Eidolon Interloper

Chapter 11

The young man, or wolf, or… werewolf or shapeshifter or whatever the hell he was took a seat at the table immediately opposite Danny. He offered a warm smile to Rusl, friendly waves to the Resistance members, and a polite nod to Danny.

In response Danny merely stared at him, open-mouthed in disbelief and internally panicking so hard it was a miracle that he didn't turn invisible out of pure instinct.

"Link, we're just talking to Danny about helping us with our mission. He's not from Hyrule, but we've offered to help him find some information he needs in exchange for his help," Telma said, apparently not noticing Danny's internal plight.

Shad, Auru, and Rusl, on the other hand, were all regarding Danny with confused looks. Ashei merely had an eyebrow raised in interest.

"That's good. We can always use more help," Link said neutrally, examining Danny with an expression that gave away none of his thoughts. That only made Danny panic harder. Did the man recognize him? What the heck was he going to do if he did?

"And how did your journey go, Link?" Telma inquired. "Did you find the mirror?"

Everyone's gazes finally left Danny and snapped to Link, allowing the boy to sigh in relief. He was so busy still mentally planning potential escape routes, both ghost and human, that he almost missed the Hylian's answer.

"I did," Link said, "but it was broken. Luckily, it can be fixed."

Wait…

"It… It can be fixed?" Danny gasped.

He hadn't realized he'd repeated that aloud until Link turned to him, lips pursed in confusion. "That's… what I said, yes."

Danny realized that Ashei was looking at him intently again, but he ignored her as he sank into his chair in relief. There was no denying the stirring hope he felt at last. Sure, even if he somehow managed to get the mirror shards, he wouldn't know how to put them together. He had a feeling duct tape probably didn't exist in Hyrule. But…

It was something. And right now, Danny very very desperately needed something.

Telma laughed and turned to Link. "Sorry, honey. Danny's probably just interested because he is looking for a mirror of his own. He went to Arbiter's Grounds not long after you did. We had no idea you were both there until Auru returned and told us."

Danny froze as Link turned to him.

"He went to Arbiter's Grounds?" Link asked. "And you survived the monsters?" Danny shrunk under the man's intense gaze.

"I-I mean, I didn't see any monsters," Danny replied weakly. And, hey, that was the truth. Aside from that one ghost, who compared to most of the non-humans he met in Hyrule had been a saint, there had been nothing.

Except Link himself and his creepy imp friend. Danny wondered where she was now.

"Really?" Telma demanded, startling Danny out of his thoughts. "You were attacked by a Poe! I saw the injuries myself!"

Danny grimaced. Once again, something stupid he had said in the moment was coming back to haunt him. No pun intended.

"Really?" Link frowned. "Hmm, I did fight an odd ghost there."

Danny barely held back a groan.

If there was some way he could confidently say he wouldn't just come back again as a ghost, he probably would have been ready to die right on the spot.

"Where are you off to next, then?" Telma asked Link.

Link frowned. "I'm not sure. The directions to the shards were very vague. One of them was said to be in the mountains. Perhaps I could head to Snowpeak?"

"What a coincidence!" Telma beamed. "Ashei is investigating Snowpeak!"

"I am," Ashei confirmed. "The Zoras have told me about a monster there that has been stealing fish. I am planning to go to investigate and put a stop to it if necessary."

Link nodded. "I can help. Maybe this monster is related to the mirror shards. Farore knows that monsters seem to appear whenever this sort of magic is involved…"

"Excellent." Telma clapped her hands. "So, Danny, you can go with Link and Ashei to Snowpeak—"

"No!" Danny blurted out.

The whole Resistance stared at him in surprise.

Danny chuckled awkwardly, smiling in a way that probably looked more like he was in deep pain than anything comforting. "I mean uh… maybe! Maybe, yeah. I mean, gotta check my schedule and stuff…"

The look on Ashei's face confirmed that she was definitely not buying his excuse, and Link was looking suspicious as well. Danny had to actively fight to suppress the urge to bury his face in his hands and let out a scream of frustration.

Telma blinked. "Well… okay, honey. That's fine. They won't be leaving until next week anyway, so you have some time to decide."

"I must say, I do hope you accept—if only because I'd love to have you help me with my research on the Oocca," Shad told Danny lightly. "And of course I'm eager to delve more into the mystery you asked me about and why you're so interested in it."

Danny nodded absently. If it had been just Ashei, maybe he would have accepted this mission. But now that he would also be accompanied by the crazy wolf-man? Yeah, no, he really wasn't feeling that. Besides, Link had said that the pieces were somewhere in Hyrule, and the mirror could be fixed! Danny needed to spend his time looking for those, not helping the Resistance with their little odd jobs.

"Well," said Auru finally, standing up and pushing in his chair, "if that is all for now, I believe I will be heading to bed. I can't stay awake quite as long as I could when I was young."

"I should be off as well," Rusl said, following Auru's example. "I will be leaving early tomorrow to head back to Ordon. Can't leave Uli alone for too long. The baby is due soon!"

"Oh, that's right!" Shad gushed. "You are having another baby soon, aren't you? How exciting!"

Shad followed Auru and Rusl as they retreated up the stairs. Telma stood up. "Well, normally the bar would still be open, so I'm not quite ready to turn in yet. Suppose I'll get some cleaning done in the back. Link, did you need a place to stay for the night?"

Link shook his head. "I'll sleep out in the field like I always do."

Telma shook her head with a fond smile. "I'll never quite understand you, boy. Well, if you ever change your mind, we'll always have a bed here for you…"

She and Link continued speaking as she led him to the door, leaving Danny and Ashei alone at the table.

Ashei leaned over to Danny. "Just so you know… if you don't come on this mission, I'm telling everyone that you're not really a mage," she whispered conversationally.

"Wh-What?" Danny's eyes widened. "Are you… blackmailing me?"

She smirked. "Not if you say yes."

He watched as she also pushed out her chair and left the table, walking up the stairs without a backwards glance as he reminded himself of how completely and utterly screwed he was. But as he stood to follow her up the staircase, he realized that not everyone had left the room. Danny tensed as he realized it was Link.

The Hylian man stepped forward, holding out a hand. "I wanted to meet you properly before I go. I'm Link."

"D-Danny," he barely croaked out, hardly managing to force himself to reach out and clasp his hand. He pulled away as soon as he felt it was socially acceptable to do so. Maybe not socially acceptable enough, because Link frowned down at his hanging hand. Or maybe he was just confused about why Danny felt so cold.

"Have we met before?" Link asked finally, looking back up to meet Danny's eyes. There was an curious look on Link's face that Danny did not like.

"Nope," Danny said quickly. "No, absolutely no. I've never seen you in my life. I've never… never even seen someone that looks like you! N-Not that you look weird, I'm just saying, no, we've never met!"

Link blinked, taking a moment to process his odd response before apparently filing it away. He probably just thought Danny always acted like that. Ancients, he really wouldn't be surprised at this point. This world made him so on edge.

"I'm looking forward to seeing your magic," Link said. "I know a mage. She's very strong, but her magic is… different than most."

"Oh," Danny said, having no idea how else to reply.

"Can you show me what you can do?"

Danny huffed, a surge of annoyance overwhelming his fear. The bandaged wound on his chest twinged. This guy had bit him yesterday, and it still hurt! He had zero interest in talking with him. "No," he said stubbornly. "I'm not just going to sit here and… and perform for you! I mean, how would you like if I asked you to just… show off your magic or something?"

Link's eyes widened in surprise—probably the first real emotion Danny had seen from him aside from polite attention. "I don't have any magic."

"Oh yeah?" Danny clenched his fists and glared. "You sure you don't have powers? Like… transforming or something?" Oh, yes. He knew he was really pushing it there—both the extent of Link's patience and probably his own secret. But Danny liked to imagine that there might have actually been a spark of shock in Link's eyes that time and that made it all worth it.

Danny finally turned stiffly, his back facing the young Hylian man. "So how about you leave me alone and we won't have any problems, okay?"

Stomping dramatically, Danny marched up the stairs.

As soon as he reached the room he was staying in, he shut the door softly, despite how badly he wanted to slam it closed. (Yes, he hated Link, but he didn't want the whole bar to know that.) He considered collapsing on the bed—it did look quite tempting after his endless flying around that had been going on lately and the general overwhelming mood swings he'd been having—but instead he looked out the window and transformed.

He phased through the wall and flew over Castle Town, trying to stay invisible. He didn't really know what he was doing, all he knew is that he wanted out of there. He eventually settled on the roof of a colorful tent near the eastern entrance to the city, staring up at the sky and admiring the stars. The lack of electric lights meant that even in the center of the city the stars were easier to see than they were at home.

And then he realized: these stars were… awfully familiar. He recognized them. He could see Orion on one end, Cassiopeia on the other. The Big Dipper. The North Star and Ursa Minor.

His head started spinning. Did that mean he was on Earth? Was this, like… a dystopian future? Some strange version of the past that the history books never understood?

But then, the more he looked… the more he realized they were slightly off. There were two stars by Orion's bow that weren't supposed to be there. Cassiopeia wasn't in the right area of the sky. What did that mean? Was he on Earth, just in some other time period? It made no sense!

It sent an unexpected pang of homesickness through him. It was like the sky was mocking him, a fake facsimile of the stars he'd studied religiously back at home, back when his dreams of becoming an astronaut might have been something potentially realistic and not just a childhood fantasy.

He knew there was an old saying that looking at the stars could bring comfort to those away from their families, as they knew they were looking up at the same sky. But were they? He was somewhere completely different, either in another time period or a separate universe, and these stupid lookalike stars were simply twinkling impassively above.

He clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut. That was enough of stargazing.

A moment later, a soft whining noise met his ears. He tentatively opened his eyes and glanced around, trying to find the source of the sound.

What he found was a puppy, donned in brown and white fur, pawing at a tree. Danny frowned down at the dog; the alley was empty aside from it, but its behavior of clawing at the trunk was undeniably odd.

Danny cautiously floated over toward the tree. If he squinted, he thought he could see something caught in the lower branches.

When he approached, the dog immediately perked up, no doubt sensing him despite his invisibility. It stared right at him and its ears fell back, tail tucking between its legs as it whimpered and stepped back. He huffed in disappointment. In his ghost form (and sometimes even in human form) animals tended to be instinctively afraid of him. Something about the paranormal just set off their danger instincts.

He dropped back into visibility and held out his hands, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. "Hey, it's okay," he said softly, "I'm not here to hurt you." He stepped up to the tree and he watched the puppy's eyes go wild in terror, backing up even more and letting out warning growls made fully pathetic by the shaking of its small body. He reached up into the branch—he had to float slightly to get to it—and snatched the item out of the tree. Once it was in his hand, he recognized it as a bone.

He blinked at it and then knelt in front of the shivering dog but did not step any closer. "Is this yours?" he asked it softly.

The dog whined but hesitantly stepped forward. He stayed still, trying not to make any sudden movements to startle it away. It approached cautiously before grabbing the toy in its mouth. It darted off immediately, retreating to the wall it had backed against.

He smiled. "See? All better, right?" The dog didn't move, eyeing him warily. Danny sighed, folding his legs under him. "Guess you're afraid of me like everyone else, huh. That's fine. I get that a lot."

He leaned against the nearby dog and watched as the animal decided to ignore his presence in favor of gnawing at the bone.

"You remind me of a dog I know back home," Danny said at length. "He's about your size. …Well, when he's happy. But when he's angry, he gets huge." He frowned. "He's also green. And dead. But he has a weakness for chewing on toys, too." He paused, surprised by the flood of loneliness that swept through him. "I miss him. I miss… everyone from home."

His hand rested on the dog's back. The animal tensed briefly, but as Danny began to pet it gently, it finally relaxed.

Now that he'd admitted it out loud, his thoughts couldn't stop straying back to Amity Park. He really, really missed it. He missed Sam and Tucker, he missed Jazz, he missed his parents. The Resistance had been unbelievably kind to him, but it just wasn't the same. All he wanted was to go home and hug his friends and family. He would never take them for granted ever again. He'd even love to go back to school or fight some ghosts. It was better than fighting werewolves.

And… he didn't even know if he'd ever see them again. For all he knew, he might be stuck here forever…

He heard the dog release a slight huff beside him, and he blinked in surprise, drawn from his thoughts. He realized that the dog was curled up around the bone, eyes closed and breathing even. He'd been absentmindedly petting it for so long that it had fallen asleep.

He stood up, grateful that ghosts didn't have real bones or muscles, otherwise his legs would have definitely fallen asleep from sitting on them for so long. With one final glance at the puppy, he began making his way back towards Telma's Bar.

The stars continued to twinkle above, unchanging.

oOoOo

The next day was very weird for Danny.

He sat at the table, eating breakfast provided to him by Telma (who turned out to be an incredible cook) and listening to Shad ramble on about some research project of his. Something about tiny people with wings. Shad showed him a picture, and they looked like an uncanny combination of pale birds with human faces. He was a bit less inclined to listen after that.

(There were enough horrifying creatures in Hyrule already. He didn't want to worry about human chickens too.)

So as Shad's words went in one ear and out the other, Danny tried to form a plan. He had been in a constant state of action since arriving in Hyrule, so it was weird to kind of have time to actually sit and think.

Link said he was going to hunt down the shards to put the mirror back together. This was Danny's only lead, and it frustrated him that he wasn't sure how to go about following it.

Part of him wanted to just approach Link in ghost form and demand to know where the mirror pieces were. But, well… even though it had pretty much healed, he still hadn't forgotten their last meeting. He didn't really want another one, and that was exactly what would happen in another confrontation. Link had hardly been willing to listen last time.

Danny also considered asking in human form. Would that be too suspicious? He had no clue. The Resistance members had already drawn some weird conclusions about him and his powers. Everyone was so much more observant here. He had a horrible feeling that if they had seen his ghost form, they might have made an even more accurate interpretation. He really didn't want to do anything that might connect his human form with his ghost form for Link.

And besides, even if he wanted to ask, Link hadn't returned that morning. Telma said that was pretty normal—he generally kept to himself, she claimed. Slept under the stars, travelled all over Hyrule, only came back when he needed something or wanted to help. She didn't fully know what he did with his time. The only guaranteed time that Danny could talk to him would be in four days, when Ashei and Link were heading to Snowpeak together.

As for that… Danny sighed. Ashei really wanted him to go. And he hated that he didn't know why. That woman was a total enigma, and quite frankly, she terrified him. She knew even more about him than the others did and wasn't afraid to let him know it. He didn't know what her motivations were, but he was almost certain she wanted to bring him along so that she could learn more about his abilities.

Danny didn't want to go with Link anywhere, either. But on the other hand, if he went, Link might lead him to one of the mirror shards.

It was a huge dilemma.

Danny finished his food and stood up. "Sorry, Shad," he said, interrupting the eager young man, "I think I'm going to head out into town for a bit. I haven't really had a chance to see it, you know?"

The man blinked. "Oh… oh, yes, of course!" he said. "You should! Castle Town is the biggest city in the country, and a true marvel if I do say so myself! In fact, why don't I give you a tour—"

"No, that's okay," Danny said quickly. "You should, uh, keep researching those… Ock… um…?"

"Oocca?" Shad smiled. "Yes, I suppose I could. Very well. I'll see you later!"

Danny found himself walking around the busy town square moments later. He was glad that no one seemed to spare him a second glance; now that he was wearing clothes that fit in with the time period, he seemed to blend right in, despite his ears.

He strolled by many shops. He couldn't read any of the signs, of course, nor did he have money even if he could, but just looking into the windows calmed him. He allowed his mind to wander.

After wandering around the city until he lost count of how many loops he'd done, he realized he was undeniably bored. He had nothing to do.

…But then a flash of green caught his eye.

It was Link, wandering through the town, completely unaware of Danny's eyes on him. Danny watched as he passed by a stall and waved at the shopkeeper, sending a friendly smile and wave. It was obvious that the people in town recognized Link and liked him.

A different thought occurred to Danny as he watched, however. He needed to learn more about Link, and this was a perfect opportunity.

Slipping into a nearby alley, he faded from visibility.

oOoOo

As he made his way through Castle Town, Link had the strangest feeling of being watched.

"Midna," he whispered discreetly to his shadow as a noisy bunch of young women passed them, "is anyone following us?"

"I haven't seen anyone," she replied quietly, "but I'll keep an eye out."

He had just completed a routine visit to Jovani, where he had offered up the Poe souls he had collected. Jovani's curse was slowly improving—he could move now, whereas before he'd been totally frozen—but his body was still made of nothing but gold and gems. Jovani had given him a lantern that he would need to try out later, however.

He also realized that despite Midna's suggestion to talk to Jovani about the ghost they fought at Arbiter's Grounds, he hadn't been able to ask: he couldn't exactly speak as a wolf.

He spent the rest of the day completing the usual tasks—helping out denizens of Castle Town who needed it, spending some time at the shops to buy more arrows or other weapons he needed, and so on. Everything was horribly expensive in the city proper, but he didn't have much of a choice. It didn't matter; dungeon crawling paid surprisingly well.

He'd been actually hoping to speak with the boy named Danny again. His comment about him being able to "transform" had confused him greatly. He wasn't entirely sure it mattered if this boy knew. It wasn't like he really cared if anyone knew he became a wolf, but most people probably wouldn't believe him so he didn't bother talking about it. But the fact that he'd seemed to know had caught his attention.

He'd asked Midna about Danny when they'd set up camp outside of town for the night. "I don't think he's a mage," Midna had said flatly.

"Why not?" Link frowned as he set out the bedroll.

"I can sense energy, and magic has a… very specific feeling to it. Especially Hylian magic," Midna explained. "Hylians with magic always have this uncomfortable, too-hot feeling. Like Zelda did." Her voice quieted for a moment, just as it always did when talking about the princess. "…Anyway, he feels the opposite. If he wasn't so clearly human, I'd almost say he has Twili magic."

"Really?" Now that was unexpected. Link had known something had to be up with him, but for a denizen of the light realm to have Twilight magic? It brought his thoughts back to Lanayru's story, wherein the spirit had explained that the Twili had originally been humans that used corrupted powers to try and take the goddesses' power for themselves.

He felt a shiver go up his spine. Did that mean that Danny was practicing dark magic?

"It's still not really the same," Midna continued, oblivious to his thoughts. "He's just… cold. And it's not really the same as magic would be anyway. Rather than an external power, it's almost like… he's made of it?" She shrugged. "I don't know. He's weird. But he's from out of the country, right? Maybe non-Hyrulians just have some kind of magic of their own."

Link's concerns weren't assuaged, but unfortunately, Danny wasn't there today. When he arrived at Telma's Bar, Shad had explained he'd just missed the boy. He had left to explore the town. Link spent a couple of hours wandering around, hoping to catch him in the crowd, but he had no such luck. So, instead he ate dinner at Telma's Bar (where Danny still didn't return) before finally heading out into the field for the evening.

He remembered the lantern that Jovani had given him earlier that day. According to the cursed man, the lantern would glow blue when a Poe was nearby and didn't need any oil. Link withdrew the lantern from his pouch and held it up. As soon as it was touching the air, the lantern unexpectedly lit up with a green flame.

Link tilted his head in confusion. That seemed fine, but… didn't Jovani say it was supposed to be blue?

"Is that the thing that Jovani gave you?" Midna said, popping out of his shadow. "Does that mean it's working?"

Link frowned uncertainly and held the lantern out so she could see. As he moved it slightly to his left, it flared briefly—before dulling back to a dim shine.

"I've never seen a green Poe," Midna said. "Maybe it's broken?"

Link shook his head slowly. He had a feeling that wasn't quite the answer. Then he blinked, suddenly realizing why the color seemed familiar. "Wait. Do you remember the ghost at Arbiter's Grounds? It used an energy that was the exact same color."

Midna blinked, and then her eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me that he's here?" she hissed, hands balled in fists as she glared around the empty field. Not a soul was in sight, but that didn't mean much where ghosts were concerned.

"It could be a different ghost," Link said hastily, trying to calm her down. He knew she was still stewing in anger over their last confrontation. It hadn't exactly gone well for them, especially for her. "I just meant that not all ghosts seem to have blue energy."

"Well," Midna said, lifting her chin in the air and staring at the emptiness around them, "if a ghost is here, they'd better leave before I decide to do something to them!"

Silence met her. Link sighed, just about to put the lantern at his waist—

And then the green light vanished.

"I knew it!" she growled. "He was—"

"Someone was here, but they're gone now," Link interrupted her. "We don't know if it was the same ghost."

"Who else could it be?" she demanded. "Have you ever seen any other ghost in Hyrule with those powers?" She crossed her arms. "He was so much stronger than the Poes. I bet if you captured his soul, you'd free Jovani from his curse instantly."

Link grimaced. There were… a lot of reasons he felt opposed to that. He hadn't minded taking out the Poes before, as they'd clearly seemed violent, but there was a difference between slaying a mindlessly evil creature for a noble cause… and slaying a sentient, talkative ghost who he still wasn't certain even had bad intentions.

He sighed and attached the lantern to his belt. Without another word, he continued down the path, determined to find a place to set up camp for the night. He began wandering farther out into the southern field. As he approached the pathway that led to the Great Bridge of Hylia, the lantern began shimmering again. But this time, when he held it up, it contained a faint blue glow.

Glancing around only long enough to determine no humans were in sight, he transformed into a wolf. He spread out his animal senses, trying to decide where the Poe was.

He caught its scent on the wind, a faint impression of decay and anger. Using his powerful muscles in this form he took off quickly in its direction. Midna only had enough time to land on his back and yelp before he was off.

He found the Poe on a nearby cliffside. Using Midna's magic to help him leap farther than he normally would be able to, he jumped up beside it. He barely managed to dodge a scythe as it slashed toward him.

Link danced around the Poe, growling faintly. As the ghost brandished its lantern and held it out as though prepared to strike with it, Link struck. He lunged forward and knocked the Poe to the ground. With an ethereal cry, it tumbled to the ground. Flipping skillfully into the air, Link landed directly over its chest, dug in his teeth, and pulled,

With a crackling sound, an orb of darkness was pulled from the Poe's chest. It emitted an inhuman screech before fading away without a trace. Link held the soul above his head, a perfect orb that glowed with an eerie power, pulsating and humming like an electric heart. Midna snapped her fingers, and the soul faded into twilight particles.

"Not bad," she said. "That makes it, what, twenty-one souls?"

At that, Link could have sworn he heard a gasp of horror. But, when he looked around, he saw nothing. He shrugged.

Must have been his imagination.

oOoOo

Danny stumbled backward, hitting a wall as he hid behind a nearby rock and inadvertently flickering back into visibility.

He… He'd just watched Link pull out that ghost's core.

There were few ways to really kill a ghost. They were already dead. Danny didn't really understand it all; Frostbite had tried to tell him, but he hadn't paid much attention.

But he did know that a ghost's core was its very being. Like the imp said, its soul. The most intimate part of their self. It wasn't just like a heart, or a brain, or any other organ; it was the ghost. You couldn't just… remove it from a ghost. Tearing out a core would destroy the ghost completely. No more afterlife, no more existence. It would just be… gone.

Danny had been following Link all day, and for a while, he'd been surprised at how kindhearted the Hylian man seemed to be. He helped random citizens and seemed happy to volunteer to help to an almost ridiculous extent. He was self-sacrificing and generous to a fault.

But now? Link had murdered that ghost. Worse than murdered it! He'd erased it from existence in the most invasive and cruel way possible. He'd sat there, clenching the ghost core in his teeth, ignoring the pained screams of the Poe as he tore it out and stole its still-beating essence.

And Link knew it. He knew what he was doing. He had hunted down this ghost, which hadn't even been violent until they'd approached, and taken it out mercilessly without a second thought.

And in a few days, Danny was about to go on a cross country trip with him.

A/N: Hi, I'm alive! Sorry this took so long. I took on a couple of fanfic challenges in November and December and they took much longer than I expected. (Didn't help that this chapter was REALLY hard to write...) As a result I have two new Danny Phantom stories, both complete! One of them's a horror/tragedy 6-shot, the other is a humor oneshot. Check them out if you're interested. :)

About the constellations: for those who don't know, Zelda games generally use a real life star map. There are NPCs in Wind Waker that will point out constellations like the Big Dipper to you. Twilight Princess is slightly more debated on whether it uses real constellations or not, but I'm 90% sure I saw Orion when I turned on the game to check so I'm going with "yes it has the same stars but it's a bit off".

Thanks as always to Hazama_d20, aniura, and fordtato for betaing! And all of your reviews/favorites/etc. make me so happy. You're too nice.

Words: 5,182

Published: January 10th, 2021