Link was still out like a broken lantern in the morning, and judging by Midna's borderline-angry expression when I asked, he would probably remain in that state for at least the rest of the day. Which was fine, since Zelda apparently had other plans.

"Will you accompany me in checking on our forces?"

"I think I'm supposed to accompany you everywhere now," I smirked back. "So yes. Are they all in the village?"

Zelda shook her head. "No, some are still in Kakariko with the refugees from Castletown. Many of these people have families."

"Oh."

We were standing outside the cottage, surveying the quietly buzzing streets of the otherwise abandoned village. Some people had set up a medical station, and a camp kitchen, and others were lined up at both despite how early it was; the sun hadn't even fully risen yet. We'd slept the day away yesterday. Zelda had changed into plain, but almost-fitted riding clothes, and tugged a heavy cloak over her shoulders until the hood obscured her face. I wanted to say something about how that just made her look extra suspicious, but miraculously held my tongue when her gaze darted back to my face.

"Are you sure you are feeling well enough?"

"I'm not the one who healed a whole company of men yesterday." I shrugged. "Ready when you are. Although… do you want me to stay hidden in your shadow?" Spending so much time in the kid's shadow had made it a habit, and after the Ordon villagers' reaction to my appearance last time… well. I supposed hiding my face might bring less opposition to whatever Zelda had to say. I could only imagine the frightened reactions my "demon" eyes might elicit from the Resistance. "I don't mind, but if I see that Hart guy at any point, I can't take any responsibility for my actions."

But Zelda shook her head again. "No, please, I wish for you to remain at my side."

With that, she started towards the people lined up for medical and food, and removed the hood when she drew close enough to speak to them. I did receive several startled, even alarmed, looks, but for the most part, everyone just seemed too worn out to care and instead just watched Zelda intently. She inclined her head and smiled warmly as she gestured to the cauldron of oats on the fire. "May I assist you in any way? Do you have everything that you require?"

"Blankets," one of the men managed hoarsely. "Could use some more blankets, and bandages."

The Ordonian woman manning the cauldron nodded in agreement. "We are running low on food as well, after the newcomers."

Zelda glanced at me and I shrugged in understanding. "No problem. Midna would be able to move more supplies, though."

"Perhaps she would be willing to help, then." She turned to address the crowd, gesturing at me this time as she announced, "I would like to introduce you to my friend, who is also named Link. He is one of the Shadowfolk, the Sheikah."

Surprised by the introduction, I just grinned back as disarmingly as I could, despite my internal thought process getting hung up on the Sheikah part. I had no idea why she was telling these people that I had been inducted into a group that didn't even exist anymore in this time.

…Well, until one of the men in line for the medic called out, "The servants of the Royal Family?"

Zelda actually nudged me with her foot, and I turned and pointed to the now-generally-visible tattoo on my face. "Yup, reporting for duty," was all I said, because I didn't know what else I was supposed to say. Zelda looked satisfied, but the Ordonian woman, who I recognized now as one of the newer shop owners by the river – maybe Floria was her name? – she was looking at me suspiciously.

"Wait a minute- Link. You're that boy, aren't you?" she hissed at me. She'd stopped stirring the oats, instead glaring at me accusingly as if I were the single most offensive creature in Hyrule. This was not going well and I braced myself for her next words. "I'd heard rumors- You look different, but- You're the one who ran away from Ordon, and brought that councilman back to kill everyone-"

"I didn't run away, and I didn't tell Desn to kill anyone," I snapped back automatically, the indignation already building in my ribs. "But I was the one who came back and killed every one of those soldiers who'd sacked the village."

"Those bastards killed my son!"

"And they killed my Uncle Talo," I bit right back. Farore, Naryu, and Din, but we were not going to have this conversation right now. This had happened so long ago, and we had worse things on the horizon and yes, deep down, it still touched a nerve because I still felt guilty over the whole thing. But I did not want to relive this particular memory, and I was sure this lady didn't either. Zelda was about to intervene but I waved her off, and instead added less angrily, "It's not my fault it happened, but I did what I could to stop it. I'm sorry about your son."

The woman just glared some more until Zelda rested a hand on her frail shoulder. "I am truly sorry for your loss, but what happened in Ordon was ordered by Councilman Hart."

She seemed to consider Zelda's words for a moment and grudgingly mumbled, "You were Colin's boy, weren't you?"

"Still am." I caught her gaze and held it, refusing to back down from her challenge. "I just got caught up in some shadow magic after I left the village, and Princess Zelda saved me with her Triforce. Now I'm returning the favor."

Rising to her full height, she scrutinized me for a few more minutes before finally returning to the oats. She picked up the wooden spoon again, and nodded to herself, avoiding my eyes. Every other person crowded around us seemed to be holding their breath. "The legends say that the Sheikah were a people – something you were born into," she told us. "But the Sheikah were also the great protectors of the Royal Family and their supporters, and I know that we can use all of the help we can get. Look at us: tired, wounded, hungry- but how many fresh men are in Castletown, waiting for us?" Tears welled up in her eyes as she dropped the spoon again, an older man behind her sympathetically took up the stirring, and Zelda folded her into an embrace – but I had frozen at the woman's words.

…the Sheikah were also the great protectors of the Royal Family and their supporters…

…their supporters…

Oh, goddesses. Those two words echoed in my head and I suddenly knew what I needed to do, what I was supposed to do – what I had to do to help turn the tide, before the final confrontation with Hart.

The men were bustling now, reassuring everyone in the vicinity that victory would be theirs, and a host of other optimistic banter, but I caught Zelda's eye before turning on my heel and heading straight back to the little cottage. Midna nearly decapitated me for bursting through the door as loudly as I did, but goddesses, this was important-

"I need the medallion," I garbled at her. "I need the medallion, and I need you and Zelda to come with me. Right now."

She just stared at me like I'd lost my mind and maybe I had, so I repeated myself frantically. The Mirror was reacting again, just like it had in the Shadow Temple, and I could barely contain myself. By the time Zelda arrived, Midna was shaking her head in disbelief from where she sat beside Link. "I'm not going anywhere. I can't leave Link like this!" she snapped. "Just take the medallion and do whatever stupid thing just popped into-"

"No, no, this is really important!" I turned and grabbed Zelda's shoulders, nearly shaking her. Why couldn't they see? "We need to fix the Mirror. Right now. I know how to find more fighters for the Resistance!"

This time, Zelda stared at me, then shared an alarmed glance with Midna. "Link, what are you-"

"Oh goddesses, please, will you just trust me?" I demanded, releasing her. "Please. Midna, Ren will look after him- We'll be back soon, it's just- I know what I'm supposed to do with the Mirror and the-"

"Okay, Link." Midna had her hands up, like she was trying to calm a crazed animal, and it just riled me up even more. "Okay. We'll go with you, right, Zelda?"

Nodding, Zelda leaned outside and called Renado over, quickly explaining that he needed to stay with Link. My brother looked confused, but shrugged as he settled into the chair by the bedside. "But you'll be back soon?" he probed suspiciously, and I knew his gaze was settled most heavily on me. "Lieutenant Garmin asked me to help with-"

"We'll be right back," I agreed a little too quickly. I was practically bursting from the energy building within my body; it was like I'd swallowed a ton of firecrackers or something, followed by about fifty lit matches. And I could feel the Mirror, too. I could feel it straining, resisting my magic somehow, as if I were actively keeping it captive in my chest. Which I definitely wasn't. And the thought of being free of the damn thing-

"Okay, let's go." Midna grasped my arm, I grabbed Zelda's waist, and we all warped to the Mirror Chamber, where the sun was roasting and the sand was skittering across the sandstone.

Just like we'd left it.

Even the enormous obsidian block was raised, sitting lopsided in the sand, its chains leading to the statue of the goddess of sand. Slowly, reverently, I approached the Mirror dais, unable to tear my eyes from the empty frame. Midna followed a few steps behind me uncertainly, the Medallion of Shadow clutched to her chest, and a few minutes later, Zelda finally drifted over to my side so that we stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the frame.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Link?" Midna asked in a low voice, refusing to look at me.

"No." Her head whipped around at that, eyes wide and maybe angry, but I wouldn't take my eyes from the frame. "But I know it's what I'm supposed to do." With that, I felt the Mirror suddenly separate from my magic, almost like the magic that comprised the Mirror was peeling away from me like some kind of sparkling, shimmering, sinister skin, hovering right in front of me. The entire time I'd carried it, I'd only ever been able to channel whatever the Mirror had allowed – which wasn't very much. Seeing it now, the particles frozen in the air before me, I could hardly believe I'd harbored any of it. I carefully reached a palm out, and felt Midna place the medallion there, a solid, warm mass that buzzed with energy in my hand. The particles had arranged themselves into something vaguely shaped like the Mirror, but still obviously not solid yet – until I stepped forward, and pressed the medallion right into the center of the glowing mass.

CRACK.

Stumbling backwards, I threw up an arm as the entire surface flashed a blinding silver as it solidified around the medallion… and suddenly cast a portal onto the obsidian block. Zelda gasped, Midna had her hand over her mouth, and I could barely stand or see or hear-

And there they were.

Men, women, and children strode down the magical stairs, all crimson eyes and white-blond or silver hair, their skin the same tan as Impa's had been, their faces bearing the same tattoos. What had to be close to a hundred of them streamed from the portal, wordlessly, soundlessly, surrounding us, each one clothed in that familiar body armor Sheik and Impa had worn.

For the first time in hundreds of years, Sheikah were stepping foot in Hyrule again.

I collapsed to my knees, suddenly feeling the weight of the last bits of the Mirror that were still humming in my chest, the pieces that belonged where the medallion currently resided. Several pairs of hands pulled me back to my feet as a woman stepped forward, her hands held out to me. Blinking furiously, I watched her mouth move a few times before the sound finally reached my ears:

"The savior has freed our people."

From somewhere in my periphery, Zelda's Triforce flashed, and I felt those last little bits struggling to escape; the Mirror suddenly shivered out of solidity and back into frozen particles of light, the medallion hovering eerily in the midst of it all-

I felt my magic leaving me.

It was as if another skin was peeling itself from my body, leaving utterly nothing behind – or at least, it felt like a void. A terrible, ugly wound of a void. The magic rolled itself away, peeling and peeling, until strawberry-blond hair flopped into my eyes, and the hands that were holding me up suddenly were nowhere near me. When I looked at my hands, the freckles had returned, right where they had been all my life, and my boots were the same color they were before… before….

I spun around to see Zelda's tear-stained face, her Triforce pulsing from her raised hand, and I knew in that moment that somehow, this… my transformation… Dark Link could be reversed. Yanking the sword from its sheath, I stared in disbelief at the dull metal color of the blade instead of the shimmering black-grey I'd grown so accustomed to, and most of all- my mother's eyes staring back at me. My jaw went a little slack and I stumbled as if hit, nearly dropping my sword at the sudden agony ripping through me.

I could go back to my life, before all of this happened.

The way I'm supposed to be, echoed in my head, the kid's face floating in my mind's eye.

But I didn't want to.

I couldn't bear to.

There was no longer a reality in which I would not die for Zelda, even without my magic.

All of it still hung in front of me, rolled up like a shimmering, ethereal carpet of some kind, waiting to be banished back to the Mirror, and I couldn't take it. There was no pull in my chest, no golden thread binding me to the woman standing not more than a meter or two from me, and I felt that emptiness like a physical wound. Our eyes met and with all of the strength and power and emotion I could muster without the aid of my magic, I gritted my teeth and reached out to her, trying my damned hardest to find that soft, reassuring glow of hers-

'Here.'

With another blinding flash and a strangled scream, all of my liberated magic crashed back into my body, almost sending me into a seizure from the force and the electricity. The threads were coming back, one by one, alternatively going taut and slack, and my heart felt ready to explode as I found myself on the rough sandstone, writhing uncontrollably. I was disconnected and entirely too connected at the same time to everything happening in this goddesses-damned chamber. Midna was weeping quietly, clearly still in shock, and Zelda had somehow moved to kneel over me, her Triforce gleaming like molten gold in the sunlight, her hands on my face and in my hair. Without directing my body to do so, I felt myself stand unsteadily, and feeling and control slowly, detachedly, seeped back into my awareness. At the same time, the Mirror solidified again, but the medallion excised itself and floated eerily into Midna's hands, leaving behind a hole – which I knew now would only be filled by the pieces I carried.

"Oh my goddesses," Midna whispered finally while Zelda's hand slipped into mine.

I consciously sucked in a breath after what felt like a millennium, turning to face them in slow-motion, and grinned tiredly, "Looks like you're stuck with me."