This is more of a character study than anything, and it's probably going to drown in the influx of Breath of the Wild fanfic. But hey, I've been waiting too long to write this, so here we go!
Ravio wasn't quite sure why he lingered. He reasoned that he stuck around the Sacred Realm because his princess did, but suspected that this vague justification worked two ways. It was the first time in what felt like forever that they weren't fighting over something. Moreover, Ravio didn't need to worry about a certain advisor hovering his smug face around and ridiculing every word he said.
Admitted, there had been a lot of words and not all of them deserved to be defined as articulate, but then again, he was Ravio! Princess Hilda knew that he wasn't the smoothest of speakers whenever something upset him. She had always taken it into consideration.
Until they discovered Hyrule's Triforce, that is. Then his occasional bouts of stuttering suddenly turned into a problem.
It was only one of the small things about Ravio Yuga used to discredit him. Another one was his love for rupees, or his low-risk approach, or his animal companion. Especially his animal companion. Yuga figured out quickly that the one thing in the world that was guaranteed to make Ravio fly into an incoherent rage was insulting Sheerow.
Hilda had joined in a little too eagerly, but considering how desperate she was – how desperate he was – he didn't really blame her for taking any excuse she was offered.
Well, maybe a little. But if there was one thing Ravio was painfully aware of, it was the fact that he wasn't entirely blameless. He should have stood up for himself. He should never have let Yuga browbeat him into submission in the first place. He shouldn't have waited for someone to get rid of that self-proclaimed artist before finally growing a spine. And maybe tossing that jar at the magician had been a bad idea, too, considering how he was trying not to look like a petulant child.
All the things he told Hilda in the throne room, all the words he managed without too much stuttering even after tripping over nothing in particular and basically ruining his dramatic entrance Ravio style... He should have said them so much earlier.
"I'm sorry."
Ravio almost dropped his sack of rupees. He didn't expect that both of them would say these words. He stared at Hilda in awe when the princess turned to face him with a similar sentiment, and Ravio quickly averted his eyes.
"There is no need to apologize, Your Highness."
"Yes, there is. I thought you were a traitor. I thought you were a coward who ran from his duties."
"I am not certain whether there is a different way of putting it."
Princess Hilda closed her eyes and shook her head, a sigh escaping her lips. "The paths of destiny may not be ours to predict, but they have a way of leading to the same outcome. Had it not been for your intervention, Yuga would have won. Lorule's demise is inevitable."
Hilda smiled sadly and moved to take his hands into hers. And this time around, Ravio did drop his sack. Along with his jaw.
"It is me who betrayed you, Ravio. You warned me of Yuga's intentions, but I refused to listen. My foolish actions forced you to do what I should have done."
Ravio swallowed his protest. He never knew what exactly Yuga's intentions were, only that they weren't good. But Hilda still refused to listen, and a part of Ravio admired her determination.
Besides, he did not feel ready to disclose all the details of his venture. He never quite realized how affected he was by Hilda's actions until he caught himself worrying about Princess Zelda and Link. He half-expected Princess Hilda to change her mind and steal the Triforce while the two were in portrait form – without a bracelet to protect them.
Ravio hated it, but his faith in Lorule's monarch wasn't what it used to be. However, he was more than happy to work on that. And apparently, so was the monarch in question.
He searched his mind for appropriate words. The fact that Princess Hilda was still holding his hands made him nervous, but he did not want to be so rude as to deprive her of the contact she so desperately needed.
"Princess Hilda," he began and took a deep breath. "I'm glad that I could be of help. I do not wish for anything more."
Hilda lowered her eyes. "I do," she whispered, and before Ravio could decide whether or not he was hearing things, he stumbled into a surprise embrace. Sheerow circled their heads with encouraging chirps, a fact Ravio was entirely oblivious to. He was still processing his new location.
Hilda couldn't be hugging him. She was the princess. He was the guy with the strange urge to smash every piece of pottery and mow down every blade of grass with the gall to enter his sight. The guy who took advantage of the general monster infestation by renting out overpriced weapons. The guy who used a thousand words and said nothing. The guy who went and got his kingdom doomed a second time over.
And yet, here they were. A princess, a coward and a bird. It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke.
"I missed you."
Three words. Three words were everything Hilda needed to say a thousand things. Ravio felt her hands clutching the back of his tunic, and he understood. She told him thank you, she told him she didn't mind, he was forgiven, she told him don't go. And Ravio again was hyper-aware of the fact that it was only them, and whatever happened, Sheerow wasn't going to judge.
Ravio did not know what he did to deserve this hug. But he wrapped his arms around Hilda, and suddenly, it didn't matter. How despicable could he be if she deemed him worthy of her affections? A person who was strong and selfless, a princess so concerned with the happiness of her people, a people of thieves and monster-worshippers who didn't even respect her, that she'd fight the wielder of a fully assembled Triforce for it?
The Goddesses help him. Never mind the arguments, never mind this whole mess. Hilda was amazing, and Ravio couldn't hold a grudge to save his life. "I missed you, too."
(And zap it with lightning if it wasn't true!)
"Whenever I doubted my plan, I'd think about you. When I was scared of getting lost because I didn't have enough magic, or when I refused to leave Link's house for fear of getting too attached to a world of light, or when I was straight-up overwhelmed, I'd think about how you chased Sheerow all around the throne room, or how you used your staff to fix all the pottery. Or the time when I freaked out over my hat moving around on its own, and you picked it up and it was only a Maiamai..."
Hilda giggled, and Ravio closed his eyes with a sigh.
"And I just said that out loud, didn't I?"
"It appears that some things never change." Laughing softly, Hilda separated herself from her companion. "I am honored, and I'm glad you did not lose your passion for detailed accounts."
"That's one way to put it..." Ravio muttered under his breath, then bit his tongue. His commoner speak was slipping, and he shouldn't be talking to himself. Especially in the presence of the Princess of Lorule.
If Hilda heard him, she didn't let it show. Instead, she turned back at the black tablet that should be their Triforce. "Thank you for opening my eyes. We cannot tell when Lorule will perish, so we must enjoy the time we have to the best of our abilities. I will speak to my people at once."
"Of course, Your Highness." A satisfied grin spread on Ravio's face, and he picked up his sack to leave. He expected nothing less from Princess Hilda.
He sent what he thought of as a last glance at the crack in the slate when the ground started shaking. As usual for him, he had lost his footing before his mind even got a chance to catch up, and the weight of the rupees did the rest. He fell flat on his back and promptly opted to stay there. Even if it meant putting up with Sheerow pulling a circling birdie on him, at least he couldn't fall a second time.
Which turned out to be a great idea. When the tablet started crumbling, Ravio thought he was witnessing the final moments of Lorule. He couldn't take his eyes off it, even when it exploded in a flash of light and the shock wave sent debris flying everywhere.
He barely dared to hope when the debris made a U-turn and reassembled itself into a familiar shape. But as the clarity of the shape increased, so did his elation. He beamed hard enough to match the golden shine of the upside-down triangle above. There was no doubt whom they had to thank for the restoration of their Triforce.
Ravio was drunk with euphoria.
Hilda burst into tears of relief and joy, all the stress spilling out and vanishing into obscurity. Watching her knees give in while she sobbed thank yous into the air, in hopes of reaching the heroes of the other side, was somewhat sobering, but not enough to inhibit Ravio in the slightest. He crawled over until he knelt next to his princess and looped an arm around her shoulders, too giddy to care about class or protocol.
Soon, Hilda calmed enough to return the gesture. She wrapped an arm around Ravio's waist and pulled him closer.
He felt no need to ramble this time. As they watched the sun rise above the Sacred Realm for the first time in centuries, he knew they thought the same thing.
At last, Lorule was whole again. And they had a bright future to look forward to.