One Thing That Wasn't Odd At All
It's already been six months since I defeated Gannondorf and went back to Ordona Village. It had been awhile since I wore my green hero clothes, and it actually felt good to have them on again. There were virtually no more monsters wandering the world, though it didn't stop me from carrying all of the gear I had acquired over my quest. Without the threat of eternal twilight, bomb arrows and double claw shots were actually pretty fun to use. The children heartily agreed, their parents on the other hand…not so much. And while I never would have thought it during the thick of things, just staying in the goat herding village was kind of boring. I didn't want another dark lord to rise up or anything, but…it was just...kind of boring.
I had finally gotten stir crazy enough that Ilia suggested I go visit some my farther reaching friends. That very night I had saddled Empona and set off for Castle Town. I had only spent two nights at Telma's bar, and I was already contemplating paying another ten rupees and visiting the sky city because I was so antsy. I was wandering the city looking for something interesting, when it literally ran into me and bowled me over. It's really kind of sad how it happened.
I was saying hi and playing with Gengle and the other cats when I heard shouting. Before I could even turn around to see what was going on, a body barreled into me full tilt. I could hear the screams of soldiers, and also what sounded like the angry yells of Shad and Telma. I couldn't be sure though due to the fact that I was blinded by a very vibrant orange and red that was horribly distracting. After a moment though Telma must have saw me and she began to take charge. Things quickly began to settle down after that, and a new noise began to emerge into the void.
The orange and red quickly removed themselves from my vision, but I was swiftly being enthralled by the words coming out of the person. Just the sheer amount of them would awe anyone, but it was how he, and it was a he, was using them. Never before had I heard so many creative and scathing insults in one conversation. Before I could truly catch up on the situation a hand deftly grabbed onto my arm and yanked me to my feet. I was still a bit dazed but managed to focus my mind on the stream of words that hadn't even paused the entire time.
"-don't blame your mother at all. I'm sure she did the best with what she could work with, but because I might have been in the vicinity of that explosion, doesn't mean I was the one who caused it. You must have done some special favors to even be able to graduate from the academy at all with that brand of logic. All of your absurd leaps in judgment made me run into the fine if oddly dressed young man…" He gestured back to me, but then he looked me in the eyes and his infinite amount words seemed to finally dry up.
When we locked eyes something deep inside myself slipped seamlessly into place and cried out in joy. The red head was slack jawed with a look of wonder in his eyes, and I began to feel a smile come on my face. Before either of us could work past the moment, one of the guards spoke something and started to move forward. The change was instantaneous.
Before I could even consciously think, I had already roughly pulled the red head behind me and was in a battle crouch with my sword and shield drawn. There was an almost dead silence that was only disturbed by a slight noise. It took a few moments to realize that I was the one making the noise, and that the noise was me growling at the guards. I stopped and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down again. Telma looked shocked, Shad looked scandalized, and the guards looked down right terrified. I was actually kind of glad the red head was behind me so I couldn't see his reaction. Everyone had though noticed that even though I was now calm, my sword did not waver.
"Now honey," Telma began in a soothing voice, "There isn't any need for you to draw out that blade of yours." I tilted my head in consideration and gave a quick glance at the now quiet red head behind me and the still terrified guards in front of me. The fact that the red head was quiet deeply unsettled me, and even roused a bit of my tightly controlled anger. I glared at the guard closest to me and tightened the grip on my sword. The guard flinched back so that he was closer to his brothers in arms behind him. Shad and Telma looked at a loss as to what to do, and the guards looked too scared to do anything. It was actually the red head who had started the whole mess who successfully diffused it.
"Now calm down tall, blonde, and growly," he spoke as he stepped out from behind me and put a hand on my sword arm, "Just because these poor excuses of Castle Town guards jumped to conclusions and tried to slander my good name by saying that I blew up the dodgy carnival tent is no reason to skewer the poor bastards," here he paused to give off a snort of laughter, "like scared little bunnies cornered by a wolf," he whispered, and I couldn't hold in the smirk at his wording.
"Now," he began at a normal volume, "I'm sure all of us here learned a valuable life lesson, and are more than willing to part on friendly terms." He spread his arms wide and put on a smile that a salesman would envy. The guards all looked at each other before they beat a hasty retreat, and while it wasn't running, it was a very brisk walk. Before Telma or Shad could comment on my strange behavior, the red head turned around and began speaking.
"Whew, was that a close one or what? You were a life saver buddy. Those guards had some type of vendetta against me or something. I personally thought the dye bomb that I put in their barracks was hilarious, and it wasn't even like I chose a girly color or anything. It was a very manly sky blue that made them a lot easier to identify from far away," when he paused to take a breath he turned around and pointed a finger at Shad, "And don't think I don't know about your part in this four eyes!" Shad jumped in surprise at the sudden focus, and I couldn't hold in the silent huff of laughter. "I know who pointed them in my direction, and told them where I usually hole up for the day. You're just lucky that the weird bug girl is creepy or I'd booby trap your library full of water bombs!" Before Shad could voice his anger at the threat though the red head had already moved on and was turned back towards me.
"And just for the record, I actually didn't blow up his tent. I just traded some of my less creative explosives for some beer to these angry looking guys. Personally, I think the is a valuable lesson to that guy that if you're going to swindle people out of their rupees, that you shouldn't stay in one place so long. Oh! I forgot to introduce myself!" He stuck out his hand and pasted on a beaming, if very mischievous, smile, "Left my home town after all that strange monster business, reception was wearing kind of thin, and showed up here a few months ago. Name's Mar." I looked at his hand, and then took in all that 'Mar' entailed.
His hair was the first thing to grab a person's attention, especially since for some reason it was a strange two tone color with blonde roots and bright red ends. His hair seemed to be a wild mess that was held back by a pair of well-worn goggles. He had a bright orange shirt with a sturdy long leather jacket with a pair of leather gloves to match. His pants were a strange thing in that I had never known one garment could hold so many pockets and still function. With the few hints he dropped in the last few minutes of conversation, I could only imagine what they were full of. My study of him must have lasted longer than I thought, because when I looked back up to his eyes he was starting to look uncertain.
I quickly sheathed my sword, with a bit of flourish to show off to the red head, and put up my shield. I wiped off the bit of dust I had got on my clothes as I preened a bit under his admiration, before I gripped his hand in a firm grip.
"My name is Link." I heard both Telma and Shad gasp in surprise, and Mar turned around to give them a questioning look. My voice was gravelly and cracked from disuse, though not as bad as I had imagined it would sound like after all these years. Shad just opened and closed his mouth a few times before he could gather his thoughts.
"Yo-you can talk!" he accused, "Why didn't you before?!" It was actually kind of comical really, but I couldn't blame him. After all these years, I was a bit surprised that my voice still worked at all. I looked down at my feet and vaguely wondered where all the cats went. The new kittens were kind of cute and I wanted to play with them.
"Didn't want to," I finally replied. My voice was still as bad as before, and I actually coughed a bit.
Before Mar could voice his obvious question, Telma charged forward and drew me into a hug. I couldn't even think to struggle before she pushed me back so she could look me in the eyes. Her own eyes were glassy with unshed tears, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit confused at her reaction.
"Oh honey, it sounds like you could use a drink." I was still kind of confused, but my throat was hurting and a drink sounded really good. I nodded and Telma gave me a big smile before she started leading us back to her bar. I took a step forward before I realized that Mar wasn't following. I stared at him until he understood that he was supposed to be coming with us, and he bounded forward so that we were now walking side by side. He kept glancing at me from the corner of his eye, and I just waited for him to ask whatever was on his mind.
"Sooo…" I turned towards him and waited for him to continue, "You didn't talk before now? Like, ever?" I scoured through my memories before I finally shook my head.
"First time," I whispered, trying to go easy on my throat. Mar blinked for a moment before he put on an overly theatrical coy look on his face as he batted his eyelashes.
"You gave your first to me? I'm flattered big boy." I was a bit stunned at his words, but after seeing my face he soon let out an ear splitting cackle. I breathed out my own laugh and shook my head. I had known Mar for less than an hour, and already he seemed like the best friend that I had given up on having.
"Oh man," he spoke out around a laugh, wiping a tear from his eye, "your face was priceless…" he trailed off, probably reliving my reaction. He calmed down soon enough, and looked like he was going to ask another question. We were almost at Telma's bar though, and I was debating on whether or not I should hold off on speaking until I got that drink that Telma hinted at.
"Why were you growling at the guards?" The words literally exploded out of him, tumbling one after the other, and startled me a bit. Mar just shrugged his shoulders and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I've had a lot of things growl at me, both human and not, and that growl was definitely leaning towards the latter end of the spectrum." I blinked at his oddly serious question, and thought about it. Telma and Shad were talking to each other ahead of us so they weren't really paying attention to our conversation. It was while we were descending the stairs that I had finally found an answer. I paused on the steps and couldn't help but rub my left wrist. That stupid shackle was the most annoying part of transforming, and would actually rub my leg raw if I stayed as a wolf too long. I looked at him and gave a final order to my words before I spoke them.
"The wolf is still with me, still close to the surface," I settled on. Telma paused mid-sentence and quickly looked back at me. I saw her eyes flick down to my hands since I was still holding my left wrist, and I quickly moved my hands back to my sides. She just narrowed her eyes and gave me a syrupy sweet smile, like she had just started to realize that it was a 'who' and not a 'what' that she threw out of her bar all those months ago.
"You're gonna have to do some sharing honey, now that we know you can share." She finished with a wink and turned back around to usher us all into her bar. I just swallowed and tried remember how to walk down stairs. Mar didn't bother to hold back his amusement at my misery, and I made sure to smack him upside the head as I walked by.
Several hours later, along with several drinks later, Mar was weaving in his seat at the table spinning tales of all the exploits that made it a wise decision for him to move from his home town. I was in that happy state where I had drank enough that everything looked kind of fuzzy and vaguely happy. I had no desire to pass this point of intoxication, and was now sipping from a glass of water. I had just barely managed to convince Mar that no more of Telma's special brew was actually a good idea, so he also had cup of water by my elbow. After he finished his story, he stared into his cup like he was listening to the secret of life. He took a giant drink of it, but judging by the look on his face had forgotten that it was water. He put his head on the table while some look came on to his face. It reminded me of when the cats found out that someone had taken their toy ball. It made me want to go bite someone to make the problem go away. Before I could vocalize my offer, Mar started speaking.
"Gotta move on soon. Castle Town is already getting tired of me," he slightly slurred out with a sigh. I was starting to get angry since the look got even worse. It was like someone had kicked one of the kittens, and I let out a quiet growl. I would have to remember that when I drank I got more wolf like. Right now I couldn't tell if it was a bad thing or not. Mar started speaking again though and I had to pay attention. "A lot of people get tired of me. They never want me to stay…" He wasn't looking at me anymore and was staring into the fire place. I started to growl again, but an idea started to come to me. Zelda kept telling me that I would have to do it sooner or later, but I just kept putting it off. Really, I think it was because I knew that quests were no fun alone…
I pulled out my sword for the second time that night and laid it on the table. It was enough to jar Mar out of his morose thoughts, so that now his curious, if plastered, gaze was on me. I saw Telma get up in alarm, but I waved her away. When she saw that I wasn't going to move it from the table she sat back down, and shook her head with a smile. I focused on Mar and leaned forward like I was sharing a secret. He got the hint and leaned forward to so that he would be able to hear.
"The is a special sword, a Master Sword," my voice was still pretty rough, and seemed to naturally be kind of gravelly, but it wasn't nearly as cracked or sore as earlier, "Got it from a sacred grove. Had to beat a creepy ghost kid while I was a wolf to get it. Zelda says I need to put it back." I stared at Mar. Other than seeming slightly surprised that I knew the princess, he still looked vaguely like a kicked kitten. I rolled my eyes, and maybe growled, I probably didn't but I'm pretty sure I did, because Mar seemed to think that I was going to leave. I leaned forward a bit more and shared my thought from earlier.
"Quests are no fun alone." Mar just sat there for a minute, blinking stupidly, before he finally worked out what I meant. A slow smile began to blossom on his face, and I leaned back and sheathed my sword with a satisfied smile. I looked over at Telma and she was giving us a strange look but I ignored it. Mar was happy again and that was the most important thing, because Mar was 'he'. Mar was the person that was supposed to be with me since the beginning but wasn't. Mar was the one that would have loved Midna. Mar would never be scared of me, no matter what.
I leaned back and looked at Mar, trying to see if he was feeling what I was, if he had half formed thoughts about someone he never knew too. He drained the last of his water and looked back at me, actually trying to concentrate through his haze of liquor. It was almost like he saw me as some type of puzzle that he could solve if he looked hard enough. All of a sudden he leaned forward and winked at me, though he had a soft smile on his face.
"Yeah, you were always on my mind too." I blinked in surprise for a moment before I just laughed.
'I never had to speak, he always knew what I wanted to say.'
The thought flashed through my mind quicker than I could truly comprehend it but it didn't matter. We were both a little tipsy, more than a little on Mar's part really, and we had a quest to start tomorrow. Not to mention that I had to introduce Mar and Empona. As I got up I helped to support Mar as he launched into another story about how he created and tested an explosive that was just a loud noise and a flash of light. I let his voice wash over me as we hobbled up the stairs to the room that Telma was letting me use. I couldn't hold in the smile as I thought that this felt a lot like a happy ending.
AU: To clear up some loose ends. Mar is supposed to be Dax, I just thought it would be weird if he had the same name and Jak didn't, so I named him Mar cause I thought it would be an interesting tie in, and it also had 3 letters. Also, it wasn't supposed to be a Jak/Dax thing, though slash does infect a lot of what I write. I more meant it to be a transcending soul mate hooplah. Dax just keeps flirting with Jak because I see him as a type of personality that flirts with anything, and likes to do it for the lols and to see people squirm. Cernod was also a made up character because Jak needed to have a parental figure and the games never say how a 16(?) year old came to live by himself on the edge of the village.
