How abour something for link/midna, in a universe where link shot an arrow at the mirror of twilight and broke it before she could go through? That would just... make my life, tbqh.
Title: Dragging Out the Twilight
Fandom: Legendof Zelda [Twilight Princess]
Pairings:Link/Midna
Characters: Link,Midna, Zelda
Timeframe:post-game, AU
Request for enoxsis
Hope you like it!! (Incidentally writing this may have made me very suddenly start shipping Link/Midna. Oops.)
“For the record, you’re an asshole.”
“For the record, I learned it from you.”
“Damn straight,” she said, sounding far toopleased with herself.
Midna had opted to switch back into her impform for the time being—probably because she could they get away with riding onLink’s shoulders as he climbed this cliff, and thus she didn’t have to climbherself.
“So, here we are again,” she said, leaningover so that her short arms wrapped around his neck and her cheek restedannoyingly against his. “Searching for piecesof a Twilight Mirror that you broke, for some reason.”
“Hey, you were the one that said thingsshouldn’t come through it anymore.”
His fingers slipped from his next handholdand he made a grab for another one, managing to right himself. Man, they were high up. A fall from this height could be disastrous—ifhe didn’t have Midna to catch him. Honestly,she could have just warped him to the top, but she had to be difficult.
“I meant we shouldn’t let things through it after I got back home. Now I’m stuck with you.”
She didn’t sound too incredibly disappointedby this, however. She said it with thesame tone one might say “and now we’re left with all this candy for ourselves.”
“Disappointed?” Link said, laughing softly.
“Mm. Suppose it could be worse company.”
“I suppose the conversation is always tasty.”
“What?”
“Cause you love to add so much salt to it.”
Midna smacked him on the back of the head andLink laughed.
“Hey, careful princess, I’m climbing amountain here.”
“Oh please. Even if you didn’t have tendons of steel, I’d catch you if youfell. I always have to catch you,dumbass. How many times did you fall ofroofs when you were a wolf, huh?”
“In my defense, I was not used to having fourlegs. Also I was a little distracted bythe iron weight on my back, kinda like right now—ow!”
“You calling me fat?” Midna said, grinning asshe leaned over to look at him, teeth bared in her usual mischievous grin. “I could switch back to my real form andreally show you weighted training.”
“I’m good, I’m good,” Link said, stilllaughing.
His hands reached the top of the bluff. With a groan, he managed to lift himself upand over the ridge, pulling himself onto flat ground. Midna floated off of his shoulder as herolled over, sprawled out on the ground for a while.
“Still a bit to the top,” he said, gaspingfor breath.
“Yep.”
“You’re sure the mirror shard’s up in thetemple at the top there?”
“Preeetty sure.”
“I would hate to have done all this climbingfor nothing. Especially when there’s aconvenient Twilight Portal right to the top.”
“Aww, and make you miss on trainingmore? I thought you did this kind ofthing for fun.”
Link laughed breathily, still trying to gethis heart rate to come down.
They sat there silently for a moment. Midna shifted back into her normal form, sittingback on her hands. It was a slouchy sortof position that didn’t seem to match her refined clothing and aristocraticface—even in her real form, she was the same old obnoxious Midna, wasn’t she?
Finally, Link sat up.
“Ready to climb already?” Midna asked.
“Nah, just…kinda wanted to enjoy the view.”
“Good. I’m not ready to go yet either.”
“You don’t have to do any of the climbing.”
“Yeah, but I do have to listen to your annoying grunts and huffing and puffing.”
Link laughed softly, barely louder than hisbreaths.
All of Hyrule stretched out before them. He could see the desert sparkling in thedistance, the lake like a sapphire on a field of green, the palace reaching forthe sky on the horizon.
“Link,” Midna said. “Why did you break the mirror?”
Link didn’t reply. He wasn’t sure he could.
He stood up, rather abruptly.
“I’ve got my wind back. Ready for the last leg?”
“Link, wait. Answer the question.”
“You’d better shift unless you want to climbyourself—I can’t carry you in this form.”
“Link.”
Link stopped. Midna was standing now—it was still so weird to feel her looming over him, almost half a head taller thanhe was. Her hand gripped his arm,fingers cool and somehow…alien. Therewas something in the way her hands seemed somehow a little more slippery thanmost, like she was coated in the sheen of twilight…
He sighed, turning to glance at her. Her eyes bored into his, quiet and not at allteasing for the first time.
“Why did you shatter the Mirror that day?”she whispered.
He met her eyes. Was he imagining it, or did he see the samesadness there that he felt in his own chest?
“For the same reason you wouldn’t warp us tothe top of this mountain,” he whispered back.
They stared at each other for a moment. Then Midna let go of his arm, and he turnedto face the mountain, and she was shifting forms and settling very quietly ontohis back, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and squeezing as though he wasabout to disappear.
Link found his handholds and started up.
They had both already known why he had brokenthe Mirror. Why Midna hadn’t teleportedthem straight to the top. Why Midna had “madea mistake” in locating a piece twice now, taking them on a wild goose chaseinto empty temples.
Because they were both trying to drag thisout. They were both trying to stop theinevitable.
They were both looking for an excuse to staytogether.
“You really are an asshole, aren’t you?”Midna whispered in his ear.
Linkthought he imagined it—he was really focused on his climbing and wasn’t reallypaying attention to Midna right now—but he thought he might have felt her fangsbrush against him as she touched her lips to his cheek.
