innocent. I was trapped in a bargain I wanted no parts of, and because of that, I have done Link a great wrong. I just hope that one day he will be able to forgive me of
my transgression…"
Midna was silent for a moment as she took this in, suddenly regretting how harshly she had treated Zelda in the aftermath of her turning Link away. If she had only known
why the queen had acted in such a way, then she would have understood, even though she wasn't sure if she had the same strength to do the same for her kingdom.
"So… do you actually love him?" she asked, wondering how much of what Zelda had said had been true and how much had been part of the act.
Zelda froze up upon the back of the horse upon being faced with this question once more, knowing that she still didn't have a definitive answer for it. "I… I do not know…"
she said, hoping that Midna would just leave it at that, but of course, she didn't.
"You don't know?" the Twilight Princess repeated with a sided frown. "Because considering the way you two were looking at each other the night of the coronation, I'm
pretty sure you both completely knew how you felt about each other."
"It is not that simple, Midna," the queen protested anxiously. "I cannot merely think in terms of myself. I have my entire kingdom to consider, and besides, now is not the
time to be thinking of such flights of fancy anyway. And… even if I were able to tell him… I know he wouldn't believe anything I say now…"
"Well, you know what I think?" Midna asked as she casually reclined as she glided through the air. "I think you're just afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Zelda asked with a confused frown.
"Afraid of letting yourself feel love for him," the Twilight Princess explained. "It's definitely there, but you won't let it show to him or yourself. And I don't get why you're
doing this to yourself. You obviously know how he feels about you, so you don't have to worry about rejection from him. So what's the problem here?"
The queen bit her lip apprehensively, not really sure of what the answer to that question was herself. Indeed she knew that her feelings towards the hero would be
reciprocated, but she was still hesitant about letting them go, even if she hadn't broken his heart with her words. Perhaps it was because of her royal standing or her
conservative upbringing or even something else, but she knew that Midna was right; she was afraid of letting her love, if it even was love, for Link show. And perhaps it
was because of her own weakness and indecisiveness that she had allowed Verona to manipulate her like she had.
Thankfully, Zelda was released from having to answer Midna's question as they finally made it into Faron Woods. The Twilight Princess, knowing the way well enough,
guided the queen towards the place that the hero had entered the woods upon fleeing from the village. Once they made it there, Zelda dismounted the horse, knowing
that the trees were too thick for it to travel through, and created another orb of light to help them see their way through the dark of the forest. However, before they
could even take a step into the labyrinth of trees, both women caught onto the sound of someone calling out from not too far away. Both of them exchanged a glance
upon hearing the voice of a young woman call out the hero's name, and though Midna already knew who it was, there was no time to explain to Zelda as the Twilight
Princess quickly slipped into the queen's shadow as the Ordonian girl rounded the pathway into the clearing.
Ilia stopped calling out for Link when she noticed Zelda standing off to the side of the path. The girl frowned in confusion at the sight of the robed stranger, whose hood
was thankfully concealing the golden crown upon her head, as well as much of her face. "Who are you?" the girl asked, taking a cautious step towards the cloaked
woman.
"Who I am is unimportant," Zelda said calmly, not revealing her hood lest she give up her identity. "I am here searching for someone. You wouldn't happen to know the
Hero of Twilight, would you?"
Ilia glared at the stranger, clenching her fists tightly. "If you're with those awful guards who came through here earlier, you can just forget it!" she proclaimed defiantly. "I'll
never tell you where he went!"
"No, no!" the queen said, shaking her head. "I do not seek to capture him or harm him in anyway. I simply wish to know where he is."
"Why…?" the girl asked suspiciously, wondering why a strange woman in a black cloak would be searching the woods for Link, especially after all that had happened. "Who
are you anyway?"
Zelda backed up a bit upon seeing Ilia take another step closer to her. "That doesn't matter," she said formally, refraining from using her royal authority to get information.
"Please, if you know, tell me where he went. I only wish to speak with him and make sure he is not hurt."
"Well, for all I know, he could already be in the castle dungeons by now if more guards came through and caught him," the girl said bitterly, sincerely hoping that wasn't
the case.
"No, he's not at the castle," the queen said, biting her tongue as soon as she realized that what she had just said was incriminating.
"How would you know…" Ilia began, before trailing off for a long moment, squinting as she looked towards Zelda's face, barely able to see thanks to the shadows of the
night. "Wait…" she said quietly, her eyes widening in complete disbelief. "You… you're… you're the queen!"
Zelda had half a mind to deny this, but she knew it was no use. "Yes…" she said with a relenting sigh as she removed her hood, revealing her face and her crown. "I am."
Rage boiled up within the girl to the point that it could no longer be controlled upon seeing the one who had not only hurt Link in such a brutal way, but had also ordered
for his capture and nearly ruined her home face to face. "How dare you come here searching for him yourself!" Ilia hissed in fury, her peridot eyes glaring sharply at the
royal woman before her. "What, were you're stupid guards not enough to drag him back to you, so you had to come do it yourself!?"
"No, you do not understand," the queen said, trying to reason with this infuriated young woman, who clearly must have known the hero personally in some way. "I bear
him no ill will whatsoever."
"Oh, sure you don't," Ilia said with heated sarcasm. "I'm sure that's why you turned him away even after he was willing to stay with you instead of here where he really
belongs! I don't know what he ever saw in you; all you've ever done is hurt him, while all I've ever done is care about him!"
Zelda noticed the hints of jealousy and dejection in the girl's tone, both giving her the impression that perhaps she had feelings for Link as well. The queen wasn't quite
sure how to respond to that, and so she merely stood her ground, determined to clear her name. "Please," she said, still keeping up her formal manner. "If you would
simply listen, then you would know that I-"
"I don't care what you have to say!" Ilia said hotly. "You may be the queen, but after all you've done, you don't deserve my respect, or anyone else's! You lied to him and
betrayed him, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
Though Zelda wasn't normally a prideful person, her pride got the better of her now as she set her jaw, refusing to let this mere peasant girl get the better of her.
"Silence!" she commanded fiercely, holding her hands out. However, what she did not see was the blue aura emanating around them, one that cast a spell upon the
surrounding area that only the queen herself was unaffected by. Unbeknownst to her or anyone else, her magic somehow managed to freeze time entirely, draining the
radius of the world immediately around her of color completely. Zelda gasped in shock upon noticing that Ilia was stuck in her angry, defiant pose, and even more so at
the fact
that the snowflakes all around her were suspended in midair, refusing to fall to the ground unless it was by her command. The queen quickly gathered that this
anomaly was her doing as she finally saw the azure glow around her hands, coinciding with the shimmering mark of the Triforce on the back of her hand. While light and
healing were incredible powers in and of themselves, the ability to manipulate time, even if it was only halting its flow, was by far the most amazing and the most
dangerous. Zelda knew that this power was not to be taken lightly, and so she immediately resolved to refrain from using it unless she absolutely had to.
"Midna?" the queen whispered as she glanced down to her shadow, noticing how her voice echoed in the silence of frozen time. "Midna, can you hear me?"
"Yeah," the Twilight Princess said, knowing what had happened, though she didn't come out of the shadows unless Zelda told her to. "What happened? What did you do?"
"I believe I just stopped the flow of time…" the queen mused with a sly smile.
"Well, I guess that's safer than freezing things in the literal way like Link can…" Midna said with a shrug. "So… wanna use this opportunity to get out of here? Link knows
well that I can only take Ilia for so long before I get annoyed and I'm already way past that point."
Zelda nodded as she began to head towards the deep woods once more, her sphere of frozen time moving with her so that they could essentially leave Ilia behind, as
confused as she would be when she found the ability to move again. The queen figured that her magic did not affect her or anyone she was touching or who touched her,
which, since the Twilight Princess was within her shadow at the moment, Midna was basically doing.
"So that was Ilia?" Zelda asked Midna. "Link told me about her. She really seems to care for him…"
"A little too much if you ask me," the Twili imp scoffed. "She flipped out when she found out that he liked you and stay with you. Honestly, I think she's just jealous."
"I did not mean to be unkind to the poor girl…" the queen said with a frown. "But she simply would not listen to reason. If Verona truly has captured Link, then we have no
time to waste in finding him."
"Queen of Light…" a gentle, almost ethereal voice suddenly called out to Zelda, who was quick to dissipate her time field since they were no longer near Ilia. Midna rose
out of the shadows and floated beside the queen, glancing around with her as the two of them listened for the somewhat familiar voice once more. "You will not find the
one you are seeking here. The hero's presence has faded from these woods and it did so in conjunction with the disappearance of a darkened aura as well. If you wish to
know more, come and speak with me…"
"What was that?" the Twilight Princess asked as the voice faded, giving the queen a look of confusion.
"I am not sure…" Zelda mused curiously, already taking a step towards the dim halo of light that she saw rising over the dark forest behind them. "But if they know where
Link is, then perhaps it is worth our time to look and see."
Midna nodded in agreement, also wanting to know where that strangely familiar voice had come from. The two of them cut a different path back through the woods to
avoid running into Ilia again, heading northward away from Ordon and back to Faron. Neither of them engaged in conversation during the relatively short trek, as their
hearts filled with hope for gaining some knowledge on the hero's whereabouts, even if it was only a little. They soon remerged back onto the main trail of Faron Woods,
where the light was significantly better and so Zelda diminished hers. It didn't take either of them long too see the rays of golden light shining from the nearby spring on
the path ahead, and both of them were quick to finally gather who had summoned them.
Not too keen on being subjected to the pure brightness of a light spirit, Midna tucked away in Zelda's shadow as the queen hurried on towards the spirit, marveling at how
the area surrounding it was as bright as day, even despite the cover of night reigning the skies. With solemn, reverent steps, she entered the shallow waters of the empty
spring, letting them lap the rim of her cloak as she looked around for the light spirit. And, no more than a second after she arrived, the spirit of Faron Woods, rising up
from the spring in a spectacular burst of light. Faron's shining, temporal form bore some semblance to a monkey as it held onto its central core of light, its long, pointed
tail curling around its large body as it hovered in the air above the spring's waterfall. The queen stood before it, inclining her head in respect for one of Hyrule's for guardian
spirits, grateful for the protection that they provided her kingdom with.
"Welcome, Queen Zelda," Faron said in its smooth, lilting voice. "You have journeyed far to make it to this place. You come here searching for the Hero of Twilight,
correct?"
"Yes," Zelda nodded formally. "Perhaps you know where he has gone?"
The light spirit seemed to disregard her question as it merely continued on. "You seek him, but as I said, he has left this province, perhaps even Hyrule entirely," it said in a
stately manner. "However, before he disappeared, I sensed a dark aura approach him, one that matched the darkness that the Queen of Shadows has enshrouded this
land with."
"So it is true…" the queen said, looking down to the shimmering waters at her feet. "She really has captured him…"
"There is no way to know for certain," Faron said. "But his location is not what is important at the moment."
Zelda frowned upon hearing this, knowing that the only reason her and Midna had come this far was to search for Link. What could be more important than finding him
now? "And what is presently important, if not that?" she asked leadingly, wondering if there was something else concerning the hero that she didn't know about.
"There is something you must know about, your highness," the light spirit said, staring at her unflinchingly. "A warning that must be passed onto you, as we have been
instructed to do by the goddesses themselves… It is a warning that concerns the hero, one that you must be well aware of if you plan on continuing your search for him…
Do you wish to hear it?"
The queen raised an eyebrow at this, unsure of what she was about to hear, but she nodded nonetheless, devoting her attention to the light spirit. In the shadows, Midna
did the same thing, knowing that this might be important if it concerned Link.
"…Very well…" Faron complied almost hesitantly. "Since the days of the Hero of Time, there had been a prophecy handed down from the goddesses. However, it has been
obscured to the sands of time because of its… unsavory connotations. And yet, it is one you must be made aware of, just as the goddesses made your ancestor aware of
it centuries ago…"
"In the days of Twilight and of eternal night…" the light spirit began after a brief pause. "A great conflict shall arise between shadow and light.
"And while the Blood of the Goddess will still stand for good, the Spirit of the Hero will be corrupted into evil, even though it never should.
"Dark desires and deep depravity shall fill the hero's soul, and consumed in his hatred, he shall ravage the land whole.
"Like all lost souls, he will have the chance to choose the light again, but if he rejects this call, then he shall certainly meet his end.
"Let these words ring out across time, so that all will know… Of the one who was once so high, but has fallen so low…
"The tragedy of the Hero of Shadow…"
Zelda's eyes widened in shock as she heard all of this, unsure of what to make of it. The light spirit seemed to be implying that Link would somehow fall into evil, possibly
even by his own choosing. Verona's ominous words suddenly came rushing ba
ck to her: "Don't you think that everything would change quite a bit if one of you were to…
Oh, I don't know… give up on Hyrule once and for all? To turn against the kingdom they once fought for, away from the light… and towards the shadows instead…?"
Suddenly, the Queen of Shadows' plans made complete sense now; by breaking Link's heart, Zelda had set something into motion that had been foretold for centuries.
And, if she was unable to stop it and save the hero from what might soon consume him, then it might cost more than just him losing his life. Her entire kingdom could be
at risk of destruction at the hands of the very one who had saved it. Certainly, Verona was taking advantage of the weakened state Link was in both emotionally and
spiritually, and through her magic, perhaps she was aiding his fall into darkness, poisoning him with a hatred towards both Zelda, and possibly her entire kingdom. And
though the queen wasn't sure how, she knew that she had to put an end to this dark prophecy before it was too late.
However, before she could even reply to all that Faron had said, Midna sprung up out of the shadows first, so emboldened that she barely even flinched in the presence of
the light spirit's brilliant glow. "No!" she shouted fiercely, refusing to believe that what she had just heard was true. "You're wrong! Link would never turn away from Hyrule
like that! Even with his powers, he would never cause destruction willingly like that! He's a hero, and he always will be!"
"You do not know of the darkness stirring within him, Twilight Princess," the light spirit said as calmly as ever. "What has been foretold is his destiny, the path that fate has
opened up to him. Only he can decide if he takes it or not."
"Well, he won't take it!" Midna proclaimed firmly, resolved to keep Link off a route that would certainly destroy him. "Not if I have anything to do with it! We'll find him and
make sure he doesn't, right, Zelda?"
The queen, who had admittedly been lost in thought during this entire exchange, blinked as she glanced towards the Twilight Princess, not really sure how to answer her
question. Though she desperately wanted to keep Link from falling into evil, she knew that she was partially responsible for causing his potential fall in the first place. By
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