fic: risk/reward [breath of the wild, mipha/revali, sfw]

[acacias]

title: risk/reward
fandom: breath of the wild
rating: g
words: 766
notes: for monthlysupergo`s 15-minute ficlets challenge (prompt: `amazing`). this one got a bit out of hand...

Revali spots them first, naturally, and Mipha's heart sinks when he points them out: two Guardians patrolling the road ahead.

Last time they'd encountered one it had been in a wooded area, amongst the ruins of some ancient colonnade, and they'd managed to avoid attracting its attention by staying in cover; but there is no cover to be found here, in this open plain. Mipha wonders briefly if Revali could just fly them past, but the awful things will target any moving object they've a clear line of sight to, on land or in the air; the risk is too great.

Revali must be thinking the same thing, because he, too, has come to a stop, the tips of his wings pressed to his beak in a thoughtful pose, sharp gaze trained on the Guardians in the distance.

"Let's turn back," Mipha starts to say, at the same time as Revali says, in a nonchalant tone that makes Mipha think she probably won’t like whatever it is he's about to do, "I've got an idea," - and without further explanation and before Mipha can react, he's in the air and heading straight for the Guardians.

"What do you think you’re doing?" Mipha hisses in alarm - to herself, because of course Revali can't hear her - and all she can do is watch, her heart in her mouth and her hands gripping her spear so tightly that her knuckles turn pale and the points of her claws press sharply into her palms, as Revali flies an irregular figure-eight over the Guardians, scuttling back and forth, crab-like, eyes swivelling in their casings, tracking him -

- and then they start firing, and Mipha can't watch, and she drops to her knees, buries her face in her hands, her spear falling to the ground -

- and keep firing, and Mipha has to look up eventually, and when she does she sees Revali, somehow managing to stay a fraction of a second ahead of the beams each time, turning sharply or losing just enough height at the last moment, until - by luck or by design - the Guardians stand facing one another and Revali folds back his wings and dives between them, and the next time the beams fire they fire straight at each other -

- and Revali, miraculously still alive and unharmed, is standing before Mipha looking triumphant, and behind him there is the most almighty explosion, a sound as though the very air around them is tearing itself apart, a blinding flash of white, a ferocious bloom of yellow flame, thick plumes of smoke and ash rising lazily to the sky above.

"Did you see that?" Revali asks proudly - and he actually, literally preens himself, extending a wing and inclining his head at an acute angle to nip at his primaries. It might be endearing, if Mipha wasn't completely furious with him. "It was -"

"It was incredibly stupid and unspeakably dangerous," Mipha says icily, trembling with equal parts anger and relief as she gets to her feet. "Please - for my sake if not for your own - never do anything like that again."

It's... not quite the reaction he was hoping for.

They continue on in silence, stepping around blackened and twisted fragments of Guardian casings, flung far and wide by the blast, and after a few long minutes Revali chances a glance over at Mipha, who ignores him.

"It was a calculated risk," Revali says, trying not to sound defensive.

Mipha says nothing.

They pass between what remains of the Guardians' bodies. They are still on fire.

“Mipha,” Revali says, stopping, and, when she carries on walking, “Mipha,” - and this time, at least, she turns and looks at him, even if the look on her face is one of thorough exasperation.

Revali closes the distance between them, unclasps one of her delicate hands from her spear, enfolds it in his feathers.

“I don't put myself in situations I can't get myself out of,” he says, and it ought to sound like a boast - and does, because it is, but underneath the conceit there's a sincerity that Mipha finds somehow reassuring.

- and it's the closest thing to an apology she's going to get, and besides, she can't stand to see Revali looking as deflated as he does right now - so she wraps her arms around his waist and lays her head on his chest, and lets him preen her as best he is able: nudging his beak against her forehead, nipping gently at her temporal fins.

“It was pretty amazing,” she concedes, and when they set off again Revali seems to walk just a little bit taller than before.