Disclaimer: If you're reading this for the sole purpose of eventually suing me, you've got way too much time on your hands. Nintendo is not mine.

Note: I apologize for the lack of any sort of action in the last few chapters. I promise that it'll start to get interesting soon. By the way, I will always refer to Sheik as female. This isn't because the one that appears in the games is, it's because this Zelda can't transform. She just wears a disguise in imitation of the original.

The Sheikah Reborn

Impa had argued for nearly an hour about how Zelda's people needed her and what a foolish decision it was to go out and fight, but the Princess didn't seem to notice. She said that she was going to go no matter what Impa said, and that the least she could do was to help her train. Impa conceded defeat and retrieved a pair of wooden swords. Zelda had wanted to use real ones, but Impa proved just what a disaster that would be by performing several blows that could easily have taken a limb if the weapons were metal.

Impa couldn't fight quite that well against the Princess anymore. She had simply gotten too good, and though Impa had a huge weight advantage, Zelda was both younger and quicker. Now it was Impa who would be losing limbs. She blocked Zelda's sword several inches from her right ear and repulsed her opponent's blade so hard Zelda was sent flying a few feet. She got up and, faster than the untrained eye could follow, rushed Impa with a stab. It was dodged, but the nurse wasn't quite fast enough and the wood grazed her side. Before Impa could react, Zelda swung her sword to the left in a blow that would have, in real life, decorated the walls with Impa's insides.

"Hehe..." laughed Zelda with a smirk. "That's the fifth time in a row I've shown you up. Will you just admit that I'm good enough to-"

Impa pulled a rupee out of her pocket and jumped at Zelda, pressing it against her throat. It wasn't very sharp, but it drew a trickle of blood. Impa was the one smirking now.

"I won't admit anything. You're arrogant, and that's exactly the thing your opponents will want to take advantage of. I could have ended your life with an almost worthless piece of currency. Just because you trust someone doesn't mean they won't try to kill you."

Impa removed the rupee from Zelda's throat, then got back into position. Zelda, however, didn't look like she wanted to fight anymore. She turned to leave.

"If anyone turns on me and takes my throat out with money, I'll leave everything to the Scrubs." Zelda laughed again, then stepped out, dropping the sword in the doorway with a clunk. Impa was a little annoyed, but she didn't have time to think about such things. Somebody needed to make sure that Zelda didn't get killed out on the battlefield. Cardoss could help, but he had an army to lead. Who else was trustworthy enough to be entrusted with the task of taking care of the Princess?

And then Impa realized.

T

Sheik (Zelda had decided to stick with the old name) was pleased. The outfit that Impa had made for her, which was an exact duplicate of the one worn by the ancient Sheik, fit perfectly. Zelda was able to produce an accent that sounded like something between an eastern mountains drawl and the voice of a female Zora. It scared the living shit out of Impa when she first heard it, but it fit the character well. Sheik was now a living, breathing entity (sort of), not just a drawing on a page in a book.

Currently, Sheik was on her way to the courtyard, where all of the soldiers that were to form the Gerudo Valley blockade were gathered. She observed the men with mild interest, wanting to see whether things were really as bad as Cardoss had said. She was thinking about this when she felt a hand touch her shoulder.

"Ze- er... Sheik, you're going to have to talk to Cardoss. He knows that you're coming, but he won't like you tagging along without checking in with him first." It was Impa.

"When you say he knows that I'm coming...?"

"He knows that a traveling mercenary called Sheik has been hired by the real you. That's all." Even when she didn't agree, Impa was always trustworthy.

"Good. And... thank you. I'll try not to get myself killed." Sheik jogged over to where Cardoss was standing and began talking with him. Impa was turned around to go back inside and found herself face-to-face with Link. He really had grown.

"Hi, Impa. Wait... that's Sheik, isn't it?" Link pointed to where she and Cardoss were still talking. "Any chance you could tell me exactly why she's so important?"

"None at all. Just do what you're told." They both laughed. Link walked away, heading in the general direction of Cardoss and Sheik. Impa laughed to herself. It was extremely unlikely that Zelda would come to harm while Link was there, and as long as she didn't want her cover blown, Link would be able to stay. Perfect.

T

Cardoss wished he had asked to bring along a few more healers. The headache he woke up with had become infinitely worse in the past hours, to the point that it was almost unbearable. He also wished that Zelda had not requested for both Sheik and Link to come. Link spoke little, but his presence seemed to annoy Sheik greatly. She had more than once suggested that Link ought to return, and once even caught herself halfway through saying that she had more authority than Cardoss. She seemed to have gotten the point, but Cardoss' head still throbbed terribly.

The soldiers, though Cardoss thought them to be undertrained, were unmatched in their resolve to do their leader's will. They needed little food and asked for no rest, though they were given some anyway. Most had horses, so the party traveled quickly over the increasingly sandy wastelands as they neared the desert. It took only three days for the group to reach their destination. The first and second were uneventful, but the events of the third baffled everyone.

A young knight rushed toward Link just before dawn, saying that he had heard the low, grunting voices of Moblins. Link grabbed a sword and left his tent, looking around for any clue that the voices were those of monsters and not of the young man's imagination. He noted some large tracks, but they could be anything. His eyes were pretty good, but with this little light it was hard to tell if anything had been here recently. Link told the soldier to keep on the lookout, but that it wasn't likely that-

The knight almost couldn't believe his eyes. Without even looking behind him, Link unsheathed his sword and raised it behind his back in a blocking motion. There was the heavy clash of two swords, then silence that was scarred only by the deep breaths of what the young man was now sure to be a monster. Link's face lost it's tired quality, instead adopting a look of grim resolve. He swung his sword around several times in motions the soldier could not follow, then, as the body of the Moblin crumpled, he yelled back at the knight to find at least Cardoss. He was then engaged by another monster and the knight bolted.

Cardoss was awakened with a start. He had walked more in the previous day than anyone ought to in twelve. He deserved, he thought, at least a good night's rest. The kid who got him up would be scrubbing bedpans or something by the end of the week, that was for sure...

"Sir! Uh... there's trouble. Uh... see... there are..."

"Spit it out, son." Cardoss didn't like the kid's fearful tone. Maybe somebody had died.

"Moblins, Sir, and plenty of 'em, too. Looks like a few dozen at least..."

"Dammit! Of all the things..." Cardoss let his sentence drift off. He didn't have time to finish it, anyway. He took out his sword and shield and left the tent, praising the divine that he'd worn his clothes to bed.

"Go wake up Sheik! She's the one getting paid for all this!"