Link hadn't been aware that Ganon had left, deep asleep in the bed they'd rented at the inn. He'd been exhausted, traveling to get word to the other races of Hyrule in search of allies, preparing plans, and staying up late to think of strategies and contingencies. He'd known only that they were running out of time, that Zelda's next attack was imminent.
His dreamless sleep shifted into a nightmare, a vision of the throne room of Hyrule Castle, of Ganon facing Zelda with a threat on his lips. He couldn't hear anything in the nightmare, both of the others' voices muffled beneath a harsh buzzing in his ears. It wasn't like Link was standing in the throne room in the vision, more as though he were watching from above as Zelda attacked with her malice.
Heart pounding painfully in his chest, Link could only observe as Ganon struck the malice away, as Zelda's attacks became more powerful. He tried to cry out a warning to Ganon as he saw Zelda teleport behind his husband, silently screaming as malice rained down, burning everything it touched, including the man Link loved with every fiber of his being, heart, body, soul.
Ganon was dying, like in so many of Link's nightmares of late, and Link tried desperately to wake - he had to wake up, had to see his husband and assure himself that Ganon was fine. The nightmare held him fast.
Only when the scene shifted, to the hot springs where he and Ganon had first admitted their feelings for each other, shared their first kiss, did Link realize this was no nightmare at all - he was seeing across Hyrule in his sleep, witnessing real events, and watching helplessly as Ganon slipped away from the world, from him.
Link's scream as he woke, sitting upright in bed, was heart-wrenching, the sound of complete and utter desolation echoing from the inn, outside, and for quite some distance. His heart was shattered, pain lacing his scream, and only amplified as his left hand burned, the Triforce of Wisdom's searing light radiating from the mark on his hand and rippling through the inn, breaking windows, splintering wood, and burning fabric. Hot tears fell from glowing blue eyes as Link cried out.
"GANON...!"
