Legend of Zelda:
The Ether Blade

By Link-Reborn


Chapter 23

 

"Maltzar! Maltzar!" A musical voice calls in the darkness. I realize it's only my eyelids. I open them. Fi is over me, in her exquisite human form.

"Hey you..." I say softly, brushing a blue strand from her porcelain face. I'm in my human form. She helps me sit up. We are in the courtyard, surrounded by the other tribes. Every Draghan has been slain and all is quiet and somber. Zelda lays Jade down in front of the stone slab in the ground. The three other Links stand by. Char is silently crying and holding up Zuli who is beside himself with grief. Garnet just looks angry.

"He may still be saved," Zelda says, "if you merge into one again."

"But the Four Sword Pedestal is in the forest!" Garnet snaps. "It would take too long!"

"Use this." Zelda touches the slab beside her.

"Will it work?" Garnet asks doubtfully.

"Fi," Zelda lifts Jade's Four Sword. She takes it on his behalf. The four of them stand before the stone and together thrust in as one. Glowing like stars, Char, Zuli and Garnet fall back and into Jade's body. In a flash they are one, and Link lurches, gasping for air.

"Link! Link, look at me!" Zelda pulls him into her lap. Blood is gushing again from his wound. She holds it tight and begins to pray in a quick, desperate voice.

"Hey,"

"What?" She asks, on the verge of tears. Link smiles.

"You are perfect."

"I would have saved you if I was!" She snaps.

"You freed us, you freed everything, and everyone. And for that, I am proud." Tears run from his eyes. "I love you. I love you. I-" And all the breath leaves him.

"Link! Link? LINK! NO- NO! COME BACK COME BACK!" She crumples over him, sobbing painfully. I am in shock. He died. Fi is crying on my shoulder. I pat her, feeling empty.

Suddenly Zelda sits up, her expression is calm as if she has made up her mind on something. She brushes his hair, and kisses his lips. Laying him on the ground, she whispers something to him, then rises to face me and Fi.

"Come," she beckons though her voice is shaking. We rise and come to her holding hands. "I realize how unfair I have been as a Goddess." she says, collecting herself. She takes our hands. "Please accept all I can give."

Something rushes into me, something warm. It rides up my arm and nestles in my chest. Both Fi and I gasp as our blades are extracted from our chests. They hover, glowing. Then suddenly their light rushes into us leaving them dead. They clatter to the ground soulless. I feel different, like a shackle has been lifted off my heart. Fi looks at me and I laugh with joy. Her skin is still pale, but she has brown hair, light brown hair. Her outfit is the same but I can see her breathing. Really breathing. We are human.

Zelda falls to the ground.

"Whoa! Zelda! Hey!" I crouch down. "Zelda!" I shake her. Fi checks her pulse. We wait. She checks again- and again. She listens for her heart and sits up suddenly.

"She's dead!" She gasps.

"What?" I breathe.

"She sacrificed herself," Fi says, her blue eyes shining with tears. "She knew all along she would have to give us her life!" She covers her face, sobbing. "I should have known! I should have stopped her!"

"Hey!" I take her into my arms. "They are together now. Hylia and her hero. They will be waiting for us on the other side."

"How can you be sure?" Fi asks. I touch her chest, now free of the gem that imprisoned her. I can feel her heart beat.

"I just know." I smile, a tear running down my face. "Sheesh." I wipe it away. "Haven't cried in like ever! Not used to this business."

Fi kisses me. We hold each other sobbing hard.



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