Eleanor Roosevelt

"In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.

The process never ends until we die.

And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility."

Chapter 1

I didn't know how I got into my chambers, but when I opened my arching eyes, I was back. At home, I wanted to say, but it didn't feel like home. The dark, empty room made me feel alone, not at home, although next to nothing had changed, except a chair stood next to my bed now. This was the room I grew up in. In this room my Mum tucked me in and was there when I awakened. It held many happy memories, but it didn't feel like home anymore.
It hadn't been so long since I had slept in these rooms made for the Royal Family but right now it felt like a lifetime since I had been here. So much had happened in such a short period of time: I lost my Kingdom, was turned into an imp, nearly died twice, defeated countless monsters, Zant and Ganondorf, I found Love, only to loose it to regain my kingdom.

We, he and I, paid a huge price to save my people, to save his people, to save both of our worlds. I would never see him again, was it really worth it? Comparing my loss to thousands of lives I felt selfish. I knew it wasn't right to wonder about such a thing when you were a princess, but I did anyway: Did I do the right thing when I destroyed the mirror? Had it been necessary to do it? Or could Hyule and Twilight have lived peacefully next to each other? How long would this peace we worked so hard for last? Could I prevent another attempt to rule the Light world? Or my could successor?

Did I do the right thing at last? Part of me said: "Yes." It was the royal side of me, the princess. This was the identity I had always been. I was born and educated to be the princess.

The most important rules for a princess are: A princess must never put herself before her people.

She has to do everything in her power to make her people happy, even if it means that the princess herself would suffer.

A princess has to be a role model to her people. She must stand for reliability, selflessness, obedience and so much more, she was the face of the whole kingdom. There was no space for selfish needs.

If it was best for the kingdom to fight for it, the princess would fight for. If was best for the kingdom to jump down from the palace roof, the princess would jump. If it was best for the kingdom to marry a nobleman, the princess would marry. If it was best for the kingdom to sever all connections to the Light Realm, the Princess would be the one to sever all connections to the Light Realm. If it was best for the kingdom never to see her one and true love again, the princess would never see her one and true love again.

But although the princess in me knew she did the right thing, a small voice would ask: "Was it really necessary? Isn't the sacrifice too big? Why can't I be happy after all the things I've done for my kingdom?"

This voice developed on my quest with Link. I had been the Princess for my whole life. I was born a princess, brought up as a princess, treated like a princess. I was a princess my whole life. But with Link I no longer was the princess, who was treated with undying respect or given anything what she wanted. With Link I had just been Midna. Midna, the imp. He didn't know of my heritage... to a certain point, but he treated me like Midna a companion and friend...- okay he let me ride on his back and got me anything I wanted. However, he didn´t do it for the advantages of being a friend of a princess. No, Link did everything for me and his friends. He didn't care what my social status was or that a princess was riding on his back. He cared for me, for Midna. And I valued it much.

But right now I didn't know who I was anymore: the Princess or Midna. Before Zant´s leadership it was crystal-clear: I was the princess. After Zant's uprising I was just Midna. A hideous imp but I was my own person. I did what I wanted. I blushed slightly and smiled softly. I did what I wanted and now I wasn't able to do so anymore. It was a joke. As Midna I had travelled with Link to become once again the princess. But I wasn't sure if I still wanted to be the princess. I happened to like being Midna and just being Midna. No princess, just doing what I wanted without thinking about opinions of others and consequences of my actions.

Before I destroyed the mirror, I had had the choice: to be the Princess or Midna? I chose the way of living I lived my whole life, except for a few months. Now couldn't be Midna anymore, she was gone. It was expected of me to act like the Princess. Now I couldn't be Midna anymore, because the Princess wasn't Midna.

Without Link Midna wasn't simply Midna.

Sighing I sat down on a lone chair near the window and began to stare out of it. The mountains in the east were covered in a dark-blue-violet shade. In the mountains countless mines produced building materials and crystals and special ores, required for our magic. These majestic elevations casted a large shadow over the city and the planes north of the palace. The planes provided the whole kingdom with vital goods, like food and cloth. The food was not as good as the food from the Light world, but it was fit to eat as long as you didn't know anything else. Lake Twilia was located to the north west. A wonderful resort. The view was magnificent, the smooth surface of the water was reminiscent of the former Mirror of Twilight.

Was all of this really worth it? I was torn between my responsibilities as a princess and my selfish desires. I needed to be with him, but I couldn't, anymore. Not after what I had done. Not after what I decided but regretted so much.

I continued staring out of my window until the door opened and Kanad, a member of the Twilight Council, stepped into my room. He was a male Twilian of average height. His neck, though, was longer than those of other Twilians. If not for his overly long neck he would really short- in twilian standarts. His eyes had the common twilian eye-colour red. It was a dark shade of red, nearly a dark magenta. His robes (he had much cloth on him, a sign of a high living standart in the twilight realm as cloth was rather troublesome to make here) concealed his markings to a degree that you couldn´t make out the dark pattern on his pale skin, that varied between every Twili.

His eyes widened in surprise, as he saw me up, and bowed: "My apologies, Princess. We did not know you were up, yet. Otherwise I would have come much earlier. Your Highness, you seemed very exhausted, when we found you. It was very unsetteling for the guards to see our beloved princess lying on the floor after all that had happened. So I didn't expect you to be awake. My most sincere apologies, Princess."

I rolled my eyes at his apology. There wasn't any reason to apologize, I thought, he shouldn't expect me to chop his head off, because he wasn't there the moment I awoke. I didn't need any of that false caring. What did he thought I was? A monster?

"When the guards found you we expected the worst! It was quite a shock to find you passed out on the Mirror hill, unmoving. Speaking of it where is the Mirror of Twilight?"

Guild swept over me again and I looked at my feet: "I destroyed it for the better of our worlds."

I turned back to the window. Silence. Kanad probably waited for me to elaborate my point. But I continued staring out of the window, ignoring hid presence. I wasn´t in the mood to discuss this matter right now.

"So... If I am allowed to ask, what exactly happened. All of the sudden you were untraceable and Zant announced himself as new ruler of Twilight. Then he took the Sols away and everything went from bad to worse. All of the sudden the Sols were back again and Zant was away. We thought the Twilight was without a ruler and then you were here again and the mirror had been destroyed. What has happened?" he asked, in the end his voice had grown forceful and he took a step towards me. "Princess, I beg you, tell me. I need to know."

I had begun to massage my temples. I could feel a huge headache coming. Explaining everything to them? Being an Imp? Defeating Zant? Destroying the mirror? Okay I could manage that, but could I tell them of him? They deserved to know the truth, but would they understand? Would they accept that their princess was in love with a light dweller? Perhaps I should leave the rather private facts out of my tale. My thoughts drifted to a specific event just before my departing: his fingers were everywhere on my body...

I began to blush just as the arch blazed up again- stronger more forceful his time. I choked and quickly shoved my feelings away.

Gracefully, I turned to face him, my eyes were focusing on his and my voice held authority. "You will get your answers, but I will only tell once. I think the whole Council wants an answer, right? You shall arrange a meeting, in which everyone is present! I need some time to collect myself, so I expect everyone to be assembled in two hours."

"As you wish." Kenad bowed again and left my room.

As the door closed with a muffled sound I rose while sighing. I will fix my hair for now. It's been ages since I washed it. Then I'll think about what to say and what not.

In the end I decided to tell them of Link, but I would only mention, that he was the Sacred Beast of the Legends. Which was partly true. Link was the Sacred Beast, but he was so much more: He was Link the goatherd, Link was the Chosen One of the Goddesses, Link was the Hero of Twilight, Link was the Conqueror of Zant and Ganondorf, Link was the Saviour of two Worlds, Link was my one and only true love.

When I exited my room I could already hear the busy mumbling down the hallways.

The halls, always crowded with busy servants, excited commoners, uptight guards and old academics, fell silent as I passed through them. Relief evident on all of their faces (although the guards tried their best to hide it). Their Princess was back. Unharmed. Oh the irony. Their Princess wasn't harmed by the enemy. No. The one who had hurt her most was herself or rather the choice she hadmmade. Unharmed, yeah, right. On the outside it may seem that way, but on the inside I was destroyed beyond recognition. For the sake of my people I needed to act as if everything was okay. This included a smiling mask and a chit-chat here and there. And again the perfect princess was back, the one who put her people's sake before her own sake.

"Your highness, it's so good to see you back!"

"What happened, if I'm allowed to ask?"

"How are you today, Princess?"

"I heard you passed out on the Mirror Hill, are you alright, your highness?"

Every question was answered with a smile and as truthful as necessary. It wasn't the people's task to worry about her princess, but it was the princess's task to worry about her people.

When I finally got to the door leading to the room where usually the Council meetings took place, I took a deep breath to set my mask back into place perfectly. A little surge of magic opened the door. Entering the room with my head held high I saw that no seat was vacanted. I couldn't remember the last time everyone was present. Just after I had taken over the kingdom, the fact that the not everyone was present had angered me very much, today I couldn't care less if anyone was present.

Everyone regarded me with the curiosity of a child. Their eyes shone with excitement and unspoken questions. Of course, why else would they have come if they hadn't interest in this meeting?

Coughing Kenad drew the attention of the assembled elders: "This meeting was called to inform all of us what happened after our beloved princess had vanished. Even my humble self wants to know this. So without any further interruptions I suggest to admit her highness the floor."

Nodding I sat down on my throne: "Thank you Kenad. Beforehand I want to announce that I will only tell you once. The aftermath of Zant´s treason was a very upsetting experience for me. I nearly died twice and... . Yeah. So please do nott interrupt me."

I took a deep breath and began my tale: "The day Zant betrayed me... no everyone of us, I was on the balcony. He approached me and with a sickening giggle he told me that it was time for me to leave and leave it to him to get revenge for the banishment from Hyrule. As I became aware of his treason I tried to stop him, but he was too powerful. He got his power from the embodiment of evil: Ganondorf bearer of the Triforce of Power. With this power he turned me into a weak, ugly imp. However, somehow I managed to escape into the realmof light. Zant had already stolen the Tears of Light so the land was covered in Twilight. With disgust I discovered that Zant used the inhabitants of Twilight as mindless slaves, the Shadow Beasts. For some time I wandered aimlessly around, trying to find a way to stop Zant. That was when I finally found hi... it. In the outskirts of Hyrule a province named Ordon is located. There I saw the Sacred Beast. You may have heard from it from legends so I..."

The Council began muttering.

"The Sacred Beast? That can not be possible!" a rich merchant stood up and shook his head.

"So the legends are true?" a slender woman asked clapping her hands together like a little child who just got a cookie.

"Are you really telling the truth? The Sacred Beast?"

"So it really exists? How exiting!"

I rose my hand to silence them. After this had no effect I rose my voice: "I said no interruptions! I really met the Sacred Beast! Why would I lie to you? Does anyone of you know better?"

It was silent again. Smiling I continued: "So where was I? Ahh... Right. I persuaded the Sacred Beast to help me defeat Zant. I had a plan: I wanted to defeat Zant with the aid of the Fused Shadows. Together we battled countless monsters and survived many hardships. When we finally obtained all four of them, Zant appeared. Somehow he subdued me and took the Fused Shadows. And with that not enough. He exposed me to the light of a holy light spirit and left me to die. From there I don't know much, but the Sacred Beast brought me to Zelda, the princess of Hyule. She sacrifices herself to save me by altering part of her life force and injecting it into me. With this I was able to exist in light without hiding in the shadows."

I got some green-eyed glances but proceeded with my slightly altered version of what happened: "We tried to get them back, but Zant was out of our reach in the Twilight Realm. He broke the mirror into six pieces. Figures he couldn't destroy it fully, because he wasn't the true ruler of Twilight. So we needed to gather the mirror shards. After defeating countless monsters, again, we accomplished even this task and set out to defeat Zant. In a dangerous fight we got the Fused Shadows back and with them I succeeded to kill Zant. But then we learned that Zant was merely a puppet and the mastermind, Ganondorf, was still out there. I was still a cursed imp and the only way to revert me back was to defeat Ganondorf. Eventually we achieved this, too. I was back to normal and shattered the Mirror of Twilight to prevent another attempt to overthrow both realms."

With that I ended my tale, leaned back into my comfortable throne and waited for their reactions.

Yeah. First chapter. Hope you liked it.

I would reaally like some reviews. One would make my day! Two would make me dance. And more? I would probably end up in the steet chanting happy songs while dancing!