Gray

The first thing Gray noticed was how run down the town really was. Sure, he had heard that it wasn't really populated by Hylians, but instead mainly by gorons- which he had heard many stories about. Apparently, they were a race of large rock-people who loved wrestling and ate solid stone as food, but he didn't really know what they looked like because he'd never seen a picture of one nor a real one his whole life. However, he didn't see any rocks that looked very alive anywhere in the town. It looked as if they hadn't been there in a while, for almost every single building was in need of some kind of repair. He saw plenty of rotted wood and broken windows, and even a few large holes in roofs- some of which were clumsily patched up. He hoped that the holes and broken windows weren't the product of gorons simply having fun.

Gray was too busy seeing the town that he didn't notice the shadow beasts approaching until Blue the bunny yelled; "Watch out!" and Midna jerked his head around by the ears to face the things. He growled irritably at her. It hurt whenever she did that.

Knowing that they were in a spot of danger, Gray reacted quickly, springing away before the shadow creature barreled into him. There were three of the things, so Gray led two of them around in circles until the four rabbits brought down the third. Then, he dispatched the creepy duo using the energy thing Midna could help him do. Every time he used that attack, he would always get extremely disoriented from the speedy jumping and spinning, but it was still kind of fun to use.

The fight was over soon after. Gray watched as the shadow beings evaporated into the portal into the sky.

"Why do those things always leave a portal after being killed?" Green wondered aloud.

"Oh. That's from me. I trap their particles in the edges of the portal so it stays open. It makes it easier for me to teleport because I can locate the spots easier, and use them to assist me. They just make easier traveling, so I can lug you lot around without tiring myself more. It's like using one of beasts- horses- to travel so you don't have to use your legs as much." Midna explained.

"Oh."

"To the heroes… who were transformed into beasts in the realm of shadows… In twilight… This way…"

Gray jumped as a cluster of dim light in the middle of a pool in the corner of the valley called out to them. He figured it must be the next spirit, judging from the blob's similar shape, and the fact that it was hovering over a similar-sized section of shallow water. Well, it was shallow for him, anyway, with his long wolf's legs. The rabbits had a harder time of it, as they were a lot shorter.

Gray padded over to the blob of pale light, the other Links keeping closer to the edge of the pond.

"You're the next light spirit, Faron, right?" He guessed.

"Yes… Please… restore my light… Take this…" Out of the weakened spirit, a vessel of light appeared, which Midna grabbed and unraveled. It looked exactly like the one they had received from Ordona.

"The insects of darkness… They are the form taken… by the evil that attached itself… to my scattered light. With the last of my power… let me mark your map… with the locations… of the tears that have turned into… shadowy insects."

Midna took out the enchanted map, and let a thin tendril of light touch it. Sure enough, small, light blue dots like before appeared in the spots where the bugs were.

"Thank you," Gray nodded.

"But…" The light spirit continued, "Be careful… The darkness… now hunts you…" the voice faded away.

"What? What do you mean?" Vio asked, but he didn't get an answer.

"The spirit must be too weak to talk! We have to get its light back now!" Blue exclaimed, shifting his legs and twitching his nose in worry.

Gray agreed. If Faron never got his light back in time… he shuddered. He didn't really want to know.

"Hey, there's noise coming from that house!" Red noticed, gazing at the building nearest them. The whole group raced over to see what was inside, but only Gray was tall enough to just peer in the corner of the window. From his viewpoint, the only thing visible was the top of someone's head, whose face he couldn't see because it was covered with a metal face mask of some sort.

"Cripes! How the heck am I supposed to babysit someone else's little brats when I oughta be savin' myself?!" the man exclaimed.

"Little brats?" Gray was confused for a moment before realizing, "There must be kids in there! Wouldn't they be left with a better adult to take care of them though? This guy doesn't sound very willing."

"Yeah," Blue agreed, looking as though he wished he could see in the window.

"Hey, if you want to look inside, this map says there's some of those bug things in there! Eee-hee! Those people weren't very smart, locking themselves in with those things!"

"You think this is funny?!" Blue growled dangerously, "Well, it isn't, so you better stop acting like it is!"

If Gray wasn't just as mad as Blue, he may have thought the way Blue's fur was fluffed up funny, but at the moment, he only glared angrily at the imp. Midna flashed Blue a grin.

"Hey, look, I know a way to get you inside, but if you don't want my help…"

"How do we get in?" Blue grumbled.

"Look. There, there's a window way up near the top, see? Midna pointed to an open window that was close to the roof, "All you need to do is go through there."

"How? We can't jump that high!"

"It's easy! All you need to do is climb that tree!" Midna glided over to a tall tree by the window that was devoid of leaves.

"Rabbits aren't built to climb trees…" Vio noted, "Neither are wolves."

"Well, we'll just have to work around that, won't we? Eee-hee!" Gray frowned sourly. Midna was having way too much fun with this.

"I'll start… Gray volunteered dully. He strode over to the tree and started trying to climb it. If he had to describe the experience, difficult would be an understatement. It took him at least thirty tries to get halfway up the tree, but that was nothing for the rabbits. Eventually, they were having so much trouble that Gray had to carry them up one-by-one by the scruffs of their necks like lost kittens, which made it even harder for him to climb. None of them liked it, but Blue was probably the most resistant, and when he finally agreed, he complained the whole way up.

Eventually, they all made it, and jumped through the window.

Once inside, Gray froze in shock. There, sitting on a ledge, was a tall man with braids in his hair, and crowded around him… were the missing children from Ordon. There was another girl there too. Everyone had frightened looks on their faces, and Talo had his face buried in the man's arm.

"…Gray? Are you okay?" Red asked worriedly. Gray didn't answer. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the children.

"Cripes! I don't see those black brutes anywhere…" At last, Gray looked over and saw the guy from before that was in the window. He was peering out of the house, his body plastered to the wall.

"They've gotta be hidin' somewhere waitin' for their helpless little prey to come out! Then they'll feast!"

"We are safe as long as we remain in here, child. Be at ease," Gray turned back to the cluster of kids as he heard the other man speak to Talo, who was clutching his arm so tight that his knuckles turned white.

"Oh yeah?" the man at the window countered, "I wonder if the monsters out there agree with you… They sure didn't seem impressed by my bombs! How long do you think we can hold this sanctuary against beasts that strong, huh? Once they attack, it's over!

"Remember the lady from the general store? Just one of those things attacked her, and me and that guy from the inn went to save her! And what happened? She was already gone, and there were two monsters waitin'! Then me and him got separated, and the next thing I know there's three! You connectin' the dots? That means that if we get attacked by them, then we'll be…" Gray felt sick. Those shadow beasts turned actual people into themselves?

"BARNES!" the man yelled, just before Beth burst into tears and hid her face. Gray desperately wanted to run over and comfort her, and couldn't help taking a quiet step forward, but he knew that she wouldn't be able to see him. Besides, with him as a beast, he would probably scare everyone. He had never felt so helpless in his life.

"Gray… do you know them?" Red asked tentatively. He still didn't give a proper answer, but he couldn't help but give a small whimper.

The other guy, Barnes, seemed to know he had crossed the line, and sank to the floor, trembling and shoving his mask lower onto his face. He crawled forwards a few steps, saying;

"Look, Renado… All I mean to say is that it's risky here, too! Ain't you got some place we can hide?"

Renado looked up from Beth, "There is… a cellar."

Barnes crawled closer, "Whaat?! You've got a cellar? Where's the entrance, man?"

"The cellar is designed to open when all the candles around the room have been lit," Gray looked around the room, noticing four unlit candles set in sconces on the wall. Barnes hurriedly grabbed a stick from the floor, using something mysterious from his pocket to light it with a small explosion. Then he raced over to a jar of tinder and oil sat next to a statue in the center of the round room, and lit it, still scampering around on the floor like some kind of odd spider.

"…I would not do that," This time the unknown girl spoke, "When father instructed me to secure the cellar, I saw insects like the beasts outside…" Barnes dropped the stick, and backed into the wall."

"Don't cry Beth, it'll be okay!" Gray turned as he heard Colin's soft voice over the sound of Beth's tears and Barnes' scampering and whimpering. He had placed a hand on Beth's shoulder, trying to reassure her but Gray could tell he was just as scared. Beth turned her face away from him.

"Link is coming to save us all!" Colin said with utter certainty. Gray let out a whine. It hurt, seeing this happen to them, and not being able to help. Behind him, the other Links gasped in realization.

"The missing children…" Green whispered. Red cuddled up to Gray's side.

"We'll get them out of here," he promised quietly, as Beth looked up from her hands. Talo gasped and pulled his face from Renado's arm, while Malo and the girl also focused on Colin. Renado didn't say anything, just kept staring forward out the window, eyes narrowed in sorrow and worry. Barnes kept cowering in the corner, but he cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"…I can feel it!" Colin finished, dropping his eyes to the floor. Talo sighed and peered out the window with Renado. Gray's heart almost broke in two.

"These kids knew you'd come and save them! What a hero!" Midna exclaimed cheerfully, "How sad, to be right in front of someone and not be noticed at all… Eee hee hee!"

"Shut up!" Blue growled, while the other rabbits just looked depressed. Gray was too upset to do anything. He just stared at the kids. Who would be sick enough to put children through something like this? They were supposed to be at home, fishing, and playing in the grass- not fearing for their lives and trapped inside a house with only one adult who made sense and an idiotic coward who made things ten times worse!

"Ah, you, Gray," Midna continued, completely ignoring Blue, "You're the type to worry about everything, I can tell… but don't fret over Princess Zelda! She chose this state of affairs after all… Anyway, what's with having to light the candles to get to the basement?! Not very subtle, is it… So, what are you going to do now? Eee hee!" Midna patted his fur and kicked him in the sides.

"Come on, let's light the stupid torches, the faster we get this done, the faster we can get these kids out of danger and become hylians again! Then you can be properly reunited. Now come on! Get moving!" the blue bunny pushed the stick Barnes had dropped over to him, "I'm… not big enough to do this myself!" he seemed reluctant to admit it, but it did snap Gray out of his reverie. He knew he wouldn't be any help just standing there, so he picked up the stick and lit it.

"Father, look! The stick is floating! It's been lit!" the girl pointed at Gray. Everyone was staring at him now.

"Don't go near it… we don't know what it'll do," Renado said. Gray understood, but it still hurt to be considered something dangerous, even if they didn't know what it was. Swiftly, he darted around the room, lighting each of the candles and then dropping the stick in a corner. Something rumbled, and then the entire large statue in the middle of the room shifted aside, revealing a hole in the floor, with stairs leading down into it.

"The cellar… it opened…. What is going on…?" Renado wondered.

"…I wish L-Link was here!" Beth cried and covered her face with her hands once again. Talo hugged Renado's arm while Colin looked like he wanted to cry, but was remaining strong for the others. Gray was glad Colin was there for them.

"Come on, the sooner we get this over with, the better!" Green said, starting down the stairs. Gray reluctantly tore his eyes away from the group huddled in the corner, and headed into the cellar.