FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A few hours later, they found themselves in Kakariko Village. It was a very different place compared to Castle Town. No paved roads here, just dirt, and plenty of homes. Towering over it all was Death Mountain. He had to admit, he would not like to live here at all. "Here at last," he said with a sigh.

Midna emerged from his shadow while no one was looking. "I'm starving. Let's find someplace to steal food from."

Link would never usually resort to stealing, but he felt like he was out of options here. They both needed to eat. It was either that, or just go another day without food. "Do you think you can get enough food for the both of us?"

The imp nodded. "All you have to do is keep the owner of the place talking, and I will do the rest." Before she could say anything else, she quickly dived into his shadow, hearing someone approaching.

Link saw someone turning the corner. It looked like whoever they were, they lived here. It was a good thing Midna got out of sight when she did, but he knew she must be used to hiding.

A few minutes later, Link walked into a shop, seeing a woman at the counter. She looked to be somewhere in her early twenties, with short black hair. Almost as soon as she saw him, she looked quite worried.

"Oh no, what happened? Were you attacked?" she immediately asked the guard, noticing the bruises and cuts.

Link nodded as he approached the counter. "Yes, but I will heal. I was just wondering if perhaps there are any jobs that need doing in the area? I just need enough rupees to pay for a room at the inn."

"Any jobs? Hm, there is one person that could use the help of a guard. One of the villagers here, Bowen, I hear his new home has a problem with some kind of big bug in his basement he can't get rid of. You should go talk to him," she suggested. "He lives near the shop with the bombs. If you need any help with directions or anything, I will be here if you need me."

"Thank you," Link said with a smile. He felt a little guilty because she seemed like a nice woman, and right now, Midna was probably stealing quite a lot from her. He made a promise to himself, to pay her back for everything Midna steals, eventually. He turned around, and left the shop. He wondered if he gave Midna enough time to get what they needed. Before the thought even fully left his mind, he felt a rock landing at his boots. He looked in the direction it came from, noticing a familiar impish face in a dark corner of the village, besides a building. He quickly walked over to her, noticing a burlap bag next to her. "What did you get?"

"Enough food to last a few days. You're a good distraction, that girl was far too busy drooling over you to notice me grabbing everything!"

Link shook his head. "She was not drooling over me. She was just telling me a few things I could do to earn a few rupees. Apparently some guy might pay us to deal with his bug problems."

"We could do that and get paid, but I've got a better idea. How about we don't do that, and just take his rupees?" Midna replied with an almost sinister grin.

"Are you saying we should mug him?" Link's disapproving tone of voice pretty much spelled out what he thought of that plan.

Midna could already tell that he was completely against that. "Hee hee. We could do that, but I was thinking of something a little quieter. What I am saying is that I should go in, take the idiot's rupees, and leave! It worked well enough with the shopkeeper."

"No, this time, we do things my way. We're going to knock on that guy's door, get rid of his bug problem, and get paid." He already felt bad about taking the food from that shopkeeper. Already, he could see that Midna was not happy with his plan.

"Ugh. You really like to do things the hard and boring way, don't you?" The imp crossed her arms with a disappointed look on her face.

"I like to do things that won't get us chased down by an angry mob. So let's eat, then we can go earn some rupees."

"Pfft, fine. If he doesn't give us enough rupees to get a room for the night, I am just going to sneak in and get myself a room."

"You'd leave me out in the streets?" Link quickly asked.

"Hey, if you want to do things your way, then you better get used to taking naps on the ground."

Link knew that she could be right, he may have to do things that he doesn't like in order to get a roof over his head. Then again, maybe this guy will pay him enough to get a room for the night. There was only one way to find out.

Half an hour later, Link arrived at Bowen's house. Midna hid in his shadow as he knocked on the door. He could hear the sound of floor boards creaking, followed by the sound of the door being unbolted. A red haired man opened the door. He looked fairly young, wearing a white shirt and blue trousers. "Er, can I help you?"

Link hoped that this was the right place. "Actually, I was hoping to help you. I heard you have a bug problem."

"Did dad send you? I knew he would be too scared to do it himself, and I sure ain't doing it."

"The shop keeper told me about your problem, said there might be some sort of reward for taking care of your problem." When those words left Link's lips, he realized he was being about as subtle as a war horn. He did want to make sure he got paid though.

"... How much?" The young man replied.

"Just enough to get a room at the inn for the night."

"Deal!" He hastily said. He knew it was quite cheap to get a room at the inn, so it sounded like a good deal to him. He stepped aside to let Link into his home. "Just get this damn spider out of the cellar."

Link sighed, he hated spiders. Fortunately, he noticed that he did not say there was more than one. He walked inside his home. It was quite small, with a wood burning stove in the corner, tables and chairs, as well as a few doors leading to other rooms. "So it's just the one spider?"

"Yeah, but it's a big one! I can't go down into the cellar because of it! It just creeps me out! Looking at me with all those eyes, like it is about to pounce. I am not going down there until I know it is gone!"

Link hoped it wasn't too big. Knowing his luck however, the thing was probably gigantic. He had heard they could get so big, they could eat a hylian as easy as eating a fly. Some of the guards were known to exaggerate, so he was not sure if that was true, or just a lie told by a guard who suffers from arachnophobia. "I'll take care of it."

"Don't you have any weapons? It's a pretty big spider!"

"Actually, I lost my weapon in a scrap. Don't suppose you have any weapons do you?" Link asked.

"I do have one, hold on!" The young man started off into a nearby room. The sound of things being shuffled around could be heard before he returned. He handed Link a wooden club with a leather wrapped handle. He handed it over to Link. "Whack it with this if it gives you any trouble! Good luck!" He said as he walked over to the middle of the living room, and pulled up a rug, revealing a trap door which he opened up.

He looked down the dark hole. There were stairs leading down into the basement, but it looked far too dark to even see any spiders down there. "I won't be able to..."

Before he could even finish his sentence, the young man also handed him a lit lantern. "Once you finish the job, I expect my stuff back. Happy spider hunting!"

Link just let out a sigh as he held the lantern in one hand, and the club in the other. He walked down the creaky stairs, slowly descending into the dark basement.

A few minutes of silence passed as the young man waited for the guard to return. He was starting to get worried. "Are you alright down there?!" he hollered. Soon enough, he began to hear something creaking on the stairs leading back up into the living room.

Link emerged without the club. In his hand was a jar, which he then showed to the young man. "Is this the spider giving you all this trouble?" he asked as he showed him an ordinary spider. It was big for a normal spider, but it was nowhere near the size he was expecting it to be.

"Ugh! Yeah, that's it!"

"I'll throw this guy outside, do you have the rupees?" Link asked, not wanting to get screwed over.

"Yeah, yeah! Here it is," he said as he gave Link a yellow rupee. "That'll be enough to get you a room for the night. Just keep that spider far, far away from me!"

Link left the lantern on a nearby table, and left his home. He found a spot a few houses away, and opened the jar, letting the spider out. Midna quickly emerged from his shadow when she noticed no one around.

"We have enough for a room, but then what next? I don't think anyone else is going to have any odd jobs for us to do."

"I don't know... We will work it out tomorrow after we've had some sleep in a comfortable bed." The thought of just laying down and closing his eyes brought a smile to his face. He didn't smile too much though, his face still hurt from the beating he took.

A few minutes later, Midna flew out of Link's shadow once again as soon as he closed the door. They were in their room for the night. It had pretty much everything they needed, but there was only one bed. She sighed a little. "Figured we couldn't get a bigger bed with a yellow rupee..."

"It's big enough. You don't take up that much room anyway," he replied as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He began taking off his boots, and his armor. He felt much lighter without it on him. He forgot just how much chain mail weighed him down sometimes.

She floated down to the bed, sitting down besides him. "So, do you remember anything else about the guy that attacked you?"

"Not really, but I know he wanted me dead for some reason. He didn't seem interested in the other guards, and I did feel like I knew him from somewhere... We must know him, he knew our names, but I feel like I would remember someone like that. Maybe it will come to me after a good night's rest... Do you remember anything new?"

"No, but something is clearly going on. The dreams can't be a coincidence, not when we're sharing them." Midna had no idea what the deal was with that guy, or these dreams. A cute yawn escaped her, reminding her just how tired she felt. She lay down on the side closest to the wall as she got under the covers. She stared up at the ceiling, just happy to be back in a proper bed. She looked to the side, seeing Link getting underneath the covers with her. She didn't say it, but she was thinking about that dream she had in the cave. She wondered if Link really found her attractive. She knew that Link was a good guy, maybe he could see past her strange form, or maybe he liked her impish form.

He lay next to her, closing his eyes. "Maybe we will share another dream tonight..."

A smirk crept to her face, she couldn't help herself, she had to make a comment. "Try not to get too excited."

A blush spread across his cheeks immediately, he knew she was going to say something like that as soon as he brought up the dreams. He tried to turn his embarrassment back around on her. "Can't get your mind off my excitement, can you?"

Her own cheeks began to heat up as she went silent for a moment. "... Let's just be quiet and sleep, deal?"

"Deal." Link tried his best to get some sleep, but he didn't have to try hard. Almost immediately, he was completely out.

Midna fell asleep not long afterwards. In her sleep, she found herself edging closer to Link. In her dreams however, she was elsewhere. She was out in some woods, watching Link from a distance as he bathed in a stream. She watched him washing himself, completely nude. She knew that she should give him some privacy, but she just wanted to sneak a peak at him. She was going to be quick about it too, but she found herself wanting to look just a bit longer. A faint happy sigh escaped her lips, which drew the attention of Link.

Link looked back over his shoulder, thinking he heard something, but he couldn't see anyone there. "Anyone there? Midna?" He stayed silent for a few seconds before stepping out of the stream. He put his pants back on before grabbing his sword, pulling it out of the scabbard. "Midna?"

"Do you have your pants back on yet?" she replied from behind some nearby bushes, as if she wasn't just watching him.

"Yeah, I'm done now," he replied as he sheathed his sword.

Midna floated over to all of Link's stuff. "So, where too next?"

"We need to clear those rocks blocking our path, so we need to go visit Barnes and stock up on bombs. Then after that, maybe get something to eat. Being a hero makes me hungry," he replied with a smile.

"Maybe we should hold off on eating just yet. If we meet that creepy bird thing again, I might just throw up all over it."

"Hey, she's not that creepy..."

Midna crossed her arms. "Don't lie! I saw the look on your face when you first met her!"

"Okay, maybe she looks really unusual, but she seems nice... Not sure exactly what she is, but she's still a nice person," he replied before putting his shirt back on.

Inside, Midna was disappointed to see Link putting his clothes back on. Her urges were becoming increasingly difficult to hide, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hide it.

Suddenly, the dream shifted from a stream in the woods, to a dark room, only illuminated by a single lantern on a table. Link was sat on a rickety bed, drinking up some red liquid straight from a bottle. Before his eyes, his wounds closed up, but his clothes were still ripped, and stained with his own blood. "My body aches so damn much... Maybe we should hire some help next time we enter a creepy place."

Midna sat down next to him. "Hah, if we could pay someone to help us, we would've done it by now! It's a shame Hyrule is full of cowards. If it wasn't, then maybe they wouldn't need us to save them all. Remember when we ran through the town in your wolf form? None of the guards even tried to stop you! They might as well not be there at all."

"When this is all over, we should tell Zelda she needs to get her men sorted out. They've done a poor job at defending her, and the people. It shouldn't have to be up to us to save the day." Link looked straight into Midna's eyes. The wounds he received were sometimes life threatening, but he was just glad that she had enough confidence in him to stay in his shadow most of the time. When she did emerge from his shadow to help him, it did worry him sometimes. He didn't want to see her take a hit she can't recover from. He had already seen her close to death once, he didn't want that happening again.

"It shouldn't be this way, but we're everyone's best hope now... I've never asked, what was your life like before all this?"

"Things were simpler when I was back in Ordon... None of this running around through crazy temples, solving ancient puzzles and dodging danger at every turn. I liked to play with swords, I just never imagined I would ever have to use any training I ever asked for... Things were so much easier, but far less exciting. You saw where I came from, not much happened there. Sometimes one of the goats would try escaping, but I stopped them most of the time. I never thought I would have to end a demon, let alone all of the things we faced so far."

"For a farm boy, you're doing really well," Midna replied. "What will you do when we're done saving Hyrule? Will you go back to looking after goats?"

"After everything I have done, how could I ever go back to a normal life? I've taken so many lives, broken so many things, saved so many people... I think I will become a knight. I think Zelda owes me that much," he said with a smile. "I just can't picture myself herding goats for the rest of my life. I'm kind of going to miss all this excitement once we've restored order... What will you do once we're done here?"

Almost immediately, Midna's faint smile quickly faded. "... I haven't decided yet."

"You're always welcome to stay with me. Maybe we could find some adventure outside of Hyrule, some place far, far away."

"Don't stray too far away, Hyrule just might fall apart without you."

"Hah, maybe, but I say we deserve a holiday after everything we have been through."

Suddenly, the dream became a mess, a flash of random things, creatures, places. One place that kept on repeating itself. It was somewhere in the desert, a large structure similar to a colosseum. At the top of the large structure was a large black rock, and a strange mirror with weird etchings on it. It first cracks, then bursts violently into tiny shards.

Link jumped a little in his sleep, accidentally waking both himself, and Midna up. He could see her stirring, opening her eyes to look at him. "Sorry... Just a dream..."

A loud yawn escaped her before she could even reply. "I had one too... There was woods, somewhere indoors, and somewhere in the desert, a circular huge stone building..."

"The same places that were in my dream... We should check theses places out. The woods could be anywhere, but I know where the desert is. There can't be many big stone buildings out in the middle of a desert, so I say we start there, once we've gotten more sleep." Link closed his eyes once again, hoping his sleep would not be interrupted by another dream.

Midna wanted to know what these dreams were about even more than Link did. They bothered her, she didn't know why she was even having dreams like this. She felt like she was missing a big piece of this puzzle, and she needed to find out what it was. She had a harder time getting back to sleep, she just kept going over every recent dream she had, thinking that there must be something in one of them to help her understand what was happening to them.

Author's note: Link and Midna are going on an adventure to find out what the hell is going on with their dreams! What will they find, only one way to find out!