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Art by Fabianrensch on Deviantart

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The cheerful call of morning birds roused me from my slumber, gently bringing me back into the land of consciousness with their song. Link's heartbeat quickly reminded me of where I was. I sighed and turned my face back to his bare chest, not wanting to move or wake him. Instead, I laid in wait, listening to his soft breathing and watching his chest rise and fall in tune with my own.

My gaze turned upwards towards his face as I pondered what had occurred the night before. Typically, I'd question what the hero had to say about me... or us. I'd tell myself that I was never who he was aiming for, or that he'd reunite with the princess as soon as we were finished here... But this time I knew.

I knew he felt exactly the way I did, and no amount of agonizing and criticizing myself was going to change that. I couldn't help but break into a grin when I finally reached this conclusion. It felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders, no longer using me as its beast of burden.

I held onto these thoughts and feelings as I examined my hero. He fussed a bit in his sleep as I watched him. I could see his eyes dart beneath his eyelids, his lashes fluttering for but a second. I ran my thumb gently across his cheek and once across his lips. As my fingertips graced over his face, his features seemed to relax as he slowly returned to resting peacefully. I placed a gentle kiss against his neck as I settled back down, closing my eyes and attempting to lull myself to sleep once more.

But sleep didn't come. Not even light rest would visit me now that I'd woken up. My thoughts had already shifted to our next task... Battling Calamity Ganon.

Stress clawed at my throat as I swallowed nervously. Until now, our final battle had felt so far away. Though my journey felt long, I couldn't help but feel that it hadn't been long enough. Surely, we weren't closing in on our final battle. But to think that was to deny the truth. That milestone we'd set out for so long ago was closing in, and the mere thought of what awaited us kept me tossing and turning.

Finally, I decided to stand up. I needed to catch my breath and cool down. Link didn't need to be bothered by my musings. Besides, if they were correct, he was going to need all the rest he could get.

I sighed and plucked my cloak from the ground, shrouding myself from the chilly morning air. Alas, my toes were still left freezing as I wove them through the green grass below. I didn't mind much, as the feeling of damp dirt against my feet made me feel grounded whilst my swirling thoughts had made me feel distant.

Looking out over the cliffside, a feeling of serenity washed over me. The view was gorgeous. Under my feet lay the flowers of the field, illuminated by the young light. The sun, having just risen over the horizon, made everything look shiny and gold. Its warm rays shone and reflected off of the great red-leaved trees below. I could only hope that we'd be able to see the sunset again, when all this is over.

I wasn't left alone for long as strong

arms enveloped my body. I smiled softly as I felt their owner lay his head down in the crook of my neck. Blonde hair tickled my chin as his hands wandered. One stayed securely at my waist. The other rose up to my cheek, turning it slightly so he could greet me properly.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course. What made you so concerned?"

"You seemed worried." I shook my head. "Just enjoying the view," I said, nodding towards the sight ahead of us. "And the atmosphere too," I finished, having noticed the maple like smell of crisp leaves rising up from the forest below. Link didn't seem to fully buy my excuse.

"Sure, sure," he responded, pulling the cloak from my shoulders and replacing it so that both of us could share in its warmth. "So you aren't thinking about where we're headed next?" he said, knowing exactly where my mind had wandered. As his spoke, his confident care seemed to diminish. He was just as nervous as I was despite his attempts to hide it.

I sighed and lifted his hand to my cheek, holding it there gently. "You got me... But how could I not? We have no idea what we're in for." Link nodded. "I know, but we can't afford to think like that. We just need to prepare and head out when we can..." He trailed off slowly as my gaze remained focused on the ground. "Hey..." He lifted my chin in his fingers. "We've beaten everything up to this point. This won't be any different."

"Yeah, you say that now but-" Link cut my thoughts short as his lips met mine yet again. He pulled away after a while and smiled. "We're going to be okay," he said, locking his blue eyes with my (e/c) ones. "Now come on, we're going to need to stock up before we set out," Link announced, gesturing to the Sheikah Slate on his belt. I immediately went to finish dressing whilst he did the same. Afterwards, I grasped one of his hands gently and held the Sheikah Slate up for him to use. He selected a location to teleport to and watched as we shone with blue light.

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"I'll take all three please," I said, extending a hand full of rupees to the arrow saleswoman of Kakariko Village. "All three of them?" Rola said curiously. "That's the most business I've gotten in quite a while.... I don't think I remember the last time I had a customer in here!" I smiled, politely upholding the conversation. "Oh?"

"Yes, yes. Young folks don't have much use for bows around here," she said sadly. "Well then, its fortunate my partner and I stopped by."

"Partner?" she asked curiously. She'd already taken the rupees from my hand and was watching me collect the arrows. "What kind of partner are we talking about?" I turned to her. She was grinning quite a bit. I couldn't imagine that there was much gossip to go around this town. "A lover," I said surely, not wanting to leave her hanging. Her smile widened. "Ah! How exciting! Where did you two meet? What's this lucky lad's name? Have you had your first kiss yet?" She was rattling off questions faster than I could answer. I raised my hands and gestured for her to calm down.

"Sorry, but I have to get going. There's something we need to take care of." She looked disappointed, but didn't keep me waiting. I turned to leave until I caught sight of a few bundles of ice and fire arrows laying by the door. With a nervous laugh, I purchased a few of them as well. The saleswoman stared at me suspiciously, no doubt wondering what kind of activities we had in mind. "I can't imagine what you're doing with all these, but I can't complain!" She said with a laugh. I nodded and let myself out, hoping to find Link and share what I'd bought.

He was just where I'd left him, keeping watch over a cooking pot. I sat by his side and lifted the quiver he'd left on the ground. I felt his eyes on me as I replaced the arrows we'd lost to past enemies. "What is it?"

"O-Oh! Nothing," he said hurriedly, his staring having gone unnoticed by himself. I smirked, my eyes shifting to his nervous form. I appreciated how even after experiencing his moments of confidence, I could still make the boy flustered. "Keep your eyes on the food," I said with a laugh. "We're going to need our strength and I'd rather not get it from burnt steak."

Link turned back to the pot before glancing back at me, his eyebrows knit in worry. "We'll be fine," I said, offering him the comfort he'd extended to me before. Regardless of how hard we tried, an awkwardness settled over us. The fear of that daunting task ahead of us weighed over us, feeling impossibly heavy. Butterflies seemed to be in my stomach all throughout our meal as I forced myself to eat something.

Link rose to his feet and adjusted his armor before extending a hand to lift me up. He took the Sheikah Slate from his belt once again and stared down at our map of Hyrule. I leaned over to watch his decision making. "What's the plan?" I asked, eager for some sort of structure to our attempts.

Link took a breath and drummed his fingers against the case of the slate. "I suppose we'll need a way to get into the castle. Going in on foot doesn't seem like a great idea." His finger hovered over a shrine situated near a stable. "I came across this place after leaving Zora's Domain. There's quite a large field between it and the castle, but it's the closest we can get if we'd like to go on horseback." I nodded. It'd been such a long time since I'd relied on my horse, (H/n). I could only hope that nothing bad would happen to either of our mounts as we traveled into the most dangerous part of Hyrule.

"So we get our horses, and then what? Just ride right in?" Link was going to shake his head, but hesitated. "W-Well, I wish I could say we had a better option... but how else are we supposed to handle this situation? I'd like to stop and analyze the paths we could take, but we don't have a map of the place on us, nor do we know what enemies will be there waiting."

"You're right. It just seems dangerous. But I guess there's no safe way to go about this," I said, pulling at the fabric of my cloak in apprehension. Link caught sight of my nerves. "We don't have to do this right now... A-Are you sure we're ready for-"

"No, Link. We've kept the world waiting for 100 years. Whatever is through those castle doors.... We can handle it." He watched my carefully for a few moments before sighing. "Alright, alright. It's about time we set off then, isn't it?" Link selected the shrine next to the stable he'd mentioned and took my hand in his.

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"Hi sweetheart!" I said with a smile, running my hand over my horse's side. It'd been such a long time since I'd seen her. Her cheerful whiny brightened my mood, despite my knowledge of what we were about to do. I couldn't wait to see her again after all this struggle. I was going to owe her quite a few apples after this quest.

Link came to my side, already on horseback. He pulled on the reins of his rust-red mare. I grinned up at him and ran my fingers through the horse's white mane. "Feels great to be back in the saddle," Link said matter of factly. "I'd rather not walk across these plains alone."

I gave him a nod to show my agreement as I lifted myself into (H/n)'s saddle. "What'd you name your horse anyway?"

"Epona. Pretty isn't it?" I smiled again. "Now, we should get going," the blonde said. "You're going to have to lead the way. You're holding the map, after all." Link's hands reached for the Sheikah Slate. "'Course." He lifted it and placed a marker atop Hyrule Castle. It was about time we returned.

Link started first, galloping out across the fields. I watched his body, framed against the blue sky, for a few moments before urging (H/n) to follow his lead. It wouldn't be long until we made it to Ganon's stolen domain.

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Not many enemies bothered us on way to Hyrule Castle. At least, not at first. A sort of solemn silence had settled over the soft green landscape. Even Link and I remained silent as we traveled, despite having no reason to. I wanted to use this time. If this was the last time we had to spend together, I wanted to savor it.

'No! I can't think that way!' I chastised myself harshly. I didn't want to give in to Ganon before even encountering the beast. I couldn't act as though we'd already lost. In doing so, I'd be giving the enemy a psychological advantage. That wasn't something we could afford.

Link suddenly brought himself to a halt, signaling for me to do the same. I stopped my horse right next to his, looking out for what had caught his attention. It didn't take long to notice what had startled him.

A guardian, much like the one I'd seen during that Yiga attack quite some time ago, was surveying the land. It seemed like it was half buried in the ground. Its head turned in circles, a single blue eye searching for something to fire a beam of energy at.

At first, I thought the situation wasn't so bad. A single, immobile guardian didn't seem like such a threat. Unfortunately, that guardian was not alone. Though my eyes couldn't possible see all the land around the castle, I still spotted dozens of those menacing machines. Some, like the one closest to us, were trapped in the ground, their legs either buried or ripped from their metal bodies. Others roamed freely, walking much faster than I'd like them to.

To add insult to injury, there were a series of flying sentinels scanning the ground for us as well. They were just like the ones we'd had to handle back on Death Mountain. I wasn't pleased to see them again.

"So... we just... push through?" I asked curiously, knowing Link's answer already. "We have to," he said before seizing my arm. "We need to stick together. If things get too crazy and we can't handle it, we need to be able to teleport out of here. I'm not going to risk losing you," he spoke surely. I nodded, knowing he'd take comfort in my agreement right now. He knit his eyebrows together and turned from me, lowering his head as he readied himself to cross into the castle grounds. As soon as I did the same, we took off, racing at full speed to any relatively safe spot we could find.

The first few guardians caught onto our presence immediately. A familiar, threatening ticking noise sounded from the machines as they focused in on us. A red laser, probably used by the machine to aim, focused on me and my mount, shining atop my thigh. I listened closely to the sound of the machine, using my hearing to my advantage. Their noises grew faster each time they went to fire, and, of course, their laser beams made a telltale sound that warned me of their aggression. Each time they would shoot at me, I would urge (H/n) to speed up, allowing me to dodge their deadly attacks.

Link caught on to my technique and began to use it himself. It was a wonder that our horses weren't running in fear by now. They were having to dash over rubble and ruin, the grass around them catching fire as the machines missed shot after shot. One fired a laser that flew just above my head. I had to press my face to the mane of my horse to avoid its blast.

Our technique was working quite well, but more and more guardians were appearing around our racing forms. Still, we pushed onwards. I glanced up from my resting place against (H/n)'s neck to admire the castle as we approached. I tried not to break my concentration, but it was hard to not ogle at the great obelisks surrounding Hyrule Castle. Each of them were composed of corrupted Sheikah Technology. They rose up from the ground and hundreds of feet into the air. Each of them faced inwards to the castle, making it look like a fortress.

As we ran by one, we came close enough to irritate Calamity Ganon. Great clouds of purple smoke glowed against the darkening sky, cutting out all light as Ganon roared and circled the castle towers. The fear I'd harbored before increased tremendously as the comforting shades of blue were sucked from the sky and terror shook the land below.

I turned my attention back to my riding. Immediately, I felt something was wrong. As we closed in on the castle, I was forced to run at an angle that made dodging one of the guardians all but impossible. I could sense its target on the side of my mount as I tried to race away from its attack. My efforts were to no avail as a flash of blue struck my horse down and sent me careening towards the ground.

My body hit the ground first, sending a strong ache throughout my limbs. (H/n) had collapsed on top of my lower body. She hadn't hit hard enough to break anything, but the weight of her body kept me from rising up. I pushed against her flank, trying to get her to stand up once more and free me. She didn't budge. Her big eyes remained wide open as she pinned me to the ground.

I began to panic, feeling my heart break as my companion kept me stuck there on the ground. Now that I knew I could no longer hurt her, I pushed against the horse with all my might, determined to free myself from this twisted prison. Tears pricked at my eyes and streamed down my cheeks as I pushed, hearing the mechanical whirring of a guardian approaching my fallen form. Finally, I reached for my bow, knowing I'd need it if I wanted to survive long enough to get help.

I nocked and arrow and turned, focusing on the bright blue light of a guardian eye despite my blurry vision. I shot once, then quickly reloading and shot once again. The guardian's head spun around, stunning it for a few moments. I felt someone's arms wrap around my chest, pulling me out from my place on the ground. Link plucked me up from the grass and jogged towards his own steed, who'd made it to a safe place, an alcove hidden from guardian range.

He set me down and pressed his palms against my cheeks. "Are you alright?" he asked, wiping tears from my face as we knelt by me. I nodded. Besides this aching, I was unharmed. I wish I could've said the same for my beautiful mare.

"We have to keep going then. I'm going to leave Epona here until we can come back for her. She can't take us any farther anyway," Link said, seizing my hand. I followed him out and towards the castle quickly, not stopping to wonder how our positions had changed in this moment.

We came to a sort of ravine that we'd have to cross over. I called upon Revali's Gale to allow us to glide across the obstacle. A waterfall ran down the other side, cascading over the ruins below. We both stared at it for a moment, not seeing any immediate enemies to worry about. After a few seconds, Link took off his shirt.

"Link what the hell are you- oh," I stopped myself as he pulled the Zora tunic over his head. "Come on, we can swim across this way!" he announced, taking off for the water with my hand in his. I pulled away quickly. "You keep going. I'll find a way to climb this cliffside. Scaling that waterfall with another person and a whole array of weapons will be impossible!" Link nodded in understanding and placed a chaste kiss against the back of my hand before diving into the water below. With Zora-like grace, he swam up the waterfall and settled down on the land above.

I turned and examined the wall carefully, running my fingers over the slick, wet surface. I couldn't climb so near to a waterfall, unless of course I wanted to die doing so. Instead, I jogged around, searching for a drier spot to begin. Luckily, I didn't have to go too far.

Still, the wall was incredibly tall. I doubted I could make it up in one go. Instead, I decided to cut my climb in two by using Revali's power once more. I could glide for a bit and then climb the rest of the way until I lifted myself over the cliffside.