Link awoke the next morning in cold sheets. He was no longer sweating but it was apparent he had been during his rest. He took the sheets off his bed and checked the closet for more.
When the sleep cleared more from his mind, he recalled what he had dreamt of that night. His head turned to the masks on the wall and he stared through them to Majora.
He growled lowly.
“You scum. Continue to haunt my dreams all you like. You have no power here.”
He could feel Majora gazing at him. His little finger faced her.
“I know you’re watching me.”
Link trailed off. Here he was, talking like Majora was animate. He wasn’t even certain she could hear him when he spoke1. He gave his head a shake. Maybe the others were right. Maybe he did need to start opening to someone. It would probably be for the best.
Maybe he could talk a bit to someone today? He was pretty sure Twilight hadn’t given him all that many chores for the day. He just had to clean the owl’s cage (he hated Owloicious for a very valid reason2) and fetch some baked goods from Sugarcube Corner.
…Maybe he could talk with Pinkie about his concerns?
He immediately dashed that thought out of his mind. He liked Pinkie, but her name translated in his tongue to “The Pink Menace/Monstrosity” and nobody else’s name had a clean translation.
He sighed. Maybe he ought to keep it to himself? It’s gotten him plenty far after all…
He leered at the masks, but gasped. It wasn’t Majora’s Mask that drew his concern this time, but the Fierce Deity. Both it and Majora’s Mask were hanging over drawings of the Triforce he’d made and uttered many prayers over to bless them and help seal away their magic. They were centered perfectly (not because they needed to be for the blessing, but because Link was a little obsessive about things like that) when he went to bed the night before. This morning, the Fierce Deity had seemingly shifted several inches to the right, though it was still on the drawing.
Could someone have come in at night? No, his door was locked. It was always locked. Did he sleepwalk?
The Fierce Deity was mostly unknown to him. All he knew was he had to pray every night and day to silence the voices that had invaded his head ever since he laid a hand on that accursed mask. They were voices telling him to do terrible things.
He summoned his courage and began to softly utter a prayer to Farore under his breath. The voices had begun chanting something unintelligible to him lowly. He moved to fix the Fierce Deity’s mask, and as soon as he got within arm's reach of it, the voices began to shout- shout at him. They had only once done that before, and that was upon his first contact with the mask. He raised his voice in prayer to try and combat it. When he raised his hands to move the mask, however…
He shouted out in pain as a current ran through his body. His hands reflexively clenched down on the mask and he could not release it nor control his body. It felt like water was rushing under his skin with a tinge of pain that he knew was much more severe than it was letting on.
Nobody was home to help him. Twilight had taken Spike to run some early morning errands and let Link sleep in. Rainbow was coming to pick him up later. Nobody was going to come to his rescue.
The Triforce glowed brilliantly on his right hand at the opportune time. It had never reacted to anything this strongly before. When it asserted itself, the voices screaming at him immediately fell silent and the current flung Link seven meters across the room. He landed with a scream on his back. Pain shot through his leg. The Fierce Deity, meanwhile, had not even budged from the wall.
Link couldn’t move more than his head for the first few minutes. He was staring up at the ceiling and looked around at what parts of his body he could see. What looked like dark lightning arced across parts of his body periodically for a short while before ceasing. The Triforce continued to glow on his hand3. Gradually, his movement came back.
Link continued to utter his prayers as his ability to move came back. As soon as he was able to, he sat up and stared at the mask.
It had never reacted in such a manner before. His eyes wandered to Majora’s Mask and widened. Its eyes had begun to glow. He looked back to the Fierce Deity. Smoke was coming from the paper it was hanging over.
Link reached for the nearest thing he could find which happened to be a broom. He flung the mask off the wall with the handle. The triforce drawing was no longer smoking, but it was badly burnt. He looked to where the Fierce Deity landed- next to his bed. There was no more smoke coming from it. When he looked to Majora again, her eyes were glowing still, but fainter and fainter until they no longer were. He looked between the two masks, and, sighing, removed the ruined paper from the wall and set to work on another one. Link stuck the new triforce drawing to the wall near his bed, and then made another and stuck it next to Majora to act as an added buffer. He set one finger on the Fierce Deity. Nothing happened. Then, he picked it up and hung it on the wall far from Majora with the Triforce drawing next to it instead.
Leeches.
Rainbow sat reading a book4 while Link quietly ate the pancakes Twilight had left him. Rainbow had come not long after he washed up to pick him up for karate with the Crusaders. He was extra quiet while he ate.
He was trying to keep his nerves under control, but inside he was disturbed. The Fierce Deity had not once electrocuted him. Yet here, it had done so. It also had never moved on its own before.
Majora meanwhile, had seemingly gotten stronger as well. When that mask was inactive, it appeared as a normal mask, for all intents and purposes. The eyes never flashed on their own.
He blinked and paused in his chewing. Could it have been a matter of how close the masks were to each other? Back home, he always had at least one or two masks between them. If this theory of his was right, then the masks were drawing power from each other, somehow magnifying it, and sharing it amongst each other.
He observed Rainbow. She was still reading her book.
The Triforce dimly reacted.
Twilight had deemed it necessary to give Link an allowance for taking care of his chores. She did the same for Spike and was known for offering pay to her friends when they helped her out with something. None of them ever took her up.
Link tried to refuse pay from her before. The pouch of bits still somehow found their way into his tunic pocket. It made him feel like he was “the help” until Twilight told him it was because he made her proud when he did his chores. Link always checked if there was anything more for him to take care of before going off to do his own thing for the day. She didn’t always have extra work for him, but it’s the thought that counts.
He scowled as he rubbed a hand over his arm. The stupid owl bit him while he was cleaning the cage. It was at that moment that Link wondered what owl meat tasted like.
Both he and Rainbow paused a moment when they got within view of Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow pointed at Canterlot Castle in the far distance on the mountain.
“You should ask Twilight to bring you to the castle one day. The Princess always lets us use the cushiest rooms.”
Link blinked.
“Think about it. Didn’t your old home have, like, one room?”
Link nodded.
“The room she’d give you would probably be like a really high-end apartment. They’re huge. And the food is to die for. You’ll love it.”
He smiled slightly at her.
“If Twilight decides to take you, let me know. I wanna see if I can weasel my way in.”
He gave a nod. The two resumed their walk into the bakery. It was very busy. The line was nearly out the door if you were placing your order then and there. Twilight had made her order the night before, so the two just had to pick it up.
Before Rainbow could ring the bell on the counter, Pinkie all but flew out of the kitchen to meet them.
“Hiya guys! You here for Twilight’s muffin order?”
Link gave a nod. Rainbow nudged him gently.
“Words, kid. Use your words.”
He grumbled to himself. “Yes. What do we owe?”
“I’ll just ring ya up! Let’s see here… she ordered a dozen chocolate muffins, which works out to be twelve chocolate muffins and two red velvets!”
Link blinked. He wasn’t the sharpest child in the world at that point5, but last he checked, a dozen muffins were not fourteen muffins.
Pinkie grinned at him. “I threw those two extras in for you, little fella. I know you like them.”
He blushed slightly. Pinkie began to hammer away at the cash register. Link liked the noises cash registers made. He wondered if he would be allowed to use it if he stayed here long enough.
“And your grand total is… zero bits!”
Link shook his head immediately and reached for his bit pouch. Pinkie pushed it back towards him.
“No can do. Twilight did me a favor the other day, and I still owe you for cleaning up all the dishes when you were here not that long ago!”
She leaned in towards him, as if she was going to tell him something of utmost importance.
“In fact, can you come to the kitchen with me? Rainbow can wait here with the order and make sure the box doesn't get eaten. I guess the muffins could be too."
Rainbow held a hoof up to interject but lowered it and stayed silent. This was Pinkie they were talking about. She smiled as Pinkie led Link to the kitchen.
“Pinkie, please be quick in there!” called Mr. Cake. “We need all the help we can get here!”
Pinkie said nothing back. She waited for the doors to shut and Link to turn to face her again. Then, she picked him up and hugged him tight. Her fur smelled of frosting. Link was confused, but Pinkie seemed to know what he was thinking.
“I don’t know what happened, but I do know that something scared you today. So, Dr. Pie prescribes a hug a day to keep the frownies away!”
Link did not return the hug, but he did smile and let himself relax into it just a bit…
Rainbow had borrowed the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse for her karate classes. It was a huge treehouse that Link was immediately in love with. It even had a little doodle near the base that looked like one he had done on his own home when he was four. Mido tried to give out about it once and Saria immediately chewed him out.
Link looked all around the club house. They had a podium, several capes hanging on a rack, a small tv, a mini fridge, and many odds and ends dotted around the place.
“You should’ve seen this place before it was renovated. Whole thing was practically falling apart at the seams,” said Rainbow.
Link’s lips thinned. He knew well the maintenance that went into a house that was also a tree. He had to treat his house for termites so often he began to wonder if the Gods would allow him just one teensy forest fire.
“The others should be on the way,” said Rainbow. “Y’wanna watch some tv while you wait?”
He shook his head. Rainbow chuckled. “You’re a weird kid. Well, just do whatever you want for now. I’m not even sure Sweetie Belle’s going to make it. She’s sorta being screamed at for failing gym. Seriously, how do you fail gym? All you have to do is show up…”
Link, saying nothing, began to stretch and loosen up his muscles. Saria always trained him to limber up before they worked on his Kun-So. He reasoned doing so here would be a wise move.
Spike arrived a few minutes later munching on a sapphire. Link had to double take and make sure it wasn’t a blue rupee; not because it was his money but because it was mostly glass and probably not very smart to consume.
He waved to Link, who gave a nod back as he held his arm back in stretch.
“Hey Spike, make yourself at home until the others get here. Any word on Sweetie still making it?”
Spike grimaced. “I don’t know for sure if she’ll be here. I think her mom can be heard from the Crystal Empire.”
“I’m here! I’m alive!”
Rainbow facehooved. “Speak of the devil.”
Sweetie looked surprisingly in one piece. Link wondered why she was interested in karate if she wasn’t showing up at her gym classes. He also began to wonder if he was going to be enrolled in school at some point6
Sweetie grinned sheepishly at Spike, Rainbow, and Hinka. “So hi! How’s it going?”
Rainbow only shook her head. Applebloom and Scootaloo came together moments later. The girls exchanged greetings, and then walked over to Hinka.
“You look a lot better today,” said Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah, y’feeling better? We’re awful sorry if we overwhelmed you. We didn’t mean to make you miss the fireworks at the celebration.”
Link gave a shiver. The fillies hung their heads.
“Sorry,” they said in unison.
Link put his hands out. “It wasn’t something you guys did. The fireworks scared me.”
“Fireworks? Why?” asked Scootaloo.
He had a brief flashback then to his first taste of Ganondorf’s power. He never saw him do it, but Zelda would describe to him as they fled the evil tyrant’s castle how he would wound and then execute any who stood in his way with his vile magic.
Link shook his head to clear it and to signal that he was done talking about it.
“C’mon, tell us! Maybe we can help!”
He shook his head again.
“Pleeeeaaaaaaase?” asked the three in unison. He swore they practiced this sort of thing.
“Girls, leave him be. He doesn’t want to talk about it.”
Link smiled gratefully at Spike, who smiled back at him.
“If he changes his mind, he’ll tell you. He’s talking a lot more lately.”
Link blushed slightly. He still hated talking.
The girls didn’t say anything back. Rainbow had decided it was a good time to start their lessons. She had everyone line up and face her.
All bowed except Link.
Rainbow immediately pointed to him.
“Don’t think I forgot our little deal. I want some of your moves in exchange for some of mine.”
Link hesitated a moment. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he did promise to show her…
“And since you don’t feel like bowing… why don’t you come on up and show us all what you know? I’ll go easy on you when I reverse you, okay?”
Link blinked.
“What if you can’t?” he asked.
She chuckled. This kid clearly didn’t know who he was talking to.
“Kid, I’m a black belt. I’ll get out. But if it makes you feel any better, if for some reason I can’t, I’ll tap your leg or something. Deal?”
He gave an uneasy nod.
“Good! Then it’s settled. Come on over and try to take me down in any move you like.”
This mare clearly didn't know who she was talking to.
They were dismissed from Rainbow’s class around an hour after it started and she was the first one out. Spike nudged Link’s arm.
“That was awesome. I’ve never seen Dash so disheveled before!”
Link blinked.
“How many moves do you know?”
“Can you teach us too?”
He shrugged.
“Dude, you got Rainbow Dash to tap out to six moves in under two minutes. How did you do that?” asked Scootaloo.
“Practice?” he offered. Every move he used on her were moves that had been locked in on him before. He nearly had his arm broken by the Kimura lock while in a fight with a Gerudo in the desert.
“How did you do that? What are you? Nopony shows Dash up like that in close quarters except Fluttershy.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “Is that who taught you those moves?!”7
He shook his head, though he had been meaning to ask if she would teach him too.
“Where did you learn them then?”
“Saria,” he said with a small smile.
The Crusaders collectively blinked at him.
“Sorry for what?”
Link facepalmed.
Link sighed.
The others had left by now, and he was alone in the clubhouse. It wasn’t long before the distractions from kicking Rainbow’s flank the karate class left him, and he was thinking of the damnable masks once more. He thought of how lucky he was. If he did not bear the Triforce of Courage, he would have probably been killed long ago by either of the masks.
The Fierce Deity frightened him more than Majora. He knew Majora wanted him dead because he not only got in the way of her games, but also managed to defeat her. She was humiliated by a mortal, a creature she deemed as lesser than herself. It was obvious why she hated him, and he knew from his previous interactions with the mask what her goals were.
The Fierce Deity, however, gave him no sense of malice. If he eyed that mask, he felt it returning the gaze, but there was no anger, no hatred, no disgust, no joy, no sorrow- nothing. If he didn’t know any better, the Fierce Deity had no opinion on him. All he heard were dark thoughts and dark voices, but they were many. He believed they were corrupt shades that the Fierce Deity had killed in the past, but he did not believe they were of the spirit in the mask itself. Link did not believe he ever actually interacted with that spirit beyond his first internal battle with it.
He believed he could learn of or uncover some secrets about it if he used a Ouija board, but to do so was forbidden by Nayru and was considered a mortal sin due to the danger it introduced.
He put his hands on his head and squeezed his eyes shut. This was all becoming too much. He couldn’t fight alone. Not anymore.
Not anymore.
His eyes opened again. He didn’t have to fight alone anymore, did he? He knew six adults who were imploring him to open to them so they may help. He knew four children around his age who would try to help him too, though he wasn't sure how much of his past he'd be willing to share with them. They were far too innocent.
He was in a treehouse in the farm of one who might help him right now. He felt his heart begin to race. He’d never requested help like this before. He was raised to be fiercely independent.
It was time to try. He climbed down from the treehouse carefully and headed for the large house in the distance.
It was a trip that only took him a few minutes but felt like an eternity. His heartbeat dully in his ears. He knew he shouldn’t feel so anxious but doing what he was about to do was unexplored territory for him. He didn’t even tell Saria much of what he saw during his travels. She didn’t know he snapped the neck of a Gerudo woman, however unintentionally. She didn’t know he disarmed and killed a pirate in Termina with her own blade.
Goddesses, what that grave keeper did to the child in Kakariko and what Link did to him in vengeance...
She didn’t know.
His hand, shaking, went to knock on the door. It opened inward before he could do so. Applejack jolted, but relaxed and smiled at him.
“Well howdy, Sugarcube. How was karate? I hear you kicked Rainbow’s flank halfway to Cloudsdale.8
Applejack’s jovial mood dampened when she saw his face, though. He looked deeply conflicted but also determined. She tilted her head.
“Something on your mind, Hinka?”
He bit his lip and nodded. “I… I need to talk, please.”
Applejack opened the door wider and stepped aside to let him in. The apple trees were just going to have to wait.