A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.


A Normal Knight

Chapter 5- The Front, Part 3

"There's just too many of them! ACK!"

"Break and flank! Flank! What are you doing! I'm not asking you again, comrades, I ordered you to flank!"

"Hold the line!"

"Look, they're spreading!"

The words of the legion rings through the air with others, including the enemies'. Link listens to these, in case any of them spell opportunity for a better survival. A half hour has past, and Ganondorf's army has already pushed through to Hyrule Castle Town, mainly the Market. The large town that was once emptied of living beings before is now a ground of life or death, the streets littered with Hylians, monsters, blood, and rainwater.

Link suffers a small arm wound while taking care of a Stalfos, but it's nothing he can't handle. Blocking an attempt by a sword of another Stalfos's, Link breaks it to pieces with a fatal swipe of his Gilded Sword.

There's too many of them… Link thought as he pants. Where are the Gorons?

Bodies, everywhere he sees. If that isn't enough to lower his spirit. At least Zid and Miru have been spared such a fate. With them fighting by his side, it's enough to keep him going.

"AAAHHH!"

Link turns his attention to a Hylian soldier on the ground, a Wolfos on top of him. It is starting to bite into his body, eating away the flesh underneath the tunic. Slow, painful it must be. Link charges in and cuts the Wolfos's arm off cleanly, letting it die as it squirms on the ground. But, it's too late. The soldier is dead. Link barely holds back the content of his stomach from rising up into his mouth as he sees the man's stomach and chest has been torn away, its internal organs gone, leaving red meat and blood spilling.

Oh, man… Poor bastard. It's something Link shouldn't see twice in his life, but he's seen more than enough earlier, though.

A Lizalfos comes flying out of the air towards him to surprise him. Link leans back, shield up. After the block, he drives his golden blade sickeningly into the monster's stomach. He can feel through his sword the crunching and hard resistance of the inside of the Lizalfos's guts. It screams a spine-chilling one, as Link drives the sword in even further. Finally, Link pulls the Gilded Sword out, finishing the monster's demise. Another damn creature sent to its doom.

It's still isn't enough. More monsters pour into the town, each fresh to kill somebody.

"Catapult! The enemy's brought ours in!"

The horror of a wooden vehicle is brought into the Market, its content ready to be fired. In the haste of their retreat, the legion has forgotten to bring in their catapult. So, the army of Ganondorf brought it in to use to their advantage. Not hesitant, the wooden vehicle lets loose its projectiles on the unfortunate soldiers of Hyrule.

"Oh my goddess, look out!" Miru yells.

A rock is heading toward Zid, and he's not fast enough to dodge it. Miru dives in and tackles him out of the way. The rock flies past the two and smashes a pot with a plant in it nearby.

Link runs up to them, seeing this rescue scene. "You two alright?"

"We're fine…" Zid stands up, shaking his head loosely. "Thanks, Miru."

Instead of a quick response to this gratitude, Miru blushes slightly.

"Uh… yeah. You're welcome, Zid."

"Come on, this is no time to blush or thanks!" Link snaps them out of their moment.

"Right!" Zid shakes his head again. "Alright, who sent those freakin' rocks at me! I'd like to show them my piece of ass up close!"

Fighting, fighting, endless fighting. It's an undesired slaughter they are leading. But, they can't seem to get any closer to victory. There are simply too many reinforcements. Too much that the enemy has, and the catapult is tearing through the Hylian legion easily.

"Comrades, fall back! Fall back!" a general orders. "To the castle! Retreat to the castle! We make our last stand there, comrades!"

Exhaustingly, our three soldiers run as fast as they can to the path up to the castle. However, they are the last ones, and soon, more rocks from the catapult fly over their heads and block their path onward.

"Oh, great…" Zid comments with grimace.

They turn around, seeing the horror of many monsters coming towards them, ready to rip them apart.

"The Temple of Time!" Miru points at the magnificent structure. "It'll slow them down to us!"

"To there, then!" Link commands. "Together! Go!"

Sprinting with what stamina they have left, they hasten their retreat to the holy cathedral. They bust open the temple doors and enter. Zid and Link slams the door shut, while Miru searches around for heavy objects to barricade.

"Move!" Miru later yells as he pushes two benches towards the main door.

Shoving the two benches in place for effectiveness, they successfully blockade the door. But, it's still not enough, as they can hear the relentless banging and the pushing the enemies outside are currently doing. Link and Zid, with all their might, stand firm holding the door shut. Miru finds a hard, solid piece of wood and shoves it in the handles for more blockades. Still not enough, though…

SHING! A jagged sword stabs through the door and barely misses Zid near his chest. It slices around, then pulls back out.

"You know, I really think Death is kissing my ass right now!" Zid exclaims.

"Miru! We need more!" Link orders.

"There aren't anymore!" Miru answers.

"Get back, then!"

They enter the main chamber, light shining brilliantly despite the clouds and rain outside. The room has a black and white checkered floor. An altar at the end stands, with three shiny stones, green, red, and blue, hovering above it. The legendary Door of Time stands behind the altar. Above, the symbol of the Triforce is engraved like a holy relic. Our three soldiers stand together in this sacred room, their tunics stained beyond belief with blood. Torn at some places, the tunics show their flesh wounds, none too grave. Not a grave wound is found… yet. Their swords bear the same fate as their tunics, blood and meat dripping from the metal blades. Their shields are scratched, very contrasted to the smoothness earlier in the day. The symbol of the Royal Family still stands on them, the courage, power, and wisdom they represent.

And yet, the three are alive. Amazing. Most of the inexperienced, young men that stood with them before on Hyrule Field fell already. They haven't. They are, too, inexperienced and young, but they made it, to here, to what seems like their last stand, in this divine temple.

"What a rip-off," Zid finally said with a sigh.

"What?" Link cannot believe the humorous tone Zid carries despite the coming moment, the coming end.

"If I die, I'm going to die here, in this stupid temple. Die honorably, with you guys, to my last breath." Zid shakes his head, then looks at the two. "That seems so damn corny."

Couldn't resisting the urge, Miru laughs. "Yep, it is," he agrees. "You want to die an interesting, unique way?"

"Oh, yeah." Zid nods quickly. "You know me."

Link sighs, then joins in the laughter. "You always gotta make that last joke, do you?"

"Funny until the end, my friend." Zid wags his finger. "Even if it is a horrible one."

"What about our hopes of the Gorons coming?"

"Well, that's there, Link," Miru explains. "It's just about to be flushed, though."

"So…" Zid slowly begins.

"To the end?" Link asks.

"To the end," Zid and Miru repeats back.

BANG! The main doors break open. Monsters of Ganondorf start to crowd in. With their hearts, our three soldiers charge in, screaming their battle cries. Their swords make painful shrieks and wails as they cut through the flesh of their enemies. But, there is too much coming in. Soon, the three are surrounded, a number of reinforcements to go against if they take out the first line. But, does it really matter? They dish everything out at their targets, using up what energy they have left. Bodies and bodies fall against them. Blood quickly spreads across and covers the floor of the chamber. Meat splashes as they hit the red liquid. The three stain the Temple of Time with the remains of their enemies.

Farewell, Malon… Link mentally says his good-byes. Our love will have to wait until heaven… Farewell… my love…

A rumble shakes the ground suddenly. Everybody stops, not anticipating this. Then, in a quick blink of an eye, enormous, spiked rocks roll through the doors of the temple and rams down the monsters around the three. Horrible sounds of bones breaking and flesh ripping reaches their ears. Once all of the enemies of Hyrule fall to them, the rocks slow down to a stop around Miru, Link, and Zid. The rocks retract the vicious-looking spikes, showing their rather smooth, brown surface. What has just happened?

"Gorons!" Zid calls their names. "You guys made it!"

Indeed, they are. The symbol of the Gorons is imprinted on both sides of their arms. The Gorons have come.

Zid exhales. "Coming in here late, making a dramatic entrance, and taking all the credit."

"We apologize." One of them uncurls itself and stands up. "We are sorry for the lateness. But, we had to deal with the monsters outside the castle, too."

"Hey, that's okay," Link assures. "You Gorons made it just in time."

"Thanks so much for your help." Miru extends a hand.

"You are most welcome, knights of Hyrule." The Goron crunches Miru's hand. Miru's face scrunches as he feels his hand switches from being exhausted to pain and numbness.

"Er, we're just plain soldiers," Link corrects.

"Oh? Well, we must join our brothers at Hyrule Castle. They most certainly need our help," the Goron declares before curling up into a ball.

As fast as they came before, the Gorons leave in the same speed, sending the ground shaking again. After they are gone, Link sighs. He goes over the battle… going over his moments of this battle.

"We did it, guys," Link lets out the words. "We survived."

"I never thought a little hope could do all this," Miru comments.

"Well, we still survived," Zid said. "That was one hell of a fight."

"Sure was."

"Well, let's head up to Hyrule Castle, shall we?" Link suggests.

"Not to fight?" Zid asks.

"No."

"Whew… Then, that's the best thing I heard all day…"