The young deku prince lay before the three of them in stoic serenity; his calm expression in contrast with the charred remains of his lower half. His right shoulder had been cleaved by Odolwa’s great sword and had been the final blow that led to his demise. Bael closed his eyelids and if they hadn’t known better it would have looked as if Kuthro was sleeping soundly.

“If he hadn’t been there to draw in Odolwa’s assault I would have never stood a chance. Prince Kuthro was a brave deku, and your death will not be in vain Your Highness,” Bael swore solemnly.

Lance had been struggling to keep his breathing steady since Nyx delivered the revelation to them. His chest tightened with every shallow breath. He stumbled forward to follow behind Bael but his shoes felt like they were made of lead and he lacked the strength to lift them. Another person had died as a result of his inaction. Vividly he could recall the moment he was running to Kuthro’s side but became distracted by Bael’s impending doom. He’d made a choice and this was the price he’d paid.

“There’s no guarantee he was alive when I woke up, I can’t assume that. I will never know for certain if it was my inaction that killed him. Maybe if I try again…”

“You’ll have to help me get him out of here. He deserves a proper funeral. We should also check on Juji, did you see where he went?” Bael was beginning to lift Kuthro’s arm over his shoulder to lift him off the ground but became alarmed at the lack of response. His head turned up and his eyes filled with panic.

“Lance, what are you doing?”

Lance was kneeling on the ground staring downward at his hands held out before him. One held his knife with the blade pressed firmly to the flesh of the inner side of his other arm. Lance’s breathing was ragged as sweat began to bead on his forehead.

Bael sprang forward and in an instant was ripping the weapon from his hand. Lance looked up at him with pained eyes that had long since gone dry. There was a flash of confused fury before Lance lurched forward to seize the weapon once more, but Bael was too quick. Bael threw the blade far to the side and moved in to grapple the other man.

Lance tried and failed to fight against the restraint but once again his power was no match for Bael’s immense strength and speed. Before he knew it Bael was holding him from behind with Lance’s arms pulled straight back and locked in his hold. Bael’s knee was pressed firmly into the center of his back severely limiting his movements. With little energy left to spare to fight back any longer, Lance’s body slackened and he whimpered his despair.

“I understand what you’re thinking Lance, I really do, but you can never guarantee that knowledge of the potential future will ensure it happens the way you want it to,” Bael groaned, enduring the utter exhaustion of his body.

Lance’s body began to shake. “This is the third time my decisions or inactions have caused somebody to die. I thought this time I was changing since I was able to save you. I was wrong, so very wrong,” he finished with a croak. Bael’s forehead pressed into his back as his firm hold on him eased.

“You’re putting the weight of everything on your shoulders but you shouldn’t be. I carry more blame than you, he sustained a lot of damage protecting me from harm. We all played some part in this unfortunate end.” By this point he had let go of Lance entirely and was standing up. He offered a hand to Lance to help him up which he gratefully accepted.

“Even though what we’re doing is noble in the effort to save Termina, we won’t be able to save everyone no matter what we do nor how many retries we get.” Bael grasped Lance’s wrist, the very same one he nearly sliced open, and pulled him forward to the deceased prince.

“I can carry him by myself. Did you send Juji somewhere safe?”

Lance solemnly nodded.

“Good, you can escort him out of this place and we’ll meet in front of this room.”

As if his body was being piloted by someone other than himself, Lance managed to move forward and climb the vines. His mind felt like it was miles away from where he was at this moment, shouting with a hoarse voice to get his attention to no avail. Breathing was the only concentrated effort he could stay aware of.

The journey out of the temple and back to Woodfall passed in a forgettable blur. No one in the group was entirely cognizant of what was occurring in the world around them aside from Bael who remained what grounded them to this reality. Kuthro dangled from his back; displaying his own mangled backside that none of them could bear to look at.

Juji walked alongside Lance once they retrieved him and had remained silent since being told about his older brother’s demise. The young prince reached for Lance’s hand and he held it tightly all the way until the first ray of sunlight touched their faces.

Outside, throngs of deku waited for their return with a cacophony of whispers erupting once they surfaced. As soon as the queen laid eyes upon her children she broke away from the group, sprinting as fast as her short legs could carry her across the wooden bridge. She scooped Joji up in her arms, placing a multitude of kisses over his entire face, but he could not muster the enthusiasm to smile at her embrace.

After several minutes of standing there unable to move while dreading what was to come, the queen looked up at Bael and even spared a kind glance for Lance as well. “Thank you for rescuing Juji from that horrible creature. Please, let us tend to your wounds posthaste. My dear boy” -Queen Euphorbia reached her hand up to stroke Kuthro’s cheek before recoiling in shock- “what’s wrong with my son? Bael, why does he look so lifeless?”

Her pupils dilated as she stared intensely at Bael hanging for dear life on whatever the next words to come out of his mouth would be. He struggled to find the right thing to say with his jaw hanging agape.

“He fought bravely against Odolwa to help save Prince Juji, but it was a fight that cost him his life. I’m sorry Your Majesty, there was nothing we could do,” Bael answered while averting eye contact.

The queen’s howl of sorrow was a sound Lance would never forget for the rest of his days. It was deep and undignified with Her Majesty casting aside all of her dignity and poise. She lunged at her son’s corpse, pulling him off of Bael pushing him away in the process. Awkwardly the men and fairy stood away from the mourning mother with no sentiments to offer her.

Bael pulled at Lance’s elbow urging him to follow him as they skirted around her. Juji’s hand slipped from Lance’s and when he looked back to see the prince he looked up with confused and hurt eyes. It was too painful to see, so he turned forward once again to follow Bael’s lead.

“Where are you going?” Her Majesty croaked while looking at Bael with eyes full of accusations and mistrust.

“We can’t stay. I learned what I needed to and there is urgent business that requires my attention elsewhere. I’m sorry Your Majesty, but I’ve already paid my respects and must be on my way.”

“To think all these years I’ve considered you a friend to my people and I. It goes to show that no matter how little human you have in you the selfishness of that heritage cannot be washed away. Begone, Master Bael.”

With her bitter farewell the group slipped through the throng of grieving deku uninterrupted. Neither of them dared to look back for fear of confirming the hatred they would find in their eyes. They traveled alone to the nearly empty palace to retrieve Oberon. Solemnly they departed the Kingdom of the Deku on horseback as Bael bid them to return to the woods.

They rode in silence with only the ambiance of the forest to fill the air. It was the longest time Lance had been around Bael where the other man was stoically silent with not a joke or a quip to offer. Nyx fluttered between them, combating her own anxiety for the situation but unable to seek comfort from either of them.

There was so much on Lance’s mind that he wanted to say. He wanted to celebrate their defeat of Odolwa and ask for Bael’s help recovering the toadstools in the forest. Questions about what Odolwa meant by referring to ‘we’ and what Queen Euphorbia meant when she called Bael partially human. Every time he thought to open his mouth his voice could not escape his throat. Memories of the Deku family and how they looked to see the loss of one of their own assaulted his mind at every turn. The pain was overwhelming, and he was on his own to process all of it.

When the group arrived at the edge of the woods Bael thumped Lance in the back to get his attention. He promptly reined in Oberon who whinnied at the abrupt stop. Bael slipped off the back of the horse then began to pick up branches off the ground.

“Twilight is upon us, so we’ll camp here for the evening. We don’t want to be alone in the forest after dark,” Bael ordered in a serious tone.

Lance recalled that two nights prior Bael had run through the night to his home to be there when he woke up. Bael wasn’t afraid of being alone in the dark, but afraid of what the things in the dark would do to Lance. That familiar twinge of being a burden pulled in his chest once more.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Nyx, show him where to forage for food but don’t go too far.” Bael never raised his head to look at Lance, and he frowned at this emotional rift that was forming between them after making good progress towards at least being amicable.

Nyx flew by him and led him to an assortment of spots where wild edible plants grew. Several fallen logs were covered in an overgrowth of fungi where Nyx indicated which ones were edible and which ones were deadly to consume. Many trees in the area were rich with nuts and berries as well - to the point where Lance was becoming overloaded with food. He flipped the end of his shirt up to make an impromptu basket and returned to camp with his findings. Typically, he would have been appalled to do something of that nature but with his current outfit covered in blood and sweat he found vanity a moot point.

Bael had prepared a small campfire for them in the brief time they were gone. Lance was also surprised to see he’d taken the time to arrange some leaves for two makeshift beds on opposite sides of the fire. It amazed him how self-sufficient the other man clearly was capable of being, but at the same time there was a loneliness attached to that independence that Lance pitied him for.

After divvying up the food, each took their place on their respective sides of the fire to eat in continued silence. When their meals were finished Bael prepared for laying down by removing his clothes down to his undergarments, which appeared to be nothing more than an old pair of threadbare cotton drawers. He rang them out for what sweat and blood had yet to dry then laid them in front of the fire close enough to dry. Lance followed suit but only when he felt Bael wouldn’t be looking at him. Then they both lay on their leaf beds where, despite their fatigue, not a wink of sleep was to be had.

It was approximately an hour later that Lance attempted sleep with his eyes shut tight; the sounds of the crackling fire was the only thing grounding him to this world while his mind contemplated all the mistakes he’d made leading up to this moment. After tossing and turning for more times than he could count enough was enough.

“Hey, Bael, are you awake?” Lance tried to ask just loud enough to be heard over the campfire.

Silence was his response.

“Bael?”

“Sleep. You’ll need your rest for tomorrow.” Bael’s reply came roughly, exhausted, but with just a faint undercurrent of relief beneath all of that. This encouraged Lance to continue.

“It feels really awful of me to say so, but I think what I regret the most about all of this was the fact he died before I could show him I wasn’t just another stupid human. That’s really selfish of me, isn’t it?”

Bael didn’t reply, but Lance could hear him roll over and saw his eyes looking across at him through the fire.

“He was a person with his own hopes and dreams, but all I can think about is the stupid things I said and how I can’t ever take them back now. I still wish I could wind it all back and let him live, but also I just want another chance at trying to relate to him. He was a nice person and I’d never met a deku scrub before. I wish we could have been friends,” Lance explained with woeful eyes.

Bael squinted at him with a befuddled face. Lance blinked in response to such a peculiar expression having expected a neutral response or at the worst something mocking from the mysterious man of the woods. His confusion only managed to confuse Lance in return.

“Why are you telling me all of that?” Bael did not ask in a unkind way as one might do when they are expressing contempt for someone who is trying to become close to you. His question was more akin to someone who never expected another soul to be forthright with him about their emotions. At least, this was all what Lance told himself to prevent his mind from retreating inward for daring to be so bold.

“Who else do I have to talk to about all of this but you?” Lance leaned up to sit upright, no longer content to pretend sleep was just a few blinks away. “You’re kind of the only person I have right now that understands what I’m going through. I know you begrudge having to take care of me all the time, but the least we can do is be open with each other about what we’re feeling.”

Bael scoffed. “I don’t begrudge, so don’t make up things about me in your head,” he retorted. A hint of his usual sneer was reappearing in his voice but it was still faint. “You don’t know me that well, is the thing. We’re still basically strangers.”

“And we’ll continue to be strangers unless we, you know, open up. That’s all I’m saying.”

“That’s all it takes? You just make the cognitive decision to be emotionally open with another person and so long as that happens you’re friends?” Once again his questions would sound dismissive from any other person in the world but from Bael they reminded Lance of a small child learning about playing with children his own age for the first time.

“I’ve never heard it put that way before, but in a way yes? Friendship is complicated and is rarely planned. It just happens.” Lance attempted to explain but felt as if what he was saying was just further muddying the issue.

“So you want to be my friend?”

To Lance’s surprise Bael’s eyes widened and under the illumination of the fire appeared to glimmer under the night sky. He was taken aback by this wholly pure expression so much that he had to avert his eyes from Bael’s gaze.

“I mean, I guess? I think being friends would be better than just riding out this ‘forced cooperation’ as you so kindly put it before.” Lance’s eyes roamed everywhere they possibly could without looking across the way to Bael. Anxiously his thumbs twiddled in his lap.

Bael sprang up to match Lance’s sitting position which, from the sudden motion, Lance’s eyes immediately landed on Bael who had a childlike glee in his eyes. “Nobody has ever wanted to be my friend before.”

Lance sputtered, finding that response difficult to believe. “Nyx follows you around everywhere you go, how could you say that about her?”

“Nyx is more like my older sister. We’re friends by being family.”

Older, really? He didn’t have time to get into that when he could feel they were getting somewhere finally. “Aren’t you and the queen friends?”

“Can you really be friends with people that idolize you? None of them have ever really been interested in Bael the person, just Bael, Lord of the Woods.”

“How did you get a title like that?” Lance couldn’t help himself; it was something he’d been desperately wanting to know since he met the deku and this was probably the best opportunity he was going to get for a while.

Bael shrugged. “I’m an inhuman being who makes his home in the Woods of Mystery and works with the fairies. Who I am is anything but normal, so they took it upon themselves to revere me. Sorry it’s not a more interesting story than that,” he apologized with that familiar sarcastic smile Lance had noticed himself missing the last few hours.

He was tempted to ask into his statements of being ‘inhuman’ after the multitude of times he heard today of people referring to Bael as a partial human. Lance did remember, however, the last time he tried to ask about Bael’s heritage and was on the receiving end of the other’s fury because of it. It wasn’t an experience he was eager to repeat.

“So I’m the first one, huh?” Lance asked after a brief pause.

“It would seem so”-Bael’s knees drew up into his chest hiding a soft smile behind his knees-“I’ve always wanted to make a friend on my own. I never imagined someone would actually be asking me.”

“I’m sure if you didn’t isolate yourself you would make lots of friends in Clock Town. I’m pretty bad at it too, but still have managed to make a handful of really close friends.”

Bael blinked then averted his eyes. Lance sat patiently in silence to give him time.

“I have to stay in the woods. I don’t hide from the world because I think I’m better than it or whatever you might think,” he finished, offering no interest in further explaining himself.

“Now look who’s insinuating what I think?” They both gave a small laugh which helped to lessen the weight of today on their shoulders. “Well maybe when we fix all of this crazy stuff you won’t have to anymore,” Lance offered kindly.

Bael only shook his head, a response that Lance expected but hoped he would not get. “The offer will always stand, regardless.”

Their eyes connected once more and the pure kind warmth in Bael’s look shook Lance down to his core. He couldn’t recall a time in his life where someone looked at him with such adoration. It was an expression he had given to several people in his life that had one point or other in time meant the world to him, but nothing he had ever knowingly received. His breath hitched in response.

“Thank you, Lance. You’re a kind man.”

There was something in that statement that made Lance’s heart flutter. Was it the gratitude? Acknowledgment of his consideration? Or was it Bael just simply referring to him as a man and not as a mere child? As he contemplated this Bael fell back down onto the leaves with a sigh.

“I guess I should be open too as that would only be fair,” he paused to take another sigh. “You’re not selfish for thinking all of that about someone you didn’t know, the fact you care at all is admirable.”

Lance nodded as he laid back down as well. He stared with rapt attention to drink in every word that Bael would offer him as he began to crack open the shell encased around his heart.

“I knew Kuthro for almost as long as his mother. I watched him grow up from a child to the cusp of adulthood. Yet I had to watch him die protecting me because I was a fool, as usual”-his teeth clenched into a grimace-“I had to try to do everything on my own. If I’d swallowed my pride, maybe things would have turned out differently.”

“It’s like you told me, knowledge of the future does not guarantee we can fix the past. As easy as it sounds to me at this point to just start all over, I know that’s the wrong thing to do. I don’t want to think of death so flippantly.”

“We’ll have to live with these regrets for the rest of our lives because Kuthro doesn’t get to. I’m glad we can talk about it openly, it does help,” Bael finished as his voice grew softer from exhaustion.

Eventually Lance succumbed to sleep, that last statement from Bael the last thing he remembered before rolling over and drifting off.

Bael stared up at the night sky as he listened to the croon of nightlife stirring during the late hour. The light of the fire was beginning to die down and the only illumination left allowing him to see was the dim glow from Nyx dozing beside him.

“Lance, are you asleep?” Bael whispered, but was met with soft snores coming from the other side of the fire. Pleased with this knowledge, Bael rolled over as well to face away into the darkness.

The tears he’d been holding back were finally able to flow freely.