Becoming Whole Again

by FlowerOwl

The Champions did not merely fade from existence when the power of the Calamity proved to be too much for them, and neither did Zelda.

It was remarkable how easy it was to make her way into the castle, using her powers on any Guardian that happened to stand in her way, fully aware of what would meet her once she reached the Sanctum, after she had lost everything in just a couple of hours.

Although Zelda supposed that she was on some level aware of the danger, it did not feel like her mind truly acknowledged it. Perhaps, if she succeeded, they would say that she had been brave, but as Zelda stood in front of the spirit of Ganon and watched how the Malice seeped into every part of the castle that had once been her home, she felt anything but brave. It was not courage that caused her to continue to walk straight towards the monster in front of her. There was no heroic thought about wanting to do everything she could possibly try to save what remained of her kingdom. No, as Zelda stepped forward, reaching out to touch the reddish surface of the cocoon that took up almost the entirety of the throne room, she did it because it was the least she could do after having convinced so many people that, if only they worked together, combined their talents, they still had a chance to defeat Ganon in time. But of course, just like Mipha's spear and agility had not been enough to save her when Vah Ruta had turned on the people it had been built to protect, how Urbosa, despite how she had always been the one to plant herself between any Yiga spy and the traveller who had been unfortunate enough to meet them, still had not been able to defeat the part of Ganon's soul that had taken over Vah Naboris, how Revali had not been able to use his ability to create his powerful gales to escape from Vah Medoh, and how Daruk's strength had not been enough when he had gone to the volcano, Zelda soon found herself surrounded by the Malice.

Zelda was not sure just what she had expected to happen. In some way, she had gone to the castle only to be able to assure herself that she had done everything in her power to buy enough time for Link to wake up once more, and everything that would come after that had been little more than an afterthought.

But as the Malice ate her alive, Zelda was forced to recognise just what the effects were.

It was too much.

She was tired, and yet, she had to constantly fight to keep the Malice from moving even closer to her, nearing her soul. Every time she tried to reach out and feel where in the massive cocoon the essence of Ganon was located, the Malice pushed back against her, doing its best to make her willpower crumble and for Zelda to give in and lose hope. She could not let that happen. After having failed to save Hyrule in time, Zelda knew that no power in the world would ever be enough to make her allow the creature that rested with her deep within Hyrule castle to escape so that it could once again make its way through Hyrule, destroying what little parts of the kingdom the Guardians had not yet managed to reach.

So she fought, and even as her vision grew cloudy and she felt her consciousness drift away, Zelda had only one goal in mind: to ensure that the monster would stay trapped with her.

When she woke up, it was only the pull in her mind that made her realise that, even though the last thing she could remember was how Ganon had made yet another attempt to escape, she was not dead. Although, had it not been for the way her soul felt like it was about to split in two, half of it still unable to think of anything but when Ganon's next attack would be and how she could prepare for a counterattack, Zelda knew herself well enough to know that she would have assumed that she had died.

A flash of blindingly white light appeared before her eyes, accompanied by a burning pain in her heart. Digging her hands into the ground and using every little bit of strength she could find to make sure she would not let out a pained scream, Zelda tried to ignore the way the option of simply giving up was appearing to be a more and more inviting option each time Ganon tried to escape from the prison she had constructed around him, whispering to her that she would not be able to feel anything if she let go, that she would be able to stay in the beautiful room for all of eternity, that she would never have to worry about anything ever again.

Little by little, the pain receded, still not completely gone, but it did reach a level where Zelda was able to once more open her eyes and look around without feeling like her head was about to split in two.

Pushing herself off the ground, careful not to let the control she had established slip for even a second, Zelda slowly twirled around, taking in the way the water running along the floor had not seeped into her clothes. Instead, the gentle sound of a river echoed past her, carried towards her by the water.

Zelda began to walk, going in the direction of the water. Deep down, she already knew that she was no longer in Hyrule, that this was nothing like the rivers that cut through the land around Zora's Domain, but she was not able to stay in the spot where she had first woken up any longer. Not when she knew that Hyrule was still fighting for survival.

Zelda walked for what felt like ages, but no matter how much distance she covered, her surroundings did not seem to change. She was still surrounded by the same red mist, still following a river that did not appear to ever end, in a world where the sun never set. Her legs did not feel heavy, and as she tried to count silently to herself, keeping track of the seconds, minutes, and hours that passed as she continued her walk into the unknown, Zelda struggled to remember what number she had reached the moment she continued onto the next. In the end, she had to give up. No matter where she was, it did not seem that time passed the same way it had done when she had sprinted through the Korok Forest with the Master Sword at her side, desperate to reach the Great Deku in time to set her plan into motion.

But as she began to lose hope, she spotted something in the horizon. At first, it was little more than a couple of dots, but as she quickened her pace, moving quicker and quicker along the river until she was sprinting, they grew, soon becoming a silhouette. Had it not been for how she doubted it could happen while she was still trapped in the strange realm, Zelda would have questioned how her heart was able to continue beating as she spotted the familiar sight of Mipha, standing with the end of her spear pressed into the ground to allow her to lean against it, sending a soft smile in her direction, welcoming her, and although Zelda only had to wait a couple of steps before she had reached her, it felt like those two steps lasted for more time than it had taken her to run to the castle. But, finally, she was able to throw her arms around Mipha and let herself go limp, trusting her to catch her before she hit the floor.

The sound of the spear hitting the ground next to her, the sound of it strangely harsh even though it should have hit the stream of water that had taken Zelda to Mipha, told her that was exactly what Mipha did long before Zelda found herself sobbing into Mipha's shoulder, whispering apologies over and over again.

"Shh," Mipha whispered, stroking her hair, "it is fine, you have nothing to apologise for."

Zelda wanted to argue with that, wanted to tell Mipha that they had failed, and that, while everyone had failed to fight Ganon, it had been Zelda who had convinced them to risk their lives to buy a chance for the rest of the kingdom, only to fail them all in the end by only being able to reach her powers when it was already too late. But as Mipha lowered them both down until they were sitting on the ground, Zelda found that she was powerless to do anything but let Mipha continue to whisper to her, uttering all sorts of comforting words that she did not deserve, how they were proud of her, and that she had done everything anyone could ever have expected of her.

Already as she sat there, Zelda could feel how the fight against Ganon was growing more and more difficult with each attack, as he slowly but surely searched for a way to break through the barrier her powers had formed around him.

"Zelda!"

She must have screamed, for as she looked up at Mipha, Zelda was met with the sight of panic spreading across Mipha's face as she held her tighter, lowering Zelda's head so that she was resting in her lap. But right then, Zelda was barely able to muster the power necessary to keep Ganon at bay, much less focus enough to assure Mipha that she was fine, that this was nothing she had not already experienced multiple times while following the river that had led her to her.

Even as her head felt like it was about to split in two, the pain slowly left her body, still waiting just outside her field of vision, colouring the air around them redder than blood, almost like it wanted to remind her that it was still there, ready to attack any moment.

But as she looked up at Mipha to see worry written across her face, Zelda knew that she could not show any sign of fear, not even as red tendrils twisted around them.

"It was nothing. Just Ganon trying his best to escape."

"Ganon?"

Zelda nodded, and although she had spent so much of her time inside the strange, new realm, wondering just what was happening in the world she had left behind, what was happening to Hyrule, in that moment, it was all crystal clear to her. "Yes. I went to the castle in an attempt to stop him. I think…" she swallowed, "I think that I have managed to trap him there, at least for the time being."

"But you are in pain." the statement was short, but Mipha still managed to say everything Zelda had deliberately tried her best not to acknowledge.

"Yes." Zelda bowed her head. Gone were any hope that she would be able to hide the way her chest tightened each time Ganon tried to test her resolve to keep him trapped inside the castle, how her head felt like it was threatening to split open as the creature let out a roar and tried to escape the Sanctum to finish its purpose in life, and how her heart ached when Ganon, in what appeared to be the moments where it most resembled the human whose soul Zelda could feel trapped in the very depths of the best, tried its best to convince her that it would be so easy to let go and spend the rest of eternity with Mipha in the other realm. "He is doing his best to escape, and it does hurt each time."

"He?"

It was strange to hear the shocked tone in Mipha's voice, but as Zelda looked up to see the way Mipha was frowning, clearly trying to understand what had made her refer to the Calamity Ganon as a 'he', she understood just how much willingly letting herself be enveloped and dragged in by the Malice had changed. As the soul of the only other person to share her fate had whispered into her ear, it was as if she too had been granted a chance to look into the core of the monster they had tried so hard to overpower, and deep inside the anger and hate, Zelda thought she could feel the whisper of a man who had been the first to be eaten by the creature that was currently doing its best to resist her attempts of restraining it.

"Yes. He."

Mipha did not ask again, merely nodding, and although Zelda was not sure if it was the result of Mipha having accepted her explanation or if she, much like Zelda would have done if their situations had been reversed, perhaps preferred not to think about how Ganon, despite all of their efforts to ensure its destruction, was still there, ready to destroy all life around it the moment Zelda's power over the monster that had once devoured another person's soul proved too weak to restrain it any longer. Instead, she pulled Zelda a little closer, allowing her to brush her lips against Zelda's.

They sat like that for eternities, the complete silence around only broken when the pain of having to fight against Ganon proved to be too much for her to stay quiet. But no matter how many times Mipha tried to kiss her, held her hand, or simply tried her best to not let her lose hope, Zelda could feel how her powers were gradually waning. At first, it was slow, but the more times Ganon tried to test the strength of the bars that kept it trapped in the castle, the more she had to fight to ensure that the monster would not be able to escape.

The sound of shoes clicking against the surface beneath them seemed to come from every direction, providing a merciful distraction from the battle.

In an instant, Zelda had lifted her head, twisting around to look around her. Already, her heart was beating faster, hope flowing through her veins instead of blood as she tried to search for the familiar look of Urbosa's red hair. "Was that—"

Her question was answered the next moment, as Urbosa appeared in the mist, at first only a faint outline, but soon, Zelda did no longer have to focus to be able to see the way Urbosa was smiling down at her, a gentle breeze that should not have existed in the realm pushing her hair in front of her shoulders as she crouched down next to her to reach out and take Zelda's hand.

"Hello, my little bird."

Zelda would have liked to say that she maintained her composure, acted the way her father would have expected her to, the way a princess was supposed to behave in situations like these. But she did not. The moment the words had registered in her brain, she had already thrown herself into the embrace, hugging Urbosa so tightly that no power in the world would ever have been able to tear her away from her ever again the way the Calamity had done.

While Zelda sobbed, Urbosa remained calm, simply stroking her hair as she continued to repeat the nickname over and over again.

Although she was still vaguely aware of how Mipha was still right there, and how the girl who had once stopped to talk with her, had pulled her aside at one of the balls to show her that she had found a perfect little spot in a nearby forest where they were able to sit down for their very own picnic, complete with food stolen from the tables in the castle, an outing that had ended with Mipha turning back around to kiss her with a smile and apology ready moments later, of which only the first had been needed, was watching as Zelda tried to force out the words, tried to explain how she had done her best and that it had still not been good enough. Right then, Zelda could not stop the tears. Each time she thought that it was it, that now she could not possibly have any tears left to shed, she remembered the way the Divine Beasts had screamed in the night while she and Link had been stuck on the ground, unable to do anything but to watch as parts of Ganon's soul had flown over the sky to land deep within the Beasts.

"It is all right, everything will work out in the end," Urbosa whispered, "you have done enough, more than enough, in fact. Your mother would have been proud of you."

It was not the first time she had said those words. And though they were usually reserved for those occasions where Urbosa had had to pull her out of the springs, trying her best to make Zelda move over to the campfire rather than to pull her arm free and head back into the freezing water, or when she had found her crying in her room while staying in the palace, Zelda was able to believe her. For a moment, the pain—both the one caused by the knowledge that Urbosa really had died, or at the very least was stuck in the same realm as both herself and Mipha, as well as the ache in her chest that flashed bright each time Ganon tried to leave the castle—all but disappeared, and she was able to look up.

"You really think so?"

"I know that she would. Just you wait; I promise you that once all of this is over, you will see that I am right."

Although she could not see how that would ever be possible, not with how Zelda was trapped in here as much as Ganon was trapped in the castle, Zelda decided not to ask questions and instead let Mipha and Urbosa discuss if there was anything they could do to help Zelda in her fight against Ganon while she leant back and tried to focus on the fight that was pulling half of her back towards Hyrule, only separated from the world she had left behind by an invisible barrier she could not pass through no matter how many times she made an attempt.

It did not take many attacks from Ganon and brief flashes of how life changed in Hyrule for Zelda to realise that time in the realm did not at all pass like it did in the world they had left behind. Gone was any idea of night and day, instead replaced by the bleak sky that almost looked like it was bleeding. One moment, a flash almost made it look like the few who had been lucky enough to survive had managed to rebuild society, and the next moment, Zelda once more saw a group of travellers cornered by monsters, the glimpse mercifully ending before she got the chance to see how it all ended.

Revali was the next to find them.

Walking out of the mist, looking every bit as energetic as he had done while he was alive, bouncing up and down slightly as he stood in front of them, it was difficult for Zelda to believe that he was really there. It did not seem right. He could fly, he, if any, should have been able to escape from Vah Medoh the moment he caught sight of the Malice flying through the air. His reflexes where certainly quick enough to have given him a fair chance to flee and save himself.

Perhaps he could see her thoughts written across her face, for he was quick to shrug as he looked at her, making a dismissive motion with his right wing. "So I suppose I should have known that the three of you would be here as well. After all, if Ganon managed to hit me, there was no way you would have been able to avoid him." he huffed. "I cannot believe that I was actually stupid enough to stay there and attempt to fight. It is clear to me now that I should have left and gone to find you and your knight, it would certainly seem that you needed my help."

Despite the harsh words, Zelda could not help herself. She jumped up from where she had been sitting on the ground and ran straight over to him, pulling him in for a hug. Revali froze, for once not having any witty quip ready, though that soon changed as he leant back and shot her a grin.

"I see that you have missed me."

"We even began to miss you annoying voice," Urbosa said, joining the conversation with a dry laugh, "as impossible as that sounds."

Revali barely paused to stick out his tongue at her in response before turning towards Mipha. "And what about you? Did you also begin to miss the great Revali?"

"I did," Mipha said, and, seemingly seeing the way Revali readied himself for another joke, she hurried to add, "as much as you can miss someone as annoying as you."

"Aw, I knew that you loved me." Revali paused to pull her in for a hug before he sat down on the ground with them and looked around, looking more and more puzzled as he came to the conclusion that there really were no other persons hiding in the mist right next to them. "But, speaking of missing someone, where is Daruk and that annoying knight that always seemed to follow you around?" their solemn faces must have been answer enough, for Revali soon raised a wing to cover his beak, a look of shock appearing in his eyes. "They… they are not here?"

Urbosa was the first of them to swallow back the tears. "No. They are not. But," she added, and no one could have been able to miss the way she was doing her best to make her voice appear cheerful, "that is a good thing, if you think about it. Since they still have not shown up here, it means that there is a chance they were able to survive everything."

The memory of how Link, already so exhausted that she could not imagine how he was able to stand up without fainting, had ignored her pleas for him to run and save himself to instead push himself back up, determined to stand in front of her as the Guardian spotted the two of them and advanced towards them, the deadly weapon in its eye coming only seconds away from hitting Link, as Zelda finally found the way to her powers only to turn around to see that it was too late, and that Link had already fallen over, no longer able to stand up, flashed in front of her eyes. One look at the Champions standing around her, the hopeful look in their eyes shining bright, told her that it would be wisest not to tell them. They deserved to be able to cling to that hope for just a little bit longer.

"Yeah," Revali agreed, nodding at Urbosa, "you are right. I am just angry that I will not be able to be there to show Link how a real hero behaves. I know that he will run around and waste time rather than focus on what is really important."

"I am sure that he will be quick to save everyone," Mipha said.

Zelda must not have been as good at hiding her doubts about Link's chances as she had thought, for the next moment, Mipha had reached out to place her hand on top of hers. But even as she felt her stomach drop at the realisation that she might just have stolen the last bit of hope away from her, Zelda was happy to know that Mipha was there for her.

"You really think so?" Revali made a face. "Very well then. Personally, I would say that Daruk is more likely to end this fight for us than Link is."

Almost like he had heard what Revali had just said, Daruk stepped out of the mist. As they sat there on the ground, he looked so much taller than usual, though that impression soon came to an end.

He walked over to join them in the middle of the world of nothingness, and it soon became clear that he was injured; Daruk carrying himself like even the slightest amount of weight placed on his left leg hurt more than any of them could ever hope to understand.

"Huh," Daruk said as he spotted them sitting there on the ground in front of him, "so… it got you as well?"

No one answered him. There was no need to. As she sat there, with Mipha reaching out to sling her arm around her waist and Urbosa looking like she was ready to remind her that everyone was proud of her again in case Zelda decided to confirm Daruk's thoughts by apologising, the answer was obvious. Of course Ganon had managed to hit them all, that was, after all, why they were all stuck there now.

Daruk sat down next to Revali, only pausing for a moment to lay down the Boulder Breaker. "I have yet to see Link anywhere in here. Is he still…?"

With a shrug, Revali redirected the question over to Zelda. "I think so. The last thing I remember is the Malice seeping into Vah Medoh, but I think that Zelda and Link managed to avoid it. Or, at least I thought so until I got here and saw her." he waved at Zelda. "So maybe you should ask her. Zelda, what happened with you and Link? Were you not supposed to go to the castle?"

"We were—"

"Well, then where did Ganon manage to hit you?"

"He did not." when Revali shot her a look like he truly could not believe a word of what she was saying, Zelda sighed and elaborated. "We were trying to make our way over to Hyrule Castle, but the moment we saw the Malice hitting the Divine Beasts, Link decided that we did not stand a chance, so we tried to run to Hateno Village instead. And then—well, you can probably all imagine what happened, we were cornered by a Guardian—"

"But then why is Link not here?" Revali asked. "I know that he is a fool, but he is a loyal fool. I highly doubt that you would ever have been able to convince him to leave you behind."

He was. Above everything else, Link had always been so incredibly loyal, always focusing on making sure that she was not in danger, even during those first couple of months where Zelda had not done anything other than snap at him every time he tried to start a conversation with her, taking her frustrations out on him. Once, that kind of loyalty would have been something Zelda would have admired, and she supposed that, for a time, at least, it had been exactly that, but when she looked at where his blind loyalty had gotten Link in the end, falling over on the ground, barely breathing, and then moved to the Shrine of Resurrection in the hope that the ancient machine would be able to heal him so that he would once more be able to risk his life for Hyrule, Zelda could not help but question whether or not his loyalty had really been of help to him.

It felt wrong to think like that. To wonder if Link would not have been happier if he had been able to leave Hyrule behind to die, and maybe it was the effect of how the monstrous part of Ganon was bleeding into the part of her soul that was still fighting deep inside Hyrule Castle, for Zelda could feel how the beast smiled at her, willing her to agree to let it leave.

It required far more power than anything Zelda had ever done before to push the beast back, telling it no, and even as Ganon retreated for the time being, sulking in the middle of the cocoon, Zelda knew that it would be back again, and that, thanks to the seconds both lasting an eternity and barely being enough time to blink in the strange realm, she would have no way of knowing when to expect the next attack.

Blinking to make sure she would not risk crying in front of the Champions, Zelda sent Revali her most confident look. If nothing else, she could at least do her best not to let the others begin to wonder whether their sacrifice had been in vain. "Link is not here because I made sure he would not be. Right now, he is resting in the Shrine of Resurrection, and once he is ready, I know that he will be able to set out to destroy Ganon once and for all."

Somewhere deep inside of her, Zelda thought she could hear a human soul whispering a quiet thankyou to her before it was once again pulled down into the sea of Malice that surrounded the two of them.

"So we are unable to do anything but wait for him to wake up and set out to avenge us?" Revali asked.

This time, it was Urbosa rather than Zelda who answered. "Yes." she slowly moved away from her crouching position, and Zelda had to fight the instinct to beg for her not to leave her again as she stood up next to them all, looking into the redness that surrounded them. "I doubt we are able to leave this place, or at least I can feel how my soul is not truly here, not all of it."

That made Zelda freeze up. Careful to disguise the movement as merely being her reaching up to push her hair behind her shoulders, she looked around to see if Mipha, Revali, and Daruk perhaps felt the same way as Urbosa. Until then, the thought that perhaps she was not the only one who felt like she was about to be split in two had barely been more than a faint worry in her stomach she was able to dispel with simply by assuring herself that they would have said something if that was the case, would have showed signs of pain the way she had done it. But now, as she realised that perhaps she had been too quick to assume things, Zelda felt the shame set in. Here she was, sitting with Mipha's arm around her, leaning her head against Mipha's arm, accepting their attempts to comfort her when she winced as Ganon tried to escape the castle, and yet she had not once thought to ask them if they were in pain as well.

"Great," Revali grumbled, "just wonderful. Here I thought that I was the only one who could still feel Vah Medoh struggling to escape the influence of the Malice, and now you are telling me that all of the Divine Beasts are currently being used to destroy Hyrule." he turned around to shoot a questioning glare towards Mipha and Daruk. "Because the two of you feel it as well, do you not?"

Zelda felt how Mipha shifted slightly next to her, and as she tilted her head backwards to look up at her, she saw how Mipha hesitated, biting her lip as she, with a look that revealed how uncomfortable she was, tried to answer the question.

"I think I do. It is not like I can actually feel the movements of Vah Ruta, but it does feel like a part of me is still there, trying its best to stop her from continuing her path towards the Zora's Domain."

As she finished with a small shrug and they all turned to look at Daruk, the fourth Champion reached out to pull the Boulder Breaker closer to him before he as much as attempted to give Revali an answer.

"I suppose that you might be right," he said, and although his voice could perhaps have fooled someone who did not know him into thinking that he really did not care about the answer, it was apparent just how much strength it took him to continue speaking, "or at least I feel like I can still see the volcano if I just focus hard enough, almost like a part of me is still there, trapped inside Vah Rudania."

"So we are all still trapped inside the Beasts," Urbosa said, pausing to tap against her cheek as she let her gaze pass over each of them for a moment, before pausing at Zelda, "then, I suppose that that is the reason we are here. We are not quite dead and not quite alive, a part of us still living inside the Beasts."

Perhaps it was because half of her was still bathed in Malice inside the Sanctum of the castle that had once been a beacon of hope, rising up on the cliff to overlook the land, but no matter how much Zelda tried to focus, she could not make sense of the words. It was almost like her ears did register the sound, but that they then never made it all the way to her brain, instead continuing to exist only as a series of sounds without meaning. How could they still be here? Either they existed, or they did not. How could they be stuck in a place between those two?

At least Zelda was not alone in not understanding what Urbosa meant, for the next moment, Revali had jumped up from his spot on the ground.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and it was strange to hear how a hint of fear made his voice tremble ever so slightly. Had it not been for how Revali had never once before let them see when he was scared, Zelda supposed it might almost have been a comforting thought to know that she was not alone in being afraid of what was to come, but as it was now, with how the fate of Hyrule was all in the hands of Link, and how she was not even able to guarantee that he would ever wake up, hearing the Champions echo her own feelings of uncertainty back at her was only making Zelda feel even more overwhelmed by despair, a feeling that grew as Ganon once more tried to trick her, tried to figure out a way to move past her.

"I mean," Urbosa said, placing a hand on her hip, "that we are trapped in here until our souls are no longer able to fight the Malice or Link comes to free us."

No one said anything.

As Zelda looked around, she could see the moment the words hit her friends, the implication that there was nothing they could do now other than to continue the fight making the light in their eyes grow dimmer for a moment. And she could not blame them. After all, had she herself not come so close to agreeing with Ganon that perhaps it really would be easier to give up and let the cycle continue, with a new princess to take her place, that it was only the memory of how quick Mipha had been to offer her help both when Zelda had come to offer her the position of Champion and when they had first found each other in the realm that had given her the strength to tell him no?

Revali was the first of them to regain the ability to speak, but even then, he did not have any of his usual quips ready, instead looking at his wings with a look of pure despair in his yes. "So you are telling me that we will simply have to wait for the moment where Link will wake up again?"

Even though Urbosa did not answer, her silence was enough.

Revali shook his head, the look of despair soon disappearing to make way for anger. "No! I will not accept that, I cannot accept that! There has to be something, anything at all, I can do." he jumped, flapping his wings wildly, but unlike the way he had soared up high into the air when Zelda had gone to ask him to pilot Vah Medoh, he simply fell to the ground.

Zelda could recognise the look he sent towards them as he sat there, the way he tried his best to force out the words only for them not to obey him, the way his mind tried its best to make sense of what had just happened, how he tried to hide the shame was all too similar to the way Zelda herself had felt when she had been forced to return to the Champions after her journey to the Spring of Wisdom, with nothing new to tell them.

"I—I—my wings," Revali whispered.

Zelda wanted to run to him, to hug him and tell him that it was all right, that no one was thinking any less of him. But it would have been a lie. For even though she knew that they were all sharing his pain of being unable to do anything but to attempt to fend off the Malice for just a little but longer to buy Link enough time to heal and return to finish what they had started, she knew that everything was not all fine. They were trapped, and it seemed that the only way to break free would be to give Ganon exactly what it wanted, to let it destroy what little remained of Hyrule.

A voice inside her called out for her, and as Zelda listened to it, she could not hear if it was speaking to the powers that were currently the only thing stopping Ganon from leaving the castle, or if it was trying to reach her inside the strange realm, but no matter what, the man she could still feel struggle against the Calamity along with her seemed to grow stronger as he told her not to give up, not to leave him all alone.

And Zelda did her best to do as he said, for a moment finding the strength to push Ganon even deeper into the cocoon it had created for itself. In a way, she felt strangely triumphant at the thought of having turned the very thing that had been supposed to let Ganon be reborn into a prison for the monster, but the feeling did not last long as the creature screamed at her, drowning out the voice of the man trapped with her.

With a hidden bit of strength, Zelda sat up straighter and felt how Mipha immediately reacted by reaching out to attempt to help her, placing a hand on her back to keep her upright. As kind as it was of her, Zelda knew that right then, she did not need any help, and as she spoke, her voice was far stronger than it had been in ages. "Link will come to save us. All of us. Right now, we just have to wait for him to awaken."

And that was what they did. They stayed there, in the exact same spot, and as she used the sound of her heartbeats to maintain some sense of time, Zelda tried her best to focus on the part of her that was still in Hyrule rather than how tempting the option of giving up and letting someone else continue the fight was.

At first, the changes were slow, but as Mipha gasped and buried her face in her hair, Zelda knew that they had all seen how Sidon had found the Lightscale Trident and how King Dorephan had commissioned a statue of Mipha to be built. Only moments later, the stones were shining in the night in the middle of the Zora's Domain. As time passed, they gradually saw the changes happening all over Hyrule, how those who had survived tried their best to adept to the world around them, towns growing as people tried to find their families and a place to stay.

And then, finally Zelda was pulled back to the Great Plateau and to the Shrine of Resurrection as Link sat up. Already before the voice from the Malice reached her, she knew what she had to do, but even then, Zelda was relieved to hear the man cheer for her as she gave Link the instructions to help him figure out where he had to go if he wanted to stand a chance against Ganon. Brief flashes of his adventure appeared in front of her eyes, Link sitting inside a cave, trying his best not to let the flames of his campfire die, Link entering the desert and speaking with a young girl who looked so much like Urbosa that it hurt. But even as Link returned the Thunder Helm to Riju, Zelda saw no sign of a reaction from Urbosa. Perhaps that was the point where the thought that she might be the only one who could see what was happening hit her.

As she looked around and saw the Champions sitting next to her, all of them with a focused expression on their faces like they were trying their best to will another vision to appear, Zelda could not ignore the little pang in her chest, a feeling of loneliness that had otherwise left her alone ever since she had first entered the realm creeping towards her. But the voice that fought with her against the Calamity soon reached out to her, assuring her that although those around her might not see it, he did. He would not leave her, not yet.

However, even if they could not see what was happening to him, as Link let go of the arrow and it sailed through the air, hitting Thunderblight Ganon and making the creature disappear in a pool of Malice, Zelda noticed how Urbosa jerked.

"Something is happening," she whispered, before clearing her throat to continue, "I think… I think I might be able to control Naboris now." a smile not unlike the one Zelda had seen Urbosa send her while telling her about her mother spread across her face as she nodded. "Yes. He did it, he really did it."

Revali was the next to follow her, first letting out a sharp, whistling sound, before he too nodded his head and closed his eyes, like he could feel how Vah Medoh soared through the air before landing on top of the cliff above Rito Village.

"I cannot believe that he could be this lucky," Revali mumbled, but even then, he was not able to hide the impressed tone in his voice.

Daruk followed suit only a few moments later. As he picked up the Boulder Breaker and stood up, there was no trace left on his face of the pained expression he had worn when he had first found them. Swinging the weapon around himself once, he hummed slightly, but did not say anything else, simply joining them on the ground once more, this time with a wide smile. Zelda was almost entirely sure that it had been caused by the sight of Yunobo standing next to Link on the Divine Beast, wearing the blue piece of cloth that had once belonged to the Champions around his neck.

"Do you think that he will also remember me?"

The sound of Mipha's voice pulled Zelda away from both the glimpses of Link's journey as well as the strain of the battle against Ganon. She did not have to turn around to know the look that Mipha was sending her, but even then, the sight of Mipha sitting there, staring straight ahead as she blinked frantically was more than enough to make her wish that she could somehow share her visions with the others and let them see more than just what could be seen from the Divine Beasts.

"I know he will."

Although Mipha nodded, Zelda could tell that she had not quite succeeded in convincing her. But as she watched Link stand in front of the bridge that connected Zora's Domain to the land around it, Zelda knew that it was only a matter of time before Mipha herself would be able to see for herself how Link was slowly but surely freeing Vah Ruta from the control of Waterblight Ganon.

She was right. Moments later, Mipha let out a strangled noise, not quite a laugh and not quite a sob and leant over towards her.

"Hylia, I can see Sidon," Mipha whispered, "he… he has grown up. I have only been here for a moment, and he is already so much older than me."

As Zelda rubbed small comforting circles into her shoulder, she tried her best not to let the sense of time flying past her far quicker than she could possibly fathom overwhelm her. "I know. I know. But at least it means that it will all be over soon."

She could feel in her heart that it was true. Already, Link was making his way through the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town, throwing open the gates for the first time in a century before he ran past the Guardians, past the countless monsters that had been positioned there in an attempt to slow him down. But despite their best efforts, Link was stronger than them. In no time, he was standing in front of the Sanctum.

As the human part of Ganon let out a loud, joyous yell, the monster screamed at both Zelda, Link, and the human soul, pouring all of its strength into one last attack. Zelda felt the control slip out of her hands, and not even the human she had shared her prison with for over a century coming to her aid was enough to regain it. The moment Link stepped into the Sanctum, Ganon was free to cause havoc in Hyrule once more, and as she lost control, the part of her that had been trapped with Ganon soon faded from Hyrule to join the rest of her in the realm.

She stumbled backwards, and as she pressed a hand towards the spot above her heart where she could almost feel how her soul became whole again, Zelda did not know whether to laugh or to cry. It was silent. It was finally silent. She could no longer hear Ganon roaring at her or feel the pain of his attacks. It was gone. But so was the voice of the man she had come to know as her friend while battling Ganon, and as Mipha let her cry into her shoulder, it was the loss that hit her the hardest.

"Zelda?" Mipha's voice was soft as she patted her shoulder. "Do you think you can tell me what is happening right now?"

It was not until that moment that Zelda remembered that, given how she was the only one who felt what was happening throughout all of Hyrule, to the other Champions, she had started crying without anything happening to cause such a reaction.

"He—he is gone," she mumbled, and although she tried her best to ignore the urge to reach up and attempt to shield the spot on her chest where her soul had reunited with her again, Zelda knew that she did not hide it as well as she could have hoped for.

"Who?" Revali asked, a hint of panic seeping into his voice. "Link?"

"No. Link is still there. It is…" Zelda tried to imagine how they would react if she tried to explain how a part of her had stayed inside Hyrule Castle during all those years, tried to tell them that Ganon had not always been the monster they knew the Calamity to be now. But as she looked at the various stages of shock, worry, and panic that was written across their faces, she knew that there was nothing she could say in what little time she had left that would be enough to make them understand it, "it is difficult to explain. I just know that I am being pulled back towards the real world right now, and that Link needs me to defeat Ganon." as she struggled to get up from the ground, tried to follow the thin thread that had appeared in the air in front of her, warm and glowing, Zelda did not miss how none of the others moved to join her, and she turned around, doing her best to fake a tiny smile. "Are you not coming?"

The way Mipha slowly look over towards Urbosa, the two of them exchanging a long glare made her feel like she was about to vomit. Hylia, no. not after all of this.

"Zelda…" Mipha began, and she wanted to beg her not to speak like that, not to carefully consider each and every word like Zelda was going to fall apart if she made the slightest mistake, "we will not be able to go with you." already before she moved to point in the opposite direction of where the glowing thread was leading her, Zelda knew what she was about to say. "I think we are meant to go that way, or at least I can see the faint outline of footsteps on the ground, and they are moving in that direction."

Zelda followed her line of sight, but found that the ground in front of Mipha was as bare as it had always been, the water that covered everything being the only thing there. Still, it only took her a moment to make up her mind.

"Then I am coming with you."

The way Mipha's face turned soft as she moved over to her hurt more than if she had yelled at her to remember her duties towards Hyrule.

"No. If this place is showing you something other than the footsteps then that is what you are supposed to follow." Mipha's eyes shone with unshed tears as she spoke.

Zelda stubbornly shook her head, the movement so quick that it sent her hair flying in front of her shoulders. She felt like she was the child who honestly believed that if she only prayed to the goddess for enough hours, then her mother would be able to fight the sickness and leave her bedchambers again.

"No. I am coming with you." casting a glance in the direction of the other Champions, Zelda silently begged one of them, any of them, to help her convince Mipha that she was wrong, and that it could not end like this.

But Daruk simply began fiddling with the Boulder Breaker, doing his best to avoid meeting her gaze, and Revali was strangely silent.

In the end, it was Urbosa who stepped forward to place her hands on Zelda's shoulders and slowly pull her away from Mipha. "Zelda. It is fine. You will be fine."

"No! I need you!" but Zelda could feel how her fighting spirit was seeping out of her as she let Urbosa hug her.

"You will be fine," Urbosa repeated, "you have grown so much since I first met you, you found out how to manifest your powers—"

"Only when it was already too late."

"But you still did it. You were ready to die to buy Link enough time to save Hyrule. Trust me, Zelda you will not need any of us anymore."

"You are wrong!"

The scream was shrill, and Zelda could hear how her voice broke halfway through as she lost all will to do anything but to cry.

She was grateful for how Urbosa did not attempt to argue with her, instead simply hugging her even tighter as Zelda's sobs gradually came to a halt and she was able to look up at her.

"Do you have to leave me?"

Urbosa's smile might have looked happy had it not been for the way Zelda could see that she too was fighting to keep back the tears. "We do. But do not despair, at least we will go with the knowledge that the sacrifices we made were not in vain."

She said it like any of that mattered to Zelda anymore. All of her life she had been raised to put Hyrule and her subjects above herself, but right then, Zelda could not have cared less about the fate of Hyrule. Rationally, she knew that she would have to return to not only save Link and those who had been able to find some sense of normalcy during the past century, but also to save the man who had at times been the only reason she had not given up, but right then, everything in her was crying out for her to insist on following Mipha, Urbosa, Revali and Daruk wherever the footsteps on the ground that would not reveal themselves to them would take her.

Her voice trembled as Zelda looked over at Mipha only to see the tears streaming down her face. "Then I guess that this is goodbye?"

"It is." Urbosa leant back to look down at her for a moment, before she pulled her in for an embrace once more. "Goodbye."

Gradually, Revali and Daruk stepped over towards them as well, taking turns to hug her. Even though Zelda knew that time was no longer of importance, she could not help but wish for the moment never to end while at once also fearing that her reluctance to go back would be what would doom Hyrule in the end. If this, these moments she had taken for herself to be able to say goodbye to her friends for the last time, would be the thing that made them lose and let the man's soul be devoured completely, Zelda knew that she would not be able to forgive herself.

"Tell Link that he needs to remember to aim a bit higher when he wants to actually hit an enemy with his arrows," Revali whispered as he wrapped his wings around her.

She laughed, a strange sound among all of the pain. "I will remember that."

That left Mipha as the only one Zelda had yet to say her goodbyes to. As she looked over at her to see Mipha doing her best to force a smile onto her face, Zelda could practically feel her resolve crumbling to the ground long before Mipha had even stepped over to her.

"So this is it, I guess," Mipha mumbled, blinking furiously.

"It should not have to be, I should be able to go with you—"

"No." Mipha shook her head at Zelda's insistence that there had to be another way, her voice growing firmer as she continued. "We all knew that this could happen when we agreed to pilot the Beasts. The last thing I would want right now would be for you to have to share the same fate as the rest of us."

"But I don't want to lose you." Zelda could hear the pathetic sound her voice failing her on the last word, but she pushed herself to continue nevertheless. "Please."

For a moment, she thought that it had worked, that maybe she had made Mipha change her mind. But as the other princess reached out to caress her cheek, pausing for a moment before stepping closer to her and pressing a kiss to her lips, Zelda could feel the finality of it all in every single motion.

"You will not have to lose me," Mipha whispered, "I promise you that if it turns out that there is any way for me to return to you, I will do that in a heartbeat."

"There is no chance of doing that. If there was, my mother would have returned already."

But Mipha only smiled at her, her eyes already growing distant. "Maybe there is. Maybe it is just difficult to find it."

Behind her, Zelda could feel how the thread that connected her to Hyrule reached out to tie itself around her waist, dragging her backwards into the mist and the world she had left behind. The jump towards Mipha required her to muster every little bit of strength that was left, and even then, Zelda could feel how it was only a question of time before she would not be able to resist the pull of the life she had to return to.

"Mipha!" she screamed. "Help!"

Sending her a long look, Mipha reached up to take her hand, and for a second, Zelda thought that they could stay like that, Mipha holding her still while she brushed the tears off her face, but then she shook her head.

"No. You have to go back."

Mipha let go, and Zelda flew backwards, into the mist that soon robbed her of her vision.

As she fell, Zelda heard both the deafening roar of Calamity Ganon as Link let the arrow fly, piercing the Malice that covered the beast as well as the sigh of a man who was finally able to find peace.

And maybe, just maybe, the feeling of warmth that hit her face as she was able to return to her physical form once more after a century of constant battle was more than just the wind brushing past her. At least Zelda thought that she could hear five voices in her ear, telling her to be brave as she stood there with Link, facing what would become a new beginning for both herself and Hyrule.