Wind stood waist deep in the water, smiling. A classic joke, pushing someone under the water. But Wild never came up.
"Wild? C'mon, this isn't funny."
No answer.
"Wild."
Wind went under the water and grabbed the back of his shirt. He pulled, but Wild barely moved. It was like he was frozen in place. A dead weight.
"Twilight!"
Twilight ran over. He knew it was serious when Wind said his full name.
"Wild won't come up. I pushed him under the water and now he won't come up."
Twilight pulled Wild up and dragged him out of the water and onto the shore. He coughed a few times, but he wasn't breathing. Twilight pushed on his chest a few times, causing him to cough up water. He started breathing again, but he didn't open his eyes.
"I-is he okay?"
Twilight nodded.
"He'll be fine."
Then, without warning, Twilight jumped in surprise.
"What is it?"
Twilight shook his head.
"It's nothing. I... I'm not feeling very well. Um, I, uh, gotta go."
Twilight smiled at Wind and quickly walked away with a hand on his forehead.
Wind watched him, confused.
"Okay, then... that was weird. Whatever."
He sat down next to Wild and waited.
●●●
Why did he keep seeing that? Wild was fine. There was no blood. He was just seeing things.
Nothing would happen to Wild. He was just being paranoid.
...
He'd keep him away from arrows. Just to put himself at ease.
●●●
Wild watched the fire flicker as everyone went off to get into their sleeping bags.
He couldn't sleep. There was no way he would be able to. He kept thinking about what happened back at the river. When he woke up, Wind apologized profusely, but he knew it was his own fault. He was the reason they were over there. And the way he reacted to Wind pushing him down into the water...
It wasn't okay.
Why did he see Mipha? Why didn't he want to get up? He was being stupid. Mipha wasn't really there. She couldn't have been. First of all, she was dead. Second, she wouldn't have been able to get here in the first place. It wasn't possible.
Well, she was a spirit. But he could feel her. Was he imagining that, too? How would he have imagined that? How did that happen?
He could explain him seeking her on being deprived of oxygen, but not touching her. That had to be something else. Can you imagine touch? It was just another sense. Did it work like that? Maybe Zelda would know. Or maybe it was in the library. Plenty of books had survived. It wha as entirely possible that there was a book on something like that in there.
He felt something tap his shoulder. He turned to look at it, ready to fight. As the thing came closer, the light of the dying fire illuminated it and revealed that it was Wind.
"Oh. It's just you."
Wind nodded and sat down next to him.
"Remember the time you said that I could stay up with you if I wanted?"
"Yes." He didn't remember. But then, he did have a shitty memory.
"Well, I couldn't sleep. Can I sit here with you?"
Wild nodded and looked back down at the burning embers.
He reached down and picked up a long stick. He prodded the pieces of wood with it, attempting to bring the fire back to life. He wasn't successful, so he grabbed a few sticks and tossed them into the ring. He shot the pile with a fire arrow, and it burst into flame.
The whole time, Wind just watched him. When he shot the arrow, he let out a small gasp and silently applauded him.
Wild smiled and looked away, a little embarrased. It was just an arrow. Maybe Wind had never seen a fire arrow before.
They sat in silence for a while before Wind looked at Wild and spoke.
"How old are you?"
Wild just rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's a weird question, I know."
"I should probably tell you my story."
"Ooh! Really? Like, right now?"
"No. It's long. I'd rather only tell it once."
"Oh. Okay. Well, can you at least tell me how old you are?"
"Sure. You won't believe me, though."
"I bet I will."
"Heh. Okay, then. I'm 100."
Wind shoved him a little, laughing.
"Seriously, though. How old are you?"
"Fine, fine. 117."
"Very funny. What's your real age?"
"I told you, 117. I'm serious. I was asleep for most if it, though."
Wind tilted his head.
"Why were you asleep?"
"I died. Of natural causes! Well, not really natural. It was... um... well... you know that giant rock-looking thing you showed me that one time? The one I freaked out about? Those things killed me."
"The miniboss?"
"Miniboss? No! Those are just wandering around. Not anymore, though. Actually, I don't know where they are. I haven't seen one in ages."
"It didn't look that bad."
"I- it's bad. It's bad. It's a one-shot kill. With a lot of health."
"Oh. Wow. You said you haven't seen any recently?"
Wild shook his head.
"That's good. I don't think any if us would enjoy it if they came here."
"They're good now, anyway."
"Good now? Whaddya mean by that?"
"I mean the they aren't constantly trying to kill me. They aren't being controlled by Calamity Ganon anymore."
"Huh. That's... interesting."
Wild sighed.