Prologue: See You Later

A recap of Midna's departure in Twilight Princess. (Just so you know this is a SEQUEL to a Nintendo game! Check out the original source material before reading!)

                                                                                                           Prologue: See You Later

"Well... I guess this is farewell, huh?" 

Midna stood on the one white glowing step, that would take her back home, smiling as she finished her sentence.

The ones that would end it all.

At least that's how Midna saw it. But she had to hold her breath, hold back for Link. She couldn't show a tear... She was Midna, and Midna does not cry. But, still a silent scream flowed them, but Link thought it was only him. 

But this was something they had to understand, Zelda and Link. And, she hoped Link didn't see it that way. Maybe hoped. But the problem was SHE knew, but at least he didn't. She'd let herself get dragged through all sorts of hell if it meant he didn't have to hurt as much.

Were they really here? At the end of the rope? After everything? Sure, she knew this would happen, and she used to wish for it so bad, but maybe... it never fully registered in her mind, nor Link's. It pained her, and she wished she'd come to terms with it sooner. Like when it was starting to press in her mind, during their last few romps of Hyrule. And now... she found...

She didn't want it to end.

But, she at least wanted them to know, to comprehend it was for a greater good. But, Link, poor Link, he thought he could see her again. Currently, his biggest worry was that it wouldn't be the same. 

The thing was she knew the truth, and ever since she was younger, she'd thought keeping secrets from others was better because only SHE had to endure the pain of them, no one else, but... now she wanted to reveal a secret and pain him. It was real, and it was raw, and she didn't want to do it. Well, at least she had some secrets to keep, even after this ended. If she could keep her mouth shut. She wished she could see him again too...

She was so sorry to change that for him.

"But... never forget that there's another world bound to this one."

The words made Link smile, as he remembered how important it was for everyone, the light dwellers, the Twili, to remember how much pain, sacrifice and battle it was worth for Ganondorf's reign to end. 

When Midna's true form finally arose, and Link watched, the evil king just a memory, now withering away. They had overcome the war TOGETHER, and Midna smiled as Zelda spoke next.

"Shadow and Light are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without another." Zelda said as she stared upwards slightly at the Dawn sky. 

But, Midna flinched... The way Zelda put it... oh, how she would miss Link.

Zelda's blue eyes stared at the Mirror, it's spectacular beauty shining. "I know now the reason the Goddesses left the Mirror of Twilight in this world..." She closed her eyes, taking in the moments spirit,

it's feeling. "It was their design that we should meet," she said, almost to herself, bound energy swirling around her. "Yes," she lifted her head and reopened her piercing blue eyes.

"That is what I believe."

She turned to head to glance Midna, but she looked slightly unfocused, her red eyes trained on Link, who was looking at Zelda, as she finished her sentence. She must've been daydreaming.

Staring at Link though? She was deep in thought, and caught herself, and shook her head slightly, riding the emotions stirring in her mind.

"Zelda," she began pulling together, a pearl of wisdom in her voice she did not have nearly a year ago. A faint smile ghosted the Twilit's lips. "Your words are kind, and your heart is true," Midna said, trying to give her all the gratitude and warmth she felt into those words. "If all in Hyrule are like you," she spoke, her red warm eyes, looking directly into Zelda's deep blue eyes. "Then maybe you'll do alright."

And with that, that playful subtle joke, Link was taken back by that smile... that smirk. It was more of a smile, this time, but it had a hint of that old smug impish expression. But... with a spark of her kindness, wisdom, and warmth.

She stared for a moment, past Zelda and Link, and Zelda guessed she was getting her last good look at the Hylian sky. Letting everything sink in, Midna fiercely turned, a bit harder then she had meant to, but she was almost... angry at her emotions. But it was hard to tell. There was so many. She used to never know this. Did she regret it?

...

As she turned a small gust of wind came from her cape, but ironically a heavier breeze came after, naturally, and blew them gently. But as the air swirled gently around them, Link smiled a little more, forcefully. as Midna walked up the magical stairs. As the stairs produced, she turned and smiled at the hero, and this time, he smiled, but for real. It struck him. He was choking.

Something he'd had a hard time grasping since he'd seen this mysterious woman on the Eldin hill. This was Midna. It wasn't the imp, yet it was still her soul, and personality, and every imp-ish thing. Only different looking.

And that calmed his every worry in the world.

"Well, the princess spoke truly," Midna finally spoke, now looking at Zelda's calm face, and Link's brightened face.

"As long as this Mirror's around, we could meet again."

And Link realized in that moment, that was the only thing he'd ever wanted, would ever need. As long as he could see Midna again... he was okay. 

He could not ask more of her. One day, he'd see her again. In fact, they could visit each other, whenever they wanted! He could see her every day! Sure, he'd have to travel... and Midna would probably get sick of him... and he'd practically live in the desert... but...

If he had to, to see Midna as much as possible, he'd ride towards the horizon every dawn.

And yet, she brought that up, but she still looked... well, Midna was always good at hiding he emotions... sometimes, but she looked sad. Upset. While it warmed his heart he'd get to see her whenever he wanted on his journeys. Yes, it wouldn't be the same, but he'd see her, and she'd see him.

But... Midna knew differently... and he watched her as her barrier-her invincible barrier, that she built up so high- began to diminish. Their eyes gleamed in each other, and emotions stormed in red eyes and sharp blue eyes. 

She prepared to fight a whirlwind of emotion but it was too late, and as she breathed, she wheezed. Quietly, but the entire area was silent. The only thing she was able to do now, was stand. And fight tears, but she was shamefully losing the battle. For the last few seconds, she hadn't looked Link directly in the face, but, now as she did, her thin eyes watered, and there was nothing else she could do now. And she found words, she'd needed to say since he had excepted her mission to get the Fused Shadows.

"Link... thank you..."

But... there was something else... With just those words, memories she'd fought flooded in, and a tear finally fell. The tear,-that little droplet- held her fears. All of them. For her people, for Hyrule, for...

For Link.

Link stared slightly surprised, as he watched the tear slide down the cheek, the one that held memories, doubts, dreams, hopes, sights, feelings, anger, happiness...

And it hurt.

Was all of this worth it? She had built her walls up so god-damn high, that it had taken it so long to break, it took every day she had spent with Link, but he had done it. Shadows were supposed to be dark, tough, emotionless... her? The princess of darkness? She was a disgrace to her people. She was in a corner now though. 

She lifted a pale blue hand up to her cheek and felt her tear... So much within... It hurt... she felt as if she might die... but... Her eyes were screwed shut, but she felt as if she could see the glowing tear...

Why was it so unfair?

Was this what it felt like? What so many civilians had talked about? Heartache? She had loved this so much... so this wasn't fair! Why did she have to say goodbye? But it was for the greater good, at the road's end. She shut her eyes tighter and tried to block it all out, but it was too late now. 

It was coming to this emotional downpour. And though she knew this, she fought it anyway. And so, did she wipe away the tear? No, they'd already seen it... and she felt frozen.

As Link stared at the tear, he had to catch his breath. Midna... the tough shadow of darkness... a tear? 'Why was she so distraught?', he asked himself. 

They could see each other all the time! He wanted to tell her it was okay because they'd see one another again! Every day!

Thoughts whirled in her mind, sorrow panging in her chest. "I..." Midna squeaked out. She had to tell Link, she thought, as Zelda faded far away out of her eyesight, like she wasn't even there, here at the end, before the end.

But was she so forced to? She didn't want to bid farewell, ever! If only someone had told her that it hurt so much. But there was so much she had yet to say! So much she had to tell him, what she knew, felt, all she wanted now.

But, she forced herself. She gently thrust her hand out, against the orb, and it began to slowly float, ever so peacefully. Like a star, in the milky way.

Then it just came.

"See you later," she whispered, and once again Link was thrown back, as she softly smiled. Link then understood it was the only thing she could say, for it carried everything. The pain, the memories, the laughs, the defeats, the wins, the days, the nights, the dark the light. 

He clung to the words tightly feeling so much, just within three words.

Link felt a strange urge to run, grab her tear as if it would stop her grief. Gently, Midna opened her eyes and saw a sudden desperation in his own eyes. They reflected on each other for a mere moment.

Midna nearly flinched as she heard the cracking noise, sounding as if it came from her own heart. Link's shattered too.

"Midna," he squeaked, wanting to scream at her 'don't go.'

'See you later,' was what she had always said, but this time... it was different, and Link felt it. But- There was a sudden whirl of motion as he gasped trying to catch her breath, and she was at the top of the glowing stairs already.

The window of opportunity was closing fast, and as the two companions stared into each other's eyes, their faces would haunt both of them for the rest of their life. Midna's sad wise face, Link's shocked hurt face. 

But as much as she wanted to, she could not stop it now, and she wished for Link to smile one last time as her body began to fade. 

She truly couldn't stand to see that hurt in his eyes but she forced herself to smile at the hurt in his eyes. Because in the end, Link saved her. She almost laughed as she realized so long ago, she prayed every night for this day to come the next... now... now?

She was just praying it was all a bad dream.

The shadowy crystals began to envelop her legs and Link couldn't find his voice, though he needed to scream. It almost hurt, she realized as she began to fade away, waist gone. To defend herself from the millions of other tears and words that wished to fall, to fight the real three words she wanted to tell him, she went on smiling. And she brought her voice to one thing. A hum, a song.

Link felt his heart crack more, if even possible. It was the ballad of the Twili, the Hylian, the animals, nature, the monsters, the saints, the sinners, the ballad of everything that graced this earth.

It was a homecoming... yet goodbye?

He didn't understand. She didn't either.

He could feel it course through Hyrule, through beyond, sadness, relief, flow through him. The twilight rain was nearly gone, as it reached her nose, and it all dawned on him, and his blue eyes were only able to meet hers for a second more.

Midna was gone.

The Mirror shattered, loudly, but the bits scattered across Hyrule silently, peacefully, calling the stories end. 

But Zelda knew it wasn't, no. 

He fell to his knees and Zelda watched, knowing somewhere deep down, Link knew it wasn't the end yet either. With Zelda at his side, they both realized one thing. This was the first thing to defeat Link. 

Maybe he should've guessed it. He knew her best after all- and maybe he'd known- but refused to accept it, even as the cracks snaked across the Mirror's surface.

As the sun rose, Link realized he'd have to go on without Midna.

'I'll see you again, I promise you that.

Author's Note

Again, please review and tell me what you think, I'll post another chapter soon!

Reviews

[KAREN]

This is a great start. Very interesting.

[Vertigo Cat1111]

Goodness, thank you so, so much for the review. This book is where I started out writing, and though I write mostly poetry/songs now, it still has a special place in my heart but I figured no one would find it again, or care to review it. Thank you so much. (:

[KAREN]

You're very welcome!

[Rose]

*Cracks knuckles and rubs hands together with determination.* HAZZAH! This is ingenious! You're writing a sequel to a game! SO SMART! I shall prepare, for I feel that this journey... is going to be a crazy, amazing, intense one! ONWARD I GO!

[Vertigo Cat1111]

I honestly don’t know what to say besides thank you so so much. I’ve poured my heart and soul into this story for 6 years and just finally seeing someone respond well to it, I’m utterly speechless. Thank you (,:

[Rose]

Well, A certain someone made me feel the same way! I thank you just as much, my friend! ❤️

[JayG]

Well, you did ask, but as they say, be careful what you wish for, because this will sting. But I thought you’d want to know:

First, format. This site will accept and post indented paragraphs if…the text is pasted from a MS Word document that has those indentations made via the top ruler, not with spaces or tab characters. If you can’t do that, double space between characters.

That aside, your primary problem is that you, like most hopeful writers suffer what I call, The Great Misunderstanding. Like most of us, you assume that the skill we call “writing,” which we were given in school, is the one referred to by that word that’s part of the profession we call, Fiction-Writing. It’s not. Not even close. In truth, we leave our school years exactly as knowledgeable about the skills of writing fiction as those of nuclear physics.

For the years of your schooling, your primary writing assignment was a report or essay, which is nonfiction, and as such has a goal of providing an informational experience. When writing it, the narrator reports and explains—an outside-in approach that’s inherently dispassionate. Because the reader cannot hear, or know how the narrator is to inflect the words, the only emotion the reader gets is what punctuation suggests. But, as YOU read, the narrator’s voice is your voice, and filled with exactly the emotion you require. So for you, it works, perfectly. But only for you.

You also possess a huge advantage denied the reader: Context. As you begin to read you know the characters and their history intimately. You know their expectations, their mood, and their immediate goals. And knowing that, you will leave out necessary detail, and then, on reading, fill in what’s missing and never notive the problem the reader faces.

The reader? They have only what your words suggest to them, based on their background, not yours, or your intent. One powerful editing technique is to have the computer read the text to you, to hear what the reader gets.

With all that in mind, look at the opening, not as the all-knowing author, but as the reader:

• Well... I guess this is farewell, huh?"

Someone, of unknown gender, age, background, and situation, is asking someone not introduced, if they’re not to see them again—for unknown reasons.

Do we know why it’s being asked? No. Do we know where and when we are? No. Do we know what’s going on? Hell no. The characters do. You do. But who did you write this for? Shouldn’t they know?

Will the reader figure it out if they continue? Who cares? You can’t retroactively remove confusion, so why would they read on?

• Midna stood on the one white glowing step, that would take her back home.

Who in the pluperfect hells is Midna? Where is home? Where is she now, and why does she want to leave? Without knowing that this is meaningless.

• The ones that would end it all.

So she’s on ONE step that will take her home, but you talk about “ones?” And what is this “all” that's ending

But forget that, because here, you identify a story-killer: This is a transcription of you telling the story aloud to an audience, which CANNOT work on the page because Storytelling is a performance art. HOW you tell the story matters as much as what you say, and the reader cannot know your performance.

Bottom line: All professions are learned IN ADDITION to our schooldays skills So there’s an entire body of writing knowledge, as large as that you learned, that must be mastered to write fiction.

Think about it. Since you learned to read, you’ve been choosing fiction that was written with professional skills. You don’t see them as you read, any more than you see the skills of the chef as you eat a meal prepared by one. And just as you’d know in a bite if the one preparing the meal lacks those skills, so you know in a paragraph with fiction—as your reader knows that about you. Is there any better reason for acquiring the skills the pros take for granted?

So…you have the desire. You have the intent to please the reader. You have the story. But…

Some good news? That missing knowledge is fixable, and every successful author did just that. So, that’s what you need to do.

For an overview of the major differences in approach, you might dig around in the articles in my WordPress writing blog (link at the bottom of this). They’re written for the hopeful writer.

The local library system’s fiction-writing section is filled with the views of pros in publishing, writing, and teaching. And to make the job easier, you can download a free copy of the best book on the subject I’ve found to date from the site I link to just below. Grab a copy before they change their mind.
https://ru.b-ok2.org/book/2640776/e749ea

Will that, or any book make a pro of you? Nope. That’s your job. It will, though, give you the knowledge and the tools you need. It will help you focus on the true purpose of fiction, as e. L. Doctorow observed, with, “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.” And no way can the nonfiction skills we were given do that.

So dig in. And while you do, hang in there, and keep on writing.

Jay Greenstein
https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/the-grumpy-old-writing-coach/