This is the last ZelGan story, I promise! i never realized how into writing oneshots I was until posting all of them just now. This one was originally inspired by an episode of HBO's "Band of Brothers." It was my third fanfiction work and was written 3 years ago. Please enjoy and happy reading :)

The blazing orange and reds of the setting sun cast a glow over the trampled, blood-spotted field. Ganondorf, the long-ago King of the Gerudo, was towering over two, smaller figures with a sword pierced straight through his stocky chest.

The trio stood in silence as the evening wind whipped around them. Zelda's hair blew across her face as she solemnly celebrated the victory that Link, the boy hero standing next to her, had just achieved. The hero in question was glaring at Ganondorf with a ferocity that she had not expected on his kindly, passive face.

The wounded man raised his arm and watched as the Triforce of Power, the gift that had been granted to him by the goddesses, disappeared from the back of his mighty hand. His face grew sad as he watched his prized possession depart from him like sand slipping through fingers. Then defeat spread like poison over his hard features. Zelda's heart clenched in slight pity as she witnessed this proud man realize his mortality. Then without warning, his neck snapped back and his golden eyes rolled back sickeningly into his head. He was gone. Yet he continued to stand there in the field. His knees hadn't buckled, nor had his massive form fallen over. It was as though he were a morbid statue frozen to the ground. Zelda thought it was a strange omen that he stayed standing, even in death.

Suddenly, Link turned around and Zelda followed suit to see what had caught his attention. Off in the distance, the four great light spirits were swirling around one another, but then she began to see a fifth figure appear, a darker form that seemed to have the spirits' attention.

"Who is that?" Zelda asked her companion. Link watched the light spirits carefully. The figure that was with them seemed to take on a new shape and the outline of a strange helmet could be seen even from a distance.

The Hero of Light took off at a pace, running as though his very soul depended on him meeting that little figure.

Zelda happily realized that it was Midna, restored from her death by the gracious light spirits. She slowly smiled as Link reached his destination and met the Twilight Princess in her true form. Midna stood taller than Link. Zelda could tell that even from far away.

It was a victorious moment; Ganondorf was defeated, Zelda's place on the throne was recovered, Midna was restored as the rightful Princess of Twilight, and Hyrule was saved. How could it not be a joyous time?

A thudding noise interrupted the musings of the Princess. Zelda practically jumped out of her skin and she turned around to see Ganondorf's body sprawled on the ground. His unseeing eyes were staring up into the sunset and the Master Sword stuck out of his chest with its blue, wing-like hilt high in the air. He had finally fallen.

The pity that had been faintly beating in her heart was now brimming over and causing her eyes to become watery. Zelda wiped her eyes with the back of her gloved hand, but the sadness and sorrow for his life rested in her soul. Where was this even coming from? He was an evil man in life, so she shouldn't even be shedding a single tear over his fate. He brought it on himself.

As much as she wanted to simply walk away and spend the next week celebrating, Zelda knew deep within her heart that she could never do such a thing. The young princess gazed down at her fallen enemy and felt the heavy price of freedom. It had cost her country the death of this man so that they could live in peace. War and fighting were not glorious things. They were horrific and sobering.

Zelda cast all her royal glamour to the side and knelt down in the dust and blood, beside Ganondorf. Nobody would care a whit that he was dead. All his people had been wiped out a century ago, so who was left to mourn him, an evil King? Who would care that he was alone?

She could hear Midna's sarcastic voice in her head, telling her that she was being stupid for crying over the man that tried to take over HER kingdom, but Zelda felt as though it was the decent thing to do. After all, hadn't he also been a mortal, living creature? Had he loved once, long ago before his heart was twisted with power and greed? Maybe his actions in his past life were only to help his people. Perhaps there was more to his story than what met the eye? Zelda turned these thoughts over in her head. Yes, there was a solemn, tragic grace in the victory of war. Death was a heavy consequence for losing, yet causing death was the burden of winning.

Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, reached across the broad chest and heavy armor of the former King of the Gerudo and laid a gentle hand over his heart. She lifted her other hand to his face and let her fingers fold his eyelids closed. Now he was at rest. Zelda sighed as she finished this task and rested her hand against his cheek. Ganondorf's face was still warm to the touch.

"You killed many of my people, long ago," began Zelda in a quivering voice. "You came back and destroyed not only this realm, but also an entirely different one. You used evil magic against me, possessed my body, tricked a foolish man into thinking you were a god, killed the princess of the Twilight Realm, and many countless other evil deeds…" She paused for a moment. Zelda's gaze was locked onto his dead face. "Ganondorf, you do not deserve any remorse." Tears sprang up again in her eyes. "But I am sorry that you had to be destroyed. It never should have been this way. Life was never meant to be taken from anyone." Zelda could hear Midna and Link walking back in her direction. She needed to wrap this up.

"May your soul find redemption…" Zelda finished. She stood up quickly and walked to meet the happy, grinning couple that was holding hands.

A full moon illuminated the field where they were standing. Link, Zelda, and Midna had returned to the battleground that night, only a few hours after the battle, to retrieve the Master Sword from Ganondorf's chest. In their excitement over the defeat of the evil king, they had forgotten all about it and had drug Zelda to Castle Town to celebrate with the rest of Hyrule. It was only because Zelda reminded them of it that they had gone back at all.

"Are you absolutely sure that it was in him? Was it REALLY going all the way through his body?" Midna asked Link, with skepticism lacing her voice. He nodded with a frown on his face and stared with confused eyes at the spot where Ganondorf had fallen. Zelda was masking her shock with silence.

The Master Sword was sticking, not out of the dead King, but out of the hard ground. The blade was embedded deeply in the ground; half of the metal was sticking into the dirt, so the hilt was only a foot over the surface. The body was nowhere to be found. Even the blood where the Gerudo's wound had bled into the grass was gone. Only Link's footprints could be seen traveling in the area where they had sparred. Ganondorf's enormous footprints had been erased from the terrain as if his weight had not crushed the grass as he fought the hero. And here was the great sword, stuck in the field.

Link walked confidently to the blade and wrapped his hands around the hilt. He tugged. He tugged again, and again, and again. The sword did not budge one bit. It was jammed into the ground hard.

"A great amount of force put that blade deep in the dirt, Link," Zelda said calmly as she watched Link wrestle with the sword. He was grunting and sweat was beading on his forehead. Midna was looking at the scene with concern.

"What—in—the—world—" Link huffed as he continued to tug on the sword. "How—did—this—get—so—STUCK?!" At his last word, the sword released itself from the ground just as Link tugged mightily and he fell right on his rear.

Midna sighed and helped Link get to his feet. She dusted off the bits of grass and dirt that was stuck to his forest green tunic. She looked up from her work and her ruby eyes met with Link's sapphire ones. Her heart melted as he gave her a shy smile and his hand warmly folded over hers like a blanket.

Midna was departing tomorrow evening, and she held a secret plan that tore up her heart when she thought about it. The Twilight Princess wanted to enjoy her evening with Link; it was the last time she would see her dear friend. Midna didn't want to spend her final hours in this world pulling swords out of the ground. She wanted to go to some beautiful place in Hyrule and spend the fleeing minutes with her Hero. But the three friends remained at the site, pondering what this new development meant.

"Who did this?" was all that Link asked Zelda.

"I don't want to believe what I'm thinking…" she answered him softly. Zelda closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingers. She felt exhausted. "But we might have to accept that he may be alive…"

Link was agitated. He looked down at the blade and saw that there was no hint of blood on it either. "But I killed him…I ended his life. How could it have been him? You saw me stick him through with my sword, didn't you?"

He was frightened at the prospect of Ganondorf not really being dead. Midna squeezed his hand to comfort him before letting go.

Zelda looked up at the stars twinkling above her. Wisdom told her that evil would be kept at bay for a long time, but it would not be forever. She turned back to Link and with the same hands she had lamented Ganondorf with, grasped his hands and held them tightly.

"He'll be back soon enough. Power will find him again...I think that it already has…"