A/N: I'll make this quick so we can get on with the story. And yes, fear not those of you who reviewed (and thanks for that), there is still a little bit of story left. But first, thank you very much to everyone who reviewed and also who read this. Hope you liked it, and hope it brightened up your day a bit. Writing this and being told that it was actually alright certainly brightened up my day.

This is the last chapter, so it's goodbye from me and see you next time! Right, on with the show!

One morning a few days later, Sheik woke up early, and sighed. Another day of being alone. But there was something different about today. She wasn't sure what it was, but she could feel it. She sat up in bed, and frowned suddenly. Was it her imagination, or were there footsteps approaching her house? There were. She quickly struggled into her clothes, and raced to the door.

She flung it open, and only her quick reactions stopped her from screaming with joy. Link was running up the path towards her. Straight towards her. She ran out to meet him, but stopped a few feet away from him. What if he didn't know it was her? What if he was lost, or worse, what if he'd found out about all the lies she'd told him and was angry with her? But he didn't stop, and wrapped his arms around her when he reached her.

'Impa told me everything,' he whispered. 'I love you, Sheik. The wedding with Zelda is off. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and only you.'

'I love you too,' she whispered, unable to quite believe what she was hearing. 'But… are you sure?'

'I've never been more sure of anything in my life,' he said with a smile. 'And I hardly need to ask if you're sure. After all, didn't you tell me you fell in love with me the moment you saw me?' Sheik smiled, but it suddenly fell from her face.

'No,' she said in surprise, shaking her head. 'I didn't tell you that. I told Impa that, but not you.'

'So? She told me,' Link said with a shrug. But Sheik shook her head. Then she raised her hand and, her heart sinking, she pinched herself. Nothing.

'This isn't real,' she said with a sigh. 'I've been dreaming of this every night for a week, ever since I left the castle. I should know by now that it's not real. But every night I fall for it, because every night I want it to be true.'

'It is true,' Link insisted.

'No,' Sheik said, shaking her head as the world began to blur. 'It's not.'

Sheik woke up early that morning, feeling drained from her dream, and sighed. Another day of being alone. But there was something different about today. She wasn't sure what it was, but she could feel it. She sat up in bed, and frowned suddenly. Was it her imagination, or were there footsteps approaching her house? There were. She quickly struggled into her clothes, and raced to the door.

She flung it open, remembering her dream. Surely it couldn't come true, could it? She saw someone approaching, and squinted through the dust, trying to make out their face. She sighed. No. It couldn't come true. Because this was real life, not some fairytale. The mailman stopped outside her house in a cloud of dust, saluted, and handed her a letter. Then, without so much as a word of greeting, he turned around and ran back off again.

Sheik sighed again. It was stupid to hope that it was Link, she knew that. But she also knew that it wouldn't stop her. She glanced down at the letter, and opened it. She didn't recognised the neat handwriting, but then again there was only one person who even knew she existed, and who would bother to write to her. It had to be from Impa.

Dear Sheik,

I hope the mailman finds you. He always seems to make it to the strangest places though, so I have faith in him. I thought you might like to know what's been happening since you left the castle. First things first: Zelda. It turns out she went away to the Gerudo Desert. And the reason she did that was, and I can't believe I'm writing this, to marry Ganondorf. The king of the Gerudo. Public enemy no. 1, as far as Hyrule is concerned. She married him.

Sheik paused her reading at this point to cackle with laughter. So there was no-one else, was there? And if there was someone else Impa would be the first to know about it, would she? Hah!

It turns out that they've been sneaking off to meet each other for a while now, to try to sort out the situation between our two kingdoms. Neither of them wants a war, but they weren't getting anywhere with their advisors, so they decided to sort it out between the two of them. And apparently, over time Zelda realised that actually she rather liked Ganondorf, and she would much prefer marrying him to Link, so she ran off to the desert to do just that.

Needless to say, I'm furious at her, as is everyone else. The castle is in uproar, but what's done is done and no-one can deny that diplomatically, it's worked out rather well. We won't have a war now. Ganondorf is staying in his own kingdom for the time being, because his presence in the kingdom wouldn't be appreciated right now, but Zelda has assured me that I'll get to meet him soon. I can barely contain my excitement.

Sheik smiled at the letter, silently wishing Ganondorf luck when he finally had to deal with the other Sheikah. So Zelda had disobeyed orders and married the love of her life, had she? Good for her. If only it was so easy for everyone else.

Naturally people are wondering how she managed to get to the Gerudo Desert, get married, and make it all the way back here without anyone noticing she was gone, but most people suspect teleportation was used, and obviously Zelda isn't saying anything. Don't worry, no-one suspects you. They don't even know you exist. In other news, Zelda took you up on your offer and that lawyer, Shad, is now one of her advisors. He's holding his own rather well, I must say.

And of course I suppose you're wondering what happened to Link. Well, now that Zelda's already married (and if you ask me she was unnecessarily gleeful when telling him that), he's got no business here, so he left Hyrule a few days ago. I would imagine he's back in Faron by now.

Sheik's breath caught in her throat. Link was gone. She hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye. It wasn't as though she could ever have seen Link again, even if he had stayed in Hyrule, but now there were all those extra miles between them. He felt so far away. Sheik stopped herself, closed her eyes, took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. She didn't think like that anymore. That part of her life was gone. She glanced back down at the letter, and saw a few more lines from Impa about the state of affairs at the castle.

…and that's about it. I hope you're adapting to life in the real world again. You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually missing your snide comments. It's just not the same with Zelda. But it's better for everyone this way.

Do drop by if you're ever arrested.

Impa

Sheik sighed, and tossed the letter away. She didn't want to think about Impa, or Zelda, because that would inevitably lead to thinking about Link. But a gust of wind caught the letter and flipped it over, and she saw something written on the back. She snatched the letter out of the air, and read it quickly.

P.S. That offer to join the Royal Guard is still open. I know you said no before, but you should think about it. Especially now that Link's gone. And besides, think how much it would annoy Zelda to see you back at the castle!

Sheik stared at the words. She hadn't thought any more about Impa's offer since she had left the castle. If she was being honest, her total lack of desire to spend the rest of her life serving Zelda was only half the reason she didn't want to do it. The other half was the knowledge that she would be spending all day, every day, around Link. Not near him, not talking to him, but close enough to be painful.

She would have to watch him and Zelda together, happily (or unhappily) married. Maybe one day she would watch their children grow up, and know that they could have been her children, while spending the rest of her life alone. And every time Link looked at her, caught her eye across a crowded room, he would look away, because he had no idea who she was. He had told her he loved her, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, he had almost kissed her and been prepared to marry her, and he literally didn't even know she existed. And doing that, being around Link, would have been too painful.

But now? Now, Link was gone. He'd probably never come back. True, Sheik would still have to put up with Zelda, but that would at least take her mind off Link. She sighed again. It was better than living as a criminal for the rest of her life. And at least she'd get to see Impa again. Maybe one day she'd even forget about Link. She went back into her house, to the small fireplace, and struck the pair of flints together until she had a small flame. She placed the letter on it, watching as the lines of fire crawled across the paper, burning away any mention of Link.

She watched it until it was a pile of ashes, then carefully put out the fire and went over to her small mirror. She braided her hair carefully, and reached for her bandages, preparing to cover her face again. But she paused. There was no need to do that now. She wasn't a criminal anymore. She smiled to herself, and let her braid hang down her back. She went over to the door, and stopped suddenly.

There was something different about today. She had known it as soon as she had woken up, but she hadn't been able to figure out what it was until now. On this day, ten years ago, she had woken up before dawn and seen her mother standing by the door, ready to leave her for the last time. She sighed. And now she was leaving this house for the last time. She hesitated in the doorway, and closed her eyes. She could almost see her mother as she left that day, fading further and further into the distance. But Sheik had understood. It was her duty, wasn't it? And, much though she would have liked to, she couldn't stand in the way of duty.

'Why do you have to go?' Sheik asks, her voice muffled as she hugs her mother.

'Because it's my duty.'

'Why, because you're a Sheikah? That's not fair!'

'No, not just because I'm a Sheikah. Look at me,' the woman says, turning her daughter's head to face hers. 'When I was younger, I used to think that, just because I was a Sheikah, serving the Royal Family was automatically my duty, whether I wanted it to be or not. And I hated that. I was training in the Royal Guard, but I ran away, because I didn't want to spend my life there. And at first, when I ran away, I felt free. I became a thief, believe it or not, and I spent my days stealing from people. I enjoyed it too.

But after a while I started to tire of that. It wasn't fun anymore. It just didn't feel like it was what I was supposed to do with my life. I found myself starting to hope that it wasn't what I was supposed to do with my life. And at that point I thought about what it was that I really wanted to do, and I realised that I wanted to do my duty as a Sheikah. Not serving the Royal Family, but serving their kingdom.

So I went back to my training, and I learnt to fight. And then I went off to fight monsters, and to protect Hyrule. And as soon as I did that, it was like coming home. I'd found my duty in life. And that's when I realised that duty isn't something that's placed on you from birth, by your parents or your heritage or anything else. It's something you choose, it's whatever you want to dedicate your life to. Yes, my duty turned out to be a Sheikah duty, but that's not because I was born as a Sheikah. It's because I chose to live as one. Do you understand that?' she asks, and Sheik nods.

Sheik sighed. Was this really her duty? Yes, she was choosing to join the Royal Guard, it wasn't being forced on her. But it didn't feel right somehow. She shook her head. It would feel right, eventually. She just had to give it time. Right now the only thing that felt right was the thought of being with Link, but that wasn't an option. So she was going to accept an alternative duty instead. She nodded to herself, satisfied, then closed the door of her house for a final time.

'Zelda?' Sheik turned out of habit, knowing even as she did so that it was a stupid thing to do, but she was too late to stop herself. But she didn't have to worry about answering to the wrong name, because as soon as she saw who had called out to her, her words died in her throat. Link.

She stared at him. He was here. He was actually here, standing in front of her. She pinched herself and winced, but it quickly turned into a smile. This was real. And he called you Zelda, her brain helpfully reminded her, and her smile faded again. That's right. He doesn't know me. But then why is he here? Why did he confuse me with Zelda? What do I do? Her brain, despairing of the pathetic performance put on by her heart, wrested the controls away from it and urgently gave her new instructions.

'Um… Sorry, I thought you said my name,' she said, while her heart screamed at her to stop, before it was hurriedly swept into the corner by her brain.

'Apologies,' Link said, with a smug look that completely threw Sheik. Wait, does he know who I am? He's giving me a look which says he does, but can I risk it? This is stupid. A few days ago I was practically throwing myself at him, ready to tell him the whole truth, and now I'm lying through my teeth? Another part of her brain was hurriedly rifling through the filing cabinet, and fished out a file from under L for Letter From Impa. The file was quickly scanned, and a memo placed in front of the main brain, which said: Impa said Link left days ago. Why isn't he back in Faron yet? It was a good question, Sheik had to admit. But she had more pressing problems.

'Are you going somewhere?' Link asked, still with that same smile which confused Sheik so much.

'Er… yeah, I'm off to join the Royal Guard, actually.'

'Really? I thought you said you could never spend your whole life serving someone else.'

'Yeah, well… It's my duty, I guess.' Sheik stared gloomily down at the ground. Your duty is to spend the rest of your life with Link! her heart screamed at her. It's what you want to do! You know that! She tried not to think like that. Link was probably already re-engaged to that Goddess-awful Ilia woman. He had probably just stopped by here on his way back to Faron. He had probably just happened to see her and wondered where she was going. He had probably- wait a minute, what was all this about "I thought you said"? She had said that she couldn't spend her life serving someone else, that was true. But as far as Link was concerned, Zelda had said that to him, not Sheik. She looked up at him, and suddenly his oh-so-smug smile made perfect sense. He'd laid down a trap, and she'd walked right into it.

'That took you a while,' Link commented, tilting his head on one side. 'I seem to remember you're smarter than that.'

'How did you know?' she asked, not even pretending that she didn't know him anymore.

'I thought Impa would have explained that. She did say she'd send you a letter.' Sheik shook her head, but filed the fact that Impa knew Link was coming to see her away under T for Things Impa Conveniently Forgot To Mention. That file was already bulging. 'Oh. Well, after what I can only assume was the real Zelda came back, I went to Impa and asked her how to find you.'

'How did you know there was a real and a fake Zelda?' Sheik asked. As far as she was concerned, her performance had been damn-near perfect. But Link seemed disinclined to agree.

'Well, there were a lot of little things. And some big ones, too.'

'Such as?' she challenged.

'How long do you have? You wanting to see my kingdom. Knowing how to use a sword, and almost beating me in a fight. You being nice to me, that was a big one. You know, if I hadn't known better, I would even have said you had a bit of a crush on me.' Sheik blushed. "A bit of a crush" didn't even come close to describing her feelings for Link, and the fact that he obviously knew that didn't make her blush any less.

'And there was the fact that you always ran off at sunset. That was what made me think that you were an imposter. Before, I just thought that you'd been hit on the head or something and that's why you were being nice to me, but when you started acting strangely around sunset, I knew something bigger was going on. And then there was our fight. That was when I knew for sure that you weren't Zelda.'

'And how could you possibly know that?' Sheik asked crossly. She wasn't enjoying hearing her amazing performance being picked apart one flaw at a time, even by Link.

'Because I knew who you really were. That trick you used, twisting my hand like that, there's only two people who could possibly know how to do that. Well, three, but I knew you weren't some big drunk guy I met in an alley. One of those two people is me, because I invented that trick. And the other-'

'That was you?' Sheik asked with a gasp. She thought back to her mysterious saviour in that alleyway. Yes, it could have been Link. She was almost sure she'd seen a flash of blonde hair before he'd run off.

'Yes. I was in Hyrule to see Zelda and I got bored of being ignored by her, so I snuck out into the town when my advisors weren't looking. I happened to see that guy following you into an alley and I thought I really ought to do something about it. Chivalry and all that. And even though I didn't stay long, I remembered you. So when you used my own trick against me, I was sure you were that girl I saved in the alley.'

'"Saved" is a bit strong,' Sheik muttered sulkily.

'And then there was that time when we had our one and only romantic evening together,' Link said with a smile. 'I thought everything was going great. I even thought I might get away with kissing you. But suddenly you just ran away. I was so surprised that I forgot I wasn't supposed to see you, so I took my blindfold off and I saw you as you ran away.'

'But if you knew for so long, why didn't you say anything?' Sheik asked. Link smiled, and started to walk towards her.

'Honestly? Because it was hilarious watching you try to act like Zelda, and fail miserably.' Sheik folded her arms and glared at him.

'Looks like Impa left out a lot in her letter, like you being a smug arse,' she said, looking away from him. But when she looked back, she gasped and swallowed hard. He was right in front of her.

'It seems like it,' he said with a gentle smile. 'And it seems like she also left out the bit where I'm in love with you.' Sheik's eyes widened. This is what you want, her heart reminded her, nodding encouragingly. Go for it! But it was confusing. She hadn't expected to meet Link like this. She hadn't expected him to know who she was. And she certainly hadn't expected a confession of love from him just at the point where she was about to go off and start her life without him. Say what you like about Link, he really did have timing.

'So I was wondering something,' Link whispered, his face heart-stoppingly close to hers. 'I was wondering if I could persuade you to reconsider joining the Royal Guards and spending the rest of your life serving Zelda.' Sheik swallowed. She started to mumble something about duty, but stopped herself. Her mother had told her that doing her duty felt like coming home. Did joining the Royal Guard feel like coming home? The hell it did. But did being with Link, even just now, even just for a minute or two, feel like coming home? It practically had a welcome mat outside it.

Is this really going to work? she asked herself. I don't know. What if this is all a crazy dream? What if Link's been hit on the head, and he doesn't remember any of this in the morning? Link saw her confusion, and sighed. She knew this wasn't the time to be indecisive. She loved Link, she knew he did, and she knew that if she didn't do something now she would lose him. But she didn't feel capable of doing anything. Luckily for her, Link was perfectly capable of doing something, and that something was leaning forwards and kissing her.

Sheik blinked a few times when it was over.

'That was... enlightening,' she managed. The kiss had also done a marvellous job of making up her mind for her. 'You know what? I don't think the Royal Guard is really for me,' she said breathlessly. 'Too many early mornings, terrible pension plan, that sort of thing. So, I expect you want me to stay here, then?'

'Well, I wasn't thinking here exactly,' Link said, his grin broadening. 'I was thinking somewhere like… Faron, maybe.' Sheik's heart stopped.

'Like… actual Faron?'

'No, fake Faron. Of course I mean actual Faron! You did say you wanted to see it,' he told her.

'I did say that,' Sheik admitted, trying to get her brain back online. Unfortunately it had chosen this precise moment to take its two weeks annual leave, and for once in its life it had decided to put its differences aside and take her heart with it, leaving her all alone with no guidance from her internal organs. Guidance which she would have been very grateful for when she saw Link go down on one knee.

'Sheik-'

'Yes.'

'Sh-'

'Yes.'

'Will you let me finish?' Link asked, shaking his head ruefully.

'Yes,' Sheik said again. Her body had managed to draft in some emergency guidance, quite possibly involving her spleen, and whichever inexperienced body part was at the controls had found a piece of driftwood in the emotional sea it was being swept along in, and was clinging on grimly. When one was being proposed to by the love of one's life, it was felt, "yes" was definitely the way to go.

'Sheik, I know I haven't known you long. I mean, it's been about five minutes.'

'Yes.'

'Yes, it's been five minutes, or yes, you're accepting my proposal even though I haven't actually proposed yet?' Link asked with a smile. Sheik considered this.

'Yes.' That seemed to cover it. Link sighed, taking Sheik's hand.

'Sheik, even though I haven't known you long, I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. In fact, I can't imagine spending my life without you at all.' Sheik was silent, because her mouth was suddenly almost painfully dry. This is actually happening, she thought, stunned. 'So. Sheik, will you marry me?' Link stared up at her, waiting. 'This is the part where you say yes,' he said helpfully. 'You managed a minute ago. Several times, actually.'

Sheik opened her mouth, and croaked. She would have nodded if she could, but her neck felt as though it was suddenly encased in granite. Link was still waiting, and somewhere at the back of her mind was the knowledge that it was terribly rude to keep royalty waiting. But somewhere else in her mind was a previously undiscovered inner voice, which sounded suspiciously like Impa, and it was getting annoyed. Pull yourself together! it told her. Link - the man you are in love with, remember - is proposing to you! It's a simple yes/no question! Now just say yes already!

'Yes,' Sheik whispered, sinking to her knees. Then, before common sense could get the better of her and tell her that this was just a crazy dream that she would wake up from at any moment, she wrapped her arms around Link's neck and kissed him passionately. Finally she had to let go, but only grudgingly. She and Link stared at each other for a moment, before he suddenly burst out laughing.

'What's so funny?' she asked, a flicker of dread running through her. This wasn't just a practical joke, right?

'Nothing,' Link replied, kissing her on the forehead. 'It's just… well, you really are the girl who pretended to be Zelda. No-one else could be quite as adorably awkward.' Sheik seriously considered punching him for that, but reasoned that she would have the rest of their lives together to do that. In the meantime, there were more pressing matters to be attended to. So instead she leaned forward and kissed him again.