"So... We're really back here," Tatl sighed.

Link and Tatl had arrived back at the Clock Tower to talk to the Happy Mask Salesman, Link having already told Tatl what he knew.

She was initially irritated he hadn't told her about the ocarina before, but was overall more concerned with fixing the issue. Link did keep one secret, however, and that was his masks. He had 23 masks left, his deku mask no longer in his possession.

Link knew how she would react to him telling her the other things, but with the masks she was unpredictable. Of course, she's known about them before; however she's forgotten those things.

"Hey, Link, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Why... If what those ladies said was true and there are multiple timelines, why do I have memories? They're vague, yeah, but I just... It doesn't make sense to me," her voice was concerned, with highs and lows throughout her tone. "Shouldn't the memories belong to a different version of me?"

He hadn't wanted her to ask this, but gave the answer anyways, "It's not that difficult to figure out, and I told you a while ago. It's because you met me in the first Termina, and well, we became partners linking you to me. So in a way you're cursed too, but in a different way. Just as there is only one version of me, there's only one Tatl."

"Oh... I see."

"Yeah," Link sighed, and he pushed the wooden door ajar. "We should fix this problem I started."

"Link, does that mean I'm actually like, old?!"

This brought a chuckle from him, "Add ten to your current age, partner."

"But it's fine right," Tatl laughed, "I still look young."

"Yeah but we really don't know what will happen once I do end this curse of mine."

"And apparently my curse too! Just to a lesser degree."

"Tatl, do you really think you'll still look young? Cause for me I'm not so sure."

"What do you mean? Come on Link, we shouldn't waste any time here."

"I mean that what if, when we break the curse, what if we get fastforwarded to our time and age?"

"That... Well as long as Tael will have aged with me, I'm fine with it. But twins have got to stay twins."

"You're twins? You look nothing alike."

"Hey!"

"Sorry," Link chuckled a dry laugh, as he didn't have any happiness left in him. He poured it all out a long time ago. "But I want to be the same age physically as Zelda when I return."

"Why is that."

"Because, I don't know, it feels wrong if it's any other way. She told me to live my childhood, but I've long since outgrown it."

"I guess I can understand that. C'mon Link, let's go see the creepy man again. That way you will be able to return to her."

Link took a deep breath, "Let's go," and pushed open the wooden door.

It was a setting they had visited all too much, a murky and mood ridden one. The smell had become normal, although by no means pleasant.

The Happy Mask Salesman had been waiting, as he always does, his eyes squinted and posture as if he was trying to sell something. "Welcome back, Link."

"I was told to meet with you again."

"Yes, I do know the answers you're looking for."

"Than can you--"

"But I won't be giving this to you for free. You still have your debt to me," he visually became angry, and even gripped his hands to keep them from shaking.

"I got you the mask."

"I need all of them, you must understand the terror a mask can hold by now."

"The only masks I have left are from innocent people! They aren't evil or magic."

"Do you trully believe that Link? Believe in yourself, your instinct. What's your instinct telling you?" The salesman's anger dispersed.

Link fumbled on the words, his calm face beginning to decay. This man had a strange aura to him, one that corrupted and clouded Link's train of thought. "There is no reason that these masks would have any evil."

Tatl, who had hidden inside Link's hat the moment she felt the Mask Salesman's presence, took a mental note of each and every word being spoken. Link hadn't told her about the masks, but she was smart enough to figure it out. If she spoke now she would get in the way, and the situation called for her to stay hidden. She was Link's support.

The salesman let out a laugh, one that echoed throughout the entire structure. "Believe in your instincts."

"Shut up," Link took a deep breath that rolled down throughout his entire body, from his shoulders to the ground as if it was an attempt to let go of a burden. "You don't know everything. I've been around long enough to tell, no one here is wishing harm upon Termina. Only the evil mask. But that's not a problem."

"You've been around, and yet you appear a child. Can you trust the words of a child?"

"You're the one telling me to trust myself!"

"No," the salesman anger took over yet again. "Believe in your strengths! Your instinct! Has it failed you, boy?" The man grabbed Link's collar and began so shake his tiny frame.

At this, Link pushed himself away with all the force his muscles could muster. "Stop it! Just tell me what I need to do to go home."

"The day is resetting soon," The salesman's neck turned upward. "Hurry."

"Hurry?"

"You already know! Break it!"

Link rubbed his thumb over the glossy ocarina surface in his pocket, he knew. "Not yet."

"Break it!"

"No," he was stalling, breaking the ocarina was too much for him."I need you to help me."

"Help you? Break it! Hurry! Theres only a few minutes." The happy mask salesman was in a state of anxiety and depression, his face shadowing the concern.

"Will it break the loop?"

"Yes! Now hurry!"

Link bit his lip and pulled his ocarina out of his pocket. This was a gift from Zelda with the wishes of safety and protection. Did he even have the willpower to break it? The Goddess of Time will protect you... Was what Zelda had said so many years ago. Perhaps he had angered her by letting Skull Kid damage her gift, the goddess must be retaliating.

Before Link could come to terms with himself and the act of destroying his only possession that linked him to Zelda, the salesman had lost his patience as the clock ticked.

It was slapped out of his hands with such a force that it shattered when it impacted the ground, shards of a deep blue scattering to the edges of the Clock Tower.