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A horrible cry emitted from Zelda’s lips as she saw her beloved hero flung across the castle ruins and hit a pillar of stone. His fairy, Navi, frantically flew above him shouting out his name telling him to get up as the giant, horrifying creature that was Ganon loomed closer to him. The beast's pace was slow and weak, blood oozing out of his mouth and wounds as he kept exhaling shallow breaths.
Clenching her hands into fists she ran through the hot flames, not caring if they scorched her skin, and stood in front of Link. Summoning every ounce of magic and strength she bore, Zelda shot at Ganon with a beam of light that radiated like a thousand suns. The beast shrieked in agony, its skin burning from the divine light as it stumbled backwards and fell onto its back with a large resounding thud.
Letting out an exhausted breath, Zelda steadied herself on a large piece of rubble before turning around to look at Link.
And what she saw made her blood run cold.
There was a large gash across his chest, his tunic soaked in red and torn in pieces while his skin turned paler by the second. His once golden blonde hair was now marred with dust and dried blood.
“Link!” She cried out, his body unresponsive to her call. The princess gently lifted his torso and placed him on her lap, his head in her hands. “Nononono, please talk to me Link, please,” she pleaded.
But he said nothing, only small, short breaths as he tried to fight death.
She looked into his pouch hoping to find some potions, a fairy, anything that could heal him. But only found empty used bottles.
“No,” she sobbed. Zelda looked into his eyes, those gorgeous azure eyes that she once found herself lost in so often, were now pale and in pain. There was so much that she wanted to tell him, so much that he needed to know, but now as she held him close to his final moments she couldn’t find the words. She rested her forehead against his, tears streaming down her face as she leaned down to meet his lips with hers.
“I love you,” she told him. She didn’t expect him to say it back, but to her surprise she witnessed him, with whatever strength he had left, hoarsely whisper, “We’ll see each other again, my love.” He gave out a horrible-sounding cough, and then closed his eyes.
Navi who was laying on his chest where his heart lay, looked up to her and turned from her usual cerulean to a deep shade of blue. And in that moment the world had stopped for Zelda. Cradling Link’s body in her arms, she cried into his neck whispering an infinite amount of “I’m sorry” to him.
She didn’t know how long they stayed there. To her it felt like an eternity. Hyrule’s hero and hope was gone. Her hope and love was gone. All of her dreams of spending a lifetime with him, loving him and being happy- ceased to exist.
“It's all my fault,” she lamented, “I should have never tried to rule the Sacred Realm, I should have just tried another way to stop Ganondorf. I shouldn’t have even gotten you involved. Then maybe you could’ve.…” her voice choked out another sob. Navi flew closer to her, nestling on her shoulder for support.
“We’ll see each other again, my love.” His last words echoed in her mind. Something had stirred within her soul when he said it. As if a secret, or a long distance memory of a lifetime past had resonated within her.
Zelda kissed his forehead, now cold instead of the warmth she had felt moments prior and looked up to the sky.
“I’ll see you soon.”
She will see him again. Even if their minds forgot and their faces changed anew for a new life. Their souls would remember.