"My apologies, Link. But I'm afraid I must cut our fated battle short. I can feel that he is already on his way." Ganondorf said, grinning madly.
The whole castle shook slightly.
"Dammit!" Link said through grit teeth, clutching his wounds in pain. He promptly collapsed to his knees. Yet as he looked up, Ganondorf had already vanished.
The throne room of Hyrule Castle was now completely silent safe for his heavy panting.
'This can't be happening' He thought.
But it happened.
Ganondorf had regained his youth. He was now stronger than ever as well.
But that wasn't the worst of his problems.
Stabbing the Master Sword into the floor, he used it's hilt to regain his balance, but he quickly collapsed.
He felt himself shaking violently. Death was close. No doubt the final sword strike to his chest was a fatal blow. Worst of all, he would probably be dead any moment now.
"Link!" A voice yelled in fear, causing the hero to divert his attention to a young child that looked very much like himself.
It was Toon Link.
The child was being held back by Bayonetta at the entrance of the throne room. But she could not keep him back, the boy quickly broke out of her grip and ran towards Link.
"Little one!" Bayonetta yelled, but the young hylian continued to run.
"Don't worry about me! Hurry up and get out of here!" He struggled to say, yet Toon Link merely shook his head as he helped his other self sit.
"I can't lose you! I have nobody else! Not after he… he…" Tears formed in his green cat-like eyes. Link struggled to hold his own tears back as he heard the boy.
He, the Hero of Twilight who had saved Hyrule all those years ago, had failed save it's ruler.
After Ganondorf had regained his youth, he vowed to conquer Hyrule once again.
The Gerudo, a race consisting solely of women, had suddenly reappeared in Hyrule as well. Coupled with Ganondorf's regained youth, nothing seemed right.
Leading an army of monsters that hadn't been seen in eons, the kingdom was overtaken within a night.
After the news had spread to the Smash Mansion, everyone had decided to help Link in taking back Hyrule. Master Hand or Crazy Hand were not their to help them, oddly enough. At the time it seemed like the least of their problems.
And yet...
Even with many heroes with their countless stories, they failed.
They failed to save Zelda.
He failed to save Zelda.
...But he also failed his friends...
His ancestors...
The Goddesses….
As he and a large group of heroes had reached Castle Town, there was a public execution being held.
The one to be executed was Zelda, in front of her people. The scene very much reminded him of the Zora Queen Rutela's murder by Zant he had been told about during the Twilight Invasion.
Yet before Zelda could be killed, out of nowhere, Master Hand appeared. Not even Ganondorf expected it.
It was probably the worst thing he had ever been forced to see, completely helpless to prevent.
The ruler of Hyrule was suddenly reduced to ashes that scattered with the wind as the hand snapped his fingers.
But she was not the only one reduced to ashes by Master Hand. Many monsters from Ganondorf's army we're also disintegrated by the hand's power, along with countless civilians. The fighters themselves were left unaffected, except Zelda.
No one could have predicted it.
Why would Master Hand kill Zelda? Why?
A being of order had reduced Hyrule to chaos.
Link recalled what Ganondorf had yelled. He yelled a name.
"Galeem."
The name reminded him of something.
In the castle library there had been countless books filled with legends of beings that were of a higher power than even the three golden goddesses.
After Midna shattered the Mirror of Twilight, he was desperate to find a way back to the Twilight Realm. He read countless books about different types of beings, worlds, legends.
One of the legends he read about, although one he paid no mind to at the time, was of a being called Galeem, the "Lord of Light," taking the form of an orb surround by six angelic wings…
Taking the form of Order, Galeem would seek to unleash Chaos in order to create a "World of Light."
It's World of Order.
Master Hand would never do such a thing. He was a being of creativity. He wouldn't destroy a world he treasured so much, or go as far as kill a fighter in order to achieve order.
This "Galeem" Ganondorf mentioned, and he'd read about, must have something to do with it.
He cursed to himself. Why didn't he see it coming? Of course, he'd read about all of this before the Subspace incident and joining the Brawl tournament.
Could he blame himself?
His head rose up as he heard the sound of heels, belonging to Bayonetta. She quickly kneeled down to examine his wounds.
She shook her head somberly.
As he looked at Toon Link in silence, he struggled to remain stoic. He wasn't even going to live long enough to see this fight end.
"Link, you…" As confident as the Umbra Witch usually was, she struggled to speak. The hero looked back at her. She forced herself to make eye contact with him.
In her eyes, he was merely a child. A child forced to fight evil time and time again in an endless cycle.
He had always put on a strong face, and tried to show no emotion, but she knew how deep his pain went. She still remembered when the hero told her about his companion, the princess of Twilight.
"Bayonetta, take care of him." He spoke softly. She nodded. "There is a book in the castle library. You need to grab it. It speaks of a being called Galeem" He said sternly. She nodded again.
"The Star of Light." He whispered, his eyes beginning to close.
Toon Link could only shake his head wildly, shaking Link's body. "No, Link. Get up! C'mon!" He yelled.
He smiled, his blue eyes proud as a beast, gazed into the younger hero's eyes.
"Link, be strong." He spoke quietly, bring his hand up to wipe away the child's tears.
"I'll always be with you…"
He allowed his heavy eyes to close. For once, death seemed sweet. He would be free of pain.
Toon Link shook Link's body desperately.
"NO LINK WAKE UP! PLEASE!" He shrieked. "YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE I HAVE LEFT!" He cried, his tears flowing down his cheeks.
"You werent supposed to... die..." The boy whispered.
With a final heroic breath, the Hero of Twilight left this world to ascend to the next. His left hand pulsed with the glow of the Triforce of Courage one last time, and then faded.
The whole castle started to shake. Bayonetta quickly picked up the sobbing hylian boy, holding him close.
Then she gasped as the walls of the throne room suddenly tore open as dark laughter boomed.
Cursing, she quickly activated witch time and created a portal to Purgatorio.
Time slowed down to a halt.
She quickly ran out of the throne room, but took one last glance back at the fallen Hero of Twilight.
Master Hand had already snapped his fingers, and the hero was reduced to ashes, ashes that blew away with the wind.
The Master Sword and Hylian Shield lay there, never to be wielded again.
It gave her a terrible flashback to what she had seen in Vigrid 500 years ago.
With that, the Hero of Winds was the only remaining Link, both figuratively and literally. The only one who had the power to stop Ganondorf, and the only one who had the power of the Triforce on their side.
But even then, there was an even bigger threat than Ganondorf.
Galeem, who had taken control of Master Hand, and killed the Hero of Twilight and Princess of Hyrule.