Born a Weapon: Twilight Princess

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Pain.

Where was the pain?

Where was anything? He felt numb, lightheaded? What happened?

Was he dead?

Link slowly tried to open his eyes, but it was hard. His eyelids felt like they had weights on them, and his vision was blurry. He tried to get up, but a stinging pain flared in his abdomen.

Well, I found the pain, Link thought as he grunted. A faint voice rang out from his left, and a black blur moved above him, looking down at his face.

A black blur with red eyes.

Link lashed out, trying to push the monster away from him. The figure took the pathetic hit and grabbed his arm, trying to restrain the struggling hero while yelling something.

"-ink! Ca-...-wn! ... me! ... Midna!"

Link's vision slowly began to clear, and the black blob was joined by orange and white until it focused into the form of his companion, holding his hand with a concerned look. Link stopped fighting her and slumped back onto his bed.

"Midna?" Link moaned weakly. "I... I thought you were me."

"You mean the other you, right? The 'Dark Link'?"

"Yeah, I just saw a black blur with red eyes. Sorry."

"I get it," Midna said, shaking her head, "I had a freakout after losing a lot of blood, too." Midna floated away to grab something Link couldn't see and returned with a glass of water. "Here. Renado said to give this to you if you woke up. It's spring water."

"Are we in... Kakariko?" Link asked as he sat up and tried to grab the glass, but he almost dropped it.

"Yeah," Midna nodded as she helped Link move the glass to his lips. "Renado patched you up, but you're in rough shape." Midna placed the empty glass back on the nightstand and gently pushed Link back onto the bed. "Your arm is broken, and you lost a lot of blood from being stabbed. You also have some nasty bruises."

"Are you hurt? Where's Epona?"

"I'm fine, and so is Epona. You have to worry about yourself right now. Stop being a selfless hero for a bit, ok?" Link laid his head on his pillow and closed his eyes, his hand resting on his injury. He was so still that Midna thought he had fallen asleep. "Are you ok? How do you feel? Do you need anything?"

"I feel tired... and a bit cold..." Midna snatched some blankets off the nearby beds and threw them onto Link. While she was spreading them over the bed, he spoke again. "Midna... How did..." Link opened his eyes and looked at Midna, "how did we get here?"

Her hands froze, the blankets in her grasp. That was the question she had been dreading ever since arriving at Kakariko. How could she tell him? How could she tell him that she had done the one thing she had sworn to herself, and Link, that she wouldn't do? She knew it was dangerous. She said she would wait until she fought Zant. But she didn't. She couldn't. She had to do something.

"I, uh..." she began, avoiding Link's gaze. "I teleported you here."

"But... you were stuck under the tree."

"After you were choked, Dark Link... threw you to the ground." Here it comes, "You..." Just say it. "You... landed in the shadow."

"I did...?"

"Yeah," Midna nodded, finishing with the blanket and pulling it up to Link's shoulder. "Once you were in the shadow, I was able to teleport you. I flew through the shadows and got Renado. Then he brought you here."