Favorable side

by Gladys Garcia

  any obstacles she might encounter. She hoped that both Link and Verona were busy with some other act of evil at the moment to notice that she was making a break for

  it, especially as she finally found her way to the main floor.

  Zelda didn't even dare to breathe as she sulked through the palace, taking things much slower this time as she kept close to the wall, making sure she could find a good

  hiding spot if need be in the much wider corridors. She kept her eyes wide open for any signs of danger, knowing that if she was caught, then it was all over. She knew she

  wouldn't get a chance like this again.

  The Palace of Twilight was scarce on windows, giving the queen no signs of a way outside. However, what she did notice was that the hallways were beginning to grow

  more and more narrow with each corner she turned, making her more anxious with each step she took. She had half a mind to turn around and try another path, but

  before she could, a sudden low growl coming from behind her caught her attention. Zelda spun around quickly to see a horde of Shadow Beasts had found her, all of them

  stalking closer to her in preparation to attack. Taking in a sharp gasp, the queen unleashed a burst of pure light upon the dark creatures, stunning all of them long enough

  to run in the opposite direction. Without her bow, she knew that she'd have a hard time concentrating her powers into a projectile capable of defeating them, but that was

  something she couldn't worry about now. Her sole objective at the moment was escaping these beasts before they could even hope to overwhelm them.

  However, in trying to evade the Shadow Beasts, Zelda found that she had no time to be careful any longer. While she usually stopped to glance around each corner before

  she proceeded, she knew that even stopping for a single second now could prove costly. And yet, being careless easily proved to be just as costly, if not more so. For as

  the queen rushed around another corner, she failed to the figure standing in wait in the shadows until she abruptly crashed into them roughly, knocking her to the ground.

  "Link…" Zelda muttered breathlessly, still on the ground as she stared up at him with both disbelief and anger. All at once, her hopes of escape completely shattered.

  "Where do you think you're going, Zelda?" Link asked knowingly as he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her, his expression cold and unsympathetic.

  The queen didn't offer him a response as she simply glared up at him, wishing that she had been more careful and had avoided him altogether. Perhaps if she had, she

  could have found a way out by now.

  It didn't take long for the Shadow Beasts to catch up, rounding the corner as they all set their sights on Zelda as though she was their next meal. However, before they

  could attack her, Link suddenly intervened by fiercely growling at the creatures once more, just as a wolf would, flames surrounding his hands as he held them up

  threateningly. The Shadow Beasts were all quick to back down at the sight of the flames, all of them retreating meekly as the hero glared after them with disgust.

  "I hate those stupid things," Link scoffed more to himself than to Zelda, who was staring at him with wide eyes as she slowly picked herself up off the floor. "If Verona

  didn't insist on keeping them around, I'd kill them all myself."

  As the hero was still distracted with watching the Shadow Beasts run off, the queen slowly began to back up, her flight instinct overriding her better judgement. She knew

  she would not be escaping from Link now, but she wasn't about to give up that easily.

  However, right as Zelda turned and began to run, Link all too quickly caught her, grasping her wrist tightly as he pulled her towards him roughly before grabbing her other

  hand. "Not so fast, your highness," he said condescendingly, not sneering though the queen could see the wicked satisfaction in his eyes over having captured her.

  And it was because of his clear cockiness that the queen acted on the sudden burst of rage that coursed through her. Even though it was haphazard, Zelda thrust her arm

  up as much as she could, light bursting from it as she narrowly struck the hero across his collarbone. Link recoiled for a brief moment, stumbling backwards as he still held

  onto Zelda as much as he could before retaliating by letting ice flow from his hands until hers were frozen over. The queen glared harshly at the hero as she noticed that

  the heat of her light had only managed to a burn a small hole in his white undershirt, not at all harming him for some reason. However, the hole did reveal that the Twili

  markings on his face ran along his neck and down to his chest as well, something that disconcerted Zelda greatly.

  "Link…" she whispered in soft fear as she stared at his scowling face, realizing that the markings there had expanded as well. "T-those markings… they're-"

  ""They're a sign of my destiny," Link said with cold pride, remembering what Verona had told him. "They show that I'm not your weak little Hero of Twilight anymore; I'm

  the Hero of Shadows now and these markings prove that."

  "Did Verona tell you that?" Zelda asked with bold distain. "Are you were gullible enough to believe her? Oh, but of course you were. You would listen to anything she tells

  you, would you not? I am sure that if she told you to end your own life right now, then you would do it without a second thought."

  The queen suddenly recoiled backwards in response to the hero striking her across the face with his open palm. Fortunately, no flames had come with it, but his hand had

  been hot from his anger, causing her even more pain as she gingerly placed her hands over the red mark he had no doubt left, almost to the point of tears over how

  much it actually hurt.

  "How many times do I have to tell you?!" Link shouted, not at all regretting what he had just done. "I am not Verona's slave! I'm nobody's slave! This is what I chose, on

  my own! This is what I want!"

  "S-so you are saying you want to die then?" Zelda asked challengingly, knowing that she was treading on thin ice but she didn't care. She wasn't about to meekly back

  down to him, now or ever. "Because that will ultimately be what becomes of you if you keep this up, Link."

  "Not this again," the hero groaned in aggravation, tugging her arm tightly as he forced her to follow him. "I don't have time for this. Come on. You're going right back

  where you came from."

  "Please, Link, you must listen to me!" the queen protested, not even resisting that much as he dragged her down the hall. "I have seen the shard myself! Verona even

  told me what its true purpose was! She is stealing your spirt, which is why you are losing yourself and everything you once stood for!"

  "Please," Link scoffed haughtily. "I know the only reason you keep using that ridiculous story is so I'll help you escape. I hate to break it to you, Zelda, but it's not

  happening, no matter how many lies you come up with."

  "No, you don't understand," Zelda insisted, desperate to get him to see the light. "I only wish to save you before it is too late. Regardless of what has transpired between

  us, I still do care for you, Link. I would never wish you dead, especially not in the way Verona has planned for you to slowly perish."

  The hero said nothing for a long moment as he kept his glare straight ahead as he led her back to the dungeons. While he didn't want to believe her, a small part of him

  was imploring him to at the very least listen to her upon hearing the sincerity in her tone, even if he wasn't sure that a word she was saying could be trusted. "What

  makes you think she'd even want my spirit in the first place?" he asked what seemed like ages later, his tone calm but still belittling.

  Zelda internally grasped tightly onto the burst of hope that filled her heart upon hearing this question, hoping that perhaps he was finally willing to listen to her. "She told />
  me that your spirit is unlike any that has ever existed before," the queen began evenly. "It is called the Spirit of the Hero, spoken of in the ancient legends. According to

  Verona, it is strong and unbreakable, which is what makes it an incredible source of power. She didn't elaborate much on why she desires it, but she said something about

  it enhancing her magical abilities even more. From there… it is impossible to say what she will do… Most likely to increase her shadowy campaign to the entire world, no

  doubt…"

  Link didn't immediately respond to this, conflict suddenly filling him as he pondered it all. While he was hesitant to believe what Zelda was saying in the first place, her

  argument certainly had some holes. After all, if Verona really wanted to claim his spirit as her own, why hadn't she done that from the very beginning upon pulling the

  shard out of him in the first place? Wouldn't that have saved her a great deal of time and effort? And even more than that, if his spirit alone was all she was after, then why

  would she go to the trouble of helping him like she had? Certainly if she had some evil grand plan to end his life, she wouldn't drag it out in a way that basically pitted them

  together on the same side?

  "Well then why would she agree to teach me how to use my powers if that's really what she's after?" the hero asked, making sure that his tone was hard so the queen

  wouldn't think that she had convinced him, for she certainly had not.

  "To lure you in, most likely," Zelda theorized, even though it didn't make much sense to her either. "I suppose she wants you close to her so she can slowly draw your

  spirit away from you without you even noticing. She is putting up a front of benevolence so that you will remain vulnerable and accessible to her. Killing you with kindness,

  so to speak."

  "You mean just like you tried to do?" Link asked coldly, glaring back at her as he realized that even listening to her at all was nothing more than a waste of time.

  The queen let out a sigh, knowing that she was back to square one now. The hero had been so enraptured by the Queen of Shadow's promises and lies that he was most

  likely too far gone, but she refused to stop trying until either he finally believed her, or his body was reduced to a soulless, empty husk, bereft of his spirit by Verona's

  hands.

  "Link, do you honestly believe that I sought to kill you for the Triforce of Courage?" Zelda asked with a frown, hoping that he was smarter than that.

  The hero paused for a moment as they made it to the stairs that led back down to the dungeons, considering this question. While he wanted to believe what Verona had

  told him, as it was certainly yet another convenient excuse to hate Zelda even more than he already did, the more he thought about it, the more sense it didn't make. In

  the same way he didn't believe Verona would take her time in converting him to her side just to ultimately kill him, Link found it hard to believe that Zelda would devote so

  much time to befriending him just to murder him either. But all the same, he did still believe that her rejection of his love had been sincere, most likely for the very reason

  she had said: their differing class statuses. And it was for that reason that he refused to accept her proclamations of love to him now, for certainly she didn't mean any of

  them and only wanted to use them as a means of escape.

  "It doesn't matter," Link finally said, deciding not to indulge Zelda in the matter. The queen sighed in disappointment, still not resisting his hold even as he silently led her

  back to her cell, using his ice magic to temporarily repair the hole she had made and promptly taking her earrings away from her so she couldn't try the same trick twice.

  The queen simply stood with her hands on her arms as she watched the hero prepare to leave after sealing the hole, unable to take her eyes off of him as she pictured

  what would become of him if Verona had her way. His spirit, so vibrant and full of life and light, would be claimed by darkness, used as nothing more than a mere tool of

  shadows, trapped forever with no hope of escape. It crushed Zelda that Link was the only one who could prevent this from happening, but how could if he blindly refused

  to believe the truth?

  "Link," Zelda said gently as the hero was closing the door. Surprisingly he stopped and glanced over his shoulder, his expression unreadable as he simply listened

  expectantly. "Ask her about the Spirit Shard. I know she will deny the truth, but simply watch her reaction. You might just learn something about your so-called

  'benefactor'…"

  The hero said nothing as he left her behind, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her advice.

  Verona sat upon the Twili throne, her throne, casually, one hand placed delicately under her chin as she examined the object that was hovering over her other hand: the

  Spirit Shard. Of course, she wouldn't have dared to have it out in the open like this if Link was around, but since he was off thwarting the Queen of Light's escape

  attempts, she allowed herself a few moments to admire it in her lonesome. The small shard certainly was a masterpiece of magic, one that Verona took constant pride in.

  Even on its own, the Spirit Shard contained a special kind of power, but when imbued with even a fraction of the Spirit of the Hero, its might was multiplied nearly a

  thousand-fold. The Queen of Shadows smiled with perverse pleasure as she watched the small, bright wisps of green slowly and gracefully spiral around the shard,

  contrasting with its shadowy surface as the reflected a bright, pure glow. She only had a small portion of it in her possession now, about one fourth of it, but soon enough

  she would claim the rest of it. And then, she would at long last be unstoppable.

  The irony of the situation as a whole was not lost on Verona. After all, with Link willingly agreeing to stand at her side and help her, it was as though he had basically told

  her to take his spirit on his own accord. She had hoped that his spirit would be an easy catch, but she could have never imagined it to be this easy. At most, the Queen of

  Shadows guessed that she would only need the unknowing hero for about a few more weeks. And by the time his usefulness had reached an end, he would be nothing

  more than a soulless, empty vessel anyway.

  For some reason however, the thought of seeing Link forever lifeless and empty filled Verona with a brief, sudden chill. She had cautioned herself from the very beginning

  to keep her own feelings out of her mission, and while she was still resolved to do just that, some small part of her couldn't help but feel…

  Verona quickly shook her head clear before she could even think of the word. It was nonsense, after all. She felt no remorse for any of this, she couldn't. It was too late

  for any of that now, and even if it wasn't, then she knew it would only prove to be her downfall. She had gone too far already. There was no turning back now. She was

  going to know ultimate power, no matter what she had to do… or who she had to destroy.

  The Queen of Shadows was quick to wave her hand over the Spirit Shard when she felt the hero's presence draw closer to the throne room, knowing that she couldn't let

  him near it least he realize what its true purpose was upon simply seeing it. And so, Verona put the front of benevolence up once again, knowing that it was integral to her

  plans to keep Link's trust, lest everything fall apart all too quickly.

  "Greetings, Link," the Queen of Shadows welcomed the hero with a warm smile as he entered the room, a somewhat distracted expression on his face. "I trust you

  succeeded in securing the queen?"

  "Yeah," Link said as he approached Verona, finding that he was strangely taking Zelda's advice as he watched her every movement carefully. "Turns out you were right.

  She did try to escape, but I put
an end to that quickly. How'd you know about what she was planning anyway?"

  "I make it my business to keep an eye on my prisoners…" Verona said a bit vaguely, a mysterious grin on her scarlet lips. "Now come, Link. Take a seat at my side," the

  Queen of Shadows' smile widened as she used her magic to conjure another, equally elegant throne beside the original one. "You've earned it."

  Link didn't object as he unassumingly took his newfound place beside Verona unceremoniously, not thinking much of it. Instead, his thoughts were flooded with everything

  Zelda had told him earlier, unable to shake what she had said about the Queen of Shadow and her ambitions from his mind. And though he was almost certain the Hylian

  queen was wrong, he saw no harm in asking about it. "Um… Verona? Can I ask you something?" he ventured, unsure of how she would react to his question.

  "Why, of course," Verona replied with an amicable smile. "You know you can ask me anything you want."

  "What's the Spirit Shard?" the hero asked with a frown, paying close attention to the Queen of Shadows reaction.

  Verona frowned calmly upon hearing Link mention the Spirit Shard, hiding the fact that she was cursing internally well. She should have guessed that Zelda would try to

  ruin everything by telling him about her plans, but she could have never guessed that he would actually buy into it after what she had forced the queen to say to him. But

  even so, the Queen of Shadows had a plan to deal with questions such as this one, a plan that would hopefully deviate all suspicions away from her and erase the hero's

  doubts completely. "Link, where did you hear that term?" she asked easily, even if her tone was rather serious.

  "I…" Link hesitated, for some reason not wanting to mention that Zelda had told him about it, but he was ultimately unable to come up with a believable excuse. "Zel—I

  mean, the queen said something about it earlier… I don't actually believe her, of course, but… I was just wondering if it was real or not…"

  Verona paused for a long moment as she looked away from the hero, her expression thoughtful and her tone careful as she spoke once more. "I suppose it's time you