"Freedom."

- Braveheart

"Takeru-chan."

- Muv-Luv Alternative

Mipha plunged the Lightscale Trident through Waterblight Ganon's pulsating nucleus. She wrenched the pole sideways, gritting her teeth as she vengefully twisted the prongs through the hideous creature's Malice-flesh and listened to it squeal. It thrashed for a second in the shallow water of Ruta's sanctum before it finally gave up and died under her grip.

The instant she let go of her weapon, Mipha toppled weakly to all fours. The Waterblight's ambush should have been the end of her, but her work wasn't finished. She reached slowly and desperately with one arm after the other to drag herself through Ruta's waters, swimming in slow motion across the stone tiles. Waves of red mist trailed in the current behind her as she forced herself to crawl inch by inch toward the temple altar.

Finally, Ruta's control terminal was within her reach. She pressed her palm against the carved surface of the ancient pedestal, focused the last of her powers, and collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

The battle to save Hyrule was on the brink of disaster. Calamity Ganon's disease continued to fester even with all the firepower thrown against him.

Massive red beams from three of the Divine Beasts constantly struck his black misshapen mass. Princess Zelda stood defiantly in front of the castle with her hands held upward, blasting him with her own powers of Light. Link was huddled in front of Zelda with his shield raised, a tiny blue figure protecting the hope of the entire world from cataclysmic darkness. The Sheikah Slate flailed from his belt in the screaming whirlwind as if it were going to break off of its leather sling and go flying at any moment. The other Champions could be heard shouting through the device's voice receptors.

"The three of us aren't strong enough by ourselves!" Urbosa said. "We can't do this without Ruta!"

"Dammit, what's taking her so long?!" Revali angrily yelled.

"She's probably just taking her time slicing her little goo buddy apart!" Daruk answered jokingly. "She keeps everything bottled up so much, I'll bet she just needed to vent after that thing tried to kill her!"

Zelda and the Champions pressed on with all their power, but Calamity Ganon barely managed to overcome them. Just when things were at their bleakest, just when all hope seemed lost and the entire castle was about to be swallowed up in despair, the fourth Divine Beast beam suddenly streamed through the air from the direction of Zora's Domain.

Calamity Ganon screamed in agony as the attack struck him on the eastern side and joined with Rudania's. Inspired by the sudden turnabout, the light shining from Zelda's palms doubled in intensity and began binding around the Calamity like a golden net. Ganon was left paralyzed by the combined might of his enemies.

Link lowered his shield and charged forward. He flew like an arrow up the waterfall of black Malice forming Ganon's body and flipped into the sky over Ganon's head. As he came crashing back down, he drove the edge of the Master Sword straight through the rancid beast's forehead.

Link and Zelda were thrown in opposite directions as Calamity Ganon thrashed in misery. Blinding light consumed the entire city.

Central Hyrule was in ruins, but now it had all the time it needed to heal its wounds and rebuild. Countless lives had been lost in the nightmarish carnage, but countless more were spared to carry on their memory.

Calamity Ganon was gone.

In the rubble of Castle Town, the few Hylian soldiers who remained worked to rescue any survivors they could find under the shells of fallen Guardians. Princess Zelda had been immediately named the realm's new leader after her father's passing. She was holding the Sheikah Slate between her hands with her eyes studiously fixed on its screen. Link staggered on groggy feet behind her, shaking his head to clear the stars that still blurred his eyes.

"How's Revali holding up?" he asked from a few feet away.

"Just peachy," Revali's voice sarcastically chimed through the Slate. "You guys call me up here for a sniper job and I get a ball of slime thrown in my face. It's going to take a whole week to get all this tar out of my feathers."

"Urbosa?" Link asked.

"I've got a broken sword and this shield wasn't going to take much more from that Thunderblight, but I'll be fine. Vah Naboris and I will help in any way we can." the Gerudo Champion replied.

"Daruk?"

"A little tired. A little banged up," Daruk mumbled in response. "Nothing a couple of hours in the Goron Springs can't fix. Poor Rudania's gonna need a clean-up crew, though."

"What about Mipha?" Link said.

The Sheikah Slate was completely silent in Zelda's hands.

"Mipha?" Link said again, his voice growing more worried. He leaned closer to Zelda's shoulder. She turned toward him with a fearful look on her face.

"Link, it's Vah Ruta…" Zelda struggled to say. "She's the only one who's stopped moving."

Link was calling her name from a distant foggy shore. Mipha's eyes slowly fluttered half-open, and in the glare she saw him kneeling beside her. He was cradling her in his arms, with Zelda and the other Champions standing behind him. They all wore the same regretful expression.

Mipha looked up at Link and asked the first thing that was always in her thoughts.

"Are you safe?"

"Of course I am," Link tried to smile as he answered. "You really bailed us out back there."

"Did we beat him?" Mipha asked hopefully.

"Sealed away for good," Link nodded.

As she sighed quietly, her head fin touched his chest and brushed against something that couldn't have been the cloth from his Champion Tunic. She squinted her blurry vision, and for the first time she saw what armor he had been wearing ever since they had to take their separate places for the war against Calamity Ganon. He was dressed in the Zora Armor she had spent months crafting him.

"Your armor," she gasped. "It's…"

"King Dorephan told me everything," he whispered over her so she could save her strength. "He was worried you were too shy to ever ask me yourself. We wanted to surprise you after Ganon was out of the way. I wouldn't have trusted anything else to guard me."

Mipha's eyes twinkled with dim golden joy. She had grown so scared after he became more distant from her in the days leading up to Calamity Ganon's return. She was almost certain he had let her go from his heart, if she had ever been part of it at all. But here he was now. He had just been waiting for the right time to tell her his real feelings, after all his other fears had been put to rest. He was really going to accept her proposal and spend the rest of his life with her... or at least, he would have. Knowing he had always returned her love was all she needed to help her find her peace.

She weakly looked past his shoulder and toward the other Champions.

"Urbosa, Revali, Daruk… are the rest of you alright?"

"You don't have to worry about us, princess," Daruk said in a bright voice that masked his unusually somber tone. "Those slimeballs caught us off guard, but we show'd 'em who's boss almost as well as you did."

"And Zelda's powers… Did she finally… ?" Mipha's eyes glimpsed between Zelda and Link.

"I can't really explain it," Link shook his head. "This Guardian was about to finish me off, and then she came running in front of me and they just started working on their own. It all happened out of nowhere."

Mipha nodded and smiled peacefully, understanding what it meant.

"I'm so happy everything turned out this way. I only wish this moment could have lasted longer," she said tiredly. She felt her body starting to shiver. "Tell my father I'm sorry I'll have to go back on my word."

"What are you talking about, Mipha?" Link said with a nervous chuckle. "Come on. You're the one who said you'd always be there to protect me."

Mipha slowly reached up with her small claws. Her fingers brushed Link under his chin, tracing the single white scale sewn into the plate mail around his neck.

"And I will be. I always will," she said in a fading whisper.

"Mipha, wait!" Link shouted frantically. "You can't… Not after all of this!"

She slowly rolled her head into the crook of his arm as she closed her eyes.

"Watch over Zelda from now on. She's… your princess… now…"

Mipha quietly exhaled for the last time.

Link pulled the Zora Champion's limp form against his heart, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his teeth as tears streamed down his face. Zelda and the other Champions lowered their heads in grief.

Vah Ruta's chambers filled with the sounds of gently running water, and the screams of a heartbroken hero.

Author's note: You are the wiggler. That is the real plot twist. And now you are emotionally squirming.