A/N: Yahoo! Another chapter! I hope you like this one, because it took a while to write!

--------On The Island-------------

"Drop your weapons!!" Kishik commanded.

"Mister, we're not stupid," Darunia said.

"If you drop yours, we will drop ours," Link said, with a polite grin on his face.

Kishik looked at them both with hate. "You heard him," he grumbled. "All of you--drop your weapons."

"That's the spirit," Link laughed, dropping his sword as well as a couple of daggers and shotguns. "Now--oh dear, I'll bet that man told you we have Princess Zelda, didn't he?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Kishik answered. "It was his dying statement."

"Oh, such a shame," Link sighed, with mock wistfulness.

"Where is she?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Where IS she?!" Kishik repeated angrily.

"Who, Scarlett Hamilton? Ooh, she's a feisty one, but if you came all this way just to--"

"I do not know this woman of whom you speak!" Kishik spat bitterly. "Stop annoying me with your stupid jokes! Where do you keep the Princess?"

"We shall require a price if you desire to know where she is," Link said, putting his hands behind his back in a business-like manner.

"Humor is not your strong point, pirate," Kishik sneered. "If I so desired, I could have you and your little friend taken care of just like that." He snapped his fingers.

"Yes, it really is that simple," Link said. He snapped his fingers, and all of a sudden, he and Darunia vanished into thin air.

Kishik's eyes bulged. "Wh--wh--wha?!"

"Where did they go?" a nervous sailor asked.

"It's witchcraft...." a superstitious one whispered.

"Actually, the correct term would be 'warlock-craft,' as strange as it sounds," came Link's voice. The sailors looked up, and saw Link and Darunia waving at them from atop a tree. "But it is not warlock-craft that saved me for I assure you, I am no warlock. I work part-time as a gypsy."

"A gypsy and a pirate!" Kishik snarled. "How disgusting."

"Yes. Well, as disgusting as it is, your Highness, I'm afraid that I must ask you to reconsider my offer of a deal. Because if I really wanted to, I could easily take myself somewhere you would never find me, thanks to the neat little trick I just showed you." Link grinned. "Say, the place where we are keeping the Princess know."

Kishik's teeth and fists clenched. "What do you want?!" he asked.

Link gracefully flipped out of the tree and landed on his feet. "Your ship."

"My SHIP?!" Kishik asked incredulously. "Have you gone completely and utterly mad?!"

"No, not really," Link said. "But my friend here and I need some mode of transportation to get to--"

"Take a rowboat, then!"

"Rowboats are no fun," Link said, frowning. "I shall require a ship if you wish to know where the Princess lies. And where Flynn is, too."

"Flynn is here?!" Kishik inquired. "I didn't know that..."

"Well, sometimes a brain can come in quite handy," Link commented.

"I HAVE TOLERATED YOUR INSOLENCE LONG ENOUGH!!" Kishik roared. He pulled out his blade and pointed it at Link. "TELL ME WHERE ZELDA IS, OR I SHALL SHRED YOU LIKE MEAT ON A BONE AND FEED YOU TO A DOG!"

"Are you implying that you wish to duel?" Link asked calmly. In two flicks of a rattlesnake's tail, he whipped out a sword as well and Kishik had blinked when he suddenly saw his sword in Link's hand. ("Weren't they supposed to have dropped those?" one sailor asked another in a whisper) "I assure you that that is not wise."

"Give him the ship, your highness," said Williams (the first mate). Kishik turned to face his crew, and realized for the first time how terrified they were of the Black Bandit. He glared at the smug Link.

"If I gave you MY ship, how would we go home?!" Kishik yelled.

"Rowboats?" Darunia suggested.

"It would not be proper to escort a lady, let alone a Princess, home in a puny, stinking rowboat!!" Kishik retorted.

"Say, I know!" Link said. "I have a good friend here who would be more than happy to lend you his ship. But it's a tricky deal with him."

"What's his price?" Kishik asked.

"Not money," Link said. "He'll just want to come with you on the journey, that's all. Very attatched to his ship."

"Well...I suppose we could lock him in some room as soon as we're on board," Kishik said. "What's his name?"

"Jack Sparrow," Link said. He felt Darunia nudge him, but he kept on smiling. "Great lad, that Cap'n Jack."

"And he'll allow the use of his ship?"

"Surely, surely..." Link said with another debonair grin.

Kishik fumed. "The day I depend on a pirate is the day I die!!"

Link clicked his tongue. "Your highness, does this mean that you do not wish to see the Princess?"

Kishik's face turned red, and Link noticed a tick in his forehead bulging threateningly. The Prince clamped his mouth shut and held out a hand. "Do I have your word that your friend will give his ship?"

"A pirate's word is worth gold, highness," Link said, smiling and shaking the hand before him. "So thank you; and good-day." He and Darunia started to walk towards one of the rowboats.

"WHERE IS THE PRINCESS?!" Kishik yelled after them.

"Ohhh, yes, that," Link said. "She's, uh--"

"There's a cat house in town; which is located in the middle of the island. Ask to see Flynn; and he'll take you to Zelda," Darunia said. He grinned when he swore he saw steam shooting out of Kishik's ears and his eyes turn red. "Don't worry, I assure you that her highness has nobly refused to take part in the goings-on."

"Brilliant idea," Link muttered, patting Darunia on the back as they climbed into a rowboat.

"But what about your promise?" Darunia asked, taking two oars and heading for the ship. "I mean, about Jack giving them his ship?"

"Oh, Sparrow won't mind as long as they take him along," Link said.

"But he doesn't have a ship, Link."

"Sure he does," Link said. "I talked to him last night after you left. He showed me where the ship was--sure, it's full of holes and basically sunken, but it's still a ship, isn't it?"

Darunia grinned. "You're an absolute devil."

"You know it!"

Kishik smirked after the retreating boat. "Fools," he said to himself.

"Sire, how could they possibly be fools?" Williams sighed. "They got just exactly what they wanted."

"And so did I," Kishik snapped. "Besides, how are two men going to manipulate a ship that takes a crew of .... at least a hundred ...." His smile turned upside-down as he saw the ship moving. "WHAT?!" The Prince pulled out a telescope, and saw Link waving at him merrily. "BLAST it!! Why didn't we arrest them?!"

"Say, how'd you do that trick back there?" Darunia asked, taking the helm. "The disappearing one? And why don't you use it more often?"

"Well, there's a catch to it," Link said. "It'll only work once."

"Of course," Darunia said, rolling his eyes.

"And so my father--also a gypsy, by the way--advised me only to use it in terrible danger. I knew we could've easily died back there, so I decided to use it. Also, Kishik did not know that the trick could be done only once, so I knew it would be a good way to threaten him. He wouldn't have believed me if I hadn't done it at least once."

"You my friend, are brilliant," Darunia said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"And modest."

"Thank you."

-------------------------------------

"Look at the poor Captain," sighed Malon, resting for a moment with her mop. She watched him angrily pace along the ship. "Wonder what's driving him so mad?"

"It's that Princess," Saria told her. "You know how Flynn is. All his life wasted, wanting only love but rejected for being a sissy at first, and now a pirate."

"Hey, he could have one of us," Malon said. "If he really wanted a woman."

"Ah, but you know what I mean," Saria sighed, rolling her eyes. "To him, we're just one of the men."

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF DAVY JONES IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"

Sighing impatiently, Saria folded her arms. "He knows you're a woman, you idiot, but we act like pirates. Most ladies don't. Sure, we've got flings with the crew, but that's because they're just desperate."

"Speak for yourself," Malon muttered.

"But Flynn wants a classy, dignified woman," Saria continued. "One he would've grown up around, one he could've married had he not turned out a pirate. So that's why the Princess really has his head spinning. I actually heard him talking to himself about her once. She'd better watch her back."

"Yeah," Malon grumbled. "But, since we're all girls together, I guess we'd better help her if he ever goes completely insane."

"Oh, here he comes now," Saria whispered. "Good evening, Captain."

"Do either of you know the Black Bandit's real name?" Flynn asked them right off the bat.

"Uh, no, sir," Malon answered. "We know him only by his pseudonym. Why do you want to know?"

"I know I'm going to regret asking this, Malon, but if you could describe him to me, how would you?"

"He has the softest blond hair, and the deepest blue eyes, and he's so muscular, and tall, and handsome and just so amazing I can't stand it!!" Malon squealed, giggling with excitement.

Flynn gasped. "Those are the exact words that Zel.... The Princess used to describe ... her lover."

"Her lover, eh?" Malon asked, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face. She and Saria exchanged glances. "Captain, do you think that she's been fooling around with the Black Bandit?"

The pirate's fists clenched. "I'm not quite sure. Although I will know soon enough. I am sure that her fiance will come soon to reclaim her. If this man is really a man at all, he will come as well." Flynn started to sweat, but smiled to hide his true feelings. "We will see if we wait."

After nodding at them shortly and uneasily, he awkwardly walked away.

"Say, Captain!" Saria called after him. "You haven't been arousing that girl's honorable intentions, have you?"

"Honorable?" he asked. Chuckling, he walked away.

"Hmmm..." Malon murmured. She sighed and picked up her mop. "I don't like the sound of that."

-------Meanwhile, on Kishik's Ship-------

"So tell me, Link," Darunia said. "How do you plan on finding Flynn? Seeing as how we're in the ocean and the ocean is a very large place."

"Oh, I can smell 'im," Link answered calmly.

Darunia stared at Link. "Smell him? What kind of idiocy is that?!"

"Ah, don't get yourself worked up into a dither," Link laughed. "I'm a pirate. I'm also a gypsy. I was born with an innate sense of tracking, finding, and destroying. Ha ha! How do you think I've always managed to find my enemies before?"

"Uh...."

"Don't answer that. But you just lead this ship where I tell you, and you needn't be concerned about a single thing."

"I'm not concerned," Darunia snorted. "I just want to make sure that you get where you want and don't waste your time. Or my time. I realize how crucial this mission is to you, so I just want to .... you know, confirm that you really do know what you're doing."

"So kind of you to care," Link chuckled. "But as I said, you have not a thing to be worried about."

"Okay..."

----------Later That Night-------

Zelda lay in her bed, shivering. It was very cold, and no matter how much she was covered, she never seemed able to be warm enough. It took several hours for her to fall asleep. But when she did, not much good came out of it.

She dreamt that she was standing on the very tip of a cliff. Before her stood a massive army, led by Ganondorf, someone she had forgotten about in the past few events of the week. He smirked at her with a sinister grunt, and Zelda cringed.

The Princess looked down at the long fall below her, and saw one man standing on the ground. He looked up at her, with his arms out, as if prepared to catch her. Of course it was hard to tell for sure, but she was nearly positive it was Link.

Then Ganon strode towards her. "I'm giving you one last chance, Princess."

"I told you, I won't!" she hissed, spitting at his feet.

Ganon stared at the ground a moment, chuckling quietly. Then in one swift moment, his hand was on her neck, and he had risen her several feet above the ground. "Come again, my dear?"

"Please--stop!" she choked, her hands vainly pulling at his single one, that gripped her so tightly. "Please!"

Flynn, who happened to be strolling about the boat, jumped when he heard screams coming from inside Zelda's room.

"No, I won't!! I'm not going to! Stop it, I--I--!"

Five seconds later, Flynn had knocked the lock off of her door and charged into the room. "Princess? What's--" To his surprise, she was alone in the room. He had expected to see another person pestering her or something, but she only lay writhing in her bed.

In her dream, Zelda was dropped back to the hard ground. "To think you would have the nerve to talk back," Ganon sneered. "Filthy wench!" He swiftly brought his foot down on her arm, and when he brought it back up again, she cringed and brought the limb close to her body.

Then he continued to relentlessly beat her.

"Stop, stop, please!" she moaned.

The very worried Flynn rushed to her bedside, but was afraid to touch her, scared that she might wake up and get the wrong idea. "Zelda, Zelda, please wake up!!" he said in an urgent, quiet voice.

Malon and Saria happened to pass by the room at that moment--precisely the wrong time. The red-head put an arm out to stop her friend, and they both listened to:

"Get off me! Get off, you animal--I can't breathe!"

"I can't believe that bloody man!" Malon growled. "Well, we agreed to watch over that girl if he ever tried to make an advance, so we'd better do something about this!"

"Zelda, wake up!" Flynn said, going to desperate measures and reaching for her hand. Then the Princess let out a loud wail, and suddenly grabbed the pirate, clutching on to him as if his life dependend on it.

"He's going to kill me!" she sobbed. "Link, he's going to kill me!"

"What--what--what the--?!"

"YOU DIRTY LITTLE CREEP!!" Saria shouted, bursting into the room with a large .... hammer in hand. She whacked Flynn on the back, causing him to slide off the bed. "HOW DARE YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS!"

"SO I'M ONE OF THE MEN, AM I?!" Malon screamed, getting him with a chair. "THIS'LL TEACH YOU!"

"PICKING ON AN INNOCENT PRINCESS, WHY YOU--"

"YOU HAVE ME, I AM WOMAN, YOU KNOW--!"

By now, Zelda had woken up. She was shaking terribly, and then noticed that Malon and Saria were beating the crap out of Flynn. "Girls, what're you doing?"

"Don't worry, Princess," Malon said. "We're taking care of him for you. Women have to stick together, and I don't like it when pirates take advantage of prisoners. It just ain't right."

"Take advantage...what in heaven's name are you talking about?" the very confused Zelda asked.

"Well ... isn't that what he was doing?" Saria asked.

"No, I don't even know how he got into my room," Zelda answered, rubbing her head. "I was having a nightmare ..."

"Oy. A nightmare!" Malon sighed, putting down her chair. She lent Flynn a hand to help him stand up, then said, "Wait a minute! Why was he in your arms then?"

"In my arms?" Zelda breathed. "What're you ...."

"You called me Link," Flynn said, eyeing her warily. "I don't think you knew what you were doing ...."

"Of course she didn't, she was dreaming," Saria said.

"Uh.... I'm gonna go," Flynn muttered, his voice cracked. He continued to stare at Zelda, then stumbled backwards out of the room.

The Princess watched him leave, then nervously ran a hand through her hair.

"Well, I certainly feel stupid," Malon sighed. She grabbed her chair, then said, "C'mon, Saria. Let's let the Princess have some peace and quiet."

Once they left, Zelda continued to stare dully before her, sitting up in her bed. Silent tears formed their way down her face. She was gratefully for the heavy robe she had worn to bed, otherwise Flynn might've ....

Zelda shook her head and buried herself deep in the covers of her bed. She would think about all this in the morning.

-----------Author's Note-----------

How you like it? I hope it was okay...please just tell me in your reviews!