Disclaimer: This story is pure fan fiction, and I do not own any of the characters in it. The Zelda characters are all property of Nintendo.
A/N: I am truly happy for the reviews I received for the last chapter, and first of all I want to thank you who reviewed! I read a review of one of the former chapters, and you stated that I updated each chapter really fast. Do you know why? With this story I haven't got a case of writer's block, and I'm thankful for that. When you receive so many nice reviews, it's easy to keep going on with your story. I do know almost all of the storyline, but I'm not exactly sure about the end yet.
I know some of my chapters have been really, really short, but I'm trying to change that. The song I've written down below is a song I listened to recently and thought was really, really good! So I wrote it down, since I thought it would fit in the story (L/Z romance, hint hint). **This chapter contains a few events that I would like to thank foofbunny for. Thank you, for writing about that dream in your review, and for letting me use it!**
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Chapter twelve: A plan and yet another reunion
If I could turn back time, if I could find a way
I'd take back those words that hurt you, and you'd stay
If I could reach the stars I'd give them all to you
Then you'd love me, love me like you used to do.
Zelda's POV
I could hardly believe what happened. When I started turning blue and croaked: "Impa, you're squeezing me to death!" she released me, apologized and sat down by our table, her usual expression returning to her face – yet I could see the anxious, eager look in her pale, blue eyes.
"If you weren't Royal, Princess", she stated with a mock smirk, "I would give you a good beating right now. For disappearing and making everyone more worried than you ever can imagine…"
"Impa, I can explain everything", I said hastily with a glance at Link. "But I don't want to do it here, though. Can we go to our room instead?"
"Oh, sure", she answered. "I guess the dinner can wait."
When we came to our room, I saw Impa turn up her nose slightly as she saw it. It was, after all, a room for about 15 rupees, and it had rickety wooden beds, a dirty carpet and a small, dusty window. The room was pretty dark, but I saw Link take a seat on one of the rickety beds, I sat down beside him and Impa sat down on a chair that stood beside the bed. Was she angry at me? No, probably she just wanted an explanation.
"So, Princess", Impa began, "I'm not sure if you want to explain everything yet, but you could at least assure me that you're not dead."
"I'm not dead, and I've never been", I said with a tiny smile. "I'm sorry, Impa. I'm sorry for causing so many problems, but I just did what my heart told me to do."
Impa nodded, and I was sure she understood how I felt. "That's right. So you decided to stay in the forest, am I right?"
"Yes, you're right." And then I explained everything to her, and I think I explained a few things to Link as well. Neither of them interrupted me, but it took about an hour for me to explain everything. "… and then we searched for your house, but since we couldn't find it, we decided to spend the night on this Inn", I ended my long explanation.
"I see. Now let me explain everything to you", Impa said. I nodded approvingly. "When you disappeared in the forest that day four years ago, I went back to Hyrule Castle Town after hours of searching. I could not find you, so I went to the forest again the next day, but the only thing I was able to find was a wooden basket with mushrooms. Of course I had heard of the things that lived in the forest, like giant wolves, talking trees, huge flowers and Deku scrubs, fairies and children that never grow up…"
I saw Link's funny expression and laughed. Impa shoot me a confused look. "Never mind", I said. She shrugged slightly and continued.
"Your father sent many soldiers to the woods to look for you, because His Highness was always very fond of you, Princess Zelda."
"He was? Well, he didn't exactly show it!" I spat angrily. I couldn't help it. During the ten years I had been living in the Castle, I had never been exactly happy. I couldn't remember anything about my mother, and the closest thing to a mother I had ever had was Impa, but she could never replace the caring and gentle woman she had told me that my mother had been before she died. I couldn't believe that my father had been very fond of me, either. He was always busy with his duties and never had any time to talk nor play with me. Sometimes I would even loathe him. When I did, I felt so guilty, though I didn't know why.
"Zelda… Let me tell you something", Impa said softly. I resisted against the urge to say something more, but I didn't. "You have never known anything about your mother", Impa stated. I slowly shook my head, and looked at Link. He was watching Impa with anxiousity.
"Do you want me to tell you about her?" I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Your mother's name was Veilla", Impa continued. "It's not a Hylian name, but I think it's part Sheikah. I never knew your mother's last name, but she got the name Harkinian when she married your father, seven years before you were born. She was only 18 at the time, but a very truthful and fair Queen, maybe the best Queen Hyrule has ever had… The same year as she became Queen, she also became pregnant with her first child. That child was a son, and your parents agreed to call him Marth."
I let out a gasp of surprise. My brother? I hadn't seen him in so long… The memories I had of him were happy memories from my early childhood. Marth, who was six years older than me, had loved to play and tease me. When I had been four, I remembered that he'd locked me inside the stables and hadn't let me out for a good couple of hours. I smiled at the memory, and at the same time I realized that I really missed him.
"Marth was the crown Prince, and was the one who would become King. Six years later, however, at the age of 24, the Queen became pregnant again, this time with you. When you were born, your parents never had the time to decide about your name together, since Veilla passed away only minutes after you were born. She was always a strong woman, but apparently that was too much for her. The King and I decided about the name Zelda when you were a month old, a name that fit you perfectly."
I slowly shook my head. "I can't believe it."
"I know it's hard news for you, but you had to find out eventually", Impa said. I nodded. "I know…"
"I haven't told you about the worst part yet, though", she sighed. "This is news neither of you want to hear, but you must face the facts. Your brother Marth went to Termina at the age of 16, the same year as you disappeared. When the King had been missing his both children for six months, it become too much for him to bear. Fearing that you both were dead, he decided to remarry."
Impa cleared her throat and continued: "The woman he married was born noble. She seemed to be a perfect Queen, just as Veilla had been. But we were all deceived. Her name was Rose, and she turned out to be a terrible Queen, ruling the country with a rod of iron – literally. For two long years, there weren't any hope at all, but then the crown Prince returned from Termina alive, and the Queens evil plans were destroyed. She realized that she could never have an heir to the throne with the King, since there was one already. But when Marth returned home two years ago, he also brought a young girl with him, Romani, slightly younger than you two are now. She became the Queen's favorite, and it seems like Romani really thinks that Queen Rose is her real mother. Nobody knows where she came from, and Marth has never told us…"
Right then I realized that I really wanted to see my former home again. Of course I hated to actually live there, but I wanted to take a look and see what had changed since I last saw it. When I told Impa and Link about my thoughts, I saw surprise in Impa's eyes and fear in Link's. Then I actually tried one of my old tricks to always get what I wanted.
"Impa, I want to see the Castle again, but I don't want anyone to see me. It's an order. I don't want to be or live like a Princess ever again. Understood?" My voice was firm and there was an edge in it that made even Link wince. He had never seen that side of me before.
"Yes, Your Highness", Impa said coldly, but then her grave expression was replaced by a sly smile. "You know, it could actually be kind of fun. There is a ball on the Castle next month, and all we have to do is invite you two. All we have to do is disguise you, Zelda." She thought for a moment. "I think it'll be best if you disguise yourself as a boy."
"A boy?" I exclaimed. "No, thank you. I'd never…"
"Oh, come on, Zelda", Link said impatiently. "It could be fun, as long as I don't have to worry about you", he added with a smirk.
"I own some old Sheikah clothes", Impa explained. "And I think they're your size, too. We'll use them and a little magic, and tell everyone you're my nephew or something like that. Nobody will suspect anything at all."
"No, I don't want to do it. What if someone found out…?"
"They won't. You're even more stubborn than me", Link said teasingly.
"I am not!"
"Yes, you are!"
"I'm not more stubborn than you are! Remember that time with the Deku scrub?"
"So? It wasn't my fault! Remember when you climbed that tree -"
"Don't remind me of it. And I'm not going!"
"Oh yeah? I think I can change your mind. Impa, you want to hear about that time when she would sneak inside Mido's house and she accidentally -"
"Fine."
"What?"
"I'm going. Now shut up."
I could see the amusement in his blue eyes as he laughed at me. I laughed as well. Even Impa had a gleeful look on her face, a look that was seldom seen.
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"Ryla? What's with you today? You've been peering out through that window for some minutes now."
"I'm sorry, Mother, but I think we have a visitor."
"Really? Who could that possibly be?" Esthe Shakin, a tense, old woman with hair that once had been almost black and heavenly blue eyes, was lying in her bed, watching her oldest daughter, Ryla, now 42 years old, sewing a new dress for Weal, her seventeen year old daughter. Ryla's husband, Tato, was at his work as a guard in Hyrule Castle. They were Sheikahs, after all, and it was a Sheikah's duty to serve Hyrule's Royal family, even the small children knew that. But Ryla had not had a job ever, since she had to stay at home and take care of her sick mother.
Well, Esthe wasn't Ryla's real mother, but she had adopted her when she had been about four years old, and since Ryla didn't know anything about her real family, she had called Esthe her mother in her entire life. Esthe was almost seventy years old, and she had been sick for many years now. Nobody knew which disease it was, but it was serious, and Esthe hadn't left the bed for many months now.
"I don't know", Ryla said, looking out through the window. She was sitting in a rocking-chair next to it. "Weal, please go and open the door."
"Okay, Mom", the young girl said, put away the book she had been reading, and went to open the door. She flinched at the sight of the woman before her. She was taller than any woman Weal had ever seen, with pale, blue eyes and grey hair, which was pulled back into a hard ponytail. She seemed to be around the age of fifty. She was armoured, but she was clearly a Sheikah. When she reached out a hand, Weal hesitantly took it.
"Good morning", the tall woman said, her voice tense, but not unkind.
"Good morning", Weal responded politely. "Who might you be?"
"My name is Impa Shakin", the woman answered. "I'm looking for the Shakin family in this village. Is this the right house?"
"Yes, it is", Weal said. "My name is Weal."
"It's nice to meet you, Weal. Are your parents at home?"
"Yes, my Mother is, but my Father is at work."
"I see. I really want to talk with your Mother, if it's not too much trouble."
"I'll get her for you. Please sit down in the living room and wait for her."
Impa took a seat in one of the comfortable sofas, and glanced around the room. A crackling fire was burning in the fireplace, spreading a pleasant warmth in the room. She looked at the pictures that hung on the wall above the fireplace, one person in each frame, some smiling, and other faces grave and emotionless… What had happened to those people? What had their names been? Had they been happy, or felt like they were going through hell each day? She wanted to ask them if they knew anything about her lost family, but then she realized that they were just pictures…
"Hello, my name is Ryla. May I help you?" Impa snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the woman who was standing before her, took her hand and shook it in a firm handshake.
"My name is Impa. I've come here to… I've come here because I really need to talk to you." Ryla nodded, unsure of what to do or say. She took a seat in an armchair just opposite Impa. The elder woman noticed her light brown hair and glittering, blue eyes, and she felt as though she had seen those eyes somewhere before…
Her mother's eyes. Threa's eyes. Her own eyes.
This had to be her own sister sitting before her… But how could it be?
"I'm sorry for bothering you at such an early hour, but there is something I really need to do", Impa began. "I need to find out the truth about my past, and it might explain a few things about your past as well."
Ryla gave her a confused look, so she elaborated. "I'll take it from the very beginning, but it won't take the whole day, though. In my childhood, I lived in this village with my family. They were my father Shiro, my mother Threa, my elder brother Khiro and my little sister Weara. We were a very happy family, until the same year as I would turn ten. My mother had told us that she was pregnant, and we were all very happy about it. But Kakariko was attacked, my father died and my mother and my siblings were captured by the Gerudos."
Ryla winced and watched Impa anxiously. "That sounds horrible", she stated quietly.
"It really was. But the worst thing was that I never knew what had happened to my family."
"I see. I feel so sorry for you. I wish there was something I could do", Ryla said.
"Oh, but there is something you can do", Impa said with a tiny smile. "You could tell me about your childhood. Where did you grow up?"
Ryla looked slightly bewildered at this question. "Well… I know that Esthe isn't my real mother. She told me that she adopted me because she found me when I was about four or five years old, and she could not find my family. I can't remember my mother or father's name, if I had any siblings or where I lived, but I do remember a cold, filthy cell, and a woman with brown hair and blue eyes, who might have been my mother… I think we were imprisoned or something…"
"Listen to me, Ryla", Impa interrupted her. "This is very important to me, and for you as well. This woman was named Threa, and she was my mother. She was captured by the Gerudos when Kakariko was attacked, 42 years ago. She was pregnant when they took her, and those evil Gerudo women imprisoned her in Gerudo's Fortress. I never thought about the possibility that she could have survived the attack, but now… To put it bluntly, Ryla, I think you're my younger sister. No, don't interrupt me! Please let me explain. First of all, you have your mother's eyes, I have only seen eyes like that once before, and those eyes were Threa's. I think you were born after our mother had been taken away to the Gerudo's Fortress. The woman you described sounds exactly like our mother. She was young, with light brown hair, just as yours, and those beautiful blue eyes…"
Ryla stared at Impa with shock and disbelief. "I can't believe it", she whispered. "After all these years… Are you really my… My sister?"
Impa nodded. "Obviously I am."
"I can't believe it", Ryla said again, with a tear trickling down her cheek. Then she went over to her sister and gave her a warm embrace with the words: "Welcome home. I've missed you."
"So have I."
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"Come back here, Sheik!" Link called out, chasing his new friend, that just a few hours had been the Princess Zelda. Impa had brought some Sheikah clothes, which were in black, blue and dark purple colors. The outfit also had pieces of cloth wrapped around the wrists, the chest, the head and the face. Only half of Zelda's face was now visible, and her blonde hair looked shaggy and tousled under the cloth. Now they looked like Link's golden bangs.
The outfit had fit the young Princess perfectly, as though it had been made for her body. On her chest was a big, scarlet eye, crying a single tear of blood, the symbol of the Sheikah people. With her magic, Impa had given Zelda's skin a tan and also turned her eyes into a strange, crimson color. Then they had figured out a name for their new character. Impa had suggested Sheik, which was an old Sheikah name, and Zelda had approved. Impa had also suggested that they would call Sheik her nephew. So now Zelda was getting used to her new alter ego. She had found the new outfit a little uncomfortable in the beginning, but now she was like a different person already.
"Come and catch me!" Sheik yelled back, trying to reach a nearby tree to climb. "You'll never get- Ouch!"
He tripped over a stone in the grass and fell slap-bang onto the ground. He sat up, clutching his leg. Link started to laugh, but stopped when he received a death glare from Sheik.
"Sorry", he said. "But you looked very funny…"
"Oh yeah?" Sheik said, getting to his feet.
"Yeah", Link said, starting to laugh again. Sheik lunged at Link, who wasn't prepared, and fell backwards down on the soft grass. Thankfully, there weren't any citizens around. The two started wrestling forcefully in the grass. Link grabbed Sheik's wrists and pushed him onto his back. Sheik tried to get back up, but Link was too strong for him. Link tried to lean in and give his friend a kiss, but Sheik pulled one of his arms free and punched Link in the stomach, then leapt to his feet. Link was soon after him again.
"Just you wait! I'll get you!" Link yelled.
"Don't think so!" Sheik laughed. He spotted a small pen some yards away, quickly turned a corner and jumped over the wooden fence. He had expected to find the pen empty, but it wasn't. It was full of cuccos, and they were obviously not pleased at the sight of the strange Sheikah boy.
"Damn, why do I always get in trouble?" Sheik muttered to himself and took a step backwards. One of the birds lunged at him and started ripping at his clothes. The others followed. Sheik ran for the fence and jumped over it. The cuccos apparently didn't think that he was worth following any further, because they stayed in the pen, cackling loudly, and watched Sheik who had collapsed on the ground.
"Hey, what happened?" Link asked, amusement in his voice.
"They… attacked me", Sheik panted. "Stupid birds…"
"I think you were the stupid one", Link said with a chuckle. "If you hadn't jumped into that pen… Anyway, you should see the look of your face! I'm sure you would laugh at it, too."
"Oh, shut up. And let's get back to Impa's house, she'll probably be back by now."
A/N: I do know Sheik actually is a girl, but just to make it clear, I'll call Zelda 'him' as long as she's disguised as Sheik, just to avoid confusion.
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Flashback, 37 years ago, Gerudo's Fortress
Inside Cell number 12
Ryla's POV
"Weara, please take care of Ryla for a moment, will you? I'm feeling a little tired right now."
"All right, Mom. Come here, Ryla! That's a good girl." I felt my elder sister's arms wrapped around my waist, and I laughed as she tickled my small feet.
"Try and keep quiet", I heard my big brother Khiro hiss from his corner. "Mom's tired, and she's not feeling well, either."
Weara grew tense and I could sense that she was afraid. I couldn't believe that my sister could be scared of anything, because she was 12 years old and not a little girl anymore. My brother Khiro was even bigger than Weara, but I didn't know exactly how old he was. But I did know my sister's age, because it was the same as the number on the heavy iron door that separated us from the sunshine, the beautiful birds and butterflies and the sky that almost always was a light blue color, with fluffy little clouds that sailed over it, like boats on a vast sea… Khiro had once told me those words, and I couldn't forget them.
On the iron door was the number 12, because we lived in the twelfth cell in a strange place that was called Gerudo's Fortress. I didn't know where it was, or what it was, because I had lived my entire life – five years – inside those thick stone walls, that was so cold during winter and so hot during summer.
My sister had taught me the seasons, as well, because we had nothing to do in our home. First was Spring, the time when the beautiful birds darted through the air and chirped, then was Summer, the hottest season, when you could burn your feet on the sand in the Desert and I always was thirsty, then came Autumn, when the trees lost all their leaves and it turned colder, and last was Winter, the coldest season. Weara had told me about a strange thing called snow, it was cold and white and wet, like water, and it was falling down from the sky, but it wasn't rain.
In the cell was a small window in the wall, without glass, with thick iron bars that would keep us form running away. I couldn't understand why. Why couldn't we run around outside the walls, too? No one explained anything to me. I was a child, and my brother once told me that children weren't supposed to understand things.
"Can we play the guessing game? Can we?" I asked my sister. The guessing game was a game when we would guess how things were outside the stone walls. Weara had lived outside before I was born, and she used to tell me what it looked like, and sometimes I would guess.
"We've played that one so many times already", my sister said with a smile. "Can't we play something else?"
"Please?" I gave her the puppy eyes, which always worked on her.
"All right. You can begin. What do you think is outside this Fortress?"
"I know! I know! You've told me." I tried to find the right words. "There is a deep, deep valley with very high mountains around. And there is a deep river floating on the bottom. And there is a bridge leading over the valley, and you have to be careful to not fall down into the river."
"That's right. I saw that river when we arrived to this place", Weara told me. "We came here in a horse-drawn carriage, and when we went over the bridge, I was very afraid."
"For what?" I looked at her with big, blue eyes. I loved listening when she told me these things.
"Falling down the hundreds of foots down into the river", she said quietly. "And I thought: If I was a bird, a black raven, a big eagle or a white gull, I would fly down to the river and down the canyon, to see what's hidden beyond the rocks."
Sometimes I hated being so small and defenceless. When those women came, women with red hair and evil eyes, I felt that I hated them, too. They had the keys to our cell, and they could have let us out, but they didn't.
One day, in the late spring, the women came, jangling with the big, bronze keys, and told my mother, Threa, that we would go for a little trip. They took my mother, my brother and my sister, but they left me behind. I would never fully understand what they did to the ones I loved, but after about an hour they came back and took me with them. I had never been outside our prison before, and I was amazed at the sight. Everything was so big! The ride to the valley that my siblings had told me about was just as amazing, though I was afraid what the red haired women would do.
"What about the kid?" one of them said. Another one shrugged. "I don't know. Throw it into the river. Or shall we treat it like the others?"
"It's just a little kid, like four years or something. Who would care what happened to it? I wouldn't." They laughed, a sound that really scared me.
"Me neither. Whatever, throw it down into the river. It will never survive the fall."
They laughed again and one of them goaded her horse close to the edge of the cliff. She held me by my short, dirty dress, and I could easily look down at the river, and I turned all dizzy at the sight. A part of me wanted to cry, run to my mommy and let her comfort me, another part wanted to resist, refuse to let the woman release the grip on me, wanted to fight…
I bit her. Bit deep down into one of her fingers. Of course that was one of the dumbest things I could have done, but I didn't realize that when I did it, though. She yelped with pain and at the sight of the blood, which was now trickling down her palm. She did what I wanted; released me. I fell. Fell. Fell. Then my back hit the water surface, I felt the freezing water cover my body, making it feel all numb and cold. I slowly lost my consciousness, my life force running from my body like sand running through an hourglass.
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A/N: There's chapter 12! I can't believe I've written so many chapters already, it feels as though I started this story just recently! I'm really happy for the positive and encouraging reviews I've received so far. I have no idea how long this story will be, but I'm already planning on Part 2 of it. But that depends if you want another part or not. More about that in the coming chapters!
Was this chapter all boring? Don't worry, I'm already working with chapter 13, which will, of course, contain the ball! Another thanks to foofbunny here, I'm glad I could use it. You'll see how it turns out in a few days, or maybe a week, it depends on how fast I can write the chapter. My school starts on Thursday, so I might not update until next weekend. Please review!
..::Hylian Heroine::..