Luminescence

Midna's Return

"Link?"

He hurt. Especially in his head.

"Link? Come on. Wake up. You've been through worse than this."

Luna. Where was Luna?

"Oy! Wolfy!"

He had to get to her. He had to stop them—stop them from taking her. Images of forgiving blue eyes flashed across his mind. He had to—wait. That voice. He recognized that voice.

With the sound of his own canine whining in his ears, he slowly opened his eyes. Bright, almost glowing orange eyes met his. The slate skinned face smiled, and even that simple expression held amazing elegance.

Midna.

"Ah, good dog." she reached out and rubbed his ear as though no time at all had passed between them. Orange hair framed her face and dripped down between her breasts. She continued to scratch behind the ear until he shook off her hand and scrambled to his feet. All around them twilight moved, shedding the earth, blackening the clouds, and making the sky glow gold. He took an eyeful of her in, breathing in the very sight of her, though she wasn't alone. Two-toned, slightly misshaped Twili stood about her, expressions baleful, but otherwise normal. They watched him curiously.

He opened his mouth to ask the millions of questions on his tongue, but of course, all that came out was a gruff bark before he remembered he was stuck as a wolf.

Midna smirked, and he wasn't surprised to see a bit of her old impish fang stick out. Recognizing it blew him away. It was her. It was really her. He couldn't believe it. All he could do was stare.

"You're probably wondering why you can't turn back human although I'm here."

No. He had wondered once or twice, though. More than that, though, he was just shocked to see her. Where had she come from? Forget why he was a wolf, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The princess, however, just continued on as though she hadn't just randomly appeared before him with her entourage after a year of nothing. He almost didn't hear what she had to say. Had her features always been so sharp? So regal? Was this really the true her? For not the first time, he tried to recognize the mischievous imp that had ridden on his back over all Hyrule.

"For starters, this isn't the twilight realm. If everyone chucked into the twilight realm was turned into spirits on the spot, how do you think we came to be? Spirits are a bit challenged when it comes to making babies, if you get my gist."

He snorted. She interpreted this as annoyance, and said, "Sorry puppy, you know I can't change you back here. You're just going to have to be speechless at the sight of me as a beastie."

Her sarcasm was the same as always. He recognized that at least and smiled. It was the best he could do to express how he felt. She smiled back at him. Then, against his expectations of her, she swooped down and caught him up in a tight hug. Her lanky Twili arms felt hard against his fur.

"It's good to see you again."

It took all his power to stop his tongue from lolling out in a full blown pant of happiness. He felt numb with it. Whatever happened from now on would be fine. Everything was back to normal. He was where he belonged. Midna was finally back.

But Luna.

And then his panic returned. He tugged out of Midna's grip, looking pointedly off into the horizon. But it was then he realized he couldn't remember in which direction the monsters had taken her and found himself turning round and round in circles, fear welling higher and higher till he could hardly control it. What if they hurt her? No, what if they killed her? The moon was mortal now—but forget that, Luna came down for him. Him. Damn it if she should die now without him saying something about it. He was the chosen hero of the gods! That had to mean something.

Midna, however, was understandably confused...and somewhat annoyed.

"Will you calm down? Seriously. I need your help and you're not going to know how to fix your precious light world without me."

One of the Twili besides her twittered something to her he couldn't understand. She responded back in turn before staring him down until he forced himself still. The hair on his back stood on end. He didn't quite care what she had to say.

"I'm searching for some...off people of mine."

His ears went straight up.

"Supposedly my spies have taken note of a party of these corrupted ones returning from the world of light to here, and because it's impossible for those of the Twilight realm to find their way into the world of light on their own, we were hoping to follow them. Have you seen anything? I'm guessing you had a tuffy with them, am I right?"

He nodded furiously, practically leaping off his haunches to do another circle. Yes! But they had to hurry. Luna, the moon, for her sake they must rush with all speed. He never loathed not being able to speak more than then. Though facing a fearful Rusl speechless with a sword had been pretty bad as well.

One of the Twili twittered to her again. She looked up sharply.

"Are you sure?"

It nodded solemnly. 'It' because he could never tell their gender either. Made him wonder once more what made Midna so different.

"We have limited time. If only I could communicate with Zelda in some way in order to figure out what has been going on in the world of light as well." She paused. "She is all right...isn't she?"

He nodded hesitantly. He had not forgotten about Zelda, but in all the rush she had, admittedly, fallen to the side in his mind. He had a good bet that she was in the safest place possible in a light spirit's spring considering latter happenings, though that didn't help him feel any less guilty for having vanished after chewing her out. Midna noticed the droop in his ears.

"What's that face for?" then, unlike Zelda, she realized a wolf couldn't talk and waved a hand. "Nevermind. Help me track my people first. And be quick."

He nodded and instantly sharpened his senses for the search. It didn't take him long to notice a tiny downy feather in the sand, which he sniffed eagerly. It made him sneeze as it fluttered to his nose, but he had the scent, cool, crisp, and sweet as blossoms.

As they followed after him across the desert with the soft pattering of Twili feet, a bit of his elation returned and it became hard to hold back his speed so they could keep up. The feel of the sand urged him to bolt, to run as fast as he could—to feel flakes of the world flutter and whirl off his form.

But what of Midna? What had she meant that they only had limited time? And when he finally could return to his true form, what would he say to her? How he had missed her? How he dreamt of her? How he found himself sketching pictures of her out of loneliness? How he never realized the moon he so often gazed up at wishing for her had been gazing back as well? He didn't know anymore. But had he ever known?

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he missed the dark looks Midna kept shooting over her shoulder towards what was left of the land of light.