Chapter Text
This is how her world changes. She is chosen by her people to be their next ruler. She prepares for another day under the gentle glow of twilight, a new day for her as its princess. She is cursed by one of her rivals, her people are cursed for choosing her, and the twilight she calls home is cursed to a poisoned and corrupted form.
She escapes and leaves her home.
This is how his world changes. He is chosen to deliver gifts for the royal family. He prepares for his trip, his first time going to the capital. His friends get kidnapped, he tries to find them. A monster finds him first.
He is dragged into twilight, transformed into a beast, and taken into an adventure.
When they arrive at the queen's room, they find that they're not alone. Near the balcony are two people deep in a hushed conversation.
Midna lets out an exaggerated cough and they turn at the sound.
He assumes the woman in the ornate dress is the queen, the crown on her head is a big giveaway. He's not sure who the hooded figure is though.
The queen looks at him, then at Midna, assessing them. The hooded figure is silent, he can't see their face but he feels their stare. If he wasn't a wolf, he would have been shuffling his feet at the scrutiny.
She looked at them with a raised eyebrow, head high and back straight. If it weren’t for the bleak scenery shown through the windows, one would have thought the queen was just having a calm and peaceful day. Nothing looks unkempt, her dress is impeccable, and she looks unfazed by the black creatures that sometimes fly by outside.
Here she was, living in a castle that was dark, crumbling, and filled with monsters. And Link can only describe her expression as mildly irked.
"I wonder if this is my hubris," she murmurs. "That I have to rely on children to fight my battles."
Now it was Midna's turn to be irked. "Do I look like a child to you?"
The queen smiles, eyes crinkling in amusement. "When you're my age, everyone is a child."
"You're not that old," the hooded figure says softly. Link twitches at how high and light the voice sound. "You're barely an old woman in my books."
"That's kind of you to say, but I know these past events have taken a toll on me." She and reaches out for her companion, pulling down the hood, revealing a young girl with dark brown hair. "Just like it will for you, and I am deeply sorry for that."
She looks like the queen, minus her composure.
"What? I'm not-!"
"You are, even just for this journey," the queen says, looking at the girl. "I'm sorry I pulled you into this, but I know you'll push through it."
"This is a joke, right?" The girl whispers, eyes wide. "I… I'm not the one-! It should be you! You're the-!"
"I'm a foolish old lady who was too much of a coward to risk the comforts she was born in," the queen tells her. "I don't know how to fight, I've forgotten how."
"And you think I do?" The girl asks, voice getting higher and higher. Link can hear her breaths becoming quick and shaky. "I've never used a sword or bow in my life! I can't fight!"
"I've seen your life, you fight in the way that counts, in ways I wouldn't think of," She tucks a stray strand behind the girl's ear. "That's why I chose you."
Chose?
"There’s nothing to fear, you have everything you need here." She taps on the girl's forehead playfully. "Find the springs of the golden goddesses, they will give you what you need to access your powers."
The girl blinks. "... I have powers?"
"Oi," Midna cuts in. "Hate to break this touching moment." Link doubts it. "But shouldn't you be worrying about other things?" She gestures at the soft orange glow of the twilight seen streaming from the balcony.
"Wolf," the queen addresses, ignoring the question. "I have a request to ask of you."
"Link," the girl corrects, and he twitches, how did she know his name? "And the girl is Midna."
How did she know their names?
"Link and Midna," the queen says. "Could you bring my daughter with you? If she's discovered, it will end only in death."
This is how her world changes. She chooses a game to play. Feeling nostalgic, she picks a childhood favorite. She boots her console, inserts the disk, and lounges on her couch, expecting to binge on some games the whole day. It’s a weekend, she has no work, she can do what she wants.
She has no time to scream as ribbons of light shoot out from her TV the moment she starts the game.
Midna hums, eyeing the girl. "And what's in it for us? Why should we babysit the princess?"
Link growls. Midna pats his head. "Down, boy. I agreed to help you, I didn't agree to help anyone else."
The girl bites her lip. "I know things, things that can help you."
"Oh?" Midna gives a condescending smile. "And what would a little princess know that could help me?"
She tugs on her hair, glancing at the queen then back to Midna. She inhales. "Killing Zant won't be enough to break your curse."
Midna's smile freezes.
"He… he had help," the girl continues, fiddling with her braid. "It's why he could outmatch you. If he dies, he'll just be revived."
"Who's helping him?" Midna demands, floating towards her. "Who?"
The queen steps between them. "Take my daughter with you, then she will answer your questions."
Midna glares, the queen gives her a cool stare, the girl fidgets.
Link has no idea what's going on.
Midna snorts. "She can come with us, but if she can't keep up, that's not my problem."
The queen smiles.
This is a dream, she mentally repeats as she follows a familiar-looking imp and wolf in a familiar-looking path that leads to a familiar-looking village.
This is a dream, she tells herself as she finds a mirror (in a familiar-looking treehouse) and sees her face—same but different. She has blue eyes and pointed ears. She never liked contacts, and she can feel her fingers as they touch the tips of her ears.
She pinches and pulls hard, it hurts.
“This is a dream,” she whispers as the wolf attacks several flying bats (keese?) with his teeth.
“This isn’t a dream!” The imp (she should call her Midna) snaps. “Let that sink into your pretty little head and get over it!” She punctuates each word by poking her chest. “I don’t have time to babysit a pampered princess,” she sneers. “And if you can’t keep up, I’m leaving you to handle this nightmare on your own.”
The imp (Midna) turns and floats away, she looks back and glares at the wolf (she should call him Link). “Well? You have your friends to save, don’t you?”
The wolf (Link) growls, she pats his head. His fur is soft (real). “She’s right,” she murmurs. “Don’t think badly of her, she has a lot at stake as well.”
"Did you find a sword and shield?"
"Yes, no thanks to you, princess," Midna huffs.
"A wolf and an imp is stealthier than a grown hu-... hylian," the princess points out. "I would have been more trouble than help. Besides I wasn't just waiting around and doing nothing."
She raises her arms with a flourish, showing her outfit underneath her cloak. Gone was the long white dress she was wearing, replaced with a tunic and pants. She still kept the pauldrons and the pink top.
Link narrows his eyes, were those his clothes?
The princess looks at him and shrugs. "I knew your house wouldn't have anyone inside," She says sheepishly. "So I borrowed some of your stuff. Just your clothes and a map, I swear!"
He stares at her.
"And maybe some food?" She adds. "I was really hungry."
He's not going to ask how she knew where he lives, it's too much energy at this point.
Not that he can anyways, he's a wolf.
This is how their adventure is told. A goatherd takes up a sword to save his friends. A bastard child becomes the symbol of hope the kingdom needs. A princess, dethroned and humiliated, rises up to be a champion of both shadow and light.
The goatherd is lauded as a hero and knighted, the bastard is crowned a princess, and the princess regains her rightful throne.
It's a beautiful tale; inspiring and epic.
But it lacks a few grains of truth.
"A harp." Link carefully backs away, not liking Midna's tone. "Her kingdom is under siege by a madman and his beasts and she gives you a harp?!"
"She also gave me a sword?" The princess holds up said sword, offering it meekly to Midna.
Midna looks at it like it spat on her mother's grave. "It's flimsy. "
"Just because it's not a buster sword, doesn't mean it's useless," the princess sniffs. "It's a rapier, it's all about finesse and precision."
"Do you know how to use it?"
There's a long silence, then a nervous laugh. "Do video games count?"
She yelps as a blast of black particles shoot near her feet and joins Link in running away from the irate twili. "Do you even know what video games are?!"
"Your answer pisses me off and that's what matters!"
(It lacks several grains of truth actually.)
"You still haven't told me who this helper of Zant is,” Midna says.
She looks up from her experimental plucking of the harp. "His name is Ganondorf. Gerudo male, good in magic and combat, very intelligent and manipulative, and he has the triforce of power."
"... That's all you know?"
"Sometimes he turns into a giant overpowered pig?"
She bristles at the twin stares of disbelief. "We just met a giant goat-wolf spirit! Why is a pig so hard to imagine?!"
Really, she turned into an imp and he turned into a wolf. Is a man turning into a pig that unbelievable.
"... Do any of you know how to play a harp?" Another hesitant pluck echoes. "I figured out the notes but I'm not sure I'm holding it right."
She gets more stares for that.
"We should split up," the princess declares. "We can find the tears faster that way."
Link and Midna look at each other. "And how will you be able to find the bugs without Link's senses?" Midna asks dryly. "Or hold the tears without the vessel?"
The princess smiles, and brings up her hand, showing a tear-shaped gem glittering on her palm.
"How…?"
"I tested a theory on our way here," she explains, letting the tear float towards the vessel of light. "I know the locations of the tears, and the bugs still show signs of where they've been even if they're not in this realm. It's just a matter of predicting where they go and then-" She thrusts her hand forward. "-stabbing them with my sword."
Link blinks, was that why she had stabbed the ground? He thought it was pent-up anger, he wouldn't blame her.
"Where do you keep the tears?" Midna asks.
"They, uh, kinda go inside me?" The princess scratches her head. "And then I think really hard about wanting them out and they just do?"
Midna stares at her, then at Link, then looks up at the twilit sky. "I don't know if you're a genius or a moron."
"That's fair."
This is how the triforce works: it enhances what already exists in a wielder. Power becomes stronger, courage is increased, and wisdom is enriched.
Wisdom, in her case, is the knowledge she has about the two people in front of her.
She knows she shouldn’t remember this much about (the game) the area, about the (characters) the people and (lore) history. Memories, crisp and clear, come to her as easy as breathing.
And this is merely the tip of the triforce-shaped iceberg. She knows her thinking is faster, sharper, less cluttered. She knows she should be in a deeper state of panic than this. She knows it’s not normal, for her anyways, to learn things like playing a harp in the span of a few days. Especially the hectic days she’s been having.
The triforce is an amazing and terrifying thing, she understands why people want it so desperately.
The princess draws a crude map on the ground, pointing out where the tears will be.
"Let's meet here." She circles an area that Link recognizes as the path to the Forest Temple. "I don't think I'll be able to reach those tears, so I can give you what I have and you can get the rest."
"What's in that area?"
"Poison fog, or something like it," the princess hums, tapping her chin. "I don't have anything that can push it away, so you and Link will have to traverse through it via the trees."
"Trees?"
"Teleporting a wolf is easier than teleporting a wolf and a h-hylian, right?"
Don’t treat it like a dream, she repeats to herself. Holding her sword up and willing herself not to shake. She eyes the approaching monsters warily.She could do this. As long as there’s no shadow beasts, she should be fine.
She doesn’t know if there’s a game over and continue option if she dies, and it wouldn’t be wise (hah) to assume there is.
Though then again, a wiser choice would be to stay safe, wouldn’t it? Let the hero handle the quest while she finds a way back?
But , a tiny voice whispers in her mind. Young and excited. Where’s the fun in that? Why waste this chance for a real adventure?
(Don’t treat it like a dream.)
She lets out a cry as she dashes forward, thrusting her sword to another wiggly shadow vermin.
(But don’t treat it like your old life either.)
The games never show the bloodier aspects of things. Get hit and you lose hearts, that’s all. Reality paints a grittier picture.
Her clothes are dirty, her arms are riddled with scratches, and she knows she’s going to feel sore tomorrow. Link isn’t doing any better. The black fur hides it well, but saying he was battered and bruised while running around in the castle, figuring out his new body, would be an understatement.
Midna’s showing some sluggishness too. Exhaustion from using magic, probably.
She makes the decision to have a break, not above whining so all of them can have a brief moment of respite, and Midna must be tired if she doesn’t argue as much.
She takes the time to clean the dirt off of Link as best as she can. He may be a wolf now, but that doesn’t mean he has to lick his own wounds like one.
They make sure not to wake Midna.
Link lets out a whoop of joy as he sees he's back in his original form again. He can talk! He can stand upright! He has thumbs!
He has a hat?
He doesn't remember wearing a hat. Or chainmail. Or a green tunic. Or everything he's wearing in general.
This tunic once belonged to the hero before you, Faron whispers in his mind. His spirit is your spirit, his power is your power.
He nods, acting like he understands the cryptic speak. He's had enough practice as a wolf to do it effortlessly.
"You looked more fearsome as a wolf," Midna chimes in his shadow.
"I think it suits you," the princess pipes up. "You look very dashing."
Link turns and grins. "Thank you, your grace." He bows. That's how to greet royalty, right? At least, that's what the mayor crammed in his head when he was chosen to deliver the Ordon sword and shield.
"A-ah, please don't do that!" The princess waves her hands frantically, her face a bright red. "I don't really merit that kind of address! Just my name will do!"
“Your name?” He blinks. “Is it really okay to call you Zelda?”
The princess blinks. “Zelda?”
“Or Princess Zelda, if that’s too much,” he adds quickly.
“Princess Zelda,” she repeats faintly. “I… oh, god.” She lets out a breathe. “Uh, Zelda’s fine? I guess? I can be Zelda?”
Midna snorts, and Link can imagine she’d be saying more acerbic words if she wasn’t lounging in his shadow.
“I can be Zelda,” she insists. “Sure! Great! I’m just gonna… gather my thoughts now.” She turns and walks away from the spring, mumbling to herself.
Link and Faron look at each other.
The goddess-blood can be odd . Faron shrugs. It’s their otherwordly nature.