The Legend of Link:

The Bastard Prince

16. Hyrule Castle

The curtain on the last day in Hyrule rose with the sun that day, a wine-purple colouring to the sky that showed Ganondorf's power was growing. The group was up before the rays of light even hit that enclave, taking a quiet and tense breakfast as they mentally prepared themselves for the day to come.

Link, as usual, was dressed in his tough green armour that made him look much like the heroes of Legend, though his plain and rust spotted sword gave more the illusion of a man charged with simply protecting the Crown.

The Princess still wore that pink armoured dress that fit her so much better than it did Zoelda, her hair arranged as it had ever been and her countenance as unchangeable by these events as it was when Zoelda had first arrived. That said, there was a certain amount of melancholia to the Princess today, a realisation that this encounter could make or break her kingdom.

And then there was Alarink.

On her brief survey of the others that morning over breakfast, an act she realised was a way of securing images of her companions before she went back home or died after today, she had tried not to look at the man she had first met in Hyrule. In the span of a week, she had come to care for him more than anyone outside her family she could think of back home. She had confided in him, had come to trust him and was now avoiding him after one wrong confession.

She might not love him, but she sure as hell cared for him.

So, as she looked over at him, the one who had changed her and who she had changed, she took in just how much his appearance had changed over the last week.

Most obviously, there was the ginger hair that was now held back by the onyx ring – he was also wearing his circlet for no obvious reason, though it wasn't like any of them were going to ask why. Then there were his clothes; a set of black armour with a blue trim that fit him so much better than anything else Zoelda had seen him in and a pair of fingerless gloves that were rather translucent against his skin. In this armour, Alarink looked much leaner and taller, at ease in his clothes and surroundings for once.

While he might have seemed at ease stature wise, his face certainly wasn't. Sharp, freshly shaven and sardonic, one might not have noticed the sleepless look in his pale eyes, the sorrow and haunting that hadn't been there when she'd first met him. An unobservant onlooker might have just seen Alarink as he normally was, smiling and looking for the next person to share a bed with; Zoelda saw more, whether she wanted to or not.

She could see the strain and the worry, the sheer fear that he was going to die at this encounter. She could see how his heart was broken for the first time after confessing feelings for someone. She could tell how much her presence was killing him, and how her lack thereof would destroy him.

But there he sat, smiling as he ate as though there wasn't a single thing wrong.

Zoelda herself was dressed once again in her ill-fitting armoured dress, gauntlets on and the shin protectors from the heeled boots savagely ripped off and tied to her legs by scraps of fabric. Instead of those impractical heeled boots, she wore her Docs – she didn't have to be enthused for this battle, but her feet could at least be comfortable.

As they packed up, the sun only just starting to reach their enclave, Zoelda began to think to herself, began to let her mind wonder to thoughts on what would happen next. Would she be happy to leave Hyrule behind, to return to the UK and carry on her life? Though questions like that plagued her all day – all week if she was being honest with herself – she barely looked at them, instead watching as they made their way to the Castle on their horses.

Briefly she wondered what might happen to Rogue and Malanya if Alarink was to die today. As was becoming her usual thought process, she wondered what might happen, then turned her thoughts to something else, not wanting to think about Alarink dying anymore than she wanted to think about what might become of her or the horses.

It was just before noon by the time they reached the drawn gate into Hyrule Castle Town. There had been very few monsters around on their journey across the field, and those that had been there had seemed awfully jumpy, flinching away from the Master Sword despite it being sheathed and half hidden under the folds of Alarink's Twili robe – again they didn't bother to question the Twili look he was going for in his Hylian skin, they simply accepted it with his forced smile.

They ate what was left of their food supplies, which admittedly wasn't all that much, and picketed their horses in the small stable that Zoelda and Alarink had left Rogue and Malanya in a few days before.

"After all this is done," Alarink said quietly as he stroked Malanya's mane; the severity of the day made them all talk infrequently, and only in hushed tones. "Could you take care of Malanya and Rogue in the royal stables for me? I'd hate to see them sent loose."

"Of course," said the Princess, looking over at the way Alarink was stroking his horse, at how much he obviously cared for her. "I wouldn't want to see Epona's blood just set loose myself."

"Thank you." Alarink said with a sigh as he patted Malanya one last time before going to stand with Link by the closed drawbridge. Despite a rocky start to their companionship, Zoelda had to admit that it was rough to say goodbye to Rogue too, patting him gently with tear filled eyes as she mentally steeled herself. She couldn't cry over leaving a horse, she just couldn't.

Flashing him a quick smile, she jogged away from Rogue to stand with the others by the closed drawbridge, half-listening as the Princess urged the bridge worker to lower it for them. After a few moments of discussion, the bridge worker reluctantly lowered the bridge and let the four in, the Princess and Link walking together in front with Zoelda and Alarink just behind, all of them determined with their weapons drawn.

The determination and drawn weapons – probably alongside the company – meant that many of the guards dotted around here and there only sneered at Alarink, always looking like they wanted to call him a name but the term "Bastard Prince" always dropping from their lips before they could say it. And the hazy, evil wine-purple cloud that was covering the Castle and blocking out much of the sun in town seemed to laugh at them as they made their way further into the strangely, though rightly, deserted streets.

As they approached the fountain where, only a few days before, Alarink had had his shirt ripped, they saw a large group of guards stood at the base of the stairs leading up to the Castle. The four approached cautiously, wondering why they could be stood in such a way, clearly avoiding going up the stairs for whatever reason.

"What's the problem, Officer?" Princess Zelda asked, sheathing her sword as she approached, the rest of them close behind.

"Princess!" The guards saluted her crisply before turning to sneer at Alarink. "You're keeping odd company."

"The company I keep is none of your concern and Alarink is a key player in this event." The Princess said icily, her eyes glaring and telling the guards not to push their luck. As the officer in charge threw a quick glance at Alarink, the ginger offered a grin back with a flirty little wave. It was nice to see that Alarink was still Alarink at the end of it all. "Tell me what's going on here, why aren't you on the steps?"

"Your Highness, there is an evil barrier preventing us climbing any further or getting into the Castle." The officer said slightly frightened, gesturing to this invisible barrier he spoke of.

"I see nothing, Officer," the Princess sniffed, looking up the stairs and noting nothing different, despite the evil cloud hovering over her Castle behind the stairs. Clearly, she couldn't understand the concept of invisibility. "Can you prove this barrier exists for me?"

The officer looked at her dubiously before taking out his sword and pushing it up the stairs. Sure enough, as the sword came into contact with this invisible barrier covering the stairs from bottom to top, it caused sparks to fly, clearly proving its existence. Alarink whistled lowly as he saw it, not surprised by it being there or at the sword not penetrating it, but surprised it would go to such lengths to deflect even a mere sword.

"I see…" Princess Zelda said, moving forward with her marked right hand outstretched. "I'll get rid of this."

The group and the guards watched her stand there for a few moments, expecting some kind of glow and glass shattering of the barrier, but nothing happened. As the anticipation of something happening was left unsatisfied, the Princess glared at the barrier and her own hand.

"Why isn't this working?!" She shouted, evidently embarrassed by making everyone watch as nothing happened.

Saying nothing, not even moving from her position behind the Princess – who once again had her hand outstretched and was concentrating very hard on breaking the barrier – Zoelda raised her own marked hand, pointed at the barrier and clicked her fingers. Her Triforce flared up and the barrier was engulfed in a golden light. The light spread around the barrier, creating fissures as it travelled, like a spider on a web. Then, quite suddenly with a loud crack, it shattered like glass.

They all stood in amazement for a moment, not the least the Princess who seemed to know it hadn't been her who did that, but took credit for it nonetheless. "See, I told you I could break it."

Only Alarink, who was stood to Zoelda's right, had seen the truth. With a raised eyebrow, he looked at her, silently asking whether he should tell the Princess it was she who had done it. After a moment, Zoelda shook her head – better to let the Princess believe it was her doing than to take it away from her. Alarink kept his eyebrow raised for a moment before nodding and walking past the Princess and Link.

"Shall we then?" He asked. "No need to dawdle and admire our handiwork when there's a monster redecorating your Castle."

Stunned by his response, the Princess and Link could only stand and stare while Zoelda pushed past them too and ran up the stairs to the Castle courtyard after Alarink. Only a moment or so later, she heard the sound of Link and the Princess following them.

Alarink waited until they all reached the top before he threw the doors to the courtyard open, giving sight to a red and purple dust enclosing the entire complex. The sun couldn't penetrate the cloud, so everything was dim, coloured strangely and dusty enough to induce coughing in all parties. There were a few monsters wondering about the courtyard, mostly minding their own business but the ground was littered with bones picked clean and scraps of guard uniforms.

"I think I'm going to be sick…" The Princess announced upon seeing a flock of Kargaroks flying in to pick apart a Bulbin who had been pushed off his perch by his peers.

"This is insane," Zoelda said, watching the bird monsters with a hand over her mouth, her face even paler than normal as she stared through the cloud and up at the statue in the fountain, unsurprised to find it being used as a giant Kargarok nest. "This is actually insane, this is monsters eating monsters, this is…"

"Ganondorf." Alarink said simply, watching the horrors of the monsters through the blood like clouds with cold eyes and a detached expression, though he too was noticeably pale. Reaching over his shoulder, he drew the Master Sword and flipped his hood up, causing his skin to turn Twili as he started at a slow walk towards the Castle's main doors, swinging the Sword threatingly as he went. Zoelda loosened her swords from their sheaths and readied her bow, moving equally low and slow behind him. Behind her came the Princess, her single rapier held loose in her hand and Link was behind her, his rust spotted sword sweeping clear arcs around him as he brought up the rear.

They were fallen upon by many monsters as they made their way to the Castle doors, but the monsters all fell beneath their weapons, the Kargaroks never seeing Zoelda's arrows coming. Alarink, wanting to keep the appearance of being quiet, kept his swearing at the monsters to mutters under his breath, but nonetheless habitually made comment after every monster fell.

By the time they'd made it to the doors they were monster splattered and disgusted by the carnage that lay behind them, the littered bones and guard outfit scraps that suggested that the former attacks hadn't gone all that well. The Princess, of a delicate constitution, had retched a few times on their way to the Castle and was very noticeably pale, though she was yet to actually vomit.

Alarink, noticing her pallor and weighing up what they could face on the main route inside the Castle, made a suggestion that he didn't necessarily like at that point. "It would be dangerous to split up, but we're going to need the Bow of Light if we're to get some actual damage on Ganondorf. Princess, do you and Link want to go and fetch that and we'll meet you before the Throne room?"

"How do you know Ganondorf will be in the Throne room?" The Princess asked, pushing her hair from her face with a shaking hand.

"I don't," Alarink admitted, pulling on his hoop earring – it was then that Zoelda noticed that, in his Twili form, he had one blue ear and one black. "But it makes sense for him to be there considering it's the biggest room in the place and he's going to want to make a big appearance."

"…Fine." The Princess conceded, straightening up and nodding to Link. "We'll meet the two of you there. Good luck."

"And you." Alarink said encouragingly before jogging up the stairs to the Castle doors and pushing them open. As they flew open with a dull thud, the Princess and her knight made a run to the left corridor while Alarink and Zoelda moved at a slow crouch to the right.

They followed the exact same route to the Throne room that they had on that second day, yet everything was subtly different, a purple and red haze covering everything and making Zoelda cough at intervals. The furniture hadn't actually changed, but monsters lounged where the courtiers had and made even ruder comments about the two of them in their monster-ese. With a bow and the Master Sword Alarink and Zoelda made quick work of any monsters who got too close.

It was pleasant in a way, Zoelda thought as they started up some stairs back to back. While fighting, while trying to rid the world of evil, the two of them had no time to feel awkward or uncomfortable around each other, instead they could only protect one another as they made their way to the heart of the Castle.

When they made their way into a long corridor lined with suits of armour, it occurred to Zoelda immediately that they were entering into a fight with a series of Darknuts. Alarink, not knowing anything about the little battles that occurred in the legends, saw this as the perfect opportunity to stop for a moment and catch his breath.

"Quite the journey, huh?" He said to her casually, sheathing the Master Sword.

"We're making small talk now?" Zoelda asked a little angrily - not really at him but at the monsters for never letting up in spite of her exhaustion - readying her bow with another arrow.

"It's better than walking down a long, deserted corridor in silence," Alarink said, throwing his hood down and returning to his Hylian skin. "Why are you drawing your bow, there's nothing here."

"Are you really so simple, Alarink?" She asked, aiming at the slot in the visor of the armour of a nearby suit. "These suits are possessed."

"Don't be silly, Zelda." Alarink walked over to the suit Zoelda was aiming at, moving to put his hand on its arm.

"Don't touch that!"

"It can't hurt me!" He said as he rested his elbow against its shoulder, kicking his foot over the other and relaxing against it. "See, it's just a suit."

Then the Darknut woke, immediately moving to draw its sword with the arm Alarink was leaning against, knocking him to the floor with a startled string of profanities as he began to draw the Master Sword. Before he'd even loosened the Sword, Zoelda had twanged an arrow into the monster's visor, piercing whatever worked as a brain in that possessed shell.

"You're welcome," she said as she helped him to his feet before readying another arrow. "Come on, let's move through here before any of the rest of them wake up."

Half dragging Alarink by the wrist behind her as she jogged the hall, she didn't notice the small, sad smile on his lips and the unshed tears in his eyes as he realised that, as soon as they entered the Throne room, he'd be gone. That this could very well be the last time he saw Zoelda so authoritative and badass.

"Wait." He said quietly as Zoelda reached for the door at the end of the corridor, the door that would lead to the stairs to the Throne room.

"What?" Zoelda asked, letting go of his wrist and lowering her bow, now sure there were no Darknuts waiting to attack, at least not unless they provoked them.

"I just… I don't know what's going to happen in here."

"And you think I do?" She asked him incredulously before noticing the deeply sorrowful look on his face, a smile so sadly sincere that she realised he knew exactly what would happen to him, and as he realised he would give into it time and time again for her safety and happiness. "Look, here's what's going to happen: You're going to take that Sword and stab Ganondorf out of existence once and for all."

"Now you're the one being simple, Zo," Alarink smiled at her, looking past her in thought. "I'm not the one to use the Sword in this battle, the spirit practically confirmed that when she called you Mistress instead of calling me Master. No, I have no idea what's going to happen, and I doubt I'm going to see whatever it is."

"Don't think like that, Alarink." Zoelda said, more for her own sanity than for his. Despite everything, in spite of it all, she still couldn't bear the idea of him dying in there. "Your destiny isn't just to die."

"You know, while I was speaking to my mother, she said to me 'Tell her you love her before you die, don't live the rest of your life in regret because you're a too proud Twili.'" Alarink continued as though Zoelda hadn't said he wasn't going to die. A moment later his sad, tear studded eyes refocused on her, his small, sad smile twitching on his lips. "I couldn't bear to go out without telling you how I feel, Zo, I didn't want to make the same mistake my mother made."

"Alarink…" She interrupted, trying to make him stop talking before one of them or the other burst into tears, trying to make him believe he still had a future when he clearly thought he didn't. "Stop."

"No, I know you don't feel the same, and I won't force myself on you, I won't make this any harder than it has to be but," he stooped down and gently kissed her cheek, making her start a little in surprise and stand there dumfounded when he pulled back, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated sorrow, his eyes so clouded with tears she was surprised they hadn't yet spilled over.

"I, I had to tell you, one last time." He smiled and chuckled that crying chuckle under his breath as he turned away to wipe his eyes, spreading tear stains across his cheeks. "I love you, Zelda. And I'm sorry."

With that, he pushed open the door and walked through, leaving her to stand their dumbly for a moment before jogging after him – her mind a mix of emotions that she couldn't even begin to comprehend.

But, as the door shut behind her, she realised she was out of thinking time. The three others were already stood at the foot of the stairs, the Princess with the Bow of Light strung over her back looking slightly less pale than she had while they were outside.

"Are you ready?" She asked Alarink and Zoelda as they came to stand to the right of her at the bottom of the stairs. Zoelda desperately tried to catch Alarink's eye before nodding, but he was stood tall and ready, alert as a soldier ready to enter perceived suicide mission. So, she was left on her own as she sighed and nodded to the Princess.

"Then let us begin."

They walked up the stairs at a steady march, the light from the Throne room growing ever brighter and cutting through the red and purple cloud of evil that hovered over everything in the Castle.

And as they reached the top of the stairs there was a blinding flash of bright white light…

AN:

So, this is it, the last chapter before the battle.

These last four chapters were something of an experiment for me, and I kind of went totally off my plan in writing them. So instead of a somewhat stale, planned ending to this story, I ended up with an emotional and violent final confrontation.

Call this chapter the last calm before the storm if you like; I certainly look at it that way.

There's not much more I need to say here, I'll talk about the next chapter in the next chapter's note but, if you're reading this the day it's published, I just want to say happy Breath of the Wild day! Or Switchmas, if you prefer, though I only purchased a Switch last week...

I think I actually started planning this story soon after I finished BOTW, though I can't quite be sure when it was that I finished the game anymore. Hell, I still play it at least once a month just to see the world and experience that sense of wanderlust.

But, though I had the bare bones of this story set out for much longer, it was after I started playing BOTW that it all started to come together. It was also while playing it that I realised that I could possibly put my two characters in a story about that game as well. Though I still wonder whether or not I could, I've recently decided that I probably shouldn't. That's not to say that I won't, just that I have no plans to do so now.

So, basically, what I'm saying here is that, back when I first started planning this, I was also planning a sequel set in BOTW's Hyrule. I'm not anymore, but I have left the door open to do that if I suddenly get struck with inspiration.

Anyway, have a nice week and prepare yourself for next week's chapter, since it will contain not one, not two but THREE POVs. I'll let you guess who the third one belongs to!

Until next week, enjoy!

~WWQ