Okay, sorry about the late entry, but I've been a little busy as of late.

This is the lead-up chapter to the big fight, so I hope it sets the mood and you enjoy it.

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Character- Link

Setting- Link is in search of Ganondorf's Castle, looking for Zelda.

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Courage (Part 1)

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I trudge through the splintery, ashen landscape.

I can't see anything over the charred peeks of rock and stone.

The red, glowing sky darkens above me.

I can see no further due to the maze I'm trapped in.

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And worst of all…

I'm beginning to lose hope.

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It's been over an hour since Zelda was taken…

Over an hour that I've been trying to find my way to Ganondorf's castle.

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I don't even know if I'm going in circles or not…

Let alone the right direction.

But something inside me tells me I am…

Destiny tells me I am.

Only now… after an hour,

I can't help but doubt that feeling.

And I guess that's not surprising… considering what Destiny had done for me so far.

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Navi floats along beside me.

She hasn't said anything since we left the Temple.

I don't blame her.

I think she knows that if she does say anything…

I'm ready to bite her head off.

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I climb over another twisted piece of rock.

I manage to slice my palm open on its jagged surface.

I curse myself silently.

I ignore the trickle of blood.

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My frustration doubles as I look around at where I am.

I think I was hoping to magically see the castle.

But all I see is the broken landscape…

Black, dark and horrible.

And in my mind…

All I can hear is Zelda…

Screaming.

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I try to push the sound out of my skull.

It stays implanted there.

Her shill voice breaks and wavers through her pain.

I wince.

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The sky rumbles.

A fork of lightening slashes through the air.

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I look over to Navi.

She's looking at me gently.

I stare at her… daring her to say anything.

She doesn't.

I can't help but feel a surge of anger at this.

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Goddesses.

If she said something, maybe I'd be able to let some anger out.

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I realize what I'm thinking and make myself stop.

I take a deep breath.

Another scream from Zelda echoes freshly in my mind.

I do my best to ignore it.

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I pull myself up another splintered rock.

As I breathe in, a chalky, acrid taste enters my mouth.

The air is hot and dry…

It reminds me of the time I spent in Death Mountain Crater.

… A tang of sulfur in the air.

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And now that I think of it…

It's much too hot.

Too hot to be normal anyway.

I must be by a volcano.

Am I by Death Mountain?

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Panic shoots through me as I look around for the mountain.

If I'm anywhere close to Death Mountain, I'm off course.

I settle as I see it safely in the distance to my right.

I'm nowhere near it.

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But it's still way too hot.

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I close my eyes and try to concentrate.

If I listen carefully enough…

Maybe I'll hear which way I need to go.

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The only thing that answers back is a scream from Zelda.

This one loudest of all.

I snap my eyes open.

I shiver slightly.

I can't decide whether she's actually screaming or not…

Whether it's only in my head.

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I clamber over yet another jagged stone.

This time, I scrape my elbow.

It makes a rough scratching noise as my flesh rubs the stone.

But… I barely feel it.

I land on the pebbled ground unfazed.

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A voice in my head comes in;

Just two more.

Just two more of these stone walls and I'm there.

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I don't know what makes me think it.

But as soon as I do…

I know it's true.

I've never been here before,

But something (destiny) is telling me only two more.

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My heart lightens immediately at this.

As though the end was already in sight.

My mind clears itself of the screams.

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I scramble my way over one serrated rock.

Then push my way up the slope of another.

I stop dead at the tip.

I'm sure that my jaw dropped.

But I'm too busy staring to notice.

I look out on the wasteland in front of me.

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The bloody sky casts an odd red glow on the torn and charred landscape.

Here the land is flat.

Too flat.

As though a terrible explosion wiped it clean of trees and life long ago.

The wind whips by me and skims a layer of soot of the ground.

In the center of this horrible clearing, sits a lake of magma.

It burns and boils, erupting jets of flame.

A wave of awful heat hits me.

I can feel the skin on my face dry immediately.

But I ignore it.

In fact, I look right past the soot and the magma and the flames.

I stare straight ahead…

At the skeletal structure of a castle,

In the middle of the magma lake.

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Huge, lumbering walls coat its sides.

Giant metal spikes line all of its edges.

Spires shoot to the sky at random.

All together, the 'castle' looks like a twisted dark tower…

Rising up to impale the sun.

Thick, splintery chunks of wood serve as a door.

With the glow from the sky and the magma surrounding it,

The whole building seems to be coated in blood.

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I gasp at the sight of it.

I once thought that no place in the land could be as dead as the Desert Wastelands.

I see now that I was wrong.

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I jump gingerly down from my perch on the rock.

The flat, pebbly ground seems like a plush carpet after my hour-long trek through the rock maze.

I begin the cross to get to the castle.

A cliché lightening bolt flashes across the unpleasant silhouette of the castle.

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My eyes dash from side to side.

I keep expecting something… anything… to come and attack me.

But all around me, I see nothing.

To my right, I see Navi searching with the same anxious look.

My heart eases slightly.

There is no chance for a surprise attack out here on such flat land.

For me or for Ganondorf.

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He must know I'm coming now.

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But I couldn't care less.

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Let him be ready.

Let me beat him at his best.

Only then will I win a true victory.

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My thoughts bring me to a stop at the edge of the fiery lake.

The castle is still over two hundred metres away.

The heat coming from the lake is savage.

I tug of my tunic and place in my pack.

I slip into my red one instead.

The heat seems to disappear.

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But now…

I'm face with a more pressing problem.

How do I reach the castle?

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I look across the huge gap.

I search for a bridge.

Nothing is there.

I feel panic and hatred building inside me.

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Another bolt of lightening splits through the sky.

A giant clash of thunder breaks the silence.

For the first time in ages, I speak;

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"Navi, how do you suppose we get across here?" I ask, trying to hold my temper.

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Navi stays silent for a minute,

As though she were shocked to hear me speak.

I'm almost ready to repeat the question when she finally responds.

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"Honestly Link," she begins, "I don't know. You'd think there'd be a bridge here."

She sighs.

"Why don't we try the hookshot?"

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Half of me yearns to spit back 'We?'.

But I hold my tongue.

I take a breath in and fish my hookshot out.

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I hold it steady.

I aim at the wooden castle doors.

I breathe out in a long, steady stream.

I release the hookshot.

My arm flings back slightly due to the recoil, but I hold the tool steady.

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The chain flies forward with blinding speed.

For a split second, I think that the hook had lodged itself into the huge door.

My body is almost telling me it did.

But my hope turns to sour as my body is jerked forward because the chain has run out.

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It didn't reach.

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The chain retracts back, twisting furiously.

It snaps back into the hookshot.

I whip the stupid thing towards the ground with a cry of anger.

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Why couldn't it reach?

Who decided that the chain was long enough as it is?

Why didn't they make it any longer!

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I don't know who I'm asking these questions to…

But it seems fair… really.

It's not – it can't be – my fault.

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The dust stirred up by the hookshot stings in my nose.

I sneeze despite my efforts.

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"Link- " Navi starts.

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"- Shut up!" I spit.

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Thunder rumbles.

Then silence falls.

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I blink.

I stand shocked at what I said.

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"Navi…" I say shakily, "I…"

I stop.

I don't know what to say.

I sigh.

I walk to the hookshot and pick it back up.

I dust it off and put it away again.

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An inescapable feeling of dread fills me.

I'm not going to be able to get across that moat of fire.

I'm not going to get to Zelda in time.

Hyrule will be doomed.

Ganondorf will kill me.

Navi won't stay behind because I yelled at her.

I'll never get to say a proper goodbye to Saria.

I'll never grow up on my own.

The Goddesses will abandon me because I did not meet their wishes.

I will rot away in whatever Hell awaits me (perhaps this IS Hell).

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My throat seems to swell up.

I feel like I'm choking.

I look over to the castle,

Then to Navi.

"I'm sorry." I whisper.

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Navi flies to me and rests on my shoulder.

We both gaze up to the black edifice before us.

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A sudden twang of hope springs.

I whip out my bow and a single, arrow.

I search my pack for my length of rope.

The one I always carry.

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I ignore Navi's questions about what I'm doing.

She flies off my shoulder, aggravated slightly.

I tie the end of the rope to my arrow.

"Hold this," I order, throwing the other end of rope to Navi.

She does.

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I load the arrow and again aim for the doors.

I let the arrow fly.

"I get it!" Navi exclaims, "you'll hit the door then slide across the rope."

It soars through the air, the rope dangling behind it.

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"Better than nothing." I say.

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I should have known that it would have been too easy.

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The rope pulls taught too soon to hit the door.

I arrow stops in its tracks.

Navi gets pulled three feet forward.

I grab her out of the air.

The arrow sinks down into the lava, the rope close behind.

Navi, still holding the tip of the charred rope, casts it into the magma hopelessly.

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All the hope that I thought I had was wiped away.

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I stand at the edge of the lake, dead-like.

I open my hands and let Navi back out.

She sees me and says nothing.

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Again, we both look towards the giant dark castle before us.

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"I'll go fly up to it and see if anything's there." Navi says quietly, without much hope.

I watch as she effortlessly flies over the burning lava to the wall of the castle.

But I feel no hope.

I already know that they'll be nothing there.

Ganondorf isn't that stupid.

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I breathe out, shaking slightly.

I fall forward onto the hot, hard ground.

My knees knock against the stone and dust.

I stay there, still, on my knees in front of the most damned place I've ever seen.

I do something I haven't done in what seems to be years.

I pray.

Not just the stuff you do every night before sleeping…

But the kind of praying you do that's more of an all-out plea.

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I bring my finger to the sooty dirt on the ground before me.

I draw the image of the Triforce in the grime.

I close my eyes.

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"Oh Great Goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore," I say aloud, not bothering to keep my voice down, "hear me."

I pause, not really knowing what else to say from there.

A nasty voice inside my head awakens.

I start to feel a bit stupid, but push the feeling away.

"I need…"

(Need what?)

"I need your help."

(Original.)

"Please, of Great Ones of Destiny, do not abandon me now. Do not let what I have done so far be in vain."

(What do you think will come of it anyway?)

"Please, let me see what I must do now… for my emotions have blinded me."

(Bullshit… You're lost. Face it.)

"Give me the strength to find out what I must do. Give me a sign. Anything."

(A little desperate, are we?)

"I want to save Hyrule. I want to save Zelda. I can't let her die up there."

(Of course you can't… Not until after you're finished with her.)

"Please. Let me see as you see. Send me a sign. Let me save your land and children."

(You idiot, you honestly think they'll listen?)

"Amen."

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I open my eyes.

I look around me, stupidly, for anything to have changed.

(See?)

Navi's back now.

I look up to the heavens.

The dark, cloudy sky swirls above me.

A single drop of icy rain drops onto my cheek.

It rolls down the side of my face.

I go to wipe it away.

But I think better of it.

More raindrops begin to hit my face now.

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What's the point?

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Tears swell up behind my eyes.

The rain falls a little harder.

Still looking up towards the sky, my salty tears join the rain on my face.

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(Yeah… they sent you a sign, all right. What a good omen rain is.)

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Goddesses, what am I doing?

What did I ever think I was doing?

Did I ever actually believe that this would work?

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I cast my head down and look at the dirt floor.

My Triforce symbol is all but washed away now.

I fight the incredible urge to start sobbing.

Mud pools around me and stains my white leggings.

The magma lake hisses two feet in front of me.

I can see smoke rising.

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I hear another roll of thunder.

The ground around me is suddenly illuminated by lightening.

The rain continues to drizzle.

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Then…

Something strange catches my eye.

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A raindrop falls down just above the magma lake,

And just before it hits the hot lava…

It hits… something.

It's as though a sheet of something invisible stopped the rain.

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I soon notice that other raindrops are spattering just above the surface of the lake.

Like they're all hitting something that can't be seen.

I sit up straight to get a better look.

My tears stop.

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Then I see it properly.

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Right the way across the red lake,

In a thin band…

The rain stops… hitting something invisible.

The band stretches right the way across and stops on the other side of the lake.

Just in front of the wooden doors.

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I fumble to get out my Eye of Truth.

It falls out of my hands and into the thick mud.

I pick it up roughly and wipe it clean.

I bring it to my eye.

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But…

Nothing is there.

The rain seems to just…

Stop.

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I put the Eye away.

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"Navi?" I ask, "Can you… you know, see that?"

I'm afraid that I might be starting to see things now that the Eye hasn't shown me anything.

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"I… think so, Link," she says, "do you think we've gone…"

She trails off, leaving out the word crazy.

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I shake my head.

"No."

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I reach out my hand to where the rain is hitting the nothing.

I prepare to push down.

It looks as if I'm about to plunge my hand into the lava.

But, even Navi says nothing about this seemingly stupid act.

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I bring my hand down,

Expecting to feel the sting of heat.

But I hit…

Something solid.

Something that won't let my hand pass through it to get to the magma.

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I press down with my hand harder.

The invisible thing doesn't move.

Something's there all right.

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I rub my hand gently from side to side.

I can feel the solid surface under my hand and the sleek of rain upon it.

Tiny veins of water run down my hand.

I begin to smile.

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"Navi, look!" I say triumphantly.

I laugh.

I know this is no time to be doing so…

But now I know that I'm getting across.

Now I know.

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It begins to rain harder.

The invisible shape begins to become more defined.

The rain falls upon it, allowing me to see exactly what's there.

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It's a bridge.

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I get up from the ground.

A grin sets in on my face.

I mop my wet hair out of my eyes.

Navi flies by my side.

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I hold out my foot.

I put it down slowly on where the rain is outlining the bridge.

It stops a foot over the hissing lava.

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I take another step.

Now all of my weight sits upon the bridge.

Nothing happens.

My grin widens.

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I begin to walk across the slowly arching curve of the invisible bridge.

The rain collected by the unseen surface pours off the sides.

My walk turns into a jog.

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Lightening flashes and thunder clangs.

The rain suddenly turns into a downpour.

I can feel its heavy weight on my shoulders.

The bridge now seems to be made of some sort of splattering, flowing glass.

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I laugh aloud.

I begin to sprint across the Rain-Bridge.

My quick footsteps cause ripples to run across the surface.

The splashes caused seem to come from nowhere but my own boots.

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How weird I must look, running across the air.

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I reach the other side of the fiery moat.

I give out a short cry of victory.

The dark castle rests only feet in front of me.

The rain continues to pound down from the heavens.

It runs down the black metal of the castle.

I smile at the rain.

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I have no doubt that the Goddesses sent it for me.

It was my sign.

Not an evil omen after all.

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I raise my hand and place it upon the heavy wooden doors.

I can feel the wet, splintery wood under my fingers.

The doors rise up six feet above my own head.

Angry metal spikes coat them.

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Navi comes up beside me.

She speaks nothing of what had just happened.

She simply looks at me.

Silence follows.

Then,

"This is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done… that you've ever done. Do you know that?" She says quietly.

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I swallow.

Of course I know that.

And of course, Navi would have been the one to remind me.

But…

I think I'm ready for this.

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No…

I know I'm ready for this.

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The doubtful voice in head is gone.

There's no room for it anymore.

I can't afford to doubt.

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"I know that Navi. You know I do." I say to her.

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I go to open the huge, lumbering doors…

To go to battle.

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"But…" Navi begins.

I stop, my hand raised halfway to the door.

"Aren't you even a little bit scared this time?"

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I almost laugh at this.

Not because of being scared…

But because she actually asked me…

'this time'.

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"Navi," I say gently, "I don't know what you've thought of me up until now… but I've always been scared. Ever since day one. I was terrified in the Deku Tree. And I suppose I'm terrified now. But I deal with it. I go on anyway."

I smile a tiny smile.

"I'm afraid that when I go in there, I'll not last ten seconds. Ganondorf will be right there. And he'll kill me. I won't even get a chance. I'm afraid that I'll fail. Or that, I win but I'll find Zelda dead. I'm afraid that when I do find Ganondorf… I'll just… blank out and not remember anything."

I look over at Navi.

"Most of all, I guess I'm afraid of Destiny." I say quietly, "I always have been since it was explained to me. I'm afraid that it is my Destiny to die here… just as I was afraid that I was destined to die in every single other one of my battles."

I sigh.

"I can fight, I can shoot, I can run, I can think up strategies… but I can't tell my Destiny. And I hate that. Because everything else I do depends on that one thing."

My grin returns as I look back to the castle.

"But I go on anyway. Maybe it's because part of me knows that I'm going to die sooner or later. Especially in this line of work. I don't not have fear. I don't ignore my fear either. I just… I know that I'll die, and I keep on going anyway."

I pause for a moment.

I think.

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"But… that's what courage is… isn't it?" I ask.

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"Yes, Link," whispers Navi, "I have no doubt that that is exactly what courage is."

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I smile briefly at her one more.

Then I move my hand to the giant door.

And I push it wide open.

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Okay, I'm on vacation for about a week starting tomorrow. So… I will be updating again. Sooner rather than later. But it won't be any later than next Friday. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Bye for now.