Chapter Text
Vio had returned to the Tower a bit later than he'd expected, the sun was well and truly gone from the sky. According to Vaati, there’d been a sighting of some Hyrulean soldiers wandering through the forest a little too close to the Tower’s entrance. Vio was smart enough to know it was probably an excuse to be rid of him for the day. He understood, the feeling was mutual. He didn’t even find anyone out there anyway, thank Hylia.
Vio shrugged his room’s door open with his shoulder and set down his belongings on the floor, stopping completely in his tracks as he processed what was in front of him.
A gigantic, ash-coloured creature was sprawled out on the bedroom floor, with a myriad of unnaturally-bent limbs and tendrils spread out across the carpet. After a brief moment of panic, Vio realised that he was indeed looking at his friend Shadow, and not a deadly eldritch monster.
No, this monster was nice and not at all deadly. Very fortunate for him indeed.
Shadow had two and a half pairs of arms folded under his head, a few exposed fangs gleaming in the dim moonlight. His breath came out in gentle, rhythmic huffs that reminded Vio of a dragon.
He wasn’t aware that Shadow needed to sleep, he’s never seen him do it before. Did he even need sleep? Curious, the violet hero quietly approached the sleeping monster with featherlight steps, careful as to not to wake him up. Vio came to the conclusion that anyone else in his situation would have probably found the many-limbed, many-mouthed beast before him horrifying, but Vio did not.
He found him fascinating . Very much so. Besides, Shadow’s jokes were hilarious.
Vio didn’t want to pry too much, especially while Shadow was sleeping, but he was simply too curious not to pass up an opportunity to know a little bit more about his unusual friend. After ensuring that Shadow was truly asleep, Vio knelt and gingerly held a hand to the beast’s head, carefully avoiding his eyes. Surprisingly, he found the monster was utterly freezing to the touch. Did he not give off body heat? Maybe he was cold-blooded, like a lizard. Or, a less-interesting option, maybe he was just chilly. The windows had been left open, after all.
Upon further examination, Vio found that Shadow had smooth, ash-black skin that seemed to spike up in strange, fur-like tendrils along his spine. A particularly long patch crowned his head, resembling a tuft of hair not unlike the stupid, messy bangs he had in his more ‘Hylian’ form.
Vio leaned back on his heels, admiring Shadow as he slept for a long moment. When he was awake, Shadow typically wore this dumb, lopsided grin that crinkled up his features in a way the violet hero couldn’t accurately pinpoint with words at the moment. It was odd, he thought, to see his friend with such a genuine, blissful expression. It was a rare sight, but an appreciated one.
Vio suddenly wondered if the room was too cold for Shadow, or if the beast was actively radiating a chill in his sleep with how bloody freezing the carpet was.
Or, maybe this wasn’t sleep, Vio’s mind couldn’t help but supply. He didn’t know too much about cold-blooded animals, but what he did know stipulated that, if Shadow were one, the room was likely far too cold for him to be comfortable in. And, even worse, ectotherms had a tendency to shut down if their body temperature reached low enough levels. Maybe Vio was being paranoid, he probably was. But it couldn’t hurt to be careful.
Vio quietly rose to his feet and hurried over to his bags that he had left by the door earlier, fishing around for their contents. Finding his desired item, he returned and sank down to be level with Shadow on the floor. Carefully, he lifted one of his friend’s large, clawed hands and quickly slid the object beneath his arms so it was snug under his neck.
It was a fire rod. The sanguine gemstone at its end gleamed with heat, already doing its job to warm him up. Vio suppressed a chuckle as Shadow eventually stirred, lazily manoeuvring the rod under his chin with a sleepy huff. Vio concluded it was cute.