Favorable side Page 12

  "You… you're… what?" Ilia asked, as though she didn't understand what he had said.

  "Zelda asked me to stay at the castle with her," Link explained with a frown, wishing that he didn't have to tell the girl this news in such a blunt way. "And so, I think I'm

  going to."

  Ilia was stunned silent for a long moment, her jaw dropped and pain clearly showing in her light green eyes as she tried to make sense of what he had just told her. "But…

  why?" she asked softly, trying her best to hold back tears.

  The hero didn't particularly want to go into his reasoning behind this choice that involved the queen, and so he went into the reasoning that was more focused on him

  instead. "Because I don't feel like I belong here anymore," he said with a sigh, glancing away from her. And indeed, it was true. Ordon simply did not feel like home to him

  now that he had been out in the much larger world.

  "And what makes you think that you'll belong any more in the castle of all places!?" the girl exclaimed, suddenly distraught as her emotions began to pour forth.

  "Who says I won't?" Link said a bit crossly, tired of how she seemed to think that he was unworthy of being among members of higher society such as Zelda. "Zelda

  wants me to be there with her and I can't just turn her down. She is the queen, after all."

  "Oh, so you're comfortable enough with her that you're on a first name basis now?" Ilia asked coldly, glaring up at him. "You must be awfully close if you're willing to

  throw everything you've ever known before to a woman you barely even know!"

  "I'm not throwing everything away!" the hero protested, quickly starting to grow frustrated with her.

  "Oh yeah?" the girl asked bitingly. "Because that's exactly what it sounds like to me! Don't you even care about me or anyone else here in Ordon anymore?"

  "Of course I do!" Link said with sincerity, because it certainly was true. No matter how far he traveled, he could never forget the village he had called home for basically his

  entire life, nor the kind people in it. "Why does this bother you so much? It's not like we'll never see each other again."

  Ilia took in a sharp breath, fully prepared to explain why, before she turned away from him quickly, no longer able to look at him lest she burst into tears. "That's not the

  point, Link!" she said bitterly.

  "Then what is the point, Ilia?" the hero asked as he clenched his fists at his sides. "Are… are you jealous?"

  "Jealous?!" the girl exclaimed, though there was a hint of denial in her tone even despite the disbelief in it. "What in the world would I be jealous of?"

  "Zelda," Link said pointedly, crossing his arms as she glanced back at him the moment he said the girl's name, her green eyes absolutely livid.

  "I can't believe you…" Ilia said, her tone quiet but enraged nonetheless. "I don't know how you could ever think that I'd be jealous of… of her. Clearly she has you wrapped

  around her little finger so much that you can barely even think straight! You've only been around her for a few days! She may want you with her now, but what happens

  when she gets tired of you, or if she's not everything you think she is?"

  "You're wrong about her," the hero said rigidly, remembering that the Queen of Shadows had tried a similar approach to change how he felt about the Hylian queen one

  that didn't work then and wouldn't work now. "She isn't like that."

  "And how do you really know, Link?!" the girl exclaimed, wanting him to see reason. "You barely even know her at all! We've been best friends for years, but it's like… like

  that doesn't even matter to you anymore…"

  "That does matter to me," Link insisted, trying to place a hand on her shoulder, but she was quick to pull it away out of anger. "You know it does, Ilia."

  "Then why would you choose her over me? Over us?" Ilia asked, the pain in her voice uncontainable as a tear finally slipped down her cheek.

  "Ilia… I…" the hero stammered, unsure of what to say as he suddenly felt overwhelming guilty about how he had not even considered how she might have felt about this.

  "It's complicated…"

  "You… like her… don't you?" the girl asked, her voice little more than a quivering whisper.

  Link hesitated before answering that, knowing that she meant something that was more than just a mere friendly affection. "I… I don't know…" he answered quickly,

  trying to convince himself of this more than her, though he knew well how he felt.

  "You do know," Ilia said, tears shining in her eyes. "It's written all over your face, so you might as well stop lying to me and tell me the truth…"

  A huge pang of guilt filled the hero upon hearing the utter heartbreak in her tone. He wanted to tell her that there was nothing at all between him and the queen, that no

  romance had ever occurred and that the two of them had never kissed, simply to make her feel better, But it would be a lie. Link already knew that Ilia could read his

  feelings like a book, something she had always been able to do ever since they were both little, and so, he finally relented.

  "Fine…" the hero muttered, a hint of shame in his voice as he let out a sigh. "Maybe I do have feelings for her. But that shouldn't change anything at all between us, Ilia.

  We've been friends for as long as we can both remember, and I don't want that to end now."

  The girl let out a bitter laugh as the tears began to fall harder down her cheeks after hearing him say it out loud. "I think it's already way too late for that, Link," she said in

  a tone that held none of the warmth that she usually spoke with. "You're so blinded by your 'love' or whatever it is you feel for her that you can't even see just how

  different the two of you are. She's the queen! No matter how hard you try, you'll never be on the same level as her! Believe me, she'll only end up breaking your heart

  when it's all said and done."

  "No," Link said firmly, his frustration starting to rise once more at hearing such accusations against Zelda. "You don't know her like I do. She'd never do anything to hurt

  me like that."

  "Fine!" Ilia nearly shouted, unable to contain her rage and sorrow any longer as she abruptly turned to leave. "Believe whatever you want then! I don't care! Go rush off

  and sell yourself to 'her highness'! I'm sure you'll both be very happy together until she dumps you for the next prince or duke that comes her way! But you can believe

  that I certainly won't be here to help you put yourself back together again when she does!"

  "Ilia!" the hero exclaimed hotly, but it was already too late. The moment she finished speaking, she quickly stormed out of the house, slamming the door roughly behind

  her. However, Link wasn't about to let the matter end there, as the last thing he wanted was to be on bad terms with Ilia, even though he refused to believe her claims

  about Zelda. And so he decided to follow immediately after her, hoping to get her to calm down and get her to understand and accept why he had decided to leave Ordon

  permanently.

  "What do you think you're doing?" Midna growled from the hero's shadow as he burst out of the house, only to see that the girl was already retreating towards Faron

  instead of Ordon. "We don't have time for you to deal with your relationship issues! We need to get back to the castle now!"

  "We will!" Link retorted in harsh aggravation as he gave chase after Ilia. "Just give me a few minutes."

  "Ugh, fine!" the Twilight Princess hissed impatiently. "But if you don't hurry it up then I will come out of the shadows and drag you to the castle myself, got it?"

  The hero simply nodded and muttered angrily to himself under his breath in a tone so low that the Twili imp couldn't hear it, nor did she really care to hear it. She knew

  that he was wasting time dealing with something that was completely trivial when they had two whole kingdoms that n
eeded saving. Something as foolish as this could

  certainly wait, but Midna knew that Link was stubborn and that he wouldn't hear any sort of arguments when it came to dealing with Ilia, just as he hadn't when he

  worked tirelessly, even amidst everything that he had to accomplish, in restoring her memory months ago.

  Though the hero tried calling out to the retreating girl as she ran off into the snowy woods, it was to no avail as she continued to hurry away from him, to hurt to face him

  again. Ilia was heartbroken to say the least, in a way that she never had been before. She knew that this just wasn't fair; her and Link had known each other for most of

  their lives and yet she wasn't the one he had decided to give his affections, affections that she had often desired to her. Instead, he had chosen to give his heart to the

  supposedly cold, unfeeling Queen of Hyrule, who, even if she did want to reciprocate them, certainly couldn't promise him a happy life together like the girl could. It was

  true that the two of them had certainly drifted apart over the past few months together, but Ilia never could have guessed that the rift torn between the two of them

  would become impassable to the point that it would drive Link into the arms of someone else entirely, someone that he barely even knew enough to really trust yet. And

  though the girl wanted nothing more than for the hero to be content once more like he used to be, she knew that whatever shallow, spur-of-the-moment feelings he had

  for the queen, certainly wouldn't be able to fulfill him like he believed. But all the while, Ilia knew just how stubborn Link was, and that when it came to things like this, he

  would often rush in without thinking, regardless of the consequences, all without listening to reason. There would be no convincing him that he was wrong; he would just

  have to find that out the hard way.

  The hero chased the girl from a sizable distance behind, knowing that he wouldn't catch up with her at the rate he was running, but he wasn't really trying to anyway. Link

  believed that Ilia was being absolutely ridiculous about this entire situation. But then again, who could she be sensible about it? How could she understand just how at ease

  and happy he felt around Zelda, things he had not felt in quite some time? How could she understand the warmth he felt every time he merely thought about the beautiful

  queen, how her graceful smile made him melt like nothing else ever could? He hadn't been lying when he had admitted his feelings for her; he had never felt this way

  before about anyone and although he knew it hurt the girl, the hero couldn't help but treasure it. And yet at the same time, Link wanted nothing more than to make Ilia

  see that she was wrong about Zelda and about their relationship. The queen would not simply disregard him the moment she saw fit to do so, not even giving him a

  second thought whatsoever. He was certain that she cared for him just as he did for her, and he was determined to prove it.

  "Ilia, wait!" Link called out as he quickened his pace, realizing that he was getting nowhere simply by pursing her at this rate.

  "No!" Ilia called back bitterly, hot tears streaming down her cold, rosy cheeks. "Not until you admit you're making a huge mistake!"

  The hero clenched his fists tightly upon hearing this, his anger and desperation growing even more upon hearing this. He knew that she was stubborn, but this was

  outrageous. She refused to even stop and hear him out, something that absolutely infuriated him as she continued to throw out her harsh allegations. "No," he began, his

  tone low and almost feral as he stopped in his tracks, though it quickly grew into a loud, enraged shout. "I'm not!"

  The moment Link said this, he thrust his hand forward out of mere impulse, but even he did not notice the rush of cold that flowed through him until it was too late. Time

  seemed to slow to both a crawl and speed up incredibly as he drew in a sudden breath as he felt a burst of energy escape him in a way that it never had before, the brief

  feeling of freezing cold being torn from him as well as he felt something swirl around his outstretched hand, something he didn't even see until it had shot away from his

  hand and in the direction the girl was heading for and hit a large tree that was almost directly in front of her.

  Link, Midna and Ilia all let out their own gasps of absolute shock and surprise when the burst of magic, magic that the hero himself had apparently created struck the tree

  roughly, completely covering it in a thick layer of jagged ice.

  "Fire only brings destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart."

  -Jeong Jeong, Avatar: The Last Airbender

  The ice had spiraled out of his hand before he could even stop it, and before he could even realize what was happening.

  As the glowing energy crashed into the tree, both Link and Ilia were quick to stop in their tracks, both of them staring at the now unevenly frozen tree in complete shock.

  It too all of Midna's willpower to keep herself from leaping forth from the shadows to get a better look, but even from there she could see well what had happened. Sure

  enough, though it was beyond explanation for any of them, the hero himself had somehow produced the magic that had struck the tree, even though he had never been

  able to do such a thing ever before.

  After what seemed like ages of stunned silence, Ilia finally turned around to look back at Link with wide eyes, though he was quick to avert her gaze as he glanced down

  at his hands, noticing with total surprise that an aura of soft blue light was enveloping around them, further proof that what had just happened had been his doing.

  "L-Link…?" the girl asked nervously, having also taken notice of the blue glow surrounding the hero's hands. "W-what did you do?!"

  Admittedly, Link was still trying to figure out the answer to that question himself as he glanced between his hands and the ice covering the tree, wondering where in the

  world it might have come from. "I… I don't know," he said rather quietly as he shook his head in bewilderment.

  With hesitant steps, Ilia slowly approached the hero, her curiosity getting the better of her as she stood before him and stared at the aura of cold energy circling his hands,

  something that he didn't know how to get rid of at all. "Is… Is that magic?" she asked wonderingly, taking care not to get too close to him just in case something else

  unexpected happened.

  Link frowned and shook his head once more, wanting to think that such a claim was preposterous, though he knew that it couldn't be that far off from the truth. "No," he

  said to himself more than Ilia. "No, it can't be. After all, I've never been able to-" Before he could finish however, the hero was quickly cut off as he lowered his hands, only

  to have more ice burst forth from them and cover the ground around them both in a thin sheet. Both Link and Ilia let out surprised gasps at this as the girl squealed and

  leaped back in fear, her eyes wide and frightened as she stared at the ice for a moment before looking back to the hero and shaking her head.

  "Whatever this is, Link, I think it's something you need to figure out on your own," Ilia said a bit shakily, her hands over her heart as she tried just as much as he was to

  make sense of it all. "I'm sure Zelda will be more than happy to help you." A hint of bitter hurt still was in her tone as she quickly strode past the stunned hero, who was

  too confused and distraught to really chase after her this time as she rushed back towards the village, leaving him alone and beyond perplexed.

  Once Ilia had fled the immediate area, Midna, who had been watching the entire scene, took the opportunity to slip out of Link's shadow, looking at him with wide eyes of

  shock and awe, clearly just as bewildered as he was. "How… how did you d
o that!?" she exclaimed as she hovered before him, pointing at the mass of ice still covering

  the trees behind her.

  The hero stared at his own hands in disbelief for a moment, watching with astonishment as the azure light continued to circle around them even still. "I already told Ilia: I

  don't know," he said, shaking his head as he finally glanced up at the Twilight Princess. "It just sort of… happened. It's not like I was trying to do anything like that!"

  Frowning at him, Midna glided in closer to him and placed her hand near his, feeling just how cold the aura it was putting off was. "It is magic…" she muttered, her

  expression focused but wondering at the same time. "All right, what's the deal? Have you been holding out on me all this time? How come you never told me you were

  able to use magic!?" she glared at him hotly, missing the point of what he had just told her completely.

  "I can't use magic!" Link said defensively, once again trying to convince himself of this fact as well, since it was certainly too surreal to be true.

  "Oh yeah?" the Twilight Princess asked sharply. "Then what do you call that?" she asked, pointing to ice still surrounding his hands.

  The hero clenched his hands into tight fists, trying everything he could to will the blue light away, even though he wasn't sure if it would even work. However, he found that

  as he focused, the glow did seem to dim a little bit, but not entirely. "I… I don't understand…" he said quietly, glancing over to the ice-covered trees in front of him. "Where

  did it even come from?"

  "That's what I'd like to know…" Midna mused thoughtfully. "Maybe it has something to do with Verona taking that shard out of you… Let me see your hands again."

  "Ok, but… be careful…" Link cautioned with a frown, hesitantly holding his hands out as he knew that there was a good chance something he wouldn't be able to control

  might happen once more.

  "Oh, come on, Link," the Twilight Princess scoffed, rolling her eyes as she took his freezing cold hands into hers, thankfully not effected by the magic near them. She