Tioora held her breath as she lowered to open the trap door to the storage cellars. If Zelda and the rest of the resistance wasn't there, then they hadn't made it this far and they never would.
"Good afternoon." Malon's cheery voice greeted her as it sent a rush of relief through her.
"Thank the Goddesses you made it in."
"We earned it." Zelda said, and Tioora didn't miss the streak of blood along her arm.
"How many did we lose?"
Zelda smiled grimly. "None. A kokiri lost a lost half a finger and a Hlyian lost an ear, but no one's turning back. Today it's all or nothing."
Tioora began pulling them up to ground level, relaying the past events as she did. "Kahola was executed this morning." She grunted as she pulled Zelda up, the master sword on her back weighing her down. "Ganon did it as a warning to any one who was getting ideas about joining you. Fortunately it's too late for that warning to affect anyone. Unfortunately it's also too late for Kahola."
"Her sacrifice will be honored when this is over, after Ganon is dead." Zelda's eyes were a surprising white, "because they drugged me so I'd get some sleep." Zelda explained as the two pulled up their companions. Her scarred hands were heavily bandaged, and her body was lined with weapons. The master sword strapped to her back, a well crafted bow and a quiver of both light and normal arrows slung over her shoulder, a sword and dagger on both her hips and a knife in both boots as well as one tucked into the small of her back and one in her hair.
Everyone one else was bristling with nearly as many weapons. A group of 12 containing gerudos and hylians met them in the hallway just outside. A quick head count put their group total at 45.
"Since our objective right now is to stay unnoticed, we'll attract less attention if we split up and to work our way to Link. The tunnels and passageways intersect with each other every now and then, so if you're outnumbered try to make it to an intersection and call for help. We'll regroup at the base of Link's tower and fight our way to him. You should all know your groups and know which ways to turn. Remember to only use your normal arrows and save the light ones for Ganon. I'll see you again at the tower or in the afterlife. Good luck."
They quickly dispersed, the groups of five all taking different routes. Zelda's group consisted of Zek – the 25 year old son of Impa, Kota – one of the four surviving zora's, who also had a crush on Ruto, Kile – one of the remaining kokiri, and Eryka – a hylian in her forties who had survived the storm of kakiriko village and who was especially deadly with a pair of daggers in her gnarled hands.
Zek led the way, holding the torch in one hand and a bared sword in his other while their footsteps bounced light echoes off the stone walls. Their route would bring them up into the passageways in the higher levels, near the rooms of the castle's occupants. It was the most risky path, but then Zelda had some of the best fighter's with her.
The group found their first battle after they'd only risen one level. Two hylian men were walking towards them, unaware of their presence at first as they talked crudely of women and horses. It wasn't until an arrow sliced neatly through the larger man's throat that the they were noticed, and it was too late. The other fell just as silently, Zek's sword cutting him down swiftly.
Zelda retrieved her arrow and Zek wiped the blood from his sword, and they set out again, Kile looking paler and all of them more grim. Warily they neared the first intersection. For a moment they fought to hear something just out of reach, as you try to remember an escaping dream just as your eyes greet the morning. Then a sharp scream pierced the air and the five raced forward.
As she approached the battle Zelda quickly assessed the situation. The scream had come from Nici, the smallest kokiri, being pierced through the stomach with a sword. The others in her group; Teiong, Ket, Tad, and Cort, were working desperately to not follow her fate. Zelda's group threw themselves in the battle against the gerudos as soon as they reached them. Zelda attacked automatically, not even pausing when someone fell against her blade before she moved on to her next victim. At one point a thief had her locked hilt to hilt and was slowly using her strength to force Zelda down. But Zelda slipped her left hand into her boot and soon the gerudo was slumped against her, eyes wide, coughing up blood to stain her tan skin.
Zelda took a step back and let the body fall to the ground, realizing she had finished the last of them. Around them ten bodies laid motionless on the ground, only one them from Zelda's side; Nici. Most of the others were nursing wounds, and Zelda tried not to think of her own throbbing hands.
"Let's get moving, we'll stick together now. We want to be at the base around the same time as the others."
Both Tad and Kile's eyes were wide with the sight of so much blood and dying, but they were in too much shock to argue or think of anything but staying with the group. They were pushed to the middle; hopefully out of harms way. The stretch of passages to the tower's base seemed to take an eternity, in which they encountered countless passerby's whose lives they had to take. Their group was the last to make it to the regrouping point, severely lessened by the time. Now only Zelda, Ket, Tad, Cort, and Teiong remained. Ruto noticed the absence Kota but seemed to tired to show emotion, most of her blue skin blotted out by streaks of dried blood. The other groups had suffered less loses, losing one kokiri, four hylians, and three gerudos. That brought their total down to thirty two. "Where are the other spies?" Malon asked Tioora worriedly, but the thief just shrugged and wiped a sheen of sweet from her forehead, leaving a streak of blood in it's place.
"They said they'd be here. I don't know why-" She was silenced by approaching footsteps. Two dozen stalfos came into the room, and the exhausted warriors were pulled back into chaos.
Though they outnumbered the other forces the stalfos were fresh and strong, and quickly backed the resistance into the wall. Just as it seemed they wouldn't last much longer before bodies began to fail a war cry sounded and a dozen gerudos ran in with weapons bared. One of them made her way to Zelda. "We couldn't work many into the guard rotation. Get to Link and prepare for a fight with the guards. There will be five, and the one with black hair will help you."
Zelda nodded and searched the battle quickly for someone to help her. "I've got to get to Link!" Zelda shouted above the din in Ket's ear. The sheikah nodded after casting a troubled glance to where Teiong fought off two enemies at once, and helped her work their way through the battle and to the steps. They raced upwards, Zelda barely able to hold onto her sword anymore.
The long spiral steps ended abruptly on a small landing. Zelda and the black haired gerudo took on two of them, an adrenaline rush the only thing giving the princess enough strength to raise her blade. Ket, on the other hand, sliced the other three apart as if their swords didn't exist. Using energy carefully saved away, Zelda opened Link's barred door, and entered the large room with a sense of apprehension after telling Ket and the spy to guard the door against any following enemies.
Link was sitting cross legged, staring out into the distance as if oblivious of the commotion below him. She felt her heart fill when she saw him, and it took much strenght to keep from running to his arms and weeping. He was the only one who understood her, the only one who could understand the pressure and the responsibility she had suffered through these past years. And soon she could drop her emotionless mask, and be with him forever and always. But it would have to wait, and she quickly mastered her emotions.
Slowly he turned to look at her, but for a moment it seemed as if he looked through her or didn't see her at all. Then her presence slowly registered in his eyes. "Zelda! You're – you're alive!" he scurried to his feet, staring at her in awe, raising his hand to touch her and then quickly pulling it back as if he might prove to himself she were only an illusion. His voice was small and unsure when he spoke again. "I heard you scream, and thought Ganon had – "
The look of gratitude that crossed his face as he saw her squeezed at her heart, making her wonder if he loved her as much as she loved him. It seemed like too much effort to keep up the mask, to hold off the tears, to contain the joy of being with him again. But she forced herself to; this wasn't over yet and there would be time enough later when it was. "I'm not dead, Link. We've been fighting for you these last three years. And now we can fight Ganon together, so you don't have to be alone anymore."
Link frowned, dazed by the suddenness of everything. "Zelda, I can't fight Ganon. I failed last time, and look at what happened."
"You're our hero Link. You have a second chance. Take it." She held out her hand to him, barely daring to hope. The seconds seemed to stretch for hours, but at last he grasped her small hand in his large one.
"You're alive Zelda. I thought he'd killed you too."
She almost smiled. One track minds. "The scream you heard, that was me being burned after grabbing this." She drew the Master Sword from her back and offered it to him.
Amazement crossed his face again. "This really is a second chance."
"And this time you're not alone. We're fighting Ganon together from the beginning to his end. Me, you, Malon, Ruto, Impa's children, Nabooru's sister, and many others."
"I'm afraid Zelda. I have been for three years. Even the triforce of courage can't turn a sheep into a lion. Do you think a coward can win?"
"We will win. First of all you're not a coward. Second of all Ganon's been poisoned, and he'll be severely outnumbered."
"And the geezer should be used to loosing to me by now." When Zelda raised her eye brows Link quickly explained, "We play a lot of chess. He's really weak against a strong queen attack and usually forgets about protecting his rooks once he's moved his pawns."
Zelda decided not to voice her opinion on what she thought of him playing games with Ganon, and grabbed his hand to pull him with her, startled when it turned rapidly into an embrace, and then pulled away and led Link to their guards and back down to the battle.
A few stubborn stalfos were being picked off, but beyond that the battle was done. Everyone was too exhausted to be in much awe of Link, but the site of him with the master sword helped strengthen their resolve and their hope.
"Link is going to take his chance to fight Ganon again." Zelda announced, forcing her voice to be clear of her weariness. "Catch your breath and bandage your wounds. Then we'll find Ganon and destroy him."
~*~
Link held the Master Sword in his hands, amazed at it's beauty. "It's been many years old friend." He told the blade softly. "Let's get it right this time."
He had to strain to keep his eyes on Zelda as she re-wrapped her hands in fresh bandages, to keep from looking down at the blood and the bodies. He knew familiar faces would be down there, and decided now was not the time to find out which ones. There was something in the back of his mind spurred by the sight of so much red blood, that something else there, on the ground, had been red. And he remembered a rich auburn that years ago he'd seen wildly dancing in the wind on horseback as it fled from Ganon's wrath. Carefully keeping the thought from going beyond red hair, keeping it from a face, a name, which would be too much, Link stretched out his legs and arms and prepared for battle.
Zelda turned around slowly when her hands had been freshly bandaged, noticing his stare but not reacting to it. He could see a deadness in her eyes, as if she had become a shell with only the mission to destroy Ganon while the rest of life passed her by.
And the realization that Link had killed her after all, killed her spirit, reached his mind painfully. He had passed the burden of hero onto her as soon as he'd failed, and the weight had dragged her soul down perhaps irreversibly. "I can still try to fix it." He told himself, thinking of Ganon. He could fight side by side with her now, and they could win side by side, equally. And then he'd lift the burden from her forever. Let Ruto be queen, let Malon organize the people. He could take the toll of responsibility off Zelda's shoulders and give her a reason to live again. Suddenly killing Ganon didn't matter anymore, the only thing that mattered was saving Zelda. He had failed the first time, now redemption was possible.
The group walked slowly to the throne room, Zelda saying she sensed his presence there. And as Link looked at the people around him, he saw a deadness in their eyes too. An utter exhaustion of the mind, caused by him as much as by Ganon. I vow to you Farore, I will end Hyrule's suffering forever.
Ganon waited in the throne room for them as Zelda had said, a mixture of his creatures by his side. He looked amused, even pleased, by their presence. "Zelda, how kind of you to join us. Now the three of us can all live under the same roof. It's quite entertaining really, that both of you decided to destroy me and will have wound up dining with me shortly after-" The amusement left his face when a light arrow flew into his shoulder. He staggered for a moment, and in that moment a dozen more arrows were fired into him and the creatures roared in fury and attacked.
Ganon glugged down a bottle of blue potion, regaining his composure to draw the biggoran sword and walk towards Link, Zelda, Ruto, and Ket. As he fought them, his magical strength enormous, Zelda and Ruto fired arrows into him as Ket and Link fought off the biggoran sword. Ganon seemed shocked at the amount of attackers against him, the effort of magically warding off arrows and physically warding off swords slowly taking it's toll on him.
"You can't beat me. You've become a coward Link. Not to mention insane!" Ganon shouted at Link, wiping sweat from his forehead as a arrow flew past his ear.
"Last time the triforce gave me the courage to fight you." Link smiled crookedly as he ducked under a wild swing from his old ally the biggoran sword. "But there is a thin line between courage and insanity." Ket attacked in a flurry and he took the opportunity to deliver a gash from Ganon's waist to his calf. "And I'm willing to admit I may not be courageous anymore, but I sure as hell am a little crazy. I mean, hell, I talk to a dead fairy, and the dead fairy answer me back!" He chopped down on Ganon's collar bone, sending him to the floor amidst his spattered blood.
Link Zelda, Ruto, and Ket stood over the bleeding gerudo king, Ganon desperately looking for a full bottle of blue potion but coming up empty. Around them the battle was dying, Ganon's allies withering against a force empowered by desperation and inspired by hope. Zelda put her hand on his shoulder. "Link, this is it. You have the master sword, you have the moment. Finish this forever."
Link lifted Evil's Bane above his head, aiming for Ganon's heart. The time stretched to a full minute before he lowered the sword to his side, blinking a few times. "I can't kill Ganon."
Zelda let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Link, he's right there. You can do it!"
"No, you don't get it. I understand now." Link smiled, his eyes wide in his epiphany. "We're connected Zelda. All three of us. Why do you think Ganon couldn't kill you, and why he never killed me? It's because we're part of each other Zelda.
"As much as you hate it, we're all connected no matter what differences lie between us. And that means that no matter how many time we destroy Ganon, we can't win. Because while we remain alive, our triforces remain, and the balance is broken. So the triforce of power is simply passed on to someone else. And with it Ganon's spirit. We can't win this way."
Zelda looked shocked, so did those around her. "But Link, it's your destiny to kill Ganon. You have to, it's the way the end is suppose to come. You kill Ganon and save me and we live happily ever after." Zelda looked as if she was going to cry, fatigue hitting her like a stone wall and her emotions breaking down.
Link stared at her, remembering his want to only make her alive again. But then he looked to Ganon, a victorious grin sliding across his bruised face. Zelda said she wanted it to end forever. He knew how, how to keep everyone safe from an immense evil power forever.
Gently he wrapped his left arm around Zelda, keeping the master sword pointed at Ganon. "Zelda, it's my destiny to end this forever and I'm going to do it. I'm going to destroy the triforce as it is here in Hyrule. Let the goddesses have it. I'll end this pain forever, and there will be a happy ending. Just not for us."
Zelda felt her insides turn cold as she slowly understood his meaning. "No Link. I don't want to die. Please don't do this. We can find another way. I just want to ride off on Epona and leave forever and be with you but I don't want to die. Please." She felt his grip on her tighten and knew she was trapped.
"My life belonged to destiny when I was born Zelda. I am but a tool to destiny, and it must be fulfilled. It will end forever Zelda. If it doesn't end this way and now, it will never end. The war between the triforces will last generations. Don't be so sad. You'll find your happy ending in another life."
"No Link! Please, don't do this! There's another way, there has to be!" Link was deaf to her screams, and the rest of the room stood in stunned silence. Link brought the Master Sword back in one swift motion, piercing Ganon through the heart with it.
"Link, please." Zelda had reduced to whispering and weakly pulling at his arm, too tired too do anything else. "Please Link. Don't do this. Link, please."
"I love you Zelda."
Swiftly Link brought his arms around her, stabbing the sword through Zelda and into himself, both their hearts pierced by the blade. Then, with Zelda still in his arms and his vision fading, the Hero of Time laid down and at last fulfilled his destiny.
Author's Note: Sorry Lisa; I know how you hate sad endings. Thanks everyone for the positive vibes. Peace out