Chapter 2: Desperation; Frantic Search for the Bombers

Retrieval of the Royal Family's Heirloom Arc

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.

Featured Music: "File Select" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Chapter Briefing.

"#4 – Clocktown" - Theophany (Time's End ~ Disc I). Scene 1 (First Half).

"Tingle's Theme" - The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).

"Astral Observatory" - Majora's Mask Orchestrations CD. Scene 4.


In a surprising mysterious assault indeed, the shocked Link is attacked by an unknown assailant and his loyal steed stolen. When he comes to he realises that not only was the identity of the attacker not so secret, but indeed, he also managed to take the one thing that was given to him so secretly. An instrument of great and magical power and, quite possibly, the only hope to his rapidly-growing extinction.

The Ocarina of Time.

A tool that, in spite of its grandiose origins and disastrous implications in a previous timeline, had been the rock that kept Link attached to the royal family of his country of Hyrule. And it is this tool that, having been taken by his attacker, has turned against him.

With the power to turn back the clock and even access the divine power of time-travel, Link must now forge ahead through this brave new world of parallel dimensions; a world fit only for those already station within.

The world... of Termina.


Scene 1

DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY

-72 Hours Remain-

The sound of nearby birds chirping made the wincing Link raise up his small wooden arm, the morning's sun near blinding him.

It must be early, he thought.

"How could you stand that guy?!"

Tatl's sudden and abrupt interjection made him rise his eyebrows up in light surprise as she dangled very quietly in his direct line of sight.

"That guy was the-"

"He knows a lot more 'n he's tellin' us; I know," Link chose to answer her with, his eyebrows lowering back down. "But he's also the only chance I have to return to normal."

"Ah...," the little guardian fairy murmured out, turning away from him as if in shame. "About that..."

"Never mind...," he shot over his shoulder, breezing past her as if she were merely the air he walked through. His sudden brush caused her to squeak in surprise. "Where's our next best lead to ending this?"

Seemingly annoyed at his treatment she huffed before answering him. "Hmph!" She shot back before flying upward as if to look down on the small Deku form below her. "North Clock Town! The Great Fairy's Fountain!"

"North...?"

"That's right; north!" She clarified, spitting her words out with the vindication of an insulted woman. "Last I remember anyway..." She spoke, her voice an unsure murmur.

"If this is South Clock Town...," he began, his amber-shaded eyes narrowing forward. "Then North'll be... this way!"

The little Deku Scrub turned and pattered off just in time to avoid the nearby dog's assaulting leap, his form seemingly headed for the wooden incline leading up. Tatl, surprised by his sudden movement, could only widen her eyes beneath her cream-coloured shade and made ready to take off after his surprisingly swift form.

"H-Hey; wait!"


"Oh no!"

Tatl's worried exclamation made even the rushing Link stop and widen his eyes at the sight before him; it wasn't anything he was used to.

Great Fairies don't look like this, he thought to himself, puzzled.

Oddly, a large number of smaller pixies hovered 'round the fountain's design with which he had grown comfortable.

It was only when he drew closer to the stream that a voice echoed out from within it.

"Young one!"

He stopped moving, almost immediately, and widened his eyes. In a comical wince he turned briefly to exchange his unsure look with the body-shaking Tatl to register his surprise. The look through her light confirmed her similar puzzlement.

"Please... listen to me; my almighty form has been shattered by the malevolent and horrifying power of the forgotten ones..."

The listening Link narrowed his topaz-shaded eyes in scrutiny and remembrance.

I remember that name, he thought.

The last time I heard that... was in the Shadow Temple.

What was this mask that the Skull Kid's wearing?

It sounds incredibly dangerous.

"You must find the last piece of my broken self; she should be waiting for you in the Laundry Pool!"

The standing Link, in spite of being unable to express it, chose to grin past his Deku form as he exchanged it with the frowning Tatl on his upper left.

"Time grows short! Please, for the land of Termina... hurry!"

As the small fairies resumed their simple hovering the grinning Link turned his small wooden head to face his new guardian fairy, a grin 'round his hidden expression.

"Up for another run?"

The hovering Tatl narrowed her eyes but found her frown, very slightly, rising up into a tiny smile.

2

VIIII...

Although the bright light that the Stray Fairies managed to create, a familiar kind of yellow orb of light, the odd screaming style of laughter that ensued always managed to make the listening Link cringe firmly.

"Never gonna get used to that..." He murmured out, running a wooden finger through his ears.

"Shh!"

Tatl's sudden admonishment made him turn his indignant frown up to face her very briefly before quickly turning his look on the woman that hovered high above him.

Sure enough, it was a Great Fairy and she seemed to wear all that he remembered from his last adventure in Hyrule.

But was it the same one, he wondered quietly.

Because if it was...

"Z-Zen'nō... Yōsei...?"

"Whomst...?" The tall woman pressed delicately as she leaned forward, her hands joining together as if in thought. "Of whomst do thou speak of, child?"

"N-No-one I guess...," the chuckling Link replied, running his small hand across the back of his green-capped head in a mix of melancholy and mild embarrassment. "S-Sorry..."

"This one needs no apologies for thou hath saved me," she smiled down at him warmly. "Unfortunately... this one cannot return you to normal form."

Just as I suspected, the listening Link thought with an understanding nod.

The Happy Mask Man is really my only chance then, he surmised.

"All this one can offer thou now... is a boost in Aegir."

The silent Link, his eyebrows rising in surprise, could only wonder.

But I already have my Aegir unlocked, he thought.

How would-?

He realised, very quickly, that he hadn't used any Quintessence while locked within this tiny form.

He couldn't seem to at all.

She was unlocking it for him.

"Just as thou did for the green fields of Hyrule...," the Great Fairy began, lowering her hands and shutting her aqua-violet eyes. A kind of unnatural wind stirred up around her form, as if to signify her raise in power. "Please... save the beautiful lands of Termina!"

HUMMMM...

A similarly small aura of divine energy fell upon him with a sudden speed that surprised him; with widened eyes he found himself very quickly lifted into the air, as if by telepathy somehow. There he levitated in mid-air before, finally, the Great Fairy's technique did its work; his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he dropped his blonde-haired head backward, falling unconscious.

"L-Link?!"

Although Tatl's oddly worried call never reached him it wasn't long before the technique appeared to end the the little Deku boy was dropped to the ground. Gently he landed and, his eyes seemingly shut from the endeavour, very slowly scrunched up to match the slow-growing grin he gave. His small hands, along with the rest of his body, began to shake and tremble as if in excitement. It was only when, at last, he decided to laugh as he opened his amber-shaded eyes wide and extend his small arms to both his sides as if in victory.

The feeling of a large dose of power that, suddenly shot through him, began to overtake him; it was as if the woman above him merely unlocked the door hiding away within him to access the floodgates of his Aegir.

"Your next best lead... would probably be the Astral Observatory in the town's outskirts; there within an old man whomst lives could best serve thee."

"Okay...," the listening Link nodded, the grin on his face threatening to overtake the rest of his expression. "You've been a great help! Thanks so much!" He shot up, shutting one of his eyes in thanks as he rose up his right balled fist, a grin hidden behind his Deku form.


"W-What's this...?!"

The little man's sudden hushed exclamation made the little Deku Scrub wince, almost as if being called out by a teacher for a misdeed.

"White fairy...? Green clothes...? Could you be, by chance, a forest fairy?!"

The small man's call at last made the rolling-eyed Link swing around to eye him and, sure enough, he was facing a crazy.

He was seemingly dressed in what looked like a child's jumpsuit; green in colour, much like Link's old tunic, it appeared to cover almost his entire body bar his face. Even his small and pointed ears, directing his heritage to Hylian, were covered by the odd bodysuit he sported. The first thing the wide-eyed Link took note of was the huge and brightly-red nose he carried as well as the odd goatee resting on his chin.

To call the man 'strange' would be much too small an understatement.

"Oh my!" The man exclaimed a third time before lowering his eyes to face the smaller Deku form below him. "My name is Tingle!" He at last introduced himself with. "I think I am the same as you sir! A forest fairy!"

The zigzagged-faced Link exchanged a comically deadpan frown with the contrastingly grinning Tatl.

"Alas, although I'm thirty-five years of age no guardian fairy has come for me yet..." The little man lamented, his grin soon dissolving into a saddened frown as his eyes followed the floating Tatl.

"He's thirty-five?!"

The young Link's wide-eyed silent thoughts were soon answered however.

"My father tells me to grow up and act my age...," the newly-introduced Tingle began, his frown soon turning into a childish pouting scowl. "But why should I?!" He exclaimed over at the young Deku, almost as if he were speaking to his father himself.

Link couldn't help but wince as he took a wary step back, raising up one of his small arms as if to ward him off.

"I tell you, Tingle is the very incarnation of a fairy!" The self-proclaimed man exclaimed once more, an odd kind of grin upon his expression. "Now, while I stand here waiting for a guardian fairy of my own... I sell maps to help out my father!"

The former Hero of Time's eyebrows rose up and he took a step back forward, his interest in the conversation suddenly revitalised.

If this man was really a cartographer, he thought.

Then maybe he'll know where all the important areas are.

"Lucky, lucky!" The man exclaimed again, jumping into a small song and dance. The listening Link found himself avoiding the odd man's eyesight in a comical display of embarrassment. "You're so lucky to have a guardian fairy!" He claimed. "I know, I know! We should be friends!"

"U-Uh s-sure..."

"Yes, yes!" Tingle grinned out, his enjoyment clear. "In exchange, I will sell you a map very cheaply as a true sign of friendship!"

This guy has some odd ideas about friendship, the silent Link thought to himself.

No, you need this, he countered.

The more information you have on this weird place the better.

"Here, have this one of Clock Town!"

3

"So... you ever meet anyone like that where you come from?"

Tatl's pressing and grinning tone made the former Hylian roll his eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time.

She's just looking for a reaction; don't give her it, he thought.

"I think it's sweet...," she continued on as the pair pattered on through East Clock Town. "Obviously he reminds you of yourself."

Okay, no, he thought.

Too far.

"Hey!" He shot back, 'rounding on the cream-coloured guardian fairy hovering next to him. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" She feigned, a knowing smirk in her impudent tone.

He growled as best he could in his new Deku form before swinging his head 'round to eye the rest of the town laid out before him; as the pair rested 'round one of the metropolis' many post boxes they could see as far as the next exit to South Clock Town.

Having received his boost in Aegir from the North Clock Town Great Fairy, the seemingly knowledgable Tingle's next advice was to check with the gang of similarly-dressed children roaming the community, aptly named 'Bombers'. With his new technique, boosted by his similarly new Quintessence, he managed to burst the balloon hanging in the air around North Clock Town. In doing so he opted to gain the attention of their leader, a small brown-haired boy by the name of Jim.

In spite of his previously legendary destiny and incredible exploits, in order to gain the assistance of the Bombers, the dejected Link was lowered to playing a simple game of 'Hide and Seek'.

It felt very degrading indeed.

Tatl, of course, made every attempt to point this out with the odd joke or two whenever she had the opportunity.

I miss Navi, he thought in a melancholic sigh.


DAWN OF THE SECOND DAY

-48 Hours Remain-

"Thank the Sainted Three that's over!"

Tatl's elongated and drawn out sigh made the frowning Link eye her in a curious-faced gaze before he reset his expression forward, walking down the tunnel they had managed to gain access to earlier.

"Who would have guessed that we'd have to play Hide and Seek?!"

"'Sainted Three'... huh...," the frowning Link batted back, one of his eyebrows rising up as he stepped down to the main hub of the chamber before them. "Where'd you learn a phrase like that?"

Tatl, surprised by his sudden alarming query, swung her cream-shaded light over to face him, visibly surprised. "Around the same places where I heard of the 'Hero of Time'..."

The frowning Link contorted his frown in an annoyed zigzagged-faced frown, his amber-shaded eyes hovering away from hers in silent defeat.

Dammit, he thought.

Not as if I can pursue her when she confronts me with that.

Even as he water-hopped across the sizeable fields of water before him onto the platforms scattered around the chamber, he took faith in his new Deku abilities to stem the tide and keep him sane.

Once I finish this and return myself to human form I can go back to Hyrule, he thought.

And then find Navi.

I won't have to put up with Tatl anymore.

"Could you move any slower?"

Her criticisms made him turn his deadpan frown forward up to eye her hovering past him.

Don't answer her, he thought.

That's exactly what she wants.

"So, hey..."

As he drew closer to her small and light form he rose another eyebrow in curiosity, passing the Skulltula that dropped to face them in hostility rather casually as he did.

"About this... 'Hero of Time' business..."

She's pressing it again, he thought.

I could tell her... but then...

"Yeah, what about it?" He batted back, his frown very slowly up-turning into a light grin as the pair of adventurers passed a lit torch and into a second hallway. Leading out they came upon a small staircase leading into another chamber. High above them sat a balloon much like the one the pair burst in North Clock Town, successfully blocking their progress by sitting at the top of the ladder ahead.

"Why would that creepy mask man call you that?" She shot over, a curious tone on her similarly light voice. "Are you two in cahoots or something?"

"Gimme a little credit..." He laughed back at her, shaking his head as he aimed his open Deku's mouth up to hit the balloon above them.

FWEEEE-BURST

"So where's it from then?" She pressed him further as she followed the youth up the wooden ladder. "Surely it wouldn't have just come from nowhe-"

"Well, if ya gotta know...," the little Deku began, shutting his eyes briefly as he spoke, his small grin very soon growing into a long and open smirk. "I'm kinda a big deal back in Hyrule."

"So was Skull Kid, if what I suspect is true."

Link's brow furrowed and his grin very quickly dissolved in response to her odd retort.

What was that supposed to mean, he thought.

"If you're that popular...," she began again, her eyes narrowing behind her tiny frame in scrutiny. "Then why the hell are you way down here in Termina with the rest of us?"

Good question, he surmised silently.

I don't know this fairy, he thought.

There's no need to even tell her.

"It's... personal."

"Sounds about right." Tatl's disappointed sigh said it all; with no more information coming her way she hovered around his side in a bored, albeit faithful levitation.

As the pair stepped through into the next chamber however the frowning Link's eyes soon widened a little in surprise at the sight waiting for them; a scarecrow, very similar to the one he remembered sitting in Lake Hylia, waited in what seemed to be a very small garden of crops. Littered all around about their persons and the wooden floor beneath them were pieces of paper with schematics and calculations that neither could decipher; seemingly a window into the owner's similarly unkempt and messy personality.

It was something Link could identify with.

4

"Come on, up here."

He followed Tatl's quiet urging and stepped on up the multiple staircases located contrastingly neatly before them. Stepping up through them and around the former Hylian's eyes marvelled at the sight of a humongous structure resting at the top. It appeared to be a kind of giant magnifying glass to the youth's eyes; a very alien and exotic sight for the former Hero of Time indeed.

"Ah, Tatl!"

"Hello Professor Shikashi."

Link's wooden eyebrows soon found themselves rising up once more in light surprise as he stepped forward to join the pair.

"They're already acquainted?"

His thoughts were soon answered however.

"Ah!" The old man smiled as he 'rounded to face the pair. "And this must be... a new friend of the Bombers?"

Tatl swivelled her light around to eye the small form of the eyebrow-raised Link. "S-Something like that..."

Shockingly the old man standing before him appeared to be another reminder of a person he once met in his homeland of Hyrule. The old wiseman that used to walk the streets of Hyrule Castletown and Kakariko Village stared back at him, even dressed similarly. He wore a long blue robe that reminded the listening Link well of the stories his other self used to tell.

Nostalgia filled the young Hero of Time in great waves even as he turned his white-haired head down to face the youth.

"Welcome, welcome!" The old man spoke in amiability, casting his shut-eyed smile down on the little Deku's form. "I am Professor Shikashi of the Clock Town astral observatory," he introduced himself with, re-opening his eyes to smile down at the youth. "What is your name?"

"U-Uh, it's... Link." The former Kokiri replied, a nervous chuckle spicing his voice.

"You're remarkably well-mannered, at least in comparison to the little friend you must have had traipsing in before you," the old man laughing well-meaningly, scratching the side of his head as he did. The listening Link's eyebrows rose up, his interest piqued. "That ill-mannered little hooligan said he'd break these instruments you know!"

"I'm sorry Professor...," the sighing Tatl apologised as she hovered into frame above the pair. "He's caused quite a lot of trouble for us too."

Link's brow furrowed in recognition, very quickly connecting the dots.

They must be talking about that Skull Kid, he thought.

"Even now!" The professor exclaimed, annoyance lacing through his baritone. "Just watch him!" He called, pointing up at the open eyeglass leading to the huge apparatus that Link first saw when ascending the staircase. "Knowing him now he's probably causing no end of trouble for those poor people in Clock Town," Shikashi muttered out in a disapproving shake of his white-haired head. "Have a look-see!"

The listening Link exchanged an unsure frown with the nodding Tatl to ensure his manners were acceptable; sure enough, as per her silent nod, he stepped forward and narrowed his eyes through the eyeglass above. The incredible sight that awaited him legitimately took his breath away; his amber eyes widened to register his shock.

"Woah..."

As his voice managed to successfully convey the surprising sight of all of Termina Field and even the outside construction of Clock Town lay before him; it was a veritable painting of a beautiful landscape.

I wish we had one of these things in Hyrule, he lamented silently.

A tiny dot of odd-shaped movement to the sky made him narrow his eyes and push the mechanism up to follow it.

"Zoom in! Use the thingy!"

The frowning Link turned his deadpan-eyed frown 'round on the exclaiming Tatl to his left before at last complying and attempting to magnify the distance that the mechanism offered them.

Sure enough, as he did, his eyebrows rose up when he found the Skull Kid himself standing on top of Clock Town's highest-tiered building itself; the mechanism that triggered the very fireworks on the day of the festival.

"Is it him?"

The brow-furrowed Link nodded his messy blonde-haired head sombrely. "Yeah..."

The Skull Kid shook his head from side-to-side; an unsettling look for the boy with the wide-eyed Majora's Mask ever resting on his face. His attention seemingly garnered by something high in the air however, he turned it skyward as if to elicit the watching Link's curiosity.

"What's...?"

To answer his own quiet query he turned the mechanism he commanded upward to trace the Skull Kid's gaze... and almost regretted in doing so.

It was then that he at last was forced to confront the disturbingly-close form of Termina's moon; with similarly gigantic eyes, a large nose and even an open-mouthed grin full of teeth it resembled, rather horrifyingly, a face of all things.

It looked like something out of one of those horror novels that Saria used to like reading, he thought anxiously.

Before he could ruminate on the possibilities any further however a surprising sight indeed began to descend down from it and at record speed at that; a brightly-blue object wrapped in the hot crimson of hellfire. Professor Shikashi's panicked call was shrill in the youth's ears as he bore witness.

"It's an asteroid! Get down!"

DROOOOOOM

Although completely unprepared for the impact, the explosion and crater that was created from it was barely enough to merely shake the foundations of the building in which they stood in. The ordeal over Link swung the mechanism down very quickly to get a look and, sure enough, there it lay in a small crater; a brightly-blue and beautiful object indeed.

"Did the Skull Kid do that...?"

The former Hylian answered his own unsure thoughts when he turned the large telescope up to eye the troublemaker facing him. Sure enough, as he did, the Skull Kid opted to turn his body so his rear was facing the telescope's gaze. Rather childishly he chose to shake in place, as if to insult the watching Link, before very swiftly leaping up and out of sight.

"That impact...!"

Professor Shikashi's baritone called the young Deku's attention as he tore it away from the telescope above him, a frown on his wooden expression.

"It must be a Moon's Tear!" He exclaimed excitably, his eyebrows risen as if to register his surprise. "I wonder how that silly child managed to make his way up there...," the old man hummed out thoughtfully, turning his eyes skyward as if in quiet thought. "I suppose, just like you...," he began again, swinging his head down to smile lightly at the frowning Deku below him. "There is more to you both than meets the eye."

The listening Link merely shot the white-haired professor a confidently-expressed grin.