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Three days. 72 hours.
A truly terrible fate.
Link wasn’t a stranger to terrible fates, but not like this. Nothing like this.
His first cycle stuck as a Deku scrub was probably the worst. His body was too small, too different. He missed the brush of his hair on his forehead in the wind, missed the weight of his sword on his back. Missed having skin.
It was hard to get used to being something other than Hylian. The dog in South Clock Town kept tackling him, and he was treated as more of a child than before. The guards wouldn’t even let him *near* the exits of the town. There wasn’t anything he could do with his sense of urgency. How was he supposed to figure out how to stop the Skull Kid if no one took him seriously?
He had to do what he could. Anything he could.
He found the Great Fairy. Found her missing piece.
He played tag with the Bombers. He got the notebook, got the Moon’s Tear. He talked to everyone he could, but they were all preoccupied with the ever-growing presence of the moon. He was shooed away more than once because “the adults were talking.” They were discussing evacuation plans and mandates. They all kept talking about a “Festival of Time” happening in three days.
Two days. 48 hours remaining.
He was tired, but he had no time to sleep. He was going in circles. Around and around the Clock Town he went. He talked to the banker. Met the bomb shop owner. (Learned he was too late to help her).
Night fell. 36 hours remain.
He met the troupe dancers practicing their choreography, listened to the music box player.
Everywhere he went he saw familiar faces, but he met no one recognizable.
24 hours.
Beneath him the ground rumbled. The townspeople were more panicked than before. Most evacuated. Some of them chose to stay. Many of them didn’t have the option to leave.
Some simply… gave up. They stayed because they saw no reason to leave.
Link hated seeing them the most. There wasn’t anything he could do.
He found out about the clock tower opening, and waiting was excruciating. He was glad he had the Moon’s Tear, glad he could get the deed to the deku flower. But he still had several hours.
The ground rumbled underfoot. The sky darkened overhead.
Link felt every tick of the clock deep within his chest. Or maybe that was the thrum of his heart. Maybe it didn’t matter.
Link was exhausted. He rubbed his eyes. This was no time to sleep.
The clock struck midnight. Fireworks burst overhead.
Link burrowed into the Deku flower, floating over to the landing as the door panels dropped down, creating a staircase. He ran up the stairs to face the Skull Kid.
⋆.˚ ☾⭒.
Once Link saw his precious ocarina in the hands of the Skull Kid, it was like he had tunnel vision. Whatever was being said around him didn’t matter. What mattered was the ocarina. He felt feverish without it, like he was missing a vital part of himself. Losing that meant losing to-
Link shot a bubble at the Skull Kid. The Ocarina fell. Link dived. He curled over it, clutching it to his chest. He had a vague awareness of yelling around him. Link could hear Zelda’s soft humming in his head.
Watched himself grow young again. 7 years, erased in a moment.
Link knew what to do. He raised the ocarina and played the tune echoing in his head.
⋆.˚ ☾⭒.
The world dropped out from under him. His head swam, sounds became distorted beyond recognition. His vision flashed white- so bright it blinded him. So bright it hurt.
The slow ticking of a clock felt all-consuming. Each *tick-tock* felt like the harsh yet steady beat of Bongo-Bongo’s drum. It felt like being electrocuted.
Link couldn’t tell how long that torment lasted, but he all too suddenly found himself back in the clock tower, on his knees and gasping for breath. Every sensation of pain left him in an instant, which was its own kind of disorienting.
After what he had just experienced, the cold stones beneath him and the stale mildew scent of the air felt like heaven. Just as he was getting his bearings, he heard the taunting laugh of the mask salesman.
“Did you get back what was precious to you?”
⋆.˚ ☾⭒.
The mask salesman was able to set aside his eagerness to get his mask back long enough to play Link his song. He barely had time to process the melody before his vision went black. The world heaved around him. He reached out blindly, grabbing onto the rail he stood beside. He felt his body contorting. The sensation left him with the sound of wood clattering on cobblestone.
When his vision came back, he was on his knees again. However, this time, the mask of a Deku scrub was coming to a rest on the ground in front of him. He looked at his hands, breathing out a huge sigh of relief when he saw his hands, when he felt the familiar weight of his sword and shield on his back. He sat back on his legs as the salesman cleared his throat and held out his hand.
”Now.. my item, please. You’ve obtained it, right?”
⋆.˚ ☾⭒.
One outburst later, Link found himself back outside the clock tower, looking over the town once again. It was as if the three days he just spent running around this town didn’t happen at all.
Link sighed. It was an unfortunately familiar feeling.
Well, three days was better than seven years. It was just three days.
72 hours.
He didn’t have time to sleep.
At least now he could leave the town. Now people took him a little more seriously.
⋆ ˖ ⏱︎.ᐟ
The first time he had to put the Deku Mask back on was even worse than he had expected.
He could feel the mask leave his hand and attach to his face, like two magnets fusing to each other. He felt as if someone punched the air from his lungs, collapsing onto his knee as he felt his bones breaking, felt the mask fuse to his skin. He felt the bark grow in place of his skin, like a crab molting its shell. He felt his organs rearrange, his body compressed into a shape it didn’t belong in, a shape he didn’t fit in. He was left gasping for air as he convulsed in pain, finally unable to hold back a scream of agony before blacking out.
He woke up Wrong.
He did what he had to do.
He didn’t have time to rest.
He only had 24 hours.
⋆ ˖ ⏱︎.ᐟ
He didn’t succeed.
He played the Ocarina.
He tasted bile.
He tried again.
He didn’t have time to…
⋆ ˖ ⏱︎.ᐟ
Link woke up on the floor of the clock tower. He cool cobblestone felt good on his face, even if the mildew smell was still unpleasant.
He woke up to the sound of Tatl chiming and yelling at him, repeatedly hitting him in the face. Link groaned, trying to wave her away with his hand. He propped himself up on his elbow to sit up, his eyes bleary. He felt dizzy, his thoughts muddled.
Tatl chimed again, trying to get Link’s attention. He looked at her with squinted eyes, feeling like each breath was an insurmountable struggle.
“Navi..?” he murmured, trying to make sense of where he was.
“Did you forget my name already?"Tatl asked, her head tilted as she hovering in front of his face. She was teasing, not yet aware of what sleep deprivation did to a Hylian. “Are you okay?”
Link sat back on his legs, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. “No, sorry, I didn’t forget. I’m just tired,” he said quietly, looking around to try and ground himself again.
Link stood up, leaning on the wooden railing beside him to steady himself. He stared down at the wood and drew his sword, putting three notches in the wood. One for each cycle he had gone through so far.
Tatl landed next to the notches in the wood. “What’s this?”
“I want a way to keep track of how many cycles I go through. I don’t want to lose my sense of time,” he explained. She had no way of knowing the impact time travel already had on him. She had no idea of knowing how it changed him.
She stayed quietly at his side while he stood there, staring down at the cuts into the wood before sheathing his sword. Without another word he left the clock tower, barely able to keep his wits about him.
Two days. 48 hours.
24 hours.
12 hours.
The world warped around him. Pain wracked his body.
This time, Tatl let him sleep.
⋆ ˖ ⏱︎.ᐟ
The next cycle, Link worked even harder. He felt like he had to make up for the cycle he wasted sleeping. Tatl tried to tell him it wasn’t wasted time, that he needed to sleep. He had a huge burden, but he was still just a Hylian.
Link didn’t believe her. He ran across Hyrule for the hundredth time.
This time, he simply collapsed.
Tatl was glad he was at least safe at Romani Ranch.
She took a silent vigil on his chest, listening to the harsh beating of his heart.
32 hours.
24 hours.
12 hours.
He woke up.
He played the song.
He added another notch to the rail.
⋆ ˖ ⏱︎.ᐟ
The All-Night mask was a blessing and a curse. Previously, the time Link spent listening to Anju’s grandmother was the only sleep he was getting (not counting the times he was so exhausted he simply collapsed).
He wore it until he was hallucinating.
He called Tatl “Navi.” Romani became “Malon.” Lulu turned into “Ruto.”
Navi- Tatl- begged him to sleep.
He didn’t have the time.
⋆ ˖ ⏱︎.ᐟ
Link ran out of room for his notches.
Tatl hid the All Night mask after he collapsed in the clock tower again.
⋆ ˖ ⏱︎.ᐟ
He retrieved the mask before he went to fight Majora.
Each mask he gave to the children felt like parting with a piece of his soul. He could feel himself shattering to pieces.
He lost himself as the Fierce Deity. His identity was rend apart.
Termina was saved.
He finally had the time to sleep.
. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆.