would seek to kill, that is, if she hadn't already. A small burst of dread ran through Midna as she considered this distinct possibility, hoping that it wasn't true. And yet, if
what Zelda had told her was true, then Verona didn't really have any purpose in keeping her alive in the same way that she needed to with Link. For all the Twilight Princess
knew, the Queen of Light could be long past dead at that very moment.
Shaking that disturbing thought from her mind, Midna propelled herself forward even faster, gravitating towards the ruins of Castle Town for some reason. Snow was
falling lightly from the blackened skies above onto the still smoldering remains of the once-prosperous city, creating a somber scene as the Twilight Princess tucked herself
away within its natural shadows. She wasn't entirely sure why she had come here at all; after all, the place was completely abandoned, as it had been for the past several
days after the fire. No matter what reason Link had been there during all of the unfolding chaos, there was no chance he was there now. The same went for Zelda, who,
Midna theorized, had either been captured, or, best case scenario, had merely been separated from her in her large-scale rescue attempts. And yet, the Twilight Princess
decided to once-over the destroyed city one last time anyway, just to make sure it was truly as empty as it seemed.
Despite the damage done to every single dwelling and shop, the town's outer and inner walls were still largely intact, giving Midna a form of cover as she silently swept
through the town, keeping on high alert for signs of danger. It didn't surprise her much that Verona's shadow beasts were on the prowl throughout the ruins, most likely
on the hunt for anyone or anything that might have survived the massive inferno, not that she believed anything had. The town had been so thoroughly obliterated that
there was really nothing worth returning to.
However, it wasn't too long until Midna discovered that she was not as alone in the city as she had thought as she emerged into the main square. The Twilight Princess
drew in a sharp breath and her eyes grew wide the moment she caught sight of the hero's turned back as he stood far on the other side of the square, completely
unaware of her presence as he instead faced the castle. Though her first instinct and desire was to rush to him, she stopped herself upon catching sight of the shadow
beasts creeping into the square from the east and west thoroughfares. Midna knew that she was more than capable of taking out a few simple creatures such as these on
her own, but the last thing she wanted to do was startle Link and send his powers spiraling out of control once more, thereby putting him in danger. And so, the Twilight
Princess tucked herself out of sight, watching from the shadows as she observed the hero, who was still looking away from her and to the castle instead, not even turning
around as the shadow beasts slowly sulked towards him.
And indeed, Link showed no concern for the meandering monsters behind him, largely because he didn't really feel like dealing with them at the moment. It had been over
a day since Verona had brought him back to Hyrule, which had come as a surprise to him since he had still been ill and unconscious during the transition between realms.
Of course, upon awakening, the hero had been confused upon finding himself within Hyrule Castle as opposed to the Palace of Twilight, but he had felt a great deal better
having returned to the world of light. Verona had been quick to fill in the blanks for him, telling him of his bout of Twilight fever and her decision to move back to Hyrule.
She had informed him that she had overtaken the abandoned castle as their new base, having deployed her shadow beasts in imprisoning Zelda within her own dungeon
as an extra measure of cruelty towards the Queen of Light. Link was admittedly relieved to be back in Hyrule after having been exposed to the empty, draining
atmosphere of the Twilight Realm. Even though darkness still reigned the skies above him, at the very least he could feel the subtle, natural changes in it, specifically the
wind, which he was able to tell apart from the magical gusts he was able to create. It was refreshing to be sure, but at the same time, Verona had warned him that he
was still suffering from the lingering aftermath of Twilight fever, which was an explanation of why he still felt so weak and fatigued even if this was the first time he had
really been up and about since returning to Hyrule. The Queen of Shadows had tasked him with supervising the shadow beasts as they checked Castle Town to make sure
that there were no surviving stragglers left there from the fire, and though the hero thought such a menial chore was beneath him, he obliged, knowing that he didn't
really have anything better to do in his relatively poor condition.
However, despite what Verona had requested of him, Link paid very little mind to the dull creatures roaming the town on largely their own accord. After all, he knew they
wouldn't find anything considering how he had gone out of his way to torch the entire place indiscriminately. But even so, the hero could still hear the monsters slowly
approach him, their low, mindless growls betraying their hunger for him well. Even if they were created and enslaved by Verona, that didn't mean they had to hold Link in
the same regard at all; in fact, he might as well have been the same in their eyes as every other light dweller they might seek to consume.
But unlike other light dwellers, the hero had the advantage of magic on his side. Right before the first pair of shadow beasts decided to pounce, Link thrust both his hands
backwards, still not turning around as shards of ice burst up out of the ground, instantly impaling the creatures to death before they could even touch him. The next group
met a similar fate, meeting their abrupt ends by both a tall ring of fire the hero had quickly composed, as well as the forceful winds he had conjured in order to knock the
creatures into the flames. Link merely rolled his eyes in disgust as the expendable beasts died, his disdain for them as strong as ever. A part of him hoped that Verona had
seen what he had just done from the castle, so that he could finally make it clear to her that he had no intentions of working in conjunction with such feral, worthless
beings.
Midna had watched the entire violent display from her place in the shadows, her jaw dropped in shock at what she had just seen. But aside from her amazement, the very
next thing that swelled up in her chest was pride. Somehow, some way, Link had managed to harness his powers, at least to some extent. The Twilight Princess reasoned
that he must have done it on his own, finally reigning in his flighty emotions in his solitude away from society and all those he might have hurt. Midna couldn't help but
smile warmly at the thought, knowing that despite all of the pain his powers had caused, he had finally reconciled with the fact that they were now a part of him and he
had accepted the strength that they would certainly provide him with.
Unable to keep her distance from him any longer, the Twili imp began to glide towards the hero, an excited grin on her face as hope filled her heart. His back was still
turned to her as she flew towards him silently, not bothering to call out his name as she instead stopped but a few inches away from him, hesitation and anxiety suddenly
filling her. The last thing she wanted was for him to run off in a sudden panic once more; in fact the only thing she really wanted was to have an actual, legitimate
conversation with him, just as they used to be so able to do before. And yet, Midna knew that such fears would do nothing for her now. The only thing she could do now
was try and hope for the best.
Link was alerted to the presence of someone behind him the moment he felt the slightest skimming of finger tips upon his shoulder
. Even though the gesture was soft, the
hero was still startled by it all the same as he quickly spun around, forming a dagger-like shard of ice in his hand as he turned to face whoever might try to assail him.
However, he immediately stilled his hand from plunging it the moment he realized who was floating behind him.
"Midna?!" Link exclaimed in both shock and alarm, instinctually backing away from her the slightest bit as he held his hands close to his sides, refusing to let them be
instruments of pain towards her again.
"Hey there, little wolf," Midna greeted with a small smile, though there was sadness in it as she realized why he had pulled back from her. "Long time no see, huh? Though
I gotta say… black really isn't your color…" she said, glancing at his new black cape with a frown.
"W-what are you doing here?" the hero asked breathlessly, knowing that he couldn't very well flee from her now that they were meeting face to face like this.
"Looking for you, duh!" the Twilight Princess scoffed as though it was obvious. "What have you been doing these past several days!? You've had me worried sick!"
"Midna… I… I don't… I didn't…" Link took in an anxious breath, realizing that he was nervously stammering as the winds subtly began to swirl around him. His eyes
unconsciously drifted towards the Twilight Princess's arm hanging at her side, somehow not showing any signs that he had burned it at all, even though he vividly
remembered doing exactly that only a few days ago.
"Link," Midna said sternly, noticing his wide-eyed, confused gaze. "Talk to me."
"Your arm…" the hero said softly, staring distantly at the once-injured limb, remorse pouring into his mind once more. "It's healed…"
The Twilight Princess glanced over at her formerly burnt arm for a moment and shook her head dismissively. "Link, I don't wanna talk about this right now," she said,
gliding a bit closer to him, though he only took a small step away from her as she did so.
"How did you heal it?" Link asked, shifting his gaze back to her face with a puzzled frown.
"Come on," Midna sighed in annoyance. "I'm done talking about what happened in the woods already! You know I was never even upset about that! It was just a dumb
accident. Why won't you just let it go?"
"How did you heal it?!" the hero suddenly demanded in clear desperation, and in her aggravation over his prying, the Twilight Princess didn't hesitate to snap her answer at
him without thinking.
"Zelda did it!" Midna shouted harshly. "There! Are you happy now?! Will you finally shut up about this?!"
"Zelda…" Link repeated coldly, his tone strangely bitter as he fixated his gaze to the small circle of ice spreading out on the cobblestone beneath him by no real accord of
his own.
"Link, listen to me," the Twilight Princess began carefully, hearing the hints of fury in his tone. "What happened with Zelda… it wasn't her fault. Verona was the one who
forced her to say those things to you."
"Save it, Midna," the hero said coldly. "I've already heard all that from her, but I'm not about to fall for any of it again."
Midna let out a sigh as she crossed her arms. "I know she hurt you, Link," she said rather softly. "But you have to understand: she really didn't want to. Verona
blackmailed her into it. Believe me, she's really torn up about it. Even if she's not ready to admit it, I do think that she loves you, in the same way you love her."
"I don't love her," Link said bitterly, turning away from his former companion as he glared towards the castle's ivory towers. However, even he could not ignore the
strange feeling that filled his heart upon saying this, a feeling that could almost be equated to the guilt of lying. Not that he was going to admit that to Midna. "I don't think
I ever could after all this…"
The Twilight Princess frowned with both compassion and worry, knowing that the hero she cared for so much usually wasn't so apathetic and aloof. It was as though all of
the warmth and openness she had once known him for had been sucked completely out of him, leaving nothing but hollowness in their place. What else could have
happened on him to add to his already insurmountable hardships to completely lock his emotions up entirely?
"So…" Midna said a bit uneasily, moving away from the subject of the queen entirely, seeing that she was getting nowhere with him in that area. "How'd you learn how to
control you powers? I saw you take down those shadow beasts and I gotta admit, you've gotten a lot better…"
Link took in an anxious breath upon hearing this question, knowing that telling the Twilight Princess about his partnership with Verona straight up wouldn't end up going well
considering the distain between the two cousins. And he really didn't have any reason to tell her anyway; after all, Midna was one of the few people left in the world that
he would openly admit to caring about deeply. The last thing he wanted to do was turn her against him with something like this. "I… uh… I taught myself," he said hastily,
knowing that it was a rather lame excuse, but it was the first one he could come up with.
The Twilight Princess scoffed upon hearing this as the hero turned to face her once more. "Yeah right," she deadpanned, rolling her eyes at him. "And I turned myself into
an imp again. Now, come on; how did you really get that good over the course of just a few days?"
"You don't think I could learn on my own?" the hero asked, a bit offended by her disbelief. "Because your help wasn't doing anything for me at all either, you know."
"Oh!" Midna exclaimed harshly. "Of course it didn't! I mean, it's not like I was the one who helped you escape from those guards! I wasn't the one who tried to calm you
down after what happened in Ordon just so you wouldn't completely explode! And I guess that means I haven't been searching all over this goddess-forsaken kingdom
alone, in the dead of winter, without any leads as to where to go, just so I could find you and knock some sense into that stupid thick head of yours!"
"I never asked you to hunt me down!" Link retorted, clenching his fists tightly at his sides as they steadily began to grow warm with oncoming flames.
"Then you shouldn't have ran away!" the Twilight Princess argued fiercely, gliding in closer to him in her anger. "Look, I get that you didn't want to hurt anyone else; I get
that you felt guilty about what had happened. But you can't just run and hide from all of your problems!"
"I'm not running!" the hero exclaimed as small bursts of fire finally sparked around his fists. "Not anymore. You may not realize this, Midna, but things have changed! I'm
not anything like I used to be. I'm not afraid anymore; I'm know more now than I ever have before. And I owe none of that to you."
"Oh, yeah?" Midna asked shrilly, clearly riled up by this point. "Then who do you owe your 'success' to? Cause considering how terrified out of your mind you were before,
I honestly don't think you regained your confidence and courage all on your own!"
Link didn't respond immediately, knowing that Midna wouldn't buy that he had done it all on his own again. But at the same time, her accusing words cut him deep, to the
point that he couldn't help but respond with bitterness of his own. After all, he had taken her belittling for so long now; it was about time for him to finally stand up for
himself, even against her. "You're right, Midna," the hero said rather calmly, a hint of icy darkness in his tone. "I didn't do it on my own. But you should know that I didn't
do it with your help either. All you did was yell at me and make things even worse! But I have control now; I've learned how to use them the right way. And do you want
to know who I really have to thank for that?" The Twilight Princess's bold expression faded as she noticed the dangerous look in the hero's shining silver eyes as he drew a
bit closer to her, a sudden burst of untraceable fear coursing through her as she shook her head. Link smirked at this, even though he was dreading the fact that he had to
tell her, though he had no idea how she would react. "Verona."
Midna gasped upon hearing him, rage and shock filling her all at once. "What?!" she exclaimed, all of her stated fury returning to her as her red and yellow eyes bored into
his grey ones.
"You heard me," Link said crossly, though he wasn't about to explain any more than that.
The Twilight Princess stared at him with awe for a moment or two before she shook all of those disturbing thoughts off with an amused laugh. "Oh… I get it," she said
dismissively, though there was still a small hint of nervousness in her tone. "You're kidding… You have to be."
"I'm not kidding, Midna," the hero said firmly.
"Yeah, whatever," Midna said, hiding the fact that she was desperately hoping it wasn't true behind a layer of stoicism. "I mean, even you're not dumb enough to side with
someone as crazy as Verona." The Twilight Princess let out an uneven laugh as she glanced towards Link once more, noticing that he held his cold expression unflinchingly.
"Right…?"
Not wanting to outright admit it, the hero glanced away, letting out an aggravated sigh at the fact that, even still, the Twilight Princess was demeaning him and criticizing
his choices without even listening to his reasoning at all. And he didn't even have time to try, for before he could even get in a word in edgewise, Midna finally exploded in
what was nothing less than absolute rage. "Are you insane?!" she screeched, gliding into his face so that she was only a few inches away as her eyes burned with
unbridled fury. "Haven't you listened to a word I said?! Verona is nothing less than evil, possibly even more so than Zant and Ganondorf combined! How in the world did
she con you into-" the Twilight Princess cut herself off as she let out a gasp of realization, her expression softening a bit as she looked deep into the hero's silver eyes.
"She brainwashed you, didn't she? That's the only explanation!" she exclaimed, grasping at the chance that she might be right and desperately praying that it was the
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