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Author's note: Well, here we are at last – the last chapter. Time to give my final round of thanks. First to StarDragon Blue, who read and reviewed this up to the eleventh chapter. Without that I may never have got round to putting the rest up. Second to David Reynolds, who gave me inspiration a long, long time ago with this. And also to everyone who has reviewed or emailed (Secret Writer, Yuuki, LauraCeleste, rage2, Seeking Serenity, Mystic Paladin, my friends Rico and John, Travis, konaboy, Robin Wright, Bunny Girle, Charisma, Coke, Mizra, Toby Aurora, Alex Foster and Peregrine). It makes a lot of difference. Best review award goes to "The almighty Zeldaholic" with "It majorly sucks. What in the hell is Link!". Really should have explained that one sometime – I hope wherever you are that you accept my apologies for that explanation not being included.
For once there will be no "Story So Far", as it seems a bit stupid to recount the story now. Sometime I've got to find a better way of doing that, as the whole thing was taking up to 2 pages by the last chapter. Perhaps I could use a method similar to what TV shows do, and write a quick summary of what's relevant for the chapter but assume you know the general background. Anyone else got any thoughts?
Finally – I'm still undecided on whether to write a sequel or not. If anyone was interested in one it would help a lot in making the decision.
To the second to last section then (there's an epilogue attached right at the end, but it's been posted along with this chapter). Thanks for reading.
"Link!"
The young voice of the one trying to find him broke apart his thoughts. Of course she never would, after all she never had yet. When he tried the other places maybe, but this was his secret spot and it surely it couldn't fail him. At least he hoped so, for he had a feeling if she did find him here that she wouldn't be too happy. She had never liked the mess he had got into when he had gone into the caves, and this hole wasn't exactly an exception to the normal level of cleanliness of dark underground cavities. But then again, he had never asked her to wash his clothes – and he was learning to do it himself. He could do what he liked – it was his life.
"I'm going to find you..."
He risked a look out of the hole, but she wasn't there in the small bit of the forest that he could see. Then again her voice had definitely been close, and so he stayed crouched down and tried to control his breathing.
Then he felt something lightly tap him on the shoulder.
The shock was enough to make him scream, and after that run out and into the relative safety of the forest. He looked round quickly, desperately – Saria was a little way in the distance. As he sprinted towards her he saw her body turn around at the noise, and gaze at him. Her eyes filled with...
Nothing. Not a tear; not a spark of life. Emptiness and blandness that threatened to overwhelm him. Even the pale face around them could not compare – the eyes blazed out in its centre by their pure inactivity and made his body rebel. He could force his gaze off them, but it was only slight relief. The delicate mouth was still open as if forever stuck halfway through speech. He could still remember its comforting words. So long ago when life was simple and the world only stretched to where the trees ended. To when he had longed to see the world.
"Link!"
Saria ran in to support him as he tried to stagger out of his bed. Ignoring his protects she forcefully pushed him back under the covers and held her hand to his head. The foreign cool skin was a blessed relief, and a welcome contrast to the fire that seemed to burn in the rest of him. He felt as if his whole body was on the edge of eternally collapsing.
"I had another one of the dreams," he told her, but she was obviously only half listening. "It had fighting in it and..."
She looked sharply at him. Sometimes she seemed to think that the nightmares were his own fault. At his saddened face, her expression softened. "They're just dreams. Dreams never hurt anyone." He wished she didn't sound like she was trying to convince herself.
"Saria," he asked her. "Why is there no one else like me? Growing up I mean, and without a..."
She stopped him, but a definite hint of worry had returned to her face. "You're special Link, but you're not that special. Someday you'll be like everyone else." She sounded even less sure this time. Finally she brought out her strange instrument and softly played music to him. Reluctantly he fell asleep, and let the dreams of swords and fire take over again...
His own sword still in his hand, and the crimson blood still dripping down it. If only... If only so many things and at so many times. Life was a cruel game with too many choices and not high enough odds. A mask from long ago, a slightly better sense of strategy – too many ways he could have stopped this. Too many things he should have done.
A deserted bridge in a deserted forest. So lost she looked as she watched him leave. Forever?
Still clutching his new gift he turned his back on her and ran...
To destiny, and to her death.
*–*
Nala flung himself to the mud filled ground, finally glad to get some rest. He was far away enough now from the borders. Still close enough to see though, and he still could make out the hundreds crossing them from the country he had just left. He hoped with all his heart that those stretched behind them on the wrong side of Nurai's outermost edge reached quickly. There wasn't much time left, next to none at all.
And then the people stopped any semblance of order and desperately sprinted to the border that indicated safety. The ground they were running over was slowly fading to white – the Distile was beginning.
An old man flopped down to the ground besides him. "Our country is disappearing."
Nala smiled faintly. "Not quite."
The ground just inside Nurai's border was only slowly fading, unlike the land further in which was disappearing rapidly. The only reason he could guess was that dust from the land by Nurai had drifted into the now dying country on the wind, and that the outside material was still currently giving it some semblance of reality. Whatever the real explanation, he was glad that it was giving the people a last chance to escape.
The old man looked at him curiously. "You don't think this is the end?"
Nala shook his head. "The people are important, not the country. We'll rebuild eventually somewhere."
But that didn't help the people who were still stuck in the country. Especially the people who were now facing a flood of white racing towards them. It roared inwards, and swept up before it the country he had grown up in. All of it now wiped out or soon to be. It was all beginning, and all ending. Next to no time left at all.
*–*
She was awake.
And her name? Her name was… Was H… H…
Zelda. Her name was Zelda. She was a princess. Yes, a princess of Hyrule. And her hair was blonde – never red – and her eyes would never be that shade either. If only time wasn't such a blur and she could remember more. She had too many questions that needed answering. Who was that boy lying on that floor with that body? A body?
What was wrong with her? Why didn't she know so much? All right… calm down. Take a deep breath and…
It all came flooding back. Hyrule, the end of Hyrule, stepping on Lain's ship and… She couldn't remember what had happened since then. Except... Vague memories of a great sea battle. Of a grand ball, of blood and death. Of power.
Link… that was Link lying on the floor there. She had finally found him. Who was that on the floor with him? Saria... What had happened?
It seemed like she hadn't directly told her legs to move for months as she stepped over to where Link was. The sound of her footsteps rang sharply in that cold silence and disturbed him enough to look up; his face a strange mixture of blood and tears.
"Zelda?" he asked. His voice was flat, as if the world no longer mattered.
She nodded. "I don't know," she said as he began to open his mouth again. "I just found myself standing over there." The rest could wait.
There was a window nearby, and Zelda happened to glance out of it.
"What's happened here?" she asked, looking in horror at the dark sky and the lightning that seemed to be raging down everywhere.
Link got up and looking out of the window too. "No time to explain, but… it's got worse. Look… I know this may all be a big shock to you but we need your help urgently. Ganon's in the next room and we need you to seal him up again in the Sacred Realm." His voice was too formal, and his instructions too concise. This was not him, but a pretend actor put in its place.
As he spoke a mountain range in the far distance suddenly started to flare up, and then in an instant, was gone. It looked to have disappeared from existence.
"Quickly," he told her, "we have to go now. The Distile has started for real."
Not quite understanding him, Zelda stepped back over to Saria's body and helped Link to pick it up. Link quickly led her through a door in the wall, and to her astonishment she found herself in a fairly large chamber. At first glance it did not seem so big though, for the room was almost totally filled by desperate and mainly injured people. The only space was in the centre of the room, just around where some thing – Ganon? – was being restrained by several men. On the far side another huge battle was taking place between some more men mixed in with some equally fierce looking women, and something that she couldn't see that was obviously coming down the corridor towards them.
"Zelda!" shouted Impa, who had seen her first. Her old nurse standing in a corner, and around her several of the other sages. What had been happening?
Rauru quickly broke of from the main group and ran over to Zelda. Darunia didn't look so much shocked as amazed when he saw the body they were carrying. She winced – she had taken to calling Saria 'a body' already.
Link shook his head as the old sage tried to speak. "No time," he explained. "The land is starting to disappear – we've got to get us all back to Hyrule now."
Saria was laid down in yet another corner, alongside the bodies of brave defenders who had fought and lost. Then Zelda ran over to the Sages at their beckoning. Ganon – the sages – Saria dead – this whole place... All she could do was follow orders and get someone to explain later. At least she soon found out what Link wanted her to do quickly. He wanted a repeat of the spell that had entrapped Ganon before. One worried glance at the monster in the room's middle and she tried to calm herself into the right state.
Link ran past them and even Ganon without much of a glance, and finally stopped where the battle with the Sadia was taking place.
Kaze was beside his side in a moment, and Link hurriedly began talking to him. "Look," he said. "We can not let the Sadia get into this room or get into Hyrule. They have to get trapped in Nurai. Nothing is more important than that. I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but your men..." He gulped involuntarily and then managed to get the final words out. "They need to do anything and everything they can to drive them back as far as possible."
Link had never asked anyone to die for him before.
Kaze stared at Link in the eyes for three agonising seconds, and then dropped his head. When it rose again there were slight tears in his eyes, but his face was defiant and his mouth could have almost been forming a smile. "Funny how things turn out sometimes," he said. "I search my life for you, and hey – my people searched centuries for you. And then days after we find you it turns out the world is going to end."
Link lowered his own face. "I'm sorry..."
"Make it worth it. Then again, something tells me you already have." He spun on his feet and let loose a cry from his throat that no man could ever forget. A moment later and every Xi and Kalen in the room were by his side, the urgency of his non-verbal command clear to them. "The final charge starts now," he said quietly, "leave and the... the Xiam Kalendium will forget and forgive you. Stay and forever you are remembered, forever honoured."
Maybe Link shouldn't have recognised the ritual as the rejoined Xiam Kalendium sprinted forward. After all, it had not been said for centuries since the old organisation had broke apart. But memories of his death remained, and some of the experiences of thousand that had come with it. Some prophecies still remained, and some ancient words. Words that every recruit to the old order had recited for thousands of years on their initiation into the Xi and Kalen's predecessor.
"And onwards we will charge like the nation we have become," he whispered. "Ever changing, and ever losing, but always one people and one name. History may lie, but our destiny to serve is the same." How could the Xi and the Kalen have become split for so long?
"Till the end we shall never complain," Bren said softly as he stepped up besides, "till our gift is repaid, and the final glory ends. Till the final charge."
He nodded at Link, and then he too was padding off down the corridor. Where no man could return from. Where Link had just sent so many people to die at. He hated it, hated it with every fibre of his being.
"No. I have to go after them!"
Tai suddenly jumped off from where she had been lying, and desperately fought off the hands that restrained her. " I can't leave him alone. I can't – I..."
Link looked at her sadly. It was too late for her now. The battle in the corridor had already been forced back too far for her to do anything. But now he had to make use of the time that they had bought him.
He strode off to where the sages were still standing. They had to have their problems all sorted out by now.
"We need a representative from the Kokiri," Zelda told him as he stepped up. "We think you can take Saria's place. For now, you'll be the temporary Sage of the Forest."
"But…" he started, before realising he had to try.
The other sages slowly began muttering, beams of light began to pour out of them again and slowly join up again into one great ball of power. Link looked desperately around, trying to know what to do. This was all happening too quickly. Finally, he drew his sword out as if it would help him. Where Saria's blood still lay.
He closed his eyes, and began talking desperately: "I, Link, Sage of the Forest, call on thy power to aid in the defeat of Ganondorf Dragmire."
Nothing. Absolutely nothing had happened, and it sounded terribly wrong. A new idea struck him. He tried again, "I, Link, King of the Gerudos..." Something was happening for he could definitely feel some power building up. He realised now that he always vague known the words to say; he had just longed not to have to speak them. Too late now.
"I, Link, King of the Gerudos and Slayer of the Forest Sage," he started again, "call on Din, Farore and Nayru to honour thy chosen messenger's blood and to aid in the return of the Master of Power."
A great load was lifted off his shoulders, and as he opened his eyes he saw that the great mass of power was no longer floating above them, but was moving towards Zelda. It hit her, and her skin seemed to readily absorb it. Zelda shot out her hands, and yellow bolts poured out of them. Ganon roared as the energy gripped him, but it was of no use. He was restrained by the yellow power more securely than any iron ever could have done.
It was Link's turn now. He held the master sword ready, and ran towards the great hulk before him. As he ran peace seemed to drift into his mind. It would all be over soon – just one more thrust with the sword. He didn't even see that Saria's blood had disappeared from the blade.
The ground suddenly lurched. The Distile must have finally come to the castle. The farthest side of the castle probably no longer existed. Zelda just managed to stay upright, but her concentration was distracted, and her hold on Ganon broke. The monster flung his way forward at Link, who managed to stay standing still. He counted silently to three, and then with a loud cry he very firmly and deliberately thrust the ancient weapon up. It cut into the pig-like form even as Zelda's beams again connected with it and caught it tight in mid air.
For a moment everyone stared silently, not daring to breathe. Link's hands might be on the sword, but his gaze was on one of the windows showing the outside. The white Distile was approaching this side of the castle too.
In the corridor only three warriors still stood to face the Sadian onslaught. Twenty, maybe thirty enemies were charging up the corridor and the warriors were still busy with the two they were in the middle of fighting with. Darius went down, but in the distraction his two comrades finished off their respective Sadia. Only Bren and Kaze were left now. Far in the distance, just behind the oncoming Sadia, the corridor was being rapidly turned to white. The Distile had come and even the Sadia were struggling to outrun it. The rear most Sadia were caught by the tide, and disappeared as surely as if they'd never existed. But still around twenty at the front were managing to race onwards in front of it.
A quick gaze of mutual respect between the two men and then they were crouched low and ready. The first hostile came – a quick jump and it was dead. The Sadia weren't even bothering to morph out of their bird form any more.
Another two next, and those two went down, but only just in time for the Xiam to confront the next lot of three. One Sadia flung its way at Bren's left and he gasped. His left hand was gone. No matter now; he had always been right handed anyway.
Another four, and even as the two friends desperately flung there swords back and forward the roar of the white was filling their eyes and ears. Jump, dive, somersault, flip. Endlessly move but never stop. And still the Sadia came.
Five darted at the two warriors, and they only managed to stop three of them. Desperately they threw their weapons at the two that had got past. Destiny was smiling down at them, for both Sadia who had got past were hit. But their weapons were lost, and still four Sadia were left to fight.
No, two, for the white had again swallowed up the rearmost in the formation. If only those had the front had not been slight bit fast enough to stay ahead of the Distile. But they would surely make it, and the two warriors had nothing to stop them with. Nothing but themselves.
They waited till the last moment, and then leapt into the air. Desperately the Sadia tried, but they could not swerve quickly enough in time. The newly created human blockade impacted with them. One of them managed to cut its way through Bren's neck, but too late, too much time lost...
The Distile flooded past and onwards, its final targets so close. It leapt up the final stretch of the corridor, and the faces in front of it stared in fear.
And then a new flash of white emerged from within their room as if to fight the oncoming one. White on white, and power on power.
And Nurai was destroyed.