Chapter 16: Delving Down the Murky Seas
Scourge of the Ocean Pirates Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"New Wave Bossa Nova" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Dungeon Appears" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Great Bay Temple" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 2 (Second Half), 3 (First Half) and (Second Half).
"Koloktos/Moldarach" - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword OST. Scene 6 (First Half).
"Boss Clear" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 6 (Second Half).
"Great Bay Clear" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 7 (First Half).
"Results" - Resident Evil II (2019) ~ The Ghost Survivors OST. Scene 7 (Second Half).
In his successful infiltration of the Great Bay's Gerudo Pirates' Fortress, Link manages to accidentally stumble into what appeared to be a young Gerudo herself locked away by her own. Curious, he freed her and received a surprising story indeed; having stolen the unmanned garrison itself, populated only by what seemed to be two women and a single man, the Gerudo Pirates took up residence and began to terrorise the seas once more.
But not before the rule of nature took hold; survival of the fittest – in the throes of power and confusion, a woman by the name of 'Aveil' manages to usurp the commander position of their soldiers by duelling and killing the last one. Under the firm fist of Aveil, many horrors are visited upon the once calm ocean of Great Bay; a young woman belonging to the Zoran race of Termina by name of Lulu, has her recently-laid Zoran eggs stolen from her. As a result, close friend and lover to Lulu, Mikau brashly gives chase and gives new meaning to the term 'one-man-army'.
Unfortunately for him, however, he does not succeed.
It is in this lamentable failure though that his near-dead carcass comes into contact with the one remaining ray of hope and light for the land of Termina, and indeed, Great Bay itself.
The Hero of Time.
Having laid the poor fallen Mikau's tortured soul to rest with use of the powerful 'Song of Healing' melody, Link and Tatl use their newly-gained Zoran powers to traverse through the mighty waves of Great Bay. In meeting the young girl locked up by her own people, Flyssa, he supports her through her inevitable duel with the pirates' commander Aveil; an explosive sword-fight that escalates to near life-threatening levels. Thankfully however, with the correct support, Flyssa manages to overturn Aveil's harsh rule and opens the road for the grateful Hero of Time to their next destination.
Pinnacle Rock.
Said to be a two-mile deep dive of nefarious fiends known informally a 'Sea Snakes', Pinnacle Rock is indeed an intimidating plunge filled with danger and risk... but it is a risk that the thrill-seeking Link takes eagerly. In gifting the nearby fisherman Piers a suspicious pictograph of a Gerudo Pirate, he gains ownership of a golden-shaded small seahorse by name of 'Caspian'. Although the path to Pinnacle Rock is riddled with the dubious murky water, Caspian's knowledge of the seas prove to be invaluable to the heroes as they traverse through into an area not seen for many months.
Having reunited the grateful Caspian with his mate, a similarly small seahorse by name of 'Kespien', Link is gifted with one of the many Pieces of Heart he has located previously through his adventure. With the final three missing Zoran eggs as well, he makes his next stop in the nearby aquarium that Dr. Mizumi overlooks and the group of heroes watch the birth of them. While they raise up, grateful and all, they begin to spell out what looks to be a melody; the last gift given to the deceased Mikau.
The 'New Wave Bossa Nova'.
It is with this melody that the confident Link makes his next and final stop; one last ode to the fallen Zoran guitarist.
He makes his way to Zora Cape.
Scene 1
NIGHT OF THE SECOND DAY
-36 Hours Remain-
SPLASH
In an incredible explosion of water and sea, the ever grinning Link shot straight out of the water like an arrow shot from a ballista. Attached directly to his Zoran-formed back was the wide-eyed Flyssa, her small tanned arms gripping his neck fiercely enough as if she were horrified for her life. As the pair gradually began to drop down toward the surface of Zora Cape, Flyssa at last found her stride; in an urgent squeak she widened her eyes a second time, as she violently broke her grip before pushing up in a deft somersaulting recovery.
As she landed in a graceful frown, her arms held directly outward and the rest of her body held straight up almost as if she were in a T-Pose of some kind, she immediately let out a gasp and wrapped her slim arms 'round her small water-drenched form. In contrast, the ever-grinning Link landed in his usual evasive-like roll forward, successfully drying himself off. Though, as he was still within Mikau's Zoran form, it hardly mattered; something he took with great delight as he turned his chortling grin on her.
"Th-This was the...," Flyssa began, mid-shaky and all from the sheer cold of just having entered and left a powerful body of water such as the Great Bay ocean. "Th-The worst th-thing you could have... d-done..." The young Gerudo gasped out angrily, glaring back at him as she did. The standing Link could only pull his head back and burst out laughing.
"It's the only thing I could have done!" He retorted, pulling his head back from his hilarity. "Come on! Even you said you can't swim very well! Didn't you?"
"W-Well... yeah... I guess...," she muttered back, averting her gaze to twitch her scowl in some annoyed frown, still shaking as the many droplets of water fell from her small form. "Th-Thanks for swimming for me..." She finished in a similarly quietly-spoken murmur, lowering her eyes in an obvious bout of embarrassment. Link held back from laughing this time, suddenly painfully aware of her vulnerability.
What better way to cut through her awkward gratitude than with humour, he thought to himself in a growing grin.
"I mean you could always just come in for a hug..." He offered in his tall-standing grin, opening up his similarly long Zoran-shaped arms presumably to be taken in a simple embrace. As expected however the frowning Flyssa found her face fabricating a beaming smile of her own, swinging it away from his own expression as she rolled her eyes.
"Pft!" She shot back. "In your dreams!"
Having managed to bring back the little Gerudo's earlier cheer, the grinning-faced Link couldn't help but chuckle in response as he gave her a single wink before about-turning 'round to face his next job. When the doused Flyssa shook her form and wrung out her long fiery-red hair as best she could, she took off forward in pursuit to join him. It was only when the newly-frowning Link found himself staring back at a reflection of what appeared to be a memory that he narrowed his eyes back at her.
A Zoran woman, heavily resembling the adult princess Ruto, stood before him.
With her hands clasped together in front of her she wore a simple sea-blue dress with red coral-like designs on the bottom of it; a beautiful-looking piece of clothing that appeared to suit her completely.
This must be Lulu, the frowning-faced Hero of Time thought to himself in silent realisation.
When she raised up her head to face the tall-standing Link, she seemingly recognised his form and lowered her purple-blue eyes; a sign of sadness to come that matched the sorrow of her earlier eggs' abduction.
"W-What's wrong with her...?" The curious Flyssa questioned as she stepped forward to join the group.
"It's... her voice, isn't it," Tatl explained briefly enough, a similar respectful frown in her voice. "She must have lost it when her eggs got stolen."
Suddenly feeling culpable and very guilty indeed, the listening young Gerudo girl could only wince in reply and even took a single step back.
"I got just what the doctor ordered... Lulu..."
Link's grinning voice, spoken so boldly and so yet so softly, made the blinking Lulu raise up her head out of her anguish, curiosity driving her movements. As the skeletal guitar that Mikau once possessed came out of the youth's inventory behind him, Link cast his grin forward as he played the melody taught to him by the woman's children before him.
He played the 'New Wave Bossa Nova'.
The results were almost instantaneous.
Even as he played through the catchy tune, and as masterfully as he always had, the wide-eyed Lulu found herself miraculously singing along to it.
It was a voice truly fit for the majesty that was the Indigo-Go's and a mezzo-soprano that made the playing Link think back to memories of Ruto and Malon.
When at last the short song was complete, the similarly surprised forms of Flyssa and Tatl cast their wide-eyed looks on the efforts that finally paid off for their adventuring leader. Likewise shocked, Lulu swivelled her head 'round to face him and opened her mouth to address him.
"M-Mikau, what was-?"
SPLASSSSSSSSSH
Even the expecting Link had to raise up his arms to block the inevitably incoming hail and rain of droplets of water; in reaction to either Lulu's voice restoring or, indeed the song's sound itself, the huge island ahead suddenly reacted and rose up head-first from the depths. In doing so it revealed its form as a great turtle, humongous in size and all.
"Agh! Come on!" Flyssa exclaimed out, flailing her thin arms to provide some kind of futile cover against the hail of rain above. "Not again!"
YAWWWWWWWWN...
The very ground itself shook as the great nameless turtle opened its mouth and yawned out deafeningly, leaving the standing three wincing. Link couldn't help but chuckle in his inescapable grin.
"What an entrance." He spoke, ever the jokester.
"Ahhh...! I slept quite well!" The large tortoise yawned a second time, this time much easier on the humanoids' sensitive ears. "I just realised this when I opened my eyes... the passing of days is quite quick, isn't it Lulu?"
In response the wide-eyed Zoran woman could only stare back at the nameless intruder, a quizzical and bizarre frown written across her expression.
The tortoise laughed. "Yes, yes Lulu...," he spoke, seemingly a male. "It's nothing to be surprised at," he claimed. "Even when my eyes are closed in sleep, I still see everything that occurs in this ocean..."
Link cast his half-curious grin on the Zoran woman next to him and, just as before, she could only stare back in stupefied silence.
"Ah... it appears that I have shocked Lulu into silence... I apologise," the large turtle began, bowing his enormous head as if in apology before soon re-raising it to face the grinning Link. "Greetings, Hero of Time," he spoke, nodding a second time, this time in acknowledgement. "I am Tortuga, humble servant to the 'Holy Four'."
"Yo!" The beaming Link eagerly greeted, tilting his Zoran-shaped head as he rose up his left hand in waving.
"Regrettably... there is little time for idle conversation," the newly-introduced Tortuga shook his head, as if in disapproval somehow before slowly turning his huge form 'round. "Now... Hero of Time..."
Link's knowing smirk widened a little as he eyed the palm trees up on the turtle's back.
"The open seas of Great Bay have desperate need of your might," he boomed over before at last facing forward, presumably toward Great Bay Temple's direction. "Quickly... climb onto my back."
When at last Lulu was given some time to reflect on the bewildering sights that greeted her, she could only lower her hands in surprise and began to exchange glances between Link, Tortuga and Flyssa. An odd kind of anxiety lay present within her light-violet eyes; something that the watching Hero of Time could only grimace at.
"W-What's going on...?" She began, unsure before widening her eyes a second time as she re-raised up her hands to her throat softly. "And... my voice...," Lulu elongated her surprise in a similar-sounding gasp, turning her head up to face his once more. "Mikau what happened to me...?" She whispered out, narrowing her light-violet eyes back at him.
"U-Um... see...," the nervously-chuckling Link began in reply, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head with his free right hand. "The thing is..."
Lulu, all kinds of shock and apprehension running through her system, turned and ran toward Zora Cape's entrance to Zora Hall; a retreat, perhaps in response to the sheer distress to the perplexing events that racked her.
Although the distressed young Zoran woman had ran, it left the newly-grinning Link room and no outside witnesses to his transformative procedure. In pulling off Mikau's form via the Zora Mask, he turned back to face the great turtle's form before him as his form began to shrink back into his trusty Hylian figure. He reached to his left and pulled the gasping and wide-eyed Flyssa's form toward him, his grin never leaving him as he rose up his Hookshot to aim up with his free right hand.
"W-What's...?!"
"Buckle your grip baby," the flamboyant youth shot back, eyeing her briefly before he set his determined grin forward. "'Cause Great Bay... is goin' bye-bye."
CLICK...
THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK
To match the wide-eyed exclamation that Flyssa gave vent to as she gripped the youth's Kokiri Tunic for dear life, the pair of children were hoisted up via the powerful chain and hook of the eponymous Hookshot itself. As they flew through the air, the hook having caught the surface of one of the turtle's palm trees, the two swordsmen's faces were ones of humorous contrast.
2
The cacophonous sound of the harsh waves that Great Bay employed to successfully wall off Great Bay Temple echoed out around the heroes' positions; as they rested atop Tortuga's gigantic back they held back the powerful winds and other such elements as best they could. While Link ever remained with his excited grin upon his face, single eye shut as he gripped one of the palm trees next to him, the gasping Flyssa grasped at a second tree next to them. Her gold-tipped eyes, unlike her companion's however, were both scrunched shut with the intense rapids around them.
"How are we gonna get through this?!" She called out as loud as she could above the deafening sound echoing out. "Aveil couldn't even do it!"
"You damn right she couldn't!" Link laughed next to her, his normally calm blonde bangs whipping in the strong winds. "Check it!" He urged, thrusting his free left index finger down toward their lower left. Curious, Flyssa re-opened her eyes but only barely; in narrowed vision she nearly widened them in surprise at the sight that lay below.
A group of Gerudo pirates, seemingly sent by the surviving Aveil herself, sent their vessel forward. Naught but a small ship in comparison to their own vessel, the poor pirates soon had intense regret for their rash action. As their small ship eventually came into contact with the huge blue shield of wind and water surrounding the temple, their craft soon found itself capsized and flying madly through the air. Similarly, the poor wide-eyed women all found themselves screaming and screeching out, as the cruel power of Aegir protecting the temple did not differentiate between friend and foe.
"W-Woah..." Flyssa managed to murmur out, her eyes narrowed as she dropped down to her knees in sheer shock, her long mass of red hair whip-lashing wildly.
"Here... we... go!" The grinning-faced Link exclaimed out, ever exuberantly calling out the success of their entry.
Just as he announced, the group of four slowly passed through the powerful shield of Aegir and floated into the open entrance of Great Bay Temple.
Even while the group of heroes arrived, the sound of the whirlwind outside was overpowering enough to echo back through the hallway of what seemed to be the main foyer of the temple; it was something that left the kneeling Flyssa with some form of anxiety. Just as Tortuga slowly approached the front, the grinning Link swivelled his blonde-haired head and outstretched his favourite hand back for the kneeling Flyssa.
She blinked back at him and, suddenly feeling very painfully aware that he was watching her, drew her breath in sharply as she scrambled to her feet. In a quick fashion she frowned on firmly as she attempted to swiftly fix the messy remains of her mass of blood-red hair before gratefully taking his hand.
TMP
As they both landed, hands in one another's, she quickly wrenched her own left back as if disgusted somehow. Link couldn't help but chuckle in light amusement as he cast her retreating form a likewise-entertained toothy smirk.
"I have taken you faithfully to the source of Great Bay's troubles and woes; Great Bay Temple," Tortuga spoke for the first time since having entered the dungeon. Link's smirk very quickly dissolved into a sociable smile as he turned to salute in re-greeting with his index and forefingers. "Hero of Time...," he began again, his normally loud bass soon descending to a simple whisper. "Can we truly trust one such as her...?" He posed forward, his large dim-green eyes darting between the young Gerudo's back and his current talking partner's. "She is after all... a Gerudo pirate."
"Yeah!"
Tatl's sudden and fierce agreement with the dinosaur-like turtle hit a resonance within the listening Hylian; he could only chuckle and raise a straw-haired eyebrow at her in response.
"I mean he's right! She's a Gerudo Link...!" The little guardian fairy hissed out zealously, hovering her milk-shaded light down on him as she spoke. "You can't trust them as far as you can throw 'em..!"
The listening Link couldn't help but shake his head in response, his thoughts quickly taking note of her efforts.
I wonder if it's jealousy, he thought.
Nah, surely not.
Navi was never like that.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can; don't worry," he answered as he turned his head back up to face the giant tortoise. "She's..." The youngster began again, swerving his head 'round in a slow smile as if to take in the sight ahead.
The standing Flyssa, as before, seemed to be mending her appearance, her back facing him; as she shook her head from side-to-side to allow her long red hair to spill out behind her, she used her two small hands to guide her hair into what appeared to be a single long straight line. As she spun a small elasticated ring of fabric 'round her hair, she essentially and masterfully re-created the long-haired ponytail look that the rest of her comrades sported so fashionably.
It was only then, however, that she chose to about-turn to re-face him in a curious blink; finding his smiling face staring back at her she rolled her own gold-shaded eyes back at him, as if frustrated somehow, before folding her tanned arms and turning her back to him once more.
"She's a little rough around the edges," the laughing Link asserted his earlier statement, nodding as his smile grew to a grin and his head turned to re-face the turtle ahead. "But she passes."
"Hrm... all right then," the listening Tortuga murmured out, casting a sidelong glance at the young Gerudo before soon returning it to the standing youth before him. "Then may your fortunes be as bold as the Holy Four's, Hero of Time!"
–
3
"This place is... ahh...!" Flyssa gasped out, eyes briefly widened as she made the jump and no more, standing atop what appeared to be a mechanism that spurted out water so dense it could be used as a platform. "So huge..." She began again in an effort-filled grunt, gold-tipped eyes narrowing as she leapt forward a second time, this time having judged the distance a little better. Although she took the extended hand that the grinning-faced Link offered to her, perhaps out of reflex, she very quickly wrenched her hand from his.
But not without with some form of an embarrassed shade of red taking to her cheeks.
As always, the entertained-expressed Link cast her an amused chuckle, placing a hand upon his hip as he lightly tilted his head.
"I wonder who could have built it?" She added hastily, perhaps as a way to cover her earlier flustered mood.
"My guess... would be Zoras," he answered her, re-aligning his blonde-haired head as he likewise removed his similarly small hand to follow forward. "I mean some of those switches I pushed are underwater for cryin' out loud," he continued on, casting a quick frowning glance ahead and downward at the said sight resting below underseas. "It's a wonder how they did it."
As the frowning-faced Flyssa hopped forward for the newly unlocked jet of water ahead, one of the many hanging Skulltula on the ceiling dropped down to meet him. Soon realising her mistake, the wide-eyed Gerudo swung her fire-haired head 'round in surprise-faced apology, before opening her mouth to give voice to her mistake.
"W-Wait! I'm coming back!"
Link merely shook his head back in response, chuckling as he shut his cerulean-shaded eyes; a visible sign of disinclination that made the watching Tatl roll her eyes within her milk-shaded light.
CLICK
Even while the spider-like monster descended down to meet him, it erupted suddenly into a dazzling show of flame as the young Hero of Time passed it in a slow and uncaring march. Flyssa, curious, could only dart her gold eyes between the two only to come to the conclusion that he used the Aegir in his inherent fingers when clicking them to ignite his enemy. She couldn't help but grow a small grin of her own as she hopped forward a third time to allow him room.
"Hmm... I get it."
Tatl's humming proclamation, so confident and so seemingly knowledgeable, made the two marching children turn their heads skyward in her direction as she spoke.
"That huge waterwheel is powering this thing... huh...?" She posed forward. As the similarly frowning Link and Flyssa rose their eyebrows together, they opted to swing their heads back 'round to the front.
Sure enough, there it was; a dirty great wheel-like mechanism sat smack-dab in the centre of the new room they had entered, its huge cylindrical form stabbing down the similarly humongous depth of the twisting pool beneath them. Attached to its sides appeared to be a number of analogous mechanical parts that, just as Tatl had illustrated earlier, appeared to stir the water beneath them.
And something fierce at that.
"Oh that's beautiful...," the watching Link grinned out, tilting his head lightly as he spoke as if to give emphasis to his words. "I'm gonna have to swim all the way through those, ain't I?" He asked, cobalt-sky eyes quickly darting in the direction of every small nook and cranny in the pool below them.
"Mmmm-hm." The seemingly frowning-faced Tatl's voice spoke out, business as usual.
"Urgh...," Flyssa grunted out, scrunching her face up distastefully as she spoke. "Not more of this..."
"Am I gonna have to-?"
"Not this time!" The young Gerudo interrupted the wide-grinning Link next to her, even going so far as to take a step away from him. "I think it's time I started pulling my own weight...," she murmured out, tearing her gold-tipped eyes away from his to stare down into the body of water below. "Ever since we got out of that fortress I feel like it's just been you carrying me..." She muttered out, averting her eyes from his in some form of disappointment.
"I mean I'm not gonna lie baby; that's because it has been-"
CRUNCH
In a single movement the young Gerudo girl merely stepped by him, taking seeming special care to smash her foot into his boot. Although he was surely confident of his superior strength over her own, the abrupt movement of injury caused him to widen his eyes both in surprise and mild pain, before he swiftly cast her a half-annoyed glare. Seemingly somehow satisfied with the exchange, the sauntering Flyssa swung her crimson-haired head 'round and flashed him a smirk before turning her head and diving forward, presumably for the large basin of water.
"Oh yeah," Tatl began, a tiny grin of her own in her voice's tone. "You're a real lady-killer you are... Mr. 'Hero of Time'."
Link, clearly miffed by her commentary, cast her a warning glower before nodding his head forward after his red-haired companion. "Come on," he urged over his shoulder, reaching back for his trusty Zora Mask. "Let's go to work."
–
4
"You know you're gonna have to tell her eventually, don't you?"
Even as the pair stalked through the halls of one of Great Bay's many chambers, Link pulled back an arrow and filled it with frozen Aegir before letting it fly forward.
VIIIIII...
The sound of the ice arrow made a powerful but somehow relaxing whine, echoing out throughout the chamber that complimented the block of ice that covered the simple blue-coloured Chuchu. Effectively he gave himself a platform with which to stand on; something he took quick advantage of by climbing atop it in a light grunt of effort.
"Yeah...," he answered her in his melancholy-like frown, not even taking note of the squeaking Bombchu mouse not just five feet from him. "I know..."
SQUEAK-SQUEAK
"I mean, what's the alternative?" Tatl continued on as he stepped toward the resting red-shaded switch before them. "Tell her you're a time-traveller?" She posed forward in a noticeable laugh; something that made the listening young Hylian twitch his frown out in thought.
It was definitely something that had crossed his mind once already.
CLACK
SQUEEEEEEAK
BOOM
As the Real Bombchu inevitably blew apart from contact with the youth's briefly-raised up Hero's Shield, he reached forward and grasped at the switch with both hands. Just as with the others he pushed and, like magic, it very slowly began to creak the gears of life within it.
"I guess I could always tell her, but...," he began again as the switch slowly dropped into the mechanism below him; a sign of usage. He turned and folded his arms, lowering his head as he marched forward in thought. "Mm... I dunno..."
"Well, think about it," Tatl posed forward once more, following his hop down the platform. "I mean what's the right thing to do?" She began again, eliciting him to stop his march and swing his blonde-haired head up to frown back at her. Even without arms or legs she somehow managed to convey a finger pointed at the side of her bulbous little head; a symbol of thought. "Up here?"
"I know...," he answered in a second twitch of his frown, defeated in nature. "I shouldn't have even been talkin' to her...," he added as he turned his head away in presumable thought. Tatl nodded her little form, as if in silent agreement. "Heh," the youth began again, this time in a light grin. "I can see her now..."
"Who?"
"Oh, uh...," the sheepishly-grinning Link responded, re-beginning his march as he spoke. "Impa-sensei or Zelda I guess...," he clarified for her, walking toward the vertically-opened door ahead of them. "'You should be more careful!'" He impersonated childishly, re-folding his arms briefly as he did. "'You'll cause a time paradox!"
Although the listening Tatl giggled at his less-than-mature impression, she re-opened her mouth to agree. "Agreed," she chuckled. "But it's gonna be tough ain't it?"
"Uh?" He blinked back curiously as the door shot up near-soundlessly above them.
"Well... you like her, don't you."
DROOM...
Although he had been used to the echoing sound of the doors he had similarly been so used to using, the noise bit at his nerves to match the words with which Tatl spoke; a promise still to come for the young Hylian.
"I mean, I guess," he responded over his shoulder as he stepped back into the antechamber, walking toward the platform's edge. "She's a little rough around the edges but..."
"She passes, huh?" Tatl repeated his words in a soft but firm interruption, a noticeable grin in the tone of her voice. He half-turned his head to eye her briefly before reaching back for his Zora Mask.
"Yeah..."
SPLASH
VVVVVVVVV...
In a powerful advance through the strong waters before him, Link easily tore through the waiting Skullfish and Dexihands with his artificially-charged electricity shield of Aegir. As he sped through the rest of the chamber's waterway, cutting down a group of growling Bio Deku Baba as he did, he kept his form limber as he shot straight out of the water and into the air, before quickly rolling forward as he landed.
SPLASH
FWIP
"I wonder what Malon would say if she knew you were gallivanting around Termina with a Gerudo, eh?" Tatl posed forward as she eventually emerged from the youth's hat, bringing an annoyed frown to his complexion as he reached for the next door.
FWIP
DROOM...
Even as the second group of Bio Deku Baba leapt up from the body of water ahead, Link instead opted to turn his head toward his next destination.
"Oh yeah...," Tatl continued on, a knowing smirk in the tone of her words. "And then there's your country's princess...!" She gasped out, clearly derisive in nature. "Wouldn't she just lock you up in her dungeons after finding this out...?!"
He couldn't help but upturn a side of his frown into a chuckling smirk, lowering his head to shake it dismissively. "Clearly you don't know Zel..."
"Oh it's Zel now, is it?" The little guardian fairy persisted, her tone growing as the grin in her voice did. "And you do know her?"
"I mean, enough," he answered in his shrugging grin before tossing one of his fins as if it were a boomerang. As it flew through the air and cut apart the squelching forms of the screeching Bio Deku Baba, it offered him two platforms with which to use. "If I'm basing her off the woman I spent seven years fighting with."
"'Woman'...?" The little pixie murmured out, truly curious this time. "You mean-?"
He turned his head to face her again as he pulled off the Zora Mask, revealing his eternal smirk of confidence. "Well... yeah!" He responded in a chuckle, as if the answer had been there all along. "I'm from a different time, remember?"
Legitimately surprised, Tatl could only widen her eyes beneath the bulbous little body she possessed; a true reaction of realisation and surprise.
As he pulled out the Hero's Bow and nocked an arrow made of ice to it, he aimed it forward and shut an eye in concentration, his grin ever plastered to his face.
"Gotta be ready for that sorta stuff Tatl!" He called out as he let fly the arrow forward, re-opening his eye as it made contact with the shimmering portion of the water ahead of him.
CRRRRRRRRRICK
Just as with the many before it a platform of freezing water sat a few yards ahead, opening the young adventurer up to swimming toward it.
SPLASH
"S-So...,"
Tatl's less-than-confident continuation could only make the gasping Link turn his curious-eyed frown 'round on her, as he pulled himself out of the water below.
"Were you two like... together?"
"Together?" He parroted in a chuckling raise of his eyebrow.
"Y-Yeah...," she asked, turning her light away from his as if embarrassed somehow by the conversation. "I mean- if you fought together then..."
"Hrm...," he murmured out, his grin very quickly dissolving in favour of an unsure frown. He lowered his head to match the doubtful look etched upon his young expression, belying the many years of adversity hiding behind them. "I dunno...," he began, shaking his straw-haired head as he reached back for the Hero's Bow, this time for the Fire Arrow. "Maybe..."
"M-Maybe?!"
Tatl's sudden shriek seemed to imply some sense of offence, leaving the surprise-eyed young Hylian curious.
"W-Well... yeah...," he chortled back half-nervously, half-bewildered. "I mean we spent a lot of time together; I owed her, she owed me... there was a lot that happened between us." He at last answered, turning his eyes on the big block of ice ahead, eyebrows raising as he thought of the woman he spoke of.
"Oh, really...?" Tatl murmured out, his brow somehow furrowing as if in thought. "And what sort of things did you 'owe' each other then?"
In spite of his earlier boldness, Link soon found the tips of his small Hylian ears tingeing red. "U-Um, well... y'know just... war favours and... stuff like that."
"Oh so she's into the coarse stuff is she?" The little guardian fairy batted back, her earlier cheer and audacity returned to her. "'War favours' huh... I bet they were."
In spite of the likewise-entertained grin growing on his face, he rolled his cobalt-blue eyes in response as he hopped forward to leap off of the icy platform behind him.
SSSSSS...
Perhaps in response to time eroding away at it, the platform melted away.
"Hard to imagine her like that," he offered her in reply, half-curious as he turned his grin into a thinking smile. "She always seemed so... put-together, so modest."
"They always do...," Tatl giggled knowingly next to him, eliciting the youth to raise his eyes up in a short grin of his own. "Well... anyway...," she began again, seemingly moving on to another topic. "You're definitely gonna have to tell her. Flyssa I mean."
His happy-go-lucky smile very quickly lost its lustre as he took in her words; a fact reflected in the lowering of his furrowed-brow of silent thought. When he answered her, it was quietly-spoken and not without regret.
"Yeah... I know."
DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY
-24 Hours Remain-
"Hey!"
Flyssa's sudden call, so surprising, managed to pull his wide-eyed frown 'round on the front. As Link leapt forward from the powerful geyser he activated earlier, he landed in a graceful-enough smile that matched the sociability ever present in his form. Sitting not five feet from him was the grinning-faced Flyssa, leaning her body up against the colourful wall behind her in a casual kind of pose; her right left rose up and her likewise right arm rested across its raised knee. When she saw him coming however she grunted as she dusted her baggy purple-shaded trousers.
"I figured you'd be on your way when I clocked the little mechanism workin'," the young Gerudo girl claimed, stepping forward to point toward the platform of water rising up and down ahead. "What about that though?" She posed, folding her slim and tanned arms as she swung her crimson-haired head 'round to the giant golden lock that Link had come to know so intimately, woven so well across the dungeon's last door.
He merely chuckled and shook his curtain-haired head as he passed her, tossing up a similarly golden-shaded key into the air and catching it as he did. "Oh ye of little faith..."
His echo of a previous statement managed to make the listening Tatl's frown twitch in response as she followed him silently, her little bulbous form giving them an extra light.
"Come on baby," he called over his shoulder in his grin, re-raising his head to eye the lock up above before briefly turning half-way to exchange his grin with hers. "I'll show you how the Hero of Time fights."
Flyssa could only chuckle back in response. "Better be careful who you call 'baby'...," she began in her well-meaning chuckle. "Baby."
–
5
Even as the pair of young swordsmen stepped into the next chamber, an oddly less spacious one, they could both feel the presence of something greater.
It was something similar to the last two, the frowning-faced Link thought to himself.
"Well...," Flyssa began, her arms still ever folded as she cast her gaze forward and down the dirty great hole in the centre of the room. "I guess there's no-where to go but down, huh."
"Hilarious..." Link threw over his shoulder in an unamused titter up of his frown before he soon regained his examining expression, tilting his head over the chasm below.
There didn't appear to be a landing.
"That's one big drop...," Tatl murmured out as she hovered just above it, eyes widened beneath her small frame. "How are you gonna-?"
"We'll be fine," he answered her quickly enough, reaching back for his Zora Mask as if to expect to use it. "Is the source of Aegir comin' from down there then?"
The little guardian fairy nodded astutely in confirmation, a frown in the tone of her voice. "Yeah," she answered. "Whatever's causing the irregularities in Great Bay's ocean is down there." She finished, nodding her little body downward.
SLAP-CRACK
"All right...," the frowning Link narrowed his oceanic eyes, slamming his left fist into his open right palm. As he cracked his fingers in response he swung his head 'round to cast a tiny grin back at the watching young Gerudo standing behind him. "Ready?"
With that, he hopped forward in a sudden extension of his grin; a kind of knowing look that made the watching Flyssa widen her gold-tipped eyes in surprise.
"H-Hey!"
TMP
"Ahhh...," Link began as he landed, seemingly unharmed in a miraculous fashion. "Thanks, Impa-sensei..." He said, casting his likewise thankful smile down at the light coat of Quintessence that coated his boots; a technique taught to him by his mentor.
"Above!"
With Tatl's abrupt call came the light surprise that went along with it; as the smiling-faced Link swung his head skyward, he readied his arms and opened them up as if to catch something.
FLUMP
As the wide-eyed Flyssa landed into the youth's already-opened embrace, she couldn't help but grow a tinge of red to her cheeks when she found her form so close to his own. Even when he opened his mouth to speak, he felt the inevitable pang of regret coming on.
"We gotta stop meetin' like this."
As quickly as she had landed in it, she grunted as she pushed off of him to land forward only to leave the standing Link in an amused chuckling stare. In spite of his earlier contrition over his arguably loutish behaviour he found himself enjoying the aftermath quite a bit; as the no-doubt embarrassed young Flyssa turned her back to him, perhaps in an attempt to avoid eye contact completely, she dusted herself off as before to ready herself for another confrontation.
"Well...," he began again, this time with a newly-gained business-like frown as he placed both his small hands atop his hips, swivelling his head 'round slowly in searching. "Now that we're here...," he started curiously, his sky-blue eyes narrowing across at the grand expanse of ocean oddly surrounding the platform they both stood on. "I don't see what you were talkin' about... Tatl..."
"I have a bad feeling about this, Link..."
Even the frowning-faced Flyssa found herself turning from her engagement to stare inquisitively back at the little guardian fairy, eliciting her to continue on.
"I feel like...," she began again, slowly 'rounding her little bulbous body in reluctant search. "Something's watching us..."
Link's own cobalt-blue eyes narrowed a second time in response. "Really...?" He threw up into the air, interested and all. "It wouldn't happen to be..."
"B-Behind us!"
SPLASH-FWIP
–
6
Gargantuan Masked Fish
Gyorg
Time slowed down for the young heroes as they turned their heads skyward to give view to the sudden intruder; a gigantic piranha-like fish that used the very platform on which they stood on to bounce off of acrobatically. As its huge masked form exchanged its narrow-eyed glare with the wide-eyed surprised faces below it, time eventually resumed its normal flow and the shark-like creature dove back down into the body of water ahead waiting for it.
SPLOOSH-DROOSH
Perhaps unavoidably a spattering of many droplets of water descended down upon the youths, eliciting them to draw up their arms in defence.
"Agh!" Flyssa gasped out, eyes near scrunched shut with the effort and not without some form of annoyance. "Did you see the size of it?!"
"Is that it Tatl?"
"Oh yeah...," the little guardian fairy answered the Kokiri-bound youth that asked the previous question. "That's the source all right."
"All I needed to know..."
Flyssa found her brow furrowing in further irritation; a reaction to her companion seemingly ignoring her. She cast her frown forward to rest on the single-eyed Link, seemingly utilising the Hero's Bow and taking special care to aim it with. When she traced his one-open eye's gaze she soon found him watching the piranha-like fish of his target quickly travelling along the side, almost as if it were circling the pair of swordsmen to attack them.
"Don't shoot where it is...," he murmured out, eye shut before he tilted the bow he carried, just a little. "Shoot where it's gonna be."
FWIP
His eyes soon re-opened to match the inevitable grin that graced his young complexion and he watched on as his well-fired arrow made contact with the wide-eyed Gyorg's large form.
SQUELCH-GRRRRROWL
"Damn...," the watching Flyssa murmured out, eyes widened in legitimate surprise. "Good shot..."
He chose to give in to his hubris and smirked as he briefly shut his eyes in a similarly arrogant shrug; something he had become well-known for.
"What can I say? I guess I'm just-"
SPLASH
"Link, look!"
But by the time Tatl spoke and the young Hero of Time dropped his grin to re-open his eyes forward it was far too late; the scowling-faced Gyorg had somehow leapt up to rest its form on the edge of the platform before them. As it stared back at him with its mask's eyes, and the horrifyingly-huge yellowed eye resting within its likewise gigantic mouth, it opened its jaw to give vent to a cacophonous battle cry.
RRRRRROOOOOOOOAR
Although the shut-eyed Flyssa skid backwards and screamed out in a mixture of surprise and doubt the scrunch-eyed shut Link stared back at his gargantuan-sized foe, his free left hand risen up to block the unnatural wind that it blew his way. Tatl opened her mouth again to warn her partner.
"Link it's coming!"
DRRRRRROOOM-CRACK
As the platform they stood upon began to shift under the pressure of the mighty-sized fish, it did the horrifyingly impossible by charging forward at the former Kokiri.
"LINK!"
"Hut...!"
WHAM-FRRRRRRRRRRR-SSSSSSSS...
In an incredible sight indeed, the tiny-sized boy managed to meet Gyorg's offensive charge with a defensive stance of his own; the sound of his elemental affinity of fire sizzled away to match the grand heights of his fiery-shaped aura of Aegir. Similarly shocked to her fairy companion, the watching Flyssa could only widen her eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time since meeting the unpredictable young Hylian.
SKRRRRRRRRRRRR...
As their bodies and auras clashed together, a mix of fiery-crimson and deep-sea blue, the platform's already rocky state shook even worse as the two wrestled together; in spite of the clear size difference, the formerly-little Kokiri boy managed to hold his own and then some.
It was a true David and Goliath scene to match the old tales.
CRACK-GRRRRRRROWL...
The end of the engagement had at last been sighted; as the very audible sound of Gyorg's body breaking echoed out noisily, the watching and similarly-scowling faced Link upturned his frown into a satisfied smirk.
"Ready...?!"
RRRRRUMBLE...
Flyssa pulled her hands to her mouth in sheer awe to the absurd sight she was gifted with. "W-Woah...!"
In the young Hylian's low smirk came his eventual slow turn; in their movement he, very slowly, managed to turn Gyorg's body to match his own intentions. As they gradually revolved through the platform, the watching young Gerudo squeaked in wide-eyed surprise as she ducked abruptly to avoid the incoming huge fish's form.
FWOH-FWOH-FWOH
Gyorg gave out an angered growl as it snapped its gigantically-sized teeth as if to catch anything within its jaws, as it seemingly endlessly was swung 'round and 'round as if it were caught within some kind of loop. Eventually, however, the grinning-faced Link opened his mouth to match his next and final action.
"My turn!"
FWIP
DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-CRACK
RRRROAAAAAR
This time Gyorg's exclamation was one of agony; in the preposterous notion that it was Link managed to deceive all notions of defeat, and astonishingly tossed the gargantuan predator veering and soaring into the wall behind it with such force that it found itself caught within the wall's very surface itself.
"Oh my good god...," Flyssa whispered out, very slowly rising her red-haired head up from her earlier defensive position as the grinning-faced Link merely watched on, near-satisfied by his own work. "That's... I don't even know what to say to-"
"Oh I ain't done yet," the confident young Hero of Time grinned out rising up his ever-favourite left hand to a mid-position, leaning the rest of his body side-on to survey the fallen creature ahead. "Check... this!"
CLICK
FRRRR-BAROOOOOOOOM-ROOOOOOAR
Thankfully, for Gyorg, it was finally given room with which to fall back into the body of water below it but not without serious injury; when the grinning-expressed Link snapped his fingers the Quintessence he left imprinted within the fish's body exploded, like a mine having been left by a bomber.
SPLASH-GRRRRRRROWL...
As Gyorg dropped noisily and messily into the water with its deep-blue shaded blood in hot pursuit, Link found himself swivelling his overconfident shut-mouthed smirk on the young girl behind him; a look of unequivocal assurance. She could only stare back at his sky-blue with her metallic-gold, shock and awe barely managing to describe her successful surprise.
"Glad I'm on your side?" He asked her hopelessly, quipping up an eyebrow as he spoke.
She could only laugh back at him, half in absolute terror and the other in some similar form of amusement.
RRRRRIP-GRRRRRROWL...
Almost as if to respond to the two children, the eerie gigantic eye that sat within Gyorg's similarly huge mouth spat out as if it were vomiting out its pained wounds.
"Woop," the wide-eyed Link frowned out for a change, swivelling his head back 'round before quickly eyeing the shocked Flyssa with another winking grin. "That's my cue!"
With that the sound of the Zora Mask's unavoidable high-pitched whine echoed out as it made contact with the youth's face, and he turned 'round to dive forward into the water presumably in pursuit of his weakened foe.
SPLASH
VVVVVVV...
The sound of the electrical blue shield of Aegir that followed Link's Zoran form coursed through not just the easily-conductible water in which he fought in, but the wide-eyed Gyorg's form in a savage echo of its pained screech.
"We gon' have fish stew tonight!" The grinning Link called out, pulling his form away defensively from the still-recovering figure of his foe.
Perhaps inevitably it growled out in rage and, as it pulled in the eerie gigantic eye back within the confines of its mouth, it readied itself, presumably to charge a second time. Link, this time, found his grin quickly dissolving in favour of a half-worried frown.
"Uh oh."
He abruptly twisted his Zoran body to his left in immediate evasion and only just barely managed to wind himself out the berserk piranha's warpath. Unfortunately however, for the platform on which the wide-eyed Flyssa stood, it was not quite so lucky; having missed its original target, Gyorg unavoidably smashed its powerful form directly into the platform's foundation at ground level in a brutal take-down tackle.
SMASH-KERRRRASH
RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
Realising its foundations were shot completely and there was no saving it, Link turned his wide-eyed surprise 'round on his similar-faced ally, worry taking hold of his complexion.
"Flyssa, get out of there!"
It didn't take the young Gerudo long to heed her companion's wise advice but with nowhere to run to, the poor girl had little to no options left; a fact reflected in her wild-eyed search that eventually found her taking to the very ceiling itself. Situated not that far from the large hole in the centre – from which the heroes had dropped through originally – she managed to use her acrobatic skill and her dexterity to hang her small form up against the cracks and imperfections in the ceiling above.
But not for long.
Something the relieved smile that Link graced her with from the safety of an underwater position before swiftly turning to look for his quick-swimming enemy. Sure enough, circling 'round where the platform once stood, there it was; Gyorg glared back at him, its eyes narrowed and its mouth opening. Link's eyes widened and, like a cat having been seen by its predator, turned immediately and gave full power to his Zoran swimming ability.
FWOHHHHHHH...
Although Gyorg's powerful suction was strong enough to pull in almost everything but, the determined focus that Link put into his evasive manoeuvres essentially managed to outrun the pressure Gyorg put into its technique.
"Link..."
"Yeah...," the frowning-faced youth replied as he swung his body back 'round to face the scowling fish before him, hanging his form backward in the water he dangled in, his left fingers clenched into a small fist next to him. "I see 'em."
True to his words, there they were; spiked balls attached to chains that mysteriously appeared almost seemingly as soon as their useful platform had been destroyed.
They'll be really handy, the watching Link slowly grinned to himself in silent thought.
"I think the best course of action would be to-"
"Say no more Tatl...," Link responded in a quiet-voiced murmur, a hungry-looking smirk written across his countenance. "Say no more..."
FWIP
As he flipped forward underwater to shoot ahead in his Zoran-formed swimming, like an arrow from a bow, he fired onward in a quick narrow-eyed advance. Gyorg watched him, waiting and obvious in its intentions; something in which the smart little Hylian took well into account in his march forward. As he began to at last fast-approach the gargantuan-sized fish, he suddenly veered off course far to the left and broke away from his original pathway.
Unfortunately for Gyorg, however, it chose instead to continue through with its original intention.
FWOHHHHHHH...
CLICK
In a humorous exchange indeed the gigantic piranha blinked its tiny aquatic-shaded eyes as it swallowed the spiked ball, almost as if had only just noticed. As the curious-eyed Link frowned out and swung his body 'round mid-water, he soon watched and listened for the spiked sphere's next inevitable sound.
An explosion.
DROOOOOOOOOOOOM-RRRROOOOOOAR
In an intriguing sight the impending explosion was heavily absorbed by most of the water the two combatants were submerged in and, as a result, came at a very different output than the grinning-faced Link was used to; although Gyorg's eyes widened as a bright light of white engulfed its form, the explosive radius appeared to only expand so far before eventually calling back into itself as if pulled by something. As it drew back into the bright white light however, so too did the coming second spectacle; an implosion. Although it looked rather small the fiery strength within was conveyed clearly with a meaty-looking rupture, that essentially and quickly finished off the long-fought fight.
Much to the relief of the watching Flyssa and Tatl.
"Eyy!" Link began out in a light grin, raising up his two hands to point his index fingers directly at his defeated enemy. "That's-a spicy meat-a-ball!"
Even while Gyorg began to flop and flounder around in its well-won agony, the great body of water in which they both fought in very quickly began to empty out. Seemingly, as the spectating Link watched, it appeared to be seeping out through the newly-opening metallic fence; strangely enough it seemed as if there was a separate room adjacent to this one in which the water emptied into.
FLOP-FLIP-FLOP-FLIP-FLIP-FLIP...
As Gyorg's once massive form struggled in some vain attempt to live through its impending end, the water at last completely drained to leave the now shrinking fish room to flounder upon. As it did the heroes watched in stony-cold silence as a very visible dark-based energy force exited from Gyorg's form; seemingly the otherworldly magic that Majora's Mask had previously breathed into. Once it eventually finished, however, it left a Heart Container for the grateful young Hero of Time.
Just as with Odolwa and Goht.
"You are such a dork..."
Tatl's gasping chuckle made the blinking Link swing his initially curious frown over to her, only to soon grow a grin of his own.
"You love it though." He batted back and, sure enough, he called the inevitable red shade that took to her little bulbous form; a sign of light embarrassment.
TMP
"Haaa... damn..."
Along with the deepened soprano that Link had come to expect from his newer companion also came the surprise in her voice; Flyssa landed down from the ceiling above at last, her endurance finally at its limit. As she turned her long-haired head 'round at the now empty room before her, she regarded it all with widened eyes; a surprised reaction to suit her applicable shock earlier.
"You really beat that thing...," she whispered out softly, swinging her gold-tipped gaze on his. He couldn't help but pull his Zoran head back and laugh and she rolled her eyes in response; lightly frustrated with his overconfidence but sharing in his cheer. "I mean...," she began again in some fruitless attempt before sighing, shaking her crimson-haired head and smiling back at him. "Never mind."
He found himself smiling back, oddly, in spite of his earlier talk with Tatl.
But it was in that very memory however, that made him soon realise their time together was essentially over.
How am I going to tell her everything, he thought.
Maybe it's best if I don't.
"Could you..."
He blinked, turning his thoughtful frown out of his silent ruminations to stare back at her, raising an eyebrow upward at her to prod her to continue.
"Um...," she murmured out, averting her eyes from his own as she rubbed at her slim left hand with her right; seemingly a gesture of doubt and social awkwardness. "Take off... that mask?"
Realising he was wearing a mask, he could only laugh back in response but did as she asked; in a quiet high-pitched whine, he soon stood back in his comparably-Hylian form to stare back at her in a light smile.
"We'd better grab the remains... and get out." He pointed out, nodding toward the brightly-lit warp-zone of Aegir humming away in the centre of the destructed battle arena as well as the floating mask that Gyorg once wore. Flyssa found herself blinking in unsure doubt as she double-took in its direction before seemingly realising herself; she laughed nervously and nodded, walking toward it with her back facing the youth as if to avoid his eyesight.
"U-Um... y-yeah..."
The standing Link couldn't help but extend his grin a little, half-amused and half-cheery, before he set his shoulders straight and stepped forward to join her.
–
7
NIGHT OF THE FINAL DAY
-12 Hours Remain-
As if they were angels descending down from the skies of heaven itself, the smiling Link's form gradually drew downward, joined by the frowning-faced Flyssa.
It was only when they landed that they realised the location.
Zora Cape.
"Ahhh..."
The creature's voice, so deep and so masculine, could only remind the two children of its source; a similarly huge turtle that smiled back at them both, sitting in the likewise large ocean behind it.
"Now... truly now Mikau can rest his fallen soul... in peace," Tortuga spoke in smiling-faced greeting, his bass tone a satisfied one. "But your work has not finished yet, oh Hero of Time..."
Link merely chuckled back in response as a frame of his frown soon upturned into a knowing and confident smirk; the only retort he gave in return.
"I too must abide the laws given to us by The Four... and of the Sainted Three...," the large tortoise spoke, briefly shutting its eyes as if readying to yawn. "And now watch... from my deep slumber."
The listening Flyssa could only exchange unsure glances between the two, doubtful and curious.
"I shall depart but only after enjoying Lulu's newly regained voice...," Tortuga claimed, a wry grin written across his old countenance. "I think even the Sorcerer can permit that!" He laughed out. "Hyeh, hyeh..."
"Sure," the chuckling Link agreed in a smiling nod of his own. "You've done more than enough; thanks so much for your help... Tortuga."
"And you, Hero of Time," the large turtle smiled back in a similar nod. "You and your Gerudo companion have truly saved the doomed seas of Great Bay... we will always be indebted to you."
Link cast his listening grin over to the frowning-faced Flyssa, soon infecting her to follow him in a lightly-amused chortle of her own.
"Know that you are both always welcome! In this timeline or the next!"
SSSSPLASHHHH...
Flyssa coughed out as the hugely-sized Tortuga left them in a dazzling splash of water, seemingly descending down to leave the pair of children to their own devices. Even as he disappeared completely however, the wide-eyed young Gerudo's response went unheard.
"T-Timeline? What?" She called on after him before swinging her fiery-haired head 'round to face her only remaining ally left. "Link what was he-?"
"Link...,"
Tatl's quiet-voiced prod made him lightly flinch in response; something that the silently-spectating Flyssa took note of.
"It's time..."
"Yeah...," he answered his loyal guardian fairy, an unusually-gained frown written across his young face. "I know..." He finished out in a low-voiced murmur as the little milk-shaded pixie flew down back into her favourite resting place; within his green-shaded hat. Even while he turned up to face the young Gerudo he found himself drawing a smile of his own but, this time, it was much more strained and melancholic-like in fashion.
It was something even she could see.
"Link, what's...," she began, her brow furrowing curiously as she shook her tanned head. "What's... going on?"
He waited a small while, turning to exchange a frowning nod with the hovering Tatl, before eventually revolving a new smile on her; a kind of saddened, forced one. Something that made her narrow her eyes in suspicion.
"I... gotta go away for a while," he answered her in an apologetic chuckle. "I've been away from home for too long."
"F-From Hyrule is it?" Flyssa questioned in a curious-eyed blink. "Your home country?"
That's not quite what I mean, he thought to himself in a weakened wince, lowering his blonde-haired head.
How am I gonna tell her this.
She won't believe me.
"So try her."
"Look, Link...,"
Her response, almost seemingly having read his very inward thoughts, began as she stepped forward to close the distance between them.
"Whatever you're running from, you can tell me." She whispered out, joining her small hands together at her front; an odd gesture for someone as hard-fronted as she was.
It definitely felt strange, the listening Link thought.
She must be serious for a change; I can feel it in her voice.
Somehow sensing the intimate nature of her words, Tatl reluctantly hovered off and away from the two children, perhaps in an effort to give them space and privacy to speak together.
"We'll fight it together," she laughed softly, drawing yet closer as she rested a hand across his own. He exchanged a glance with it before raising back up to force another smile in response; a wan one at best. "Just like we have now."
"Flyssa, you don't under-"
"Alyssa."
He stopped mid-sentence, surprised, and found himself blinking with which to convey it. He found her smiling very lightly at him back; a vulnerable kind of smile that hurt to even look at.
I need to end this, he thought.
Drawing this out isn't helping anyone.
"Alyssa," he chortled back half-nervously in a likewise chuckle, amending his words to match her desire. "Wh-Where I come from, it's...," he began again, wandering down his cobalt-blue eyes as if in deep thought to his sentence's structure and the words involved. "It's a place you can't come to," he answered at last, re-raising his straw-haired head back up to frown at her. "Believe me when I say I want to, but..." The youth finished, briefly shutting his sky-cerulean eyes as he shook his head slowly; a final sign of disinclination.
It was something that the watching Flyssa did not take well to; she dropped her earlier smile and narrowed her eyes to match the annoyed frown on her face.
"Just tell me," the young Gerudo insisted, closing the distance between them even further; in the young Hylian's surprise she moved up to his front, close enough even to kiss. "Don't insult my intelligence."
Slowly he shut his eyes in response; a silent flag of defeat before eventually he re-opened them to frown back at her.
"You remember what Tortuga called me... don't you?"
Flyssa's brow furrowed in recognition. "The... 'Hero of Time' was it?"
"Yep."
"Yeah...? What about it?"
Wordlessly, he brought up the last gift that his country's princess gave to him; the brightly-blue instrument that was the Ocarina of Time itself. She raised her thinly-shaped fiery-red eyebrows at it before re-narrowing them as she faced him again.
"Right...? An ocarina?"
"I'm called that for an actual reason, Alyssa," he answered, lowering the instrument in his business-like frown. "My country's princess gave this to me and, I don't know how it's able to do it yet, but..."
Flyssa's forehead crinkled in concentration as she listened intently.
"With it, I can travel through time."
Her gold-tipped eyes widened in response; first in legitimate surprise and secondly in some form of laughter, near unwilling to believe it.
"You see that?" He spoke, eyebrows similarly rising up as he thrust a free finger skyward; Flyssa traced his gaze only to find what he was pointing directly at. Even as far out as Great Bay there it was, the burning reminder of his very adventure and efforts; Termina's disturbingly close moon and the scowling face that it sported.
Almost as if in response, the very ground itself began to shake; a reaction as a result of the moon's rapid descent into the country's land.
RRRRRRRUMBLE...
Flyssa found herself gasping lightly, almost as if she hadn't realised the moon was there at all. "Y-Yeah, I... I remember, but...," she began again, double-taking from the moon's position to his own and back again. "What does that have to do with-?"
"Three days."
Flyssa blinked again back at him, curious and all.
"Th-Three days? What?"
"I can only travel back in time three days' worth," Link spoke again, cerulean-shaded eyes narrowing as he did. "That's what he told me anyway."
Flyssa shook fire-haired head in growing frustration and spoke to voice it. "Th-That's what who told you?!"
"The Sorcerer of the Divine Divide."
Almost as if somehow it were a password or key information, Flyssa's eyes widened for the umpteenth time but this time in realisation.
"I... remember that name...," she murmured out, brow furrowing in thought. "It's an old tale that, ain't it?" She asked. "Something about the Four Giants and three goddesses and-"
"Yeah," he chuckled, lowering his head as he briefly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah it took me a while to make any sense of it too." he agreed.
"S-So what?" She retorted, pressing him for another answer as she shook her frowning-faced head at him again. "I can't come with you?"
"I mean I've never tried it...," he admitted, rubbing his head a second time. "It's only me and Tatl that's done it before, so..."
"So do it."
He re-rose his head up to frown in surprise back at her, only to find her standing in such close proximity that he near felt the warmth of her body itself and the scent of her perfume.
Reminds me of Nabooru, he thought to himself nostalgically.
"Take me with you," she spoke so softly she near whispered the words in his small and pointed ears. "I want to come with you."
Although she spoke with an unusually gentle tone of voice, it was one that made him cringe in emotional aching.
It won't work, he thought.
Still though... we haven't tried with anyone else.
"No," he thought to himself, his frown regaining in strength as he re-rose it to face her. "I can't do any more damage to the timeline." he added silently.
I have to tell her no.
Wordlessly, he shook his head at her before re-opening his mouth. "I can't do that to you," he admitted in his frown. "I've taken too much from you and your people already," the boy claimed honestly, his head shaking softly as he spoke. "I just can't do it Alyssa."
She shut her eyes in response in a slow and gradual sign of surrender before soon re-opening them to frown back at him.
"Maybe you could...," she began again, lowering her golden-shaded eyes briefly as if in thought. "Give me... one more thing before you go away."
This time he could only blink back at her before rising up an eyebrow in response, curious and all. "Yeah...?"
She gained a smile on her face, the same kind of wistfully melancholic-like smile that he wore himself, before she slowly drew even closer to him. It was only when she placed her thin arms across to rest on the small of his back that he realised what she wanted and, in surprise, he held back a laugh.
Of all things, he thought to himself.
Link merely tilted his head to the side in his grin before he rose up his hands to rest on her own back, leaning forward to respond to her request.