fleets: ...ok so for those of you who've seen my huge goodbye letter saying I was officially retiring from writing fanfics...

I'M SO SORRY I LIED. Unintentional, since I had been happily convinced that I was done and I was going to move on to other more lucrative hobbies.

Ugh. Seriously UGH. I told myself I would never get into this again, and look what happened. I'm not going to make any promises about being able to finish this story (even though my prior record of completion is at 100%), this just might be the story that breaks that record. I don't know if I can finish this, but I liked the idea enough to write a first chapter for it.

I'm going back to my roots and sticking with an Adventure story. While I did enjoy writing romance with WIR and FaV, I guess I couldn't help but go back to the Rend-esque Adventure style of plot progression.

So uh, thank you so much for your understanding, and I guess I'm baaaaack!

Chapter 1: The New Apprentice

"Are you certain this will work?"

"Doubting our magic, Princess Zelda? Oh, the Hylians love to insult us so, don't they Koume?"

"Eeh hee hee hee! Well if this doesn't work then you spritely youngsters can hit him over the head again, isn't that right, Kotake?"

"Twinrova, please, Vaati is an extremely dangerous individual. We're risking everything by agreeing to let you do this."

"Shame on you, Sheikah guardian, placing the blame on our heads. We suggested this ritual, yes, but you Hylians were quick to follow with our plans. Do not make it sound like this was entirely our mischief. You need the sorcerer to be loyal to you, and we know how to do so."

"But… but what if he remembers who he was? Can we really trust that… by replacing his memories with new ones, ones that suggest that he is loyal to us, he really will be trustworthy?"

"Princess, memories are what defines us. The power is now in your hands to mold this sorcerer into anything you'd like, eeh hee hee!"

"… Alright. Impa, please make sure that word of this never reaches anyone. Not even to Link."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a week since the decisive battle that had finally led to Vaati's defeat. She should have been sleeping soundly for the first time in months like the rest of the kingdom, but Zelda hadn't been able to sleep well last night. She'd been staring up at the beige canvas of her tent, not being able to close her eyes as she lay on the grass knit bedding. It wasn't the desert chill that bothered her, or the knowledge that she was sleeping amongst the intimidating Gerudo warriors, far away from the comfort of her own home. It wasn't even the occasional howling of the sand worms that shrieked in the night as they leapt out of the sands in the distance. No, what tormented her was the memory of what they had done last night, and of the individual who slept quietly only a few tents away from hers.

Zelda's lips curled ever so slightly into a frown. Vaati.

Vaati, the infamous Sorcerer of Winds, was currently sleeping peacefully in the same village she was staying in. All that was keeping him somewhat restrained was a single set of chains around his ankles and wrists, but it was more like a formality since everyone knew that, if he were to use his full power, no amount of chains would be able to hold him. Even though they had emptied the village while they housed the former villain, it didn't make Zelda feel any better about the damage he could potentially do.

The Gerudo witches, Twinrova, had assured her that when he woke up, he would no longer be the Sorcerer of Winds. She hoped they were right, and shuddered at the thought of what would happen if they were wrong.

She remembered the smell of fire and and the sting of sparking ember as villages burned from Vaati's destructive rampage. He, along with a legion of monsters, had devastated much of Hyrule for months as he went from village to village leaving only ruins in his wake. Link had suffered severe injuries trying to defeat Vaati, but had been foiled by an unknown creature who they only knew by name: Dethl. Eventually, it had taken the unification of the Gerudos, Gorons, and Hyrule to finally defeat Vaati. She did not want their efforts to have been in vain if Vaati woke again as he had been.

Zelda tried to close her eyes again in an attempt to finally go to sleep. She grumbled unhappily when she noticed a small crack of dark orange snuck in through the tent flaps. It was almost dawn, and she'd barely gotten any sleep at all. One down, she whispered to herself, one more to go. Then I can finally rest.

One more. While they had defeated Vaati, there was still one more creature of evil lurking about, waiting for its chance to retake the sorcerer's throne. It was the one that had defeated Link, the one named Dethl.

And to do that, they were going to use Vaati.

What an awful plan. But if it works then…

"Zelda."

The princess's eyes blinked open again, and she quickly jolted upright to face the direction of the voice. To an untrained eye, it would have been nearly impossible to see Impa in the faint light of dawn. The Sheikah warrior blended almost seamlessly into the shadows, even with her conspicuous white hair, but the princess knew where to look. "Impa," she replied back quietly so as not to alert anyone who may be eavesdropping. Her guardian's next words sent a chill down her neck, and she really wished she'd had better luck with sleeping last night.

"He's waking. Your decoy is getting ready at the moment, so if anything goes wrong…"

Zelda recovered from her initial hesitation. "I understand, Impa. As of this moment, I am no longer Hyrule's princess. I am Sheik." Her eyes adjusted, and she could now make out Impa's features. She noticed that the Sheikah's eyes were lowered as though ashamed. Seeing this, she stood up from her bed and walked over to where Impa was, taking her hand. "I know why I must do this, Impa, please do not be sorry for me. If Vaati betrays us, then the first person he will strike will be Hyrule's princess."

Impa sighed, and then gently hugged the brave princess. "I only wish there was a better way. To be so close to your enemy…" Impa trailed off.

Zelda laughed lightly, smiling brightly as though to take all of the burdens of the world on her shoulders. "Well you know what they say, right? Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Zelda broke the embrace, regretfully then. It had been a farewell of sorts, because the next time they spoke, it wasn't going to be as Zelda. The princess took a deep breath, and absentmindedly brushed away the wrinkles of her nightgown. She began to chant an ancient spell that had been passed down through generations in the royal family, and her lids were finally tired and heavy. Just before her eyes closed, she saw Impa watching her sadly.

The next time the princess's eyes opened again, they were no longer the bright sky blue, but a piercing, determined red. Standing in place of the delicate princess was a young, male Sheikah warrior. His face was covered by a thick white cloth so that only his eyes were visible, and he was wearing a tight fitting blue outfit similar to Impa's. As Sheik, the princess's voice was slightly lower, completing her disguise. He nodded once towards Zelda's guardian. "Impa," he acknowledged.

"Hello Sheik," she replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A young man looking no older than eighteen groaned as he stirred from where he lay sleeping. His head hurt like it had been smashed under an Armos statue. Several times. Slowly, he tried to get up and he searched the floor with his hands, trying to steady himself. His arms were stringy and thin from lack of exercise, and he spent a few seconds brushing away his white-lavender colored hair away from his face.

"Ughhh… huh?" The youth noticed the sound of metal jangling as he moved his hands, and he winced at the sound as it made his headache worse. Starting to panic a little from all of the stimulation in the environment and the worsening headache, he threw himself to his feet in one swift moment and ran forward blindly.

"Augh!"

The youth was sent flying forward by the chains that bound his ankles, and he fell with a loud thump on the floor. Sand whipped up into his eyes, and he yowled in aggravation. It took him a few moments to notice that he wasn't alone, and that someone else was standing by what appeared to be the entrance of a tent.

Sheik watched in silence at the former sorcerer of winds looking up at him from the ground, his expression bewildered and his face full of sand. The warrior's face was expressionless, but his muscles were tense as though they were ready to strike at any indication of foul play.

"Oh uh, sorry I didn't know you were there," the youth said apologetically, wincing and rubbing the side of his head, still bothered by the headache. Once he stopped rubbing his head, he slowly, carefully looked around as though afraid to make the headache worse. He briefly looked surprised by what he was wearing, a baggy plain brown tunic, and then looked even more surprised by the chains around his wrists and ankles. "Why do I have chains around my wrists?" he asked with a frown.

Sheik continued to watch the youth for a few more seconds, and for a moment the confused young man thought that the Sheikah was just going to stand there and stare at him for the rest of the day. Eventually, Sheik walked over slowly and knelt beside him. "Do you remember anything?" he asked.

The youth looked into the warrior's eyes, red staring back into red. His eyes wavered under Sheik's gaze, his confusion mounting. "I… I can't. It's all very blurry and… and…" he stammered. His eyes shot back towards the chains on his wrists again, and his confusion was replaced with panic. "Oh Din, I didn't… I didn't do anything awful did I? Is that why I'm chained down like this?"

"Sh." Sheik put up a single finger to shush him. "Focus. Are you certain you don't remember anything at all?"

The young man quieted, and the panicked look in his eyes dissipated. Eventually, he slumped his shoulders and he sat on the ground, clutching his head again. When he finally spoke again, his voice contained some kind of excitement. Of life.

"My name," he whispered with a smile on his face. His past came flooding back as he clung to the memory of his name. He knew who he was, now. He knew who he was. "My name is Gufuu."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Gufuu?" Impa asked when she had reconvened with Sheik again. Sheik appeared unusually worn out from the conversation with Vaati, or rather, 'Gufuu.' Sheik noticed Impa looking at him worriedly, and he waved his hand, indicating there was no problem.

"It's fine, it went well. I just didn't get enough sleep is all," he said. "And yes, he says his name is Gufuu, or 'Fuu' for short. It's uh…" Sheik scratched his head, puzzled, "well let's just say that no one will guess who he really is by his new name."

"Huh. I'd suggested to Twinrova that they pick a common name like 'Geoffrey' and that didn't translate very well for his new memories," Impa said with an amused grin. Her grin didn't last long, however, and she went back to her concerned frown. "What about the rest of his memories?"

"It worked. He thinks he's a Sheikah warrior, sent here to train under you as an apprentice. He even looks like a Sheikah warrior, and the more he talked about it the more I almost believed it. Twinrova's magic is truly terrifying; I am glad they are on our side," Sheik said thoughtfully. He remembered when he saw Vaati for the first time this morning, and it had been difficult to tell that the young man in front of him had only days before been a murderous, powerful sorcerer.

"Well, yes, we were fortunate to have a story for him that fit him so perfectly," Impa agreed. "Saying he is a Sheikah allows us to keep a close eye on him, and his appearance naturally fits our tribe's, including those markings under his eyes." Impa snorted, "Though he does seem to be pathetic, physically, to be a true Sheikah."

Sheik shrugged, gazing back towards the tent where he'd just been moments before. Vaati, or rather, Fuu, had gone back to rest under his suggestion. Sheik still felt uncomfortable by the sorcerer's presence, but after speaking with him earlier, he was almost convinced that a Sheikah apprentice had replaced the former wind mage. "It was almost as though he was grasping at anything that remotely fit into his idea of what his past was like. It was kind of terrifying, in an exciting kind of way," Sheik mused. "He accepted almost everything I told him, like how he had helped us in a battle against the evil wind mage Vaati, and had suffered some mental trauma during the fight. When I explained that he had to be chained down because he almost attacked the healers in his delusion, he apologized sincerely and believed everything that happened. Vaati is gone, Impa. What remains is a completely malleable individual whose past is our own." Then, Sheik finished quietly, "What remains is a weapon."

The two warriors watched the sun break over the dunes as they contemplated the trials ahead. As the darkness left them, Sheik was, for a rare moment, afraid. The bright, eager, and most jarringly innocent look on Vaati's face had him contemplating whether or not they had done something terrible. In a sense, they were responsible for creating a new monster. For Fuu's sake, he hoped that he would never find out what they had done, and who he had once been.

Did we do the right thing?

fleets: Well, that's that. I hope you liked this (unfortunately short) first chapter. Vaati's new name, Gufuu (Fuu), is based on his Japanese game name.

There's going to be a lot of Sheik in this story, and it'll be the first time I ever include him in a story (so I guess that's exciting?). I'll be referring to Sheik as a 'he,' but it'll be ambiguous (for now) whether you want to think of him as biologically male or female in disguise (I don't think it's really that important for the story, but I was reading some articles on Sheik and it looked super confusing?).

My hope with this story is that I get to use a larger cast of canon main characters than for Rend (which was mostly Vaati and Link). Well, it's 2:00am now, so thanks again, and I'm sorry I lied about retiring fanfiction writing (erk).