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Title: Treasure of the Yiga

Chapter 2: The Execution

Author: Sailor Song

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I had every intention of staying true to my word to General Sooga, of keeping away from the execution, but it was as if some invisible force pulled me there the next morning. I watched as the prisoner was led, near-naked and almost fully bound in ropes, to the edge of the bottomless pit. Unbelievably, he seemed bored by it all, ignoring Master Kohga's speech while looking around at the sea of Yiga before him until his gaze fixed upon my hidden location.

"Any last words before you die, Hylian filth? Any requests?"

"Yes, actually," he replied, his calm voice echoing through the canyon. "Can I get a Noble Pursuit? Maybe a hearty durian as well?" He continued to stare, and I swear I could see the bastard raise his eyebrows.

Everyone in attendance was confused by his glib request, but I couldn't help but smirk as I heard him rattle off the very things I had offered back in the treasury when we'd first met. I felt my smile change to something else I did not recognize as Master Kohga gave the order for his death. My heart clenched as the executioner moved to push the Hero into the bottomless pit, but upon reaching the edge, Link launched himself into the air, flipping over while simultaneously freeing himself from his confines. I would have found it impressive if the idea of him suddenly being set loose on the members of my clan wasn't so terrifying.

Knowing there was only one place he would go, I ran back in to head him off. There was no way he would leave without that sword, but only I knew where it was. I rushed to my room and grabbed it, determined to use it to lure him back to the others. I was only about a few steps outside of my door when he arrived, fully clothed with all of his supplies and an empty scabbard on his back. He wasn't even winded. How in the name of the Dark Lord was he so fast?

He stared at me with a look of confusion. "You were telling the truth. You really can hold it?"

"It is a sword, of course I can. I'm not a weakling," I replied with a huff. "Why did you come back for it? Why didn't you just run?"

"I came back for you as well," he said with a ridiculous grin on his stupid face. "You promised you would tell me your name before I died, and I'll have you know that I take promises very seriously."

He was a complete idiot. How on earth had he survived this long? And yet, he was still alive and had escaped a number of my people intent on hunting him down.

But he wasn't done. "Come with me when I leave here, Yiga. I want to take you far away from this place."

"I'm not going anywhere and neither are you," I said harshly, trying to sound tough. "You have murdered my people, and I will be the one to exact vengeance."

In a move I was not expecting, he dropped suddenly to his knees. "My life is yours, to take or command. I will not fight back against you, but if I may, before I die, I'd like a chance to set the record straight. I have never taken the life of another - not a Hylian, Sheikah, Rito, Gerudo, Zora, Goron, and certainly never a Yiga. On my life and sword, I swear it."

He's a liar, I had to remind myself more than once. "I don't believe you. Lie face down on the ground," I commanded, trying to ignore his trickery and focus on my task. "I'll give you a clean death, even though it's more than you deserve."

He did as I instructed, pulling his hair aside to expose his neck. I placed the tip of the blade against the flesh at the back of his skull. All I had to do was press down and this would all be over.

I released the breath I didn't know I was holding and began to gasp for air. I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him. Not for Gee. Not for my people. Not for my king. Not even for myself.

I did nothing as he stood and gently removed his sword from my hands. "Come with me."

"What? No!"

"Come with me," he repeated. "I will protect you."

"Protect me from what? I am safe here."

"You're not, I promise you that, but I won't force you to leave." He took my hand and kissed it. "I will come whenever you call, wherever you are, I swear it. My life is yours."

And then, he was gone.

I fell on my bed and stared at my hand. What had just happened?

It was late at night when there was a knock on my door. Had I missed a shift? I was still so mixed up, I had no idea what was happening. As though someone else was controlling my body, I moved towards the door to see what they wanted.

"Sooga?"

"You need to come with me. Now."

Something in his voice gave me pause, but who was I to question an order? I took one last look back at my room, realizing in all of my years of life, the room contained nothing personalized to me. The one thing I had ever possessed, the Hero's sword, was now gone.

I followed him to the chamber of our leader, Master Kohga, who was stewing angrily on his chair. Before the door slammed shut, I knew it was a mistake to be in this room.

"You helped him escape, didn't you?"

Oh, right into it. No dancing around the subject.

"No, sir. I did not help him." I also could not kill him when I had the chance, but I thought I should leave that out since even with his mask on, I could tell that Master Kohga was pissed.

"Don't lie to me! It's been reported that you have been visiting with him every night. In fact, I've been told you even helped heal him after one of our more… intense interrogation sessions."

They knew? Was I not as stealthy as I'd always believed? "That I did, sir. He was our prisoner, and he was wounded. We are not monsters," I added quickly, "like him."

Sooga stepped forward. "If I may, her intervention did allow for a more thorough torture experience on the boy. There was no need to be too cautious when we resumed the next day. Thanks to her, we were able to provide him with a more painful experience than I'd originally planned."

I sucked in a breath. Had I made things worse for him?

Master Kohga stamped his feet about and shrieked. "Be that as it may, our king's return is nigh. All of our plans for all these years may be ruined because those two talked to one another!"

I suddenly realized that something was happening far beyond my understanding of the situation, and the discomfort of it all made me start to back away from our leader. I had barely taken a few steps when Sooga grabbed my collar.

"What do we do with her then, Master?" Any hint of tenderness I had come to know from him over the many years under his tutelage was gone. Sooga was now cold, and his grip on me was inescapable.

"You already know the answer, Sooga," Kohga replied, his voice like a sharpened blade. "Take her."

… … …

I was stripped of my uniform and forced to dress in old rags before being pushed into the empty cell, all without a word from anyone. At least they allowed me to continue wearing my mask, I mused. With only my thoughts to keep me company, I began to mull over my recent actions. What had I done, how had I failed so miserably, that I deserved imprisonment, and maybe death?

"Yiga?"

Oh, right. Him. "Go away."

I could not see him from where I sat inside my cell. There was silence, but I knew he was still there. "Yiga, are you okay?"

"Fuck off," I snapped. "The only reason I'm in here is because I let you get away."

"No," he said, coming into my field of vision, "you're in there because your people have turned on you. I would never do that."

"Hylians cannot be trusted."

"Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?"

"I…" It was a fair question. He was right. He had just put himself in a vulnerable position, put his very life in my hands for me to take, but I was too much of a coward to deliver the final blow. "Why me? I am only one Yiga, and we are many."

"We both know that isn't true," he said softly. "But if you must have a reason, I cannot give it to you. I don't know why I am intrigued by you, why I seem to be able to pick out you alone among all of the rest of your people, but something keeps telling me I should not leave you behind."

"You should," I snapped. "I don't belong in your world."

"No? Well, Yiga, may I ask, do you belong in this one?"

I had no response because to answer his question would be to admit the very thing I had been wondering most of my life. I never truly felt I fit in here, so I tried to be the best at anything so I could feel I was a part of the clan. The consequence was further punishment in my eyes. I was too stealthy and too good at archery, so I was best suited to interior guard duty; solitary and isolated from my comrades.

"What you're suggesting is treason," I said. "I cannot defect. I would have to throw myself upon a windcleaver for such disloyalty."

"Or you could do something less drastic," he drawled sarcastically. "You could always just join the Sheikah. They were your original people after all. They would take you in; embrace you as a lost cucco returned home."

A what?

"They would kill me the moment I set foot in Kakariko," I replied, pretending as though I had not considered it once, twice, ten times before. "I would never be able to blend in as one of them."

"I'm not so sure; they are easily annoyed by me too. You would probably get along well with some of the Sheikah I know."

I turned away from him. He wouldn't understand, and I was just finished with this whole thing. "I have nothing more to say on this matter. If you stay any longer, I will call for the guards."

"I'm curious as to why you haven't already."

I turned back, ready to shout for someone, but he was already gone. Unsure why I felt a sense of ease wash over me, I rested my head against the wall and mentally prepared myself for the uncomfortable night ahead.

… … …

"She's asleep now, but I swear I heard her talking to someone a few minutes ago."

"Maybe she was just talking to herself. She's been known to do that in her sleep before. Remember when she was a child?"

"Oh yeah, her nightmares and the screaming. It was such a relief when they put her in her own room."

Me? Were they talking about me?

"This is such a waste of time. How much longer until we move on to the next step?"

"Master wants to see if he comes back, but I agree. The Hero is too slippery. It's a wonder that she was able to catch him the first time."

I ignored the rest of their talk as I began to formulate a plan to get back into Master Kogha's good graces. They wanted him, huh? Well, they were right. I already caught him once; I could do it again.

… … …

"Yiga?"

There he was. Right on time. When I didn't answer, he called out again. If I was quiet enough, if I didn't respond, I suspected that he would come closer to check that I was still alive. As soon as I heard the door to my cell open, I knew my plan was working. He needed to come closer, just a little closer, and he would be within reach to slap the loose chain on his wrist.

As soon as his hand touched my shoulder, I sprung my trap, or at least I tried to. A wave of dizziness and nausea swept over me, and it hit me: my medicine. How long had it been since I last took it? I lost my footing and only barely registered the sound of the manacles locking into place before I succumbed to darkness.

… … …

My senses were slow to return. The first was my hearing as my ears were overwhelmed by a whole host of noises I had never before heard and could, therefore, not comprehend. The next to return were both my sense of smell and touch, but the unfamiliar again assaulted my nose and skin. It wasn't until I felt air on my face that my eyes flew open. While it took time to adjust to the light, it took even longer to make sense of what I was seeing before me. Long, dirty blond hair, chiseled features, and suddenly, blue eyes stared back at me.

"You have green eyes?"

My hand flew to my face. "My mask?" My voice was hoarse. "You removed my mask?" I found that even my hair was loose, as the long white tresses caught in my fingers.

"You said you were having trouble breathing," he explained. "You took it off."

I made a huge mistake as I tried to jump up. My head erupted in pain and dizziness at the sudden movement, though I was restricted from going too far when I felt a pull on my arm, holding me in place.

"Did you handcuff me?" I asked as I fell back to the ground.

He actually let out a chuckle. "This was also all your doing. I came in to check on you, and you handcuffed us together before you passed out. I took that as a sign that you wanted to leave with me."

I covered my face and groaned. "Idiot. I was trying to keep you there."

"Yes, I assumed as much," he replied. "Do you want your mask back?"

Before he finished his question, I had already snatched it from his hand. The mask felt strange as it molded to the contours of my face. I didn't understand why; I had worn one nearly every moment of my life since I was a child. Now, suddenly, it was strangling me. I couldn't breathe and had to rip it off. My impulse was to turn away and conceal my face, but the tug on my wrist reminded me there was no point in trying to hide from him, so I turned to look at my captor.

"You look nice without it on," he said.

I narrowed my eyes as I glared at him. "No one has seen my face before," I confessed.

"Nobody but the other members of the Yiga?"

"No one."

He was quiet for a time, which was a little disconcerting given the quipping I had grown accustomed to hearing from him. His free hand moved towards my face, and in response, I tightly closed my eyes. "I won't hurt you," he whispered, and I could feel calloused fingers gently touching my jawline. Something inside me awakened at this new sensation. The only way I could describe it for you would be to compare it to the energy of an electric keese coursing through me, though it was not painful.

"You're lovely," he said as he pulled away, and I instantly missed his touch. "I can't explain it, but you remind me of someone."

I looked away, not wanting to give him the benefit of seeing my confusion over the feelings rippling through me. "You said you were friends with the Sheikah. Maybe I look like one of them?"

"I'd say they were more of acquaintances, but no," he said confidently, "that's definitely not it."

I turned, about to ask why he was so certain, when I felt my body seize up and began to shake. My head erupted in pain, my vision blurred, and the last thing I registered was the echoing voice of the Hero calling out to me.

… … …

I felt myself floating in a void of white light.

"Zelda. Dear child." The voice was warm, soothing; something far different than anything I had ever felt or known in my life. "Do not fear. Let yourself be guided by the light. Trust what your heart tells you; it knows the truth."

"Who are you?"

"That you must discover for yourself. I cannot be the one to tell you where your destiny lies. That decision is up to you. Now, sweet girl, it's time to wake up."

… … …

When I awoke this time, I stared once more into the Hero's blue eyes, but this time they were filled with a mix of concern and exhaustion. When he didn't start his normal banter I became nervous and tried to sit up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were-"

His warning came too late. A wave of nausea hit me, and only by allowing him to guide me to the side did I manage to not throw up on either myself or him.

"My medicine…" That was all I managed to get out before another wave hit. Despite the violent retchings burning through my chest, I could feel a tender hand on my back attempting to soothe me through it all. When I felt it ending, I leaned back against a firm body. A cool cloth dabbed my forehead as I felt my world starting to right itself. "Medicine…" I whispered again, hoping he would understand.

"What medicine?" he asked.

"Medicine," I said lamely again. I didn't know how to explain it to him; I had been taking it for as long as I could remember. Without it, I was going to die. "Go back. Need it."

"Who told you that you needed it?" he asked softly, still dabbing the cool compress on my forehead.

Good question. Who had first diagnosed me with this condition? Had they ever said exactly what it was? Sooga had been scolding me to take the medicinal tonic since I had been assigned to him, but he wasn't the only one, right?

"I don't think this 'medicine' you are asking for is really helping you, Yiga," he said without waiting for my response. "You are showing symptoms of withdrawal, not an illness. I think they've been drugging you and using it to weaken and control you."

"Who's they?"

Gone were his usual quips and jokes. His non-answer made it very clear exactly to whom he was referring.

"Drink this," he said instead, and I felt something lightly touching my lips. I was about to protest, but I trusted that he wouldn't kill me after all of this. The cool drink must have been some sort of healing tonic. Almost instantly it flowed through me, restoring and repairing every part of my body. For the first time in years, I felt awake and alive, and I could have run for miles were I not tethered to the insufferable being beside me.

"What did you give me?"

"It's an elixir to help ease the symptoms of withdrawal," he replied. "It's effects are only temporary though, so don't be surprised if you feel poorly again. I can make another for you if you want it."

"How does the Hero know so much about dealing with withdrawal?" I asked, trying to be clever. "Are your skills connected to some sort of drug?" Until I was able to fight him in some capacity, I could at least use this as an opportunity to get information out of him.

"No," he answered, but he shifted uncomfortably. "It's because… well, um… someone very close to me went through withdrawal many times. I learned how to make this to protect him."

It was the first time he had been at a loss for words. I wanted to know more about this personal story, but I didn't press him. Looking around, I took in the scenery for the first time. It was far different from anything I had ever seen: a pool of water, greenery and flowers all around, and a giant tree with pink leaves or, perhaps, flowers. "Where are we?"

"Hm? Oh, this is Satori Mountain. We didn't make it too far from the Gerudo Highlands, but this was the safest place I could think of to stop to rest."

I wasn't really sure why I asked. It wasn't as though I had ever set foot outside of the Yiga Hideout. In the distance, a large mountain could be seen in the distance. "What's that?"

He looked to where I was pointing. "It's a volcano called Death Mountain."

"And that?" I said, pointing to something else between us and the volcano. "What's that really pointy mountain called?"

"What pointy mountain?" he stared, following my own gaze. Suddenly he laughed. "You mean Hyrule Castle?"

"Don't laugh at me!" I didn't like being laughed at, and as much as I wanted to storm away from him, the bonds connecting us only let me go so far. "Unchain me. I want to be rid of you, or at the very least, I want to go to the bathroom alone."

"I would be happy to. Just give me the key, and I will free us both."

"I don't have it. I used the manacles because they were the only thing I had in my cell. Did you not think to grab the key as you were leaving?"

"I had more pressing matters at the time. Besides, I am not the one who did this to us," he replied, making an exaggerated display of pointing to himself with his free hand. "That was all your doing, Yiga-"

"Zee!"

My sudden outburst seemed to startle him. "Wh-what?"

"Quit calling me 'Yiga,'" I snapped. "My name is Zee."

"Zee?" He blinked. "Zee?"

"Are you laughing at me again?" I asked.

"No-no!" he said, raising his hands defensively. "Is that short for something? I've just never heard the name before."

"Oh, because Link is so normal?"

He gave a half laugh and smiled. "Touche."

There was something about the way he looked at me just then that made me very aware of every sensation. He knew both my name and my face. Not even my own people could say that, but the Hero, my greatest enemy, could. I stood up suddenly, wanting to get away, but his tethered arm did not let me get far. "I need to use the bathroom."

… … …

"I JUST WANTED TO PEE!" I yelled out into the night.

Beside me, Link chuckled as he wiped down his sword, removing the countless lizalfo scales and guts that had accumulated as he had one-handed hacked his way through the lot of them. I had been protected the entire attack: helpless, weaponless, and worthless. One of the monsters had nearly taken me down, and would have if not for his lightning-fast reflexes. What's worse is the Hero had saved my life, and in the Yiga culture, that meant I had a debt to repay.

There was only one time before when I'd offered myself to another. A couple of years ago, Gee and I had been sparring, and at some point in the throws of our fighting, we lost ourselves to passion. For Yiga, there weren't taboos about sex, but affection, love was a different story, so the only rule was masks always had to stay on. Before we had gone all the way, we were interrupted by a superior. Gee was sent out on a mission, and I never saw him again. I was told he had been killed by the Hero in cold-blooded murder. Part of me was disgusted that I was about to fuck his alleged murderer.

"Wha-what are you doing?" he asked, the sword clanging heavily to the ground as I turned around to face him with my top undone and breasts exposed.

"Your reward, Hero," I said, trying to make my voice sound as sultry as possible as I moved closer to him. "A debt must be repaid. You saved my life, saved me from that lizalfo, so I'm offering you the only thing I have of value as my thanks: my body."

He looked away, grabbing something from his pouch and blindly held it out to me without turning back, refusing to look at me. "Put-put this on. Please."

A cloak? How embarrassing. "Don't you want…"

He didn't seem to be listening, his entire body turned away from me and he put as much distance as possible between us. "We need to get these manacles off."

Truer words were never said, Hero. Truer fucking words.