Theme 2 – Dream
WW – Link x Tetra/Zelda
She had thought it was over. How could such a villain survive such a blow to the head like that? And Link was already hurt enough as it was. But as he turned to give her a goofy grin, Ganondorf made another move. He swatted the young Hero to the side. Zelda shouted out of surprise and fear for her friend. Ganondorf ignored her, moving after Link. The Master Sword, previously jammed into the villain's head, had somehow fallen to the ground. Zelda scrambled toward it in an attempt to pass it to Link so the boy would have some chance of protecting himself – where did his shield go? But the sacred blade skittered out of reach as if pulled by a string. She moved after it, only for the sword to sink into the ground, blade, hilt, and all.
Zelda faced Ganondorf, who had started to laugh again. The man had been watching her failed attempts and now raised his sword over the prone figure of Link. Zelda screamed for him to stop, to have mercy for the boy. But the sword fell on the Hero of Winds with a fatal blow.
Tetra screamed, sitting up in her bed. Tears streamed down her face and she shook uncontrollably. Taking several deep breaths, she slowly calmed down. It was a dream. Just a simple dream. Link was alive. Ganondorf was dead. She closed her eyes, allowing the gentle sway of her ship to rock her into comfort. They were docked at Outset Island, so rocking wasn't as palpable as it would have been if they were at sea. Still, the ship creaked every now and then as it rocked. The shaded lantern that hung from the ceiling of her compartment swung gently.
Once the tears stopped and her shaking was reduced to a momentary shivering. She needed air; the fresh ocean breeze was the only thing that could calm her. And she could go for a walk on the island, away from the prying eyes of her crew. She slid out of her bed and pulled on a jacket before buckling her ever-present dagger on. She didn't bother to put her hair up, so she gathered it up and loosely tied it with a strip of cloth. She left her cabin and walked toward the stairs that led to the deck, the snores of her crew reaching her ears as she arrived at the stairs.
It was a gorgeous night. Only a few small clouds raced against the star-dusted sky. The waves crashed on the beach, and distant crickets added to the symphony of the night that had filled Tetra's life.
She jumped down into the shallow surf and strolled onto the beach. Her mind conjured up the images from her dream and she sped up slightly. She couldn't bear the thought of Link on the ground, bleeding, dying.
Her wanderings took her up a high path and to a bridge that spanned the two highest points of the island. As she stepped toward the wooden bridge – not intending to cross to the other side where there was a dangerous forest – she heard someone call her name.
"Tetra?" The pirate turned. It was Link, perched on a rock and half hidden out of sight. He moved into the moonlight. "What are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Tetra replied with a scowl. Link rolled his eyes. Typical Tetra.
"I've got insomnia," he explained. "Always have." He shrugged and winced. "I also have a nasty sunburn on my back."
"You said you don't burn easily!"
The young Hero shrugged again and winced once more. The pirate sighed, recalling how she found Link asleep on a rather secluded beach on Outset earlier that day in nothing but his swim trunks. While she had been tempted to bury him under a mountain of sand, she hadn't gotten the opportunity. Link had woken up and it was then that Tetra questioned his capacity to lie in the bright sun and not burn.
"See, normally, that's the case," Link went on to explain as his friend joined him on his rocky perch. "My face and arms don't burn. I guess they're used to the sun. But not my back. I've always had my tunic on." He shifted, trying not to let his back touch the rock that Tetra was leaning against. "Even this shirt hurts."
Tetra studied him, noting the loose shirt he wore, similar to the one he wore before his adventure as the Hero of Wind. "I have some sunburn stuff in my cabin," she said. Link glanced at the pirate ship far below, then at Tetra.
"Oh, yes, your crew would really appreciate finding us alone in your cabin at night."
Tetra was tempted to punch him for such a comment. "It's the middle of the night! It's not like anyone's gonna wake up. You know how soundly my crew sleeps."
Link conceded the point and allowed Tetra to drag him back to the ship and to her cabin. Link paused in the doorway, seeing the unkempt bed. The pirate captain slipped around him, lit a lamp, and began rummaging through her desk drawers for the sunburn cream. "You'll need to take off your shirt," she said after a few moments. She turned to face him, cream in hand.
"Oh, right," he muttered and gingerly pulled the blue cotton shirt over his head. He sat on the edge of the bed, and Tetra moved behind him. They were silent as the pirate applied the cream. Link gave a slight sigh of relief, feeling the soothing coolness of the cream begin to heal his sunburn.
"Better?" Tetra asked as she finished. She stood and went to return the cream to its place.
"Yes." Link watched her. "You never said why you were awake."
Tetra's shoulders slumped and she sighed. "I don't want to talk about it," she muttered, keeping her back to the Hero.
"Come on, Tetra. You know I'm here for you."
After several moments of Tetra procrastinating by unnecessarily reorganizing the contents of one of her desk drawers, she spoke up. "I had a dream."
"About…?"
"Your battle against Ganondorf. I dreamed that you lost…" Her voice was barely above a whisper, but Link still heard what she said. He stood and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.
"Is that all?" he asked lightly.
"This is serious, Link."
"Yeah, yeah. It was scary and you thought it was real, and so on."
"Link."
"Oh, hush, I'm just teasing. Don't think about it, my silly pirate. It always helps me."
"You have dreams, too?"
"Yes. But they're not about losing that battle. They're about losing you. And I could never live without you."
For several silent minutes, they stood there. Then Link coaxed the pirate captain back to her bed. He lay beside her, stretched out on his front so that his sunburns wouldn't be irritated.
"I have had another dream," Tetra said sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"It was about us, living in our own little home on a small island."
"I'm guessing there were kids playing in the yard?"
Tetra smiled and leaned over to kiss him. "You bet."
"That's a nice dream. I wish I had one like that."
"I'm sure you will."
