"Juurenja, Juurenja. Densetsu no senshi-tachi yo."

- Kenta Satou

"Hmhmheheheheh."

- Ganon's Puppet Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Zelda grew worried as she saw the readings of the Sheikah Slate in her palm. The kingdom was safe and the skies were clear of Calamity Ganon's blight, but there was still so much work to be done.

"Odd," she said softly toward Link. "Vah Ruta's stopped functioning. I think we should head for Zora's Domain to see if something's wrong."

Link was easily agreeable to that. As they set out for their destination, Zelda made sure he always walked a few paces ahead of her.

She hadn't even reached the place where their horses were waiting before the dull pain returned and she stumbled without Link noticing. She clenched her palm over her heart and winced while she quickly caught her breath. With all the magic she had used finally sealing Ganon away, she wouldn't be able to pull off her ruse for much longer.

With her and Ruta's mission complete, all Mipha could do now was cry. Cry for the life she had lost. Cry for the future she would never have. Cry for the world she had given everything to protect but never be allowed to live in. Cry for the family she would never see again. Cry for the century of torment she had endured as a ghost only to realize there was nothing left for her when her spirit was finally freed.

Destroying Ganon had become Mipha's sole purpose after death, and now she suddenly found herself with no purpose. Zelda had spent a lifetime lamenting over her failures. Mipha was doomed to an eternity of it. The only ones who joined her in Vah Ruta's sanctum were the three ghostly Champions hovering above her. They were each hanging heads in the dark with no supporting words to offer her.

Mipha abruptly stopped her sobbing when she heard the sounds of Link and Zelda wading through the shallow water behind her. She rose up from her knees and weightlessly lofted back to her feet as she faced them. It took every effort for her eerie and ethereal self to swallow back her tears and stand at attention. Link only needed to know Hyrule was saved and didn't need to waste his time worrying about her anymore. She only prayed he and Zelda hadn't overheard more than a few seconds of her despair.

They had been there for all of it.

Link reacted as his usual silent self, consumed by his own grief. Zelda looked like she was on the cusp of saying something that would shatter the foundations of the very kingdom more than Ganon himself. Mipha opened her mouth to explain herself, but Zelda interrupted her instantly.

"Princess Mipha, what if I gave you a second chance?"

Link became puzzled by the mere suggestion. Zelda glanced toward him with regret growing in her eyes.

"Link, there was one thing my father couldn't bring himself to tell you when you first woke up. He was afraid you would have given up hope completely if you knew the whole truth."

She peered hesitantly toward Mipha, toward the choir of guardian angels hovering above Mipha, and then finally brought herself to face Link again.

"One hundred years ago, four of the Champions gave up their lives trying to protect Hyrule from Calamity Ganon… as did their Princess. You were the only one to survive us."

"Zelda, that's crazy! You're standing right in front of me!" Link exclaimed in shock.

Zelda held out her palm, revealing her entire life force summed up as a single pale green candle flame. And now it was beginning to flicker.

"What you see is only my physical remains," Zelda explained with a look of sadness. "I've been using my power to keep my spirit preserved in my body the whole time I kept the Calamity trapped in the castle. I had to in order to uphold the prophecy. When I'm alive, my powers mean everything for Hyrule's future. If I only existed as a spirit, they would be worthless. Now my powers are waning, and I already feel my soul trying to escape its cage. I'll only remain like this for another few days at most."

The Hylian princess slowly glanced toward her Zora counterpart.

"Princess Mipha, if you have any use for it, if you have any sort of unfinished business that keeps your spirit from finding peace, you're free to have my physical form. It's the most I can do to make up for what I let happen to you."

"I don't understand," Link said in confusion. "If you're just going to wither away anyway, how does that help Mipha?"

Zelda turned toward him with a tiny hopeful smile.

"You still possess Mipha's Grace, don't you?"

Link came to a realization, and slowly nodded.

"That should be enough to keep her spirit bound to a living form for a whole lifetime," Zelda said. "She'll just have to use her power conservatively from now on, but she was always the most careful one when we were alive."

The spirits of the three fallen warriors started conversing in the air above them.

"It kills me seeing Mipha like this, and I'm already dead," Daruk's ghost murmured in guilt. "Would you guys have any problems if we let her cheat the system a little bit?"

Revali struggled with his own mixed feelings.

"On one hand, I still want to strangle that farm boy by his scrawny neck and prove he couldn't beat me if I had a wing tied behind my back. He just got lucky because he didn't have one of those damn blobs sent to kill him or have a chunk of the castle fall on him. On the other hand, Mipha was always too nice for the 'duty and sacrifice' thing. She just pushed herself through it for his sake. Now she's taking it rougher than any of us."

The ghostly Rito stubbornly lowered his head. Finally, he sighed in defeat.

"What the hell. I say give the little squid a shot. At least one princess has to stick around to make sure they make a statue of me."

"There's no shame in taking back what was stolen from you," Urbosa briefly but wisely added.

"Are you ready, Mipha?" Zelda asked with an inviting gesture. The ghost of the Zora princess suddenly found herself equal parts hopeful, fearful, and unknowing.

"This will be the best for both of us," Zelda said to encourage her. "You'll have a chance to see your father again, and I'll be able to see mine."

"Princess Zelda…" Mipha hesitated. "I… I don't know how to thank you. If this is your final will, of course I'll do as you ask."

Zelda held out her palm with her candle flame growing weaker. Link placed his hand over hers and surrendered the healing powers Mipha had bestowed on him. They both waited as Mipha built up the courage to hover closer and place her pale transparent hand between theirs.

As soon as their three hands touched, Vah Ruta's control shrine was engulfed in a miraculous explosion of light.

Zelda's spirit was now hovering in the spot over the water where Mipha had previously appeared. The living Zelda weakly staggered backwards and fainted in exhaustion. Link quickly caught her falling form in his arms.

"Give her time to adjust," Zelda's ghost said with an assuring smile.

The living Zelda stirred gently in Link's grasp. Her eyelids twitched for a few seconds, and then hesitantly opened as if she were waking up from a hundred-year nightmare. Her eyes twinkled with a renewed golden aquatic shimmer.

"Link?" the princess asked with a look of uncertainty.

"Mipha," her knight replied in relief.

"Link," the princess whispered again as she tried to shake the dizzy feeling out of her head. "This feels so strange. I'm not sure if I'll be able…"

Link ended all of her doubts with the only thing he could think of: The kiss he should have given her a century ago when he still had the chance. Mipha peacefully closed her eyes again, knowing this was the start of her new life as a Hylian and everything was going to be fine.