Dora swung open the door leading out of the dungeon to the training field. She and her daughter raced up the short sloped path to the grounds. "You need to wait here," she ordered, in a stern tone.
"Mom, I can help," Din protested.
"Yes, you can, but when it is time. Right now, I can't be responsible for your fate, and your father's, so I need you keep safely out of the way. Use your arrows where you can. You know how your dad is when he fights. I would hate if you were injured in the process."
"All right," Din said, kicking the ground with disappointment.
Dora adjusted the leather strap across her torso, and rushed away to join the battle.
Ganondorf fired a sphere of red and black energy from the tip of his sword that hurtled toward Lucien. Without the Master Sword, he could not combat it, so he struggled to completely avoid it. He wasted much energy, but made every effort to move in close where the Demon King would struggle to use magic against him.
Ganondorf's swings were strong and deadly, but slow. Lucien dove and managed miraculous stunts to prevent being maimed, while taking every opportunity to parry. Ganondorf seemed to always predict his next move, and be there to block Lucien's best calculated attacks. He fought to keep the hero at a distance that took advantage of his incredible sorcery skills, but not so far that Lucien could accurately aim a light arrow.
A new sword joined the fray, forcing Ganondorf to stop in mid-attack. Lucien moved purely on instinct, and was brought back to his senses when the sword he blocked was not the King of Evil's. The sword itself was familiar, the shape of the hilt, the length of the blade, the inscribed emblems and words, but the person wielding it did not deserve that right. Lucien's surprise was replaced with anger. The Triforce of Courage shined with a blinding light, both hindering and encouraging Lucien.
Dora stepped back as Ganondorf's boot appeared and kicked Lucien far across the field. She was immediately on him, and swung to decapitate him before he could regain his senses. Lucien thrust his shield in front of his face, and then rolled away from his opponent to avoid being kicked. He climbed back to his feet, already running to gain distance, but Dora was persistently at his heels.
Ganondorf fired dense orbs of energy to keep Lucien's attention, while allowing Dora the opportunity she needed to strike. Three of his attacks made contact, while Dora was bearing down on him with the Master Sword. She did not possess the great size Ganondorf did, so when Lucien kicked her back she stumbled. Dora immediately returned and swung at the hero powerfully from above. Lucien intersected her blade with his, and sparks flew on contact. He threw down the shield in his off hand, and gripped her main hand that clenched the Master Sword. He tried to wrench it from her grasp, but was blinded by a sharp pain.
Dora brandished her primary blade from her hip, sliced his torso from left to right, and he collapsed. "You idiot," she mocked. Lucien had come much too close to stealing the Master Sword from her, so she sheathed it against her back again. Every time the hero tried to stand, the pain forced him to retract, so Dora kicked him in his already severe, and fatal, wound.
Tears of pain streaked his face. He grunted and seethed, and writhed on the ground as blood escaped his body.
Ganondorf did not waste time in coming to stand at Dora's side, and share in the excitement of Lucien's pain. "You killed him last time," the King of Evil said, casting her a dark, crooked smirk.
"Don't hesitate," she warned, and turned toward him. She raised her open hand, and in seconds the resonating, golden Triforce of Wisdom hovered above her palm. Ganondorf lowered his left hand into hers, as if he were about to interlock their fingers, and accepted the Triforce. They exchanged a gaze of excited determination. Victory was within reach at last. Dora stepped back so the King of Evil could have his glory.
"Stand and fight me," he shouted at the hero lying pathetically on the ground soaked with his own blood.
"Ganondorf," Dora yelled.
He ignored her. "Stand, face your death with dignity, hero," he called arrogantly.
She shook her head, and dropped her bow from her shoulder to her hand. If he insisted on toying with Lucien, she would be prepared to kill him in case the situation grew out of hand. Dora watched and waited with an arrow dangling from her fingers.
Lucien understood exactly what was going on. "You are not the mouse of a monster that everyone claims you are," he taunted, his voice weak. "The people speak that you are too cowardly to come down from your throne and commit your own evil deeds, that you have lost your hate to the love of your wife and daughter, but who wouldn't? They are beautiful, and unique. I love Din, and I will protect her as I am destined, so that you may never bring her any harm."
"Din does not need your protection. I always have, and will continue to, protect her," Ganondorf countered. "On your knees, hero, so I can see your face as you beg for death," he growled. He tossed the sword from his left hand to the side, and held an open palm toward his enemy.
Lucien worked his way from laying on his side, to both knees. He appeared to hold his arms over his wound, and kept his back to the king and queen. Ganondorf was suspicious of a trick, but was confident the wound was too debilitating for him to retaliate. The hero struggled to stand, grunting and groaning the entire way. "I will fight you," he seethed, "like the man of courage I am."
"Wait! Don't," Din shouted, and darted forward as fast as her young, nimble legs could carry her.
Lucien spun around faster than Ganondorf could have ever anticipated, and released an arrow. The distance between them was so close, Lucien took only the slightest breath to aim and fire. The King of Evil vanished, and appeared just a foot to the side of where he once was.
A horrific shriek filled the air.
"Din," Lucien yelled, and collapsed to a knee from the pain, and dizziness from loss of blood.
Ganondorf raised his sword to strike, but his victim's outcry caused him to stop short.
Dora gasped, and time froze. It was only her extensive battle experience that prevented her from being paralyzed. She dropped her bow and arrow, and clutched Din's arms to guide her to the ground. Her body convulsed from the invasive light of the arrow that penetrated her upper left chest, and severed major arteries. Dora sat on her knees, and firmly held her daughter in her arms against her torso. Din's blood flowed heavily across her chest, soaked into Dora's clothes, and then stained the ground. "Keep your eyes open," Dora pleaded, resting her hand against her daughter's cheek. Din valiantly fought her eyes from rolling back into her head. "Why did you do that? Why sacrifice yourself for my worthless life?" Dora asked, angrily, fighting the pitiful sobs that choked her.
Dora's words, and the hero's ghastly expression of remorse, made Ganondorf think twice about facing the scene behind him. His jaw clenched. There was no more time for thought, only action. Ganondorf emitted cries of agony when power unexpectedly surged through his body; power he had not felt for centuries. The energy coursing through his veins was brought on by more than hate and rage alone. He experienced despair, grief, an ache in his chest as if his beating heart had been torn from his body while he was alive, and all of the emotions that came with the loss of his daughter simply because he had learned to love unconditionally.
The Demon King fell to his hands and knees like an animal. The grunts and groans coming from him were like the guttural warnings of a hungry beast. The ground below him became a swirling, red portal of malevolent magic. A shadow of the monstrous demon, Ganon, burst forth from the portal with a massive roar like the loudest thunder. It echoed sharply inside Ganondorf's head, and he feared his skull might split in two.
Lucien screamed with terror from his wildest nightmares when the wide, open mouth of the beast fell upon him. He was consumed and obliterated, and the demon disappeared to enjoy his snack. Where Lucien had stood, hovered the Triforce of Courage.
For a moment, the world was quiet again.
"No, Din," Dora cried, her terrified voice filling the silence. "Stay awake. You can't die on me!" She held her daughter's body against her, and curled her up in her lap with her head on her chest as if she were a little girl again.
"Tell Dad I'm sorry," Din whispered in a voice that shook from the convulsions. "And know that I love you both very much."
"We love you too," Dora said, not wanting to miss the opportunity to remind her of how important she was. Din smiled.
Dora only believed Din left the world by watching it with her own teary eyes. Even then, she still wanted to be having a nightmare, but life was all too painful that way. Din's eyes fell still, her face relaxed, and her entire body became the great weight of muscle, flesh, and bone in Dora's arms. The Queen of Evil pressed her face against her daughter's cheek and wept with immense sorrow.
Ganondorf worked to catch his breath once the demon completed its task and disappeared. The storm in his mind quelled, and he returned to his senses. Dora's sobbing replaced the monster's roars, and he remembered his objective. There were no words for the misery he experienced over his wife's tears for the loss of their daughter. Such emotions were foreign, and he could barely comprehend how to cope.
The resonating light of the Triforce of Courage drew his attention, and he returned to his feet. Ganondorf smirked, although the exuberance of his victory had been stolen from him. He reached with an open palm and snatched the Triforce of Courage from the air, at last completing his dreams, and commanded the goddesses to grant his wish.