At long last... The last chapter is here!
Enjoy! ;)
Final Chapter: The End of Darkness
The heroes braved through the rest of Hyrule Castle, making their way up to the main tower by going through more obstacles and fighting off more enemies that attempted to stop them as a final resort. Now, after unlocking the final door, they were standing outside, where the storm was raging above them.
They looked behind them to spot the massive, cathedral-like structure surmounting the castle that towered over a pair of staircases on both sides. Sharing nods of determination, the group strode through the windy fog and up the stairs to reach the room beyond.
The throne room was a massive vaulted hall, with immense pillars supporting the vast curved ceiling and a rich blue carpet stretching all the way to the throne, where Ganondorf was sitting on, but Bowser was nowhere to be seen at first. However, another thing that caught the group's attention was that directly above the throne, there was a massive structure of the royal family's crest and inside the hollow hole of the Triforce was the unconscious Princess Zelda.
"Zelda!" Link gasped as he took a step forward, but Midna stopped him as they all focused at the King of Evil on the throne.
"Welcome to my castle." Ganondorf spoke before chuckling evilly.
"So you're…Ganondorf." Midna scowled as Ganondorf stood up from the throne. "I've been dying to meet you."
"Your people have long amused me, Midna. To defy the gods with such petty magic, only to be cast aside… How very pathetic." Ganondorf said. "Pathetic as they were, though, they served me well. Their anguish was my nourishment. Their hatred bled across the void and awakened me. I drew deep of it and grew strong again." he started to walk to the side of the throne. "Your people had some skill, to be sure…but they lacked true power." he looked up at Zelda. "The kind of absolute power that those chosen by the gods wield." he faces the group again and showed the Triforce of Power on his hand. "He who wields such power would make a suitable king for this world, don't you think?"
"Ha! Such conceit! But if you are one of the chosen wielders of power, as you claim… I will risk everything to deny you!" Midna shot back.
"YEAH!" the heroes yelled.
Ganondorf just merely smirked. "Shadow has been moved by light, it seems… How amusing. Very well… Deny me, then!" he then glanced aside. "Or should I say… Deny us?"
"Did he say 'us'?" Yoshi asked.
"Wow, I'm surprised that you forgot about me, dino brain!" Bowser's voice said as he came out from behind the throne and stood next to Ganondorf with a wicked smirk.
"Bowser!" Mario growled. "How!? How did you get back here in Hyrule!?"
"You really think I would reveal it to you, stupid plumber? I'm obviously here to get my revenge on you beating me last time! And now, Ganondorf handed me some of his power that should be enough for me to deal with the lots of you!"
"We'd like to see you try!" Daisy challenged.
"With pleasure!" Bowser grinned as he and Ganondorf nodded to each other before they both suddenly started to disintegrate into twilight particles.
"Yes, try to deny us… You and two of your little friends…" Ganondorf added as he looked back up at Zelda while Bowser was focused on Peach.
Gasping, Midna quickly flew up to Zelda and got in front of her in a protective stance. Meanwhile, Peach noticed that Bowser was fixated on her as her eyes widened in horror.
"N-No… Someone, help!" she cried as Mario gasped at this and his heroic instinct came in.
"STOP!" he exclaimed and like with Midna, he got in front of Peach in a protective stance.
"Hah! Even better!" Bowser smirked as he and Ganondorf were completely disintegrated into twilight particles.
Ganondorf's particles flew up and stood before Midna, and they shot past her and into Zelda. And for Bowser's particles, they lunged straight towards and into Mario, who then fell unconscious but was still standing up. After that, Midna looked at herself frantically while Peach looked over at Mario with a worried expression as she began to slowly approach him, but she and everyone else were completely unaware of Mario's skin tone changing and gaining odd black markings. At the same time, Midna turned to face Zelda with an angry look, as she was also not noticing Zelda's changes that were similar to Mario's.
"Mario…?" Peach whispered as she carefully reached over for his shoulder, while Midna calmed down and proceeded to caress Zelda's face.
Just then, all of a sudden, both Zelda's and Mario's eyes shot open… except that they were now a different color, with Zelda's being Ganondorf's golden yellow eyes, and Mario's being Bowser's crimson red eyes.
"AAAAAAHH!" Midna and Peach screamed in unison, with the former being hurled across the room and tumbled onto the entrance.
"MIDNA!" Link yelled as he and the others made a run after Midna, only for a barrier to appear and block them off from reaching her.
"No!" Toon Link yelled.
Then, they heard footsteps from behind that made them tense up, and looked back to see Zelda and Mario, who were now possessed by Ganondorf and Bowser respectively, walking over to them as they all gasped.
"Gwahahaha!" Bowser laughed, as his voice was now coming out of Mario's mouth, which made the group disturbed. "There's no point in running away, fools!"
"All of you, faithless fools who would dare to take up arms against the kings of light and shadow…" Ganondorf said, as he somehow brought out Zelda's rapier and held it on his right hand.
"So you choose. And so you shall feel our wrath!" Bowser finished as he pounded his fists together while Ganondorf levitated a few inches from the ground.
"Oh no… What do we do?!" Luigi asked frantically.
Link furrowed his eyebrows, gripping his sword tightly. "We fight them. I also feel bad about hurting our friends, but we have no other choice."
"He's right." Rosalina threw in, and then she glanced at Link. "We'll handle Bowser! You go after Ganondorf!"
"Got it!" Link nodded and they all got ready to fight.
Ganondorf flew around the room as Link was fixated on him, and then he lifted the rapier up into the air to charge up an energy ball on its tip before tossing it at Link, but he slashed it back at him, and this pretty much turned into a game of volley until Ganondorf was hit by his own attack.
"MARIO! I know you're in there somewhere! Please, fight it out!" Luigi yelled as he dodged Bowser's punch before he proceeded to throw fireballs at everyone, in which they avoided them, although Luigi was hit by some of them.
"Sorry, Green Stache, but your brother can't hear you!" Bowser smirked before he punched the ground to create a shockwave of fire to knock everyone back, though Rosalina was the only one who tanked the attack thanks to conjuring a barrier around herself, and then she fired a beam at him. "Nnrgh!"
Link watched Ganondorf rise up the rapier again, but this time, he immediately lunges towards Link with the rapier in front of him as a diving attack, but Link rolled away and kept doing that as Ganondorf was circling around him. Eventually, Ganondorf floated up again and did the same energy ball attack, only to end in the same result as last time.
Then, Ganondorf created a large golden triangle on the ground, as Link's eyes widened before he quickly ran off from the glowing spot just in time as Ganondorf made it glow brightly, as it would damage the hero in there had he not moved out.
"Take this!" Yoshi shouted as he commanded several eggs to go for Bowser, but he destroyed them by launching fireballs, and then Luigi attempted to electrocute him… but he didn't have the courage to do it since he would technically hurt his own brother.
This, however, left him vulnerable as Bowser uppercutted him into the air before jumping up and proceeded to kick him down, but Peach fired a light beam at him before he was able to do so, and when he landed on the ground, Daisy punched him into a pillar with her crystallized fist.
"Gah!" he yelled. "You all have some impressive skills, but they won't be enough to stop me!"
"Oh, that's what you think!" Toon Link grinned. "Come on, Luigi! Stun him for us!"
But Luigi was all shaken. "I… I can't!"
"What do you mean, you can't?!" Daisy questioned. "You know well that's Bowser we're dealing with!"
"Yeah, but… What if my brother is still in there?! I-I don't want to hurt him!"
"We know that, and we don't want to hurt him either, but we don't have a choice!" Peach exclaimed, and then she and the others were hit by fireballs that came from Bowser. "Agh!"
"Guys!" Luigi cried.
"It's no use!" Bowser laughed. "That Green Stache can't do a thing!"
"L-Leave my friends alone!" Luigi stuttered. "O-Or else…"
"Or else what? You're nothing more than a big coward who wouldn't dare hurt his brother no matter what… and while we're at it, why would I even call you 'Green Stache' when your own stache is all shaggy?"
Luigi's eyes widened, before one of them twitched. "…Did you just…" sparks of electricity showed up on his hands as his body trembled with rage.
"Well then, I should just get rid of you while you're at it!" Bowser exclaimed and proceeded to run towards Luigi.
However… it was then that Luigi actually released the electricity from his hands and sent it right at Bowser, electrocuting him as he screamed in agony and was left stunned.
"A-Argh…! What… How?!" Bowser questioned.
"Never dare call my mustache shaggy." Luigi replied with a dark glare. "We're getting you out of my brother right now!"
"Stand aside, Luigi!" Toon Link came in. "I'll use my ability that will surely get him out of Mario!"
Luigi nodded and stood aside, before Toon Link unleashed Triforce Slash on Bowser. At the same time, Link and Ganondorf did one last round of volleying the energy ball, and the moment it hit Ganondorf, Toon Link did the final stab at Bowser.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" both Ganondorf and Bowser yelled in agony, with the former kneeling down on the ground while the latter was actually knocked out of Mario's body and reformed back to his normal form on the ground a few inches away from Mario, who was now unconscious on the ground.
Then, the yellow barrier disappeared, and Midna used the Fused Shadow's power to transform into that hideous form as two of its hands shot out towards Ganondorf, sending him all the way to the throne and squeezing him out of Zelda's body. With that, both Mario and Zelda were free of Bowser's and Ganondorf's control, their bodies cleansed out of that horrifying makeover while possessed.
"Phew, what a relief." Link sighed in relief.
"Big bro!" Luigi ran up to the unconscious Mario and knelt down at his side in worry.
"Don't worry, Luigi. I'm sure he's fine." Peach assured. "Besides, I can heal the injuries he received when we were fighting him."
"That'd be nice." Luigi smiled as he stood back up as Peach carried Mario to a corner and started to heal him.
"Rawrrrrgh…" Bowser groaned as he began to regain consciousness, catching the attention of everyone as they turned to him with a glare. "Hmph… You think you can win, but in reality, you can't. It's laughable!"
"Oh, really? It's all of us against you!" Toon Link declared.
"That is where you are wrong, kid!" Bowser grinned, and right on cue, Ganondorf's particles came zooming towards the entrance, and they materialized… into the Dark Beast Ganon.
"Oh, great…" Midna groaned as Bowser leapt high up into the air and came back down on top of Ganon.
"Let's see if you can take on both of us like this!" Bowser laughed.
"I'll take care of Mario! Go take those two down!" Peach told the group as they nodded back and stood on fighting stances to take on Ganon and Bowser.
Ganon roared and charged right for the group, but they quickly moved out of the way, and after circling around the room for a bit while knocking down some pillars on the way, Ganon went for the group again, only to get held back by Midna using her hair.
"Oh no, you don't, imp!" Bowser said, ready to breathe fire at Midna but Rosalina quickly fired a beam at him to knock him off of Ganon while Toon Link fired an arrow at the beast's forehead gem to make him fall sideways to the ground.
"Go for the scar, everyone!" Link hollered as they proceeded to attack Ganon's scar on his belly repeatedly, as Bowser saw this and attempted to stop them, only for Luigi to fire lightning at him.
"You're not interrupting us!" he declared.
"Oh, now you're trying to play the hero? How amusing!" Bowser smirked and ran over to Luigi and punching him, but he ducked under the punch and used a Fire Super Jump Punch at Bowser's gut to send him off into the air before jumping up and kicking him down.
"This mustache is all LUIGI! Remember that!" Luigi growled as Bowser got up.
"Well, this just got a lot interesting!" he said and then the rest of the Mario cast stood next to Luigi. "Heh, you all have a death wish. Come and face me!" he exclaimed as he launched fireballs from his mouth at them.
Meanwhile, Ganon vanished from the Links and Midna's sight before he reappeared from a portal and tried to ram into Link, but Midna intervened and once again held Ganon back, letting Toon Link to fire another arrow at the gem to knock him down again. The trio then tore on Ganon's scar until he got back up and disappeared again.
Bowser blocked an attack from Yoshi and kicked him to the side, but then Daisy came running in with her crystallized fist and punched Bowser to make him almost tumble down, as he growled and was about to punch her back… when they suddenly heard a loud roar of agony as they looked over to see Ganon falling to the ground in defeat, with a strange boiling aura of sorts starting to surround him.
"NO!" Bowser yelled in shock, before growling back at the heroes. "WHY, YOU…!" but before he could do anything, he soon found himself trapped in a barrier that Rosalina conjured.
"Not a chance." Rosalina said sternly.
"Hey, everyone!" Peach called out. "Mario is waking up!"
Hearing her, the group rushed over and looked down at Mario, who was slowly regaining consciousness.
"Mmm…" he groaned as he opened his eyes. "What happened…?"
"MARIO!" Luigi suddenly hugs Mario, catching the latter by surprise. "I'm so glad you're back!" he cried tears of happiness.
"Luigi?" Mario said, and looked over Luigi's shoulder to see everyone else. "What have I been doing?"
"You were possessed by Bowser and attacked us." Toon Link said. "Thankfully, I knocked him out of you."
Mario's eyes widened. "Oh dear… Bowser didn't hurt you all badly while using my body, did he?"
"No, he didn't." Yoshi assured, as Mario smiled and stood up.
"Well, then thanks for getting me back, everyone."
Just then, Midna suddenly began glowing as she and the others had astonished looks, as all the power Zelda had transferred into her traveled back to its respective owner. With all the power back into her, Zelda finally woke up and smiled at the group.
"Pr-Princess… I… I…" Midna murmured.
"Say nothing, Midna…" Zelda said while frowning. "Your heart and mine were as one, however briefly… Such suffering you have endured…" she then looked at Link and his friends before glaring at Bowser. "Bowser, was it? Your reign of terror in this world has stopped. It is only a matter of time for you to be sent back to your respective world."
"Oh… You really think so?" Bowser smirked… and then a loud explosion came as Ganon's Malice stood in place of where Ganon used to be.
Everyone was left speechless as they slowly backed away in fear at what they were seeing, but Midna, however, had a determined look on her face as she brought out the Fused Shadow pieces again.
"Wait, Midna! What are you doing?!" Link questioned, looking at her in shock as did the others.
"Link… Everyone… Let me handle this." Midna replied. "You've done enough, so it's my turn now." then, when Link began to reach out for her, she teleported everyone out. And due to Rosalina being absent, the barrier around Bowser disappeared completely. "Goodbye, my new friends… It was an honor helping you." Midna spoke while looking up with a smile, and equipped the Fused Shadow pieces in order to try and fight off Ganon's Malice and Bowser.
At Hyrule Field, everyone reassembled and looked around in surprise.
"Did Midna just teleport all of us out?" Toon Link wondered.
"She did." Rosalina nodded, but then crestfalled. "But by doing this, she made me release Bowser since I was the one maintaining that barrier I created on him."
"Oh no…" Peach frowned.
"Midna… Why would you do this…?" Link thought, looking the most down out of everyone.
*KABOOOOOOM!*
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion that came from the castle as everyone gasped, and out from the smoke on the top of a hill came Ganondorf on his horse, and Bowser on his Koopa Clown Cart. However, Ganondorf was also holding a piece of something rather familiar on his hand… which turned out to be Midna's helmet.
"MIDNA!" Link and his friends cried out as Zelda stood in horror.
Ganondorf laughed. "She fought valiantly… and died for it!" he exclaimed as he shattered one of the helmet's horns before dropping the entire thing on the ground.
"No… How could they!?" Link scowled.
It was then that Yoshi noticed something on the distance behind Ganondorf and Bowser. "Look!" he pointed, as several Phantom Riders came charging along with the two evil kings right towards the group.
"Ack! They're coming right to us!" Luigi panicked, and then Zelda stood in front of everyone with a brave look before she started praying:
"Spirits of the light! Wielders of the great power that shines far and wide upon the lands of our world… In my hour of need, grant me the light to banish evil!"
With that, everyone disappeared in a flash of light right before Ganondorf and Bowser could reach them.
In another realm, the four Light Spirits appeared and granted Zelda the light arrows. After that, she opened her eyes as Link and his friends were standing in front of her.
"Everyone… The chosen heroes! Lend us the last of your powers!" she requested while doing a bow, and then everyone placed their hands on top of each other before Zelda joined in and placed hers too.
Soon, everyone was back at Hyrule Field, but now they were riding on Epona, Debbie and Ocean all of a sudden. Zelda, who was on Epona along with the Links and had a golden bow on her hand, gave everyone her instructions:
"I'll try to slow Ganondorf with my light arrows! Toon, you should help me as well since I heard that you also have your own light arrows, alright?"
"Got it, princess!" Toon Link nodded as he took out his bow and light arrows.
"Link, you go after Ganondorf and keep him within range of our arrows!" Zelda continued, and then glanced at the Mario cast. "And as for you, deal with Bowser!"
"Right!" the Mario cast nodded and they all took off.
"You're not going to win against us!" Bowser exclaimed, flying after them but Luigi shot lightning at Bowser to knock him back as the Mario cast went to deal with the Koopa King as Zelda instructed them.
Link caught up to Ganondorf as both proceeded to slash each other with their swords, their blades clashing repeatedly, until both riders turned around to face each other again. But this time, in the midst of this, Zelda fired a light arrow at Ganondorf, which stunned him as Link slashed him afterwards.
"Phantom Riders! Charge at them!" Ganondorf declared and summoned some Phantom Riders as they charged towards Epona, but Link veered her to the side to barely avoid them, and then Zelda fired another light arrow at Ganondorf, only she missed this time as they kept at it.
Bowser breathed a flamethrower at the Mario cast to force them away from him and went to go after them, but Daisy made Debbie go behind Bowser and used her crystallized fist to punch him in the back, followed up by Peach firing a light beam to stun him, and then Mario uppercutted him in the jaw to throw him off of his Clown Cart once Rosalina directed Ocean towards the stunned Bowser.
"That's what you get for using my body to attack my friends and my brother!" Mario growled, and at this exact same moment, Ganondorf got hit by a light arrow that Toon Link fired before Link charged ahead and slashed the King of Evil off of his horse as dirt rose up around them.
"Did that do it?" Toon Link wondered as he, Link and Zelda looked at the dirt.
"I believe so." Zelda said.
Then, once the dirt drifted off, it showed Ganondorf kneeled on the ground as his horse was gone for some reason, and then he used his sword to push himself up while laughing.
"Seriously?! He's not done yet?" Daisy questioned as the Mario cast got out of Debbie and Ocean while the Links and Zelda got out of Epona.
"Same goes for Bowser…" Peach whispered as they saw Bowser getting up and walking over to Ganondorf's side as both glared at the group of heroes.
"An impressive-looking blade…" Ganondorf said, addressing Link's sword. "But nothing more. Would you hear my desire? To take this foul blade…and use it to blot out the light forever!" he monologued as he removed his sword from its sheet while walking towards the group, and then a yellow barrier appeared around them.
The heroes, along with Zelda who had brought out her rapier, shared determined nods as they glared at Ganondorf and Bowser. "You'll have to get through all of us to manage what you want to accomplish." Link asserted. "Me and all my new friends… even Princess Zelda herself!"
"Yeah!" everyone else yelled.
"We'll see about that!" Bowser exclaimed. "Let us battle for it will be the most glorious battle of history!"
"Leave Bowser to us!" Mario told the Zelda trio as they nodded to focus on Ganondorf, and thus the final battle had begun.
Link and Zelda ran over to Ganondorf and slashed him, but he blocked both attacks with his sword, unaware of Toon Link rolling behind him and slashing him on the back. Ganondorf winced in pain by the attack but he laughed it off as Link slashed at him repeatedly, both their blades clashing a lot as Link jumped back to let Zelda fire a light arrow at Ganondorf, only for him to duck under the arrow.
"Ha! Is that all you got?" he teased as he ran forward to slash them, but Link blocked the attack with his shield, and then Ganondorf attempted to elbow Toon Link from behind as the young hero quickly jumped back at the right moment.
Bowser launched fireballs at the Mario cast, but they quickly avoided the fireballs as Mario punched Bowser with a flaming fist, knocking him back but he could only smirk as he used Bowser Bomb, but Mario jumped back in time. Then, Luigi jumped up while holding his hammer above his head to hit Bowser on the head with it, only for him to punch Luigi in the gut to send him flying back before backhanding Mario away to where his brother landed.
"Nnngh!" the brothers winced.
"Come on, tell me that's not all you got, Super Stupid Brothers!" Bowser grinned, only to get knocked into the air by Daisy's crystal smash.
"They're not alone, you know!" she retorted as she jumped into the air and scissor kicked Bowser to the ground, and then he got pelted by several eggs that Yoshi sent at him.
However, Bowser found his footing and walked forwards while ignoring the eggs and when he got close to Yoshi, he punched him in the head and drop kicked him away. Then, Rosalina fired magic from her wand over and over again as Bowser was hit by her beams, but to her dismay, Bowser shrugged off the attacks as Peach quickly shot a light beam at him to stun him before she rushed over to the Mario Brothers to heal them up.
"You're still at it, huh? There's no way you can defeat me!" Ganondorf declared after blocking many attacks from the Zelda trio and charged after Link, only for him to raise his sword as the two now found themselves in a sword struggle, trying to push the other one back. "Give it up, boy! You can't win a struggle like this one against me!"
"Come on, Link! Don't give up!" Zelda encouraged.
"Yeah! You can do it, other me!" Toon Link added. "I defeated Ganondorf in my era, so you can do the same thing too!"
"Nnnngh…!" Link groaned during the struggle.
"Words of encouragement… What a total waste of time." Ganondorf chuckled.
"Th-That's where you are wrong…! As long as I can hear those words, I'll never give up! And if I don't give up, you'll never win!"
At the same time, Peach fired more light beams to weaken Bowser further as he was now struggling to get up, and then the healed Mario Brothers came up to him.
"Urrrgh… Even with this power Ganondorf granted me, I still lose!?" Bowser groaned.
"Bowser… No matter what happens to you, no matter how powerful you become… You'll always lose!" Mario declared, and after nodding to Luigi, the two did a powerful uppercut to launch him away.
"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Bowser roared in agony as he was launched into the air and fell back down… right into a Gate of Souls?
"What the?" Luigi asked.
"Glad I came here just in time!" a familiar voice said as the Mario cast turned around to see Lana standing there.
"Lana?!" they asked.
"Bowser had to be sent back to his world somehow, am I right?"
This had caught the attention of Ganondorf as he had seen everything that happened due to Bowser's loud roar of agony. "Huh?! Bowser?!" he exclaimed in shock, and was distracted as a result and it gave Link the chance he needed, and pushed Ganondorf to the ground to end the sword struggle… before he jumped up high into the air while doing a frontflip, and impaled Ganondorf right on the scar on his chest.
Ganondorf's eyes widened in shock and pain by that… and then he let out a loud scream of pain that echoed all over Hyrule:
"NNNNRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
As such, the Mario cast and Lana also heard the scream as they glanced over at Ganondorf with stunned looks.
"That… was one heck of a scream right there." Daisy blinked.
"Tell us about it." Rosalina agreed.
Ganondorf, surprisingly, got back up even having the Master Sword literally impaled in his chest as everyone was surprised by that, though he could barely move. "Do not think this ends here…" he groaned. "The history of light and shadow will be written in blood!" but then, he looked down at the mark of the Triforce of Power as it suddenly vanished, causing him to gasp in shock.
"Your power is fading, Ganondorf." Zelda said strictly. "You are finished."
With that said, Ganondorf could only stand still, motionless and breathing heavily, as he saw a vision of Zant without his helmet… who suddenly cracked his neck and it made Ganondorf's eyes go white as he let out one last pained grunt before he was completely dead.
"Uh… That happened." Yoshi remarked.
Just then, they all noticed light coming from behind them as they turned around to see the four Light Spirits hovering above a faint familiar silhouette on top of a hill before fading away. The silhouette in question was small and had a double-horned helmet… That sounds a lot like…
"Midna…?" Link whispered… and then his eyes widened up in realization. "Midna!" he exclaimed and ran up the hill as his friends followed, and when they reached the top, they found out that the Midna silhouette had changed to a small mound of black cloth on the ground.
The black cloth slowly stood up, revealing to be a black cape worn by Midna… who turned around to reveal that she has been changed back to her true appearance; that one being a beautiful tall and serene-looking Twili woman. The group could do nothing but stare at her in stunned silence due to how beautiful she is as the ruler of the Twili.
"What? Say something! Am I so beautiful that you've no words left?" she teased; even if she has changed into something completely different from her previous form, her playfulness was still there as the heroes took notice of that and gave out big smiles, glad to see that their Twili friend was back and had her curse broken.
Later…
Everyone, including Lana who had introduced herself to Link, was now back at the Mirror Chamber, standing next to the Mirror of Twilight that still had the portal active.
"Well…I guess this is farewell, huh? Light and shadow can't mix, as we all know." Midna said. "But… Never forget that there's another world bound to this one."
"Shadow and light are two sides of the same coin… One cannot exist without the other." Zelda said.
"Like it or not, she's right." Lana threw in. "These are what keep this and every world in existence in balance. An unbalanced world, where one side would triumph over the other, wouldn't be stable enough for all sorts of living things to live there. Remember this."
"True…" Zelda nodded. "I know now the reason the goddesses left the Mirror of Twilight in this world… They left it because it was their design that we should meet. Yes… That is what I believe."
Midna gave her a smile. "Zelda… Your words are kind, and your heart is true. If all in Hyrule are like you… Then maybe you'll do all right." she turns around and walked up to the glowing square in order for the stairs of light to appear.
"Hey, Midna…" Link spoke up as Midna looked at him. "I and my friends owe you for your help throughout this journey we had together." he and his friends smiled at her.
"Thank you all…" Midna smiled back. "Well, the princess spoke truly: as long as that mirror's around, we could meet again…" she then shed a tear. "Everyone…" her tear glowed brightly and flew off as she gently pushed it towards the mirror. "I… See you later…"
Then, at the same time, a bright glow came from behind Link and Zelda as they turned to see that Toon Link and the Mario cast were suddenly glowing brightly, with light particles emitting out of their bodies as they looked down in awe.
"Huh? What's happening to us?" Yoshi wondered.
"Oh… It appears that you guys fulfilled the task the Light Spirits passed on to you, so they're now using their power to send you all back home." Lana said. "Remember, they were the ones who brought you all here, not me."
"Oh, you're right…" Peach breathed.
"Well, I'll be off then!" Lana waved and disappeared.
"Guess there's a double farewell happening then…" Midna slightly chuckled sadly as her tear touched the mirror as a few cracks showed up on its surface, before she proceeded to run up the stairs.
"Midna… My friends…" Link frowned, first looking at Midna and then at his fading friends as they had saddened looks as well.
"Link…" Peach whimpered, but she shook it off and forced a smile. "Never forget about us."
Link smiled back. "I won't."
"That was definitely one of the greatest adventures I've ever had in Hyrule." Mario said.
"Same here." Luigi agreed.
"Yeah! I had fun!" Yoshi chimed.
"And we shall never forget about it." Rosalina added.
"Thank you for everything!" Daisy exclaimed.
"Other me… Take care." Toon Link smiled as a tear escaped his eye. "Be strong, and carry on your legacy!"
"Don't worry, I will." Link assured. "Goodbye, friends." they gently waved back at him as the glow on them became brighter, making him shield his eyes.
Zelda then caught his attention as he glanced back in awe to see Midna giving him one last smile as she disintegrated into the portal… before the Mirror of Twilight completely shattered into bits. After that, Link and Zelda were left alone, first looking at the disappeared portal and then at the spot where Link's friends used to be, as there stood nothing but a few particles of light slowly ascending before fading into thin air.
Hyrule was at peace at long last, and with every peace, heroes aren't needed at this moment. Link, Toon Link, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Daisy, and Rosalina have all returned back to their homes, living out their normal lives as always… but at the same time, never forgetting about their journey through light and darkness they all had together.
The End
To tell you the truth, one of the main reasons I wanted to bring Bowser back (as he was absent in my Wind Waker story) was that for the battle against Puppet Zelda, I had the idea for Bowser to possess Mario as an amusing parallel to how Mario possessed him in Super Mario Odyssey. Talk about a role reversal, huh?
Anyways, that's the end of the story AND this Saga! Thank you very much for reading this story as always!
But now, it's time for one Saga that I've really wanted to write for so long... Oh, I'm sorry, did I just say "one Saga"? I actually meant TWO Sagas! That's right; I'll be working on two separate Sagas that just so happen to be connected to each other, but in different perspectives and action roles! And these particular Sagas are probably going to be my longest project I think I'll ever work on, so get ready for a lot of stories coming up for them.
Unlike the previous Sagas, these two upcoming Sagas won't be having a particular theme to them. They will feature an OC as the leading protagonist of an adventure (though not all stories will have them) and dozens of returning and brand new characters from other franchises I know of appearing. One of these OCs is my own, Princess Jewel Morning, while the other is an OC from a friend of mine whom I will reveal once the first story is up.
I'll start up with the Saga of my OC, and then after a few stories, I'll move on to my friend's OC. The first story will come out at the beginning of July, so stay tuned!
Fairy out! ;D