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Spirit has a secret.
The beginning of his venture to save Princess Zelda's body from the Demon King Malladus had led Spirit to snow coated lands, ones inhabited by the friendly yet prissy Anouki folk.
It was a harsh environment for a newborn adventurer with little experience. Having only cleared the forest temple just recently, he was glad that despite everything, he was never truly on his lonesome.
While she did not have the physical body to assist in the overworld, Zelda's chattering distracted him from his own cold shivers as he waded through the whites slowly, lacking the proper gear for the land, squinting at the hefty snowstorms in the distance with a grimace.
After helping the Anouki with their admittedly silly pairing problem and talking to the chief for more in-depth directions, Spirit hopped onto his trusty train ready to locate the Snow Sanctuary to meet the Lokomo that lived there. As they rolled into the dark and icy tunnel that guided their path the duo quickly noticed a giant shadow overhead. A loud rumble came from behind them as a giant one eyed monster came crashing down from the ceiling, preparing to chase after the moving vehicle.
Zelda had shrieked then, crying out at the grotesque thing as she told Spirit to hurry and get away. Spirit set the gear to full speed and hastily manned the cannon, determined to ward the beast off. Despite the fight barely taking a couple minutes it felt like an eternity had passed inside the confines of the icy walls, a visible sigh of relief leaving the both of them as the bug perished in a puff of smoke and they were greeted by daylight.
Stopping at the sanctuary should’ve been a relief then, a safe spot to recover from the experience. Though that’s when it happened.
As Spirit made his way down the steps Zelda— who was able to float from a higher vantage point thanks to her ghostly form —spotted a stamp station in the distance. She smiled as she called attention to it. Spirit grinned in return as he trekked his way up the path.
Best to get it now before we forget right? At least that’s what he would’ve said.
Seemingly appearing out of thin air, a white Wolfos jumped out of the thick snow, startling Spirit as he scrambled to unsheath his blade. He swiftly dodged the beast's attack with a roll, preparing himself to strike back only to be tackled by something, crashing into him at high velocity.
It sent him flying back, farther than he would ever admit as his sword slipped from his grasp and sailed through the air. The landing is uncomfortable, cold and painful. Shaking off his dizziness, Spirit felt something weigh him down, pressing him further into the snow.
Glancing up he locked eyes with the beast that had
its paws on his chest; a second wolfos had come to assist its packmate.
It lunged at his exposed neck then, causing him to yelp in pain and surprise as he blocked the beast's maw with his entire arm. Teeth dug through his flesh, causing tears to spring to his eyes. The animal growled, pushing and shoving and snarling.
Now Spirit considered himself strong, especially for his age. Yet pinned against the snow against a wild animal he found that strength quickly giving in.
Spirit belatedly realized then that two other Wolfos were circling him, ready to gobble him up for dinner ,while the third was already attempting to rip him into bite sized pieces.
He gasped in shock as he realized how far away his sword was, pawing at his side for anything at all. A rock, a stick- some sort of weapon! He wasn’t thinking correctly, all his focus was on the gross and slimy saliva dripping onto his recruits uniform.
Zelda, clever and aware as always then yelled at him: “Item! Link, your item!” Fumbling with his belt to get the thing off, he blew into the Whirlwind from his awkward compressed position best he could.
The strong gale disoriented the Wolfos enough that Spirit kicked it off of him, scrambling backwards, flailing his legs around as he smashed his boot into its jaw.
Later when Zelda asked, Spirit claimed that the kick was intentional. In truth, he was panicking.
He threw his body upward, running past the other hungry monsters as he dashed a beeline toward his sword. As soon as his fingers wrapped around the hilt he swung it back at the beasts, ready to defend himself.
After that the fight ended quickly; they too dissipated in a puff of smoke and it was as if nothing had happened.
Zelda had cheered at her useful assistance before snapping back and asking him if he was alright. Spirit smiled back at her, a crooked strained thing, clenching his fist to hide his violent trembles.
Although he attempted to hide his fear, he was sure she noticed anyway. Even if she chose not to comment on it.
She chose not to comment on the way he whirled around paranoid the longer they remained in the snow realm; or the way he reacted more intensely to Wolfos despite discovering and defeating bigger, scarier, more dangerous monsters.
It was never the same after that, no matter how hard he tried to regulate himself when discovering a Wolfos. Anything that resembled one sent him into a frenzy too.
Spirit gained a small, embarrassing secret that day.
One he shared with Zelda, who silently understood.
Needless to say, Spirit never poked fun at her fear of mice ever again.
-
The Chain has been surprisingly pleasant so far.
Spirit involuntarily became their most recent— and youngest —addition. Some of the other heroes had seemed rather displeased when he said he was turning thirteen, while the Hero of Winds had cheered. That cheer barreled into excited hollers when Spirit bashfully claimed Wind to be one of the founders of New Hyrule.
Needless to say that Wind had taken a strong liking to Spirit instantly, naming himself to be the engineers new mentor. Honestly it was flattering. Spirit had grown up on stories of this hero after all— being raised by Niko and Alfonzo will end up doing that to you.
Spirit was sure that this boy, who was merely a year or two older than him, was the reason he was named Link in the first place. So of course Spirit wanted to impress him and the other heroes. That was only natural.
While logically he knew it was stupid comparing himself to the group, as it wouldn’t diminish his accomplishments in defeating Malladus, he quickly realized the natures of their adventures were quite… different .
Spirit didn’t know of the man named Ganondorf, nor did he ever travel or fight all by himself. He always had Zelda at his side, whether as a ghost to lend him her wisdom or watching his back as a phantom.
Their adventure wasn’t easy on him despite this. He got hurt regularly, to the point he was actively ignoring his major injuries and pushing through them as if they were mere small bruises. When all was said and done, he was put on a very strict bed rest until he recovered, with his peers' mother henning him.
Spirit's overall accomplishments seemed rather…weak, compared to some of the grander names of their chain. While the others were at the very least impressed at his vast technical knowledge and status as a Royal Engineer, he could still peer through their gazes to see some emotion he wasn’t able to decipher. Concern? Disappointment? Whatever it was, it instilled a weird feeling in him.
He decided then, he’d keep some of his more embarrassing secrets close to his chest. Unlike the others he didn’t have particularly many or impressive ones.
Only one that’d detriment his status.
During their travel between kingdoms, the group meets all sorts of weird and wily beasts that Spirit has never seen before. He bravely handles them all.
Except for the times when they hear distant howling in Wilds Hyrule and his entire body tenses as he prays no one notices his stiff behavior. Except when he discovers what exactly a dog is, as Twilight explains that they’ve evolved from Wolfos and no matter how friendly they seemed being held in the pelted hero's arms, Spirit couldn’t suppress the nausea he felt. He passed up on petting them, freezing when one started pawing at his leg, despite some of the other younger heroes egging him on.
Then there was that time he found out about Wolfie.
They were all setting up camp for the night and the rancher had volunteered to check the perimeter. Despite the impending darkness of sundown, Time and Warriors let him go by himself. Although Spirit always wondered why Twilight got special treatment on nightly patrols, he just assumed their rancher could handle himself better in the dark than others.
He got his answer soon enough as a wolf languidly strolled into their camp. Spirit didn’t notice him at first, too engrossed in some mechanical device he had splayed out on his lap. As he played with the contents of the thing, he noticed some movement from the corner of his eye.
Spirit looked up and stared right into the blue eyes of a beast.
After that was a blur. He must’ve screamed, scrambling back from the wolf as he searched for a weapon. The beast's ears lay flat on its head, as if hurt by his outburst.
“Engie, it’s just Twi!” A firm hand on his shoulder. A sailors accent. “Woah— you’re pale. You alright?” Wind gazed at Spirit in concern.
Only then Spirit noticed he didn’t have any air in his lungs. He nodded anyway. “Yeah- I um- Wait, did you say Twilight?”
As if on cue, the beast morphs back into a familiar form. The rancher frowns, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.
“My bad. I s’pose I forgot we haven’t told you about Wolfie yet. Sorry for spooking you.”
Alright. So Twilight could just turn into a wolf.
That was fine. He was still clearly a Hylian man.
Except it was not fine, because after the interaction, Spirit began to keep his distance from the rancher. It wasn’t intentional avoidance out of mistrust, he didn’t even notice he was doing it until it was pointed out to him. When he remembered what the crystal around the neck could turn Twilight into…he just couldn’t stop his throat from clamping up and his arm throbbing at the thought.
While Hylian Twilight was still easy to be around as long as his mind wasn’t stuck on the transformation, he physically couldn’t handle being around Wolfie longer than necessary.
This entire thing was deeply humiliating. He fought Lizalfos and Hinoxes and other big burly beasts on his adventure with the chain fearlessly, but a wild animal was what scared him.
Not only is Spirit scared of Wolfos, he’s scared of anything even resembling one. Even his friend . It chills him to the core. There’s no way he could admit this, but how else would he explain his odd behavior toward their rancher?
Spirit was at a loss.
-
Usually Spirit would be puffing his chest out with pride at the fact he was selected to help out with the heavy lifting. Despite his frail appearance, he was quite strong. Unlike some of the others, Spirit had never needed the assistance of Power Bracelets to help him lift rocks or push heavy objects around. Alfonzo’s engineer training helped, he supposed.
Unfortunately that mood was soured as he was tasked to collect firewood with Twilight. In hindsight it made a lot of sense: they were strong without magical assistance and could carry a lot around.
Although he did have the suspicion Warriors put him with Twilight purposefully after noting his behavior. Damn it.
Now he was walking through the thicket of the forest with Twilight, not too far from camp that they’d get lost but not close enough that their voices would carry over.
Spirit eyes him awkwardly.
He hasn’t spoken a word since they set off and he can‘t help but feel that makes him look more suspicious. It was so obvious he was hiding …something. Why couldn’t he behave normally?
Similarly to his predecessor, he was an open book. He distantly tugs at his own gloves.
“Anythin’ the matter?” The rancher suddenly asks, still walking a slight step in front of Spirit.
“No.”
Twilight doesn’t turn around. “Really? You’re burnin’ holes in the back of my head with that stare, Engie.”
Spirit quickly averts his gaze and feels himself grow flush. “Sorry.”
An awkward silence hangs in the air. The air between them is so tense Spirit feels as if it could strangle him.
Twilight chooses to break the awkward silence first. “Am I makin’ you uncomfortable?”
Spirits ears flick downward. “You’re not.”
The rancher slows down his steps. “Then why have you been avoidin’ me?”
“I’m not.” Now that Twilight could technically look at his face, Spirit does his best to avoid eye contact.
Twilight stops in his tracks; Spirit does the same. “Don’t lie, Spirit. You know it’s been obvious to us all. I just wanna know why, if it’s somethin’ I did-“
“No!“ He slowly lowered his hands that had shot up at the exclamation. “No… you didn’t do anything. Really.”
“But it’s somethin’ about me?” Spirit risks a glance at the Ordonian who was keeping his eyes set on the path and Oh . He looks sad . It does nothing but extend Spirit's guilt.
“…It’s not really something you could control. I mean, I guess you kind of could, but not really? It’s not something you did though.” Spirit mutters, kicking a rock in the path. The rock is kind of spherical, perfect to form- a good distraction. It shoots forward, rolling in the dirt aimlessly.
“What do ya mean by that?“
The rock comes back into perfect kicking reach.
“Is it Wolfie?”
Instead of sending the rock flying like intended, Spirit tenses and his foot barely misses the sullen thing. Twilight looks at him with a tilt of his head, resembling one of the stray dogs they had seen in the alleys of his Castle Town.
Keeping his gaze glued to the floor, Spirit nods in shame. No point in lying now, after how obvious that was. The secret was gonna come out sooner or later anyway.
“What about Wolfie? Don’t tell me you…” Twilight briefly starts before his eyes suddenly widen.
“Oh.”, he says, as he connects the dots. “The wolfos, the dogs in the castle down…you're scared of wolves?”
Spirit bites his lip and nods again. “Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you tell us? The sailor or me at least.” Twilight meets Spirit eyes with kindness instead of contempt. Spirit doesn’t know how to handle it.
“I don’t know I just- I was embarrassed! I thought that-! You’d…I guess I didn’t want to be made fun of.” He blurts out. “Cause it’s stupid, right? I mean, we’ve defeated so many bigger and terrifying enemies. Enemies and monsters that are much worse and dangerous.” He fists the red bandana tied around his neck. ”So it’s kind of dumb that I’m scared of wolves. Or even dogs. Dogs aren’t even supposed to be scary, they’re pets and nice like horses. Like Epona. But I still get nervous. I can’t help it. I even tell myself I should know better-”
“Link.”, Twilight's voice cuts through his frantic explanation. “It ain’t stupid, dumb or shameful.”
Twilight looks at him again, with eyes that are seeing something Spirit cannot see. “Being scared of things is natural. All of us heroes of courage feel fear and have our fears. Even I have my own fears and have gained some new ones over the course of this venture.” His hand hovers slightly over his side. Spirit knows a nasty scar remains there, one he didn’t join early enough to experience alongside the rest.
“Trust me, some of our bunch have much…sillier fears, I’ll say. What makes us strong is being able to face and overcome them even in the moments we’re scared.” Twilight gently nudges Spirits arm. “And I’ve seen you face them.”
“Well…I try to. It’s hard, but I…had to.” Spirit shrugs. “I was just lucky I’ve never actually had to deal with a wolf entirely on my own. If I’m ever alone with one I’d be done for. It’s irritating.”
“I could help.”
“Huh?” Spirit blinks.
“You don’t want to face one on your own right? That’s alright then. We can try getting you used to wolves by using wolfie.” Twilight shrugs, casually. Like it’s no big deal for him, even though Spirit nearly took his head off the first Wolfie encounter.
Even though Spirit remembers how hurt he looked. “Is…that okay? Do you think that’ll work?”
“It ain’t gonna be that easy, but it’s worth a shot. At the very least it might get you used to Wolfie. You know I won’t hurt you.” That doesn’t sound bad at all, huh.
“We can try, then.” Spirit nods. Then he presses his mouth into a thin line. “This…really wasn’t as damning as I thought it would be to admit.”
Twilight chuckles like he’s remembered something particularly funny. “Showing weaknesses, accepting help. I guess all of us thickheaded heroes struggle with it.”
With a hum, Spirit turns away from Twilight before swiftly turning back. “You still can’t tell anyone else though! Not even Wind!”
“I won’t. Why would I? That’s your choice.” Twilight smiles with his teeth showing. It’s a little blinding and Spirit wonders how Twilight could be so casually kind. “I’m just relieved you ain’t mad at me. Now we should probably get going to collect some of that wood before the others get worried.”
“Oh, right!”