To Find Hyrule 9
Returns
Takes place shortly after Retrieval and before the first part of Sword spirits
Link laid the Master Sword and the Phantom Sword side-by-side on the deck of the ship. Looking down at the two blades, Link turned his attention to a jewelled cutlass that Link had bought for Tetra a couple years back. Next to the cutlass was some shards of metal, a hilt and a handguard with the tri force etched onto it. The broken sword had been a project that Link had for some time. Link remembered speaking with the King of Red Lions about swords of state, at least that is what the King called them, and saying that Tetra would need to replace the knife she kept carrying around, despite that she claimed it was a sword.
Link then heard a ruckus from the deck. Link internally groaned, he didn't want to postpone the sword any longer, but if he didn't appear, then Tetra would become suspicious and come looking for him, which would result in her finding the sword. Link quickly threw a sheet over the sword part and heading out to the deck. Link was greeted with the sight of Medli standing on Kado's head screeching.
"Do I want to know?" Asked Link, his throat sore, he needed to find that ointment that Selwyn had given him.
Medli suddenly turned and spotted Link, before she hopped down and strode up to him.
"Link," Said Medli, concern in her tone, "I think we need to talk."
Link quietly looked around, before looking back at Medli, "Anything that you have to say can be said in front of the others, they can be trusted." His voice was getting weaker, Link internally groaned, realising that he may have to swap to sign language mid-sentence.
Medli's eyes darted around before she sighed, "A couple turned up on Outset Island last week," Said the Rito, "They tried to take Aryll, they would've if Quill hadn't seen them."
Link frowned, before signing, [Continue.]
"That drew the attention of the rest of the Island, and to say your Grandmother was livid to see them would be an understatement." Said Medli, "Link, does the name Arten mean anything to you?"
Link froze, a swell of fear igniting in his chest, Link promptly spun on his heel and vanished below deck. Tetra remain behind a few second before following him.
Everyone was silent, before Niko spoke up, "So, who's Arten?"
TFH
The head of a scarecrow rolled along the floor, Link savagely thrust the Phantom Sword into the dummy. Tetra watched as Link split the dummy in half vertically.
"Link?" Called Tetra, "Is everything alright? Do you want to talk?"
Link stopped hacking away at the remaining straw dummies and hung his head. Tetra slowly approached Link, the Phantom Sword clattered on the floor, as Link started to shake. Tetra quickened her pace to Link, when she looked at his face, she saw that Link had his eyes closed tight and that he was biting his lip. Tetra gently rested her hand on Link's cheek, and it was then Tetra realised. Link was afraid, Link, her Link, who had faced down The King of Evil and a Phantom Beast on another world, was afraid. Tetra quietly pulled Link close, as Link grabbed hold of her as his shaking worsened, before wall broke and sobs accompanied the shaking. It was only then, did Tetra find out who Arten was, and how much rage she felt towards him.
TFH
Linebeck was quiet as Link boarded his ship, Tetra hadn't given much information as to why Link was going to join him, and he would've asked, if Tetra didn't glare at him. Link was quiet, going below deck as soon as he boarded. Linebeck just shrugged and went to the helm of his ship.
After Linebeck's ship has become a dot on the horizon, Tetra turned and faced her crew, "Gonzo, prepare the sails, we're heading to outset."
The crew was confused and didn't move until Tetra barked the order again and everyone sprang into life.
TFH
Saria glared at the couple who sat across from her, the man was leaning back against the support, scrutinizing the family shield, as well as he sword that sat next to it. The woman with him kept glancing around, eyeing Abe, who stood off to the side with his arms crossed.
"I thought we had made it expressly clear that you were to not return here." Growled Abe, glaring at the couple.
"We're here to we can pick up what's ours." Said the Man, scoffing, "You'd best stay out of the way, old man."
Abe growled slightly, standing to up to his full height. Aryll ran through the door and skidded to a halt in front of Saria, "Grandma, the pirates are here!"
Saria turned to Abe and asked him to bring Link in. The man just put on a smug smirk, as Abe left.
"You're not going to be here long, so you might as well let us take them." Said the man, smirking at Aryll.
It was at that moment Tetra walked in, her Cutlass attached behind her by her waist, behind her was Gonzo and Kado, Kado's had resting on a scimitar by his hip and Gonzo with his arms folded.
Tetra's eyes zeroed in on the man, his smirk slowly falling from his face at the sight of Tetra's glare, "I'm to assume you're Arten, correct?"
The man put another smirk on and started to look at her like she was a piece of meat, "Depends, you got any free time?"
Tetra scowled and unsheathed her cutlass and placed it below Arten's chin, and spoke "I'm here on behalf of Link, who has far more important issues to deal with than a pathetic little man trying to take over his life."
Arten's smirk fell completely, his eyes narrowing, as Saria started laughing. "And who are you exactly?"
Tetra sighed, before she started walking around, "Name's Tetra, Captain of the Ship Her Grace, Last descendent of the royal family of Hyrule, member of the Sheikah Tribe, Link's girlfriend, sword master, currently working on a handheld cannon and the person you don't want to piss off right now."
"You're going to deny me of what is mine?" Growled Arten, slowly standing up.
"You're speaking of him as if he's property," Said Tetra, disbelief in her tone, "He's your son, you had no problem abandoning him after you decided that throwing him at an electric Chu-Chu was boring."
"He shouldn't've spoken out of turn then." Dismissed Arten, waving a hand.
"Okay, let's list all the things you've done to him then, shall we?" Said Tetra, "Subjected him to repetitive shocks, beat him, strangled him, nearly drowned, burnt him, toss him around like a rag doll and you decided to slice his throat open with a dull broken knife, which made his life very difficult and, after all of that, you abandoned him in the middle of the night, on a pier when he was four years old."
Arten just shrugged and said, "Not the worst thing I've done to him."
Tetra's mood soured.
TFH
Linebeck watched as Link paced around, trying to keep himself busy. Jolene looked at Linebeck, before looking back at Link. Linebeck knew what she was trying to get him do, sighing, Linebeck slowly approached Link.
"Are you going to say what's bothering you, or are we going to have to speak to Tetra?" Said Linebeck, making Jolene facepalm.
Link suddenly had a rabbit in the torchlight look, as if he was afraid of something. Jolene decided to take over from Linebeck.
"Kid, you've been pacing around as if Tetra's having a baby," Said Jolene, placing a hand on Link's shoulder, "We're worried about you."
Link swallowed, before signing [I don't want to talk about it.]
Jolene sighed, "Link we want to help you, but we can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong."
Link looked nervously between Jolene, Linebeck and Linebeck's crate. Link took a shuddering breath.
TFH
Arten's head rocked backwards as Tetra punched him for the fifth time. The woman with Arten had slowly folded in on herself, slowly, Arten go to his feet, "You're attacking me because I was just using my property."
Tetra sneered at the remark, "A father is supposed to protect their child, no use them for their own sick pleasures."
Aryll hid behind Gonzo, while Kado had his hand on the hilt of his scimitar. Arten just laughed at Tetra's remark, "You seriously think that is how fathers are supposed to be, that's not surprising, coming from the child of a common whore." Tetra tightened her grip on her cutlass and swung it at Arten's head. The man just grabbed Tetra's wrist and forced her to drop the sword, before taking a knife and cutting Tetra across her left cheek, Tetra's cutlass was then kicked away and Arten was behind her, holding the knife to her throat.
"Now, I believe that I was here to collect something." Said Arten, using Tetra as a shield. Arten got halfway to Aryll, before someone cleared their throat. Spinning around, everyone saw Linebeck in the doorway.
"I hope I'm not interrupting something." Said Linebeck, quietly placing his hands behind his back, "But I'm looking for a thing called Arten."
Arten sneered at the man, who looked like he was half drunk. There was a skidding sound behind Linebeck and Link came into view, Arten's sneer turned into a sadistic smile, "Hello, son."
Link scowled and unsheathed the Phantom Sword, his eyes darkening into a glare, for a fleeting moment, Arten felt fear for the first time in his life. Arten pressed the knife harder to Tetra's throat, Link's glare only worsened as he stalked forwards.
"Let her go." Growled Link, Tetra was suddenly reminded of a wolf.
Arten laughed, "What are you going to do, stab me through her?" Link's glare only worsened, as he spun his sword. Link then threw the Phantom Sword before charging at Arten, grabbing the hand that held the knife and pushing it away from Tetra, allowing the pirate captain to get out of Arten's grip. Arten then grabbed the Phantom Sword and held it in front of him.
"That was a stupid move, boy." Smirked Arten, which Linebeck responded to with a whistle. The sailor then threw something at Link, which Link caught and grabbed the handle of. Tetra's eyes bugged slightly at the sight of the Master sword. Link calmly removed the blade from its scabbard, the glowing blade reflecting in Link's eyes.
"I prefer fights to be fair." Said Link, his voice completely monotone, while his face was in a fierce expression. Tetra suddenly had a flash of a memory, of a Link with red marks on his cheeks and a blue mark on his forehead.
Arten only lunged at Link, which was parried and sidestepped. Link backhanded Arten, causing Arten to stagger, before Link grabbed the arm that held the Phantom Sword and removed it. Arten's right arm fell to the floor, while Link held both sacred blade, Link looked Arten in the eye and spoke "You're fortunate, that we are in polite company, otherwise, you wouldn't have your head."
Link turned and started walking away, when Arten suddenly charged at him, Link reversed his grip on the swords and swung both, on going through Arten's left leg and the other taking out his eye. Arten fell to the floor and start to scrabble away.
"It's funny, how 13 years can make such a difference." Said Link, his voice cold, "The only reason you're alive is because death would be too kind."
Link slowly walked up to Arten, who had a great deal of fear in his eyes and said, "I assure you, if things had been different, then perhaps you wouldn't be lying in a puddle of your own blood and piss, missing an eye and two of your limbs, and, hey, who knows, maybe one day I might just be able to forgive you, but that's not going to happen for a long, long time." Link heard a flapping sound behind him, before he turned to face Komali.
The Rito prince looked behind Link and spotted Arten, before Link gestured for Komali and the two that accompanied him to take Arten to the Forsaken Fortress, which now acted as a prison.
Link turned and saw his grandmother scowling at him, "I just had those cleaned."
Link looked down at the rug and saw that they had blood on them, "Uhh, I'll clean it?" he said, sheepishly.
Link then turned to the woman, who seemed so pale and skinny, "Hello, mum."
Saria watched ad her daughter looked up at Link, who looked as if she was about to break, before Link sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her, Link looked at Aryll and gestured for the 13-year-old to join him. Flora looked at Link, he'd grown up to look like his grandfather, only missing the tattoo over his eye. Saria sighed, she remembered when her daughter had been a strong person and then Arten came along and knocked her down, lied to her, telling her that he was doing it because he loved her.
Tetra looked at Link, "I thought I gave you orders to stay with Linebeck."
"I did, look, Linebeck's over there." Said Link, making Tetra sigh softly, "You're an arse, my arse."
"Anyway, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Said Link, pulling Aryll closer, "You won't remember her, Aryll, but this is mum. To be honest, I thought she was dead."
Aryll looked up at the woman, her face gaunt, as if she'd be tortured constantly, her eyes held a broken look to them and her breaths were coming out in a mixture of gasps and sobs. Unprompted, Aryll moved slightly closer and Flora grabbed her and pulled her into a gripping hug, mumbling the words 'I'm sorry' over and over, tears rolling down her face. Link was suddenly pulled into it, when he tried to get up. After a few minutes, Link properly introduced Tetra to Flora, who surprised everyone by telling Tetra she looked like her mother.
Unbeknownst to the small group, a spirit was waking and called out 'm...m...m...ma...mast...master', Only Link heard the voice and he stiffened at the sound of it.