Finally here people!
Sorry for the big delay, I had to go on my cousin's weeding on another city and I hadn't internet there. Anyway, let's see how the fight in this chapter will go, so prepare to more action!
Llorest: And thanks to all the kind reviewers that still bothering themselves to comment on this fic and to xXNevermoreAgainXx for the cookie. *holds the cookie and aproaches it to the mouth*
Can you stop to... ? HEY!!! THAT COOKIE IS MINE!!!!! *Jumps on Llorest and a fight for the cookie, complete with a cloud of smoke, ensues*
Chapter 14
How Spell-Casters Fight
How come a slimy jerk is so though?!, Link thought as he dodged another fire beam thrown at him.
The Hero soon discovered Hale wasn't entirely the kind of guy that let his minions do all the work. That guy was a skillful mage and quickly put him in the defensive, forcing him to dive behind some furniture in the room, which eventually got obliterated in the constant stream of magic.
When the windows had broken after powerful charges of lightning hit them, some guards came. Hale instructed them to take the prince of Alasya away and start to move everything out of the mansion. Link had got the time to prepare and shoot a bomb arrow against the noble, but he defended against that by making a wall of rock rose from the ground in his front and take the explosion. After that, the green clad warrior didn't find any other opening as a barrage of spells and elements rained upon him.
From his hiding spot, Link looked to Hale and saw the orbs that were floating in a circle around his head. He knew that if he could destroy them, the noble would lose great part, if not all, of his power. He came out of behind the pillar he was hidden as the spell caster made the blue orb float to the front of his chest and he stretched the arm like was going to grab it, letting his palm almost touch the floating sphere and building up power for a spell.
A freezing cloud was released from the orb and flew to Link, who placed his Mirror Shield in the front, absorbing the attack with the equipment and returning it. However, Hale simply left his ice orb in front of him to absorbed the attack back.
"What the....?", the Hero muttered.
"Did you think you could turn my own attack against me? Please...", Hale said, in his cold, calculative tone, which Link was starting to find annoying as the noble did constant comments in this fight. "I'm a high level spell caster and, being one, I must be prepared for the unpredictable."
Hale then made the blue orb return to its orbit around his head and changed it for the yellow one. Making the same motions again, the noble then pointed the orb to the ground, and cracks started to appear and "run" along the floor to Link's direction. The swordsman rolled to the side to scape from whatever spell the traitorous councilor threw at him, but the crack just followed him and when was near to him a stalagmite shot from the ground vertically at his direction.
The pillar of rock was flat at the point, so it didn't injure the Hero seriously, but it hit him hard enough for him to feel some ribs crack. Changing orbs again, Hale this time made two orbs float on his front, the red and the green ones, he then motioned him palms to them and started to gather power for another spell.
"Let's see who you handle against a combined spell."
Gusts of wind came out of the green sphere at the same time flames came out of the red one. The two elemental forces met each other and created a fire tornado, which pulled the nearest things in its path, incinerated them and spiting out ashes. Link didn't know if his shield could stop that thing, but realized he hadn't any option; the time he stayed looking at the flaming swirl of winds and analyzing the situation was enough for the tornado to get close enough to start to pull him.
The Hero then put the shield on the front of the flaming anomaly and hoped it would work. When Link started to feel the heat, the winds converged to his shield, the flames doing the same, being absorbed by the enchanted, defensive equipment. Link got so happy to see it had worked that he almost didn't see a tsunami coming at him.
Eyes wide and thinking quickly, the Hylian swordsman positioned his shield again and released the magical attack contained inside it, which upon making contact with the tsunami made it evaporate, releasing steam all over the hall.
I'm starting to really hate magic., Link thought.
Before he could see where Hale was, the Hero felt something closing around him. Two rings of light appeared in thin air around Link's body and bound his torso and legs. He knelled to keep himself from falling, hearing a voice coming from behind him:
"Impressive. Your shield just entices my curiosity, such is the power of the reflective enchantment it possesses. Maybe I'll add it to my treasury after I end with you, it definitely owns a place in my collection.", the noble said and Link could guess by his voice tone he was smiling.
With a motion of his palm, Hale made Link raise in the air, being pulled by the rings of light, and started to toss him around like a rag doll. The Hero hit the walls, the ground, and what little of furniture was left on room with great strength. Blood started to drip from his lips and his forehead.
Midna... help!, the Hero subconsciously thought, while his hand dug into the pocket where he stored the fragment of the Fused Shadow. The runes in the fragments started to glow weakly...
- - - - -
The Twilight Princess was looking to the moon from the balcony in the Inn, thinking on what Zelda had said earlier and how she was going to bring the subject on to Link. Whenever she thought on it, an automatic and obvious answer came to her in the form of a voice in her mind:
Just talk to him.
She sighed and heard the door to her room open. Zelda asked if she was alright and the Twili woman said she simply couldn't sleep, since she wasn't tired. The Princess of Hyrule went to the side of her friend and asked:
"You're waiting for him to return, aren't you?"
"I like to get things clear at once.", Midna answered. It was true, when acting like the Princess, she tried her best to be patient, but good part of the time she was not. She didn't like to leave anything without an immediate solution. "Shouldn't he be back by now?"
"These things take some time, but I'm sure he's...", Zelda didn't achieve to say what Link should be like, because in that moment, Midna staggered at her place and brought her hand to her head, shutting her eyes and moaning, like a sudden headache had come to her. "Are you alright?", the blond ruler asked, concerned and supporting her shadow counterpart so she wouldn't fall.
Midna tried to say something, but couldn't. Something was calling her; a power was calling for her. A very familiar power. And together with it, she could feel the desperate plead of an unique, magical aura she knew so well. As sudden as it came, it went away. She opened her eyes.
"Link's in trouble.", was all that Midna said to a very confused Zelda...
- - - - -
The Hero fell with a thud. He tried to stand, but before could do so stone arches sprouted from the floor, closing around his wrists, waist, and knees, binding him to the ground. Hale walked to near his head and pointed to the ground near him. A great piece of rock with a sharp point at the end rose, and floated above Link's head.
"Any final words?", Hale asked, a smile of victory plastered on his face.
"Just three...", a new voice came, bringing confusion to Hale, and hope to Link.
A shadow sphere and red lightning hit the noble in the chest, pushing him away and immobilizing him with the electricity. When that happened, the pointed rock above Link's head started to fall and the Hero closed his eyes. Then he heard the sound of metal cutting something and when Link opened his eyes, he saw two pieces of rock falling at the sides of his head. Above him, was a black blade with runes engraved on it.
"Leave him alone.", Midna said, making her sword disappear.
Zelda appeared and knelled near the immobilized Hero, murmuring an enchantment, making the stone arches release him. She asked if he was alright and Link nodded, quickly telling her about what Hale had been planing and showing her document he took.
"I suspected so. Alasya had its eyes upon us for years, but since they're military force is inferior to ours, they never declared war directly.", Zelda said.
"Can we chat after we kick this bastard's ass? I'm so dieing to do that right now.", Midna said, smiling her almost sadistic smile and showing her slightly pointed canine. Zelda nodded and looked back to Link.
"You should take cover, you're in no condition to fight anymore. Besides, you're not equipped for a magical battle."
Link wanted to say otherwise, but the shooting pain on his head, ribs, and back was yelling at him to shut up and do as she said. Deciding to hear his body's pleads, the green clad swordsman nodded and left through the destroyed wall where the windows stayed. During it, the paralysis on Hale passed and the noble got on his feet to observe the two spellcasters at his front.
Midna called the traitorous councilor's attention more, mainly because of her skin tone and that she had her robe open again. Hale looked her up and down with a raised eyebrow, like a curious scholar.
"You certainly have been attracting some interesting company lately, Princess.", he said, turning to Zelda.
"What do you mean with that, jackass?", Midna asked in a sharp tone, not bothering to even hold the words.
"Tsk, tsk, and very rude by the way. It makes me imagine how your father would react if he knew about it.", Hale said, in a tone of false worry.
"Don't you dare to talk about my father, traitor.", Zelda said, in a cold tone that trimmed with controlled anger. "By the crimes of high treason against our country and almost killing our hero, I sentence you to perpetual prison."
Hale let out a laugh, like the fact that Zelda had just marked him as a traitor was hilarious. That just contributed to make the anger of the two women for the slimy noble bigger. The blond Princess was doing her best to look as composed and impassive as always, but it was getting difficult as she heard the councilor's voice.
"Sentence me? Who do you think you are, your pathetic woman!? The King? You'll never rule as one and do you know why? Because no one will respect you...", Hale was cut off by Midna.
"Bla, bla, bla. I'm tired of hearing your sexist comments. What, just because she's a woman doesn't mean she can't be a good ruler?", Midna said, but soon shook her head with a hand on her forehead. "Why am I even waisting my time talking with to you? Can we kill this guy already Zelda?"
"Generally, I'm not in favor of violence...", the bearer of the god's power said, slowly. "But in this case, I'll make an exception.", with that, she made her Spirit Bow appear (the one she used in the battle against Ganondorf). "If I'm not mistaken, the appropriate term for this situation would be: let's show to him what happens when he messes with princesses."
Midna gave a proud smile at her friend's commentary and looked back to Hale, who seemed curious that they would really battle against him. The nobleman smirked again, saying:
"You honestly think you can defeat me? It seems I'll need to teach you some manners, Zelda."
Hale brought the purple orb in front of him and started to charge electrical energy in it, shooting bolts of lightning at the two princesses, who simply raised a barrier. The magical attack hit the barrier harmlessly. Midna smiled maliciously at seeing the male spell caster was underestimating them. She threw back a dark beam, which Hale avoided by floating aside.
Zelda charged a spell and casted it on the bow. A normal light arrow was shot and divided into light lances in the air. Hale defended by using his light orb and forming a barrier to absorb the lances. The Princess of the Light World looked to Midna, who nodded. The Twilight Princess charged a shadow spell and passed her hand in the air, like she was erasing something. A black mass of energy that resembled a blade flew from her hand.
Hale didn't have enough time to take his white orb out of the way of the attack. When the dark magic hit the light artifact, the two elements clashed against each other. The orb cracked and broke, releasing the energy contained on it, which hit Hale and blew him away, however, the noble recovered in mid air, using his wind magic.
The noble shot a venous look to the two and brought his red and green orb to his front, charging his combined spell. The fire tornado was formed again, but Midna and Zelda didn't seem surprised by that, in fact, the two smirked at the flaming anomaly. Putting her hand on the small shoulder of her light counterpart, Midna teleported the two of them out of the way of the fire tornado.
The arrogant councilor sensed the strange movement in the magical flow. Looking near the destroyed door of the office, the noble saw the two women materializing in streams of black, square matter and golden, sand-like particles. Quickly thinking, Hale pointed his hand to the ground with the yellow sphere near its palm. Several pointed stalagmites came out of the ground in a thick line, going to the princesses. Zelda placed her hand on the ground too, launching a counter-spell that made another line of stalagmites come and clash against the other, nullifying the attack.
While the blond princess knelled, Hale used his green sphere to cast a sphere of wind blades, which would surely cut the Hylian ruler to bits. Midna saw that and ran to the front of her friend, casting an ice typhoon to counter the wind cutter. The freezing winds won against the concentrated wind sphere and caught Hale, who had to use his blue orb to defend himself, but while the ice was absorbed, a bright blur hit his magical orb and shattered it. He realized it had been Zelda who shot it and was hit by icy projectiles while was blown some steps away without leaving the ground.
"What's the problem? Can't stand a fight against two women? Talk about weak guys...", Midna taunted.
Hale gridded his teeth. Midna smirked at seeing she had pissed him off. Power seemed to built around the traitorous noble and Zelda looked to Midna, with a look that said "do you think it was a good idea to taunt him like that?".
"'Weak'?! I'll show you who is weak!"
Hale made the orbs he still had spin around his head, so fast it looked like a blur of four different colors. He then stretched his arm up and the circle shrunk around it, until almost close on his wrist. He then pointed his hand to the two princesses and shot a large multi-colored beam that shone with tones of red, yellow, purple, and green. Midna got surprised by the attack and took the Mirror Shield to defend herself, without remembering it was broken.
When the beam hit the shield, the Twilight Princess was pushed against a pillar near the door, which fell, thankfully, the protection equipment took most of the damage from the attack. Zelda looked to her friend and in that moment of distraction Hale switched hands, leaving the spinning, multicolored ring in the air and putting his other hand on the middle of it, and shooting another beam. The Princess of Hyrule tried to rise a barrier, however, the protective enchantment broke from the power of the magical attack, and Zelda was thrown backwards.
"Now you die!", Hale said, taking his hand out of the ring and separating it in two minor ones, one with the green and purple orb and the other with the red and yellow ones. He pointed his hands with the rings in his palms at the two princesses and bolts of lighting, combined with strong gusts of wind shot from his right hand while lava shot from his left hand and fell to the ground while pointed rock formations came up from the floor.
The combined spells hit their targets, who hadn't the chance to defend themselves. Zelda was pushed to the ground by the winds and bombarded by lightning, which even dug into earth due to the powerful charges, making the blond ruler to get covered by wreckage and dirt. Midna was encased in a jail formed by stalagmites and was soon hit by a fire pillar coming from the ground. The rocks around the tall, exotic woman melted and covered the place where she was, forming what looked like the miniature of a volcano, but without a hole in its top.
Hale lowered his arms, panting at the great consumption of magical energy to perform those attacks, but smirked nonetheless. He heard a gasp from behind and looked to see Link there. The green clad warrior had probably watched the entire battle, rotting for the two princesses to win. The traitorous noble composed himself and used his best arrogant tone while speaking to the Hero:
"It seems your friends failed. Now if you don't want to meet the same destiny as them, I suggest you to give me back my artifact and your shield."
The blond swordsman clenched his teeth. No way he would give anything to that bastard after what he just done to his friends. Before the Hero could reply, a tremor was heard from behind Hale. The two then looked to where the Princess had been when they were hit by the attacks.
At the same time two things happened. The pile of ruble where Zelda had been buried blew up with a flash of white. The Princess of Hyrule floated out of it graciously, with her hands united in a prayer-like way, but her eyes were deadly serious and piercing when she opened them and looked to her traitorous councilor. The rocky formation that enclosed Midna cracked, black lights coming out of it, and then it blew up, revealing the Twilight Princess, which bore an expression as serious as her light counterpart. Both had cuts and stains of dirt in their clothing, but aside that they looked unscathed.
The ambitious noble looked utterly shocked, but before he could react to that, Midna made two dark spheres appear on her hands, her robe flowing and flapping, like it had been picked up by a wind, and a soft, black aura glowing around her, however, instead of making the Twilight Princess look menacing or even scary, Link found it rather fit her, accentuating her bluish skin tone and brighting her fiery-red hair.
The otherworldly magician uttered words in Twili and joined her hands in a clap, making the two spheres on them merge. A great shadow come in front of her, forming some kind of dome, which closed around Hale, who tried to throw a spell at Midna, but it seemed he missed since the shadow still was closing around him. Another voice added to the Twili's, this one belonging to Zelda, who was speaking in ancient Hylian. The noble tried to shot bolts of lighting at the Princess of the Light World, but her voice seemed to echo in the dome, making it impossible for him to locate her.
"Come out you cowards!", the male spell caster yelled, charging and casting spells with the power of his elemental orbs everywhere, but seemed to have hit nothing again. He couldn't even see the ground.
"So, you think you know how to cast spells, Hale?", Zelda's voice echoed, startling the noble, who realized he was trapped. Her tone was her normal serious one, but with a hint of scorn in it.
"Let's show to him a combined spell, Zelda.", Midna's voice said, also booming in the dark space.
Several light spheres appeared around Hale, surrounding him. Before he could put up any defense, a shining, blue rune circle bearing Twili symbols appeared under him and shot a pillar of light up, which paralyzed the noble while the light balls released beams upon him. Hale was completely helpless against the magical attack getting hit by all the beams, which seemed to attack his magical energy directly, forcing it out and bringing great pain to him. The orbs were also affected and cracked with the pressure. The pillar got thinner and thinner, until it turned into just a line on the center of the traitorous councilor's head and exploded, attacking him with his magical energy and, by consequence, the orbs, which broke in thousands of shards. As the shadow dome lowered, Hale fell to the ground.
Midna and Zelda approached, looking with scorn to the unconscious man. Link also came, a look of surprise on his face. He couldn't see what happened inside the dome, but he heard Hale screaming and the sounds of something he supposed were magical spells hitting him. He looked to Hale and back to his noble friends, asking:
"What did you do to him?"
"We performed a combined spell which caused a magical backslash on him.", Midna said, sounding proud of what they did.
"Back... slash?", Link asked, completely confused.
The Twilight Princess sighed and went to the body of the noble to teleport him right to one of the castle's prison cells in the dungeons. She let Zelda explain to their blond friend about the term:
"A backslash is when you use your opponent's magical energy to perform a powerful spell against him. It's very useful to take spellcasters out of battle, but it can be fatal to the caster if it's not performed with caution. Only high level magicians can utilize spells with this effect.", Link let out an "oh". When Midna just finished teleporting the criminal noble away, she turned to them.
"He will be unable to use magic for weeks, after that. Now all you have to do is to sentence him properly and the council surely will stop bothering you.", Midna said.
Zelda nodded and asked for Link the document that he had found. The green clad warrior handed it to the princess and she thanked him. He also took out from his pockets the shards of the Fused Shadow and handed it to Minda, who got practically dumbstruck by seeing the ancient relic of her people. Before she could recover her voice, the Hero explained:
"I found it in Hale's treasure room. It seems he was guarding it so he could fix latter and use its powers. We were battling before because he wanted it back."
Midna seized the fragments of the Fused Shadow, thanking Link. But before she could left, she felt a gloved hand on her shoulder and turned to see Zelda, who was giving her a meaningful look. Realizing what her light counterpart wanted, Midna sighed and nodded. While the Princess of Hyrule moved away, the otherworldly woman turned to her green clad friend, who had finally got some potions and was drinking a red one to recover from his wounds.
The Hero then noticed his Twili friend was next to him. Getting up, Link asked her if she was alright. The Twilight Princess answered affirmatively and an awkward silence fell over the scene as the blond Hylian waited for her to speak something. He scratched the back of his head, thinking on a way to break the ice, until Midna finally spoke up:
"Link... I... want to talk to you about something...", she couldn't find strength look to him, and her tone was somewhat softer than usual, what really called the Hero's attention. "I... wanted to explain... why I have been... so upset yesterday.", Link gave her a look of "go on" and she continued. "Well... it happens that... I was... jealous..."
The Twilight Princess said that last phrase in almost an whisper and getting a slight tint of red in her cheeks, which made Link let out an "uh?". She then repeated the last part and her blond friend got even more curious. Why would she be jealous of him? He didn't remember of doing anything to cause her to be like this.
"Midna, what are you...?", before he could finish his sentence, the female Twili blurted out:
"I was jealous of you and Zelda, okay?! That's it! I can't be clearer than that."
Jealous of me and Zelda? But what could I possibly..., the truth finally hit Link with the force of a Darknut's mace. He was rooted to the ground while digesting the information and everything it meant. I swear, the day I find out the guy who first spread it I'll make Ganondorf look a nice guy!
"Then, did you believe in that talks about me and her?", Link inquired. Midna also said something about his friends, but got interrupted by the now irritated Hero. "The guys that call themselves my friends are always picking on me for one reason or another. I thought you would understand it since you do it too.", Midna shot a look at Link, who ignored it. "Anyway, I don't have anything with Zelda, we're just friends. And before you come talking about that marriage announcement thing, it wasn't for real. I wouldn't marry her, cause I don't feel that way towards her. She's a great friend to me, someone I like to speak with and understands this whole hero thing I have marked on me."
Link stopped to take air after explaining all of that in just one breath. Midna looked surprised for hearing that and... was he mistaken or there was a glint of hope in her eyes? Anyway, the way she reacted with all of that wasn't what someone would consider a jealously between friends. Thinking better now; why she was jealous of him anyway? It wasn't like they had anything. Curiosity started to claw at the hero chosen by the goddess.
"Why were so jealous, by the way?"
Midna gulped at that. She wasn't expecting for him to ask that question right now. Maybe he was smarter than she had given him credit for. Link tapped his foot, waiting for an answer while his exotic-looking friend decided what was the best way to tell him. Again, an inner voice that carried a matter-of-fact tone said to her: Just say it, duh!
"Ilikeyou...", Midna said so quickly and low that Link didn't understand and let out an "uh?!". "I like you, okay?! I've liked you since our journey! There, happy?", Midna replied, almost screaming.
Link stayed completely dumbstruck. His brain was working frenetically to process the information and come up with a good answer for that. Unfortunately, the first choice (and a bad one) was the one the green clad swordsman took:
"But why didn't you tell me that before?"
"Because I didn't know how you felt about me, or if you had already chosen Zelda. Anyway, I gave you some large tips along the way."
"Tips... ?", Link asked. Again he said the wrong thing, making his short-tempered friend angry.
"Oh, by the deities... don't tell me you didn't find out?", Midna said, shaking her head and putting her hand on her forehead.
"And how was I supposed to know? I can't read people's minds, it could have meant anything.", Link replied, starting to get angry at being called oblivious. He really hadn't guessed that those insinuations Midna threw at him meant that, he guessed it should be part of her personality to be like that.
"One doesn't need to read minds to see what's right in his face!", Midna said, giving emphasis to the last two words.
How that talk was turning from a confession of love to a heated argue was a complete mystery to Zelda. She was behind the ruins of one of the house's walls, hearing to the entire conversation to know how her two friends were doing. It was with a great sigh that she noticed the two were about to start another argue.
"Well, if you spoke, at least I wouldn't need to be imagining what's up with you!"
"And if you at least put this brain of yours to work, it would make things easier, but NO. Mister Hero can't hurt his little precious head."
"Argh! You know what?! People as hardheaded as you drive me crazy!"
"And how I fell for a blockhead like you is a complete mystery to me, when I could have guys that are livelier than you."
Oh, oh. She shouldn't have said that., Zelda thought.
The Hero gridded his teeth at that comment and gave a final comeback, in a very angry tone:
"Alright! Then go to those suitors of yours, I DON'T CARE!!!"
"AND YOU GO FIND SOMEONE THAT'S AS DUMB AS YOU!!!", Midna shouted back. With a final "humph", the two turned the backs to each other, and walked in opposite directions.
Zelda came out of her hiding place, looking at her two friends walking away from each other. Those two really needed to work on their tempers before got together. Maybe they could use some help with that...
Did you all really think it would just be Midna confesses to Link and they would be together? Please, we're talking about Midna and Link. Considering the temper the two of them have and Midna's sarcastic attitude, it wouldn't be that fast for them to start the whole kissing/hugging/romance-look-in-the-eyes and you-know-what-more routine.
Llorest: Well, I must admit, considering that this Link is the most expressive one of the whole game series and that he often shows that sharp, serious look on dungeons and the rest, it might even be correct.
Of course it is! I always analyze the characters whole psychological profile before writing about them on my stories.
Now what will happen to our favorite (almost) couple? Will they both stop to be the stubborn, harheaded people and realize they like each other the way they are? And what is Zelda planning? Will she successfully play the cupid for those two? Stay tuned for the next chapter and discover!
Llorest: I thought she would be jealous of Link and Midna.
She would... if she was some of the other Zeldas from the previous games, but since she and Link barely really know each other, like he stated before, it doesn't happen here.
Llorest: But he saved her life, shouldn't it count?
... uh... ... just shut up and let the plot roll!