It was like a thousand dying souls beckoning all at once for final resting peace.

"Okay, what the fuck is a fucking ReDead doing in this fucking cellar?!" I was glad I could think, because my body refused to move. The scream the ReDead emitted pierced into my mind and locked up my muscles. I couldn't even breathe, which terrified me even more.

"I have no idea, but I can't move!" Midna yelled. I could feel her muscles become stiff as a board on top of me.

"Shitshitshitshitshit..." I was panicking. My lungs hurt from lack of oxygen and my vision was getting blurry because of it. The ReDead, its ghastly teeth salivating, reached for me and bit into my neck. Its jaws clamped tightly as I tried to scream, but it wouldn't let me. It lapped up my blood as it flowed freely from the wound.

My vision was almost completely dark when the ReDead was suddenly shoved away by a giant, glowing hand. Midna had recovered from her paralysis, it seems, and was now in the process of sprinkling spring water on my neck. "Damn, there's not enough to heal it fully. I can stop the bleeding, though."

The ReDead crashed into the wall and then flopped to the ground, its head turned all the way around. It seemed to be dead, but how dead can a zombie be? Short answer: Not very much. My vision cleared now that my wound was healed somewhat, just in time to see the ReDead's head suddenly swivel as it lurched to its feet.

I finally had the strength to scream as the ReDead reached for me again. Its thin, spindly hands were gnarled and claw-like, as though they belonged on a bird more than a zombie, but Midna quickly gained control of the situation in a cool and levelheaded manner: She grabbed the ReDead by the head with her hair and smashed it into the wall. The damn thing went down but immediately started to get back up, its grotesque black skin rippling with decayed muscles beneath.

"That's a ReDead," I said in a tight mental voice. "A zombie... Quick, hack it to pieces!"

"Forget that!" She kicked into my sides and yelled, "Let's get the hell out of here!"

Too terrified to argue, I ran as fast as I could down the hall, only to get dive-bombed by the shadow insect I had completely forgotten about. "AGH! Get off me!" I wish I could tell you that I managed to shake the thing off and squeezed it to death. I wish I could, but I didn't.

The shadow insect, in all its disgusting insect glory, stabbed me with its stinger.

In my eye.

In my good eye.

The next few moments were a blur. All I know is that Midna killed the bug and carried me up a shaft that led outside. Once I was on the ground, I became aware of the blood oozing down the side of my face.

"Oh gods, I can't see..." I collapsed to the ground and shivered. "I-I'm blind, I'm actually blind..." My paw found its way over my snout to try to stop the bleeding.

A cool hand gently grasped my arm. "Let me see," Midna said. I whimpered when my arm brushed against the damaged eye but she moved it aside anyway. After a few very tense moments, she sighed. "From what I can tell, your eye was punctured between the iris and cornea. I can fly off and get spring water, but there's no guarantees that it will be quick and painless."

"Where are we?"

"Some kind of graveyard."

"I don't want to be blind, Midna," I said quietly, fearfully. "Please go and get spring water. Please?"

Midna scratched behind my ears and sighed again. "Alright, I'll be as fast as possible." I could hear and feel the air moving around her as she flew away.

I was alone and blind now, and I couldn't help but offer a contempt chuckle. I managed to go almost fifteen years without injuring this eye, only to lose it to a damn bug. Where the hell did that ReDead even come from? They're supposed to be in the Arbiter's Grounds! Of course, this is Kakariko Village. They were probably here from back in the old days.

"I'm back," Midna said, startling me out of my thoughts. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't," I said quickly.

She snorted and patted my cheek. "Hold still. This... I honestly don't know how this will feel." With that, she rinsed some spring water into my eye, and it hurt. A few minutes passed before the water ran dry, and thankfully she had gathered enough to treat my neck wound as well. "Okay, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that your eye will be just fine. Bad news is you won't be able to see out of it for a while."

I could hardly breathe. I was going to be blind for the next few hours? "What... what's a while?"

"When you become... uh... hey, what are you, anyway?"

The question was so out of left field that I actually laughed. "Wha... I'm a human, Midna."

"A what?"

"A human, Homo Sapien."

As she dabbed at my eye with a damp towel, she said, "Wise is not a word I would use to describe you."

"I didn't say 'Wise', I said 'Homo Sapien'."

"You just said 'Wise Man', Zach. Are you okay?"

"No, I said... Ohhh, auto-translation..."

"Hm?"

I lapped at some droplets of water and said, "Before I left Earth, Nayru gave me the gift of speaking and understanding all languages I come across."

"Wait, you actually met Nayru herself?"

"Yep, and Din and Farore too. Ironically, Din helped my eye see better. Farore gave me that satchel I've been using."

"... So the Three Golden Goddesses of Hyrule go to some Earth guy and give him magnificent gifts to help on his adventure, but they couldn't be bothered to provide my people with a healthy water supply?" She squeezed tightly on the back of my neck. "Is that what you're telling me? They chose a temperamental one-eyed boy to save the day but didn't feel up to saving my parents from being turned into monsters?" Her voice was very quiet, almost like the wind.

"I don't get it, either. And besides, I've gotten my fair share of injuries so it's not like I have divine protection."

"... I see. Well, you're here now and I don't want to waste time, so get moving."

"Midna, I can't see!"

"I'm going to excuse that one."

The world came into view once again, but it was different. Colors were more saturated and seemed to be slightly off their usual hue. Reds looked more violet, blues were slightly greener, and yellows seemed orange. It was a beautiful sight, though roughly half was pitch black. "Whoa..." The view changed against my will, and I saw the top of some animal's head... my head. "Wait, what?"

Midna's hand moved into view and waved at the figurative camera. "Now you can see. This is how the world looks through my eyes." True to form, she looked down and showed me how I looked.

I was a mess. Dried blood formed clumps along the right side of my face. My right eye was swollen shut. My left eye was no better, only it's been like that for years. "Wow. Um, okay, what now?"

Midna washed some of the blood from my face with a towel. It stung when bits of fur came with the clumps, but at least I was getting cleaned up. "I can sense three shadow insects in this town. The rest are scattered across the mountain."

It felt strange, seeing my own body through the eyes of someone else. "Everything looks so pretty," I said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"At times, yes." She looked down and brushed some dirt from her thighs. I tried to avert my gaze but it wasn't my view to change. "Let's get moving."

With a sigh, I lifted myself up and took a few tentative steps forward while Midna seated herself on my back. It was very awkward seeing the top of my own head while I was moving. It was like... like games with the camera behind the character, like Zelda itself of all things. Would I really be able to see in a few hours? Midna had to have some issues with letting me piggyback inside her head, not to mention the fact that doing so had to be tiring for her.

I was blind. For the first time in my entire life, I was fully blind. I hissed through my fangs, my heartbeat speeding up as Midna's eyes showed a few shadow keese flitting about nearby. The spring water numbed the pain but left a dull, persistent ache in my socket.

That little shitbird took out my eye! Every muscle tightened as my snout pulled back in a low snarl. Little bastard blinded me!

"Zach?" I sprinted at the keese, nearly knocking Midna off. "Zach! What are you doing?!"

I jumped onto a gravestone and launched into the air. The shadow keese could only look at me with its little trumpet head before my jaws closed around it. I twisted my head from side to side and shook the keese to death. I didn't stop even when it exploded into dust.

"THAT'LL TEACH YOU!" I turned and barked at the other shadow keese. "COME ON! ANYONE ELSE WANT SOME?!" The little fuckers turned tail and flew away. I huffed, my hackles still raised. "YOU BETTER RUN!"

"ZACH!"

"WHAT?!"

"You have got to calm down!"

"WHY SHOULD I?!"

"For one, you're hurting my head! You're so loud!"

The growl in my throat deepened. "I'm sooo sorry for your head, I was too busy being blinded!"

"That's no excuse to scream at me!"

"It's your fucking fault! We could have taken that ReDead but you told me to run!"

"You didn't have to listen!"

I had to fight very, very hard not to throw her from my back. "You snap at me whenever I don't!"

"I...! … Do I?"

"YES! So fuck off with your fucking feelings, I'm fed up with you!"

Midna's fingers clenched against my fur. "I... Okay, maybe I was unintentionally involved with what happened, but that's no excuse to yell at me."

"I can't fucking win!" I shook myself, sacrificing Midna's sight for getting rid of her. "I just can't! I'm the one who just got stabbed in the eye, I'm the one who got poisoned by Diababa, and I'm the one who has to get thrown around everywhere! Yet here we are, yelling at each other about how I made you feel!"

Midna's sight returned, revealing her hands near my muzzle. I snapped at them on instinct, hot shame and fury stinging my eyes. "Zach, are you... are you crying?"

"Of course not." I wiped my eye with my paw and recoiled at the pain with a sharp whine. "That implies that I feel things, and I clearly don't. I'm just a fucking errand boy, aren't I? That's all you care about, and... and that's right of you. Your people matter most, because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one."

"Zach, I—"

"Sorry I yelled at you," I said, my shoulders sagging. Any residual rage died down to a dim flame. "Let's go, the townsfolk don't have much time."

Midna took her time getting back on. Once she did, I left the graveyard behind with much less pep in my step.

Spotting a shadow insect flitting about in the air near Renado's house, I dashed up a derelict wagon and tried to bite the bug out of the air, but I misjudged where I was going. I was still accustomed to seeing through my own eyes, so I had jumped to get the bug from Midna's perspective without realizing it. Thankfully, she swatted the insect with her hair without getting shocked.

Two more insects in Kakariko, then up Death Mountain. "Sorry about that," I said, my ears flat.

She shook her head, disorienting me. "Don't worry about it. You're blind right now, it's understandable."

"... Thanks. Could you look around, please? I want to see where we are." We were back at the shaman's house right at the cross between the two main alleys of Kakariko. A well stood on the far end of the older corridor, and past that was a windmill as big as the one from Ocarina of Time surrounded by several buildings clustered around the cul-de-sac. The graveyard was tucked just behind the windmill. "Well, this looks familiar. Sort of."

"Great, 'sort of' is exactly the kind of description I like," Midna said, her eyes closing and blocking my view. "Let me guess, this was in the game as well?"

I sighed and waited patiently for her to open her eyes again as I spoke. "Actually, no. This was in the game that took place a couple hundred or so years before Twilight Princess."

Midna hummed in thought and said, "You know, it's funny that I've never heard of these other stories. Sixteen of them, you said, and I'm even in one, but I don't know anything about them." She looked over to the right, showing a building for archery practice to the right of the well. "Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it? Oh, and the closest bug is in that building."

"About what?" I asked as I headed for the archery range. "Maybe the tales just haven't reached the Twilight Realm yet, and you should probably think about giving that place a new name. 'Twilight Realm' is a little tedious."

"And what would you suggest? Twirule?"

I snorted and walked up the stairs to the archery building. "Well, that's a little on the nose, so no. And besides, you might have heard the stories under a different name or something." There was an open window high above. With Midna's help, I jumped up and landed on a stack of boxes against the back wall of the range. "Let's see... Let's start with the beginning, The Legend of Zelda, where a young boy named Link must gather the eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom to defeat Ganon and rescue the princess. Ring any bells?"

The range was empty of green flames. Evidently the entire town population took up shelter in the shaman's house. A shadow insect buzzed about near the targets at the far end. "Mmm... Nope, but rescuing a princess isn't exactly an original plot," Midna said.

I shrugged and hopped from box to box until I was on the floor. "Fair enough. How about The Adventure of Link, which is the sequel to the first one and features Link adventuring around to restore crystals to temples around Hyrule to break a sleeping spell on the princess."

"Hey, that does sound familiar," she said as she looked at the weapon rack nearby. "Ooh, arrows. We could use them, and there's even a quiver. Yep, I'm taking that. Anyway, Adventure of Link sounds like that fairy tale about the sleeping princess who pricks her finger on a spindle."

"Sleeping Beauty? That's a pretty old story, before Adventure of Link was produced in my world."

"Yeah yeah, next."

I hopped onto the counter and tilted my head in thought. "Hey, why not use those arrows to snipe that bug from here?"

Midna hummed and scratched at her cheek. She eventually nodded and summoned the bow we found in Kokiri Marsh. "Good idea."

While she readied the bow and an arrow, I said, "Cool. Anyway, how about A Link to the Past? Link has to journey between the Light World and the Dark World to free Princess Zelda and seven maidens from a sorcerer and Ganon."

"That's a lot like what we're doing, isn't it?" she asked. She nocked the arrow and looked downwind at the shadow insect, taking careful aim and fixing her grip. "I mean, we're journeying between Hyrule and areas of Twilight to free Queen Zelda and several ancient relics from a psychopathic man-child."

"Ehh, I guess. You should probably take off your Fused Shadow, it'll help your depth perception."

"Hush, I know how to fire a bow." Swing and a miss. "... My finger slipped." Whatever the case, she removed her helmet, freeing up her left eye and awing me in the process.

"Whoa... I... I forgot what it was like to have two eyes." It was amazing, seeing everything in three dimensions for the first time in fifteen years. The colors amplified the effect greatly, turning the world around me into a living photograph. "Ahem, moving on. Link's Awakening, where Link is washed up on an island and has to gather up eight instruments wake up a flying whale from its nightmare so he can go home at the cost of wiping the island out of existence because it was a manifestation of the whale's dream."

Midna missed again. "Come on, I was so close! Damn thing won't stay still. Link's Awakening sounds like the most depressing story so far, but it doesn't sound familiar."

"Alright, let's get out the big guns. Ocarina of Time, lauded as the greatest video game of all time. It's about Link leaving his forest home to free five sages across time and save Hyrule and Princess Zelda from Ganondorf, the human version of Ganon."

"Pfft, that's basically A Link to the Past. What makes it so great?"

"Well, it revolutionized the gaming industry and was one of the first games to usher in 3D games and targeting systems, plus it's pretty fun to play. That's just my opinion, though." I waited patiently as Midna nocked yet another arrow and just barely missed the shadow insect. "Ooh, so close! Maybe we should just go up and kill it the old-fashioned way."

"Uh-uh, I can do this. What's the next one?"

She aimed carefully and it seemed she was going to get the bug this time. "The next game, produced a year or so after Ocarina of Time, is Majora's Mask."

Midna's headache had been growing ever since she warped the bridge to Kakariko Village. As she said, it was far more difficult to move something of that size compared to the compact frame of Wolf Zach. If it were any larger, she might have accidentally fused Zach to the structure and killed him. If she had tried to move the bridge before acquiring the Fused Shadow from Diababa, she would have. Still, her troubles just grew worse and worse with each moment. First the bridge, then the reminder that the shadow beasts were her corrupted people, then the terrifying skulker in the cellar of the house, and finally the shadow insect blinding her canine companion.

She did not want to share her vision with Zach but she found herself taking pity on him. While it was a constant albeit minute drain on her magic power, if she had not rushed Zach into that room then he would not have been blinded.

That yelling match was not needed. Midna knew it was her fault, she did not need him directly blaming her. Still, Zach did have a small point. He had been through a lot, but like she affirmed to herself back at Diababa's grove, Zach chose to do this. He should have known... that...

Midna's heart sank just a little bit. She actually felt sorry for a light dweller, sympathized with him! In her heart, she could not sink to the point of proclaiming that Zach deserved his pain. Her cheeks burned hot with shame at herself. Zant would reduce people's pains before his own, but Midna? She had a responsibility and she knew it was of utmost importance that she not lose sight of that. Her people depended on it.

As it was, Midna was still aggravated about her headache, made all the worse by constantly missing the shadow insect in the archery range. If she were her true self, this would have been child's play. While she had been making attempts at the shadow insect, she listened to the stories of other Zelda games.

"Ooh, so close!" Zach said after another miss. "Maybe we should just go up and kill it the old-fashioned way."

"Uh-uh, I can do this. What's the next one?" Midna adjusted her grip and felt very confident that this was the lucky shot. "The next game," Zach said casually, "produced a year or so after Ocarina of Time, is Majora's Mask."

"WHAT?!" Midna missed completely and her hand slipped, causing the bow to rebound and smack her in the face. She yelped as fresh blood dribbled from her nose. She dismounted Zach and sighed as she dabbed her face with a cloth.

"Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine. You know of Majora?"

Zach's ears flattened against his head. "Majora's Mask is a sequel to Ocarina of Time where Link leaves Hyrule and enters the land of Termina, where he has three days to stop the moon from falling due to a Skull Kid wearing the titular mask. It's personally my favorite story, mostly because of the Fierce Deity's Mask."

"Wait, what did you say?" She circled around and held the wolf's head securely in glowing fingers. "You know of the Fierce Deity?"

"Uh... well, yeah," he said quietly. Midna could not read his eye, so what he was feeling was a mystery to her. "Well, not really. It's just a late-game item that you get right before you fight Majora's Mask."

Midna frowned in confusion. "How would you get it then?"

"Majora gives it to you."

Midna clenched her eyes shut and gripped her head in pain. "Argh... Ah, what else do you know about Majora and the Fierce Deity?"

"Are you okay? I can't see anything and you sound tense."

"I'm fine, just rubbing my eyes."

Zach shrugged and said, "Majora's Mask was an ancient relic from a shadow tribe. It was used for hexes until the shadow tribe wised up to how dangerous it was, then they sealed it away."

"Yeah, we did."

"You... you're related to Majora's Mask?"

"Actually, I'm descended from the Fierce Deity." Midna had to take a drink of spring water to ease the pain in her head.

"No way! HA, I fucking knew it!" Zach giggled to himself and nodded in triumph.

"He and Majora were from the same tribe. He created the Fused Shadow to take the sacred power of the gods. As you know, that didn't end well. After our tribe's banishment, Majora created their own mask but it was..."

"Fucking insane."

"Yeah." Midna sighed. "At first it was just a way to get back at the gods. When it turned on its own tribe, they banished it to the nothingness between worlds. I guess it found its way out."

Zach shrugged. "No worries, though. If the timeline is any indication, Link's ancestor killed the evil in the mask. It's harmless now. I'm so glad I was right! There had to be a reason your helmet resembles Majora's Mask, and now I know why."

Midna groaned at the loudness of his voice. "Yes, I'm glad you're so approving of my ancestry." She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "So, what about the rest of the series?"

The wolf scratched at his neck with his hind-leg and said, "Well, the next one is Wind Waker, where Link must sail the Great Sea to gather shards of the Triforce of Courage to save his sister and Princess Zelda from Ganondorf."

"Okay, how incompetent must Zelda be to keep getting kidnapped over and over?"

"To be fair, they're not all the same Zelda. The stories take place in different points in time, so not every Zelda and Link are the exact same Zelda and Link."

Midna sighed and clamped her forehead as the migraine grew worse. "Still. And besides, that's basically the first one."

Zach tried to roll his eye and quickly regretted it. "Ow. So what if it has similarities? It's not exactly the same, you know."

"I know, I'm just being grumpy," she said. Figuring she should get the shadow insect while she had the chance, she readied the bow again. Her arms were growing sore from holding the weapon and her hands would not stop trembling, making her all the more aggravated.

"Fair enough. Next is, well, this story. Link has to work with you to save Hyrule and the Twilight Realm from Zant and Ganondorf."

Midna snorted as she missed the shadow insect yet again. "Don't suppose you could spare any details, could you? For example, what else do you know about me?"

The wolf yawned and said, "Nothing other than that you're the Twilight Princess. Well, I knew what your personality was going to be and what you'd look like."

Inside, Midna felt great relief that he knew little more than her name and title. She had many pleasant memories with her friends that were private, especially to some boy she never met before. She also had more than a few bad memories that he did not deserve to know about. "How do I compare?"

"To what?"

"To what you saw in the game, doy."

"Oh, you're easily the best part about this."

"Aw, that's sweet," she said just as she finally pierced the shadow insect through its hide and stuck it to the center of the target behind it. "YES, BULLSEYE!" She gathered up what arrows she had left and stored them away in a pocket dimension. "Anyway, I appreciate that, I really do. Thank you, Zach." She donned her Fused Shadow and climbed onto Zach's back, and then they were off. This time, she took the easy route and just opened the front door of the building. "Want some water?"

"No, thanks." Zach headed for the shop further down the street. Midna sensed the last shadow insect in town was somewhere above the explosives store. "Anyway, the next game is Skyward Sword, where Link must work with a talking sword and descend from the clouds to save Zelda from a total joke of a villain and his master."

Midna could not help but chuckle. "I take it you don't care for that game very much."

"Eh, it's not my favorite. It's fine and all but it isn't really my thing."

"Uh-huh. What about the rest of the games?" she asked. "That was only... one, two, three... nine. What about the other seven?"

As Zach jumped through a window into the bomb shop, he said, "Sorry, I forgot. After Majora's Mask was Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. Link has to journey to a new land to save it from Veran, Sorceress of Shadows, and Onox, General of Darkness. Actually, I don't know if he has a title, it's been a while."

"Wait, Veran?" Midna asked. "I know that name. She was in one of the most notorious criminals ever to exist in the Twilight Realm since the Dark Interlopers themselves."

"Wait, she was a Twili?"

Midna nodded and guided Zach up the inside of the shop. "Yeah, she was banished to the Dazukh when I was a child."

Once Zach was safely on the roof, Midna looked around for the shadow insect. It took up residence in a lone building on the cliff away from the lookout tower tucked further up. "Oh, great. Veran sure does sound very... vasivious."

"That's not even a word."

"What? Oh... Uh, what's the word for it... Ah! Lascivious. She sounds very lascivious."

Midna blinked in confusion. "Uh, how would you know if she was feeling..." Her cheeks grew hot. "Ahem. Feeling those kinds of feelings?"

"Come on, I've seen the outfit she wears."

"Okay, I'm changing the topic." She cleared her throat and rubbed at her poor forehead. "Um... What are the next games in the series?"

Zach sighed as he neared the building. He sniffed the ground and found a tunnel leading inside, and so Midna dove into his shadow. "Erm... The Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and two Four Sword games. I honestly don't know much about them, I've never played them."

"Fair enough, I suppose. And with that, I only know about Majora's Mask and this one." Midna's nose twitched at the strong smell of black powder. "Eugh, it stinks in here."

"Be careful," Zach said as he entered the building himself. "This is the bomb shop's supply cache. There are enough explosives here to blow us straight to hell."

"Lovely." A small fire burned in the corner of the room. Midna stamped it out with great prejudice. "Any ideas?"

"Yeah, don't light anything on fire." Zach's ears twitched. He sniffed the air and blanched. "You're right, it does stink. The shadow insect should be in the furnace over there."

Midna rolled her eyes and said, "Of course it picks the one spot that needs fire to get it out." She tapped her chin in thought. The shadow insect was indeed in the furnace as Zach said, but how to get to it... "Are we going to need these bombs?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh, so inconvenient." Midna thought it over once more. The furnace connected to a metal chimney that reached all the way to the ceiling... "Hey, I got an idea." She led Zach over to the furnace and dismounted him. "Stay here and get ready for my signal. When I say so, ram your shoulder into the furnace. That should spook the shadow insect into going up, where I'll be waiting."

"You want me to stay here by myself? I-I can't see!"

Midna reached down and pet the top of his head. "I know, but it's either that or blow the whole building."

"I... Okay. I really don't like this plan but I'll do it."

"Goody!" Midna left through the tunnel and flew up to the roof. There, she summoned Zach's sword and readied herself at the chimney exit. "Ready? Go!"

The chimney rattled once, twice, thrice, and then trembled as the shadow insect skittered up. Midna swung just as the insect popped out of the chimney, successfully cutting it in twain. "We got it!"

"Yay, now please come back. Seeing that thing crawl after you brought back memories."

Midna's shoulders sagged. She had not thought of how that would affect Zach so soon after his blinding. She re-entered the building and patted Zach's side. "I'm sorry. If it helps, you did great."

"Thanks. Now up to the mountain?"

"Up to the mountain."