Author's Note: I am so sorry for the long delays for the updates and wish I did not disappoint many of you. College has been keeping me busy the past year and months, but I will attempt to upload the chapters that I've worked on in may. Please enjoy
The bullet flies past Link's face and Meia drops the gun. "I can't... Without you, we've wouldn't make it this far. I'm sorry for being an inconvenience." She leaves and nearly bumps into B.C. The pirrate commander picks up the gun and glares over at Link before leaving. Link fastens the belt on his tunic and prepares to leave the infirmary. As soon as he exits, he catches a glimpse of Merith.
Hours has past, Barnette spends her time sitting on the side of her bed contemplating on what firearms she should take with her. Jura enters her room and gives her a big hug, "Hows my BARNY BEAR doing up at this late hour?!" The two fall on the ground and laugh about it.
Barnette: Maybe I could ask you the same thing?
Jura: Well, let me see... I was only following Link, he was acting kind of strange though.
Barnette: (rises to her knees) Strange?
Jura: Yeah, like her was oblivious to his surroundings. As if he was following someone.
Barnette: When did you last see him?
Jura: Just before I came into your room.
Barnette: (Pulls Jura up) Come on lets find him!
"There he goes", Barnette quietly whispers. As she rises, Jura pulls her back down. With a investigative look on her, Jura releases her, only to see her dashes behind a closer corner to Link. He walks towards the deck and stares out of the window. Barnette slowly enters the deck with Jura not far behind. Just as soon as she is about to walk closer, Barnette is held by Jura.
Barnette: Jura, what gives?
Jura: Why are you so interested in him?
Barnette: What?
Jura: You've been acting strange when I brought him up. Are you still infatuated with a man that nearly killed you?
Barnette: (blushes) No, no, it's not that at all... (Looks over at Link) not at all.
Jura: Then, what is it?
Barnette: I want to know of his history with those guys.
Jura smacks herself on the forehead after hearing Barnette's answer. The two step right behind the Hylian, only to hear a sword be drawn from behind them. The two turn around slowly only to see Link was behind them the whole time. "Aw shit, the doppleganger!" Barnette tackles Jura out of the way, before Link slashed at his now shadowy counterpart. The shadow pushes Link away and forms into it's original shape, Dark Link.
"You never learn, do you? I am a part of you." The shadow continues to taunt Link as he slashes back and forth. As the shadow swings his blade, he is shot in the wrist by a lazer. Meia keeps her distance as she provides cover to Link from any cheap blows. With her is an attack squad, armed and ready on command. With this support, Link begins to think of any possible opposing strategies while he blocks blows from his shadow.
As always, Link's great slashes makes Dark Link disappear into the ground, only to rise again. But, the shadow finds and opening and slashes Link across the chest. He rolls out of the way from a downward slah, but quickly slides behind the shadow and thrusts his sword through his back. Unfortantely, Dark Link splits into two copies. Barnette loads her gun as qucikly, "Oh no, Link is gonna be in trouble now."
"FIRE!" Meia orders the squad to blast the shadows, but only to no avail. The copy turns his attention towards the squad as the other occupies Link. It was not long before the squad had fallen back to stay out of the copy's range. On the other, Link's shield endures rapid clashes against a shadowy blade. With Dark Link distracted, Link takes the oppurtunity to leg sweep and follow with a successful vertical slash. As he was split in two, the shadow along with the copy vanished, with a fading laugh to end the conflict for now.
Meia approaches Link with angry haste and she points her finger at him. "This is never the end of this disturbance! I can't have you roaming around this ship swinging that blade around!" It was not long before Jura stood up for up the Hylian. Only to Meia's dismay, she begins to become more challenging towards Link. It was not like she was the only one to disapprove of Link's prescence amongst them.
As the disappointed commander leaves with the attack squad, Jura pushes Barnette towards a sweaty Link. "Heeeyyy! Barnette had something to tell you earlier! Why don't you let him know!" Jura took a big step back to give the two space. As shocking to her as the situation stood, Barnette finds herself with a crossed thought. With more doubts rising about within her, she shuts her eyes. This confuses Link, so he puts away his sword and shield to approach her closer. As he stepped close, she took one big step back; oddly enough to be followed with her turning her back towards him. Her change in activity makes her friend Jura approach her with concern.
Barnette turns around and takes a deep breath. With confidence build up, she finally releases her concern thought. "You should take a shower. Sweat is all over you.." Jura falls face first to the ground due to the silly thought from Barnette. But, Link looks at her with a smile on his face as he wipes his forehead. "Maybe I should get going! I don't want to wake up late or anything like that! Let's go Jura!" He watches the to dash of the deck, back into the hall. With the isolation, he unsheathes his sword once again and stares at his reflection. With a deep sigh, he sheathes the bed and calls it a night.
With the morning hour passing, Link tosses and turns in bed. His nightmare consists of him being tortured by friendly faces. His bed is soaking from his cold sweats and grips the sheet and spread very tightly. In his nightmare, Ganon crushes his chest and breaks him, but not before saying, "The Trifoce is mine!" Link yells as he awakes and swings his blade as if someone was infront of him. He slowly starts to catch his breath as her sheathes his blade. Sleep has never felt so terrible to the hero before.
"Sooo! Who's going to stop me this time? Apparently not you!" The space trader named Rabat teases Hibiki about stealing his vanguard. He and Hibiki go back and forth with each other, attracting a lot of attention.
Hibiki: LOOK HERE YOU BASTARD! YOU HAVE NO PLACE ON THIS SHIP! SO LEAVE!
Rabat: HAHA.. HA! You really think I'm going to leave without making you mad boy? You still got jokes kid, I like that about you!
Hibiki: Grrrr, why I aught to... forget it!
Hibiki walks away after crossing through the crowd. He bumps into Barnette, which frustrates her since she keeps a low tolerance for men. "Hey eggplant! Watch it!"
After a hot shower, Link gets dressed in his red tunic for a change. He grabs an ocarina and plays it for a little while. He plays Zelda's Lullaby with a calm pace to fit the dim room.
The song brings a knock at his door, interrupting his quiet routine. As the door slides open, Barnette just walks in after a "Hi Link." She walks towards the window and looks into outer space, while fidgeting with a knife in her hands. "Your song caught my attention, as I walked by. I just so happened to wonder if this scenery makes you... calm." Barnette grips the handle of the blade as Link sits on his bed," So... I wanted to tell you about myself. I have a lack of respect for men, especially those who harm women." Link raises an eyebrow as Barnette stops talking. She slowly approaches him and draws out her knife completely. Link showed no resistance to the blade to his neck, nor any sign of panic. "Aren't you afraid?! Why aren't you trying to snap my neck?!" Link only grinned at Barnette, as he can see through her test or trick. "Do you feel betrayed in anyway?!" Link shakes his head as he removes the knife from Barnette's hands. She slowly backs away to the window and leans against the adjacent wall.
"You don't seem to be bothered by my prescence at all... To be honest, I have some hard feelings about you stabbing me, although it was only a mistake you made. But, the thought of you possibly doing it again is still there... as well as the phantom pain..." Link replied with a smile as he returned Barnette her blade, but she rejects it. "No, you keep it. You've always seemed better with blades than anyone else on board." She completely faced the window, leaving the knife in Link's grasp. He shifts his sights from the knife onto Barnette, who is now giving off a deep sound of relief.
A moment of silence has fallen upon the room as the two remained idle. With her thoughts in another place, Barnette places her hand on the window and gaze at the stars. Link, now putting away the knife, approaches Barnette with his hand out. He stops as he thinks of how she may react to him touching her once again, but he still could not pass up that chance. As his hand lands upon her shoulder, Barnette shifts away. Now facing Link, Barnette crosses her arms and shakes her head. "I can't... See you later.." She leaves out in a hurry, leaving the Hylian speechless.
As the Nirvana closed in on a planet, Link views the large giant blue rock as if it was a star. "It's name is Barsin. That planet has human, animal, and plant life. Land, as well sea has it's firm environments." Gascogne stands right next to him, leaning on the rail. His attention shifts to the tall woman of the registry. "Kid, you know what, I think you'll like it there. You should take Barnette around to make up for your accident..." Link looks the other way fast when she brings up Barnette. Gascogne has the right assumption, but decides not to get involved with matters that were not her own." Well kid, in the next four hours we'll be on that planet... and most likely away from those harvesters as well."
Everyone gathers into one part of the ship as usual, but only for a different reason. Duelo has announced that Merith has finally died due to serious health complications from the malnutrition and trauma. While many bidding their farewells to the very young pirate, Link was given the honor to pay his respects last. He kneels down and bows his head as if he was to say a prayer. After a few seconds, he rises and leaves the room without looking back. He did not wish to know how the pirates dispose of the body. For all he knows, they would most likely bury her on the planet.
Hibiki bumps into Link, who then turns around and frowns as he looks the short human. "Geez" Hibiki walks by the Hylian talking under his breath. Frustrated as he was, he quickly paid a respect and left in a hurry. Was it possible Link's presence was that nerve wrecking for? If not only him, who else was disturbed with the Hylian around?
Hours has past and Link watches the vanguard and dreads take off. One by one, each take a slow flight out of the docking bay, while the Hylian catches a quick glimpse of the inside of the cockpits of each dread. Meia was first, Jura was the second, Dita become the third, but the fourth dread was to be Barnette, who just so happened to be deep in thought. She stares at the opening so blankly, she release her hands off the controls. As she rubs her eyes, Meia radios her. "Why haven't you left the docking bay yet?!" with Meia now in her ear, Barnette reluctantly answers as she takes off. As she passed the window, Link got a close look her, only to notice that she is sweating.
As the dreads and vanguard close in on the planet's atmosphere, they all come to a brief halt, except Hibiki. He slows down, only to give himself time to turn around.
Hibiki: Hey! Why did you all stop all of a sudden?!
Jura: We're picking something up on the radar! Aren't you?!
Hibiki: (Looks at his sonar and radar) I've got nothing.
Dita: Oh no... could it be...
Barnette: HARVESTERS AT 6'O CLOCK!
A stream of robots nearly attacks the the squad, as four larger ships emerge around the Nirvana. Thinking quickly on their feet, the squad retaliates with large amounts of ballistic rounds upon the large harvester ships, as Hibiki used the vanguard's sword the dispose of the robots. Not only did it give them an upper hand, one ship was destroyed. But, the advantage did not last long since the larger ships release more smaller ships. The Nirvana's shield is soon attacked within seconds.
As the ship rocked, Link falls off a ledge, but breaks his falls. He looks around for a way to climb back up. He pulls out his hookshot and aims for a rail on the ceiling. As he shoots it, another rocking motion knocks off his aim making him latch onto a glass window. He is quickly reeled in, while trying to release the hookshot from the glass. With not much choice, he releases the hookshot and lands on the ledge of a walkway. In the midst of losing his grip, Gascogne and B.C pulls him up before he slipped.
Gascogne: Nice work with the control center's window!
B.C: COME ON! THE DOCKING BAY IS NOT THE PLACE YOU WANT TO BE WHEN THERE IS A BATTLE GOING ON!
Link dusts himself off and takes a quick look at his hookshot. Since it was out of his reach, he follows B.C and Gascogne out of the docking bay.
"AHHH! I NEED HELP!" Dita's dread has a robot latched onto it while she takes fire from a two ships. Thhe vanguard flies by clashing it's sword against both enemies. "Thanks! Mr. Alien!" With her praise given, Dita and Hibiki combine the dread and vannguard to gain an upper in the conflict.
Meia fires upon the enemy vessels and fires rockets towards a larger ship. But, another ship appears, only larger. "What!" She manuvers out of oncoming fire, while retaliating back. "HIBIK! DITA! YOU TWO FOCUS ON THE LARGER SHIPS! BARNETTE, JURA, AND I WILL PROVIDE YOU TWO COVER THE BEST WE CAN!" With the orders given, the immediate action is now taken, but they have yet to gain an advantage. In the midst of providing support, Barnette takes a bad hit to the rear of her dread. "DAMN IT! I'M HIT!" As she recieves covering fire from Jura, her ally takes a side her near the cock pit. "Oh NO! This is getting bad!"
Link rushes to the deck to where Magno sits in her chair and B.C gives the orders. As he gets the perfect view of the battle, his eyes widen as he sees the struggling state of the pirates. He looks the other way, only to find the mysterious stranger. He checks his surroundings only to see that everything around is frozen. "Hero, why must you watch? You have the power in your hand to turn and aid, so why must you wait? Your magic will assist if you decide to reach your hand into the ever lasting outer space." The stranger raises her left and points towards the giant spherical window, "Focus hard hero. Only your focus can determine the next feat." As the stranger disappears, Link falls to the ground as the ship shakes. "This can't be happening! Our shields are at 45%! And Barnette and Jura has taken some nasty hits!" The commotion amongst the deck helps Link back on his feet. He points his hand out towards the window, while supporting it with his right hand. "Wait. Boss, I think he's doing something again."
Magno: Boy! This is no time for you Mumbo Jumbo!
B.C: Boss!
Magno: What is it?!
Magno follows B.C's pointing finger as they both gaze upon Link emitting green like smoke. The now occupied deck turn their attention to the grunting Link. He strains more to use his magic, but with one shout, the Nirvana, vandread, and dreads are covered with green aura's. The aura repairs and enhances all capabilites, turning the tides of battle. As it would appear, the Trifoce glows brighter on the back of Link's left hand, now giving the projection of a hollow suit of armor, similar to Hibiki's vanguard, stands amongst the the squad.
Meia:... (shocked)
Hibiki: Holy... cow (shocked)
Dita: Woooow... (amazed)
Jura: Oh.. my (astonished)
Barnette: Thats... incred.. idle (amazed)
The hollow projection swings freezes the harvester fleet and destroys it with swings from it's blade. As the giant harvester ship fell, Link collapse onto the floor, making the giant hollow armor fade away, along with the auras.
Barnette immediately flies back to the Nirvana, with the others behind her. As she docks, she jumps out in the process of her dread docking itself. She dashes towards the elevator, pressing the button repeatedely to leave the bay. As she waits, her heart is beating with a rush of fear in her veins and arteries. Her heavy breathing only adds to the anticipation of what she could expect to find. She is then startled when the elevator signals her to get off.
She dashes to the infirmary and falls over. "Damn it! Why am I so afraid?! What is happening?!" And with her head filled with anxiety, she continues her race to the infirmary. As she enters, she finds the only person who could've performed such feat, sitting on the bed, Link.
She marches in and stops several feet within range. "Was that... you?!" Barnette now out of breath, falls to her knees, "How did you... Do all... of... that from... the Nir...vana?" As expected, Link nodded his head without speaking. She stands up, with assistance from Duelo, but only to lose her footing still. "You should sit down, your your adrenaline has yet to be inhibited."
Gascogne: I don't know who you really are, but as long as you stick with us, we could sleep another night. (Pats Link on the back.)
B.C: You're very mysterious, but I suppose I can agree with Gascogne on this one.
Magno: You sure do know how to make up for mishaps boy.
Bart: Man, I didn't know if we were gonna make it. But, thank goodness you step in.
Gascogne: You know what kid? I've got an idea. We're gonna have a feast over this victory in honor of you.
Barnette: Wait, Don't you think you're taking it too far?
Gascogne: Is that a problem?
Barnette: He did earned us a victory, but we didn't need his help. We've had plenty of close calls before.
B.C: This time it didn't appear to be a close call. I was afraid you were all gonna die out there.
Barnette: But...
Gascogne: Then it's settled. Barnette why don't you and the cooks prep up a good feast for our "Hero".
Barnette: Why me?!
Gascogne: You're basically our best cook.
Barnette now frustrated and embarrassed at once is approached by B.C. "Yes? Anymore advice?" Seeing how Barnette is annoyed by the tone in her voice, B.C nods her head, but walks towards the exit. "Next time, when an enemy is shooting at you... DO A BARREL ROLL!"