AN: Please welcome the last chapter. Following it will be the epilogue. Full disclaimer that I have NOT played Breath of the Wild, so I cannot make any Zelda continuity based on that. What follows is based on my experience with Skyward Sword.

Adelsa ran towards the sound and feel of magic exploding in the air. Qamar was behind her, silent except for her sharp intake of breaths. They rounded a corner, and the square before the council building strewed before them, wreckage and rubble forcing them to slow. In the middle a golden light suddenly blinded Adelsa, and she stopped with an involuntary cry. Her hand that held the sword was suddenly drawn forward, almost dragging her towards the center of that light. She snatched it back towards her, cradling it against her chest like a struggling bird.

As she blinked, trying to clear her vision, two figures became clear. Link and Ganondorf stood face-to-face, and-

Suddenly the towering Gerudo's arm flashed out, and Link toppled to the ground. Adelsa felt the full force of his gaze send a fire of alarm and fear through every nerve in her body.

He has taken the Triforce! Adelsa could hear the horror in the spirit's voice. He comes for us!

Battling her instinctual reactions, Adelsa drew herself up, and stood still. Ganondorf seemed to contemplate her for a minute, his expression unreadable. Then he strode forward. Behind him two figures were running towards him, as if to fight; without looking back he waved a hand and tongues of black fire brought them to their knees.

When he was a sword's length away, he looked down at her. She met his gaze, and tried to read it, wondering if he could feel the spirit's fear and anger within her. He seemed amused, mildly concerned, perhaps, and something else... confusion? Anxiety?

Dread?

"Are you, too, renouncing your part in this at last?" His words settled on her like ashes from the wind. "We are all here." His gaze turned to the sword she held. "Even the blade."

Adelsa thought she felt the Master Sword quiver, as if in response.

What are you doing, Adelsa?

Adelsa's eyes flared wide. It was the first time the spirit had ever addressed her by name. Ganondorf saw her reaction, and a frown crept on his features.

She settled her own face. "I am stepping out of this cycle. And so are you." She brought the blade up between them, offering it and a faint smile as salute. Then, as quickly as she knew how, she brought the blade down on the dark king's hand.

A sound like light screaming off metal rang out; Ganondorf leaped backward with a dark yell. One hand lay among the rubble. Blood splattered in ashy rings on the pavement.

"If you intend to take the Triforce for your own," he gasped, pain and anger lining his features, "then let me show you how it's done!"

In his good hand a blade appeared, its surface glimmering with black fire. Blood trickled through the smile now drawing across his face. "Princess, the mark alone dwells in your hand. The true Triforce lies... beyond your heart." With that he brought the blade down on the Master Sword, and Adelsa screamed as the crash of it assaulted her arms and ears. She stumbled backward, and the Gerudo would have pressed forward with a slice to take a limb off, but his path was blocked by a sudden spiral of flames.

He paused. Through the pain in his face, a genuine sadness seemed to take his eyes. "Truly? The last of us, you would do this?"

"You're the last. I'll be the first." Qamar's stance held firm. "And I doubt anything you ever offered me would be true."

Ganondorf shifted, and realized the approach on his flank. The other three whom he'd forgotten had made their way around the dying fires. His lip curled.

"How is this any different?" he sneered. "You still resist. You still fight."

He blocked the blow that Jason aimed at him, and gestured with his handless arm; dark drips sizzled on the fires and put them out. Adelsa held the Master Sword up to counter the strike that came. She knew she would not last more than a minute against him. Was she still making the right choice?

No. She was making the same one. What would be different?

You still resist...

She met the Gerudo's eyes. That was it.

Ah. I... I see what you are doing...

The spirit's voice echoed in her ears as she brought the sword up again in salute. This time, she let it go; time seemed to slow as it traced its bright arc through the air and clattered to the ground. She steeled herself for the dark blade's edge, but as Ganondorf lunged for her, his dark blade vanished, and his hand seized hers.

His grip broke the bones of her arm and Adelsa almost collapsed as the pain slammed into her. But worse still, something was clawing its way through her internal defenses – she could feel him trying to reach for the golden light inside of her.

Everything seemed to break into ringing silence, as she lifted her eyes through a fog to meet his. The desperate longing was naked in them now. A longing, not just for this power, but for control, any kind of control, over himself and his fate... to be somewhere where his own path would not forever lead him to a fatal doom, to endless memories of disdain, denial, defeat. His brokenness now could only ever break everything around him.

Before he could reach her, she let go. The light shot out of her, but instead of blinding her, it seemed to soften everything. The golden triangle appeared hanging in the space between them. Before Ganondorf could react, Adelsa felt another hand join their interlocked limbs. The light enveloped Link and drew him into their circle. Unbidden, the other two triangles shimmered into being, joining together into the shape burned into their three minds.

With a wordless cry, Ganondorf brought his arm forward, trying to touch it. Before he could, the world around them shifted. They stood now high above the land, the air around them crystallizing into a sky so blue Adelsa's eyes hurt to look. Clouds drifted by as a gentle light held the three of them suspended in space.

Adelsa felt something rising from her body. From the others, too, she saw a mist, taking off from each of them to swirl and form into three beings. Each being resembled them, and yet each face was far older, full of sorrow and weariness.

"Demise. This has lasted long enough." The Goddess Hylia addressed the dark demon, whose air burned in bitter embers. "We have kept these mortals locked together for too long. We are ready. You are ready."

Demise snarled, but it was faint, with no edge. "And leave your kind triumphant? To overrun the lands til there is no free space left?"

"A balance will be kept." The Hero, soft scars lining the edges of his cheeks, held out a hand to the Triforce. "This must leave the land. No longer can it be a matter of mortals seeking out immortal power."

"They will be free to decide their own fate," said Hylia softly. "And we will leave in the hands of the goddesses."

Demise was silent. For an instant—only one—something in his face split open and the eons of unending loneliness were bare. Then it vanished, and he with it.

The Hero and the Goddess looked at each other. Then they came down to stand with the three below them.

"Mortal vessels, your work is done." There was no smile on Hylia's face, but her eyes were warm. "Only in refusing to fight could you change anything. We will let your lives take their own course, now. Go, and live."

The skies broke Adelsa's heart as they faded away, to bring them back to the ash-choked square. The grip on her hand relaxed, and she felt herself falling back into another's arms. In her dim vision, she saw Link collapsed in his twin's embrace, and Qamar was lowering Ganondorf's body to the ground.

Between the searing pain in her body and the sharp ache in her heart, she let herself fall the rest of the way into darkness.