Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo, I'm merely borrowing them. (Though Ayla is mine)

Warning: This story contains yaoi, slash, shounen-ai, whatever you call two guys falling in love.


Soul Mates

Chapter 26


"That's the last time I pitch a tent with the opening facing the sun," grumbled Link as he stretched his back. He shivered slightly as a small breeze came through the opening. The night had been cold, very cold. If he had to compare it to a similar experience, the ice cavern was the prime candidate…only he didn't have to spend a night in the frozen cave.

Sheik was standing outside, enjoying the sunrise. Unlike Link, he had been awake for over an hour already. And it was just as well. The position he had found himself in when he woke up, while very comfortable and warming, was not something he was supposed to do.

What did the villagers call it again? …ah, yes. Spooning.

It had been hard to extract himself from Link's embrace, but nature had also made a call, and there are just some calls you don't ignore or put on a waiting list.

The desert, while a hellish wasteland during the day and a frozen tundra at night, was absolutely stunning at dawn. The rising sun's rays were reflected in the dew from the night, and mirages were slowly starting to form, a phenomenon Sheik had never seen before. He had always assumed that mirages were just…there.

He smiled when Link hugged him from behind, apparently trying to continue the cuddle from the night. He leaned slightly back into the embrace, wondering why he had even thought he could resist being around the Hero.

"Sleep well?" he asked the Hero, who snorted.

"Cold," was the short reply.

"Must be why you so desperately curled around me, then."

"That, and the fact that you look adorable when you're asleep."

"Hm."

They stood like this for a while, neither of them wanting to let go and begin the arduous task that awaited them. Light was creeping up the Colossus, and the entrance to the temple inside was mocking them, Sheik was sure of it.

To his surprise, as he was usually the one to focus, Link was the first to sigh heavily and step away. The Sheikah looked at him with an inquisitive glance.

"I just want to get this over with as soon as possible," the Hero explained and started to buckle on his sword and shield. "This is the last temple, and after this we can put an end to this madness."

He…seems so mature these days… Sheik thought. A clear change from the boy I met in the Temple of Time so many months ago. The Sheikah, while appreciative of the shift in Link's priorities, kind of missed the boyish outbursts and general behaviour. He had been so…optimistic.

Sheik nodded to Link and started gathering his weapons and items. Kazuya had become a comfortable weight on his back now, and he was starting to feel so very unarmed unless the sword was in reach. Of course, the multiple daggers hidden in his bandages were still very potent against most foes, but there was just something about the inherited blade that… He couldn't even explain it to himself.

He redid his turban, much to Link's chagrin. "The ponytail will just be in the way," Sheik explained as he finished it and tightened its hold on his hair. "I don't want it to smack into my face when we fight."

Link smiled as he surely imagined it happening. "Yeah, that would be kind of annoying, wouldn't it?"

"Annoying?" asked Sheik. "It could get me killed."

"Fair enough," said Link and went through his pack, finding his bow and arrows along with the Longshot. The bow was flung across his back, and the quiver hung on his left side, which Sheik found odd until he remembered that Link was left-handed. That was a fact Sheik had never been able to memorise, strangely enough.

It doesn't really matter as long as he's capable of using his tools, he thought. He found another errant dagger and shoved it between two lengths of bandage on his wrist, close to the exoskeleton's sleeve. He looked long and hard at the lyre, trying to figure whether or not it would be a wise idea to bring it along. It could be used to teleport them out in case of trouble, but so could the Ocarina of Time, and Link did not know how to play the lyre while Sheik knew how to play the flute… He regretfully put the lyre back in his pack and put the pack into the tent.

"I'll be back for you," he said quietly. The instrument had no real value as it was really a simple construction, but Impa had given it to him when he had finished his training, and he had taken really good care of it ever after.

Stepping outside, Link turned to him now fully equipped. The pockets of his tunic bulged from the many devices and weapons he had put in there. Sheik still liked him better without that ridiculous cap.

"Ready?" asked the Hero.

Sheik nodded in confirmation. "As I'll ever be, I suppose." He turned to look at the Colossus. "There is one thing that still worries me, however."

"Which is?"

"Where is Nabooru?" He looked back at Link. "Surely she would have noticed us combing the area for the dais and chased us away, given the inherent holiness of this place. But she didn't. Which makes me think—"

"That she's in trouble," finished Link and nodded. "I was thinking the same, actually. So, I guess we have a Gerudo princess to save, then."

"Indeed," agreed Sheik.

The walk to the temple entrance was slow. So far, nothing had seemed out of the ordinary around the Colossus, which was different from all the other temples. Moblins had infested the Lost Woods. Volvagia had awoken and imprisoned every Goron she could find and made the smoke ring around Death Mountain glow eerily. Lake Hylia had been drained of all water and the creatures had gone wild. Bongo-Bongo had escaped from the well in Kakariko and caused havoc around the village. Yet here, not a single suspicious thing had happened. Apart from the missing Nabooru, of course.

It made them both apprehensive, and none of them could shake off the feeling that someone was watching them.

The tension was broken, thankfully, by something moving underneath the sand in front of them, very much like the Wyrm had done a few days ago. Link was not prepared to take any chances this time, and let loose an arrow against the moving mound. There was a high-pitched shriek, but no gigantic worm to see, nor any tentacles. Instead, another six mounds appeared, and were now moving toward the pair with alarming speed.

The first of the mounds reached Link, and the mound exploded in flying sand as something green revealed itself, spinning around with sharp teeth quickly trying to bite the Hero's leg. Unexpectedly, Link did not draw his sword or another arrow. Instead, he pulled his right leg a little back, and punted the leever all the way back to the entrance to the temple. Had Sheik been less trained to handle surprises and ambushes, his jaw would have fallen open at the Hero's display of athletic prowess. Leevers, while not very large creatures, weighed quite a lot because of the extreme muscle power they required to spin around in the sand. The creature's feeble legs kicked in the air as it tried to right itself, an act of futility considering it had landed on solid stone.

The other leevers took no notice of this, apparently, and kept coming. Now Link drew his sword and shield, assuming his normal fighting stance, shield front and sword pointed behind him, ready to slice or stab. The leevers all targeted him, it seemed, and Sheik briefly wondered if they were all magically compelled to attack the chosen of the goddesses. Not that it mattered, since Link easily sliced them apart, one by one.

As the last leever's head hit the sand, the Master Sword was already halfway back in its scabbard. He looked at Sheik, noting the bemused expression on the Sheikah's face.

"What?"

"Nothing," said Sheik. "It's just that they were all after you. Leevers do attack en masse if their prey is alone, but are intelligent enough to fan out a bit if there is an additional threat."

"Maybe they just didn't consider you a threat," said Link and grinned. Sheik narrowed his eyes, and Link waved his arms. "I was kidding, kidding! I know what you mean. You think someone's controlling them."

"Or influencing them, at the very least," said Sheik. "Had someone been in direct control, they surely would have used a more clever strategy than 'Charge Straight at the Chosen One'." He noticed Link's shiver. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like that title," explained Link. "It's even worse than 'Hero of Time'."

"You will have to get used to them eventually," said Sheik. "When you defeat Ganondorf, all of Hyrule will hail you as such."

Link's snorted and laid an arm across the Sheikah's shoulders. "You mean that when we defeat Ganondorf, we will be hailed as such. I'm not gonna suffer alone."

Touching, but foolish, Sheik thought. Hyrule will not accept that a filthy Sheikah helped the Hero of Time, except Kakariko, of course.

He slowly pulled the arm away from him. "I won't be hailed, Hero, for I do not exist. Nor do I wish to be." He pulled his cowl up, once again obscuring his face from the world. Only his ruby eyes were allowed to be seen. "I am a Sheikah, I am but a shadow in the background." Link opened his mouth to say something, surely a protest of some sort, but Sheik silenced him with a finger to his lips. "Nothing you say or do will ever change that, Link, so there is no need to argue."

Defeated, Link started to trudge to the entrance, Sheik following.

"Fine," said the Hero.

Damn…I just offended him, didn't I?

He stopped Link and turned him around so they were face to face. "You must understand that Hyrule will never accept that I aided you in your quest."

Link's eyes widened. "What? Why not?"

"Surely you heard the inhabitants of Castle Town speaking ill of the Sheikah when you were there seven years ago?" Sheik said. "They were uneasy around Impa, but when I was announced as the newest protector of the Royal Family a couple of weeks before you arrived, the town nearly went into hysterics."

"That's ridiculous!" exclaimed Link. "Why would they possibly do that?"

"Because they thought Impa was the last of the Sheikah," Sheik explained. "Hylians have always been sceptical to us, despite the fact that we have protected their royal family for centuries. Perhaps they thought that they finally were going to be rid of us."

Link's jaw was clenching, and Sheik realised he had just made a fatal mistake by telling him of this.

"And they expect me to save them, despite them being prejudiced bastards?" he asked slowly.

"Not all of them," Sheik tried to explain. "The villagers in Kakariko don't think so, and I believe their views are affecting the refugees."

Link shook his head. "Not good enough."

Giving up, Sheik looked at the entrance to the temple. "Look, nothing I have revealed to you right now changes anything. Hyrule and all its races and civilizations are in dire need of the Hero of Time, and for you to abandon them just because some of them are distrustful of the Sheikah simply will not do. If it helps, keep thinking that you are not doing it for them, but all your friends and loved ones. The Kokiri, the Zora, the Gorons…"

Link looked Sheik deep in the eyes for a second, hard at thought. He then smiled gently. "Alright, then I'm doing it for you."

"There's something in the statue's hands," Link said as they were climbing the stairs to the entrance. The incapacitated leever was still shrieking at the top, and Sheik could not wait to put the creature out of its misery. The sound went through bone and marrow, and the stairs were not helping either.

"Where?" asked sheik, realising just seconds later how stupid the question was. He looked at the Colossus' hands saw that, indeed, there were objects in both palms. "Looks like chests," he said.

"I bet some stupid puzzle involves their contents," muttered Link as he absent-mindedly sliced the dying leever in half. Sheik noted this with worry.

While it was no secret that the Hero of Time would be forced to kill many creatures and enemies, it had always seemed to Sheik that Link was apprehensive to the idea of killing other living beings. But now he had just cut a leever in half without thinking.

I must speak to him about this later, he thought and shuffled the worry to the back of his mind.

"Ready?" asked Link as they stood in front of the entrance. Torches lined the walls inside and gave a clear view of the first room. A small set of stairs to a large, empty platform.

"Ready," he confirmed, and they walked inside.

It was warm inside, probably because of the massive torches. Many pots and vases lined the walls before the small staircase, and two serpent-shaped tablets stood on both sides of the steps. Sheik could not read them and informed Link of this. The Hero couldn't care less, as he was not interested in the history of the temple and just wanted it to be over with.

They were just about to approach the stairs when two of the pots on either side of them were suddenly lifted into the air and thrown at them. Sheik sidestepped out of a pot's path while Link raised his shield, the pot smashing to bits against it.

"That's not a very good sign, is it?" Link asked.

"Not if you were expecting a friendly welcome," said Sheik and climbed the stairs, looking around at the large platform at the top. There was a large, silvery block of stone blocking of the path to the right, and to the left…

"I can't fit in there," said Link. "Even if I stripped naked!"

Not a sight I wouldn't enjoy… Sheik thought. "Neither will I. It is too narrow for either of us."

It truly was small. The crawlspace had clearly been designed for something else than crawling around in. Now that Sheik looked at more closely, it seemed to be more of a drainage ditch than a crawlspace.

Only a child could fit in there, he thought. But where are we going to find a child around here, much less one who would be willing to brave whatever dangers there are on the other side?

He noticed Link was gone and turned around. The Hero was currently trying to move the gigantic block. Without luck, too. He noticed Sheik's stare. "Don't just stand there, help me!"

The Sheikah did so, but even with their efforts combined, the block did not move an inch. It didn't even groan in protest from being pushed about.

They tried again and again, the block never yielding. Finally, in a fit of frustration, Link punched it. It wasn't an especially hard punch, but Sheik still heard the cracking sound as a finger clearly went out of joint. If that wasn't much of a hint, the screaming and cursing Link sure was.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?!" growled Link. They were sitting on the steps outside the entrance. Leevers were flocking around the lowest step, just waiting for one of them to come down. Link yelped as Sheik finally managed to get digit back in its place.

"I don't know, Hero," said Sheik. He was truly stumped. They could not move the block, and they could not fit in the crawlspace, and those were the only paths out of the main hall and further into the temple. "I truly don't know."

They both sat silent in thought, until Link's eyebrow rose slowly.

"Hey…what if I try—"

"You will not throw a bomb at the block," Sheik said sharply. "What if you destroy something vital on the other side?"

Link slumped dejectedly. "Fine."

If only there was another way into temple…a back entrance, or something similar…

Then an idea popped up. He looked at the Colossus' hands again. He then looked at the crumbling rock wall underneath them. Deep grooves littered the entire surface. He looked back to the hands.

"I can climb up there and see what is in the chests," he said slowly and stood up. He walked over to the wall, Link following closely after.

"Are you sure? Looks kinda…dangerous," said the Hero.

"It's either that, or sit around waiting for a miracle," said Sheik and felt around for points to start. He found one and put his foot inside. He tested his weight, trying to gauge whether or not the crumbling stone would support him. It did. He looked at Link. "I'll be right back."

It didn't take long to reach the right hand of the Colossus. It was as if the surface had been specially tailored and worn away to accommodate climbing on it. Sheik was sure that some kind of trap would spring any second as he made his way upwards. He swung himself onto the gigantic palm and looked around. A door was obscured by the cliff wall when you stood down on the ground, but Sheik saw it now. And then there was the chest.

He took a moment to check it for traps. There was no point in rushing, as Impa had hammered through his head day in and day out for years. Slowly opening the large, wooden chest, he narrowed his eyes in case something flew out of it. Nothing did. He opened it all the way and gazed down at the contents.

A pair of gauntlets, not very different from the ones Link was wearing, except the silver plates on the back of the hands. He lifted them and marvelled at their seemingly non-existent weight. He remembered the legend about these gauntlets. They allowed the wearer to lift many times their own weight.

"Link! Catch!" he called and dropped the gauntlets. These too could only be used by the Hero of Time.

Said Hero caught them, looked puzzled at them for a moment and then back up at Sheik. "What're these?!"

"Put them on!" Sheik called. "They'll make you much stronger, you can use them too move that block in—"

He was never able to finish the sentence, for a lightning bolt had suddenly materialised out of thin air and struck the hand Sheik was standing on, slicing off two of the massive fingers at the same time. Sheik ducked to avoid a second bolt, this one hitting the cliff wall, which immediately started to crack and crumble.

"Got you, Sheikah! Hee-he-he-he-he!" said an old, dry voice as yet another bolt shot toward Sheik. He had to think fast. He was a sitting duck where he stood, and he could feel the hand slowly giving away. He couldn't climb back down, nor could he jump. If the fall didn't kill him, then the assailant would.

The door, pet. That's the only way! yelled Speil's voice suddenly, and for once Sheik couldn't find any faults with his suggestion. He looked down at Link, who had drawn his bow and were trying to find a target.

"Link! I'll meet you inside!" he yelled. The Hero nodded.

He darted inside the doorway, slamming the massive door behind him. Link ran inside the temple, fumbling with the gauntlets.

To be continued…


Man, this chapter was a pain to write.

Review replies:

tails – Yup, he has to. But he's not going to let it happen soon, that's for sure.

Yyffie – The magic carpet guy is actually a salesman you encounter in the desert. I can't remember exactly what he sells, but I think it was bombchus or something… Either way, I modified his character to fit in my story… I never liked him anyway.

Please leave a review if you like the story!