A/N: Sorry I'm late. Again... I've been suffering from chronic headaches for the past 6 weeks but that won't stop me from posting my fanfic! Also I was prepping for a special announcement that I will elaborate on in the ending author's notes...
There's something so great about writing sleep-deprived Link. Precious bean. Must tortu- I mean protect!
The Light Invasion
PART I - DESERT THE ARMY
Link of Ordon: is your duty to your kingdom, or the parasite in your shadow?
Chapter 10 - No Daughter of Mine
"I do hope you and my husband have been compromising well in the council meetings," Zelda said. "Things haven't been too polarising, have they?"
Auru, hunched on a stool beside Fabian, chuckled. "They've certainly been eventful."
"Now now, dear," said Fabian. "I thought we agreed not to discuss politics during your recovery."
"A little catch up won't frazzle her," Auru said. This was a decent start. Auru was itching to offer all the answers that Fabian denied her.
Zelda smiled at Auru. "I'm flattered you think so, but I really am unfit to hear of such things at the moment."
"But Zelda-"
"If this is what my husband deems best, then so be it." Really, Zelda didn't care to waste a moment arguing. She had ten minutes with Auru. Ten minutes to convey that her husband was poisoning her without him catching on. "I've had my moments where politics have bored me to tears. Remember how I'd eat a few nuts so that I'd be too poorly for our tutoring sessions?"
Auru's eyes crinkled. "I do indeed. It sent the palace into war protocol."
Zelda giggled weakly. "Isn't it charming how every allergic reaction is treated as a matter of national security?"
"And the people think you're an angel," Auru teased. "If only they knew how many false assassination attempts you put us through."
"You know, when I woke up here for the first time, I thought that was the case. An assassination attempt." Where Auru quirked a brow, Fabian showed nothing. Well, it was a certain kind of nothing. His neutral face was always a feather-light smile, like a cat in a sunbeam, but this was something heavy. Something worn to the funeral of a distant acquaintance. It didn't say enough. It didn't confirm her poison theory in any meaningful way. Still, Zelda couldn't falter. She had minutes left and no hourglass or candle to guide her.
She resorted to one of her favourite activities in this dull room: stirring the untouched soup in her lap. "I often feel as if I'm suffering from my allergy, ever since I fainted in the council meeting. This soup inflames my throat in much the same way, I suppose."
"I assure you that there are no nuts," Fabian insisted. "Not a single trace has crossed our moat."
"Oh, I'm well aware of the castle's nut prohibition," which existed to prevent Zelda from faking further assassination attempts, "and I know you are so careful with these things. I just wonder if, perhaps, there is another allergy previously unknown that we should be mindful of?"
"Dearest wife, has this soup not delighted you at many banquets without fault?" Precisely. "As I have said many times, these unpleasant tastes and sensations are but symptoms of your illness."
"But it would be worth looking into," Auru said. "I'm going into town tonight, so I could drop off a sample at Doctor Borville's." Excellent! He was catching on.
"That is unnecessary," Fabian snipped. "Worrying about such asinine what-ifs will not help the queen recover." Zelda shoved a spoonful in her mouth. The lukewarm liquid burned her cheeks as it sloshed, so she snatched the handkerchief.
"With all due respect, your highness, I too wish the queen to have a speedy recovery, but we have seen little improvement this past week." Auru smiled cheekily as he leaned forward. "Would you believe that all council meetings get this heated, now?"
Zelda laughed, choked, and coughed all at once, spraying soup into her handkerchief. "Oh, of course you would." One singeing mouthful, and she was back to croaking. How could this soup not be poisoned? "Oh dear." She unfurled the cloth. "This is my last hanky."
Fabian offered his palm. "Then I shall take care of that as soon as our quality time has ended."
"Nonsense." Auru swiped the handkerchief from Zelda. "No prince should have to worry about laundry. I'll take care of this at once."
"Too kind," Zelda crooned, "but gone so soon?"
"Afraid so," said Auru. "It's chess night at Telma's bar. I never miss it."
"Seems like you and I both have a crown to defend," she joked.
Auru eased from his stool and smiled at her. "Seems so."
"Farewell. Go easy on the young ones this time."
"It's war, your majesty." At the word 'war', Fabian's lips twitched. How peculiar. "Can't afford to go easy." And with that, Auru stuffed the sample-stained cloth in his pocket, saluted to her and her husband, and left through the creaky door.
Perhaps, just this once, Auru would skip chess night. The queen in the basement needed his guidance more than the queen on the board.
At long last, Link flopped on his bunk. What a day. After his duel against Purlo, which Link had won in two strikes, the general assigned him to the snare-and-stab activity. So much hissing. So many flashes. So many illusions appearing and fading. His eyes were as sore as his muscles, and that said a lot. After six hours or so, it became a battle to stay straight-headed as the lack of sleep caught up to him. Finally, after some cold rations and rowdy soldiers crowding him with questions, he got to hit the hay.
That was until the bed wouldn't stop creaking.
At first, he blamed the person in the top bunk, tossing and turning. He groaned. "Fyer."
"Don't go blaming me," Fyer grumbled. "You're worse than Falbi." Whatever. Link was too tired to argue. He'd be out like a candle soon, anyway.
The bed kept creaking and squeaking and it jostled a bit too much. "Hero of everything but shut-eye," Fyer said.
"Not me."
"Well if it's not you or me, then who in Din's name is it? A tricker oocca?"
Through great force of will, Link cracked his eyes open. The bed was indeed shifting, but the momentum came from his bunk, even though he wasn't moving.
Midna.
She had to be pissed that he took three bathroom breaks that day but set aside no time for her. How could he, though? Whenever he wasn't training, he was eating, drinking, excreting, or catching his breath. There wasn't any time for her. There wasn't any time to be vulnerable to her lectures or her fear-induced wrath.
The bed kept squeaking, and a dozen more soldiers joined the chorus of grumbles and moans. Urgh. Midna was holding sleep for ransom. Link had no choice but to pay it.
He threw back the covers, pulled on his boots, and headed for the bathroom. He hadn't thought of a better place, and worse, there was a line of soldiers. Worser still, a few people joined behind him. Whatever Midna wanted better be brief.
After minutes of eternity, Link shuffled into the bathroom and locked the door. Yuck. It definitely smelled like it was shared by a couple hundred men (at least), and there weren't any windows to air it out, either.
"Alright, Midna," he whispered. "I'm listening."
She rose from the floor, or her yellow and red eye did. The candlelight did almost nothing to reveal her figure. "You had three bathroom breaks," she hissed. "Three, and I left you alone. Then you went to bed without holding up your end of the bargain."
"I'm honouring it now. What do you want?"
Her eye bobbed closer. Link leaned away. "I want progress. You said you'd get on a scout team, but not once did you bring it up with General Sexist." Sexist how? Because she was needlessly dismissive of a female soldier? While being a woman, herself?
Link slumped against the door with a groan. "I've only been here a day, and I'm exhausted." No self-respecting general would put a new recruit on something as important as a scout team, anyway.
"Well, maybe you should've thought of that before going on this fanciful detour, Mr Important Hero." Her eye narrowed. "Or would you rather wait around long enough to become fodder on the front lines?" Obviously that wasn't going to happen, but Link hadn't the energy to argue.
"I'll talk to her tomorrow."
"No. You'll do it tonight. Remember what Fabian-"
"Prince Fabian."
"-said at your little tea party? Candidates get shortlisted today."
"I don't even know where her office is."
"Then figure it out, because your bed won't stop creaking until you do."
"But-"
A harsh rap on the door jolted him. "Hurry up in there!" the soldier snarled.
Link really had no say in his life anymore, did he? The military had swallowed his 'day', and now Midna was eating away his 'night'. There was only one way to get even a scrap of the rest he sorely needed for tomorrow. "Fine."
Most of the guards around the castle were recently placed as the usual ones were needed to train the new recruits. That made asking for directions a logistical nightmare. Too many wrong hallways, too many flights of stairs, and too many times was it all in vain. The guards that did know the way became easier to spot after a while. They were the ones telling him to turn back. It was the wise thing to do -no doubt that it was- but defying the dangerous imp in his shadow was even more unwise.
This was so pointless. Alexus wouldn't place a rookie on the scout team. How would he even convince her? "Hey, General. Sorry to barge in. I just really think I should join the scout team. Why? Because the so-called 'shadowbeast' I smuggled in told me to." Yeah, that might end with his head on a pike.
Link dragged his feet up yet another spiralling staircase. This better be it. If he had to climb one more flight, he'd collapse and it would become his mattress for the 'night'.
Something echoed from the top of the stairs. Something that took two whole seconds to click as Alexus's snarl. "I told you not to call me mother!"
"We both know you wouldn't say that if I had some hair on my gods-damn chin!" Was that Ashei? "I'm everything you ever wanted in a son and more, but you still treat me like sh-"
"A son would be training soldiers by now."
"Which I'd gladly do, but you keep lumping me in with the rookies. You saw me fight today. Everyone did. I had that so-called hero sliding off his saddle. Can't pretend I'm some unskilled damsel forever, general. It's about time you put me somewhere useful."
"Coming from my womb doesn't entitle you to favours, soldier."
"Just admit it. You want me to die on the front lines, yeah?"
"Keep talking, and I might not wait around for that to happen."
"Oh yeah?" Ashei challenged. "Then I'll tell everyone that-"
Link stumbled inside. It was an instinctive thing. A moment to intervene before things got messy.
The women leaned over the same dark wood desk. Ashei wasn't wearing her helmet, and she was a smaller, willowier reflection of her mother. The same heavy, brown eyes under crushing brows. The same long, narrow nose-ridge. The same skin as pale as the beach of Ordon Spring. Even the same sleek, black hair pulled back, but it was also where the differences began. While Alexus knotted hers in a high ponytail, Ashei's locks were pinned into two narrow streams running past her collarbones, and unlike Alexus, she had thin, fanned-out bangs.
"State your business," Alexus barked to Link, "and it better be worth my time."
It was not worth her time. He was about to waste her time. He was about to be punished by a lap around Castle Town while he was already hanging onto wakefulness by the tip of his fingers. But what could he do but try? Despite the agony, he straightened up with his hands behind his back, if only to hide their trembling. "Put me on the scout team." Gods-damn it! That was too blunt. His filter had gone to bed. "Please?" he tacked on.
Alexus chewed her tongue, sizing him up as if he had just challenged her to a death duel. Every second she stayed silent was another brick on his back. Finally, she spoke. "And you made your way here after your curfew?"
Link gulped. "Yes, general."
"All the way from your dorm?"
"Yes, general."
"To make this demand in the middle of another meeting?"
"Uh, yes? It didn't seem all that important." Ashei gawped at him, and Link nearly flinched.
Alexus rounded her desk in three strides and stopped before him. Fierce eyes burrowed into his bloodshot ones. "You look like you're about to drop dead."
Was that a threat or an observation? "I couldn't rest until I asked you." Even as he forced assertiveness, every word dragged like bare feet on a gravelly road. "It's where I feel needed, general."
Again, she said nothing, did nothing, but scrutinise. To wilt and cower was so tempting, but he resisted. If he wanted even a chance for a merciful punishment, he needed to project what Alexus wanted to see: a dedicated and disciplined soldier.
Something cracked her expressionless face. A half-smile. "Now this is what I look for in my soldiers. Such passion on display. A selfless drive to serve his country deeply and jump any chance to do so." Wow. Okay. Not what Link was expecting at all.
Alexus paced closer to Ashei. "And I think that in war, a well-trained swordsman who has slain a few shadowbeasts before deserves a higher position than some little girl whose father let her win every stick duel."
Just like Rusl had let Link 'win' a stick duel of their own only a week ago? Poor Ashei. He should do something to help her. Maybe convince the general to put her on the team as well? Yeah, unlikely to happen.
He coughed. "So… am I on the team?"
Alexus turned around with a broader smile. One sickly sweet. "Why, yes. In fact, this could be an excellent trial-run. See how our chosen hero works on the field." She folded her hands behind her back and strode about the room. "You'll need an experienced team. Auru is better read on the desert and the Arbiter's Grounds than anyone, so he'll take charge until you reach the Bulblin Fortress. Then you'll need some skilled marksmen. I know you're already acquainted with the Larkson brothers. Then there's the matter of what might exist in that demonic realm. Mountains? Valleys? I can't think of any men who know how to traverse such terrain."
Ashei raised her hand. "Uh, Ashei of Snowpeak here. Climbed my first cliff at age ten. You were there, yeah?"
Alexus halted her pace. "So I was." Silence fell yet again, tight as the purse of her lips. On and on it went, or so it felt to Link who was barely keeping balance.
"I'd like Ashei on the team," he blurted out. Bad idea. "That's… unless you know any other mountaineers."
"Hmph." Alexus went to her desk where a thick leather volume lay open and paged through. It looked a lot like the logbook recording Link's arrival. There were even the same ink stains from the occasion, or so it seemed in his weary state.
"Hmm… Not many options. But we could- No, Argust isn't any better." With a sigh that winded the whole room, Alexus drew herself straight. "Well then, soldier," she stiffed at Ashei, "it seems you've got yourself a mission, but don't forget your place." Though the last words were for her daughter, they drilled into Link as well (who corrected his faltering stance). "Are we clear?"
In an unfortunate twist of events, Link's voice had nodded off, so how did he respond to a question posed by the great and mighty General Alexus? With an awkward thumbs-up. Great going, Chosen Halfwit.
Ashei stomped her foot and saluted with a stony face. "Yes, general."
"Good." Alexus swept towards her chair and dropped into it. "Now leave, and neither of you barge in ever again. Go bother a captain next time."
Link mouthed along with Ashei's words. "Yes, general."
Alexus raised a palm. "You're both dismissed."
As Link spun on his heel for the door, he lost his balance a little, but caught himself in time. Once the door creaked closed behind him and Ashei's boot clapped against the first step, Link slowed, waiting for her to pass. Then he could lean against the wall on his way down and take his time. That might conserve enough energy to get him to bed.
But she never did pass; her pace was as slow as his. When they rounded to the other side of the tower, a hand seized his shoulder, spun him around, and slammed him against brick. "You're a real piece of work, yeah?" Ashei hissed.
What? That was confusing. Link was too tired for confusing. Puzzling out whatever beef Ashei had with him was like ramming his head into a brick wall over and over. Same went for figuring out what the hell he was supposed to say.
"Don't think you can just waltz in like you own the place, Peahat!"
The nickname slapped his voice awake like a soggy cloth. "Peahat?" he croaked. Weren't those a kind of flying plant?
"Yeah. You've got a stupid hat, it's the colour of peas, and you've no more brains than a flying flower, so I'm calling you 'Peahat', Peahat," she sneered. Link just nodded. His failing mind had no rebuttal, or even the desire to dish one out. "You might have some fancy destiny to end this war, but you start out like the rest of us. Got it?"
"I… uh…" He needed to say something to that attack. "No?"
Her snarl dropped. "No? What do you mean 'no'?"
"I mean that… we're the same." He wasn't going anywhere with this. Riding a bucking bull would be easier than carrying this conversation.
"Oh, because we're both skilled fighters lumped into the baby class?" she hissed. That was the perfect answer and Link seized it with a nod. "Well, we're not. You're a new recruit, but I've already gotten a few promotions. Learn your rank and learn mine. Don't barge in and steal my missions ever again, yeah?"
He didn't steal the mission. He just got on it and vouched for her to come too. He did her a favour and treated her with more honour than anyone else, and this was his repayment?
With no words left for her, a stalemate ensued. A one-sided staring contest on Ashei's end. Link kept tracing the lines of brick above him with his weary eyes to keep them open. A mattress and warm covers would be so much nicer than being pushed against cold stone right now.
At long last, Ashei released him with a haggard sigh. She rubbed her forehead as she trudged down the stairs. "Damn, I need a stiff drink," she muttered.
He was trapped in a daze as her footsteps faded, and what snapped him out of it? Midna's stifled laughter, very suddenly and very closely in his ear. She popped from the wall, the glow of a torch lining her smirk. "Nice work, Mr Important Hero."
The urge to say "Shut up" slipped out as soon as the thought itself. There was only one thing worth caring about now: bed, and bed was down the stairs and through a maze of corridors and yet more stairs and oh gods he wasn't gonna make it.
"I mean it. Good job. You're on the scout team. If only you didn't have to muscle past a more capable warrior to do it," she teased. "I'd say you've earned that rest. For now." And with a wink (or was it a blink?), she dropped into his shadow.
The trip back to the dorm was a blur. The wheels in his head kept trying to turn, but they were rusted in place. There was no fathoming why Ashei was so mad. No hope of them getting along on this… what was it? Oh yeah, scout mission.
The only thing that mattered in the here and now was the creak of the final door, the rows of beds, and the welcoming mattress he fell into. If he wasn't so exhausted, perhaps all of the hushed whispering would've bothered him, but not 'tonight'. Not 'tonight'…
Someone tapped on his shoulder. Damn that imp. Whatever she wanted, he couldn't give it. He wouldn't even grumble a response.
"Um excuse me, sir," a young maid squeaked, "What might you be doing in the servants' quarters?"
Oh. He really was a peahat.
Wolfie's shadow was a prison, now. For as long as he stayed in this castle, it would be a prison. For as long as he hung around those soldiers, it would be a prison.
At this moment, in which he slumbered in his own bed (that the maids had to drag him to), his shadow was too narrow, so constrictive of Midna's bursting emotions. She needed air again, but how could she get it? She couldn't fly through the sewers. She couldn't afford to even be seen as a 'trick of the light' because that would be enough for someone to smash a deku nut and expel her into the scorching air.
After a 'day' of witnessing Twili extermination tactics, she would be a fool to go out again. She was only safe here for as long as she said nothing, did nothing, was nothing.
She already felt like nothing. She felt close to it when Zant cursed her into a hideous imp form, and she truly felt it when the light spirits forced her to hide in the shadows of her own realm.
All Midna could do was see things and hear things and feel the emotions rattling inside. It was a ghost-like existence, but even those three things meant she was a real person living a real life that could be taken from her in a flash –quite literally– and it could be taken from her people, too.
Until today, she thought the Twili stood a fighting chance with their superior sorcery, but no, not at all. Hyrule could expel them from the shadows with the crack of a nut. Hyrule could create a nigh-impenetrable defence with only the stroke of a brush. Hyrule had everything they needed to destroy or steal what little the Twili had left, including the blue-eyed beast.
But today was a victory. Link was leaving the castle for the twilight realm. With vile company trained to slaughter her people? Yes, but it was something. This could offer more changes to turn him to her side. The right side. The good side. The side of the people who were actually suffering and who actually needed saving.
No one in Hyrule needed saving. They didn't deserve a rescue from her. They needed to get out and stay out and fester in their own mess for a change. Once Midna had her body, realm, and throne restored, she would ensure that with every last vestige of her strength. It didn't matter how many light-dweller heads had to roll.
It didn't matter if Link, through his insistent and toxic alliance with the enemy, became one of them.
A/N: Woohoo! We're finally moving towards the Twilight Realm next chapter! But how will Midna convince Link to abandon his team on his first ever mission? Please tell me your predictions!
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okie thank-u 4 reading my marketing pitch ur awesome hope to see u next chaptah bai!
