Link gasped for breath on the hard marble of the Zora people's throne room, the King and his most trusted people grim faced and scandalized a like. The room spun, and the constant rush of water drowned out the murmurs echoing despondently. The king had a fearsome look to his features, but there was an all-knowing grieving flint hardened in his eyes.

"You remember now, don't you Link?"

The familiarity of the tone caused the aforementioned man to lift his head shakily, still drawing in rapid shallow breaths to stop the nausea flashing through him. It took him but a moment to recognize the words being directed to him, and guilt lashed through him like a cat o nine whipped by a hundred vengeful moblins. The grief was barely secondary, and the faces of one of his dearest friends echoed behind the shadows of his eyelids, his eyes now eerily blue.

"Mipha…" Link spoke croakily. He was unaware of the haunting look deep set in his body like a second skin that all the Zora around him could read like they could swim. Shudders and gasps, tearful all around, wrenched through the room at that which they could see so clearly. Link was no better.

He collapsed to the ground, his knees cracking painfully on the chilled floor, its temperature seeping through his worn traveler's pants to ice the ball of dread sitting in his stomach uneasily. His bangs hung in front of his eyes like a shroud, but his mouth was lax, muscles refusing to cooperate as he fumbled for speech that wasn't as water logged as this dreaded place that once used to be a favoured memory.

Link swallowed painfully. "She… loved me?"

In his peripheral, Sidon gave a seldom seen grimace, but it was his father who answered, kind and gentle in his booming voice. "Yes. She would've done anything to please you. It is because of this that we would like to gift you the armor she made especially for you."

The warrior in him allowed a sturdy nod, showing no hesitance. Inside, the man howled. Link's eyes glimmered in the strange luminescence all around, the only betrayal of his internal struggle. He may not have all of his memories, but even the ones he'd recently gained combined with the innate knowledge he had retained about Zoran culture told him all he needed to know. Zoran women may make armor for their grooms, but it was the acceptance of such a gift that acknowledged the union between them.

Zelda's face seemed to flash in front of him unsteadily and Link flinched. She was still waiting. He fingered the cloth she had given him, the bright blue a sign of both his station and his willingness. But… Link glanced up at the father whose daughter had been killed because of him. Insult would do no favour. But neither would misplaced affection.

His recent memories buzzed in his ears, and Link winced at the reminder of how well he had always known of Mipha's feelings. Of how well he had always resolutely pretended along with her that she was hiding it admirably. Of how Zelda had self-consciously rubbed a hand up and down her silken arms every time the Zoran had been slightly too forward, slightly too affectionate.

Link had to steady a hand on the sword rested at his hip. His eyes focused and unfocused on the ground repeatedly. He did not know how he knew that. Or how he knew so acutely in his gut that to take Mipha's armor was to take betrayal to the woman he loved. The woman who had so patiently and powerfully been fighting all alone this whole time. Without him.

The Hyrulian noticed Sidon shift uncomfortably, and with a start realized he had not answered the king, instead letting silence encompass the throne room. In this time, the king had somehow managed to bring forth the armor made especially for him. There was a knowing look in the monarch's eyes, and a curious tilt to his chin that brought a crush of shame through Link's less sizeable body. Who was he to refuse such a gift? He was the man-child who had caused such an internal conflict to begin with. The man-child who had caused the deaths and sufferings of many, one of which being one of his closest friends who had put all her hope in him. And he'd failed her.

Link closed his eyes, remorse decorating his features in the form of downturned lips and furrowed eyebrows. Another selfish part of him wished desperately that none of the other champions were friends and close companions. Maybe then he would be spared some marginal amount of guilt and pain as he was feeling now.

He opened his eyes fiercely once more. The king was studying him carefully. There was compassion there. And understanding. "Link," he began slowly, "we know that you would not have been the one to bring our dear Mipha the happiness of accepting such a thing and its connotations. But you were the one boy that she loved, and you are the one man who now deserves to wear it. For Zora." His eyes darkened. "For Hyrule."

Link gazed sorrowfully up at the Zoran. And he accepted it.

(The back of his heart and head and soul twinged at the betrayal. But if there was one thing Zelda would always understand, it would be 'For Hyrule')