Gray

The first thing Gray noticed about his village was the sadness that seemed to emanate from every corner. He began to get more worried and apprehensive than he already felt about stealing from Ordon. He had only witnessed Ilia's capture. What if those monsters had taken the rest of the children as well? Midna had definitely hinted at it. If they had stolen the children, why hadn't they taken him away as well? Or maybe they did, and the rest of them were still in Hyrule Castle's dungeon, living as spirits and oblivious to the twilight.

Stop it, he told himself, you don't know if the children are even gone at all. That imp Midna hasn't proved herself to be trustworthy yet.

But still, the nagging doubts lingered.

Stepping further into the village, Gray noted that, though it had been light out when they were in the spring, the sky was now almost pitch black, stars slowly showing up in the night. Torches were lit all around the village, mainly around houses. A few quiet whispers could be heard in the distance.

"Well, here goes nothing," Gray sighed heavily and approached the voices.

Vio

Vio had noticed Gray getting more apprehensive and miserable. He wanted to say something to console him, but he just didn't know what. Red was the more empathic one, he would probably think of something, but it was still in his nature to try and help anyone, especially if that person was his friend. It was strange, he hardly knew Gray, yet he somehow felt… connected to him. He had thought long and hard about it, and Vio felt he had found the answer. If he was correct, he and his counterparts had traveled back through time and were now running around with their anscestor.

The thought that in all of Hyrule, somewhere, somehow, the first person they had met, and even got captured and escaped jail with, was their ancestor- it was a little mind-boggling. It couldn't be just chance, could it? Did the goddesses have something to do with this?

Suddenly, a voice shouted from above, "A Beast! Get away you monster!"

Vio glanced up just in time to find a short man blowing into some sort of reed grass. Then a hawk soared down out of the sky and dove at the group of animals, screeching loudly.

"Run!" Green yelped, as the whole group was shoved backwards by the bird. The group turned tail and ran, though Vio noted that Gray seemed more worried and saddened than he had moments ago. Once they were far enough away, the hawk left them alone and soared away.

Examining Gray's head and tail drooping, Vio was about to ask what was wrong, but Red beat him to it.

"What's wrong, Gray?" the small red rabbit asked quietly.

"I… I just don't know what to do. I don't know what happened to the children and Ilia, or even if they're alive or dead, eternal twilight is about to cover this village, and I'm stuck as a beast! Then I have to escape from a jail, and now I'm finding I have to steal from my own home village. Not even anyone I grew up with recognizes me!" he shuffled his paws, "…I'm just so lost… I don't know what to do," Gray's voice wavered.

Vio understood now. He noticed Green and Blue staring in surprise, and Red cuddling the large gray wolf gently. This whole time, Gray had been leading, pushing them forward, and comforting them, but in reality, it wasn't himself and the others who needed comforting… It was Gray.

"You haven't had anything like this happen to you before, have you?" Green asked. Gray shook his shaggy head.

"That's okay, you will get everyone home safely, and we will get out of this mess," Red spoke up quietly, "and the four of us will stick with you every step of the way," he assured the wolf.

"Yeah, we won't let you down," Blue agreed. Gray looked like he was feeling a little bit better. His tail and head weren't drooping so much.

"Thanks guys," he said, "I really do appreciate it."

"Shhhh!" Blue hissed, "I hear voices."

"They're too far away to hear from here, I'll get closer," Vio spoke up, and snuck through the tall green grass towards the voices. As he got closer, he caught sight of the two hylians talking. One was a large, stout man with a strange-looking blond moustache shaped like two horns coming out of his upper lip. The other, was a less imposing sight. Slightly on the scrawny side, the guy was almost as short as the one that had thrown the hawk at them. However, Vio could tell he was probably stronger than he looked. The main thing that caught his attention was the item the shorter man was clutching in his hands.

A shield. Then the voices were in hearing range.

"…We go inside?" the stout man asked.

"No, I thing Hanch has the 'beast' under control. You know how jumpy he is at night, especially now that the children are gone. For all we know, it could be a poor lost dog." Moustache Man countered.

"Still, I think we should, after the children were stolen, I don't trust anything out there."

Vio, sensing this was his only chance before the shield was brought indoors, darted out from the tall grass straight towards the two men. Racing past them, he braced his hind legs and gave a mighty leap, sailing straight through one of the large wooden shield's arm straps, hooking it around his neck and ripping it out of the unsuspecting man's arms. Vio raced away back towards the others, shield in tow. Reaching them, he stopped, panting as he presented his catch.

"A shield for you," he told Midna, as she popped out of Gray's shadow. Inspecting it, the only comment she made was rather disappointing.

"It looks… kind of cheap," she noted.

"Like it or not lady, that's the shield we found, so that's the shield you're gonna get! Any questions?" Blue stormed.

"Fine," Midna waved a hand disdainfully through the air, "I guess it'll do. Alright then, next is a sword! Hurry up and get one!" She disappeared into Green's shadow.

"I'll carry it," Gray offered, clumsily hoisting the wooden shield onto his back. Then he sighed heavily, "We'll have to take the sword from Rusl's house, though I really don't like stealing from him. He's like a father to me."

"Well, we don't really have a choice," Green sighed, "I don't like stealing either, but it's the only way to save everyone. Come on, let's get this over with."