-Skirmish-

Link followed Sheik out into Castle Town, and let out a small gasp. The entire town was cloaked in darkness emanating from the castle in the distance, already giving it a bleak feeling. Most of the houses and shops were in ruins, with holes in the walls, chunks of the roof missing, and some even being on fire.

"This is reality now." Sheik said in a hushed tone, perhaps picking up on Link's shock.

"How do people live here?" Link asked. Sheik hushed him and began to walk faster through the ruins.

"Nobody does, except monsters." Sheik responded, turning a corner. They were at the courtyard near the entrance of town, with the mostly-intact drawbridge on the far side. The fountain in the centre was no longer working, and the courtyard itself was littered with bodies. Link paused, a wave of nausea coming over him at the sight. They weren't skeletons, with most still having all their skin and being dressed in tattered clothes that they must have worn the day they died. The ones closer to him appeared to be covered in stab wounds, and the sight made Link sick.

Sheik paused, and Link nearly walked into him. "What's wrong?"

Sheik sighed, his shoulders shaking. "You will not like what comes next. Draw your sword."

"Why? There's nothing here."

"Hero. Ready your sword." Sheik growled. Link bit back a response when Sheik abruptly started running. Gracefully, he made it to the fountain in the middle, and turned back to look at Link.

And then one of the bodies moved.

Slowly, menacingly, the army of dead bodies began to pull itself off the stone roads and drag itself towards the Sheikah, who had both his daggers drawn and was standing within the fountain's walls.

"Look out!" Link yelled, rushing to his aid. The bodies - or whatever they were - turned slowly, and Link abruptly stopped. Their faces were clearly still human, but they looked gaunt, the remaining skin stretched tight against their skulls. Some of them were missing teeth or even eyes.

The bodies lurched towards Link, slowly, and Sheik took advantage of the distraction to slice the throat of the one nearest to him before kicking at the one next closest to him, knocking it off balance while the Sheikah attempted to close the distance between the two living fighters. Link went for the one nearest to him, biting back his thoughts that he was killing innocent people, raising his sword above his head and bringing it down into the body's shoulder.

The body - an older man, Link noticed - paused briefly, his right arm hanging uselessly, before staggering on, bringing out his arm to try and loosen Link's grip on the master sword as the Hylian tried to free his sword. Another body, a young woman, approached Link on the left and raised her arm menacingly.

Meanwhile, all Link could see of Sheik was a blur of movement around a group of bodies. The smaller boy was almost dancing around the group, pausing to slash at the bodies or push one away. He wasn't killing them very quickly, but he wasn't getting himself cornered like Link.

Link finally managed to free his sword and slashed laterally at the two trying to kill him. The one closer to him was sliced in half, while the further one simply had a gash on her chest and kept moving towards him. Link started to panic, keeping his sword close to him. Two more bodies broke from the pack fighting Sheik and ambled towards him.

Sheik seemed to be making some headway, as he kicked one body into another, knocking them both over, before stabbing the body on top, holding the dagger in until it stopped moving. The other one was sufficiently trapped, and Sheik turned his attention to the remaining four, his back to Link. Link stepped forwards, slashing diagonally and defeating one of his, but the attack left him open and he had to clumsily step out of the way of the other two bodies. Sheik didn't seem to be slowing down, as he took out one of his own with a dagger to the heart before resuming his focus on the last one, dangerously close to the two Link was fighting. One of the bodies Link was staring down noticed this and turned his attention on Sheik, who was trying to break through the defences of the other one…

"No!" Link yelled, charging towards the body and tackling it out of the way, before plunging his sword through the body's stomach. He stood up, panting, and looked at Sheik, who had manage to land slashes at the wrists of his body and rendered it incapable of attacking. Link closed his eyes. They had done it, but the ordeal was something he was sure he was going to have nightmares about.

Suddenly, Cold hands grasped his shoulders, nails digging in and drawing blood, and pulled him backwards. Link almost fell off his feet, his eyes shot open, and he yelled. He'd forgotten all about the last body, the one he had slashed across the chest. Sheik had finished up with the last body attacking him and turned to Link, practically flinging himself across the space between them and plunging one of his daggers into the last body's forehead. The hands on Link's shoulders twitched, then relaxed, then slid off. Sheik's face was inches from his, as the weight of the body had pulled Link down a bit, and Link could see that Sheik had a light dusting of freckles across his nose, which was slightly crooked, as though someone had broke it.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, catching their breaths, until Sheik pulled the dagger out of the body's forehead and it slumped to the road, lifeless once again. Link stood up straight, and Sheik pulled back, but neither of them sheathed their weapons.

"What were those?" Link asked. He was tired now, wanting to sleep but fearing that if he closed his eyes the faces of the bodies would haunt him.

"They were once citizens of castle town that Ganondorf's army killed, then Ganondorf himself cast a spell on. Every time someone sets foot within this courtyard, they animate themselves and attempt to kill them." Sheik replied. Link remained silent.

"I hope this is the last time I have to come through here." Sheik said, mostly to himself, as he bent down near the nearest body and closed his eyes, paying respect to what had been a group of happy citizens of a castle town, all those years ago.

Slowly, he stood up, and motioned for Link to follow. "Come, hero. There is a safe house not far from here, and there I can teach you how to swordfight."

"Link." The hero said, somewhat forcefully. "And what's wrong with my swordfighting?"

"You fight like a child, attempting to use speed and being hard to hit to your advantage, but you do not move fast enough to do that." Sheik said simply, before stalking out towards the drawbridge.

Link had no choice but to follow, lest he be left behind with a field of corpses and his own mind.

Notes:

I've always thought ReDeads were scary, don't you? A lot of things in this game become scarier the more you think about them, and this is far from the only thing (wait until dead hand shows up...). I'm not particularly good at writing action scenes, so I hope this was alright. I'm once again blaming smash for this taking so long, but I do have every intent to see this through. How else am I going to realize the scenes I wanted to write?

Enjoy!