This is just a silly little idea I had while playing TP, which I got for Christmas. Yay! SO HAPPY. I literally thought my eyes were gonna blow when I unwrapped it. But anyway, I was running around Castletown and the idea for this oneshot came to me.

I do not own Legend of Zelda.

Monsters Don't Shake Your Hand

The night was clear, stars like broken embers overhead. I leaned against the cold stone and flipped an old bone over in my hand. Gyp the dog wagged and waited at my feet, eager for me to throw it again.

It was early in the morning and the sky was coloring purple. I was cold, the chill sunken down past my clothes until it numbed the surface of my skin. Moving felt stiff, and my shoulders struggled to warm the patch of brick wall they leaned against. The stone was always cold.

Huddled over by the circus tent the trio of fangirls eagerly whispered over the latest contestant. Their scarves were wrapped over their faces and they rubbed their hands to keep them warm. Me, I'd given up that battle long ago. I didn't shiver anymore, didn't try to keep warm. Because in the end, I'd be cold all the same.

I looked down at Gyp and longed for her fur coat. She looked plenty warm, steam curling from her lolling tongue as she patiently awaited me to throw the bone. I'd been up all night doing just that. Things were colder outside, but they were simpler too. There were less people, more silence. And eventually, those fangirls would leave, and then it just be me and the dog, the only one who didn't care what I said or who my family was, who wagged and smiled at me even on the hardest days and loneliest nights.

A low sound reached me from up the road. I turned and looked around the corner towards it. A great beast, at east three times Gyp's size, was jogging down the cobblestones, nails clicking and chained cuff tinkling.

The fangirls shrieked, sounding exactly the same as they did whenever the man in green who'd beaten Purlo's STAR game showed up. They scattered down the road, screaming, but nobody else was out, and the people of Castle Town were used to the girls shrieking. Nobody was going to rush outside. It was just me, Gypsy the dog, and a giant wolf. And whatever it had on its back. Was that…an imp? What was an imp doing riding a wolf? And was it wearing a crown made of ancient stone….that was strange.

As the wolf continued down the road, seemingly oblivious to the screaming girls, a smile cocked my lips. I thought maybe I should be scared, but being out all night alone in the cold had dulled my sense of reality, and more importantly of consequence. Gyp had taken after the wolf, wagging her tail. If she wasn't afraid of the beast…I gripped the bone in my fist and whistled.

The wolf halted and turned around. Gyp bounded over to me again, forgetting the strange new dog. I wagged the bone in the air for the wolf to see. And then I hurled it down the road.

Gyp bolted after it, barking joyously. The wolf looked at me and smiled. It smiled. It's eyes curled and it's mouth rounded up at the corners. It looked nothing like a human smile and everything like it at the same time. The imp on it's back sighed, and the wolf took after the bone, reaching it just before Gypsy did.

It brought back the bone, still smiling. I'd never seen a dog smile, much less smile like it was in on a joke. But I'd also never seen a wolf with purple earrings being ridden by an imp. He was ferocious looking, ice and ash colored marks swirling across his legs and sides and a strange tattoo crowning his forehead.

I grinned back at the wolf as he dropped the bone at my feet. His eyes were amused. This was clearly no ordinary wolf. Tattoo, rider, and earrings aside, it had human eyes. Blue ones.

"The name's Jack," I said, holding out my hand to the beast. He sniffed it once, and then held out his paw. We shook.

"This is Gyp," I said, motioning to the beagle who lived on this road. The sky was bleeding dark pink at the fringes now.

"This is Link," said the imp on the wolf's back. I held out my hand to her as well, but she kept her arms crossed. They were striped with fluorescent tattoos. One of her eyes was covered, but the other was fiery orange, the color of the ponytail in back of her crown. "Midna," she said simply, "and this is where you cower in fear of the beast I'm riding."

I laughed and the wolf rolled his eyes. I smiled again and up the street, an old lady carrying water screamed. "Beast! Beast!" she cried, and Link cast an anxious look over his shoulder and after nodding to me, headed down the road again. I waved as Gyp chased him to the corner, where she stopped and came back.

I smiled as dawn seeped over the dark stones. Maybe there were only a few hours left until night, I thought, rubbing Gyp between the ears, but I'd have those hours all to myself. Thanks to the wolf, those fangirls had left, and I could stop wondering if they'd started whispering about the boy in the corner with the ragged clothes.

"Th-the monster!" exclaimed the lady as she came up to me, "are you alright?"

I smiled knowingly, "Monsters don't shake your hand," I said. The lady screamed and dropped her water. I smiled at her back as she ran off terrified. I spun the old bone in my hand and finally chucked it down the road for Gyp again.

While I was running around as a wolf scaring people, I went into Purlo's tent, and turns out he's allergic to dogs. Lol, I sat there laughing my head off and my sister was like, "What's so funny?"

This is why I love Legend of Zelda. The easter eggs. And lots of other stuff too.