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Everyone has a secret. Maybe someone has a crush on another. Maybe someone broke moms vase as a child, and never told anyone. Maybe someone has an embarrassing habit that no one knows of.
As for our heroes, they all lay on dark secrets. Some that may even turn on themselves, or hurt another. Some may ruin the land they work so hard to protect.
But they’re secrets for a reason. Perhaps the burden of a dark secret is best dealt with by a hero, a fighter, a protector of the innocent. And here gathered together, were 8 of those secret keeping heroes. Sat in a circle, late at night. The fire crackling, warming the cool air around them. They have found themselves far into the future, in a destroyed land of unknown history. The Hyrule of their Champion.
“Zelda had mentioned that there had been odd sightings by the Rito.” The Champion says, pulling out his Sheikah slate. “We’re not too far from the entrance from Rito Village, if we leave first thing in the morning, we could make it by supper.” He latches it to his belt, and stretches his arms above his head.
Their leader clears his throat. “So that means an early night for us.” He looks to the distance, where the large stone pillar that houses the Rito stood. He’d never met one before, and honestly, he’s quite excited about it. Bird people? How fun. He stands up slightly shivering under the chilly air. “Make sure everyone stays warm tonight. Wear warm things to sleep and bundle up.”
“Actually,” The champion summons a handful of Rubies, and passes one out to each of his companions. “Rubies here contain elemental powers that heat up anyone holding it, so if you keep it on you while you sleep, you should be plenty warm.” He grins.
He looks out to the snowy mountains, just barely north of them. Their Ordonian had left hours ago to take perimeter, yet he hasn’t come back. His face falls to a look of concern, his lips pressed into a fine line. His mind says he’s fine, but his heart says to go searching. This is his land afterall, he knows it better than anyone. The captain seemed to notice this, and rests a hand on their cooks shoulder, causing him to jump. “Go look for him. I’ll stay up to wait for your return.” Warriors smiles, tightening his scarf around his neck. He looks to the others. They all had tired looks in their eyes, a few of them already half asleep. If he listens closely, he could hear the snores of Sky, who, as usual, was the first one out.
“We’ll be here, if you need anything, call out. We’ll be there.” He gives his friend a thumbs up, and shoos him away. “Now hurry before it gets too late!”
Wild chuckles, waving goodbye to the captain, who had moved onto their leader, updating him on what he was doing.
The champion pulls out his sheikah slate, quickly equipping his snow gear. In a flash of blue light, his outfit was on, and warmth washed over his body. He sighs, and puts the slate away. Now, to find their rancher.
They were to far from the nearest stable, so it seems his journey will be on foot. Nothing new, just a pain in the ass.
He wanders off into the wilderness, walking for what he can assume, an hour. He plays with his breath, watching as it disappears into a small cloud of condensation, as Zelda had called it. He grins, pretending he had a pipe.
But his time was cut short, as a bush rustles behind him. He quickly whips around, bow drawn as he stares into the flora. A low growl comes from it. He clenches his teeth, ready to release his arrow with a quickness.
A figure leaps out, Wild releases the arrow, grazing the beast. He’s quickly pinned to the ground, fighting under the large monster. His eyes focus on the beast, and realization dawns on him.
“Wolfie?” He whispers, staring up at the wolf’s face. The same dark fur. The white Twili pattern on his forehead. The blue earrings and iron shackle. “Rancher! Come on man, get off me!” He wiggles, thinking the hero was playing a trick on his friend. But the beast only snarled, teeth sharp and full of saliva. Panic started to wash over the champion. He looked up into the wolves eyes, eyebrows furrowed.
They weren’t the warm, loving blue eyes of his brother that held all of his emotion, the ones that have cried over seeing a cat with three legs, or the ones that shined brightly in the moonlight. They were a cold amber color, no source of recognition behind them. They looked at him as if he were simple prey, full of hatred, and bloodlust.
The wolf lunges at the champions neck, going for the kill. Wild squeezes his eyes shut, and yells out one more time. “Link!”
He holds his breath, eyes watering as he feels the teeth on his neck. But the pressure lifts up, releasing the boy. Wild shoots open his eyes, finding the wolf trying to scramble off of his body. He quickly jumps to his feet, and with shaky hands, holds them out. “Link? Is that you in there, buddy?” He whispers, slowly backing away from the beast. The wolf looked up at him, ears fallen and tail tucked. His eyes were blue again, seemingly glowing by the moon. They looked terrified. He takes a step forward, recognizing the hero behind those scared eyes. “Come on, turn back, everyone is worried about you.”
The wolf whines, squeezing his eyes shut. He watches as shadows slowly peel off of him, and bones pop back into Hylian anatomy. The shadows disperse, leaving the rancher. He wobbles as he tries to stay standing. He looks over to the champion, and smiles.
He takes a step towards the champion, and immediately falls into the snow. Wild yelps, and quickly slides to his knees beside his brethren. He holds Twilight's head, and taps his cheek, only to be met by a small groan. His eyes opened just a moment. Everything to him was blurry. Only a mushed together colors of yellow, gray and blue as he looked up to the champion. His eyes close shut again as his head falls limp.
“Shit!” Wild panics, looking around the wilderness, the bright snow lighting the area around him. He doesn’t know what to do. He can’t carry him, he’s too heavy. The most he can do is drag him, but who knows what kind of injuries that could give him. He holds Twilights hand, squeezing it. They're getting cold. Being in his wolf form probably kept him warm didn’t it? He hugs Twilights unconscious body to himself, and starts to dig through his slate, looking for something warm. He gave up all of his Rubies, and he can’t give him any meals. He scrolls through, finally finding a piece. He taps the item, and his top changes into his warm doublet, matched with a thick set of gloves. He quickly pulls his gloves off with his teeth, and tries trying to pull Twilight's set of vambraces and gauntlets off.
He finally gets them off, and tries to redress his hands with simple gloves. But with his hands being limp, trying to navigate his fingers into the correct hole was incredibly frustrating. Yet, eventually he gets the gloves on and secure.
“Champion!” A voice calls out. Wild whips his head up as he starts to put Twilights armor on himself. A figure appears off in the distance, hands cupped. “Champion!” It calls again. He knows the voice. He squints, noticing something long and blue on the figure.
Wild grins, waving his arms above his head. “Captain! Over here!” Warriors quickly turns to the voice, and runs over, sliding into the snow beside them.
“What happened?” He asks, quickly evaluating the situation. His voice was stern and deep, the others always called it his “Captain voice”.
“I, I don’t know!” Wild answers, half lying. “We just have to get him back to camp.” He brushes Twilights hair from his face, staring at the tattoo on his forehead.
Warriors nods. “Is he injured or just unconscious?” He looks over the man, not seeing any serious wounds. He runs his thumb over Twilights right arm, where it looked like he had been nicked by something. It just tore his shirt, and left a small scratch, barely bleeding.
“Just unconscious, from what I know of-” Wild stands up, looking around for any threats.
The captain nods. “Good. cause this won’t be comfortable.”
“What?” Wild turns to look at him, finding Warriors crossing Twilights legs. “What are you doing?”
Warriors grabs Twilights arms. “Picking him up.” He pulls with all his might, standing Twilight up, and catching him over his shoulder. Warriors holds onto one of Twilights wrists with one hand, and using the other, pushes Twilight the rest of the way onto his shoulders. He locks him in place, wrapping one arm through one leg and holding onto his wrist. “Alright. Let’s move.”
Wild stood, quite flabbergasted, as he watched it play out within a few seconds. “Y-yes sir!” He hurries to the Captain's side, drawing a bow for any potential threat.
They start heading back to camp, surprisingly quick. Even with a whole nother body added to him, Warriors still moved quickly. But thankfully, the path was relatively clear, save for a few ice keese. Wild draws his bow, and shoots them down without second thought. “Captain?” He looks to the other, who only hums in response. “How did you find me?”
Warriors turns to him, furrowing his eyebrows. “You called for me? I told you to yell if you needed me, and you yelled my…our name.”
Wild nods, “Oh. I did didn’t I.” He didn’t even think of the others hearing him. “It’s a good thing you heard me, I don’t think I’d be able to carry him all the way back.” He chuckles, patting Twilights back. Warriors chuckles as well, only to fall back into a worried expression.
“I need you to come clean. You weren’t calling for me. You were yelling at him, weren’t you? What happened back there?” He stares at him.
Wild looks away. “I told you, I don’t know what happened.”
“Bullshit.” He stops moving, and uses his free hand to motion to Wild's neck. “The bruises on your neck say otherwise. Those weren't there when you left, so stop lying and tell me every detail.” He stares down the knight, just as he would his own soldiers.
Wild stares back, clearly hiding things. He looks up at Twilight, and back at Warriors. He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “Fine. But you can’t tell anyone, it’s a secret to everyone.” He looks up, where he can see a faint, dying light of their camp far into the distance. Warriors nods. “So, Hylia how do I say this, Wolfie, right?” Warriors furrows his eyebrows, trying to figure out what Wolfie had to do with this. “Well, Wolfie is our Rancher. He has this…item? Magic thing? That can turn him into a wolf at any point.” He looks to the Captain, expecting some sort of reaction. But he only stared back at him.
“Continue.” He nods.
“What, no reaction?” Wild huffs, but shakes his head. “Well, I found him, well, Wolfie. But something was wrong. His eyes, they were yellow, and…he attacked me. The way he moved, and the look in his eye, you wouldn’t be able to tell him apart from a wild wolf. I yelled his name, and he snapped out of it. When he tried to turn back, it took longer than it normally would. And it seemed to suck the energy right out of him. It was weird. He only managed to take a few steps before he collapsed.” They continue their walk back to camp, Warriors deep in thought.
“That is weird.” He adjusts Twilight slightly. “Rancher or not, Wolfie was always a gentle creature. Especially to you. I wonder what changed him. Do you think the darkness we’re fighting is doing this?” He looks to the camp, noticing a figure standing guard. “We’ll talk more about this later, let’s just make sure he’s alright.”
Wild nods, and looks forward, waving his hand above his head. The figure waves back, and walks up to meet them.
The closer he got, the clearer it became that it was their leader. His eyes widen as he notices his descendant around the captains shoulders, and hurries over, quickly offering to take him instead. “No, I got him.”
“What happened out there?” He asks, his eye never leaving the boy. Wild and Warriors share a look, and turn to Time.
“I’ll tell you once we get him laid down and healing.” The champion nods, and with extra help, they get him settled in his tent. They found Twilights lantern, and lit it, lighting the room with a warm light.
Warriors rolls his shoulders, stretching his back. “Do either of you have a fairy?”
Time raises his hand, and digs into his pouch, quickly retrieving one of his fairies. “Here. Let’s see if she can wake him up.” He pops the cork, and a small, pink fairy flutters out, gently sitting on the tip of Times' finger. He chuckles, and motions her to his descendant. She flutters over to him, gently settling on his nose. A bright pink light emanates from her, as magic soaks into his skin.
Twilight lets out a small groan, squeezing his eyes tight. The fairy lets out a triumphant jingle, and flies over to Time, planting a small kiss on his nose, and disappears out of the tent. The boys turn to their comrade, grunting as he sits up, a hand to his head. The three call out to him, immediately swarming him with questions. “Are you okay? What happened? Where were you?”
Twilight swats them away. “Shhh, my head hurts.” He peaks his eyes open wincing at the light. He scans his room, noticing the worried looks. “What, did someone die?”
Warriors glances up at Time, and taps his shoulder, nodding outside. He catches on, and the two step outside to discuss what Wild had told him.
Wild scoots closer, grabbing Twilights hand. “Buddy, you gotta tell me what the hell that was earlier.” He mutters, his voice low so the others don’t hear. Twilight looks away, a look of shame washing over his face. “Link. What. Was. That. You attacked me. You tried to kill me. You’re going to explain, now.” He Squeezes his hand tightly, slightly digging his nails into the leather of his palms.
Twilight wasn’t phased by the squeeze. Only a look of sadness shown on his face. “I…I’m sorry.” He whispers.
“No, a sorry isn’t gonna cut it. What happened.” He glances out, seeing the leaders discussing.
The Ordonian sighs, closing his eyes. “Fine. Lately, I’ve been having a hard time, turning back. Once I become a wolf, it’s like, something washes over me, and I can’t control myself.” He pulls his gloves off, and starts to rub the palms of his hands. “And when I do gain control, it becomes harder to turn back. As if there's a boulder on my shoulders, or if there’s something on my skin that I can’t peel off. And I get more and more tired, the more I do it. As if I'm in a constant battle, and I’m slowly getting overpowered. I don’t think I can do it much longer.” He squeezes his eyes closed, trying to avoid looking at his brother.
Wild furrows his eyebrows, and stares at his lap. “So, it’s as if you were a wolf. A real, wolf. One that I would normally find out in Hyrule.”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Well, that explains it, doesn’t it. What if you just, stop turning?” He looks at the necklace around Twilight's neck. “Wouldn’t that solve your problem?”
Twilight shrugs. “I guess it would, but, I rely on this ability. I use it to hunt, to track, to fight. I can’t just, stop.”
“If you don’t stop, you’ll die.”
“Oh don’t be dramatic.”
Twilight chuckles, shaking his head. But his smile, it was sad, yet desperate. It was his last connection to the twilight. To Midna. He can’t lose it. He goes to hold the artifact, carefully hovering his hand over it. “I…I’m sorry.”
Wild nods sadly, pressing his lips together. “Okay. well, get some sleep. You look like crap, and we have to get up early tomorrow morning.” He takes off his bracers, and hands them back to Twilight, and stands up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He glances back, and disappears out of the tent.
Twilight watches him, a sad look in his eyes as he rolls over, and tries to fall asleep.
Outside, Time and Warriors waited, arms crossed in anticipation. “So, what did he say?” Time asks, turning his attention to their champion. He looked at them with furrowed brows.
“We’re going to have to break his artifact.”
“Excuse me?” Time asks, taking a step forward. “The Shadow crystal? The one that he holds so dear, and close to himself?” Time smiles, letting out a small laugh. Even he knows that’s a bad idea.
“Yes, that one.” Wild meets his eyes with a stubborn glare. “And I’m going to break it, with or without your help. It’s killing him. And I don’t care if he hates me forever, I’m not going to sit by, and watch him slowly kill himself over some obsession, especially when it’s something I can do to help.” He pushes past him, heading off…somewhere.
“Champion,” The captain calls out, he looks to their leader, who nods at him. “We’ll help. What do you need us to do?”
Wild pauses in his step, and turns to them, and smiles. “Good, now come on.”
A few hours pass, the three carefully watching the moon. The champion peaks into Twilights tent, finding him fast asleep. The lantern had burned out, and his breathing was deep, and steady. He looks back at the others, and nods. Time grins, pulling out an odd looking mask. “Champion, you better head to your spot, you know he’ll wake up. So be ready.” The champion nods, and chugs a speed potion. He gives them a thumbs up, and hurries away. “Captain, you better be fast. I’ll try my best to distract him when he wakes up.” He grins, and slips the mask onto his face. Warriors gasps, looking around. Their Leader had disappeared right in front of him. That guy has some weird items.
Time chuckles, and quietly slips into Twilights tent. He stands over his descendant, watching carefully as he sleeps. The crystal laid beside his hand, the string held tightly in his fist. Time takes a deep breath, and gently lifts the string. With a small dagger, he cuts the string up high in two places, leaving just enough for himself to grab. He grabs the remaining string, careful not to touch the Shadow crystal. He sighs, and takes a few steps away. He slips back out of the tent, and pulls his stone mask off.
The captain sighs a breath of relief as Time raises the crystal above his head. He walks over to the captain, who had a handkerchief in his fist. The crystal is gently lowered into it, and wrapped safely into it. The captain tucks it safely away, and nods. Without a word, he sprints away. He was always the fastest of the group, his scarf flying behind him.
And just as Time had suspected, Twilights tent rustled, and Time turns around. His descendant stood behind him, his eyes sharp. “Well good morning.”
“Where is it.” He growled, glaring at his ancestor.
Time only raised his eyebrows. Face unfazed and bored. “Where’s what?”
Twilight shoved his shoulder, and got into his face. “You know what i’m looking for. Where’s my crystal? Where’s the Champion?”
Time only furrowed his eyebrows, and stood taller. “Watch yourself, think about what you’re doing. If you keep using it, you’ll get killed. Understand that.” He pokes at the tattoo on Twilights forehead, pushing him back a bit.
Twilight only scoffs, and turns. He rushes over to Epona, mounting her with ease. Time gasps and tries to catch her reigns, but Twilight beat him to it, and reared her back and sends her into a gallop after his crystal. He nearly mows down their leader, who stands back, a scowl on his face. He did what was planned, and can’t do much else. It’s all up to the boys now.
Warriors kept running, breathing evenly, and steady, just as he always had. The cool air nipped at his face, but he could see their champion ahead, leaving one last step to their plans.
His pace slows as he turns around, a faint sound of hooves grabbing his attention. He looks down the valley, spotting their, very, angry rancher, charging full speed on Epona. “Fuck-” He turns back around, and takes off, faster than he’s ever ran before. The champion runs towards him, arms outreached. The horse quickly gains distance, and Twilight had his bow ready.
“Captain!” He yells, drawing back his bow. The captain slides to a halt, rears his arm back, and throws the handkerchief as far as it could go. An arrow shoots at it, barely grazing it as the Champion catches it, hugging it to his chest.
Twilight rears Epona to a stop, and hops off. A chill runs Wilds back, as Twilight gets closer. “Champion!” He yells, pausing in his step as Wild holds the handkerchief over the gorge between the cliff and Rito village. “Don’t. Give it back, now.” He holds his hands out, as if to tame a scared animal.
Wild only stares at him, a blank look on his face. “I’m not going to give it back, not if you’re going to use it. And if you use it, you’re going to get yourself killed.”
Twilight takes a step forward, making Wild take a step back. “Champion, think about this. If you go through with this, we’ll lose all of my skills. My tracking, my fighting, my hunting, and what will you tell the others, when Wolfie stops appearing?” He takes a few more steps towards him, his eyes never leaving the handkerchief. “Just…give it back to me.”
Wild glances between the crystal in his hand, and his comrade. He tightens his grip on the crystal. “I’m not going to let you die.” He drops the crystal.
“No!” Twilight yells out, dropping to his knees as he watches the cloth fall, further and further into the void. “No…” He whispers, reaching out for it.
“Link,” Wild reaches out, only for his hand to be smacked away. He stands up, eyes teary, and full of anger. He swings at him, only for the Captain to pull him back, securing his arms around him.
“Rancher! Come on man, think about what happened! Think about what you’re going to do! Open your eyes man!” He holds him back, Trying to calm their companion down.
Twilight seems to fall limp, his face scrunched together as he starts to cry, small sobs escaping him. His heart hurt. Sore, and feeling as if it were being crushed. He always hated this feeling.
“Rancher, look at me.” Warriors whispers. Twilight looks up, eyes teary as his hair sticks to his face. Warriors held up the Shadow crystal with a smile, dangling it above his head. Twilights eyes widen, and he weakly reaches for it. “Nuh uh, listen to me, soldier. You’ll get it back, if, you don’t use it. We’ll keep it in the Champions sheikah slate, until we can figure out why you’re having trouble turning back. Okay?” He bargains, slowly releasing their farmer.
Twilight nods, holding his hands out for it. Warriors smiles, and dangles it down, holding it out for him. Twilight gently takes it, holding it gently to his chest against his chainmail. “Thank you.”
Warriors grins, taking a step back. “Don’t thank me, it wasn’t my idea.” He turns to the Champion, who stood sheepishly to the side, fidgeting with his hands.
Twilight huffs a laugh, whipping his face. “Champion, you pain in the ass.” He stands up, and takes small steps to him. Wild smiles, and meets him halfway, pulling him into a hug. “You’re such an asshole.” He laughs, burying his face into his shoulder.
“Yeah I know.” Wild chuckles, rubbing his back. “Now let’s get back to camp before anyone else wakes up. We got an early rise in the morning.” He pats Twilights shoulders, grinning.
Twilight looks over to the captain. “And, we’ll keep tonight a secret right?”
Warriors nods, sending him a wink. “It’s a secret to everybody.”