Summary: That manacle does look like it would hurt, after all.
Warnings: Fluff, and one tiny swear.
Pairing: Midna/Link
Rating: PG-13
Words: 750
Disclaimer: The characters of course belong to Nintendo, because I could never make up a female character as awesome as Midna.
Her wolf ran with a powerful, loping stride. Midna gripped his ruff with her hands and tried to match his pace, unused to any proper feelings of the Light World. She was shocked to discover that she could actually feel the sun on her skin, and properly smell the earth and the dirt and the leaves as Link's claws turned them up when he ran. She'd not felt these things when she had been in Link's shadow, and only an hour before, she had naturally not been in the best of states to notice these things.
She would kill Zant.
And she would find Zelda.
But she really would kill Zant.
She grit her teeth and grasped Link's fur even more tightly, eyes narrowing. Yes. She would find the Master Sword because Link couldn't do what she needed him for as a wolf alone. She would find it, and make Link use it to help her kill the bastard. They'd get to the Mirror of Twilight, and she would be back in her own domain again, back and able to destroy the usurper.
Link snorted, and she noticed a change in his loping stride. Frowning slightly, she looked down, and saw that he was limping, not putting much weight onto the leg where the manacle was at all. His breath rose in thick, canine pants, but still he went onward.
"Hey." She said, and he stopped, turning his head and looking at her with those piercing blue eyes. She drifted off his back and stood before him, looking down at the chain. All right, so maybe she should have thought through how to get him free before just blasting the metal off, but it was that or a paw. And as ugly as the blood looked matting his fur from the chafing, it would be better than him not having it at all.
"You're hurt." She said, pointing at the fur. Link gave a shrug, odd to see on a wolf but one nonetheless, and snorted again. She looked at him, slightly amused. So gung-ho. "You can't run on that. Wait a moment and give it a rest, ok?" He shook his head, and she rolled her eyes. Sacred beast or Chosen Hero or whatever they called him or not, he really was not very bright at all.
"Do I have to do everything for you?" She sighed, rolling her eyes. Link snorted again and tossed his head. Proud git, she thought, but floated down to look at the wound anyway, reaching out to stroke the fur just above and around it, before slipping her finger under the metal and touching the thick gash. Link gave a high-pitched canine whine and shuffled about; obviously the paw was too painful to touch. Midna took her hand away quickly and reached up to stroke his head, an action that surprised even her, but she wasn't going to lose face to him. "Come on, shh. It'll be all right. Let's just heal it, ok? I can't get the damn thing off though."
Link looked at her, trying to judge her with those clear, open and honest blue eyes. She smiled at him. He was too dumb and cute for his own good; she could even see the way the cogs in his little head were turning. Eventually, he nodded and sat on his back paws, holding up the one with the manacle for her to inspect. She took it gently, as though she was teaching him to shake, and whilst still looking at it, reached out with her hair to snatch at the grass, looking for something even mildly medicinal to rub into the gash. Eventually she dredged up some of those odd, heart-shaped petals and dropped them under the metal and into the cuts, rubbing them in with her fingers. They were slippery with his blood by the time she pulled her hand away and allowed him to lower the paw. He tested it, putting his weight on, and then grinned, a happy, doggy grin, and in a moment of silliness, chased his tail around once.
She shook her head at him, jumping into the air and landing on his back with ease. She flicked his thick skull with a grin on her wide lips. "Stop being an idiot, idiot." The flick turned into a quick pat behind the ears. "Let's find that Master Sword."
As Link continued his loping stride, Midna smiled to herself, glad that her wolf was all right.