Mipha's Grace
Legend of Zelda fanfiction
Breath of the Wild
A/N: Yeah so... I did this. Enjoy! :3
"Quickly! If you don't hurry he will-... He will die, Mipha!"
"I... my people..."
"Please! We have already lost to much! Ruta is out of control!"
"Alright... Lead the way, princess."
LoZ
"The shrine can't handle that much, princess! He might be in there for over a thousand years!"
"I.. I'm sure I can stop him..."
"That's insane Zelda and you know it!"
"Impa, what else can we do?! Without the chosen hero, Ganon cannot be defeated! The master sword is-!"
"I'll go with him."
"Mipha?"
"I will remain with him in the shrine. The divine beasts are already lost to us... I can speed up the recovery, I'm sure of it."
LoZ
It was a strange dream, a long, long dream he couldn't wake up from. But now... there was a sound. No, it was a voice. A woman, she spoke to him.
"Link..."
He knew that voice... did he? His head hurt, he couldn't remember.
"Link... Link... Wake up, Link..."
Yes. Wake up. Yeah, he could do that... or so he hoped. But his body was heavy, something was pressing against him, as if he was underwater. But the voice... he knew it, wanted to do what it asked of him. So Link, as was his name, pushed himself up. Harder and harder but it only made his chest burn with a new pain. He ceased his struggle to gasp for air, air that suddenly felt very cold against his skin, but it eased the pain, so he pushed into it. Eventually he blinked his eyes open and stared into bright blue light directly above him. Apparently, he hadn't moved very much, still lying in water.
"Link..."
Startled by the familiar voice, he looked around. Why was he in a bathtub? A glowing bathtub? In a weird, dark room? And why, for Hyrule's sake, was a woman with him in said bathtub? He blinked owlishly at her. Red... red and white. It looked so smooth, glistening in the water... Did she resemble a fish? Why could a fish be so beautiful? Her hair did resemble one, a fin that is... Were those even hair? Fins?
"Yah!" The woman jumped in surprise when Link's finger poked her, surprisingly smooth, stomach. Her cheeks tuned an adorable, or so Link's brain supplied, red and she looked away for a second before looking at him again with wide, golden eyes. A webbed hand shot up to her mouth but Link caught it and found himself curiously inspecting the hand, taking it in his own and pulling the smaller fingers apart. That looked so damn useful! Then, in the back of his mind, something told him that what he was doing was rude, even more so to a princess. He frowned. A princess?
"Link..."
The whisper of what he understood to be his name caught him of guard because this time, it came from within his own head. Wow, did he drink last night? Like, everything...? Wait, hold up, he didn't drink alcohol. Or did he..?
The water in which he had been sitting now drained away entirely, leaving him in nothing but weird blue underwear. Tight underwear, he noted, as he once again turned to look at the feminine... well, she wasn't Hylian. Then again... was he? Yes.. yes he was. He knew that, so what did that make her... Looking more closely at the girl, who seemed very uncomfortable under his scrutiny, he noted that she didn't seem to wear anything apart from the blue cloth slung around her shoulder and waist. Was that normal? Anyhow, he decided that, since he didn't have any idea where he was or even who he was, he could simply ask her. But Link found that he couldn't make any sound at the moment. His throat felt like he had swallowed a cucco and the whole flock had followed into his throat were they proceeded to viciously attack his vocal cords. He mentally stowed away to stay the hell away from cuccos. He shuddered at the thought. Of course he remembered stuff like that...
"Link?" The word, despite being his name, started to annoy him. How come that this was all everyone ever said? Then again, he couldn't speak at all... Hypocrite, he thought to himself. "Are you... quite alright?" the girl asked him.
He nodded, the pain in his chest was bearable and the only pain that remained. It was cold though, wet in... well, now his underwear in some dank... shrine? Tomb? He hopped out of the pool and helped the girl out as well. She thanked him quietly, standing on shaky legs. Link frowned ever so slightly and reached over to support her with his arms. She must not have expected it and nearly jumped back into the pool but she looked grateful anyways. She, too, looked as tired as he felt.
There was only one door so the options were limited. To their left Link spotted a pedestal with something familiar embedded into the black stone. He had seen that before, used it before, but he couldn't remember.
"That is a Sheikah slate...," came the whispered voice in his head, "Take it. It will guide you after your long slumber."
Sure enough, the device propped itself up, ready to be taken. Link glanced back at the fish-girl who nodded encouragingly. The moment he took the slate of the pedestal, the door of the room moved up, opening a way. It didn't lead outside but at least it was a way forward. In the hallway, there were two incredibly old and incredibly out of place chests. Inside, he found clothes, if one would call these threadbare things clothing at all. He frowned when he realized that there was nothing for his companion. He dug around in the chests and eventually came up with a blue blanket which he offered to her.
"Oh... I have no need, my body is well protected against the cold," she told him. Link frowned, he found that he had to have known that.
Further down the hallway there was another door, just bigger. Again, there was a pedestal which glowed a slight blue and orange.
"Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal. That will show you the way," the woman inside his head instructed him. The door's center glowed bright blue for a second before opening up. Bright daylight flooded the dark path.
The woman spoke to his mind again. "Link... you are the light - our light - that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now go..." The voice faded and he found himself wondering just who exactly he was.
Light? It was pretty dark in here, that's for sure... Looking back at his companion, who had by now wrapped herself in the blanket and wore it like a tunic, he jerked his head towards the daylight. She nodded and followed him outside.
After climbing up the decayed staircase, the two of them stepped outside. It was beautiful. Lush green wherever he looked, the sky was blue and the birds sang. But then, when he reached the edge of the cliff, his eyes fell upon a castle in the distance. Darkness surrounded it, something evil, something that made his stomach turn. He didn't like whatever that was.
"Calamity Ganon...," came the whisper from behind him. His companion stared at the darkness with wide eyes. "We fought him... we really tried but... he turned the divine beasts against us... we.. we were powerless and..." Her voice cracked and she sank to the grassy ground, tears dropping into her lap. Link frowned, he didn't like to see her cry, didn't like to see Mipha cry. His head gave a terrible throb, his vision swam and he, too, sank to the ground, holding his aching head.
"M...Mipha...," Link croaked before he passed out.
"Link... Link... Wake up..." Really, he didn't like waking up like this. Link really hoped he wasn't yet again in some dank tomb. Tough he wouldn't oppose to waking up next to Mipha... Where did that come from? When he opened his eyes, he looked into the worried face of... Mipha. Yes, he remembered... something. Link wasn't really sure what he remembered, he didn't feel all too different.
Still, his head throbbed uncomfortably, so he just nodded and sat up. Before him was a fire, nice and warm, and an old man sitting across from him. He looked familiar but not as familiar as Mipha did. In fact, he found that he didn't like the man.
"Ever since the decline of the kingdom a hundred years ago, the temple has sat abandoned in decay." The man was talking, maybe to Mipha, maybe to himself. "You would do well to be careful. Up ahead, many monsters lie in wait."
"We will, thank you good sir," Mipha said, bowing slightly in her sitting position. Link had his head in her lap and sat up slowly.
They sat beneath a big rock that sheltered them from the rain, the air was cool against Link's face as he looked around.
Mipha smiled at him. "Are you feeling better?" she asked him. He nodded and stood, stretching his sore legs.
The great plateau, the man told them, was isolated from the rest of the land. He promised to show them a way of the rock if they would bring him the treasures that lay hidden within the three shrines on the plateau. And with that said, he left them to their own devices. The wind blew harshly and even Mipha could feel the cold through her skin by now so they decided to seek shelter in the ruined temple ahead. The temple of time.
Sitting inside a small room to the left of the temple entrance, Link had gotten a fire going and they ate some apples. Lightning flashed outside and Mipha flinched. Wanting to distract herself, she looked at Link and asked, "Link... you... you don't remember, do you?"
He stopped mid bite to look at her. The aching in his throat refused to subside so he just nodded sadly.
"I see...," was all Mipha said. But then her head snapped up again and she stared into his blue eyes. "But Link! You remembered my name, right?" He nodded. "Does that mean you remember me?"
Unsure of what exactly he remembered, he tilted his head to the side, looking intensely at her before shrugging. His chest hurt when she looked deeply saddened. Still, the look passed in but a second before she smiled at him.
"Then let me tell you who you once were..."
Loz
The chosen champion, wielder of the blade that seals the darkness, destined to slay the great evil known as Ganon and protector of her highness the princess Zelda.
Apparently, Link had a lot of titles he didn't live up to a hundred years ago.
In the ruins of the Temple of Time, Mipha told him how they first met, how she would always heal his scrapes when he got hurt, told him how sad she was when he and his father left to live at the castle. She cried a little when she told him how they met again, after he drew the sword from the stone, of the parties and the feasts that were held in the champions honor. And she told him of the princess, her pain, her sorrow and the unyielding devotion she had that the goddesses wouldn't let them down.
"But after you came back from her pilgrimage, she looked so defeated and we knew, her powers hadn't awakened...," she said, barely above a whisper.
The fire had nearly died down by now, Links eyes were glued to the embers as he tried to fit all of the information into his head, pair it with the knowledge he already had.
"You...," he whispered hoarsely, "taught me... to swim..."
Mipha gasped. "Yes! Yes, I did!" She nodded her head eagerly. "So you do remember?"
Link grasped his head in his hands. "I... don't... know...!" His throat burned with every minuscule movement, with every sound, but it was nothing compared to the pounding in his head and the burning in his chest. Link swayed to the side but was caught by Mipha.
Her touch was soothing, her softly blue glowing palms eased the pain. She had done that before, healing him. He knew she had, the feeling was so familiar. The soothing cold, like diving in the soft waters of the lakes in Zora's domain, it washed all over him, enveloped him like a blanket and he remembered the feeling. It was the same feeling he had for a second after he awoke. After a minute or so, Link still leaned against Mipha, breathing heavily but no longer in pain. He looked up to her, in those beautiful golden eyes.
"Thank you, Mipha. For everything," he said, his voice surprisingly strong.
She just smiled brilliantly at him and he knew that things were going to be better now. He wasn't alone in this.