Review? Note this chapter does have a little bit of hurt/angst I suppose. Not sure exactly which as I am not exactly familiar with what exactly constitues either of those.

Chapter Twenty Three

Success at Long Last

Upon our return to everyone else outside, we were instantly met with overflowing excitement and jubilation. Everywhere people were cheering and absolutely letting go and expressing immense joy. It wasn't a mystery at all as to why, evil was defeated, we'd all felt it simultaneously. The age-old conflict was finally over, good had prevailed over evil. Light had vanquished the darkness that had threatened to snuff it out. We'd done it, we'd saved the world for good now. The feeling that gave all of us was indescribable. That very night, after we returned to Camp Jupiter, everyone decided there had to be a celebration and despite my wife and I's doubts about ourselves being worthy to lead everyone couldn't bring ourselves to turn the offer down. After all it wasn't a regular thing to help save the whole world from evil incarnate.

The main celebration was going to be held at Camp Jupiter, two weeks after Demise's defeat, although the various outposts would also be having celebrations at their own locations. Additionally, because everyone wanted it, Zelda and I agreed to open the celebration here at Camp Jupiter. It was to begin at just after five in the afternoon, as the afternoon of that very day wore on everyone was simmering with jubilation at the upcoming party. Just a half hour before the scheduled start of the celebration, my wife began fretting about what to wear for the occasion, pacing nervously and becoming anxious about having everyone's eyes on her.

"Love, relax, it's alright." I said soothingly, coming up behind her and wrapping my arms around her. "No one will judge you, they all support you and would never do otherwise. Just pick one of your dresses and it'll be fine." I murmured into her ear as I held her in my warm embrace.

"I suppose you're right, after all nobody really cares about being super formal all the time anymore." She sighed, leaning back a little into my chest. "After all you're going to be wearing your hero's garb." She added.

"If nothing else, and it gets too stressful for you, just remember I'll be right next to you." I reassure her.

She turns around in my arms, wraps her own arms around my chest, and rests her head over my heart. She doesn't say anything for a minute as we just stand there like that, then she sighs and pulls back a little. She raises her hands to the base of my neck and gazes back into my eyes with adoration.

"Alright then let's do it." She says.

She puts on a semi-formal dress as I go gather our children. Ilia is reading a book and obediently comes over to me upon my calling to her. I go to Michael's room and take him securely into my arms. I head toward the front door, still holding my son as Ilia trails closely behind. Upon reaching the front door, my sharp hearing caught a faint footstep behind us. Turning my head, I see Zelda approaching us in her most casual dress that was still decently formal enough for the occasion. Even in a casual dress, she looked absolutely beautiful. While I was dubious about how good of a leader I would be or even if I truly deserved the honor, every inch of my wife screamed royalty.

"So…how do I look?" She asked me, coming to a stop in front of me and doing a little twirl, her cheeks red with a blush.

"You look…beautiful!" I stammered slightly, trying to keep myself from just staring in awe.

She looked away bashfully for a moment before returning her gaze to mine.

"Thank you." She said softly.

We began making our way down to where the celebration was going to be held, a large pavilion had been set up in the fields north of the forum and coliseum within the Pomerian line. It was a little bit of a walk but that was OK. After having gone about a thousand feet, we were joined by two soldiers, a Hylian and a Gerudo. I discreetly rolled my eyes at this, I still wasn't used to this. A glance over at my wife confirmed the same thing from her. Upon reaching the line where the statues of Terminus stood, I automatically tensed up slightly before remembering how prior to Demise's defeat, Terminus had been "coaxed" into temporarily putting aside the restriction of weapons within the line.

As we watched the people ahead of us cross the line after being permitted in by the god, it was eventually our turn.

"Ah! The future king and queen of New Hyrule! Nice to see you here! You ready?" He asked.

"Yep, we're all ready to open the party and all share in the joy of saving the world." My wife answers.

"Hmm very good, but I didn't mean for the celebration though." He remarked.

I instantly knew what he was referring to.

"In all honesty, Terminus? No, I'm not ready and I don't think I ever will be, but that won't stop me from doing the best I possibly can. The world needs us to lead them into a new age of prosperity and I will not let it down." I say seriously.

"Spoken like a true leader, Link!" He nodded. "Alright you may enter."

We passed the line and made our way to where people were gathering. Before actually reaching them though we headed off to one side where there was a table set up perpendicular to many tables in front of it. Upon getting there, Zelda and I each stand behind our respective seats. Not yet sitting down ourselves as Ilia takes a seat next to me. We wait for everyone else to arrive, people slowly filing in as we wait. I see many familiar faces; Lexa, Austin, Percy, Annabeth, Nala, Ralis, Darbus, Cedra, Impa, and others. Once everyone has arrived, my wife steps forward, mustering her courage as she speaks.

"I would like to thank everyone for coming this evening. We have all just seen the very thing that we have all fought so hard to achieve, the victory over evil." She says, hands folded in front of her waist.

"We couldn't have done it without you!" Ralis exclaimed, punching the air like Sidon did.

His exclamation was met with many cheers of agreement from everyone gathered. The participants raising arms into the air in jubilation. Many of them holding drinks as well. The Master Sword chimed softly, I could tell Fi was pleased as well.

Zelda nodded and waited for the noise to die down before continuing, "Although we have accomplished our main objective and have done a lot, there is still more to do. But I know in my heart that if we all work together we will prevail!"

Everyone cheered again. 'More to do indeed' I thought. Indeed, there was still very much to do. We had decided that to make sure the evil stayed gone forever we would have to eliminate every single monster in the world. Only then could we rest assured that we had removed all traces of this thing. Monsters carried malice within them, therefore they all had to go. Every trace, every bit, every fragment of malice had to be destroyed or the demon could return.

"Now, that being said, let us celebrate!" My wife's voice pulled me from my musings.

We took our seats, me setting Michael on my lap as everyone, including us, began digging into our feast. We'd gone all out with this one, we'd provided the favorite kinds of food for all the races. There was fish for the Zora, poultry for the Rito, and roasted rocks for the Gorons. Everyone enjoyed themselves greatly, my wife and I quickly began to do the same too as we saw how happy everyone was. If our people were happy, we were happy. It was remarkable truly, the diversity we had here. Hylian, Sheikah, Gerudo, Goron, Rito, and Zora, mortal and demigod. All unified together in peace and friendship.

Once the meal was over, the tables were all quickly cleared away and couples began making their way to the open area to dance. I placed Michael in Ilia's lap and told her to watch him for us, which she immediately accepted. I turned back to my wife and gestured at the people dancing with an eyebrow quirked. She instantly knew what was on my mind, she always did. She rolled her eyes, but with a smile on her face as she laid a hand in mine and let me lead her out amongst the others. We began dancing along with everyone else, both us losing focus on everything around us as we focused entirely on each other. We were in our own little world, her and I, all that existed was the two of us.

"We did it!" I say softly, still in awe.

"Yes, we did, didn't we?" She asked, cheeks rosy. "You saved the world, Link."

"No, we saved the world, Zelda." I gently corrected her.

She nodded, a little bashful. We continued our dancing, losing all track of time, completely in the moment. That is until we noticed that it was getting dark anyway. Finally realizing that it was getting on toward night, we looked around and saw most of the others had already left with only a few pairs remaining. I looked over at the table, Michael was sound asleep in Ilia's lap, and Ilia herself looked she was on the cusp of doing the same. A quick glance at the slate showed it was 8:45PM, definitely around her bedtime. We started to make our way over to our children, as we did so, Ilia's head sagged once, twice, and then didn't go up again as she lost the battle to stay awake. Evidently, she'd been determined to stay awake until she dropped.

Upon reaching them, Zelda gently lifted Michael from Ilia's grasp. Both must have been out cold as neither woke from that. After my wife had our son in her arms, I stooped to pick up Ilia, lifting her up by her armpits as she was starting to get too big to pick up or carry easily. She muttered something incomprehensible as I tucked her chin over my shoulder. As we began to walk back to our temporary house here, my wife a little behind me, I heard her chuckle softly. Curious, I looked back at her. She saw my look of puzzlement and answered the unspoken question with a facial expression. She closed her eyes and sucked her lower lip into her mouth. I immediately realized what she was getting at and I smiled widely. So apparently Ilia sucked her lip when she slept just as I used to.

I softly said she was just like me when I was a kid. She smirked at me, almost like she knew something I didn't. But I didn't question her on it, dismissing it as a nothing. After we got back and put our children to bed, we got ready for bed ourselves. As I lay down next to my beloved wife, I felt, not for the first time, full of so much love. I was filled with so much love, for my family, for my friends, and for the world as whole.

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Third Person Zelda POV

Zelda had greatly enjoyed the celebration, but that was far outshone by how Link had been there for her when she had started to feel anxious in front of everyone, she'd never liked large crowds of people. Seeing him pick up Ilia so gently she didn't wake up reminded her yet again of how great a father he was. His every action with them exuded the depth of his affection for them, he was so good with children it was honestly kind of odd. His affection for their children was rivalled or perhaps even surpassed by only one other thing, her. His care for her truly knew no bounds, Zelda was so full of love for him and their children she didn't even know what to do with it sometimes.

When she saw Ilia sucking her lip over her father's shoulder, Zelda's heart threatened to burst with affection at the sight of her little daughter doing exactly what her husband still did. He didn't even know he still did it, she had no intention of telling him so however. Link's impact on her life was enormous, he brought out the best in her, his never ending faith in her always made her try her best in everything she did, and always felt warm knowing that he believed in her. As she drifted off to sleep, she smiled at the thought of how although Demise was defeated but work remained to be done, they would face it together, a new age was about to begin, an age of prosperity.

0000000000000000000

My POV

The next morning it was decided that it was time to return to where Camp Half-Blood used to be and see what was left of it. Zelda, our children, myself, Chiron, and many others fast traveled to the travel gate there. Upon appearing there it at first seemed as though it was the only thing that had survived. Everyone split up to go investigate the area as a whole. My family and I walked in the direction of where our house would have been. We had prepared Ilia for the possibility of only finding rubble and debris, we didn't want to dash her hopes, but we also didn't want her to get her hopes too high. The mood was pretty bleak as we made our way carefully around wreckage and pieces of debris. The Big House was simply a pile of burnt sections of plywood, while the cabins were completely gone. There were no traces of them left at all, it was like they'd never existed. Everyone was pretty upset by this, understandably so. My family and I continued on our way, moving out of sight of everyone else. The level of devastation was reminiscent to that of the aftermath of a nuclear bomb.

Then we all saw it at the same time, it couldn't be real! It had to be some kind of mirage! Our house was standing a thousand feet away, completely unscathed. I sprinted toward it, this was impossible! Yes, the forest at the edge of camp was still looking fine, but that was different, that was far away from the epicenter of the explosion. But this…

I opened the door and quickly investigated, everything was here as we left it. This made no sense at all, I heard Ilia squeal in delight and rush up the stairs towards her old room, but I hardly noticed as another thought suddenly surfaced in my mind. Penelope! I rushed out to the backyard and…there she was! She was sitting in the middle of her enclosure, perfectly fine! I was so confused at this point, how was our house intact? How was Penelope still alive, it had been months since I'd seen her, we'd had no choice but leave her behind when we evacuated. By all means she should've starved to death. What in the name of Hylia?

"How…?" I trailed off, as I heard my wife come outside as well.

"Because I protected it and her, my child." A soft, feminine voice answered my question.

I looked up and saw my mother standing there. She was smiling warmly at me.

"I—I don't understand mother…how...why?" I stammered as my wife came up behind me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"You've done so much for this world, for so many lifetimes, touched so many lives, it was the least I could do." Athena replied with a shrug.

"Thank you, mother." I said, voice shaking.

"That isn't the only reason I'm here right now though." She said, suddenly sounding melancholy.

"Mother? What do you mean?" I ask, concerned.

"My son, us gods and goddesses consumed a massive amount of our energy helping you in this war. Apparently, that is the price to pay for the exception to the ancient law, we have lost almost all of our energy." She replies, sounding weaker than usual.

"You're not going to fade, are you?" I suddenly tense.

"No, my son." She assures me with a smile, before her smile fades and her melancholy expression returns. "But despite that this is still going to be goodbye my son."

"Mother I don't understand, what's going on?" I beg.

"Link, my son, we are not going to be gone, rather we need to retire to Olympus and regenerate our energy. We'll return one day, don't worry, this is not forever." She assures me again.

"Oh, so this isn't goodbye forever, I'll see you again…" I trail off when I see her sad look return.

"Oh, my dear, I'm so truly sorry, but it is goodbye forever, for you at least. Although we don't know how long it will take our power to regenerate as we've never had to do this before, it will likely take at least four hundred years. This is the last time we'll see each other." She sadly informs me.

"We'll keep the stories of you gods and goddesses alive mother, we won't let you be forgotten. I promise that, I swear it on everything that matters." I vow.

"My son, I'm so proud of you, you are a true hero. I'm so proud to call you my son." She smiles, then opens her arms. "Come here my son, let me say farewell to you properly." She says softly.

I step forward into her arms, fighting to keep the tears from falling, as I share a hug with my real mother. For the first time and sadly also the last, I got to share a hug with my mother.

"Zelda, there's someone here for you as well." Athena said to my wife.

Zelda gasped as Apollo appeared next to Athena.

"Hey sunshine." He greeted her.

"Dad!" She ran forward and hugged her father, tears spilling from her eyes. "I'll miss you!"

"Oh, my little gem, I'm not going to be gone. I will be watching over you from afar." He assures her, then looks over at me. "Link, you are a most unique mortal, but even aside from that, I have come to understand how you mortals exist in this world. My times as a mortal have been…eye opening to say the least. My last time as a mortal…taught me a lot. I never truly realized exactly what it was like. I just want you to know that I understand if you've ever had moments of resent. Anyway, you've taken such good care of my daughter, and I know you will continue to do so." He says, adding the last sentence quickly as if trying not to dwell on it.

I nod, and he steps back. He and Athena stand side by side, they nod at us and with a final farewell, they're gone. I sink into a sitting position, holding my wife to my side, both of us are sad but not overly so. The gods are not gone forever, they're still here, watching over us.

"I'm sorry it has to be like this little guy, but that's just the way it is." Daruk's voice issues from behind us.

My wife and I quickly stand up and turn around. The four champions of old are standing there, lined up before us.

"You're leaving for good now?" I ask sadly.

"We have fulfilled our purpose, Link." Urbosa replies.

"It was an honor serving you all again." I say, feeling humbled.

"I wish I could have seen it that way the first time we met." Revali said, with no trace of scorn in his tone. "Farewell, Link. Don't ever let anyone cast doubt on you, you truly are worthy of that sword, I must admit."

"Are you sure it has to be now?" Zelda said softly.

"I'm sorry Zelda, but it does." Mipha answered in her gentle voice.

Then I feel a curious sensation within me, it doesn't hurt exactly, but it feels like it should. Kind of similar to when you're given Novocain by a dentist. Then a greenish orb appears out of my chest, Revali's Gale. It lifts up into the air slowly, my eyes tracking it. It's soon joined by two others, a reddish orb and a yellowish orb. These orbs then disappear into the sky. Daruk's protection and Urbosa's fury, the champion abilities are leaving with the respective champions apparently. Then I realize something, there's only three…I look back down again. Mipha is still standing before us, alone now.

"Mipha…?" I trail off but she speaks as though I had stayed silent.

"I have one more thing I have to do before I can move on." She says softly, then she looks up at Zelda. "Zelda, I would like to offer you my healing power, as I did for Link. It would make very happy to be able to continue to contribute to your lives together."

I understand immediately, although the other champion's abilities are no longer part of me, Mipha's gift will. She still holds to her promise to always protect me, and now she's including my beloved wife as well.

"Mipha…I…would be honored to accept." My wife muttered delicately.

"I offer you my power, Mipha's Grace!" Mipha stated, hands in front of her chest as the bluish orb flies into Zelda's chest.

"Mipha…I…you…" I falter, uncertain what to say.

I walk over to the spirit of the Zora champion, and pull her into a hug, feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for her. She's obviously stunned, but recovers quickly, wrapping her arms around my back.

"Mipha…thank you so much, this means more than you can realize." I say brokenly, holding in tears.

She doesn't need to ask about the meaning, she knows. Her response is proof enough of that.

"It was my pleasure, Link." She reassures me.

Then she steps back, and with a final farewell, she's gone as well.

Well, that was sad wasn't it? I was intending it to be such because this is susposed to be a true ending of the timeline so to speak. Of course the creators of each of these series WILL undoutedly continue them on regardless, but thats to be expected when dealing with fanfics. They represent AU's or author specific imaginings of different things. Now I just want to point out something here, Mipha giving Zelda her power too is not my idea originally. I got the idea from another author on this site, named Sailor Song if I remember correctly. So the originator of the idea is them, but I read it and I was like that's a great idea! Such a symbolic concept that's for sure!