So, what did you guy's think of me finally having Ganondorf in the fic? Hope ya'll will enjoy his part in it. At first I was gonna give his role to his son (yeah, he was gonna have a son), but then two things came to mind that made me decide against it: 1. I already have hardly any of Nintendo's characters in it. And I figured fans want to see more of 'em. 2. I wanted him to have more of a role than just the big bad boss they have to fight at the end, y'know? I wanted him be an actual MAIN character.

Rising Dragon: Thank you, I appreciate the comment.

Risike: It leaves you thinking a whole lot? oo; Wow, didn't know my story had that kinda effect on people. I'm glad it's a good thing too! XD Yes, it would be so totally cool if Sheik was in LoZ 2005! It'd be even better if you could play as him or if he'd help you out in dungeons like the sages in tWW.

You know hoo: Yes, I know 'hoo', heh. Thanks for reading it, Katie. Glad you liked it.

Blowfish: Meh, I don't think my battle scenes are all that great really, they could be if I actually put some more effort into them.

Yeah, I liked the idea of Link coming to Zelda in a vision. I did Link instead of a sage cuz I though you guys missed the Hero so he should at least have a cameo…or will he appear again? 'insert Twilight Zone theme here'.

And…You like Miroku and Teious? I'm so happy someone likes them! XD

Wait, before you go to the next chapter, have a look at the new fic I just got up...you'll find it interesting methinks.

Anywho, hope you guys like this chapter cuz it's gonna focus much more on Sheik now. And when I'm done I'm gonna try and draw a pic of Teious and Miroku together. Oh, and one minor note: The name Teriss is pronounced like 'terrace'.

'

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Chapter Five: Retreat

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If there was one thing Teious hated, it was retreating. It never sat well with him at all, even if there was no other choice. Sometimes he thought he'd rather stay and die fighting instead of running off like a dog with its tail between its legs.

Regardless, he had fled from the battle along with Isuke and Miroku, heading to Hyrule Field instead of back to the desert. It was safer that way. They had been seen going into the desert once already, and that may have been dismissed as just a place to retreat to...but twice? Then they'd know something was up for sure there.

The guards had sent out a few people on horseback to go after the trio, but they had been able to lose the riders in the rocky valley. They sat behind one of the large boulders, contemplating what to do next.

"Well, we can't go back through Taurise," Isuke reminded them. "They'll have goons crawling all over there by now."

"What are our options then?" Teious asked.

Isuke looked up thoughtfully, and then replied, "We could travel to Zora's Domain or Kokiri Forest..."

"Or we could take the other path through the desert and go to Gerudo Valley," Miroku piped in.

All of them knew better than to bother asking 'what about Sheik?'. It was a well-known fact that he could take care of himself. They'd all end up back at the Resistance base after awhile anyway so there was no point in waiting for Sheik.

"I don't know about that," Teious cautioned. "I don't really like those Gerudo."

"Nor do they like you," Miroku replied. "But it's safe and close."

"Yeah, safe. Right."

After the Great Battle of Hyrule Field the Gerudo had sustained great losses and had gotten no pay for obvious reasons. Because of that, their relationship with the people of Hyrule had gone very sour, and now they would rather kill a Hylian than look at one.

They all sat quietly after that, everyone just thinking. Then suddenly Teious snapped his fingers. "I got it!"

"What?" was Isuke and Miroku's simultaneous question.

Teious smiled happily. "There is a tunnel in the Haunted Wastelands past Gerudo Fortress, remember? It's never used anymore but it leads back to the underground lake!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about it…" Isuke muttered. "Still, the Gerudo may have sealed it up by now."

Miroku stood up and peaked over the bolder, and then when he was sure the coast was clear he sat back down and looked at his two companions. "That is not the best of places to be going though. We'd be better off waiting for this to blow over in Gerudo Valley."

"That'll take forever!" Teious complained. "What, are you scared?"

Miroku shot him a dirty look. "No, I don't fear anything. I'm just not stupid. If we go in there we'll get lost so fast the sun won't have even come up."

"I actually think it's a good idea too," Isuke smiled.

"What!" Miroku yelled. "You're both crazy…"

"Better to be crazy than a scaredy-cat," Teious taunted with a grin.

Miroku's eyebrow twitched, but he didn't retaliate. "…Fine, we'll go through the Wasteland."

"Heh heh! Alright, on to Gerudo Fortress!" Teious laughed.

"I know I'm gonna regret this…" Miroku said under his breath.

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He could hear the sound of chains rattling... Groans of pain and misery that wouldn't cease… Crying…Praying…Cursing…

Where was he?

Sheik finally opened his eyes. Didn't do much good though. He was in a pitch-black room and his aching head burdened his ability to tell where he was without eyesight. He could feel he was chained up though; his arms and legs were both bounded, and even his neck.

He couldn't do much except sit there with his back against the wall and his head leaning back, wishing the pain in his head would go away. After what Sheik estimated was around thirty minutes, the door to his chamber opened, letting in very little torchlight, and in walked another Sheikah.

Though darkness consumed the room again as the door was closed they could 'see' each other perfectly.

"Hello, Sheik," a young female's voice said from behind the mask that covered her face just as Sheik's did. "Do you know where you are? The prison at Hyjina."

Sheik knew the place. It was a fortress that had been built on the remains of Lon Lon Ranch. He said nothing though. Just sat there and stared at her.

"Why don't you speak?" she asked.

Nothing.

"I know what you are thinking; 'Sheikah have no need to speak. We are shadows.' I suppose that's true…" she sighed. "But you Sheik…you're different. As am I."

She walked closer and knelt down next to him. "Even though you are a Sheikah…you don't know how we came to be, do you?"

Sheik didn't seem to even think about an answer; he just kept staring into her cold, blue eyes with his cold, red eyes.

The female Sheik took it as a no. "Of course you don't… you are still slightly like us. There is no reason to know our background…just get the job done, correct? Well…I'm am going to tell you.

"This may surprise you but we were once Hylians too, Sheik. Long before the Great War of Hyrule was fought. The first Sheikah was a man dedicated to the Royal Family. He was a spy and a great warrior too and his whole life was about protecting the King. Soon, he realized that there was only so much a normal human could do and sought ways to better himself to serve his King. He needed to become stronger… to move swiftly, to strike hard, to creep without behind seen.

"There was a powerful wizard who learnt of this man and helped him, through magic, to become everything he wanted to be. You know who that wizard was?"

Sheik said nothing, but he had a pretty good guess.

"Majora," said the Sheikan woman, confirming Sheik's guess. "After that Majora disappeared, leaving the new Sheikah with the power to give his 'gift' to other people. He found others who also wished to serve Hyrule as best they could and bestowed the power of shadows upon them.

"We are the way we are because of our upbringing and the genes passed down from that first Sheikah who was so dedicated to Hyrule that he changed himself completely. It…was a wake up call for me I suppose. I felt as if this hatred towards Hyrule was a curse and it had just been lifted or something."

Sheik finally withdrew his gaze from her, looking at the opposite wall. "You talk too much."

Now, if she had been a normal Hylian than she probably would have been upset that after all she said that's all he had to say to her. However, this 'wake up call' as she put it didn't seem to dig all that deep and she merely rose and walked out without another word.

Sheik wasn't really sure what to think. It could just be a trap to gain his confidence, but on the other hand he sensed sincerity in her. He sighed a mental, 'whatever' and leaned back against the cold stone that made up the wall, waiting for whatever punishment he was going to receive.

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It was no use. No matter how hard he tried Ganondorf couldn't shake the feeling. Part of himself told him he needed to go to that hidden temple, but the other part held him back, as if there was something there he didn't want to see.

Like some deep, dark secret he had forgotten and didn't want to remember.

He sat in his throne room, pondering whether he should or shouldn't go.

Well, he may as well go, right? After all, if he didn't then he might be stuck with this nagging feeling inside him forever.

Standing, he walked to the massive double doors and pushed them open effortlessly, snapping the two Hylian guards to attention.

He ignored them both, making his way down the stairs to get his horse.

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With the moon now out, it made it a whole lot easier to traverse the sand-and-rock terrain for the three warriors. They traveled swiftly over the dunes and larger outcroppings, trying to get to Gerudo Valley before sunrise.

"How long do you think it'll take to get there?" Teious asked.

"If we pick up the pace we can make it there in about two hours," Isuke replied, not breaking his sprint. "That should leave us enough time of night to sneak through Gerudo Fortress."

"Bleh, I hate sneaking around," Teious said distastefully. "Makes me feel like a coward."

"Deal with it," Miroku snapped, picking up his pace and running ahead of them both, making them start to run faster too. "We can't take on the whole Gerudo tribe by ourselves. Besides, anything makes you feel like a coward if you aren't diving head-first into a battle. It's really stupid, you know."

"Oh yeah? Well you-!"

"NOT now, boys," Isuke quickly put, trying to keep them from having an argument out here in the middle of no-where. "You'll have plenty of time to argue when we get back to the base. Besides, I'm a Zora. Being in this desert is drying me out so we need to get out of it before noon when it really starts getting hot."

The two just kept their mouths shut after that, but they both tried to out run each other to the point where Isuke was left in their dusk.

He groaned and rolled his eyes, and then made short work of both of them by outrunning them easily. "C'mon, slowpokes!"

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So, was this it? Was he finished?

Most likely not, but the Sheikah that was about to throw that big ol' knife certainly thought so.

Sheik was kneeling down in the dead grass, the strong hands of an exceptionally large moblin holding him in the position. Sheik thought that he could have passed for a troll because he was so darn big.

None of the Sheikah had gathered to watch the execution. After all, what should they care? Sure, Sheik was the one and only Sheikah that wasn't against Hyrule, but they were just doing their duty by killing him. What did it matter?

Throwing a knife into the head of the victim was the way the Sheikah had always dealt with their prisoners that needed to be killed – it was no different now, whether they were under orders from the King of Hyrule or the King of Evil.

Wasting no time, the Sheikah tossed the knife with extreme power and precision. Had the knife connected, it probably would have pierced Sheik's skull and only stopped when the blade was all the way in.

That is, if the knife had connected.

Timing it exactly right, Sheik simply cocked his head a little to the side, and the blade went flying by, right into the groin of the giant moblin.

Sheik reached back and, paying no attention to the moblin's screams of pain, grabbed the knife and pulled it out, swiftly moving towards the executioner for the kill.

The unarmed Sheikah grabbed Sheik's right arm as it came in to attack and shoved his knee up into Sheik's gut, but it didn't do much. Sheik had already sprung from the ground so the knee did little more than give him an extra push to complete the hurried jump and land behind him.

Once there, Sheik stabbed backwards, the Sheikan blade cutting through skin and muscle until finally reaching the bone, where Sheik ripped the blade out, cutting his executioner's spine in two and taking part of his rib cage in the process.

Feeling that the Sheikah wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, he advanced towards one of the buildings that he could use to get over the wall and out the fortress.

Unfortunately, several Sheikah that seemed rather intent on keeping him from leaving blocked the path, and these guys were armed. Sheik wasn't too sure if he could get through them all with only this small knife. If only it had been a larger dagger, like the one Miroku used…

But then again…it looked like he may not have to use it.

His eyes not wavering, he reached up and grabbed his bokuto as it soared through the air. Landing next to him, it seemed that the Sheikah that had visited him earlier was going to help.

Neither of them saying anything, they both rushed in to attack. Sheik got a kill quickly enough by grabbing the arm of the Sheikah in front and tossing him into two others, and then while he was stunned, plunged the wooden sword into him.

He shot a hard kick into an attacker coming up from behind and another into the kidneys of one coming up from the side, then with one swing he decapitated both of them.

More and more Sheikah were gathering and Sheik knew he wouldn't come out of it alive if he stayed to fight them all. He was good, but not that good.

Taking out another Sheikah, he pulled back then ran right up the side of one of the towers, and, upon reaching the top, he impaled the guard at the top and kicked off of the wall, diving out of the tower and completely over the wall.

He noticed that the moon had mysteriously disappeared behind the clouds all of the sudden, leaving him and the young Sheikan woman that was following him to make good use of their shadow forms - they quickly disappeared into the shadows of the cold night.

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"I'll ask you again. And if you don't answer this time, I'm leaving. Why are you leading me through here?"

Sheik wasn't annoyed, just slightly bothered that this Sheikah had lead him deep into Kokiri Forest but had not yet told him why they were traveling there.

"We are going to see someone very important."

"Okay, fine, but-"

"Shh!"

She quieted him as they entered a large clearing where the long-dead Great Deku Tree stood.

"It still looks as strong as the day it died…" Sheik remarked. It was strong magic keeping it in this state, but Sheik couldn't seem to tell what kind or where it was emanating from.

"Come," Teriss said, leading him to the base of the tree.

As if it knew they were coming, an opening had appeared that they were able to enter through.

The hollowed tree was dim with a few torchlights, and any normal person wouldn't have seen it…but Sheik could clearly see the faces of many small children peeking at him from various hiding spots.

"What the…?"

"So you brought him," came a familiar voice. "Thank you, Teriss."

Sheik's gazed moved to where the voice had come from.

Out of the shadows stepped a tall figure wrapped up in a large, baggy cloak.

"…You're the last person I expected to see here..." Sheik commented softly, his default gaze still withstanding.

The figure gave him a warm smile. "Greetings, old friend. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"