Wild Secrets

They

Twilight's POV

I was still worried about Wild and doubted whether we should move him or not, but Legend assured me it was fine.

So we helped pull Wild to his feet and supported (from a distance) him as we walked to the entrance of Telma's Bar.

I pulled open the door and passed it on to Legend from around Wild.

"Link!" Shad cried when he saw me.

The rest of the Resistance turned toward me, smiles breaking out across their faces.

I felt Wild shy away and into Legend's side as they came closer.

I could tell Rusl wasn't there, which made sense.

I think he was still apart of the Resistance, you know, just in case, but wasn't as participant as he was during the Shadow Invasion.

Ashei nodded her greeting with a small smile. She wasn't a person for physical contact or emotions.

Auru clapped me on the back with a steady chuckle.

Shad engulfed me in a surprisingly strong hug.

When he let go, I could see that Telma herself was absent. Probably in the back room or put getting supplies.

As if on cue, Telma walked in.

"Link?" The bartender asked. "Is that you honey?"

She moved all her groceries to one hand and used the other to pat me on the shoulder. "It's been so long!"

She moved to the counter before acknowledging Wild and Legend.

"Give me a minute and I'll whip something up for all of you, then you can introduce us to your new friends, Link."

I nodded and we took a seat at the big table in the little side room that was usually reserved for Resistance meetings only.

Wild was weary as the others joined us, but Legend and I made sure that we were on either side of him.

Can't help social anxiety.

A few minutes later, a heavenly smell came from the kitchen. And not long after that, Telma re-emerged, carrying seven bowls of soup.

When the food was distributed among everyone, Telma asked me a question.

"Now honey, where have you been?!"

And so I answered.

I told them most of the truth.

I didn't tell them that we were purposely hunting down a dangerous embodiment of evil known as the Shadow who we don't know much about.

Like what is he really.

Or what his main goal is.

But I did tell them that I was going on one more (hopefully final) quest with other heroes.

As soon as they learned that, they turned to Wild and Legend.

"Which leads me to my friends here," I said. "this is the Hero of Legend, or just Legend, and this is the Hero of the Wild, or Wild."

They didn't recognize their names and titles, which made sense, so I gave a further explanation, one that only Shad would understand.

"Legend is from a separate timeline, and Wild is from the future." I said, gesturing to them.

"Whoa..." Shad said, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "This is amazing... Time travel? I've never heard of such a thing."

He got out his notebook and began throwing questions at the two heroes with the speed of Sky on his Loftwing.

Legend fired back answers, matching Shad's pace.

All the while, Wild retreated back into his hood and leaned back into his chair, half submerged in the darkness.

And that's when Shad turned on Wild, eyes gleaming with delight.

"So what's the future like?!" He asked, barely keeping himself from bouncing off the walls. "I know they must've made a lot of advances in technology."

Wild blanched.

Shad kept talking like he didn't notice my protégé's discomfort and pause.

No one but Legend seemed to, actually.

"Shad," I said. "Shad! SHAD!" I growled, finally gaining his attention.

He flinched at my glare, with fangs on full view.

But I immediately went to Wild first. Who hadn't moved an inch.

The table fell silent.

I gingerly reached a hand out and placed it on Wild's shoulder.

He didn't move. Normally he would've flinched or even looked at me. But not today.

"Wild!" Legend said, concern rising in his voice.

Then Wild came out of it.

He leaned into my touch so much, his head was practically on my shoulder.

"Is he okay?" Ashei asked.

"Yeah." Legend said. But it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"H-he just doesn't like being confronted like that." I said, but I knew that wasn't the case.

"They." Wild said.

All attention turned to him. But he was still staring blankly into nowhere.

"They don't like being confronted like that." He-they corrected my sentence.

"Well," Shad said finally. "I'm so sorry Mr. Wild. I didn't know."

"It's fine." Wild said softly.

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Yay! Double update!

Happy Easter/Good Friday/Spring Break!