A/N: This chapter was revised as of 6/2/13 – Polished, added narrative, minor errors and typos fixed.
What Makes a Hero
By: Selphie Kinneas 175
Chapter 21: Desperation
.:.
The light was warm on his aching body, the fur of his canine form adding to it nicely.
Link was barely conscious, barely had any idea of what was happening, or what exactly had just happened. He could feel that he was hovering in mid-air, surrounded by the comforting sensation of the light spirit. He felt his body being lowered gently until the soft grass of Hyrule Field greeted his paws at long last. He opened his eyes slowly, his head pounding something awful as he shook it slightly to try and clear his vision.
He sighed as his mind finally fully comprehended the fact that he was a wolf once again. Only this time, there was no twilight; he was in the light realm, so how was he supposed to turn back now? He grew frustrated as he realized he would have to wait even longer to rest. He was so tired and still quite sick and hurting; he just wanted a moment's reprieve.
As he fully came to, he was aware of weight on his back and a very weak presence. He was proved right when his ears picked up the sound of heavily labored breathing from behind him. He turned his head, noticing that his imp companion was there and was not looking well.
"Link," he suddenly heard the ethereal voice of Lanayru, "Hero chosen by the Goddesses… Go to the princess locked away in the castle. That princess holds the key that can unlock you from your shadow form…"
He then turned and ran as fast as he could, praying that the princess would know how to help Midna as well. He couldn't explain it, but he was desperately terrified of how lifeless the imp felt to him. She was always full of energy and eager to tease and torment him her every waking moment, and the fact that she felt as if she was barely clinging to life on his back was frightening.
Even though this imp was cruel to him, and had been since the day they met, he would never have wished this upon her. He didn't want to lose her, because even though she made it her every day mission to make him feel worse about himself, he had grown to care for her and he realized that he needed her.
His paws tore at the earth as he kicked his feet to gain more speed and the rain pelted down on his back ruthlessly, not helping with his current sickness in the slightest. He ran through the field, over the bridge, and into Hyrule Castle Town. He knew he shouldn't go where people could see him, and he knew everyone would be horrified, but there was no other way. He ignored the screaming villagers as he raced through the town. He knew without even attempting it that approaching the castle's front gates wouldn't be an option. That was when he remembered something Telma had told him back in Kakariko about her bar having a passageway that leads into the castle; he headed there with haste.
When he arrived, he was pleased to see that the door was left slightly ajar – perhaps it was to let in the cool breeze from the rain? Whatever the case, Link strode inside without even considering the fact that he did not appear as himself.
Screams of terror filled the bar upon his entrance.
"What is that!" he heard a female shout from the back of the room.
"W-Well," a young man stammered, obviously afraid, "it appears to be of the canine class with its-," he continued diagnostically but was cut off.
"It was a rhetorical question, yeah!"
"Strange… it seems lost," another man stated also from the far end of the bar.
When Telma noticed the intruder, she consoled her friends, "Don't you worry about a thing, this sweet Goron here will take care of that monster!"
It was then that a nearby Goron approached him ruthlessly. "Beast!" it yelled angrily, preparing to kick him, "Get out!"
He recoiled, but the creature's strike was swift and true, nailing him firmly in the ribcage. He whimpered as he stumbled backwards and rolled out into the cold, the door slamming shut behind him. After taking a moment to compose himself, he turned and headed back out into the rain, trying to think of another way to enter the castle.
He heaved a defeated sigh as he looked up at the storm, letting the drops of rain pelt against his thick fur. He was trying so hard to get his companion to the princess, but he felt stuck; there was seemingly no way into the castle. He couldn't let her die on him, though.
He glanced back at her, her tiny hands clutching to his coat as her head rested against the back of his neck. Her labored breaths were loud in his ear, and her agonized expression sent shivers down his spine. She was desperate – he needed to find some way, anyway, into that castle now.
A sudden, strange voice at his side caught his attention and he whirled around in a flash. It didn't sound like a human's voice, but that didn't make sense - what other voice could he be hearing? That's when he saw Telma's cat leap down from a few crates and look over at him. He could understand words coming from this feline's mouth; how was that even possible? Not only was he an animal but he could speak with other animals? This whole thing just seemed to get crazier and crazier day by day.
Somehow, the cat knew who he truly was. She sniffed him, proving her instincts to be true. She then introduced herself as Louise, and explained that even though she knew his true identity, she was very puzzled as to why he looked the way he currently did.
"Really, dear," she began, "you can't blame the humans for tossing you out, the way you look."
He sighed inwardly; he knew she was right, he just didn't know what else to do.
"Oh… Another patient?" she said, eyeballing the barely conscious Midna, "You certainly are a curious sort."
"…Plea… Please…" he could hear her struggling from his back, and it tore at his heart to hear her voice sound so shaky and weak, "Princess… Z-Zelda…"
The feline thought for a moment before directing them over to the boxes she had leapt down from previously, explaining that through the window they could get into the attic which connected to the castle's waterway. Her last piece of advice was to make sure that the humans didn't notice him, and she was off.
He climbed up a few stacked crates and entered the bar through the small opening. When he emerged, he found himself high above the bar, looking down on the people below. Immediately, he could hear them talking amongst themselves about the strange encounter they had just witnessed.
He entered mid-conversation, "-bit odd, I do say… It didn't seem as if that creature meant to cause any trouble in the least," a scholarly looking man stated.
"Then what else would it be doing in here? Huge wolves don't just roam through populated cities like this, yeah?" a dark-haired woman questioned.
"Perhaps it lost its way. Maybe it lost its pack," another older looking man chimed in.
"And ended up in town? I doubt it. The only wolves I've seen are those on the mountains," the female rebutted.
He began making his way across the first rope he spotted while continuing to listen to their conversation. His plan was to sneak across while they were all busy talking so that, hopefully, they wouldn't notice the giant predator right above their heads.
"Well, honey, you know how worthless the Hylian soldiers are," Telma started, "They just let anything slip passed them these days."
One more rope; he was so close now, he could see the exit.
The younger woman at the table sighed, "Isn't that the truth. Just the other day, I saw one of the guards cowering at one of the resident's house dogs, yeah?"
"How can the safety of this land and its people truly be in the hands of such imbeciles? I dare say that I would be a better soldier, and we here are all quite aware of how positively dreadful I am with conflict," the young man with glasses said.
The ebony haired girl couldn't help but snicker.
"Well, what about that young lad you told me about, Telma?" the grey-haired man inquired.
"You mean Link?" she offered, he nodded, "Oh, honey, he's a fine young man, no doubt a million times braver than these soldiers of Hyrule."
Link's cheeks would have flushed with embarrassment, had he been human, as he stood before the final rope listening to their discussion.
"Yes," the old man turned to the other two at the table who had not yet heard the story, "Apparently he defeated the beast that had been attacking tourists on the bridge while escorting Telma and her young ward to Kakariko Village."
The young woman seemed shocked, "And here I was, thinking Hyrule was empty of men of valor."
"Oh, no," the red haired man shook his head, having realized that he had heard stories of this mysterious character throughout town, "I don't believe he's from Hyrule proper at all. No, my understanding is that he's from the small neighboring province of Ordona."
He started crossing the rope slowly as he wondered, what does where he came from have to do with anything?
"This may sound horribly elitist… but people who do not know the city simply do not know fear," the young man finished.
That statement made Link angry. He was sure, without a doubt, that he had seen more fearful things in his short time being hero than any of these people had in their entire lifetimes. He sighed as he tried to ignore it, never being one to hold onto feelings of bitterness towards others.
He decided he was done listening; he didn't want to hear anything else that would make him have ill feelings towards these people later on. He was sure these were the friends Telma spoke of previously, he figured he would see them again, and he would hate to start the relationship off on a bad note because of something he heard them say when he was a wolf.
He picked up the pace, placing one paw in front of the other much quicker than he was before. Near the end, his back paw slipped and fell off the side of the rope, forcing him to grab on with his front legs. Unfortunately, that meant being spotted.
He heard a female shriek in fear directly below him, "It's that beast again!"
"Get it!" a man shouted.
Din's flame, this wasn't good.
He could feel Midna struggling to hold onto his fur as he scurried along the rope towards the ledge where the exit was located. He didn't even bother to look down as he could hear those below him trying to halt his escape, but they were unsuccessful. Once he reached the ledge, he shuffled his paws from the flimsy rope to the stable floor and pulled himself and his partner up without too much difficulty. He didn't even spare a glance back as he hastily made for the dark archway before them.
"Where's that thing going?" the girl asked.
"That leads to the castle's waterway," the proprietress stated, knowing her bar like the back of her hand.
"That monster is trying to get into the castle? Do you think it's trying to hurt the princess?" the older man suggested.
"It would seem so. What else would a beast want from the castle? Perhaps it is a lesser minion working for some greater evil?" the scholarly man offered.
"No," Telma began, "I don't think that wolf means any harm."
The group seemed confused.
"How can you be sure? It sure stormed through here without a care, yeah?"
She couldn't explain it, she just had a feeling, "But it didn't hurt us, now did it? Just trust me honey, I've got a good feeling that that beast won't be hurting anyone."
"Well, Telma, your feelings usually are right," the older man stated with a smirk.
The younger man with glasses thought for a moment before speaking up, "Perhaps it was trying to find a safe place to hide its young?"
"Its young?" the woman asked.
"Did you not see the smaller creature that clung to its back? It seemed rather helpless and dependent on the wolf. My estimation is that it was simply searching for a safe place for it to care for its offspring."
That was the last of the conversation Link could make out before finding himself falling through an opening in the ground that he hadn't seen coming. As soon as he landed, he was instantly swept off his feet by an overwhelming current of water. It whisked him down a narrow tunnel and threw him into a large, circular corridor. Luckily, Midna had been just strong enough to be able to hold on. He looked back at her, her eyes were closed and her breathing was still strenuous in her weakened state. He knew he needed to hurry.
He pulled down a nearby lever he came across which opened a gate directly to his side. He released the handle from his mouth and splashed into the water, its strong current quickly rendering him unable to control his movements. He tried his best to keep Midna's head above the water, but found it to be a difficult task.
Just hold on, he thought, don't give up yet.
As a kid, he never had problems with spiders, but he found himself learning to hate them at the start of this journey – they were almost always bigger than him! He dispatched of a few of them as they charged him as swiftly as he could, taking a few swipes from them himself as he was concentrating more on making smaller movements so that the imp wouldn't have such a hard time holding on than fighting effectively.
He used a stick he found on the ground to light fire to the arachnid's multiple webs blocking his path, and when he entered a room with seemingly no way out, he remembered what Midna had taught him about using his senses. He concentrated on using his canine-enhanced eyesight and discovered that he could dig through the floor in the center of the room.
Once he did so, he found himself even farther underground. He immediately recognized this place; it was where he had first encountered his pesky little companion. Who would have guessed back then that he would have grown so attached to her – he wasn't even aware that he had until now. All he could think about was getting her safe.
He traversed up the stairwell, having to use the frustrating ropes as a result of not having Midna to help him leap the gaps. The higher he got, the more nerve-wracking it was to cross the skinny lines, but he pressed on. He had a few close encounters, both from Bulblins trying to shoot him off and from him losing his balance, but they eventually made it to the top and back outside.
He recognized this area all too well also. He remembered how gloomy this place had looked back then, all covered in twilight. Now, he thought, it actually didn't look much better. Perhaps it was simply the fact that he knew the truth of what was going on in Hyrule, but there was something about it that just looked… depressing.
The rain felt like dozens of rocks being thrown at him in a flurry. His sickness was still very present in his body; it had been only being pushed aside and ignored at the hero's will. He ran over parapets and rooftops, battling enemies all the while, until he finally made it to the window that led into the castle that had somehow etched itself into his memory from the last time he had been here.
Luckily, the princess always seemed to leave her door just barely ajar. Was it by mistake, or had she done it purposefully in case he was to return, he wondered. He used all his remaining energy to bound up the stairs and enter the princess' chambers with as much haste as he had left in him.
He looked around frantically, seeing the royalty nowhere in sight. His heart fluttered in panic when he felt his companion slip off of his back and land on the hard ground with a quiet thud. He looked down at her worriedly; she appeared as if she was just barely hanging onto life.
It was then that the Hylian princess placed a dainty hand on the imp's cheek. Link looked up at her in surprise, wondering where she came from as he did not see her only moments earlier.
"Please… Please tell me…" Midna mumbled, "How do we break… the curse on this one?"
Zelda grasped the Twili's weak, outstretched hand as Midna continued, "This… is the one… You need him… to save your world. That's why… Princess… Please… You must help Link…"
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was the first time he had witnessed such selflessness from his partner, and he felt horrible about it. As she lay, obviously suffering, all she could ask the princess was for her to help return him to his true form. If only he had been able to speak at that moment…
The Hyrulean princess looked up at the dismayed beast before her as he gazed shamefully down at the imp. She extended her right hand, trying to heal him with the power of the triforce that she wielded, but to no avail.
"What binds him is a different magic than what transformed him when he first passed the curtain of twilight. It is an evil power," she spoke wisely, "Our world is one of balance… Just as there is light to drive away darkness, so, too, is there benevolence to banish evil."
Link listened intently as she instructed that he head for the Sacred Grove that lies deep within Faron Woods. She explained that there he would find the blade of evil's bane, the Master Sword, in which was crafted so that evil could never touch it, therefore cleaving the dark veil of evil that cloaked him. She showed him her hand, telling him that she, too, was granted special powers by the three divine Goddesses. He smiled, taking solace in the fact that perhaps, once this was all over, he would have someone to talk to that would understand his plight.
He didn't want to believe his ears when Midna asked him if he could find the woods on his own. He wanted to tell her no, just to make her stay a little bit longer. He didn't want her to leave him; it tore his heart in two to see her so frail and weak. He couldn't believe someone of such a strong will was giving up so easily.
"Princess… I have one last request…" the Twili murmured, "Can you tell him… where to find the Mirror of Twilight?"
Zelda's eyes grew wide and the chamber fell silent for what felt like an eternity, the only sound being that of the rain pitter-pattering on the window beside them.
"Midna," the princess' voice chimed, "I believe I understand now just who and what you are."
Link didn't understand.
"Despite your mortal injuries, you act in our stead… These dark times are the result of our deeds, yet it is you who have reaped the penalty."
The hero could see in her eyes that she was preparing herself for something, what, he did not know.
"Accept this now, Midna. I pass it to you…"
The Hylian princess closed her eyes as her body began to glow a brilliant golden color. Dozens of bright orbs hovered over Zelda's body, through her arm, and into Midna. The imp seemed shocked and confused as she began floating in mid-air beside the princess, an intense radiance surrounding them both.
Midna looked into the royalty's eyes pleadingly as she shouted to Link, "No! Link! Stop her!"
Zelda met the imp's gaze, her own form no longer enveloped in the light. The Twili continued begging the princess to stop, but it was futile. The glow was warm, and it felt soothing, but the imp did not want what she was being given.
Right before Link's eyes, the miniscule orbs of light escaped the Hylian's body and entered the Twili's, and the princess slowly faded away until she disappeared completely. He had no idea what had happened, but Midna was saved. She landed on her feet gently, although a glum look took over her features.
Princess Zelda was gone.
Midna thought for a moment, sadness still evident in her tone before saying, "We go back, Link! Back to Faron Woods!" and with a smooth backflip, she landed in her usual spot.
As they were leaving the empty chamber, the hero heard his companion mumble to herself, "Zelda… I've taken all that you had to give… though I did not want it…"
Desperately clinging to existence.