Here's another chapter. I know it has been a while since the last update, but I can't promise that it won't happen again. Life can get crazy.

Born a Weapon

A Twilight Princess Fan story

Chapter 29

Lanayru Province

For Link, the most exciting thing that happened while he recovered was when he tried to get up. He wanted to use the bathroom but overestimated himself and collapsed. Midna tried to catch him but just ended up getting crushed, but she was fine. Link was stuck in bed for a week, only able to leave with Renado's help, and worried about his counterpart coming for him and wondering why he didn't.

Most of the time he was awake was spent trying to devise a way to reach Lanayru without provoking Dark Link. He intercepted Link when he made a straight shot for Lanayru, so the smart thing seemed to be an indirect route. But a nagging feeling told him that whatever he tried to do would end up failing.

For Midna, the recovery was very different. She was waging an internal war with herself, and it wasn't going well. Being stuck inside her own body was the strangest sensation she had ever felt, and even if she could speak to anyone about it, she had no idea how to describe it. The most interesting part was that she wasn't often stuck inside herself. She could do whatever she wanted most of the time, but she lost control whenever she tried to reveal what happened to her.

Her hopes of someone catching on were quickly crushed. When her body acted on its own, it was a flawless actor. Everything she said or did was exactly what she would have done, and no one realized it wasn't her. She fought it with everything she had, but it soon became clear that it was useless.

Soon, her memory of what the Fused Shadow was doing began slipping away. She found herself slowly forgetting about being trapped in her body and started believing she did the things her body did on its own. She held onto the memories with a death grip, refusing to let go, and it worked to an extent. Most of the time, the memories remained, but sometimes she'd find herself simply going about her day before seeing herself in the mirror and wondering why she was still wearing the Fused Shadow.

"You're healing at a remarkable rate, Link. You should be back to normal soon," Renado said as he examined Link's stab wound, impressed by its progress. "I'll have to take the stitches out soon, and then you should be fine."

"That's good," Link replied as he pulled his shirt back down. "Renado, I've been thinking. I've run into a lot of problems out there. A lot of things can give me pretty bad injuries, and I might not always be able to get back here." A frown set on Renado's face, and Midna whipped her head away from her book with a concerned look. "Can you make some kind of kit for me to take so I can heal myself if I have to? If I get stabbed again and can't make it back, I need to know how to do something like this myself," Link said, gesturing to his stitches.

"Link, you are talking about stitching your own wound shut," Renado replied. "That would be incredibly difficult, not to mention agonizing without any numbing agent."

"Between extreme pain and death, I'll take the pain." After a short silence, Renado sighed.

"Very well, I will assemble medical supplies and instruct you in their use. But try not to need them." After Link gave Renado a nod, he made his way to the door. "We'll speak more of this later. I'll leave you to rest." Renado left the room, and Midna put down her book and floated to Link's side.

"Are you seriously going to do that to yourself?" She asked.

"If I have to."

"What about the spring water?"

"The spring water can't heal everything, and we can't carry a lot of it. Besides, it's not like having extra medical supplies will make me more likely to get hurt."

"Fine, I guess you're right. But you better listen to Renado and do your best not to need them."

"I've been doing that this whole time!"

"After what's already happened to you, I don't find that comforting at all." Midna retorted, and Link had no counter for that.

The next few days were spent instructing Link on how to use the prepared medical supplies, which he learned astoundingly fast. In only a few days, Link mounted Epona with the intent to ride to Lanayru province again, this time with some medical knowledge. In the time it took Link to heal, Barnes had managed to restart his bomb shop with materials he bought from the Gorons and gave some to Link to thank him for helping his suppliers.

The original plan for Link's shield was abandoned, and Link went to every light spirit he could right away to enhance his shield. He rode fast, shield at the ready at all times and eyes scanning every inch of land. Even from the shadow on the ground, Midna could see how tense Link was, and she knew why. She didn't tell him, but she was also looking for any threats. The hero took the long way to his destination to minimize the directions he could be attacked from. He noticed Midna was unusually quiet the whole time but decided it was just because she was worried as well. When finally heading to the Lanayru province, Link avoided his previous ambush site even though something told him it wouldn't matter. Link passed up several stopping points when it was dark, deeming them too exposed. Even when Midna finally convinced him to stop and rest, he spent an absurd amount of time triple checking every inch of his surrounding before finally stopping. The journey to the Lanayru province took agonizingly long, but eventually, Link made it.

"He… didn't attack," Link said, looking everywhere with his sword and shield ready. "Why didn't he attack?"

"You put a lot of effort into avoiding him. What did you expect?" Midna said, floating next to Link in shadow form.

"I don't know! But whatever memories are locked away in here are telling me he should have found me," Link said, pointing to his head.

"Well, we're here now," Midna said, gesturing to the barrier before them, "let's get inside before he does show up."

"All right, fine." Link turned to Epona and placed his hand on her head. "You'll have to wait out here, ok?" Epona seemed to understand and gently nudged Link before letting him go. Link walked up to the wall of Twilight before sighing. "I really hate this. Why can't whatever the hell goes on with my hand let me stay as me instead of a wolf?" Link questioned, staring at his hand angrily. "How the hell does Zelda do it?"

"Zelda knows how to use magic. All you've got is… whatever the hell is up with your hand. I never actually looked at what it did last time."

"Well, you can look at it this time."

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

Midna floated through the barrier, causing the same ripple effect she did the other times. When Midna stuck her hand back through the barrier, she held it out to him instead of trying to grab him. When he placed his hand in hers, she gently pulled him through the barrier and released him.

Once he was on the other side, Link held up his left hand as they both looked at it. Once again, the three glowing triangles appeared, with the bottom right brighter than the others. Link stared at it intensely, silently demanding it keep him in his true form, while Midna went silent and wide-eyed.

"You have the TRIFORCE?!" Midna screamed.

"The what?"

"The TRIFORCE!" Midna shouted in Link's face, "Only the most powerful magical item to ever exist, making even the most powerful magicians look like children in comparison!" Midna turned around and threw her hands up. "I didn't know it was being handed out! If people are just allowed to have it, why was there a wa-?!" Midna stopped herself just in time. She didn't want Link to know about that, and she could feel the Fused Shadows creeping into her mind using her anger as a doorway.

"Why are you so upset about this?"

"I'm not upset. I'm just… shocked. You don't realize how important this is."

"No, I don't. I have no idea what this is," Link said, looking at his hand. "Wait a minute," Link patted his body. "I'm me!"

"What?" Midna questioned as she turned around before widening her visible eye. "You're… you." Midna floated up to Link and poked his face to see if he was some kind of illusion. "You're you! How did you do that?!"

"I don't know! I must have done something with the Triforce! This is great! This will be so much easier now!"

"Do me!" Midna said, gesturing to herself with both hands.

"What?"

"Do me!' Midna repeated. "You kept yourself in your true form with the Triforce! Use it to restore me to my true form!"

"Uh, ok… how?"

"Just… do whatever you did to keep you like this!"

"I don't know what I did."

"Just try! Please!"

"Ok! Ok! I'll try!" Link said quickly. Midna had gotten so close to his face that he had to lean back. She must be desperate to be back in her real body. Link grabbed her shoulder and pushed her away from him so he could stand up straight. Midna was surprised, not realizing how close she got. Link's face became slightly intense as he concentrated on willing the Triforce to do something. After a few seconds, he was ready to give up. "Midna, I don't think it's working."

"Keep trying!" Midna begged. She knew it wasn't fixing her body as she hoped, but she felt it fixing her mind. The Fused Shadow's grip on her was beginning to fade, but it wasn't enough for her to tell him what was happening.

"It's not working," Link sighed, dropping his arm to his side. No, no, It is! It is working! Keep going! "I'm sorry." Don't be sorry! Be helpful!

"It's… fine," Midna's body said, its expression solemn, "it's not your fault."

"We'll fix it. Eventually. We'll fix everything," Link promised.

"I know," Midna said before slipping back into Link's shadow, and the disbelieving tone in her voice was real. Link gave a sigh and moved on. He followed along the map he brought toward the Lanayru spring, where he would likely find the next light spirit. The journey was uneventful until Link found a small bag, which he kneeled to investigate.

"A bag?" Midna questioned, hovering over Link. He examined the bag closely, recognizing it.

"It's Ilia's." Link picked the bag up and examined the strap that once held it to her leg. "The strap is torn. Violently. It wasn't removed from her willingly." Midna frowned at what that could imply. "The bag is crushed. She could have hidden it under her clothes." Link opened the bag to see a single poorly made knife inside. "A knife. Poorly made. The kind made from whatever can be found when materials are scarce." Link stood up and stared at the bag in his hands. "I think she escaped."

"Why do you think that?"

"The knife was probably made to cut restraints, though from what I know, Ilia wouldn't know how to make this, so someone might have been with her. The bag is probably crushed because it was stuffed somewhere to hide it, likely to store supplies for an escape, and the strap was probably torn during a scuffle while she fled."

"And you got all that from this thing?" Midna asked incredulously, gesturing to the bag. "How the hell do you do that?"

"I just… look at the clues," Link offered as he placed the bag into his own, "I don't know." Link continued walking, constantly on edge and looking for monsters but never saw any. Much walking later, Link could make out something in the distance. It was tall, had many towers, and was made of stone. "Is that Hyrule castle?"

"I think so," Midna said next to him. "So, we finally made it back here."

"If the castle has been taken over, what happened to the people in castle town?" There was no answer, so Link decided to see for himself. He continued until he saw the towering walls of his destination, but what he saw was a disturbing sight. The outside of the walls were stained with blood, and the ground was soaked as well. Much of it was dried, but some was fresh, and a few corpses were scattered around. The nearest one was missing its left arm, and Link spotted it far away. Four dead bulbins surrounded the corpse. At the sight of the mangled body, Midna floated away quickly, and Link heard her throw up. "His arm is all the way over there. He lost his arm and kept fighting."

"Shut up, Link!" Midna demanded, vomiting again at his words.

"Why are they attacking from outside?" Link wondered. "They have the castle and access to portals. They could easily bypass the walls." Although she heard him, Midna was too busy vomiting to respond.

The gates were sealed, forcing Link to climb over the wall. When the hero reached the top, he glanced at the ghostly guards, able to make out their forms without his wolf senses. The guards looked tired, physically and mentally, but were alert. The wall Link was on was only the outer wall, and another was beyond it. A small canyon separated the walls, and a bridge connected them. Link lowered himself onto the bridge and climbed over the inner wall before finally seeing Castle Town. The buildings looked fine, but the people in the streets looked weary.

"See anything?" Link thought the approaching guard was somehow addressing him before he realized another was behind him.

"Nothing, thankfully." There was silence for a short while.

"How's your shoulder?"

"I'll live." The soldier responded. "I won't let a hurt shoulder stop me, not after your brother…" both soldiers stood in uncomfortable silence. "You know. Even without his arm, he saved my life... Look, I'm sorry, I wasn't fast enough."

"I know. You've told me."

"I shouldn't be complaining. I'm lucky, my brother-"

"Your brother lost his legs. There's nothing lucky about that." Silence. "How is he?"

"Better. I'm going to visit him at the doctor's after my shift."

"I'll go with you. I was going to visit him too." The other guard nodded before saying goodbye to his friend and moving slightly down the wall. Link sighed and closed his eyes for a minute, saddened to hear what happened to the guards and their families. He turned to leave and saw Midna with her back to him and her face in her hands, clearly trying to hide the fact she was crying. He reached out and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. After a few minutes, she finally calmed down enough to speak.

"They… Their brothers… I… gods, what has Zant done?"

"That's war."

"How can you say that so casually?!" Midna snapped, "didn't you hear what happened to them?! To their families?!"

"Of course, I heard it!" Link said, his voice slightly raised. "But I don't have time to cry. I've got a job to do. I can cry once I'm done. Just because I don't show my emotions when on a mission doesn't mean I don't have them."

"I know… I'm sorry, I just… It hurt to hear that."

"I know. It's ok to take the time to cry."

"You're a hypocrite. You know that? You tell me it's ok to cry and express emotions but say you can't do the same thing." Midna said, looking directly into Link's eyes. He showed no reaction other than a sigh.

"Come on, let's get going."