Ever since the last time she saw the Beast, Mistique already felt depressed. The next morning, nobody failed to notice her change in attitude. Her face seemed very serious, and the twinkle in her grey eyes wasn't there. The group of children kept trying to persuade Mistique to tell them what was wrong with her, but she refused to say anything. All she did was give them a small smile, and say that everything was fine and nothing was wrong.
The children weren't the only ones concerned about their dear friend. The whole village was concerned about Mistique; especially her family. The next day after the Beast had left, Mistique had visited her family and she couldn't help but feel sad that her wolf-beast friend was going to be gone already. Uli, Colin and especially her father were worried about their daughter's sudden change in mood.
"Sweetie," her mother started. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Mistique nodded. "Yes I am…"
"Mist," Russl started. "I don't get it. The last few weeks you've had such a happy attitude, and now you're looking quite depressed… Did your boyfriend break up with you?"
"Dad," Mistique said, now her smile a little bigger.
This action made Russl grin, Uli sigh in relief and Colin smile at his sister.
"Then what's wrong?" Colin piped in.
The sad maiden looked at her family and saw the worried expressions they had and how much they wanted to know that their daughter (and sister) was okay. Mistique finally sighed and said words similar that the Beast had told her the night before.
"It's complicated," she said. "When this makes sense to me, I'll explain what went wrong with me today."
And for the next few days, she thought to herself.
Her family looked at her for a moment and finally accepted her simple explanation. To Mistique, it was very hard to lie not only to her parents but almost the entire village. She was grateful that both her family and the villagers had happily accepted her, but it pained her heart to lie to them so much. She wanted to tell the truth, but Mistique knew that if she explained how she became close friends with a wolf-beast living in the Faron Woods, her father would round up the villagers and plan an attack on the Beast. The only person who wouldn't make a fuss or cause trouble was Ilia, yet she didn't understand how a friendship between the Beast and Mistique quickly blossomed, but Ilia did understand how Mistique's feelings were now expressing themselves by her mood change.
Now, the days were slowly passing by and Mistique felt impatient. How she wished that the Beast would come back already, how much she wanted to see him, and how much she just plainly missed him. Grudgingly, she accepted that until the Beast returned, her daily routine of going to work, family and home came back to haunt her. The regular schedule she had had for the last years had suddenly seemed strange and foreign, and Mistique longed to have a reason to go back to the Faron Woods.
One thing Mistique couldn't understand was why she had felt so empty. It was as if with the Beast gone, a part of her was also gone. This conflicting emotion kept confusing her and nagging her for quite awhile, though she had a small feeling she knew what this certain feeling was… The idea seemed to be out of a storybook and quite impossible. Mistique had been trying to deal with this emotion by herself to understand it, but now she realized that she needed advice, very badly.
So about three days after the Beast had left with Coro, Mistique asked Ilia if they could spend some time together that day. Ilia agreed, so in the afternoon after Mistique had finished working, she and Ilia met at Ordon Spring. Since the ranch work had required Helio to be there, Mistique took him to the pond to cool him down from the hard work he had put in that day.
As Ilia brushed and washed Helio tenderly, Mistique walked around them in a circle gently waving her sword (it had become a habit for her to have the sword since she and the Beast would usually train for awhile). This continued for a few minutes until Ilia spoke, still brushing Helio.
"Mistique, what's wrong? You're behavior has been so strange lately."
The grey eyed maiden sighed heavily and blurted out, "I honestly have no idea Ilia! I know I've been different these days, but I can't help it… I just…"
"Just what?" Ilia asked as she stopped brushing Helio and looking at her best friend.
"…I miss the Beast so much…" Mistique finally said. "I miss hanging around him, I miss his eyes and I just miss everything about him! I—"
She stopped abruptly; a sudden wind had blown the leaves by the gate. Both girls waved off the wind and as Mistique was about to start where she had left off, she heard the familiar voice she missed so much, though it sounded very distant…
"Mistique! It's me! Mistique, I'm here now!"
The beautiful girl turned around to see if the Beast was anywhere nearby. Around the pond, the only sign of life were the two maidens and the horse.
"That was weird," she said slowly. "I thought heard his voice just now."
"You're hearing things now, Mistique," Ilia added.
"I think you're right…" Mistique agreed as she went back to toying with her sword. "With the Beast gone this long, it must not—"
Mistique stopped speaking again. This time, the Beast's voice sounded much closer and very worried.
"Please Mistique! Can you hear me? I'm back now!"
"I'm…hearing him in my mind…" Mistique whispered.
Ilia gave her a questioning look and the truth suddenly became clear to Mistique! Whenever the Beast talked about the connection getting stronger and how they would be able to read each other's mind without being near each other, Mistique knew that the "connection" the Beast was talking about was the connection between the two of them! Now that they've become very close best friends and how much Mistique had missed the Beast during his journey, the connection had unknowingly strengthened itself even when the two were far away from each other. Since that connection was stronger, Mistique and the Beast were now able to communicate with each other through their thoughts now. The only problem was that if the connection really was at its strongest point then that meant…
"Ilia," Mistique said breaking out of her thoughts. "Is it possible to fall in love with a…wolf?"
Her friend gaped at her in complete shock and stammered, "W-What do y-you mean?"
As Mistique was about to answer, another rush of wind blew the leaves and this made the girls look at the gate. To their surprise, not long after the wind rushed by, Talo, Malo, Beth and Colin had come running and seemed frightened, but very excited.
"A monster showed up at the village!" Talo exclaimed, waving his toy sword.
"What?" the two best friends said at the same time.
"Yeah!" Colin added. "We got really worried since we found it by your house Mistique! But don't worry guys. The adults already know! Our dad started fighting it, and he was able to slash its stomach with a sword! They're going to after it as soon as they can!"
"What did the monster look like?" Mistique said quickly, her eyes wide with fear and worry.
"It was black…and it had some white fur on its legs and stomach… It was a wild wolf…" Malo added emotionlessly.
Ilia and Mistique glanced at each other and exchanged looks of fear. Mistique looked away and shook her head frantically.
"No, no, no!" she cried out burying her face in her hands.
"It's okay guys! We came to get you so there's no need to be scared!" Beth said proudly.
"You don't understand!" Mistique cried out again. "That 'monster' is my friend!"
The children stared in disbelief at their idol. For them, it was very hard to understand why Mistique would say that a monster was her friend. Mistique then popped her head up and noticed Beth had some red flowers in her hands.
She raised a shaking finger and asked with a quivering voice, "What are those…?"
"The…wolf-thingy had them in his mouth…" Beth said quietly. "When Russl attacked him, they fell out and I…picked them up…"
Just then, there was a howl coming from Faron Woods that made them all look up. The howl sounded in pain and with a hint of longing…
"Beast…" Mistique whispered.
The grey eyed maiden then quickly walked over to the gate and saw that there was a trail of red blood leading to the Faron Woods, along with a few red petals from the flowers. Without glancing back, she told the children and Ilia to leave and go back to the village. The children and Ilia were a bit hesitant to obey her orders, but they quickly and quietly made their way back home.
As quick as she could, Mistique sent Helio to the Faron Woods to accompany the Beast. Once he was gone, Mistique ran to the middle of the bridge where there was still a trail of blood, took out her sword and saw the mob of villagers running on their way to attack the Beast. The mob had finally come closer and stopped at the beginning of the bridge. It was all the men from the village with clubs as weapons, with the exception of Russl who had a sword.
Mistique raised her sword, stood in a defensive stance and yelled out, "Father! If you or any of the villagers come any closer, I swear on my life that I will cut the ropes holding this bridge together!"
Russl's voice bellowed back in disbelief and shock, "Young lady what do you think you are doing? You're stopping us from defeating that monstrosity before it comes closer to any of you!"
"Don't you dare call him that!" Mistique cried out, and she felt the tears straining to get themselves out. "He's my friend, father! And I'm not going to let you hurt him!"
"What do you mean he's your friend?" Mayor Bo asked, since Russl's jaw dropped open and didn't seem able to speak temporarily.
"Where do you think I've been going all this time lately?" Mistique asked a little hysterically. "I met him when I saw that my house had been robbed! And ever since that first day we spent together, we've been the best of friends! That's where I have been disappearing all this time to! I go to the Faron Woods to keep my friend company! He's my friend dad!"
Russl's eyes had widened more than ever, and he asked with as much strength as he could, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I knew you would overreact!" Mistique answered, now not bothering to hold back her tears. "He only wanted to see me after his journey! That's why I've been sad lately! I've missed my friend… How could you attack him?"
When none of the men knew what to say to this astounding discovery about Mistique and the wolf-beast they had just attacked, she put her sword down and cried out: "I love him Dad!"
At her last words, there was another howl coming from the woods. Mistique quickly glanced at her shoulder, and thought, I'm going now Beast! I'm on way to you!
When she looked back at the villagers and at her father, she happily saw that they hadn't moved so Mistique called out, "I'm going to see the Beast now! If any of you try and attack him while I'm there, I won't hesitate to attack."
The beautiful girl then turned around and sprinted towards the direction of the howl, hoping and praying with all her might that it was not too late for the Beast.