MILINK ALTERNATE ENDING
Link remained silent as he watched the Twilight Princess step on the magical stones that then produced the stairway to her realm. When the eyes of Midna turned on him, stared into him, the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. No matter her appearance, this was his Midna, the imp, the woman, he had come to care for so completely. And for the first time since he had met her on the Eldin hilltop, she spoke to him. “Well, the princess spoke truly.” She looked between the Mirror of Twilight and Link’s hopeful face. “As long as this Mirror’s around, we could meet again….”
This was the only thing Link could have asked of Midna. He could see that she would not ask him to come with her, would not ask that he choose between his people and her realm … but if she were to speak those words once more….
“You’ll come with me … won’t you?”
Link longed to hear those words, would have leapt in an instant to keep his promise. Every cell in his body begged and pleaded to go with her.
Midna watched as the light in Link’s sapphire eyes gleamed with her reflection, and the final barrier against her deepest feelings finally began to crack. She fought against the rush of emotion, but it caught her in its whirlwind and it was all she could do to remain standing tall and proud. Her thin, slanted eyes watered as she drunk in Link’s kind face, and she finally found the words she had been trying to say to him all this time. “Link…. Thank you.”
Link’s heart leapt at her words. He smiled. She did not need to thank him. Never would she have to ask or want for anything again … if she but said the words he silently begged to hear.
Midna had so much to say, though. Her emotions burst and a tear, sparkling and bright in the orange shadows of the morning, trickled down her cheek. It was a tear that brought to life everything she had ever feared. It carried her care for Link, her every sacrifice, her every dream and every doubt. And it burned. She had only ever been a shadow, and shadows could not cry, could feel nothing but the sour and bitter cold. She had refused to see the light as anything but brightness … but the walls she had built against its radiance had come crashing down, brick by brick, every day she had spent with Link.
Kind, courageous Link….
Midna lifted a finger to her cheek and touched the tear that had formed there. She had never felt so many emotions at once, never felt so alive in the same moment she thought she might die from the sensations pouring through her. She stared at the tear in wonder. Was this what it felt like? To care so entirely for someone … only to be forced to say goodbye?
She closed her eyes tightly against the stirring in her heart, tried to block out everything but the memory of her time with Link.
Link had never seen Midna cry, and to see her so distraught made his breath catch. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her that everything would be all right … that he would come with her if she chose.
Midna struggled to find the words as the magic of her blood throbbed through her. “I….” She tried to tell Link, tried to tell him here at the end before she left. She did not want to say goodbye. She did not want to bid farewell. She wanted to tell him everything she felt, tell him everything she knew.
But there was no time. As her single tear began to shine brighter at the tip of her finger, she cast her hand out, and the shimmering orb floated into the air. It twinkled in the sunlight, glistening brighter than any star as it soared ever so slowly, ever so peacefully.
“See you later,” Midna finally said, and her voice rang out in a half-whisper, her throat hoarse with sorrow but coated by a smile.
It was the only thing she could say that would express every feeling she had, every memory she clung to tightly, desperately, and she knew Link would understand her full meaning.
Like a kiss blown into the wind, Link wanted to catch her tear, and he reached out to erase her grief. He had understood in that quick yet timeless moment what Midna intended. She would leave him, she would go without another word, without letting him speak his heart … without giving him the chance to even say goodbye. When she spoke her last, he understood her heart, understood that she would choose her people over him and deny him the hard choice of leaving his people--his world--to be with her.
When he saw her tear cascade through the air toward the Mirror, he understood everything.
When Midna opened her eyes, it was to see Link’s burning devotion reflected in her tear … as it lamented with a humming chime in his upturned palm. The glow of its magic eclipsed Link’s eyes, and a tear slid from his eye in its shadow. The instant he had caught her tear … he had felt every emotion Midna had felt. He could feel her regret and pain….
And her love.
Midna stood above him as more tears threatened to fall, shocked that he would act so boldly as to throw himself between her and a forever goodbye. He was courageous, the most willing heart she had ever met, but for him to stop her like this, it must have taken more than courage.
Suddenly afraid, Midna withdrew and raced up the lustrous steps. For him to stop her like this, she could not bear to allow him to face such a decision. He knew what she must do, knew that she must lock their worlds apart forever. How could he force them to linger in this pain, force them to confront something inconsolable. They were together--forever-bound, but they were of separate worlds. Was this not how the gods deemed it must be?
“Midna…” he wanted to scream, but his voice was strangled by a gasp and it came out as a whisper.
She turned to Link in a whirl of motion, and he could see the desperation in her eyes. He could see how it hurt her, to dwell in this moment. Midna had gone through life without knowing the purest of kindness, and he could see her fear. Fear of her feelings for Link … fear that he may yet mirror these feelings … and the fear in knowing she must lose him forever.
Link took a careful step forward, his foot vibrating under the hum of the first white stair. They stared into each other’s wet eyes for a long moment before Link finally found his voice. “Midna, a long time ago I made you promise.” His voice wavered as he continued, “That I would follow you.”
Midna only stared at him for a long time, her perfect, pointed chin slightly quaking. “Our worlds are at peace again, Link. Your oath is fulfilled.”
He took another few steps up the glimmering stairs.
“Your place is in this world. A hero cannot abandon his people, just as I cannot forget mine,” said Midna, sniffling, her brows creasing as she tried to force the sorrow from her voice.
In that moment Link unfastened the clasp of his scabbard, and the Master Sword landed softly against the magical stairs. “I am no hero. I am one man who fought for what he believed in,” said Link. “Together we brought peace to our realms. I’ve had a long while to think about what I might do, where I might go now that it’s over. And every thought, every feeling … has led straight to you.” Link took another few steps forward, stopping only a few beneath the dark beauty of Midna. “In the final hours of battle … I thought it might be all right if….” Link’s breath caught as he found himself finally admitting the truth. “…if I died in saving Hyrule. Because once Ganondorf was slain … I had nothing left worth living for.”
A cascade of tears streaked Midna’s cheeks as Link spoke and her chin puckered and her lips wavered under the weight of her emotions. She closed her eyes, and turned her head to avoid Link seeing her so distraught. What were these sensations that overwhelmed her? She hated and loved the pain it brought.
“I make a new vow to you, Midna.” The tear that she had shed and cast toward the Mirror still lay within his grasp and he closed his fingers around it, feeling its warmth and its sadness. Midna turned to watch as Link ascended the last stairs to stand directly before her. She saw how the light of her tear lit his face and how his longing eyes looked up into hers, searching and hoping.
Then he said it. “I will catch your every tear.”
When he spoke those words, softly and with a heavy heart--like a vein exposed to the world’s toxins or a babe vulnerable to the terrors of a storm--Midna smiled through her tears. The barriers she had built against her heart had tumbled down at the sight of Link so humble and yet so brave to lace his tears and words with his every feeling. Link clutched tightly to the tear in his hand, and it soon withered and faded into the light of the world. His devotion brought on a new wave of tears and when she cried, Link held out a hand and, tentatively, stroked her radiant ginger hair. The feel of her soft locks made his heart leap. Until now, he had not felt the warmth burning in her porcelain blue skin, and the feel of her made him the happiest man alive.
Smiling through their tears, Midna’s giggle broke through the air, and Link caressed her cheek with a thumb, casting away her tears as they fell. Midna closed her eyes, accepting his touch, moved by the very presence of his soul. She brought up her hand and gently clapped her palm over his knuckles. When she opened her eyes, Link had stepped even closer, a breath apart.
Her ruby eyes glistened through her tears as she whispered, “I found you….”
Her words, her acceptance of him and his feelings, nearly drew the breath from Link, and he could not contain his joy. In an instant he embraced her, and--nearly standing on his toes--he drew her into a kiss. She did not resist; in fact, he could feel her soft violet lips caressing his in return, and Link thought for sure he had not known life until this moment. For so long he had not known where he belonged … but here, embracing Midna, the imp he once loathed and the woman he now loved with all his being … he would never feel lost again.
As they remained locked in each other’s arms, Midna’s tears descended, tears of joy, tears that proved that even she--a once selfish and cruel woman--could find the light of which her ballads had often sung. She was more than a shadow. With Link, she felt like a goddess, like a true princess who had at last found the man who could hold the torch of her heart.
She continued to cry as he kissed her, and the tears hovered around them, swarming like gentle fairies, until they soared through the air to impale the Mirror behind Princess Zelda on the dais below.
The Princess of the Light stood, breath caught in her throat, as she watched the light hit their entwined bodies. The realization hit her then as they began to disintegrate. Link and Midna would never again return to Hyrule, falling into Twilight. Their bodies turned to shadowy crystals, which reflected the light and surrounded them like a gentle snowstorm. For a moment, it made her sad to watch them leave, but the silhouette of their kiss spoke volumes as the sight seemed to whisper into every corner of Hyrule that peace had finally come.
In the next instant, they were gone. Silence hung in the air before the resounding burst of glass crackled through the air, the shards of the Mirror raining down as harmless ashes that twinkled in the light.
Zelda wordlessly at the black, lifeless slab of stone before her, but as she stepped to the edge of the dais and looked down at the Master Sword, she thought back on everything that had passed … the defeat of Ganondorf, the exodus of the Twili, and Link’s departure…. She did not feel lonely without them, as she might have expected. Somehow, knowing that they were together, knowing that whatever darkness filled their skies … they were the coin of life, sides of light and dark forever bound … and they would be at the heart of every myth to come.
Zelda stepped down from the dais and collected the Master Sword. Before she called to her knights, she glanced one last time at the broken Mirror and the lifeless rock. Hyrule’s Hero had risen and gone, just as so many had done before, she had read about them in her studies with Auru as a child. All of those heroes had done great deeds, and though not much was known about their lives after the great times of evil, she had to wonder if any of them had been as fortunate as Link … if any of them had found love to sustain the rest of their days.
She supposed she would never know, though, much as she would never know the fate of Link and Midna now that they had left the world of the Light. She could spend years wondering and she supposed that some would even write stories about the hero and his love. Some stories would let them live in peace, others would throw yet more obstacles in their path, but at the heart of every story, every poem, a single line would remain. That Link, Hero, loved Midna; and Midna, Princess of the Shadows, loved Link.
That was, after all, how legends were made.
This was the only thing Link could have asked of Midna. He could see that she would not ask him to come with her, would not ask that he choose between his people and her realm … but if she were to speak those words once more….
“You’ll come with me … won’t you?”
Link longed to hear those words, would have leapt in an instant to keep his promise. Every cell in his body begged and pleaded to go with her.
Midna watched as the light in Link’s sapphire eyes gleamed with her reflection, and the final barrier against her deepest feelings finally began to crack. She fought against the rush of emotion, but it caught her in its whirlwind and it was all she could do to remain standing tall and proud. Her thin, slanted eyes watered as she drunk in Link’s kind face, and she finally found the words she had been trying to say to him all this time. “Link…. Thank you.”
Link’s heart leapt at her words. He smiled. She did not need to thank him. Never would she have to ask or want for anything again … if she but said the words he silently begged to hear.
Midna had so much to say, though. Her emotions burst and a tear, sparkling and bright in the orange shadows of the morning, trickled down her cheek. It was a tear that brought to life everything she had ever feared. It carried her care for Link, her every sacrifice, her every dream and every doubt. And it burned. She had only ever been a shadow, and shadows could not cry, could feel nothing but the sour and bitter cold. She had refused to see the light as anything but brightness … but the walls she had built against its radiance had come crashing down, brick by brick, every day she had spent with Link.
Kind, courageous Link….
Midna lifted a finger to her cheek and touched the tear that had formed there. She had never felt so many emotions at once, never felt so alive in the same moment she thought she might die from the sensations pouring through her. She stared at the tear in wonder. Was this what it felt like? To care so entirely for someone … only to be forced to say goodbye?
She closed her eyes tightly against the stirring in her heart, tried to block out everything but the memory of her time with Link.
Link had never seen Midna cry, and to see her so distraught made his breath catch. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her that everything would be all right … that he would come with her if she chose.
Midna struggled to find the words as the magic of her blood throbbed through her. “I….” She tried to tell Link, tried to tell him here at the end before she left. She did not want to say goodbye. She did not want to bid farewell. She wanted to tell him everything she felt, tell him everything she knew.
But there was no time. As her single tear began to shine brighter at the tip of her finger, she cast her hand out, and the shimmering orb floated into the air. It twinkled in the sunlight, glistening brighter than any star as it soared ever so slowly, ever so peacefully.
“See you later,” Midna finally said, and her voice rang out in a half-whisper, her throat hoarse with sorrow but coated by a smile.
It was the only thing she could say that would express every feeling she had, every memory she clung to tightly, desperately, and she knew Link would understand her full meaning.
Like a kiss blown into the wind, Link wanted to catch her tear, and he reached out to erase her grief. He had understood in that quick yet timeless moment what Midna intended. She would leave him, she would go without another word, without letting him speak his heart … without giving him the chance to even say goodbye. When she spoke her last, he understood her heart, understood that she would choose her people over him and deny him the hard choice of leaving his people--his world--to be with her.
When he saw her tear cascade through the air toward the Mirror, he understood everything.
When Midna opened her eyes, it was to see Link’s burning devotion reflected in her tear … as it lamented with a humming chime in his upturned palm. The glow of its magic eclipsed Link’s eyes, and a tear slid from his eye in its shadow. The instant he had caught her tear … he had felt every emotion Midna had felt. He could feel her regret and pain….
And her love.
Midna stood above him as more tears threatened to fall, shocked that he would act so boldly as to throw himself between her and a forever goodbye. He was courageous, the most willing heart she had ever met, but for him to stop her like this, it must have taken more than courage.
Suddenly afraid, Midna withdrew and raced up the lustrous steps. For him to stop her like this, she could not bear to allow him to face such a decision. He knew what she must do, knew that she must lock their worlds apart forever. How could he force them to linger in this pain, force them to confront something inconsolable. They were together--forever-bound, but they were of separate worlds. Was this not how the gods deemed it must be?
“Midna…” he wanted to scream, but his voice was strangled by a gasp and it came out as a whisper.
She turned to Link in a whirl of motion, and he could see the desperation in her eyes. He could see how it hurt her, to dwell in this moment. Midna had gone through life without knowing the purest of kindness, and he could see her fear. Fear of her feelings for Link … fear that he may yet mirror these feelings … and the fear in knowing she must lose him forever.
Link took a careful step forward, his foot vibrating under the hum of the first white stair. They stared into each other’s wet eyes for a long moment before Link finally found his voice. “Midna, a long time ago I made you promise.” His voice wavered as he continued, “That I would follow you.”
Midna only stared at him for a long time, her perfect, pointed chin slightly quaking. “Our worlds are at peace again, Link. Your oath is fulfilled.”
He took another few steps up the glimmering stairs.
“Your place is in this world. A hero cannot abandon his people, just as I cannot forget mine,” said Midna, sniffling, her brows creasing as she tried to force the sorrow from her voice.
In that moment Link unfastened the clasp of his scabbard, and the Master Sword landed softly against the magical stairs. “I am no hero. I am one man who fought for what he believed in,” said Link. “Together we brought peace to our realms. I’ve had a long while to think about what I might do, where I might go now that it’s over. And every thought, every feeling … has led straight to you.” Link took another few steps forward, stopping only a few beneath the dark beauty of Midna. “In the final hours of battle … I thought it might be all right if….” Link’s breath caught as he found himself finally admitting the truth. “…if I died in saving Hyrule. Because once Ganondorf was slain … I had nothing left worth living for.”
A cascade of tears streaked Midna’s cheeks as Link spoke and her chin puckered and her lips wavered under the weight of her emotions. She closed her eyes, and turned her head to avoid Link seeing her so distraught. What were these sensations that overwhelmed her? She hated and loved the pain it brought.
“I make a new vow to you, Midna.” The tear that she had shed and cast toward the Mirror still lay within his grasp and he closed his fingers around it, feeling its warmth and its sadness. Midna turned to watch as Link ascended the last stairs to stand directly before her. She saw how the light of her tear lit his face and how his longing eyes looked up into hers, searching and hoping.
Then he said it. “I will catch your every tear.”
When he spoke those words, softly and with a heavy heart--like a vein exposed to the world’s toxins or a babe vulnerable to the terrors of a storm--Midna smiled through her tears. The barriers she had built against her heart had tumbled down at the sight of Link so humble and yet so brave to lace his tears and words with his every feeling. Link clutched tightly to the tear in his hand, and it soon withered and faded into the light of the world. His devotion brought on a new wave of tears and when she cried, Link held out a hand and, tentatively, stroked her radiant ginger hair. The feel of her soft locks made his heart leap. Until now, he had not felt the warmth burning in her porcelain blue skin, and the feel of her made him the happiest man alive.
Smiling through their tears, Midna’s giggle broke through the air, and Link caressed her cheek with a thumb, casting away her tears as they fell. Midna closed her eyes, accepting his touch, moved by the very presence of his soul. She brought up her hand and gently clapped her palm over his knuckles. When she opened her eyes, Link had stepped even closer, a breath apart.
Her ruby eyes glistened through her tears as she whispered, “I found you….”
Her words, her acceptance of him and his feelings, nearly drew the breath from Link, and he could not contain his joy. In an instant he embraced her, and--nearly standing on his toes--he drew her into a kiss. She did not resist; in fact, he could feel her soft violet lips caressing his in return, and Link thought for sure he had not known life until this moment. For so long he had not known where he belonged … but here, embracing Midna, the imp he once loathed and the woman he now loved with all his being … he would never feel lost again.
As they remained locked in each other’s arms, Midna’s tears descended, tears of joy, tears that proved that even she--a once selfish and cruel woman--could find the light of which her ballads had often sung. She was more than a shadow. With Link, she felt like a goddess, like a true princess who had at last found the man who could hold the torch of her heart.
She continued to cry as he kissed her, and the tears hovered around them, swarming like gentle fairies, until they soared through the air to impale the Mirror behind Princess Zelda on the dais below.
The Princess of the Light stood, breath caught in her throat, as she watched the light hit their entwined bodies. The realization hit her then as they began to disintegrate. Link and Midna would never again return to Hyrule, falling into Twilight. Their bodies turned to shadowy crystals, which reflected the light and surrounded them like a gentle snowstorm. For a moment, it made her sad to watch them leave, but the silhouette of their kiss spoke volumes as the sight seemed to whisper into every corner of Hyrule that peace had finally come.
In the next instant, they were gone. Silence hung in the air before the resounding burst of glass crackled through the air, the shards of the Mirror raining down as harmless ashes that twinkled in the light.
Zelda wordlessly at the black, lifeless slab of stone before her, but as she stepped to the edge of the dais and looked down at the Master Sword, she thought back on everything that had passed … the defeat of Ganondorf, the exodus of the Twili, and Link’s departure…. She did not feel lonely without them, as she might have expected. Somehow, knowing that they were together, knowing that whatever darkness filled their skies … they were the coin of life, sides of light and dark forever bound … and they would be at the heart of every myth to come.
Zelda stepped down from the dais and collected the Master Sword. Before she called to her knights, she glanced one last time at the broken Mirror and the lifeless rock. Hyrule’s Hero had risen and gone, just as so many had done before, she had read about them in her studies with Auru as a child. All of those heroes had done great deeds, and though not much was known about their lives after the great times of evil, she had to wonder if any of them had been as fortunate as Link … if any of them had found love to sustain the rest of their days.
She supposed she would never know, though, much as she would never know the fate of Link and Midna now that they had left the world of the Light. She could spend years wondering and she supposed that some would even write stories about the hero and his love. Some stories would let them live in peace, others would throw yet more obstacles in their path, but at the heart of every story, every poem, a single line would remain. That Link, Hero, loved Midna; and Midna, Princess of the Shadows, loved Link.
That was, after all, how legends were made.