The Legend of Zelda: Sheik's Legacy
by GLJ
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the Zelda franchise. They are all the property of Nintendo. Enjoy the story. ^_^
1 Chapter 1: A New Hero
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Princess Zelda sighed, and looked out the window of Impa's small house. Well, maybe small wasn't the right word. Impa's house was the largest building in Kakariko Village other than the windmill. It just felt small to Zelda, who had lived her life in the luxurious Hyrule Castle.
"How has everything changed so much so quickly?" she thought, remembering the past week. "Only a few days ago, I was relaxing in the castle courtyard with...Link."
She remembered back to when she and the fairy boy from the forest had met. She was spying through the window at the dark man from the west. Link had the Kokiri Emerald, the spiritual stone of the forest, in his possession. After telling him about her premonitions about the dark man, Link went on a quest to obtain the two other gems, the Goron Ruby and the Zora Sapphire. He returned a few days later only to see the princess and her personal attendant Impa fleeing from Hyrule Castle on Zelda's white horse. They were followed by the dark man, Ganondorf. Zelda had thrown the Ocarina of Time, the royal family's sacred treasure, to Link, but after that she didn't know what had become of him. She had hoped that he managed to open the Door of Time and receive the power of the Triforce after hearing her telepathic message, but there was no way of knowing for certain.
"Zelda," Impa said, putting a caring hand on the princess's shoulder. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Ganondorf has obtained the Triforce of Power."
"What?" Zelda barked, spinning around to look at the Sheikah woman's serious face. "How can that be?" she said as she started down at the floor of Impa's house. "Then...that means that...he must have...killed Link...and taken the Triforce."
"No," Impa said sternly. "Link is not dead. When his hand touched the master sword, the ancient sages felt that he was too young to wield it as the Hero of Time. They have sealed him inside the Chamber of Sages, in the Sacred Realm, where he will wait until he is old enough to face Ganondorf."
"But...but then how does Ganondorf have the Triforce?"
"He only has the Triforce of Power. As the Hylian legend says, the Triforce, upon being touched, will separate into three equal pieces: Courage, power, and wisdom. Each piece will go to its true owner, predetermined by destiny. However, the person who has touched the Triforce will be able to keep one of the sacred triangles, the one that they most desired. In Ganondorf's case, it was power.
"But what will he do with its power?" Zelda asked, already knowing the answer.
"He..." Impa began, but was interrupted by the opening of the door.
In stepped one of Hyrule's guards, one that had fled to Kakariko shortly after Impa and the princess. "Miss Impa, Ganondorf has just attacked Hyrule Castle, and the king...he's...May I talk to you privately, please, without the princess?"
"I am mature enough to hear this news," Zelda said. Impa nodded.
"Very well, your highness," the soldier replied. "The king of Hyrule...is dead."
Zelda gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "No...but..." Her face's expression suddenly changed from shock to seriousness. "What is being done to stop Ganondorf?"
"Nothing, your highness," the soldier stated regretfully. "Ganondorf has finished off most of our forces. The rest have fled here."
Zelda nodded and looked back out the window. "Thank you, soldier. If you have nothing more to say, you may leave."
The soldier bowed, unnoticed by the princess, and left the house. As he stepped outside, the other members of the Hylian army were waiting for him. They soon bombarded the soldier with questions concerning the princess. "She's all right, don't worry," the soldier said. "She seems like she's taken charge, as a good princess should."
Back in Impa's house, Zelda was slowly receding to her room, knowing that she would be stricken by this unforgettable loss forever.
* * *
A muscular dark-skinned hand clutched the royal scepter, which had once belonged to the now deceased king of Hyrule. Sitting in the king's throne in Hyrule Castle made Ganondorf truly feel that he deserved to become the new king.
After realizing that he actually was the king now, Ganondorf's mouth turned up at the corners, forming a sinister grin. He looked up at the high walls, which were decorated with beautiful stained-glass windows placed near the ceiling. So much work had been put into making those windows. They were gifts to the old king, from all of the great nations in Hyrule. They had been carefully made by the most skillful artisans and craftsmen, and gave the throne room its strong sense of royalty.
Ganondorf hated them.
He lifted one of his big, strong arms and aimed his open hand at a window from King Zora. With a blinding blast of energy, the wonderful glass shattered into a million pieces, falling to impale the dead Hylian knights still lying on the carpeted floor.
A deep booming laugh echoed from Ganondorf. He blasted another work of art, and then another. He was enjoying himself.
Finally, he felt that he had redecorated enough. He stood up and walked past the corpses and shattered glass, planning to explore the rest of the colossal castle. The room was left with the bright afternoon sun shining in through the holes where the windows had once been. One ray of light, however, was orange. It shone on the throne. The only remaining stained-glass window was the one from Ganondorf's own people, the Gerudos. It depicted a tall man with dark, tanned skin and red hair standing above all the others as their leader.
* * *
Zelda stepped out into Kakariko Village. It was dark, and she could hear a wolf in the distance howling at the full moon in the sky. She breathed in air. It was cool and fresh. She wandered around the village a bit, enjoying the peacefulness while everyone else was sleeping. After ten minutes or so, she realized that a song was emanating from the windmill. She started walking towards it, not sure if it felt comforting or menacing.
Zelda stopped in front of the door to the windmill. She hesitated a moment, but decided to go in. She opened the door and stepped inside. The interior of the windmill seemed like an odd place to Zelda, who had never been inside before. It was a tall, single room with a wooden circular platform in the center, spinning quickly. A thick pole came out of its center and went up through the ceiling, where it probably joined with the arms of the windmill.
"Who are you!?" a harsh voice cried, surprising Zelda. She turned toward where it came from and saw a man standing on one of the wooden floorboards. He was a bald man with a beard, and he was holding an odd music box, with a handle that he turned and a tube that went under his legs and came up to rest on his shoulder, where it ended in a trumpet-like funnel. He stopped cranking the box when Zelda came in, and the music had stopped as well. Zelda realized that this man had been the one generating the eerie song. "Who are you?" the man repeated after Zelda did not respond.
"I am Zelda, princess of Hyrule," she said gracefully.
The man gave a short laugh. "You may have the title of a princess, but you're not the princess of anything anymore. Your father's dead and Ganondorf is now in control. You're just a common Hylian now, like me."
Zelda didn't like this man's harsh words, but she knew that he spoke the truth. She took a step closer to him. "Who are you?" she asked.
"Who am I?" he said, seemingly amused with the question. "You don't really even care, do you? You're just a stuck-up girl who's been living the good life. Well soon, princess, you'll realize what it's like to live like a commoner."
"What?! How can you say that? I am not stuck-up! And what do you mean 'living the good life'? Sometimes I don't even like this 'good life'! I have to go through lessons about being popular, and attend extremely long, boring meetings about politics. I actually wanted to be able to live outside the castle!"
"Well then," the man laughed. "It seems that your wish has come true. Are you happy now?"
"Of course not! I didn't wish for my father to die!" Zelda shrieked. She was starting to get angry with him. No...She was angry at Ganondorf.
The man began to play a slow, soothing tune on his box. "Well, wishes sometimes come true, Zelda. The wishes of the good, and those of the evil. Your wish to live outside a life of royalty was answered by the Goddesses, as was Ganondorf's wish to rule. The Goddesses saw a chance to make two wishes come true at the same time, and they took the opportunity to please two people at once."
"But I am not pleased," Zelda said. All the anger had left her thoughts now, even though it was still present at the back of her mind.
"Well, then do something," the man said, as he started to play his song faster. "If you are not happy, then do something about it."
"Do what?" Zelda asked. "I'm just one girl. I can't stand up against Ganondorf all by myself!"
"You don't have to, Zelda. You are the princess of Hyrule. You have the power to do anything you want, as long as the people believe in you."
"Do you believe in me?"
The man didn't answer. He changed his focus from her to the spinning wooden floor. "Go around, go around, go around. Sometimes things go too slow, but right now, it's going way too fast."
"What is that song you're playing" Zelda asked.
Without looking back at her, he responded. "Go around, go around. A forest boy came in here only yesterday and played this song in my beautiful windmill. He made it rain inside and it began going too fast. Go around, go around, go around."
Zelda stared at him for a minute or two before leaving the windmill. She walked back to Impa's house and crawled into her bed, and fell asleep with the melody of the man's strange song still playing in her mind.
* * *
She woke up at nine the next morning. Impa was sitting at the table, reading a book about the history of the Gerudo. "You're awake," she said as she smiled when Zelda got up from her bed. "You slept very late today, princess."
Zelda nodded and sat down in the chair next to Impa's, as the Sheikah woman began preparing breakfast for Zelda. Impa placed a plate of pancakes in front of Zelda and sat down again.
Zelda took a bite but put down her fork. "I want to lead a force to attack Ganondorf," she said, almost vehemently.
Impa put her book down and looked at Zelda's beautiful blue eyes. They showed that it was not a statement out of anger or sorrow, but instead was a statement of fact. "I want to punish Ganondorf for what he has done to Hyrule," Zelda said. "We will make an army. I will command it. We can recruit a lot of fighters, I know we can! There are so many people in Hyrule who would gladly battle against Ganondorf! If we recruit them all, we can definitely defeat him!"
Impa stood up and walked over to the window. "Come here, Zelda."
Zelda walked over and gazed out with Impa. They stood in silence for a while, looking out at the scenery of Kakariko Village. "Zelda, I knew that this day would come," Impa said. "You are ready to take charge. I cannot stop you, even though I do not want you to get yourself hurt. I can only help you, and will do so with the best of my ability."
Impa walked over to a chest next to her bed. She pushed it to the side and pulled up a loose floorboard that was uncovered. She took a small metal chest from the space and opened it. Impa held out a pile of what looked like old rags to Zelda.
Zelda accepted them, and held the rags in her arms.
"Zelda, this is the outfit that my son wore."
Zelda never knew that Impa had a son, so this naturally surprised her.
"My son and I were the last two Sheikah. He was a warrior that held the role of the commander of the Hylian army for quite some time. He died fighting against Ganondorf before you were born."
"Ganondorf was being fought against before I was born?" Zelda said, surprised by another piece of information that she had not known about.
"Yes. He was much younger, and much weaker, but he was still a formidable and wicked foe for to fight against for the Hylian army. We managed to defeat him, and he retreated to the Gerudo Fortress."
"But if my father knew about this, why did he allow Ganondorf to return to Hyrule?"
"Zelda," Impa said. "Your father was a very peaceful and forgiving man. He believed that Ganondorf had changed his evil ways. He never told you any of this...because he didn't want you to know. I...I didn't want to tell you either." She changed the subject to the clothes that she had given Zelda. "These clothes have magic in them. You can wear these, Zelda, to hide yourself so that Ganondorf will not recognize you. Also, these will make it much easier for you to use the skills I am going to teach you than if you were wearing that long dress."
"What are you going to teach me?"
"I am the last of the Sheikah, Zelda, and I want to pass down my legacy to you. You are going to learn the arts of the Sheikah, and I know that you will use them well in the battle against Ganondorf."
Zelda nodded and Impa helped her put the outfit on over her clothes.
"The magic in this costume allows you to transform back into your dress or into this as long as you wear them both together."
Zelda walked to the mirror and looked at her knew self. She wore a skin-tight full body suit of dark blue, with white bandages tied around her forearms and waist. A white cloth was draped over her upper body, bearing the emblem of the Sheikah, a single eye shedding a solitary tear of blood. Impa stepped behind her with a pair of scissors and began to cut Zelda's long blond hair. With her hair shortened, Zelda wrapped another long piece of white cloth around the top of her head and her mouth, leaving only her eyes visible. She kept her hair in the front long, so she could hide her distinctive eyes. Impa helped her put red contacts over her pale blue eyes to conceal their feminine beauty.
Zelda was pleased with the way she looked. She liked the way she felt, too. She seemed stronger, more powerful. "I am a Sheikah now, Impa."
"Yes," Impa said. "You are Sheik."
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Author's note: As this is my first fanfiction, I feel a need for feedback from readers to help me improve my writing. Please leave a review or comment, whether it is advice, a flame, or praise. If the story is well liked, I will try to write a second chapter as soon as possible. Thanks!
by GLJ
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the Zelda franchise. They are all the property of Nintendo. Enjoy the story. ^_^
1 Chapter 1: A New Hero
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Princess Zelda sighed, and looked out the window of Impa's small house. Well, maybe small wasn't the right word. Impa's house was the largest building in Kakariko Village other than the windmill. It just felt small to Zelda, who had lived her life in the luxurious Hyrule Castle.
"How has everything changed so much so quickly?" she thought, remembering the past week. "Only a few days ago, I was relaxing in the castle courtyard with...Link."
She remembered back to when she and the fairy boy from the forest had met. She was spying through the window at the dark man from the west. Link had the Kokiri Emerald, the spiritual stone of the forest, in his possession. After telling him about her premonitions about the dark man, Link went on a quest to obtain the two other gems, the Goron Ruby and the Zora Sapphire. He returned a few days later only to see the princess and her personal attendant Impa fleeing from Hyrule Castle on Zelda's white horse. They were followed by the dark man, Ganondorf. Zelda had thrown the Ocarina of Time, the royal family's sacred treasure, to Link, but after that she didn't know what had become of him. She had hoped that he managed to open the Door of Time and receive the power of the Triforce after hearing her telepathic message, but there was no way of knowing for certain.
"Zelda," Impa said, putting a caring hand on the princess's shoulder. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Ganondorf has obtained the Triforce of Power."
"What?" Zelda barked, spinning around to look at the Sheikah woman's serious face. "How can that be?" she said as she started down at the floor of Impa's house. "Then...that means that...he must have...killed Link...and taken the Triforce."
"No," Impa said sternly. "Link is not dead. When his hand touched the master sword, the ancient sages felt that he was too young to wield it as the Hero of Time. They have sealed him inside the Chamber of Sages, in the Sacred Realm, where he will wait until he is old enough to face Ganondorf."
"But...but then how does Ganondorf have the Triforce?"
"He only has the Triforce of Power. As the Hylian legend says, the Triforce, upon being touched, will separate into three equal pieces: Courage, power, and wisdom. Each piece will go to its true owner, predetermined by destiny. However, the person who has touched the Triforce will be able to keep one of the sacred triangles, the one that they most desired. In Ganondorf's case, it was power.
"But what will he do with its power?" Zelda asked, already knowing the answer.
"He..." Impa began, but was interrupted by the opening of the door.
In stepped one of Hyrule's guards, one that had fled to Kakariko shortly after Impa and the princess. "Miss Impa, Ganondorf has just attacked Hyrule Castle, and the king...he's...May I talk to you privately, please, without the princess?"
"I am mature enough to hear this news," Zelda said. Impa nodded.
"Very well, your highness," the soldier replied. "The king of Hyrule...is dead."
Zelda gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "No...but..." Her face's expression suddenly changed from shock to seriousness. "What is being done to stop Ganondorf?"
"Nothing, your highness," the soldier stated regretfully. "Ganondorf has finished off most of our forces. The rest have fled here."
Zelda nodded and looked back out the window. "Thank you, soldier. If you have nothing more to say, you may leave."
The soldier bowed, unnoticed by the princess, and left the house. As he stepped outside, the other members of the Hylian army were waiting for him. They soon bombarded the soldier with questions concerning the princess. "She's all right, don't worry," the soldier said. "She seems like she's taken charge, as a good princess should."
Back in Impa's house, Zelda was slowly receding to her room, knowing that she would be stricken by this unforgettable loss forever.
* * *
A muscular dark-skinned hand clutched the royal scepter, which had once belonged to the now deceased king of Hyrule. Sitting in the king's throne in Hyrule Castle made Ganondorf truly feel that he deserved to become the new king.
After realizing that he actually was the king now, Ganondorf's mouth turned up at the corners, forming a sinister grin. He looked up at the high walls, which were decorated with beautiful stained-glass windows placed near the ceiling. So much work had been put into making those windows. They were gifts to the old king, from all of the great nations in Hyrule. They had been carefully made by the most skillful artisans and craftsmen, and gave the throne room its strong sense of royalty.
Ganondorf hated them.
He lifted one of his big, strong arms and aimed his open hand at a window from King Zora. With a blinding blast of energy, the wonderful glass shattered into a million pieces, falling to impale the dead Hylian knights still lying on the carpeted floor.
A deep booming laugh echoed from Ganondorf. He blasted another work of art, and then another. He was enjoying himself.
Finally, he felt that he had redecorated enough. He stood up and walked past the corpses and shattered glass, planning to explore the rest of the colossal castle. The room was left with the bright afternoon sun shining in through the holes where the windows had once been. One ray of light, however, was orange. It shone on the throne. The only remaining stained-glass window was the one from Ganondorf's own people, the Gerudos. It depicted a tall man with dark, tanned skin and red hair standing above all the others as their leader.
* * *
Zelda stepped out into Kakariko Village. It was dark, and she could hear a wolf in the distance howling at the full moon in the sky. She breathed in air. It was cool and fresh. She wandered around the village a bit, enjoying the peacefulness while everyone else was sleeping. After ten minutes or so, she realized that a song was emanating from the windmill. She started walking towards it, not sure if it felt comforting or menacing.
Zelda stopped in front of the door to the windmill. She hesitated a moment, but decided to go in. She opened the door and stepped inside. The interior of the windmill seemed like an odd place to Zelda, who had never been inside before. It was a tall, single room with a wooden circular platform in the center, spinning quickly. A thick pole came out of its center and went up through the ceiling, where it probably joined with the arms of the windmill.
"Who are you!?" a harsh voice cried, surprising Zelda. She turned toward where it came from and saw a man standing on one of the wooden floorboards. He was a bald man with a beard, and he was holding an odd music box, with a handle that he turned and a tube that went under his legs and came up to rest on his shoulder, where it ended in a trumpet-like funnel. He stopped cranking the box when Zelda came in, and the music had stopped as well. Zelda realized that this man had been the one generating the eerie song. "Who are you?" the man repeated after Zelda did not respond.
"I am Zelda, princess of Hyrule," she said gracefully.
The man gave a short laugh. "You may have the title of a princess, but you're not the princess of anything anymore. Your father's dead and Ganondorf is now in control. You're just a common Hylian now, like me."
Zelda didn't like this man's harsh words, but she knew that he spoke the truth. She took a step closer to him. "Who are you?" she asked.
"Who am I?" he said, seemingly amused with the question. "You don't really even care, do you? You're just a stuck-up girl who's been living the good life. Well soon, princess, you'll realize what it's like to live like a commoner."
"What?! How can you say that? I am not stuck-up! And what do you mean 'living the good life'? Sometimes I don't even like this 'good life'! I have to go through lessons about being popular, and attend extremely long, boring meetings about politics. I actually wanted to be able to live outside the castle!"
"Well then," the man laughed. "It seems that your wish has come true. Are you happy now?"
"Of course not! I didn't wish for my father to die!" Zelda shrieked. She was starting to get angry with him. No...She was angry at Ganondorf.
The man began to play a slow, soothing tune on his box. "Well, wishes sometimes come true, Zelda. The wishes of the good, and those of the evil. Your wish to live outside a life of royalty was answered by the Goddesses, as was Ganondorf's wish to rule. The Goddesses saw a chance to make two wishes come true at the same time, and they took the opportunity to please two people at once."
"But I am not pleased," Zelda said. All the anger had left her thoughts now, even though it was still present at the back of her mind.
"Well, then do something," the man said, as he started to play his song faster. "If you are not happy, then do something about it."
"Do what?" Zelda asked. "I'm just one girl. I can't stand up against Ganondorf all by myself!"
"You don't have to, Zelda. You are the princess of Hyrule. You have the power to do anything you want, as long as the people believe in you."
"Do you believe in me?"
The man didn't answer. He changed his focus from her to the spinning wooden floor. "Go around, go around, go around. Sometimes things go too slow, but right now, it's going way too fast."
"What is that song you're playing" Zelda asked.
Without looking back at her, he responded. "Go around, go around. A forest boy came in here only yesterday and played this song in my beautiful windmill. He made it rain inside and it began going too fast. Go around, go around, go around."
Zelda stared at him for a minute or two before leaving the windmill. She walked back to Impa's house and crawled into her bed, and fell asleep with the melody of the man's strange song still playing in her mind.
* * *
She woke up at nine the next morning. Impa was sitting at the table, reading a book about the history of the Gerudo. "You're awake," she said as she smiled when Zelda got up from her bed. "You slept very late today, princess."
Zelda nodded and sat down in the chair next to Impa's, as the Sheikah woman began preparing breakfast for Zelda. Impa placed a plate of pancakes in front of Zelda and sat down again.
Zelda took a bite but put down her fork. "I want to lead a force to attack Ganondorf," she said, almost vehemently.
Impa put her book down and looked at Zelda's beautiful blue eyes. They showed that it was not a statement out of anger or sorrow, but instead was a statement of fact. "I want to punish Ganondorf for what he has done to Hyrule," Zelda said. "We will make an army. I will command it. We can recruit a lot of fighters, I know we can! There are so many people in Hyrule who would gladly battle against Ganondorf! If we recruit them all, we can definitely defeat him!"
Impa stood up and walked over to the window. "Come here, Zelda."
Zelda walked over and gazed out with Impa. They stood in silence for a while, looking out at the scenery of Kakariko Village. "Zelda, I knew that this day would come," Impa said. "You are ready to take charge. I cannot stop you, even though I do not want you to get yourself hurt. I can only help you, and will do so with the best of my ability."
Impa walked over to a chest next to her bed. She pushed it to the side and pulled up a loose floorboard that was uncovered. She took a small metal chest from the space and opened it. Impa held out a pile of what looked like old rags to Zelda.
Zelda accepted them, and held the rags in her arms.
"Zelda, this is the outfit that my son wore."
Zelda never knew that Impa had a son, so this naturally surprised her.
"My son and I were the last two Sheikah. He was a warrior that held the role of the commander of the Hylian army for quite some time. He died fighting against Ganondorf before you were born."
"Ganondorf was being fought against before I was born?" Zelda said, surprised by another piece of information that she had not known about.
"Yes. He was much younger, and much weaker, but he was still a formidable and wicked foe for to fight against for the Hylian army. We managed to defeat him, and he retreated to the Gerudo Fortress."
"But if my father knew about this, why did he allow Ganondorf to return to Hyrule?"
"Zelda," Impa said. "Your father was a very peaceful and forgiving man. He believed that Ganondorf had changed his evil ways. He never told you any of this...because he didn't want you to know. I...I didn't want to tell you either." She changed the subject to the clothes that she had given Zelda. "These clothes have magic in them. You can wear these, Zelda, to hide yourself so that Ganondorf will not recognize you. Also, these will make it much easier for you to use the skills I am going to teach you than if you were wearing that long dress."
"What are you going to teach me?"
"I am the last of the Sheikah, Zelda, and I want to pass down my legacy to you. You are going to learn the arts of the Sheikah, and I know that you will use them well in the battle against Ganondorf."
Zelda nodded and Impa helped her put the outfit on over her clothes.
"The magic in this costume allows you to transform back into your dress or into this as long as you wear them both together."
Zelda walked to the mirror and looked at her knew self. She wore a skin-tight full body suit of dark blue, with white bandages tied around her forearms and waist. A white cloth was draped over her upper body, bearing the emblem of the Sheikah, a single eye shedding a solitary tear of blood. Impa stepped behind her with a pair of scissors and began to cut Zelda's long blond hair. With her hair shortened, Zelda wrapped another long piece of white cloth around the top of her head and her mouth, leaving only her eyes visible. She kept her hair in the front long, so she could hide her distinctive eyes. Impa helped her put red contacts over her pale blue eyes to conceal their feminine beauty.
Zelda was pleased with the way she looked. She liked the way she felt, too. She seemed stronger, more powerful. "I am a Sheikah now, Impa."
"Yes," Impa said. "You are Sheik."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's note: As this is my first fanfiction, I feel a need for feedback from readers to help me improve my writing. Please leave a review or comment, whether it is advice, a flame, or praise. If the story is well liked, I will try to write a second chapter as soon as possible. Thanks!