Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo. Any and all OCs and original locations belong to me unless specifically stated to belong to someone else.


Soul Secrets

Chapter 48


Link wasn't sure what to expect as Kaura led him and Zelda down into the castle cellars. The physician was rigid and tense, more so than usual, and that had him worried. The way she'd practically ordered them about in the entrance hall had clearly taken Zelda off-guard, judging by the way she'd immediately obeyed. Of all the people in the world, Doctor Kaura was probably the only one who could get away with that.

As they followed the physician, Link noticed the princess giving him strange looks, clearly trying to figure out what had happened to clear his mind and eliminate his headache. He returned her looks with what he hoped was placating ones, promising that she'd have her answers later.

Link had never been in this part of the castle before, and he'd be lying if he claimed he'd never been curious about it. He could have saved himself the curiosity, however. Mainly used for storage, the cellar only offered boxes and crates of things a castle needed large supplies of. There were probably dozens of rooms dedicated for storing candles and lamp oil alone! Kaura seemed perfectly familiar with the place, though, expertly leading them on a convoluted path that eventually ended outside a solid-looking door lit by an oil lamp.

Kaura paused outside it, hesitating before carefully knocking.

"Enter," said a muffled voice that was unmistakably Sheik's. Link felt a smile automatically coming to his face at the sound of it, even if it sounded a bit strained.

"The Hero's with me, too," Kaura said, opening the door and stepping inside, Link and Zelda on her heels.

"No, wait—"

The chamber within was small and clearly meant for little else but storage. A desk and a cot had been placed in one corner. A large doctor's bag stood on the desk, and Sheik was sitting by it, in the middle of wrapping bandages around his neck, a panicked look on his face. Link didn't understand why until he looked at the opposite corner, where someone had been chained to the wall. There was something familiar about them, and when he—for it was a he—groggily raised his head and looked at Link and grinned, he immediately felt the anger flaring up in his chest.

Without even thinking, his hand found the handle of his sword and drew it. His body took him closer to the prone shadow, his arm drawing back and preparing to skewer it. To his annoyance, however, Sheik was suddenly standing in the way.

"Link, stop," he said. "Don't."

"Give me one good reason why," the Hero said, trying to step around his husband, though the Sheikah kept getting in the way. "Sheik!"

"Because he's important!"

"Why?!"

"Put the sword away, and I'll explain!" Sheik spread his arms, protecting the shadow with his body. He winced as the action clearly tugged at the wound he'd just finished bandaging, and that made Link stop, the guilt momentarily overpowering his anger. Link stopped, taking a moment to calm himself and, with a glare thrown in Speil's direction, sheathed his blade and stepped back.

"All right," he said. "Talk."

"Thank you," Sheik said gratefully, glancing at Zelda, who had only reacted to the shadow's presence by giving it a calculating look, trying to understand why it was there. "I...there's no easy way to explain it," he confessed, shrugging. "We—"

"How long?" Zelda asked.

Sheik blinked. "What?"

"How long have you been keeping him down here?" the princess clarified. "How long have you been hiding a dangerous monster underneath our very noses?" She glared at Sheik. "Do you have any idea how many you've put at risk?"

"He's been chained up," Sheik said, glaring back. Link felt the tension in the room rising, and he was glad Zelda was as upset about this as he was. "And under constant guard. It'd be impossible for him to escape."

Him. Sheik continued calling the shadow "him". On a deep level, it annoyed Link. How could his husband, who had not only witnessed the atrocities committed by Speil, but also been murdered by it, still consider it worthy of it? The shadow wasn't a person, but a failed experiment at creating life—a twisted creature that only knew death and carnage. And why hadn't Sheik killed it upon sight, which he'd said he would, all those years ago?

"All prisons can be broken out of," Zelda said. "Especially one that isn't even a prison in the first place. Sheik, there are children in the castle. How could you be so irresponsible?"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Sheik countered. "Kill him without finding out why the hell he's suddenly in the mortal realm?"

"Yes," the princess answered immediately. "Do you not remember what you said to it? You'd kill it if it abandoned its post, which it clearly has." She gave Speil a scornful look. She had never forgotten Sheik's death either, and would never forgive the shadow for it. Nor was she inclined indulge Sheik his inexplicable obsession with keeping its presence a secret whenever it showed its ugly face. "Why is it not dead?" she asked.

"Because I wanted to know why he's here," Sheik repeated. "And I have finally learned the truth." He turned to look at the pathetic pile that had once been a perfect copy of Link. Now it was twisted and corrupted, a perversion of the Hero of Time's appearance. "The Sacred Realm has been destroyed," Sheik announced to the shock of the princess and Hero of Time, who could only gape at him. "From what I understand, the absence of any divine rulers, gods or goddesses, caused it to collapse. The only survivor...is him."

"Collapse?" Link said, the faces of the Sages, his friends, coming to his mind's eye. Nabooru, Impa, Ruto, Darunia...Saria. "What about...the others?"

Sheik couldn't hold his gaze, staring at his feet. "I'm sorry, Link...I...I don't think they made it. Speil has...well, I don't know if he did so on purpose or not, but he showed me the last moments with the Sages, before he was sent here."

"They sent him here?" Zelda asked. "Why? Why didn't they come here themselves?"

"The connection to our realm had still not been restored," Sheik said. "They had to use every last bit of their powers just to create a small bridge...and send Speil through it—and even then it wasn't enough. It must have failed during the journey, turning him into that." He glanced at Speil again, sighing. "He's been reduced to the stage of a beast, dwelling in the sewers and feasting upon unsuspecting victims who ventured too close."

"But why him?" Link demanded. "Why couldn't one of the others have come? Someone we actually cared about?"

He couldn't think straight. Saria was gone? The girl who'd cared for him and been his best and only friend for ten years...dead? Just like that? His heart ached, and he wanted nothing more than to scream and vent his frustration on the shadow, who Sheik stubbornly kept protecting. His eye burned with unshed tears, but he wouldn't let them fall. No. He wanted to know why the Sages had chosen to sacrifice themselves for a monster, why they'd sent the one individual in all of existence that, in his mind, had no redeeming values whatsoever. He wanted to know why Sheik hadn't avenged his aunt, Impa, or Ruto, or any of the others.

"I don't know," Sheik confessed, shaking his head. "Perhaps they wanted to give him a second chance...or they needed the power of all five remaining Sages to even keep the connection open as long as they did. Either way, there was a purpose to this..." He looked at Kaura, who had been leaning against the wall during the explanation, paying rapt attention to the situation at hand. "Doctor, could you show them the medallion?"

She nodded and went to the desk, opening her bag and retrieving a large, featureless medallion of gold. It was thick and heavy, and eerily reminiscent of the ones the Sages carried. Link had a bad feeling about it, and he wondered if the universe was playing some sort of cruel trick on him.

"This is..." Zelda said, taking the medallion from Kaura's unresisting hands. "This is impossible," she said. "I can...I can feel them. The Sages. Their powers..."

"They created it," Sheik said, pointing at Speil. "For him."

"But that'd mean..."

"Yes," the Sheikah said, nodding. "You're looking at the new Sage of Light."


Nikal smiled and patted the young boy she'd just helped ready his travel pack on the head, nodding to the closest servant to let them know he was ready to go. She'd done the same with the other noble children as well, wondering if there was even a point in evacuating them. After all, the countryside was where the reanimated dead were roaming, and while she was sure Link had already informed the princess of the problem it was by no means a guarantee that Zelda would be able to do something about it—at least not now, while the city was in full riot.

She looked at Eren, who had positioned himself by the doors to the entrance hall, his gaze firmly fixed on the castle gates. His shoulders were tense, and his hands clenched by his sides. He wanted to search for his family, she knew. Despite there being no love lost between him and his father or brothers, he wanted to find them and make sure they were safe. She didn't blame him. She'd have similar thoughts, probably.

"Hey," she said, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?" He didn't answer. He didn't even acknowledge the question. "I know you're worried about them...but I'm sure they're fine. From what you've told me about him, your father is a smart man—he'd know that the city wasn't a safe place and get out in time."

"My father is an idiot," Eren said, gritting his teeth. "The first thing he did upon meeting Master for the first time was to attack him. He knows business, but not a damn thing about listening to others, and is too proud for his own good. He'd stay in the house, insisting that his guards get rid of the rabble. And my brothers are no better—hell, they can't even claim dad's sense for numbers." He growled. "Fucking idiots!"

Without warning, he began to walk, leaving the keep and heading for the gates. Nikal followed on his heels.

"We have to report to Master," she said. "He has to know about Garrett."

"You know Garrett better than me," Eren said without looking back. "You can explain it all."

"We both have to," she insisted. "Master won't believe just me."

"Then Link can supplement your statement."

"Eren!"

"I have to see, all right?!" he exclaimed, whirling around to look at her. "I have to know if they're still alive or if they've been..." He couldn't finish the sentence, looking away. "I have to know," he repeated.

"Then I'm coming with you," she replied.

"No, it's too dangerous—"

"Are you seriously—"

"And it'll be easier for one person to move about unseen than two," he continued, interrupting her. "I know the way like the back of my hand—you don't. And, like you said, Master needs to know about Garrett. It won't take long—maybe I'll even be back before Master has shown them the...the creature."

He was right, and Nikal hated him for it. With the riots, moving around without being detected would be immensely difficult for one person, let alone two, and Master had to know about Garrett as well, before they lost the opportunity to tell him. But the idea of letting Eren go on his own... "What if you get caught?" she asked.

"I won't," Eren said, stripping himself of the cloak and colours that identified him as one of Lord Sheik's men and handing them to Nikal. "For all the rioters know, I'm just one of them." He took off his sword belt and gave her that as well, leaving him with only a dagger for protection. "This will be enough. I'll go in, take a look, and come back." He gave her a small smile. "Trust me, Nik."

"I don't trust you as far as I can throw you," she said, glaring at him. "I still owe you a beating for the stunt you pulled at the square."

"You can administer it to me when I get back," he said, stepping forward and kissing her gently. "You can even kick me in the fork, if you want."

"I'll hold you to that," she murmured, embarrassed at the conversation they were having in the middle of the battle preparations taking place in the courtyard. "Just...be careful, all right? Don't do anything stupid."

"I promise," he said.

She watched him go, not even bothering to wait for the gates to open for him, choosing instead to climb over the battlements and the wall, disappearing from view. She took his gear and went back inside the keep, leaving it in his chambers. He'd be back, she was sure of it. He knew how to handle himself in a fight, and rarely took chances on an enormously stupid scale. His stealth skills weren't the best, true, but the civilians of Castle Town weren't trained instructors specifically trying to spot him...he'd be fine, definitely.

...and yet, she was worried.


Garrett looked hard at the reports he'd been given upon arriving at his secondary hideout, a small hamlet a suitable distance from the city that saw little traffic. The population was quite insular, and while they didn't trust strangers all that much, they also kept their mouths shut. It was a perfect place to regroup and figure out what was happening.

He'd been met by riders in his employ soon after leaving the Hero of Time and his companions, who'd taken him here. He hoped the Hero had made it to the castle safely, despite the chaos in the city. The reports he'd received on the riot were a depressing read. Iari had struck much earlier than he'd anticipated, and now had control of well over half of Castle Town, and it was a safe bet that Iari would be controlling all of it by morning, or in another day at the most.

His little birds had been taking a beating as well. While had been successful in eliminating many of Iari's agents in various places, it had come at a heavy price. So far, it had cost them over a hundred of their numbers, and the sacrifice clearly hadn't been worth it in the end, seeing as Iari managed to launch his revolution anyway.

Garrett felt like an idiot. He'd assumed Iari would infiltrate the Hyrulian government and take it down that way, by gradually corrupting it into overthrowing the princess. But no, Iari had chosen a far simpler route, and one Garrett hadn't expected him to be able to. The bastard didn't possess too much talent in the subtle manipulation of someone's mind, but he'd clearly practiced his skills at planting thoughts where they didn't belong...and at an impressive scale, even. Garrett should have seen that coming, should have found a way to counter it...but he'd never tried anything like that before, and he knew that by now it'd be too late to attempt reversing the process.

That left only two alternatives. Either Castle Town had to be purged, destroying the infection that was Iari's thoughts...or destroy said thoughts at their source. Neither option was attractive, especially not the latter. Garrett had been lucky when he'd ambushed Iari in the warehouse—he hadn't been expected the small army Garrett brought with him. Now, though, Iari knew exactly what Garrett had to offer in terms of resistance...and how he preferred to do things these days. There'd be no way to get close to him, at least not without getting caught, and once Iari had him at his mercy, there'd be no way to escape or execute his plans.

He crumpled the report in his hand and threw it into the fire. The inn was, as usual, practically empty save for a few travellers who, much like the rest of the village, kept to themselves and out of everyone's way.

He'd been arrogant, he knew. He'd assumed that Iari hadn't learned from previous mistakes and had failed to plan ahead for Garrett's possible intervention. But he had, and quite thoroughly, at that. Garrett had thought this would be an easy victory, but slowly, stealthily, the problems had compounded themselves into a scenario that was unwinnable without taking extreme measures. Measures that he didn't want to take.

And was Hyrule really that important, in the end? He'd spoken big to Miss Nikal about having a vested interest in seeing Iari defeated, but...what was that interest? It had only stayed that way as long as he was certain that Lord Sheik could figure out the mystery with the shadow, but apparently that had been a shot in the dark—the Sheikah had failed miserably.

Garrett had felt it when the Sacred Realm collapsed. It had been like a silent scream echoing through the world, rocking it to the very core. It had taken Garrett hours to recover from the shock...and to realise that despite its destruction, something had made it through to their world from the Sacred Realm. Some cursory probing, and the shadow's reappearance had come to his attention. This was just before Iari had entered Hyrule and started causing trouble, and Garrett had planned to...acquire the shadow for interrogation purposes, but the royal army had found it first and imprisoned it at the border. He'd considered springing it, but then Iari had blundered through and somehow released it without understanding its significance.

And then Miss Nikal had had her own little encounter with it...

Nikal...

A small smile came to his lips despite his misery. He couldn't recall the last time he'd ever fallen for someone like he had for her. There was just...something about her. Something inexplicably interesting and fascinating, and her beauty...

It was a pity he had competition in the form of Eren Layr. Competition he had no hope of beating. He'd seen that from the start, and perhaps that was why he'd stolen as many kisses from Nikal as he could, before the two realised their attraction to each other. And now they had...and Garrett could do little but pettily provoke the young lordling whenever he could. Childish, perhaps, for an individual who'd been alive for so long, but still satisfying.

If Lord Sheik couldn't figure out the reason for the shadow's presence, then all hope for victory without Garrett's intervention was lost. In the past, Garrett would have cut his losses and pulled back, leaving Hyrule to fend for itself. But Nikal was there, and he had no intention of letting anything happen to her.

And Eren too, he supposed. For all his idiocy and irritating person, the lordling did make her happy.

Sighing, he called for the leader of this particular group of his little birds and made travel arrangements to Castle Town. It seemed Iari was going to get his wish after all...


Rial tightened the strap and tugged at Leonthal's right pauldron, ensuring that it would stay in place. He then moved onto the left, re-doing the strap because he didn't like the look of the first.

"I can do this myself, you know," the prince said, looking amused. "It's not like I didn't start out as a footman who had to do everything himself."

"You must have been an embarrassment to your unit, then," Rial said. "Because I've seen you attempt to armour yourself before, and it's a wonder you haven't been killed yet." He grinned. "And you won't be impressing anyone by walking around with the plates jiggling and falling off, especially not a certain princess."

"Very funny," Leonthal said, grinning back. "I seem to recall that chainmail mishap of yours—"

"Caused when you decided to switch mine for one of a smaller size," Rial interrupted. "I had those marks for a week."

"It was very amusing," the prince said, rolling his shoulders to ensure he still had mobility. "Father didn't know what to make of you, all red and sweaty."

"Only because the mail was digging into a certain place." Rial stepped back and admired his handiwork. "You'll need a bigger breastplate soon. Getting too fat for your armour. I guess that's what a prince's life will do to you."

Leonthal paused, looking offended. "Now you're just trying to hurt me."

They shared a laugh, but it wasn't as relaxed as either of them had hoped. It was strained, the weight of the situation pressing down on them. They both knew what was happening. Princess Zelda could be optimistic and hold onto hope for a peaceful solution as much as she wanted, but Rial and Leon knew that battle would be joined...and soon.

"I'm surprised you're still here," Leonthal said after a while.

"How so?" Rial asked.

"You don't have a personal stake in the conflict, nor are you bound to Hyrule in any significant manner. You serve me because you apparently desire to, and are free to leave at any time you wish, with no need to worry about consequences. We're in the middle of a brewing battle, one we do not know if we can win...and yet, here you are, in full armour and ready to fight."

Rial frowned. "You find that to be a problem?"

"No, I am quite grateful for the fact that you're still here, actually," Leonthal with a smile. "I just hope you're not staying because of a sense of duty to me."

"I cannot say that's not a factor," Rial admitted, shaking his head slightly. "But hardly the main reason for why I'm sticking around." He looked Leonthal square in the eyes. "I'm staying because you're my friend, and seeing as there is no point in persuading you to leave Hyrule, I have to ensure you don't get yourself killed doing something incredibly stupid, as you are wont to do. I also owe a debt to Princess Zelda, and I believe this is a brilliant opportunity to repay it."

"By facing impossible odds?"

Rial shrugged. "She did the same for Victor, even when she had no reason to."

Leonthal nodded, satisfied with the answer. "I suppose that's a good a reason as any."

"Besides, your father would never forgive me if I let his idiot son die in a pointless conflict in a foreign land."

"Hey!"

To be continued…


I really should work on school stuff, but...nah.