Volink Week Prompts

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyrule Warriors or the prompts utilized for this week.

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Day One: Rage

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Volga knew rage. By any account, enemy or allied, he was rage. It didn't matter which form he took—when he roared, the insects scattered on both sides of the battlefield. Even at rest, he looked angry, having a natural scowl, but the dragon knight was not in a constant state of all-scorching wrath as the rest of Her Majesty's forces seemed to believe. Admittedly, a great deal of things could spark his anger and the fire of his emotions could make his inner flame burn no brighter than a candle or blaze and burst like a cataclysmic volcanic eruption.

He was not without control of his fire, however. It was just that most of the time, and for most of his life, he hadn't gave a damn to swallow his cinders. Nothing had brought him reason to bite his dragon tongue. If something angered him, he set fire to it. It was hardly an insult to him to say that Volga was powered by rage.

So when he saw a worked up Link shoot up from his seat in a quiet rage, Volga bit his dragon tongue, stayed in the booth at the back of the bar, and watched the curious scene unfold as Link stood between him and the crossbow and pitchfork-wielding local militia.

It mattered not to the villagers that Volga had fought and slayed Argorok himself and assured their victory against Cia's forces. Were it not for the dragon knight, the dark dragon's fireball would have incinerated the village and none of the villagers would have made it out alive had Volga not held the giant boulder in place and diverted the lava flow. Far as the villagers were concerned, Volga was a dragon and dragons were only either evil or dead and Volga was not dead. The fact that he was among them celebrating the Hyrulean forces' great victory and was not a head mounted on a plaque on their wall was a grave insult that needed to be changed.

Not even by his goddesses' decree was Link going to allow harm be brought to Volga.

Link stood with his ridged arms slightly out from his sides in a fight-ready stance. Even without his weapons, the boy was ready to take on and take down the entire mob surrounding and cornering them in the back of the bar. Volga saw the sharp, stiff angle of his shoulders and could picture without ever seeing the unrelenting, icy glower pinning the pissing mob in place.

"He's a dragon, Hero, not a man. This bastard has killed your brothers and charred the castle keep. If you won't slay him—" the leader of the mob, presumed to be in charge only because he was the only one stupid-brave enough to say anything to Link, suddenly shut up. The fool's eyes grew wide and large and very fearful in the wake of the strong possibility of the enraged boy grabbing his throat and not letting go. Volga saw from the side Link's jaw muscle clench as he bared his teeth in warning.

Not that it would be a great feat for the boy to do so against these farmers and second-cut soldiers or that Volga had ever needed such shielding but Link was ready to fight for him. It did not merely annoy or anger him but thoroughly enraged Link to hear them insult and threaten the dragon knight in front of him. Volga could not recall a time a human had ever stood beside and stood up for him.

Sliding out from the booth, Volga stood and groaned deep in his throat in annoyance. "You tried, boy, but neither I nor they wish for me to be here." He made his way past a blinking Link and around the petrified mob and left the silent, gawking bar of soldiers to resume their revelry without him.

Volga had barely made it a stone's throw away from the bar when Link barreled through the saloon doors and came running and shouting after him. Grumbling once more in his throat, the dragon knight frowned as the swift-footed boy grabbed him by the arm and jerked him to a stop.

"Do you think it matters to me whether or not I possess their regard?" Volga said, peering down at Link as he pled with him to come back. "And what joy is there for me to watch your men drink and sing of victory to a battle they played no part in seizing?" He roughly freed his arm from Link's grip. "Remember, boy. I am not a man. I am a dragon."

Briefly, Link canted his eyes and frowned harshly. He then smacked his left fist against the dragon knight's breastplate on his heart and then laid his fist on his own.

Volga looked away, closed his eyes just for a moment, and smirked in mild amusement. "We are warriors but that is no battlefield you wish me to enter. I exiled myself from the world of men for a reason. I have no place among Hylians."

Link barked sharply in disagreement. After tracing a circle on his chest with his index finger, he touched his mouth and laid his hand in his other, palm facing up.

"Don't be naïve, boy. I am not good. My interests merely coincide and serve with yours and your allies," he said. "I spared this village from the lava flow because the two of us could not have escaped alone. You would have obstinately insisted for me to rescue the others… I can carry a great weight but I am no one's pack mule."

The boy stared back at him in flat disbelief. He believed that Volga was a good person. Volga was a terrible person. He was, in more than one sense of the word, a monster. The crimes he had committed while under the witch's spell did not outrage him in the least, and while he had never showed remorse for his actions, Link knew firsthand the devastation he had inflicted and yet the boy was quick to rage at anyone who meant the dragon knight harm. He seemed to foolishly believe that there was something good about Volga, or in the least that he was better than he realized.

He wasn't really any better than the boy imagined. He wasn't kind or self-sacrificing. He was selfish and the only difference now than before the witch dragged him into this war was that now he saw his world contained two people of great worth—himself and Link. He was absolutely willing to do come what may to keep the boy safe—if it meant incinerating the land and all that called it home to protect him so be it. Volga wasn't good. Good people were not ready to kill the Queen of Hyrule and battle their gods in the Hero's name.

Gesturing and nodding toward the bar, Link said that he had just wanted everybody to celebrate their victory, for Volga to receive the admiration he deserved for doing a great deed. The dragon knight did not need to stand away from the troops if he wished not to. He was just as much an ally as the others and it was time that the soldiers and townsfolk saw that he was.

Volga looked away and breathed a bullish snort in derision, not before noting the sharpness and flurry of his signs as Link explained how he hated seeing people treat him as if he was still the general of Cia's army come to slaughter and burn the land beyond ruin.

"The people you fight for are very ignorant, boy. You can't make them believe what you say, even if you are the Hero," Volga said as he turned around and faced away from Link. "Not many would speak and fight for a dragon. I can think of none that have and think it foolish of you that you would. …As pointless as your efforts may be, I suppose thanks are in order."

Volga clomped down the cobblestone street as he made his way toward the surrounding woods. Before Link followed and caught up with him, Volga smiled softly to himself before squashing his stirred sentiment down and putting on his natural scowl. Volga knew rage but no human but the boy had ever been enraged on his behalf. The idea was so ridiculous to him that he wanted to scoff aloud. Only because he had seen Link's rage firsthand did he stop himself from sneering.

He told Link to go back to the bar but the boy shook his head in clear indication that it wouldn't be much fun. The dragon knight breathed a loud, blustery sigh as he pretended that Link with both his arms hooked around one of Volga's, his head leaning on Volga's upper arm, and his quite content, cute smile were all great bothers and not tiny joys in the least.