CHAPTER 9:
THE NEXT STAGE OF THE JOURNEY
"So, let me get this straight," Midna said after a full explanation, her sunset-like eyes glittering with annoyance (at the Goddesses more than anything else) and bemusement. "You two are actually reincarnations of two people Harry knew back in his home? And you two were actually married?"
Link nodded. "Now that I have my memories back…I have to say, I'm grateful not to be a werewolf anymore…what happens in the Twilight Realm notwithstanding. Of course, it's ironic now that I'm a chosen one myself. I don't envy you Harry, not that I ever did."
"Yes, it's a rather disconcerting feeling," Sheik said, her face back to her appearance as Sheik. "Having lived the life of a princess, I know what having to deal with expectations is like now. And being a princess is tougher than I ever thought."
"I know, right?" Midna asked, seeing, finally, a kindred spirit in Sheik, aka Zelda, aka Nymphadora Tonks. Well, Nymphadora Lupin, really, but Harry kept thinking of her as Tonks. "Seriously, aren't etiquette and deportment lessons a pain in the arse?"
"Indeed," Sheik said dryly.
"So…does that mean anyone else who's died back home will be reincarnated here?" Harry asked.
"Nayru did not tell me," Sheik said as she fixed the wrappings around her lower face. "It is possible, but…I wouldn't count on them being our allies. I saw many Death Eaters die."
Harry nodded. Remus and Tonks weren't there when Bellatrix Lestrange was killed by Molly Weasley. The thought of that particular woman reincarnated here gave him the chills.
In a field of flowers just near Hyrule Castle, unaware that she had become a spirit in the Twilight Realm, the eccentric girl known only as 'Princess' Agitha sneezed loudly, and blinked. She hoped it wasn't hayfever, or else she wouldn't be able to collect her loyal subjects, aka the bugs…
"So, back to the matter at hand, it's on to Lanayru Province next," Midna mused.
Sheik nodded. "I think we can save some time by teleporting to Hyrule Castle Town, and from there, we start looking for a way down to Lake Hylia. It is there that Lanayru resides, and we need the Light Spirit to give us the next vessel to contain the Tears of Light."
"Which means you get to become a wolf again, Link," Harry said all-too-cheerfully.
"I can hardly wait. At least it's less painful than becoming a werewolf," Link remarked wearily.
They made their way back to Hyrule Castle Town. Link, who had transformed once again, had suddenly taken off, following a scent. The others followed, moving by the various spirit forms of the townsfolk. Harry, like Midna and Sheik, could see them if he wished to. It required almost flipping a switch in his head, like looking at one of those 3D puzzles.
The people were wholly unaware that they had become insubstantial spirits, capable only of interacting with each other. The only way to reverse this was to remove the Twilight from the area.
They soon found a pub, with Link entering it, followed by the others. Harry frowned when he saw the spirits that had drawn Link's attention. There was a rather heavyset woman with red hair, watching as a slender blonde-haired girl in her teens watched over a boy on the bed. Said boy had grey skin, no hair, and seemed like a human with fish-like features, even gills. "That's Telma," Sheik said, indicating the heavyset woman, "the owner of this pub. She's rather crass at times, but she's a loyal woman. I've met her on a few occasions when I snuck out of the castle. She's of mixed Hylian and Gerudo descent(1). The Zora is Prince Ralis, the heir to the throne of the Zoras. Something's very wrong, he normally wouldn't be this far away from Zora's Domain without an escort. He seems to suffer from illness and dehydration."
Harry frowned when he looked at the teenaged girl, the one Link was looking at sadly. "I think this girl is Ilia."
Link barked in concurrence, even nodding. Midna pursed her lips. "Well, that's cruel. So close to the girl he wanted to save, and yet, so far. But how did she end up here?"
"We'll have to answer that question later," Sheik said. She briefly went over to a table with some soldiers gathered around it, before she returned. "These guards were going to send an expedition to find out why the Zora's River has dried up, and with it, Lake Hylia. I'm guessing Zant had something to do with that. We'll save the river and the Zoras with them, as I am sure they are in trouble as well, and we'll banish the Twilight from this area."
"And what do you want me to do with the other hand?" Midna asked wearily.
"I'll let you know," Sheik said, a slight smirk behind her wrappings(2)…
With that in mind, they left Hyrule Castle Town, and headed for Lake Hylia. They reached the Great Hyrule Bridge first, set over the lake, with Sheik frowning, and holding the others from advancing. "Wait, look at the bridge. See how it glistens? That's not water. I think that's oil. I think someone's set a trap. They'd set the oil on fire to try and burn us alive. Midna, how good is your teleporting ability? Can you get us to Lake Hylia?"
"I need to be able to visualise a destination first," the Twilight Princess mused.
Sheik nodded, before she indicated the cliff overlooking part of Lake Hylia. "Could you get us down there?"
Midna pursed her lips, and looked down. After a moment, she conceded, "…Yes. Yes, I could. It's a bit tricky, but I can. Hold on."
Harry and Sheik did so, Midna bending down to hold Link, before they dissolved into a blizzard of dark particles that reappeared on part of the exposed lakebed below. The quartet looked around the mostly drained lakebed, with only a few patches of water anywhere. Sheik peered at one rather deep body of water. "That's where the entrance to the Lakebed Temple of the Zoras is. Once we dispel the Twilight and ensure neither Zora's Domain or Prince Ralis are in danger, that will be our next destination, I'm sure."
"And the Light Spirit? Lanayru?" Harry asked.
Midna, who had been looking around, pursing her lips in thought, pointed at a prominent cave opening, inaccessible from where they were by swimming or climbing. Judging by where the lake had receded from, though, it could have been accessible by swimming. "Over there. Sheik?"
Sheik, following Midna's pointing finger, nodded. "Yes. That is indeed the grove to Lanayru's spring. Do you think you can do another teleport to the entrance, Midna?"
Midna pouted facetiously. "Demanding, aren't you?" Once more, she held onto Link, while Harry and Sheik held on. The quartet once more dissolved into a blizzard of dark particles that reformed near the entrance. Without any further word, they went inside…
There were many things worse than death, Queen Rutela of the Zoras reflected. She should know: she was dead, and still bound to this mortal plane, forced to watch as her people suffered. Zoras could survive being frozen alive in water, she knew. But normal freezing merely made them hibernate until the ice was thawed. That vile bastard Zant had told her that his spell, the one that froze Zora's Domain, would keep them conscious, in perpetual frozen agony. Aware of every second spent in frozen impotency. A cruel torture, imposed by a cruel man. He had even taunted her that he had poisoned her son, Ralis, condemning him to a slow, painful death that even dehydration wouldn't save him from.
Her husband had been sent to the Lake of Light, but here she was, in purgatory, trapped by the cruel magic of Zant. She had ceased wailing and lamenting long ago. It did her little good, save to test the acoustics of Zora's Domain. Instead, she waited, berating herself for what she did in her life.
It was after an interminable period of time that she became aware of voices. Not the warped noises of the creatures inhabiting Twilight, but voices speaking the Hylian tongue.
"…teleporting blindly up a frozen waterfall is not my idea of a good time, and neither is riding a shadow-infested Kargarok," a lilting female voice said.
"It worked, didn't it, Midna?" the voice was that of a young man. "I don't think even Fiendfyre can melt that lot, though."
"I don't think it wise to try, Harry." A second female voice, low and slightly androgynous. And familiar to Rutela. Like the Goron leaders, the Zora leaders were privy to Zelda's alter ego of Sheik, in case they needed to give her shelter.
"You know, I miss you talking like Tonks," the young man, presumably Harry, said. Then, a trio of people, along with a wolf, walked in. Rutela instantly recognised the slender form of Sheik, Zelda's Sheikah disguise. But her companions were a motley crew.
One of them looked human, with a messy mop of black hair, and green eyes dancing with weariness and even a touch of madness behind glasses. Nonetheless, there was the bearing of, if not an actual warrior, then someone who righted wrongs. Close to him, to her astonishment, was what appeared to be a Twili, not the Shadow Beasts, but a woman, of elegance and grace and beauty, her bluish-grey skin covered with dark markings. She was dressed in a robe, though she also had what looked like part of a stone helmet on her head. Her exposed eye was the colour of a sunset.
The wolf could have been considered the lesser of them, but Rutela could feel a divine presence from it, just as she could from Zelda. The mark of the Triforce was picked out on the wolf's head, its eyes were a pale blue that was almost human, and certainly, the way it looked around was distinctly human. Indeed, Rutela realised that the wolf had been human.
The quartet made their way to the central pool, and looked down. Their senses must be attuned to the spiritual, because the Twili snarled in disgust. "That bastard Zant's frozen them," she said. "I can't reverse this with my own magic. But we need to thaw this somehow."
Suddenly, a bunch of staves dug into the ice around them, and they all looked around. "Shadow Beasts," Sheik hissed. "Get ready."
The ensuing battle was swift. Clearly, they had fought the Shadow Beasts before, as they dispatched the misshapen creatures with ruthless efficiency. Both Sheik and the Twili fought with grace, while the wolf tore out the throat of one creature. The human boy, Harry, used magic fired from a wand to attack. Soon, the staves were dispelled, and the defeated Shadow Beasts dissolved, only to reform into a portal hanging over the frozen pool.
"That's convenient," the Twili mused, looking up, and then looking down. "There's a similar one at Death Mountain, right where…" She blinked, then looked into the frozen pool. "Ah, perfect. They're not in the middle of the pool. Good!"
"What are you thinking of, Midna?" Sheik asked.
The Twili, presumably Midna, said, "Remember that chunk of volcanic rock that nearly hit us at Death Mountain, the huge one? I wager it's still pretty damn hot. I can teleport it there. The rest of you, split up and look for those damned insects. And stay away from the pool, unless you want to get steam-cooked."
As she dissolved in a blizzard of dark particles, Harry, Sheik, and the wolf split up, Sheik staying close to the wolf. Rutela watched as Sheik, upon hearing growling from the wolf, suddenly tensed, before throwing a knife at a nearby wall. A grotesque insect shrieked, before falling to the ground, dead, and bursting into a scintillating orb of light.
Harry, however, was approaching her. Rutela realised, after a moment, that he could see her. "Can you see me?" Rutela asked.
"Well, yes. Are you a Zora?"
"In life, I was their Queen. In death, I am but a shade of what I once was. The late Queen Rutela at your service."
"Sheik! Link!" Harry yelled. Sheik and the wolf scampered over, with Sheik's eyes widening. She removed the cloth covering her face, and knelt.
"Queen Rutela…so you are another of Zant's victims," Sheik said.
"Lady Sheik…or rather, the Princess Zelda," Rutela said. "Indeed I am. My husband, and then myself, were executed as examples to the Zoras. Times are strange indeed if you consent to consort with a Twili and a wolf."
"Link is a Hylian cursed by Twilight, but he is the chosen of Farore, bearing the Triforce of Courage," Sheik said. "Midna is the deposed Twilight Princess, usurped by Zant. They both seek to stop Zant from blanketing Hyrule in Twilight, and Midna wishes to take back her throne. To that end, we seek to gain access to the Lakebed Temple."
"And this one?" Rutela said, indicating Harry.
"He is a wizard from another world, chosen by the Goddesses to be the Champion of Twilight," Sheik said. "He is Harry Potter, a name that means much in that other world, though his fame is a little undeserved. Not that he wanted that fame in the first place: the fame was due to him surviving a lethal curse that all others succumbed to. And it was his parents who ensured his survival, not any innate ability."
"Still didn't stop people from buying into that Boy Who Lived shit," Harry muttered sullenly.
Rutela smiled. But before she could say anything, a massive, red-hot rock suddenly plunged out of the portal and into the frozen pool. With a cacophony of hissing and cracking noises, it sunk into the pool, thawing it as it went. As if it broke the curse simply by destroying the ice in the pool, the frozen river suddenly sprang into life, ice becoming water.
Midna materialised above the pool, only to fall in with a yelp of surprise. Harry and Sheik laughed, and even the wolf snuffled in a way that suggested chuckling. Even Rutela couldn't help but laugh when they pulled the sodden Twili out of the water.
"How rude," Midna pouted. Around them, the Zora began to emerge from the pool. Midna looked back in. "Looks like all of them have revived." She then noticed Rutela. "Ah, did you guys know we have a ghost looking on?"
"Yes," Sheik said. "This is the late Queen Rutela of Zora's Domain."
"Ah. Was that her kid we saw at Hyrule Castle Town?"
Sheik nodded, before Rutela asked, "I know you are preoccupied with stopping Zant. But I implore you, please help my son. Only then can my soul know respite."
A look passed between Harry and Midna, but whatever was on their minds, they didn't voice. They had helped free Rutela's people from their icy living internment. Eventually, Sheik said, "We will do our utmost, Queen Rutela. And we will take measures to ensure Zant does not target your people for retribution."
"You have my thanks, all of you. I would try to do what I could myself, but…alas, as a spirit, I am impotent. Save my child, though, and I can grant you what you require to go through the Lakebed Temple. The best of luck to all of you."
"We'll need it," Harry muttered.
CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:
Sorry about the wait. It may be a while before the next one too. However, I hope you liked it all the same. We'll have a timeskip to the meeting with the revived Lanayru. There won't be a trippy dream sequence like in the game: everyone's up to speed on the history of the Twili and the dangers of the Fused Shadows. Well, more or less.
Review-answering time! dragonlordandsword: Other than that brief cameo during this chapter (I couldn't resist trying to find a Zelda character whom Bellatrix would reincarnate as, and Agitha, while not bloodthirsty, was the best fit I could get), I have no plans to bring in more Potterverse characters into this story. I may do so later, but I have no plans.
davidteague3950: I agree, Twilight Princess is my personal favourite of the series. I've completed most of the actual console games from Ocarina of Time onwards. That is, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. I've also completed Link's Awakening and Phantom Hourglass. And yes, I know Tonks would be Nymphadora Lupin, but I think she'd call herself Tonks because Remus Lupin would call himself Lupin.
1. The pointy ears suggested Hylian descent, but I thought Telma looked a bit like a more heavyset Gerudo, so I thought I'd make this up.
2. Midna's snark and Sheik's response is based on a similar exchange between Avon and Blake in the British science fiction series Blake's 7, specifically the episode (if I recall correctly) Redemption.