Answers to questions:

Yeeees, Sheik and Link will end up together. Just how? I can't tell that. It ruins the PLOT, PEOPLE. THE PLOT! (strikes pose)

(>> Yes, I realize sex fics have very little plot. Stfunoobokthx.)

As to the Malon lovers. No. Malon will not be in this fic.Sorry. Maybe I'll do a Malink one day? And yes, I cut Navi out of there too. I hate Navi. So. Annoying. In the game.

Nabooru -will- be in this fic. I'm following the storyline as best I can!

Posting on Suteki, of course, motivates me to write faster. So does reviewing here, but I'm not askin' for that. If you like me enough to feed me motivation, by all means. ;)

FOUR CHAPTERS in two days. Come on. That's gotta be a record, no? Let's hope I can keep this up and actually finish this thing.

Again with the dreams, again with the nightmares. Did this sort of thing never end? Would he never manage to piece his sanity together? It felt as if he were trying to gather himself up to say something, but the little pieces kept flying back apart and slipping through his fingers and mind as if they were sieves. He couldn't remember who he was or where he was going, only that he needed to do something, and that it was important.

Was he in a healing hall somewhere? The dull fire of pain in his lip and back of his head had faded into nothing and were gone. The thud of his heart could no longer be heard in his ears, and only his wrist seemed to be injured. He was underneath something warm--a blanket, maybe, and he had on no clothing, another sign that he was being healed, maybe.

But when he opened his eyes, he knew just where he was. It came in a snap of cold, painstricken realization.

"Running away from me doesn't happen very often." Ganon, the king of the Gerudos, the Dark King of Hyrule and current presiding overlord of all that existed in the land, sat on the edge of his bed, wearing a crimson dressing gown.

Wait, bed? Not torture chamber? What was this?

Yes. A real, honest-to-gods bed. He was lying on some kind of four-poster bed, and completely un-tied. His head swam, his eyes watered. He probably looked like something dragged through Hell and then revived over brimstone. He felt like it. He moved a little to release the push of the blankets on his wrist, found it was still shattered and that he couldn't even make his hand move up and down. It hurt, damnit, and he'd broken bones before but never something that hurt this bad.

His first instinct was to sprint away, anywhere. But he couldn't. Ganon would be on him in an instant. He forced the bubble of panic down into his chest and spoke.

"I got lucky," Sheik said, his voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper.His stomach flipped over, and was then stabbed through with a jolt of fear, as if fear were something tangible and sharp and really had driven all the way through him, like spearing a helpless fish. Because that's what he was. Helpless. It didn't matter if he was untied. He was as much as prisoner as he'd been last time.

A quick scan of the room revealed a large oaken door, and a curtained way that led to the inner workings of a bath chamber. In this room was simply the bed itself and an ottoman before that, and no windows. Well, even if there had been windows, the view wouldn't have been spectacular. Lava and all that.

Still trying to be cocky even when his situation was dire; yes, that was his way. Ganon's mouth twitched in an almost-smile, and he turned to the corner of the bed, laying one long-fingered hand around a post, palm curling against the wood. "No. I was negligent. One of my guards caught sight of you in that cell and didn't give it a second thought until you'd disappeared. "

Sheik thought back to the Zora male who'd given him that Farore's Wind pendant. What had become of him?

As if Ganon could read his mind, his mouth really did curl. "That Zora screamed beautifully."

Sheik shivered.

"What, no response? Not even a scarring word?" a hand came down to clasp his chin underneath a curled finger and lift his head. Bright eyes burned into his own, but he refused to look away, and merely answered: "You're a sadistic bastard. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Ganon laughed. He really actually laughed. Such a horrid sound. "Yes. It does wonders for my ego."

Sheik considered accusing him of pedophilicy as well, but then again he was eighteen now and not a child anymore. So that was null. He shook his head unfeelingly; it was as if he was already retreating into his own mind, as if his body knew what was going to happen and was preparing itself, hibernating in a sense. "What is this place?"

"This is my quarters. After last time, I think it's better if I keep a... shall we say, personal? Eye on you. There are seventeen locks on that door, each of which has a different password and is impervious to magic. There are no weapons here, and anything that might be used as one is charmed so as only I can pick it up. There are three meters of diamond-layered concrete between each wall and any cells adjacent to it. No guards are allowed here, and only Gerudo women, entirely loyal to me and wearing watch sigils. Should they leave their own adjoining quarters they will promptly combust into ashes." he grinned wickedly.

Sheik swallowed dryly, but held his gaze. Any hopes he'd had spontaneously combusted.

"Deterring those idiot patrollsmen so the Hero could make it to the temple was a bit of quick thinking," Ganon released his chin. Sheik edged to the opposite side of the bed warily, good arm braced against the mattress. "But stupid. You'll pay for that with your sanity."

Sheik couldn't help but take silent comfort, however small, in the fact that Link was safe. For the moment at least.

Ganon's smile turned into a bitter look. "He won't make it out, anyhow. I've made sure of that. Or rather, my demon has."

Sheik hissed curtly between his teeth, the only form of exhalation he could do without being in pain. "So you released that demon from the well in Kakariko."

"Yes."

"And you knew we were in the village."

"Yes. You see, I'm not done interrogating you just yet. You can't hide from a king."

"You're not a king. You killed a king. That makes you a murderer." Sheik spat the words, vile contempt bubbling up, mixed with hysteria that threatened to choke him, press every ounce of oxygen from him and leave him nothing more than a corpse.

"Ah, politics. You have so much to learn." Ganon was a presence at the foot of the bed, tall and dark and like a kind of twisted angel in a way. No, more a demon than an angel. He was something else entirely, a third category, damned from both heaven and hell for what he'd done to the land.

"And if I give you this information you need?"

"We'll see."

"You'll let me go?" Another choked swallow.

"No. But your alternative is worse."

"To withhold what I know? With all due respect, Ganon, fuck you. You're just one man. Nothing you can do to me could be worse than what you've already done." His voice was dark, flat, low. It carried a current of fear, like electricity, throughout itself. Could he do anything worse? There was always the possibility. But he had to play a bluff, pretend like he wasn't afraid, or none of his dignity could be salvaged.

There was a slow smile again, spreading across Ganon's face. "Quite the masochist, aren't you? That steel tongue is a turnoff. And you wouldn't be the first to say that."

Sheik shifted on the far side of the bed. What was he going to do now? Kill him? Torture him? Worse? It was frightening to see Ganon leering at him like that.

Sheik felt his eyelids going heavy. He'd fall asleep soon again; whatever kind of sleeping drug they'd given him it was working, damnitall. It made no sense, logically. His adrenaline ought to have been pumping, but it wasn't, and instead he just felt like he might collapse. His limbs were like iron almost, heavy and dense and useless, and he pushed himself to a sitting position with as much force as he could muster with his good arm.Ganon set one knee on the bed, eyebrow raising. Sheik wasn't used to seeing this side of Ganon, not even after what had already happened; the idea of Ganon as a sexual being was still alien to him. He backed up on the bed, aware that he had absolutely no clothes on still, and thathe was weak and lethargic.

Ganon moved slowly, felinelike, until Sheik's head bumped against the headboard and a wave of fire passed over his vision. He nearly passed out, but when he came round again found that Ganon was arched over him, one arm winding its way around him and the other moving for places it shouldn't.

"Not again," Sheik begged.

"I'll break you slowly," Ganon said as he bent forward and whispered it in Sheik's ear. "I'll do it so that you won't even know it's happened, and so that when I take what I need from you you'll give it to me without a fight."

Sheik groaned and closed his eyes as Ganon kissed him. He couldn't look into those eyes. He couldn't see that the face in front of him wasn't Link's. Link! Link… the name spiraled through his head like a mantra, like a motto, and all he could do was try and calm his rapid thoughts lest he fly away into a thousand pieces at the Dark King's touch.

He curled his knees up to his chest, pressing his arms against Ganon's chest through the dressing gown, and trying to heave him off. But it was no use. He was just too damn weak. Not to mention Ganon had at least a good foot of height on him and about fifty pounds of solid muscle. A hand parted through his knees and explored there, wandered where it felt so wrong, so awkward; he cringed and tried to twist away, but both wrists were caught and pinned atop his head without so much as a moment's pause. A moment later he heard a clanking noise, felt cold steel, a hard, irrepressible vise—

"Not this… Ganon, anything but this, please!" he was now handcuffed; his legs were pinned beneath him by Ganon's body, and he was shamed at this, even moreso as Ganon's hands roamed even more freely. His eyes were pain-filled, like an animal caught in a trap, but Ganon seemed to actually take pleasure in this. "Poor Sheik. Wonder what Impa would say? Maybe she'd rather you told me how to get into the Shadow Temple than suffer this."

"Do-n't use my n-ame," Sheik said, his voice a shell of its usual euphonious tone, breaking twice on words that would normally be easy to say.

"I'll do as I like."

Silently water pooled in his eye, and then another, until it ran down his cheeks in the form of tears. His vision was blurred. "Goddesses protect me," he said, almost mouthing the words. He wanted to be brave, wanted to be strong, but this was so much more than he could handle. He was terrified.

A hand clamped over his mouth, and the other hand continued its steady invasion of his personal space. "None of that from you. If your goddesses wanted to help you, they'd have done so already."

The guy had a pain fetish, that much was apparent. Sheik's last remark of distress was smothered in his throat by the lips that replaced the hand, even as Ganon continued to stroke him.Such a strange, musky flavor, almost as if there was some kind of sweetness to Ganon's breath.Sheik's bodywas becoming aroused now, but he continued to sob silently, a mix between euphoria and fear. He'd managed to keep his calm before, but now he couldn't hold it back.

"Shhh," Ganon said. "Just submit. You'll enjoy it if you let yourself."

More tears. A half-choked, angry sob from beneath the clamped hand. The terribly wonderful friction in his lower regions was growing and growing and soon he would be pushed over the edge. "Shh," Ganon said again in that smooth, almost calming voice, quieting him momentarily but certainly not dominating.

Whatever Ganon had on his lips, it was some kind of aphrodisiac. Sheik felt every nerve in his body awakening, supersensitive, his eyes clenched shut as his arms began to wring themselves against the handcuffs fruitlessly. His wrist, which was still broken, was caught on a part of the metal and he cringed with the pain, tried not to make any noise. His teeth clenched tightly. This time, when Ganon pushed his tongue into Sheik's mouth, he bit the invading appendage.

Blood was in his mouth; he spat it out and glared at Ganon as he retreated suddenly, drawing himself up to a full sitting position. But he didn't make any remark, merely glared and reciprocated, wiping the back of his mouth with one hand, and then striking Sheik hard across the face. Sheik saw stars for a moment before his head stopped floating.

He felt one knee press between his legs, forcing them apart. He felt two fingers sinuate between his own knees and into his cleft, covered in a kind of cold jelly. Featherlight. He knew what it was. He knew what it was going to mean, what this was a sign of… This is not yours to control, this is not yours to be shamed of, you cannot control it. The voice of reason whispered so quietly in the back of his mind it might as well have been an echo.

"You're beautiful, you know, as young men go," Ganon said softly before he took Sheik for the second time. It was rough and painful, and there was a coursing of fiery pleasure through his body intermingled with it, as before, and as Ganon continued totouch him all over. Ganon knew how to please his victims, that much was obvious, and that aphrodisiac was definitely working at his nerves. He strained against the bond, his body twisting and arching up as he exploded against Ganon's hand, then sagged weightlessly to the bed, not even knowing if Ganon orgasmed or not but feeling the dark king's weight as a lax presence on top of him. It was terrifying, to see this figure of power so vulnerable before him, and to know what he had done and what he had been a part of.

This is not yours to control this is not yours to control this

Presently Ganondorf stirred and raised his head up. "I can make this an easy process," he said, "Or a hard one. The choice is yours." His voice was like coarse gravel on Sheik's ears. "Either way in the end I will win and extract the information I need from your mind, with or without your consent. I expect you to look presentable when I next arrive. That, in case you Sheikah don't follow the common Hylian styles, means you are to bathe and dress appropriately."

He felt sick, nauseous, lying there curled up upon himself defensively, but these words penetrated his mind.

Bathe.

Dress.

What kind of sick game was Ganon playing? Was he a prisoner or wasn't he? These were not things offered to those who were in captivity; they were a luxury. Ganon caught the silent look in his eyes and merely gave another one of those knowing smirks. Damn him.

There was a reaching over his head, the sight of Ganon's navel in front of his face, and then a soft click and the handcuffs released. He was free. He curled against the headboard, dazed, and couldn't decide whether he ought to move or stay still, even when Ganon threw back on the dressing gown and strode out leisurely, as if he'd stopped in to have a cup of tea and a chat, thank you very much.

Sheik didn't move. He waited.

And waited. Not a single muscle moved, his arm cradled to his chest.

A few more minutes.

Silence.

After ten minutes and no return he slid off the bed and into the corner of the stone room, folding his knees to his chest and burying his head in his arms.

"I'm doing this for you, Link," he said to the empty room, to himself, to the walls and to the stone floors. Ganon might have broken others, he might have known all the psychological tricks in the book, but he wasn't going to break Sheik. Sheik had learned how to evade mental torture from Impa, how to remane sane even in the direst of circumstance. He would have to fall back on all his techniques to keep his own humanity now. Nothing and no-one could save him but himself. And if he had to take his own life, if he became so weak that he was a threat to Link and to the future of Hyrule, he would do it. Sheik was no coward.

"If I die," he whispered to the silence,"Forgive me."