Hiya! Just a heads up for people who might not know, in case you didn't arrive here by way of dmc87's note, the OC of this story was thought up by dmc87. In fact, this is a remake of a story she never finished called Twilight Child. Her existence came to my knowledge when I found a Raidou Kuzunoha story she wrote (very entertaining, very fresh). I'm a crazy fan of Megami Tensei and she read my Night at the Museum story and it was like a whirlwind romance thing except if by romance you mean super weird amazing friendship, which so far has ended up with me rewriting a story of hers, haha!

Anyway, Twilight Child is still up for reading if you want to compare it with this rewrite. It keeps the same OC, same demeanor, same mostly everything except parts of her back story changed. Not that you would notice, because the back story was never quite revealed in Twilight Child, only hinted at, but if you were a fan of Twilight Child before, please forget whatever past you thought Maeva might have had and read this as though this were a new creation. Thank you!

Please note that though this will begin as a story narrated from the 1st person point of view, as dmc87 had once written it, I am changing the point of view to that of the 3rd once we reach Chapter 4. Please enjoy!

My Way

Chapter 1: Jumping at shadows

It's disquieting when the world is all aflame and one can but glance out a window and wait.

The scorching is figurative, of course. Fire would be a welcome sight, but only when a needle pricks the callous finger that has painted the skies a sickly green, an ashen gray, a disease that sweeps past thoroughly like a tetanus, petrifying the body till it falls to the orange rust, the twilight sky.

If there should spill fire – blood – it should be his. This would have been my way.

But it is not the way of the princess, so I stay my hand.

The rain creates a barrier around the broken castle, a fitting shield for its bridled princess. It might be analogous to the cloak he forced her into, but though the castle creaks and falls to its knees for the weight of the wicked twilight, Zelda remains steadfast, elegant, as though the hairs and claws of those corrupted creatures, lashing hungrily at the light, might be doused by her hope.

This is the way of the princess, so I wait in obedience.

"Maeva."

I stand at attention by the door, as instructed, and approach her small figure by the window, gazing into a barren land of black spores and helpless spirits unaware. "Zelda?"

"Where is Midna?" she asks, her inflection possessing both despair and hope, a patient determination. I don't understand them.

"I…am uncertain," I answer, half-expecting her to appear with a spin and a high-pitched giggle. But the room remains silent, the candle wick cut too short to maintain any flame, and the rain patters on, its beauty existing in its distinct ignorance of the entropy devouring the world. "She mentioned a presence, and dove into the shadows."

"As she is wont to do," says Zelda, eyes glued to the door frame.

"This is her way."

There is a scuffling through a window above and then a black beast at Zelda's feet. Suddenly, only my staff stands between its muzzle and her delicate figure, but it is immediately withdrawn. It's Midna, her visible red eye flashing from under her helmet. She sits cross-legged on the beast, grinning as she does, her Twili symbols glowing a calming clover, her fiery hair as bright as any flame.

Nearly hidden under her cloak, Zelda's eyebrows furrow. "Midna?"

Midna giggles. "You remember my name?" Such frivolity. "What an honor for me… Maeva, look!" Her tiny finger bounces on the beast's head. Its ears perk up and a suspicious expression glances its countenance.

The beast is a wolf, a calculated palette of black, white, and a shade of the deepest emerald, only just visible under the light of Midna's hair and stark against its shocking cerulean eyes, staring as though it possesses thoughts beyond the feral. There are white markings of some sort between its eyes, almost like a painting, but it may only be a birthmark. How odd that it should wear an earring on its left ear. That it has not ripped Midna into shreds should come as no surprise, however. She has always been skilled in convincing others to her will.

"So this is the one for whom you were searching." Zelda speaks softly when she sees that I have nothing to offer Midna.

"He's not exactly what I had in mind, but…" Midna ruffles the fur between his ears with a laugh. "I guess he'll do!"

I manage to tear my gaze away from the wolf's. Sometimes I forget that my eyes are not as fearful as Midna's. I ask her, "Where did you find it? …him, rather?"

"The dungeons. He was captured by the shadows." So even a lordly beast such as this was unable to evade them.

"You were imprisoned?" Zelda meets the wolf's eyes head on. "I am sorry."

Midna pats his head again. "Poor thing!" she cries dramatically. "He has no idea where this is or what's happened… Would you care to explain, Maeva?"

The wolf glances at me, almost expectantly, if I would venture a guess to its thoughts. "No."

"You should say more with that pretty mouth of yours," Midna replies, grinning in the manner she knows drives me mad. She doesn't watch me for my reaction, turning instead to Zelda. "So, don't you think you should explain to him what you've managed to do? You owe him that much…Twilight Princess!" she giggles ecstatically.

Long ago, the kingdom of Hyrule was home to the power of the gods, hidden beneath its lakes and volcanoes and plains. But it has been conquered by the self-proclaimed king of Twilight, thrust into the shadows with beasts who, Zelda says, shun the light. That cannot be gainsaid. The wolf listens to Zelda's story intently, nodding at certain portions where she pauses, almost as though he actually understands her. Could it be – he was not a wolf after all? I wouldn't find it so difficult to believe. I have never seen a beast that dons accessories, or who narrows his eyes at Midna when she speaks patronizingly to him.

"The kingdom succumbed to Twilight, but I remain its princess. I am Zelda," she finishes, inclining her head towards him. The wolf lowers his head as well.

"You don't have to look so sad!" Midna smiles, and then glances at me. "We actually find it to be quite livable! I mean…is perpetual twilight really all that bad?"

"Midna," Zelda almost scolds, but her tone is calm, still. That's the difference between them: Zelda keeps herself to a strict moderation while Midna allows her thoughts and opinions fly loose. Yet they are both able to capture the ears of their people. Or they did, once. "This is no time for levity. The shadow beasts have been searching far and wide for you – why is this?"

Midna stops to meet my eyes for a moment – not a word – and then laughs. "Why indeed? You tell me!"

Zelda expects an answer from me, but I am preoccupied with the window whence Midna and the wolf came. This is their argument. She shakes her curiosity away and glances at the door again, an index finger tapping against her cloak like the second hand on a clock. "Time has grown short," she says. "The guard will soon make his rounds. You must leave here, quickly."

"And you?" I ask.

"They come only to reassure themselves of my captivity," Zelda answers, returning to her position by the window. "Now, leave. There is much hope for you – in him."

Midna and her beast have already leapt through the window, their shadows skirting its edges thanks to her fiery hair. "The wolf? Really?"

Zelda nods. "Please. The guard comes. You may yet save us from the Twilight."

Enlightenment fills me for a fraction of a second, until a candle light illuminates the stairs below the doorframe and there is the familiar thumping of a boar's metal boots. I will save them from the Twilight.

"Maeva! Today, please?" I hear Midna shriek in the Twili language from the window.

"Yes," I reply, though only I can hear it, and climb in through the narrow window, trying my best to keep my staff from clanging. Why do I have trouble? If I should know a thing, it would be to flee.

The window leads to a ledge unseen from anywhere in the castle. The rain has ceased, but I rather wish it hadn't. In my mind's eye, it had begun to wash away the black, or at least for a little while removed the sounds of the shadow kargarok, swooping about the castle with their blasted horns. But this should be enough, and I should no longer need a shield with which to hide my face.

"Well, you'd have to be my servant, and like a servant, you'd have to do exactly as I say! Why don't you go back, take a little time, and give it some thought?" Midna laughs, pretending to tap her chin in contemplation as she floats before him, as though the wolf should emulate her example. What is she talking about…? In any case, I repress a chuckle as the wolf slightly glares at Midna.

At my curious expression, Midna replies, "I'm taking the wolf back to where he first took on this form."

I rise. "I will join you."

Although, it pains me that I should do the accompanying rather than be accompanied, as the case should be, if I am to save Hyrule. Again, I am reduced to a guardian. It isn't a role I take willingly this time.

Midna pouts. "So eager to leave that princess?"

I nod. "My princess's orders."

Midna giggles before managing a twilight portal. I open my eyes to a small spring, clear water shimmering from the earth above to a reflection of the sky below, glinting like gold under the fading sunlight. My ankles feel ticklish and I see tadpoles, younglings swirling about them, curiously pressing at my unmoving form until I raise a foot to move, and then they dart off, swirling deep into the swaying reeds until they are out of sight. It is only after this that I hear Midna speak. I glance at the wolf, but realize she is gone – of course. But there are still eyes under his shadow.

"Where do we go?" I ask.

"Looks like this is his home," Midna answers, coming out of the wolf's shadow and tapping his head, an act he understands as an order to move forward. We leave the spring, to a road that stretches down a grassy patch to the left and a hanging bridge to the right – and past that is a doorway, a road to the Twilight that stretches closer to the spring every day.

We go far from the bridge, down the grassy way into a short clearing home to a two-story house sitting before a poorly crafted set of dummies and bullseyes for target practice. I wonder who would live so close to the Twilight and still remain unaware?

LINK, Midna struggles but is able to read the board next to it. There's no sign of life within the house, even as Midna, the wolf and I stare into its dark windows. Perhaps the owner has already become a shadow beast, the light devoured by his followers.

The wolf soon turns away, perhaps losing interest, and leads us into town, where houses are built mostly on hills equidistant from each other. Half the town is a lake, tall stones planted as stepping stones between the earth and sky, and the other half a set of scattered makeshift farms. They only grow pumpkins, and cuccos prowl the area like watchdogs. Lighting the town are torches positioned few and far between. It's a beautiful place. I can see why one would want to save it, if this were his home. But the fear surrounding it is palpable, so thick that even its villagers can hardly move about. In fact, I see only a few from where we stand at the village entrance.

"You weren't the only one who disappeared, were you?" I ask the wolf, kneeling beside it. He shakes his head. I stand, surveying the village once more. He comes into view from below me, slowly walking into the village as though it is his first time here. He sniffs around, stopping by a cat standing at the nearest house. They stand still for a moment, him growling and the cat purring, and then the wolf appears to be finished with their – what was it? A conversation? – and nears the tall stone by a mill. There is a man atop it, so frail and hunched that I thought him an old woman until he started screaming at the sight of the wolf. Why did he leave the safety of his home to stand there, in the darkness, all sides vulnerable? In any case, his screams force the wolf to retreat back to us, out of the darkness.

"Their fear prevents them from recognizing one of their own," I say."Perhaps I should go into town."

"The wolf and I will look for a sword and shield!" Midna declares, "For me, of course."

"Of course."

"Distract them, since you can fit in," says Midna, the usual spite absent from her tone; she must be in deep thought. In any case, she returns to the wolf's shadow. "Gather information about what might have happened to his friends. Can you sense his worry?"

"Yes. It's haunting," I mutter.

The wolf's shadow flickers as Midna shudders and her eyes flash. "We'll meet back here at the entrance, all right?"

Distracting the villagers should be easy enough; they're already panicked enough to start jumping at shadows, though they are right to. I reveal myself beside a torch, near the whimpering man on the stone pillar. He catches me as soon as the light lengthens my shadow and screams, tearing the leaf off a plant growing at his feet and holding it like a ward.

"Who—who are you?" he shouts, his voice shrill with fear. "Don't come any closer!"

I wonder what a leaf can do, but I do not draw my staff. "I'm a simple traveler," I tell him. "I stumbled upon this village and thought I might find lodgings when I saw you…on this hill. Screaming."

The man drops the leaf and falls to a crouch, rubbing his face with his hands in a half-sob. "You don't understand," he says. "My daughter was taken by those beasts…" The memory causes him to break into tears. "Oh, Beth!"

He doesn't notice the wolf leaping onto the stone until he lands. The man screams again – that no villagers come to aid him speaks of either their fear or their apathy to his state – and rolls to dodge the silent wolf, with such momentum that he falls off the stone pillar.

It's of a small height and he isn't really hurt, but he groans still and holds his back. "Ugh…why didn't you catch me…" he mutters, glancing up at me.

"I'm sorry," I say as earnestly as I can. But it didn't look as if it would cause enough pain that I might help him. "That wolf – is it one of the beasts that took your children?"

The man decides he is well and jumps up warily, looking around for the wolf, but Midna has directed him to an open window behind the mill in the darkness where human eyes cannot see without their lights. He slumps back in fatigue. "Its companions were worse…They came this morning, took them all – my poor Beth, Talo, Malo, Ilia the Mayor's daughter, Colin, Link the ranch hand – and we couldn't do a thing! Those monsters…ungodly…!"

So the Link who owned that house on the upper hill had been taken. The wolf should be one of them; I wonder which, and how he should become a wolf when all others become oblivious spirits. And why the princess didn't deign to save the realm of Light until he arrived, when I should have been enough.

"I see…this village is unsafe, then."

"Yes, but – but you'll help us, won't you?" asks the man, staring at something behind me. My staff. "That weapon…"

I should aid them. But it isn't like him to send raids to villages twice, so if there is any hope to save their children, it would be to find them instead of waiting here defenseless. I tell the man this, but he doesn't seem to understand, and I'm only able to shake him off when I ask where I might find lodging for the evening.

He points me in the direction of a house across a small brook leading out into the town lake before slumping back beside the stone pillar, so I cross the bridge and find two men, one small of stature and another large, imposing and round, but before I can speak with them, they hurry into the house. The water continues to travel round the mill in circles and I realize – this is the same house Midna and the wolf entered! I have half a mind to follow them and start rambling about whatever comes to mind – I admit my social and conversational skills are not as adept as I would like – but the familiar sound of Midna's giggle that only I, now, can hear despite our moderate proximity reaches my ears and I know they are safe.

There is another house near this one, further up the hill and smaller. A couple is huddled by the torches near what I assume is their home's front porch and as I walk closer, I see that the man is middle-aged, sprightly, but with a bandage around his head, blotches of drying blood seeping through the top. The woman is round – she's with child – but is younger with motherly features. They both seem determined to win the argument they've gotten themselves into. Their shadows reveal little about them. They are quite human, and precariously innocent.

The grass is taller near their home and prickly twigs crunch under my sandals on my way to them, and the sprightly man, alarmed, whips his head in my direction. The shadows still hide me and his eyes are lost to the dark, so I know he sees nothing.

"What was that sound?" he asks his wife, as panicked as the hunched man near the stone pillar but more reserved, his stance like a warrior's. "The children could not have returned, could they? I must go out and search one last time. You get inside the house – the sword that was to be our gift to Hyrule is on the couch."

"But darling, your injuries!" comes his wife's plea as she latches on to his good arm before he can strike off. The other is limp on a sling whose ends wrap around his neck. Far to my right, beside the house, I see Midna floating languidly in the air. She puts a finger to her lips and motions to the wolf, burrowing into the soil beneath the house. They must have heard what I did, as well – and now comes my task.

I step out into the light. This is a small village and they clearly all know each other. This may be why the sprightly man is agitated at my presence and suddenly attacks me – maybe he isn't so innocent after all.

"Foul beast!" he cries, shoving his wife behind him and running towards me with a sword suddenly raised. "I have found you!"

I'm not a foul beast! But I have little time to argue with him and only draw my staff, ready to deflect his weapon, but he stops himself and skids to a halt as he nears me and sees that I look human, like him.

"Oh! Rusl!" The woman gasps, approaching us and shaking her head at her husband. She turns to me and asks, "Are you all right?"

The husband, Rusl, is not so accommodating. "Uli, stay behind me," he says. She sighs and obeys before he asks his own questions. "Who are you and where are you from?"

"I'm a simple traveler," I tell him the same thing I said to the man. When lying, I was taught, stick to one story. It is much easier to remember, and from experience, left alone with them long enough, we might actually come to believe them. "I stumbled upon this village and thought I might find lodging, but that man on the hill was talking of danger in the province and directed me to…you – you are a warrior."

"That I am," says Rusl, crossing his arms. Behind him and his wife, Midna and the wolf escape the house and sneak towards the village exit. "But you haven't answered any of my questions."

"Yes, forgive me. My name is Maeva." Who would they tell? I will leave this town soon, and I doubt I'll ever return. "I've come from Hyrule. But—"

"Oh!" Uli peeks out from behind her husband. "Have you come to pick up the sword?"

I shake my head. "No, but—"

"The shield!" a cry sounds out, accompanied by the startling SLAM! of a door. I cringe. Denizens of this town like to scream, don't they? The two men who managed to evade me earlier are now nearly hysterical outside. "It's gone! The shield!"

Rusl rushes into his home, forgetting his wife for a moment, and comes out as dumbstruck as the others. "The sword is gone, too!" he calls to the others, who approach us. "Who could have taken it?"

Their eyes fall on me. I say nothing.

"Who is she?" the two men ask.

"I don't know," says Rusl, eyes narrowing. As he ushers his wife into the house and she obeys, taking only one last look at me – I hate that, I hate that expression of fear and wonder and resentment when they know not who I am – lies flood my mind, options to what I might say to loose myself of the situation their fear has thrust me into.

"She must be with the wolf!" says a familiar shriek – I turn and see the hunched man, sprinting as fast as he can (which isn't very fast) to join the caucus that seems to have begun. "When it pushed me off the ledge, she didn't move a muscle to help me!"

"The wolf didn't push you," I say. How dare he twist the truth to prove his point! I have no love for this wolf, but it possesses some relation to me, as they believe, and I can't get into any more trouble than this. Two can play at this game. "You screamed and fell off."

"Hanch," the shorter man laughs at him, "is that true?"

"Y-Well-No!" Hanch shakes his head and waves his hands vigorously, glaring at me. "Can't you see? She's even taking the wolf's side!"

"Are you sure?" the large man asks. He may be the only sane one in this town!

"Yes! Why else would she have those weird markings on her?" Hanch points at my bare stomach, which I've foolishly forgotten to cover. I was depending on the night to shield the inscriptions on my flesh; I didn't count on all the humans coming together to notice them…

"You misunderstand—" I try, backing away slowly. "I'm only—"

Hanch's eyes move shiftily before he screams, "Get her!"

"Wait!" I shout in return, which seems to be the only way to catch their attention. They stop in their tracks – rather, Hanch does, because the others were only slowly advancing, since it was clear that I wasn't going to run. "You misunderstand," I say, more clearly and loudly this time. "I'm only trying to help you."

"How? By taking our things?" says Hanch.

"No," I say, and in this darkness I see a glimmer of hope. I'll take my chance because it wasn't given to me. "This is of a larger scale than you can imagine, and in your current state, I doubt you could manage to save the humans taken – your children."

"So you know about the children!" says the short man, his tone exceedingly accusatory.

"This – Hanch – told me about them," I say. "They must have been deposited somewhere. I can find them—"

Rusl is still frowning. "How do we know you're not lying? And what do you mean by human? If you have to mention that, then—"

"I don't care anymore!" Hanch screams, picking up a gnarled stick and raising it against me. (Unwise.) "Give me back my daughterrr!"

I deflect the stick with my staff, and Hanch falls on his posterior, the stick flying out of his hands. He whines about it and groans, but I swear I did nothing! The momentum of his attack and the simple might of my staff simply clashed, and he lost.

"Hanch!" Rusl gasps, pulling him up to stand. To me, he shakes a free fist. His only other weapon is his broken arm. "How dare you harm Hanch!"

"I didn't harm him!" I say, and then take a deep breath to calm myself. "He tried to harm me. I was only protecting myself."

"She has a point," says the large man, moving past Rusl and Hanch. The short man only watches. ("Bo…!" Hanch must be indignant that this man would defend me, but can do nothing.) Bo continues, his eyebrows furrowing. "But how do we know we can trust you? The children…My own daughter, Ilia…"

Ilia, the Mayor's daughter, I remember Hanch mumbling, so he must be the mayor. Fitting that the town's leader should be a voice of reason, but I dislike having to explain myself.

I try not to show my hesitation, but I am not a master of my emotions like Zelda and my hand very slightly shakes as I remove the bracelet on my left wrist.

"This is very important to me," I tell Bo, showing it to him, almost choking at the thought of parting with its beautiful string of perfectly cubed emerald beads. "When your children are safe, you will return this to me."

I will make sure they are safe. This exchange – it feels almost honorable, that I should give up my most precious possession as an oath to ransom theirs, but at the same time it angers me that I should share it, that another being should touch what is only mine. When Bo accepts it, I rub my cold wrist in annoyance.

"Where are you going?" asks Bo, when I turn to leave. "Traveling at night is dangerous."

I stop for a moment, my feet standing on the farthest reach of the torch lights. "There are more dangerous things – like the monsters that have your children."

They react violently, save for Bo, but I've already fled into the shadows.

I return to the spring, following my link to Midna, and find her hidden deep under the wolf's shadow. I have little time to pay her mind as a bright, somewhat golden light engulfs the spring, filling me with a sense of hope and wonder. In the brief moment that I can look at its form – it looks something like a goat – without flinching, I see that though it appears solid, its form is made of pure light, characters etched onto its skin like flames. I realize later on that I almost recognize its markings – they are similar to mine, and Midna's, but while our symbols are jagged and uneven, this being's markings are soft, circular, perfect. But it's too early for that and my markings begin to burn, my eyes once more too sensitive to the light. What is this? My body should no longer react to any light in this realm, but still I am forced to squint to lessen the pain.

"O brave youth," it speaks, sings, really, and it feels like the melody will haunt me forever. That sounds foolish, but I can describe it in no other way as its voice glows. "I am one of four light spirits that protect Hyrule at the behest of the gods. I am Ordona. The black beast you slew was a shadow being, come to seek the power that I wield."

There was a shadow being here? I know it shouldn't surprise me – the blight of his darkness inches closely to this spring, but that it should attempt to taint such a magnificent creature like this infuriates me, though I wonder why a being appointed by the gods themselves (which explains my pain, it is a holy being) was unable to protect itself. The answer comes to me in a memory. Of course – that god's power he spoke of, and that I allowed it to happen—

"My brethren in Hyrule have already had their light stolen by these fell beasts… The entire kingdom has been reduced to a netherworld ruled by the cursed powers of darkness. The blight will not stop with Hyrule," it adds. This is true. "Before long, the entire world of light will fall into the hands of the king who rules the twilight."

The spirit continues its explanation to the wolf, and from the shadows at the gate I listen, too. Ordona says that those transformed by the twilight cannot return to their true forms, but if the wolf returns to Faron Woods, where he was first transformed into what he is now, he might be able to. But only if the wolf is able to revive the light spirit there – Faron.

This must be the hope Zelda spoke of. If I follow the wolf and perhaps aid it – will that save the princess? But why couldn't I be entrusted with this task? Was it simply because of what I did?

Ordona disappears and Midna comes out from the wolf's shadow. She spots me away from the light and beckons, asking, "What happened?"

"The villagers took too much notice of me," I answer. "I promised them I would see to the safety of their children…in exchange for—"

Midna's eyes are latched onto my wrist. When she realizes I've caught her, she bursts into laughter. "In exchange for the bracelet? You really hate that princess, don't you?"

I frown. "I had no choice."

"Really?" says Midna, her spite returning in full force. "What about that staff? You just couldn't give that up, right?"

"I do need a weapon—"

"Tch." Midna rolls her eye before remembering the wolf, staring at us in confusion, and laughs again, waving her tiny hand dismissively. "Well, if you want to look like a barbarian, by all means."

I am injured by her attack at my appearance, but I hide it relatively well and lower my head just a little. "Perhaps, but this staff contains power that might defeat—"

"No!" Midna faces me furiously. "Here I am, thinking you're on my side, and there you are praising his magic! Have you forgotten already, Maeva? That same magic—"

"I know," I interrupt, succeeding at refraining from screaming by only so much. I only need her to listen! "But—"

"Listen to me, Maeva." Midna's exasperated tone isn't as effective with her high-pitched voice. "This—"

Midna stops when I glance down, startled. The wolf is brushing against my leg with its tail, attempting to grab my attention. I quirk an eyebrow at Midna, who shrugs and returns to her seat on the beast. "What is it, wolf?"

The wolf stares at me with intimidating eyes before turning his head away, in the direction of Faron woods, completely devoured by the Twilight.

"The Faron Woods you know so well…" Midna reflects, calm once more. "They're covered in Twilight. You may not be able to come back here, but – do you still want to go?"

Almost humanely, a sigh escapes the wolf's lips. Do wolves have lips? In any case, he nods, truly a brave soul. That must be why the princess chose to act upon meeting him – but I'm brave, too. Isn't courage also knowing when to choose one's battles, when to decide to fight another day?

It matters to no one but me, and Midna and the wolf start for the woods. When we reach the barrier, Midna jumps inside. The wolf approaches the Twilight but turns to me, unsure as to what he must do.

"She will take you there," I tell him. After Midna's flaming hair in the form of a human-sized claw shoots out of the barrier and grabs his canine form, I take a deep breath and follow.

I arrive to the sight of Midna fumbling with the sword and shield they stole from the wolf's villagers. I almost laugh when she attempts to wear the shield as a face guard, but I calm myself and approach them.

"Look, Maeva!" she says, waving the sword in the air and dumping the shield on the wolf's face. It's amusing how he stumbles and attempts to remove it from himself, and then becomes pitiful enough that I do it for him. He inclines his head gratefully and glares a little at Midna, who ignores him gleefully as always. "This sword is just like your staff – perfectly crude!" I don't betray my exasperation for the topic, so she continues. "Then again, he gave you that thing to win your favor…but little wolf, do you think this sword can really slay the creatures of the twilight?"

We stare at the wolf, but his eyes reflect only doubt and weariness. I can't blame him. (Midna is heavy, even as an imp.)

Midna continues speaking, her favorite sport, and promises to aid the wolf on her conditions – mostly that he should help us. But why should he? What makes me lesser than this wolf, that he, once wholly oblivious to this situation, should accomplish what I, one who should know it by heart, cannot?

Midna and my thoughts are cut off as a strange, sad melody suddenly fills the damp air. It glows – akin to Ordona's song – but differently. I've never heard such a sorrowful sound – not even from the bards who belonged in the villages he pillaged before plunging them into the twilight.

Although I already know, I ask, "What is it?"

"It's the lamentation of the spirit that had its light stolen," Midna replies, almost as dazed as I am, but she wipes it clean off her face in favor of another mischievous grin. "Where it could it be? Ee hee hee!"

She glances at me. "Better get going, don't you think? Just in case the wolf tries to blame us for his world's fate if we don't hurry up and find that light!" Midna taps the wolf's head again, harder than usual, and orders, "Come on, then, snap to it!"

The wolf narrows his eyes at her, but as we begin to move, jagged rocks that match the markings of a shadow beast fall all around us, creating a barrier that separates me from Midna and the wolf. Three shadow beasts fall in from the portal I see above, colored red instead of the clover of Midna's markings.

"Aww, we're penned in again!" Midna complains. "Who do they think they're dealing with, huh? Anyway, we can handle it. Stay out of this," she says to me.

"I don't think I was given much of a choice, there," I shout. I must because my voice needs to reach her over the growls of the shadow beasts, nasty, vile and vicious, surely with the intent to kill us on sight. This would be easier if I were in there with them.

I am loathe to admit it, but the wolf seems to manage, with Midna's instructions. The wolf digs his claws into the ground, bracing himself, and then she causes a circle of shadow to expand from where they stand, growing in girth until all three shadow beasts are in range. Midna releases her hold, and the wolf is sent flying to one shadow beast after another, tearing their masks off and sending them back up the portal whence they came.

"See?" Midna says proudly when the barrier is lifted as well. "I told you he could do it."

"Nothing I couldn't have done," I mutter.

Midna grins. "Right. Close that portal for us, would you, o mighty one?"

I say nothing and raise my staff to the air, concentrating on the portal until the stark red against the gray is filled in by that calming clover green, and then return it to the sheathe on my back, pretending that it took none of my energy. That moment – when I interacted with his portal – it was as if he saw me. Almost. But I'm faster. I've always been more lithe, at least, if not more powerful, and now that portal is for our use only, despite whose power I wielded.

Faron spring comes before the woods. It would look much like Ordona's were it not for the twilight, and at our arrival, the light spirit emerges to speak, to sing. I can gaze at it without pain, which is sad. It glows, in a form that resembles a monkey curled into itself, even in the twilight when the shadow beings have stolen its glory, but the light it gives off is mute, weak, like an empty placeholder for what was lost.

"The drape of shadows…" Faron speaks, weakly, as someone gasping for breath, "it is called twilight. It is a place…where the dark ones and evil creatures dwell…I am a spirit of light…Blue-eyed beast." It attempts to puff out its chest, but it is powerless and returns to its fetal position, breathing still heavy. It sighs and continues. "Look for my light…retrieve the light stolen by the dark beasts, and…keep it in this vessel."

A small object, like a string, appears in the air before us. There are leaves skirting its edges, but through it there are spherical beads, empty like glass. I take it, examining it closely, but if the spirit notices, it gives no indication, instead adding that the light the dark beasts stole from it are still somewhere around the area, hidden in beings that have taken the form of insects.

I follow the wolf out of the spring. This really is his home; he navigates it so well. I know how forlorn he must feel, seeing his home like this when he knows it can be so much more beautiful. Soon after we leave, an insect that glows a little more than everything else in the area burrows into the soil. I can feel it digging through the dirt, because though its holy light hardly causes my markings to burn, I can still feel my hairs standing on edge.

My staff possesses a narrow, thin but sharp crystal edge. I hurl it at the insect as it crawls out of the soil some ways away from where it entered. It dies slowly, releasing a pitiful croak and a blue sphere of light – which enters the Vessel on my wrist. My precious bracelet is on loan, perhaps, for now, but the Vessel fills the cold air there and works fittingly as a replacement for the time being. I turn around, opening my mouth to declare my victory, when another sphere of light enters the Vessel.

Oh. The wolf defeated one, too.

"Hee hee, disappointed?" Midna asks, staring at me.

"For what reason?" I reply, but I don't meet her gaze.

The wolf leads us through tall rocks into a clearing with a hut and a cauldron, right before the woods. The hut is locked, but there are bugs inside and Midna demands a way in. We decide to separate to hasten the process – I'll go to the Woods, where the rest of the bugs seem to be, while they will find a way to enter the hut and hunt down the bugs. The way to the woods is blocked by a shackled gate, but nothing stops me from climbing over. I make my way through a dark cave filled with keese and spiderwebs, but the shadows cause me no problem and might even be cozy, if only his twilight didn't hang over my head like a loosening guillotine.

The woods thicken immediately outside the cave path, but past a few steps and a bridge extending out to the descending forest, I can see nothing but a thick miasma, a swirling of regalia-colored air. I foolishly attempt to cross it, but as soon as I step foot into the fog, it forces its way through my senses, invading, causing my throat to constrict and my eyes to water. It smells distinctly of death, like burning houses and slaughtered humans, drowned sewer rats and twilight, the wicked kind. My vision blurs and I feel vomit rising in my throat, but I manage to crawl out of the poison gas, coughing and rubbing my throat as though it will stop the gas from clawing at me from the inside.

I sit blankly for a moment before I remember the task at hand. As if the miasma has sharpened my senses, I set the pain aside and see a set of hollow tree trunks a little ways from the bridge. I take a few steps back and allow myself a running start, then jump forward. Will it still work, when I have the form of – I land on the trunk in relief, high above the miasma, but I can't stop while the momentum is with me and continue jumping towards where the Vessel pulls me along, humming against my wrist whenever we come near an insect. Some of its bulbs light up instantly without warning – Midna and the wolf's work, obviously.

What in the…? I reach the edge of the forest, past a clearing and into an area that goes up a set of more hollow trunks that lead into some sort of temple – and there are Midna and the wolf, leaping towards me as if they arrived long before I even laid eyes on the place!

"Midna? Wolf?"

"Maeva," Midna yells, "the bug!"

The Vessel hums, shaking. This is the last one! Below me, running past me – I extend and strike the staff into the ground, and then that croak – the blue light enters the Vessel, which unlatches itself from my wrist and starts spinning, swirling in the air, its light spreading in every direction as far as the eye can see. I back away with a yelp – I've never seen anything so pure and beautiful. I soon close my eyes, unable to withstand the light, but even past my eyelids it shines, blinding, and then I am deafened.

For a split second, I am trapped within the light, unable to move, but it's a peaceful feeling, an eternity I would not resist. And then I'm drenched from the waist down, sitting in Faron spring in a daze. Twilight no longer haunts the place, and now Faron sings a pleasant, calm melody, puffing its chest out as it breathes and glows as it should, the waters surrounding it seeming to pulsate with life as well.

Faron notices us – or does it only notice the wolf? – and smiles. I can't see its face, but I know it smiles. "My name is Faron, one of the spirits of light who dwell in Hyrule. I use the life force of the gods to protect this forest. O brave youth…" So he only sees the wolf, who suddenly shines so brightly that I cannot look upon him, either. "In the land covered in twilight, where people roam as spirits, you were transformed into a blue-eyed beast…"

The light surrounding the wolf fades. A human now stands before me, his back turned, and so the first thing I notice is his golden hair.

I notice that they fall gracefully down behind his ear as he turns his head side-to-side and I can see his sharp profile, looking around, taking in his surroundings, perhaps, as a human again. On one of his pointed ears he still wears that blue earring, which embellishes his deep cerulean eyes. His lips part in amazement as he stares at his hands, flipping them over in disbelief. I suppose that for someone like him, it would be surprising and relieving to find that you are in your true form again…his hands. They appear callous, rough; he must do a lot of hard work.

I stand corrected when I thought that there was nothing more beautiful than the light. He must have the endurance of a warrior with his build, tall and broad-shouldered and full, not skinny in the least. When I finally catch his gaze, I look away and notice instead red cheeks against his smooth flesh, but it is only when Midna giggles uncontrollably that I comprehend why they are such a shade.

He is unclad, and embarrassed about it. I feel my face flush now that I've come to the same realization – I've never seen a human so bare before – and turn away as he opens his mouth to speak. In any case, he wouldn't have been able to. The light spirit, Faron, speaks once more.

I find myself staring into the clear water…at my own reflection. Unruly ebony hair falls short until the nape of my neck. Hazel eyes reflect nothing but a desire to right the suffering I have caused the beings – foolish as some might be – of this world, to become its hero . My lips, unevenly colored and still healing. Ever since they became pink, red, even, I've developed the unruly habit of picking them, pulling off the skin when I'm agitated or simply in deep thought, an act my wrist would have once been slapped for. My skin color was given to me this way, and I've not been able to do a thing to improve it, having stayed mostly with Zelda or in the shadows while Midna gallivants around the realm and forbids me from joining her. The pale flesh is vandalized by markings of twilight, the undecided red or violet of healing skin, as though old scars were vacuumed from deep within and heaped onto the surface, though the symbols are neat and precise in their way, not a stroke out of place.

Faron starts to speak of a green tunic, and I glance back at the wolf. The human, rather, now clothed in a green tunic and an oddly-styled hat, the likes of which I've never quite noticed on his kind before.

"His power is yours," Faron tells the human. "His is the true power that slept within you. Your name is Link, and you are the hero chosen by the gods."

Link – the ranch hand? So I was correct. Hero chosen by the gods…

"Brave Link," Faron calls. "A dark power rests in the temple within these woods. It is a forbidden power. Long, long ago, I and the other spirits of light locked it away. Because of its nature, it is a power that should never be touched by any who dwell in the light. But this world weeps beneath a mantle of shadows, and so there is no choice. You must match the power of the king of shadows. If you would seek this forbidden power, then proceed to the temple in the forest depths."

With a last breath of gratitude, Faron disappears.

Link glances back with a small smile on his handsome lips that is all for me. He starts in my direction – I turn to the water. I, the hideously marked murderer. He, the beautiful hero chosen by the gods…

I will not let him best me.

REVIEW!

I didn't change much from the original flow of events, except how Maeva interacted with some characters. Tell me what you think, new and old readers! I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you, and see you soon!