The Next Journey

Hey there! Here with my second fic, also a Link x Linebeck pairing since the couple desperately needs attention. This one is set a little differently than my previous one, it all takes place AFTER the game, so if you haven’t finished Phantom Hourglass yet, you may not want to read this. Lemme put that in bold:

WARNING!! THIS FIC TAKES PLACE AFTER PH AND WILL SPOIL THE ENDING!!

There. So anyway, Link has aged a bit in this little ficcy, about to the age of twelve, we’ll say. So he’s a little less jailbait… but still jailbait. If you want me to write one where he is actually of age to consent (in our time) then let me know and I’ll try to think of a scenario for it.

So yeah, enjoy!

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Link leaned against the solid wooden railing and looked out at the vast blue ocean. His blond hair waved in the wind, free of its little green cap. In fact, nothing of his old outfit was around anymore. He had outgrown his old hero’s clothes and was now wearing hand-me-downs. An un-dyed linen shirt with long sleeves that were tight at the arm and began to flare just below the elbow was left half open on the top and bottom, fitting closely around his waist. The tails were left un-tucked from deep green pants that fit his legs snugly and were tucked into brown leather boots that went up to an inch below his knees. A small silver Zora scale was hung around his neck by a strip of brown leather and his left ear had two sliver hoops adorning it. His hair had grown shaggier and hung slightly in his eyes and an inch above his shoulders. It waved in the salty air as his deep blue eyes gazed far away, remembering how he had gotten here.

****flashback****

‘Could it really have all been a dream?’ His eyes looked between his friends as Tetra argued with them about their adventure. He knew that it couldn’t have been, everything was just too real. ’But then why does no one else remember all of that time?’ He was beginning to doubt that he really did travel the seas and defeated the evil Bellum, saving Tetra in the process.

He turned to look out at the ocean where the Ghost Ship floated only to find that it was gone! Tetra soon noticed and there was a moment of silence before she started yelling again. Link ignored all of this and reached behind him. ‘I know that it’s here...’ he thought, his hands finally closing around the object he was searching for. He brought the hourglass out with a smile that faded when he noticed that the sand he had so meticulously gathered had vanished. He looked around, thinking that maybe it had leaked onto the floor somehow when a spot of color caught his eye.

Without thinking he ran to the other edge of the boat and saw the one thing that proved to him that his journey was indeed not a dream, the S.S. Linebeck. A smile bloomed on his face as he watched the familiar boat sail off into the distance…

----A few weeks later----

Link leaned against the mast, an angry scowl on his face. This was the fifth time in the past week that he had taken refuge in the crow’s nest from Tetra. The two were constantly disagreeing with each other and he was getting sick of it. Every argument was about the same thing: piracy. She wanted to start pillaging again and he just wasn’t OK with that. He couldn’t help that he was righteous; it’s just how he was raised. But Tetra was raised differently. She was raised on a pirate ship and that was all that she knew.

The crew members were beginning to openly show hostility towards him now too. He would often wake up with all of his clothes missing. He would find them hidden away throughout the ship, some even tied to the anchor so by the time that he got to them they were soaked and covered in seaweed. He would always seem to get the worst food during meals and never had a place to eat. He was given the nastiest jobs and hours, having to work in the middle of the night, day, and early morning. Any time that he tried to sleep the other crew members would make as much noise as possible so that he would be forced to stay awake. The end result was an overly skinny and ragged Link with dark bags under his eyes.

He knew that he couldn’t stay on the ship anymore. If he did it was likely that he would be killed from starvation, being overworked, or just by Tetra if her anger ever got out of control. The only problem was how to get away.

Link broke out of his deep thought and ran a hand through his dirty hair. ‘I’ll just have to swim to the next island that we pass by. I’ll start gathering some food and other supplies and hide them somewhere until an opportunity presents itself. And if I can, I’ll try to steal a sword from one of the crew members...’

----A few days later---

Link reached out his arm and cut it through the water, propelling himself forward and closer to the green land in front of him. The water was cold and the pack on his back was heavy, making the trek harder than it should have been. Of course it didn’t help that he hadn’t been able to eat or sleep for the past few days.

Gasping for breath he finally made it to shallow water. He stood up and began to drag his tired legs through the ocean until he reached the dry sand of the shore. He fought the urge to flop down onto the sand and walked into some dry grass and sat down next to a palm tree, leaning against the shingled bark.

He opened his eyes to bright sunlight, not remembering falling asleep. He stiffly stood and cringed at the pain that shot through his limbs from sleeping in such an odd position. Dropping the bag, he looked up to see if there were perhaps some coconuts hidden in the palm leaves. Luck was with him and with a few good shakes and one ‘duck-and-cover’, he had a coconut. He reached in the sack and drew out a small knife that he was able to steal from one of the crew at dinner. It took his sore and weak limbs awhile, but soon he had a hole chipped out of the coconut. He tipped it upside down and let the milk flow into his mouth, wetting his dry throat.

Having whetted his thirst, he set the fruit down and began to scout out the land. His little island wasn’t very large. About half of it was taken up by wooded area that seemed to hold a little wildlife. There was a spring not far from the center of the island that’s water seemed safe to drink and the other half of the island was divided between spots of sand and grass.

Link began to collect wood to make himself a rough shelter for the night. He decided to make camp about 100 yards from the spring so that it would be easy to get to, but wouldn’t keep the animals away from it incase he decided to use it as a spot for laying traps.

The first night went quite well and over the next few weeks Link collected food and other useful things that washed up on shore, storing them in a small hut next to his own living one. With his newly acquired free time, he was able to construct himself a nice home. The going was slow in the beginning, but once an axe washed up on shore, the construction quickened. He had cleared out a small area and used the wood to help build his house. As the days went by he made himself storage space, a small table and chair, and even a bed.

Even with all of this work, Link still quickly became lonely. It wasn’t as if he spoke to anyone on the ship other than Tetra, and that was more listening than talking, but it seemed that he had begun to miss the presence of other human beings.

One day while he was walking to check his traps, he found an egg lying on a soft patch of grass. It seemed to have fallen out of its nest and Link figured that it’s mother wouldn’t miss it much anyway, so he carefully picked it up and took it back to his house. He incubated the egg by keeping wrapped in his shirt next to the fire, hoping that it may one day hatch.

That day did indeed come and Link was ready with coconut milk mixed with pre-chewed meat. He had watched the nest that the egg had fallen from and had seen one of the strange hunting birds visit it often. The egg began to hatch and within a few minuets, Link was feeding a baby bird.

In the next couple weeks Link feed and trained the bird as it lost it’s baby down to grow in it’s adult feathers. It was about a foot long with an eight inch tail and twenty inch wingspan when it was finally fully grown. Its feathers were a light tan with green and brown mixed in on the back, wings, and tail. Its beak and talons were sharp and curved downward to show its predatory nature. Its head was adorned with three long feathers that bled from brown to green just like the end feathers of its tail.

He soon had to make himself a leather glove to protect his arm for when he took the bird outside to hunt. He had taught it how to fly, hunt, and return to him with its prey over the months that he had lived on the island. He had decided to name it Pego. He wasn’t sure where the name came from, but he just began to call the bird it one day and it had stuck.

Time passed and Link began to enjoy his simple life on his island. He would hunt, cook, bathe, tan leather, make new clothes, and gather as necessary and he soon stopped counting the days as they passed.

One morning as he was combing the beaches for anything useful he saw a boat not far off shore. It struck a cord in his memory, but he couldn’t place where he had seen it before. The mysterious boat dropped anchor and Link noticed that it seemed to be casting off a cloud of grey smoke. He saw something onboard moving about, but the craft was too far away for him to clearly see who the person was.

Deciding to ignore the intruders unless they did something worth attention, Link went back to combing the beach. He had found some cloth and driftwood that he was planning on taking back to dry next to his fire and thought that he had seen something glittering in the sun a few yards away.

It was around noon when Link saw a small dingy appear from behind the boat and slowly make its way toward the island. Worried, he quickly retrieved his knife and axe from his home and went to meet the trespasser. As the man got closer, Link began to feel anxious. He thought that the boat looked familiar, but his person was wreaking havoc on his brain, he knew that he knew this person from somewhere, but he just couldn’t figure it out. He whistled for Pego and the bird flew from the forest to descend on his outstretched arm, he was nervous.

The figure waved his arms and shouted across the shortening distance. Link could barely make out what the man said.

“Hello there!” he yelled, “I was wondering if you had any ship parts!”

Link’s arms dropped. The axe fell to the ground and Tori angrily flew off, scattering a few feathers.

He knew that voice.

Before he could think of what he was doing, Link was ankle deep in water, running to meet his visitor. He quickly had to begin swimming but when he finally reached the boat he had a smile on his face as he hung onto the side.

“Linebeck!”

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Yay!! Our favorite captain is back!

So now is my time to be evil: I will update… IF YOU REVIEW!!
Muhahahahahaha!! I would like…3 reviews! Maybe not too ambitious, but it’s a start and it should give me some time to write more. I’m home for winter break so I should have some free time.

Oh, and Pego is part of Papegoja which is parrot in Swedish

It was either that or Tori which is bird in Japanese which is just… bad. And I used that because when I sketched out Link’s new costume and birdie friend it ended up looking like a cross between a falcon/hawk and a parrot… If you are lucky I might just upload my horrible artwork so you can see what Link is supposed to look like in this fic.