fleets: Happy New Year! How better to kick off my 2016 writing resolutions than to submit a chapter? Also the website has apparently been suffering some glitches regarding disappearing reviews, but I was able to see them via email. Hopefully I didn't miss anyone's!

Chapter 4: Humility

Fuu had been looking forward to sleeping in and having the entire day to himself to rest after arriving to Hyrule Castle from the Gerudo village. The trip had been a long one, he'd had a headache for most of the day, and he'd had to rescue the princess herself from a dungeon. He'd gone to sleep with a cocky smile on his face; he was going to treasure the memory of seeing Sheik and Impa looking at him in shock when they'd arrived late to the rescue. Sheik thought that he'd be a liability? Ha! He'd gotten to the princess way ahead of them even after he'd gotten a late start. Ah… it had been such a great day.

But now he was tired, and he wanted to sleep past sunrise, past breakfast, and maybe even past lunch. He felt he deserved having an entire day where he could just roll around in bed and only get up when he had to.

Of course things didn't go the way he imagined it to go.

Something made a small "thock" sound sometime around dawn. Fuu wasn't sure what time it was, exactly, but he knew it was Din damned early because the sun hadn't even risen past the rooftops yet. He successfully ignored the noise, rolling over in his sheets and pulling the covers higher over his head.

About ten seconds later, the clock hanging over the bed fell on his head with a mechanical thrum, a last ditch wail as it broke from the impact. This was much more difficult to ignore.

"ARGHHH!" Fuu shouted, springing out of bed. He yelled a string of profanities when his face hit the arrow that had been lodged just above his head, and yelled some newer curses when his flailing arm hit the wreckage of the ruined clock. He stopped yelling for a minute, making sure there was nothing else that was going to bother him, and then gave one last shout and broke a vase in the corner for no other reason except that he was angry at inanimate objects.

After he calmed down, he noticed two arrows stuck on the wall. One was the one he'd head-butted after being awoken unceremoniously by the broken clock. The other had snapped the string that kept the clock on the wall. He frowned when he saw that there was a note attached to both arrows.

"Ugh, what now."

Fuu pulled the first arrow from the wall. He stumbled around in the dark for a little until he found a candle, and then stumbled around some more to find something to light it with. The sun wasn't even up properly yet: why couldn't they just let him sleep in peace.

Maybe he should have been concerned that someone had shot two arrows into his sleeping quarters. However, he had a fairly good guess on who it was from, and he was pretty certain he was right about his guess when he read the first note. "Training today," he groaned, mumbling the note aloud, "come to the castle training grounds immediately, without being seen by anyone. This is a test."

Great.

His day was off to a wonderful start. Did they always train so early in the morning? Did Sheik and Impa have no concept of 'days off,' especially after a rather excitement filled day yesterday? He ripped the other note rather forcefully from the remaining arrow. He was already scowling before he saw the message. "Good morning."

Wordlessly, he took crumpled the message into a tiny little ball and threw it out the window as hard as he could. In an awful mood, Fuu changed out of his robes and slipped on his new Sheikah uniform that he'd found ready for him in his room. It was identical to the one Sheik wore. He started working on the bandages to wrap around his ankles, fingers, and wrists, but deciding it was taking too long, he tossed them back into the bedside drawers again and ran out of the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Although Impa and Sheik may have been skeptical about Vaati's physical capabilities, Fuu was surprisingly nimble and sneaky. It was almost as though he had a natural affinity for finding paths that weren't obvious, and quickly slipping through the shadows. It could have had something to do with his Minish origins, though he wouldn't have been able to remember it. The Minish were a mythical race of creatures no taller than a thumb, and they were said to be responsible for hiding various helpful items all around Hyrule. Naturally, they were very good at moving quickly without being seen.

As soon as he left the barracks, Fuu took one look at his surroundings and quickly gauged the best path towards the training grounds. Finding a line of ivy and a barrel that could be used as a footstep, Fuu jumped up and climbed up the vines until he was on the rooftop. From there, he could see where the guards were patrolling, and anyone else he would have to be careful of. He didn't want to leave a bad impression on Impa by failing this test: this was a good opportunity to show her and Sheik that he could be relied on.

There. He saw a path he could take that would lead him up towards the outer curtains, to the inner wall, and then up and over the other side where the training grounds would be. By staying up above, all he would have to worry about would be the guards patrolling the battlements and the outer curtain. Fuu dashed across the barrack roofs, hopping from one to the other. He breathed a sigh of relief when he nearly lost his balance during a particularly long jump, but continued onwards; although he was nimble, relying heavily on magic as Vaati had made the muscles in his arms and legs rather weak.

Embarrassingly, Fuu was almost out of breath by the time he'd cleared the first leg of his path, and he had to stop and rest when he reached the walkway on the outer curtain. While this should have been a clear sign to anyone that he'd overestimated his own abilities, Fuu was stubborn. Upon catching his breath, he continued onwards down to the end of the walkway, sliding past the occasional guards by making use of the supply crates and barrels that were there. He reached the part of the wall where there was some heavy ivy overgrowth, which he could use to climb down the outer wall, and make his way towards the inner wall. He winced when the skin on his palms were rubbed raw from gripping the ivy; his skin was soft from years of not having to do any manual work, and he wished now that he'd taken the time to actually tape his hands this morning.

He was a third of the way down when his tired arms gave way and he lost his grip.

Fuu fell down, clawing at the ivy for any sort of grip to slow himself down, before he eventually fell on top of an unsuspecting pedestrian.

Smash!

"Ughhh."

"… Owww."

The pedestrian recovered first, wiggling his way out from under the Sheikah that had rained down from the skies. He was a teenager who appeared to be of similar age as Fuu, and he didn't seem to be a castle guard even though he was armed with a sword and shield. The boy was wearing a pine green tunic and a pointed hat of a similar color, rather than the polished armor of the guards. He rubbed the side of his head where Fuu had accidentally hit him, and brushed away his dirty blond hair that had been tussled over his eyes. "Ouch," he repeated, and then crawled over to where Fuu lay to help him up. "A-are you ok?"

Fuu wobbled onto his feet, steadying himself against the wall. He blinked in surprise when he finally noticed the other teen. With a disappointed groan, Fuu covered his face with his hands. "Damn it." He'd had such a good run, but he'd failed Impa's test. This… this fool wasn't even a guard. What was he doing here at this hour anyway?

"For a second I thought you were Sheik," the blond said, waving his hand towards Vaati's outfit. "I haven't seen you around before. My name's Link."

"Gufuu, Fuu for short," Fuu grumbled, still upset at himself for his failure. Then, he realized that he'd heard the other person's name before. "Link? Isn't that the name of the hero who almost defeated Vaati?"

At this, Link laughed, scratching his head bashfully. "Almost, until he was beaten by Dethl. Honestly I don't know why people keep saying I'm a hero. I barely did anything."

It was then that Fuu saw things he didn't catch earlier, like how Link's face was deeply scarred with claw marks running diagonally from his forehead to his chin, how the dark bags under his eyes made him appear more aged than he really was, and how he stood a little crookedly to the left as though his right leg couldn't support his full leg. Fuu's disgruntled frown softened a little in sympathy, but he was still upset that his test had been foiled by the wandering hero. "What were you doing here at this hour, anyway?" he grumbled.

"Couldn't sleep," Link admitted, "I haven't really been able to since… well…" he trailed off.

Since Dethl's attack, Fuu thought. He glanced up at the inner wall of the castle where he had to go next. The training grounds were just on the other side, and he probably should be heading over there rather than chatting with Link. At the same time, he'd already failed his test completely, so did it even matter?

"And you? What were you doing, climbing around the walls?"

Fuu grimaced from Link's question. It had been an embarrassing screw up, and he honestly didn't want to think about it anymore. "I was in the middle of a test," he muttered.

"Oh. Did you pass?" Link asked carefully, though he could already guess the answer from how upset Fuu looked.

"Probably not. I was supposed to get to the training grounds without being seen."

"Ah."

Now Link was looking awkward, since he'd been part of the reason that Fuu had failed, and Link looking awkward made Fuu feel awkward. Before it could get even more awkward, Fuu began to walk away in a random direction (awkwardly) so as to end the conversation. "So, yeah, guess I'll go this way."

"Hey wait," Link stopped him. Fuu tilted his head to the side, somewhat annoyed, but Link explained hurriedly, "I know you might know all of this since you're a Sheikah and all, but I can help you get past the rest of the guards without being seen. You won't have to climb any walls, either."

"I can climb walls just fine," Fuu frowned, his voice barely hiding his offense. Then, he saw Link pointing at his raw red hands skeptically. "Fine. Even though it might not matter if the guards see me or not since I failed anyway."

"Great! Thanks, Fuu, I feel bad that I screwed up your test. I hope this kind of makes up for it," Link said apologetically. "We're actually pretty close to the secret tunnels, so this shouldn't take very long."

Fuu was taken aback by Link's honest cheerfulness. The only two people he could clearly remember in his muddled memory, Sheik and Impa, only treated him with a guarded distance. He wasn't really sure what to make of Link's open demeanor.

Link led the way to a clump of bushes growing alongside the wall. They squeezed past them until Fuu could see a hatch on the ground. Link pulled it open and jumped in ahead. It was dark and clammy, and Fuu could barely see where he was going as they made their way through the tunnel. Fuu had to crouch a little to avoid hitting his head against the low ceiling, and his feet splashed a few puddles from the rainwater that had gathered here a few times. There was a strong scent of wet dirt.

"I know a lot of the passages in and out of the castle," Link explained as they continued forward.

"You're not a thief, are you?" Fuu asked, wondering why, exactly, Link knew about secret tunnels that no one was probably supposed to know about.

"Haha of course not! I just like to explore," Link chuckled. "Sometimes you find interesting things."

"Like things that don't belong to you and belong to someone else."

Link led him down a series of turns in the tunnel, and Fuu was glad that he hadn't attempted to navigate the underground maze without a guide. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to go back from the way he came. At least, not without a torch. Link seemed to have done this several dozen times before, from how comfortable he seemed to find his way around in the dark.

"You're not really like the other Sheikah that I know," Link said, "When you first appeared I half expected you to disappear after leaving me with a cryptic message."

At this, Fuu snorted. That sounded like something Sheik and Impa would do. Then, he became curious. "What do you know about Sheik?" he asked. He was somewhat disappointed in the answer, but at the same time, he wasn't surprised by it.

"Honestly, I don't really know much about Sheik at all," Link admitted. "He doesn't say much, and he mostly keeps to himself. I've only ever seen him a few times when he wanted to help me with something. Still, I can tell he really cares about Hyrule, maybe more than anyone."

"I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm an idiot," Fuu added, muttering under his breath.

"I wouldn't take it personally," Link assured him, "He's like that with everyone. I think he's just uncomfortable being around people." His tone suddenly took on a somber note. "I owe him, too. He saved me when I was attacked by Dethl. I actually don't remember much of what happened, except that I was trapped in some kind of awful nightmare. Impa told me later that Sheik pulled me out from some monsters who were attacking me while I was unconscious."

Link stopped, and then pointed at some light falling through the cracks in the ceiling above them. "There," he said, "This ladder should lead up to the training grounds. I'll leave here, so you can go on alone. Maybe you'll be lucky and they didn't see you with me earlier."

"Maybe…" Fuu said doubtfully. As the other boy began to leave, Fuu gave a small cough. "Erm, thanks."

It was difficult to read expressions in the dark, but Fuu could imagine Link's bright smile. "No problem! Good luck with your training."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Fuu made his way up the ladder, he began to feel somewhat hopeful about his test. Maybe Link was right, and maybe no one had seen him talking to Link on his way here. This tunnel seemed pretty well hidden: maybe, just maybe, he could trick Impa into thinking he'd made it to the training grounds without being seen.

He pushed open the hatch, the light from the sun hitting his face.

Thock!

Fuu froze. He slowly dared to look up towards the top of his head where an arrow had whizzed by. The cloth wrap that had been sitting on top of his head was no longer there. He cautiously peered to his left, and saw the hat in question. It was pierced to the wall by an arrow.

"I've been following your progress."

Fuu flinched at the sound of Impa's voice. Zelda's guardian dropped down from seemingly nowhere, armed with a bow. Fuu scowled at it briefly, thinking about how he'd been woken up this morning.

"You failed," Impa stated.

Fuu groaned, and then crawled out of the tunnel. He frowned when he saw that Sheik was already there, practicing archery in the shooting range. Fuu kicked away some branches that were in his way out of frustration, and brushed himself off of leaves. "Do we have to train so early?" Fuu muttered unhappily.

Impa held out her bow and quiver, motioning Fuu to join Sheik. "The situation has changed. It is much more serious than we initially believed," she explained. Then, with a heavy voice, she added, "There was an attack on the Gerudo village last night."

Fuu looked up sharply. If they had been there just a single day longer…

Impa assuaged him. "No one was severely hurt. They have good warriors there, and Twinrova are powerful witches. However, we can be sure now that there is definitely a new leader within the monsters, especially with what happened when we were attacked in the desert."

Fuu's frown deepened as he listened. He then pulled an arrow from his quiver, turning it over a few times as though wondering what to do with it. He glanced over at Sheik to observe what he was doing, since the other Sheikah seemed to be having no trouble firing arrow after arrow, even splitting some that had already hit the bullseye.

Impa continued to describe the current situation. "We only have guesses as to who this new leader is. Whoever it is, they are keeping a much lower profile than Vaati ever did. However, we have a suspicion that it's the creature that calls itself Dethl, according to Link. Previously, there had been reports that Dethl was working under Vaati, and although it was a target we intended to defeat after we had stopped Vaati, we never realized just how big of a threat it could be. We assumed that it was simply another titan, like Gohma and the Helmaroc King. Once the leader falls, titans usually retreat back to their own dungeons. The recent attacks suggest that our assumptions were wrong."

Fuu was now struggling to nock his arrow. The arrow kept wobbling even before he started pulling back on the string. Sheik had already fired at least ten shots during this time. "Why do you think it's Dethl? Couldn't it be something else?"

"It could be, yes," Impa said, her eyebrows raising somewhat from watching Fuu's struggle with the bow. "But the attack on the Gerudo was similar to what had happened to Link. The reports are still inconclusive on whether Dethl is working on its own, or working under someone new. Either way, we are now certain that there is a new threat, and we must prepare."

Fuu finally managed to keep the arrow steady on the bow. He took aim at the target in front of him. His arms shook from the force of the bow even before it was pulled halfway back. When he let go of the string, the arrow whimpered forward and flopped sadly onto the grass, not even close to the target. Fuu tossed the bow and arrows aside, frustrated. "Well, why aren't we going after Dethl then? We should be bringing the fight to them, not waiting for them to attack us."

"We cannot attack because we don't know where Dethl is." Impa walked over and picked up the bow that Fuu had tossed away. The apprentice had his arms crossed over his chest, an expression of disgust on his face. When Impa smiled, it was sly. "I am glad that you are eager to fight, because that is what today's training is for."

Fuu scoffed, waving her away. "I don't need to use bows," he said indignantly, "or even knives or swords. You saw what I did at the dungeon yesterday. I am capable of more than what anyone else can do. I should be practicing this," he snapped his fingers, an insidious glint appearing in his eyes. A gust gushed past them, knocking over a few of the target dummies and pads. Sheik looked up when his shooting was interrupted.

Impa, however, did not look impressed. She reached into one of her pouches that hung from her waist and pulled out a small apple. She tossed it to Sheik. "Alright," she said, "I will allow you to skip training," she held up a finger when Fuu looked like he'd already won, "if you can use your abilities to cut the apple in Sheik's hand. I will give you a minute."

Fuu's eyes narrowed, his grin widening. Cracking his knuckles, he pointed a finger at Sheik who was watching him lazily, the apple sitting in his hand. "Guess I won't be seeing you on the training grounds after this, Sheik," he cackled. Fuu pulled back his right hand, taking aim at the apple. He squinted for a few seconds, taking aim, and then suddenly whipped his hand forward to unleash a blade-like wave of wind. It didn't hit the apple, however, as Sheik tossed it into the air out of the blade's way. "Ha! I figured you'd do something like that," Fuu sneered. He threw a second wind-blade, and then a third and fourth.

The apple vanished, along with Sheik.

"Wha-?"

A leg struck out from under him, knocking him off balance. Fuu slammed into the ground. Before he could get up again, his hands were swiftly tied together. Sheik watched Fuu, unmoved, while the other swore profusely in a foreign tongue as he struggled to get up from the ground. After about a minute had passed, Impa said simply, "Time's up."

"That wasn't fair," Fuu spat as Sheik untied his hands. He grumbled, complaining as he got up from the ground and dusted himself off, "Sheik had it easier because the one on the defensive always has the advantage. I would've won if our places had been swapped."

"Sheik," Impa clapped twice. Sheik nodded, and then tossed the apple back to Impa. Impa handed the apple to Fuu, whose disgruntled brows were still furrowed. "I will allow you to try again, this time with you on the defensive. Prevent Sheik from cutting this apple and you will never have to come back for training ever again."

Color rose to Fuu's cheeks. With a glower, he snatched the apple from Impa's hands and glared at Sheik. "Fine. This will be easy."

Sheik didn't even need a minute. As soon as Impa gave the signal, a dagger appeared in Sheik's hands. With a quick movement, Sheik angled the sunlight, now pouring over the castle walls, so that it glared into Fuu's eyes. Fuu winced from the blinding light, and in his brief moment of hesitation, Sheik closed in on him. Once again, Sheik kicked Fuu's legs out from under him with a swift sweep, and tied his wrists so that he could no longer use spells. For the remaining time, Sheik slowly quartered the apple into neat slices with his dagger.

Fuu didn't even bother yelling this time. He spent the time on his ground silently glaring at the tufts of grass in front of his face.

"You see," Impa said while Sheik helped Fuu get out of his binds again, "fighting isn't about being fancy, and it isn't about being fair. It is about being efficient, and using every advantage. Every edge. While your magic is powerful, your fighting style leaves you open to several vulnerabilities."

Sheik offered Fuu one of the apples he'd sliced, but Fuu angrily swatted his hand away. Fuu made one last ditch effort to save whatever dignity he had left. "Hmph! I bet the only reason why you want me to train using these silly little knives and bows is because you don't know anything about magic."

"Sheik."

Later, Fuu would swear up and down that a bead of nervous sweat did not roll down his nose when Impa called the younger warrior's name in that same, unimpressed way. He would also claim that he didn't quite remember what had happened.

It had been the fastest contest yet. As soon as Fuu saw Sheik twirling a piece of rope, he lashed out with a small tornado that roared towards the warrior. To Fuu's shock, Sheik spun his wrist in a small circle, and magical sigils appeared in midair. Fuu's attack rebounded with a flash of brilliant white light, back in his direction. His own attack hit him squarely in the chest, and Fuu was sent tumbling backwards until he hit the castle wall. Sheik didn't even have to tie Fuu's wrists this time before it was over.

"I don't need magic to beat you," Sheik said when Fuu regained his senses. It was the first and only thing Sheik said to him that morning, making the words weigh that much more.

It stung.

Impa walked over, kneeling next to Fuu who was still sitting against the wall, stunned by his series of, frankly pitiful, losses. "You never completed your Sheikah training, Fuu," she said gently. "There is no shame in losing to Sheik."

Fuu bit his cheek, turning away. He looked up briefly when he saw Impa's outstretched hand.

"We have high hopes for you. Come, I will do my best to train you in two weeks."

fleets: I know there's still a lot of questions that I haven't answered yet - I was hoping to get around to addressing more this chapter, but I think it'll have to wait for the next few. For instance, I didn't really talk about why Vaati would have been able to beat Sheik but Fuu couldn't do a thing, and I didn't really get to develop anything more substantial between Sheik and Vaati this chapter. Details like that, I'll address in the next chapter.

Also thank you so much to Cheza the Flower Maiden! They brought up a point about Vaati being agile because he was once a Minish, and I really liked that characterization of him!

Lastly, Link - It occurred to me that I never wrote Link with actual scars, which is weird since he tends to get in fights a lot. That has been amended in this story.

Thank you so much for the reviews! I hope I didn't miss any one's because of the site-wide glitch, but please let me know if I missed responding to yours!

Serpent Tailed Angel: Hahaha yeahhh I've been updating quite quickly! I anticipate it slowing down eventually...? (I mean there's no way I can continue this pace realistically... I think?). This story has me excited though, I keep finding excuses to write it.

SubZeroChimera: I think I might have messed up the pacing somewhere, because as soon as you said that I hit my head with a d'oh! Well, I hope this chapter amended that, kind of sort of. They don't really know what Dethl is, yet. Never encountered anything quite like it. (between you and me, I bs'd that into this chapter after seeing your comment to find a way to make it work. I think it works...? Anyways what I want to say is thank you so much for pointing that out!)
And I'll definitely keep that in mind! I haven't really been playing any DS games recently but I'll shoot you a message if/when I get the game! :)

Vesperupus: Hurray! As for the feels kit, you'll know when to get it when it seems like things are going a little too well because I clearly hate happy things :P

Flufux: You'll see who that shadowy character was soonish :) I prefer Shadow Link myself, too. I think I was influenced by the manga because they gave him a lot of personality there. Haha yeah they are! If it ever happens definitely let me know, but I enjoy the idea of it all the same :D

Cheza the Flower Maiden: Eh, I did it anyway :P I'm so thankful for my reviewers though, because I can really see what people are noticing and keying in on when they read my chapters :D
A confrontation of Zelda and Fuu would be interesting indeed ;)

AquilaMage: Ahahaha what a short story that would be! I had a kick out of reading that (thinking of Vaati rushing in, instantly dying, and Sheik and Impa come back and it's just "welp, there's that") XD
I can't wait for when I get to introduce Shadow Link! He's going to cause a storm alright.

Lord Siravant: I thought you'd like the inclusion of Dethl :) I was actually inspired by Star Wars (one of the games) for this story haha (the hype is too strong here!). That, and I also really like memory problems.

Ai Star: Thank you! It's... probably not the best idea to have Vaati walking around haha. Happy happy new year!

Reily96: Aaaah thank you! But imagine... magical wizard Ninjas. I am going to turn Vaati into a magical wizard ninja. Although Sheik will still kick his ass in ninja-ing.
D'aww thank you! I can still proudly say that you were my original inspiration to put stuff up here and write about Vaaters :3