Link x Midna collection

Not Nothing

By ThereIsOnlyZuul on ao3

He meant nothing to her. This boy from the realm of Hyrule. Link was his name.

Not that she cared.

Always yawning and rubbing his blue eyes. His hair blond and shining as he whiled away his life with a fishing pole. He never even caught anything. He'd fall asleep in the tall grass before he did.

He'd never mean anything to her.

And why should he? He was nobody. A boy from the forest, not even old enough to take a wife. It was a shock to learn the boy even owned a horse. Though his lack of style atop the beast showed it was more to do with luck than any social standing.

So what if he had taken the form of the Divine Beast while she had taken the form of an imp? Zant had cursed them both, but she was a Twili princess no matter her form, he was nothing more than a farm hand. And not a very good one at that: he was always leaving that sheep pen open. No wonder his hands were so calloused!

A cruel fate had intertwined their paths and she'd gone to him in a time of need, rescuing him from a dungeon so she in turn would be rescued. It was mutually beneficial, even if she'd been using him, steering him in the direction she wanted to go like he would the sheep he so often let loose.

But the boy seemed ready for it. She had... not expected that.

As danger after danger was thrown in his path, there proved to be callouses on more of him than just his hands. He swung his sword at living beings like he had swung it at scarecrows in the woods to impress the village children. His words, already so sparse and carefully chosen, were tempered further. The boy became a man, and then the man a beast.

A Divine Beast, but a wolf in a fine robe is still a wolf.

Twilight changes all who touch it.

But so does the light.

Midna found herself changing as rapidly as the boy whose shadow she hid in. Was it from her time with the farmhand or from the light itself? It was hard to say. Wait, no it wasn't! How could the boy have such a hold on her? Yes, it was true she'd offered her assistance, saying she'd help in any way she could, but he'd done as much for her.

It seemed only fair to return the favour.

The two had collected the pieces of her Fused Shadow and the shards of the Mirror of Twilight. The Divine Beast tore across the countryside, Midna hidden in his shadow, steering him where he needed to go. They had witnessed death and almost died themselves. They had fought a vicious, long coming battle with the usurper. Freeing both realms with their victory. And freeing themselves from their curses.

The curse was broken. Midna was a Twili again and Link was a farmhand and everything could go back to the way it had been before. Including her indifference to the blue eyed boy.

The blue eyed boy that had saved her life, his own life, and two kingdoms. The blue eyed boy that stood beside his own princess in the Mirror Chamber, but bowed only to her when she regained her true form. The blue eyed boy that seemed sad to see her go...

Yes, he meant nothing to her.

Midna had smiled wistfully at her Divine Beast as she mounted the steps that would take her back to her own realm. Before stepping through, she turned to look upon Link again. He stood beside the Mirror of Twilight, watching her.

Her blue eyed boy was sad to see her go.

A single tear fell from each of her eyes as she turned back to the Twilight portal. They drifted lazily to the Mirror of Twilight, like the bugs that strange little girl had asked them to find for her. But her tears did not go peacefully into glass bottles as the bugs had.

Her tears had shattered the mirror.

The mirror was the only connection that their two worlds had. No usurper from either realm might ever invade the other now.

But nor could she ever see her Beast again.

The shards of the mirror might as well have pierced her heart for the sadness she felt.

Well... perhaps this boy from the realm of Hyrule was more than nothing to her after all.