Eidolon Interloper
Chapter 10
Flying back to Castle Town was an exhausting ordeal. As the adrenaline from the fight faded, Danny realized his injuries were a bit worse than he had expected. That wolf's bite had come dangerously close to his core and it hurt. He could feel his healing slowly getting to work on it, but it wasn't fast enough to stop him from cringing every time he moved wrong.
And unfortunately, the pain was the only thing he could really focus on as he flew back. Because he was absolutely, totally, completely, one hundred percent not going to think about what else had just happened…
So, instead of thinking about his utterly hopeless situation and how he would probably never see his friends and family again… he thought of how much he really hated that wolf-man and the imp right now.
Ultimately, it wasn't their fault that his only hope was shattered, but they were certainly a great scapegoat. Even though he'd tried to explain himself, it felt like nothing was good enough for them. And besides, it was their fault that he currently had a freaking hole in his chest.
Shortly after, he found himself standing outside of the entrance to Telma's Bar.
He stared at the door, completely lacking the motivation to actually open it. He really didn't think he could handle people right now. Honestly, it was all he could do to handle life right now.
The decision was taken out of his hands when the door suddenly slammed open, making him start. A couple of laughing Hylian men stumbled out with the bar's cheerful lamplight. The pleasant atmosphere within contrasted greatly with his dour mood. The two men paid him no heed as they walked away, and the door slowly creaked shut—but failed to click, leaving a sliver of light.
"For Din's sake, close the door when you leave!" an angry voice within shouted. He heard footsteps and simply stood numbly as the door was swung open again. Telma's irritated expression appeared in the doorway before morphing into surprise. "Oh, Danny! Good to see you, honey! What are you…" Her eyes took in his gruesome appearance before narrowing. "What happened? Are you okay?"
He mumbled something that vaguely resembled a "yes" to the ground. He had no energy nor motivation to even nod at this point.
He took a step forward as she opened the door wider—but he was halted by her firmly grabbing his shoulder. He glanced up. Her expression was near murderous.
"Is that blood?"
He looked down. Red liquid was slowing seeping into his shirt; apparently his wound had reopened at some point, and he hadn't even noticed. Shouldn't it have healed by now? It really didn't even hurt compared to some of the things his enemies had done to him. "Um. Maybe?"
"You were injured?" she hissed.
Despite having just gone through a crypt full of unspeakable horrors and facing a shapeshifter and an imp who could shoot lightning… Danny flinched at her tone.
Telma scared him more than any foe ever could.
"You are coming with me." Her tone left no room for argument. Not that he would have had the energy (or courage) to argue anyway.
She led him through the lobby of the bar. It was late, and it seemed like only a few patrons still remained. Ashei, Auru, Shad, and Rusl were at their usual place at the back table. She strongly but carefully pushed him past everyone, ignoring their curious looks. "Auru, I'm going to need you to watch the bar for a bit," she barked at him.
The older man raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Is Danny okay?"
Danny rolled his eyes. Did he really look that bad?
"I'm going to find out." Her voice was low and serious, making Auru blink in surprise. Danny took the moment to survey the rest of the table. Shad and Rusl looked concerned, while Ashei's face remained impassive, a calculating look in her eyes.
Danny looked away.
Telma prodded his back and marched him up the stairs.
He did not fight her as he shoved him into the room that he had been staying in and placed him on the edge of the bed. He stared at the wall as she left briefly before returning with a basket full of what appeared to be medical supplies. She withdrew bandages and glared at him. "Take off your shirt so I can bandage you properly," she ordered.
He hesitantly complied, pulling off the shirt that he had borrowed. He stared at the bundle of cloth in his hand. It was completely darkened, covered in grime that could have been dirt or dried blood—it was hard to tell. He was pretty sure he hadn't actually bled that much in human form, but it certainly looked bad. It was overall quite a sight, only driven home further as he leaned forward and his matted bangs fell in front of his face, completely tangled and in disarray.
…No wonder everyone thought he looked like a mess.
"Alright, Danny," Telma said as she sat next to him. "Care to explain what happened?"
He shook his head and stubbornly continued looking at the wall.
"I told you you'd get hurt," she growled. "But you ignored me and went anyway, and now I have to clean you up." She took in a deep breath. "You know… the other day I watched you fight off a Shadow Beast without a scratch, and now you have a hole in your chest. So what in the name of all three goddesses could have possibly have attacked you?"
He cringed at the anger in her voice. "It… it was nothing," he offered weakly.
She glared, roughly tearing off some of the bandages and wrapping them around his stomach much more viciously than necessary. "'Nothing' doesn't leave you covered in blood."
He racked his brain for an explanation. There was no way he could tell her the truth, right? Would she even believe him if he said he was bitten by a werewolf? Maybe werewolves were a thing here. Then again, how would he explain why the werewolf attacked him?
"It was a… ghost?" he offered weakly.
That excuse always worked back in Amity Park, anyway.
"A Poe?" she said, pausing in her bandaging to examine his expression. She was likely looking for any sign that he was lying. Well, the joke was on her. He was too tired to look guilty.
"No. I said a ghost."
Telma snorted and resumed bandaging, finishing tying the ends. "A Poe is a ghost. I suppose they don't have Poes where you come from?"
He shrugged. Honestly, who knew? The Ghost Zone wasn't called the Infinite Realms for nothing. There were plenty of types of ghosts he had never met.
"If the ghost was violent, it was almost definitely a Poe. I'm not surprised there were some in an ancient place like that. You can recognize them by the lantern they always carry."
Something clicked in his brain. "Do they look like stitched dolls, too?" he asked. The ghost that had spoken that creepy language had held a lantern.
She shrugged. "I don't know. Unlike some people, I have never gone off on my own to haunted prisons far away in search of some foolish legend." There was a note of accusation in her voice, but it was undermined by the exasperated fondness on her face.
He almost smiled.
"Speaking of that legend, did you find your mirror?"
Annnnnd… the smile was gone. He felt that pit of despair curl up in his chest, and he wondered how he'd managed to forget it for even a second.
His expression must have said it all. Telma sighed. "Sorry it didn't work out, honey."
Danny didn't answer.
"You know… I think we could help far more if we knew why you were looking for these things," she said. "Shad claimed you didn't tell him where you even heard these things or why you're so desperate to get them."
He shook his head. "It doesn't even matter," he mumbled. "I'm never going to find them anyway."
Telma scowled, putting a hand on her hips. "Come on now," she said. "I have seen and heard of you doing amazing things since getting here. I may not know the full story here, but your attitude is ridiculous. As someone with your abilities, I can't believe you're willing to give up so easily!"
"Yeah, but if you knew what happened…" His voice trailed off as her final sentence registered. Somewhere, even in the depths of hopelessness, something about the way she said that set off alarm bells in his head. She… she sounded like she knew something. His heart started pounding in his ears as he looked up at her, fear creeping into his veins. "Wait, abilities...?"
Telma froze. A heavy, threatening silence stretched between them. She let out a breathy laugh. "Well, I guess that's one way to tell you."
The alarm bells were shrieking now. He clenched his fist and held it behind his back. His ghost core hummed, sending subtle energy to circle around it, ready for use if needed. Sure, she didn't seem hostile, but if he'd learned anything from this place, it was that everyone hated himin ghost form.
"I wanted to tell you that first night you returned to the bar, but I didn't get the chance. Or, well, we didn't get the chance. This is something the whole Resistance agreed to talk to you about."
The unformed ectoblast in his hand sparked behind his back, and he just barely managed to stop his eyes from glowing instinctively at the terror he felt with her words. "The Resistance?" he repeated lowly, trying to sound intimidating instead of increasingly panicked. "How many people know now?"
She finally seemed to register his implied threat, and she raised an eyebrow, holding up her hands in surrender. "Calm down, Danny. The Resistance is just the name for our little group here. Me, Auru, Shad, Ashei, and Rusl. Everyone figured you out on their own—aside from Rusl, I guess, but we only realized it with his help." She gave a disarming smile. "You really weren't that good at hiding."
…Well, okay, now that was just unfair. He'd kept his secret from everyone but Jazz for two whole years but people here figured it out in three days. Granted, no one in Amity Park had been half as observant as these guys were, but still!
Telma chuckled at his offended look. "Sorry, honey, but it's true. I'm not even sure why you tried to hide it so badly. Maybe it's different where you come from, but your kind are highly respected here!"
"There are others?" he said, now a bit confused. Besides, he had a feeling that stupid light spirit would disagree with the idea of him being respected.
"Oh yes!" she insisted. Danny's mind began running wild, trying to process exactly what that meant for him. Did she just mean ghosts or… "They are rare, especially these days, but even our own princess uses magic. Everyone would be thrilled to discover you are a real mage!"
Were there kinds of human-like ghosts here? Or… or were there halfas in this world? Were they—
And then her last words caught up to him and his brain froze.
"A… what?"
"A mage," she repeated cheerfully. She scanned his expression, her grin falling at his lack of a reaction. "You… are a mage. Right?"
The energy behind his back sputtered and died.
oOoOo
Danny drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for Telma to finish shooing out the last patrons and cleaning up their chairs. She was closing early that night in order to have a conversation between all of them. He ignored the eyes of all of the Resistance members, all of whom were either looking at him or clearly trying not to look at him as they sat at the same table.
He was a mage, apparently. Like some lame enemy in Doomed, or worse, a stupid fantasy RPG character. It was dumb.
But, well… even if he thought about it in video game terms, his fighting style was kind of similar to a mage, what with the ecto-blasts. He'd started out in hand-to-hand combat, though. That had to count for something.
It was frustrating. Ashei had even warned him that Telma thought that about him, but it had really just kind of faded in the background with all of the other nonsense this world was throwing at him. And now he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
Magic was real, and he had it. Or so everyone thought. And now, in order to protect his real secret, he'd have to pretend that he did. If only he knew literally anything about how magic worked.
As the final bar guest finally left, Telma shut the door and turned to face them. "Okay, I think we're ready to talk." She approached the table and sat down, looking at each person in turn. "So, who would like to start?"
"I can," Auru said. He looked at Danny. "Our group is working to protect Hyrule and our princess. We protect the people in ways that the guardsmen cannot—or, in many cases, do not."
Shad spoke up. "We know that you are not from here, but we were hoping you could help us. Magic could be so useful." He sighed. "And in exchange… we can more actively help you with whatever it is you are doing!"
"And… what would you want me to do?" Danny asked warily.
"Your magic could help us so much with… almost anything!" Shad exclaimed. "You can help Rusl fight off the monsters plaguing the fields, or help Auru procure food for refugees from Kakariko, or help us get through the barrier around the castle—"
"No," Danny said flatly. Shad looked slightly hurt by his curt tone, so Danny hurried to clarify. "I mean… I dunno about that other stuff, but I already tried getting into the castle. I couldn't." His heart clenched at the memory.
"Oh…"
"Forgive us, Danny," Auru quickly said. "Shad, as with all of us, are merely excited. We don't know the full extent of your abilities. Just what can you do?"
Danny squirmed a bit in his seat. He really was hoping the conversation wouldn't go there; he had no idea what magic could or couldn't do in this world, so he had no way of knowing what was plausible or not.
"W-Well… you already know I can get to places quickly," Danny said, trying to stall while he thought of a lie. "And um… I don't know if that would really help much? I don't think I could take people with me."
"But you can do more than that," Auru said. "You healed your leg on that first day here, and somehow you took out a Shadow Beast in Kakariko."
"And you disappeared from your room without any of us seeing you, even though we were downstairs all evening," Shad exclaimed.
Danny blinked. He hadn't even realized they'd noticed that much. Maybe Telma was right when she said he'd done a horrible job hiding everything. "Yeah, you're right," he admitted reluctantly. "I can do more."
Ashei placed her elbow on the table, her chin in her hand as she leaned forward. "How about a test?" she interjected. "You come on a mission with one of us, and you can show us what you can do."
Telma raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a mission in mind, Ashei?"
"Of course." She turned back to him with a smirk that Danny did not like one bit. "I'm off to Snowpeak next week. He can come with me. See the mountains for a bit, yeah?"
The barkeeper nodded in agreement. "That could work. What does everyone else think?" There was a chorus of mumbled agreement. She turned to face Danny. "And how about you, honey?"
"I…" Danny was unsure. He'd known about this "Resistance" for all of five minutes, and he wasn't sure he was ready to get himself tangled in any new problems just yet. Any time spent with them would take away from his own goal to get home. Not that you have more ideas on how to get home, a traitorous voice within him whispered.
Not to mention, Ashei's smirk was making him nervous. She definitely had other reasons that she wanted him to come with.
On the other hand… his core thrummed within, and he squeezed his eyes shut. He did want to help them. Not only did he majorly owe them for giving him a place to stay when he had no money, but his ghost half thrived on helping others. And who knew? Maybe if he did give them a bit more information, they would be able to help him find a new way home, and he wouldn't be stuck here any longer.
Danny opened his mouth to respond—
And the door to the bar swung open with a bang.
Everyone jumped at the loud noise. Telma turned toward it indignantly. "Excuse me, the sign outside says we are closed—"
"Sorry," a tenor voice said as the newcomer stepped out of the shadowed doorway and into the bar's light. Danny tensed, his eyes widening.
A young blond man clad in green stepped inside, looking sufficiently sheepish. "I wanted to speak to the Resistance. I hope I'm not interrupting?"
"Of course not!" Telma's stern demeanor immediately melted into her usual welcoming expression, a wide smile on her face. "We're always happy to see you!"
The man walked in, paused, and then locked eyes with Danny.
Holy shit.
"You have great timing," Telma said. "We're having a meeting right now." She looked at Danny with a broad smile. "Danny, this is Link. He is the newest member of the Resistance."
Danny was so screwed.
A/N: absolutely nothing in this chapter was in my outline and tbh it totally threw off my plans for the next few chapters but here you goooo
This is the shortest chapter so far (barring Chapter 1), but there are already 1500 words for Chapter 11 written. No promises but I can try to get it out sooner, since I know this is pretty pathetic for a month wait.
A few shout outs: big thanks again to Hazama_d20, aniura, and fordtato for betaing! Please check out their fics! Also, I should have mentioned this a billion years ago, but The Literary Lord and their friend were kind enough to make a TV tropes page for this fic. It's very cool, so go ahead and look it up if you're interested! And finally, wanted to give a huge thanks to all of my reviewers, especially ee6968806 for their very polite criticism that helped me reconsider a few things. Thank you all! Please continue to let me know what you think—whether you have some criticism or just wanna say you enjoyed it, I love hearing from you!
Words: 2,998
Published: November 14th, 2020