The young princess lunged to where Link was laying sprawled on the wet ground, and knelt beside him. Her face was blanched, and her eyes welled with tears.
Hyrule was safe, but now she realized that she cared more for this simple forest boy than she ever thought possible. He had given his all to protect not only Hyrule, but the princess herself. She realized now that she had suppressed her feelings for him while the darkness still prevailed, but now that it was all over, her emotions burst free. Tears streamed from her eyes and streaked down her beautiful features as she knelt beside her hero. He was growing weaker, and blood was saturating his bright green tunic and turning it brown. He was mouthing words, but no sound was coming out.
Zelda held his head up and stroked his cheek gently. "Link no, please. You have to be okay," she sniffed, her tears flowing freely down her face. She wiped some of his once golden hair out of his eyes – now it was drenched and dirty.
"Zelda," Link whispered weakly, "I… I…"
"Link I love you!" she cried, "You've got to make it, for me! I need you Link!" The Hero of Time forced a feeble smile, and reached up to stroke Zelda's soaked strawberry blonde hair. "I love you," he whispered.
Link attempted to sit up, but then mind numbing pain lanced through his whole body.
"Do you not have any potions left?!" Zelda asked, and Link shook his head slowly, "No more fairies?" again, her hero shook his head. He winced as a wave of pain wracked his stricken body. Zelda gently put a delicate gloved hand on Link's severe wound, and drew it back up. Her thin white glove was completely saturated in a deep red liquid. Her tears had begun to ebb, but seeing the agony that her hero and love was enduring for her and for Hyrule, they renewed their flow.
"Oh my Link, my sweet, precious Link, be strong once more, for me, oh please be strong, fight the pain, you simply have to make it!" Link tried another smile, but failed miserably. Then gazing into Zelda's perfect eyes, he was overcome with sadness. Sadness that he might not be able to share a peaceful life with the woman that he loved, sadness that poor Zelda might have to endure the death of a loved one, and sadness that he couldn't protect her if he didn't make it. Then as those thoughts drifted through his mind, he encountered a relentless determination to survive, a determination to survive for Zelda's sake, for Hyrule's sake, for the sages' sake, and for his own sake.
He set his jaw and gritted his teeth. Slowly, he reached down to where the rusty dagger was embedded in his flesh. Then he had a thought, and hesitated. He knew that once he removed the dagger, his precious life blood would stream out of his body, and he would have little chance of making it, so he reached to his shoulder, and attempted to tear off his right sleeve.
The effort was beyond him though. Zelda noticed his action, "What're you trying to do?"
"Have to remove the rusty dagger," he managed faintly. The princess also knew that removing the weapon would speed up the process of his bleeding out, but knew that having rust embedded in one's body was excessively dangerous.
Suddenly she saw that he was slipping from consciousness.
"LINK! Don't give in! Stay with me Link!" the Hero of Time was more awake now, and was fighting with all his might to stay conscious, opening his eyes wide and focusing on Zelda's blurry face. Wait, blurry? he thought, and then terror seized him as he realized that this might be then end, but then in another moment, he was filled with a certain calmness that one only finds when one has come to terms with their fate. He thought about his ending, and was happy that he had been able to save Hyrule. He was happy that he had been able to save the princess. The princess, Zelda, he thought. She sure is a gorgeous Hylian.
Then he realized that she was crying out to him again, and he was again fully conscious. Then another wave of pain hit him, and he nearly wretched. His mind was completely rendered void from the potency of the pain that encapsulated him. He was aware of nothing else, only the burning sensation of the dagger penetrating his organs. He gasped aloud and clutched at his wound. His mind was useless at this point, as he could focus on nothing but the agonizing pain emanating from his stomach.
Then however, he could feel something else. There was a hand on his cheek. He could hardly feel it, but he knew that it was there. He forced his eyes open and gazed into Zelda's gushing eyes. He could see mildly more clearly now. She was delicately stroking his cheek and jaw line, and it was then he realized that he had to survive. Looking into those perfect eyes that were so anguished almost made him cry out of sorrow for Zelda's situation.
He summoned every last ounce of strength he possessed and reached up to his sleeve. He then felt a new emotion. Anger. Anger at the evil Ganondorf for attempting to take Hyrule by force, and even though he had distinguished Ganon's intensely malevolent life, he still felt fury toward the King of Evil and half wished that he could revive him just to kill him again.
But he redirected his hate for Ganon and used it to fuel his strength in ripping his sleeve off. He roared in pain and effort in tearing it off, but succeeded. Then without taking a second's hesitation so that he couldn't change his mind, he reached down to his wound and tore the dagger away from his skin, hurling hit far away. The next instant he jammed the green fabric down over the gash, putting as much pressure as he could possibly manage on it, ignoring the vehement pain that his body was screaming at him. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, and thought of Zelda.
He thought of him and Zelda walking through the royal gardens together, imagining her putting her arm through the crook in his elbow and gazing up into his eyes.
The effort to think of that though was beyond him and his mind was wrenched back to the searing pain and his weakening body. Zelda was still crying for him to push through, and trying to ask him what she could do. He knew that she hated feeling helpless, so he tried to think of something to say to her. His arms giving way and releasing all pressure on the wound he slouched back onto the ground and let out a stifled moan of torture.
"Zelda… please press on the wound…" he murmured weakly. Immediately, she leant down and combined both of her palms and put firm pressure on the wound. Link gasped and she relented, but he shook his head and motioned her to continue, so she leaned down on his stomach once more. His face contorted with agony, but they both knew that it was a necessary measure to stop the bleeding.
"Gaaaaaaaah," he moaned softly. Zelda looked from his wound to his face and burst out crying again.
"Be strong, my hero, please be strong. Stay conscious, I need you!" While his lower abdomen welled with distress, his chest welled with pride when he thought that he had won her heart and saved the day.
Then suddenly his mind felt clouded and he felt extremely drowsy, not to mention light headed. He felt himself slipping from consciousness again and he fought desperately to stay alert. He reached up feebly and grasped Zelda's arm nearest him.
She looked up from the wound to him again, and saw that he was weaker now than he had ever been in the past few minutes. In her distress, she absent mindedly reached up to brush a tear from her face, but in doing so, only smeared blood across her already wet cheek.
"Zelda, I love you…" Link whispered. She hardly heard him but before she could respond, the Hero of Time's body went limp.
"LINK!" Zelda reached for his head and lifted it off the ground. Her vision clouded with tears once more and she threw herself over his body, wailing intensely. She wrapped her arms around his still form, trying to find any comfort at all but there was none to be had. The love of her life had been unjustly taken from her.
...To be continued...
