Chapter Text
Part 1: What Really Happened All Those Years Ago
Why had the masked child given him this? Surely it was some sort of a trick. A trap.
Link stared down at the mask in his hands, the pure white eyes seeming to stare him down to the very core of his being.
“The Fierce Deity...” Tatl whispered, looking at it. The tales had been long obscured by time, but one theme was ever-prevelant in them.
This was an angry god. This was not a god to be trifled with.
“Why would he even...have...this...?” she wondered aloud.
“I don't know, and I don't have time to ask questions.” Link said, determination in his voice as his grip tightened on the edges of the wooden artifact, “If it's a game he wants, then it's a game he'll get.”
“Link, don't-!” Tatl exclaimed, but it was far too late. The boy clad in green had already donned the mask, and the transformation had begun.
The rest of it was a blur to the Hylian. All he could remember was feeling...angry? Betrayed. He felt betrayed. He felt so sad, so alone, so...
Hurt.
That was the only word he could use to describe it.
It was only when the mask had been removed from his face that he came back to reality. His entire body was shaking, but his mind couldn't stop begging the question, why was this mask like this? What sort of things had the spirit inhabiting it gone through to feel so very, very hurt.
Soon after defeating Majora, freeing the Skull Kid, reuniting the fairy siblings and sending the Happy Mask Salesman on his way, Link resumed his own journey to find Navi.
But the thoughts wouldn't leave.
What had happened to the Fierce Deity? All of the emotions he felt while transformed were so strong that they were all he could remember.
He still had the mask, so as he rode Epona, who was going only at a brisk trot of a pace, he was looking at it once more.
“Can you hear me?” he asked, “Are you still there?”
Silence.
He sighed.
“Of course not.”
Hours flew. Eventually, the soft hush of sunset fell over the Lost Woods. It was time to make camp for the night. He set up a small campfire to keep warm, as the nights grew chillier and chillier as winter approached. Link as the mask next to him, looking over at it every so often.
His whole stay in Termina had been spent solving everyone else's problems, not that he minded. He loved to help people, in fact. That quality of himself was what kept him preturbed about the mask. Link wanted to help this spirit rest, just as he had for Mikau and Darmani.
He then had an idea. The Hero of Time pulled out his ocarina, and will all of his heart in it, played the Song of Healing once more.
He stared at the mask, waiting for something to happen. He even found himself biting his lip in anticipation.
Nothing happened.
The young hero heaved a sigh and decided to sleep for the night. Tomorrow would be another day. Tomorrow would, hopefully, be the day he found Navi. That's what he told himself, every night, to keep himself hopeful.