"Deku-nade!" Keane warned merely a split-second before the little cylinder detonated, emitting a blinding flash of light combined with an extremely loud BANG, stunning the Hyruleans. Link's vision was entirely bright colors and he could vaguely feel himself nearly falling over. He found the wall for support, but his ears were giving him nothing either. He was momentarily lost in an empty world. He could feel someone dragging him backward, up the stairs. He could just barely make out a feminine voice calling to him. He figured that must have been the princess.
Then in an instant the world flooded back to life. Three Black Berets lay awkwardly on the stairs beneath him, riddled with bullets. Keane, Gaynes, and Brok. He swore to himself. The princess had been around the bend in the stairs enough to avoid being stunned by the Deku-nade, and had pulled Link free of the carnage before the Gerudos were able to start shooting.
"Link, get up!" She was shouting over the gunfire. Somehow Brago Gorman had also survived and was now returning fire at the Gerudos who dared to show their face around the inner wall of the spiral staircase.
Coming to his senses again, Link took command. "Gorman! Retreat!" Immediately, the seasoned soldier began taking steps backward up the staircase, all the while keeping his battle rifle trained on the constant bend in the inner wall. Footfalls indicated that the Gerudos were advancing again, and their numbers were no fewer than they had originally been. The Hyruleans retreated up the spiral staircase just far enough from the Gerudos that no shots were fired for a time. Then they were back in the room where Ghirahim lay dead.
"Find cover!" Link shouted to Gorman and the princess, grabbing a dense dresser and hauling it over sideways. He dove behind it with the princess as Green 3 took separate cover. He peeked over the top of the dresser, sighting in the opening from where the Gerudos would emerge. Then three did emerge and he sent lead their way, felling two rapidly. Brago Gorman's bullets took the last one. Two more peeked around the corner and returned fire. The projectiles tore through the air above Link's head, and Gorman eliminated the new threat while they aimed for the princess and her captain.
The Gerudos came steadily and died steadily, but Captain Forester's ammunition would not last forever. Just as he began to fire from his final magazine, Gorman's voice came to him through his helmet's communication system. "Captain, I'm out of ammo."
Link's heart sank. This would prove to be their final mission afterall. But suddenly Gerudos ceased to emerge from the stairway. Could it be that they had finally killed enough of them that they had given up their assault?
No such luck. The next moment, a grenade bounced into the room.
"Get down!" Link shouted. The Hyrulean Black Beret tackled the princess to the ground, shielding her with himself. Then the grenade detonated. For a moment, he felt nothing, only a blur of confusion. But when that blur subsided, in its place was pain in his right shoulder and lower back.
If there was one thing he had learned in the military however, it was that a moment's hesitation could cost both you and your team your lives, so he gritted his teeth and rose back up to a knee. He took a grenade from his belt and pulled the pin before hurling it in the direction of the enemy with his bad arm that was undamaged.
With the grenade out, his strength buckled and he lay awkwardly on his side, looking to the princess and giving her a quick once over. "Your Highness, are you alright?" he managed. Though she couldn't see through his visor, he was grimacing painfully.
"Yes, thank you," she whispered. He nodded in satisfaction and rose back up to a knee.
"Gorman?" He asked through their communication relay.
Gorman's reply was weak, but sounded sure enough: "I'm fine. Secure the princess." So the captain peered over the now-severely damaged dresser, and saw no more Gerudos advancing at the moment. Coming to a decision, he tossed his third and final grenade into the stairwell to clear out any other Gerudos in that immediate area on the staircase and took his chance to shut the heavy iron door that was wide open. Once it was shut, he barricaded it with the dresser.
When that was done and he judged that they were safe for the next few moments, he went to check on Brago. He knelt by the soldier's side. "Gorman, are you- Gorman!" The seasoned fighter lay still. Several shrapnel wounds had been opened, and a large pool of blood rested beneath him. "Damn!" He shouted, grimacing from the pain of his own injuries.
He could feel his own precious fluid leaking out of his side as well, causing the area to be hot, sticky and wet. He blinked away a wave of lightheadedness and rose back to his feet. He cursed again under his breath, then he strode to where the princess stood on the other side of the room.
"Your Highness, I don't know how to get you out of here anymore. Our plan was demolished."
The princess looked at Captain Forester for a moment. Then she rushed forward and embraced him tightly. He removed his helmet and hugged her back. "Link, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean a word of what I said last week. I was just angry and stressed."
"I know," he whispered. Then, after a moment, he added: "I will always come after you."
The princess separated them slightly, then looked up at his face. His golden locks were matted down with sweat. "Thank you," she said with a ghost of a smile. "I wish-" she cut off as her hands reached the small of his back. "Oh Nayru, you're wounded!" She felt the hot blood that had soaked through his equipment, and stared at the scarlet that had transferred to her pale hand.
"I'm fine, Zelda," he said calmly, taking her hand and wiping it off on the thigh of his black combat pants. Just then, Gerudo soldiers were pounding on the door. They both looked at it. Link sighed, and separated himself from the princess. He looked down at his M42 and the final magazine that was in it. "But I'm just about out of ammo. It won't take long for them to overwhelm us.
The pounding on the door was only growing intense, and Link was surprised that the door hadn't given way already.
He came to a decision. "I'll hold them off for as long as i can at the door. You take my pack and use the emergency parachute to glide out of the fortress. There is a friendly helicopter cloaked on the knoll directly east of here. Get to it and get out of here." Zelda tried to protest, but he removed his backpack and put it in her arms.
"No! I won't leave you here!" She dropped the backpack on the floor, blinking back tears as the finality of the moment hit her.
"Zelda. Either both of us die, or you escape. My mission is to get you home safe, not allow you to die here with me. Pick the parachute up!"
"I can't leave you here," she said, more pleading with him than anything. "I'll fight with you!"
"Zelda, your courage is not at stake here. The way you freed yourself from Ghirahim's grasp was incredibly brave. There is simply no weapon here for you to use. This is the only way," he said firmly, picking the pack back up himself and putting it back in her arms. Then he took his P136 from its holster and aimed it at the window. He put a few rounds through it to weaken it, and a spiderweb-like crack started.
Finally, the door burst off its hinges, but was momentarily held up by the dresser.
They both whirled to look at it, then they met eyes. Captain Forester held her gaze for a few long seconds, and tears welled up in Zelda's eyes. He put his helmet back on.
He turned back on the door then, and stalked toward the opening that had been created, returning his pistol to its holster and readying his rifle.
"Link! Wait!" the princess cried out, her voice breaking. At long last, this was how it was going to end.
The Gerduos however, did not expect Captain Forester to go on the offensive solo, so they were caught off guard when he suddenly filled the opening and started shooting from the hip. The first few Gerudos screamed in agony and fell to the floor, dead. He swept the barrel of his gun across the opening, unloading his entire clip into the unready Gerudos in the small anteroom there.
He glanced back and saw Zelda standing by the window watching him. She had the backpack on now, but was not moving.
"Go!" he shouted over the roar of his M42. She shook her head emphatically, tears streaming from her eyes. She was willing to die here with him, he realized.
A bullet struck his left shoulder, causing his upper body to react violently, and he vaguely heard the princess gasp. He continued to fire at the enemy, killing every soldier that attempted to come through the anteroom, but then the report of his weapon changed from an ear splitting frenzy of CRACKs to a quiet series of clicks. He tossed the weapon on the floor.
But he couldn't let her die here. He turned and ran for her, clutching his shoulder. Unbuckling his belt, he yanked it out of his belt loops. He raised it up to his chest and wrapped it around him and then through the straps on the backpack in front of Zelda and secured it.
He had never been this close to her.
Then as her arms went around him, he wrapped his right arm around her waist and took hold of the parachute release in his left. Their heads were right next to each other, and he removed his helmet, dropping it on the floor. "Everything is going to be okay," he whispered as encouragingly as he could manage.
Swallowing back another wave of lightheadedness, he launched them through the window just as the Gerudos got the door completely open.
The moment they began falling, he hauled on the release, opening the parachute. For a heart stopping moment, the parachute simply seemed to flail, but then it caught, and yanked them upward from their fall. They were still falling down faster than they were going east though, and they were still falling very fast.
"Shit! This stupid emergency parachute can't hold both of us," Link said, getting out the MasterKnife.
"What are you doing?!" The princess asked anxiously.
"Only one of us can make it out of here, Zelda, and it has to be you."
"Link no, we can land like this!"
"No, we're falling too fast. And there's no way we'll get out alive if we land inside the castle walls. I'm sorry." The princess began to try to plead with him more, but suddenly he twisted his neck and used his right hand to turn her head and planted his lips firmly against hers. All the words that she had been thinking were lost in surprise and raw emotion in that blindingly powerful kiss.
Then the belt holding him up was sheared by the MasterKnife, and her blonde hero plummeted out of her grip, and his lips away from hers. Immediately, the parachute slowed her fall to a glide.
"Noooo!" she cried, reaching out for him although he was gone. Her shoulders shook as she floated calmly eastward on a peaceful breeze. Her childhood friend and lifelong companion was gone. She had always been able to rely on him. She had always been able to confide in him. He had always been there for her. And now, he was gone.
Gone.
Why did he have to be the one who was sent in to rescue her? There were plenty of teams of Black Berets. Of course, her father, King Daphnes Nohansen trusted Captain Forester and his Green Unit the most, as they were his highest achieving special forces team.
Link. She could scarcely think of anything else when abruptly the hillside was looming up in front of her.
She knew how to land. She had gone skydiving before, so when the ground met her feet, she tucked and somersaulted gracefully.
But her heart was broken, and she would never again sit with Link in Hyrule field under the great pine tree outside of castle town and talk about life.
She removed the parachute pack from her shoulders and trudged up the hill, wrapping her arms around herself with tears still spilling down her cheeks. At the top of the hill, a man seemed to materialize and came running toward her.
"Your Highness!" he called. "Where is Captain Forester and his team?" As the man reached her, he noticed the tears streaming down her visage and his question was answered. "Oh… Well, come on, we have to get you home." Together, they went back up the hill and when they were within a few feet of it, they were suddenly able to see the the cloaked helicopter and the Hyrulean airman helped her up onto the open passenger deck.
"The Princess is safely aboard! On your go, Albatross," the airman with Zelda said into a walkie talkie.
"Roger that," the response crackled. The whine of the helicopter's engines began quietly at first, and suddenly an explosion rocked the fortress, causing both the airman and the princess to stare in wonder as a plume of fire and smoke rose in the air. Then, the sound of an engine screaming at full revolutions could be heard from somewhere inside the compound. As if in response, the crack of small arms firing began to chatter.
As the sound continued without any visual cues, the onlookers' confusion and curiosity rose. Zelda dared not let her hopes rise as well.
Shortly, the noise of their own craft drowned out any noise from the castle and the rotors on the roof began to rotate. In moments, she could feel that they were hovering.
Then a light reconnaissance vehicle smashed through the east gate and began racing up the hill. Immediately, the helicopter swung around to face the new threat, its cannons targeting the vehicle. Unexpectedly however, an RPG was launched from the castle walls and was not aimed at the Hyrulean chopper, but instead at the recon vehicle itself.
"It's Link!" Zelda shouted, her heart leaping into her throat. The missile directed at the speeding truck missed its mark, exploding on the hillside yards away. Despite the miss, the concussion of the blast caused the vehicle to swerve and skid off to its right, nearly rolling over. It regained its traction however and continued to race up the hill. Another explosive projectile was launched from the wall, and it screamed toward the vehicle. The rocket propelled grenade struck the earth just behind the vehicle, sending it flipping forward. During its flip, the centrifugal force ejected the occupant from the vehicle, hurling him further up the hill. To the princess, watching Captain Forester fly through the air seemed to take a heart wrenching eternity.
Then he made impact with the dirt. She nearly forgot to breathe; her heart still in her throat; her whole being waiting on pins and needles to see what happened next. To her excitement and infinite joy, he rose slowly, displaying his grit and courage. Clutching his side, he took a step toward them, stumbled, and fell back to the ground, face down. "Oh Din no!" She cried, dropping down from the side of the helicopter.
"Your Highness, wait!" The airman sitting next to her called, but she was already landing on the hill some feet below and sprinting to the still form of the Black Beret Captain. "Albatross, to ground!" The airman shouted into his radio, following the princess to where Green 1 lay in the Gerudo dirt.
She reached him first and dropped to her knees by his side. Her vision was blurred by tears. Wiping them away hastily, she took hold of his shoulder and hip and gently rolled him over. By then, the airman had arrived as well.
For some reason, the Gerudos had ceased fire.
"Oh shit," the man started bluntly, "he's in real bad shape."
"Gods no," the princess murmured.
"Come on, we need to get him to the chopper so we can stop the bleeding."
Zelda nodded and the two picked up the wounded captain, carrying him toward the escape helicopter. The princess had his legs while the airman had him beneath the arms, and as Zelda looked at his bloodied face, her heart felt as though it would explode. Even though he was unconscious, his teeth were still gritted, and his eyebrows were set in a way that exuded concentration; concentration on ignoring excruciating pain. Her vision again clouded with tears, but she couldn't spare a hand to wipe them now. After what seemed to Zelda like an eternity, they finally reached the chopper which the pilot had set back down and laid Link on the floor of the passenger deck. After hopping up themselves, the airman radioed the pilot once again.
The rotors picked up speed and shortly the Hyrulean aircraft lifted off the sandy hill. This time as it rose into the air however, walls on either side of the copter's hull slid shut automatically, and then they were moving back toward Hyrule.
Before she could let out her pent up breath however, an alarm began to sound within the helicopter and quickly increased in both frequency and volume.
"Missile incoming," droned an automated voice.
"Brace yourselves," crackled the voice of the pilot. "Taking evasive action." Before the Zelda could grab something however, the craft pitched violently to the left and downward. She lost her balance and ended up on her side, though no explosion or fiery death followed, so the princess realized thankfully that they had successfully dodged the rocket.
The helicopter barely having righted itself in air, the airman was already beginning to tend to Captain Forester.
"He's in critical condition," the airman said over the sound of the engine spinning the rotors. Though the interior of the chopper was well insulated and blocked out much exterior noise, it was still relatively loud within the passenger cabin.
The airman removed the breastplate of the wounded captain's armour to examine the extent of his injuries. Shortly, he rose and removed a small device from the wall. Holding it above Green Leader and looking at it closely, he sighed.
"His broken ribs have punctured his vitals. He is hemorrhaging internally."
"What?" the princess asked breathlessly, face blanched.
"He is bleeding internally," the member of the Hyrulean Royal Air Force clarified, "and I don't have the means to stop the bleeding. After hearing the man's words, the Hyrule's Princess Royal didn't have any of her own. She simply knelt by the fallen captain's side, and laid her hand on his chest which rose and fell slowly. "I am sorry," the airman continued, "he doesn't have long." Renewed tears cascaded down Zelda's face as she picked up one of Link's hands.
Just then, as if on cue, his eyes opened. She gasped.
"Z-Zelda?" he managed in a fragile whisper.
"I'm here," she whispered back hopefully with her vision still clouded. His breath caught and he grimaced awfully, resisting the intense urge to cough.
"You're safe," he murmured, a vague smile crossing his bloody features. After his eyes met hers for a long moment, they eyes drifted shut.
"Link, wait. Look at me! You're going to be okay," she said, trying to convince herself more than anything else. "Link!"
Eyes still closed, her hero managed one last sentence. "I love you." Then his chest fell one last time and did not rise again.
THE END