#twimid

This is definitely not the sprawling story that some of the other romances in CTB have in mind. But it does take a while for either of them to have feelings for each other.

A lot of my ideas for how the events of TP went down follow this one fanfiction I read that I honestly should look up again. For the basics:

The events of the game took place over 2-3 years

The resistance had a larger role, to the point where they knew Twilight could turn into a wolf and that Midna was with him

There is a two month period between Ganondorf's defeat and Midna returning to the Twilight Realm

For the first six months of their adventure, Twilight and Midna loathed each other. He started to soften up to her first, and Midna followed, though she didn't dare admit that she had a soft spot for him as well. They didn't grow closer and become actual friends until after Zelda died to save Midna.

Romantically, Midna fell in love first. It was when they were traveling through the Gerudo desert together. It was a very quiet revelation. He had tried to past time while they traveled by telling stories before, but she had always rebuked him. But now, after he stood by her side despite knowing she tried to used him, she desperately wanted to know what he had to say about the world. And his stories weren't anything special. Some were about working on the ranch and his misadventures with the kids. Others were him recounting the plots in the cheesy novels he read. But he delighted in that simplicity and saw it all as beautiful. He sang her his old working songs too, the kind that got him through long days of labor. And as they trekked over the burning sands or rested in the cold night, she realized that if he could talk about her with half the admiration he praised a single blade of grass, she would be saved. And she was in love.

For Twilight, things were a little slower. Some of the members of the resistance would imply that he needed to check how he felt about Midna, but he just thought they were being weird about her for no reason. Then, around the time they were at Snow Peak, she was teasing him for slipping on ice, and he got hit in the stomach with the realization that he loved her. He can't even put into words what exactly he loved about her. He just adored everything that made up her.

He never did anything by halves, so he really kicked up the flirting and started getting her gifts. And Midna flirted back and accepted each one, not really taking him too seriously. I think they both knew deep down how the other felt about them, but they felt like they couldn't really acknowledge it.

Then Twilight acknowledged it.

They were outside of Hyrule Castle. Midna had just broken the barrier. They were about to storm in. He gave her a cheesy last minute confession and she joked he might change her mind when he sees her true form. He bashfully admits that he forgot being an imp wasn’t her true form. And this scared Midna, because now his unconditional love was terrifying. Now it went from being a blessing she didn't mind being unworthy for to a charity she felt like she had stolen from something more worthy. There had to be someone out there more worthy than her.

They defeated Ganondorf. She regained her true form.

Twilight and Midna joined Zelda on a tour around the kingdom to announce the defeat of Ganondorf and acknowledge the help lent to them by the Twilit Princess. And now that their duty was over, Twilight was really starting to push the romance despite how much distance Midna was trying to put between them.

To be fair to him, the signals were a little mixed. One day she would avoid him at all costs, but another she flirted ruthlessly and swooned when he kissed her. But deep down, I think he knew something was wrong. And if something was wrong, she would leave him. He was young, and he couldn't bear the idea of being abandoned.

So he proposed.

And Midna told him to give her time to think, to see how her kingdom needed her. She told him to go home and remember what a simple life in Ordon entailed, how much he loved the slow summers and the herding of goats. He was a boy who could love a blade of grass. There was no grass in the Twilight Realm. She told him to think about it more.

He said he couldn't think about living a quiet life in Ordon any longer. He had grown out of it, like they were a pair of too-tight shoes. He didn't tell her that when he tried to go back to a rancher's life, the herding of goats felt foreign. He couldn't remember his old workers songs. Ordon wasn't his home anymore. He wanted to make a new one with her. Still, she told him to think about it more. They would talk more when she returned.

So she left, and she broke the mirror that connected their worlds together.

And Twilight was left behind, shattered in her wake.