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.
The Voice
18 – Projectile Emesis
"...which in turn reassembles your constituent atoms at the other end, which in this case happens to be the Katosa Aug shrine. Now, the documentation, or what I could recover of it, states that the transportation subject might feel somewhat nauseated after being reassembled..."
Sheik trailed off as Link heaved once more among the bushes, the slate itself discarded on the shrine's teleportation pad. It just wouldn't stop coming, the Hylian's stomach apparently trying to turn itself inside out.
"...and I'm guessing the documentation wasn't entirely wrong on that point," Sheik said as Link made a less-than-dignified reappearance by crawling out of the bushes on all fours, his face pale and eyes glassy and unfocused.
It was a miracle he'd managed to make it this far in the first place, the intense feeling of vertigo he'd been struck by making the world appear to be swaying dangerously. He spat into the grass, trying in vain to rid his mouth of the taste of vomit, his strength failing him as he rolled onto his back, staring straight up at the blue sky, not caring that the grass—still wet from the rain the night before—was soaking him through.
"I'll just...make a note that some subjects experience heavy vertigo, resulting in projectile emesis."
"Y-You...do...th-that," Link said, deciding not to ask what emesis meant, closing his eyes and regretting it immediately as the feeling of spinning only grew worse without anything to lock his gaze on.
"Sorry, Link," Sheik said sheepishly after a few minutes, his voice bouncing off the shrine, giving it a metallic tone, "I didn't realise it would make you this sick...I figured you'd appreciate a quicker way to get back here than walking or riding..."
"It's...f-fine," Link said, waving his hand. "Th-Think we'll...k-keep it f-for emergencies o-only, th-though."
"Duly noted," Sheik said dutifully. "I need to be remotely connected to a tower in order to use it anyway. I don't have nearly enough power on my own to activate the function. Plus, we can only go places we've already been; that is, towers we've reactivated and shrines that have been unlocked. Everything else we'll have to discover the old-fashioned way."
"G-Good," Link said. He liked the old-fashioned way. It let him keep his breakfast. He wiped his forehead, which was cold and clammy. He could deal with pain—that was no problem. Nausea, however, was the worst.
"But you know what this means?" Sheik said, his voice gaining an undercurrent of smugness and...suggestiveness?
"N-No," Link replied, not sure if he wanted to know what idea Sheik had just gotten.
"Provided we're close enough to a tower," he said slowly, his grin practically audible, "there was, if you recall, a shrine in the middle of the Zora's Domain...we can go visit Sharky whenever we want."
Link hated that such a simple thing could make him smile like an idiot and immediately reconsider his willingness (or lack thereof) to make use of the teleportation function in anything but emergencies. The thought of seeing Sidon again, after such a harrowing week, was...tempting. Very much so, in fact.
In the back of his mind, though, something niggled at him. It was a very...frivolous use of such a powerful tool, wasn't it? And he wasn't sure if he was ready to face Sidon yet...not without having actually accomplished something other than making contact with Robbie—which had been a double-edged sword in terms of progress.
Plus, he needed a little time to...digest what had happened. He'd gotten Sheik out of his toxic mind-set (or so he hoped), but that didn't mean they were anywhere near as okay as he would have liked. He very much doubted Sheik was...satisfied with what he was. And they'd both been hurt by this...
A thought struck him then, and he gasped. "M-Maladict—!"
"Right there, on your left," Sheik said immediately.
Turning his head to look, Link found Maladict just a few paces away, feeding disinterestedly on a patch of grass, giving the Hylian the most unimpressed look he'd ever received from an animal...or a person, truth be told. Link got the distinct feeling that the horse was much smarter than it let on.
"He was at the very limit of the teleporter's range," Sheik explained. "But I still managed to snag him up. He was remarkably calm about it. Calmer than you, that's for sure."
Link rolled to his side, glad that the dizziness was slowly settling down, his stomach not cramping as badly anymore. He glared at the slate. "Y-You c-could have w-warned me, y-you kn-know," he said. "I had n-no idea wh-what w-was happening!"
"And miss your girly screams when you ended up here?" Sheik asked cheekily. "Not on your life."
At least one thing hadn't changed, which was something of a relief...even if it made Link groan with despair.
"Now there's a face I didn't expect to see again in a while," Pikango's approaching voice said, his familiar topknot appearing over the crest of the hill the shrine stood on. He was carrying his painting supplies, looking bemused. "Glad to see you're not dead, Link," he said, setting down his easel on the ground and offering Link his hand.
"N-Not y-yet," Link said, not taking it. He wasn't ready to stand up.
"You're looking a little green around the gills, kid," Pikango said uncertainly.
"Funny you should mention gills," Sheik spoke up from the pad, snickering. "Sharky might have some—"
"Shh!" Link hissed.
Pikango's face brightened a little at hearing the familiar, abrasive tone of his clansman. "Ah, I hear my favourite cousin is back to his old self," he said, padding over to the pad, waving to the slate but making no move to pick it up. "I take it Link knocked some sense back into you?"
Sheik snorted. "Yeah, by risking his life climbing the Citadel and nearly getting himself fried by a flying Guardian," he said. "The stupidity of it all made me realise he needs a voice of reason telling him not to do those things."
Pikango blinked. "And...you're supposed to be this voice of reason? I have my doubts..."
"You want to fight, old man?" Sheik snapped. "I'll show you doubts!"
Pikango chuckled. "Well, it's good to have you back, all the same. The other you...he was a bit of a prick, to be honest. Much too polite. Gratingly so, even."
"I couldn't agree more," Sheik said. Then he added, for no reason whatsoever (other than to piss him off, of course), "Do you keep your hair in a topknot to cover up the fact that you're going bald?"
Pikango's eyes widened, a hand straying up to the band holding his hair up. "Er..." he said.
"'Cause it's not fooling anyone, you know."
"Sh-Sheik!"
"I d-don't w-want to see him!"
Sheik sighed. "Link, we talked about this."
"I w-won't!"
Link knew it was a bit late to start arguing now, standing outside the lighthouse, but his chest had felt tighter and tighter the closer they got, and by the time they'd reached the door the mere thought of seeing Robbie's unsympathetic face again made him want to scream.
"Link," Sheik said slowly, as if speaking to a child, "we need more of those arrows. Who knows how many more Guardians we'll have to face out there? It only took a single arrow to bring them down!"
"I kn-know..." Link hung his head, wishing and not wishing that Robbie's arrows weren't so damn good. It was one less reason to dislike the old Sheikah, and Link didn't want to like him. Not after the way he'd callously referred to Sheik's emotional reaction as something that needed to be fixed...like Sheik was just some thing. It was bad enough that Sheik himself believed that if others weren't about to pile on with their horrid opinions.
"Look, I can do the talking, if you wish," Sheik offered. "You can just stand there and look angry and scary."
Link couldn't help snorting at the idea.
"You're right," Sheik said in agreement. "You couldn't look scary even if you tried. You could be covered in gore, carrying a bloody knife in your hand and a psychotic smile on your face, and all it'd take is one look in your eyes and they'd realise you're a total pushover."
Link glared down at the slate. "Th-Thanks," he said sarcastically.
"You're welcome," Sheik replied brightly.
The meeting with Robbie was...awkward. The scientist had first tried his usual, haughty approach, but a single cough from his wife had the old man looking somewhat chastened, even offering Sheik an apology for his treatment of him.
"That's all right, old man," Sheik had replied, "because I don't give a shit what you think."
It was at this point Link had felt an overwhelming desire to smash his head into the nearest wall, but he valiantly fought the urge, trying instead to behave somewhat diplomatically as he negotiated with Robbie about more Ancient Arrows.
"Hm, I can't just give them to you for nothing," the old Sheikah had said, scratching his chin. "The raw materials are rare enough, and the time it takes to make them... The lab doesn't run on charity, after all. Get me enough materials, and I'll give you a discount, but that's it!"
Link frowned at that. True, rupees weren't really a problem after Sidon and Sheik had conspired to make him a semi-wealthy Hylian, but Robbie was speaking of scrap material from old, broken Guardians. He'd picked up an old spring or screw here and there, but he certainly didn't have the time to go around chopping up the old wrecks.
"C-Can't I j-just p-pay you for th-them?" he asked, feeling disheartened when Robbie shook his head insistently.
"Sorry, but I need to replenish my stock of materials," Robbie said. "And what better way to do that than to have someone who travels all over Hyrule do it for me?"
In a moment that almost convinced Link he was psychic, Sheik spoke the exact words he was thinking...or what he thought that Sheik was thinking.
"Well, that's a pity, then," the boy in the slate said with a heavy sigh. "Guess we can just pack it in right now, Link. The Calamity's won. A tragedy, really, but I suppose we had a good run."
Robbie's eyes narrowed. "What are you on about?" he asked suspiciously.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Sheik said, sighing heavily again. "Link is a hero, no doubt about it, but he is only as good as the tools he wields, and here you are, denying him the very best tool for taking down Guardians, all because you're afraid you'll run out of raw material which, by the way, literally litters the Hyrulian countryside. Now, you may be comfortable with sending Link on errands that has him running to and from this lab like a whipping boy, but guess what?"
Robbie's eyes narrowed until they were mere slits. "What?" he asked.
"We don't have the time for that!" Sheik shouted at the top of his (imaginary) lungs. "We are running on a tight schedule here, old man, and we sure as hell don't have the luxury of running errands for you!"
Link sighed inwardly and simply covered the ear nearest Sheik surreptitiously, aware he had no way of stopping the rant now. It was better to just let Sheik tire himself out, in these cases.
"So give us the damn arrows, and we'll put 'em to good use creating more scrap you can hire some other poor bastard to collect for you! Or better yet, fetch it yourself!"
"Or else?" Robbie tried, hands on his hips, glaring at the slate. At least he was actually interacting with Sheik normally? Baby steps, Link thought.
"Or else, as I said, Link packs it in, takes an extended vacation and spends it getting as far away from Hyrule as he possibly can, with a certain prince in tow!"
"But you—"
"And I will personally make sure to leave a giant, glowing sign for Ganon to come here first and disintegrate this lab and your life's work!"
It was an unnecessary stinger, but it seemed to work. Robbie looked outraged at the, admittedly, empty threat. Link was too deep in it to quit now, or even play along with Sheik's posturing, hence his decision to remain silent, wondering when the ringing in his ear would stop.
Perhaps it was more the principle of the thing than anything else, but Robbie eventually deflated after sputtering for a while.
"You've made your point," he said, glaring at the slate. "Fine, take as many arrows as you'd like." He gestured to a barrel near a workbench that seemed to be full of the things, "But this is a one-time occurrence!" he added sharply. "You want more arrows after this, you'd better bring me the materials."
"Th-Thank you," Link said sincerely, wasting no time in filling his quiver completely full. He was even able to stack the arrows double on account of the heads not really existing until they were nocked. Even so, he wasn't able to take that many, and he swore to himself he would use them sparingly...and buy another quiver for his other arrows.
"The pair of you are going to ruin me," Robbie moaned, on his knees in front of the strange oven. "But at least I'll still have you, Cherry..."
"Ahem!"
"A-And you, of course, Jerrin!"
Sheik snickered.
"Th-Thank you for th-the arrows," Link said hurriedly, already heading for the door, aiming to get out of the imminent thrashing Robbie was clearly in for at the hands of Jerrin. "A-And the r-research!"
"Yeah, much appreciated!"
As they headed back to the stable to regroup and get ready for the next stage of their quest, Link tried to ignore the booming sounds coming from the lab behind them. He could have sworn they sounded like explosions...
"Of all things to base a town on," Sheik muttered as Link smacked his lips, urging Maladict to trot a little faster. "I mean...is there a particular reason for why he wants to populate it only with people whose names end in -son?"
"D-Don't know, d-don't c-care," Link said, relieved to have gotten away from the extremely talkative carpenter whose ambition was to build an entirely new village on the cliff overlooking the Akkala marshland.
Link didn't have anything against the man personally, but of all the things he had on his mind and rapidly growing to-do list these days, trawling Hyrule for people with names ending in -son was definitely as far down on the list as it could possibly get. Of course, he'd been unable to actually tell the man this (and Sheik had, for once, held his tongue), so he'd only managed to give a half-hearted promise to mention the place to any stray -sons he happened to encounter...
...even though that meant having to meet people. And talk to them. Long enough to learn their names. That meant small talk. Link could spot the flaw in his promise from miles away.
"It's a nice location, I suppose, save for the Citadel and the corruption there..." Sheik mused.
"Mhm."
"Something the matter, Link?"
"N-No."
"You're a terrible liar, even when you're trying to bullshit someone who can't read your internal body temperature...which rises every time you do."
Something was bothering the Hylian, but he wasn't entirely sure what it was himself. It kept poking at the back of his mind, making its presence known, but keeping its nature annoyingly obscured, almost like it was playing a game of hide-and-seek. And adding Sheik's unceasing curiosity to that mix was just a recipe for a headache Link didn't want right now. The issue would reveal itself eventually; he was certain of it.
"Wh-Where to n-next?" Link asked loudly, as if the volume itself was going to distract Sheik from the topic. Luckily, the Sheikah took the hint, going along with the change of topic without getting hung up on Link's avoidance.
"Well, the Master Sword should definitely be high on our list of priorities," Sheik said, "but that means passing by the Gorons and their undoubtedly raggedy-ass Divine Beast, which means we have to go back later..."
"S-So...Gorons f-first, th-then s-sword?"
"I believe that will be the optimal workflow, yes," Sheik said. "Then we head east for the Rito, and south for the Gerudo. We'll basically be doing a big fucking circle around the Castle, but I think that's for the best."
"Y-Yeah?"
"Yeah, the farther away I can keep you from Ganon until you're ready to face it, the better."
Link smiled and grabbed the slate, holding it up to his face. "Y-You care th-that m-much about m-me?" he asked in an innocent, waif-ish manner, making his eyes as wide as possible. "Sh-Sheiky?"
"...don't ever call me that again," Sheik said after a short moment of his screen dimming considerably. "That was far too Purah-like than I am comfortable with!"
"Aw, b-but Sh-Sheiky..." Link said with a grin, raising his voice until it sounded like Purah's. "S-Snappity s-snap!"
"Stop it!"
Short, uneventful chapter this time around - work is kicking my ass :(