Chapter 21: The Curse
"Sea chart, sea chart, sea chart," Tetra muttered to herself as she rifled through a stack of parchments that she'd discovered in a cabinet. As many as there were, one would think that what she was looking for would be somewhere within the pile, but of course it wasn't.
Tetra set the stack aside with an irritated huff and reached into the back of the cabinet for more.
"Whose house is this?" Link wondered as he flipped through some parchments Midna had found atop a bookshelf. "Why are there so many charts?"
"This house used to belong to a fisherman," Carben said, closing a drawer. "Or so I'm told."
Tetra slapped the sheaf of charts she had in her hand on the floor. "Then why are we looking for a map here?" A fisherman wouldn't have any use for anything besides sea charts.
"If I recall, this particular fisherman traveled the country frequently as well, so he has a map somewhere," Carben said, opening another drawer and directing his attention to its contents.
"Is this it?" Zelda queried, approaching the guardian of the Ocean Realm to show him what she'd found.
He scanned it quickly before turning back to his task. "Nope. That's a map of the Sand Realm only, but put it aside in case we find maps of the others."
"This is stupid," Tetra groaned, reluctantly hauling the pile of parchment back into her lap and half-heartedly leafing through it. She just wanted to get out of here already. Now that they knew for a fact Ghirahim was here and was really causing quite a lot of trouble, she felt the need to do something about it. Sitting on the floor of some deceased fisherman's house and scouring his belongings for a map was definitely not her idea of doing something about it.
Her counterpart glanced at her. "You want to get lost in a foreign land overrun by monsters?"
"I wa-" Tetra's cheeky comeback was abruptly cut off by a scream. Her best friend's scream, to be exact.
Tetra exchanged looks with Link, Midna, and Zelda while Carben hurriedly assured them that the healing process could be painful sometimes and there was nothing to worry about. Tetra didn't believe that for a second.
She was already on her feet and moving towards the door before Carben had finished, Zelda and Midna on her heels and Link just ahead of her.
The four of them burst into the room Kid and Anjean had disappeared into not five minutes ago, thoroughly shocked by what they found.
Anjean was straddling Kid on the bed with a wickedly sharp looking knife in her hands. The blade was dangerously close to Kid's chest, and Tetra could plainly see the way the weapon shook with the combined force Anjean was exerting on it to plunge it into the boy beneath her and Kid's struggle to stop its descent.
Link moved before Tetra could, lunging forward and yanking Anjean off of Kid.
Not to be outdone, Tetra wasted no time in hurrying to stand between her best friend and Anjean. It was hardly necessary seeing as Link was already restraining the Lokomo girl, but it made Tetra feel better at least.
"Kid, are you okay?" Link asked, his tone curt, though Tetra knew it wasn't Kid he was angry with.
Tetra threw a glance over her shoulder just in time to see Kid give a mute nod, eyes wide as if he was still trying to process everything. Well, it'd taken Tetra all of two seconds to process the fact that Anjean was trying to kill him. Exactly why remained to be seen.
She refocused her attention on the purple-haired girl, narrowing her eyes and resting her hand on her dagger. "Care to explain yourself?"
"I-I was doing my job," Anjean stammered.
"Humph," Midna scoffed, her arms crossed over her chest in a disapproving manner. "That didn't look like healing to me."
"It…" Anjean winced as if the words caused her physical pain, "wasn't."
Tetra tightened her trip on the hilt of her dagger, preparing to draw it.
The action didn't go unnoticed by Anjean. "But wait! I-!"
Quick as lighting, Tetra drew her dagger, pointing it at the startled girl. "Shut up. There's no excuse for what you just tried to do."
"What's going on in here?" Carben interrupted, poking his head into the room with casual curiosity as if he could really care less what was going on but felt obliged to ask anyway. His attitude changed as soon as he noticed the weapon Tetra was pointing at Anjean.
A flash of orange was all the warning Tetra received before the end of Carben's whip attached itself to her right wrist, the snake head's fangs digging into her skin.
"Ow! Hey! Get off!" Tetra cried, using her free hand to try to pry the head of the snake open. It didn't work.
"Let her go," Link growled.
"I'll let her go when you let my leader go and get that child under control," Carben responded, all business.
"You'll let her go now you three hundred year old psycho!" Midna retorted, a threatening ball of crackling magic appearing between her palms.
Carben wasn't phased in the slightest by Midna's threat.
"Stop," Kid spoke up, sliding off of the bed. "Link let Anjean go; Carben let Tetra go."
"But she just-!" Link protested.
"Let her go," Kid repeated. "I'm fine."
Reluctantly, Link released Anjean, and the Lokomo girl scurried over to Carben for protection.
"Kindly keep her under control," Carben said before retracting his whip from Tetra's skin. The lack of pressure crushing her wrist was a relief and besides some impressive indents in her skin, she wasn't harmed. Of course, the pressure didn't lighten up for long.
The princess grabbed Tetra's wrist and tugged the young pirate captain to her side. "We will." Zelda shot an icy look her way. "Sheathe your dagger."
Tetra threw a withering glare back at her counterpart but complied.
"Now then," Carben began, "what is all this about?"
"Your little leader just tried to kill Kid," Link announced bitterly, grabbing Kid's arm and pulling the Hero of Winds closer to him.
"Let's refrain from making wild accusations," Princess Zelda interjected.
"It's not a wild accusation!" Tetra refuted, glaring up at her counterpart. "She was aiming at his chest with a knife!"
"Perhaps it wasn't her choice," Zelda replied evenly.
Tetra rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, because you can mistakenly try to stab someone."
"I was thinking more along the lines of her being possessed," Princess Zelda corrected her. Tetra looked to Anjean then as if for confirmation. Unfortunately it was impossible to tell. Other than her bowed head, Anjean looked the same as ever.
Carben's dark eyes flashed with light, transforming them into a vibrant hue of sparkling blue. She could only be mildly surprised that Carben shared the same soul-seeing power as Anjean.
With his eyes glowing with foreign power, the Guardian of the Ocean Realm reached out to touch Anjean, but her head snapped up of her own accord, and she stared fiercely into Carben eyes.
"I'm not possessed," she insisted, her tone pleading with Carben to understand.
Carben said nothing and continued to peer into her twin orbs. Finally, the glow faded from his eyes, and he nodded. "You're not possessed."
"If you're not possessed," Link began warily, drawing all attention to him, "then why did you try to kill Kid?"
"Because…the Spirits told me to," Anjean replied after a few moments passed in silence.
"You're crazy!" Tetra exclaimed.
"Tetra." The princess shot her a warning look.
"What? I'm just calling it as I see it." What sane person tried to kill another because 'spirits' told them to anyway?
"Elaborate, if you will," Princess Zelda requested, turning back to Anjean since she realized squabbling with Tetra over the matter wouldn't get her anywhere.
"Yes, please do, Anjean," Carben added. "I thought you said his soul was pure. Why would the Spirits ask you to kill him if that were the case?"
Anjean took a shaky breath in preparation to explain, and it took all Tetra had in her not to scream at the girl to hurry up with her explanation. "His soul is pure. That's not why. It's…he's…" Anjean dropped her gaze to the floor. "T-There's a spell on him, well, a curse, and… and…"
"Take your time," Zelda encouraged the young leader.
"Don't take your time," Tetra refuted, earning a hard look from her counterpart which she returned tenfold. They deserved to know why Anjean had snapped, and if there was a curse on Kid, Tetra wanted to know what it was now.
"T-the spell," Anjean stammered, "it binds him to the demon."
"What does that mean?" Link, Tetra, and Midna demanded at the same time, their tones equally condemning.
Anjean flinched, clasping her hands close to her chest as if it pained her to speak. She managed to choke the words out anyway. "It means…he...if he dies…it all stops because the demon will die too. A-and if the demon dies, he dies." Anjean sniffed, standing up a bit straighter and swiping a sleeve across her eyes. "So, he's going to die anyway. If we sacrifice him the demon won't be a problem anymore. I'm supposed to be protecting the people, and I can do that if I…but still. I didn't want to." She looked to Kid. "Your soul is genuine. Nothing mars it. You've killed, but you've only killed bad people so that's okay. So…you have to agree that me killing you is okay too because I'll be killing a bad person by doing it."
"And a good one!" Tetra cried since Kid looked too mortified to answer.
Anjean shrugged, dropping her eyes once more. "Sacrifices must be made."
"Oh, did your little ghost friends just whisper that in your ear?" she scoffed, wrenching herself out of Zelda's grip and taking a step closer to Anjean. Tetra didn't care what Zelda thought. This girl was insane. She didn't deserve any pity.
"They're not my friends," Anjean whispered. "They're my guides."
"Whatever they are, they're evil and so are you," Tetra spat.
"I am not evil," Anjean refuted, her eyes now burning with fresh tears and violet fire. "And neither are the Spirits. They're the Spirits of Good."
"Sure, because a name means a lot," Midna commented sarcastically.
Anjean ignored her. "Evil is that demon that infiltrated the Tower of Spirits. Your fight isn't with me; it's with him, which is why it makes perfect sense to end it now. You're a leader. You should know better than anyone that sometimes you have to sacrifice the good things for the greater good."
"That's a lie only fools believe," Tetra asserted. There was always an alternative. Always.
Anjean's expression hardened. "Then I'm mistaken; you're not a leader."
"Oh yeah? Wanna say that to my crew?" Tetra drew her dagger once more but was halted by Zelda before she got a chance to do anything with it.
"Enough. There is no point talking when everyone is so riled up," the princess said, her tone icy cold and hands equally so as she grasped Tetra's arm and steered her out of the room with an order thrown over her shoulder for Link, Kid, and Midna to follow. The three of them did so silently.
"You really must learn to control your temper," Princess Zelda admonished her.
Tetra wrenched her arm out of her counterpart's surprisingly strong grip with a huff, but continued to follow her out into the sunlight. It was too bright and only served to make Tetra angrier.
The villagers were all too content with the day to notice them, and Tetra preferred that. If anyone got in her way, she wouldn't be able to play nice.
Fortunately for the innocent natives, Tetra and her companions reached the pirate ship rather quickly. Of course, the pirates wanted to hear all about their meeting with the Guardian of the Ocean Realm, but at the sight of the hard looks on everyone's faces they quickly got the gist that it hadn't gone well.
Tetra glared at Nudge as she strode past him, daring him to say "I told you so." He got the message, though that didn't stop him from asking if there was anything he could do.
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand and made a beeline for her cabin, which was swiftly transformed into a meeting place, though "meeting" was a loose term for it.
"She had no reason to say those things!" Tetra ranted, pacing the length of her cabin while Zelda sat very still in her desk chair, Midna lounged on her bed, and Link and Kid huddled on the couch.
"Take a breath," Zelda advised her, eyes closed in what Tetra could only assume to be an attempt at meditation.
Tetra didn't heed her counterpart's advice. "She's insane! She should be locked away. And cursed?! Pfft! Yeah, right! Like I believe that crap!" She couldn't believe it because believing it meant that they couldn't get rid of Ghirahim, which meant the rest of this land would fall into despair and desolation, and the Great Sea would die, and she'd never be able to found her kingdom.
"Definitely shouldn't believe her." Midna nodded sagely.
"We should have left her to rot in that village," Tetra seethed. Anjean had brought them nothing but hardship since they'd encountered her. That should have been a clue, but Tetra had been too blinded by her own hopes and goals to see it.
"Totally," Midna agreed, stretching.
Tetra ground to a halt and whirled around to address the Twili. She was in no mood for Midna's flippancy.
"Are you even taking this seriously?"
"'Course I am," Midna replied, shrugging in an off-handed manner that didn't convince Tetra one bit. "I just think you're overreacting a little."
"Overreacting?!" Tetra practically screamed. "I am no-!"
Midna waved a blasé hand in her direction. "Just think about it. This girl is obviously psycho, and she's lied to us before. We really have no reason to believe anything she says, so just because she claims Kid's cursed, doesn't mean he is.
"I mean, really, it doesn't even make sense. What does Ghirahim gain from binding his life to one of ours?"
"Well, it does ensure his safety," Princess Zelda pointed out.
Midna shook her head in disagreement. "Not really. I mean…not saying we would," here the Twili shot a meaningful look in Kid's direction, "but we could decide to sacrifice him. Or he could even die because of one of Ghirahim's monsters. Either way, Ghirahim's equally dead."
"So he's taking a risk is basically what you're saying," Tetra observed, crossing her arms over her chest to express her disapproval.
Midna winked at her. "Exactly."
"But is it even a risk? Can sword spirits die?" Link wondered, glancing uncertainly at the Master Sword fastened to Kid's back as if asking Fi for an answer. Forever vigilant, the sword spirit took the hint and materialized beside the couch in a graceful swath of lavender light.
"To my knowledge, Ghirahim and I are the only sword spirits in existence. Since neither of us has ever expired, it is difficult to say. However, theoretically, if our sword forms were damaged beyond repair our spirits would be forced out. I imagine it would be the closest us sword spirits could come to death in the human sense of the word."
"If that's the only way for sword spirits to 'die', then why would Ghirahim expose himself like that?" Link asked no one in particular. Tetra had to agree that it didn't make sense. Why would a nearly immortal being put his life in the hands of a mortal being?
"Perhaps…Ghirahim doesn't know he placed the curse on Kid," Zelda spoke up thoughtfully, breaking the contemplative silence that had settled over them. "It obviously has something to do with the sword Ghirahim cut him with, so perhaps the spell had been infused into the sword a long time ago and intended for someone else."
As much as Tetra would like her counterpart's theory to be true, it still didn't mean that there wasn't some kind of deadly curse on Kid. There was only one person she could trust for a reliable answer. "Fi, is Kid's life really bound to Ghirahim's by a spell?"
The sword spirit bowed her head in respect to Tetra. "I possess no records on such a spell. However, my databases are out of date, so it is possible that it exists."
"How possible?" Link pressed.
"Based on previous data, I can conclude there is a ninety-five percent chance that the spell exists and has been placed on my younger master. Therefore, I advise proceeding with caution."
"Or we could just break the curse," Midna proposed.
As far as ideas went, it wasn't a bad one. There was just one problem. "How?"
Midna made a face at that and then looked at her small hand, flexing it as if reminding herself of the curse that was currently keeping her trapped in a form that was not her own. Curses were not simple hexes to break.
"Perhaps Carben knows a way," Zelda suggested.
"And if he doesn't?" Tetra wanted to know.
Her counterpart's reply was immediate. "Then we cannot kill Ghirahim."
"We could." All eyes shot to Kid, shocked. He hadn't said a word ever since Anjean had proclaimed he was cursed. Kid continued to speak, his eyes downcast. "If it comes down to it then…I'd rather-"
"No," Link cut in, his tone fierce. "You are not sacrificing yourself. You don't have to. We'll find another way."
"And what is this other way?" Tetra demanded, though she agreed with Link wholeheartedly. Her hero and best friend would not sacrifice himself for them. She forbade it. "Ask him nicely?" The demon lord, she knew, was anything but merciful.
"We seal him away," Zelda answered her when Link hesitated.
"Oh, sure! Seal him away and go home to your perfect little kingdom and leave us to deal with the consequences when he breaks out!" Tetra fumed.
"What other choice do we have?" Zelda returned.
"We…" Tetra's shoulders slumped in defeat, and she snapped her mouth shut. She didn't know. But she should know. She was the leader.
"We hope Carben knows a way to break it," Midna spoke up quietly after a few moments passed in tense silence.
Hope. Such a flimsy, unreliable thing. Nonetheless, it was all they had to work with.
"In the meantime," Zelda said, rising to her feet, "we should prepare to depart. Gather provisions and procure a map of the Realms and see if Carben has any more information about the traitor Lokomo that we'll need to know about."
"Should we really trust Carben?" Link wondered, his tone suggesting that he didn't think they should. Tetra didn't know whether to trust him or not either. All she knew for sure was that Anjean wasn't trustworthy.
"He's been more truthful with us than Anjean has," Midna pointed out, though she didn't sound too keen on revisiting the man either.
"In any case, we need a map, and if anyone can procure one for us, it's Carben," Zelda added.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's go," Tetra declared, strolling over to her door. "I want to get out of this village." And far away from a certain purple-haired psycho.
Tetra flung open the door only to have Niko fall at her feet. He'd been spying.
"Niko! You little rat!" she screeched. "This meeting doesn't concern you!"
Niko scrambled to his feet. "Is it really true? Is my swabbie-"
"He's fine," Tetra stressed, pushing the buck-toothed pirate aside so she could get out of her room.
"Cursed doesn't sound fine!" Niko protested, sounding close to panic. "Swabbie!" Niko hurried over to a startled Kid. "Tell me you're alright."
"I…"
"We're handling it," Link assured Niko when Kid failed to say anything more.
"And we don't need you meddling," Tetra added, yanking Niko out of her room and back into the hallway. "Not a word to anyone else, you hear me?"
"But-"
"Not a word!" Tetra reiterated. "There's no use worrying everyone."
"I don't understand. What's going on?" Niko pressed.
"You don't need to understand, and you don't need to know what's going on. Just keep your mouth shut," Tetra snapped.
"If none of us know what's going on, how are we supposed to help you?" Niko wondered.
"You aren't!" Tetra exclaimed. "You're supposed to stay here and do what I tell you to."
"But that doesn't help you," Niko argued.
Tetra balked, her mouth open in preparation to retort. Since when did they care about helping her? As a matter of fact, why did they care? Was it because they had nothing else to do? Was it because they pitied her for the cards the goddesses had dealt her?
An exasperated sound was wrenched from her throat, and she turned her back on Niko, intent on walking away from the conversation, when Zelda's voice halted her in her tracks.
"Perhaps…allow your crew to help if they so wish it."
Tetra whirled around. "What? Have you caught Anjean's crazy? They can't help."
"Not if you don't let them, they can't," Zelda returned sagely.
Tetra gritted her teeth, cursing her counterpart's wisdom. Still, it didn't change the fact that her crew could not help them with Ghirahim or the curse on Kid. Not that she believed there was a curse.
"Even if I let them help," Tetra said, shooting a glare Niko's way, "there's nothing they can help with."
"As I recall, none of us have had breakfast yet, and we still need to gather provisions for our journey," Zelda replied easily. "They can help us with the little things." She looked pointedly at Niko who wasn't looking quite as intimidated by Tetra's glare anymore.
"Ugh, fine, but you don't want Niko making us anything to eat. He's an awful cook. Nudge is better."
"What can I help with instead?" Niko asked, far too eager for Tetra's liking. She never knew him to like work. Then again, that was probably because she always assigned him the jobs no one wanted to do. She couldn't have him pack provisions for them. Mako and Senza were much better suited for that job. As for what else needed to be done…
Tetra let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know. For now tell Nudge to cook us all breakfast and Mako and Senza to pack provisions for us. Enough for a week if they can."
She marched towards the door that led out to the main deck, causing Niko to run after her in concern. "You guys are going out now?"
"Yup," Tetra declared, wrenching the door open and stepping outside into the sea breeze, Niko following closely on her heels, along with her counterpart, Link, and Kid.
"Can't that wait a bit?" Niko wondered. "I still don't understand what's going on. Why do you need provisions? Where are you going?"
"Go deliver the messages I gave you," Tetra commanded him without breaking stride.
"We'll explain everything once we return," Zelda assured the buck-toothed pirate as she followed Tetra down the gangplank. Tetra wasn't so sure about that, but correcting her counterpart now would only take more time that they didn't have to waste.
Before she knew it, Tetra found herself inside the deceased fisherman's abode, staring down the Guardian of the Ocean Realm, who looked completely and utterly nonplussed as he lounged on the couch they'd first met him on. Anjean was nowhere in sight.
As if reading her mind, Carben said, "Don't concern yourselves with Anjean. I've taken care of her, and she's currently elsewhere in the village. I apologize for her rash actions. Do not take it to heart."
Tetra narrowed her eyes. There was no way to not take Anjean attempting to kill her best friend to heart.
Carben cleared his throat when no one said anything. "I presume you're here for the map we were discussing before…?"
"Partly," Princess Zelda agreed. "We have also come for information."
"What kind of information?" Carben asked.
Link took a breath. "Do you know how to break the curse?"
Carben didn't even hesitate. "No."
"Do you know who might?" Zelda queried, her tone leaning towards hopeful.
"I'm sorry, but there's no one alive or dead who knows how to break this curse because, simply put, it isn't a curse," Carben informed them.
"What? How could one person dying when another person dies not be a curse?" Midna demanded.
"Let me rephrase that: it's not intended to be a curse," Carben explained. "It's a blessing, meant to ensure that lovers would never have to live without the other, and as such, there is no way to remove it."
"Are you sure that he even has the spell on him?" Tetra wondered, clinging to fragile hope despite herself. After all, she hadn't had a prophetic dream foretelling such a wicked spell on Kid. That had to mean something, right?
"While I cannot see and hear the Spirits as well as Anjean can, I can communicate with them well enough to confirm that the spell on him is real."
Tetra's heart skipped a beat, and she bit her lip hard, focusing on the pain to get the notion of Kid being cursed in such a way out of her head. Ghirahim would pay, and yet he couldn't because Kid would pay the price as well. She clutched the shard of wisdom under her bandana so hard that she wouldn't be surprised if it cut her.
As if sensing that none of them fancied his answer, Carben added, "To my knowledge, this mess with the demon is not the responsibility of the Lokomo to ultimately fix. Though we will help, how you fix it is entirely up to you."
"Understood," Zelda conceded with a regal nod. "Could you tell us more about the traitor Lokomo so we know what we're dealing with?"
"Ah, Vivian," Carben said, stretching out on the couch farther and slinging an arm over the back as if he was settling in for a long story. Tetra prayed it would be a brief one. "From what I've heard, she's not only using evil spirits to do her bidding, but the Demon Train as well."
"What is that?" Link wondered.
"It's a demonic being from the Dark Realm. It runs on tracks and uh…hmm…" Carben rose and crossed to a desk set in the corner, leafing through it for some paper and a writing utensil. He spent quite a while scribbling, muttering to himself, pausing, and then scribbling again, before turning to them and handing Link the paper he'd been diligently bent over.
"Excuse my drawing skills, but you can get the gist of what it looks like," Carben said, flopping back down onto the plush couch.
Tetra sidled closer to Link, about to nudge Kid aside before thinking better of it and switching sides, elbowing the princess out of the way instead so she could view the paper. Carben had sketched an odd-looking thing. It was long and cylindrical and somewhat gear-like with a mean-looking face. The demonic creature did not have legs, but a slew of wheels.
"Is it…a machine?" Zelda ventured.
"Somewhat, yes," Carben answered. "Of course, since it comes from the Dark Realm, it's nothing good."
"So, how do we kill it?" Midna asked as she hovered over Link's shoulder and peered down at the drawing.
Carben let out a short laugh. "You don't kill it. You can't kill the Demon Train, and you'd be a fool to try. Swords won't work and neither will any other weapons you have. If you see it, get as far away from it as possible."
Tetra didn't very much like the thought of running away. If they couldn't kill Ghirahim and they couldn't kill the Demon Train, then what could they kill?
"How about Vivian? Any tips for fighting her?" Link asked.
Carben considered this before replying. "Her special weapon is a sword blessed by the Spirits, so she's adept at sword fighting. Being able to match her will be no easy task since she's a Lokomo. Her strength far surpasses your own and that's not hubris talking, just truth, but if you can move quicker than her and use techniques she's unaccustomed to blocking and parrying, you may have a chance. Of course, you won't get a chance to fight her unless she comes down to your level, which is highly unlikely because, from what I've heard from my fellow guardian before he was possessed, Vivian stays on the Demon Train, so, unless you can fly, you aren't reaching her."
"Can't we just shoot her down with arrows?" Tetra asked, her hand suddenly itching to hold a bow.
"You can try, but Vivian knows how to dodge and block such projectiles. Your best chance is to get close and strike hard and fast."
Zelda nodded in comprehension. "Do you have any more advice for us? Perhaps for fighting the possessed Lokomo?"
"Well," Carben began, his tone ponderous, "I can't guarantee what they'll be like possessed, but ordinarily each uses a special weapon…" Carben continued his explanation, listing each guardian Lokomo and their particular weapons and skills, but Tetra's mind was elsewhere. It wasn't because she had no interest in the information –she knew it was quite valuable- or that she couldn't concentrate, for she was actually concentrating awfully hard, but because her thoughts were lingering on the Guardian of the Dark Realm.
Her idea had started as a tiny tickle at the back of her mind, but as Carben droned on and her companions hung on his every word, Tetra was coaxing it and coaching it until it developed into a magnificent flow so that by the time Carben finally stopped prattling on, she could let it tumble out of her mouth.
"What if we had a flying train, too?"
Link looked at her like she had lost her mind. "What?"
"What if we had a flying train," Tetra repeated, warming up to the idea with a cunning smile. "Then we'd be able to reach Vivian and battle her."
"Ooh, I like where this is going," Midna commented, a smile splitting her face as well.
"How do you propose we obtain a train of our own?" Zelda inquired, her tone betraying her worry that Tetra's methods would be unethical or downright impossible.
Tetra raised her head high, confident that her idea was neither. "We build one."
"Again, how?" Zelda queried.
Tetra rolled her eyes. "We have an engineer, if you've forgotten. Actually, two. Linebeck and Jolene can build it for us."
"You're going to make those two work together?" Link wondered, his tone suggesting that that was a bad idea. "Won't they just be at each other's throats the whole time?"
Tetra shrugged. "It can be a nice bonding experience for the two of them."
"Eee hee hee! You're evil," Midna giggled.
Tetra winked at her. "The evilest."
"How do you plan on making this thing fly?" Carben queried, sounding unimpressed with Tetra's idea. "To my knowledge, the Demon Train is made of metal. Getting such a heavy object in the air won't be easy."
"Not without magic it won't," Tetra agreed. She pointed to Carben. "That's where you and the other guardians come in. You'll use your powers to make it fly. You can do that, can't you?"
Carben frowned. "We could, but it would take a great deal of energy, and you'll need more than just a couple guardians to do it."
"I figured," Tetra told him. "Which is why we free all the guardians first, and then take on Vivian."
"Not a bad idea," Carben assented, nodding his head in approval. "Except that to help you, I'd need to break the protection spell over this village."
"By then there won't be any need for a protection spell," Tetra countered. "We'd have wiped out most of the monsters."
"Fine then. Return to me when you've built your train and freed my fellow Lokomo," Carben replied. He waved a hand in the direction of a countertop of a small kitchenette. "You may find the map over there useful."
To Tetra's annoyance, her counterpart beat her to the parchment and stowed it away before she could take a look at it.
Zelda bowed her head appreciatively to the blue-haired man. "Thank you for your aid."
Carben waved off her thanks. "Just doing what the Spirits put me here for. May fortune fill your sails."
With that, Midna slipped back into the shadows and the foursome exited the house, much better equipped for their journey, yet not quite ready to embark on it.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, Tetra was famished, so returning to the ship to find that her crew had prepared somewhat of a feast for breakfast was much appreciated, especially since the majority of it was fresh.
Her crew must have done some shopping or trading in the village to obtain the fresh fish, fruit, and eggs that they had, but Tetra couldn't even bring herself to care about the money potentially lost. The food tasted too good for that.
Of course, it had to be spoiled by a question from Gonzo. "What happened this morning, Miss?"
Zelda gave her an encouraging look, and Tetra scowled down at her plate, stabbing a bit of egg and raising it to her mouth to give herself time to think. Saying nothing was out of the question, but that didn't mean she couldn't take her time explaining. And take her time she did. By the time she'd finished explaining the situation, nearly everyone had finished eating their fill and those that hadn't suddenly lost their appetite.
"You can't take that girl with you," Nudge said, breaking the silence.
"Believe me, we're not planning to," Tetra assured him, her arms crossed over her chest.
"You should take us with you," Gonzo spoke up. "We can help you fight the possessed guardians."
"No way," Tetra protested. This was exactly why she hadn't wanted to say anything. "We'll be fine on our own."
When objections rang out, Tetra slammed her hands down on the table, rattling the dishes, and shot to her feet. The silence was immediate. "None of you are coming with because I already have a better job for you to do."
"What is it, Miss?" Mako wondered timidly, adjusting his glasses.
"I'm turning you over to Linebeck."
"What?!"
"Miss, you can't!"
"Why him?"
"You're firing us?"
"No! No one's getting fired! Gonzo, stop crying." The large man wiped an arm over his eyes in an effort to obey, and Tetra heard Midna giggle from the shadows. "I mean that I want you to help him and Jolene build the train."
"All due respect, Miss, but we don't know much about building," Senza pointed out.
"You don't have to. Just be the muscle when Linebeck needs it. Hand him tools and such. I don't know. All I know is that it's going to take more than two people to build this thing, and they'll need someone to defend them while they're building it as well. There are monsters out there, after all."
The murmurs around the table were more resigned this time, though no less concerned.
"And this will help you?" Niko asked her as the rest of her crew were busy muttering amongst themselves.
"Yes, Niko, this will help me. It will help all of us," Tetra declared with certainty.
She turned to leave the mess hall, but not before she saw the smile that appeared on the lowest-ranked pirate's face.
There were no smiles when she proposed her idea to Linebeck and Jolene ten minutes later.
"With her?" Linebeck looked at Jolene like she was some disease he didn't want to catch.
"With him?" Jolene looked at Linebeck like he was repulsive bug she'd like to squash.
The two captains returned to their attention to Tetra. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!"
The two of them whipped their heads around to glare at each other so fast that it was a wonder neither got whiplash.
"I'm not," Tetra informed them, though now she was starting to wonder if Link wasn't right and they'd tear each other apart before they could get anything done. "Do this, and you'll not only be helping us but this place."
"Why would I want to help this place?" Jolene demanded, her tone suggesting that she'd never wanted to help anything, person, place, or otherwise, in her life.
Tetra narrowed her eyes. "Because I highly doubt you want to go back to the Great Sea."
Neither could deny this, and Tetra rode the following wave of silence as long as she could. "This is only a project the greatest engineers could take on, and you two are the greatest engineers I know."
"Oh…well, glad you noticed," Linebeck said, his head held high by pride. "I am pretty great.
Jolene rolled her eyes, not fooled by Tetra's flattery like Linebeck "We're the only engineers she knows, you dolt."
Linebeck's proud stance deflated, and he jabbed a finger at the almond-eyed woman next to him. "See! This is why I can't work with her. She calls me names, and she lives to kill me!"
"That's only because you-!"
"Children, children," Tetra said, inserting herself between the two adults before either could attack the other and making her voice as sweet as possible. "If you do this for me, I'll give you each whatever you want when everything's over."
"Humph, like you could do that," Jolene scoffed, turning her back on her.
"I can," Tetra said. "I'll be ruling this land once all the evil's out of it. Therefore, I can get you whatever you wish."
"Rupees? Ancient treasures? A shipyard?" Linebeck wondered, eyes sparkling with all the possibilities.
Tetra smirked. "Sure."
"I can have anything?" Jolene checked, glancing over her shoulder as if that hid her interest.
"Within reason," Tetra amended. If anyone would take advantage of her offer, it would be Jolene.
"Is my own dojo within reason?" Jolene wondered.
"Yes," Tetra answered, not very much caring what a dojo was or why Jolene wanted her own. "All you have to do is work with Linebeck, and it can be yours."
Jolene threw a disgusted glance at the sea captain, and Linebeck threw an equally revolted look at the she-pirate.
"Just work together for a little while and you won't have to work together ever again," Tetra reminded them. "Small price to pay to have all your dreams come true, isn't it?"
"Fine, but I won't like it." Linebeck pledged finally.
"Me neither!" Jolene shot back. The two of them began to stomp back to their respective ships.
"Great! We leave in five minutes!" Tetra called after them.
"Smooth," Midna commended her, briefly materializing out of the shadows. "I think you've got this princess thing down."
Tetra smirked. "Me too."
Five minutes later, everyone was nearly ready to leave. The only thing left to do was board Linebeck's ship with the rest of her companions.
"Did you grab the provisions?" Tetra asked her counterpart as they stood in front of the S.S. Linebeck for a final check. No one wanted to leave and then remember that they'd forgot something they needed and have to turn around.
"Yes," Zelda replied. "I also have the map."
"Potions are included with the provisions, right?" Link checked, forever paranoid about everyone's well-being.
"Yes, there are five. Two green and three blue."
"That's not enough," Link protested.
"You have four. Kid has four. It's plenty," the princess assured him. "And we need to leave some with the pirates just in case."
Tetra nodded in agreement. "How about blankets? Bandages?"
"We have them."
"Link, do you have that drawing of the Demon Train Carben made?" Tetra inquired, looking to the Hero of Twilight for an answer.
"Yeah…"
"Good, give it to Linebeck later. He'll need it to get an idea of how to build our train."
"Anything else?" Zelda wondered, looking around at them all. Her gaze lingered on Kid, but he had nothing to add and neither did the rest of them.
They were ready.
They turned to board Linebeck's ship, only to be stopped by a shout. Tetra whipped around to see Anjean running towards them, her booted feet thudding on the wooden dock.
"Get lost," Link growled, his tone hard as he put a protective arm in front of Kid. Not that Anjean could get to him. She'd have to plow through Tetra first and that wasn't going to happen.
"W-wait! I-" Anjean stumbled to a stop a few feet away, halted by the enmity radiating off of their group. "I want to apologize. I'm sorry for what I did. I just…I wanted it all to stop and…but that doesn't make what I did right, I know. I'm just…" Anjean expelled the rest of her air. "I'm sorry, and I want to help."
"Oh, like you 'helped' Kid before?" Tetra demanded, placing a hand on her hip.
"Wha- no! Not like that! I mean really help," Anjean insisted. The expression on her face appeared sincere, but it was an act. She wasn't really sorry.
"No, thanks," Tetra told her, taking a step onto the gangplank. "We have a map. We don't need you."
"A map won't help you the way I can!" Anjean objected, running over and snagging Tetra's wrist in both her hands.
"Let go!" Tetra cried, trying to shake off Anjean without success.
"No, listen!" Anjean begged. "A map might be able to get you from place to place, but I can ensure that you get hospitality everywhere you go. Everyone knows me and they're obliged to make sure I'm well-cared for. If I'm with you, you'll be well-cared for too."
"We'll take our chances," Tetra returned hotly.
"So you have proper clothing for each realm?" Anjean pressed, drawing far closer than Tetra liked.
She recoiled as much as the shorter girl's grip on her would allow. "What?"
"You're not going to the Snow Realm dressed like that, are you? You'll freeze to death."
"I bet you'd like that," Tetra scoffed.
Anjean shook her head vehemently. "No, I wouldn't! I don't want any of you to die." She looked over Tetra's shoulder at Kid. "Any of you."
"Anjean." The purple-haired girl returned her pleading gaze to Tetra. "Get out of here. You're not coming with us."
The Lokomo girl's shock at being rejected after her heartfelt apology and brazen insistence loosened her grip enough to allow Tetra to reclaim her wrist as her own.
"Wait," Zelda interjected before Tetra could continue to board the ship. "Perhaps having her accompany us would not be such a bad idea."
"What?!" Link exclaimed, whirling around on the princess in outrage. "Zelda, it's the worst idea!"
"Yeah!" Tetra agreed, equally enraged. "Did you forget what happened just a couple hours ago?"
"No, but it is evident that she is sorry, and besides there are benefits to taking her along. Being guaranteed hospitality wherever we go would be comforting to have, and I'm sure we could use Anjean's help with the other Lokomo," Zelda proclaimed. "It would be foolish not to take her."
They all took a while to chew on this idea before Link finally spoke, his sharp blue eyes piercing Anjean's small form. "If you come, you stay far away from Kid, you hear me?"
"But I wo-" Anjean protested, opening her hands to either side of her as if to showcase her innocence.
"Stay. Away." Link reiterated, his tone deadly.
Anjean stepped back and gave a tiny nod. "Okay."
"If you do anything shady or raise a hand against Kid or any of the rest of us, we'll leave you to fend for yourself, and I don't care if we're in the middle of nowhere. We will leave you."
Taken aback, Anjean could only offer another tiny nod, her eyes wide as she watched Link usher Kid the rest of the way onboard.
"Are you serious with this, Zelda?" Tetra demanded, unable to believe her counterpart. This hardly seemed like a wise thing to do.
"I am," Zelda affirmed, head held high. "Now come, we must depart."
When Tetra glanced over her shoulder at Anjean, she found the girl beaming with joy.
"Don't think you coming along changes anything," Tetra hissed, catching Anjean's attention. "We are not friends."
If Anjean's face fell, Tetra didn't see it, for she was already hurrying up the gangplank to join her friends.
