Thank you to Moni, who has been with me with this fic since day (juan) one. ((Follow her on tumblr: celestialskys ))
Also shoutout to Sincosma who is writing such a hella Sheik/Link (Congruent: archiveofourown works /3350486 / chapters/ 7330166) fanfic that got me inspired to make this one actually happen.
This is my first ever fic for this wonderful game so hopefully, I give it justice! This has been in the works since June 21st of this year and I have been playing OoT alongside the progress of the fic. I will add additional warnings for some bits in future chapters.
A lot of the characters in Kakariko Village don't have names that I could find so I gave them some. I obviously don't own Legend of Zelda: enjoy!
Link was tired.
The battle with the Water Temple boss had been exhausting in all forms. Physically, Link was already sore to the core with swimming and it hurt terribly when he was flung against the wall multiple times by Morpha.
But mental exhaustion was the most.
A quite literal trial by water, Morpha was stronger than he had thought. But then again, every damn boss of the temples got harder and harder than the last. He still had burns from Volvagia on his right arm, from the slipup that came from realizing he couldn't use his shield while wielding the hammer.
The cool breeze of the winter settling into Hyrule made Link shiver. It didn't help that his tunic and pants were soaked to the bone, water sloshing uncomfortably in his stockings and boots. He was sure that his toes were numb and he reeked of the stagnant water that was in the Water Temple. Thankfully, it wasn't a swamp; if there's one thing he can't stand, it's humidity. Goddesses, humidity was the worst.
It was the true divine punishment.
Summers in the Kokiri Forest were composed of sticky humidity and the burning sun and Link so did not live for that. He rarely lived, that was the better answer. He would spend hours in the tiny creek that was more of a puddle or just stay in his home waiting for the cool breeze of the night time.
He received the medallion ("Take it with respect!") from Princess Ruto and got sent from the chamber to the Triforce crest in Lake Hylia. The lake filled up with clear, pure water again thanks to finally lifting the dark magic impeding it.
Although being in the Chamber of Sages healed his superficial wounds, his magic was running dangerously low, so he couldn't warp out of Lake Hylia right away. He had hit his right knee particularly hard against a spike when Morpha had flung him across the room and to his knowledge, nothing broke or bled. But it hurt a lot and he was going to need some red potion for that.
He looked around the small island clearing only to see white.
Wait, what?
Across the now filled up lake, the grass was covered in a thin layer of white, as were the dark red roof tiles of the lakeside labortatory and the brown rooftop of the fisherman's hit. In the faint distance, he could see the two outlines of the scarecrows against the snow.. Everything was covered in a layer of white.
It had snowed while he was gone.
With a groan of frustration, Link exclaimed "Now where the hell is Sheik?!"
"Think he's late?" Navi asked.
This felt oddly out of character for the Sheikah. He always showed up after Link defeated a temple.
"No, he's never late. By now, he'd be here spouting cryptic poetry with the damn harp and avoiding social conversation."
"Like you're any better," Navi scoffed. "And it's a lyre."
"Same thing."
Link stepped off the Triforce platform and cursed when the snow on the island seeped into his boots. He shivered and tried to rub his hands onto his arms, not doing much to alleviate the cold.
"Y'know Navs, I wouldn't be as irritated of Sheik not being here if it wasn't so freaking COLD!" Link exclaimed. He hadn't been this on edge or irritated in their journey so far until now. He wanted to lay down somewhere dry and warm.
"Oh, you think I'm not cold?! Tiny bodies get colder faster! Including fairies!"
"Navi, I'm tired! I want to take a nap!"
"Last time you napped after anything pivotal, you fell asleep for seven years!"
"It was ONE TIME! The one time, and ONE TIME ONLY that I don't take your advice, I get hurt by sheer dumb luck and now you think you're 'blessed' by Nayru with knowing everything that's going to happen."
"Have I been wrong so far?!" Navi demanded.
"..." Link couldn't answer that.
With a small huff, Navi turned around and flew forward. "Exactly!"
Following Navi's lead into the bridge, Link carefully walked to not hurt his knee even more. "Well, what am I supposed to do now, O Great Fairy Prophet of Nayru?" Link asked sarcastically.
"Well, you shut up for one."
"Rude."
"And, well, let's just go to Kakariko Village. It'll give you a chance to dry up, eat something, get some red potion and find a place to sleep for the night. And maybe that's where Sheik is," Navi said.
"Sheik? In Kakariko?" Link asked. He hadn't been to the village in a while.
"It's logical. Think about it. Former Sheikah village," Navi said. "Where else did you think he lived?"
"Pssh...Um, around? I know he used to live in the castle with Zelda. And he's not exactly the chattiest person around."
"He's from Kakariko too. It's also where his aunt Impa used to live."
"Wait, Impa? As in, Zelda's nanny, Impa?"
"More of a caretaker than a nanny, but yes."
Link stopped in his steps. "Impa is Sheik's aunt?!"
After a brief moment of silence, Navi turned slowly, her faceless body conveying so much disappointment and judgement in Link that he felt the temperature around them drop even colder.
"You are so dense."
"What the hell?!"
"Link, you were there when we met Sheik in the courtyard! Impa was there too! Remember? 'My name is Impa. I am Zelda's caretaker and Sheik's aunt.' That was how she introduced herself to us. And you forgot?!"
"Well excuuuuuuuuuuse me, Navi, for not remembering a memory from seven years ago!"
"Excuses."
His knee was aching and Link's step faltered.
"You okay?" Navi asked.
"I'm good," Link rubbed the side of his knee and after a few moments of massaging it, continued walking the bridge until he reached the shore.
"To Kakariko it is, then."
As Link left Lake Hylia, the sky began to darken. He shivered with every step he took, his knee aching in pain. Locks of his hair were still wet, but this time they stung when they touched the skin of Link's face. Every moment made his muscles sting in pain, cold snow sloshing into his boot uncomfortably.
Suddenly, he missed the stagnant warmth atmosphere of the Water Temple. It was sticky with humidity and the smell was disgusting, but it wasn't freezing or cold.
It never snowed with the Kokiri. When he was younger, the dreadful humid and barely tolerable dry summers were all he knew. In fact, he had no idea what snow was until he first saw snow on the banks of the Zora's River and Navi exclaimed "That's so much snow!"
As Link expected, Hyrule Field was covered in snow. It painted for a rather peaceful image, just an endless blanket of snow.
Link felt some of his steps waver as exhaustion rendered him dizzy. His stomach growled as he remembered all he had to eat the past two days were pieces of algae. His focus hazed out in lack of sleep, and walking began to feel impossi-
"Link, look out!"
Too late.
Suddenly, two White Wolfos emerged from the snow.
Link shook off what he could of the haze of exhaustion and drew the Master Sword and his shield, protecting himself against the blows of the two animals.
If they were simply a winter's version of a regular Wolfos, then he could defeat them, right? All they had different color coatings.
The fight was pathetically fast. But then again, what was Link expecting running on adrenaline and barely any sleep?
One Wolfo distracted Link with claws attacks while the other circled him. Link tried to move to a wall, but instead, he felt three sharp claws tear through the fabric of the tunic and his skin down his back.
Link screamed.
Link grabbed the Master Sword and drove it right through the White Wolfos's throat. Blood splattered over his tunic and snow, more than was already spilled. Swinging the corpse off the sword, he turned and jammed it into the second Wolfo, screaming as it gave him one final scratch on his arm in the progress.
The fight was pathetically fast, but not as fast as the speed Link had when he passed out on the bloodstained ground.
Link stirred awake.
The night sky was fuzzy, with what was left visibly of the moon lighting up the sky.
"Link! Oh thank the goddesses!"
Navi?
The fairy came into view and Link struggled to ask what had happened.
"Come on, sit up!" Navi urged him. "Come on, Link, sit up! Play Epona's song, Link. Do something!"
Link shivered as he reached with his good hand for the Ocarina on his belt. The other arm was bleeding,
Link blew the notes of Epona's song into the Ocarina, each breath feeling like he was being set on fire by Din herself. It burned his lungs at how cold the air was.
He stumbled on the first attempt twice, the second time coming out in sputters, but finally with the third, came out fluidly with a few shakes in the breaths.
Epona came trotting
"Come on girl. Let's go to Kakariko."
Sheik was tired.
With the Seven Years' War taking out most of Hyrule's urban areas, a lot of the surviving Hylian population had left. The ones that hadn't…well, a lot had also perished under the attacks, with small cities burning down during Ganondorf's occupation. Most of Kakariko's population was spared from the attacks, some of the refugees moving his into the village, but there were more physical damages than anything.
It was a difficult time to go through at age eleven. The Hyruleans that survived the bloodshed left the kingdom as refugees. During that time, Sheik didn't have a home.
It was rough.
Sheik was a patient person in theory, so he wasn't as upset when his aunt made contact with him years later.
When Impa finally reached out on his fifteenth birthday, like she had promised to him during the night of the attack, he learned who he was meant to be. He was part of the prophecy by the goddesses that they themselves etched into the metaphorical (or knowing how cryptic the goddesses are, the possibly quite literal) stone pillar of fate. had been set before he was born.
On his fifteenth birthday, Sheik learned and accepted of his role as the Guide of Time.
The role came with rules. Interaction with the Hero must be kept to a minimum in order to keep him from being distracted from saving Hyrule. The goddesses mustn't have thought ahead of time just how annoyed Link got whenever Sheik teleported away from him with a Deku Nut. Sheik was perceptive: what kind of Sheikah would he be if he wasn't?
Not being able to help the Hero was the downside of the rule. Which was a shame, because Link seemed like a pretty nice person to be around.
But Sheik wasn't planning to go about a sitting cucco and do absolutely nothing while Link wasn't available. The way Sheik saw it, it was that he wasn't a stranger to the village. He was born in Kakariko too, a few months before the princess was born, and the village was his home just as much as it is Impa's.
At age fifteen, he also took the official role of looking out for his aunt's hometown.
In the beginning, it had been more in accommodating everything. He helped repair and rebuild the buildings that were affected by the brunt or aftershocks of the attacks. He helped the bazaar owner transfer his inventory to an unoccupied building.
They had built a second narrow staircase to create a shortcut to Impa's.
That was three years ago.
Now, at the age of eighteen, Sheik did a little bit of everything around the village: he helped make red potions, sow up old blankets with Anju or make new ones entirely, deliver out lumber. Since the population of the village was way less than thirty, it was easier to keep track on who needed what in terms of supplies. It wasn't too bad, but it was a lot of work.
Needless to say, Sheik was tired.
Every abled villager pitched in with anyway they could, let it be in collecting herbs for medicine or chopping up wood for lumber, It was hard work between limited people, but it was enough. Some villagers were too old or, in the unfortunate case of the family with the Skulltula curse, unable to use their body at all. He checked in with the family-made sure that the ones who were broken from it had enough to eat, and enough lumber for the winter.
No one would go unforgotten.
The climate in Kakariko Village was predictable; mild springs, hot and humid summers, dry falls, but above all, harsh and long winters. Some years were dry, others were humid, and from the bite in the air, it was going to be a humid winter.
Humid winters were the worst.
Light snow already started filling the ground and feeling the sharpness in the air, more would come. Maybe even a snowstorm.
His aunt wants to see the village grow into a city, and he intends to make that happen. And well, he loved the people in Kakariko. For once, he wasn't discriminated.
Here, he was Sheik. Just Sheik. He wasn't seen as or called by the different slurs and derogatory names he and Impa had to deal with while in Castle Town. Not the nephew of Impa, the traitor to the Sheikah.
Of course, things weren't perfect. There was always that uneasy feeling that followed Sheik that startlingly felt like he was being stalked by an unknown predator. The Stray Hellion Cuccos, as he called them, roaming around the village drove him up the wall.
Anju's brother, Grog? Rumor had it he disappeared in the Lost Woods and became a Stalfos. And judging from the sad look on the redhead's face when she mentioned his name, Sheik knew it was true.
The Medicine Potion Shop owner-a kind loving man named Diego-had survived the initial attack in Castle Town. He lost his shop and moved to the village permanently to live with his partner, Baito, an easygoing yet somewhat lazy mailman that did nothing but sit on a rooftop and stare at Death Mountain all day long.
The burn marks on Diego's arms were enough evidence on their own about how much chaos and loss was suffered too much during the occupation of Ganondorf. And the mental trauma that came with it…Goddesses, if it were up to Sheik, he would kill Ganondorf himself.
He knew the village and the people like the back of his hand and by the Triforce, he would not let anyone suffer anymore.
He had a few more days until he returned to the Water Temple and redirected Link to his next destination. Out of the estimated time of completion for each temple being four to five days, Link had so far done two and a half. Considering how difficult and stressful the Water Temple had been when he had to briefly cross it once, it would probably take the Hero of Time five days.
Good deeds pay off, though; Anju had sent him home with a basket of warm rolls and Mutoh had lumber delivered to Impa's doorstep to last him throughout the week.
For dinner, Sheik fixed a small pot of beef stew and ate with a bread roll, also making himself a mug of chamomile tea. He took a long bath, enjoying the luxury of being in hot water and feeling all the tensions from his muscles ease down. He was tired, so tired, from spending all day walking around the village and helping the people get ready for the incoming snowfall. He made frequent trips to the stream outside the village to collect water, seeing that the barely halfway filled well was most likely going to freeze over sometime soon.
Now, he was dry and clothed, a heavy book written in Sheikah resting open on his lap. He had been reading it in excerpts throughout the week when he wasn't busy.
But now, under the roof of his aunt's modest house, Sheik could finally relax and feel completely at himself than ever before. In here, he didn't have to wear his cowl and turban. He didn't have to wear the thickened variant for winter of his Sheikah uniform. His cowl was gone, deemed unnecessary since he was in the privacy of his own warm home. Professionalism was left at the doorstep and replaced with basic comfort, basic comfort being his bed clothes; a thick dark blue sweater, wool socks and black pants. Sometimes, he wore a different sweater, but it was always blue.
On the small bedside table, three candles made from vanilla scented wax lit up Sheik's bed space, the smell drifting around the room. The light and aroma was calming, gently swaying him to sleep.
The gentle crackles of the fire were the only source of noise that he had aside from his own breathing and occasional page turning.
Eventually, he let the book fall shut from his fingers, knowing that he marked his current page was marked with a scrap piece of paper. He blew out the candles, shoving the warm wax stained plate slightly in order to to let the book rest next to it.
Tired, he burrowed his head into his sleeves, curling the blankets around him tightly and as snugly as he could muster. The rain began turning into snow and he could feel the strength of the wind even through the concrete walls. Sheik's blond hair was loose and wavy and this was the only chance he got really to wear it without any form of braid.
Sleep.
Yeah. He needed sleep.
He mentally counted numbers in Sheikah until he passed out and fell asleep.
Sheik was awoken by the sound of metal slightly clattering in the kitchen.
There was an intruder.
In an instant, Sheik reached for his hidden knife and jumped into an attacking position on the bed. The intruder couldn't get far.
The clattering continued and when Sheik finally spotted them, he threw his knife and heard it stab into the wall, the cement slightly cracking.
Wait, what?
It was then when he heard the sound of a small fairy shrieking.
Oh Din, that's Navi.
"Sheik!"
"Navi?"
She probably came in through the small chimney vent he had near the stove.
"You nearly killed me!"
"Are you alright?" With a quick flick of his hands, Sheik lit the candles next to him back up again, providing more lighting in the room. "What are you doing here?"
"Link is hurt!"
Shit.
Sheik already started moving off the bed and to the stairwell to lace up the brown boots. "Where is he exactly?" he asked.
"He's in the entrance of the village. It's bad, Sheik. It's really, really, really bad!"
"Give me a minute to get dressed."
He slid off the ledge to the first floor.
"Is he alone?" he asked as the fairy followed him.
"Epona is with him."
He pushed back the beaded curtains that covered what was considered to be the closet. Wool coats were zipped up on clothes hangers and scarves were folded neatly in the small cubicles. Finding the warmest scarf, Sheik grabbed it and wrapped it around his lower face, serving the double purpose to protect his lower face from the cold wind and also acting as a temporal cowl.
Opening the door, Sheik stepped aside and said, "Lead the way, Navi."
The fairy was out of the house before he could finish the sentence.
Even with the scarf tight around his mouth, Sheik could feel the cold chill of the air biting at his skin. The air felt thicker, with the wind picking up speed. He shivered and broke into a sprint, following the small ball of light that was Navi as she darted her tiny wings into the direction of the stairs. The already clumped up snow crunched under Sheik's steps enough to leave imprints on the ground. So far, it was a thin layer of a few centimeters, but it would only increase with time, and the wind was picking up speed too.
Sheik vaguely regretted not grabbing a blanket to wrap Link with. But then again, it would have gotten wet with the snowfall picking up pace and that would not do any favors for the currently passed out Link.
And fuck.
It was bad.
Judging from the position of Link laying face down in the ground, Sheik deduced that he had fallen off his horse.
"No!" Navi flew right by Sheik and to Link, the fairy companion anxiously hovering around him.
Three large scars ran longways across Link's back. Some blood already soaked onto the ground. His Zora tunic was done for.
Sheik cursed in Sheikah under his breath as he kneeled down on the ground and gingerly lifted Link up by the arms. And by the Goddesses, the Hero of Time was heavy in muscle mass. The weight was unexpected and Sheik nearly slipped in the snow. He grounded his footing better and moved Link to where he was leaning on Sheik's back on his stomach, his bleeding back exposed to the winter air.
If he didn't get any red potion in him, Link was going to die.
Slightly straining under the weight, Sheik said "Epona, I'll get you in a stable soon, okay?"
The horse neighed in response, almost as if she was rushing Sheik to keep Link alive.
As Sheik ran as fast as he could up the stairs with a fully grown bleeding hero on his back, he remembered the rules that the goddesses had ingrained into him. Do not interfere with the hero.
By Din's fire, the goddesses were going to kill him for this.
But with no hero, comes no prophecy, comes no saving of Hyrule. And they wouldn't want that now, would they?
Okay Link, let's get you patched up.
Yes, I am tired. I'm also rather shitty with fight scenes, so forgive me. This is unbeta'd btw and its 4 am and i am tired. No, this won't be a love at first sight fic, trust me, it's gonna be long and fun and a slooooooooow buuuuuurn. B)
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