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shade-pup-cub · 9 months ago

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Febuwhump 2024, Day 19: Twi, Time, Shade (Chain) - “Please Don’t”

Fandom: LOZ/Linked Universe

Consequences on not telling Time the full truth was lurking in the woods between Twilight and Time's eras. Pulling Time to the side to tell him of the Hero's Shade, there's an attack on camp, forcing the secret to come out in the worst way.

CW: blood, injury, language, self sacrifice

Apparently I have a pattern of hurting Twilight in some kind of way when Shade enters a story.

“Guys, wake up. Anyone know this place?” Legend asked as he and Wild sat around the cooking pot. They had just shifted while most of them were asleep.

Twilight looked around curiously. “It feels familiar, but too young to be my era. Time, is it yours?”

The Old Man took a deep breath in, scanned across the new forest, then let out his breath. “Feels too old to be mine. Could be in a between era.”

Twilight blanched at that. That could be the worst thing to happen since that meant Sh- Nope, he was over thinking it too quickly. “Did either of you scout out around here?”

Wild kept stirring, but pointed in a direction. “Yeah, there’s a road about half a mile from here. Seemed to be well used, but it was too early in the morning for people to be using it.”

“I’ll go see if anyone is there now.” Twi tried to stand to make his way to the road, but Wild swiftly pointed his ladle at him with a fierce look.

“After. Breakfast.” The steely look had Twilight consciously sitting back down like a good boy. He was not going to piss off his Cub when it came to everyone being fed. A few others snickered and giggled and all got the same look from Wild. He really could be terrifying.

Wild made a feast of a meal for them: Crepes, oatmeal, omelets, toast, honey and nut fruit and of course an assortment of drinks that everyone liked. Even with the great smelling food in hand and a hungry stomach, Twilight was having issues forcing the food down.

Thankfully his own mentor had mercy on him. “Come on, you're too antsy and it’s killing me to see.”

The unknown bad choice of words could have made Twilight run for the trees to bring everything back up, but then he wouldn’t have been allowed to leave camp. Instead he put on his normal clothes, sword on his back, then waited as Time finished putting on his armor.

The walk was silent outside of Twilight’s heart pounding in his ears and the birds singing in the trees. That was until Time broke the silence. “Alright Pup, what has you so worked up?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I know you are lying and hiding something. You get the same crease in your forehead Malon does. Spill it.” Time grabbed the young man’s shoulder, bringing them both to a stop.

Twilight took several long breaths to calm himself and to figure out the words. “This is going to be hard to tell you, specifically you.”

“Harder than telling me that we are related, can shapeshift and that I somehow trained you in my future?” Time gave a half amused smile.

Oh if he only knew… “Yes.”

Time straightened up, full attention on his descendant. “I’m listening.”

“I didn’t tell you the full truth of how you ended up training me in the future.” Why did he have to do this now?! “You didn’t time travel to my era to train me.”

“How can that be if we are an unknown hundred of years apart?”

“Just… When we met, you weren’t exactly al-” A howl nearby stopped him short. His eyes blew wide.

Time grabbed the hilt of his sword. “Wolfos?”

“N-no” Twilight spun around. “I know that howl.”

Paws making contact with the forest floor could be heard getting closer, making Twi’s heart nearly leap from his chest. A flash of gold had Twilight racing for it.

“Pup, wait!” Time was no spring cucco, but he kept up with the younger.

Twilight zig-zagged through the trees, catching the briefest amount of gold and white. “Shade, wait up!” he hollered, but the wolf stayed out of sight. When he no longer could see where he went nor could hear him, Twilight stopped.

Time stopped with him, slightly panting. “Friend of yours?”

A yip had both men’s heads turning. Standing a few feet away was the wolf in all his golden glory. Twilight knelt down move eye level, “Are you going to just sit there or are you going to get over here and say hi?”

A few bounding steps later and the wolf had his front legs draped over Twilight’s shoulder. Shade rubbed his head against the other’s neck, giving slight whines as if saying he missed him. There were a few licks to Twilight’s hairline before the Hylian stood up, wolf still hanging on his shoulders, showing that he was taller than the younger.

“Pup, you are aware that he is a spirit, right?” Time asked, eyeing the giant wolf carefully.

“I know, but how do you know?”

Time opened his white eye, pointing to the marked side of his face. “He sees all.”

That gave a chill down Twilight’s spine. “Did he tell you who Shade is?”

“No, he only gave an all too delighted laugh.”

Shade’s ears perked up and did a slight swivel. A low baritone grumble came from his chest. He pushed off of Twilight’s shoulder and seemed to be tuning into whatever he was hearing. Twilight closed his eyes, filtering out the noises around him to get a longer range.

There was metal clashing, hollering and the screeching of monsters. “Ambush… Camp!” Twilight and Shade bolted in the direction of the others, Time right behind them.

When the two heroes broke into the clearing of camp they saw seven heroes all armed and surrounded by a mix of different era’s monsters. Giving a gruff-snarl, Shade led the attack as he literally dove into the horde. The action had Legend screaming like a kit and Twilight was not going to let that slip away later.

The camp turned into a bloodbath as more and more monsters swarmed in from all sides. It wasn’t an impossible fight, just one that they weren’t prepared for since most of them were still in their night clothes.

Twilight made sure to keep an ear out for everyone, especially Shade. Not everyone would right away think ‘Friend’ when seeing a red eyed wolf covered in blood. He knew first hand how badly that could go, seeing that he went through that exact thing after his adventure, forgetting that Ordon hadn’t been told yet of his ability to shift and they already had nightmares from when the children were taken and a wolf had been stalking around that time. That wolf had been him, but he was there to protect, not harm. They didn’t know and he paid the price. He would never blame them either.

Somehow in the fray Twilight became overrun with monsters and was brought down to his knees. His sword was ripped from him while at the same time a heavy foot flattened him onto his back. One of Wild’s silver Moblins was pressing its weight against his chest, club high in the air. The monster roared and Twilight matched it, but not out of fear. Twilight roared in defiance.

He didn’t know how it happened, but he knew why and when it happened. The fight unexpectedly turned, drawing the attention of the monsters to someone else. That someone else was Shade, but the wolf was now the skeleton Twilight had been trained by.

He stood tall as a fully armored in gold metal, sword drawn, single red eyed stalfos. To the rest of them, this would seem to be a Boss Stal that happened to be out in the open. He locked his gaze on his descendant and made his way over in large strides, ignoring fights around him.

As Warriors went to be the first to strike, Twilight hollered, “Wait!”

Shade caught the blade’s edge with his metal covered hand. He didn’t strike back, only shoved the captain away. Time was at his backside, sword already slashing at his side and it forced him towards Warriors who tried again to land a hit. With the power behind Time’s swings, Shade had to pull his weapon, but to defend himself.

It was irrational for Twilight to think something could happen to the Hero’s Shade as if he could be more dead, but he was not going to risk the chance of talking to his mentor again after everything. He didn’t think he could handle seeing metal and bones fall to the dirt. And what would happen if they did? What would happen to Twilight as a baby since Shade was the one to care for him in the woods before leaving him at Rusl and Uli’s door? Would Twilight still win against Ganondorf?

Would Twilight fail the legacy Time started? He would damn himself, but not the legacy created by a child who held the weight of the world on his shoulder yet still died with regret. He could never.

Twilight’s mind screamed for his original mentor. ‘No! Please, don’t! How can you not see who he is?!’

With everything happening so quickly, the Moblin holding Twilight down had looked away, foot relaxing some on his chest. The monster was still big, but Twilight just twisted his body enough to get a shot with his foot to the things jambags. It worked to his surprise. Sword in hand, the Moblin’s head fell to the ground.

Twilight looked up at Shade who was deflecting Warriors and Sky while Time readied another deadly blow. With his mind still irrationally thinking, Twilight ran to stop the fight, but it was about to be too late. He wasn’t going to make it.

Time had his Biggoron Sword thrusting forward and Twilight knew the other was too far into the motion to stop, so he did the one thing he could think. He just prayed that Time would forgive him if he survived.

“Shade!!” Twilight was one more step away.

The Stal turned around to his name being called, his eye locked onto Twi and the sword headed now for both of them. It was all in slow motion.

The Ordonian had no fear as he jumped that last step, flinging his arms over the golden armored skeleton into the resemblance of a hug. At the same moment Time’s blade was run through Twilight’s back, coming out his chest and imbedding into Shade’s chest plate. Twilight sucked in a stuttered and pained breath, sagging into the boney arms that wrapped around him as they both fell.

The sword jossiled as they landed, Twi on top, and he screamed at pain that slowly subsided as he went into shock. He looked between them, grabbed the blade and stood, removing the tip from the other. Twilight swayed on his feet as the battle continued around him, hands now bleeding from the sharp edge he was still holding onto and now pushing out of himself until he heard it clatter onto the ground behind him. Straightening up, he mouthed an apology to his former mentor before he couldn’t hold himself up anymore, going to his side.

Shade was up and holding Twilight in his arms before he hit the ground again. He looked around at his old companions seeing that there were many of them injured and Hyrule was going to be needed for those. He only had one choice and he wouldn’t fail or so help him he would fight every damn goddess and god there was! He laid the boy on the ground, trying to ignore the sounds of him sucking in breath and blood into his lungs. Shade placed his hands on the ground drawing in only as much magic as he needed. The grass around him shriveled and died as they gave their essence to him. Muscle and flesh formed under his armor though his clothes stayed tattered and torn.

Feeling his body reformed, he removed his broken helmet, throwing it to the side. He didn’t care how many enemies were left or who was now jaw dropped at the sight of who he was, what he had become. He didn’t care about the shock his younger self was still in. All he cared about was his Pup. Tearing the boy's tunics open more to access the wound, Shade saw how dire the situation really was and honestly Twilight should have already died from it.

With his death, Shade didn’t just become the Hero's Shade. The Lost Woods had granted him the power to protect the forest, to give and take life inside of it. That didn’t mean only for the things inside the forest originally, but the people who entered with ill intentions too. He was a deity in a different form than the one inside the mask he carried when alive. He placed a hand over the wound and one on the ground. He pulled magic from every living thing outside of the last few monsters and the boys. The tree’s bark rotted as the leaves turned brown. The grasses grew dry, critters that hid in the ground were consumed as well. It physically hurt him to do this, but he promised to restore it all.

Looking over his shoulder he shouted, “Leave some of the monsters alive! Restrain them!” To give life was to take life. Different shades of green magic swirled over his hand touching the ground, absorbing it, then releasing it into the boy’s chest. Twilight thrashed as the magic worked to stitch him back up.

“Twilight!!”

“Wild no!” Time went to grab Wild by his belt, barely making it to him when Shade’s hand swiped from the ground, upwards. Deep underground roots sprang up, blocking the Cub from getting too close.

“If you get too close, the magic will jump to you and I can’t afford that, not when he is barely alive.”

“What happened?” Hyrule asked.

“I- he-”

“No point in pointing fingers when what is done is done and even more so when it was no one's fault.” Shade snapped.

Twilight stopped moving, stopped breathing, heart nearly a flutter if that. His eyes were open, but no light shined in those blues.

“Come on Pup, take a breath, just one.” Shade closed his eyes and with a yell, pulled an extreme amount of magic from his surroundings. The trees snapped in half, forcing the boys to move closer so as to not be crushed. Shade gave away some of the magic he had used to bring himself back, revealing the wounds he had received during his final battle, including the fatal gash that went all the way across his midsection.

He could feel the wound closing the last bit all the way through and he pushed it slightly over to where his boy’s heart was lying still in his chest. Knowing that he was draining near his limit, he raised his left hand from the ground, raised it up in the air and swiftly slammed the magic overtop of where Twilight’s heart was.

“BREATHE!!”

Twilight’s eyes shot open, back arched off the ground, mouth drawing in gurgled air. Shade turned him to his side where the younger began to heave, globs of blood spewing onto the dirt before being turned back over.

“You irresponsible child! I kept you alive from the age of one up until I could teach you everything I knew, past fighting Ganon and this is the shit you do?! What were you thinking?!” He gave the boy a shake, wanting to knock some sense into him. All he got was a bloody smile. “Why are you smiling?”

“I missed you.”

#ao3 writer #febuwhump 2024 #febuwhump #linked universe #hero of twilight #hero of time #hero’s shade #golden wolf #lu boys #fierce deity #FD is an ass!!🤣

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