Born a Weapon

A Twilight Princess Fan story

Chapter 19

Night Terrors

Link had no idea how long he was sitting next to the downed tree, but when he finally managed to compose himself, the moon was in the sky. He stood up and made his way over to his sword, picking it up and examining the blade. Sure enough, there was no blood. No blood of innocent people and no terrified screams. Link sheathed his sword with a sigh and walked back to the inn.

Link almost got lost because he wasn't paying attention when he left the inn but managed to make it back without too much trouble. Just before he could enter, he saw Justin coming from the same direction carrying the tree Link cut down over his right shoulder. The tree wasn't that big, but it was still impressive that he could carry it, especially with one hand. Justin simply gave a nod to Link and kept walking. Link entered the inn and made his way back up to the room and entered. Midna had closed the door but not locked it. Link appreciated that, even though he still had the key on him.

Link locked the door and placed his sword and shield next to his bed before taking off the green top, hat, and his chainmail, leaving on his undershirt. He also removed his arm guards and placed them with the rest of his stuff. Midna was asleep in her chosen bed, so Link tried to be as quiet as possible as he made his way to the bathroom. Inside were basic accommodations, including a tub for bathing. Link wasn't expecting to see that here, especially since nobody aside from Justin lived here. Plumbing wasn't very common in Hyrule and shouldn't be in a place like this. This village was about the size of Ordon, and Ordon didn't have plumbing. Not to mention this place was made by one guy.

Deciding not to complain, Link used the tub to take a bath. He didn't have any other clothes, so he washed out his hero garb before putting it back on. He also snuck out and grabbed the green top and hat from beside his bed to wash them as well. When all that was done, Link finally got into bed and went to sleep.

When Midna woke up, she wasn't sure what time it was. She'd seen Link use the sun or moon to figure that out, but she didn't want to risk opening the window and killing herself. She figured it was time to go anyway, so she floated over to Link to wake him up. Link was asleep, but his face seemed to be in a slight scowl, and he looked uncomfortable. Not caring, Midna began to shake him.

"Hey, get up you lazy wolf." Link shot up to a sitting position, trying to smack whatever was grabbing him, but Midna dodged and floated away in time. "What the hell?! You almost hit me!" Link remained still for a moment as he took a minute to wake up and realize where he was.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing his eyes, "Bad dream. You startled me."

"Whatever," Midna scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "Get up so we can get moving." Midna stretched and gave out a loud yawn. When she looked back at Link, she saw him with his face in his hands, having made no progress towards getting ready. "Come on! Get up!" Midna said, shaking him again. Link tried to shoo her away with his hands and was mildly successful.

"Give me a minute, Midna. I'm still trying to come to terms with what you told me yesterday." Midna stopped trying to harass Link and floated back slightly. She crossed her arms and looked at the floor, painfully reminded of what she didn't want to tell Link. She had tried her best not to think about it, but when Link was so insistent, she snapped. She overreacted, but she would never admit it. "I get why you seem so upset whenever they show up now."

"That's what your nightmare was about, wasn't it?" Link didn't verbally respond to Midna's question, but he gave a slight nod after a few seconds.

"I knew the guy we're fighting was evil, but this?" Link looked to Midna as if she might have an answer to his next question. "How could anyone do something like that?"

"Zant is a monster. I don't know why he did it, but he made an army by turning people into those things. He turned people on their closest friends. It was chaos. Everyone he touched transformed and went on a rampage. Well," Midna wrapped her arms around herself and pulled her legs in slightly, like she was trying to hide herself, "almost everyone."

"He's the one who turned you into an imp, isn't he?" Midna turned around and floated away from Link, and that was enough of an answer for him. Link rose from his bed and walked up to Midna, "but why would he do that to you?" Silence. "You two have a history, don't you?"

"I'm not going into details, but yes. He has a reason to hate me, as stupid as it is." Midna turned back around to face Link, no longer hiding herself. "He didn't turn me into one of those beasts for some reason. I don't know why, and I don't care. But he's going to regret that." Midna summoned the Fused Shadow she wore as a helmet from her magical storage and had it float just above her finger. "He forgot I had this thing, and once I complete it, I'm going to tear him apart."

"I still don't like that thing."

"Well, like it or not, I need it. If I don't use this thing, Zant will be the one tearing us apart." Midna placed the relic on her head once again. "Now come on, let's go!"

"All right, fine." Link huffed as he walked over to his equipment. "If you want to take a bath before we go, there's one in there," Link said, poking his thumb over his shoulder at the bathroom.

"I already did yesterday, after you ran off to who knows where. I don't know where the water came from, but I'm not complaining."

"It's got a pipe system that brings the water in."

"I know that, but where did the water come from? I didn't see any water towers around. Actually, now that I think about it, I didn't see any water towers at that other village either. They had it in the ground, right?"

"You mean the river?" Link asked as he strapped on his left arm guard and began making his way to the door.

"If that's what you call it, yeah. It's kind of reckless to just leave your water around like that."

"It's a natural formation, Midna. They didn't do that."

"Wha-?!" Midna floated in front of Link, stopping him before he reached the stairs. "I swear! If you're about to tell me water just… comes out of the ground or something! I'm going to-"

"Well, what the hell do you want me to do about it?!" Link snapped. "I didn't create this world, so stop yelling at me for things this one has that yours doesn't!" Link rubbed his face with his hand before moving past Midna and walking down the stairs, "I swear if the monsters don't kill us, we'll just tear each other apart. We're supposed to be working together, but we've been doing a lot of the opposite."

"Well, stop arguing with me!"

"The problem," Link said stopping just before the door to the inn and gesturing to his shadow, hinting at Midna to get in, "is that you treat me like garbage. I bet if I died you wouldn't even care. You told me as much yourself." Link opened the door and stepped out into the sun, Midna floating behind him in her shadow form, and almost walked right into Justin.

"Hey, Link! Hey Midna!" Justin said. He was holding a large sign in his arms by its post, the large main section above his head. "I'm just putting out a sign! I made it with the wood from that tree you cut down yesterday."

"You cut down a tree yesterday?" Midna asked.

"Yeah… I was pissed."

"Why?"

"Because of that thing you decided not to tell me until yesterday!" Link said, throwing his hands around in frustration. Midna avoided his gaze, and Justin casually continued walking. "Hey, Justin! What should I do with this key?" Link shouted, since Justin was far away now. How did he walk so fast while holding something that heavy?

"Just put it on the counter! I'll put it away later!" Link did just that, before examining his map to remember what direction to head in to get to Eldin. Once he did, Midna morphed into Link's shadow on the ground and he began heading off, in the same direction as Justin, coincidently. After a few minutes of walking Link had reached the edge of the village and saw Justin standing triumphantly next to this sign.

"What do you two think?" Justin asked, spinning around to look at Link and pointing at his sign. "I've got another one at the other side for people coming from that way, also made from the same tree!"

"What's on it?" Link asked.

"The name of this place!" Justin announced, standing triumphantly again. Link rounded the corner to read the sign.

Welcome to Noidea!

"How do you pronounce that?"

"Noy-dee-uh."

"Wait a minute," Midna said, emerging in shadow form, "Isn't that just… no idea? But one word?"

"I think it is," Link replied.

"It is!" Justin said.

"Its your place, call it whatever you want." Link said as Midna face palmed at the same.

"I will! Well, good luck with your trip! If you happen to find a group of people who need a place to live, just send them here!" Justin said before spinning around and walking back into the village.

"That guy's weird," Midna remarked, "Noidea? Really? And what kind of a name is Justin Case anyway? It sounds like just in case!"

"Leave his names alone."

"Oh, shut up, you. Your name is weird too. Who would name someone Link? Sounds like a chain link or something."

"Well, your name sounds like midnight."

"What's midnight?"

"Oh for- midnight is the middle of the night!"

Link looked at his map as the sun set, searching for somewhere to spend the night. There were no trees around and he didn't want to be stuck wandering Hyrule field at night.

"Well?"

Link glanced at Midna floating next to him, no longer in shadow form since the sun had set enough for her to leave it behind.

"You're going to have to get comfy in my shadow. There's nothing around."

"You gotta be kidding me! Gimme that!" Midna snagged the map from Link's hands and ran her eyes over it, looking for anything nearby they could stop for the night in. Link kept walking and Midna floated behind him, refusing to give up. After a very long time of staring at the same map, she finally conceded and gave Link back his map. "Fine, I give up."

"I guess you could sleep in my shadow," Link added, noticing Midna looked tired. She removed her helmet, placing it into her magical storage without a word and merged with Link's shadow, deciding to sleep early and leave Link to find a place to sleep on his own. Link considered stopping where he was, but he knew it was dangerous. He couldn't remember why, but knew it was. With nowhere else to go, Link kept walking towards Eldin.

As he walked, he tried his best to be as quiet as possible. It seemed to come naturally to him, and he couldn't hear his own footsteps as he crept across the field. Link saw a form in the distance, but he couldn't make out what it was. The form walked behind a hill and did not emerge. Link decided to move a bit faster but did not sacrifice stealth for speed. The figure appeared a few more times, and Link thought whatever it was followed him as he crossed the field, but when he saw two at once he realized he was seeing different figures, but of the same shape. What little he could make out was that sometimes the shape was humanoid and sometimes it looked like a dog. They seemed to wander aimlessly and gave Link a very bad feeling.

Another shadow came into view, and Link prepared to go around it before realizing it was a building. Cautiously, Link approached it, watching for any other figures. As he got closer, a house began to take shape from the shadowy blur it was from farther away. It was a medium sized house, enough to fit a small family, and had farmland next to it that was destroyed. Nearby was more buildings and Link realized he stumbled upon a village. It was much bigger than Noidea, and equally empty, but unlike Noidea, the buildings were damaged. The place gave Link a bad feeling, but so did wandering the field at night.

Link slowly made his way through the village, alert for any dangers that might be lingering around. There was no one in the streets and all the buildings had their doors smashed in. Link peeped inside one of the buildings and saw everything inside was thrown around. Link heard something crack under his boot and saw a shattered picture frame, and the picture next to it, which he kneeled and picked up.

The picture was a small painting of a man and a woman standing with their children, a boy and girl. Looking around, Link saw the remnants of a meal lying near the overturned table. Four plates for the four people in the picture. The food was rotten, so whatever happened here was likely a long time ago. Link placed the picture in what was left of its frame and placed it on a nearby shelf attached to the wall. He overestimated the strength of the shelf, and it collapsed under the small weight of the picture.

"What the hell was that?!" Midna cried, emerging in her shadow form with wide eyes.

"I broke a shelf. Don't worry." Link replied as he picked up the picture again.

"Uh… where are we?"

"Their house," Link said, handing the picture to Midna. She held the picture in her hands examining it sadly.

"What do you think happened to them?"

"I don't know, but they probably didn't deserve it." Link remarked as he made his way upstairs. Another door was busted open and Link glanced in. "Shit…"

"What?"

"I found out what happened to them." Midna floated up next to Link and was about to enter the room, but Link held out his arm to stop her. "I don't think you want to see what's in there."

"Why? What's in there?"

"…The parents…" Midna was confused for a second but widened her eyes in realization of what Link was implying.

"Are they…"

"Yes." Link lowered his arm, and Midna made no move to enter the room. Link took one last glance in the room. The father lay in the middle of the room, clearly bludgeoned to death, and the mother was slumped in the corner with a stab wound in her chest. The room was painted red with blood, and one splatter caught Link's eye. He walked inside and kneeled down to examine the blood and noticed it was not red, but dark greenish-blue.

"So, uh," Midna's voice came from the door, "if there are bodies, I don't think Shadow Beasts did this."

"No," Link said, emerging from the room, "it was the bulbins."

"Bulbins?"

"I found some bulbin blood in there, the parents put up a fight. Bulbins also explain why the children aren't there either. They were likely kidnapped." Link glanced back at the room once more, "they probably died trying to protect their children." Link gave a sigh, upset that an innocent family was destroyed. "I also didn't see a portal nearby, so I don't think any Shadow Beasts were here." Link left the house in peace and stepped back into the street. When Midna saw the destruction outside, she was stunned.

"What did they do to this place? That other village wasn't like this!"

"Ordon was attacked by a small group. A big place like this would attract a big group. Plus, a bigger place might have more valuables than Ordon, so they probably searched everything." Link looked at the destruction around him and dropped his head into his hands. "All of Hyrule has fallen to Zant. I'm fighting a war two worlds already lost, and I'm just one guy." Midna floated up to Link, but he did not turn around to look at her. "How many people have died? And how am I supposed to save what's left of Hyrule?" Midna had no answer for him.

Link searched for an empty house to rest in, but every one had at least one corpse inside, and he didn't want sleep with the dead. There were so many bodies. Link wasn't sure how much more he could take. Link stood outside of an inn, and he wondered if there would be a lot of bodies inside. Link grasped the door handle and took a deep breath. Behind him, Link heard the sound of someone moving and quickly spun around, searching the area with his eyes.

"What?" Midna said, looking around as well.

"I thought I heard something…"

"Well, I didn't hear anything. You're just tired. Get in the inn and sleep."

Link slowly turned back around and entered the inn. It was ransacked like every other building, but after Link's search, he didn't find a single corpse. Link was relieved, but found it odd that a building designed for people to rest in was empty. Link tracked down a room with two beds and both he and Midna flopped on their beds in exhaustion. Link ran his hand down his face seated on the soft mattress and tried not to think of all the death outside. He wanted to lay down and sleep, but something about this place bothered him. Just as he was about to dismiss it, he saw a shadow move from under the door of his room. Link sprang to his feet and threw the door open and saw nothing.

"What are you doing?" Midna asked groggily.

"I saw something…"

"No, you didn't. Go to sleep," Midna mumbled as she turned over in her bed. Link glanced around the hallway and decided that there was something here. He stepped outside, shutting the door behind him and silently drew his weapon and equipped his shield. He faced the direction the shadow he saw went and lifted his foot forward. When he placed it on the wooden floor, it made a creak, and once the creek rang through the building, the candles in the hallway were all snuffed out.

Link stood in place trying to see in the darkness. There was no question about it now. Something was in here. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to make sure nothing was behind him, and when he turned back, he saw a faint blue light at the end of the hallway. It swayed slightly, and Link realized it was a lantern held by a cloaked hand. The rest of the figure was engulfed in shadow, and Link could barely make out the outline of a person. Link squinted his eyes to try to see the person's face, and the blue light disappeared.

Link didn't move for a few seconds, and he felt fear fill his body. He turned around and fumbled for the door handle to the room he had just left. Once he grasped it, he flung it open and came face to face with a skeletal face.

Link jumped back in fear and nearly tumbled over the banister and to the floor below. The skeletal face belonged to a cloaked figure holding a lantern with a blue light coming from it in a bony hand. It was at least two heads taller than Link and floated out of the room while raising a scythe in its other hand, before bringing down on Link's position. Link rolled out of the way to avoid the blow, and when he got back to his feet his opponent had vanished.

A blue light suddenly appeared behind him, and he spun, raising his shield and blocked the scythe from the creature. The blow made Link stumble from the force a bit, but he was quick to swing his sword at the thing and ended up stumbling right through its body.

The floating enemy continued to attack Link, forcing him down the stairs and into the main area. Fortunately, the main area was still illuminated, and Link had more room to move. After Link backflipped over a sweeping strike, the cloaked skeleton floated back and up slightly before it faded into nothing. Link had his head on a swivel, looking around the room for the enemy.

The ghostly being appeared behind Link, and he jumped away but was cut on his shoulder. His right shoulder. A cry of pain echoed throughout the inn, and Link clutched at his shoulder. He almost didn't react in time to another blow but ducked under it at the last second.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Link looked up to see Midna leaning over the balcony, seemingly angry. Link was about to answer her, but his opponent struck again, and he put all his might into blocking the blow with his shield. "What the hell is that?!"

"We need to go! Now!" Link started moving toward the door, but the ghostly figure appeared in front of it and struck again, before disappearing. Damn it! If only he could see it! He needed to know where it went, so he could defend himself!

A slight yellow glow caught Link's attention from the corner of his eye and he thought it was the skeleton again, but realized it was coming from his left hand. When he was distracted looking at it, the ghost struck again. Link blocked the blow, and the glow from his hand ceased. The cloaked figure floated away again, but instead of disappearing, it turned transparent.

"That thing keeps disappearing! How are you supposed to fight it?!" Midna asked as she floated to his side. Link grabbed a chair and threw it at the figure when it approached, but the chair passed right through its body. Link blocked another blow and Midna summoned the Fused Shadow and placed it on her head. When Link looked at her fearing she planned to use it, she spoke "Calm down! I just want a helmet!" Her visible eye widened, "I can see it!"

"How?!" Link asked as he backflipped onto a table to dodge another blow.

"I don't know! I just can!"

When the scythe came at Link again, he dove under it and right through the figures body. He rolled to his feet and rammed open the door to the inn. Midna rocketed after him and bumped into him when he stopped suddenly. She was about to yell at him, demanding to know why he stopped, but saw someone in front of Link.

Stumbling towards them was a man, and he was not alone. There were many other figures also staggering forwards behind him. Through the light from the open inn door, they recognized the face of the man.

It was the father from the picture.

Link and Midna's faces paled as the man shambled closer, extending a decaying hand to grab them. Link was snapped back to reality as he saw the cloaked figure closing in on him again, and grabbed Midna's arm and jumped back.

"Midna! Get in my shadow!" Midna heard him, but was too panicked to respond, so he shook her and shouted again. "Now!" Midna numbly registered what Link was telling her to do and merged with his shadow. As soon as she did, Link sheathed his sword and shield and sprinted away from the walking corpse.

The man let out an inhuman cry and corpses began flooding from their homes to try to grab the only two living beings around. Most of the undead creatures weren't a problem, but the ghostly skeleton was gaining. Link ducked and hopped to avoid being cut apart while still running as fast as his legs would allow. After rolling under a blow, Link ducked into an alleyway and began weaving through buildings to lose his pursuer.

That was a mistake. The ghost just phased through the houses, not losing sight of Link. The alleyway was coming to an end, so Link ran diagonally up the wall and jumped off it, grabbing the roof of a house and pulling himself up. He ran across roofs, jumping from house to house while the ghost still pursued him. He dropped down onto a balcony, and from there back to the ground where he rolled on impact to not lose momentum and saw he was reaching the end of the town.

He ran out into the open field, and the floating skeleton suddenly stopped its chase. Link looked back and saw that it would not go farther than the last building. Even though he was no longer being chased, Link did not stop running. The ground next to him suddenly burst open and a skeleton emerged from it. Link had no idea what creature it was, but it had four legs and used them to pursue Link.

Some humanoid skeletons emerged as well, and Link realized these were the figures he had seen when crossing the field. They lunged at Link, and he hopped out of the way, before drawing his sword and smashing them to pieces. His attacks were panicked and had no strategy to them, he was just swinging with all his might until the only thing left was a pile of bones.

Link stood in place, panting from fear and exhaustion. The gaze of the skeleton bore into him from the edge of the town, and he was sure the image would give him nightmares later. Link started running again and didn't stop until the town was out of sight. Link collapsed to the ground and stayed there until Midna spoke.

"What the HELL was that?!" Her voice was shaky, and she was also gasping for air, but it was entirely out of fear. Link tried to calm himself down and tried to think of an answer for her.

"That…" he spoke between breaths" That was a Poe… and… stalfos… but… new ones… so they still… looked like people." Midna had no idea how to react to that, or what those creatures were, so she just sat down and tried to process what happened. "Midna, you could see the Poe after you put on the Fused Shadow, but you said you weren't using it."

"I-I didn't."

"I think it has a passive effect on you." Link said with a sigh, his breathing now more under control. "Even if you're not using it, it still has some effect on you."

"After that," Midna said, turning to Link and revealing her pale face. "I don't think I'll be taking it off for a while."