First off, before reading, I suggest you open a new tab to youtube and put this on the end of your URL /watch?v=kQ_myAK4TAc&feature=relmfu Okay, now you can start reading XP, Review when you're done please!

Link exited the Forest Temple.
A small imp leaped out of his shadow, vaguely highlighted by the light of the moon streaming through the trees of Faron Woods.

"What's wrong Link? How can we get those Fused Shadows if-"

"Midna, I have a lot more to think about than that." Link's voice was quiet, and slightly strained.
Midna sat there, hovering where Link's shadow used to be. She rolled her eyes

"You humans."

Link bit his lip, then knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Uli answered, one hand on her swollen belly, the other opening the door. "Oh! Link!" She stared at the young man in disbelief, looking over his stranger attire. Link gave a small smile

"Just wanted to see if Rusl's okay..." Uli allowed distress to crumple her features. "He's...in here..." She suddenly grabbed Link's shoulder

"Please! Have you seen Collin? Beth? Any of the children?" Her eyes barely held back tears "You've been gone for days now, and... just, please..." Uli began sobbing.

Link placed a hand on her shoulder, and guided Uli to a chair. "I can't bear to lose Collin." Link nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry I'm working on it-" He stopped when he saw Rusl.

Bloodied,

Wounded,

Feverish and delirious.

"Oh goddesses...!"

Link gasped. He couldn't help but hold a hand to his mouth.

"Please...the...the children..." Rusl muttered in his fever-induced nightmare. Link felt tears grace his eyes. "I tried to stop him-"

But that was all Link heard before he bolted out the door.

"LINK!"

Link ran. He tripped, but would get back up almost instantly. Rusl, no, no please! Not Rusl! Take the children, just please not Rusl!

Link didn't stop until he felt his boots become wet. Tears were dripping off his face into Faron Spring without his allowance. "Please, don't take Rusl away!" He sobbed like a child. He couldn't lose him.

Not his closest friend.

Not the father he never had.

Not the older brother that taught him the ways of the sword.

Not the mentor that guided his steps ever since he was young.

Midna hopped out of his shadow
"There's nothing you can do, Link."

"EASY ENOUGH FOR YOU TO SAY!" Link yelled at his forced-upon partner "YOU DON'T KNOW HIM!"

"It's not your fault-"

"YEAH, BUT IT IS YOURS! IF YOU AND YOUR DAMNABLE TWILIGHT HADN'T COME, MAYBE EVERYTHING WOULD BE THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!" Midna backed away a bit at Link's cries. Link splashed water at the imp that hid so cowardly in his shadow "I NEVER WANTED ANY OF THIS!" He gestured to his tunic: the garb of a long forgotten ancestor. "DO YOU THINK I ASKED TO BE THROWN INTO THIS?" Link's voice was hoarse now.

"I didn't ask for any of this either you know." Midna said, bobbing her head and holding a hand ponderously to her chin.
"Oh go rot in that stupid Twilight for all I care!"
"It's not that bad. Though you should've been smart enough not to just run in-"
"WHAT THE HELL MAKES YOU THINK I RAN IN? I WAS DRAGGED IN BY ONE OF THOSE MONSTERS! FOR ALL I CARE YOU COULD JUST BE WORKING WITH THAT ZANT-"

"I DO NOT SIDE WITH THAT TRAITOR!"

It was Midna's turn to shriek and yell. Her ponytail flew up in anger and she tried to grab Link, squeeze him so tight his eyes would bulge out of their sockets-

it just harmlessly phased through.

"How dare you place me with that monster?"

Link coldly glared at Midna. his sniffling ruined the strength normally found in it. It emphasized Link's true age: just a child.

"I never asked to be thrown in to this 'Hero of Hyrule' business! All I wanted was to just live out my days as a farm boy, live contently here in Ordon. The closest thing to heroics I wanted to do was deliver this stupid sword!" Link unsheathed the blade forged by Rusl's hand. "I NEVER ASKED TO BE THE HERO OF A COUNTRY I BARELY KNEW!"

Link shattered, collapsing into the spring's water, throwing the sword away, sobbing hysterically.

He was at- no, beyond his breaking point.

"If your stupid Twilight never came, then Rusl would be fine, Collin, Ilia, Beth, Talo and Malo would be fine, and I wouldn't be in this damnable mess!"

Midna gently floated over. She knew it was hard, losing yourself this way. She bit her lip, remembering those first few days after becoming an imp...

she was lost,

no one would help her,

all she could do was run and hide

while her people were turned into beasts without mind or empathy.

"...Link, it's not that bad."
"You still don't understand you heartless monster!"
"At least they're not dead."
"How are you so sure?"
Midna searched her thoughts for something comforting to say. "Well... if we get those Fused Shadows, maybe we'll know."

Link sat there for a few more moments, hiccupping and sniffling.

"Still... Rusl..."
"He'll be fine."

Link shakily stood, the lower half of his tunic drenched. Link walked in the direction he threw the Ordon Sword, and began sifting through the bushes. Eventually he found it, and held the blade up to the sky.
It glimmered hopefully in the early morning light.

"...Maybe..."