Running (FOUR SWORDS FANFICTION!)

Shadow's Point of View

My throat went dry. "Forest fire?"

She laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "Yeah, I died in a forest fire, long before I ever learned of anyone trying to destroy Hyrule. I died before any of your actions could affect me, so...maybe it's easier for me to 'forgive' you."

"Wow, that..." I hesitated. "That sounds like an awful way to die."

"Oh, you've no idea. You're just surrounded by heat, slowly suffocating while all the smoke forces it's way into your lungs while everything around you becomes some fiery landscape; it's like...while I was dying, I was looking at hell, at the afterlife awaiting me. And now I have to spend the rest of my days in what's left of the forest, which is a lot of forest, but nothing compared to what it used to be. Sometimes, when my eyelids close, I still see it...the ash and smoke and yellow flames, devouring, spreading, destroying."

I felt guilt gnaw at me. I started pleading to whoever was listening to me that she was in another forest at the time, and we were in another forest. "Why were you in that forest?"

"I was...I was running away from something...and I heard voices, calling for me, deep inside the trees...the trees wanted to kill me," she laughed. "The voices wanted me to die. A lot of stuff burned down, but from what I've seen, nothing of any actual value to me was burned. I planted a garden when I was a little girl, and kept watch over it for so long, it's nice to know that it's still standing."

"I'm so sorry," I said, knowing it sounded more like I was apologizing she had to go through such a traumatizing event than for what my actions did to her.

"Isn't anything to be sorry about, Shadow."

"What...What happens if the rest of the forest burns down?" I asked.

I could hear the grimace in her voice. "I don't know, but I'd assume nothing. We're supposed to spend all of eternity in this forest, so if the forest isn't here...I don't like thinking about it."

I saw something race by in the trees, a blur of darkness that looked darker than the darkness surrounding it in the dark forest. Did I mention it was dark? Cause it was dark.

"Shit, I think I saw something."

"What?"

I looked closer, stepping forward. "I don't know."

"Are you sure it was something?" She sounded scared.

"Whatever it was, it's gone now--"

Whatever it was ran past me, elbowing me in the stomach and taking off before I could process someone had actually been there and had hit me. I felt the wind get knocked out of me and I nearly doubled over. "Shadow, are you okay?" they shouted.

All of a sudden, I swore I could see the image of a girl in my mind with long dark hair before the image faded. I gasped for breath. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I noticed something on the ground. I reached down and picked up a small blade with a black handle. "They dropped something."

"What?"

"A knife," I replied, and examined the blade. It was overall pretty simple but looked sharp as hell. I liked the idea of being armed, it made me feel safer. I pocketed it.

I tried to think of the girl I just saw in my head but couldn't recall it. And now that I was thinking about it, I was starting to doubt her hair color was even black or any dark color. For all I knew, it might have been a neon yellow. I sighed.

I also noticed that I just kept referring to the voice as a girl, even though I didn't know their gender. I kept thinking that it's owner, whoever the fuck they were, was female. My curiosity got the better of me. "Hey...are you a girl?"

"Yeah, I thought it was obvious by now," she laughed.

"I don't know, I guess you have to scream the obvious for me to understand."

"I can tell," they replied. "But it's not like I'm not exactly the same." I swear I could hear her smile.