Ghost Wind AU Part 2
Sorry to keep you waiting! Here’s part 2 as promised :)
Part 1 || Part 3
“I have an announcement,” Twilight states once they’re back at the camp. Silence falls and all eyes turn to the ranch hand in almost eerie harmony. The fact that Twilight can rock up and gain the attention of every single person in the metaphorical room doesn’t leave a bitter taste in Wind’s mouth. It doesn’t.
“What is it?” asks Hyrule curiously.
This is it, Wind thinks elatedly, they’re finally going to know about me. Even if they can’t see him, they’re at least going to know he’s there, and that’s more than he’s ever dared hope.
“We’re haunted.”
Wind jaw drops open in outrage.
“Um, excuse me? I explain my deep, eternal woes to you, and you tell them I’m haunting you? Like some pest?”
“What are you talking about, Twi?” asks Warriors with something crossed between mild amusement and concern.
“There’s a ghost. He says he’s a hero like us. Apparently, he was brought through a portal and has been following us this whole time. Says he’s two hundred years old, though I would say he looks more like thirteen.”
There’s a stunned silence as seven thoroughly confused faces stare up at him from the glow of the campfire in the steadily darkening evening.
“Is this another one of your jokes, Twi?” asks Wild eventually, “because I’ve told you before, they’re usually not very funny.”
“No, it’s not a joke,” Twilight tells him with a frown, “I can see spirits as the wolf, I just met him today. And my jokes are very funny, thank you.”
They’re not, Wind thinks, but that’s beside the point.
“Stranger things have happened,” Time muses, frowning thoughtfully.
“You’re not wrong there,” agrees Legend, “in fact, being haunted by the ghost of a child is actually very low on the weirdness scale of my life.”
“Child? I’m technically almost two hundred years older than you,” Wind grumbles.
“Okay,” Sky placates slowly, “let’s say there is a ghost. How come you’ve never met it before?”
“Hey, ‘it’ has a name, you know,” Wind tells him offendedly.
Twilight shrugs.
“I suppose he’s never been around me when I’m Wolfie before. I usually only transform for battles.”
“What’s his name?” asks Hyrule, asking the good questions, finally.
“He’s Link, just like the rest of us, though he’s nicknamed himself Wind.”
“Wind…? That’s a really weird name,” Four reflects.
“Oh, you’re one to talk,” Wind counters.
“Yeah, he wanted to give himself a nickname because we all have one,” Twilight tells them, and Wind is starting to regret going into the more personal details of his existence during their very one-sided conversation earlier. He had just been so excited!
“Aw, that’s kind of sad.”
“No it’s not!” Wind defends, “It’s totally reasonable! Just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean I’m not likely to get confused when there are nine of us with the same name.”
So what if it’s true that he had given himself a nickname the day they had assigned each other their own because he was feeling a tiny bit left out. It’s not that strange a thing to do; if they could see him, they would have given him one anyway.
Besides, he had thought ‘Wind’ was kind of funny. If he really focuses hard enough, he’s found he can very slightly move objects without phasing straight through them. It’s a work in progress, but he’s working himself up to larger, heavier objects, and he usually practices by moving tree branches. Of course, most people assume it’s just the wind, so the name is… appropriate. Ironic. It was funny at the time.
“Is he here now?” asks Wild.
“I think so,” Twilight replies, “he said he would come back to camp with me.”
“And he’s a nice ghost, right?”
“Seems it,” Twilight nods, “from what he said, he seems to be a holder of the triforce of courage, so he’s one of us, just… not as alive.”
“Awesome! Hello, Wind!” Wild calls, facing in entirely the wrong direction to be addressing him, “It’s nice to meet you. Sorry we didn’t know you were there before, but maybe we could be friends now?”
Wind… okay, he might tear up a bit then, because no one has even acknowledged him for literal centuries, let alone asked to be his friend.
“Of course I’ll be your friend, Wild,” he says, and he’s almost glad for the way no one can hear how high-pitched and wobbly his voice is. It’s bad enough he’s stuck in eternal puberty and has to deal with embarrassing voice cracks for the rest of time, he doesn’t need these silly emotions adding to it.
“Wait…” Warriors narrows his eyes suspiciously, “Remember when I said my hairbrush moved on its own the other day?”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t shut up about it,” Legend says sardonically, “what, are you going to blame that on the ghost instead of your own narcissism? Admit it, you were so caught up in staring at that mirror shield that you forgot you moved it yourself.”
Wind smiles smugly. That was definitely him. With a great deal of focus, he had managed to slide the hairbrush about half a meter to the left, and as meticulous Warriors is about things, he had of course noticed straight away.
“I don’t trust this ghost,” Warriors states.
“Don’t be rude, Wars,” scolds Sky, “he’s probably really lonely; imagine if you were stuck as a ghost for hundreds of years with no one to hear or see you.”
“That would be a tragedy,” Warriors agrees, “this face isn’t meant to be hidden.” Wind rolls his eyes. As fun as it is to tease him, Wind is actually very fond of Warriors. He has a way of bringing brightness to the group on a dreary day, and considering their line of work, dreary days come often.
“I can’t believe there’s been another one of us this whole time,” Sky muses.
Four frowns.
“It actually doesn’t make much sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I know we’re still not entirely sure what the endgame of this quest is, but why would Hylia - or whoever’s running this show – bring a ghost into it. Think about it, he can’t fight, communicate or advise. What’s his purpose in all this? No offence, Wind,” Four adds, looking blankly around the camp.
“Rude,” Wind says quietly, but if he’s being honest, he has to agree. It’s something he’s contemplated more than a few times throughout their journey. He’d learned years ago the futility of questioning things like this when he first began to wonder why he had become a spirit in the first place.
It had been fun at first as he zoomed around the beautiful waters of his home without fear of being scolded for misbehaving; no one to nag that he go to bed on time, none of the worries or responsibilities that had so consumed him during his life. He had felt lighter than air, the world his oyster.
But as he watched his family and friends grieve, his grandmother’s deep sorrow drive her to an early grave, Aryll left all alone in the world, he started to resent whatever higher power that had made him this way. He watched Tetra’s smile fade, her hair grey prematurely, her reluctance to sail the waters like she had always dreamed prevail throughout her half-hearted reign. He watched as the light dimmed from Aryll’s eyes as she only grew more lost as she aged, the innocent exuberance she had held as a child drowned long ago alongside her brother.
He hadn’t stayed to watch them die, but he had returned some hundred years later, just to check. Their spirits were nowhere to be found, their bodies decaying along with the last of his connections to the living world.
The point is, he doesn’t have it in him to think too much about it, but it does nag him sometimes, the idea that he’s not really supposed to be here, both with these heroes but also in the living world at all.
“Can you speak to him, Pup?” asks Time, jolting Wind out of his reverie, “or, at least listen. Turn into the wolf and relay what he has to say?”
Twilight nods and before their eyes, he transforms once again to the wolf. Wind hurriedly schools his expression into a cheerful smile as Wolfie turns his gaze onto him. He’s actually feeling pretty nervous, the need to make a good first impression burning in his non-existent chest.
“Wind,” Time begins, “firstly, have you any idea why you might have been sent on this quest?”
“For my charming personality and masterful intellect,” Wind replies with a grin, “it’s not my fault you have no way of putting them to use.”
Wolfie lets out a huff and transforms back to Twilight. He relays the message word for word, but entirely deadpan and Wind has to admit it’s quite amusing.
“I take it back,” chuckles Warriors, “I like this ghost.”
Wind positively glows.
“I’ll take that to mean he doesn’t know any more than we do,” Time says, “can you transform again?”
“Fine, but transforming’s not exactly comfortable; my flesh and bones have to literally be rearranged inside me every time.”
Sky makes a face.
“Eugh.”
“That’s so cool,” breathes Wild.
“Once more and I won’t make you do it again today,” Time promises, “I assume there’s no easier way to communicate with him?”
“He said not.”
“Then we’ll keep the transforming to a minimum until we figure something out.”
Twilight nods and for the fourth time that evening, dark particles consume him.
“Wind,” Time says again, and his tone holds something unreadable this time, “is there anything we can do to make you feel… more welcome, I suppose? Less lonely?”
Wind feels his smile slip slightly.
“Oh…” The unexpectedness of that question leaves him feeling breathless (despite the fact he can’t actually breathe).
“Um… I- I guess it would be nice if you sometimes travelled as Wolfie?” he told the wolf, trying to keep his stunned stuttering to a minimum, “I mean, only every now and then since I know it’s uncomfortable to transform a lot. A-and maybe some of you could speak to me occasionally… just when you have a moment.”
Wind can’t remember the last time he felt warm, but there is a small flicker of it inside him now, comforting, like the old memory of his grandmother’s soup.
“And tell Time ‘thank you,’” he requests quietly before Wolfie transforms to man for the last time. It’s strange, although Wolfie leaving means there’s no one to see or hear him anymore, somehow he doesn’t feel as alone as he did before.
“Of course I’ll be Wolfie more,” Twilight says softly, and Wind can almost imagine he’s saying it to him directly, for he’s looking right into his eyes.
Twilight turns to the others.
“He asked if we could talk to him sometimes.”
“Of course, Wind!” exclaims Sky, and the sounds of the others’ agreement drowns out Wind’s small sniffle.
“I have so many stories to tell you,” Warriors says with a grin.
“As long as it means the rest of us don’t have to hear them,” Legend quips.
“He also said thank you,” Twilight continues more quietly to Time. The eldest of the group gives a genuine smile.
“Of course.”
For the first time in what seems like forever, Wind feels a flicker of hope for what’s to come.