The shards of the Mirror fuse together as if they had never been broken in the first place, and the intricate patterns lacing its surface begin to glow, reflecting off the massive slab of black rock a few meters before it. White light bathes the Mirror Chamber in the wake of its reflection. Link takes a breath of the crisp morning air; he can feel the magic all around him, and knows the portal must be complete.

This is it. This is his first journey into Midna's realm of Twilight. The real Twilight, not the false mantle of shadows that had cloaked Hyrule beneath Zant's oppressive power. He isn't sure if he's ready to face the Usurper King. But it is time.

He stops, however, when Midna appears at his side, a solemn expression on her face. "A realm of shadows," she murmurs. "That makes it sound so unpleasant."

Link turns his head to look at her as she speaks softly, pale morning sun streaming through the columns and archways of the chamber to saturate her face with light.

"It's beautiful. Dark sometimes, yes, and not nearly as bright as your world, but… beautiful."

"I know." He smiles faintly. "I want to see these floating islands you've spoken of, and the rain, and everything else."

She ducks her head. "You know, I've grown to love the bright sunlight in your world, but I miss my realm. In that half-light of twilight, the people were gentle. And then Zant, he…" She grits her teeth hard. "If only he… If only I would have…"

"It was our doing."

The ghostly voices speak as one, echoing from behind the pair, and both Link and Midna turn in surprise to see the ethereal white sages of the Arbiter's Grounds standing there in a half-circle, their strange mask-like faces lowered toward the old stone floor.

"We overestimated our abilities. All we wanted was to put an end to Ganondorf's terrible magic, but we were prideful. And for that we are truly sorry. We have failed you, O Twilight Princess."

Then they bow low to her, bending at the waist with their faces hidden, the exact same way one would bow to royalty. Link's eyes widen.

Princess?

He whirls in surprise to face the imp at his side, and there is a deep frown etched on her face, her eyes focused intently on the floor. "How… how long have you known?"

"Please," the sages beg, "we hope you can find it in yourself to forgive us."

"We've both made terrible mistakes," Midna sighs. "I should not have fled my people when they needed me most. Sometimes I wonder how different things would be if I had stayed." Her eyes drift shut.

"…Princess?" Link finds himself asking aloud.

She opens her eyes again and slowly turns her gaze to his, that regretful frown still obvious on her mouth. "I'm sorry. I was going to say something, but I was so disappointed in myself, I… I can't even be called their ruler. I'm not worthy of it. I left them." She takes a deep, steadying breath. "Zant was always greedy. I knew that much, but I was so selfish, so wrapped up in my own stresses as a queen-to-be that I didn't really take notice until it was too late. By then, he had used his awful new powers to turn my people into beasts of shadow to follow his every whim. And he could have done the same to me…" She trails off.

Link's brows knit together as he waits for her to continue, but she doesn't. She seems faraway; lost in painful memories. "Why didn't he?"

"I think he wanted to humiliate me. Strip as much of my magic away from me as he could. He couldn't take everything, but he turned me into this pathetic little imp that can hardly do anything. I was so terrified. So discouraged. But I still had a piece of my ancestors' old magic with me - a part of the Fused Shadow. I knew if I could find someone to help me, then I could use it to defeat Zant…"

Link can only stare at her in utter silence. So she isn't even truly an imp. What is she, then? And she isn't a normal Twili - she's their ruler! What else has she been hiding from him? He casts a nervous glance to the sages, wondering what else they know about her, but they are gone. There is no one else in the chamber save for himself and the Twili Princess.

Link clenches his jaw tight.

"There's a legend," Midna continues, "about a light-dweller with the ability to turn into a wolf. This light-dweller would possess strong powers from his Goddesses. I don't really know where it came from, or how it started, and I honestly never really cared about it, but… when I saw you, I knew it wasn't just a legend. It was true. And I thought I could use you, Link."

He finds that he suddenly can't meet her eyes. Can't say anything. He doesn't even know what to feel anymore - upset? Sad? Lied to?

"But I was - I was so wrong," she desperately blurts. "My people had always been taught that light-dwellers were cruel, that they had banished us to a prison-realm for eternity, that they were selfish and cruel and we were supposed to loathe them. We were wrong! After seeing how selfless you are, and your sacrifices, and Princess Zelda's… You've done so much for me, I don't even know how to begin repaying you."

He wishes she would have trusted him enough to tell him earlier. He'd trusted her, and she knows almost everything there is to know about him, but she'd kept these great secrets from him? Still… he cares for her so deeply, even in spite of all this, and he knows she must have suffered so much unbearable grief, terrible enough that she couldn't bring herself to speak of her past.

Heavy silence stretches between them then as he takes a deep breath and tries to push away the frustration that had welled up within him. She is the ruler of the Twili. She feels it's her fault that her peoples' lives are ruined, and it must have been so frustrating not having enough power to do much to help them.

Yes, he knows all this - yet for some reason it's still difficult to let go of the strange irritation within him.

There might be tears glistening in Midna's eyes, but she hurriedly blinks them away before he can really tell. "I'm so sorry I can't do anything right. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I'm a coward, I know. I was too afraid to tell you, because I thought you would despise me for being the ruler of the monsters that tore your life away. I realize now that it's even worse to keep it all to myself, to not tell you anything…"

"Midna…" He releases his pent-up breath in a long sigh. "I could never hate you," he continues, his tone completely sincere. "And it isn't your fault. Zant is the one who ruined everything, for both of us. I can't even imagine what you've been through, and I can understand why you wouldn't want to talk about it."

She takes a trembling breath. "But I'm so, so sorry…"

"It's fine. Just as long as you aren't hiding anything else huge from me," he says with a faint smile.

"No more hiding," is her quick reply.

"Promise?"

"Promise." The frown finally disappears from her face then, and she says with a tiny laugh, "Unless you count that one time I brought a giant Kargarok into the castle and used it to disrupt the incredibly boring meeting the council was having with my parents."

He can't help chuckling at that, if only a little. "You know, I brought three goats into the mayor's house once, when I was much younger. I don't really remember what my reasoning was, but I do remember how angry the mayor was."

She giggles at that, and he thinks it's an incredibly refreshing sound to hear, after the terribly heavy atmosphere that had been hanging over them moments before. Lingering confusion and fear for their future still sits in his stomach like a stone, but he tries to ignore it, just for this one moment - this one moment before they set off into the unknown.

"Thank you," the imp - no, the princess - tells him earnestly, gratitude shining in her eyes.

"Of course." He takes another deep breath, what feels like his hundredth within the past few minutes. "Should we set off?"

Midna laces her fingers together in a somewhat nervous-looking gesture. "Link…"

"Hmm?"

"I really am sorry."

"It's fine. You don't need to apologize anymore."

She looks into his eyes with a smile on her face, and asks, "Ready?"

"Ready."

Together they turn towards the portal, breathing a sigh in unison, and then they set off into the Twilight.

A/N: wow here I am months later with more excuses for why this didn't come earlier who would have guessed. Seriously though, some of the essays my English class was throwing at me were making me kinda tired, and then I may or may not have forgotten this story existed for a while... sorry! (Also I still have no idea how to write romance and would rather be writing more 'intense' things lol)
Thanks again for being patient with me and being the awesome readers you guys are!