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Mipha’s spirit sat against the sheikah slate podium at the center of Vah Ruta, listening to the water running throughout the divine beast. Hearing the distant crashes of the waterfalls of Zora’s Domain. Her spectral mind wandered, as her hands brushed through the blonde strands of hair that laid in her lap. She smiled as she felt the gold strands of hair. A reminder of what she kept fighting for….
The blonde laying there in her lap stirred slightly in their sleep. Mipha could feel their struggle as they dreamt. She could see the look of pain and discomfort on their face as they battled their demons that plagued the blonde’s dream world. The Zora princess could only place a hand on their forehead…and pour in some of her grace to try and help ease their mind and ease their body.
She could see the spectral echoes of the world around her, and she saw them flowing through the blonde swordsman in her lap. She could see the trials and tribulations that lay ahead of them. She could see the threads of fate stringing the blonde along. She let out a melancholy sigh for the hylian she once loved. Humming the soft melody both she and the swordsman learned when they were younger.
Sleeper awake…
This dream shall fade.
Though we cling fast…
When was it real?
What I saw…
I still believe…
While you are lost in dreams…
A wind fish will save you.
Sleeper Awake…
New and reborn…
So this nightmare fades.
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Their breath was ragged as they climbed the cobblestone steps. They estimate around 300 ft or so high. The large egg in front of them reaches high into the stratosphere above. After what has felt like weeks, Link was finally on cusp of ending this journey. Of course it was all a dream…but it was one that they could not awake from. It was like a spell that kept them here. Though it may be a night…it felt as if it had been weeks.
Link…how they grew to curse the feeling that name had given them. Since washing ashore on this island…hearing the inhabitants refer to them as it had begun to truly gnaw at their heart.
Why…why had it hurt so much? It never hurt while they worked as the princess’ bodyguard…it didn't hurt when they grew up in Hateno Village….mostly…
But here….on Koholint…it truly bothered them.
As they pulled out the various tools and instruments they had gathered, setting them in a circle, they closed their eyes and grit their teeth. They knew what was awaiting them on the other side. They knew that Hyrule was waiting for them. Expectantly waiting for the useless knight of fate to wake up from their silly dream and get back to the matters at hand. From what they can remember, they should still be in Vah Ruta. They took a few nasty swipes, so they are probably injured, most likely what is causing this confusing dream to continue. Unless Sidon had ventured in somehow.
As the circle of instruments was placed, they began to float into the air…the wind around them beginning to play them with spectral fingers. That was when they heard it. The familiar, soft, and tender words. The beautiful silk-like voice they had held dear in a past life…
“Mipha….?” Their voice, like always in their dreams, very soft and gentle…but…not her normally dreamt voice. This was…softer than other nights. Not the grunts or yelps of a knight...but…they sounded more like their true voice than their(?) other dreams…
They could hear Mipha’s song sung prayer…singing in key with the wind. The instruments circling around Link…their attention and mind spinning from an unknown feeling. Their heart began to beat faster and faster. The music grew louder, slowly drowning out Mipha’s voice. Before with a loud crescendo that could match the great orchestras of Castle Town… it stopped.
The blowing wind still blew past their ears and through their gold hair…before slowly, crack after crack began to form on the large egg. It began to shatter in a gentle fashion. The cracks spread around it like a spider's web. As the cracks stopped growing, piece after piece began to gently blow away. Each piece of egg shell turning to dust in the wind.
They expected a creature. They expected a goddess. They expected a being of light. But instead…was a mirror. The remnants of the egg having blown away in the wind. All that stood now on the mountain was a single, large stone mirror. With its glass framed by melted obsidian. They approached it. Feelings of fear and anxiety forming in their gut. A voice telling them to back away from it. To retreat. To stay and accept that they were stuck.
But a newer…older voice told them the opposite. And it won.
As they approached the mirror, it stood roughly 10 ft tall. Its glass fogged, reflecting the tropical midday sun.
Until they approached it.
Facing them within the glass was a woman. She was the same height as them. She had the same eyes…she had the same styled cap. But her hair was a bright, fiery red. The blue hooped earrings were in the same spot as their own. And they mimicked every movement as their own. Wasn't this face…the face of the girl from the village? The girl who had found her? The girl who encouraged her on the journey? Wasn't…that Marin’s face?
But while they were frowning in confusion…the reflection had a look of pride as she stared back. Reaching out a hand to the glass, both fingertips meeting, the world began to turn to dust like the egg shells. The sky darkened into a void of space.
The mirror blinked away, as the outstretched hand reached for nothing. As they watched it, they saw as the muscle and skin began to roll back. The red candied color sinew peeling away as softer…paler skin was revealed beneath. The outer coating of flesh falling away all over….her body. Her…her body. Marin…was her. She had been this whole time. Guiding herself to the waking world…
As the final strands of flesh fell away from Link. Marin floated in the void as the whale-like hum echoed through the darkness…
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It had been a week since. Marin had decided to stay in Zora to recover before venturing out to the next divine beast. As she watched the rising sun poke out from the distant mountain horizon, she felt the spectral hand on her own. Mipha’s spirit sitting with her. Her thumb brushing against the back of Marin’s hand.
As the light of the sun reflected off of the waters of Zora’s domain, it reflected up at the great Vah Ruta.
“What will you do now?” She asked softly. Her voice rippled like the waters below.
With a gentle hand, Marin signed back to her former lover.
“Fight on.”
Always the simple responses. Even when she was alive, Mipha always received simple phrases from the blonde.
“No, you octorok head…i mean…about the change” It was still strange to her.
There was a brief look of apprehension from Marin, before it was replaced with a soft smile. Her free hand signing as best she could.
She wasn’t sure exactly. But she knew she would be okay. She had Mipha’s Grace after all.
As she finished signing, she winked at the Zora princess. Both of them were laughing at each other like they used to. The spirit playfully punches the arm of the heroine.
“I suppose you do…” with a soft smile, she leaned on the blonde’s shoulder. The morning sun shining brightly on them both.