Happy Untitled Groose Game release day, everyone! This weekend I face a grave dilemma: play 'Legend of Zelda' or write 'Legend of Zelda' fanfiction?

There's a lot of scene cuts this time around. For the action scenes, I highly recommend listening to StarAnise's orchestral cover of 'Look What You Made Me Do', especially for Midna vs Zant. I've always thought that song (or the covers that cut out Taylor's personal drama) was very topical regarding Midna's relationship with her family.


The Magic Awakens

Chapter 41

Conquer Yourself


Link slapped against ankle-deep water. It was a painful blow, one that should have splattered him, but he was still whole. Well, his body was at least. The wetness brought him back to that evening in the pouring rain, and he had to remind himself how to breath; his lungs weren't really swelling up, and there was no hand clamped around his throat. He was… "safe" wasn't the right word.

Screams filled the silence. The students at the dance. Midna in the Shadow Temple. They had been separated again. She was trapped with her villainous brother in some warehouse and Link was suffocated by cold, wet darkness. Why? What was the reason? Now that he was alone and vulnerable, what danger would hurl itself towards him? Whatever it was, he couldn't overcome it. Not without Midna, or Zelda, or Impa, or Ganon.

The floor had a firm hold of Link's boots. Water seeped in through the lace holes and gaps. He should wait for help. That was all he needed to do. Still as stone, it won't find you.

There was no concept of time down here; did seconds crawl or did hours sprint? His only company was crippling self-doubt. You can't face it, it said. You can't win. The thoughts compounded, layered over each other, drowned each other out, like static at full blast.

There was another voice though. One that had been thrown into the distance. The only reason why Link knew it was there was because it was different. In Link's first foray into the computer labs back in primary school, he had gotten a screen with a single broken pixel. It didn't matter that it was no bigger than any other pixel, and it didn't matter if the screen was black, white, or blue. That one insignificant dot on the screen defied the rest, because it only ever glowed green.

In the thousands of pixels that merged together into the same overpowering message of You can't do this, that tiny blip told him exactly what had gotten him this far.

You have to try.

The sword and shield materialised on Link's arms. In just one, tiny step, it was as if he had tripped an alarm. Quick footsteps splashed through the water towards him. Link froze. Then came the scrape of metal. He whirled around and threw up his shield. A blade clanged off. A foot stumbled back in the water. Link swung at the darkness, and in that motion, the Triforce of Courage glowed, revealing the empty air he cleaved through. The light faded.

Link froze again. Aside from a few lingering ripples and the beat of his own heart, there was suffocating silence. There was someone or something in here with him, and it was nigh undetectable, though the same seemed true of Link. Even though his breath wanted to rattle, he forced it to be long and shallow. His anxious mind screamed for more air, but he needed to deal with it. He needed to wait. He needed to survive.

Eventually, his body forced a sigh, but no entity came running. Why not? Every noise, no matter how slight, rang loud down here, and yet here Link was, still as stone. Unfound.

The easy thing would be to hold still, to go back to waiting, but Midna was trapped in her own battle and Zelda and Impa were doing gods-know-what. There was no one to stand up for him but himself.

Another step. The entity sprinted in, but Link forced his shield to stay down. Just listen, listen, listen...

His sword flew around. It clanged as it caught the enemy's guard. Shaking and trapped in crossed steel, Link made a request of the Triforce. Show me what I'm facing. He feared the answer but demanded it anyway.

His left hand throbbed, and his own insecurity answered. Are you sure?

No, Link thought, but I wanna know anyway.

The light flared. Link wished it hadn't.

Shaggy hair spilled from his father's cap. The silver Triforce shimmered from a fist of wispy shadows clutching an obsidian Master Sword. The reflection had no mouth, but the narrow red eyes glared at Link with a ferocity that only his enemies knew. What a haunting experience to be on the other end of it.

Now Link knew he couldn't win. He couldn't be his best self anymore, so how could he surpass it in battle?

The light faded again.


Zelda's golden light had forsaken her. She kept screaming, clawing, and falling through darkness. How much longer was she to believe that the next second would be her last?

With a high-pitched oof, she landed, but not on a hard surface. It was as if she was a doll that had been dropped into a cushy chair.

There was a flickering candle set atop mahogany. The radius of light was no wider than a dinner plate, but Zelda sensed a presence on the other side of the desk.

Her chair legs scraped across marble. Zelda scrambled away. She didn't want to face whatever it was without her bow to shield her. Summon it. Come on. Why wasn't it manifesting in her hands?

"I'm afraid your void is locked here." The voice was familiar. Uncanny. It was a voice she had only heard in home videos, and it was a voice everyone around Zelda knew. "Please, take your seat."

Zelda gingerly slipped into the chair and scooted it forward. She squinted through the darkness as the light of the candle grew bolder, dancing against gold bangles and white linen. The poised and petite outline appeared first, then the sleek blonde hair and the pale, unblemished skin. Calm blue eyes passively glowed with an understated wisdom.

"Who are you?" Zelda asked.

"I'm you. But awakened." The Triforce of Wisdom shone from the back of the clone's palm.

Hundreds of questions split into thousands. "But how? Why would Ghirahim send me to you?"

"I suppose it's worth being transparent," the entity said. "I am a trial, constructed to help you awaken the true power of Wisdom."

"Why?" Zelda did not trust this. It was not in the villains' best interests to awaken the very power capable of thwarting them.

It was as if the entity had read her thoughts. Perhaps she had. "I know this seems awfully suspect, but I assure you that our goals are aligned. You see, there is a little-known contingency among Triforce Wielders that has made claiming all three pieces a logistical nightmare."

In the back of Zelda's mind, she had wondered about a peculiar detail from the legends that had failed to make itself known on her quest. "When the Triforce Trio were together, why did the pieces stay with us? They should have drawn themselves out to reunite." That was the most climatic part of every tale. The hero and princess's race against time to defeat the Demon King before the full Triforce could emerge.

"That is mostly correct," the reflection replied, "but for that to happen, it is necessary to draw the Triforce pieces to the surface. Only then do they bestow upon you great magic, and only then can they be claimed by a single master."

"And what if I choose not to awaken the power?"

"You will be unable to strike me down with the Bow of Light, and you will be trapped here for eternity."

Zelda shifted as she weighed her options. The Goddesses were quite clever to force the villains to wait until their heroes became their most powerful in order to claim their Triforce pieces, but they must have found a way to exploit the pattern, otherwise she wouldn't be here.

Then again, prayer hadn't worked, and neither did research. She had hoped that once Ganondorf had recovered, he might have offered some guidance, but then he was overtaken by her mortal enemy who couldn't be defeated for as long as Zelda's true powers remained dormant. With a deep breath, Zelda solidified her calculated risk.

"Then help me."


Midna swung by her hair and hands from one rafter to the next, weaving away from a flurry of magical blasts. Zant and his whirlwind of darkness flew after her, firing without mercy. With his superior flight her physical strain, she couldn't last. Any second now would be a second too late.

A shadow slashed through her next orange latch, and Midna plummeted with a scream. Her muscle memory swooped in, and a corkscrew flip landed her feet-first on the top of a shelf.

Zant hurtled towards her like a comet. She backflipped away just before he cratered. Midna threw her magic to a nearby box and hurled it at him. With a grunt, he and the box tumbled off the shelves.

When the cardboard thwapped against the floor, Midna peered over the edge. Her brother was gone! She leapt down and magic slowed her fall, but just as she touched, the shadows flickered.

Zant lunged, and the shadowy tendrils lunged with him. They rained upon her. She dodged the first, the second, but the third looped around her ankle and yanked her upside down. With a yell, her hair flew towards Zant, and he flicked a finger. The shadow slammed her forwards and backwards, sending jolts of pain through her body.

She groaned on her back with sprawled out limbs. When she tried to prop herself up, the tendrils slammed her down, shackling her arms and legs to the floor.

In a desperate bid, she snapped the Fused Shadows over her head, but before their powers activated, another of Zant's shadows knocked it away. It spun into a shelf leg and shattered into her void.

Zant paced around her with his hands clasped behind his back. "Using the family heirloom against your own brother? How cruel."

An orange lock ripped Zant's leg from under him. When his forehead hit the floor, the restrains fell away, and Midna stumbled to her feet. "Why are you doing this?"

More darkness lunged. She stepped into the shadows, but they dug in and flung her out. She rattled the shelves and crumpled against the floor.

Her bruised flesh pulsed and her mouth was slick with blood. How had Link put himself through this dozens of times these past few months? She didn't have his resilience and she didn't have Zant's magical prowess. Her only advantage, reflexes and athleticism, had been beaten out of her.

Zant's footsteps clicked towards her. "Do you really want to know why?" Midna tried to prop herself up on her crooked wrist, only to yelp in agony. "It's because you always cast a shadow bigger than yourself." A swipe of his arm sent her tumbling down the aisle. "And left no space for mine." A blast of magic square in the chest had her body convulsing and rolling further. "It was always about you!" Another blast. "'You got an internship?'" Another scream. "'Well, Midna's running for student council president.'" Another tumble. "'You got top marks on the assignment?'" Another breath lost. "'Who cares? Midna just ran off with that Harkinian boy.'"

Midna feebly gathered magic in her un-sprained hand, but it dispersed when the tendrils ripped her from the floor and slammed her against the wall so hard that it cracked. They tethered even her fingers and hair to the wall. "I always thought that one day, Mum and Dad would tire of your hot-cold bullshit, and they'd finally recognise me as the rightful golden child." The tips of the shadows scratched along her skin, searching for the most painful incisions. "But you just carried on being your obnoxious self, because you knew it didn't matter if you shoved me off the pedestal or pulled me with you as you fell. As long as you had the spotlight, you didn't have to give a single fuck about me, did you?!"

The shadows tore through her. A dozen shallow slashes along her arms and legs that sent her screaming. "Now do you understand how I feel?" Zant snarled.

Midna wrestled down her scrunched face, her heaving chest, and her clenched teeth. Her damp lids fluttered open, and she stared Zant dead in the eye as she gritted words destined to bring her demise.

"I understand plenty."


"Snap your fingers again, coward!" The sole of Impa's sneaker ground into Ghirahim's wrist. His throat heaved against her shining blade, and several cracks and patches of black marred his body. "Send me to Zelda!"

Against her wishes, he snapped the hand she had pinned. A whirlwind of knives swirled around them and flew.

Ghirahim cried out in pain. The blades shattered against a shield of light conjured by both of Impa's hands. The knife had nailed his offending wrist to the floor.

The demon thrashed beneath her. Impa summoned second gold knife and slashed it across his face. The black hide glanced off the worst, but there was a nasty scratch from snarl to creased brow. "I would sooner die than betray my master!"

"And I'd sooner die than let her awaken the power!" Impa spat.

His eyebrows shot up, and then his face peeled back into an uproar of maniacal laughter. "That's why you never told them what happened, DIDN'T YOU?!" he screamed.

With a battle cry and several blurred motions, Impa's blade crisscrossed over Ghirahim's body. He kept on laughing, so she kept on slashing and hacking, until he hissed in pain. Her knife had chipped his black-coated chest, and something orange shimmered beneath. His eyes bulged as she raised her blade high, and he screamed for his life as she brought it down.


"Close your eyes. What do you fear losing?"

Two faces floated in Zelda's mind. Link, her fiercely protective twin brother, and Ganondorf, her charming friend who tottered on something more.

In past lives, Link was a stranger, a friend, and most revoltingly, a lover. Why must she subject herself to such uncomfortable memories?

And what of Ganondorf and his demonic alter ego? Would the voe she had known through a rosy lens be consumed by visions of a thief, a warlord, or worst of all, a victim of her queenly reign?

Other faces wisped into view. Saria, her best friend. Would Zelda outgrow her in a blink? Midna, her trusted ally. Would Zelda dismiss her as a rambunctious teenager? Impa, her strong motherly figure. Would Zelda feel several times her age?

"I'll lose everyone," she whispered. "Whatever we have, at least. The person they love will be burdened by strangers."

The Awakened's tone became softer. "Imagine, if you would, that you are floating just beneath a surface of water. You have kicked and clawed, but you cannot break the golden surface, because of the ropes tied to your feet.

"You follow the ropes down, and there you see your loved ones, dragging you down to the depths. Away from your rightful power.

"Imagine yourself being gently pulled down, and as you draw closer, flames flicker at the edge of your vision. You sink further, and they creep in, ever so slowly. The embers fly past. The warmth tickles your skin. You're halfway down, then the flames grow ferocious." It was like drifting through Ganondorf's nightmare all over again. "Soon, the flames singe the clothing of your friends, then your family, and finally, yourself. The fires of the Demon King have arrived, and you haven't the power to end them.

"Look above you, and you will see the golden surface drawing further away. The power to stop the calamity is up there, waiting for you to claim it, but only if you sever what is holding you back."

Sever her relationships? Let go of what she had with those she held dear? Zelda's hands clenched in her lap. It was too great a price. It didn't feel like the wise thing to do.

"For as long as you remain tethered to the life you have, the fires of destruction burn through their clothes and lick their flesh. It starts with a hiss of pain and rises into a chorus of agonised screams against a backdrop of crackling flame.

"Still, they cling to you. They beg you to resign yourself to their flaming doom. Will you do it, or will you draw a breath, summon your light, and cut away the ropes? Will you rise to meet your destiny?"

The glow on Zelda's hand pulsed without rhythm, reflecting the tumultuous war of emotion within her. Was discarding her essence in the ocean truly the way forward? To claim this power as hers? She felt the waxing and waning power. She wanted to save Hyrule with her divine light. If she couldn't claim her own life, then maybe she could offer that chance to her loved ones, and by extension, all the people of Hyrule.

"Reach out your hand." Zelda's open palm rose. "Feel the light of the Triforce." It was still erratic, even though Zelda was almost convinced of her choice. Almost. "Centre the currents of energy in your palm. Allow it to be engulfed in the light already within you." Her flesh tingled with warmth. "Feel the power extend beyond your fingertips, morphing into a blade." She did not see it, but she felt it like it was a natural extension of her body. "Gently bring it down to your tethers." The faces, twisted in pain and streaked with tears, shook their heads. Don't do it. This isn't your destiny.

"Feel the tug of the rope that binds you to Saria." Zelda felt it among the others. It was the weakest tug off all, but one which still said Don't leave me. "And swipe your light through." The string fell away. Zelda drifted a little higher, and the flames mellowed a little. Still a voice whispered. This isn't your destiny.

The Awakened continued to draw her through. Next was Midna, which hurt more to sever, and then Impa, which ached. Each time, the flames retreated a little further, and she floated closer to her destiny. Only her fellow Triforce bearers remained now, and Ganondorf was the next to go.

But when the Awakened gave the order, the inner voice cried out louder. This isn't your destiny!

Was it a voice, though? Or was it Zelda's selfish nature making another demand to forsake her destiny?

This isn't the wise path.

She dared to hope that this was the Triforce of Wisdom reaching out to her, but it didn't quite feel it. There was no magical calmness or tingle to accompany it. There was just a voice. One somewhat detached, but somewhat hers.

"Sever the tether," the Awakened soothed. "You're almost there."

Yes, Zelda was the closest she had ever been. It was not her destiny to give up now. Her life didn't matter. Her heartache didn't matter. If she needed to drown in the flood for Hyrule, then so be it.

The sharpened light reeled back, prepared to swipe away the person who had harmed her guardian, her brother, herself, and all of Hyrule. Ganon was gone. There was no reason to cling to the person he once was. There was no reason to fear losing what had already been lost.

Yet her hand remained still. What if this wasn't her destiny?

"Come now," the voice urged. "Just sever the final two, and the power will be yours."

Zelda's hand tremored. Do it. Don't do it. Listen. Don't listen. Sacrifice. Don't sacrifice.

Save me from this soul-crushing choice!

Someone thumped into the room with a grunt. Zelda's trance snapped, and she flung around her chair, where her dearest mother figure rose from the floor.

Impa's eyes locked onto the Awakened, and with no rhyme nor reason, she snatched a knife from her blazer and hurled it towards the Awakened. The blade spun through her forehead and lodged itself in the chair. She flickered into nothing. The darkness slithered away, revealing a door behind Impa's heaving form.

"Show me your hand." It came out as a strangled plea. Zelda covered the marking as she approached. Did she have to do it? Did she have to display her failure? Impa beckoned for it, and Zelda relented, shoving her right at Impa and turning away.

Impa cradled her hand as she observed the Triforce of Wisdom at its faintest yet. Zelda didn't want to see even a ghost of disappointment on her face, nor did she want to snap at her for ruining her best chance at awakening the power, or further wrestle with the fact that perhaps she almost strayed too far along the wrong path.

Zelda did not expect Impa to pull her hand close to her chest, caress the dim light with her thumb, and let out a tearful, ragged sigh of relief. Was it relief? Zelda must have misread her.

"I'm sorry," Zelda mumbled. "I failed."

"Don't rush it." Impa pulled Zelda in for a crushing embrace, and her tears dripped against her blonde crown. "Please don't rush it. It's okay."

It was uncanny how well this matched the vision. Impa, her spiritual guide, was the tether that had pulled her away from the golden light. Should Zelda push her away? Continue with the meditation on her own? Yes. Well, possibly. Urgh! She didn't know! She was too naïve to know.

So don't rush it.

Zelda melted into the embrace and shuddered. Whatever her destiny was, she would greet it. Whatever her destiny demanded, she would give it. For now, however, she would relish in one of her treasured connections while she still could.


Clang. Clang. Clang. Miss. Another slash striped Link. His knee this time, and he fell into a kneel. The sword stopped him from collapsing into the water, and the Triforce faded once more. He was bleeding from a dozen shallow gashes, out of breath, and mentally exhausted from enduring this pointless torture.

Get up, the voice said. How could he? If he got up, the clone would come swinging back, and he would keep chipping away at Link until he choked on his own blood.

Was he being watched right now, just like in the Shadow Temple? Were Demise and Ghirahim laughing as they passed popcorn between them? If there was ever a time to kill him with a decisive blow, this was it. He wasn't going to get up. He wasn't going to give them the show of a slow and painful death.

That decision didn't feel powerful. It didn't feel right. Link had always thought that the most humiliating thing he could do was nothing. What kind of brother wouldn't protect his sister from bullies? What kind of ally didn't fight for the causes important to his best friend? What kind of boyfriend saw his beloved antagonised by her abusive family over and over, and didn't offer a way out?

Remember why you're a hero.

Link had grown up with the old legends. He had idolised the old heroes and aspired to be just like them, but in the modern world, there were no prophecies to fulfil or demons to slay. To be a hero, he needed to ask himself, Who are the heroes of my age? and then follow their example.

The heroes of today did not ignore evil just because they could. They did not wait until they were backed into a corner with nowhere to go. They sought out evil, chased it down, and learned all they could so they knew how to dismantle it. They looked inward, examined the evil within themselves, and sought to eradicate that, too.

What did Link know about this enemy? He knew it posed no threat for as long as he did nothing. He knew it was a clone of him, or the person he craved to be, and he knew it was nefarious. Link also knew that the most humiliating and nefarious thing he could do was wallow in his worst or give into death as the outside world fell under Demise's reign.

Link hauled himself upright by the hilt of his sword. The footsteps came running back. Take on this one blow, he told himself, and the Triforce glowed the slightest bit. When black steel swung in, silver glanced it. Take one more. Another clash. Another commitment. Another miss. Another slash. His body ached for rest. His mind begged him to resign and wait, because that was the only way to survive. Still, Link promised to try a little longer.

His flesh stung, his breath rattled, his heartbeat pounded, and self-doubt beat him down. You can't do this. You can't do this. Despite this, he ordered his shaking knees to keep him upright. Despite this, the Triforce continued to shine. He forced it to shine, to reveal the full outline of an unbeatable enemy as he charged in.

No more glancing blows. No more waiting for a saviour who would never come. It was time to lay across the train tracks. It was time to face the rubber bullets. It was time to chain himself to the fence. It was time to say, "Come and kill me, if you dare."

Two sharp points shot to opposing hearts. At the last second, Link twisted away from the enemy's blade, and though it still nicked his skin, he refused to stumble. He refused to lose sight of his mark.

The Master Sword plunged into the puppet, right up to the hilt, and Courage shined so bright, it engulfed the room in gold.


Four fucking "battles" going on at once. Holy shit. No wonder we didn't have time for the cool down or Midna vs Zant Part II. See you next week!