The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Queen

Return of the Wolf

'Something smells wonderful,' Link thought as he sniffed the air. Like cooked meat, smoky and juicy. He felt stiff and broken and strange, but at least his nose worked. Link opened his blue eyes and brought his smarting hand up for inspection. A furry paw came into view instead of his hand. He barked in surprise. Gray fur poked out beneath stark white bandages.

'Where am I? Why am I a wolf again?'

"Good, you're awake." Link yelped as a male Twili in a teal lab coat stabbed him in the neck with a syringe.

"That should help ease the pain," the Twili said. Link didn't agree with the healer. His pain seemed to be amplified now.

"Give it time. It will get better," the healer said. It was almost as though he had read Link's thoughts. How could he have done that? Could he read minds?

"No, Link. It was just a lucky guess," came Midna's voice from behind him. Link shifted his head, only to find the back of a dark leather couch.

"How you feeling, hero?" Although Midna asked playfully there was concern in her voice.

"Woof," He was fine, no, great. She was there. He could hear her without being stuck inside some horrible dream. He tried to move so he could see her as well and hopefully get a better view of the room, but just the small movement of turning his head sent pain shooting everywhere.

"I'll take that as a general no." She walked into his view and he caught her gentle teasing smile.

"I have some food, though it will be easier for you to eat if you are in human form, silly." How was he supposed to not be a wolf? It wasn't like he consciously decided when to be a wolf and when not to. Right? He'd never been able to before and that was when he had been well and not in pain. He knew how to switch back and forth when he had the Master Sword and the Shadow Crystal, but at the moment he had neither.

"Hmm. Good point." Midna waved her hand a few times. Teal coils wrapped tightly around Link's wolf form. He yelped in pain.

"Sorry," Midna muttered. Yet she kept at it, weaving a complicated spell, mouthing words to a forgotten language. Her hands danced to a rhythm no one could hear. She'd closed her stunning red eyes and was swaying slightly. Link's fur began to morph into skin and his limbs lengthened. It was times like these he was glad that when he switched between wolf and human, he had his clothes again.

"Woof, ow." Midna stopped and the blue coils disappeared.

"Better," she said, opening her starlight red eyes and nodding.

"Wow, my queen. That was amazing," the Twili healer said, staring awe struck at Midna. Link stared at her awe struck as well. She was pretty. Her orange hair was pulled up into a messy bun and a tiara of tarnished silver adored her head. Her plain black buttoned shirt was tied with a knot at her stomach and her blue skirt went down past her knees. A black cape drifted behind her, the hood down and rested crumpled on her back. The inside of her cape was a bright teal. A smile upturned the corners of her lips. She was more than pretty.

"You look beautiful," Link told her, blushing slightly.

"And you look horrible. Eee hee!" Midna laughed. She wasn't wrong. Bandages wrapped across his chest, left shoulder and right leg, some of the white fabric tinted red. His hands were all scratched up. Same with his arms and any other bit of skin he could see. A scratch surrounded by purple bruises ran down his right cheek. He felt terrible. There was no way he would tell Midna that though.

"Probably looks worse than it is." He tried a shrug and attempted to hide a grimace. Maybe she hadn't seen it? He stared up at the ceiling, pretending she wouldn't see through his lie.