DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Zelda games or the Zelda characters, so don't
sue me.
I should really, really be updating my other fics right now. I mean, I can barely find the motivation to update them, let alone start a new one. Still, I've been kicking this idea around for too long to not write it. And, its about time that I posted a serious Zelda fic. ^_^ So, anyways, enjoy!
Warnings: Not too many for this chapter, a little violence, and painful sounding things.
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Link had been missing for four years.
The last time Zelda had seen him was that day four years ago when she gave him back the Ocarina of Time. Four years. Four years, subjectively, since Ganon had been sealed and time had been restored to its normal flow.
Where did the hero go?
Where have all the heroes gone?
Zelda was nearly the age now that she had been four years ago. 16. In the old timeline of things, Sheik had been roaming the land for four years. Now, though, this was another time and another life. Sheik had roamed a land rotted with the treachery of the one ruling. Sheik wasn't a princess trapped in a gilded cage during those four years. Sheik was a hero; Sheik was the agent of the sages, doing their work.
In this time, she was only a princess named Zelda. Zelda was Zelda and no matter how much she had risked before, she was now just a sage and a princess.
And princesses don't have adventures.
Princesses don't go out searching for their heroes. They wait quietly for them for four years or however long it takes for them to return to the lands that they saved and those they left behind.
No one outside of the castle knew she was a sage. Nobody outside of the sages, Link, and Ganon knew she bore the Triforce of Wisdom.
And nobody but Impa, and perhaps Rauru, knew that Sheik had been riding again.
Nobody ever expects the princess to save the hero.
They always expect the hero to save the princess, after all.
* * *
The boy stumbled roughly to the ground.
A small gasp of pain escaped his lips as he hit the dirt. Blood, from multiple lacerations poured from his wounds to the ground.
He didn't bother trying to stand again.
The dust of many days' travel clung to clothes which may have used to be a vibrant green. However, filth and grime and bloody stains now covered it in all the place which were not ripped. Rough leather gloves and boots were no longer the clean items which they may have been.
A sword, which he could not remember the reason for carrying, cluttered to the ground, escaping from his grasping hands.
He coughed, and there was more blood.
Dirty blond hair tickled his face.
He ignored all the aches, pains, and discomforts of his body, however.
Random images plagued his fevered brain.
("Hey! Listen! Wake up! Could Hyrule's fate really depend upon such a lazy boy?")
("A...fairy?")
("That's okay, because we'll always be friends.")
("This...all of this was my fault. Give me the ocarina. As a sage, I can return you to your own time with it.")
("Curse you Link...curse you, Zelda...")
Who were these people? Were they dreams? Were they real?
Was this...were these memories?
And he bled more.
("Oh, Epona...she's grown fond of you, fairy boy!")
("I am Rauru, the sage of light.")
("The ocarina...take it with you.")
No. Not memories, he decided.
He was sleeping awake.
("Someday, when this seal is broken...that, is when I shall exterminate your descendants!")
A monster.
There was some monster, off searching this area for treasure. Its pig-like snout was in his face. It seemed intrigued by the scent of blood emanating from the boy.
Injured animal.
A good, quick, easy end. A meal for a monster.
The boy closed his eyes, not bothering to fight back.
"Din's Fire!"
A new voice. Who...?
He opened his eyes.
A voice, a face, one he had only seen in fevered half-dreams.
Maybe memories.
("I am Sheik, survivor of the Sheikah.")
He blacked out.
* *
* *
Sheik finished quickly with the moblin.
It seemed as though the Lost Woods were full of them, these days.
Sheik turned and looked down at the urchin that the moblin had obviously been plaguing. Well, he was safe now.
And that was the important thing.
Still, there was something...familiar about that crumpled form.
And in a flash, she wasn't standing there, looking at a street urchin who got lost in the forest.
She was in a time, and another place.
Link. Watching Link fight Ganondorf from within her crystal prison...red eyes behind a mask widened...she knelt and looked at the urchin's face...
Link swung his sword, attempting to knock the King of evil's magic back at him...Sheik knelt and looked into a vaguely familiar face and moved a few locks of matted, dark blond hair out of an urchin's face...Link swung his sword too early, and was hit by the spell full force, gasping and flying backwards into a graceful curve to hit the wall...Link's crumpled form was laying on the ground...and Sheik looked into an urchin's face that she knew from so long ago...
She knew this urchin. She knew this ill, bleeding, boy who lay passed out in the Lost Woods.
The clothes, they used to be a fine green tunic with brown leather gloves and boots.
The equipment, a now-rusted sword and shield, which used to be new and used often.
The elegant, curved face. The blond hair.
The Triforce of Wisdom stirred within her. A gasp escaped her lips.
It glowed with a soft golden light upon her hand, calling to one of its sister pieces.
Weakly, with little life in it, its sister, Courage, answered.
I should really, really be updating my other fics right now. I mean, I can barely find the motivation to update them, let alone start a new one. Still, I've been kicking this idea around for too long to not write it. And, its about time that I posted a serious Zelda fic. ^_^ So, anyways, enjoy!
Warnings: Not too many for this chapter, a little violence, and painful sounding things.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Link had been missing for four years.
The last time Zelda had seen him was that day four years ago when she gave him back the Ocarina of Time. Four years. Four years, subjectively, since Ganon had been sealed and time had been restored to its normal flow.
Where did the hero go?
Where have all the heroes gone?
Zelda was nearly the age now that she had been four years ago. 16. In the old timeline of things, Sheik had been roaming the land for four years. Now, though, this was another time and another life. Sheik had roamed a land rotted with the treachery of the one ruling. Sheik wasn't a princess trapped in a gilded cage during those four years. Sheik was a hero; Sheik was the agent of the sages, doing their work.
In this time, she was only a princess named Zelda. Zelda was Zelda and no matter how much she had risked before, she was now just a sage and a princess.
And princesses don't have adventures.
Princesses don't go out searching for their heroes. They wait quietly for them for four years or however long it takes for them to return to the lands that they saved and those they left behind.
No one outside of the castle knew she was a sage. Nobody outside of the sages, Link, and Ganon knew she bore the Triforce of Wisdom.
And nobody but Impa, and perhaps Rauru, knew that Sheik had been riding again.
Nobody ever expects the princess to save the hero.
They always expect the hero to save the princess, after all.
* * *
The boy stumbled roughly to the ground.
A small gasp of pain escaped his lips as he hit the dirt. Blood, from multiple lacerations poured from his wounds to the ground.
He didn't bother trying to stand again.
The dust of many days' travel clung to clothes which may have used to be a vibrant green. However, filth and grime and bloody stains now covered it in all the place which were not ripped. Rough leather gloves and boots were no longer the clean items which they may have been.
A sword, which he could not remember the reason for carrying, cluttered to the ground, escaping from his grasping hands.
He coughed, and there was more blood.
Dirty blond hair tickled his face.
He ignored all the aches, pains, and discomforts of his body, however.
Random images plagued his fevered brain.
("Hey! Listen! Wake up! Could Hyrule's fate really depend upon such a lazy boy?")
("A...fairy?")
("That's okay, because we'll always be friends.")
("This...all of this was my fault. Give me the ocarina. As a sage, I can return you to your own time with it.")
("Curse you Link...curse you, Zelda...")
Who were these people? Were they dreams? Were they real?
Was this...were these memories?
And he bled more.
("Oh, Epona...she's grown fond of you, fairy boy!")
("I am Rauru, the sage of light.")
("The ocarina...take it with you.")
No. Not memories, he decided.
He was sleeping awake.
("Someday, when this seal is broken...that, is when I shall exterminate your descendants!")
A monster.
There was some monster, off searching this area for treasure. Its pig-like snout was in his face. It seemed intrigued by the scent of blood emanating from the boy.
Injured animal.
A good, quick, easy end. A meal for a monster.
The boy closed his eyes, not bothering to fight back.
"Din's Fire!"
A new voice. Who...?
He opened his eyes.
A voice, a face, one he had only seen in fevered half-dreams.
Maybe memories.
("I am Sheik, survivor of the Sheikah.")
He blacked out.
* *
* *
Sheik finished quickly with the moblin.
It seemed as though the Lost Woods were full of them, these days.
Sheik turned and looked down at the urchin that the moblin had obviously been plaguing. Well, he was safe now.
And that was the important thing.
Still, there was something...familiar about that crumpled form.
And in a flash, she wasn't standing there, looking at a street urchin who got lost in the forest.
She was in a time, and another place.
Link. Watching Link fight Ganondorf from within her crystal prison...red eyes behind a mask widened...she knelt and looked at the urchin's face...
Link swung his sword, attempting to knock the King of evil's magic back at him...Sheik knelt and looked into a vaguely familiar face and moved a few locks of matted, dark blond hair out of an urchin's face...Link swung his sword too early, and was hit by the spell full force, gasping and flying backwards into a graceful curve to hit the wall...Link's crumpled form was laying on the ground...and Sheik looked into an urchin's face that she knew from so long ago...
She knew this urchin. She knew this ill, bleeding, boy who lay passed out in the Lost Woods.
The clothes, they used to be a fine green tunic with brown leather gloves and boots.
The equipment, a now-rusted sword and shield, which used to be new and used often.
The elegant, curved face. The blond hair.
The Triforce of Wisdom stirred within her. A gasp escaped her lips.
It glowed with a soft golden light upon her hand, calling to one of its sister pieces.
Weakly, with little life in it, its sister, Courage, answered.