SNOWPEAK--Ch. 11, The Bystander

A Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess fanfiction

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Chapter 11: The Bystander

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If I don't get help, Link will die.  And it will be my fault.

It was that all-eclipsing, horrible thought that had brought Midna, panting and barely conscious, to the ghostly golden wolf, the skeletal knight that taught Link the art of sword play.  

She hadn't known who else to turn to.  She'd run through her options many times after she'd struggled fruitlessly against the curse by herself for a good while.  She'd come up with virtually nothing.  This world of Light, with all of its charm and wonder, was poorly staffed with sorcerers.

Renado from Karikariko was a shaman.  Oh sure.  Which was why he'd asked Link to help the Gorons free their clan leader from the fused shadow and eliminate some of the baddies from their mine.  Though it had taken him days, Link had been able to solve those problems with a handful of items and a sword.  The true Twili sorcerers Midna had known (were any still alive?) could have slapped that place into shape by clapping their hands.  Ok, ok, not really.  But still.

Princess Zelda was a sorceress.  She hadn't let on as much to Link, but Midna had known from the start.  Magic users know one another.  But Zelda was unreachable at the moment.  And she had already given Midna far more help than she had deserved… far more help than the poor Princess of Light could safely give…

The golden wolf had been Midna's only, last desperate hope.  

She'd found the ghost waiting patiently in Karikariko Graveyard, just as he had promised Link he would be.  Warping to the village had taken most of her remaining strength.  Crawling to the graveyard had claimed most of what was left.

"Help…" she'd managed to choke out, mere minutes, perhaps seconds away from losing everything she was to the constricting black hatred in her head.

Can he even help me?  Or did my mistake doom me and Link from the start…?

The wolf had leapt at her.

He'd taken her to his quiet, misty universe.

She'd been surprised to find herself once more the proud Twili woman Zant had heartlessly transformed into an imp, what seemed like ages ago…

Yes, she'd been returned to normal, and she was also lying on the ground, bound from head to foot by icky black vine things.  

But that had been okay, because, to her great relief, the dark whispers had completely left her mind and her headache had faded away.  She'd felt fine, if a little sleep-deprived, and she'd been immensely happy to know that Link was safe from her malignant possessed form once more.  Icky black vines—ha!  She'd felt ready to take on anything.

The golden wolf had been watching her silently, in the predictable skeletal knight form he always assumed here.

"How…"

The golden wolf had explained that this universe was his and that he could manipulate it as he saw fit.  He had decided to bring only what was true in order to separate the invasive magic from Midna's mind and person, giving her a chance to defeat it.  

"Huh?"

He'd further explained that every sentient life form has an unbreakable soul and that, while possession magic can interfere with a soul's ties to a body, it can never truly corrupt a being's original state.  He'd chosen to bring only the original states of Midna and the curse to his universe.  Normally, he'd continued, original states are very hard to get at through magic, but when someone is transporting objects and beings to temporary sub-universes, it becomes easy to separate all of the components of the incoming matter.  Of course, he'd explained, while it is possible to use a sub-universe to take a magical system (such as a cursed being like Midna) and turn it into a different form (such as Midna in her true form wrapped up in magic vines), that new form cannot be transferred back into reality; all beings, objects, and magics will leave sub-universes in the same form they started with.  However, he'd continued, events in sub-universes can have lasting effects…

He'd said some more things too.  Midna hadn't understood a lot of the explanation.  Apparently, the curse had turned into vines?  And the curse would go away real life if she could only struggle out of the vines in this world?  And also she was pretty again, for now?  She'd thought that, right about then, she ought to be ashamed for spending most of her magic theory classes chatting with her friends.  Oh, but those were the days.  Even though those backstabbing girls had wanted nothing more than the status that came with being friends with the princess… and the sad part was, she'd been just as nasty as them, back then…

What had happened to that snotty little… Had Link and Zelda and the beautiful Light World changed her so much?  

"What?  I'm paying attention."

Once Midna had been satisfied that she (and Link) were, more or less, completely safe, she'd told the golden wolf her story.  Then she'd managed to fall asleep somehow.  She hadn't slept well, but she'd slept, and that had done her a world of good.

That was the first day.

It was hard to tell what time did in this hazy place, but it had to have been many, many hours after she'd woken when, despite her determination, despite everything that was at stake, despite her fierce pride and the dislike she felt towards her benefactor (she knew it wasn't nice to dislike him after he'd helped her, but she couldn't help it), she began to realize that there was absolutely nothing she could do to escape the black vines.

After about half a day, her hope and relief had turned into something bordering insanity.

"Please, help me," Midna said, not for the first time.  

"I cannot," the skeletal knight replied, not for the first time.

"You keep saying that!" Midna shrieked.  "Why can't you help me?  Why is it that you can turn me back into a Twili and take the curse out of me but you can't be REALLY useful and kill it already?  Why?  I can't take much more of you standing there watching me like a creeper and not helping me when I KNOW you can!"  

"You do not listen to my explanations," the skeletal knight said.  "You do not choose to understand them."

She gave him a look.

"In this existence, I am bound to a single purpose, my Lady" the skeletal knight said simply.  "That purpose is to train a warrior in the ways of the sword.  I am a bystander with respect to other matters.  I am bending the rules already, bringing you here.  You must help yourself."

"So if you help me, who's going to know?" Midna asked weakly.  "And what does bringing me here and making me pretty again have to do with training a swordsman anyway?  I'm begging you, save me!  I can't help myself.  I've tried.  I've been trying for forever.  See?  Look at me.  I'm struggling! Watch this: urrrk, uuughh, eeeek, ohh noooo it's goott meeee… SEE?  NOTHING!"  

Oh.  So there was the snotty little princess from before.  Ha ha.  Maybe Mr. Shiny Puppy had a point about original states being incorruptible.

"You must save yourself, my Lady," the ghost said.  "I am sorry.  Your curse would convince you to kill the swordsman I was training, and I am able to protect my purpose by holding you back.  But applying that reasoning only goes so far, and I have taken it to its limit.  If Link dies, there will be other swordsmen, I am sure.  I wish I could do more for you, but I cannot.  

"Also.  You may not have understood what I was telling you earlier, when I explained what you must do to free yourself.  Your task is not as straightforward as simply escaping those vines.  You have been cursed twice, my Lady.  That mass of vines is a combination of two different magics.  One is the spell that holds you as an imp, and that spell is much too strong for you loose yourself from, even here.  Only the curse from the dark crystal is within your power to destroy.  You have been unsuccessful because you have been fighting both sets of vines.  To free yourself, you must figure out which is which.  Then you must figure out how to defeat the weaker curse."

Midna tried to analyze the ropes.  They were as indistinguishable as ever.  She tried to pull at different individual vines with her teeth.  No luck.  So she was supposed to untie herself from one curse while she was still tied up with the other?  How in the world…

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" she finally asked.  "I mean, why didn't you tell me again if you thought I hadn't understood you??"

"It was only clear to me now that you did not know," the knight said.

"You just told me I'd been going about it the wrong way for hours!" Midna said.  "I think you knew!"

"It seemed wise to give you an update only after you had seen the true value of understanding," the knight said.  "It goes against my rules to be overly helpful where my purpose is not concerned and when I am not specifically asked for guidance.  That is the way of things."

"I hate you" Midna cried softly.  "I'm never going to… don't look at me!  Go away!"

"But you must beat the weaker curse, my Lady," the skeleton said.  "It is focused on killing you.  It has long since realized that possession is impossible here."

"It's… trying to kill me?" Midna asked, horrified.  

"It only tries," the knight said.  "You are not in a great deal of pain, correct?  The curse does not appear to be much of a threat to your life at the moment.   I can't say I know its full range of capabilities, but I doubt it was designed to act in that form.  It is weaker than you think it is."

"Just like how I'm weaker than you think I am," Midna spat.

"Your doubts and insecurities bind you more tightly than your adversary," the knight said.  

"I could slap you," Midna said.  "If I could slap you, I could so slap you."

"I am of light, and so is this world," the skeleton remarked.  "Being here for a long time cannot be good for you.  You have already been here for a long time as it is."

"Maybe that's why I'm so spectacularly bad at this, then!" Midna shouted, as loudly as the constricting malice would allow.  "I CAN'T DO IT!  I CAN'T!  If you still refuse to help me, you can go ahead and SHUT YOUR SKULL!"

"Then I will help you, my Lady," the skeletal knight said.

"What?" Midna asked.

"I will help you help yourself, my Lady," the knight said darkly.  "As a bystander by law, I should not share information of the outside world with you.  However, I am not technically forbidden from inviting you to analyze information that you yourself gave me earlier.  I did not want to have to bend my rules further, but you leave me no choice.

"You know that only part of Zant's stone traveled with you when you teleported.  You know that the magic's target is Link.  You know that you left the remaining pieces on Snowpeak Mountain, where Link is.  You know that the stone's magic is effective in taking root in creatures and controlling them.  You know that Snowpeak is inhabited by a number of creatures— including an unknown number of yetis—that, without exception, cannot resist magic as well as you can.  Connect these thoughts, and use your conclusion to find the strength to break free.  There is not a great deal of time."

Silence.

"You thought through all that…" Midna said, anger welling up inside her and blackening her tone.  "And you didn't say anything until now?  You let me keep you from warning someone… from killing the cursed creatures that are even closer to Link than I am… you didn't… What part of 'Link broke his arm as he was sledding down the mountain' didn't you UNDERSTAND when I told you what happened??  He's not fit to fight a wolfos, much less a cursed fiend!  He's not fit to take a short hike on the mountainside!  He's not, he's not even fit to make himself a sandwich for crying out loud!"
  
She thrashed around, willing the black ropes to die, trying once more, in vain, to counter their magic with her own.  She tried to target different parts of the tangled mass, lashing out blindly with magic, hoping that she could find the correct curse to fight… but no.  

Nothing happened.  

She sobbed in hopeless anger.

No one in the world would look after her Link like she would.  Now he was in trouble, and the only one who knew to save him other than her was an idiot.  

Or maybe she was an idiot too.  Why hadn't any of that crossed her mind before?

The pieces of the crystal she'd left behind?

Why?

And why had she gone after the artifact alone in the first place?

At least she cared…  

But caring wasn't leading her to any of the insights that her hated skeletal mentor thought she ought to be capable of making.

Caring hadn't stopped her from grabbing the crystal.

Being an idiot, it seemed, could cause much more damage than caring could fix…

"You are Link's greatest threat right now," the knight said simply.  "I have contained you, and I am helping you save yourself.  You have the potential to be Link's greatest hope.  You can go to him and protect him once you are free.  Then you will be much more valuable to him than me.  I cannot warn him.  I cannot kill his adversaries."

But what If I don't ever get free?

Hey," Midna said quietly.  "Bystander.  Let me go."

"My Lady?" the knight asked.

"Let me go," Midna said again.  "Let me go, let that thing possess me, eat my soul, whatever.  I can't get it off of me, and Link can't afford for you to be caught up like this.  He doesn't need me like he needs you right now."

"I disagree, my Lady," the knight said.

"How can you…" Midna started.  "UURGH!  You can yank people into safety zones!  Of course you can help Link more than I can!  How can you think it's a good idea to sit here and wait for me to figure out how to use my little princess fists to beat up an evil curse, with Link's life on the line???  You don't care about Link like I do, and that makes you blind.  There will be other swordsmen for you if he dies, but there won't be any more Links for me!  Don't even think you know what's best for him!"

"You speak truly, my Lady," the knight said.  "What course of action does your perspective show you that I should take?"

"Bring Link here too!" Midna said.  "Then he'll be safe from the rest of the curse!  And he can cut me free with the Master Sword!"

"My lady," the golden wolf said sadly, "If I were permitted to arrange beneficial meetings between those in need, how could I continue along the path of my purpose in good conscience?  I am capable of compassion, but that cannot drive me in death as it did in life.  I am truly sorry, but I cannot bring Link here to save you.  Any help I give outside of the bounds of my purpose must be highly indirect."

"Then just bring Link here," Midna said.  "Forget about me and bring Link here.  Keep him... *sniff* keep him safe.  He's hurt!  I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him and I could have done something to stop it!  And… this is… this is all my fault to begin with…"

"I cannot keep Link in my world indefinitely," the knight said.  "Zant's curse will always be a danger.  How can that be a permanent solution?  Who or what will remove the threat, if not you?"

"Link is staying with two powerful yetis," Midna said.  "They'll… they'll defend their home if anything shows up. The curse can't use any of my complicated magic.  The yetis can… can probably stop me from hurting anyone anymore.  Me and anything else that comes.  You can let Link come back out once it's safe."

"You are asking me to put you at great risk, my Lady," the skeleton said.  "If the yetis will keep their home safe, will they not keep Link safe too?"

"Not as safe as you can keep him!" Midna almost yelled.  "What if they lose?  What if, what if… Look, you go find Link and put him in this world.  THEN you can worry about what to do next.  If the danger doesn't go away before you have to let him go, scoop up his biggest threat and hold onto that until you're "allowed" to bring him back!  Keep doing that until he's safe!  There must be other yetis out there, right?  They'll feel really threatened by the cursed things, and… oh, and hey, someone's bound to notice if a cursed imp floats by, right?  Maybe I'll be followed by someone who knows what to do…"

She struggled even harder, but the vines did not give way.

"You are rambling, my Lady," the skeleton said.  "I am not convinced that transporting Link to this world would be of great value.  I think it is best to leave things as they are.  Though my world weakens those of shadow, it certainly weakens those of both shadow and darkness more.  The curse will surely fade faster than you will.  There will surely be a chance for you to beat it."

"Don't leave this up to me!" Midna said.  "I couldn't… I can't… just keep Link safe!  He's the one who the goddesses picked as the hero of the World of Light.  He's the great sacred wolf, the hero of the shadows foretold by Twili legend.  And he's actually good at being a hero!  I may be a princess, but that doesn't mean I ever… Look.  I think Link is just a little bit more important than me.  I think he deserves a chance just a little bit more than I do.  Please."

She stopped struggling.

"I can't save him," she said.  "You have to be the one.  Don't leave him helpless.  Don't let him die because of my mistakes."

They looked at each other for some time.

Then Midna looked away.

Am I making the right decision?  Could I really figure out how to break the curse if I tried hard enough?  Because that would be the best solution to this mess… but no!  Trying would take time that Link can't spare!  I can't wager Link's life on my ability to solve an insanely hard puzzle with next to no help!  I mean, it's my fault I'm like this in the first place.  That should say something about what happens when things are left to me.  But if I can't save him and no one defeats all of the creatures that the crystal has surely mutated by now, that's endangering him all the more… Link! Why didn't you ever tell me that you're my confidence?

She didn't struggle anymore.  She only waited, allowing indecision to be her choice.

"As you wish, my Lady," the knight said finally, bowing deeply.  "You do have the ability to free yourself.  But if you have need for me to act in your stead, I will.  Your concern is touching.  Your heart shines brighter than those of many that dwell in the light."

"Like I need your approval," the Twilight Princess hissed.  "Just shut up and save Link.  Can you get to him before I do?  The curse doesn't know how to make me warp, but it'll still be able to make me float."

"I will have to travel to Snowpeak on foot," the wolf said.  "I can only choose my location when I am summoned, and I have already been summoned.  But I can run very quickly."

"That sounds risky," Midna said.  "But with the other pieces of the curse out there… go ahead.  Release me."

The knight bowed once more.

Midna's last thought before she returned to the World of Light and lost herself was this:

Oh.  Those yetis are probably going to hurt me pretty bad if I bother them.  I promised Link I wouldn't die, didn't I?