Author's Note: I forgot to mention Midna has a fang, and all that is changed in this update is that is now mentioned
Born a Weapon
A Twilight Princess Fan story
Chapter 7
Midna
Augh… why does my head hurt so much?
Actually, now that he thought about it, his head didn't just hurt, it felt…weird. It felt almost as if he was reaching out to grab something, but with his mind? But that made no sense.
Wait… where am I?
Slowly, Link opened his eyes to see where he was.
Link quickly glanced around the room he was in. The room seemed unusually large, and the walls were made of bricks, and in front of him blocking his escape were several metal bars, too close together to slip through with an obvious doorway in the middle, also made of bars. There was a wooden box in the left corner where the wall changed from brick to metal bars, and strange black squares were floating up from the ground. Link was undoubtably in a cell.
Why the hell am I locked up?!
As Link tried to get to his feet, he called out to anyone who might be outside his cell, but his voice didn't come out as words, it came out as… barking? Before Link could think on that too much, he discovered he was having a surprisingly hard time balancing and fell forward onto his hands and knees when he tried to stand up. When Link fell forward, he heard a metallic jingle coming from his left hand, so he directed his attention to it and saw a metal chain holding him to the ground by his… paw?!
What the hell?!
Link tried to shout that, but all that came out was more barking.
Why the hell am I a dog? Wolf? Whatever! What the hell is going on? And WHERE THE HELL AM I? AND WHY DO I HAVE TO ASK THAT QUESTION AGAIN?!
Furious barking came from the cell as the boy turned wolf attempted to shout in rage. After a few minutes, he gave up on yelling and tried to grab his chain and pull it off with his right hand, paw, but instead, he cut himself with his claws.
OW! Ok… calm down… try to think rationally. How did I get here?
Link took a moment to think and remembered what happened. He was attacked at the spring, Ilia and Colin were taken, some beast thing almost choked him to death, and an imp was watching him from afar, seemingly trying to hide.
Link turned his attention to his immediate problem, the chain on his left hand… paw! As he wondered how to remove it, he suddenly got an idea, but he did not like it one bit.
If I break my hand, paw, I should be able to slip out of this… Aah shit… I can't believe I have to do this to escape a cell some crazy giant monster put me in, in some crazy weird alternate, its-suddenly-twilight dimension.
Link took a few deep breaths that came out as panting and slowly laid his left paw on the ground. He placed his right paw on top of it and tried to prepare himself for what he was about to do. This would definitely hurt, and he would probably have to do it a few times to actually break his paw and slip out. Link raised his right paw and prepared himself…
Wait… someone else was in the cell with him…
Link quickly shot to his feet and whirled his head around to be met with the same imp he saw before he passed out staring into his soul. The imp was about as tall as Link now that he was a wolf, with only her strange headpiece covering her left eye giving her added height to trump his. The creature's stare creeped him out, and he barely noticed, but that strange feeling of reaching out changed to grabbing something and then disappeared entirely.
After a few seconds of staring, the imp's lips curled into a smile, revealing a fang on the top left row of its teeth before it flipped over Link's head to land between him and the metal bars.
"I found you!" the imp exclaimed. The creature's voice and body shape told Link that the strange imp standing before him was female.
To the strange imp girl, Link just stared into her soul much like she did to him a second ago, but Link was quickly examining every bit of her for any indication of a weapon or any signs of hostility. Link was on guard, there was no reason to assume this girl wasn't here to kill him while he was vulnerable, but then again, there was also no reason to assume she was. The strange girl giggled as Link finished his examination, he had only looked at her for a few seconds, but he saw no sign of a weapon. However, it was possible he just couldn't see it, and even if she wasn't armed, that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous.
Who are you? Link thought, wishing he could put his question into words, but he knew they would just come out as barks.
The imp seemed slightly surprised at something before another mischievous grin formed on her face. Link was just about to try to figure out what surprised her, but she spoke up.
"Well, that's a neat trick! Talking without moving your mouth!"
Wait what? Talking? He didn't say anything… If only he could talk, he could ask her what she meant.
What are you talking about?
"That!" the imp girl said suddenly and pointed at Link.
Wait a second… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING INSIDE MY HEAD?!
"Your head? What are you talking about? I'm not in your head."
Then how are you hearing my freaking thoughts?!
The strange girl seemed genuinely confused at what Link said/thought to her, and pondered what was going on.
This is a huge invasion of privacy Link thought I did not give her permission to hear my thoughts.
Link flinched as he realized she would have heard what he thought to himself. But the girl didn't seem to notice.
Wait… Link realized she might not be able to hear everything and decided to experiment. Can you hear this?
The imp didn't seem to hear him and spoke up after finishing her thoughts.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, shaking her head. "But I'm not telepathic."
So… you didn't hear that, Link thought. He thought another question, but this time tried to force it at her, tried to speak without moving his mouth.
"Can you hear THIS?"
"Yes…" the girl replied. She opened her mouth to continue, but link "spoke" up first.
"So… you can only hear the thoughts I want you to hear…"
The imp facepalmed.
"Look… I don't know what's with you… but I was planning on helping you…" another evil-looking grin appeared on her face, and Link didn't like it one bit. "If you were nice…"
Link did not like the sound of that. What was that supposed to mean?
What's that supposed to mean?
Link and the imp stared at each other for a few seconds before Link realized he didn't think that to her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The imp leaned in close to Link with her hands on her hips before responding.
"In exchange for my help, you have to do EXACTLY as I say!"
Link didn't even have to think about his reply for a second.
"No"
"No?"
"No"
The imp giggled before somehow smiling even wider.
"Doesn't look like you have much of a choice."
"You really expect me to agree to do everything a creepy imp girl I just met tells me to?"
The strange girl rolled her eyes before hovering through the air towards the bars, and Links eyes widened at the unbelievable feat.
"Well, if you ever feel like escaping…" colored bubbles seemed to dance off the imp before she twirled and split into several of the floating round objects, which slipped through the bars and reformed into the girl on the other side. "I'll be waiting right here for when you change your mind." The imp stretched and yawned before standing with her hands behind her head and patiently watching Link as he stared in awe. "You look kind of surprised! Eee hee hee!"
Ok… so she's magic. Link thought as he laid on his left side again to resume his attempt to free himself.
"Aww… is the little wolf taking a nap?" the imp teased, but Link paid her no mind as he once again braced himself and raised his right paw. "What're you-"
Link brought his paw down with as much force as he could and let out a cry of pain as he shut his eyes tightly. Link opened his eyes to see his paw was bruised but still in one piece. Normally, he would be happy about that, but not right now. He heard the sound of the imp turning to bubbles and reforming as he raised his paw to strike again, only to feel small hands grab it before he could bring it down.
He turned his head to see the small girl hovering in the air holding tightly to his paw with an annoyed expression on his face.
"Are you stupid? You'll never break the chains with your paws! You're just going to hurt yourself!"
"I'm not trying to break the chains," Link said as he jerked his paw out of her grasp.
"Then what are you doing?"
"Well, you won't help me without your stupid condition, so I'm just going to break my freaking paw and slip out of this chain!"
"What?! Are you crazy?" The imp shouted as her expression began to show some anger. "Why would you do that?!"
"To slip out of this chain!"
"Why- That's just- Augh!" the imp groaned in frustration at the wolf boy. Her bright orange ponytail suddenly expanded and formed into a giant hand that reached out and grabbed Link, who immediately began to struggle to free himself. "Get out of the way… idiot…" the imp said, and she placed Link to the side and retracted her third limb into her head.
"Don't. Move." The girl demanded.
The imp closed her eyes and brought her hands close to each other, with her left on top and her right on the bottom with the palms facing each other. A glowing black ball formed between her palms, with reddish-orange lines dancing around inside. She remained like that for about a second before throwing her hands out to the side, sending the ball flying towards Link's ankle, snapping the chain.
Link jumped back in surprise and examined his foot. The shackle was still around his leg, but almost all the chains in the link were separated from his foot, leaving only a few still attached. The imp suddenly placed her face a few inches from his.
"There! You dumb canine!"
Link growled at the insult, especially because he was already upset enough about being turned into a wolf. He didn't need her making it worse.
"Don't you growl at me! You wretched dog! I just helped you!" the girl said as she again hovered over to the metal bars, split into bubbles, and reformed on the other side.
"I'm not a dog!" Link snapped at her. "I'm not even a wolf!" Link narrowed his eyes and glared at the annoying girl. "You should know that since you were spying on me when I got transformed into… this."
"So, you did see me there…" the imp replied, "well, since you passed out on the floor, I bet you're wondering, where exactly are we?"
Link glanced around his cell for any indication of where he was but found nothing.
"Well, I'll make you a deal. If you can get over here, maybe I'll tell you! Eee hee!" the strange girl said before placing her hands behind her head again and waiting.
Link eyed the suspiciously placed box in the corner of the room. Deciding it was the only thing that might help him escape, he tried to walk over to it and face-planted. The imp giggled as Link got to his feet and slowly made his way over to the box in the corner. As he approached, the scent of dirt overwhelmed his now enhanced sense of smell. Now that he thought about it, all his senses seemed to be enhanced. If he listened hard enough, he could even hear the imp breathing from how far away she was.
After a lot of wobbling and a few falls, Link made it to the boxes.
"Aw! Wolfie's first steps! How cute!"
"Why is it suddenly your job to annoy me?"
"Because it's fun!" the imp giggled.
Link wandered over to the door in the metal bars before pushing the boxes. Maybe they left the door unlocked because he was chained. Link pushed it with his head, but it was clearly locked because it didn't budge at all.
"The door's locked, dummy!"
"And how do you know?"
"Because you're in a cell! Of course it's locked!"
"But did you actually check it? I bet you didn't."
The imp rolled her eyes as Link made his way back to the boxes. Link pushed the boxes out of the way to see a hole in the bars and an indent in the floor with gravel and some dirt. As Link examined it, he determined he might be able to slip under the hole, but he would have to dig a bit first. Link buried his paws in the hole and moved the dirt and gravel aside.
Once he had a large enough hole, he laid down in it and slowly pulled himself to the other side. Link stood up and shook the dirt off his fur before looking back at the bars triumphantly. Then he noticed the imp had disappeared. Link immediately began searching the area with incredible speed and efficiency as giggling echoed around him. He glanced to the right and left in about half a second and saw no sign of her before looking up to see her floating above him.
Once he realized she was falling towards him, he jumped to the side and wobbled from the sudden movement but managed to keep his balance.
"Gah!" the imp exclaimed as she massaged her rear end. "Why did you do that?"
"Why did you try to jump me?"
"I wasn't jumping you!" she complained as she floated over to Link before seating herself on his back.
"I'm not a horse!"
"Eee hee hee!" the imp giggled as she leaned forward, laying on Link's back so her head was near his ear. "Listen, I like you, so I think I'll get you out of here." Suddenly the girl pulled on Link's ear and spoke directly into it. "But, like I said, in exchange for my help, you have to do EXACTLY as I say!"
"This again…"
Link quickly tucked in his back legs in a seating position and straightened out his back as much as possible, sending the imp tumbling off him.
"All right, listen," Link said as he turned to see an angry-looking imp sitting on the floor.
"I am not your servant, and I never will be. Now I am going to look for a way out of here and hope I don't die in the process. If you want to come, that's fine, but you are not the boss of me."
The imp responded by grabbing Link's ear and pulling his head down. "I don't think you have a choice. I doubt you can get out of here without me."
Link raised his head and stared into her eyes, even though it invoked a harder twist in his ear, and repeated himself.
"I. Am. Not. Your. Servant."
With that, Link suddenly thrust his head forward and headbutted the girl, not hard enough to do any damage, but just enough to get her to let go of his ear and piss her off.
Before she could grab his ear or yell at him or do something annoying again, Link turned and headed down the path to the left of his cell.
"Hey!"
The imp quickly floated after him and plopped somewhat harshly on his back. He could knock her off again, but that would probably just make a cycle of knocking her off and her getting back on. Link felt the imp shift around in an attempt to get comfortable while he examined a wooden door at the end of the hallway with a metal padlock ensuring it would not be opened. Link gave it a slight nudge to see if it would budge but was not surprised when it held firm.
"Augh! Are you done trying to open obviously locked doors?"
Link ignored the remark as he headed into another cell he passed that had its door slightly ajar.
"So, what's your name?"
"Wouldn't you like to know? Eee hee hee!"
"Yup! That's why I asked!"
"Maybe if you get out of here, I'll tell you!" the girl said as Link examined a tunnel in the far-right corner of the cell that was blocked by iron bars.
"What's yours?"
"Maybe if I get out of here, I'll tell you."
Link noticed a metal ring hanging by a chain that seemed to go into the ceiling rather than be attached to it.
"Do you want me to call you wolfie the entire time?"
"Do you want me to call you imp the entire time?"
"Don't you dare!" the girl shouted as she gave Link a swift kick in the side. In response, Link gently reintroduced her to the floor.
"Hey! Knock that off!"
"If you want me to knock off knocking you off, stop treating like some animal!"
The imp was about to harshly land on Link's back again, but he suddenly shot into the air and closed his mouth around the metal ring hanging above.
"Ow ow ow ow!"
The chain jerked down under Link's weight, and the metal bars covering the tunnel moved up into the wall and out of the way.
"That can't be good for my teeth…" Link said after releasing the metal circle and falling back down to the ground, where the imp again seated herself on his back.
"Hmph! I guess you not completely stupid after all!"
"Did you know it would do that?"
"Shut it, wolfie!" the girl was going to kick Link in the sides again but decided against it because he would probably knock her off again.
Link looked at the tunnel and back at the girl on his back to see if they could fit through it with her on his back. After deciding there was enough room, Link entered the tunnel and again decided to ask the imp for her name.
"So… name?"
She pondered her response for a minute. Should she tell him? Surely, he wouldn't dare refer to her as imp! If he did, she would be sure to make him regret it! After a few seconds, she gave Link his answer.
"Midna"
"Nice to meet you, Midna. Even under unusual circumstances. My name is Link."
I really hope me being turned into a wolf and captured is unusual.
After making a right turn and walking for a bit longer, Link came out of the tunnel into a large area, but his attention was fixed on a strange glowing turquoise fireball.
"Oh… Well, well…" Midna said from Link's back. Link turned his head back to look at her in confusion. Midna noticed how clueless the new wolf was and again teased him. "Eee hee hee! Want to see something interesting? You're a beast, remember? Try using your senses and poke around!"
"How do I do that?"
"Uhm…" She hadn't thought of that. "I don't know! You can figure it out! I mean… you already can use telepathy, why not this?"
"Why do you think I can use telepathy?"
"Well, I'm not telepathic, and I can apparently hear your thoughts, so it must be you."
"If I'm the one in your head, don't you think I would be able to hear your thoughts?"
"I don't know how it works! Maybe you can! You said I could only hear what you wanted, right? Maybe you can only hear what I want."
"Well, why don't you try it out while I figure out how to use my senses. Try willing your thoughts to me, like talking without talking."
"You certainly seem to know a lot about telepathy, huh?"
"I'm a fast learner."
Link focused on the floating orb while Midna focused on think-talking. Link thought back to when he smelt the dirt in the cell before. All his senses seemed to be enhanced then, and maybe he could enhance them again. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a few minutes before a voice entered his mind.
"Hey! Can you hear this?!" he heard Midna say in his head
"Yes, I can." Link responded
"Finally!" Midna cried with her actual voice, "Ok, so the link is both ways. Have you figured out your senses yet?"
"Give me a minute."
"You've had a few! Hurry up!"
"Quiet, you're distracting me."
After a few more seconds, Link's senses seemed to double, maybe triple. He could smell water and stone to his right. The smell was not pleasant. It smelled like garbage, so Link must be in a sewer. The imp on his back and someone else in front of him had a distinct scent about them that no human would notice. He could hear one heart and one pair of lungs beating and breathing normally from Midna and another heart and pair of lungs beating and breathing heavily from someone in front of him. Link opened his eyes to see what seemed to be a soldier judging by his armor and the spear he was leaning on, but he seemed to be transparent, and he was turquoise, just like the floating ball that was in his place a second ago.
"Huff… Huff… Can't… run… any… farther…" The soldier said. "Damn… got separated… not good… What was that noise?!" The soldier grasped his spear in his hands, adjusted his stance, and pointed it at the passageway to Link's right. "Captain? Is that you?" The soldier cautiously moved forward and peered down a ledge into the water before again leaning on his spear. "Must be hearing things…" he said. "Got to find the others… I just… need to rest for a bit first…" The soldier walked back over to where he was before he thought he heard something and sat against the wall.
Link glanced to the right to examine his surroundings. There was a long stone hallway that seemed to turn left and right. The right side was a stone pathway, and the left was lower and had shallow water in it. Link took one last glance at the soldier before proceeding down the hallway.
"Did you see him?" asked Midna.
"The soldier? Yeah."
"That was a soldier's spirit. Maybe it's someone from the other world? Eee hee!"
"Wait… spirit? Is he dead?!"
"No, he's not dead. But he is a spirit."
"This is confusing… but at least now I know for sure I'm in another dimension."
"You're a bit more observant than I gave you credit for, wolfie."
"Link!"
"Whatever…"
"So, are you from this dimension?"
"Maaaayyybeee!"
"You're totally from this dimension."
"How would you know?"
"Well, if that guy turned into a spirit, and he's from my dimension, and you didn't, you're not from my dimension. So, unless there's a third one, you're from this one."
Link reached the end of the tunnel and looked left and right. To his left was a dead end, but to his right was another path, but the walkway ended just at the corner, so to get to either side, he would have to jump over the water to another path. When he looked down, Link saw waiting for him at the bottom of the short drop was a small pitch-black creature with red markings on it. The thing had no arms and several tentacles coming out from where its legs should be.
"What is that?!"
Midna leaned forward on Link's back to peer over the ledge to see what he was freaking out about and saw a very disturbing creature below them.
"EW! Kill it!"
Once those words left her mouth, the creature turned and jumped up at them. Link tried to move back quickly. He managed to move back enough to avoid its lunge, but he toppled over in the process and sent Midna tumbling away.
"Shit!" Link cried as he tried to scramble to his feet but only managed to flail around. The strange creature prepared to lunge again, and Link had only one option. As the monster jumped at Link, he clamped his mouth shut around the abomination and shook violently as he bit into it with all his might. He gagged as the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, but he did not let up until the thing stopped moving.
Link dropped his deceased foe and coughed from the blood that filled his mouth. He briefly debated using the water below him to rinse his mouth, but who knew what was in that water. But who knew what was in that thing's blood?
Midna squirmed as she glanced at the…thing… that Link killed.
"Ugh! That thing is disgusting!"
"Not nearly as disgusting as the taste of its blood. Augh! It tastes awful!"
"Let's get out of here!"
"Agreed!"
As Midna seated herself on Link's back, Link tried to figure out how to jump in his new form so he could cross the gap in front of him.
"What are you waiting for?"
"I'm trying to figure out how to jump so I don't fall and break my neck or something."
"Just think of how you normally jump and… add two legs!"
"Midna…" If Link could facepalm as he said that, he would have.
"Whatever, just…" Midna gave the dead enemy another glance, and a shiver went down her spine. "Go." She finished as she nudged Link.
Link tucked his legs in and prepared to jump.
"Hold on."
Once Link felt Midna tighten her grip on his fur, he pushed off the ledge with all his might and smashed into the floor on the other side. It was a harsh impact, but at least he made it. Midna was unscathed, but Link did notice her strange behavior earlier. Well, stranger.
"Hey, are you ok?" Link asked as he got to his feet.
"I'm fine," Midna replied. "You cushioned the impact for me."
"That's not what I meant, though I'm glad you aren't physically hurt." Link headed through an opening in the bars on the platform he reached. "You seemed really disturbed by that thing."
"I'm fine," Midna said with a grumble. "Just… that thing was disgusting. I didn't like it."
"Well… there's another one over there…"
"What?!"
Midna followed Link's line of sight to see a second one of the things below them again. It heard Midna scream and jumped at them immediately, but this time Link was ready and bit down on the thing, ending it in its jump. Link tossed it back over the side once he was sure it was dead and gagged at the taste of blood again.
"Midna…"
"What?"
"Stop. Alerting them. That we're here."
The girl rolled her eyes at the wolf. "Oh, hush you. You did fine."
Link ignored another pullable chain that seemed to open a tunnel that led to a dead-end and hopped down into the water because there was no more raised path to walk on. The path forward seemed to also lead to a dead end. The right path was also a dead-end but had what looked like a big metal door with a pullable chain on an elevated platform on its left. And the path to Link's left led to a ledge of more elevated platforms, but between Link and those platforms were several spikes coming from the floor.
"Why are there a bunch of spikes down here?"
"Maybe someone wants to keep out intruders. Must mean you're somewhere important!"
"You still haven't told me where I am like you agreed to."
"I said MAYBE I would tell you! Eee hee hee!"
"Why are you like this?"
Midna tightened her grip on Link's fur again as he jumped up to the ledge next to the metal door only to smack into it and fall back down, but he twisted himself to shield his unusual rider from impact.
"I… REALLY hate being a wolf!"
"Well, at least you make a nice pillow."
"I'm glad one of us isn't being hurt from constantly smashing into things."
Link jumped at the ledge again and managed to grab onto it with his front paws and climbed up the rest of the way, using his back paws to pull himself up. Once he was on the ledge, he eyed the metal loop above him.
"Augh… really not looking forward to this"
Link shot up and closed his mouth around the metal ring and allowed his weight to trigger whatever hidden mechanism it was attached to. Once he heard a clicking sound, he let go of the chain as the large metal door rose, and water came rushing in and filled the room enough for Link's ankles to get wet.
"Well, that should be helpful!" Midna said as she stroked Link's fur. "Now you can swim over those spikes!"
"There's one problem," Link said as he glanced apprehensively at the water. "I don't think swimming as a wolf will be anything like swimming as a person…"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Midna exclaimed as she shook her head. "Are you telling me you don't know how to swim?!"
"Not as a wolf… no."
Link approached the water to get a better view of how deep it was. He could easily drown in it if he wasn't careful.
"Hey Midna, you have a giant hand, right?"
"I'm not carrying you all the way over to that ledge."
"Well, can you at least hold on to me so I don't drown while I try to figure out how to swim with four legs?"
"Fiiine!" The imp hopped off Link's back and wrapped her large third hand around his middle.
"All right, attempt number one. I'll let you know when to pull me out."
"How are you going to do that?"
"I'll tell you."
"But you'll be underwater! How are you going to talk?"
"I'm not actually talking, remember?"
"Oh, right…"
"If anything happens, let me know through telepathy, ok?"
"Sure… just don't take too long to figure this out!"
Link gently hopped into the water and was completely submerged right away. He tried to kick his legs and push his head above the surface, but he could only move up slightly, not enough to breathe at all. Link kept trying to pull himself to the surface for several seconds, but he couldn't manage to do it.
"How are you still holding your breath?" Midna asked through telepathy.
"I just… am."
"You got some good lungs."
After a few more seconds, Link began to feel the effects of being deprived of oxygen.
"All right, pull me out."
Link was lifted out of the water and plopped a bit harshly onto the floor.
"You couldn't have put me down gently?"
"Stop wasting time, and MAYBE I'll be a BIT nicer to you."
"Why don't you try swimming with four legs before you judge me!"
After a short break to catch his breath, Link hopped back into the water for a second attempt. He managed to get closer to the surface but still did not swim high enough to breathe.
"Pull me out."
Link was again dropped unceremoniously on the elevated platform to see an impatient and tired-looking imp staring at him with crossed arms.
"I'm glad you're not that heavy."
"I guess one good thing came from me being a wolf. I would be heavier as a human. Though if I was a human, I wouldn't even need to learn how to swim."
Before long, Link was back in for a third attempt. This time he got his face above the water for a second, long enough to get more air so he wouldn't have to be pulled out of the water by Midna and could keep trying. After a few more times of pulling up and grabbing air only to fall back under, Link managed to keep his head above water for a few seconds at a time.
"Almost got it…"
On his seventh time pulling his head up, he managed to keep it above water.
"Ok… I think I can keep my head above water…"
"Finally! Let's go!" Midna said as she began to hover towards Link.
"Wait! I don't know if I can hold both-"
Before Link could finish his sentence, the imp landed on his back, and the added weight sent them both underwater. Link and Midna both felt some water rush into their lungs before they realized they were submerged. Midna quickly floated off Link's back and landed on the platform, and once she was gone, Link was able to reach the water's surface and pull himself out.
"What is wrong with you?!" Midna demanded through coughs.
"I JUST learned how to keep MYSELF above water! I can't carry both of us right away!"
"How much time are you going to waste?!"
"Midna! You can FLY! You don't need to ride on my back! Just fly over there and I'll swim!"
"Fine!"
Midna floated over the water to the platform past the spikes and used her hair hand to make a "come on" wave.
"Come on, Wolfie!"
"LINK!"
"Just get over here! …wolfie!"
"The next time you call me Wolfie, I'm calling you imp," Link said as he began to swim over to Midna.
"Don't. You. Dare!" Midna snarled.
"Why should you get a free pass to call me what you want?" Link asked as he pulled himself onto the platform. "Why do you find it so insulting anyway?"
"Well, why do YOU find wolfie so insulting?!"
"Because I'm not a wolf! I'm a human! Unless you aren't an imp, I don't see how you can compare wolfie and imp."
"Mind your own business!" Midna demanded as she landed on Link's back with more force than necessary.
Link spotted another floating turquoise fireball and focused his senses to see another soldier with a spear. Link jumped in surprise when he realized the soldier's spear was actually going straight through his face.
"I don't see anything…" The ghostly soldier called to someone unknown.
"The water doesn't just raise by itself!" someone else shouted from around a corner to the left. "Was it those black things?"
"Actually, I don't see them anymore. Just the ones in here I had to dodge, the ones up ahead are gone."
"What?! Either someone killed them, or they left."
"Do you think it was the private?"
"If it was him, you would be able to see him. He wouldn't hide from you. Someone else took them out if they are dead. Get back here if you can, but if you think your gear will weigh you down, don't risk drowning."
The ghostly soldier turned and hopped into the water, using his spear to push off the floor. He slowly made his way back to another platform and climbed on top.
Link examined the floor to see he would once again need to swim to go in any direction, and there were a few more of the small monsters swimming in the water.
"Get off Midna. I need to swim."
The girl floated off Link's back, and he jumped in the water and followed the soldier to another dead end with a second metal door with another pullable chain. Sitting against the wall was another soldier with a third standing over him.
"Is the commander doing any better?" asked the soldier Link followed.
"No, we need to drain the water so we can carry him out of here once we find an exit, but I don't know how to do that."
Link hopped over to the platform just a few feet away from the soldiers to grab the next chain and raise the second metal door, hoping it would drain the water and allow the soldiers to escape. He jumped up and grabbed the ring with his teeth, and once he heard a click, the metal door moved up, and the water began to drain.
"Captain!" The soldier Link followed cried.
"Someone is here, that chain just moved down, and that door opened. We have an invisible mystery man."
"Are they hostile?"
"Whoever they are, they're right here, and they haven't attacked. Either they don't care or are trying to help us. Either way, the water is gone."
The soldier who Link discovered to be the captain picked up the commander and carried him over his shoulder.
Link was so occupied with the soldiers, he didn't even notice Midna was on his back again until she spoke up.
"Are you done standing around?"
Link watched as the soldiers headed down another path and out of Link's sight.
"You think they'll make it?"
"I'm sure they'll be fine," Midna said as she rubbed Link's head. "Now come on! You have to find a way out of here to."
"Did you just pet me?" Link asked as he headed straight.
"Yeah… why?"
"I told you I'm not a dog."
"Aww! Look at you getting all grumpy!"
Link reached another dead end blocked by metal bars. Midna giggled as she floated off Link's back towards the bars, where she phased through them the same way she did in Link's cell.
"This Way! Over here!" she said as she waved mockingly with her hair hand. "I'll be waiting for you, but you'll have to help yourself for a change!"
"What do you mean 'for a change'?" Link asked as he examined the bars and found a small tunnel on the right.
"Eee hee hee! If it wasn't for me, you would have drowned in here!"
Link emerged in a small area that had a hill leading up to the other side of the bars. Link quickly looked around and saw nothing else in the room with him, so he headed up the hill and reunited with Midna, who sat on his back again.
"Eee hee! Aww, did the detour tire you out, little wolf?"
"What did I tell you about calling me a wolf, imp?"
Midna dug her leg into Link's side, so Link jerked himself around, trying to knock her off.
"Nice try, wolf! But that won't work anymore!"
"You so sure?"
Link tucked his legs in and rolled on the ground, squishing Midna into the floor where she remained while Link stood up.
"I got fur in my mouth!" Midna cried as she spit on the floor and ran her hands down her tongue.
"Serves you right! Why can't you just treat me with a little respect? I'm not an animal!"
Midna used her hair hand to grab Link by the middle and slam him into the ground.
"Now you listen here! I- OW!"
With remarkable agility, Link spun his head around and bit down hard on her hair hand. She released Link and retracted her hair hand as she held it to try to relieve the pain. Out of instinct, Link pounced on Midna and held her to the ground with his right paw, and growled threateningly in her face.
Link and Midna just remained there for a second before Link released his hold on Midna, and she sat up with fury burning inside her.
"Ok…" Link said, "Let's make a deal, you agree to stop calling me a wolf, and I'll agree to stop calling you an imp."
Midna was still burning with fury and was going to blurt out several insults, so Link spoke up first.
"I promise to stop referring to you as imp."
Midna was silent as she tried to contain the anger inside her, so Link waited for her to calm herself down. She clenched all three of her fists tightly as she stared daggers into Link, who glared back at her with determination, and showed no fear or indication of relenting.
"MAYBE, if you stop being USELESS and wasting time! I'll agree to stop calling you that."
"Why are you in such a rush? And why do you insist on dragging me along with you? If you're really that desperate to get out of here, why haven't you just floated away?"
"I have my reasons! Now are we done here?! Or are you going to waste even MORE time?!"
Link rolled his eyes as he walked past the floating girl. He could have insisted on making her promise to stop insulting her, but he decided to wait until she calmed down a bit if they were still stuck together for that long. Link saw a large spiraling staircase that seemed to be falling apart. Several pieces were missing from the structure, and the bottom had shallow water covering it and two more of the small black creatures. Midna landed on Link's back again as he headed up the stairs and jumped over a gap in the stairs. Once he landed on the stairs, they crumbled under his weight and sent him falling into the water.
"Ugh! What are you doing?!" Midna demanded as she eyed the two creatures while Link scrambled to his feet.
"I'm going to stop shielding you from falls." Link said as he caught the first fiend in his mouth and literally crushed the life out of it as he backed out of range of the second.
Link threw his victim's lifeless body into the other monster to stun it before pouncing it in much the same way he did Midna, pinning his opponent and biting it until it lay still.
"Can you do anything right?!" Midna said, still burning with anger.
Link ignored her comment so he wouldn't provoke another fight and headed back up the staircase he had just fallen from.
"I guess I have to do EVERYTHING for you…" Link was starting to get very annoyed with Midna's constant pestering. "Look, I'll show you the ledges. Just jump to where I am."
Midna floated off Link's back and gave the remaining piece of the staircase a few pushes before gesturing to Link to jump.
"I don't think I can jump that far."
"Just do it, ok! I'll use magic to pull you a bit."
Link tucked his legs in and shot out toward the magical girl and flew through the air and felt something pull him as he flew. He landed on the platform, and Midna floated to another one that formed when Link's landing caused a few more stairs in front of him to fall, and with her help, Link jumped over the new gap.
"Thanks."
"Thank me by hurrying up!"
Link climbed the stairs a bit more before coming across a fallen piece of stairs that formed a steep ramp leading to the next rotation of stairs. The current rotation of stairs was broken, so Link had to use Midna's magic to hop onto the top of the ramp and then the next level of stairs.
After continuing up the stairs and hopping over a few gaps small enough to not require Midna's help, he reached a dead end with a rope leading to another section of the stairs.
"Well, shit… now what?"
"Figure something out!" Midna said with her leftover fury.
Link examined the rope. He really didn't want to try walking over the thing, but he didn't see any other way to proceed. So, after taking a few deep breaths, he placed his paw on the rope. Slowly but surely, he shifted the rest of his weight onto the rope after determining it could hold him, and he carefully began to make his way across. Link surprised himself with his balance but didn't dare to go any faster than he already was—much to Midna's annoyance.
"Hurry up!"
Link would have said some remark back at her, but he was so focused on not falling off that he just let it slide. After a few minutes that seemed like hours to Midna, Link made it to the next part of the staircase and let out a sigh of relief.
"Could you have gone any slower?"
"I think I went dangerously fast."
"You were moving so slow!"
"At least I didn't fall."
It only took Link a few seconds to come across more broken stairway with two pieces in a large gap that he needed Midna's help to cross. He was relieved to find out that he would be at the end of the staircase once he crossed the gap.
Once he landed safely on the other side, he eagerly bounded up the remaining few stairs and into a circular room with a grate above where the stairs were, allowing Link to see how high up he was. Once he entered the area, two small black creatures resembling the bats that attacked Link back in the forest dove at him, but these were pitch black and had the same red markings on the other two things that attacked him so far.
Link sidestepped out of the way as they dove at him and realized their air superiority wasn't going to make them easy to beat. He waited until they dove again and jumped into the air, snatching one in his mouth and killing it as he flew harmlessly past the other. Link discarded the dead bat and repeated the same process to end the second one.
"I'm glad these things aren't very smart."
Link saw another wooden door near him that turned out to be locked when he tried to open it. Link examined the area to see no other way out besides a door a few stories above him with pieces of stone sticking out of the wall in a pattern he might be able to jump up with Midna's magical help.
"So… You know where we are yet?"
"In a military sewer?"
"Eee hee! Well…" Midna pointed to the open door above Link, "if you go to the top, you might figure it out!" Midna floated to the first piece of stone and gestured with her hands for Link to jump to her.
After jumping between the three platforms, Link was able to hop onto the platform with the door and headed through it. When Link looked around, he was astonished at what he saw. There were several stone structures all around him that seemed to be connected by a large wall.
"So, we were finally able to get out," Midna said as she stretched from Link's back, "and look at the sky! Isn't the black cloud of twilight looking beautiful today?"
Link looked into the sky to see large black clouds, and although the world was bathed in the glow of twilight, Link couldn't spot the sun on the horizon.
"Do you know where this is?"
"It's… a castle?"
"You STILL don't know? Eee hee hee! Look, there's someone I want to introduce you to… but I'll need you to go to that tower to do it!"
Midna pointed to one of the towers in the distance. It was somewhat far away, but not very much.
"Why won't you just tell me where I am?" Link asked as he hopped down onto the wall below him.
"It's fun watching the clueless wolf run about!"
Link was about to raise hell for being referred to as a wolf again, but he noticed another turquoise fireball before him and was distracted by it.
"So there are even spirits up here, huh? This whole spirit thing is pretty new to you, isn't it?"
"Of course it is! I've never been in another dimension that turns people into spirits before."
"Well, I'll tell you, even though those guys can see those monsters, they don't know a thing about you!"
"I kind of figured that when the captain in the sewers started talking about a mystery man."
"Why don't you hone your fine senses and listen in on this guy?"
"Never thought I would eavesdrop on a spirit," Link said as he focused his enhanced senses, and before him was another soldier.
"What are those monstrous birds? What in the world is happening here? Ah, our poor Hyrule castle!"
"So, that's where we are."
"So you finally figured it out! Eee hee hee! That wasn't the person I wanted you to meet by the way… Well, let's just try and get to that tower." Midna nudged Link forward and glanced back at the soldier that just revealed where Link was. "it looks like the spirits here… they're all soldiers."
"Your grasp of the obvious is inspiring," Link said as he climbed onto a wooden box and used it to jump onto a thick wooden ledge blocking his path on a bridge of wooden beams. Once Link made it back to stone, a sizeable pitch-black bird with red markings and what seemed to be a trumpet with more red designs instead of a face began hovering over Link as it prepared to strike. It came down bearing its large claws, but Link sidestepped out of the way. Link jumped into the bird and sank his fangs into its flesh, but it swung around violently and knocked him off. While Link and Midna tumbled, it quickly turned itself around and dove in for another strike. Link managed to dive out of the way of its attack but suffered a long scratch to his right side.
Link howled in pain, and Midna pulled her leg out of the way with a shriek to avoid it being dismembered by the giant bird and tumbled off Link's back, landing on the ground. The giant bird came in for another attack, but Link jumped to the side, grabbed its tail in his mouth, pulled it to the ground, and bit into its body until it was dead.
Link examined his wound. It had drawn blood, but Link wasn't at risk of bleeding all over the place. Link didn't realize a second bird had shown up until he heard its horn-like cry, and it dove at him. Before Link could suffer another injury, Midna's large third hand socked the monstrous bird, and it landed on the ground on Link's right. Link pounced it and dug his fangs into its neck while he held the thrashing beast down with his paws. After much effort, the thing's movements slowed before ceasing entirely.
Link spat out blood that had flooded his mouth from the wounds he inflicted on the thing's neck as Midna stood on the ground next to him.
"You need to be more careful! That thing almost took off my leg!"
"You don't need to tell me to be more careful when I'm the one with a giant slash on their side!"
"Whatever!" Midna said as she seated herself on Link's back. "Get going!" she said with a kick to his side. His right side.
Link collapsed with another howl of pain and jerked Midna off him.
"Hey!"
"What's wrong with you?!" Link said as he growled at Midna, "When someone is hurt, you don't kick them in their wound!"
Midna hovered over to Link's right side and examined his injury.
"So your blood is red too, huh?"
"Guess so…" Link said in a pained voice.
Link and Midna both looked at the wolf boy's cut and came to slightly different conclusions.
"You're fine!" Midna said.
"I'll live, but I have to be careful with my right side now. Can't afford to let anything hit me there again."
"Fine, I won't kick you in your right side! You feel better now?"
"How about you just stop kicking me?"
"How else will I let you know you're moving too slow?"
"With your mouth… like a normal person."
"Do I seem like a normal person to you?"
"I would assume whatever people you come from know common courtesy, and don't kick people because you think they aren't going fast enough."
"Just go," Midna said as she mounted Link and raised her foot to kick Link's side, but slowly lowered it when she remembered he had just been hurt.
Link moved around a bit more precarious stone formations before coming to a dead-end that had a wooden bridge hanging against the side of a corner of the wall a short distance from where Link was, too far to jump, and a few wooden pillars with small wooden squares sticking out the sides that could be used as platforms leading to what seemed to be a long roof that connected to the tower Midna had asked Link to reach.
"Look! Just a little farther!" Midna informed Link before floating over to the first wooden "platform."
"Those things are tiny! Do you really think I can fit on those?"
Midna glanced between the small platforms and the wolf before saying, "There's enough room, now come on! We're almost there!"
Link reluctantly jumped over to where Midna was and landed on the wooden section, but he had to bite down on the rest of the pillar to gain his balance before he jumped to the next, then landed on the roof. Link saw another trumpet face bird had spotted him and was on its way to tear him to shreds.
"Can you punch that guy, and I'll bite the hell out of him?"
"What, you can't handle this?"
"There are three here, and I want to kill this one before the other two show up."
"Wait, three?" Midna sent her hair hand into the thing's face, and it landed on the ground in front of Link, who bit into it furiously until it was dead.
Midna looked ahead to see another one perched on the roof, preparing to take flight.
"Where's the third one?"
Link suddenly shot his back legs out with as much force as he could and kicked another one of the giant birds in its trumpet face. Midna stared wide-eyed as Link dug his fangs into the beast's flesh. She didn't notice that one, even when it was right behind them? How did he see it?
"Watch your back!" Link shouted as he still bit into the thing.
Midna spun around to see the other bird diving at them and quickly sent out a giant fist to send it crashing to the ground. Once Link was finished with the sneaky one, he jumped at the other bird, but it quickly flew out of reach. Link tried to bite it, and Midna tried to punch it, but it was too quick and dodged every attack.
"Damn it! The thing's adapted! We need something new!"
"Hold on!" Midna said as she closed her eyes and brought her hands close together. Channeling her magic, she formed another ball of magic like she used to break Link's chain back in the cell and sent it flying into their opponent. The bird tumbled backward in surprise, and Link rushed it as quick as he could and bit into its throat as Midna held it down with her giant hand. Once Link was sure it was dead, he released the beast, and Midna followed suit.
"Nice thinking!" Link complemented.
"Eee hee hee! Did you see that look on that thing's face?" Midna said with a chuckle and a smile.
"It had a face?!" Link joked through his own laughter, which increased with Midna's as he climbed through the window into the tower he had been trying to reach. Inside was a spiraling staircase after a short drop.
"Up or down?" Link asked.
"Up," Midna said as she pointed to the ascending stairs on the right.
Link hopped the short distance and headed up the stairs to find a large metal door that was slightly ajar with a metal torch on either side. Link entered the door to find a room with a large bed on his right and several banners that had what appeared to be a golden bird with a triangular head that was made of three smaller triangles, and a cloaked figure standing in front of a window near a chair with their back to Link.
The person by the window turned to see who had entered their room. Their entire face was covered aside from deep blue eyes. The figure locked eyes with Link, and in them, he saw surprise, more so than he expected even considering a wolf had walked into their room. The blue eyes then raised to look at the imp on Link's back.
"Midna?!" Link could tell by the voice the cloaked person was female.
"Eee hee! You remembered my name? What an honor for me…" Midna said sarcastically.
"So, this is the one for whom you were searching…"
"He's not exactly what I had in mind, but… I guess he'll do."
"Wait, you were searching for me?"
"Yup!" Midna said as she patted Link's back.
"You are speaking to him?"
"Yeah, somehow we can talk to each other telepathically."
"I am not surprised," the mysterious woman said, "considering how much magical energy I sense from him. I've never sensed anything like it."
"Wait," Midna said, "magical energy?" the girl turned her words toward Link and said, "You didn't tell me you could use magic!"
Link wasn't sure what to say. Magical energy? From him? Was he some kind of wizard or something? Link was now even more aggravated by his amnesia than he was before, and he was already pretty angry at it.
"You were imprisoned?" the woman said, bringing Link and Midna's attention back to her. The cloaked lady was kneeling down and examining the shackle on Link's left paw. She then spotted the slash on Link's right side, "and injured? …I am sorry."
"Poor thing," Midna said as she rubbed Link's fur, "he had no idea what's happened…" Link gave her a slight nudge and a glare for rubbing his fur like he was a dog. "So, don't you think you should explain to him what you've managed to do? You owe him that much…" a mischievous smile spread across Midna's lips. "Twilight Princess! Eee hee!"
The "Twilight Princess" looked at the floor in what seemed to be shame before facing Link and speaking to him. "Listen carefully… This was once the land where the power of the gods was said to slumber. This was once the kingdom of Hyrule. But that blessed kingdom has been transformed by the king that rules the twilight… Zant." At that name, Midna seemed to tense up in what Link thought was anger. "Hyrule has been turned into a world of shadows, ruled by creatures who shun the light."
The woman stood and faced the window before continuing to explain what happened. "Zant's forces swarmed the castle, and although the soldiers of Hyrule fought valiantly, they could not end more than a few of the beasts. Before long, all the soldiers were bested." The princess's voice turned into one filled with guilt. "Zant gave me a choice: surrender or die, 'a question for all the land and people of Hyrule,' he said, 'life or death.' I could not allow him to kill any more people, so I surrendered to him."
The woman paused for a few moments before her tone turned from guilt to sadness. "Twilight covered Hyrule like a shroud, and without light, the people became as spirits. Within the twilight, they live on, unaware that they have passed into spirit forms… All the people know now is fear… Fear of a nameless evil…"
The woman slowly turned to face Link. "The kingdom succumbed to twilight, but I remain its princess…" The woman reached up and removed her hood. Link looked up a bit to get a better view of her face, accidentally headbutting Midna, making her sway a bit before she regained her balance.
"I am Zelda."
Zelda had long brown hair that held a golden crown with a blue gem in the center, she had blue eyes, and she had long ears, just like Link when he was a human.
"You don't have to look so sad!" Midna said from Link's back. "We actually find it to be quite livable! I mean, is perpetual twilight really all that bad?"
"It did turn everyone into spirits," Link threw in.
"Midna…" Zelda said, "This is no time for levity. The shadow beasts have been searching far and wide for you." Midna stood up on Link's back before levitating above it in a sitting position, deliberately avoiding Zelda's gaze. "Why is this?"
"Why indeed?" She responded, "you tell me! Eee hee hee!"
"Do you ever answer any questions?" Link asked the floating girl.
"Time has grown short," Zelda said, "the guard will soon make his rounds."
Midna plopped on Link's back, who wavered under the sudden impact, before Midna began leaning to the side, trying to see out the door.
"You must leave here, quickly."
Link turned and ran out the door and dashed down the steps before skidding to a stop knocking Midna forward into a laying position on his back.
"Why are you stopping?"
"The guards almost here! We can't get out that way!"
Midna heard some footsteps before a beam of light shone from around the corner as a door creaked open.
"Boy, he's prompt!"
Link and Midna searched around for another way out before Midna flew up to the window they had entered through and helped Link to jump up to it.
Midna floated out the window and bounced off the roof they had fought the birds on, performing a flip before hovering in place. Link quickly searched the sky for any more of the things before approaching Midna.
"Eee hee hee!" she giggled as she turned to face Link "well? Do you understand where we are now?"
"Yes, we're in Hyrule castle, but it's twilightified."
"I promised to get you out of here, and I guess a promise is a promise, so I'll let you go back to where you first tumbled into twilight… But… Are you really sure you should be going back? Are you sure you aren't forgetting anything important?" Midna giggled before spinning around and turning into a screaming Colin and Ilia right before Link's eyes.
"Eee hee! Do you want to save them? Well, in that case, little Midna would be happy to help you! But…" She twirled around and resumed her previous appearance as an imp. "Well, you'd have to be my servant… and like a servant, you'd have to do exactly as I say!"
"Answer me this…" Link said, staring daggers into Midna, "How do you know they were captured?"
"I saw them being dragged through the forest, that boy was crying out for someone to help, and then along you came!"
"My answer is still no."
"Why don't you go back, take a little time, and give it some thought. Eee hee!"
Suddenly, Link was transformed into several black squares that flew up into the sky, and the imp followed after them.