A/N: I am SO SORRY it's been so long without anything! School started, so I've been super busy. Anyway, I decided to make this one-shot because I just finished Wind Waker HD and I had an ingenious idea for a quick little post-game story. I hope this goes without saying; MAJOR WIND WAKER SPOILERS! And I have no respect for Phantom Hourglass, and what happens in my story in no way parallels with what's in the game, except for mention of the Ghost Ship. Sorry, but I don't like Phantom Hourglass at all. Anyway, hope you enjoy! Tetra/Zelda/Link pairing. Please review!
XXXXXXX
Chasing Waves
"Link!"
She rushed to his side as he began to collapse. His heartbeat was racing, the statue of his enemy in front of him, Master Sword embedded into his stony skull.
"Tet- Zelda… what happened?" the boy's voice rasped.
"We did it, you idiot…" she whispered to his limp body, smile curling onto her lips. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders to keep him upright.
The children heard footsteps on the stone ground. Their heads raised in chorus to face the king of old Hyrule.
"My children…" his deep voice echoed through the watery chamber, "listen to me. I have lived regretting the past. And I have faced those regrets. If only I could do things over again…" he trailed off. "Not a day of my life has gone by without my thoughts turning to my kingdom of old. I have lived bound to Hyrule. In that sense, I was the same as Ganondorf." He looked at the stone shape that used to be a living being.
"But you…" he faced the children again, the boy starting to stand upright again, panting for air, "I want you to live for the future." The boy turned to the young princess, closed his eyes, and placed his hand on top of hers, which was on his shoulder. She retracted the arm, and the boy stood straight. They faced the king again. "There may be nothing left for you. But despite that, you must look forward and walk a path of hope, trusting that it will sustain you when darkness comes."
The water-based walls started to cave in towards the unlikely trio.
"Farewell…" the king rasped, his voice giving out slowly. "This is the only world that your ancestors were able to leave you. Please," he bowed his head, eyes closed with sorrow, "forgive us."
The girl looked down at the ground, hands clasped and next to her heart. The young boy looked to her in slight confusion. Her head shot up. "W-Wait! You could… You could come with us!" Her eyes were filled with hope, just as the king had wished. "Yes, of course… We have a ship! We can find it. We will find it! That land will be the new Hyrule!" She paused, eyes starting to darken at the king's solemn expression. "So…"
The king's face softened into a smile. "Ah, but child… That land will not be Hyrule." The girl's eyes started to waver as she stared at the king. "It will be your land!"
Suddenly, the ceiling started deteriorating. Water surrounded the king, while bubbles of air pockets enveloped the children. The girl started to float away. The boy looked up to see her going up to the surface, reaching for his hand. His eyes strayed to the ground, as the distance between him and the stone grew. The king stayed stationary, watching the children drift away. The boy reached out to the king, kicking to get to him before he drowned. The king extended his arm to the boy, then lowered his hand, sending him off. The boy's eyes widened, watching the king write his own death sentence. He watched as the stone and king started to blur out of existence, arm still reaching out to the person who was responsible for saving him early on in his journey, taking on the guise of a talking boat. He thought he heard the Great Deku Tree's words, the words he had heard so long ago, as he floated away.
"I have scattered the seeds of the future…"
.
He awoke on the water. He awoke floating next to, not the beautiful princess that helped him defeat Ganondorf, but next to the witty pirate captain that helped him get far enough to know she was a princess. His eyes squinted to get used to the sunlight, the girl's eyes following suit. They were both panting for air.
As if out of thin air, Komali appeared in front of them, his new wings flapping dangerously close to the waves, to the point where he was splashing the two Hylians.
The girl heard shouts from behind them. She starting treading the water and turned around, to find her ship, pirate helpers on board, waving to get the children's attention. The boy turned, too, a bright smile covering his face. His sister was on the ship.
The girl let out a quick breath. She raised her stiff arm above the waves, legs straining to keep her up, and waved to the ship, winking. The boy raised his arm too, wide grin and eyes looking at no one but Aryll.
The boat started to sail past them, the entire crew still waving at the soaked children. It was then that the boy realized that his friends, Medli the Rito and Makar the Korok, were on board as well. His heart swelled with joy to find that they were all right.
"Need a lift?" Komali offered from behind them.
.
"Miss Tetra!"
She whipped around to find Gonzo, Senza, Niko, Mako, Zuko, and Nudge running to her all at once. She started to step back, not wanting to be smothered by grown children. They kept running anyway, arms open wide to their captain. She kept moving back, blowing a stray hair out of her face. She stopped when she came to a wall. The men of her crew all stopped about a foot in front of her. They all stared at her, uncanny smiles on their faces. Gonzo stepped forward. The girl looked up at him.
"What's our next destination, Miss Tetra?" he panted, smile not wearing off.
She walked to the side, looking past the crew. She saw the boy talking to a couple of Rito, a Korok stationed on his shoulders, his sister trying to pry it off of her 'Big Brother'. A smirk took over the young captain's face.
"Set a course for Dragon Roost. After, go south to the Forest Haven. After they all have been dropped off, set a course for Outset. The idiot and his sister need to go home."
All of the men simultaneously raised their hands into a salute.
"Go! Go, you laggards!" she shooed them away with a wave of her hands.
They all scrambled to attention, Niko and Zuko bumping into each other. After Zuko shoved him off, Niko followed Nudge below deck. Gonzo went up the steps behind her, heading for the bow. Senza whipped in the opposite direction, dizzying himself trying to get back to the mizzen. Zuko scrambled up the ladder to the crow's nest, foot getting caught in the rope. Mako stayed on the deck and stuck his nose in his book that he always had with him, even though he was supposed to be watching for threats. The girl laid a hand on her forehead. It was like her crew was made up of fumbling baboons.
"Tetra?"
She heard a coo. Almost the voice of an angel. She raised her head to face the sound.
"Oh. Hey, Aryll," she said, plastering a fake smile onto her face.
"How old are you, Tetra?" she asked. Tetra was taken aback by the girl's direct question.
"Um…" she stuttered, "I'm… I'm twelve."
Aryll's eyes lit up, in surprise or joy, Tetra didn't know. "You're as old as my Big Brother!" Then the girl gripped her maroon dress. "You're pretty young to be a captain of your own ship, don't you think?" She started swishing her skirt in the breeze.
"I-" Tetra thought for a second. Either by a year or so, she was younger than her entire crew. "I guess so." A genuine smile covered her face. She winked at the little girl. "But someone has to keep these guys in check, right? And if not me, who?"
Aryll looked as if she was contemplating this remark. When she looked back to Tetra, she said simply, "good point!" and bounced away.
Hard to believe that she's siblings with that idiot, she thought to herself. Aryll walked up to her brother and said something to Link that made him look at Tetra. Tetra decided to walk to her quarters, so she went in the direction of Link and his rag-tag group of friends. The boy's eyes hadn't left Tetra's gaze. He started walking to her.
Speak of the devil.
Tetra saw a tear in his long, light green sleeve, with blood staining the surrounding cloth.
"Ganondorf tougher than you thought, huh?" she offered.
He looked down to his arm, where the skin had grown over the gash in his arm. It went from his elbow to his shorter sleeve. He looked back to Tetra, a look on his face too serious for a twelve-year-old.
"Not really," he replied simply. He took a deep breath, then let it out loudly. "Ever thought that we've seen more scarring and nightmarish things than most adults?"
Tetra looked into his eyes, so green they looked black in the right light. He shook his head, waving off his last sentence. "My sister's right; we're both way too mature for our age."
"Says the boy who is scared of a little mouse," she teased, walking closer to him.
"Miniblins have swords!" he said, almost squeaked, in his defense. "They're not your average mouse!"
"And you're not your average island boy," she retorted. Then she looked away from him for a second, smirk growing onto her face. She looked at the green-clad hero from the side. "DE-LEN! DE-LEN! DE-LEN!" She started chasing after him, making Miniblin noises. They ran around the ship until she caught up to him enough to tackle him. He gasped for air at the impact. Medli and Aryll looked worried, while Komali and Makar started rolling on the floor laughing.
"Get… off… of… me… Tetra!" he somehow managed to gasp.
"Oh, come on!" she yelled in his ear. "You can defeat those weird armored guys that could easily kill you in one hit-"
"Darknuts," he coughed.
"Yeah, sure. You can beat them, but you can't deal with me?" she sat up and stationed herself on his back.
"I could," he wheezed, "but I don't want to hurt you. Now get off, I'm bruised!"
At that sentence, she remembered his limp body, him being thrown around like a ragdoll, beaten and scarred. She rolled off of him, and he flopped over onto his back, sucking in deep breaths of air as if it were his last.
"Oh, please, I'm not that heavy," she mumbled.
"When you're sitting on someone's stomach," he slowly and stiffly stood up, "you might as well be a cinderblock. And it's funny; they put a dress on you and take away your tan and you're this polite, hopeful princess, but when they give you your normal look back, you're this witty, rude, and commanding pirate. Is that princess still in there? Could you tell her I miss her?"
She huffed away as Dragon Roost's mountain came into view. She heard Zuko screaming:
"LAND HO! FOUR POINTS OFF THE STARBOARD BOW!"
"We could fly the rest of the way, you know," Medli's soft voice mused. Komali walked up next to her, nodding in agreement. Tetra looked at them for a second.
"You sure?"
"Positive," Komali confirmed.
"Okay. Whatever suits you," she walked away, towards the bow of the ship. She turned once she got up the stairs to watch Link say his goodbyes to his winged friends. A smile fought at her lips.
No! she screamed at herself. A pirate heart is made of stone. No other makes that place their home!
But can't it make an exception… Just this once?
She was stolen from her thoughts by the sudden flapping of wings. She saw white and brown feathers falling onto her ship, and two Rito soaring off to their home. She stepped forward to say a quick goodbye, but forgot there were stairs in front of her.
"Tetra!"
She braced for impact onto the hard wood of the ship, but was greeted with two fumbling arms, scrawny, yet strong.
"Idiot," Link playfully whispered to the shocked body in his arms.
.
"Bye, Makar!" Link waved to his friend and the other Koroks seeing their family member home from the ship. "Tell the Deku Tree I said hello!" Makar waved his stubby arm in reply.
"Okay, men," Tetra called, so close to him that she might as well be yelling in his ear, "set a course for Outset Island!"
Link turned around in confusion.
"What?" she asked him. "You didn't want to see your grandma again? You didn't want your sister to be in a safe place again? You didn't want to tell your old friends goodbye before we look for a New Hyrule?"
A guilty smile took over his face as he scratched at the back of his head, making his hat fall off. He whipped around to pick it up, but Tetra got it first. She fixed it over her hair bun, grabbing onto a fake sword made of air.
"En guarde!" she challenged.
Link reached for his sword, only to find an equal amount of air that Tetra's sword was made of.
"It's at the bottom of the Great Sea, idiot," she scoffed. "In Ganondorf's stone skull. Or did you forget that you killed him by jumping onto his shoulders and driving it through his forehead?"
He simply held a hand out to Tetra, expecting his hat. She took it off, obeying his silent request.
"It makes you look stupid," she stated simply. "I mean, more stupid than you already are, anyway."
He took that as a challenge. He jumped on top of her, wrestling with the pirate until he had pinned her to the deck.
"Favor for favor, princess."
.
"LAND HO! OUTSET ISLAND, THREE POINTS OFF THE STARBOARD BOW!"
"Zuko, shut up," Tetra mumbled from her cabin. As usual, she knew Nudge was right outside the door, keeping everyone but her out of this secluded room. The only thing that made it worth hiding is the treasures; coins had nothing on these. They were maps. Maps of an old land that wasn't covered in water. Before she met Link, before this whole 'adventure', she used to dream of finding this place. Now, now that she knew that this was Old Hyrule, she wanted to find the new land; her and Link's land, as the king had put it. She rolled up the map she was looking at, one of a kingdom with mountains, a lake, a desert, a vast forest, and a castle with a town around it. She knocked on the door of her cabin, letting Nudge know that she was coming out. But when she opened the door, Nudge wasn't the person out there.
"I had a question for you," Link said abruptly.
"I have one for you, too; where's Nudge?" she said, hands landing on her hips.
"Eating," he said simply. "He doesn't just sit here all the time, you know?"
"What's your question?" she asked, avoiding his witty remark.
"How long are we staying in Outset?"
"Two days. Long enough to restock on supplies, long enough to rest up, long enough to say goodbye, short enough that we won't feel remorse when we leave."
"You only have a soul when you're wearing that little princess outfit, you know that?"
Tetra pushed him out of the way. "Stop saying that. I have a soul, I just choose to keep it in a bottle."
"Could you tell me which bottle it is?" he said, grabbing her arm to stop her. "Is it in that cabin, or did you throw it off the side of the boat a long time ago?"
She struggled to get out of his grip, but to no avail.
"Tetra, I mean it. You can show some feeling sometimes, other than sarcasm. Please, Tetra. Kindness, care, hope, something I can put up with until we find New Hyrule." The look on his usually childish face showed that he was, in fact, begging.
A pirate's heart is made of stone…
"No other makes that place their home…" she whispered, stopping her struggling.
"What?" Link asked letting go of her arm.
"I-" she wasn't sure what to say. "I'll tell you on Outset. Okay?"
"N-" he thought for a second. "Okay, fine. But I'll make sure to hold you to your word."
"No problem. Pirate's honor."
"Do pirates have honor?"
That awarded him with a smack upside the head.
.
A crowd had congregated on the docks of Outset, even though it was almost sunset. Even that oversized pig that tried to kill him was there.
"Something wrong?" Tetra asked.
"See that pig? That huge black one out in front?"
"Yeah. Wow, that thing could feed us for a month!"
"I poked it, and it tried to kill me."
"Yeah, right."
"When we get to the island, I'd like to see you try to poke it."
"Okay. It's just a pig. What could the damage be?"
A smirk solidified onto Link's face.
"Miss Tetra! We're nearing the docks!" they heard Gonzo scream.
"Okay. Make it quick."
Link started digging through his spoils bag, the one he had 'stolen' from Tetra's ship.
"You're lucky I let you keep that," Tetra mumbled.
"Niko gave it to me," he replied.
"Yeah, without me permission. Anchors down men!" she turned to shout to her crew. Link shrunk back.
"Could you please stop yelling in my ear?" he begged. But she was already walking away.
"I hope that pig mutilates you…" he joked to himself.
"Grandma!" he heard his little sister yell from the crow's nest, where she had been spending most of her time. She rushed down the rope ladder in record time, making no errors as her hands found the next rung down as if she had been climbing and descending that thing her whole life. She rushed down to Link, attacking him in a hug. "We're home, Big Brother! Hopefully, it'll stay that way for the rest of our lives!"
Link hadn't told Aryll. He didn't want to. He was going to tell his grandma, expecting her to tell Aryll. But for now, he wanted to keep his sister in her good mood. "Yeah, sis. Hopefully."
.
One had made cooked ham. One had made a cake. One had made a sign that said 'WELCOME HOME HEROES'. One had made sure that all the lawns were clipped. One had gotten the presents in order. One had a new sword ready for him. One had built a huge campfire. One had made lemonade. Some had done nothing. One had made soup.
"Grandma," he whispered. Link then bolted off of the ship, Aryll hot on his trail. Tetra watched him and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. A smirk took its signature place as she made her way down the plank that had been placed onto the docks. The second she got there, she saw Link's grandma being smothered by her two grandchildren. Heart-warming sight it be, Tetra ran her mother's words through her head, keeping hold of them, thinking them true, even though they were originally meant to mock her when she first left home.
A pirate's heart is made of stone. No other makes that place their home.
Not even him…
But every time she saw him, a part of her icy heart tried to thaw. Every time he would get hurt, she felt as if she was the one in pain. Every time he scratched his hat off in embarrassment, she felt like putting it back on him with a genuine smile. Every time he offered to help her, she wanted to obey. So what, I'm twelve; age is but a number.
But the other half of her wanted to smack him every time she saw him. The other half wanted to kick him while he was down. The other half wanted to tear that idiotic hat into tiny, unrepairable pieces. The other half wanted to be a stubborn jerk to him for asking to help her with something she could obviously do on her own. I'm twelve; twelve-year-olds don't fall in love.
In that moment, she didn't know what to do. She didn't know which half to obey. She blamed her parents for each half of her; her father for her stubborn and rude side, her mother for the loving and hopeful side. There was no mediator. It was either to be a jerk or a Goddess-send.
Eeney, meeney, miney, moe…
"Tetra!" she jumped at the sudden shout. It was Link. "You okay? You were staring off into space."
"I was…" she paused, "… thinking."
"Hope you didn't hurt yourself."
"Hey! You got that from me!"
"Maybe I did. What are you going to do about it?"
Be a jerk for a second.
She pushed him off the dock and into the ocean. The crowd of people, in unison, gasped in surprise, then laughed hysterically. Link's head popped out of the water, his hat floated next to him, causing the crowd to explode in laughter again. Tetra leaned over the side of the dock and offered her hand.
"Need some help, idiot?"
He started for the docks. Once he had planted a foot firmly on the underwater part of the docks, he grabbed Tetra's hand and started up. Then a sudden urge took over him, and he pulled her in, causing her to squeak in surprise. She wasn't actually surprised, though. She knew he was going to do that.
And she was glad she was right.
.
Being thoroughly stuffed with ham, soup, cake, and lemonade, Link made his way for the huge bonfire that everyone else in the village was already sitting around. He had changed out of his uncomfortable Hero's clothes and changed back into a light, blue shirt with what resembled a lobster in a white design on it, short pants, and sandals. Tetra had taken her scarf off of her neck and wrapped it around her waist. Her crew had all taken their shirts off, sans Mako and Senza. Aryll was wearing a blue dress instead of the maroon one she was wearing when she had greeted us on the ship. The islanders were wearing their normal clothes, some of the women wearing fancy jewelry. Zill, that one kid who everyone just called 'Snot-Boy', was roasting marshmallows and eating them like… well… candy.
"Link!" Aryll ran for him, sand spraying up around her feet. She stopped in front of him, sand getting in his eyes. She held up a marshmallow with a pleading look on her face. He sighed.
"Just one."
.
"What happened to 'just one'?" Aryll asked smartly, wiping his cheek and looking at her finger, which now had marshmallow on it.
"They're marshmallows, Aryll," Tetra to the rescue, "Give him a break."
"Thank you!" he exclaimed, obviously refraining from licking his fingers. "Someone understands!"
"Well, anyway," Aryll started, dodging the conversation, "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep. Most people already have. You should, too."
"You worry too much," he waved her off. "G'night, Aryll."
"Night, Big Broth-" she yawned mid-sentence. "Night, Big Brother!" And with that, she walked clumsily to the house.
He turned to Tetra. "Where are you guys sleeping?" he asked, looking past her and to her crew, Gonzo, Nudge, and Senza drunkingly singing sea chanteys and Niko, Mako, and Zuko trying to keep the other upright.
"Well-" she broke off. She hadn't thought of that. "Well, we were just going to sleep on the boat.
Link raised an eyebrow. "Really? You really thought that?"
"Yeah, I guess. I didn't think you guys had anywhere for us to stay."
"Oh, please. Sue-Belle's house has three extra rooms, so she can take care of the drunk ones, and Rose and Abe take the other three, since their sons have cots and not beds, and there's extras."
"And that leaves me," she stated dryly.
"You…" he thought for a second. There was only one more open bed on Outset. "You get to sleep on the boat," he joked.
Her eyes glared at him, lips pursed in distaste.
"Kidding!" he put his hands up in defense, in case she tried to swing at him. He lowered his hands. "There's one extra room at my house. There's a room on the balcony, but no one uses it. Grandma says it used to be my mom and dad's room when they visited.
"What happened to them?" she asked, suddenly curious.
His cheerful attitude suddenly changed, and his eyes went dark. "We used to live on Windfall Island. My mom died really close to my birthday, when Aryll was eight and I was ten. My dad brought us here on a 'trip to see Grandma' two months later and disappeared." He let out a breath.
"Oh," was all Tetra could say.
"Well," he snapped back, smile making its way back onto his face, "you coming?"
"Uh…" she waited a second, "yeah. Lead the way."
.
"Make yourself at home," he held his hand out to the room. It had nothing in it but a bed, a desk, and a dresser, and bland ones at that.
"Not the most 'home-y' place," she said under her breath.
"Yeah," he sighed. "I used to come here when I needed to calm down. There's one more thing in here." He opened the bottom drawer of the dresser. She tried to peer over his shoulder, but to no avail. He came back up with a frame in his hands. He looked at it for a second, then handed it to Tetra. It was a pictograph of two people; the woman had blonde hair and looked like Aryll, the man had brown hair and looked a little like Link with shorter hair and peach fuzz.
"Your parents?" she asked quietly.
"The only thing I kept before Grandma got rid of everything that was in this room, besides the dresser, bed, and desk," he replied equally as quiet.
She handed back the graph and sat on the bed, which was surprisingly soft. She sunk down a bit and put her arms behind her to stabilize herself.
"Now," he said, putting the graph back in its drawer, "what was that 'no other makes that place their home' thing you said earlier?"
"Oh," she breathed. She hadn't even remembered that. "It's kind of a long story."
He sat on the bed next to her. "Enlighten me."
She looked at him in… confusion or disgust, she didn't know. She let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding.
"Fine. I was… I lived here, on Outset. That's why everyone knows who I am. The only friends I had were Senza, Gonzo, Nudge, Niko, Mako, and Zuko. You sent Niko, Mako, and Zuko to their parents' house, by the way. We were considered weird, always sailing, always coming right back. My father…" she bit her lip. She took her vest off, letting her pinkish top show, as well as a scar on her shoulder. "He beat me. He didn't approve of the sailing or my friends." Tears started to well up in her eyes, trying to escape their prison. "He left on my tenth birthday. My mom was sick and dying. I told her my plans, the plans my crew and I came up with. The plan to become pirates, leave Outset as nothing but a memory, tell the people there not to mourn us, as if they would when we left. My mother was worried about me. She warned me. She mocked me, saying..." she trailed off.
"Tetra?" he asked carefully, "Why didn't I know?"
"You- when's your birthday?"
"Month of Farore, fourth day."
"Mine's the month of Nayru, twenty-seventh day," she said, as if it were common knowledge. "You said you came here two months after your mom died, after your birthday. I would have already been gone by the time you got here."
"Oh. Then why didn't anyone mention you?"
"No one liked us. We were a nuisance, a burden."
"So they just… forgot about you?"
She paused. "I guess they did."
"You didn't say what your mom told you before you left," he said, carefully, as if trying not to trigger a bad memory.
"Oh, yeah," she breathed.
"Well?" he asked impatiently.
"'A pirate's heart is made of stone. No other makes that place their home,'" she said shakily.
"What's that mean?"
"It means that pirates can't truly love someone else besides themselves. Not like that."
"Well, that's stupid," he said sourly.
"What do you mean?" she asked, surprised how comfortable he was. Everyone else who has been on her ship was at least somewhat afraid of her.
"I know a pirate who cares about people." This surprised Tetra. She didn't think he knew any other pirates. "They care about their crew like they were family. This person even has a crush on someone. It's painfully obvious, too. They act totally different around that one person."
"And who's that? Maybe I've heard of them," she said.
He looked at the floor with a smirk on his face. He let out a little laugh, as if he knew she would know who he was talking about. He started picking at his thumbnail.
"Who is it?!" she nudged him playfully, laughing as she did so. He laughed in reply. "Tell me, or I'll tickle you!"
"No need for that," he assured, looking at her with his arms raised.
"Then tell me!"
The smiles wouldn't wear off of either of their faces. Link started chewing on the inside of his lip.
"It's you."
Her teeth clenched. Her eyes bugged. Her breathing stopped for a second. She had to resist the urge to slap him.
"I-"
"Face it, Tetra," he interrupted, "if you didn't have your crew, you wouldn't have a family. Your real family didn't care for you as much as those six do."
"But I-" she snapped, "I don't have a crush on anyone!"
She fell back onto the bed, breathing hard.
"Do I?" she whispered.
"Do you?" he asked her unmoving body. "It's up to you. Just think; who do you act most like yourself around? Who makes you not want to snap at people? Who would you help without a second thought? Who makes you doubt yourself, thinking that your 'tough pirate' demeanor is melting away? Who? Who, Tetra?!"
She sat back up, not knowing what to say. She laid her head in her hands. She felt a tear escape her eyes.
"Well? I know there's someone. I just need to know who. I think I already know already, though."
"… You can read my mind, can't you?" she whispered, a smile curling onto her face.
"Not the easiest thing to read. About as hard as reading Ancient Hylian." He knelt down, trying to get Tetra to look at him. "You seemed to have expressed yourself quite clearly when you were in that princess outfit."
"…"
"You hate me now, don't you?"
"More than storms. More than burns. More than my parents. More than…"
"I'm an idiot, aren't I?" he seemed to be enjoying himself.
"The biggest idiot around the Great Sea."
"But you still like me," it wasn't a question. It was a statement, as if he already knew the answer.
"… I hate you…"
"Hey, to make it easier, you aren't too bad yourself."
"Get out of here."
"No, really-"
"No, really, get out. I'm tired."
He raised his hands in defense. "Okay. Good night, then."
"I hope you have nightmares."
"Same to you."
And with that, he closed the door behind him.
.
She awoke with something on her face. She lifted off, and found it was that idiotic hat of Link's that made him look ridiculous.
"I hate you…" she whispered to the seemingly empty room.
She slipped it under her door with a note on top of it.
I found this on my face when I woke up this morning. It's not mine. Whoever put it there, I hate you.
Link, I'm talking to you.
Satisfied with herself, she looked out onto the balcony that was attached to her room. She slipped her vest back on and took her scarf off of her waist and tied it around her neck again. She stepped outside and instinctively looked up. The sun was still in the east, if so barely, so it was somewhere around noon. She looked down, then, to see how long of a drop it was to the ground. Luckily, there was a bush right below her. She braced her still stiff and tired body and jumped. The bush was plusher than she thought it would be. It was cleanly trimmed, no branches poking out, threatening to stab her. The leaves, thankfully not pines, acted as tiny cushions under her weight. She rolled off of the comfort of the shrubbery and brushed herself off.
"That was a stupid idea."
"I don't care."
"How do you know that wasn't poison ivy or oak?"
"I know what poison oak and ivy look like, idiot."
"Good to know."
"Leave me alone, please."
"Oh, you said please! Has the world gone mad?!"
"Shut up."
"I will if you will."
"We both know that's not going to happen."
"At least you're honest."
"At the worst times."
"Tetra, are you still mad at me?"
"Why would I be? It's not every day a pirate is told that she can be read like an open book."
Link's face twisted into one of boredom. "We've had this argument already."
"Really? I don't seem to recall it."
"And it's only when you were the princess that you were an open book."
"I have no clue where she went, so-"
"I'm pretty sure that she's at the bottom of the Great Sea."
"As is my dignity."
"As is my sword. You think I don't miss that thing?"
"You got a new one yesterday! Orca gave it to you!"
"And my grandma took it, saying that I would get it back when we leave."
She opened her mouth to speak, but she stopped. "You told her we were leaving?"
"Yeah. She told Aryll this morning."
"And how'd that go?"
"You didn't see the wet stain on my shirt?"
She had, she just thought it was water.
"So, you getting supplies today?"
"Yeah. Gonzo said he'd get them."
"I wouldn't bet on that."
"He hung over?"
"Senza, Gonzo, and Nudge are all hung over."
"Great. There goes the 'brawn' half of my crew."
"I take it the other three are the brains?"
"No. Just Mako. Zuko's the annoying one, Niko's the newbie."
He let out a light chuckle.
"I guess I could help."
"I never asked."
"That's what makes me such a nice person."
She started for the docks. She wanted to go to her cabin.
"Bye, idiot."
"I know you know my name. Why don't you use it?"
"Because 'idiot' is more suiting."
"Ouch."
She trudged on through the sand.
.
Why does she insist on being so difficult?
This was running through Link's mind as he quietly followed Tetra to her ship. He knew she must be going to her cabin. There's no other place on that thing that's worthwhile than the room no one is allowed access to. The scarf around her waist threatened to fall off, as did the one around her neck. She stopped abruptly, realizing this fact, and took both of them off in rage. Her hair was slowly falling out of its bun, too, but she didn't bother it. He watched as she stormed up the docked board. She immediately left his line of sight, presumably going below deck.
He turned and left.
He wasn't going to make her any angrier.
So he went to the only place that was his own on Outset, besides his parents' room.
He went to the Fairy Forest.
The walk, while relatively short, felt like a small eternity. The trees blocking the way had long since been cut down, but they were trying to rebuild themselves. Link simply bent the fragile wood and squeezed his way through. Why he hadn't thought of that the first time, he wasn't sure. He hadn't gone all the way into the Forest before, but he was going to change that. He was afraid of the forest. But the fairies had taught him otherwise. He knew only good lie in the forest. So he continued, not caring about his sore feet. He brought back a branch to pass by, but it came back and hit him in the arm, on the scar from Ganondorf. He hissed in pain, but continued. He'd been through worse. He'll always have been through worse.
He made his way up to the highest hill of Outset. One tree was bigger than the rest. It looked like, at the base of the tree, was something out of the ordinary. Out of pure curiosity, he approached the tree, and found that there was some sort of house built into it. He knocked on the door, but it wasn't closed. It opened with a splitting squeak. He stepped in, being greeted by a cobweb in front of the doorway. He spit and flailed until the webs were off of him. Everything in the house had been coated with a thick layer of dust. He saw pictures on the walls, paintings of simple things; vases of flowers, bowls of fruit, and a family. The family consisted of three people; a fair-skinned brunette woman with black bags under her eyes, a slightly sun-kissed, blonde-haired man, taller than the woman, and a baby, with naturally dark skin and pale blonde hair. The baby was sleeping, holding onto a red bandana-like item.
"Tetra?"
There was writing on the frame, covered in multitudes of dust. He blew the particles off, them flying into his face and making him sneeze into his sleeve. He shook out his head to focus again on the frame. The inscription read;
The family of Caleb of Outset, wife Alexis, and daughter Tetra
A sad smile took over his face. He looked to the next picture over, a small pictograph of a smaller Tetra, playing in the waves, hair down and sticking to her cheeks, dress going down to her knees, with the brightest of smiles on her tiny face. He saw another pictograph of a slightly older Tetra, pointing and laughing at who he could only make out to be Niko, who was lying face-down in the sand. She was wearing a strapless, flowered dress. Her hair was down, bandana pulled over it. What threw him off, though, was a bruise on her shoulder. It was the same shape and size as the scar she had showed him the night before.
He ran out of the house.
.
She heard a knock at her cabin door.
"Leave me alone, whoever you are," she called.
Another knock.
"Go away!" she screamed.
Another knock.
"Okay. Who is it?"
A pause.
"Hello? Who is it?"
"I have a question."
"Nice to meet you, 'I Have A Question'. I'm Tetra."
"Stop it," the voice said, obviously annoyed.
"What is it?"
"I have a question."
"You've made your point clear."
"Can I come in, please?"
"If you try, I'll cut your fingers off."
"Then come out here."
"What makes you think you can make me do that?"
Tetra heard something fall on the ground, followed by something scraping on wood. She stood up from her desk to see what the idiot was doing now. Turns out, he had slipped something under the door. It looked like a picture frame. She picked it up off of the wood, the frame suddenly seeming familiar. She looked at the picture that was in the frame.
"Now can I come in?"
"H-" she stared at the pictograph. It was her and Niko on the beach, after he fell and ate some sand. "How did you get this?"
"I'll give it to you; your house isn't the easiest place to find."
She sucked in a breath and opened the door. She was greeted by Link's smug face. She glared at him.
"How did you find my house?"
"I'll tell you if you let me in."
She thought for a second. "You're starting to think like me. I'm not sure that's a good thing, though. Kinda like the other you better."
"Welcome to my life."
She let out a sigh of defeat. "Come on in, idiot. You have no idea how much I hate you right now."
.
"Bye, Grandma," he gave her one last hug. It was so early that the sun was just now starting to rise.
"Take these," she held out her arms. It held the new sword Orca had given him and a couple bottles filled to the brim with her elixir soup.
"Thanks, Grandma." His sister slowly walked up, her precious telescope in grasped firmly in her hands, as if someone was about to try to steal it from her.
"You know how I said you could use this for one day, just because it was your birthday?" she asked, voice almost cracking.
"Yeah, I do," he responded, his voice so quiet it was nearly a whisper.
"Well…" she hesitated, then held her telescope out to him. The seagulls on it looked as though they were watching him, waiting for him to grab it. "If you're going to be looking for a New Hyrule… you'll need this more than me."
He wrapped his little sister into his arms, making it last. He laid his head on the top of hers, before kissing it lightly. "I'll miss you, Aryll."
"I'll miss you, too, Big Brother," she started sobbing into his shoulder.
"Be strong for me, okay?" he asked her. She nodded into his shirt. "Take care of Grandma."
"I will," she squeaked. "Don't get too hurt, okay? And find a new Hyrule!"
He breathed into her blonde hair. "I will. I promise."
He let go of her and took the telescope hesitantly. He nodded to her, and that seemed to be all she needed. He turned and headed for the ship.
"Hey, Link!"
Niko ran up to him from the ship.
"We found your boat! Your little red one! You can ride on it for the beginning of the trip so we can find a place for you to stay in the boat. That good, squabbie?"
"That's fine," he laughed. He found it funny that Niko still called him 'squabbie'.
"Get on board, you lazy butts!" Tetra's voice called from the ship. Link jumped off the dock and started to swim. There, next to Tetra's ship, was the King of Red Lions.
"Hello, old friend," he said once he climbed aboard the small boat. "Can you still talk?"
The boat didn't respond.
"Guess not," his face went dark. He turned back to the people on Outset, giving them one last wave goodbye. He felt the wind force him back. He turned around, back facing his home and family. The wind caught on the sail, and he started to move. He got far enough out that he was in front of Tetra's ship. He could still here her scream.
"Anchors aweigh! Hold the tiller steady! As for our destination…" there was a slight pause. Link could hear what she said being carried by the breeze.
"The wind will guide us!"
He heard distant footsteps. He turned for a second, seeing Aryll run out to the farthest point on the docks. She froze, eyes filled with tears. She waved to her brother, wishing him off. He turned back around before she could see him cry.
.
"Going up!" Zuko shouted as Link's little talking – or at least, it used to talk – boat being pulled up onto her ship. They had finally moved enough stuff out of the extra cabin they just used for more storage for Link to sleep in. It was the smallest cabin, but it was a place for him to stay.
Gonzo and Link tied down the King of Red Lions to her ship. Link looked to Tetra with a smirk.
"What's with the smile?" she asked simply.
"I just realized that I have to put up with you for who knows how long," he looked out to the sea. She walked up next to him, resting her arms on the wood of her ship.
"Same goes for me to you, twerp," he mumbled.
"Twerp?" he said dryly, facing her. "You've stooped low now, Tetra."
"And do I care?"
He looked back to the ocean. "Evidently not."
She smiled. She didn't feel like arguing. She rested her head on his shoulder. He tensed up, but then loosened. They stayed there for a while, just staring at the sea, both perfectly content.
.
"Link! Get over here!"
He walked over to Tetra. He thought to himself as he did; it's been three years, and still no Hyrule. She had taken his advice and tried to be nicer, like the princess he knew she could be, but old habits die hard. And when did he let this happen? How had he fallen for her, of all people?
"How you feeling?" he asked. It hadn't been long after their encounter with the ghost ship, and Tetra was still recovering from being kidnapped.
"My head's still trying to figure out what's going on, but I thought I saw something."
"What?" he asked, suddenly anxious. He reached for his sister's telescope.
"Land! I thought I saw a mountain or something!"
His grip on the telescope tightened. He raised it to his eye, pointing it in the direction was pointing.
Sure enough, he saw a mountain range in the distance.
"Gonzo!" she turned around, careful not to shout in Link's ear. "Set our course two points west!"
"Aye, Miss Tetra!" Gonzo shouted back. Zuko had found what Link and her had been looking at and was jumping up and down in the crow's nest. She turned back to Link with a smile on her face.
"Finally," she breathed. "Three years of searching, we finally found it!" She wrapped her arms around his neck, jumping to hug him. She backed away with a smirk. "Three years ago, I was taller than you. What happened?"
He just laughed and rested his forehead against hers.
"Don't forget the promise you made me," she whispered.
"Which one?" he asked, just as quietly. "I've promised you a lot of things."
"The one about what you would do once we found New Hyrule, idiot."
"Oh, that one," he sighed. "Does it have to wait?" He started to lean in. She pushed against him.
"Yes!" she almost squeaked. "It'll make it even more magical that way."
He started running his hand through her hair. She started wearing her hair down more often after they left Outset, but not all the time. He honestly liked it better when her hair was down.
"LAND HO!" Zuko screamed, making Link and Tetra jump. "FIVE POINTS OFF THE-"
"SHUT UP, ZUKO!" Tetra shouted back. Link looked at her, at the smug expression on her face. He laughed as Zuko fumbled with his telescope, trying not to drop it.
"Could this day get any better?" Link asked rhetorically.
.
Six straight months with no breaks, unless you count dealing with the Ghost Ship a break. Niko, Mako, and Zuko just jumped off the side of the boat and into the water while they were still about fifty feet away from shore. Gonzo, Senza, and Nudge were setting up the exit plank, laughing as they saw the other three rolling around in the pale, fine sand. Niko threw a ball of it at Zuko, and it deteriorated in midair, covering Mako in dust.
"And how old are they again?" Link asked Tetra as they waited for Nudge to give the okay to exit ship.
"Sixteen," she laughed. "It's sad, I know."
"All clear, Miss Tetra," Nudge called. His black hair had started to show some fine, white hairs. He, Gonzo, and Senza all started down the plank. Link and Tetra walked out to the beach.
"Finally," she whispered. "We finally found it." She slipped her sandals off and threw them onto the sand, letting her feet sink slowly downward. She looked back at Link, eyes starting to water. She quickly grabbed onto him, wrapping her arms under his, and dug her face into his chest. He rested his cheek on her hair and returned the embrace.
"Three years…" he mumbled into her blond locks. "Three years of searching."
"Come to an end," she finished the thought for him. They had become closer during that time, to the point where Link's promise started to become more and more difficult to wait for.
"That promise, Tetra?" he lifted off of her so he could face her. His smirk sent her laughing into his tunic.
"I guess so," she whispered. She moved her arms up to his neck and he brought her closer. He leaned so that his forehead landed on hers. Niko, Mako, and Zuko all started cheering. Nudge was still on the boat, while Senza and Gonzo were both trying to quiet the rambunctious sixteen-year-olds.
"You stupid kid," she muttered jokingly.
"You stubborn girl," he spiked back.
She let out a small laugh. She leaned up, forgetting that it was his promise. Their lips touched, and it seemed as though electricity surged through their blood from the contact. They shut out Niko, Mako, and Zuko's screams, and just for one moment, it seemed all was perfect.
New land.
New Hyrule.
New chances.
New hope.
New people.
New friendships.
New love.