One Final Battle (Legend of Zelda)

A/N: Ok, this going to be a…. reimagining, let’s say, of the events leading to Hyrule being flooded preceding the Wind Waker. Simply put, this fic was created from asking the question: “What if there was a hero present, but something went wrong?” This interpretation takes inspiration from BOTW and the Two Master Swords theory as presented by Youtuber MaskedNintendoBandit in his video, “The Secret to the TWO Master Swords”. Also, this is a first attempt at tragedy, hopefully it went well. Hope you enjoy.

Warning: Main Character Death

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A blade clattered to the ground with a resounding clang. Cortland tensed for a second, his grip on his two blades as tight as ever. He was a Sheikah at the end of the day. He did not give his enemies the luxury of carelessness on his part. And as the wielder of the Master Sword, he was not about to flub this one. For staring down the tip of his blade was the evil that had been sealed and had broken free.

"Stand back! He's mine now!"

A light flashed next to him as Princess Klara cast her magic. Ganondorf howled as he began to be sucked into the seal Klara was creating. Cortland relaxed slightly. Thankfully, this whole ordeal was almost over.

The wind whistled at a fever pitch through the spires of Hyrule Castle. Cortland glanced over at King Daphnes, who was panting just as hard as he was.

None of this was supposed to happen. Not like this. There was supposed to be a Princess Zelda and a proper hero wielding the Master Sword to fight alongside her. Not a backup princess and a warrior wielding a blade that he wasn't sure belonged to him. But the straits were dire and the ramshackle effort they had put together held the hopes of the entire population of Hyrule were pinned on them. They could not fail.

It had all started when Ganondorf had broken his seal and slew the Seven Sages, who attempted to seal him. Creating an army of dark monsters, Ganondorf had rampaged across Hyrule. He'd laid waste to Gerudo Town before demolishing an army sent to stop him. Morale was low to begin with, but steadily declined when no hero arrived to save the day. The foul wizard had then marched straight on Hyrule Castle and Castle Town. It had been a complete slaughter. Cortland had been there to see it.

As a Sheikah warrior, he had been stationed within the city to quickly respond to any foes that might find some way to bypass the mighty walls. However, it had been completely unnecessary, as Ganondorf had transformed into a horrifying monster and simply tore down the walls by himself. In the chaos, Cortland had run into Princess Klara and her younger sister, Princess Astrid by sheer luck. Thankfully, she'd recognized him, as it was tradition to have the princesses of Hyrule train in the Sheikah arts, as had one of the Princess Zeldas of old.

Princess Klara was a friend that he had trained alongside, and the two had been through thick and thin together. However, just as their friendship had begun to border on….something else, their paths had diverged. He went about his Sheikah duties, while she returned to the castle.

She bore grave news – that the current Princess Zelda, her older sister, had been killed as part of the castle collapsed onto her. Rallying a few of his kin, Cortland had had led them through a secret exit and they fled the chaos that quickly engulfed the capitol. After several hours travel by horse, they had nearly arrived at Akkala Fortress, when they were ambushed by an entire contingent of Lynels. Leaping into action, Cortland had fended them off all on his own, slaying several and chasing off the few survivors into a headlong retreat. In the rush of battle, he hadn't noticed an important detail till he returned to Princess Klara. Who now had three glowing triangles on the back of her hand. She reached down to his hand and pulled it up to reveal an identical shape on the back of his glove.

Immediately, the King had ordered him and Princess Klara to go to the Lost Woods and retrieve the Master Sword. Two were better than one, and Cortland had worked alongside Klara for many years and the two were a formidable team. Furthermore, it would keep both of them away from the majority of the fighting and hopefully safer.

And immediately, they'd left. 3 days travel got them to Lost Woods. It took them nearly four days to retrieve the blade through Lost Wood's mazelike terrain. 3 days travel back, and they'd made it through the gates in time to avoid getting locked out as Ganondorf's forces marched towards the castle.

It was there that they heard the news that King Daphnes had personally let another army against Ganondorf. They had been totally routed. What was worse was that nearly all of the new spider mechs and two of the giant metal monsters known as Divine Beasts had been destroyed. Only a handful of the Guardians as they were called had survived the battle, as had only two of the Divine Beasts, Vah Ruta and Vah Rudania. While they'd managed to get the Guardians into Akkala, Vah Ruta and Vah Rudania had been forced to maneuver far away, their pilots taking them well out of the clutches of the enemy.

With the blade in hand and both sides settling in for a siege, he'd begun training with the Master Sword. The blade wasn't what he expected – it was clearly a short sword, not the long sword wielded by the Hero of Time. It suited Cortland just fine though, was used to the lighter, single edged short swords of the Sheikah, and he dual wielded it comfortably with his own short sword. While every hero in the legends carried a shield, Cortland found that he couldn't get used to using one. So, he did without. It was more fitting for a Sheikah. He knew how to strike from the shadows, not rush out into the open, where a shield would be used.

As the siege dragged on, the Sheikah scientists present had managed to put together several stationary guardian cannons to defend the walls. Cortland had personally led four sorties out of the gates, all of which had been unsuccessful in destroying the siege towers that the enemy had built. In the end, it wasn't enough. Three months after the siege begun, Cortland, Klara, Astrid, King Daphnes, and a few soldiers had been forced to flee through a secret passage. It had taken them a few days to make it to Fort Hateno.

It was a sad, pitiful group that greeted them at Hateno, and an even sadder council of war. The Gorons, Zora and Kokiri had all been hit while they were defending Akkala, and there were precious few left. Armed with only two Divine Beasts and critically diminished forces, a desperate plan was hatched. With no way to fight Ganondorf's armies straight on, The King, Princess Klara and Cortland were to ride straight for Hyrule Castle and were to fight Ganondorf and try to seal him. Meanwhile, the Zora Champion was to set Vah Ruta's water generation capacity to maximum and damage the shutoff capacitors. To aid him, the Goron Champion was to take Vah Rudania to the glaciers north of Zora's domain and use its volcanic powers to cause the glaciers to melt, flooding the massive lowland that the Kingdom of Hyrule sat in. ensuring Ganondorf and his monstrous minions would all be flushed away. While the Champions were off flooding the land, the Sages with Princess Astrid were to lead the survivors up to the highest mountains and cities of Hyrule to be safe from the imminent deluge. After sealing Ganondorf, King Daphnes, Klara and Cortland were to escape into one of the row boats for the castle's river dock and float to safety as the land was submerged below them. The plan was to have the Zora locate them, and the survivors would send them a ship to pick them up. It was a desperate ploy, but it was all they had left.

There was little else to tell. The three had ridden to Hyrule Castle as quickly as possible, fighting small groups of enemies, and hiding from larger ones. They had challenged Ganondorf in the grand hall, though the fight had gone up to the highest tower.

Cortland snapped back to the present glared as Ganondorf howled and tried to break free, thrashing violently. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a Deku Nut, and whistled sharply twice.

He hurled the nut at Ganondorf as Klara shut her eyes tightly. It was an old signal that the two had used frequently, and Cortland was glad that she still remembered what it meant. It looked like all that princessing hadn't changed his old friend after all.

The flash did little to harm the wizard, but his howl of fury told Cortland all he needed to know as the wizard slipped further into the seal.

Suddenly, the door behind them burst open. Cortland and King Daphnes whirled around to see a dozen Darknuts stomp in.

"We'll handle them, Klara, keep sealing!" ordered King Daphnes as he readied his axe. Cortland grit his teeth and quickly sheathed his swords, drawing his bow. Reaching for a bomb arrow, he swiftly nocked it and loosed his shot. It struck its mark, destroying the shield of one of the Darknuts. Drawing a regular arrow, he aimed for a minute as the Darknuts clanked towards him and fired it at the gap between the helmet and the chest piece of the shield-less Darknut. The arrow struck home. He drew three bomb arrows and fired them swiftly at the Darknuts before slinging his bow over his shoulder and drawing his swords again. The Darknuts he hit staggered back as Cortland leaped into action, vaulting at one of the ones who had avoided his shots, landing a leaping slash. The monster blocked it, but Cortland rolled through his legs and plunged the Blade of Evil's Bane square through the gap between the helmet and the chest plate. He pulled his sword out and had it at the ready before the monster collapsed and disintegrated into the black magic energy from whence it came.

Cortland heard a yell as five Darknuts surrounded him. Through the mess of armor and swords, Cortland could see King Daphnes yank his axe out of the helm of one of the Darknuts in time sidestep a strike from one of his fellows and to block an overhead cleave from another.

Cortland's free hand shot into his pouch and he cast a handful of Deku nuts at the Darknuts in a semi circle around him, before vaulting into the air, and drawing his other sword. He whirled around as he landed, both swords at the ready. Three had been stunned. Two were not. Cortland rushed at the two, dodging their strikes, before leaping over the one to his left and slashing at his legs behind the knees as he landed. He plunged his sword into one of the gaps in his armor, just before ducking under a strike from the other Darknut at the same time. The monster suddenly hurled his shield at Cortland, who rolled away with lightning reflexes. As he got to his feet, the Darknut drew a second sword and stood at the ready.

Cortland switched to a dueling stance. He didn't have the best duelling form in the world, but his experience in one on one combat had made up the difference many times before. After approaching cautiously, he lunged, before parrying the counter with his off hand sword and backing off a step. Cortland feinted, before knocking one sword aside and landing a powerful slash to the other arm. The force of the blow knocked the sword out of the monster's hand, and Cortland was able to shove the arm aside and slam his short sword through the gap in the armor at the armpit. The Darknut let out a low groan, before falling over a disintegrating like his fellows.

Sheathing his second blade, Cortland looked up to see that the other three Darknuts were recovering from the Deku Nut's effects. He reached for his pouch and hurled a handful of needles at the helmet of one of the Darknuts. It screeched in pain, telling Cortland that he'd hit his mark. As the other two closed in, Cortland reached for his pouch again, as the other Darknut stumbled around blindly. He pulled out a small smoke bomb and hurled it at his feet, while backing up. The monsters paused as the smoke bomb went off in their faces. Cortland reached into his bomb bag and chucked a bomb at the smoke cloud, followed by another. As the smoke cleared, Cortland saw that he'd blown most of the armor off of the Darknuts, though the monsters themselves did not appear to badly harmed. His hand shot down to his pouch and he hurled another handful of throwing needles at the masked visage of the Darknut to his right, blinding him in a fashion similar to the other.

Suddenly, he heard a scream. Cortland's head whipped around, and shock filled his entire body. For the wizard, still struggling within the seal had stabbed his cruel sword straight through Klara's stomach.

He tried to move, but before he could, Cortland felt a massive, ripping slash tear through his torso. He screamed in pain as he collapsed to the ground, his entire body in complete agony. He cursed under his breath as traitorous tears leaked from his eyes and the Darknut shuffled towards him, amid Klara's pained and vengeful screams.

Cortland, finding he could still move his off hand, unsheathed his Sheikah short sword, and shakily pulled himself to his feet. The Darknut advanced on him cautiously, shield firmly in front of him. Cortland did his best to hold his sword in front of him, his arm shaking and his legs wobbling, desperately trying to ignore the pain from his wound, which was bleeding quickly. Was this to be his last battle?

Suddenly Cortland saw a flash of red from behind the Darknut and a large axe buried itself into the back of the Darknut. The Darknut collapsed and disintegrated to reveal King Daphnes behind him, panting heavily, but no worse for wear. Cortland shakily dropped his sword, clutching at his wound. The world looked a little darker around him, and the ground seemed to be getting closer.

He stopped with a jerk, and he hissed with pain as King Daphnes caught him.

"Steady! Steady! Try not to move the wound too much, I'm going to put you next to Klara so I can treat you both.

"Did she seal him?" asked Cortland.

"She did. Careful now, easy does it."

Cortland winced as he limped with King Daphnes to where Klara lay, slumped on the ground.

The King pulled the sword out of her wound carefully and hurled the blade away. He quickly clambered back to his feet.

"The Master Sword! I'm going to seal his power into the sword so he can't break out! Stay put!" the King shouted.

As the King dashed off Cortland turned his head to Klara.

"I sealed him, Cort…." gasped Klara. "We did it…."

"We did…. we got him….he's not…. gonna come back….for a long….time…." said Cortland.

"I…made sure…. he wouldn't…." said Klara.

The two lay in silence for a few minutes, in too much pain to say more.

Eventually, Klara broke the silence.

"Cort…it hurts… so much…." she whispered.

"I know…. The legends…. they never ended like this…." rasped Cortland. "The land healed…. they all lived…. happily ever after….and here we are….at the end of the world."

"Then… I'm glad that…. you're here…. with me….." said Klara. She shakily moved her hand towards Cortland, who moved his hand towards hers. He placed his hand on hers with some effort and squeezed her hand as much as he could.

"That…means the world to me…. Klara…."

King Daphnes rushed past them. "I'm almost done, hang in there!"

Klara coughed weakly. "It's getting darker…."

Cortland shifted slightly and grunted in pain as the pain from his wound shot through his body.

"Cort?" whispered Klara, concerned.

Cortland just squeezed her hand as tightly as he could.

There was a moment of silence as they felt the pulse of a powerful magical spell, cast by King Daphnes somewhere else in the castle.

"We're…. not going to make it….are we?" said Klara.

Cortland coughed, bringing up blood and bile. "Probably not," he admitted.

"Do you think…. Zelda's waiting for us…. in the afterlife?" asked Klara.

"I…. reckon she is…" said Cortland.

"She'll be…. glad….that we sealed him…" said Klara.

"She'll…. be proud of you…." said Cortland.

"You too…." said Klara. "You worked…. just as hard…. maybe even… more than me…. I…. just hope…. Astrid will…. be safe…"

"All right, I'm…." said King Daphnes as he walked up. A look of pure panic washed over his face. "Oh no."

"Papa…. it's fine…" whispered Klara.

"No, it's NOT fine!" said the King. "You're bleeding, badly, both of you! There's no time, I need to…"

"Papa…please…." said Klara.

"No! I'm not losing you after…." started Daphnes.

"Papa!" gasped Klara, before coughing up blood violently.

"Stop! Don't do that! You're not going to make it like this!"

"We're….not going to…." rasped Cortland. The pain shooting though him was excruciating, and the world around him was getting darker and darker.

"No…NO!" shouted the King. "If only I hadn't been such a fool! If only I had been faster! If only I could…." his gaze fell to their hands, clasped together. "Do something for you…."

"You two…" said the King. He paused for a moment. "I should have known. You would have made a splendid couple. Oh….what have I done?"

The King broke down, his lips letting no sound pass, but his shoulders heaving as tears streaked down his face.

Klara coughed more blood up, before seeming to rally her strength. "May we….. have your blessing?"

The King paused for a moment and straightened his back.

"I'll do you one better. Klara Hilda Hyrule. Do you Cortland of the Sheikah to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

There was a pause as the two realized what was going on. Cortland, though his vision was steadily dimming could see tears rolling from Klara's eyes and a small smile grace her face. He squeezed her hand, much weaker this time. They didn't have much time left.

"I do…" whispered Klara.

"And Cortland of the Sheikah. Do you take Klara Hilda Hyrule, princess of the land to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Cortland's lips turned up into a weak grin. "Till the sun….no longer…. watches the day….and the moon….no longer…. watches the night… and the stars…. fall out of the sky…. so shall…. I love…. her….."

The King closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face again.

"Then I pronounce you husband and wife, with my full blessing. May you find…." his voice cracked. "May you find peace. Together."

The king broke down, sobbing for some time. Cortland steadied his breathing as best he could, trying not to worsen the pain anymore. Somehow, it was starting to lessen.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more…my children…." King Daphnes whispered.

"Papa…." whispered Klara, her voice now faint. "I…love you…."

"I love you too," said King Daphnes. "I love you more then you could possibly imagine…."

The darkness began to close in, and the pain began to dull for Cortland.

"Sir…it's…been an honor…."

"Likewise, brave hero," said the King. "The people of Hyrule will never forget your bravery."

It was the last thing he heard before the darkness took him.