-48 Hours Remain- 

Donna had a twisted feeling in her stomach - she had an obligation to figure out what was going on, but she didn't know if she could follow through with it after being forced through so much. She didn't want to play it, or work on figuring it out, but she felt like she needed to.

She started setting up her Nintendo 64 once again, letting a sigh escape from her lips as she thought about what she was getting herself into. If it was going to end up being anything like the experience she'd been forced to go through the day before, then she'd end up running away from it within a few minutes.

Donna just wanted some sort of answer, not to end up being wrapped inside of the game with all of its glitches and strange attempts to communicate with her. She was learning to loathe Majora's Mask with all of the crap she'd gotten from it.

And to think, it would've been one of the best games she had ever owned if it hadn't been that particular copy. If she'd gotten a copy and been willing to spend some money on it, she wouldn't have been living on a few hours sleep and being forced to go about her day.

Then of course, there was also the entire conversation she'd been through with Ben the night before. With so little sleep giving her energy, she couldn't help but feel that maybe her mental state wasn't exactly in the right place. She still felt angry as well as frightened over what Ben told her and tried to make her do the night before. He seemed so determined to go through and find out what made her tick, and that only frightened her further.

Trying to avoid chickening out before she'd even begun with her game, she shoved her cartridge into the Nintendo 64 and switched everything on. Grabbing the controller, she backed herself into her chair and braced herself for the very worst.

Everything began seemingly normal, but that didn't last for much longer. The normal sound effect at the opening of the game had been made higher, causing Donna to jump when she heard it. She cursed slightly and then shook her head. Of course - a jump scare. The cheapest way of ever making someone freak out, she decided. But it's not like she would've expected anything more.

She loaded up the rest of the game, letting out an extended sigh for the entirety of the time it took for the beginning screen to end up showing. She already felt like Majora's Mask was working against her, as stupid as that felt. But after a few moments, she finally managed to get to the save screen at the beginning. There were two save files waiting there, and neither of them belonged to her.

At this point, she didn't know what to do other than stare the screen. She gently set her controller down on the ground for a second, silently hoping that she was asleep somehow and this was just a nightmare she would wake up from in a few moments. She stared at the two files and felt tears hopping to her eyes.

One said "YOUR TURN."

The other said "BEN."

She started thinking about all of the potential ways this could be interpreted, but all of them made her eyes water up. Your turn. Her turn, perhaps. Whatever it was, there was certainly a massive piece of it that was entirely missing in her mind, and nothing seemed to make it up.

She didn't know what to expect from it all, but she wanted to find out what it was all about. She rolled over the BEN file and looked over it, seeing that it was almost identical to the one she'd deleted already. Now it seemed that "he" had completed the Stone Tower Temple and was almost through the game.

While she could potentially say something about the game glitching, it didn't feel that way to her. This was too complicated for it to be a glitch. Besides, she'd never heard of anything that could end up creating something so specific as "your turn."

She started to summon up all of her courage and mesh it together with her curiosity in an attempt to get herself through with the hardest part of anything - beginning it. The BEN file seemed slightly more likely to provide her answers, but it still didn't make her feel better. She finally pressed the start button and let the game begin to load.

The Nintendo 64 started chugging as if it were choking on all the information it was attempting to process. The noise of it was so loud and sudden that she couldn't help but end up jumping yet again.

Ben was taunting her once again, she could tell. But why? Why would he find so much joy in making her jump? Certainly it would get boring after a certain extent. Certainly he would eventually leave her alone. There was only so much joy even the biggest sadist could get out of making someone afraid.

Soon enough, however, she ended up finding there was more for her to be afraid of than just the ocassional loud noises that caused her to jump in the air. The game was finally beginning to load, and within the first few moments she'd realized that she'd launched herself into a situation of pure chaos.

"Good God," she murmured, shaking her head at the insanity playing in front of her on the screen. "Good God, Ben. You just can't leave me alone."

Link was spasming in ways she'd never seen, all while the dialogue boxes were filled with what looked more like garbled characters than actual words. She shouldn't have expected anything less from the cartridge, but that didn't prevent a chill from going down her spine.

Link wasn't formed correctly - his back was bent to the side, and his entire body would flash back and forth every few seconds. Donna swallowed back her fears for a few moments, attempting to get herself back into a situation where she could think clearly. Her mind was still so muddled from her lack of sleep from before that she couldn't get very far with this attempt, but at least she could breathe.

Trying to look at something that wasn't the messed up Link, she glanced up to the items she had to use within the chaotic version of the game. It appeared to be some sort of note, but no matter what she did she couldn't get it to let her look at it. Absolutely nothing of note happened. She almost felt disappointed, as if it were supposed to give her some sort of answer.

But everything else, on the other hand, ended up bothering her immensely - she finally allowed herself to absorb the utter madness throughout the entire game she witnessed. She sat there, never moving around Link even for a moment. Somehow, Donna felt it would only end up making her entire experience worse than it already was.

Besides, she wanted to scope out the messed up world of Termina as she watched it all flicker around on her screen. She made out the surroundings to be Stone Tower Temple, but the messed text wouldn't have allowed her to figure that much out.

One of the worst things was the demonic sounds erupting from the television speakers. The Stone Tower Temple had always featured creepy music, but this couldn't be described as anything with a melody. It sounded like a hyena was laughing at her, but instead of being cartoonish it sent chills down her spine.

After approximately two minutes, she finally forced Link to run as the Elegy of Emptiness statue appeared behind him once again. Donna felt as if she'd placed herself within Link's boots and she needed to bolt, so she made him run away as quickly as possible.

But it was all for naught, as the screen went to white and the "Dawn of a New Day" screen appeared once again. This caught her by surprise, just like everything else, but it was almost calming. The white went back into the game, but Link was now in his Deku form like at the beginning of the game. Once again the text was messed up like mad.

She had just barely enough control of the game to direct Link to the only place she knew where to go - the Happy Mask Salesman. She'd never liked the look of him or the way he acted, but there was nothing more she could think of doing. Maybe Donna could find some sort of answer from it.

The Happy Mask Salesman with his sharp features appeared across the screen, shadows cast on his face. Cautiously, Donna made Link approach him and speak to him. When he did so, only a single line of text appeared on the screen for her to read.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

The Nintendo 64 began its chugging all over again, the screen turning into white. The game took a full minute to reload, but it wasn't as if Donna were happy about the result. She was in Termina Field, and Link was a human once again. But she still was barely in control of what happened in the game.

It was like nothing that was supposed to be in the game - but it wasn't as if that was a new sort of occurrence for Donna. In the distance, she could see three figures standing there, waiting for her to come in and interact with them. All that she knew was that one of them was Epona.

She directed Link forwards, and then made him freeze. While the Elegy of Emptiness statue was nowhere to be found, there was still the Happy Mask Salesman and Skull Kid watching her along with Link's horse. Donna sat there for a minute once again, knowing that something would happen.

Just when she thought it was frozen in that place, Link burst into flames and let out an ear shattering scream. She could still see the three figures even during his death scene, making her stomach hurt with fear. Link had only been alive for a few moments, and then he was killed off once again.

A familiar line of text appeared on the screen for her, making her mouth run dry.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

This was the final straw - she reached out to turn everything off and then immediately directed her mind in a new way. She needed a distraction, badly.

She knew she was meeting up with her friends later that day, going to the movies. Maybe she'd allow that to take over her mind and prevent her from having so many problems. It couldn't be that hard, could it?

Taking a few moments to stare over at the black screen, she figured that would be the best idea. She'd go to the movies with her friends, and then allow herself to drown in a river of buttered popcorn and chewy candy. The only obstacle keeping her from going sat downstairs, waiting for a moment to make her life miserable.

Deciding against actually going to see her mother face to face, Donna picked up a jacket and her purse in order to prepare herself for what was awaiting her. Even the darkest horror movie couldn't bother her that much at this point, she decided.

"Mom, I'm heading out to see my friends," Donna announced loudly, hoping that her mother would hear her no matter where she was in the house. Unfortunately, the clicking noise of heels met her ears as Allison Bell appeared from around the corner and stopped her daughter before she could go anywhere.

"All of your friends?" she asked, trying to put on a smile in order to put Donna more at ease. "Not just one special friend?"

"Yes, all my friends. I can list them, if you want. So I will. Reese, Josh, Emile, Jon, Tim, and Tyler. They're all going to be there. Now, I need to get out soon. I'm supposed to be giving Reese a ride, you know how much she hates driving-"

"Actually, I don't," her mother said, a frown quirking at the edges of her lips. "I don't know much of anything about your friends. You never let me know about them."

"You're my mom. You don't need to know anything about my friends," Donna said, her irritation overtaking her. She knew that if her mother continued to pry, she would eventually delve into the whole Ben incident with the cartridge and ooVoo.

"I just worry that you're not going to end up finding someone to be with. You know, when I was your age none of the boys could take their eyes off me. And I couldn't keep my eyes off of them...unless, of course, you're not into boys..."

"The truth comes out, I'm queer for Reese," Donna said, heaving out a sigh. "No, Mom, I just don't have anyone that I want to be with. And I'm going to the movies with my friends."

She stormed out of the room, walking straight to her car without even thinking about looking back. But as she was going along, an idea came into her mind that was far too good to ignore.

As much as she wanted to get her mind off of the game, she knew there were other things she could do, better things she could do. If it meant she could get answers about the game, then she didn't care what she had to go through. Answers meant she could get everything could stop.

The first step to putting everything to motion required her to

"Reese, we have a change of plans," she hissed over the phone.

"So we're not going to movies?" Reese asked, a whining tone already entering her voice.

"We are, but we're going to be late. There's something I have to do."

A few minutes later, Donna was in the driving seat with Reese sitting beside her - she hadn't gotten much of an explanation from her friend about what exactly was happening, and that bothered her.

"So, Donna, are you kidnapping me or something like that?" Reese asked, looking slightly amused at this odd sitaution.

"No, I'm not," Donna replied, gritting her teeth. "I just needed a friend to come along with me, and I trust you a hell of a lot more than I trust Tyler."

"Tyler's not going to be very happy about that," Reese mumbled.

"Well, Tyler doesn't have to know that we're doing this," Donna said. It became difficult for her to focus on the road when there was so much on her mind, but she reminded herself of the possible consequences.

"You realize you still haven't told me what's going on, Donna," Reese reminded her.

"You'll find out soon enough," Donna replied. As she made a few more turns, she continued with her words. "Wait, look. We made it. We're here."

"A random neighborhood," Reese stated. "Great. So, why exactly are we here?"

Donna waited to explain until she'd parked in front of the house she thought belonged to the old man. The two exited the car and then stood in the sidewalk in front, Reese waiting for her proper explanation the entire time.

"There were a bunch of garage sales here a few weeks back. A bunch. I came here in order to buy some Nintendo 64 games, and this is where I got that copy of Majora's Mask."

"You mean the one that didn't even have a label on it and was also glitched like hell?" Reese replied. Donna gave a slight nod, although her gaze was focused on a point far away from Reese. "I don't think I could ever forget that. That was one weird ass game you got."

"More than just weird," Donna sighed. "It was horrible. Absolutely horrible. And I'm not going to deal with it any more."

"I'm still not sure why you're here. And I'm really not sure why I'm here."

Donna stood there stiffly for several moments, trying to think of some way for her to explain herself and what she wanted to do without sounding like a complete idiot to her friend. She would just have to try her best, though, because Reese had the effect of always getting the truth out.

"I'm looking for the man who sold me the game," Donna explained.

"You sure you didn't buy it from some black market dealer or something like that? It was one shady game, Donna," Reese said, pushing a strand of her red hair behind her ear in order to better see the expression on her friend's face.

"I don't usually think of old men as black market dealers," Donna replied, "but, then again, this guy was kind of a creep. Maybe he was a black market dealer." She wanted to think of it at as a joke, but it only sent chills down her spine.

"So how much did you fork over to get that demon game?" Reese asked

At this point, Donna debated whether it would be worth it to tell Reese the truth or not. Either way, she could see it potentially going badly. She decided that she'd be best off just coming clean.

"He gave it to me for free."

"He offered you a game for free, and you took it?"

"Didn't I just tell you that?" Donna scoffed.

"Oh, my God, Donna! He's probably a pedophile, or just a general creep. You look older than seventeen. But that's still really...ugh! He just gave you the game for free?"

"Do I have to tell you again, Reese?" Donna sighed. As much as she didn't want to listen to what Reese had to say, it made her stomach twist a bit. There was a chance she was right about the old man, and to think that she was heading back to see him again right that very minute.

"Ugh," Reese said, giving a shudder. "Now I really wish I was at the movie theatre instead of here. I don't have a feeling like I might get assaulted at the movies. I don't like this."

"Well, I couldn't exactly come back here alone," Donna said.

"I don't know why you'd ever want to come back here. It just feels so...so wrong! And he gave you that messed up game? For free?" Another shudder rippled through Reese - she just didn't want to get involved with this, no matter how passionate Donna was.

"This is exactly why I brought you along," Donna said.

"Well, I'm not taking responsibility if anything goes wrong. After all, you were the one to kidnap me," Reese replied, shrugging up her shoulders and getting that last shudder out. At this point, she started breathing deeply and soon got herself to a moment of peace where she no longer felt so worried about what might be awaiting her and Donna behind the door.

Nevertheless, Donna still ended up being the one who led the way to the front of the unassuming house. Her finger ended up being the one that had to reach out and push the doorbell, practically inviting disaster to come to her. She'd made this decision, yes, but she was certainly starting to regret it already. But it was too late for her to turn back at this point.

The two stood in front of the door, waiting for something to happen. Donna's heart started to beat faster with anticipation, all the time her worrying about what exactly would entail when the old man came out to greet them once again. She was glad for Reese's support and just general presence, but she still didn't feel solid.

With all of the nerves coursing through her, she started to tap her feet against the ground and then speed up her breathing as if she were about to break into a run at any moment. As Reese had little else to pay attention to, she noticed this new development.

"Woah there. Calm down, no need to get worked up right now. I can help you relax, Donna," Reese said.

"You, relax?" Donna actually let out a snort at this, helping her fear to dissipate.

"Last time we played Mario Party, you ended up getting so angry at Princess Peach that you called her-" She cut herself off, just in case someone who might get offended was nearby. "Many variations of bad words for females that I don't want to get caught saying at the moment."

"Well, you know she is," Reese said. "But that's not the point! I actually know a lot about relaxation. I do yoga, which has taught me quite a lot."

"Yeah, no," Donna said. "I think I'll stick with being insane for the moment, thanks."

Reese pursed her lips as she continued battering her friend about it.

"Donna, if you don't start calming down soon then you're going to end up losing your mind. We don't want that, no one does," she said, her voice starting to get lower and sort of purr as she spoke.

"What the hell are you doing?" Donna snapped. No matter what Reese tried to do, she would always resist. Her body was beginning to become accustomed to being so tense all the time, and moving out of that zone just seemed bizarre to her at the moment.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't try to help," Reese said, pouting slightly.

Now that her one idea had failed, Reese found herself getting very frustrated with the matter at hand - or, rather, the lack of anything going on.

"God, he's still not showing up at the door yet?" Reese whined. "I want to go to the movie. I should be stuffing my face with popcorn and having butter running down my chin."

"That was not an image I wanted to see in my head," Donna groaned. "Listen. Maybe he's taking a nap or something. Old people do that, right? It's not like I would know, I've never met my grandparents."

"Well, you better do something! Why don't you ring the doorbell again?"

"Fine," Donna hissed, nearly punching the doorbell out of frustration. She listened carefully to make sure the sound did actually play, but she soon became perplexed over how there didn't seem to be even a flicker of movement from within the house.

Surely there was something going on inside of there. As far as Donna knew, old men didn't exactly spend much of their time out and about. She'd expected this to be fairly easy, especially with Reese's help, but it turned out to be a complete failure for the time being.

A woman from the house next door started approaching them. Donna felt a pit open up in her stomach as if she were guilty of something - she was reminded of the way she always froze whenever a police siren went off nearby despite knowing she'd done absolutely nothing wrong.

"Are you two trying to have a fundraiser or something?" she asked, crossing her arms. "I'm sorry to say it, but Mr. Nowell can't exactly buy anything at the moment."

"And why is that?" Reese asked before Donna could even begin to explain the situation.

"He's moving, of course. He's hardly around any more, and he's moving out now."

Donna should've known this was coming - it was foolish to believe that he might still be around and that he might actually speak to her about the game. He might've been just as clueless as she was...then again, he'd been the first one to force the game into her life. Still, she couldn't help but doubt it.

"Oh, I see. Well, thank you for that bit of information, I think we'll be..." Reese was about to excuse the two of them away, but then Donna shook her head and stepped forwards. She'd decided it was her time to speak through all of it.

"This Mr. Nowell is the man who lives...lived there, right?" Donna asked softly, making sure she knew precisely what was going on.

"That would be him, yes."

"Is there a former Mrs. Nowell, or any younger Nowells, or just any family in general I could speak to?"

The neighbor wrinkled up her nose in surprise at this absolute barrage of questions that were rather personal towards the man. Whoever these teenagers were, they certainly weren't just trying to sell tins of chocolate or magazine subscriptions in order to go on some sort of script.

"No...Mr. Nowell never married. As far as I know, he doesn't have any close relatives that are still alive. No children, no grandchildren, nothing."

When Donna made no reply, Reese took up the reins in order to direct this conversation into a better situation. She put on her politest tone and smiled over at the woman - she could've easily slipped into a commercial for teeth whitening.

"Thank you so much for telling us this information," she said, beaming. "Now, I think my friend and I will be off now. Again, thank you for your help." After a few more smiles infused with rays of sunshine, Reese finally started to walk away from the woman. The neighbor, now satisfied with what she'd done, set back to her house as well.

Donna, on the other hand, seemed to have frozen herself in place. She didn't even blink as she stood there, blocking out just about everything around her. She'd convinced herself that she knew what would happen, and then when it didn't turn out that way she had to rethink everything. What she'd discovered in her mind was ending up causing her to freeze up entirely.

"Donna?" Reese asked, reaching out a hand towards her friend. She couldn't deny just how concerned she felt at this point in time. All of her friend's behavior continued to get stranger and more disturbing as time went on, and she got very little explanation in response.

All of the blood in Donna's face seemed to have drained away, leaving her almost deathly pale. She'd started to stare directly ahead and hardly ever blink. If Reese didn't know better, she might've accused her friend of being possessed.

"I...he can't...no...it can't be like that, no. No."

"What the hell are you talking about, Donna?"

"I..." Donna sputtered. She couldn't possibly get her thoughts out - they would seem far too bizarre and strange, she knew. But inwardly, she couldn't shake the idea that something was terribly wrong.

Why would the old man have been so saddened by giving Ben's cartridge away if he hadn't even been related to the boy? And why was he moving away now, as soon as she needed answers?

The unfortunate matter only escalated when Donna had a revelation - oh, she'd recieved answers. They just weren't ones that could be considered helpful at all.

A/N I've been blasting through this story, and that just makes me really happy - the entire thing is going to be through before August begins! Ah! Just think about that! And I have so many flipping fantastic ideas for this. Just you wait and see.