Torn in Two

The Legend of Zelda and all related media are property of Nintendo.

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Twilight plopped down on the grass beside Wild, who hadn't looked up from the worn journal in his hands. "Anything interesting?" Wild jolted, hastily putting the journal under his cloak.

He relaxed upon seeing Twilight, "Oh, it's just you."

Twilight tilted his head, and then understood when Wild brought the journal out into the open once more. "That's one of your friends' journals, right?"

"Mipha," Wild whispered, running a hand down the cover.

"Ah…" Twilight trailed off. He knew that his counterparts' feelings towards the deceased Zora Princess were…complicated. When they travelled together, Wild would always dismiss him before entering the scant few major settlements left in his version of Hyrule—and when entering the Divine Beasts to purify them. It was something Twilight had encouraged in the beginning (remembering his own experiences) and it worked well enough the first few times at Hateno and Kakariko Village.

But then Wild visited Zora's Domain, and he refused to fully explain what happened while he was there; he just sat down and buried his head in Twilight's fur for what felt like days.

He licked his lips, "You know," he said, "if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here for you."

Wild grunted, not taking his eyes off the journal. They sat in silence for a long while, and Twilight gathered that Wild wouldn't open up. But when he made to move, Wild pressed a hand down on his shoulder. Twilight nodded, staying until Wild felt ready.

Finally, he started to speak. "She…She loved me." Twilight immediately felt out of his depth but soldiered on. "And I think…I think it was mutual."

Twilight gulped, "You…You know that?"

Wild shrugged, eyes dull. "Not really, but…she was going to propose to me. And she wasn't some sort of naïve, lovestruck fool. No," Wild looked down at the journal, "She…she knew me well enough to believe I'd marry her."

"So…a case of 'what might have been'?" Twilight suggested. He'd had similar thoughts, once or twice. In a different context, though.

"But then," Wild continued, growing irritated, of all things, "there's Zelda."

"…What about Zelda?"

"Well, at the very least, she's considerably attached to me."

"Sure," Twilight replied. He remembered when Wild would go searching for the locations the photographs Zelda left on the Sheikah Slate for him depicted. The scant few memories of their time together from one-hundred years ago that he remembered. Twilight winced, "Ah…you're feeling weird because she probably loves you, but you loved Mipha?"

Wild shook his head, "I…I think I might have loved her too."

Oh…maybe he and Wild had more in common than he'd thought.

"I mean," his face scrunched in disgust, "who the hell does that? I'd known Mipha longer by far! Who was I that I…that I would feel…?" He groaned, clutching his chest, "Dammit! I don't even remember anything, and I feel like shit!"

"I know the feeling," Twilight commiserated.

"I don't need your pity," Wild spat.

"I'm serious," Twilight replied with a stern glare. Wild sighed, gesturing for Twilight to continue. He took a deep breath.

"So, in Ordon, I grew up with the mayor's daughter, Ilia." He lips curled into a smile, "We did…everything together—at least until we got big enough to be put to work." Wild snickered, "But even then, we did our best to hang out whenever we could." He sighed, fond memories flitting through his mind. "When we both, you know, grew, all the adults would start teasing us that we'd get married." He blushed, and though his smile shrank, it was no less bright, "And we were…open to the idea." He cleared his throat, looking to the side to see Wild's previous impatience returning.

"Anyway," his smile died, "…uh…my whole 'Hero journey' started when she—and the other kids in Ordon—were kidnapped." He heaved a great sigh, "And then, after turning into a wolf, I met…Midna."

"Who's that?"

"The Princess of the Twilight Realm." He smirked as Wild's eyes widened, "Told you I knew what you were talking about."

Wild scoffed, "Did you also spend close to a year travelling together and slowly chipping away at her icy exterior?"

"Yes."

"…I'll stop talking now."

"If you'd please," Twilight chuckled. "But, uh, yeah…You can't exactly go around the country, slaying monsters and delving through dungeons without getting closer to one another. Close enough to…confuse me, about certain things."

"Ilia," Wild hummed. "I…I assume you found her."

"Eventually," Twilight nodded. "She'd…lost her memories. She got them back, thanks the goddesses, but I was…scared." His voice grew softer, "For a long while, I'd thought that the girl I'd grown up with, the girl I'd wanted to grow old with, was gone forever." He shrugged, "And I guess…a little after that I started to get more attached to Midna."

He could still remember, after Zelda saved Midna's life, how much gentler the then-imp had been. When he went back to Kakariko, how Midna would give him space as he tried to break through the fog that had overtaken Ilia's mind. Console him when he failed.

How she left him with no way to ever see each other again.

Twilight cleared his throat, "I…I won't bore you with all the details, but at the end of our journey, Midna had come to conclusion that our two dimensions couldn't coexist. And she…destroyed the only means of travel between our realms." Wild sucked in a breath but kept silent. "And she…she didn't tell me about it. She didn't give any hint to it before she did it. She never gave me a chance to…to talk."

He sniffed, rubbing his eyes, "So, uh, yeah, I completely understand what you're feeling. I love Ilia—I never stopped loving her—but I grew to love Midna too, and now she's gone, and I'm left with this…hole in my heart."

"Still got it better than me," Wild grumbled, "At least you remember exactly how you feel." He looked down at his hands, "All I've got are these…dull echoes."

Twilight nodded, patting Wild's shoulder, "Don't suppose you've talked to anyone about it?"

"Hell no," Wild chuckled, "You?"

"Nope," Twilight frowned, looking down at his feet, "Maybe a week after returning to Ordon, I decided to leave. Exploring and helping Hyrule rebuild is what I told everyone but…I just couldn't look at Ilia without feeling guilty. Like I'd betrayed her."

"Did you?"

"…I don't know."

Wild grew silent. He then let out a groan, flopping onto his back, "What a pair we make, huh?" He pressed his hands against his eyes, "Think the others deal with shit like this?"

"Hyrule." At Wild's inquisitive grunt, he elaborated, "He's got two different Princess Zelda's running around, remember?"

"Oh yeah…" Wild trailed off, "Isn't one of them, like, over one-hundred years old?"

"I think so."

"Weird…Hey" Twilight looked down to see that Wild was smiling, "Thanks." Twilight smiled in turn. Then, Wild blushed, "But, uh, I'm still not feeling one-hundred percent. Do you think you could…?"

"Oh, c'mon man!" Twilight grumbled, "We were having a moment."

"We're still having a moment!"

Twilight huffed, but nevertheless called upon the last piece of Twilight magic he still had access to. Within seconds, shadows overtook his form, and was shaking the rust out of his canine joints. He flopped onto his side, glaring at Wild.

His counterpart just smiled widely, quickly moving closer and laying his head on Twilight's furry body. "Thanks," Wild whispered. Twilight huffed, but let his friend be.

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A/N: Thinking on it, Hyrule and Warriors are the only versions of Link that never explicitly lost anybody. Weird. Be sure to leave a review. Later.