now.  His younger sister Aryell had been fighting off a bad case of the flu all week long, and his grandmother had spent much of her time tending to the young girl.  Coaxing her into eating small amounts of soup, staying up all night soothing her fever, along with all the other obligations that came with raising her grandchildren.

Link did what he could to help her, doing extra chores, and sitting with his sister whenever his grandmother ending up falling asleep for a small spell.  Aryell was now finally on the road to recovery, and seemed well enough to eat dinner at the table with them.  Their grandmother was so happy she took this as an excuse to make something special for them all.  Just his luck for this to happen now.  When Link first woke up feeling off, he shrugged it off to his imagination.  He had been careful, washing his hands anytime he had been sitting with his sickly sister, and steering clear of her room at all other times. 

But unfortunately when you all live under one roof, it’s hard to avoiding the sickness that goes around.  So by now he had accepted his fate that he had contracted the disease thanks to his sister.  The only reason why he wasn’t saying anything to his grandmother now, was because he didn’t want to ruin the special evening she had planned for them.  If he could just get through dinnertime then he’d go to bed early and break the news to his grandmother in the morning.  Poor old woman just couldn’t get a break, as soon as one kid gets over the sickness the next one down the line gets it.  It how it had always been, as long as Link could remember.

The aroma suddenly intensified when Link’s grandmother added the cinnamon to the recipe, and Link’s stomach gave an uneasy jolt.  Figuring it was best to just clear the premises, Link stood up from the chair he was resting on and headed for the front door.  “Where are you going Link love?” his grandmother asked as she turned to watch him.

The boy swallowed before answering hoping to keep his voice steady.  “Just going for a walk.” 

Luckily his voice didn’t sound as weak as he felt.  Wasn’t able to completely take the shake out of his tone, but the older woman didn’t seem to take notice.   “All right love,” she turned back to the stove.  “Suppers almost ready, so don’t be out for too long.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Link let out a breath of relief as he stepped outside.  The fresh air easing his stomach slightly.  The relief was short lived however.  The short walk he took around the island helped his uneasy stomach, but on the other hand it also made known how tired and achy he was feeling.  What he really wanted to do right now, was go to bed and sleep away his illness.  That would come in time, but first he needed to make it through dinner.   Link’s grandmother was just putting the food on their table when Link walked inside the house.  Aryell was already sitting at the table, still not quite her bubbly self yet, but her face had more color in it than she’d had all week.  “Hoy Brother!” she greeted cheerfully with a smile.  “I almost thought I was going to need to go find you.”

“You’re just in time Link,” his grandmother said placing a bowl of veggies on the table. “Go wash up and we can eat.”

Clamping his mouth shut against the nausea that rolled in stomach as the smell of food, Link walked over to the wash pan and cleaned up his hands and face before sitting down at the table.  The boy had barely sat down at the table when a heaping plate of fried chicken, potato’s and vegetables was placed in front of him.  He tried not to grimace at the food, he had never felt less hungry in his life.

Luckily it seemed he was able to get away with simply pushing the food around on his plate instead of eating it.  His grandmother and Aryell seemed distracted enough by each other.  His little sister got her chatterbox back today, and was going on about everything she was going to do tomorrow since she had missed out on so much this week.  His grandmother was listening intently to her and occasionally adding her own comments.  Neither seemed to notice that he wasn’t joining the conversation.  Just when the boy was thinking that he was going to get away with only eating a few bites of his dinner, his grandmother finally caught him.  “Link love, why aren’t you eating?”

Getting suddenly addressed caused Link to jump a little bit, and he gave his grandmother a deer in the headlights look.  Yeah… that was really helping his case.  “I- I am..” he responded with a high pitched squeak in his tone, and took a bite of his chicken. 

Unfortunately it was already too late.  The older woman had finally caught on to her grandson’s off behavior, and was now looking at him with a critical eye.  As his grandmother got older, it got more and more easy to fool her.  But when she was suspicious about something, it did not matter how old she was getting, nothing could hide behind that penetrating gaze she was now giving the boy.  “Link… are you sure you’re feeling ok?”  

Now even Aryell was giving him that critical look, something she undoubtfully picked up from their grandmother.  It was bad enough having just one female gave him that look, but with both.  Link was sure he was about the crack under the pressure.  “Y-yeah!” the boy almost winced at how high pitched his voice had gotten. 

Their grandmother had already gotten up from her seat at the table and was coming around to stand in front of him.  The woman reached a withered hand around the side of his head, gently pulling it toward her face, and planting a small kiss to his forehead.  The frown on her face that followed this intimate act, was enough to know that he must have had a temperature.  Not that he was surprised.  He still felt his heart sink down into his stomach, as it was all over now.  He had ruined the evening his grandmother had spent all day preparing for.  “Well love, it looks like you’ve caught the nasty bug that Aryell had,” the woman’s voice held both concern and sympathy.  No traces of disappointment, even though Link knew that she was.  He wouldn’t even be able to try the apple dumplings, which were always so good right after coming out of the oven. 

A soft sniffle came from Link, as he attempted to force back his tears.  Of course his grandmother misread this act of emotions, “Aw, don’t worry my sweet Link.  You’ll be just fine after a few days’ rest.” She wiped a stray tear that had been threatening to fall from his eye, with the thumb of her hand.  “Now you head up to bed, and I’ll be there in a minute.”

Accepting to defeat, Link stood up leaving behind his barely touched plate, and headed up to loft where he slept.  The boy had only just laid down in his bed when his grandmother came up to him with a wet cloth.  She folded the fabric in half before laying it across his forehead, and adjusting the blankets so they were snug around his body.  “Don’t you worry Link, your granny going’s take good care of you.”

She was being way too kind about this, and Link couldn’t take it anymore.  “I’m sorry Grandma…” a few tears finally slipped down his cheeks.  “You worked so hard to make a special dinner for us, and I’ve ruined it…”

“Now you stop thinking that, love,” the old woman said with a trace of firmness in her face.  “I don’t get any kind of joy more then I get when I make special food for you and your sister.  So when you’re feeling better, I’ll get to make something special for you both again!”  She smiled down at her, and kissed his cheek.  “Now you rest up, and I’ll go whip you up some of your favorite soup.”

Link could not help but smile back as she turned to head down the loft.  It was amazing how much better you felt when you laid down.  With a content sigh, the soon to be hero, closed his eyes and finally gave into his exhaustion.

Chapter Text

Prompt Twenty-two - Do These Tacos Taste Funny to You?

Timeline - Set during Majora’s Mask

Ikana Valley has probably been one of the most terrifying places Link had ever been in.  With the stench of rotting flesh thick in the air, and many undead creatures milling about.  It was certainly on par with the terrifying Shadow Temple he had to trek through as an adult.  So it would make sense that the old empty well beneath the valley would be the most terrifying place of all time.  This is at least what Link had thought when he first stepped into the wells dark dank depths, considering his other experiences with wells.  This wasn’t the case however.  Yes the Ikana Well smelled and felt as deathly as the rest of the valley did, and the fact that he was forced to interact with the Gibdos wasn’t pleasant to do.  None of it compared to that nightmare of a place hidden deep beneath the ground of Kakariko Village.

Yes… no one who entered that quiet little village in Hyrule would ever think that hidden beneath the Well is a hidden dungeon with cells, torture devices, and undead creatures that still give him nightmares even today.  Though the Ikana Well, was still scary enough to give Link a reason to avoid venturing its depths more than once.  This is why when he and Tatl found that they had not packed enough food for them this cycle, the young Hero was hesitant to leave, since they had not yet found the secret entrance into the Ikana Castle.

“Come on…” Tatl was saying to the boy in a very exasperated voice.  “We’re only halfway through the first day.  Lets just soar back to Clock Town, get some food and we’ll come back here and pick up where we left off.” 

The young child sighed to himself, as he listened to his growling stomach.  That was certainly tempting, but he really didn’t want to have to find his way through this labyrinth of doors again.  It's not like he was on the verge of starving to death.  He could just wait until they were finished with whatever business needed to get done in the castle, then go eat a big meal in Clock Town.  “No…” he finally responded.  “Let’s finish this first.” 

A frustrated sigh came from the fairy, “So what are you going to do, just starve yourself?” 

“I’ll be fine!” Link insisted with a wave of his hand.  “People have gone way longer than three days without food.  We can wait until we’re finished here.” 

“Nu-ah,” Tatl protested with a jingle.  “I’ve seen you when you’re hungry, and I’m not putting up with your grouchiness.” 

The young hero gave his fairy companion a very childish pout.  “Fine then! We’ll just find something here to eat.” 

Though Link could not see it, since Tatl’s face couldn’t be seen through her brightness, the fairy had a very disgusted look on her features as she glanced around the room they were in.  “What the heck are you going to find edible in this putrid place?” 

She did have a fair point.  The entire place smelt like rotting flesh, so their pickings would be pretty slim.  But not everything he saw in the well was dead, he’d given one of the Gibdos a fish earlier, and fish were certainly edible. “We’ll just have to go looking, we already know that there are fish down here.  Let’s just find another one.” 

“This is certainly saving us time,” Tatl grumbled sarcastically.  “By the time we find something edible to eat, cook it, and eat it.  It would probably be the same amount of time that it would take to go back to Clock Town and eat…” 

Not sure if he could handle listening to his feisty partner gripe at him the whole time, Link decided to compromise.  “Ok fine.  If you promise to help me find something we can eat down here without complaining and we don’t find anything in fifteen minutes, then we’ll go to Clock Town.  Deal?” 

Tatl was silent for a moment, seeming to consider him.  After a moment she responded, “Fine, let’s go.” 

The two began searching.  Link started off by going over to a corner of the room where he knew a large puddle of water was, so he could check it for fish.  There weren't any, but he did see some bugs crawling around.  “There are some bugs over here we could snack on?” the boy suggested hopefully.

Tatl who had been searching around the other side of the room, turned to look at him.  “Ew… you want to eat bugs? They are the most disgusting creatures in the land, have you seen where they go?” Link just shrugged his shoulders, and put some in a bottle anyway.   

After a few minutes they went to check another room.  Link put the Gibdo mask back on, just in case there were more Gibdos in the next room.  There were, but they ignored the mummy like creatures and continued searching around for anything edible they could eat.  After ten minutes went by, Link was beginning to get desperate.  So when they went into another room, and he saw a Keese flying around; Link pulled his Hero Bow out and shot it down.  The bat-like creatures gave a shudder when it was hit, then dropped to the ground motionless.  He normally would have just ignored its dead remains, but instead the boy walked over and picked it up by one of its wings.  “There we go, some food.” 

“You want to eat a Keese…” Tatl asked, her tone sounded more uncertain rather than disgusted like when he suggested the bugs.  

“Why not?” the young hero shrugged.  “I’ve seen Dodongo’s eat them, they must be edible.” 

Since it was somewhat hard to see through the Gibdo Mask, Link and Tatl went back to a room that had no Gibdos in it to create a fire for cooking.  They soon discovered that the place was way too wet and dank to create a little cooking fire on the ground.  So Link had to use a stick to skewer through the Keese and hold it over one of the torches to cook.  Soon the smell of roasting Keese was in the air, and unfortunately it didn’t smell at all appetizing.  Tatl began coughing at the smell, “Man that smells terrible, you really going to eat that Link?” 

Even Link had to admit to himself that he wasn’t quite sure he was hungry enough to eat this.  The smell itself was starting to dampen his appetite.  “It will probably taste better than it smells,” he said, trying to sound optimistic.  The boy knew that he was being stubborn.  It wouldn’t be that much trouble just to play the song soaring, to go back to Clock Town, then play the song again to head back here.  He just didn’t want to admit that Tatl was right… he still had his pride!

“Suit yourself…” Tatl responded with a shake of her head.  “But I’m not eating that crap.” 

Link made sure it was really cooked through before taking the keese out of the fire.  He turned the cooked creature over with his fingers, trying to decide which part he should bite into first.  There was really no meat on wings, so he just snapped that off and tossed them aside.  After a few minutes he decided to just pick a spot and bite into it.  Link could tell at once that the terrible smell that came from cooking the creature was its skin.  It was rubbery and tasted as bad as it smelled.  He quickly fished the skin out of his mouth, and threw it aside.  The meat actually didn’t taste that bad however; certainly not the tastiest thing he’s ever had, but not too bad.  After swallowing the first bite, Link proceeded to tear off the keese’s skin before eating the flesh around its bones.  “So how is it?” his fairy companion finally asked.  

“Pretty good actually,” Link responded after swallowing a mouthful of meat, and held the carcass out to her.  “You want to try some?” 

“No thanks…” she still sounded disgusted.  “I can wait.” 

It only took him a few minutes to eat the whole thing, after which he wiped his hands on his green tunic and declared he was ready to continue.  Link once again placed the Gibdo Mask on his face and continued his trading sequence with the terrifying monsters.  Even when he knew that there was no chance of harm while he wore the mask, it was still unnerving to approach the Gibdos.

As much as the young child hated for Tatl to be right, it did not take very long for him to start to regret eating that Keese.  Even though the meat tasted fine, as long as its skin was off, the food seemed to fester in his gut, accompanied by some mild nausea.  It wasn’t too bad though… Link was pretty confident that it would pass after a bit.  He tried to ignore his growing stomach ache while making his way through the well’s labyrinth of rooms and doors.  This wasn’t too hard at first, but as his stomach began to cramp up with stabbing pains to join the nausea, it got much more difficult.  When he finally managed to find the secret entrance to Ikana Castle, Tatl had begun to notice his off behavior.  “Are you all right?” she asked him as he leaned against the tiled wall breathing deeply.

Giving up all sense of pride, the young Hero of Time shook his head. “N-No…” he paused to let out another slow breath through his mouth in an attempt to keep his stomach at bay.  “I don’t feel very good.” 

“I told you that you shouldn’t have eaten that Keese…” Tatl responded with a shake of her head.  Her voice sounded annoyed but Link had known her long enough to hear the tint of concern behind the biting words.  “You should probably sit down now.  See if that helps.” 

That sounded like really good advice so Link did just that.  He was glad to be out of the well finally, since the dank rotting smell certainly wasn’t helping his stomach.  They were still in Ikana Valley, so there was still a stench in the air, but wasn’t quite as bad.  The boy sat down with his back against the wall, head laid between his knees, still taking deep breaths.  Sitting down actually did help quite a bit.  Hopefully if he just sat here long enough, it would pass.  “Well Link…” Tatl spoke after a few minutes of silence, “We might have navigated through that place for nothing.” 

This caused Link’s head to snap up and look at her, his mind temporarily off his current stomach issues.  What did she mean they did it for nothing? There’s no way he just went through the second most terrifying well ever, eating a roast Keese, and now sporting the worst stomach ache ever for nothing!  “Wha…?” he looked over at the fairy with a horrified glare on his face.

“Well look around?” Tatl said zooming around the place where they currently rested.  Link did as suggested and glanced around the tiled area they were in.  At once he saw that it wasn’t a room at all.  He could see the sky above him, almost nighttime, but still bright enough out to see that they were at the bottom of a round well.  The old tile indicated that this was once a beautiful shining spot to draw water from.  Considering the fact that it was inside the castle walls, this was most likely only used by the old royal residents of Ikana Castle.  Now it seems the time has not treated the well very kindly, as the once shining tiles were now stained and grimy.  The water had dried up and the well was now being used as a sort of dumping ground, as nearby there was a large pile of rubbish.  “Is there any way we’re going to get out of here without heading back the way we came?” 

With a sinking feeling that did not help his uneasy stomach, the boy realized that she was quite right.  The well they entered on the other end had a rusted old ladder to climb in and out of it.  But on this side there was nothing on the walls that he could climb.  Up above, he could see the remains of a bucket draw, used for getting water out.  But there was no longer a bucket attached to it, so it wouldn’t be helpful at all.  This realization of bitter unfairness accompanied with the growing nausea in his gut, caused tears to prickle at the child’s eyes.  He attempted to blink them away, but it was no use.  Barely a moment passed after the tears began to fall, and he was opening crying into his knees.  This is all way too much for him, he was only a ten year old kid.  Why was the world expecting so much from him?  Saving princesses, traveling through time, defeating monsters, healing spirits.  Why was he expected to do all of this?

Tatl just watched with pity in her eyes, while he cried to himself.  After a few long moments she finally suggested in a very soft voice, almost sounding motherly.  “Come on Link… let's go back to Clock Town and rest for a bit.  Then we’ll come back and find another way into the castle.” 

The boy let out a shaky breath, sniffling loudly.  The crying if anything had only made the rolling in his stomach worse.  Eating that Keese was certainly a mistake, and he began to wish that his stomach would just stop fighting and just expel the foul meat.  He did agree with Tatl of course, there was nothing else they could do.  He just wanted to wait until either his stomach vomited, or settled down enough for him to stand up again.  “Y-Yeah…” he swallowed thickly.  “Just give me a minute…” 

Link stared at the pile of garbage in front of him while his stomach dangerously rolled and flip flopped.  His eyes scanned for something interesting to look at that would take his mind off of how miserable he felt.  Everything looked like old, rotting, and rusted scraps of every possible thing you could find.  What did catch his eye was something in the middle of the pile that was shiny and seemed to be reflecting the final rays of sunlight that shone down on it.  It piked the boy’s interest enough, for him to let out a breath and stand up so he could check it out.  “What are you doing?” Tatl asked as he approached the pile of rubbish.  

“What’s this thing?” the young hero responded with his own question as he reached through the large pile and grabbed the shiny object.  

They were both surprised when Link pulled out a shiny new looking shield.  The boy knew at once that it was a mirror shield, as the front of it was covered in the shiny mirror metal.  The exact same stuff that covered the mirror shield he had gotten in the Spirit Temple back when he was an adult.  All at once he remembered seeing one of those sunlight blocks at the front of Ikana Castle by Pamala’s house.  Maybe activating that lock would get them into the castle?  Maybe his trek through the well hadn’t been for nothing.  The child was just about to give a woop when his stomach gave an unexpected lurch, that caused him to groan loudly.  “What’s wrong!” Tatl asked, alarmed by his sudden distress.

Link did not respond, knowing that he was moments away from throwing up.  He dropped the shield, and resolutely collapsed to his knees, holding his stomach with both hands.  A numbing sensation coursed through his limbs, and saliva filled his mouth.  The hands that were holding his stomach moved to be planted on the ground.  His stomach gave a mighty heave, but the food he’d eaten didn’t want to come up so easily, and all that came out of his mouth was a horrible gagging noise.  Sweat poured from his skin, as another heave racked his frame, another hair raising gag was accompanied with his stomach finally heaving up that terrible Keese.  The poor child coughed a couple of times before gagging again, and more of the ugly meat came up.  Wave after torturous wave hit Link as he slowly expelled everything that laid in his stomach.  

After what felt like a lifetime, his stomach settled down again.  Still feeling a bit tender, but no longer with angry nausea.  The boy rolled over to lay on his back, breathing deeply.  “You done?” Tatl asked sounding both sympathetic and disgusted.  Link just nodded, “Well we now know that Keese are not edible.” 

“Tell me about it…”

Chapter Text

Prompt Sixteen – A terrible horrible no good very bad day

Timeline – Set during Majora’s Mask

When Link first started noticing the invaders, it was just a flash in his peripheral vision.  The moment he turned his head to get a better look they had disappeared.  This meant that they were either hiding from his sight or had the ability to turn invisible.  If it was the latter, he wondered why they never used the trick when he fought them in the past.  This actually wasn’t what worried him. What did worry him was why the invaders were following them around, when they normally only showed up at the Ranch on the first night to steal the ranch cows.  It did seem that the strange ghosts were following them, as Link continued to catch their glimpses wherever they were in Termina.

It didn’t seem like Tatl could see them; he had asked a couple times if she had seen anything and the answer was ‘no’ both times.  She actually gave him a strange look the last time he asked so he decided to stop asking.  It's not like they were actually doing anything to them, so he’d wait until they seemed more of a threat before bringing it up again.  He did continue to get more alarmed as their appearances became more frequent.  It also didn’t take long before Link was able to connect them with the voices he’d been hearing.  He wasn’t sure exactly when it started, but for a little while the boy had begun noticing soft whispers coming from the shadows while they slept at night or took a rest in Termina field.  At first the words were too garbled to understand, but when he started seeing the Ranch invaders their words became more clear.  

We’ve come for you…

You cannot resist…

His fears had been confirmed, they were now after them.  For some reason they were no longer interested in taking the ranch cows.  Instead they wanted Link.  It wasn’t long before they stopped trying to hide from his view.  He saw them all the time now, floating in the air, staring at them with their lamp like eyes.  They never got too close, always keeping a fair distance.  Link assumed they were waiting for the perfect opportunity before attacking.  He would do everything in his power to make sure what happened to Romani… didn’t happen to them.

To put it mildly, Tatl had begun to notice Link being somewhat … off.  It started after a disastrous attempt at helping Romani defend the cows on the first night.  After they accidently failed, the boy had decided to wait around to find out what happened to Romani after she was taken.  Spoiler alert, it was a bad idea.  Link ended up getting so upset he went into a weird state where he was practically comatose for over a day.  On the front things seemed to go back to normal after that, but Tatl could tell that things weren’t as normal as they appeared. The kid seemed to space out more often, sometimes go days without eating, and seemed almost… paranoid.  Not that he voiced any paranoia, but he’d look over his shoulder a lot more often than usual.  Sometimes he’d stop and stare off into apparently nothing, body tense and eyes narrowed like he expected something to jump out at them.

One night they had been resting at the Stock Pot Inn, and Tatl awoke in the middle of the night to find Link standing up in the middle of the room.  His eyes were fixed at the window, the Hero’s Bow he received from the Woodfall Temple hung loosely from his hands, but an equipped arrow showed that he was ready to shoot on a dime.  “Link! What’s wrong?” the fairy asked in alarm, flying over to where he stood so she could see what he was staring at out the window.  She didn’t see anything.

“They’re here…” he responded in a tense voice.  Tatl looked at the boy's tired face and saw that even though he stood stock still his eyes were going haywire in its sockets, looking in almost every direction.

“Who’s here?” 

“The invaders.”

Tatl had to pause and think about that for a moment.  Though it didn’t take long before she figured out who he was referring to.  “The invaders?  You mean from the ranch?”

“Yes,” the child responded, tensing his hands slightly as if to ready his bow. He did not actually take aim yet.  “They’ve been following us for days now.” 

“Really?” You see, Tatl actually believed him at this point.  Even though she couldn’t see them herself, the young Hero seemed dead serious that they were there, and why would the kid joke about something like this.  Especially at three in the morning.  “Why haven’t they attacked?” 

“I think they’re waiting for me to fall asleep?” 

That didn’t really make much sense.  “That’s never stopped them before…” Tatl floated towards the window in hopes of getting a glimpse of their glowing eyes.  

The boy pretty much freaked on her.  “Tatl! Get back!” his voice had been so sharp and terrified the fairy backed away instinctively, a shiver going up her tiny spine.  “I don’t want them to get you!” Tatl looked at Link’s terrified face and really took a look at his eyes.  Looking at them now, she realized there was something off about them.  Almost like a wild animal was looking back at her, she was becoming more alarmed by the situation and not because she thought they were being attacked by invaders.  She hadn’t even seen them yet.  “Tone it down there Link… I don’t even see them.” 

“They’re out there…” the boy responded darkly, shifting his bow so it was just short of being aimed at the window.  “Can’t you hear them?” 

“Actually Link… no I don’t hear anything,” the fairy was becoming more and more concerned with the kid’s health at the moment.  Perhaps he was in some sort of sleepwalking mode and in the mits of a nightmare.  “Link are you sure-: 

“We need to go,” the boy interrupted her and moved so suddenly it caused the fairy to jump in alarm..  

At a very fast speed, Link began packing up all their stuff.  “G-Go?  Link its the middle of the night, why do we need to go?” 

The boy did not answer right away, as he kept glancing around the room nervously while he packed.  It wasn’t until his shield got slung over his back that he replied, “There’s just too many of them.  I don’t have enough arrows.  We need to run before they capture us.”  The amount of fear in the kid’s voice was enough to know that he wasn’t joking around.  Tatl couldn’t help but wonder if he was trying to play some sort of elaborate joke with her, but it seemed that he really did believe those ghosts were out there.  She took another glance out the window hoping to see whatever it was that was freaking him out, but she saw nothing.  Clock town was quiet and peaceful as it always was until the final night.  So she either could not see them for some reason, or he was seeing something that wasn’t really there.  To the great goddesses she hoped it was the former because she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do if her traveling companion went crazy on her. 

This also wasn’t the first time the boy had acted out of sorts.  There had been one other time Link seemed to be following delusions only he could see or comprehend.  But that was back when he had been wearing the All Night Mask, which they found out later on, was a torture device made to give the wearer constant insomnia.  Link hadn’t even touched the mask since they discovered that information, and Tatl had no idea why the boy ever think to put it on again.  But he was sure acting a lot like he did when he had gone days without sleeping because of the influence of that mask.  So she had to ask, “Link? Link stop!'' The child had tensed to a halt behind a crate in East Clock Town his bow armed and ready to strike at any unsuspecting creature that happened to startle the boy.  Tatl was very glad that it was the middle of the night and no one was walking around.  She waited until the young hero turned his wild eyes on her before asking.  “Have you been wearing the All Night Mask again?”                        

The fairy watched his eyes carefully, expecting him to lie but hoping to catch a trace of guilt or fear about getting caught in his orbs.  But the only thing that laced through them was confusion, “The all night- what?  Why would I? No of course not! Tatl we need to keep moving.  I hear them getting closer.” 

With that said, Link glanced around the crate one more time and seemed to think it was clear of enemies because he continued on, walking on bended knees with his bow ready to strike.  Tatl followed him worriedly.  Of course she did not believe what he said, why else would he be acting this way? He must have been slipping it on while she slept, and the why was beyond her.  She’d just have to watch him more closely now in order to catch him in the act.  Maybe if she did that she’d be able to convince the boy to finally just throw away that monstrosity. 

They spent the remainder of this cycle and the entirety of the next cycle running from place to place in order to ‘avoid the invaders.’  Link slept very little during that time, and Tatl hadn’t slept at all; hoping to catch the boy in an attempt to put the All Night Mask on again.  But his hands never even twitched towards the bag of Masks, so maybe he had been telling the truth.  Whatever the case was, she needed to sleep or she’d soon start believing in the kids apparent delusions.  If they even were delusions.  Since her theory about the All Night Mask seemed to have been debunked, Tatl had gone back to reconsidering that maybe the kid really was seeing these things.  It just didn’t make sense as to why only he could see them.

After another half day of watching Link slowly lose touch with reality Tatl could no longer make excuses for him.  He was now the picture of an insane person, having conversations with voices only he could hear before throwing his hands over both ears and screaming at them to shut up, and spacing out for hours at a time.  Tatl’s new theory was that he had been wearing the All Night Mask again, but was no longer doing it now and the only reason why he wasn’t getting any better was because he wasn’t sleeping.  Unfortunately, all her suggestions at taking a break to sleep had somewhat violent negative reactions.  “They’re waiting for me to sleep Tatl!” he insisted frightfully.  “If I fall asleep they’ll take us for sure.” 

One thing the fairy knew for sure, was that this whole episode of sorts had been caused by Romani’s capture by the Ranch invaders, and watching her get returned.  If only the song of time could send them back in order to undo that event, things would go back too normal.  She’d known from the start that it would be a bad idea to stay and wait up at the ranch, why hadn’t she convinced the kid not to do it.

It had taken some special handling, and discreet wording.  But Tatl was able to finally, after swearing that she would stay awake and let him know if the invaders got too close, convinced the young hero to lay down and rest.  “I’m not actually going to sleep, just goin… to… rest my…” he yawned as his eyes fluttered shut. “...Eyes…” 

“Yep, that’s totally fine,” Tatl responded while she hovered over his face.  He still insisted on keeping his bow armed and ready in his grasp while he rested, in case he needed to get a quick shot in.  “I’ll let you know if something happens.” 

It only took a minute or two before the kids breathing evened out with sleep, which was a big indication on how sleep deprived he actually was.  Tatl was so relieved to see him sleeping that she could no longer hold herself up in flight.  So she gently lowered herself down next to his head, and sighed heavily.  With the amount of time spent chasing around Link’s delusions combined with her own worry about his wellbeing, Tatl hadn’t gotten much more sleep then her companion.  It took a lot of effort not to just lay down and sleep as well.  But she knew from last time that Link needed to sleep as long as possible so the fairy made it her duty to stay awake and make sure that the boy continued to sleep for as long as possible.  

This job included chasing away any enemies before they got too close, and gently whispering reassuring words into the child's ear every time he stirred awake.  This actually happened pretty often and was the main reason he’s been so sleep deprived.  Every twenty minutes to an hour he’d start to wake up with a fear in his mind to keep moving.  So each time this happened she’d gently whisper, “Shh… its ok.  We’re fine… just rest a little longer,” before he had a chance to fully wake up and this seemed to be enough for his mind because he’d then nod his head and fall back to sleep.

After about ten straight hours, she did not interfere when he began to wake up again.  She figured it had been long enough and they’d need to reset the clock again soon anyways.  The young child rubbed the grit from his eyes then stood up and stretched with a satisfied groan.  Tatl took a good look at him, and noted that he looked so much better now.  His face appeared more refreshed and the crazy look he’d had in his eyes for days now had gone away.  She took this all as a good sign, and that things could go back too normal now.  She was dismayed though, when he began to frantically look around.  He obviously still believed that the invaders were still out there, and the fairy could only hope that the sleep would at least halt the hallucinations he was having.  “Hey Link…” she greeted tentatively. “Did you sleep well?” 

Link just nodded his head.  “Yeah… and it looks like all the invaders have left for now.” 

Hearing those words was music to Tatl’s ears.  Thankfully she had been correct in thinking that the sleep helped.  He was still under the delusion that the ghosts were following them, but hopefully without the site to back up his thinking, Link will never see them again and they can move on from this chapter in their adventure.  She'd have to somehow convince him not to go back and help Romani ever again.  Didn’t want to chance triggering this again.  “It’s getting late,” Link said as he stared out at the setting sun of the final day.  Only twelve hours remained… “We should reset time.  Hopefully the invaders will leave us alone long enough to get some more stuff done in Ikana Valley.”  Tatl’s hopes that he’d never mention them again were being dashed by the second.    

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the fairy’s entire theory to get thrown out the window.  Her heart sank like a stone when barely three hours went by since they reset time and Link suddenly halted midstep and said in a whisper, “They’re here…” 

“...Are you sure?” Tatl cautiously asked, maybe he was just being paranoid and didn’t actually see anything.

“Yeah,” the boy responded at once. There was no hesitancy in his voice, which indicated he truly believed what he was saying.  “I can hear them talking.”  Talking? Now that was new.  Even when Tatl saw the invaders while at the ranch they never spoke words.  “There’s one hiding behind that rock over there,” Link pointed at a large stone that stood on the trail leading towards Ikana Valley.  

Okay.  Tatl had had enough.  It was time for a more hands on approach.  Time to go with the hard truth.  She needed to tell Link, as gently as possible, that he was going crazy and everything he was seeing wasn’t actually there.  “All right… um…” the fairy flew in front of Link’s face to look at him.  Where to start, “Listen Link… I don’t really know how to say this but… a… the invaders aren’t here.” 

The boy gave her a sharp look.  “What do you mean? Of course they are.  I see one right over there,” he pointed again at the rock.  This time Tatl took the a moment to actually fly over towards the rock and really make sure that there was nothing behind it.  “No! Tatl don’t get too close!” 

There was nothing but empty space behind the rock, not even a Nejiron or Real Bombchu lurked nearby.  The fairy glanced back at the child with a sad look, and said in a gentle voice. “There’s nothing there Link…” 

This statement caused the young hero shake his head vigorously.  “Yes it is! It’s floating right in front of you!” Link’s voice was bordering hysterical now.  Tatl couldn't believe what she was seeing.  The kid had just slept over ten hours and now barely three hours had passed and the wild crazed look was already back in his eyes.  He really had lost his mind.

“Link! What your seeing isn’t real. It’s all in your mind,” Tatl now sounded desperate herself.  She needed him to understand that it wasn’t real.  If she could convince him that, then maybe he would start ignoring them and go back too normal.

“No!” he screamed so harshly it caused the fairy to jump.

But she steeled herself after a moment, not allowing herself to be intimidated.  “Yes Link, it's true!” she screamed back at him just as loudly.  “Even if the invaders were following us, they’ve always disappeared at first light. It's the middle of the day now.  So there’s no way they could be here now!” 

Link did not seem to be listening though.  His wild eyes now darted in every direction, while his pointed ears twitched uncharacteristically.  “There’s more coming…” he said mumbling to himself, fear rising in his voice.  He reached behind his back to grab his bowm “There surrounding us....”

“Please Link, you have to believe me,” Tatl’s own voice shook slightly as she forced back tears.  “They’re not real!” 

The boy’s fearful gaze turned to look directly at his traveling companion.  “You’re with them,” he spoke in a shaky voice so quick that Tatl almost missed what he said.

“What?” 

“You’ve been planning this this whole time,” the child began backing away from her.  “You were with the Skull Kid; how could I have been so stupid!” 

This certainly took an unexpected turn.  Tatl gently floated towards the trembling child, “Link-” 

“Stay away from me!” and in a flash Link had equipped an arrow to his bow, and aimed it right at the fairy.  She froze with fear, wondering if maybe this was all some type of nightmare.  In all the time she knew the kid, she’d been annoyed at him, frustrated, worried.  But never, ever before now had she been fearful of him. Because he never harmed anything that wasn’t trying to attack him.  But here he was aiming a deadly weapon at her.

“Link…” Tatl began carefully.  “Put that down right now.  I know you, and I know you’d never hurt me.” 

The boy’s face twisted around in different grimaces, face and ears twitching uncontrollably.  It only took a moment before the weapon slipped from his grasp, and landed with a clatter on the ground.  His trembling hands reached up to grab his head, fingers curling around his pointed ears.  “Don’t listen to them!” Tatl shouted as she assumed he was trying to block out the voices in his head.  “Listen to me, it’s not real!” 

Link’s whole body trembled a moment before his knees gave out and he began shouting at the top of his lungs.  “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”  This continued for far too long.  Tatl helplessly glanced around in hopes of seeing someone who could possibly help, but the trail was deserted.

After an agonizingly long several moments Link’s body gave a great shudder and he stopped screaming.  Tatl would have thought he had passed out if he wasn’t still in the same position he’d been in while he yelled.  She floated down to examine his face and saw a familiar blank stare.  It's just like what happened to him after their disastrous experience at the ranch, which seemed like a lifetime ago at this point.  Almost like his body was there, but his mind was not, or in some type of waking dream.  Whatever it was that happened to him, she was grateful.  This was a lot better than dealing with screaming out of his mind, Link.  The weight of everything that had happened over the past several days came crashing down like a ton of weights on the fairy’s body.  She couldn’t even find the energy to gently lower herself down, as her tiny body dropped to the ground with a thud. 

All the fear, anxiety, worry, and stress rolled out of her tiny body, as Tatl sobbed harshly into the ground.  She couldn’t take this anymore.  Something was seriously wrong with her companion and friend, something she could no longer handle on her own.  But who could she ask for help?  Perhaps she could try and track down that doctor who once treated Link when he got severe burns. Though she doubted he could even do anything to help, it’s not like he was sick or injured.  Just out of his mind!  Who could help someone who’s gone crazy?  There had been stories she’d heard in her life, about people acting strangely when they were controlled by evil spirits.  In fact, she had recently started assuming that's what was going on with the Skull Kid.  That Majora’s Mask possessed evil spirits that were influencing him.  Before the young imp found the mask, he had been mischievous but not evil as he acted now. But Link was acting nothing like the Skull Kid.  The kid just seemed to be acting irrationally.  Maybe she could go ask the swamp witches if they could help.

Shortly after Tatl had calmed down enough to pull herself together, Link unexpectedly stood up and began walking.  “Link?” she asked with confusion.  “Link wait up!” taking to the sky, Tatl quickly caught up with him and saw that he still possessed that blank stare he had before.  Tatl spent the next several hours following the kid as he zombied around going nowhere in particular.  She was in the process of coming up with a plan to get Link over to swamp witches when almost as suddenly as it started, it all stopped. 

Link came out of his zombified state with little memory of the last few cycles, and no mention of the invaders.  The few bits the boy could remember, he recalled like it was a dream.  Tatl had no idea what in the Great Goddesses the last several days were, but they sure weren’t a dream!  She abandoned the plan to ask the witches for help, since Link was acting normal again; but she remained wary of the kid.  Tatl had seen a different side of Link, a side she did not like, a side that scared the living crap out of her.  And every time the child fell asleep, she could not help but wonder which Link would wake up…

Chapter Text

Prompt Twenty-four – You’re not Making Any Sense

Timeline – Set directly after Majora’s Mask

Malon had been sitting inside the stable milking her favorite cow Betsy when she heard the noise.  She almost couldn’t believe her own ears at the sound.  It was a sound she had not heard in over a month, a sound she had not expected to hear quite so soon.  The unmistakable bray of a young horse, and not just any horse.  She would recognize that whinny anywhere.  In her haste to stand up and run outside, the young girl almost kicked over the bucket of milk that was sitting at her feet.  

Stumbling just a moment as Malon went around the stool, ran for the door, and wrenched it open.  She had to glance around a moment before spotting them by the front gate of the ranch.  There Epona stood, the little filly that she had raised since she was born about a year and a half ago.  As delighted as she was to see the horse, the young ranch girl was just as delighted to see the young boy sitting atop of her.  “Link!” Malon greeted with excitement, running over to meet them.  “You’ve returned!”  Malon reached out and patted Epona’s neck, and the horse returned the gesture with an affectionate nuzzle.  

When she looked up at Link however the smile slid off of her face.  This is not the same Link that left her a month ago.  There was a haunted look within his bloodshot eyes, and his face had a tightness one would see in an old war hero that had seen too many battles.  And when he opened his mouth to speak, his words were almost indiscernible among the rattling croak of his voice.  “R-Romani…?”

“What?” Malon asked in confusion, wondering if she hadn’t heard him correctly.

The boy shakily dismounted his horse, and Malon took a fearful step backward.  Before, she would have never thought that Link might hurt her.  But he was acting awfully strange right now. He turned now wild looking eyes on her, “I-Is that y-you Romani?” his voice was slightly steadier now and the redhead knew she had not mistaken what he had asked.

“No Link, it's me.  Malon,” she responded in a gentle voice.  Though she was growing more and more alarmed.  What had happened to him?  “Who’s Romani?” 

Link just blinked his glazed eyes at her, comprehension filtered in after a moment.  He took a step closer to the redhead, and reached a dirt caked shaky hand towards her face.  Malon had to resist taking another step backward, as he stumbled on shaky legs towards her.  The child’s outstretched hand gently touched her face; she could feel hard calluses scratching her skin as his hand ran down her cheek.  “M-Ma-lon…” the unsteadiness of his voice appeared to be getting worse.

The young ranch girl grasped the hand that was touching her face, in her own.  Her gaze bore into Link’s terrified eyes.  “L-Link, you're scaring me!  What’s the matter?”  She could only watch as tears filled the young hero’s eyes, and were soon rolling down his dirty scared face.  She had not noticed this at first, but his entire face was covered with scars and wounds at various lengths of healing.  Upon closer inspection she saw that it was not just his face, the boy was covered from head to foot with bruises, wounds, and scars.  Was it even possible to get all of this in just a month.

Tears rolled down the boy’s cheeks, making trails in his dirt covered skin.  His unsteady legs finally had all it could take, as he knees gave out from right under him.  Malon grabbed him by the shoulders in an attempted to keep him up, but Link was too heavy, so she ended up going down with him.  The moment Link’s knees hit the ground, his mouth opened and a terrible sound like a wounded animal tore from his throat.  The young redhead could only hold the young broken boy in a tight embrace as he sobbed out his heart's contents.  Malon quickly glanced around for help, she had never been so frightened in her life.  No one seemed to be around so she turned back to the boy whose face was buried deep within her dress.  “Shh…. it’s ok shh…” Malon rubbed his back whispering gently.  The only thing he could think about was what could have possibly happened to break the strongest boy she knew.  Hopefully she’d find out…

Chapter Text

Twenty-five – I think I’ll just collapse right here, thanks

Timeline – Set after Wind Waker

“I’m really not so sure about this…” Link stated with great hesitancy, as he stared at the mug of liquid just placed in front of him.  Tetra and the rest of her pirate crew had stopped off at a small cliffside island that housed a singular building.  Link himself had never come to this island before, but it was apparently a regular stop for the other pirates.  The one building that stood on the isolated rock was a favorite pirate haunt of the sea; the Dark Cliff Brewery.  AKA, the place where pirates can mingle with other pirates while they get drunk and play poker.  Well… to each his own, but Link didn’t seem to find that a good time.  It seems that Tetra didn’t either since she was reluctant to stop here, but eventually gave in to stop them from whining.

Neko who was sitting next to young teen, nudged Link in the side while grinning stupidly.  He had already had about five too many drinks himself.  “Aw com aw me shwabi.  Yer’na a real pirate til ya ern da ay er drinking.”  The small pirates speech was very slurred, and the only reason Link was able to understand what he said was because of how much time he’d spent with the crew while they were drunk.  You tend to understand drunken talk when you spend a lot of time around them.  

But despite all the time the Hero of Winds spent in the company of drunks, he’s never actually been tempted into joining in.  For one his Grandmother had always warned him against the evils of alcohol, and how she’d flay him alive if he ever decided to try any.  That really wasn’t an excuse that would hold up much now days since he doesn’t see his grandmother anymore.  So his other reason was that he felt he had certain standards to uphold being a hero and all.  Link had never once heard of a drunk hero.  And for the most part Tetra’s crew had never put much pressure on him in join in when they decided to have a drink or three.  Sure they always invited him to join, and one might extend the invitation a second time.  But ‘no’ seemed to be a good enough answer for them not to hound him about it.  At least that was the case until tonight.

Tonight it seemed like none of them were going to take no for an answer.  This had happened to Link a few times before with the pirates, excluding Tetra.  But it was usually about chores on the pirate ship, or joining in on their card game.  And Tetra usually was there to bail him out when he seemed to be buckling under the pressure.  Unfortunately, this time around, Tetra had decided to stay aboard the ship.  Link had wanted to stay aboard also, but Senza had managed to convince him to come along.  It went downhill from there.  Everyone seemed to be under the same agreement that Link could not go back to the ship until he had a drink.  Which is why he was sitting at the bar, with a mug of foaming amber liquid in front of him.

With a wary glance at the mug, Link picked it up with ginger hands.  The mug was filled right to the brim with liquid, so some of it sloshed down the side in his uneasy hands.  He took a sniff and almost gagged at the smell.  How could anyone find someone that smells so bad, taste good.  Behind him a chorus of “Drink it, drink it, drink it,” had started adding more pressure.  Maybe he should just down it quickly and got it over with.  To enormous cheers he took his first sip of alcohol ever, and immediately spit it out.  Good goddesses it tasted as bad as it smelled, it was very possible he’d throw up if he tried to drink anymore.  “No, no laddie!” a pirate Link had never seen before spoke while clapping his back hard enough knock his head forward.  “Ya can’t be wastin good ale like that.  Savor the stuff.  Try again mate and get it in yer tank this time!” This was followed by another round of cheers, and more chanting of “Drink it, drink it, drink it.”   

“Come on Link,” Nudge suddenly appeared next to him, not nearly as drunk as Neko, but still seeming a bit tipsy.  “You want to be one of us don’t you?” 

Actually he really didn’t want to be, but couldn’t see any other way out of this.  So after mentally bracing himself, the boy brought the mug once again to his lips and drank the liquid.  He had to bite back his gag reflex, but managed to keep it down.  There was enormous cheering around him and someone said, “All right! Keep drinking lad!” 

Knowing they wouldn’t be satisfied until he drank every drop, Link went back to his idea of drinking it fast.  The less amount of time he had that nasty stuff in his mouth the better.  The brew was so strong it burned all the day down his throat and remained heavy in his stomach.  When he got down the last couple of gulps Link was unsure if his stomach could handle anymore.  But going against his better judgement, the Hero of Winds chugged the last drops from the mug and set it down on the table with a very manly belch.  This earned him many more cheers and claps on the back.  “Now he’s a real pirate!” Senza shouted to the room at large.  

Apparently getting a virgin drinker to take his very first mug of alcohol was quite a show in this place, because Link had only just realized that everyone in the room had been watching him, including the bar maidens.  This realization made the boy feel very self-conscious, and now more than ever before he just wanted to go back to the pirate ship and hide away in his bunk, “Can I go back to the ship now?” he asked Senza who was the closest crew member at that moment.  

Senza didn’t even get the chance to answer.  The words had barely left Link’s lips before someone behind him shouted.  “What? You want to leave already! No way, this party’s just getting started.”  A large heavy arm landed around his shoulders, and the young hero found himself half led half dragged over to a card table.  “Now that yer a real pirate, ye can join the game!” 

A moment later Link was plopped in a chair at a round table and a small stack of cards was slapped in front of him.  Link had never in his life played a game of poker, so he obviously didn’t know how to play.  He also didn’t have anything to gamble with, so there was no way this would last long.  It wouldn't be long before he was back on the ship.  But oh how wrong he was.  Apparently Tetra’s pirate crew already has this settled agreement of combining all winnings to be divided up evenly when they get back to the ship.  So in their excitement to teach Link the ways of piracy, they were more than eager to share the gems they’d saved for this event.  Anytime someone shouted ante up and he had nothing to bet with, another rupee was tossed over to him.  

While he played, mugs of different spirits kept coming over to him, and he was encouraged to take a gulp.  Thankfully they never asked him to drink the whole thing, so he continued taking small drinks without complaint, fearing if he ever refused they might decide he needed another full mug.  As the night went on, and the alcohol took effect Link felt himself start to relax and even enjoy himself.  Everything seemed much more amusing now and even the drinks weren’t tasting as bad.  No one ever seemed bothered that he was losing every game of poker he played.  Possibly because Zuko was on a winning streak at another table, and anytime they ran out of rupees they could grab from his pile.  

But of course like all good things, they never last.  The alcohol was now sloshing unpleasantly in the boy’s stomach, and when a little bit ago everything was amusing, now nothing seemed amusing.  He wasn’t the only one who didn’t seem to feel well.  Neko had plain past out in his chair, and Mako was currently vomiting into a nearby barrel egged on by hoots and jeers from a watching crowd.  The boy knew from the way his stomach was currently protesting, he was not far from putting on his own vomiting show.  But still alert enough to not want that public humiliation, he figured that it was probably a good time to head back to the ship.  Everyone in the Tavern was too drunk now to really care about him staying or going by now, so Link stood up from where he was sitting.  Or at least he tried to; what ended up happening was face planting into the floor after the whole world tilted.  A nearby pirate that saw this happened laughed out loud at him.  “Hahaha! Looks like the new swabbie can’t hold his liquor!” Several other pirates joined in the laughter at his expense including Nudge and Gonzo.  

Link only took a moment to wonder how he was ever going to make it back to the ship before the door to the tavern crashed opened and Tetra stood there, hands on hips with no nonsense in her eyes.  “Times up boys!” she called to the room at large, but really only speaking to her crew.  “Funs over; back to the ship!”

Zuko, who seemed the most somber out of all of them, took the lead by gathering up all their combined winnings, and going over to where Tetra stood waiting with an unamused expression.  Seeing Zuko’s lead, the rest of Tetra’s pirate crew began gathering themselves up.  Since Neko was plain passed out, Gonzo had to pick him up to carry him back to the ship.  Everyone one else seemed at least mobile enough to walk back themselves, at least everyone except Link.  The boy was still drunkenly attempting to get back to his feet again without falling over or throwing up, “Oh Link…” a very disappointed voice grabbed his attention.  

For a terrifying moment, the young Hero of Winds could have sworn that it was his Grandmother's voice.  But was that even possible?  What would she be doing here of all places, and why?  Link’s head snapped in the direction of the voice so fast it almost gave him whiplash. The old woman was nowhere in sight, but Tetra was giving him a look so reminiscent of his grandmother that the boy was sure that the older woman had taught her.  “I would have thought you’d have had more common sense then get involved in all of this,” Tetra spoke to him with a disappointed shake of her head.  Link figured that his muddled mind must have twisted the pirate captains voice to sound like his grandmothers.  That or it was his conscience playing mind tricks.  

Either way disappointing Tetra was just as bad, if not worse than disappointing his grandmother.  So after he managed to stand on his unsteady legs, Link opened his mouth intending to defend himself.  They practically forced him to drink that first mug of ale, and afterword’s, wouldn’t let him leave.  But the moment his mouth opened, his stomach seemed to take it as an invitation to rid it of the toxins Link had exposed it to.  His stomach clenched unpleasantly, the boy was sure that he was about to vomit spectacularly onto the floor, but instead the only thing that came out was a loud belch.  This did ease some of his discomfort, but not enough to stop his stomach from continuing to roll.  Tetra just shook her head with a disgusted look, before turning on her heals and stalking out of the room.  The rest of the pirate crew followed without words, even Link managed to stagger his way back without assistance.  

Link knew that it was only a matter of minutes before he would lose control of his tender stomach and toss is cookies.  He just hoped to have as few witnesses as possible when it did happen.  This is why he was currently waging war against his own body.  Burning liquid kept trying to creep up his throat, which he would promptly swallow and breathe deeply.   

Finally!  At long last the boy’s feet stepped on the deck of the ship, and he could finally give into his body’s demands.  He barely had the chance to leave over the side of the ship before he stomach heaved terrible and gagging sounds fell from his mouth.  If Link thought that the alcohol burned going down, it was nothing compared to what it felt like coming back up.  “I can’t believe you let him do this,” Tetra’s voice sounded behind him.  If she was talking to Link, the chances of him answering anytime soon where unlikely, as his stomached heaved again and more of his stomach’s contents flew out of his mouth.  

It seems that she wasn’t talking to Link because after she spoke Senza answered.  “Come on Miss Tetra, kids gotta learn to live a little.”

“I’m not sure he’s having such a good time ‘living’ at the moment,” Tetra responded with a sigh.  “I better not find out later that you forced him into this.” 

Senza responded with a nervous laugh.  “Well now Miss Tetra, you know there’s a difference between forcing and encouraging right?”  That was about the last Link heard of the conversation before he passed out.  

The next time Link awoke, it was to someone pounding on his head with his skull hammer.  Wow did that hurt.  “Come on! Up and atem!” Tetra’s overly cheerful voice rang through his ears so loudly, Link had to wonder if she was the one pounding his head with the skull hammer.  A chorus of groans and swears responded to the pirate captain.  Normally Link could never understand how any of the other pirates had the nerve to grumble at Tetra, but at the current moment he was debating on whether he should join in with them.  He literally felt like he was dying at the moment, can’t she just let him do it in peace.  

The boy had been around the pirate crew enough to know that his must be what a hangover feels like.  He didn’t remember much from last night, but the memory of this morning will be burned into his brain so effectively he’ll never touch alcohol again for as long as he lives. “Lets go!” Tetra’s voice pierced the air again.  “Come on the best cure for a hangover is to walk it off.” 

There was more grumbling, then the distinct sound of the other pirates getting out of their bunks was heard.  Link made one attempted to set up, but that only caused his head to pound even more, and he gave up.  He’d just have to allow Tetra to throw him overboard for defying orders, because there was no way he was getting up now.  When the other pirates grumbling movements faded out, and silence fell over the room.  The teen thought for a moment that maybe no one noticed he didn’t get up.  “Link!” Tetra’s voice said loudly from out of the blue.  It sounded like she was right next to his bunk.  The boy violently flinched and a soft whimper escaped his lips.  He heard Tetra let out a sigh, “Since it’s your first time I’ll let this go and you can sleep it off.  But only this time, so think about that next time you go out partying with the crew.” 

Link flinched again when he heard the door slam shut.  One thing was for sure.  He was never going out to party with the crew again.  And no matter what they say, he’s never touching alcohol again.

Chapter Text

Twenty-six – If you thought head trauma was bad…

Timeline - Set during Wind Waker

Link still wasn’t quite sure how he ended up in this barrel, it didn’t really matter though.  What did matter, was that the barrel he sat in was sitting on the ships catapult ready to launch him.  Once that was established, he started attempting to get out of the barrel which was a lot harder than you would have thought.  “Look don’t struggle.” Tetra told him with a roll of her eyes. “If you really want to get into a dangerous place like that, this is the only way to do it.  Trust me.” 

Her words did nothing but cause him to halt his struggles and gawk at her.  With the little amount of time he’d spent with her and the pirates, and the less then friendly jabs she’s made at him.  She actually had the nerve to tell him to trust her… “We pirates do this all the time,” Tetra continued, ignoring his flabbergasted look.  “Don’t worry about it! It’ll be a piece of cake!” She turned back towards the rest of her crew and shouted, “Is everybody ready?”  Gonzo gave a salute, and Link was shocked back into his struggles to get out of the barrel again.  Did they tie him inside or something?  Why was it so difficult to climb out of a barrel?  Maybe it was just his panic that made his limbs not want to work correctly.  “Never you fear, kid.  We’re pros.  We’re going to launch you good.” 

Oh how her comforting words gave him no comfort at all.  He was about to give a sarcastic retort when Gonzo shouted, “Three!” Oh man this was really happening.  He was going to be catapulted across the ocean.  “Two!” he continued and Link frowned deeply.  Maybe this was the only way he’d be able to save Aryll, it sucked though.  Finally accepting his fate, Link shut his eyes and gritted his teeth in preparation. “One!” 

With a sudden jolt to his stomach, Link felt the barrel jerk forward and he was flying through the air at lightning speed towards the fortress.  He could not stop the scream that fell from his lips as he soared through the air. Link could see the window with all the seagulls flying around getting closer and closer.  Maybe he would make it.  Just as he realized that he was just a few feet off from the window, there was a sudden blinding pain, and everything went black.  

It’s debatable if Link actually passed out.  If he had, then it wasn’t for very long otherwise he would have surely drowned.  The young boy suddenly realized he was surrounded by water.  Instincts kicked in, allowing his body to swim to the surface of the water, while his mind attempted to figure out why he was in the water in the first place.  Suddenly he was lying face up on a hard rocky surface with no memory of actually getting out of the water.  The only think Link could hear was an annoying ringing sound that he was barely able to make out from the intense surges of pain pounded through his head.  “Your sword landed all the way up there,” a female voice suddenly spoke through the ringing sound.  His eyes glanced lazily around in search of where the voice was coming from.  “Shoot! I’m sorry! I apologize!” the voice continued in an anxious voice.  “I guess my aim was a little off.” 

Still unable to find a source for the voice, Link lifted himself up slightly so he could turn his head to look around.  This caused the intense pain, pounding through his skull to get worse and a soft groan fell past his lips.  The boy reached a hand up to massage the ache away, but another flare up of pain hit Link when his fingers brushed a large lump swelling on the left side of his forehead.  Well that explained why his head hurt so much, he must have hit it somehow.  Not that he remembered why.  A soft chuckle from the disembodied voice reminded him of another mystery that needed to be solved.  “The look on your face… priceless!” 

Who the heck was talking to him, and where was he?  Bracing both of his palms against the cold stone that lay beneath him, Link finally made an attempt to sit up.  This only caused the terrible headache to worsen as the whole world tipped on its axis, and continued to turn making the boy nauseous in his stomach.  He was about ready to lay back down till the world stopped spinning when the voice spoke again.  “You all right?” for the first time she sounded worried.  “Must have hit your noggin pretty hard.”

Well that was obvious.  The voice was starting to sound familiar but he still couldn’t place a face and name it.  It wasn’t anyone from Outset Island, which limited his options on females he knew that weren’t from Outset.  “Kid! I need you to answer me!” the voice spoke again now sounding alarmed.  The name ‘kid’ was what finally jumpstarted his memory about Tetra and the Pirates, his sister getting kidnapped and then being tossed towards the Forsaken Fortress in hopes of getting to where Aryll was being kept.  All this knowledge coming back to him didn’t make him feel any better, in fact he made him feel worse.  On top of his aching head, now he had the worry about if his sister was all right.

“Where… are you?” After several attempts at using his voice he finally managed to get a question out.

“Check your back pocket,” Tetra replied sounding relieved that he finally responded to her.

Link reached back into his pocket and pulled out a glowing silver stone that was tied to the end of a rope necklace.  “I slipped this stone into your pocket before we launched you,” Tetra replied to his unasked question as to why he was hearing her through a stone.  Maybe he hit his head so hard he was hallucinating.  “It’s not ordinary stone, either.  I can see what you're doing through this stone, and obviously you can hear me through it.  This way we can communicate with each other.  But listen carefully!  I need this back after you save your sister.  So don’t go losing it, understand?!” 

The spinning world around him was starting to make his stomach turn over, and Link had to lay back down in order to stop himself from being sick.  “Listen kid,” Tetra spoke again, urgency in her voice.  “I know you just took a pretty good crack to your head, but you need to find cover before someone sees you!” 

The boy heard her advice, and it sounded like very good advice.  Not getting caught was a very sensible thing to do.  But his mind seemed to be out of sync with his muscles because as much as he told his body to get up and move, nothing actually happened.  “Kid? ...Link!” Tetra began calling loudly causing pain to sear through his head.  The boy brought both hands up to his ears in an attempt to block out her shrill voice, and groaned loudly.  “Link! Get out of there now!  A spotlight is about-” the rest of her sentence was drowned out by a loud siren sounding, and a blinding light shining over his face.  The combination of the two made his head hurt so badly, he wished to just pass out.  Link was so focused on his pain in his head, he barely recalled being roughly picked up, dragged around for an indeterminate amount of time then tossed aside like a piece of trash.  

All the movement was too much for his stomach, and finally rolled over onto his stomach and vomited onto the stone ground.  For the next couple of minutes, or perhaps hours Link was in a personal hell of pain coming from both his stomach and head.  When his stomach finally gave its final heave, Link had just enough energy to roll away from the pool of sick on the ground and lay on his back panting, stomach feeling better but head still pounding all the worse.  Through his blurred vision, the young hero could make out that he was in some sort of jail cell.  Made sense, he was caught by the enemy.  At least they didn’t kill him.

“Kid? Can you hear me?” Tetra voice once again broke the silence.  Why couldn’t she just shut up.  Her voice was like nails grinding on chalkboard, that brought searing pain to his already aching head.  “Link!?” 

“W-What?” the young hero asked in a pained voice, hoping too quiet her.

“All right kid.  I realize that you’re not coping very well with all of this.”  If Link wasn’t so focused on his head right now, he’d have been affronted by what she said.  She made it sound like he was having some sort of emotional breakdown from too much stress.  He wasn’t in some sort of emotional turmoil like a girl, the problem was that his smack against the fortress totally messed up his brain.  She must have never hit her head that hard before, or she would totally understand.  “But I need you to take a deep breath and think about why you’re there.”  

Why was he there? He was there before someone catapulted him across the ocean, only to crash right into a solid wall.  Link opened his mouth to share his thoughts, but what she said next took the breath right out of his words.  “You’re sister is somewhere in that fortress.  She’d counting on you to save her; and you can’t do that if your too busy losing your shit.”  Aryll… he had momentary forgotten about her, too busy dwell in his own misery.  She could very well be in her own version of hell, right now.  “Now pull yourself together, and get moving!” 

Tetra’s voice was harsh, but it was enough to push Link’s mind away from the pain of his body.  With a deep breath, praying his stomach would behave, and the world would stay still.  Link stood up on shaky legs.  “All right…” Link said in a surprisingly steady voice.  Mind back on track, he was ready to push himself, in order to save his sister.  “I’m ready…” 

Chapter Text

Twenty-seven – Ok, who had natural disasters on their 2020 Bingo Card  

Timeline – Set some months after Majora’s Mask

“Death Mountain is not going to explode!” Mutah roared to the room at large.  “My family has lived in his village for three generations now, and I’m not about to abandon it over something that may not even happen!” 

Link turned his head away, so no one would see the roll of his eyes.  He couldn’t help but compare the grumpy old man to his counterpart in Termina.  Not that there was much to compare because he was almost exactly the same, everything down to his denial and bitterness.  Even at the last hour on the final day, his doppelganger was the only one who refused to evacuate from Clock Town.  Beside the guards who were under orders to stay.

“Father please be reasonable,” Anju begged while tears trickled down her cheeks.  She was holding it together better than her mother who had fled to the bedroom.  You could hear her sobs coming from behind the door.  “The mountain’s been giving off warning signs for days now.  The whole village is filled with smoke, and we’ve been feeling tremors since yesterday.  Even Sahasrahla, have urged the village to head for Hyrule Castle.” 

“I’ve seen similar activity before, and the mountain never blew.  You all can flee if you want, but I’m staying!” Mutah remained rock hard stubborn.

Link really didn’t get why they were continuing to fight with him.  It was obvious that he wasn’t going to leave.  They’d probably wasted close to three hours now, trying to convince him to leave with them.  Link was over it by now, and almost wondered if he should just leave by himself.  Anju seemed to be coming to the same viewpoint, as she blew out a breath of frustration.  “So what are you going to do if the mountain blows, you’ll never be able to outrun an erupting volcano!” 

“Then I’ll go down with my property!” 

By the final look Anju gave her father, it was clear she was done with the conversion.  “You know what, fine!  You do whatever you want, but Mom and I are leaving.” she stalked away from where her father suddenly sat and over to the room her mother had barricaded herself in.  “Link, can you help get Nana in the wagon?” she called over her shoulder before knocking on the door.

Luckily they had already packed up the wagon, so all that needed to be done now was getting everyone in and heading out.  Link stood up without responding, and went over to where Anju’s grandmother sat.  “Are you ready to go?” Link asked as he grabbed the handles of her wheelchair. 

“Is it time to go to the theater?” the old woman asked.  Being quite senile, she rarely knew what was happening in real life.  In fact, she called Link a different name every time she referred to him.

“Yes its time,” Link told her.  He had lived with Anju’s family long enough to know it’s a lot easier to just agree with everything Nana said, instead of trying to correct her.  He gently wrapped a large handkerchief around her nose and mouth, and tied it behind her head.  “The air is really smoky out there.  This will help,” Link explained then began pushing her chair out the front door.  The moment he stepped outside, the boy wished he had put a handkerchief over his own face.  His lungs began protesting at the smoky air almost as once by forcing harsh barking coughs from his mouth.  

Though the handkerchief didn’t seem to be helping much, because Anju’s grandmother began coughing as well. “Hubert, is there something burning?” she asked in a slightly wheezy voice.

Link chose not to respond, wanting to focus on getting the old woman safely in the wagon.  By the time Link got her settled in the wagon with a blanket over her lap, Anju and her mother were heading out towards the wagon.  Both were also wearing handkerchiefs over their faces, but Link could still see the tears of grief streaming down their faces.  The boy felt his own heart squeeze at the sight of them.  He had never actually liked Mutah much, but all were aware at the him staying behind would lead to his death.

Anju let out a gasp when she looked at the young hero.  “Link! Why aren’t you wearing a handkerchief.  Breathing in the smoke is very dangerous!”

She wasn’t overreacting with that statement.  The first time he experienced smoke this bad had been way back when he went up Death Mountain for the first time to find the Great Fairy.  He had breathed in so much smoke on that occasion, he’d started coughing up black ash.  The whole experience was a bit hazy in memory but Navi had told him that probably would have died if not for the Great Fairy healing his severely damaged lungs.  That seemed like a lifetime ago, with everything Link has gone through since that point.  With all the time traveling he’d done the boy sometimes felt like he’d lived a thousand lifetimes.  The reality about that occasion being less than three years ago, was crazy!

There wasn’t really time for argument or defense, so Link just accepted the handkerchief Anju handed him without words.  He climbed up into the wagon and settled himself next to Anju’s grandmother before tying the cloth over his nose and mouth.  Anju helped her mother get into the wagon as well, then climbed up into the driver's seat.  

As the wagon quickly began moving towards the villages exit, Link peeked out from behind the wagon’s canvas cover, to get a glimpse of Death Mountain.  But for the first time ever, he could not see it behind the blanket of white smoke covering the sky.  He steered his burning eyes away from the sky to the now desolate village.  Most residents had already fled by now; those who still remained were ether bogged down by trying to pack away too much of their belongings, or they were in denial like Mutah was.  Either way, there wasn’t too much point in trying to help anyone else.  It was time to save themselves.

They were almost at the edge of the village when there was an enormous booming sound from off in the distance.  Despite the sound being far away, it was still loud enough for the whole party to tense up and glance in the direction of the sound.  Link had a terrible feeling about what made that sound, and glancing out the side of the canvas confirmed his suspicions.  Death mountain which had previously been unseen from all the smoke, was now shown smoldering with black smoke and red molten lava slowly running down the mountainside. Little flakes of ash began falling like snow onto the ground, alone with little flaming bits of rocks.  “Dear Goddesses the mountains blowing!” Anju’s mother was the first of them to find her voice. “We’re running out of time, Anju hurry!” 

“What about father?” the young woman called glancing back at them with uncertain fear in her eyes.  “We’re not far from the farm, maybe he’ll come with us now?” 

“Anju…” her mother spoke sounding both grieved and fearful.  “I don’t think there’s time.  If we go back now… we may not make it out…” 

Anju looked away from them, then back at the smoldering mountain.  Going by the way her shoulders were hunched, Link could only guess he was trying very hard not to burst into tears.  She was obviously torn.  Wanting to go back for her father, but knowing she’d be putting all their lives in danger if she did.  Link finally made a split decision, her hero nature coming out.  “Keep going, I’ll go get him!” and without waiting for a response he jumped out the back of the wagon and ran as fast as he could back toward the chicken farm.

“Link no! Come back!” he could hear Anju calling after him but he ignored her calls.  

Running at top speed, wasn’t the best thing to do in a densely smoke filled area.  This was so much worse than that first trip up Death Mountain.  In fact, this reminded him of his time spent in the Fire Temple; which made sense considering that the Temple was inside the Volcano.  Some of those chambers within the Temple were so ash filled he could barely see half a foot in front of him.  The only real difference between that time and this time was the Gorons Tunic, which took away the effects smoke and heat had on him.

The ash was completely covering the ground at this point.  It was almost like a blanket of powder show which got kicked up by his running feet.  Link’s eyes were streaming tears from the pain caused by the toxic air, and his breathing became so difficult he was almost lightheaded.

At long last the boy caught the silhouette of the farmhouse through the ash filled air.  Hopefully Muhah was still being a stubborn fool and still inside the house.  Luckily he was doing just that.  Still sitting in the same exact chair he’d been sitting at before, a huge scowl on his face.  “Mr. Mutah, the mountains exploding you need to leave now,” Link choked out and began coughing.

The man’s scowl deepened at the words.  “This farms been in my family for three generations…” he muttered darkly. 

“Mr. Mutah please,” Link approached the grumpy old man.  “You still have a wife and daughter that love you, and wants you to live.  There’s still time to make it out if we hurry, don’t be the reason they have to grieve tomorrow…” 

With a frustrated sigh, Mutah suddenly stood up and headed towards the door.  Link took that as his silent agreement to escape with him.  They both ran out the door, into hell.  Ash and molten rocks were falling even heavier now.  You could barely make out which direction was which.  Link was once again reminded of the Fire Temple, in fact… the boy blinked a couple times and suddenly realized he was back inside the temple.  His feet grinded to a halt, as he stared down at the charred remains of a Goron.  Their bodies were made of rock, so how could one get burnt to a crisp as this one was.  One name answered that question… Volvogia, the fierce dragon that feasted on Gorans.  The very thought of that dragon made his stomach lurch, and the smell of cooked flesh didn’t help matters.   

The next time he blinked however, Link found himself in completely different surroundings.  He was now sitting, wrapped up in a quilt.  The wooden floor beneath him was moving and bumping slowly.  He blinked again, noting that he was back inside the wagon sitting between Anju’s mother and grandmother.  “It looks like he’s coming out of it,” Anju’s soft voice filtered through his fogged brain.

“Link? Can you hear us?” that voice was Anju’s mother’s, and the older woman leaned over to gently pat him on the cheek.  As annoying as the gesture was, it did help ground him a bit more. 

“Mom, that’s not necessary…” Anju gently rebuked, and her concerned face came into his vision.  “Hi sweety, you back with us again?”

The boy nodded his head still feeling confused.  How did he get back into the wagon.  Last thing he remembered was running back to the farmhouse to get Mutah.  Had that all been a vision his messed up mind came up with.  Did he save the old man at all?  He must have since Link was able to spy Mutah in the driver’s seat of the wagon.  They must be long away from Kakariko Village as the air looked clear enough to tell that night had fallen.  “What happened?” 

“You had another one of your space out moments,” Anju explained.  “Luckily it happened after you found my father or we probably would have lost you both.” 

Link looked to the floor.  Now it made more sense.  Of course he’d had what Anju referred to as his ‘space out moments’ which never seemed like an accurate description in his opinion.  Mostly because they never lasted moments, more like hours.  There was even a time his mind was MIA for almost three days.  That particular instance scared the family so badly, they’d called in a doctor who referred them to ask Impa.  The Sheika didn’t seem worried at their description of his episodes, and told them it was just part of his trauma.  

After a few moments silence, Link crawled over to the back of the wagon so he could look out the canvas.  He had to turned his head a little to the left in order to see Kakariko Village, or more like see huge cloud of smoke and ash covering it.  Flecks of ash were still falling to the ground they were, but it looked more like a light snowfall except without the chill.  With a sinking heart, Link somehow knew that no one would ever again live in that village.

Chapter Text

Prompt Twenty-eight – Such Wow.  Many Normal. Very Oops

Timeline – Set During Ocarina of Time

When Link first entered Jabu Jabu’s Belly, it wasn’t long before the smell alone caused him to empty his stomach of everything he’d eaten that day.  After that he threw up again but since there was nothing left in his stomach it was more like several minutes of painful gagging and retching.  Link assumed that he would never be able to get past the smell, and spend the entire search for Princess Ruto intermittently dry heaving.    

Luckily he was wrong.  After a half hour, he couldn’t even smell the stench anymore, though knew by common sense it was still there.  He probably ranked of it, and it was a wonder if he’d even be able to get the stench out of him after this was all over.  Even without the lingering smell, squelching through innards of a fish was the most disgusting thing he ever had the displeasure of going through.  Navi certainly agreed going by all her disgusted comments, though he wasn’t all that sympathetic towards her.  At least she could fly around without touching anything.  Link’s feet were literally sinking into the fishes warm slimy flesh as he walked.  

It didn’t take long before they found Ruto, though the royal brat was quite rude.  After telling them to leave she jumped down further into Jabu Jabu’s intestines.  After that Link seriously considered doing as she said, but figured that they needed to make the Zora King happy in order to get the Spiritual Stone.  So swallowing his pride and any other gags that wanted to escape his stomach, Link jumped after her.  There were either different shafts he that you could go down, or Ruto moved very fast because by the time he landed back on his feet she was no where in sight.  It was possible that she was hiding in the shadows since it was so much darker down here.  At first Link thought that Navi was the only reason he could see anything, but after a moment of glancing around the room, the boy saw that there were strange glowing things floating in midair.

They were alive, and moved through the air like it was swimming through water.  “W-What are those Navi?” the boy asked his fairy uncertainty

“I’m not sure,” Navi responded.  “But they’re giving out negative energy so they must be enemies.”  The young hero took another hard glance at the strange creatures and determined that they didn’t seem to have weapons or claws that could harm him, so they should be easy enough to dispose of.  He walked towards the creature without much hesitance and lifted his small Kokiri sword to strike it.  “Link wait!” Navi warned seeming to not be so sure that the enemy was harmless.  “Maybe we should-” 

Her warning came too late.  Link had already swung his sword at the creature.  The moment it hit a blinding pain shot into the child’s sword hand, traveling up his arm, and down every inch of his body.  The pain barely lasted for a second before he passed out.  

Navi had also shouted when Link sliced at the creature, but it was not because she too felt pain.  Maybe if she had really been the boy’s guardian fairy, she would have.  Kokiri children and their fairies did share a telepathic connection to share pain; but since Link wasn’t a real forest child the connection wasn’t ever made.  Instead she cried out in fear as she saw the boy twitch and shake while screaming at the top of his lungs.  Link’s sword did seem to do the trick in killing it, since the creature sputtered a moment before disintegrating into popping lights, almost like a lightbulb shorting out.  The whole process seemed to take forever, but in reality it was only a few seconds before Link landed on the squishy ground unmoving.  

When she few over to check on Link, more fear grabbed her heart as it seemed he wasn’t breathing either.  “Link! … Dear goddesses! Link wake up!” she desperately shouted.

There were no signs of life.  She fluttered down onto his chest and noted right away that there was no heartbeat either.  Was he really dead…? Just like that? After everything they’ve been through so far, this is what took him down?  No she refused to believe it!  “Link! Link wake up! You’re really scaring me, wake up!” she continued to call and almost didn’t notice that more of the strange creatures were zoning in on them. “Get away!” the fairy shouted when she did notice.  She zoomed over towards the floating creatures and flew around them glowing red with anger, all the while trying to avoid touching them herself.

The creature didn’t like what she was doing, and unfortunately in its attempted to move away from her, it ended up getting closer to Link’s lifeless body.  Before Navi could even think of a way to stop it, the creatures glowing tentacles swiped over Link’s chest.  This actually did the opposite of what interacting with it did last time.  Link’s body gave a shudder and his eyes flew open as breath filled his lungs.  Navi had no idea what had just happened, but she was grateful for it.  “Link!  Are you ok?” she quickly asked still attempting to diverge the creatures away from them.  

Link groaned loudly, feeling absolutely terrible.  It was hard to tell what was actually wrong since every fiber of his body seemed to be throbbing.  His muscles were contracting terribly within his body, and his joints felt like he had been fighting nonstop for several days.  His head pounded something fierce but this was less worrisome than the fact that he could barely catch his breath.  What gave Link the most pain however was his left hand that was still holding onto the hilt of his sword.  It felt as if his skin had fused to the metal.  “Link!” Navi brought his mind back to the present at least for the moment.  “These things are dangerous! Get up and run now! I can only hold them off for so long.”  

Mind still reeling from what had just happened to him, Link noted the words and made an attempt to sit up.  With his muscles still spasming this proved to the more difficult than it should have been.  The best he could do was shakily crawl away, barely noticing that the sword was no longer in his hand.  It was too painful for his injured hand to touch he soft moist ground, so he had to crawl like a cat with an injured paw.  

Luckily the strange creatures were intimidated by Navi and didn’t pursue him.  Once he crawled into a safer area, Link collapsed back down so he laid on his back.  Navi joined him a moment later, “Link? Are you ok?” she asked again.

“I don’t feel so good,” the boy admitted.  

“Not surprised,” the fairy said bluntly.  “I think you died for a moment.  You weren’t breathing and I couldn’t detect a heartbeat.” 

That made sense as to why he felt so horribly.  This is probably why you aren’t supposed to come back to life when you die.  It feels awful, he almost wishes that he didn’t come back… almost.  “Take a potion!” Navi ordered abruptly

“What?” Link gave her a surprised look.  He just died, shouldn’t he have a few minutes to catch his breath.

“I’m not taking any chances, you still have some leftover in one of your bottles now take it now!” the fairy was almost in hysterics at this point.  He must have really freaked her out.  It was a bit difficult doing it with one hand, Link had to station the bottle between his legs so he could pull quark off the top.  The potion did help him feel a lot better.  “Ok, from now on when you fight those monsters.  No contact.  Just throw your sword at it if you have to,” Navi practically ordered.

Link just nodded his head in agreement and took another sip of potion.  

Chapter Text

Twenty-nine - I think I need a doctor

Timeline - Set during Ocarina of Time

Link had already been down beneath the Well of Kakariko Village for a full day, when he first noticed that something was off.  Maybe it was because he had gone from the sticky warmth of Lord Jabu Jabu’s belly to the dank chilliness of the well.  His nine year old body doesn’t realize there had been a month between the two places because he had been in his future body. Or maybe he had swallowed one too many mouthfuls of the putrid water that festered in his God forsaken place.  He was inclined to believe the latter.

It had started out as a simple headache, which the boy had chalked up to dehydration. It happened quite often since he left the forest.  Having to spend days to weeks in places with little to no drinking water, the young hero had become accustomed to rationing the water he carried with him.  This caused headaches to be a regular occurrence.  Considering the smell and look of the water under the well, it made sense to think that it wasn’t drinkable.  Thinking about how all the villagers had been drinking this water, it was a wonder why there weren’t more sick people in Kakariko.  Link initially ventured under here on a whim and didn’t do much in preparation.  So his drinking water stash was already on the low side, and the boy had to settle on taking the occasional sip since he entered the well. 

It took him almost three days inside the terrifying place before he found the item that he and Navi needed, the Lens of Truth.  Unfortunately, by then he had become lost in the labyrinth of cells that lurked beneath the village.  It was also at this point that Link could no longer hide his growing sickness from Navi.  The boy found his health steadily growing worse since the headache first started, and it didn’t take long for him to accept that it wasn’t dehydration.  But not wanting to worry his Fairy partner he tried to hide it from her.

But of course that didn’t work for long.  Shortly after finding the Lens of Truth, he had asked for a short break, and ended up falling asleep.  He woke up to find Navi in a state of panic about how high his body temperature was.  At that moment however, his body temperature was the least of his concerns.  At least compared to the wall of monsters that surrounded them.  The young hero immediately went into a feverish tirade, slaughtering every enemy he saw.  Once they were all defeated, the boy broke into a run, not caring what direction he was going, nor if Navi was following him.  Link was vaguely aware of the voice of his fairy companion calling behind him, but did not stop listen; desperate to leave this nightmare of a place.

Enemies and monsters continued to jump out and attack him, as he blindly ran through the different rooms of the Well.  He was unable to distinguish on whether they were real or just delusions of his fevered mind.  Neither mattered at the moment, all that mattered was finding his way out.  The child finally started noticing familiar surroundings, at least what he recalled seeing on his first day in the Well, and knew that he was close to finding his way out.  He saw lights ahead of him, and knew it was the entrance.  As if the well itself knew he was almost escaped, the dead hands that guarded the Lense of Truth began to sprout out of the walls, ceiling and ground.  Reaching out for him.  Link could feel slimy skin grazing against his ankles and forearms, desperate to keep him there longer.  He no longer heard Navi, and dearly hoped that she was still with him, because he really didn’t want to come back down and find her.  

Finally! He reached the ladder that led back up to the quiet monster free civilization of Kakariko Village.  The young child grabbed the medal bars of the ladder and few up with the speed and agility that could only come from terror filled adrenaline.  The boy fell face first on the ground when he tumbled out of the well, and quickly scrambled back to his feet checking to make sure that none of the monsters followed him.  A wave of relief washed over him when saw only Navi there, giving him a look of deepest concern. Unfortunately, the feeling of relief also brought to mind the rolling in his stomach.  The young hero barely managed to stumble behind a tree before he was violently ill, throwing up the small amount of food he’d managed to consume that day.  Even with his stomach empty, he continued to bring up small amounts of stomach acid and dry heaved for a good five minutes.  

By the time Link’s stomach settled down, he was a snotty mess of tears and only had the energy to cry into the grass beneath him.  Not surprisingly his spectacle had caught the attention of someone nearby.  A gentle hand that was way too big to be Navi’s began rubbing smooth circles over his back, “Shhh… it’s ok young one… shhh…” it was a female voice that spoke, very kind and gentle.  Link recognized the voice but couldn’t quite place it to a face.

Link felt the hand that was rubbing his back shift to his side and gently turn his body so he was lying on his back.  Sobs were still croaking out of his mouth, and he blinked through the blur of tears to try and make out who was looking down at him.  It was the lady that kept losing her cucco’s every time he turned around.  He must have refound them all a dozen times by now.  Since he had never been introduced to her by name, he always referred to the woman as the cucco lady.  She slid the green pointed hat off of his face and used it like a wash cloth, wiping the tears from his face and the stray patches of vomit from his mouth.  Her other hand slid across his forehead, smoothing his bangs back.  “Father come quickly!” she called from over his shoulder.

The tears that she had just wiped away were quickly replaced with new ones, streaming down his face as the terror he had felt still lingered in his chest.  His fevered eyes kept glancing back towards the well, expecting the pale colorless hands to snake their way out of it.  The cucco lady continued to shush him softly, while she undid the belt that kept his Kokiri sword in place.  

After a moment the angry face of Mutoh came into his vision; he stood over him with arms crossed over his chest.  “What’s the matter with him?” the older man growled out sounding annoyed at being interrupted from whatever he had been doing. 

“He’s very ill father,” the cucco lady said looking up at the old man.  Apparently Mutoh was her father.  “His skin burns with fever.” 

The Kokiri sword and Deku sheild were completely removed from his body, though Link was only dimly aware of this by now.  His vision has begun to dim at this point, making; the child didn’t even know for sure if the sobbing sounds were coming from him or someone nearby.  A strong set of arms lifted him up, and Link twisted his head around to get one last glance at the terrifying well.  Then the world faded around him, and with it all the pains in his body.

Link’s dreams were filled with terrifying visions from what he saw beneath the well.  At some points he walked through the wells depths, his vision straining to see through the darkness. The small amount of light he was granted cast eerie shadows that attempted to consume him.  Sometimes the shadows would turn into redeads that let out their blood chilling scream.  Other times he was out in Hyrule field, Lon Lon Ranch or even Kokiri forest.  At first feeling safe and content, but then a dark shadow cast over him.  The pasty pale limbs from the Dead Hand would snake their way out of the ground, and pulled him towards the monster that wanted to consume him.

When the child finally awoke with a terrified scream, he could still feel their chilled hands grasping his arms.  Link’s heart was thudding against his rib cage so hard, it was fully possible that the organ would burst out of his chest.  He struggled against the hands that held him down.  “Easy… easy just calm down,” a soft voice was saying to him, but it barely registered in the boy’s brain.  The only thing he could think about was escaping from the monsters. Where was he now? His vision couldn’t focus on anything; the world was a mess of blurriness as the child thrashed around.  After another moment, Link felt something like a blanket get wrapped around his body, and with his arms encased in the cloth, his movements were much more restricted.  Soft grunts fell from his lips as he struggled ever harder against the restraints on his body, and the next thing he felt was his entire body being lifted up and brought into a tight but gentle embrace.  The soft voice continued to speak into his ear.  “Shh… shh it’s ok.  You all right now, your safe…” 

The young hero paused in his struggles at this unexpected movement.  His head rested on something that could only be a warm chest, and adding the feeling of arms that surrounded him, made this position an unmistakable embrace.  Link had faced a lot of enemies since he left the forest, and none of them had ever shown this type of affection.  Which could only mean that the whoever he was with now, was not an enemy or monster.  The body was too big to be a Kokiri, so it had to be an adult, and the voice that spoke to him was feminine.  Since he didn’t know very many adult woman, it made it hard for him to figure out who was holding him.  

As his heart rate fell back to a normal range, Link became more aware of the protests his body was giving.  The closest thing he could compare to how he felt right now, were the time he had gotten chewed on by a Like Like.  Every inch of his body ached like no tomorrow, his skin felt like it was on fire, and his brain pounded against his skull.  The boy opened his mouth and let out the only sound he had energy for, which was a drawn out groan of misery. Since he was no longer struggling, whoever held him loosened their hold on him slightly, and then his extremely heavy body was eased back to lay flat on something soft. It took a few blinks to get his vision to finally focus, and Link was finally able to see that he was in someone’s home and no longer at the bottom of the well.  That information alone brought a wave of relief so heavy the child could have cried.  

Actually after a few seconds that’s exactly what he did.  The relief accompanied with how terrible he felt, was too much for his little body to handle.  So it got all released though large salty tears streaming down his face.  “Woah there- shh… it’s ok sweetheart.  Why are you crying?” The cucco Lady’s face came into his vision, her face full of concern as she stroked his forehead gently.  “Do you hurt anywhere?” 

Link did not respond, but continued to cry, feeling too terrible to worry about how pathetic he was being.  “Anju!” a new voice called suddenly, and the cucco lady’s head turned towards the voice.  Anju must have been her name.  With all the times Link had helped round up her lost cuccos, he had never taken the time to ask her name.  This made him feel a bit ashamed.  It only took a moment for a new face to join with Anju in his sight.  Going by the similarities and age, the boy could only assume that this was Anju’s mother.  The older woman handed Anju a wet cloth that she placed over his forehead.  It felt like the cloth had been soaking in ice water that caused shivers to go down his spine.  But the coolness felt heavenly on his pounding head, so the groan that fell from his lips was a mix of satisfaction and pain.  “I sent word to the doctor, but he’s all the way at Lake Hylia; so it will be at least three days before he can get here,” Anju’s mother continued. 

The young woman gave a noise of dissatisfaction, “That’s too long.” she puffed a deep sigh, “If we can’t get his fever under control, he could be dead by then.” 

Dead? Link did not like the sound that.  Was he really that sick? “We really don’t have any other choice, but to wait and hope for the best,” Anju’s mother responded sadly.  “I have a red potion we can give him, that might help some.”  Anju nodded at her mother, and the older woman left the room.

Anju looked sadly down at the young child, laying in the bed.  She had recognized him the moment she saw his face.  He was the kind young boy who always helped returned her missing cuccos anytime they escaped.  The pesky birds were always escaping from their pen, and since she had allergies to them, she was never able to go round them up herself.  So she was grateful that he was always willing to help.  He always seemed like such a strong young man, carrying around his own cute little sword and shield.  But now looking at him, he looked like a lost young child.  The war gear that the boy always wore surely made him look older.  Anju had not realized before now, just how young he actually was.  He had to be eight or nine- ten years at the very oldest.  

The young woman reached out to smooth his sweat soaked bangs back, and felt that the cool cloth they had laid on his forehead only minutes earlier was already room temperature.  It would need to be changed, and this only added to her worry.  She had seen fevers like this claim victims much older than this child, and she couldn’t bear the thought of seeing it claim this one.  The child gazed at her with vacant glossy eyes, and it made Anju wonder if he even knew what was going on at the moment.  The boy must have been in some sort of daze because there was suddenly a flash of recognition in his fever hazed orbs, and he began glancing around the room in haste.  Then he began struggling to sit up, “Ah, ah none of that,” Anju said gently pushing him back into the bed.  She figured he was having another fit of panic, “It’s all right, you're safe here.” 

Her words did nothing to ease him this time.  He was easily overpowered in his weakened state, but continued to glance around anxiously.  Incoherent mumblings started coming from his mouth.  Anju attempted to lean in closer to see if it would help her understand, but it didn’t. “What is it?” she asked him.  

It took several attempts on his part before he spoke something she could make out.  “N-Navi…” unfortunately she was not familiar with that name, so for all the sense it made to her, he might as well be continuing to speak incoherently.  

The word sounded like it was the name of someone.  That certainly didn’t narrow the list of who the child could be talking about.  He always seemed to travel alone, well except for- “Do you mean your fairy friend?” at the boy’s slight nod she added.  “Don’t worry.  She’s over there resting on the dresser.”  Anju glanced over at the small fairy that slept soundly on the child’s green hat he usually wore.  She did wonder if the fairy was ill as well, it’s not exactly easy to tell, but in any case the little creature seemed totally exhausted.  She had attempted to stay by the child’s side while they tended to him, but not much time passed before she had fallen asleep next to the boy.  Anju’s mother had moved her over to the dresser so she wouldn’t get crushed when the boy began flailing in his sleep. 

Hearing that seemed to do the trick in calming the child down, as he sighed gently and relaxed back into the bed.  Anju removed the no longer cool cloth from his forehead, and placed it in a bowl full of cool water that stood on a table next to her.  She allowed it to soak a moment before wringing it out and replacing back over the boy’s fevered brow.  “Can you tell me your name?” she asked still having no idea what his name was despite how often he helped her.

The young child opened his mouth, and more garbled speech came out.  He closed it to clear his throat but ended up coughing a bit.  Then in a very weak voice Anju heard, “Ugh...L...Li...nk…” even after that one little word the boy began to cough again.

“Link?” Anju repeated to make sure heard correctly, while raising his pillow up slightly to help ease the cough.  He nodded slightly, signaling that she was correct.  The coughing continued so Anju raised Link’s body up so he was in sitting position, and gently patted his back until the coughing stopped and he was breathing easy again.  She had just settled the child back into the bed, the wet cloth that had fallen into his lap was placed back on his forehead, when her mother returned with the red potion in hand.  “Thanks Ma,” Anju said accepting the jar as it was handed to her.  “Here Link drink this, it’ll help you feel better.” 

Anju slipped an arm underneath the child’s neck to lift his head, before gently tipping the bottle of liquid into his mouth.  Luckily he drank it without question or complaint, at least at first.  Once about a third of the liquid was consumed, he began to resist drinking by turning his head away.  Anju attempted to follow his mouth with the bottle so he could finish the rest until her mother said, “That’s probably enough Anju.  Best not to risk it coming back up.”  The younger woman took her mother’s advice with a nod and set the jar aside.  The boy’s body seemed to relax at the knowledge that he didn’t need to drink anymore, and settled himself more comfortably in the bed and was asleep a few moments later.  “He should probably eat something next time he wakes,” Anju’s mother whispered, while her daughter wrapped the ill child more snuggly in the blankets.  “Maybe get some broth ready?” 

With a heavy sigh filled with worry, Anju nodded in agreement.

For the first time since leaving Kokiri Forest, Link awoke fully thinking that he was lying on his bed inside his treehouse in the village.  So when he opened his weak crusted over eyelids, and saw unfamiliar surroundings, the boy was filled with confusion.   Where was he?  This room certainly wasn’t any place in Kokiri Village, there was even a wooden door to the room.  It was common knowledge that Kokiri’s never made doors for their houses, only covering the entrance with cloth.  Doors were a Hylian invention and its meant for hiding secrets.  So given that Kokiri’s never had anything to hide there would be no reason to put a door that could close up your home.   Link’s heart began to beat faster as fear began to consume him, this could only mean that he was no longer in the forest, and under the protection of the Great Deku Tree.  Had he been kidnapped. 

Going by the achiness of his body that seemed to seep into his bones, Link could only assume that he had fallen very ill.  Perhaps he had been taken somewhere to be healed.  But normally when one of their own fell so ill they needed special healing, they were brought to the Great Deku Tree.  Link couldn’t ever recall a time they had to take someone out of the forest to heal them.  Besides leaving the forest meant that you’d die, so it wouldn’t-

The child’s train of thought halted as a fearful notion came to the forefront of his mind.  Perhaps he wasn’t ill, but rather dying because he wasn’t in the forest anymore.  No longer under the protection of their great Father.  Tears welled up in Link’s eyes, and he was too weak to hold them back for long.  Soon enough the boy was sobbing harshly into his blankets that covered him.  It also wasn’t long before the noise he made brought the attention of whoever had captured him, “Link! What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” a female voiced asked.

Upon looking up at however spoke, Link stopped crying with a start.  The young woman that stood before him was certainly not a Kokiri, but he also recognized her.  Slowly, very slowly that cogs of his brain turned and the memories of the past few months trickled back into his mind.  He wanted it to stop when the memories of the well started coming in, but the more he thought about that terrifying place, the faster those memories raced through his mind.  Suddenly the Dead Hand creature stood behind Anju, one is its detached arms reaching out for him, causing the child to scream in terror. 

“What is it!” Anju looked greatly alarmed as his sudden severe reaction.

Link could only point at the creature, screaming again.  “Don’t let it get me! Please, please don’t let it get me!”

The young woman looked behind her, right at the monstrous creature.  “Link, there’s nothing there,” she said turning back to him.  How could she not see it, it was right there.  The boy continued to shriek in terror so Anju got onto the bed and gathered him up into her arms.  “Shh, its all right.  Calm down,” she spoke in a soothing voice.  “Nothing going to get you, shh…”

“What in good Goddesses is going on in here?” Anju’s mother came in looking alarmed herself.

“I think he’s hallucinating,” Anju responded, and Link felt her cool hand that had been resting on the back his neck, slide underneath his tunic down his back.   “He’s burning up Ma, I don’t know what to do.”

 Link could not comprehend anymore of their conversation, as a haze fell over him.  He was only able to catch snippets of what happened after this, and was unable to tell if hours or even days were passing by between snippets.  He recalled someone removing his soaking wet tunic from his sticky body It almost felt like he was back inside the Death Mountain Volcano, as the heat seemed to press in on him from all sides.  When the boy became aware next, he was shivering from head to foot because for some reason he was covered with ice.  Then he was back under the well, locked in one of the many cells scattered beneath.  Flames surrounded the cell, slowly closing in on him.  He would soon suffocate under the heat. 

Then he was back in Anju’s house in Kakariko Village.  At least now Link knew that he was wasn’t dreaming anymore.  He still felt as bad as he did while in the dreams, his head pounding deep inside his skull, the child’s entire frame was racked with severe shivers.  He felt as cold as he had felt while covered in ice, even though wasn’t now.  Maybe that had been a dream as well.  Link hadn’t even realized someone was next to him until he felt his head get raised up and something pressed against his lips.  Hesitantly the child parted his chapped lips, hoping that it wasn’t a potion, since he didn’t think his stomach could handle the bitter tasting liquid.  Graciously it was some sort of warm broth; though unfortunately his tender stomach didn’t seem to like that any better.  There was a worrisome twist in his belly, and Link tightened his lips refusing to let anymore in.

This continued for an undetermined amount of time.  Being awakened and force fed various liquids which included potions, water, broth and sometimes juice.  There were even times he was instructed to suck on a piece of ice.  In-between these times he’d go back to visit the various dungeons he’d gone through and have to refight the enemies within them.  Finally, at long last Link awoke in the bed he had been using at Anju’s house, completely drenched in sweat but feeling better than he had in days.  In attempting to sit up, he realized that his energy had been completely zapped.  The boy’s arms trembled under the weight of his upper body, and was soon forced to lay back down breathing as if he had just run a mile.  “Easy their kiddo, don’t try anything you’re not up for,” a voice spoke next to him.  

Link turned in the voices direction and smiled with delight at the sight of his fairy companion.  “Navi!” it truly was a relief to see her alive and well.  The last time he recalled, they were both fleeing the.  He only vaguely recalled his time spent here, and had been way too out of it to think much about his fairy.  This realization also brought some feeling of guilt and shame, “I’m so happy you're ok!”  

This actually caused Navi to laugh a little, “You’re happy I’m ok.  I should he saying that to you!  You’ve been pretty sick there the past few days.  There were times we weren’t sure you’d make it.” 

“Oh…” the child looked down shamefully.  Some hero he’s turned out to be, almost taken down by a fever.

Navi must have sensed his uneasiness because she changed the subject.  “Well at least we got the Lens of Truth.  Once you’re feeling well enough, we can head back to the future.”  Boy, their conversations these days sure sounded strange.  He could only imagine what someone else would think if they overheard them now.

Link’s eyes darkened at the mention of the Lens of Truth, “It better have been worth getting that thing…” 

The fairy nodded in understanding.  They both seemed to have come to the conclusion that whatever nasty thing the boy had caught, he got it while beneath that well.  But what Navi did not know was that Link’s time spent under there had left a deep rooted trauma in the boy.  Thinking about the place and its cells and chambers gave him an almost paralytic fear.  One thing was for sure.  He’d never, ever, go back under there again.  Not for anything…

Chapter Text

Prompt Seven – I’ve Got You

Timeline - Set right after Majora’s Mask   

Link did not actually remember getting into this tub.  Sometimes he felt like he was literally going crazy because he often experienced huge gaps of time where he didn’t know where he had been or what he had been doing.  The last thing he recalled was coming into the ranch and seeing Romani, or maybe it was Malon.  He wasn’t quite sure.  She has been looking at him with deep concern in her eyes, then suddenly he was sitting in a large tub of warm water completely naked.  There was no recollection of getting undressed, or getting into the water.  

Someone was also rubbing a soapy wash cloth over his arm, and it took Link much longer then usual for his mind to connect that this wasn’t normal.  Link had to blink a couple times and squint his eyes to get them to adjust to seeing again.  The boy almost gave a start at the person who was scrubbing the dirt off of his body.  It was the man who ran the Milk Bar in Clock Town- no just looked like that man.  This had to be Talon, which meant that the girl had to be Malon.  He was no longer in Termina, no longer in the three day time loop, no longer in danger.  Link normally would have been much more embarrassed at the idea of someone else undressing him for a bath, but the warmth of the water felt too good right now.  “I think he’s back with us again,” an unfamiliar voice said from behind him.

Link hadn’t even realized he’d ‘gone’ anywhere.  But since he was back and in control of his limbs again, the boy insisted that he finish bathing himself.  After all he was no longer an infant and should be perfectly capable of scrubbing himself clean.  Talon and a ranchhand Link never met before stepped back at once, though neither left the room.  Even when Link pointed out that he was fine and they didn’t have to stay, they both looked very reluctant to leave him alone.

It turned out to be a good thing, having them stay.  Once the young hero deemed himself clean enough to leave the tub, he stood up.  Or at least he attempted to stand up; but the moment his legs took on Link’s entire weight, they collapsed beneath him.  In fact if the ranchhand had not been so quick to catch him, he might have smacked his head against the side of the tub and drowned.  Actually maybe it would have been better if that had happened.  Why did he have no energy?  Even after he steadied himself, the ranchhand was still the reason he was not sliding back into the water.  As if they had already planned it ahead of time, Talon was at his side with a towel that was quickly wrapped around his thin frame.  The ranchhand picked him up with much more gentleness than one might think.  He was carried into a bedroom, where the two men assisted him into a thin white night robe, and toweling his hair dry.  Link had not realized how tired he had been, until he had been laid down on the bed and covered in warm blankets.  He was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.

When Link awoke, he saw the most beautiful thing ever staring down at him.  Blue eyes, gorgeous red hair, and a smile so bright it could pierce the darkness of Kakariko’s Well.  It was Malon… no… or was it Romani.  A huge wave of shame came over the boy as he realized he couldn’t tell them apart.  Malon is one of the most special people in his life, he should be able to tell her apart from Romani.  Though Romani had become a special person to him as well, but was that because the other girl was almost a duplicate of Malon, in both features and personality.  This brought confused emotions into the young child.  “I’m glad to see you awake Link,” the red haired girl said, saving the boy from continuing to dwell on his thoughts.  

The young hero only gulped in response.  He had to make sure, “M-Malon…?” he spoke hesitantly, dearly hoping that he was correct.

“Yes Link…” Malon responded with a bit of uncertainty in her own voice, and worry passed over her beautiful facial features.  “It’s always been me.” 

If only you knew… Link could not help but think.  He stared into her worried gaze, and even stained with anxiety her face was stunningly beautiful.  “Well… I brought you something to eat if you're hungry,” Malon said, breaking the awkward silence, and motioning to a tray of food on the side table Link hadn’t noticed until now. 

It looked to be a bowl of porridge, with some apple slices on the side.  The boy really didn’t feel all that hungry, but didn’t want to offend the girl.  So he smiled, trying his best to look grateful, “Thanks Malon.”  Perhaps the food will give him back some energy. 

He was actually able to eat everything on the tray, and though the food felt a bit dense in his stomach, it didn't feel like it would be coming back up.  Malon also seemed to be happy at the amount of food he had eaten, as she was now beaming at him.  Link couldn’t help but smile back at her.  For a moment, a very brief moment it almost felt like his trip to Termina hadn’t even happened.  Like he was back living on the Ranch after Zelda restored his childhood.  That brief time always stood out as the best time in Link’s life, and it felt good to think that maybe life could get back to this point.  But almost as quickly as it came, the moment was gone.

In a sudden flash, Malon's beautiful eyes had turned blank, her face pinched with pain, dry lips trembling as if about to burst into sobs.  It was the face of Romani anytime he was unable to help her with the invaders that attacked the ranch.  He couldn’t bear to associate that face with Malon, even though it’s already happened since Malon and Romani have the same face.  Link had to look away before he lost it.  Though the image of now plastered into his brain, and nothing he did could remove it.  The boy barely had the time to crawl weakly over the side of the bed, before he stomach heaved up the food that was placed into his stomach moments earlier.  When he looked back at the redhead a few minutes later, the terrified look she was giving him was almost worse then Romani’s lifeless stare.  “Oh Link… what happened to you?” was all she could choke out.  

Link did not want to answer.  He just wanted to forget about everything that happened in his life up until this point, especially what happened in Termina.  So instead he broke down into hard frame racking sobs.

Things did not improve for Link over the coming days, in fact everything was steadily declining.  The precious hours of sleep the young hero could get were filled with terrifying nightmares that always stopped him from getting anymore then two or three hours of sleep each day.  He was unable to keep any food down for long, and that along with his lack of sleep had practically made him bedridden.  He was just short of having a diaper put on him, instead his caretakers had placed an absorbent pad under him since he only made it to the outhouse on time 50% of the time. Link normally would have been completely embarrassed by this, if he hadn’t felt like he was on the brink of dying.  

A doctor had come in, a couple days after he arrived, but deemed that aside from his lack of sleep and nutrition, there was nothing wrong with him.  Malon was under the impression that if she stayed with him as much as possible it would help, and though he appreciated her efforts, her very presence actually tended to make things worse. Seeing Malon only brought up memories of Romani being taken away by the monsters that kept attacking Romani Ranch, and what happens to her when she is brought back hours later.  

There was one cycle when Link accidently ran out of arrows and was unable to save her from the attack.  He made the mistake of waiting around the ranch for her to return, thinking maybe if he got to her right when they brought her back he’d save her from the mind trauma.  The boy had been foolish to think this however.  Seeing her battered and bruised body fall to the ground with a thud was probably the worst thing he’d ever see.  The only sounds coming from the girl were ear spitting cries and wails that immediately woke her older sister.  Of course Cremina had to look exactly like the older version of Malon, and hearing the young woman’s angry accusations was enough for Link to flee from the ranch and spend the next two cycles crying in sorrow and shame. 

Link did not know how long he’d been at Lon Lon Ranch before Impa showed up.  Talon must have asked her to come and see if she could help him.  Malon had been in the daily process of coaxing the young Hero into eating some food when the wise Sheika walked into the room.  Malon eyes widened in shock and intimidation at her sudden presence, which told Link that she had nothing to do with Impa being called here.  The woman only needed to look at Malon before the young girl scuttled from the room.  Link only stared at the Sheika woman with no traces of fear in his eyes.  Even though in this timeline he’d spent very little time with the royal attendant, if you counted his time travel experiences he knew the woman quite well.  He was even thankful to have her come, the Sheika tribe has powerful magic, surely she would be able to help him.

Assuming that she would ask what he wanted her to help him with, Link opened his mouth to explain what was happening.  But the woman held up her hand to stop him from speaking.  “No words by lad.”  Impa said, stepping closer to the bed he was lying on.  She did not stop till she stood right in front of him.  “Your mind and your body are weary, there will be plenty of time to talk when your weariness has passed.”  With that she smoothed a hand over his forehead and everything went dark.   

What followed was the strangest sleep Link has ever experienced.  It was as if some force was warding off the normal nightmares that plagued his dreams.  When he awoke, Link felt better and more refreshed then he had in weeks, maybe even months.  In fact when he saw the tray of food on the bedside table, his stomach roared to life and he had to mentally stop himself from shoveling food into his mouth.  He was half way through the tray of food when Impa returned to the room again.  “Hello Link, I trust you are well rested,” she said by way of greeting.

“Yes I did,” the boy responded, the gratefulness was clearly evident in his voice.  If only she could do whatever it was she did every time he slept.  But that was probably too much to hope for.  “I don’t know what you did, but thanks for it.  I feel a lot better now.” 

The Sheika nodded in approval, “I see it has also helped your appetite which is good.  Unfortunately we cannot always rely on the Sheiken magic.”  This wasn’t the first time Link was under the impression that Impa could read minds.  But he pushed the uncomfortable thought away so he could continue eating.  “Unfortunately the time for questions has come.  What is it that troubled you so much you were left in the state I found you in the other day?” 

Link knew this was coming as well, and his refueled appetite left him almost the moment he began thinking about Termina.  He also knew that there really wasn’t any point putting it off.  So with a soft sigh, the child set down the piece of flat bread he had been eating and turned to look at the woman.  Then he explained everything.  Everything that had happened since he left Hyrule.  He left out no details, including everything from the Skull Kid’s plan with the moon, to helping Anju and Kafei reunite.  Link also included how everything seemed to be an exact doppelganger of someone from Hyrule, and the effects Romani and her sister were now having on him when he saw Malon. 

Impa did not speak during his story, but the frown on her face deepened with each moment that passed.  The boy finally ended with, “Now I wonder if it was all a strange nightmare.” 

A few moments of silence passed before Impa asked, “Your current injuries.  Did you receive them while in Termina?” 

Link knew exactly where the Sheiken woman was going.   “Y-Yes…” he replied with a sinking feeling.

“What about the scars that cover your body?” The young hero only nodded, his eyes downcast.  “Then I can assure you that it was not a dream.” 

It had been a longshot.  But Link had still taken comfort the past few weeks in the slim chance that none of it had ever happened.  It would be so much easier to return to normal life if it had been a hellish nightmare.  But of course it hadn’t.  Tears began to flow from his eyes, would he have to live with this forever.  “What should I do…?” 

“Well one thing is for certain,” the woman started matter of factly.  “Staying here at his Ranch is doing you more harm than good.”  At Link’s confused look Impa elaborated.  “While Talon and his family mean well, they seem to bring too many troubled memories from your time in Termina.” 

“W-Where... should I go t-then?” Link asked between sobs.  “Every... p-place in Hyrule will re-mind me of Termina!”

“I did not mean that you needed to go somewhere that wouldn’t remind you of Termina.  Given your story that would be quite impossible.  What I mean is you should go to a place that would more likely give you good memories of your time in Termina.  Surely you must have had some good times there?” 

Link could not help but nod in agreement.  Yes the terrible things that happened in that cursed land overwhelmed the good things.  But here were some happy things he could recall.  Like when he reunited Anju and Kafei.  Again almost like she had read his mind, Impa said, “I suggest you go to my home village Kakariko.  There are many nice families there who would be more than willing to take you in.” 

Though he was hesitant at first, Link eventually agreed to this.  Even he had to admit all the residents he knew of that lived in Kakariko didn’t have much to do with his adventure in Termina, aside from Anju.  But he didn’t have any terrible memories of her, in fact most of them were positive. Expectantly Malon took the news of his leaving the Ranch pretty hard.  But Impa had been very clear that Link needed time to heal it would better he do it in the village rather than the Ranch.  Link was pretty sure Talon was thankful for the excuse to be rid of him, he must have caused a lot of caos since his arrival.  

On the day he got ready to leave, Link approached Malon, who had been avoiding him since the news of his departure.  She was gently petting Epona, refusing to look at him but Link could see the tears rolling down her face.  “Please don’t cry Malon,” the boy begged, grabbing her hand into his and giving it a squeeze.  “It won’t be forever.” 

“Oh Link!” the girl suddenly jumped into his arms and began crying into his now clean green tunic.  “I feel like I just got you back, and now you have to leave again!” 

The young hero wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.  It hurt to know that he was the one causing her pain.  “We can write to each other all the time.”  The girl gently pushed away from him.  Her tearstreamed face looking into his.  “I promise, I will return.  When I have healed… I’ll return and then I’ll tell you everything.”  Link hugged her again.  That was a promise he was determined to keep.

Chapter Text

Prompt Alt 4 – Stitches

Timeline - Set between Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass

Moblin’s were some of the most annoying creatures ever to inhabit the Great Sea.  On the front they seemed as dumb as stones, but they were very strong, held powerful weapons, and didn’t go down easily.  It was because of one of these creatures as to why Link was currently sitting below deck on Tetra’s Pirate Ship, holding a crude cloth to his bleeding calf.  The Moblin had taken a low swing at him with one of their extra-long weapons, and the boy had tried avoiding the attack by jumping over the weapon.  Unfortunately, he had misjudged the timing, and the spear sliced a deep wound right under his knee.  This resulted in Nudge having to carry him back to the ship.  

Tetra and the rest of the crew had left him alone for a few moments while they “gathered supplies to treat the wound.”  That's at least what they told him… he had a nasty suspicion that they were doing something else.  The young Hero removing the cloth, so he could take another glance at the wound.  It was no longer bleeding profusely, but it still gapped.  It’s not that bad though he thought to himself.  With some time and maybe a potion or two it should heal on its own… 

A part of Link knew that he was just lying to himself, and knew exactly what was going to be done.  He could still hope that that part of him was wrong though, couldn’t he?  Tetra came into the room he sat in, and wasn’t carrying anything which sent a wave of relief to the boy. Maybe they wouldn’t have to do it.  She knelt down next to Link and gave him a smile that almost looked patronizing.  Maybe it was too soon to be relieved.  “Let’s see what it looks like now?” she asked nodded to his leg. Link hesitated for only a moment, before removing the cloth from the wound.  He saw the faint trace of a grimace before giving him a look that he could no longer deny was patronizing.  “Link… you know we’re going to have to do it.” 

A sudden fear jumped into the boy’s chest, making his heart race.  “B-but it’s not that bad- I’m sure if we just wrap it up real good, it will be fine until we get a potion,” by the tone of his voice, even Link himself didn’t believe his own words.

Sure enough Tetra didn’t either. “That’s only going to cause the wound to get infected.  I’ve heard enough horror stories about people losing limbs over infections.  In comparison this is really simple and it’s only a few minutes’ pain.” 

“Please Tetra!” the boy was so fearful now he felt no embarrassment at how childish he sounded.  “Can’t we just wait a few days to see if it starts to get better on its own?”

“No,” Tetra responded with no room for argument.  “All right boys, let's do this.” 

As if it was all planned, the other members of their crew swooped down on them.  This confirmed the boys pervious suspicions about how they were plotting on how to get him to submit to getting stitches.  It was sort of a humiliating fear, but Link hated needles.  And the very thought of having your skin sown together like two pieces of fabric made him woozy.  Link had to have stitches two times previously.  The first time was when he was younger still living on Outset, and that had been where his fear of getting stitches first started.  Orca had been the one to do it, and to say the least he did a poor job at it.  The other time had been similar situation to this one, injured while out as sea and completely out of potions.  The only difference was that he had been unconscious and they had stitched him up while he was out of it. 

Gonzo started the ambush by tackling him from the back, pushing the young hero down so he laid on his belly.  The sudden movement to his body causing searing pain to course through his injured calf.  This temporarily immobilized him enough for Mako and Neko to each grab one of his arms and hold them still, while Senza and Nudge each took a foot.  By the time the pain level in his body went down to a point where he could try escaping he could barely move a muscle.  “No! No please! Please don’t!” the boy began begging screeching like they were about to start torturing him.  He bucked his body up in an attempt to throw them off. 

“Keep him still!” Zuko’s annoyed voice shouted from behind him.  Given that Zuko had the steadiest hands out of them all, it made sense that he was given the task of applying the stitches. Link felt Tetra’s body sit on his back, leaving him pretty much immobile aside shaking his head back and forth and wiggling his fingers and toes.  None of which aided his escape.

“Maybe we should have gotten him drunk before doing this,” Link heard Neko suggest.  “At least then he wouldn’t remember it.” 

“Well given what happened the last time you bullied him into drinking alcohol, I don’t think he would have agreed to that,” Tetra responded in a cold voice.

Not much else was said.  Not that they could really hold a decent conversation while he screamed and wailed at them.  The boy felt some of their vodka get splashed over his calf, igniting the wound in searing pain, that made Link cry out in agony.  Ok maybe he was being a bit over dramatic.  Secretly Link’s cries were partly from a temper tantrum that he was throwing because they were forcing this on him.  The burning pain continued with ever prick of the needle.  After what felt like forever, but in reality it was probably just a few minutes, Link could hear Tetra yelling at him.  “Link! You can stop screaming now! It’s done!” 

The relief of those words was overwhelming, and slowly the pain started dissipating.  Even though he was no longer struggling, they still held him down while Zuko bandaged the newly stitched wound.  Link also continued to cry, though he wasn’t quite sure why.  The wound wasn’t really hurting all that much anymore, but the tears and sobs continued none the less.  “Ok Link,” Tetra starting speaking again.  “We’re going to let go of you now, but you can’t move your leg too quickly or the stitches will tear, and we’ll have to do it again.  Promise not to make any sudden movements?” 

At the boy’s nod, everyone released their hold on him with sighs of relief.  “I think pulling teeth would have been easier…” someone grumbled, but Link didn’t care enough right now to figure out who had said it.  

Tetra gently rolled in over to say on his back.  “Hey… it’s all over now, you can stop crying,” she said in a humored voice.  When the young hero continued to cry into his hands, the female captain released a sigh, then gathered his upper body into her arms.  The moment Link felt her embrace him, he knew that this what he had been crying for.  A gentle touch after being manhandled so ruthlessly.  He wrapped his arms around her, and continued to cry into her chest.