Chapter Text
The journey was rough and hard, even with her dragon construct and Rauru helping her (he had some fascinating abilities still within his ghostly body), but Zelda somehow managed. If this was anything like Link’s quest after she woke him in the Shrine of Resurrection, he deserved far more accolades than he got!
Wildberry Pie bore her and Teba up through the storm to the WInd Temple, where together they purged it of the monster causing the curse. Similarly, the construct carried her and Sidon up to Wellspring Island, where they slew another monster (this one significantly more disgusting). Then, in the desert, she was carried over the sandstorm and rained hell upon the gibdos, slaying their queen with Riju.
She helped Yunobo who was at his wits end about the mind-altering marbled rock roast, Wildberry Pie’s wings of energy shielding her from the Fire Temple monster’s attacks.
She and her two companions scoured the Depths and wrung as much information out of Kohga and the Yiga clan as they possibly could.
A few lent balloons and good lucks from those at Lookout Landing later, and she was on her way to answers.
Finally, she and the four awakened sages stood in the Light Temple, in front of their respective wall niche. As one, without any need for instruction, they pressed their hands against the symbols inside.
All of the secret stones of the sages began to glow in response, and Zelda felt a tiny part of sealing power rise to the surface. A chime sounded, and glowing green runes flowed across the wall, towards the seam in the middle. The green light flowed up and down said seam and slowly, with a low scraping noise, the two sides of the wall drew apart, revealing the circular sanctum within.
There were gentle and quiet gasps from the sages flanking her as the interior came into view. Now, Zelda hadn’t had any expectations for what would be inside, really, just the presence of Mineru in some way, but she was also unable to hold in a gasp of her own at the sight.
Firstly, the roots of what she could now identify as a Lightroot several times larger than the ones in the deeps twisted its way in from the roof and the terrain that they produced took up most of, if not all of the space inside the sanctum.
Secondly, an enormous construct in stasis with a secret stone upon its chassis sat in front of what looked to be various weapons and armor stands. The weapons and armor seemed to be reacting to the light that the Lightroot was giving off.
However, Zelda’s curiosity regarding that particular phenomenon would have to wait, as there was a third thing taking up space in her mind.
Curled around the roots of the Lightroot (lighttree?) was a Spirit Dragon, fast asleep.
Though smaller than all three Spring Guardians, this dragon was still enormous. Its scales were a gleaming white-silver, and veins of blue-purple light ran in between them. Its stripe of dorsal scales was a bright teal, and the dragon’s spikes and horns were a deep purple. Its horns were intriguing, a set of four. Two large ones that resembled two-point antlers, and a smaller pair below. A golden mane complemented these horns perfectly, and a golden, diamond-shaped gem decorated its brow.
It was beautiful, though not any dragon that Zelda had ever seen or heard record of. Though, she found some kind of disappointment well up, at the slim hopes of finding Link here being dashed.
Teba, with ever sharp eyes spoke up. “On its face, under its eye, are those...?”
Looking closer with the rest of the sages, running down its face under its eye were unmistakable tear tracks, and a puddle sized pool underneath.
“Greetings,” a feminine voice accompanied by the whirring and chiming of construct speech brought their attention over to where Rauru had awakened the construct.
“Sages,” Rauru said, “though she is no longer in the flesh, I would like to introduce my sister, Mineru.”
“You are... the sage of spirit, correct?” Riju asked
“I am. My power is what allowed me to inhabit this construct after my flesh and blood body perished.”
“Woah, goro, you must’ve been in here for a long time!” Yunobo exclaimed.
“Yes, but it was for a great purpose-”
Zelda, though aware she was being rude could not hold her question back longer.
“You have my sincerest apologies for the interruption but I was hoping... that you had some information on where Link was. His message said that you made preparations together so...”
She trailed off as Mineru’s construct head swiveled to look directly at her.
“I understand. Link was someone quite dear to all of you, wasn’t he? He was quite dear to me as well.”
Sidon spoke up, “...was? Please don’t tell me that means-”
Though her construct betrayed nothing of her inner emotions, Mineru’s voice was heavy. “Go place a hand in the pool.” She pointed towards the puddle under the dragon’s eye. “That will tell you the start of what you’d like to know. I will tell you the rest.”
Zelda and the sages all exchanged glances, before Riju knelt down, hand above the pool. “Come now,” she said, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
The rest of the sages followed suit, and together, plunged a hand into the water.
The vision overtook them instantly.
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Link stared at the indigo stone in his hand, the Master Sword splayed across his knees as he sat cross-legged on the floor of what would be the Light Temple’s sanctum once the walls were closed. The rest of the temple would be built to his, Mineru and Sonia’s specifications after...
After.
The Lightroot was finished, a source of sacred light that would last centuries, and Mineru had entered her construct. He knew she was watching, but he valued the obvious privacy she was giving him.
“I know I’ve asked this a thousand times, but we’re sure this is going to work, right?” He addressed his sword.
With a chime that rang in his ears, and a voice in his mind, Fi answered. “And I will answer as many times as you ask, Master. Redundancy is a sign of wisdom in this case. I calculate a 98.92% chance that your plan will succeed. It is a great deal higher than other plans proposed.”
Link closed his eyes and sighed. He knew that this was the best option that they could come up with. Being from the future he knew for a fact that the seal would break, that instructions on how to maintain it would be lost, and Ganondorf freed.
“Are you... Are you okay with this, Fi?” He asked his sword once again.
She, once again, though severely injured, humored him. “I am made as an extension of you, Master Link, to serve and support you. My spirit will be within yours no matter the consequences of what happens. That is enough.” Though her words would sound monotone to anyone else, he feels nothing but love and care from the spot in his chest where their souls are connected.
He didn’t want this. He didn’t want any of this. All he wanted was to dive off waterfalls with Sidon, eat rock roast with Yunobo, help Teba teach Tulin, go sand seal surfing with Riju...
Help Zelda rebuild Hyrule. Teach her to cook. Watch and laugh with her when she and Purah blew up the lab again. Sit under the stars and enjoy the peace they’d bled for.
The hero doesn’t get what he wants though, does he?
He tilted his head back, and squeezed his eyes shut, willing his old royal knight persona to the front.
“Master?” Fi chimed.
“I’m fine, Fi,” Link said, pushing himself to his feet. “I had just hoped... that one hundred years would be enough.” His voice broke at the end, but before he could lose his nerve, he passed the secret stone to his right hand, now pulled free of its sling, the Master Sword to his left, and swallowed the stone.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, he seized as excruciating pain racked his body, originating from the stone heavy in his belly. He clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on the Master Sword. He would not let go. He would not fail.
A dome of blue-white-purple light spiraled out around him and Mineru averted her gaze.
A dragon with a crown of purple horns reminiscent of the Master Sword’s crossguard emerged from the light with a roar.
The dragon circled around the Lightroot, going up, and then going down, weaving around the branching roots. The dragon that was Link then laid down his head, closed his eyes, and went to sleep, a single tear gathering at the corner of his eye.
Zelda came back to herself with a gasp, as if coming up from underwater, tears in her own eyes. Around her, she could see shock in the rest of the sages’ eyes, though she paid them no mind. She raced up to the great dragon’s head.
“Link, open your eyes, wake up, please!” she begged, hands on his muzzle. Link did not respond.
“Mineru, I think I speak for all of us when I say this,” Riju said, placing a hand on Zelda’s back as she cried, “what in the name of all that is above and below did we just witness?”
Mineru, voice full of grief, told them of draconification.
“But why?!” SIdon exclaimed, eyes free of tears, for Zora did not cry, instead the biolumensicent patches along his gills flickering with distress, “why would he do such a thing?!”
Mineru sighed deeply, though Zelda couldn’t imagine it brought her any relief. “He did it to give us a fighting chance. Let me explain.”
“When Link came to us all those years ago, he recognized Ganondorf. Whether by his power or face, I don’t know. He knew that his sword, the Master Sword, was capable of killing Ganondorf, for not only did it tell him that it had done so before, but he had witnessed even the tiniest shard of it cut through the Demon King’s miasma.”
Zelda nodded with the rest of the sages, tears still flowing down her face, unable to remove a hand from Link’s muzzle.
“But, how does that information help, goro, if Link isn’t here anymore,” Yunobo blubbered out, his own face covered in (very salty) tears.
“That is exactly the conclusion Link came to. He knew that the Master Sword could and would repair itself and grow stronger if bathed in sacred light, but that it would not matter if he was not here in the future to wield it. Even if a new Hero was born, that hero would not have the time to grow in time to face the Demon King. But,” Mineru stated gravely. “He thought of a loophole.”
“Loophole...” Teba remarked quietly. His eyes were tense and grieved but he did not cry, and nor did Riju, for the loss of water was unforgivable in the desert. One of Riju’s hands had been tight around one of her scimitars and the other had not left Zelda’s shoulder.
“Yes, a loophole. The Hero’s spirit and the Master Sword’s spirit resonate with each other, so much so that it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Two parts of a whole, so to speak. That resonance of spirit is how they recognize one another, and why the Hero is allowed to wield the sword, and any others are not. Let me ask you now, what if there was no spirit, no mind or heart left within either of them?”
Zelda could not help crying harder at those words, even as her mind whirled. It was RIju who answered in the end, though.
“Would it mean... that anyone would be able to wield the sword?”
“Yes, that is exactly what it would mean. When Link swallowed his stone, he and the Master Sword became one. His whole body now has the properties of it, and by sleeping under this Lightroot until now, all of him has been charging with sacred light.”
Mineru stepped to the side and gestured behind her. “Over these many years, I have constructed armor and weapons from his scales, horns, claws, fangs... As he requested of me. When we go to fight the Demon King, we go with both the power of Link and his sword with us. He sacrificed all he had to arm us. ”
Though she could not stop crying, Zelda pulled herself away from Link to see the gifts he had sacrificed to give them.
Full sets of armor composed of gleaming scales, sized to fit the five of them, only needing minor adjustments. And now that Zelda knew what to look for, she could see more scales lining Mineru’s construct.
Dual scimitars made of claw with hilts of zonaite. An enormous single edged sword that could also be used as a club carved from horn. A trident with a shaft of horn and prongs of fang. Hundreds of thousands of arrows with heads of glowing spike, next to a bow of claw and...
An elegant rapier, styled after the ones that Hylian queens would carry, one that Zelda had argued with her father to learn to use between her prayers. One that she was more familiar with the theory of wielding, rather than the practice. But. This rapier was carved from Link’s horn, with his scales adorning the zonaite hilt. With what he had done to bring this weapon to her... she would not fail him.
She took the rapier in shaking hands, and could feel in her very being, that her sealing power would be amplified through it.
Turning to face the sages, she wiped her tears away, suddenly angry rather than devastated. “We must make preparations immediately. Once we are ready, the Demon King will fall. We will not let Link’s actions be in vain. We must save the kingdom he loved so much.” She held her rapier aloft. “FOR LINK!” she cried, and received a repeated chorus in return.
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Preparations were made in record time, the lot of them clearly chomping at the bit to avenge their dear friend, and they were off to the chasm surrounding Hyrule Castle.
Wlldberry Pie carried Zelda down, while Teba carried Riju, Mineru (whose construct had some manner of thrusters integrated into it) carried Sidon, while Rauru carried Yunobo (Zelda still questioned how ultrahand worked).
Any gloom that came anywhere near them flinched away from their armor as if burned, and throughout the catacombs that started it all, monsters fell when facing their weapons. Zelda, herself hung back with Teba upon her dragon construct’s back, launching beams of sealing magic from her rapier much like Link would have.
They cut through a veritable army, with none of Ganondorf’s power reaching them, until they reached the demon himself.
Zelda was much too angry to listen to his boasting, and so she did not allow him to, ordering Wildberry Pie to fire, beginning the fight.
Ganondorf was strong and fast, and gloom followed in his footsteps and arced along his weapons.
But the sages were skilled, and had each other. Calling out attacks, blocking strikes, setting up their own counters, they met Ganondorf with the fury of dragons behind them. The gloom that Ganondorf sent towards them spattered uselessly against their armor. His swords, clubs and spears cracked when they met the weapons made of the body of their friend.
Nothing that Ganondorf did could harm them. Link’s final gift to those he loved.
Finally, in sheer desperation and rage, Ganondorf ripped his stolen stone out of his crown and swallowed it.
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Held within the teeth of the Demon Dragon with Wildberry Pie having been bitten in half, Zelda could hear the cries of the sages from within the monster’s claws. Her armor protected her from the sheer manevolence roiling off the horrible beast’s body, Zelda’s mind is brought painfully back to a place within what used to be her home.
Holding a monster back for a hundred years, its presence raging against her being, sheer hate pummeling against her, burning cold and hot, and so so violating, no reprieve, not ever-
In her distress she cries out with all she is for the person who brought her out of that nightmare.
And from the distance she hears a roar.
To her utter disbelief and sparking hope, she sees a dragon in the distance, flying from the direction of the Great Sky Island. A dragon with horns invoking the Master Sword’s crossguard. Link reaches them in seconds, and to her terror, the Demon Dragon drops her when it opens its mouth to snap at him, but he dodges nimbly and-
Faster than her mind can process, Link slashes at the claws holding the sages, catching them in his own, and diving for Zelda.
He catches her on his nose, and swoops down, depositing the sages on the ground, before spriralling back up into the sky, Zelda holding onto his fur for dear life. “LINK?!” she cries out incredulously, not daring to hope- She both hears and feels him make a rumbling croon, looking cross eyed at her sitting on his nose. He then looks up at the Demon Dragon, eyes narrowing.
Zelda gasps as a memory fills her mind, though not from her perspective. It’s Dark Beast Ganon, her power tearing holes in its form that Link can attack with the Bow of Light. Him drawing back the string-
She understands, exactly what Link is asking her to do.
Link flies along the Demon Dragon’s sides, much too fast for it to attack, and Zelda uses her power to tear vulnerabilities open along its body. Link then rakes his claws, shining with the Master Sword’s power across them. The Demon Dragon is beginning to slow, and so Zelda is able to tear a bigger spot, on the monster’s neck. Link takes his cue and-
Sinks his teeth into the Demon Dragon’s neck.
The dark monster screechs in agony, and Link shakes his own head, tearing deeper, before bringing his claws up and slashing down the Demon Dragon’s body as he lets go.
The Demon Dragon, gloom and light pouring from its wounds, cannot hold itself together, and it bursts in a cascade of light. Link roars triumphantly.
Gently, their victory secure, Link bears her down to the ground, where she gives his muzzle a great big hug, “Oh Link, thank you, you’ve saved us!” When she pulls back, however, she is filled with great alarm, as he appears to be having trouble keeping his eyes open. “No, Link please stay awake, please stay with me!” Link croons sadly at her, as she hears the sages approach.
But then. Eerie silence. She looks around, and she and the rest of the sages are floating in some sort of green expanse. She sees Rauru and what must be Sonia floating above them. She feels, more than hears the previous queen of Hyrule speak.
Lend us all your strength and focus on your wish to see Link restored. I will do the rest
Zelda swallows, then reaches a hand out towards Link, floating in front of them with his eyes closed. “With all my heart,” she says.
Next to her, Sidon lifts his hand, “with all my heart,” he repeats.
Raising her hand, “with all my heart,” Riju agrees,
Teba, tears running over his feathers, extends a wing, “with all my heart,” he manages.
Yunobo reaches out as well. “With all my heart, goro.”
Mineru, with both hands and grief and guilt in her eyes proclaims, “with all my heart.”
And with the sound of a clock running backwards, a miracle occurs.
Link and his sword clenched in his hand, whole and hale, hylian once more, drops from where he once was a dragon.
Teba shouts and immediately flies to catch him, bringing him down to where the rest of the sages are waiting.
They all circle him, daring not to breathe as he scrunches his eyes and opens them.
“Te...ba? He looks up at the owner of the wings holding him then around at the rest of them.
“Riju? Sidon? Mineru? Yunobo?” His eyes fall on Zelda.
“Z-Zelda?” He sits up. “Oh please don’t let this be a dream...”
“Oh my friend,” Sidon says joyfully, surging forward and gathering Link in a hug, “it isn’t a dream. You’re home!”
Everyone else follows suit, laughing tearfully and embracing LInk. From within the hug pile Link agrees, with so much emotion in his voice. “I’m home.”