Okay, I re-played the scene where Link gets the bombs from Niko last night, and this is what I think should have happened.

A note:

This doesn't follow the same plotline as before, but it' still got (attempted) humor.

Some things that are mentioned in the game are addressed to a deeper point here, and if you disagree with my theory, please tell me why. I may ignore you, I may not.

Warnings:

A little pointless fluff. (LinkxTetra. Don't like, don't read)

That's it, I think!! I hope you enjoy the second (pointless) chapter of Here, fishy fishy!!

-Nagem

The last bit of sand in the hourglass was close to falling.

"Thirty seconds, swabbie!!"

Link hung in midair for a moment, and used the chance to grab the next rope. He swung, not daring to wait until the rope stopped swinging to readjust for him to jump to the last platform.

A few more grains of sand trickled into the bottom of the hourglass.

Link, still swinging dangerously far from the edge of the platform, made a wild jump. He barely managed to grab the edge to keep from falling.

"Fifteen seconds, swabbie!!"

He hauled himself up and dashed into the room where Niko was waiting.

"I . . . made it," Link gasped, and collapsed at Niko's feet. His arms and hands hurt too much to think about what Niko was saying.

"How . . . can he?" Niko muttered. "I haven't even passed the test, so how can he? And he made it look so easy!" Niko looked to the nearly unconscious Link. "Well, maybe not so easy. Either way, if they figure out what I've done . . . I'm done for!" Link winced as he pressed his hands against the wooden floor to push himself up to look eye-to-eye with Niko. "Fine! Just take them. Take the bombs." With that, Niko backed into a corner of the room as Link approached the chest.

"The damn King of Red Lions had better be pleased with this," he said, opening the chest with his fingers and fingernails, his hands having been abused too much. He reached in and carefully pulled out the bombs. He grinned. "Well, that gives me a feeling of self-accomplishment." He waved to Niko, who sheepishly grinned back, and headed for the main deck so he could get off this goddess-forsaken boat.

"You must have alotta guts, kid. Stealing from pirates." Link whirled to face the speaker, and Tetra stepped out of the shadows. She had a sly grin on her face. "I should be appalled at what you're doing, but I'm not."

"Why?"

"This only happened because we left a simple-minded brat like Niko in charge of the bombs," she said. Link winced on Niko's behalf. Tetra's criticism was a little harsh. Tetra took a step closer to Link. "We'll set sail tomorrow morning, to give you a night's head start."

"Thanks, I guess," Link said. Tetra waved a finger in front of Link's face.

"But believe me, if you don't hurry, we'll sail right past you tomorrow morning," Tetra said. She turned, ready to get off the boat and join her crew at the Windfall Island inn.

"Hang on," Link said. "I took your bombs, so you couldn't get into Jabun's chamber if you tried." Tetra stopped walking. "Because Quill told me that the chamber is blocked by a huge stone tablet that you couldn't break down the first time." Tetra began to turn, slowly, and Link clamped his mouth shut.

"You don't have all our bombs," she said quietly. Link noticed that her head hung so that he couldn't see her face. Link took a step toward her, but she didn't seem to notice.

"But . . . then why was that chest there?" he asked.

Tetra's head snapped up.

"I don't know!!" she declared. "Maybe my crewmen left it there because they were too lazy to put it where they were supposed to! Maybe because Niko wanted a prize to give you for a stupid test that doesn't even exist." An instant of rage flashed in Link's mind at Niko, but it was quickly stilled by Tetra's rants. "Maybe. . . . " She let her hands curl into fists and then uncurl.

She continued in a smaller voice.

"Maybe I wanted to leave them for you, in hopes that you would steal them."

"What?"

"It's so cliche," Tetra snapped, and Link was sure that she was unaware of his presence. "Pirates only want treasure, Pirates have no heart, pirates are killers." She whirled in circles, searching for her next words. "It's all I ever hear, but it's not always like that."

"It's not?" Link asked in a small voice.

"It's not," Tetra confirmed. "I don't want to see the day when Gonzo, Mako, Senza, Nudge, Zuko . . . even Niko. I don't want to see the day when they die. They've become that close to me. If I were to make friends with someone who would later stop my from robbing someone . . . I wouldn't be able to walk over them without a second glance, or feelings of remorse and regret. That's why I can't get close to someone, that's why they say I'm heartless. It's all because I can't afford to become close to someone." She was biting her lip against tears. She couldn't cry in front of Link, she couldn't. That would be showing weakness. That would be showing that she had dared to open her heart to him even though she barely knew him.

"So . . . " Link said. "I'm the first person that you've let into your life like this?"

The words were so simple.

So simple.

But so true.

Tetra broke into tears.

"What if you were, huh?" she asked, hiding her face. "What would you say?" Link opened his mouth, but Tetra blindly shook her head. "You would be disgusted, wouldn't you? After all, I'm only a bloodthirsty, heartless pirate."

"Tetra. . . . " Link tried to break into her rantings.

"You don't want to be friends with a pirate," she said. "You don't know what trouble you could get into. You don't want to mess with pirates, 'cause you'll never know what comes next!" She was sobbing by this point, but wouldn't let Link get in a word to comment about it. "You can be friends with other people who sail the Great Sea, but never with a pirate." She grabbed Link by the front of his tunic, looking into his eyes. Link backed away, leading them to the railing of the ship.

"Tetra!" Link yelped.

"You know what, Link?" she spat. "I hate being a pirate!! All the stupid, senseless destruction! All the murder! All of the deeds for a treasure that won't matter in ten years." She still didn't set Link down. "I wanted to set sail tonight because I didn't want the same thing to happen to Outset as it did to Greatfish. Your grandmother . . . everyone there. Your sister wouldn't have a home to be brought back to. I didn't want to see that."

"But . . . why?" Link asked. "Why do you even care?"

"My mother was killed by the senseless destruction!" Tetra cried. "All she wanted was to be a great captain . . . and they shot her. Shot her down from the crow's nest. I saw it all. She landed hard on the deck and broke her back, but it didn't matter. She was dead before she even fell. Dead in her heart. She never wanted to kill, to destroy, to plunder. She just wanted to be a good captain and she was stuck being a bloody pirate! I hate it!!" Tetra screamed, loud and long. Link leaned back, but remembered the rail, and leaned forward, supporting Tetra to make sure she didn't fall off the ship.

"Tetra, please," Link said. "You're going to attract attention to the ship."

Tetra didn't listen.

She took a breath and screamed again as she continued sobbing.

"Tetra!" Link turned his head to Niko, who had come up on deck as Tetra screamed. "How do I get her to stop?" Niko shrugged. Link stared at her for a moment before a possibility popped into his mind. "I don't want to," he muttered. "But I don't think I have any other choice." He grabbed Tetra's chin, stopping her in mid-scream. Taking a deep breath, he moved closer.

And then he kissed her.

He kissed her long and hard, so she wouldn't have any ideas about screaming when he went for air.

This isn't too bad, he thought. He didn't notice the hand fly up from Tetra's side. He didn't expect the smack until it landed, sending him flying over the railing of the ship and into the water. Tetra stood on deck, breathing hard, hand still hanging from where it had connected with Link's face.

"Who does he-?" she cursed, and left the ship, passing a bewildered Niko.

He walked over to the edge and looked down to where Link was swimming away from the ship. "Uh, swabbie?" he asked, but Link didn't hear him.

Author's note:

Who thinks I should make a WW fic in Tetra's P.O.V about the game, based on these two chapters??