Link x Midna collection

Out of Time

By rizanicole on Ao3

I wondered, sometimes, if he saw me as human.

Well, not human human, of course. Clearly I wasn't, and, to get truly technical, neither was he. Still, I wondered if he saw me as something remotely akin to an equal. If he saw me as more similar to him than different. Or if I was, at the end of the day, not much more than a snarky and powerful pet.

A little... imp. Useful, to be sure. Maybe even cute, in my own way. But, for heaven's sake, certainly never beautiful.

~~~

That had all changed, in an instant, when he at last cast the darkness out of his world. When he raced up that hill to meet me. With my back turned, I couldn't see him, but I heard the urgency in his footfalls. The desperate need to be near me, to confirm that I was, against all odds, alive. As for whether I was alive still or alive again, I'm not sure I'll ever know.
I turned to him after a long moment, only to see him pause, eyes wide. I had changed form since he saw me last. He appeared disbelieving, almost as if he didn't trust what he saw to be real.

I smirked, then, deciding to give him something familiar to grasp onto. A bit of teasing prodding brought him back to himself. And that look of surprise - of sheer elation, at knowing it really was me - was not an expression anyone had ever directed at me before. The radiance of his smile cast a glow warmer than the sun of that world ever could. Contrary to the sun, I could've basked in it for eternity.

I felt seen - truly seen - for the first time in ages, by anyone. This was the version of me that I'd imagined traveling alongside him. This was the version of me that I saw when I thought of myself. Markedly different from the Hylians of his world, certainly, but not so vastly, incompatibly different.

But, up until that very instant, he had no way of knowing that. He couldn't have known I was supposed to be taller than a child, even. Despite it all, our grudging pact had become an honest friendship long before then. Through our adventures, he'd shown himself to be selfless, and kind, and strong in ways I had to admire. He'd nearly panicked when he lost me, holding together just well enough to reach the princess and save my life. He'd cared deeply, even when I was an imp.

Really, it would have been more strange if I hadn't fallen in love with him.

~~~

And yet, the question remained: did he love me?
At last, I had to conclude that he didn't. But I couldn't help but believe, in a small, perhaps desperate part of myself, that he could have, if only I'd allowed him the time. I'd viewed him as human for days and nights on end, experience over experience only serving to bolster the feelings I carried, while he only had a small sliver of time to see me in the same way.

That last look on his face - the shock of realization, of hurt that danced just on the edges of betrayal - is seared into my mind forever.

It told me, in a glance, that this was all happening too fast. Just as he was starting to have a chance, just as he got an inkling of what he might be able to feel for me, I shut that door forever.

Or, to be more precise, I shattered it.

Either way, he never had the opportunity to sort through the muddle of thoughts and emotions our journey, and my transformation, must have brought about. I never gave him time to process, to let his feelings shift and see where they might land.

No.

I couldn't.

Because if I had...

And if it turned out how I so dearly wanted...

I may have never left.

And, though I may have been beyond selfish, even I wouldn't threaten the fate of the world - of both our worlds - for my own fleeting happiness.

It's better this way. You'll forget all about it, eventually.

How fantastically ironic. Not long ago, I'd been reformed from a liar to those around me, transfigured into an honest and trustworthy being in the kingdom of light. But now, back in the cool, calm of twilight, I could clearly see that my lies never actually ceased. They had simply traded targets.

And now, I told them only to myself.