A/N: Told you this would progress smoothly. Another short chapter, but they'll all be pretty brief since htis is essentially a one shot idea that had more distinct divides than I first anticipated when I began planning it. Anyway, enough of my waffling, enjoy, and if you stick around till the conclusion of the story you'll get to see what inspired this ficlet.
Chapter One: Beast
Link shouldered his way through the growing crowd, murmuring apologies and adverting his gaze when one of the villagers noticed who was trying to come through and scrabbled back to make room.
"Now now, settle down the lot of you", Bo's bass rumble was coming from over the heads of the people in front though he was soon in sight. There weren't exactly a lot of people in Ordon after all, even with the newcomers they'd had.
He nodded briefly to Ilia where she stood next to her father and felt a little better that she didn't pretend not to notice and returned his greeting.
"Ah, there you are lad, just the man, head inside, be with you in a bit", the heavy set man said with a jerk f his head toward the door, returning his attention to the villagers as Ilia ushered Link inside, the heavy oak doors shutting off whatever he had been about to say as she closed them behind the pair.
"Sorry about that, Dad's busy trying to reassure everyone he has everything in hand", the soft spoken girl said with a faint and fond smile.
"Takes more than it used to ever since…", she trailed off, her eyes seeming to go back to another time, viewing events past.
"Since the Boblins", Link finished for her, his own experiences during and soon after that time flashing by in a kaleidoscope of jumbled images and feelings. Fear, confusion, awe, wonder, companionship…
"Yeah…", she sighed, shaking herself roughly. In time Ilia's memories of what had happened had returned, though there were some parts she had told him before they stopped talking, that she would have preferred not to remember.
"And that damn wolf they left behind to terrorise us, snooping round the village in the dead of night", Bo spat, closing the door behind him, the village square, now devoid of its occupants, visible for just a second.
Ilia lay a comforting hand on her father's arm as Link stared impassively around the room, though he'd seen it a thousand times before.
He'd never told anyone about his transformations, there hadn't been time. What with defeating Zant and his minions, finding the pieces of the Fused Shadow and the Twilight Mirror for Midna to aid them in their quest and of course, rescuing Zelda from Ganondorf.
Even when it was done and he'd gone home with the others he hadn't really felt like ruining the atmosphere by telling everyone about something he couldn't even do anymore, and by the time things had settled at last, the reluctant warrior had come to realise that talking of his own brush with Shadow magic was unlikely to go over well and that invisible distance he now knew existed had begun to form.
He sometimes wondered how they'd react to the idea that something born from the Twilight had actually helped save them.
"All water under the bridge", Link started, thinking for a moment Bo was talking about him until he remembered Ilia was standing there too.
"Now then, to business, need your help with something on the ranch", Bo's words lifted Link's heart for a moment as he wondered what it might be, his imagination turning up a thousand possibilities, mundane to the outsider, but precious to him.
The older man's next words brought all of that to a screeching halt however.
"Gotta warn you though… ain't pretty, but I doubt that'll be a problem for you huh my boy", a warm laugh, sounding a tad forced and a stout pat on the back accompanied that sentiment.
Link opened his mouth wanting to protest, but the words died before they were spoken.
Compared to the things he's seen, nothing Bo could show him would affect him much.
Nodding silently, the short boy followed the village head out of the hut and up the steep path to the ranch.
The path to the ranch was hard earth, packed down by many years and many hooves as well as the occasional sturdy boot. As with any farm, the ground and the air were alive with scents, some pleasant, some... not so pleasant, but all the signs of something breathing and dynamic.
However, there was also something else in the air that day. Something hot and metallic that set Links nerves on fire and ground his teeth together, enamel scrapping enamel.
Blood had been spilled here.
Quickly, he replayed the scene outside Bo's hut. He hadn't noticed anyone missing from those gathered.
As they got closer, close enough to hear the scared bleating of the rams as they stomped around in their stalls, something else hit Link.
It started off as a faint itch in his nose that migrated to a pulsing tickle at the back of his throat that he couldn't seem to clear, his rough coughs drawing Bo's attention until he waved away the bald man's concern.
Whatever it was it was getting thicker and by the time they reached the gates it felt like someone had stuffed wool behind his eyes.
He was dimly aware of Bo calling out to someone, another man with wavy brown hair tinged with signs of grey that betrayed his years, and a thick moustache, though it took a moment to remember his name.
Inside, something stirred, as if it were taking great snorts with wide nostrils, testing the air for the source of this sensation.
Russel laughed, the warm comforting laugh that Link had liked so much in his youth, the laugh he'd often heard in his training and sometimes thought must be the sound only a father could make.
The blood smell was getting stronger too, and things started to change, colours inverting momentarily, objects changing size. Suddenly everything was black and white and the former Hero's stomach jumped as if he was falling, his vision tunnelling and all he knew was the blood and the thing it belonged to.
The swelling in his head seemed to be getting stronger, and the thing in his chest more restless, and then, everything changed.
Cries, cries of pain… her pain.
It was hard to open his eyes, the black magic still raged through his body, his new form tired after the change, so much pain, muscles bulging and contorting unnaturally, joints snapping and reversing.
Agony.
There was a thud, something small and with a scent he knew very well striking the ground with enough force to expel all the air from her small frame.
Adrenaline.
His head was clearing and he could see her now, lying barely moving as the tall figure stood over her, gesturing with long flowing sleeves, his voice echoing inhumanly from within his helmet, but the words meant nothing.
Instinct.
Bite, rip, tear, rend the flesh and taste the blood, these were the thoughts going through his mind now, tooth and claw, use it all, don't stop till the inside comes out, destroy the one who hurts the pack.
Muscles bunch, regaining strength as his rage crested, giving him back his feet and growl, low and dangerous peeling back blackened gums as eyes narrowed over slit like irises of a terribly clear blue.
The beast knew exactly what had to be done; he wouldn't freeze like he had before.
He leapt.
"…ink?", a voice seemed to be calling him from far away.
"Link?", this time it was coupled with a firm hand that grasped his shoulder and his mind snapped back to reality.
Crouching low, Link found his hand over the wrist of the one on his shoulder and his other full of the other man's shirt before rational thought was able to register Bo's face, the older man's expression sliding from concerned to surprised to terrified as Link felt his lips pull back over his teeth for a moment.
For a frozen heartbeat they stood there, neither man moving a muscle, unsure as to what the other would do.
"Easy there fellas", Russel's fatherly tone cut into the tension and like a bubble pricked with a pin it burst, Link suddenly feeling very foolish and self-conscious as he released the village chief with a quiet apology, his head dropping a little as the older men stepped to one side.
The sandy-haired boy couldn't help but noticed that Russel had moved them just outside of the radius a grown man could swing a sword; though none of them were armed it still felt like an accurate reading.
DangerousLink had heard himself described as such in some of the whispered conversations that took part around the village. People murmuring in shadows corners they thought his keen eyes and ears couldn't reach.
Looking down upon the husk of the former herbivore, the blue-eyed warrior felt his fist tense at his side.
Things had never felt this out of control before he had entered the shadows to save his friends…
Though I met a new one there…"That's the third one so far", Bo's voice interjected into his train of thought and he glanced sideways at the older man, nodding wordlessly for him to continue when he paused, swallowing and shifting as he met the shorter man's eyes.
"Couple of the kids say they saw somethin' prowling round in the trees a few nights back, just after that big storm. Big thing, all black and hairy, big teeth and yellow eyes they're sayin'", Bo grunted and glanced around the meadow, beady eyes showing anger for a moment, " Wouldn't have put much stock in it if it hadn't killed my animals, and the new hand I hired from the lot that came back with you says he say it runnin' off into the trees after it got the last one. Needs to be stopped before it kills anymore, or worse".
The implied threat was obvious, and those gathered nodded, various sounds of approval rumbling forth from all but the quietest member.
"Things ripped up my rams good, don't want it doin' the same to the little ones"
Link frowned, as something in his gut twisted and rebelled against the village head's words. He couldn't explain it, but something about that idea just didn't feel right. It was as if something crucial had been misunderstood.
Again his eyes were drawn to the ram, or what was left of it.
The actions that had ended it's life were obviously powerful, viscous, the product of a raw animal strength, something that he knew should have scared him on some basic human level and yet he felt no terror, no hate or desire for vengeance.
As a boy, one of the lambs he'd been helping a much younger Bo look after alongside Ilia, had been trampled to death when Ilia's fowl, Epona had panicked the first time they tried to take her out of the ranch, her resultant dash around the paddock scaring the docile rams into a full blown stampede.
Both he and Ilia had cried for days.
Had he seen so much evil, so much death that he no longer felt anything? Or was it something else, something to do with that tickling sensation at the back of his throat he'd felt when he walked onto the ranch perhaps, the one that had triggered his memory even before he saw the dead ram.
Whatever it was, it refused to go away, but the others expressions seemed to have set their course in this matter, so Link held his peace.
He could explore his discomfort later.
Where they stood, Bo and Russel were discussing their plan of action, where to lay the traps Bo had dug out of his cellar and where each of them would be positioned to watch for the beast when it returned.
The wind carried a faint whisper to his ears and Link turned slowly as his chest tightened, the markings on the hand he had gripped it with without realising glinting golden in the sunlight for a brief instance as he felt the stirring again.
His eyes ran across the tree line and for an instance he felt as if something was looking back and measuring him, something with yellows eyes and large teeth. And then it was gone, and all was silent, inside and out.