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It was a calm evening on the SS Linebeck. The lone boat had been recently docked at Mercay Isle and gently rocked in the azure waves. The sun, surrounded by hues of soft orange and red, had begun to sink into the endless horizon, bringing another long day of watching over the seas to a close.
It was a sort of evening, Linebeck thought, that deserved a moment of relaxation to really enjoy. Preferably with a glass of extra virgin milk from the local bar.
But despite the air of serenity, the sea captain frustratingly couldn't get himself to enjoy the moment. Something in his gut was telling him there was something missing, but the captain couldn't figure out what it was.
Then it hit him. The distinct lack of a certain light haired youth, who right about now would have been gazing onto the oceans with his annoying flapping friend.
(There was something in the child's eyes as he watched the rolling seas. Something that Linebeck couldn't place.
A longing. Hope.
Pain.)
He tried to shake it off. So what if the kid wasn't there? It wasn't his job to play babysitter. After all, he's seen the blonde go into places that would make men twice his size beg for mercy. Link was just fine.
He had to be.
But despite his best efforts, there was an uncertainty that the sea captain just couldn't shake. A tension in the silence that would've normally been filled with the young blonde's antics and Ciela nagging him.
Of course! Ciela! If anyone would know what was up with the kid, it'd be her.
With some annoyance, Linebeck knew he wouldn't be able to get any rest with this whole mystery in his head. (And *not* because he was worried about Link. Definitely not.)
Entering the interior of the ship, it didn't take long for him to find the annoying gnat with, to Linebeck's surprise, a similar looking red fairy. 'Great, there's two of them now!' But before the ship captain could speak up, he noticed they were speaking quietly and the captain decided to engage in a little harmless eavesdropping.
"...locked himself in the washroom since we got back. He hasn't responded to me either and I'm worried..." Linebeck's brows furrowed at this. The captain would have had to be blind to not see how close the fairy and Link were. So for him to shut her out seemed out of character for him.
"I know you're worried, but if Link had managed to get through the Fire Temple, then he must be stronger than your average human..." The other fairy replied
"But it's not right! He's still a child!" Ciela had cut in. "You didn't see him go through that place. You didn't see all the monsters there. He got burned so badly, had to fend off the keese that were biting and clawing at him, and had to go through awful traps with razors and more fire..." The sea captain couldn't help but wince at Ciela's description. Of course he knew that those places weren't a walk in the park, but actually having it spelled out for him made it something he couldn't just wave off.
"...and the worst part is that he seems so... detached to it all... like he's had to go through it all before..."
But Linebeck wouldn't hear whatever the red spirit said in return, the captain decided he had learned far more than enough and made his way to the washroom.
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It was a beautiful evening when the former Hero of Winds made his way back onto the SS Linebeck, Ciela and, recent addition to his team, Leaf. Link was, for once, thankful for the captain's uncaring attitude towards him as he barely paid him a glance as he informed the hero they would be stopping at Mercy for the night. The blonde simply nodded in response and, with a pang of guilt, ignored Ciela's look of concern as he shut himself in the washroom.
And as soon as Link caught a glance at his reflection in the grimy mirror of the bathroom, he understood Ciela's concern.
While potions did a good job of easing pain as well as helping the more major injuries heal, they weren't miracle workers. The Fire Temple lived up to it's name, and the evidence was in the many burns littering the hero's hands and on parts of his clothes that were singed. Then there was the bites and cuts and that was without even getting into the injuries hidden by his well worn blue crawfish tunic.
(Seeing himself in his old, non green, clothes was was a surreal moment. While the green tunic had almost felt like a second skin after everything he went through with it, it didn't feel right to keep wearing it after everything was over.
As he handed the old, somewhat tattered tunic back to his grandma, she looked at him with a sad sort of knowing look.
This farewell had stung just as much as the first time, during the chaos that was his birthday. But things were different now.
Link was different.)
The Fire Temple certainly wasn't a cake walk. And yet, even through the sea of fire and lava the hero was reminded of another similar dungeon, memories of swinging over boiling pits of lava, of facing against bokoblins molgeras and finally a giant armored beast that swam in the lava like it was a bath.
'The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.' The hero thought with a twinge of bitterness.
But no amount of traversing through Goddess-forsaken dungeons would make dealing with the aftermath anymore enjoyable.
(But that didn't matter. Because Link is (was) the Hero of Winds, because Tetra needed him and Ciela needed him and helping people that needed him was what he did.
Because some prophecy set thousands upon millions of years ago said that when things go wrong it was the hero's job and the hero's job *alone* to go through the temples and defeat the monsters and Link just so happened to win that particular destiny lottery.
He remembered when his grandma would tell him stories of the Hero of Time. And Link's young eyes would light up as he talked about how cool it would be to be a hero.
But the stories didn't tell you about the feeling of looking into the face of pure evil itself, the feeling of sinking into the cold icy water, of realizing that you would *die*, that you would die out in the ocean and your sister was trapped because you failed to save her and your grandma was going to die alone.
Or the fear of going through dungeon upon dungeon, facing against monster after monster, wondering if this would be the thing that finally leaves you bleeding to death, alone and forgotten.
Or the moment you faced off against the man behind it all, in a fight that felt more terrifying and tragic than epic, and when you finally buried your sword into his forehead, realizing that things would never go back to the way they were before.
That you would never go back to how you were before.)
Harshly shaking those thoughts away, Link decided focus on the take at hand and see if his lazy captain had enough foresight to carry a first aid kit onboard.
The blonde had been busying himself with rummaging through the worn cupboards when he was interrupted by a rough knocking he immediately recognized as belonging to non other than Captain Linebeck himself.
"Hey kid, you got stuck in the sink or something?" The man had asked gruffly. Link groaned and rolled his eyes, but figured he might as well ask the man himself if he had any first aid supplies.
Creaking the door open, the teen signed his request.
"It's in the higher cabinets, I go grab it." The captain replied. Entering the washroom, he rummaged through the aforementioned shelf, coming back with a big box, which surprised Link with how preparing he was. The surprise must've shown on his face because Linebeck gave an offended scoff.
"Please, what kind of fool do you take me for, kid? Any sailor worth his salt knows to be prepared for the worst." Handing Link the box, he was planning to leave the teen to his business, but something stopped the old sailor from doing so.
"Seesh, kid, that temple really did a number on you. You sure you don't need any help with that?"
Link's first inclination was to refuse the offer. He wasn't a kid, and he's had more than enough experience to figure out his way around some basic first aid! And yet, there was something in the money-hungry man's offer that made the blonde actually consider it. The offer seemed genuine and - dare he say it - caring, lacking some of the man's usual snark.
He responded simply with a nod.
"Alright, kid. You can start by getting that ratty shirt off, unless you want me to take up a hobby of sewing. I mean, the thing could probably use some patches."
And there was the usual snark again. Trying not to roll his eyes at the quip, the teen did as he was told, carefully removing the old blue shirt so as to not jostle his fresh injuries.
He didn't see Linebeck freeze up upon seeing the hero's scarred form.
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If hearing about the real dangers the young hero had been through had been a cold splash of reality for Linebeck, then seeing the aftermath of it all, and then some, was like a tidal wave of realization.
Make no mistake, the sea captain was no stranger to seeing some grisly scars. Hanging out at the milk bar, it was far from uncommon to see other sailors show off their newest badges of honor, along with the somewhat exaggerated tales of whatever nightmares of the depths they fought to get them. And despite his own general avoidance of such dangers, Linebeck certainly had a few of his own scars from his voyages.
But to see this borderline-obnoxiously positive ray of sunshine, who couldn't have been more than 16, sporting more scars than the man had seen on even some of the more danger-thirsty sailors had made Linebeck's blood freeze with how utterly wrong it was.
He recognized a few stab wound scars here and there. Some claw marks, burns, and some marks around the side that looked they came from the teeth of something giant.
One particular scar that caught his eye was a jagged slash that ran the length of the kid's shoulder blade down to the middle of his back.
Most of the scars seemed faded enough to have been from at least a few years ago.
What in the name of the Sea King happened to this kid?!
The sea captain was torn out of his thoughts by an inpatient grunt, and saw Link glancing at him with a look of confusion.
Shaking away his musings, Linebeck forced himself to focus on the task at hand. He reached into the box felt around until he came upon what he was looking for: a bottle of disinfectant. Grumbling a warning about stinging, the captain began treating the fresh wounds on Link, the latter of whom gave a sharp hiss but otherwise didn't react.
The next few minutes went by in relative silence, with the only sounds being the ambient noises from the bottles and other supplies as well as the soft waves outside the ship.
But the few minutes of silence seemed to stretch out for hours for the two, until it was finally broken by a simple question.
"Why do you do it, kid?"
The blonde, taken off guard by Linebeck's question, turned to look at him, who continued.
"Why keep putting yourself in danger? Ciela, the old man... we're all practically strangers to you, but you put yourself through the wringer for them all." The teen couldn't say he was all that surprised by the older man's confusion, but what did surprise him was the barest hint of concern that underlined his query. Despite this, Link didn't have to think hard to figure out his answer:
'Because I have to. Because they need me.' He had signed.
"But why does it have to be you? Who up and decided some kid should be the one to save the world?" The hero had bristled somewhat at being reffered to as 'some kid', and yet the captain's tone held no insult or snark, and deep inside the youth felt Linebeck's words echo some deeper feelings of his own over the whole matter.
'Why did it have to be me?' Wasn't that the billion ruppee question.
And one the hero found he didn't have a good answer to.
To his relief, the captain didn't push the issue further, seeming to understand that the teen wasn't going to budge. In the ensuing silence, Linebeck had eventually finished treating his ward. Link caught a glance at his reflection again and saw his new injuries had been wrapped nicely in some fresh gauze, and lacked a lot of their former sting from earlier.
The hero felt an emotion he couldn't put a name to, and memories rushed to him of sick days back on Outset Island. Before he was the Hero of Winds, with a destiny that weighed on his shoulders like a ball and chain. Memories of laying in bed with his sister there to distract him with stories of magic and mystery. Memories of warm, savory soup made fresh by his grandma, of being tucked in and told to rest up.
Comfort.
He had signed a thank you to the captain, who simply waved him off.
"Don't mention it, kid, just..." He paused for a moment, trying to find the words. "...get some rest, alright?"
As the teen made his way to the sleeping quarters, his mind raced as he tried to figure out what in the name of Nayru just happened.
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The next day the sea captain was back to his usual lazy, snarking ways, with no mention of the moment of care from the evening before. He had explained the event to Ciela, who had mirrored his own confusion over it all.
Things seemed like they would simply go on as if nothing had happened, until it was time to return to the Temple of the Ocean King and Link and Ciela were surprised to see their lazy captain following behind. The two exchanged a look of surprise before the fairy turned back to the captain.
"You're... actually coming with us? You're not going to just turn tail and run at the sight of the first phantom?" She questioned.
"Please, I'm a seasoned sailor. I can handle a bit of danger." Linebeck has scoffed.
"Aw, look who suddenly has a heart!" Ciela joked, floating up and down tauntingly.
"Wha- gimme a break! I just can't let you have all the glory...! That's all!" The captain sputtered out, giving the fairy a light swat.
If Link saw though Linebeck's transparent Ganon-may-care front, he chose not to comment on it. Even Ciela got tired of teasing the captain soon enough, and the captain himself, despite his usual nature to flee from danger, actually kept to his word, following the duo through thick and thin.
He may not be able to stop the kid from running head first into danger, but he'll be damned if he's going to let him go in alone.
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