A/N: I went back and revised previous chapters. They are now in the past tense.

This chapter is rated Mature, for events that happen near the end of the chapter. You have been warned.

Enjoy!

Chapter 12

"Chasing Shadows"

Upon impact with the ground, I hopped to my feet, instinctively flaring my wings in preparation to flee into the Twilight sky. But there was no visible threat – whatever had grabbed Link and I off Epona was long gone.

I surveyed my surroundings from the ground, unwilling to waste energy when I was already suffering from exhaustion. My talons crunching against the firm sandy soil, I turned to look behind me. The towering black wall of Twilight inched further away from me, draping more of Hyrule under its curtain. The air was thicker than usual for an area of Twilight, and eerily stale, making it difficult to breathe. I turned back around and ruffled my feathers. There were no trees, nor hills or valleys, just sand stretching beyond the horizon. It was as if the area was a desert, a wasteland, even though previous memories had told me there was supposed to be an ocean here. Where was the ocean?

A soft yip caught my attention, and I looked in the direction of the sound. Link stood there, as a wolf, Midna mounted on his back. He snorted in greeting, and I let out a little caw in return.

Midna stretched out, and spoke, "Ah, the clouds of Twilight are fetching today, aren't they? Its really too bad, I was looking forward to taking a nice bath in the ocean here, but water is rare underneath the clouds of Twilight. Ah well,"

I could tell she was being sarcastic. Midna didn't look like the water-loving type of creature.

She waved one of her short arms and grinned, a canine tooth poking out of her mouth, "So, should we get going? Something tells me we have another Shadow Monster to defeat," she kicked Link in the flank like how a rider would spur on his horse, and with a bark of protest, Link started to trot in a seemingly random direction away from the wall of twilight. I reluctantly followed, flapping furiously to stay airborne and gain airspeed. Link, upon seeing me struggle, stopped and waited for me to catch up. He stretched his head towards me, and I took that as in invitation to land and rest. Talons outstretched, I gently settled onto his back behind Midna. I cawed in thanks. Link began at a walk, gingerly at first to ensure I didn't fall off, gradually speeding up into an effortless lope. I kept my balance by flaring my wings.

We travelled in silence. It wasn't until Link stopped to rest when Midna spoke, "I heard you two talking about me in the world of Light. I guess I haven't been forthcoming with information for you, so I guess I should tell you my story and intentions before you declare me as an enemy," her voice wavered nervously, which was a little out of character for her. She was normally the confident sassy type of creature, not nervous. Something was wrong.

She looked out onto the sea of sand, and sighed, "This isn't me. I don't look like this," thankfully she elaborated, "I was in my kingdom – the Twilight Realm – when an evil being approached me," she shivered, despite the sweltering heat, "I was transformed into this hideous form when I refused to give in to the monster's demands. He was a beast of a man, with dark olive skin and a particularly big nose, heavily built wearing dark armor adorned in a tattered crimson cape, which looked as if it had seen battle. He wanted the Forbidden Sacred Power of my people – the Twili,"

Upon seeing our questioning gazes, Midna continued, "We usually do not speak its name, though I suppose it is safe for me to do so now," she took a shaky breath, "The Fused Shadow,"

"When I refused to give it to him, he cursed and exiled me. I can only hope my kingdom is safe," she paused,"Yes, I am the princess of Twilight, but without a kingdom under my command, I am not much of a ruler, am I?" her voice cracked.

Link and I waited in silence for her to compose herself. Tears misting her eyes, Midna continued, "I wanted to possess the power of the Fused Shadow, even though to so do has been forbidden by the Goddesses themselves, in order to regain my kingdom and protect my people. But I have been unable to find its missing piece to unlock its true potential. Until I met Link, it had never occurred to me to look in the world of Light,"

She paused and looked at me, "To answer your question, Terra, your actions of dispelling the Twilight in Hyrule has not hurt my kingdom or my goal in obtaining the Fused Shadow. Our worlds exist on opposite sides of the same coin and were never meant to mingle. It was only after the intervention of that evil man where it became a possibility,"

"The Twilight that exists in your world isn't natural. It is possible that man has mastered the Forbidden Sacred Power of my people, and that the artificial Twilight follows in his wake," She paused and closed her eyes, "I can feel it. The lines between our worlds are blurring. Soon our worlds will be one in the same, which according to the legend of my people, will be catastrophic for both the world of Light and Twilight,"

"You might be wondering, then, why I haven't assisted in the defeating of past Shadows," she hesitated, and continued only when Link let out a low questioning bark, "This unnatural Twilight weakens me, so I am reluctant to fight or engage in risky behaviour. There is no heir to the throne in my world, so if I perish, then my kingdom will erupt into chaos and disarray. But with every Shadow Monster destroyed, I regain strength, so I should be able to assist with the next one in this area,"

Link barked, wagging his tail in approval.

Midna stared at the horizon and sighed. She put a fist under her chin, as if in deep thought, as she sat on the sandy ground, her back towards us. I waddled over to her, still unsure of how to walk as a hawk, and rubbed my head against her in comfort. In the corner of my eye I saw Link lay down beside us, his muzzle resting on a paw.

Midna confessed her life's story to us, practically, and I had no way of vocalizing what I felt, so this would have to do. I didn't blame her for not participating in past battles with the Shadow Monsters, if there was no successor to the throne in the Kingdom of Twilight, she would put her own people in jeopardy if she were to die. I wondered what happened to them, and if they were okay without her.

In a dimly lit room, the black sphere morphed into a humanoid figure. To an onlooker, it would appear the figure was simply staring into a shimmering pool of water, but if one were to look closer they would see a distorted image on the surface, depicting an imp, a wolf, and a hawk. The figure smiled to itself and with a wave of its hand, the image reflected on the water's surface disappeared. The Queen is vulnerable. My pieces are almost in place; it is almost time for checkmate. I will not fail.

The figure turned, and vanished without a trace.

I was glad Midna had said she would help with the next Shadow Monster, I only hoped she would live up to her promise after seeing what we were up against.

Ahead of us was a gigantic Cyclopean creature, its back now towards us. Two large disembodied hands hung over a globulus figure wisped in shadow. Sharp huge frills lined the outside of its single bloodshot eye. The hands occasionally squirmed, but they remained in front of the monster, seeming to move on their own. I was unsure whether or not the hands were separate monsters or not, but judging by their movements it seems as though the hands were protecting the cyclopean shadow creature. Occasionally the monster would emit a series of bellows, differing in pitch, as if it was some sort of chant or hymn.

Link and I exchanged glances. This beast was certainly the biggest we had ever encountered, but it seems it was unaware of us. Although, seeing as there was no cover for us to hide behind, we could not get any closer in order to gain the advantage of surprise. Unless...an attack were to come from the air.

I glanced towards the monster, then back to Link and Midna, then up into the air. I hoped they would understand. Link only cocked his head, and Midna just frowned and vocalized her confusion in a whisper, "What, Terra? What are you trying to say?"

I opened my wings and flapped until I was just above the ground, then looked down towards the ground. I slashed at the air with my talons, then looked at the creature.

"So, you're saying you want to attack it from the air?"

I did my best impression of a nod – it felt awkward to do so as a hawk. Link showed his teeth, expressing displeasure at my idea, but Midna put a finger to her chin as if she was considering it.

She spoke in a hushed voice, "It's very risky, but I don't really see any other option. You would need to fly high enough to not be detected, and you would have to distract him long enough until we got close enough to attack. There's a high chance you will be knocked out of the air by one of those hands, which will possibly kill you instantly with the immense force,"

Link growled a little in protest, and Midna held up a hand, "Hear me out, Link. Its the only plan we have. If we were to just walk up to the creature, we would be surrounded by the hands and would stand little chance. At least, with Terra's plan, we can close in and surprise it while she is distracting it,"

He lowered his lips, covering his teeth. He seemed to be considering the idea.

Midna gave me a thumbs up, "Go for it, Terra. Good luck. Let's hope you can fly fast enough to evade his attacks,"

I nodded, again it was awkward to do so as a hawk, and took to the sky. I struggled to gain altitude, the air of Twilight was unstable being thin one minute and dense the next. Once I was a considerable distance above the ground, I shifted my weight forward and glided towards the monster. Along the way, I had to occasionally flap my wings to maintain altitude, but once I was directly above the creature, I tucked my wings in shifted my weight downwards. I felt the blood rush to my head, making me feeling a little faint, as I gained speed. I was quickly approaching the monster, and so far it had not detected my presence. Things were going as planned.

I extended my talons to strike, but before I could make contact, I was swept away by one of the giant hands. The sheer force of the attack blew me away, and I barely avoiding crashing with the ground. Sand swirled upwards as I thrust downwards in an attempt to gain altitude. I feel the air compress to my right, and I dodged another attack from the hand. I turned around in midair and dove at the creature again, talons extended. Its giant bloodshot eye focused on me, it was unaware of two figures approaching it from behind. They were half way there, sprinting to close the distance. They'd better hurry, I can't keep this up much longer.

Both hands clapped in midair, emitting a shockwave, knocking me away again. I swerved to avoid a swipe from one of the hands, but while recovering from that serve one of my wings clipped the fingers of the other. I spun out of control towards the ground, and closed my eyes for the impact. This is going to hurt.

Except, I never did hit the ground. To my surprise, one of the hands closed around me in an attempt to squish me. Thinking quickly, I slashed at one of the fingers with my talons, and it flinched, giving me just enough space to squeeze out between the digits. The creature emitted an inhuman hum, apparently having discovered the presence of my friends. I looked back to discover one of the hands locked in combat with Midna's own magical orange hand that came out of the top of her head. The two hands fought for supremacy, Midna grunting with the effort. Link, meanwhile, was jumping at the frills of the creature, unable to do any significant damage as it hovered just above his reach. He snarled furiously and his teeth snapped on the empty air, as he jaws failed to find purchase on any part of the creature's form.

I went for its eye, but it swatted me with its free hand, and a tumbled towards the ground in a daze. I regained control just in time, narrowly avoiding hitting the ground. As I climbed again to attempt another attack, Midna cursed, as her strength failed her. She couldn't put up with this much longer. But if I were to attack now the creature's free hand would just knock me away again, and I was concerned I might not be able to recover next time.

I dove towards its free hand. Talons finding purchase, I pecked and clawed at the hand. It flinched and tried to grab me, but I evaded and continued my attack. All of a sudden, my talons snapped shut on air. A shriek was emitted from the creature's main form, as I saw the torn ribbons of the hand flutter towards the ground. It had disintegrated.

Momentarily distracted by the loss of its hand, the creature drifted towards the ground. Below, Link furiously savaged the creature's eye. Midna was still doing battle with the other hand, but it looked like she was losing. I dove towards her to help her. Before I could reach her, the remaining hand pulled back and flicked Midna away, sending her body skidding against the sandy surface. I was concerned for her, but the hand was vulnerable now, and I attacked. The hand swatted me away with immense force, and grabbed Link, throwing him away. It moaned in pain and melted into the shadows, tendrils of dark matter swirling after it.

It had disappeared.

Whining, Link limped towards Midna and nudged her with his nose. Midna put his hand against his face and attempted a smile, but it came out more like a grimace, "I'm okay, Link, I was just roughed up a bit," she looked towards me, "He's not dead yet, he's just in hiding. I suggest we ready ourselves on all sides for an attack,"

Link glanced at me, and saw I was relatively unharmed. Exhausted and hurting from the exertion, yes, but unharmed. I was extremely lucky, I could have been crushed numerous times.

Back to back, we stood, waiting for the creature to reappear. But it did not. I was about to caw in annoyance and begin to look for the Vessel of Light, when its massive form burst forth from the sand, spraying the area with the tiny grains. I noticed it had 2 hands again. So the hands must regenerate after time, then. We should dispose of the hands and then go for the eye, all at once.

Unable to vocalize this plan to my comrades, I shrieked in frustration.

Unbelievably, Midna must have thought up the same plan I had. She quickly explained it to us. Link wagged his tail in approval, and I cawed in agreement to the strategy. So, its settled. We attack the hands, and then we go for the eye together.

Midna blocked a premature attack from one of the dark hands with her own orange one. They wrestled, each trying to gain supremacy. Link and I attacked the hand furiously, ripping off digits and causing enough carnage before it disintegrated.

The next hand was more leery of us and kept its distance. I attempted to corral it closer, but the hand swatted me away. It was only after the fourth attempt where it succeeded – Link had decided to veer away from the success plan and prematurely rip into the hand while it was swatting me away. It was all we needed. I dove in to slice it with my talons, then retreated to catch my breath. While I was doing so, I saw Midna use her orange hand and crush the weakened dark hand. There were flutters of dark matter slipping between her orange digits as the last hand disintegrated.

Now only the body remained. Shrieking in pain and fury, the beast attempted to ram us. Link barely managed to dodge out of the way, but Midna took the full force of the blow. Using her hand to absorb the impact, she then heaved the creature above her head, and with a cry of fury slammed it down onto the ground below. Upon impact, the creature's body melted into a puddle of acidic dark green goo.

It was finished. The fight is over – we won! And we couldn't have managed without Midna. I raised my wings in victory, Link howled in celebration, while Midna merely showed a satisfied smirk.

There was a sickening crunch of bone and sinew and Midna's head fell from her shoulders, her smirk twisting into scream before going still. A shadowy humanoid figure, pitch black, held her head in one of its two black hands, tossing it back and forth in between them, as if the horror was a ball to play with.

My blood turned to ice at the sight.

The figure opened its mouth, a cruel smirk playing on its lips, "Checkmate,"

Snarling with rage, Link charged at the figure, but a flick of its fingers sent Link flying backwards. He landed on his feet, skidding to a stop, and attempted another charge. I joined in as well. Blood boiling with rage, I propelled myself at the figure with the intent of ripping it to shreds.

But it vanished without a trace, leaving the broken beheaded body of Midna, the princess of Twilight, behind.

Link and I stood there, over Midna's body. My body shook in silent tears, physically incapable of producing tears as a hawk, I could only weep internally. Link's sorrowful howl echoed across the landscape; a lament for the Twilight princess. She was our companion. And now she's gone.

I looked up at the sky, still under the heavy curtain of Twilight. There was no light vessel here.

Feeling lightheaded, I forced myself to climb higher in the sky to look for it. The least we could do for Midna is to dispel this area of Twilight. Once we get back into our human forms we can grieve properly, and give her a burial suited for a princess.

I saw something move in the distance, far away. Is it the dark figure that murdered Midna? And is it the same one that appeared at Kakariko?

I let out a loud squawk to alert Link below, but my calls went unanswered. I glanced downwards only to discover there was no more ground beneath me. I did a double-take. I was alone.

A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter.