Links face was exuberant, The Great King of Evil Ganondorf was defeated. The Dark Lord would no longer threaten his beloved Hyrule. What surprised the youth even more was the fact that Midna was still alive, she was seemingly killed by the Dark Lord, when she attempted to defeat him herself. Link gazed in awe at Midna's new form, her true form. Her striking beauty, her flowing fiery red hair, captivated him so much he couldn't help but stare.
"What? Say Something. Am I so beautiful that you've no words left?" The words flowed from her lips, like a scripted event.
She could see all these events taking place, feel herself participating, but she was unable to create a new action, it happened the same way every time. They arrived at the Mirror of Twilight, She said her goodbyes, thanked Zelda for all of her help. Her eyes locked on to Link. She saw him standing there so close to Zelda. She thought of all those many months she spent with him alone, questing to save Hyrule, and her own Twilight Realm. She was taken by him; she now realized that she did indeed love him. He had put up with her antics and rude behavior, her secrets, and dealt with them in turn. He only ever showed her kindness and compassion. He was a brave and good man. She wanted to stay with him in Hyrule, but she knew she had to return to her own kingdom. She wanted to bring him with, but could see his place was here, just as her's was in her own realm. She looked at Zelda with a twinge of jealousy, though she doubted the two had any feelings for each other in their brief time together, she wished she could stay in Hyrule, as Zelda could.
She wanted to tell Link what she felt, but her voice choked in her throat. "I …" She started, her voice whimpering off, a tear sliding down her cheek. "See you later…"
The tear drifted towards the mirror, striking it, causing it to fracture. Link and Zelda's heads looked to the mirror to investigate the sound, when they turned back to see Midna she was already fading into the portal. Leaving the portal would foster a false hope, a future with Link, it was something she could never have, and keeping a reminder would only make things harder. Life would be easier in Hyrule, with Link, and keeping the mirror would prove too strong a temptation for her. If she were to succeed she would need her mind to remain focused, not split. She faded the rest of the way into the portal, as the mirror shattered into a million pieces. Tears streamed down her face, tears Link would never see, down a face he could never look upon again.
It was the same dream that haunted her for the past few weeks, though it in itself was more than a dream it was a memory. She often wondered if it was the right thing to do, if it were worth the pain. She despised herself for breaking the mirror; she had done it to rid herself of these moments. She had done it to keep focused, to keep her mind form splitting to two different lines of thoughts: Link and her Kingdom. Well she had succeeded, she only had one thought that dominated her mind, and it was Link. She couldn't control her dreams, but she could control her actions. She sat up in her bed, pulling her hair out of her face. It clung to her face, wet, just as the pillow she laid on, she could taste the salt, as she pulled the strands from her lips. She wiped off her face and emerged from her room. She didn't want her subjects to see her this way; she needed to be strong for them. Just a few short weeks ago, she was sleeping in tents, hiding in shadows, she had to admit; this was a step up in living. However the stress remained the same.
Defeating Zant and finishing off Ganondorf, was a formable task, but the daily chores of running a kingdom were long and tiresome. They wore you into a thin thread, which eventually would peel apart, whereas she was used to dealing with things head on, either they would make or break you, it didn't involve any stringing along, delaying the inevitable, the agony was unbearable. She now had a newfound respect for Zelda, it must have been exceedingly hard on her to sit and watch her kingdom fall while she could only watch, unable to intervene. But intervene she did, she was able to overcome her captivity and help overthrow the invaders. Her trip down memory lane was interrupted as Jaster entered the thrown room.
Midna liked Jaster, he was one of the few liaisons of the court that she didn't hate. He was an older man, who had been around for a while, and new the tricks of the trade. He was helping Midna rule her new kingdom.
"Jaster!" Midna let out, with a little too much enthusiasm; apparently she was more drawn in with reminiscing that she realized. Jaster provided her with an opportunity to reconnect to the now, the present. She had underestimated her desire to rid herself of sorrow, and now had frightened poor Jaster.
"Your Highness," he greeted, gathering up his wits
"For what do I owe this honor," Midna started, it was part of the rules of etiquette Jaster had been hammering into her skull ever since she returned. She was still getting used to it, she was used to her curt, and sarcastic replies. Neither of which flew well in the Royal Court.
"Bad News I'm afraid," he began. "It seems as if the Kingdom remains in unrest, especially over the destruction of the Mirror of Twilight, which, if I'm not mistaken, you had a part in."
Midna's eyes shot to the floor. It seemed to her, regardless what she did; she was met with fear and hostility among her subjects. This was just the latest of the laments of the people, having only found out a while ago that the Mirror of Twilight was destroyed.
"But it seems to me, the crowd is against you no matter what you do," He said reassuring her thoughts on the matter. "They just want a scapegoat, they don't give a Like Like's backside about the issues, they just want to vent."
She smiled Jaster was a good friend, and he made even the grimmest of news easy to swallow with his coy demeanor.
"Well that's not too bad at all, only a week on the thrown and only half the Kingdom wishes to usurp me." She joked
"And that isn't the worst part of the news I'm hearing." Jaster continued. "Only a third of the Kingdom rallies under your banner. Roughly two-thirds of the kingdom either sympathizes with Zant's ideology, or are a mutinous bunch that doesn't believe a Light-world sympathizer who is more invested in the Realm of Hyrule should rule over the Realm of Twilight."
"That's absurd!" Midna roared, "What have I done that makes them think I hold Hyrule in higher regard than my own kingdom, I even destroyed that accursed mirror. Doesn't that prove I'm fully invested in this kingdom?"
"They wish you hadn't destroyed the mirror, and that isn't what they are talking about. They mean, as they put it 'when you fled' from the Twilight realm to Hyrule. To get away from the upheaval that Zant began. They say you were so worried about the realm of Hyrule, you abandoned the Twilight to aid them, instead of aiding us."
"That's preposterous! I went there, because it was the only way to retrieve the Fused Shadow, and the Fused Shadow was the only way to stop Zant's onslaught!" Jaster reassured her, that he understood, what she did. It was the Kingdom that was twisting the facts to make them meet their own ends. He informed her that she needed to address the Kingdom tomorrow, and above all remain calm and collected; if she didn't it would be yet another jugular for the angry mobs to jump at. They spent the rest of the day going over the preparations for her speech. Tomorrow when she delivered it, it had to be perfect. Midna, was worried about the speech she was going to deliver, she could see through her window many of her subjects had arrived. The Royal Guard had been doubled, just incase some self-righteous subject tried to start something. Their presence would prove important. Midna didn't even get half way through her address when it started. The mob unexpectedly flared up. They charged the guards and began making their way towards the castle. Midna who was on a balcony of the castle using it as a raised podium was safe from the surge of villagers. Her rebellious subject used her address which was supposed to unite the kingdom as a wedge to drive in their seeds of rebellion. Jaster exploded in through the arch that led to the balcony. Midna turned to see his face; it was paler than the usual whiteness of the Twili race. All the blood had flushed to his muscles leaving little in his face.
"Hurry!" He cried, indicating that Midna should flee with him. They passed through her bedroom, halfway down the hallway connecting it to the thrown room. Jaster reached out and pushed on a seemingly random brick. The brick went into the wall and activated a trap door, before restoring itself to its prior depth, causing it to blend in with the rest of the brick work. Jaster pushed on the trap door, which was a section of brick work that made up the wall that the switch was located on. He encouraged Midna into the passageway with a gentle push, before going through himself and sealing the door. They entered not a moment too soon. As soon as the seal locked back into place, they could hear the sounds of the mob storming the castle. Had they gone through a second later Midna surely would have been apprehended, possibly even killed. Making their way through the bowels of the castle to a secret sub-chamber Midna and Jasper came upon several dozen of the castle caretakers and elite royal guards who also managed to escape.
The caravan of hunted Twili marched along the maze of the castle leading them to a cave entrance far outside the castle. Midna reflected on how it had only seemed like yesterday that she was on the run, sleeping outdoors. Perhaps this is the life intended for her, not one to rule, but one to be evicted and pursued. The caravan formulated a plan of escape. Having all these bodies travel as a cohesive group was bound to attract unwanted attention. The group was sub-divided up into several groups that would all rendezvous at the little village of Dinayru that Midna had once vacationed at when she was a little girl. It was a small town far away from the center of the kingdom that few people heard of or traveled too. It was a save haven employed by the royal family for generations. She knew they would be safe there. The parties headed out in their separate directions, convinced in several weeks they would all meet again.
Midna spent most of the trip in solitude. She was upset by the turn of events that had taken place. How could civil unrest arise in her citizens so quickly, were other forces at work here? Or was she simply a bad ruler? Either way to restore herself as rightful ruler of these people she knew she had to rally troops to her cause.
"If only I hadn't destroyed that mirror." She said out loud to herself. She knew Link would aid her during this desperate time, but there was no way he could cross the boundary to the Twilight Realm. She was on her own. The Fused Shadow was in ruins, and despite her mastery of magic, she could only do so much herself. Her entire race was adept in magic; she needed something to give her the edge, something that people could get behind. She felt a twinge of cold at the nape of her neck; she turned around to see if anyone was there. One of the magical abilities she possessed was telepathy, to a limited extent; she could sense people if they were near. The twinge slowly traveled its way up her neck to her head, and soon her whole head was abuzz. Shaking her head, Midna rose up and headed toward the river, to splash some sense into her head. Obviously the anxiety of today's events was getting to her. Using telekinesis Midna raised a oval of water up to her face, slowly bringing it to contact her skin. When it was a little more than nose length away she noticed something in the reflection. It was as if someone had superimposed a dim portrait of Princess Zelda's face over her own.
Of course! She thought, remembering back to her adventures with Link.
When Midna was near death, Zelda had revived her by fusing their two physical beings together, and part of their spirits. However before she became fully merged with Zelda's spirit, Ganondorf, captured it containing it for his own dark purposes. But during that split second of connection, Midna had developed a weak link between her mind and that of Zelda. She couldn't read her mind, but she could sense it was there. She also could communicate much the way one could send a letter to a friend. But it wasn't a strong communication; it was but a whisper on the winds. Midna could feel herself sending out a plea for help, but she couldn't tell if Zelda was able to decipher its meaning. Midna knew she had a powerful ally in Zelda, but she also knew that it was likely nothing could come of it. She had the same problem Link did, she couldn't cross the barrier. Midna also knew she had time, maybe this wouldn't solve the problem she had, but it gave her an option, and right now what she needed was more options. She would continue to message Zelda in hopes of receiving word from her. Hoping that she herself would be able to decipher any whispers Zelda sent back. While she traveled to Dinayru she would continue to hail Zelda, while she thought of other possibilities to help her secure power in her realm. She had faith in herself, she had several weeks of a journey she knew she would think of something by the time she arrived in Dinayru, and if not, she then knew that she couldn't be the rightful ruler of the Twilight Realm.