Favorable side Page 11

  stir on her own accord, though it was clear that she was still somewhat groggy as she lazily rose up to float, letting out a tired groan as she did so. "What are you-" The

  Twilight Princess let out a sudden gasp as her half-lidded eyes opened wide and she quickly flew in close to her companion, looking him up and down in absolute shock.

  "What's wrong, Midna?" Link asked with a slightly amused grin, knowing why she was so surprised.

  "Y-you… you… you're human again?!" Midna exclaimed in disbelief, though sure enough it was true. "How did you… Did you go talk to the light spirit without me?!"

  The hero shook his head, his smile fading into a serious expression. "No, and I don't think you're going to like what actually happened…" he said, knowing just how bitter

  the Twilight Princess was towards her cousin, especially after everything that had happened.

  "Well, don't leave me in suspense!" the Twilight Princess said in slight exasperation. "Tell me!"

  Link hesitated for a moment or two, much to Midna's further aggravation as he tried to figure out how to explain what had occurred, since he didn't really understand it

  himself. "Well…" he began a bit awkwardly, already anticipating the Twilight Princess's outburst upon hearing this news. "While you were sleeping, Verona showed up and

  she-"

  "What?!" Midna exclaimed, completely aghast as she circled around Link in a panicked hurry, checking to see if he bore any injuries or abnormalities. "Did she hurt you?!

  Did she cast any sort of other spell on you worse than the last one? Did she threaten you? Try to kill you? Anything?!"

  The hero couldn't help but smirk a bit upon hearing this barrage of concerned questions, knowing that even though their situation was serious, he couldn't help but find the

  Twili imp's worries over him to be somewhat humorous. "Wow, Midna," he said with a small laugh. "I didn't know you cared so much about me."

  The Twilight Princess scowled in annoyance as she gave him a deliberate punch in the arm, knowing that he was only trying to joke, but she was in no mood for such

  nonsense. "Stop avoiding my questions!" she growled, realizing that if he was well enough to play around like he was then he must not be harmed like she had thought.

  "What did Verona do while she was here?"

  "Well, first of all she took that shard out of me, which explains why I'm not a wolf anymore," Link said as seriously as he could manage, though Midna still detected a hint

  of sarcasm in his tone, but she let it slide for now.

  "Then what?" the Twilight Princess pressed, wondering how in the world she had slept through something like that.

  "Then we had a really… weird conversation," the hero said with a frown. "Don't worry though; she didn't hurt me. In fact, she didn't even try. She said that she doesn't

  want to hurt or kill me, but I think she's lying."

  Midna nodded in solemn agreement, knowing that such armistice sound like the same Verona who had brutally beaten her almost to death a few days prior. "So… what

  else did you two talk about?" she asked carefully, her tone less harsh and more wondering than anything else.

  "Basically, she told me not to trust Zelda, and that was pretty much it," the hero said, trying to remember anything else the Queen of Shadows might have said that could

  be of importance to them, but finding nothing.

  "What?" the Twilight Princess asked in clear confusion. "You mean she didn't say anything about what her further plans are? Or why she took that shard out of you?"

  "She did say that if she hadn't have taken the shard out, it would have ended up killing me," Link said, though he had a feeling there was more to it than that, as did

  Midna. "But she didn't really say much else about it. I don't even know what she did with it after she took it out, to be honest."

  The Twili imp let out a huffy sigh as she placed her palm against her head, not really aggravated with the hero anymore, but with the entire situation in general. "Of

  course…" she muttered to herself. "Leave it to Verona to be as vague as possible…"

  Link frowned and looked away from Midna for a moment, half tempted to tell her about the figure he had just seen in the woods mere moments ago, but he decided that

  it wasn't as important at the moment as dealing with their main issue. "So… what now?" he asked, hoping to coax the usually vibrant Twilight Princess out of her apparent

  sulking mood.

  "Well, you heard the sword spirit earlier," the Twili imp said, crossing her arms. "I guess now we can go back to the grove and you can get the Master Sword again. Then

  we'll go back to the castle and finally put Verona in her place once and for all."

  The hero seemed to hesitate in responding to this, something that the Twilight Princess clearly picked up on in the tone he used when he spoke again. "Ok, but…"

  "What is it now, Link?" Midna asked a bit harshly, sighing in exasperation as she rolled her eyes at him.

  Link gave her an apologetic, yet good-natured smile, one that the Twilight Princess couldn't stay aggravated with for too long as he always somehow managed to break

  down the sturdy barriers she set up. "Well, since we're out this way, I thought maybe we could stop by Ordon before we head to the castle," he suggested, knowing that

  the village was only a few miles away from their current position, within walking distance even. "I haven't been there since before Zelda's coronation and I just want to

  make sure that everyone's ok. Is that too much to ask?"

  Midna glared at him upon hearing him pick up that sardonic tone again as he posed this question to her, but she decided to relent, knowing that trying to convince him to

  hurry would be futile. After all, he was most likely still recovering from Verona ripping the shard out of him, though he seemed fine externally, but who could really tell?

  "Alright…" the Twilight Princess agreed begrudgingly, opting to stay out of his shadow to glide along beside him until the two of them got to the village. "But don't waste

  time! You know how I hate it when you mess around when there's important work to be done!"

  "How could I forget?" the hero asked with a smirk, remembering just how often she used to get angry with him for diverging from their quest during the Twilight Invasion.

  But nonetheless, the pair quickly set off, heading for Ordon Village even despite the darkness of night still lingering as thick as ever. The conversed all the while, just as they

  always used to do, as if nothing had separated them or their friendship in the first place.

  "So did Verona say anything about lifting this goddess-forsaken night?" Midna asked, crossing her arms as she glared up into the darkened skies above the trees.

  Link shook his head, wishing that the Queen of Shadows had not been so mysterious during their meeting but had instead given him some sort of hint or lead to go on

  that could potentially help in taking her down. "No, but it does make things awfully confusing," he said with a frown. "What time is it anyway?"

  "Who can tell?" the Twilight Princess shrugged. "I'd say it's been a little over a day since Verona attacked, so it must be pretty late at night, but I could be wrong." Upon

  saying this, Midna happened to look over at Link as she glided alongside him, noticing something that caught her off guard once more.

  "Whoa," the Twili imp said, floating in front of him and stopping him in his tracks as she stared deep into his eyes.

  "What?" the hero asked in confusion, raising an eyebrow at her.

  "Your eyes…" Midna mused softly, leaning in even closer to him.

  "Let me guess," Link said, already anticipating what she was going to say. "They're still glowing, right?"

  The Twilight Princess's wide-eyed expression did not fade as she shook her head, using her magic to create a reflective surface once more, allowing the hero to see what

  she was talking about.
Indeed, his eyes were no longer glowing light blue to the point that they were almost white, but they had not returned to normal either. Instead of

  their usual deep, dark blue, it was as though the color had been drained from the entirely, to the point that they were now a dull shade of grey, not bright enough to be

  considered silver, but not dark either. Instead, they looked cold and hallow, even though they were still just as expressive as they used to be.

  "I… I don't understand…" Link said with a bewildered frown, wondering if this was an after effect of the shard being ripped out of him.

  "Neither do I," Midna said pertly, making the mirror vanish out of sight. "But I'll bet anything that Verona has something to do with it. Are you sure you're feeling ok?"

  "Yeah," the hero said with a nod. "I feel fine. Why?"

  "Just wondering…" the Twilight Princess said somewhat mysteriously as the two of them began to head on once more. "Aren't you cold though? I mean, it's freezing out

  here, but you don't even seem to be phased by it in the least!"

  Link simply shrugged, knowing that she was right. He wasn't really that hindered by the frigid conditions as he should have been, but he simply attributed it to the thick

  cape that Zelda had given him, which he was still wearing. "No, not really," he admitted nonchalantly. "I guess the cold just doesn't bother me anymore."

  Midna clenched her fists upon hearing the sarcasm in his voice once more. "Well, it certainly bothered you when you nearly froze to death when we were scaling

  Snowpeak, remember?" she asked harshly, leaving him to recall the experience as she glided on ahead. The hero was quick to catch up with her, but their conversation

  quickly died off until they made their way into the village, which was eerily quiet and dark, not even a single lantern lit as was the usual case. The Twilight Princess retreated

  to the hero's shadow as he looked around, finding no one about and confirming the Twili imp's guess as to the time of day. The only time that Ordon was this still was at

  night, when everyone was tucked in their beds asleep. And, after a bit of resistance from Midna, who wanting to rush back to the castle right away, Link eventually

  managed to convince her that they follow suit, and so they retired to his house to get a much needed full night's rest before encountering Verona again.

  However, unlike the hero who seemed to sleep soundly from the very moment he climbed into bed, such rest did not come so easily to the Twilight Princess, who

  watched her companion silently from the shadows as he slumbered. Though Link didn't seem to think so, Midna could not shake the feeling that something was off about

  him, or at least more than he seemed to be letting on. She wasn't entirely sure if he knew himself, but the Twili imp could tell based on his now grey eyes and his apparent

  invulnerability to the cold that whatever Verona had done during their encounter had changed something, though thankfully it had done nothing to his personality or

  temperament.

  As far as she knew.

  All the while, Midna was also quite preoccupied with thoughts concerning her own domain. It had been days now since the Twilight Realm had fallen into Verona's clutches,

  and yet the Queen of Shadows was here in Hyrule, meaning that the shadowy kingdom was most likely left in a state of confusion and abandonment, if not all-out chaos.

  The Twilight Princess feared deeply for her people, who most likely believed that their ruler was either dead or had selfishly left them in their time of need. It pained Midna

  to think that she could do nothing to help them on her own, and that she had been so pathetic in trying to stand against the Queen of Shadows in the first place. Though it

  was hard, she really was trying her best to remain as hopeful as she could in this situation; the Twilight Princess had always been something of a pessimist, even before

  the Twilight Invasion, most likely due to how spoiled she had been growing up. And yet, Link had shown her to look at the world through a more hopeful view, and Midna

  knew that in light of everything that seemed to be going wrong, that was all she could do now to assure herself that things would eventually turn out alright.

  The hours passed on slowly and uneventfully and the Twilight Princess was largely awake for all of them. She wasn't really that tired from having gotten a bit of rest in the

  woods earlier and her mind was too full to simply lie down in the shadows and rest. And besides, the last time she had fallen asleep, Verona had been able to approach

  Link so easily; in fact, if she had wanted to, the Queen of Shadows most likely could have killed the hero right then and there and Midna wouldn't have even known about

  it until he was lying dead and cold in the snow. But much to her relief, such a thing had not happened, and as far as the Twili imp was concerned, she would never let such

  a thing happen as long as she lived.

  Time felt as though it was standing still thanks to the eternal night set upon the land, but sure enough morning came, even though darkness still reigned in the starless

  skies above. However, before Midna could even prepare to wake Link up and get him moving, something else managed to do her job for her; more specifically, a

  tentative, almost hesitant knock on the door.

  "Goddess…" the Twilight Princess muttered in aggravation as the hero woke up and sleepily sat up in bed. "What now?"

  "Who is that?" Link asked a bit tiredly as he slipped on his tunic over his undershirt.

  "Who cares?" Midna said with little concern. "Just get rid of them so we can be on our way!"

  "You're always in such a rush, Midna," the hero said with a small laugh as he climbed down to the main floor of the house.

  "That's because you're always so slow!" the Twilight Princess scolded bitterly, but she decided to retreat into his shadow nonetheless without another word as he headed

  for the door. And, as Link opened the door he was greeted with the only person he could have guessed would come to see him at such an apparently early hour.

  "Ilia?" the hero asked with a confused frown, especially upon noticing that the girl quickly glanced away from him the moment she saw him. "What are you doing here?"

  "Well… I thought I saw you come into the village late last night…" Ilia said anxiously, as though she had a lot on her mind, which was clear to see in her apprehensive

  expression. "I guess I was right. You are back."

  "Yeah…" the hero said, noticing how she wasn't particularly excited over this fact, though he silently invited her inside so she could get out of the cold. A beat of awkward

  silence came between the two of them for a moment, one that made somewhat sense due to the manner of their parting over a week ago now.

  "So…" Link finally broke the silence as the two of them stood quite a distance apart from each other while he tried breaking the ice with his childhood friend. "How have

  things been around here?"

  "Oh, well, you know…" Ilia said with a small shrug, still not looking him in the eyes. "Same old same old, except for all this darkness. I don't know if it's just a heavy cloud

  or what, and nobody else seems to know either. But, for the most part, everyone's been ok, I guess…"

  "That's good," the hero said with a terse nod, wanting to ask the girl why she seemed so diffident. "What about you?"

  "I've been fine…" the girl said, though it was clear she wasn't entirely sincere in her answer. "So… I heard something bad happened at the castle during the coronation.

  Were you hurt?"

  "No," Link said, knowing that it would take far too long to explain the situation in full to her and that Midna was already growing agitated from his shadow at this

  seemingly aimless conversation. "I'm fine."

  "Good," Ilia said, feigning a relieved smile. "So, you're gonna stay around here for a while, right? You know, get some rest and hang
out with me and the kids after being

  gone for a week? They—we missed you, after all…"

  The hero sighed apologetically, suddenly remembering the promise he had made to Zelda before Verona even attacked. "Actually, I can't…" he said, knowing that she could

  see through any lie he would try to tell her.

  "What?" the girl asked, finally meeting his eyes as she gave him a look of dismay. "Why not?'

  "Because I have to go back to the castle," Link admitted honestly. "The queen needs my help."

  "Help with what?" Ilia asked suspiciously, crossing her arms.

  "Ilia…" the hero sighed in exasperation, but it was clear she wasn't just going to let it go.

  "No," the girl said persistently. "What does she need your help with?"

  "Let's just say it's something really important, ok?" Link said with hardened seriousness in his tone, showing her that he clearly intended to say no more on the matter.

  "Well, are you at least coming back when you're finished?" Ilia asked, already upset with him.

  The hero certainly hesitated upon hearing this question, especially once he remembered the promise he had made to Zelda before Verona even attacked. He had vowed

  that he would stay with her and support her, and how could he very well break such a promise now, after everything that had happened? Yet at the same time, Link also

  knew that accepting the queen's invitation would mean leaving behind the life he had always known in Ordon, including Ilia. But even so, he knew it wouldn't be forever;

  after all, certainly Zelda would certainly allow him to come back and visit every now and then so he could see everyone. And though the hero knew that he should have

  felt some regrets about even thinking about leaving his quaint little village home behind simply on a whim, he strangely didn't. He wanted to be with the queen, to stand by

  her side and protect her from all harm and give her strength and comfort whenever she needed it. Which was why Link didn't even try to come up with any excuses as he

  told Ilia the truth of the matter.

  "Actually… I'm not," he said quietly, unable to look the girl in the eyes out of guilt for something he knew would certainly hurt her.