A/N: Here's the official first chapter. Kind of short, but this was the best place to cut it off. The chapters will get longer, I promise.


Link sat on the beach as the postman argued with the pirates. He wasn't sure about what; he was trying to distract himself. He was upset about his sister, and scared of the pirates. All he'd wanted was to spend his birthday the same way he always did. Not this. This was the worst birthday he'd ever had. He picked up a stick and started drawing in the sand.

The pirate girl, apparently the captain, approached him. "Hey, kid." She said. He turned to look at her. "Well… I guess since this is kinda partly my fault, we're gonna take you with us on our ship to save your sister."

Link's eyes widened. He was going to be sailing with these… these pirates on their ship?! But they were pirates! As much as he wanted to save his sister, he wished there was another way.

"But you should really go get a shield. Oh, and probably say your goodbyes, too." Tetra said.

He scrambled to his feet and ran for his house, opening the door and not relaxing until he was inside… where his grandma seemed to be crying.

"…grandma?"

"Aryll… she really is gone, isn't she?" His grandma whispered. "I heard… oh, what kind of monster would take a poor young girl like her…"

"Grandma, I… I'm going to go save her," He said. "She's going to be fine…"

"At least take this with you, then," his grandma turned to him and handed him a shield… no, the family shield, the same one he'd seen on the wall so many times.

"…thank you," He muttered. "I promise me and Aryll will come home safe…"

His grandma didn't reply, and he felt a twinge of sadness come over him as he left the house, but it was replaced by fear as he walked up to the pirates, trying to look as brave as he could. "See you got a shield, but… it looks kinda old… oh well, it'll probably work. You ready?" Tetra asked.

"Yes," He said, hearing his voice shake a little, and hoping they hadn't heard it. "I'm ready." As I'm ever going to be, he added in his head.

He waved his final goodbyes as the ship set out, holding back a few tears when he spotted his grandma on the deck of their house, watching. He was going to miss that island more than anything.

He was interrupted by a noise from Tetra. "So when're you gonna stop being so emotional, do you have a guess? If it's just going to get worse, we could turn around and take you back…"

Oh, how he wished he could say yes to that offer. He didn't want to be here, not at all. But he was doing this for Aryll, he had to keep reminding himself of that… "No," he said. "I'm fine."

"If you say so," Tetra said. "Well, okay, but if you're gonna be sailing with us, go below deck for now so you don't get in our way."

Link was more than happy to do that, and he went downstairs. He'd thought this birthday couldn't get any worse, but apparently he was wrong. Here he was on a pirate ship—a pirate ship— in order to rescue his sister. Pirates had killed his parents. He was terrified of pirates.

But I have to… for Aryll! he thought to himself. But couldn't there be another way? One that didn't involve pirates?

After a while, he heard footsteps but didn't bother to move. He wanted to pass out. He was tired. Not to mention if he was asleep it was possible he could forget all this. "…hey. Hey, Link? What're you doing?"

Judging by the voice, it was Tetra. "…sleep," He muttered.

"Sleeping? Why are you sleeping? You're on a pirate ship, aren't you the least bit curious? You're not gonna snoop around?" Tetra asked.

"Don't remind me," Link said.

"…what?"

"Don't remind me where I am." Link said, a little louder.

"Why?"

"Just don't, okay?" Link said, his voice cracking.

Tetra could tell she was probably nearing a touchy subject, so she changed topics. "Okay… uh, your sister. You love her, a lot, don't you? Going out and trying to save her…"

"Yeah," Link replied. "I do."

He wasn't saying much, and she figured he might not. Maybe he was getting seasick? "…are you feeling okay?"

"No."

"What's wrong?"

"Don't wanna talk 'bout it." Link turned away and curled up again.

She sighed. "Okay, but, y'know, if you do need anything, ask."

He listened to her retreating footsteps and waited until he was sure she was gone until letting himself start to cry silently. This wasn't fair. Why did this happen? Why did his sister have to get kidnapped? And why, oh why, did he have to tag along with pirates in order to save her?

After he'd cried until he had no tears left, he finally managed to pass out.