So long, goodbye

When Twilight breaks

Wild and Winds nights remained sleepless, and the young sailor had taken to laying near Wild during the night. It took two days before the others began to notice that two of their members weren't getting proper sleep. Wars was first to notice, so he told Time and Legend, who in turn told Twilight and Hyrule, who told Sky and Four. Time, being the unofficial leader of this ragtag group, decides to take matters into his own hands.

"We're staying here for tonight." He announces, gesturing to this large field they found themselves in. It's mainly grass, but there's trees surrounding the area. How inconvenient is it that they always find themselves lost in a forest?

"It's not even dark yet?" Wars points out, looking up at the bright blue sky. Time shrugs, not bothering to actually respond.

"Cut some grass so we have somewhere to start a fire." He says, and Legend jumps up. "I'll do it!" He exclaims.
Time chuckles softly, and gets to setting up camp.

During all of this, Twilight keeps his eyes on Wild, worry creasing his face. Why has his protege been acting so strange? Every since he came back from that patrol he's been on edge, Wind too. What did they see?
He'll ask Wars to talk to Wind, but first, he needs to talk to his cub. Making up his mind, he walks over to Wild. "Hey champ, got a minute?" He asks. Wild stifles a yawn and nods. Twi gestures for Wild to follow him.

They walk for a few minutes, before reaching a cliff with a great view of the surrounding forest, and what looks to be an actual path. "Guess we know where we need to go now." Wild mumbles. Twilight nods and sits down, and Twilight follows in suit.

"What's been bothering you?" Twi asks. "You and Wind have been acting strange recently. Did something happen?"

Wild feels his heart stop for a second. How does he respond to this? With the truth? With a dismissal? There's no right answer here, and he knows it. How will he react? He doesn't want to worry him, but at the same time, he wants him to know. He wants to hear his mentors wise and comforting words, for him to reassure him everything will be okay. That he won't disappear in the middle of the night, that he'll wake up in the morning.

"Cub?" Twilight looks at him worriedly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'd like to know so I could help." He reassures, placing a hand on his shoulder, earning a wince from his protege. Twilight doesn't seem to notice this.

Taking in a deep breath, the champion decides to get it over with. Rip it off like a bandaid. "I'm a ghost." Is what Wild says. The cold, hard truth is most likely best, though he can't deny how it stings to even utter the words.

"Har har, very funny." Twilight responds with the roll of his eyes, but a fond smile tugs at his face. "What's really bothering you?"

Wild only frowns more, staring off into the distance. "Twilight. Do you... do you remember what I told you, about the day the calamity struck?" He asks, his fists clenched tightly.

The rancher looks at him sadly. "Yes... is that what this is about?" He asks. "You're not a ghost, Wild. You're alive, here and now. Just cause it took a while to heal doesn't make you any less hylian then the rest of us." He speaks, ruffling his cubs hair. Wild winces at the touch and at his words, and Twilight seems to take notice this time. "Cub?"

Wild hangs his head low in shame and lets his physical form slip from his grasps, allowing that ghostly blue to envelope his body. "I didn't truly survive in the shrine." He speaks. "It was faulty, so now I'm a ghost."

Twilight gapes at him, seemingly lost for words. He stutters, trying to think of what to say. What even is there to say?
"But how?" He questions. "I was just touching you a moment ago!" He exclaims, swiping his hand through Wild, causing his protege to shiver unpleasantly.