Brothers in Arms

bAM

"W-what?" Everyone's attention was brought to the window located in the front of the building. There was heavy thuds, the crunch of snow and dragging, heavy huffs of breath before it stepped into sight. There, as large as five gorons, was a giant black bear, familiar symbols and runes edged onto a stone plate open its head. It's breath fogged up the glass as it peered into inside, glowing yellow eyes landing upon the hylian. It's muzzle pressed against the places, sniffing and snorting as if it were inhaling a sweet scent.

Link snapped his head over to Sans, who was frozen in shock, then to Undyne who was stared at the bear with wide eyes.

In a flick of his wrist, he melted the fire encasing the fish monster, earning a looks of surprise, then of shock as he quickly drawled his sword to release himself from his prison.

"What is that thing?" The question wasn't really aimed at anyone, not even he could answer it. It looked to be of another twilight beast, maybe one of Zant's experiments, yet it was different. A scream ripped through the air, but outside. In a flash the bear was charging off in a direction, most likely towards the being who screamed. The door slammed smacked the wood loudly as the hylian ripped it open, eyes scanning for the beast. It was currently demolishing a small home nearby, the roof and a wall crumble like paper as the occupants inside screamed for help.

"Move aside!" A mass of weight hit his shoulder as Undyne ran past him, spear in hand.

"I'm warning you to stop, now!" The bear didn't even acknowledge the existence of woman, proceeding to demolish the house in order to reach its target. It wasn't until a bright neon spear was imbedded into it's spiked back that it finally turned around, releasing a mighty roar as its body pulsed with red lines.

"You know where that thing came from?" A voice- Sans, was right next to him, he had a look of suspicion and worry in his grin. However his eyes were focused on the battle before him, as Undyne stood in a defensive stance as the bear started charging towards her. It wasn't going to stop, and she wasn't going to back down.

Undyne, startled as a blur of black and green ran past her. Next thing she knew, an explosion burst into the chest of the giant bear, sending the beast flying back a few feet as black blood oozed from a giant gaping hole.

The hylian stood only a few feet in front of the royal guard, a bow and arrow in hand as he tracked his target. Only turning his head to lock eyes with her, slowly he pointed at the nearly gone house. She could've sworn she heard a voice whisper 'Go' in her head before she sprang into action, running towards the house and its inhabitants.

"Look out!" The warning came suddenly, giving him only seconds to jump out of the way of the dagger sized claws that swiped at him. Strange, the bear's wound was already regenerating, much faster than most creatures he would normally see. It was much faster than he anticipated, he was narrowly dodging each deadly swipe, sometimes skidding to a halt to throw himself to the ground. An explosion this close would not be desirable, he needed more space for that, but with the distance that he did have, he could use his sword easily.

Instantly as his blade was drawn, a horrendous roar ripped from the throat of the beast. His blade slides easily through the black flesh, more blood oozed to the ground as he put more force into his sword. The flesh seemed to sizzle like an egg on a pan as it made contact with the blade.

His face crumbled into disgust as the smell of rotten flesh hit him suddenly, he quickly jumped back as a sudden swarm of giant black insects appeared out of thin air. They were similar to that of a shadow insect, only being more hornet like, sporting red large stingers.

The short skeleton watched as the hylian jumped to a safe distance before pulling out a red staff from out of nowhere. It looked very weird, and different from ones he would normally see in books, he knew of no monster in the Underground that used one. Fire suddenly showered from the staff towards the swarm, burning the insects in a sheet of fire. The blast was strong enough to continue towards the giant bear, igniting the thick fur on its hide.

Agitated, the bear screeched loudly as it rammed itself into some nearby tree, hoping to get rid of the pain. Staff in hand, the hylian stride forward like a lion getting ready to pounce on their prey, he didn't expect the sudden wave of magic. It ripples through him, forcing his soul to appear before as the golden light blossomed into existence. A sudden wave of frost hit him, it felt as if he was dunked back into the icy river and stripped of all his clothing.

"W-what?!" He snapped his attention back towards Undyne, who look both shocked and enraged. The residents of the demolished house, who appeared to be two normal looking bears, well normal for this world, looked utterly terrified as they looked upon the scene.

There was also a the small bunny from before, Tyler, his name was Tyler, and his older sister who he had yet to know the name of. The older sister quickly pulled the smaller bunny behind her, sheltering the little brother from…..him.

They looked at him as if he was a monster. Just like how he was treated when he was in his other form, feared. It wrenched his heart as he saw the horrified looks he received-

Crunch

Pain

PaIN

PAIN

A silent scream ripped through his throat, pain wracked through all the way into his core as he was hurtled yards away. Slamming harshly into the base of a tree, it crumpled upon the impact, luckily his shield protected him from any shards of wood, though the edges dug harshly into his back. Unaware that he had collapsed into his chest, the hylian picked himself up to see a pool of blood collecting upon the ground.

Blood dripped onto the fresh white snow, spreading its into the ground. Placing a hand onto his chest, he found the source of his pain. The bear's claws had sliced right through his clothes and into his chest, luckily his shoulder took most of the damage rather than anything more important.

"Are you okay?" A tiny voice asked from his feet, shocking the hylian. He didn't expect to see a familiar small white bunny so close to him. What was even more surprising was that the child wasn't even scared, the look in his eyes was told a different story, holding wonder and concern. It was short lived as his attention snapped back onto the monster was right above them.

Everything happened so fast, as if the world was put on fast forward,yet he saw all of it. First thing he knew, he had managed to force his soul back where it belonged, doing this as he practically snatched the small bunny from the ground. The adrenaline rushing through his body numbed all the pain as he clutched the small child close to his injured chest. Inhaling a sharp breath, he prepared himself for the oncoming attack.

"Hold it right there!"

….who was that? The voice sounds unfamiliar, yet he couldn't help but get this feeling out of his chest. It was if something inside him called out to it. Like greeting an old friend...

"Well look who's still the life of the party-wait you're looking a little pale there. You okay little guy?" The voice suddenly changed from enthusiasm to concern in a split second. Blue eyes snapped open to land on a goron, it was more as if he was looking at a ghost of one. He was much more muscular than most Gorons, sporting white hair like a lion's mane, what caught his eye was the blue garb he wore like a sash.

Desperately searching his for any memory of this Goron, he found none, yet his heart ached and yearned to get closer. Why couldn't he remember!? It was as if it was on the tip of his tongue!

"I know you don't feel that good buddy, but I have to tell you that you need to finish this soon before anything worse happens. You're the only one here capable of fixing this mess, but don't worry, I've always got your back little guy." The kind eyes didn't match the rough and intimidating appearance of this goron, then again most gorons he met were the kindest people he'd ever known. They accepted him into their clan and treated him as one of their own, the amount of joy and happiness he felt that day was too much to bare, just like this moment.

'You know what to do' A voice spoke within his head, he hesitantly set Tyler down, picking up his sword from the icy ground, and ran towards the now downed bear as fast as his legs carried him. A deep, rumbling laughed came from behind him, from the Goron. The hylian couldn't help it, the warmth spread through his chest, numbing the pain. He felt ten times lighter than usual. In seconds h

He bolted towards the fallen creature, gripping his blade as he drew near. With a powerful jab, he imbedded his sword into the thick skull of the beast. The reaction was instant, the bear thrashed and raised to its feet, forcing the hylian to hold on with a death grip on the hilt of the blade as it tried to shake him off. In his free hand, he drew a shock arrow, jabbing it deeply into an eye of the beast.

It slammed its head into a tree, only forcing the blade deeper into its skull. The hylian took the opportunity to plant his feet against the tree and force the blade deeper until finally the bear went limp. Falling to the ground with a giant thud, forcing the hylian to let go of the blade as he fell to the ground painfully.

Get up

He did so, forcing himself into sitting position. Looking towards the bear, he was surprised to see how long it was taking it to decay, unless...

Something inside called him towards the monster bear, the job wasn't done. Struggling to get up to his feet, he unsteadily walked towards the bear. Strange, it hadn't dissolved away yet, normally any monster like that came from the Twilight Realm would turn into pixels, then again this was no normal monster. There…there was something inside of it.

He retrieved his blade from the skull with little difficulty, before venturing towards the chest or the beast. Studying it for a moment, his grip flexed upon the handle before pushing away the gigantic furry forearm of the bear to get to get a full view of the chest. Plunging his blade deep into its carcass, he slowly sliced through the revolting flesh all the way to its stomach.

"W-what the hell are you doing?!" Was the loudest response he got as he forced his hand into the wound, ignoring his discomfort, he forced his arm in until he felt what he was looking for. Using his other hand to steady himself against the carcass, slowly he pulled, receiving only little movement. He decided it was best to use both hands, planting a foot against the body as he pulled.

It wasn't until he felt a tug against him that he realized that the body was already regenerating that he needed to act quickly. Forcing energy from his hand helped the process, immediately, the flesh retracted from his hand like a angry cat. He fell towards the ground with his prize, holding it protectively against his chest as the bear had its final howl before turning into pixels. They floated into the sky, forming a familiar portal that he was used to using when warping across Hyrule.

"If you move one step, I will gladly make sure that it'll be your last." A harsh voice suddenly said from behind him, Undyne. He was on his feet in an instantly, snapping his head towards the royal guard, and oh boy did she look furious. His attention was stolen by the movement on his chest, it was the small bear he had pulled from that monster. It finally seemed to come to, snapping his honey brown eyes open to land on the hylian. His furry brown ears perked up in interest, before reality seemed to set in as tears soon formed in his eyes.

At first, Link thought the cub was terrified of seeing him, but that was all out the window as he buried his head into the hylian's chest, unaware of the wound that was there. Pain flashed across his torso, but he ignored it as he soothed the cub, combing his hand through its soft, yet dirty fur.

He looked back to see the royal guard was no longer hostile, but dumbfounded. The hylian looked sharply at the spear in her hand, a distasteful look spread upon his face.

"W-wait, How-"

"Joshua!" The pair of bears from before were running closer, so they were the parents. Their worry and concern over powered their fear of him, they ignored Undyne's warnings and shouts as they drew close to him. They got so close that he could feel their breath on his skin, his nerves grew erratic from the lack of space. They were big, very big and tall, at least a half a foot more than him. In a way they reminded him of Gorons, in a fight they could do damage, but they were too sweet and too kind to really be intimidating to him.

This was their son, their son. The one monster who turned into an actual monster, and they had to watch everything that….

He tried pulling the cub away from his chest, but he wouldn't budge. The child only clung harder, burying more into his chest as he shied away from the world.

"Josh, sweetie. You need to let go, you're hurting him. Mommy is right here, come on baby." The mother bear cooed to her child, taking notice of the pain that flashed upon the hylian's face. It wasn't until he heard this that the cub finally relieved the pressure on his chest, peering up at him in question. His sweet brown eyes searched little before finding the wounds inflicted upon the hylian.

"I-I'm sorry!" The cu-Josh, said with guilt, eyes tearing up again. However, he stopped once the hylian flashed a small smile. He deposited the cub into his parents' arms. Instantly, they both embraced Josh before checking him for any visible wounds.

"I-i was terrified that I would never see my son again, and then you came along. There's no words to explain how thankful I am, if you ever need anything, please come to us." The father said after turning to him. Link had to admit that he knew the feeling of losing a child, they day he lost the kids to those monsters, was the worse day in his life. He could never imagine if they were turned into some kind of experiment though, it would be a nightmare. Before he knew it, he was pulled into an embrace, it was quick but it felt like it lasted forever.

"Take care of yourself." Right, Undyne. He couldn't stay long, this family was the only thing standing between Undyne and stabbing his heart out. The hylian turned to back to Josh, giving the cub a gentle smile before ruffling his hair.

"I would invite you over to dinner but...the house is kind of a wreck right now. Just promise me that I will at least get to make you one meal." The mother said before giving a small chuckle, her smile soon dropped.

"Run." She said under her breath, loud enough only for him to hear, and so he did. He practically vaulted himself off towards the thick tree line. He didn't focus on the shouts or the loud footsteps following him, he ran for as long as he could until finally he was alone.