Archive of Our Own ^beta

Wild hated people. 

Not his group of course, or anyone from back home, but just people. Big large clumps of people. People are loud and they bump into each other and they compromise security in a way that he couldn’t bring himself to like no matter how many times Zelda had tried. They tried to start slow, but there wasn’t a good way to suddenly go from four people to hundreds. 

And now? Now he was standing at the entrance of Castle Town. Not the Castle Town Ruins that were being rebuilt in his Hyrule. Oh no. This was the busiest place he had ever seen in his entire life. Warrior’s Castle Town had a sea of people flowing through it. He felt the sweat build at his palms. There’s no way in-

“This is awesome!” Wind yelled before running right into the middle of it. He stuck out a hand to protect him from the masses but he was swept away in moments. Before he could even blink Four ran after him and was gone just as fast. The crowd ate them. He had no way of getting a visual on their two youngest. He turned to ask Time what to do and found the man smiling and shaking his head. 

“Be careful! We’re meeting back in an hour!” he shouted over the rest of the people before grabbing Warrior’s and disappearing in a completely separate direction. Meeting back in an hour? We aren’t all staying together? How will we find where the others are?  

“Wild?” he looked up and found Sky was smiling at him and looking excitedly toward the crowded marketplace. “Wanna come shopping with me? I bet they have amazing fabric.” Wild would have considered it if the offer didn’t sound like lava being poured into his eyes. 

“No” he answered simply and Sky nodded. 

“That’s ok! I’ll just take Legend and Hyrule.” Legend scoffed at the newly announced plan. 

“What makes you think I wanna go anywhere near that market?” Legend questioned and Hyrule grinned coming to pull him toward Sky and the rest of the people. 

“They have magic rings.” The minute the words left Hyrule’s mouth Legend and Sky had vanished too. As if they were never there at all. Wild backed up a step, worried if he got too close something would drag him into the mess of limbs and hair and bags slamming into people to whom they didn’t belong.  There’s nothing worth going in for. Nothing. He would just wait outside for them to come back. Surely Twilight wouldn’t mind. 

“You ready?” Twilight asked finally coming into view and Wild felt his stomach drop. Ready for what? “You look like you’re ready to run from a lynel there kid.” 

“Why do we need to go?” he answered instead of agreeing. It was probably true. The mere suggestion of going near that many people made him feel sick. As far as he knew, Time had come to replenish their potion stock and that meant he had no reason to go in if everyone else was already shopping. 

“It’ll be fun! Also, I’m starving and we agreed that you should get a break from cooking when we come near towns.” Twilight smiled grabbing his hand. Wild allowed it but didn’t budge when Twilight moved closer to the crowd. No. “Wild” he called clearly a bit confused. “We don’t have all day here bud. Let’s just get it over with. Consider this a mandated relaxing training.” Wild’s anxiety couldn’t have possibly increased more in a single sentence than it did in that moment. Mandated? That means an order right? He’s ordering us to go in there. He moved his feet. 

It was the worst sensory experience that Wild could remember. The moment they stepped through, he gripped Twilight’s hand infinitely tighter. Clothes and hair brushed against him and he blindly followed Tiwlgiht through the crowd. They wove in and out, somehow ignoring the millions of different smells and accents and so so many people. 

“Hey! You want some rice balls?!” Twilight yelled over the others and Wild didn’t bother to answer. I would literally rather die than eat. Being with Revali wouldn’t be as bad as standing here. “Kay! Wait right here!” the older teen yelled and suddenly he let go. 

He let go. 

It was an understatement to say that Wild panicked. 

“Twi?!” he called trying to see through the old and young and brown-haired, redhead, too many people. Where did you go? Why did you let go? He couldn’t see anything. He wanted his sword. He couldn’t focus. He couldn't see Twilight. He knew he was panicking but he didn’t even know how to run. It was too thick of a crowd and when someone bumped into him he easily fell to the side and was swept back farther from his goal. 

“Sto-” he tried to protest but felt his foot stepped on yet again. “I can’t-” someone shoved his back. Oh, Hylia make it stop. I can’t breathe. His chest was restricting and as he moved his arms he realized he didn’t even have enough room to grab his sword properly without stabbing someone. A particularly rough shove from behind sent him to the ground. 

“Woah! Sorry” someone apologized. Wild glanced to see a figure in sheikah uniform wrapped like a partial mummy. “Oh gosh are you ok? You look terrified” she commented. Or…at least Wild thinks they’re a girl. It was a bit hard to tell. Wild couldn’t answer but let her pull him up with semi-monstrous strength and found himself weaving between people, eyes closed, yet again until he suddenly didn’t feel so many bodies so close to him. 

When he looked around he found that they had ducked into some kind of alley and the sheikha was helping him sit against the wall. “Who did you come with, Hero?” the question caught him by surprise. Should I answer that. Their sheikha so it’s fine right? I don’t know anymore. I can't breathe. “Nevermind” she murmured when he didn't answer and when she stood to leave, for some unknown reason, he grabbed her hand. I don’t want to be alone again. She gave a weak smile and pet his hand before releasing it. “Don’t worry, Link. I’ll have someone here in just a second” she promised with a wink before leaving him. 

She called me Link. Was she important? Who is that? I don't know what's happening. It apparently didn't matter very much. Within a few minutes, her promise came true, and he felt a hand grip his shoulder. He snapped up to see Twilight standing over him looking very worried. “Wild, I told you not to-”

He lunged for his brother and held him tight so that he could try to breathe into his furs. Anything to stop the noise that was still far too close and the feeling that a million people had touched him. He was fairly certain he was crying but it was worth the head pats that he got in return. “You left me” he whined. Please for the love of all that is good, Hylia never leave me again. 

“Oh cub, I didn’t even think of the crowd scaring you” Twilight sighed holding him a bit tighter so that his fur pelt covered his ears. “I’m sorry.” he apologized and Wild shook his head.  This was enough. He was ok. He couldn’t hear as well, but that was fine. Twilight was watching the crowd and he trusted Twilight. 

“Not again” he conditioned putting his full weight against his mentor who seemed to get comfortable sitting up against the wall of the nearby building. He felt a short laugh come against his ear. 

“Yeah. not again.”