Chapter Ten: What was Lost
"I love you!" I blurted.
For a long, antagonizing moment, he sat completely silent.
"What?"
I stood up, flight instincts kicking in. "I—nothing. We should get back inside; Zelda might notice we're missing and get worried. You know how she can be, paranoid to an extreme," I babbled, standing up and turning away.
Link quickly stood up and blocked my path. "Now hold on just a minute Midna!" As I tried to maneuver around him, he grabbed my shoulders and pinned me against the tree behind the bench we had been sitting on. "Why are you always running away from me?"
"I'm not running away from you!" I insisted, struggling futilely against his overwhelming strength.
Link let out a frustrated sigh that was almost a laugh. "Not running away?" He shook his head in disbelief. "You ran from me at the mirror chamber and you're trying to run from me now!" He dropped his gaze from my eyes, down to the ground. "But I won't let you this time," he muttered.
"Link, I—!" Suddenly his head snapped back up and I had only a moment to register the resolve in his eyes before his lips were on mine. After a too-short moment he broke away.
"Stop running from me."
Breathless, I whispered, "Link…" We stared into each other's eyes for an endless moment, and just as I was about to add something more there was a rustling in the nearby bushes, which caused Link to jump back from me.
A royal guard came out from behind the hedge, stern-face, but overall neutral. "Her Highness has requested you re-join the guests in the ballroom," he said in a monotone, directing the comment at me.
"Very well," I replied in a surprisingly calm voice. The guard snapped a salute and walked off.
The previous mood and odd moment forgotten, Link turned back around with a small, sad smile on his face. "How much am I forgetting?" he asked no one in particular.
I smiled ironically. "Some things are best not remembered."
"Some things are never really forgotten," he replied before turning and walking away, back to the ballroom I assume.
What was that just a moment ago? It did happen, didn't it? He actually kissed me right? He had acted like nothing happened though. I groaned aloud as I started walking back towards the ballroom, sincerely hoping this wasn't going to be a constant part of the memory retrieval process. If so, we had a long, long ways to go.
When I re-entered the ballroom everyone had gathered in the center of the room, surrounding a figure I recognized as Zelda, whom was standing on some kind of pedestal. An eerie hush pervaded the room, but I wasn't acknowledged when I entered the room. I stopped far enough away from the nearest Hylian, but still close enough to hear Zelda.
"We are in the midst of dark times, once more," she declared. No, really? Suppose the hole in her castle had gone unnoticed. "In these desperate times we sometimes take desperate measures to ensure the survival of not only ourselves, but of all good people who exist in other realms as well." A murmur rippled through the crowd, some confusion apparent.
Zelda ignored this and continued. "We have an ambassador here among us who has offered her people's strength in case of an emergency. We have witnessed and survived that emergency. A great enemy looms ahead, but it waits not knowing that we have in store for them not only the might of Hylian steel, but also the mystic power of the ancient Twili."
Did she actually just say… Wait what?
Zelda looked directly at me, for just a moment, before she continued on. "Some Twili will be joining us here at the castle shortly, and their story will be told at that time. Until then I encourage you to spread the word, and prepare yourselves. War looms and it is with heavy hearts that we march towards it."
Another murmur rippled through the no-doubt confused crowd. A few glanced my way, probably because they had heard I was the ambassador she spoke of.
Zelda dismissed the crowd, thanking them for coming tonight, and vanished from the group. I managed to find a guard and ask him where she went, but he wasn't exactly cooperative at first.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but Her Highness is rather tired and does not wish to be disturbed," he explained in a stuck-up tone. For a fleeting moment I wanted to jab his eyes out, but then Link appeared beside me.
"Is there a problem here?" he asked with a gentle yet some how dangerous smile, wrapping an arm around my waist. I felt my heart skip a beat. Since when did he grow so comfortable being intimate?
The guard, looking suddenly uncomfortable with Link towering over him, quickly shook his head. "No problem at all, I was just about to show your friend here to Her Majesty's chambers."
"Excellent I'll tag along." Link smiled even more and added, "That won't be a problem, will it?"
"Not at all, right this way." The guard glanced around nervously before leading us out of the ballroom and down several passageways.
After a short time we arrived at Zelda's supposed chambers and the guard scampered off before I even knocked. He probably wanted to avoid getting in trouble for bringing people here.
As soon as he left, though, I was extremely conscious of Link's presence. I quickly knocked on the chamber door to escape the heavy mood that started to settle around us. Curse it all; he was right about running away.
"Come in."
We entered the room to see Zelda sitting in a comfortable-looking chair near a balcony, with a couple of guards posted along side the doorway, on either side of us.
I paused and glanced up at Link. I didn't want to chase him off, but this probably wasn't a conversation for him to hear. "Link, I actually need to speak to Zelda privately if you don't mind."
Zelda quirked an eyebrow at me, and Link frowned for a moment before bouncing back into a chipper smile. "Okay, I'll wait for you outside."
"Why don't the two of you wait outside with Sir Link," Zelda suggested to the two guards. The nodded gruffly and Link followed them out, the door shut softly behind him. Zelda didn't bother waiting for me to speak. "That was rather odd. I would think that you'd be highly apt to spending as much time as possible with him."
"Well, it's hard to talk about him when he's standing right next to me," I quipped.
Zelda gave me a puzzled look. "Has he been sticking close to your side since the two of you ran off to the Twilight Realm?"
"Not really," I admitted. I walked further into the room, plopping down on a soft chair. "I didn't speak to him after we got back until tonight."
Zelda stood up, walked over to the table I had sat down at, and pulled up a chair of her own. "So what happened tonight?"
"That's what I'm wondering." Zelda rested a hand on her chin and I sat up straight, debating how to word the events of the evening. "His memory is coming back to him, but it's all really fuzzy for the time being."
Zelda thought this over a moment before carefully responding, "That doesn't seem to require such dramatic pretenses."
"He remembered Arbiter's Grounds very clearly tonight."
Zelda's expression turned grim. "Which time?"
"The last."
She released a long-drawn sigh, her expression turning grim. "What did he say about all of this exactly?"
I thought back to my earlier conversation with Link. It wasn't so much a conversation as… what was that exactly? "He said he keeps having bad cases of déjà vu, and…"
I shifted uneasily in my chair and Zelda leaned forward, interested in every last detail. "And what?" she prompted after a long moment of silence from me.
"He kissed me."
The room was silent for a long moment as Zelda digested this, thinking of a response or reason. "What did you tell him about Arbiter's Grounds?"
"The truth."
She looked up at me, shocked. "You mean you told him…?"
"Yeah." I nodded my head. "I told him that I—was going to tell him I love him."
"Did you tell him you still love him?"
I sputtered for a moment before responding, "No, of course not! Why would I do that! And you didn't answer my question from earlier."
"Were there any other incidents of physical contact?"
I blushed at the way she phrased the question, which she noticed, of course. "He put his arm around my waist earlier, but he acted like he didn't even realize what he was doing."
Zelda rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe he didn't."
"What?"
"I told you once before Midna, your feelings for Link would probably have been returned, had you told him back then." She paused and folded her hands on her lap. "I believe what you're witnessing with him is physical memory."
"And that would be…?"
"When someone loses their memory, they tend not to remember everything right away or even remember anything at first. The first sign that memory is returning is physical memory starts to show up," she elaborated, a far-off look on her face, like she could read the book she was reciting from.
Zelda smiled a bit, thinking about the complexities of the human mind I guess. "So what is physical memory exactly?" I queried.
"It means his body will remember before his brain recognizes the action as an old habit or part of a suppressed memory."
I opened my mouth to protest with the obvious "we've never kissed," but then I recalled an event that seemed like a lifetime ago. A kiss we shared when we formed our wretched bond.
"Okay, so maybe some of the actions I can understand, but what about the general following-me-like-a-puppy-dog act?"
Zelda laughed at that. "Because the most pivotal point of his memory loss revolves around doing just that. The two of you traveled all over Hyrule together, being close to you means being close to his memories once again."
She stood up and stretched delicately, walking over to the open balcony once more. "You may even learn more about his feelings for you, and whether or not he returned them during your adventure."
"You're saying he'll physically show me what he was feeling during our adventure in order to work back to his old memories?" I asked, admittedly a bit nervous.
"It is possible," Zelda replied with the ghost of a smirk on her lips.
She turned towards the open balcony and the unasked question lingered in the air between us. How would I receive these so-called "physical memories?" I pushed the question aside, for now. I had to ask Zelda something else while I had her mostly alone.
"Zelda, how have you been?" I asked plainly, carefully watching her reaction.
She turned to face me once more and merely seemed a little surprised by the sudden change of subject. "I have been well enough, all things considered."
"Are you sure? You've been acting a little off, like with this entire ball tonight," I explained. "It doesn't really seem like you've totally been yourself." Then I caught it. That fleeting cornered look in her eyes that told me all I needed to know. She was hiding something.
"It was merely for moral's sake," she replied smartly, her face suddenly unreadable and her tone cold. "A little relaxation will help ease the coming days." I didn't miss the fact that she avoided my accusation.
I nodded slowly and stood up, stretching. We must have sat here talking longer than I thought; I was a bit stiff. Feeling that I had worn my welcome down I said, "Well, I should get going then, and let you get your rest. Din knows we both need some honest sleep."
Her icy demeanor melted away a bit. "Yes." We walked to the door and upon opening it found Link chatting casually with the castle guards. "You there, escort these two back to their chambers," Zelda commanded, catching one of the young guard's attention. He snapped a salute and we started our trek back to the rooms. Although Link threw an odd glance or two my way he made no attempt at conversation, and I was too absorbed in my own thoughts to say anything myself. We simply returned to our room in silence.
I decided along the way, after such a long night, it was probably best if I played along for now. Questioning Zelda's intentions and motives could wait for one more night, hopefully.
The next morning I awoke to an eerie feeling, which I quickly found out to be from Link sitting in a chair next to my bed staring at me.
"What the holy Hyrule are you doing?" I demanded grouchily.
"Trying to remember more," He replied. He paused a moment before adding, "I seem to remember more around you."
I sat up in bed, closed my eyes and remarked, "Just because you need to be around me to remember doesn't mean you need to stalk me while I'm sleeping."
He laughed.
Groaning, I slid out of bed and stretched. Eagerly, Link asked, "So what's on the agenda for today?" For a moment I had a strong sense of déjà vu and wondered if he realized how much like old times that question was. I looked again at his clueless, kind face and realized no, no it's just more physical memory if anything.
"Well, I'm sure Zelda has some kind of training or something planned for you. Why don't you ask her?" I walked over to a simple wooden dresser that set on the far side of the room. I must look like such a mess first thing in the morning like this; did he really have to sit around and stalk me like that?
I turned to face Link while I brushed out my hair a bit. He gave me a funny look, his face all scrunched up. "I asked her already and she said she had to talk to you first, so I thought you might know."
I shook my head, in effect yanking painfully on my hair, "Nope, I don't have a clue." I sighed and gave up on trying to look presentable. "Let's go find out."
With that we took off, but not in quite the rush we're usually in. We actually took the time to walk casually down the hallway, stopping occasionally to ask a guard for general directions. It was kind of nice, to be able to walk side by side with Link through the roughly finished castle like this. I suddenly remembered a thought I had long ago, about finding a man to marry in order to officially become the queen of my realm. I had thought for the longest time this involved finding someone who could take care of business while I sat back and relaxed, but walking side by side with Link I couldn't help but wonder…
Maybe this is how it's supposed to be.
I stole a glance at Link's expression from the corner of my eye. He looked happy enough, content even in his memory-less state.
We stopped at a large door, in fact the same door we had been led to when we returned from our impromptu trip to the Twilight Realm. Link reached up and knocked on the door, receiving the command, "Enter." He swung the door open and we stepped inside to see Zelda sitting on her throne looking bored.
She perked up a bit when she us. "Ah, just the two I needed to see," she beamed. Apparently the party had worked on some people's moods. "Also, glad to see you finally woke up, Midna."
I glared at her and she laughed. "Thank you, Your Majesty, now what are you plotting?"
"Plotting?" she echoed, laughing. "Well, I suppose you've caught me." I really didn't like the sound of this. "I actually just finished arranging your trip."
"My trip?" It was my turn to echo and I gave her a confused look as Link, meanwhile, shifted back and forth on his feet. Twitchy, mood-swinging Hylians.
"Well, more accurately, Link and yours." She clapped her hands and a guard entered the room. Where did she find all of these soldiers anyways? "I've made preparations for you two to take a little trip."
Link's ears perked up at this. "What trip is that?"
"One to train you," Zelda replied, all business. "Midna, I want you to take him to the appropriate places for him to train. There's only so much he can do here, and besides, his memories aren't here. They're all over Hyrule."
Excellent, he can go to the desert during this time and enter the cavern…
Oh would you give it a rest, I thought irritably. Where could I take him, though? A place that contained memories and provided natural training? All of the places we traveled to in the past flashed through my mind: Ordona was close to home with plenty of memories, but maybe too close for training; Faron woods contained plenty of training, but maybe too much happened there memory wise; Eldin had too few enemies; Lanayru Province remained fairly tamed and tourist friendly after we blew through; and that left us with two options.
The Gerudo Desert.
Yes.
And the Peak Province.
No.
I felt my eye twitch at the obnoxious voice in my head before answering, "We'll go to the Peak Province." Link nodded eagerly, up to his old energy levels and ready to do what it took to get his memories back. Zelda made eye contact with me, and I knew what she was thinking about. The night I had decided to abandon the Light Realm at the end of our original journey. The night I finally admitted my feelings to myself.
There would be plenty of monsters in the snowy wasteland of Peak Province.
Plenty of monsters.
Zelda had supplies and Epona prepared for us, but I had to request an extra man to come along. When she asked me why, I explained that he would have to take Epona somewhere safe and take care of her while we were on the mountain. This then raised concerns about my well-being, which I quickly culled. As I had explained, memories or not, I had confidence in Link's abilities to fend off a few rabid mutts. Of course then Zelda had to ask why it was a good place to train if he could easily handle everything up there, to which I replied with one word:
Survival.
Although the physical monsters were fairly manageable, Link still had re-build his stamina, strength, and general endurance. The harsh conditions would allow him to do this, while I could always hang out in his shadow if things got too rough. And, as a last resort, we would camp out close enough to the yetis' mansion that I could go get help. After Zelda had finished asking all of her questions like a five-year-old child, we mounted up and rode off. Well, Link did. I traveled in the supreme comfort of his shadow, of course.
When we arrived at the entrance to the snowy area the first words out of his mouth were: "It's really cold."
It was going to be a long trip.
Link hiked up what trail was available, but before long he had to divert into open wilderness. Most everyone assumed there was nothing but snow, snow, and more snow on this mountain. However, if you knew where to look, there were plenty of caves for shelter, wood for fire, and animals for food and fur. It was now up to Link to either re-discover this or remember this.
He ran into a good stroke of luck as he found a cave pretty quickly. I jumped out of his shadow at this time to take a look around, shivering despite my upgraded wardrobe in the wintry chill. The cave looked good enough; at the very least it wouldn't randomly collapse on us. Link dumped the supplies on the cave floor, near the back, and headed out to find wood for a fire. Deciding he couldn't get himself killed that easily, I sat in the cave all cuddled up and waited for his return. There was something almost nostalgic about this cave.
Nostalgic and almost… too familiar.
I squirmed a bit and happened to glance down at the floor of the cave. Smooth, gray stone—practically frozen of course—with… scorch marks on it?
I leaned closer, peering at the dark marks on the cave floor. Sure enough, scorch marks from a fire. Was it possible that he had led us to the same cave he had led us to that night…? Did physical memory apply to simply walking around as well?
Before I could ponder this any further though, Link returned, carrying a spoil of firewood. "Got the wood," he chirped happily.
Smirking gently at him, "Great, now get a fire going; I'm freezing." Same cave or not, it didn't matter. I winced as an earlier thought came back to me; it seemed like I was already dealing with more demons than Link, but… I glanced over at his carefree face. Once he started remembering his past that could all quickly change though.
The fire roared to life and Link plopped down triumphantly. "This is really too easy; what was the point of coming out here again?" he asked cheekily.
I gave him a sad smile before responding, "Oh, I have a feeling you'll find out soon enough." But oh Din, how I wish he didn't have to.
Link woke up with a sudden jolt, panting hard and sweating despite the frigid weather, which in effect, jolted me awake. "Link what's wrong?" I asked worriedly.
He put his head in his hands and drew up his knees. "A bad dream, I think," he mumbled. He drew in a deep, ragged breath. "You… You were there, but it wasn't really you."
I settled back against a rock, growing nervous. "Link, are you sure it was a dream?" I asked gently.
He looked up at me, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Are you sure it was a dream and not a memory?" I asked, watching his face carefully. His eyebrows scrunched together in concentration.
"I-I don't know," he muttered, eyes meeting mind. "Maybe both?"
I nodded slowly. "Describe it for me." The tips of his ears grew red in embarrassment and I grew uneasy. All he had remembered so far was bad stuff. Maybe because they were more prominent and left a deeper impression, but that hardly seemed fair.
"I was back home with you, at first, and everything was fine, but then…" I could hear the pause as he edited his story mentally. "…Then I realized it wasn't really you and I didn't know where you were." He visibly shuddered at this. "Oh Nayru."
I had to ask something else to confirm whether or not it was a true memory, but I couldn't bring myself to ask him further details on the end of the dream. Instead I asked, "What was going on elsewhere?"
"Elsewhere?"
"At the castle or in the village, can you remember any of that?"
He thought hard about it and slowly nodded his head. "Zelda was at the castle; the village was safe. Just like you told me, but I can actually remember it." He paused as realization dawned on him.
"Link it's okay. That happened a while ago now, " I explained, defending the sketchy memory.
"But how? Where were you and why didn't—!" He gave a sudden grunt of pain and clutched his head. I started to stand up, worried, but he put a hand out to placate me. "I remember. You were kidnapped by… Ganondorf," he answered himself, injecting more venom than I thought he was capable of. "He tricked me and I fell for it," he growled.
I reached a hand out and placed it on his arm. "It's okay, Link," I lied. Of course it was torture and a bit difficult for me to forgive him, but that's just what Ganon wants. The least I could do now was act forgiving; after all, he may not remember it yet, but he had a lot to forgive me for later on.
Tears of frustration brimmed up around his eyes and a few fell, his hurt and disappointment overwhelming. Suddenly, surprising me, he placed a warm hand over mine, which rested on his arm still. He looked me dead in the eye for a brief moment before pulling me into a tight hug. "Oh Midna," he murmured in my ear. "I'm so sorry."
My hands rested on his sweat drenched chest, heart pounding, and eyes open in shock for a moment before I relaxed into his hug. "It's okay Link," I responded, resting my head on his shoulder. "It's okay."
"Link?" Zelda looked around confused. She was in a castle, one that felt familiar, yet she had never seen it before in her entire life. How had she arrived at this strange familiar-but-not place? She wasn't certain, but she did know that Link was here somewhere. If she could find Link then he could help her find a way out, or at least figure out what was going on.
Because he always helps you. He always saves you, doesn't he?
Zelda was many things, but a coward was not one of them. However, even her heart started to pound harder at the voice that was like an echo of her own, but somehow it was more… it was wiser. She saw a door to her left and opened it.
Your kingdom bleeds, your hero doubts himself. What are you doing?
Her heart went from pounding to racing so fast she could hardly feel it. Quickly she sought another doorway; the last one had led to a dead-end. "Who's there?" she demanded, her voice holding steady in spite of her fear. "Show yourself, coward!" She didn't need Link; she could handle this on her own. She found another door, this one hid a long passageway behind it.
Is that so? Then bring your forces to the Gerudo Desert. The one you seek hides there, waiting for the opportune moment.
"Who waits for me?" she asked, walking down the narrow hallway.
He is growing impatient, as am I-!
A different voice suddenly cut in, Zelda, don't listen to her. Wait for the return of your hero, he will save you as he promised long ago.
The other voice returned, Don't be foolish. You don't have the time to waste. Strike now while your forces are strong and morals are at their peak.
The second voice argued back, Don't listen to her! Zelda you must do what you know is right, what you know is tradition. Return the Triforce to the hero, and then strike at your fullest power!
Finally, Zelda's already frayed nerves snapped, and stopped dead in her tracks. "The Triforce has failed us! It is tainted and impure and as useless as the memory-less hero is!" She spun in a circle, looking for the way out of the imprisoning room she suddenly found herself in. She screamed, "Let me out of this nightmare you witches!"
Her chest felt compressed and she was struggling to intake air, the room was shrinking. She rushed towards one of the walls and slammed her fists against the cold stone. "Let me out!" she screamed. "Let me out!"
A ghostly laugh answered, it was the first voice.
The second voice had vanished.
Link, after several hours, continued to toss and turn. Finally I took mercy on him and asked him a question I almost immediately regretted. "Link, what are you thinking about?"
I strained my neck to see his face from where I lay, on the side of the fire deeper in the cave; Link slept on the entrance side of the fire. His face turned red, despite the chill of winter that seeped in from the far end of the cave. "What I was doing while you were goddesses-know-where."
"Oh," I replied awkwardly. I felt a blush heat up my face.
Link looked over and smiled a bit at me. "I guess you know about that, judging by your reaction."
"Unfortunately."
"Where were you?" he asked tentatively.
I hesitated, wondering whether or not it would be detrimental to tell him. "Well, you know Ganondorf had captured me; he was just torturing me." I glanced away from him, directing my gaze to a pile of unassuming gray rocks instead.
"Just," he echoed with a dead laugh. "I've been wondering about something else, actually." I could feel his stare on me, but I refused to acknowledge the curious look. "How did you get to this realm?"
"Which time?" I asked, thinking back. The circumstances had been very different in both cases, not to mention the feelings involved, but at the same time I kind of hoped he would ask about the first time instead. I rolled over to face him again.
He looked at me confused, thinking for a moment, before saying, "Oh, yeah. You left and I guess you had to come back some how."
Unthinkingly I focused on the hand his chin rested on, still wrapped for safety, but otherwise totally healed. I should've known better than to expect the odd look to go unnoticed.
"Do you know what happened to my hand?" he asked leaning around the dying embers of the fire a bit to get a better look at me. "I used to have a birthmark there, but now it's just a scar."
I winced internally. Of course he would notice that; he remembered everything up until the invasion of the twilight, and he had the birthmark long before that. "Well, your hand got hurt, so we had to operate. I guess the scar just hides the birthmark now," I answered, studiously not looking at him once more. The last thing I needed was for an askew facial expression to give away any lies I had to tell.
Did I have to tell him any lies though? Zelda would kill me, of course, if I said anything, but watching Link regain his memories was almost painful. Like watching an injured animal try to walk. He would remember everything on his own, so even if I made a small mistake or two when I gave a recount of the events it would all work out. Plus the sooner we finished up his so-called training, the sooner I could lead my troops to Hyrule Castle and then to wherever Ganondorf was hiding. I was so distracted over my mental debate that I didn't notice how close Link had gotten until he spoke up.
"Midna," he whispered. I quickly snapped out of my revere to find him leaning over me, mere inches away. "Why does this cave look familiar, and why is it…?"
I felt my breath catch. Was this more of his physical memory acting up? If he vaguely recognized the cave it was certainly possible but we didn't—. "Why is it what?" I asked nervously, my own voice barely audible.
He leaned in even closer, close enough I could feel his hot breath on my face. My heart started to pound so fast and so loud I almost missed it when he said, "We've been here before."
My eyes went wide; what did he remember? I didn't have long to consider this because he finally closed the short distance between us. This kiss was unlike any we shared previous to it; there was a certain need behind it, a hunger that we hadn't had the chance to explore before. I think Link recognized this as well, memories or not.
I felt his tongue run along my bottom lip and opened my mouth in response, breath coming in short gasps. He broke away from the kiss and went to my ear, gently nibbling on it as a shudder wracked my body. He brushed his lips down my neck and I could feel them part into a small smirk. I ran my fingers through his soft hair, as he pressed a trail of kisses down my collarbone.
Suddenly he jerked away and a moan of pain escaped his lips as he reeled with his head in his hands. More memories. I sat straight up and scrambled over to him. "Link? Link can you hear me?"
He shook his head vigorously. "What is it? What is it?" He rested his head on the stone floor, curling up. "What is that thing?"
"What thing?" I demanded, grabbing his shoulders. "Link sit up, look at me." I felt him tremble violently under my grasp.
"There's a storm," he muttered, so quietly I nearly missed it. I leaned down and rested my head next to his.
"A storm?"
"It's dark, there's blood everywhere," he mumbled, shaking. "We're in the castle, but it's not the castle."
Castle that's not the castle? Unless… it was the old castle. He had never seen Hyrule Castle until after the twilight invaded. He was remembering the old castle, but what was—the night of the attack. The very night that the castle collapsed, fell under siege. "Link am I there?" I whispered, just loud enough to be heard over his panting.
He nodded minutely. "What is that thing?" he whispered back. The strange undead Hylian we encountered that night… I only ran into it once more after that, in the Twilight Realm. Suddenly I felt a chill race down my spine. Something was out in the snowstorm and it knew we were here. I swallowed nervously.
"Link, are you okay?" I asked, shaking him gently. "Come on, my wolf, come on! You need to pull yourself together!" It spoke leagues of his inherit courage and resilience as he nodded stiffly, and with one last great shudder, sat up.
"I fought that thing off, but just barely," he recalled. "What was it?"
His unwavering eyes bore into mine, searching for the truth. I glanced over his shoulder, towards the entrance. Hopefully I was just being paranoid. "We're not exactly sure, but it's possible—no it's highly likely that they belong to Ganondorf."
"They?" he asked, unbelieving. "There's more than one?" Oops. Right, I never had a chance to tell him about the one who attacked me back home.
"Unfortunately but we have bigger problems," I conceded. "I think there's something out there." I gestured towards the cave entrance, and Link leaned back to rest against the cave wall.
"Out there in that storm?" he asked doubtfully.
I shook my head. "Don't underestimate your enemies. Trust me."
He looked back at me, made eye contact, and said, "I do." For a moment I wasn't sure how to respond, but he snapped me out of it when he suddenly stood up.
"Wait," he muttered. "I hear it now."
"You do?" I asked, surprised. He held up a hand to silence me, focus still on the entrance. He reached for his sword and I had an odd feeling of déjà vu. Is this how Link felt all the time with me these days? No time to answer, though, suddenly a shadowy figure could be seen forging its way through the snowstorm, undoubtedly moving towards the cave.
"Stay back Midna," Link commanded. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"You may not remember this yet, but we're a team," I told him. I stepped up to his side and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Win or lose, we do it together."
He glanced over at me and gave a small smile. "Right. Now let's take care of our unwelcome guest."
We cautiously approached the entrance to the cave, but didn't step out into the snow. It would be suicide if they ambushed us, although I had the odd feeling that there was only one out there. Better safe than sorry. Link must have been thinking along the same lines because he asked, "Is there only one out there?"
I shrugged. "Hard to tell," I muttered, trying to get a better look. The figure stopped moving and we both peered closer. What was it doing?
"Get down!" Link yelled suddenly, tackling me. I barely had time to register that the creature had sprung towards us, and was now in the cave with us. Fighting one in a narrow space was almost as bad as fighting a bunch out in the open. It definitely had the agility over Link. I quickly scrambled out of the way as Link dove for his sword, which he had dropped in the process of moving me.
The creature's muscles visibly strained as it prepared to launch itself at Link. There would be no lucky shots this time—Link was without a weapon and without his wolf form.
The monster launched itself, and something seemed to click in Link's mind as he fell flat on his stomach, turned over, and kicked up just as the creature was above him. The thing was apparently light because it went sailing to the back of the cave, landing in the smoldering embers of the fire. Link scrambled for his sword and I tossed him his shield.
The strange Hylian-like creature shook off the embers and howled in rage. Apparently the hot coals had done nothing more than anger him. As Link prepared to defend himself I looked around, searching for something that would help him. All we had at our disposal was Link's weapons and some loose rocks from the cave. There weren't many materials or much space to work with.
I turned my attention back to the monster. Everyone had a weak point, so where was its? It looked just like I remembered from the attack on the castle, but there was something slightly different about it. What was it? It was so long ago when I saw it, and there had been so much going on at the time—!
The creature leapt atop Link's shield as he tried to block the rabid thing, throwing Link off balance and sending him tumbling backwards. If Link fell, it was all over. He wouldn't be able to defend himself.
Time seemed to slow as I focused on the Hylian creature. Its eyes were different. I could remember now. The last one had blank white eyes, this one had normal eyes, and his teeth didn't look razor sharp like the other one's. He was less feral than the first one had been. But that didn't save Link now. I quickly grabbed the largest rock I could manage and smashed it over the creature's head just as it was about to finish Link off.
He kicked the unconscious body off and scrambled back to his feet. "Holy Hyrule, is that…?" he half-asked, breathless.
"That's the monster from the castle. Do you remember?" I asked. Link stretched stiffly and took a closer look. I heard his sharp intake of breath as he recognized it.
"That thing… we have to kill it," he muttered, raising his sword up and slowly approaching the strange thing.
"Wait Link," I stopped him just as he was about to drive the sword through. "We need to see if we can communicate with him first."
Link gave me a look that reflected what I felt, but not what I knew we had to do. "You want to keep this thing alive?" he whispered in astonishment. "After all it's done to us?"
"Look Link," I explained, walking towards him and the strange creature, my eyes never leaving its twitching body for a moment. "I'm not saying we set it free; I'm saying we need to see if we can get any information from it first." Link let out a sigh and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, let's tie it up."
After we tied up the strange creature, Link started building the fire back up and tidying up the cave space, clearing it of debris from the fight. Then, several hours later, the strange creature woke up.
And it was mad.
Luckily we had agreed beforehand it probably wouldn't sit still and just have a nice civil conversation with us, so we had left it a safe distance from the fire. It rocked back and forth uselessly on the cold stone floor, screeching and howling. After a while longer it tuckered itself out and just lay there, looking annoyed.
"Let me go," he rasped, surprising both Link and I. Both of us had assumed he either wouldn't or couldn't speak. "Free me or kill me, but torturing me will be pointless. I don't know anything."
I glanced at Link who seemed content to sit back and observe. I walked over to the creature, which made Link anxious, until I grabbed the Hylian by the collar of his shirt and shook him. "You know who you work for, tell us that," I demanded, throwing him onto the ground.
He laughed and it sounded like someone coughing up rusty nails. "If you don't know by now, then you're stupider than you look." He appraised us a moment before adding, "And that's saying something."
"Chatty aren't you?" I remarked dryly. "Now tell us what we want to know."
"Fools," he spat. "The two of you and everyone else!"
Link and I exchanged an easily deciphered look: 'This guy's nuts.'
Link stood up and walked closer to the estranged Hylian. It didn't escape my attention that he hadn't set his sword down yet. "Whether or not we are is debatable, but we need information from you now and we will get it," he explained, as if that would help.
"So what?" the creature asked. "I tell you what you want to know and then what? I doubt you'll free me."
Well, he was right. We couldn't let him go, even if he gave us all the information we wanted. There had to be some way though. Obviously we couldn't hold him prisoner here for long, so getting him some place more secure was the next step. Would it really be wise to take him to Zelda though? Could she do any more than we could? No, we needed someone experienced with deranged lunatics. We needed…
Oh goddesses.
"Link," I called, getting his attention. "Can I talk with you outside of the cave for a moment?"
The Hylian cackled. "Kiss, kiss."
I zapped him with a bolt of magic, receiving a satisfying yelp in return.
Link followed me out, but we never took our eyes off the strange monster. "What are you thinking of doing?" Link asked, all business.
"We can't keep him here, but we can't let him go, right?" I started, waiting for Link to nod in the affirmative. "Well we can't get information out of him, but we need to, right?" Again he nodded. "We're taking him to a specialist I know of."
He gave me a weird look. "You know a specialist?"
"It's a long story."
Link seemed a bit uncertain, but if nothing else, at least he was trusting. "Okay, so what do we do for the rest of tonight?" We both peeked back into the cave.
"Well," I said, letting out a long sigh. "I'm not going to be getting any sleep myself."
"Yeah, me either."
We both looked back at the cave, then back at each other, and suddenly the events from earlier that evening came rushing back. My face felt like it was on fire, despite standing out in the frigid winds of the mountain. Link quickly looked away from me, and even in the dim light I could see the blush creeping up his neck.
"Uh, maybe we could talk a little," I suggested. "To keep ourselves awake and to fill in your memory a bit more."
"Wait, you don't mean—?" Link asked surprised.
"No! No!" I quickly corrected myself. "No, not that, I just mean talking!"
"Oh, right of course." Link and I made eye contact for a brief moment before we both quickly looked in opposite directions. "Uh, come on, let's get back inside," he suggested after an agonizing, awkward moment.
"Right," I agreed following him in. Another long night.
The Hylian apparently slept. After only an hour or so of mumbled conversation between Link and I, he passed out. He didn't try anything funny aside from restlessly squirming. Once Link saw he was asleep and not waking up any time soon, he raised his voice a bit and we held a normal conversation for once. Well, as normal as we get.
"So who is this specialist and how do you know him?" Link asked, leaning up against the stone wall of the cave.
I sat next to him and answered, "You actually know him too you just don't remember right now."
"Ah, that again," he grimaced. "So who is he exactly?"
"A reformed maniac, basically." I had hoped he would leave it at that, but he sat there expectantly looking at me so I expanded, "He used to be close to the royal family, the Twili royal family that is, but he had a falling from grace. Mostly he assisted Ganondorf in trying to take over the Twilight Realm and Light Realm."
Link stared at me like I had lost my mind. Probably not the first time the thought had crossed his mind, whether or not he remembered that. "He survived trying to usurp both kingdoms? There should really be a punishment in place for that."
I started to explain the situation and defend myself, but suddenly Link was back in the fetal position, remembering something regrettable, no doubt. Talking about different memories I found out, as the night wore on, tended to provoke remembrance.
"What was it this time?" I asked, waiting expectantly for the answer I knew was coming.
He gave me a strange look, but didn't seem upset exactly. "It was nothing." I raised an eyebrow at this, but apparently it really was nothing because he didn't bring it up.
Time passed and we sat in silence just watching the fire crackle, the only light on the entire mountain tonight. After a while I leaned up against Link's shoulder. He stiffened beneath my touch for a moment before relaxing. "What did you remember?" I murmured.
"It was nothing," he whispered back. "You already know everything I could possibly remember; is there really something that bad in there?"
I felt his head turn down to face me, but kept my eyes focused on the fire. "Link if I tell you sorry, would you forgive me?" I asked, drowsiness starting to get to me.
"For my hand?" he asked.
"For everything," I mumbled, feeling my eyelids drooping.
"I already have."
I felt myself slip into unconsciousness and I wouldn't realize it until much later, but I never mentioned his hand.
I never did like dreaming. The only useful things that ever came from dreams were prophecies of doom or messages of warning. This dream was a combination of both.
I knew I was dreaming right away, mostly because of the colors. I was in what seemed to be an infinite stretch of dark space, with a single spot of light, which I found myself standing in. The darkness stretched in all directions, the light came from so high up that it was impossible to determine a source. Then, all around me, streaked a blue and green blur.
They looked like beams of concentrated light moving impossibly fast. It would have been a nice light show, but then something unexpected—even for a dream—happened.
I heard the voice from my waking nightmares.
Twilight Princess, listen well. We are the goddesses, Farore and Nayru. We speak to you, but you refuse to yield. You must take the hero to the Gerudo Desert. There he will find what his ancestors searched for.
"Wait. Just wait a minute. I have no idea what the two of you are talking about. I will take him to the cavern to train, we just have a few stops to make along the way," I tried to sound reasonable without offending them; the last thing I needed was the wrath of the goddesses.
It is not the cavern we speak of. We speak of the answer to his ancestors' greatest question.
I sighed in frustration, hoping they couldn't hear. "What question?"
The end of the one known as Ganondorf, once and for all.
Suddenly this conversation became much more interesting. "Killing Ganondorf is easy; it's getting him to stay dead that's the problem," I remarked, wondering what exactly they were trying to get at.
You slay the wrong being. It is not Ganondorf you must kill, for surely so long as this being lives, so too shall Ganondorf return to wreak havoc on our beloved world.
As ridiculous as it might have been, I suddenly felt abandoned. As if I was listening in on my parent's conversation as they praised my sibling while disowning me. I nearly screamed out, 'Why don't you love what you created; all of it and not just your precious Light Realm?' but resisted. Instead I asked, "Who is it exactly that we need to kill if not Ganondorf?"
She resides in the Gerudo Desert, her most beloved place. She fell mad long ago, and so we banished her to live eternally in the desert she so loved. It was the least we could do for her. Call us weak if you will Twili, but we had not the heart to kill our dearest sister. And so now our most precious world suffers for it, and we can merely send our champions to salvage what remains after the destructive outbursts.
"Wait," I hesitated, running the words over in my mind. Their champions must mean Link and Zelda, those who held the Triforce, and if it was a matter of the Triforce then… "Ganondorf is resurrected because he's one of the champions of the Triforce, like Link and Zelda. Which means you're asking them to now—!"
Yes. Slay her. Slay our dearest sister, Din.
