*Yawn* Disclaimers? Chapter 1. It's far too early on this Memorial Day for uploading, but hey, I haven't been doing my job to you guys and updating regularly. Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Ch. 23

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!-

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Kafka swiped at the table angrily, spilling out its contents across the chilled marble floor. The servant stepped back, fearful, and watched her lord carefully.

The dark youth paced across the floor, a bitter look on his face.

"Fool!" He hissed. The servant began a slow retreat back towards the door. It swung open abruptly, and Juno entered, swishing his burdensome cape aside in impatience. He passed the timid-looking servant with a curious look, and approached his brother.

"What's going on?" He asked, looking at the mess on the otherwise clean marble floor.

Kafka stopped, and turned, his features twisting.

"Look for yourself!" He spat, tossing the scroll at his brother. Juno reached out quickly and caught the scroll, bringing it close to unravel. He read across the contents for a few moments, his eyes furrowed in concentration as he did.

"How does he know we have the princess?" He finally asked, eyes widened in surprise. Kafka swore under his breath, and slammed a fist into the table.

"How does one usually find out?" He spat. "He has spies..."

Juno's bright blue eyes blinked. "Spies? In the castle? Who would-"

Kafka rushed across the floor and halted within an inch of his brother's face, effectively cutting off his question.

"It's not who! It's what!" He hissed. Juno looked away from his brother's dark eyes.

"What? Like magic?" Kafka nodded. "Then," He frowned thoughtfully. "Why should he get the princess? We found her." Kafka sighed.

"Because he knows something we don't," The darker boy growled, turning around to take a seat at the table. He poured himself a bowl of wine, and sipped from it slowly. "I believe that our newest addition is keeping something from us," He murmured to himself. "He must have been after her all along... But why? There's no power to her... Or that's what I assumed..."

Juno took a seat across from his brother, and took the half-full container from him to pour his own wine.

"I'm not going to let him have her," He said stubbornly, catching his brother's attention. Kafka leaned forward, and rested his arms on the table, meeting his brother's determined eyes. "He's a monster," Juno said simply. Kafka laughed softly, stretching his arms out in a sinuous yawn.

"Yes... a monster." He said, collapsing back in his new throne chair. "A monster that our dear cat surely needs protection from."

*************

He was torn from the recesses of his dream by a sharp cry, seemingly close by. He reeled out of sleep, and looked around, eyes widened. Again, he heard it, and the sound of a struggle above deck.

Link sat up, and pulled the rough blanket back. He had only a moment to pull on his boots, before there was a momentous tearing sound, and he had to lunge out of the way as something large crashed through the cabin's wall. Link stumbled back, and looked at the thing in amazement. It was a tentacle, long and slimy, thrashing around powerfully. Sea water started to pour into the room quickly, and Link waded through, trying to get around to tentacle and to his bed, where the ocarinas and his sword lay. The creature's limb, as if sensing this, starting to retract, and Link saw what it meant to do.

Quickly, he sloshed through the now waist-high water, and scooped the ocarinas into the crook of his arm.

The tentacle came crashing through again, a hairsbreadth from his face, and smash into the floor, sea water following it down into the new hole. Link hooked both the ocarinas on his belt, and reached for his sword which had begun to sink in the rising water.

Just as his hand closed over it, the tentacle retracted, and he was thrown back as the powerful limb swiped at him as it left the hole in the wall. Link fell back into the water, and pushed himself back up. This time he had to swim for the door, as the water had risen around his neck. He felt the telltale signs of claustrophobia at being closed in, and struggled to keep calm as he half swam, half stumbled out of the room and into the hall.

Here, the water was flooding in quickly from other places as well, and Link sheathed the blade on his back and began to run down the corridor towards the stairs. A few sailors rushed by, but they paid him no heed as they struggled to grab supplies. Up above, he could hear the shouts of men, and the sound of something large banging around the deck. He took the stairs in a rush and struggled to pull the suddenly flooded door inwards. The water resisted the movement, and he turned to pushing steadily against it. He hissed under his breath as he applied his weight.

"HEY!" He shouted back, as he heard another form running by. "Can you help me here?" There was a pause, and then the splash of someone running, and Ichiro was suddenly at his side.

"That's not a choice, anymore." The Chief said calmly. "The door is jammed on the outside, and the water is blocking it on the inside."

"Then what?" Link gritted out, shoving his shoulders against the solid doorframe.

"Then we either try to find another way, or we die." Ichiro answered. Link looked up, wide eyed. "What's the matter," Ichiro said, his tone unreadable. "Afraid of death?" Link stared at him for a moment, and then shook his head, turning back to the door.

"NO!" Link shouted, slamming a fist against it. "Get everyone else who's down here! We'll get out!"

Ichiro's brow furrowed. "How?"

"By..." Suddenly he had an idea, and he reached behind him with a stiffened arm to unsheathe the Goron blade. "Get back!" He warned, and heard Ichiro's retreat. Link probed the doorsill with the tip of the blade, sweat pouring down his forehead. "We've... we've got to take it from the top... Pull it down."

"Then go for the hinges!" Ichiro called, and Link nodded. He raised the weapon up as steadily as possible, and brought it down in an arc towards the side of the door.

The first hit was off, and the tip of the blade sunk into the door itself. Link gritted his teeth, and tugged it out.

"Focus!" Ichiro roared. "Don't raise the blade so high!"

Link nodded again, and redoubled his efforts. This time, he jammed the blade into the metal hinges, and was rewarded by the clink as the first hinge was destroyed. The swollen wood groaned against the pressure the blade exerted between the two frames, and Link put his free right hand on the naked blade, heedless of the stinging bite, as he forcefully pushed it down and into the second hinge, which snapped out of its hold with a splintering of wood.

By this time, the water in the hallway had risen above their knees, and the floor beneath them swayed as the ship groaned under some weight. The sailors who had been assessing the damage before now came back to watch Link as he slowly cut at the door. Soon, a fine slit of light came in through the 'sill, and they felt a new ray of hope.

"C'mon, lad! Heave!"

"Break yor back on it, boy!"

"Aye, give it 'ell!"

Link gritted his teeth, and rotated the blade with his left hand, using his right hand to probe at the cut he had made with raw fingers.

The ship groaned, and a sudden shaking almost cost him his balance, but a strong hand gripped his shoulder, and held him steady.

"That's right, kid... you can do it."

With a final heave of exertion, there was a rending crack, and the door loosened enough for them to grasp it at the top to pull inwards. The water rising around them seemed to fight against the process, but Link levered his blade in-between the frame and the 'sill, and they pull it out of the entryway, and threw it into the water.

"Away!!" Someone called, and they crawled up through the remaining smashed-in stairway to give aid to their crewmates up above.

*************

On-deck, the ship was in chaos.

The sailors along with the Guard fought furiously against the long, thrashing tentacles that smashed ship and body alike. Some of the limbs sported long spines down their lengths, which slashed at the sails and punctured flesh as if maddened.

"'FORCE-BE-DAMNED SEA BEAST!" The Captain roared, pounding away maniacally at the one of the tentacles with an enormous club he'd make-shifted from the broken yardarm. The tentacle retreated slightly, shivering, before lunging forward and wrapping around his legs, dragging his great frame up off of his feet. "YARGH! Lerrego! Ya fish-gutt'd, yeller-liver'd, frog-spawn'd, bilge-ratted-"

Ichiro arrived quickly, and used his own blade to sever the limb. Somewhere in the boiling water, a shrieking scream rose, and the wounded limb retracted off of the ship, leaving a trail of a green fluid behind it. Immediately, all of the limbs seemed to shake, before beginning the assault anew.

"Thar's too many of 'em, Cap'n!" A young sailor gasped, kneeling beside the grizzled Captain. "The ship's doomed!"

"We alrea'y knew that, ya sea mongrel! Get them boats ready!" The sailor saluted and stumbled away. Tappor and Link arrived beside them. Ichiro whipped out his blade once more, and an advancing tentacle from behind Tappor fell back with a shudder. The little scholar blinked in surprise, and turned back to him.

"I do believe you have just saved my life, good Chief! How, to the bottom most recesses of my insignificant being, could I express gratitude to such a chivalrous, talented-"

"All right," Ichiro growled, giving him a look, before turning back to the Captain. "The boats are as good as ready now." Deadleg nodded, squinting fiercely up at the innocent sunlight that shined over the sea battle.

"Then lets be off!" He called. "AVAST! Make fer the keels, men!"

Just as they turned to go, another tentacle shot forth, and wrapped itself around Link's leg. Link turned, struggling, and tried to kick it off. It held on tightly, and began to drag him, and he brought his sword up and over to stab at the dark, slimy limb. The blow struck it slightly off, but he managed to slice into it. The limb suddenly tightened its hold, and dragged him up off of his feet.

He sailed through the air for a moment, before being slammed into the Captain's cabin wall. The strong timber cracked at the impact, and the thing dropped him. He slid down to the deck, and lay in a daze for a moment, before his eyes blinked open in time to see the tentacle wrap around his blade, and begin to recede into the water.

"Hey!" He shouted, struggling up to chase it across the deck. "That's my sword!"

The tentacle retreated over the side of the ship in the blink of an eye, and without thinking, he dived over the gunwall after it, into the boiling sea. The unnatural heat of the water was almost painful, and he kicked out with his legs to swim deeper into the dark water towards the sea creature waiting in the shadows below.

*************

Saria slowly lifted her head from the salt-corroded bars and blinked, dazed, at the light that poured into the cramped gallery. Voices trickled in from down the hallway, and she crawled back into the shadows of the small cell to wait and listen.

The voices grew louder, and two shadows started to grow on the opposite wall. Soon, the figures of the pirates appeared, and she watched quietly as they walked by.

"...That's righ', mate. 'E's a cool 'un."

"Cool 'un? A bloody-eyed devil! Did'jer see wot 'e did to them folks in t' port?"

"'Course I did, mate! Any'ow, they was askin' fer it; damn fools shoulda listened."

"Aye, aye. But 'earken, did'jer see that beast t'day? Gar! I'd hate ter be those poor bast'rds when it gets 'em!"

"You said it, bucko... An' I'd hate ta be Cap'n 'Deadleg' when it finds 'im!"

Their crabby laughter retreated down the hall, and Saria shuddered. Shakily, she crawled forward again, and leaned against the cool bars. She slowly opened her eyes, and drew in a painful breath.

Her hair, which had once been bright and florescent, was now dulled and caked with dark, rusty blood. The left side of her face was dark, cut and bruised from the beating she'd taken from the Captain.

Saria sighed shakily, and closed her dark eyes against the pirates' words, her head pounding from a concussion.

Link...

*************

His widened eyes stung, and it felt as if a strong metal band had begun to press forcefully against his chest, forcing air from his lungs. He kicked his legs strongly, swimming downwards through the layer of foamy water that had appeared before him. Suddenly, it cleared, and the creature was right in front of him, a dozen larger tentacles waving about sinuously in the hot water. The massive, dark form didn't seem to notice him, and he went to work trying to find the tentacle wrapped around his sword.

Link's lungs began to burn under the pressure, and he felt the darkness at the edges of his vision closing in. The creature's limb, bearing his blade, waved lazily around in front of him, and he reached for it haphazardly. His probing hand touched the heated metal, and he grasped it, tugging blindly at the sword. It lurched in his hand, biting deeply into the already bleeding cut in his palm as the creature seemed to find him, and he lost the grip.

Link gritted his teeth, feeling suddenly dazed as the lack of air began to take its toll, and turned around in the water to start the slow ascent to the surface. A seizing pressure gripped his legs, though, and he felt one of the powerful limbs twist painfully around his lower body, pulling him down again, into the darkness below.