"Sheik! Sheik!" Zelda shook the sleeping Sheikah's shoulders. "Wake up!"
Sheik blinked blearily and sat up. "What?" they asked, rubbing the sleep from their eyes.
"Link is gone."
"Good riddance," said Sheik.
Zelda waved her hands in frustration. "We have to find him. I think something terrible has happened. He would never leave without me."
"Not my problem. Hopefully someone else kills him so I don't have to."
"Sheik!" Zelda pleaded. "Please."
"No," Sheik said.
Zelda's eyes turned from pleading to cold, like a heavy storm rolling in over light sunshowers. "Help me find him, or I shall report your whereabouts to the guards. I know every alley and passage, you will not escape this city before they find you."
Her threat hung between them for a moment before Sheik sighed. "Very well. I will find him. In return, you keep your pretty lips sealed. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Zelda said, smiling.
Without another word, Sheik packed their belongings and strapped on their weapons and gear. They would not be returning to this place.
~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~
Link groaned as light pierced his eyes. His head throbbed and his stomach ached with hunger. Slowly, he dragged himself into a sitting position, wondering where he was, why he felt so awful, and where his shirt had gone.
Surrounding him were wooden walls. They closed him in on all sides, no more than four feet away in any direction. He was trapped. Inside a box. Link blinked and tried to remember how he'd gotten here. Bleary memories swam to the surface. He'd stormed out of Sheik's shack last night, sick of the violent Sheikah and his murder attempts. He'd been wandering vaguely in the direction of the castle when someone had stepped out of an alley before him. The someone had struck up a conversation with him, something about a job, and it being unsafe for a Prince such as himself to be out this late alone. That's when the alarm bells had started going off in Link's head. But too late, as a second person had already snuck up behind him and clamped a cloth over his mouth and nose. Next thing Link knew, he was waking up here.
As understanding of the situation dawned, Link's spirits sunk. He'd been kidnapped. He hoped his sister was safe.
"You better have kept her safe, jerk," Link whispered, glaring at the blond Sheikah in his mind's eye.
Outside, Link could hear the pounding of horse hooves. Many of them. He could also hear the clink of weapons and armor, and of the chains and lock on the outside of his wooden prison. There was nothing he could do but wait for someone to rescue him. Of course, that wasn't an option, and so Link set himself to learning the patterns of the people who held him captive and waiting for a chance to escape.
~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~
It didn't take Sheik long to realize that Link had been kidnapped. Tracking Link's path through the town had been easy as Zelda knew exactly what path he would have taken back towards the castle. Soon after that, Sheik had noticed signs of a struggle. A smashed pot, disturbed flower arrangements, a scrap of cloth laying in the muddy road.
"He's been kidnapped," Sheik noted, inspecting the cloth and then waving it in front of their nose.
Zelda thought this was ill advised as the cloth probably had some sort of drug on it, but she said nothing except "Find him."
Sheik gave her a look that said "I'm not your dog," but did as they were asked.
It wasn't easy, but Sheik managed to track the movements of the kidnappers through the town. It was really only possible because of the cart they had dragged with them. Their trail led to the edge of the town, and out into the field through a small portcullis that had been forcefully removed from the wall.
"They've left town," Sheik said, sliding through the hole in the wall, careful to avoid the vision of the guards stationed above. Zelda followed him with only slightly less grace. "They have horses. They'll be moving fairly swiftly. If we want to catch them, we need mounts, and quickly."
"I can handle that," Zelda said. "Meet me by the south gate in ten minutes."
"Princess, you may have forgotten, but I'm a wanted criminal. I can't go near the gates."
"Figure it out," she said, and ran off back into the town.
"Royalty," Sheik sighed. With reluctance, but seeing no other choice, Sheik turned and slipped back into the town, weaving their way through the backstreets of Castle Town towards the South Gate.
~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~
Crossing town took far longer than Sheik would have liked. The number of guards had doubled, and Sheik's face was plastered on wanted posters all across town. Thankfully, the image was of Sheik in prison clothes with their face uncovered. While the general populace seeing their face made Sheik incredibly uncomfortable and directly contradicted tradition, it made Sheik in their travel clothes and cowl seem like an entirely different person. Nevertheless, Sheik spared no precaution as they crossed town. Finally, Sheik reached the South Gate. They were sure it was past the ten minute deadline, and their suspicions were confirmed when they spied Zelda waiting by two majestic horses with an annoyed look on her hooded face.
"Sorry I'm late," Sheik said.
Zelda jumped and stifled a scream. "Sheik!" she gasped. "When did you- Nevermind. Get on, we'll have to move fast. A friend of mine is waiting to open the gates for us. He'll keep quiet about who we are, and the guard whose supposed to be working with him is off tending to a "royal summons" but he'll realize it's a farce soon and come running back. Probably with reinforcements." Zelda giggled. "I'm actually pretty excited. This is fun!"
Sheik gave her a look that said she was crazy. "Princess, it's a great plan, but you realize they will think that I have kidnapped you, right?"
"I'll be sure to send my father another letter soon to let him know I'm fine. As for you, you'll be sentenced to death if you're caught regardless. It makes no difference." She waved her hand dismissively.
Sheik was furious to admit that she was right. Death was certain if they were caught, regardless of their crimes. "Okay," Sheik agreed. "Let's go."
The pair swung into the horses' saddles, and Zelda counted down on her fingers from three. On "one" she spurred her horse forwards, Sheik trailing a second behind. The two steeds galloped towards the massive wooden gates. Sheik was certain they would remain closed and the horses and riders would become bloody smears on the barrier, but at the last moment, the massive doors swung outwards, and the two horses dashed through, hooves clattering on the drawbridge beyond.
Zelda laughed in delight as they sped across the field, shouts of "HALT!" chasing after them.
The wall guards were not prepared to give chase, and it was many minutes before they were able to deploy anyone to follow them. By that time, Sheik and Zelda had already gotten a significant lead. The two did not stop until the sun was well past its zenith and tingeing the sky all shades of red and orange and pink.
Zelda threw herself from the saddle and laughed out loud. "That was the most fun I've had in years!" she said, throwing her hands wide and grinning.
Sheik watched her with a reserved expression. It did not seem fun at all to them. Running from certain death to save a prince whom Sheik wished would just die was not part of Sheik's life plan. They unscrewed the cap on their canteen and took a deep drink while the horses dipped their noses into the small stream nearby to do the same.
~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~
"Princess," Sheik said, beginning to set up camp in the small copse of trees they'd found, "have you ever actually been camping before?"
Zelda turned from where she was grooming the horses. "I've slept on the road before," she said, "but always in a covered wagon or tent. Do we have a tent?"
"We do, but probably not like you're used to," Sheik said. "It's mine, so it's only made for one person, and it is by no means luxurious." the Sheikah finished building the fire structure and leaned close to it, whispering a word of power. The small bundle of tinder in the center caught fire, and the rest of the structure was quick to follow.
Sitting back, Sheik watched the flames grow with an intent gaze.
Zelda packed away the brushes and ambled over to the fire, sitting across from Sheik and warming her hands. For a while, they sat in silence. Then Zelda spoke.
"You know," she said, "You really should give up on killing Link."
Sheik shifted their gaze to Zelda, but said nothing.
"You know why you can't hurt him, right?" she persisted. "It's because you two are soul-mates."
"Soul-mates?" Sheik snorted. "Soul-bonded, sure, but it's not so romantic and pleasant as soul-mates."
Zelda frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You're right, I cannot harm Link. It seems likely that it is due to some ancient magics that bind us together. I've heard the legends too. Soul-mates meeting and falling in love, never being able to cause the other physical harm, living happily ever after and so on. But reality isn't like that. Reality is cruel, and cares not for love or any such nonsense."
"It's not nonsense. Love is a beautiful, marvelous thing!"
"Only when it works out."
"Well how do you know it won't work out?" Zelda asked. "Link could be your one true love! You two could be happy together."
Sheik shook their head. "There's no way that would happen. It never has, and never will." They returned their gaze to the fire.
"But you've never tried," Zelda said softly.
"Not me personally, no, but those before me. Those before us." Sheik poked at the flaming logs. "Generations and generations of Hero and Guide have tried, and all have ended in death and sorrow." They tossed their stick into the fire, watching it ignite.
"All of them?"
Sheik nodded, raising their eyes to meet hers. "Yes, princess. All of them."
Zelda considered this for a while, thinking of all the books she'd read. Very few had mentioned the Hero falling in love. And when they did, it was always in passing that the Hero had married the princess or some peasant woman or other. The books had never gone into detail, nor had it ever seemed important.
After a few more moments of thoughtful silence, Sheik said "Princess, have you heard of the Hero of Time?"
Blue eyes refocused on the half-hidden face across the fire. "Yes, of course," she said.
"That Hero, he had a very famous Sheikah guide. That guide's name was Sheik as well."
Zelda nodded.
"Sheik and the Hero were also soul-bonded. Our legends say that Sheik knew this, but the Hero did not. Sheik knew that once the evil King Ganondorf was defeated and Hyrule freed from its nightmare, the Princess would send the young Hero back to his childhood so that he might have a chance to relive the seven years the Goddesses stole from him. Knowing this, Sheik avoided direct contact with the Hero as much as possible, only revealing themself to him when strictly necessary. Sheik did everything possible to avoid creating a bond with the Hero, and even so, the two fell in love. It was their fate as soul-bonded. A fate they could not escape.
"When the time came to fight Ganondorf, Sheik switched places with the Princess, pretending to have been her all along. They did this in order to spare the Hero the heartbreak of leaving Sheik behind in this time, and prevent him from trying to stay, for they knew that it was critical that the Hero return to his childhood time.
"After Ganondorf was defeated and the Hero was returned to his childhood, Sheik was left alone in the Hyrule that they had saved, with nothing but memories of his Hero. Sheik spent the rest of their life searching for a way to return to their Hero's side, but to no avail. The Ocarina of Time was the only way, and its magic was sealed and could not be used by any but a bearer of a piece of the Triforce. Thus, Sheik spent the rest of their life heartbroken, alone, and was slowly forgotten by the world." Sheik finished their tale and gazed pensively into the fire. "I will not let the same fate befall me. I will break the cycle, and spare myself and my future incarnations from this tragic fate."
Zelda wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry Sheik… I did not know the fate of any of the Heroes' Guides. I understand now why you wish to break this bond."
Sheik tipped their head in acknowledgement.
They spoke no more that night, but Sheik could see the gears in Zelda's head turning as she mulled over what she had learned, and what it meant for her brother and this Sheikah stranger.
As Sheik drifted off into sleep, they thought of the new kinship they felt with Zelda, and how devastated she would be if Link was to die.
~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~
Despite Link's best efforts, his thoughts remained centered around Zelda and Sheik. Snippets of their conversation two nights before and images of Sheik's sharp eyes and Zelda's smile whirled around in his head. It was infuriating. The more Link saw Sheik's face, the more he hated the assassin. It wasn't fair that such a pretty- No, it wasn't fair that the jerk wanted to kill him just because of some bad choices their predecessors had made. So the previous generations of Link and Sheik had fallen in love and they had suffered from it. So what? That had nothing to do with their situation, and everything to do with the fact that they had literally spent months together trying to save the world. That kind of pressure and constant companionship had to do something to a person. Maybe they hadn't really been in love at all and it was just a passing infatuation that they used to cope with the difficulty of their quest.
There were a million reasons why the past generations hadn't worked out. None of them applied to Link's life now. He wasn't trying to save the world. He wasn't even a Hero! He was just a guy, living life, minding his own business. He'd never even met Sheik before! There was no reason for Sheik to try to kill him, and no reason for them to fall in love. In fact, Link hated Sheik and hoped the guards caught him.
Link shifted, trying to find a more comfortable way to sit in his wooden prison. But what if it was true that they were soul-mates? If the guards did catch and kill Sheik, did that mean that Link would never be able to find true love? Link had heard the stories before about people finding their true love and living happily forever, but he never believed them. Sure, he believed in love, but not a pre-destined person you were meant to meet. So many things could go wrong with that. You could never run into the person, you could not like them, they could die before you meet, you could already have a partner you're in love with when you do meet, they could be your sworn enemy- Link could have gone on and on with his mental list, but he stopped himself there. There was no way Sheik was Link's soul mate. There must be a more logical reason to explain why neither could harm the other.
But, Link mused, if he didn't hate him, Sheik would have been fairly attractive, nevermind that he was a guy. Or maybe he wasn't. Link wasn't entirely certain. But surely no female would be that rude and violent? Zelda was certainly not. She wasn't super feminine but she was never that... that... Link couldn't find the right word. He settled for an angry groan and threw his hands up in quiet frustration.
Outside, he heard the horses slowing to a halt and the rough voices of men shouting orders. They were stopping for the night, Link knew. He would soon be brought the disgusting crusts of bread and mushy beans that passed for food.
Right on cue, the lock on his box clicked, chains fell to the ground, and the wooden top of the box was opened, a sword tip thrust in before a large hand holding a tray of food was shoved inside. Wordlessly, Link stuck the tray from yesterday into the hand. The hand retreated, as did the sword, and the top of the box was shut again, cutting Link off from the darkening sky above.