Alright! We've made it to chapter 9! I feel like I don't update as often as I should! I have nearly the whole story typed out! XD I think I'm enjoying writing these a little too much! :P

Thanks to ArianandXaia and ShadowNinja1011 for reviewing! You guys rock! Also, I feel like I've lost all my reviewers! "Come back to me my children!" XD


Chapter 9: Hero (Link)

How long has it been? A month maybe? A month and a half? I should probably move on by now, but I can't get that pretty blonde head out of my mind. I feel guilty about it really. I still remember that one phone conversation we had and the girl didn't want Zelda to say she was kidnapped and had her make up her school's name. Ilia suggested that she was at gunpoint, but I said that was ridiculous. I haven't heard from her since. Maybe it was just her friends messing around though...

What if by telling her that Zelda wasn't in danger, that actually killed her? It keeps me up at night sometimes. Other times I wonder if I was really trying to comfort Ilia by stopping the investigation, or comfort myself. All I knew is that it had gotten hard to keep talking to Ilia.

I walked in on Pipit watching something on TV. "The local news? Again?"

Pipit tossed some popcorn in his mouth, and I picked up the remote, getting ready to check what else was on. "It's really interesting! There was this one story of a blonde girl who was killed-"

"Zelda!" I blurted out.

Pipit looked at me funny and shoved some more popcorn in his face. "No. Amanda or something. She was killed in a car accident because her boyfriend had gotten drunk before driving her home."

"Pipit! That's not interesting, that's horrible!" I yelled at him. He stared at me blankly before asking, "Why?"

"Okay. That's it. I'm leaving this house. I'm going on a walk. Might get some coffee. Might plan your death. Might build a snowman. I just need some air."

"Link! Seriously man? I wasn't thinking before I spoke! I didn't mean-"

"Goodbye! I'm leaving!"

"You're acting like a girl!"

"Well maybe I am!"

I marched out before realizing I had called myself a girl. Maybe we both needed to think before we spoke. I forgot it was snowing (and not even enough for a snowman...darn) and went back inside for my winter jacket. I didn't really want to deal with walking in the snow, so I just got in my car and drove into town. I found a parking place and hopped out of my car. December was one of my favorite times to come here.

I was enjoying all the Christmas decorated streets and shops and started to cross the street myself. A truck was fairly close, but I knew I'd make it across in time. Until I slipped on the wet street and saw my life flash before my eyes as that truck drew nearer and nearer-

"MOVE!" I heard someone shout. From then on everything was in slow motion. I gathered my surroundings, but couldn't get up and got tackled by somebody. I was barely pushed out of the way. By the time I truly realized what's going on, I also realized there was a person lying on top of me.

My mysterious savior stood up and brushed themself off. "Sorry if that hurt. I thought it would hurt less than...dying."

I realized that it was a woman's voice, so I stood up and tried to regain my composure. As I do, I check her out from the corner of my eyes. She was wearing a blue skin-tight body suit that hugged her figure and had a mask covering her face. Maybe it was a religious thing...? All I knew is that I was not going to let my stupid anxiety issue screw up any chances I had with her.

"Thanks!" I blurted awkwardly. "How did you get to me from...wherever you were?"

"I was watching you from one of these roofs and jumped," she replied.

"You were watching me?" I asked slowly. I guess I wasn't the only awkward person around here.

She tugged on her braid. "Yeah I guess..."

"And you jumped all the way?"

"Yeah..."

I tried to see what information I could get about this strange woman. "Can I at least get the name of the woman who saved my life?"

"I'm Sheik. Just your average superhero," she answered starting to walk away.

"Superhero...?" I started to ask, but before I could say anything more she ran off and threw something that caused a lot of smoke. I think it might have been a Deku Nut. When I looked back, she was gone. A true superhero.

I don't know how she did it, but it made me wish I could be like that. I have proved I was handy with a sword at this strange Renaissance Festival thing a few years back! I could be a great superhero! I inwardly laughed at myself for thinking that. What was I? Six?

I walked into some antique shop just to calm down and get off the mild adrenaline high that truck gave me. "I don't need drugs; I just need trucks, slippery roads, and superheroes," I cracked a joke. After saying that, I waited for my friends who were with me to laugh but...

Truth is, I'm kind of lonely.

Who actually are my friends? Pipit? He's practically my brother! Ilia? The girl who I only talked to because her friend was missing? Zelda? The girl I hardly even knew who transferred schools.

Making friends was something that had always been strangely difficult for me. Around a bunch of people, it was hard for me to come out of my shell. I convinced myself that I wasn't shy, I was just saving my personality for someone special. I would never find out who that special person was because I always chickened out after telling myself that I would be able to finally act normal around them. And as much as I tried to suck it up and deal with it, and whether I sometimes succeeded or lost, I knew the truth. I suffered from a Social Anxiety disorder.

I changed the subject, in my head of course, to the mysterious heroine who saved my life. If she really was some sort of "superhero" wouldn't I be hearing about it on the news? Pipit and I would've had our conversation about her, not the traumatic car accident.

Sheik. That's the name she gave. I was determined that she would be the special one that I might actually act normal around. One of the few people in my life that could see the real me. I had to find her.

I replayed our conversation in my mind. She specifically said that she was watching me from one of the roofs. Was I really that interesting? Suddenly, I got really self-conscious and stopped pacing around the store. Was she still watching me now? Could she see me nervously pacing? There was only one way to find out.

I walked out of the store and looked at the top of one of the roofs. She was definitely there. What I originally planned was to do something dangerous and get her attention, but that seemed too stupid and Twilightish. I changed my mind and just decided to walk over to that store and talk to her myself. A friendly conversation never killed anyone. Hopefully. I was not backing out of this one.

In order to reach the building she was resting on, I did need to cross the street. I even looked both ways before I even took my first step (like we were always told when we were little) and when traffic allowed, I crossed and didn't almost die! Once I was on the sidewalk, I walked across the property of a coffee shop to get around back. There weren't any ladders or any way for me to climb up so I just shouted up to Sheik.

What can I say that would be very suave and clever of me? "You look lonely up there!" I hung my head when I realized how un-suave and un-clever that was. I still caught the mysterious woman's attention with my awkward shout, and she turned her head to look at me.

"You look pretty lonely down there too," she called back. Sheik turned her head back to face her original focal interest.

I decided that suave and clever were not my things and instead shouted, "Can I just talk to you?" Sheik turned around once more and answered, "If you can get up here!"

Maybe talking with this girl wasn't worth it, but I was really intrigued when she talked about being a "superhero". And I had made a promise to myself! I walked over to the right side of the building to see if there was possibly a ladder or something over there. Of course there wasn't though. A few stores down there was, however, a large tree with a branch that I could climb across and make it on to one of the roofs. The buildings might just be close enough for me to jump from one to another on.

I made my way over to the big tree. Taking in a deep breath, I grabbed on to branches, one after the other, and climbed all the way to the branch closet to the roof. I pulled myself up and practically crawled on the branch to get over to where I could reach the roof. I leapt off of the branch and landed safely on the roof. Now for the really tricky part.

There were three gaps I had to jump over in order to get to Sheik. I've done this enough in video games, it couldn't be that hard in real life. I got a running start before I leapt and landed on the next roof.

"Ow," I muttered. Quite frankly, the landing was hard on my feet. I ran across to the other side of the roof and jumped to the next roof. The gap was much bigger this time and instead of landing on my feet I grabbed it with my hands and pulled myself up. Thanks to my heavy winter jacket, I didn't scratch my arms up as I did it.

The last gap was the biggest of them all. At this point Sheik was probably doing her best not to look at me because, well, I'm a dude jumping across a bunch of roofs. Why wouldn't you want to look at that? I took a deep breath and made my running start as usual, but this roof was icy from water that had frozen over. Instead of gracefully jumping, I slipped and fell off the side of the roof.

The landing, well, how do I put it lightly? It hurt. A lot. Part of me wanted to burst into tears, but I made myself man-up and deal with the pain. After all, I was trying to impress the girl. Well, maybe not impress, but I was trying to get her to talk to me anyway. I tried to stand up, but yelped in pain at the slightest movement of my legs. I tried to lift myself up with my arms, but collapsed on the ground because they offered no support.

"Are you okay?" a voice beside me asked. I craned my neck to look at the speaker. Sure enough, it was Sheik. Looks like the Twilight approach didn't let me down.

"I would say yes, but I really can't move my body," I told her with a grin. Why was I grinning? It hurt like the Goddesses themselves each used their powers to punish me! Powers...

Sheik knelt down beside me and placed her hand on my chest. Soon all the sore parts of my body turned weird and numb. And then from numb to...warm. She was healing me!

"Are you a goddess?" I mumbled, as the effects of her powers made me start to lose conscious. She giggled and shook her head. My eyes started to flutter and I fought to stay awake. Just as I was about to lose consciousness, Sheik lifted her hand and my eyes shot open.

Sheik stood up and offered me a hand, which I took to help myself up. "I didn't think you would actually try! You must really be determined to speak with me. What was it that you needed to say?"

I looked at her straight in the eyes and said, "Nothing." Her blonde eyebrows scrunched together. "I just wanted to chat. You were right. I am lonely."

Sheik put a finger on the side of her mouth-cover thingy, and I thought she was gonna take it off, but she didn't. We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds until she replied, "Yeah...okay...I've got some time to kill."

"Do you wanna get some coffee? There's a coffee shop under the roof you were resting on. A nice warm cup of coffee tastes best when you're with a nice warm girl." Nice warm girl? Way to sweep her off her feet...but it's better than being so nervous I can't say anything!

Sheik looked at me long and hard as if this were some sort of trick question. "Are you trying to flirt with me? Without even knowing anything about me?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "You saved my life. That's good enough for me. Whether you're hot or not can wait." Sheik shuffled her feet awkwardly, and I realized that last part I had said aloud when I meant to think it. I felt like I wanted to run away.

"Well, whether you're hot or not is out of the question then," Sheik said, with a smile that reached her eyes. I only knew she was smiling because, well, it reached her eyes.

"So does that mean you think I'm hot? Or nah?" I questioned. She winked and said that we should go ahead and get some coffee. I decided not to run away like I had wanted to a second ago.

We entered the shop and each ordered a basic coffee. When Sheik offered to pay for her own, I said it would be on me. She gave me a sly look and mumbled something about being a gentleman. I decided now was not a good time to make some crack about Psy. After all, that was very old news.

I pulled the chair out for Sheik to sit down in and sat on the side opposite the table of her. For a moment, I sipped at my coffee and enjoyed its steaminess until I noticed her staring at me.

"I'm not sure how I should drink it without removing my mask," she explained.

"Is it really that big of a deal for you to wear that thing?" I asked.

Sheik let out a long sigh and stared at her drink. "Apparantly. It's Sheikah custom, or so I'm told..."

"You're a Sheikah?!" I exclaimed. "I thought the race was extinct!"

She shook her head. "Nope. There's me and at least one other. One who's a bossy little-" She cut herself off. "I'm sorry. There's a lot on my mind. I shouldn't be bothering you with this. I'll just leave."

As she stood up I exclaimed, "No!" This startled her and everyone else around us. "Just sit. That's why I'm here. To talk." I handed Sheik a straw and explained that she could just tuck the straw underneath her little mask thing and drink through that. Maybe I was speaking in awkward choppy sentences, but at least I finally proved myself to be useful.

She poked the straw under her mask, like I had said, and sipped her coffee before she told her story. "My life's kind of hectic now. For starters, I'm not even supposed to be here! The place I...work for as a superhero is kind of keeping me on a tight leash, but I'm 'running errands'. Technically I have a GPS on me, so they know where I am, but I don't think they really use it much. As long as I don't use my powers in public."

"But you did! When you saved me!" I countered. Sheik held up a single finger to where her lips were under that mask as a "shh" kind of signal.

"Just as long as there's no documentation of me using these powers, I'm good. Things are rough because one of our head 'directors' passed away and my boss is looking for someone else to take his place. She promised me that I wasn't going to be it, but I think the idea of recruiting another person is just stressing her out even more. And on top of finding this replacement person, she also is waiting for the right time to seek out and offer another certain person a position on our team. I think she would've recruited him sooner, but Rauru's death got in the way..."

"Oh wow. You do have a lot on your plate. You certainly deserve your coffee!" I told her. She seemed to smile, but (again) it was hard to tell because her mask was in the way. "When do I get to see what's underneath the mask?"

"You don't. I-I already told you it's custom," she stuttered. "Link, I'm sorry-"

"I never told you my name..."

"Maybe it's one of my powers!"

"Oh. What are your powers exactly?"

"I'm not sure yet. I can list off the ones that I know right now. I have some sort of 'super speed' thing, but that's just one of my Sheikah abilities. Another ability is to leap far distances, like when I saved you. Sometimes I can manipulate matter too. It's not perfected yet, but I'm working on it."

"And what exactly does that mean?" I asked her.

Sheik played with her straw as she spoke. "I can basically become invisible to the human eye. Also I can make some objects levitate and control them. I'm not good at these though. I can't disappear all the way, and I can only levitate small objects for a short time. "

I took another sip of my coffee. "And what about healing me?"

"I-I'm not sure," she stammered. "Maybe that was an act of the Goddesses themselves helping me. I don't know. I've never done it before. I just kind of had...a feeling it would work."

Sheik stopped playing with her straw and got caught up in thought or something. I couldn't resist the temptation and reached for her mask. Her ninja-like reflexes grabbed my wrist before I could even touch her though.

"Link, I already said-"

"I know, but I really want to see your face!"

Sheik stood up from her seat. "Maybe eventually, but not for now." She grabbed her cup and started walking towards the exit. I stood up from my seat and grabbed my coffee as well, but didn't reach her before she left the shop. I jogged outside and decided to call out to her, while I could still see her.

"Sheik, wait!" Sheik stopped and turned around. "I'm sorry!" I called after her. She started walking towards me.

She handed me her coffee. "Hold this and close your eyes." I did as she said and assumed she was taking off her mask. I could peek. I felt soft lips brush my cheek as I realized she was kissing me. Well, on the cheek.

"Keep 'em shut," she said as she was probably doing up her mask again. She grabbed the coffee and told me to open them.

"Why-"

"Because I feel guilty..."

"If this is about telling me your problems then you shouldn't-"

"It's conplicated," Sheik said with a sigh. She tugged on her braid, and I stared at her for a moment.

"Will I ever see you again?" I asked her.

Her eyes lit up as if she were smiling. "I'm sure you will if you come down here again." Then she ran off.

That's it? No number? No nothing? Just a kiss on the cheek and what sounded like an offer to have coffee with her again. I guess it wasn't too bad as far as first dates with superheroes can go.

I walked over to the area I parked my car and smiled. I wished that I could be a superhero too, but first I had to rub it in Pipit's face that I got kissed by a girl today. Take that Social Anxiety! I've won this round!


Fun chapter to write! :) I actually enjoyed this one a lot! As always, thanks for reading! And don't forget to follow/favorite/review!

SRQ: If you were saved by a "superhero," would you try to find them and talk to them?

PQ: Kind of random, but is the WiiU a good buy (for those who have one)? For those who don't have one, would you want a WiiU? [I don't know if I want it or not...maybe that's why I'm asking you guys! XD] I feel like I asked this question earlier! Oh well! XD