A few quick notes:
1. This story is rated T due to some very violent content.
2. I don't own any Legend of Zelda character or setting. I'm just borrowing them and I hope Nintendo won't mind too much.
3. Thank you so much for reading, and please review!
4. I have created a forum for this story (yes, I'm desperate for feedback). You can find it under the "My Forums" link on my profile page.
5. I would like to credit Rose Zemlya's "The Return" for being the first place I saw the Goddesses' names used to curse in Hyrule. It made so much sense and it was so natural that I assumed every fanfic had to be doing it. I don't know how much use it does get, but just in case it's actually fairly original, I wanted to make sure everyone reading this knew I got the idea from The Return (which, by the way, is my favorite Zelda story: Rose is an insanely talented writer).
Chapter 14: The Latest Battle
Ganon grinned when the boy rushed into the room, already heading for Zelda. Still grinning, he locked his eyes into hers - he wanted to see them die - and impaled her to the wall. The sword had been pointed at her heart and death was instantaneous: the light left her eyes and she stopped singing, not even coughing or gasping. Her body sagged within the magical bounds, and Ganon lifted them, letting the corpse fall limply at his feet.
He quickly teleported away, expecting a light arrow to be flying towards him. He had positioned himself to face Zelda's body, and as soon as he was solid again, he readied a magical attack: not the black lightning, which took too much out of him for a full strength spell, but a cluster of light, bright yellow energy that would melt into the boy and hurt him from the inside, attacking his heart and lungs.
In his surprise, he let the spell dissipate without launching it. The boy was kneeling next to the Princess, an empty bottle in hand, and a pink spark was circling around Zelda, who soon reopened her eyes. Ganon's eyes narrowed and he snarled in fury. He readied the spell again and threw it at Link.
The boy's reflexes were good. He saw the light coming from the corner of his eyes and stopped it with the Master Sword. The energy bounced on the blade and went flying harmlessly into a corner, where it dissipated.
Link had only hid behind the Master Sword instinctively, because he had nothing else to hide behind, and had been expecting the spell to hit him. As soon as the spell bounced on the blade however, he remembered what the Hero of Time had told him and better yet, remembered actually using the Master Sword to send Ganon's magic spell right back at him.
"Link?" He heard next to him.
He did not dare take his eyes off Ganon, who was gathering energy for another spell.
"Are you okay?" He asked Zelda without looking at her.
"I..."
"Of course she is! Where did you find a fairy, boy? I hunted them down! I destroyed every last one of them!" Ganon snarled furiously, completely unaware that his efforts in that regard had not been entirely successful. "You weren't supposed to be able to save her!"
With that, Ganon threw the magical energy he had gathered in Link's direction. Link was still kneeling and couldn't swing the sword comfortably, especially with Zelda right next to him, so he just placed the blade in front of him again, not caring where the spell rebounded. It went into the ceiling.
Link got up and took a step away from Zelda while Ganon was readying his next attack. Ganon smirked and sent it towards Zelda. Link barely caught it with the tip of his blade, and only just deflected it away from Zelda, who gasped and pushed herself against the wall. Link frowned, realizing that Ganon would just keep attacking Zelda whenever he wasn't right in front of her. Link knew he couldn't stay right next to Zelda, he was too likely to hit her while swinging the Master Sword around and even if he didn't, the thought that he might would keep him from moving freely.
He deflected the next attack by swinging his sword at it, trying to send it back to Ganon, but he missed and the magic went into the wall behind the Demon. He bent over Zelda and urgently called out for Nayru's love. A blue, glowing dome of energy formed around Zelda and himself. It was a lot brighter than Link remembered it, and he hoped that it meant he was a stronger magician than his past self and that the shield would not brake as soon as Ganon attacked it.
He then stepped out of the dome, willing it to stay around Zelda. For a second, it looked like the magic would not do what he wanted it to and follow him, but it finally settled around Zelda.
Link whipped around to face Ganon again, realizing a new attack was probably coming. He was too slow: the ball of mystic energy hit him in the chest, knocking him off his feet and seemingly melting in him.
Zelda gasped out his name, but Link barely noticed. He felt his chest burning and for some reason he could not fathom, his left arm was hurting. He cried out in pain and immediately started coughing uncontrollably. He was on his knees and hands, unsuccessfully trying to stop coughing, feeling dizzy and wondering why his arm was hurting like that, when a second attack hit him in the side.
The impact made him lose his balance and he rolled sideways. His arm was now paralyzed with the pain and his coughing worsened. He was curled up on the floor, dizzier than ever, and his vision was getting blurry, though he could still see well enough to notice the blood he was coughing up.
He rolled out of instinct, knowing Ganon had no reason to stop attacking. He narrowly avoided another attack and tried getting up, but his whole left half was stiff and the room was spinning madly. He fell back down and tried to think what to do. His head was getting foggy and his thoughts were swimming around meaninglessly, but he remembered feeling absolutely great after drinking that blue stuff someone had given him, so he searched his pocket for more. His hand closed on a bottle just as another attack hit him.
The pain in his arm increased sharply and spread to his whole left side. Link's scream came out as a weak cough and everything turned black.
Link was not conscious of rising the bottle to his mouth, but he obviously did, because he felt the blue potion filling his mouth and when he swallowed, the light came back and pain, dizziness, coughing and paralysis were completely gone. He slashed the air in front of him with the Master Sword, which he was still thankfully holding, and out of sheer luck, caught Ganon's attack and sent it flying away from himself, although nowhere near Ganon.
Link looked around for Zelda and saw her from the corner of his eyes behind him, still surrounded by blue light. He focused his attention back on Ganon, who looked absolutely furious.
"Blue potion?" He growled. "Nobody knows how to brew it anymore! How? How did you get this? How did you find a fairy? Where did you learn magic?"
Link did not bother answering. While Ganon was busy barking questions, he wasn't readying another attack, which gave Link an opening. He switched to his bow and arrow, aimed and shot. Ganon stopped talking at once and attacked with a quicker spell than the glowing balls of energy he had been using up to date.
Link had just enough time to see the light arrow miss Ganon by a good few arm lengths and to wonder if this quicker spell hurt less than the last one Ganon had used before the red arcs of energy that had sprung out of Ganon's extended fingers laced themselves around him.
They were burning hot and Link screamed in pain, but all things considered, they did little damage: they dissolved almost instantly, leaving only red scorch marks on Link's skin and burnt imprints on his clothes. Link switched back to his sword to deflect another attack, and sure enough, Ganon launched one that Link barely managed to deflect in time.
Ganon did not leave him any time to get his bow out again, and attacked again as quickly as he could materialize the glowing sphere. Link concentrated on where he wanted to send it and swung at it just before it reached him.
Was it luck or skill, Link didn't know and didn't care. Either way, the evil ball of energy shot straight back at Ganon and hit him squarely in the chest. Ganon growled in pain and put a hand to his chest. Link knew better than to expect Ganon to take very long to shake it off, so he quickly got his bow out again and shot another arrow at the pig.
The arrow missed by about two arm lengths. Ganon laughed and started readying another attack. Link got his sword back out.
Zelda did not like how the fight was going. Link was wasting his energy on this shield surrounding her, and just as she feared, he still could not shoot straight with his bow. To make matters worse, Ganon had already demonstrated that all he really needed was to get one hit in: Link could not recuperate from the magical attack quickly enough to avoid or deflect the next one, and the demon could just keep attacking until his foe died. The only thing that had saved Link before was the blue potion he had drunk, which had restored his health and his magical power, judging by the fact the shield around her had suddenly grown a lot brighter. And even then, the liquid would not have saved him if Ganon had not been so surprised that Link had any. In other words, blue potion would not save him again, even if he had more.
So, Link could not afford to take even one hit, and he couldn't hit Ganon with the arrows. Zelda's mind was racing, trying to think of a solution and feeling like it was all her fault for allowing herself to be taken by Ganon. The memory of what Ganon had been doing to her kept trying to push itself at the front of her mind, but she kept pushing it back. She couldn't afford to let herself dwell on the pain, or she wouldn't be able to think of how to help Link.
Unbeknownst to Zelda, Link was even more worried than she was about how the fight was going. He knew just as well as she did that he couldn't miss deflecting Ganon's attack even once, and that he was useless as an archer. Unlike her, however, he also knew for a fact that he didn't have anymore blue potion and that maintaining the shield protecting her was rapidly using up his magical capabilities, which he needed to activate the light arrows. On top of that, he remembered Ganon had at least one other magical attack he could use: the black lightning he had used in their last battle. Link did not think he could deflect that one, and he remembered it hurting almost as much as the spells Ganon was using now.
The worst part, however, was that he was absolutely terrified: his knees were shaking, his heart was racing, he was covered in a cold sweat and he felt like throwing up. He desperately wanted to get out of here, to run away. He had no intention of actually doing it, but it wasn't for lack of wanting to. He could hardly believe what was going on: was he really facing Ganon again?
He deflected the next attack and it hit Ganon, who growled in fury and sank to one knee, clutching at his chest. Link quickly switched to his bow and tried shooting an arrow at Ganon, feeling like his body was moving on his own. The arrow missed again, and Link had no time to try another one. Ganon was back on his feet, looking absolutely furious.
"You pest!" He snarled. "Oh, I wish your soul was still trapped in that bottle! It will be again, I promise you that!"
Link blinked in incomprehension and stood with the Master Sword waiting, ready for the next attack. What was Ganon talking about?
Zelda understood. It was so obvious, she couldn't believe nobody, in all those years, had guessed why the Hero was not coming back. Then again, she realized, it was quite possible a lot of people had figured it out and just couldn't do anything about it. She suddenly thought that if she kept Ganon rambling for a bit, Link could try another arrow and decided to give it a try.
"That's how you did it!" She cried out. "That's why it took so long for the Hero to be reborn! You trapped him like a Poe!"
Ganon turned to her briefly before refocusing his attention on Link.
"And I will again!" He growled. "I was going to let you haunt this building instead, but not anymore! I'll come back and trap you in the smallest containers I can find! And you will stay there forever this time! Oh, no you don't!"
Link had tried to take advantage of Ganon's rambling and had his bow out again, but Ganon had had enough of the boy and he cast an instantaneous black lightning spell. He did not gather energy for it, which had the benefit of not wearing him out much, but it also meant the spell was weak, and the boy would probably only be stung by it.
Link's eyes widened in horror for the split second it took for the spell to hit him. Thankfully, it didn't hurt his adult body nearly as much as it had his tiny 5 year old past self. It still hurt, a lot, but Link was still able to move and he switched back to his sword in time to deflect another attack. It went into the corner of the room, nowhere near Ganon, but Link didn't care: he was just grateful it hadn't hit him.
Ganon growled in frustration. This fight was not going nearly as well as it should. He had allowed himself to be trapped in the same pattern that had been his downfall on many occasions: if he kept using the quick yet efficient spell Link kept deflecting with the Master Sword, he'd be hit by it himself again and again, and each time, the Hero would try to shoot a light arrow at him while he was shaking off the effect of his own magic. The only reason Ganon was not in trouble yet was that banning archery from Hyrule had paid off: the boy couldn't shoot straight to save his life.
How the Hero even had a bow was yet another mystery that Ganon did not expect to ever solve. Nor did it matter: it was infuriating that the boy kept coming up with things that did not exist anymore, but in the end, it wouldn't matter. Ganon was done playing it by the book; it was time to take advantage of the boy's weakness.
The Hero was facing him with the Master Sword in front of himself, waiting for the next attack to deflect. Ganon sneered at him.
"Do you know I had a chat with your Princess while we were waiting for you?" He snickered.
The boy snarled.
The girl recoiled, much to Ganon's satisfaction. The fairy had restored her sanity as well as her life, but even the fairy could not make Zelda forget the pain she had felt.
"She told me all about you." Ganon continued. "Everything you fear."
He had hoped for the boy to feel betrayed, but the Hero only looked puzzled.
Link didn't know what Ganon was on about, or why he was talking so much instead of being busy killing him, but the break was welcomed, so he wasn't about to interrupt him. He thought of trying another arrow, but Ganon had already demonstrated that he could attack in a split second even in the middle of rambling on about something, so Link dismissed the idea.
"She told me how to defeat you, boy." Ganon explained.
Link rolled his eyes. Did Ganon really think he'd be upset with Zelda for whatever she had told him while he was torturing her?
"Everybody knows I'm afraid of everything!" He said. "And you were torturing her!"
"Ah, but you're NOT afraid of everything. Only things related to our last battle."
Link was starting to feel something bad was coming. He swallowed his saliva and gripped the sword tighter.
"Speaking of which..." Ganon said.
All of a sudden, most of the light in the room went out. The only light source left was the glow of Nayru's Love. Link stepped closer to Zelda, backing away from the darkness and cursing under his breath. It figured: Ganon was going to do everything he could to scare him even more. Link would have thought he couldn't be more afraid than he was already, but the darkness, even though it wasn't total, definitely brought him closer to complete panic.
He concentrated on his breathing, on the feel of the Master Sword's handle in his hand: anything but the fear. That was usually how he would end his workdays, when the shop was almost completely dark and it seemed like they would never be let out, and he could hardly see where he was hitting with his hand axe. He had never been nearly as afraid as he was now, however, and his mind kept coming right back to the darkness and the fact that Ganon was lurking somewhere in it. Link heard himself whimper. He heard Ganon burst out laughing right after. At least it sounded like he was still on the other side of the room.
Link tightened his grip on the Master Sword a bit more still. His hand started hurting and he tried to focus on that, without success. Instead, his head insisted on wondering what Ganon was going to do and how much it would hurt. He did not have to wait very long for the answer.
He heard them before he saw them: high pitched screams coming from the middle of the room, and the sound of hundreds, maybe thousands, of leathery wings flapping. Link strained his eyes, thinking if he could only see them, he'd be able to fight back.
And saw them he did. They became visible in the glow of Nayru's love when they got close enough, or more precisely, their mass became visible. There were so many of them that they were just a big screeching, fluttering, black cloud, and that cloud was heading straight for him.
Zelda saw the cloud of keeses and her eyes widened in horror. One keese, by itself, was not very dangerous: it could make you a little bit ill if it bit or scratched you, but nothing serious. Popular opinion was divided on how big a colony you had to stumble into to really be in trouble, but the general consensus was that more than 100 keeses could easily be fatal. The cloud heading for Link and herself seemed to be composed of thousands of the little monsters. She was safe as long as the shield Link had put around her held, but Link was completely defenceless.
She tore her eyes away from the keeses to look at him, hoping to see him about to cast a spell that would kill all the flying rodents or to pull some kind of miraculous item out of his pocket. He was doing neither. He was just staring at the keeses, holding the Master Sword in front of him defensively. Just as the cloud of keeses closed on them, he glanced at the Master Sword and his eyes widened. Zelda winced for him as the keeses started biting him and crashing on the magical shield in an attempt to get to her, but Link didn't seem to notice the bites. He stepped away from her, closed his eyes and positioned the Master Sword parallel to the ground and to his side. His head was lowered in concentration, his sword arm fully extended, and the keeses were still biting. One of them scratched his cheek right below his eyes. Link continued to make no attempt to chase them, only frowning in concentration. Almost right after he got that scratch near his eye, the Master Sword started glowing.
It became brighter and brighter until most of the chamber was lit. Ganon was on the other side of the room, staring at it with a furious expression on his face. And then, Link and the sword started spinning. It wasn't clear which of the two was dragging the other: the movement seemed to be much too fast for a human to achieve, and there had been no acceleration. One moment, Link had been immobile, and the next, he was spinning madly. The glow of the sword became first a ring and then a half-sphere of light surrounding Link. The keeses started falling, turning to dust before they even hit the ground. Within seconds, all of them were gone.
Link stopped spinning and promptly lost his balance, falling on his side.
He had never felt so dizzy, and he thought for sure the room would never stop spinning. He also thought he had just made a very bad mistake and that Ganon would be able to take him out easily now. Thankfully, the dizziness vanished in a mere second and he was able to get back to his feet and to deflect the attack Ganon had just thrown at him. The attack went back towards the monster, but missed by an arm's length. Ganon snarled in fury and unsheathed his sword.
Link's legs suddenly gave out and he fell on his knees, his eyes attached to Ganon's weapon. He remembered it being absolutely huge, twice as big as him, but he had thought that like the Master Sword, Ganon's blade had only seemed so big because Link had been so small.
In all fairness, the blade was indeed not twice his size. It was however, about as long as he was tall, and at its widest, about the same width as him, too. It was also very sharp looking.
Link heard Zelda talking to him urgently, but none of her words registered. All of his attention was focused on the blade. He remembered exactly how it had felt when that blade had cut most of his hands off, and he remembered all too clearly how it had felt when Ganon had run him through with it.
Zelda now sounded like she was crying more than talking. Link still had no idea what she was saying, but it didn't matter much: Ganon was slowly walking towards him, taking his time. He looked very happy.
Link frowned. He wanted to wipe the smile off the monster's face. He wanted to wipe the face off the monster, for that matter. Actually, he just wanted to wipe the monster off Hyrule.
He had no idea how he'd manage that when he couldn't even touch Ganon with the light arrows, but kneeling and staring helplessly at the sword - the big, shiny, sharp sword - was not going to do it. Link, with a lot of difficulty, tore his eyes away from the sword and stared at Ganon's smile instead. His frown deepened and he got up, trading the Master Sword for his bow even as he rose. He shot at Ganon just as the pig was swinging his monstrous sword at him.
Link dived sideways to avoid the sword, his heart beating so hard and fast he couldn't hear anything else. He kept his eyes on Ganon and ran around him to avoid the sword blows, which were still coming. He wondered what happened to his arrow until he saw it on the floor a few paces away: obviously, he had missed. Even with Ganon only a few steps away from him, he had missed.
He felt exhausted, not so much in his body but in his mind. He could feel the shield around Zelda slipping away in his head, and it was becoming difficult to keep it up without concentrating fully on it. Ganon had not attacked it yet, but Link knew that if it faded, the pig would kill Zelda just out of spite: Link knew the only reason he wasn't bothering with her yet was that if he tried, Link would take advantage of the time to shoot several arrows at him.
He needed to figure out something, and fast. Ganon grew tired of running after him and threw his sword at him, apparently in a last effort to make some use out of it. Link dived to the floor, but the blade still grazed his back. He yelped in pain but got back to his feet without slowing down, expecting another attack.
Ganon was gathering black energy, his teeth bared at Link.
"This is the end, boy." He hissed. He released the dark lightning on Link. He had only had a few seconds to power up the attack, but he knew it would be enough to slow the boy down and give him time to power up another attack. The boy would not be able to recover from one blow before the other hit, and all Ganon had to do was to keep dealing those blows until the Hero was too weak to move. He could then finish him off however he chose. The battle was won.
Link tried to deflect the lightning, even though he didn't think he'd be able to. Sure enough, the magic was not focused enough for the sword to deflect it and the lightning hit him. The thought that a spin attack might be able to deflect the lightning crossed Link's mind a split second before the spell hit him.
The effect was closer to what he remembered: a searing pain spreading to his whole body, seizing up his muscles, blinding him. He screamed, and next thing he knew, he was on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. He tried to roll, knowing that another attack was coming, but his muscles cramped and he fell on his side.
Ganon was taken by surprise when Link moved, even though he didn't get far, and he released his next attack a little sooner than he would have wanted, more out of reflex than reflection. The attack was the kind the Master Sword could reflect, but the boy did not manage to even raise the blade of Evil Bane and the attack hit him.
Zelda winced when the second attack hit Link. He started coughing again and grabbed his left arm. Unlike him, she knew that pain and paralysis in the left arm was a sign of heart trouble and she guessed that Ganon's spell was designed to injure the heart and, judging from the coughing and laboured breathing, the lungs and breathing passages.
More importantly, she knew that Ganon would keep attacking until Link was defeated, not giving him any chance to recover between attacks. If Link was to have any chance at all of defeating Ganon, she needed to distract the monster between one attack and the next. Her mind was racing, trying to find a way to do that.
What would distract Ganon from Link? Killing the Hero was the beast's primary goal, nothing was more important to the pig. Except... Zelda's eyes widened as she remembered what Ganon was after in the stories of old, the thing he had desired enough to turn himself into the monster he was now, after being born a Gerudo. But would it work? He might have given up on it after all that time, and even if he hadn't, would his greed for it really draw his attention away from killing his nemesis long enough for Link to recover a little and make a move?
Ganon hit Link with another attack and Zelda clenched her fists. She had to try, and if it didn't work, well, she'd just have to try something else.
"Ganon!" She screamed. "His life for the Triforce!"
Ganon had been so astounded by the fact Link had a fairy and some blue potion, not to mention a bow and arrows, that she was hoping he might just fall for the ruse and think that they had somehow managed to get the Triforce, too. Barring that, she was hoping the mere mention of the Goddesses' artefact might surprise him enough to slow him down.
Ganon turned to stare at her, his eyes wide and his nostrils flaring.
"Where?" He growled slowly. "Tell me where it is, girl, and you both live."
This was beyond what Zelda had hoped for. She didn't believe for one second that Ganon would keep that promise even if she did have the Triforce and gave it to him, but if she could engage him in negotiations, Link would have all the time he needed.
"Swear it." Zelda said, giving her voice what she hoped would sound like a begging tone.
"I swear." Ganon replied without hesitation. "Give me the Triforce, girl. GIVE IT TO ME!"
Zelda recoiled slightly. Ganon's eyes were dancing, and he was actually frothing at the mouth. He seemed to have forgotten all about Link. His desire for the Triforce had completely taken over.
Ganon snarled at the girl, his blood boiling in his veins. Finally, it would be his. If only this pathetic Princess stopped wasting his time and handed it over, the Triforce would finally be his again, and this time, in the real world. With it, destroying the Hero and the Princess would be a breeze, and he would be able to rule forever. The Triforce could even bring back the Hylians and he'd be able to kill them all over again. And the boy! The boy would be at his mercy. The boy... Ganon frowned. He had been in the process of killing him, and he was defenceless now. Maybe he should finish him off before he took the Triforce.
"Both of us!" The girl said when he started turning back towards the boy. "We BOTH live, or I'll never give it to you!"
"I could just take it." Ganon said. But he focused his attention back on her.
Zelda was working hard to keep her eyes on Ganon's. She could see Link behind the monster, slowly getting up.
"It's hidden." She said. "You will never find it."
"Then hand it over!" Ganon roared.
He took a step towards her, fangs bared. If he had to scare the Princess into giving him the Triforce, well, he had no problem with that.
"It's HIDDEN." Zelda repeated. "I don't have it here. I will tell you where it is if you promise that Link and I can live until we die of old age. AND..." She added as an afterthought because it seemed like she would think of asking that if she actually believed she was negotiating, "...we live free of you. You will not imprison us or otherwise bother us in any way."
"Why would I bother with you two once I have ultimate power?" Ganon growled. "I swear whatever you want! Where is it?"
Zelda was running out of things to demand, and she was afraid if she sent Ganon looking somewhere for the Triforce, he'd only chase them and kill them in their sleep once he found out the Triforce wasn't where she had said it was. Link was up and looked like he could move again, if barely. He only needed a few more seconds to shoot an arrow at Ganon.
"You cannot murder everyone else, either." Zelda said. "I know you. You'd find it hilarious to let us live in an empty Hyrule. None of that."
Ganon started rolling his eyes at her, but suddenly turned sharply around, roaring in rage. The boy had just taken a step, he had heard the sound of his foot on the stone floor. The boy was up, and probably full of blue potion again. The Princess had stalled on revealing where the Triforce was, just so the Hero could defend himself if Ganon did not keep his word and decided to kill the both of them as soon as he found out where the powerful artefact was. That had been the plan, of course, and to see if foiled like that was infuriating.
Well, it would be more fun to kill the boy and force the information out of the girl anyway.
The President was fully aware that his plan was crude: meet the Hero if he somehow defeated Ganon, talk to him to get him on his side and if that didn't work, hope that seeing the museum burn would finish convincing the boy that the President was an ally.
As crude as it was, he couldn't afford the time to perfect it: there was no telling when the battle would be over. In fact, he'd only know when that happened if Ganon won, because the pig would surely take him over again. So, he needed to get to Death Mountain fast, and just in case the boy took a different route off the mountain than the main one, it would be best to make it as close to the top as possible. Even by horseback, the President needed to hurry.
He made it to the stables and mounted his horse, which was always kept ready during the day, as Ganon had ordered. He noticed then that he was still in his pyjamas, but decided there was no point wasting time getting dressed.
A servant opened the stable doors for him and he rode off towards the mountain, alone, in night clothes, and happy with the thought that he must look very distressed and heroic.
Link froze in mid-step when Ganon turned around. The monster looked angry all the time, but now, he looked absolutely furious. Link's heart was beating in his ears so hard that he couldn't make out most of what Zelda and the pig had been talking about, but he thought the Triforce had been mentioned and he guessed that Zelda had talked about it to distract Ganon and buy him some time. By the looks of it, Ganon had just figured this out and was not happy to have been tricked.
Link reached for his bow and arrows, but changed his mind at the last second. He was hurt and shaking, and there was no way he was going to hit Ganon shooting an arrow, no matter how close the beast was. He didn't think he could even properly load the arrow in the bow right now, his hands were too unsteady. There was no time to think of an actual strategy, Ganon was charging another black lighting attack and there was no telling when he'd launch it at him. Link dropped the bow but kept the arrow and also kept his sword.
The thought crossed his mind that this wasn't a good idea, but he didn't have time to think of anything else, and anything was a better idea than to stand there doing nothing. He ran and jumped at Ganon, whose eyes widened in surprise. In his shock, he launched the dark lightning attack before he had it charged as much as he would have liked.
Link would not have guessed the attack was not fully charged, unless you pointed out to him that it was meant to kill him. The force of the attack lifted him off the ground and when it finally dissipated, he crumbled on the floor, unable to move or to think of why it seemed like he should try to. It was difficult to think through the pain, which was only very slowly diminishing.
Zelda tried her best to get Ganon's attention back. She pleaded with him, even claimed that only Link could get the Triforce out of its hiding place, but Ganon completely ignored her.
His attention was back on the Hero, and he was not going to allow himself to be distracted again. He'd get the girl to divulge the location of the Triforce later. For now, he had her tuned out completely. The Hero was much more interesting at the moment. His black lightning attack may not have killed him, but it had stunned him and he was helpless again. It was time to finish him, and seeing him sprawled on the floor like that, his body already half broken, tempted Ganon to finish him by hands and enjoy the feeling of the breath dying in the boy's throat.
Ganon was not one to resist temptation. He bent down and grabbed the Hero by the neck. It was a lot like holding a rag doll: the boy was light - workers were all just skin and bone - and still limp from the attack. Ganon shook him a bit, to encourage him to open his eyes.
Link groaned. He did not want to open his eyes. He couldn't quite remember whether fighting Ganon had been a dream or not, and he was much too afraid to find out it had been real if he opened his eyes. Something was definitely holding him by the throat; that was not a good sign. The something shook him again.
"Open your eyes, boy. Look death in the face." Ganon said.
Link recognized the voice and whimpered. It really hadn't been a dream. Ganon had him and was about to kill him. He hadn't even been able to hit him with a single light arrow... Link's eyes flew opened. He was holding an arrow in his right hand when the black lightning hit him. He couldn't tell if it was still in his fist or not, his hand was too numb. He could tell from the weight that his left hand was still holding the Master Sword, but that wouldn't do any good unless he had managed to hold on to the arrow.
Ganon started to squeeze his throat, thankfully slowly. Link swiftly raised his right arm and stabbed at Ganon's right eye. Even shaking and half conscious, he still had some of his usual speed and precision: The light arrow plunged into the relatively soft spot. Ganon hollered and released his grip on Link's throat, grabbing at his eye with both hands. The arrow burnt his hands so much he could not actually grab it and the more he tried to bat it out, the deeper it got. His howl of rage morphed into screams of pain.
Link held the Master sword above his head with both hands and drove it in Ganon's abdomen. He hoped he didn't have to get the heart, didn't remember it ever being an issue.
Ganon's screams turned into a roar when the pain became too much to endure and his rage took over again: the demon's equivalent of human adrenaline.
"You cannot win, boy!" He screamed. "You're a worm! You can't have hurt me! You can't!"
Link ignored him, concentrating on keeping the Light Arrow alive. He had to give up on the shield surrounding Zelda, but he was reasonably certain that Ganon was too busy to even notice, much less attack her. Even with all his soul concentrated on the arrow, however, the magic was quickly running out, and even with the Master Sword deep inside of him, Ganon wasn't dying particularly quickly.
Ganon tried shoving Link away, but Link let go of the sword just long enough to avoid the swipe and drove it deeper into the monster's body when he got hold of it again. Ganon screamed in frustration. He had no idea that the light arrow would lose its magic in a manner of seconds, and he had no idea that Link didn't have any more potion to restore his body and his magical power. As far as Ganon knew, faith had somehow taken a turn and he was defeated.
He could not believe this was happening. He had lost, the boy had won! He couldn't allow it, he could not allow the boy to walk away victorious!
"I will take you with me, Hero!" He screamed.
Using the last of his energy, Ganon charged up a black lightning attack in a mere instant. Charging this particular spell this fast was an enormous strain, and Ganon only ever attempted it when desperate. In this case, he knew the strain would be too much, but he also knew the spell would kill the boy and condemn him to haunt the Tower forever.
Link saw Ganon build up the spell, but he had no time to do anything about it. The dark energy built up almost instantly, and Ganon cast the spell. It hurt more than it ever had, but thankfully, only for a second. The cool darkness that was so familiar because he had experienced it several times a night for most of his life fell over him.
Zelda saw the shield Link had placed around her blink out of existence and guessed that Link's magical energy was running out. A quick look at the light arrow Link had managed to stick into Ganon's eye confirmed her guess was right: the arrow's light was rapidly fading.
Ganon took a swipe at Link, who barely avoided it and let go of the Master Sword. Zelda gasped in fright that he wouldn't get it back, but Link grabbed hold of it again and if not for the fact the arrow's light was almost out, Zelda would have hardly been worried at all. Ganon was screaming, but there was nothing he could do to escape the arrow and the sword. It was all a matter of what would last longer: Link's spiritual energy or Ganon's body.
She was shaking and holding herself at the same time, her eyes wide with fear. She couldn't believe she had ever wanted this battle to take place: she wanted nothing more, now, than to forget about the whole thing and run away from Hyrule with Link. She was terrified that he would die and that it would be her fault. The thought that Ganon would kill her next barely crossed her mind.
Her eyes widened and she screamed. Ganon was charging a dark magic attack, the one that looked a bit like dark lightning. The gathered energy grew very quickly and within a second, Ganon was holding a ball of energy twice as big as any he had produced yet. The ball seemed to dissipate, but really only changed into its lightning form and hit Link.
Link did not scream, he didn't have time. The dark energy lifted him off the ground and threw him away from Ganon, leaving the Master Sword in the demon's belly. Link was unrecognizable by the time he landed: his skin was peeling and entirely black, and a chunk was missing from his chest, where most of the lightning had actually hit. Most of his hair had burnt off, and his eyes seemed to have exploded: there was nothing but blood where they should have been.
Zelda turned her eyes away in horror and they fell on Ganon. Casting the spell seemed to have taken the last of the demon's strength: he had fallen face first on the floor, and the Master Sword was poking out of his back. Darkness was actually pouring out of the wound and from under the beast: a sort of smooth black smoke that absorbed all the light. Ganon's body started to disintegrate and within a second or so, the Master Sword was falling through a pile of dust.
Zelda was still screaming, and could hardly believe how little she cared that Ganon was gone. Her worst fear, ever since she had found Link, was that she would get him killed. She had tried her best to keep him as safe as possible, but in the end, it hadn't been enough: he was dead, and it was mostly because she had gotten herself captured by Ganon and Link had come to rescue her without taking the time to learn how to use his bow.
She slowly turned back towards him, forcing herself to look at him because she felt she deserved it.
A pink little speck of light was whirling around what was left of the Hero of Time. Zelda's eyes widened. It turned and turned over Link's corpse, so long that Zelda did not dare believe it was what it looked like. She focused her gaze on it, refusing to look directly at the corpse: she was too afraid to see no sign of improvement and to lose what hope she had that the small glow was indeed a fairy and that this fairy would bring Link back to life.
The glow eventually dived right into the body, and Zelda, who was following it very carefully, was tricked into looking at Link's body again.
It wasn't black anymore, and it had hair again, as well as eyes - which were blinking - and an intact chest. Link's clothes were the only testament to what he had looked like a few minutes before: there wasn't much of them left, and what was there was burnt and torn. There were no blood stains, thanks to fairy's action, but that was the best thing you could say about them.
"Link...?" She called out. Her voice sounded small, distant.
"I forgot about that second fairy." Link said, sitting up. "They often go for him, so the old Link gave me two, just in case. But the first one did heal you, so I still had the other one."
He was talking absently, looking around for Ganon. He couldn't see him anywhere. His arrow was broken in two and the pieces were lying on a pile of dust. The Master Sword was on the floor, not far from that pile. On the other side of the sword was another pile of dust.
Link frowned at the dust, arrow pieces and sword thoughtfully. The dust kind of looked like it had been pushed away from the Sword. Link thought it might mean something, but his head still felt foggy and it was difficult to think. His body felt perfectly fine, including the physical part of his head, but his thoughts were strangely unfocused, and although he knew it was important to find out where Ganon was, and how much was left of him, he couldn't seem to bring himself to actually care.
"I hope he's gone." He said. He didn't really mean it, he wasn't really hoping for anything at the moment, but he knew that he should have been hoping just that, so he said it.
Zelda joined Link by the oddly-shaped pile of dust. His voice sounded very dispassionate, as though he didn't care that he was alive and Ganon defeated. Zelda assumed it was the shock and the fatigue.
"Ganon turned to dust right after hitting you with that magical attack." She said. "That's all that's left." She pointed at the dust.
Link bent down and picked up the Master Sword. He waved it over the pile of dust, and wherever the blade went, the dust was pushed away, repelled by the Sword of Evil Bane.
"Heh. Even the dust is evil." He said. "So, he's gone?"
"Yes." Zelda said. She didn't feel the time was right to bring up the fact Ganon would surely come back eventually, as always.
Link was starting to feel a bit cheated. He should have been very happy right now, why wasn't he? He felt a bit glad that it was over, but he had planned to be jumping up and down if he won his fight against Ganon. He had expected Zelda to be a bit happier, too.
"I should be happy." He said. "WE should be happy. How come we're not?" He asked. The question wasn't really addressed to her, but she answered it anyway.
"You are just tired." Zelda said. "I'm sure it'll get better soon."
Link suddenly remembered what the Hero of Time had told him about using magic.
"My soul is tired!" He exclaimed. "But what about you? You didn't use magic."
"He'll never be gone for good. I thought I could accept it, but after all this..." Zelda trailed off. Link merely looked puzzled. She was suddenly very thankful he was so emotionless at the moment.
"But... I beat him. There's only this dust left." Link said, pointing at the dust with his sword. He sounded a bit miffed, confirming that he was indeed slowly coming back to normal.
"It's not the first time the Hero and everyone else have thought Ganon was completely destroyed. He always somehow manages to come back anyway." Zelda said.
Link frowned.
"But he's gone for now, right?" He asked.
"Yes."
Link smiled and patted her on her back.
"So cheer up already!" He said. "We won!"
Zelda smiled back and nodded firmly.
"You did it. Imagine everyone's shock!" She kidded.
Link snickered politely at the bad joke. He was starting to feel good, and he wanted Zelda to feel good too.
"Come on." He said. "Let's get out of here."
Link stopped before coming out of the narrow staircase. Behind him, Zelda stopped as well.
"We're almost out, but walk softly." He whispered. "I don't want any Stalfos to hear us."
Zelda nodded. She had no desire to run into any monster either.
She followed him as quietly as she could, wondering how long it would take for his emotions to come back fully. He was not as dispassionate as when he had first come back to life, up in Ganon's chamber, but although he had quickly started to come back to normal, he didn't seem to be making any progress at all anymore.
They came out of the room and the Tower without encountering any Stalfos or any other monster. It was morning out, and the air was pleasantly warm and dry. Zelda finally realized where she was.
"We were in the Tower of Hera!" She exclaimed. "And last time, you almost…" She trailed off. Link had rushed back here to save her, even though the Tower had almost killed him the last time he had been inside it. "You really do have the Hero's courage." She said admiringly.
Link stopped walking and sighed heavily. He spread his arms and turned his face up towards the sun, taking in the light.
"Don't know about that." He said. "I was really scared the monsters I killed on the way up were going to be back somehow and attack us."
"You were scared?" Zelda asked. "Are you kidding me? You looked like you were not feeling anything at all!"
Link put his arms down and turned to her, grinning.
"I was okay at first, but about halfway down, I was ready to scream. I should have used Farore's wind when I got here: if you use it somewhere, you can come back later by using it again. Then again, I can't use magic right now, so it doesn't matter that I didn't think of it. Anyway," he said, finally coming back on the subject of his pretend lack of fear, "I didn't want you to laugh at me."
"Why would I make fun of you?" Zelda asked.
"Well…" He stammered, "Because it's silly to be scared of those monsters after I already killed them and after I beat Ganon. Heeyyyy..." He said, grinning anew.
Zelda cocked her head.
"I beat him! He's gone!" Link said, beaming, as though he had only just realized it.
"For now."
Link waved the objection off.
"Bah! My future selves can deal with him." He said. "Right now..."
He looked up at the Tower defiantly, then screamed in glee and started jumping up and down, shouting taunts at the Tower. Zelda smiled, but the idea that they would have to face Ganon again in a future life was dampening her mood: she was happy, but not so much so that she felt like celebrating.
The descent down the mountain path was uneventful. They chatted about this and that, avoiding the subject of the actual battle. They decided not to go into the Goron City: since they were not in a hurry anymore, there was no point subjecting themselves to the dark cavern. The subject eventually came up of how they would have to find someone to hire them. Link took out the money he had taken from the moblins and looked at it while walking, wondering how long it could sustain them, or if there was even enough for him to buy a new set of clothes.
Zelda trotted next to him.
"Where did you get a wallet?" She asked. She peered into it and her eyes widened.
Link didn't notice her expression. He told her about the Moblins, and sighed.
"I think they're fake. Real Rupees are green and blue, right? Those here are all red, orange, purple, yellow, silver, white and gold. No wait." Link said, digging further into the wallet. "There are a few greens and blues, right at the bottom."
"Link, those other ones are just higher denominations. They're worth more."
"They are? How much? Is there enough to buy some clothes? Nobody is going to hire me like this."
He looked down at his tattered clothes pointedly. There was so little left of them that it was a bit embarrassing, even if he wasn't downright indecent.
Zelda laughed. Link could have bought a new outfit for as little as ten Rupees.
"Let me look and count." She said, curious to see just how much was there before she answered.
Link handed her the wallet. Zelda crouched and counted, depositing the rupees on the ground as she counted them. The wallet contained a lot more than its size should have allowed. Zelda was counting for a while; Link was playing with the Master Sword while he waited.
"1 million, 642 thousand, 543." Zelda finally announced. "Link, you're rich."
Link dropped the sword and hurriedly picked it up. He sheathed it and turned to Zelda, trying to look cool.
"I don't even know what a million is." He said. "I can only count to a hundred. A thousand is 10 hundreds, right? Are you serious? I'm rich?"
Zelda nodded, smiling.
"The wallet has to be magical to be able to hold that much and stay so light, too. And I bet Ganon can't be bothered to give all his cronies their pay in person, so it probably fills up by itself over time, as well. The moblins must have been in the Tower for a really long time. Oh, and one thousand is indeed 10 times as much as a hundred, and a million is a thousand thousands."
Link tried to picture the amount, but he couldn't. He gave up and decided to just think of it as "a lot". "If it fills up by itself, I'm never going to run out?" He asked, suddenly thinking that if that was the case, "a lot" didn't really cover it.
"With Ganon gone, I have no idea. But I don't think you'll run out even if it doesn't."
Link smiled. That would make things a lot easier.
"That's good." He said. "That means it's okay if we don't find jobs right away. Hey, maybe we can open a dorm and give the workers supervisor dinners all the time!"
"Hopefully, they won't need you to do that soon." A voice answered, from ahead of them.
Link recognized it and unsheathed the Master Sword right away, frowning and trembling at the same time.
"I'm armed now, Mister President." He said, his voice shaking just a bit. "And I know what you REALLY wanted to do last time, instead of just spitting on me!"
"Link, wait!" Zelda said, putting a hand on his sword arm.
Link glanced at her quickly, not taking his attention off the President, who was mounted on a horse just ahead of them. The horse was shining with sweat, and the President was in night clothes. To Link, this looked as though the President had rushed out of bed to come and finish what Ganon could not do. Link didn't know how the President had known about Ganon's defeat and did not care. He didn't know what Zelda wanted, either, but she could not have picked a worst moment to want to tell him something, except maybe in the middle of his fight with Ganon.
"What?" He asked her. "Stay behind me!"
"Ganon has possessed every elected President since he was thrown off the throne 900 years ago!" Zelda said. "The President at the shop... it wasn't this man, it was Ganon!"
Link's eyes widened, but he still kept the Master Sword pointed at the President.
The President had been about to say something, but decided to let Zelda explain. Link was more likely to believe her than him. He stayed as still as he could, not wanting to scare the Hero into attacking him.
"What makes you think that?" Link asked Zelda without taking his eyes off the President.
"Ganon told me." She said. "He was playing with me. The deal was that we would just chat unless I got angry with him. Everything he told me was to make me angry, of course."
"You're sure he wasn't lying about that?" Link asked.
Zelda took a second to think about it. It explained all the President's behaviour so well, and the outcomers always being killed within a few days, and although she hadn't noticed it at the time, she now remembered Ganon mentioning being at the shop on the day of the President's visit, before he told her about the possessions.
"I'm sure." She said.
Link sheathed his sword and visibly relaxed. The President smiled and dismounted.
"I forgot to think of what to say if I met you two." The President said. "Well!" He laughed. "Good thing there is nobody to hear me ramble."
"What were you saying about not needing to feed workers more than he'd be supposed to?" Zelda asked.
"Hold on!" The President said. "Let me start at the beginning."
He kneeled in front of them, causing them both to turn beet red.
"Thank you for saving Hyrule and on a more personal note, for saving me." The President said.
He got up again and continued with hardly a discernable pose.
"Both of you will be honoured in a big celebration the day after tomorrow: it will take that long to notify everyone. After that, we'll see about closing the shops and getting everyone doing things that are actually useful." The President said. He sounded to Zelda as if he was thinking of all this on the spot, which matched his claim that he had not prepared anything to say to them. "Link," he continued, "you will become a higher class citizen for as long as there is still such a thing. I'm sorry there aren't any nobles anymore, I could have made you a knight and Zelda some kind of honorary princess or something like that. Actually, maybe I'll introduce nobility again when I get rid of the current lower and higher class. Until the party, could you both stay at the palace? I'd rather not have people attack you because they still think you are murderers. Besides, we can find something a bit more appropriate for the guests of honour to wear at the celebration." He finished with a wink.
Link was getting dizzy with the possibilities. He had known defeating Ganon would mean fewer murders at night, hopefully no more at all, but he had had no idea it may actually have any other effect. Even a second ago, when Zelda had told him Ganon had actually still been ruling, he had not really realized the implications, other than the President not being an enemy after all. And now, the President was talking about honouring them, and making him a noble, and not having lower class and higher class anymore, and closing the shops... it seemed too good to be true. Zelda broke the charm, interrupting the President as soon as he paused for breath.
"That all sounds lovely, sir, but don't you think the most important is to prepare for Ganon's return?"
Link sighed and rolled his eyes. The President looked surprised and puzzled.
"Ganon always comes back." Zelda explained for the President's benefit. "But he has found a way to make sure the Hero doesn't. That's why it took so long between this time and the last. We need to make sure he never wins again."
"I know he always comes back!" The President said lightly. "We'll prepare, don't worry! Just enjoy your victory for now!"
"Yeah, he's not going to come back right away." Link said, addressing her. "Come on, can't we be happy he's gone? Just for a bit?"
Zelda knew she had lost the battle for now, and wasn't sure she minded all that much. A party sounded very nice. She smiled.
"I hope you're planning on food for that party." She said.
Link nodded vigorously. The President laughed and promised a feast for everyone.
The celebrations started with a three hours long memorial service to all of Ganon's victims, from the 5 year old Hero Ganon had defeated and the Princess he had killed on the same night, all the way to the last people Ganon had killed outside the Lost Woods to lure Link out. Records had never been kept by the Government on who had died, so there was no actual list of victims, but several general eulogies were made to cover everyone from workers to past Presidents.
With all due respect paid to Ganon's victims, the survivors were free to enjoy the rest of the party, and even Zelda could not help but to have fun. She was wearing her hair up, for the first time she could recall, and now that the word was spreading that the Hylians had not abandoned Hyrule after all, and had actually been the victims of a genocide, she was getting a lot of compliments on her ears. She suspected some of it was just people sucking up, but she didn't mind. She was just enjoying the attention.
There were some awkward moments when seeing people she knew. Ejar, in particular, couldn't seem to decide between flirting with her and avoiding her. Those moments were relatively few and far between, however, and were not enough to tarnish the day.
Link was obviously enjoying himself. Zelda could only imagine how nice it was for him to be showered with honours, compliments and praises instead of insults and mockeries. Zelda thought he was also enjoying how magnificent he looked. The President had had a replica of the traditional Hero's outfit made in time for the party, and Link still had the Master Sword as well as the bow and quiver (with a couple of light arrows). He looked like he had been plucked right out of a history book. The fact that his wide smile showed off his freakishly perfect teeth just added that final touch of surrealism that completed the look.
He spent most of the party with his two friends, telling them in great details everything that had been going on. In great details because Kariko was constantly probing him for more information, and how had he felt at such and such time, and what was this and that like, and what was the Hero of Time like? Each time she asked about the Hero of Time (which turned out to be quite often), Link pretended to think she was talking about himself and to be insulted when he figured out she wasn't. Link's other friend was hardly saying anything at all, but was all ears and very clearly having a good time as well.
Zelda eventually joined them, following Kariko's invitation. Link acquired a bit of an odd expression when he saw her sit down next to Kariko, and didn't say much for a while. Kariko carried on the conversation, even though she was barely getting grunts in answer to her questions. Link's eyes seemed to be trying to avoid his friend, but they kept being drawn back.
Link was disgusted with himself. Not returning the items he had borrowed was a disappointment, although he had been under the impression his past selves were giving them, now loaning them. Not going back to thank at the very least the Hero of Time and the old Link was very frustrating, but he was sure they wouldn't want him to risk his life just to do that.
Travelling to his past lives had been so easy, he had become accustomed to it. But the last time he had tried, he had become a ghost, looking over his own body, and he had been terrified he wouldn't be able to go back inside himself. He couldn't understand why this had happened, and the only rational explanation he could think of was that Ganon had something to do with it. He had travelled to a past life from inside the Tower before, so it couldn't be the building. Therefore, it had to be Ganon. And whatever the pig had done, there was no way to know whether it had been reversed when Link had destroyed him.
He didn't think it would be a good idea to take the chance and try to travel again. Except...
His eyes darted to Kariko. The blue potion the old Link had given him had cured every single thing that was wrong with him, even things that were supposed to go wrong as people got older. Link was sure that if it could heal gradual damage accumulated over his whole life, it could heal old injuries as well. He was sure that it could heal Kariko.
And Kariko was only one person. There were a lot of people around with injuries the potion could heal, and there weren't many people who wouldn't benefit from it at all. Link desperately wanted to get more of the blue liquid, along with instructions on how to brew it, but if he tried, he may very well end up as a ghost again, and what if he couldn't get back into his body this time?
On the other hand, it was possible that he would be able to visit his past lives again now that Ganon was gone, and if he wasn't, there was no particular reason to believe getting back to his body would be any harder than last time.
Link clenched his teeth, his decision made. He may have been afraid, but he needed to at least try. Too many people could benefit from it, including one of his best friends. He concentrated on his older past self.
Although Link did not know it, what had prevented him from travelling to the past before was the spell Ganon had cast to confine his soul to the Tower of Hera. Now that Link was out of said Tower, the spell had no hold on him. He found himself in front of his past self, who was busy cleaning up now that all his guests, even the royal ones and the ghostly ones, had left.
Kariko and Dekussay barely had time to gasp before Link blinked and sat up again, holding a small bottle full of blue potion and a piece of paper with something written on it. He gave the bottle to Kariko and the paper to Zelda.
"That's the stuff that fixed my teeth" He told Kariko, pointing at his mouth. "My past self says it should heal you, too. So what do you say? You want your other eye back?"
Zelda looked at the paper. It was a list of ingredients and measures, in a language somewhere in between old Hylian like on the sword's altar and modern day Hyrulian. She guessed one of his past selves had given Link the recipe for the blue potion.
Kariko was staring at the bottle, blinking slowly and remarkably quiet, at least for a few seconds.
"You really think it's going to bring my eye back?" She asked. She continued with a sigh before Link could answer. "It's no good anyway. My eyelid is sealed shut."
"Your eyelid is going to be fine once your face is healed, silly." Link said. He thought it should have been obvious.
"My face? It's going to heal my face, too? Not just my eye? You didn't say tell me that! You just asked me if I wanted my eye back! You never said anything about my face! Are you sure?"
"It heals EVERYTHING." Link said. "Drink it already!"
Kariko uncorked the bottle and downed the blue liquid.
The effect was immediate. Link grinned and Zelda gasped. She remembered trying to picture what Kariko would look like if not for her scars and only coming up with an image of a spectacularly ugly girl. Now that Kariko was blinking at them, a huge smile on her now normal face, Zelda was happy to see she had not just been lacking imagination. Kariko was not exactly spectacularly ugly, but she was definitely not a pretty girl, even healed and even with a smile just as unnaturally devoid of cavities and missing teeth - if not as perfect, her teeth were all there, but were crooked - as Link's.
Kariko didn't need to see herself to know the potion had worked. Her friends' reaction, and Zelda's, would have made it obvious even if she hadn't been able to tell she was now seeing out of two eyes again and even if she hadn't been feeling so wonderful.
She threw herself in Link's arms and covered him in kisses. He resisted and tried to pull away, so she tackled him to the ground and started tickling him instead. He laughed, but not nearly as much as she did.
Link did his rounds the following morning, or rather, when he got up the following day, which was really closer to noon than to morning proper. The party had gone on quite late, and the guest of honour did not have the option of leaving early. Not that Link would have wanted to: he had never had a better day or evening.
He had been looking forward to today as well. He had been very relieved to find he could time travel again, and not just because the alternative was to find himself floating above his body: it didn't feel right not to return everything he could and it felt just plain wrong not to thank the people who had helped him. He was still wearing the Hero outfit the President had had made for him, feeling it was only fitting to the occasion.
He started with Sahasrahla, concentrating on arriving right after he had left, knowing he could only see Sahasrahla while his past self was with the old hermit.
His past self groaned impatiently when he appeared and interrupted his meeting with Sahasrahla again, but his eyes widened when he saw the Master Sword on his back and Link was able to thank Sahasrahla and even have a short chat while his past self gawked jealously at the Sword. Link turned to him, thanked him too, and left.
He then went back to the first Hero of Time, aiming once again for a moment after his last departure, just to make sure the Hero wouldn't have forgotten him. He got teased about his fancy clothes, which only looked vaguely like the Hero's, he teased back about the Hero's gleaming white pants, and he got roped into going to see all the Great Fairies again to thank them.
After that was done, the first Hero of Time confessed he just loved to see other people get freaked out by the Great Fairies. Link returned the bow, quiver and the remaining light arrows, thanked him profusely and just to make him blush, mentioned how even in the future, some girls got all hot and bothered about him. His past self turned bright red and Link left.
He also went back to the flooded Hyrule, as well as to the other heroes he had met. He kept the old Link for last and stayed there the longest: he wanted to make sure the old Link knew that without his help, Ganon would have won twice in a row. By the time Link left, he was pretty sure he had reached his goal.
All in all, it was a great... well, it felt like a long day, although in real time, it was done in less than a minute. Thanking his past selves had been a lot more pleasant than begging for help, and it felt better than he would have thought when they congratulated him. The one downside was that two of his past selves who had already defeated Ganon (the Hero of Time and the old Link) had told him he needed to return the Master Sword to its resting place. The old Link had explained that the blade needed to rest in its sacred place for its power and purity to be restored following the fight with Ganon.
Link knew they were right, as much as he didn't like the idea of parting with the Sword of Evil Bane. He remembered not wanting it in the first place, he remembered being afraid of handling anything sharp, but the memories didn't quite seem to belong to him. He felt like a different person now. He was still afraid of everything he had been terrified of before, but being afraid didn't seem to be a big deal anymore.
He was afraid of the dark, yet he had crossed Goron City in complete darkness. He was afraid of monsters, and he had fought and destroyed more of them than he cared to count. He was afraid of keeses, and he had killed hundreds of them with one move. He was terrified of Ganon, and he had fought and destroyed him. No, being afraid was not that big of a problem. Link could deal with it.
The problem was, he had dealt with it a lot better with the Master Sword than without. The magical blade helped him remember how he had fought before, and nothing was quite as scary when you remembered killing it a bunch of times. Putting the Master Sword back on its altar meant these memories would go away, and Link did not want to go back to the state of helpless panic he had so often been in before he had the Sword of Evil Bane. He liked how he was now a lot better.
He set off for the Lost Woods as soon as he was back into his own body, the leaf given by the Great Deku Tree in his pocket. The fragile looking leaf had not been damaged at all by his battle against Ganon, even though the clothes it had been tucked into had been burnt and shred beyond recognition. Link decided he would go see the Great Deku Tree first, to thank him for his help and let him know, just in case the tree didn't already, that Ganon was defeated. He had given the old Link his nice sheath back, so he was carrying the Master Sword in his hand, as if ready to use it. There was nothing to use it on anymore, and yet the feel of the handle in his hand still made Link feel safer.
"So, well... thank you again." Link said, repeating himself for the tenth time.
The Great Deku Tree frowned at Link. Link cleared his throat, looked away and shuffled his feet, trying to find something else to say.
"I told you I got a recipe for blue potion, right? It heals everything, even…"
"You have told me this three times already, Hero." The Tree interrupted him. "You need to get going."
Link opened his mouth to say something, but the tree looked at him so sternly that Link closed it right back. He nodded miserably, turned and left the small glade, heading for the Master Sword's altar.
Link stared at the altar for a long time. He stared at the text, picking out letters he recognized and trying to guess what they meant. He admired the veins in the marble, and how even the moss that grew on the stone looked majestic. He stared at his first sword, which he had left leaning against the altar when he had picked up the Master Sword. He stared down the tree corridor leading to the altar, taking a good long look at each of the nearer trees. At one point, a squirrel stopped close to him to bury a nut, and Link stared at the small animal until it was done.
Link could almost feel the eyes of the Great Deku Tree glaring at him and could almost hear the wise tree urging him on. He saw again the unusually serious look on the Hero of Time's face as he told him that the sword wasn't a keepsake. He saw the stern expression of his older past self telling him returning the sheath was not important: returning the sword was.
He imagined how the old Link would look if he could see him now, stalling because he plain didn't feel like giving up his toy. It was that image that convinced his legs to carry him to the back of the altar. He climbed the steps and looked down at the slit in the marble, into which he needed to slide the blade. He remembered pulling and pulling until he fell backward off the altar when he had tried to take the sword without having first collected the Medallions. He remembered the blade coming to him easily once he did have the three pendants.
It was then that he realized that he was not giving up the sword at all. It would be there if he needed it again, in this life or the next. All he'd need would be the three pendants, and after fighting with Ganon, that didn't seem much of a challenge anymore. He told himself he had been silly for hesitating, but as illogical as it was, he still didn't like what he had to do. He knew he would never feel the same without the sword in his hand, and he wouldn't know how bad it would be until the sword was back into its altar and it was too late to take it back.
He raised the sword, holding it with both hands, and with his usual precision, slid it neatly into the small opening. It didn't feel as bad as he had feared. He felt a bit nervous, a bit naked, but it wasn't that bad. He had felt much worse when he had been about to enter Ganon's chamber, and that had been WITH the Master Sword.
He tried pulling it out again, just to test that the sword was sealed. It did not budge. Satisfied, Link jumped down from the altar and walked down the forest corridor, heading back to the palace to start helping with the preparations for the next time the Master Sword would be needed.
The End