Chapter Text
Link dug her heels into her horse’s sides, screaming as the beam of dirty red light cut across Hyrule. Heat roared over Link as she pleaded once again with her exhausted muscles to push just a little longer.
She could feel in her heart that she almost died fighting Ganon’s earlier form. As the cinders blowing through Hyrule Castle burned her throat and eyes, Link’s legs would shake. She had known full well that she hadn’t slept in over a day and that the food she kept pulling out of her pack could never be enough to truly replenish her. She was exhausted even before facing the terrible spidery monster that she had forced into its true form. As she crashed through the field her body cried out for rest in every second.
Link cocked the bow with no hesitation, even as her arms burned. “And I’ll have my rest,” she grunted as she let the arrow fly into the great pig’s belly.
The beast cried out, finally bowing to the ground. As Link repositioned, she saw a great eye open on it’s back. Of all the terrible things that Link had seen and fought, the eye somehow was the worst. It radiated sadness, anger, and malice in a way that Link could never explain, but would never forget.
“That is the core of Ganon’s being! Do what you must, Link” Zelda said. Another line of fire lit the burned Hylian sky. Link felt as though Zelda was flying beside her as she leapt from her horse on the updraft.
Time slowed as she approached the eye of hatred. Waves of heat fell upon her, and, inexplicably, Link felt an overwhelming shame in the mix of rage and ill will. It was almost too much to draw her bow.
“Now Link!” Zelda said from just beside her.
Time snapped back and Link fired. Her aim was true.
She landed near her horse after spotting a drop of white light fly from the beast’s head. She needed to get back in position for the next attack, and rushed to remount.
Link turned around as the injured form of Ganon gave a final great howl, collapsing. A flash of unbelievably bright light engulfed Hyrule field, causing Link’s horse to buck. And then just as quickly as it had appeared, the light was gone. As was Calamity Ganon.
In the middle of the field, stood a figure that Link had only seen in her sporadicly returning memories. She held herself stiffly, as though the act of banishing an ancient demon spirit was not difficult, but standing was. Link dismounted, and approached slowly, not really believing her eyes. The figure turned.
“Hello Link, Hero of Hyrule. I’ve been-”
Link’s horse, feeling emboldened with a new sense of safety, let out an enormous fart.
They looked at each other for a moment before Link started laughing. Zelda stared at her with wide unbelieving eyes before joining in. They both fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. In the silence that nature had fallen into as Calamity Ganon took its final form and its final fall, the sound carried far. A fox who had investigated the sudden quiet startled and ran back into a stand of trees. Little did it know that the world was now safer than it had been in one hundred years.
In the future to come, the field would fill again with animals, plants, and eventually people. The castle would be roused of any remaining threats, and likely rebuilt. There would be difficult choices, danger, and conflict, much sooner than anyone in the realm would like.
But for now, any problems were far away. The world seemed to be holding its breath, content to sit back and watch two Hylians laughing in a field.