Not Nintento, or Rick Riordan
Some important things to note before reading this chapter, (yah i know i forgot to post it on time again, but well school and work is a bitch and that unfortunately has to come first as without them, well then there's no more story posting). First, this chapter has labeled changes in perspective. Secondly, this chapter begins a trend of which I am having this story be a modern-day setting for Age of Calamity, sort of. Thirdly, possible trigger warning, but its really not that bad and if you read it through it will be fine, you'll see. When I read stories I can take some degree of tragedy or angst as long as its alright in the end and thats the way it is here. Finally, please leave your reviews?
Chapter Twelve
Calamity Strikes
It had been three months since all the races had joined us, and things were starting to seem like we really had a chance. Everyone who was initially unfamiliar with the other races quickly realized and valued the intrinsic skill sets and abilities of each race. The Rito for example were unparalleled archers, save for the Apollo children anyway. It was honestly hard to say who was more skilled they were so close in skill level. Their eyesight was extremely keen, like that of a bird of prey, which had made them extremely good at being lookouts in the watch towers, just like the Roman eagles.
The Gorons, immensely strong as they were, made our outposts' battles easier to deal with when monsters besieged them. The Zora, with their vast lifespans and knowledge had proven themselves to be a boon as historians. They had happily added to our library of knowledge that we knew. The Gerudo, brave and skilled as they were, were very helpful as reinforcements for our forces.
It was also on the third month after our allies arrived and at the seventh month of my beloved wife's pregnancy that one of the outposts in Missouri was attacked by the Yiga. Fortunately thanks to the combination of our Rito, Goron, and human forces we had only a couple losses on our side. Although I say human recently everyone had noticed a change in the human population. Even though it was noticed recently somehow it seemed like it wasn't a new thing, like it had always been like that, and we just never noticed. That change was that everyone now had pointed ears, humans really were Hylians after all. That being said however, I also suspected that the Gerudo were humans as well. Yes, they were a separate race, but the fact that they had children with Hylians in the past would indicate that they were same species. Organisms more different than in the same genus can't reproduce with each other, no matter what. This suspicion of mine also applied to the Sheikah as well.
Though I now wondered, how did the Rito and Zora fit in the taxonomy of life on Earth? Maybe after all this was over they would agree to DNA sampling to answer this question? My confusion with those two races was because of their humanoid and animal blending of traits. For example, were the Zora mammals that had evolved fishlike features? And were the Rito descended from some sort of bird that had evolved a humanoid body plan?
Anyway, the Yiga attack on the outpost resulted in a pretty substantial hit on the traitorous scum. Although I wasn't present for that one, electing to this time stay with wife and daughter at home, much to my wife's delight, I heard all about it afterward. Apparently Khoga and Sooga had been there, neither had been eliminated and Sooga had seemed no worse for wear after the thrashing I gave him, typical.
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Third Person Omniscient
Master Khoga sat on the edge of the cliff top above the entrance to the Yiga clan hideout, feet hanging over the edge as Sooga stood behind him. A soft footstep behind both of them caused Khoga to stand up and turn around to face their visitor, as they'd expected it was Astor.
"Hey! Prophecy man! You missed the part where we get walloped!" Khoga stamped his feet and clenched his fists in anger as he recalled how the prophet of doom had said nothing about this in his sendoff speech to them before they left to make their attack on the outpost.
"I am afraid we cannot overlook this failure, seer." Sooga said tightly, grabbing a fistful of Astor's collar and lifting him a little.
"Can't do it." Khoga said simultaneously.
"Hm. Fate decides all…even this defeat. As you well know, if you decided to turn against me…you would also make an enemy of Lord Demise." Astor said, voice surprisingly calm.
Khoga flinched slightly, Sooga released Astor reluctantly.
"So, you see then. Good, we will need each other's help if we are to achieve our grand purpose. In the name of Demise, you and I are bound. Let us turn our eyes to the task before us, yes?"
Astor began walking away, and didn't hear Sooga's muttered words, "You are blind, seer, Demise is not for mere mortals to control."
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My POV
Two weeks before our second child was due to be born and when Ilia was just about five years old, disaster struck. The Yiga and hordes of monsters attacked Camp Half-Blood with no warning. It happened at night, although I and my family were sleeping, fortunately our night patrols alerted us in time. The alarms instantly jolted us from sleep, I quickly put on my garb and grabbed my sword and shield. I raced back upstairs to where my wife was now clutching our crying, kicking, and incoherently screaming Ilia like she'd disappear if she let her go even for a moment. Our poor girl was unsurprisingly scared out of her mind, I took just a minute to soothe her with my wife's help. Once she was simply whimpering softly, I made up my mind.
"Zelda, I'm going out there. I need you to stay here and protect our daughter. Manifest the bow of light and don't let Ilia out of your sight." My voice was tense with worry for my daughter and pregnant wife.
She nodded without a word and summoned the bow of light and got ready to use it if needed. I raced down the steps to our front door, only to find it blocked by Twilight. He was standing in front of it, legs splayed, fur bushed out, and was eyeing me in a way that conveyed very clearly what he was thinking. His posture and expression said, 'Don't even think about leaving!' I sighed, crouched down to his level, and spoke softly to him so my wife wouldn't hear me.
"Twilight, I need to get out there and fight, the Yiga don't stand a chance against me." I tell him firmly.
His expression changes, he now wants to go with me.
"No, Twilight, you're staying here. I need you to look after my wife and child, can you do that for me?" I ask him.
He flattens his ears, but not out of anger, he's worried now. He lets out a soft whine, distressed. I take his head in my hands, lifting it so it so he's looking me right in the eye.
"Twilight, I need you to trust me. No matter what happens, you stay by their side unless I personally tell you otherwise, is that clear?" My voice is dead serious.
His tail tucks between his legs and he whines softly again. He reluctantly moves away from the door, begins ascending the stairs but stops and looks back at me for a moment before continuing up the stairs.
Exiting my house and making my way to the end of the walkway leading to our door I took in the spectacle. There was fighting all over the place, somehow the Yiga had gotten past the wall, and with various monsters no less. The Yiga seemed to be holding back for now, merely watching the monsters fight us. I saw what must have been at least three hundred Yiga from this location alone. I also saw more monsters than I could take the time to count. Sprinting towards the nearest cluster of monsters, which were bokoblins, all of them wielding clubs. I grabbed bombs from the slate and threw them amongst them, destroying them and continuing on. I noticed, to my relief, that our soldiers were performing well for now. I then noticed a lynel charging straight at Lexa, its viciously sharp and jagged sword out.
Racing over with lightning speed, I jumped in between them just as the lynel's sword was about to cleave her in half, I parried the strike away with my shield. Lexa glanced at me, we quickly nodded to each other, and then she turned away as I engaged the lynel. As the lynel reared back in surprise at my sudden appearance, Lexa disappeared amongst the monsters.
The lynel leaped backwards, face contorted into a snarl as it bent its head back and started inhaling. Fire manifested around its face, I realized what it was about to attempt. I pulled out a bomb and threw it at the lynel. The blast knocked the lynel to one of its knees, placing a fist on the ground as well. Before it could get up I ran around to its side and leaped onto its back, slashing it with the Master Sword. The lynel began bucking like crazy, trying to quickly remove me. It was too late though, as I stabbed my blade down into its spine, killing it instantly. I leaped clear and charged a group of about six moblins. The moblins all got ready to stab me with their spears, but they were far too slow. I executed a devastating spin attack that sent them all flying backwards. They died and puffed into smoke upon landing.
Looking around again I saw a group of Zora being assailed by a pack of lizalfos, all of them armed with lizal tri-boomerangs, vicious weapons with a sort of spiral design with three blades each pointing another direction. I raced over, the lizalfos whipped around at the sound of my rapid approach. They all charged me, their focus immediately transferring to me, which was their undoing. This was because in turning to me, they'd turned their backs on a group of spear wielding fighters who therefore had the perfect opportunity to skewer the reptiles on their long, sharp spears. The remaining lizalfos frantically looked between me and the Zora, not sure who to attack. I jumped into the air and crashed down, knocking back the monsters with the shockwave.
"Thank you! You are a true friend to the Zora!" The Zora captain thanked me, to which I responded it was no problem.
Looking around again, I noticed a Gerudo captain and several Gerudo soldiers surrounded by enemies that I hadn't expected to see, wizzrobes. There were three of the fire, ice, and electric variants. There were also three meteowizzrobes, blizzrobes, and thunderwizzrobes. I charged over there as fast as I could, slashing away the closest foe, an ice wizzrobe, with one swipe of my blade. It screamed as it puffed into smoke. I picked up the ice rod it had dropped, thinking it might be useful at some point.
"This is our moment! Rush them down!" The Gerudo captain said when she noticed me, pointing her spear outward as she spoke.
Together we charged forward, breaking through the surrounding magic wielding nasties and rejoining with another small group of our forces. Nodding at the Gerudo captain I ran off again, picking up a fire rod and an electric rod as well. I bolted toward where some of our Hylian soldiers and captains were getting hit pretty hard by an attacking lynel, this one carrying a massive club.
Upon my arriving at their location, one of the captains noticed and said, "Thank you for bailing us out! We have a new lease on life everyone! Don't squander it! Now chaaaaaarge!" They rushed forward and engaged in close quarters combat with the beast, now going on the offensive and putting the monster on the defensive. This was about to go bad, the lynel reared up on two legs, club raised and pointed back over its head. I knew this tactic, when lynels did this, they were about to unleash a blast of fire to scorch their surroundings. Immediately I yelled for everyone to back up, they did just in time as the lynel slammed its weapon against the ground. I charged forward and leaped at the lynel, it leaped backward and out of range.
The lynel sneered at me, then got down into a position with its hands on the ground as well as all four legs and rushed towards me. It was fast but I was ready, I activated the cryonis rune and the monster cannoned into it at top speed. It was dazed from the impact, I slashed repeatedly at it before it shook itself a little and cocked its club over one shoulder. It was about to swing it like a wrecking ball. Just as it started to swing I locked it in place with the stasis rune. I raced to the lynel, and slashed and hacked at the beast, inflicting massive damage. Soon the stasis stopped and the lynel jumped backward again and glared at me balefully. It pulled out its bow and notched three shock arrows and readied to fire them at me. I tensed up and launched myself at the beast's chest with lightning speed, stabbing deep, the lynel reared back onto its back legs before crashing to the ground and bursting in to smoke, dead.
It was at this point that nearly all of the monsters had been disposed of, that the Yiga clan finally began to partake in the fighting. The blademasters and foot soldiers all commenced engaging in fierce combat with our forces. I kept striking down as many as I could, but there were always more. I soon kind of lost track of time, caught up in the moment to moment rush of battle. My whole awareness contracted to attack, defend, and survive mentality. It was almost like I was in my element, the combat moves coming so naturally. I noticed Chiron about eighty feet away, he was firing arrows like a whirlwind, I fought my way over to him.
"Chiron! What's our status?" I asked as I deflected a horizontal swipe from another blademaster and followed up with a slash across his chest that ended him.
"We're holding them at bay for now. Camp Jupiter won't be sending reinforcements because the Yiga are attacking them too. We're fine at the moment, but unless we can turn the tide of battle…WATCH OUT!" He suddenly cut himself off as he turned his bow in my direction.
I ducked as he fired at a group of about eight foot soldiers who'd been charging towards us. I didn't even need to hear the rest of his sentence, I knew what he was going to say. If we didn't turn it in our favor soon, we wouldn't be able to win this at all. Additionally, we apparently had no help coming. This thought sent me speeding away toward the next closest group of Yiga. I was then stopped in my tracks when the yell came from somewhere off to my right.
"We can't take much more of this!" The voice shouted out.
I snapped my head in that direction and saw maybe twenty foot soldiers and five blademasters assailing a Hylian captain and his small group of soldiers. I rushed toward them, I had to help them! I could tell from the captain's shout that they were on the verge of defeat. I jumped into the air as I reached their location and crashed to the ground, sword down to create a shockwave that knocked back the attacking Yiga.
"Men! Follow Link's lead!" The captain exclaimed, relief palpable in his voice.
Together we rushed the Yiga and scattered them amongst the other fights occurring all over the place. I quickly looked around, assessing the situation, the camp was still teeming with Yiga even though dozens of them were lying dead or dying on the ground. Then things got even worse, I heard a voice rising above the chaos, "Fall back!"
I looked in the direction of the cry and saw a contingent of Rito warriors and their captain being pushed back by a battalion of foot soldiers. Their bows and spears just not very suitable for close quarters fighting against many enemies. They were too far away and there were too many Yiga between me and them to get to them easily. But I had to try! I suddenly whistled, loud and shrill, hoping it would cut through the din of battle.
To my relief I heard Epona's whinny and saw her flying towards me with the speed of a gale, the gusts from her wings scattering the Yiga like insects. She stopped beside me and I climbed into her saddle. Fortunately for the both of us, all the Yiga archers had been taken out, that would have made riding her far more dangerous. With one hand on her reigns and the Master Sword in my other, I raised my sword into the air as Epona reared onto two legs.
"EVERYONE! FORMATIONS!" I yelled over the noise.
Our soldiers all immediately condensed into tight, well protected groups as instructed. The Gerudo soldiers bunched together, spears out to guard against any charging Yiga. The Zora soldiers followed suit. The Rito warriors all returned their spears to their backs and drew their bows and launched into the air and hovered there, ready to fire. The Gorons all clumped into a large group, massive two handed weapons primed to smash any attackers. Our Hylian forces all pulled together, swords and spears ready.
Launching into the air Epona and I had a clear view of the camp below us. I saw each of our separate groups of fighters and everything. Our forces were all separated by Yiga, although being isolated allowed more coverage of the area to combat the Yiga, it also made each group more vulnerable to attack, we needed to all pull together and face this threat together. That thought went out the window however when Sooga appeared below me.
I steered Epona in a circle and down to the ground near Sooga. I jumped off my steed and she immediately lifted off and resumed circling in the air above along with the Roman eagles who were occasionally diving in to scatter the attacking Yiga. The Yiga's attempts to teleport onto the eagles and kill them was always met with failure as the eagles would always zoom off in a random direction the moment they saw a Yiga disappear in a teleportation just in case. I tensed myself in readiness for this fight with Sooga.
"Hero! This time you will fail! That I assure you!" He called out to me in his deep voice.
"We'll see about that Sooga! Now are we going to fight or just stand here talking about how we're going to obliterate each other?" I snarled back.
"Hahaha! Now there's something on which I can actually agree with you!" He laughed. "Very well hero! Let us fight then!"
He raced towards me, I used the cryonis rune like before, launching into the air and watching as Sooga ran full pelt into the pillar of ice. The ice smashed and Sooga stood dazed. I crashed down, sword out and slashed a major blow to him, frustrated now with his apparent resistance to damage. He was knocked backwards about ten feet.
"A respectable attempt, but futile in the end." He chuckled.
He leaned backward a little, arms raised and twin swords crossed. Thinking quickly, I used magnesis to pull the swords right from his hands and then slam them back down, impaling his shoulders.
"AARRGGHH!" He groaned, "I didn't see that one coming, I'll admit. You are…very unpredictable…that's for sure." He said falteringly.
Then he reached back and yanked his swords free, and with blood streaming out, he rushed me with his swords out at his sides. That meant I wouldn't be able to jump to the sides, and since he was rushing at me, I couldn't go backwards. He would be expecting either of those, so what I did instead could easily have been called crazy and foolish. I charged at him, the distance between us rapidly disappearing. At the last moment, I jumped as high as I could, just as I reached the top of my jump, Sooga's head came right underneath my boots. I slammed my legs down, using his head like a springboard. I vaulted behind him, landing on my feet with a fluid grace.
Before Sooga could turn or slow down or anything, I froze him with stasis. I then raced towards him and jumped, sword out to hopefully cleave him in two. However, the stasis effect wore off just as my blade made contact and he continued moving. This had the result of moving him just far enough that my strike didn't fatally wound him. It still hurt him badly though, slicing through muscle and tissue. He collapsed onto one of his knees.
"I may have underestimated you, you are indeed quite skilled. Yiga! Initiate phase two!" He told me before yelling out.
All the Yiga except him instantly teleported away. Sooga saw my facial expression and laughed raucously.
"You haven't won, fool! Phase two is not retreat, you'll see what it is soon! If you survive this, mark my words, you will perish to the demon king himself!" He crowed before disappearing himself.
Everyone looked at each other, confused. How was Camp Jupiter faring in its fight? All these thoughts stopped when a huge explosion suddenly tore a massive hole in the perimeter wall. Everyone looked in that direction, the dust and smoke blocked our view of anything behind it. Then cold horror shot through me when they emerged from the smoke and dust, guardians.
However, though these guardians were obviously corrupted with malice, they weren't the magenta like they had been with Calamity Ganon. Now it was black like the night, undoubtedly because this was the work of Demise himself. With Ganon, it must have been diluted a little by the fact that Ganondorf was never truly evil himself.
"What in Hera's name are those?" Someone called out.
"Wait! Those are guardians, aren't they?!" Austin asked me, suddenly near me.
"Yes. EVERYONE RETREAT!" I yelled out.
This was just getting worse and worse, there was no fighting the guardians. There were only two weapons or things around right now that could damage them. Those were the Master Sword and the bow of light. My wife's power was not strong enough this time to be useful here as she lacked the full Triforce.
"WHAT?!" Clarisse raged. "RETREAT? YOU MEAN RUN AWAY? SEE WATCH ME DESTROY THIS MACHINE YOU FOOL!"
She sprang at the nearest guardian, sword out. The sword clanged off its shell, knocking her off balance. I raced forward and pulled her back and out of the way as the guardian fired its beam. The area where she was just standing was destroyed, leaving a crater behind. She didn't say anything, she just stared at the crater with sudden horror and realization of what almost happened.
"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" I repeated.
Everyone began rushing off toward the preplanned evacuation spot, where the chariots stood waiting for pegasi to be hooked up to them. The Roman eagles landed nearby and got ready to assist with the evacuation. Chiron then sounded the evacuation alarm, and I rushed off. As I went I felt the gaze of all the guardians lock on to me, I was nothing more than prey to them. Then I felt a jolt of terror, my wife! She would be panicked hearing the alarm to abandon our home. I had to go to her! I quickly picked up my pace and put a building between me and the guardians line of sight, stopping them from firing. Until they then began firing at every single building. Fortunately, no one was in them right now, but now the guardians were going to raze Camp Half-Blood to the ground. As I raced off for my home, I noticed that Pelias was nowhere to be seen, and the Athena Parthenos had disappeared as well. But I didn't have time to wonder about that, I had to get my wife, daughter, and Twilight and everyone else the hell out of here!
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Third Person Zelda POV
She was terrified right now. Despite that she desperately tried to hold it back for the sake of little Ilia who was cowering behind her, little fists death gripping the fabric of Zelda's nightgown. Zelda kept the bow of light drawn and ready to fire if needed. Twilight lay pressed against her, growling softly at the sounds of combat beyond the walls of their home. Zelda was constantly trying to keep her mind from going to the thought of how her husband was doing at the moment, if she dwelled on that thought too long she knew she would go charging out to his side even though that would be the last thing he would want her to do.
She had no idea how long it had been when it happened but there was suddenly an explosion. Her head snapped to the window, she saw far away that there was a huge cloud of dust by the perimeter wall. Ilia whimpered at the sound of the blast, Twilight tensed up with a rumbling growl. Then she heard it, the sound she had hoped never to hear. The evacuation alarm set Zelda's nerves alight with horror. 'No! Please don't let that be what I think it is!' She thought desperately.
"Mommy? Is that the evacuation alarm?" Ilia asked from behind her, voice shaking with terror.
Zelda knew full well that was what it was, she couldn't lie to her daughter. She had to be honest because this meant they had to leave, that their home was therefore lost. She quickly dematerialized the bow of light, she'd need both of her hands free for this. She got to her feet and took one of Ilia's hands in one of her own, and quickly began making her way down the stairs. Twilight staying beside her, almost clinging to her like a barnacle to a rock. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, she immediately headed for the front door. She stopped just long enough to grab her pair of sandals, and Ilia's shoes. They couldn't flee barefooted, but there was no time to find more appropriate footwear. The evacuation alarm meant they had basically no time at all.
Quickly getting on her sandals, and putting Ilia's shoes on for her, she opened the door and grabbing her daughter's hand again and began making her way to the evacuation point as fast as she could without dragging her daughter behind her. It wouldn't do very well to go faster than her daughter's little legs, or her swollen midsection for that matter, would allow. Then she saw something that made her heart soar in her chest, her husband was hurtling toward the house. He slightly changed course toward them when he saw them. He raced up and before she could say anything he grabbed her hand and began running toward the evacuation point with an urgent "We have to get out of here right now!"
"Link! Slow down, please!" She urged him frantically, aware of how their little darling was now being basically dragged along.
He looked back at them and immediately looked ashamed for not considering that. He waited anxiously for Zelda to pick up their daughter and hold her with one arm and return her hand to her husband's. He grabbed it and resumed running, their feet slapping against the ground. As they fled, Zelda thought she heard something. It sounded vaguely machine-like, almost like…no it couldn't be!
Then everything happened so fast, she turned her head back to see what was making the noise. She was met with the sight of what had to have been at least sixty guardians all gaining on the fleeing people. She whipped her head back to face forward and forced her legs to go faster, thoughts of what would happen if the guardians caught them racing through her mind. Then as she kept hurrying forward, Twilight running alongside her and Ilia clutched to her chest, Link suddenly disappeared from her sight so fast that for a few moments she kept running until her mind caught up and realized he was no longer there.
She skidded to a stop, Twilight kept running for a little longer before also skidding to a stop and turning back to her. He barked a few times, clearly telling her to keep running. She turned around to see where her beloved had gone. She almost wished she hadn't, Link was racing back toward the guardians. Her mind was reeling, what was he doing? Then she realized how close the guardians were, no less than maybe thirty feet behind them.
"LINK!" She screamed, panic filling her voice. He didn't turn as he stood rigidly before the guardians as they stopped and fanned out before him.
Suddenly, Lexa and Austin were at her side. Austin was holding little Alex to his chest, Lexa grasped one of Zelda's hands and began almost hauling her toward the nearest chariot. Zelda tried to struggle out of Lexa's grip. She responded by instantly snatching Ilia from her arms, Ilia began shrieking, crying, and kicking desperately as she squirmed in Lexa's grasp.
"Mommy!" She wailed, her arms reaching desperately for Zelda.
"Zelda, we have to go!" Lexa said, voice urgent.
Austin ran off to the chariot, Lexa grabbed Zelda's hand again and began hauling her away again. Zelda felt like she was frozen, her entire world was coming apart. They were fleeing from their home, their home, and now her husband was clearly intending to fight all the guardians alone to give everyone time to escape. How could he do this? Didn't he know how she would…of course! Of course, he knew! Why else would he make her promise him to run and take their daughter to safety if something ever went wrong?
"LINK!" She shrieked, now utterly terrified that she was minutes away from losing her husband.
She began flailing in Lexa's grasp, trying to fight her way out, anything to go to her husband's side. Two things happened near simultaneously that made her stop before she could even get free of Lexa. The first of which was Ilia suddenly screaming at the top of her lungs, somehow sensing what her mother was about to do. The second thing was her husband turning his head back to look at her. The look on his face froze her, his eyes were so warm and tender and he smiled softly at her. Then his mouth moved, she realized he was mouthing the same two words over and over again. Though he did not actually speak, the words still resounded in her head as though he had shouted them into her ears.
She made no attempt to escape now as she was loaded into a chariot with Lexa, Austin, and their son Alex. Ilia was whimpering in fear as she clutched her mother's nightgown like a lifeline, face buried into the fabric. Twilight was huddled next to Zelda, letting out an occasional whine. Zelda knew her husband must have ordered him to stay by her side, otherwise Twilight would have rushed to her husband by now.
Link turned back to face the guardians and tensed up. But she didn't see what happened next as the chariot lifted off and all the smoke from fires all over the camp obscured her vision. Her daughter seemed unable to speak, or even do anything. She continued holding her death grip on her mother's nightgown. When they had flown far enough that Link was only a small barely discernible shape in the distance, all of the guardians fired their beams at him. The resulting explosion lit up the night with a dim red glow, Zelda's heart seized in her chest. Lexa went rigid beside her, the smoke cleared and he was still standing there, he was still alive! How…? Then he jumped into the air, wait a minute, he jumped about a hundred feet straight up! What in the name of the goddesses? Then he crashed down amongst the guardians and out of sight, a moment after he disappeared, there was a massive flash. The flash was so intense that it obscured everything in a brilliant white light.
The heat was intense enough to make her feel like she was in a hot shower. That meant that in the heart of the blast… The realization shattered her heart in her chest. Nobody could have survived that, not even the remarkable and amazing hero who was her husband. She stared frozen as the light faded leaving a blind spot on her retinas in that location. Not a permanent one though, as it was fading.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" She wailed and in that moment, she just about lost her sanity.
Austin grabbed her before she could blindly fling herself out of the chariot in a futile (and fatal) attempt to go to her husband. Lexa got in front of Zelda and began trying to push her away from the back of the chariot, the manner in which she did it was by almost hugging her kind of. Zelda didn't resist, her right arm still reaching back in the direction of their home, as though she could grab her husband and pull him to her.
Tears began pouring from her eyes, they streamed down her cheeks and she covered her face with her hands as she began sobbing without restraint. She cried, her shoulders heaving as she gasped for breath as she wailed into her palms. Her beloved hero was gone, no one could have survived that blast, not even Link. The certainty planted a sense of hopelessness in her, it was over, wasn't it? Without her husband, they couldn't defeat Demise, it was simple really. They'd lost, Demise had won, after so many eons, evil had prevailed, everything had been for naught. Lexa was also sniffling now, Zelda dimly remembered her husband was Lexa's half-brother.
As they flew off into the night, Zelda sobbed until her eyes were dry and she felt hollow, like a shell of her former self. She pulled her daughter from behind her back, enveloped her in her arms, and buried her face in her daughter's hair.
"Link!" She whimpered, voice raw and scratchy, into Ilia's hair. The memory of his words resounded in her mind, Trust me. What were they supposed to do now?
"Worry not my child, this is not the end. Your beloved still lives, do you not feel it? Your pieces of the Triforce should tell you that much." The voice, which she recognized as Hylia's, suddenly echoed in her mind.
Yes, she could feel it now, he was alive. He was alive! Link was still alive! That hollow feeling disappeared instantly and was replaced by overwhelming relief. As long as her husband lived, there was hope against the demon, and the certainty that he would soon be with her again. She wept into her daughter's hair with her relief all the rest of the way to Camp Jupiter, their destination, as just before they evacuated Camp Half-Blood, they had heard that Camp Jupiter had repelled the force attacking them. It had apparently all been a set-up, the Yiga had always intended for this to be the outcome.
I was thinking of Gandalf's fall in Moria for part of this chapter, if you've seen Lord of the Rings, you'll know which part I mean.