Chapter 4 - Finale

The rest of Link's quest went smoothly until the last leg of it—the Spirit Temple. Although he encountered little trouble in finishing off Twinrova, the amalgam of the two villainous witches Koume and Kotake, he was blindsided by a final attack from them as they were in their death throes. Twinrova summoned a large, needle-like icicle which was propelled in Link's direction, penetrating his torso before he even knew what hit him.

He immediately fell to the ground in intense, numbing pain that threatened to make him pass out at any moment. Yet he was at least fortunate enough to have enough presence of mind to know that if he didn't escape the temple, he would have essentially no chance of survival. It was nearly a guarantee that not a single soul would ever venture so deep within such a dangerous place to find him. He somehow managed to use a last reserve of energy to bring the ocarina to his mouth and weakly play the notes that would cbring him to the temple entrance.

Perched on a ledge on the outside wall of the temple was Zelda, disguised as Sheik, who saw Link as soon as he appeared. It was immediately clear to her that something had went horribly wrong inside since Link was lying prone on the ground and blood was staining his green tunic a crimson red.

She rushed directly to his side, completely forgetting her Sheik pretense. "Oh goddesses, Link! What happened?" she asked with extreme concern. The sight of Link in this condition was horrifying to her and it was difficult to keep the gripping, overwhelming panic that was inundating her from showing in her voice and face.

Link, however, was unable to respond and struggled to even keep his eyes open as he tried valiantly to cope with the almost unbearable anguish he was feeling. Shaking and grunting were his body's involuntary reactions to the pain. He was sweating profusely from the intense heat of the desert sun. The air, hot as an oven's, was sweeping sand all around, stinging their eyes.

Zelda knew she needed to bring him to a more suitable location for treatment, as it would take some time for her to heal such a grave wound. The first place she thought of that would provide adequate refuge was the Temple of Time so she decided to go there posthaste.

"Just hang on, Link! I won't let you die!" she assured him. She took the ocarina from him and played the song that would transport them there.

Upon arriving, Zelda immediately began using her healing powers to treat Link's injury. It took much longer and far more concentration on her part to close his wound than it had taken her to treat any wound ever before, but she refused to give up. She wanted to make sure he would not only survive but make a nearly full recovery...at least, eventually. She also took a moment to tip some of the arrows in his quiver with light magic which would undoubtedly be useful to him sometime in the near future against the forces of evil.

Zelda started becoming aware of some strange substance forming around her which she noticed out of her peripheral vision. She ignored it at first in order to continue treating Link, her main priority. Before long, however, the substance suddenly appeared all around her, encasing her in a crystal-shaped capsule that began to simply float above the ground!

She banged furiously on the walls of her prison in a desperate attempt to escape. Not a word of what she shouted was audible, not even when she screamed at the top of her lungs. Link was still far too weak to be able to do anything to help her—just trying to sit up caused him immense pain. He had no choice but to watch helplessly through his blurry vision as she began panicking. He thought he even saw a few tears fall down her face as she looked at him with incredibly sad eyes. He couldn't stand seeing this.

"I can assure you, princess, your efforts to escape are entirely futile," a deep, eerie voice said from the direction of the temple's entrance. From the shadows appeared the ominous dark lord himself. "Struggle all you want, it will only serve to entertain me."

Ganondorf surveyed Link disdainfully from the corner of his eye, hardly finding him worthy of lowering his gaze for. The Triforce marks on the back of Zelda, Link and Ganondorf's hands all glowed from being in close proximity to each other. "I could only conclude from your deftness with the healing arts I witnessed just now that you were none other than the princess of Hyrule that I have been seeking for so long."

Zelda's heart was racing because of the intense fear she felt for what this man was capable of. She realized then that she had made a huge mistake in coming to the Temple of Time. It was far too heavily monitored because of its close proximity to Ganondorf's castle. If only I had chosen to go someplace safer...she thought. This is all my fault!

"Well done, princess," he mocked. "Your disguise was most convincing and I doubt I would have ever found you had you not kept yourself at a safe distance from my turf. Don't let it be said that there's no honor among thieves, princess. I could have already easily killed the both of you if I had wanted to. But building an empire on backstabbing and other lowly tactics would simply feel hollow. However, I will need to take you with me as assurance that the boy with the Triforce of Courage will appear before me later at a time when we can fight more fairly."

Turning to look in Link's general direction but disdainfully refusing to lower his gaze to look at him, he continued. "Although I'll admit that I did somewhat...underestimate your capabilities, boy, I am completely confident that some misplaced courage will not be enough to defeat one as powerful as I."

Link closed his eyes briefly while dealing with another bout of intense pain. When he reopened them, Ganondorf was gone, along with Zelda and her crystalline prison.

"Zel...da..." he uttered weakly, holding the side of his stomach while grimacing. He eventually passed out from the lingering pain of the trauma he had suffered.

By the time he awoke, he was amazed to discover that he had made what could only be described as a miraculous recovery that left him with almost no signs of the massive injury he had suffered, all thanks to the incredib power of Zelda's magic.

He had no idea how long he had been resting, but clearly much time had passed since it was dusk when he left the temple. He wasted no time in approaching Ganondorf's castle. The sages built a bridge for him and he entered, full of courage for the undoubtedly fierce battle that lay ahead of him. The legend Zelda had told him about was hardly what motivated him anymore. No...now it was personal. Ganondorf had stolen away his beloved Zelda, the angel who had patiently taught him her language, had always treated him kindly and who made him feel stronger and happier than he ever had before. He would fight to the death for her without thinking twice.

As he climbed the sinister, blood-red stairs to Ganondorf's chamber in the castle, Link heard a haunting song being played on organ, sounding like a church service from the depths of hell. As he entered the chamber, he was met with the sight of Zelda still suspended in the air in her crystal prison. The room was dark and filled with stained-glass windows. The Triforce marks on the back of the trio's hands once again glowed due to their proximity.

Ganondorf stopped playing the organ upon sensing the presence of the holder of the final piece of the Triforce. Without turning to give Link the dignity of looking him in the face, he threatened him. "You should have turned tail and run while you had the chance, boy. I'm going to crush you right here and now and your dear princess will see it all. The last thing she will remember of you is your guts being splattered underneath my boots!"

With much flourish, he stood up from his bench, turned while simultaneously sweeping his cape around him and began floating well out of reach of Link's sword. Ganondorf possessed dark magical powers, making him a formidable opponent who propelled lethal magic spells from a distance. Link barely had enough time to dodge them and he felt their dark energy graze him on several occasions.

He suddenly remembered that he had the aid of the light arrows which Zelda had graciously given him in advance. He used them to finally level the playing field. After shooting a light-infused arrow at Ganondorf, his levitation didn't function for a few precious seconds, allowing Link time to attack him savagely with the Master Sword. Although some ethereal barrier prevented the lion's share of his blows from connecting, Link did at least manage to score a few precious hits upon his foe—none of which would be described as lethal, however.

Link dealt out an especially violent beating once he had used his final light arrow, causing the villainous one to begin coughing up putrid green blood.

Link held his sword to Ganondorf's throat. "Release Zelda immediately," he demanded, voice rife with uncontainable rage.

Ganondorf was incredibly frustrated that he was actually being harmed by what he saw as nothing but a pitiable runt. He realized then that he had failed to take into account the power of the light arrows, a lifeline which Zelda must have undoubtedly given him.

His anger was so intense that he slammed a fist into the floor and starting making the entire castle rumble using unbelievably powerful sorcery. He managed to pull a disappearing act before Link was able to finish him off. Link was barely able to walk without tumbling over because of the terrific strength of the shaking.

The crystal surrounding Zelda began dissolving away, causing her to plummet to the floor below. Link narrowly managed to reach her in time to catch her. There was hardly time to enjoy having her in his arms again, however. They had to hurry out of the castle or Ganondorf's magic would certainly cause the entire castle to collapse with them still inside.

Link cleared the path of the horrific monstrosities that threatened to delay their escape from the castle while Zelda used her magic to remove the barriers that appeared along the way. They worked quite well as a team, each of them providing indispensable help to the other, and they succeeded in escaping just in the nick of time.

As they were running a safe distance away from the castle, they turned around to see it collapse spectacularly, creating a cacophony of noise and a huge dust cloud from which they had to shield their eyes. Although they didn't want to jump to any conclusions, when the dust began to settle, they shared a glance that told each other they thought the ordeal was finally over.

However, from off in the distance among the ruins of the castle, they noticed some movement through the remaining dust wafting in the air. They both gasped in horror upon seeing what followed. An enormous, shadowy figure rose like a phoenix from the ashes, displacing huge piles of debris as if they were twigs. Ganondorf had decided it was time to get serious and transform into his real form—that of Ganon, the hideous, gigantic pig-faced monster who stood on legs as thick as tree trunks. He would not underestimate the runt again.

Link made it clear to Zelda that he wanted her to stay at a safe distance. Zelda hated to admit that he was probably right but she was still reluctant to comply. In any case, she certainly didn't plan on standing idly by and instead started searching for ways to assist him. The first thing she did was toss him a bundle of arrows she had found on the way out of the castle which she had already infused with light magic.

Link was extremely grateful for this as he knew he probably wouldn't have a prayer without them. Ganon was simply too massive and overpowered to be killed solely with a sword, even one such as the Master Sword which was forged specifically for the purpose of sealing malevolent beings.

Ganon easily and quickly crushed the debris that was in his path, hardly even slowing down in the process. He was surprisingly agile for such a large being but still no match for Link's speed. Ganon shoved some of the debris toward Link who had to maintain a safe distance in order to allow himself enough time to dodge.

With careful aim, Link shot Ganon directly in the face with a light arrow which caused him to fall to his knees, affording Link the opportunity to attack Ganon for a few precious moments without worry of a deadly counterattack.

Link repeated this process several times but eventually Ganon wised up, swiping his long tail and managing to knock the Master Sword from Link's hands, causing it to spin rapidly through the air. It would have fallen into the abyss over which the remnants of the castle were floating were it not for Zelda's use of a well-timed ice spell to knock it off course. She retrieved the sword from where it fell and handed it to Link after he rushed over to recover it. She also offered him a few words of encouragement and a friendly touch on the shoulder to keep his spirits up.

Ganon indiscriminately tossed debris left and right in his blind rage to finally crush the pest once and for all. He wanted all the pieces of the Triforce for himself so he could have the ultimate power, and he knew the only way to do that would be to dominate or destroy the current, fate-ordained owners of the other pieces. However, no matter how powerful he was both physically and magically, it was not enough to overcome the sheer power of will of the hero of time and his true love, both of whom were fighting to save the land and the way of life they cherished.

Zelda began to invoke a light spell that she hoped would be powerful enough to pin Ganon completely to the ground, but when he noticed what she was doing, he marked her as his new priority target. She was almost completely defenseless during the incantation because of the intense, uninterrupted focus it required.

Link used all the light arrows he had left in an attempt to distract Ganon and delay him. When she was finally able to unleash the spell, it worked as she had hoped, allowing Link the opportunity to stab his sword clean through Ganon's skull. Then the seven sages, the last of which was Zelda herself, used their power to seal Ganon into a distant void from which they prayed he would never be able to escape, although he used his last breath threatening to do just that.

Zelda was thoroughly exhausted from the battle but still managed to celebrate the victory with Link. "Thank the goddesses this nightmare is over!" she cried ecstatically. "Link, you were so amazing! We all owe you so much for this!" She covered him with a flurry of kisses and finished with a warm, secure hug that lasted for some time.

"I never could have done this without you, Zelda. Thank you," Link said gratefully.

Zelda directed a cheerful smile at him. After thinking for some time, she made an announcement. "I'm going to send you back, Link."

"Send me back? What do you mean?"

"Using my power as a sage, I can send you back to your original time, before any of this started. Once you place the Master Sword back in its pedestal in the Temple of Time, the pathways of time will close once and for all. We sealed Ganondorf away to a place where he should never be able to terrorize us again. We will finally have the chance to live our lives normally, as if it he had never even existed."

Link's face was full of shock and disbelief. "But...I don't want to go back," he said firmly and resolutely, shaking his head from side to side.

"Link—it was my fault Ganondorf entered the Sacred Realm! I didn't consider the possibility that he would follow you in once you opened the door. You missed seven years of your life because of my childish mistake!"

"The past doesn't matter!" He took one of Zelda's hands, held it between his own and looked at her affectionately. "I have you now, Zelda. I have all that I need."

She felt herself blushing uncontrollably. "Link...you're so sweet..." She raised her other hand and played with the stray strands of his hair not covered by his cap. "You make this so difficult for me to do..." She remained in contemplation for some time before continuing to speak. "...Yet the prophecies have made it clear that I am to send you back once the kingdom is at peace again. I can sense that the choices we make now will have profound effects on the future, effects which we can't even begin to fathom. For that reason, I can't compromise with you on this."

He was obviously disappointed with how adamant she was. "...What will happen...to us?" he asked cautiously, clearly somewhat fearful of the answer.

"You will remember everything that happened."

"And you...? Will you remember?"

She hesitated a long time before answering in a low voice. "...I won't remember anything."

The worry was written all over Link's face. "No! I won't go!"

"I'm so sorry, Link, but I must send you back... Really, I'm quite jealous that you're going to remember this whole crazy, amazing adventure we've had and I won't." She touched the side of his face to calm him and looked directly in his eyes before continuing. "You worry too much, you know? I suspect...no, I'm sure...no matter where we are in time and space, we're destined to meet. And trust me...I will fall for you again just as hard as I did in this timeline." She gave him a deep kiss as a farewell but knew that this was only a temporary separation. They were soon to meet again.

Link spent a long moment mulling things over in his mind before he reluctantly handed her the ocarina, ultimately deciding to trust in Zelda's wisdom even if it caused him so much pain. She began playing the ocarina for what she knew would be the last time.

O.O.O.O.O.O

Epilogue

Zelda had just finished a foreign language lesson given by one of her tutors and was thinking about what to do with her free time afterward. She usually went to the castle library to read some children's chapter books around this time but she felt a strange sensation that pulled her to her courtyard garden instead. It was a tranquil place that she normally only went to specifically when she wanted to be alone and to reflect.

She was sitting near a flower bed, admiring the beauty of the various flowers while quietly humming to herself the royal lullaby that Impa always sang her to sleep with as a young child. Suddenly, she became aware of the presence of another. She looked up and saw a strangely familiar-looking boy dressed entirely in green a short distance away near the entrance. She examined him closely and curiously. For some reason, she didn't think to question how he had passed all the guards outside the courtyard, nor did she feel even a shred of fear toward this unexpected visitor. Rather, she stood up and greeted him warmly. "Hello. Do I...know you?"

In response, the boy walked over to her, stretched his arms out and hugged her tight, almost as if he was afraid of letting go...and in that instant, wide-eyed and almost in disbelief, she knew. It was him.

O.O.O.O.O.O

(Way too many) closing comments:

OoT has my fave iteration of Link and Zelda partly because you get to see them as both kids and young adults in the same game (time travel FTW!) and because Zelda actually does (significant) things to help her man for once! The personality I gave her in this fic really isn't that OOC for her since there's a gossip stone in the game which states that Zelda is a tomboy, but I still made her more 'modern' here because of my attempts to be funny.

Remember that scene where Sheik reveals who 'he' really is by changing back to Zelda in the Temple of Time (aka, a public place really close to Ganon's castle)? I tweaked that scene a lot in this fic because it's lame to think that she could have successfully hid for seven years just to go and blow her cover in a really dumb way like that. She's supposed to be the wise one, remember, Nintendo?

I purposefully made most of the story from Zelda's perspective since I thought it would be better not to get into Link's head too much since that's left a mystery in the games too. Some of the changes to the events of OoT I made simply to keep things interesting, make things less gamey and to be what I consider more plausible. I prefer to imagine that when Link went back to the past for good, Ganon was no longer in existence because, IMO, sending Ganon to a void should have eliminated him from time and space in general (isn't that how voids usually work in fiction...?) and only by escaping from that void could he ever exist in the regular world again (ugh, thinking about existential stuff like this hurts my head...). For that reason, Zelda wasn't expecting to see Link in the epilogue and he went there simply to see her again (aww...)