Chapter Thirteen: The Final Battle Part II

Title: LoZ: The Time Keeper

Chapter: 13

Author: Hikari no Vikki

Genre: Romance

Parings: Link x Zelda / OC x Shadow

Disclaimer: Don't tell me I forgot this the last two chapters… blast it, I did. Well, I don't own this, okay? (I FIXED IT NOW. :D)

Description: Previously known as Divine Impurity. Following the events of Ocarina of Time, a girl with a legacy she knows nothing about joins the fight against Ganon. She falls in love with the Hero's shadow, and finds herself caught up in a war that seems impossible to win.

Author's Notes-

This is the last real chapter of the story. w00t! There's still an epilogue to go, but, well, it kinda sort doesn't really count. I'm just gonna say that this is all gonna be different from here on in.

A man with long raven-red hair slipped through the shadows. Only he had escaped the massacre and in the same instant, saved the castle's archives. He had a thin but chiseled face, and sharp red-violet eyes.

The eyes of a Sheikah.

He had acquired better clothing than the servant's clothes he'd worn before, a thin white over-shirt with long fleece sleeve, black slacks, boots, and a dark blue robe length vest that was tied loosely to his waist with a belt. He knew something was going to happen at the castle but he didn't know what.

"He must have the Princess," he muttered, "or perhaps Shadow came back."

He had no weapons, just his magic, and a single healing fairy in a bottle, which he had stored in a pocket of magic because holding it would only slow him down.

It was only when he spotted the travelers entering the castle that he followed them and waited, watching. They took down the barriers with speed and precision, and entered the castle's keep without hesitation. There was something that bothered him, though.

"That was Shadow," he whispered again to himself, "and the Hero, perhaps? But… who was the girl? She was dressed in the traditional clothing, could she be a Sheikah? I've seen her before, I just know I have!"

He followed them further, and watched the girl take down the first set of bats. He felt an odd swell of pride in his heart. How she looked just like his little girl, only she fought with Sylvia's grace and poise. He did not speak for his fear of being caught was too far ingrained in him. At first, it had been necessary to survive in Ganondorf's castle, but now it was more of a hindrance. He had to know who she was!

And when she was trapped by the Stalfos and then saved by Shadow, several feelings bombarded him; fear, relief, and confusion. He didn't understand why he felt these things, but somehow he knew if he followed them he would arrive at the answers he sought.

Then she was separated from them. Her face grew pained, and the little he'd learned about the three fighters in the time that he'd watched them made his heart wrench. It seemed that the Hero was indeed the Hero of Time, but Shadow and the girl were another matter. They were close, very close. They fought together, almost as one, and the former servant was suddenly very proud of Shadow. Somehow he'd grown up and become a great man, someone the Sheikah could respect.

When the bars opened again Shadow left, leaving the Hero to fight off the white Iron Knuckle alone.

Link, this Hero, was in trouble. He said he could fight off the Iron Knuckle alone but now he wasn't so sure. He had a red potion he could drink to heal himself, but the creature was moving too fast for him to run off and take a break. He jumped back and slashed forward; one of the only things that seemed to work against these creatures, but was quickly thrown back by a quick jolt to the chest.

The Iron Knuckle had thrust the blunt pole of the axe into his chest, sending him backwards, though he'd managed to keep a grip on his sword. However, a part of him knew he wouldn't recover his wits in time to parry another blow, so this could quite possibly be his end.

"No… I can't fail the Princess now…"

The former servant heard this, and jumped in front of him, blasting the remaining strength from the Iron Knuckle with a blast of Sheikah magic. When he was certain the creature was dead, he turned to Link.

"Are you all right, boy?" Link blinked. When his sight came back into focus, he realized he was staring into an unfamiliar but calming face. "Who.. who are you?" The man helped him up. After this he promptly thanked the man and downed the red potion, his energy returning tenfold.

"My name is Arthur. I am a Sheikah. You must be the Hero." Link sighed. "My name is Link, but I suppose if you Sheikah insist on calling me Hero, so be it." Arthur laughed. "Link it is, but you're still the Hero of Time."

Link looked up. This Sheikah was different.

"You're… different from the rest. Most don't really care if I want to be called by my name or not." Arthur laughed a second time.

"I have long been a prisoner of this castle and have only recently been able to escape." Link was puzzled. "Prisoner?" Arthur nodded. "There used to be servants quarters here, instead of this maze of rooms and traps you see." Link gasped quietly. "And what happened to the servants?" Arthur sighed. "Killed. All of them. I'm certain I was the only one to escape."

Link's expression was a mixture of fear and disgust.

"So then, why come back?" Arthur smiled bitterly. "I was curious. And when I saw the three of you, I knew something was about to happen." He looked toward the door, and back at Link.

"Tell me," he said quickly, "who was the girl who was with you?" Link, who was slightly confused but trusted the man, told him. "That was Victoria. She's my friend. Shadow's friend too." Arthur smiled. "Him I know. I was his attendant when the servant's quarters were still here. They seemed to be a little more than friends from what I saw. Wait…" He paused, his face pinching, "did you say Victoria?"

Link nodded. "Yes, why do you ask?"

There was an inkling of a thought in the back of Arthur's mind, long buried in the recesses of his memory. "No… it can't be…" He looked back at the door. He stared at it for the longest time before running for the darkness and leaving a dumbfounded Link standing there staring after him.

.oOo.

Ganondorf laughed. Long and hard.

Victoria's limp body lay just past Shadow's, her beautiful hair, though still bound, was splayed like dead tendrils of fire across the marble floor, Shadow watching but not really able to react or do much of anything. In fact, his spirit was frozen. Something was wrong.

Ganondorf moved to strike down whatever life was left in Shadow, but a soft crying stopped him from doing so.

He looked up. And when he did, he could not believe his eyes.

There was, not too far away from Victoria, a yard or so he could guess, a little girl in a white dress, with laces and finery and shiny trinkets galore; a Princess. There was even a little tiara on this girl's head of soft raven-red locks, wavy, curly and very pretty. But she was transparent; see-through. He couldn't imagine exactly what she was.

In reality it was Victoria; or rather, her soul. Ganondorf's blast had cleanly separated her soul from her body, and revealed her true self. This was the last of her childish self, for indeed her mind and heart had caught up with the age gap from the shifting times. However, her soul hadn't. So there it sat, separated from its vessel, and crying.

Its tiny child hands were against its transparent face, the tears forming at her eyes and rolling down her child cheeks, but not reaching the ground once they fell, for they had no substance.

"Mama…" it cried softly, "Where are you?"

Ganondorf was about to break the tender moment when something else caught his eye and completely immobilized him.

It was the sorceress. She, too, was dressed in finery and lace, and had a much more ornate crown upon her forehead. Lady Sylvia knelt down beside the little girl, her own being transparent because this was all the corporeal form she could muster for all the power she had. She laid her slender hands on the girl's shoulders and whispered softly to her.

"I'm here little one. Do not fear." The girl looked up. "Mama!" The girl's sad lips broke into a wide smile and she hugged the woman who looked down sadly at the soul of her child. "Love, listen, here's what I need you to do, all right?" But before she could tell her, the door opened again, this time revealing someone Sylvia could never have expected.

It was Arthur.

He looked over the scene with wide eyes. "Filthy servant," Ganondorf finally barked, "what are you doing still alive?" Arthur's attention shifted sharply. "I am your servant no more. As for what I'm doing alive, perhaps I got lucky, or perhaps it was fate. But nonetheless, I'm here, aren't I?" Ganondorf was shocked. No one talked to him like that anymore!

"Silence, Hylian slime!" It was to this that Sylvia finally spoke.

"He is no more slime than you are noble. He is a good man with a heart far stronger than yours." It was a quiet declaration, but her words held power; every breath she seemed to take shimmered with it.

She quickly turned her attention to the little girl in her arms. "Listen, and do this quickly; you must return to your vessel." The girl's head turned around quizzically. "Why? If I go, you'll go…" she hugged her mother tighter, tears threatening to form again, "…and I don't want you to go." Sylvia smiled softly as she stroked the lovely wavy red locks. "But you must; if you don't, you'll die, and you don't want that, do you?"

Suddenly the girl looked over at the fallen Shadow.

"No! Then he'll…" She looked back to her mother. Sylvia nodded. "He'll die too." The girl, realizing what she needed to do, turned away and took a few steps back to her limp vessel's form. She stopped for a moment, debating whether she should turn back or not, but took a quick look at Shadow and began to walk once more, faster and almost at a run.

And the Time Queen watched as her Princess finally grew up.

No longer was there a little girl standing there in front of her larger look-alike, but Victoria's soul – grown up now – her little white dress now a beautiful white gown also decorated with finery and lace.

"Mother, thank you," was all she said before entering her vessel at last.

Slowly, the color began to return to her face, and her heart beat faster, and her fiery curls began to blaze once more. Shadow's spirit was no longer frozen and he was able to sit himself up long enough to watch a scene occur between Sylvia and Arthur.

"Sylvia?" Arthur asked with a considerable amount of skepticism in his voice. It quivered, as if he were unsure. He walked closer, wanting to see for himself that this was really her. But, to answer his question, she held up and hand, stopping him from coming any closer. "I'm… not really here, Arthur. But yes, it is me. You understand, don't you?"

Arthur's eyes, once hopeful, dimmed a little. "You don't know how much I've missed you…" Try as he might, he could not summon up a tear. A part of him knew she had passed into her role and she could not come back from it. She smiled bitterly. How she wanted to push the single lock of hair that always fell over his left eye when he was sad and kiss his forehead and tell him it would be all right.

"I do know, love, and I know how much you've missed our little girl."

Before he could say anything, however, she turned to Shadow and knelt beside him. She studied him for a moment, and then reached out to 'caress' his face. To him it was like a warm gust of air chasing away the cold he was certainly feeling, it wasn't discomforting in the least. She smiled sadly.

"You don't know how sorry I am for what I've done to you… but if I hadn't…" She sighed and looked beyond Shadow, her ice blue eyes focusing and un-focusing on something in the background.

Finally Shadow managed to croak out a whisper, "But… I forgive… you." Then he coughed, a long and hacking cough, but somehow it reenergized his vocal chords and when next he spoke it was stronger than before. "You had to choose the least harming curse you could, and so you did. I don't blame you at all. In fact, I thank you. If it weren't for what you did, I might not be here now." He smiled, wiping off the dry blood from his nose. "Please, don't be sorry."

When she focused on him again it took a moment to let the words sink in, but when they did, she realized just how much she had been waiting to hear those words. "Thank you," she said softly, before standing up.

"You know, I hate to break the tender moment here, but I'd really like to get along with conquering the world already…" Sylvia whipped around to her left, her transparent skirts flying. "Ganondorf, let me say this to you; you will fail. It doesn't matter if there is anyone left standing tonight, by your hands or another's you will fail. I just want you to know that." Ganondorf scoffed.

"Rubbish. Your words mean nothing to me; you're dead, I don't need to fear you anymore." Sylvia's lips turned into a thin, malicious smile. "Did I say it was me you needed to fear?" Ganondorf shivered, and again froze on the spot.

And with that, she disappeared in a wave of sparkling light that fluttered around the room and gradually faded away. It was right after this that Victoria's eyelids began to flutter, and she sat up. For a moment, she was disoriented, and unsure where she was and why she was there, but as her vision sharpened and her memory quickly returned, she was quickly jolted back into reality and she stood up, ready for anything.

Except the person she saw when she turned around.

There he was, save for the servant's clothing she'd seen him wear in Shadow's memory. She walked up to him slowly, as if she was in a dream or he was merely an apparition. Both were afraid to speak. Shadow was now standing, watching the scene, helpless to say anything lest he break the magic of the moment. In an action that Victoria could not control, she put her hand to his face, scruffy with unshaved stubble, but she didn't care.

"You're… real… you're… really here." Arthur, for a single instant, didn't know what she was talking about, but then he remembered what Sylvia had said about their daughter. Victoria. He gasped, quietly, and his lips only parted slightly as his eyes widened in recognition.

"Victoria," he whispered, "my little girl." He smiled, a single tear rolling down his left cheek. "You've grown so much…" She nodded slowly, blushing a little, her hand returning to her side. "I know." He was about to say more, but Ganondorf had returned to his senses and resumed his taunting of the three – who, in his opinion, were powerless to stop him – and eventually killing them; once he got around to it. He liked playing with his prey.

"What a touching reunion… I suppose you'd like to die together, yes? I guess I could fulfill that request, provided you go quietly." Shadow stepped back and put his left arm out across in an attempt to protect them. Ganondorf cackled.

"No? You'd rather die protecting them, huh, boy? Very well." Victoria turned around in her father's grasp, and touched his left shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she hissed. He shot a look in her direction. "I'm trying to do something! If someone doesn't do something, we'll all be killed!" Arthur frowned. "I don't like the looks of this… it seems that no matter what we do, we're going to die anyway. The only things that can even wound him are things we don't have. And, of course, the only thing that can kill him is the Master Sword."

Suddenly Victoria remembered that she still had the last Light Arrow that Link had given her. "What exactly are things that can wound him again?" Arthur frowned. "Objects of the Light, such as swords, daggers, arrows… why ask at a time like this?"

Victoria moved swiftly to the right, and quickly drew and aimed her last Light Arrow. She let it fly just as soon as he let off a blasting wave of darkness, which Victoria saw coming and managed to conjure up a shield of light to fend it off. They heard Ganondorf cry out in anguish, and when the smoke cleared, they were faced with a very angry Ganondorf, who was crackling with excess light energy.

Victoria blinked. "So maybe that wasn't the best idea."

Shadow scoffed. "I think all it did was postpone our deaths." The door behind them opened a third time, revealing Link. "Took your time, did you?" Shadow called. "Oh hush!" he hissed. Then he noticed Arthur. "What are you doing here?" he asked him. Arthur's face pinched as he grasped for a limiting response. Finding none, he sighed and replied, "It's a long story and we haven't the time. If we live through this, I'll tell you."

The three stepped back as Link stepped forward, the Master Sword drawn. Ganondorf stopped for a moment to study the boy before speaking. He grinned evilly.

"The Triforce parts are resonating. They are trying to become one once again. The two Triforce parts that I could not capture on that day seven years ago… I didn't expect they would be hidden in you two!" Here he leaned back and let loose a loud round of laughter. Link examined his sword hand he was surprised to find the Triforce of Courage burning brightly. He had no doubt that the Triforce of Wisdom was shining on Zelda's hand. When Ganondorf stopped, he looked across the floor around to each and every one of them. Link stood in front of the others, while Shadow and Victoria stood close, but without their hands linked, and Arthur stood sort of behind them to their left, observing the scene.

"And now," he continued, "finally, all the Triforce parts have gathered here!"

He held up his right hand, upon which the Triforce of Power glowed. He barked, "These toys are too much for you! I command you to return them to me!" before sending out a swirled wave of darkness the four on the ground had to struggle to stay standing in.

Navi called out to Link, unable to stand the darkness. "Link! I can't help you! Because of the waves of darkness can't get close!" And then she was blown off against the wall, and fell to the floor. "Navi!" He called back, shocked.

His attention was snapped back to Ganondorf as he curled in on himself and then shot a thunderous shockwave of power outwards. His organ crumbled to pieces and several sections of the floor began to fall down, dragging the carpet and organ debris with them. Link and the others had to jump around in order to avoid being caught down with them. When all was said and done, Ganondorf floated up in the air, his whole aura crackling with dark, corrupted energy,

"Die fast, runt!" he taunted, singling out Link and setting a barrier him, blocking out Victoria and her father. "No!" she cried, banging on the barrier with her fury and her elvish strength, but it was no use. It was set. What made matters worse was that Shadow was on the other side, with Link. Somehow he'd managed to stay with him, while they were trapped on the other side. He put his hands against hers, matching them on the barrier wall.

"I promise to try and not get killed, okay? There's nothing you can do here." He flashed a smile before running off to help Link.

Victoria sighed in frustration. She hated being helpless. She turned around and gently scooped Navi into her hands, sighing. She worriedly glanced back to watch the fight as it had already begun.

"They'll get him, princess, Shadow's a good person and a good fighter. Link is lucky to have him at his side." Her father tenderly put his hands on her shoulders and slowly began to massage them. How she had forgotten how much her father's touch soothed her aching muscles back when she was a child. "You know, I thought you died that day, Father. What… what really happened?" Arthur sighed, though he still massaged his daughter's shoulders.

(Flashback)

'After I made sure you left the village, I didn't have any strength left to move the debris that was piled all over me. I waited for hours, I think a day until someone found me, but it definitely wasn't who I expected.'

"Ooh, look here Kotake, it's the Sheikah's pretty boy king! He'll make a fine slave for Master Ganondorf won't he?"

"Yes, yes, let's take him, Koume. He's injured, but we'll fix him up soon enough. Must've been trying to save the village, the poor man." Koume huffed. "What does it matter? Cuff him or something so we can bring him to the Master!" Kotake scowled. "He's not in fit walking condition, Koume, he has to be healed first."

Koume grit her teeth. "Well put him on a cot and levitate it for all I care! We just need to take him!" Koume left to search for any other possible slaves while Kotake cleared the debris and conjured a cot.

'They took me and healed me and when they presented me to Ganondorf in chains, he passed me off as one of his servants.'

"My son, Shadow, needs an attendant, though. Didn't the spoiled brat Zelda have one? Let him have that job."

'And so that's how I met him. I taught him things whenever I could get him alone, good things, manners, how to be polite, even how to fight when he was having trouble with the Shadow Tamer training Ganondorf was putting him through, and the like. But I also cleaned his room, laundered his clothing, occasionally I would teach him how to do these things and whenever he could he'd do them on his own.

'It gave me hope that truly could be the Hero's protector someday. Oh yes, I knew what he was to the prophecy. It was… a very humbling experience being his attendant, a slave in general, really. After a while it didn't really matter to me. I had to care for Shadow as much as I could, and being his attendant gave me a sort of freedom most of the others didn't have; privacy. I explored the castle and found the original archives and showed them to Shadow. I mapped them out and did some recording as I mapped out the castle. Well… not like it would do much good now.

'But I also found the original blueprints for Hyrule Castle. If I ever had the chance to escape, I had to take them with me. It wasn't until Shadow's seventeenth birthday things started to get strange. Ganondorf would beat him, only once or twice a month at first, but by the time he turned eighteen and completed his Shadow Tamer trials, things really heated up.

'Ganondorf beat him more and more often and without excuse, until finally Shadow left. Before he told me he had been sneaking out and meeting with the Hero and befriending him. He was worried for his safety now that Ganondorf knew. It was that day he left and I never saw him after that, until now.

'Shortly after that, Ganondorf went on a rampage and destroyed the servants' quarters. I managed to take the core important sections of the archives and save them, the others were unfortunately lost in his destruction. As far as I know I'm the only one who managed to escape, so all the other servants must have been killed. I acquired new, better clothing – no, I didn't steal them, I actually bought them from a traveling merchant on one of Hyrule Field's main roads – and a few healing items. All I have left is a single fairy, however.

'And so I watched for any signs of something happening and when Shadow and Link appeared with you, I knew I had to follow.'

(End Flashback)

"But you didn't know it was me, did you?" Arthur shook his head. "I hadn't seen you since you were ten. I didn't even know if you were alive. I did note your striking resemblance to your mother, but I was unable to make the connection."

He sighed. "I feel like such a failure in that respect."

Victoria smiled softly and moved that stray lock of hair in front of his left eye and set it behind his ear. "You yourself said you hadn't seen me since I was ten. Don't blame yourself for that. Even I couldn't recognize myself the first time I saw my reflection."

Arthur laughed softly, but then looked up sharply. His face pinched and he looked concerned. "Something's wrong. Shadow looks tired." Victoria jumped up and pressed herself against the barrier, searching for the problem.

Shadow and Link knew they had Ganondorf at the end of his rope by the time he started flinging balls of darkness every time they took a step. "Damn! This is fucking crazy! I don't have time to shoot anything much less aim!" Link muttered hotly. Shadow raised a tired eyebrow. "I didn't know you could curse like that…"

"Shadow!" Link barked, "Focus!" Shadow nodded. "Right. I would suggest waiting until he starts charging and then shoot. Might help if you stop trying to have perfect aim and just let them fly." Link scowled. "But… my arrows…" Shadow shot him a look. "You have like fifty arrows left, mate, you have more than enough." Link grudgingly realized he was right.

Once Ganondorf was charging his biggest ball of energy yet, Link shot five Light Arrows off in rapid succession, nailing Ganondorf in several spots, especially one even Ganondorf didn't want to have hit. He fell to the ground crippled while Link and Shadow delivered the ending blows, and the barriers shattered; the floor somehow restoring itself.

"The Great… Evil Ganondorf beaten by… these kids?" Ganondorf asked no one as he clutched his bleeding chest. Shadow looked at his bloody Master Sword copy and then turned to watch as Ganondorf coughed up a few puddles of blood. He said Link's name once, and then used his remaining strength to stand up.

He began to glow with power, and then in a flash of light, the whole room shattered. When the dust cleared, there was no ceiling, barely any walls, and only one way to go from where they were; down.

It was at this point that Ganondorf fell face forward to the floor, his last breath spent.

Zelda's crystal began to slowly descend from the sky and shattered once she landed. She looked back at Ganondorf, her eyes dark. "Ganondorf…" she said softly, "… pitiful man. Without a strong, righteous mind he could not control the power of the gods, and…"

Suddenly there was a rumbling and only Arthur knew what it was. With a sickened look on his face, he said, "Ganondorf's last act is trying to crush us in the ruins of the tower. We must escape before it does!" Zelda nodded. "I'll open any obstacles along the way!"

The five ran down a long, winding staircase as they tried to avoid any falling debris and at the end Zelda blasted away some bars that were blocking their way.

She ran ahead of them and blasted a second door across from where they came out, and called for them to hurry. No one argued.

The next area had them jumping over broken pathways and avoiding larger chunks of flaming rock that nearly hit Shadow, but it was short and Zelda had run ahead and blasted yet another set of bars before any of them even reached the spot she'd been at moments before. "Slow down!" Victoria hissed as she struggled to run alongside the Princess, "I know we're pressed for time here, but we can only go so fast, you know!" Zelda quickly apologized and tried her best to keep the others in sight.

They dodged more flaming rock, Zelda blasted more barricades, and hardly anyone said a word except whenever a chunk of dirt fell on them or they were nearly clocked by one of the bigger pieces.

It wasn't until they arrived at a room with two Stalfos that a ring of fire tried to trap Zelda that things started getting interesting. "No you don't!" she cried, pushing away her bindings with her own Din's Fire. Victoria and her father obliterated one Stalfos while Shadow and Link destroyed the other. Zelda took a few moments to blast another barrier, but they passed through once she was finished.

Then there was more running, more blasting, more avoid falling burning projectiles, and once again, no communication. They all pretty much got the idea that they had to get the hell out of there! They encountered a Lizafols at the bridge, but Victoria blasted it before it could even react, and then, finally, Zelda blasted the final barrier, and they stepped out into the light.

Then, all hell broke loose and the castle just fell to pieces.

No one spoke, not even Shadow.

For a long while, there was silence, until Zelda said, "It's over… it's finally over!" Shadow, however, could sense something amiss. He wasn't feeling the lightness he thought he'd feel once they really won, so he knew there had to be something more.

"I wouldn't count on it…" he said softly. Link and Zelda were exchanging tender looks with one another, but a shifting in the debris quickly interrupted the moment. Link's head snapped around and eventually so did the rest of his body.

He went to investigate, followed by Victoria and Shadow. As they neared the largest pile of debris, a wall of flame appeared behind them, and the all turned around. Zelda tried to go and help them, but Arthur held her back. "No, Princess. As long as I still breathe, I'm still doing my job as a Sheikah. You're staying." Zelda, realizing she wasn't going to be able to get anywhere, could only clutch her hands together and watch on anxiously.

Suddenly, the largest pile of debris exploded everywhere, miraculously missing the three heroes, and a giant monster of a creature stood there, roaring. It looked down on them and held out its hand, the Triforce of Power still shining brightly.

"Ganondorf…" Victoria whispered. Shadow shook his head as he was looking up. "No… he's Ganon now."

Then Ganon jumped up into the air and curled in on himself. Slowly, armor started growing all over his body, and he grew a tail, which had on the end of it, a rainbow colored diamond. Shadow looked over at Victoria and said, "Weak spot?" She grinned. "Most definitely."

When he landed, he drew two rather large, menacing swords of light, or so they appeared to be, and feinted a few slashes at them, letting them know this battle was for keeps.

They were ready.

However, in all the chaos, Link's Master Sword was thrown out of his hand, and he was left with no weapon! "Link!" Victoria cried, "You must have something you can use to defend yourself with!" Link quickly searched through his hat and pulled out the first thing his hand reached. Out came a rather long and slender two-handed broadsword that looked quite frightening, but it was still not the Master Sword.

"I'll have to use this until the fire stops… if it ever does." Shadow frowned. "If we do enough damage he should lose his concentration in keeping up the spell. We have to get that weak spot!" The others nodded. "Right!"

Navi fluttered around Link's head. "There's no way he's holding me back again!" Link nodded and readied a battle stance.

Then, the final battle truly began.

Link called out the orders. "Shadow, take left! Victoria, right! I'm taking center! Now go!" Shadow feinted right at first, but shot off to the left before Ganon could react fast enough to stop the slash to the right. Victoria had done the same, and Ganon's attacks missed all the heroes completely. This allowed Link to run under the legs and have Navi lock onto his tail while he whacked it. Victoria spun Cronos around several times until it could not be seen in her hand, then she shot it off with a warning to Link and sent it spinning with an active ice spell still attached.

Shadow, knowing his Master Sword copy would do no good this time around, ran around playing cat and mouse with Ganon. He did his best to have the shadows keep a hold on Ganon's tail so their attacks would be more accurate, but he lost his concentration when he was sent flying forward by a blast of rocks that had been hit instead of him.

"I'm all right," he called, "just a little battered!" He got up and continued his game until Ganon fell to his knees by Link and Victoria's combo attack and the ring of fire disappeared. Link made a beeline for the Master Sword, which had landed right next to Zelda, while Cronos boomeranged back to its master's hand and Victoria cast a surprisingly strong Thunder attack on the whole of Ganon.

However, once Link had the Master Sword in hand, the ground, shook, he ran forward to Victoria's side. "What did you do?" he asked her over the noise. She couldn't reply. She was frozen in terror. She could only watch as her attack shrunk Ganon back into his Ganondorf form, crackling with lightning energy, and glaring with hatred.

"This is the last time you be a thorn in my side, girl!" He boomed. And suddenly, she was thrown into the air by a telekinetic attack, and brought before him, her arms and upper body being suspended in the air as she struggled to break free. Link and Shadow rushed to her aid, but Ganondorf threw them back with a few blasts of dark energy. Victoria's back was facing Zelda and her father, but they were powerless to do anything, she knew.

She could only watch as Ganondorf walked to her, the maliciousness of his evil so great it was almost becoming too real and overwhelming.

"So, girl, why don't we make a deal? Your mother made a deal with me before… oh yes, she was fond of making deals and showing off how much power she had. I wonder," he snarled with a happy sneer, "what'll it be? Your father or the Princess…?" He looked beyond her to where Arthur was standing in front of the Princess with a protective stance.

"Or perhaps… Link or Shadow?" She struggled harder. "No! Not them!" Ganondorf, now partly Ganon again, laughed. "It seems you've chosen which two you want to watch die…" He turned around and snapped his fingers, and two pink crystals appeared, one holding Shadow on the left, and another holding Link on the right.

"No! Stop, please! I beg you!"

He did stop. But when he turned around that dark smile was still on his face. "Really now? The daughter of my dead enemy is begging me to stop? Fine. Since you've lowered yourself so much for me, I'll lessen the deal just a bit. I'll let you go, and every one else, if you just choose one. Just one, Shadow, or the Hero. But you have to watch them die. Slowly, painfully, until they've said their last, taken their last, and their heart no longer beats. Doesn't that sound nice?"

By now Victoria had stopped struggling. It was pointless to waste energy like this. She was going to have to choose exactly who was going to die, so that everyone else could go free.

I could choose Link, she thought, so that I could be with Shadow and my father. But Zelda… she'd never forgive me for being so selfish.

There was a pause in her thoughts.

And I could choose Shadow.

This thought was the most dark and dangerous of them all.

If she chose Shadow, she would go right down with him, and her father could take Link and Zelda and take them somewhere… perhaps to get help so that, eventually, Ganondorf could be brought down. But if she chose Shadow, she would give up her title as Time Princess and become the Queen without an Heir. She would have to choose another candidate, but she couldn't bear the thought of doing to someone else what had been done to her, even though it had to happen.

It hurt to take away someone's freedom like that, because, truly, all this power, the power of the Princess and the Queen, it came with a price. To uphold to balance of time and work in tandem with space to keep order to the dimensions of this planet and the universe.

But, if something had to be done, something had to be done.

Finally, Victoria looked up. And at last the words she never thought she'd ever say left her lips:

"Kill Shadow."

Ganondorf grinned. His eyes glittered with a dark, glorious light, and his held up his fingers as if to snap them. "Are you sure…?" She nodded softly, and let her chin rest upon her chest. "Now, now, you have to watch, remember?"

Slowly he let her down, and she stood there, her eyes already distant and dark, watching Shadow with a sadness that was to break anyone's heart. That is, if they had one, and Ganondorf apparently did not. As last, he snapped his fingers, and the crystals shattered. Link, Shadow, and the shattered crystal pieces were suspended in the air for some moments, until the shards surrounding Link shot outwards and dropped from his form, and the shards surrounding Shadow shot inward.

Link, Shadow, and Victoria instantly fell to their knees.

Link was in shock, Victoria's soul was weakening at a rapidly decreasing rate, and Shadow was in pain, screaming and dying.

Shadow had fallen against his side, the shards embedded in his right arm digging in even deeper because of the pressure. Sparks of pain were everywhere, though somehow, no shards had pierced his head. Victoria heard his screams and struggled to stand, stumbling off in his direction as fast as she could. Arthur, not realizing what was happening, followed her without warning, and Zelda ran for Link.

Victoria got to Shadow first.

She knelt beside him where he could see her, and all he managed to croak out was, "… why?"

She stroked his bloody cheek with a shaking, shockingly pale hand. "Because…" she said breathlessly, "if you die I get to go with you, remember?" Arthur stopped right in his tracks when he heard that. No… not his little girl. She couldn't…! He only just got her back!

On the other side of the destruction, Zelda was trying to shake Link out of his shock. "Link! Please! I need you here! Arthur's trying to save Shadow, but you need to defeat Ganon so that he can! Or distract him, anything! Link? Link!"

Ganondorf just stood there amidst it all, laughing.

Zelda, through with talking, stood up and slapped Link clean across his right cheek. His head jerked back, and he braced himself up with his sword arm, his right hand touching the stinging flesh when his head had snapped back. He was breathing heavily. "What… just happened?"

Zelda looked at him and she was surprised. "Shadow's dying because of some deal Ganon made with Victoria that she had no choice in stopping! She chose Shadow's death over yours and right now Arthur's trying to prevent it! But if you continue to sit here Ganondorf is going to notice and we'll lose both Shadow and Victoria, do you understand?"

Link looked up. Victoria had mentioned some sort of a link between the two of them, but he thought she had just been talking about their bond with one another. He hadn't thought she meant a literal, magical link.

He stood up, gripping the Master Sword tightly. He wasn't about to loose both of his friends.

"KAI-TEN-GI-RI!" (1)

Ganondorf was only able to quickly summon a blade before he was knocked back by the Master Sword's holy light. He stood up, clutching his searing skin. "You just don't know when to quit, do you kid?"

On the other side, Arthur was kneeling by Shadow's back pulling out some of the shards, rubbing some of the healing potion Victoria had been carrying on the wounds to heal them. But he could only work so fast…

"It's not… going… fast enough…" Victoria breathed, "we're slipping…" Arthur grit his teeth so hard he feared they, too, would shatter. "No! I'm not losing both of you to this!" Victoria fell to the ground, her left arm reaching out to nothing, and her right cushioning her face against the dirt. She was falling into a dark abyss to which she knew was the end, but something was preventing her from being at peace.

A voice she recognized called out to her across the darkness and said:

"No, my love, now is not your time. I am giving you one, last gift, that no mortal wound shall ride you to an early grave. Use it, precious one, and defeat the Evil King! Use your power to transform!"

And there she was again, back in the world where the dust stung her eyes and pain still bit everywhere she'd been cut or bled, but she was glad. Slowly, she stood up, just in time to see Ganondorf throw Link back again and transform into Ganon a second time.

"Hey," she called, "you want a piece of this?" Ganon turned around, but had to shield his eyes form the blinding light she was radiating. Suddenly it intensified, and again, there stood the Time Princess in her true form, a beautiful and terrible force. With her beautiful white gown and sparkling finery, she looked as if she were ready for a dance, not a battle.

Ganon just laughed.

"Go ahead and laugh," she barked, "but it is I who will have the last one. It's time to end this! Link, hurry!"

Link had recovered his wits in time to make one last dive for the Master Sword, while Victoria aimed Cronos at Ganon and held him there with a wide, bright stream of continuous timelight. Clocks and hourglasses spun around in the light, transparent and solid in one instant to the next, holding Ganon in place.

"Link, do it! The killing blow!"

Link did not hesitate. He moved straight for the head, and hit it dead center. Blood poured from the wound as Ganon cried out in pain, and Zelda smiled.

"I think I can take it from here!" she called. Victoria nodded, and cut off the spell with a twirl and a stamp of her staff. She leaned against it, drained, all of her finery from her transformation disappearing and returning her to her dirty, dusty Sheikah garb.

Zelda, on the other side of the little island of land, was sealing Ganondorf away into the Sacred Realm. There was this booming voice that came from nowhere that Victoria could only assume was Rauru.

"Ancient Creators of Hyrule! Now, open the sealed door and send the Evil incarnation of Darkness into the void of the Evil Realm!"

There was a great flash of light, and then Ganon was gone.

But then another voice boomed out across the land as the Sacred Realm was closing: Ganon's.

"You…" it said, "Curse you… Zelda! Curse you…sages! Curse you… Link!" There was a pause, but not for long. "Someday," he continued, "when this seal is broken, that is when I will exterminate your descendents! As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand…" Victoria was sure he meant to say more, but he was cut off, the Sacred Seal closing him off from the world; for now.

Victoria knelt by Shadow, his breathing slower than before. "No… it's not working! Don't you have anything else, father? You said you had a healing item!" Arthur stopped and face palmed himself.

"The fairy, I completely forgot!"

He dug in the magical pocket for the fairy and took it out, the bottle materializing in his hand. He uncorked the top, and the crystals dissolved instantly, along with repairing all of the major wounds. The fairy disappeared, and Shadow's breathing quickened to a normal speed, though some of his wounds still remained.

"I guess they can bring you back from the brink of death but they can't heal you all they way," Victoria observed. Arthur nodded. "I suppose so. We need to get him to a place where he can heal properly…"

Zelda and Link approached the three of them, Link looking rather angry and distressed.

Victoria instantly knew what was happening.

She stood up.

"My answer is no, Zelda. I'm not going back. And I think it's safe to say that Shadow's answer is also going to be no. We're pressing forward with this time whether you like it or not." Zelda sighed, exasperated. "But it's not safe! We have to go back!" Victoria shook her head.

"No, Zelda. What you don't realize is that it isn't safe to go back, not forward. Not only does Ganondorf have a much less chance of breaking the seal now, in this time, he won't be able to go back and mess with the timeline like he would be able to if we did go back. You see, one of the great links of time runs right through the Sacred Realm. If we go back in time, he will be able to access that link and do some serious damage that I might not be able to correct if we went back."

Zelda looked confused. "Why not?" Victoria sighed and then looked back up. "You see, in order to function properly, my emotions need to be in balance. Now, with only a few nightmares every so often, I can keep myself in an equilibrium of sorts, whereas if we went back, I would have them constantly and not be able to have a moments peace!"

She paused, waiting for it to sink in. "Do you understand now, Princess?"

Zelda looked shocked for a moment at Victoria's audacity to speak so frankly, but then, once she realized the truth, she felt guilty and looked down at the ground because she hadn't anywhere else left to look.

"I'm sorry… I should've known…"

Victoria shook her head. "No. You don't know everything, Zelda. In fact, there are several things I still need to discuss with you, though now is not the time. We'll do so tomorrow."

Zelda looked up sharply. "Tomorrow?" Victoria nodded, smiling and crossing her arms. "Yes. Thanks to Link we still have new tomorrows to look forward to, new breaths to take, lives to treasure, but first we must rest, and enjoy the victory that we've rightly earned."

Before they set off into the sunset, however, Victoria asked Link, "Hey, isn't your sword still back there somewhere?" To which he panicked and they all laughed (except Shadow, who was still unconscious in Arthur's arms) as Link ran to fetch it.

Whew! Wow… that took a lot out of me… omg I'm almost done! Well, hold your horses, I need to explain one more thing before I say any more.

1) Kai-ten-gi-ri is what he says in the manga when he does his spinning slash thing. Loosely translated, it literally means, 'spinning slash attack'.

So, yeah. Please, if you want to comment on something or just, you know, drop a line, go ahead, and yeah, review. Don't forget about the epilogue!