Mindtrap

"You'd better hope and pray that you'll make it safe - back to your own world...
You'd better hope and pray that you'll wake one day - in your own world...
'Cause when you sleep at night, they don't hear your cries - in your own world...
Only time will tell if you can break the spell
Back in your own world..." (Shakespeare's Sister, 'Stay')

Chapter 1: A Touch of Destiny

Two figures paced through the Lost Woods. Although the pair seemed at ease in each other's company, there could not have been a greater contrast between the two. One was a child in green, apparently around ten years old, her emerald-hued hair tucked neatly behind her sharp ears. She virtually ran to keep up with her companion, and strained her neck to look up nearly three feet to his eyeline. He looked back down at her, with almost a brother's regard. It was hard to read the expression on his stern face, slashed with painted marks of red and blue - and his snow-white, empty eyes betrayed none of his true feelings. Only the tone of his voice revealed his emotions - sadness and pride combined in his words.

"...I finally accepted myself for what I am that day - and I can never return to the existence I left. You see, Saria, destiny's a hard thing to cope with. But sometimes - there are times you simply have to do so. I can't help what I am... and you can't help it, either. It wasn't your fault you were chosen to be the forest's champion..."
"How did you know that? You only just came here! You said it yourself! I didn't tell you - so how..."

Link stopped in his tracks as the Kokiri girl spoke. I'm doing it again, aren't I? he thought. Picking up what she's thinking. I've got to learn more control - but how do I shut my mind? He sighed. "I could see the thoughts in your mind. I didn't mean to pick them out - but like I just said, I don't know how to control these powers I've been given. I could read them just like I can hear you talking to me now." He shook his head. The visions he had caught in the front of Saria's mind had been another sign just how unfamiliar the world he was in now was. Though her world had a Hero of Time, just as he had been in his own timeline - there, the resemblances ended. And her role was one of the things that had changed the most, as the seven sages - here, seven champions - had fought alongside his own counterpart in battle with Ganondorf. None of them had been sent back in time the seven years he had, either. This Saria had been virtually excluded from the peaceful Kokiri community following her confrontation. They had no love for the warrior she had become.

Just like me. Cut off from our own worlds. That's fate for you.

Slowly, he became aware of Saria's gaze fixed on him. "You... read my mind?" she whispered, in a mixture of terror and excitement. "How could you... you really are a... a..." Her voice trailed off.
"I know." Unseen by his friend - or counterpart of a friend - Link looked aside, unable to meet her eager gaze. "A god." He gave a rueful laugh. "Sounds strange, doesn't it? I'm still not used to it, myself."
"But if you are a - uh - the - a -" Saria stuttered, in awe. Should I really be here, talking to this... Fierce Deity?
Link picked up the sharp, nervous twitches that flitted like butterflies across the Kokiri's mind. "I've been human for twenty-four years, so - stop panicking. I am not going to suddenly - " and his voice gained an ironic edge - " 'smite thee with my holy wrath', or whatever I'm supposed to do. Don't ask me. I'm on your side here. You know... back in my world, you were my best friend..." His voice softened and almost imperceptibly cracked as he spoke. There were some memories there he could not face.
That, he knew, was where the 'fierce' part of his name came from. For all he could hide behind a metaphorical mask of benevolence - he could not ignore that having worn a mask that no longer existed had led him to fall prey to the dark side of his own nature.

Never again. I will never lose control... he repeated inwardly, more as a prayer to unknown forces than a statement of fact.

Saria's voice interrupted his thoughts. "What's wrong?" she asked, quietly.
He half-jumped, and looked back at her. I can't say - it would break her heart... the forest's everything to her - to say I destroyed it?... "Uh... I was thinking about... people I used to know. Old friends."
She paused before replying. "Oh. Do you mean... what was her name? Alena?"
"Wh... Oh... yes."
"You miss her, don't you." It was a fact, not a question.
"Yes. Completely." More than you can imagine. You've never known real romance. You know the love of the mind, not of the heart. "But as I said - there's no way I can go back to my old home. I only wish I could..." The last was in a half-whisper. Saria knew enough to not pry any further. For a moment, child and warrior walked alongside each other in silence.

Eventually, they came into a clearing, where one tree stump stood alone. Link glanced straight at it for a second - where, as a child, in his world, he had drawn a picture. Here, it was blank and uncarved. He let out a quiet sigh of memory, before turning towards Saria. "This is where we have to say goodbye. I'm going on. I'm being called to Termina - the land that lies beyond this boundary. It's a whole different world to this - and it's where I must go."
"Can't I..." Saria started, before pausing. "Would it count as leaving the woods?"
"I'm sorry. It would. I can't take you with me. From what I can see in your mind - all that's happened to you," he began, and noticed a disappointed twitch across Saria's face. "I only wish I could. But I'd hate to be responsible for... anything that happened to you, if I did."
She looked aside. "But you can do anything, can't you? If you're..."
"I'm not omnipotent. Don't get that idea." He saw the tears brimming in her blue eyes, and crouched down to talk to her. "Listen. I know what it's like to be alone. But risking your life by following me wouldn't be worth it."
"Better that than this!" she insisted. "Please - let me be the one to take that chance. 'sides, I've got Riva to look after me," she added, gesturing to the fairy who fluttered an anxious yellow around her head. "I won't be any trouble. I can handle myself - I'm the forest champion, remember?"
Link caught himself laughing, despite it all. "I don't know. If any of the Kokiri can leave the forest, it's you. Okay, you've convinced me - but stay on guard at all times, right? And another thing - do you know the Minuet of the Forest?" She shook her head. "Here. I'll teach you. If you feel ill, anything - play it, and it should bring you back to your home."
"It's not my home. Not any more."
For a second, there was silence. He nodded. I know what you feel like. I've been in that position, too... "Alright. Follow me. I'll take you there."

He only hoped that the Termina he would arrive at would be one where the moon was still in the sky. To let her come with him on his impossible mission - but to lead her into a destroyed world... it would be more than he could bear.
After all, he'd already lead Alena away from her home, back when he was his old self...

-

A knocking at the door. "Hey, 'Lena. Can I come in?"
Alena turned her attention away from looking out the window of her bedroom - hers only by default, really - and sighed. "Okay, Malon. Sure." Her friend - her only real friend in Hyrule, now... he'd gone... entered quietly and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Sorry I've not been much fun lately."
"Don't worry about it. Really." Malon glanced down towards something Alena clutched tightly to her chest. "You're still thinking about him, aren't you?"
As if she'd noticed it for the first time, Alena looked at what she was holding. A mask, in the shape of the old Link's face. The 'Hero's Mask', he'd called it, when he finally left her for his destiny. Now, it was the only thing she had left to remind her of him - not that she needed reminding. "Yeah, I am. I don't know. I'm just... worried about him, I guess."
"Worried? I don't think you need to worry about Link..."
"I know. It's silly. But... I miss him so much..."
"Me too," whispered Malon. "Now, c'mon. Dinner's getting cold. And the men will have eaten it all before we do, if we don't hurry up..."
A weak laugh met the last comment. "Coming now..."

-

Saria stepped back as Link faced an apparently blank stretch of wall. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. In theory, he thought, he should be able to jump from one world to another as easily as breathing. He was the Guardian of Time, after all - and it was his duty, his destiny, to protect the myriad of different worlds that existed. And to do that, he needed to be able to move through the currents of time like a fish through a river's currents.
But, for the moment, he was merely paddling. The only gateways between the worlds were ones he could find physically. He'd unconsciously opened the portals between Termina and Hyrule before he knew what he was - but now he was in command of his powers properly, he'd found himself having to think about how he did it.
Now how does this go? Ah, yes.
Silently, he reached outwards and upwards, spreading his arms towards the cliff-face. A faint shimmering pulse of energy formed between his hands, and shot out. Where it struck the wall -
the rocky surface vanished, leaving a corridor in its place. Link opened his eyes and looked back. "If you wish to follow me, this is your only chance. But I'll still warn you... And what are you planning on doing once you're out of the forest, then? If you've only left it to fight that one time..."
"I'm still coming. It's my choice. Please. I'll find something..."
He sighed. "Fine. But there's no turning back. Once we're through, I'm sealing the portal again. It's a one-way trip. Understand?"
Saria nodded. "Why would I want to come back?" Link caught the flicker of anguish across her mind, and returned her nod. With barely another word, he walked onwards into the portal, trusting instincts he could not name to lead him to his destination. A silent Saria, checking the Kokiri sword she carried across her back - a present from this world's own Link - followed, the eternal child dwarfed by the eternal warrior.

Eventually, they reached the end of the subterranean passageways that connected the two worlds. Though for Saria the journey had been a difficult one - for Link, it had been nothing more than a walk in the park. He'd frequently had to stop and check that he hadn't lost the seemingly-young girl who followed him. But she'd made it, just as he had when he'd been a child himself. How long ago it seems... Thirteen years, but another lifetime...
"Is this... it?" Saria gasped as she ran to catch up. "Are we there?"
"Yes. You see those doors there? Go through there, and you'll find yourself in Clock Town - I hope. If you want to go on ahead... just be careful..." He could feel the excitement leaping off her in waves as she headed off, and smiled. Now he was in Termina itself, he could begin to tell that it wasn't a dead world he'd come to. It was real and alive. The sort of world most of him liked - if not all...
Unregarded, he focused his energy and closed the passage between the worlds, before pulling the heavy doors in the tower into place. No-one else would be able to enter Hyrule by that route. No mistake like that of Majora and the Skull Kid would occur if he had anything to do with it. He'd never quite been certain how Skull Kid and the fairies had made their own ways between the different lands - but if he could help it, they wouldn't use that route.
His job done, Link turned round to follow Saria this time and head out into Clock Town itself.

The ancient, carved wood doors were still ajar, and he could see the townspeople through the gap between them. He could imagine few more welcoming sights than what he'd glimpsed there. Ducking slightly, he pushed the doors wide open and walked out.

Immediately, he felt something was wrong. Every head snapped round to look at him, a simmering rage hidden in apparently innocent stares. The pulsing of the townsfolk's emotions changed rapidly from a calm, easy feeling to one of a hatred he could not understand.
What have I... why do they...
But Link could begin to guess only too well. They didn't fear him - but his forebear, his past existence. The people of this Termina at least had a grievance against the original Fierce Deity - and that passed on to his new life.
He tried to steel himself against the waves of fear he could sense, cutting himself off from his surroundings as best he could.

Voices and murmurs began to whisper around him.
"Why's he back..."
"What's..."
But one shout broke through the ripples of sound and feeling.
"Murderer! Demon!"

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