I am a horrible person for not updating this more. What's it been, months? Geezus!
"Rise and shine bandage boy, time to go!" Velvet's voice jarred the blonde into alertness, and he barely kept a groan from rising in his throat when the bright sunlight filtered into his sensitive eyes.
Part of him wondered why he had slept in later than the others, while the other part knew he had been more worn out than previously thought. Carefully he rose to his feet, stretching his stiff joints in the process.
"Sleep well?" Velvet smiled honestly. She seemed to be in a good mood at the moment.
"Like a baby." Sheik snorted and walked past her, grabbing a pack and shouldering it carefully.
Velvet's eyes seemed to widen. "Was that sarcasm?" She seemed both stunned and amused at the same time.
Sheik just gave her a glare and turned away, settling his attention on Link and Azerian, who had both been watching the spectacle with goofy grins.
"Can we move on now?" Sheik snarled, glaring at the Hero of Time especially.
Link just laughed and nudged Azerian to signal they should in fact get moving. The Zora nodded and once again started to lead them, but he paused as they wound around the mountain.
"Looks like a rock slide came through here recently." He pointed at the rubble filled trail.
Sheik snorted at the rocks with disdain, kicking a pebble vengefully. His hip was hurting from walking, and he was sure it would slow him down if something dangerous happened. Velvet raised her brow at the Sheikah, keying in on his anger.
"Did that pebble do something to you?" She laughed, toying with the fact Sheik was showing his emotions for once.
Sheik glared at her silently for a moment, debating if answering would be worth it. He deemed he had nothing to lose talking with the girl that loved to spite him.
"It might have."
Velvet stood there blinking at him in confusion when he turned away and once again started stalking after Link and Azerian, who had been oblivious through the whole exchange. Azerian seemed concerned about the stability of the mountain, but he was also unwilling to take them on a different path. Rock slide chance or not, the way they were going was still the safest.
"Just stay close behind me. No sense in loosening up this mountain any more than it already is." Azerian's voice was flat, signaling how serious he was on the matter.
Silently Sheik agreed, not wanting to have the spring through another barrage of falling rock. Plus he doubted the others could avoid getting crushed like he could. For a while they followed Azerian in a straight line, with Sheik trailing at the back and Velvet nearly clinging to Link and watching the mountain with a fearful eye.
Finally Velvet relaxed enough to glance back at the Sheikah, and when she did she froze.
"Sheik, you're limping."
This caught both Link's and Azerian's attention and the party came to a halt. Sheik growled under his breath, hating that he'd been caught. Link walked around the blue haired girl and was quick to approach the other blonde's side.
"Did you hurt yourself?" Link asked concerned.
"It's nothing. I'm fine." Sheik tried to dismiss. He did feel like he'd be all right, as long as he didn't have to do anything too pressing at the given moment.
"Sure, just like how you were fine when that arrow cut your arm." Link's eyes hardened.
"It was fine then, until I got hit with a different arrow." Sheik reminded, trying to clarify the facts.
Link just gave him a pointed look and crossed his arms.
"Just tell me what you hurt, and then I'll decide if you're really fine or not."
Sheik sighed, seeing he wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of it. He noticed Velvet had a carefully placed blank expression on her face, while Azerian looked almost alarmed. He made a mental note that Azerian probably did not react well around injuries.
"It's just my hip." Sheik gritted his teeth.
"And how did you hurt your hip?" Link raised a brow and glanced at the hip Sheik had indicated to, his right.
Sheik for once looked away, not wanting to tell them about his midnight escapade to retrieve more wood. Plus he was bitter that they didn't have the wariness to wake in the middle of the night and hear the said rock slide they were now standing in the remains of.
Sheik once again went with the vague approach. "A rock thought it was funny."
Much to his surprise Velvet burst into laughter, slightly alarming Link as well. The two blondes stared at her incredulously until her laughter subsided.
"So that's why you were so mad at that pebble!" She declared.
Sheik tried not to hiss in annoyance, but his emotional guard had been seemingly left behind when they moved out that day. He blamed it being an irregular sleeping pattern.
Finally Link gave him a less hostile look.
"Okay Sheik, I'll let it go, but you be careful. We kinda need you since you're the only one that can seal up the darn locket!"
Sheik just nodded, snorting to himself in annoyance from his own performance level. If he had been alone he wouldn't have been hurt because he wouldn't have had to get up and get more firewood for the others. They were so annoying to have to take care of and constantly factor into any given situation.
Finally the group moved on, Sheik still bringing up the rear but now getting careful glances from the others at regular intervals. None of them believed that he was okay. If he had been a more uptight person he would have yelled or said something to get them to stop, but he wasn't, so he allowed his red orbs to wander and track their progress. It was a good distraction from his discomfort as well.
Then they came to a fork in the trail. One went up to wind around the side of a mountain, where one misstep would leave a traveler falling to his death, while the other disappeared into a cave, so black that not even Sheik's sharp vision could pierce it. All eyes turned to Azerian.
"Ah yes, the old fork in the road. How inconvenient." He glanced at the expectant eyes. "Well I guess I'll give you all a choice on this one." He rubbed the back of his neck, "cause neither path is safer than the other."
Velvet was quick to throw a glance at Sheik before focusing her attention on Link. The hero was definitely running the risks and possibilities through his head judging by the look on his face. As far as Sheik could tell he didn't like the outcomes.
"Well how stable do you think this mountain is?" Link finally asked.
"Not very, judging by the recent rock slide back there." Azerian shrugged.
"Well, its fall to our death, get caught in a rock slide, or get buried inside a cave or trapped." Link turned his blue gaze to Sheik.
"What do you think?"
Sheik half widened his eyes, taken aback that Link had asked for his advice. He wasn't sure why it made him so uncomfortable.
"I don't like suffocating to death." He answered simply.
Link grinned at that and then gave a nod, "up the mountain it is then."
As they made their ascent, Sheik trailed further and further behind, trying not to wince as he trudged up the incline, and using his hair to shield his face in hopes that the others wouldn't notice his physical distress. Thankfully they were preoccupied with not falling to their deaths, especially Velvet.
A high pitched shriek echoed out through the mountains, making everyone freeze. Velvet glanced up and looked about wildly, searching for the source of the noise. Sheik relaxed upon seeing it was just Farran, having returned already. It meant the wolves were closer than originally thought.
Velvet lifted up her arm and the great white raptor alighted down on it, releasing a pleased churring noise as the blue haired girl stroked his feathers.
"Good boy Farran, you're such a good eagle. Here, have a treat." Velvet freed a piece of meat and fed her flying companion, grinning and preening him the entire time.
Sheik rolled his eyes, disgusted with her mushy voice. Suddenly a pebble made sharp contact with his forehead and he reeled back in surprise.
"Don't make fun of me." Velvet snarled, and quickly went back to adoring Farran.
Sheik rubbed the now sore spot, glaring daggers into Velvet, but the girl acted as if he didn't even exist. Azerian covered his mouth in a pitiful attempt not the laugh, but the Zora couldn't hold back for long.
"Geeze you two act like siblings." Azerian chortled merrily.
Velvet raised a brow at the Zora, while Sheik crossed his arms unhappily.
"It's the Sheikah blood Azerian. They've both got it, so they have to be at each others' throats since no one else is." Link whispered, not realizing, or not caring, that Sheik could still hear him.
Ignoring the whispering young 'men' Velvet released Farran and allowed him to circle lazily above their heads. Sheik watched the bird warily, imagining Velvet calling him down to attack his head. He had no doubt she'd do it if she got angry enough.
"So how long do you think it'll take to reach this Zora place?" Link asked now that they had begun moving again.
Azerian scrunched his angular nose in thought for a moment, even making obvious counting noises.
"Well, this route is a tiny bit faster than the caves, so I'd say with our progress yesterday we could reach it by dinner. Then you three can be on your merry way, and I'll be on mine." Azerian grinned.
"Wait, I thought you said you were taking us as far as you knew?" Velvet stepped up to his side, hugging the wall of the mountain.
Azerian scratched the back of his neck yet again. "Well yes...I was kinda hoping you wouldn't remember."
"Azerian..." Velvet looked like she was ready to swat him atop the head.
"Okay, the truth is I haven't been down in there for years. I can remember this path sure, but in there it's a labyrinth of dead ends and drop offs," Azerian's voice was stricken with fear of the unknown.
Link just sighed and face palmed himself while Velvet rolled her eyes. None of them were very impressed with the Zora at the moment.
"Okay, okay, I guess I can try and take ya in a ways. No harm in trying, right?" The Zora twiddled with the fabric draped over his hips, making his skeleton belt clink together with the comforting movement.
Velvet still looked annoyed, but Link nodded his head and cheered right back up. Sheik half wondered to himself if Link was prone to drastic mood swings. After a moment he concluded the Hylian was just simple minded.
"We should keep moving," Sheik stated simply, hoping to break up the conversation.
As they began to walk again, a faint rumbling noise just barely hinted inside of Sheik's ears. He froze, immediately disturbed by the sound and searched around wildly. Velvet glanced back in time to see his spinning and gave him an odd look.
"Sheik, what are you doing?""
Sheik froze and stared at her for a moment before slowly raising his eyes up towards the mountain top. A barely audible gasp escaped him as he saw giant boulders and rubble coming hurdling down straight for them. Velvet followed his gaze as well as the others, all of whom dropped their mouths open in unison.
"Rock slide!" Link shouted as if the others didn't see. "Move, move, move!"
The group took off down the path, no longer focused on the dangerous drop off beside them, but on the hurdling rocks coming at them from above. Sheik clenched his teeth together tightly as his hip protested against his speed. He couldn't afford to slow down, especially since he was at the rear.
To his dismay Velvet stumbled and teetered out into the open air along the side of the path, not even screaming due to sheer shock. Sheik lunged forward and latched onto her waist, pulling her back to safety and lifting her up into his arms. Now with a passenger Sheik continued to run.
"Sheik!" It took Velvet a moment to realize what happened. "You saved me," her voice sounded as if she was in disbelief.
"Just tell me if the rocks get too close," Sheik snapped as he felt the strain from carrying her dragging him down.
He was already falling further behind Link and Azerian, and the rock slide wasn't getting any slower. If the boulder's speed proved to be too great, Sheik realized he'd have to sacrifice either Velvet or himself so that the other could perhaps be spared. And the Sheikah's survival instincts were strong.
"R-Right," Velvet wrapped her arms around Sheik's neck like a vise.
Sheik tried to put more step in his stride as the sound of rumbling grew louder until it was roaring in his ears. The rocks were nearly upon them and he didn't need to glance back to confirm it. Velvet's now choking grip was enough to tell him he wasn't going to make it, at least not with her.
His eyes darted to the edge of the path, analyzing the plummet down. The fall had to be several thousand feet, but then something caught the Sheikah's eye. It was a small ledge, just big enough for one. Due to a slight overhang above it, the ledge would be completely sheltered from the rock slide until it passed. Then it would only be a matter of climbing back up. Sheik glanced at Velvet in his arms and set his jaw.
He would make it if he jumped down and let the girl go. He would survive to possibly save the world from evil and redeem himself. He would finally have respect from his peers and not distrustful looks. He would be able to live in peace and comfort for the rest of his days.
Sheik narrowed his eyes as he decided that the ledge was his only hope. Quickly he skidded to a halt and dropped Velvet, though he grip around his neck did not release. Her peach eyes locked with his, wide in horror and confusion. Sheik simply glared back at her and pried her hands off of him. He knew what he had to do with a hardened heart.