Luminescence

Who Bathes in Moonfall

With a loud choke, Luna stopped her singing to gag on her own blood. It splattered down her front and onto the floor with each cough. He cringed, longing to rip the bars apart to get to her, but kept his focus on the dark princess standing before him. With the music gone, Midna's appearance turned to normal and the shapes of the remaining Fused Shadows vanished. She stood gorgeous and regal before him once more.

He could almost believe she was the Midna he knew, and nothing was wrong.

In the harsh quiet filled with Luna's ragged breathing, he spoke.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing has happened to me, Link."

"Something has. Why have you done such a thing to her?"

"You make it sound like I cursed her. No. I gave her what she wanted. It's not my fault that she's finding adapting to mortality a bit harsh. Besides, it was just too terribly convenient. I wanted the key to combining the worlds, and here comes along the guardian of the very barrier that keeps them apart, pining to be a normal human being."

"Then why didn't you just give her that?" he said in disbelief. "And besides that, I didn't know that Fused Shadows even had the power to do that."

She scowled faintly. "They don't. But I gave those back to the light spirits, remember?"

"No." he said. "I don't. And you're a liar."

A sour pause fell in between them, filled with Luna's awful gagging.

Midna wasn't smiling. Her eyes watched him with grim seriousness. Finally, she sighed.

"Okay. What do you want now, hero?" she asked dryly.

"I want you to let her go—now."

"No."

"And why not? What has she ever done to you?"

"Well, for starters, she's the liar your nasty finger is looking to point for. She went back on our deal and I'm not letting her out until she decides to be honest. It's not my fault she's set on singing herself to death."

Luna coughed out what sounded like a half born word before choking into silence. Each of her frayed breaths rattled his nerves.

"What? Are you not immortal enough?" he asked. He glanced about for a key, though he knew better. She wouldn't just leave the keys hanging around.

"Stop it with that tone, I'm getting tired of it. If anyone isn't acting like themselves it's you. If you must know part of the deal we made was that when I took up her immortality, I would take up her powers as well and her position watching over the border. She, however," at this, her eyes narrowed at the dangling girl, "has kept a good deal of them to herself, and even now I feel her draining more of her powers back from me, though there's no way she can get her immortality back, so I don't know what use it will do her in that mortal form. I think it's cheap. Especially since her stupid brother is now after my hide."

This caught him a bit off guard. "Her brother?"

"The sun, genius. You don't think he's protective for nothing, do you? That little brother of hers practically worships her. He doesn't care that we made a deal, he's still on my case for bringing her down to the level she chose."

Taking in Luna's bloody, gasping state, Link couldn't blame him. If Ilia had been in Luna's place, he might have done the same, whether it had been Ilia's choice or not.