I am very sorry for the long wait, but school is finally out, so I should be able to update more often (I hope-my summer's busier than my school year) We're trying to get a new internet provider, but it's not working at the moment, so my internet was down for a bit, otherwise this would have been posted about a week earlier.
This chapter is considerably shorter than the last, but I need to restart a game on Windwaker so that I can get a feel for the dialogue and sequence of events and such, and I don't think anyone wanted to wait for me to do that.
As you can guess from the last sentence, we're finally getting into the part of the story where the game begins.
And once again a thank-you goes out to whyetteh (who's probably not reading this) because editing his story helped me get started on this chapter.
Oh, the first part of this is a little choppy, but I didn't have time to revise it-I wrote through writer's block. But bear with me-it gets better (at least, I think it does)
Disclaimer: I don't own the legend of Zelda.
I grabbed at it. The golden triangle hung from it-as always. Then . . . it wasn't a dream. I had actually gotten my necklace back. But how? I let the cord settle on my neck again and lay back to think. I felt the ship moving slowly through the water. Perhaps the whole thing had been a dream and I hadn't. . . .
"Miss?" Gonzo stuck his head in. "We'll go back to Windfall again for some more provisions."
"Again?" I asked hopefully.
"Yes, again, Miss," Gonzo said, confused. I remembered that in the dream, if it was a dream, I had told him to go back to Windfall. My spirits sunk. "I know you don't like the attention we bring to ourselves there, but it's the only place we can get the things we need. I'm sorry about the treasure." So it hadn't been a dream.
"The treasure," I said. "Right." I looked up at the face in the doorway. "Gonzo, can I tell you something without you thinking that I'm crazy?"
"Maybe," Gonzo said, coming in and sitting down next to me on my bed. "What is it?"
"Well, when I fell, I must have been knocked out, right?"
"We found you unconscious at the bottom," Gonzo said "So, yes."
"Well, I had a dream of some sorts," I said. "I know it sounds odd, but that's not the last of it. I dreamt that there was an old man wearing a red robe with a crown on his head. He didn't say anything, but it was as if he knew me. And he had my necklace. He gave it back to me."
"But it was just a dream," Gonzo said.
"That's what I thought," I said. "But . . . look." I brought out the golden triangle, holding it where Gonzo could see. "That's why I'm not so sure."
"How did this happen?" Gonzo asked, reaching for the necklace. Gingerly, I set it in his hand and let him examine it. He ran his fingers over it and turned it about, looking at it from every angle.
"I'm not sure," I said, folding my hands as Gonzo finished looking at the necklace. "It's like I never lost the necklace."
"It feels different," Gonzo said as he placed it about my neck. "Heavier, like." A yell sounded out from above deck, and Gonzo stood. "I've got to go." He turned to face me. "And I won't tell anyone else about this." His footsteps pounded on the wood for a minute or two, then ceased.
"Heavier?" I whispered, placing a hand on the triangle. Now that Gonzo mentioned it, he was right. The necklace did feel heavier than it did before. I took it off and let it rest on my hand. It seemed to glow. "I wonder . . . " My mother had given me the necklace to protect when I was younger. Was there a reason that she wanted me to protect it? Was it more than it appeared to be? "Agh!!" The necklace went skidding across the floor as my cabin rocked. I reached for it as I heard someone pounding down the stairs to my room.
Mako appeared in the doorway, looking quite disheveled. "M-miss!! I think you should come see this!!"
"See what?" I demanded, grabbing my necklace off the floor and dropping it over my head. "What's going on?" The room rocked again, and both Mako and I went flying. "What in the-?" I yelled, half crawling, half running past Mako in the doorway to the deck.
"Miss!!" Nudge shouted, and pointed to the sky. I looked up. A giant bird with multicolored feathers streaming from its head flew toward us, raking the ocean with long orange talons.
"That thing's huge!!" I shouted. I knew what it was-a Helmorac. They prowled the great sea, looking for the bodies of unfortunate sailors to feed on or abandoned dingies to sink. But this one was bigger than any I had ever seen. . . . My train of thought was slammed short as the bird crashed into us, almost capsizing the ship. I grabbed onto the railing of the deck and prayed for my life as my ship slowly righted herself. "Why's it doing this?"
"I'm not sure!" Mako shouted. "We were sailing smooth, and suddenly, we spot this thing on the horizon, heading straight for us!" The bird struck again, sending Nudge off the side of the ship. "Man overboard!" Mako shouted.
"Get him back on deck!" I screamed as Gonzo ignored the call and fired a cannon at the monster. "Get him back onto the deck, dammit!!" I ran and slapped Gonzo, who immediately rushed to where a dingy sat, shouting for Niko to come and help him. The little swabbie rushed to Gonzo, tripping over his own feet on the way. "Niko!" I caught his arm as he tried to board the dingy. "Don't you dare screw this up, you hear?"
"Y-yes, Miss," he stammered as Gonzo picked him up and threw him onto the floor of the dingy.
"Hurry!" As I saw them lowering themselves into the water, I ran to make sure the sails were tied up so the bird couldn't rip them. My crew had gotten them all, but the one rigged at the aft of the ship was coming undone. As I began to shimmy up the mizzenmast to the unfurling sail, I heard Senza shout. I concentrated on tying down the loose sail as the volume of the shouts increased. Senza shouted again, this time his voice laced with pure fear. I looked down from my task and saw Gonzo and Niko trying to pull Nudge into the dingy-with the giant Helmorac pecking at them. "That little. . . ." I began to slide down the mast to the deck.
"Mako!" Senza turned to the brainy pirate as I hit the deck. "Is there any way to get that thing to stop pecking at them?"
"None," Mako replied. I growled as Gonzo lost hold of Nudge, sending him flying back into the bottom of the tiny-looking dingy. There was no way they would be able to save him if this continued. "There are none that I know of."
"I know one," I said, and the two men turned. I bolted for the cannon that Gonzo had left unattended when he went to help Nudge. "You just make sure they don't give up!" I hauled one of the huge black balls to the cannon, put it in after the gunpowder, and turned the cannon so that it was aiming toward the bird-not an easy task, considering the cannon's massive weight. "Hey! Shit-for-brains! Look over here!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and fired.
"It hit!" I heard Senza shout. Just then, the cannon hit me in the stomach, propelled backward by the recoil of the shot. I flew backwards, hitting the railing briefly before falling into the water. "Miss Tetra!" My mind muddled by the shock of what happened-how could I have forgotten about the recoil?-I was barely able to grasp the fact that I needed to swim to the surface for air.
"Miss!!" That was Mako.
"I'm all right!" I shouted up to him. "Just throw me a rope, or something!" I began to swim toward the ship as Mako vanished from sight. Geez, the past few days hadn't been good for me. I lost my necklace, fell down a hole and got knocked unconscious, and found my necklace just in time to be attacked by a giant Helmorac and sent flying off my own ship by my own cannon fire. Mako reappeared at the railing, holding a coiled rope in his hands. I waved to him. "Throw it down!" A few seconds later, a rope hung about three or so feet in front of my outstretched hand.
"We've got Nudge, Gonzo, and Niko on board, Miss!" Mako shouted.
"Great!" I called back, reaching for the rope. I was so intent on my goal that I didn't notice the flapping sound behind me. I paused, just inches away from my destination. "Something tells me I should look behind me right about now."
"MISS TETRA!!" I heard something hit the water behind me, and powerful gusts of wind were knocking up small wakes. I swallowed hard and turned my head. The giant Helmorac was flying straight toward me, raking the water with its talons. I screamed and dove as it reached me, avoiding getting hit by a knot on a rope, which isn't very much, mind you. I heard the bird crash into the ship, and the ship rock in the water. The thing was above me, circling back in order to make its next attack.
"Miss!" Gonzo appeared at the edge of the ship, which had been knocked yards away from me when the bird crashed into it. "Hurry! Make for the rope, make for the rope!" I complied, slicing the water in front of me with my hands, trying to swim faster than I could. The rope was only inches away, I reached for it. "MISS!!!!!"
"Aiee!" I screeched as I was lifted out of the water, talons gripping me securely about my middle. The Helmorac had caught me! As it lifted me higher and higher-eye-level with my crew on the ship, level with the lowest mast-I began to panic. "Lemme go!" I pounded on its talons, trying to slip my short boy-cut nails between them and pry them apart so they would release me. "Lemme go, you stupid thing!"
"Miss!" The shout was faint.
"Help!!" I screamed as the Helmorac began to pull me away from the ship. "Gonzo! Nudge! Senza! Mako! Zuko! Niko! I don't care who, just get me away from this thing!!" Nothing moved for a minute, but then the sails began to unfurl and the ship turn in my direction. They were going to save me! If they can catch up, I thought as the bird began to increase its flight speed. "Hey! Give 'em a chance down there! It's no fun if there's no chase!!" The bird looked down at me, one multicolored eye gleaming in annoyance. Suddenly, a talon loosened its grip and hit me soundly on the head, knocking me unconscious.
When I came to, wind was slapping my face. I blinked, hardly able to keep my eyes open against it. We were up above the clouds, and I was dizzy, sick to my stomach, and my head was pounding, so it took me a moment to remember just what had happened. When I did, I tried my best to look up at my captor, ignoring my pounding head. The bird still flew at crazy speeds, eyes set on the air in front of it. I groaned and let my head flop back to where it had been, trying to keep my stomach from rejecting whatever I had eaten that morning. I blinked once more, and what I had just seen hit me-that bird had a metal mask on. From what I had seen, Helmoracs were free birds, attacking any who entered their territory, not letting any human tame them. So why was this one wearing a human-made object? Was it serving someone? Was it in captivity?
"I think I could make much more sense of things if my head weren't pounding," I muttered. Suddenly, the bird dipped below the clouds, and I could see the ocean. "Where are we?" I asked. I was not expecting an answer and did not receive one. As the bird dipped lower and lower, a cannonball whizzed by. With an angry shriek, the Helmorac lifted up again, turning around as it did so. I saw a little speck on the ocean growing larger and larger. Another cannonball came whizzing by from its direction. The ship!
As the thought crossed my mind, the speck grew larger and I could make out masts and sails. Another cannonball flew by, and I could barely hear the thunder the shot sounded. The Helmorac flew higher, out of the cannon's range. It hesitated, and then began flying away from the ship.
It must not want to go this way, I thought as the bird turned to face my ship again. Once more, it hesitated before flying away from the ship. My crew is chasing it away from its nest! I smiled at the thought of them plotting against a giant Helmorac. I'm glad they thought about what they were doing for once. As I looked in the direction the bird was flying, I could make out a small island. Oh, no, I thought. If we go there, everyone's sure to know that we're pirates! The form of the island grew bigger and bigger as cannon fire on the bird continued. I could suddenly make out a small village settled in the face of a cliff that made up most of the island. I could see someone running across the beach toward the island's watchtower.
"Miss!!" The cry was faint, faint enough so that I could barely hear it, but I knew the voice. Gonzo! They were close enough to shoot the bird! I felt someone's eyes on me, and I froze. They left as shots were fired from the ship, and then came back as the cannonballs came whizzing past us. The bird turned, and another shot was fired. It hit the bird, who voiced an angry caw. It swerved, and I caught sight of someone in the watchtower-a little blonde girl wearing a blue dress who was looking up at me, her mouth wide.
I looked toward the other, taller figure, but the bird pulled up, its talons loosened, and I was falling. My last thought before passing out was an absurd one-A young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. . . .