He'd fallen asleep under his bed for a short while before the door opened, hitting the wall with a "thud." He awoke to purple hooves standing in the doorway.
"Hinka?"
Twilight's voice was out of breath, like she had run to get there. She didn't seem to see him under the bed. Outside, the fireworks had stopped.
"(The Crusaders told me you ran off in the direction of the castle. Are you in here, dear?)"
He was silent. Maybe she would give up and go away. He felt embarrassed by his reaction.
"(I'm not mad, Hinka. I just want to know what's bothering you.)"
He didn't respond. Twilight chuckled a little.
"(You know, when I was your age and something scared me, there were two different ways that I might react: The first involved galloping in circles and screaming until my big brother or parents calmed me down.)"
She took a few steps closer to his hiding spot. His heart thumped dully in his ears.
"(The other way I might react only happened when I was in my room. I never hid under my blankets, because that was just too obvious. I always hid...)"
She pulled the skirt of the bed up a little and he met her eyes; eyes full of compassion and understanding.
"...under the bed."
He saw her smile mournfully at him.
"You're a lot like me, Hinka. Please come out. Talk. I listen for you."
He didn't budge at first, but he eyed the hoof she was offering him. Slowly he reached for it, and began to pull himself out of his spot.
When he was clear of the bed, she wrapped him up in a hug. Link hesitated, then wrapped his arms around her too.
"Tell me why you ran."
He hesitated a moment, but relented. She was trusting him to lay his head in her home; in a castle no less and not do anything reprehensible. The least he could do would be tell her why he left the festival.
"Fireworks," he whispered. "Fireworks scare me."
Twilight was silent for a moment. She lifted him gently and set him on his bed, where she sat next to him.
"Why is that?"
His mouth was dry. He still hadn't eaten and did not have anything to drink recently either.
"Bad guy at home. Really strong wizard. Took throne by force. Beat any resistance with powerful magic."
She gasped. His home was ruled by an aggressive dictator? Once they found a way to send him back, they'd go with him, Elements and all. Perhaps they could pave the way for some sort of alliance between their nations?
"I- Someone beat him. Magic bad. Loud. Bright. Devastating. Fireworks loud. Bright. Fireworks magic. I don't like."
She rubbed his arm gently.
"Then you do not have to go out and watch the fireworks."
He looked up at her. She smiled at him.
"We want you happy. Not scared. You feel better away from fireworks, so you stay away from them. No problem."
Link smiled up at her, and she returned it. His stomach growled audibly.
"Did you not eat?"
He shook his head. Twilight looked about to ask something else, but her eyes widened.
"I should have told you who was serving good food for you. I'm sorry, Hinka."
She smiled at him again.
"Come, let me cook something for you! Old family recipe: Pickled dandelions with barnacles in a diesel marinade!"
That was the day that Link decided he liked Twilight. She was more than an acquaintance and caretaker to him. She was a friend.
Link very rarely awoke with a shout anymore.
That's not to say he did not suffer nightmares. He did, and very often too. He just trained himself to never make a peep. For them to draw a scream out of the boy, they had to be beyond horrendous.
He wasn't always so quiet. Even before he began his quest he was haunted by recurring nightmares, usually involving a stranger from the desert, a princess, and himself. He used to awaken with a yell or a scream of terror that would also awaken his neighbors. Well, most of them. Saria was a heavy sleeper and could probably sleep through the moon crashing.
One night, he was asleep and having one of his nightmares again. In it he was doing battle with a hydra, of all creatures. He was literally just about to defeat it when he was awoken by his blankets tightening over his body.
Instantly two Kokiri came up on each side of his bed with a pillow case full of bars of soap1 They began to bring down the pillow cases onto his bound form just as another Kokiri covered his mouth.
His muffled shouts of pain echoed through his home but nowhere else. The Kokiri were taking turns whacking him repeatedly with the soap. The pain was immense and he could feel the wind get forced out of his lungs at one point. The Kokiri covering his mouth did not let him make a peep.
It was over in less than a minute and Link was groaning and crying in pain. Finally the one covering his mouth let him go, and grabbed his face with one hand before turning it to look at him.
"Remember, no-fairy," growled Mido. "It's just a bad dream."
He all but threw his head back to the pillow and the Kokiri filed out, leaving Link to himself. It took just one blanket party to cure him of his habit.
He sighed. Part of him knew Twilight wouldn't do that to him, nor would the other adults. They seemed far too kind to even think of it. Spike? Their relationship was currently as far south as it could possibly go, so he wasn't letting his guard down.
His dream that night was of one of his first hard fought battles against one of Ganondorf's minions; the parasitic arachnid that invaded the Great Deku Tree and was slowly killing him from within.
He'd been told the trials within the Great Deku Tree would be a test of merit and strength for him.
"If thou be a soul whose courage be unwavering, thou shalt find no difficulty. If thou possess a shred of self doubt, however..."
As it was, Link braved many insects and hostile Deku Scrubs within the Great Tree. None of the smaller creatures he fought, however, were a match for his sword and shield. The bugs, mostly large spider-like insects, were dispatched as easily as a slice to the legs, followed by the thrust of the sword through their awaiting carapace. The Deku Scrubs, notoriously cowardly fighters, could be beaten into submission by use of his favorite slingshot. He didn't kill them, mind you. They just would take one hit from the slingshot, and then hide in fear.
The leader of the creatures slowly killing the Great Deku Tree, however?
When Link had entered the room it dwelled in, it was dark. Only the innate magic of Navi granted him any semblance of light.
The room reeked of decay. It was the decay of wood. Link could feel the wood under his feet begin to squish under his weight, as if he were walking in mud. He cringed. Poor Deku Tree...
He did not have too much time to dwell on the Deku Tree's suffering. He happened to look up, and a glowing yellow eye returned his gaze. He let out a gasp and leapt back just in time for the monster it belonged to to leap down where he stood a moment ago.
It must have been the size of five Kokiri and it appeared to be a spider-like creature with one horrible eye and a carapace that looked like it would be work to just cut through. The floor beneath the beast bowed in under its weight.
Before Link could even maneuver to a proper fighting stance, one large leg swiped at him, sending him careening across the floor in a heap.
Navi, who was still very cold towards him, chose that moment to give him some helpful advice.
"You're going to want to watch out for that."
He didn't respond.
"...Does that hurt? Because it looks like it kinda hurts. Dude, are you dead?"
Link sat up, gave his head a shake, and shot the fairy a glare. He regained his feet, and with a yelp promptly dove out of the way. The giant creature had charged him.
It left him with an opening. He quickly pulled his sword and began to slice at the nearest leg to him, but the carapace was thick. He was barely managing to scratch it, and judging by the lack of pained yowls from the beast itself, he wasn't exactly doing a whole ton of damage.
To make matters worse even better, he took his attention off the creature's other legs. One flicked him away with great force, and his back smacked into the wall.
The shield absorbed a good amount of the impact, but at the cost of a hairline crack adorning it. He scowled. The fairy wasn't even offering advice. She was just sitting there- oh. Scratch that, she seemed to be examining the creature.
"'kay, so the legs are out. I mean, you can keep hitting them all you want but you're just going to tire yourself out. Try the joints. You know, where they meet the body."
He dove out of the way as the monster charged him again and leapt to his feet. There was an idea. He found his opening, readied his blade, and by Farore it... it... IT....
Did even less damage than his first attempt.
Still, the creature didn't kick him away again. Instead it proceeded up the wall and to the ceiling high above. Its single eye seemed to turn red, and Link heard a splat not far ahead of him.
"...okay, that's just disgusting. Wait, is that...?"
Link was bowled over by a still glistening creature just like the one he was battling, only far smaller. He instinctively kicked up at it, knocking it away just before its mandibles could get to his throat. They clacked together just inches away from his flesh before he freed himself. Dispatching it was far easier. Its armor had not hardened yet.
"Kid! Mind those things. They've the sting of a Tarantula Hawk2 in their fangs scaled up to work on a human. You don't want to know what will happen if you are bitten."
Link gulped, but nodded. He looked up disdainfully at the beast he was supposed to be slaying. It was hiding on the ceiling, but no more eggs were falling.
He put away his blade and took out his slingshot instead and decided to try and startle it down. The first shot missed on of its legs by a foot, and it moved it a bit. The second shot failed to reach the ceiling, but the third?
The creature let out a shriek Link wasn't aware that insects could make as it plummeted to the ground below. Though Link was far enough away to avoid injury, he leapt backwards anyway. It was dumb luck. The seed he loosed had caught the monster in the eye.
The eye!
Link was kicking himself. Of course the eye wasn't armored. It would have been worth a try to strike at it earlier when he had a chance. No matter. He was being given another, and so he approached with caution, his blade and damaged deku shield in hand.
He was not careful enough. The beast quickly righted itself and in a charge, pinned Link by the abdomen against a wall. Link could feel his back bruising up already and he groaned in great pain. No amount of wiggling was going to free him. Had the monster felt the desire to, it could have crushed him against the wall.
It would have been ironic. An insect crushing a human? It was usually the other way around.
Yet, it did not do so. Instead, it bared its mandibles at him, but hesitated again. It had appeared to be aiming to bite him between his shoulder and neck. Such a wound would have probably killed him quickly. No, there was a better way to use the two-legger, and it needed to remain alive for as long as possible in order to serve its new purpose.
The arachnid lowered its head slightly to the area around Link's then somewhat pudgy belly. Then it struck...
...nothing but shield. Link managed to wedge the Deku Shield into its mandibles, and he struggled now to get his sword to the creature's eye level. He didn't have much time; he could hear the Deku Shield cracking and straining, and could see the mandibles slowly shutting as the shield gave way.
He had one shot. If he missed, he was as good as dead.
He managed to bury the Kokiri Sword within the eye of Gohma as the shield finally broke. She stopped biting just as the mandibles reached his skin, but did not break it.
All of a sudden Link was on his hands and knees, staring up at the creature, weapon still embedded in its eye. It shrieked and shrieked but could not remove the weapon. As its legs began to fall out from under it, it lowered its gaze to Link, sword and all.
As was his wont, Link then awoke with a gasp but without a peep. It was still pitch black outside the window. He turned over in the bed afforded to him. It may have been the most comfortable bed he ever had the pleasure of sleeping in, but he knew that his sleep would be avoiding him once more. At least he didn't awaken Twilight or dragon.
Link swatted at a mosquito that had infiltrated his room and landed on his neck.
Stupid bugs.