Chapter 1:

Wind rushed in his ears as Link came to. He opened his eyes and to his confusion found himself quickly hurtling toward Hyrule's surface head first.

What happened? Why am I in the sky? Suddenly, he remembered the strange place in the clouds he had been in with Rauru and Sonia, and…

Zelda! Link frantically looked around before looking down toward the surface. There below him, he saw a small figure falling through the sky as well. He spotted her white dress and knew it was her. Instincts kicked in, and the muscle memory of skydiving so many times on his adventure took over before his thoughts could even form. Arms tucked in, legs straightened, and diving straight down, he made himself a human rocket which cut through the air at supersonic speeds.

I need to get to her, I must not fail her again. Even if they were to both crash into the surface, Link was determined to catch her at all cost. Luckily, the way Zelda's body was positioned, she moved at a much slower speed than he did. She faced up toward Link, with her arms stretched out reaching toward him, and her legs out as if she were lying down. Her eyes remained closed, still deep in slumber. Link observed that she was still in her Zonai attire, complete with jewelry. He was quickly closing the distance between them, but so was the surface. Please, he pleaded, please let me get there in time.

Seconds felt like years to him, an entire lifetime flashed through his mind before Zelda was there, just out of reach from him. Link reached out his hand to Zelda's outstretched one. I will not fail you again, Link thought once more. I am here Zelda, and I will always be by your side! With that final thought, Link stretched his body to its limit. His muscles and the wounds littered on his body screamed in protest, but Link did not falter. Fierce determination shone upon his face. With that push, Link grasped Zelda's hand tightly in his own. Using some of his near-depleted strength, he pulled Zelda up into his arms. Finally, finally…Zelda was in his embrace once more.

Link did not have time to breathe a sigh of relief just yet. The surface was almost upon them. Link looked ahead of him to the surface and gave a weary smile. It seemed that the goddess was still watching over them both, for just below them lay a small lake. One that he knew to be quite deep. Mipha if you're still watching over me, please let us survive this, Link prayed in his mind. He shifted Zelda so that she was safely cocooned within his arms, and tucked his head in to brace for the impact.

The impact on the water felt like a charging Lynel rammed straight into him head first. The shockwaves jarred through his body and pain exploded a moment later. The chill water only added to the shock and dulled his senses further. Despite all this, Link held onto Zelda, clutching her close to him. Through sheer will and seemingly inhuman strength, Link twisted his body right-side up and kicked his legs, using one arm to hold Zelda and the other to propel them up above the water. He broke the surface with a gasp of air. He was incredibly fatigued and could feel his muscles begin to fail him. Hold on just a bit longer! he screamed internally to himself. With his last remaining strength, he swam himself and Zelda to the shore of the lake. Almost there, he was breathing rapidly as he fought to keep both his and Zelda's head above the water.

When he finally reached the shore, he crawled up on his knees as he gently lay Zelda on the shore, still in the water, but with her head up far enough where she could breathe safely. Link collapsed on his forearms and knees next to her, keeping his head down as he fought to control his breath. His entire body shook from a mixture of pain, exhaustion and the chill of the cool lake they had just plummeted into. A few minutes went by where he continued to stay and fight for his breath, as well as to keep his eyes open. We're not safe yet, he told himself. He looked to Zelda and knew she could not stay there. The wind blew a strong chill over them both, and he knew he had to get her out of the lake and onto the grassy field just ahead of them.

Link took a deep breath and steeled himself. He refused to drag the woman he loved unceremoniously out of a lake. No, that would not do well by him. He gazed at Zelda's face and saw that her eyes remained closed, still slumbering peacefully. He was relieved to see her unharmed and no worse for wear, if only a bit wet and probably cold. On shaky legs, Link tried to stand next to Zelda, but his left leg suddenly gave out under him. A sharp pain erupted from a long and deep gash that extended from his knee to his hip on his side. Link remembered his swordfight with Ganondorf. He had backflipped away from one of the Demon King's vertical slices a moment too late. If he had been any slower, he would have probably lost his leg then and there. The lake water had washed away some of the blood, but Link's trousers were quickly becoming stained with red. Link sat down and tore off parts of his trousers near the cuffs and wrapped it around his leg where the wound bled. He gave a sigh.

It'll have to do for now, until we can reach Lookout Landing. Luckily for them, Lookout Landing was close by, probably an hour's hike or twenty minutes by horse by Link's estimate. Link closed his eyes and focused the small amount of energy he had recovered from his brief reprieve on the shore. Like so many times on his adventure, he drove the pain away from his mind. He had a job to do. It was a method he had taught himself during his fight against the Calamity several years ago. Times when he was in pain but needed to continue to push beyond his limits to finish the fight with whatever monster he was facing. It was borrowed time, he knew, and the pain would return with even greater ferocity than before. But he needed to get Zelda out of the lake, and he simply could not do it at the moment. So, with another deep breath and a clear mind, Link bent down to pick up Zelda. He lifted her as gently as he could, cradling her in his arms, and began to walk out of the shore and onto the field, limping slightly as he went.

Death Mountain loomed in the distance, no longer emitting gloom from its crater, and Zonai ruins remained scattered around the field. Dozens of lavender flowers grew nearby, and from the soft glow of the early morning sun the little flowers seemed to become more vibrant than ever. Birds flew overhead. The quiet sounds of nature were the only thing he could hear, and Link began to feel more at peace. He carried Zelda ten paces away from the lake when he felt her stir. Surprised, he slowly and gently lay her on the grass and knelt beside her as best he could with his leg.

Zelda's eyes gave a twitch before they slowly opened. She glanced around briefly before seeing Link and immediately rolled to sit up next to him. He confirmed his earlier observations that she did not appear injured. She certainly did not act like it, more just confused about where she was and what had happened. Which is to be expected, he thought.

"Link?" Zelda said softly, almost as a whisper, "how are you…" Her voice trailed off as she looked away, thoughts beginning to race in her mind as she replayed the last of her memories from the past. She felt for the Zonai secret stone she wore around her neck. The same tear-shaped stone which amplified her own powers and had sent her tens of thousands of years into the past, to the time of Hyrule's founding. She also remembered her last sacrifice, swallowing her secret stone while clutching the broken Master Sword and turning into the Light Dragon, before her consciousness began to slip away and she entered her long slumber. "But I was…"

Zelda looked up at Link, first noticing the Master Sword in its scabbard on his back. The sword seemingly noticed that the princess was gazing upon it, for it then chimed in response. Zelda breathed a sigh of relief, "It reached you…after all." Her sacrifice had not been in vain. All of those years spent as the Light Dragon, slowly healing and filling the Master Sword with golden, sacred power, it had all been worth it. The second thing she noticed as she looked at Link was his arm. It's eerie blackness extended all the way up his arm and reached his right shoulder in a pattern that reminded her of the Zonai. Her eyes lingered as she studied it further. It looked so familiar….Oh! I know where I've seen that before, it's Rauru's arm! The same arm that remained when Link and I traveled under Hyrule Castle and saw Ganondorf for the first time. It had seemed like a lifetime ago when that happened.

Rauru must have used the last of his power to save Link's arm, Zelda thought sadly. She had seen the way Ganondorf's gloom burned and destroyed Link's right arm, the way it brought her mighty hero to his knees. He was at his full strength, and Ganondorf at his weakest had defeated him and the Master Sword so easily. That memory was what spurred her to take action in the distant past. Ganondorf…The Demon King… He was so powerful. Wait, if Link and I are both here, then…

A sudden realization hit her and she gasped, her eyes growing wide. "He's gone…The Demon King…I'm not in a dream, right?" Tears threatened to spill and her voice began to waver, relief and joy showing on her face.

"You did it. Oh, Link, you really did it!" She gave him a teary-eyed smile. All of their efforts and sacrifices had paid off in the end. In the distant past, after their final battle and Ganondorf was sealed along with King Rauru, Zelda worked to turn the odds in their favor. To help prepare Link and assist him as much as possible for his quest to defeat the Demon King Ganondorf. With the help of the past sages too of course. And now, finally, he was gone. The scourge that had plagued Hyrule with evil malice since its founding; Ganondorf was finally gone.

Zelda was so overcome with joy, and her mind raced to catch up with her, that she did not notice the way Link struggled to keep himself upright, how his breathing had increased ever so slightly. He was running out of time, but he refused to rest now. Not when Zelda finally woke up from her age-long slumber.

Zelda looked down at her Hylian form and struggled to find the words she kept thinking about, "But how am I…"

When she first began to awaken from her slumber, she had felt something. Something that sparked within her and had woken her up. She tried to remember what it was, thinking hard back to that moment. "Oh!" She suddenly recalled the feeling, and when she did, she stood up on shaky legs.

Zelda nearly forgot what it was like to stand on two legs; it had been thousands of years since she last did so. Link stood on his own shaky legs for a different reason, but he was still prepared to catch her if she faltered. They looked up to Hyrule Castle, still suspended in the air by a column of hardened gloom and rock, and watched the waterfalls cascading over the cliffs dissipate into the surface below.

"No, I understand. I had been sleeping all this time. But when I felt something…like a warm, loving embrace, I woke up."

Link watched as a flock of birds flew over the castle, the sun shone down its brilliant rays of light across the kingdom. He turned away and looked at Zelda instead. She wore a smile with tears in her eyes, ones that threatened to fall down her cheeks but did not. Link gave a small smile too. He was so glad to know that she had felt their love, his love, for her. And that it was love that had brought her back to her original self. Zelda slowly closed her eyes.

"Thank you."

She turned to face Link, still wearing the same beautiful smile, "Link, I met such wonderful people. I saw Hyrule as it was."

Link could hear the excitement in her voice as she said, "I have so much to tell you. So much happened!" Link reminded himself to tell her later that he had seen her memories that the Light Dragon had scattered around for him to find. He didn't know if she had done that consciously, or if it was through her sheer will that the Light Dragon was able to depart her memories into its tears.

Zelda took a deep breath and blinked through the tears that now rolled down her face. "Oh, Link…I'm home!" She gave him a wide, warm smile that melted Link's heart.

He could contain himself no longer. Link closed the gap between them and embraced Zelda, finally, by wrapping his arms around her shoulders. All of the stress of losing Zelda and worrying if she would ever return to him began to dissipate as his own tears began to well in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. Link couldn't even remember when the last time he had cried was. He didn't cry in any of his memories as a champion when the Calamity had destroyed Hyrule and took the lives of his friends and family. He didn't cry when he had saved Zelda from her 100-year battle with the Calamity and she had returned to him. Only now, after he had discovered his feelings for the Princess, did he feel true relief and joy from her safe return. All of the pent-up anguish and sorrow he had felt ever since he had failed to catch her on that day under Hyrule Castle caught up to him in a rush in this moment. He tightened his hold on Zelda and nuzzled his face into her hair, relishing in the fact that she was safe.

She's here in my arms.

Zelda was caught off-guard from Link's sudden embrace, but returned it quickly by wrapping her arms around his waist. She felt the wetness on her hair and gave a small gasp in shock. Never in their time together had she ever witnessed Link cry. She felt touched by this act that may be seemingly innocuous to most, but she knew the weight of it and understood its meaning. She knew Link would have been worried and had probably covered every corner of Hyrule to try and find her. She was so glad she had someone like Link in her life, and she promised herself then and there that she would not take it for granted. Zelda already knew she loved Link, and now to see him show real emotions for her made her heart soar. She rested her head on Link's shoulder and gave a contented sigh.

Zelda felt Link sway in her arms, and finally noticed the way his body shook. She broke their embrace and held him out at arms-length with her hands on his shoulders. Concern replaced the smile on her face. "Link? Are you alright?" She saw Link's eyes widen before squeezing shut, the last of his tears spilling from his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.

His time ran out. The pain from his earlier battle and of his fall in the lake suddenly rushed back to him, and Link felt it all at once. He gasped in surprise and pain before his left leg gave out from under him. He collapsed down but managed to catch himself on his hands and knees. His eyes remained shut as he shuddered from the massive headache that seemed to explode in his skull. He could feel the gash on his leg bleeding through his make-shift bandage.

No, just hold on a little longer! We have to make it back to Lookout Landing! Link heard Zelda call his name faintly in the distance.

When did she get so far away from me? he thought. He fought to hold on to his slipping consciousness, but it was a lost cause. He felt his body sway once more before his arms gave out and he collapsed fully on the ground where he could feel no more.