A/ N: Hi, there! Welcome to my Legend Of Zelda Fanfic. I won't take much time in this author's Note, just wanted to point out that, though it's not exactly mentioned in the story, it takes place from 3-5 years after Twilight Princess. Also, There is a chance that the story's rating could change as the story progresses, as I am fond of detailed imagery :) and I may accidently write something I'm either not supposed to or is far to gory for the rating. So be on watch for that, and point it out if you chose to review.
Thank you, and enjoy!
Faron woods, is peaceful sanctum for all wildlife in Hyrule. In the safety of the forest, life flourishes bringing impressive sights and sounds to the woods. Birds soared to great heights above the trees, monkeys swung from tree branch to tree branch and a certain red-brown wolf trotted happily along the tall grasses of the woods.
The she-wolf made her way around the largest tree trunk in the woods, the one that separated the entrance to the Lost Woods to Faron woods. Feeling adventurous, the she-wolf braved through the entrance of the Lost Woods, and made her way to enter the Lost woods itself, when an almost musical sound reached her ears. The she-wolf twitched her ears towards the sound and followed it.
She arrived at a small flat of land, covered with tall grass. The she-wolf smelled the air; the sweet perfume of flowers filled the air. Sensing no threat, the she-wolf continued, the grass parting sideways wherever her paws stepped.
The sound was getting louder, but it was still soft, almost sad.
Around the center of the grassy plain, the she-wolf encountered a stone, upright with strange marking on it and a hole in its center. The wind flowing through the hole emitted the sad sound the she-wolf had heard. Intrigued and curious, she circled around the stone, unintentionally flattening the grass around the stone, making its sound stronger but still sad.
After a while the she-wolf sat in front of the stone, listening, and an urge to howl back to the melody of the stone overcame her.
The sad sound of the stone mixed with the melancholy howls of the she-wolf filled the area, the sound so sweet and woeful.
Once she was out of breath, the she-wolf lay her head down on the grass and closed her eyes to rest, for she was inexplicably tired. She did not rest long and when she opened her eyes she did not see grass. Nor the stone, nor the daylight in which she had been in. It was night, and she sat on the top of a cliff, looking down to fog, landmarks of all Hyrule could be seen close by even though these things were miles apart.
The she-wolf got up with a start, she tried to head down the cliff top but found it ended there; it was as if the cliff top was floating.
Panicked the she-wolf went around in circles trying to find a way down, when she heard the panting of another wolf. She looked up, and saw a golden wolf atop another floating cliff top slightly above hers. The golden wolf barked, sure and powerful. The she-wolf, somewhat surprised and still confused, bowed her head in respect for her obvious elder.
The golden wolf barked once more, "Sing"
The she-wolf knew no song, only what came to her in a moments whim. But she had the sad tune fresh in her memory, so she howled the tune. In this odd dimension the sound seemed to travel farther and the melancholy howl was soon accompanied by another.
The wolf duet sounded throughout the dimension, traveling far and filling the she-wolf with sadness. At the end of the song, she slumped to the ground, depressed.
The golden wolf barked again. Instantly words filled her head, words she understood but, at the same time, didn't understand.
"Child of the forest" the voice said "Unfortunately, your time of peace has ended. It is no coincidence you found my stone, child, you have a purpose in life and it's time for you to fulfill it. When you awake you will not be the same wolf you once were, you will be human." the she-wolf flinched at the thought of being human and let out a whine of discomfort.
"None of that now," the golden wolf barked, "You must brave this for the good of your lands and others. Worry not, you shall not journey alone. I suggest you make you way to Faron's spring and await there." the golden wolf moved closer to the edge and added "I shall guide you when I can. Good luck." before jumping off the cliff into the mist below.
The she-wolf looked down after the golden wolf, wondering if she should jump after it. Before she could act, though, her eyelids became heavy and she laid her head on the edge of the cliff, drifting into a light sleep.
The she-wolf awoke to the wind blowing on her bare skin and the grass shifting around her. She lifted her head, thinking it was only a dream, when a long silk lock of fire red hair fell across her face.
The she-wolf blinked at it before lifting herself up, immediately she noticed her paws were now slim, delicate looking human hands. She lifted a hand as she would a paw and was surprised by all the different ways she could turn it, she was also intrigued by her thumbs. Soon her intrigue was turned into a state of panic. She looked at herself: fur no longer covered her body, her hind legs were now longer and everywhere she turned her head a cascade of red hair would soon follow and fall into her eyes.
Her panic subsided enough for the former she-wolf to think that this was just a bad dream and she lay back down and closed her eyes. She did fall asleep again but when she awoke she was disappointed that she was still human and a sad howl escaped the red haired girl's lips.
She did not know what to do. Even if she did, she did not know HOW to do it in this strange human body. First she tried walking on all fours but quickly found out how ineffective that was, so she tried to stand up.
She faced the stone on all fours and, began to lift herself up using the stone. Her legs shook a bit, not being used to standing on her hind legs. She stood there for a while, thinking of what to do. She found her thoughts clearer, not so distracted anymore.
She thought of the golden wolf, what it had said, and more importantly, its suggestion to go to Faron's spring. She decided to follow his advice and go to Faron's spring.
Around the stone, she practiced her walking on two legs, reasoning that if she fell it'd be on soft grass. After she was satisfied in her ability to walk to Faron's spring she set out. It took her quite a long time to get used to the fact that she could no longer use her nose to find her way around, especially in the dark of night but eventually, she found her way back to Faron woods proper.
By the time she reached Faron's spring it was pass midnight and she felt tired, she's been tired all day today. She sat at the edge of the spring, not touching the water and stared at the way the light reflected off the water. Human vision was very much different than wolf vision, she was in awe.
About an hour before sunrise, she lay against a boulder near the water and under a small plant, so the sun wouldn't bother her as it rose, she reasoned once again, oh how she loved reasoning! And fell asleep once more.
She stayed waiting at the spring for the entirety of two days. Hunger was beginning to take its toll. She could not hunt anymore, not being able to injure game with her paws, for she no longer possessed them, and not being able to capture the small fish in the shoulder high pond at one corner of the spring, because she no longer had a long snout with sharp teeth.
She did learn to float in the interval of two days and was floating in that corner of the spring, sensing the small fish beneath her, teasing her with their deliciousness, brushing up against her bare back and the quickly seining away. She was so lazily floating in the water she did not notice a horse-pulled cart approaching from the direction of Ordona.
A young man with a cream colored horse was approaching the spring to rest. The young man had short silver hair with a long bang covering his left eye, and wore travelers clothing along with a sturdy pair of boots.
He approached the spring and untied his horse from the wagon, then led it to the edge of the spring to drink. The horse didn't drink immediately; it first neighed uncomfortably and tried to back up, then shied away from the direction of the former she-wolf.
The she-wolf had by now noticed their arrival, and stood in the shoulder high waters glaring at the pair, growling softly but threateningly.
The young man tried to calm down his horse, following the horse's gaze towards its discomfort. Seeing mostly the red hair, he tied his horse to the small tree the she-wolf had slept under, and stepped closer to get a better look. The closer he got, the louder her growls were and instinctively she bare her fangs, but the effect wasn't as impressive with human teeth.
Now the young man had seen it was a human girl taking a bath in the spring and immediately looked away, "I'm sorry," he said "I had not noticed, I just came so my horse could have a drink." he carefully backed away back to the wagon to give her privacy. "Although I'd appreciate if you'd put some clothes on." he called behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and turned bright red. The former she-wolf was approaching the young man, suspicious and curious. What made him blush is that she was, indeed, naked.
He blushed even brighter when she was pressing her body against him, smelling at his face. She was having a really hard time identifying smells with her new, weak human nose and wondering why he had changed color so suddenly.
"Ok!" he said uncomfortably "Personal space here, please!" he grabbed by the shoulders and pushed her away, keeping his eyes on the ground.
The she-wolf turned human looked at the wagon faintly picking up the scent of meat within the wagon with her weak human senses. She sniffed at the nearest bag and plunged her arm between the mass of bags. The young man noticed "What are you doing?" he asked.
She as a response growled at him, but did not cease her search. When the man stepped forward to both get her away from his wagon of merchandise and help her with her search, she took it as an act of aggression and pounced on him trying to snap at him with her human teeth. He fell to the ground while she tried to tear at his beck with her not so sharp fangs. The young man held her at bay with his arm on her neck. After the initial surprise, he flipped her over instead and sat on top of her holding her hands at both sides of her head and keeping away from her mouth.
"That is enough!" he yelled at her, not annoyed but calm. Seeing she was not stopping he gathered her hands above her head with one hand and with his other arm placed at her neck again, this time exerting some pressure, "I said, that is enough!"
She flailed some more before coughing a bit, slowly stopping her movements, assuming a submissive state. Breathing heavily, the former she-wolf gave in.
Warily, the young man removed his arm from her neck, seeing her be so cooperative he released her hands and stood. She stayed on the ground with her arms above her head unmoving but followed the young man's movements with her eyes.
Then a red sheet fell on over her body. Surprised, she sat up; making the part that covered her chest fall down. She looked at it and then put it in her mouth, chewing on the sheet. The young man knelt next to her and tugged the sheet from her mouth; she only released the sheet 'because her teeth hurt. "It's not for eating." he said, and then he wrapped the sheet over her shoulders and made sure that it wouldn't fall again.
The young man walked to the wagon and got what she wanted, food. And she could smell it. Excitedly, she crawled forward towards him, but he stopped her, chiding her like a dog "No, no. Stay there." and he made sure she stayed put before assembling a small campfire, which the she-wolf was both afraid of and intrigued by, and pulling a pan out of the wagon as well. The young man proceeded to cooking the meat.
As the meat cooked, the former she-wolf inches closer to the delicious smell and came to sit next to the young man as he cooked when her stomach growled loudly and she felt it cringe. The young man chuckled at the sound and continued to cook, every now and then pushing the girl's overeager hands and face away from the fire.
When he decided a piece of meat was done he separate it and waited a bit for it to cool before literally throwing it at the girl. The girl reacted fast, catching it happily in her mouth before ripping it to shreds and eating noisily.
'Odd.' the young man thought 'she acts like... Like a... Like a dog..." The girl, finished with the piece she got and wanting more and reached out with her hand at one of the ones still cooking.
"Don't!" the man tries to stop her but couldn't, so when she grabbed the burning piece of meat and her fingers brushed against the burning pan, she immediately let out a whine of pain and pulled her hand close to her body, whining in pain.
The young man sighed and knelt next to her, but she kept turning around giving him her back. He persisted and decided to grab her arms from behind, make her stand and take her to the spring's edge where she could soak her hand.
He succeeded in taking her to the edge of the spring with the only protest from her being a snarl and a snap at his face. He left her to soak her hand, to put out the fire and place the meat to cool a bit. When done, he knelt next to her again.
"You don't understand Hylian do you?" his question was answered when she blinked at him and continued to whine as he hand slowly healed, courtesy of the springs properties.
"Who and what are you, I wonder..." he muttered, and made her face him. She snarled at him touching her face but didn't try to bite him. He searched her face, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She was a very attractive young woman with red hair, blue eyes and striking features. Then why was she so not normal?
"I wonder, were you raised by a pack of wolves?" he joked releasing her face and getting the plate of meat. She immediately jumped at him to get the meat but he kept her away with his arm.
"Stop it!" he said trying to get her calm again and resolves the only way to do that was to feed her. So, he took another piece of meat and three it in her general direction. Again, she caught it in her mouth and devoured it hungrily. He hid the plate behind his back and held a piece of meat in his hand.
When she was done with her piece she looked at the one he had hungrily. She reached for it, but he didn't give it to her.
"Meat." he said then he repeated the word, mouthing it as much as he could. He could see that she was curious to what he was doing and was also trying to mouth the word. "meat." he said again and took her hand and places it over his throat then repeated the word "meat" then placed her hand over her own throat.
"Mmm..." he began the word to get her to understand that she should say it. She seemed to get it and began with the sound "Mmmm..." then she gasped a bit at how her throat vibrates as she tried to speak, like his throat had done. She had never noticed did her wolf throat vibrate when she barked or howled?
After a while she finally got it and could say the word "meat". When she did the young man showed her the piece of meat, which made her mouth water, and repeated "meat". She nodded and said it too "meat".
Satisfied, the young man handed her the meat, which she devoured just as eagerly as the other two pieces. He took his own piece and took a bite of it, closing his eyes, savoring the flavor.
"Meat." he opened one eye and saw her looking at him expectantly. "Meat" she said again. 'oh, why'd I have to teach her that first?' he thought as he rolled his eyes and reached behind his back picking another piece and handing it to her, who, imitating him, took only a bite from it and closed her eyes.
The young man raised an eyebrow and chuckled 'an odd girl indeed..."
He stood up, picked another piece of meat for himself and handed the rest to the girl, before heading to the wagon and rummaging through a few bags. The girl ate her meat happily, staring curiously at the young man. He pulled out of a bag a poof-y, cotton shirt and some trousers. "A bit big, but it'll do" he muttered before going to get the girl and bringing her to the wagon. He handed her the shirt, which he chewed on as well. He rolled his eyes and took it from her. "It's not for eating."
"Meat." she said staring at him looking confused.
"No, 'shirt'" he corrected and grabbed her wrists thrusting them into the long shirt sleeves and pulling the shirt over her head. He loosened the blanket from her shoulders and made sure it stayed covering her lower body. He couldn't help but notice her nipples over the thin shirt fabric and blushed slightly.
He grabbed the pair of trousers and wondered how he'd make her put them on. Soon he saw this wasn't possible as she was still busy trying to figure out how to say 'shirt'.
He sighed and knelt down, lifting her leg slightly to place them in the trouser legs and the pulled them up, removing the red sheet entirely. He noticed that the trousers were too large and they'd fall. Interrupting her thinking he placed her hands on the trousers so she would hold them up as he looked for a belt. He wrapped the belt around her torso over both the trouser and the shirt and tightened it. Satisfied he stepped back to observe his work. Not the most flattering clothes for her figure but it'll have to do.
He spent the rest of the day, teaching her a few more words, teaching her that his name was William and not 'meat'. When night came he contemplated what to do with her. He leaned against his horse and spoke to it "What am I going to do with this girl, Nil?" he asked his horse Nil. "I can't take her with me, but the only town for miles is Ordona. And that's not convenient for Me." he scratched his head, looking at the girl lying by the fire he had started when the sun went down. She looked sad, as she stared into the flames. The red blanket over her shoulders to try to stop her shivering.
"I don't even know her name..." he muttered again to Nil, who was lazily chomping on some grass. He sighed "I'm sure SOMEONE in Ordona must know her, or at least, is willing to care for her." He pushed himself off Nil and turned to the horse, patting its neck. "She's already delayed me a day... If I don't decide soon I'll be delayed further..."
The girl's eyes felt heavy and staying still wasn't helping her stay awake. She was still mulling over what she had learned making sure she remembered everything, happy when she knew she did remember. Silently she stood up, trying to walk her sleep away. She made her way to the wagon, still curious about the different smells within it, when she had a feeling.
It was strange, she couldn't describe it, even if she had all the knowledge of words and human language, she couldn't even describe it in wolf language. All she knew is that the feeling made her both sick and angry, and that it urged her to head into Faron woods. A growl escaped her lips as she dashed in the direction of the woods.
William saw her shadowy figure head to the woods and, worried he ran after her. Nil reacted a lot slower. Unconcerned followed after his master slowly.
The red headed girl ran through the familiar forest as it flew past her in a blur. The silver-haired boy had a harder time keeping up, running into all sorts of things.
Eventually the girl found her way into the poisonous fog bank. She ran up to the small pier and stood there, panting and barking into the fog. William caught up and pulled her away from the wooden structure.
"What is wrong with you?" he asked worried and exhausted, but she wasn't looking at him. The girl was focused on the poison fog, snarling and growling at it menacingly at it, trying to reach its edge again. William held her away from it, knowing how deadly the gas can be. He pulled her away from it, back towards the entrance of the cavern that gets them there. As he was pushing her through, there was a strange noise coming from the fog. William ceased his efforts for a moment and looked back. A monster of sorts stumbled out of the fog, a club-like weapon in its hand, looking ready to attack. The girl looked ready to fight too, but she had no weapon, nor teeth or claws to fight with. She kept fighting against William's grip to get to the monster. The monster charged forward, though halfway to reaching them, collapsed, foaming at the mouth and convulsing.
William was shocked, and began pulling the girl away from the monster as best he could, trying to calm her down "Leave it," he'd say "It's dead, let's just go!" he lifted her from the ground, placed her in the direction of the cavern and shoved her in. He continued shoving her through until they exited the cavern, meeting up with Nil. William then lifted the girl onto Nil, who wasn't too happy about it, and climbed on himself grabbing the reigns and heading back to the spring in a hurry. The girl all the while kept looking back and snarling, but William's arms kept her from jumping off the horse.
They arrived at the spring, calm and the fire still going, though weaker than before. The girl was still jumpy and trying to get off the horse. He released the horse's reigns and wrapped his arms around her, trying to stop her movements.
"Are you insane?" he hissed in her ear. "You could have gotten killed! And yet you wanted to face that thing head on?" right now, it was he that felt like ripping her throat out.
She didn't stop flailing and knocked them both off of Nil. She stood up in a hurry, but William tripped her, climbing on top of her again, thinking it'd be a lot easier if he just tied her to something. And he did.
He held her arms behind her back and pulled her up, pushed her against the wagon where he took the rope that was holding a few bags together and tied her arms, and then he set her on the ground and tied her feet together.
She struggled but couldn't get free from her bounds, instead getting a face full of dirt. William stood over her and sighed. He pulled her up to a sitting position against the wagon and sat down next to her, exhausted.
He ran a hand through his silver hair and looked at her, still struggling. "I don't know what's wrong with you, but your behavior is suicidal." he said. "I think it's best if we get you away from these woods as soon as possible. Perhaps to Ordona." he sigh thinking of how long it would take to get to Ordona and back again.
After a while of fruitless struggling the girl gave up, panting heavily and growling, frustrated. She glared at William.
"Don't look at me like that!" he glared back "you would have gotten yourself killed If not for me." he got up and picked up the red blanket the girl had dropped when she ran into the forest, wrapping it around her again. "Tomorrow I'm taking you to Ordona. That way you can be somebody else's responsibility." he said to her annoyance and exasperation evident in his voice. He made sure that Nil was securely tied to the small tree next to the spring before climbing onto the wagon, getting a blanket for himself and laying down to sleep.
Now that she was alone, she got to thinking, an activity she liked to do often now. She wondered about what it was that 'William' had said. There were very few things he could teach her that afternoon and she was sure he didn't use any of the words he taught her in anything he said to her.
But she did get a vibe that he was angry and displeased with her and it made her feel bad. She had disappointed him and she knew it, not that she knew the actual name and meaning for her feelings, but she knew what she felt.
This feeling of guilt mixed in with the horrible feeling already present in her gut, making her feel worse, and tears rimmed her eyes. A soft, sad howl escaped her throat, followed by a whined, before she remembered the golden wolf. Where was he? Didn't he say he'd help her with whatever she was supposed to do? What was she supposed to do? Why was she the one chosen to suffer this human torture? Why? Why? For the first time in her existence she asked the question: 'why?' she had never questioned why or how things worked, she had never questioned anything. But now she felt as though she needed to know everything. Regardless of what it was she needed to know. She was determined to find out.
With no other choice but sleep, she lay on her side, still tied up, and drifted off into dreams.