Insomnia
by Tikitikirevenge is a novelisation of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, merging the multiple paths Link can take during the story into one coherent linear plot. (Time travel is still involved, it just follow's Link's journey linearly)
Heavily relying on Adaptation Expansion, it expands the stories of the characters and settings, and gives a lot of attention to side characters and sidequests. It still is very much based off of Majora's Mask, though - as a largely Original Flavor fic, they are definitely racing against the clock. Basically, expect all of the delicious Nightmare Fuel of Majora's Mask condensed into one bite-sized fanfiction.
Tropes found in Insomnia:
- Accent Adaptation: If Tatl's comments are anything to go by, Link has a slight English accent."You were all 't-rying', and then 'ah-ccent'."
- Acting Your Intellectual Age: Link is physically ten years old but due to Time Travel from his previous adventures, he has the emotional maturity of an older seasoned warrior. This behavior of his tends to unsettle Tatl.
- Annoying Video Game Helper: Inverted In-Universe; Tatl gets annoyed at how often Link asks her questions.
- Awesome by Analysis: Link, of course. This becomes especially evident in his fight against Odolwa.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Tatl has almost encyclopedic knowledge of the monsters, people, and history of Termina, seems to have photographic memory when it comes to maps, and knows a fair bit about magic. The Great Fairy of Clocktown believes that if Tatl had kept to her studies, she could have been "capital 'G' great", as Tatl puts it. Even so, she'd rather be pulling pranks with her friends.
- Clingy MacGuffin: Of course, there is the Deku Mask during the first arc, just like in the game. Additionally, from a literal standpoint, Link notices that the Ocarina and any Masks he gets have a strange tendency to cling to his belt no matter how much running and fighting he does.
- Darker and Edgier: Yes, even moreso than Majora's Mask was to begin with. The Song of Time only works for five loops, counting the one Link spends trapped as a Deku Shrub, so the race against time is even more pronounced here than it is in the game. What's more, the scars Link carries from his adventures in OoT play a major role in his character, and he and Tatl spend more time bickering than helping each other for quite a few chapters.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tatl.
- Link seems to think that aspect (among others) is rubbing off onto him... and he's not very happy about it.
- Face Death with Dignity: Mutoh and Viscen opt not to flee Clock Town, and spend the last six hours drinking together.
- Fantastic Racism: The Deku Scrub king is prejudiced against monkeys and humans, and probably anything else that isn't a Scrub. Tatl also seems to dislike the healing-type Fairies.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Averted. Unlike the game, Link and Tatl are physically traveling back in time instead of resetting it, meaning they have several time copies running around Termina at the same, er... time, as them.
- Heroic Mime: Link, during the first few chapters. Justified though, because he cannot figure out how to talk as a Deku.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Tatl explains that healing-type Fairies give up their life energy when they heal Link or other adventurers, but she considers this a Stupid Sacrifice on their part and doesn't think much of them.
- Hive Mind: The author's explanation for why the Great Fairies become split into multiple smaller fairies.
- It's a Long Story: Link and Tatl both use this line, to one another or passing inquiries, on multiple occasions. Some of Link's instances of it come off more like he knows Tatl wouldn't buy the explanation.
- Lightning Bruiser: Odolwa, which makes Link's victory over him all the more impressive.
- Loyal Phlebotinum: The Ocarina, which does nothing for Skull Kid, will actually change into entirely different instruments so that Link can play it regardless of his body.
- Madness Mantra: One of the Gorons. "It's so cold out there and so loud in here and so cold out there and so loud in here. It's so cold out there and so loud in here and so cold out there and so loud in here and..."
- The Mafia: Jim, leader of the Bombers, runs the group like a mob boss.
- Mercy Kill: Link to a Wizrobe in Chapter 40. Apparently, Navi and Saria taught him.
- Mysterious Past: The audience knows Link's past. Tatl however, does not, and she becomes hellbent on finding out the longer she travels with him. That Link refuses to speak about it only makes her more curious. Though her persistence pays off as Link gradually defrosts through their adventures, progressing from "I don't want to talk about it", to "Maybe later", and finally to "Sure, why not".
- Mythology Gag:
- Some of the items Link and Tatl see being sold in Clock Town include "braided rope whips and giant gear-shaped spinning tops (whose exact usefulness neither Link nor Tatl, nor indeed anyone at the seedy-looking 'curiosity shop' where they found it, was able to explain)."
- A number of Zelda memes are cleverly worked into logical places in dialogue, including "Hey! Listen!", "Well, Excuse Me, Princess!", and "It's dangerous to go alone... Take this."
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Averted, Link has a brief conversation with a future self.
- The Nicknamer: Romani, as in the game, calls Link "Grasshopper". Tatl will also hand out an occasional nickname, most notably the ones she comes up with for Odolwa.
- No Name Given: An unusual example; the reader knows who Link is, but from Tatl's perspective she doesn't learn Link's name for a long time, and instead she just refers to him by decriptives.
- Other Me Annoys Me: A hilarious version when Tatl and Link run into their (very tired) future selves at the start of the second cycle. Future!Link keeps cutting Past!Link off before he can finish a question, then leaves because "I'm in a rush.... Apparently." And Tatl...Tatl: She called me names. Is that normal?
- Painful Transformation: Now you know exactly why Link screams when he transforms...
- Really 700 Years Old: Tatl is implied a few times to be considerably older than Link.
- Reluctant Warrior: Link. Such that he's been keeping track of his kills since sometime during Ocarina Of Time.
- Sanity Slippage: Tatl states that because there isn't a lot to do for Great Faeries, they tend to go slightly insane from boredom. She notes that's why a lot of the ordinary ones become part of the hive mind, as it's better to lose your sense of self than go stir crazy, and she and her brother decided they'd rather go out exploring the world.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Link again, complete with grouchy stoicism and flashbacks. Most of his character development involves him moving out of this mindset.
- Suddenly Speaking: Used as a Meta-joke when Link first opens his mouth after getting the Deku curse removed.
- Stable Time Loop: At the end of the first cycle, it is revealed that instead of following the game's Reset Button version of time travel, there are instead five versions of Link and Tatl running around different parts of Termina at the same time.
- Take That!: A lot in regards to the Zelda fandom, partially in the form of excessive lampshading, partially in minor references and details - for example, during the first interlude, Mutoh is confused by the notion of saving an empty bottle, stating: "Empty bottles are useless"
- Third-Person Person: Romani, causing Link and Tatl some confusion when they first meet her.
- Title Drop: In Cycle 2: Hysteria, Tatl and Link comment on how the currently leaderless Gorons are acting hysteric.
- Too Dumb to Live: The Business Scrub in South Clock town. It's implied he's slightly mad, however.
- Triple Shifter: As the Fic's title suggests, Link and Tatl don't get much sleep. When the pair bumps into versions of themselves from a later cycle, Link notes that his Future self has a few more rings under the eyes.
- Tsundere: Tatl.
- Unfortunate Name: Tatl is of the opinion that "'Link' isn't a name, it's a verb."
- Unusual Euphemism: Tatl's favored swear is "wingshreds".
- Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Tatl gets cut off mid-phrase saying this to the Deku princess.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Tatl lectures Link on the double standard of him being unwilling to kill Guays that were trying to eat her, when he was willing to kill a Skulltula that was trying to eat him earlier on.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
- Tatl is cripplingly frightened of birds, which makes sense, since they're faster than her and can easily eat her.
- Link has a similar dislike for Deku Babas, the first enemies he fought.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Link, of course. By his own admission he's only ten years old, and looks it, but he behaves like a grizzled warrior who's seen too many battles. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, as Tatl explains in this rant from chapter 38:Tatl: Link, you're weird for all kinds of reasons. You fight giant monsters like it's just another day's work. You move with that sword and aim that bow like the hero of some kind of folk tale, the kind where the hero wins, and you're not even old enough to have facial hair. When we met, you were casually strolling around the forest with a little blue thing that changes the flow of time, and you just left it sitting on your belt for any old mugger to take... You have clearly handled explosives before because I haven't even seen grown carpenters use bombs without wetting themselves a little bit. You're all kinds of insane, you're one giant boy-shaped ball of contradiction; I don't even think there's such thing as a boy-shaped ball; and you know way too much about time travel for anyone under the age of one thousand. So, uh, the fact that you seem a little more calm than you ought to sometimes? That's not really a standout.
- Year Outside, Hour Inside: The Underforest, which Tatl, Tael, the Skullkid, and Link used to travel between Hyrule and Termina. While probably only a few hours behind the Skullkid and Tael, Link and Tatl arrive in Clock Town a few weeks after them.
- You Already Changed the Past: To make it even screwier, sometimes Link and Tatl run into after-effects of things their future selves have done.
