Author's Note: This chapter sets up several key events later on. Cookie if you figure out where Link is, and another one if you get why the wolf is named what he is. Both are pretty easy. Also, does anyone else find the fact that the pirates managed to traverse the entire Sea in half a day? I had to extend that a bit, even though I do not like the pirate ship. Grr. Oh, and I put up a forum for…whatever you guys want to say about this story. I'll try to answer any questions as quickly as possible. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
At first, it was just screams. His own? Maybe.
It was sort of scary, but not too bad.
Then came the images. Link watched as his sword pierced the eye of that one Bokoblin over and over, as if the memory had been set on repeat. The gelatinous material getting punctured, the spurt of blood, the look-ugh the look on the Bokoblin's face…
And then it was no longer a Bokoblin, but Aryll.
Link screamed as his sister spat blood into his face. He gripped the hilt of the sword and yanked it out of her eye socket. His momentum sent him backwards into a dark void. He watched Aryll's limp body do the same, his sister's head attached to the body of a monster. Then even she was gone and Link couldn't see anything.
But he could hear. What started as the pitter-patter of small feet grew into a dull roar that engulfed him. He was slammed down on to something wet while little fists battered him repeatedly.
Rain, he realized. It's rain.
He pushed himself up and shivered slightly. He was in the midst of a vicious storm in the middle of the night. He didn't wonder how he got here. Dreams and nightmares just made sense that way.
As his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, he could begin to distinguish shapes. An irregular rectangle. Some blobs. And that shadowy figure only a short distance away. A pale sphere of light hovered in front of it, revealing a dark hand.
Link's heart stopped as the figure shouted something. The storm mangled the noise, but it sounded to Link like the cry of a Bokoblin.
He screamed and ran. He didn't know where he was going, only that he needed to run from the Aryll-monster who was chasing him. The grass was slick with rain, causing him to slip and fall several times. Each time, he got up and glanced behind him to see if he was still being chased.
He was. And it was gaining.
Lightning flashed and illuminated everything around Link, but he only processed the giant building coming up in front of him. He skidded to a stop. Or tried to. The drenched grass had no traction so he slammed into the wall.
Peeling himself off, slipping, glancing back, running.
Link made a right and then a left, which he immediately regretted. Another bolt of lightning informed him that he was surrounded by walls on three sides. A dead end.
Too late to escape. The figure was there, and beginning to advance upon him, the light gradually growing brighter. Panting, sobbing, and soaking wet, Link fell to his knees and cried openly.
Thunder roared and the rain just kept coming. The light was so close that it was blinding in contrast to the surrounding darkness. The figure stretched out a dark claw and Link could only watch in terror through half-shut eyes. He could no longer tell if the dampness on his face was rain, tears, or blood.
Then something swatted his nose.
Link's eyes flew open and he inhaled sharply. His internal clock told him it was early dawn. He let out a sigh of relief.
Just a dream, he thought. I better check on Aryll to see if she kicked her blanket off ag-And then the wolf leaned over and peered at Link with his eerily human eyes.
"You were hyperventilating," he stated. He sagely patted Link's nose with his paw. "Nightmares suck."
Everything came flooding back, almost crushing Link with its emotional weight. He rolled over on to his side and wished he hadn't—the craptastic mattress had not been a good friend to his back. A small groan escaped him as soreness spread throughout his body.
"What—no you can't go back to sleep now!" A hard head-butt against his back just made the pain worse. "The nightmares will come back."
No response.
Suddenly, weight. Link cracked open an eye and saw that the wolf had placed his upper body on the boy's shoulder. His nose was this close to Link's face. He flinched when wolf breath touched his cheek.
"This is a big boat and it moves like crazy and I am going to puke," the wolf announced.
That got him up.
"Really?" Link asked once he was scrunched up against the back wall.
The wolf yawned, revealing his pink tongue and pointed teeth, and then flopped on to the floor. "Nah. That's a waste of food. Sure got you up, though." He snickered and a wolfish smile appeared on his wolfish face.
As much of a jerk this creature was, Link couldn't help but be curious. He seemed friendly enough right now. Was it safe to ask him some questions?
Link pulled up his legs and wrapped his arms around them. He rested his chin on his knees and said, "So, um…what should I call you?"
"Billy works fine."
"Uh…okay." Pale sunlight was now peeking through the porthole, shining directly on Sky. The sleeping bird would have reminded Link of a phoenix with the way Sky's red plumage was glowing…if he knew what a phoenix was, that is.
"So…" The youngest Link in the room took a keen interest in his boots as he posed the next question. "How did you die?"
"None of your business."
"Okay," Link said meekly.
They sat like that for a while. Every now and then breaths of sea air tickled Link's face as it snuck in from the porthole.
Eventually, Billy sighed and heaved himself up into a sitting position. Link noted that he slouched. "Listen kid," Billy said. "You really think you're not the hero type?" His blue eyes didn't show any signs of irritation. If anything, there was a rueful look to his features.
"No, I really don't. I mean, exploring would be awesome-" And here Link's face lit up for a second. "-but I couldn't do the fighting." And here he hugged himself tighter.
Billy began to scratch his ear again. "Well more power to you. Wish it was just as easy as saying 'no', but these goddesses play dirty, kid. What would you say if you had to become a hero to save your sister?"
Link opened his mouth, then shut it. He couldn't think of anything.
Billy just kept scratching his ear.
"HOY, SWABBIE!"
Sky awoke with a very undignified squawk as Niko strode into the room.
"TIME TO WAKE UP, YA LANDL—oh." Niko's voice died when he saw that Link was already up. However, he did not see Sky trying to fix his disheveled feathers, nor did he see Billy, who was near-breathless with laughter.
The scrawny pirate looked at Link accusingly. "Swabbie, you sure are strange. Why would you be up this early?"
"You were going to wake me up anyway!" Link retorted.
Niko's nose twitched. "So what if I was? You're taking all the fun out of having a swabbie." He had such a disappointed expression on his face that Link felt bad—which made absolutely no sense!
Folding his arms, Niko grinned again and said, "Well what's done is done. Guess what you're going to do on your first day as a pirate?"
Link's heart started to race. He'd played Pirates enough with Aryll to build up quite the imagination about what they did. He leaped up, face aglow.
"Find buried treasure?"
"Nope."
"Make maps for buried treasure?"
"Nope."
A pause.
"…bury buried treasure?"
Niko's grin widened.
"Cleaning?" Link cried. "I have to clean?"
He stood on the main deck of the ship with his roommates Mr. Mop and Sir Rusty Bucket II.
"Yup!" Why was it that Link's suffering lightened Niko's mood? "When you're done here you can go back to your room and start on all the laundry that'll be waiting for you. And when you're done with that…you can take another crack at the lantern-swinging test." Niko chortled and walked away.
"Wait!" Link shouted. "Where are you going?!"
"Back to sleep!" Niko replied gleefully without looking back. "Do you know how early it is?"
Link's fingers wrapped around the mop handle like he was trying to strangle it. He roughly plunged the mop into the bucket and slapped it across the deck. He grimaced as he started to mop, the rough handle rubbing against his raw, pink skin.
At least the view was nice. Outset Island was only a small lump on the horizon now, and they were surrounded by the vast pearl-grey expanse of the early morning Sea. The sky was a pale blue and the sun was starting to rise high enough to illuminate the world in all of its natural glory. Even the wind was gentler in the morning, caressing Link's face.
It's blowing the wrong way, he noted.
"Amazing," Sky said quietly. He was perched on the railing, wings spread slightly to enjoy the breeze. Billy had been sniffing around the deck, but now returned to Link's side. He flicked his ear, a sure sign that he was annoyed.
"This is a big-ass lake," he declared. "Also," he paused and examined his paws. "I'm small. Why is that."
"If we were the original sizes of these creatures," Sky explained with the patience of a teacher stuck with a difficult student, "It might be too tempting to help Link. I myself could probably fly him to the end of dungeons. This way, we don't interfere." He lowered his head so that his large beak rested against his chest. "And this way we can't help much in battle, either," he added in a more subdued voice. His eyes slid toward the waves again.
Billy's attention shifted to Link, the look on his face saying what his mouth didn't: That's DUMB.
"And this is the Sea, not a lake," Link piped up, not knowing what else to add to the conversation.
"The what?"
"The Sea. It's a whole lot bigger than a lake. It's a lot saltier, too." He sloshed the mop around the deck, wincing with each movement of his hands. All of his geography knowledge came from those brief moments he paid attention during Sturgeon's lessons. Little miracles, Sturgeon called them.
"That's what I said. It's a big-ass lake. When are we going to get to the…uh…"
"Forsaken Fortress," Sky said.
"That." Billy tried to be nonchalant about it. "I knew that."
"Mako said a month." It was getting warmer now. Tetra should've gotten abducted a few hours sooner, before he had had to put on this stupid, sweaty tunic.
Billy lifted his head. "That's kind of far. Two weeks there and then two weeks back?"
"No." Link picked up the bucket and moved further along the deck. Billy followed; Sky didn't. The bird merely turned his head to make sure that Link was still nearby, then resumed contemplating…something. Whatever it was, only he knew, though Link suspected that it had something to do with Billy's question about size.
"A month to get there. Two if the wind doesn't change," Link clarified. This was ridiculous. He mopped the floor at home, sure, but this was much bigger than the cottage. Besides, Grandma would always take the mop and shoo him off because he was doing it wrong.
At first, Link wasn't sure if Billy was yawning or if his jaw had dropped. When he spoke, Link decided it was the latter. "The hell?! It takes me half that time to get from Snowpeak to Ordon. On foot. Human feet."
Link shrugged and swirled the mop around. He didn't know what either of those places was and he wasn't paying much attention, anyways. He was actually trying to plan out how much he would mop in front of the door so that when Niko came out he'd slip flat on to his butt…and then revenge would be his!
"Link?"
The boy raised his head to see the bird staring at him from the railing.
"Have you ever heard of Hyrule?" He skillfully turned in mid-hop so that he was now facing the youth. Sky's head tilted to the left, beak slightly open.
Link halted in the midst of a mop stroke. His eyes turned skyward and his forehead wrinkled. "Uh…no. Why?"
Sky's tail drooped. His head turned even more, quizzically this time. "Are you sure? This Sea isn't a part of Hyrule?"
Link shook his head. "I don't think so…," he said slowly. "There's forty-nine—wait. No. There's forty-eight islands and forty-nine quadrants in the Great Sea. Orca said that there isn't much outside of the islands."
"Hmm," Sky muttered. "Strange."
Link looked at him expectantly, curiosity piqued.
Sky noticed this and flapped a dismissive wing. "It's just odd, is all. The Hero often appears in the land of Hyrule." He regarded a cloud with mild interest "Or the land above it."
There were faint thumps and thuds from below deck, the sounds of someone beginning the climb up the stairs. Link took this as a cue to quickly grab the bucket and move towards the door. His mopping took on a new fervor, even though his hands stung.
"So," he started, reluctant to let the conversation drop. "Have you helped a lot of heroes, then?" Of course, he didn't consider himself a hero. Sky's words just reminded him of the hero of the legend, and he was curious.
"Not a one," Billy chipped in. He began trotting around the deck. He also discovered the entertainment value in chasing any seagulls that dared to land on the ship.
"I've taught my share," Sky replied smoothly.
A brief lapse into silence. More mopping.
"…did they all win?"
The bird was slow to respond. When he did, he raised his head to fix hard, amber eyes on him. "You will," he said with a quiet fierceness. "I'll make sure of that."
Link had had enough. He slammed the mop into the bucket, pushing out most of the remaining water. "Look, Sky," he said a little too loudly. It was the first time he had called the bird by its alleged name. "I'm really sorry that you came all the way from Hi-rool or whatever it's called but I'm not a hero. The only hero I've heard of is the one in the legend, and he didn't even—"
Just then, the door flew open.
A non-squirrely man peeked out. He had deep-set eyes and a blue-and-white striped shirt. He also had large sideburns that Link couldn't help but stare at. He recalled seeing this man at the dinner table the previous night. Apparently, he didn't talk much. His name was Zuko, Link believed.
Zuko slowly looked around the deck, then back at Link. His expression asked, "Who are you talking to?" Unbeknownst to him, Billy was sniffing his pants. His left pocket, to be exact. He then sat down and announced, "He has cookies in there."
Link just smiled awkwardly and mopped some more, this time to the side of the door. His revenge would have to wait.
Zuko's eyebrows rose as he saw the condition of the mop handle. He grabbed it and took one of Link's arms by the wrist.
"Oh," Link said in a small voice.
The handle was shining with blood, blood that was also oozing out of his palms. Zuko shook his head and released Link. He quickly scanned the area to make sure no one would see him helping the swabbie, then hobbled over to a section of the wall to the left of the door. He pointed at it and traced a large square on the surface. Link soon realized that he had traced the outlines of a well-hidden cabinet in the side of the wall. Zuko hooked his fingers in the cabinet's latch, which closely resembled an irregularity in the wood, and opened it to reveal a row of bottles and bandages.
Sky and Billy leaned forward inquisitively. Link recognized these bottles, whose contents ranged from a pale rosy color to a deep, rich shade akin to Sky's plumage. Bottle size seemed to have an inverse correlation with color saturation: the deeper the shade of red, the smaller its container.
"Red potion," Billy said. Link gave a small nod.
Link had a lot of experience with red potion. Grandma kept a similar cabinet in the house. The paler the color, the more diluted it was, and thus the cheaper and less effective it was. Grandma had applied the palest one to his various scrapes and bruises hundreds of times.
"Battle scars," he called them. "Boo boos," his Grandma would say.
Seeing the industrial-sized glass jug of weak Red potion reminded Link of all the times she had admonished him, of all the half-promises he had mumbled about being more careful…he could almost the cookie Grandma would always give him afterwards.
The jug was in the direct center of the cabinet, so Zuko only had to unscrew the lid for Link to get at it. As he leaned in to scoop up some of the potion, he noticed one bottle that was wedged into the far back corner, a thick layer of dust lining the small, single-serving container.
The potion inside was as blue as the Sea itself.
Rubbing the pale liquid between his palms, Link's mind raced at the sight of the Blue potion. How the pirates had managed to get their hands on some, Link couldn't guess. And of such potency! Orca had said that strong Blue potion could do anything except bring a corpse back to life. That small bottle screamed FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY. AND I MEAN EMERGENCIES. THIS STUFF DOESN'T GROW ON TREES, YOU KNOW!
It was quite possible that this bottle had even been passed down from captain to captain. Or maybe they had stolen it? They were pirates, after all.
The pinkish potion on Link's hands stung for a second, but then delivered a familiar cool, soothing sensation. The bleeding stopped almost immediately, just like all those other times. Link hesitated before accepting the bandages Zuko offered him. Grandma would always do this for him, but he didn't want to look like a little kid in front of Zuko…
Zuko watched him fumble with the bandages, using much more than he had to. He raised an eyebrow and took the bandages from Link, wrapping them tightly around the boy's hands. He used half of what Link was going to waste.
When Zuko was done, he put everything back in the cabinet, awkwardly patted Link on the head, and set off for his post in the crow's nest. However, he stopped when Link's stomach made it quite clear to everyone on deck that it was empty, and that it was not happy about it. Zuko rubbed his forehead and walked back. With shifty eyes, his left hand dove into his pocket and he fished out a small cookie, the kind with jelly in the center. Apparently, he had taken a not-very-approved-of snack break. He put a finger to his lips and waggled his eyebrows: It's a secret to everybody.
Link mimicked the gesture. If Link had been more familiar with the lookout, he might have noticed the tiniest flicker of amusement on the pirate's face before he turned and lithely clambered up the ladder to the crow's nest.
Maybe these pirates weren't all jerks, after all. Thoughtfully, Link flexed his hand and tried to remember how Zuko had bandaged it. He vaguely wondered if Niko and Tetra had the potential to be nice, as well.
He raised the cookie to his mouth and crunched down. It was a lot smaller than he thought it would be—waiiit…
Link glared at Billy, who had taken a sudden interest in his paws.
