First update successfully on time! So far I'm still managing to keep writing at a reasonable rate so everything should go smoothly for the foreseeable future. Anyways, I hope you enjoy chapter 2.
Freckles
They've been riding for two days already. It's not been particularly uncomfortable and they planned the route so they can stop in a village or at a coaching inn each night. They've definitely had it much worse. It's been kinda of nice really, since it's been a while since they last had the chance to go on a long trip with the horses. Link had been surprised when he'd first been introduced to Sheik's horse Sterren before admitting, red faced, that he'd assumed that Sheik had used some kind of Sheikah magic to move across the width and breadth of Hyrule. Now Sheik just has to live with the fact that both horses like Link more than him. This isn't a surprise with Epona but he thought Sterren would have little more loyalty.
Link loves it whenever they get to chance to ride somewhere together. He's less keen on travelling alone, and says they've done more than enough of that already. Neither one of them wants to have to slog through any more downpours alone and desperately looking for somewhere get out of the rain. They can indulge their competitive sides this way as well. Because, even if Link is the one with an uncanny way with horses, Sheik is just as competent a rider.
They're going what most people would consider too fast. Though, given that all Link can see is the blue roan back end of Sterren, he's very sure he isn't going fast enough. It's just plain unfair that Sheik got ahead of him. He quite deliberately called the race out of the blue so he'd get a head start and win. It wasn't particularly sporting of him but you can't just press your freezing feet against a man's back in the middle of the night and not expect some kind of retribution.
Sheik turns to look over his shoulder. Link isn't that far behind him, there's about another half a horse length between them. He can't spare more than a glance. Painful memories, both physically and embarrassingly, of a previous race through woodland taught him that he really doesn't have eyes in the back of his head and that he definitely isn't impervious to branches. He wants to urge Sterren on, to go faster and keep his lead but he's wary of pushing too hard. They've managed to get through so much that a bad fall and an injury now would be unbearable.
The gully they're galloping down curves gracefully away ahead of them. Sheik corners wide around the next bend and Link and Epona edge in front. Link takes his chance and pulls ahead. He laughs as he hears `you arsewipe' drift up from behind him. He can win this now, but only if he doesn't give Sheik any leeway to wiggle back in front of him. The straights are no problem but it's stopping Sheik doing exactly what Link did at the corners that's tricky. He keeps as close to the banks as he dares to.
The bridge that got declared the finish line comes into view and Link risks an over the shoulder glance. He can do this. He can't help himself from letting out a victory whoop as he and Epona thunder underneath the wooden slats. He reigns Epona in and Sheik arrives only seconds later, cursing half-heartedly at him. Link jumps down from his saddle and waits to catch Sheik as he slides off of Sterren's. Everyone's out of breath and there are patches of foamy sweat on both horses. Sheik lets himself be wrapped in Link's arms. He's pouting but mostly because he's got an excuse to.
`I'm sorry kitten,' Link rests his forehead on Sheik's shoulder and nuzzles into his neck, ` but you have won the last four times' the last bit comes out tinged with tight-lipped exasperation.
`Goddesses forbid, how could I?' Sheik pokes Links ribs, digging his fingertips in and tickling
`I know, you-' he's doing his best not to succumb to the tickling, `you've let yourself down, you've let me down, you've let Sterren down.'
Sheik's trying to keep a straight face `I know, I'm just a liability aren't I?'
Link says `yes,' just as Sheik jabs his fingers into Link's ribs so the words gets distorted by shrill surprised.
They grin at each other. Sheik pushes some hair out of Link's eyes, `Come on old man, now's as good a time as any for some food.'
`I'm twenty-five.' Link's voice ascends into incredulity, `you're older than me.'
Sheik just wiggles his eyebrows and carries on digging some food out of the saddle bags. Thoroughly dissatisfied with that response Link flaps his arms in disapproval before joining in to look for something to eat. Eventually they find what they were looking for and all manage to scramble up a shallow bit of the bank before settling down to eat.
`I think we can make it to Kakariko by tonight,' Link held the rest of his apple out for Epona, `Will Impa be there?'
Sheik shrugged, `Probably not, she's normally at the northern garrison this time of year. She won't care if we let ourselves in though.'
`I figured as much. Still, it might have been nice to find out what's going on before we get to the castle.'
They both sigh. They've told themselves and each other plenty of times that Zelda probably just needs them for something comfortingly dull and diplomatic. Being able to wheel out a `legendary hero' can go a long way in impressing foreign dignitaries. Still, neither of them can shake the fear that maybe, just maybe, it's more than that. She wouldn't. . .wouldn't ask that of them again, would she? None of them are those people any more, and none of them miss being those people. Especially not when all the things from back then try and creep back in around the edges of dreams and absent thoughts. No, she wouldn't ask that of them. Just like they wouldn't ask it of her.
It's dark when they get to Kakariko. They're greeted by the diffuse glow of light through curtained windows and Anju waving to them as she shuts her cuccos away for the night. They stable the horses before getting the spare key to Impa's house out from its hiding place. Impa isn't home as they expected so the first thing they do is light the lamps and start a fire. The second thing they do is get some water boiling for tea. After this long a day a cup of tea is less of a nicety and more of a necessity.
Link sheds his travelling gear, folding it into a neat pile. Sheik is less careful and just sort of leaves his in a mostly organized heap. The kettle starts to scream and Link goes to see to it while Sheik gathers every blanket he can find and throws them on the sofa. They curl up around one another, mugs in hand. Link lets his head loll onto Sheik's shoulder. He's warm and comfy and sitting on something that isn't a saddle. His eyelids start to slide closed.
Sheik lifts the half-full mug out of Link's sleep slackened grip and puts it out of harm's way. He'd figured this might happen and picked up the book he'd brought for the trip. It wasn't that he isn't tired, he always is, it's just that sleep doesn't always come easy for him. It's okay, he's used to it by now, so he just settles in for the wait. At least he has plenty of chances to read now, and paint. It's so much better being able to spend the time wishing he was asleep doing something he enjoyed, rather than worrying until he vomited. He will never stop being thankful that life is kinder to them now.
He's a few chapters in when he feels Link start to fidget. He sets the book down and runs his hands through Links hair, trying to quiet the motions down. He watches Link's eyebrows draw together and his nose scrunch.
`Shhhh love, it's alright.' Sheik keeps gently petting Link's hair, hoping the repetitive motions will soothe him.
It's not working. The fidgets are slowly turning into bigger, desperate fails where Link is trying to fight the blankets in his sleep. This isn't good. He's starting to whine, awful, scared little mewls slipping between quivering lips.
`It's alright my dove, it's okay' Sheik moves the blankets, freeing Link's arms as best he can.
The trashing is threatening to knock them both off the sofa and there isn't much Sheik can do to stop it. He just cushions the fall as best he can. The whines are getting louder, spilling over into incoherent yells. Sheik gives up trying to get Link to slide back into peaceful sleep.
`Link, Link wake up. Please love, it's not real, I'm here, it-it's okay.'
Sheik is doing his best to stop Link's fists and feet and elbows and knees colliding with him but there are still probably going to be bruises in the morning. He keeps talking to Link, gentle but insistent, trying to rouse the other with his words and hands. Link's eyes rocket open and muscle memory takes over. He grips Sheik between his thighs and flips them over easily. He traps the other body beneath him and brings a fist up while the other hand settles over Sheik's throat. And then reality sets in. It's like Link's bones melt. His whole body crumples and it feels like he'll drain away completely if Sheik doesn't gather him up and hold him together.
`I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' the litany of apologies doesn't stop. Flowing and trickling and burbling over one another like water from a brook.
Sheik manhandles Link into his lap, `it's alright, shhh love, it's alright,' he rubs Link's back and kisses his forehead. They stay this way until Link stops quivering. Life is kinder to them now, but that doesn't make its earlier cruelties go away.
When things have calmed down a little Sheik steers them both to a proper bed. He lies with Link, still holding him and still telling him it's alright now. Despite everything, Sheik doesn't fall asleep but he doesn't get up either. Not even after Link's breathing has evened out and much better dreams than before find him. It used to be like this a lot more often. After one particularly bad night, Sheik ended up with a broken nose and a black eye, Link refused to sleep anywhere near him. It didn't last, every time the nightmares started Sheik came running. Still it took a while for Link to be convinced he didn't need to get through this by himself.
He wakes up feeling terrible. Not physically, nothing hurts and his body feels well rested. But emotionally everything feels like mud. It's only made worse when he sees the grey-purple bruise on Sheik's chest. There's only the one but even just that is more than there ever should be. Sheik cups Link's face in his hands,
`I'm fine, it was an accident, you don't need to beat yourself up about this.'
Link doesn't look at him, `It's. . . I just-'
`I know, love, I know.'
Sheik desperately wishes there was something more he could do to stop Link worrying about this besides kiss him. But there were times when talking wasn't the most eloquent way he could use his mouth to show how he felt. He can physically feel Link uncoil as they kiss. As if all he was waiting for was to be reminded that, regardless of what happens, he is loved, and always will be.
They don't have time to indulge themselves really. They untangle as slowly as they're able to with stray fingers catching in hair and clothes along the way. Then practicality sets in. They clean up. They saddle the horses. They make one last pass of the house to make sure everything is as they left it. Then they leave, and Hyrule field welcomes them into its grassy expanse. They still know it back to front, upside-down and inside out, even if it has been years. Link often feels like he should miss it but he just doesn't. It's so full of this bizarre mish-mash of excellent and terrible memories that he wonders if they cancel each other out and that's why he just feels nothing.
He can see the castle, to be fair he's been able to see it since they left Kakariko, he's just been ignoring it. He wants to see Zelda again; he knows Sheik does too. Even though they've never stopped talking in the years since it all happened, it's hardly ever been face to face. It's not as if she can up leave the castle for a weekend away by the sea and coming to her presents its own troubles for Sheik and Link. Neither of them are vastly comfortable with being renowned. The staring is bearable, being stopped and having to make awkward polite conversation is something they can deal with too. The offers of sickeningly well paid employment to act as little more than window dressing can be turned down. As can the solicitations of marriage and. . . other things. The hard part, the really, honestly, exhausting hard part is that none of it ever stops.
They wave gamely to the guards at the gate as they ride through and into Castle Town. One of the younger ones almost drops their halberd trying to free and hand to wave back with. Sheik smiles at them. It's his kind smile, the one where his eyes crinkle at the corners and it makes you feel like there's an in-joke just the two of you share. The guard's ears turn a bit pink. Link raises an eyebrow at Sheik who just shrugs. They've seen enough people be star struck by the other that no one's bothered by it anymore. Especially not when Link has been on the receiving end of far more of Sheik's smiles than anyone else. Especially when some of them no one has seen but him.
The ride through town is as they expect. People stop, people stare, people have furious whispered conversations. They are followed and pointed at and waved to. They wave back, particularly to any children they go passed. When they reach the castle gates the dribble of people following them pools and stops. Only they can pass beneath the portcullis unperturbed. It's a small blessing. A boy sprints across the yard in front of them and off into the castle to start the verbal chain that'll tell Zelda they've arrived. They dismount and hand Sterren and Epona's reins to a waiting hostler before climbing the steps into the castle themselves. Now they just have to wait and brace themselves for whatever it is that Zelda has to say to them.
Okay, so, actual things start happening soon I promise. Also, I'm not completely sure this is a sensible or suitable way to deal with someone having a God awful nightmare. . . probably should have googled it to check. Probable inaccuracies aside I hope everyone has a good weekend and chapter 3 should be up in a couple of weeks.
Freckles