Chapter 2- The Mermaid

Link…….Captain Link……Hear my voice…..Link……Wake up…..

Darkness was lifted from his eyes, though not the confusion from his head. A clear blue sky was visible and gradually his hearing was returned to him as well. He could hear the squawk of distant seagulls and the pleasant lull of ocean. He forced himself in a sitting position, though his vision was still blurred. "Ugh, where am I?" he asked rubbing his eyes. Then it all came clear to him. Captain Link of The Sea Bird was stranded on a deserted island. He quickly stood up and looked toward the ocean. His proud ship was nowhere to be seen, neither his crew members. In fact, he didn't even see any evidence of his ship at all. "Great. What have I done to deserve this?"

As he started to grumble and pace back and force along the water's edge, his foot kicked something. He bent down and picked up the object to find that it was his log book. "Great, my log book is waterlogged." He carefully set it on a rock to dry and then sat down to think. "I have to find shelter and food. I've been on survival missions before. Think Link, think!" At that moment he noticed a small cavern in the rock wall that separated the beach from the rest of the island. "Great, I'll stay there!" he said with enthusiasm. "And for food, there's gotta some food around here!"

So that was how his new life began. He found soft leaves and grass to line the cave with and ate fruit and caught fish with an old fishing rod he had found. At first he was somewhat depressed that he was all alone, but he was happy to be alive.

That night, he wrote in his log book:

Captains Log. Day 257

Today was the most indescribable day of my voyages. Actually, yesterday was. We were caught in a terrible storm and my beautiful ship was ripped apart! I don't exactly know what happened, but all I remember is coming out on deck and being trapped by a fallen mast. Then I woke up here- on a deserted island. At first I thought it was going to be rough, but after I found some old supplies left by probably the last inhabitants, I didn't feel so bad. But will I ever get home?

* * *

The next morning, Captain Link discovered that he smelled like seaweed, his hair was full of sand, and he had green grime all over him. So he decided to bathe himself in the ocean.

"There's no one here, obviously," he said to himself. Since there was no one else to talk to, he would always talk to himself. He headed down to the shore with the softest and biggest leaf he could find to use as a towel. "I'll have to learn how to weave myself a towel one day…" When he got to the shore, he looked out into the far ocean and sighed longingly. "I wonder if I'll ever see anyone again….But no need to worry. Ships are bound to be passing by here from time to time. Right now what's important is getting myself clean.

So he stripped himself bare and set his clothes on a nearby log, along with his leaf towel. Then he walked into the ocean until the water was up to his neck. "Oooh, it's cold," he winced. But he soon got used to the cold. As he reached for the soap, he remembered something. "Oh, no soap. Well, water is better than nothing… Man, I wish I knew what soap was made of." He submerged himself under water and opened his eyes. He could see some of what surrounded him, but everything was blurry. He couldn't see any fish; he had scared them all away.

Link started to rub his scalp, making sure to get all the sand out. What he hated most was having a sandy head. Soon he had to come up for a breath of air, but then dunked himself again. He hummed underwater as he scrubbed himself with his hands. He found that the green grime was somewhat easy to remove, which he was thankful for. "This is the oddest bath I've ever taken," he thought.

When he came up for another breath of air, he didn't go back down right away. He looked around curiously. "Why do I have a feeling I'm being watched?" He soon shrugged off the feeling and submerged himself once again.

But soon he came back up again. "I'm positive there's no one here!" he yelled out, though he thought no one would hear him. "Why do I have this feeling?"

Suddenly there was a giggle. Link looked over in the direction is came from to see something duck quickly underwater. He stared at the ripples in the water to see if it would come up again. Then an idea came to him. "I know someone is there, so I have to outsmart 'em," he thought. So he pretended as if he had gone back underwater by making a big splash with his hands. Though water splattered everywhere, Captain Link kept his eyes glued to the place where the ripples had been.

Like he had expected, he saw something slowly immerge from the water. It was the head of a girl! From all Link could tell, she had blonde hair and blue eyes. And those blue eyes rapidly grew when they saw that Link wasn't underwater; she quickly ducked under and started to swim away.

"Oh, no you don't!" Link exclaimed. "No one watches me bathe and gets away with it!" And off he went, swimming as fast as he could after the mysterious girl. She was surprisingly fast and stealthy. At times Link had thought he lost her trail, but then a ripple or splash would lead him the right way.

The chase was swift and tiring, but eventually Link caught up with the girl. She screamed as he seized her wrists, forcing her to stop. "Let go of me!" she cried, trying to free herself. But Captain Link was strong and held her firmly.

"No! Not until you tell me what you were doing spying on me!" Link exclaimed, glaring at her.

The girl stopped struggling and returned the glare. "Nothing!"

"Then why are you out here?!" he asked, roughly pulling her closer to him.

She gasped at the pain and tried again to break away. Her efforts were in vain, and she eventually gave up. She stared at him with venomous eyes but remained silent.

"Well?" Link asked, becoming more irate.

The girl still said nothing. At length, there was a splashing noise coming from the water and Link's attention was turned to behind the girl. Something started to immerge, but at first he could not tell what. Then when it became clear, his eyes grew enormous. It was a fish tail; a mermaid tail to be exact. This girl was a mermaid!

"You-you-you're a," Link stuttered, not believing his eyes. The girl just glared at him ever more. "A-a-a-a mer-r-r-maid?"

She nodded but did not speak. After a moment of silence, however, she did. "Are you a man?"

He nodded but said nothing. Not until she asked another question.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing under water at the spot between his legs.

Link's face turned a bright red and he quickly covered it with his hands. "Nothing!" Then he asked her a question, to change the subject. "Who are you?"

"My name is Zelda, I am princess of the mermaids," she replied.

"Mermaids are real?" he asked, still shocked.

Zelda shrugged. "I'm living proof, aren't I?"

He nodded again. "So…there's a mermaid kingdom?" She was about to reply when he put his finger over her lips. "No, don't tell me here. I feel awkward talking to you without any clothes on."

"What's clothes?" the mermaid asked, tilting her head.

"Wow, you don't know anything," Captain Link muttered. "Uh…come to my cave with me. We can talk there."

"But I can't be out of the water too long. And I can't walk," she informed him.

"Right, right," he realized. Then he got an idea. "I know! I'll carry you and set you in this pool that's near my cave. Then we can talk!"

"Okay!" Zelda agreed. So they started off to the shore, which was far away now. "So who are you?"

"Oh, my name is Link," he replied. "I am…well was the captain of a ship called The Sea Bird. But I was shipwrecked here about a day ago. I was all alone before you showed up. Are you alone?"

Zelda sighed. "Pretty much. My whole kingdom was wiped out by some underwater epidemic. So I went in search for some humans."

At that time they had arrived at the shore, and Link took Zelda in her arms. Then he immerged from the water and started for the pool.

"Wow, you sure look funny," she giggled, touching him in places he wasn't meant to be touched. But Link just blushed, grinned, and bared it until he got to the pool and set her down. Then he readied himself to tell her all about humans- and why it was inappropriate to touch them in certain areas.

Author's Note: So there is chapter 2! I hope you liked it! I think chapter 3 will be them telling each other all about themselves, but I might do something else. I drew a picture of Captain Link and Mermaid Princess Zelda and posted it: http://mrszeldalink(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Seafaring-Romance-138531526