It took a little longer than Midna liked since she had to take care not to shake Zach's body too much, but they finally made it to Ordon Spring. She grimaced as she set the wolf-boy into the water, wishing that the light in the sky would go down so she could heal. Her shadow form was of a metaphysical sense; she was there and yet not there, and much to her irritation she discovered the water would not heal her in this state.

After a minute or so, Midna glanced at Zach to find that he was still laying in the water, a look of pain on his face. Served him right. She floated into the shade and sat down on a patch of grass. As she materialized, she immediately felt the pain of her injuries: three broken ribs, there was a substantially bleeding bite wound on the underside of her knee, she had a splitting headache, and her fang was poking through the hole in her lip.

The fight itself was a sort of mixed blessing in that Midna had released a lot of stress from all that had happened to her, the down side being she had taken that stress out on the only hope for her realm. Nevertheless, she was nothing if not innovative as she sat in the shade and reviewed the scuffle with Zach. She had the advantage while using her illusion, but it was severely tiring and even if Zach had not provoked her, it would have faded in seconds anyway. Once it did, the wolf-boy was able to hold his own more easily if not crudely.

Midna snorted to herself and conceded that he was the second person in a while to bring a fight to a standstill, though she most certainly won by Zach's own admission. If he had not been so completely rude, she would not have thrown such a violent tantrum.

Midna groaned and held her forehead. "It wasn't a tantrum, he started it." She glanced over at Zach and found that he was still laying in the water, breathing weakly.

Midna hesitated for a moment before crossing her arms defiantly. "I'm not going to apologize. He insulted and hurt me, the fool's lucky I didn't set him on fire or something." She lay down in the grass and squirmed a bit as the itchy blades touched her back. It was rather peaceful now that the Twilight had been lifted, with the birds chirping and the smell of fresh water. Maybe when all this was over, Midna would take a vacation in Hyrule, see the sights, try the cuisine, and be just plain Midna rather than the illustrious Princess of Twilight.

Would Zach go with her? Well, if those Fused Shadow pieces were all over Hyrule, then yes. She would be stuck with this, this... ass of a hero!

"Do you want privacy?" The voice startled Midna, and she sat up to find Zach stretching his shoulders and arms.

Midna noticed he was avoiding eye contact as she said, "Not really. I'm not undressing for this one, and certainly not near you."

Zach nodded and stood up, his joints popping with movement. "I'll be shade for you." He still had not looked in her direction, only down at his boots. "I won't look, promise." Midna narrowed her eyes but eventually nodded. After dodging from the shade into his shadow, she began to address her injuries. "Uh, make sure to actually drink the water for broken ribs and stuff." She nodded again despite him not being able to see her and sipped the wonderfully refreshing spring water. The gash in her lip sealed up and her rib bones painlessly snapped into place. The bite wound on her leg healed up and her headache slowly ebbed away.

Midna sighed in relief. "By the Sols, that is so much better." She took another sip of the water and smacked her lips before sliding under Zach's shadow. "Ready."

The wolf-boy nodded and made his way back to his house, his gaze never raising higher than the ground. He climbed up the ladder and reentered the building, then plopped down on the mat near the Beefaroni container. Midna emerged and sat across from him, neither saying anything. She picked up the bowl and noted that the food was cold in spite of her stomach's protests.

Not willing to let it go to waste, Midna struggled to work with the fork by trying to shovel as much of the food into her mouth as possible, but she could not get enough of it on the utensil before it all slid off. "I suppose you have no idea how to use a fork."

She glanced up and found that, contrary to when she asked if he was from the future, there was no judgment in Zach's eye. In fact, he sounded almost sincere. "Uh... yeah. I was instructed but we almost never use forks. Usually, I have pita bread that I can scoop food with, you know?"

The wolf-boy nodded and scooted closer to her. Taking Midna's hand despite her vehement protests, Zach curved her fingers and placed the fork along her index finger and moved her thumb down so that the utensil was pinched between the two digits. "There. Now you just scoop up a manageable amount and eat it."

Midna blinked and tried his suggestion, which worked enough to get two noodles on the fork. "Months of tutoring just for that?" She grimaced at the sight and almost gagged despite the mildly pleasant smell as she stuck her tongue out. The Twilian licked a tiny drop of the sauce and immediately pulled away from it. "I don't like it."

Zach sighed and took the bowl. "Then don't eat it," he said tiredly.

"Hey hey hey!" Midna protested and held her hand out for the bowl. "What're you doing? I'm hungry."

The wolf-boy lifted an eyebrow. "You didn't want it."

"I didn't say I didn't want it," she clarified. "I said I didn't like it."

"You didn't even try it."

"Did too!"

Zach rubbed his forehead and said, "You took a tiny itty bitty lick of the sauce. That does not count as trying."

"Just give it back." Midna motioned for the bowl again. Zach sighed once more and gave her the dish. She gulped down her disgust and stuck the forkful of Beefaroni in her mouth. The rush of flavor surprised her as she popped the fork out and stared at the contents of the bowl. "... It's actually not bad." She continued to eat, secretly delighting in the taste, and glanced at Zach once in a while to find him fiddling with his boots and removing them. At last, the bowl was empty and Zach's feet were bare. Per Twili custom, Midna bowed her head. "Zach, it was a feast."

The young man nodded and took the bowl from her. He set it aside on one of the crates and twiddled his thumbs a bit. He seemed tense about something, which was evident by his shifting stance. "I'm sorry," he muttered. Midna lifted a brow and waited for him to explain. "You were right." Zach continued to avoid eye contact as he spoke. "I shouldn't have said those things. It was wrong of me to make fun of you and your people. That had to have been a truly traumatic experience for you and I'm... I really am sorry."

Midna let his apology soak in before she sighed. "Thank you. Really, thank you, I appreciate that. I don't forgive you, but I appreciate it." She floated into the air and moved to hover in front of him. "And you're right as well. I do need your help. But you need to understand that you need me as well. I'm the only person in this realm who can handle the Fused Shadows, and when you enter the Twilight and become a wolf, you need my magic to help you get around." She sighed and crossed her arms. "We need each other to get through this, and we're not going to get anywhere if we're always at each other's throats, so I propose a few ground rules.

"First, let's not mock the other's physical oddities. I won't tease your eye, you don't tease my condition. Second, when one of us is upset, let's not take it out on the other person. I lost my family, my best friends, my people, my home, even my true self just days ago, and while I could take it out on you, make you miserable and hit you over and over because I desperately want to hit something, I will not. Does this sound fair?" Zach nodded. "If we're going to get through this in one piece, we have to get along and work together, because you clearly are not going to play along if I try to make you my servant," she smiled playfully and then cleared her throat, "so I promise that I'll be more helpful if you promise to try to control your temper just as much as I try to control mine. I'm not asking you to be Cuddly Happy Mister Fun, nor am I expecting that of you. I'm also not asking for us not to banter a bit, since without that I think we'll both go insane from boredom. Let bygones be bygones, y'know? So, what do you say?" She held her hand out to him. "Truce?"

Zach eyed her warily then glanced at her hand, and Midna could see the inner stubbornness in his eye slowly give way to understanding. After several moments, he took a deep breath and let it out calmly, then took her hand and shook it. "Truce."

Midna beamed and said, "Goody! Now, since it's getting dark, I think it's time we head to bed." She yawned a bit and stretched, earning a most satisfying pop in her joints, and flew up to the loft bed. She immediately cocooned herself in the delightfully soft blanket, then spared a glance over the edge at Zach, who was now dressed in dark blue pants that were rather baggy and a sleeveless white shirt. "That was fast. How's your arm, by the way?"

Zach shrugged and said, "Too lazy to change outside, and it's scabbed over." He held up the phone, which now had a black string attached to it, and lay down in that strange cocoon-like blanket with another blanket on top. The string split into two and the ends reached up and sat in the center of his ears. "If this is too loud, let me know."

"Wait, you're going to listen to music?"

"Unless it gets too loud, yeah." Zach dragged his thumb down the glowing face of the phone and scrunched his face in thought, apparently trying to determine what music will play.

Midna glanced about nonchalantly, though deep down she was very curious about what sort of music was inside that tiny little device. "Oh, I forgot to ask before, but I've been wondering... You said that this whole story is a... a 'video game' where you come from, right?" Zach nodded and slowly turned his head to look at her, and she was a bit surprised by the apprehension in his eyes. "Well, if you say it is interactive, like a play or something, then it has music, right?"

Zach nodded again and asked, "You're wondering if there is music for when you appear?"

Midna blushed and shrugged casually. "I guess, yeah. Is there?" For reasons outside her understanding, the brief silence that followed was laced with nervousness and a feeling of foreboding. Had she crossed a line of some sort? Was it taboo to ask that sort of question in America?

"Yes," Zach answered finally. "Yes, but I don't have the entire soundtrack on my phone, sorry."

"Oh. Well, that's alright, you can just imagine it in your head, can't you?"

Zach sighed and said, "I could if you really want me to."

Midna rolled over and gave him her best pout. "Pleeeaaase?" Immediately, music began to play through the link between their minds. It was a somber melody that was accompanied by strings and drums. "I've heard this before but why does it sound so depressing?"

"Uh... it's your theme song. It's literally called 'Midna's Theme'."

"I suppose so, but it's far too sad and downbeat. My mother sang a happier version to me when I was young."

"How old are you?" Zach asked suddenly.

Midna blinked and said, "Uh, nineteen years old."

The wolf-boy gaped openly at her. "Only nineteen? How do you measure years in the Twilight Realm?"

"The cycles of the harvest, of course. Why do you ask? How old are you?"

"Nineteen," he answered.

Midna giggled and said, "What a coincidence. You can turn the music off now, by the way." 'Midna's Theme' suddenly stopped, leaving the two in awkward silence, though Midna was unable to sleep. After a little while, she sputtered her lips. "Tomorrow, we head out to the first Fused Shadow…"

"Yep."

"It's… it's a bit surreal to know we're so close to the first one."

"Nervous?"

Midna turned her head and watched the shadows dance on the fire-lit ceiling. "A little bit. I mean, we fought a giant plant just to find a bug. Who knows what guards the Fused Shadow."

"A bigger plant," Zach said casually.

"Heh, I guess you do know your stuff." She looked over at him to find him laying with hands behind his head. "So, you know what's going to happen, right?"

He tensed up and let out a breath. "A fair good bit, yeah. It wasn't 'Kokiri Marsh' last time, but the Fused Shadow was there."

Midna nodded and fixed her gaze back on the ceiling. "Well, that's good. Hate to go all the way and find it's somewhere else."

"Yep."

"Yeah… Well, have a good night."

"Uh... you too."

Midna narrowed her eyes and pondered what had made Zach so awkward and tense. He was hiding something, no doubt, and it had to do with her. He knew something she did not, which was no surprise so far, but it felt much more important than the Fused Shadow if that were possible. She wanted to know, but she wanted to sleep just a bit more, so she decided to wait until morning to ask him about it, whatever 'it' was.

Midna lurched into a sitting position and wiped the sweat from her black forehead. Another bad dream. It was the strangest dream she ever had, and that was saying something. Metal hallways? A sword made of light? A glowing suit of armor? She had no idea what to think of it, and there was no time to try because Zach was already up.

"Morning," he said with a yawn despite being fully dressed and sitting up.

Midna nodded absently and rubbed her eyes. "Today's the day." She stretched a bit, flexing her stiff muscles and joints, and summoned Zach's sword and shield. He scooped up the shield and hefted it about with a frown. "What's the matter?"

Zach gripped the shield on his left hand and rotated his arm a bit. "Well, I don't know where to put the shield when I'm not using it. If I have to climb a ledge, I'll need both hands."

"Hm, that's a good point." Midna walked behind him, ignored the pang of indignity at their height difference, and studied his back. "If we could find some leather straps, maybe I can make a harness for the shield."

The wolf-boy nodded and stood up. "There's a bunch of boxes in the basement, I'll bet there's a few leather scraps down there." He walked over to the entrance and paused. "Ladder's broken."

Midna shrugged and floated down. "I'll look around," she said. "Eesh, there's a lot of boxes in here."

"Send a few up, I'll search those."

She nodded and lifted three boxes up the opening. "So, what sorts of things happen later on?" A subtle thud sounded from above. "Hello?"

"Gimme a second," Zach replied as Midna rummaged through a crate. Clothes, tiny shoes, a few toys, but no leather. "Off the top of my head, there's a Bulblin raid in Kakariko Village, an escort mission from Castle Town to Kakariko, raiding the desert Bulblin camp, snowboarding, building a cannon, Twilight Realm, and Hyrule Castle."

Midna sifted through another box full of clothes, but still no leather straps. "So… we make it back home?"

"Mhmm."

She smiled hopefully at that and said, "So we win?"

There was another thud. "…Yeah."

"Then why do you get so tense every time I ask about what'll happen?" Midna searched another box and found a ragged leather bandolier. "If we win, there's no reason to be so upset."

"Can I ask a question?"

Midna rolled her eyes and tossed the bandolier up the opening in the ceiling. "You just did, but I suppose I can permit another."

"Got the leather strap, thanks. My question is, what do you plan to do with the Mirror of Twilight?"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you know about it," Midna replied as she floated up and looked around the room. He had found several scraps of leather and lined them up on his bed. "I wasn't planning on doing anything with it other than using it go home." She picked up one piece of leather and flung it away, deeming it too rotten to make a good shield harness.

"You break it," Zach said, catching Midna's attention. "At the end of the story, when Zant is gone, you destroy the mirror and are never seen in the series again."

She frowned and asked, "What series? I don't understand."

The wolf-boy sighed and sat down on a crate. "The story of Twilight Princess is just one of sixteen in a series of tales titled The Legend of Zelda, which chronicles the adventures of a hero named Link who must save whatever land he happens to be in from a great evil."

"Wait, what?" Midna scratched at the top of her head and reached for the bandolier. "The collection is titled The Legend of Zelda, but the main character is named Link? Why is it called that? Zelda's barely even in this story, such as it is." She looped the bandolier over Zach's shoulder and tightened it a bit until it was snug and secure. They would have to find a replacement in a few weeks or so but it would suffice for now.

As she took another leather strap and rigged it to the bandolier, Zach said, "Trust me, you are not the only one who asks that question." He chuckled and looked at his phone. "They called it that because they had no idea how popular the first game would be, so they named it after the princess you have to save. Even though not every game has Zelda present, every Zelda game has that title and then a subtitle that relates to the specific story. In this case, Twilight Princess."

Midna was no less confused than before. "So the overall story is named after a princess, and this one is named after another princess, and the main character is neither of them?"

Zach shrugged and said, "We humans are weird like that. Final Fantasy has a thousand games despite having the word 'Final' in the title. Ow! Not that tight, please."

"Yeah yeah." Midna continued working on the harness until at last, she had a working rig. "There, that should hold the shield when you're not using it."

Zach stood up and stretched and rotated his torso about, testing the harness' flexibility. He picked up the shield and tried to secure it on his back, but he was having difficulty actually finding the loop that would hold the shield in place. When Midna offered to help, he turned her down and insisted on doing it himself. After a few minutes and a dozen attempts, Zach finally managed to secure the shield on his back. "Groovy."

"So you're upset about me breaking the mirror and vanishing forever," Midna said. When Zach nodded, she returned the nod. "I can see how that's distressing; I am rather memorable." She licked her lips anxiously and cracked her knuckles. "So, does that mean I get back to normal?"

Zach sighed and nodded again. "At the end, you turn back to your true self."

Midna found herself grinning widely at that. She was worried that she would forever be this hideous imp, but now Zach wiped that away with his guarantee of her going back to normal… and destroying the only gateway between her realm and Hyrule. "I'm sure I had a good reason for doing it," she said.

The wolf-boy snorted and said, "Not according to the fans. Nearly everyone who liked Twilight Princess wrote their own ending where you and Link live happily ever after while making your decision seem like a very stupid one."

"Eesh, talk about harsh. I've never even met this Link guy, and destroying a sacred relic is no small feat even if I don't understand why I did it." She then frowned and glanced at Zach. "So where do you fit in all this?"

Zach shrugged. "I'm Link's replacement. He died some years ago and the Goddesses enlisted me to do his job."

"So you're taking the place of the main character?" Midna gave him a playful smirk. "I guess there are worse people to pick." She stretched her limbs and yawned a bit. "I take it we're going in on an empty stomach?"

Zach looked into his satchel and nodded. "Looks like it, unless we can find fruit outside." He tossed up the sword and caught it haphazardly before looping the sheath on his belt. "Well, let's shove off."

Midna hesitated a moment and pointed at the weapon. "Do you know how to use that thing?" She knew the answer already—a resounding NO—but wanted to see what his view of it was.

He looked rather confused and nodded. "Yes. Pointy end goes into the bad guy."

"Ah." She shifted her jaw from side to side and muttered, "This is going to end well…" She cleared her throat and nodded at Zach. "Off we go. Let me know if you find some food." With that, the Twilian dove into his shadow and he walked out the door, lantern in hand.

I climbed down the ladder and headed down the path to the bridge. "How'd you know how to make the harness?" I asked as I closed my eyes and walked over the shaky wooden beams.

"Standard protocol, everyone in the palace needs to know basic survival skills," Midna answered. I nodded and strode into Faron's spring. "What're you doing?"

I knelt down near the water and pulled out an empty bottle. "This stuff heals, so I should take some with us." I opened the bottle and dunked it into the spring. "Not a red potion, but it'll work." After checking the satchel, I found that I had three more bottles, so I filled up two and kept the third empty for when I found lantern oil, which I would definitely need. I continued on my way until I reached Coro and Iza's house, but only Coro was sitting outside by a small fire pit.

"Hey guy!" he greeted with a wave. "Glad to see you're alright, some nasty baddies ran through here a few days ago."

I nodded and replied, "I'm surprised they made it over the bridge, but yeah, I'm fine. Instincts like a wolf, y'know?" Midna quietly giggled beneath me. "How about you? You look like something's bugging you."

Midna snorted again.

Coro scratched the back of his head. "You wouldn't believe how right you are! First someone uses Iza's bathhouse without paying, and then some ghost tried to burn our house down!"

"Right, and I'm assuming the bathhouse thing is the worse offense?"

"You bet it is!" Iza called from the second floor of the house. "That's expensive merchandise!"

I blinked up at her and said, "Glad to see your priorities are straight. Can't let an apocalypse get in the way of a good bargain."

Iza rolled her eyes. "Just keep an eye out for that creepy demon girl!"

"She is not creepy!" I yelled back.

"Hey, I appreciate the defense but she doesn't know you and I are partners."

"It's... it's my way of an apology. Another apology, I mean."

"Heh, thanks."

I ignored whatever else Iza had to say and turned to her brother. "I'm sure you two won't be bothered by unwanted customers anymore."

"I might steal a perfume bottle or two."

"Sounds good," Coro said. I had to fight hard not to laugh at his timing. "What're you doing out here though, guy─er, Zach?"

"Heading into Kokiri Marsh," I answered, and he immediately launched to his feet in panic.

"You crazy?!" Coro exclaimed. "There're monsters in there!"

I sighed and pointed to the sword on my hip. "I got a sword, I think I'll be fine."

He did not seem convinced. "Guy, what's the point of a sword if you can't see where you're swinging?"

"I got a lantern, buddy."

"But do you have oil?" Oh, very smooth, Cofro."I bet you don't."

I sighed again and said, "No, I don't, but I don't have any money to buy it from you." In all honesty, I was planning to steal it from Trill further down the way.

Coro deflated and went back to his seat. "It's pretty cheap," he said meekly.

"Sorry." I walked past him and through the gate. I liked that this was reality rather than a game, because the spider webs that blocked my path before—yet not Talo's when he barged through here—had not been replaced. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight to help me see the floor until I emerged into the same smog-infested area as I had been to two times previous, only this time with an unlit lantern and a fierce grip on it. No monkey was going to steal this lantern, no sir!

"So how are you going to get through the fog?" Midna asked. "I'm not going to help you here, you know."

I nodded and said, "I know. The fog doesn't like fire, so all I have to do is light the lantern and go on my merry way." After turning off my flashlight, I dug into my satchel and felt around. After a bit of digging, I triumphantly pulled out a knife and flint and sat on a nearby stone.

Midna emerged from my shadow and looked at the items. "You know how to use that, right?"

"Surprisingly, yes I do." I struck the knife against the flint. A shower of sparks landed on the lantern wick, igniting it instantly. "Perfect, now I just have to make sure that monkey doesn't steal it." Midna returned to my shadow and I walked to the edge of the foul-smelling fog, lantern tight in hand. I waved the lantern a bit and the fog shied away. With a smirk, I was just about to step in when a monkey, male judging from the lack of red bow, charged past me without taking my source of light and fire. He hopped onto an overhanging tree branch and waved at me.

"Aw," Midna cooed. "He's gonna lead us—" A deku baba the size of the one Midna and I fought before shot out and chomped down on the primate, making it disappear down the plant's gullet as it retracted back to whence it came.

I looked at Midna.

Midna looked back.

"Aaanyway." I backpedaled and walked over to the nearby wall, then used my previous tactic of clinging to it around the area, swinging my lantern occasionally to ward off the poison fog. I was running out of oil because when we reached the other side, the flame was close to dying. Thankfully, Trill's shop was just through the pass, so I blew out the fire and switched it out with my phone until I reached sunlight on the other side. That's when I came upon a most interesting sight.

Three shadow beasts were lumbering about in a Twilit cage, and judging from the dried blood on the ground, they were the same ones Midna and I escaped from before.

"They're still here?" Midna asked.

I shrugged and said, "Gotta give them props for durability."

"Um, should... should we try to fight them?"

I looked around the arena and found that there was enough space for me to get by without getting zapped by the electric wall. Of course, there was something else in that arena. There, on the far wall, was the bridge leading to Kakariko Village. "Shit."

"What?"

"We're going to need that section of bridge later. You think you can store this away for a little while?"

Midna emerged in her shadow form and looked the bridge over. "It's bigger than what I'm used to, so I can warp it but not store it."

"You can store beauty products but not that?"

"It's a matter of size. You see, when I warp or pocket something, I have to split it into particles. The bigger it is, the more particles it becomes, making it very difficult to try to recreate large things." She turned to me and shrugged. "That's why I couldn't warp you out of that house in the village; I didn't want to risk hurting or killing you just to move you a few feet. I could do it if I have a sufficiently strong portal to work with, but my magic isn't up to the task. Not yet, anyway."

I nodded and said, "So that's a no on the bridge."

"Well, I could warp it, but I don't have a corresponding portal to work with." She looked up and sighed. "I can't create a sustained portal on my own, but when we defeated those shadow b-beasts before, the portal they used turned green and became available for me to use."

With another nod, I said, "Alright, we'll just come back later, kill these beasties, and you can use that portal to move the bridge."

Midna nodded half-heartedly. "Yeah, that sounds simple enough."

"Then what's wrong?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Nuthin', I've just never moved something that big before."

I chuckled and said, "First time for everything." Midna shrugged and ducked into my shadow again, and I continued forward until reaching the area that led to Kokiri Marsh. Turning to the left, I found Trill's shop, but no Trill. Shrugging, I helped myself to a full bottle of lantern oil and faced the twisted wooden path ahead.

I looked up at the trail leading to Kokiri Marsh and noticed that there was no golden wolf waiting for me. I shrugged again and walked up the light brown carved path, again noting that the Bokoblins were nowhere to be seen, not even a drop of blood. The smell of pine and grass gradually changed to something... something I couldn't explain without a direct waft. It smelled bad, most importantly.

I passed the dark entrance, only for Midna to yell, "Wait, stop! There's─"

"AAAH HOO HOO HOO HUEYYY!"

"... No floor..."