Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Back In Her Hands ❯ Unmasking ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Back In Her Hands
a Legend of Zelda romance fic
Chapter 11: Unmasking
3-20-2005
by Grey

Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series or any of its characters; Nintendo and the series' creator Shigeru Miyamoto do. So don't sue me or anything.

This fic is dedicated to CubedCinder128, for what I hope are obvious reasons.

******

Link pulled out his boomerang and deftly threw it at the advancing Blue Tektite, which was now only ten feet away. His aim was, as usual, perfect, and the boomerang's impact stunned the creature. This gave him the opportunity he needed. He caught the returning boomerang, unsheathed his Great Fairy Sword and jumped toward the dazed Tektite, bringing the blade down onto it and slicing it in half.

But the monsters populating the beach didn't give Link so much as a second to catch his breath. A Leever suddenly surfaced about five feet in front of him, kicking up a huge plume of sand. And Link heard two more emerge behind him.

He decided to deal with the one in front of him first, closing in on the Leever just as it began its spinning motion and moved toward him. With three broad swipes, Link effortlessly felled the monster, then he left his sword out and let it collect power. Once he heard the two Leevers behind him get close enough, he unleashed his fabled spin attack, killing them instantly.

However, no more Leevers emerged from the sands after that, and no more Tektites were approaching either. It was as if the rest of the creatures were unwilling to fight the Hylian intruding on their shores, or perhaps he had killed all the ones in the immediate area. Whatever the case, Link was disappointed; after being so inactive for the last few days, he felt he needed a lot more exercise. As it was, he had gotten only three minutes of serious combat time.

Letting out a sigh of annoyance, he turned toward the ocean. He could see Zelda's head sticking out of the water, about two or three hundred feet from the shoreline.

It had been a week since Zelda and Link had left Hyrule. For most of that time, the two had remained in the cave, simply relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Occasionally, Zelda had gone out for walks along the expansive shoreline, with Link tagging along, sitting on her shoulder. But this morning, Zelda had felt the need to wash up in the ocean. So as she did so, Link had been practicing, fighting the beasts on the beach.

The last few days certainly had been strange for Link.... he still hadn't quite gotten used to how huge Zelda was now. Sure, he had seen all sorts of other incredibly huge beings in his lifetime, but those were all hideous monsters. But here was an actual human being that had attained monstrous proportions.

And with the way she held him in her hands and smiled down at him, how she lifted him up to her face and gave him gentle little nuzzles and kisses.... Link felt less like her boyfriend and more like a pet mouse when he was around her. Yet, for some unexplainable reason, he still found he liked the feeling of being totally in her power, of being her prized possession....

Link saw Zelda's shoulders rise above the water, and realized that she was walking toward the shore. Soon, Zelda was standing on the beach again, the ground all around her being splattered by the water dripping from her soaked dress. For a moment, Link was again overcome with awe as he stared up at her enormous body, her shadow looming over him.

"Link, back away. I need to dry off," Zelda told him, motioning for him to get clear of her. Knowing what was coming, Link did so immediately. Once Zelda saw that he had reached a safe distance, she concentrated and used Din's Fire. With its heat enveloping Zelda, her dress and her skin were dry within seconds.

Zelda took a couple small steps toward where Link was now standing, and slowly squatted down to look at him. "Hey. Have a good workout?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I suppose," answered Link. "Zelda, was it necessary to do that? You finally got over that cold, and...."

"I used Din's Fire to warm the water around me," said Zelda, cutting Link off. "Besides, I hadn't bathed in over a week. I know you didn't want to say anything, but I bet I was stinking up the cave." Link didn't say anything in response. It was true that Zelda's sweaty smell was beginning to get a little overpowering, but there was no way he could have brought himself to say anything about it....

"Of course, now I just smell like brine again," Zelda said jokingly. She then brought her hand closer to Link, as if to pick him up. "It's a beautiful morning. Care to take a walk with me?" she asked hopefully. Link simply nodded. Smiling, Zelda carefully plucked Link up off the ground and stood up. Then, just as carefully, she set him down on her left shoulder. "All set?" she asked him, her voice booming in Link's ears.

Link cautiously walked over to her neck and sat down, leaning against it and grabbing hold of the cloth of her collar. All around him, strands of her blond hair dangled like thick vines. "Now I am," he called out to her.

And so, Zelda began her walk along the beach, careful to go slowly so as not to throw off her passenger. "It's quite a view from up here, isn't it?" he heard Zelda ask him. Link had to agree that the view of the beach from Zelda's shoulder was a very breathtaking one. From atop her shoulder, he could see that the shoreline extended for miles and miles.

Link then leaned over slightly to look at the ground below. Of course, his view of the world below was partly obscured by Zelda's breasts and the skirt part of her dress. Still, it once again gave him a sense of what the world was now like from Zelda's vantage point. *Unbelievable, everything looks so small from up here, the ocean waves, that school of killer whales, those two Tektites....*

CRUNCH!!!

*....that Zelda just accidently stepped on,* Link finished the thought. He was able to clearly see how Zelda's foot had come down onto a pair of Tektites and squashed them flat. Link shuddered at the reminder of how Zelda could accidently kill anyone with one false step.

"Hey Link, isn't this the mountain you said you climbed over?" spoke up Zelda, jarring Link out of his thoughts. Zelda then turned to face the mountain range, and sure enough, the rocky wall in front of her had a slopy, worn path that allowed easy passage to the other side.

"Uh, yeah, that's it," replied Link. As soon as he had uttered those words, Zelda moved forward and began to climb over the mountainous wall. "Huh, Zelda?! What are you doing?!" he exclaimed as he tightened his grip on Zelda's collar.

"I want to see this forest where you ran into the Skull Kid," Zelda explained to him as she reached the top of the mountainous wall and carefully began climbing down the other side. Soon enough, Zelda was standing in an expansive forest on the other side of the rocky wall, one that Link remembered very well.

"Give me a bit of a warning next time!" Link barked irritably. Looking around, he saw that the trees didn't reach any higher than Zelda's waist. *Wow, I thought those trees looked pretty tall when I came here as a kid. But from up here, they look like flimsy little sticks!*

Zelda began traipsing through the forest, rustling the leafy treetops as she passed by. Oftentimes, she forced flocks of birds that were perched in the treetops to fly off, usually cawing back angrily at the princess. But Zelda ignored them, focusing instead on the beauty of the forest itself. "It's beautiful," Zelda commented. "Not as densely forested as the Kokiri's, but a lot more expansive, and... OWW!!"

A sharp, stinging pain in her ankle alerted Zelda to something going on down below. Looking down, she saw that a Peahat had surfaced nearby and was sending out little drones at her; one had sliced into her ankle. "Ack! Get away!" snapped Zelda as she kicked the Peahat away. This sent it soaring high into the air, and it landed hundreds of feet away.

"You're handy to have around," Link spoke up. "Those things gave me no end of trouble back in Hyrule." Zelda just sighed and walked onward.

Soon, Zelda came upon a more open area. Glancing downward, she saw what looked like small entrance into the remains of a tree. She got down on her hands and knees, and peered into the hollowed-out log that led into the inside of the dead tree, but it was too dark inside to make anything out. "Link, is this it? Is this the gateway you told me about?"

Link hopped down from Zelda's shoulder and walked up to the tree's opening, looking into its inky-black depths. Coming here again was bringing back vivid memories of what had happened seven years ago. Chasing the Skull Kid into this passageway to get back the Ocarina of Time and Epona, getting transformed into a Deku Scrub, befriending Tatl.... it marked the beginning of the most dangerous adventure of his life.

"Uh-huh," answered Link. "This leads to Termina."

"Wow, I'd really like to see it, but I think the passageway's a wee bit too small for me to fit through," said Zelda with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Can't you just teleport there?" asked Link.

"Uhh, I can't really teleport somewhere if I don't know the lay of the land," explained Zelda. "If I make a mistake, I could materialize inside a mountain or in the ground, and.... And besides, teleporting into an ALTERNATE DIMENSION...."

"Oh," was all Link said in response. He turned from Zelda and looked back at the passageway.

"Link, what's wrong?" asked Zelda, getting the feeling that something was on Link's mind.

"Oh, oh it's nothing really," Link said as he turned back to face Zelda. "I-It's just that this is where I got all those masks, including the one that did this to you."

Zelda just stared down at Link for a moment, trying to think of something reassuring to say. "Link, you're not to blame for that and you know it," Zelda said empathetically. "You had no idea something like this would happen. It's not like you're an expert on magical masks or anything."

"Yeah, I'm not...." Link started to say, then he fell silent, his eyes suddenly widening. Zelda couldn't quite make out the expression on his face, but it sort of looked like.... realization. Link then walked over to the tree and, to Zelda's utter surprise, he started hitting his head repeatedly against it, and sounded as if he was uttering curses at the same time.

"Link?! Link, stop it!!" Zelda cried out. She reached out and picked Link up off the ground, then brought him up to her face. "What's wrong, Link?! What are you...."

"I'm an idiot, Zelda. I am a complete, total idiot," Link said as he wriggled in Zelda's uncomfortably tight grip, his voice full of self-loathing. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before.... there IS someone who's an expert on masks, someone who could have helped us as soon as the accident happened."

"There.... is?" asked Zelda in a confused voice.

"I have to go back," said Link. "I have to go back to Hyrule."

******

All was quiet outside the Temple of Time when Link walked out in his Zora form. *It's best that I disguise myself for the time being,* he thought as he made his way into the market town.

As soon as he stepped out into the central area of the town, Link couldn't help but notice all of the activity. Everywhere he looked, people were hard at work repairing all the damage from the deadly fight between Zelda and the Wizzrobe over a week ago. Even Mutoh's crack carpenter team was there lending a hand.

*At least I can tell Zelda that Hyrule's still well on its way to being totally rebuilt,* he thought to himself. Sighing, he walked over to his destination: the rebuilt Happy Mask Shop. *It's a good thing he's settled back here. If he was still a travelling salesman, I would've had no hope of finding him.*

"Ahh, good morning, sir!" Link heard the mask salesman say in his sly, oily voice as he walked inside the store. Link looked over to the store counter. There he was, just as he had remembered him, and still flashing that freaky smile. He had always found the mask salesman disturbing for some reason, and he hadn't relished the idea of seeing him again. But he probably had information about how to lift the power of the Giant's Mask from Zelda, so....

*Ugh, I'll make this quick,* Link thought. Out loud, he said, "OK, listen, I need your help again."

"'Again?'" echoed the salesman. "I don't understand. Who..."

Link then took off the Zora's Mask, reverting back to his human self. For a few seconds, the mask salesman just stared at Link. "Who, what are.... oh yes, now I remember!" said the salesman, finally realizing who he was. "You must be that boy who got back Majora's Mask for me. My, you're grown up now."

"Yeah yeah. Look, you always seemed to know all there was to know about the masks I found," said Link, wanting to get to the point. "What do you know about the Giant's Mask?"

"The.... Giant's Mask?" repeated the salesman, sounding surprised. "You mean, you found one of them?"

"ONE of them?!" Link cried out. "Y-You mean there's more than one of those?"

"If I correctly interpreted the text from an ancient book I found in Termina, then yes," replied the salesman. "You fully recall how the land of Termina is watched over by four giant beings, right?"

Link simply nodded, and the salesman continued. "The language in that book was difficult to translate, but.... I believe it mentions how each of the Four Giants created a mask that would imbue the wearer their great size, though I think it said they would only work under certain conditions." Hearing the salesman's tale made Link recall how the mask had only worked during his battle with Twinmold. It also made him realize he should have figured out there was some sort of connection between the mask and the Four Giants on his own.

"I don't think the book ever stated their purpose for creating such masks. If it did, I couldn't translate the pages that did," the mask salesman continued. "May I ask why you're interested in these masks?"

"Uhh, surely you've heard about what happened to Princess Zelda," said Link, not believing that the salesman hadn't pieced it together on his own.

"Oh! So you mean to tell me her growth was caused by one of those masks?" asked the salesman, now sounding even more surprised. "But this makes no sense. I had heard that her condition was irreversible. Surely, she could simply take off...."

"The mask was melted and its magic leaked out into her," explained Link, cutting him off. "And now, we can't find a way to lift its effects. I even tried your Song of Healing, but it didn't work."

"Oh, it didn't? Well, then this explains that other part I managed to translate...."

"What are you talking about?" asked Link.

"The book I found also said something about how all four masks are interconnected in some strange way," said the salesman. "I believe it mentioned how if something goes wrong with one mask, such as what has happened to the princess, then the problem cannot be remedied unless all four of the masks are brought together. Perhaps, if you were to obtain the other three masks, along with the damaged one, I could then find a way to lift the power from the princess and restore her to normal."

This what what Link had been longing to hear for over a week - a definite way to return Zelda to normal. But his instincts told him that it wasn't going to be easy. "Where are the other three masks?" Link asked uneasily.

"They are hidden in Termina. I believe the book said something about how the Four Giants built hidden sanctuaries to house their creations, similar to those temples you had to infiltrate," he replied.

"Was the Stone Tower Temple one of them?" asked Link.

"Uhhh, no it wasn't," answered the salesman.

"But that's where I found that first mask!" exclaimed Link. "What was it doing there then?!"

The salesman merely shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows?" was all he said.

"Alright, then where are these sanctuaries?" asked Link impatiently, eager to get underway.

"Oh, I still have that book and in it, it pinpoints exactly where in Termina they can be found," he replied. "But.... I'm curious, what can I expect in return for my services?"

Link eyed the salesman angrily. "We're talking about the crown princess of Hyrule. I'm sure she'll reward you for helping make her normal again," he hissed vehemently.

"Oh oh, I'm sure she would," said the salesman in that slick voice of his, a hint of smugness behind his words - smugness that comes from the knowledge that one has something that someone else desperately needs. "But, I would like a guarantee as to how much rupees...."

*Ugh, I should've expected he'd be such a money-grubbing slime,* Link thought furiously. *But he's the only one who knows how to revert the mask's effects! If only Zelda could be here to discuss a price, and.... wait a minute....* Link's lips curled into a wicked grin as an idea came to him. "OK, how about I go bring back the princess, and you can explain to her that you want compensation?" he asked the salesman, this time with a hint of smugness in his own voice.

"The... the princess?" he asked nervously, his eyes widening.

"Oh yes, I can bring her back here, all 100 plus feet and 500 tons of her," Link said to him threateningly. "But then again, she's kinda in a bad mood this morning...."

Link's words seemd to have their intended effect. "Well, uh, I s-suppose that we can discuss the m-matter of payment l-l-later," the salesman stammered. He then briskly sat up and dashed over to the bookshelf directly behind the counter, his body language still betraying a sense of nervousness. Link couldn't help but to smile to himself again.

Soon, the mask salesman found he book he needed and brought it back over to the counter, along with a large rolled-up piece of paper and a bottle of ink. "Here's a map of Termina, and I can mark on it where the book's map says the sanctuaries can be found," he explained quickly as he opened his book to the desired page and unrolled the paper. He hastily took his quill to the map and marked down the locations of the sanctuaries. "There, it's done."

Link snatched up the map and turned to leave. "Be ready for when Zelda and I come back," he called out as he walked toward the door.

"I expect a generous reward for this!" the salesman cried out. It was obvious he was trying to sound resolute, but Link could still catch the twinge of uneasiness in his voice.

"You can take it up with the princess when we return with all the masks," Link shot back. The salesman's face immediately fell. Even his trademark freakish grin vanished. Smiling to himself again, Link slapped the Zora's Mask back on and left the shop.

******

Zelda sat outside the passage that led to Termina, impatiently awaiting Link's return. *Could this mask salesman really have the answers we need?* she thought to herself. *Expertise when it comes to special masks... who knew that was a stock in trade?*

She gazed listlessly into the cloudless, afternoon sky. It had been almost an hour since Link had used the Ocarina of Time to warp back to Hyrule. *Oh, how I wish I could go back too. I feel so bad about abandoning Hyrule like that. But, I'm liable to spook everyone again, or cause more damage. No, that'll have to wait until I get back to normal.*

Back to normal.... Zelda could hardly believe it - there was finally a possibility of getting back to her normal size! It couldn't happen soon enough. Her little 'vacation' from Hyrule had been enjoyable, sure, but she longed more than ever to be returned to normal size, getting back to being the crown princess of Hyrule, and most of all, having a normal life together with Link.

Yet, at the same time, Zelda found she was almost getting used to life as a giantess. Furthermore, she found that she was beginning to like how much power she had over Link. That feeling of power she got when she held Link in her hands, that look on his face whenever it sunk in that he was completely at her mercy, it was all so.... intoxicating.

*Oh, what am I thinking?!!* Zelda thought, mentally chastising herself for having such thoughts. *In a relationship, you're not supposed to lord over your lover! That's not how it works!!* Still, despite herself, she found herself once again thinking of how fun it was to hold Link in her hands and shower him with affection. Not to mention, she had a feeling he was beginning to like it as well....

"Zelda!!! ZELDA!!!!"

Link's tiny voice calling out from down below managed to snap Zelda out of her troubled thoughts. Looking down at the entrance to Termina, she saw Link standing there, his neck craned up to look at her. "Link, you're back. Did you...."

"Yeah, I know what we have to do!!!" Link yelled up at Zelda. "Pick me up, and I'll explain everything." So once again, Zelda carefully picked Link up and set him on her shoulder, and then tilted her head slightly so that he could talk into her ear. Leaning into Zelda's ear, Link began to tell her everything the mask salesman had revealed to him: the origins of the masks, how they all shared a strange bond, and how he had to find the rest.

After Link had finished, Zelda remained silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. But after a while, she managed to break the silence, asking, "So, you're saying all you have to do is get the other three Giant's Masks, bring them back to Hyrule along with the damaged one, and he'll reverse its magic?" she asked him, her voice filled with a sense of uncertainty.

Link fought to maintain his balance on Zelda's shoulder as she spoke; it was hard enough to stand up on her shoulder and she wasn't doing a good job of being perfectly still for him. "Yeah, that's about it," he answered her.

For a moment, there was silence again. But when she spoke again, her voice was filled with regret. "Oh Link, this sucks. You're going to have to go and fight through trap-infested dungeons again, all because of me...."

"Zelda, if it means getting you back to normal, I don't care," Link replied compassionately. "I'll do anything for you Zelda. Anything."

Zelda felt a surge of gratefulness toward her beloved Link upon hearing those words, and fought back tears of joy. "Th-Thank you Link. What w-would I do without you?"

"Not have anyone to snuggle with," Link joked, once again hinting at how he liked the way Zelda toyed with him. "But we'd better get started. Let's go."

"Go? T-To Termina, you mean?" Zelda asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I need you with me," replied Link. "I took a look at his map on the way back here. One of the sanctuaries is hidden really deep in Termina's eastern mountains, and I don't think I could reach it without you taking me there."

"B-But Link, I can't go there, I-I told you...."

"Not to worry. I think I know a way around that," said Link as he took out the Ocarina of Time. Playing the Song of Soaring, he concentrated on not only which owl statue in Termina he desired to be transported to, but on the fact that he wanted Zelda transported with him....

The end result: instead a pair of white wings appearing out of nowhere and wrapping around Link, a GIGANTIC pair of white wings wrapped around Zelda, with him still on her shoulder.

"LINK?! Wh-what's going...." Zelda's voice was cut off as the feathery coccoon formed by the wings began spinning, and then it vanished altogether.

******

When Link materialized again, he was greeted not with the sensation of standing on solid ground, but of suddenly finding himself in midair. "What the... AAHHHH!!!" he screamed as he began to fall.

Fortunately, he had only materialized a few feet off the ground, and landed hard on his butt. "Ooh, that smarts," he moaned as he stood up and looked around. He had arrived at his desired destination in Termina: Ikana Canyon. It was as dismal and foreboding as ever, and the thick, grey rain clouds that loomed overhead served to punctuate this sense of gloom.

But there was no sign of Princess Zelda. Needless to say, Link was getting worried that his scheme hadn't worked and he had failed to transport the princess to Termina with him. "Zelda! Zelda, where are you?!!!" he called out in desperation. "Zelda, please, answer...."

All of a sudden, strange creatures wearing brown, leather hoods jumped up out of the rocky ground. Link recognized them instantly: the Garo, vanguard of the Ikana royal family. At least half a dozen had surfaced and formed a circle arounf Link, looking as if they were going to pounce on him. "Halt, intruder! You have entered the domain of Ikana! Go back whence you came!" one of them called out threateningly, one of its blades pointed menacingly at Link.

*Ugh, I don't have time for this!!* Link thought furiously as he took out his sword and shield, prepared to fight the lot of them.

But before either Link or any of the Garo could make a move, a loud, feminine voice cut through the canyon. "Link, there you are!" Link and the Garo turned in the direction of the voice; looking over the precipice was Zelda. She was standing at the bottom part of the canyon where the river was, and was looking over the cliff at the top part, where Link and the Garo were standing.

For a few seconds, no one moved or made a sound. Then, all of a sudden, all the Garo let out ear-splitting screams of terror, and they vanished just as quickly and as suddenly as they had appeared.

Silence still lingered a moment after that. The sound that next broke the silence was Link's laughter. "Oh, that was priceless," Link chuckled. "Even the undead are scared of...."

He stopped laughing when he looked up and saw the flat, expressionless look on Zelda's face. He had totally forgotten how sensitive Zelda was about how she instilled fear in everyone. "Uh, sorry Zelda, I forgot...." he began to say.

"Don't worry, Link," Zelda said flatly as she looked all around the canyon. "So, this is Termina," she muttered.

"It's not the most scenic part, that's for sure," said Link. "I can show you the rest, once we're done."

"I'd like that, Link. But for now, let's get to that first sanctuary," said Zelda, sounding eager to get started.

And so, Zelda began to climb over the mountain range around Ikana Canyon, with Link once again tagging along on her shoulder, hanging on for dear life. Link was amazed at how easily she could scale the mountains and climb over them; to him or anyone else, they would have been virtually impassable.

For a while, neither one of them said anything, but at one point Zelda spoke up. "Hey, isn't that the Stone Temple Tower over there?" asked Zelda, pointing at something far away.

Sure enough, Link could make out the faint outline of the final temple in Termina he infiltrated seven years ago. "Yeah, that's where I got the mask in the first place," Link answered glumly.

After another minute, Link spoke up. "OK, according to his map, we should be nearing the first dungeon," he said, holding the map in one hand and clutching Zelda's collar with the other.

"Actually, I think we may have found it," he heard her say. Looking down from atop her shoulder, he saw that down in the mounatin range below, it looked as if some great force had scooped out a section of the range, leaving a flat, circular area at the bottom. It looked about 100 feet in diameter and about 200 feet deep. "Hang on," Zelda order as she lowered herself into the massive pit.

"Set me down, I need to find the entrance," Link asked her.

"This must be it right here," said Zelda as she kneeled down and pointed to a boulder the size of her fist, which was leaning against the rocky wall of the pit. Indeed, it looked very much out of place.

Zelda carefully lifted Link off her shoulder and gently set him down on the ground, right in front of the massive rock. Link could now see that it was clearly blocking the entrance to some sort of underground cavern. "Thanks Zelda, this must be it. But how to move this? I don't have the Gauntlets...."

His voice trailed off as he saw Zelda's massive hand reach in front of him to grab the rock. She then lifted it up effortlessly, as if it weighed nothing to her. *Duh,* he thought to himself. He then turned around and looked up at Zelda, saying, "OK Zelda, I'm going in."

"Just be careful Link," said Zelda, and blew him a kiss. Link flashed a smile, and then turned to enter the Giants' first sanctuary.

******

Finally, I'm getting to the final stretch of the story. I'm really enjoying writing this, especially since I set the record for the longest video game story with this.... subject matter. But it's high time I wind it down.

Oh, and I have to take back what I said last time about Minish Cap. It started out great, but it's one of those games that deteriorates as you get further. I swear, they don't make Zelda bosses and dungeons like they used to....

So long,
Grey