Longer than usual chapter today. I hope you enjoy reading it.


The Sheikah


Link pursed his lips, worried. He had been of mind that since their outburst only a few days ago they were on better terms in their relationship. That they understood each other a little better now. But of course, Sheik had gone right back to his quiet brooding. "Should I even ask?" Link spoke up as they walked—wishing for the thousandth time that they hadn't left Epona in their escape last week. "I mean . . . I thought we'd sorted all this out." He followed up with a frown.

Sheik blinked, looking over at him as if seeing him for the first time. His foresty eyes were wide and almost had an air of surprise about them. Like he'd forgotten Link was there and was capable of forming coherent speech and the like. "What?" Sheik blurted. That was the compilation of what his—what Link formerly thought—brilliant mind could gather. He seemed genuinely confused.

"You've grown quiet again."

Sheik pulled a soft, attractive grin onto his face. "Link, that's only my personality. I'm not angry—just naturally . . . quiet. Actually, I was thinking."

Link's face scrunched up into a comic display of distaste. It was like when he was young and his father would insist on him eating the stupid mushy broccoli on his plate. Link shuddered at the memory. He hated broccoli. "As I recall," Link coughed, hoping to retch the phantom taste out of his mouth. "You were thinking fairly hard last time as well." He remarked.

"I'm just worried about getting into Termina." Sheik mumbled, ignoring Link's jibe and strange fit of coughing. "There absolutely will be Hylian soldiers at the border gate, and something tells me they won't be fooled by these pretty little eyes of mine. I've said it before and I'll say it again, nalí, I won't let them take me from you."

Link grinned as a warm bout of pride for his boyfriend curled itself into his chest. "They couldn't if they tried. I remember very well what happened last time you came into contact with soldiers."

"Hopefully we won't come out of any more possible encounters smelling like complete shit." Sheik gave a dazzling grin right back.

Link shook his head, quite serious. "No Sheik, you've got it all wrong. That was just the smell of all your sarcasm coming to light."

Sheik's grin fell through on his face just as Link's sprouted up. "You are so dead!" Sheik cried; springing at Link and lifting him slightly off the ground with capable arms.

"Um—," Link began, clearing his throat. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to—." Sheik huffed as he hoisted Link. "Ah, cracking goddesses befang it!" He cried, setting Link down and crossing his arms mutinously. "I hate being small."

"Aw, come on!" Link ruffled Sheik's hair—much to the elder boy's annoyance—in an attempt to cheer him up as they walked on. "You're very nearly my size. We're really not all that different, you and I. I suspect it's just in your Sheikah blood to be . . .lithe and um, slender. And besides, you haven't spent the past few months lifting bales of hay onto a stinking cart with no word of thanks! And you know what?" Link continued.

"Hmm?" Sheik humored Link's good-natured ranting with an amused smile.

"You can build what tiny bit of muscle I have on you, but I can't make myself any taller. For Din's sake, time doesn't even make me taller anymore."

A chuckle bubbled its way past Sheik's lips. "Ah, Link, I much enjoy your stature, actually. You're quite small as well. It—well, it allows—."

"It puts you in charge of certain . . . things . . . and the like . . ." Link cleared his throat as he looked away, face blushing all different shades of red.

"I've never been one to back out of a . . . leadership role." Sheik smirked.

"Shut up." Link quickened his pace, leaving the other boy behind.

"We're going to have to talk about it sooner or later, mister!" Sheik called, sounding just a little too amused for his own good to Link.

"Just remember that you're the one who specified 'later'!" He shot back over his shoulder. Unfortunately, after a few minutes of his vengeful silence, he grew bored. "Tell me more about what you were thinking? About getting into Termina?"

"Ah, he speaks." Sheik breathed in mock astonishment. Link cringed as the older boy snickered. "I was considering searching for another way into Termina. Underneath Clock Town. It's a fairly small city in the northern reaches of the kingdom."

"What?" Link looked at the wheaten-haired boy as if he were crazy.

"Before we left Hyrule, I—I did a bit of research. I was worried we'd encounter this problem. You see, there's a way under the city that isn't guarded. Few know it even exists. The only problem is finding it. It's in the deep woods. We'll have to lay low in Clock Town for a while before we move on, of course. I don't know much about the borders and landscape of Termina; the only maps of the kingdom I've ever seen have been small, cropped, and incomplete. More often than not they're made just to tag onto the bottom of a proper map of Hyrule."

"I see . . ." Link mused. "Is it hidden? You said it's hard to find, so what makes you think we'll be able to find it?"

Sheik chose Link's moment of distraction to pounce. He tugged the younger boy's waist tight against him and assaulted him with a frenzied, passionate kiss that had Link panting in no time. He could feel Sheik grin into the kiss as his eyelids fluttered closed. The Sheikah seemed to feel no guilt in his beguilement of Link. He ventured and deepened the kiss, opening his mouth onto the younger boy's like he was trying to breathe his life into him . . .

Sheik pulled away a bit after they had stilled for a moment, taking one arm from Link's waist and holding his chin tenderly between his thumb and forefinger. "Nalí," he said quietly, eyes boring deep into Link's and locking them in a magnetic straight-stare. "We will have to talk about it eventually, okay?"

Link swallowed, knowing exactly what the 'it' he was referring to was. "Okay." he rasped, looking up into Sheik's eyes and trusting him so much in that moment that he felt a soft ache in his chest.

"When we're ready."

Link smiled to himself as they walked. "So . . . back on track."

Sheik sniffed haughtily, but his eyes held only warmth. "I rather thought that was on track."

Link rolled his eyes. "I'll say it again: will we even be able to find this . . . entrance?"

"The texts describe it to be this large underground water system, leading underneath Clock Town."

Link snorted incredulously. "And there are just books sitting in the Royal Library of Hyrule explaining how to sneak into a foreign country?"

Sheik shot him a look that said: watch it, sassy. "Hyrule and Termina have never been on bad terms, for your information, but this wasn't from the Royal Library."

"Oh?" Link raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Yes, well never mind about that." Sheik warned. "I'll not tell you any more of Zelda's secrets. For now."

Link's nose wrinkled up in distaste. "Why would I want to know a girl's secrets?" He spoke the world 'girl' as if it were a bad taste on his tongue. Yes, that's it! Link thought to himself. Girls are the equivalent of broccoli!

"What are you thinking about in that thick blonde head of yours?" Sheik chuckled, startling Link from his thoughts.

Link shook his head, slightly embarrassed and not knowing why. "Are you sure the entrance is even in Hyrule?"

Link glanced over as Sheik pursed his lips. "No. Mostly sure. Link?" The Sheikah's brow creased suddenly with a heavy worry that Link did not understand.

"Y-yes?" He asked timidly, spooked by the other boy's change of mood.

"It's rumored . . . this entrance. It's supposed to be hidden somewhere—in the deep woods, past—."

Link suddenly understood Sheik's expression. His face paled. "We have to pass through my home, don't we?"

Sheik spoke right away. "Nalí, time is not an issue. We can skirt your village; leave a wide margin between—."

"No. Every extra minute you spend in Hyrule is dangerous." Link spoke forcefully through his teeth before sagging in on himself. "Besides, I want to see it."

"A-alright." Sheik complied, keeping a close eye on the quieted boy.

Link didn't speak another word that night, and Sheik kept a respectful distance— for he knew he was mourning—apart from holding Link tightly as the boy buried his head into the blanket; sniffling himself into an unrestful sleep.


It was the next morning that the boys crossed into Ordon Forest, wherein Link's never-forgotten home and past dwelt. He was still keeping painfully quiet and reserved. Sheik couldn't blame the boy. Link had lived through atrocities unknown even to him; the bruises which had recently faded from his nalí's skin were proof enough of that. But there was more to it than was immediately seen; more than just the cruel tendencies of an uncaring father. Link's mother had been raped and beaten to death, crack it! He felt such a strong anger at that; quite like he'd had against Link's own father when he had faced him in the stable those few weeks ago. Sheik wasn't even close to his mother, yet he knew that if she were to come to a similar end, he'd never be able to forget it. For Link it had been less than a year. By all precedents, Link should have been a sobbing mess in Sheik's arms. Just the fact that he wasn't spoke so much of the strength he possessed.

Perhaps it was the pain he was absorbing off of Link, but Sheik felt himself growing somber as well. He'd gladly take every last shred of pain from his nalí just to give the poor boy some reprieve from the sorrow and guilt Sheik knew he must be feeling. He owed Link that much at least for delivering him; for loving him.

Link was currently leading the way. He seemed to know where he was going, and Sheik didn't question him. Link had spent the majority of his life here, after all; among these trees. "Nalí," Sheik spoke under a thick layer of pity. He just wanted to make it better; yet he knew he couldn't ease such an ache. He stuck close to the younger boy, wary of the shadows and whispers of the pines. Who was to say that there weren't a few lingering savages left among these woods? Not to mention that everywhere he looked he felt the ghosts of Link's past trying to drown him. Sheik ran to catch back up with Link, who had set an overly brisk pace. He took Link's wrist tightly in his hand, getting his attention and seeking his protection from—well, Sheik wasn't sure from what; but underneath all these shadows he felt he couldn't take another step alone. "Speak to me." Sheik whispered.

Sheik watched as Link's eyes squeezed shut, a tear rolling down his cheek, as he shook his head ever so slightly. "I can't speak here."

Sheik nodded to himself, comforted just by the sound of Link's voice. He rubbed Link's palm with his thumb in rhythmic circles. "I understand. I'm here, nalí." Link gave an almost imperceptible nod, tear tracks visible on his face.

And so they walked. They passed an abandoned village here and there—empty and yet full of lost echoes of forgotten cruelty. When they came to these villages, Link wouldn't stop but to merely glance at the half-burned little huts and cabins. They must not have been his . . .

As twilight was nearing, Link was leading them up towards a break in the trees that split just on the apex of a hill. Twenty paces from the top, Link paused in his footsteps and drew in a long, shaky breath. "This is it." He whispered, voice cracking. "I lived here."

Sheik took his arm gently, pulling him onward. "Have strength."

Sheik pulled Link-nalí up to the top of the hill and found himself looking down on a quaint little village that had been built around a small crick. It was everything he had been expecting and had already glimpsed in the other villages they'd passed: log cabins both stout and cozy. Small pens built into the side of stone walls, most likely for housing cuccoos or some other small farm animals. He could just imagine a tiny Link—running between the houses, climbing the fences, splashing in the stream, sprinting into his house when his mother called him in from his games for dinner. "Oh—." Sheik's voice caught in his throat.

Link brushed past him, descending into the picturesque little scene. Well, almost picturesque. There were burnt rooftops and torn-down fences; broken-in doors. The boy did not tarry. He knew where he was going. Sheik followed him between some cabins until they came to a larger one with a small wooden porch that had a swing tied to the carved filigree in the awning over the front door. Link's head was down as he stepped forward and placed a few tentative fingers on the worn wooden grain of the door. It creaked open with barely a whisper of his touch. Without a word, Link ventured inside.

He entered the house with a small, wistful sigh. The inside of the cabin was modest: wooden furniture and a cast-iron wood stove filled the large room which looked to have been used once for both a family room and a kitchen. The younger boy ignored this room for now. He instead walked to the left and down a small hallway; pushing another door open with light fingers and striding into the tiny room.

Sheik thought this had to have been Link's room, shared perhaps with one or both of his brothers. There was one large bed in the corner, and everywhere else there were things that boys in their youth found interest with: wooden swords, practice bows, and books. So may books inside the small room. Link paused in the center of the room, glancing around with dead eyes before planting himself on the ground, facing the opposite wall.

He turned, finding Sheik in the doorway watching with a helpless expression. "It was here." He spoke, his voice coming out scratchy and hoarse. Partly, Sheik guessed, from the constant weeping, and partly from not being used for nearly an entire day. "They killed her in here. She—she came running in here, looking for us boys. Trying to protect us, I guess. I was in here alone, reading on the bed. Davin and Jasten were both out—I don't know." Sheik listened from the doorway with a growing pit of dread in his stomach as Link turned away from him, facing the small window set into the wall, his blonde hair being cast into gold by the filtered sunlight. "We had heard warnings from the western villages. We knew they were coming. He knew they were coming, but he didn't do anything to get us out of harm's way." Sheik assumed 'he' was Brock. The Sheikah had never hated the man more than he did right then. "She came running in here—saw me. She was crying, and I—I couldn't figure out why. But she shouted. Yelled for me to get under the bed and keep quiet. I thought she was angry with me."

Sheik couldn't bare it any more. He broke the spell and walked into the room, dropping beside Link and hanging his head near the younger boy's lap. To his surprise, he felt Link's warm hand stroking his hair lovingly. He felt horrid for it. He should be the one offering comfort to Link now, and yet . . . he couldn't bring himself to move from his position. "They came really soon after she had me under the bed. I—I heard—." Link's hand froze on Sheik's head. "Everything."

"Nalí." Sheik whimpered, tears falling from his own eyes now.

Link cleared his throat—Sheik could hear but not see his sniffles. "I was so afraid. Goddesses . . . There were three—maybe four of them in here. I knew they were soldiers because I could hear them moving around in their armor. Just soldiers from another kingdom. Conquering land and taking their spoils. She—she didn't scream. I think she was unconscious for most of it. When I didn't hear them anymore, I crawled out from under that bed."

Sheik's eyes trailed up onto the bed in the corner. He couldn't rap his mind around it. Understanding such carnages was one thing. Sitting in the room where a loving mother was beaten and consumed while her child watched and listened, fearing for her life and his own was quite another.

"And . . . and I sat with her." A small ghost of a smile spirited onto Link's face. But then his expression twisted up into such a mask of horror and sorrow that Sheik could no longer take it. He leaned in and wrapped Link into his arms, pulling the younger boy up into his lap as he held on tight. Link's forehead fell onto Sheik's as he continued speaking. "I smoothed her hair back and kissed her brow. And I sat with her. My dad came running into the house a few minutes later. I could hear him thundering all over the place as he called out to us. When he came into this room, he just looked at me looking at her; then bent down and scooped me up and ran out of the house. That was the last time I was in this room. Link's forehead shifted slightly as he looked off to the side. "Someone must have buried her."

Sheik sighed, heart heavy. "Link, I—I don't know what to do or say. I'm just—I'm here, alright? I'm here for you, lalu." Sheik looked up to find Link staring down at him, brow furrowed together in thought and fresh tears sliding down his cheeks. He was trying to smile.


"You would have loved her, you know." Link spoke into the darkness. They lay together—Sheik curled around him—in his parent's bed. He couldn't stand to be in his and his brothers' room any longer. Come morning he would brave it again. Perhaps to pick up a few old books, but he couldn't—wouldn't sleep in there. "And she would have thought you were the best—." Link continued. "Probably try to adopt you right into the family. Or marry me off to you . . . if that sort of thing were allowed."

Sheik didn't answer him, but Link felt the arms around his middle hug tighter.

"And Haera . . ." Link laughed aloud, causing Sheik to twitch behind him in surprise. "She'd probably be trying to steal you away from me with her every breath. She was a terrible flirt. Dad used to get so mad when boys would follow her home. Davin got into a fight with another boy once when he wouldn't leave her alone. She—she hadn't come home yet when th—they came . . . When we escaped." Link felt his face go blank as his brain tried to shield him from the emotional pain. "After my dad came back into the house and found me . . . with mom, he pried me away from her. He actually carried me out of the house . . . and then he found Jasten and Davin hiding in our b-barn. We escaped into the forest right then. I never saw my sister. I don't—I don't even know if she's dead. But I don't see how she couldn't be."

Finally Sheik spoke, and Link was so grateful to hear his voice that he wiggled around in the older boy's embrace so he could look into his eyes. To see that he was there and really cared. "Nalí, nothing can hurt them. Not anymore. And they are at the table of the Goddesses, looking down on you now and feeling only pride in how you have carried on."

Link stopped bighting his lip and reached for Sheik, folding himself into his chest. It wasn't a sensual contact—though the pair's breathing both quickened—Link was merely seeking comfort in the only way he knew how. He was asking to be held. Sheik's arms went back around Link and held even tighter than before. Link could feel him pouring all his love and compassion into the embrace. "I wish you could have known them." He wept quietly into Sheik's neck as the older boy rubbed his back soothingly. This was the first time Link had cried for his terrible loss with someone there to emphasize with him. His brothers and father had been in just as much pain he knew, but they had shut themselves off. Sheik was the first to ease away the hurt with soft kisses pressed against his hair and sweet words whispered in his ear.

"You know," Link began; all sniffles again. "I used to cry myself to sleep almost every night. Life just seemed so hopeless. That stopped when I left with you. I guess you make me feel safe . . . and happy."

"You have my love, sweetheart." Sheik whispered into Link's hair.


Two days came and went, and the pair was closing in on the border every day. Link feared that they wouldn't be able to find the hidden entrance to the water system before crossing the border. Sheik argued that he thought it was hidden in the deep woods, which was exactly where they were.

Link was feeling better now. Although being in the forest still hurt his heart, Sheik's words had given him the strength to carry on. He had a life to live, and though he would always remember, he had to think of the lost members of his family at the table of the Goddesses, as Sheik described them. Nothing could hurt them there, and Link took courage in that.

Link glanced around. Where was Sheik? The sandy-haired Sheikah was nowhere to seen. Had Link really been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the other boy disappearing? Link heard a sharp grunt from somewhere among the woods and jumped, startled. Goddesses, where was Sheik? Link was practically defenseless without the—.

"Link!" Climb down here!" Sheik's voice came from over a small ledge about twenty feet ahead.

Link jogged over to it, fear prickling his spine as he looked over the edge. From about thirty feet down, a pair of wide green eyes flashed up at him, a wild grin fixed just below them. "Link! Climb down here! I think I found it!" Link's brow furrowed. Sheik was standing on an enormous pink and yellow flower, looking like anything but the hardened Sheikah warrior he was with his ecstatic grin and soft jade eyes.

At the bottom of the outcropping was a small arch carved into the opposite stone wall. It was obscured by vines and ferns alike, but it was unmistakably not of nature.

"Sheik, do you think—?" Link trailed off.

"I don't know, but I want to find out." Sheik muttered, grabbing Link's hand and pulling him inside the dark hole. After a few feet, the area brightened again as they came into a hidden grassy clearing with yet another carved hole in the rock leading onwards. Link was pulled into this hole as well, and before they knew it, they found themselves in a large, torch-lit chamber with water canals running beneath and aside the stone walkways. There was a series of ramps, twisting around and upwards, that—as the boys followed them—brought them face to face with a large set of gears and cogs, all turning in a predetermined, timely rhythm.

"Sheik, I think this is it—!" Link's exclamation was muffled by a certain Sheikah's mouth as he pulled Link in and kissed him deeply.

After a moment, Sheik pulled away and grabbed both of Link's hands. "We made it, Nalí, we made it!" A laugh bubbled up out of the Sheikah's throat, and link was hard pressed not to follow after his example. Sheik took Link's face in both hands and kissed him again, this one lasting much longer; lingering on Link's lips and leaving him feeling slightly dizzy. Sheik gestured past them to a set of painted wooden doors. "Beyond there, nalí, our life begins."


Wooh, that was a doozy to write, but I'm glad it's finally out there.

If you have any comments or questions, please let me know by leaving a review. I'll get back to you with my own ecstatic author-thoughts ^-^