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I have returned. Woohoo! Enjoy the story, folks!

I do not own, nor ever will own, the rights to the Legend of Zelda or any of the characters, objects, creatures, etc. Nintendo owns all rights to this franchise.

Chapter 22: The Wanderer

You know, if you don't bring it out, you won't be able to beat that shadow.

Midna had reminded him once again why he was doing what he was doing, which was currently meditating. He didn't need to be reminded, and her constant pestering was breaking his concentration. Meditating was the best way to get in touch with his inner self and find the part of him that helped him on his journey in the first place. Yet, after meeting Midna for a month in his mind, he was no closer to finding it.

He made to speak, but couldn't as his voice was still being silenced by whatever magic the Twilight Princess was using to keep in contact with him from the Twilight Realm.

She shook her head with a smirk. So what if I am breaking your concentration? Do you think Shade will give you some peace and quiet as you just sit around searching for some inner peace? If only, she scoffed, having read his mind once again. Now, back to it. You don't have me to help you this time, so you have to do it all on your own. You having such strong ties to the land of light makes it even harder, so you will have to…

He cut her voice out as he returned to meditating. Once again, he began to search within himself for the power he so desperately needed if he was going to stop Shade's plans.

As per Midna's advice, he tried focusing on the anger and pain. The sadness. The fury. Every negative emotion he felt, he focused on trying to bring out his dark side. None of that seemed to help.

His brow furrowed as he dug deeper, bringing up more painful memories of the past. Arrows digging deep into his skin as the sound of Bulblins echoed off canyon walls in celebration of having hit their target. Deep, rigged cuts from duels that nearly ended his life as he made one careless mistake too many. Burns from bombs going off too soon – or that could be due to his lack of care when handling explosives, but he quickly moved on to something else.

Then, after searching memory after memory, he remembered a few words that lit a fire in his soul.

Do you even have a family?

The question itself was innocent, the intent was equally so. But for a second, it sparked something within him. A series of rapidly asked questions came to mind.

Where was his mother?

His father?

Did they abandon him?

Was he a burden to them?

Where did he come from?

What did he do to deserve this?

Did they even…

…love him?

It was at that moment everything melted away. The twilit sky, Midna, everything disappeared. Only darkness surrounded him. The first question led to more questions, which led to what he was searching for. He could hear a slow thumping of what sounded like a heartbeat in his ears. It picked up pace, not letting up.

Until he finally lost himself.

He screamed towards the sky, letting all of his emotion flow out. Wisps of black smoke floated across his body as he felt himself changing.

It felt familiar, yet different all at once. He had undergone this transformation many times before, but how he was changing wasn't the same. He felt his scream turning into a howl as fur started to cover his body. He began losing his humanity as his inner, bestial self took over. And just as he could feel the last of the change occur, it stopped. Everything reverted as the animal within him was caged again.

His scream had become silenced, replaced by a heavy breathing. He was now on all fours, staring at the twilit sky that floated beneath him under the invisible barrier that held his weight.

Why hadn't he changed? It's not like he hadn't done it before. It should have been as second nature to him as breathing. Yet, for some reason, it had all stopped just as he was about to turn into a beast. Along with it, the pain that he began to feel as those questions began swirling around in his head disappeared.

Nothing made sense. What happened? How did he begin changing, and why did it suddenly stop?

Ah, so there is still darkness in you. Midna had sauntered over to him, now standing over him. As much as I like seeing you on your knees, I need you to tap back into that darkness before you forget how. He glared at her, not exactly happy with what she had said. Oh, don't give me that look. It was a joke. But in all seriousness you need to tap back into your inner darkness again. No matter how little there is.

His expression turned from one of annoyance, to one of confusion as he sat back on his legs. What could she have meant by his darkness?

She sighed. I have to explain this don't I? Fine. Well, I know you think all of the evil, the darkness in you left when it all coalesced into the spirit that you call 'Shade'. However, you are Hylian, and like all Hylians, you still have dark desires, impurities, even if they are hidden deep down within your soul. And that is what you need to fight him: your darkness. I think you can guess what happens when you tap into it, correct?

He nodded his head, understanding how he had begun his transformation. Something inside him had stirred and wanted to be released from its cage. However, he still did not know why.

Midna shook her head.

Still so dense, still so clueless. No wonder it took you so long for you and that girl to proclaim your love for each other. She paused for a moment, a sad smile that she didn't let him see appeared on her face. The reason, she continued is you thought of something that filled you with negativity, allowing the darkest parts of your being to rise to the surface. They kept rising, and rising, until you could not contain them anymore – that's when your darkness became manifest and started taking you over. Thanks to that, plus the Twilight's presence enhancing this power, you started to transform again. Without my help, for once, Midna finished with a self-satisfied smirk that was, again, all too familiar.

So there is still darkness within me, he thought. I thought it had all disappeared… but I guess everyone has a dark side.

Indeed they do, Midna commented. She added in with a laugh, No, I will not stop reading your mind. I'd be able to help you more if you stay quiet, like you used to.

He shook his head in annoyance. Lucky me…

Lucky you, indeed. Now, we have a lot of work to do. I don't think Shade will just wait for you to meditate and transform. You need to be able to do it at the swing of his sword, the bat of an eye. So, her smirk widened into a smug smile, and her eyes thinned as she stared at him, let's get back to it.

"Who are you?"

The first words that were spoken came from Constantine, and they were directed at the stranger who, both he and Rusl had assumed, saved them.

"Who I am is not important, right now," the man spoke, his voice strangely familiar to Constantine. "What you should be worrying about is escaping before more of those criminals decide to come down here and see what happened. Now, come on."

The man in white turned to leave, his canine companion doing the same. He hoped Rusl and Constantine would do the same. However, he was not so lucky.

"How do we know we can trust you?"

Turning around, the man in white now stared down at the wrong end of Rusl's sword. It was held right at the man's neck. The oddly colored wolf growled lowly at the threat to his master.

The man smirked.

"Do you see these men on the ground? My companion and I killed them in under a minute. So, ask yourself, why did we not do the same to you when we easily could have in the confusion?"

Both Rusl and Constantine examined the men around them, noticing there were way too many for both rangers to take on at once. Yet this mysterious stranger and a wolf did it all by themselves. Even if it was a surprise attack under the cover of darkness, how could they do it so easily?

"I hope that serves as a good enough reason to trust me," the man in white remarked, receiving the rangers' attention once again. He started pushing the sword away from his throat with his fingers.

For a second longer, Rusl stared the man down. Just as he was about to lower his sword, he heard the wolf begin to growl again. All three men turned towards it to see that it wasn't growling at Rusl anymore, but at a glowing light in the dark distance.

"Hm, looks like we had less time than I thought." The man in white nodded towards his canine companion, who was now staring at him, waiting for an order. "Go. Create a distraction."

The wolf appeared to nod its head before charging towards the distant light. Not much later, the men could hear panicked screams and shouts coming from the same direction of the light. A howl was mixed in there somewhere.

"So, Hylian, for now will you trust me?" the man in white questioned once more.

Rusl nodded reluctantly, realizing he and Constantine didn't have much of a choice. The lieutenant sheathed his sword.

"Good, then let's go." All three men turned towards the ridge where Ashei and Raina were waiting for Rusl and Constantine to return. "You have others with you I assume?"

"Yes," Rusl answered.

"And I can also assume they're behind that ridge over there?"

"Yes…" Rusl answered hesitantly as the trio continued running.

If the lieutenant were to be perfectly honest, he wasn't entirely in the present right now. His thoughts were focused on the strange man in front of them. Who was he? Where did he come from? Another thing that caught Rusl's attention was the wolf that appeared at the man's side. Rusl wasn't able to get a good enough look at the wolf in the dim light, but he swore he could see bits of green, a pair of familiar blue eyes, and an earring on the wolf's ear. It may have all been his imagination, but the wolf resembled the same wolf Link turned into. Rusl couldn't be sure, however, since he was only able to catch a brief glimpse of both Link in his wolf form and the wolf.

Yet a small feeling of hope bloomed inside Rusl. The first amount of hope he'd ever felt in the past few months.

It wasn't much longer before the trio reached the ridge. When they did, the man in white was almost immediately stopped as an outstretched sword from behind a boulder halted him in his tracks. Coming out into the dim light of Rusl's lantern was Ashei, sword still held at the man's throat. Not a moment later, she was joined by Raina, who had an arrow trained on the mysterious man.

"Who are you, stranger?" Ashei questioned dangerously.

"Is this how all Hylians greet each other nowadays?" the man questioned sarcastically.

"Ashei, stand down!"

Rusl stepped forward, the light clearing away the darkness surrounding him and Constantine.

"Lieutenant Rusl?"

"Yes. Now, I repeat, stand down. As of now, this man is an ally. After all, he saved our lives."

"He did?" Ashei questioned before lowering her sword. "I am sorry, stranger. I did not know…"

"Don't beat yourself up over it. Now, I assume you have horses? After all, your camp is quite a ways from here," the mysterious man commented.

"Wait, you know where our camp is?" Constantine asked shakily, now facing the stranger. "Have you been spying on us!?"

"…Maybe," the man answered cryptically. "Again, it does not matter now. My companion can only hold off your attackers for so long. We must be off before they find us."

"We? So you're joining us now?" Constantine questioned again.

"Yes. I have some information that may be of use to you. And, as you saw back at Arbiter's Ground, I'm a decent fighter, and you need all the help you can get. Once we get back to your camp I will explain myself and tell you anything you wish to know. I assume that will suffice, lieutenant?"

The man in white overlooked Constantine and stared straight at Rusl. For a moment, they held each other's eyes, neither looking away nor blinking. Then, with a heavy sigh, Rusl closed his eyes and nodded his head.

"He'll come with us. Ashei," Rusl turned towards the woman, who was sheathing her sword.

"Yes, lieutenant?"

"Let him ride with you. If he tries anything fishy, don't be afraid to show him why you were in charge of the Hylian Militia."

"Of course," she commented dryly, though a hint of smirk appeared on her face.

"Good. Then we don't have much time to waste, let's go." Rusl turned his attention back to the man in white. "Should we wait for the wolf?"

"No, he will be fine on his own. He'll find us, don't you worry," the mysterious man commented as he followed Ashei and Raina. "He's resourceful like that."

Both Rusl and Constantine watched as he followed Ashei and Raina to the horses.

"Well, that's definitely one amazing wolf, if that's the case. Guess we'll see," Constantine commented as he began following them.

"Uh huh…" Rusl agreed unassuredly.

"Yeah, I don't trust him either," Constantine said, instantly picking up on Rusl's meaning. "But we'll keep any eye on him, don't you worry."

"Right…" Rusl replied offhandedly as he too followed the rest of the group towards the horses, leaving behind Constantine.

The corporal sighed. "Why can't anything ever go as planned?" With that, he jogged to catch up with Rusl and the others as they made their way to the horses.

The sky was colored a bloody red by the rising sun when the rangers and their new companion returned to camp. By that time, everyone was already waking up to attend to their daily duties as the night guards returned to their tents for a well-deserved, much needed nap. As for the returning rangers, they rode their horses straight to the center of camp, where King Bulblin was already staring at maps with the Hylian strategist, Jean.

As Rusl walked in with his new ally, Constantine, Raina, and Ashei, the two were bickering over something. It did not phase nor surprise Rusl in the slightest.

"So what are we to do? Just stand here and wait for them to find us again!" King Bulblin yelled at Jean. "After all, we've already been here for a week. I'm sure they'll find us at some point if we don't move soon."

"Yes, but if we keep moving, it will make it harder for any reinforcements to find us." Jean, surprisingly, was holding his ground against the king. His usually soft voice was loud and commanding. "Listen, I am a strategist. It is my job to strategize, and it is your job to listen, King Bulblin."

"Boy, you dare?" King Bulblin lifted himself to his full height. Instantly, Jean regretted his decision as he took a tentative step from the table. "No Hylian challenges me or tells me my place, save your bastard-hero and the old timer! So I will not take such words from you unless you can back them up with action. Understood?"

Jean nodded his head slowly.

"Good." King Bulblin turned towards Rusl after he finished speaking with Jean. "Now then, old timer, I see you're back. Death didn't take you yet, hm?" A smirk came to King Bulblin's face.

"No, not yet. I'm waiting for it to take you first, king," Rusl came back with a soft chuckle. He walked over to the table, the rest of his group joining him.

King Bulblin let loose a deep, throaty chuckle. "We'll see who dies first in the upcoming battle then." It was at this point that the king turned his attention to the stranger in white, his smirk disappearing. "Who's this you've picked up?"

"That's exactly what I would like to know," Rusl admitted as he turned his attention to the man as well. "He has told us little to nothing about himself. All we know is that he saved mine and Constantine's life."

"And that's enough to put your trust in him?"

"For now, it would seem."

"Hmph, then I guess I'll start with the questions. First off, what is your name, stranger?"

The man stepped up to the table. "My name does not matter at this moment, but you can call me… Wander. Yes, Wander will suffice for now." Even the stranger seemed to not know his name as he introduced himself.

"'Wander'? Very well," King Bulblin commented.

"Though it is suspicious that you will not share your real name with us, Wander," Jean jumped in, calling out the stranger.

Wander turned to the strategist then, eyeing him dangerously with his red eyes. They seemed to freeze Jean in his place. For a moment longer, the stranger continued eyeing Jean, looking him over for some unknown reason. Then, Wander's face relaxed with a small smile.

"And you are right to be suspicious. But please understand, I mean none of you harm. I have my own score to settle with the criminals that now occupy Arbiter's Grounds. Believe you me, it will be settled," Wander admitted with a suspicious tone.

"T-then is that the reason you saved the lieutenant and corporal?" Jean questioned carefully.

"Partially, yes. I can make use of this small vagabond army. Plus I am just as such, so why not say yes to helping out your fellow people?"

"Because helping out our fellow people has bitten us in the ass a couple of times," Constantine spoke up.

"That it has," King Bulblin confirmed.

"But we could use all the help we can get right now," Rusl added in.

"True."

"Before we do, however, I want to ask you something, Wander. What information did you have to share with us?" Rusl commented

"Hm? Oh, nothing that I can tell you later. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to find some breakfast around here. I assume you have a mess tent in this patchwork campsite?"

Rusl nodded. "Constantine, Raina, and Ashei can show you it. It's close to the Hylian part of camp."

"Great! Well if that is all you need me for…?" he directed his sentence at Rusl and King Bulblin.

"I'm Rusl."

"You can call me king, Wander."

"King? Really? Well, if that is all king, Rusl, then I will be off."

King Bulblin nodded his head in confirmation, giving him his approval. Wander nodded in turn, then made to follow the rangers and Ashei, who were already starting to leave the tent.

"So, tell me about yourself, my friends. After all, we should get to know each other," Wander commented in a friendly manner as he left the tent with the others.

Once he was gone, King Bulblin voiced his concerns. "I don't trust him, old timer."

"Neither do I, which is why I'm having at least two of my rangers close to him at all times," Rusl countered. "He saved my life, so I will give him a chance. We'll see where that takes us."

"Indeed," King Bulblin growled. He switched gears after the matter on Wander was fully discussed. "And your mission?"

"A complete failure. They were waiting for us," Rusl said as he rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. "It's like they know our every move."

"True. So for now, I assume our plan must be put on hold?" Jean asked, changing the subject to the strategy he had prepared for the attack on Arbiter's Grounds.

"For now, yes," Rusl confirmed.

"Dammit! I was looking forward to a fight! Now we just have to wait around longer," King Bulblin replied agitatedly, slamming his fist into the wooden table.

"Looks like it. Then we should move camp, if that's the case. We need to be on the move, or else they'll find us again." The lieutenant stepped back from the table. "King Bulblin, have your men ready to leave by morning, and I will have mine ready as well."

"Yeah, yeah, old timer. It'll be done," King Bulblin said with a solemn shake of his head.

"Moving? But shouldn't we wait? Just in case reinforcements come?" Jean asked quickly, trying to change their decision.

"Jean, we have been waiting months for those reinforcements, and we've seen nothing of them. I don't think they're coming. We're moving, and that's an order," the lieutenant commanded as he made his way to leave.

"Understood, lieutenant…" Jean replied meekly.

"Then start packing, we leave tomorrow." With that, Rusl left the tent to tend to his own soldiers and prepare to move camp.

Later that night, Rusl was packing up the last of his belongings. Almost everything he owned at the moment could fit into his pack, allowing him to move from place to place with ease. Anything he couldn't fit in there, which was very little, he would pack on his horse.

The past day had been a whirlwind of activity, and disappointment, Rusl had to admit. They had failed their mission, but picked up a new "ally". Hopefully he could be trusted in the future. Rusl and King Bulblin could use someone like him, if his attack on those criminals was any indicator of Wander's abilities.

Yet, as Rusl thought on the man more and more, he remembered something Constantine had told him earlier in the day.

"I don't like him," he had said "those eyes remind me too much of… him."

For a moment, Rusl was confused about the comment. Constantine clarified it quickly by just saying "Sheikah". The lieutenant understood what he meant then. He had never actually seen the Sheikah that had killed Link, so when Rusl asked why Constantine thought this, he said "His eyes look the same."

This put Rusl even more on edge about Wander, adding to his suspicions that the stranger and his wolf were up to something. As Rusl thought about the wolf, he pondered his earlier thoughts on the wolf possibly being…

He shook his head. There was no time to think and hope for such things, especially when they seemed impossible. He had to focus, he couldn't dwell on this small bit of hope. Link was gone, that was all there was to it. Yet even the smallest possibility…

The soft shuffling of Rusl's tent flaps brought him back to the real world. He turned around, thinking it was Ashei or Constantine, but instead was greeted by someone he wasn't expecting to see.

Or more like something, in this case.

Standing on all fours, and eyeing Rusl with keen, blue eyes was the wolf that had helped save the lieutenant and Constantine not a day earlier. For a moment, the two stared at each other, not taking their eyes off one another. Rusl didn't like this, so he slowly reached for his sword, ready to defend himself from the beast if need be.

Instead of rushing at him, like Rusl thought he would, the wolf did something unexpected. He nodded his head over his shoulder, as if he was saying 'Follow me'. Then, he left, leaving Rusl dumbfounded and with his hand on his sword.

"Did that wolf just…?" Rusl said to himself in disbelief. Quickly, he shook his head, ignoring his gut feeling and following after the wolf. Just in case he had to defend himself, he grabbed his sword.

He rushed out of his tent. As he soon as he did, he searched the area around him trying to find the wolf. Out of the corner of his eye, Rusl caught a glimpse of a grey tail. He turned and chased after it.

Turning the corner of the tent, he finally saw the wolf fully. He was running quickly towards one of the bigger sand dunes and out of reach of the light of the camp. Again, ignoring his gut feeling, Rusl ran after the animal.

He chased it up the sand dune, but couldn't catch up to it. Eventually, it disappeared beyond the peak of the sand dune. As soon as Rusl reached the top, he started searching for the wolf, expecting it to have just started running down the other side of the mountain of sand. Yet he was nowhere to be found. It didn't matter which way Rusl looked, he couldn't see hide nor hair of the beast. Baffled, he continued in his search for a few more moments.

"Lose something, Rusl?" a familiar voice spoke behind the lieutenant.

Immediately, Rusl turned to the voice, sword drawn and ready to defend himself. In the dim moon light, Rusl could just make out the figure of a man in a torn up, white cloak, his red eyes piercing through the darkness.

"You. I should have known this was your doing. Going to stab me in the back now, are you?" Rusl questioned with as much courage as he could muster, his sword outstretched in front of him.

"What? Of course not," Wander commented with a hurt voice. "I told you, I am an ally. Is it really that hard to believe me?"

"When you use your wolf to lure me out to a dark, isolated spot, yes," Rusl answered dryly.

Wander chuckled. "That's a fair point."

For a few moments, there was a silence between the two, both of them waiting for the other to speak first. Eventually, it was Rusl who spoke up.

"So if you're not here to kill me, why did you have that beast bring me here?"

"To give you that information I told you about. And to warn you, obviously," Wander answered.

"Go on then," Rusl said warily.

"Still not trusting me? Well, guess I can understand that. Where to begin… First off, I should tell you, trying to take back Arbiter's Grounds right now is a fool's errand. An army of this size cannot possibly seize that fortress without numerous casualties. To that end, I bring you information that could help you actually return to Hyrule proper."

This piqued Rusl's interest. He lowered his sword slightly. "You mean to return home, don't you?"

"Yes, my companion and I have scouted out the barricade thoroughly, and we have found a weak point that can be exploited quite easily," Wander informed. "There is a spot in the barricade where one can easily attack, a chink in their armor, so to speak. Right along the mountains, a small unit can climb the rocks and descend upon the blockade with ease. Of course, it would have to be a small unit of no more than eight people or so. But if we can create a distraction at the wall, the men there will be forced to reinforce that part of the blockade. This would give that unit the opportunity to get past enemy lines and cause some chaos, while also opening the gate for the rest of the army to enter. After that, it's a matter of surviving and making our way back to Lanayru Province. Not easy, but it's a chance."

Again, Rusl felt a sense of hope as he heard Wander relay this information to him. He shook his head though, focusing on asking more questions before fully accepting what the man in white was saying.

"And if that unit fails?"

"Well, if you have me and my friend with you, then we can't possibly fail," Wander answered simply.

"Okay, then why are you telling me this now, and didn't tell us at the meeting?"

"Because, there is obviously a traitor in your ranks, and they're high up there for sure," Wander once again answered.

Rusl was taken aback by this. "And how would you know?"

"Simple. An ambush just waiting for you at the wall? Your enemies able to find your campsite time and time again? It's obvious somebody has been leaking information about your movements to them. And I have an idea of who it is, nothing concrete, but if you keep me with you, I'll be able to sniff them out."

Rusl furrowed his eyebrows, unhappy with Wander's answer. "Oh, really? And how can I trust you? You could be lying to me about all of this and leading us to our doom? So tell me, why should I trust you?"

Wander was silent for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head. "We didn't really want it to come to this. It would have been better if you didn't know for a little bit longer." After he spoke, Wander rose his fingers to his lips and let out a piercing whistle.

"Didn't want it to come to what? What do you mean!? Answer me!" Rusl rose his sword and assumed his fighting stance, ready to strike at anything that might attack him.

Right after Wander's whistle, the wolf appeared at his side, the darkness hiding the beast's approach. For a moment, Rusl thought the wolf was going to attack him, but instead, the wolf howled loudly into the night. It almost sounded as if the beast was screaming.

As the wolf continued howling, the darkness of the night seemed to swirl around him, hiding him completely from Rusl's view. Then, after a few moments, the darkness disappeared, and what Rusl saw made his eyes widen in disbelief.

The lieutenant collapsed to his knees, his sword dropping into the sand and his eyes staring at the figure that had taken the wolf's place.

"No… It's you… How…?" Rusl mumbled, not believing what his eyes were seeing.

Random Author Fact #5:

If y'all can't already tell, I am a horrible, HORRIBLE procrastinator.

That is all, guess we'll find out who this person is in the next chapter, bahaha. Please review, favorite, follow, or all of the above if you can. Peace!