Part 9. Sorry for taking so long, I've had lots of thing to do this past two months. Not only that but I've got a slight writer's blockage. :P
"Link…Link wait up….Link! Wait! WAIT!"
"What Navy?" The small blue fish flinched at the anger embedded in Link's voice. The blue scaled being shrunk and ever so slowly moved away from the seething rage overflowing our young merman. "WHAT?" The silence was his answer. He growled slightly and floated away, followed by Sheik and further back our poor small Navy. She knew that Link could be easily bothered and that his patience wasn't one to be meddled with, and yet she had pushed him far enough, knowingly that he had been enraged a few moments before. It was her complete and utter fault. For an indefinite and unexplainable reason her heart had been giving flips, like waves against the shore, that left her with a unbalanced peace, a sick and nauseous feeling and her whole body shivering from time to time. It resembled a fever of sorts, but an emotional fever. Almost like an ill omen. It would have been fine if the black and depressing aura surrounded her…it didn't. The negative appearance surrounded her beloved friend Link. As thick as smoke, it enveloped him in a veil of utter darkness and emptiness. She was willing to give her all to stop that suffocating cloud from shattering Link. He was way to precious for her to let it do that. Yet for now she'll let it be for a while due to Link's emotional instability.
They swam following the raging bull before them. It was almost an eternal tail chase. They went up, down, left, right, took a curve near a trench, small through algae forests and various different coral reefs. Despite the long distance the trio had covered, the leader seemed unaffected, while his two followers where in the brink of collapsing; both mermen and fish had used more energy than what they could and were barely holding on. "Link…" Navy huffed. "I…believe…we…should rest…"
"Why?" He asked irritated. "Why? Why? Why? WHY? WHY?" The merman spun around and missed by a few inches crashing against the fish. "WHY? WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO?"
"Link cal…" Sheik began, his red eyes flickering between desperation and tiredness.
"CALM DOWN?" Link retorted. "CALM DOWN?...How can I? How can I possibly calm down with everyone telling me what I must do? HOW CAN I POSSIBLY CALM DOWN WITH EVERYONE TELLING ME WHO I MUST BE? WHAT I MUST FEEL? I just…" His shaking hands passed through his golden mane. "I just…" He tremblingly and sluggishly let his body sink; the small bubbles around his frame gave the scene a sombre and depressing look. Sheik and Navy followed him closely, watching intently Link's posture and the defeated way he carried himself. "Link…" Navy whispered so quietly, as if her voice could easily shatter the merman.
"I just…" His tail touched the sandy ground and right then and there he crumbled. His hands fisted his hair, and his whole body racked with sobs and hiccups. Sheik sat beside him and cradled him in his arms, combing his hair with his fingers hoping that his touch would somehow relieve Link from his grief. Navy hugged Link's arm like a lifeline, her small and soft fins drawing circles every now and then, trying with all she got despite the exhaustion due to the swimming and her small size.
"Shhh…Shh…It's okay." Sheik reassured him with small and gentle touches. "It's alright."
"I just…"Link sobbed. "I just love him so much." His blue eyes locked with red ones. "I love him Sheik." Sheik nodded and held him tighter, rocking them back and forth slowly while calming Link with delicate caresses. He had a promise to keep.
"Your Majesty…" A soft yet imposing voice resounded in the throne room. The old king looked towards the entrance, leaving whatever paperwork he was revising at the moment aside, and paid full attention to his most loyal subject.
"Come in, Impa." He commanded with a slight wrinkly smile of his. The crab swam regally before the king. Her claws and body reflecting the sunlight that managed to find its way through the walls of the castle. It's light frame floating up and down as it made its way along the blue waters of the sea.
"Your Highness." It bowed respectfully before the monarch. "I'm here to inform you from something terrible." The monarch's eyes widened and his small brown orbs looked expectantly at the crab, the smile a tight line. "It's about Link." She took the leap. The smile the royal member once held, vanished instantly.
Link felt drowsy and exhausted…extremely exhausted. He had vented his frustrations once more since the day at the cave and it was already becoming too troublesome for his friends. Or so he thought. He was slightly ashamed, no very ashamed of himself that he had been a bother to them for the past weeks, going in strange and unpredictable mood swings, zoning out in the middle of a chatter, no paying attention when called, getting irritable and unbearable for moments, and making them worry like a mother whale for its offspring. He wished he didn't have the answer to the reason why his behaviour had been less than friendly; yet, he couldn't deny the fact that it had been the only recent event that could lead to this changes in him was none other than the sudden love he felt for Prince Cloud. But how could he deny it? In fact, how couldn't he have fallen in love with him? It was inevitable. He had this aura, this beautiful and marvellous aura that lured him in and made him do crazy things, have crazy thoughts. It was almost like a light for a tiny fish. Addictive, attractive. Whatever it was, he craved it like a madman; an ambrosia so delicious that sooner or later would make him kill for it and he wouldn't mind whatsoever for at least his possession of that luscious ambrosia would be definite. He would own it and that would make him the happiest merman on the planet. But…oh! Would that triumph be never to occur. He was a merman bound to the sea…Ambrosia was a human forever free in the surface. He was to be forever apart from the one who held his heart. So far away and yet so close to the grasp; it was just too painful for him.
Link sighed deeply and sat up, Sheik's arms in a loose grip. "Link…" Sheik tentatively whispered. A faked smile was his answer. Sheik understood Link better than what he understood himself. And even if he tried to put a brave and strong front, deep inside he was crumbling and breaking apart. For Sheik it was a truth he couldn't, despite his best efforts, hide. And so, he reacted by giving Link the sternest look he mustered. Link flinched a bit and looked away. His eyes betraying every happy and go-lucky emotion he tried to give away. "Link…" Sheik tried once more. He didn't desire for his friend to keep on being sad, he had to let it all out before that same sadness ate him completely. But Link wasn't having it and therefore decided to swim away.
Three pairs of fins stopped before the entrance of a cave. "Um…" Link slowly began, two pairs of eyes looked expectantly at him. "I…I…" His hand scratched the nape of his head and anyone could tell by the slight colour of his cheeks that he was slightly embarrassed. Navi`s lips curved upwards. "Aw. We know." Her fins moved in a lazily way. "Don't worry. Everything is okie-dokie." Link scratched her scaly blue head and chuckled. Sheik hid a faint smile with the back of his hand. If only they knew that their happiness would be short lived.
"Hey Link! Guess!" Navi chirped with her usual perkiness. The young merman just stared at her confounded. "Wait! No! Close your eyes! Close them! C-L-O-S-E. T-H-E-M." She said and as Link giggled she placed her fins over his eyes. "Sheik! Sheik! Is it ready? Is it?" She yelled at the retreating red tailed merman. "SHEIK!"
"Yes. Yes it is." A red eye narrowed.
"GREAT!" Navi screamed almost leaving Link deaf. "Oh. Sorry. So…COME! COME THIS WAY!" She practically pulled at our merman's hair to bring him forward were supposedly some wonderful and magnificent surprise awaited.
"Navi! Stop it!" Link pleaded while attempting to pry the blue fish from his mane.
"Stop being a baby and follow me!" Navi bit upon his finger. Link flinched upon the touch and hissed sharply. At last they reached the centre of the cave where light, like water on a river, poured from the opening in the ceiling, gracing Sheik with its touch, who waited for his two companions patiently beside something hidden beneath a ragged brown cloth. That something was big and broad, gigantic compared to young Sheik beside it. Navi lightly pushed Link on the shoulders indicating for the merman to stop and Link did so; his shoulders tense from not being able to see at all, darkness scared him quite a bit, and he was the kind of person to trust his eyesight far more than his hearing and other senses. It sounded childish even to him, but he couldn't help it, he was that frightened from such. "OKAY SHEIK!" A pitchy voice emerged from upon the darkness. He recognized that came from Navi. "READY?" He didn't hear Sheik's voice but he figured he had either nodded or answered by glancing at the fish. "LINK! OPEN YOUR EYES! HURRY! HURRY!"
"Yes. I heard you loud and clear Navi." At first, his eyesight was slightly blurry and showed only silhouettes and black splotches here and there. Soon, the amorphous shapes took their respective borders and the black splotches cleared giving way to colourful and bright objects as well as lively figurines. Surely the small cave in which Link and his friends kept their treasures was a sight to behold even for the eyes of the intrusive figure near the cave entrance. His presence was yet to be noticed and the uncloaked persona was yet to intrude upon what was unfolding before its very eyes.
Link's eyes strode towards the clothed giant, his blue eyes racking every single crease and bend of the cloth wondering what could it be that rested behind the folds. "So?...What's this?" He questioned nervously.
"This," The blue wonder's fin pointed left. "Is a present for you from us." The big grin upon scaly lips created a shiver to run through Link's back. There was absolutely not a single thought that could counter the fact that Navi was well known among the group for her black humour and ill-behaviour. She was a natural born prankster. Link prayed to whatever god that managed to hear him for Navi to be, for once, a normal and generous fish. "Sheik, would you please." The red-eyed merman nodded and very gently took hold of the cloth and tugged ever so softly on it. The ragged cover gave little resistance and soon by gravity descended upon the sandy ground, uncovering little by little its mysteries: a spiky, perfectly sculptured hair, strong yet kind face with piercing eyes, high cheekbones, a gallant chin followed by a slim yet tough neck, big and broad shoulders covered by steel plates, hard chest with a fang-baring wolf surrounded by thorny vines, muscular arms holding a sword, powerful legs, one propped over a shield…Link's eyes couldn't have been more amazed than now. Before him was the object of his affections. Before him, splayed with its entire regal and majestic aura, was the embodiment of his very dreams and wildest ideas. Before him laid the very statue that Prince Cloud had received as a present from the old man, who apparently was his caretaker. His heart gave the biggest leap so far and thudded loudly inside his chest. "Oh…my…" What could he possibly say with empty lungs for his breath had been taken away moments ago? Link's eyes followed every single line that made the contour of the statue, every single curve, dent, hole; everything couldn't escape his hungry eyes. He was lost in it. His whole world reduced to the statue; to him it felt almost as if having Prince Cloud himself standing right in front of him. The poor green-tailed merman was so embellished with the figure before him that he never noticed the shadow that lurked behind him. And without a care in the world he launched himself towards the unmoving Prince Cloud and hugged it tightly. "OH GUYS!" He said and spared a glance to Sheik and Navi, who were grinning like dummies. "HOW COULD I EVER THANK YOU? IT IS THE BEST GIFT I COULD EVER ASK FOR!"
"Don't mind at all." Navi said and blushed bashfully.
"We are just pleased to know that you are happy with it." Sheik added, although one could see the slight pinkish tone his cheeks got.
"You are really the best friend I could ask for." Link's eyes returned to the love of his life looking it in the eyes as if it were Prince in flesh and bone, alive as he, and as wonderfully handsome as the same. He then giggled like a silly girl in love. "It looks just like him." His finger traced the statue's face tenderly, as if it were his flesh he was touching. "It even has his eyes." He rested his forehead on its own. He chuckled loudly. "Why, Cloud, run away? With you nonetheless?" He chuckled once more and hid his face on the stony neck. "This…This is all so sudden…" He laughed but his laughter ended when a clearing of a throat rumbled in the cave. Three pairs of eyes turned to the entrance and there, floating with a looming and angry aura, was King Daphnes. "…Fa-Father."
"I consider myself a reasonable merman." The seething King swam menacingly forward. "I set certain rules," Clenched teeth and a permanent from on his forehead, King Daphnes made his way around the cave, eyeing all pieces of human creation with a condescending eye. Impa following close by, receiving glares from the three to whose Daphnes rage was set upon. She shivered but otherwise remained calm and collected. "And I expect those rules to be obeyed."
"But…" Link tried but was cut short by King Daphnes.
"Is it true you rescued a HUMAN from drowning?" He demanded with a disgusted look on his face when he mentioned the word human.
"I had to…" Link's eyes looked at his stepfather with a pleading look, but the old merman was too far-gone.
"Contact between the human world and the merworld is strictly forbidden. Link, you know that! Everyone knows that!" He clenched his hands on his trident until his knuckles turned white, his face a dangerous red.
"He would have died and…"
"ONE LESS HUMAN TO WORRY ABOUT!" He bellowed. Navi hid behind Sheik's shoulder.
"You don't even know him." Link pointed out indignantly. Daphnes' eyebrows rose in utter astonishment, his eyes disbelieving what he was hearing.
"Know him?!" He yelled. "Know him? I don't have to know him!" He swam towards Link and pointed an accusing finger at him. "They are all the same! Spineless, savage, harpooning, fish-eaters, incapable of any feeling, of any compassion, of anything and…"
"FATHER! I LOVE HIM!" Link outcried in an emotional outburst. But upon noticing what he had let out, he gasped in horror and covered his mouth with his hands, as if trying to recover his words and get them to enter his mouth as if they had never left his lips. Triton's eyes couldn't have been wider and more shocked than this moment and they searched his son for a sign of joke or lie, yet he only found his words to be true and a consumable anger and rage filled him.
"What?" He whispered dangerously, his hair flowing with the water giving the Sea King a more threatening look. "Have you lost your senses? HE'S A HUMAN FOR POSEIDON'S SAKE! YOU ARE A MERMAN! A MALE NONETHELESS."
"I don't care!" Link yelled back. "You have no power at all over whom I get to love!" Daphnes' trident glowed perniciously with a golden aura, causing Link to retreat a few spaces away from him. "Fa-Father?"
"So help me Link," The trident golden colour turned a bright red. "I am going to get through you. And if this is the only way…So be it."
"What are you…" Link stuttered, Sheik immediately got to his side and pushed him behind his person protectively as the first ray was expulsed. The red beam hit a couple of vases and boxes at the very top of the cave, a sickening crash and clink was heard as the exploded in multiple pieces. Link alarmed tried to get away from Sheik but he held him, afraid that in his madness King Daphnes' would hurt him unintentionally. A second beam was fired and music boxes and books were destroyed. Link's begging drowned by the sound of the objects destruction. "Father!" He begged and Sheik could feel the despair and sadness of his voice. "No!" More beams and loose pieces of what once were the most prized possessions of the merman fell to the ocean floor. "No, please!" His voice now laced with sobs and whimpers. "Father…stop!" More destruction followed and more beams were launched, as every single one of Link's treasures fell upon the mightiness of Daphnes' trident. "No!" Link cried and openly sobbed now, but the King would have none of it. He was tired of his stepson's stubbornness and disobedience. He was resolved to change him and would do anything to keep him from dreaming of the surface and of those petty humans he so much loved. It may hurt, yes it will. What father could possibly enjoy torturing his son? None, that was sure. But he had to if he wished to ensure his safety. And so, he kept on destroying every single one of the trinkets inside this cave. Until only one remained, the one he hated the most of them all: The human's statue.
Link seeing his objects and precious artefacts destroyed cried. But none of his cries were heard among all the wreckage. Yet, soon all ceased and he dared to open his eyes and look above Sheik's shoulders to see what was it all about. Between pieces and parts of what once were his belongings, stood Prince Cloud's statue, mighty and powerful among all, as if he were in the middle of a war zone, triumphantly standing among corpses of fallen enemies. So beautiful among all the hopelessness. Link's heart swelled with love and adoration. A ray light caught his attention turning his eyes towards the source of it. And with a gasp he saw his stepfather's dangerous trident glowing stronger than ever. He instantly knew what was about to happen and his whole being froze with fear and uttermost sorrow. "No…" He whimpered. "No…" He felt movement in front of him, yet he was so immersed on begging that he didn't paid attention to it. "Father…please…"
King Daphnes' was seeing red. This was the human his son had fallen spell to. This was the cause of all his worries, sorrows, angers, and rage. This was the one he was bound to destroy forever. He took careful aim. "Father? NO! FATHER, NO! STOP NO!" and with a last swing of his trident he let the most powerful beam so far. The ray flew among the waters, cackling and crackling all at its path. He never heard his son's plea. The ray travelled until it hit and all turned white as his target was obliterated.
With his work done King Daphnes let out a relived sigh, but upon seeing his son his relief turned to grief in a matter of instant. The merman quickly made his way to the statue, his eyes letting out tears of sadness and frustration, his hands scurrying among the stones of the statue. Navi too was there moving whatever pebble she could. King Daphnes was beyond cofounded. What was going on? Impa soon arrived to the scene and with her claws dug as well. "Link…" He whispered and slowly crept closer to see what could it be the group was trying to dig out. Wait…
Link moved rock by rock desperately. No. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be true. Why? Why? Why? WHY? Rock by rock he took away, his hands now slightly cut by his frustrated moves. A flash of gold gave him hope and he took every rock near the area. Yet as soon as he cleared, he regretted doing so. His voice wavered for a moment and he let out a single choked cry, his trembling hand made way to touch the blood-dirtied hair and made way to caress the bloody forehead. It wasn't long before his throat unclogged and he let out a heart wrenching cry.
