[002 ∆ the song of time]

[childhero]

Characters: Link (Majora's Mask) and YOU
Setting: The hallway of floor one
Format: Action
Summary: Where has Link been? Not in the Tower, but instead wandering the ruins of Termina... and now he's back. And he isn't really taking any of this too well. ENJOY.
Warnings: Writing from 3:30am. Angsting children. Timey wimey shenanigans. THREE DAYS.

[This can't be.

It can't.

It was a dream. It was a nightmare. It wasn't real.

He saw it for his own eyes. The ruins of a world he knows almost as well as his own, full of people he knew better than the people of his own, one that he had come to love. He was there. He breathed the air, felt the broken earth, walked among what was left. He couldn't stop shaking. He doesn't know how long he was there -- an hour? a day? a month? Time felt strange there. Time felt broken, too.

Time...

He still had time.

Right?

He had all the time he needed. (But if time was broken, too -- if Termina had been so utterly and thoroughly destroyed that not even time -- not even the gods -- no.)

Link can be found standing in the middle of the hallway. He is clutching a blue ocarina in his hands and he is playing a song. Just the one. Over and over and over and over and over again -- because obviously, if he keeps playing it, it has to start working again, right? He can't stop. He can't afford to. He only pauses for breath, but the song never stops.

It has to work. It has to. It will.]

Comments

[cantstopme]

Can I ask when you're from? Because, um... I think there's a lot of different times that us Links are from.

I'm from after the Hero of Time! It's why I'm wearing this tunic - all boys my age are supposed to wear it, because this is the age that the Hero started his quest.

But I'm a different Hero - I'm the Hero of Winds.

[He's just going to keep smiling, too; this Link seemed very upset, and he knows very well that sometimes, when you're upset, you just need to be around others who aren't.]

[childhero]

... When?

[-- oh. and then this little one... keeps talking. Link blinks. who are you and why do you call yourself Link he doesn't understand

... oh. He... thinks he understands now. After that story, he has a better grasp on the situation. That's good. That's nice. this is why being quiet pays off

So... then... how does he say this?]

I... am the Hero of Time.

[cantstopme]

[Oh, that gets him to shut up, yes.

He tilts his head the other way then, before frowning and walking around him and inspecting him and how are you his big brother.]

... But you're just a little kid, like me. The Hero of Time I know is much older!

[childhero]

[How can he even begin to explain this?]

I was a kid first, and then... I went back. [Hence the whole "of Time" thing. He pauses.] I was too young for the Master Sword, so... It waited, and it made me wait.

[... does this even make any sense at all]

[cantstopme]

... Oh. O-oh, I see.

The princess told me that, yeah... and so did he.

[Link taps the toe of his shoe then, thinking - but then reaches and takes one of the other's hands in his own and gives him a very serious look.]

Then - then I want you to know that, no matter what happens, you're always known as a kind and strong hero who fought bravely for his people, okay?

And that you're more important than you might ever think, too!

[NO MORE BROKEN HERO OF TIMES, NO. HE DOESN'T WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN. NO.

[childhero]

[..............................................................

Well. Sorry, bitty. You just broke him in a whole new way.]

I --

[Fought bravely... for his people. More important...

He looks at the ocarina in his other hand. He thinks of his empty hat, of the emptiness he felt then in the Great Deku Tree meadow, of what he saw when he left the Tower.

I didn't fail Hyrule... But, I'm a failure.

His chin drops and he clenches his jaw, because he shouldn't have to fight back tears when someone tells him something like that.]

[cantstopme]

[No - no, he didn't want to make him upset. That's like... this is the exact opposite of what he wanted!

So, already knowing he's probably going to be pushed away, he wraps his arms around the other child, hugging him tight like Aryll used to do to him.]

Don't be sad - I'm telling the truth, okay? You're legendary!
You're a strong, kind hero, and everyone is thankful for you.

[childhero]

[A hug -- When was the last time he... Cremia. A hug of gratefulness.

Everyone is thankful for you.

But he didn't...]

No...

[The words are escaping him before he can stop it.]

I didn't... save them.

[cantstopme]

... But you did. I, um... I'm a descendant of people you saved.

So... who could you not have saved, if I'm here?

[He still has his arms wrapped around the other Link, just in case he needs the comfort, but really... he saved everyone. What could have happened...?]

[childhero]

Because time... doesn't always make sense.

I -- We wouldn't be here otherwise. I saw... [He trails off. He can't bring himself to describe it. No -- He shouldn't. This one's too young. He has to lie. He has to back out of this topic now.] Nevermind. Forget about it.

[cantstopme]

... You think you come from one of those other "timeline" things, huh?
Like, um... you think you come from one where you didn't save them, don't you?

[He pauses then, and pulls back; both of his hands on the other's shoulders and a very serious face.]

You can tell me what you saw if you need to talk to someone.

I know I can be really dumb, but my heart isn't. I want to be here for you if you need help, because... because I've been through hard things, too.

1/?

[childhero]

[Differing timelines...? Link supposes that would make the different hims make sense. Time has obviously broken, at least in the lands of his gods, so all of the Links being here now.... it makes sense.

The Link magic works on him, too, it seems. "You can talk to me. You can tell me your troubles. I'll make it okay again." It's something he isn't even aware he does, so he can't recognize it in another, but if he did, he would realize why that works. When you are desperate, scared, broken, and all hope has been lost... The most simple thing you need is for someone to listen.

So, he'll tell him. He'll explain it all to him.]

... okay.

2/?

[childhero]

After Ganondorf was sealed away... My friend, Navi, she left. So I went to find her. But my horse and the Ocarina of Time were stolen from me. When I followed the Skull Kid and fairies that took them, I ended up in a place called Termina. The moon... It was going to fall on the world in three days. The Skull Kid has a mask, an evil one full of power, and that's what's making the moon fall. To stop the moon, I had to free four Giants, who are the guardians of that world. Three days isn't... enough time to do that. Not at all. So I played the Song of Time to go back to the first day, again and again and again. The Goddess of Time was helping me...

I freed the Giants. It was almost over. All I needed to do was call them with a song, and they would catch the moon... and then I could get the evil mask away from the Skull Kid.

... but...

3/?

[childhero]

I ran out of time. I must've. Because I woke up here, and they told me my world was gone. I didn't believe it then, but... I went back, and... I saw it for myself. [Something is squeezing his chest. It's hard to breathe.] Termina... in ruins. Completely destroyed. No life... just...

[He can't stop it; his voice breaks.] I failed. I failed them. And Princess Zelda is here, so she -- so Hyrule... Time must have broken, because the Goddess of Time was watching over Termina and it died. That's why you're here -- That's why we're here. Time is broken, and the Song of Time can't fix it, and...

[He stops. He can't bring himself to say it. We're here because the gods are punishing me. This is the payment for my failure. But he needs to get it across. He needs to let the other know.] And it's... It's all my fault. I wasn't there for Hyrule when it needed me, I ran out of time for Termina, everyone was counting on me and I didn't do it.

[... that's all there is to it.]

4/4

[childhero]

[He's staring at the floor now. He only has one thing left to say. His voice is low, repentant, accepting. This is his fate. This is his fault.]

It's okay, if you hate me.

[He'd deserve it. He deserves everything horrible that could possibly happen to him here.]

[cantstopme]

[Link listened intently, all the way through - probably moreso than he's done for anyone else - and at the end of it, his face does look pained. But not in a way that suggests he hates the other, no; but like he wishes he could fix it all for him.]

What... what you saw might not have been true. I know that.
This place is horrible, and likes to play terrible tricks on people!

It... It made me... not me, once, and I treated my friends horribly...
And this place, it has a floor that shows you lots of lies; it shows you what "happened" to your world, when I know that's not what happened.

I don't hate you. You're the Hero of Time; you're my Hero.
And I know you must have saved them. This place just wants to make you unhappy and feel like you didn't.

[He wraps his arms around the other again, in as brotherly a way as possible; he knows this Link is older than he is - he can tell - but sometimes, no matter from who, you just need this kind of comfort.]

I don't like this place at all. It keeps trying to break everyone.
But, um... it's not your fault. It really, really isn't.

It's the people who own this place - it's all their fault. Everything we've seen and done here is their fault.
They just want to break you. But... but you're a Hero.
You're Link. And all Links are really hard to break, okay?

[They all get it from their common ancestor - the unbreakable spirit.]

[childhero]

[Link is quiet for a long moment afterwards to make up for all that talking he just did. When he does speak, it's very quiet.]

But... even if Hyrule is still okay... I've been here more than three days. So even if what I saw wasn't real, Termina is still...

[cantstopme]

You don't know that, Link. This place... who knows what it can do?
For all we know, it paused time back home and took us, just so they could play cruel pranks on us all of the time.

It's... it's full of many things I've never seen or heard of, and magic that doesn't even exist back in my home. There's probably a lot of things the people here can do like that.

[He holds the other still, wishing he could do more. But there's really not a lot he can do - he's only nine, after all.]

... Who knows? Maybe one day, you'll get sent back home, and it'll be just the right time to save Termina.

[childhero]

... I hope you're right.

[But -- Link appreciates the boy trying to help him through this. He appreciates having someone there, someone to listen to him instead of the other way around. That isn't something he gets very often.

After a moment of hesitation, he raises his arms to finally, awkwardly, hug the other back.] ... thanks.

[cantstopme]

[Oh - yay, he got him to hug back! All Link can figure is he must have helped a bit, so I hope Link doesn't mind this one giving him a tighter, more friendlier hug.

Not too tight, of course - he's still aware of his Power Bracelets.]

You don't need to thank me - it's what friends do.

[A pause.]

... It felt really weird saying my own name, though.

[childhero]

[Link laughs a little.]

Yeah... I don't know what we're going to do. How many of us are there again? [He's going to count on his fingers. Me, you, older me, ancestor...] Four?

[cantstopme]

... I think so!

[He'd count too but he has no clue, to be honest.
The Wind Waker lets go of him, to rub his chin in thought.]

Maybe we can give each other nicknames?

[childhero]

That sounds like a good idea. [... he's just not sure what to use.] I'm not very good at coming up with things like that, though.

[cantstopme]

I'm not either, hmm...

Are there any words you like? I could call you something like that!

[childhero]

I like? Uh... [blink.] I don't... know. I've never really thought about it.