A/N: I can't believe I'm finally completing this story *wipes sweat off brow* (no this isn't the last chapter, silly). It's been such a long and wonderful journey with you guys. Thanks for reading! Sorry for all the long waits.

Shadow's Overture, Chapter 9.

~Link's POV~

A strange, breathless moment passes in which Zant and I meet each other's eyes. I'm not sure if he can see what's going to happen as clearly as I can. I know how he hopes it will go, but nothing more. I'm sure he believes he's completely figured me out - and maybe he has after all this time - but if I don't even know myself, how can he?

At the conclusion of this moment, thinking back, I probably had a choice. To attack, or to defend. Only one would have ended in failure, while the other had the ability to win the war that very moment.

Naturally, I end up picking the wrong option. It doesn't seem that way at first - I swing my sword and slice through his armor, cutting into his chest - and yet he doesn't flinch, or stagger. Instead, he continues his plotted attack. Before I even know what's happening, I'm on the ground and I can't breathe. An intense shock ripples steadily through my body, and when it seems as though it can't get any worse, it does. It starts to burn.

One attack, and I'm helpless - when back in the war against Ganondorf I was so much stronger. How can that even be...?

Zant cuts off his attack and walks over. I shut my eyes not long ago, hoping that a lack of sight would help. It didn't, but at least now it saves me from his pompous, overjoyed demeanor.

"Open your eyes."

I don't respond, and without warning he picks me up by the collar and rams me against a tree nearby. My initial yelp is more of a cough than anything else.

"I said open them!"

I almost say something that would get me killed immediately, but instead I force all of the defiance and fury I have into my gaze and open my eyes to meet his.

He draws back his mask, a cruel smirk plastered across his face. "It's official. You lose."

"I may be losing, but you're the one who's bleeding."

His smile twists into the most vile of scowls, and out of nowhere blooms an awful, throbbing pain in my stomach. I cry out and am met with another blossoming bruise that forces the air out of my lungs.

"I'm so sick of you," Zant hisses, "that I'm tempted to throw you into the middle of the battlefield just to watch you fall, crushed under the feet of both of our armies." He closes a hand around my throat, slowly applying pressure. I can barely hear my shallow gasps of breath above the cries of soldiers below. Are they getting closer? Zant continues speaking before I can see. "I prefer this, however. I've killed Midna, and now I'm going to kill you."

Somehow, that line strikes at a thought.

He killed Midna.

It wasn't me.

He killed her.

And just in time for my struggle at escape, something strikes Zant in the back of the head. He flinches, his head turning to search for the desperate attacker - it seems he thinks I can't get away - and within that moment I kick him roughly in the stomach, forcing him away and rolling off to the left to grab my sword. My shield is still laying on the other side of Zant, so I guess a sword will have to do for now.

The moment I retrieve the Master Sword, I look up and see something that could only be described as a scene from a legend. The small child, trying to stand tall even though his opponent towers over him, casting a long shadow.

Talo, facing off against Zant and thus giving me time to recover. He has only a slingshot in his hand, and his bandanna has fallen from his head back by the center of the battle, but the look in his eyes conveys enough determination and fierce bravery that any monster would run away.

Zant isn't any monster, however, and so I rise to my feet. It's as though I'm fueled by some ancient power when I move to his side without a sound, and within a mere second. And yet after I have, this power fades, leaving me to feel even more empty than before.

Still I stand as tall as I can - which isn't very tall, but still slightly intimidating - taking the edge off of my ally.

"You won't lay a finger on him," I hiss, moving just slightly in front of the child I knew before he was born. "Not while my heart is still beating."

~Meanwhile, Zelda's POV~

Zant's boot connects with my stomach - and a whispering thought flies through my head as I fly through the air that he just hit a princess - but that thought is gone by the time I hit the ground. For a moment I lay still, wheezing in breath and looking over at where Link is limp on the ground. I want to help him, but...sensing that these fierce pains are more than just new bruises, I know I can't do much else.

It's starting to look as though we really can't succeed. And then a strangely suspicious bottle full of red liquid appears in front of me, delivered by an even more suspicious pale grey hand. I tilt my gaze up to see Ghirahim standing there with a hand on his hip.

"Drink up, princess. It's all I have, aside from a bit of advice." With his free hand he flips his hair back. "Call in more help."

"What help? Who else can possibly come?" I choke out, struggling even to lift my hand to reach for the bottle. He nudges it towards me, and I continue. "The Twili are here. The Zoras are here. The Gorons are here. The knights are here. I sense that the spirits are here, supporting us. There is no one else."

He smirks. "There is one other. You know, I'm sure, who she is."

I shake my head upon coming to the realization. "Midna? But she's..."

"That may be the case," he admits, lifting a finger, the cocky smirk still plastered upon his face. "But there is a way. And if you can find that way..." He looks up in Link and Zant's direction. The former Hero looks almost as though he has given up again, pain etched onto every inch of his face. "...then you may save his life, as well."

"How?" I whisper. "You can't bring back the dead. It's impossible. Once a life has gone, there's no way of getting it back."

Ghirahim laughs. "That is a lie, princess. Drink the potion, get up, and use that wisdom of yours to Hyrule's advantage. You will figure it out. When you do, give the two my best wishes." With his words spoken, he departs, fading into nothingness, and I sense that this time he is gone for good.

My brain scurries into overdrive even before I heave my broken body up and lift the potion to my lips. If there is a way to bring Midna back, how could it happen?

The answer is that there is no way. Unless, somehow, the Goddesses have mercy on us and -

That's it.

I shall pray.

The bottle I used lays discarded at my side as I sit back on my ankles, clasping my hands together and whispering barely audible words.

"Din, Nayru, Farore - Hylia, I pray to thee for guidance and assistance. I've asked too much of thee over this time, but I request that thy divine spirits have mercy on me, and revoke all of those requests." I look up to the sky, and for a moment I believe I see a twinkle in the stars above. "I implore thee. Restore the Twilight Princess' life, and bring spirit back to our Hero."

I bow my head, expecting nothing but hoping for something - anything - from the Goddesses who established my existence. And yet...I hear something, and when I open my eyes I see the hem of a long, black cloak.

"I never thought I would see the day that the ruler of Hyrule bowed before me," a sarcastic voice began, breaking the hold on my tears. "But then, I never thought I'd see myself alive again."