A/N: You know when you have one of those weeks where your time gets eaten up by stuff you either forgot about or just popped up? Yeah, that was my week. The fact that I posted this chapter on time is a miracle.

But hey! Zelda's back! And to be fair, this chapter is the midpoint turn of her Book 1 storyline in particular. I actually ended up rewriting parts of it just this week.

The Light Invasion

PART II - LIFT THE LIGHT

Region by region, dungeon by dungeon, trial by trial, Link and Midna build a fragile trust.

Chapter 30 - Blood of the Goddess

Sheik was in their skin again. It was the best escape from the whirlwind of Zelda's thoughts. Better to play the role of someone who wasn't helpless or sickly, who wasn't confined to this room and in love with her warden.

There was one thing Sheik did carry over from their damselled counterpart, however: the burning need for a win. Lately, all her schemes had been failures. Sweet-talking her husband into letting a doctor examine her had been a failure. Campaigning to have a few vestiges of her queenship returned had been a failure. If Sheik couldn't end the 'day' with some morsel of progress, some reminder of her husband's treachery, then how could Zelda hold onto her truth as he pried it away?

They stood before the door with another warp strip in hand. With their head much clearer thanks to Renado's ongoing cure, they no longer needed to do the complex hand gestures to ground their intention. 'Today', they needed only to dwell on the spot they wished to go: just around the corner, beyond the guard's watching eyes. They scrunched the parchment.

Poof!

The moment they materialised, there was a crack and a flash of light. From behind, someone hollered, "Hey! Intruder!"

Curses! Fabian must have strengthened the guard. Sheik whipped around. There was a soldier squinting at them, spear pointed at their spine. "Wait." He blinked. "You're no shadowbeast." But Sheik would be treated just the same. From both ends of the hallway, footsteps and jostling chainmail closed in. The soldier trained on Sheik braved a jab.

Sheik swerved caught the shaft, and with a twisting motion, they pulled it free. With the shaft, they jabbed the soldier in the gut, snapped the weapon over their knee, and ran down the hall, away from their would-be captor. The backup's shadows peaked around the corner ahead –they were about to collide– but Sheik whipped out another warp strip and crunched it.

Poof! They reappeared just behind the two back-up soldiers. As they clanged around the corner, Sheik ran for the passage to the secret armoury.

When the door shut, Sheik pressed against the wall, grimacing under the mask. They had just made a costly error. An intruder being sighted so close to the queen's chamber was bound to raise the alarm. Perhaps they'd barge into Zelda's room and find it deserted. What then? Would Sheik be arrested for their own kidnapping? Would they be unmasked as the contagious queen?

Perhaps Sheik ought to stay in the armoury until things died down, then return as Zelda with a ready-made excuse. Then again, with this kind of scare, what were the chances that Sheik might ever be able to sneak out again? They should make the most of this opportunity while they had it, thin as it was.

Last time, Sheik had learned all that everyone but Zelda knew. This time, they would dig up the secrets Fabian kept to himself.

Sheik crouched on the windowsill of Fabian's study, shimmying a piece of folded parchment between the wooden frames to lift the latch. There was a catch against the fold, and with a little more lifting, the brass hook on the inside tipped back and the window creaked inward. Sheik gingerly widened the opening and slipped into the room.

Zelda had rarely visited this place, as it was only fair that Fabian had a place of his own where he could be left undisturbed. It was the same policy she held for her own study, after all. As Sheik paced through the room, the Zelda within twinged with guilt, but Fabian's right to privacy had to be compromised if he was plotting against her crown.

It was a modest space twice the size of a commoner's bathroom, with a bookcase of thick volumes on the right and an artistic rendition of Fabian and Zelda's first dance on the left. (She yearned to smile like that again, with their hands laced together and her skirt still flaring from a twirl.)

Opposite the window was a banded wooden door with a brass bell hanging beside it, and in the centre of the room was a desk cut from the same wood, barren of all but a quill, an ink-well, and a few paperweights. That wasn't too unusual: Zelda knew better than to leave sensitive documentation lying around where any housekeeper might steal a glance, and she expected her husband to be just as careful.

Sheik traced the rim of the desk as they rounded to its front. It had been smoothed of all its dust. Well cared for. Well used. They pulled out the silk-lined chair to reveal two draws side-by-side under the surface. One held more stationary, and the other held parchment, both blank and marked. Sheik rifled through the latter to find council meeting agendas, personal notes to 'amend' legislation (which he could not implement without Zelda's signature), and executive order after order signed 'on her behalf'.

Interestingly, there was a letter from his mother within the pile. Zelda knew her little, but she was always a graceful and quiet woman, and much like her son, seldom without a smile on her face. Fabian said she preferred to speak with her fans rather than her words. She'd rather look and listen and follow the wind.

My dearest son,

The state of Hyrule saddens me greatly. Barely a year into your princedom, and you are already burdened with an ill wife and otherworldly enemies on your kingdom's doorstep. Hyrule was our ancestors' home, after all, so I cannot help but ache on a personal level.

But still, I have hope, and I rest it all in you. You have proven that you can rise above even the most cutthroat conditions with integrity and grace, so I have the utmost faith that you will lead Hyrule to victory in this war.

Ever since your marriage to the queen, I have been far more popular in the Labrynnian court, and they no longer fear my Hylian blood. Doing this favour you asked of me may take some time, but I believe I can carry through. Anything to ensure a happy future for you and all that you care for.

With all my love,

Lady Serena Lynna

Well, grouping the letter in with the paper trail for this war was slightly odd, but like every other document in the stack, it did nothing to indicate what Fabian was planning next.

His strategy of poisoning her and claiming it to be the white plague wouldn't last forever. Eventually, the palace officials and staff would wonder why Zelda had neither recovered nor died (which Zelda was willing to wait for, as long as the situation remained non-urgent). Suspicions would fester, investigations would be ordered, and rumours would spread. In its current form, Fabian's scheme was more likely to land him in chains at worst or place one of Zelda's cousins on the throne at best (and he wasn't particularly close to any of them).

There had to be some greater strategy. Some method to gain a more permanent hold on his current power, or to somehow indoctrinate his queen into his awful plight.

Sheik unwrapped their right hand and rifled through the blank sheets next, holding each one up to their exposed Triforce marking to see if there was any message in invisible ink, but no, there wasn't a single see-through blotch. They took care to replace everything exactly where they found it, but when every last sheet revealed nothing, they huffed and slammed the draw.

The surface of the desk jittered. Call it a trick of the lantern light, or Zelda's poison-addled mind, but it seemed it was as if the surface could be lifted.

And it did, but only by the width of a few sheets of parchment, as if caught on something. Sheik felt around the sides for a latch and found none, but Renado's note hidden under the soup bowl had taught them to search sides unlikely to be seen. They opened the draws again to scrutinise the strip of wood otherwise hidden, and sure enough, there were two vertical strips at the first and third quarter marks where the grain didn't quite line up with the rest. Aside from that, the latches were perfectly fitted and blended with the wood. Feeling where those patches met the underside of the desktop revealed a quarter-inch angle of missing wood.

Sheik dug their nails under the supposed latches and pulled. They popped free and came forward as far as 45 degrees. Pinching their lip, Sheik gently lifted the lid.

It stood at a right angle, held upright by brass hinges on the far end. Below it was another desktop, covered with a careful arrangement of pages torn from tomes. They surrounded an unfurled scroll of the Harkinian family tree.

Zelda had seen that central document before. It was a necessity of all noble houses, as they intermarried so often that there was an elevated risk of inbreeding. This was of special concern with Fabian, who had the pointed ears of a Hylian: an even rarer feature in his homeland. When she and Fabian had expressed intent to marry and one day bear children, they had commissioned the Hyrulean and Labrynnian record keepers to trace their ancestry to the one relative they knew themselves to share: Queen Zelda Harkinian XXXV, who ruled Hyrule almost 200 years ago in the Era of Time.

She had two children: the eldest a son named Daphnes and the youngest a daughter, also named Zelda. Daphnes was passed over for reasons still debated by historians – some said he was deemed unsuitable, others said he abdicated for love, and yet more theorised a preference for female heirs. Instead of becoming King, he married into the Labrynnian royal family. He and his sister each had their own children who had more children and so on, until Princess Zelda Harkinian XLII of Hyrule and Lord Fabian Lynna of Labrynna were born, their bloodlines separated by seven generations. They were as distantly related to each other as the average two citizens of Hyrule selected at random. Due to this, the record keepers and Hyrule's court found no issue with Zelda and Fabian's union; the prince-to-be had their enthusiastic blessing to propose.

But if that matter had long been settled, then why had Fabian hidden this family tree away like a scandalous secret?

Sheik traced the path of Zelda XXXV to her son and beyond, all the way to Fabian. By Labrynna's rules of succession, Fabian was born into the fringes of nobility, several generations removed from royalty. However, if Daphnes was suddenly recognised as the most legitimate heir, then by Hyrulean laws of succession, Zelda's crown would not be her birthright, but Fabian's.

Goddesses, was this the reason why Fabian had married her? Why he poisoned her? Why he was all-too-eager to be her acting monarch and so reluctant to return the reigns? Was every gift, every kiss, every night of pleasure and every whispered "I love you" all a lie?

No, there had to be more here. If he truly wanted the crown, then he would have attempted a coup de tat, or waged a war for it like King Ganondorf did 200 years ago, or perhaps disputed the passover of Daphnes in court. By marrying her, Fabian signed a contract that made his power conditional to their union. If Zelda was 'tragically lost to the plague', then she had several first and second cousins who would succeed her well before Fabian ever could.

But if there was one thing to learn from Labrynnian royalty and their belief in the mandate of heaven, it was that true succession was nothing, nothing, compared to the favour of the people. Perhaps that was his approach: to keep the throne empty, to stand beside it, until the citizens, the council, and the higher heirs begged him to sit upon it. What better way to win that favour than to valiantly defend Hyrule from dark forces just as Zelda's ancestors had done many times throughout history?

Sheik leaned over the desk and tilted their head to read one of the many yellowed pages surrounding the family tree. It was a passage from 'Those Who Do Not Learn From Alternate History... A Semi-Authorised Biography of the Hero of Time.'

"I wouldn't have landed the final blow on Dark Beast Ganon if not for the princess," says the hero. "When I had him down on his belly, she held him in place with Hylia's golden light.* Two strikes and a stab to the forehead, and that beast reverted back into Ganondorf, weak enough for the sages to seal him away in the sacred realm."

*Note: "Hylia's golden light," also known as "sealing magic", was also crucial to apprehending the Gerudo King in our own timeline, thus ending the Second Chance War after seven long years.

Another page was neatly torn from 'Hylia's Royal Bloodline: Broken Tradition or Dormant Legacy?'

The method to waking the sealing power is, at best, an open secret. The Hyrulean Royal Family seemed to prefer that the details be kept hazy in the public eye, likely to preserve the divine mysticism or prevent malevolent forces from interfering with the ritual. Some more cynical scholars theorise that anyone who is a direct descendant of Hylia's mortal incarnation could theoretically awaken the sealing power within themselves, but in order to preserve the legitimacy of their rule, the Hyrulean Royal Family ensured that it would only manifest within their heiresses.

There are, however, consistencies to be found in legends and conflicting eye-witness accounts of the awakening process:

1. The successful heir(ess) is always female. It is unknown if attempts were ever made to awaken the sealing power in Hyrule's crown princes, or if they ever showed interest.

2. The successful heiress is a direct descendant of Zelda I, also known as Hylia Reborn.

3. The successful heiress is also the direct descendant of the last heiress to awaken the power, who would commonly act as her personal guide.

In the case of no mother with the awakened power being present in the heiress's life, a Sheikah maid would often take on the role of the guide instead. Rumour has it that the ritual is more difficult with a guide lacking in personal experience. This is allegedly why it took Princess Zelda XXXV seven years to awaken the sealing power in both timelines.

The ritual to awaken the power involves the following:

1. Wearing a ceremonial white gown, bangles, and sandals reminiscent of the Goddess Hylia's divine form.

2. Bathing in sacred springs akin to those of the light spirits, under the watchful gaze of Hylia's statue.

3. Reciting a prayer (See Appendix 2) asking for Hylia to awaken the power within her newest heiress.

The attempts of many copycats and self-proclaimed "heiresses" have demonstrated that simply recreating the above ritual is not enough to awaken the sealing power, even if those attempting align with points 1 and 2 (which all Hylian women do). This has led scholars to believe that in order for the successful heiress to qualify, she must be a direct descendent of all previous holders of the sealing magic.

As of the publication of this edition, the last known heiress to awaken and wield the sealing power was Queen Zelda XXXV who, for reasons unknown, chose not to pass down this power to her daughter. Some theorise that after becoming the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, the sealing power became redundant, and thus the Triforce piece became the divine magic passed down through the generations (indiscriminate of sex) until the current and most recent heiress as of the publication of this volume, Queen Zelda XLI.

That was the current queen's mother, and Sheik's mentor. Sheik brushed the back of their glowing palm. It had been over a year since they (or she) sat beside her mother's deathbed, clutching her hand so tightly and receiving no squeeze of life. The moment that marking faded from Mother's hand and reappeared on Zelda's, it was clear that she had departed for the sacred realm, leaving behind her daughter at the tender age of 18. Such was the tragedy of being born to a mother in her fifties.

Some argue that without at least one heir working towards awakening Hylia's last divine remnant in the mortal realm, it would have returned to the sacred realm from whence it came. Others still say that it remains untapped potential in Hylia's bloodline. Given how Queen Zelda XXXV's female descendants now exist in the dozens, some scholars have theorised that each one of them are just as capable of awakening the sealing power as Queen Zelda XLI, and it is a race to see who will revive the tradition (and quite possibly ascend to the throne).

It all fell together then, into a single thought as resounding as the toll of a bell: Fabian asking a favour of his mother. Fabian researching Hylia's sacred power. Having laid dormant for two centuries, Queen Zelda Harkinian was as likely an heir as Lady Serena Lynna. If she awoke it, then what would that mean for Fabian's right to ascend?

But at least Sheik knew his plan, and with that knowledge came an opportunity: if Zelda awoke the power first, then she would have the means to repel the darkness shrouding Hyrule, and thus resolidify her divine right to rule.

Appendix 2 was the prayer to awaken the sealing power written in full. Should Sheik take it? Keep it out of Fabian and Lady Serena's hands? No, it was best not to leave any trace behind. If Fabian had even the slightest suspicion that someone had been rifling through his secret documents, he might do everything in his power to have his mother awaken the sealing light sooner. As long as he thought he was undiscovered, Zelda would have more time.

Instead, Sheik stole a blank sheet of parchment (he wouldn't miss it) and a few dips of ink. They copied the prayer down, blew the ink dry, folded the parchment, and tucked it up their sleeve. Then they placed everything exactly as it was before.

Just as Sheik closed and latched the wooden desktop, the door creaked open. Sheik pulled their sleeve over the Triforce of Wisdom and whipped around.

There Fabian stood, eyebrows high and lips parted, gaze locked on the intruder.

"Who sent you after my wife?"

He said it with all the confidence and distain of a judge interrogating a criminal in chains. In response, Zelda might have shrunk into her shoulders a little, and clutched her twitching hands behind her back. But not Sheik. They circled the desk with a sway in their gait, and Fabian matched their movement with a formal stride, hands behind his back and keeping the desk between them. His sharp gaze ordered an answer, as if Sheik would give one away so freely.

"How about an exchange? An answer for an answer," Sheik said coolly. "Before I tell you, answer me this: why is the queen really locked up?"

"There is nothing I can tell you that no one else could." Fabian traced a finger under the side of the desk facing the door. Did Sheik leave anything amiss? "The white plague happened to befall her at the most inopportune time: the day before the one called Zant cursed her beloved nation with an eternal night. I had no choice but to act, and for the sake of my queen, I needed to protect her from such insurmountable stress to ensure her recovery. What good is a delirious queen? What good is a dead one?"

Sheik snorted. "Strange coincidence she fell ill the day before the war struck."

"You think I haven't considered that myself?" he said. "As soon as the first report of the shadowbeasts attacking civilians came in, I had her tested for signs of poison. Nayru's love, I was almost in shambles, afraid that her apparent 'illness' was the first strike against our kingdom. Thank Hylia it wasn't."

Sheik recalled no such examination, unless it happened during one of the many hours when Zelda was fast asleep in the captain's room.

No, no, don't give the benefit of the doubt to such an obvious lie. Auru had confirmed it was poison, and the antidote to said poison had worked; it was the reason why Sheik was able to stare down Fabian at this very moment.

"Now," Fabian said curtly, "I do believe you owe an answer in return. Who sent you?"

It was only right to exchange a lie for a lie, or at least delay the truth. "Who do you think sent me? Zant? The shadowbeasts? Perhaps even the infamous King Boargorak?" They clasped their hands behind their back and laughed ruefully. "Would you believe me if I said the answer is no one?"

They stopped with their back to the door. Fabian leaned over the desk and looked Sheik up and down. "I have not heard of a single Sheikah acting as an independent agent or vigilante," he said. "They were always someone's watchdog."

Oh, how little he knew of them. Sheik tucked a finger under the hem of their left wrist, feeling the warp spell hidden there. "Then you should know…" they pinched the edge of the parchment, "that a good watchdog won't disobey their queen."

The moment Fabian's lips parted in alarm, Sheik pulled out the illusion strip and scrunched it. They poofed beyond the door, in the hall, and ran. From behind, the door wrenched open and Fabian tolled the bell. "Intruder! Intruder! They run from my study to the west wing! Do not let them reach the queen!"

Sheik's throat grated, their lungs hammered, they nearly stumbled in their sprint, and their head pulsed with pain. All around, all directions, boots thundered, spears and swords whistled through the air, and soldiers hollered to each other.

"They slipped down the left corridor."

"They jumped through the window."

"They're running along the roof."

No point hiding. Just keep running, keep dodging, keep leaping over every stab and sliding under every slash. Pray that the marksmen keep up their shoddy aim. (Seriously, who trained them?)

Sheik kept running along the rooftops with a sense of balance that had been welded into them since they were five-years-old. Meanwhile, their pursuers lost their footing and tumbled down the blue tiles. Ahead was the tower to the sewers, the door guarded by two soldiers atop a six-foot wall with spears at the ready, but their stances timid and pidgeon-toed. Skittish new recruits? Sheik drew two kunai and spun them in each hand. Several feet from the wall, Sheik hurled them at the soldiers. In the window they flinched, the kunai bounced off their chainmail, and before they registered their unharmed state, Sheik kicked in the door and rolled through, evading the spear of another guard just inside the door.

They sprinted down the stairs. The guards from the top of the tower charged after them, and those posted on every thirtieth stair thundered up to cut Sheik off. There was one way to evade the pincer attack.

Sheik dove off the side of the stairs, towards the shallow sewage water far below.

No projectiles whistled by, but many shouts of shock echoed. They must think the intruder had condemned themselves to a smashing end, but Sheik pulled from their sleeve a final warp strip.

Poofing onto the stone path in a crouch still gave a wallop to Sheik's legs, but they were able to spring into a sprint. Even with hazy vision, memory led the way.

But when they reached the corner before the secret passage to the armoury, a guard rounded it and tackled Sheik to the ground. Sheik thrashed beneath him. As his hand reached for their mask, Sheik clawed his knuckles. If not for his gloves, they'd be drawing blood. If he pulled it away, Sheik's tan, blond hair, and red eyes would melt away into Zelda's pale skin, brown locks, and blue gaze.

He fought hard to hook one finger under the wrappings. Sheik fumbled for the kunai at their thigh. Just as he was about to tear it away, Sheik struck his temple with the pommel, and the soldier crumpled atop them, out like a candle.

Sheik shoved him on his side against the wall. Zelda would have clasped a hand over her mouth, horrified to have harmed one of her citizens, but Sheik couldn't afford to care. They tightened the gauze over their mouth and nose, scurried around the corner, punched the brick, and passed through the 'wall'. It resolidified on the other side.

Safe in the armoury. Safe and sound. Sheik fell back against the wall, chest heaving and legs trembling until they slid to the floor, relieving themselves of their weight. They massaged their shins and the stitch in their side. What kind of haggard sight would Zelda be when she transformed back? Fabian must surely be ushering himself and his favoured soldiers to her room right now, and she hadn't the slightest idea how to explain herself.

Perhaps he was already there, gawping at her empty bed. He'd tear the castle apart brick-by-brick to find her and have his general of questionable character brutally punish every soldier who dared let the culprit slip by.

After catching their breath, Sheik dropped the disguise. With the wall to support her, Zelda ambled out of the armoury and stumbled into the blessedly deserted hall. She fell to her hands and knees, hissing as pain lanced through her legs. Her limbs trembled beneath her, threatening to snap like twigs. From around the corner, Fabian's scold sounded. "She's gone? How could you let them slip by?!"

"I never left my post, your highness." It was the voice of a soldier who often stood guard outside Zelda's door. "The intruder must have used magic to warp in and out."

"And you never heard even the slightest scuffle?"

"Afraid not, sir," said the soldier. "I promise you, if I heard anything amiss, I would have burst into the room and given my life to protect her. Whether I fell to the assassin's blade or the queen's plague makes no difference to me."

"While I admire your self-proclaimed dedication, you will not be given a second chance to demonstrate it," Fabian scathed. "You there! Coro of Faron, isn't it? Escort him to the general."

"Sure thing, man– Uh, I mean, yeah, Your Highness," Coro crooned.

Two sets of footsteps approached the hall where Zelda was hunched. Out of breath and out of strength, she eased herself onto her stomach, and lay her cheek upon the cold stone floor. Even with Renado's cure, Fabian's poison had won this round.

The usual guard and a tawny-skinned man with a black afro bursting from his helmet rounded the corner. At the sight of Zelda draped across the hall, they gasped. The guard hollered to the prince. "She's right here!"

"Keep your distance," Fabian ordered, footsteps echoing towards them.

He came around the corner, and when their eyes met, any sternness (or cruelty) on Fabian's features melted away with a sigh. Of relief? Of disappointment in her rebellious behaviour? Gods, she was so exposed before him, as if she had been stripped of her gloves. Her hair tussled, her face nicked, bruises creeping up her legs. She had anything but the appearance of a patient whose only crime was breaking quarantine.

As Fabian approached, as he knelt before her, as he traced her incriminating tangles and cuts, Zelda stammered an excuse she didn't have. "I was… I was…"

"Running from the assassin? I know, dear. I know."

He had given her an excuse. The perfect excuse. She swallowed hard and croaked. "Yes."

Fabian slipped his hand into hers and traced the ridges of her knuckles with his thumb. "I can tell you put up a courageous fight, my queen, even in your weakened state." How could a traitor, a schemer, say such sweet words? "If the goddesses are just, then I'm certain your assailant will be lost to the plague."

"You… won't hunt them?"

"No, the health risk is too great, but we shall keep an eye out. Everyone will know their mask as well as you do."

Zelda closed her eyes and shuddered. It was still poison. Still poison. He knew that, but gods, his response was so convincing.

"That... that eases me greatly. Thank-you."

"Anything for you, my queen. And rest assured, this is a matter I will keep you fully informed on, for your peace of mind." That was a nice scrap of improvement from this 'morning', even if he would find nothing to report.

Fabian gathered her into his arms and carried her through the halls, past the soldiers, and into her bedroom to gently lay her upon the sheets. How reminiscent of their first night as newlyweds, when he had carried her into their bed-chamber for the very first time.

And she was wrong to savour it, to reminisce – so very, very wrong. How could she after 'tonight's revelations, after that 'morning's arguments, after weeks of knowingly being poisoned by he who, at this moment, held her and caressed her and promised that she was safe with him? His scheme to replace her was disturbingly easy to forget.

He was lying again –she knew it deep down– but Nayru's love, was it a sweet lie to believe in the present moment.

Even if she knew, come morning, come his departure, she'd be left revolted. Not at him, but at herself. Did such a weak-minded queen even deserve to rule?

A/N: The Second Chance War is my headcanon for why the Hero of Time is remembered as, well, a hero in the Child Timeline. His warning was crucial, and he did leave Hyrule for a year or so, but it still took 7 years to bring Ganondorf in; something OoT Sheik and Link played a major role in.

The Mandate of Heaven is a concept I borrowed from ancient Chinese royalty, and the part referencing everyone begging Fabian to sit upon the throne was inspired by the story of how Wu Zetian came to be China's only female emperor. I'm not trying to make Labrynna out to be like ancient China, but I think it's important to give credit when I take inspiration from cultures that aren't my own. Highly recommend the two-part series 'How a Nun Became China's Only Female Emperor' by Xiran Jay Zhao if you're interested to learn more.

Well, we've definitely reached a turning point in Zelda's storyline. With only two Zelda-centric chapters left in Part II (and a few scenes between now and then), do you have any predictions for how her storyline will go?