A/N: I own nothing except a copy of this great game. Second note: His singing lines are demarked "like this," and her lines are demarked "like this." Them singing together is demarked "like this."

There was a clattering noise. Impa's hand had gone limp at her side, and her naginata had unceremoniously dropped to the ground. The look on her face was one of indescribable shock, her eyes widened and her jaw slack.

"Wuh-what?" She managed to stammer out, after a moment of silence.

Ishaka stared her in the eye, and he began to speak.

"E'er since th' day I firs' laid eyes on you, I thought yeh were th' most beaut'ful woman I'd e'er seen in m'life." The Ravager said. "But I didn't say nothin' then, 'cuz that wouldn't been fair t'you. I didn't even know you. But as time's grown on, that feelin', I guess, it hasn't gone away. I didn't know wha' it was, only that I had it. An' th' more I thought 'bout it, th' more I realized wha' it was…I've told you things 'bout m'self that I ain't even told Itami, an' before I met you he was th' person I was closest to in th' world." He paused. "I don't jus' see you as m'friend, Impa. I'd do anythin' for you. An'…an' if this be th' day that we die…you deserved to know how I feel about you. I love you."

There was a silence. It seemed as though the world itself had stopped. They stared at each other quietly for a brief moment. Then there was an explosion nearby, and soon the rest of the hell erupting around them filled their ears. Ishaka suddenly looked extremely awkward.

"Erm…ok-bye!" He stammered. He rushed off towards the sounds of battle, and towards the castle town.

Impa blinked several times, as if what had happened had finally hit her.

"I-whuh-you ju-ISHAKA!" She half screamed, half snarled, before picking up her naginata and running back into battle after him.

…

There was a massive explosion, and Zelda shielded her eyes as dust and plaster rained down on her and the brave souls that were still with her. Only a few seconds before, she'd signaled to Uhaa and Pyroo up high on a rooftop to fire that Bombchu launcher at the wall of a nearby tavern. Now there was no wall, and an awful lot of stunned Bokoblins and a few Moblins inside. She drew her rapier, and gave a war cry as she led the squad of soldiers into the building.

As the sounds of furious, terrible hand-to-hand combat erupted around her, Zelda found herself dropping her dignified style of fighting in favor of downright dirty tactics. As she parried the sword of a Moblin, she proceeded to spit right in the creature's eyes. As it covered its face and snarled in pain, she'd proceeded to slash it deep across its belly. As it dropped to its knees in abject pain, she had then slashed across its neck.

There was another explosion, and she was knocked to her feet. Her ears ringing, she felt something warm running down the side of her forehead. She was bleeding. She was helped to her feet by a brave Hyrulian soldier, who was then struck in the back of the head by an arrow. As he toppled lifelessly over her, she frantically crawled towards a stairway that was gave her some protection from the open. She just barely managed to get into cover as another soldier, this one a Ravager, reached out and brusquely pulled in to safety. They were cramped in the corner of the building with one wall and the stairway giving them some cover while what had once been a wall in front of them had been blown away by explosives, exposing them to the town square.

"Ma'am, you're bleeding." The Ravager said. Zelda got a good look at him, and saw that he was a shaman. The aging Ravager reached into his satchel for a rag, and then smeared it with what appeared to be a viscous liquid. "This will sting, but it will stop the bleeding in a while."

He wasn't kidding.

"Urgh…we need to get through the town square." Zelda said. "But there's way too many forces in the center of it all for us to link up with Link and his squad, and Itami is busy taking care of Lana and the wounded in that bar down the block." She gestured towards the center of the square, where there was a veritable brigade of Bokoblins, Moblins, and a few Lizalfos keeping the forces of light pinned desperately inside any cover they could find.

At that moment, she thought she heard something. In the wake of the usual sounds of war, this sound stuck out. Because, in the midst of sounds of fury and pain and hell, this was one of…joy.

Of laughter.

"AHAHAHA! FLEE! FLEE BEFORE ME, WORMS!"

In the haze of smoke and fire and the slight exhaustion starting to set in from the constant fighting, Zelda thought she was experiencing a waking dream. Because, especially towards the edge of the town square where the drawbridge had been forced down, there appeared to be Bokoblins and other enemies of their cause…being thrown into the air. It made absolutely no sense.

From his perch up high across the street, with the few soldiers that were still in fighting condition, Link watched what was happening below him, barely able to make things out in the smoke. But it looked like…

"YOOOOOOOO!" Darunia roared, practically cannonballing directly into the center of the town square. He side-stepped a Lizalfos sword strike, and then with one downward punch smashed the creature head-first into the stony ground. He then swung his hammer like a discus, proceeding to spin through the square and take out anything that even remotely thought about trying to get close. He finished his swing and then threw the hammer, watching it sail directly into the chest of the Moblin commander. Curling up into a ball, Darunia rolled forward, dodging some arrows, before uncurling to re-arm himself with his hammer. In one fluid motion, he had grabbed his hammer, turned his body towards his target, and then swung the weapon like it was a golf club against a large piece of debris on the ground. The stone went arching through the air, before crashing into the upper corner of a guard house that was right on the edge of Castle Town and the Royal Courtyard. There was a chorus of screams as Bokoblin archers were tossed about like rag dolls, and just like that the hail of arrows seemed to let up.

Zelda watched this before her silently. She saw the platoons of Bokoblins, ostensibly there to prevent anyone from advancing towards the Royal Courtyard and then the castle, breaking rank and fleeing back up the dusty path towards the forested courtyard. She felt herself exhale. She turned towards the others around her.

"Is…is everyone ok?" She asked.

There was a series of nods. Zelda happened to notice a mirror had been knocked over in the corner, and was resting broken in the corner of the room. It was at a distance, so she wasn't entirely sure, but she was clearly a mess. She could only imagine what her father and perhaps even her mother would have said if they'd seen her like this.

But then there was the sound of battle filling her ears again, and she brushed that thought aside for now.

Cautiously, she and the others in her group made their way out to the town square. Link had also trekked across the town square, and they both met behind the cover of a fallen statue.

"Run into trouble?" Zelda asked. It was impossible to tell with that awful mask blocking his face, but the way his eyes seemed to crinkle behind it made it clear that he was smiling.

"Nah, but they sure as hell did." He said. They glanced up towards the pathway that led through the royal courtyard and towards the castle itself. "How are we going to get into wherever it is that you need to go? They'll see us, especially you, coming from a mile away."

Zelda smiled.

"Link, you don't really think that when I was younger I didn't try to find discreet ways out of the castle, do you?" She asked. "All I need is for you to follow me and make sure nothing happens to either of us." She looked to the castle, and then looked back at Link and frowned. "By the way, that mask makes your head look huge."

"All the better to scare them with, your majesty." Link replied.

"That makes no sense."

"Well, excuse me, princess!"

"Goddess, would you two go get a room?" They were interrupted rudely by Itami, who had made his way out to the statue with them. "So what's the plan? If you guys go straight through the pathway, they'll cut you to pieces. If you go through the woods, that will take too long. And what do you want the rest of us to do? I know that Romulus and the others would love some help out in the Hyrulian fields, and we don't really have that many people that made it into the city to keep pushing forward." He said.

"Then move forward while looking backward." Zelda said. "Link and I will go ahead by ourselves. That way it will be more discreet." She said. "You and whatever men you've got in the city? Have them take cover in the buildings and get to the roofs. Use bows and arrows, slings, whatever you've got. There are a few catapults on the outer battlements. If you capture them, you could fire them at the Hyrulian fields and whittle away some of the enemy numbers out there. Make it more of an even fight."

"Fair enough." Itami said. He was about to go away, when he paused. "Just the two of you, are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm positive." Zelda said.

"Well…let me come with you two, just to be safe." Itami said. He turned around to the Ravager standing next to him. "Pass the word to Lana. I'm headed up to the castle. Have her rally the troops through the city, and try to hold whatever they can." He turned back to Link and Zelda as the Ravager ran off to relay the orders. "We'd better get moving. It's only a matter of time before Ganondorf throws a counterattack."

The three of them started heading up towards the castle.

…

He felt his arm go numb as his spear clashed awkwardly against a Bokoblin pike. Grunting in pain, Matthew Grantham felt his grip loosen, and then watched in frustration as the weapon clattered to the ground. As their warbeast was continually moving, the weapon was completely lost to them now.

"Damn it!" He managed to shout. He began to flap his arm at his side in an effort to restore feeling to it. He took a look around. The Bulblin raiders alongside them were still running strong, but they were starting to whittle down as the battle raged on. It seemed as though there was an enless number of enemies to ride through and slay.

"Here, Red-Demon! Take my spare!" Matthew turned around to see Balrok Stone-Crusher riding alongside him, holding out an extra Bulblin spear for the young man to use. Since they could not ride too close together for fear of knocking each other over, the Bulblin captain instead tossed the weapon over. Like an old veteran, Matthew caught the weapon, and spun it around in his hand until the point was once again facing the enemy ahead. He felt Ruto clinging to his back, screaming incoherently, and tried to block it all out.

"No mercy, boys! No surrender!" Balrok roared as the riders prepared for another charge into the enemy line. They had been swinging out wide to the left of the battlefield, and were preparing to smash into the far flank of the enemy defense. The majority of the fighting was going on in the bloody field right in front of the drawbridge; if they were to be cut off, there was no help coming to save them.

There was a terrible crash as the Bulblin riders collided with the Bokoblin defense. Matthew felt a Lizalfos lose its head at the pointy end of his spear, and then he raised it again and thrust downward into a Moblin's chest. His eyes widened in panic as he felt himself overextend, and barely had time to hear Ruto scream his name as he was pulled off the warbeast.

He hit the ground hard, feeling a burning pain in his shoulder as he rolled up and out. He staggered back to his feet. His shoulder was still hurting, to the point that it was difficult to lift his arm above his shoulder. Growling, he threw away his spear, as it was a two-handed weapon, and drew his short sword. A growling pain of Bokoblins were nearing him. He had fought enemies and killed enemies before, but those were all from the safety of his horse where he had held the advantage. Now he was outnumbered.

He rubbed his face, feeling the war paint smear under his fingertips, and snarled back. He was outnumbered. But that sure as hell didn't mean he was outmatched.

…

"Fi, duck!" Midna shouted, as she pointed her palm and shot forth a beam of light. It just barely missed the head of the sword-being, and incinerated an unsuspecting Moblin behind it. Fi turned to look at the Twili, and seemed positively indignant.

"Careful, friend Midna. That spell had a 77% percent chance of hitting m-"

"Oh, STUFF IT with the numbers!" Midna growled, as she dodged a Lizalfos sword strike, grabbed it by the neck, and then lifted it up and choke slammed it to the ground. It didn't even have time to pick its head back up before she'd blasted the creature to ash. "I'm tired, swordy! And there's no end to these idiots in sight!"

There was a horn blast in the distance. Unlike the horns of the Bulblins, which had a light and somewhat uplifting trill to them, this horn sounded more guttural. Midna and the others turned in the direction of the noise, and saw a wave of enemy soldiers, all clad in pitch-black armor, charging towards them from the flank.

"Does the Twilight hate me?" Midna muttered, preparing herself to meet the oncoming enemy.

They had secretly deployed around the back of the castle, and had marched at a brisk pace around the outer walls of Castle Town and towards the edge of the Hyrulian fields. Now, as the battle reached its toughest point, the Darknut Legion began its frenzied charge towards the teetering forces of light.

"Hold the line!" Lord Gawain roared. He had been nicked by an arrow that had thankfully not taken his head off, yet it had still left a big gash across his forehead that wouldn't stop bleeding. He drew his short sword, and slammed his bronze shield defiantly to the ground. "Isolate them and work in teams! Don't fight any of them without superior numbers!"

There was a cacophony of noise as the Darknuts collided with the forces of light. However, instead of rushing to meet them, Lord Gawain had organized the troops into an impromptu shield wall. With the Hyrulian soldiers and their shields down in front, and with a Zora and a Goron pushing on either shoulder of the Hyrulians in front of them, the mighty Darknut charge was reduced to little more than shoving and pushing as they tried to break the wall.

"Hold! HOLD!" Gawain shouted. He could feel his feet sliding along the ground as he was pushed back by a Darknut, but he roared and pushed back with his own shield.

Suddenly, there was a series of war whoops. Lord Gawain barely was able to register it, as he was currently focused on what was in front of him, but to his utter shock and awe there was a seemingly endless rain of Ravager men and women taking a running start, running up the backs of the Gorons, and then pressing their feet off of the shoulders of the Hyrulian shieldsmen as they practically dive-bombed into the Darknut ranks. Completely befuddled with this suicidal charge, the Darknut charge was slowed to a crawl of confusion. And slowing to a crawl meant using less strength.

"PUSH!" Gawain shouted.

There was a roar as the line began to push the Darknuts backwards. Gawain heard himself roaring at the top of his lungs, and to his primal delight he felt the center of gravity shift and felt the Darknut he was pushing against shift on its heels and start to fall backwards.

Perhaps things weren't so hopeless after all.

…

They were practically flying through the woods, their feet barely touching the ground. A combination of adrenaline, urgency, and nimble feet propelled the Princess, the Hero and the Ravager through the forested courtyard and up towards the castle. It was a wonder that most of the trees were still standing, though some of them at the edge of the courtyard had started to catch fire.

"Keep moving!" Itami shouted. "I have no intention of roasting on an open fire inside a forest."

They eventually came towards the walled side of the castle. There was a window, large enough for someone to fit through, roughly fifteen feet up in the air. Link looked confused.

"Uh, how are we supposed to get up there? There's no ivy or anything to grab on."

"Hold on…" Zelda muttered. She walked over to a nearby rock, and lifted it up and rolled it off to the side. There was a hole in the ground, where a burlap sack was hidden. Zelda reached into the bag and pulled out a large piece of rope, and began to fasten it to the end of one of her arrows.

"Uh, Princess, I hate to break it to you, but there's nothing to dig into on the side of the wall. It's all stone."

"There's a small windowpane right under the window that's made of wood." Zelda said, though her words were garbled due to the fact that she was clenching some of the rope in her teeth. As she said this, both Itami and Link looked at her, and then squinted towards the window in order to better see.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, are you kidding me?" Itami finally said. "Princess, that has to be the tiniest piece of wood I have ever seen." Zelda was seemingly not listening to him, instead quietly and deliberately taking the time to set up her shot. "I am not a religious man at all, but I promise you that even if I prostrated myself before the Goddesses in rags and promised them nothing but tithes and worship from now until the end of my life and beyond, I still wouldn't have the good fortune to hit that sho-"

Zelda released the arrow, and there was a dull thunk as the thing embedded itself deep within the windowpane. There was silence.

"Welp, gonna shut up now." Itami said. Zelda smiled sweetly. She tugged at the rope to make sure it was snug, and then proceeded to start climbing.

"Itami, can you open the window for me?" She asked.

The Ravager picked up a rock, and chucked it at the window as hard as he could. There was a beautiful shattering sound as the glass seemed to melt into a million pieces, before all falling apart and disappearing somewhere behind their view and into the room. Zelda was almost halfway up the wall when Itami gestured for Link to start climbing. As soon as the hero was astride the rope, Itami turned around to look behind them.

And on instinct took out a knife and threw it straight into the throat of a charging Moblin.

"Get a move on!" Itami shouted. "They've found us!" He said. He picked up another knife, and put it through the eye of another Bokoblin. There was a charging squad of enemies approaching him now. He threw open his coat, revealing a bandolier of small throwing knives, and in rapid succession threw them one after the other towards his enemies. He had barely stopped to take a breath before they all crumpled to the ground with knives embedded somewhere in vital regions of their bodies. Smirking a little to himself, the Ravager ran up to the rope and pulled himself up to the window behind the hero and the princess.

…

She felt the blade sink into the stomach of the Darknut, and she ignored its dying cries. With a spiteful snort, Impa pulled out her naginata from the dead creature, and stepped forward. She rapidly scanned the battlefield, looking for her target but coming up empty. She heard a squeal of terror, and looked over to see-

"Agitha!" Impa shouted, racing over towards the young girl.

The little girl was cornered by a quartet of Darknuts, all advancing on her menacingly. Off to the side, lying on the ground moaning in pain and covering in stab wounds, was Meathook. The little girl was close to tears, and was desperately reaching in her picnic basket for something to save her.

Planting the pointy end in the ground, Impa pole-vaulted over the four Darknuts and stood protectively between them and Agitha.

"M-miss Impa!" Agitha said. "You have to help Mr. Meathook! He's hurt! He's hurt badly!"

"I cannot leave you." Impa said. "It is not safe to be alone without someone who can fight for you!"

She quickly weighed her options. There were four Darknuts. Normally, this was a piece of cake. But now she had a wounded and possibly dying Goron that she needed to get to and help stabilize, and then a little girl behind her that had no idea how to fight and was most likely just now finally realizing that this wasn't just a game and that there were people that she knew and loved hurting and dying out here. So that complicated matters.

Until Agitha waddled in front of her, and stared at the Darknuts with a pronounced, pouty expression.

"You're all being very mean!" She said. "You need to apologize to Mr. Meathook, or you'll be sorry!"

There was a pause, and then a sort of guttural sound. Impa realized that the Darknuts were laughing. Agitha "hmmph!"ed and then opened up her picnic basket. She held up a glass bottle.

"Well, I guess Mr. Scorpion here needs to teach you some manners!" She said. Impa did a double take.

"M-mister Scorp-"

Agitha threw the glass bottle on the ground, while at the same time sprinkling it with some sort of magic-looking dust. All of a sudden, there was a banging noise and the most terrifying thing that Impa had ever seen was standing protectively in front of Agitha and her: a scorpion roughly the size of a small Gohma.

"Sic 'em, Mr. Scorpion!" Agitha said.

The creature obliged, and proceeded to run one of the Darknuts through with its stinger tail. With its now-massive claws, it hacked up two of the others Darknuts. The fourth one simply dropped its weapon and fled. Agitha clapped her hands together with glee.

"Ooh, that's lovely! Mr. Scorpion, go help our friends over there against the mean people!"

There was a loud clicking noise as the Scorpion acknowledged its master's orders, and scuttled off towards a pack of enemy Bokoblins who only saw the oncoming scorpion when it was too late.

Agitha then ran over to Meathook, who'd managed to get back to a sitting position.

"Mr. Meathook, are you ok?" She asked.

The Goron's breathing was a little bit labored, but it managed to wink towards the little girl sitting on its lap. Impa walked over, and knelt down beside him.

"C'mon, Meathook. Let's get you patched up."

"Ooh, Miss Impa!" Agitha said. "You're glowing like a firefly!"

"Heh…what do you mean?" Impa asked.

"It's something that I can see." Agitha said proudly. "It means that something exciting happened to you recently!"

Impa was in the middle of patching up one of Meathook's wounds when she stopped midway through the act. She coughed, and then looked over at Agitha.

"Um…I guess you could say that?"

"What was it? Ooh, tell me tell me tell me!" Agitha said pleadingly. Impa felt herself sweating.

"Oh it was, uh, you know something? I'll tell you when you're older."

"Awwww!"

…

The castle hallways were poorly illuminated and somewhat foreboding. It felt nothing like the place that she'd grown up in her entire life. Zelda shuddered as they quietly ran through one of the side hallways on their way to the secret garden.

"Zelda, is the only way into this…secret garden through the throne room?" Itami asked. "Because, if that's the case, then we're gonna have one big and angry guy in between us and it. And I doubt he's going to let us just sneak in there."

"I'll think of something." Zelda replied.

They came to a stop outside the main hallway that led to the throne room. There was no sign of life anywhere. Slowly, the three of them walked forward in a triangular formation, with Zelda behind Itami and Link.

"Stay on your guard, you never know who's-" Itami cut himself off when he heard a squeak of fright. He and Link whirled around, throwing knife readied and Master Sword drawn respectively. A terrified Zelda was being held by a large and sweaty Moblin, who had his fleshy hand around her mouth and a knife to her throat.

"Lay down your arms, hoomans. Or the gurl dies." The Moblin said.

"Not a chance." Link said.

The Moblin gently pricked the point of its knife into the fleshy underside of Zelda's chin. As she whimpered in pain and a small bit of blood trickled down, the Moblin grinned.

"See? Liddle harder poke, and she dead. Now drop 'em."

Reluctantly, and staring at the creature with murder in their eyes, both Itami and Link dropped their weapons to the floor. As soon as they did, the Moblin looked smug.

"Stupid hoomans. Now I kill her anyway."

There was a sickening sound of metal cutting into flesh and bone, and Zelda let out an eep of shock. But when she realized that she hadn't been stabbed, she looked up towards the Moblin holding her and screamed in shock again.

The Moblins eyes and face were frozen in a look of pain and horror, but there was a glazed look in the creature's eyes. That was because there was currently a large and shining sowrd, most likely a trainee's white sword, pierced through the back of the creature's head and out through its mouth. There was a disgusting noise as the sword was messily pulled back through the hole it had made. The Moblin's corpse hit the ground with a thump. Standing over it was its killer, who was panting heavily and staring with great loathing.

"Not if I stick you first." Lord Elijah Grantham said.

"Elijah!" Zelda said, running forward and wrapped him in a bearhug. The Minister of the Interior warmly returned the embrace, and smiled.

"Good to see you, Zelda." He looked over her shoulder. "Itami? Good to see you are alive. And…I have to guess the fellow in the scary mask is Link. Am I right?" He asked. Link nodded.

"Elijah, are you ok?" Zelda asked. "You look terrible."

"I've been better, your majesty." He said, a glum look on his face. "I'm trying to find a way to free my friends in the dungeons somewhere below us, I have no idea where my wife or son is, and I've already killed three more living creatures than I ever would have in my life today." He sighed. "So I'm hanging in there, if only barely."

"We're here now, Elijah." Link said. "And we'll do the killing from hereon in." He said. Lord Grantham smiled.

"Thanks Link. I know that that is an odd thing to say, but I'd rather not feel someone die because of my actions again."

"All things considered, it wasn't bad though." Itami said, staring at the corpse at their feet. "Stabbing a creature in the back of the head and out through the throat? That takes a hell of a lot of natural skill."

"Itami, you are a good man and I look forward to a future where you and I can debate philosophy and discuss politics and other such poutpourri." Lord Grantham said. "But right now your approval fills me with shame."

Respectfully, Itami nodded and did not press the matter further.

"We need to keep moving." Zelda said. "We need to get into the secret garden. There is something that I need in there that will help us." She said. Lord Grantham's eyes widened.

"Really? You're getting them? Goodness, it must really be the end of the world." He said. He cleared his throat. "Well, you're in luck. Ganondorf isn't here. You just missed him. He left the throne room muttering to himself. He didn't even acknowledge my presence, and I know I was doing a terrible job of hiding."

"Muttering to himself?" Itami asked warily. "What, exactly, was he muttering."

"Well, it was hard to catch." Lord Grantham said. "Something, something 'if you want-'" His eyes widened with fear. "Oh no."

…

He could feel his headache splitting, and his rage building. Why couldn't any of these idiots see that everything that he was doing was for the greatest good? No…of course they couldn't see. They couldn't see the things that he saw. Not them. They were all ants beneath his boot, forever cursed to fumble in the darkness of stupidity and confusion and rote daily lives while he walked in the light of the Goddesses.

The strong rule the world. Might makes right. He had the power. Therefore, he was right. Why couldn't these fools get that? What was keeping their little reptilian brains from understanding that very simple fact of life?

He didn't even notice his Darknut honor guard hastily running out to help their beleaguered brethren out on the battlefield. He looked outside and saw the world burning. He almost felt a tear in his eye, as he flashed back to those horribly cold nights and scorching days in the deserts. They came to him like a half-remembered dream, and instead of soothing him they only made his blood boil. Everything was burning around him. Everything burns. Why? Why did everything burn? He'd had a plan. Why couldn't everyone just stick to the plan?

No more.

He felt the wind rustling through his hair as he walked through the courtyard. Some fool soldier tried to stab him, only to be turned to ash by the power of the Goddesses that floated around him. He stopped walking, and stared upwards into the black abyss that was the night sky. The time for talking was over. It was time for might. For might to make right.

If you want something done right, you needed to do it yourself.

He growled as he felt the darkness within him finally take hold. The glowing of the Triforce surrounded him, and he felt his great strength increasing. He was almighty. He was powerful. He was the king.

The man was gone. The monster was loose.

The transformation brought the thunder and the lightning, and hell along with it. The earth shook with every step. The winds howled with every breath. And ever thought in its mind was replaced with the need to dominate. To decimate. To destroy.

It reared back its head, and bellowed a terrible roar that could be heard across the four corners of Hyrule. Finally, the creature, high and mighty above the ants beneath its feet, let the world know its name.

"I. AM. GANON!"