Alright then. That last chapter took me forever to write, so I'm having an interlude before more depressing Link stuff. School sucks, guys. School. Sucks. And girl drama is suckier. If you're a guy, be thankful. If you're mad at each other, you might yell at each other once, then bro-hug it out. Not with girls. Not. At. All.

And guess what! I suddenly got this awesome idea for a book, and I've been working on that like crazy! Usually I don't get this excited about ideas, but I really am about this one!

Thanks to FlamingBorce, Kamil the Awesome, Kaiju Knight, TFotN, Time's Quill, sym spidey, zeldax, Dazel, Midnight Sound, xCrimsonLoftwingx, Allieo, Farore64, NineTails627, Guest, Katia0203, Rinni Love, Wolfboy, Insane. Certifiably, Jupsi, Morumotto-chi, erico637, Linkkkkxzeeldaa, and Shadowninja1011 for reviewing! It really makes me happy that you enjoy this, and Im sorry that the review thing is all screwed up because I combined chapters. Didn't think that would happen. Sorry, but it'll stop soon! And oh my Din, over 600 reviews! Oh my gosh, this is making my horrible week! Seriously, it was the best thing that happened all week, so thank you all, you wonderful people!

~Leila

Chapter 36 (Sheik)

"So do you have a girlfriend at home?"

My head snapped up, and I saw two blue eyes gazing up at me quizzically.

"What?"

"You heard me. Do you have a sweetheart back home? A female companion, a mate, a lady-friend?" Aryll asked with a giggle, twirling one of her braids and smiling at me brightly.

"Could you think of any more ways to say that?" I grumbled.

"Life partner, friend with benefits, intimate partner..."

"Shouldn't have asked that!" I laughed, throwing a handful of grass at her. "And yes, I do. Did. We hadn't been dating that long before... You know."

"Ooo, Sheiky has a beau!" she teased, winking at me then flopping onto the grass on her stomach. "Tell me about her. What's her name?"

"Midna. You might have met her before, I don't know, but she's wonderful," I sighed, thinking about the girl I left behind. Oh, now I sound like an old man.

What was she doing now? Was she even thinking about me? Maybe she's looking for me. Maybe she's cried every night I've been gone. Or maybe she doesn't care at all and is shacking up with some other guy.

"Well, I've known her since we were in kindergarten. But girls had cooties then, so that didn't matter. She stopped having cooties in probably sixth grade. Then she was cute. I dated other girls randomly over the years, but I made sure they were never serious. And Midna went from cute, to pretty, to drop dead on the floor gorgeous these past two years."

"This is so cute," Aryll murmured dreamily, smiling at me.

Rolling my eyes, I threw another bundle of grass at her before leaning back down to tear more of the spiky green plant. "Why do all girls think this kind of stuff is 'cute'? You're just lucky I'm telling you this stuff. It's not a manly thing to do," I informed her.

"Actually, I think a man that can talk about his feelings is a very manly," she said thoughtfully.

I snorted. "Yeah, because you as a ten year girl can judge that kind of thing."

"But me as an eight-hundred thousand year old goddess can. Trust me on that one, I'm pretty sure I've done a lot more in that area than you have."

I choked on air a little at that one. After a short coughing fit, I looked at her and found her to be standing with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow arched in the perfect sassy way.

"That is so weird," I finally said.

"What do you mean it's 'weird'? Haven't you ever slept with a girl?" she demanded.

My eyes bulged. "Uh, no! And you've been laid?"

She wrinkled her nose. "That's a crude way to put it, but Sheik, darling, I had five children," she told me, a smirk on her face, though her eyes showed she was not the least bit kidding.

"That's just weird to think about. Almost mind-boggling."

"How so? I think you're just jealous because I've been wedded and bedded before you," Aryll teased.

"Agh! Never say that again! Ever!" I groaned, closing my eyes and trying not to laugh. "If Link heard you say that, he'd die!"

"Yes, I know, which is why I'm talking to you and not Link," she told me with a grin.

"And then, he'd find a way to go back in time and brutally murder whoever you slept with," I continued, laughing a little.

"Well that would not work in his favor. Because my husband was his..." she began counting on her fingers. "Way-too-many-greats-too-count grandfather."

"What? So you're his sister and his... Way-too-many-greats-to-count... Grandma?" I asked.

"No, Aryll is his sister. Hylia is his ancestor. Aryll is just a ten year-old girl who is the vessel for Hylia's spirit," she corrected gently.

"That's honestly weird. So you were never really your own person? Aryll was never her own person?" I asked. "Have you always been Hylia, or did you recently possess her or whatever?"

"I'm not possessing! There was never any possessing!" she cried indignantly. "Possessing implies evil, and I'd argue to say I'm the complete opposite of that. It's a little complicated, though. I'm still Aryll, I'm me, but I have memories of the past. Our souls have been merged since my birth. I guess you could say I am the goddess, without all the divine powers."

"Alright," I nodded. "Still weird and complicated, but I guess I'll roll with it. You'll still always be Aryll Carstairs, my best friend's kid sister, to me," I told her, ruffling her hair and standing up to stretch.

We'll need to get moving again, we can only stay in one spot for so long before moving on.

"Don't call me kid."

"Or what? You'll sass me?" I said with a smirk. "You might be the goddess, but you're still a ten year old girl. I could easily pick you up and throw you into that river right there."

"Sheik, don't you dare," she said, backing away with wide eyes.

Grinning, I ran towards her and scooped her up, and swinging my arms like I was preparing to throw her.

"Sheik, don't!" she squealed. "It's probably cold and I don't want to get my dress wet!"

I continued to swing her, letting go briefly and catching her, causing her to shriek. Laughing, I set her back down and picked my Sheikah knife up off the ground and tying it my waist again.

"Chillax, Ary. I'm not going to toss the patron goddess of Hyrule into a rushing river. Now where's Navi, we need to go," I said, scanning the horizon for the tiny glowing fairy.

She said she was going off on "reconnaissance duty" an hour ago, and she still hasn't returned. If a fairy can have ADHD, Navi definitely does. Not like Teagan, who only needs to be snapped into focus every once in a while, but an extreme case that needs several pills a day.

"Nav," I called, careful not to speak too loudly. "Hey, Nav?"

Silence. I heard nothing from the petite fairy. Only the rush of the river and the occasional chirp from a bird. Looking towards Aryll, I saw her brow was knitted in confusion and her hands were clasped together tightly.

"I can't sense her," she murmured. "Another stronger aura is in the way..."

"Your Grace! Sheik!" came a sudden cry.

Whirling around, I saw Navi jetting towards us at full speed. She seemed alarmed.

"Nav, where the hell have you b-"

"Sheik, Aryll, run! Hide! They're coming! They're coming!"

"Line up, soldiers!"

Tetra jogged over to join the already forming line, standing as stiff and straight as she could possibly make her body. Heart pounding, she puffed out her bound chest while the captain, Viscen, passed by, his scrutinizing eyes passing right over her; not pausing or giving her any second glance. Letting out a breath of relief, she relaxed slightly as the captain continued down the line of soon-to-be soldiers.

When she was sure the captain was far down the line, she reached up to touch her choppy, newly-cut short hair. She had cut it the night before with kitchen scissors, snipping away piece by piece.

It scared her to see the pile of blonde hair on the floor. Tetra Windfall was gone, and Tetris was here to take her place.

Looking from side to side, she tried to act more like the two men next to her, hoping she could blend in more with all of the men who were actually legally there.

On her left was a fierce looking man from the Southern Swamp named Odolwa, who towered over every man in the line. Odolwa honestly scared her and only made her cower more.

On her right is a man named Shad, but not her teacher. That was Shad Skylotan, this was Shad Skilotian. There had been some trouble earlier as the man insisted they had spelled his name wrong on the draft letter. His face was neutral and didn't give away any emotion he might have been feeling.

Tetra sighed deeply. It was her fault she had gotten into this, she reminded herself, and she needed to face the consequences like a man. No pun intended. It was this or go to jail for all of eternity.

"Atten-tion!"

She snapped to immediate attention as the captain spoke, standing as straight and stiff as a board.

"Let's begin here, shall we ladies?" he growled, scowling at the line of assembled men and boys. "I want to set a few rules here. First, you will sleep and eat in the soldiers barracks and train out in the training grounds. There will be no leisurely perusing around the castle gardens! Second! No crying or sniveling. You're soldiers, not little girls!"

She tried not to wince.

But I am a little girl, Captain...

"Third! You will address me as Captain or 'sir'! Don't call me Viscen. I am not your friend, I am your captain! Fourth, I expect you be on your best behavior. Any fights or destruction of castle property will result in punishment. And trust me, you won't like my punishments. And last of all."

He stopped pacing back and forth and looked down the row. Silence hung over the men like a huge woolen blanket. When he finally spoke again, his voice was much softer, but twice as stern.

"Last, I need the best from each and every one of you. I need your best. Your family needs your best. The king needs your best. Hyrule needs your best. I know this is a sudden thing. I know that times are hard. I have two little girls of my own. You all have something to hold onto. Be it a wife or girlfriend, your children, your parents, your friends, or even the land you live in. Believe in it. Fight for you. And give me nothing less than you would give them."

Images of her dad, Agitha, Midna, Zelda, and Roy all flashed through her head. They're the reason I'm here. Actually, Ilia is. But they're the ones I'm fighting for.

"Now, let's make us an army!"

The men raised their fists in the air and gave a might yell. A roaring yell that filled the training grounds. And Tetra found herself yelling with them, making her voice as masculine as she possibly could.

For my dad. For my friends. For Tetra. For Hyrule.

o0o0o0o0o0o

(Ashei)

After Viscen's nice little pep talk, he split us all up into pairs and spread us out over the grounds. I was paired with a little squirt named Tetris, who can't be more than sixteen. He had been pale and shaky all afternoon, but after Viscen's speech, he seemed to be slightly reassured. At least until we were given swords. Then he began trembling all over again, regarding the weapon as if it were death itself.

Taking up my own sword, I felt a lot better. Sword fighting had been part of my childhood over in Snowpeak. My dad was a guard captain in charge of patrolling the mountains. In his spare time, he used to teach me the way of the sword and set me in sparring matches with my sister, Kina. I was always the winner, and I got better and better, until he was killed by a Yeti when I was eleven.

After that, we moved from Snowpeak and to Hyrule, where my mother got a job teaching. I still practiced the sword occasionally, but by then I had begun training in gymnastics, and fencing was put on hold.

Two years later, my mother was offered a job as a Royal Advisor, one year before the Advisory Council was taxed with the job of untangling the web of problems of the Princess Crisis. She accepted, and our little family of three was moved to the castle.

Now that the extensive training grounds and new weapons were available to me, I took up a blade again.

On one particular day, after gymnastics when I was working vigorously on perfecting my ending blows, a baseball came sailing over the hedge separating the training grounds from a wide open field and hit the wall only inches from my face. Extremely angry, I grabbed the ball and crashed through the hedges, ready to pound the first person I saw.

That person happened to be a gangly ginger-haired boy with glasses, sitting on a bench and reading. Furious, I had grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him closer to my face.

"Hey, Four-Eyes, you throw this?" I demanded, holding up the baseball.

"N-no I promise, I didn't!" he squeaked.

"Oh." I dropped him back on the bench and looked at the ground, mildly embarrassed. "Well, sorry. For threatening you, and calling you Four-Eyes, yeah?"

"No worries," he said with a small, lopsided grin. "I'm Shad. What's your name? I've never seen you around here before."

"Ashei. Don't wear it out, yeah? I snapped, wondering why this boy wasn't walking away or, at the very least, cowering.

"Ashei. I like that," he said. "It's different.

"Well so is Shad!"

"I never said it wasn't," he pointed out.

"Hmph. Well, I think it's weird. It's like they misspelled 'Chad' on your birth certificate."

"Whatever you say, Ashei. And, I am sorry about the baseball," he mumbled.

There was a pause.

"Who did throw that, by the way?"

He had pointed at a blonde boy of eleven, and soon thereafter I punched the Prince of Hyrule, Matthew Daphnes Link Nohansen Hyrule, square in the face. That was a hard one to explain.

Grinning at the memory, I looked down at Tetris again. Placing a hand on his shoulder, I smiled reassuringly at him.

"Hey, kid, keep your chin up, yeah? The war hasn't started yet."

He shrugged, his eyes still cast on the ground.

"I'm scared," he mumbled. "I have no idea how I'm going to do this. I'm going to die."

"If you say you will, then you are. Quit that attitude, it'll get you no where. The name's Shad, by the way. Shad Skilotian," I told him, extending my hand, trying to put aside my general indifferences with people for the sake of this poor kid.

I knew I couldn't play Shad, as too many people in the castle know his face and would instantly be able to tell that I was not the fair-haired advisor. So I decided to make a big scene that they misspelled my name on the draft, and that I was Shad Skilotian, a man recently moved here from Skyloft City. The ploy worked, and thus my new identity was created.

"I'm Tetris Windfall," the kid said, shaking my hand lightly. I had to force myself not to wipe my hand on my pants as soon as our hands parted. This kid is sweating up a monsoon!

"Charmed."

Captain Viscen began to bark out orders and drills, first instructing the men with no experience how to hold a sword properly.

"Balance," he told them enthusiastically, repositioning a man's hand around the hilt of his broadsword. "It's all about balance in this. You want to be able to hold your sword in only one hand to have the second free for defense, and you don't want to be holding too tight or too loose. You have to find that perfect balance!"

Tetris fumbled clumsily with his blade, fingers fumbling to clasp the blade. Rolling my eyes, I plucked the blade from his grasp and repositioned it in the kid's hand.

"Keep a full fist on it. Wouldn't want it falling out of your hand mid-swing, yeah?" I told him.

He stared at me, his dark eyes scrutinizing my every move.

"Is there something on my face?" I final demanded, glaring at the boy.

"How can you be so calm?" he asked. "In the middle of all this chaos, it barely seems to faze you. How are you so calm?"

This caught me by surprise.

"I- Well, I'm not here without a motive. I know that might make no sense, but I'm here fighting for someone I love. And all I have to hold on to is that I will make it out because I have to see them again. We all need to do that, I think. We all need someone to fight for."

I wasn't sure where those words came from, I'm not usually the deep-speech person, but they seemed to work wonders on Tetris' nerves. He seemed to relax tremendously, and repositioned his hand so he had a stronger grip on his sword. I noticed now his gaze was locked on a redheaded boy who was sparring with a member of the current army.

He soon looked away, though, and met my eyes again.

"Right. Someone worth fighting for," he repeated.

"Is it really worth fighting for, Ash?" Shad sighed, offering me his hand and helping me stumble to my feet.

"Of course it is! You heard what he called you, I wasn't just going to let him-"

"Let him what? 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me'. So I got called names. Life goes on. But now you had to go throw yourself in the middle of it, and now you have a bloody nose and maybe a black eye!" he snapped, crossing his arms.

"But it's worth it, because now they'll leave you alone. If you find something to fight for, fight for it. Wouldn't you?" I demanded.

"If the opportunity presented itself, then yes, I would."

"Then why the hell are you arguing with me about this, you-"

And suddenly his lips were on mine, and I never got to finish that sentence.

I don't even remember what I was going to say, but I still know one thing today. If you have something to fight for, fight for it.

I do have something to fight for.

Vaguely, I heard Viscen shout an order to take turns swinging at a practice dummy. Tetris started first, swinging clumsily at the stuffed doll.

I do have something to fight for. And I will fight for it until I die.

Not my best for a late chapter, but please review! I'd love to hear opinions!