Title: And the World Goes On
Fandom: The Legend of Zelda
Pairing/Characters: Zelda
Warning(s): Character death
Genre: Gen
Originally written on 10 April, the 100th day of the year.
Link died easily, and they burned his corpse. Based on what they understood of the scriptures, they spread his ashes in every crevice of the world -- from the heights of Death Mountain, to the edges of the Gerudo Desert, to the bottom of Lake Hylia. They wept as they watched their hero fade away, leaving their world to join the spirits of the heroes that had come before him.
Zelda was old now, and heavy with the burden of four children and a kingdom; she loved her country, but her time was drawing close. She said nothing at his funeral but that which she was forced by tradition to say. Afterward she hugged her children, shook her husband's hand, and retreated into her room.
She stayed there alone for days, eating little, looking out her window, gazing down at her world below. She saw no-one and answered questions as to whether or not she was alive with a single world. At the end of the seventh day, she came.
"Princess Zelda," Nayru said, appearing as a lit shadow of a female form draped in watery blue.
"Nayru," Zelda returned, not looking towards her. The symbol on her left hand glowed in response to the presence of her goddess. "How is your world?"
"It's your world as well, my princess." She sat on the bed next to Zelda and patted her right hand. "He's with us. And now-"
"-I must go with you as well."
There was a short silence. "Yes, my princess. Your time has come."
Zelda sighed, stood, and walked over to the window. She pressed her hand to the pane of glass; the bars on it had not come down, even in their safe world. "And tell me, Nayru. How many years until Ganon rises again? Why must he -- why must we do this forever?"
"My princess. You ask of forces greater than even I or my sisters. Fate, Princess Zelda, answers to none but herself."
"I suppose you're right. The Triforce will go to my first daughter, then?"
"Yes, my lady. And it will show itself when the time comes. If you will?"
She held out her right hand, which Nayru took, and that which was the corporeal Princess Zelda fell to the ground. Goddess and princess phased through the wall and flew over the land of Hyrule, over the land and ocean, to a place far beyond the land of the living.
Zelda and Link died easily. The world goes on.