Who: Midna & Zelda What: Midna gets a gift from the goddesses, and can now walk in daylight without DEATH When: Today Where: Midna's apartment in a questionable area Rating/Warnings: Relatively low Status: Complete!
Midna slumbered, Zelda cleaned.
It wasn’t much of an improvement from the dancer’s old complex (the one she wrecked during her spider phase of mass destruction), the neighborhood continued to be every possible shade of shady and she was certain the tenant next door had his own meth lab. A very polite neighbor, sure, but no one needed to haul that much cold medicine into their abode unless they had every intention of cooking crystal. Not that Midna couldn’t handle her own if something happened - thanks to the inherited magic - but it didn’t always ease Zelda’s constant concerns, ones she (mostly) kept silent about.
Their waking schedules weren’t always in sync, with the princess of shadows having an aversion to sunlight, but like all things - they made it work. First it there were the court appearances that were eating up her time, now it was the new responsibilities she was saddled with in regards to taking the reigns of the company stolen from her father. There were many, many things to attend to, but mental sanity was of utmost importance and if she wanted to take a day off to spend some domestic time with her girlfriend and tidy up while she rested, she’d take it.
It was a zen activity, anyway. Those were imperative to have, even if they were mindless tasks - like caulking Midna’s crap tub, which was her current chore - and she’d brought ingredients for cream puffs and a couple other things to cook and stock her fridge up. All things she recycled through her mind as she kept her hand steady while squeezing the goop into the cracks of the tub, whether or not she had all the ingredients and if she needed to go to the store for something and if -
All thoughts came to a screeching halt. Suddenly the bathroom had brightened, a gold light shining from the back of her hand, the symbol of three connected triangles making her skin tingle. It wasn’t anything unpleasant. It was warm, familiar power, and this only happened when…
“Midna??” she called, setting the caulking equipment down to look at her hand. “Midna! Are you awake?? Something weird’s going on.”
Whatever brought Zelda her zen, Midna wholeheartedly supported. It was definitely necessary, to have those moments taken just for yourself and for the sake of peace of mind - alright, sure, Midna wouldn’t have necessarily chosen caulking a bathtub as something that brought about inner calm, but hey. Whatever floated the boat, right? She needed her sleep so she was content to catch a few winks while Zelda was there - even just having her there was good, Midna liked it, and she slept easier knowing that the yin to her yang was present.
Her apartment was also in a shit neighborhood, but decorated ‘tastefully’ in a way that screamed she’d been getting her furniture from thrift stores for awhile - all those mismatched colors, knicknacks and chipped signs no one else wanted, funky lamps. The Twilight Princess stubbornly held on to her space, not wanting to infringe on Zelda and Impa - but the more the days that passed, and the more her heat conked out, the more she was considering shaking that iron resolve just a little. Plus, she was young and in love and all that shit. They should be talking about next steps in their relationship anyway.
For now, she slept, wrapped up in a million blankets and sheets. No dreams, no nothing, not until she was awakened by Zelda calling for her. Midna stretched and yawned, wearing a spaghetti strap top and booty shorts (her usual pajamas, when she bothered with them), her red-orange tresses all a muss. No need to bother with the glamour right now so when she flexed her fingers and looked down, she saw her usual shade of blue. Then again, she also saw something else.
“Fuck me!” she gasped, sitting up straight with electrocuted hair. Attractive. “I’m glowing.” Yep, her hand, her piece of the Triforce in all of its tingling glory.
Zelda’s first thought was to wonder if Link was stopping by anytime soon; she didn’t know if the Triforce of Courage had claimed him yet, and if it had and he was near, it’d explain as to why the symbol on her hand suddenly lit like a beacon. Seemed like a logical conclusion even if the reason was a bit of a run around, but why else would -
“What do you mean, you’re -” Oh. Oh. There it was, plain as day, visible from those crystal blue eyes once the blonde entered the bedroom and saw the reason why she was glowing. It was because Midna was, too, and not just for any reason. Zelda had Wisdom, Courage would always go to Link, but Power…
Her lips parted to talk. There were no words, just awe, and dressed in yoga pants and a loose tank top that showed off the heart-printed bra underneath, she slowly climbed the bed. The closer they got, the brighter the light.
Midna had Ganon’s piece. “How is this - ? I mean, better you than him, but how did - ??”
“I don’t know,” Midna answered slowly, her fingers curling into a fist, hand bobbing up and down a bit too examine the triangles - but she’d seen it before. In the dreams, she knew she’d ended up with the piece of the Triforce that once belonged to Ganon - after he stole it, rather. Once upon a time, her people - Interloper ancestors - had wanted the magic and power of the Triforce for their own doing. But they were punished for the attempt to take it, and banished, hence the Shadow people’s isolation - but after the events in Hyrule, things were different. Midna had saved her kingdom, had helped save Zelda’s too.
Guess this was like, a second chance. That was all she could come up with, to explain the recent revelation. “I was revived by the Light Spirits, after I died,” she said. “You know they’re connected to and protect the Triforce. Maybe the goddesses just decided that...after all this time, the Twili weren’t so bad after all. That one of them could handle this.”
If she sounded doubtful, it was because that’s how she was feeling. A lot.
Goddesses worked in mysterious way, didn’t way? In ways Zelda didn’t herself understand, but she supposed she wasn’t meant to. Destiny was what it was. Sometimes with a window of change that you had to grasp quick before it went away - and while the Twili had been shunned to a realm of shadows, Midna had put on her big girl crown and helped both realms. Freeing her own people, helping bring the light back to Hyrule. What happened with the Triforice, how it split and why was part of her first set of dreams; and she blamed herself for flying too close to the sun.
Ganon had taken the Triforce by force. Only one piece stayed with him - the piece that sung to him the most - while she and Link were chosen, so was it time that someone else was actually chosen for the third piece? Midna’s theory made sense. And it was one she wanted to believe, more than anything.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” she murmured, holding her shining hand up. It felt like magnets being pulled to one another, and she held her marked hand to Midna’s own. “How does it - how do you feel?”
One piece of the Triforce could grant many an extra boost of power. It was what had changed Link into his wolf form to survive the Twilight, what made her keep her form throughout it. Could it be like that for her, too? To the light?
Midna snorted a laugh. “You sound like Spider-Man,” she grinned a little, but it faded a second later. “Uh, I don’t know, Zellie - I don’t think I want all this?” Thinking of Ganon’s decline, how obsessed with power and hungry for it he was (he basically considered himself THE CHOSEN on some godlike level, it was deranged and that was putting it lightly) was her focus of thought at the moment. Not like she had any clue what Ganon was like before he stole this piece of the Triforce, but he probably wasn’t as far gone as he ended up.
Her heart fluttered nervously, a hummingbird’s wings. “I feel okay though. Mostly. Just kind of...anxious.” And scared, that too. If she could remove this glowing warmth, she would - it was a kneejerk decision, and as it so happened Midna was really great at making those. And running from things.
Responsibility. There was that reminder though. She’d been getting better at it, but damn, this was kind of a lot to test her with.
“Wasn’t Uncle Ben who said those words?” she shot back, nose playfully wrinkled, but alright, she’d retire the sage superhero quotes. Even if they applied to the situation all too well. Zelda squeezed her hand tighter, closed the distance between them and planted a big wet one on her mouth - seemed a little silly, but she wanted to literally kiss away that doubt.
It helped dim the light, the brightness on the back of her hand easing until it wasn’t much of a pulsating glow. “You’ll do fine, Midna. It chose you for a reason, otherwise you wouldn’t have it, would you?” Another kiss to her lips, then a little one to the tip of Midna’s cute nose. “Ganon took it by force. Power doesn’t have to be all about greed, or wanting to conquer. It can protect. Maybe not from the bed hair you’ve got right now, but…”
“Har, har,” Midna laughed dryly, but the dig at her straw, scarecrow hair made her smile anyway. “Not even the Triforce can stop this bed hair.” Ugh, seriously, it was a mess - she attempted to tame it, but that wasn’t going to happen. Not without a shower and some assistance with the straightening iron.
But she supposed that was true; there might be a chance that she could keep power of this magnitude from going out of control, from being sneaky and tempting and poisoning her from within. A part of her was still worried, just because it was overwhelming, but she wasn’t the same person she’d been when she first started dreaming. More of a loner then, less willing to reach out to people for their help or their insight. Now, she dreamed of a princess who took back her kingdom and crossed boundaries that no one had dared to in order to get that done, despite prejudices that were set in stone and went back for many years.
Maybe, with her having this piece of the Triforce, it didn’t have to be like that with the Light World. She’d said light and shadow couldn’t co-exist, but maybe there was a lesson waiting to be learned there too.
“We’ll see.” That was as far as she’d go with the acceptance, instead remaining cautious. “But you think I can actually go outside now that I have this? I want to try it. At least you’re here to heal me again if I turn into a shriveled grey prune.”
Zelda was kidding! Messy bed hair, it was adorable on Midna, honest! She giggled, doing her best to do her a solid and help smooth that orange-red mop. It was one of the better things to carry over at least. After the last stunt of being Ganon-possessed, she’d erred on the side of pessimism (and donated to help rebuild what she had destroyed, out of guilt) and, well, was still a bit angry about it. Having your every bone controlled by a psychopath with a god-complex whose blood literally must be some kind of venom was a reality that still made her skin crawl.
“I - hm, maybe? Mine kept my form even in the Twilight, it gave Link a different one to resist the effects.” It was worth a shot, even if the possibility of it not working made her wary - the last time she stepped into the sunlight, Midna almost died and she had to break off a piece of her soul to revive her. But she was also pretty sure the goddesses wouldn’t let their new chosen bearer of Power die sunburnt. “It makes sense for it to help you resist what you’re the opposite of.”
The logic was sound enough. Zelda was (mostly) confident.
Hell, Midna was up anyway. May as well test the theory - no pain, no gain? If you didn’t take risks you ended up cowering in bed, knees knocking, all over some piece of unfathomable magic that could potentially eat your soul. See, no big deal.
She swung herself over and, feet on the carpet, moved to stand and stretch properly. “If the Light Spirits had tried to revive me and I was meant to actually resist light...no, they wouldn’t have even done it all,” she said, and that was lending substantial credence to the idea as well. The Triforce pieces gave the bearers an extra oomph to their abilities, but it was just that power was...well, it was easy for it to fall into the wrong hands and turn a person into a gnarled, twisted version of themselves. No one craved courage like crack, or at least, Midna never met anyone that did.
They’d find out what would happen in a moment. First she ran a comb through her hair, brushed her teeth, and put on pants. That might be helpful. The curtains in her apartment were meant to block the brightness of the daytime, but for the first test, she’d pull them open. How weird it would be to actually feel sunlight on her skin. Perhaps those atrocious migraines would even be cured now too.
“Ready?”
There could also be a lot of pain and not even a drop of gain, but she didn’t want to be cynical about it. She wanted to believe it worked, that Midna could step into the sunlight without looking like death. Optimism, endless and endless amounts of optimism.
“First test is a pass,” she observed with relief. There was no Twilight Princess sizzling through filtered sunlight from window glass, so that already spoke volumes - and had her heart in her throat, a little bit. Zelda slipped her feet into a pair of flipflops and went to the door, gripping the doorknob. No passing of nervous glances to cast doubt, this would work. Considering the dreams had made normal life a bit inconvenient, just being able to walk in the sun without a life-threatening result would help wonders.
After a deep breath, she opened the door for her.
It was like that day with the special ring all over again, Midna cautiously emerging into the sunlight. Seemed almost silly, but she wanted to take baby steps with it - her shoes on, a pair of flats, tiny pebbles crunched beneath her feet as she emerged from the doorway of her apartment onto her patio (a small one, that had been covered with trash when she moved in but she had spruced it up and added twinkle lights, always necessary).
“I’m - “
A pause. The sun, all that Vitamin D and other nutrients, it bathed her bare arms and shoulders - she unclenched her fingers and held her hand out, looking with no shortage of awe at the blue tint to her skin and the way it appeared in the actual light. No ashes beginning to seep in, to sap the color she had - instead, it was like the clouds parted and a chorus of angels sang a hymn.
“I sparkle!” she teased, sounding giddy. But she was teasing, of course. Midna didn’t really sparkle. She may as well have been, what with how incredible it felt to not be on death’s doorstep, but still no actual glitter.
Sparkling wasn’t exactly the word she’d use to describe the moment, but it was definitely something. All blue, breathing, no close to death accidents from standing in full-blown natural sunlight. “You’re a daywalker again,” Zelda chuckled, stepping beside Midna to snatch a hand into hers. “Congratulations. You’re not constrained by the time of day anymore.”
It’d make that much more of a difference, she thought, to be able to do the more mundane things without the fear of being scathed by the giant ball of fire in the sky. Maybe she’d still keep to the more nocturnal schedule, it didn’t matter - she could at least venture out in broad daylight and not have it be a total life or death emergency.
“Though you shouldn’t be out too long like this; some nerds might think you’re one of those alien Avatar cosplayers.” Most people didn’t equate odd looks with literal supernatural beings; costumes seemed more believable, and usually when they were of the more elven or exotic variety (which would be Midna), they’d be more inclined to think they were some kind of weird Dungeons and Dragons fanatics.
“Oh, right.” Midna sort of forgot that her special beauty could not be appreciated by all - besides the Avatar cosplayers, anyway. She’d probably win all the awards at every Comic Con, ever. Note to self: See about doing that. But she was caught up in her glee, she forgot simple things like how blue skin wasn’t usually considered ‘normal.’
Back into the house she went, doing a happy dance, halfway gig kind of an excited show of squeeeeee before she contained herself. “We should go for pancakes! Like, actual breakfast. I’ll put clothes on. And a glamour.”
Maybe they both would, since Zelda’s heiress status meant that things were complicated in that regard, but hey. This could be a good thing.
“And we’ll basically figure out what to do about this triangle-thing on my hand later.”
Zelda supposed she could change into something else a little more presentable, too. No one needed to see her bra while eating pancakes. “What, you mean it being visible? You could always glamour over it until you figure out the ‘off’ switch,” she said, following the all-too-ecstatic Midna to the bedroom for a change of clothes. Something gender neutral for her Sheik glamour - she didn’t like running the risk of being recognized, plus the illusion felt more like a second skin nowadays. “They like to act up when the pieces are close together, but it’s not exactly life-functional to light up like flares every time we’re around each other.” It’d make going out together exceptionally difficult.
A wave of a hand over her face, a shimmer of magic that started from the crown of her head to her toes - it gave her a more androgynous physique, muddy mahogany eyes, a pretty boy sort of appearance. “And it’ll be much, much easier to take you out in public. Scandalous lady love business,” Zelda smirked. “Without the threat of a literal sunburn.”
“Well, I need a glamour anyway because...yeah.” She couldn’t go out looking like an Avatar cosplayer, as they discussed. But Midna took care of it, she too glowed and flickered with magic for a bit before the light coffee shade to her skin was there, along with eyes that were more hazel-brown than a deep garnet red. Her hair was fine, it had always been on the reddish-orange side of things anyway (thanks to henna and other dye jobs).
She rummaged for her purse and keys, feeling somewhat strange and not used to venturing out during this ‘early’ hour, so she took a minute to make sure she had everything. It would be something else to get used to. “Though I also meant, like...handling this piece of the Triforce puzzle,” she said. “ It still makes me nervous. But I guess I can just take it one day at a time.”
That was generally all you could do here regardless.
Wisdom and Courage - those were traits that didn’t need much maintenance, it didn’t have the ability to swallow you hole like the thirst for power. Ganon craved it like a drug, his piece amplifying that deep-seated obsession tenfold but he was already rotten from the inside out before the relic’s influence. Midna wasn’t. Therein lies the biggest difference, one she vehemently believed in.
“You’ve seen firsthand what can happen if handled the worst way possible,” Zelda said, snaking an arm around her waist after they were suited up and ready for public viewing. “Someone with ill intentions before having something like that will more than likely use it for ill intentions. But that’s not you, Midna. You kinda just...sort of have to…”
Oh, god. This was going to sound cheesy. Her nose scrunched, and she tried to lessen the sappy blow by reaching up to the other woman’s face and stretching her mouth into an obnoxious smile.
“Beliiiiiiiiiiieve in yourself,” she sang.
Ugh, was she serious? Midna scrunched her face, like she had been staring right into the sun, or had eaten a whole lemon. “You’re incredibly geeky,” she stuck her tongue out, but no, as of now she didn’t plan to use the piece of the Triforce for ill intentions, like taking over the world or something. But she also knew that people could change and maybe she’d fall into some black hole of self-fulfilling prophecy; it was a mess.
Then again, she’d have to be stupid to waste a second chance granted to her, and by extension her people, courtesy of the Goddesses who deemed recipients worthy of power, wisdom, and courage. So Midna would do her best, even if believing in herself wasn’t always an easy thing.
“Come on, Zellie, let’s go. I wanna take you on a hot brunch date before I have to go crunch numbers at a strip club and order new pole cleaners.” Such was life, but overall, it wasn’t too bad.
She’d take the quiet inner turmoil over, well, smushed buildings.