Favorable side Page 14

  "You're not going to push me to the ground again, are you?" Link asked with a frown, knowing that such a thing would most likely only lead to more disaster.

  "Nah," Midna said, shaking her head. "Instead, I just want you to get angry all your own, without my help this time."

  "How do I do that?" the hero asked in confusion. "It's not like I can just make myself mad."

  "Try thinking of something that frustrated or enrages you then," the Twilight Princess suggested. "Like… uh… Think of how Ilia accused Zelda of not really liking you! That

  made you mad, right?"

  "Well, yeah, I guess," Link said with a shrug, though he had mostly gotten over it now. But even so, after an insistent, commanding nod from Midna, he closed his eyes

  and held his hands out in front of him, trying to focus on his remaining anger over the situation, only to find that it wasn't enough to even bring forth any sort of magic

  whatsoever.

  "Come on!" the Twilight Princess said forcefully. "Get angrier!"

  "I'm trying!" the hero retorted harshly as he glared at her. However, as he said this, a sudden burst of flame appeared over his open palms, something that both of them

  couldn't help but smile at.

  "Great!" Midna encouraged with a grin. "Now, get rid of it."

  Link nodded, however as he tried to will the fire away, it simply wouldn't disappear. He even tried to physically suppress it with his hand, only to find that even upon

  touching the flame he had created, it did not burn him like it did everything else.

  "I said get rid of it!" the Twilight Princess commanded, growing frustrated with his lack of control.

  "I don't know how to get rid of it!" the hero shouted back, his eyes wide with fear and worry as the flame grew even larger. He let out a frightened cry as the oncecontainable

  fire grew into an uncontrollable blaze above his palms, before it finally shot out from them and into the skies above, exploding in a bright burst high in the air

  but thankfully not setting anything on fire.

  "Well, that was almost another disaster," Midna said, shaking her head once the explosion had cleared out. However, as she turned to Link to continue attempting to teach

  him, she paused when she noticed that he was still staring up at the black skies in absolute shock, his expression distraught and absolutely terrified. "Link?" the Twilight

  Princess asked softly, hesitantly placing a hand on his shoulder. However, the moment she did, the hero snapped out of his frozen terror and leapt away from her touch,

  clearly startled and shaken up from what had just happened. And yet, as he moved away, his fear quickly translated into magic once again as a sudden whirlwind

  surrounded him, circling around him at incredible speeds as he stood within the center of it, completely taken aback by the powerful gust he had created.

  "Link!" Midna practically screamed so she could be heard above the rushing wind. "You need to calm down! Your emotions are causing your powers to be out of control!"

  Link didn't respond however, as he had barely heard her amidst both the wind and his own racing thoughts. Glancing down at his hands once more, he saw they were

  glowing a bright green, a testament to the source of the spiral of wind surrounding him. He quickly realized once again that he had no idea how to get rid of it, or even

  how to control it. Another burst of fear coursed through the hero as he began to wonder what would happen if he never learned how to properly control his newfound

  powers. How in the world could he be the hero that Hyrule and its queen needed in these dark times if he couldn't even go anywhere without destroying everything in his

  path?

  Still resolved to set Link at ease, Midna forced herself to edge in closer to him, even though she struggled not to get blown away by the winds he was creating. "Link," the

  Twili imp said softer than before, trying a gentler, more soothing approach. "Relax. Please…"

  Somehow, the hero had managed to hear her quiet words as he suddenly glanced up at her, his eyes still wide and panicked, but even so he nodded and closed his eyes

  tightly, forcing his short gasps of breath to become even and eventually, calming down the racing winds to nothingness as well.

  "Link…" Midna began, her tone careful and concerned as she glided in close to him, hoping to console him as he opened his eyes and kept his sights set on the ground.

  "I can't do it, Midna…" Link muttered despondently under his breath, desperately doing everything in his power to remain calm and conceal his powers.

  "Do what?" the Twilight Princess asked in confusion.

  "I can't control these powers!" the hero exclaimed in distraught frustration as he looked up at her, the winds starting to subtly pick up once more. "I can't even feel

  anything without starting some sort of catastrophe! What am I going to do?!"

  "You're going to learn how to control them, like you said!" Midna said firmly and insistently.

  "How?!" Link exclaimed, not even noticing how a layer of ice was starting to cover the ground at his feet because of his despair. "This should be easy for me, but it's not!

  A few hours ago, everything was perfectly fine and I was completely normal, but now that I can use magic, everything's totally different. I never even wanted or asked for

  these powers, but I have them and I can't even control them! What… what's wrong with me?"

  "Link, listen to me," the Twilight Princess said reassuringly as she glided in even closer to him, gently placing her hands on the sides of his face. "Nothing is wrong with you.

  You're just new at this whole magic thing. Its ok that you're not getting it immediately, and I shouldn't have expected you to. But you need to know that I'm going to help

  you get through this, ok? I… I know I left you hanging before when I returned to the Twilight Realm, but… I won't this time. I'll stay by you this time, through thick and thin,

  and through fire and ice. I promise."

  The hero was silent for a long moment as he let her encouraging words sink in, finding truth and comfort in them. During their first mission together, there had rarely been

  a moment in which Midna had abandoned him, even when she had been angry or upset with him, and he didn't expect her to abandon him now. As confused and worried

  as he might have been, he knew that he could at least take consolation in the fact that he had his constant companion on his side. Even if he didn't believe in himself, she

  did, and that alone was enough to keep him going.

  "Thanks, Midna…" Link said with a small, relieved smile, the ice no longer spreading out around him and the winds no longer steadily blowing. "I… I needed that…"

  "I always seem to know just what you need, don't I?" Midna asked coyly. "Now, before anything else, I think maybe we should go see Zelda. She might be able to help

  you figure out your powers better than I can. After all, they seem to be a lot different than my Twilight magic, so maybe she knows more since she has a piece of the

  Triforce too."

  The hero nodded in agreement with this, knowing that it was a solid plan. After all, the queen had even shown him some of her magical abilities before. Certainly she

  would be able to provide them with the proper aid. And even more than that Link found that the more he thought about Zelda, the more he longed to see her again, to

  know that she was all right, and to be by her side again. He hoped that she was unharmed, and according to what Verona had told him, she was, though the hero was

  inclined not to fully believe what the Queen of Shadows had said.

  "So, I think we can agree… no more magic until we get there, ok?" the Twilight Princess asked, watching as Link used the horse call to beckon Epona so they could get

  there faster.

  "I'll try my hardest," the hero said with a small smile, glad that she could be lighthearted for the both of them i
n this uncertain situation. As the horse made arrived at the

  call, the hero mounted her as the Twili imp slipped into his shadow, both of them heading off towards the castle in order to not only solve the problem that the kingdom

  was facing, but also have their own problem solved as well.

  However, what neither Link nor Midna saw as they headed off into Hyrule Field, was the shadow that was watching them from the dark depths of the woods. Verona

  smiled darkly to herself, knowing that her plans for the hero were about to blossom, especially now that he had discovered his powers. "That's right, Link…" the Queen of

  Shadows whispered to herself, glancing down at the glowing Spirit Shard hovering above her palm. "Go to your beloved queen... I'll be waiting, ready to pick up the pieces

  of what's left of you once she breaks your heart…"

  "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 do 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

  studied his palms for a moment or two before turning them over and letting out a gasp at what she saw. The hero was also quite surprised to see that the mark of the

  Triforce of Courage on the back of his hand was emitting a bright green light while the other two pieces were merely a dim gold. "Hm… Well that's odd…" Midna

  commented with a frown.

  "Zelda told me that each piece of the Triforce had some kind of magic…" the hero said, remembering his conversation with the queen that seemed so long ago now.

  "But… we didn't think that mine could do anything this special…"

  "Well, apparently it can," the Twilight Princess concluded. "But even so, you need to be careful, Link. Magic is a very unpredictable thing, and it's already clear that you have

  no idea how to use it."

  "Well, I've never had to before," Link protested, though he knew she was right.

  "Then I guess someone will have to teach you so you won't end up freeze the entire forest," Midna said with an exasperated sigh. "And I guess that someone will have to

  be me, since I do have the advantage of having learned how to use magic at a young age…"

  "Thanks, Midna," the hero said with a small smile of relief, knowing that he aggravated tone was a joking one this time around.

  "No problem," the Twilight Princess said with a sly smirk. "But like I've told you before: you have to do exactly as I say… got it, my little wolf?"

  Link rolled his eyes at her and her nickname for him, but he relented nonetheless, knowing he didn't really have much of a choice. "Fine," he agree with a sigh, knowing

/>   that she certainly wasn't going to make this easy for him.

  "Good," Midna said with an authoritative nod. "Now, come on. I can teach you as we go back to the Sacred Grove to get that sword. I'm sure that spirit will be able to tell

  us more about these new powers of yours."

  The hero merely nodded in agreement as he began to follow the Twili imp as she glided ahead of him along the path back to the Sacred Grove. However, as he passed by

  the tree that he had frozen earlier, he couldn't help but glance over it at, a feeling of apprehension and worry running through him. He could have never dreamed before

  that he would ever have magical powers, and yet the evidence was as plain as day. As much as he had tried to initially deny it, he could now use magic, whether he had

  wanted it or not, and admittedly, he hadn't really wanted such an ability in the first place. Link knew that this would only make the situation concerning Verona even more

  difficult, but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder these powers had come about as a result of her doing. It wouldn't make much sense for the Queen of Shadows

  to gift him with magic, especially since he still planned on opposing her, no matter what appeals she had tried to make to him earlier. But if that was the case, then why

  would she aid him by giving him that would certainly make him stronger. After all, magic was an incredibly rare skill in Hyrule, to the point that the hero only knew of a

  handful of individuals who could actually use it, including Midna and Zelda. But certainly, with the Twilight Princess's skill at using her own magic, she would be able to pass

  on her knowledge to him and help him master it as well, so that they could use both of their abilities to strike Verona down at last.

  "So, what's my first lesson?" Link inquired of Midna as he caught up to her and walked at a steady pace beside her.

  The Twilight Princess pondered this for a moment before glancing over at him. "Well… how did you create the ice before when you were chasing Ilia?" she asked, hoping

  that would give them a good starting point.

  "I don't know," the hero admitted honestly. "It all happened so fast… All I remember is that I was mad and I wanted her to stop and listen to me, and then, all of the