Disclaimer: I don't own Wind Waker or Zelda or any of the characters in
this story. Got that? So don't sue me! Please...?
A/N: Sorry for the delay o few loyal readers (if their still are any). If you read my bio you would have known the cause. Anyways, the people who have reviewed, I thank you very much from the bottom of my heart! They mean a lot to me! So here's the next chapter for your enjoyment!
Chapter 2: A Boy and a Beginning
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Everything was dark and silent...not a sound could be heard from every angle. It was as if everything was destroyed and then frozen in time.
Tetra suddenly began to awaken. She was lying flat on her back and facing up at nothing but darkness. Without moving, she opened her eyes.
"Where...am I?" she thought to herself. "Am I...dead...?"
She slowly began to sit up. She wasn't feeling any pain anywhere on her body and she checked herself to see if anything was bruised. Much to her surprise, she looked as if nothing had ever happened to her. Not a scratch was on her!
Tetra was confused. She stood up and looked around her. There was nothing but darkness and endless void in every direction. She began to walk in the direction she was facing in hopes to find something...anything!
Suddenly she heard a voice hovering in the darkness. It sounded deep and sinister...like it could swallow the empty void if it wanted to that instant.
"Tetra..."
Tetra stopped. "Who's there?!" she said, sounding a little frightened. The voice only repeated her name...
"Tetra..."
"Show yourself!" she demanded, while looking in all directions.
Just then she heard a sound coming from behind her. She spun around to see who it was, but only saw a dark figure standing some distance away.
Tetra made an annoyed sigh. "I can't see you in this darkness you
moron! I need light!"
As if to obey her command, a beam of light shot out of the dark abyss from above and surrounded the figure. Now Tetra could see who it was.
She gasped...
"Mother?!"
Tetra's own mother was standing in the ray of light, head hung down and completely still as if frozen in place.
"Mom!" Tetra joyfully shouted. She felt like she could just cry as she started to run to her mother's side. "I can't believe it! You're alive! You're alive!" she kept repeating.
Right before she reached her mother, the woman lifted her head to show a look of pure sadness and despair...before she vanished in a flash of light!
Tetra stopped abruptly when this happened.
"Mother!" she cried. "Mother!"
No answer...
Suddenly she heard maniacal laughing coming from all directions. Tetra looked around for the source but couldn't see anything beyond the beam of light.
"Where's my mom?!" she shouted up to the voice. "Who are you?!"
When she said this, she saw someone walking toward her behind the ray of light. She place a hand on her sheathed dagger, readying to fight whoever dared take her mother away.
The figure stopped however before it reached the light.
"Come into the light you coward!" she said angrily.
The figure paused for a moment before taking two steps into the beam.
Tetra's expression slowly went from anger to utter shock and
disbelief.
"YOU!"
The person she saw in front of her had the same black armor that the human figure that was perched atop the giant bird had on the day her mom was captured!
Tetra, quickly concluding that it was the same person, snapped out of her shock and unsheathed her dagger. Without a second thought, she blindly charged at the figure in black, hoping to avenge her mother and clear her mind of all those bad memories. With an angry yell, she held her dagger in the air and leaped at the figure!
Right when her dagger was about to reach the figure though, it suddenly vanished in a small beam of light that diminished as quick as it appeared!
Tetra landed on the invisible ground and stared at the spot where the person disappeared in anger.
"Stop trying to flee, whoever you are!" she shouted angrily. "Get back and fight me you chicken!"
In response to her threat, the mysterious figure resumed its tainted laughter from wherever it was, making the pirate even more fumed.
But before Tetra got too enraged, her request for combat was then fulfilled as the dark abyss around her began to pull itself from under her feet!
The female captain stared in shock and slight fear as her very surroundings pried itself off the black floor and rose above her head, hovering high above her as if it was staring down at her. It wasn't too long afterwards either, did the tiny fingers of darkness yank themselves down and begin to wrap themselves around her!
Tetra gasped in shock as she felt her body get constricted by the numerous deep purple shadows, struggling to lift her arms and try to pry them off of her! But too many were coming all at once! She didn't even get enough time to free her own hands as wave after wave of the mysterious shadows creped their way up to her neck.
It wasn't long before Tetra couldn't move anything except her head, and she used all the strength she could muster to try and get herself out of this requested mess!
Suddenly, the maniacal laughing resumed once again, forcing Tetra to look back toward the ray of light at the shadow figure standing under it. It raised one of its hands as if to issue a command and when he was finished performing this gesture, Tetra immediately felt a couple of the dark fingers slip their way around her neck and squeeze, real hard!
Tetra gasped for air as their constriction got so tight, her eyes felt like they were about to pop out of her skull. But she suddenly lost all her air before that happened and she immediately fell unconscious! At least...she thought she did.
The pirate felt her head fall forward and hang limp as if she was dead, but she remained conscious for some abnormal reason. She could only listen however as the shadowed figure made one more laugh before everything around feel completely cold.
She thought for sure that this was the end for her...until...
"Miss?"
Tetra stirred.
"Miss? Wake up. Miss?"
"That voice..." she thought. "Who...is making...that voice...?"
She stirred some more.
"...it sounds so...gentle..."
Tetra slowly began to regain consciousness and managed to open her
eyes.
Instead of meeting pure darkness however, another pair of young eyes was staring straight back into hers with a most concerned look in them.
She blinked.
A young boy that looked about her age was gazing up at her from his stand on the flat, green grass. He was wearing a strangely familiar green tunic with a long hat mounted on his head that covered up most of his blonde hair, with the exception of a few thick bangs hanging in front of his forehead. A sheathed sword was strapped to his back, and he wore brown boots and a matching belt about his waist.
The boy's expression changed and he smiled up at her, somehow glad to
see she was alright.
Tetra stared back down at the boy as the last bit of consciousness seeped its way back into her body.
As soon as she was fully awake, she suddenly realized what position she was in.
Instead of being on the ground, she was hanging in mid-air! The back of her vest was snagged onto a small branch protruding from a tall tree's trunk high above the ground.
She gasped in surprise and without thinking, Tetra immediately started to kick her feet to un-snag her vest and shake herself loose.
All her flailing though caused the small branch that her vest was stuck onto to suddenly snap off from her vigorous moment!
Gravity took its effect as Tetra fell to the ground, which was a good 8 to 9 feet down. She landed on her bottom with a thud and let out a yell upon impact.
The boy in green moved out of the way and cringed when he saw Tetra land. He quickly ran to her side and knelt down.
"Are you ok?" he asked her, sounding concerned.
Tetra was about to answer him but suddenly felt her right arm begin to throb with pain. She clutched her arm and looked to see the gash made by that Bokoblin was still there. It had stopped bleeding because of the salt but her fall must have opened it up again and she winced a little.
The boy heard this and looked at her arm, which was now trickling a little bit of blood. He gently lifted her arm to examine the wound and thought for a moment.
"I know." he exclaimed to himself, slowly putting her arm down.
Tetra watched him curiously as he reached up to his long, green hat and pulled it off his head, revealing his short, blonde hair. Grabbing the edge of it, he pulled hard enough to tear the rim of his hat off and make a strand of cloth. He put his hat back on, despite the hot weather, and slowly propped Tetra's arm back up. She moved her hand that was covering her cut as the boy began to carefully wrap her injury up with the cloth.
Tetra looked at him. Who the heck was this guy? And why was he
bothering to help her? He didn't even know her.
Despite her slight confusion however, in the back of her mind, she was secretly glad he was being so kind as to help her wound.
The boy finished his work, and looked at her.
"Does that feel better?" he asked.
Tetra moved her arm a little to see if she even could move it. It still hurt a little but the kid's hand-made bandage had stopped the bleeding and made it feel better than it did before.
Being the person she was though, she gave the kid a look.
"It still hurts."
The boy looked at her funny, a little taken back by her not-so- thankful attitude. He put his hands on his hips and replied. "Well sorry for not being a doctor." He stood up and reached his hand out to help her up.
Tetra didn't take his offer and tried to get up on her own. She managed to get her footing but she was still a little weak from being unconscious for so long, and stumbled to keep her balance. The boy had to grip her shoulders to keep her from falling face-first into the ground.
Once she got her balance, she swatted the boy's hands away and muttered. "I can stand on my own, thank you."
The boy once again scoffed at her rudeness. He was trying to help this girl and she wasn't even giving him a chance, much less a thank you.
Tetra gave him a weird look as she looked his tunic up and down. The outfit looked way too hot to wear in this sunny weather.
"So...what's with the outfit?" she questioned obnoxiously.
The boy snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at his green
tunic.
"Uh...well..." he stuttered.
Seeing how he wasn't finding any words to say, she interrupted and
spoke. "Forget about it...so where am I anyway?" she questioned, looking around. All she saw was trees, tall grass, and an occasional stump or two.
Just then, it hit her.
"That's right! That huge bird came...and..." she shuttered at the thought of all that she had gone through during that encounter. It was even enough to make her wound hurt a little more.
"MISS!"
Tetra paused and began to look for whoever was calling her.
"MISS TETRA!"
Tetra suddenly recognized the voice to be that of Gonzo's and she looked to her right just in time to see him running up to her and the boy.
"Oh thank goodness you're safe!" Gonzo said quickly. "When I saw you get dropped on this summit, I thought for sure you'd..." he paused at the thought.
"Summit?" Tetra wondered. "So that bird dropped me on a mountain?"
She angrily looked to her right.
"Well...wasn't that nice of it." She said in a very sarcastic tone.
With no delay, she immediately headed in the direction that Gonzo came from and motioned for him to follow.
"Well come on! Let's go!" she shouted to Gonzo. "It's time to repay our debt to that bird in full!"
"But Miss...?" Gonzo said, motioning to the boy. "What about
this boy."
Tetra didn't slow her pace.
"Forget about him. Now come on!"
Gonzo didn't argue and quickly followed Tetra out of the woods, leaving the boy behind.
This was all too interesting to the young lad though, so he ran after
the two.
Once out of the woods, Tetra was bathed in sunlight once again. She spread her arms out to smell the fresh air and feel the cool breeze touch her skin. She was very glad that she was still alive to see another day.
Hearing the sound of footsteps interrupting everything from behind her however, she turned to see the boy in green running up to her and Gonzo.
"You are just too curious, you know, kid." Tetra teased.
The boy didn't look fazed by her remark and tried to ignore her.
Just then, she heard a younger voice call out to them.
"Big Brother!" The voice called.
All three of them looked ahead to see a small girl waving to them from across a bridge that connected the cliff they were on to the plateau the girl was on. She had a blue dress with flowers on it, and had the same colored hair as the boy did in two small pigtails. A bunch of sea gulls were also flying around the girls head, cawing loudly as if they were greeting them as well.
Tetra heard the boy make a small laugh and looked over to see him wave back with a smile, obviously glad to see the young girl.
"Who's that?" Tetra questioned him.
The boy stopped waving and looked at Tetra. "That's Aryll, my sister."
The young pirate looked back at the girl and nodded.
"Thought so...you two look alike." She watched as his sister began to make her way across the bridge to greet them.
Suddenly, Tetra heard something other than the slight creaking of the
bridge.
It sounded eerily familiar...
...like the flapping of huge wings!
Before Tetra could even find where it was coming from, she suddenly heard a loud swoosh followed by a loud scream of horror coming from right next to her!
The huge bird that had kidnapped her had returned! And it was flying directly toward the poor kid's sister!
"Aryll! Look out!" suddenly came the boy's voice.
But...with a huge crash and a swipe with its talons, the giant eagle quickly grabbed the girl right off the wooden bridge, shaking it violently!
The girl cried for help as she was carried off in the bird's talons, reaching out to her brother and yelling.
"BIG BROTHER!" she shouted helplessly.
Tetra watched in awe as the huge bird began to fly off with the girl
in its clutches.
Her ear twitched slightly when she suddenly heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed, causing her to tense up and turn around.
The boy had taken out his sword and now wore a terrified but determined look on his face. Without wasting another second, he suddenly started to run toward the bird, in a blinding effort to save his sister!
"Stop!" Tetra shouted.
The boy didn't stop or answer.
Tetra quickly ran after him. That stupid kid was about to run right off the edge of the cliff they were on top of!
Sure enough, the kid realized this fact too late...and he fell over
the edge!
He yelped as he fell a little distance down toward the rocky base of the plateau, twisting in the air and trying to grab a hold of something! He didn't fall far though, before a hand quickly caught his flailing arm and held on tight to keep him from slipping.
It was a good thing Tetra had good reflexes!
But instead of keeping still, the kid began to struggle to get out of her grasp, wanting her to let him go so he could chase after the bird!
"Stupid...kid!" she said through gritted teeth as she tried to hold on
to him.
With a little help from Gonzo, she managed to keep her grip on the struggling boy, and when it didn't look like the boy wasn't going to quit, she tried to talk some sense into him to try and make him stop trying to escape her grasp.
"Get a hold of yourself!" Tetra shouted down to him. "There's nothing you can do now! She's gone!"
The kid must have heard her, since his movements slowed down and he stopped flailing. He hung there and watched helplessly as his little sister slowly disappeared into the sky.
When his movements slowed, Tetra looked down at him and saw the look on his face. It was a look of pure heartbreak; he had just witnessed his sister being kidnapped, and now he was dangling from the edge of a cliff, completely helpless to do anything about it.
It suddenly reminded her of the day she lost her...mother.
Her look softened. She stared at the kid through her narrowing eyes, suddenly wishing there was something she could do to reunite this kid with his sister. A sense of great pity wielded up inside her as she slowly got a look of sadness in her eyes.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of Gonzo's heaving. He pulled Tetra back, far enough so that he could help her lift the kid back up on the ledge.
After they got him back up on safe ground, the kid looked back in the direction the bird had carried his sister off to.
He stayed this way for the longest moment and after watching him a few seconds, Tetra motioned to Gonzo.
"Let's go, Gonzo." She said quietly.
The two began to walk away.
"Wait..." the boy called, still sounding a little traumatized by all that has happened.
Tetra turned around and saw the boy looking straight at her.
He paused a moment before speaking.
"...thank you." He managed to say.
Tetra stared at him, touched by the kindness that he was showing her even after she treated him like dirt. She paused a bit and stared back at him for a moment before she turned back around and headed for the bridge. Gonzo ran ahead of her to inform the crew down on shore that their captain was safe.
The kid watched her as she started to cross the bridge. Tetra looked back once more to look at him, but quickly turned around when she saw the kid was still looking at her.
He smiled. His expression turned upside down again though as he went back to staring at the horizon.
Down on shore, Tetra was greeted by her crew. They looked extremely happy to see their precious captain was still alive.
"Oh Miss Tetra you're safe!" Nudge stated happily.
Tetra jokingly eyed him and spoke. "Come on Nudge! Do you really think I couldn't handle a fall from hundreds of feet in the air?"
"Well..." he began. "...no..."
Tetra smirked at him. "You all really should have more faith in your captain." She crossed her arms and looked at all of them.
The crew started chanting.
"Were sorry, Miss!" they all said.
"You're forgiven." Tetra said with a smile. She was happy to see her crew was safe as well. "Now what do you say we get out of here and get on with our lives?"
"Yes, let's!" they chanted. With that, Tetra ordered everyone but Gonzo and Niko to get back on the ship and prepare to shove off. As they went back to the ship, Tetra turned to the two men and spoke.
"So where are we?"
Gonzo scratched his head. "I believe this island is called...uh...oh what was it! Onset? Outsun?"
"Outset!" Niko finished.
"Yeah I was about to say that next, yeah?!" Gonzo said sheepishly.
Tetra rubbed her chin. "Outset huh?" she pondered. "I've heard of this place. It's pretty far south from where we were."
She stomped her foot. "But shoot! We don't know where that bird went!"
She thought for a moment. "How are we going to find it? We have to pay that bird back for what it did to me!"
"Tetra..."
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the kid with the green outfit's voice. She spun around to see him looking at her with a look of determination in his eyes. She didn't except to see him again.
"I want to go with you!" he suddenly said quickly and sternly before she could say anything to him.
Tetra's eyes grew big.
"You what?!"
The boy repeated his request and waited for an answer.
Tetra put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. "Do you even know what your asking kid?"
He looked at her funny.
She rolled her eyes. "We're pirates! You know...Pirates!! The Terror of Seas!" she crossed her arms. "You're asking the wrong question to the wrong people, kid. What would we get out of bringing some helpless little kid along with us?"
The boy lifted a finger to reply, but she cut him off.
"I'll tell you what we get! A headache!"
The boy must have gotten use to her rude remarks by now since he merely dropped his hand and eyed her back. Inside though, he was really being hurt by her words.
Tetra suddenly started to ease up on the rude comments, unfolded her arms, and continued.
"I can understand how you must feel, what with your sister being kidnapped and all..." she lifted her head and eyed him back. "But that really has nothing to do with us now does it?"
The boy was about to answer her question when they heard someone
speak.
"And how do you figure?" a voice said.
Everyone looked over to see a man with a beak, white hair and folded wings hanging from crossed arms looking at them. The boy recognized him as being one of the Great Sea's postmen. He believed Quill was his name.
Gonzo stepped in front of the guy and spoke. "Hold on there! Since when did you have the right butting in on our conversation, yeah?!" he said, trying to sound tough but not really succeeding.
"Please..." Quill said. "All I'm trying to say is that if you big bad pirates hadn't come to this quiet little island, that boy's sister would not have been kidnapped."
Tetra raised an eyebrow. "And what do you mean by that?" she said,
tauntingly.
Quill eyed her. "You want to know where that bird went, don't you?"
Tetra paused as Quill continued...
"That huge beast has been the harasser of many islands, and from what I've heard, its been kidnapping young girls with pointy ears, much like your own. My hunch is that the bird must have mistaken this poor kid's sister for you, so that's why it grabbed her instead!"
Tetra looked away with a frown, obviously defeated by this winged man.
"And if I'm not mistaken..." he continued as he looked over to the boy. "I believed it was young Link here who saved you from the monsters in the forest."
Tetra looked at the boy who she now knew was named Link. She had no idea that she was in any real danger in that forest. Did this kid really protect her from monsters while she was unconscious?
"Is this true?" she asked Link, trying to sound tough but finding her
voice was more soft sounding than she wanted.
He merely just smiled and scratched the back of his head.
Quill spoke. "I might as well add that that foul bird has made its nest in the walls of the Forsaken Fortress, north of here."
Tetra quickly took her eyes off Link and looked up at Quill. "The Forsaken Fortress?! Isn't that the place where...?" she paused.
"So..." Quill added crossing his arms. "What are you going to do? Under the circumstances I don't think it would be unreasonable to give Link a little help."
Tetra put her hands on her hips. "I don't need you to tell me that!" She looked back at Link and gave him a frown. "Even if I was to consider it, lately I've heard nothing but evil rumors about this Forsaken Fortress." She looked him up and down and grinned. "You can't possibly think to go there with just that cheap little sword of yours. That's not brave. It's stupid!"
She crossed her arms. "Tell you what, if you can find something that you can use as a shield then I'll let you stow way on our ship. But be quick about it, since we're shoving off in a few minutes! Got it?"
Link got a hopeful expression on his face and nodded his head.
"Thank you!" he replied as he bolted toward one of the few houses that
dotted the shore.
"Oh yeah!" she shouted, making him stop and turn around. "Keep in mind
that once we leave, you won't be coming back here for a while so say your
good-bye's while you have the chance. I don't want you getting all weepy-
eyed and homesick on me!"
Link's expression somewhat dimmed a little, but he quickly regained
his thoughts and nodded his head as he ran off.
When the boy got out of hearing range, Gonzo looked down at Tetra.
"You're letting a little kid like him on our ship?"
Tetra glared up at him. "Listen Gonzo, if you have something to say then just say it!"
Gonzo zipped his lip and kept quiet as Niko made a silly grin at the defeated pirate.
After a few minutes, Link came running back to them with what looked like a shield. Tetra eyed it and wondered if it was enough to protect him. But instead of saying so, she scoffed at the thing and spoke.
"Wow, that's a decrepit old shield..." she muttered. "Are you sure you can still use that thing. Are you going to get splinters and cry?"
Link looked at her with a confused look on his face.
Tetra rolled her eyes.
"Nevermind...so are you ready to go?"
Link nodded his head.
"Then climb aboard, rookie." She said, motioning to her ship.
"We've got a long journey ahead of us!"
A/N: Sorry for the delay o few loyal readers (if their still are any). If you read my bio you would have known the cause. Anyways, the people who have reviewed, I thank you very much from the bottom of my heart! They mean a lot to me! So here's the next chapter for your enjoyment!
Chapter 2: A Boy and a Beginning
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Everything was dark and silent...not a sound could be heard from every angle. It was as if everything was destroyed and then frozen in time.
Tetra suddenly began to awaken. She was lying flat on her back and facing up at nothing but darkness. Without moving, she opened her eyes.
"Where...am I?" she thought to herself. "Am I...dead...?"
She slowly began to sit up. She wasn't feeling any pain anywhere on her body and she checked herself to see if anything was bruised. Much to her surprise, she looked as if nothing had ever happened to her. Not a scratch was on her!
Tetra was confused. She stood up and looked around her. There was nothing but darkness and endless void in every direction. She began to walk in the direction she was facing in hopes to find something...anything!
Suddenly she heard a voice hovering in the darkness. It sounded deep and sinister...like it could swallow the empty void if it wanted to that instant.
"Tetra..."
Tetra stopped. "Who's there?!" she said, sounding a little frightened. The voice only repeated her name...
"Tetra..."
"Show yourself!" she demanded, while looking in all directions.
Just then she heard a sound coming from behind her. She spun around to see who it was, but only saw a dark figure standing some distance away.
Tetra made an annoyed sigh. "I can't see you in this darkness you
moron! I need light!"
As if to obey her command, a beam of light shot out of the dark abyss from above and surrounded the figure. Now Tetra could see who it was.
She gasped...
"Mother?!"
Tetra's own mother was standing in the ray of light, head hung down and completely still as if frozen in place.
"Mom!" Tetra joyfully shouted. She felt like she could just cry as she started to run to her mother's side. "I can't believe it! You're alive! You're alive!" she kept repeating.
Right before she reached her mother, the woman lifted her head to show a look of pure sadness and despair...before she vanished in a flash of light!
Tetra stopped abruptly when this happened.
"Mother!" she cried. "Mother!"
No answer...
Suddenly she heard maniacal laughing coming from all directions. Tetra looked around for the source but couldn't see anything beyond the beam of light.
"Where's my mom?!" she shouted up to the voice. "Who are you?!"
When she said this, she saw someone walking toward her behind the ray of light. She place a hand on her sheathed dagger, readying to fight whoever dared take her mother away.
The figure stopped however before it reached the light.
"Come into the light you coward!" she said angrily.
The figure paused for a moment before taking two steps into the beam.
Tetra's expression slowly went from anger to utter shock and
disbelief.
"YOU!"
The person she saw in front of her had the same black armor that the human figure that was perched atop the giant bird had on the day her mom was captured!
Tetra, quickly concluding that it was the same person, snapped out of her shock and unsheathed her dagger. Without a second thought, she blindly charged at the figure in black, hoping to avenge her mother and clear her mind of all those bad memories. With an angry yell, she held her dagger in the air and leaped at the figure!
Right when her dagger was about to reach the figure though, it suddenly vanished in a small beam of light that diminished as quick as it appeared!
Tetra landed on the invisible ground and stared at the spot where the person disappeared in anger.
"Stop trying to flee, whoever you are!" she shouted angrily. "Get back and fight me you chicken!"
In response to her threat, the mysterious figure resumed its tainted laughter from wherever it was, making the pirate even more fumed.
But before Tetra got too enraged, her request for combat was then fulfilled as the dark abyss around her began to pull itself from under her feet!
The female captain stared in shock and slight fear as her very surroundings pried itself off the black floor and rose above her head, hovering high above her as if it was staring down at her. It wasn't too long afterwards either, did the tiny fingers of darkness yank themselves down and begin to wrap themselves around her!
Tetra gasped in shock as she felt her body get constricted by the numerous deep purple shadows, struggling to lift her arms and try to pry them off of her! But too many were coming all at once! She didn't even get enough time to free her own hands as wave after wave of the mysterious shadows creped their way up to her neck.
It wasn't long before Tetra couldn't move anything except her head, and she used all the strength she could muster to try and get herself out of this requested mess!
Suddenly, the maniacal laughing resumed once again, forcing Tetra to look back toward the ray of light at the shadow figure standing under it. It raised one of its hands as if to issue a command and when he was finished performing this gesture, Tetra immediately felt a couple of the dark fingers slip their way around her neck and squeeze, real hard!
Tetra gasped for air as their constriction got so tight, her eyes felt like they were about to pop out of her skull. But she suddenly lost all her air before that happened and she immediately fell unconscious! At least...she thought she did.
The pirate felt her head fall forward and hang limp as if she was dead, but she remained conscious for some abnormal reason. She could only listen however as the shadowed figure made one more laugh before everything around feel completely cold.
She thought for sure that this was the end for her...until...
"Miss?"
Tetra stirred.
"Miss? Wake up. Miss?"
"That voice..." she thought. "Who...is making...that voice...?"
She stirred some more.
"...it sounds so...gentle..."
Tetra slowly began to regain consciousness and managed to open her
eyes.
Instead of meeting pure darkness however, another pair of young eyes was staring straight back into hers with a most concerned look in them.
She blinked.
A young boy that looked about her age was gazing up at her from his stand on the flat, green grass. He was wearing a strangely familiar green tunic with a long hat mounted on his head that covered up most of his blonde hair, with the exception of a few thick bangs hanging in front of his forehead. A sheathed sword was strapped to his back, and he wore brown boots and a matching belt about his waist.
The boy's expression changed and he smiled up at her, somehow glad to
see she was alright.
Tetra stared back down at the boy as the last bit of consciousness seeped its way back into her body.
As soon as she was fully awake, she suddenly realized what position she was in.
Instead of being on the ground, she was hanging in mid-air! The back of her vest was snagged onto a small branch protruding from a tall tree's trunk high above the ground.
She gasped in surprise and without thinking, Tetra immediately started to kick her feet to un-snag her vest and shake herself loose.
All her flailing though caused the small branch that her vest was stuck onto to suddenly snap off from her vigorous moment!
Gravity took its effect as Tetra fell to the ground, which was a good 8 to 9 feet down. She landed on her bottom with a thud and let out a yell upon impact.
The boy in green moved out of the way and cringed when he saw Tetra land. He quickly ran to her side and knelt down.
"Are you ok?" he asked her, sounding concerned.
Tetra was about to answer him but suddenly felt her right arm begin to throb with pain. She clutched her arm and looked to see the gash made by that Bokoblin was still there. It had stopped bleeding because of the salt but her fall must have opened it up again and she winced a little.
The boy heard this and looked at her arm, which was now trickling a little bit of blood. He gently lifted her arm to examine the wound and thought for a moment.
"I know." he exclaimed to himself, slowly putting her arm down.
Tetra watched him curiously as he reached up to his long, green hat and pulled it off his head, revealing his short, blonde hair. Grabbing the edge of it, he pulled hard enough to tear the rim of his hat off and make a strand of cloth. He put his hat back on, despite the hot weather, and slowly propped Tetra's arm back up. She moved her hand that was covering her cut as the boy began to carefully wrap her injury up with the cloth.
Tetra looked at him. Who the heck was this guy? And why was he
bothering to help her? He didn't even know her.
Despite her slight confusion however, in the back of her mind, she was secretly glad he was being so kind as to help her wound.
The boy finished his work, and looked at her.
"Does that feel better?" he asked.
Tetra moved her arm a little to see if she even could move it. It still hurt a little but the kid's hand-made bandage had stopped the bleeding and made it feel better than it did before.
Being the person she was though, she gave the kid a look.
"It still hurts."
The boy looked at her funny, a little taken back by her not-so- thankful attitude. He put his hands on his hips and replied. "Well sorry for not being a doctor." He stood up and reached his hand out to help her up.
Tetra didn't take his offer and tried to get up on her own. She managed to get her footing but she was still a little weak from being unconscious for so long, and stumbled to keep her balance. The boy had to grip her shoulders to keep her from falling face-first into the ground.
Once she got her balance, she swatted the boy's hands away and muttered. "I can stand on my own, thank you."
The boy once again scoffed at her rudeness. He was trying to help this girl and she wasn't even giving him a chance, much less a thank you.
Tetra gave him a weird look as she looked his tunic up and down. The outfit looked way too hot to wear in this sunny weather.
"So...what's with the outfit?" she questioned obnoxiously.
The boy snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at his green
tunic.
"Uh...well..." he stuttered.
Seeing how he wasn't finding any words to say, she interrupted and
spoke. "Forget about it...so where am I anyway?" she questioned, looking around. All she saw was trees, tall grass, and an occasional stump or two.
Just then, it hit her.
"That's right! That huge bird came...and..." she shuttered at the thought of all that she had gone through during that encounter. It was even enough to make her wound hurt a little more.
"MISS!"
Tetra paused and began to look for whoever was calling her.
"MISS TETRA!"
Tetra suddenly recognized the voice to be that of Gonzo's and she looked to her right just in time to see him running up to her and the boy.
"Oh thank goodness you're safe!" Gonzo said quickly. "When I saw you get dropped on this summit, I thought for sure you'd..." he paused at the thought.
"Summit?" Tetra wondered. "So that bird dropped me on a mountain?"
She angrily looked to her right.
"Well...wasn't that nice of it." She said in a very sarcastic tone.
With no delay, she immediately headed in the direction that Gonzo came from and motioned for him to follow.
"Well come on! Let's go!" she shouted to Gonzo. "It's time to repay our debt to that bird in full!"
"But Miss...?" Gonzo said, motioning to the boy. "What about
this boy."
Tetra didn't slow her pace.
"Forget about him. Now come on!"
Gonzo didn't argue and quickly followed Tetra out of the woods, leaving the boy behind.
This was all too interesting to the young lad though, so he ran after
the two.
Once out of the woods, Tetra was bathed in sunlight once again. She spread her arms out to smell the fresh air and feel the cool breeze touch her skin. She was very glad that she was still alive to see another day.
Hearing the sound of footsteps interrupting everything from behind her however, she turned to see the boy in green running up to her and Gonzo.
"You are just too curious, you know, kid." Tetra teased.
The boy didn't look fazed by her remark and tried to ignore her.
Just then, she heard a younger voice call out to them.
"Big Brother!" The voice called.
All three of them looked ahead to see a small girl waving to them from across a bridge that connected the cliff they were on to the plateau the girl was on. She had a blue dress with flowers on it, and had the same colored hair as the boy did in two small pigtails. A bunch of sea gulls were also flying around the girls head, cawing loudly as if they were greeting them as well.
Tetra heard the boy make a small laugh and looked over to see him wave back with a smile, obviously glad to see the young girl.
"Who's that?" Tetra questioned him.
The boy stopped waving and looked at Tetra. "That's Aryll, my sister."
The young pirate looked back at the girl and nodded.
"Thought so...you two look alike." She watched as his sister began to make her way across the bridge to greet them.
Suddenly, Tetra heard something other than the slight creaking of the
bridge.
It sounded eerily familiar...
...like the flapping of huge wings!
Before Tetra could even find where it was coming from, she suddenly heard a loud swoosh followed by a loud scream of horror coming from right next to her!
The huge bird that had kidnapped her had returned! And it was flying directly toward the poor kid's sister!
"Aryll! Look out!" suddenly came the boy's voice.
But...with a huge crash and a swipe with its talons, the giant eagle quickly grabbed the girl right off the wooden bridge, shaking it violently!
The girl cried for help as she was carried off in the bird's talons, reaching out to her brother and yelling.
"BIG BROTHER!" she shouted helplessly.
Tetra watched in awe as the huge bird began to fly off with the girl
in its clutches.
Her ear twitched slightly when she suddenly heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed, causing her to tense up and turn around.
The boy had taken out his sword and now wore a terrified but determined look on his face. Without wasting another second, he suddenly started to run toward the bird, in a blinding effort to save his sister!
"Stop!" Tetra shouted.
The boy didn't stop or answer.
Tetra quickly ran after him. That stupid kid was about to run right off the edge of the cliff they were on top of!
Sure enough, the kid realized this fact too late...and he fell over
the edge!
He yelped as he fell a little distance down toward the rocky base of the plateau, twisting in the air and trying to grab a hold of something! He didn't fall far though, before a hand quickly caught his flailing arm and held on tight to keep him from slipping.
It was a good thing Tetra had good reflexes!
But instead of keeping still, the kid began to struggle to get out of her grasp, wanting her to let him go so he could chase after the bird!
"Stupid...kid!" she said through gritted teeth as she tried to hold on
to him.
With a little help from Gonzo, she managed to keep her grip on the struggling boy, and when it didn't look like the boy wasn't going to quit, she tried to talk some sense into him to try and make him stop trying to escape her grasp.
"Get a hold of yourself!" Tetra shouted down to him. "There's nothing you can do now! She's gone!"
The kid must have heard her, since his movements slowed down and he stopped flailing. He hung there and watched helplessly as his little sister slowly disappeared into the sky.
When his movements slowed, Tetra looked down at him and saw the look on his face. It was a look of pure heartbreak; he had just witnessed his sister being kidnapped, and now he was dangling from the edge of a cliff, completely helpless to do anything about it.
It suddenly reminded her of the day she lost her...mother.
Her look softened. She stared at the kid through her narrowing eyes, suddenly wishing there was something she could do to reunite this kid with his sister. A sense of great pity wielded up inside her as she slowly got a look of sadness in her eyes.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of Gonzo's heaving. He pulled Tetra back, far enough so that he could help her lift the kid back up on the ledge.
After they got him back up on safe ground, the kid looked back in the direction the bird had carried his sister off to.
He stayed this way for the longest moment and after watching him a few seconds, Tetra motioned to Gonzo.
"Let's go, Gonzo." She said quietly.
The two began to walk away.
"Wait..." the boy called, still sounding a little traumatized by all that has happened.
Tetra turned around and saw the boy looking straight at her.
He paused a moment before speaking.
"...thank you." He managed to say.
Tetra stared at him, touched by the kindness that he was showing her even after she treated him like dirt. She paused a bit and stared back at him for a moment before she turned back around and headed for the bridge. Gonzo ran ahead of her to inform the crew down on shore that their captain was safe.
The kid watched her as she started to cross the bridge. Tetra looked back once more to look at him, but quickly turned around when she saw the kid was still looking at her.
He smiled. His expression turned upside down again though as he went back to staring at the horizon.
Down on shore, Tetra was greeted by her crew. They looked extremely happy to see their precious captain was still alive.
"Oh Miss Tetra you're safe!" Nudge stated happily.
Tetra jokingly eyed him and spoke. "Come on Nudge! Do you really think I couldn't handle a fall from hundreds of feet in the air?"
"Well..." he began. "...no..."
Tetra smirked at him. "You all really should have more faith in your captain." She crossed her arms and looked at all of them.
The crew started chanting.
"Were sorry, Miss!" they all said.
"You're forgiven." Tetra said with a smile. She was happy to see her crew was safe as well. "Now what do you say we get out of here and get on with our lives?"
"Yes, let's!" they chanted. With that, Tetra ordered everyone but Gonzo and Niko to get back on the ship and prepare to shove off. As they went back to the ship, Tetra turned to the two men and spoke.
"So where are we?"
Gonzo scratched his head. "I believe this island is called...uh...oh what was it! Onset? Outsun?"
"Outset!" Niko finished.
"Yeah I was about to say that next, yeah?!" Gonzo said sheepishly.
Tetra rubbed her chin. "Outset huh?" she pondered. "I've heard of this place. It's pretty far south from where we were."
She stomped her foot. "But shoot! We don't know where that bird went!"
She thought for a moment. "How are we going to find it? We have to pay that bird back for what it did to me!"
"Tetra..."
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the kid with the green outfit's voice. She spun around to see him looking at her with a look of determination in his eyes. She didn't except to see him again.
"I want to go with you!" he suddenly said quickly and sternly before she could say anything to him.
Tetra's eyes grew big.
"You what?!"
The boy repeated his request and waited for an answer.
Tetra put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. "Do you even know what your asking kid?"
He looked at her funny.
She rolled her eyes. "We're pirates! You know...Pirates!! The Terror of Seas!" she crossed her arms. "You're asking the wrong question to the wrong people, kid. What would we get out of bringing some helpless little kid along with us?"
The boy lifted a finger to reply, but she cut him off.
"I'll tell you what we get! A headache!"
The boy must have gotten use to her rude remarks by now since he merely dropped his hand and eyed her back. Inside though, he was really being hurt by her words.
Tetra suddenly started to ease up on the rude comments, unfolded her arms, and continued.
"I can understand how you must feel, what with your sister being kidnapped and all..." she lifted her head and eyed him back. "But that really has nothing to do with us now does it?"
The boy was about to answer her question when they heard someone
speak.
"And how do you figure?" a voice said.
Everyone looked over to see a man with a beak, white hair and folded wings hanging from crossed arms looking at them. The boy recognized him as being one of the Great Sea's postmen. He believed Quill was his name.
Gonzo stepped in front of the guy and spoke. "Hold on there! Since when did you have the right butting in on our conversation, yeah?!" he said, trying to sound tough but not really succeeding.
"Please..." Quill said. "All I'm trying to say is that if you big bad pirates hadn't come to this quiet little island, that boy's sister would not have been kidnapped."
Tetra raised an eyebrow. "And what do you mean by that?" she said,
tauntingly.
Quill eyed her. "You want to know where that bird went, don't you?"
Tetra paused as Quill continued...
"That huge beast has been the harasser of many islands, and from what I've heard, its been kidnapping young girls with pointy ears, much like your own. My hunch is that the bird must have mistaken this poor kid's sister for you, so that's why it grabbed her instead!"
Tetra looked away with a frown, obviously defeated by this winged man.
"And if I'm not mistaken..." he continued as he looked over to the boy. "I believed it was young Link here who saved you from the monsters in the forest."
Tetra looked at the boy who she now knew was named Link. She had no idea that she was in any real danger in that forest. Did this kid really protect her from monsters while she was unconscious?
"Is this true?" she asked Link, trying to sound tough but finding her
voice was more soft sounding than she wanted.
He merely just smiled and scratched the back of his head.
Quill spoke. "I might as well add that that foul bird has made its nest in the walls of the Forsaken Fortress, north of here."
Tetra quickly took her eyes off Link and looked up at Quill. "The Forsaken Fortress?! Isn't that the place where...?" she paused.
"So..." Quill added crossing his arms. "What are you going to do? Under the circumstances I don't think it would be unreasonable to give Link a little help."
Tetra put her hands on her hips. "I don't need you to tell me that!" She looked back at Link and gave him a frown. "Even if I was to consider it, lately I've heard nothing but evil rumors about this Forsaken Fortress." She looked him up and down and grinned. "You can't possibly think to go there with just that cheap little sword of yours. That's not brave. It's stupid!"
She crossed her arms. "Tell you what, if you can find something that you can use as a shield then I'll let you stow way on our ship. But be quick about it, since we're shoving off in a few minutes! Got it?"
Link got a hopeful expression on his face and nodded his head.
"Thank you!" he replied as he bolted toward one of the few houses that
dotted the shore.
"Oh yeah!" she shouted, making him stop and turn around. "Keep in mind
that once we leave, you won't be coming back here for a while so say your
good-bye's while you have the chance. I don't want you getting all weepy-
eyed and homesick on me!"
Link's expression somewhat dimmed a little, but he quickly regained
his thoughts and nodded his head as he ran off.
When the boy got out of hearing range, Gonzo looked down at Tetra.
"You're letting a little kid like him on our ship?"
Tetra glared up at him. "Listen Gonzo, if you have something to say then just say it!"
Gonzo zipped his lip and kept quiet as Niko made a silly grin at the defeated pirate.
After a few minutes, Link came running back to them with what looked like a shield. Tetra eyed it and wondered if it was enough to protect him. But instead of saying so, she scoffed at the thing and spoke.
"Wow, that's a decrepit old shield..." she muttered. "Are you sure you can still use that thing. Are you going to get splinters and cry?"
Link looked at her with a confused look on his face.
Tetra rolled her eyes.
"Nevermind...so are you ready to go?"
Link nodded his head.
"Then climb aboard, rookie." She said, motioning to her ship.
"We've got a long journey ahead of us!"