Finally updated! No, the bokoblins and Twilight creatures haven't carried me off...though I did have some issues with the Remlets. :P
thanks for reading and reviewing. I've nearly completed writing the rest of this story, I hope to have faster updates VERY SOON.

Twilight Mirror

Several nights later, the Gerudo fortress came into view, its towers marring the horizon with their sharp, dark shadows. But after traveling for a day in the endless sands of the desert, even the fortress was an almost welcome sight. The desert had been restless, tortured by winds and haunted by various sand creatures. Link and Colin had barely been able to put their swords away and the trip had been rather taxing to their strength, demanding that they always stay on the alert. As a result, Link was wary as they reached the crumbling bokoblin outpost that he had defeated on his first quest. But as soon as they passed the outpost, the desert became unnaturally quiet and still. Nothing moved aside from Epona and Brego as they steadily plodded onward. There was no wind and no sign of any living creature. Link began to wonder if that was an effect of the Twilight beasts' presence, or indeed, it the beasts were here at all. He had seen few signs of them, but traveling by portal would have left few tracks to follow. Still, something wasn't quite right in the desert. Reaching the staircase to the Temple, Link dismounted, Colin following suit. They left the horses tethered at the base of the stairs and proceeded on foot.

Link slowly approached the Gerudo Fortress, memories and visions from five years earlier swirling in his head, just as the sand swirled around his feet. He wasn't entirely sure what it was he was looking for now. The Twilight beasts' tracks had led here, but there had been no sign of them past the outpost.

"What now?" Colin whispered over the wind. It was eerily quiet out here in the desert at night, the Fortress looming over their heads like some kind of sleeping beast. One only had to listen for a moment to begin to imagine faint growls from within.

"We go inside," Link said, shrugging his shield onto his arm and loosening his sword in its sheath, just in case.

Colin followed closely as they walked up the stairs to the entrance. Link pushed the door open and it swung on rusty hinges, revealing a hallway filled with sand and cobwebs. Doesn't look like anyone's returned since I was here last, Link thought. Even so, he was still wary. The lack of footprints in the dusty floor did nothing to comfort him. There could be any number of weightless things floating about the halls, just like the poes Link had encountered before. But when he and Colin entered the main hall and the four magic torches stayed aflame, Link relaxed. The Fortress was truly empty after all. He slung his shield onto his back and turned to Colin.

"It's alright," he said. "It looks like this place really is empty."

Colin slid his own sword back into its sheath, but he still looked uneasy. He followed Link closely through the rest of the Fortress, but they met no one and reached the Twilight Chamber without event.

Link entered the Twilight Chamber with the same sense of awe that he had had five years ago. He almost expected the sages to appear again and pass a shard of their knowledge on to him, aiding him in his quest. The chamber was exactly as he remembered it—the sages' columns standing tall around the perimeter; the broken chains extending downward to the floor; the Twilight Portal leaning drunkenly in the center of the Chamber, its base buried in sand; and the small stairway leading to the Twilight Mirror. But the Mirror! Link suddenly leaped forward, sprinting towards the Mirror. It took Colin by surprise and it was a moment before he caught back up to Link. But by then Link's attention was only on the Mirror. For instead of where the shattered remains should lie, there was a Mirror in its stand, cracked and tarnished, yet whole.

"How could this be?" Link murmured to himself, staring at the spectacle before him.

"Link," a faint whisper echoed around the chamber, seeming to emanate from the Mirror itself. "Link." It was Midna's voice.

"Midna?" Link called, putting his hands on either side of the Mirror and gazing down into it, as if the Twilight Princess herself would answer.

"Hero," she said, but then her voice faded into a laugh, quiet at first, then louder, but evil beyond measure. The laugh contorted as if stretched and suddenly it was the terrible, ringing laugh of Ganandorf. Link longed to put his hands over his ears and block out the horrible sound, but his hands were frozen to the Mirror. With a start, Link realized that, not only were his hands frozen, but his whole body was immobile. He could see Colin out of the corner of his eye. But it seemed as if Colin were on the other side of a fine wall of sand. As he watched, Colin tried to step towards him, but he was pushed away as if by strong wind. An invisible barrier had now separated Link from the world. He tried to call out to Colin, but Colin did not acknowledge it. Instead, the boy stepped back helplessly, an expression of worry on his face.

Suddenly the Mirror's surface cleared and the cracks glowed faintly and then faded, leaving an unblemished surface as still as a lake on a calm day. Link watched in fascinated horror as a shadow darkened the glass and Ganandorf's face appeared.

"Looking for someone, Link?" he laughed as an image of Zelda shimmered briefly into view, then faded away.

"What have you done to her Ganandorf?" Link yelled in anger. "And where's Midna?"

"That pesky imp? She has no part in this. I'm just using this as a means to communicate. But as for your princess..." Ganandorf gestured behind himself and another image appeared. This time it was a dark fortress surrounded by a desolate landscape. "Zelda rests in my castle unharmed. For now," he grinned darkly.

"No! You're supposed to be dead!" Link shouted. His mind did not want to accept what his eyes were seeing.

"Am I?" Ganandorf sneered. "You should know by now that the Twilight is no prison for me. I have moved freely within it before and it was no challenge a second time. After all, the Mirror was never properly shattered. It seems that your Twilight Princess still had a connection to you. She left one small piece of the Mirror intact. But that was her mistake. I found it and used it, the last remaining link between our worlds. A few of the Twili escaped with me, but as soon as they entered your world, they transformed into beasts. It was they you saw that day in the field. It was I who sent them, and I who stole your princess."

"Give her back, thief!" Link snarled.

"How's your courage, hero?" Ganandorf laughed. Link winced; the Dark Thief's words cut deep as a sharpened blade. "If you want Zelda back, come and get her!" Ganandorf's image began to fade. It dissolved into Zelda, frightened and alone. It tore Link's heart to see her face.

"Zelda!" he called.

She looked up, as if she could hear him, but her eyes filled with an even greater fear and the image darkened. A rushing wind filled Link's ears as the Mirror began to glow, brighter and brighter, hotter and hotter. Link was released from his frozen state with a sudden jerk, as if a giant hand had shoved him away from the Mirror. He fell back, shielding his face with his arms as the Mirror violently exploded, sending shards of glass flying in all directions. Then, suddenly, it was all over. Silence descended on the Chamber and the wind died down to its usual whisper. Colin rushed forward as Link carefully picked himself up from the pieces of glass. Link knew with a cold certainty that there was no remaining shard of the Twilight Mirror anymore. All that remained of the portal was a dark slab of stone and a million tiny, glittering bits of glass, mirroring only the star-studded sky now. Link let out a breath he didn't even realize he had been holding as he brushed himself off and turned to meet Colin.

"What happened?" Colin asked, the tremor of fear in his voice not quite hidden. He gazed at the broken glass with wide eyes.

Link suddenly felt immensely tired. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to concentrate. "What did you see?" he asked, opening his eyes and looking at Colin.

"Well, you ran up to the Mirror," Colin began. "I tried to follow, but it was like an invisible wall surrounded you. I couldn't get close. You looked like you were in some sort of trance, but," Colin shuddered, "the expression on your face was one of horror and pain. The Mirror glowed as if lit from the inside, and you just kept watching it. You said some things, but I couldn't hear them, and then the Chamber filled with a terrible wind, and the Mirror exploded."

"I know where Zelda is," Link spoke suddenly, without explanation.

"What? How?" Colin gaped.

"Colin, I saw Ganandorf in the Mirror. He told me that he holds Zelda captive. And then I saw her face," Link spoke quietly, more to himself than to Colin now. "She was afraid, and it was the most horrible thing I have ever seen." Link lapsed into silence.

"So, what do we do now?" Colin broke the still quiet.

"We go rescue a Princess," Link said, standing tall and looking off to the East, at the first gray edges of dawn that were just beginning to paint the sky.