"Oh give it up Daphnes, you're gone from the world of the living and he's moved onto a new adventure. He won't—-"
Daphnes ignored the fishman and carefully stepped onto the boat.
"Geez, even after death he's the most stubborn man in the sea." Though the fishman was impressed by his persistence, he wasn't too happy about being woken up in the middle of the night by the ghost of an old friend who only wanted to see his hero again.
"I'll take it from here, thank you." Daphnes called back to the fishman.
"Good, I can finally get some sleep!"
The former king rolled his eyes and gave himself a moment to inspect the boat. It was larger than his old form he used to travel with Link on, but much smaller than the pirates ship. Wait, I don't have to open doors. I can just go through them…. Slowly, he passed through the doorway and into the dimly-lit lower cabin. He noticed a light shining to his right, and upon following it he found the young hero asleep on a desk. A twinge of emotion began to rise in Daphnes' chest, but he quickly suppressed it and moved closer to the sleeping hero.
"You even kept that old cap I fixed for you after a tree branch tore it up…" He was surprised that it even held on for so long, or that Link choose to continue is journey with it. Becoming curious, Daphnes looked down at the papers Link was sleeping over. They were maps of course, and scribbled all over them was Link's notes and various drawings. However, something caught his eye.
"Today I met a man who looked a lot like me. It was really weird to see! His boat looked like mine... too…" Daphnes chuckled to himself, apparently Link was loved no matter where we went.
But Link also had written something else, written on the side,
"I miss him."
"Link, Link!" A high pitched, female voice echoed from noticed a small white ball of light appear from the staircase, and flutter over to Link.
A fairy?
"Link, you need to wake up! We're almost back on Mercay Island so we can speak to Oshus!"
Mercay? Oh right, he must be far from home by now.
"….Link?" The little fairy nudged the hero, with no luck.
"Fine then…I'll wake you when we're there." She huffed, and flew off. Daphnes watched as the fairy floated back up, and wondered who exactly she was. She must have been of importance seeing as she was traveling with Link. He looked back down at the boy, still sound asleep and unaware of the fairy's attempts to wake him up.
"You were always a heavy sleeper." He spoke softly, as if Link could hear him and he didn't want to wake him.
"I never did get to properly say my goodbyes to you…"
The boy stirred, but didn't wake.
"Or tell you how proud I am."
He tried moving his hand to pat Link's head, with no success, remembering he was only an apparition.
"And I wish…"
He took a deep breath and glanced at the maps Link had drawn on.
"I wish our time together could have been longer."
He remained by Link's side for the next couple hours, looking at papers he made and the progress of his journey, and to simply spend time with the hero once more.
"You haven't changed much, Link." He chuckled.
Daphnes then looked out the porthole, noticing daylight rising from the horizon, and he felt the boat rock to a halt, and the small fairy fluttered back below deck.
"No more sleeping in, Link! Wake up!" She poked at his head until the boy stirred.
Daphnes remained still, smiling as Link woke up in a daze.
"Ceila…? Why did you wake me up before we landed?"
The fairy groaned, though Daphnes could tell she was trying to suppress a laugh, and flew back up above. Then it was only Link and him.
Of course he doesn't know I'm here, that's odd for me to assume such a thing.
When Link had finally woken up, he fixed his hat and grabbed a couple loose papers on the desk.
"Right right, I need to speak to Oshus don't I."
"Yes, I wouldn't keep them waiting."
"Of course, I shouldn't waste any time to save Tetra after all."
"Indeed. The pirates must be worried for both of you."
"Oh they're tough guys, they'll make it out there."
"And you?"
"…..Well I'm doing okay, I mean—-I really enjoy spending my time here and helping out these people."
"You must have met a lot of new people on this journey, have you not?"
"Oh, tons! I also saw cuccos for the first time…they're not as nice as I thought." He chuckled to himself.
"I'm so proud of you, Link."
"Wait….wait who is talking to me?!"
Link began to snap out of his drowsiness, realizing this wasn't a voice he knew from the ship.
However…
He knew that voice.
"Daphnes!?"
The voice was gone, Daphnes' entire presence had left the slumped into his chair, both confused and amazed and doubting himself. He wanted to believe his old friend and mentor came back, but….
"I should get going…" He mumbled to himself, and gazed out the window for a brief moment before ascending to the deck.
Outside, Daphnes stood on the shore of Mercay Island, the waves barely lapping at his shoes. The fishman popped his head above the surface, hesitating for once to approach the former king.
"Did everything go as you wanted?" He asked, timidly.
Daphnes only nodded.
Trying to ease the awkward air between them, fishman spoke up once more.
"That boy truly does miss you, you know.
That got Daphnes' attention.
"He still carries your gossip stone around even if it doesn't work, you know. And he keeps your sea chart from the Great Sea hidden where nobody can find it. Every now and again I hear him telling stories about you to his friends on that ship. I remember one night he had to stop because he remembered when you—-"
Daphnes shot him a glance, and he stopped.
"All I'm tryin' to say is, he's got people lookin' after him until he leaves this world to see you again. He's got his new friends, the pirates, and so many more. This world loves him."
Daphnes then turned his back on the fishman, surprising him.
""Ey what's gotten into you?! At least say something."
The former king looked back at the fishman for one brief moment, which explained it all.
"Thank you. I'll see you again soon." He spoke softly, and in a dim flash of light, he was gone.
The fishman grumbled, "Even in death he's vague. Aw well."
Before he turned around something caught his eye, a spot of water on the beach that shouldn't be closer inspection, it wasn't more than a couple small drops of water on the ground, but it was exactly where Daphnes stood.
And he realized…
"Well well well, Daphnes." He chuckled, "There's no need to hide your emotions anymore."
He then rolled his eyes and swam away, far from Mercay Island where Link and his new friends were docked.
"I swear, it was him!"
"You were probably half-asleep!" Another reddish colored fairy spoke out.
"Yeah, you spent all night making those charts, no wonder!" A blue colored fairy chirped.
Link laughed, and gently pushed the fairies away from his face, "I don't' know you guys, I want to keep believing it was him."
"Alright, whatever you say." The white fairy huffed, "Oh oh! Can you tell us about when you got to fight a giant bird? And a plant monster?"
"I've told those countless times, Ceila" Link raised an eyebrow at her interest.
"I know, they're just so…interesting."
The red fairy spoke up, "How about when you spoke to a water god? Hmm?"
"Alright alright, I'll do all sorts of stories tonight, 'kay?"
The fairies giggled and carried on as Link stopped himself, and he looked back onto the shore.
"…Daphnes are you there?"
He gave it some time, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Feeling doubtful, he carried on, worried that he was only hearing things before. As he turned around, he then felt a comforting and familiar breeze along his back, which made him smile and carry on.
"I'll always be here, Link."