Chapter Two: I Miss You

I sat on my ebony throne listening to my subject's bleak monotone, just waiting for him to spit out whatever it was he had been trying to say for the past hour. I sighed growing more and more impatient. I wanted to be on my way to the Mirror not here listening to… Oh, for the love of Farore I don't even know who this guy is.

"S-so as you see your majesty," he stuttered yet again trying to get my attention. "The cuccos— " I cut him off with a wave of my hand.

"Enough!" I begged him, my voice a little louder than I had intended. "I will deal with it once I return, but I must take my leave of the court now." The peasant stared back at me for a very long, uncomfortable minute before he finally nodded his head slowly. Then he turned around ever so slowly and took one step towards the door before bursting into yowling sobs and dashing for the exit.

I stared after him with a puzzled look on my face. After a few moments I could hear him shouting at the top of his lungs, "The princess doesn't l-lo-ove me-ee!" I blinked once, twice; that was certainly… different.

I didn't have time for this today; I wasn't in the mood for jokes like this. I stepped down the steps leading up to the rather uncomfortable stone chair and down the corridor to address my council. They wouldn't just let me leave anymore, not like before Zant. I felt my blood boil at the thought of the wicked Twili. If it hadn't been for Zant my father would still be alive and I wouldn't be forced to take over.

I had been preparing to take over the throne when Zant struck out and defied the family. He was such a loyal boy. I still couldn't grasp his reason for acting out. It was true that he wished fervently to be the ruler of our people, but he only wanted it for the power. We all learned the hard way just how far he was willing to go to get what he believed was rightfully his.

Sometimes I think we should've just given him what he wanted before he attempted to enslave the world.

No, I knew that wasn't right. Besides, it didn't matter anymore. Well not Zant himself, but there was still the matter of my own after-math. Surprisingly once the Twili were freed from Zant's curse they didn't remember much of anything. According to the people I had heard from they recall the announcement that I was to be the next ruler of the Twili, but shortly after that it all becomes an indistinguishable blur. The next thing they could clearly recall was waking up, some in stranger places than others.

Zant didn't do anything too drastic as far as changing the Twilight Realm goes. The palace remained as it was, as did the villages. The only place that had taken slight damage was the throne room chair where I had impaled Zant. That had already been fixed though.

I stopped in front of an unremarkable door, took a deep breath and stepped in. Even though I didn't have extra work to do, I did still have all of my usual duties and that was quite enough. The council didn't enjoy giving me time to myself partially in fear of another dictator and partially because they were a bit paranoid. They had all deluded themselves into believing that if I had two minutes to myself then the world would suddenly implode, or something like that.

Upon entering the room I was greeted with a chorus of, "Your Majesty!" and "My Queen!" I found it difficult to stop from rolling my eyes.

"Settle down," I commanded impatiently. They all silenced. I guess there were advantages to having a council full of kiss-ups.

"Now then," I started, giving them all a sweet smile before sitting down at the head of the table in the just-big-enough room. "It would please me greatly to take a short break today, so if we could all just agree for once—." I was abruptly cut off by an uproar.

"But, my Queen!" Gasped my head of foreign affairs, obviously beyond words.

"My Lady, it would be a very poor move to simply leave," my military adviser started to explain, because, obviously, there was some kind of strategic bonus to keeping the queen locked inside the throne room.

"Your Majesty," whispered my most trusted advisor, you could say my right hand friend in all things castle life. "Why do you need to leave?" he asked softly, cutting below the din rather than trying to be heard above it. I sighed in frustration. Even he wasn't beyond acting like a lost puppy every time I wanted to get away from the castle grounds.

"All right!" I yelled, immediately getting the attention of every council member. "All of you can sit here and discuss this, I'm leaving." With that I stood up and walked out the door, ignoring the protests behind me.

I was quick to walk down one of the many hallways I knew would lead outside. The palace wasn't incredibly large, but Twili magic did engulf the grounds. You could easily get lost simply by stepping through a portal, mistaking it for one of many doors. Some days it was inconvenient, but not today.

As I stepped from the dreary depths of the palace I was quick to pull my hood up. Even such a powerful ruler like myself could run into trouble on the streets – no nation was perfect. My feet made impatient tapping sounds as I walked quickly through the town square. Before long I found myself on the outskirts of town facing the Mirror.

If I were being honest I would have to admit that this was a strange place to put a mirror. The Mirror – well the frame of the Mirror now – stood on a simple ebony stone, naturally smooth, in the middle of a small patch of grass. Being that it was twilight all of the time it was hard to believe that grass grew so vitally here. The only real explanation anyone had ever had was that it is the work of the Old Gods, a simple taunt to remind us of what we had lost. For all around me now there was nothing more than a wasteland, devoid of life. I suppose you could compare it to Hyrule Fields… if you said this place was exactly like the fields had someone come along and suddenly sucked the life out of it.

Previously thoughts like these would anger me and question my ancestors' Old Gods. Who were they to banish us just because of our power? How dare they lock us here because they are just so afraid of us? Even now I questioned it, but not for the reasons I once did.

I stretched a gloved hand out to touch the smooth gold frame of the Mirror, but jumped back when I felt a shock go through my arm. Puzzled, I looked down at my hand, then back at the Mirror's holding frame. Slowly I tugged the black leather glove off my left hand. I stared at my palm for a number of minutes before giving up; obviously there was nothing wrong with my hand.

Nonetheless I reached my hand out again to stroke the Mirror's shiny frame. Just as before a tingle ran up my arm, like it was going numb suddenly. This time, with my glove no longer covering my hand, I noticed a sliver of light come from where my fingers made contact. Except it wasn't my fingers or the frame. It was the back of my hand. I looked at my palm once again and took a deep breath. Slowly I rotated my hand and slowly it came into view. I gasped aloud when I saw a mark on my hand. The mark was so familiar, and yet it couldn't possibly be….

The Triforce?

Undeniably it was the same mark as I had seen on Link's hand (or paw, rather) and on Zelda's. This mark wasn't quite the same though and it took me a moment to figure out what it was. Then it dawned on me.

The mark was upside-down. Where as Link's mark had the point of the triangle facing his knuckles the triangle point on my skin faced towards my wrist. I pondered this for only a moment before I panicked. I could not possibly have the Triforce because residing within me would surely corrupt it. Not to mention the fact that I was of the banished race of Twilis; I wasn't even one of the goddesses' loyal Hylians.

I laughed out loud.

Surely this was some kind of joke; I must be driving myself into the insanity that lurked just beyond heartbreak. I longed to return to my friends in the Light World so badly that I was in fact seeing things. I shook my head and began to laugh even harder. What a joke I had become. Just look at what I was reduced to! Mourning here like some sad peasant!

I started laughing so hard that I had to support myself on the frame of the Mirror of Twilight to keep from falling over. I ignored the crawling sensation along my arm as I leaned against the strong frame.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light that immediately cut off my laughter. Nothing that bright existed in the Twilight Realm naturally. I looked towards the Mirror only to have my attention pulled away by the horrible burning in my hand. I tried to remove it from the heat, which I could only assume was coming from the mirror frame, but my hand was firmly glued to it.

I screamed out in pain as the heat intensified. Even though I couldn't feel my hand I could feel all of the pain from it: The burning like acid, the heat like a thousand Gerudo desert suns, the pain worse than when I shattered the Mirror, in effect separating myself from Link forever. Soon the pain was beyond words or even my shrieks of protest.

I thought the pain was finally stopping when suddenly I lurched forward, though not of my own accord. I was being dragged into the Mirror itself. I tried to pull my hand away again, but to no avail. No matter how much I tugged and stretched I could not free my hand. Now my entire arm was inside the Mirrors nonexistent interior. The blinding white light peaked and without a sound I was pulled completely from my world to find myself in a void between worlds.

There was a rush of wind and light before I found myself at a stand still in a place so devoid of sound that it actually hurt my ears. The place was bright, light filled on my left, and an orange-red tint that was unmistakably twilight on my right. I stood on the edge of both worlds, partially between them and probably partially nonexistent at the moment. I looked around me for a sign of life in this empty space.

A small chuckle caught my attention and I turned my head towards the sound. It was coming from the brighter side of the room, the side that reminded me of the Light World. I gasped when I saw Link sitting there talking to someone I could not see.

I reached for him but I could not move from the line between the worlds. I walked – I saw my feet move, but I could not move closer to his fleeting image. The world seemed to rotate with every step I took. I stopped trying to get closer and just observed him from where I stood.

It felt like I was looking at him through water, crystal clear but the nature of the water disrupted and distorted his image a bit. His voice was loud and clear, just as it would be if I were standing right next to him. My heart lurched at the thought of being so close to him again. I forced myself to turn away from him.

It surprised me to see another figure standing across from me. This person was not muddled like Link was; this new arrival's image was perfectly clear.

"Ganondorf!" I exclaimed.

He chuckled a little before responding, "Heh, Midna, Twilight Princess, excuse my poor manners, but I'm not going to beat around the bush. You have something I need, something that belongs to me. I think you know what that something is, so if you would just be a good girl and give it to me -."

"No!" I cut him off and stared him down, "Ganon whatever you came for here you're not getting, do you understand me?"

I saw the corners of his lips pull down in disappointment. "Midna," he sighed and rolled his eyes once like he was talking with some misbehaving child rather than a princess. "You cannot hope to fight me off, even with my Triforce embedded in you," he sneered down at me.

"Give it to me now," he hissed.

"I will never ," I started but was immediately cut off when Ganondorf suddenly lunged at me I tried to side step his clumsy grab, but it would seem this in-between limbo didn't go two ways. When I leaned left I started to fall—the same sensation that had greeted me upon entering this strange void. I let out a yelp and tried to stop myself, but to no avail.

Suddenly I hit solid ground. Sandy ground to be more exact. I reached up to rub my head where I had hit it upon landing but didn't get much of a chance to look around before suddenly a brilliant light appeared behind me. I spun around just in time to see Ganondorf falling out of a portal that looked to be made of electricity. I felt the air rush to escape my lungs with a whoosh as Ganon landed on top of me.

I was on the ground for maybe half of a heartbeat before I was suddenly jerked up by my wrist. Dazed from the fall into (or out of, I wasn't really sure anymore) the void I didn't notice who had grabbed my wrist or more importantly what he was doing with it until I felt a sharp pain on the back of my hand. I screamed out again as an inferno engulfed my hand. Instinctively I pulled my hand back.

Ganondorf let out a howl of frustration when I snapped my hand away from him. "Give it to me you little—!" Suddenly he spun around and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being sliced in half from head to toe by a heavy sword.

"Hyaa!" The sword wielder exclaimed rushing towards Ganon again. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I saw Link lunge for Ganon.

By miracle or luck, Ganon had managed to avoid Link again and send him flying across the room with a powerful kick. "You win this round, Princess," he spat at me. "I'll be back," he grinned wickedly at me. "Promise." With that Ganondorf vanished in a rush of wind.

I tried to think through what had just happened but it all seemed so impossible, surely I must be dreaming? I looked around for the first time and at once recognized my surroundings. Arbiter's Grounds, in the Gerudo Desert.

"Link!" I heard a female voice exclaim and turned to see Princess Zelda rush to the fallen boy. It took me several more minutes before my thoughts were in order enough to walk towards the two. I dropped to my knees on the other side of him, opposite Zelda.

"Link?" I whispered. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his stomach. "Ow," he squeaked. I bust up laughing. He glared at me.

"Y-you sounded like a little girl!" I exclaimed in delight. It wasn't long before I was pounding the sandy ground with my fist and holding my own stomach from the laughter.

"Midna, how is it that you are here?" Zelda questioned. I hadn't really thought about it until she mentioned it. I was really here, really with Link in the Light World again.

"I'm not sure," I mumbled truthfully. "I was at the Mirror, on my side, and I touched it…. My hand started to burn then I was… inside the Mirror I think."

"Inside the Mirror?" Link asked, incredulous. I nodded. It didn't make any sense to me either.

"We can discuss this elsewhere," Zelda said, standing up and brushing her dress off. "Come, let's get back to the castle now." Link nodded his assent and I shrugged. I didn't exactly have a choice right now. Just as I was about to follow them down the steps to ground level I thought of something and gasped out loud. Link spun around immediately.

"What's wrong?" He asked. I rushed over to him and wrapped my arms around his torso.

"Link, I missed you so much," I mumbled into his shoulder. He remained still for a moment but slowly wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I missed you too."


We were quick to work our way across the desert and down to the more stable roads surrounding Hyrule Castle. Though the journey took only a short while compared to normal means of travel, compared to the way Link and I used to travel it took forever. Not to mention that due to the fact that only two horses were present I was forced to ride with Link, though I couldn't bring myself to call this objectionable.

I sighed in annoyance for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Link was struggling to keep a straight face at my attitude. Finally, probably half way through the desert, I complained out loud.

"You people need to tame wolves to ride on; they're so much more comfortable than these smelly horses." I made a face as I said this.

Though I was sure he couldn't see my face seeing as I was sitting behind him, Link burst into laughter and continued to chortle without cease until a gust of wind sent a bucket full of sand into his mouth, which immediately cut off his loud guffaws.

He was quiet for the rest of the trip.

As much as I enjoyed watching Link eat sand it was only entertaining enough to briefly remove my mind from the much larger problem we now faced. Ganondorf had returned, though the how and who were yet to be discovered. Not only that but he had returned to the world of light with me, which only served to raise further questions. For example: How did I get back to this side of the Mirror? Or more importantly: How do I get back?

My people could survive on their own, so long as my royal council stepped in and kept things running smoothly, but they needed a leader just as any group did. Inevitably there would be a problem that they wouldn't be able to solve by themselves and then what? What if they began to bicker over land and tore themselves apart? What if a civil war erupted? What if….

"Midna?" My thoughts were interrupted when Link called my name in a soft voice.

"What is it?" I snapped. I could almost picture him rolling his eyes at the tone of my voice.

"Nothing, just making sure you hadn't fallen off. You've been really quiet and we both know how rare that it," he remarked slyly. Though I could tell he was teasing me I could also tell he really was concerned. Plus it was true; I typically always had something or another to say.

"I'm fine, just worried about the Twili," I said hesitantly. I felt Link's body tense and knew I was right to try and avoid the subject. Link had nothing against the Twili, as far as I knew, with the exception of Zant, but that didn't mean he didn't hold a small grudge against them for forcing him through everything he went through on our journey together.

Being called on to save a race of people and not getting the slightest reward for it could be a bit annoying, I imagine. Well, in all honesty he was told to save Hyrule. I enslaved him and forced him to save my people as well. I guess one couldn't be done without the other, but even knowing that didn't ease any of my guilt.

Soon enough we came upon Hyrule's Castle Town and we rode quickly through the large city surrounding the magnificent stone spires of Hyrule Castle. It seemed our arrival had startled most of the attendants of the castle, which I thought was poor castle-keeping on Zelda's part. As it turned out, I found out later, they had been given the day off in honor of today, so it was Zelda's fault just not in the way I had thought.

"Y-your Majesty?" One of the many confused servants asked, watching as the princess deftly maneuvered off of her horse. Link was quick to do the same and turned to lend me his hand as I dismounted. I smiled lightly at him before turning my attention back to Zelda who was now shouting commands across the courtyard as she dashed up the stone stairs to the main room of the castle.

"The day off is still in effect. I just need the stable keepers to take care of the horses first and I need two rooms prepared, one for my guests to sleep in and one for us to meet in and I need it all done now!" Zelda shouted at various servants who scrambled to fulfill her requests.

I must admit I was impressed by the way Zelda easily had everything set up with just a few commands within the hour we had arrived. In fact it was only a few minutes before we had been escorted to a room in the eastern section of the castle, which was to be used for our discussion on the matter of Ganondorf's return. There were guards posted at the door, but Zelda quickly waved them off and we entered the room.

The room was mostly empty with the exception of a small rectangular table and three comfy-looking chairs placed around it. Even with the sparse furniture the room felt ever so slightly crowded with three people occupying it. The ceiling was low, considering we were in such a massive castle, but it was still much higher than a normal building.

Zelda sat down in a chair at one end of the table and I took a seat at the opposite end with Link sitting between us. I waited as Zelda drew a deep breath before sitting up and asking, "Now what?"