A/N: I just went through all these reviews and you know, I kinda feel like crying now I feel like shit about this story. I'm sorry it's not good enough for you! I'm sorry I'm not the best writer. I'm sorry I'm still learning and thought that just because I enjoy it and I'm decent at it I thought I could share my story. I'm sorry I use the characters I feel most comfortable with to vent into! I'm sorry I have a shitty life and have to vent into characters to keep myself sane! I'm so fucking sorry! :D
To be honest, I looked over all these reviews. 94. I just. I think that's a bit out of hand for a four (now five) chapter story. And to let you know, I do not have writer's block. I'm just busy. You know. I have a life as well. I cannot dedicate each and every minute to writing because I have things to do. Sorry. And I just feel like you think I don't care about Link and Midna. I love them with all my heart. They are precious to me. I hate to write the bad stuff that happens to them, but bad periods need to happen or there's not plot. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. And yeah, my story gets depressing at times because I need to vent into my characters. My parents refuse to get me medication for my own anxiety and depression and this is one of my outlets.
And I love how you all are giving me a bunch of stories. But the only part I don't like is that you're telling me to get ideas from them. Listen. I've got my own plot and I'm not changing it. I've gone over it with a few of my friends who are more successful writers than I am and they think it's perfectly fine the way it is. And, I wouldn't read another's story and use their ideas in my own. That's stealing their ideas. That's cheating. I'm not that type of person. I will NOT take somebody else's ideas. Their story is their story. Mine is mine.
I just wanted to let you know, I'm actually debating whether I should even continue this or not. No matter what I'm going to do I'm going to expect to get boatloads of reviews telling me about how my story is not good enough, too depressing, should be more like this, etc. and I really hate it. I'm sorry. It makes me feel like shit. It makes me wonder where I should even bother with this story. Because it appears that somebody won't get off my case until I cut out every event that makes the plot a plot and it's a dull story with no movement and just happiness.
TL;DR, I'm done with with the bullcrap I'm getting and I want to stop writing for a while and crawl into a bed and hide there forever. Yup.
Anyways here's the next chapter.
Probably going to get a ton of bs after this but I've given up. Oh well ! 3
A wave of bitter chill flushed over Midna, only to be immediately replaced by a flash of heat. Her body covered its self in beads of sweat as she nimbly shook. When a shot of pang swiveled its way up her back from her lower side, the queen's eyes shot wide open as she took a breath. Gripping her husband's arm, Midna repeated Link's name several times. Her voice shot up in volume as another strike of discomfort ran through her. Startled, Link's eyes opened and he turned in the bed to face Midna. Even in the lowly lit room, the disquiet in Midna's eyes was obvious and well observed.
"Midna, what's wrong?" Link asked in a panicky manner. He immediately sat up in the bed, readjusting pillows behind his wife's head
"Link there's something…" she grit her teeth to lightly dull the pain. "Wrong… something's wrong…" She groaned, tossing her head to the other side of the pillow.
Swallowing back his worries, to calm his wife, he brushed her hair from her face and spoke softly. "Do you want me to get Khina?"
Tears now streaming down her eyes, Midna barely nodded her head. With a small grunt, Link slipped a loose robe over his chest and left their room as quickly as he could, a paper lying on the ground was ignored as he ran past it. Sprinting through the halls, climbing stairs, Link scanned the names above the door. When he saw the familiar name he was looking for, he slowed his tracks. He felt bad for knocking at such an ungodly hour. But it was urgent.
Taking a deep breath, he willfully knocked his knuckles against the twili's door. He hoped and prayed she was still up. And, only to confirm his hopes, the woman opened the door, hair tied up into a bun and dressed in pajamas.
"Sir Link!" Khina's eyes widened. "What are you doing up here now?" But then her heart dropped. She knew why.
Somewhat out of breath, Link responded, "Midna. Something's wrong with Midna."
With a quick nod of her head, she reached for her small bag of supplies and hurried out of her room. As Link jogged lightly in front of her, a ball of guilty grew in her stomach. The name of what she thought was given to the queen was unimportant, but what it did was rather heartbreaking. It was a mixture of acids and combinations derived from a rather toxic plant. Over the years, it had been figured that a small dose would help an expecting mother rid of her gravidness. So far, its use had only been allowed when the fertility proposed fatal risks to the mother, which would result in needed termination.
With the amount that was missing from the inventory, it was no doubt the council's fault. Khina perpetuated that the king and queen would find out shortly. She knew she was walking into something she couldn't fix. She could only aid in the queen's recovery.
The child, as of now, would be unimportant. Its struggle to follow through would be there no longer.
As soon as her and Link entered the room, Khina rushed over to the queen's side. Patting her head, she brushed away Midna's hair and looked deep into her eyes.
"Midna, take a deep breath. Everything's going to be okay," Khina whispered into the queen's ear. "Link will get you a glass of water. Just tell me exactly what you're feeling." Out of the corner of her eye, she noted the King rushing off to fill a glass for his wife.
"Khina," Midna whispered. "Is what's between my legs, what I think it is?"
Taking a gulp, the younger Twili lifted up the sheets. There, exposed, the red stained fabric surrounded by a puddle of blood. When she turned back to the queen, she noticed the tears streaming down Midna's face.
"I… I'm sorry, your highness." She felt the tears well up in her own eyes. Midna had already buried her face in her pillow. "You've had… a miscarriage."
Gently placing her hand on the queen's shoulder, she rubbed her arm, a small attempt to comfort her newfound loss. The silence, however, was interrupted with a shatter of glass. In an instant, Khina turned to see Link wide eyed, extremely pale, with sadness building up around his eyes.
"I'm going to kill that council." Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Link spun around and raced out the door. Khina stood to stop him, but he was long gone. With a sigh, she returned her attention back to the queen. Beginning to clean her and comfort her from her unwanted loss.
Back out in the hall, he fell against the opposing wall, resting his forehead against it, while slamming his fist on it. Eventually, he slumped over, sliding down the wall and onto his knees. Choking back a small cry, he took his sleeve to his nose and stood back up – a fire now burning in his eyes.
As soon as he felt balanced on his two feet, Link raced down the hall. Stopping at a large room, he took a breath, and entered himself. A small counter was placed in the front; a guard slumped over behind it. Small snores emitted from his mouth. With a shrug, Link snuck by and back where the storage was.
Taking a lit lantern off the wall, he began to walk through the array of hanging swords, spears, daggers, and shields. Link knew he wouldn't be up to par, but he had to do something. Despite all the blood already on his hands, this – this was personal.
Lifting a thin blade in his hand, he twisted the metal, admiring it under the dim flame of the lantern. Satisfied with his find, he smirked with a small grunt of satisfaction. As silently as he entered, Link had left the same room, but now with a weapon in his hand.
Once back in the main hallway, he diverted off to a smaller area where the councilmen's lodgings were. He felt it in his gut that this was all the fault of the head councilman. Clenching his fist around the hilt of the sword, Link took a deep breath in and exhaled. Costive, he took small steps down the hall, reading the names and seats on plaques outsides the doors. And then he found him.
The eldest councilman. His door. At the end of the hall. And Link was standing in front of it. Blade gripped tightly in his hand, he twisted it with a bounce. He pursed his lips and furrowed his brows. This was business. It wasn't about all the comments the council made about him. All the doubts about him. No, it wasn't about that.
He chose to harm Midna. He chose to harm his child. He chose to do this to him. He chose to be a heartless soul. He chose to still follow Zant's beliefs. He chose to be how he was. And he was going to pay for it.
Taking a breath, Link clenched his jaw and barged open into the councilman's room. At instant, he heard the man take in a startled breath from the bedroom. Running in, Link saw the man getting up from his bed. Quickly, he burst in and pinned the man against the wall, edge of the blade resting up against the delegate's neck.
"You will be tried for treason if you continue on with this," the man hissed under his breath.
With a sly grin, Link chuckled. "I know. But I'd rather you be dead. You killed somebody. Now you will have a similar fate as them."
Snorting, the councilman raised his brows at Link and resorted to a faint smirk. "That mutt deserved to die. It would be the biggest abomination to the twilit kingdom, along with the light realm."
"My child would not be an abomination!" Link shouted, pressing the blade into the delegate's skin, a small trickle of blood appearing. "The people in my own realm would love it as much as me. They already are fond of Midna. Why wouldn't they like my child? You and your council are the only ones that don't."
"Treason, young boy." The man smirked, jeering his responses. "Think of all the blood already tainting your hands. Think about all whom you've killed. Monsters, cursed Twili…. Zant."
Taking a deep breath, Link stood his ground. "That… all that was selfless killing. I did it for Princess Zelda and Princess Midna. Zant was a tyrant. All he wanted was power. He couldn't care about anybody else. I helped Midna take back her crown."
"But who is to say that Zant wouldn't have been a suitable king?" The twili reviled.
"Many of your people. Your own queen. You are the one who should be tried for treason." Link inched his faced closer to the man's, brows furrowed, enveloping his face with a pure hatred.
"The queen? She's useless to me." The twili enjoyed the enraged reaction from the Hylian's face. "She gives too much to her people. She's not a selfish enough ruler. The people walk all over her."
Pushing the blade in further, more blood streamed down the twili's neck. "Midna cares for her people. She doesn't want them to suffer the way you will make them!" And with his final cry, the blade in Link's hand made its way through the man's neck, his body falling to the ground, limp. "That was selfless killing…. This… this is for what you took from me."
Dropping the blood-stained blade, the small sword rattled against the floor with its impact. And with a final breath, Link dropped to his knees, tears trickling down his cheeks.
"I… I just murdered somebody." But then he shook his head. "It was for her. It was for them. It wasn't blatant murder."
As the conflicting thoughts debated in his head, his finicky state hurried up to him. Shakes in his hands, heart beating faster than he could count; Link only remained still in the puddle of twili blood. It stained his robes and his hands. The twili was right – his hands were covered in blood.
After a few minutes of silence, Link picked up on the commotion from the councilmen's apartments above the one he was in. Quick as a cat, he reached for his blade and bolted out the door, back into the hallway. He sprinted out of the area as fast as he could. His lungs and legs burned. He hadn't pushed himself at such a limit in months. It drained him. But he kept going.
He had to.
If he didn't, he could feel it in his bones that the rest of the councilmen would find him and beat him alive. Tie him up in town center. Torture him like the murderer he was. Shaking away the acidic thoughts from his head, Link continued to run back to his own suite. At night, the palace was haunting; the dark chill that loomed overhead was only made worse by his previous actions.
As soon as he returned back to his own livings, he immediately went in and slammed the door shut behind him. Link rested his back against the door, closing his eyes and curling his head up. His hand released the hilt of the blade and it hit the floor with a pang. Then his knees gave out and he slid to the floor.
A distorted voice called his name, but the static in his ears covered it up. Link opened his eyes, and started at the voice's origin with a glaze over his eyes. The person tugged as his arms, yanking him up off the floor. His whole head felt like it was in a foggy haze. He felt himself being pushed against his bed, but otherwise it was all a blur.
His head was ringing as his guilt built up in him. He felt like a murderer. The blood on his hands this time was his own choice that he made. It wasn't something he was chosen by the holy goddesses to do – no. He chose to kill this man.
That was what made it all the worse.
"Link!" Somebody shook his side.
"Link!" Another faint voice, different than the first.
"Link, you need to get up." The first one wept. He could hear a small croak in her voice. And it hit him.
As his vision began to return, his heart settled a bit, but his stomach churned with the weight of the kill. Link could make out the faint form of Midna beside him. She was still lying in the bed. The sheets were stripped from under her though, as she was only wrapped in a fresh blanket, a wet cloth resting against her forehead. On his other side was Khina, eyes wide and frantic as she scrubbed his arms. She was taking off the blood.
"Link," he heard Midna's voice whisper in his ear. "Whose blood is this? Why is it all over your clothes?"
"I killed him."
Both Midna and Khina's heads popped up. Khina was the first to speak, though. "Who did you kill?"
"The man who killed our child." Link grit his teeth, lowering his head as he coughed slightly.
"The other councilmen will figure out." Khina murmured.
"Their head councilman is gone. They can disperse or I can choose a new elder from the existing council." Midna shrugged.
Link's ear's perked. "You can disperse the council now?"
With the realization of what she just said, Midna's eyes widened and filled with tears, despite the cheesy grin growing on her cheeks. "I… I can disperse the council now." She turned to Link and wrapped her arms around him, ignoring that his robes were stained red. "This will be the last of this that we'll deal with."
Blinking twice, Link slowly nodded his head. "Yeah." Wrapping his arms around his wife, he embraced her and rested his head on her shoulder. "Yeah."
Khina took a step back, a small grin lighting her face. For them to realize the torture would be over soon enough was a wonderful sight to her. As soon as the two broke apart, she undid the bloody robes from around Link's torso and pulled them off.
"I.. I'll take care of these. You two rest. I have an odd feeling this isn't over just yet." Khina began to grab her things and head to the door. "The last day with the council should be tomorrow. Rest well for that. It will be a fight… but all of this will be over soon enough." And with a simple nod, she opened their door and left.
