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yuletide assignment. I loved it a lot more than I thought I would, given the assignment. It didn't get much feedback, but the recipient liked it, which pleases me, so that's all right.
Title: Shards of Truth
Author: Rynne
Fandom: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Rating: G
Word count: ~2,300
Recipient: Tami
Summary: The truth doesn't quite set her free, but it's good enough for now. Link and Midna gen.
Notes: Thank you to Rio for the beta.
The sun was just beginning to set when Link dug himself out of the cave. They'd been longer in there than Midna would have thought; it was only mid-afternoon when they'd gone in the other entrance. Apparently chasing Keese pretty time-consuming, and now the day was almost gone. Link looked at the sky, shook the snow off his fur, and glanced back at Midna.
"Let's stay in the cave for the night," he suggested. "It's getting late, and I don't want to have to burrow into a snow drift."
Midna giggled. "Oh, you don't want to travel during twilight?" she asked archly, then pouted. "You're no fun. It's the best time to travel!"
If a wolf could roll his eyes, Midna thought Link would be rolling his. "You say twilight's the best time for everything," he said, his voice a mix of amusement and exasperation. "But it's cold and snowy, and I'd prefer to get off this mountain in the daylight."
With that, he turned around and burrowed back into the snow covering the entrance of the cave, and Midna had to quickly grab onto his shadow to avoid being left behind.
"I'm staying a wolf tonight," he informed her, back in the relative warmth of the cave. "It's too cold to be human right now, especially at night."
Midna smirked. Link was all right -- well, okay, pretty good -- for a human and a Light-dweller, but like all the rest of his kind, he could be so...soft. His pale skin so easily let in both heat and cold, he seemed to spend a third of his life sleeping, and his body was so easily injured. But he couldn't help it, and he was still pretty useful, so she forgave him his limitations.
"You do that," she replied. "Go on, go to sleep. I'll keep watch."
Link sniffed, but he didn't say anything further; instead, he curled up facing the wall and closed his eyes. Midna smiled, then leaned against his back, letting the heat from his body soak into her. She didn't get cold as easily as Link did, but even though it wasn't really necessary, sharing body heat like this was somehow...comforting.
They stayed like that for a time, Link's deep, easy breathing almost lulling Midna into sleep as well. It was her job to keep watch, though, so she was determined to stay awake. Link had cleared the cave of Keese earlier that day, but there could always be more of them, and who knew what else. It helped that she didn't need as much sleep as Light-dwellers did, but it was too nice, leaning against Link, so she stood up and stretched. And grimaced.
This body was so frustrating! She missed the elegance of her usual form, the grace and beauty. This little imp was short and almost ugly, and though she would never tell him, Midna sympathized with how Link had felt the first time she met him, chained up and locked into a shape he didn't know, so desperate to get back to what was familiar to him that he would team up with someone from a whole different world. They were lucky they ended up working together so well.
Her mind turned to their most recent adventure -- their recovery of the second mirror shard. She frowned for a moment, remembering Yeta and her alter-ego Blizzeta -- Yeta seemed such a gentle creature, and it was truly cruel that the mirror could turn her into something so opposing to her nature. The world of Light never did handle Twilight very well.
But -- Midna was Twilight. More than that, she was its ruler, and always would be, despite her exile and her current form. What would happen to her if she looked into the mirror? If it could change Yeta into Blizzeta, then perhaps it had the power to effect a different change? She mustn't get her hopes up, of course, in case it didn't work, but if there was even a possibility...
She stole a glance at Link, but he was still asleep, his muzzle resting on his paws and his tail periodically twitching. She could take the mirror out now and he wouldn't notice -- nor would it have a chance to affect him. He might be the Hero, but he was still a Light-dweller, and it was best not to take chances.
One last glance, and then she turned away, closing her hand and mentally reaching into her pocket of Twilight where she kept everything that she and Link couldn't carry. She opened her hand, and the mirror shard burst into being. She couldn't help but wince at the jagged edges, though -- how dare Zant try to break her mirror? He should have known that he wouldn't be able to destroy it so easily; whatever his pretensions, he had to be aware that he was not the rightful ruler of the Twilight.
But it was no use getting angry again, not right now, with two mirror shards left to recover and Zant far away. There would be time enough to get angry later.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, steeling herself, Midna opened her eyes again and looked directly into the mirror shard.
"Ohhh," she exclaimed softly in surprise, for as much as she'd hoped, she hadn't truly expected to see anything but her current form. But there was no trace of the imp in the mirror -- there she was, exactly as she should be, and Midna shivered as she saw once more what she'd almost begun to fear she would never see again. Despite her determination not to give up, and despite all the progress she and Link had made, it was so difficult to keep hoping when day after day passed and she was still stuck in this diminutive form.
Only her face was visible, but it was so wonderfully familiar. She reached out a hand, longing to touch even though she knew it was just her reflection, and nearly recoiled back. The hand was an imp's hand, so tiny and weak, and not the long-fingered one she'd desperately wanted to see. Apparently the mirror only showed her true form. It did nothing to really change her.
Still, despite the disappointment, at least she could briefly see herself as she should be, and renew her determination to be shed of the blasted imp body! There, the pale blue skin, the elegantly slanted eyes, the flame-colored hair, the graceful features -- all of those were reasons to keep fighting. Completely regardless of her physical beauty, all of those things, like the Twili, the Twilight Realm, and the Fused Shadows, were rightfully hers, and she would not just lie down and let Zant keep them without a fight!
"What are you doing?" a voice asked from behind her, and Midna had to stop herself from jumping in surprise. Stupid! she berated herself, and made a note to pay better attention to her surroundings in the future.
Link padded out in front of her, and it was too late to get rid of the mirror shard before he saw it. "It doesn't concern you," she replied, unable to help the surly tone, and frustrated with him, herself, Zant, and the entire world.
He eyed her warily, but seemed to let it go. "Mind grabbing the crystal?" he said, sitting down. "I'm hungry, and I've still got a couple bottles of Yeto's soup, but I can't get to them like this."
She sighed -- trust a Light-dweller to interrupt her thoughts for such a trivial reason. Still, he'd be no use to her if he was weak from hunger, so she set the shard down on the ground, summoned the crystal from the wolf's forehead, and let it fade away into her pocket of Twilight.
He stood up and stretched, just as he always did when he became human again. "Thanks," he said, smiling briefly, before pulling two bottles of soup from the pouch at his waist. He offered one to her, but she shook her head -- the soup hadn't smelled appetizing when it was fresh, and she didn't think being chilled would improve it -- and watched as he chugged them both down.
"All right," he said, tucking the bottles away again. "Want to explain to me about the mirror?"
"Not really," she replied, reaching down to pick the shard up again -- but he beat her to it, and she growled when he lifted it away.
"Give that back," she commanded. "It's not safe. You saw what happened to Yeta."
"You were looking at it," he said, raising an eyebrow. "You don't seem to have changed much."
"It's the Mirror of Twilight. I'm from Twilight," she argued. "You're not. It might be safe for me, but not for you."
He glanced down at the mirror in his hands before meeting her eyes again. "What did you see?" he asked, voice gentle. "And don't bother to say nothing. You smelled unsettled."
"You can smell emotions?"
He shrugged. "I don't know how it works, but yes, emotions have their own scent. And you're changing the subject."
"It's none of your business," she bit out coldly. And that was true enough, but it wasn't the whole reason she didn't want to tell him. He knew too much about her as it was -- he was getting too close. They were only partners until Zant was defeated, but they were from two different worlds -- they'd have to go their separate ways, and would never meet again. The thought strangely...hurt, even now; she didn't want to think about how much worse it would be when the time did come, especially if he succeeded in worming himself even deeper into her heart than he already was.
He nodded, seeming to accept that, even though she could tell he wasn't happy about it. But then, before she could stop him, he raised the shard to be level with his face and looked straight at it.
"Link!" she shrieked. "What are you doing?" She leapt at him, trying to grab the shard again. Instead of pushing her away, he looked at her and met her eyes, smiling comfortingly. Rather than fight him, she latched onto his arm instead as she looked carefully for any sign of the madness that had infused Yeta. But no -- all she saw was the clear blue that was always his, wolf and man, and so expressive. She could see determination in his eyes, and concern, and caring, but no incipient insanity. She relaxed and let go of his arm.
"Midna, I'm all right," he said, further reassuring her. "All I see is the wolf. I'm not being affected."
She stared at him, not having expected that. "Just the wolf?" she repeated. "But why -- oh." That makes sense, she thought. He's the Hero. From the start, he's been able to see Twilight for what it really is. He can see the truth, and Yeta couldn't, and that's what drove her mad.
"What?" he asked, finally putting the mirror down. She snatched it away again; maybe it wasn't going to hurt him, but she felt much better with it in her hands. Still, just to be safe, she tucked it back into Twilight.
"It makes sense," she answered, trying not to roll her eyes. Must I explain everything to him? "In the Twilight Realm, you turn into a wolf rather than a spirit. Twilight just affects you differently. Well, at least we know that you're safe from the mirror shards, but why did you look before we knew that for sure?"
He smiled, not at all chastened. "It disturbed you," he said simply. "I wanted to know why, and I thought looking into the mirror myself would help. And surely you know by now that I don't care how dangerous it is when there's something I have to do."
"You didn't have to do this," she told him, torn between exasperated and touched. She did indeed know about his disregard for danger, but it was...nice, that he cared about what disturbed her.
"Perhaps not," he said, "but I don't regret it." He looked at her, and something in his steady gaze made her wonder if he actually had figured something out by looking into that mirror. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know -- it really was best not to get any closer, and new insights into each other wasn't going to help that.
"Fine," she sighed, letting it go. "Can we go now? You've rested and eaten, and I want to get to the next shard."
"All right," he agreed, and waited while she took out the crystal again and pressed it against his forehead. Moments later, he was a wolf again; he dug out of the snow-covered cave entrance as Midna slid into his shadow.
When he was in the open air once more, he shook the snow off his fur, then waited for her to settle onto his back before taking off. As he ran, the warmth of his body began to seep into Midna; she hadn't even realized how cold she'd been until she wasn't any longer. The sky was just beginning to lighten -- dawn was not far away. Midna leaned further into Link's fur and waited for it to come.
yuletide assignment. I loved it a lot more than I thought I would, given the assignment. It didn't get much feedback, but the recipient liked it, which pleases me, so that's all right.Title: Shards of Truth
Author: Rynne
Fandom: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Rating: G
Word count: ~2,300
Recipient: Tami
Summary: The truth doesn't quite set her free, but it's good enough for now. Link and Midna gen.
Notes: Thank you to Rio for the beta.
The sun was just beginning to set when Link dug himself out of the cave. They'd been longer in there than Midna would have thought; it was only mid-afternoon when they'd gone in the other entrance. Apparently chasing Keese pretty time-consuming, and now the day was almost gone. Link looked at the sky, shook the snow off his fur, and glanced back at Midna.
"Let's stay in the cave for the night," he suggested. "It's getting late, and I don't want to have to burrow into a snow drift."
Midna giggled. "Oh, you don't want to travel during twilight?" she asked archly, then pouted. "You're no fun. It's the best time to travel!"
If a wolf could roll his eyes, Midna thought Link would be rolling his. "You say twilight's the best time for everything," he said, his voice a mix of amusement and exasperation. "But it's cold and snowy, and I'd prefer to get off this mountain in the daylight."
With that, he turned around and burrowed back into the snow covering the entrance of the cave, and Midna had to quickly grab onto his shadow to avoid being left behind.
"I'm staying a wolf tonight," he informed her, back in the relative warmth of the cave. "It's too cold to be human right now, especially at night."
Midna smirked. Link was all right -- well, okay, pretty good -- for a human and a Light-dweller, but like all the rest of his kind, he could be so...soft. His pale skin so easily let in both heat and cold, he seemed to spend a third of his life sleeping, and his body was so easily injured. But he couldn't help it, and he was still pretty useful, so she forgave him his limitations.
"You do that," she replied. "Go on, go to sleep. I'll keep watch."
Link sniffed, but he didn't say anything further; instead, he curled up facing the wall and closed his eyes. Midna smiled, then leaned against his back, letting the heat from his body soak into her. She didn't get cold as easily as Link did, but even though it wasn't really necessary, sharing body heat like this was somehow...comforting.
They stayed like that for a time, Link's deep, easy breathing almost lulling Midna into sleep as well. It was her job to keep watch, though, so she was determined to stay awake. Link had cleared the cave of Keese earlier that day, but there could always be more of them, and who knew what else. It helped that she didn't need as much sleep as Light-dwellers did, but it was too nice, leaning against Link, so she stood up and stretched. And grimaced.
This body was so frustrating! She missed the elegance of her usual form, the grace and beauty. This little imp was short and almost ugly, and though she would never tell him, Midna sympathized with how Link had felt the first time she met him, chained up and locked into a shape he didn't know, so desperate to get back to what was familiar to him that he would team up with someone from a whole different world. They were lucky they ended up working together so well.
Her mind turned to their most recent adventure -- their recovery of the second mirror shard. She frowned for a moment, remembering Yeta and her alter-ego Blizzeta -- Yeta seemed such a gentle creature, and it was truly cruel that the mirror could turn her into something so opposing to her nature. The world of Light never did handle Twilight very well.
But -- Midna was Twilight. More than that, she was its ruler, and always would be, despite her exile and her current form. What would happen to her if she looked into the mirror? If it could change Yeta into Blizzeta, then perhaps it had the power to effect a different change? She mustn't get her hopes up, of course, in case it didn't work, but if there was even a possibility...
She stole a glance at Link, but he was still asleep, his muzzle resting on his paws and his tail periodically twitching. She could take the mirror out now and he wouldn't notice -- nor would it have a chance to affect him. He might be the Hero, but he was still a Light-dweller, and it was best not to take chances.
One last glance, and then she turned away, closing her hand and mentally reaching into her pocket of Twilight where she kept everything that she and Link couldn't carry. She opened her hand, and the mirror shard burst into being. She couldn't help but wince at the jagged edges, though -- how dare Zant try to break her mirror? He should have known that he wouldn't be able to destroy it so easily; whatever his pretensions, he had to be aware that he was not the rightful ruler of the Twilight.
But it was no use getting angry again, not right now, with two mirror shards left to recover and Zant far away. There would be time enough to get angry later.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, steeling herself, Midna opened her eyes again and looked directly into the mirror shard.
"Ohhh," she exclaimed softly in surprise, for as much as she'd hoped, she hadn't truly expected to see anything but her current form. But there was no trace of the imp in the mirror -- there she was, exactly as she should be, and Midna shivered as she saw once more what she'd almost begun to fear she would never see again. Despite her determination not to give up, and despite all the progress she and Link had made, it was so difficult to keep hoping when day after day passed and she was still stuck in this diminutive form.
Only her face was visible, but it was so wonderfully familiar. She reached out a hand, longing to touch even though she knew it was just her reflection, and nearly recoiled back. The hand was an imp's hand, so tiny and weak, and not the long-fingered one she'd desperately wanted to see. Apparently the mirror only showed her true form. It did nothing to really change her.
Still, despite the disappointment, at least she could briefly see herself as she should be, and renew her determination to be shed of the blasted imp body! There, the pale blue skin, the elegantly slanted eyes, the flame-colored hair, the graceful features -- all of those were reasons to keep fighting. Completely regardless of her physical beauty, all of those things, like the Twili, the Twilight Realm, and the Fused Shadows, were rightfully hers, and she would not just lie down and let Zant keep them without a fight!
"What are you doing?" a voice asked from behind her, and Midna had to stop herself from jumping in surprise. Stupid! she berated herself, and made a note to pay better attention to her surroundings in the future.
Link padded out in front of her, and it was too late to get rid of the mirror shard before he saw it. "It doesn't concern you," she replied, unable to help the surly tone, and frustrated with him, herself, Zant, and the entire world.
He eyed her warily, but seemed to let it go. "Mind grabbing the crystal?" he said, sitting down. "I'm hungry, and I've still got a couple bottles of Yeto's soup, but I can't get to them like this."
She sighed -- trust a Light-dweller to interrupt her thoughts for such a trivial reason. Still, he'd be no use to her if he was weak from hunger, so she set the shard down on the ground, summoned the crystal from the wolf's forehead, and let it fade away into her pocket of Twilight.
He stood up and stretched, just as he always did when he became human again. "Thanks," he said, smiling briefly, before pulling two bottles of soup from the pouch at his waist. He offered one to her, but she shook her head -- the soup hadn't smelled appetizing when it was fresh, and she didn't think being chilled would improve it -- and watched as he chugged them both down.
"All right," he said, tucking the bottles away again. "Want to explain to me about the mirror?"
"Not really," she replied, reaching down to pick the shard up again -- but he beat her to it, and she growled when he lifted it away.
"Give that back," she commanded. "It's not safe. You saw what happened to Yeta."
"You were looking at it," he said, raising an eyebrow. "You don't seem to have changed much."
"It's the Mirror of Twilight. I'm from Twilight," she argued. "You're not. It might be safe for me, but not for you."
He glanced down at the mirror in his hands before meeting her eyes again. "What did you see?" he asked, voice gentle. "And don't bother to say nothing. You smelled unsettled."
"You can smell emotions?"
He shrugged. "I don't know how it works, but yes, emotions have their own scent. And you're changing the subject."
"It's none of your business," she bit out coldly. And that was true enough, but it wasn't the whole reason she didn't want to tell him. He knew too much about her as it was -- he was getting too close. They were only partners until Zant was defeated, but they were from two different worlds -- they'd have to go their separate ways, and would never meet again. The thought strangely...hurt, even now; she didn't want to think about how much worse it would be when the time did come, especially if he succeeded in worming himself even deeper into her heart than he already was.
He nodded, seeming to accept that, even though she could tell he wasn't happy about it. But then, before she could stop him, he raised the shard to be level with his face and looked straight at it.
"Link!" she shrieked. "What are you doing?" She leapt at him, trying to grab the shard again. Instead of pushing her away, he looked at her and met her eyes, smiling comfortingly. Rather than fight him, she latched onto his arm instead as she looked carefully for any sign of the madness that had infused Yeta. But no -- all she saw was the clear blue that was always his, wolf and man, and so expressive. She could see determination in his eyes, and concern, and caring, but no incipient insanity. She relaxed and let go of his arm.
"Midna, I'm all right," he said, further reassuring her. "All I see is the wolf. I'm not being affected."
She stared at him, not having expected that. "Just the wolf?" she repeated. "But why -- oh." That makes sense, she thought. He's the Hero. From the start, he's been able to see Twilight for what it really is. He can see the truth, and Yeta couldn't, and that's what drove her mad.
"What?" he asked, finally putting the mirror down. She snatched it away again; maybe it wasn't going to hurt him, but she felt much better with it in her hands. Still, just to be safe, she tucked it back into Twilight.
"It makes sense," she answered, trying not to roll her eyes. Must I explain everything to him? "In the Twilight Realm, you turn into a wolf rather than a spirit. Twilight just affects you differently. Well, at least we know that you're safe from the mirror shards, but why did you look before we knew that for sure?"
He smiled, not at all chastened. "It disturbed you," he said simply. "I wanted to know why, and I thought looking into the mirror myself would help. And surely you know by now that I don't care how dangerous it is when there's something I have to do."
"You didn't have to do this," she told him, torn between exasperated and touched. She did indeed know about his disregard for danger, but it was...nice, that he cared about what disturbed her.
"Perhaps not," he said, "but I don't regret it." He looked at her, and something in his steady gaze made her wonder if he actually had figured something out by looking into that mirror. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know -- it really was best not to get any closer, and new insights into each other wasn't going to help that.
"Fine," she sighed, letting it go. "Can we go now? You've rested and eaten, and I want to get to the next shard."
"All right," he agreed, and waited while she took out the crystal again and pressed it against his forehead. Moments later, he was a wolf again; he dug out of the snow-covered cave entrance as Midna slid into his shadow.
When he was in the open air once more, he shook the snow off his fur, then waited for her to settle onto his back before taking off. As he ran, the warmth of his body began to seep into Midna; she hadn't even realized how cold she'd been until she wasn't any longer. The sky was just beginning to lighten -- dawn was not far away. Midna leaned further into Link's fur and waited for it to come.
