Chapter 5 - Memory

"Malon - I've got bad news!" Cam yelled as he ran into the ranch house. Two years ago, he'd taken refuge there, one of precious few to escape an attack by the Fierce Deity. From what he'd heard, the queen's so-called military advisor - but he knew differently, he knew who was running the country behind the scenes - had vanished off the battlefield during the Gerudo wars. Cam was sure that was wrong. How could someone like that just disappear? He couldn't imagine him running away, or being killed in battle...
And now his worst fears had come true. He pushed the door shut and collapsed onto a chair.
"What is it?"
"He's come back, Malon. You know who I mean. I saw him heading this way, riding - well, it looked like old Epona. Probably explains why she galloped off like that. I'm sure the queen was sitting behind him. I don't have a clue what's happened - but if he's back... well..."
"We're all in trouble."
"Oh, come on! You'll be okay, you know that! They need the ranch to stay open to keep the castle running. But as for myself - well, I'm a deserter, aren't I? I'll be the first to go..."
"If you're that worried, Cam,  go hide under the bed. I'll tell him you've gone if he asks. For once, I'm glad Dad's away... He'd go crazy if he knew." Malon tried to speak assertively, but she knew it was a sham. She was as afraid of the person who had once been her best friend as anyone else. The person who had - as far as she knew - killed her adopted brother and broken her heart.
What made it even more tragic was that the killer and victim were one and the same person, as the boy she had known as 'Kaelon' had revealed himself to be Link's spirit reborn without his memory - but the Fierce Deity was Link's memory without his spirit.
I wonder if he knows...

-

"Well, this is it, 'Lena! Lon Lon Ranch. I know it's not as big as Romani's, but..." But he'd spent ten years of his life here - or was it ten years of someone else's life? Link couldn't decide. He remembered every detail of his 'second childhood', as he thought of it - but he remembered just as much about his other existence. There were two sets of memories in his head - and he couldn't decide which were his.
"But nothing. It's a nice place. Um. Link - how do I get down off here?"
He laughed quietly, remembering his first times on a horse. At least Ingo wasn't here any more to sneer. He'd taunted both the 17-year-old Link and four-year-old Kaelon during their - during his - first attempts at riding, and he'd been glad to see him leave. "Easy. Lean forwards and swing your right leg over her rear, then slide down." Clumsily, Alena pulled Link down with her as she dismounted Epona. They landed on the dusty ground together. "Well... that's one way of doing it, I guess! Just don't knock me off at the same time, next time..." He brushed off the dirt and helped Alena to her feet, before patting Epona on the neck and wandering across to the ranch house. He knocked gently on the door.

-

A knock came at the door, sharp and assertive. Malon sighed, and paced up and down. "Okay. He's here. Get a grip on yourself..."
She pulled it open - and gazed on her past.
Something was wrong here, as she looked him up and down. Yes, he was in his typical blue and black with the heavy armour; but she was sure he'd been taller! He'd never bothered with buckling on a sword sheath, neither, but a navy leather strap crossed his chest now.
Malon forced herself to look at his face. Unmarked, softened, hidden behind blond not white hair, with brilliant sapphire eyes shining out rather than the cold diamonds of the demigod's gaze.
With a jolt, she began to realise just who it was she was seeing. This was her friend the way he should have been - his true face, not some sort of a mask. The pure, strong hero, with the darkness inside gone.
"...Link? That's you, isn't it?"
He nodded. "It's really me..." Link choked over the next word. But it was how he still saw Malon, and he had to say it. She had to know. "...Sis."
Her eyes flew wide open. "You... you called me... you remember being... K...Kae...?" A hand flew to her mouth in the shock. "But how... that's impossible..."
Impossible. Nothing's impossible. "That's right. I remember being Kaelon. But, at the same time, I remember being the Fierce Deity. I was both of them, and I'm still both of them. But, think about it. They were both me. Link." He looked straight at Malon. "I'm back. Make of me what you will..."
She closed her eyes, and threw her arms around him. "I don't know how you got to be your old self again, but... I'm so glad you're back..." she smiled. Malon let go. "One thing, though - Cam said that you had the queen with you. Is she here?"
Link was confused for a second, before remembering. "Oh. He must have seen Alena here. My girlfriend - " he gestured to the waiting figure.
Malon thought for a moment - but that is her! - but she wasn't going to doubt what Link said. "It's nice to meet you."
"The same here." As the two of them talked, hitting it off easily, Link walked inside. Nothing had changed. It felt like it had no right not to have, after so long. Even though it was only two years since he'd been there, it was an entirely different lifetime... It was all so familiar. At last, he felt like he'd found somewhere he could call 'home' and no-one would argue. He wandered upstairs, to where his old room had been, and pushed the door open.
There was someone there, hidden in a corner, trying not to make a sound.
"Who's there?" he called. "I know you're in here! I can see you..." He walked over, reaching round to his sword out of a cautious reflex.

Cam saw the silhouette in the doorway. He's come back... dear goddesses, he's come back for me... He tried not to move, but he could see the figure approaching, calling for him to show himself. Probably thinks I'm a weakling, who's gonna surrender easily. Fat chance. He's going to have to catch me first...
It was now or never. He rolled out from his hiding place, and ran straight past a very surprised Link. "Hey! Come back here! I only want to talk!" He turned on his heels and headed off after the ex-guard.

-

"Well, I used to live up in the mountains with my parents, but after my mother left..."
"She what?" Alena and Malon talked happily. Although both had to get over their initial confusion at seeing someone else speaking with a voice they'd associated with another person, in the end the barriers broke down.
"It's a long story. I'll tell you another day. Anyway, we moved down to Clock Town after that, when I was fifteen. How about you?"
"I've lived here on the ranch all my life. It used to be just me and Dad, until - well, Link must have told you."
"What do you mean, just you and dad? What happened to your mother?"
Malon blinked. "I never knew her. Dad said that she was killed in the war, when I was just a baby... Whoa! Cam! Where are you going in such a hurry?" She grabbed his arm as he ran past.
"Let me go! He's after me! Come on!" Both women looked round towards Link on the stairs. At the same time, they realised what had happened. Although Malon had adjusted to Link's new identity, and Alena had never really known the Deity - no-one had told the terrified Cam. Twenty-seven years old, and he was still panicking like a child, at the sight of an imagined executioner.
"Calm down. He's not after you... He's someone else, now!"
"Looks like Oni to me!" Link flinched on hearing the name. He still wasn't used to it again, for all that he had used it so long.
"Have you even looked at him? For the love of Nayru... that's not the Fierce Deity! That's just Link."
"Same different, isn't it?"
"Look here. If that was who you think, would you still be here and alive?"
Cam relaxed slightly, although he was still stretched tighter than a bowstring, and focused on the armoured figure. His eyes could see the differences easily, but his brain was having trouble accepting what they told it. No, that was no avenging deity - he was little more than a boy, he saw now, despite what he wore. And you were so afraid of this guy? He calmed down measurably, as dislike and anger replaced fear. He might be only human now - but he still tried to kill me. There's no way I'm going to make up with him so easily.

-

Dinner in the ranch house was a subdued affair, even if twice the normal number of people were eating. Cam spent half of the meal glaring unpleasantly at Link - even after losing the armour and sword, he still couldn't see anyone there other than the person who tried to kill him and forced him to go on the run. For Link's own part, he didn't think that the angry expression fit easily with those brilliant red eyes. From what he remembered, the guard had been an easygoing person while at the castle - part of the reason he was in trouble in the first case - and his counterpart across in Termina had been the same. To see him so bitter...
"Go on," Cam muttered, sarcastically. "There's a knife there."
Link couldn't stand any more. "For the last time, I'm not who you remember! Stop taking me for who I was."
"Keaton can't change its tails. And you can't change your stripes. Just hide them."
He snapped. "Come on!" He reached into a pocket, and slammed the mask down onto the table. "That's all that's left of who you think I am. See it?"
"Yes. But I don't see your point."
"This is my point!" With one movement, he scooped the Fierce Deity's mask off the table again, and threw it into the fire. "It's gone, right?" Everyone span round to see, as the impact scattered ashes across the hearth.

Flames flickered around the painted wood. At last, now it would be destroyed, surely...
Nothing happened. The paint didn't even blister.
Malon turned back to the table. It would probably take a while for it to... She stopped. "Link? What's the matter?" He lay with his head on the table, holding his hands to his face. "Come on, what's wrong?" He could only manage a groan. Carefully, Malon prised Link's hands away, and gasped. "Oh... my... goddesses... Alena! Come look at this!"

Link's hands and face were burnt, red and raw. Even as they watched, the injuries got worse.
What's going on here, they both wondered...
Alena's hand snapped to her mouth. "It's the mask! Got to be!" She grabbed a jug of water, and chucked it onto the fire. At the same time that it hissed out, she heard a sigh of relief. The burns seemed to fade on their own.
Slowly, Link sat up. "What happened? I chucked the mask on the fire, next thing..." He paused as he made the connection. "I tried to burn the mask, but burnt myself, instead? Is that it?"
Alena nodded. "That's what it seemed like."
"But that... I can't get rid of it... destroy it, and I'd destroy myself? No! It can't be!" He refused to accept the connection that was implied.
Cam joined in the conversation maliciously. "Got that right! Say, I could do this..." he grinned spitefully, stabbing the mask in the eye. Immediately, Link responded by clapping his hand to his own in agony. Angry, Malon stepped in and yanked the mask away from them. "Call yourself an adult? That was something a little kid would do! No. I've known little kids who wouldn't stoop to that. I think this had better come out of harm's way, in case some of us decide to have any sort of little game with it... Say, Link - are you alright? Can you see okay?"
He nodded. "I'm fine now. I'm just wondering... do we know anyone who'd know anything about this sort of thing?"
"There's that crazy old lady in the Kakariko potion shop, she knows a bit about magic - then there's always that man from the mask shop in town, he oughta know something..."
"No. I'd rather not get involved with him again." Especially since it's almost his fault in the first place. If he hadn't sent me after Majora as a kid, then I wouldn't've...
"Well... the only other place that would know anything is at the castle itself, but that's no good. I don't think they'd want us putting our noses in." Malon caught a glint in Link's eye. "You've got an idea, haven't you..."
"I don't like doing this, but..." He paused. "I need... let's see... a bag of flour or something. Malon - have you still got those paints I - well, Kaelon, you know - used to have? A red and a blue?"
Malon paused, before catching on. "Link... you're not going to..."
"You've guessed."
"I don't think the guards are going to fall for it."
"They'll see what they think they're seeing." He glanced round. "And, 'Lena... did you bring... anything of your mother's with you? It's just an idea, but... "

-

-there-
"What are you doing to my brother?" Malon yelled at the intruder. Long ornate robes covered his features.
"Oh, I'm not doing anything to him. I was just asking the boy his name..."
"It's Kaelon. And I don't know what you want with him."
"I don't want anything with this pathetic child now I know that... Tell me. You couldn't send me in the direction of one called Link, could you..."
"How did you... only I know..." She paused. "If you're looking for... him... you'll find him at the castle..."