A/N Greetings and salutations! Welcome to my humble Zelda fanfic. It centers around Malon and Male!Sheik. I am fully aware that Sheik is canonically Zelda in disguise and thus female. But I don't like it so I substitute my headcanon. BOOM! I mean, that's half of what fanfics are for, right? Right? Right.
I wrote this a while ago, so it's actually fully done. I hope to upload the whole story fairly quickly, so if you happen across it while I'm still uploading, definitely stay tuned!
Edit: After originally posting the first few chapters, I didn't like it. So this is a new chapter one. The old chapter one and chapter two are now the new chapter two.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda. Otherwise Sheik would be male.
-I have things I want to tell only to you. Please listen.-
~1 ~ Prologue~
-Seven years ago, Ganondorf, the King of Evil …entered the Sacred Realm.-
The dark clouds of night hung over the land of Hyrule. Its people slept soundly, in the comfort of their homes, dreaming of a hopeful future. The king had welcomed the Gerudos and their king, Ganondorf, into Hyrule Castle, nearly a month ago now, and the prospects of a new, fair treaty were on the horizon. Finally, after decades of unrest, the Hylians and Gerudo would forge a new, beneficial alliance.
However, although all Hylians slept in hope, the Sheikah did not. The shadow folk stood resolute at guard, wary of the negotiations.
One Sheikah, a stoic woman named Impa, strode the dark halls of Hyrule castle in unrest. She was not comfortable with the presence of the Gerudo. More specifically, of so many Gerudo warriors. The Hylian king had graciously welcomed nearly a whole battalion of Geruodo warriors into the castle along with their king. He had hoped to show the desert thieves that the Hylians gave them their trust, and had nothing to fear of them.
Impa thought the man to be a fool.
Abruptly, she stopped, sensing a presence ahead. After, analyzing it with her magic, she relaxed and moved to meet him.
"Who goes there?" The man growled.
"Save your growls for the enemy, Ossip." Impa said, moving close enough for her fellow Sheikah to see her in the shadows.
The man, strong and tall, relaxed. "Impa. I should have known. What are you doing here? I thought you'd be stuck to your charge's side, especially at the dead of night."
Impa scoffed lightly. "I couldn't sit still, cooking like a frog in a boiling pot. What are you doing here? I would have thought you'd be stuck to your charge, Karkariko Village." She said with a hint of dry humor.
Ossip frown, his red eyes frustrated. "The king has ordered that all the Sheikah come to the castle. He's apparently feeling uneasy about the Gerudo, and wants the extra security."
"Finally, a wise choice from our king."
"You'd do best to watch your tongue a bit better in front of your superior, Impa." Ossip chided lightly.
"Threats only work off a basis of fear, my friend." Impa said with a smirk. Sobering, she asked "So all the Sheikah are here? The whole tribe?"
"That's what the king ordered."
"That would explain your little shadow then." She said, gesturing behind him.
Ossip's eyes widened and he turned. "What?"
"Your senses are getting rusty, Ossip. Come out child." Impa commanded harshly.
A child, roughly eleven years of age, stepped out from behind a corner. His red eyes remained emotionless under scraggly blond hair, even as he came forward.
Ossip's expression darkened. "You? How long were you listening, boy?
The boy seemed unfazed by Ossip's harsh tone and did not answer. Impa sighed with irritation. "Not long, Ossip. He won't repeat what he heard, will you, Nephew?"
The boy shook his head.
Ossip growled. "You'd better. Now go, you should be underground, you insolent child."
With a bow, the boy turned and left, melting soundlessly into the shadows. Ossip huffed. "I should have left him in Kakariko. The whole tribe finds him uncomfortable – he looks too much like his damned father."
Impa shrugged. "Aye, but he has his mother's gaze. Trained properly, he'll be as good as me or my sister."
The man frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but clamped it shut quickly. Both he and Impa tensed, suddenly feeling a disturbance in the night. Impa scowled. "I must get back to the Princess." She said and turned on her heel. Magically, she melted into the shadows and traveled as fast as a thought to the Princess's chambers.
She arrived within a second, stepping on to Princess Zelda's pulse carpet. The young princess sat upright in her bed, eyes wide with fear. "Impa?" she whispered. Her blue eyes flicked towards the door.
Soundlessly, Impa unsheathed her short blade and crept to the door. Opening it, she snuck through and closed it behind her.
Princess Zelda paled as she heard two thumps sound from beyond her door. Impa emerged again, this time with her sword bathed in blood. "Get up, your highness. I'm taking you to a safer place."
The girl got up and threw a dress on over her shift, then pulled a blue orcarina out of a bejeweled box. Impa secured a cloak around Zelda and pulled the hood up to conceal the girl before leading her out of the rooms. Zelda tried not to look at the dark, dead bodies of two Gerudo women, nor their gleaming weapons inches from their cold hands.
Making as little noise as possible, Impa led Zelda through the corridors. As they turned another corner, they were met with three more Gerudo. The desert women stared at the princess, holding the blue ocarina, then pounced at her with their brandished weapons.
Zelda fell back, clutching the ocarina, as Impa intercepted them. "Get back, princess!" Impa cried, parrying the assassins.
The girl sat frozen until a hand wrapped around her arm. She jumped and looked up into Sheikah eyes. A young boy – eleven, like her - pulled her up. "Please hurry, princess." Trusting the Sheikah, Zelda scrambled up and followed the boy, leaving Impa behind.
They ran through the shadows, avoiding sounds of fighting echoing down the halls. "I-is this a coup?" The princess panted.
"Quite possibly. We'll be safe in the hideout. Here!" He pulled her into a small indent in the wall. The boy ran straight through the stone, and Zelda yelped as he yanked her after him. They were in a dank tunnel, lit by dim, flicker green candles. The boy led her down a staircase, but stopped abruptly. "What's going-" Zelda asked, only to have him shush her.
He tensed, and turned, pushing her back up the stairs. "Go, go, go!" He said, just as the sounds of fighting broke out from underneath. The screams of children rattled the cold walls as they ran into the palace corridor again. Zelda ran straight into Impa, bloody and bruised, but in on piece.
"Princess! Why didn't you take her down there?" Impa asked the boy sharply. Her question was answered by another child's dying scream, yowling from the hidden tunnel. Paling, Impa began to lead them. "Quickly, to the stables!" She barked.
They entered the stables. Thankfully, the building was empty of people. Working quickly, Impa saddled the princess's white mare. Zelda shivered in fear, trying not to cry as she clung to the Ocarina of Time. The Sheikah boy stood guard, watching for anyone that may have been following them.
He called back to Impa. "Ossip's coming!"
Impa cinched the last strap of the saddle. "Help the Princess on to her horse." She instructed her nephew as Ossip burst into the stables. The man was bleeding heavily from a cut to the head, and he held his dislocated shoulder. "Impa, thank the goddesses, you have the princess! It's an all-out coup – guards and Sheikah have fallen everywhere. We…" He swallowed thickly, glancing at Zelda. "We were too late to save the King."
Zelda stifled a cry of sorrow. Impa's face hardened, and she moved to grasp Ossip's bad shoulder. The man continued as she worked on it. "Ganondorf will be after the princess and the orcarina. He – ack!" He said, his shoulder popping back into place. "Thank you. He'll be here soon. I want you to flee, Impa, you hear me? You must get the princess to safety!"
Impa nodded and mounted the horse, sitting behind Zelda. "Wait!" Zelda cried. "What about you two?"
Ossip smiled. "I'll do my duty, princess. That is what the Sheikah are for."
Without waiting for Zelda's response, Impa kicked the mare into a canter. Together, they fled the castle, flying through the cobblestone streets of Hyrule Town as the clouds above dropped a downpour.
Ossip's smile melted into a grim expression. Turning, he made his way to the Gerudo's stables, where he would try to hold of the Gerudo King, if only for a moment more. Reaching the stables, he found the sheikah boy from before slashing the leather straps of the saddles and reins. "What are you doing?" He hissed.
The boy looked up, red eyes determined. "Like you said, sir. Our duty. King Ganondork can't follow them if they can't ride."
Ossip scowled. "You should flee! You have no chance against the Gerudo, boy!"
He smirked, but quickly paled as he looked passed Ossip. The man turned around as a big, gauntleted hand grabbed his face. "Right, you are, silly Sheikah. You have no chance." The Gerudo King said.
The Sheikah boy flinched as Ganondorf's hand burst with a purple aura, engulfing Ossip's head in dark magic. The late Sheikah leader crumpled to the group, his head charred to black. Ganondorf smirked and stepped over the corpse towards the boy. "Now, how do you want to die, child?"
Bravely, the boy brandished his sharp knife. "From old age, you pig." He spat. With that, he lunged at the man.
Ganondorf dodged easily. The boy quickly whirled, managing to surprise the Gerudo king. The knife swiped at the man's side, leaving a shallow cut. The victory was short lived, however, as Ganondorf back-handed the Sheikah with so much force, the boy went flying. He crashed into a wooden post, his head making a definite crack, and fell to the ground, limply.
Ganondorf growled. "I'm tired of you Sheikah and your tricks." He advanced on the downed boy, ready to deliver the final blow. Just as the man's boot swung towards the child's head, the boy lulled to the side and, rolling, melted and disappeared into the shadows, where everything became dark.
Impa ushered the princess into the cavern and sealed the entrance behind them. Zelda – cold and wet from the rain – shivered and looked around. Her eyes fell on the Sheikah boy from before, sitting at the table. "You! You're alive!" She cried.
Impa turned to see her nephew, covered in bruises, and lulling his head to the side. "Did anyone else make it back?"
He shook his head, wincing at the pain. "No." He slurred, his concussion making speech difficult.
Impa collapsed at the table. "Then we are the last. The last hope of Hyrule." She said quietly.
Zelda shook her head. "No, we have Link too! Once he enters the Sacred Realm, he'll be the Hero, and he'll defeat Ganondorf!"
Impa glowered. "Yes, your little hero friend. Let us hope you didn't just doom us all by recklessly throwing the ocarina away."
The boy jumped up. "What? You did what?"
Impa sighed. "She gave the Ocarina of Time to her friend, who has the three Spiritual Stones. Let us pray to the goddesses that he is our hero, or we have a grim future ahead of us." Grim indeed, as Zelda would only grow more powerful. How on earth was Impa supposed to keep Zelda hidden?
The boy groaned and sat back.
Zelda, who was flushing from shame, coughed. "By the way, Impa, who is this?"
Impa spared a glance at the boy, a desperate plan hatching. "This is Sheik, my nephew. Get along, because you'll be putting up with each other for a long while."
Well that was intense. A much better start to the story than what I had before. Also, I just realized that I did the classic introduce-a-character-and-then-mercilessly-kill-him thing. Ah, well poor Ossip was doomed to die. Because Sheik and Impa re supposed to be the last of the Sheikah.
Fun fact, Ossip's terrible name came from the word gossip, which fit him because he's the leader of Kakariko Village, which is a nest of gossip. Thank goodness I don't have to keep typing that hideous name.
Anyway, on to the next chapter!