Part 12: To know, to feel, to understand…
Midna fell to her knees, unable to bear the weight of her grief.
Clara and Zelda tried to go comfort her but The Doctor told them to just keep watch on the Angels. He remembered a moment from his past terribly similar to this, when his mind forgot about the danger in front of him and fell into grief. River had known that he needed that moment to grieve and that's why she didn't do anything. She didn't talk, didn't try to move him, and didn't try to comfort him at the time. Because she knew he needed that moment. So she just kept watch. He would always be grateful to her for that.
And now, regretfully, it was his turn to do the same for another, as Midna stayed on her knees sobbing quietly. He was the only one close enough to hear what she was saying.
"Link, I was lying…please…please come back…"
The moment passed and the Doctor knew that they had to keep moving. That she had to move on like he did.
But Midna was not the Doctor, as she soon showed.
Midna got to her feet and allowed pure rage to slowly overtake her face. Her markings began to glow, as did the parts of the courtyard that were of the Twilight Palace.
She attacked without thinking, as running only on rage was the reason why she was able to do it. She conjured forth the massive Hand of Doom (similar to what Zant had used) and struck, well, everything pretty much. She swatted the Angels around the room, knocking them into the walls, and repeatedly smashed the floor, attacking every last one she could see and more. Anyone who blinked during this time would hear the unique sound of Angel screams.
The Hand disappeared, but Midna was not finished yet, as her rage guided her movements further. At the tips of her fingers she gathered Twilight energy. More and more until it formed into a massive ball. In a roar she threw it down upon the creatures.
Whether it killed them or not was unclear, though they certainly wouldn't be messing with the party again either way. The massive explosion took out a good chunk of the courtyard. Whatever wasn't caught in the blast was certainly sent far away by the shockwave.
The smoke cleared to reveal the party free from danger. Exhaustion soon found Midna and she nearly fell to the ground, saved only by Zelda, who then hugged her friend, knowing she'd need something to hang onto after her loss.
Clara, after helping the Doctor back to his feet, was the first to address the elephant in the room.
"How…how did she do that?"
Zelda answered her, still holding onto her friend. "The Fused Shadow was the power of Midna's ancestors. The power of Twilight is hers by birthright. Though the Master may have used Ganondorf's power to steal it, it would seem Midna's…extreme emotion…instinctively found her a way to access it again."
"If her power's back, does that mean she can reverse the portals?"
Midna shook her head, her anger and sorrow pushed down a bit. "I have only some of my real power back. I can feel the Master still tugging away on the rest of it."
Midna looked over to the now demolished spot that had once held Link. "My home, my power, my people, and now Link…"
The Doctor walked over to the Twilight Princess and placed his hand on her shoulder, saying the words that reflected her heart. That had once reflected his.
"No more."
Midna nodded. "No more."
She returned to her feet and dried her eyes. "We should get moving."
The Doctor agreed and let Midna take lead the way, knowing that she wouldn't want to face her friends quite yet.
Zelda and Clara trailed slightly behind the other two. After a few moments, Zelda quietly asked her "Clara, how long have you been with the Doctor?"
She had to think about that for a moment. "I think it's been a bit less than a year to be honest. But in a way I've known him his entire life, not that I remember any of it." Zelda looked at her questionably. "It's a long story involving time travel, multiple me's, and a disembodied intelligence that really does not like the Doctor."
Given all the weirdness that had happened in the past few days Zelda decided to roll with it. "Then you probably can answer my next question: what sort of life has he led to make him who he is?"
"What do you mean?"
"When we first met he said he was a traveler. Yet his eyes are more scarred than those of any traveler I've ever seen." Zelda explained. "He hides his pain. Even the destruction of his box only cracked him open very slightly before he pushed it back down. He hasn't even mentioned the box since we escaped the Master, has he?"
Clara said nothing, having realized the same thing a while ago.
"But he still shows his pain through his understanding of other's pain." Zelda said. "Midna has lost so many of her people to the Master and his monsters. A pain unimaginable to many and yet, he understands as only one who has lost so many can. And when she lost Link, his were the eyes of one whom had shed the same tears. So I ask you again: what sort of life has the Doctor lived that it could have inflicted so much pain to him in one lifetime?"
Clara took a moment to answer back. "The Doctor never likes to talk about his past, well, anything significant from his past anyway. He's a time traveler, so lots of moving around for him, and lots of things he's made it clear he can't change, no matter how much he wants to."
"One of my past lives used the Ocarina of Time to change her past so our present could exist." Zelda said. "And several times since I gained the memories of all those other Zeldas…I thought about all that I might be able to change the same way."
"In our universe at least, it would cause a paradox that would wipe out all of time and space. If it's a fixed point anyway. Something that you know happens."
"Still, the temptation…"
Clara was silent for a bit. "When I first met the Doctor's wife, she had been dead for a long time. And she died when the Doctor first met her."
Zelda was confused. "Then how did-"
"They kept meeting out of order. So when she first met him, he knew when, where, and how she was going to die. And he could never tell her…because he was there. Because he saw it happen and knew it couldn't be changed."
"Oh Gods." Zelda said unconsciously placing her hand to her mouth.
"I only really have that point of reference to give. I think there were others but he never talks about them." Clara continued. "But I think the reason why the Doctor is able to sympathize with Midna is because he knows not only what it's like to be unable to save those you care about, but also know that you're going to be unable to save them."
Zelda looked on silently as she watched Midna and the Doctor still leading the way towards their destination.
Zelda's thoughts soon turned to Link. "No one wants to say it…how pointless it is to go on without you…my arrows are nowhere near as effective as the Master Sword…without you, our deaths are nearly assured. But if we were to just turn back, all the lives lost to the Master will have been in vain, especially yours…
"My friends who have lost so much refuse to cut their losses because they have more to lose…and they refuse to let that happen ever again…even if it costs them what it did you…
"Rest well, great hero. May we meet again in the next life."
…
It was the Doctor who spotted them first out of the corner of his eye. He quickly directed everyone's attention behind them, as several massive black monsters ran on all fours towards them. Midna recognized them quite well.
"Shadow Beasts!"
The party was prepared to take a stand but Midna quickly pulled them away from that idea. "Do not fight them!" She cried. "Shadow Beasts are creatures that have been corrupted by Ganon's powers! They can't control themselves!"
With the option of fight taken away, the party went with the option of flight and ran as fast as they could away from the Beasts. The animalistic movements of the Beasts allowed them to chase after them at great speed.
As the creatures were catching up, Clara yelled to Midna "You've encountered these things before, right? How'd you stop them last time?!"
Still running, Midna yelled back "When Link and I first returned to the Twilight Realm we discovered that the Sol could revert the Shadow Beasts back if they weren't too far gone. But we no longer have those, nor the Master Sword which the Sol infused its power to!"
Before another question could be asked one of the Shadow Beasts lunged forward and tackled Clara.
"Clara!" The Doctor yelled as he stopped as soon as he heard her scream.
The Beast raised its hand, preparing to maim the schoolteacher, when Midna ran up to the creature and yelled "STOP!"
To everyone's surprise, including the creature's own, it did stop. When the moment of confusion passed the Beast attempted to attack her, but again Midna yelled at it. "I said stop!"
And again, the Beast halted, with the other Beasts also halting their movements, unsure of why they felt the need to stop.
Everyone breathed quite hard, the tension in the air was suffocating. Midna took a deep breath. "I am your queen and you shall listen to me. Now get off her!"
Hesitantly, the Beast slowly got off of Clara. Clara got back up and made her way back to her party, still in shock over the death she just escaped.
All eyes were on Midna as she continued talking to the Beasts. "I am the ruler of Twilight. Though a monster of a man has stolen power from me and used it to turn you into this, you still instinctively know who I am. What my birthright is. You know that I am your queen."
The Shadow Beasts quietly growled, though not in a threatening manner. One allowed Midna to gently place her finger on its forehead, calming it further.
"I…we…can save you. We can turn you back. Once we break the monster's hold on our worlds, you will return to how you once were. But we need your help. Will you aid us? Will you follow your queen?"
The one Midna had touched growled its support, the others soon following suit.
The others let out the breath they'd not been aware they'd been holding in. Midna walked up to Clara. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah…" Clara said, still a little shaken. "How…how'd you know that'd work?"
Midna looked back at the Shadow Beasts, now eager to follow the party. "I didn't." She said. "Back when Zant first took my powers from me I tried to talk these creatures down and failed. Back then…there was no way Link and I could save them. All we could do to stop them was…put them down. This time…I only hoped that the little bit of power I have now would be enough so that…that…wouldn't be the case again."
The Doctor, whom had been admiring the unique creatures, said "I'm always happy to make new friends, but even I have to wonder about the wiseness of bring these creatures to the location of a man who'll kill them as soon as he sees they're not under his control anymore."
"It is not wise." Midna said. "That is why I won't allow them to fight with us. But their senses are keen enough to guide us safely through the palace until we get to the throne room. This place is more than just my palace now and I'd prefer to find a path that lacks Bulblins and Daleks…and…Angels."
Zelda placed her hand gently on her friend's shoulder. Midna cast aside her moment of weakness and turned back to the Shadow Beasts, gently touching the forehead again.
"Please, guide us."
The Shadow Beasts growled in understanding and two lead the way for them, with the rest tailing behind to guard the rear.
…
Despite their size the Beasts were actually quite silent on their feet, as they quickly guided the party through the twists and turns of the makeshift castle without drawing any attention to them. Several times the party saw the shadows of other creatures in the castle that just barely missed them
After many minutes of being guided, the Beasts finally led them to a set of doors Midna recognized as the entrance of the Twilight Palace throne room.
"This is it."
Zelda was already prepped, summoning her Light Bow for battle. The Doctor held out his sonic and Clara had her bow readied. Signaling for the Shadow Beasts to stay back, Midna took a deep breath and slowly opened the doors.
It was darker than usual inside the large room. She suspected the Master was deliberately dimming the symbols on the walls that lit up the room. But Midna was used to the darkness and her eyes would adjust quickly.
And in that adjustment Midna was quick to notice a small red circle lighting up at the end of the room. As her eyes kept adjusting she began to see the body around the circle, though she could not quite make it out, as its coloring blended it into the wall.
"What in the world-?" Midna began to say when one of the Shadow Beasts tackled her out of the way of the beam that was about to hit her. The other entered the room as well, Zelda firing off one of her arrows toward the circle. It did not harm the creature, but it did illuminate the room enough to reveal what it was.
The red circle was the eye of a Dalek, though one much different from any seen before. Along with its now red eye the Dalek's armor was pitch black, with light blue symbols etching their way all across the body. Its voice was also different, as it was much lower and darker than before.
"EXTERMINATE." It bellowed as the red lights atop its dome lit up and it fired again.
The party was quick to dodge and the Beast that had saved Midna lunged at the Shadow Dalek, ignoring her cries of protest. It slashed at the creature but could not penetrate its armor and was soon shot dead.
Not wanting any more to share the same fate Midna yelled at the other Shadow Beasts to flee. But like the first, they ignored her, their loyalty to their queen coming second to protecting her life.
The remaining Shadow Beasts all swarmed to attack the Dalek, hoping their numbers would be enough to win the battle. But before they reached their target the Dalek let out an earsplitting screech, which paralyzed all in the room momentarily.
The screech was soon recognized as a howl, as a Twilight Portal opened up overhead and dropped two more Shadow Daleks into the fray before closing.
"EXTERMINATE." They all cried.
Again Midna watched helplessly as her people were gunned down before her.
When the last Beast fell the Shadow Daleks turned their attention to the party. The party tried everything they could, but no weapons or magic could penetrate the metal hides. Even the Doctor found himself unsure of what to say. The doors slammed shut on them. They could not escape.
The Daleks took aim. And…
The snap of fingers echoed throughout the room and the Daleks lowered their weapons. As the room began to illuminate, the Daleks turned their heads towards the throne, the party doing the same.
The man sitting on the throne made no attempts to hide his smugness.
"Well, that was entertaining." The Master said.
Seriously, if anyone ever draws a picture of a Shadow Dalek, I would love to see it.
