I hate feeling like this; I'm so tired of trying to fight this. I'm asleep and all I dream of is waking to you. –Comatose, Skillet

You belong to me, my snow white queen, there's nowhere to run, so let's just get it over with.—Snow White Queen, Evanescence

The broken bird at your feet.

The whipping of the wind at your eyes.

The glow of light in the darkness, like a sharp lantern, and then sweet blackness again.

My body was somewhere, left behind me, bloodied and ruined. My spirit, as I felt it, was cold and glassy; such an image of what I had become. Of what was left of me—the only part that hadn't been sacrificed; so precious not to have been broken.

I was pinned down by something—my death, I supposed—and I wanted to open my eyes and see something other than this blackness. I went towards the bitterness of life but the blackness wouldn't let me go.

So the afterlife was prison. Okay, great.

I couldn't tell you what I felt there because I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel the pain of my broken and bruised body; I didn't feel the weight of the world on my shoulders; I didn't feel the missing presence of Link.

I couldn't.

More than once, however, I felt like someone was calling me.

"Okay! You've got me! I heard you! Now what can I do for you today? There's some great real estate down here!" I screamed out into the blackness.

"M—Midna."

"Yea?"

There wasn't a response.

"I've only got all of eternity," I muttered dryly.

"Body…not dead." Someone whispered in the darkness.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I am dead."

"Not dead…dormant."

"What in all of Din's name is that supposed to mean?!"

"I can't hear you…feel for your powers."

I rustled around in my mind, trying to saddle any power that was left in me. I found a little breathe of a spell, just a little scent of it, and I latched onto it. "Now what?" I called.

"Come through the portal."

"Wait—what portal?"

Silence.

That power that I latched onto was bittersweet, I could feel it. It was warm and familiar; and yet I felt its darkness. I wanted to find the portal—anything, at that point, sounded better than rotting in blackness for eternity—that the voice had spoken of.

I closed my eyes in the blackness, letting time tick by. I swore I could hear something, like a trickle of a stream or a rustle in trees, but I couldn't place the sound. I heard it my mind, and then I realized it was me. My dormant power.

Breathless, I launched myself into a mental chase. I had to find that power. That gorgeous, shimmering power in my mind—I craved it. I needed it. I needed to feel the power on my hands in a fight, I needed to feel, I needed to scream, I needed to live.

Tearing through the glass of my soul, I rammed myself through my mind's barriers and tried for that power. Please. Please work. I need to live again. Intense brightness filled my vision and I knew I had found it.

I yanked at that power in my soul, traced it, memorized it. I took a deep breath of it and my lungs caught, tripping themselves. That light flashed away and I felt myself fall through the cracks of time. I screamed, grasping onto the power, trying to find where I was—what I was. Dead. Alive. I didn't care—I just needed air.

///

My eyes shot open to a scene of chaos. Of fallen pillars, of dirt, dust, and blood, metals and knives scattered on the floor. The old alter room? Ruins lay crumbled in the corners. I gasped in choked air, trying to restrain myself from hysterics.

Power left uncharged in my hands glowed bright white, sacred and wonderful, flowed through my body and replenished whatever fluids I had left. I was restrained against the wall—chained, most likely. I wanted those chains to be ripped off, to strangle someone with them. The energy from my hand lashed out onto the restraints and freed me. I fell to the dirt floor and rolled.

Immediately, I felt Dark lash out to strike me. I dodged and landed a solid kick to his face. He hissed, I rolled, and a wave of power vibrated from my skin. "I'm not dead," I told him.

"You need to stop resisting," He remarked.

I responded with letting the vibrations on my skin explode into waves of power—hitting him over and over. "Do you like that? You like being beaten at your own game?"

"You aren't beating me at it. You're throwing a tantrum. Stop resisting!" Dark slammed his fist into the ground, the dirt coming up in a tornado. It flew at me but I held my hand up, reflecting it into his face. He held his hand up, projecting a shield over his body. I threw the power at him, whipping the barrier with it.

"You are a Twili using a Light Dweller's magic—it isn't holy, it isn't valid, it isn't sane. It'll take over you and kill you," Dark snarled. I laughed and threw it at him again. This time, however, I broke through the shield. The Light Magic dragged him to the floor.

"Kill me or not, it's your choice. But look at yourself. It's already tainted you," Dark smirked as my hands flew to my face.

In the middle of my face, there was a crease, running from my forehead to my breastbone. Startled, I felt both sides of my face. One felt smooth, the other a little like sandpaper. "Would you like to see?" Dark waved his hand on the wall and a looking glass appeared, waving slightly.

I turned and screamed in horror.

My face. My face. My face!

The scar, again, went in a line from my forehead to my breastbone, separating my torso and head in two halves. One half was perfect—normal, with flushed blue skin, amber eyes that were the color of Twilight.

The other was…incredibly non normal. Skin the color of milk. Eyes the color of snow, tinted with sunlight. "NO!" I screeched. I turned to Dark, lashing out at him. "What have you done to me?!"

"Not a thing. That power you wield is to blame."

I stepped towards the mirror, putting my hand on its cold surface. "No," I choked, seeing my own eyes; my own ruined appearance. I had trusted that power. I had clung to it like a lifeline. Like it could save me. "No!" I sobbed.

"Now do you see? Look what you have done to yourself. Your soul is confused. It has torn itself in two, trying to protect the origin of the Twili—of you—and trying to rebel with the power of a Light Dweller."

"I didn't ask for the power!" I wailed.

"But you so gladly accepted it. You wrapped yourself in it."

Dark chuckled and put his hand on my chin. I backed into the surface of the looking glass. "Look what you've done to yourself…" He was grinning. I shrank back into the glass, pressuring it with my body. My hand sparked white and I hissed, jumping back suddenly. I don't want your help! You've broken me! I thought. The pulsing, intense gold and white in my hand, like a dying fairy, flickered back to the milky shade that the corrupted right side of my body had become. I slapped my hand onto the surface of the glass, trying to hold myself up.

The glass shattered at my right hand's touch, cutting my hand. Blood dripped from the wound. I didn't dare to nurse it. "Now you know. Your power is defenseless against mine."

I hid my downcast gaze, eyes overflowing with watery tears.

Dark yanked a black and purple cloak from my Shadow Storage. "You will be looked in your room, under the careful watch of my friend Abby while I tour the minor lands, spreading the news of our engagement. You are to wear that cloak and have the hood shadowing your face at all times."

I didn't protest, because I agreed. I didn't sob because I knew I had been betrayed—betrayed by the Light Realm and their power that had cursed me. Betrayed by Link. Betrayed by Zelda. The thoughts pricked at my heart.

I saw Link's face in my mind—his sweet eyes, his careful and tender voice. I shook my head. He betrayed me. I told myself.

Then I looked at Dark—smug and not the least bit guilty looking. I saw Link's eyes again; distant in the memories of the past. My resolve wavered. Did he?

I know, I know. Too much fighting. Not to fear, the next chapters will have more meat to them.

For those of you who read my story My Immortal; yes, it's the same OC. Abby the Evil Blacksmith is back and kickin', so let's watch out for her.

Those of you who know I was banned from Evanescence probably noticed the quote from Snow White Queen at the beginning of the chapter. Some of you even know I disobeyed my Evanescence ban this summer when writing the ending of Blood's Shadow. Well, I'm back listening to Evy…in a non banned state. I actually told my mom that I disobeyed and she bought more Evanescence for my iPod? Yea…that makes no sense. But either way, Evy helps me write and now I can freely listen to her! Her songs that inspired this chapter:

Sweet Sacrifice

Missing

Bleed (I Must Be Dreaming)

Weight of the World

Snow White Queen

All That I'm Living For

Good Enough

ANYWAY! Tell me what you think, as usual….

—Lish