One More Chance (Link X Mipha)

Chapter 3: Realization

In a materializing aura of brilliant blue light, the physical form of Link and all his belongings appeared on the circular, glowing pedestal at the foot of the Saas Ko'sah Shrine. Link never understood how the ancient sheikah could have such crazy names. There had been some shrines around Hyrule he visited that had brought him close to smiling a few times, which tended to make him feel sort of childish.

The air around him was much cooler and thicker than that of Zora's Domain, as the shrine of Saas Ko'sah was located just inside the mouth of a cave leading to the many tunnels connecting the castle's underground corridors. Link noticed that, as usual, the map on the slate had transformed into a detailed 3-D rundown of the castle, with chambers, hallways, and otherwise hidden passageways highlighted. This also meant that, if he wanted to return to Zora's Domain, he would first have to leave the area and then teleport.

Link took a deep breath of the heavy air and began his search, turning inwards toward the castle's catacombs. It was surely a massive relief to not have any pesky moblins or lizalfos giving him trouble as they had been not long before. Regardless, just as a precaution, he still kept his trusty sword and shield secured within arms' reach on his back.

Zelda had mentioned something the night before about some large storage units under the castle containing the parts, supposedly near the lockup. Unfortunately for him, that was not a lot of information. It certainly narrowed the possibilities, but not enough to spare him the tedium of searching up and down long patches of hallway. It was still possible that he could be down there for a couple hours. It didn't help that he had been down these corridors before, even managing to find the Hylian shield that still resided on his back, but he hadn't found anything resembling a storage wing. He figured the magnesis rune on the sheikah slate would be a big help here.

Being thorough even upon initially entering the corridors, Link quickly found the post-apocalyptic remains of the castle to be...kind of boring compared to previous weeks. With no monsters, bats, Malice, or even undiscovered chests to be found, the hallways before him just sat dark and barren. There weren't even any rats or bugs to contribute any sound to the environment, and as a result, Link's footsteps on the hard, stone floor sent chills down his spine. He admitted to seeming almost psychotic for thinking so, but he sort of missed being in danger. It gave his mind something to focus on besides thoughts of Mipha and the deafening sound of his own feet.

Despite these feelings, however, the lockup did always seem like a dangerous place. All the dim, futile sources of light that used to illuminate the hallways down there had gone out many years before Link's reawakening in the Shrine of Resurrection. Presently, as Link tiredly walked along the crumbling floor of the corridor, the only light that was visible in the lockup were the tiny bits of sunlight peering in through cracks in the upper corners of the wall and the radiant, holy glow of the Master Sword on his back. Link activated the rune on the slate and began scanning the room, hoping to be able to discern any movable metal objects among the darkness.

Unfortunately, it seemed to him like the only presence of metal in the corridor was in the decaying bars that made up the old holding cells, along with some metal crates that sat in the corners of said cells. There didn't appear to be any important wall piece made of metal that he'd be able to throw aside. He let out a huff before returning the slate to his hip. It felt pointless even being down in the lockup, since he knew he had been there a few times before and had cleaned it thoroughly of all valuables. He knew he hadn't seen any kind of alleged "storage wing" on his trips through the castle.

Among his doubtful thoughts was the idea that the storage wing could've been cleared out somehow in the last 100 years, and that he had walked right through it several times without even noticing. If that were the case, he would probably just have to go scrap a few more guardians before returning to the Domain and not tell Zelda about it. At least that would get her the parts she needed. After all, he thought, what was the point in preserving the guardians if Calamity Ganon was probably just going to possess them all again anyway in the next 10,000 years? Perhaps he'd be doing Hyrule an early favor.