Before the Wild

After Despair and Hope

Two hours later, Applean Forest

"C'mon Zelda...Get up...Zelda!"

"Gah!" Zelda abruptly sat up and began coughing, spitting up water from her lungs as the organs begged for fresh oxygen. Her body felt sluggish, her clothes heavy...why was she wet? Where was she and how... The castle! Zelda jumped to her feet, panicking as she looked around. She was at a riverside, the weather was rainy, and...Link was here too. Of course he was. But how did they get here, and when?

Link stood up, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Hey. We're alright. We're safe, for now."

Safe? Safe from what? "Link, what happened? We were just at the castle, ready to fight Ganon and-" It all hit Zelda at once.

"Father!" Zelda raced to her father's side, removing his ornate cloak to inspect his wound. She placed a hand over it, using her power to tend the wound. "Hold on, Father. I can heal you!"

"So this is how the gods will punish me, for all I have done against you. I cursed you at your birth, cursed you for ten years of labor...how coincidental I am cursed on this day. So my Zelda, it is not you who is the disappointment. It is I. I may deserve to be your king, but I am wholly unworthy to be your father. Forgive me for my sins."

"...Ah, but child... After the Calamity, this will not be my Hyrule....It will be your Hyrule..."

Link faced where Zelda pointed and saw the ghostly form of Calamity Ganon encircle the Castle. At one point it stopped, and if Link placed a bet, he would wager the golden eyes of the beast was drawn upon the hero and the princess.

"Is it just me or..."

"No, he's looking at us. It... It is like he knows us."

"Urbosa, Revali, Daruk, and Mipha. It is time to...NO!" Link stopped and turned to Zelda, who began to shake as she kneeled on the stone walkway. "No no no no!"

"Zelda?"

"I can't... I can't feel their presence... I can't feel their presence... What does that... They can't be-"

"No, everything is going wrong! How could..." Zelda closed her mouth as a Guardian stepped up to Link and Zelda, its red targeting beam locking on to them before it fired.

"Zelda!" Link grabbed the Princess, in time to save from the laser but not from the force of it. They fell from the path, plummeting into the dark waters below.

"No..." Zelda dropped to her bottom, gasping in shock as her memories caught up with her. "No no no no. Link...did we..." As she looked to her hero for an answer, all Link was able to give her was his silence. Spoke volumes, as she recalled Urbosa saying, Link's silence did. She bowed her head, trying not to cry but...it was too much for her. Going to the castle, fighting Ganon, that was the last hope in awakening her power, and...she had failed. Her father was wrong, oh so very wrong.

"Zelda." The princess, if she is even worthy to be called such a title, looked up to Link, who either was not worried about the current circumstances or had deemed it necessary he doesn't show what he is feeling, looked back down on her, hand lowered to her. "Is there a contingency plan? I'm sure you planned for something like this, haven't you."

In fact, she did. Zelda took Link's hand and began to look towards the southeast. "Yes. I sent Impa back to the Necluda region for the sole purpose of meeting me should I not have my power at the castle. Of course... I thought Ganon would be weakened significantly, so we would have more time to fight back, but without the Divine Beasts, it would be suicide for you to face the Calamity now."