A/N: The first part of this chapter is written for me, not for you, and it shows. To start someplace sane, Ctrl-F 'Pain'.

Chapter 18

Link stood alone, atop a tower of black stone. The sides of the tower were nineteen, the edges sharp as any sword. Far below him, lightning flashed. Link peered over the edge, somehow piercing through the swirling cloud layer, down to a field of ever-blooming roses.

He cast his gaze outward. The flowers gave way to hard, dry earth. A land of desperation, where only the most stubborn remained to survive. Across this desert, fled a man in black. A gunslinger followed, his pace stolid and inexorable.

Link turned to a different direction. The desert became a void. A monstrous mockery of the moon, swarming with robotics and alien life, barreled through space. In its path hovered a small and empty being. It let out a final plea, and ignited.

He turned a final time. A mountain stood above a barren waste, leaking fire. Two creatures, smaller even than Desi, stood on the side. With a shout, the one hefted the other on his shoulders, staggered, and pushed himself forward step after agonizing step. The dry wind fell still.

"The world is moving on, swordsman," echoed a timeless voice. Three crones stood before him on the peak of the tower, robed in colors of red, and green, and blue. Age lined their faces and pulled at their shoulders, but they stood firm of their own power. "The world passes, but still you return to the sword of the elder days."

"I need it to beat Ganon." The words felt strange in his mouth. They lacked the steel of the hero of his memories. He yearned to let that man take over, but he was but an untouchable fragment, locked beyond his consciousness.

The crones exchanged glances. A telepathic wave of despair and scorn exploded from their center, and then they recovered.

"He doesn't know."

"The prophecies are lost."

"The world moves on."

They considered him, then spoke as one. "Magic fades, and then also life. Soon must even the Golden Goddesses fade from being, and then there remains only the White. The White, and the other."

"Ganon?"

"So is he known to you. This tower will fall to him, and then will all be for naught."

"When?" Link asked. Sahasrahla had said nothing of this. Zelda had said nothing of this. None had even mentioned a tower.

"It matters little. Ganon will prevail."

"When?" Link repeated, his suspicion mounting.

The one in the middle, the blue one—no, let him name them as they were. Nayru shrugged. "Perhaps a millennium. Perhaps five. It all comes to the same."

Link frowned. "I… really don't care." All three goddesses stared at him, and he fidgeted under their gaze. "I mean… I'm not even gonna be alive then. I just want to keep my friends safe."

Farore reached out to her sister's arm. "This is what we made him to be," she chided.

Nayru closed her eyes and sighed. "So it is. Worries of the future were always the princess's burden."

"A pity she so seldom thought to bear it," Farore snapped.

Nayru's eyes blazed, but before she could retort, Din forced them apart. "Sisters! Our hero stands before us. What shall we give him?"

They turned to each other and spoke a word.


Pain radiated from Link's hand through his entire body. The price of the Goddesses' mark. In her hopeless prison, Zelda writhed under the additional psychic onslaught. At least this is new, she thought, bitterly. Ganondorf considered the back of his right hand, frowned, and burst into laughter. His left hand smashed into a concrete wall and clutched the rebar within as he schooled his face into a neutral expression.

Light erupted from Zelda's fist, and everything clicked into place. He did it. He got the sword. Hyrule would be saved. She beamed through the pain, drawing glares from her captors, but that would not matter much longer.

Ganondorf spoke an order, and one hundred Hylians fell dead.

Link fought his way through the sensations, the visions, focusing everything on the bare stone beneath him until after an eternity everything faded and he was alone.

The solitude did not last. Moments later, the Triforce of Courage glowed on his hand, then Irene stood before him.

She stared at him, then blinked. "Dammit," she deadpanned.

"Lovely to see you again too." At any other time, he probably would have been undergoing a serious freakout. After touching a sword of legend and seeing two goddesses taking pot shots at each other, however, he remained unphased.

Flueckli popped in shortly after, then Aghreal. The Gerudo calmly looked around, eyebrows slightly furrowed, but before he could greet her, Rusl appeared. Finally, Kafei flickered into existence as a cry escaped his mouth.

Link rushed over to him. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Kafei looked up, shook his head, and slowly removed his hand from his side.

"Link! You…" He paused, blinking. "This is Zelda's doing?" Some of the roughness seemed to seep out of his voice.

Link nodded. "Kinda, yeah."

He laughed gently, relaxing his shoulders and letting himself fall to the floor. "I thought I was insane for playing along. Link, whatever you're up to, I'm proud. Proud to have been a part of it."

"Yo, let's save the family reunion 'till after we get some answers, yeah?" Irene cut in, snapping her fingers. One minute I'm in class doing a titration. The next I'm… wherever the hell this is."

"And why do you have a sword?" added Rusl.

Link did his best to go over all the had happened, the truth of his destiny. As he explained it to his friends, the ones he knew from his normal life, he almost didn't believe it. But the Master Sword gave proof to his tale, as well as the shining triangle on his left.

"If I had to guess," he concluded, "you are Hyrule's new Sages."

"I thought there were supposed to be seven," Aghreal said.

"There are supposed to be seven," Flueckli muttered. And then everyone turned to look at Link as if he had any idea what was going on.

"Zelda," he said. "But-" The contents of the vision crashed back into his mind. "Ganondorf. He has her. He's… blocking her, or something. He-" Link cut himself off before he got too worked up. Deep breaths circulated through his body like gentle waves eating away the edge of a beach.

Kafei raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure? I've heard nothing…"

"I'm not sure of anything," Link said. "But I think we should assume she is."

They all paused to digest this.

"And the seventh?" Rusl asked.

The world began to flicker. A man's faint voice echoed up from below.

"The Goddesses will show us," Link said.

A great crack deafened them. The tower they stood on rumbled, and those with legs flailed to remain standing.

"Or they will not," he continued.

The light remaining in that transient world dimmed to an utter darkness, and the stone beneath him began to fade.

"We'll fight anyway."


When Link next opened his eyes, he was kneeling outside the gates of Hyrule castle. Desi thudded to the ground beside him. Flueckli remained far too close to his face.

"Link, are we dead?" Desi asked. He helped her up.

"We're home."

As she lifted her eyes, an energetic grin illuminated her face. She lunged forward, clutching him in a fierce hug. "And you have the sword! We did it."

He gently pushed her away, wrinkling his nose. "If we have to hug, let's shower first."


It took an hour to walk back home. A week ago, that would have seemed ridiculous. Now, it was all but trivial. They came to the intersection where their ways would part and paused.

"My parents are gonna kill me," Desi tittered.

Link thought of Anju. He was not looking forward to the return either.

"They'd have to get close enough to smell you, first."

She punched his shoulder. "You're mean."

"You're filthy."

Link went right, Desi went left. When she was out of sight, he stopped. He could feel the Sages in his mind, connected by tenuous threads. And they were coming. They were all coming save for the two caught behind the dark veil in the southern desert.

"You're not even going home?" Flueckli said.

Link shook his head. "I'd just have to say good-bye again. I have everything I need."

"Desi probably thinks she's going south with you."

"Let her think it. It'll keep her quiet." He shrugged. "What's the Hylian Army gonna do with someone who barely knows how to shoot?"

"You could at least tell her," she said, a few seconds later.

"We'll have time for talk at the end," he said. Then he looked up, for the Sages were approaching.

Irene's sportscar turned around the corner and stopped beside him.

"You reek," she said. Beside her, Aghreal wrinkled her nose.

"You'll smell the same in a bit," Link said, climbing in the back next to Rusl.

"I'm Flueckli. Nice to meetcha!" the fairy said. Rusl raised an eyebrow.

"So I wasn't insane after all."

They all laughed at that. Even Aghreal cracked a smile. As the mirth bubbled up in the car, Link let himself sink back into the seat. He was gone from the Temple. He was safe.

"Does anyone have any business left in Castle Town?" Rusl asked. Link felt the man eying him, but he remained staring forward, as if he hadn't heard.

"Then let's roll," Irene said, when it became clear no one would answer. She put the car in drive, and they were off to war.


A/N: The final part is about to begin. It's going to get darker. If you are easily triggered, I suggest you stop reading here.

There's going to be a bit of a delay before the next chapter. I'll be removed from civilization from a time, and when I get back I want to write ahead a bit, to be sure I'm not putting myself in a corner I can't escape from.