In the Middle of the Storm.

By Fox McCloude

Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda and all characters belong to Nintendo. All rights reserved.


Somewhere wandering across the Great Sea…

The tempest was growing stronger with each passing second. The raging waves shook around the strong yet incontrollable vessel from one side to another, and the raindrops struck the crew all over as the helmsman tried, with difficulty, to keep their course steady. The sky was lit every once in a while by the flashes of lighting, and the thunders' rumbling echoed in their ears.

However, her crew wasn't one bit scared. They'd sailed these seas for years, and they'd faced much worse storms before. In fact, they'd faced dangers much worse than any storm, speaking of dark evil forces and supernatural abominations who could terrify the bravest sailor. Her ship had seen and lived through many things, surviving them all unscathed. And this storm wouldn't be the exception.

"Wind's against us, we better continue by rowing!" the captain exclaimed, a young, eighteen-year-old woman, with green-blond hair and tanned skin. "Senza, keep the rudder firm!"

"Aye aye, Miss Tetra!" the helmsman replied.

"Gonzo and Nudge, get down to the galley and get the oars ready!" she yelled at the two giants next to her.

"Aye, Captain!" both exclaimed in unison, immediately heading for the ship's underdeck.

"Niko and Zuko, cut the ropes and fold the sails!" she yelled at the remaining two, both of whom were smaller in height than her, next to mast's ropes, and without missing a beat they complied, each one cutting off a rope holding the sail on each side.

"All done, Miss!" they chorused with a salute.

"Mako, you…!" The young lady, named Tetra, started looking all over, but she didn't see the one she was looking for. "Where the hell's Mako?!"

Nobody replied; everyone was tending his own task, and apparently nobody knew where he was. At least, until someone intervened.

"He must have stayed at the Crow's Nest!" the last member of the crew exclaimed. He was the only one close to her age: a young man with blond hair, tall and well-built, dressed in green clothes and a matching cap on his head, pointing at said location.

"Either he's scared to death, or fell asleep!" Tetra exclaimed. "I'll get him down by force if I have to!"

"Hold on! I'll do it, don't worry!"

"You sure, Link?!"

"Rest easy! What's the worst that could happen!"

Tetra wanted to tell him that those words, more often than not, were a tantamount to ask for something bad, but she fully trusted him. Link was always the most cautious member of her crew after all. Without objections, Link started to climb up the mast's rope ladder as Tetra continued to look around, enduring the rain and wind striking her face.

A storm like that wouldn't intimidate her. Their journey wasn't over, and it wouldn't be until they found the land they were looking for. The land they promised to find together, where they would found their new Kingdom of Hyrule.

"Tetra!" Link cried from above. "Land ahoy, not too far from here! If we keep this course, we'll make it safely!"

"Good!" Tetra yelled back. "Now get down and help us row there!"

"You heard her!" Link answered, talking to the lookout and giving him back his telescope.

The pirate captain looked around, surveying her ship. The ship, while not too big or intimidating, had survived many things, going through the most raging waves across the sea. Nothing would stop them from reaching their destination.

Except maybe…

"WATCH OUT!" the helmsman suddenly cried out, but it was too late.

Right then, a lightning bolt struck the mast's upper part, at the same time a wave struck the ship from starboard. Not strong enough to capsize it, but the brusque push caused the crow's nest to break off when the lightning struck. Mako had already come down safely, but Link hadn't… and he was sent overboard irremediably.

Tetra was left paralyzed, seeing how her right-hand-man, her most loyal crewmate… and the person who mattered the most in her life, flew off through the air until he vanished under the waves, with a huge splash.

"MAN OVERBOARD!" Senza shouted, and immediately everyone followed, snapping Tetra out of her stupor.

As the crewmates frantically run around, Tetra was already on the move. She didn't even think about it: her own instinct made her body react on its own. She grabbed a rope, tied it around her waist, and without wasting a second, rand towards the ship's edge.

"MISS TETRA, WAIT!"

But that didn't stop her; and disregarding her crew's complaints, she threw herself into the waters. She couldn't let him go, no way.

"LINK, LINK!" she called out to him out loud.

But he didn't answer. The waves probably knocked him down and sent him underwater. She dived down, and indeed, she saw an apparently lifeless body going down very fast.

She started to swim as fast as she could. Link didn't show any signs of reacting to her presence. Maybe the impact when he fell into the water left him unconscious, or the lightning striking the mast left him stunned, but that didn't matter. All what mattered was to take him back to the ship, safe and sound.

'Almost… almost…'

Pero but just when he was about to grab his hand, she felt a pull on her waist. The safety rope tying her to the ship was being pulled, maybe by her crewmates upon not seeing her come back out of the water.

'No… no… No! Not yet! Not without him, no!'

Tetra tried to fight against the rope, but probably they were pulling her all together, and not even she could match that. And she wasn't carrying her cutlass to cut if off. All she could do was outstretch her hands, and watch Link's body sinking irremediably towards the dark deeps of the sea.

'No! No! Link, no! NOOOOOOOOOO!'

She wanted to cut loose, scream, but she couldn't do anything. She could not save him…

"No, no… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

She sat up violently, and looked around. She wasn't in the sea, fortunately. She was safe and sound resting in her bed, in the home they'd built after they settled down on that continent, but the thunders resounding in the storm outside had woken her up.

"A dream… no… a nightmare…" she told herself, clutching his chest and trying to steady her breathing and heartbeat.

She was ashamed of herself. Before, she wasn't one bit afraid of stormy nights. But now… it seemed that every time it happened, the memories of that fateful day would always come back at her. And they'd always bring that same dream, that same nightmare.

"Tetra?" a voice called her from the other side of her door. And that voice served as a reminder that it was just a nightmare, and nothing more. "Is everything okay?"

Tossing her blankets aside, she immediately ran towards the door to open it. There was Link, safe and sound, just as she remembered, and without uttering a word, she jumped to his neck to embrace him tightly.

"Woah, what…?" After he got over the surprise, he returned the hug. "Let me guess, that dream again?"

"That obvious?" she replied, pulling away from him to look into his eyes. "Why can't I ever sleep well in stormy nights? I'm so pathetic."

"No, you're not," he assured her. "But really, you need to calm down. If that dream had been real, I wouldn't be here. You know that, don't you?"

Tetra sighed. That was easy for him to say, but not for her. Even when she did manage to rescue him then, even when it didn't turn out like in her nightmares… for a moment, the thought of losing him took her over. Never, ever in her life, had she felt so afraid, so worried for someone else's life.

"Hey, it's okay. There's nothing wrong with being afraid sometimes," he told her, as if answering her thoughts.

"Who said I'm afraid?" she replied, even if she was just trying to fool herself. Something she loved and hated about him; he'd always see how she felt, even when she tried to hide it.

"You've just admitted it," he answered, looking into her eyes.

The pirate woman allowed herself to get lost in those sapphire-like orbs for a moment, before clutching him into a hug again so he couldn't see the fear in her eyes. She didn't like to show weakness in front of anybody, especially him.

Beyond that, her worry about Link was more founded in other feelings. Much deeper feelings, that she knew she'd harbored for a long time, but it was in that instant, when she was about to lose him, that she realized what they meant. Adding to it the fact that he could have died without knowing them, before she could have expressed them.

And maybe because of that, she'd turned much more aggressive and open about showing him affection, if only when they were alone.

"What about the others?" she asked.

"Don't worry. If their own snoring doesn't wake them up, nothing will," he said, trying to alleviate her humor.

She herself couldn't help but smile a little. Even so, just in case, she took a peek at the hallway, checking if any of them was spying on them. After all, she couldn't let them hear her, or she'd never live it down.

"Can you stay with me tonight?" she asked directly.

Link's face immediately turned red upon seeing the obvious implications. "W-with you? D-do you mean…?"

Before he continued, she shushed him with her finger. "Don't make yourself illusions. I'm just asking you to keep me company… nothing more. We still haven't reached that stage, get it?"

"Oh… sure. Yeah, I get it," he replied, sighing in relief.

Tetra stepped aside, and shut the door's lock. She wouldn't say out loud that she was afraid, so she didn't want to sleep alone, but that wasn't necessary. He knew it perfectly, and was gentle enough to not to ask or remind her. Another of the many reasons she loved him so much.

Both walked slowly towards the bed. Fortunately, there was room more than enough for both, but Tetra wouldn't have any of that, when Link took the opposite side, evidently with her back towards her.

"Turn around," she told him. He took a moment, but obliged, not daring to look at her or getting any closer. "Hug me."

"Do I have to?" he asked shyly.

In response, she gave him an accusing smirk, in order to guilt-trip him and cede to her wishes. It'd always work, but this time, from what it seemed, he appealed to his acquired tolerance and refused to comply, so she herself extended her arms and dragged him towards her.

"Yes, you have to," she whispered softly on his ear. "Tonight, you're staying here with me, and I'll make sure you won't go anywhere."

Link didn't say anything else, but finally gave in and hugged her too, even going a little further and giving her a soft kiss on the hair, Both were still inexperienced in showing affection, so she would forgive him for being so coy. And while they knew perfectly what the other felt, they still hadn't taken the time to say those three words to seal it definitely.

But there was no need to hurry. For now, Tetra was happy to have him close, safe in her arms, and that way, keeping her fears and nightmares at bay.

FIN


Author's notes:

What's up? Well, here's another of my Zelda oneshots. This one was written when I decided to pull Phantom Hourglass out of the shelf and replay it a little. It came from an old draft I never concreted, but somehow managed to rescue in a different way. Think of it as a headcanon for Tetra's crew establishing on the land that will become the new Hyrule we see in Spirit Tracks. Even so, I tried to insert a small mythology gag towards Breath of the Wild, specifically that fear Zelda has to thunderstorms.

Seeing how Tetra tends to act, I can picture her very shy when it comes to her feelings for Link, a little reluctant to show them in public, but after an experience where she almost lost him, she'd probably open up more, if only with small gestures like aggressive hugs out of worry, or asking her to stay the night with her so she can sleep better, and doing so whenever nobody is watching or listening. Maybe they're not yet taking that step, but they're sending each other very direct indirects, and they'll eventually get to it.

Without further words, I'm bidding you farewell for now, until next time.