"Honor him."
- Gladiator
A crippled figure clad in light blue hobbled out of the ruins of Hyrule Castle. Calamity Ganon was dead. The kingdom was saved for all eternity and had finally won its chance to rebuild. Link just needed to see it for himself before he let go, before he went back to where he truly belonged. He yearned for the place that would have been his home had the war not taken such a tragic turn centuries ago.
The sky was clear blue with pure white clouds. Tiny songbirds were already beginning to return to the broken walls along the old market road. The curtain of death and misery had been lifted from the city, never to return. Link stared straight up at the clear white sun as if he were daring it to blind him where he stood. It wouldn't matter now. He didn't have much time left.
A staggered grunt escaped his mouth. The pain from the wounds he had suffered in the climactic battle finally got the better of him. He collapsed to his knees for a moment, then lifelessly toppled face-first against the abandoned street. The Master Sword landed at his right side. The Hylian Shield still draped over his left.
Princess Zelda weaved out of the castle's remains with her arm shielding her eyes. It was the first time she had seen the light outside this bright in ages. She was so cheerful, so relieved, and so hopeful that the horrors were finally over.
Then she saw what lay in the path in front of her.
She desperately threw herself over Link's motionless body and cradled him on her knees. She screamed his name, shook him in her arms, and begged for his eyes to open.
The life had already left him.
"Wait, no! Don't go!" she sobbed over him. "We're supposed to save the kingdom together!"
"We already have," Link's faded voice echoed from above.
Zelda gazed up toward the four Divine Beasts protecting her, and the cleansed spirits of the Champions who piloted them. Revali with Vah Medoh. Urbosa with Vah Naboris. Daruk with Vah Rudania...
Link and Mipha were hovering over Vah Ruta's head. The pale green flames of their spirits played together at their feet.
"You've spent a hundred years holding Ganon back by yourself," Link's visage said with a proud smile. "You barely needed me to save you in the end."
He kept the words delicate as he spoke. He was overwhelmed with peace, but he wasn't there to mock or to brag. He was there to give the surviving princess a small piece of closure. In another world, the two of them would have walked out of the castle's remains hand in hand.
"You and I've already spent a lifetime together, Zelda." The words flowed with a trickle of nostalgic sadness. "I was just asleep for most of it."
His soft spectral eyes filled with a twinkle of comfort and support.
"After all the pain you've gone through, you've earned your happy ending. Now Mipha needs hers."
Revali, Urbosa, and Daruk smiled in unison.
Zelda's emotions calmed. She looked down in serene compassion, still clutching the fallen hero close to her heart. She closed her tearful eyes and imagined a new kingdom of peace and tranquility, with an immortal statue of Link raising his sword triumphantly in the center. He could still be with her in other ways.
The spirits flickered into green embers and faded from sight. The Divine Beasts slowly turned and began the long journey back to their ancestral homes.
Author's note: I made him do the Ocarina Game Over! I made him do the Ocarina Game Over! Did you see it? Did you see it?