Chapter 25: Possessed Lokomo - Steem
Trudging through the snow brought back memories of Snowpeak. Of course, this place wasn't nearly as mountainous, and there were no Yetis to be spoken of, but the frigid climate and the occasional copse of evergreen trees dusted with white were more than enough to remind Link of the frozen mountain he knew.
Never had he been particularly bothered by traveling through the snow before. Then again, the last time he'd traveled a long distance through such chilly conditions he had been a wolf.
The thought crossed his mind to ask Midna to transform him into the blue-eyed beast, but Link dismissed it quickly. It wouldn't be fair to everyone else. None of them could change into animals and be warmed by natural fur. Well, maybe Kid could, but Link didn't want to put his counterpart through the excruciating pain of the change. The young hero was in enough pain already. That had been obvious for the past few days, and despite Link's best efforts, he couldn't ease it.
Tetra, however, had managed to coax a genuine smile or two from Kid yesterday with her rare display of childishness, and that gave Link an idea.
Falling a little behind everyone else as discreetly as possible, Link bent down and scooped snow into his hands, swiftly shaping it before straightening. Then he aimed and let it fly.
Zelda spun around, hand instinctively going to her weapon, as soon as the sphere of snow struck her back. Her eyes landed on Link immediately, and he grinned.
The princess stared at him for a beat before asking, "Was that an accident?"
"Nope."
In a flash, Zelda grabbed a handful of snow from the ground, crushed it into a rough ball, and launched it at the Hero of Twilight.
"Snowball fiiiight!" Anjean screeched ecstatically.
"What-" Tetra never got to finish her thought, for Anjean pegged a snowball at her and hit her in the arm. Fury alighted in the pirate girl's eyes, and she took to chasing a laughing Anjean around, screaming that she'd pay for that while reaching for her dagger.
"No live steel, Tetra!" Link called to her. He didn't get to see if she followed his instructions or not, for a concentrated ball of white flurries exploded in the side of his face just then. Swiping it away with an arm, he turned to find Zelda, another snowball ready in her hand.
"It was a mistake going for me first," Zelda informed him with a smile.
"Hey! I had to start it somehow!" Link laughed, dodging the next snowball she threw at him and scooping up more snow into his hands. Before he could form it into a ball, however, he found himself covered head to toe in white. He blinked dumbly for a second, disoriented.
The Twilight Princess's familiar giggle drew his gaze skyward where he found Midna floating above him, remnants of snow falling from her giant hair hand.
"That's not fair!" he objected, jabbing an accusing finger at the Twili—after fighting to free his arm, of course.
"It was a snowball," Midna defended herself, a smug grin twisting her lips.
"It was a snow boulder!" Link corrected her, struggling to unbury himself from the pile of snow she'd dumped on him. Midna just laughed while Zelda prepared to throw another snowball at him.
"Kid, help me! They have me trapped," Link shouted to his counterpart who had yet to join in on the fun, which was especially disappointing since he'd engaged the snowball fight for Kid's benefit in the first place.
"…I don't know how to make a snowball," Kid said.
"Come over here. I'll-" A spray of snow choked off the rest of his words.
He threw a half-serious scowl at Zelda. "Stop aiming for my face! I'm talking here!"
"Bad wolf! No talking!" Midna shot back playfully, chucking a, thankfully, normal sized snowball at him. Link deflected it with a raised arm, then grabbed a handful of snow and threw it right back at her. She squealed as the cold hit her. "You're an awful servant!"
"You're an awful princess, abusing your servant," Link returned with a grin.
"Fine, then I'll abuse the little you," Midna retaliated, calling Link's attention to the fact that Kid had come to him like he'd asked. With a firm tug from his counterpart, Link was free from the pile of glistening snow.
He offered Kid a grateful smile before turning his attention to Midna. "That's what you think, but the odds are evened now."
"No, they aren't," Midna disagreed with a wicked grin. "He doesn't know how to make snowballs so Zelda and I will still beat you."
"I'm going to teach him. Give me a minute," Link requested. Fortunately, the girls granted him a cease fire for that specific purpose. He turned to Kid who was crouched down, fumbling with a wad of snow in his gloved hands and failing to make it into a ball.
"You're pressing too hard," Link observed.
"But it doesn't stay together if I don't," Kid said, frowning.
"Watch and copy what I do," Link instructed, cupping a reasonable amount of snow in his hands and beginning to compress it so that Kid could see. He watched Kid as he did it, noting that the boy was still struggling. Maybe it was the power bracelets. Link was just about to suggest he take them off when a smile lit up his counterpart's face.
"I got some to stay!"
Link furrowed his brow, unable to see through Kid's cupped hands. "Show me."
"Come closer. I don't want to break it," Kid said.
Link complied, leaning closer to see Kid's success. But there was nothing but unshaped snow in his hands.
"Wha-" Unpacked snow was smashed into his face, and Link recoiled, shaking the icy particles away like a dog. "You traitor!"
Kid burst into laughter, and Link laughed along with him, delighted to see that his counterpart was having fun.
"So much for even odds," Midna commented with a giggle. "Looks like it's three against one."
"Bring it on," Link invited. "I can take all of you." His eyes shot to Kid who was still on the ground, laughing at his own trick. "Starting with you."
Kid barely had time to widen his eyes before Link scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder. "Ahhh! Put me down!"
"Nah, this is payback," Link said, turning so Zelda's snowball hit Kid instead of him. "You're my shield."
Kid screamed in faux terror, kicking in an attempt to get Link to lose his grip. "Midna, Zelda, save me!"
"There will be no saving!" Link declared, cackling like a madman and readjusting his grip on the squirming boy in his arms.
"We'll see about that!" Midna laughed, gathering a bunch of snow in her hair hand.
"Not the snow boulder!" Link yelled, turning tail and running. Even his new shield couldn't stop that.
Up ahead, he could see Tetra still chasing Anjean, the Lokomo girl turning every now and then to throw one of the snowballs in her possession. "Hey! You two, be on my team!"
"Okay!" Anjean chirped, coming to a stop in front of him. Tetra stopped too and grabbed one of the snowballs out of Anjean's arms, only to hit the purple-haired girl with it. Her mission accomplished, she looked up at Link, taking in the struggling Hero of Winds with a raised eyebrow.
"Kid, why's he carrying you?" Tetra asked.
"He took me prisoner!" Kid exclaimed. "Don't be on his team. Help me!"
"Some hero. Getting yourself captured," Tetra shook her head in mock disappointment. "Alright, I guess I can save your sorry butt. I don't want to be on the same team as Anjean anyway."
Tetra made to grab another snowball from Anjean's small collection but the Lokomo girl hopped out of reach. She smiled sweetly. "Sorry, dear. We're not on the same team. It'd be wrong to let you use my ammo."
"Fine! I don't need it!" Tetra claimed. She then tackled Link. Despite her pirate upbringing, the young girl wasn't strong enough to topple him. She was, however, strong enough to push him back a step, and he instinctively reached out a hand to fend her off, giving Kid the opening he needed to escape.
As Kid ran away, Link decided he needed a replacement prisoner and grabbed Tetra before she could run off, picking her up off the ground from behind.
"Letgoletgoletgoletgo!" Tetra screamed, her tone vastly different from the playful one Kid had used earlier. She struggled, clawing at him to be let free, and he released her.
She nearly collapsed but caught herself at the last second. Her breaths heaved in and out in harsh, ragged gasps.
Link reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder and turn her around to see what was wrong, but just as he was about to make contact, Tetra slapped his hand away. She'd half-turned towards him while doing so, giving him a clear view of her face. The glare he'd been expecting wasn't there. Not at first. First was terror, so pure and unfiltered that it struck unexplainable fear into his own heart.
"Don't," she hissed. If her tone of voice didn't alert him to the fact that she was ticked off, the raging blue fire burning in her eyes certainly did. Yet, for a second, he could have sworn she was scared.
The question was: why?
He didn't have an answer, and Tetra wasn't about to give him one so he did the only logical thing he could think of. He lifted his hands in a placating gesture and apologized. "O-okay. I'm sorry." Maybe Kid wasn't the only one he should be concerned about.
With a huff, Tetra stormed off in the direction Kid had took off in to join Midna and Zelda.
"Are we still playing?" Anjean wondered, tilting her head to the side and looking up at him uncertainly.
"Uh, yeah, I think so. Just try not to target Tetra," he said. Anjean nodded, and the two of them jogged back to find the rest of the group piling up snow.
"What's this?" Link asked, doing his best to forget Tetra's little episode for the time being. After all, they were supposed to be having fun.
"A base, since we've divided into teams," Zelda answered him.
"They're not even teams," Link pointed out. Two against four was horridly unfair. "One of you has to come to my team."
"I'll come," Kid piped up, stopping what he was doing and bounding over to where Link and Anjean stood.
"Traitor!" Tetra called after him.
"He's been a traitor from the start. We'll get him back," Midna assured her.
"Promise you won't betray me this time?" Link asked.
Kid gave him a toothy grin. "Promise."
Once the teams were settled, they all became involved in forming their respective snow forts. The princesses had it much easier since they had Midna on their side and she could move large amounts of snow at once. However, the heroes were resourceful too, and Anjean was incredibly strong, so they weren't at too much of a disadvantage.
After the bases were finished, the snowball fight commenced. It didn't take long for Link and his team to fall into a pattern. Since Kid still had difficulty making snowballs, Link took it upon himself to create as many of the projectiles as possible while his teammates focused on hitting the enemy. They were pretty good at it. Unfortunately, that didn't sit well with the princesses, Tetra in particular.
Abandoning the relative safety of her own team's fort, Tetra ran over to their base, dodging Kid's and Anjean's attacks all the way.
"Get back on your side!" Kid ordered her, throwing another snowball that Tetra didn't even bother to dodge, so intent she was on her mission.
"No! I'm here to put you in your place!" Tetra declared, closing the distance between them and tugging on the scarf wrapped around Kid's neck.
"Hey! Snow attacks only!" Link objected, frowning at the pirate girl's roughness.
"This is a snow attack." With that, she scooped up a handful of snow and dumped it down the back of Kid's coat.
"Augh! That's cold!" Kid cried, arching his back at the icy temperature.
"Good!" Tetra returned, with a satisfied smirk. "You've been nailing me with cold for the last five minutes!"
"That's because you're an easy target." If Kid didn't know the words were a mistake before he uttered them, he knew as soon as Tetra tackled him to the ground, flinging handfuls of snow at him. Kid laughed and returned the favor, managing to get snow into Tetra's coat too and make her scream.
Link watched them wrestle in the snow, pleased to see they were acting their age. Of course, he couldn't let them have all the fun, and with Tetra's earlier freak out in mind, Link picked up a snowball to toss into the mix. Before he could, however, a mass of snow was dropped on him, taking his breath away.
When he attempted to regain it, Link found himself inhaling, not frigid air, but ice crystals, and desperately scrambled to free himself. He broke the surface of the pile of heavy snow, gasping for air. "Midna!" he rasped breathlessly. He winced at the pain in his chest. "That one hurt. Don't do that."
"I didn't do anything," Midna said from where she floated by her own mini fortress.
"It had to be you!" Link objected, struggling to free his arms and glaring at the Twili. She didn't know when to quit sometimes.
"It wasn't her." Something in Anjean's voice made Link pause in his struggling to look at the Lokomo girl. "I think…it was that." She pointed, and Link followed her finger to a…snowman.
"Who built a snowman?" Link asked, glancing around at his companions.
"I didn't," Anjean said, sounding frightened.
"I don't even know what a snowman is," Tetra added as everyone else shook their heads to express that it wasn't them.
Link looked back to the leering snowman as if that would give him his answer. To his surprise, it did.
The snowman's stick arms moved to its head and promptly removed it. The six of them watched in shock and bewilderment as the snowman held its own sinisterly grinning head for a while. Only when it cocked back its arms to throw it, did they come to their senses.
"Help me out!" Link shouted, attempting to dig himself out of what he could only assume used to be a snowman's head. Kid, Tetra, and Anjean rushed to his aid, desperately throwing aside snow.
They weren't fast enough.
Thankfully, Zelda was. A shield of blue spared the four of them from the snowman's latest attack. Shortly after Zelda lifted the barrier, Link was completely free from the snow and drawing his sword.
"Fi, what is that?" Kid asked, drawing out his new bow from his belongings.
"I have no data on this enemy, Master," Fi reported, not bothering to show herself.
"Not a Ghirahim-made enemy?" Midna guessed.
"It doesn't have a soul," Anjean protested, evidently unnerved by that fact.
"So he made a completely new enemy just for us," Link concluded.
"Apparently so," Zelda agreed as they watched the snowman form a new head and place it on its body.
"I know how to deal with this," Tetra declared, stepping forward and holding out her hands as if she was about to stop a rampaging goat.
"Tetra, wa-"
"I can do it," Tetra insisted, cutting her counterpart off. Fierce concentration was etched on the pirate girl's face, and for a few seconds nothing happened. Then fire. A bright, swirling ball of red and orange and white flickered into existence before her outstretched hands. A triumphant smirk lifted her lips, and with a battle cry, she launched the large fireball at the snowman.
It would have hit its target, too, if it didn't veer drastically off course and smash into an evergreen tree sprinkled with snow, instantly setting the poor tree alight.
"THAT did not go as planned," Tetra stated, staring in shock at the now blazing tree. Given the dry environment it wouldn't be long before the rest of the tiny wood caught too.
Zelda sighed. "That's why I told you to wait."
"Head's up!" Midna warned, drawing their attention away from the burning evergreen on their far right.
"I got it," Kid said, coming to stand beside a still frozen Tetra and readying a fire arrow. The snowman released first, but that simply gave Kid time to aim as the mass of compacted snow hurtled towards them. His fire arrow met the snowball in mid-air, melting the sphere of frozen particles so that by the time it reached their group, it was nothing more than harmless rain.
The snowman itself wasn't gone yet, so Kid fired another flaming arrow, successfully putting an end to the creature.
"Well, that happened," Link observed after a moment passed with only the crackling of the burning tree to occupy it.
A tug on his sleeve caused him to glance at the purple-haired girl, who was looking off to their left in trepidation. "I don't think it's over."
"Holy Hylia, that's a lot of snowmen," Link breathed as he took in the army of snowmen that had gathered to their left.
"I don't think I have enough magic for that," Kid uttered quietly.
"And we definitely don't have enough magic for them," Tetra added, pointing to yet more snowmen that had popped up behind their party.
"Maybe we can cut them down with swords," Link suggested, though he wasn't entirely confident that it was possible. Still, he would never know until he tried.
Link dashed ahead, vaguely aware of his companions doing the same as he darted and weaved to avoid the snowmen's odd choice of projectile weapons. It took slashing at the same snowman multiple times before coming to the conclusion that the monsters would just piece themselves together again unless the snow was destroyed in some way. That only left them one option.
"Run!" Link yelled. No one objected, and the six of them found themselves running, or in Midna's case, hiding in Link's shadow, from an army of snowmen. It was definitely one of the most bizarre things the Hero of Twilight had ever done, and his companions seemed to agree.
"I can't believe… we're running… from sentient snow! How lame…is that?" Tetra carped, her breath puffing into the air in spurts.
"I can't believe…they're still following us," Anjean managed just before Midna warned them of an incoming head, and they were forced to scatter.
Link had to agree with her, though. The snowmen themselves were stationary as far as he could tell. However, more seemed to be popping up in their path as they ran. Either there were a ton more snowmen hidden around the Snow Realm or the same snowmen were pursuing them. Link was willing to bet on the latter.
"They won't go near the copse of trees Tetra set on fire," Kid pointed out, glancing towards said burning forestry and earning a glare from Tetra. "Maybe…maybe we could hide out there."
"That's not safe for us either," Link replied, dodging an incoming meteor of snow. Then another. Annnd another. Suffice it to say, it took a considerably longer for them all to regroup so he could finish saying his piece. "We can't breathe smoke, and those trees could fall at any time. Quicker if they're getting pummeled by snow."
"There must… must be some place we can go that they can't follow," Zelda said, shooting a meaningful glance at Anjean.
"Um," the Lokomo girl squeezed her eyes shut in thought, but opened them again almost immediately. "There is a gate near here. It isn't the right one, though."
"Who cares?" Tetra exclaimed irritably as they were forced apart again by grinning snow boulders. "Where is it?"
"This way!" Anjean veered to the left and everyone dashed after her, kicking up snow in their haste to escape their relentless pursuers.
A decent amount of ducking and weaving later, and a grey, circular arch with golden runes etched into it came into view. An upside down gold triangle seemed to float at the peak of it, but Link didn't question it so long as it worked.
"I'll go through last to make sure… it doesn't close on anyone," Anjean gasped out, fumbling with the instrument hanging around her neck. "All you have to do is run through the portal."
Before anyone could comment on the lack of portal, Anjean had raised the pan flute to her lips and blown into it, producing a loud and somewhat annoying pitch. The gate reacted to it immediately and a swirling gold and bronze portal popped into existence within the arch, growing larger and larger until it occupied the majority of the empty space.
Being bombarded by snow, Link and his companions raced through the portal. It didn't feel like anything except a passing breeze and even then, Link couldn't say for certain since he had been running when he'd passed through it. All he could say for sure was that it felt nothing like Twilight portals. But at least with Twilight portals, he knew what to expect on the other side. With this one, he didn't, and so it was hardly surprising when Link found himself sprawled on the freezing ground along with everyone else.
"I hate ice," Kid groaned to his left as Anjean hopped through the portal and barely managed to keep her footing. The note she'd been holding cut off abruptly, winking the portal out of existence.
Tetra was quick to bite the girl's head off. "Why didn't you warn us there was ice here?"
Link hardly heard Anjean's defensive reply. Near constant battles had made him wary and without even thinking about it, his gaze swept over the new area. Ice covered every inch of ground for miles and plenty of jagged rocks encased in ice—or chunks of ice?—were scattered everywhere in no particular pattern, though most seemed to be resting nearby an ice pillar. Link counted five columns in all, easily as tall as the trees in Faron Woods and about as thick too. It was when he looked up that his blood ran cold.
He just couldn't believe their luck. As a hero, Link had found himself to have the best and worst luck of all time. This was one of those moments.
Steem. It had to be. Though Link didn't get a chance to note more than white hair and coal black eyes before the figure on top of the center pillar threw a yellow boomerang.
"Down!" Link yelled out in warning, encouraging everyone that hadn't gotten up to stay down and those that had risen to duck.
The boomerang whizzed overhead and a resounding crack erupted from behind. When Link looked, he was greeted by the falling shards of the upside-down golden triangle that had floated at the peak of the gate.
Link grit his teeth. He was pretty sure the gates didn't work without those.
"What the-!?"
"It's Steem," Link said cutting off Tetra's exclamation of surprise. Everyone's attention was drawn to the man crouched atop the ice pillar. He snatched the boomerang out of the air and regarded them with something not unlike curiosity.
Link quickly took stock of all potential threats, knowing when the possessed man loosed the boomerang again, it would be aimed at them. Besides the boomerang, an ice pick hung from his belt and there was a glint of metal on his feet, but it was hard to tell what it really was from this distance. All in all, nothing too dangerous. On the surface, anyway.
As if sensing Link's thoughts and being insulted by them, the possessed Lokomo readied his boomerang and let it fly with a flick of his wrist. The throw was sloppy. In fact, the man hadn't even properly aimed before letting it go. And yet, the boomerang sought them out as if it was a wolf on a scent.
It was all Link and his companions could do to scramble to their feet and evade the incoming projectile which followed no laws of Nayru that Link could see. It targeted him, tailing him for a while even when he zig-zagged and backtracked. Then it skipped its way over to Zelda, who was positioned to his far left and should have never been in the direct path of the boomerang in the first place. Nonetheless, it sought her out, and when she dodged it, the boomerang twirled around her a while longer before deciding to try its luck with Anjean, then with Kid, then with Tetra, before finally seeming to run out of momentum and returning to the hand of its owner.
"Is he possessed or is the boomerang possessed?" Tetra demanded. It was a fair question. Normal boomerangs did not work like that. Heck, Link's Gale Boomerang didn't work like that.
"He's possessed," Anjean answered with confidence. "Normally, he can move the boomerang around however he wishes once it leaves his hand, but not for very long. I think the evil spirit is amplifying that power, like what happened with Gage and the Whirlwind."
"This is definitely going to be easier than the last one," Midna commented, popping up from the shadows. "We can just get straight to shooting him with light arrows."
They were all inclined to believe the Twilight Princess until Zelda and Kid attempted to fell the possessed man with arrows of light.
Immediately, the yellow boomerang zipped to defend its master, cutting down the arrows midflight before zooming towards the group of six standing on the ice, stunned.
As the boomerang drew closer, Link became reanimated, hastily pulling a still frozen Zelda out of its path. The sudden action spurred the rest of his companions to act, and they all raced for a pillar of ice to their left, the boomerang right behind them.
Link had hoped the pillar would offer them some protection, at least enough for them to regain their bearings and formulate a plan. Alas, though the group had made it behind the pillar, they were not spared the boomerang's wrath.
The yellow blur barreled through the ice, throwing icy chunks and splinters everywhere. He and Kid didn't even have time to throw up their shields before the ice rained down on them. For the second time that day, Zelda was fortunately fast enough to raise a sparkling blue barrier above their heads. The shards thudded harmlessly off of it.
"What do we do?" Anjean asked, clearly frazzled.
"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" Tetra snapped right back, eyes narrowed.
"I don't-"
Zelda cut the Lokomo girl's protest off with an answer. "If we freeze him, he can't use the boomerang, and we'll have a clear shot."
"What about freezing the boomerang?" Midna suggested.
"We could try that too," Zelda agreed. She then turned to Kid. "Which one's easier for you to hit?"
Kid took a second to think about it before replying. "Steem, I think."
"Alright, then. We'll draw his attention to us and while he's distracted, you hit him with an ice arrow," Link decided.
Kid gave a determined nod in return, nocking an arrow in preparation.
It was a good thing they had devised a plan by the time they did, for the possessed Steem had grown tired of their standing around and launched his boomerang to animate them. It worked, though not for the reason he must have thought.
Zelda dropped her shield, and the six of them scattered across the ice. As Link ran as best he could on the slick surface without falling, he was delighted to see that the boomerang was heading his way. That meant it wasn't targeting Kid. Perfect.
He was just getting ready to dodge it when the boomerang whizzed past him of its own accord. Before he could whirl around fully to check on its position, a shock of cold froze him. Literally. His whole body burned with the cold, especially his exposed face and ears. Every intake of breath was icy and jagged, puncturing his lungs. It only took another moment for him to realize that that was because he wasn't taking any breaths. He couldn't.
Just as panic began to sink in and black ringed his vision, a lick of warm light flared before him, effectively blinding him, not that he could really see before. It had been warped, and blurry and he longed to close his eyes, so when he actually did, he was surprised.
"-ight?" a concerned voice drifted into his ears, and he opened his eyes, feeling them sting as if he'd opened them underwater. But he wasn't underwater. He was standing—as far as he could tell since the rest of his body felt numb—before a worried Zelda who was cupping a generous flame in her gloved hands.
It was then that he realized that from his waist down he was covered in ice. Albeit melting ice, but still ice. "W-w-what-" he began, teeth chattering.
"The boomerang hit a Mini Freezard into you," Midna supplied from his right. "Those frozen rocks aren't just frozen rocks, apparently." Since speaking was painful, he just grunted to signal his displeasure. He'd never actually been frozen by one before, though he'd dealt with plenty in the Snowpeak Ruins.
"Hurry up unfreezing him!" Tetra snapped, drawing Link's gaze to where the pirate captain was holding a magical shield up around them. "Kid, just stick him with a fire arrow and be done with it."
"I don't want to burn him!" Kid's protest came immediately from somewhere out of Link's line of sight.
"I can heal him if you do," Anjean interjected.
Link wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not when Tetra agreed. "You heard the girl. Do it, Kid!"
"No." Thank Farore his counterpart didn't want to see him go up in flames.
"Relax, we're almost done," Zelda said, drawing his attention to the fact that he was almost ice free. Not that he could tell by feel alone aside from a relieving of pressure. Iciness still invaded his every pore.
The frost completely released him a second later, and he would have fallen if four pairs of hands hadn't reached out to steady him.
"Are you okay?"
"Sit down."
"Stay still."
Link could barely tell who the directions were coming from, much less listen to any of them of his own volition.
"Link?" Kid's tiny voice turned his head and he found himself staring into frightened green eyes. He didn't mean to make his counterpart scared.
"'m fine," he stammered. "R-really cold."
"I'm sorry. I'm trying but…" Anjean trailed off. He could just see the violet glow of her magic out of the corner of his eye. Everything felt numb, so he couldn't tell if her healing was helping or not. Even if it was, they didn't have time for her to warm him up.
"New plan," Midna declared. The Hero of Twilight barely caught sight of the shadow crystal before he felt his body shift and transform into a wolf. A wolf with delightfully warm fur.
His mind cleared instantly, and he scrambled to all four feet just as Midna alighted on his back.
"That's a new trick," Anjean observed, blinking up at him with awed violet eyes from where she was crouched on the ground, her outstretched hands losing their healing glow. Just as he'd suspected, the Lokomo girl was intrigued rather than terrified by his lupine form, which was just as well. The middle of a battle was just about the worst place for explanations.
"That trick won't save you from hypothermia," Zelda said, seeming to be thinking as she spoke. "You'll be fine so long as you're a wolf but you'll be right back where you were as soon as you're human again."
"So we finish this quick," Midna surmised, equally serious.
"Yes," Zelda agreed, "Let's-"
Tetra was thrown back as her barrier exploded, reminding them all that the middle of a battlefield was also the worst place for altering plans. Link swiftly nudged Tetra back onto her feet before scattering along with everyone else to avoid the boomerang and Mini Freezards.
It turned out that running on ice wasn't any easier on four legs than on two. In fact, it was significantly harder. Link couldn't bring himself to complain too much, though, for, as Zelda had pointed out, he wouldn't have been able to run at all if it wasn't for his wolf form.
The evil spirit seemed to be determined to keep them apart, for Link found himself unable to draw close to one of the others before he was forced away again, either by the yellow projectile or a Mini Freezard.
Zelda had a very un-princess-like solution for this. Yelling. "Kid, forget the ice arrows!"
"How are we going to hit him at all, then?" Kid called back from somewhere to Link's far left.
"Just—"" Zelda's response cut off and Link frantically searched for her to make sure she was alright. Relief flooded him when he saw she was. Some Mini Freezards were taking up her concentration. "Keep his attention on you," the princess continued when she was able. "I'll take him down with light arrows."
"I could hold him for you!" Midna piped up from his back, free to talk since she didn't have to do any dodging. It was all up to Link. "He'll never know I'm coming, I'll grab him with my Twilit hand and-"
No! Link barked to cut her off. That was way too dangerous. Midna wasn't at full power, and the Lokomo were unnaturally strong even without evil spirits possessing them. She'd only get hurt if she tried to apprehend Steem.
"What?" Midna demanded, either not getting this or not caring.
Thankfully, Anjean understood. "You won't be able to hold him long. A second tops."
"That's all we need!" Midna insisted as Link slipped and crashed to the ground. He growled, pushing himself back onto his feet as Midna shot a ball of condensed Twili magic at a quickly approaching Mini Freezard, knocking it away from him.
"No, it isn't," Anjean argued.
"It could be—" Tetra called, her words broken up due to her efforts to stay untouched. "if—if I fired a light arrow too." Leave it to Tetra to be on board with the plan that would without a doubt get someone hurt.
Link barked again, irritated that he couldn't speak words anyone else could understand. Nonetheless Midna seemed to catch on to his feelings about the plan and dropped it.
"Save your magic, Tetra," Zelda advised. "You too, Kid. You will both be back up if I fail."
"Fine!" Tetra huffed.
"Got it!" Kid said.
And with that their new plan was put into action. Link barked and howled to draw Steem's attention to him so that Zelda had the opportunity to slip away and find a suitable position to shoot from.
As he dodged the yellow projectile, Link kept an eye out for Mini Freezards, not only to spare himself another unpleasant experience but to spare his companions as well. The possessed man was intent on turning them all into ice sculptures if the boomerang's primary targets had any indication of his plans. Link found himself dodging Mini Freezards and pushing, or being pushed by, one companion or other out of the path of one of the icy buggers more times than he would care to admit.
Frustratingly, the tiny ice monsters zooming around kept them all moving, even Zelda who was trying to become anonymous. If he weren't a wolf, Link would take his Ball and Chain and smash the annoyances to bits. But he was a wolf, and he didn't dare transform back into a human.
His attention shifted to his counterpart, then, an idea forming. Maybe he couldn't dispose of the Mini Freezards, but Kid could. It seemed like ages, but eventually he managed to reach the Hero of Winds. Once there, Link forced his head under his counterpart's left hand and sent him his idea. "Smash the Mini Freezards with your Skull Hammer."
To his surprise, Kid ignored him. Link tried again, nudging his counterpart's side harder this time and causing Kid to spare him an odd look. Link returned it as an incoming ice monster forced them apart. Had their connection broken somehow?
Understanding suddenly dawned on the young hero's face, and when the next opportunity arose, he removed his glove, placing his now bare hand on Link's head. "What is it?"
Ah, so it was skin-to-skin contact. "Use your Skull Hammer to smash the Mini Freezards."
"That'll work?" Kid wondered, skeptical.
Link tossed his head, the best version of a shrug he could reach as a wolf. "Only one way to find out."
Supposedly in agreement, Kid whipped out the Skull Hammer from his belongings, bringing it down on the next ice creature that shot their way.
It worked well. Too well, in fact.
Both heroes scrambled back from the cracks quickly spreading from the point of impact, no doubt freezing water gushing up and over the ice.
"Kid, you idiot!" Tetra yelled upon noticing the splintering floor and the hammer still clutched in the young boy's hands. She was practically on the other side of the battlefield but distanced herself anyway. Link didn't really blame her. If nothing was done, the cracks would spread.
"It wasn't my idea!" Kid defended himself.
"Link, you idiot!" Tetra clarified.
He would have retorted if he hadn't thought the same.
A sudden flare of white light caught his attention, and Link turned just in time to see Kid shoot an ice arrow at the ground. Bumpy ice arose, freezing the water once more. Even though it wasn't nearly as smooth as it had been, it held and didn't threaten to plunge any of them into freezing cold water so none of them could complain.
"Do that again!" Anjean exclaimed as she subsequently dodged the boomerang, followed by a Mini Freezard.
"And leave us nothing to stand on?" Tetra scoffed, ducking as the boomerang whipped her way. "Kid, don't you dare!"
"No!" Anjean gasped, shaking her head furiously at Tetra's misunderstanding. "Cover the ice in imperfections. The soulless need smooth ice to slide on. If you make it rough and bumpy they can't move around as freely."
As if to prove the Lokomo girl's point, a Mini Freezard shot Link's way, only to ping off the tiny mound of ice Kid had created.
Seeing this, Kid prepared another ice arrow, aimed, and fired. A bump of jagged ice materialized just past the monster that had been deflected a few seconds before. It slammed into the new obstruction and flew back the way it had come.
Kid didn't wait for it to reach the other obstacle. He created a new one in its path, and another until it was wedged snugly between two ice mounds. Two ice arrows later saw the Mini Freezard completely trapped.
"Nice!" Midna cheered. It was a smart move, trapping them like that. There was only one problem. It took a long time. Time they did not have.
Link barked a warning to Kid just in time to ensure they both avoided another fast approaching Mini Freezard.
As soon as it passed, the Hero of Winds resumed his mission to limit the ice monsters' movements. He wasn't the only one that wanted to limit his enemy's movements, though.
The possessed man had redoubled his efforts to freeze his enemies, Kid in particular. Every Mini Freezard was knocked his way, and they would have hit their mark if Zelda hadn't had the foresight to throw up a shield around them. The barrage of Mini Freezards bounced off of the magical blue dome surrounding the three of them and slid on the ice back the way they had come.
Not willing to accept defeat, the evil spirit used Steem's boomerang to redirect the creatures their way once more, only to obtain the same ineffective result as before. Frustrated, the possessed Lokomo changed tactic, sending the boomerang to smash into the shimmering shield.
The blue barrier shattered immediately but that mattered little. It had served its purpose. Kid was ready with an ice arrow and Midna with her Twili magic. Link simply stood his ground, prepared to knock Kid out of the way if necessary.
But his worry was misplaced.
"Tetra!" Kid's scream was his first clue. The snuffing out of his ice arrow the gut-wrenching second.
That's when Link knew the shield that had protected them hadn't been Zelda's. It had been Tetra's. Tetra, who was now frozen like he had been. She wasn't just freezing. She was suffocating in that ice. He knew because he hadn't been able to breathe then, either.
His lupine body moved but not fast enough. He was stumbling over his own paws in his haste to reach the frozen girl on the other side of the battlefield even though he didn't know what he'd do when he reached her. and that thought made him pause. It also nearly got him frozen again, but it did bless him with a better course of action than blind panic.
Narrowly dodging the multiple Mini Freezards Steem slapped into motion with his boomerang, Link shot after Kid, who had taken off before Link had even realized what happened.
"Shoot her with a fire arrow!" Midna called to Kid.
"Can't!" Kid returned without slowing.
"Why not?" Midna demanded. "If you accidentally hurt her, Anjean can-"
"My arm hurts too much to-" Link caught up to his counterpart, then, his momentum toppling them both.
"Sorry." Link thought as he shoved his head under Kid's hand, though by the time the Hero of Winds tore his glove off, the apology had been replaced by Link's intended message. "You get to Tetra. Me and Midna will hang back and distract Steem."
"Midna, help Link!" Kid called to the Twilight Princess, hastily tugging his glove back on and dodging a Mini Freezard.
"With what?" Midna wondered.
"Distracting," Kid supplied before running off towards the still frozen Tetra.
Seeing her alone and frozen sent shivers through him, and it took all Link's self-control to not rush to her side. As much as he wished it were otherwise, if he charged over there he'd only draw unwanted attention to her and with no instant way to unfreeze her, that was no good.
Kid, Zelda, and Anjean were best suited to help her as they'd helped him. The problem was, as Link found out rather quickly upon turning to Steem, that the evil spirit seemed intent on keeping both girls engaged in battle.
Link didn't intend on letting that stand and neither did Midna. Between Link's howling and Midna's flashy magic, they managed to attract the attention of the possessed man, allowing first Zelda, then Anjean to escape and aid Tetra.
Then it was just a matter of keeping Steem's attention.
For better or worse, this wasn't too difficult. In no time at all, the possessed Lokomo was entirely focused on freezing the wolf and its rider. Between his clumsy footwork and Midna's magic, they managed to avoid each attack and fell into a pattern of sorts. It almost became easy to dodge after a while. The boomerang was never the danger. It was always the ice monsters, and so Link gave them his full attention.
That was his mistake.
Pain exploded through one of his back legs, and he crashed to the ground, a Mini Freezard closing in fast. An attempt to scramble to his feet proved futile. He growled low, as if some part of him believed the approaching monster could be scared off. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
"I can't stop these things. Get out of the way, wolf boy!" Midna shouted at him, rising off his back and firing a ball of condensed Twili magic at the creature that was about to turn Link into an ice sculpture. It slowed but didn't stop.
Link rolled to the side, feeling every bit a dog, but choosing to ignore it. After all, it had worked. The lack of danger, however, was fleeting.
"Don't tell me you can't get up," Midna exclaimed in a mix of exasperation and concern as she doled out shots of crackling magic to the nearest monsters.
If he could have told the Twilight Princess anything, he wanted to tell her that he could get up. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't true. No matter how much he pushed himself and ignored the pain, his back leg refused to hold him. This was just not his day.
The orbs of light that came into Link's field of view alerted him to Anjean's presence before her voice did. "Link! Midna!"
"You stupid girl! What are you doing?" Midna scolded her. Link couldn't help but agree with Midna's judgement. Anjean was flat out running across the ice, practically sliding between the Mini Freezards that the evil spirit directed her way with the boomerang.
"I'm helping! Link got hurt, right?" Anjean called back. She had almost reached them and, without meaning to, Link's hackles raised. For whatever reason, the wolf did not approve of the spirits that swarmed around the girl, and Link wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He tapped into his senses…
…And was bombarded with a mountain of sound. No doubt, it came from the spirits floating nearby, which were not monstrous in any sense of the word. They were simply people, young, old, and in-between, males and females.
Only with intense concentration could he pick out individual voices, but even then he couldn't hold onto any single voice for long. They all jumbled together in a mess of words, none of which made sense out of context. "Do- are we- can't- some- wait- to- I- ANJEAN!- he- don't- think- honestly- you- a- ice- summon-"
Link had to shake his animal senses away. Already, he felt a headache building behind his eyes. Did Anjean hear all that too? How could she hear herself think, much less hold a conversation with anyone else? Link himself knew he must have missed a good deal while his curiosity got the better of him, for Midna and Anjean were all but pressed against his sides now. Anjean's head was bowed in concentration, her hands clasped together.
The Mini Freezards were zipping by too close for comfort, and he shouted for one of them to do something, not that they could understand him. Nonetheless, his point got across and Anjean threw her arms wide. Four pinpricks of purple light appeared around the three of them and judging by Midna's reaction, she could see them too. Even if she couldn't, it was fairly hard to miss the suits of grey armor that materialized, protecting them from the ice monsters.
"Spirits, keep them steady," Anjean prayed. At least, Link assumed the odd positioning of her hands, fingertips and heels of both hands touching, was one of prayer. If it was, he didn't recognize it. Then again, she could very well be speaking to her spirit companions. Link counted at least twenty. Definitely less than before, though still overwhelming when they were all talking at once.
"What are they?" Midna questioned the Lokomo girl, warily eyeing the backs of the suits of armor.
"Phantoms," Anjean supplied, kneeling down beside Link. "They're nearly indestructible." She turned her attention to Link, then. "Which leg's hurt? This one?" She gently touched his injured leg, and he gave a nod of confirmation, baring his teeth against the pain. That stupid boomerang probably shattered the bone.
Anjean took a deep breath, hovering her mittened hands just over his leg. "Stay still."
Link did so, noticing more than half the spirit orbs drifting closer to him and Anjean. He didn't particularly like that, but if he was being honest, he was curious about just what the spirits did besides talk over each other.
Letting his senses take over again, Link was surprised to not be slapped with the boisterousness from before. Instead, a gentle murmuring took over as the faded, almost see-through, people nestled up next to Anjean, brushing their insubstantial limbs against hers, supposedly lending her their power. They spoke in a language the Hero Chosen by the Gods did not recognize.
Somehow, the words were comforting, healing. The pain in his leg faded bit by bit until it was a memory. As soon as Anjean's hands lost their healing glow, the spirits drifted away, starting up their yammering once more. Link decided that was a good signal to let go of his senses.
"Does that feel better?" Anjean asked, turning her hopeful gaze towards him. She was panting a little, as if overexerted, and a bone-numbing guilt settled into him, then. Maybe Zelda was right. Maybe she wasn't as bad as he'd first thought. She was risking herself for them. She wanted them to succeed.
This time when he attempted to stand, he was successful. He looked at Anjean, tail wagging, and hoped his body language conveyed his gratitude. She shot him a small smile, so he could only assume that it did.
"I'll take over distracting," Anjean informed them. "Zelda says you have a lantern, and they need it. They moved behind that pillar." Anjean pointed out a column of ice that Link could just make out looking through the slight gap between two phantoms. "Come back as soon as you can, though. I don't think I can distract him for very long."
With that, Anjean closed her eyes and reversed her motions from before, making it appear as if she was gathering invisible magic in her arms and stuffing it back in her core. The phantoms disappeared immediately, and the three of them were exposed to attacks once more.
Link hardly noticed Midna return to his back. He was too occupied with dodging Mini Freezards and running for the pillar, praying to the Golden Goddesses that he could make it to his companions without endangering them.
Of course that was too much to hope for. It seemed they had done too good a job of angering the evil spirit, for it didn't want to let them go.
"I'll give them the lantern," Midna said, the weight on his back lifting. He could only assume she had shifted into the shadows since didn't see her before he stumbled gracelessly back to Anjean.
Though he knew the Lokomo girl was skilled, he didn't realize how skilled until he saw her all but dancing between the frost-bitten rock monsters, keeping any that drew too close at bay with one of her knives. No doubt if Link or any of the others had tried such a thing, they would've gotten barreled over. But not Anjean. In fact, her method of defense cracked the Mini Freezards. Not enough to shatter them in one hit, but certainly in three.
Link briefly wondered why she hadn't been doing it more, but when a Mini Freezard brushed past his right side, depositing ice crystals in its wake, he understood. It didn't guarantee anyone else's safety.
Thankfully, Anjean noticed him before the situation grew too perilous, and they embraced good, old-fashioned dodging. Soon enough the evil spirit had scared them into taking temporary shelter behind an ice pillar.
Neither of them were surprised when it broke; they simply ran and slid. Mostly slid. But their momentum took them out of range of the falling ice shards so Link didn't mind too much.
Until the boomerang sought their blood, that is. Then he minded a lot.
Perhaps remembering how it had taken him down before, the evil spirit aimed the projectile for his legs. Though he managed to evade it, his already unstable footing swiftly deposited him on the ground, leaving him wide open.
Anjean jumped to his rescue, attempting to swipe the boomerang out of the air with a knife. The projectile's momentum stopped cold, the curved wood spinning static in the air.
There was no time for celebrating though, because it reversed its spin, knocking the knife out of Anjean's hand and sending it skittering across the ice. Unbalanced by the sudden movement, Anjean landed hard against him, sending him back to the ice he'd just conquered. The boomerang had no such inhibitions and flew at them with a vengeance.
Link struggled to get his feet under him while Anjean lobbed her second knife at the yellow projectile, momentarily stunning it.
"Anjean, catch!" Kid's voice startled them both. Though Link would argue that the purple crystal rocketing their way startled them more.
Anjean snatched the crystal out of the air and that's when the boomerang struck. First Anjean, then Link. Except…it didn't hurt. All it did was send them sliding, not unlike the Mini Freezards.
"What…?" Anjean wondered staring in awe at the object in her mittens as the boomerang assailed them with no results.
Magic armor. It was the only explanation that popped into his head. But if it was true, that meant either he or Anjean lost rupees to be protected. He wasn't aware of the Lokomo girl having any money on her so he bet it was him. Either way, he'd have to check his rupees later.
For now, there were bigger issues. The possessed man seemed to realize he couldn't harm them so he redirected his attacks to Kid who was running towards them.
Link barked a warning since standing was still proving to be difficult. Kid saw the danger, though, as did Midna. From the shadows, the Twilight Princess sent out orbs of energy to distract the boomerang. It worked just long enough for Kid to practically fall into him and Anjean, breathing hard.
"Steem…the…the boomerang," Kid gasped out.
"Can Steem only control his boomerang is what he means," Midna translated.
"Oh," Anjean blinked, taken aback. "Yes, but wh-"
Kid held up his own yellow boomerang that looked eerily similar to Steem's. Link caught on instantly, feeling his tail thump the ground behind him.
Anjean understood too. "Wait until the boomerang is returning to him. He can't manipulate it then."
They didn't have to wait long. The boomerang only had so much energy to slam repeatedly against their invincible armor, and soon enough it began to zip back to its master. That's when Kid released his own projectile.
It hooked the other boomerang, stopping both its and the other's momentum, and sending both pieces of curved wood plummeting to the icy ground.
"Yes!" Midna cheered as Kid rushed forward to claim both wooden projectiles, Link right behind him. "This works even better than switching them."
"I don't know which one's mine," Kid announced, sheepishly glancing between the two identical boomerangs in his hands.
"Doesn't matter right now," Midna declared, snapping her fingers and causing both boomerangs in Kid's possession to disappear in a flurry of shadow particles.
"Light arrow! Quick!" Anjean exclaimed from somewhere behind them. "I think we made him madder."
Upon turning his attention to Steem, Link could confirm that this was the case. Mostly because Steem wasn't there.
The possessed man was on them far too quickly to be normal. Of course, Link hadn't been expecting normal, he was a Lokomo after all, but this was a whole new level of impossible.
A blur was the only warning Link had before steel bit into his side. He leapt away from the sting instinctively, gritting his teeth as Steem's attention turned to Kid.
The Hero of Winds had barely managed to raise his shield in defense before the man took his ice pick to it. Link wanted to jump in to help, but considering how Steem was all but dancing around Kid on the ice, he knew it wouldn't be wise. He'd only earn another injury.
But as Steem circled around to Kid's back far faster than anyone could ever turn, even on solid ground, all his self-preservation went out the window. Link leapt forward, fast and furious, with fangs bared. He managed to grab the front of Kid's coat and pull him forward just as the ice pick came down.
Kid all but fell into him but quickly scrambled to his feet and onto his back. Link winced at the stinging in his side but ignored it in favor of distancing both him and his counterpart from danger.
A shout from Anjean drew their attention to the purple crystal hurtling through the air towards them. He felt Kid shift his weight in preparation to catch the object, and did his part in gauging where the thing would land so he could get them there.
The problem lay with the ice under his paws… and the possessed Lokomo gliding closer. It seemed that the man's feet didn't touch the ground, and in the quickly shortening distance between them, Link found this to be true. Thin, metal blades were fastened to the bottoms of Steem's boots, offering stability and agility on the ice normal footwear couldn't.
"No!" Kid's cry alerted him to his counterpart's failure to catch the object, and he resisted the urge to look back. Whether Kid had fumbled it or Link hadn't gotten them close enough didn't matter. What mattered was making sure Steem didn't land another hit.
Link just barely managed to twist out of the way of the first swing, but he wasn't so lucky on the second. He yipped as the steel bit into his left leg, hopping back and immediately collapsing. His own weight was suddenly too much to bear, much less Kid's.
"Go!" His shout came out as a pitiful bark. Kid didn't budge and Steem was raising his weapon and there was no way Link could dodge it so why didn't Kid move and—it didn't hurt. Steem struck them, and Link felt the force behind the blow but no pain.
Swiveling his head around, Link found Midna hovering by Kid, the crystal held between them. "That was way too close, eh wolf boy?"
Link snuffled in agreement and cringed at Steem's next attack even though the wavering purple barrier surrounding the three of them didn't allow it to make contact.
"Are you okay?" Kid asked, sliding off of Link's back but keeping one hand fisted firmly in his fur so the magic armor protected him too.
He gave a nod of confirmation in return. He'd had worse.
"Hey!" Anjean's yell drew their eyes ten feet away, where the Lokomo girl was waving her arms around, reclaimed knives glinting in the air. "Over here! Bet you can't hit me! Come on, evil spirit, show me what you've got!"
Invigorated by the challenge, or perhaps just insulted, the possessed man abandoned them, speeding over to meet Anjean.
"Light arrows," Midna said from the shadows.
"Yup," Kid agreed. Breaking contact with Link, Kid slid the magic armor into his pocket and took his bow off his shoulder, nocking an arrow. He barely waited for light to bathe the arrowhead before releasing it at the enemy. Though his back was turned, the possessed man knew what was coming for him and twisted out of the way, maintaining his momentum as he glided to a stop in front of Anjean and took up matching blows with her.
Not good.
"Try again!" Midna encouraged him. "Can you shoot two at once?"
Kid set his jaw and nocked two arrows, feeding them magic so they shone. As he aimed and drew back, Link could instantly tell something was off. He'd seen Kid fire plenty of arrows before and his hand had never shaken. But this time the arrows trembled. Was two at once too much for him?
Link was inclined to believe it was when Kid released and both arrows didn't even make it to their target.
"What was that? Bad aim?" Midna carped. "Come on! Anjean's slipping." And she was. Though skilled, even Anjean had her limits.
Wincing, Kid drew back another shining arrow. Link noted the trembling this time too. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but then remembered he was a wolf and closed it.
This light arrow made it closer to its target but still required no dodging on Steem's part to avoid it.
"Crap."
"It's fine, try again," Midna said, attempting to be supportive, but Link could hear the frustration in her voice.
Kid shook his head, eyes locked on the dueling Lokomo. "I don't have any more magic."
"Crap," Midna echoed.
If Kid was out of magic, what were they supposed to do? Get Zelda? She was still with Tetra and, though he had no idea what Tetra's condition was besides not a block of ice, he was sure the pirate captain needed the warmth from the princess's magic right now.
"Master." Fi's appearance startled them all. "Given the current situation, it seems that utilizing a Skyward Strike as a means to exorcise the evil spirit from the Lokomo Steem is the best option."
"Would have been nice to know that was an option before," Midna commented with an unmistakable aura of scorn.
His counterpart didn't waste time complaining about Fi's timing. Shouldering his bow, Kid raised the Master Sword skyward, letting sacred energy fall from the heavens and collect in the blade.
"Move!" Kid shouted to Anjean once the sword was engulfed in light.
The Lokomo girl heeded the warning, but it wasn't necessary. The evil spirit's focus had already shifted to Kid and angled Steem's body on a straight path to the Hero of Winds. As long as Kid hit the possessed man, it wouldn't be an issue.
Perhaps sensing this, Kid let loose a battle cry, dashing forward and beginning to cut a horizontal slice through the air. Before he could complete the motion, however, his feet slipped out from under him and deposited him none too gently on the icy ground.
Somehow, the involuntary motion he'd made when falling registered as completing the attack, and a wide, diagonal beam of lavender light rocketed out of the sword. Kid's momentum had carried him closer to Steem. Too close, it turned out, for the possessed man to dodge the attack. It struck him across the chest, and a screech of pain ghosted from his lips as he was flipped onto his back.
A thin, twisted black thing with the suggestion of horns atop its head emerged from the Lokomo's chest, its agony at being purged by sacred energy evident in its writhing…and screeching. Oh, its screeching. It was high-pitched like a Keese's cry except it echoed and bounced around Link's head, threatening to make it burst. Instinct flattened his ears, and aside from a sudden tightness in Anjean's expression, Link concluded that his companions could not hear it.
Just when it bordered on unbearable, the evil spirit fell silent, its tangled form wisping into the air like smoke.
Then came a laugh, so sudden and unwarranted, it made Link jump. Whipping his head around, his gaze came to rest on the Twilight Princess, who was floating in the air, holding her stomach and giggling uncontrollably.
Before Link could wonder too long about what was so funny, Midna supplied the answer amidst giggles. "Eee hee hee! You—I've never—in my whole life—eee hee! Seen someone face plant that hard."
"It's not funny," Kid objected sourly, sitting back on his heels and rubbing his forehead. His whole face was flushed. Whether it was from the cold or embarrassment, Link couldn't tell. "It hurt."
At his proclamation, Anjean, who had been busy healing the unconscious Steem, turned concerned eyes to Kid.
The Hero of Winds hastily raised his hands. "But I'm fine."
This only made Midna laugh all the harder. Link, however, couldn't find any humor in the situation. He had little doubts that Kid was lying. A little slip like that had most likely happened before if Kid's earlier proclamation about hating ice was any indication. No, what concerned him was not his counterpart. It was Tetra.
Link shot to his feet, gaze homing in on the ice pillar he recalled Anjean pointing out earlier, and took a step forward. That turned out to be all he could take due to his injuries. He tried to push past it, but as soon as Anjean noticed his condition she blatantly refused to let him move until she'd healed him. Link begrudgingly sat through it, knowing Midna was right when she admonished him for running around and bleeding all over like a "stupid wolf".
Still, as soon as the pain vanished and Anjean's magic sank into his fur, Link took off after Kid, hardly conscious of Midna on his back. He had a fallen friend to tend to.
A/N: Hello, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I know it's been a long wait so thank you for your patience. :)
I also have a couple announcements to make. First, both this story and its prequel are now published on AO3, so if you prefer to read on AO3 instead of on here, then you can do so.
Second, I have written and published a oneshot titled, "Little Miss Tetra". (I am not planning on posting it to AO3; however, if you wish to have it there, PM me or leave a review expressing your desire and I will comply.) It is a story about Tetra's past, particularly how her mother died. I've kept this headcanon of mine close when writing Tetra's character, and it is responsible for a lot of her quirks. I do recommend reading it if you want to understand Tetra better, but not reading it won't pose any problems. I leave it solely up to each individual whether they want to read it or not, as it ultimately comes down to the reading experience you want.
Best Wishes,
Hylia
