What We Do In The Shadows [Cont'd of A Kind of Homecoming]

[Midna]

IF YOU HAVE THE RESOLUTION, BECOME THE QUEEN ♔

 
Midna had to force herself to remain serious when Balthazar choked on his drink at her announcement. But she couldn't help the glimmer of mirth that found its way into her ruby eyes at the undignified reaction from him. "I'm aware of what the challenge calls for, Balthazar. It does not specify weapons, however, and I am quite the sorceress," she tells him simply and takes another drink of whatever it was she had been given. Forcing back the flinch from the taste yet again.

After the proclamation, most of the Inn finds itself seemingly rattled in Midna's eyes. An announcement like that sending worry throughout all the patrons and shifting the air dramatically. She watches Balthazar stand with an arched brow. He's going to tail the Sheikah, and she is to wait here? Had Balthazar no clue to whom he swore an alliance to? Midna composes herself with the usual regality she was so used to. Chin up, shoulders back, steady eye contact. "Perhaps I'll retire to a room and plan an entry home. Along with my inauguration speech," she cracks a soft smile as she watches him leave the inn, going so far as to toss in a small wave when he looks back before making herself seem busy with the mug still waiting, more than half full.

She waits for several moments before standing and sliding her cloak back over her head. The glamor of human features melting into her Twili appearance as she too disappears silently from the bar. Tracking Balthazar would hopefully be simple, with his mind focused on the task at hand and her careful use of the natural shadow magic she was so fond of. It felt as simple and natural as tugging a cloak over her shoulders, as soon as she left the lights of the city on Balthazar's tail, darkness swept over her in a comforting blanket and she moved silently and carefully towards the thick forest known as the Lost Woods.

Balthazar †

MADE BY ♔KOJIHIME

[Balthazar †]

The scent of the night air was bittersweet. While refreshing, it didn't provide him the same sense of comfort as home did. Glancing forward, he spotted the frame of the same Paul Revere he saw but minutes prior. It disappeared behind a construct, and Bal saw this as an opportune moment. Moving ahead, he hoisted himself up onto the roof of the short house, silently stepping on the clay crafted tiles.

In his mind, he played a sequence of events. If Midna found those she sought out, she could very well go back and destroy those that hired him. He would be out of a job, and whats more, --they could talk during interrogation. This was a travesty that could not come about; she had to return to the Twilight Realm alone, and the best way to accomplish that would be to eliminate those that she called friend.

This was his opportunity to find them before she could.

The white haired being stopped, turning its tracks as if it sensed Bal overhead. They were a perceptive race, but not on par with those trained in the shadows. Slipping down, his hand reached around the man's neck, the other raising a soft knife to his throat. Bal interrupted his struggle with, "If you scream i'll cut your throat."

The silence was appreciated, and Bal grinned as he poked and prodded at the man's brain. "Good, now tell me where I can find the resistance," his words coated with venom as he whispered in the sheikah's ear.

"As if I would tell you! You work for Eleazar don't you!?"

His resistance was cute, thought he seemed to forget the knife pressed to his jugular, "If I was his associate, you wouldn't be alive. Now I won't ask again, I have nothing to lose if you refuse to talk. I can find another."

"........... the forest temple. Find the forest temple and they will find you," he sputtered out, fear finally settling into his nerves and causing his body to shake in reaction.

"There, that wasn't so hard, Now was it," Bal cooed before running the sharpened shiv across his soft pale skin. Ichor staining the ground and his shirt. Killing was always messy. Cleaning the knife, he pulled at the cuffs of the now cold man, hauling him onto his shoulder.

At the edge of the woods he left the corpse, looting it to see if there were any valuable beyond a few measly rupees. Should she still have been following, the lack of distraction would give away her presence to the Twili Assassin. His voice echoing in the somber ambiance, "Why do I even bother telling you what to do?" To presume that it was the queen, would be valid, seeing as they were the only two Twili individuals on the Isle. This sensation of shadow magic doesn't originate elsewhere.

Midna

[Midna]

IF YOU HAVE THE RESOLUTION, BECOME THE QUEEN ♔

 
Midna watched the way Balthazar moved through the shadows, being careful on his heels to move around him without his notice. The longer she tailed him the more she saw just how well he moved through the shadows, not just like a Twili. But like a man accustomed to hiding from people and making sure to remain unseen. Though the Sheikah were considered the top spies and assassins of this realm, she remembered just who she and her kind were descended from. They too possessed those abilities and inclinations. Balthazar seemed rather comfortable with it all, and Midna steeled herself as she watched him climb to the roof of a building. She herself circling around the back carefully, pressing herself against the wall, watching.

And not expecting the scene that played out before her. The princess held back a gasp, her hand flying to her mouth in shock as she watched the Sheikah, fear filling his voice, spill his secrets and then his blood. The sight of his body falling to the ground sat sickly in Midna's stomach but she held herself. She would see for herself what Balthazar was doing and then demand an explanation.

Steeling herself, she continued after the guard who had supposedly sworn himself to her aid as he carried the corpse of a man who had been only trying to protect his people and do his duty to the edge of the Lost Woods and leave him there to become not much more than carrion and a casualty of wars both here and elsewhere.

Her distraction gone, she should've known he would sense her presence. Willing her spine to steel, her shadows melted off her like one would drop their own cloak at their feet. And she pushed her hood back from her face. "Quite the man who deems he can tell his queen what she may or may not do," her voice is icy. The image of the Sheikah dropping still playing in her mind. "Now I have a command of you, what are you doing." it's not a question from her.

Her mind reels, asking itself who she swore into her service, and what consequences of these actions should be. Minda could handle the horrors of war and violence, she was no stranger to these concepts. But she would not stand by and watch those who were innocent until proven otherwise slaughtered. No throne was worth the reckless abandonment of lives. And if Balthazar believed he could kill who he pleased to gather information, she would right that immediately.

Balthazar †

MADE BY ♔KOJIHIME

[Balthazar †]

[music]http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/4fzmmq8lv1/Dark_Music_-_The_Master_Of_Death_Immortality.mp3[/music]

So she had been following him the entire time. He was wounded personally, feeling the throbbing pain in his brain, knowing just how rusty his skills may have been since their time on the surface. From his lips he had the desire to let out a puff of air in reaction to the quick jut at his pride.

"What am I doing?" he asked, mocking the queen's tone and replacing it at an even higher octave. He knew what she was inquiring about; --finding his methods to be unnecessary to what his original 'mission' was. While true, he couldn't agree with her methods and instead had to come up with his own believable reasoning.

Sliding his now clean knife back in the sheath located in his boot he stepped toward the queen, his lithe yet tall frame casting a shadow over her's, the moon at his back and his eyes glowing. Animosity seeped into the air, radiating from his body and permeating the immediate area.

"Are you not a fugitive? Are you not wanted for crimes against an entire civilization? --Why hide yourself otherwise!" he snapped, yanking down his hood, letting his white braided hair fall over his shoulder and to reveal his skin of violet hue. "Are you so dense and convoluted to think that your mirror is the only means of travel to the surface? Those that want you dead would stop to no end, ---and you are here crying over a bystander."

Harsh words, ones that he would likely receive endless flak for later. 'How dare he speak to a Queen like that?' Well she wasn't his Queen, and she certainly was no Queen in this strange realm.

"Do you perchance think this is the first mortal to die for your cause? Not by my hand, --but by your own," why he even continued his thought, he couldn't tell, "How many are being killed at home RIGHT THIS SECOND because you were too stupid to notice the revolution happening under your own nose? Many citizens called you their Queen, and many followed you into the dirt."

A soft sigh left his lips, his tone quelling, "No loose ends. I can't spare even a single man to notice our presence. The power of your usurpers are far more frightening than you can imagine."

Midna

[Midna]

IF YOU HAVE THE RESOLUTION, BECOME THE QUEEN ♔

 
He was mocking her. Midna wasn't sure exactly how to react to the undignified tone and octave Balthazar's voice hit, mocking her outrage. Her first reaction was the heat of anger swelling in her chest telling her to do something impulsive that she would immediately regret. Then, as that anger simmered there, she composed herself; lips drawing into a thin line as she breathed slowly out her nose and drew herself up. He was taller than her, but as she stood there, meeting his harsh gaze without flinching she felt once more that familiar weight in the way her shoulders were braced, her spine straight as an arrow and her chin lifted. She had often stood this way when imposing sentences and commanding those under her in her realm. 

The animosity around them did not solely radiate from Balthazar, it was if the shadow cast over her and her own rippled from the magic she wielded. As if its own nature could explain hers. 

"You think I do not know what this war costs?" her voice is soft, barely above a whisper. "I know very well what the costs are, I know that the longer I stand here the more my people die. Don't you dare stand there and presume I know nothing. You do not know what I know or have seen." Her fists clench, and she can feel her nails digging into the soft skin of her palms. 

The reminder of all her people, those who followed her for so long, being cut down as if they were nothing more than wheat that had gone bad to the usurpers. She had prayed simply that they would hide, stay quiet and that the followers of Zant would simply be content to rule the Twilight Realm. But she knew her people, and many would not turn away. And many of them would die for it.

"I FAILED, is that what you want to hear Balthazar?" she takes one smooth step and gets in his face, chin tilted up and red eyes watery and seething. "I failed my people and now all I can do is my best to make it up to them. But I will not see more senseless death, we pick our battles and we do not murder without cause. If you cannot obey that then leave my presence now." the last line is through gritted teeth, and it's all Midna can focus on, that white-hot rage in her chest as she stands barely not touching Balthazar in an attempt to emphasize her point. Giving herself the more commanding presence she can.

Balthazar †

MADE BY ♔KOJIHIME

[Balthazar †]

Her command was simple. Frustration built up in his chest, and even his cheeks grew flushed from the intensity of their morale conflict. Lips parted, revealing glistening white teeth in a masochistic grin. Nothing in the world was this much trouble, and if she wouldn't believe him, then he would have to find a way to prove it to her.

"You think yourself capable? If it wasn't for the Hero you would still be a fraction of your true self," he said, unbuckling the belt around his waist. In his hand he held the blade retrieved when he stripped that guard many years ago. It served him well, but now it would be a martyr in his hot headed decision. Perhaps he was being hasty in his determination, but this is what felt right.

"I pity you Midna. The population of your kingdom just went from two to one; --not much of a kingdom at all now is it?" he said, dropping the insignia of his 'service' onto the ground, the sheathed blade landing with a dull thud. She would have to face the horrors of this realm alone for now, though his plan to restore the mirror and return home was still in sight.

"Your friends lie somewhere in this forest, head towards the forest temple to the south and im sure you will find them before you perish from starvation." He said, turning his torso to step past her, "As for me, im going to find my way home, I have some very valuable information to sell."

Projecting his body, it stood there in a sarcastic bow to her majesty, his true self fading into the shadows and moving far away from the temperamental queen. She had the choice to go after him and kill him for his treasonous actions, or do what she planned and find those that might help her in this realm. Either way, he grinned at the thought of tormenting the Queen in the near future, and already sought out prospects to help him in his endeavors.

[EXIT]

Midna

[Midna]

IF YOU HAVE THE RESOLUTION, BECOME THE QUEEN ♔

 
The truth behind Balthazar's words stings white hot, shame striking like lightning inside her. But she would not show him her shame, inhaling sharply and pushing her own emotions aside. "All Twili men are alike, egotistical as if asking for help is some crutch. Self-serving pompous kings in their own words. Nothing's changed in the last four hundred years, and so yes. I asked for help, the way I have now. But clearly, the Twili men once again disappoint." she says, turning her head away dismissively.

She doesn't watch as he drops his insignia. nor as he mockingly vanishes from her side. Midna was here now, and she knew where she was going. Even if the information was obtained terribly. "I don't need pity," she says to the empty air and looks towards the dark forest. She had destroyed Zant once with her power, the power she'd been granted from her ancestors. This forest, and this war, would be nothing more than the last time she was here.

Silently, the Twilight Princess entered the Lost Woods in search of her lost friends.

[Time Skip 3000]

Midna had found the Heroes, she had once again seen Link and Zelda and swore to repay them for the aid they gave her so long ago in another life. She had stayed with them for quite some time, weathering the assault on their morale by their enemies and by what she and Zelda hid from Link. The young queen faced a trial far more difficult than anything Midna would face in her own battles, and she had done what she believed was right to help.

She repaid the sacrifice Zelda had made for her some four hundred years ago. And for much of that time, Midna had never noticed that piece of light inside her until it was gone. Her chest had been left with a light empty fluttering sensation for several days afterwards, and she found that her sensitivity towards the sunlight of this realm was back like many of her people. Even now, as she parted from the Heroes to work on her own plans, if she thought too much about it she could feel that hollow spot like a phantom ache. But she wouldn't ever regret her actions.

The queen had found it harder than she originally thought it would be to leave Link's side. Though different from the one she knew so well, she couldn't help but find similarities. They talked of his past life that she knew, and often of this one. And she had found some amusement in taking that old cursed form that she made her own so long ago, hiding in Link's shadow and traveling through the Woods with him. Slowly, the shame of being left by the one other Twili she knew in this realm began to fade, and she was sure eventually that Balthazar would just become a footnote in her quest to take back her realm. Though his promise of selling the information he'd gathered haunted her, and she was sure that she would never be able to trust another of her kind so lightly.

She waited until late at night to leave, under the light of a waning moon. Midna had shifted into her imp form and traveled through shadows in the forest to avoid prying eyes. Shifting back to her normal form when she reached the edge of the woods. No longer dressed like a Twili refuge, Midna had traded clothes with a silver-haired Sheikah in camp, and now wore a silky black traveling skirt, and a long black and silver jacket; white sleeves poking out at the cuffs and short black boots. Her red hair had been tied intricately at the back of her head in neatly plaited braids and knots and pinned into place. Though she was so clearly Twili, she blended into this realm just a bit more as she made her way from the woods and towards the nearest village with the information of allies tucked away.

Balthazar †

MADE BY ♔KOJIHIME