Surprise! Here's the final chapter of "The Queen's Most Precious Treasure!"

I had planned to post this later, because I had feared once you are done reading this, you are done and won't come back anymore when I post the epilogue...

But just now I was working on the epilogue and realized that there are quite a lot of things that will be answered in the epilogue that won't yet be answered here in the official final chapter... and so I decided to finally post this chapter...

Oh boy… here it is…! The final chapter… the ending… the ending you have been looking forward to since I first wrote the silver dagger… the ending I have been wanting to write and post the past 4(!) years…

Let's see if I made it an ending worth reading through two stories! My fingers are crossed!

The young king of Hyrule awoke with a heavy head… and feeling rather unwell but slowly the feeling passed and his mind became clearer…

It was then that the young king of Hyrule became aware of where he was… and that he was not supposed to be there, wherever that there was. The walls were not the walls of set stone of his castle… the little bed he lay on was not the one of his sleeping quarters…

The next moment though, something else caught his attention, all of it. Or rather, someone!

Seated on a little stool was none other than the sly, fair Zelda...

...the young king of Hyrule liked not the smile she wore; crafty and amused. Not the littlest bit!

"Where… am… I…?" demanded the young king of Hyrule to know.

The smile upon the fair Zelda's lips promptly vanished. Swallowing hard once, she then answered,

"…you are on the great farm of the burly Master Talon's… your highness," she said as politely and reverently as she could, "This is the chamber where us farmmaidens sleep…"

"…and how… did I come to be here…? …Pray tell…?" asked the young king of Hyrule in a dreadfully slow manner.

The worriful, fair Zelda swallowed hard once more; for she had most definitely not missed the falsely sweet foreboding tone of his voice.

"I… I brought you here… your highness… after you… fell asleep… in the dining hall…"

The young king of Hyrule said nothing… at first!

"You drugged me…? And then abducted me?" he asked, slowly rising to his feet.

The frightened, fair Zelda hastily retreated two steps or three!

"Y-yes, I did… but I only did so with your blessing-"

"MOCK YOU ME, WOMAN?!" half-roared the young king of Hyrule, "I NEVER GAVE YOU MY BLESSING TO ABDUCT ME!"

"But you did! You permitted me to take that with me, what is most precious to me!"

The young king of Hyrule froze.

After a good, long while, after which the worriful, fair Zelda hoped it safe to continue, she said,

"My king…" never before had the young king of Hyrule heard the fair Zelda speak in such a sweet, longing voice, "I told you that there was something in your castle that was most precious to me… so precious that I could not bear to part from it… so precious that I could not bear to live without it… something I would not ever find anywhere else… ever again… my king…"

Here the bold, fair Zelda dared step close and gently held her hand to the young king's cheek. She looked at him with all earnest and said,

"You are that thing most precious to me! So of course I took you along with me!"

The young king of Hyrule was struck speechless… and so the loving, fair Zelda went on to say,

"When I first accepted to be you betrothed… I did not do so out of love for you… I did it out of fear for you… I dared not defy you…" here she sighed and looked ashamed, "I remember still the day I found your jeweled silver dagger… and all the trouble and sorrow it brought me in the days that followed… most importantly… I still clearly remember how I almost lost my dear, old father because of it… all the grief… all the fear… all the sorrow… and since it was you, your highness, who passed the judgment on my father, and ordered him be placed into the dungeons… I felt your decision to be harsh at that time… and feared you to be a cruel man… and foolishly thought… that you had meant to inflict all this pain and misery upon me…"

Here, the regretful, fair Zelda looked down in shame… for she knew that her words had hurt the young man standing before her…

"So when you came to me, two years later… asking me to be your fiancée… I accepted because I feared of what might happen… what you might do… should I refuse… I was not very happy in the castle… your advisors who counsel you… the nobles who visit you… the knights who serve you… the castleservants who see to you… many, many amongst them looked down upon me… felt me undeserving… and unworthy, to be in your presence… let alone be your wife-to-be and the next queen of Hyrule…"

Here the fair Zelda took a moment's pause.

"…come think of it… right they are… I truly do not deserve to have you… nor do I deserve to receive the crown… but that is all well with me… I do not want a crown upon my head… I do not want to sit upon a throne… I do not want to rule over a country. I do not want to wear expensive jewelry. I do not want expensive dresses draped around my body! I do not need any of these things! I have no desire for them!"

Here the ruffled, fair Zelda had to pause to catch her breath. Then she looked up upon the young king of Hyrule possessively! Almost dangerously so!

…which had the young king of Hyrule take back a quick step or two! For at that moment the fair Zelda very much resembled the mad highpriestess Cia!

"But I refuse to part from you, your highness!" With that the fair Zelda quickly stepped in again, "No… no! No, I refuse to part from you, Link!"

And with that she possessively took her young king into her arms!

"I refuse to part from you, Link!" said the possessive, fair Zelda once more, "I want you, Link, and I want you for the rest of my life! I know I do not deserve you… I know I am not worthy of you… but so is everyone else! Why then should I give you up?! And if even so, if even though they are not worthy of you, all the noble ladies are shameless enough to make a claim for you… why should not I?! And if they dare try whatever underhanded trickery and treachery they can to snatch you for themselves… why should not I?!"

"And so I did!" concluded the possessive, fair Zelda as she tightened her embrace upon her young king, "I begged you to let me take and keep that from the castle which is most precious to me… and you agreed! And I choose to have you! And so… by your word… in Nayru's name… you are now mine and no one else's! Else you best slay me, or else I shall find another way to have you! For I cannot bear to live without you anymore!"

The young king of Hyrule was stunned beyond all measure.

"You mad maiden you…"

"And whose fault you think this is?!" retorted the possessive, fair Zelda as she pulled back to look upon her young king, "It is you who made me this way! When I am with you… my wits abandon me! When I am with you… not a moment can I think clear or straight… not unless it is about you! When I am with you… all my feelings… all my emotions… they all run amok! No man has ever made feel as anxious as I have been when in your presence! No man has ever made me feel so frightened as I have been when in your presence! No man has ever made me feel so nervous as I have been when in your presence! No man has ever made me feel so lost, so clueless, so confused, so frustrated, so annoyed, so angry, so spiteful, so ashamed, so regretful, so longing, so desperate, so possessive, so… so…"

The fair Zelda struggled to find another word.

"So… so maddened!" she said at last, "No man has ever set my heart in such a blaze… no man has ever sparked so many emotions and feelings within me all at once in such amount! No man has ever made me feel so… alive! No man but you!"

Once more she took tight hold of her king.

"If this is not love then what is?! My heart is all aflutter! Caught in a storm, a whirlwind of emotions! And I find myself addicted to it… to this… this… this chaos! This chaos of emotion! And I cannot live no more without it! Can live no more without you..." said the maddened, fair Zelda with finality, "…so do not part from me… and do not force me to part from you… I could not bear it… I could not! I need you, Link… need you and want you… I need and want you in my life… I need and want you by my side…"

Once more the fair Zelda pulled out of his arms, and this time eyed him challengingly!

"I will do whatever I have to make sure that you are and always will be! Forget about all your other suitoresses… whatever treacheries they may be able to come up with will be nothing to what I will think of to keep you by my side! You, my most precious treasure!"

The young king of Hyrule said nothing…

…then a snigger slipped past his lips…

…then a chuckle.

Then a chortle.

And then the young king of Hyrule erupted into full-blown laughter! Never before had the fair Zelda seen the young king of Hyrule this merry.

For a good, long while that laughter boomed and boomed! Until eventually it softened into an amused chuckle every now and then, threatening to erupt into full laughter any time again…

Before the fair Zelda realized what he was doing, the young king of Hyrule had gently gathered her into his arms and pressed a soft, sweet kiss upon her head.

The joyful, fair Zelda happily returned the embrace, knowing then and there that she had won her dear, most precious treasure back! Close as they were, she could feel her dear, precious king's quiet chuckles rumbling in his chest.

"…what a shameless wench you are! To trick the man of your desires and drug him and snatch him away! Your king nonetheless! And all so that you can keep him all to yourself!" said the young king of Hyrule, with quiet laughter rocking his voice, "But woe be mine...! For I cannot find it in me to put a stop to you and your madness!"

The joyful, fair Zelda smiled brighter and tightened her arms around her dear, precious king.

"But!" said the young king of Hyrule as he pulled back in her arms, "I still have a kingdom to rule over… and I cannot very well do so from here, on this farm… so… my dearest Zelda… would you be so sweet as to take me back to my castle?"

"Why ever in the world would I do that?" asked the sly, selfish Zelda in a coquettish, falsely affronted voice, and quickly took her dear, precious king back where he belonged… in her arms!

"If I were to take you back to the castle, you would spent the whole day, every day, away from me! You would spent the whole day locked up inside your dreadful throneroom! Your boorish advisors and councilors would all keep you so busy you would have no time for me! And then there are all those horrible, two-faced nobles with their insufferable daughters, who are all out to seduce you! Why ever, in the name of the three golden goddesses and all the great fairies in the land, should I allow you, you who are rightfully mine, to be anywhere near them, when I fully know that they would try whatever treachery and underhanded trickery to snatch you away from me?"

Again, the young king of Hyrule roaringly laughed aloud.

"Very well…" he said after his laughter had subsided, though at any moment it was about to erupt anew, "Then what think you of this…? You take me back to the castle with you… we wed… and I crown you queen? As the queen of Hyrule, you shall rule alongside me… that way we will always be together… every day… every hour… every dreadful minute inside the throneroom… we shall be together… seated side by side… And whenever I have to meet with my councilors or any of those insufferable nobles… you will be there beside me… right next to me… and I promise to be always by your side… None may step closer to me than you yourself are… and none may stand between us… And if any nobleman's daughter dares snatch me away from you, then you, as the queen of Hyrule, may command my entire army and every single soldier in the land to scour all of Hyrule for me to return me to your side… and you may throw the thieving hussy into the dungeons as well!"

The wicked, fair Zelda grinned and giggled; There were a couple of noble ladies she would just love to throw into the dungeons…

"Does this sound acceptable to you, my dearest, sweetest Zelda?"

The selfish, fair Zelda sighed and tightened her arms around her dear, precious king.

"…I would much rather just keep you here all to myself… away from all those two-face advisors and insufferable nobles…" but then she let go of a most regretful sigh, "But then… without you on the throne… it would become theirs to claim… and I would sooner marry the ill-tempered Ingo than let that happen!"

Once more the young king of Hyrule broke out into a laugh, this one most fond.

Then he pulled himself partly out of his beloved Zelda's tight embrace to press a gently, loving kiss upon her sweet lips…

"Hold hard! Wait just a moment!" shouted the young king of Hyrule, and the fair Zelda cursed out in frustration.

"What is it?!" ground out the thoroughly aggravated, fair Zelda.

The young king of Hyrule though was not in the littlest frightened by her anger. He sported one of his own!

"You said that I would not notice your… most precious treasure gone! You said it would not trouble me in the littlest if it were gone from the castle! Do you have any idea what chaos and trouble you have caused by abducting me?! Right now the castle must be falling apart!"

"Oh?! Oh my…" escaped it the embarrassed, fair Zelda, "…did I truly say such things…?" she asked in faked cluelessness.

"Yes, you most certainly did!" ground out the young king of Hyrule annoyedly, "You lying wench, you… it appears I need punish you after all!"

The fair Zelda made herself as little as she could and looked at her dear, precious king pleadingly.

"My dearest love I beg you… be merciful with me…" the coy, fair Zelda pleaded, "I am a most delicate flower…"

"'A most delicate flower?!'" repeated the young king of Hyrule incredulously and then snorted, "Like a horse's arse you are! If you were indeed a flower, you would not be delicate, you would be hardy! And full of thorns!"

The sly, fair Zelda smiled.

"A rose then?"

The young king's face soured, "Nay, never! …A thistle! That's what you are!"

The fair Zelda's mouth fell open in affront. Then she ground her teeth and prepared to give her impossible fiancé his well-deserved earful!

But then she stopped… and smiled.

"Thank you very much, my love…" she said in a coquettish voice.

The young king of Hyrule raised a suspicious golden eyebrow.

"What are you up to now, you devious vixen, you?"

"You wound me, my love…" said the falsely saddened, fair Zelda in a mock-hurt voice, "I am not up to anything devious… I merely remembered that some thistles give bloom to rather pretty flowers…"

The young king of Hyrule opened his mouth to retort… and hung his head in defeat.

"I yield…" he said in a defeated voice, "…methinks I am doomed to never succeed in any of our arguments to come…"

The devilish, fair Zelda smiled triumphantly. Then she grabbed the young king of Hyrule by the head and took, what she felt to be, her long-awaited, well-deserved kiss!

Well, what do you guys and gals think? Did you like the ending? If not; sorry… but, again, this fanfic of mine is based on an old folktale… and this is pretty much the way that folktale ended.

This is how The Peasant's Wise Daughter from The Grimm's Fairy Tales by the Grimm Brothers Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm ended… and I like the ending so much… I refuse to change it!

All I did was add a little bit of detail here and add a little dash of humor there…

I admit I could have made the ending more romantic but… NAH!

First of all: This is a fairytale! Something you would read/tell to little kids…

Second: I HATE soap operas! All that dramatic romantic crap… sorry not for me! It's just too... over the top! Too unnatural!

I wanted my ending to be… light, natural, cheerful, and joyful! I wanted it to make people smile… not swoon!

Sorry I took so long, I mean, sorry I took so long after posting the last chapter… but… I wanted to finish everything! This is the final chapter, but there is still an epilogue and I feared if I take too long to post the epilogue, you guys would forget my story and no longer come to read it!

After all… technically the story is already done!

But trust me on this one; you want to read the epilogue!

This one will add the cherry on top!

PS: I almost forgot! You guys remember that the fair Zelda drugged her beloved king in the prior chapter, correct? Well, I'm guessing you'd like to know how she did it? Even though the stern Lady Impa was there and everything?

If so, allow me to explain… the answer on how she did it is quite simple…

She didn't.

Yes, you read that right, she didn't drug the young king, it wasn't our fair Zelda who slipped that drug into his wine… but then who did? Easy, there's only one person left: the Lady Impa!

THAT'S why the fair Zelda sought out the Lady Impa the evening before! Remember how the fair Zelda asked the Lady Impa if it was true that the Sheikah were knowledgeable in the use of poisons? Our fair Zelda is a (arguably more or less) harmless farmmaiden; she knows nothing about poisons other then perhaps some poisonous plants… and being knowledgeable about poisons is not the same as being skilled in the use of poisons… meaning; knowing a suitable poison is just step one, in fact, I dare say it's the easy part… getting that poison into your target… I dare say that's the tricky part!

Our fair Zelda also knew that our young king won't trust her… so all things considered it really was best that she let someone else do the poisoning!

Wait, let me guess what's on your minds…

"Didn't Impa warn the young king/Link?! And didn't she give him something to counteract the poison?!"

Yes she did… but that just for the sake of misdirection, for distraction!

First off… our young king trusted the stern Lady Impa with his life (Why wouldn't he? They are practically mother and son!) so in the first place he never expected her to drug him… and for good measure, the Lady Impa warned him against the sly, fair Zelda! After that warning there was no way that the young king would suspect the stern Impa of slipping something into his wine…

…which, now that we come to it, she didn't! What she did was this… remember when she was "wiping" the king's goblet "clean" with her handkerchief? THAT'S where the sleeping drug came in! She didn't wipe the goblet clean… she smeared the interior with the sleeping drug!

That's why the fair Zelda and the stern Impa remained unaffected even though they drank from the same wine as the king! Their goblets were clean and safe to drink from, his wasn't!

Smart, huh?

I agree; too bad I didn't come up it… this poisoning scene was inspired by a scene from the Redwall Novel "The Outcast of Redwall" by Brian Jacques, the very first Redwall Novel I ever read. (By the way… if you guys ever go book hunting… if you see "National Bestseller" or something like that, it's a good book! That's what made me buy it!)

Okay, enough said, your turns to write!

Please review and comment. All forms of reviews, comments and criticisms are very welcomed and appreciated.
If you do not have the time to leave behind such, a numerical ratings from 0-10 will suffice just as well.

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