Chapter 15: Hope

" Are you going to be okay, Ingo?"

Malon walked around the living room, picking up the broken milk bottles and trying hard to clean up after Takara's visit. Ingo sat at the table, as he drank his fourth cup of Lon Lon milk, wrapping his wounded arm in a bandage. He watched Malon limp around the room cleaning; her injuries were more severe than his. She was the one cleaning, and he was sitting around watching her.

" I have a light headache, but nothing serious." He got down from the table and walked over to Malon. " You should rest, let me clean up. Why not check on your father?"

Malon sighed deeply agreeing. She wiped her forehead, being careful not to touch her black eye. While Ingo began to clean from where she left off, Malon grabbed two bottles of Lon Lon milk and slowly made her way upstairs. Due to the throbbing pain in her entire leg, walking up the stairs felt like an eternity. She felt as if she was going nowhere, until she surprisingly ended up in front of her father's room. Wiping the sweat off of her forehead, Malon grabbed the knob and slowly entered the quiet room.

Talon was still resting in bed, his breathing very heavy, as he continued to toss and turn in bed. Malon quickly walked to his side, and placed the two bottles of milk on the nightstand. She pulled back the covers off of Talon, and noticed he was drenched from his own sweat. Even with the window open, letting the cool breeze into the room, Talon was burning up. Malon wanted to burst into tears seeing her father this ill. His condition was just getting worse, over the past week he hasn't improved.

Malon sat down on the edge of the bed, and began to rub her father's head lightly. His forehead was burning with a fever, but because her hands were cold, it made him feel hotter than he actually was. His coma was gone but he continued to sleep. Seeing him toss and turn and making different expressions of his face, gave her the impression that he was having a terrible dream. She didn't want to wake him, since he needed to sleep so she began to sing Epona's Song, to soothe him. Maybe hearing the song her mother had taught her would help him calm down.

" Malon?"

Malon jolted her head up and looked around the room. She wiped her eyes, and licked her dry lips noticing that she had fallen asleep. A warm large hand gently touched her shoulder, causing her to immediately lower her hands. Talon was finally awake, his loving yet red watered eyes looked up at her. Malon grabbed the milk off the nightstand and popped the top, handing it to her father.

" Please drink."

Talon, with shaky hands, grabbed the bottle and slowly sat up so that he could drink it without spilling. Malon had also grabbed her bottle, but didn't drink it until Talon had finished his. She wanted to make sure that he drinks it all, so that he will get better soon. She was told that their milk replenishes the body, making you stronger, but seeing her father in his condition after having many, caused her think otherwise.

" I had a dream about you and your mother," Talon explained weakly, his voice very soft.

Malon took his bottle sitting it down on the nightstand. She took a couple of small sips of her milk before actually replying about his dream. " Really? So then it wasn't a nightmare you were having?"

" I actually did. I dreamt that Takara had taken you, and I never saw you again. All of a sudden your mother's song appeared and then I saw her with you. She saved you, and brought you back to me."

Malon warmly smiled that the song had helped, but then she remembered Takara taking Durnal. If Durnal didn't agree to go with her, then Takara would probably have taken her as well. Her father's dream would have ended up as a prophecy.

" Takara had taken Durnal."

" When?"

" When she attacked us."

The room was silent. Talon lowered his eyes looking away from Malon. During this time, Malon finished her drink and stood sitting it on the nightstand. She carefully walked over to her father's window that overlooks the ranch, seeing the horse trotting around freely. She feared that she would never see Durnal again, but remembered what he had told her.

The love from you and father is protecting me. If I'm injured to the point where I'd die, then I'll be transported back to my time period.

She believed what he had said.

" Where is he now?"

" Zora's Domain, Link headed there to stop Takara."

" Link…came by here?"

" Yes, I guess he has heard that Takara attacked us."

" You're not mad at him?"

There was a bit of a pause. "…No, not anymore." She heard Talon's sigh. " I finally know the truth."

" The truth to what?"

Malon turned around resting up against the windowsill. When Talon turned to look at her, she had a smile on her face. It was a smile Talon waited a long time to finally see. It was her usual one, the one she always had when she was a little girl. The smile showed her true happiness. She was finally happy again.

" He loves me…"

" So he finally confessed, eh?" Talon was actually glad to hear this.

Malon nodded, briefly turning her attention back to the ranch. " He said he would come back, because he finally has a reason to…" She turned back to her father. " Do you think he was telling the truth?"

Talon nodded, slowly sitting up in bed. He brought his hand up to his mouth and began to cough. Malon noticed that this time, his cough had sounded better than it did before. Hope developed inside of her.

" I believe that he will," Talon answered after calming down. He sniffed and swallowed hard. " Love really changes people. When they are in love, they are committed. I'm truly glad, that he brought your happiness back."

Malon began to laugh, she held a strong smile on her face, and her eyes glistened. " My happiness was here all along."

Talon shook his head, which caused her to frown. " I don't believe so. Maybe you think you were happy, but this happiness here was the one you had a child. I really miss seeing you like that."

" Father…" Malon stood and walked back to his bed. She sat down on the edge of his bed and reached over embracing him tightly with a hug. Talon wrapped his long arms around her, slowly stroking her hair. " Father…seeing you recover is making this happiness return. I don't want to lose you like I lost mother."

" Don't worry Malon, I will always be here for you. I will never leave."

Malon closed her eyes tightly, thinking about what he said. She believed him; she forced herself to do so.

Link aimlessly looked around the area. He shivered, and sighed deeply examining his own breath. Durnal was gone, and gave his life to protect him. Link didn't think that Durnal would actually get in the line of fire. Now he only wished that he had done something to prevent Durnal from getting hit.

Link's eyes fell to the spot where Takara fell into the freezing water. Supposedly Durnal had figured out what the missing piece of information was, but so far Link was still clueless. Durnal had vanished before getting the chance to tell him the information. Now, Link had to figure out on his own.

Standing to his feet, Link used the rest of his strength to race across to the other side of lake, where his sword sat. He leaped from platform to platform, quickly bypassing the spot where Takara fell in. He didn't even stop to glance in the water, his main priority was on his sword. Without it, fighting was suicide. This time, he wasn't going to let Takara easily knock it out of his hands.

Right when he reached the precious item, Takara leaped out of the water, floating above the snowy hill. Link gripped tightly onto the sword, and slowly turned around to face Takara for the final portion of the battle. When Link's eyes fell upon the evil witch, his mouth hung open in surprise. He gasped, his eyes never leaving the witches face.

Takara's thick hair was so wet, that it couldn't hide part of her face like she always had it. This time, Link could finally see the truth. Takara's headband that stretched around her forehead, looked very similar to Ganondorf's. In the middle of her band, the part that her hair had covered, was a fiercely glowing gem ruby. The item that supposedly is supposed to be around her neck was stuck within her forehead. Link eyed the two rubies, noticing that the one on her forehead seemed to be generating the power. The more power she used, the brighter the gem was. Link had finally found the mistake. It wasn't the gem around her neck that needed to be destroyed; it was the one on her forehead. His lack of knowledge in the future caused him to target the wrong ruby. Takara managed to destroy the Master Sword, which began the new era of Hyrule, in darkness.

" I finally figured out how to destroy you," Link took a couple of steps closer to the witch.

Takara grin and swung her head around, flipping the long wet strands of hair behind her. Her entire face was visible. Her two mesmerizing purple eyes stared down fiercely at Link. Her face seemed so innocent as a child and so beautiful as an angel. Link forced himself not to be distracted by her looks. Deep down, he knew she was nothing but evil.

" It doesn't matter!" Takara spat, " You won't win."

Link ran in closer to Takara, watching as she formed another purple ball of energy. The gem around her forehead, reacting to her, lit up brightly, casting a red light right into Link's face. Instead of charging straight for her, Link dove off into the side, diving straight into the freezing water.

He held his breath as he swam underneath the platforms, to hide from Takara so he could surprise her with a sneak attack. The ball of energy was fired to the water, missing Link by an inch. Link watched as the ball slowly disintegrated as it continued to go down deeper into the lake. At the last platform, Link slowly brought his face above water, to catch his breath and gather more air. He listened quickly, hearing that Takara was still over by the snowy hill, charging up another ball of energy.

Link carefully made his way out of the water grabbing his sword. Takara's back was to him, as she continued to charge up another ball. He quickly ran in for an attack, lifting his sword into the air. Before Takara could react, Link had swung in his sword, creating a deep slash above her boot on her left leg. Blood spattered onto Link's face, as he landed back onto the platform, hoping that she would lower herself.

Takara grunted loudly, as she slowly examined her cut, realizing that Link had cut her deeply. Not even paying attention to the Hero of Time in front of her, Link lifted his sword once again, this time bringing the sword straight through her leg and pulling her down onto the platform.

Takara's scream was heard clearly, as it loudly echoed into the sky. She fell onto her back, looking away from Link to make sure that he didn't have an open shot at her ruby. She lifted her hand creating a small but powerful ball of energy, firing it straight at Link.

Link soared back onto the farther platform, holding his head from the impact. With this advantage, Takara quickly pulled the sword from within her, feeling her leg going numb. She levitated into the air, over to the recovering hero, with the bloody Master Sword in her hands.

" You may think you can destroy me…" She explained steadily, forcing the pain behind her. " But you are wrong." She dipped the sword into the water, watching as the blood mixed in with the water.

Before Link could react to the witch floating in front of him, Takara grabbed his arm, forcing him to his feet. She held on tightly to his arm, watching as his head lowered to the ground, his breathing heavy, as he continued to pant. He was weak Takara noticed that. It was her time to strike.

" How about we turn the tables around for a bit," Takara insisted pointed the sword straight at Link. " Let's have the item that is supposed to destroy me, destroy you instead."

Link lifted his head, not quick enough to see her lunge the sword forward. Pain immediately filled his chest, as his wide blue eyes, watered causing tears to roll down his cheeks. Takara let go of his arm, laughing as she lifted herself higher into the air, to watch the amusing sight in front of her.

Link fell to his knees, looking at his glove seeing it covered in thick red blood. He eyes slowly moved down his sword, that now pierced his stomach Link's lips trembled as he lowered his head to the Master Sword, that Takara had forced straight through his stomach. It was a pain that Link could not explain. Seeing the blood—his blood terrified him. His green tunic, turned red and soon he began to cough up blood.

" Linkie! Link NO!"

Takara turned her attention to the entrance that leads to Zora's Domain. Princess Ruto, a sage of the Water Temple, stood in front of the entrance in total surprise. Her eyes stayed focused on Link, the slowly but surely dying hero.

" Another Sage?" Takara questioned, studying Ruto carefully. " Ha, another one for me to kidnap."

With this distraction, Link could finish Takara off. He could end this once and for all. He could bring peace back to Hyrule, even though he fears he might not be there to witness it all. That's what hero's have to do sometimes…they sacrifice their life to save others.

Link closed his eyes tightly as he grabbed onto the sword, with a loud piercing scream, he pried the sword from out of his stomach, watching the blood splat onto the platform. He weakly stood to his feet, his left hand holding his sword while his right hand covered the spot on his stomach, where the sword was held. Takara was distracted, but still out of reach.

" Come, Sage!" Takara cried, focusing on Ruto. " Come and join your two Sage friends."

Takara lowered herself to the ground on the top of the snowy hill. Ruto noticed Link making his way toward to Takara. She had to keep the witch distracted a little longer, but knew that she might be putting her life in danger.

Link somehow made his way over toward Takara, but the witch had easily spotted him behind her. She turned to find the hero approaching her with stealth, but grinned blowing his cover.

" You think you can sneak up on me?" Takara's voice echoed as she raised her hands into the air.

Ruto ran in closer to Takara, using her bravery as she wrapped her arms around her, giving Link a small advantage to finishing her off. Link held his chest, noticing the sage and witch struggle. Ruto was helping him; he needed to act fast.

" Link now!"

Link closed his eyes as he swung the Master Sword in on her forehead, listening to the witch scream. He felt his sword collide within something, but keep his eyes closed afraid to open them. Link felt a rush of wind caress his face, as he felt himself fly back off the top of the snowy hill. Ruto and Takara's screams both died off, as Link vanished underneath the freezing water.

Malon…I'm sorry…

Link soon felt his ears pop, and water fill up in his mouth, as he floated deeper and deeper underwater. Shortly after…he loses coconsciousness.

" Princess Zelda…" Darunia calls when he sees the wide-awake princess standing in the throne room looking down at her departed father. " When did you awake?"

" How long have I been out?" Princess Zelda ignores the sage's question. He hears the shakiness in her soft sadden voice.

" For about a week," Darunia answers truthfully. " I'm so glad that Takara hasn't done anything critical to you, princess."

" It's…queen now." Zelda replied, sternly. " My father is…"

" Queen Zelda!"

Zelda looked up and turned around to find Impa and Nabooru standing at the entrance to the throne room. A smile crept in Zelda's lips as she quickly hurried over to the two sages, with Darunia following her. Seeing the two Sages back, and alive gave Zelda the impression that Takara…

" Queen Zelda, we need your help." Nabooru informed.

" You need to follow us." Impa added, quickly.

" When did you get back? What do you need help with?" Zelda surely had a lot of questions on her mind.

" Just now, and we have him." Impa answered.

" Him?" Zelda repeated, steadily.

Nabooru began to lead the way. " Please follow us."

" Daddy!"

" Durnal…"

" Daddy, I'm so happy…"

" Durnal…"

" Link!"

" I love you daddy…"

" Link, open your eyes!"

" Thank you…"

Link slowly opened his heavy eyes, to find Queen Zelda hovering over him. He rubbed his eyes, and sat up so that he had good sense of where he was. Zelda stepped back, a warm smile on her face as Link examined the room. He was in Zelda's bedroom, lying in Zelda's bed. He was only wearing a pair of gray pants, and his green hat. He was shirtless but his stomach was wrapped in bandages to stop the bleeding. He felt no more pain.

" Zelda?"

" Link," Zelda exclaimed with a sigh of relief. " I'm so happy to see you awake. I was beginning to worry."

" Where…" He rubbed his forehead, " What happened?"

" Takara is gone."

Link's eyes widened, " What?"

Zelda nodded. " Ruto explained that you had fallen into the water after destroying the ruby. She dove in after you and when you both came back up Takara was gone. Her clothes laid on the ground and the other gem around her neck, but her body was nowhere to be found."

" Do you think—"

" I don't think—I know. Takara has lost, Impa and Nabooru have returned. Hyrule is saved, Link…you have won."

Link lowered his head, thinking all of this through in his mind. He licked his lips, trying to remember what had happened at Zora's Domain after Ruto showed up, but most of it was a blur.

" And the Master Sword?"

" In one piece."

" So…" Link forced himself to smile. " It is over."

Zelda nodded. " For now. Hyrule is safe from the evil witch, but I fear that more danger will soon head our way. In the mean time, we should all just enjoy what we have."

Link watched as Zelda made her way over toward the window, looking out at the beautiful Hyrule. The sun shined brightly into the blue sky, the birds chirped, the grass was greener than ever and already towns were being rebuilt. Hyrule is returning to its original state. They were finally in a land filled with peace.

Zelda warmly smiled and took a deep breath, sucking in the fresh air. " It's finally over…"

A/N:

Sorry this chapter took a while until updated. I had finished the story over the weekend but usually don't update it until my personal reader reviews it and helps me fix all the errors.

I don't really have much to say except that there is only one chapter left and it is the epilogue. It's not that long, less than two pages, but I will probably publish is in two days because I don't want to update two chapters at once. Sorry, I just want to wait. Besides I have a new story that I'm going to update at the same time of the last chapter. So you're gonna have to wait a couple more days until the last segment is up.

Xakattack: Thanks for the review, I'm still waiting until you update your other story. If it's a remake it shouldn't take this long. Haha.

Liz0888: Don't worry Durnal is okay, you just won't hear of him anymore. I kno a little sad. Now it's only one more chapter left, and the last part is the epilogue. Wow, I'm practically done. Yes I will be committed to do more of MalonLink stories.

Mandy: Yes, a lot of people of think they have an idea on what the information is. Hopefully you are right. Durnal is okay, don't worry you just won't hear from him anymore. Thank you as well, I'm glad you have been reviewing each I update.

Shiru23454: Yeah I understand what you mean, but o well. Thanks for reviewing!

Soiel: Yes it was a little short, hopefully this chapter is long enough for you. Much stuff happens here as well, thanks!

NoOnSh: Thanks always! It's okay, sometimes I don't review all the times either.