#towd

“Do you think we can just try with the stuffed toy?” he asked, eyes pleading. Link found himself having a hard time denying his partner’s request with that look (Though that was true regardless). “It’s worth a try.” Shifting  into the large wolf many had come to fear, he sniffed the rabbit plush and concentrated his senses. He could visualize a clear path before him leading deep within the woods, he followed the trail. The trees got thicker alongside the mist, a cloudy sea of vapor and bark obscuring their vision.  Though it was not a bother to Link, he caught his friend tripping on every root that came across their way, and nearly running into every tree. So the wolf slowed to a halt and got low to the ground. “Get on my back, it’ll make it easier for us to not get separated.” Sheik looked at him hesitantly, as if he was wondering whether it would be really okay for him to do this. The old hero understood that the sheikah was just being considerate of his space but the patient expression Link bore seemed to ease his worries and sat on top of his partner. “I’m not hurting you am I?” Link simply shook his head. Sheik was gentle in his grip, his fingers intertwining into the snow white fur the same way one would do to a significant other’s hair. “Your fur is so soft, Snow.” Link fought the urge to wag his tail. He liked the physical affection Sheik gave him; ever since he first scratched Link’s head at the tavern, the man had wanted more. 

Would it really be so bad if we strayed from the mission for a bit?

The wolf shook away his thoughts. He could not afford any distractions, no matter how tempting they were. It’s been close to half an hour when he hears whimpering nearby. He stops once more, his partner getting off his back while the wolf  transforms back into the devil. The cries guide them towards the dark huddled figures of three shaking girls. “W-who’s there?!”

Sheik tentatively walks close, his tone ever soft as his gaze. “My name is Sheik, I’m not here to hurt you or your sisters. Your mother asked me to find you, are any of you injured?”

The eldest looked up towards Sheik, her eyes puffed red from crying while her sisters cowered behind her. “Mama sent you?” The warrior gave her a reassuring nod. The girls tentatively walked closer, all holding trembling hands, they still didn’t trust his partner until the youngest spotted the plush in his hands. “Sir Francis!” she exclaimed. She ran towards Sheik with the largest grin and grabbed the toy enthusiastically, giving it a crushing hug. “You saved him from the monsters! Thank you mister!” Link couldn’t help but smile at the scene, he was so relieved to know that they were safe and well. However, he did not dare approach and instead stood a couple steps away hiding by a tree. They had dealt with enough monsters, they did not need to meet another. 

While Sheik checked them for injuries and bandaged those he found, the youngest spotted Link hiding and walked over to him. “Lily!” called out the eldest, “Where are you going? get back over here!” Lily did not obey her sister. Link was unsure of what to do, where he would normally leave in a situation like this he could no longer do so. It was clear that he caught the young girl’s curiosity and that she was unafraid of him despite his appearance.

“I remember you. You saved Papa from a monster.” The devil was speechless. Before Link could do something, Lily hugged him with the same amount of energy as when she was reunited with her plush. He was frozen in place, hands raised, afraid to touch her. “Thank you for saving him.” Tears are pricking his eyes when she lets go. She didn’t view him as a monster, she saw a hero.  He glanced over to Sheik who was giving him a soft smile and mouthed him a question.

“You okay?” Link simply nodded in response. They would be able to talk more about it afterwards. “Sara! Zena! You can come over here, it’s okay! He’s the one who saved Papa from the bad bone monsters, remember?” Her sisters approached with eager curiosity, though Sara was more reserved. Sheik followed behind them. Link decided to kneel down so they could talk easier, much better than getting a stiff neck from having to look down so much. “What’s your name?” asked Zena. “Snow…” 

Lily giggled at his response, “That’s a funny name for someone like you, mister!” “Hey, I like it!” His eyes glanced towards Sheik’s, it had been the name he had chosen for him after all. But the sheikah seemed more entertained at them poking fun than his defending the name. “What name would you have given him instead?” he asks the girls, to which Lily rests her head on her fist with her tongue sticking out in deep concentration. “Jean-Luc!” she shouts triumphantly. “Absolutely not,” Zena responds. “It has to be something cool like him!” “But Jean-Luc is cool!” Lily protested, stomping her foot in response. “Even Sir Francis agrees!”

“It is not!” Link couldn’t help but inwardly laugh at their little argument. If someone would had told him a week ago that he would be in the forest witnessing two little girls pick out a name for him with his longtime crush standing beside him he wouldn’t have believed them. “Saber!” “No!” “Louis?” “No” “Bel-” “What about Haldur?” spoke out Sara. Everyone turned to stare at her, she had been silent during the whole conversation that neither of them believed she was interested. “It's a pretty cool name right?” Haldur. Something about that name stirred within Link into the very crevices of his soul; as if something was awakening from its deep slumber. The power of the deity hummed in his veins, his senses heightened and for a split second he swore that he was no longer in control of his body. “Yeah! That’s a great name!” shouted Lily, thus bringing him back to reality. She turned back to look at him, “what do you think mister?” “I kind of like it,” Sheik added. “It sounds powerful but also soft, it suits you.” Link prayed that his blush was not as obvious as he felt it to be. “Haldur it is then.” A low rumble of thunder boomed above them, a sense of uneasiness fell upon them as they looked to the ash colored clouds. “We should leave,” piqued Zena. Taking charge, Link shifted into the wolf and asked the girls and Sheik to get on his back. With all of them secured he dashed across the woods, the scent of an oncoming storm tickling his nose. 

Just before arriving Daear he had turned into a more passable sized wolf, and walked beside his partner and the girls. Lily seemed to be amazed with everything he did; from changing shape to how easily he was able to pick her up alongside her sisters. However besides his small feats of power, she seemed to be greatly interested in his relationship with Sheik. “Are you two boyfriends? Or husbands?”

The two of them whipped their heads to the youngest sibling, then met each other's eyes before turning away. Before Sheik could clarify, a woman’s call was heard across from them and was running towards them with open arms alongside what he assumed was their father. “Girls!” they were joyously weeping, relief shining in their eyes. “Mama! Papa!” The girls cried and bear hugged their mother, all of them shaking in each others hold. A small crowd had begun to form around them, curious to see the commotion while whispering among themselves. “That sheikah found them! Can you believe that?”

“I thought those girls were goners, I’m so relieved.”“Do you think that he had to fight that Devil? He doesn’t even look hurt.”

“Thank you so much sir, I truly cannot express my full gratitude for what you have done!” Their mother began to rummage through her pouch, which Sheik quickly caught on and protested. “Please ma’am there’s no need for you to pay me back. Seeing you be reunited with your daughters is payment enough.” “But I can’t just let your kindness go unpaid! At least let me cook you some dinner as thanks, you must be famished for dealing with that horrible monster!”  

Link stiffened when he heard that last comment, glancing up at Sheik who gently pet his fur. “I truly appreciate the offer, but I do have something to say now that you reminded me of it ma’am.” He turned to face the crowd; head held high, gaze unwavering and his once gentle voice now regal as he spoke.

“It wasn’t the White Devil that kidnapped the girls, but instead monsters enhanced by dark shadows.” As expected, many gasps and whispers of objections are heard. The parents of the girls looks at Sheik in confusion, Link doesn't blame them. For years they had believed what others had spoken without asking for proof, and now its being challenged? “How do you know it wasn’t the devil that sent those horrid creatures?” Spoke out a soldier, “how do you know, that it isn't behind it all!” The others murmured in agreement. “It's a crafty beast, powerful too. Who’s to say it can’t command monsters to do its bidding.”

“And you know this how? Have you ever seen or met the devil? Has anyone here really seen it?” Sheik questioned, and was met with silence. 

“Those in the infirmary did…” “The same ones who you refuse to listen to?” He didn’t let anyone further comment, “From what I have seen, not a single soldier nor hunter  here has done anything  to further investigate the situation and instead has been blaming an innocent simply because everyone else has deemed him dangerous! Instead of listening to those in the infirmary, you deemed them paranoid. Instead of thinking for a second about another perspective, you blindly follow!” 

No one dared to speak, the soldiers looked at each other with embarrassed looks, while the hunters glared daggers. “Well then, if what you say is true then how do you know it’s innocent? How can you prove to us that that thing  isn't dangerous?” 

It was Sheik’s turn to stay silent. He had been so engrossed in defending Link from the false accusations that he had slipped up the truth of his involvement. There was no possible way to save face now, not when he was this deep. Unless… It was a risky move, one that would very much worsen the situation for not just Sheik but Link’s as well. But since when had Link not ever taken a risk to protect the person he cared for the most? He changed into the form of the deity, hands remaining at his side and looked down to the people of Daear. “Because I’m right here.” 

Soldiers and hunters unsheathed their weapons while the villagers screamed from the sudden reveal. Everyone hid behind the line of soldiers, everyone except the young girls the duo had saved earlier. Sheik stood by Link, firm and hand protectively in front of his partner while the girls copied him. 

For a moment the world flickers, and before him is no longer a crowd of scared villagers but angry knights with weapons drawn. They’re looking at him with disgust, calling him a monster, murderer and a beast. He says nothing, it’s not like there was anything he could do to change their minds.

“I shouldn’t be here! That thing has caused enough death and destruction that it should be burned for it’s crimes!” The crowd cheered, and all he feels is his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

“Silence!” Commands the person in front of him. It was not Sheik, but a woman in a stained white dress with golden hair and wings that shined more beautiful than crystals he’d seen in the forest’s caves. A sword lay at her waist, black blood still dripping from its tip. Though he could not see her face, he knew that her expression  must be furrowed in anger. “This deity has risked his life confronting the Demon King and his own brethren in order to give you all a chance of survival. And this is how you repay him? With insults and threats?!”

“It’s forbidden for a devil  to be on sacred grounds, Your Grace. You shouldn’t be associating with it at all.”

“And who are you to deem what is forbidden to a goddess?” 

Silence befell upon them, and the knights melted away into the present villagers and soldiers who looked at him in fear. The woman in white was now Sheik, whose crimson eyes stared down at the hunters.

“They called us devils when all we did was help.”

The fierce deity’s voice rang clear in his mind. Had he shown him that scene? Was it a memory of his past? But why? Link didn’t understand, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it.

“Girls?” called out their father, “what are you doing? Come here where it’s safe.” But they did not move. 

“You heard your father,” spoke Farris, the drunken hunter they had met the day before. “Step out of the way before you get hurt.”

“If you even think about harming them I  swear on Farore that I will pierce that blade of yours into you,” their mother warned, surprisingly at Farris who backed down. “Why are you doing this, girls?”

“Because he saved us!” Sara began, “Haldur and Sheik found us after some skeleton monsters attacked us! And Sheik is telling the truth, it wasn’t Haldur that took us, it was some weird shadow thing.” Her voice had quivered near the end, whatever had taken them, it had not been pleasant. 

“He even saved papa!” shouted Lily, and their mother looked at her husband. 

“It- he saved your father?” They nodded in response. The father stepped closer, his wife behind him with her hands close to her chest and stood before them. 

“I had gone out to get some wood with the girls when it happened. Something had struck me in the back and I had fallen, I couldn’t see anything, only hearing the sounds of breaking twigs and metal scraping and I swore I was going to die there but then- ” He looked up to meet Link’s eyes, as if he was making a connection. “I saw a white blur destroy whatever had attacked me, and then leave before I could even register what I had seen.”

“Yes, I remember. It had been a Stalfos that lingered too close to the village,” Link explained. 

“So it was you.” The children had moved now, no longer standing protectively in front of him but now next to their parents. “Thank you for saving my life, and I apologize for blaming you against my daughter’s abduction.” 

The devil nodded. Next to him, Link heard Sheik let out a sigh of relief. “Don’t you all see,” he began again as he turned to the crowd, “Haldur, the being you all call the White Devil, has never harmed anyone here and simply has been protecting you all from the monsters that linger in the Lost Woods. There is something much bigger at stake here.”