A/N: This has been done a thousand times before, but I have plans to make this into a many chaptered fic, so please bare with me. Updates should be every 3 or 4 weeks.

Pairing: Link/Midna

Dislciamer: I do not own Zelda or any characters nor am I making profit from this.

!!SPOILERS!! For those who haven't finished Zelda Twilight Princess please don't read on if you don't want the ending ruined.

Barren

Chapter 1

He runs.

His body aches, his feet catch on every small tussock of grass, causing him to stumble as he makes his way up the rising slope. His clothes stiff with blood and sweat, his sword and shield on his back weigh him down.

But the sense of joy, of heart felt relief sweeps over him, through him.

He can't help but return the smile offered to him.

Midna, she's alive.

"What? Say something? Am I so beautiful that you have no words left?"

Her voice teases, her eyes wary of his reaction.

He knows he should say something, but all he can do is blink and smile stupidly, his heart pounding in his ears, still caught in the adrenaline of loosing the mischievous imp that now stands before him as the rightful ruler of Twilight.

She is beautiful.

And it's foolish, but he loves her.

He can see that now.

Can see so many things he couldn't before…

He hadn't been ready to face Ganondorf, he'd known his skill with the sword would never match that of the Evil Lord's. Had wondered why the Trifroce of courage had been granted to him, when all he had wanted to do was turn and run, returning to his life as a ranch hand.

But when he had thought Midna lost in the collapsing castle, he'd forgotten his fear, had forgotten the fight against good and evil, light and dark. He'd forgotten how to feel everything.

Except for rage.

He'd gone head to head with the Dark mage, not to cleanse Hyrule of his evil, but because he knew he had to kill the man for taking away something he didn't even know he needed, taking away the time that was vital for him to realise his feelings for the ruby eyed princess, taking away his constant companion.

Kill the man, or die trying, neither had mattered to him.

But now Midna stands before him, free from the curse, free from the pain and despair she had suffered. Ready to return home.

And that's when the pain hits him.

He feels his knees almost give and he finds he's lost his breath.

Midna will return home.

He'll never see her again, never hear her voice carrying the ever present tease. He won't be able to carry her on his back as he had, enjoying the silence of shadow coating him. Her presence always with him.

He takes a step forward, as if to say something, anything. But she turns from him, from the plea in his eyes to regard Zelda, who still stands where she had watched Ganondorf fall.

"It is time to seal the mirror."

Link sees Zelda nod from the corner of his eye, still unable to look away from the now stunning woman Midna has turned into, the regal way in which she holds herself, her look, her voice.

Her eyes.

She looks so different and he feels a slice of regret slide through him. This wasn't the spirit he was forced to help, the one with whom he traded silent insults and a growing friendship. This woman stands coldly with authority and power as she faces Zelda.

Two Princesses.

Link wonders if this is the true Midna.

He feels saddened by the sudden difference.

But before he can say anything, her eyes catch his and everything falls away to familiar darkness, the one he associates with the ruby eyed imp. It's natural to give away to the power and protection of Twilight which lifts him before setting him gently down on sand. He doesn't need to look around to know they're in the colossal stone building, the broken mirror whole again, it's light projected onto stone.

"I guess this is farewell, huh?"

Her posture a little slouched, her voice no longer cold, she's talking to him, and it's almost like before.

She's still the same.

But Link feels dread gather in his stomach, she's not looking at him, or Zelda, staring at the floor.

There has to be another way.

"Light & shadow can't mix, as we all know." Link feels the words like a blow.

"But… Never forget that there's another world bound to this one." Link knows he'll never forget. He knows Zelda is speaking but he is fighting himself, fighting against the urge to run up to the fanged woman and beg her not to leave, to tell her that he thinks he loves her.

If he told her would she stay?

But if he loved her… he would have to let her go.

Let her go to where she belonged.

To her home.

Her throne.

Her people.

He couldn't ask her to stay, stay in the land of light.

With him…

Trapped in his shadow.

He looks up as she turns, his words almost spilling from his lips but he stops himself.

If she loved him, she would stay.

Her eyes catch his.

"Thank you."

Link knows she isn't just thanking him for helping her. She thanks him for having the courage to let her go.

"Well, the princess spoke truly, as long as that mirror's around. We could meet again…"

Link feels his whole being grasp at that hope, there's a chance…

"Link…"

Just his name, the word carries so much meaning, and Link feels his heart hammer in his ears. Watches the single tear fall, glowing as it hangs suspended.

"I…" He watches her, waiting with baited breath.

Ask me.

His eyes plead.

Ask me and I would come with you.

"See you later."

He hears his heart shatter behind him and he turns though he doesn't want to confirm it. The mirror cracks and he feels his whole being fall as one with the shards, but he manages to turn and sees Midna standing serenely, her eyes burning into his before she smiles and is engulfed by light.

He's left staring at stone.

He wonders if he'll ever move from this spot.

"Come on Link, we should go back." He hears Zelda's voice but doesn't acknowledge her.

What would be the point?

To go back…

What was his life before this quest? Before meeting the fiery imp? He was a farm hand, how could he ever return to that simple way of life? He had seen and done things no man should ever have to go through and with him, by his side had been Midna.

But now… now he has no quest, no mission.

And Midna has returned home.

What would be the point?

Nobody needs courage in the time of peace, and nobody needs a broken pawn.

He will be no good to anyone, the only one who had kept him together had been the imp, her dark humour had turned the worst situations into something he could live through.

She had comforted him when he had woken from nightmares, had chased away the dark demons and shadows from his sleep. The faces of creatures he had killed but still haunted him, their foul blood staining his hands, people cowering in fear, wraiths of what they once were.

She had chastised him when all he had wanted to do was collapse to his knees in weariness, to let the pain in his muscles, the exhaustion pull him down. It was because of her that he had struggled on.

Ironically he had fought for the very thing he had learnt to dread in the end.

It was he who had made it possible for Midna to return to the Twilight.

"Find peace in the fact she returned home safely."

A hand on his shoulder wrenches him from his thoughts and he stares wildly into the blue eyes of the princess. The one he had first believed to be the Twilight Princess.

"And she will find peace in the thought of you returning safely to your home, free from Darkness."

He choked on a reply, one that cursed the Goddesses, cursed the Triforce and cursed this princess before him. Instead he stood, brushing the woman away from him, brushing away the look of sympathy in her eyes.

He doesn't need anything from this blonde princess, least of all sympathy. He hardly knows this stranger, her connection with him broken when Midna shattered the mirror.

He takes a shaky step away from the platform, turning his back on the woman, on the stone that is nothing more than boulder, having lost its meaning.

"Stay safe hero."

She calls out after him and he feels the urge to run from the voice, from the title. Instead he walks slowly, each step heavier then the last, his fists clenched in his gauntlets. His mind flickering over every small melodical laugh, or insult, he received when he had done something the imp had deemed stupid, the strange utterings in a stranger language.

His mind skims over the small gasps of pain, that had been accompanied by hot breaths on his neck and fists clutched in his fur as he had raced across the plains and rooftops of the castle. He had thought she was going to die then, and there would have been nothing he could've done.

That was the time he had allowed himself to see past his own walls of denial, the ones that he had tried to keep up. The image of a young innocent farmer, one that would marry the mayors daughter and live a content and happy life with children and horses.

He had been so set on marrying Illia, not because he had particularly wanted to, but because that was all there was in his village, the promise of marriage and children, and maybe a herd of his own one day, a son who he could teach to ride.

He blinks at the desert, as barren as his future is. He will never be able to forget Midna and he will never be able to return to the village. He runs forward, his boots kicking up sand, and all he wants to do is transform into the beast he knows is inside him, and ride with the shadow on his back.

But the sand pulls at him, and his steps grow slower as he wades on, the wind starts to pick up.

He doesn't notice he's crying, until he tastes the salt water on his lips, but he brushes it away, struggling on in his memories and across the desert.

He will leave.

He will return the master sword to the glade.

Will return the title of hero he has been granted.

Link smiles bitterly.

Lips salty.

-

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--- to be cont'