Chapter 21

Midna

(A.N.: Huge, huge thanks to MsNegative24 and epicninjas for adding me as a favourite author! Big thanks to MsNegative24 and lippincott1 for adding The Return to their favourite stories. And a helluva lotta thanks to Blake-Hero of Tyme, Dire Heart, and epicninjas for reviewing! I heart you guys! Sorry this chapter isn't particularly long.)

Something pierced my arm. Its point buried itself into my flesh, sending a searing stab up my arm. I heard myself cry out, but I did not feel myself cry. But I heard another voice, crying in unison with mine.
I had been hit. I did have something sharp drawing blood from my arm. But it seems the weapon had reached Kness first.
He had been leaning with his arm through the bars, holding me there. His arm would have been right in front of mine from where Zelda was standing. Zelda had shot him.
I felt the broad-headed point dig into my skin from the inside and Kness' arm was jogged in his initial shock – I would have shuddered and very likely thrown up, if I'd had half the chance. But my actions were rendered moot as Kness staggered away from the bars, tearing the point of the arrow from my arm. He slammed back against the wall, clutching his arm, and I collapsed on one side. Link was instantly next to me, sniffing at me and nuzzling me, prompting me to stay conscious. I was too focused on trying to feel something other than the white hot burning pain that prevented me from even lifting my hand to my arm.
I tried to focus on anything else, and the confrontation between Kness and Zelda was a good distraction. "What have you done?" He hissed with a grunt, obviously trying to stay steady on his feet and struggling.
Zelda's voice was calm and unfazed. "I have done what was asked of me."
"Asked of you by whom?" He spat. "You have just attempted to save the false princess and harmed the king! I could have you killed! I will not forgive you!" Kness' voice seemed to ri0se with either excitement or madness.
"I do not ask for your forgiveness." Zelda's voice had a certain hardness, if not spite to it that I had never heard before. "I trust in the Goddesses to guide me along the correct path, and that path does not lead me to you."
"You're wrong!" He hissed.
"If I am wrong, I leave it in the hands of the Goddesses to punish me, not a false king who tries to use lies of the Princess's false royalty as foundations for his reign."
He began to laugh, just as Zant would have. He was becoming more and more like him by the moment. "You are a fool, Light-Dweller, you have fallen for her tricks."
"Preach to me all you wish, without solid evidence, I will not believe you." Zelda replied, her voice as steady and as calm as ever.
"Very well. Make an enemy of me, then. This decision will return to haunt you..." I heard the familiar sound of dematerialisation as he warped himself away, leaving a moment of silence in his wake.
"Midna, are you alright?" Zelda's footsteps came towards me. Link looked up at her.
"The key..." I muttered under heaving breaths. "You didn't get... The key..."
"It's right next to you. He dropped it." Link turned round, then looked back at me, the key hanging from his jaws.
I nodded. "Good." The wolf turned to Zelda, pushing his muzzle between the bars. She must have taken the key, because there was a loud click that echoed throughout the room, followed by the creak of the opening cage door. Zelda was then beside me, with a feather light touch on my arm.
"Are you in pain?" I nodded. "How bad is it?"
"It's getting better..." I murmured. "It burned to have hat arrow torn from my arm..."
Getting a cloth from her bag and covering it in water, the thoughtfully replied; "Yes... Those arrows aren't really designed to come out painlessly." I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and held my breath as she washed away the blood. It was a moment that seemed to last forever, and I tried not to cry out as she pressed the sore, sensitive wound.
I opened my eyes slightly as I heard her rummaging through her bag again. The brow was slightly furrowed, betraying a hint of worry. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she put the bag down and lifted the hem of her skirt. I watched as in one fluid movement, she tore a long strip of fabric from the bottom of her dress. I gasped. "Zelda, what are you doing?"
"You insisted I keep the bandage on my leg fresh, and I had to keep changing it because I kept re-opening the wound and the bandages became covered in blood. We have no bandages left." She continued as if this meant nothing.
"But... Your dress..." I looked at the torn edge.
She shook her head and smiled slightly. "Do you remember what I said? I knew my dress would not return home perfectly intact. It is inconsequential to me what happens to it, and I would much rather use it to help you than keep it as tidy as possible and let you bleed." She wiped at the blood once more, helped me sit up, and then began to wrap the fabric around my arm.
I watched silently until she knotted the makeshift bandage to hold it in place. I put my hand over the bandage. "Thank you, Zelda, for doing that."
"It's the least I could do, after you tended to my wound." She began to pack her things back into her bag.
"No, I mean, shooting him - getting rid of him for me." I said, looking at the floor. Was I really so incompetent that I had to have the pampered youth princess of the Light World rid my realm of all the threats? I knew it was unfair of me to think that, but...
"You never asked me to."
"But you said-"
She held up her hand to stop me. "You never asked me to. The spirit did."
"The... Spirit?" I paused. "You mean like the Light spirits?"
She nodded. "Exactly like them. But I don't think now is the time to talk about it. We should head back to the Mirror Chamber, so Link can retrieve his things, and from there we'll work out what to do next. Are you ready to go?"
I looked at Link. Link looked back at me. That was all the confirmation I needed. I stood, feeling a lot better than before Zelda tended to my arm, and I leapt into the air, neatly landing on Link's back. He gave a surprised snort and turned to look at me with a half-hearted growl. He turned and followed Zelda out of the cell and down the entrance of the tower. I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face into his fur and breathing in the scent of him... The scent of my wolf. "I'm so glad we found you." I murmured into his fur. His ear twitched in reply.
"Link, I... I promise I won't leave you like that again."