Disclaimer: This story is based loosly on The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker®, Copyright Nintendo 2002,2003.
Legend of a Wind Waker
Chapter 1 *Revised*
This is a story about Courage. It's also a story about Wisdom, and Power. It
is the story about a person who learned he was much, much more than the sum
of his parts. It's the story of love lost and love found. It's the story about
high seas, of perilous adventure and exploration. It's the story about goofballs,
lovebirds, misadventures, oddities, meanies, monsters, maidens, heroes and villains.
It's the story of a legendand the Legend of a Hero
It's a story about many stories, but most of all, this is a story about a man named Caleb.
On a small and remote island, cloaked in the darkness of the night, Caleb was hard at work. He was pressed hard between the rafters and the ceiling of a pricey private cabana. His gaze was fixed on a guard strolling lazily below him, completely unaware of the young man just a few feet above. Somewhere in another room, the master of the house, a rich and successful merchant, was fast asleep, secure in the false assurance of his many riches.
The master's assurance was false because Caleb had been sent to by another man to steal those riches.
Caleb eyed the guard's movements carefully with eyes that were as dark and green as they were focused. He kept his young body as still as a corpse against the ceiling of the cabana, and watched as the guard stretched his arms and then looked to his left and right; doing so more as a way to stay awake than as a fulfillment of his duties.
A small smile creased Caleb's face. "Idiot," he half-said to himself. Caleb hardly ever smiled, but when he did, it usually meant that things were about to go his way.
As silent as a whisper, Caleb zipped down from the ceiling, cracking the end of his single-edged blade against the guard's skull. The poor 'idiot' didn't even make a sound. His eyes simply glazed over and he started to tumble before the waiting ground. Caleb was faster, and he caught the fainting guard with one arm, and gently laid him onto the ground.
Silently. Ever so silently.
On cloudlike footsteps, Caleb quietly made his way to the Cabana Master's locked treasure room. It didn't remain locked for sure, lock-picking being just one of his many talents. He moved into the darkened room and towards the treasure chest inside, rubbed his hands, and hefted it easily off the ground.
He was out of the Cabana in less than a minute, had the chest loaded into his personal sailboat in less than three and was several nautical miles away from the island before the poor 'idiot' owner awoke.
Caleb knew that the owner would wake to realize how in the monopolistic competition that was his market; he was now a bit player.
He didn't care though. To him, it was just another successful mission.
@
If one were to take a look at Caleb without knowing a thing about him, their look would be met by the vision of a rather broody looking but plain young lad. He was just a young man after-all, barely seventeen years old. He was of average height, and sort of thin, and tanned from a life on the seas; quite unremarkable really.
Of course, there were a few things somebody would probably recall after a quick glancehis choice of wardrobe for instance. Caleb could always be seen with his wide brimmed, high collar, short sleeved shirt on: a shirt that was a dark blue in hue, with a nasty drawing of a white scorpion-crab adorning it's back. One would probably go away with a memory of that image in their minds.
However, while the unique tunic dressed his top, his bottom half was covered with a pair of grey long shorts that easily reached his knees. A plain pair of toeless brown boots sheltered his feet.
But it was in his face where those who looked at him realized the minutiae of his features. Those could see a head covered in bushy blonde hair, hair that was partially hidden underneath the strangest of hats: A dark green, long tailed toque that flopped lazily against the winds.
Last but not least, and a feature that definitely bore into the minds of its beholders, were the eyes of this young man, they were completely dark green, even the pupils.
They say that the eyes are the windows into the soul. One had the impression when locking their eyes with those green pools, even when for a moment, that they risked being trapped within a soul they really didn't want to be ensnared in. A soul filled with something murky and angry.
All that being said, perhaps Caleb isn't as unremarkable as was previously mentioned. He certainly wasn't treated as unremarkable. His reputation preceded him in most islands, even on the bustling and lively Windfall Isle. They knew of him and in part, feared him as well.
Caleb was thief, an assassin, a mercenaryhe was basically a hired sword. Whatever job was needed, Caleb could get done, and he always got the job done. When people needed something completed, something dirty and most probably illegal, they searched for Caleb
And that is what brought the young man to Windfalll Island one fateful day. As usual, he stepped up the stairs of a small Café that was nestled high atop the island in the middle of town, a café that was the popular hangout of the adults in town. It was also the place people went if they wanted to hire out mercs and the like. It was quite normal for people to come to the café and either leave a message, or to use the bulletin board posted at the far end of the dimly lit coffee house.
Caleb glanced around the café lazily and glanced over to the owner, a pretty older woman named Gillian who always threw Caleb a wink and a smile. He smiled back, although it was always a fake, weak smile.
He ordered the usual, green tea, and started reading over the posts at the bulletin board, and as he did, the local café regulars gave him plenty of room to move. They tried to hide it, but they were afraid of him, and they silently wished him ill.
Naturally, Caleb didn't care. There were precious few things he did care about, and one of them was the type of jobs and challenges that appeared to him at the café. However, as he poured over the board, he saw that he would probably leave disappointed.
Rescue my Cat - Reward: 50 Rupees.
Pointless.
Send Letter to Someone - Reward: 75 Rupees.
No comment.
Murder - Reward: 200 Rupees.
Tiresome.
"If you're looking for a job, honey, I've got an interesting one for ya here."
Caleb focused his whole-green eyes at Gillian and approached her. The smile never left her face. She passed him a letter and watched as Caleb read it carefully, and then lowered it gently and narrowed his eyes towards her.
"This is a joke."
Gillian shook her head. "No joke, Green Eyes," she started. "1500 rupees, that's more than I'll earn in a yearmaybe two."
"It's a joke," he repeated.
"I thought so too, but then he started giving these away." The woman reached under the counter and pulled up a bag full of shiny multi-colored crystals, most of then purple and red.
"Rupees" Caleb murmured.
"Two hundred!" Gillian squealed. "For absolutely nothing! Just to prove to us that he can pay you like he says. He even paid those other guys too," she said as she pointed towards the regulars at their round table. "I can tell you Caleb, this guy certainly looked like he was serious about the 1500 rupees. He looked very rich, regal even. Kingly! If I had half of your skills, I'd take the job."
Again, Caleb looked at the note. "But, it just says 'Go to Outset Island,'" he murmured. "Outset" His eyes narrowed as glimpses of painful memories zapped through his mind, and he didn't even notice that he was crushing the small piece of paper in a grave fist.
Gillian leaned forward and gave him a reassuring smile. Caleb had no idea why she was always so nice to him. Maybe she wanted to pursue some kind of relationship, though he figured her to be a smarter woman than that. Everyone knew mercenaries cared only about rupees and the thrill of the mission. Still, she was nice, and he didn't really mind.
"Listen, I can tell you don't wanna go to Outset, but forget about what might be waiting for you there. By the look in your eyes, you might have some history there. So what? Just think about the job. What are you always telling us? You always complete a mission. You always have."
"Why are you encouraging me to go like this? What if the mission is to kill somebody? You're actually endorsing this?"
She shrugged and closed her eyes in thought. "No, I don't endorse that. I know it's part of what you do thoughsometimes." Finally, she sighed and decided to give it one last go before she gave and turned her matters to other things. "Caleb, I don't like to see you so unsure about anything. If someone like you can be unsure of something, what does that mean for people like us? You've never hesitated before taking a job, even one as cryptic as this. I'd think for 1500 rupees, you wouldn't have to think twice."
Gillian was right, of course. Under normal circumstances, he would never hesitate to take a job, even one as cryptic as this, if it meant such a high payoff. Still, she didn't know about Outset, and Outset made the entire difference in this matter.
Still
With a smirk, he tossed the crumpled piece of paper into a nearby trash bin, stuffed his hands into the pockets of his shorts, and started down the stairs and out of the café. Gillian smiled sadly. It was the routine he always went through after accepting a job.
"Let's just hope he's not asking you to burn the place to the ground," she thought, only half-joking.
@
On a large merchant dinghy, afloat on a wide, titanic ocean is where the story truly begins. On the deck is where Caleb silently sat, while the boat's owner, a tanned and skinny man named Beedle, talked incessantly. Caleb could only sigh and curse his misfortune.
The merchant was towing Caleb's personal skiff because the engine simply would not work.
He had travelled far enough from Windfall Island so as to be impossible to swim back, but still several days away from Outset. Then his engine broke down. Caleb didn't understand why, he had maintained his engine faithfully, and had only checked it out a few days earlier. Then again, mechanics weren't exactly skills he had in spades.
The southerly wind wasn't favourable to sail down to Outset, so Caleb decided to simply wait until the winds turned favourable and he could set sail again. One hour became two, and two hours turned into six. Before he knew it, the sun was down, and the wind was still blowing hard to the North.
It had begun to look like he would be stranded at sea when Beedle the boat merchant sailed on by.
"OOOH!" he exclaimed, like he usually did when he said everything. "Hey! You need any help there buddy!?"
That was how Caleb came to be hitching a ride on Beedle's ship.
"So, you know my brother thinks that Boko Baba seeds are the best for leech bites! Is he living in the stone age or what?" Beedle asked as he was sorting out his inventory. Caleb didn't answer, thinking that his silence might work to quiet the boisterous shop owner.
Ha. Right.
"Everyone knows Chu-Chu's where it's at!" Beedle continued. "The red ones can cure them all. Then again they're hard to find, eh buddy!? You ever find any on your own?"
Caleb sighed, his whole-green eyes concentrating on the ever-moving sea and it's dark brother, the sky. Finally he said, "Yes," in the hopes that it would end the conversation.
Right, and pigs fly.
"OOOH really!? They're pretty easy to find, but those red Chu-Chu's hit back pretty hard! Now fairies are pretty good too, but they're impossible to find. My brother says he sees them all over the place. Is he full of it or what, eh buddy!?"
A haze was covering he seas, obscuring sight from at least a few meters. There was no sound of fishes leaping from the waters and splashing back into its depth. There was only the sound of the seachurning, parting
"Sooo" Beedle exclaimed as he rubbed his mini-afro, "Wanna buy some bait?"
It was at that moment that Caleb looked to the side and saw it approaching in the mist; the large, looming outline of the boat that came up on them silently. At the sight of the apparition, Caleb's eyes widened and locked in a look of sheer terror. He gripped the handle of his blade with white knuckles, but he couldn't find the strength to pull it out of its scabbard. An intense fear was holding his grip fast.
"N-no" he gasped. "Not him again. Not him again"
"AHOY THERE!"
The boat broke past the mist and into clear view. It was a ship, with a huge black sail adorned with skull and crossbones. Caleb's hand fell away from his sword and he sighed in relief. It wasn't him. It was pirates.
The pirate that had called out through the silence of the night was a young woman. A small group of other men, differing in stature from burly to spectacled, surrounded her.
"OH!!!" Beedle exclaimed. "Kind sirs, are you looking to do some shopping?"
The girl smiled and the pirates behind her guffawed heartedly. "Umno, but we'll be fine with relieving you of your wares," she explained with hands on her hips. "Unless you've got something to offer us."
With an ice-like coolness, Caleb rose to his feet and turned his look to the girl directly. "Who's your Captain?"
The pirates blustered angrily, but the girl raised her hand with an air of authority and returned the boy's gaze. "I'm the Captain of this ship. The name's Tetra. Give me a reason why we shouldn't keelhaul you for your rudeness."
"Tetra," the boy began calmly. "I'm called Caleb. I want you to take me to Outset Island." Beedle looked completely stunned, but in Caleb's mind, he was doing the idiot a favour.
"You think we're just some cruise ship, ya punk!?" a large black-haired pirate bellowed. He seemed to hover near the girl, protectively. "We oughta drag you up here and have you walk th-"
"Shut-up," Caleb huffed. He then turned to the girl. "I'll pay you half of what I have on me right now. " He glanced over to his boat, which was tied to the back off Beedle's shop-ship. "Of course, you can count it for yourselves, but I have 200 in my wallet and another 1400 in chests on my boat. Haul my boat and I up and take me where I want to go, and you're looking at a cool 800 rupees."
Beedle's eyes were wide with confusion and hurt, and he and the pirates looked at Caleb hesitantly. "Why would you pay so much money to go somewhere when you obviously have a ride already?" the girl Captain asked.
Shrugging towards Beedle, Caleb made his point. "You think I wanna stay one more moment with a guy who didn't even notice a bloody Pirate Ship sneaking up on him?"
The smiled. "Says a guy who was obviously just as surprised as that mope you're riding with was. Not to mention a big fat scardy-cat. I could practically hear you quaking in your boots when you saw us."
Caleb's eyes grew cold, and dangerous, but he said nothing. After all, they didn't know. They couldn't know. It wasn't some poor band of pirates that he was afraid of.
"Still, you offer a lot of money, and we were heading south anyway. We wouldn't be pirates worth any salt if we didn't take you up on your offer." She smiled a wolfish smile. "That is, if you're brave enough to come and sail with us."
"But, Miss Tetra" the big protective pirate started.
"Be quiet, Gonzo! What are you, afraid of this scrawny kid?" The girl's response hushed the man up quite quick, and she then turned to Caleb again.
Caleb smiled. Without even another word or a look to Beedle he told the girl, "Haul me up."
And they did.
@
Once he was onboard and his boat secured firmly to the side of the pirates' ship, Caleb moved up to greet the girl Captain and got a good look on her. Like his, her skin was bronzed by the sea and the sun. Her hair was a blonde colour, and her eyes a hue of blue. Her tank top was covered partially with a small blue vest. She had a red scarf around her neck and a large red sash around her waist that acted like a sword-belt for a small dagger. She was thin, and about a head shorter than Caleb, but he could see that she was around her age. Her faceher face was well shaped. Caleb didn't bother with many people, least of all those of the opposite sex, but he would admit that the girl was pretty.
He couldn't get past her hairstyle though. It was sort of a pony-tail that curled up and was pinned to the top of her head. Caleb might have been staring at her hair a tad too long, because Tetra took a step towards him and glowered. "What are you looking at?"
Caleb pointed innocently at her head and told her. "Your hair. It's funny looking."
The large pirate that always floated around the girl stormed up to him and hoisted Caleb up by his wide collar. "What did you just say about Miss Tetra!!??"
Caleb said nothing, but he did look at the other man with a bored expression.
"All right, that's enough Gonzo. But take up his baldric. Sorry, bub, but we're not gonna let you carry around weapons while you're on our ship." At the girl's orders, Gonzo released Caleb and reached for his baldric. Caleb stepped back, unlatched the baldric and handed it and the sword attached to it over.
"You know, you're quick to point out people's flaws, when it seems you've got quite a bit of your own. I mean, look at that long floppy hat you got on. Who wears stuff like that?"
Caleb grimaced. First his fear and now his toque, this girl seemed to be able to get her nose directly into things that didn't concern her. It was getting to him.
"That oughta shut you up. Well, I might as well introduce my men to you. The big guy is Gonzo. And here's Mako, Nudge, Senza and Zuko. Niko's bellow deck, but you'll get to know him soon enough." With that, she walked up towards Caleb, raised her head up towards him and smiled.
"You're gonna be his swabbie," she said with a wink, before leaving for the cabins.
"Swabbie," Caleb thought. "Great." He thought back to the note and the circumstances that brought him here. A gentleman of stature, presenting a job that could pay him more than Caleb's ever made before in his lifeand the only thing he had to do right now, was to go to Outset Island.
Outset.
Home, sweet home.
@
Lightning cracked angrily, and rain thundered down around the sharp and ugly spires that made up the tall towers of the Forsaken Fortress.
At the highest point of the tower, a man stood. A man tall and large, foreboding and vile beyond imagination. He did not stand alone. With him was an enormous dark bird that wore an iron mask. Beside the bird was also a thin, slender figure that wore an ivory oval mask, and was surrounded by tiny spectres.
"Helmaroc King, there is only one more left. You," the man said with a voice that rumbled from his huge chest. "You know your mission."
The bird nodded and beat it's vast wings once, and took to the trembling skies.
It turned majestically, and headed south.
The man then turned towards the slender figure, who stood perfectly still on top of a thin balcony railing.
"Your concern is touching, but there is no need for you here. Now don't you have someone to haunt?"
Nodding slightly, the figure leapt backwards off of the railing, and was whisked away by spectres of bright light.
The man smiled a grave smile. Everything was in place, and soon his terrible ambitions would be realized.
This world will finally, and totally, be covered in the deepest darkness.
Just as it should be.
@
Dither Bikky says:
Okay, that's it for Chapter 1. What do you think? Now I sorta think this has potential, but I'd like some input here so review please. I hope it's not taking itself to seriously. Now get back to readin'
