(A/N) Should I explain this? Nah. I had this labeled 'insanity' on my laptop, and I don't even remember why.

So, just some info about my weird Legend of Zelda ships, it's pretty much Zelda x every villain ever(except Ganondorf and Yuga), so there you go.

This is one of those Zelda x [enter villain's name here] stories, and I imagine there's going to be a lot of them. Prepare yourself.

Happy reading!

Wake Me

Zelda sighed, opening her eyes and looking around the throne room of Hyrule Castle. Several guards milled about, polishing their spears and chatting with the maids and servants as they went about their duties. Zelda herself was sitting on the throne, her silver and gold rapier propped up against the arm, leaning her cheek on her fist and surveying the goings-on of the room.

She wasn't sure why, but she couldn't quite recall what she was supposed to be doing. How odd.

As she pondered this, three men walked in, one in front who was seemingly being urged on by the two flanking him. Zelda's blue eyes strayed to the men, her heart fluttering when she saw that the leader was none other than Link, the Hero himself. She gave him a small smile as he approached the throne. When he reached her, he knelt down and gently took her hand in his, kissing it softly. Zelda's face grew warm, though she wasn't sure why. It wasn't as if she had romantic feelings for Link, was it?

No, that wouldn't make sense. She loved-

Huh. Zelda's brow furrowed. Who was it that she loved?

It must be Link, she thought, quickly nodding to herself. Who else could it be?

"Princess Zelda," Link began, pulling his head away but not letting go of her hand. "Ruler of Hyrule and Holder of the Triforce of Wisdom."

Princess Zelda…now why does that sound wrong?

"Would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

Zelda's breath hitched in her throat. Alright, something was definitely wrong.

I could've sworn Link was already married, she blinked in confusion. What was going on with her?

"Princess?" Link asked, his eyebrows raising in concern.

"Er," Zelda began, but was cut off when one of the guards ran in and shouted.

"Princess!" he cried. "Castle Town is under attack!"

Link sprung to his feet, whipping out the Master Sword and Hylian Shield, taking his stance in front of Zelda.

A cold sense of apprehension and dread filled Zelda's heart as she glanced around at the guards surrounding her. What was attacking Castle Town?

"Don't worry, Zelda," Link murmured. "I'll protect you and Hyrule."

But Zelda's dread was not abolished. In fact, it only seemed to grow as the seconds ticked by.

Suddenly, the doors- barred shut -burst open and black fog rolled in. The guards caught in the swirling rush of inky darkness screamed and Zelda's heart leapt into her throat as their screams cut off with a sickening crunch.

The guards outside of the fog shivered, but stood their ground, their spears aloft and their feet set. As Zelda began to breathe again, black monsters with stone tablets in place of heads and unnerving red symbols that glowed emblazoned on their backs, dashed out of the fog and grabbed the soldiers, crushing them and snapping their spears.

Zelda gasped in horror and stood up, grasping her own sword. Link stepped down from the dais and raised his sword, daring the beasts to come closer. None did, all were busy holding guards that remained alive up by their necks.

The black fog cleared and three figures entered the throne room, walking at a steady pace. Two were beasts like the first ones, though these appeared to have more symmetrical plates at their heads, perhaps a higher rank?

The third figure was smaller, though not by much, and was a few steps ahead of the beasts. It was vaguely humanoid, clad in an overlarge cloak adorned with glowing green shapes. The sleeves of the cloak hung far below where hands would be, with strange tassels that swayed as the figure walked, hanging at the cuffs.

Those sleeves seem familiar somehow…

Zelda's mind raced, trying to remember, when her eyes slid up to the helmet the figure was wearing.

Her heart stopped.

"Zant?"she whispered, blinking her eyes and trying to remember where she knew him from.

"Princess Zelda," Zant sneered from behind the strange lizardlike helmet. "I am surprised you know my name. Hm, did word of my being crowned King of Twilight travel even to the Light Realm? No matter, you'll probably be dead soon anyway."

Zelda couldn't breathe. Where did she remember this Zant from? All she knew was that she associated this person with that name.

"So, Princess?" Zant laughed darkly, advancing on Zelda and Link. "What is your descision? Surrender, and live? Or defy me, and die?"

Zelda couldn't move to answer; her body wouldn't obey her.

"Hm," Zant waved a cloaked arm. The shadow beasts shrieked and slammed the guards they held into the ground, imediately killing them. "Any last words, dear Princess of Hyrule?"

"Stay away from her!" Link snarled, swinging the Master Sword threateningly at the Twilight King.

"Ah, you seem like a challenge," Zant turned slightly in Link's direction. "But are you really?"

Link raised his sword and charged-

Right into a trap. Shadow beasts from the side lunged and caught his arms, yanking him in two directions. Zelda looked on in horror, still unable to even make a sound.

"Time's running out, Princess," Zant said in a mockingly friendly voice. "Do you wish to save him, or not?"

Zelda wanted to scream out: YES! YES I WANT TO SAVE HIM! DON'T HURT HIM! But her voice wouldn't work.

"Pity," Zant gave a fake sigh. "You really aren't much of a good ruler, are you? Letting your head knight die when you could save him..."

Zant laughed again and drove a strange glowing scythe straight into Link's chest. Zelda wanted to scream; to curse Hylia, Nayru, Farore, and Din for allowing this to happen, but she couldn't speak! Link's piercing cries of pure agony rang out in the throne room, but the only ones to hear it were Zelda and the enemy.

The shadow beasts tossed Link's dead body to the side, the scythe still sticking out his ribcage, slick with dark red blood. Zelda's stomach churned and she felt sick.

She turned her eyes back from Link's prone form to find that Zant was right in front of her now. He towered over her, his un-Hylian form disconcerting at such a close range.

"So, Princess?" Zant's voice intoned from behind the helmet. "Surrender or die?"

Drop the sword, drop the sword, drop the sword-

But she did not drop her sword. Her fingers remained glued to the hilt, even though she tried desprately to peel them away.

"Ah, well, at least you can reunite with your precious 'hero' in the afterlife!" Zant laughed madly and drew another scythe from nowhere, thrusting his arm forward and sinking the blade into her heart as she screamed:

"NO!"

I shot up, clutching my chest in an effort to stop my heart from beating out of my ribcage. My breathing was labored and I blinked, whipping my head from side to side in the darkness before realizing I was in my bed. My heart began to slowly calm down and I took several deep breaths.

"Nightmare again?" asked a deep, rather muffled voice from beside me.

I jumped, scrambling around in my sheets until a large, smooth hand caught my shoulder and gently pulled me back to where I was sitting when I awoke.

"Relax, Zelda," the voice murmured, not muffled anymore. "You're safe."

I was? Oh, of course I was. I was perfectly safe, Ganondorf was gone, the Usurper Queen Midna defeated, Prince Link and my childhood friend Ilia were to be married, and I was supposed to be asleep.

I turned my gaze to the side, meeting the glowing sunset colored eyes that blinked sleepily at me in the dark.

"Are you alright?" Zant asked, dropping his hand from where it rested on my shoulder.

I shook my head and drew my knees up to my chest, trying to forget that awful dream.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he pressed, sighing.

I shook my head again and scooted closer to the Twili, burying my face in his neck. He sighed again, but brought his long arms up to gently wrap around my shoulders.

"Was it the same nightmare as before?" Zant murmured, threading thin, spidery fingers through my golden hair.

I nodded, softly tracing the turquoise glyphs that marked the skin of his shoulder. The markings didn't feel any different to me, but Zant had said once that the strange luminescent symbols were more sensitive to touch than the rest of his skin.

"It's rather hard to try and comfort you if I don't what scared you," Zant muttered, his voice slightly annoyed, though I knew it was only because he didn't know what was bothering me.

I only shook my head, the nightmare was still too fresh to want to relive. I felt Zant deflate slightly, and I nuzzled one of the turquoise markings, following the pattern on his skin with my nose.

"Am I really that fascinating?" Zant said in a tone that made me sure he was smirking. It must've been something he learned from Midna. I shuddered, thinking about the positively insane woman that called herself the Twilight Princess. I briefly wonder if, in my dreamworld, Midna was an imp and she was helping Link.

"Aw, what would Link look like as a wolf?" I wondered. Then, another thought hit me. "If that other world is simply a swapped version of this one, then does that mean that Link fell in love with Midna?!"

Zant seemed to sense my horror at that thought, and pressed his flat nose against the top of my head.

"What are you thinking about that horrified you?" there was a hint of amusement in his voice.

"If I was the Princess of Hyrule," I began slowly, lifting my head to watch Zant's eyes. "and Link was the hero, Midna was chosen to be the Twili's ruler, and you got dragged into working for Ganondorf, would Link have fallen in love with Midna like I fell in love with you?"

Zant's eyes widened.

"Now that is a disturbing thought." was all he said.

I laughed and let my head fall back to his shoulder.

"Poor Ilia," I said, thinking about my old best friend and her soon-to-be husband.

"Do you think I would have gone insane like Midna?" Zant wondered.

"Maybe," I shrugged. He certainly had in my dream. "Wouldn't it be crazy if we could go to that world and talk to Princess Zelda and Hero Link?"

"I'm not sure I'd want to do that," Zant mumbled. "If Midna was Link's companion, don't you think she'd probably try to kill me?"

"For a king," I yawned. "you are really cowardly."

"Hey!" Zant complained, though I too was busy laughing into his shoulder to listen. "I'm not that pathetic."

"Mmhm," I hummed. "sure."

I sat up and looked into Zant's orange eyes, my hand absently tracing the pattern on his shoulder again. I smiled in the dark, knowing he could see it, and curled up in his arms, feeling safe enough to sleep again. If it was even still nighttime. Time was difficult to determine in the Twilight Realm. Zant didn't mention it being morning, so I figured it would be okay to sleep again.

"Am I the first Hylian to be Queen of the Twili?" I asked sleepily.

"Probably," came the reply from my Twili husband.

"I guess there's a first for everything," I whispered, smiling and drifting off into a peaceful slumber.

(A/N) Yes, this is named after a Bleachers song. I just love Strange Desire, it's a great album.

Thanks for reading my weird creation! :3