The twilight curse

ch 35; One last chance

'

Sidon cries desperately while embracing the dead hylian. The sound of those painful cries makes the baby cry as well and squirm in Zelda's arms.

The princess stares blurry at them while more and more tears are coming out from the eyes. The pointy ears are dropped, and she grits the teeth while trembling. It's unfair... She just got him back, and now he is dead...
The tears keep splashing down at the squirming child whose cry rings in her ears. Despite that, she is barely even paying any attention to him.
Sniffling, she embraces the baby and keeps blaming herself even though Linkly begged her not to.
"... I'm sorry..." she mumbles while the air feels a bit damp. A few drops of rain start raining down at them. But not enough to wipe away the blood, and not almost enough to cover the tears.

***

Despite Ganondorf feeling bad for them, he is still focused on the task where he starts drawing a circle with runes at the ground around Midna. Using the sword to draw those lines.

***

It feels as if Sidon's heart once again breaks apart into pieces. He just got his husband back, and now he is dead in his arms. With no chance to recover again, like the last time about one hundred years ago.
He already knew the child in Linkly's abdomen was a death sentence, but... He was still feeling hopeful that they might get the chance to find an alternative way to save them both at childbirth... But, due to Zant's interference, they didn't get the chance to save him...

Sidon's mind starts drifting into dark places, where he doesn't want to live any longer. The Zora children are adults now and can take care of themselves... So, Sidon really doesn't have any reason to live now.
If his husband is dead, then he wants to join him... Life isn't worth living if he doesn't have Linkly on his side.

The Zora prince inhales sharply, where he sniffles.
The body trembles until he feels a light touch on the shoulder from behind.
He jolts gasping, where he sits slightly more upright. Then he looks curiously over the shoulder where a transparent Zora body stands behind him to his side.
The heart skips a beat, and he gets a weird feeling in the gut.
" M-mipha?... Sister, is that y-you?" He clears the throat and looks upward along the female body with white and red scales.

Mipha smiles sweetly to him.
" Yes, Sidon... I'm here now... And..." she starts saying before she sighs and looks around the area.
"... I'm sorry for not being a greater asset to destroy the evil..." she apologies and looks sadly at him.

Sidon shakes the head.
" N-no... You did great... I..." he swallows hardly and looks down at the dead hylian in his arms.
"... I failed you... And Link as well..." he says with tears forming in the eyes.
"... Ever since you died... I have been living with the fear of losing someone dear to me again... Sadly, that fear controlled my actions and caused problems to my loved ones... And despite my sick control of keeping an eye on these persons, I... I still lost one of the most precious persons in my life... Twice..." he adds and starts hating himself more and more.

Mipha kneels down with the hand still on Sidon's shoulder.
"... I'm sorry for leaving you alone in the world where our father disliked you for liking other men... It was unfair... And, I really wish I could turn back time and make sure to be with you... But, Sidon... I don't have those powers to undo time, where I will get alive... But..." she says in a low voice and glances down at Linkly.
"... I can, though... Save Link..."

Sidon parts the lips where he exhales gasping.
In excitement, he looks at her with worry pounding in the heart. Afraid Mipha gives him false hope.
" Y-you... - Can bring Link back?... A-alive?"

Mipha smiles.
" Yes... But... Before that..." she says and embraces him. Sidon grunts confused.
" ... You were the best little brother I could ever wish for... And... You did well to raise my children as your own... Not only that, I'm proud of you when you could find the strength to forgive our father when he needed it the most... So... Don't hate yourself and think you are pestering your loved ones... I want to tell you to smile... But, I also don't want you to keep a false facade in front everyone... Instead, I want you to open up and let everyone in... Be strong, and be happy where some days are  allowed to be sad ones... Tears aren't a weakness... It's a strength..." she tells him.

Sidon furrows the non-existing eyebrows and lets out a nervous laugh.
"... W-why are you talking like this is the last time I will speak with you?" He asks nervously.

Mipha stands up and lets go of him where she smiles.
"... I love you, Sidon... I hope you will get a happy life from now on with Link... Live your life and make me proud..." she says and glances at the child in Zelda's arms. It seems Zelda hasn't noticed the spirit of Mipha.
"... Take good care of the child... " she randomly says and makes Sidon grunt.
"... He won't get an easy life due to the touch of Twilight... So, you need to protect him from harm..." she adds and looks at Sidon.
She smiles.
"... And yes... You are right... For now, this is the last time we'll speak..."

Sidon stiffened.
" Wait?!..." he protests.

Mipha holds an arm up where she points the hand toward Linkly.
"... But don't get discouraged... I will be the first one to welcome you when you will join the death ... But, take your time before you get there... I want you to live a long life before that..." she tells him while the body brights up in pure light.

Zelda gasps, shocked to see the weird light, and squints the eyes while trying to see what's going on.

Sidon gasps.
" Mipha... WAIT... I- ... I love you..."

" And I love you, little brother... Farewell... Take care of yourself and the others..." Mipha says while the body loses its form while flying toward the dead hylian.
The light of her spirit gets through Linkly's chest, where the light starts covering his body. In a few seconds, the wound in his lower stomach starts healing, where it gets closed.
And slowly, the skin starts getting its color back.

Sidon and Zelda stare at Linkly, where they are almost holding their breath.
The second when Linkly starts inhaling deeply and coughing, they exhale in pure relief.

"LINK!" Zelda and Sidon say in unison, where the lips start forming a smile.

Linkly starts opening the eyes slowly, where he furrows the eyebrows in confusion.
"... What... What happened?" He asks and sits up.

Happy tears start falling from Zelda's eyes.
" You are back..." she says in a low voice and can't believe how lucky they are.

Linkly raises an eyebrow.
" Back?... What are you talking about?" He asks and feels for the first time in years as himself again. There, it doesn't feel as if he has lost something. Now, the memories feel recovered. Maybe Mipha's grace did more than recovering his outer wounds and bringing him back from the death? Perhaps her sacrifice also fixed his brain?

Sidon embraces him.
" You left us for a minute... But... My dear sister sacrificed herself to bring you back to us... And... I'm s-so happy..."

Linkly feels slightly confused where he shrugs.
" Alright... Then... I have to properly thank her the moment when we are back at home..." he smiles.

The Zora prince inhales gasping, where he startled, sits upright.
"H-home?" He asks with pounding heart.

Linkly nods.
" Yeah?... Unless you want to live somewhere else... Which might be hard since you are about to crown to king in Zora's domain..."

Sidon wides the eyes.
" ... So?... You want to stay w-with me?"

The hylian nods.
" Of course!... Why wouldn't I?"

Sidon was speechless for a long while. Then he gets teary-eyed and feels a burden lift. Finally... Linkly is back. And has chosen to stay.
He hugs him.
"...Thank you..." he mumbles.

***

Ganondorf holds the master sword above Midna's body, where he stands outside the circle.
He mumbles a few words in a foreign language where the circle and its runes start lighting up. Even the sword lights up.
A short while later, Midna's body dissolves into pieces where those pieces moves toward the sword and merge with it.

When her body has fully become one with the sword, Ganondorf can feel a heartbeat pounding from it. A few seconds later, the light from the circle dies out.
It seems the ritual worked... Now, Midna only needs time to fully recover. But, Ganondorf isn't sure how long time that might take. It can be days, weeks or even years and years before she will return.

Not like that matter now... The important thing is that she will be alright and Link hasn't completely lost his best friend. She is saved and will be alright...
Now... Now Ganondorf needs to focus to save Link and take down Demise... But for that, he needs all the help he can get... He needs an army.