The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Queen

One More Chance

Zant turned his attention back to the battle. His time would come soon. Midna, strong and beautiful Midna, was clearly exhausted. She wasn't giving up though. How long had she been trading blows with the Red Owl? Perhaps an hour, maybe more. Not to mention she'd been fighting in the battle of Hyrule Fields outside. Who could expect anyone, even a skilled warrior like the Twilight Queen, to fight for so long without rest? No one could. Not even the great hero of Courage had been able to.

Midna failed to dodge an attack and was knocked off her feet. Smoke trailed up from her purpled skin as she tried to get back up. One more blow would easily kill her, a fact the Red Owl decided to take advantage of. A ball of light spun towards Midna. She shielded her face in a vain attempt to survive...

But nothing happened. Link had rushed out in front of her at the last second and the light had bounced off his fur harmlessly. He growled at the Red Owl, teeth bared menacingly.

"Link... What?" Midna stumbled over her words in confusion as Link took her place in battle. Zant walked over to Midna and helped her to stand.

"I don't understand the rules that govern Hylians anymore. How did he... Zant!" She pushed him away. Magic waited at her fingertips, ready to be summoned at a moment's notice.

"Calm down, Queen. I am here to help."

"Help!? Help!? When have you ever helped!?" Zant ignored her, he'd heard it all before. He grabbed the seven pieces of the fused shadows from the bag hanging on his shoulder.

"Wow... Where did you get that?" She'd visibly tensed, like she was wary of what he was going to do.

"The pieces were scattered across Castle Town. It wasn't too difficult to find all of them." He tastefully edited out all the help he'd had and how lost he'd been before said help. There was no reason for Midna to think the great Usurper King needed assistance.

"So that's what you were doing," she mused softly, clearly having thought he was doing something dastardly and evil. Technically, collecting the pieces of the Fused Shadows was dastardly and evil, as they had the power to topple entire worlds... Midna glanced over to Link. He was battling the Red Owl gallantly, but hadn't managed to injure it yet. Zant's red eyes watched the fight for a little while before turning back to Midna.

"If you can't trust me, the beast will perish. You will watch him die before being obliterated yourself... Do you understand this?" She stared at him, fear filling her face, eyes wide and anger splayed across her lips.

"Is that a threat?" She seemed ready to blast him off the face of existence. It was a fate he'd welcome compared to the one he was about to accept.

"No... It is a fact. If you want your precious wolf to live, you need to listen to me and do what I say." He tried to speak in a quiet non threatening way, but his stress leaked in and made him sound angry with an overpowering hint of fearful.

"What are you not telling me?" Her voice switched, sounding no longer angry... It was like it had sounded when they were younger, when she'd ask him to confide in her.

"It doesn't matter," he said softly, finding sorrow in the memories her voice retrieved. Link howled in pain, almost as if to prove Zant's point. The wolf had gotten too close and one of the Red Owl's cruelly sharp talons had managed to catch him on the side. A jagged line of red cut through his magnificent gray fur.

"Zant, I've known you for years. I can tell when you are hiding something... What are you afraid of?" she demanded, eyes still trained on Link.

"Eternal damnation. Or something worse. Doesn't matter. Don't you want your revenge?"