Chapter Three: Why (Midna)

Why? Why did you let me break the Mirror of Twilight? I just don't understand! Why, Zelda, why? You, of all people, should have been able to see that I did not truly want to sever our connections. You, who were one with me for a time, who was like a sister to me, did not even try to stop me. Why didn't I tell you sooner? Why didn't I just tell you that I couldn't swallow my pride and needed you to help stop me? Why couldn't you see? If only you had foreseen what I was to do, maybe then you would have stepped in. And now I may never see you, or the man I love ever again…

Now I sit lonely upon the throne of my people, reminiscing the time I spent with you, and then the time I spent with Link. Oh, Link…

Throughout my journey through Hyrule with him, I did nothing but pick on him and push him through misery until the bitter end. I would scratch and kick him, and pull on his ears. And even though it was I who had caused him so much pain, he helped me still. Perhaps it was that which made me ease up on my sour ways. Perhaps it was the undying trust that melted my heart. And it was because of his sapphire blue eyes, the eyes of a beast, that I had given my heart to someone who would never be able to return the favor.

And I tried to save him after we defeated the pig-like Ganon; I even sacrificed my own life to save him. He didn't want me to, he wanted me to be safe, but I couldn't bring myself to accept the return of his affections. Not while I had yet to show him my true self. Not while I had yet to make up for all of my mistakes.

But now that I am in my true form, now that I am free, I have torn myself from him. I have torn myself from you.

Though I tried to tell myself it was nothing but admiration, I know in my heart that it was something more. I know I loved him. And I almost told him, too. But I chickened out at the last moment. I couldn't tell him, not with you there, Zelda. You who shared the same fate as him. You who shared the light with him. You who treated me like a sister for all of these years. I could tell that you had felt something for him, too, and I couldn't bring myself to take away your chance at happiness. He was your knight in shining armor just as much as he was mine, but you deserve him more than I. For though your kingdom was taken over, you did not cower and flee as I did. You stayed to watch over your people, and you didn't abandon them to die. And he is the man you rightfully deserve, for he is as noble and beautiful, if not more so, than you.

Maybe that was the real reason I shattered the Mirror of Twilight. Maybe it was because I couldn't keep running back to a world in which I did not belong to just to see you and him. And maybe it was to keep myself from having another chance to slip up and tell him what he does not need to know. And I know for a fact that it was to separate the essences of evil that had been fused into the mirror itself. But still, I wish that you had stopped me. I wish that with all of my heart.

I sit here now, twirling my orange-red hair through my long fingers. It's almost hard to believe that I'm really me again. It was so long ago to me that I was in my Impish form; so long ago that you helped me along the way; so long ago that I had found him in his greatest hour of need. It was all because of you, and you couldn't stop me from making the biggest mistake in my life. I thought that our bond was stronger than that. I guess I was wrong.

Suddenly, one of my people entered the throne room. Finally, some excitement, or so I had hoped. It has been a good two days at least since that day, and everything has been quiet here. I pray it has been just as peaceful in your world. You deserve it, and so does he. Anyways, the Twilit boy who had entered the room was holding something in his hands.

"Your Highness!" he exclaimed, holding out his hand to me.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"I believe it is a single shard of what once was the Mirror of Twilight. It was found beneath the metal of where the mirror once rested."

I stepped down from my throne and examined the shining shard. It was, indeed, a piece of the mirror. If that was true, then perhaps there was still hope that I could see you and Link once more. Hope bubbled up inside of my heart. But then again, I couldn't let temptation overcome me. There was a reason why I had shattered the mirror in the first place, after all. My place was here, not in the light. And besides, this was only a single fragment. I would need to find all of the pieces in order to restore the mirror.

"So?" inquired the Twilit boy.

"Yes, it is a fragment of the mirror," I replied. I inspected it closer. Through the gleaming reflection, I could see that a dark spirit was lurking within. No, there was nothing wrong with darkness, after all, my people and I were part of it, but this was an evil kind of darkness. Like the kind of darkness that Zant and Ganondorf had. It was unnatural, not the serene beauty of my world's darkness. I stepped back from it, worried that the dark spirit might pull me in.

"What would you like me to do with it, your highness?"

"Burn it," I commanded.

The boy's face was filled with sorrow, as if he thought that I had just told him to throw his favorite toy off a cliff.

"Oh…as you wish." And he ran off and placed the shard into a bowl of fire that was perched at the end of the throne room's hall.

What, did he really think that I was going to say something else? The fragments must be purified. Yes, I knew that only the true ruler of the Twilight could destroy the Mirror of Twilight, and so the Mirror of Twilight could only be healed by the true ruler of the Twilight as well. And I knew that burning the shard would not destroy it, but it would destroy the evil energy that was lurking inside of it. It was my duty as Princess to uphold the laws of balance and keep my people safe.

Well, now that I knew about the shards, I knew that I had to do something about this. If there were other fragments of the mirror, the evil that was inside of them was sure to still be around as well. And I knew well enough that wherever there was evil, Ganondorf was sure to follow.