A/N: Happy December! This chapter is actually one of my personal favorites, so I hope you enjoy too.
It was dawn and Hyrule Field was shrouded in the thick fog swirling over the tender grasses under Sheik's feet. A light drizzle fell from the ominous sky and his eyes darted from horizon to horizon. He immediately recognized the Hylian Battalion, checking each other's armor and testing the strength of their spears. Something in his mind told him these men are all dead.
The air was thick with fear and anticipation, no soldier could be sure who he might face on the battlefield, the Fierce War had turned man upon master and brother against brother.
The only face undisturbed was the young one shrouded in the leaves of a nearby tree. Sheik shook his head as the young man, no older than fourteen, strapped a kunai to the side of his leg. "Little fool," he muttered, "You're dead too now."
The enemy arrived on the horizon and the first arrow plunged through the heart of its target before the horn had finished echoing over the hills. The battle was fierce and dirty, horses kicked up mud and warriors spilled fresh, steaming blood over the grass and muck of the torn up field.
Sheik walked though the chaos, a ghost amidst the violence. Whole views were blocked out, erased into fog by the passage of time. Sheik was indifferent to those views he could no longer remember, what could be behind those sheets of fog besides more of the same? A throat slit here, a bloody sword there; a fresh crop of new corpses, the Guays would be feeding on their exposed innards before the sun hit high noon.
Sheik turned away only to be faced with the latest one, the youngest one. He suddenly felt sick. How determined the boy seemed, unflappable. The pride was evident in those burning red eyes and he took his enemies by surprise, time and time again pulling his victims into the shadows to meet their bloody fates. He could hear the boy think: Let the rest of these foolish Hylians die like dogs in the mud and squalor, true victory belongs to…
He never finished that thought. The suit of armor behind him slid the boy off the end of his sword, then charged in the opposite direction to continue his killing frenzy, only to be cut down immediately by another faceless suit of armor in a similar bloodlust.
Sheik kneeled down next to the boy in the midst of all this chaos. He stroked the boy's face, even though he knew the boy could feel nothing but the writhing pain caused by his hemorrhaging wounds. He felt physically ill as he remembered the pain, clutching the pit of his stomach, he sat all the way down next to the boy. "Foolish child, victory belongs to those who learn to watch their own backs. So basic…"
Thick droplets of rain splashed and washed some of the flecks of mud off the boy's face. By now, most of the soldiers were dead or injured, the armies on both sides falling back in retreat. The boy didn't have the strength to call out for help, to indicate he was still alive. Even if he could, it was just as likely an enemy soldier would opt to finish the job by sticking a spear through his skull, so he stayed silent, muffling his painful sobs.
Sheik sat by the boy, occasionally glancing at passing infantrymen, looting the dead and occasionally hoisting a wounded survivor into a cart to be returned for medical treatment. Nobody ever glanced his way. Hours passed, the sun grew higher in the sky, breaking through patches of rainclouds, and the infantrymen came by less and less frequently. The boy was getting paler, somehow still alive, though nearly driven mad with pain. The sides of his mouth were flecked with bloody foam.
Why could no one see him? Why did they not even glance his way? Sheik felt tears sting his eyes as he shooed a Guay away from the boy. "There are plenty of other things to eat;" he said glumly, "leave him be, awful beast."
Finally, as he knew she must, Impa came to the battlefield. It was as though she knew exactly where to find him. Her expression did not change when she saw her young nephew bleeding out over Hyrule Field. Sheik looked up bitterly at his aunt. It's like she knew this was going happen. Impa looked back at her nephew, the elder incarnation. She forced a smile as she looked into his eyes. "Who would have thought you'd survive?"
Sheik shrugged, "I didn't survive. Not really."
Impa looked at him sharply, "You survived enough to utter those words today; never take a gift from the goddesses for granted."
He bowed his head and said nothing. The weak sunlight glinted from his younger form's wounds, freshly bleeding now that Impa had moved him from the crimson stained grass to an ugly wooden cart.
Sheik took one last look at his past before Impa carted him away, back toward Kakariko Village. That night, the body would not survive, but the spirit…
Sheik woke up well before dawn, a light sheen of sweat covering Zelda's forehead. She frowned at him. What is it, Sheik?
"Nothing. Just another nightmare."
Again? Was it anything to be concerned about?
She, of course, meant something prophetic. As bearers of the Triforce of Wisdom, both of their dreams were often imbued with extra meaning. Sheik shook his head. "Just the past."
Sheik tried to put his past behind him as he sat at the noisy archery range where he brought Peach to practice with her new bow. After all, they weren't training for war, just for fun and self-defense. Sheik laughed, it was a good thing too, because Peach didn't seem to have much natural talent at archery.
"H-hey, don't laugh," Peach cried, as another arrow slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor. "We don't even have weapons where I come from."
Sheik raised his eyebrow, "None?"
"The guards have spears. That's it. The manufacture and sale of weapons is mostly prohibited in the Mushroom Kingdom. Manufacturers need to have special permits, and not just anyone can buy weapons either."
Sheik shot an arrow through a waiting target at the other side of the range. "And hunters? Are they out of luck as well?"
She smiled and attempted to shoot an arrow of her own. It landed in the hay. "Vegetarians. Eighty-seven percent of the Mushroom Kingdom has adopted a vegetarian lifestyle. Almost everyone else eats fish. Incidentally, there are no restrictions of the manufacture or sale of environmentally-friendly fishing equipment."
Sheik grinned, "Are you saying you'd rather be fishing right now?"
"Well…" Peach aimed another shot, and then proceeded to shoot the arrow in a weak arc where it landed lamely in the hay. She gave an embarrassed smile.
"I think we may need to adjust your stance, try like this." He demonstrated a proper archer's stance and waited for her to copy. She mimicked his stance change.
"Okay, now hold your bow like this."
She moved her bow up, and was surprised when he caught her elbow and lifted her arms a little higher. He drew an arrow out of her quiver for her, and put it in her hand, enclosing her hand with his. She felt her heartbeat speed up as she felt his cool breath near her ear.
"Now, just place the arrow on the string, like so…" He guided her hands, pushing her into a proper stance with a slight blush on his cheeks. He was aware they were now being watched by some of the other patrons in the gallery. "Pull back hard, and don't let your eyes move from the target," he murmured into her ear. She nodded affirmatively, not daring to take her focus from the target, lest she feel how close Sheik actually was to her. She could swear he could probably feel her heart beating against her chest.
"Now, pretend that big evil turtle monster is coming your way, and that yellow dot is right where his heart is. Focus now and…fire!"
Before Peach could cry out in protest, he made her release the arrow, where it flew straight and true, right into the yellow heart of the target. Sheik smirked, "A direct hit! He's dead before dinner and you can go home safely."
Peach folded her arms across her chest, her cheeks still burning hot from their closeness just a moment ago. Sheik scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed himself.
"Hey, don't be mad," his voice dropped an octave, indicating his seriousness, "I know that's not how you solve things in your kingdom, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun and pretend, right?"
Peach gave a confused smile, "You want me to have fun by pretending to kill my enemy?"
Sheik grimaced, "Well…yeah. Kind of. It's…to reduce stress and-and build confidence! How about, hm, pretend there is a monster attacking someone you care about and you need to protect them."
"And diplomacy is out of the question?"
"Absolutely out of the question, these are inhumane monsters we're talking about here."
Peach nodded and pulled an arrow out of her quiver and stood the way Sheik had showed her. When she released the arrow, it flew straight and fast and almost hit the target as it sailed past.
Sheik laughed, "Hey, that was much better, now let me show you how to aim…"
By the end of their session, Peach was hitting the outer rings of the target reliably. She stretched her aching arm above her head and she received her arrows back from the bemused attendant.
She turned to Sheik, radiant with confidence, "There now, you can rest assured that those inhumane monsters who absolutely cannot be reasoned with won't trouble you any further."
Sheik snorted, "Won't trouble me? I'd worry more about yourself if I were you."
"Yes, but you said…"
"Yes, yes, I know what I said," he tried to sound annoyed as he readjusted his cowl to hide his blush. "I'm just used to protecting royalty, not the other way around."
Peach smiled and skipped ahead of him, twirling around playfully. "Well, everyone needs someone to watch their back from time to time, right?"
Sheik almost stopped dead in his tracks, but forced himself to keep moving. She had no idea how right she was. He took a second while her back was turned to sip a bit of red potion that he had tucked into his waistband.
Peach gasped, "What's that? You're not sick again, are you?"
Damn.
Peach had twirled again at just the wrong moment to see the Sheikah surreptitiously swallowing a dram of the red potion.
"No…I just don't want to be sore tomorrow," he lied. "I'd offer some to you, but I know what this stuff is made out of and I think it's well outside the bounds of your dietary restrictions. Besides, it tastes awful."
The last part was true, and Peach made a sour face to commiserate. Sheik smiled; Peach was easy to be around, especially because she trusted everything he said at face value. She was so good-natured and likable. He sighed; his love for her was sure to destroy him but…he looked up at the cloudless autumn sky, probably not today.
He turned to Peach, "So, since we're already in Castle Town, how about we take a little extra time for some lunch…"
Kotake clutched her giant bowl of popcorn and nestled into her sofa as the would-be lovers entered the café. She stuffed a handful of the salty snack into her mouth as she settled into to what was becoming her favorite midday drama series on the Crystal Ball Network. Of course, no such network actually existed and Kotake was really just spying on the lives of ordinary Hylians, but what did a centuries-old witch care about semantics anyhow?
"What do you think you're doing in here?" Koume shrieked and smashed the door open so loudly it caused her twin sister to jump and fling all her popcorn all over the room.
"Ooh, just great, you always come and ruin the best part…" muttered Kotake, bending over to pick up individual pieces of popcorn off the floor (and occasionally eating a few).
"You worthless old hag! Get off your bumpkiss and help me search for the Hero of Time like Lord Ganondorf commanded."
Kotake looked at Koume with weary eyes, "But Koume, we've been searching for weeks and come up with nothing. If His Lordship would only have the patience to wait a few decades the boy will be dead and we wouldn't have to go through all this rigmarole of finding him in the first place."
"Idiot!" Shrieked Koume. "This mission isn't only for the Dark Lord. If you spent more time using that mush between your ears, you would remember that His Lordship does not want the boy dead. He wants him 'neutralized'. And who better to 'neutralize' such a handsome young man than yours truly?"
"Neutralize? What do you—oooohh," a devious look filled Kotake's eyes. "Well, that'd be second to only myself, I suppose," she cackled, "Oh the things I would like to do to that young flesh…"
"I would chain him to my bed," Koume mused.
"I would dress him up in naughty little outfits," dreamed Kotake.
"I would tickle him and suck on his young little toes until he cried out for mercy."
"I would make him rub medicinal ointment all over my aching joints!" Kotake cried out.
Koume gave a disgusted look. Kotake shrugged, "What? I have a prescription."
"Whatever," Koume sniffed, "obviously, once he had a look at all my charming beauty in its full glory, he'd never be interested in seeing that horrid Zelda or her castle ever again.
"I agree," Kotake replied, "Once he had a good look at you, he'd probably never be interested in seeing anything ever again."
"Let us waste no more time with this idle banter; we must find the Hero Link and hold him in this tower!" Koume said. And for once, Kotake didn't argue.
"And I want you to be my escort!" No, that's too blunt.
"I was wondering if maybe you would possibly consider attending with me…as an escort." Too passive.
"Hey, maybe we should go together, it would be more fun that way, right? You could be my escort or something." Too obviously casual.
Peach powdered her nose in the mirror and made a face. They sun had just peeked over the hills and it was already an exciting day. Starting today, she was officially employed! With a royal appointment, no less, meaning she could do her work in the castle and get input from Sheik. Peach flushed, she couldn't wait to tell him that Zelda had asked her to be the head of event planning for this year's Festival of Storms.
She would be in charge of everything from booth placement, food being served, and town decorations, to helping Zelda pick out her dress. It was a huge responsibility and she couldn't wait to get started. He's so knowledgeable about Hylian tradition, I bet he'll be a huge help too!
The best part was that the festival included a huge dance in the town square. Zelda said men and women put on their finest garments and get totally soaked by the rain, dancing, squealing, and carrying on.
A giant blush filled her cheeks. I want to go with Sheik; he's been so kind to me and…I just couldn't see myself having more fun with anyone else! It has to be him! Ahh, so nervous; but Sheik is so kind. Oh, but what if he says he's going with someone else?
Peach glanced at the clock and yelped. She had spent so much time practicing in front of the mirror, now she was going to be late for her class. She hastily gathered up all her books and belongings and rushed off to the study to meet Sheik.
Sheik stormed into the study and slammed his chair against the wall behind him before taking a seat. He put his face into his balled hands and seethed, trying to allow all his anger to vent before Peach arrived.
It wasn't right; it wasn't fair! It wasn't what Zelda wanted, and it wasn't what he wanted; it was just another sacrifice for the ravenous people of this city, cowards who themselves knew nothing of sacrifice. And now, just as he finally had something to care about, his life as he knew it was about to come crashing down.
Surely, Zelda's new groom would require the Queen's presence at night. Married women did not generally disappear at night. No, instead he would be treated nightly to a front row seat of the worst show on earth: his own "sister's" wedding bed. Without reprieve, without escape.
Peach appeared in the doorway and smiled at Sheik, but instantly sensed something was amiss. She sat down beside him and quietly put her books on the table. She gazed at him with concerned eyes and wasn't surprised when he turned away from her.
"Sheik…what happened?"
He turned around; he could hardly look her in the eyes…those beautiful eyes that he had gotten so used to seeing. He felt his insides swim and he barely croaked, "I…I can't be your tutor anymore."