"I found you!"
She's a demon.
Why else does she have red eyes and blue lips and a fang poking from beneath them, and a mask like horns spiraling from her terrible little head?
She kicks his sides with tiny feet that should be delicate, but they aren't. Her laugh rings cruel against dank dungeon walls. And he hates her. Hates her with every fiber of his being.
Paws splash in shallow, filthy water. Pink tongue lolls from his maw as he runs. It feels strange to be a wolf, but he supposes he'll have to get used to it.
He thinks he never will.
I'm dreaming, that's all, he tries to convince himself. Why else would he be a wolf, running through a dark, unfamiliar dungeon with a cackling imp riding on his back? It's ridiculous, that's what it is, and he assures himself he'll be waking up soon to see the sun streaming through the window of his house in Ordon Village. And then he'll herd the goats like he always does, and he and Ilia will laugh together when he tells her what an odd dream he had just the night before.
Then the imp kicks his sides again, and the pain in his ribs and the snarl on his wolfish lips is real enough to convince him that maybe, just maybe, he might not be dreaming.
"Hurry up!" the demon sighs, and kicks his sides again.
I'm not a horse! he wants to tell her, just in case she's stupid enough not to notice - but when he tries to speak, only an irritated growl bubbles in his throat. And she doesn't understand. She giggles again, of course, that terrible giggle of hers that he hates so deeply. "Now, now, be a good boy!"
He doesn't know her name, hasn't even known her for more than ten minutes. And already she's his worst enemy.
Then he stumbles across a very tall staircase, a deep pool of filthy, pungent water festering beneath. And he seizes his opportunity.
He doesn't even care that leaping head-first into the pool fills his mouth and ears and nose with disgusting, brown water. Doesn't even care that it soils his once-silky fur coat. All that matters is that the imp doesn't realize what he's doing until it's too late, until she's sinking deep into the revolting water and swallowing tons of it because she didn't close her mouth on time.
With rage and disgust boiling in her crimson eyes, she floats upward, breaks the surface of the murky sewer water and splutters. She can't do anything else, really, other than flick the brown liquid off her arms and legs and body and gasp for air.
Not that the air is much better than the water. They both smell and taste the same.
He swims out of the murky pool, sopping, the occasional mystery object tangled within his fur. And he's not quite sure he wants to know what those objects are.
"Stupid!" the demon screeches after she's finally able to speak again. "Stupid, bad wolf, bad!" A tiny black hand riddled with cyan markings flies toward his head. He isn't fast enough, and doesn't manage to dodge the slap. Even as a wolf, and even coming from such a small hand, slaps don't feel any different. They still hurt.
He pulls his lips back, snarls at her, and she only rolls her single visible eye. The other one is hidden by that ugly mask of hers. "Get going, stupid wolf," she hisses, crashing down on his back once more, making him flinch beneath her sudden weight. For such a tiny creature, she's surprisingly heavy.
He only stands there a moment longer - and then shakes out his fur.
The little imp gives a cry of surprise, cut short when droplets of filthy water fly into her mouth with a vengeance. She clings to his fur for dear life until he's done, and then she smacks his head and kicks his sides. Again.
So he snarls, and shakes out his fur. Again.
Baring her teeth, the demon grasps one of his ears and tugs it back with a force that rips a whimper from his throat against his will. "Listen, you useless dog," she spits. He turns a narrowed eye to glare at her. "Obey me, or you won't get what you want. You care about your friends, right?"
Friends. The mention of them sends his heart dropping into his stomach like a stone.
She sees the pain in his eyes. And only smiles.
Hatred burns within his veins, turning his blood to fire. He wouldn't wish the little imp dead, or even hurt. It just isn't in his nature. But he wishes she'd return to the fiery pit from whence she no doubt came, and never return to torment him.
"That's right." The cruel demon laughs, laughs at his pain. She releases his ear and leans back, lacing her arms behind her head, and stares down her nose at him with a smirk etched on her foul lips. "If you want to save them, you'll do exactly as I say. So... be a good boy, and head up those stairs, okay?" She points to them, the spiraling stone staircase climbing up and away from the sewers below.
He never stops glaring at her, never stops the growl rumbling in his throat. But he obeys her anyway.
What else can he do?
She giggles and pats his neck. "I think we're going to get along just fine!"
A/N: I want to write all these oneshots in chronological order to capture the growth of their relationship. So if you're here solely for fluff, you'll probably get some later on, but you'll have to wait. :P
Anyway, I really shouldn't be doing this, because I'm already working on the hundred themes challenge and three different stories, but whatever. Here it is. I wanted to do this for two reasons - one, because I'm awful at writing anything even remotely romantic, so I wanted to practice. As such, critiques are most definitely welcome. They'll always help me improve! And reason number two - because please help me, I'm drowning in Midlink.
Oh, also, the rating is subject to raise to T due to possible violence. I'm not sure yet though.
Sorry, long authors note, I'll keep them much shorter in the future - but I just wanted to say, thanks so much for reading (and reviewing, if you want to do that too)!