-Greetings, people of Jupiter!...er, I mean, Earth! They call me Incandescence, but you can call me Desi. This is my first story published on FanFiction, so I hope you enjoy it! You know, this story actually wasn't planned...it was born from one of those boredom-spur-of-the-moment-things. Yay! Thought babies! Desi didn't use a brain condom! :D -
-I don't own the Zelda game titles, characters, or locations. I just own the idea for this story. I wish I did own Zelda, because certain things would have changed in Twilight Princess... *grumbles unhappily* -
"HEEEEYYY!" Fado's voice rang out from the ranch. "ANOTHER ONE GOT OUT!"
As if to punctuate his words, the sound of pounding hooves began to echo through the short valley-like pathway from the ranch gates. Link, broken out of his conversation with Mayor Bo mid-sentence, turned towards the sound of the runaway Ordon goat and braced himself for the escapee.
It didn't take long before the goat came galloping madly down the hill, its circled, shield-like horns lowered to bulldoze anything in its way.
The goat collided with Link's ready stance, fighting to throw his grip on its horns so it could continue its race for the forest beyond the village. Grunting, Link wrestled with the goat, his muscles straining, until he managed to flip it over.
Wild escape thwarted, the goat scrambled to its feet and began a slow walk back to the ranch, head hung as if in shame.
Link turned back to the mayor, shaking his head apologetically. "Sorry about that," he amended, giving the goat a final glance. "This wouldn't happen if Fado would remember to close the gate."
Bo chuckled deeply. "Quite alright, Link. Don't know what we would do if we didn't have you around," he said, giving the young swordsman a half-smile.
It was at that moment that his daughter, Ilia, came bursting out of the house behind him.
"What was that? Is everyone okay? Where's Epona?" The flood of questions went unanswered as she ran over to where Link's chestnut mare was standing calmly, unfazed by the commotion of the runaway goat.
Ilia, true to form, began looking over Epona as if she had just been through a war field. "Beautiful girl, you weren't scared, were you? You're such a brave horse," she cooed to the mare affectionately. Epona blinked her big brown eyes and blew a big exhale in Ilia's face, who laughed.
"Link, stop putting Epona in such dangerous situations!" the girl rebuked, turning to him. "You're going to get her hurt one of these times."
Link gazed at her evenly. "Ilia, Epona was with me nearly the entire time I was fighting the Twilight," he reminded her, feeling a dull, sad pull in his mind as he remembered a certain event following the final battle. "She was never hurt, and when I wasn't riding her I left her in one of the springs where she was safe."
Lacking a response to that, Ilia turned back to the horse and began pulling her fingers through Epona's cream-colored mane and murmuring praises to the mare. Link shook his head, ever confused by Ilia's strange ways.
"I'm going to head home, if there's nothing else you need me to do," he said, turning back to Bo. "Hopefully I can get some sleep."
Bo nodded at him knowingly. "Go on home, Link," he replied, "You look like you haven't slept in a good while."
Wasn't that the truth, Link thought. Honestly, he hadn't slept well since returning home from Hyrule. His mind was plagued with the same scene replaying over and over again, the sound of shattering glass still fresh in his mind as if it happened yesterday...
Catching hold of Epona's reins and pulling himself into her saddle, Link waited for Ilia to finish her session with the horse before touching his heels to her side and urging her into a quick jog towards the path at the end of the village.
Once he reached the clearing that housed his treetop home, he dismounted Epona and tucked her away in the little niche beside the house, nested in the tall grass. Running a hand through his tousled blond hair, he sighed and began the climb up the ladder to his front door.
In earlier times, the warmth of his home would have offered him comfort-the luminescent fire casting an amber glow around the house and the fond memories of his life in Ordon all around him in little reminders: A perfect falcon's feather from the first time he called the magnificent bird. A curved, spotted shell from the Spring where he spent summer days with Ilia or the children. A picture of Epona, and another of he and Ilia when they were young. A small collection of fishing trinkets from his many fishing adventures with Colin.
But the warmth and familiarity of his home no longer offered him solace from the memories that haunted him since he returned as Hyrule's Hero. His mind was inconsolable-no matter how much he tried to escape the thoughts that prowled his mind in sleep and consciousness, he could no find solitude from the reminders of the events that tore his heart in two.
Link filled a bowl of soup for himself from the pot that had been simmering since noon. He sat down to eat at the coarse wooden table, worn from years of use, and part of his mind reminded him what it was like to eat when he was on his heroic crusades across Hyrule. For the past month or so that he'd been back, he nearly always had to remind himself that he could actually sit down to eat; he didn't have to take his food with him as he galloped valiantly across the plains. Whether he was on horseback or as a wolf, food was of little concern to him.
The thought of his sacred beast form brought back other painful memories, lingering thoughts of his devious but wonderful companion. Those were thoughts that seemed to attach themselves to the crevasses of Link's mind with steel thorns, reappearing when he least wanted them to and bringing pain with them.
He forced himself to say her name in his mind. Midna. The sarcastic, snarky little imp that had turned out to be a courageous, beautiful princess of the realm parallel to his. Who was willing to sacrifice her own life to save not only her world, but his as well. Who had left him standing bewildered in the Mirror Chamber that star-filled night with Zelda as she traveled back to the Twilight, leaving little more than an unfinished sentence, and then, "see you later."
He couldn't 'see her later,' though. Midna's last act in the Realm of Light was to shatter the Mirror of Twilight, the only portal between their worlds.
Why did this leave such a nagging ache within him?
Because, in the seemingly-ephemeral time they had spent together, companions with the same goal of saving their worlds, Link had fallen in love with her.
Even when she was an imp and he had no knowledge of her true form, Midna began to tug at his heartstrings. Little things; her bravery, her sarcasm, the way she was ready to give up everything to accomplish their goal. Even when he was in wolf form and she tugged on his ears to get him to focus, or she felt the odd need to jump on his back so his breath whooshed out of his chest with a huff, Midna was slowly capturing his affection.
Link pushed his soup around in the bowl absentmindedly, his appetite escaping him once again. His thoughts of Midna only furthered his lack of hunger; his brain insisted on feeding on the dismal energy his thoughts gave birth to.
Sighing and rising from his chair, he walked over to the window and pushed it open to set the bowl of soup on the sill. Perhaps the forest animals would get more out of the food than he did; besides, it was already cold and he felt sure that his appetite would not be returning anytime in the near future.
Link climbed the ladder to the dresser where he kept his clothes, shedding himself of the simple blue tunic and brown trousers he wore when working on ranch. He dropped the dirty clothes in the heap beside the dresser, noting that the pile was getting large and he would need to go to the creek for a wash or take them to Sera (who was more than willing to do his laundry.)
His Hero's Tunic was tucked away in the very bottom drawer, hidden in the back corner under a stack of plain shirts. He had no need for it since he was back home; there were no enemies threatening Ordon and he felt it was wrong to wear such honored attire for herding goats. Not to mention that the chain mail seemed a little heavy when being worn for no reason.
Although his soft bed seemed welcoming as Link climbed into it, he didn't feel like sleeping. His mind was too hyperactive. This was the cause of his usual insomnia-he was surprised he hadn't dropped to the ground from lack of sleep lately.
Nonetheless, he tucked himself under the covers and stared at the roof, frosted with the glow of the dying fire, waiting for sleep to claim him and wishing deeply that he could see right through the ceiling and the night sky itself, right into that other realm that held his love...
-I fully intend to continue this story... I like where my mind is planning to take it...
-Rate, review, etc... Feed my brain monster...for it is hungering for moar chapterz!-
-Desi