Friend
At last they stepped out of the tunnel into the heart of the cave.
"It's...a clearing of sorts. Was this carved out?" Link wondered, his eyes roving the gravel chamber from his vantage at the entrance.
"Never mind that. Look."
Gouged, point down, into less a pedestal and more a dreary slab of stone, was the blade.
No light sifted through overhead, but the sword's incandescent gleam alone – writhing, almost alive, as if it were smoke and not light – illuminated the vacant cavern.
"One fell swoop," was all Midna left him as she sprinted towards it.
And indeed, her hair came alive in one fluid motion, a veritable crown of seething flames as it seized the sword, its hilt, its steel, its every surface.
She assembled hot, searing pressure, and-
The sword shattered.
Metal rattled to the ground, and Midna was left, frozen, her hair still rigid in its murderous position, its confines now vacant.
"It…It broke."
She uttered the words like they weren't real, like she could hardly dare to believe anything so ridiculous.
Her hair fell, her arms fell, and she looked, almost helplessly, towards Link.
"That's-"
She flung her gaze around the cavern, and it felt emptier than before.
"That's it? That's…all there is to it?"
As if in answer to her prayer, or her dread, or her feeble blistering hope, the cavern rumbled.
Dust and rock sifted through the ceiling like light wouldn't, and Link scrabbled desperately for purchase as the earth seemed to tremble.
He made his way over to her just as the ground was ripped asunder. Stone monstrosities gripped jagged edges and hoisted themselves up from the created abyss.
And it was like they clambered up straight from hell.
"G-Golems…?" Midna stuttered, but then she fixed her gaze on the entrance they came from.
A barrier of blue had sprung up, translucent, and on the other side-
"Ganondorf. You followed us. This-"
And she noticed Zelda as well, her gloved hand clasping her other forearm in a death grip. The princess looked at once determined and uncomfortable.
"This was a goddamned trap?! You…you…"
She struggled to find a term demeaning enough, but settled for leaping over in one stride and slamming her palm viciously against the shield.
It shimmered, but otherwise held steady, as a bead of blood trickled lazily from Midna's curled fist.
Her breaths came ragged, and her hatred was hoarse as she addressed them.
"I never trusted you, but I thought…I thought you wanted the same things for this godforsaken land. I didn't believe you could…could be this vile."
And inches from her feral eyes, separated only by the barrier, Ganondorf raised his hand in a placating gesture.
"Midna. Calm yourself and listen. We do. We want the very same things you do."
"Evidently, you don't!" she roared. "Evidently I don't fucking know what you-"
"This was not a trap for you," Ganondorf cut across patiently. "This was a trap for him."
And astonishingly, Midna's anger melted away, however briefly, in a moment of true confusion.
"What? For 'him'? Who's 'him'? You'd better start making sense, or-"
"I admit," Ganondorf glanced briefly at Zelda, who nodded. "The sword is a fake by my own design. It was meant to lure you in, and by doing so, lure him in by the same token."
"Okay, now I'm convinced you're off your rocker. I'm not with anyone dubious. What the hell are you talking about?"
"The real blade, of course."
Midna's expression was blank.
"Still not following."
And for the first time, Ganondorf lost his patience.
"The sword, Midna, the sword! Do you honestly think I could have located the Master Sword, which was hidden so thoroughly for years that no force on Earth could flush it out? The only one – the only one – capable of finding and destroying it is you. And lo and behold, you already have."
He nodded towards a point beyond her shoulder, where things had grown quiet.
At last, she caught on.
"What? What?" she spluttered, laughing. "You think Link…? You've really lost it, old man! I mean, do you hear yourself? He's Link."
And she continued to laugh, actually clutching her sides amidst her mirth.
"Midna," Ganondorf said between clenched teeth. "You need to mind yourself and listen. The Sol and the sword were once one, eons past. They are two halves of a whole. Kindred spirits. The only ones to equal the other. You are drawn to each other by nature."
"Yeah, great history lesson and all, seriously," she drawled. "But I've had enough, so if you don't mind…"
"Then," he sighed. "Why don't you see for yourself?"
He gestured towards the pedestal.
And Midna dared to look. But her heart had already leapt in her throat and her mouth had already dried. Somehow, she knew before she even gazed upon the scene.
Where there were golems, now there nothing but crumbling remains on earth torn open.
Link stood in the middle, in front of the pedestal, with gravel peppered across his shoulders and his head downcast.
His arms glinted like steel, and Midna knew instantly that they could slice anything – absolutely anything – upon touch.
"My golems are no match for the Master Sword, after all," Ganondorf acknowledged solemnly.
Moments flitted by; charged, a universe in each one, and it was something like agony.
"Link…" she spoke, at great length, her eyes trembling. "Why?"
His head rose, and he chuckled, and it was at once dark and fleeting and everlasting. She had never seen anything like the expression he wore just then, and she became frightened for the first time in a long while.
Not for herself. Never for herself, but for him.
"Why not, Midna?" and he was so completely bitter she nearly recoiled. "You said that…"
And he was again, thoroughly familiar, so thoroughly Link as he gestured again in that needlessly wild, unfathomable manner.
"You said that I would never understand you, but you couldn't be farther from the truth. You don't seem to get that…"
He struggled for words, and Midna could only listen, terribly enraptured.
"…That it's so much easier than you think to imagine me like this!" he gestured to himself, to the ruined bodies of stone, the eviscerated fragments echoing his despair. "That I'm so tarnished like you wouldn't believe."
He shouted, to the heavens above, or perhaps the hell beneath, or perhaps to anyone who would listen.
"You thought I was far removed from it all, but of course I understand, because Midna, I've lived it! I've lived every. Bloody. Inch of it! I was the first one the Goddesses abandoned!"
"Midna, please!" Ganondorf beseeched. "Tune it out! You're the only one who can do it! Destroy him before he escapes, or worse."
But Midna ignored him. In that terrible way, she had eyes only for Link.
"There's so much blood between my fingers," he gnawed at the inside of his lip. "That I can't unsee it. Your parents, my parents, thousands, millions, I've butchered them all and laid waste to them all, and you and I are the same, but we're so, so different."
Ganondorf cursed at Midna's inactivity, and coursed magic through his veins.
"Midna, you're-" Link faltered. "Despite everything that's happened to you – what's happened to me as well – your first instinct when you snap out of it is to help everyone, while mine is to seek out the one rumored to be looking for me and kill her before she can kill me. I nearly did, that day I met you."
He laughed almost derisively.
"Can you believe that? You do the right thing because it's what should be done. I can tell your quest has never been about vengeance."
Ganondorf's unstable magic triggered, and golems sprouted from the ground, thrice as innumerable as before. The cavern splintered down the middle, and the ceiling ruptured.
Link grunted, his body a smooth blur as he swatted aside golems like they were flies, a path of mayhem trailing his arms as they seared the air, twin blades of havoc.
"Midna," he pleaded. "Midna, you're stubborn, quick-tempered, tactless, and the kindest person I have ever known."
"Link," she found her words finally, but her voice, her stance, her eyes all wavered.
She searched his eyes desperately.
"Wh-What do you…"
She gulped.
"What do you want from me?" came her whisper.
And for the first time since she's known him, she saw him truly angry.
"I," he screamed, as Ganondorf grabbed Zelda's hand to beat a hasty retreat,
"WANT," as he carved through a golem's torso,
"TO," as the alcove caved in,
"BE," and the ground unraveled beneath them.
"YOUR," he surged towards her like quicksilver and shielded her from falling debris.
"FRIEND!"
His hoarse cries – nearly shrieks – seemed to deafen the chaos, mute everything around her, and Midna matched his anger.
"You complete IDIOT!" she hollered. "Could you be any more STUPID?!"
She clutched his tunic furiously as they descended together into what was probably hell.
"You already are," she whispered, and even among the discord, it was all Link could hear.
Author's Note: Well, here we are. The momentous chapter. The big enchilada. I've had this moment in mind the entire time I was writing the other segments, and it was playing this scene out over and over inside my head that inspired the whole fic in the first place. Their exchange here existed before chapter one even existed. That said, I really, really hope I did my vision justice, and I hope even more that you guys enjoyed it.
Those of you wondering about Link and why there was so little revealed about him, it'd be great you've had some questions answered, because if so, that means I'm doing something right. Gosh, I hope not too many people saw this coming. I dropped a couple hopefully-maybe-subtle hints along the way and all…
Naturally, this chapter being what it is, it of course is not your typical drabble, haha. It's unlikely that many, if any, future installments will be this long, and they'll all be back to being short and sweet. (you heard right, it's not done yet! Far from it!)
Please, let me know what you thought. Did it meet your expectations? Was it lacking? I aim to please! *cheesy smile*