A/N: Big bad badlands time. Oh, and to the guest who reviewed: yes, Link really is dense.
-o-
Epona slowed to a walk as the terrain changed under her hooves, from fresh green grass to dark stone, littered with ash. Link urged her forward, drawing his sword. He had considered leaving his horse back on the safety of Hyrule Field, but decided that it would be easier to keep her with him. It might give him an advantage over the monsters he was sure he would have to fight. He tried to remember everything he had heard about the badlands. He recalled Zelda saying something about monsters of all kinds roaming there, and gulped. He wasn't looking forward to this.
Suddenly he heard a screech from above, and turned to see a flock of Keese heading directly for him. He slashed quickly with his sword, disposing of them, but the shock sent Epona into a gallop. Link tried hauling on the reins, but this just made his arms ache. Instead, he settled for just hanging on and hoping Epona knew what she was doing.
As they sped through the badlands, Link saw various monsters flash past, too stunned to attack. Looking ahead, he saw more monsters roaming around, but they fled when they saw the horse bearing down on them. One, a Stalfos, stood its ground and raised its swords, screaming at Link, but he drew his sword and slashed through its skull as he passed, watching as it collapsed into a pile of dust. A bump underfoot nearly threw Link from Epona's back, and looking behind him he saw that Epona had trampled straight over a group of Leevers. He smiled and patted the mare's neck. She neighed, but didn't slow down.
While they raced along, Link looked all around them, searching for some sign of Zelda or Demise. But steep walls of dark rock rose high on either side of him, blocking his view. Disappointed, Link looked ahead in the direction Epona was heading, and his eyes widened. A dark shape loomed on the horizon. As Link squinted, trying to get a better look, he saw that it was a large temple, built from the same dark stone of the surrounding badlands. It also reminded him of something, but he couldn't remember what. Shrugging, he decided that it was probably the best place to look for Demise, and urged Epona further down the path.
Soon he saw a large open space up ahead, and beyond that lay the dark temple. But as he smiled in relief, he heard a strange sound, like a hunting horn. He frowned, looking around, but couldn't find the source of the noise. He heard hoofbeats above him, and realised that something must be riding along the stone ridges on either side of him. For a moment he wondered if it was Zelda, but the hoofbeats didn't sound as though they belonged to a horse. Epona whinnied nervously, and Link suddenly remembered what the sound reminded him of: when he and Zelda had been riding across Hyrule Field, and they had been attacked by Bullbos and Bulblins.
He raised his bow, looking up for the monsters. He caught brief glimpses of them as they rode along above him, and whenever he did he quickly shot an arrow. Several monsters fell past him, their Bullbos rampaging off into the distance, but Link knew there were still more. Finally Epona made it out into the open space, and Link turned her around to face his enemies. He frowned, seeing only two Bulblins. But neither of them held a hunting horn, and at least one set of hoofbeats had sounded as though they belonged to something heavier…
Shaking himself, he shot both Bulblins, feeling grimly satisfied as they fell and were trampled beneath the hooves of the Bullbos. The giant boars turned to Link, growling, but suddenly stopped. They stepped back, tails between their legs and shaking, before turning and racing off down the path Link had come from. He frowned; surely he wasn't able to strike such fear into the monsters' hearts all by himself
But he heard a sudden bellow behind him, and spun round. Behind him was the largest Bullbo Link had ever seen, blue rather than brown and covered in heavy armour. Each of its horns was longer and thicker than Link's leg. Its eyes glowed red as it pawed the ground, steam coming from its nostrils. But Link's attention was taken up by its rider. It was a Bulblin, but a gigantic one, three times the size of the normal monsters. It also had impressive horns to match its mount, and wore equally heavy armour. In one hand it carried a huge battle-axe, which it waved at Link while bellowing again.
Link's eyes widened, realising that his arrows wouldn't be enough to pierce the thick armour. Epona backed away, but suddenly the Bullbo charged, knocking Link clean off her back. His sword and bow flew out of his hands, and he looked around desperately for them, but saw that the King Bulblin was between him and then. He thought desperately, trying to find some way to kill the monster, but came up with nothing. Suddenly he heard more hoofbeats, pounding down the track towards them.
Great, he thought sarcastically. Just what I need. But the King Bulblin looked surprised, grunting and looking back at the track. Evidently it hadn't expected reinforcements. At that moment three more Bullbos burst into the clearing, but Link gasped when he saw the riders: red, green, and a blue and a purple rider sharing the largest beast.
'Meg!' Link yelled, recognising the Poe sisters. They were back in their Hylian forms, but Link knew that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. He felt the reassuring shape of his boomerang in his pack. He didn't want to attack the Poes without cause, but if they became a threat he knew he would at least stand a chance. Meg caught his eye, saw what he was planning, and let out her high, eerie laugh. She stood up on the back of the Bullbo, holding her torch aloft. Suddenly she waved it at the King Bublin, and a burst of purple fire shot from the torch and engulfed the monster, which disappeared in purple smoke. Meg leapt from the back of the Bullbo she rode with Beth and onto the larger, armoured Bullbo, grabbing the reins as it reared.
'You spared our lives before,' she told a shocked Link. 'Now we've saved yours. Our debt is repaid. Hyah!' she yelled as she kicked her heels into the Bullbo's sides, racing back along the path out of the badlands, followed by her sisters. 'Give our regards to the Goddess!' Meg yelled as she disappeared out of sight.
-o-
Link let out a long sigh of relief. Epona neighed and came over, nudging her master.
'I'm fine,' he reassured her. But Meg's words reminded him that he still had to find Zelda. He quickly reclaimed his sword and bow, before looking ahead to the dark temple. The ground fell away just in front of him, and below he could see only darkness.
'Not going down there, then,' he muttered. A narrow and rickety bridge led over the pit, and on the other side the path continued, leading all the way up to the dark temple. Link was about to go over the bridge, but realised that it wouldn't take the combined weight of him and Epona. Sighing, he led his horse over to a protected nook in the rock, where she would hopefully be safe from monsters. But as he rounded the corner, he gasped. Rhiannon was already waiting there.
Link laughed with relief and patted the horse's neck. If Rhiannon was here, that had to mean Zelda had already gone over the bridge. She couldn't be far away now. But Rhiannon looked ill at ease, staring at something over Link's shoulder. He spun round, thinking about the King Bulblin from before. But he saw no monsters, only a dark horse. He frowned, trying to remember where he had seen it before. Then he realised: when he and Zelda had been close to Hyrule Town, a hooded rider on a dark horse had passed them, heading for the east. This was the same horse, meaning that the rider had to be close. Link drew his sword, knowing that whoever the rider was, they were probably bad news.
-o-
He inched carefully onto the bridge, hoping it would take his weight. He reassured himself that Zelda and the unknown rider had already made it across, but he was still relieved when he made it safely to the other side. He advanced cautiously, alert for the slightest indication of danger. Suddenly he heard shouts from the path up ahead of him and raced round the corner, stopping dead when he saw the source of the noise. Zelda was lying on the ground, a trickle of blood making its way down the side of her face. Her sword lay a few feet from her, out of reach. She managed to get up on her elbows, but no further, because a sword was pressed to her throat. Her attacker was wrapped in a dark cloak, so their face was hidden, but Link didn't care who it was. No-one threatened his friend.
With a yell, he launched himself at the mysterious figure. Instantly they turned, and anger flared inside Link as he recognised the figure. Branford. The soldier raised his sword in a vain attempt to block Link's, but the strength of the blow knocked him to the ground. Link kicked the man's sword out of his hand and placed the tip of his own sword against the man's throat. Branford was motionless, staring up at Link in horror, knowing that the other Hylian would kill him without a second thought. Link raised his sword above his head, his Triforce glowing strongly, then brought it down, the blade digging deep into the ground. Branford looked, terrified, at the sword buried an inch from his head.
'Don't think that I don't want to kill you,' Link said, his eyes burning green. 'But I won't do it. Because I'm not like you. But if I ever catch you trying to hurt my friends ever again, I won't hesitate to go through with it. Understand?' The soldier nodded weakly, then scrambled to his feet and raced off across the bridge. Link watched as the man leapt onto his horse and galloped off through the badlands.
It takes more courage to spare the life of your enemy than to take the life of your friend, Link thought. Thank you, Farore. He turned and helped Zelda to her feet.
'Link!' Zelda's eyes lit up with joy. 'I honestly didn't think you were going to come.'
'Yeah, well,' Link muttered, looking down at his feet. But when he raised his eyes, he saw that Zelda was standing right in front of him.
'Link, I…' She sighed and looked away. 'I'm glad you came.' Link smiled back at her.
'Of course I came.' But then he caught sight of the wound on Zelda's head, and immediately started searching for a red potion. Zelda laughed at his eagerness and pulled one out of her pack. Link watched as her injuries healed, then looked back across the bridge, the way Branford had gone.
'What happened?' he asked.
'He was waiting for me,' Zelda replied. 'He must have come out here because he knew sooner or later we'd come. He wanted revenge. I wasn't focused, I was… thinking about other things, and before I knew what was happening he'd knocked my sword away and I was on the ground. If you hadn't come when you did…' Link nodded. He didn't want to think about what would have happened.
'Where do you think he's gone now?' Zelda asked after a moment. 'I hope he doesn't go back to the castle.' Link shook his head.
'I don't think he'll try that. And if he does, Hyra can handle him.' For a moment it looked as though Zelda was going to ask something, but she thought better of it, turning around to face the dark temple.
'Looks like you were wrong about the Temple of Power being our last temple,' Link commented. Zelda smiled ruefully.
'Oh well. But I'm pretty sure that this really is the last one.' She picked up her sword, then led the way up the path to the temple. Eventually, they reached a long staircase carved into the rock outside, and when they climbed it Link finally had a good view of the entire temple. He frowned.
'Wait, isn't this-'
'The Sealed Temple,' Zelda finished. The dark temple in front of them looked exactly the same as the one in the Sealed Grounds, except that the sacred temple was made of white marble, while this one was made of dark stone. 'I guess it makes sense, in a way,' Zelda said. 'Demise was trapped in the Master Sword for countless years, both before and after Impa's vigil. And all that time, the Master Sword was in the Sealed Temple. So Demise had plenty of time to study his surroundings. And now he's created his own dark version.' Link nodded; it did make sense, in a twisted way. He looked sidelong at Zelda.
'Are you scared?' he asked.
'Yeah. A little bit,' she replied. 'Are you?'
'Yeah.' He took her hand, and together they entered the Dark Temple.
-o-
Link's immediate thought was that Demise had done a very good job of recreating the Sealed Temple. It was identical to the real one in every way, other than the colour. At the back were the double doors which led to the room where the Master Sword had lain. Link wondered what would be there now. Drawing his sword, he nudged open the doors carefully, but the room beyond was empty. It resembled the Master Sword chamber, except that there were two doors in the back wall.
'One of those must lead to Demise,' Zelda said. 'We should split up, so that way at least one of us will find him.' Link nodded, although he wasn't eager to be separated from Zelda again.
'You take the door on the right,' he said, going over to the left door and opening it quickly. It barred itself behind him, but he barely noticed, too absorbed in the room. The walls were decorated with what Link recognised as Zora symbols, and the floor was a mosaic of blue stones. In the centre of the room was a deep pool. Link looked around, realising that the room was similar to those in the Desert Sea Temple.
'Hey, Link! Up here!' Zelda yelled, and Link turned around. On the right side of the room was a raised walkway built into the wall, separated from the rest of the room by a wall of bars which ran all the way along. Zelda was standing on the walkway, looking down at him. 'My door led in here. It's barred now, and there's another door at the other end, but that's barred too. Sorry Link, but it looks like I won't be able to help you this time. You're on your own.' Link nodded, and looked around the room.
There was another door on the far side, but that too was barred. The solution had to lie in the pool of water below. He walked to the edge, but stepped back quickly as a Bari floated up to the surface. He dropped a bomb on it, then waited a moment for any other monsters to appear. When none did, he checked that his Zora Scale was still around his neck, then jumped in.
He swam to the bottom of the pool, looking all around him as he did so, but saw nothing. The walls of the pool were lined with the same glowing blue crystals as before, but as Link looked around one crystal caught his eye. Unlike the others, it didn't glow, and on closer examination Link realised it was actually a switch. He brought out his clawshot and hit the switch, which glowed yellow. Link heard a shout from above, heavily muffled by the water, and realised that the doors must have opened. He allowed himself to float to the surface and pulled himself out of the pool.
'Link, you did it! The doors are open! I'll see you in the next room,' Zelda said, running along the walkway and opening her door. Link exited the room as well, and was greeted by a fierce blast of heat.
-o-
Trying to adjust to the rise in temperature, he turned as bars shot across the door behind him. He was standing on a narrow path of stone over a pit of lava far below. The walls of the room were lined with small ledges, roughly big enough for a person to stand on. Link realised that this room must be based on the Volcano Temple. The path he was on had crumbled away in the middle, leaving a gap too far to jump over.
While Link thought about this, he looked around and saw that the raised walkway had continued into this room, and Zelda was once again trapped and unable to help him. But as he turned back to his path, he saw the ledges around the walls of the room filling with purple smoke. When it faded, Link saw that they were crowded with Bokoblin archers, all aiming their weapons at Link.
'Let me handle this one,' Zelda called from above, and Link saw that she was raising her Bow of Light. 'Just focus on blocking their arrows and not falling.' Link obeyed and raised his shield just in time to stop the first hail of arrows. Meanwhile Zelda got to work, and flash after flash of light exploded around the walls of the room. Soon there were only two ledges left, and Link felt safe enough to use his own bow to shoot the remaining monsters.
'Thanks!' he called to Zelda, before turning back to the gap in the middle of the path. 'Any ideas on that?' Zelda thought for a moment, then shouted,
'Look up there!' Link did, and saw a gigantic stalactite hanging down directly over the gap. 'If you could get that to fall somehow, I bet that would make a good platform to help you cross,' Zelda said. Link looked up higher, and saw that the stalactite was cracked near the top. It would only take a little more force to send it down into the lava below. He quickly made a bomb arrow, then shot it up to the weak part of the stalactite. Just as Zelda had predicted, it fell and made a smooth platform for Link to jump onto, letting him cross the bridge.
As he went to open the door at the far end, he paused. By now he had realised the pattern, and knew that the next room would likely be based on the House of the Fallen. He shuddered. He had been to many places in the course of his adventures, but he didn't hate any of them quite as much as he hated the House. Still, he had Zelda to help him. Sighing, he opened the door and stepped into the dense, swirling fog beyond.
-o-
As he waved his hand to try to clear the fog, Link heard a rustling noise beyond.
Great, he thought. A mysterious unseen monster. Just what I needed.
'Link? Are you down there?' Zelda asked.
'Yeah, I'm here. Can you see anything from up there?' he shouted back.
'A little. There's a layer of fog on the floor, at your height, but it gets clearer above that. There's- hang on a second.' Link saw several flashes of light up above, and then there was a series of thumps. 'There were Skulltulas and Deku Babas hanging up above,' Zelda told him. 'I've dealt with them, but there are probably more down where you are. Be careful, Link.' He didn't need to be told twice, creeping forward with his sword at the ready. He also tested each step before he put his foot down, remembering the pit from the House.
He heard something moving off to his left and slashed at it, causing a burst of purple smoke to appear. Satisfied, he kept moving, and soon heard another noise, up ahead of him. He sliced his sword a few times, but nothing happened. Link couldn't tell if the monster was too far away, or just avoiding his attacks. He decided to cover all eventualities, and raised his sword skyward. As soon as it was filled with the sacred light, he launched a spin attack, and was rewarded with more purple smoke.
Suddenly a bright orange light glowed off to his left, and approaching it he saw that it was a torch, burning away the mist. Remembering a similar puzzle from the House, he retrieved his boomerang and hurled it through the torch and around the room. It didn't hit anything, but it illuminated enough for Link to see four more torches, in a circle around the central, lit one. He threw his boomerang again, and this time he hit all the torches, which completely burnt away the rest of the fog. Link looked up, and saw Zelda watching him.
'Well done, Link!' she said. 'If my prediction is right, we should be halfway through! Only three more rooms to go!' Link smiled up at her, then headed for the door in the far wall.
The Temple of Courage should be next, he thought, and readied his Mirror Shield just in case.
-o-
His assumption was proved correct, as the next room was full of sand. It was dimly lit from above, and looking up Link saw a partially-covered skylight. He shot a bomb arrow up at it, letting the daylight flood in, but the noise caused a hidden sand worm to race towards the centre of the room, where the explosion had happened. Link saw a raised stone platform in the centre, directly beneath the skylight, and waited until the sand worm had gone back down before racing towards it.
He made it just as the monster crashed into the platform. It reared up, gnashing its jaws, and Link was suddenly struck by an idea. He pulled out another bomb from his bag and hurled it at the creature. The hissing bomb was only too tempting a target, and the sand worm swallowed it eagerly. Link stepped back carefully, and after a few moments the bomb exploded, taking the sand worm with it.
Now why didn't I think of that when I was in the temple? Link thought. It certainly would have made things easier! He turned to survey the rest of the room, and he saw Zelda waiting up above. She shrugged down at him.
'Sorry Link, I never set foot in the Temple of Courage. I'm not going to be much use in this room.' Sighing, Link went back to looking at the room. One of the walls had a large crack on it, and Link hurled a bomb at it. Immediately he heard groans, and the bandage-wrapped monsters from the temple lurched out towards him. He raised his shield, and the sun's rays took out the first few monsters, but then one of the others screamed, freezing Link in place as they came closer. Suddenly a bolt of light shot past him, and the monster disappeared in the same way as those hit by sunlight.
'Those are Gibdos!' Zelda yelled as she hit another one. 'They're the mummified form of ReDeads, another monster. Sunlight is lethal to them, but-' she paused to shoot another arrow, 'it looks as though light arrows work just as well!' Eventually Link unfroze, and assisted Zelda in taking out the last few Gibdos. Finally there was a metallic scraping sound, and Link looked as a door he hadn't seen before became unbarred. He ran over to it but hesitated, looking up to Zelda again.
'What should I expect in the next room, assuming it's based on the Temple of Wisdom?' he asked.
'Lots of ice, so don't slip. Oh, and freezing cold water. And strong enemies. Don't worry, I'll back you up with my arrows,' Zelda reassured him. Thanking her, Link went through into the next room.
-o-
As Zelda had warned him, there was no shortage of ice. The walls, floor and ceiling were all made of it, and Link skidded a little as he entered, catching himself just before he plunged over the edge into a deep pit.
'I warned you!' Zelda said with a laugh, still safe on the raised walkway. Link looked across to the far side of the pit, and saw an unbarred door.
So all I need to do is get across, he thought. But how do I do that? He heard twittering near the ceiling and looked up in alarm to see a swarm of Keese heading straight for him, but they weren't fast enough to escape Zelda's arrows. When the room was once again clear, he turned his attention back to the pit. He spotted something that looked like an eye switch in the smooth ice opposite him, but quickly realised that it was a reflection, and the switch was on his side of the pit. There was no way for him to reach it, but he signalled to Zelda who nodded and shot the switch for him.
A spinning platform made of ice rose from the pit, and Link leapt onto it, flailing wildly as he tried to keep his balance. The room rotated dizzyingly around him, but he timed his jump carefully, and landed safely on the other side with the unbarred door. But before he went through, he turned to Zelda.
'I think the next room will be based on the Temple of Power, so it's probably best if you hold onto this,' he said, taking out the gravity rod and throwing it up to her. She caught it between the bars and carefully pulled it through. Then they both went through the doors to the next room.
-o-
Link's prediction was correct, as the next room was made of clouds. However, there wasn't much to the room. The four walls were there, and there was a small platform at each end of the room, but other than that the floor and ceiling were completely gone. Link looked up, hearing a roaring noise, and saw that a fan was blowing fiercely from just above his head, straight across the room to the other platform and the door leading out of the room.
'How are we going to do this?' Link shouted over the wind. 'If there's no ceiling or floor, I'll fall no matter which direction gravity is acting in.' Zelda thought for a moment, then had an idea.
'If I use the gravity rod on you continuously, you should stay at roughly the same height, in mid-air! When I reverse gravity, you'll fall upwards, but if I flip gravity again while you're still falling, you'll start to fall downwards. If I do that quickly enough, again and again, you'll be constantly falling, but because you're falling in different directions, you won't actually fall either way! Then you can use the fan to blow you across the room to the other side.' Link raised an eyebrow.
'That sounds difficult. Are you sure it'll work?'
'Not entirely. But it's the only idea we've got. Do you trust me to do it?' she asked, and Link nodded.
'I do. Let's give it a try.' He braced himself, and felt the familiar sensation of falling as Zelda used the gravity rod on him. But as he fell up past the fan and began to move horizontally as a result of the rushing wind, he felt himself falling back downwards. The two sensations switched, over and over, while Link held his breath and hoped. He wasn't required to do anything; gravity was doing all the work, and Zelda was controlling gravity. He spent the time praying desperately to Farore. But finally he felt himself land on solid cloud, and realised that he had made it across the room.
'You did it!' he yelled. 'That was amazing, Zelda!' She blushed slightly, not meeting his eyes.
'It wasn't that hard. And there's no time for compliments! The Temple of Power is the final temple, so we must be getting near Demise now!' Suddenly Link's heart sank. It was true, they had to be very close to the Demon King. Gulping, he carefully opened the door to the next room.
-o-
Out of habit, he immediately looked over to the right, where the raised walkway was. But to his surprise, there was no walkway, only a door and a small platform at that height. As he watched, Zelda emerged from the door and leapt down from the platform, overjoyed to be reunited with Link.
'Finally!' she exclaimed. 'I was beginning to think I'd be trapped up there forever! This must mean we're near the end. Maybe this is the final room…' As she spoke, bars shot over the doors, sealing the Hylians inside. Purple smoke billowed through the room, and when it cleared Link saw that they were surrounded by Bokoblins, electricity sparking off their swords. Link and Zelda looked at each other, grinned, and got to work.
Unlike the first time they had fought these monsters, they didn't have to use their own electric swords against them. Instead they brought out their bows, and deftly shot the monsters. But as soon as the last one fell, more smoke filled the room. This revealed several Lizalfos, screeching and slashing at the Hylians with their swords. It was the work of a few moments to dispatch these, and Link took out the last of them with a Skyward Strike.
'Stalfos comes next,' Zelda told him, having worked out the pattern. When Link looked confused, she explained: 'We have to fight the mini boss from each temple again. First was the electric Bokoblins, then the Lizalfos. The House of the Fallen had a Stalfos, you said the Temple of Courage had something which sounds to me like a Garo Master, the Temple of Wisdom had a Wizzrobe, and the Temple of Power had an Iron Knuckle. So the Stalfos is next.'
Right on cue, the swirling purple smoke revealed the monster. It screamed at the Hylians, raising its swords, but Zelda shot a light arrow straight at its skull. The bones beneath crumbled to dust, and Link smiled, thinking how much easier this was than the first time they had fought these enemies. But next was the Garo Master, and he raised his shield protectively. When the smoke cleared and the monster emerged, Link was ready, unleashing a vertical Skyward Strike which the Garo Master tried and failed to block with its own swords. A light arrow from Zelda finished it off.
'What's a Wizzrobe?' Link asked as more smoke filled the room. It cleared in the corners to reveal several strange-looking platforms.
'It warps around the room and hurls magic at you, basically,' Zelda said. 'Wait for it to appear on one of those platforms, then shoot it.'
'Done and done,' Link muttered as the monster rose from a platform. It balanced on one leg, preparing to hurl magic at Link from its staff, but he quickly shot it. It reappeared several more times, but every time the Hylians were ready for it. Eventually it rose, but split into two identical copies.
'One of those is an illusion!' Zelda shouted. 'We could try to find out which one is the real one, or…'
'Or we could just shoot both!' Link finished, as he and Zelda both took aim at a different copy. Link's arrow passed straight through, but Zelda was successful, finally defeating the Wizzrobe. The Hylians regrouped in the middle of the room, bracing themselves for the might of the Iron Knuckle. Link knew that their items, light arrows and Skyward Strikes would all be useless against the monster's armour. This would have to be done with swords.
As it appeared, swinging its axe, Link rolled to one side and came up behind the monster, slashing at its armour. It spun round deceptively quickly, but before it could attack it was dealt another blow by Zelda, who succeeded in knocking another piece of armour off. As the Iron Knuckle turned to slash at one Hylian, the other attacked, and they repeated this until finally the monster collapsed to its knees, defeated. Link paused for a moment to get his breath back, turning as the bars over the door on the far side of the room lifted. He hurried through, closely followed by Zelda. The next room was completely bare, just a corridor. At the far end was a pair of double doors, cut into the dark rock of the temple itself.
This is it,' Zelda said quietly. 'It has to be. Beyond those doors is Demise.' Link stepped up to the doors, trying to summon the courage to open them.
'I can't believe it'll be over,' he said. Zelda laughed nervously.
'Don't get ahead of yourself. This is going to be the toughest battle we've ever had.'
'Yes, but,' Link said, taking Zelda's hand. 'We're together. That's the main thing. Whether we live or die, we do it together.' He was shocked at the expression on Zelda's face. She looked almost as though she was about to cry. Suddenly Link was reminded of Din's ominous words. Was this the suffering she had alluded to? Was this the way in which the will of the Goddesses would be ignored? Was he about to die? He shook the thoughts from his head.
'We have to do this,' he said, to himself as much as Zelda. 'We can't back down now. This is the final battle.' Zelda nodded, smiling bravely.
'Yes, we really do have to do this, don't we?' Link took a deep breath, then pushed open the doors and walked out to face the Demon King, Demise.
-o-
A/N: Surprise visit from the Poe sisters there. I did actually plan to have them coming back ever since the House of the Fallen. I do like Meg.
Branford is also finally dealt with! Yippee! I reckon he probably learned his lesson this time.
And Link and Zelda are back together! Well, briefly... Mwahaha!
Tomorrow's chapter is *gulp* Demise...