Shades of Blue

Revali's Rescue

He was running.

In such a harried state, he didn't think much of why he was running. He had only started, and now he couldn't seem to stop. Time had passed, and he only continued, running through the snow as fast as he could. He didn't know where he was going, really, having never been to this part of Hyrule before. He only knew he had to get away, had to go somewhere that wasn't here, wasn't anywhere near here.

It was cold. It was not cold at home.

There was certainly not this much snow at home either.

He wanted to go home.

The sound of footsteps chasing after him had long disappeared. After he had scrambled his way up the mountain face a little while back, even his father's voice had disappeared, gone in the howls of the wind and the ceaseless stirring of snow. Still, Link ran. He ignored the pain...well, everywhere. He only kept running as fast as he could through the ever deepening snow, climbing up rock formations, sloshing through icy rivers, and ignoring the numbness creeping over him for as long as he could manage it.

He didn't want to go back. He wouldn't go back.

He wanted to go home.

The wind howled around him, blowing thick snow into his eyes and dragging at his far too thin clothes. Wrapping his arms around himself, he looked around, trying to remember which way he had come from. The snow was coming down so fast it seemed to be covering up his tracks. The clouds were so thick he couldn't tell which direction to go in, or how long it had been since he had run away. It didn't feel like that long, but...his hands were very cold, and some of the bleeding had stopped. He wondered if it was because of the cold or because of how long it had been.

The tears were freezing on his face, and it was getting a little hard to stay standing. His legs were shaking. He should go back, try to...explain to his father, or...get warm at least. But which way was home? Which way was anything?

He had never been this far up the mountain. He hadn't even wanted to come here. He just wanted to stay at home and play with the horses who came from the fields, or visit Purah at the tech lab, or try to remember how to cook the stew his mother used to make, or—

Sniffling and rubbing at his eyes, he took another few steps forward. It was better to keep moving than to stop, right? If he kept going this way, then maybe he could find somewhere to make a fire, or maybe a village. Maybe somebody would know how to talk to him, and he could...well, he could get warm at least...but they would send him back to his father, who would send him back to...

He missed his mother. She wouldn't have sent him away...she would have...listened to him when he said what was...she wouldn't have done any of this...

He shook his head, taking another set of stumbling steps through the snow. He couldn't feel his hands anymore. That wasn't good. Something under his foot gave way and he slipped, hitting the ground hard. He whimpered, struggling to get back to his feet in the snow and ice. It was too cold. He wasn't going to make it back now. He had to find somewhere to go, somewhere to get warm—

"Look out!"

And suddenly something very blue (and very soft) was plowing into him, grappling for his hand with feathery fingers and dragging him off. Heavy footsteps followed as they ran, darting left and right in what felt like a random set of directions. All he could really do was follow, stumbling along after whoever had grabbed onto his hand and pulled him away. Squirming in their grip for a moment, he looked back to see what was chasing them.

What looked like a solid block of ice was shambling after them on short, stumpy legs. It had no face, no voice, no anything really, except legs and a set of rocky arms, also made of ice. Somehow it knew where they were, though, following after them at a surprisingly fast pace, for being a block of ice.