Re-playing the final battle in Twilight Princess and re-watching the ending cutscene
inspired me to write more Link x Midna fanfiction. I thought, maybe something happier
this time. So, here is my attempt at a slightly humorous story.

The Soul Stealers

A black sky. A full moon. And about ten restless poes prowling the dark corners of a
lantern cavern near Ordon. Well, there were about ten restless poes prowling the dark
corners of a lantern cavern near Ordon. Now, there was one. Just one. One rather
small imp poe hovering above the ground and swinging its sharp scythe defensively.

One might say it seemed almost afraid. Maybe even that it shuddered in fear for a
moment. If a ghost can feel fear, that is. But it certainly backed up a bit as its tormentor
drew closer.

Standing before the poe, a wolf by the name of Link bared his teeth and growled. A full
night of "ghost busting" had not done much in the way of lifting his spirits. Especially since
he had ventured into this particular lantern cavern in search of some well desired treasure
and instead had found it crawling with phantoms.

But this was the last of them. Link knew that a single leap was all he needed. A single
bite around the creature's soul, ripping and tearing at the pulsing orb that contained its
life, so to speak. He could feel it in his jaws' grip now. The poe struggling to get away, but
helpless against the wolf's strength as he...

"Geez, can we get on with it?" An annoyed voice sounded from across the cave and was
followed by a short yawn. Midna was getting bored.

Link sniffed, pulled out of his little daydream by his companion's voice. Very well, he
thought to himself. Taking a cautious step forward, Link saw the poe raise its scythe once
more. It remained almost motionless above him and all grew still. Then...

With a determined snarl, Link lunged at the ghost, slamming into it head first and knocking
it to the ground. Stunned, the imp poe lay there for several seconds, collecting itself from
the blow. But before it could rise to fight another battle, Link pounced, clamping his teeth
firmly around the poe's soul.

A tug, a snap, and the purple-black orb came free in the wolf's mouth, glowing ominously
between his sharp canines.Link took a step back as the ghost-like creature writhed and
howled in agony on the ground, before suddenly becoming still. After a moment, it vanished.

Link sighed inwardly and then transferred the soul to his twilight spectator to store it away
with his other items.

"That's the last of them. Nice work, Link." Midna smirked at her friend. With a wave of her
hand, he began to change, and was soon no longer a wolf, but a human standing before her.

"Heh. Thanks Midna. So nice to hear a compliment from you." He laughed, slightly.

"Don't get used to it, wolf-boy. I'm just glad to finally be done in here. Let's leave before dawn
breaks."

As she turned to leave, Link called out to her. "Hey! Wait a minute! Aren't we going to finish
exploring the cavern? I'll bet we could find some nice shiny jewels if we looked hard enough."

Midna simply gestured with her hand for him to follow, indicating that she did not wish to
argue and could not be persuaded to stay. Link glared in her direction and hurried to catch
up.

Outside, dawn did seem not too far away, so Link decided it would be best to set up a place
to stay for the night. Midna sat nearby, half asleep as she watched her companion try to
start a fire. He was silent for a while, still a bit annoyed at having not had the chance to
treasure hunt. At that moment, Midna spoke up.

"Sure was odd, you know. Seeing poes and imp poes in one place like that. Especially in
such a large group. I wonder what could have caused it," she said, more to herself than to
Link.

The Ordonian nodded, deep in thought. An idea had just come to him.

"Well, I might have a hunch as to why there were so many. But, then again, I suppose, so
do you."

Midna glanced over at him, half interested. "What do you mean?"

"You know," Link answered. "The story."

The twilight girl looked confused. "What story?"

Gotcha, Link thought. "You mean you don't know? I mean, everyone from here to Faron Woods
remembers it." He fought to keep from snickering as Midna drew up in barely hidden curiousity.
She seemed to want him to go on, so he did.

"You see, that particular lantern cavern has always been haunted by poes. But in the beginning,
there were only three. And the people of surrounding villages feared them and kept their
distance, for many believed that the ghosts resided there, just waiting for an unlucky person
to wander by. Then, they would steal the unfortunate person's soul!"

"That's ridiculous!" Midna exclaimed.

Link smirked. "Ah, but that's just the attitude that group of traveler's had. And they were never
heard from again. You see, that is how the poes grew in number. Any skeptical human brave
enough to venture into the cavern was taken by an evil ghost.Their human souls were ripped
out and they became like the poes themselves!"

Midna stared at him for a few moments. "That's your theory? That is your theory? Please,
Link! That's nothing more than a childish ghost story!"

Link shrugged.

"I mean, I can't believe you actually listen to that nonsense. It's ridiculous. Now, I'm going to
sleep." With that she turned over and didn't say another word.

"Suit yourself." Link answered. He lay on his back and stared up at the sky and the thousands
of glittering stars. If there were any poes out there, they wouldn't be in that area. His exhaustion
from the earlier battle proved that, and he soon found himself drifting to sleep.

The sky was black as coal and dawn would soon be approaching, when Link felt movement
beside him. Something was shifting against his side and had woken him.

Turning his head, he was met with quite a surprise.

"Midna?! What on earth are you doing?"

Midna looked up, startled. She hadn't realized Link was awake. "U-umm, I just feel like sleeping
over here tonight." she stammered.

Link was still in a slight state of shock. "Why?"

"No reason. I just feel like it, okay?" She laid her head down and closed her eyes, ending the
discussion.

"Um, okay." Link said laying down as well. Weird. My story must have worked. he thought.

"Can you move over a little? Your sword is about two centimeters from gouging my eye out."

"Only if you'll turn over. You're breathing in my face!"

"Yeah? Well maybe you should turn over!"

"No, you!"

The resulting argument continued into the night. Midna denied being afraid of Link's little tale,
but he knew better. Although, now he kind of regretted making it up. Oh well. At least there
were no poes around to eat their souls!

Heh, picturing that last scene in my mind makes me giggle. Poor Link! I'll bet he won't try
pulling that stunt again, eh?