Just a Kid

By Dannondorf

"Blah" is talking. 'Blah' is thinking. The symbol 1111111111111111 means a transition in the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Zelda. This story is strictly for entertainment purposes and not for profit.

Author's Notes: The idea behind this oneshot stems from my anger that after everything Link did in Ocarina of Time, he only had three heart containers at the start of Majora's Mask. The story focuses on how he might feel about not having his adult body to fight with any more. It takes place in Woodfall Temple, if only because I find Odolwa terrifying. I'm pretty much ignoring Tatl in this fic because including her would have made it more difficult to write. :p Enjoy, and please leave a review if you have the time.

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Chapter 1: "Inadequacy"

Genre: Angst

It had been twelve days. Well, technically, it had been the same three days played four times, but to Link, it had been twelve of the most taxing days of his life. He had pushed himself to his limits and beyond, virtually never resting and always running and fighting.

He was dead tired in an almost literal sense. His body was beaten, cut up, and exhausted, but he took solace in the thought that one leg of his adventure was almost over.

This was it. Link knew from experience that this would be the last room in the temple, the last fight he would have to endure in this place. Before him stood a stone door that could rival the Door of Time in size, and chained across it was a massive lock that probably weighed more than Link himself.

He slowly walked to it, still catching his breath from the efforts spent to get to where he was, and without warning a surge of pain from a minor leg injury flared up, causing him to stop moving and inhale sharply.

He thought of using a new expletive he had learned in Clock Town, but chose instead to grit his teeth and hold it in. Standing still and waiting for the hurting in his left leg to diminish, he stared at the lock, which was now less than five feet away.

The sting faded, but Link didn't resume walking immediately, instead opting to fidget with a large key in his small nine-year-old hands. The key belonged to the lock before him. He had known from the moment he found the key. Heck, he had already known exactly what the key and lock would look like even before entering this Woodfall Temple. His adventures had taught him that though every temple was different, they all shared some common features.

Yet despite these familiarities and the knowledge that he had successfully trekked through many temples before, he could not help feeling just as scared as he had been inside the Deku Tree at the start of his last journey, for although he had practically made a career out of dungeon exploration, there was a certain newness to this one, and not just because he was now in Termina instead of Hyrule: this was the first temple he had been to since defeating Ganondorf and returning to his original time as a child.

Link felt frighteningly awkward and weak braving dangers in his prepubescent body after spending so much time doing so as an adult. Sure, he had gone through similar trials as a little boy in Hyrule, but it had been a while. Having the strength of his sixteen-year-old body stripped away was disorienting and discouraging.

'My leg wouldn't still be hurting if I had taken that blow in my grown-up body. I bet I would have already rescued the Deku princess by now if I were still the Hero of Time.'

It became more and more obvious to him that he was afraid. As battered as he was, he was in no condition to take down any more monsters, and he felt overwhelmingly inadequate in his tiny body without the Master Sword, without his old power, and without Navi.

Link was not as brave as some made him out to be. He was the embodiment of courage, and he would never let fear prevent him from helping someone or fighting for what he thought was right, but even so, there were things that made him uneasy. There were thoughts that gave him nightmares. There were horrors that could nearly immobilize him in terror, and though he'd never show it, the fights he had come to refer to as "boss battles" were among them. That he was not as strong as he used to be did nothing to help this.

A sudden thought struck him: should he retreat? He had no potions or fairies left. Perhaps it would be wise to play the Song of Time, heal for a while, and try going through Woodfall Temple a second time.

'No…I doubt a second run would be any more successful than this one. I've actually been pretty lucky in some of the fights here. Finishing up right now might be the best chance I have.'

It was a serious gamble, but Link had become so accustomed to gambling with his life that worrying about his well-being felt almost silly. He decided. He would go through the door and face whatever evil lay behind it.

The key turned, and the lock fell to the ground. In response, the door opened, giving way to a large circular arena, and he ran inside before he could second-guess himself.

He was remarkably unfazed when the door closed quickly behind him, preventing escape, for it was a trait as common among the dungeons he had visited as locks and keys. He had no time to turn around in shock at the sealed exit; he had to scan the room and find his enemy quickly in case it was going for a surprise attack.

Though he could see well enough, the chamber was dimly lit, so individual colors stood out less. Thus it took him a few moments to spot his new foe. When he did, he saw that it was already aware of his presence and ready to fight, and he was irked to see that his suspicions had been correct: like every other "boss" he had encountered, this creature was many times bigger than Link. The sheer size of these enemies was one reason why he had come to dread them.

The being's size was the first attribute Link was able to register in the dim light. Shape came next, and this is when he visibly paled. His foe had a humanoid shape and was holding a—

'Oh my goddesses…it's a swordfighter!'

Link's eyes widened and his legs started trembling ever so slightly. Alarms went off inside his head, and a horrible sense of foreboding developed in the pit of his stomach. He had beaten huge opponents before because their immense strength was lessened by poor skill and strategy, but the fact that this new adversary wielded a sword and shield meant that it might be different from the others in that aspect.

He tried to calm himself with positive thoughts. Ganon had used two swords, but Link had beaten him. Not everyone with a weapon knew how to use it effectively.

But then the "boss" tensed and assumed what Link knew to be an advanced fighting stance. He became more nervous, but realizing that the opposing warrior was about to attack, he shoved his doubt aside. He steeled himself and summoned every bit of his strength and determination, as he had done before every big fight. Seeing this sign of aggression from Link, the tall humanoid bellowed out an incredible war cry. A soft voice whispered into Link's ear. "Masked Jungle Warrior, Odolwa."

Half-dead from injury and exhaustion, senses dulled from sleep-depravation, he rushed into battle just as the behemoth (Odolwa, he surmised) left its standing position. They ran straight at each other, and in the time it took for Link to run five steps, Odolwa crossed the entire arena. It swung its monstrous blade in a fierce low horizontal arc. Link, reaction time made worse from fatigue and not expecting such a quick attack, was hit and sent flying.

The length of Odolwa's sword was three times the height of the small Hylian. The weapon should have cut the boy in two, but the Triforce of Courage protected him, lessening the force of the blow and reducing the injury to a deep gash in his right arm. Unfortunately, the Triforce prevented only injury, not pain, and the boy was barely able to command his body to get back up before the masked swordsman was again upon him.

The skirmish continued, and it didn't take him long to realize that his foe knew what it was doing. Its ability to predict his moves convinced him that its skill was on par with his own, and coupled with the ridiculous difference in power between the two, that didn't bode well for Link. He landed a few attacks, but it became increasingly evident as time went on that he was outmatched.

Still, he refused to give up. 'I can do this!' He told himself adamantly. 'I can beat him, adult body or not!' He went on the offensive, using all the strength the muscles on his young body were capable of giving. Attacking fiercely as he could, he managed to cut Odolwa twice more before he was once again sent flying. The giant threw him aside as easily as one might throw a kid's toy.

Link got back up, albeit more slowly than the first few times, and again went on the offensive. He was covered in blood from several serious cuts on top of large bruises, and his grip on the Kokiri Sword was loosening, but still he fought on. He refused to acknowledge that he was losing, that though his condition was rapidly getting worse, Odolwa was still relatively fine. He refused to acknowledge that as a child, his sword attacks had too little power behind them to do any significant damage to the one he was trying to kill.

His body was at its limit. He was calling upon his very last energy reserves, but it wasn't enough. Odolwa swung its sword in another mighty arc and nailed the already-injured part of Link's left leg.

This time when he hit the ground, he screamed. He wanted to let out a string of curses at his assailant, but the pain was so great that the best he could manage was a wordless yell.

Odolwa paused to savor its victim's pain long enough for Link to realize he couldn't get back up. His leg was hurt too badly. Additionally, his will to fight was dying. He wasn't strong enough. This "boss" was simply too much for him. Perhaps if he was still the older Hero of Time, things would have been different, but the reality of the situation was that puny little kid Link was no match for this enormous fighter.

Odolwa was approaching him now. It was walking leisurely, apparently still enjoying the Hylian's suffering, though said Hylian was no longer screaming. Before long, it was standing over him, ready to bring its sword down one last time.

With great effort, Link was able to move his arm enough to pull a blue potato-shaped object from his tunic pocket. The beast paused, waiting in amusement to see what his challenger would do next. He placed the item to his mouth and a melody sounded from it. Confused, Odolwa briefly shelved its goal of ending the Hylian's life to try and make sense of what was happening.

The song ended before Odolwa reached a decision. It hadn't lasted very long, but Link was amazed that he'd managed to play the whole thing without being stopped. The scene before him disappeared to be replaced by a white void. He felt a falling sensation, and his surroundings gradually changed until he was in front of the clock tower in South Clock Town at the dawn of the first day.

For a few seconds, he did nothing. Though he knew right away he was no longer in danger, it took some time for the trepidation to wear off and for him to calm down. He released a breath he had been holding; the threat of immediate death was gone. He was lucky Odolwa hadn't finished him off before he could play the Song of Time.

'Luck…it's always luck. Some hero you are. The moment things got tough, you just gave up. As soon as you were losing the game, you shouted 'do-overs!' and started over. You're so weak. You're nothing without luck.'

Lying on his back, he tried to move and discovered to his horror that he couldn't. Days of constant abuse on his body, both by him and the creatures he had fought, had reduced him to a bleeding, lifeless pile of flesh. His clothes were ripped beyond repair and caked with dirt and blood. Internal and external wounds were visible on every part of his skin that wasn't covered by his shredded tunic.

Unable to budge from his current position, he tried calling for help, but somehow the words never made it out of his throat. Nonetheless, the sound of something being dropped abruptly reached his ears, and he heard quick footsteps coming his way. The noise stopped just as one of the town's carpenters entered his field of vision. The man whispered a shocked curse before shouting for his fellow workers.

Soon Link was surrounded by people. "Kid, are you all right? What happened?" He looked the speaker in the eyes, but couldn't say anything back. The adults whispered amongst each other, some cursing in shock as the first man had done, some voicing their astonishment at the extent of his injuries, and some trying to figure out what to do.

"Poor boy…"

"Does anyone know what happened?"

"Should we try moving him?"

"Let's get him to the inn."

A pair of arms scooped him up and carried him off. He felt himself being cradled against someone's chest, and he did not bother to see who it was before curling up into him. Ashamed, defeated, and afraid, he shut his eyes tightly. He suddenly felt a powerful urge to cry, and he didn't resist. He was just a little boy. It was okay for him to cry.

'Some hero.'