Disclaimer: I don't own LoZ

Now, despite what you might think, I love Link. A whole lot. *hugs a bemused Link*. It's just that when I write RHO's he seems to end up suffering. I really don't intend it, honest!


A Little Lesson for Link

Twilight in Lanayru was becoming tedious. Link had had to escape the bed of a dried up Lake Hylia, travel to Castle Town to find out what was going on, get a hot stone at Death Mountain, drag it back to a frozen Zora's Domain, travel back to Lake Hylia, visit a dying spirit, and catch more Insects of Darkness. And he had less than half.

"Lanayru is so damn huge!" Wolf Link snarled. "This is so annoying!"

"You can't do much about the size of Hyrule. You should stop complaining and just get the Tears, so you can return to human form," Midna said, speaking civilly for once.

Link sighed. Midna was right. He turned away from the Upper Zora River to enter a now revitalized Zora's Domain, but the wind carried a faint noise to his sharp ears. The telltale song of a Howling Stone.

"Hey, Midna, do you mind?" he asked, indicating the stone.

She sighed and yawned. "If you really must."

Link walked up the incline to the stone. Concentrating, he closed his eyes and listened to the notes carefully. Low, middle low, high, middle, low...

When Link was sure he had memorized it, he arched his head back and howled the song. For some reason, it sounded like a requiem, full of solemnity. He thought sadly of the frantic spirits in Hyrule Castle Town, but forgot them as he felt himself being pulled into the strange otherworld that the Hero's Shade resided in.

Link looked over all of Hyrule, and saw the one-eyed golden wolf staring at him from a perch above the castle. Link ran around on his little cliff before deciding not to howl the song with the Shade, and ran off the back of the cliff, back into reality.

"Well?" Midna asked. "Where's that wolf gonna be this time?"

"I didn't howl the song with him," Link said slowly. "I just don't know... I didn't want to do it or something..."

Midna sighed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, we'll do it later then. Can we get to the Domain now?"

"Wait!" Link said. "I changed my mind!"

Link howled the song again, and once again found himself in the other dimensional plane.

Only this time, the Shade was right in front of him, crouched and ready to spring, growling in a threatening tone.

"Um, aren't you skipping a step?" Link asked confused. "I have to find you in Hyrule first."

"You DARE to walk out of this dimensional plane without speaking with me?!" the furious Shade snapped.

Link yelped, startled, and backed up a step. "I just didn't feel like it right then! I don't know! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"I will accept no apologies!" the Shade yelled. With a snarl, he lunged at Link.

What seemed like an eternity later, a very bloody, beaten Wolf Link collapse by the Howling Stone outside Zora's river. Midna looked behind her when she heard Link give a gasped "Oof!", and her eyes widened as she saw the state the hero was in. "Link, what in the Twilight happened?" she said, too shocked for any other words. She glided over to the hero, examining scrapes, bruises, bloody fur, and... "Claw marks?!"

Link wheezed before getting enough air in his winded lungs to respond. "The Hero's Shade didn't appreciate me walking out on him before," he managed to say.

"Wow," Midna muttered. "LittleBlueNayru must really hate you. This is what, your third unpleasant experience due to her insanity?"

"GODDESSES, WHY AM I TORMENTED SO!!!" Link howled, a requiem for his spirit.


I DO LOVE LINK!!! I just have a really odd way of showing it... And I love Dark Link, and Shadow Link (and yes, there is a difference, read the Four Sword manga!), and Blue Link, and Vio Link, and Fierce Deity Link, and Zora Link, and on and on and on... So I don't hate Link.

Hey, did you love how I showed you it was the Requiem of Spirit?

Well I was playing Twilight Princess with my friend "Farore", who wanted to know if you could leave that other-worldy-thing without doing the song. Turns out, you can, by walking off that cliff. Weird, huh?

Yes, I did reference Gone Fishing and That's All?!

So, Link learned to never ignore the Hero's Shade, we learned that the Hero's Shade is extremely violent (and doesn't have a character selection on this site!!), and you all learned that my imagination really has run away. If you've seen it, please tell me. So, how did this RHOS-induced RHO turn out? --Blue.