Chapter Text
At first, Shadow couldn’t identify the source of the pitiful whine. There were plenty of creatures in pain throughout the dark castle, but he didn’t think there were any tortured prisoners near the residential wing. He certainly didn’t involve himself enough in that process to know where they all were kept.
He trained his ears on it and was able to follow the sound to the room he’d put Vio up in just under a month ago. Without bothering to knock, he pushed open the door.
Vio was curled up in the center of the bed, sheets tangled around his limbs and heavy blanket pushed to the ground. The room wasn’t very bright at this hour – the fireplace had cooled to faintly glowing embers and it was too late for light to come in through the window – but Shadow was able to see clearly the harsh flush of Vio’s skin and the sheen of sweat across his face.
“Is this your attempt at shapeshifting?” Shadow asked, sauntering in. “I didn’t think Hylians could change color like that. It’s not a bad start, but you’ve got a long way to go.”
Vio whined softly and tilted his glassy eyes towards Shadow. “Sit with me?”
Shadow felt his own skin darken. “Uh, sure. Okay.” His casual air fled him as he awkwardly sat on the edge of the wide bed. The mattress dipped under even his light weight, and immediately, Vio pulled himself a few inches closer. He coughed, a rough and ragged sound that Shadow imagined tore its way out of Vio’s throat.
“With me,” he mumbled, then wrenched his arm out of the tangled sheets. Once freed, he threw his hand out and let it rest on Shadow’s thigh. “With me.”
Shadow giggled nervously, though he shifted a bit closer so that Vio wouldn’t have to strain his shoulder. “Vi, what are you trying to pull here?”
Vio stared not quite at him for a few moments, and Shadow could see the moment the question slipped from his mind. “I miss you.”
“I’m right here.”
Vio hummed happily, then pushed himself up a bit. When he flailed forward, Shadow let him wrap his arms around his waist and pull him fully down onto the bed in a haphazard, uncomfortable hug. Vio was warm to the touch, almost burning through the chill Shadow always felt, and his tunic was as soaked with sweat as his face.
Shadow was frozen as Vio pushed himself into the contours of Shadow’s body. “You’re pretty,” Vio said, his breath hot and sticky.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” Shadow said. His heart was racing, and he wasn’t sure if it was from worry or something else.
Vio hummed again, content with his response. A violent shiver wracked his body a moment later, and the hum became a pained whine like the one Shadow had heard earlier.
“Are you okay?” Shadow asked.
“Stay with me,” Vio whined, wrapping even tighter around Shadow like an octopus.
Shadow let his body shift into liquid darkness so he could slip from Vio’s hold. “Something’s wrong,” he said. “What’s wrong with you?” He didn’t mean to ask so bluntly, but he was scared. He could admit to himself he’d thought about snuggling up with Vio, particularly in the last few weeks, but his behavior was worrying. Shadow was starting to think that the heat wasn’t just his blood, or that the color of his skin wasn’t magic.
“Please,” Vio moaned. He sounded desperate, a bit confused. “Don’t leave me.”
“I need you to tell me what’s wrong.” Hylians didn’t make sense to him. Vio didn’t make sense to him. “What do I do?”
Vio tried to sit up, to reach for Shadow and pull him back into the bed. But Shadow stepped back, and Vio shivered again and collapsed into the sheets. “You come back here and be with me,” he managed to say. His eyes were falling closed, like the effort had exhausted him.
“Something’s wrong,” Shadow said again, though mostly to himself. Carefully, he skirted around the edge of the bed to collect the blanket from where Vio had presumably kicked it off. Vio didn’t react. His breathing was heavy, and he was shivering constantly, but he seemed to be asleep.
Shadow scooped up the discarded blanket and draped it over the lump of hero in the bed. He did his best to cover as much of him as he could, but with the way Vio had curled up, it was hard to keep his face unobstructed. Vio immediately dug his fingers into it, though, and Shadow decided it would do.
Slowly, quietly, Shadow backed out of the room. He didn’t understand what was happening, but he figured it would be best if he let Vio sleep through…whatever was happening while he figured out how to fix it.
With a snap of his fingers, he summoned an unassigned eye bat. “Keep watch on him,” he ordered. The bat swooped down and up in a quick circle of acknowledgement before flapping into the bedroom to keep its vigil.
And now for the problem solving. Vio had already established himself as the thinker of the pair during their time together so far, but Shadow wasn’t an idiot. He may not know what was wrong with the Hylian, but presumably, other Hylians might. He couldn’t exactly ask a random citizen, though. There were only a small handful of people he could ask.
He could just about tear out his hair with how awful he knew this conversation was going to be. “He’s lucky I like him,” he mumbled before shifting into the darkness again to travel faster. Time to track down the other heroes.