Chapter 6

"The Izlandai tribe has also agreed to our peace terms and..." gibberish, gibberish, gibberish, gibberish, politics, politics and oh so surprisingly more politics. Link sat with his face resting in his left hand, his left eye shut and his right half closed. Yet another council meeting, yet another fight against passing out, yet another fighting to keep his face emotionless. Link fought all these battles day after day now. Midna seemed to have mastered her own battles over the time and was wide awake and attentive, stealing occasional side glances at Link, to which he always responded with a wink, causing Midna to blush and look away, causing all the male council members to swell with jealousy and all the female members to pout, also with jealousy. This, however, Link had grown accustomed to, the droves of noble ladies chasing him had ceased, drugged mead had lessened and he was more at ease. There was however, one thing bothering him: The triforce of courage; It had been burning his hand constantly far the past few days, Link had little knowledge of this "gift" from the goddesses, but he figured, with good reason, that a burning was not a good sign.

"Hey sleepy..." Link's eyes snapped open. The council room was empty save for himself and Midna, who was standing over him, on hand on his shoulder.

"Damn, when did I fall asleep?" He asked. Midna chuckled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, planting a kiss on his cheek bebore straightening up. Link rubbed his eyes as he stretched, groaning. He rose from his seat, wrapping one arm around Midna's waist, walking with her towards their bedchambers.

"Milord!" Link turned, seeing a young dark haired twili boy running towards him. Link smiled and caught the young boy in his arms and lifted him into his arms.

"I've told you, you're too young to be calling me so formally, just call me uncle Link."

"But that's too informal! I might get in trouble." The young lad cried.

"Not if I have any say in it." Link replied. The boy's face lit up.

"Remember that you promised to take me to find a new family tomorrow." The boy said meekly "You didn't forget did you?"

"Now how could I possibly forget? We'll definitely go Kukiel." The boy, Kukiel, smiled brightly as Link placed him on the ground, hugging him tightly before running off again.

"Why don't we adopt him?" Link turned to face Midna, her face as straight as she could keep it but sadness shone dully in her eyes as she watched Kukiel disappear around a corner.

"Because as much as we both would love him, I don't think either of us are ready for a child yet..."

"But..." Midna began

"Besides," Link cut her off "I still want you to myself for a while..." Midna looked away, blushing as she grasped the true meaning behind his words. Despite being together for some time now, they had not done much to further their relationship.

"Tell you what, we'll take a vacation next week, go to the lake and rent one of the cabins there." Midna smiled, nodding her agreement.

"It's a date then." He stated. By this time, they had reached their bedchambers and began preparing for bed. They lay together, Link staring at the ceiling, shirtless as Midna cuddled up to him, tracing her fingers across his scars and slight muscular frame until she fell asleep. Link watched her, a peaceful jewel beside him. His jewel. A smile slowly spread across his face as he considered this, slowly his vision blurred and his eyes closed, beginning to give into the bliss until... Link's Back arched off the bed, gripping his hand where the triforce glowed brighter than ever before, filling the room with it's golden glow along with Link's screams of agony .

"Link!" Came Midna's panicked voice from beside him. He felt her arm holding his shoulder, trying to calm him. Link could hardly believe it when the pain spiked higher than before, effectively ripping him apart, then, darkness. Link lay on a hard surface, definitely not his soft bed. He opened his eyes, sitting up and looking around, immediately noting the lack of pain. The second thing he noticed was a familiar skeletal warrior sitting on a rock before him, surveying him.

"Couldn't have brought me here in a less painful way could you?" Link asked jokingly, the warrior did not respond immediately...then:

"You don't understand what you've done have you?" the warrior asked, his voice cold and emotionless. Link blinked in surprise

"What I've done, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You've destroyed the cycle!" the warrior roared, "Every Link before you has had his relationship with Zelda, the princess of Hyrule, that's how it goes, you fight for her, you win her heart, you live to serve Hyrule! But no, a normal princess isn't enough for you is it? You HAD to have the freaky blue one with the sentient hair didn't you?" Link couldn't believe his ears, he was shocked, then enraged

"AND WHO ARE YOU TO BE TELLING ME HOW MY LOVE IS TO WORK?" Link yelled. The warrior froze, and then, to Link's surprise looked sheepish, looking to the ground and playing with his sword pommel. Then, after a prolonged silenced, he spoke.

"In my life, I was Link, the hero of time." Link's eyes widened, disbelief pouring into his mind as the warrior raised his hand to show a dull remnant of a triforce insignia, the courage element glowing faintly. Link held his head in his hands;

"So in essence, you're telling me that my relationship with Midna is wrong?" The warrior nodded

"The goddesses..."

"WELL SCREW THE GODDESSES THEN!' Link yelled "IF I'M JUST A PAWN I'M SURE THEY CAN FIND A REPLACEMENT" The warrior looked Link in the eye, weariness showing on his face.

"I understand your anger, but this is how the cycle goes, I will give you some time to mull over but hear this, you must have noticed the burning in your triforce, trouble is brewing, the goddesses tell you this:

With light there will always be shadow, with shadow light,

whilst a blade you wield, a sword you must find,

the source is the key, a maiden forsaken in the land of time.

"Why are these things always in riddles?" Link mused, "Fine, I'll think about the riddle, but I'll give no thought to the cycle, my choices are my own to make." The warrior nodded, waving his hand in dismissal. Link closed his eyes as he returned to the real world.

Well it's not as long as I had hoped, i got writer's block and just said: to hell with it, and posted it anyway.