Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Come along, boy, don't dawdle."
The boy scampered across the stone floor as fast as his legs could carry him, shifting all about to prevent the many scrolls in his arms from spilling onto the floor. The black cloud of twilight was especially lovely that day, he remembered, as he attempted to keep stride with his master's much longer legs. He was new to this line of work, and to the castle itself. His parents had arranged his apprenticeship long ago, but it was only his second week in the capital. Still, he was determined to do his best and learn all he could to become a skilled spellweaver. Surely he would grow and make his people proud, he thought.
Then he tripped, falling forward and slamming onto the black stone, the scrolls rolling everywhere.
"Ah-!" he yelped.
An impish giggle was his response. Pushing back onto his knees he located the source, scowling in embarrassment. A girl, a noble girl from the looks of it, had tripped him up with her hair. She hid half behind a pillar, covering her mouth to hide her grin in turn.
"Wh- what was that for?" he demanded, flustered.
"What? Are you talking back to me?" she huffed. "Shut up, paige-boy! Don't you know your place?!"
Before he could respond she had once again throw out her hair, smacking him across the face. He fell back to the ground and she laughed more, clearly enjoying his torment.
"Boy! What are you doing?! Get up- your highness!"
His master bowed his head and the girl smirked, resting both hands on her hips.
"See, servant? That's the proper reaction to my presence," she said, gesturing to the man's posture with a flourish of her hair. "So I suggest you lower your head again and beg my forgiveness for snapping at me!"
He glared at her, eyes locked. The girl blinked, clearly surprised by his reaction. Clearly she was not used to being disobeyed. Still, his master forced his head down, apologizing fervently.
"Begging your pardon, Princess, he's a country boy, he hasn't learned court mannerisms yet, but he will, I assure you." he then cuffed the boy upside the head. "Apologize to her highness, this instant!"
He grumbled but glanced up at her again. Princess? Princess Midna? He had heard stories, but all the stories had been about her beauty, not about her prickly attitude.
"What's your name?" she demanded suddenly.
He blinked, then frowned.
"Link-" his master elbowed him. "- Your highness, and I apologize for my behavior."
Her magic hand suddenly had grasped him, pulling him up to her, still on his knees. He yelped and she gripped his face in both hands, leering down at him.
"Are your eyes BLUE? Geez, what a freak. I won't punish you, you'll get punishment enough around here, I'm sure."
With that she released him, and in the next instant had warped away.
He wasn't allowed to have supper that night.
The princess was right, well, about the eyes. Settling into the castle was difficult, more from people his own age than any of his elders. It wasn’t anything new to him though, sadly. His blue eyes were not unheard of, but very strange. He had the same yellow outer-eyes of every other Twili, but the blue irises were eerie to most. Many avoided his gaze, and he was used to the people of his own village avoiding him. It was better than being outright bullied like some of the village kids did. So really, it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. Most of them were too busy with work or training to make time to ostracize him, and his master may have been a strict man, but he was fair. So, all in all, he was treated well.
Well, except for the princess.
For some reason, the girl was quite fond of teasing him. Very frequently he fell victim to her pranks, or had to endure her teasing as he went about his business. What he had done to earn her disdain he wasn’t quite sure. He knew he had ‘defied’ her, but that was only after she had tripped him first. He did his best to avoid her or tolerate her, but princess or no princess, enough was enough after a while.
“Why are you doing this to me?! Leave me alone!” he snapped one day, bristling as he picked himself off the ground.
“Are you talking back to me, again?! Look, just because I was lenient with you last time doesn’t mean I can’t have you locked up in an instant!”
“Then what kind of ruler are you?!” he snapped back, his teeth bared like a beast. “What kind of ruler treats their people like this and then threatens them?! A queen is supposed to help their people! Aren’t they?!”
He was punished for that.
The next week he spent scrubbing the floors by hand, unable to use magic to aid his task. He was clearly not happy with this, but did as he was told silently. After the first few days of such labor, upon cleaning a particularly large room he looked up to find Midna floating before him, glaring down at him.
“You’re going to have lunch with me,” she said.
He stared, then slowly blinked.
“I- what?”
“That’s ‘what, your highness’,” she scowled, hands on her hips. “This is an order, you are to come to lunch with me right now, then finish your cleaning after.”
He had never been quite so confused in his life.
Still, there he was, sitting at a small table with the princess on a balcony outside her room. She sat across from him, glaring in silence. If this was some kind of prank, he wasn’t sure, but…well, he didn’t know what to think.
“I thought about what you said,” she broke the silence, still glaring. “And just because you’re right doesn’t mean you can be so casual with me, got it? You will always address me as ‘Princess’ or ‘your highness’, understand? I won’t be disrespected anymore. Got it?”
He hesitated but slowly nodded. Did she just say he was right? That part was probably the most shocking out of all of this.
“So, I’m making it up to you.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I won’t pick on you anymore, and I’ll let you eat with me now and then. Okay? Be grateful.”
He stared at her in silence, the young princess beginning to fidget a bit, her eyes narrowing on him.
“What?”
“So you can be nice sometimes, that’s good to know,” he smiled.
“Sometimes-?! And what did I tell you about addressing me properly?!”
“Sorry, your highness.” He said, but didn’t stop smiling.
The girl scowled, roughly grabbing a plate of pastries with her hair and shoving it into his face.
“Shut up and eat already, you still have to get that floor clean by tonight.”
Thus began the most unusual friendship he had ever had- well, the first one, really, but it was still unusual. The closest he had ever had to a friend before this were the handful of people that were simply nice to him, which he was grateful for but they still never really spent time with him.
Midna’s attitude to him didn’t change very much, but she did stop pulling pranks on him. True to her word, every few days she would pull him away from whatever task he was working on and make him have lunch with her. One time he had been in the middle of a lecture with some other apprentices, and she had quite literally thrown the door open, sauntered in, grabbed him, and pulled him away. When the startled instructor had tried to ask for an explanation the princess had simply snapped that Link ‘owed time with her’ and left with him.
Soon he began to be picked on for other reasons.
The children of the castle took great joy in teasing him about Midna, mockingly asking when he was going to marry her, telling him he would be a bad king, or that she only felt sorry for him because he was a freak. Link, being used to insults, simply ignored them but the princess herself broke all hell loose when she heard about it. She demanded every single one of them ‘confess’ what they had said about her, apologize, and then swear they would not say such things again ‘upon pain of death’. Her parents did not approve, and the young princess ended up punished herself.
This went on for several months, then a few years, he recalled the first time she had addressed him by his name was during one of their luncheons, a few days before her thirteenth birthday. She had been glowering at him in silence and he politely inquired if he had angered her, to which she told him to shut up and eat. He did so, but Midna continued to glare at him. Link simply waited, knowing she could not stay quiet for long and would shortly begin a rant about something or another that had irritated her.
She slammed her hands on the table.
There it was.
“Link!” she snapped. “You’re coming to my birthday gala!”
He blinked once or twice, staring at her and slowly lowering the piece of food he had been munching on.
“Uh- pardon? My princess?” he added hastily.
“My parents are telling me I need to have an escort for my debut-gala-birthday-whatever,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “I don’t like any of the prissy court boys, so you’re going to be my escort, got it?”
“I- Princess, I don’t think I can-“
“You can and you will! You don’t have to do much! Just walk out with me and make me look good! You’re usually quiet so you won’t say anything to embarrass me, so just do this for me! Okay?”
Her cheeks were flushed but she wasn’t look at him, instead scowling off out the window as if the sky had wronged her.
“If…that’s what you want, Princess-“
“Midna.” She snapped, looking back at him. “You are to call me Midna, unless others are around, understand, Link?”
“Er- if you want, Pri- Midna,” he nodded slowly.
“Good. Glad you didn’t make this difficult.”
Link fidgeted, uncomfortable as the maids squabbled over how to dress him for the event. He sat awkwardly on the stool before the mirror as the girls argued.
“The red trim is in right now!”
“Yes but his eyes are blue! The blue trim will bring them out more!”
“Why do we want to draw attention to that?!”
“Because it’s unique!”
“Unique! I thought we were trying to make him presentable!”
The boy sighed and slipped off the stool, quietly explaining he was going to go use the bathroom before slipping out the door. He wasn’t sure if they had heard him or not, but he also wasn’t keen on finding out. He slid through the dark hall in the shadows, popping up in an empty room a few doors down. In here he could probably get away with a few minutes, but he would have to go back soon. It was what, two hours before the gala? Why did he have to get ready so early? Even if he had spent the last few years at the castle, court-life still eluded him. No wonder the Princess was always so grumpy, it had to be irritating constantly getting pushed around and nagged at.
Suddenly, a burning sensation crossed over the back of his left hand. He let out a yelp of pain, gripping his wrist and staring at his skin. The green markings on the back of his hand were twisting around like serpents, creeping across his skin. They were moving, rearranging, and before his eyes they formed a symbol, three triangles, arranged together.
“What the-?” he stared, eyes wide.
It flashed brightly, burning his skin and his eyes. Link shouted in pain, closing his eyes tightly and gripping his hand to his chest. It was bright- way too bright, he couldn’t open his eyes, it burned! Everything burned! It felt like fire had spread from his hand and engulfed his entire body. He kept trying to look, to see what was happening, but he could see nothing but searing, blazing light. Briefly, he saw a creature made of gold light, its eyes locked on him.
Then he saw nothing at all.
When he did open his eyes again, he shut them not a second later, slamming his hands over his eyes in a yowl of pain. That light again, that searing, scorching- how could anyone bear it? He heard voices, in a tongue he didn’t recognize, then felt himself being moved. Panicked, he attempted to free himself but whomever had him was much stronger. It was hot, it felt like his skin was baking, where was he? What kind of place was the air this hot and bright?! He lost consciousness again, awakening again an unknown time later. He was wary about prying his eyes open at first but was relieved when a soft dimness met his eyes. It looked like he was in a room of sorts, made of…dirt? It was dark, aside from a dim red flame on the wall which allowed him enough light to see perfectly. There were several women in the room, strangely attired, but the clothing was the least jarring thing.
They were about the same height as normal Twili adults, but their skin and eyes were…wrong, just wrong. Their skin tones ranged from a very dark brown to a very light tan, but they were all one solid color, no patches, no markings, and their eyes- their eyes! White around the irises, and one of them even had blue eyes, like him! He gaped, scrambling back against the wall. The one nearest to him lifted up her hands in a gesture that they meant no harm, slowly speaking to him in their strange tongue.
He stared at them, completely oblivious to whatever they were trying to say. The woman paused a moment, then attempted (what he assumed was) a different language. It didn’t do much better. She sighed, pulling back and grabbing a cup of some sort from a shelf, offering it to him. Link eyed her warily, then the cup, staring at its contents. Water? It looked and smelled like water, anyway. Normally he would have refused it, but his mouth and throat were dry as bone. If they had wanted to poison or kill him, they would have already, right? He hesitated but slowly took the glass, drinking deeply from it; he hadn’t realized just how thirsty he was.
The woman who had attempted to talk to him nodded, looking satisfied, then gestured to herself.
“Namah.”
Link blinked once or twice, unsure how to respond.
“Namah.” She said against, slapping her hand against her collarbone.
Oh- that must be her name. If it wasn’t, then he was sure he’d be corrected soon enough. He warily scanned the room again, confused, then rested his eyes back on the woman. The boy mimicked her motion, slapping his hand against his own collar bone.
“Link.”

Chapter Text

It was a very stressful, frightening and frustrating experience. The strange women provided him with water and food, which he was grateful for, but their attempts at conversations were basically useless. The one called ‘Namah’ was the one that tried to communicate with him the most, she kept trying differently sounding languages, and had tried to use written language with him as well. They hadn’t managed much, he had attempted to write some of his language back, in hopes she would understand, but it didn’t seem to be getting them anywhere. It seemed they had to start from scratch, and start they did.

Namah started with basic things, food, water, numbers and the like. He wasn’t sure how long it took, how many days it had been, but eventually they were able to have very minimal conversations. He still couldn’t quite communicate the things he really wanted to: where he was, what they were, what that intense light was peeking through the windows during the day. Namah and her people had put together pretty quickly that the light was too intense for him and kept him in the dark most they could.

“What are you?”
That was the first real question she had managed to ask him, and he would’ve found it a little rude had he not been thinking the same thing.
“Twili.” He answered. “My…people, Twili.”
Namah nodded, gesturing to herself.
“My people are Gerudo. I am a scholar, I study things.”
He blinked, paused a moment as he tried to recall the words, then responded.
“I also. Also ‘scholar’.” He said, holding up his hand. “I…show?”
Namah nodded, a little skeptical but equally parts curious, if he understood her expression.

Link faced an empty part of the room, holding his hand out in front of him. With a little concentration a ball of black and red electricity formed, buzzing in his palm. Namah was staring, but didn’t seem to be scared, so he continued. He performed a basic warp spell, transferring the cup on the table into the palm of his other hand. Pleased with himself, he smiled at her, holding out the cup. Namah said something, seemingly excited, but he didn’t quite catch all of it. When she noticed this she showed her own hand, bright sparks of electricity flickering around it.
“Magic,” she said, pointing at her hand, then his. “Magic.”
Oh! That must be their word for sorcery. She was spellweaver too?

Surprisingly, they began to understand each other much faster after that; was it because they had something in common? Link liked to think so, maybe their mutual interest was helping bridge the gap in their languages. They began to speak easier about spells and the like, then progressed into general conversation. He learned many things from her, although they didn’t all make a lot of sense. The place he was in was called Hyrule, and the town was exclusively for her tribe, the Gerudo. Apparently they were only women, and only women were allowed there. When he voiced his concern about that, she explained that they had made an exception in his case.
“The light hurts you, there’s no way you can go through the desert on your own. That and you’re no race we’ve ever seen, we don’t know how people will react if they see you.”

“I am frightening?” he asked. “There are none that look like Twili here?”
He had put together he was in the light realm, though he still had no idea how or why. There were races and lands he had never heard of, and that burn outside the window curtains, it didn’t take a genius to figure out he was no longer in his sweet Twilight.
“No, but there are legends about you.” Namah told him. “I don’t know much about them, but I have a friend from another tribe that might know more about it. She said she’ll come to visit as soon as she has anything that can help us understand what’s happening. That and…well…your hand…”
He followed her gaze to the back of his left hand, biting his lip. The three triangles were still marked brazenly on his flesh, as if they had been there his entire life. That symbol appeared when all this started, he knew there must be a connection but…
“You know this?” he showed her the mark. “You know what it is?”
“That’s the crest of the Hylian royal family, of the gods, the Triforce.” Namah explained. “It must be important, but I don’t know why. Do you have any idea about it?”
“It appeared right before I came here,” he frowned. “I was just walking down the hall and then it showed up, then…there was a light, some…thing, made of light, and then I was in your ‘desert’, burning.”
“I see…I’m afraid I can’t go off that at all.” She sighed.

“Ah,” Link frowned, disappointed.
He thought a moment, eying the closed curtain. Even though it blocked the light for the most part, there was still that searing gold peeking through the gaps. Would he have to stay here the rest of his life? Well, no, if he wanted to he could go out during the darkness of their night, but…
“Can I go outside?” he asked, still looking at the window.
“Outside? The sun’s light didn’t agree with you last time, I don’t think that’s-“
“Not right now, at night, when the light is dimmed.” He looked back at her. “I haven’t left this room, I want to go outside.”
“Well…” Namah frowned. “I…suppose so, but we’ll have to be careful, okay? I’ll come back later, once it’s dark enough.”
Link nodded, thanking her before she took her leave.

Once alone again, he settled back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. What was going to become of him? Would he ever get home? Would he just waste away in this room being studied like this? Granted they were much more hospitable to him than they could have been, for which he was grateful, but…
He shook his head, turning onto his side. Namah was accommodating, even about letting him leave, so he truly did believe that she at least was trying to help him. Still, what else was there for him to do? He was still learning their language, but that was basically all there was for him to do to pass the time. Would this friend of hers be able to help? Would she be able to get him back? And what about that mark? Why would the symbol of the goddesses of light, the ones that had banished his ancestors, be drawn into his skin like this? He mulled over thoughts like these for a good while in silence before he finally slipped into slumber.

The dream he had was strange; he was in a vast field of green grasses, a single tree in the center of it all. The sky was an intense bright blue, clouds white and bone, but they didn’t seem to come with the burn of the light world sun. There was no ‘sun’, actually, but then why was this place so bright? That and it just kept going, there was nothing on the horizon, the field just stretched endlessly in all directions. Figures circled about the tree, but he couldn’t make them out quite right. He frowned and made his way toward it, curious to see who was there.

As he grew closer he made out the figures to be children, pale, but light-realmers, all wearing simple white clothing and strange masks. When he got close they stopped running about, pausing to look at him, at least he assumed they were looking at him. They said nothing and he continued toward the tree where a final masked child sat, hugging its knees. The mask was…familiar, the eyes, the patterns, it almost looked like something he had seen in the library, something from a long time ago-

“Are you here to play?” the child asked.
He went to answer but he had no voice, no sound would leave him.
“I know your magic,” the child’s head tilted to an unnatural angle. “It’s my magic too. Are you going to take me home?”
Again, he couldn’t answer, but the child continued.
“We’ll go home together.” They said. “Once we’re done playing. You need to take that mask off first, you can put it back on later.”
Link tried to speak again, tried to explain he wasn’t wearing a mask.

The child reached up and grabbed his face, pulling him down to their eye level. Their nails dug into the skin of his face, causing Link to shout out in pain. He tried to grab the hands and pull them away, tried to yell at him to stop, nothing worked. The child dug their nails under his face and with a rough, sickening ripping sound, tore Link’s face clean off. Link screamed, clutching at his face- only to find there was sill flesh upon it. He froze, desperately gripping at his face, feeling it. It was- normal? No, not quite, it was different but-
The masked child held up his own face, his features, chiseled into a wooden mask. Suddenly he was looking through the mask that was his face, at himself, or what had been himself. A tall, pale man with white hair and white eyes, blue and red marks on his face-
“Let’s play!”

Chapter Text

Link bolted upright, his heart pounding against his ribcage, cold sweat sliding down his face. Just a nightmare, but…so vivid. He had never had a nightmare where he could feel the air on his face, or that child’s nails under his skin-
He shivered, touching his face gingerly. What a horrid dream….
“Link? You are up?” a knock at the door. “May I come in?”
Namah? Yes, that was her, he had to collect himself before she came in.
“One moment.” He hoped he said that right.
A few deep breathes, a wipe of his face on the towel on the rack, and he walked toward the door.
“Come in, I’m fine.”
Namah made her entrance, a lantern in her hand. She couldn’t see in the dark as well as he could, so she needed a light source at night.
“There you are, I have some good news,” she smiled a little. “You can go ahead and come outside right now…I have to stay with you though, and you can’t leave the town.”
It was more than he had had in a long while.
“That sounds nice, let’s go.”
“Are you all right? You seem…out of breath, is that an ailment for you?”
“I’m fine, I just had an unsettling dream-…” he paused. “Do you dream?”
She chuckled, holding the door open.
“We do, come along, whenever you’re ready.”
He hadn’t really gotten to look at their world, the only thing he had seen was the light. It was dark now, so that shouldn’t be a problem, but to say he wasn’t nervous would be a blatant lie. Namah offered him a kindly smile as she lead him out into the dark street. The town was…not much different than his hometown, actually. Mostly made of clay and stone, blocky but not without some stylistic form. The stone was light colored, he could tell that even in the darkness, and the sand under his feet was as well. It was significantly chillier at night, and the sky was dark like home-
“What are those lights?” He blurted, looked toward his guide, startled. “There are so many- are they lanterns?”
“Lanterns-? No, those are stars. They’re like the sun, just very far away, so they seem small.”
“Suns?! Those are all suns?!” he blurted, shocked. “But- how- there are that many?! How do they not burn us now?! There’s only one during day, right?! How-?!”
Namah laughed, then quickly apologized to him.
“I’ll answer all your questions, little voe, just calm yourself.”
There was a bench she sat upon, patting the seat beside her as she set the lantern on the ground. Link hesitated but sat beside her, warily looking around. There was no one else on the streets, but he assumed that was because of the arrangements Namah had made. They didn’t want people around him; that was understandable right now, he supposed. They still didn’t know what exactly he was capable of or what he would do. Even if he told them he was no threat, that didn’t mean they could take him at his word. Namah seemed to trust him, but she had been with him more than any of the others in town. She explained to him about the ‘stars’, about how their light was outshined by the ‘sun’ during the day, how their lands were mainly sand, how it scorched under the sun and froze beneath the stars.
“The moon isn’t out tonight, we figured it would be too bright for you if it was.”
“Moon?” he blinked.
“It’s…like the sun, it appears at night sometimes, it gives off a pale light, it can be kind of bright sometimes though.”
“It doesn’t drown out the ‘stars’?” he frowned, confused.
“No, it’s not as bright as the sun, not nearly.”
“Is it dim fire?”
“No, it’s a giant rock, basically,” she chuckled. “It reflects the sun’s light, but just a little bit.”
“Oh, all right.”
“…Huh, for some reason I thought you would be curious about the giant floating rock part.”
“Not at all, he have many floating objects back home. We have entire cities that float. I suppose that’s not so odd to me then.”
“Oh, I suppose not then.” Namah chuckled, looking down at him with a fond little smile.
She was a kind woman, especially given their differences; she was equally curious about his people and world as he was of hers.
“Oh, I should show you the sandseals, you haven’t seen any of our animals yet, right? The ones we have in town are tame, they’re generally friendly. We’ll see how the react to you before we let you touch them though- that is, if you want to.”
“Tamed beasts?” he blinked. “Livestock?”
“Transportation, we use them to cross the desert. They pull us along the sands.”
He learned a lot from her and to a degree, she reminded him of his mother. Though there was more of a teacherly aspect he likened to the sage he apprenticed to. Then again, she was also like the princess in that he felt he could talk casually with her….was this a friend? Was that what that was like? He smiled as she began to lecture him on the ‘seal’ creatures; he was glad that in this foreign world the first person he had really met was a friend.
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“My friend is coming soon,” she told him the next morning. “She’ll want to meet you, and then together we can work out finding a way to get you home.”
“Do you think she can help? Will she not be frightened of me?”
“She’ll do what she can to help, I’m sure, she’s very wise.” Namah nodded enthusiastically. “I studied with her for a good while. She’s from this tribe that has a very advanced history, though a lot of it is lost to them now they still have scholars that are very-“
Link patiently listened as his guardian went into another lengthy lecture about her friend’s history.
“She’s got an apprentice of her own that’s about your age- I think, you’re both adolescents, yes? Well anyway she’ll becoming with her, but you don’t have to meet with the girl if either of you are uncomfortable with it. She’s a Hylian girl, she was training to be a priestess but she wanted to travel so she took up tutelage with Lady Impa, she’s a nice girl if you decide to meet I’m sure you’ll get along well. Hilda, I think it was? No, no it was Zelda, that’s it.”
That name was going to become very important to his future, thought he hadn’t the faintest clue at the time.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean you can’t find him!?”

“Princess, please-!”

A chair went flying across the room and smashed into the wall, splintering into a million pieces.

“I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to hear a damn thing except where he is! Got that?! Now either you find him and bring him back or I’ll-!”

“Midna.”

She twitched, her fists clenched tightly at her sides as her body shook with a plethora of emotions. Her father’s hand settled on her shoulder and she hung her head, gritting her teeth in an attempt not to shed tears.

“No one simply disappears, he’ll be found. Calm yourself.”

She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, shuddering silent sobs.

It had been one thing when he hadn’t showed up for her debut gala, she had been furious, having to show up with some snotty court boy at the last minute. She had fully intended to find him and beat him into the ground for standing her up like that, humiliating her. Then, however, when he couldn’t be found at all…
How could he just disappear?! No one had seen him, no one had heard about him. His things were still in his room, his parents knew nothing, his Master knew nothing…even if he had just run away for some reason, he would’ve taken something from his room. So…the only thing left was that someone had removed him by force. Had someone snatched him away? Was it- was it her fault? Was it because she liked him that they wanted to get rid of him? Was some spoiled would-be suitor getting rid of any boy she got close to? Was it all her fault?
No, no he had to be alive. She would find him, she’d do whatever she had to to find him. Anything.

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Link stared intently at the parchment, copying the letters as meticulously as he could. Namah’s language was different than the ‘Hylian’ the sage and her apprentice spoke, Namah would be there to translate but he was still intent on at least learning the basics of their language before they arrived. Namah had said that he had made an astounding amount of progress in such a short amount of time, but he wasn’t about to say it was enough and leave it at that. Besides, this ‘Hylian’ seemed easy to him, familiar almost, how odd. Then again, now that he had seen Hylian and Gerudo he was beginning to see similarities to his own native Twili. A word in Hylian would seem almost like a word from Twili, and then the same word in Gerudo would have a different but likewise similar part. He had heard that languages were connected, Namah said all languages originated from the same source, that they were ‘connected’. Could this be what she meant? If Hylians had truly sealed away Twili, could their languages had been one at some point?

At the thought, an image flashed in his mind. The wide yellow and red eyes of the masked child in his dream, the one that had ripped off his face- He shuddered, shaking his head and pushing back from the parchment. He didn’t want to revisit that nightmare, but perhaps he needed a break from his studies.

“Link?”

Oh there was a distraction, good. He turned but not too quickly, that way he wouldn’t get shown that blast of light. Namah entered, a smile on her face, and behind her- oh.
A tall woman with white hair, but she didn’t seem elderly, how odd. But the girl with her…he was stunned. Golden hair! Was such a thing possible? Truly? It was like the bight rays of the ‘sun’, but in strands atop someone’s head! It was baffling! His shock must have been obvious, but to be fair, the girl’s shock was too. They gaped at each other while Namah and the woman spoke quickly.

“Zelda,” the woman said.

She said something else that he didn’t catch, but the girl pried her eyes away, a flush coming to her cheeks.

“Link, this is Impa and Zelda,” Namah told him.

“Uh…Hello,” he waved awkwardly, hoping he said it right.

The girl twitched, staring at him, then smiled brightly.

“Hello,” she said in response, along with something else plus the word ‘Hylian’.

“Er-“ he looked at Namah, pleading silently for her assistance.

Namah chuckled and said something to the girl, then turned back to him.

“She asked if you spoke Hylian, I told her you’re still learning.”

“Thank you,” he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

The girl giggled. She was oddly…pretty. Bright shining hair, vibrant blue eyes- but…
He thought of Midna, of her usual pout or scowl, arms crossed in a huff, but blushing the whole time. Oh Midna, she must be furious with him, she must hate him now for standing her up like that. He hoped dearly she was doing well, perhaps she had found another friend…he hoped so. She wasn’t the type to make friends, it had taken her forever just to befriend him. Was she lonely? She always seemed so lonely-

“Link?”

“Sorry, Namah,” he shook his head. “I just got lost in thought.”

“You’re fine,” she said. “Impa wants to talk to you about some things. She speaks Gerudo too, but I’ll help you if you need it, okay?’

He nodded, looking at the white-haired woman, whom stepped forward to introduce herself properly.

“I am Impa, this is my apprentice Zelda. I’m told your name is Link, correct?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I heard that before you came here, you had a mark appear on your hand, do you mind if I see it?”

The ‘triforce’, right? He fidgeted a moment, glancing at Namah, whom nodded in support. He held his hand out palm-down, showing Impa the pattern on his hand. Impa’s brow furrowed and she examined it intently, mumbling to herself. Link fidgeted uncomfortably but said nothing.

“You know what this mark is, yes?”

“I was told,” he said slowly. “I don’t know why I have it though.”

“I suppose that is the mystery, isn’t it?” Impa sighed. “Well, I know of something that once served as a gateway to your realm, however, it no longer exists.”

“There has to be a way,” he shook his head. “I got here to begin with, right? So there has to be a way to go back.”

“Namah said a creature made of light appeared?”

He nodded again.

“I see,” she bit her lip. “Well in that case it seems the only way would be to seek this creature out.”

“Is there a place such creatures live, in this world?” he asked, confused.

“There’s legends about them in this land, but they haven’t been seen or heard from in centuries. They seem like your best bet, however.”

“We can tell you about the legends, Link,” Namah spoke up. “But…the sun is too bright for you, isn’t it? There’s no way you can make it to any of these places, even if you knew where to go.”

“Then I’ll go by night,” he said.

“Are you listening to me?” Namah shook her head, frustrated. “You’ve never even been outside this town, you have no idea what it’s like out there or where to go, what to do-“

“Then teach me.” He said stubbornly, meeting her gaze. “Teach me what I need to know.”

“He’s a willful one, isn’t he?” Impa chuckled. “Hm…Namah? You know he can’t stay here forever, right?”

“I…” Namah sighed. “I know.”

“Well you’re going to have to get acclimated to the sun either way,” Impa looked at him. “Even if you only travel by night, you’ll exposed to it at one point or another. Do you understand?”

Link nodded.

“Very well,” Impa said. “Namah, Zelda? I’ll need your assistance with him.”

“I’ll do my best!” Zelda chirped in broken Gerudo.

“Thank you,” Link bowed politely. “I appreciate it so much.”

Maybe he’d manage to make it to Midna’s next birthday party

Chapter Text

He mumbled to himself, scanning the spring in front of him. It had been difficult to find this specific spring, there was so much water in the lands beyond the desert. This had to be it though, right? He examined the odd stones around the water, they were all engraved with a strange pattern. This had to be it, from what he learned of the ‘light spirits’ this had to be one of their springs. So…what did he do now? He tapped his foot, looking around the cavern. Did he have to get into the water? Did he have to call the spirit?

He sighed and unrolled the scroll he had in his cloak, looking over his hastily done notes.

“Lanayru,” he nodded, looking into the water. “Okay…”

Link glanced at the mark on his hand and then into the water.

“Lanayru!” he called. “I bear the mark of the triforce! Please grant me an audience!”

He stood there and waited.

And waited.

And waited…

He groaned, flopping down on the ground and rescanning his scrolls. What was he supposed to do? Nothing was working, did he have the wrong place?

Well whatever, it was getting late- or early, really. The sun would be up in a couple hours and while he could travel in it these days, he would much prefer not to if at all possible. It didn’t burn like it used to, but it was just too bright. Everything was too bright by day, it was vibrant and colorful, which was nice but it could be overwhelming too. Well whatever, there was a stable outpost nearby he could make before dawn, he would come back tomorrow. He gathered up his things and held his hands out to focus on his spell, picturing the outpost in his mind. It was difficult to warp somewhere far away without some kind of anchor, but the place in mind was close enough he could manage it on his own.

With a shudder he felt bits of his body beginning to break down, and then the surreal experience of turning into a mass of fragments that flew through the air, only to be puzzled back together somewhere different altogether. He shook off the sensation, then made his way inside toward the front desk of the inn section. He kept his hood up but braced himself either way. His body was kept covered most times by his clothes, a pair of gloves and then his hood. Impa had given him a Sheikah style mask shortly before he set off on his journey, that covered most of his face but it was always his eyes that gave him trouble. It wasn’t something easy to hide, glowing blue and yellow eyes. Luckily most he would get was a few stares if he made eye contact. Hylians were surprisingly relaxed with seeing oddities, he supposed when they met so many races like Zora, Goron and Rito, they assumed he was some race they simply hadn’t met yet, which was true, yes, but he’d rather not chance running into someone who would call him a monster and rile up a mob.

“Hello,” he said as he approached the counter.

The man at the desk flinched slightly, scanning his covered form. He was clearly uncomfortable; great, just what he needed.

“I’d like a room,” he continued, hoping the moment would pass. “What’s the fare?”

He kept silent as the man scanned him, skeptical. Link prepared himself to make a quick exit should the exchange go sour, but the man spoke again.

“Forty, fifty for soft-bed,” he said.

He nodded, taking out his wallet and removed two red rupees.

“I’ll stay till dusk,” he said, handing over the money.

“Er, sure…enjoy your ni- sleep.”

Well, that went better than he thought it would. He thanked the clerk and made his way to his designated room. It was small but cozy, shades drawn closed just as he liked. With a sigh of relief he disrobed, removing his mask, gloves and hood. They were so stifling, especially in humid or hot areas. Oh well, he could relax for the day now. He set his pack on the dresser, rooting through it for his dinner. The meats of this world kept pretty well when dried, as well as a good amount of their fruits. It was a practical meal for a traveler, it kept and it filled, but… He really hadn’t realized how living in the castle had spoiled his tastebuds, what he would do for a real, cooked meal. Not to mention those nights he slept outside.

He had only done that a few times since he left the desert, thankfully. Usually he had been fortunate to finding a place to rest, even if it was further back his warping magic had served him well. The days he had to sleep through were…uncomfortable, to say the least. He had a simple dark fabric tent Namah had given him, just barely large enough for him to fit inside. Nearing adulthood now, he was easily taller than most Hylians and just barely shorter than a grown Gerudo. The tent made the sunlight dim enough to sleep through, but it was still far too bright for him to be comfortable. The hard ground with a thin, flimsy bedroll, a small blanket, the insects- ugh, insects, he hated those things. He really had taken his posh life in the castle for granted…

Ah well, today he had a roof over his head and a real bed, that was more than he could ask for right then. He sat on the bedside and ate his rations, polishing off whatever water he had left in the canteen. With his hunger sated he flopped down onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. Luckily this outpost was close enough to the desert that they had Gerudo sized beds for passing Vais on their pilgrimage for husbands, he had been to outposts with Hylian sized beds that he simply didn’t fit on any longer. Hylians were notably shorter than Twili and Gerudo alike.

When he got home, would they be surprised how tall he had gotten? Maybe he was taller than Midna now, heh, she would be so angry about that. Not truly angry, probably, but she would definitely pout about it. She’d probably demand he walk on his knees around her form then on. He chuckled a little and then sighed, closing his eyes.

It had taken years to get to this point, learning from Namah, Impa and Zelda. Their languages, their maps, the races that lived there, the creatures that lived there, what was edible, what was dangerous, places to rest, currency, customs…

Not to mention the sun. Since he had decided to head off he had spent time out in the desert sun, at first just a half hour, then an hour, then two, it had taken quite a while but eventually he had acclimated to it. His skin still burned easily when exposed, but they had taught him how to make salves from plants that eased the pain.

His magic had made things far easier than they would have been otherwise. All the things he had learned from his master, as well as spells from Namah and Zelda, had been invaluable. Warping, fire for food, healing for wounds…and then of course, combat. The monsters were more active at night, so he had had more than his share of encounters with them by now. Luckily, most of them were easily dispatched by a strike of lightning, a flash of ice, a burst of flame or a jolt of dark magic. On occasion he had to use his hair to grasp and throw an attacker away, but he avoided that if at all possible. If anyone was happening by, they would surely think him a monster as well.

He slipped off into sleep rather quickly, he must’ve been more exhausted than he realized. So he drifted off to sleep.
He dreamt of home, he often did these days. Dreamt he was in the castle, carrying scrolls, trotting after his master. Then Midna’s giggle and the scrolls flew out of his hands, magicked away. He tried to grab at them, looking where they flew and instead of a corridor instead found nothing but a blank white space. He panicked, looking back behind him to see his entire surroundings had become the same. He ran but it didn’t matter where he went, he didn’t go anywhere. Suddenly he was falling, falling through more blank space, as he fell the white space above him began to shrink- an eye? No, two, two blank white eyes on a pale face, red and blue marks-

He gasped, jumping upright in bed and clutching at his face, shaking. He could feel it, the masked child’s fingernails stuck under his skin- no, not it was just a dream. With forced deep breathes he pulled his hands away, closing his eyes tightly against the light of day peering through the window. Just a dream, just a dream…
With a deep shuddering breath he slumped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was brighter now, it must have been the middle of the day. Shadows were much more distinct the more light there was, he had learned. He had heard Twili were shadows in this realm, that didn’t seem to be the case thought, at least not with him. If he was the one casting shadows, he wondered, was he even a Twili at all? What an odd thought…

Chapter Text

As soon as the sunset he was back out into the field, making his way back to the spring. He wasn’t sure what else he could manage to do there, but it was the only spring of a ‘light spirit’ he had managed to find. If others still existed, they must’ve been obscured by the elements or decay by now. It was possible there was a reachable one somewhere, but this was his best bet as of yet.

The moon was rising higher in the sky, he was nearly close enough he could warp back to the spring. He mulled over what other tactics he could try, when suddenly the pale light of the moon warped into a hellish red. With a start he looked back up at the moon, which had become a bloodied crimson shade. He stumbled back a bit, alarmed as he stared up at it. The moon had never done that before, not in all the years he had been in this world. Was it some phenomena that occurred here? It was startling but that didn’t mean it was…bad, right?

At least that was his train of thought before a skeletal arm burst out of the ground and grabbed his ankle. He yelped and pulled back, zapping the arm with lightning and reducing it to splinters of bone. Okay, he had fought these skeletons before, it had just surprised him. Several of them emerged from the ground- then more, and more, in the time it took him to process what had happened a small army of the monsters had popped out the field, surrounding him. He yelped and barely dodged a swipe from a large one that had barreled at him, knocking him into a number of the smaller ones. They grasped at him and he swung his hair out into a large arm, sweeping in a large arc and slamming a good number of the beasts.

He wasted no time in taking advantage of the opening, rushing through it. With this many around him he wouldn’t be able to find an opening to focus and perform a warp spell. He use his hair to swipe at the ones nearest to him, throwing out magic ahead of him to clear out a path from the swarm. Why were there so many!? Out of nowhere, they just kept coming! Caught up in the chaos he was grabbed by a large beast- a hinox?! Where did it even come from?! It wrapped its hands tightly around his torso, crushing his ribs. He looked up at it, horrified, but caught sight of something even more horrifying above it head.

The bright red moon seemed to take up the entire side of the sky, its grin- was he delirious in his panic? It had a face! A menacing grin, looming yellow and red eyes-
Wait, wait he had seen those eyes.
A shrieking cackle rang in his ears, he shut his eyes tight. It wouldn’t go away! The sound was tearing at his brain-

“GET YOUR FILTY HANDS OFF HIM YOU WRETCH!!”

His eyes snapped open. He knew that voice- it was different but-
A black spear with familiar glowing patterns burst through the hinox’s eye, the monster letting out a shriek and falling forward, releasing Link.

He stumbled back onto his feet, trying to get a hold of his surroundings. There were still too many of them to count-
A large group was suddenly enveloped in black and red lightning, which lingered a moment before exploding the victims into broken bits of bone. Yet another large hand grasped his torso, yanking him
backwards and then turning him to face-

“You are in SO much trouble,” she hissed.

“Midna!?”

“Dodge, idiot!”

She threw him aside, leaping out of the way herself as another hinox slammed down on the ground in an attempt to squash them.

He quickly rushed back to Midna’s side, he and the princess setting their backs to each other to limit any openings the monsters had.

“How did you get here?!” he blurted.

“How did YOU get in a mess like this?!” she snapped back.

For all the ones they had cut down, it seemed as if it had made no difference whatsoever. There was another hinox but the majority of the creatures seemed to be the same common skeletons he had fought. It was the sheer number of them that was the problem and they seemed to just keep coming.

“Great…” he heard Midna chuckle bitterly. “I find you in time for us both to die.”

The screech of laughter from earlier came back abruptly and he screamed, slamming his hands over his ears. He vaguely heard Midna call his name but he couldn’t drown out the cackling.

In his vulnerable state, the hinox swiped at them with its club, the skeletons lurching forward and grasping at them, holding them in place.
Aren’t you going to play with me?
It felt like a dream, like he was watching through someone else, but it was so vivid and clear- more clear than anything had ever felt in his life. He had a blade in both hands, a strange helix-shape, and in an instant he broke through the skeletons holding him and with a fluid stroke sliced the hinox’s arm clean off. Red and black lightning flashed around him and he knew that Midna had used the opportunity to blast away the ones nearest to them. The hinox was roaring in pain and Link raised the blade above his head, just a second or two, the blade glowing brightly in the red light of the moon.

He slammed the blade down and the beast split in half, both halves collapsing onto the hoard of weaker beasts below.
What was this feeling? It was…euphoric, his heart was racing yet somehow he still felt calm, clear headed. He stared at the fallen beast and the gouge in the ground that had been left, the earth itself had been split. He felt…power.

The remaining creatures had begun to flee, scrambling away in various directions. It was almost pathetic, but he could find no sympathy for them. He would get rid of them in just a moment. All it took was a single swing of the blade and they all fell to pieces. He looked around for more and locked eyes with her.
Red and yellow eyes.
Like the moon.
Like that mask.
A surge of rage flared up inside him and he turned on her, raising up the blade to slice her in twain like the hinox.

At was then that she smacked him.
He froze, staring, blinking once or twice before she slapped him again, harder.

“Get a hold of yourself you idiot!” she snapped, glaring up at him. “You’re going to make an ass of yourself! I don’t know what bizarre power you’ve let get a hold of you but cut it out before I MAKE you!”

The sword vanished and she seemed taller suddenly. Or had he gotten shorter? Had he gotten taller before? Everything was a blur. He saw her shoulders visibly relax but she did not avert her glare, her hands on her hips.

“Well! Good to see you’ve gotten back to your senses!” she huffed. “You will have to prove a very, very lengthy apology to me to make up for that, I tell you! Well?! What do you have to say for yourself!?”

He went to speak, staring at her, but then swayed on his feet and hit the ground. As he lost consciousness, he heard her swear loudly.

“Are you SERIOUS?”

It was nice to hear her voice again.

Chapter Text

               He winced when his eyes fluttered open to bright light. Well, truly it wasn’t actually very bright, but even with the dark fabric of his tent stretched overhead, nestled in the shade of the trees, being otherwise exposed in the middle of the day was scalding to them. Where was he? When did he get- how did he get-?

“About time you woke up,” a voice scowled. “It’s bright as hell, I can’t sleep at all anyway, much less when I got to watch after you!”

His eyes darted to the speaker, staring up at Midna’s pursed lips and annoyed glare.

“…Midna?” he whispered.

“Hm, well I suppose I have blossomed into my beauty since we last saw each other,” she smirked, running a hand through her hair as she smirked down at him.

He froze just a moment.

“Well? Am I so beautiful you have no words left-?”

               He didn’t think, he just acted, he flung his arms around her, holding her tightly against him as his body began to shake.

“You’re real, you’re here- you- you’re-“ he stammered, his voice hitching in his throat.

“You-! …” he heard her sigh, then felt her arms around him. “Yes, I’m here. Idiot, it took forever to find you, how the hell did you even get here?”

“Light spirit kidnapped me,” he said, his voice muffled in her hair.

“…Of course, what else did I expect,” she sighed.

“How did- how did you get here?” he said, pulling away from her and wiping his eyes.

“I may have messed around with some ancient forbidden stuff,” she rolled her eyes, waving a hand dismissively. “The harder part was tracking you down. I’ve only been in this realm a week and it’s been so awful here.”

“If it only took you a week that’s not bad at all,” he chuckled awkwardly.

“Well I am talented, I suppose,” she sighed dramatically. “I really am just a prize all around.”

               Despite himself he smiled again, vision growing blurry again at the next wave of tears.

“Oh, are you seriously crying again?” she huffed, but her soft expression betrayed her feelings. “Geez, you really are a wreck without me.”

“I’m just so happy to see you,” he sniffed, wiping his eyes again. “I didn’t think I ever would see you or home again. I can’t believe you found me, now we can finally go home together and-….Midna?”

At the mention of ‘home’ Midna had tensed, her eyes shifting a bit and a sight furrow to her brow.

“…Midna,” he said again, more warning. “We…can go home, right? You know how to get home, right?”

There was an oddly quick moment of silence before Midna scowled.

“I was worried! I hadn’t seen you in years and I couldn’t just wait around until I found a way back! That might’ve taken a few more!”

“You came here without a way home?!” he blurted.

“Don’t you scold me!”

               “Scold?! Midna! I can’t believe you would do something so reckless!” he snapped. “It was bad enough for it just to be me stuck here, but you’re the princess! You told someone where you were going, right?!”

Midna pursed her lips and glanced up and away from him.

“MIDNA-!”

“How dare you yell at me!?” she snapped back at him. “I’m your princess! You should be honored I cared enough to find you!”

Link went to retort but sighed, his shoulders slumping.

“Midna, I am happy you’re here, I am so, so happy you’re here, but I don’t know how to get you home, I don’t even know how to get home myself. It’s hard for Twili to live here…”

Though, now that he thought about it…

“Hm, I thought we would be shadows in this world,” he frowned, scanning her. “I guess that’s a myth? We’re both solid.”

               “I dunno,” she shrugged. “I just know it worked and I found you.”

“But now you’re stuck here, we have to find a way to get you home.”

“We have to find a way to get us home,” she said, flicking his nose with her fingers. “I came to get you and we’re going home together. Got it?”

“…Why?” he asked.

“Why?! What kind of stupid-!”

“I mean why do all this for me? I’m just an apprentice sorcerer, not even a great one, not nobility or anything,” he frowned, meeting her eyes. “Why would someone as important as a princess go through all this trouble for me?”

She stared at him.

“Oh, you are stupid,” she muttered.

Before he could respond she had grabbed his shoulders, pushed him backwards and- and-

He blushed, her lips locked with his.

Oh- OH!

               It wasn’t a quick kiss, he stared numbly, overwhelmed as she kissed him deeply enough to make him short of breath. She pulled back, eyes still locked with his and he gaped at her.

“There. Should be obvious now,” she huffed, pulling away from him. “I don’t care about your magic talents or bloodline, I did all this just to see you again, I think it’s pretty clear what I think of you.”

“I- you- oh-“ he stammered, heat rising through his ears.

“Well, anyway,” she turned away from him, peering out into the bright horizon. “Yeesh, I hope night comes soon. In the meantime, I’m starving, where do you keep your food?”

He fumbled his words and instead began to unpack the rations.

“I- uh,” he cleared his throat, still blushing. “None of this is really, uh, high quality or anything but it’s what I’ve been living on. It tastes a little weird at first but it grows on you.”

“Hm, well this is some kind of dried meat, right?” she said, picking at a piece with her hair. “Can’t be that bad, nothing can be when I’m this hungry.”

Heat there quietly as she gobbled down what he gave her, too distracted to comment on her barbaric lack of manners. No, his thoughts were still earlier, with her lips against his.

               Was he dreaming? Did he just imagine all this? Did he imagine her, was he imagining her now? It was insane enough for her to be here at all, much less just to see him again. His princess, here, with him, and apparently in love with him. It was all so surreal.

“Not bad,” she picked her teeth, eyes flitting to him again. “Sooo…..”

“Uh- yes?” he said.

“What was the deal with you last night?”

Last…night….?

“You went all power crazy and transformed,” she said, a brow raised at him. “Is that just something you do now? Or…what? I hope not, it was pretty freaky.”

The memory hit him so abruptly his head began to spin. Right. Last night. The moon, the child’s voice, the strange helix blade in his hands…

Oh no. That definitely couldn’t be good.

Chapter Text

               “Link, how the hell do you get wrapped up in crazy shit like this?”

“I don’t know!” he blurted. “I just- it just kinda- it just happened, it showed up in my dreams and then..well nothing else happened until just last night. I don’t know anything about it.”

“Of course you don’t,” she rolled her eyes. “Well..I don’t know what to do about that, but I do have an idea about something else. While you were explaining your insanity I thought maybe if we go back to where I arrived here, we might find a way back?”

“How did you get here?” he asked.

               “Found some ancient doo-dad,” she said with a shrug. “I channeled some magic into it and ended up underground. Like, underground in this realm.”

“Really?” he frowned. “A cave or something?”

“No, way to big to be a ‘cave’,” she said, eying him. “It’s like…a whole other continent down there. I don’t think I could’ve seen anything down there if I wasn’t a Twili, I doubt light realmers could’ve at all. There were these big…fungi? I think? And glowing rocks, some giant frog things…and really really big roots with glowy cores.”

               “That…definitely doesn’t sound like anything I know of,” he bit his lip.

“Well it’s true!”

“I’m not saying it isn’t,” he shook his head. “I’m just surprised I haven’t heard about it, but I guess if people in this realm can’t really see down there, they wouldn’t go too far…”

“Sooo….sounds like something we should investigate?” she said, poking his cheek.

He flushed at the contact, thinking back to the kiss earlier.

“Er-,” he cleared his throat. “Yes, I think it’s a good lead. Do you remember how to get there?”

“I mean we can just warp down,” she said, pointing beneath her feet.

“It’s that big?” he stared. “That we can just…go down anywhere?”

“Yup, it’s pretty crazy.”

               That was pretty insane, but it was also far too interesting to pass up.

“So we can just go back to that ‘doo-dad’ you found and-?”

“Oh it’s gone.”

He stared at her.

“..What?”

“It’s gone,” she said, averting her eyes sheepishly. “Yeah when I got here it just kinda…er, broke?”

“You broke it?!”

“I didn’t touch it! The damn thing just shattered on its own!” she pouted. “But- hey, if there was one down there there’s probably more, right? We just got to look.”

“What if there isn’t?!”

She smirked at him, leaning toward his face again as he felt the heat rise to his ears.

“Then I guess it’ll just be the two of us, alone together in this world away from all the royal bullshit…”

He tried to speak but choked a bit, turning away from her and burying his face in his cloak.

               She laughed and he felt her pinch his cheek.

“You’ve always been so, so cute,” she teased.

He forced himself to calm down and cleared his throat, glancing back at her.

“Okay, well, uh- right, let’s go ahead and warp down and see what we can find down there.”

“I mean given all the monsters it’s dangerous,” she shrugged. “But I think the two of us can handle it, especially if you can go all freaky-god thing again. I’ll just slap you if you get too worked up. That’ll work, right?”

Link bit his lip, trying to stop himself from trembling at the thought of it. The only thing that had been on his mind like that was to kill, to kill and more specifically to destroy that thing with the red and yellow eyes- wait. No…while in his insanity he may have mistook Midna’s eyes for the entity, with a clear head he seemed to remember it better. It did have red and yellow eyes, but the center was vibrant green. He wondered why that detail stuck out to him so much, but perhaps it was because of the guilt that he’d even considered for a moment that his princess’ eyes were the same as that thing.

               “Helloooo?” she tapped his cheek. “You okay there, nerd?”

“Er- nerd?” he pouted. “Come on, after all this time you’re still calling me that?”

“Mmmhmmm…” she smirked, leaning in. “My cute little nerd. You know, you’re going to have to learn not to get embarrassed so easily. When you’re my king-consort, it’ll be so funny if you blush every time I talk about you.”

“Ki- ki- CONSORT!?” he blurted.

“Yeah, just like that.”

He pulled his hood over his face, blushing with such intensity he was certain his face was glowing.

“…Uh,” he heard her pause. “Am I…am I assuming wrong, here, Link?”

“A- assuming?” he peeked out at her.

“Well, I suppose I just assumed you wanted to marry me,” she pouted, then frowned more somberly. “I guess I never blatantly asked you, though…I- I guess I shouldn’t have done that. Look, if you…if you don’t care about me in that way, it’s fine, really. I’ll still always be your friend, if that’s what you want.”

               He stared at her, his embarrassment replaced with something he didn’t quite know how to describe. Concern? Sadness? Anxiety? He couldn’t quite figure it out. Even so…

“It’s…it’s not that,” he mumbled, pulling his hood around him again. “I do…really like you, Midna. A lot, I’ve been trying so hard to get home, to get back so I could see you again. I’ve missed you so much, but I guess I never really though about what would happen next.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Midna sighed. “I’m sorry, I guess I’m rushing things.”

“A bit yeah,” he managed a shaky smirk at her.

“Hm, well, fair enough. Let’s start with finding our way home, shall we?” she smiled.

Link emerged from his cloak with a smile of his own, nodding.

“Okay, so we’re going to just go straight down? “

“Mmhm!” she proudly stood, placing her hands on her hips. “C’mon, mage-boy, let’s go on an adventure.”

An adventure with Midna? One that didn’t involved getting scolded by his master? Definitely seemed like fun.

Chapter Text

               “Link…”

He muttered furiously etching notes into his journal while he examined the flora.

“Link…”

It looked like a fungus but it was the size of a tree, and it had a lot more in common with trees than fungi just from what he could tell, and the smaller plants growing at the base of it, a strange purple bloom and drifting, pale-white insects…

“LINK! QUIT NERDING OUT!”

Link jumped a bit and quickly got to his feet, pressing his notebook close to his chest and turning back to his companion.

“Er, sorry, they’re just so interesting…”

Midna huffed, hands on her hips.

“Of all the things for you to focus on, it’s big mushrooms?” she pouted, lightly kicking one. “I’m right here, you know, aren’t I nicer to look at?”

               “Er- well- of course, Midna, but I’ve never seen things like this, they’re so interesting….”

“I have some things you haven’t seen before,” she mumbled.

“What?”

“What? Anyway! Come on!” she huffed, hands on her hips. “We need to find that weird gadget, right?”

“I-  right, so do you know where it is?”

“Wh- of course I do! Geez-….okay yeah I don’t remember but I know I can find it!”

Link did his best to hide his deep exasperation, but he didn’t do a good job based on her expression.

“Am I supposed to remember *everywhere* I’ve been? For fuck’s sake I didn’t even know what realm I was in.”

“Fair,” he sighed. “It’s pretty overwhelming at first. I couldn’t even keep my eyes open in the sun.”

Midna winced.

               “Oh yeah, you just showed up right in the ‘day’ didn’t you? Oof…glad you got to shade.”

“Yeah, it was…pretty hard, pretty scary at first, honestly,” he bit his lip. “I know I would’ve died if the Gerudo hadn’t found me- the desert women.”

“…Desert women?” Midna rose a brow. “What, they don’t live with men? Why did they take you in then?”

“Oh, well, they made an exception for me because…well I would’ve died,” he smiled sadly.

“Hm, guess I owe them then,” she rolled her eyes. “But yeah, uh, anyway, uh…looking for that thing. Right. I’m pretty sure it was a higher up area…”

               The pair continued their trek through the depths for a few hours without much incident. It seemed most of the monsters down there were wary of them, probably offput by their appearances. That and one of them snuck a bit too close for comfort and Midna shouted at it which such ferocity that the beast turned tail and ran, letting out loud yelps of distress. Link hoped that it wouldn’t come back to bite them, it could’ve been a child for all they knew, a child that would come back with an angry parent. There were more than a few giant lumbering shapes lurking around, just out of their line of vision. Their dim glowing in the void was probably what they looked like to everything else down there, to be fair. A few odd bokoblins clambered around camps, eying them as they passed by. Usually they would pass in a tense, but otherwise uneventful silence. Other times, one would go for a weapon and Midna would hurl a boulder at them, swearing loudly. That usually ended up with them warping away out of sight with Link trying his best to calm her down.

               They had been at their exploring all day(?) when they finally settled down to make camp of their own. Link gently sprung a fire to life with his magic while Midna gathered the strange wood and plants for fuel. Well, that was what she was supposed to be doing, instead she kept grabbing random creatures and asking if he thought they could eat them. Eventually she settled down with him by the warmth of the fire as he set up their bedding.

“Hey, Link?”

“Hm?” he looked up.

“What do you think all these little flames are anyway?”

“I was wondering about that too, I don’t think they’re dangerous though…” he eyed one of the wisps that drifted by. “They just…float around.”

“They have a weird energy to them,” Midna frowned, gently poking one that came too close.

“I don’t think we should touch them.”

“It didn’t do anything,” she rolled her eyes.

               “To you. For all we know it could hurt them.”

She laughed, smirking at him.

“Oh you are too cute sometimes, you know that? Too damn nice.”

He pouted, settling down to sit next to her.

“Well one of us has to be- M- Midna?!”

Midna had scooched right next to him and casually laid her head atop of his, snuggling closer to him. His marks glowed a faint pink and he felt the heat go to his ears but he didn’t move away.

“I missed you,” she mumbled. “So much.”

“I…I missed you too,” he whispered.

“When we get home,” she continued. “I want you to start courting me, officially. I mean- if you want. I’d want that, if you want that.”

He blushed more

      “I- I would make a poor king-consort.”

“Nah,” she chuckled. “Youd’ be great, you’re way smarter than I am. They’ll respect a great mage.”

“I’m not a-“

“Shush,” she cut him off. “You need to give yourself more credit. And if you don’t want to, just say so, okay? I-…as long as we’re still friends, at least, I’ll…I’ll be happy.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he mumbled. “I just think there’s better options.”

She laughed so hard he flailed back, covering his ears.

“M- Midna!”

“Oh trust me! No, no there aren’t,” she smirked at him, her expression oddly warm.

She leaned back toward him, grinning.

“Besides…I heard the ‘you want to’ thing…”

Her grin grew, his blush intensified, and she began to crawl toward him over the bedding.

               “MIDNA!!”

“Come on, Link, don’t be shy-“

Link abruptly tackled her to the side just as a slew of arrows pierced the ground. Midna yelped in shock and Link was already on his feet, a shield raised over her and conjuring magic in his palm. The attackers probably would not have been visible to non-Twili, but he saw them now in the trees. Masked humanoids, wearing red suits, skulking about the branches. Did Hylians live down here? Wait- no these were-

“EX-FUCKING-CUSE YOU!!!!”

Uh-oh.

“YOU BITCHES JUST FUCKED UP MY MOMENT! YOU FUCKING WHORES!”

Link stepped to the side, shield still up ready to protect her if need be. He didn’t think he’d need to though. Midna has already launched into a barrage of violent spells and melee with her hair, swearing up a storm in the process. He heard one of the attackers cry, not in pain just…cry. Really it was better to let her get this out of her system. Though…they could probably get some intel out of them.

He’d just capture the one sobbing behind the rock real quick.