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Indulging a starry eyed fan over coffee had quickly devolved into full-fledged "festivities" at the nearest bar, where Midna unwillingly entertained what seemed to be the entire village through clenched teeth.

Night had long since fallen by the time she managed to escape.

"Not drunk, are you?" he laughed.

Midna swiveled on the spot, seething, and saw him reclined against one of the few patches of grass that hadn't yellowed.

"No, I'm not," she growled. "No thanks to you. I hope you realize you're not off the hook for this anytime soon."

"You had fun, don't deny it."

"Oh, yes, plenty of fun," her tongue dripped with sarcasm. "A real riot, having to push inebriated busybodies off of me as they clambered over each other to worship me for no good reason."

"Hardly aren't any reasons," he gestured towards her. "Anju was right, like I've been trying to tell you. You're a hero."

"Would you stop with-"

She frowned, narrowing her eyes.

"Going somewhere?" she asked lightly, but Link knew better.

"Midna, hear me out-"

"No, no, no," she cheerfully (he winced) supplied. "You'll have to excuse me, but it looks like you've packed up all your stuff and were preparing to leave without telling me. It must be my mistake, though. Perhaps I am a bit tipsy."

The edges of her voice were splashed with venom as they slithered across the foliage and crept up his spine.

He found himself with nothing to respond with for all of a few, excruciating moments.

"I was going to leave a note," he offered quietly.

"A n-"

And she seemed about ready to tear his head off as her cheeks were splotched with crimson.

"Midna, you're not like me," he finally said. "I've been alone for all my life, but you don't have to be. Can't you…can't you see it?"

He motioned weakly towards the bar she came from.

"People adore you. They know that you're wonderful. That, inherently, you might be the most selfless person on the planet right now. They see what I see."

"What the hell does this have to do with you abandoning me?"

She spoke the words like they were acid wrenched from her lips.

"You have a place, Midna. Among them, you have a place in this world. Somewhere to call home. With me, that's all shot. I can be nothing for you."

Midna clutched at her head, gritting her teeth, almost ripping disheveled strands out by the roots. She snarled at him, so utterly outraged she nearly couldn't see past her curtain of red hair.

"Get this through your thick skull, you moron," she fumed. "I don't care about any of them. Not. A single. One."

She grabbed the collar of his tunic and jerked him forward so that they were nose to nose.

"You're all that matters to me!" she growled.

As his eyes widened, she tightened her grip until green fabric had bunched under her nails.

"I've been alone, too. For practically ever. Even before you came to me and I knew what you were, that sword was my entire reason for being. For all my life, for better or worse, you were all I had."

She lowered him, his shirt still loosely dangled over her fingertips.

"Midna," he tried again. "I'm not like you, and try as I might, I know I'll never be. I'm the world's premier living hell. I'm selfish, and lost, and…and-"

"And you claim that I give myself too little credit," Midna chuckled bitterly. "Link, you sit there and listen. My life's purpose just went kaput. Right now, I have nothing. Except you. They," she gestured vaguely behind her.

"Aren't going to do a thing for me."

Her gaze was furious, smoldering, and it swallowed him up like flames, like the molten furnace of a gaping earth, like the stars above and the gravel beneath. It brought ash to the mind. A promise to the tongue that floated like blood.

"I belong with you."

A single tear scrabbled its way desperately down Link's cheek.

"I'm sorry," Link whispered. "For your mother. For…everything. I'm so sorry my chest actually hurts. How can you…ever…ever...forgive me? How can anyone?"

He squeezed his eyes shut.

She crouched onto one knee – pale, sleek in the moonlight – and wasted no time, wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him angrily as her ear brushed his.

"Like this, you idiot."

As Link's tears soaked her shoulder, Midna, for the first time in her life, knew forgiveness.

And it was alien to her – foreign and out of sorts and benign and malicious and the smallest spectacle yet the very seams of the cosmoses themselves – but so tinged with sweet that she didn't really mind.

Author's Note: Gah! Sorry again. Had a bit of trouble with this one to be honest. It's quite lengthy, isn't it? But I think I like how it came out. Bask in the feeeeeels.