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findmeinasunshower · 1 year

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𝑴𝒊𝒑𝒉𝒂'𝒔 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆: 𝑩𝑶𝑻𝑾!𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒌

word-count: 1.8k

summary: sheikah!reader x selectively mute!Link. Reader is assigned by Impa to accompany Link on his journey through hyrule. You see mipha’s grace in action when you’re attacked by a group of Yiga.

warnings: canon-typical violence (reader and link fight the Yiga), blood, use of weapons

author’s note: it’s winter, which means it’s time for the return of my comfort breath of the wild phase. i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

The air is ripe with the sweet smell of autumn as you travel through Akkala, and Link smiles and nods when you comment on it. The horses are calm and well-rested from the night spent in Tarrey Town, and they eat up the path of Kaepora Pass in an energized walk. You find yourself leaning into the gait of your mount more than usual, reveling in the feel of the sun warming your back and the gentle swaying back and forth of the mare Link procured for you at the beginning of your journey together a few weeks ago.

When Link leaves you to conquer the shrine on Rist Peninsula, you’re happy to stay behind and mind the horses. You leave them to graze freely on a ridge above East Akkala Beach where you can faintly see Link moving around the spiral of the peninsula, nothing more than a blue blob carrying a glowing orange orb. Only when all of the monsters have been dispatched and your friend is “safely” inside the shrine do you let yourself lay back on the grass and enjoy the unseasonably warm day.

By the time Link returns, the sun is nearly down. You’ve just fed the horses each an apple from your pack and are peeling one for yourself when Link pulls himself over the edge of the ridge. “Hey. You greet him with a smile, and he responds with a wide grin. “Someone’s chipper. I’m guessing you didn’t have to fight anything?” He shakes his head. “Good thing it’s your turn to cook dinner tonight.”

When Link groans dramatically, you’re expecting it. You even feel a giggle beginning to bubble up inside you all of a sudden, but you’re quick to take a bite out of your apple to hide it.

What you’re not expecting is for Link’s groan to cut off suddenly and a semi-familiar voice to roar: “Get down!”

Your training kicks in instantly as you drop into a crouch, and you feel something whistle over your head. You jerk your head up to see Link deflect an arrow with his sword, and you roll between your mare’s legs just in time to miss a second arrow burying in the ground where you just were.

In one smooth movement, you unhook your bow and quiver from the mare’s saddle and slap her on the rear to send her sprinting off into the trees. When you swing around with an arrow knocked back, Link is already locked in a fierce back-and-forth with a Yiga Blademaster. Two footsoldiers are trying to flank him, and you’re quick to send an arrow through the furthest one before you sprint to intercept the second, drawing your longblade as you do.

The Yiga footsoldier barely lifts his sickle in time to intercept your blade, and you immediately know this is a highly trained group when he nearly disarms you with a flick of his wrist. You steel yourself for more of a fight than you were expecting—you’ve never dealt with a Yiga that took you longer than fifteen seconds to dispatch, and a small part of you is giddy for the unexpected challenge. You haven’t had a challenge since you last sparred with Dorian in Kakariko.

You smirk as you parry away the soldier’s latest blow and aim a well-timed kick to his chest, sending him flying back a few feet. Quicker than a flash, you’ve dropped your sword into the grass and redraw your bow, loosing a single arrow to end the battle. Twenty seconds.

A grunt of pain catches your attention and you spin around just in time to see the Yiga Blademaster gradually pressing Link toward the ridge above the beach—you imagine a fight like this would have been nothing to him before the Calamity, but he’s only barely recovered his strength.

“Link!” You shout and take off toward him. His blue eyes shift to you for a split second, distracting him just enough for his opponent to kick him in the chest exactly as you just did the footsoldier.

You pass over the patch of grass where you dropped your sword and snatch it up as you sprint by. “Link, the cliff!” you scream out in warning, unable to do anything but watch as Link’s boots scuff the edge of the ridge. You’re mere meters away when you catch one last glimpse of him, hair shining like spun gold in the setting sun. Then, the Blademaster hunches over him and thrusts his blade forward.

“No!” you gasp and finally, finally reach the Blademaster. He’s too large and slow to turn around in time to catch your blade, so you dispatch him quicker than you ever have someone if his stature before. Only once he disappears in a puff of purple smoke and a shower of rupees do you peer down the edge of the cliff. Link is motionless where he lies on the beach, and there’s already a spot of red growing around him.

“Link!” you shout and scramble down the cliff, ignoring the way the rocks tear at your palms. You reach the bottom of the ridge in record time considering you don’t have a shield, and your legs nearly give out as you turn to run the last few steps to the hero. Link rolled to a stop about five meters away from you, and the difference between seeing him now, bathed in the gray light of dusk, versus when the sun was shining on him only a few minutes ago is stark.

He doesn’t move when you fall to your knees next to him. Not even a twitch. When Impa first introduced you to the revived Hero of Hyrule, you specifically remember observing how his fingers drummed on his thigh the whole time he was kneeling in front of your tribe elder. You’ve never seen him so still before, and the sight fills you with dread.

Tears well up in your eyes as the realization that you just heard Link speak for the first time hits you like the swing of a Hinox. And it was to warn you just in time to save your life. Impa had told you of the vow of silence he took when the princess was placed under his charge—that in order to remain one hundred percent focused on his mission, he would only ever speak if undoubtedly necessary.

You never thought you’d hear his voice beyond his faint grunts in battle, or when he chuckles quietly at Beedle’s inane jokes. And the thought of never hearing his voice again has your hands hovering over him uselessly, at a loss for what to do. The knees of your armor are starting to soak through. Please, please, please.

That’s when his body erupts into turquoise flames.

You’re glad no one is around to hear the way you screech at the sudden flash of light, or how you scrabble backward in panic. Link seems even more startled than you as he shoots up with a strangled gasp, back arching off the beach as if to escape his prone position on the ground.

“Link?” you hiccup, tipping forward on your hands and crawling back toward him. “You…”

Link sits up with a low groan of pain, effectively cutting you off. You watch him warily as he looks at his hands as if seeing them for the first time, then lifts up the front of his blood-soaked shirt and examines his bruised abdomen. You follow his gaze to the short, newly-raised scar in the middle of the bruising. “It worked,” he mumbles, and you gasp slightly, heart skipping a beat at the sound of his voice once again.

“What worked?” you ask. Link’s eyes whip towards you in surprise, as if he’d forgotten you were there. Mipha’s Grace, he signs, and your heart stops at the simple explanation. Link’s never been one for words, usually answering you with short sentences and leaving you to sort through the rest of the context yourself. This time is no different, but you find yourself stumbling into the explanation rather quickly.

You were accompanying Link a fortnight ago when he freed the Divine Beast Vah Ruta with the help of Prince Sidon of the Zora. When you asked what he discovered in the ancient machine, he had merely signed: A gift from Mipha. She said she’d heal me when I need it.

The statement had baffled you too much to ask any more questions…but now, the reality of his words click into place.

“You died?” you shriek, and Link reels back at your sudden volume. You scramble forward the last couple of inches and cup his cheeks, dragging your hands down to his shoulders as you cry: “Please tell me I didn’t just watch you die and be brought back to life by a goddess-damned ghost, Link—” Link’s eyes widen at your unholy words. Sure, he’s heard you curse and joke before, but never in this way. Never so desperately.

He pulls you down into his arms to avoid looking into your tear-filled eyes any longer. He can feel your chest heave as you sob, the fear and adrenaline of the past few minutes finally catching up to you. After a few ragged breaths, you reach your arms up from where they’re bunched awkwardly against his chest and wrap them around his neck, and suddenly Link’s arms are full of you.

You smell like blood and metal from the scuffle on the ridge, but Link can still detect the warm smell of sunlight in your hair above it all. There’s a tear in the waistband of your armor when he bands his arms tighter around you, pulling you ever closer when he realizes that you could have died too. And you wouldn’t have come back.

He tightens an arm around your waist, pulling you flush against him as he guides your head onto his shoulder with his other hand. His nose brushes the tip of your ear, breathing in your sunlight as he runs a soothing hand down the back of your head.

“Goddess.” Link finds himself chasing you when you draw back suddenly and look at him with concern, ignoring the tears still running down your cheeks. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? I can’t believe I’m crying when you’re the one who just died—”

Link blinks as you continue to ramble, watching your face closely as you cup his face and turn it side to side, examining him. Your sudden change in demeanor is giving him whiplash and he finds himself wishing you were still tucked in his arms. He lifts his hands between you and signs your name directly in front of your nose to get your attention, forcing your eyes to cross so you can see his words.

I’m okay, he continues with a smile he hopes is comforting. I’ve died before.

Despite yourself, you find yourself laughing as Link finishes his sentence, and your giggles grow slightly hysterical when you focus back on his face to see him grinning. You’re an idiot, you sign in lieu of speaking through your laughter.

Obviously. I just died, he jokes again.

You laugh once more and tug him sharply back into your arms. His chin collides with your shoulder at the force of it, but you couldn’t care less. He hugs you tightly to him again as he feels your arms shaking around him. “Idiot,” you repeat.

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