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Lin…
A result of a simple misstep in a conversation somehow managed to do for him what a hundred years of past heroics and a future of being a saviour couldn't.
It was something that he could take solace in.
A blanket of comfort to hide him away for a break.
Lin was free of the shadowed doubts of Link. Lin reminded them of the memories of the looks on stable hands’ faces when she rode up on the pure white horse's back, warm friendly conversation between him and the Old Man (before he knew), and the laugh of Prince Sidon as they swam in victory laps in the water. Link dragged them down with the smell of smoking burning villages he couldn't save, laughter of the Yiga clan as he felt their cold blades cut open his back to spill warm blood, the iron expectations and beliefs he tried hard to fulfill that instead pulled him under the surface.
Lin could breathe where Link could not.
The Korok Forest was beautiful, even serene in this world where it felt like moments of peace were fleeting. Leaves fell along the forest flower in gentle dances as sunlight seemed to float in with gentle hands arranging the colors to what was most relaxing. The Korok Forest was beautiful.
Until he saw the sword.
As forgotten memories pulled them into a flashback to the past of Princess Zelda's smiling face, as it gave them a piece of who Lin- Link was to others, as they pulled the Master Sword out from it's aged pedestal while it drained their life until they were on the brink of death to only pull out its glimmering blade in shining victory, only one thought persisted throughout their mind.
I don't want this.
A cold unnameable emotion washed away the whirlwind of conflict in them taking it all away down its current as the Deku Tree told them about the sword they held and the princess they knew. They have to admit that they were only half listening over the buzzing in their ears.
It felt like a storm was rising inside. It drowned all else out.
When it was all over, their hand felt numb around the handle warmed by the sunlight. They were aware of the honeyed light shifting through the treetops to rest on their face but they couldn’t feel it.
The sun shone down on them but all they felt was cold when they left the forest, a heavy burden on their back.
Even before she stepped foot into Hyrule Castle, Lin had already known that the fight against Calamity Ganon (she fought against the instinctive title of Lord Ganon that felt more familiar in its age) wouldn't be the one of victorious legends the people would sing. Even if friends from the past fought beside them, she knew that it'd be a fight of obligation and a several lifetimes long history of expected anger.
The only change would be the battlefield.
(To herself away from prying eyes and ears, she wondered if the Calamity was to Ganon what Lin was to her. An escape. A way to end the past of what had been. If it was his way of giving up to finally end the pained life of being forced into the role of the villain every lifetime by ending the cycle itself once their battle would be over. Or, she wondered, was it the end result of lifetimes of wear and fighting against a higher being, Demise finally sinking its claws into his soul instead of flesh to take a man of untapped potential down with it when Hylia would push her to end him once more.)
Bringing down their blade into him wouldn’t bring them any comfort.
It was just an inescapable ending.