AN: Obviously I don't own Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, any of the characters, (except my OCs, which thus far have yet to be any more than Sirona, you'll meet her soon enough). I won't be putting a disclaimer on every chapter, I honestly think that if you continue to read my fanfic, you can remember that I don't own the stuff, right? Right.
I will try to keep up with the updates. It should be fairly easy, since I write all of this on my phone. I have an application that lets me write all this stuff, then I email it to myself and edit everything. And I write a lot. And speaking of editing, I am my own beta, so I don't catch everything. Don't kill me if I spell something wrong, because chances are, I just didn't catch it when editing.
-M-
I genuinely wanted him to be safe. I'd used him, and perhaps, in a way, he'd used me too. Both of us have always done so for the sake of others though. Me for my kingdom, him for his own world, of which is ruled by Princess Zelda. And it has been a long road home for me, and neither of us will ever be the same thanks to this journey.
But he made it through. He slayed Ganondorf, saved Hyrule.
And yet, I feel sad, because I must depart. My true form has returned, and I have to go back to my people. It pains me, because, in all honesty, within this short time we've spent together, trying to save both of our worlds, I believe I've fallen in love with Link, the green clad warrior who battled countless enemies and saved my life, among others.
I give my little speech, and descend into twilight, towards my home, towards the Twili that make up the population of my kingdom. The mirror is broken. Our worlds are cut off. The look on his face as I leave tempts me to turn around and stay in this world, but such an act would be selfish.
-M-
Three years and several months since that day, and this world has been horribly boring. My citizens stand around all day, I am left with nothing to do.
I sigh, heaving myself off the throne. I hate this room, partially because Link almost got himself killed for, what, the seventh or eight time, here.
Exiting the throne room and soon the palace altogether, I greet a fellow Twili who is significantly taller than myself. He says nothing, only moans a half hearted greeting. My people have noticed my sadness, though I've done my best to hide it. I must not be a very good actress.
The Twili man points to the oddly shaped hill, where the spinning circles reflected by the Mirror of Twilight have long since disappeared. But they slowly fade back into existence, their spinning beginning when their glowing forms are complete. I stare in awe, shocked by what is currently happening.
As I regain control of my petrified body, I lift up my long skirt and set to a run, my robe flowing behind me, the hood off of my head, revealing more of my flame red hair.
And then he comes through. Link, as I remember him. Tiny squares of black trailed in, forming him from the ground up. I run, but in seconds my body is suspended in air, and I can tell my bones are shifting, skin stretching and constricting to fit the muscles and bone. I glance down to see the body I bore while on the quest Link and I shared to save both our worlds.
He walks towards me, but halts when he sees what is happening.
He turns; he runs, steadily back to the circle, fleeing this world after shooting me a last disgusted glance.
-M-
I shoot up out of my bed. Just a dream. No, a nightmare. I should have known it was, for Link would never do such a thing. But I'd always feared he would.
Even when I had used him, treated him so bitterly, he never feared me, or got angry. My appearance didn't disgust him as it did others.
Now I'm back to normal, yet I'll never see him again, never have a chance. I had never told him of my feelings, for fear he'd run away even faster when he no longer needed my help, or when I no longer needed his.
-L-
Never again.
Next time Bo says to leap in front of a charging ram, definitely NOT. Giant aquatic worms and man eating dragons, I can handle, but after so much fighting, one gets tired of wrestling beasts. One runaway goat isn't going to decimate Hyrule.
"Just... stay in bed, and try not to fall out..." says the crazy racist doctor. Why Ilia called this loon when I got knocked out, I will never understand, especially since there is absolutely nothing wrong with me, other than maybe a bruise or two. No broken skin or bones, and now my pockets have been cleared of a hefty amount of rupees for a doctor that did absolutely nothing productive.
He ambles out of my small house, and I hear a slight thud, as if someone had hit the ground. Hard. I chuckle a bit, wondering whether the moron was laying face first in the dirt, hopefully that squirrel I chat with sometimes is smacking him on the head with a rock right about now. I figure you can't exactly have a negative IQ, so maybe a nice whack upside the head will actually raise his a few points, the dumb quack.
I remember tracking a scent to his office- if you could call the cramped, leftover shop space an office at all- with Midna...
Memories. Such a pleasant thing, to look back and see the happy times. But Midna... bitter and sarcastic Midna... no happy memories came. Only those of disappointment and sadness. The closest thing to happiness in regards to those memories was relief, that she was alright, alive, safe...
Colin suddenly steps through the door, holding up a letter. The red wax sealing it shut bears a fancy Z.
"Hello, Colin," I say. He hands me the envelope without a word. "Thanks..." I continue, unsure to be worried or happy about news from Zelda, whom this letter is undoubtedly from, judging by the seal.
I read it silently.
"Dear friend, Link,
I know you have been saddened by the departure of Midna. It goes without words, I could see it in your eyes that day. I am sorry to open this past wound, but I have a mission of sorts for you.
"It seems that another Mirror is in existence.
"Come to the castle-" it continued, but I stopped there. This could very well be the perfect chance to regain the only friend who could understand what happened last year, save or Zelda. But one does not simply waltz into the castle, armed as I am, and ask to see the princess. Even I am not that naive.
Colin looks at me expectantly. Maybe expecting me to tell him what the very... royal looking letter said.
"You remember the stories I told you right? Of my friend Midna?" He nods, so I continue. "Well I have a chance to see her again, and I have to go to Castle Town."
"Can I come? Please? Malo and Talo keep bugging me, asking me to tell them the stories you've told me, and Beth just pretends she's not interested, but I know she wants to know too! Why won't you tell them anyway?"
"I've told you before. When they're more mature, I will. But for now, they'd be coming over asking for wolf-back rides. I've told them the majority, but they can tell I'm leaving things out. You can tell them what I've told you, but not about the wolf thing, please." He nods again, I smile at him, then usher him towards the door. As we exit, Colin climbs down the ladder, I leap and land on my feet. After shaking out the shock in my limbs, I turn and wait for Colin to reach the ground. When he does, I pat him on the shoulder, and shake my head. He knows what I mean by it.
Pulling out the charm Ilia had made me so long ago, I hand it to him.
"You want to do the honors?" I ask him, offering the horse shoe shaped necklace. He plays it as I taught him, and two stout horses, one my mare Epona, the other her little palomino daughter. Telma had offered her black stallion as a sire for Epona's first foal, who was to be given to Colin when she was of age to be ridden. Beth's parents had sent out for a saddle with the rest of their wares, fitted for the little horse, whom Colin had named Sirona at first glance.
"Please?" Colin begs. Who'd have thought the kid would want to travel the land, still so filled with kargoroks and bulbins, despite the lack of greater evil?
"Hmmm... if you can beat me, or hold your own in a mock sword fight, I'll let you come, okay?" He nods eagerly. I scale the ladder, and when I come back to join him again, I carry two wooden swords. I toss him one from the door; he catches the handle with ease. He must be an early teen by now, and should be fine in this situation.
I stand, quickly debating whether to go easy on him. But he charges, swinging the sword high. He hesitates, I back flip and swing my own weapon, but he spins away from the blow. Kid does good, thanks to his swordsman father.
I pause for a second, watching his untrained and haphazard movements. I let my guard down for a second, and he crashes into my side. I shove against him, but he's falling and my balance is completely off. I hit the ground.
"Okay, you can come. As far as the castle, no Twilight Realm."
Well, tell me what you think in a review. I have no idea whether I will take this story to great lengths, but without feedback it will probably go at a snails pace. I love feedback, and any that you are willing to offer is much appreciated. I don't care about details, if you just wanted to tell me random little things that's fine with me. As long as I get some encouragement then all is well.
Also, I would just like to say that the speculation as to Colin's age is that he is between seven and nine years younger than Link. Link is said to be either sixteen or seventeen during the game, so for the purposes of this story, I'm going to go with Link being seventeen at the beginning of the game, and Colin being ten years at that point. Three years later and Link is twenty, Colin is thirteen, which given the setting, would probably be an appropriate age for a teenage boy to begin to drift away from home, wouldn't you say? Just shooting out my opinion here!
