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The wolf ran through the forest, agile and quick. It never stumbled, never faltered. Bounding over fallen trees and darting through the long grass was as easy as breathing. The forest had been a part of it for a very long time, long enough that the two of them knew how to work as one to survive. But recently, the wolf had brought something else to the forest. Something new.
Soft footsteps chased behind the wolf, darting left and right to try and keep up with it. This was not a forest child, but the wolf demanded respect on his behalf all the same. The boy laughed, loud and free. This was not a forest child, but the trees and the water and the sunlight accepted him as one.
When the two of them reached a glittering waterfall, the wolf flopped down, waiting patiently for the boy to catch up. He stumbled into the clearing with a huff, cheeks rosy with exhaustion. He was not used to this fast paced movement, but the wolf would soon teach him. It was a good thing he had proven himself to be a quick learner.
The boy tumbled down beside to wolf, golden curls shaking as he laughed breathlessly. The wolf nosed his shoulder, prompting him to turn. It looked up at him, expecting to see bright eyes scrunched tight and a crooked grin, but the boy's face was… blurry. It was like seeing him through shards of glass. He said something, but his voice came out strange. Distorted and echoing despite the open space the pair of them lay in.
The boy leant in close, touching his nose to the wolf's own like he was sharing a secret, and all the wolf felt was an overwhelming sense of grief.
⏾⋆.˚
Something was wrong with this new Hyrule. Everybody knew it. But for Twilight, it wasn't the fact that they hadn't come across a single living soul in the past two days they had been there, or that monsters roamed around freely in large groups, or even the ruins that decorated the land, looking as if they'd been haphazardly placed by a child and their wooden blocks.
It just felt wrong.
"Twilight." Someone said, startling him out of his thoughts. Time frowned at him, and the others watched on with poorly disguised curiosity. "I've been calling you."
"Sorry." He muttered, digging his nails into the dirt. It was soft and undisturbed by anything but some small insects.
"Are you alright?" Hyrule asked from his place across the circle they had arranged themselves into as they rested. "It's just, you've been off since we entered this era. Is it because of how empty it is? Because I'm sure we'll come across people soon."
They didn't understand. Couldn't they feel it?
"I'm fine." Twilight snapped at him, then felt a pang of regret as soon as the words left his mouth. "Sorry." He mumbled. He knew Hyrule had been well-meaning, but he couldn't find the energy to care about whether he actually sounded remorseful.
"Twilight," Sky said gently. "You know you can talk to us, right?"
He looked around at the other heroes, patience wearing thin. "I said I'm fine." He repeated, daring them to speak.
No one did.
⏾⋆.˚
The boy was crying quietly like he was afraid of being overheard. Short gasps were stifled into his sleeves, and his body shook like a leaf preparing to fall from a tree. The wolf padded over, resting its head on the boy's knee with a soft whine. It didn't like it when the boy was sad. Neither did the forest, which had no tolerance for those who were unaware of their surroundings. The wolf knew that sadness was an emotion that easily consumed you, easily blinded you, and it was glad it was there to protect the boy when he couldn't protect himself.
The boy sniffled again, stroking the wolf's fur.
"I—a—omis—kay—." The boy said. The wolf couldn't make out what he was saying. In the back of its mind, it knew it should be more concerned. Hearing was a sense that was key to survival. Maybe the sadness was washing over it too, making its thoughts move slower.
Then, it stood sharply. Its senses were flooded with a suffocating feeling of wrong, wrong, wrong. The boy just looked at him with a slow blink. Why was he not afraid of this? Could he not sense Her presence? The wolf felt like it was being pulled away from the boy. Its boy. Its fur bristled, but gentle fingers tugged its head back down to the boy's lap.
"Safe." He whispered.
That odd feeling left as quickly as it had come. Safe.
⏾⋆.˚
"We've been walking for hours." Wind loudly complained. The youngest Link dragged his feet as the group marched on, then yelped in surprise as he tripped over his own boots.
Warriors sighed as he helped him up. "Wind is right. Are we sure this Hyrule isn't just… empty?"
"We wouldn't get sent somewhere without a reason." Sky countered, ever faithful to his Goddess. What he knew about Hylia that the others didn't was something they weren't quite sure about, but his belief was often strong enough to keep the rest of them on their feet. Most of the time at least. they were heroes who had been given a job to do, but that didn't mean they didn't have their doubts.
"We haven't seen any signs of life yet." Legend said. "Or at least, no Hylians of any kind. I don't know about you guys, but I'm really starting to hope the hero of this world isn't a centipede." His dry delivery of the statement made some of the other Links laugh, and Twilight felt his chest burn.
How dare they. The hero of this era had been through the same amount as any of them and was twice as brave. He then shook his head. Where had those thoughts come from?
"We'll be fine if we keep following the river." Four reasoned. "There has to be a settlement somewhere."
The group continued on. There was the occasional murmur to whoever someone was walking beside, but apart from that they kept a steady silence. It felt fitting for this Hyrule, almost like a funeral procession. For a land bursting with life, at least.
"Ah-ha!" Wind suddenly exclaimed, running forwards. "Over there!"
Warriors, who had been walking beside him at the front of the pack was the first to see what he was looking at. "I think… I think those might just be more ruins."
"What are those things?" Sky asked, frowning. "Some kind of machines?"
"Come on." Time said. "Ruins or not, it looks like a main road down there."
As they made their way through the strange, spider-like machines, towards the ruins Warriors said looked like an old military fort, something deep inside Twilight began to scream at him: RUN. DANGER. He slowed, hand moving to the hilt of his sword. The machines looked long overgrown, but the warning his body was giving him seemed entirely focused on them rather than anything around their broken down bodies.
When he stopped walking, Time was the first person to notice.
“Pup? What’s the matter?"
Everyone else was quick to stop and turn. Listening to each other and reacting accordingly was how they had learned to survive during this journey across eras.
"We can't go in there." He said.
Time frowned. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. “Why not?” He asked.
RUN. DANGER. SCARED.
Twilight's words came out in the barest whisper, gaze focused steadily on the ruins. "He didn't like it. We never went this way."
Everyone else just looked confused.
“Twilight, who didn't like to go this way?” Warriors asked, voice firm.
“We can’t go this way.” Twilight repeated.
“Why not Twi?"
RUN. DANGER. SCARED. NO.
“I said we can’t!” Twilight clenched his fists, the wolf inside of him begging to be let out.
Make them understand. It growled. Bad place. Bad memories.
"Alright then." Time's voice was low and calm, like he was trying to pacify a wild animal. He might have been, in a way. "We trust you Twilight. We can go the other way around."
"What are we trusting again? A feeling?" Legend asked. They were all tired from walking, Twilight knew that, but the Veterans words grated on Twilight's nerves all the same.
"Sometimes a feeling is the difference between life and death." Sky told him calmly, leading him away from Twilight who was still staring at the ruins in a way that he didn't seem entirely present. "Come on."
⏾⋆.˚
The wolf walked along side the boy. He was tense, like he was expecting the metal creatures to suddenly wake and grab them. It wondered what these things had done before they had been reclaimed by the land to make the fear slither off his boy in waves. To the wolf, fear was opposite to sadness, maybe a cousin emotion in the way that it reached into the deepest parts of you and made you stupid and reckless rather than slow and small.
The wolf snorted to draw the boy's attention back to it rather than the long-dead creatures.
‘I WILL LOOK AFTER YOU.' It said. ‘LOOK AFTER CUB.’
‘no. danger.’ The cub replied.
‘NO DANGER.’ The wolf assured. ‘PROTECT YOU.’
His cub looked away. It annoyed the wolf, to be ignored like that. Nature wasn't Hylian. Nature was wild and endless and knowledgeable. It did not adhere to the simple concepts that Hylians lived by. Unlike cub, the wolf knew turning away would not make a conversation end. But cub was also young, so the wolf chose not to press. It would protect him, whether he could understand that or not.
⏾⋆.˚
Twilight felt better as they walked away from the old fort. He relaxed a bit, hand dropping from his sword and falling back into step with the others. As the sun began to set over the hills, and some of the party debated stopping to set up camp, they came across a building that appeared to be a stable.
"People!" Wind cheered, running ahead. Four was quick to join him, any resentment he had had for the long walk disappearing from his expression.
When the rest of them reached the stable, Time and Sky went to talk to the owner while the others took the opportunity to rest. The chatted to each other as well as other stable patrons (who were surprised to see a group so large venturing together, and seemed determined to work out what part of this Hyrule they were journeying from), and began to talk about staying for the night. Twilight however, was getting restless.
‘FIND HIM.’ The wolf inside of him snarled. Twilight didn’t know who he was meant to be looking for, but the ache in his chest made him want to cry and scream and curse. He was missing something desperately but didn't even know where to start looking.
“We’ll wait until morning then head that way.” Time said, walking over to the group with Sky as he pointed in the direction he was referring to. “If we follow the path on foot, we’ll arrive in Kakariko village in a couple days.”
Groans echoed among the group.
“All we do in this Hyrule is walk.” Legend complained. The other Links chimed in with their own agreements and protests.
“Twilight?”
Twilight looked up at the sound of his name. Everyone was looking at him again.
“You zoned out again.” Hyrule said with a shy smile. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Twilight nodded back, forcing a smile on his face that probably looked more like a grimace. “I’m fine. Don't worry about me."
⏾⋆.˚
His cub put his head down as they walked through the village, shying away from the onlookers. Whether they were unused to visitors or found something about the pair unusual, the wolf didn't know, but he snarled at them either way. They were not here to feed curiosity. The wolf's sharp glare made the villagers turn their gazes momentarily, but as soon as the pair walked past they went right back to staring.
At the base of the building that seemed to be the most important in the village, the wolf nudged cub with its nose, encouraging the boy to walk up the steps.
‘GO.’ It told him. ‘SAFE.’
The boy looked down at the wolf. Then up at the house. Then down at the wolf again. And up at the house again. Then he began to climb the stairs.
The wolf waited for him at the bottom, pointedly ignoring any children who were brave enough to come close. Occasionally a small hand would pat his fur, but the wolf refused to move. It was patient. Loyal.
When the boy came back down the stairs again, the wolf noticed the change.
⏾⋆.˚
The chain finally arrived at the village entrance. Most of them gave a half-hearted cheer, worn out from the long trek, but not Twilight. He stood, tense, eyes darting around and ears pricked up. Something in the air had changed. The boy was here. The boy was here.
The chain were walking into the village but they were moving so slowly. It was like they didn't want to reach their destination, like they were satisfied with where they were. Twilight growled, pushing forwards and ignoring whatever was being said to him. If they weren't going to move faster, then their words didn't matter to him anymore.
"Pup." Time grabbed his arm, and Twilight turned and snarled in response. He noticed some of the others recoil from him, and the Hylian part of his brain felt guilty. But the Hylian part of him wasn't in control of his actions right now.
"What's wrong?” Time pressed, his gaze never leaving Twilight's. They stared at each other for a moment longer, before the younger one pulled himself free and stalked towards the village centre.
“What’s up with him?” He heard, and ignored.
The rest of the group was quick to follow behind him, sharing looks of concern.
⏾⋆.˚
The wolf whined softly, gazing up at his cub. The boy was kneeling beside the wolf, deep red malice drifting through the air and obscuring his face.
"What's wrong?" He asked, sounding as if he was speaking through water. His lips didn't move in sync with his voice. "You can't come?"
The wolf knew it had done all it could. It had taught this boy the ways of the forest, how to survive, and how to fight like a real wolf. But not all wolves could stay with their packs. Many had to leave to make their own way.
‘STRONG.’ The wolf reassured.
His cub wiped his face and stood. “I’ll be okay.” He whispered, before turning to face his purpose. This is what he was woken to do.
The wolf watched the boy's retreating figure, unmoving even past the point where it could no longer see the boy. And as the moon rose in the sky, it howled in a deep and resonant wail. It wasn't mournful though. It knew this loss wasn't forever. Whatever was going to happen, nature always brought its children back home.
And from its position at the base of the castle, at the centre of Hyrule, the song of the wolf echoed for many to hear. In a hundred years, the people may still be telling stories of the hero and his wolf. They were a folk story, an old wives tale, a fable. They were kings and knights and the smallest of children who slept peacefully in their beds at night. They were part of the forest, endless and intertwined.
The wolf knew stories. It knew they would most likely end up a mystery to most. But who knows, maybe the two of them would still be out there one day, running through the forests and riding on the backs of dragons.
⏾⋆.˚
Twilight stood face to face with the boy. He couldn't breath as the memories came flooding back, every triumph and failure, every stolen moment. He had had a year, maybe more taken from him by whatever goddess had brought the two of them together in the first place, and the remembering was overwhelming.
"Twilight?" His cub said. Had he gotten taller? Twilight couldn't tell. His hair was shorter though. Less unruly.
"I'm here." He replied. "And I'm not leaving this time. I promise."