These are short drabbles in no particular order about the wolf part of Link's journey and the perks and downfalls that comes with being a wolf. Or just anything related to dogs.

Previously titled From Dog to Dog

Enjoy

From Dog to Dog

Off in the distance, the vibrant glow of the sun was slowly falling down for its nighttime slumber. Its setting rays casted lengthy shadows across structures and inhabitants followed by an orange light that lit their fronts. Those inhabitants at the time just happened to be a young man garbed in green and a shadowy imp who floated nearby, acting as the boy's vacant shadow. They sat upon the top step of the look-out, gazing at the bridge running across Lake Hylia in silence as they stared at the fiery sight.

In a solemn tone the wispy shadow broke the silence, "Link."

Link didn't respond at first, choosing instead to continue starting at the setting sun. He'd been in a bad mood all day after he'd seen Ilia. After coming half way across Hyrule in search of she couldn't even remember him. When he saw her for the first time in weeks at Telma's bar, Link thought his journey had just reached a silver lining. But when he looked in her eyes, he saw a stranger.

Link had been silently fuming and cursing the monster that had taken her at the springs. If only he had paid more attention to his surroundings he could have done something! Anything! But he hadn't. Along with Ilia, Link had been knocked unconscious, and now his friend had no recollection of their childhood. Or Him.

He turned his head slightly to give his friend a side glance. He felt rather bad about taking his frustration out on Midna. Sure, most of the time she was snarky, stuck up, and sometimes just downright mean, but he'd come to recognize most of what she said was just poorly instigated compassion. Most of the time.

"I-uh...it's," she started, "it's been a while since we started this journey."

He smiled inwardly. She was attempting to cheer him up even after ignoring her for most of the day. You deserve a better friend than me Midna. Taking one last longing glance at the setting sun he settled to shove his nasty attitude away and take up the conversation Midna was so awkwardly trying to produce.

He didn't need to be angry anyway. His friend was still there. Still alive. That was what was important.

"It has, hasn't it," he responded, speaking the truth. It had been many long, hard weeks since his first step through the twilight, and from the looks of it he still had many more to go. "You know. I don't think even in my wildest dreams I could have thought of something crazier than starting out one day as your average goat herder and then suddenly being thrust on an adventure to save the world," he gestured vaguely with his arm, "as a dog."

Really though, the dog part got him every time he thought about his travels. How was keeping the form of a human any more difficult than a wolf?

Satisfied she had finally received a response after a day of silence and moping, she replied with just as much sass as her normal persona required, " My my, the mutt is ungrateful. And after all I've done for it. I treated you as though you were my pet. What more could such a helpless creature want?"

I grinned. Glad my moping and fuming hadn't dampened her spirit any, but with that prattle she was practically asking for an argument, "Did you know you smell like fish?" It wasn't really true; she despised the things and wouldn't even go near one over a fire spit. Truth be told she didn't smell like much, even as a wolf. If Link had to pick, the closest thing she smelled like was the sun.

She'd hate to be told that though.

"Fish? Those Vermin?" Chuckling in-between her insult, "You my pet might just be the worst dog in all of your sun-soaked land." She floated out in front of Link, blocking fleeing sun, and becoming a dark blob with one fire colored iris peeking out from beneath her helmet, "A being of shadow has no smell. How could it when its existence is the absence of light its self."

Biting his lip to contain his laughter, he wondered how far he could that this. She was fairly uptight about her image, "No no. I'm pretty sure I smelled fish when you were on my back. Or my basement. They're kind of one and the same."

Unable to keep a straight much longer, Link proceeded to rise from his spot on his stone step and climb to the top to retrieve his equipment. As he swiveled around gathered up his belonging sitting on the grass near the top step he could swear he hear the distinct sound of a purposeful sniff.

Oh~ Midna was going to get him back for this, but even so he couldn't help but smile at her antics.

"I do NOT smell like those floundering vermin!"

Cutting her off before she could continue to whine, "Come on Midna, I want to be back in Castle Town for the night. I don't really feel like sleeping with the wolves tonight. Despite what you might think they're not the most hospitable of animals."

"You're lying! I DO NOT smell like fish! I refuse to go anywhere until you take back your wor-"

"Shh!"

Now furious, she curled her tiny hands into fists as though preparing to strike, "You do NOT get to shush me!"

"Then quiet, I hear rustling in the bush over there," Link stated, carefully trailing his left hand up the hilt of his Ordonian blade to grasp it firmly around the handle. The bush was quiet and hadn't made a noise since a few moments ago, but if Link had learned anything in his days of roaming Hyrule it was to never let your guard down.

Midna leaned in next to his ear and mentioned in a whisper, "Then get over there and get rid of it so you can return to begging me to accept your desperate apology!" With that she dispersed her impish form and retreated back into the realm of Link's shadow.

Appreciating the silence Link drew his sword and unhooked his shield, waiting for the mysterious figure to emerge. However, only silenced passed between Link and the shrubbery and he pondered whether or not he had just witnessed a squirrel fleeing or something as insignificant. His wandering mind had refocused on the aforementioned bush when he spotted the skeletal figure step forward from its hiding place.

The skeleton limped on three limbs, its forepaw clearly detached from the dead beast. Broken or shattered bones protruded through the decaying skin on its back, surrounded by a black wispy presence holding the bag of bones together. Link visibly relaxed. While stalhounds were annoying when trekking through the fields past dark, the regretful souls went down fairly easily.

Link brandished his blade and waited for the dead animal to lunge, but the strike never came. He stood poised for an attack but the three legged canine only sat down on its haunches and produced noises that sounded uncanningly like panting.

Put off guard Link didn't know what to make of his predicament. He stared at the skeleton-dog, wagging its boney tail back and forth, swiping at the blades of grass beneath it. Link loosely turned his head around, as if to make sure no one was pulling his leg, but it was just the dog and him. Lost on what to do, he slowly made an arch around the creature towards the exit, never letting his eyes waver.

Bones creaking in the attempt, the dog rose to its limbs and hobbled over to Link's side, wagging its tail all the way. Disturbed and interest peaked, Link stopped walking to watch the skeletal hound approach. Sure enough it didn't pounce and stayed a few feet away. It was intriguing; all of the monsters he had mimed or put to rest had initiated the first strike, identifying themselves in his mind as insane or mad with rage. Unreasonable. But the dog in front of him was acting differently. Was it even a dog? It could've been a wolf or a coyote. It was hard to decipher with just bones and patches of dried skin and fur. Curious about the newly found, passive version of a stalhound, Link stepped forward and slowly extended his hand.

"Link. What are you doing?" The voice caught him off guard. He'd nearly forgotten about Midna in his musings.

"Not entirely sure. It seems safe enough."

"Says the man who wanted to touch the lava to see how hot it was."

"I've lived in a forest for the past 17 years, we don't get lava where I come from," he shot back. Midna's only response was to snort and usher a half hearted 'don't die'.

Returning back to reality, the dog had scooted up next to his legs and was nudging his hand with its jaw. Surprised, it took him a few seconds to regroup his bearings. The snout was hard and gritty against his hand, and this close the stale smell of bones and rotten meat was stomach retching but the gesture was something undeniably canine. It reminded him of the numerous times he had poked his head at the twilight spirits, hoping to get a reaction.

Link squatted down next dog and placed his gloved hand upon its skull, gently patting the dried tufts of hair. The dog's tail speed up its rampant wagging and let out a hollow bark resounding from somewhere inside its cavernous head.

"Bark bark to you too pal. Sorry I can't talk to you any better right now," he smiled. While the creature was undeniably a moving piece of dead dog the fact it acted just like any hound back at Ordon made it appear no different than a friendly pet.

He sat there with the stalhound watching the twilight fade to the navy blue sky of the evening. Link didn't say anything nor did the friendly hound try anything. They just sat with the grass beneath them and the twinkling stars above.

As the time passed the stalhound's panting grew quiet and its tail stopped moving. The glowing green light of the hound's eyes was fading and Link was wondering if it was dying. Could it?

Link stayed with it until it had gone limb with its head on his lap. The glow from its eyes had vanished and the faint, wispy, black magic that had encompassed the body was slowly seeping through the bones and out into the night sky. Link watched as it floated away and left behind the pile of bones of the stalhound.

Carefully giving the dog one last pat, he whispered to no one in particular, "You just wanted someone to be there with you when you went. I'm sorry I couldn't have done more."

"You did what you could," he heard Midna respond back just as quietly.

Link just nodded.

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So. How'd I do? It's a first for writing a short, if you liked it then please feel free to express your undeniable love for my story in that box thing you write words in. You'd be my next best friend after bacon.

Forgive me for spelling/ and grammar/ and canon errors.

If you're one of those people like me who want to say something but are too lazy to string together more than two sentences of coherent thought then I have questions you can answer.

1) It's marked as complete now, but would you guys want to see more shorts of this kind?

2) How'd I do on Midna? She was odd to write because she's not just sass and sarcasm. She's like that...plus a royal pain in the butt.

3) Did it make you emotional at all? Any tears? Or Awwws? I honestly don't know when I wrote this it was like every two paragraphs I'd go do something else.

All rights go to Nintendo and everyone else who owns it. I own nothing...so sad...