A/N: Hi folks, it's been many years since I last writ anything, and to those waiting and hoping still for more chapters to What Dreams May Come/ Someone to Protect/ or any of my other projects, I apologise, you can probably assume them suspended indefinitely as of now.

However, this fic is more or less written already and since it's only short (I'm only planning 4 chapters max), you can rest assured this at least will see its end.

Summary: It has been one year to the day since Link defeated Ganondorf and the path between the realms of Twilight and this world were sealed forever by the Princess of the Twili.
Having returned to his home, Link has had difficulty adjusting to the life of a simple farmer after experiencing the thrill of adventure, and the uneasy stares of those he once called friend, to whom he is now a walking legend.

Troubled and with no one to turn to, Link faces yet another problem. A terrible beast has been spotted roaming the Faron woods late at night, and several livestock have already fallen to its fangs.

The villagers pray it can be caught before it develops a taste for human flesh, but what's to fear with the Hero of Twilight residing in their midst…right?

Twilight Beast

Prologue: Reminents of Twilight

Soft and golden, the gentle kiss of twilight settled over the land, rendering all sleepy and quiet. Not yet complete night, and in this realm it never would be, it gave one the sense that the world had settled down to rest for a moment…just a moment.

Of course this was a far cry from the reality of the situation. The lethargic blanket that had been draped over the world was the precursor of a mighty foe, beings that were at home in the shadows and shunned the piercing light of day as they themselves had once been shunned.

This beautiful sight, regardless of its cause, or the fact that it would soon be lifted, was lost on the one bounding across shadowed plains and in amongst long grass, still as everything else in this place.

With eyes that saw the world in browns and greys, the towering pines that whipped by on either side blurred into one, the thudding of padded paws on crumbling earth matching the electric beat of his heart, breath ragged and fiery, yet not uncomfortable somehow.

Oh he'd deny it when not like this, but while he ran, thick, shaggy fur whistling as a slender, powerful form cut through the air with effortless grace, barely hindered by the familiar weight on his back and the rattling band of steel around his foreleg's ankle, he felt alive.

The slope ahead inclined more steeply and sheaved claws slid out to grip the earth, hauling his frame along against the will of gravity and he felt his companion shift to lie flat along his spine, tiny fingers taking handfuls of the fur that lined his neck.

"If I didn't know better", her voice whispered over the wind and the drums, sounding amused, "I'd think you were starting to enjoy yourself"

As he snarled in reply she laughed, high and musical but carrying something else, the hint of something darker and yet… not unpleasantly so.

He finally reached the crest of the hill, cording muscles reversing his momentum and bringing him to a halt at the mound's zenith, and for a moment he simply stood there, panting heavily, the scents of the world around him dancing through his cold wet nose, telling him secrets that his eyes would never have found on their own, and to which his ears were deaf.

"Hehe, amazing isn't it, the Twilight I mean", his impish cohort mused, her elbows digging into his back as she rest her chin on her hands he supposed.

He had to admit, it was peaceful here, and if not for the reasons that had brought it, he might even have enjoyed bounding through the near darkness… well, enjoyed it longer and without guilt…

"It would be nice to share this, show people that the darkness can be comforting… not that such a thing could ever happen now… one more thing that bastard will have to pay for", there it was again, the wraith behind her words, one he only ever noticed like this, but it would be a long time before he learned the reasons for her anger.

"Time to move on", the weight on his back vanished, and the beast turned sharply, catching nothing but the sight of his own tail as it wisped around to follow him, a streak of black and white.

Confusion, panic, anger, all of these things boiled out and up his throat and as he tossed back his head, howled out into the world.
Most people wake from nightmares with a scream or a gasp, but for Link, as with most of the exchanges in his life, the entire event crossed his face rather than his lips as crystalline blue eyes snapped open in the near darkness and a sharp intact of air rushed into his lungs.

Casting his gaze hazily around the room as widened lids drooped once more and the reason he'd woken already fading into a dizzy blur in the back of his mind, Link rolled off of his cot, grunting as his shin hit the wooden floor of his home faster than he's been expecting, hands grasping for weapons that weren't there anymore.

It was a reflex that had saved his life more than once out on the plains of Hyrule when he'd been force to camp in the open grasslands, but one that had become a little redundant in this past year.

Farmers didn't need to be able to slit an enemy's throat before they were even awake enough to know they had after all.

Yawning, the sandy haired boy flexed his hands slowly opened and closed as he willed the adrenaline surging through his system to run its course and winced as his shin throbbed when he stood upright and hobbled toward the balcony.

The first rays of dawn had just begun to peak over the horizon, bright enough that he had to shield his eyes for a moment until they could adjust.

That seemed to take longer now than it had, though his eyes often faired better at night than once they would have.

That had worried him at first, but no doctor could find anything wrong with him and it wasn't as if the sensitivity lasted long.

Of course that wasn't what bothered him. It was another thing that marked him out and he had too many of those already.

When people come across a Hero, it's usually a fleeting thing. The brave knight who strikes down the monster and ushers them to safety and rides off into the sunset before the reality of it hits home, off on his way to slay the next great threat.

It's a lifestyle that doesn't often promote a great deal of socialising, or a very long life for that matter. And regardless of who they once were, a Hero is defined by their actions.

Resting his arms against the rough railing that ran the span of his tree dwelling homestead, Link stared listlessly out across the village below.

These people had known him since he was a boy, all helped raise him at one point or another, being an orphan. Friends and family, every one of them, or so he'd thought.

But take a young farmhand, pit him against the most malicious evil ever to stalk the world in a titanic clash of powers and worse yet, have him not only win but survive to return to his village, and people no longer knew what was expected of them.

He remembered that his closest friend had actually once bowed to him like he was one of the Queens knight just passing through, and that was the tip of the iceberg.

He'd seen combat, and it showed in his eyes, the once warm blue pools colder and sharper than once they'd been, and he'd been disturbed to hear that some people thought they actually glowed in the right light, though he'd never been able to confirm that.

Even Ilia had kept her distance after a while, refusing to meet his gaze too long and avoiding looking at the faint gold tattoo that stained the back of his right hand entirely.

Link had noticed an improvement in the villages attitude after he stowed away the so called Hero's Clothes the Spirits of Light had given him for his journey and returned the Master Sword to its pedestal as had been Zelda's final request to him when he declined her invite to join her Guard.

The young man winced as something pricked his palms and he was surprised to see he had been gripping the banister hard enough to crack the aging wood and drive the splinters into his own flesh.

That was something else that had troubled him since his return. The anger he had felt toward Zant who kidnapped his friends, toward Ganondorf who turned Zelda into a puppet and nearly killed Midna. It hadn't faded when the curse on him had been broken and his enemies slain, it was still there, slinking around beneath the surface.

His 'inner shadow', as Midna had once referred to it, was still very much alive.

Wandering back into the house and dressing in the comfortable clothes he had worn most of his life in one form or another he paused before the small chest that sat at the foot of his cot, letting one hand brush across its surface.

"…"

Inside was the only thing that remained from the Twilight invasion, the tiny item that was a relic of the curse cast on him by Zant, the dark magic forced from his body and sealed inside the black and red crystal by the Master Sword.

He'd been told by the Princess of the Twili, restored to her true form before she left, that without someone strong in Shadow magic to use it, the item would never again allow him to access his other form; the one that existed in Twilight.

But it was still there… he could feel it, the blue eyed beast, wanting out, wanting to taste the freedom of the open air once again…

And sometimes, he wanted to let it.

"How many does that make?", the old man asked, his thick arms and rigid moustache- like two small rams horns beneath his nose- both twitching.

"Bout three I reckon", the younger man replied, his thick accent and large frame belying his gentle nature, one that was very upset by what had just happened and it showed in his voice.

Bo let loose a long breathe, rubbing his eyes with stiff fingers thick with calluses from many hard years work in unforgiving weather.

At their feet lay the ravaged carcass of what was once one of their villages prized rams, the blood still pooling sluggishly out of the cavity that had housed its guts and from the section of its throat that had been torn away.

"This doesn't figure good for us… go get Russel, we need to catch this thing before it kills any more of our livestock", Bo ground out resolutely.

"… What bout Link?", the young Shepard asked warily.

"… Bring him too, we need all the help we can get".