A/N: Alright, my first fanfic, so! This is about my character (Aife) and her part in Links adventure from Spirit Tracks.
I will be updating/editing the chapters this winter starting 12.22.13.
Disclaimer:
Aife belongs to me, everything else belongs to Nintendo, I own nothing of this except Aife, and the extra plot that was not in the original games storyline.
Enjoy!
-TheMidnightWhisp
- Chapter ONE! -
Aife snickered as she saw kids jumping from the edge of the town and into the crisp blue of the ocean. She watched them giggle and squeal as they splashed around in the warm water. The blue waves lapped lazily over the hot golden sand on the beach. The palm trees gently swayed with the warm breeze that caressed over their bright and lively colored leaves, and the air had a faint smell of salt and citrus in it.
Aife shuddered slightly when she glanced at the water again. To most people the ocean here would look amazing, but Aife hated swimming, nor could she even stay afloat due to not knowing how to swim. She wasn't exactly a water lover, in fact, she found it almost repelling.
She looked away from the sparkling ocean and continued to whip her sword back and forth on her fake dummy from Alfonzo. She cut open its chest easily, revealing a nestle of straw and cotton.
"Die evil stuffed dummy…" she mumbled at it as she swung her blade around to cut off its head in one swift motion. It fell off and rolled slightly down the lop-sided ground.
She was supposed to be training with Alfonzo, but he had been so busy training Link how to become an engineer. To which she thought was great, but considering how there weren't many tacks left the kid didn't exactly have that much of a career. 'Oh, well... Link, at least, is excited.' Aife thought, she was told that his graduation ceremony was today. 'He's probably all giddy about seeing the princess...' Aife rolled her eyes, remembering how excited he was after he found out about Zelda.
An annoying kid yelled at her, interrupting her thoughts then.
"Alfonzo will be angry! That's the fifth time this week you've destroyed one of his dummies!" yelled one of the kids from the edge of the beach.
Aife snorted. "Well, you know what? When dummies like this invade your village I'll be the only one prepared, and you'll all fall under their sandbag rule!" she yelled back, pointing her sword at the dummies open chest.
The kid only stuck his tongue out at her. "You're just a stupid girl! You'll never become a real warrior!" the kid taunted and ran off to his snickering friends in the water.
'Oh, you are so gonna get it…' Aife thought darkly.
She moved closer to the edge of the village, where the kid was just about to jump off the edge and into the water. She quickly tried to control the energy around her, like Steem instructed.
Steem was her mentor, (and great great great (etc.) uncle) Aife came from the 'glorious' Snow Realm, north from this village. Though the Forest Realm was nice, she missed the ice and the blue hue of the surroundings, and how early in the mornings everything looked like it had a silver coating, shining from the sun's beams. Although Aboda was one of the nicer parts in the Forest Realm, she thought, she still preferred the snow and ice.
She was staying at Aboda village for three reasons:
1. She wanted (and had) to be trained in combat, so Alfonzo came up.
2. The tracks in the Snow Realm were strangely disappearing, and a huge storm came… Steem didn't want her to be near it. She was, after all, still partially human.
3. And she kind of wanted to leave, staying in one place for so long was a bit lonely, and boring. Not to mention that she didn't get a ton of time to spend with other kids, even if they were half her age.
She had been to each of the different realms, visiting each of the Lokomo's for training on different subjects and the like, but… She wanted to know what it was like to have real excitement in her life. To have real friends, to live life as a true Lokomo warrior, and not have the burden of human blood to bring her down. Although, having powers to move things with your mind is pretty awesome… And made it worth it, well, most of the time.
So that's how she ended up in this village, hanging around with Link, training with Alfonzo, and every now and then picking fights with children.
Which, at the moment, seemed to be at the top of her list.
As she tried to calm herself, the kid got closer to the edge, almost ready to jump.
She tried to force the energy around him to move. She imagined great hands, scooping him up and stopping him from his jump. She felt warmth seep through her veins and into her palms where a soft silver light started to glow. As the kid leaped into the air, hoping to land in the water, he disappeared in mid jump, and landed on the sandy beach with an 'oof' instead. Aife started to laugh at the kid as he looked around wildly, trying to figure out what happened.
When he saw Aife snickering he frowned at her, and grabbed a handful of sand as he raced over to her. She laughed and turned to run. The kid chased after her, yelling about how she was so dead.
After running around everywhere and dodging past bushes and houses, the kid eventually caught up to her and threw the sand right into her face.
"Ugh!" she spat out the sand in her mouth, "Dammit kid!" the kid only laughed at her, and Aife felt the sickening crunch of sand stuck in her teeth.
"That's what you get!" the kid yelled, "Using magic like that on us kids will get you in trouble!"
She snorted at that. "I'm not gonna get in trou-", Aife spoke too soon.
"I wouldn't say that just yet." A deep voice came from behind her.
Alfonzo walked up to her, looking pissed. His olive colored skin made the scar on his face appear much more visible, and his bright red bandanna he always wore covered his head from the boiling sun. Aife often wondered if he were bald… He had a large structure and well built muscles from years of work and engineering.
Aife turned around slowly and smiled innocently at him, if not a little nervously as well.
"Hello Alfonzo!" she said cheerfully, kicking herself mentally. "So Link is going to graduate today huh? That's exciting. So it sounds like you're very busy right now, so I'll just go and try to find a new hitting target and-", she pointed over to a random direction and started to leave.
"No. You're. Not. And don't try to change the subject, you know you're not allowed to use magic away from your mentor." Alfonzo told her as she started to pout.
Alfonzo didn't know why she had magic, just that she needed to be trained in the arts of combat, and just so happened to know how to move things with her mind. He didn't need to know the real reason behind it.
"Well, you see I can explain, this kid here-", she started to point over to the brat that threw sand at her, but he already ran off, "… Never mind… Can I come with you and Link?" She asked, perking up.
"What? No!" he snapped. "Absolutely not. You are to stay here with Niko. Link is not allowed to drive the train with anyone, except an instructor." Alfonzo told her sternly.
"Yeah, that's why you'll be there!" she chirped, his face reddened with anger. The large vein in his forehead (which Link and her often made fun of) bulged with anger.
"No. As punishment for using magic you are to stay here, and… and-… Ugh! Just stay out of trouble!" he finally spat out.
'Ah hell…' she started to feel a bit worried, unsure as to why.
"I really think I should help Link…" she pressed. "He's only a kid, and you expect him to be fine on his own? Especially at the castle?" she asked him.
Alfonzo crossed his large arms over his chest. "Link is a smart kid, he'll be fine. You on the other hand are likely to burn down the entire castle." Aife pouted, and he rolled his eyes. "Go wish Link luck, he's leaving in a few minutes." Alfonzo said and stomped off to his work shop.
She stuck her tongue out at his turned back and grumbled something about him being way too serious. She sighed and turned to go wait at the train stop area for Link.
When Link appeared at the station, he looked both excited and nervous.
"Hey, Aife," he grinned as he walked up to her.
Link was a head shorter than her, and far more blonde. Where his hair was practically yellow, hers leaned more towards a light gold shading of brown, slightly coppery. But they both had a slight wave to their hair. Hers almost reached to her hips, cutting off at her ribs and Links was messily cut below his pointed ears. His huge bright blue eyes stared up at her plain brown ones, though in the direct sun her eyes appeared to have flecks of gold in them.
"Hey kiddo, you ready to meet the famous Zelda?" she teased, his face turned slightly red as he glanced away, smiling. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll like you." Aife said as she ruffled his hair. 'I mean, come on, who wouldn't?'
"Thanks, I hope I pass… Then I can drive us around the entire realm!" he added excitedly.
"And without Alfonzo to yell at us every ten seconds." She half grumbled and Link laughed and gave her a quick hug. She didn't really like being touched, but the gesture was sweet, none the less. She hugged him back, sensing how he nervous he was about going, and her uneasy feeling of not going with them only grew in the pit of her stomach.
She ruffled his hair. "You'll do great. Just... Stay safe, alright?"
He gave her a strange look but nodded anyways, they both turned to see Alfonzo driving the train out of his work shop.
Link whistled, and placed his hands on his hips to admire the train. Aife just giggled at it. It was a plain wooden train, nothing fancy to it. Just the main engine and a passenger cart dragging along behind it. It was a rather small train, making Alfonzo look like a giant in comparison.
"Alright, are you ready Link?" she glanced back at him.
The boy nodded eagerly, determination in his eyes as he boarded the train. "You coming Aife?" he asked sweetly.
She opened her mouth to answer but Alfonzo beat her to it, saying how she needed to continue her lessons here. Link frowned slightly, and Aife gave him a comforting smile.
"Don't worry, I'll be here when you get back. Then we can travel everywhere together." His face brightened and she couldn't help but giggle again at it.
Alfonzo rolled his eyes, and boarded as well.
"Stay out of trouble." He warned, pointing a finger at her. Though he was only being half serious, this time.
'Right...' she huffed, and waved as they started moving.
"Good luck!" she yelled and Link gave a final wave, and at the same time she could hear Alfonzo already yelling at him to pay attention.
She laughed, and walked down the stairs.
Another uneasy feeling came over her. She really wanted to go with Link, because something was... Off, in a way, but she tried to ignore it. Thinking that she was just nervous for him. She decided to practice hitting a wooden post, feeling somewhat sympathetic for the poor dummies she abuses so much. 'I don't need Alfonzo to come back and yell at me about that too… ' she thought.
Aife slashed her sword at an old looking wooden pole in Alfonzo's shop. Deep cuts were engrave into the old brown wood from her constant abuse, and there were bits of wood shavings covering the floor around her from her swords slashes. She kind of liked how it looked after a good day of practice, the scars she left on it created a web of slashes and splinters poking out here and there, and made it seem more artistic in a way.
She felt most of her tension being released through her sword, but the uneasy feeling still wouldn't leave.
"Ugh! Maybe I should just follow them... But then Alfonzo will kill me!" she sighed and bowed her head, making her hair fall over her face. "Why didn't I try harder to go with them?" she smacked the poll with her fist out of frustration. 'Ow.' She glared at the pole.
Footsteps echoed over the stone tiles in the room and she turned to see Niko.
The small elderly man was bent over his cane as he walked towards her. He had a red and white stripped shirt with regular blue pants. He had a bandanna on as well, similar to Alfonzo. Aife was told that Niko's and Alfonzo's grandparents use to be pirates and had sailed the seas together as well as with a few others, but she wasn't sure if they were joking or not.
Niko was a great story teller, he told stories of old legends and adventures, and even put on cute slide shows for the younger children here once a year. Aife even got the chance to watch one for free since she wouldn't be staying that long. She really enjoyed it, she had never really seen such a thing before, due to never really getting a chance to.
"Hello, Niko." She said politely, putting her sword down.
"You know, Aife, it's a lovely day for a run." Niko walked up beside her, with his toothy grin. "It would be such a waste to stay indoors like this…"
"Niko…" Aife groaned. "This village is too small to run around in." She had already tried that many times before, and always ended up surprised and disappointed on how small the village really was.
"Well then why not run along beside the tracks? They make a great path..." Niko suggested. "Oh well, I'm too old to do anything anyways... Maybe I'll take a nap, and forget about taking a run. It's a silly idea anyways..." he nudged her with his elbow, telling her to take a hint.
Aife smiled at him. "Niko, you are a genius," he gave her a wink, "I owe ya."
"Nah... It's alright... What would you owe me for?" he frowned and then smiled at her while making shooing gestures. She grinned and ran out to the little hut she was staying at.
It was a cute little hut, its walls were a plain white with orange banners along the wooden planked floor. There was a single bed and a small table, stacked with piles of clothes and books and some other things that she wasn't quite sure where they came from.
She quickly grabbed a bag, and placed it around her shoulder, to which she threw in some clothes and the rupees she'd collected over time. 'The things you find on the ground... Amazing...' she smiled as she raced out of her house and over to the train station, where she started to walk down the tracks.
She looked back and saw Niko watching, and she waved to him. He waved back and walked back to his and Link's hut.
She took a deep breath and started to jog. 'Alright, let's see if I remember how to get there...' she was excited and relieved to finally get out of that small village, it were as if she were going on some kind of adventure. But the uneasy feeling she had only grew with every step she took towards the castle.
A/N: Sooo, what did you guys think?
Honestly, the next chapters, I think, are much better… *shrugs*
Comments, reviews, suggestions are all welcome. I will respond to them all (if any) as soon as I can. ;)
Anyways... Thanks for reading! ^_^ Oh and a huge thanks goes out to Wingscutdarkness! She's the one who helped to inspire me to start writing fanfiction. ;) (Thanks hun'!) And if you haven't seen any of her writing, go look it up right now. It's seriously amazing. :3
~Whisp
