fleets: WOW when was the last time I had 3 updates in less than a week? I haven't had this much inspiration since... well... since Rend, maybe.

I am really, really thankful for everyone's amazing responses so far! They were a delight to read, you guys are too nice to me (cries) THANK YOU

Not much really happened the last two chapters, and I guess I got impatient. Let's jump right into the action, yeah?

Chapter 3: Sworn to Protect

Fuu didn't really know what had happened in the next few seconds after Sheik had left him with only a knife to defend himself with. There were shouts mixed in with the panicked screams of horses, and then the entire caravan flipped over without warning. The world was a blur as cushions and wood and tent canvas tumbled all around him, and Fuu waited helplessly for the chaos to subside.

Eventually, he was able to get a bearing on his orientation, which he identified as upside down and slightly twisted to the right under a broken beam and dangerously close to the caravan wheels, threatening to crush him with their weight. Groaning, he dragged himself out from under the crash and tried to get a sense of what's going on. He felt something poke him in the ribs; it was the knife Sheik had given him.

He grabbed the knife not a moment too soon, because he was suddenly face to face with a row full of sharp teeth. Reflexively, his right hand shot forward, digging the knife deep into the side of the creature's face. The wolfos sprung back with a yowl, and then ran off, giving Fuu some time to clamber out and catch a breath.

He heard an earsplitting scream, and then a rush of wind blinded him. Blurry shapes whipped past him, and before he knew what had happened, the wolfos and bokoblins had retreated as quickly as they had come. Stunned by what had happened, Fuu stumbled towards the direction where he could hear voices.

"She's gone. Gone!"

It was one of the guards. As Fuu climbed over the fallen carriages and sidestepped some panicked horses, he saw two guards shouting about the lost princess while Impa and Sheik stood calmly next to them. He joined them just as Impa replied stoically, "Yes, they took her towards the mountain caves."

"It's clear they only wanted the princess. They left as soon as they captured her," Sheik recounted. "They could have easily overtaken us with their numbers if they'd wanted to kill us." Then, Sheik noticed Fuu standing there with an incredulous look on his face. The warrior ignored the fact that Fuu's face was gradually reddening. "I told you to stay put, Fuu." Fuu couldn't tell, but Sheik was inwardly relieved that Fuu hadn't decided to knife them all down in the chaos earlier.

"Why," Fuu stuttered, his temper visibly rising, "Why aren't you going after her?"

"We need to use caution," Impa explained calmly. "The way they organized themselves is a cause of serious concern. It means that it's highly likely that there's another powerful individual who is organizing them. We cannot simply rush into what is potentially a trap." She left out the detail that the captured princess was, at the brutal truth of it, simply a decoy.

Fuu's expression behind the cloth collar that covered his face was truly terrifying, and for a moment Sheik recognized that look of unchecked, raw fury. He'd seen that look a week ago, in the battle against the sorcerer… It was something to admire, the way the seemingly harmless teen transformed into someone with an aura of rage that was so powerful that Sheik could almost feel the burn of its fire. Albeit something to admire from a safe distance.

"We don't have time for this," Fuu snarled. Before anyone could stop him, he pushed his way past the guards towards one of the panicked horses. The creature whinnied in fright as he approached, but Fuu grabbed the reins and yanked them down, hard. The horse squealed, but almost by miracle, decided that fighting against the frightening Fuu was not worth dying for, and calmed down.

"I told you to stay where you are," Sheik demanded, his voice rising.

This time, however, Fuu refused to listen. He swung himself over the horse with the comfort of someone who had a natural talent in riding. "Whatever happened to doing everything in our power to protect the princess? Are those just empty words?" he shot, "If you won't do it, then I'll bring her back myself." He was about to spur his horse forward, when there was a sharp hiss through the air. Chains flew with incredible precision from Sheik's palms, and before Fuu knew what was going on, they wrapped around his body in tight coils. With a swift pull, Fuu was thrown off the horse, tangled in chains. In the meantime, Impa had quickly taken control of Fuu's horse, mounting it swiftly.

"Sheik, I will be up ahead," Impa announced, and then took off in the direction of the wolfos riders.

Sheik nodded once, and then returned his gaze towards the stunned Fuu, who appeared to be more in shock now than anger. "We did not say we will not go after the princess," Sheik explained slowly, tightening Fuu's chains so that he could no longer wiggle his way out of them. "To run blindly into a fight is arrogant and foolish."

Sheik left Fuu on the ground with some bewildered soldiers, and found another horse of his own to chase after Impa. Upon realizing that he was going to be left behind on the rescue mission, Fuu's anger dissipated into anxiety. "Wait!" he shouted, "I'm a Sheikah! Let me save her-"

"No," Sheik brutally cut him off, silencing him. "You are a liability."

And with that, he left the stunned Fuu lying helplessly on the ground with the guards.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sheik left his horse tied to a bush next to Impa's, and then climbed up a ledge that was hanging just over the dungeon entrance. Impa was already scouting the area from above. Stone pillars lined the entrance to the dungeon doors, which were embossed with the symbol of a single imposing eye. There was no doubt about it, this was a dungeon that had been used by Vaati.

"They ran into there," Impa nodded towards the doors upon Sheik's approach. Sheik scanned the dozens and dozens of monsters that were patrolling the dungeon entrance. The sand kicked up under their feet as they moved back and forth, looking for intruders. The guards were mostly lizalfos, bipedal, lizard-like creatures armed with spears. Unlike their wetlands brethren, the desert variation had gold and brown scales which shimmered in the sunlight against the sand.

"There's too many of them. We won't win against them in a direct fight," Sheik noted.

Impa nodded again in agreement. "We will find a way around." Then, after she briefly surveyed the rocks to her left, she began to walk along the edge of the ledge they were on. Sheik followed, his footsteps light like a cat's. "How is the sorcerer?" Impa asked, quickly making her way towards a crack in the rocks up above the dungeon doors.

Sheik, noticing what she was aiming for, was one step ahead now. He dashed ahead and then leapt off of the edge of the overhang. He grabbed hold of the rocky surface above the dungeon cave. He slowed his fall, his fingers clawing into the stone, and then swung himself into the hole in the wall. As Impa joined him momentarily, he took a look outside. No one had noticed that they were there. "I left him with the guards. I think he got the message," Sheik informed Impa, and then the two continued forward into the tunnel that led deeper into the dungeon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fuu got the message all right.

He got the message that everyone was treating him like a child and he needed to prove them wrong.

At first he'd been stunned to hear that he was a liability. They thought he was just going to slow them all down. He'd had a moment of disappointment, but he didn't wallow in self-pity for too long. He'd become outright furious. How dare Sheik treat him like a child that needed hand holding. 'Fuu don't move, Fuu stay here, Fuu don't touch anything,' for goddesses' sake he could take care of himself!

"Untie me," Fuu's voice cut through the air like a knife. The two guards who had been left with the Sheikah apprentice exchanged glances uncertainly. When they took too long, Fuu snapped impatiently, "Didn't you hear me? I said untie me."

The guards hesitated. They'd seen the entire exchange between Sheik and Fuu earlier, and it didn't seem wise to listen to Fuu. Hesitantly, the guard began to explain, "But the Sheikah said…"

"And I am a Sheikah as well, so you will do as I say!" Fuu barked.

"But…"

"Now."

The guards exchanged one last uncertain glance with each other. Neither of them wanted to take responsibility for untying the angry Sheikah, but at the same time, they recognized that there were only two options: they could either incur the wrath of the controlled Sheikah, or incur the wrath of the unpredictable, easily angered (and probably more violent) Sheikah. They decided the former option was a much better alternative.

"That took you long enough," Fuu spat, rubbing his wrists where the chains had dug into his skin. He stretched his limbs, and then walked around for a bit, looking for something. He then noticed one of the guard's swords propped against a nearby cart, and then claimed it as his own. The guard began to object, but his friend shushed him. Fuu buckled the sword against his waist, and then rounded on the guards, sending them scurrying backwards nervously. "I am sworn to protect the princess," he explained to them slowly, for emphasis, "and nothing will ever stand in my way, do you understand? Nothing." The Sheikah then mounted the few remaining horses and rode on after Impa and Sheik. The dust clouds settled, and the desert was at peace again.

A few minutes later, once the guards had taken some time to process everything that had happened in the last hour, one of them turned to the other. "The princess," he wiped his brow, "the princess is in good hands," he said, his voice cracking. All the other good could do was nod in agreement.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subtlety had never been one of Vaati's strong points, and by extension, neither was it Fuu's.

Fuu didn't bother surveying the area like the two Sheikahs before him, or finding some way to sneak past the guards. Fuu came in charging on horseback, straight towards the mob of monsters, alone and armed only with a single sword.

This should have been a laughably impossible charge. What could one person do against a small army of dangerous monsters? For some reason, however, a wave of distress spread amongst the patrolling monsters. They'd never seen anything quite like the approaching Sheikah, yelling at them at the top of his voice. It was like an unexpected storm, rushing forward without warning and leaving only ruin in its wake.

"Nothing will ever stand in my way!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been about half an hour later or so when Impa and Sheik finally made it to the end of the tunnel. They had hit a few precarious areas where some serious acrobatics had been demanded to continue forward, but they had made it nonetheless. Sheik had a close call when an unsuspecting rope had slithered into their path: the deadly snakes often liked to rest in the tunneled corners of Hyrule's dungeons, and Sheik had nearly stepped on it. Even so, they had made it. It had been a slow, careful process, but they had finally made it. Impa dropped down onto the rafters of the dungeon, followed by Sheik. The captured decoy should have been brought to the final chamber, where they were now.

Sheik felt a hand on his arm. It was Impa. Thinking she'd found the decoy, Sheik looked over to where she was facing.

He was almost right. The princess was there, but someone he didn't expect was carrying her.

"Fuu?!" Sheik exclaimed uncharacteristically, breaking his cover. Below him, Fuu looked upwards to where they were in surprise. Sheik dropped down, aghast at the other teen and the unconscious decoy in his arms. "What are you doing here?!"

"Rescuing the princess…" Fuu replied flatly, as though it were obvious. His brows knitted together in confusion. "Weren't you ahead of me?" he asked.

Sheik ignored his question. "I thought I told you to stay with the guards," he reprimanded. Before an argument could start again, Impa joined them. Zelda's guardian dropped down from the rafters between the two teens.

"More importantly," she extended an arm in front of Sheik, forcing him to back down. Impa's voice took on a grave tone as she asked the question everyone was wondering. "How did you get here?"

Fuu's brows knitted together in even further confusion. He had a look on his face that suggested he couldn't believe he had to continue explaining the obvious. "I came in through the door."

"How did you get past the monsters?" Sheik demanded.

At this, Fuu finally understood their questions. The puzzlement left his face, and his eyes narrowed. A cold, faint smile could just barely be seen behind the cloth that hid his face. Wordlessly, he walked over to the main door of the chamber.

"The Sheikah protect the royal family," he said, kicking the doors open. Before them was a disquieting sight. Not a single monster was to be seen. However, the fresh bloodstains that painted the walls suggested that the monsters had died and dissipated to dust, as monsters do when they're slain. The most disturbing part of the scene was how some of the blood went up towards the ceiling; a testament to the brutality of the fight that had happened here. Well, no, this had been no fight.

It had been a slaughter.

"Nothing will stand in my way," Fuu finished, as Impa and Sheik stared at the former sorcerer in disbelief.

They were so in shock that no one noticed a shadow flicker along the walls of the chamber. They didn't notice anything even as the last person left, and the doors closed behind them. The shadow bubbled along the walls, and then, as though it had come to some sort of conclusion, darted towards the center of the room. Any onlooker would have agreed that the shadow was alive.

It settled around the area where Fuu had been standing moments before. Then, the shadow slowly rose up out of the ground, taking on the silhouette of a young man with a pointed hat. An eerie smile appeared where the shadow's face would have been.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Perceptive, talkative, impatient, quick to anger, and ruthlessly brutal in his methods. The dungeon traps never activated for him, and he clearly remembers how to use magic."

They had all safely arrived back at Hyrule castle with little further incident. The attack had delayed them a little and it was well past dusk, and the party was extremely grateful when they were finally able to retire to their own rooms to rest. Well, most everyone, except for Sheik and Impa. They were currently discussing what had happened back at the dungeon now that they had sent Fuu away to his own quarters in one of the empty, unused barracks in the castle.

Sheik tapped a finger on his palm as he listed all of Fuu's characteristics he'd observed in the last 24 hours. "He is too much like Vaati. I've been wary of this plan from the start, and I'm less assured now that I've seen what he can do."

Impa leaned against the wall on the opposite side, the moonlight from the window illuminating her features. She nodded understandingly. "It is prudent to be careful of him, given his history. However, we cannot deny that he is enthusiastic about protecting Hyrule's interests."

Sheik crossed his arms, and turned his gaze away to the side, somewhat ashamed to admit that this was true. Though messy in his methods, Vaa… Gufuu, had never once indicated that he held any ill will towards Hyrule and had only become upset when they had prevented him from helping. At the same time, the memory of the blood painted dungeon had been all too familiar: Fuu had used the same sort of magic he'd been capable of using as Vaati. "If he's serious about protecting Hyrule, then why did he hide the fact that he could use magic from us?"

"Perhaps he didn't think it was worth mentioning? We associate his magic with Vaati, but perhaps he does not, since he has no memory of ever being the wind mage. Did you ever bother to ask him?"

Sheik turned his head away even further. Impa did have a point, though he was loathe to admit it. To be honest, Sheik had been nervous to talk to Fuu after the incident at the temple, and had avoided any sort of conversation for the remainder of their journey.

Impa sighed sympathetically, and walked over to where Sheik was still contemplating her words in silence. She placed a hand on his shoulder softly. "I think you've been a little too harsh on the boy."

Sheik raised an eyebrow, but he uncrossed his arms a little, indicating that he was willing to listen.

"Give him a chance," Impa said, "He doesn't know that he was ever Vaati. All he knows is that he is one of us. He's very perceptive, and I'm sure he's picked up on how we treat him like a venomous snake. If this continues, he will surely become what we fear."

Impa was right, of course. She was often right, even as Zelda this was true, and that was why Sheik was always grateful for her advice.

"What he really needs now someone to guide him," Impa continued. "He needs a friend."

Sheik shook his head slowly, and then he shook his head even more. When he spoke, he was no longer speaking as Sheik, but as Zelda. "Impa I don't… I don't know how." It was true, he didn't really know how to make friends. While Zelda had an entire kingdom who adored her and knew of her name, she never really had anyone she could truly call a friend. She knew how and when to smile the right way to make people like her, and she knew how to keep conversations going and making others feel comfortable. But they weren't real friends. Sometimes, she wasn't even sure what a real friend was. Link was the closest thing to a friend that she had, but because she was always busy with her work and Link was busy helping the smithy, they spoke to each other maybe once a week if they were lucky. As Sheik it was even worse. Sheik didn't know how to be close to anyone because the only way to survive was to be paranoid of everyone. He was a spy: he couldn't have friends. Zelda's ability to make friendships was one of her biggest insecurities, and now she had to try and be friends with the last person she wanted to be friends with. And as Sheik no less.

Sheik's composure broke, and his eyes searched Impa's for any sort of clarity. All he received was a compassionate smile and words he wasn't sure what to do with. "Talk to him, Sheik. That's all you have to do for now."

fleets: We're getting there, slowly, surely. We really haven't gotten to any sort of plot yet, but I hope this chapter was a little more exciting than the other ones. Anyone surprised that I showed my cards already, regarding Fuu's more... Vaati-esque personality? I was really debating about this one, but I figured it would be a pretty boring read if most of the story was reading about some guy named Fuu who had zero resemblance to Vaati at all (except, well, his looks). I mean you must have come here for Vaati, yeah, given that my entire collection is based off of this guy? So yeah, Fuu still has all of those wonderfully awful traits that I've characterized in Vaati in previous stories. He's not very cute :D

SubZeroChimera: Thank you! I'm enjoying writing this so far (my only fear is to make this too similar to stuff I've written already). Also I saw your links! Nintendo is totally referencing Vaati ahhh! I wonder if I should play Triforce Heroes now...

Cheza the Flower Maiden: Though he forgot about all of his motivations and memories, his core personality is still there (and what an awful one it is haha)! Oh hey I really like that idea you brought up (about him being nimble), it didn't even occur to me! I might make a reference to it in the future, if that's o.k. with you (not sure yet)? I'll mention you in the A.N. in the chapter I include it in (if I forget, please yell at me!) It was nice hearing from you, thank you so much! :)

Sorceress V: Haha I don't know if he'll appreciate being called cute (just between you and me, he's adorable XD ). He can do a loooot of damage. He's still Vaati after all. Kind of.

Flufux: While memories are different, base personalities are pretty similar, and given that Vaati had a pretty awful personality, Sheik has a lot of work ahead of him :P
If you do, let me know, I'd love to see it! :D I was doodling them earlier and I just noticed that Vaati/Sheikah and Sheik is really similar in appearance if they're wearing the same clothes (like, even their bangs are the same, except mirrored).

I love Dethl for the fact that he's one of the most flexible characters in the Zelda-verse. I think yours is the first female identifying Dethl I've seen! :)
The Dethl in this story will be similar (but not quite the same) as the Dethl I introduced in Rend. I can't really say much because of spoilers, but I guess we'll get there when we get there.

AquilaMage: Ohhh he definitely still has Vaati in him. Especially the part about rushing into things without thinking (cough-MinishCapUltraFail-cough).
That's actually really helpful. So I guess I can't fail too horribly about making him OOC.

Vesperupus: Yes I did! I did the thing! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't influenced by your comment saying I should go for it :) I just hope it will be new and different enough from the gen fics I've written so far. I think the struggle will be ebbs and flows. I see Sheik as being paranoid by nature, which kind of exacerbates things. Maybe I should warn people that I'll stomp all over their feelings for a few scenes in the story :P You guys are used to my feels train by now though, yeah?