The Legend Of Zelda: The Curse Of Zant

Chapter 26; Beginning of the End

Link stood still in shock with the mirror shard resting in the palm of his hand. He stared down at it, half expecting it to disappear or for him to wake up back into Yeto's mansion. But neither happened.

"One shard to go!" Midna cheered.

Snapping out of his daze, he turned around to see Midna, and his eyes widened. "Y- you're- You're glowing."

Midna smiled. "Thanks, but I don't need the compliment. I already know I'm awesome."

"No, I mean you're literally glowing."

"Oh." Midna's eyes drifted over her body and she took a step back as she noticed for the first time that she was, in fact, glowing. "But… why?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Link mumbled.

Before any more could be said or done, the beam of the glow intensified, growing brighter and brighter until Link was forced to shield his eyes from the light with his hands. Midna yelped, and he forced himself to look back despite the blinding light. He squinted his eyes, unsure of what to do as she continued to jerk and writhe until the light began to fade. In its place, another mirror shard- the final mirror shard - appeared, levitating in the air. Midna blinked twice, unbelieving of what had just happened, then reached out and took the shard in her hands. Link stared on in astonishment.

"H- how is this even possible?"

Link thought hard. "Maybe when you destroyed the mirror after the Twili invasion, part of it stuck with you."

"Erh, I think I would have noticed if I consumed a mirror shard, Link. I'm not slow."

"Of course you would have, had it been an unsubtle move… but not if it wasn't right away."

"And how do you explain that?" She questioned.

"I- I can't. I don't know if I'm right, it's just a guess… but from everything we've been through, you can't tell me that it's not possible."

Midna shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." Then grinned. "Hey, Link… This is the last one! We have all the shards."

Link's neutral expression turned into a smile, a toothy, beaming smile and the light that had disappeared from his eyes for so long finally returned. He slung his shield back onto his back and almost jumped with joy and pumped his fist in the air.

"We did it!"

"Now, let's go destroy that Usurper!" She said, holding the shard out for him to take.

With one hand, Link pushed the shard back towards her. "Not here, anyone could find and stumble through it. We should put them together somewhere more secure…"

"But where? The entire kingdom is filled with people and monsters."

"Everywhere save for one place."

"Oh yeah?"

"The Princess' Garden… No one enters without permission when she's not around, not even myself or the King."

"Sounds secure enough, let's head there now."

Link nodded, backing out of the room and leading the way down the staircase to the ground floor of the Castle, then through the passageway, stopping when they reached an archway that was closed off only by a simple wooden gate. Midna stared out into the few small acres of land; the fresh green grass, the Hylian Bass pond that was shaded by a tree that held a little birdhouse on one of its branches and sighed. There was not a place she could think of that was more beautiful than Hyrule, and this garden in particular.

"This is beautiful… Are you sure we should build the mirror here? I would hate to ruin such a place."

"I am sure." He confirmed. "Grass and flowers can grow back, but that will mean nothing if Zelda isn't here to witness it."