Midna walked, slowly but surely, into the Twilight Realm. The Twili looked at her in astonishment, then hurried over to embrace the princess. Some wore confused expressions, but didn't ask Midna what was wrong.

As she was walking, two Twili were arguing back and forth about something Midna missed, and a crowd was forming around them, so Midna couldn't see what was happening. She didn't care too much, so she kept walking

She went over to one of her secret places in the Twilight Realm- the room that used to have the Sol in it. Now Link had it…

Link…

Midna shoved the thought away. She knew she couldn't go back.

Light and Shadow can't mix, Midna reminded herself.

Then she realized something completely important. She hadn't broken the mirror again! It may have shattered because she put it together wrong, but she could always hope…

"Princess?" someone called. A guard, one of Midna's most loyal ones. He would die for her.

"Yes?" Midna responded in the most non-sad, cheerful mood she could. It came out a little different, but at least her voice didn't crack.

"May I come sit down beside you?"

"Yes, of course."

The guard, whose name was Zeph, plopped down beside the princess. He set his walkie-talkie on the ground and looked at the place the Sol had been.

"He was a good man," Zeph said quietly.

Midna did everything she could to keep the tears from trickling out of her eyes. Some escaped, and Zeph noticed.

"You miss him," he stated.

"Yes," Midna squeaked.

"Then Princess Midna, pardon me, but why are you here? If you miss him, then go back to him."

Midna looked over at him. Zeph was in no way mad or surprised. That was why he was the best friend Midna ever had in the Twilight Realm.

"I couldn't leave my people." Even though I already did.

"The only reason we suffered when you were gone was because of Zant. Zant's gone, Princess. We will be fine. Or at least don't break the mirror so you can come back."

Midna noticed the pleading in Zeph's eyes, even if she wasn't supposed to. It hurt her even more to go back to the world of light.

Suddenly a buzz on Zeph's walkie-talkie made Midna jump.

"Yes?" Zeph talked into it.

More buzzing came out of the walkie-talkie, but Midna couldn't hear what was being said.

"I cannot- I am here with the Princess."

More buzzing evaporated out of the walkie-talkie, and Midna cocked her head to the side when Zeph said okay and turned to look at her.

"Two Twili broke out into a fight in front of the palace. They want me to stop them."

"Then go- I will be fine here," Midna suggested.

"No, it is fine. Other guards will take care of it."

Just then, as he was speaking, voices rang out of the walkie-talkie. Midna could hear it because they were yelling.

"Zeph, you're the only person who can break up this fight! It's getting pretty ugly- this fight's one to the death! Come on, Zeph! Hurry up!"

Zeph sighed and turned to the princess of twilight.

"Will you be alright alone?"

How should Midna respond? Alone, she would go back to thinking about Link. This was, of course, not the thing to think about.

"Yes, I'll be okay." Physically, not emotionally.

Zeph nodded and hurried out the door. The Twilight Realm was a peaceful place now that the monsters, including Zant, were gone.

So was Link…

No! Stop! You'll only make yourself hurt more. Look at how nice that alter that once held the Sol looks. Isn't it pretty?

Midna tortured herself with these meaningless observations for the next hour. Then someone came in and interrupted her thinking.

The man was panting, and not someone she recognized.

"Princess… Midna… fight… died…"

"Take some time to rest, and then tell me," Midna advised.

The man that looked like a guard nodded and sat down. Lazy soldier.

When he could speak clearly, he stood up and walked over to her.

"The fight got out of hand, and someone died."

Midna felt a wave of sadness wash through her, but wasn't too interested to care that much. "Who?"

"The soldier. Zeph, I believe his name was."

Suddenly that wave of sadness turned into a tsunami, and it hit her heart hard.

"Z-zeph?!" Midna croaked. The guard closed his eyes and nodded.

Midna swallowed to keep the tears from running. Be strong. Zeph would have told you that.

She squeezed her eyes shut and kept them like that. All she wanted right now was a hug, and a shoulder to cry on.

Her breath came in stuttered gasps, and before she could hyperventilate, the guard put a hand on her shoulder.

Zeph was gone. He was wherever the dead people of the Twilight go. Probably to hell, because they were banished from the light.

Then her brain switched to a whole new topic. Banished. I'm not even allowed to go back to Hyrule.

As if the guard could read her mind, he spoke.

"Go back to where you are wanted," the guard said snidely.

"Ex-excuse me?!"

"You like those light folk more than your own people. Everyone can see that. Even Zeph did, but he was too much of a softie to say anything. Princess, he loved you. And you left him in the dust. And you didn't come back when you could've! So why don't you just get the hell out of here?!"

Midna couldn't believe her ears or her eyes. He doesn't have authority over me! Punish him!

Yet she didn't move, nor did she say anything. She just let the tears escape and gush out of her eyes like a waterfall. They scurried down her cheeks and onto her lap, then dissolved into her dress. She started shivering, but she wasn't cold.

Midna stood up and walked out of the room. The guard shook his head in disgust and uttered something unintelligible as she walked past him.

When she walked out of the palace, a group of people were waiting for her.

"Princess Midna, are you leaving?"

"Will you be coming back?"

"Do you still care for us?"

"Why don't you love us like you love the light people?"

To that, Midna just looked into the Twili's face with the most miserable expression she had. She lost the people of the light world she loved, and her best friend in the Twilight Realm. As well as the people she deserted.

Midna went up to the main palace and cleared her throat loudly. The Twili turned their heads and listened.

"People of the Twilight Realm!" Midna called loudly. "I care for you all with a deep, pure passion! You must understand this! Yet I do care for a few people of the world of light! You may think that I deserted you, abandoned you. And I understand that."

Something was coming through to the Twilight Realm, but Midna was too distracted to divert her attention to who it was.

"But what you don't understand is that I left because I was thrown out by Zant! And I stayed in the light world to find the fused shadows and overthrow Zant and save the Twilight Realm. I didn't care what happed to the world of light, not at all.

"Yet as I ventured into Hyrule, the kingdom where I stayed, I found that we, meaning Link and I, had to save his world too. For the sake of humanity and our world, both worlds must live in peace! So I am going to visit the light world, and I'm going to visit often. I must make sure that their world is prospering, in order for ours to as well.

"So you may call me whatever you like, say whatever you want, but I am only doing it for the good of the Twilight Realm. If you would rather live in agony and suffering, then fine, have it your way. But I am not going to do that. I have a brain, muscles, and feelings. I can do things, as can you. So I'm going to do what's best, and that is to check. I will remain here! I assure you! But I love other people and I'm going to do what is right!"

It was quiet for a moment, but then the crowd erupted in applause. They began to stand up and cheer, and Midna noticed few dry eyes.

She was relieved that the Twili thought the same, and Midna walked down towards the Mirror of Twilight.

"You really think that?" came a quiet voice from behind her.

Midna whirled around and saw a man dressed in green with slightly overgrown dirty blonde hair.

"Link!" Midna cried, throwing her arms around his neck.

Link was taken aback by the sudden embracement, but put his arms around her anyway.

A circle of Twili formed around the two, and teenagers started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Midna put her arms down and put them behind her back. She flushed a little, and just wanted to go away.

Link looked a little embarrassed too, and looked down.

The chanting got louder, but the circle widened a bit to give them room. They were expecting quite a display.

Link looked up at Midna. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and the crowd cheered loudly.

Midna's eyes widened and put one hand on her cheek where Link had kissed her. Did he really just do that? She would tell him off later. Lightly, but she would.

The crowd dispersed, and that left just Midna and Link.

"Well, that was interesting," Link murmured.

Midna chuckled. "Yeah… just a bit."

They hugged again, and Midna felt lighter than she had in a long time.