Epilogue

The sky was blue, and so was the sea.

Slowly, Link opened his eyes, feeling the waves gently toss him. He was lying on a a rather ramshackle raft, apparently thrown together from the remnants of a ship, possibly even his own. There was nothing else in sight, save for the sea and the sky, in all directions, aside from the occasional cloud or seagull. The cries of the latter rang in his ear, but aside from that, there was nothing to be heard either.

"You have got to be kidding me," Link muttered, sitting up. "Yeah, I know it was all just a dream, but it wasn't my dream. I am not a space whale, thank you very much." His grumbling trailed off as something cast a shadow over him from above, and he looked up to see the Wind Fish, slowly soaring across the sky. Looking up at it, he smiled a little, closing his eyes. "Okay. Good. That would have been so cliché it wasn't even funny." Looking back up, he cupped his hands over his mouth. "Hey! Which way is land?"

The Wind Fish didn't speak, but it called back all the same, a deep, fluting noise. It turned in the air, towards Link's right, then turned back to its original path, slowly making its way through the clouds.

"Guess that's all the answer I'm going to get." Link said after a moment. "Well, it'll do. The adventure's over. I'm done." He frowned. "Almost done. One last loose end to tie up." Pulling his sword out, he looked at his own reflection in it, and grunted as he saw that his eyes were jet-black. "Thought so. I know you're there, Fade. We're clear. Now get the hell out."

"Heh." The Lord's voice seemed to come from inside his own head. "Should have known you'd figure it out fast, dummy." His vision went black for a moment, and then Fade's shadow was there, next to him on the raft. "Before you start yelling, I didn't even do anything. I was on board because it was the only way out, that's all. You were the only one who could get off of Koholint alive, so I hitched a ride. Nothing personal."

"Nice try," Link said, glaring at him. "I don't think so. I've noticed that by some amazing coincidence, I only had issues with that stupid Happy Mask Salesman when you were around. I'm still not entirely sure what exactly you did with my Ocarina there, but whatever it was, I don't like it. When Dark Link split up, you got the largest share of your original form's memories. Put that together with how smart you are, and I think you knew exactly what was going to happen, enough to tell Marin about it. For all I know, maybe you even tried intentionally to help it all along."

"Maybe." Fade shrugged, looking up at the Wind Fish. It took Link a moment to be able to respond coherently to that.

"What do you mean, maybe?"

"Look, dummy, you can't have it both ways." Fade's shadow turned to him again. "Either I'm the only one of them who's decent and I set this entire thing up to set Marin free the only way I could because I was in love with her, or I'm a lazy coward who acts like an okay guy in order to manipulate people. It's one or the other, and I'm sure as hell not going to tell you. Make up your mind whether you think I'm a good guy or a bad guy on your own time. I'm sick of all of this. Like you said, we're clear. It's done."

"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" Link asked, shaking his head. "What makes you think I won't kill you, just to be safe?"

"Two reasons," Fade answered calmly. "One, because if you did, you'd be the only one who remembered Koholint Island ever existed. I don't think that big sucker up there really counts. Once you got old and died, nobody would. I don't think you'd want that. And two, because whether I'm good or bad, Marin wouldn't want you to, either way. Call me what you want, but don't try and tell me that girl didn't care about me. You owe her that much, and you know it."

"Maybe," Link repeated quietly. "All right, say I let you live. What are you going to do now, then?"

"Me?" Fade chuckled a little. "Get the hell out of here. I'm heading way far away from this entire mess. From you, from Zelda, and especially from Ganon. I got lucky enough to live through one coach wreck involving you. I'm not gonna push my luck. If I have my way, you'll never see my face again no matter how many times you reincarnate. I'm done."

"Heh." Link closed his eyes. "You saw all that too, then. After I 'died,' so to speak."

"Not all of it." Fade clarified. "But some, yeah. Enough to know that if I ever see some wierdo selling masks, I'd better run for my life. As for what I saw about you, your girlfriend, and my ex-boss... I don't really know if there's anywhere on this world that's far enough away from you to not get caught up in what's likely to happen way at the end of the line, when more than one of you gets real at the same time. But I'm going to do my damn best to find somewhere, all the same."

"Fine," Link said, nodding. "Get out of here, don't ever let me see your face again, and we've got a deal."

"Works for me." Fade looked over to the right. "The wind's blowing you to the east, and so's the tide. There's a shoreline just out of sight, with an easy beach. You should be able to make it, no problem. With any luck, there'll be a Hylian embassy somewhere around there. I'll head off the other way. Do us both a favor and quit the hero business here and now, before things get any worse. You've had enough adventure, dummy. Go back to your home, and your Princess. They're waiting for you."

"And what awaits you, Facade?" Link asked, almost whimsically.

"If I'm lucky?" Fade's face shifted, something in the shadow's eyes changing. "The same as everybody else in life. A chance. That's all I've got any right to ask for, after what I've done. So long, dummy. And hey, remember. It's been real." The shadow flickered away, across the waves, and was gone.

"Always need to have the last word." Link sighed. When he looked up, the Wind Fish had disappeared as well. He was alone on the waves, drifting east, towards land. If nothing else, it gave him time to think. It wasn't like he could have done anything to speed the process along, without oars. Eventually, he washed up on a deserted beach, almost like he had on Koholint. As soon as he'd climbed onto shore, the tide pulled the raft back out to sea, and almost immediately, it vanished completely beneath the waves.

The moment he took the Ocarina of Time from his pack, he sensed that the last traces of its magic had vanished completely. The power within it had been dwindling over the centuries, as with all things of magic, but there had still been a little remaining before Koholint. Now, it was totally gone, leaving the ocarina only a simple instrument, and a rather aged one at that. Raising it to his mouth, he played the Ballad of the Wind Fish one last time as he looked over the waves, back to where Koholint Island once had been. A nearby seagull picked up the tune, almost as if it were singing along.

Then he threw the ocarina into the sea, and began making his way towards where he thought the nearest town would be.

Hyrule's border geography had both advantages and disadvantages. The country was surrounded on all sides by mountains, which were very helpful when it came to repelling unfriendly outside forces, as well as containing the occasional massive force of evil until it could be properly dealt with. The downside was that it made trade extremely difficult, to put it lightly. The current administration, at least, was making efforts to improve on this problem, carving out trails through the mountains that caravan trains could traverse.

It was one of those parties of traders that Link returned to Hyrule with, riding along as a hired sword to protect against bandits and monsters. The work was easy for him, and it kept him busy as they made their way through the mountains. He'd taken a ship to Termina, one of their closest neighbors, before hiring on. In retrospect, that was a mistake. The incident with Majora and the moon had taken place in Termina, and he hadn't particularly needed to revisit those memories considering what had happened only recently.

Regardless, he was finally home. That was what was important. Descending the trail from the east, past the ruins of the Forest Temple, the caravans headed towards Kakariko Town, the main center of habitation in Hyrule. Link collected his pay from the leader and left them when they passed by south of Hyrule Castle, making his way there alone. He hesitated as he passed by Uncle Albert's house, but the old knight would understand. Besides, there was a fair chance he was still passed out from the previous night's drinking anyways.

The first thing he saw was that the Research & Development branch of the Neo Squid Agency was apparently having a field day out in front of the castle. The drawbridge was down, while black-garbed men and women ran amok over it and the grounds, comparing notes and testing various fantastic-looking devices. Those Knights of Hyrule unlucky enough to be on duty were wisely keeping as safe a distance from the rabble as possible while still doing their jobs. Over it all, the Mad Batter presided, a black bow-tie and hat serving as her uniform.

"Less sulfur, you videots!" She was screaming at a couple of them, standing near a blast crater that had previously been a rosebed. "Go back to investing in Betamax!" Her head turned completely around, and she spotted Link, flying over to him backwards. "Oh, it's you. I almost buried you. Except you weren't here, so it would have been an empty coffin. Unless I killed somebody and made him look like you, which would have probably taken more effort than it was really worth. Point is, it would have been a very nice funeral, with flowers and everything."

"Sorry to disappoint you, hag." Link walked past her. "Neosquid and Handy around?"

"Yeah, I went down, down to goblin town and let them know you were back in black a moment ago," the Batter said. Before Link could try to figure out how she'd done so while remaining there talking to him, another Mad Batter opened the front doors of the castle to lead her superiors out. The two Shiekah were looking mildly aggravated, possibly at being forced to go outside while the sun was up.

"All right, Mad, where is... he..." Neosquid's voice trailed off as they saw the first Mad Batter. "That's more than slightly disturbing. I don't think I like the implications." After a moment, they turned their gaze on Link and rushed over, vanishing and appearing next to him in the blink of an eye. "Boss! You're back! What the hell happened there, huh? We tried getting an explanation out of Mad when she tore back in, but... yeah."

"Yeah." Link rolled his eyes. The one thing he wasn't looking forward to about returning home was continued association with her; he'd left before they actually hired her, so he'd never actually done it before. Hopefully, they kept her locked up in the dungeon labs most of the time. "It's a really long story. I'll tell it to you guys later, over a couple drinks where you can write down notes and ask questions. There's some things that I want your guesses on. Right now, though, I really just want to see Zelda. She's in, right?"

"Goddesses, what's wrong with us?" Handy groaned, both of them slapping their faces. "Sorry, boss. We should have thought of that first thing. Yeah, she's in the throne room, holding down the fort. His majesty is sick again."

"Shit." Link closed his eyes. "Is it bad this time?" King Lucas was in his seventies, and overweight as well. The question of when the throne would completely pass to his only daughter was on the minds of everybody working with the government, if not the entire country. He and Zelda had wanted to be married before it happened, for a wide variety of reasons, but they'd waited until after his journeys abroad were finished, for a similar number of reasons. Now, he just hoped that he wasn't too late.

"Could be." Neosquid shrugged. "I don't think it's the big one, though. Not yet, anyways. A couple of the other sages are here at the castle, but I think if this was it, they'd all be camped out. Anyways, Zelda's keeping things running around here, as usual. She's talking with the Zoran ambassador from Labrynna right now."

"I'll wait until she's done," Link decided, walking past them. "Meet you guys in your office in a couple hours?"

"Yeah." Handy paused. "One thing, boss. What happened to your hair?"

"Like I said... long story." Link brushed at his snow-white locks idly. He hadn't discovered the change until one night at an inn, and there were several reasons he could think of for it, none of which he particularly liked. "Trust me, it wasn't my idea. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it's permanent. Think Zelda will mind?"

"She'll just tease you about being a pretty-boy now." Neosquid grinned a little too quickly. "I figure she'll just be glad to see you back, boss."

"Sounds like her," Link admitted. "See you in a few." Entering the castle, he walked through the main hall, stopping outside the doors to the throne room. After a few minutes of waiting there, he changed his plans and made his way around the castle until he crept onto the mezzanine above his destination, hiding behind a curtain and remaining silent. It seemed the audience was concluding; the fishman from Labrynna, a much more pleasant-looking example than the Hyrulian degenerates, was leaving along with his party.

"Until next time, Count," Zelda was saying. Just seeing the Princess, let alone hearing her voice, made Link regret all of the time they'd missed. She was still keeping her honey-colored hair long, but she seemed to have started wearing green dresses instead of her previously favored white. Aside from that, and a few minute stress lines on her face, she looked exactly as she had when he'd departed. Looking up at him, she smiled. "I know you're up there, Link. Come down and greet me like a proper Agent of the Crown, will you?"

"Oh, of course, your highness," Link said, jumping down and landing effortlessly before her before performing a sweeping bow. "Forgive my impertinence." Rising, he looked into her eyes and smiled. "All banter aside, I'm glad I'm home. It's been far too long."

"You've changed," Zelda murmured. "But not too much." Putting her arms around him, she hugged him like a little girl for only a moment, then relaxed and met his eyes again. "Is it true, then? Are you staying this time?"

"It is, and I am," Link promised. "I've paid my dues to the future and done my time for fate. Destiny can take care of itself from now on, until next time. There's so, so much I have to tell you about... but yes. I'm home, Zelda. I'm back, and I'll never leave your side again. It's time for our happy ending. I think by now, we've both earned it."

"Now this looks promising," Fade murmured, solidifying into his human form. He'd arrived on a genuine, one-hundred-percent authentic tropical paradise, by the looks of it. Glancing at a coconut, he snapped his fingers and summoned his axe, then split the nut in two handily. "Boy, is it nice not to have to kill people to do anything any more." Picking up half of the nut, he peeled a piece off the inside and sampled it. "All right. Now I just need to find something to drink, maybe a sympathetic girl or two, and I'm all set for a nice long recovery from that whole mess."

A moment later, he was nailed in the back by multiple blasts of magical energy, blowing him off his feet.

"See, I told you I could track him down again!" Vire, the demon who'd caused so much consternation near the end, cackled happily. "Here you go, just like I said! Cold hard rupees only, please! Hey there, pal! It's Fade, right? Glad to see you made it! Sorry about all this-I don't really have anything against you-but I'm getting paid for it, so!" His four companions were looking decidedly less amused by their catch. Fade recognized them all, to a greater or lesser degree, and every one of them made his blood run cold.

"Silence, fool!" Koume, one of the twin witches on broomsticks, snapped. They were identically hideous hags, with bulging eyes, wrinkled olive skin and only a few jutting teeth. The only difference between them was the constantly flowing magic that sprouted from their heads in place of hair; one had a blaze of fire, the other a crystal of ice. "This is not the prize monstrosity we were assured of capturing! This lowly creature isn't even worth our time!"

"Blame the girl!" Kotake, the other witch, urged her. "She's the one who told us that if we tracked her pet project down, its power would be of huge benefit to us! What do you call this, girl? Is this the best you can do after millennia serving him?"

"Excuse me, ladies," the third figure said apologetically. Fade had only seen him in Link's memories, but he was clearly recognizable nonetheless. Agahnim, descendant of the Sage of Forest, had traded in his Hyrulian garb for completely concealing purple wrappings that gave him a Gerudoish look, which was appropriate, considering his company. "There is something highly amiss with this being's magical flow. I believe-"

"Silence, pup!" Koume snapped. "The question was directed at your superior, who should at least have the wisdom of age by now, unlike you! We'll ask your advice when you've seen at least a thousand years! Until then, keep your opinions to yourself!" She turned her gaze to the last of them, the one who scared Fade the most, despite the fact that the witches were vastly older and more powerful. "Well, girl?"

"This is not the complete Nightmare," Mothula said slowly. Despite her name, she was actually in the form of a violet butterfly, one with a twenty-foot wingspan. Said wings bore the emblem of the Eyes of Ganon, the Forger of Power's lieutenants in the Dark World, upon their orange-and-red surfaces. "This is only a fragment. An eighth of the whole." She fixed her actual eyes, glowing red with fanaticism, upon her erstwhile creation. "Explain yourself, and quickly. Where is the rest of your consciousness?"

"Hey, mom." Fade slowly stood, raising his hands. "You're about a day too late, I'm afraid. Hero boy wiped the rest of 'me' out. I'm the only bit that got away."

"The Hero of Time!" both witches hissed, voices seething with hatred.

"Did he know?" Mothula demanded. "Was the destruction of the rest of you intentional, in order to prevent you from being used by us?"

"Look mom, I don't know what you're doing," Fade pleaded. "I thought you were dead. The kid's memories sure indicated that you were. Guess I should have looked harder at those parts. The, ah, 'rest of me,' as you put it, had some serious issues. They roped him into what was going on there on purpose, and pretty much got what they deserved in the end. I was the only part smart enough to run for it."

"Fool!" Kotake spat on the ground. "If you believe it was truly a coincidence, you've got no reason to brag about your own intelligence. Nothing is a coincidence, with that one. Even if he didn't know, the Triforce did." She and her sister turned away. "Enough of this! We've wasted too much time as it is."

"So I'm free to go, then?" Fade asked hopefully.

"I think not." Mothula seemed to smile, despite her lack of much of a mouth. "You may still be of use to us. Perhaps with enough study of you, I may be able to discover a way to resurrect the rest of you from the void in time." She glanced at the witches. "With your permission, of course, miladies. Even if I do not succeed, his power is still substantial enough to be a low-ranking member in our... enterprise."

"Do as you wish." Koume rolled her bulging eyes. "So long as you do not waste any more of our time. Catch up whenever you're done, and bring it along if you want to. We're returning. Come, Vire."

"Whatever you say, bosses." Vire saluted lazily, having watched the entire debacle with a look of amusement. "See you around, new guy. Anyway, just so we're clear, I am still going to get paid the full amount, right?"

"Well, welcome to the team," Agahnim said with a shrug as the witches and the demon flew off, arguing with each other. "You may have gathered that we're not exactly at the top of the ladder ourselves, Nightmare. Let's be friends, shall we?"

"Better to have them than not, I guess," Fade agreed reluctantly. "The name's Facade. Call me Fade, huh?"

"Perhaps you are wise, after all," Mothula murmured. Her wings seemed to fold in on her, and she transformed, becoming the beautiful Gerudo warrior she had been before her banishment to the Dark World. Despite her humanoid form, her eyes were still as frightening as before. "You may be a pitiful remnant, but you are still my creation, Fade, and I will take very good care of you. Be a good boy, hm?"

"I know when I'm trapped." Fade spread his hands, sighing. "I'm not dumb enough to try and make a run for it, trust me. So let me in on the story, huh? What exactly is this 'enterprise' that's got a crew this motley working together?"
"Come, come, there's no use playing the fool." Agahnim chuckled. "You're a smart boy, and you already know enough to figure it out rather easily. If you think the five of us are a divisive gathering, wait until you meet everybody else. We've got quite a crowd assembled, and we're still just beginning, so we're recruiting." He glanced at Mothula. "How long were we planning on waiting before we got started, again?"

"However long it takes for our enemies to perish," Mothula said, smiling. "I know Link and Zelda. They'll allow themselves to die from natural causes, like last time. As soon as they're back in the ground, we can begin searching for the necessary magic without fear of them discovering our activities. It will likely take many more decades, perhaps even centuries, and they may reincarnate by then, but we can't take the risk of acting while they're still alive. Once they're gone, however... then, we will proceed with our goal. The resurrection of Lord Ganon."

"Why am I not surprised by this?" Fade shook his head. "It's like I keep telling everybody. I just have no luck at all."

Author's Note

Where to begin? It's starting to get to the point where these little after-the-fact scribblings are starting to seem redundant. Formulaic, even. How much do I really have to say at this point that hasn't already been said? Yet here I am, regardless. Enough faux-introspective bullshit, then; this isn't the time or place for such things. I've written this story, and I'm happy with how it turned out. That's what's important, in the end. Everything else is just killing time until the world goes bang. Moving on, then, it's time to proceed to something that's actually worth people's time to read. Namely, feedback to any questions that haven't already been answered.

Sorakage Sama and Rogue both asked if I would be writing any more Zelda, a couple of titles in particular. The answer to that is no, I'm afraid; there's only so long I can keep writing fanfiction before I want to try to get my own work published, for one thing, and I still have several other projects waiting for me. For another, my relationship with the canon timeline is-in what's become a rather distressing trend-less than amiable. Let's just say I'm not in favor of the "split timeline" idea without going into further detail. I try to keep my personal opinions out of this as much as possible.

On that note, Maximus asked about said timeline, or at least my interpretation of it. Specifically, in regards to the Oracle games. As the Epilogue hopefully clarifies, "my timeline" puts those after this one, followed by the two NES games. Wind Waker's Link, then, would be the fifth, and that's the point at which I just decided to not bother with games following that back when I was planning this out. Don't get me wrong, Twilight Princess and further games are still fun, but there's a point when it comes to companies being able to link (sic) plots or, indeed, failing at it that I draw the line.

Maximus also asked about an appearance by Crazy Tracy, along with Red Chaos Mage and Rogue. Apparently, she's an extremely popular extremely minor character. I considered having Link encounter her, but in the end, I was just plain unable to find a point where it felt right to put her in. My fault, most likely, but there you have it. Hopefully, the little cameo I gave her at the end with Richard was better than nothing.

Several people have asked questions about future projects, in one case questioning my choice of Breath Of Fire II. I'm aware that several people have tried this one before, but I've been planning my own interpretation of it for several years now, and I'm rather eager to finally get down to it after waiting this long. On the other hand, suggestions were made for Final Fantasy II and the Golden Sun games. I'm afraid I'll have to pass on the former; as I said above, there's only so much more fanfiction I want to write before going on to original work.

Let's take a moment to get into detail on that, while I'm on the subject. In addition to miscellaneous Mega Man work (check out From The Sidelines, linked in my profile, if you haven't already; I'll hopefully be adding more to that in time), there's two definite projects still to come. One, as mentioned, is Breath Of Fire 2, and the other's a collaborative with a fellow aspiring author that will, in fact, be a Final Fantasy, though not FF2. That's all I'm going to be leaking on that particular subject for now, I'm afraid.

In addition, there are two "maybes" that I might tack on after that's all said and done, depending on how my life goes over the next few years. One of those, as a matter of fact, is the first two Golden Sun games, but that one is a maybe, so don't get your hopes up. I'd been meaning to drop that one over the last couple of years, but recently my interest in the games has picked back up again, so I'll call it a possibility for right now. You never know what the future might hold.

Now that the questions are wrapped up, time for the obligatory request for handouts. How'd I do this time, folks? It seems casting the Nightmares as actual characters was well-received, as far as I can tell. How about the rest of it? Likes? Dislikes? Anything in particular stand out, or fall flat? Feedback feeds the machine, the machine in this case being my writing talent. I still think there's room for improvement, and the best way to do that is to hear where it should be directed. I can take criticism, so don't be shy!

Anyways, the next project is definitely going to be Breath Of Fire 2 this time around, although speaking of time, no guarantees on how many months until then; I've learned my lesson about that. After that, well, we'll see. For now, I'm going to go see if the bars are open yet. Before I do, on a final note, thanks as always to a few people I still owe a lot to. Erico, my mentor, without whom none of this would ever have happened (how's today's surprise going, Bardman?). Quill and Masboy, two friends who put up with all the stuff I put out (see you at the usual time, fellas?). And, of course, DS, my ever-loyal (double sic) editor-slash-brother (where's my two bucks?).

Happy Maverick Independence Day, folks. I'll see you on the flip side.

~Magus523 June 4 2010