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Rose pulled the sword from the scabbard on her back.
This was it. There would be no going back now. She could feel it in the air, something dark and powerful was stirring. But something else too; a light, keeping the darkness at bay. For now. Its power was steadily fading. The two opposing forces were at war with each other, and light was losing.
As the metal sang in her hand she heard the voice again, her voice. Still feint, but clearer than it had ever been.
‘Rose, you have come such a long way, I know you still do not fully comprehend what is going on, and it shows great courage on your part that you still made it here, back where it all began. I had hoped your memories would have returned to you by now, but I can hold on no longer. I need your help defeating the Great Calamity that ravaged our lands for the past 100 years. There is no doubt you are the Goddess’ chosen hero. Go forth, hero. And know that whatever happens next, I am proud of you.’
She nodded grimly at the almost familiar words; she knew what had to be done. She gripped her sword tighter, and pushed through the heavy double doors into what she assumed was the throne room.
The princess had called her courageous, but Rose felt fear grip her heart as she stepped into the room. She had fought monsters before, but none like this.
She had trouble comprehending what she saw. It was a black, pulsing mass of pure darkness. Its evil radiating throughout the room, filling it with its foul stench and small, floating flecks of darkness, absorbing all the light, dousing the whole room in a perpetual shadow.
From the ceiling hung a large mass of the black ooze, shaped almost like a cocoon. From within it Rose could feel the light trying to burst forth, but more darkness kept choking it back.
Luisa, Rose thought. It had to be the princess. Having stood her ground here 100 years ago. Still fighting against Ganon’s immense power even now.
She was not the only one who could sense the others’ presence in the room. As she stepped forward the dark mass began to move, changing shape. The floor started to shake, the air becoming thick.
Rose raised her weapon, ready to fight whatever it was, as was her destiny. When the monster appeared from the swirling purple smog, a flash of recognition zapped through her mind like a bolt of lightning, freeing all memories that had been locked away until now.
Sunlight.
A soft breeze.
Kneeling. She remembered kneeling. The face in front of her slowly coming into focus as the memory solidified in her mind.
Luisa! It was the princess! Standing in front of her in her royal blue ceremonial dress, hand outstretched. Her mouth was moving like she was speaking, but Rose could not hear her voice.
Behind the princess, the castle rose up in the distance. All spires and turrets intact. Yet untouched by war. It was peaceful, the birds cheeping happily.
Only her companions were watching the ceremony in solemn silence. Luisa’s words suddenly becoming audible as Rose remembered.
‘Hero of Hyrule, chosen by the sword that seals the darkness. You have shown unflinching bravery and skill in the face darkness and adversity. You have proven yourself worthy of the blessing of the goddess Hylia. The sacred blade is forever bound to the soul of the hero.’
Her words were kind and full of praise. But the princess’s tone belied her true feelings; she did not believe the words she was speaking. Finding the naming ceremony of Rose as her appointed knight tedious and unnecessary.
Rose recalled the princess’ father, the king, practically forcing her to. The princess insisting she would have no need of a knight. That she would be fine with the other champions and did not need personal protection. Especially from someone like Rose.
It was Rose’s sworn duty to protect the princess as she and the champions figured out a way to seal Calamity Ganon away forever. The champions were ready, their divine beasts obeying their every command. The princess had no such luck. She was supposed to create the barrier to seal the darkness away, only she had not yet been able to. Which is where Rose came in, to protect the princess on her travels to the sacred springs of the world to pray to the goddess in the hopes she would grant her that power.
The princess’ monotonous words slowly faded out. One thing was clear; their relationship hadn’t been one of love at first sight.
Rose saw the princess’ white steed before she saw Luisa herself. The brunette princess was trying to open an ancient temple-like structure, the outside overgrown with moss and vines, but the door hermetically sealed.
She seemed to have heard Rose approaching and turned around, face like a storm cloud.
‘I have repeatedly told you I do not need an escort. So you can turn around, back to the castle and tell my father.’ Then to herself. ‘Am I the only one here with a mind of their own?’
Rose remained silent, hovering a respectable distance behind the princess. Luisa had managed to ditch her this morning, obviously not wanting to be followed, but Rose couldn’t let her go off on her own. The roads were getting more dangerous, ravenous wild animals attacking travelers and even worse, at nigh,t monsters roamed the plains and forests of Hyrule.
Luisa was fast with her wit, but not with a sword and she needed someone to defend her, even if she did not want to admit it to herself.
‘Stop following me!’ Luisa said angrily. Rose didn’t let it bother her, this was what she was supposed to do, and she would do it.
While Luisa had not yet managed to get into one of the shrines as she called them, she had managed to activate some of the ancient Guardians. Large, walking statues that would defend them when Calamity struck.
That was where Luisa shone; studying ancient artifacts, tweaking them, getting them to work like they wanted to. She was a scientist at heart. Rose never found her more than two paces from a book. Even when they were on the road together (Rose’s being there still against Luisa’s will) Luisa spent the nights close to the campfire, scribbling new ways to fight Calamity Ganon in her notebook. The science Luisa could do, the spiritual side was still hidden from her.
They had travelled to one of the sacred springs. Luisa had prayed and chanted in the cool waters until she was very nearly hypothermic but still nothing had happened. Rose knew it was not through lack of trying, nobody tried harder than the princess. It just didn’t seem to help.
That same night, after Rose had built a campfire to warm Luisa back up, all Luisa had done was stare into the flames. Tears she wouldn’t let fall shining in her eyes. She’d failed. Again. And Rose could see it was slowly breaking her apart. So she wasn’t angry when Luisa tore into her that night.
‘Why are you here? I do not need you! I have told you not to follow me. You never listen! And apart from never listening you never speak either! Why are you always silent? Following me like a shade. Tell me, Rose! Why does the chosen hero of the goddess not speak?!’
Because I have nothing to offer you, Rose had thought. She didn’t know how to get the goddess to speak to Luisa, like she was supposed to. Hell, she had no idea how she had ended up the goddess’ chosen hero either. She just wielded her sword. She heard no voices, and beside protecting the princess, nothing was expected of her.
Luisa had a destiny, the crushing weight of it slowly bringing her down as she didn’t seem able to fulfil it.
That night Rose broke her silence and afterwards Luisa seemed to at least tolerate her presence, no longer actively hostile.
Rose had been there too when Luisa’s spirit finally broke under the pressure. She had visited the second spring and prayed until dawn, yet nothing had happened. To visit the third and final spring, the spring of wisdom, they needed to wait until the princess turned 17, which was still a couple of months off.
Rose had been in Luisa’s laboratory, watching her work on her ancient texts and automatons with something akin to pride. They got along better now. Luisa enjoying her company on the road, liking having someone to talk to about her projects who actually listened.
Rose, for her part, enjoyed listening to Luisa talk about her Guardians. Those times were the only ones where the princess didn’t seem weighed down by her impossible destiny as she was actually making progress mounting the country’s defense against the impending evil. But everyone knew it would amount to nothing if the princess couldn’t seal the evil away, which to this day she could not do.
Luisa’s father, the king, had seen it fit to remind her. Storming into her laboratory, ripping books off shelves and throwing gears and machine cores onto the floor.
‘Stop this nonsense, Luisa! You are wasting your time. If Ganon were to attack, we would be left defenseless.’
‘But father, the guardians…’ Luisa tried, picking one of her schematics off the floor to show the king.
The king batted it away carelessly, ripping the parchment. ‘These, distractions, will not save us. You must try harder!’
Rose nearly stepped forward, wanting to tell the king that no one was trying harder than Luisa. But Luisa flung her arm to the side, effectively silencing Rose.
‘I have been trying, father! I just- I can’t…’ Luisa’s voice broke, Rose’s heart breaking a little too. She had come to care for the princess and her plight over the last couple of months, wishing there was something she could do to ease her burden a little. Deciding that fighting her hardest was all she could do.
‘Make it work. Or every death will be on you.’ With that the king turned and left, leaving Luisa to fall to her knees between the wreckage of her laboratory, heavy sobs wracking her body. The thought of the countless people that would die if she could not seal Ganon away occurring to Luisa not for the first time.
The sword shifted awkwardly on her back as Rose kneeled down next to Luisa, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, not sure if more would be appreciated.
Luisa however didn’t hesitate, flinging herself into Rose’s arms, dampening the sky blue of Rose’s champion tunic with her tears.
Rose held her, stroking her back until the sobs subsided.
‘He’s right, you know,’ Luisa sniffed, looking at Rose with wet eyes. ‘People will die if I cannot unlock my powers. Hundreds, thousandths, maybe more. I was kidding myself into thinking that I could find another way to defeat Calamity Ganon. If I cannot seal him away, I have failed. Failed my father, my kingdom, the entirety of Hyrule. What can I do, Rose?’
Rose, knowing nothing she could say could offer Luisa any comfort, reached out instead, tucking a stray lock of hair behind Luisa’s ear, pulling the princess in for another tight hug. Luisa allowed the touch, Rose apparently not the only one who had come to care for the other.
‘All is not lost,’ Luisa whispered against Rose’s neck. ‘I turn 17 in a month. We’ll travel to the spring of wisdom then. The answer will be there. It must be.”
After that day Rose did not only protect Luisa from the monsters on the road, but also from her father in her own castle. She knew the king was just worried about his subjects, but protecting Luisa was her main priority, before even the people of Hyrule.
They set out for the spring of wisdom two days before Luisa’s 17th birthday so they would hopefully arrive there on the day itself.
Rose could sense Luisa’s hesitation and nerves the whole ride there, so she stayed close by, offering her soft smiles or pointing out pretty views Luisa could take a picture of with her Sheikah Slate.
Night.
Rose lit the fire, Luisa sat nearby, staring at her hands as if they held the answer. ‘If it doesn’t work, there is nothing else I can try. I have read every book ever written about the goddess, yet I will still have failed.’ Luisa looked up, and instead of the tears she had expected in the princess’ eyes, she smiled, the firelight reflected in her eyes. ‘But you and the other champions will be ready. We still have the divine beasts and the Guardians. It will be enough. It has to be.’
She met Rose’s eyes. ‘Your silence bothered me once upon a time, but now I just find it comforting. You are stronger than I am, Rose. You are the true hero of the goddess, and I couldn’t have wished for a better companion. Whatever happens next. I am glad you were at my side.’ Luisa cast her dark eyes down almost shyly but Rose wouldn’t let her, tilting Luisa’s chin back up, they eyes met again and Rose leaned forward, waiting for Luisa to close the distance between them. She caught Luisa in her arms as she surged forward, and the next day, when the spring of wisdom yielded no results, she caught Luisa in her arms again. They would make do with what they had.
Ganon struck sooner than anyone expected, and with more power anyone had dared imagine. The champions fell to him one by one. And even the Guardians which were meant to protect them turned against their creator under Ganon’s influence.
‘Rose! Rose! Are you okay?’ Luisa screamed, running through the mud to where Rose was kneeling in the middle of the battlefield, carcasses of destructed Guardians smoking and sparking all around her.
Rose’s clothes were in tatters, her sword badly damaged, the wounds in her side and shoulder throbbing painfully, but she had to keep going. More Guardians would be coming. All under Ganon’s influence, and she had to protect Luisa, get her as far away from the castle as she could.
She struggled to stand, her body not cooperating, Luisa caught her before she could fall back to the ground.
‘Don’t move, Rose. You are wounded.’ Luisa pressed her hand against the wound in Rose’s side, but it was no use. Rose could feel her strength leaving her, her eyes growing heavier by the second.
‘No. Please no. You can’t leave me too. No, please. Rose. No…’ Luisa’s voice grew fainter, Rose struggled to remain conscious, needing to protect Luisa, but it was too much. Darkness claimed her…
The next memory was not her own. It couldn’t be. She was watching her body from above, watching as Luisa shouldered her unconscious weight, struggling to drag her away from the battlefield. She wasn’t going fast enough, the Guardians were catching up.
‘There you are!’ Luisa sighed in relief as two Sheikah warriors appeared in front of her. ‘She’s dying. I need you to take her to the Shrine of Resurrection. It will save her, Hyrule will need her in the future.’
‘Where are you going, princess?’ One of the men asked as he took Rose from Luisa’s arms.
Luisa clutches Rose’s sword to her chest. ‘There is something I must do. Take her to the shrine. She might lose her memories as she sleeps. But she will live to finish my fight.’
Before the warriors could take her away, Luisa rushed forward, pressing a soft kiss to Rose’s forehead. ‘We will meet again someday,’ Luisa whispered. Taking off to the north as the warriors carried Rose’s body south.
Her memories all back in their rightful place, Rose realized where Luisa had rushed off to. It had been her voice that had accompanied her on this adventure, like Rose had once accompanied Luisa.
Momentarily the light emanating from the cocoonlike husk on the ceiling grew stronger.
Luisa had gone back to the castle to face Ganon alone, without any powers but faith. And it had worked. She had kept the worst of the evil at bay for 100 years, waging a constant war while Rose slept. The princess truly was braver than any of the other champions.
Rose artfully spun her sword in her hand, facing Ganon. She had to win this fight and free Luisa. Together they could seal Ganon away forever and free Hyrule of his influence. She knew they could.
She could feel Luisa’s presence burning above her and she charged.
The beast was fast, but he had a weakness. As Rose her arrows found their mark time and time again Ganon slowly weakened. With one final thrust of her sword the monster dissolved, the dark giving way to light. A single figuring floating down to the ground.
Luisa.
Their eyes met for the first time in 100 years.
Rose wanted to rush over but this was not the time for a reunion, the battle was far from over. Ganon’s spirit already reforming into something far more monstrous.
‘Rose!’ Luisa yelled, raising her hands to the sky. A golden bow appearing from thin air, falling into Rose’s hands.
‘I cannot hold him back for long. Strike at the weak spots on his legs! Together we can defeat him!’
Rose did as Luisa had instructed, drawing the bow without notching an arrow. A golden streak of pure light appearing instead, piercing Ganon’s hide againa again until the monster was brought to its knees.
Rose watched in awe as Luisa floated up into the sky. Sealing the great evil away, hopefully forever.
Before Rose could fully set her mind to it, her legs were already moving, catching Luisa as she fell from the sky.
‘Told you we would meet again,’ Luisa grinned, her body tired but her smile full of life.
Rose smiled back, holding Luisa close. They had done it. The great evil was defeated. 100 years of calamity finally at an end.