It was done. The Calamity, the scourge of Hyrule, the demise of all four Champions, Dark Beast Ganon, was dead. Gone. Zelda softly alighted on the soft grass, relishing the feeling of the soft blades tickling her feet. She stood with her eyes closed for a moment, steadying herself after a century spent in spirit form, trying to get back to the feeling of having a physical body.
She could hear him behind her. Link. The Hylian Champion. Wielder of the Sword that Seals the Darkness. The Hero of Hyrule. Her liberator. His breaths were ragged and uneven, as he was likely exhausted from the battle they just fought. And won. His soft footsteps stopped about five feet away from her.
Zelda took a deep breath, and began the speech she'd memorized a few years ago. She had come up with it during her endless fight against Ganon. She'd imagined this day for a century now, the day when she would be free, but more importantly the day that she would be reunited with Link. She knew he was a little different, all of his memories had been wiped and he'd only gotten a few of them returned to him. But that didn't matter to her. Whatever he was like now, they could still get along.
"I've been keeping watch over you all this time...I've witnessed your struggles to return to us as well as your trials in battle," she began. She thought about how she had finally awakened him with her voice, the confused look on his face as he sat up and looked around, testing his own name out as though he couldn't believe it was his. She'd watched him fight against all the Blights, watched him reunite with all the Champions' spirits, just waiting until it was her turn to be with him again.
"I always thought...no, I always believed….that you would find a way to defeat Ganon. I never lost faith in you over these many years." He was the only thought that could keep her fighting. The idea that someday, someday, someday he would save her. That someday, someday, someday, she could see him again. Talk with him. Eat the delicious food he cooked. Every day she would whisper into his mind, no matter how asleep or far away he seemed, until he finally woke up. And since that day, whenever she could spare a moment she would watch him on his journey, imagining the moment when the two of them won, when the two of them could be together once more. A moment that was now upon them.
"Thank you, Link," Zelda continued, smiling to herself. "The Hero of Hyrule." A title that had taken him a century to rightfully earn, and yet that didn't matter to her.
"May I ask…" she hesitated a moment before finishing, struggling to foresee how he would react to this question. Thus far, he'd been quite standoffish, an almost lost look in his eyes. She didn't want to offend him. But she had to know. "Do you really remember me?"
Link just stood there for a moment, his breathing still rough, his blue eyes glazed over. Then he ran over to her, throwing his arms around her shoulders, his entire body shaking slightly.
Zelda remained rooted to the spot. Out of all the possible scenarios she'd come up with over a century, this was not one of them. She slowly wrapped her arms around his body, feeling his short breaths through his shaking body.
"I'm...I'm sorry...Zelda," Link whispered into her ear. The simple words sounded agonized.
"Sorry...for what?"
He slipped, his hands falling from her shoulders and trailing down her waist, before he released her, lying on his side in the grass.
"Link!" Zelda screamed, staring down at him in shock. Then she saw it. The red that now stained her white dress. Blood. But not hers. His. Blood that stemmed from a gash in his side that she had failed to notice until now.
She fell to her knees and shook him, listening desperately for his breaths that were becoming few and far between. "Link...no...stay with me...don't close your eyes...please…I can't…"
Link just stared up at her, his blue eyes glazed over, a small smile dancing on his lips. He grasped her hand, his own shaking terribly, blood still flowing from the wound in his side.
She clutched his hand tightly, tears running down her face, mixing with the blood that adorned her dress. "Don't go…"
"We did it…" Link said quietly. "Hyrule is...saved…"
Zelda shook her head. "That doesn't matter. Not to me. All I wanted...all this time...I wanted to be with you again! Don't leave me. Alone. Please. I can't do this alone."
Link just shook his head.
They sat in silence for another minute or so, Link's gaze becoming more and more unfocused. "I...I wanted to…to see you smile again…" Link said, his eyes flicking up to her face.
And Zelda just laughed. Because it was all so stupid and so unfair. She'd spent a century in constant torment, fighting for her life every second of every day for 100 years straight, only dreaming about being reunited with Link, who was now lying on death's doorstep. Was this how the goddess rewarded her? Rewarded him? For all the hardship they'd both endured and this was the result they got? He got to die for being the hero? And she was left alone? Everything she'd been through...only one thought had gotten her through it all...the promise that someday she could be with Link again. And now she couldn't. Hyrule was saved, sure. She'd have a kingdom to rule. But she'd have to rule it by herself.
"Link...I don't want this…"
Link smiled softly, his eyes sliding closed. "I know...I didn't either…"
"Fight through this...please...you have to!" Zelda begged.
"It's too late for me…"
"No! No, I refuse to believe that! All you've been through...all you've done...one injury shouldn't take it all away! There's no way...you can't just...die...not again…"
Link's breathing continued to even out, his chest rising and falling less and less, the warmth of his skin slowly fading. Blood still flowed from his side. The grass he laid on was bright red now, its green color completely drowned out.
Zelda suddenly realized he knew he'd been fighting a losing battle this whole time. A gash like this could not have come from Dark Beast Ganon, with its giant laser. He must've received this wound from Calamity Ganon's first form, the arachnid-guardian abomination she'd fought for a century, with all its terrible axe, sword, pincers, and other deadly weapons that were more than capable of delivering a slice like that.
He'd gotten this fatal injury before the second phase of the battle had even begun. He'd been dying the whole time. He'd hung on until it was all over. He knew he wouldn't get to see the peace he'd warranted. He knew he was going to die. And yet he'd fought on. He hadn't given up. But now that it was done...he really was going to die. There was nothing either of them could do.
Link weakly raised a shaking, bloodied hand, and cupped Zelda's face, his touch almost cold. "I'll miss you…" he whispered. "I wanted...to get to know you...again…"
"And I wanted to know you too…" Zelda sobbed. "I wanted to meet you again. I wanted to spend time with you again. I wanted...I wanted...anything but this…"
Link smiled softly, the light fading from his eyes. "And yet...this is what it is…" he took a deep breath. "Please...don't let this break you...you have a kingdom to rule…"
And with that, his eyes closed, his hand slipped from her face and lay limp at his side, his chest stilled, and his heart quit beating. A look of peace rested on his face, as though he truly had accomplished all he wanted to in his life.
But Zelda could not accept this outcome. "No!" she screamed. She banged her fist on Link's cold chest, "Wake up, Link! Don't do this to me!"
But, of course he didn't. He was gone. Hyrule was safe. But it's hero was gone. Zelda laid her head on his chest, just listening to the awful silence that had once been filled by a strong heartbeat, crying until her tears ran dry, until her entire body was shaking, until the sun's glow sunk below the horizon, being replaced by the moon's cold reflection of light.