Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The Cub in the Cave
Link panted as he swiped the blood from his sword. The last Blood Moon had resurrected the black-pelted lynel as he'd thought, but it was tucked further back into its territory than usual. He shook his head, dislodging the thought. It didn't matter, it was dead, now. The roads would be safe for travel again, and—
What was that sound? A light frown tugged at his lips as he swiveled his ears about. He was sure he heard something—a squeaking pitiful sound like a kitten or a soaked puppy. He turned his gaze towards a small patch of bushes, realizing that there was a cavern hidden behind it. A sinking feeling had him stalking towards it.
Now that he was thinking about it, that lynel had been very adamant about keeping him away from this cave, hadn't it? That sound—mewling—was getting louder, now. With the blade that felled the beast, he carefully pushed back the bushes.
Wide terrified blue eyes stared up at him with an innocent confusion. Those eyes—set into a somewhat smushed face with a muzzle and a tiny floof of rough wiry hair around its neck and hooves and—
Dear Hylia, this was a baby lynel .
Link felt his blood turn to ice. He glanced from the tiny dog-sized creature to the dead one back in the clearing. He'd just taken this baby’s mother away from it. But... it was a monster! It would only grow up to hurt people... right?
Somehow, that thought felt wrong. As the little thing sniffled, shaky hooves carrying it a little further from him, Link felt his heart melt. He put his sword away, and carefully held out a hand. "Hey there." He kept his tone gentle, like when he was soothing a horse. "It's okay, little one." What was he doing? This was a lynel and this was a horrible idea and he could hear Sidon yelling at him already and —
But then a hand—so tiny and so very frail and cold—grasped his own. Another mewl. And Link's heart shattered . He couldn’t help but marvel at the velvety coat—so smooth and soft beneath his fingertips. The kitten— was it a kitten? What did one call a tiny baby monster anyways?—started to purr .
Something swirled within his chest. A horrible mixture of awe and guilt. What had he done? And yet, this tiny creature… “I suppose you’re my responsibility.” He sighed, careful to shield the kitten’s view of its mother. There was no reason to traumatize it. Him . If he was keeping this lynel cub then he couldn’t simply think of him as another monster.
A thought suddenly occurred to him. Could he… raise him? Train this cub to be more than a mindless beast drunk on Malice and rage? He took a deep breath. “Thoughts for another time.” He was about to say something more when a growling sound echoed in the stone cavern. For a moment, Link feared it was from himself—having just come out of battle. But then the cub squirmed in his arms with a pathetic mewing sound and he realized he was hungry .
For a long moment, he simply sat there and stared. What did baby lynels eat? Milk? Wasn’t that what he once saw Lawdon give his dog’s puppies when they were tiny? He tapped his Slate, producing a bottle of milk. The cub just stared at him and mewed again, more irritated this time.
“What? It’s food.” He took a sip of the milk to show the cub that it was safe, and the little one gave him a dubious look. Regardless, the grumbling of its belly was enough to drive it towards the bottle. With clumsy hands, it carefully lifted it as Link had, and promptly spilled it all over its face.
It snorted, shaking itself with a shocked expression, and Link couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re supposed to drink it.” He insisted, summoning another bottle of milk. This time, he held the bottle as the cub lifted it to its lips, allowing it to drink the milk instead of bathing in it. After a moment of consideration, it seemed the cub had decided that the milk was better than nothing and finished it off.
Now with a full belly, it yawned and curled up beside Link. He went stiff, unsure of how to handle the abrupt close contact, but the baby didn’t have any such reservations and nodded off.
Link sighed, careful not to wake his sleeping charge. Hylia… what have I gotten myself into?
The tiny lynel was a good sleeper. Nice and quiet, not fidgeting overmuch. His legs were growing a little numb and the urge to move was prickling at him like an itch under his skin, but he forced himself to stay as still as he could.
After a while, his curiosity had gotten the better of him. His hand had descended, ever so slowly and carefully, until it hovered a fraction over the cub’s pelt. He had jumped on the backs of adult lynels before, but what did the pelt of a baby one feel like? Had he imagined the velvety softness of before?
His hand was still in the air. It would not go closer, no matter how much he mentally yelled at it. What if I wake it?
He took his hand away, feeling defeated on more than one level.
Link could not stay here. He knew only how to defeat lynels, not to care for one, and babies always had special needs as opposed to adults and he barely knew about babies from his own species! He needed someone with more information. He needed help. But who?
Purah. The smartest person he knew. Surely she would know something, she seemed to know a lot more than him about heaps of things. Now he only needed to figure out how to get to her lab with a baby lynel in tow.
It would be a reasonably short journey with his paraglider to carry him across whatever places he could climb up. Link stared at the cub’s hooves and frowned. Lynels were not made to scramble up cliffs and mountainsides. They certainly weren’t made to paraglide either, and he would be unable to hold onto both the paraglider and the cub.
Okay, so the short route was out. He could get there without climbing, right? Link hesitantly grabbed his slate, trying to interact with the screen without disturbing his new charge. He pulled up the map, zooming in and mumbling under his breath as he worked to plot out a course. Yes, he could go across that way, all the way around there, circle back and take that path, and make his way to the lab from there.
This was going to take longer than he’d hoped. Days, if not a couple of weeks. It’s fine, I can handle this. Just a nice stroll on the scenic route with a new, small… helpless… friend. It was fine. It would be fine. He would think of it as an escort mission - just get his charge safely to where they needed to be, that was all.
The cub flicked its hooves spasmodically, making little huffing mewls every couple of seconds, exactly like one of the stable’s dogs caught up in a dream. His hand reached down automatically, brushing gently across the baby’s pelt, to soothe it. Link’s brain took a moment to catch up and he sucked in a breath, looking down but now not daring to stop the petting.
Still asleep. Link slowly blew out that breath.
Until it wasn’t.
After it woke up, Link immediately wished it had stayed asleep. It was nice that he could completely feel his legs again after the painful pins and needles had subsided, but the cub had so much energy and curiosity that it was driving Link batty.
It poked at everything. An interesting flower? Have to go look at that. A cool pointy stick? Have to play with that. A mushroom of questionable toxicity content? Need to munch on that!
Link was utterly horrified to realize that this was not much different from how he’d acted when he’d left the Shrine of Resurrection. Dear Hylia, he was still like that! But taking risks himself was much different in his mind than a baby taking them. A baby that was meant to have a parent to look out for it, to keep it safe, and teach it what was safe and what was not. A parent he had killed.
He had a destination in mind, the little fellow was awake, and he needed to get moving. “Come on,” he said encouragingly, patting his legs like he was enticing a puppy. The lynel was about the size of a dog but it was not a dog, so why did he think that would possibly work-
The cub gave a curious mewl and trotted over as best it could. It stared at him, waiting for whatever he called it over to happen.
Link could only point, mouth suddenly dry. “We’re leaving,” he said, whirling around and walking away a few steps. He turned back, tilting his head, and made a beckoning gesture. “Come on little fella,” he repeated.
The cub gave a happy little noise, much like an excited squeak, and followed, keeping up well even as Link continued walking. After a moment he pranced ahead, as graceful as a drunkard on a rain-slicked path, and pointed at the large stone gateway that arched overhead. He mewled and squeaked, staring back at Link and waiting for an acknowledgement.
It was an impressive sight. Tall, weathered, with bits of moss and ivy clinging to it here and there. “This has been here long before you and even long before me. It’ll probably be here long after both of us are gone, too,” Link said suddenly.
The little lynel cocked its head, gaze moving back and forth between the stone and the Hylian. He trotted over, little hooves noisy against the stone pathway underfoot, and placed a hand in Link’s, nuzzling it briefly.
So sweet. So trusting. Guilt, white-hot like a newly forged blade, stabbed him. Every nuzzle, every brush of tiny fingers against his own felt like licks of fire, threatening to set him alight. Link would just have to do the best he could by this baby while he was its carer.
He shook the thoughts away, like shooing aside a pesky insect, and walked on. They passed the spot where he’d defeated a moblin shortly before taking on the black-pelted lynel. At least that was one threat he didn’t need to worry about. The stone path to this point had been fairly smooth, but now it showed more signs of age and damage. Gouges in the wall, shattered bits and pieces of pathway and stairs, like an earthquake had tumbled through and broken things.
There had been a couple of bokoblins on the upper part. They, like the moblin, had been in his way and so had been cleared out. Beyond that, the path dipped. Lanayru Promenade must have been an amazing sight a long time ago, but now it was battered and parts of it were underwater. Link, short though he was, could find places along the sunken path where he could still walk, the water not high enough to force him to swim.
But that was him. The baby lynel was much smaller than even his short frame, and there was no way he would be able to simply walk across with Link. Could lynels swim? He’d never really seen them in the water, not beyond just getting their hooves wet. He could just carry the baby through the flooded parts, right? All of the monsters should be cleared out so it would be safe if he didn’t have his hands free to grab a shield or weapon.
The Hylian Champion crouched down where the path started getting wet and spun around, holding out his arms invitingly. The cub mewled and rushed over, a tangle of uncoordinated limbs and enthusiasm, and threw himself into the hug.
No hesitation, no reserve at all. Link carefully got his arms under the horse limbs and waited for the cub to tuck his legs up. The cub did so without fuss, snuggling into his warmth and nuzzling the spot over his heart.
Guilt warred with affection but Link pushed it all aside to focus. He stepped into the water, doing his best to ignore the slight chill it carried. Things were going well until the water hit the lynel’s legs.
The cub squealed and thrashed in Link’s hold, almost desperate to get away from the unwanted sensation.
“Whoa, calm down! It’s fine, you’re fine, it’s just water,” he said soothingly, twisting one hand around far enough to pet the lynel’s velvety soft pelt. “I won’t drop you, you’re safe.”
The cub slowly stopped struggling and gingerly settled down, the calm, gentle strokes of his hand being the only thing keeping the baby in place voluntarily. A tiny squeak erupted every time the water lapped against a part that wasn’t already wet, little fingers holding Link’s shirt in a vice-like grip. Slow and steady progress was being achieved.
An odd sound was just barely audible over the lapping water and lynel squeaks. A strange whirring hum was growing louder, like it was coming closer. It reminded him of a-
Link lurched forward, the blades of the metal boomerang cutting into his bicep instead of perforating his chest cavity if he hadn’t moved. He hissed at the sudden flare of pain, a hot streak blazing across his cold arm. The cub panicked, crying out in fear, and thrashed. His unsteady footing, coupled with the new injury, made Link drop the baby.
A section of the path shimmered out of sync with everything else and Link swiftly grabbed a bow, firing several arrows at the spot as fast as he could. He was rewarded with a shriek as a lizalfos faded into view, one arrow in its arm, one in its neck, and two more caught on bits of armor.
Link ducked and wrapped his hands around the baby -which had quickly sunk- before it drowned or was swept away. He ran, in great lurching strides, through the water, eyes flitting between the dry section of the path ahead and the angry lizalfos.
The cub was coughing and hacking, shivering in his hold. He could just see the lizalfos, boomerang back in hand, pull back for another throw. “Swim for it! Go, go!” he urged the baby, throwing it as carefully as he could ahead. He nocked an arrow, lifted the bow he was still holding, and fired three more shots before crouching under the water to avoid the boomerang, blurrily watching it fly overhead.
He pushed forward, breaching, and picked up the cub again, feeling awful as it tried to empty the water from its lungs. An angry, pained shriek informed him that he’d hit the damned thing with at least one of those arrows.
How he wished a baby lynel had the limbs and ability to latch on and hold onto him on its own. The path rose out of the water just a short way ahead. They were so close, only a few feet to go-
“Go, go, go! Get out of the water!” he whispered urgently straight into one of its ears. Then he tossed the baby again, knowing it should be able to get enough ground under its little hooves to move with. Link turned and fired two more arrows, vindictively pleased when one of them hit the lizalfos in the eye.
The shaft sank a fair way in and the monster gave a cut-off shriek that fizzled into gurgles as it stilled for a heartbeat before toppling over like a cut tree.
Link had already turned away before the body hit the water, bow quickly returned to the Slate, and his mind barely registered the splash as he waded as fast as he could, reaching the cub as the small head broke the surface. He picked up the cub yet again, hands automatically offering pets and strokes as his voice crooned apologies and platitudes.
Once they were far enough from the water for Link’s jangled nerves to start settling, he eased down, taking the cub with him, and let it nestle in his lap. He flicked through the clothing stored on his Slate and selected the first shirt that was not covered in metal or bone. He wrapped the material around the shivering cub, rubbing vigorously to help ease the chills that wracked the small frame.
Link thought of his own sodden clothes and dismissed them in the same thought. He’d be fine until he found a good spot to set up camp and get a fire going. His priority was getting the baby lynel warm, he could wait.
It had been about two weeks since Link had acquired- no, no, that was the wrong word. It had been about two weeks since Link had fostered the baby lynel.
After traveling across Hyrule to Hateno with a lynel, he had noticed one thing. Nobody wanted to be near someone carrying a lynel. Even the very obvious Yiga had decided against approaching him -to give him the banana merchant shtick- when he held the baby.
So far only Purah knew as to why he had the lynel. After all, she was his best bet at figuring out what the lynel needed, and the more information she had the better. She didn't have much but she was able to at least give him a check-up, and from what she knew he appeared perfectly healthy.
"Soooo… Linky, tell me again why you have a baby lynel. I mean, I have never even seen a baby monster before let alone a lynel. I always just assumed the Calamity summoned them up. This destroys almost all theories on how they work. I mean, it's not even attempting to fight us!" Purah stated quickly.
"Why does it not fighting us matter? They don't fight me when I have the masks on." Link asked.
“Your masks require some kind of deception to work. You must trick the monsters into not knowing you're a Hylian for them to work, no matter how silly it looks to our eyes,” Purah said. “What this means is that not only do monsters have children, but these children also aren't naturally hostile to the natives of Hyrule. Their loyalty to Ganon is merely something of culture or; or some kind of magic forcing them.” Purah continued. “It means we could, we could… We could potentially, we could potentially take them out from the Calamity's grasp, we could strip the Calamity of one of its major ways to exert its power!” Purah then continued to spiral into scientific rambling. Link proceeded to give Purah a look. “Aaannnd I guess save them from the Calamity’s influence and control over them. That’s probably a reason to do it too,” Purah said.
The baby lynel that had started this entire conversation, for its part, was wandering around the workshop trying to investigate Purah’s lab assistant.
Symin was having a pretty interesting morning. First, Purah managed to get something stuck on a high shelf again, so that was something. But then Link charged in carrying a baby lynel of all things. After the requisite amount of freaking out they calmed down and Link explained that he had killed the mother and instead of leaving had decided to stick around to find its baby, take said baby, and raise it as his own. Symin's own questions of Link’s sanity aside, he had to admit the thing was pretty cute. Purah seemed to have a handle on things though, so he went back to inspecting and shelving all the books Purah pulled out and left everywhere. It was then that Symin felt a soft pressure on his leg. Looking down he saw that the lynel was trying to chew on his leg.
…
"AAH!" Symin screamed, rapidly jumping away from the lynel.
“Oh! Symin, did something happen?” Purah asked.
“The little fella tried to eat me!” Symin exclaimed.
“Symin, it's a toddler. A wild toddler, only raised by either a wild monster or Linky for its whole life. (Were Linky there to hear this he would be offended, but he was currently climbing the lab to harvest parts from the guardian on the roof, trusting Purah to look after the lynel.) "It's going to try and chew on stuff." Purah continued. "Oh! By the way, Linky, do you have a name for the little guy? I just realized I've just been calling him the lynel or fella this whole time,” Purah asked.
“Linky?” Purah questioned. Just then Link reentered through the door, carefully balancing 10 guardian screws and other assorted parts in his arms.
“Wha?” came muffled out of Link's mouth through several screws, as Link began putting the assorted parts into the slate.
“What’s the little fella's name?” Purah said and then continued, “you did give him a name, right?” Purah lightheartedly questioned.
“Oh! Yeah, totally, his name’s is uhhh, Fell-um, yea Fellum that works.” Link quickly stammered out as he had, in fact, not named this little fella yet. “So, while I'm here Purah, you come up with any new upgrades for the slate while I was gone?” Link asked.
"Nope, sorry Linky. I'll still take the parts though. I'm sure I've got something around here to pay you," Puarh said before she began to ramble as she went through the materials in her lab.
“Alright well, I'm going to get out of your hair then Purah. Come on little fella- uh Fellum,” Link stated.
The lynel looked up from where it was trying to figure out one of the strange rectangles with squiggles in it and quickly trotted to his caretaker's side following them out of the strange cave. As the day wore on, Link decided to take Fellum to the pond right below because somehow the little thing had gotten grease in his fur. The cub was gleefully splashing about, Link got some soap and promptly called over the little lynel. It took a while for Link to convince the young cub that soap wasn't food, but now the cub was purring as Link scrubbed and scratched.
'Maybe… this isn't as bad as I thought.'