Change and Sacrifice || Link x Mipha

Remembering Love

Link's POV
I put away my knights shield and my soldiers broad sword that I found while we were traveling. We had just finished clearing off a decently sized group of monsters near Lanayru Tower.

"You handled that real well, dad!" Liana complimented.

"Thank you!" I smiled. "Honestly, I'm surprised at how well I did."

"I bet you that it was muscle memory or something like that," Valik thought out loud. "Like we told you, you were the Hylian Champion, one of the best fighters in Hyrule! So, I'm not really surprised at how well you handled the whole situation."

We continued onward on the path and got past Inogo Bridge. As we traveled on the winding path, there was a sound of something in pain coming from the woods.

"What was that?" I asked.

"That must be a hinox," Liana speculated. "I wonder if mom is fighting it. Let's go check it out!"

We climbed up the muddy cliff side and walked around some trees until there was an opening. A black hinox was stomping around and that same Zora from my memory was fighting it. What was her name again? Mipha, I think.

She slashed her trident across its leg and dodged a few of its attacks. The hinox went to slam its hands down on the ground and she jumped and stabbed her trident directly in its eye. The hinox roared and stumbled back. She then manipulated the puddles of water surrounding her and created a water vortex. After the vortex disappeared, the hinox fell to the ground and started to disintegrate. Wow, she's one powerful fighter to easily beat something that big.

Valik and Liana told me to hide behind some bushes until they left the immediate area. They walked out to Mipha.

"Hi mom!" Valik waved. Mipha turned around and smiled. I felt my heart skip a few beats. She looks more beautiful in-person. I can just tell that she's one of the most kind and loving beings out here.

"Valik, Liana," her voice was happy and gentle, "I'm glad you both made it home safely. How did it all go?"

"It went really well!" Liana chimed. "You should've been there!"

"I know. I'll have to visit him some other time."

"Well..." Valik looked at Liana knowingly, "we'd like you to meet someone, or, I guess, have a reunion."

"A reunion?"

"Yep!" Liana smiled. "Just stay here and they'll greet you any minute! Valik and I will wait for you both at the domain. See ya!" The two happily walked off and that meant that I had to make myself known.

I nervously stood up and walked through the bushes. I heard an audible gasp from Mipha and her trident fell to the ground. Tears started to come to her eyes.

"L-Link?" She gave a small smile.

"Uh, Y-Yeah?" I stumbled over my words.

"Its been so long since I've seen you."

I walked closer to her, "Well, I'm here now."

She wiped some of her tears away and hugged me. At first I was hesitant to hug her back, but then I started to... remember. Not of moments, but of feelings. All of my feelings that I was remembering amounted to one word: Love.

I hugged her back and we both stayed there for a bit embracing every second of it. During that whole time, fuzzy memories of my feelings and other little moments would come and my head would be pounding from the pain, but I didn't care. I wanted to remember. If this is what my life was like before, I want to remember everything. Every single detail.

"Link," she rested her head on my shoulder, "I'm so sorry."

I held her closer, "What for?" 

"If I would've just been more smarter, I-I could've saved you. You wouldn't have been in that shrine for 100 years, we could've found a way to defeat Ganon right then and there. But, my carelessness cost me and all of Hyrule your life."

"No," I started to remember more of what I was thinking on that dreadful day. "Mipha, you weren't careless at all. You... you came to save me."

"But I failed. You saved me instead and-"

"I remember that I saved you because I knew that I wasn't going to live either way. I wanted at least one of us to survive. I may not remember everything completely, but one thing I can say for sure is that none of this is your fault."

She lifted her head from my shoulder and smiled. "I love you, Link."

I rested my forehead on hers. The words just seemed to come out naturally. "I love you too, Mipha."

She started to passionately kiss me and I did it back. I loved every second, even though my head was still throbbing from remembering so many things. She then broke off the kiss and looked behind her. I put my hand on my head, the pain was starting to get unbearable.

"We should probably get back to the domain. There's so many things that you need to-" she looked back at me and noticed how I was grimacing a bit. "Link, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I came out of the shrine not remembering anything and now I'm remembering everything. Each time I remember something it basically gives me a headache."

"I'm so sorry. You should've told me."

"No, no, it's fine. Besides, I want to remember. Even if it does cause some pain."

"Well, if we go to the domain, you'll definitely have a lot of pain."

"Yeah, but it'll be fine. I'll just get used to it."

"Alright, just let me know when you need a break."

Mipha guided the way as we started walking to Zoras Domain. "So, since apparently I've been asleep for 100 years," I started, "is there anything that I don't, or wouldn't, know about?"

"There's a lot that you wouldn't know about," she chuckled.

"Like what?"

"Well for starters, your grandchildren."

"Huh?! We have what now?"