The Legend Of Zelda: The Curse Of Zant

Epilogue

Link, clad in royal blue garments, stared out down the aisle as he waited expectantly with a huge smile on his face. He glanced briefly to the side, nodding at Midna, who had nodded at him first. His eyes drifted from her to Impaz, who was sitting in the next seat on the row. She gave him a firm but gentle smile that he returned before looking on down the rest of the row. He turned his attention to the other side, where all the folks from Castle Town and his friends from Ordon Village were seated. In the front row were the village children; Beth, Malo and Colin, and at the very end there was an empty seat. For Ilia.

It had been discussed with Zelda while they were making preparations for the wedding and in the middle of repairing the throne room. She was just as heartbroken as he, when he'd broken the news of Ilia's death to her. Though she was more upset for him, since she knew how much his childhood friend had meant to him.

A small melody began to play, coming from the young musician, seated to the right, who was playing an Ocarina of navy blue colours. This was cue, and with awe filled eyes, he looked back down the aisle just in time to see Zelda appear. She was clad in a white gown with the design of lilac flowers decorating the skirt, and in her hand was a bouquet of flowers that ranged in size and colour. He let out a breath through his mouth as she, along with the King, moved down the aisle towards him.

Excitement and nerves bubbled in his chest, and he blinked as his eyes met hers when they stopped just inches in front of him. He looked from her to the King, who had a serious look on his face with his mouth in a tight line. Without a word, he offered out Zelda's hand to Link, who took it and helped her up the few small steps.

Their eyes never left one another as the ceremony finally began. They both listened as the Castle Town priest spoke of love, truth and honesty, and most importantly the promises that they would be making to the Goddess Hylia, and eventually it was time for them to make their vows.

"Master Link, do you-" The priest began only for a loud yell to interrupt him.

Link, Zelda and all of the seated guests turned their heads to see the local postman running across the land, towards the ceremony. Link planted his face in the palm of his hand, unbelieving of the incredibly bad timing.

"LINNNNNKKKKKK!"

As the postman neared, Link turned to Zelda with an apologetic look on his face, which she returned with a little laugh and gestured for him to address the man.

"Can this wait?" He asked, knowing that he sounded rude, but not caring.

"I came by to give you your mail."

"Look, I don't mean to be rude but I am kinda in the middle of something. Now, if you could please leave it in my room in the Castle, that would be great."

"Yes! Yes! Of course…" The postman agreed, and scuttled away before anymore could be said.

With a sigh, Link turned his attention back to Zelda. "Please, continue."

"Very well… We got most of it out of the way, so there's only one thing that remains. "Master Link, you do take her Highness, Princess Zelda of Hyrule, to be your wife?"

His eyes softened, and the warm smile returned to his face. "I do."

"And your Highness, Princess Zelda, do you take Master Link to be your husband?"

"I do."

"Fantastic. Master Link, you may now kiss the bride."

Link stepped forward and brought his hands up to cup Zelda's face as he closed the gap between them and kissed her. The exact second that their lips met, all the guests erupted into loud cheers. As they broke the kiss, Link took her hand and raised it in the air with his own as they descended the few steps together and walked back up the aisle away from all of the clapping and cheering guests.

*_*_*_*_*

Unable to sleep, Zelda threw back the covers and slipped quietly from the bed, being careful not to wake Link in the process. Once she'd stood up without moving too much, she slipped her feet into a pair of white slippers and tiptoed quietly out of the room and a little way down the hall until she reached the small balcony that overlooked the silent Castle Town.

She rested her elbows on the stone barrier and her head in her hands, blinking as she looked out at the idle town. Many thoughts were racing through her mind that it was impossible to process them all. Instead, she focused on one.

The future.

It was impossible to change the past, and although she felt incredibly guilty for not being able to protect her people and for what had happened to Link's childhood friend, she knew that there was no use in wallowing over it.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, she gasped and spun around almost too quickly, unable to make out who was approaching due to the dim lighting that cast shadows all around.

"Forgive me, I did not intend to frighten you."

She breathed a sigh of relief as the voice gave it away instantly before Link stepped into her line of vision. She bit her lip as he approached where she was standing, and looked out over the sleepy town.

"No worries, I'm sorry if I woke you. I could not sleep, so I came out here to think for a bit." She spoke softly.

"You didn't. I woke up a few minutes ago and I came to look for you when I saw you weren't next to me." He explained, biting his lip. "What are you thinking about?" He asked curiously.

"Lots of things." She answered vaguely.

Link chuckled. "Like?"

"Oh. I don't know…" She began, and turned to him with doleful eyes. "Us."

"Care to share?" He questioned, positioning himself behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist with his head resting on her shoulder.

She closed her eyes and smiled. "You know, just us. You and me, and the future."

"Heh." He hummed. "Actually, speaking of the future, do you wanna know what I see?"

Zelda nodded, placing her arms on top of his  and staring out at Castle Town once more.

"I see us together. All of us. You and me. Our son-" He paused, taking in her expression. "-or daughter." He added, knowing that look. "Running around the Kingdom, causing havoc just as I, myself, used to."

He watched with a smile as that earned a small laugh from Zelda, and then continued. "I see them growing up in a home filled with love; knowing not of malice nor pain."

"That…" She began. "Sounds like a dream."

"Oh, it is a dream."

"Yeah?"

"My dream."

*_*_*_*_*

This is it. The final update.... I'm sorry, I don't have many words as I'm simply shocked that this is the end. In a good way, of course. The only regret I have is not giving this story the time it deserved in its early days, I'm just grateful I got to give it the ending it deserved.

Thank you all so much.