Okay, sometimes you outline a chapter during the BLM protests of June 2020 when you're feeling all sorts of pissed at the police as an institution and it shows. The Tahk you know now wasn't even conceived until this chapter, and I never predicted that he would worm his way into the story as deeply as he has.

Content Warning: The following chapter uses the word "thug" in a racist context. There's also a wee bit of retconning.


The Magic Awakens

Chapter 36

Meeting the Parents


The smack of a file against the metal table sprung Link from his nap. He blinked up at the bright, hazy light overshadowed by the very figure he expected to see.

"I'm getting real tired of seeing you around here, Harkinian," Tahk growled, "and I'm real tired of seeing you around my daughter, too."

The Dad Talk? Really? Link was arrested and handcuffed to a table until his wrists went numb for the Dad Talk?

"You know, there was a time when I might've been glad to see it." A chair scraped along the floor and creaked as Tahk sank into it. "Bloodlines don't go unnoticed. Given a few more chances, I thought you might live up to it, like your sister, but instead you dragged her down to your level."

"Did you talk to her yet?" Link asked.

"I ask the questions."

"I'm assuming you did. The witnesses too. Otherwise you'd be grilling me about the shit that matters."

"Shit that matters, huh?" Tahk leaned forward with his arms crossed. "Like how you made a slut of my daughter, risked a hundred lives for your vigilante spectacle, or called a violent thug your best mate?"

Link stood. "Don't call him that!"

A slap answered him. One so hard that Link's forehead struck the edge of the table. He'd be lying on the ground if not for the cuffs slicing into skin made raw from rope. As he hung from his taught arms, he was far from the paragon who liberated civilians from monsters with his boundless courage and sacred blade. He was just a 17-year-old boy caught up in a world full of people who were bigger, meaner, and more powerful than him. Just like he was before this stupid quest came along.

Tahk slid the folder across the table and flipped it open. "Get up."

It was a strain for Link to get one of his knees under him. The other foot felt around for his chair, but he had kicked it away when he fell and Tahk wasn't gonna fetch it. His head rose above the table where he saw pictographs no decent person would show a teenager.

Hacked up bodies. Blood-soaked uniforms. Guts spilling from chests and stumps and necks.

"Six of my best officers were torn apart by Dragmire a few hours ago." Link kept his head bowed as Tahk leaned over him. "I will call that sick bastard whatever I like."

Link had witnessed many horrors on his quest. His own chest cleaved open. Impa slumped over her gaping wound. Ganon bloodied by an explosion. Twili twisted into beasts. Teeth. Talons. Terror. They only marked a close call for Link and those he held dear. Any tragedy that did arise couldn't be faulted to him, Zelda, or Ganondorf.

Now it was different. Now things had changed. Whether or not Link's best friend had been in his right mind didn't change the fact that his very vessel carried out these atrocities. There it presented an ethical dilemma: do you condemn an innocent man, or pardon an evil one?

Gods, the heartache that realisation brought. Ganon, the real Ganon, didn't deserve any of this, but Link couldn't process that here. He needed to remember that no matter how angry and hurt the captain was over the loss of his colleagues, it gave him no right to weaponize that pain against Link, to tear him down and make him weak so that he'd cave into whatever manipulation came next.

"What am I charged with?" he asked.

"The usual." Tahk snatched the folder back, pulled out a paperclipped file, and tossed down the sheets of Link's record one-by-one. "Trespassing. Obstruction. Refusing police orders."

"Nothing new?"

Tahk's nostrils flared. "You think you can get away with anything."

"I paid the fines," Link said.

"Not this one." Tahk tapped on Link's fifth mugshot, dated two months back. Beneath it was his charge. Trespassing on Hyrule Castle after opening hours. Tahk had released him with only a warning, or so it seemed at the time.

"I'll pay that one too," Link said.

Tahk scoffed. "You're a repeat offender, Harkinian. Fines don't clean up you act."

"Then why did you let me go?" Link didn't know how much longer he could stand to be his own lawyer.

"Because there are some crimes the law won't punish, but I will."

If anything was the essence of why Link hated cops, this was it. They didn't "enforce" the law. They twisted and exploited it for their own power kicks. They pointed the finger at civilians, guilty and innocent, so the finger wouldn't be pointed at them instead.

"You don't have a case," Link said bluntly. "You can't keep me here."

He should've known better than to talk back. He should've known that would've ended with a hand grinding his head into the table. "Listen up, you little shit," Tahk snarled. "I didn't like you when you protested my career, I didn't like you when you started gawking at my daughter, and I definitely don't like your chosen hero farce. Kids like you keep inventing new, stupid ways to save the world. It's dangerous, and if my duty is to serve and protect this city, then I will protect it from the likes of you."

"It's not a farce," Link forced through his grimace.

"Face it, kid. You're nothing special. You're not chosen. You're just some shit-stirring kid who got brought down by the real heroes of this nation."

Ah yes, Hero Cop Tahk Ozul, who treated Link no differently than Demon Lord Ghirahim. Unless Link found the perfect opening to lockpick his cuffs and escape, everything was going to go to shit because Tahk couldn't accept that he was full of it.

Link was tired of this. Tired of enduring pain. Tired of the cold room irritating his throat. Tired of being forced to bargain while bound, while on the verge of breaking, when he couldn't afford to be broken.

The door burst open, and a hot, seething rage ate away the chill in the air. "What. Are. You. Doing."

Tahk sprung up, and he narrowed his eyes at his fuming daughter. She was supposed to be tucked in a ward under watchful eye. The hospital gown and patch on her throat proved it. "How'd you get here?"

"That doesn't matter."

He jabbed a finger at the door handle. "I locked that door," he said. "You were in hospital, and I locked that fucking door."

Midna stormed forth and slammed her palms on the table, and it was almost as if an invisible force jerked Tahk's hand off Link's head. Link lifted himself straight, screwed his eyes shut, and took long, deep breaths. Whatever it took to keep the asthma at bay.

"You have no right to keep him here." Though Midna tried to project strength, she couldn't overcome the tremor in her tone. She had stood up to her father before, but she had learned his limit, and the dangers of crossing it. Here she was, openly defying him in his place of work. Knowing full well that it would end in greater pain. Whatever it took to get Link out. "You're defying orders."

"There are no orders."

"Fuck off with the gaslighting! Zelda told me everything. Link's release has been ordered by the mayor himself. As much as you try to deny it, he has been officially recognised as the Goddesses' chosen." She projected her voice loud and clear, so the rest of the staff on the floor might learn to respect her father a little less.

"He stays until his interrogation is over," Tahk said. "That's the arrangement."

"Is that why you turned off the cameras?" An open palm flew towards her. Midna flinched, bracing herself for the sting, but it never came.

She opened her eyes. Tahk's wrist was clenched in Link's right hand, from which the open handcuffs swung.

There was a beastly quality to the boy's glower. This was the first time Tahk understood that he wasn't just staring down some glorified delinquent with delusions of a pro-crime world. This was someone who slew monster after monster, who was now glaring at him as if he was no different.

Without breaking his glare or his grip, Link dug the pin into the second cuff latch. In seconds, there was a click. He threw Tahk's wrist away and tossed the cuffs onto the table, then he tenderly took the hand of the stunned Midna and led her away from the one who tried to hurt her.

Link didn't say a word as they wove through the precinct to the elevator. The staff radiated a sense of melancholy for their fallen officers, but Link and Midna's presence disrupted it. They either avoided eye-contact or stared in bewilderment at the bruised boy in his dishevelled school dance outfit arm-in-arm with the captain's daughter in a hospital gown. No one stopped them from leaving. No one even tried.

What a terrifying list of notifications Midna had awoken to in hospital. Missed call after missed call, text after text, of Zelda begging her to bring her brother home. I know it's unfair to put this on you, I know you're recovering, but Impa and I don't know what to do.

Zelda was right. This wasn't fair. None of this was fair. After clawing their way through Ghirahim's bullshit last night, how could Midna's father shove the twins into another pile? Of course the appropriate response to his daughter almost dying was to brutalise her boyfriend. Their worst-case scenario had arrived.

As they rode the elevator down, Midna finally spoke. "If you want to break up, I won't blame you." She blinked her damp eyes. "You didn't deserve that."

Link squeezed her hand. "It's fine."

The doors opened before Midna could say, "It's not fine."

Flashing cameras, loud reporters, and drizzling rain assaulted Link's senses when he emerged into the dawn. The brewing swells in his throat and lungs reached a crescendo, and then he was clinging to Midna, coughing and sputtering not just before the press, but the entire nation. He thought being tied down before his peers was his lowest. This was lower.

He was so consumed by his condition that he couldn't summon his inhaler. Midna, Gods bless her, had one just for him. He didn't recall telling her about the asthma. Maybe Zelda did. He never expected her to share his secrets while guarding her own. Midna eased Link down by the wall and rubbed his back as he took a few puffs.

At the bottom of the stairs, the media pressed against the metal barriers and the spread arms of police officers. At least the cops were doing something decent for once, even if it wasn't for Link's benefit. He wanted the news to report on what happened last night, he really did, but they always chose the worst time to scrutinise him or pelt him with questions. Leave him alone. Let him get back to work.

Get back to work, huh? Why did that feel so impossible now?

"Impa's on her way." Midna slipped her slate in the pocket of her robe. "I should probably catch a ride back to hospital. They must be freaking out."

Link kept a firm grip on her hand when she tried to pull away. "Did you know about the attack?"

"Like, did I see it coming?" He nodded. "No." Her fingers brushed the patch on her neck. "I didn't."

With that revelation, Link held himself a little higher, as if it had barely lightened a mental load she couldn't fathom. He also gripped her hand a little tighter, as if he couldn't entrust himself with anyone else.

"You know, they fixed me up already. I could stay a bit longer." Link held her hand to his chest and nodded meekly. He couldn't face his sister and guardian alone. He couldn't cower in front of a nation-wide audience alone. "Should we wait inside?"

Link shook his head. Captain Ozul was inside. The precinct was his domain, and though Link guessed that Tahk wouldn't be able to get away with it a second time, he couldn't shake the fear of being dragged back to that cold hard room, chained down, and forced to endure more "serving and protecting".

He was only seventeen. He had been fighting these battles since he was fifteen, and he didn't know if he could fight them anymore.

"If I could, I'd warp us to your place right now." Midna's spare arm circled around his head and eased it towards our shoulder. "He's gonna find out, eventually." Her thumb traced circles on Link's temple.

Midna's willingness to out her magic to her family, to the world, just to give him peace, was a drop of light in the soupy darkness. She was the only one that could get him through this, but that wasn't fair on her. Not when just being with him put her at so much risk. Still, letting her go wasn't an option. Letting her go would cause him to crumble.

A new commotion trailed through the reporters as someone pushed their way through. "Link!" Impa shimmied herself between two camera-workers and kicked off the fence. A cop caught her forearm. "I'm his guardian!" she exclaimed. "Impa Eri. You know who I am." With a muttered apology, his arm fell away, and Impa bounded up the staircase.

Link got to his feet, eager to just leave, when he was pulled into an embrace that he did not return. "My boy." How dare she call him that after lying to him for nine years. It didn't take long for Impa to feel the sting of his stiffness, so she withdrew.

"Thank-you, Midna," she said. "Sorry to pull you out of hospital like that. Need a ride?"

"She's coming home," Link said, quiet but firm.

Impa blinked at him. "But the hospital…" If Link's resolute glare didn't convince her, his trembling hand locked in Midna's did. "Of course."

Midna, privy to the mysterious rift between her boyfriend and his guardian, held Impa's hand for him as they wormed their way through the tight crowd.

Dozens of questions beat down on Link. Questions about the siege, about the arrest, about the coughing and his girlfriend and his parents and… Principal Rauru's murder? Farore, that was not the way to find out.

When they were in the car, Impa offered to go through a drive thru, but though Link was famished, he refused. He wanted to escape her, for however long it took him to process the pain she had wrought.

When they parked in the garage, he flew from the car to the door, dead set on reaching his room before- "Link!" More unwelcome arms around him. Those of Zelda, who could've prevented the whole nightmare from ever happening. Even though he was hurt by her secret too, he had worried for her ever since she was pulled away from him in cuffs. That was why he returned her embrace, however lightly.

Zelda felt the sting too, so she drew away. "You must be tired. I can make breakfast while you freshen up." Link vanished up the stairs without a word.

She embraced Midna next, who was far more welcoming. "Midna, you beautiful person. Thank-you." Midna nearly teared up at those words. Mere weeks ago, she would've never imagined hearing them from Zelda.

"You're welcome," she said as they parted. "How'd they treat you?"

"They released me after a few questions, but I was utterly terrified the whole time. I don't know how Link could go through that seven times."

Midna swallowed. "And what did you tell them about me?"

"We found you in the sound room with an unconscious Yiga scout. I don't think they've questioned Groose yet, but I've already told him the cover story."

"And they believed you?"

"Some of them did, but that was enough. 'You can't disregard the word of Hylia,'" she mimicked.

Midna snorted. "Consider a life in crime. You'd get away with anything." Zelda chuckled.

Impa hung her coat on one of the hooks by the door. "Hey, Midna. Need a change of clothes?"

Midna glanced down at her damp hospital gown. "Yeah, thanks." She followed Impa up the stairs.

When Midna was at the Harkinian household on Tuesday afternoon, mere days ago when things were actually peaceful for ten goddess-damn minutes, she hadn't seen much of the place. She only slipped into Zelda's room to experiment with her blonde locks and prime her on a plan to talk to Ganon. Then it was down the stairs to lure Link away. This time, Midna noted everything special about this home. The woody smell. The lived-in aesthetic. The creaky stairs and floorboards. It was nothing like her sanitised residency, and she adored it. If only she could visit more.

Impa was usually so clean in her presentation, so Midna was unprepared for her room to be so cluttered. Shut blinds. Trash and dirty clothes strewn about. Stacked glasses. Musky scent.

"Sorry about the mess." Impa crouched down and wrestled open a draw stuffed with balled up tops. "I'm not usually like this."

Somehow, Midna believed her, and she wondered what had changed. "It's okay."

Impa pulled out a tight crop top, sized it up against Midna's chest, and decided she was a bit too endowed for it. "I never got to thank you for saving my life."

With all that the week had thrown at them, Midna had almost forgotten about that. "It's nothing." Any decent person with warp powers would've done what she did.

"It wasn't." Impa threw a few options onto the bed. "You risked exposing your magic for me. I don't take that lightly." She rose, but her shoulders were hunched. "You've saved my, uh, son too, many times, and you're important to my kids.

"I know things aren't great at home for you, and I have this… feeling that the hardest times are on the way. If you ever need a refuge, you are always welcome here."

Midna pressed her hands over her mouth just as the tears began to spill. How could it be that easy to make her feel more welcome here than in her own home? How? How?

"Do you… need a hug?" Impa offered.

Midna nodded, and thus she was pulled in. Gods, part of her was so convinced that Impa would hate her, just as her dad hated Link. After what her father did to him, after what she did to Zelda, how could she find herself in their parent's embrace?

Wow. Her own mother had set the bar low.


And thus Impa signed the adoption papers which, while really sweet and frankly necessary, meant some awkward implications for Midlink's relationship.

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