A/N: First off, I want to assure everyone that I'd never, ever, ever abandon this story. I can't express how sorry I am that it took so long just to get this chapter out. To be quite honest, one of the biggest reasons why I delayed this chapter for so long is because a huge important plot scene that I've been planning for four years happens, and now that it's here I'm realizing how close to the end WITb is getting (even though in reality we've still got about 8 chappies left, but besides that!). So, in an attempt to extend the life of this story I kept putting off on working on it, which in turn made you guys think I died or something, which was a horrible thing to do. I'm really, really, sorry. ;_;

Link/Niagra/Ryo: (pat her head) m.m

A/N: BUHHH, yeah. Eventually I got it together and realized that I have a duty to you guys as well, so I here I am.

I see that people have been looking at this story almost every day and I'm absolutely grateful for that, and I truly, truly apologize for the long wait... but finally, here is chappy 27! And guess what happens in it? YES! We (FINALLY) find out Seth's identity!

Link/Niagra/Ryo: LEIK OH MAH GAWD!

A/N: I KNOW! Oh and another make-up present, the fabulous momijigirl of deviantART finished the commission of the cast in their regular outfits with weapons. Go to my profile and check out the WITb section for the link to the pic!

Niagra: It's so adorable!

A/N: Indeed! And one last thing: this chapter is incredibly long. Incredibly. Three times the size of a regular chappy, as in, 18,000 words. Yep. It was originally supposed to be two but I'll split it another time, for now you guys get the whole thing to make up for the terrible wait!

Now, without further ado...

-:: Last time ::-

"Okay, we got it," Link laughed. "But the important thing is, no matter what happens, we stick together. We've gone this far, so we can't fail now; just one more guardian and then we go face-to-face with that ugly Skull Kid!"

"Who you callin' ugly?"

The seven paused at the foreign voice.

And when they turned around to see who it was, their eyes widened in panic.

Tatl clenched her fist. "You...!"

Skull Kid grinned.

"Long time no see."

–

` Termina Field :: The First Day + 12:55pm `

–

"Howzit goin?"

"S'alright," Brian shrugged nonchalantly.

But Link beside him was infinitely more cautious, a hand hovering over the hilt of his sword. He glared up at the floating Skull Kid. "You! What do you want?"

Skull Kid just smirked. "Heehee, no need to be so hostile! I just came to say hi."

"Oh. Really?"

"How nice," Nicole smiled.

"I WAS LYING!" Skull Kid twitched. He cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "Actually, don't think badly of me... but I've been watching you all."

"How can we not think badly of that," Gilbert mumbled.

"SHADDAP!"

"SORRY!"

"NO DON'T BE SORRY, HUN!" Ines yelled, glaring up at Skull Kid too. "Who the heck do you think you are, yelling at my cupcake like that! I'll kick your ass!"

"Hah! Kick my ass? Did you forget about this important factor here?" The kid tapped the Majora's Mask on his face.

Tatl suddenly flew up. "HEY! WHERE'S MY BROTHER, YOU JERK!"

"Delayed," Nicole coughed behind her. Tatl turned and started smacking her repeatedly. "OWWOW!"

"Can you just tell us why you're really here?" Link sighed, rubbing his temple.

Skull Kid 'oh'-ed. "Right. Well. Y'see, I've been watching you all."

"You said that already."

"Oh yeah. And I'll admit, you guys have been doing a great job; conquering three temples, as well as defeating Odolwa, Goht, and recently Gyorg..."

"Chyeah, well, eat your heart out."

"But Majora and I have decided that enough is enough."

"Chyeah, well—wait, what?"

"There is only one temple left in Termina. And we won't allow you to get any further!" Skull Kid threw his hand out, a powerful gust shooting towards the seven. Everyone screamed, shielding themselves with their arms and trying to hold their footing.

"Wait, so does this mean we're gonna fight Skull Kid now?" Gilbert asked incredulously.

"But we're not ready, we need one more Guardian Mask!" Hayarpi yelled over the wind.

"Doesn't matter if we're ready or not; this seems to be it!" Link unsheathed his sword and shield. Seeing him the rest of the team exchanged worried looks but nodded, taking out their weapons as well. "Stay together, guys—we've fought well up to this point, so let's just give our all!"

Skull Kid laughed at seeing them brandish their weapons. "BWAHAHA! You weaklings think you can take me? Tch, fine then! Do your best!" He drew his other hand back, but before he could do anything a deep voice yelled—

"NO, STICK TO THE PLAN!"

The seven gave Skull Kid a weird look as they saw the Majora's Mask form a pair of lips and move on its own. Brian made a face. "Dude... did Majora's Mask just talk?" he muttered. "While on the Skull Kid's face?"

"Kiss kiss mwah mwah," Nicole giggled.

"... Dammit Nicole I swear Imma—"

"IIiiiiit is not time," Majora continued, interrupting them. "Skull Kid, you will stick to the plan."

"What? But, look at them, without that fourth mask they'd be a cinch to kill off!—"

"Are YOU the one with immense evil power? Are YOU the one that caused havoc for hundreds of years, the one whom is feared, the one whom the mere sound of your name makes people shudder and cower in horror!"

"Well no—"

"Then DO AS I SAY, STICK TO THE PLAN!"

"GAHH FINE, FINE!" Skull Kid's eye twitched, waving away the magic spell he was going to hack at the seven. "Friggin' maskdjslkdjd..." He turned around and started counting backwards from ten.

The seven stared.

"Maybe we should attack now," Hayarpi coughed.

Link blinked. "Oh, right. Go for it!"

"YESSIR!" Nicole cheered, casting her own hand out. Hayarpi, Ines and Gilbert did the same, their elements shooting out of the palm of their hands and combining to form a ray that knocked Skull Kid out of the air.

"OWW WHAT THE HELL!"

"... Actually this is totally like Sailor Moon," Brian sighed from behind them.

Link gasped as he watched Skull Kid slowly float to the ground. "Brian, this is our chance!"

The Spanish boy 'oh yeah'-ed, he and the blond raising their swords as they ran to strike their enemy. But just as their blades came down Skull Kid put up a barrier that knocked the two a few feet back.

"Think you're smooth, huh?" Skull Kid growled, turning. "Well not smooth enough! HAAHHH!" he pointed, and an explosion erupted right between Link and Brian. The two yelped and flew off in opposite directions, Brian towards the others and Link alone on the other side.

Then Skull Kid pointed at the earthlings. A big barrier shot up in front of them, blocking them from coming forward. He turned back to Link, ensuing his attack by striking the Hylian and making him tumble a few more feet away. Skull Kid continued his tirade, hit after hit as Link desperately tried to block and evade.

Meanwhile the earthlings were using their powers to weaken the barrier. "Keep going guys, almost got it!" Tatl yelled out encouragingly. Brian sighed as he just stood there using one arm to smack the barrier with his bar mace. When the hell was he going to get his powers?

After a while Link groaned, hissing at new bruises as he barely managed to hold himself up on the dirt. The Skull Kid was a lot faster and stronger than he thought... the blond looked up, glaring. "Y... you jerk...!"

"Call me what you want, I'm still winning," Skull Kid shrugged, taking out a white and red ball. "Now, here's the final act! I CHOOSE Y—"

"We broke it!" Ines cheered as the barrier in front of them shattered.

Skull Kid turned around. "Eh?"

"YAAAAHHHH!" Gilbert yelled, waving his arms. A burst of water shot up from the ground and tackled Skull Kid midair.

"AGGHH!"

Then he and Hayarpi ran to the blond. Gilbert laughed a bit as he helped him to his feet. "Yo Link, still alive?"

The Hylian nodded, clutching his arm. "Y-yeah, I'm fine... for the most part..."

"Thank goodness," Hayarpi breathed. She blinked as she noticed a little brown book a little ways from them. "Hey, what's that?"

Link followed her gaze, then 'oh'-ed as he explained. "The Great Bay scientist gave me that, told me to read it a few cycles ago but with the whole matchmaking thing I kinda forgot..."

"Oh. No worries, I'll get it then," Hayarpi ran over to it.

Meanwhile Ines, Brian and Nicole ran in front of them, standing in battle stances with their weapons out. They glared as Skull Kid recovered from the hit of water, squeezing out his clothes. "Hey!" Brian yelled at him. "That's real low of you, picking on one guy like that! You want Link? You're gonna have to get through the rest of us first!"

"That's no problem!" Skull Kid threw his hand out again. An invisible force came by and literally picked up Hayarpi, Ines, Brian and Gilbert, tossing them away.

Tatl sweatdropped heavily! "Oh, Nayru..."

Nicole and Link gaped as they watched. "Ummmm, t-there's still me!" Nicole tried.

"Move it!"

"No!"

"MOVE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"GET OUT THE WAY (BEEP!), GET OUT THE WAY!"

Skull Kid, Tatl and Link looked confused. Ines just grinned. "Awh man that song brings back good memories!"

"Anywaaaay," Nicole cleared her throat. "I'm not moving! I'm not letting you get Link, you're gonna have to get me instead!"

... At that, Skull Kid actually paused for a moment.

The seven exchanged glances.

And after a bit, the Skull Kid grinned. "Okay. Deal."

"Huh?"

Skull Kid took out the red and white ball, throwing it. Nicole raised her hands to form a dome...

... But instead of feeling an impact, there was a small 'pop!' sound. "Pop?"

"Why's it look different?" Link asked behind her.

"Huh? Wait, what's this!" Nicole gasped, looking around. Instead of her usual silver dome she was encased in a blue bubble, attached to the red and white ball. "Blue? GILBERT! STOP MESSIN' WITH MAH SPELLS, HOMIE!"

"I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING!" Gilbert said from a few feet away.

"Oh." She took a better look at the ball attached to the blue dome. "... Is that a pokeball?"

"You're not the leader, but it's close enough!" Skull Kid smirked, floating up to the sky again. He leaned back and cackled evilly into the sky. "BAAAAHAHAH—(HACK)! DAMMIT, FLY!"

"AHHH! DO SOMETHING!" Tatl screamed in panic as the bubble lifted off too with Nicole inside.

But before anyone could do anything, Skull Kid gave one more cackle before disappearing with the girl in a flash.

Everyone stared.

And stared.

... And stared some more.

"Did... did he just kidnap Nicole," Gilbert finally muttered after a few seconds.

"I think so," Ines murmured back.

"Dammit!"

Everyone looked behind them, seeing Link's fists tighten as he gripped his sword. "Dammit, that should've been me... Skull Kid, he was clearly trying to get me, it should've been me he took!"

"Link, what are you saying?" Brian asked incredulously. "If it were any one else of us it'd be equally bad!"

"Yeah man, we're all here to help you," Ines continued. "It wouldn't make sense if we were sent here from another dimension and couldn't even protect the Hero of Time. Nicole was doing her job—"

"Ines," Hayarpi had to cut in, tone cautious.

Ines looked at her, shaking her head all right. Tatl eyed their exchange in interest.

But Brian nodded. "That's right, now we should just focus on finding them as soon as possible."

Link drew in a breath but nodded. He glanced around. "Okay... but where're we going to start...?"

The earthlings looked around the area too. But there were no traces of the Skull Kid or Nicole, no trails whatsoever, no kind of way to tell where in the world they went...

"Okay... well, any other ideas?" Gilbert sweatdropped.

Everyone thought for a moment.

But then Hayarpi gasped. "I know! The Song of Time!"

Link stared at her, confused. "What? But shouldn't we have these three days to look for them?"

"Yeah but I just thought of something, it's a bit of a theory... but maybe if you play the Song of Time, we'll all be cast back again and Nicole will appear in the clock tower with us as if nothing happened!"

Gilbert gasped too. "Yeah, that could work! Every time we go back the seven of us always reappear in the clock tower together, there's no reason why she wouldn't appear too!"

"It won't work."

Everyone looked over at the new voice, seeing Seth jump down from one of the pillars. He shook his head. "The Song of Time is useless here. Even if these three days start again, since Skull Kid harnesses the power of Majora's Mask he will overcome it and remain with Nicole in the same place they are right now."

"Aww, really?"

"Yes."

"... Laaaame!"

"Indeed."

Then Hayarpi walked forward. "Wait, Seth, you saw everything that happened?"

"Yes..." Seth looked down. "I'm sorry I couldn't help. Skull Kid put up a barrier that blocked me from interfering, and the barrier only came down a few seconds ago."

Hayarpi shook her head. "Don't worry about that, the important thing is we gotta find them! But Termina is so large, we don't know where to start... do you have any ideas?"

The amethyst-eyed boy turned to the east. "Actually... I think I know where they are."

The six gasped. "Really? How?"

"Just call your horses and follow me."

Link nodded, playing Epona's Song. Everyone mounted their horses and followed Seth without hesitation.

But as they galloped through the canyons, Ines moved Streak over beside Hayarpi and Dash. "Hey Brian. Is it just me, or does our mysterious guy have a weird aura right now?"

"Weird aura?" Brian glanced at the redhead's back. "Now that you mention it, something does seem kinda off about him."

"Suspicioouuus," Tatl had to murmur.

Gilbert popped up too, shaking his head. "Oh c'mon guys, he's worried. You'd be like that too if someone kidnapped your babykins, right?"

"Well yeaahh, but... I can't help but feel there's something else..." Ines insisted, tilting her head. Brian 'hm'-ed in thought. Tatl's suspicious expression didn't falter, and Hayarpi bit her lip as she listened quietly, suddenly remembering the book that Link dropped that's still in her pocket...

–
–

"Ikana again?"

Everyone looked around as they entered the valley of death, running into the grassy clearing.

Ronald, who'd been skipping around singing, saw them come forward. He 'ooh'-ed. "Whyyy, hello there! Wow, are you guys carrying weapons on your belts? Can I see them, can I?"

"No I'm not interested!" Gilbert shoved his face away.

"Awww c'mooon! Lemme see them, just for a sec!"

"LEAVE US ALONE!" Tatl screeched, turning red and bonking him repeatedly.

"OWOWOWOWWW!"

Everyone else reached the stream, looking around. "Dead end. Now what?" Link asked.

Seth pointed upwards at the cliff. "Actually there's more beyond this area, c'mon." He used his awesome powers to jump to a nearby ledge, then to another one a bit higher up across him, continuing to do so until he landed at the top. The six took out their hookshots, aiming at some dead trees as they followed.

"AND THAT'S FOR ANJU, AND KAFEI, AND—" Tatl yelled with every bonk, but 'eep'-ed as Brian snatched her.

"Stop getting distracted, Tatl!"

Ronald sobbed from his fetal position, squinting his eyes open as he watched the team climb the cliff.

–

` Meanwhile... `

–

"HaYAAAAHHHH!" Another silver ray emitted from Nicole's palm, shocking the large cage she was being held captive in. But the cage only glowed for a second before absorbing the magic and reverting back to normal. She twitched. "Gah! DAMMIT!"

"BWAAHAHAHHAH!" Skull Kid cackled as he sat on a stone throne a few feet away. Tael flitted quietly beside him, frowning as he continued watching Nicole's fruitless attempts to destroy the cage.

The three (or four, if you include Majora) were in a gigantic throne room about three stories tall, dark walls decorated with tapestries and intricate blue and brown patterns. Leading up to the throne was a long walkway with a golden border, and on the right wall two curtained windows, the sun's rays giving the curtains a soft glow. Nicole's cage, a large black structure, was situated on the other side of the room against the wall.

When Skull Kid whisked her away she'd been put under a spell that caused her to knock out. And then when she woke up again she was here, in the cage, in this huge chamber... judging by the walls and the throne, it was probably a castle, but still—she'd never seen anything like this before. She had no idea where in Termina she was, if she was even in Termina in the first place!

Nicole formed another spell in her hand, yelling as she cast it out. But again the cage seemed to absorb every blow.

Skull Kid had to sneer. "Hah! Go ahead, keep wasting your energy like that. Think I wouldn't have learned from earlier? Of course I'd make a magic-proof cage! I'm not stupid!"

Nicole glared at him and turned away. "Tch. Your face is stupid."

"What?"

"I said your mace is crooked."

Skull Kid looked, seeing his mace against the wall about to tip over. He 'oh'-ed and fixed it.

"Anyway THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Nicole grabbed the cage bars and shook it. "Why did you even capture me, what's the point of all this!"

"Actually I don't care for you, I was really aiming for that green elf guy," Skull Kid shrugged. "Since he's your leader and all. But then I remembered... you guys are like a house of cards."

"A what?"

"A house of cards, yanno, a card tower! Take one away, the entire thing falls apart!"

Nicole stared. "Nuh uh, not if you take the card from the top."

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! Either way, I took what I could and here you are. Your group's completely useless if even one of you is missing! They're good-for-nothing now, dysfunctional, pointless!"

Nicole growled at that, clutching the bars tightly.

Meanwhile Tael was looking back and forth at them in confusion. He tilted his head. "Huh? But don't the other kids have powers too, why would taking one away make them 'completely usele'—"

"SHUT UP TAEL, WE HAVE NO NEED FOR YOUR FORESHADOWING!" Skull Kid swat at him.

Tael 'eek'-ed but did as told, biting his mouth shut. Nicole sweatdropped.

"AAAANYWAYS," Skull Kid jumped into the air. "I'm bored, Imma go set things on fire. Bye!"

Nicole gasped, shaking the bars again. "No! HEY! YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE—LEMME OUT! LEMME OUT RIGHT NOW, FOO!"

"Right, as if yelling at me will do the trick!"

She lowered her voice considerably. "... Can... can you pwease, pwease let me go? C'mon?"

Skull Kid tilted his head. "Let me think about it."

Pause.

"Okay. I thought about it."

Nicole gasped.

"No. See ya!" He flew out the window.

"... Dammit...!" Nicole sobbed and fell to her knees. "LINKY-POO! SEEEETH!" She shook the cage bars some more. "AAAAGGGGGHHHH! SO LAAAAAAME!"

–
–

Link blinked, shaking his head a bit.

A weird feeling passed through him for a second there. And he was pretty sure it wasn't indigestion.

Then he looked in front of him, seeing Seth who had paused for a moment as well to stare at the ground. But the redhead seemed to quickly recover, looking up at the area in front of them. "Here we are."

Everyone followed his gaze. After following him up the cliff, the six were surprised to see a lot more structures than they expected. A few meters away was a little house on a hill that resembled a music box, and directly beside it a dried up river. To the right, across the dried up river was a huge stone structure similar to a fortress.

Seth walked up to the fortress-like wall, gesturing. "This is the gate to Ikana Castle."

Ines blinked at it. "It doesn't look much like a castle."

"The Kingdom of Ikana wasn't exactly a friendly one, so... they had plenty of enemies. Hence the castle was built to handle such outside attacks."

"Oh."

"And it was far grander than it looks now..."

"I see."

A soft pause.

"So... they're in here?" Gilbert asked after Seth didn't say anything.

The redhead blinked rapidly, shaking his head again. "A-Ah, yes, I believe so. Through this entrance..." he went towards a small hole on the side of the gate.

"Totally suspicious," Tatl murmured. The humans exchanged glances but followed anyway, squeezing through.

"Wait... what's this?" Seth murmured as he reached the other side. Blocking the pathway was a big gray block with a sun's face on it.

The six popped up beside him. Link 'oh'-ed as he spotted it. "Hey, I remember seeing something like this in Hyrule. I used a mirror shield to reflect sunlight onto the block, and then it'd disappear."

"Mirror shield?"

Link nodded. "Yeah, but I left it in my house all the way in Kokiri Forest... man, if I knew I would've been cast into a crazy adventure where I'd only have three days to save an entire country from a falling-moon apocalypse, I totally would've brought it with me!"

Tatl and the earthlings sweatdropped at him! Seth shook his head. "It's fine, I think I have something similar to your mirror shield." He drew back his cloak, taking out a shiny, circular object and tilting it so that the sunlight bounced from it to the block.

And like Link said, the block started to disappear. Seth nodded. "All right then, let's continue."

The group ran out into the courtyard.

Then they gasped. "REDEADS!" Brian yelled and unsheathed his weapon, the others doing the same. But instead of moaning and limping towards them, the ReDeads actually took out some trumpets and started to play a song. And some of them even formed a little choir and started to sing!

The team stared, lowering their weapons. Seth just sighed.

"... Duuuude. We get a welcome song?" Gilbert grinned.

"You can call it that," Seth glanced at the ReDeads as they went on one knee as they passed them. The other six raised an eyebrow but continued following the redhead into the actual castle itself.

Inside...

"MORE REDEADS!" Gilbert yelled, everyone readying their stuff.

But upon spotting the group the ReDeads started dancing.

Everyone made 'wtf' looks as they lowered their blades yet again. "The hell?" Brian twitched, seeing one ReDead lean back and shimmy to the sky like Shakira. "What, were these the King's jesters in a previous life or something?"

Seth just stared at him. Hayarpi went to a ReDead who was doing the Russian squat-leg-kick dance, sniffing. "Aw, Nicole would've liked this one."

Meanwhile the redhead started looking around, face contorting in confusion as he saw the two barred doors and the gigantic sun block in front of the center passageway. Another glance around the room—but there was no sunlight to make the block disappear.

Seth made a face. "This entire place has been tampered with; just who set up all these obstacles...?"

Tatl popped up beside him. "Why, they aren't usually here?"

"This is odd... hmm..." He looked down, muttering to himself. "Perhaps it's a challenge..."

"Challenge to what?" Tatl asked again, going closer.

"Fine. We accept," Seth murmured s'more. He looked up, then sweatdropped heavily at the fairy all up in his grill. "W-What is it?"

"I—"

"Hey guys!" Ines's voice rang through the hall, pointing upwards. "There's a frozen eye switch here! Who has a fire arrow?"

"On it," Brian called, aiming. The arrow melted the ice, and the bars on the doors lifted.

Link nodded. "Awesome; through here, everyone!"

Seth used the chance to run away from Tatl and followed the rest into the next room. Tatl's eye twitched. Hayarpi tilted her head in thought...

In the next room...

"WALLMASTER!"

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

"ITS GOT MEEEE!" Gilbert sobbed as the large hand held him in its grip.

"It always gets Gilbert," Brian had to snicker.

"DDDIIIEEEEE!" Ines screeched, pouncing on it.

A few seconds later...

"Thank you darling," Gilbert grinned as the Wallmaster shriveled up and died. But other than that the room stayed the same.

Link eyed the sun block in front of them. "Guess we gotta find a way to get sunlight in here too."

Seth nodded, gesturing back to the lobby. "To the other room, there is another path to the roof."

A tilted hallway and another room full of exploding-spike-thingies later...

Everyone stood on the western roof of the castle. They found some more ReDeads, who only sang and danced at them as they passed (with Link and the others going 'wtf' but paying it no mind, as long as they weren't being attacked). They navigated around the fence that blocked the inner roof and spotted a switch a few ways off.

"I'll get that," Gilbert offered, taking out his Deku Mask. He Deku-flew over and stepped on it, triggering the sound of something sliding.

"Look, that block is moving!" Hayarpi called. A block on the roof to the right had moved, revealing a hole that was likely above the room with the Wallmaster.

"Good, some sunlight; back downstairs!" Tatl called.

Everyone nodded, finding a ladder by the side of the castle and using that.

But right before Link was about to climb down he paused as his eyes caught something odd. Beyond the fenced part of the roof he eyed the level of the floor, seeing it was pretty much even... except for an odd dip in the center. "Wait a sec, there's something over there..."

"Why, what's up, Link?" Gilbert called from beneath him. "Or wait. YOU'RE up. AHAHA! GET IT!"

Tatl bonked him on the head.

"OWW!"

"I'll let that one slide," Ines sighed, rubbing her forehead.

Link sweatdropped at them but gestured with his thumb. "Hold on, I'll check it out real quick!" He scrambled back up the ladder and headed towards the fence, squinting... and his eyes widened. "Whoa, the roof!"

"The roof, the roof is on FIYAHHH!" the rest of the earthlings sang.

Seth and Tatl eyed them. But everyone climbed back up the ladder too, following Link to the fence and seeing the roof's cracked, dipped middle section. "Wow, that's random," Ines sweatdropped.

"It's funny cuz it's like a really fat Goron sat right there and cracked it," Gilbert snickered. Everyone almost fell over!

"You're on a roll aren't you," Brian grumbled. He looked at the dip. "It's not that weird anyway, isn't this place like hundreds of years old?"

Seth tilted his head. "Yes, but... it wasn't like that yesterday..."

Tatl eyed him. "Yesterday?"

A slight pause. After a moment, Seth's amethyst eyes widened and he pound a fist into his palm. "Wait, that's it!" He pointed. "That area should be just above the first room where we need to get rid of the gigantic sun block. If we destroy that cracked portion, sunlight will surely pour through!"

Hayarpi grinned. "Great idea, Seth!"

"All right, let's climb over this then!" Link said, already scaling the fence. The earthlings followed his lead.

But just as Seth was about to climb too Tatl popped up in front of his face. "Weeeell well well well well!"

"Er, yes...?"

"You know this place preeeetty good, huh."

A slight pause. "I... I suppose so..."

"And you were here yesterday? What were you doing?"

Seth took a slight step back. "Um... I was—"

But then Ines's voice interrupted them. "Oh for Din's sake Tatl, Seth's probably been all over Termina! It's no surprise he knows Ikana Castle too!"

"'All over Termina?'" The fairy looked back at the redhead, going even closer. "Still, you seem so young, how'd you get so strong, who taught you magic, how did—"

"HEY!" Brian's loud voice cut in. "WE NEED MORE BOMBS!"

Tatl blinked, looking over.

Seth used this chance to run away again and climb the fence from a few feet off.

Tatl looked back at him and twitched! Hayarpi hmm-ed some more.

–
–

"Checkmate."

"W... we're playing 'Go Fish,'" Tael murmured.

Nicole paused.

Then she screamed, throwing her cards all over the place. "GAHH I DON'T WANNA PLAY ANYMOOOORE!"

Tael screeched in panic. "WAHHHH!"

"HEY, SHADDAP OVER THERE!" Skull Kid screamed as he draped himself over the throne and nom-ed away on a gigantic meat leg. "I CAN'T CONCENTRATE ON MY EATIN' WITH ALL THAT RACKET!"

Nicole gasped, sticking her face against the cage bars. "Hey, i-is that turkey?"

"What's it to ya?"

"Can... Can I have some? I'm starving, I haven't eaten since this morning!"

Skull Kid paused. He looked at his watch. "It's only half past 11."

"I'M STARVING MAN, C'MOOON!"

"OKAY FINE, EAT THIS!" He threw something the cage's direction.

She stretched an arm out and picked it up. "Wait—Starbursts?"

"It's sugar, you seem to like that."

"But... but I hate Starbursts!"

"Deal with it!"

"..." She pouted and slowly started unwrapping the candy.

"By the way, you should enjoy that candy as much as you can."

Nicole looked up at him. "Why."

"Weeell, Majora said it wastes energy to just keep you here. And I agree, but I'm gonna be nice and give you an hour to at least reflect on your life before I kill you," Skull Kid smiled. "Sound good?"

Nicole choked on her Starburst. Tael sighed and pat her back...

–
–

Above Ikana Castle...

BOOM!

Everyone covered their heads at the explosion, hearing rocks fly all over the place. Once it was quiet Brian peeked out, seeing a large hole in the middle where they'd placed about 20 bombs. "All right, it's clear."

Seth nodded, standing up. "We've only to pass a few more corridors and then we should reach the throne room."

Everyone went to the side of the castle, climbing down the ladder. Hayarpi eyed him. "Wait, the throne room? Is that where they are?"

"Yes, it's likely."

"OOOKay, that's it!" Tatl flew up again, stopping in front of the boy. "Listen, I refuse to be ignored any longer! Now he's telling us he knows the exact location in the castle where they are? This is crazy! Where does he even get this information!"

Brian sighed. "Tatl, is this the best time?"

"WHY NOT!" she argued back. "I bet none of you have ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, Seth might be leading us into a trap here!"

"Don't be silly, of course he isn't—"

"Then give me proof!" The fairy turned back to the amethyst-eyed boy. "Ikana Castle is a castle of the undead, a place where nobody goes or can even reach, yet you know all about it? And isn't it just ironic, how you know all about this place, the place Skull Kid took Nicole, and how you were here at this same castle the day before!"

Seth shook his head. "I, I don't know what you mean—"

"You know EXACTLY what I mean!"

"Tatl!" Ines cut in. "That's enough—"

"No, it's NOT!" Tatl flew up to the redhead, poking his chest with her finger. "Admit it! You're a double spy, Seth! A conspirator, a traitor just waiting to backstab us!"

"No, I'm on your side!" Seth argued. "Believe me—"

"LIES!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Say how you know all this info, then!"

"I... I travel a lot—"

"You're lying, again! Why did you hesitate? You can't even tell us the truth right now, just how long do you expect us to keep following your lies like this—"

"STOP IT, JUST STOP!" Link finally yelled, stepping forward.

Everyone jumped at the tone of his voice. Tatl even quieted, but bit her lip angrily.

The blond gave her a look. "Jeez, Tatl... listen, we all understand where you're coming from. It's trueSeth hasn't said much about himself—or well, nothing at all really—and yeah even I don't know for sure whether or not he's been lying to us this entire time. But like I said before, he's helped us incredibly, countless times!"

"Yeah but—"

"Plus this really isn't the time to argue about whether he's a traitor or not. C'mon Tatl... for all we know Skull Kid could be hanging Nicole over a cliff right now or something!"

Tatl grew quiet at that. She crossed her arms, looking away.

"Besides, other than Seth we've got no other leads," Link continued. "We've just gotta trust him for now."

"Yeah Tatl, have faith," Gilbert tried.

"Yeah... please, Tatl?"

The fairy remained silent.

Link sighed. "Look, I promise, after all this is done with and we've got Nicole back, you can ask Seth anything you want!"

Seth raised a hand. "Uh, I—"

"Yeah! You can sit down with him, and interrogate him for hours on end!" Ines added.

"Hold on a se—"

"You can take him to a room, and ask him questions to the point of starvation and he dies!" Gilbert cheered.

Seth sighed.

Tatl eyed them suspiciously. "I can...? Really?"

Link nodded. "Really."

"Promise?"

"Pinky promise." The Hylian held his pinky out.

Tatl somehow linked her tiny pinky with his. And she gave a heavy sigh. "Okay. Fine. I'll leave it alone for now, then..."

Link made a relieved expression. "All right, great. Thank you."

Behind them Seth raised his hand again. "Don't I get a say in any of this...?"

"Usually not," Gilbert grinned, patting his shoulder. "Get used to it, bud!"

Then suddenly, there was a loud voice from the bottom of the hole they made. "HEY! HURRY UP, YA FAT LARDS! Except Hayarpi, of course."

Hayarpi looked down at her name, seeing Brian standing in the castle lobby looking up at them from through the crater. "Oh wow hun, you're there already?"

"Yes darling, please hurry with the others."

Ooh, 'darling'~!—

"SHADDAP RYO OR ELSE IMMA—"

"COMING sweetums!" Hayarpi called, dragging the rest back through the main entrance.

–
–

And so finally, after a long winding staircase, the group arrived at an enormous threshold with intricate details and designs. "Beyond this door is the throne room," Seth informed.

But of course despite the last scene Tatl still had to be the biggest pessimist in the world. "How do we know they're really in there?"

"Somebodyyy!" came Nicole's timely voice from the other side. "HEY! HELP ME DAMMIT! CHICKEN WINNNNNGSSSS!"

"There you go," Ines snickered, adjusting her ponytail. "Let's do this!"

Everyone nodded, turning to the door.

But Link's voice called out. "Wait, guys?" They blinked, eyeing him. "Um, can I just say something first?"

"You're already saying something," Gilbert grinned.

The blond returned the smile, but his expression faded as he drew in a deep breath. "Okay... well, Skull Kid is in that next room... so this could actually be it."

Everyone watched the Hylian give a small gulp before continuing.

"I know we don't have the fourth Guardian mask, and that the earlier fight wasn't the best prelude... so I have no idea what'll happen in there." Link looked at the door leading to the throne room. "But... no matter what, we've just gotta do our best. Not only for Nicole, but for Termina too..."

The earthlings' eyes softened.

But they nodded resolutely.

Link looked at Seth, nodding as well. Seth placed his hand on the door and pushed.

–
–

Skull Kid turned around, gasping through his turkey leg as he saw the seven enter through the doorway. "MMPFH?"

Gilbert pointed at him dramatically. "Skull Kid! We've found you!"

"Mfghhh—how did—! When did—ACK! BLEGHHH!" he choked on his food, hacking. Everyone sweatdropped!

"Haha, what a loseeeerr!"

Link gasped as he heard the familiar voice, looking over to the left and seeing a huge cage by the wall. And in the cage... "Ahh! Nicole!"

"AHH! LINKY-POO!" Nicole cackled back, waving her arms through the bars. "You've come for me!" Then she spotted the redhead. "AND YOU BROUGHT SETH!"

Seth waved sheepishly. Hayarpi laughed and scratched her head. "Aaaactually, it was Seth who brought us."

"Oh yeah? How'd he kno—"

"Just HOW in Nayru did you all get here!" Skull Kid finally interrupted after clearing his throat. "I was positive you'd have no idea where this place wa—" Then he noticed Seth. "... Who're you?"

Seth's eyes narrowed, placing a hand on the hilt of his weapon. Gilbert gestured at him. "That's our friend. He helped us navigate around this place to find ya." He stuck his tongue out. "Nya nya, we got a mysterious helper and you don't, nya nya!"

"Navigate?" Skull Kid raised an eyebrow.

Tatl scoffed in the background. "Pshh! Riiiight, like you guys REEAALLY don't know each other, I totally believe tha—"

"OH MY GOD TATL YOU SAID YOU'D SHUT UP ABOUT IT!" Ines screeched.

"BUT—"

Ines snatched the fairy and finally shoved her in a bottle, all in under a second. Tatl blinked, then gasping as she realized what happened she started to curse and pound on the glass.

"Thank you," Seth had to sigh in relief.

"Sure," Ines winked. Everyone else sweatdropped heavily. Then she went and put the bottle in a corner.

Tael used this chance to fly over and greet his sister. "Sis! Oh my gosh! How are you?" He blinked as he watched the yellow fairy's mouth move. "I... I can't hear you..." Tatl screeched and kicked the bottle. Tael squeaked, backing away.

"Anyways," Link cleared his throat.

"Yeah anyways, shoo fly, don't bother me," Skull Kid made a shoo-ing motion at them.

Seth stepped forward, amethyst eyes piercing. "You...! How dare you set foot in the castle of Ikana!"

"Ahaha! You call this a castle? A real castle's a lot more grand y'know, with gold and velvet everywhere, pointy towers, better tapestries and all that. This place is a dump!"

Seth growled. "Take that back!"

"Why? No one's gonna hear me!"

"You should be executed for slander!"

"What—executed?" The Skull Kid had to give a loud cackle. "Hah! Just who do you think you are, big shot? If you haven't noticed everyone who held any importance here is dead, who gives a flying poo what I say about Ikana and this garbage of a kingdom of theirs!" He eyed him peculiarly. "Speaking of, you didn't answer me earlier—how'd you know to bring the other losers here?"

Seth went quiet, but kept his glare firm.

Gilbert suddenly gasped. "Heeeey, wait a sec!"

Everyone else eyed him.

The blue-haired boy unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Skull Kid. "WE'RE NOT LOSERS!"

Everyone else almost fell over!

Seth though just followed his lead and took his own sword out, looking back to the Skull Kid. "Not only do you belittle this ancient kingdom, but you also kidnap a maiden and confine her to a cage like an animal..." His eyes narrowed. "Unforgivable!"

"Ooh, I'm a 'maiden,'" Nicole giggled.

Link unsheathed his Gilded Sword and pointed it at Skull Kid. "Yeah, you jerk! Let her go right now!"

Skull Kid crossed his arms. "Who?"

"NICOLE!"

Nicole looked up. "Yes?"

Link eyed her. "What?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Why!" Gilbert yelled.

Nicole, Skull Kid and Link gave him the 'wtf' look. Then Link pointed at Skull Kid, glaring. "YOU!"

Skull Kid twitched. "What!"

"STOP CONFUSING ME!"

"Actually she confused you, not me."

"She?"

"Nicole."

"What'd I do!" Nicole sobbed.

... Link sighed, rubbing his forehead. Brian stepped up. "If you don't let her go, we'll just have to kick your ass!"

"I remember hearing that earlier but it didn't work out so well, remember?" Skull Kid sneered. He floated up and raised his arms, grinning dangerously. "But fine, this time there's nothing to hold me back. There will be no mercy!"

"That's fine!" Ines yelled, unsheathing her scimitar. "Bring it on!"

Everyone else nodded and took out their weapons, going into battle stances.

... But nobody moved.

After a moment Link looked around. "Um. So should we go first, ooorrrr..."

Seth ran past him, sword out. "HIYAAA!"

"... 'Kay fine. YAAAHHH!"

Skull Kid cackled as he raised an arm. A barrier came up, blocking both Seth and Link's attacks. "You must be joking!"

"Try this, then!" Hayarpi raised her hands, a gust of wind blowing up sand and dust in Skull Kid's direction.

He yelped, a hand coming up to cover his face. But then another scream came from his left side— "EAT THIS!" Brian came up and swung his bar mace.

"OH CRAP!" Skull Kid barely dodged, catching a glimpse of the sword slicing a piece of his straw hat off. "Sheesh, too close—ACK!" Suddenly he found he couldn't move, finding a branch jutting out from the ground wrapped around his leg. He struggled to get free, but it was futile as a wave of water engulfed him from behind and he was thrown to the floor, all washed up.

"WOOOO! AWH YEAHHHH!" Nicole cheered, jumping up and down in the cage.

Link laughed, going to Ines, Gilbert and Hayarpi and giving them high fives. "Awriiight! Nice one, guys!"

"Ahahah! It hasn't even been five minutes, wanna give up already?" Ines jeered.

The Skull Kid just growled as he sat up, wringing his clothes dry. "Stupid water, that always gets me!" he grumbled. He shook it off like a dog before jumping back into the air. "You caught me off guard there. But no more!" He held his hand out. "Playtime is over, kids!"

"You're a kid too!" Tael had to shout out from the corner.

"SILENCE!" Skull Kid turned back to the team and swung his arms in a circle. "AYYYYaaaRR chiYOOOOO!"

Everyone stared.

"MOOMBA ROOMBA, CHAKA CHAKA LING LONG!" Skull Kid held his palms out. "I summon thee—CAGE!"

"Cage?" Everyone repeated. Then they screamed as the invisible force came back, pushing them to the center of the room and huddling them close. They raised their arms to fight it, but then a super small cage dropped right on top of them.

Everyone looked around, trapped. "... Ohhhh. A cage," they grumbled together.

But Hayarpi had to 'ack' at the small space. "Ow—! Liiink! Stop elbowing me!"

"Sorry!"

"My faaace!" Gilbert sobbed as he was literally squished up against the bars, already feeling imprints forming on his face.

Ines used her shoulder to shove at Brian. "AND DAMMIT BRIAN THAT WAS MY FOOT!"

"WELL I CAN'T EXACTLY MOVE, YANNO!" Brian twitched. From his position he saw Nicole a few meters off, watching them and snickering from her own large cage that could fit at least 20 people... "What the hell, why did you give us this tiny thing?"

Skull Kid blinked. "Why?"

"Yeah!"

"Well ionno I thought it'd be funny, and guess what? It is! BAAHAHAHAH!" But then Skull Kid did a double take at the cage. He tilted his head, counting. "Wait a second... five? Wasn't there anothe—"

"Over here!"

Skull Kid turned his head. He immediately regretted it though as a sword smacked into his face, sending him a few feet away. He slid against the floor before coming to an awkward stop, unmoving for a moment before slowly sitting up and clutching his cheek. "Oww, dude...!"

"I am all right." Majora assured.

"Psh, well OH, thank goodness he hit my jaw and not your precious face!" Skull Kid twitched. Majora shocked him with some electricity. "ALDLKFSDJFLKD!"

Meanwhile the five in the tiny cage waved over at the redhead. "Seth, get us out of here!" Ines cried.

Nodding, he ran to the cage and swung his sword at the lock, but it remained intact. Then Seth gasped, remembering. "Ah, wait, stand back!"

"Like we can," Brian grumbled, eyeing the cramped space.

"... Right, just lean back then." Seth held up his hand, murmuring. The cage glowed for a moment and he drew his sword out to swing at it, but it only bounced off. The redhead stared. "Impossible... the spell should have turned the metal to clay!"

"Seriously, you think I wouldn't make that one magic-proof either? Silly, silly children." Meanwhile Skull Kid had managed to recover, floating back up into the air with a slightly misaligned and bruised jaw. He winced at the pain. "Ack, hold on a sec." Then he held his head in his hands, and with an abrupt twist and a disgusting-sounding crack! his jaw was back to normal. A cackle. "Theeere we go!"

Everyone made a face. "Gross," Tael mumbled.

Skull Kid ignored them, just moving to float in front of the tiny cage. Seth turned around, holding up his sword defensively.

Though the Skull Kid only grinned. "Looks like you're on your own, mystery guy. How 'bout I make it fun and give you two choices: I can kill you quickly with a single hit, or I can use weaker spells and let you suffer. Whaddya think? Take your pick!"

Amethyst eyes narrowed dangerously, the redhead silent.

But behind them Nicole shook the cage bars madly as she yelled out. "Whatever, Skull Kid! Seth is SO gonna kick your ass, so don't even underestimate him! He's magical!"

"Like Harreh Pottah!" Gilbert chimed.

"Yeah, avada kedavra his ass!" Hayarpi yelled.

Seth looked confused, Skull Kid likewise giving them 'wtf' looks. But he brushed them off and turned back to Seth. "Don't wanna pick? That's fine, be a mute! You don't need to talk... just die!"

A sweep of his arm. Seth jumped to the side, avoiding the magic attack. Though Link, Hayarpi, Ines, Brian and Gilbert screamed as they saw it heading towards them, but as the spell hit their cage it only absorbed it. They breathed a sigh of relief.

"Gah, man, this sucks major BALLS!" Ines growled as she watched Seth and Skull Kid duke it out and throw spells at each other. She clutched the bars. "We're missing out on all the action! GAHHH!" She somehow unsheathed her sword and started smacking the bars with it.

"DAMMIT INES QUIT SPAZZING, IT'S ALREADY HARD ENOUGH TO BREATHE!" Brian scolded.

"SKULL KID I HATE YOOUU! I HOPE YOU LOSE HORRIBLY! SETH YOU BETTER KICK HIS UGLY ASS FOR US, YEAH, USE THAT MAGIC SPELL!"

Behind her Hayarpi yelped as Link shifted his arm, accidentally elbowing her abdomen. "OWW! Too close again!"

"Sorry Hayarpi, this cage is way too tiny—"

"Not just that, it feels like something's poking me, oww..."

In the other cage Nicole rolled over onto her stomach, cracking up like a madwoman. Brian managed to hack a pebble through the bars and at her head. The girl yelped. "OW! THE HELL!"

"Baseball has done you well, good sir," Gilbert nodded in approval. Brian muttered his thanks.

Somehow Hayarpi managed to reach into her pocket, finding the thing that's been causing her so much discomfort in an already cramped setting. She blinked down at the dusty brown book, Link seeing it as well. "Oh, that thing again?"

"It might be sign; maybe we should finally look at it..."

"Taaake THIS!" Skull Kid hacked another spell. But Seth dodged it, jumping forward with his sword.

Link watched as Hayarpi cracked the book open, flipping through the sepia pages. He gasped as his eyes caught something though and reached out to stop her. "Whoa whoa, back up!"

"Here?"

"No, a few more..."

Hayarpi stopped at a page with a photograph in the center. It looked to be a royal portrait, considering the crown on the two center couples' heads, along with their well-dressed child standing in front of them and two men wearing armor on either side of the family.

The Armenian girl eyed the text on the bottom. "What does the caption say?"

Link squinted. "Well... it's a really old script so I can only make sense of a little..."

"That's fine, whatever you can."

"Okay... 'A portrait of King Ig-something with his consort, Queen Something of Something... were the rulers of the kingdom, before the war of something, together with their only child something and the two high knights, something, and something..."

Hayarpi sweatdropped heavily!

Meanwhile, the fight between Skull Kid and Seth was still raging on! "All right Seth, get 'im!" Nicole's voice yelled out in support. "WATCH OUT, BEHIND YOU!"

Seth glanced behind him at the warning, barely dodging a sneaky fire spell. In response he drew an arm in, concentrating for a moment before throwing his hand out towards Skull Kid.

"DIE!" He yelled, and a large purple beam shot from the redhead's palm.

"YEAH RIGHT!" Skull Kid cackled back, holding an arm out as well. And from him a beam of orange burst towards the redhead, the two beams colliding in the middle of the room in an epic, DBZ-like fashion. Seth growled, dropping his sword and using both hands to focus more energy into his attack.

"OH MY GOD, DUDE! DON'T GIVE UUUP!" Gilbert screamed out into the throne room.

"YEAH MAN, KAMEHAMEHA!" Ines screeched.

Seth managed to eye her. "KAME-WHAT?"

"Uh... NOOOTHING, JUST BEAT HIM!"

Brian anxiously watched the fight from beside them. But noticing that it was only four of them actively screaming out encouragingly he glanced behind him, spotting Link and Hayarpi squished in their corner looking at a book.

He would've fallen over if he had the room, but since he didn't he just twitched. "What the—! Why're you guys reading at a time like this!"

Hayarpi shook her head, staring at the picture hard. "... I swear, there's just something about his face...!"

"Keep flipping through Hayarpi, maybe there's a better picture!"

Hayarpi did so, Link watching carefully. Brian rolled his eyes, turning back to the fight.

But his expression went awry as he turned just in time to see Skull Kid's orange spell overtake Seth's purple one. With a scream the redhead was sent flying back, tumbling on the floor before landing in a heap.

Nicole gasped. "No, Seth!"

"Ohh yeah! It's not your birthday, it's not your birthday!" Skull Kid cheered, doing the cabbage patch.

"Seth! Get up, man!" Ines and Gilbert yelled. Hayarpi and Link looked up, eyes widening as they saw.

But for the redhead, it seemed like that beam of magic was much stronger than he anticipated—his gaze was blurred, and every bone in his body felt like it'd been broken. There was also a growing numbness in his left shoulder, and his head was pounding to the point where he could barely hear anything but his own heartbeat. It even hurt to inhale...

But Seth drew in a deep breath anyway, ignoring the piercing pain.

'Not yet... I'm not done yet...!'

Nicole's eyes widened as she watched him struggle to lift his head, fists tightening on the bars of her cage. She hated her position, hated how she couldn't do anything to help...!

"Hey! Seth, y-you have to get up!" Ines screamed, trying to hold back her fear. Sure the group was cheering optimistically earlier, but now... now, seeing Seth's torn cape and bloody hair, only now did they realize the true severity of the situation.

For one person to go against a legendary power such as Majora's Mask, where even their mysterious helper was reduced to writhing on the ground...?

They heard a slight movement, and turning, the team could only watch as Skull Kid landed on the floor behind them and headed towards the amethyst-eyed boy with a large smirk.

Link clutched at the bars, screaming out. "Seth! Seth, you have to get up and run, he's... he's too strong!"

"Get up, Skull Kid's coming! Seth!" Hayarpi cried. Gilbert, Ines and Brian shouted out as well, yelling the redhead's name along with their warnings and watch outs.

After much effort, finally Seth managed to raise his head, if ever so slightly, squinting through blurry crimson eyes at a figure hovering above him. Though he eyed the crimson. Since when did he start bleeding...?

"WATCH OUT!" Tael cried. Skull Kid swung his foot, making contact with the redhead's stomach. With a painful cry he was forced over onto his back, fingers shaking uncontrollably at the intense pulse all over.

"STOP IT! STOP, LEAVE HIM ALONE!" came Nicole's desperate shriek, ridden with fear.

Seth's ears perked up at her voice, trying his hardest to move his arms. But as much as his mind wanted to fight, it seemed his body had given up—his arms no longer responded, as if the nerve endings were cut off. He bit his cracked lip, tasting his own blood...

Everyone else remained quiet, frozen as Skull Kid merely made another, high-pitched chortle.

"Awww, man! You were real feisty in the beginning, I thought you could take more than this?" Skull Kid held out the spell he'd been forming in his hand. "I'm kinda disappointed... kinda. But you look like you can take one more. How about this!"

"NO!—" Nicole cried out in protest, but she was cut short as the spell hit the redhead dead-on, having him fly another few meters off.

But this time Seth landed without a sound, and after rolling onto his stomach... he was motionless.

Everyone watched in dread as a small pool of blood collected by his head, flowing slowly away from his body.

Hayarpi's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, Goddesses...!"

The others were completely speechless, watching in half consciousness as Skull Kid said something else and formed a final spell. Their hearts dropped to the bottom of their stomachs...

"No, no...!"

Then the five looked up, suddenly sensing a strong power.

Across the room Nicole had fallen to her knees, staring down at the floor as she leaned against the cage wall with her hands on the bars in a death grip. But now she was emitting a silver aura, a strong aura that the others had never felt before. Even Skull Kid perked up as he sensed the sudden power as well, turning to spot the strength of Nicole's aura enveloping the cage and making everything glow a dangerous silver.

A big grin. "So, it's not over, hm?"

Nicole looked up at that, glaring knives as her eyes turned silver as well.

Skull Kid 'ulp'-ed at the intensity of the glare, trying not to let his grin falter. "W-Well okay! Bring it on, little girl!"

And with an anguished cry, Nicole leaned back, throwing out her arms and shrieking into the air. The Goddess Piece on her forehead activated and glowed a bright silver, now overflowing with raw, liberated power.

Then the cage around her shattered like glass, sending pieces all over the throne room. Skull Kid 'eep!'-ed as he barely managed to dodge the spear-like projectiles. "What the—! How did you manage to break the cage!"

The silver glow faded. Nicole stood up and walked forward, seeing the motionless redhead a few feet away.

Her eyebrows furrowed, spotting the line of blood still streaming away from his body. And running over to him she knelt down, about to touch his arm... but found that her fingers only hovered, not wanting to be greeted with a cold touch as the memories of Snowhead, Romani Ranchi, the Laundry Pool, the Stock Pot Inn, all flooded her mind.

She choked back a sob.

"Seth..."

It came out in a cracked whisper, Nicole choking back a sob as she quietly lowered her head.

Link, Tatl, and the earthlings watched with sympathetic eyes as she scratched at the tiles, her tears falling from her eyes and mixing with the crimson pool below. Hayarpi looked away, unable to watch as Brian wrapped her arms around her in an attempt to comfort. Ines and Gilbert held each others' hands as they looked down as well, Link clutching the bars of the cage and looking away, and even Tatl in her bottle, little hands pressed up against the glass as she watched in complete distress...

Then came Skull Kid's piercing chortle. He walked towards Nicole, standing a few feet behind her as he raised a hand to his mouth to stop his giggling.

"Hehehee! Oh, whoops... was he your boyfriend?"

At that she looked up. Red eyes narrowed, fists tightening.

Skull Kid sneered. "My bad; though next time you should tell me these things so I could've at least done some torture before killing him—"

"SHUT UP!" Ines screeched from the cage. "Just shut the hell up, Skull Kid! Go die!" But the Skull Kid only cackled in response, gleeful at all the drama.

Then Nicole got back up on her feet, turning around to face him. "Y... you'll pay for this...!"

"Ooh wow, broken lover, I'm sooo scared," Skull Kid guffawed. Nicole's fists shook, arms shaking at her sides. "Oh ho, don't you look infuriated? Go on then! Hit me, I dare you!"

Brian growled, shaking the cage. "Do it, Nic! KICK HIS ASS!"

"DO IT, DO IT!" Link and the others screamed.

Nicole gritted her teeth together, no reservations as she bolted forward.

Skull Kid blinked at the incredible speed. "Whoawaitasec—AGGHH!" He screamed as Nicole slammed his cheek with an elbow, making him fly off while flailing his arms.

"AAAHHH! OW DAMMIT!" he cursed as he landed on his side, twitching madly. Jeezus christ, he was not expecting that!

"I'm not finished!" came Nicole's yell, unsheathing her double blades. She burst at him, swinging a sword at his head but the Skull Kid managed to backflip out of the way. He stumbled onto his feet, and seeing her livid expression... he actually turned to run away too.

Nicole twitched, running after him. "HEY! STOP RUNNING AND FIGHT ME!"

"Um guys..." Hayarpi had to murmur they watched Nicole chase Skull Kid around the room. "I... why am I feeling a slight déjà vu right now?"

Brian, Gilbert, and Ines paused for a moment too, tilting their heads... Brian snapped his fingers. "Oh! Because this is like that one time with Volvagia."

Ines and Brian 'oh'-ed too as they remembered. Link eyed them curiously. "Wait, what? What happened with Volvagia?"

"You don't remember?" Ines muttered.

"Of course he doesn't, c'mon Ines," Gilbert sweatdropped. She and Link did the same. But the blue-haired boy pointed to the scene. "Anyway that's how Nic reacted during Volvagia. 'Cept this time she's a bit worse, understandably, but you know."

Link blinked, then eventually drawled out, "Ohhhh."

"Who's Volvagia and what happened?" Tael yelled at them. The earthlings waved dismissively at him.

"QUIT IT!" Nicole yelled after a bit, holding out her hand. A silver ray shot out and shocked Skull Kid's feet, making him trip over himself.

"Ohshieeet!" Skull Kid sobbed.

Majora twitched from above his face. "DIMWIT, FLOAT!"

"OH YEAH!"

"HAAAHHH!" Nicole sent another ray his direction.

Skull Kid 'eep'-ed and hopped up, barely missing the spell that shattered the tiles beneath him. He breathed a sigh of relief, making another face as Nicole looked up at him and unleashed a string of curses and inappropriate words...

"Wow, I thought you had a colorful vocabulary," Gilbert eyed Brian. Brian gave him a look.

Meanwhile Skull Kid thought for a moment as he stared down at Nicole, as if gauging.

Indeed, after seeing that other redheaded guy get torn apart, it seemed her emotions made her skills increase tenfold... but now after calming down and looking at her from a distance, the Skull Kid was able to get a more accurate comparison of her power to his.

And he only grinned at the result. "So, I know I was running away earlier, but it seems like you won't be able to sustain this power-up for much longer," he grinned. "You're still no match for the power of Majora's Mask!"

"You got that right bud," Majora muttered.

Nicole though just scoffed. "Big talk! You're just scared to attack me head on!"

"What? Please, I could obliterate all of you with one attack if I wanted!"

"Why the hell don't you, then!"

"Nicoooole," Hayarpi called out nervously.

"Scared to use your 'POOWWEER'?" Nicole continued anyway. "You a chicken? BAK BAK BAAAKK!"

Skull Kid twitched, rolling up his sleeves. "FINE, THEN! I'LL KILL YOU!"

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!"

"YOU WILL!"

"GOOD!"

"NICOOOOOLE," the rest of the team yelled.

Nicole spread her arms, tilting her chin. "COME AT ME, BRO!"

"No bro, do not come at her!" Link cried frantically, but shut up as he saw Skull Kid gathering another spell in his palm.

Quickly the spell grew to the size of an elephant, glowing an ominous orange and pulsating with a dark glow. The sheer power from the spell shook the floors of the room, making tapestries fall off their hinges and the glass in the windows quiver. The ones in the cage yelled in panic at the overwhelming aura, while Nicole gulped—and sort of regretted, sort of—her taunting, but held her arms up to defend.

Skull Kid drew his arms to his chest, gathering power. "See if you can handle this!" And with a loud yell he swung his arm like a pitcher, hurling the ball towards her.

"NO!" Everyone else screamed.

Nicole held her hands up, forming a dome.

As soon as the spell made contact with her dome, it exploded, bathing the entire throne room in a neon light. The tiles split beneath their feet, the windows blew apart, walls cracked and the tapestries all flew off the sides. Link, the earthlings, and fairies shielded their faces and eyes, unable to stare into the blinding blast as the shattering and crashing cacophony filled their ears...

A few more seconds, and the light started to fade.

Link lowered his hands from his eyes, squinting, looking for any sign of Nicole... but his eyes had to widen at the sight of the throne room. The left part of the roof had been entirely blown off, the debris from the remaining ceiling falling to the ground in chunks. The tapestries were ripped and the glass in the windows completely gone, the walls and floor fractured, some parts already revealing the dirt underneath. He looked at his friends, seeing them recover and looking around in shock as well before frantically searching for their target—

Hayarpi drew in a sharp gasp, hands coming up to her mouth. "Nicole!" she sobbed, pointing.

The rest looked, eyes wide as they spotted what was against a heavily cracked wall; the first thing they saw was red, staining slightly tanned skin as well as peeking through the tears of her clothing as Nicole lay facing the wall, barely moving. Her two swords were separated from her, lying in separate corners of the room. Fresh gashes on her abdomen, arms and thighs slowly leaked crimson onto the floor, arms sprawled as black hair covered her face in a tangled mess; her dome had been a mere fishing net compared to Skull Kid's spell...

"H... heh, heh, heh..."

Skull Kid breathed heavily as he continued to float amongst the ruin of the throne room, slowly lowering his arms. It seemed he called a bit too much power into that spell since he himself felt rather weak now... "W-whatever, important thing is, I proved... my point," he huffed, then annoyed at his difficulty in staying afloat he lowered himself and decided to walk instead.

Then he approached her figure on the ground.

Tatl screamed from her position, banging desperately on the glass. Link cursed as well, clutching the cage bars as he screamed out. "Dammit, Skull Kid! Stop already, leave her alone!"

"A bit too late to ask for that, don't you think?" Skull Kid tossed.

"God I hate this, we can't do anything!" Brian growled, shaking the bars.

"Just don't hurt her anymore... that's enough, please!" Hayarpi pleaded.

But the Skull Kid ignored them, lifting a foot up to shove Nicole onto her stomach. She screamed at the movement, coughed at the intensity of her scream, and could only bite back a cry at the sting from the mere act of coughing. She drew in a shaking breath—everywhere, she felt wounds everywhere...

"Jeez, you're still alive? I thought that spell was enough," Skull Kid sighed heavily, backing up. "No problem, I still have enough energy for a finishing move..." He blinked though as he saw Nicole move her arms, even laughing a bit. "Tch, you're a trooper...!"

Nicole grit her teeth through the pain, arms shaking and ignoring the blood running down her thighs as she struggled to get up. She was briefly reminded of earlier, when Seth was in quite the similar position...

The most bittersweet of smiles tugged at her lips. Now she knew how he felt.

"No, no!" Ines cried through her tears, shaking at the cage. "Don't get up, Nic! He'll kill you too, Goddesses he'll kill you... he'll kill you...!" her sobs overtook her, falling to her knees.

"Nicole!" Gilbert begged too. "Stop, you've fought hard enough! Please!"

Messy black locks shook back and forth in protest. Though she cried out as she got to her knees, only to feel as if they were stabbing her from underneath.

"You're going to die! STOP!" Brian screamed.

"She'll die either way!" Skull Kid screeched, growing tired of their voices. He hopped back into the air, forming another spell in his hand. "For once I'll be generous and kill her in one go!"

"NO!" The rest cried.

Nicole managed to look up, seeing Skull Kid's hand glow orange. He smirked at her.

"Say goodbye to your friends!"

"NICOLE!" Link cried.

Skull Kid aimed, and fired.

Everyone watched in horror, and as if everything was playing out in slow motion, the spell beamed from his hand and headed towards her like a dagger cutting through the air. Nicole, seeing that she didn't even have anymore energy to raise her hands, looked at her friends and, managing a sad smile, mouthed a sheepish 'Sorry.'

Their eyes widened.

Her gaze lowered at the floor, closing her eyes. And she waited.

Everyone looked away, unable to watch.

But suddenly, there was a blur—

A blur, seemingly faster than the speed of light, rushed in front of her and tossed the spell away with his sword.

Skull Kid watched his spell get deflected, eyes narrowing. "Gah, you must be joking!"

The others blinked at hearing him, looking up.

... And Link, Hayarpi, Ines, Gilbert, Brian, Tael and Tatl all let out the biggest gasp they've ever done in their entire lives.

Nicole's eyebrows furrowed as she heard them. It was taking a bit long for her to die, why didn't she feel any pain yet—she opened her eyes, then she gave the biggest gasp she's ever done in her entire life, then winced at the pain.

"For Din's sake! You aren't dead either?" Skull Kid cried, eye twitching madly.

Seth gave a tiny smirk from underneath dirty, bloodied hair. "Well... I wouldn't say that, exactly."

"AWHH HELL YEEAAHHHH!"

Everyone looked at Hayarpi and gave her weird looks as the Armenian girl cabbage patched in the little room she had. "OH YEAH! SETH IS ALIIIVE, SETH IS ALIIIVE! TOP THAT SKULL KID, NOTHING GETS IN THE WAY OF TRUE LOVE!"

"Wow Hayarpi, of all times," Gilbert murmured, but had to laugh. The others did the same.

Link looked back at the floor, staring at the redhead. Indeed he looked quite beat up and was still bleeding from his head, but he was standing for goodness sake! "Goddesses Seth, but we saw you die!"

"I wasn't dead, I was unconscious," Seth explained.

"What—really?"

"Yes!"

"This entire time?"

"Yes!"

"Took ya long enough to come back!" Ines twitched. Seth almost fell over.

Then he heard Nicole quietly behind him. "Duuuude..."

He turned around, watching as Nicole finally fell forward from the loss of blood. Seth fell to his knees and caught her, looking panicked as he watched her eyes close. "No Nicole, stay awake!" he urged, patting her cheek gently. "If you lose consciousness now surely you'll—"

"Die, yeah, I know," Nicole muttered, eyes still closed. "I've lost blood enough times before to know at this point. But my eyes just hurt, lemme rest 'em..."

Seth sweatdropped!

But he blinked as Nicole opened her eyes again, raising a bloodied hand to softly touch his cheek.

And despite everything, she gave him the most relieved smile.

"Oh, also... it's nice to see you again."

Seth returned the smile, eyes softening as he gently clutched her hand in his.

"OOOKAY IT'S OFFICIAL, I CAN DIE HAPPILY NOW," Hayarpi sniffed, wiping a tear from her eye. Everyone else fell over!

Meanwhile Skull Kid was waving his arms in the background. "Helloooo, I'm still here!"

Brian rolled his eyes. "No one cares about you."

"What the—! GAAHHH! SCREW YOU ALL!" Skull Kid jumped back into the air again, thoroughly annoyed at the shift in attention. He was supposed to be the center here! He turned to Seth and Nicole, cracking his fingers. "Damn you two! This time I'll kill you for sure, no holding back!"

Link and the earthlings jumped up in panic. Seth turned, using one arm to hold Nicole to his chest while his other hand held up his sword defensively. Nicole wrapped an arm around his waist and placed her other hand over her heart, as if praying for more power, for anything she could use to form a shield.

"Here it is!" Skull Kid growled, raising his arms and clapping his hands together. The two spells he'd been forming combined into one, creating a shape reminiscent of a lightning bolt. Link and the earthlings gasped—this was it!

Seth and Nicole braced themselves. Skull Kid smirked. "Say bye to everyone—seriously this time!"

A shriek, and he threw.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!"

"AAWWWWHHH NOW WHAT!" Skull Kid twitched.

Before the lightning bolt spell could reach the two, what looked to be a tall and slim skeleton wearing armor jumped in front of them and deflected the spell with his shield. It bounced off and crashed through what remained of the roof, forming a gaping hole. "Oh... whoops!"

"Awhh, you idiot!" Another 'bulkier' skeleton next to them scolded. "As if this place hasn't been trashed enough!"

"Ah, sorry, I thought—"

"Thought? You obviously weren't thinking when you did that—"

"HEY there is absolutely no need for personal insults, now you're hitting below the belt..."

The two skeletons continued to squabble. Link and the earthlings stared.

"Ummm. Who are they," Gilbert muttered.

"Ionno," Brian muttered too.

"Their voices though, they aren't the ones who called out first," Hayarpi observed, noticing their squabbly voices compared to the guy with the deep voice. "There's one more in here..." She looked around, the others doing the same.

Meanwhile Nicole squinted her eyes at the scene in front of her. Squabbling undead people? She gave a weak laugh. "Dude, this kinda reminds me of Koume and Kotake... oh wait you don't know them," she cackled as she looked up to the redhead, but only saw an oddly bewildered expression. She blinked. "Uh, Seth?"

"Why are—" He started, but was interrupted.

"YO!" Skull Kid shoved his way between the two skeletons. "Excuuuse me, but I'm trying to kill some people here?"

"Oh, right, yeah, we're here to stop you," Armored Skeleton 1 nodded.

Skull Kid had to laugh. "Ahahah! Right! Who said you could?"

"Our boss."

"And who would that loser be?"

"The 'loser' standing behind you."

Skull Kid blinked, whirling around. He was instantly met with... a pelvic region. Awkwardly his gaze traveled upwards, eyes widening behind Majora's Mask as he stared into the menacing, strong-jawed skull of an even larger skeletal man with a gold and magenta chest plate along with a golden headpiece atop his crown. "W-Whoa!"

"Who are you calling a 'loser'?" the third skeleton glared, eyes glowing an ominous green.

"Not a good idea to call the boss a loser," Skeleton 2 sing-songed.

The large skeletal man twitched. "Do not merely call me your 'boss'! Address me properly, as I am your—"

"Just who are you guys!" Skull Kid cut him off, backing up a bit. He shook his fists at the sky. "Why can't I just kill in peeeacee?"

The large skeletal man twitched again at being interrupted but glared down at the pint-sized Skull Kid, looking over his head to spot Seth and Nicole on the ground who were watching the whole exchange.

"Oh shit he's looking at us," Nicole cackled.

Seth only kept his expression firm, staring directly into the larger skeleton's face. "Why did you come?" he asked.

"Whoa—you know them?"

The skeletal man gave a slight scoff. "Well! Blunt and to the point as usual, Seth. I'd think you'd at least thank me for stepping in this time..."

Seth was quiet. Nicole blinked.

"Besides, I wasn't about to let my only son die again."

... Pause.

Nicole choked on her spit.

A few feet away, Link and the other earthlings knocked their cage over in shock.

'SON'?

No, wait... 'die AGAIN'?

Nicole looked at Seth for a reaction. But Seth remained quiet, not denying a word.

She gave a huge gasp. "WHAAAAAT!" Nicole clutched Seth's collar, shaking slightly. "WHAT'S HE TALKING ABOUT—SON? THAT GUY, HE'S YO' DADDY? HOW IS HE YO' DADDY! WHAT DOES HE MEAN, DIE AGAIN—YOU DIED BEFORE?"

But then Hayarpi gave her own huge gasp. "Ohh, THAT'S IT!" She took out the brown book, flipping madly through the pages to find the royal portrait again. Her eyes widened, looking back and forth at the picture, Seth, the skeletal people...!

In reaction to all this however, the skeletal man only eyed Nicole's confusion, putting his bony hands on his upper pelvis. He looked at the redhead. "Wait, you mean to tell me you've been gallivanting with these kids and they still don't know your true identity?"

"What the hell is going on here!" Skull Kid screeched in the background. Everyone else ignored him, blocking his vision with their hands. He twitched!

Meanwhile finally Tatl managed to break the lid on the top of her bottle, flitting out of it impatiently. "A-HA! SEE, I TOLD YOU GUYS HE WAS LYING TO US THE ENTIRE TIME!"

"Wow Tatl, really," Brian sighed.

Seth looked at Nicole, then to Link and the earthlings in the little cage. He drew in a breath, lowering his eyes. "Everyone... I apologize for deceiving you. Let me reintroduce myself, properly this time..."

Nicole let him go, watching as he rose to his feet and bowed slightly.

"My true name is Xavier du Ikana, nicknamed Seth by Igos, my father," he gestured at the large skeletal man. The skeletal man—Igos—just nodded.

Seth looked up at the others.

"I am the sole son of the King... and crown prince of the ancient Kingdom of Ikana."

...

... Everybody stared.

Tatl flew up again. "A-HAAA! I KNEW IT, I TOLD YOU GUYS HE WAS A BAD GU—" Pause. "... Wait what?"

"Oh, and also..." Seth started again. "I'm sort of dead."

Everybody STARED.

But Ines had to turn to Tatl. "Can I just say: you got PWNED! MWAHAHAH!" she cackled madly. The fairy twitched!

"HEY! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE FOCUS OF EVERYTHING HERE, NOT SOME WASHED UP ROYALTY PRINCE GUY!" came Skull Kid's upset shriek, running in the middle of everyone. He looked at Seth and Nicole. "I'm not leaving 'til you two are done with! You're FINISHED!" He started up a spell.

Nicole muttered an expletive. Seth stood in front of her, but suddenly felt dizzy after getting up from bowing, which was probably a bad idea considering he was still bleeding and bowing only made his head spin a bit more.

But the other two armored skeletons stepped in front of them, holding up their swords and shields. Skull Kid scoffed. "PSHH! As if two bony warriors can stop me!"

Igos stepped in as well.

Skull Kid 'eek'-ed a bit but rolled his eyes. "Y-yeah right! Not even!"

Then Igos snapped his fingers. Suddenly the entire castle started to shake.

Everyone shielded themselves with their arms, watching as through the walls and through the ground filtered in what looked to be more spirits, see-through entities that settled themselves in the throne room before fading in to themselves and forming full-bodied armored skeletal soldiers. More and more of the spirits sifted in, occupying the entire chamber before ultimately having the Skull Kid completely surrounded.

Skull Kid squeaked as a soldier pointed a halberd at this face.

Igos gave a large smirk from above the heads of his army. "How about now?"

The Skull Kid looked around frantically. Sure he was strong, but due to his huge orange ball attack earlier, it seemed like his energy was draining the more time passed. He growled, trying to form another spell in his palm.

It fired up for a moment but his eyebrows furrowed at sensing its power; it was enough to kill those kids, but this entire army?

"I... I'll get you all for this!"

"What, he's running?" Skeleton 2 cackled.

"No! Don't let him get away, finish him!—" Seth cried as he ran forward, but Igos only held an arm in front of him.

By now Skull Kid had leapt to the air. He looked at Nicole and Seth in one corner, then at Link, Ines, Hayarpi, Gilbert and Brian in the cage a few meters off. "You...! I'll let you kids get away for now, but don't think next time will be any easier!"

He looked over at Tael, who was trying to hide behind the bottle. "AND YOU'RE NOT OFF THE HOOK EITHER!"

"Huh? NO!" Tael squeaked as he was suddenly encased in a little bubble, pulled towards the Skull Kid.

Tatl gasped, flitting up. "NO, BROTHER!"

Skull Kid clenched his fist, glaring at everyone on the ground.

"Until we meet again!"

And with a screech he raised his hand to the sky, the two glowing before disappearing in a flash of light.

"Brother!" Tatl called. She snapped her fingers. "Dammit!"

"No, no!" Seth ran forward too. But the Skull Kid was long gone, leaving behind only the ruin of a throne room. Igos looked to his army, waving his hand. The armored skeletons saluted, fading again into transparent beings as they sieved back through the walls and floor and left the ones who were originally around.

"Father!" Seth growled, looking to Igos in anger. "How could you let him get away like that, after all this time..!"

"Despite our numbers we still would not have had a chance."

"Don't joke—he was weakened, a full-out attack from our men would've destroyed him!"

"No, it wouldn't have been enough."

"Father!—"

"Enough!" Igos's voice rang deep throughout the throne room. The two armored skeletons jumped in alarm, exchanging looks, while the humans and fairies all made an 'eek' face.

Igos looked down at the redhead. "Yes, Skull Kid himself was weak—"

"Then why didn't—"

"Because Skull Kid and Majora's Mask are not the same entity!"

Seth quieted here.

Igos gave a soft sigh. "My son, destroying the Skull Kid will not destroy Majora's Mask. In fact, what you fought was only Skull Kid's harnessing of the mask's power. His limited ability, but because he does not have the skill to use the mask's power appropriately, he ended up inflicting pain on himself and ran away, unaware of the potential within the mask."

Seth paused here, letting it sink in. "... So... you mean, what we fought against just now, that was only a fraction of Majora's true power?"

Igos nodded.

The amethyst-eyed boy bit his lip. That entire battle... they'd used all their power, and yet they could barely give Skull Kid a scratch? Plus the only reason Skull Kid became weak was because he overpowered himself?

The redhead stared at the ground, clutching the hilt of his sword tightly. "Goddesses... we weren't even close...!"

"Nope, not even half. Actually, not even a third. Almost a fourth, sort of."

Seth twitched as he eyed the King. Igos shrugged.

"Ummm, excuse meeee..."

Seth and Igos looked up at the call, seeing the tiny cage now on its side with its inhabitants squished atop each other. Gilbert coughed, waving an arm through the bars. "Can you get us out of here please...?"

Sweatdropping Seth nodded, going over. He eyed the cage again, wondering how to open it— "Step aside," Igos called. Seth did so and Igos pointed at the cage, it bursting into a thousand pieces.

"Accckkk!" the five screamed as they were released, tumbling to the floor.

"Sheesh dude, we should've had you around earlier!" Ines sweatdropped, getting to her feet.

Link scrambled up hurriedly, stretching his limbs as he ran over to the two skeletal soldiers. The soldiers blinked as the blond passed them and went to the girl lying on her side behind them, still bleeding out her gashes. His eyes softened as he kneeled down, touching her arm gently. "Aw man, Nicole...!"

"Ahaha, it's stinky cheese man~" she sing-songed, now delirious from all the blood loss.

Link bit a bittersweet smile at the ancient nickname. He also got another case of déjà vu, though this time from the Water Temple in Hyrule. The blond hooked an arm around Nicole's back to prop her up, managing a slight laugh. "Hey Nic, how're ya holding up...? I mean, other than the huge injuries and blood loss and everything..."

"Ah ha, y-yeah, I'm peachy!" She squinted as she saw Tatl and earthlings come up to her as well. "Hey, everybodeh's here...! Heh, say, d'ya guys... have some choc'late milk, or, some... eggs?"

Hayarpi shook her head. "No..."

"Oh... well that's mmkay, les' get this party started..." Nicole's head tilted back.

"Don't let her sleep!" Seth called.

"NOOO STAY AWAKE NICOLE STAY AWWAAAKKEEE!" Gilbert cried, grabbing her shoulders and shaking.

"ALSJFDSDFJSL!"

"GILBERT!" Ines scolded. Gilbert stopped shaking and dropped her back in Link's arms. Then Seth ran over too and knelt by her side, eyebrows furrowing in worry...

"Oh heeey!" Skeleton 1 suddenly gasped. Everyone looked at him. He went over and took the brown pouch hanging from his waist, handing it to Seth. "Just remembered, I have a red potion. Why don't you two split it?"

Seth gasped, taking it. "Great, thank you!"

"Not at all!"

The redhead opened the bottle and reached over, gently pouring the potion into Nicole's mouth. Link watched as he did so, then noticed Seth's own bloodied hands and arms. "Uhh Seth, maybe you should take a sip too..."

"No, I'll be fine."

"Dude, there's a gigantic gash in your head," Brian muttered, eyeing the rather long gash, that, this entire time was still bleeding down the side of his ear.

But Seth was stubborn. "It's fine Brian, I'll be all right."

"... Fine, be that way..."

Soon the bottle was empty, everyone's eyes lighting up as the potion worked its magic and closed up her major gashes, leaving behind light scars and marks. Nicole's eyes regained focus, looking up to meet midnight blue ones. "Oh heeey, Linky-poo...!"

"Wahh, thank the Goddesses!" Link sobbed, hugging her close.

"ACK!" But she laughed as Link loosened her hold, the others leaning in to hug her as well. "Awh, how nice! I love you guys too!"

"Yaaay! Man, at least this time your almost-death was a lot cooler than the last, right Nicole?" Ines grinned.

"Ohh, so that's Nicole," Igos murmured behind them. Skeletons 1 and 2 nodded as the three of them stared, then looked to the amethyst-eyed boy and grinned. Seth looked away, cheeks the slightest tint of red.

But the team didn't hear them, Nicole just cackling in response to Ines's remark. "Yeah, I know huh! This time I got to fight and get all bloody before I almost died! I mean, compared to when I just fell from the ledge like that..."

"What, the ledge in Hyrule or in Termina?" Link laughed dryly.

Nicole glanced over to the rest of the earthlings. They sobbed as they remembered Snowhead and threw their arms over her while yelling apologies, but Nicole just laughed it off and hugged them all back anyway.

Seth smiled softly as he watched the scene, drawing in a deep, relieved breath himself. He looked over at the lanky skeleton. "Thank you again, Gerald. Anymore blood loss and we could've lost her..."

Skeleton 1—err, Gerald, waved a bony hand. "You're quite welcome, your majesty. Think nothing of it!"

Seth smiled gratefully.

Though now, he felt the prying, yellow eyes of a certain somebody staring him down... he looked over, seeing the yellow fairy. Seth gulped.

"Sooo, your majesty," Tatl started, the emphasis catching the others' attention. "I think you owe us a huge explanation here..."

Seth sighed, looking down.

"Whoaa, wait a sec! So you really are a prince?" Gilbert gasped. Seth nodded. "DUDE! That is ROCKIN'! I'd never met a prince before in my life! Can I like, kiss your hand or something?"

Seth gave him a look. Brian massaged his temple. "Gilbert, that was so gay."

"Yeah, my Gilly's happy, all the time!" Ines defended her boyfriend, sticking her tongue out at Brian.

"Ummm, did you guys forget that Seth also said he was dead?" Hayarpi reminded.

Everyone 'oh yeah'-ed. Tatl rubbed her forehead. "It disturbs me that you guys forgot that of all things..."

"Well he doesn't seem dead, I mean c'mon he has blood!" Ines argued.

Seth raised a hand. "Ah, yeah, about that—"

"Aaaand is it just me, or does it seem like your dad wants to get Skull Kid and Majora too?" Link asked, looking at Igos who was wandering around inspecting his destroyed throne room. "Is it your entire family that has something against them, orrr...?"

Skeleton 2 had to chuckle loudly at the barrage of questions. "Goodness, dear prince! You've really told nothing to your poor friends!"

Seth made an exasperated face. "Tom, not now..."

Tatl eyed the two armored skeletons. "And who the heck are these two nerds?"

Tom and Gerald looked at her. "HEY!"

Seth looked down. "Well, I'm not sure where to start..."

"Why not from the beginning?" Everyone looked up as Igos returned to them. He sighed, glancing around. "Ts tsk tsk. That damn Skull Kid, no respect for property just like his ancestors..."

"Ancestors?" The humans repeated.

Igos nodded. "Yes... now, since my son here has failed to inform you of anything important, I will take responsibility and tell you all a bedtime story."

"It's like 3pm," Brian muttered.

"Do you want to hear the story or not!"

The humans quickly set themselves down on the ground. Igos snapped his fingers, a rocking chair popping up behind him and taking a seat in it as Tom and Gerald stood on either side. Seth rubbed his forehead some more in embarrassment—a rocking chair?

Igos cleared his throat. "Once upon a time, long, long ago..." he started. Everyone listened anxiously. "The ancestors of Skull Kid had been traveling and came to eastern Termina, where the grand and prosperous kingdom of Ikana was situated.

"When these ancestors first came, in fact they were quite harmless, staying within the vicinity of Ikana as peaceful neighbors.

"But secretly, these were an aggressive people. They lived to kill. They were constantly searching for conflicts and new lands to overthrow, and a recent conquest of theirs brought them to Majora's Mask who only fueled their nature to take down any and every community they ran into. Their destructive spree was an endless one, never satiated, and as they came upon us our beloved Ikana became their unfortunate next victim..."

"Wait wait!" Hayarpi called. Igos eyed her. "The ancestors of Skull Kid, you said? But Skull Kid, isn't he... just a regular Skull Kid? The byproduct of a non-fairy child getting lost in the woods?"

"Child, who do you think cursed the woods with turning non-fairy humans into Skull Kids and Stalfos?" Igos asked. "And speaking of Stalfos, why do you think they are so hostile and brutal? When people get lost in the forest they die and become skeletons, whom would otherwise lie peacefully unless cursed the way the Skull Kids and Stalfos are."

"... Ohh," Hayarpi nodded in understanding. "I see~"

The King nodded, clearing his throat again. "Yes. Good question, however."

Hayarpi grinned. Brian rolled his eyes playfully. "Teacher's pet." Hayarpi giggled.

"Right... continuing," Igos ahem-ed. "Ikana became their next target.

"One fateful day, Skull Kid's ancestors finally launched their attack. They invaded our kingdom, ridiculed our royal family and the Gods Ikana worshipped, then used the power of the mask to purge the villages and burn buildings and kill many citizens. However, this attack was not completely a surprise—a group of villagers who had been suspicious of the new invaders had been preparing an army for such an attack. Although it was last minute and Ikana did not have as much soldiers as their enemies, our warriors were the strongest and most skilled of our time, and we managed to put up a fight..."

But here Igos drifted off, looking down with a slightly pained expression as if remembering something. And upon seeing his father's face Seth looked away as well, eyes clouding slightly.

Tom cleared his throat, the team looking to him as he continued the story. "And so, the King and Prince naturally joined in the battle. Our men fought long and hard, but unfortunately the enemies were quite extraordinary in both strength and skill as well... they were able to permanently ruin our beloved kingdom."

"So, all this, just because some people wanted to cause trouble...?" Ines murmured. Tom looked down, nodding slightly. "Jeez... what a (beep)!"

"Quite."

Igos looked at Tom, waving his hand. Tom nodded, the King picking up the story again. "Yes... although, not one side had truly won. The survivors of Ikana were few. Ikana was a fearful kingdom in itself as well, due to our power, and we made more enemies than we did alliances, so our survivors did not have much to turn to..."

Nicole looked up at that, glancing over at Seth as she remembered his talk with her at the Pirates' Fortress. So the Skull Kids' ancestors were one of those enemies, huh?

"Meanwhile many of Skull Kid's ancestors were killed, but eventually grew scared of more losses so they decided to withdraw. They left us for dead, the flourishing kingdom of Ikana had been resorted to a destroyed and ruined land. Our houses and villages had been cleared." He made a sweeping motion with his arm at the castle. "Although our castle miraculously remained standing. But nobles, counts, and the entire royal family had been murdered. Majority of the citizens killed. The twenty, thirty survivors saw nothing left for them in the devastation and departed in search of a better place to rebuild.

"Ikana had been cast aside, left to age in its destroyed glory..."

Igos gestured around them.

"Today, the troubled ghosts of the kingdom continue to roam the lands. Along with the Garo who were once our enemies, but banded together with in order to fight the ancestors of Skull Kid despite our loss, now constantly search for those who killed them. But the enemies were long gone, the breed thinning away over the decades."

"Oh... so Seth is looking for revenge?" Gilbert asked.

Seth nodded, his eyes narrowing. "It's just a painful irony that Majora found the Skull Kid, of all people, to use as his puppet for chaos."

Igos nodded. "Indeed. The late Prince never forgets how Ikana was ruined. He constantly roamed the land of Termina for decades with an unsteady heart, hoping time will somehow heal his wounds, but the memory of his fallen kingdom continues to gnaw at him."

"Then you found them?" Link asked. Seth nodded, opening his mouth to respond until his father cut him off.

"Yes, one day, Skull Kid appeared in Termina. Instantly the prince knew him as a descendant of the ones that ruined his kingdom, and immediately, he thought of vengeance... but what could he do? He was only a lowly spirit now."

"No he's not," Tatl raised an eyebrow.

Seth was about to reply but Igos stood up.

"And then one other fateful day, the legendary Hero of Time and his allies showed up as well! He watched them, observing their quest, being shocked by their control of time, then realized how they were after the same foe...!

"And so he helped a Great Fairy, and she bestowed upon him his physical body. ("Ohhhh," the humans murmured together.) He continued to observe the group, and decided to ally with them. One day at a snowy place he saves a certain girl from certain death, ultimately revealing himself to the rest of the group as well..."

Nicole looked to Seth at that, smiling a bit. And seeing her he had to return the expression.

Igos continued s'more! "And he continues to aid them, hoping their quest will lead them to Skull Kid, where the prince might finally be able to take vengeance for his fallen kingdom...!" He dramatically raised his hand to the sky.

Everyone stared.

Igos paused. ... Then he bowed.

... Everyone clapped.

"Thank you, thank you!"

Seth dragged his hands down his face.

Though, Link had to bite his bottom lip for a second, eyebrows slightly furrowed. Nicole blinked as she sensed him, eyeing him curiously and about to ask until someone talking held her back. "So the Great Fairy—the one in Clock Town, right? She gave you your human body?" Brian asked. Seth nodded. He looked at the skeletal men. "Okay, but why are you guys skeletons?"

"It's part of the curse placed on us by Skull Kid's ancestors before they left," Gerald explained. "We are all cursed to wander perpetually. Some of us are cursed to wander as skeletons: the King, Tom and I, another General... others wander as ReDeads or spirits, although the Garo keep their ninja-like shape. They defy even death, somehow."

"So the ninja that helped us with Ronald, the one that told him to help was Seth?" Ines asked. He nodded.

Nicole blinked however as she noticed sunlight going through Igos's chest cavity... she gasped, pointing. "Heeey, wait a sec!" Igos eyed her. "Aren't you guys allergic to sun? Like, won't you disintegrate; how are you standing right beneath sunlight like this?"

"Sunlight has no effect on us, otherwise Seth would have burned a long time ago," Igos raised an eyebrow. "Who told you that?"

Nicole shrugged. "I dunno, it was like that in the game."

"What game?"

Hayarpi elbowed her. Nicole cackled. Link and Tatl sighed.

Though Tom just laughed, looking over at Seth and nudging him with his bony elbow while muttering. "Hehe, you like the odd ones, your majesty!"

Seth gave him a look, eye twitching as he whispered harshly. "Please stop...!" Gerald just chuckled beside them.

But then Tatl's gaze landed on the two other skeletal men. "Hey! But he didn't say who you two are!"

"Don't you get it!" Hayarpi sighed, taking out the little brown book. She flipped open to the royal portrait, holding it out to everyone. "This is them! This picture is them, all of them, except for the Queen because I don't know where she is—"

"She's here too actually but she's a spirit so you don't see her," Gerald said.

Everyone else gasped, looking around in panic. So she could be anywhere? The Ikana people sweatdropped at them!

Hayarpi continued. "... Okay, well then yeah, so everyone in this picture is in this room! See, Igos is the King, the Queen is here somewhere, Seth is the little boy, Tom and Gerald was it? They're the two high knights in this picture! And with the way Seth was acting today, plus his powers, and all that jazz..." She looked over at Link. "Dengit Link, why didn't you read this book? We totally could've figured this all out earlier!"

Link waved his hands in apology. "S-Sorry! I completely forgot I had it!"

"WHAT'D I TELL YOOOOUUUUU!" The Great Bay Scientist's voice yelled at them from a distance.

Seth looked up at that, then back at the book cover. "Wait, that's a book from our own library. And it was the bay scientist who gave you that?"

Link nodded. "Yeah... you don't really seem surprised..."

"Well, scientists from Great Bay have a long history of sneaking into Ikana's libraries and stealing our books..."

"YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING!" came the scientist's voice again. Everyone almost fell over!

"OOOOOkay then, so lemme just get this all straight!" Tatl called, flitting up. She pointed at Seth. "So this entire time, you're actually a prince of an old magical kingdom, that's why all these undead thingies bow and dance at you, and which is why you knew so much about everything in Termina and had all these weird powers and could teleport and do all this fancy crap?"

"Yes, that is why. And that is also why I know so much about Ikana Castle itself, because this is my home." Seth gave her a pointed look.

The yellow fairy bit her lip, remembering the scene earlier when she was calling him a bscktabber... and remembering all those other times she bugged him and threatened him for all the wrong reasons. Tatl frowned, looking away in guilt. Nicole pat her little head in consolation.

Gilbert looked to him. "And that's also why you're helping us, for vengeance?"

The redhead nodded. "Correct. Besides, I hate how Skull Kid is making the people of Termina suffer with Majora's Mask, so that's a reason as well."

"Oh, okay..."

"Awwww, what a sweetie!" Hayarpi and Ines giggled together. Brian and Gilbert twitched!

Link laughed at them, but looked to the redhead again in question. "Waaait, but then, why didn't you just tell us this right from the beginning! Instead of avoiding questions and being mysterious and all, I mean we do have the same enemy..."

"It's not the most feasible story to tell," Seth replied sheepishly. "Would you all have believed me if I said I was a dead prince looking for revenge on Skull Kid because his ancestors destroyed my ancient land?"

A pause.

"No/Nah/Probably not/Depends/Yes," came the mixed answers.

Everyone looked at Nicole for the last one. She shrugged. "Why not!"

Seth sweatdropped but had to smile at her. Nicole gave him a thumbs up.

"Well fine, but now what?" Brian continued. Everyone's gaze shifted to him. "Skull Kid got away. And thanks to the fight that just happened, now we know we're seriously screwed over if we don't get help from all four of Termina's guardians."

"Right, we still need to find the final guardian and free him so we can meet Skull Kid at the top of the clock tower," Link nodded. The blond looked over at Igos. "You're the King of Ikana, is there any way you can help us...?"

"Indeed I am King, but the guardian is separate from me," he explained. "Although I can offer assistance."

"Awesome! Thank you!"

Igos gave him a look. "Who said I will, though?"

Link paused. "... Seriously?"

The earthlings fell over! "You've gotta be joking!" Ines exclaimed. "Why wouldn't you help us, we're doing this for everybody in Termina!"

"Yeah, that's low!" Tatl yelled.

Even Seth looked at Igos in surprise. "Even after all this, I thought...?"

Igos raised his hand. Everyone instantly shut up, the king continuing to explain. "I refuse to lend my power after watching all of you fare so horribly in the previous battle. One of you hasn't even had his powers awakened yet!"

Link, Tatl, Nicole, Hayarpi, Gilbert and Ines all looked simultaneously at Brian.

The Spanish boy twitched madly. "THAT ISN'T MY FAULT!"

Igos continued. "And the rest of you couldn't even break out of a measly cage!"

Link and the others exchanged guilty looks. Nicole pointed at them and laughed.

"And you as well, do not laugh! You only managed to break out due to your overwhelming emotions," Igos muttered. "Someone had to die—or at least be injured to the brink of death—so you could unleash your potential..."

Nicole stopped and made a sheepish expression. Then the King gave a heavy sigh as he looked over the entire group, crossing his arms.

"Listen to me, all of you. You may have overcome Woodfall, Snowhead and Great Bay, but do not be so foolish to think Ikana is like the others. Had we not stepped in during the previous battle, every single one of you would be dead by now!"

"Gotta admit, trufax," Gilbert sighed. Everyone looked down dejectedly.

"But father, these seven are the only ones capable of destroying Skull Kid and Majora's Mask once and for all," Seth came in, trying to defend them. "This fight was flawed, yes, but together with the four guardians they will be an unstoppable force!"

"Fo'shizzle!" Nicole supported.

"What's that mean?" Tom muttered. Gerald shrugged.

Seth continued anyway. "They just have to work on honing their skills..."

"I'd rather give them assistance when I know they're ready to receive it."

"But we are ready!" Link assured. "Like Seth said, we messed up majorly in that fight with Skull Kid right now... but... we'll learn from it, and we definitely have the power, you just have to believe in us...!"

Igos eyed them for a moment.

"Please, King Ikana?" Link pleaded. "Won't you give us a second chance?"

And then he watched as the humans all made puppy faces... Igos crossed his arms. "Hmph! That will not work on me!"

Pout, pout, pout.

"N-Noooo!"

"The eyes, Gilbert! Use the eyes!" Ines whispered.

Gilbert pulled out his most-adorable-cutest-pout-with-huge-brown-eyes-how-could-you-say-no look ever.

Igos gasped.

Then he turned away, covering his face with a bony hand. "GAHHH! OKAY FINE!"

"YAAAAY!" They cheered. Gilbert gave a thumbs up; his cuteness saves the day yet again!

"All right, I'll give you all a chance to prove your power."

"YAAA—" Everyone stopped dancing. "Prove?"

Igos gave them a look. "Yes, prove! Of course I'm not entirely convinced you're strong just by telling me and giving me puppy faces! I'm not a pussy!"

Everyone fell over at his terminology!

"But... indeed, I do sense dormant powers within all of you," The King narrowed his eyes. "At the moment you're all like Skull Kid, without any idea how to use them to their full potential. But it only requires patience and practice, both of which you will get in my 3 TRAILS OF POWER!" He held out three fingers to emphasize his point.

"3 trails of power?" Brian raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed! 3 trails where you six will be able to use and hone the skills your Goddesses have bestowed. Now, write this down."

Nicole whipped out her notebook.

"The first trial: the music box house. The second: the graveyard. And finally the third: the well. You will receive an item at the end of each trial."

Gilbert nodded. "Okay, great! How do we get those items?"

"THAT'S THE TRIAL, YOU FIGURE IT OUT AND COMPLETE IT!"

He sweatdropped at being yelled at. "OKAY OKAY!"

Igos cleared his throat. "Yes. Manage to complete all three and I will teach you the melody that leads to the Stone Tower Temple, where you will find the fourth guardian."

Everyone nodded. "All right, you got it!" Link nodded resolutely. "We'll definitely prove our power!"

"Yeah, and with the friggin' prince of Ikana by our side, this should be a piece of cake!" Gilbert grinned, patting Seth's shoulder.

Igos however just burst into laughter at that. Everyone eyed him. "Baaahahahaaha! As if I'd allow Seth to assist you?"

They stared. "What—! Seth can't help us?" Hayarpi gasped. "But, but he always helps us!"

"The boy knows every nook and cranny of Ikana, if he helps you then the point is defeated! You are all on your own!" Igos declared.

Ines collapsed to her knees, reaching to the sky. "NOOOOOOO, NO MORE HOT GUUUUY!" she sobbed. Hayarpi fell onto her knees too, the two crying hysterically.

"You're hot, your majesty? Maybe it's your cloak," Gerald asked. Seth sighed through an embarrassed blush, waving him away.

"Wait, but can he still talk to us?" Nicole murmured. "I mean... it'd suck if, well, he's suddenly not allowed to say hi, or... I mean..."

Ines and Hayarpi stopped crying, looking at Nicole and wiggling their eyebrows. Nicole blushed and twitched!

Even Igos had to chuckle at that, just crossing his arms. "Yes, Seth will still be allowed to speak with you, but nothing of the helping kind," The King narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "And don't think I won't know the difference; remember, the spirits of Ikana are wandering everywhere..."

Nicole gasped, looking around uneasily. That's right, even Seth's mom was somewhere here too, floating around this whole time... would she follow them throughout their adventure from now on? ... Had she been following them this entire time, because of Seth?

Nicole screamed in panic, clutching onto the nearest person, which naturally was Brian. Brian twitched and shook his arm. "AGGGGHHH!"

"Okay fine, no problem," Link confirmed, ignoring the two beside him. "We can do those trails by ourselves, we don't need Seth!" He looked at the redhead. "No offense dude."

Seth shrugged. "None taken."

"Well then, all right! You seven go on your way!" Igos said.

"UHHH hold on!" Gilbert called. "We're a bit bruised from the fight, is there a way you can heal us?"

Igos blinked, then roared out in laughter. "Heal? PSH! Do I look like a Great Fairy to you!"

Everyone sweatdropped. Or not...

But Seth glanced over at Nicole. She blinked as he leaned over, whispering quickly. "Actually there's a fountain in Ikana, if you head east from here and g—"

"SETH STOP HELPING!" Igos twitched. Seth made a guilty expression, leaning away. Everyone almost fell over!

But they sighed, turning around to leave—

"OH, and one more thing!" Igos called. The team eyed him. "Since we're aware of your magical ability to repeat the same three days, you only have until midnight to complete the 3 trials. Good luck!"

"Oka—midnight?" Link gasped. "... Tomorrow's midnight, right?"

"No, tonight's midnight."

The team stared. "What! But that's only 8 hours!" Ines gasped.

"Psh, 8 hours is plenty of time!"

"No it's not; we were stuck in the same 3 rooms in Great Bay Temple for 8 hours!"

Igos stared.

... And then he scoffed.

"Well. Best you get started, then."

The seven paused.

Tom and Gerald saluted at them. "Good luck, everyone!" They looked at Brian specifically. "You as well, sire!"

Brian stared. "Huh?—ACK!" But he was cut off as everyone else finally realized their time limit, grabbing him and frantically running out of the throne room like headless chicken.

Seth quietly watched them leave as Igos turned around and continued to make rounds, trying to decide how the heck he was going to repair his beloved throne room...

A/N: SEEEEETH

Link/Niagra: SEEEEETH

Ryo: SEEE—(loses his voice after all the narrating) OTL

A/N: Yes Tom and Gerald are the two skeleton knights you fight in Ikana Castle before you go one-on-one with Igos. And YES, LONG CHAPPY, TOLDJA SO! But c'mon, it was a battle with Skull Kid so it had to be good, or, well, I hope it was good. XD; Anyways did you all like my game/plot twist? Hm? Yes, no, maybe so, yellow snow, oh no! (keels over from 18,000-word-chappy-exhaustion)

Niagra: (sweatdrops at them and turns to reader) Aaanyway. Thank you everyone, so much, for your wonderful loyalty and unending support! Thank you, thank you—please don't forget to check out the new cast picture with their weapons, link available in nagami's profile!

Link: We're so close to 200 reviews; won't you help out? (makes handsome-man face) ;3

Niagra: Yeah c'mon, bump it up! 'Til next chappy, which will DEFINITELY COME OUT MUCH SOONER THAN THIS ONE!

A/N: (looks up) FO'REAL!

- nagami c.