The Twilit Beast was glad to help the Hero of the Wild on his journey when he first reawakened from the raised confines of the Great Plateau.
Granted, Link was rather perplexed, if not driven to act hostilely when the Twilit Beast introduced himself. It happened in the cover of the Forest of Spirits, where the sapphire skies were blotted out by emerald leaves above, and out from the shadows of the undergrowth did the black and green wolf emerge.
Little did he expect to nearly get swatted smack-dab in the snout with a blazing torch. He was lucky to shirk the blow, all things considered.
The hostility melted almost immediately from the boy's blazing blue glare when he realized the Beast was peaceful, and he smoldered the torch's flame without hesitation, whipping the extinguished stick behind his back.
"I hope I didn't startle you," he tried, embarrassment making his tone decidedly meek.
Link did rather well, considering the Twilit Beast was as large as a dire wolf. He was noticeably taller than the boy when standing on his hind legs, and certainly stronger. Link was also granted no context as to why the Twilit Beast was so peaceful when he had not a shred of knowledge of even himself—how should he react to this creature of stringent build but beseeching air slinking carefully up to him?
That warranted the attack perfectly well for the Beast. He should have been more careful. He should've introduced himself somewhere with less cover, and therefore less potential danger. He was sure he wouldn't have had to deal with a kid wailing a stick on him that was on fire otherwise.
He caught the wisps of a past King chuckling in the currents of the wind, catching in the crevices of his ear fur.
'That's not very nice,' the Twilit Beast chided in his wolf tongue, but luckily his grumbles transcended the barrier of language. 'The boy's only just woken from a rather confounding slumber with little comprehension of why it happened at all.'
'He'll get better,' the wind's majestic voice had nonetheless answered back. 'Someday he will reminisce about this day and laugh about it.'
'You're probably right.' The wolf's lips lifted into a smile as his ears perked contentedly upwards. The day had darkened to night, so Link had started a campfire, and had offered him a place beside it. Gone was the distant hostility in the boy's silhouette, replaced by a kindling spark of kinship.
The forest was companionable with its chorus of cricketsong. The Twilit Beast lay curled up beside the golden light of the campfire and his new companion, who spent the rest of his waking moments watching the billowing branches above. He didn't know why the Beast had accompanied him on this day, nor would he ever, but the boy was at least appreciative of it, surely. The Beast was certain.
That was when, from the same shadows he had earlier emerged from, did he notice the embry blue-green light of a spirit. That was when it vanished like a gust of wind, too swiftly for even Link to notice.
It was the stout but proud form of the King, the Twilit Beast recognized. Perhaps he shouldn't stay, too, then; the Beast would be needed in his own world. The boy might feel dismayed at first to realize he wasn't there in the morning, but he would be fine, just as the King had assuaged.
The King had been considerably right about what he'd said earlier. The boy was getting better...not completely, but considerably. After Link had completed the Great Plateau's four Shrines and said farewell to who he'd discovered was the spirit of King Rhoam, he departed for the kingdom of Hyrule below. As he grew more and more at ease with the Twilit Beast accompanying him on his travels, from the mint-green hills of Akkala, to the ridged forests of Necluda, however, the Beast could discern a weakness through every strength he possessed.
The most blatant out of any of them was his loneliness.
Link and the Twilit Beast paused their travels to rest for the night in a pine forest bordering Lanayru. They lay curled up together, ready for sleep in a grotto untouched by monsters. They had spent a few whole days together, but by then the Twilit Beast was already due to return home. He didn't want to depart without warning like he usually did, so this time, he adjusted his limbs under the weight of Link's head on his back, braced to rise up on all fours.
Link lifted himself from the Beast upon realizing, turning his moonlit gaze back to him in silent inquiry.
The Twilit Beast hoped that a nod with his sharply pricked ears was enough of a farewell to the boy before he turned to slink into the pine forest's shadows.
"Wait," the boy he was leaving behind implored.
He stopped in his tracks. When he glanced back next, he surveyed the boy's eyes on him, as blue and blazing as ever.
"Why don't you stay?" Link asked in a softly cadanced murmur. It was all he had to say to make the Beast reconsider.
But even if he wanted to stay, he couldn't. He had a realm to return to. He quite liked this one, but he was much-needed elsewhere.
The Twilit Beast replied with a bow of his head as he returned to the boy's side, ears now folded remorsefully back. 'You know I can't.'
He offered one last nuzzle of his fuzzy cheek against Link's own before retreating back to where he meant to depart. 'But I will never truly leave you.'
The boy seemed to understand this. "See you later, then," he obliged with a soft smile.
At least he accepted that the Beast couldn't stay. Leaving wasn't half as painful then.
Link was comfortable being a loner at first, not talking much, save to himself. He seemed quite happy to the Beast after having departed Kakariko and Hateno, making acquaintances and connections on his way to Tabantha. He was making commendable strides on his journey to free Princess Zelda from her century-long imprisonment. It was after these two regions travelled, however, that the Twilit Beast began to notice that Link was acting forlorn; lonely.
Upon noticing this one nightfall, in the companionable silence of a crackling campfire and the chorus of cricketsong, the Beast had cocked his head. His sharp, bright eyes peered into Link's as the boy sat watching the fire twist and turn in silence. Why do you seem so sad? The Twilit Beast hoped the inquisition translated in his beseeching steel blue gaze.
To further his question, the Beast rose from where he lay, padding in front of where Link defeatedly sat to offer a nuzzle against his cheek.
Link couldn't stifle a reaction at that. It was immediate; a wrapping of his arms around the wolf's fluffy green mane.
The Twilit Beast felt the sigh leave Link's chest as his face remained buried in the fur of the Beast's neck. "I've realized more and more on my journey towards freeing Zelda that a traveller is always destined to travel by their lonesome. That fact makes me so bitter. I wish I didn't have to be a traveller. I wish I could get this journey over with already so I can have Zelda at my side again."
All the Beast could do was rest his chin against the boy's back, sincerely reinforcing what semblance to an embrace he could give. He'd often had those regrets on his own Twilight-enshrouded journey.
"I always feel lonely when you're not here. So thank you for staying by my side when you can."
The Twilit Beast decided upon something then. Perhaps he wouldn't leave without another word like the first time, or like the time Link had asked him, 'Why don't you stay?' Because who else did he have?
Perhaps he would stay.
The Beast removed his chin from Link's back to burrow his snout into the crook of the boy's arm; hopefully a blatant way of making the message clear: 'I will stay.'
That earned him a small laugh that rose before it fell. "Thank you, wolf. I appreciate that you've never truly left me. Even when I nearly swatted you smack-dab in the snout with a blazing torch when we first met."
The wolf's lips lifted into a smile as his ears perked contentedly upwards. Link did practically the same when he glanced at the Beast next, his fragile smile from before now so much more fortified.
'You were right, Rhoam,' the Twilit Beast surmised. 'The boy has gotten better.'
I found this buried in my WIPs and thought I should finish it. It is a short read, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Thank you for reading.