fleets: I have to thank every single one of you who gave me feedback regarding pairings! The general idea that I hear is that I should do what makes me happy with the story, and that's exactly what I'm going to do! :D Before, I'd been trying really hard not to include any pairings because I was worried that people would hate that, but now I'm going to let the characters do their own thing, and see how it goes. If it happens it happens, if it doesn't, then that's fine too? :)

I'm sorry if this is a short-ish chapter. I admit it's kind of a filler/set-up chapter, but a really important one at that. Well, you'll see what I mean by it.

Chapter 16: Truth

It was the first time in a while where Fuu had been able to sleep in without being interrupted. His eyes opened slowly, appreciating how quiet it was. He rolled over where he lay on the floor and then stared at the ceiling while he gradually remembered what had happened the night before. He remembered falling asleep on the floor, while the princess…

The princess.

Fuu shot up from where he lay, throwing his blankets off of himself. He turned to look towards the bed where he'd left the princess, only to find it empty. He sighed, somewhat disappointedly, and then slowly picked himself up from the floor to stretch. The bed was made neatly, and it was almost as though the princess had never visited at all.

He'd panicked a little last night, when he'd realized that the princess had unwittingly fallen asleep on his shoulder. He'd considered waking her up and walking her back to the castle, but she'd appeared so tired and worn out that he would've felt bad about shaking her awake. Even when he'd laid her down on his bed, she'd only grumbled, half-awake, before falling back to sleep.

Dragging his feet towards the window, he threw open the window shades, the sun blinding him momentarily. From the way it was already at the peak of the sky, it was apparent that it was already noon. He noticed a small card on the table.

He picked it up, a tiny smile appearing on his face when he read the message on the card. It was written in an official, rigid script, but with a subtle slant and cautious curls in an effort to be friendly. "Thank you for your patience," it read. He couldn't help but chuckle, finding it endearing how the princess was businesslike out of habit, but was trying to be friendly nonetheless. He folded up the card and hid it between a dusty book that had been left in the barracks by its previous residents: he didn't really need Shadow Link making all sorts of cheeky insinuations about what had happened between them last night when he saw the card.

Speaking of which, Shadow Link was also nowhere to be found.

He picked up the blankets on the floor and pulled it towards Shadow Link's closet. He tossed it back into the closet where he'd borrowed the blankets from, but not before peering in, wondering if Shadow had returned.

It was empty.

It was strange: it was the first morning that he'd truly had to himself, and yet he couldn't seem to enjoy the solitude. Fuu looked out of the window. From the barracks, it was difficult to see the full extent of the damage the Hyrule had endured. Was still enduring. Still, he knew what the streets would look like if he'd left his quarters, and he knew that somewhere out there, Dethl was waiting to strike again. He didn't deserve to relax until Dethl was defeated; he'd promised Zelda that.

Fuu quickly got changed, washed his face, and grabbed some leftover sandwiches from the day before. He ran out the door and made for the castle. There was bound to be someone there who could give him something to do.

The Sheikah ran up the steps to the main gate and made his way inside as he finished his food. This time, there were no guards to stop him from entering the castle, as the few that remained had been stationed elsewhere.

As soon as he'd stepped inside, he heard raised voices. To his surprise, he saw Impa and Sheik arguing with each other in the center of the main hall. It was the first time he'd seen Sheik since they'd returned to Hyrule from Death Mountain.

"At least let us think of other options," he heard Impa say. From the way she reached towards Sheik, it was almost like she wanted to stop him. Sheik waved the guardian's arm away irritably.

"There are no other options. We cannot wait for another attack to occur. If the Dusk Shards work, then we can end this in a matter of days."

"Let me be the one to go, Sheik. It's safer here."

"It's no safer here than out there, Impa! The last attack is proof of that. I have to go." Sheik noticed Fuu approach them. "Hello, Fuu," he said, sounding a little irritated that Fuu had walked in on his conversation with Impa.

Sheik's attitude didn't go unnoticed by Fuu, and he threw his hands up in the air as he stormed over. "Sheik, I haven't seen you at all. Where've you been?" he demanded.

"I…" Sheik hesitated, and then shook his head, evading the question. "That doesn't matter right now."

"Are you kidding me? I've been worried about you after you ran off like that, and you couldn't even drop by to tell me you were okay?"

Sheik's eyes narrowed, and then he averted his gaze. He'd been agitated the last few days, and he'd forgotten that while he'd 'met' with Fuu as Zelda, Fuu wasn't aware that he and Zelda were the same person. In fact, Zelda hadn't been Sheik at all in the last few days. She hadn't been able to bring herself to disguise as Sheik because Agnes had died in her place. If she'd been who she was supposed to be, back at the castle, as Princess Zelda, then…

"So? What's going on?" Fuu sighed, not pressing the matter further but still annoyed by Sheik's silence.

Sheik, thankful that the topic was dropped, relaxed his clenched fingers. He further hid his face sheepishly behind his mask, ashamed that Fuu was right about everything he'd said. He hadn't been a good friend the last few days. "We're going to the Desert Temple. Today." Then, he waved his hand, motioning for Fuu to follow, and he made his way towards the doors. He ignored the voice in his head that was pointing out that, once again, he was using Fuu so that he could leave his conversation with Impa.

Impa took one last step forwards, one hand outstretched unconvincingly like she already knew that she wouldn't be able to stop them. "Sheik…" she pleaded, but her voice held reservation. She knew what Sheik was going to say.

"Impa, one of us has to stay here and make sure Hyrule isn't attacked again. It has to be you." Sheik said with finality. He said it in a way that suggested that he'd already made up his mind, but from the way he cast his gaze away from his mentor, it was clear that he wished there was another way. "If we leave now, we can reach the temple by sundown. Afterwards, we'll go to the Gerudos and ask for their help to fight Dethl; Hyrule is in no state to send soldiers right now," he explained. "If this works, everything will be over in the next few days."

Impa lowered her hand. She wanted to stop him, and was worried about his safety especially now that his identity was known to Dethl, but Sheik was right. Dethl had shown that not even Hyrule castle was safe, and their demonstration suggested that if the monsters really wanted to, they could destroy the entire kingdom with a couple of devastating attacks. They could not afford to wait.

"Did I hear someone say we're going to the Desert Temple today?"

Everyone turned to see Shadow Link leaning against the wall, blending in with the empty armor beside the staircase that led to the upper floors of the castle. He waved when he saw that everyone was looking at them.

"Shadow? Since when did you get here?" Fuu asked when Shadow Link pushed himself off of the wall and hopped over to join them.

"I saw you running off towards the castle and I followed you," he replied. Then, he noticed Fuu eyeing him suspiciously and Shadow Link wrinkled his nose unhappily. "Look, you don't ask about my night and I won't ask about yours, alright?" he muttered. He crossed his arms over his chest with a huff, making it clear that he wanted to drop the subject. Fuu thought nothing of it, assuming that Shadow Link had got what he deserved for being such a twat the night before.

Sheik made for the door, a silent glance towards Fuu to let him know that they were leaving.

"Sheik," Impa stopped him one last time, just as they pushed the doors open, letting the sunlight shine indoors. "Be careful out there."

Sheik nodded, and then returned a gentle smile, letting Impa know that he didn't resent her for trying to stop him. He knew that she knew, that there was nothing else that could be done. The doors closed, and the space around Zelda's guardian seemed all the darker when the sun disappeared behind it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sheik, Fuu, and Shadow Link made their way towards the Desert Temple within the hour. On horseback, the trip was going to be much quicker than it had been their first time travelling there in a caravan. Sheik led the way as the unspoken leader of the group, with Fuu riding on his right but trailing just enough to indicate that he was following. Sheik remembered the first time they had made the trip from the Desert Temple, travelling in the opposite direction that they were going now. He recalled how cold he and Fuu had been to each other, mostly from misunderstandings and his own trepidation that Fuu had once been the infamous wind mage.

One memory stood out to him, and that was when he'd been in the caravan with Fuu, and the other had been purposely trying to provoke him into an… honest reaction. He'd been acting coldly towards Fuu, and at first he'd assumed that he'd acted that way out of his anger towards Vaati. However, this entire experience with Fuu, and even Shadow Link, had forced him to confront sides of himself that he never really recognized. While it was true that he'd been cold to Fuu, he'd realized just recently that he'd been like this to others as well. He was always emotionally closed towards people, preventing them from getting too close and letting them see him for who he really was. It was the same when he was Zelda, too, only showing people certain emotions that were appropriate of someone of her position. Zelda smiled and socialized more than Sheik did, but at the end of it all they were both the same. Neither of them were honest about their own feelings.

He'd never really thought about this much, because no one until Fuu had confronted him about it so directly. No one called him out on his bullshit the way Fuu did. Not even Impa, who he'd always sensed had held back, too, particularly because she couldn't bring herself to be too harsh to the Princess of Hyrule. In fact, in the same way that Zelda wasn't honest to others, few people were real to her.

Few people, except Fuu. Sheik supposed that Vaati had been like that in a way, too. He didn't hold back, not with his emotions nor his words. Nothing stopped him from being who he was or doing what he wanted.

Beside him, Fuu had his gaze straight ahead towards the flattening horizon of the desert. The grass grew sparse here, and they passed fewer trees as they neared the desert. The pale Sheikah hadn't said much since they'd left Hyrule Castle, and his piercing red eyes revealed not a single flicker of emotion as he rode next to Sheik determinedly. Sheik remembered the things Fuu had said about him earlier, about how disappointed he'd been that Sheik couldn't let him know that he was okay, and about the fact that he knew that he was hiding something. In those words, was an unspoken accusation that while Sheik had claimed that he trusted Fuu, these actions said otherwise.

Shadow Link had pointed out that Sheik didn't know what friendship was. And now, seeing Fuu riding silently alongside him almost out of obligation from the way a cold atmosphere had settled between them, he knew that Fuu was upset with him, and for good reason.

Sheik looked down at his hands, tightening his grip around his horse's reigns. He was thankful that Shadow Link was also quiet, and not making any inappropriate interjections as he was often wont to do. He glanced at Fuu again, wondering if he could do the right thing for once.

"Fuu," Sheik said. He noticed a throat clenching hesitation filled with second guesses and doubts, but he forced himself to keep talking. "I'm sorry I haven't been straight with you."

"I know."

Fuu's response was immediate, as though he'd already known this. Sheik was about to sigh and end the conversation there, but then he noticed that Fuu no longer appeared angry with him. Instead, the other Sheikah flashed a smile, and it was then that Sheik realized that this was something he should have done a long time ago. "When we come back, you're going to tell me everything," Fuu grinned.

Sheik returned a relieved smile. A heavy weight over his chest that he hadn't realized had been there suddenly lifted, almost like he'd taken a breath for the first time. "Yeah. I will."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Desert Temple was just as they'd left it a little over a week ago. Had it really only been that long? Sheik thought as they tied their horses to a tree near the entrance. So much had happened since then, it felt like months had passed instead.

There were no monsters patrolling the area this time, and it was an almost peaceful quiet that fell around them as the sun began to set. They stepped inside the temple, the blood that had been spilled was now dry and gave the stone walls a rusty red color. "Well Shadow?" Sheik asked, lighting a torch to help them see the way.

"Over here," Shadow Link pointed to the wall immediately on their left. There on the wall, in plain view, was the same ominous carving of the eye.

For a brief moment, Sheik noted how unusually reserved Shadow Link was compared to his usual self. He didn't cackle as much, or grin mischievously after making some kind of irritating remark to get a reaction out of everyone. No, today he almost appeared… nervous? His gaze was lowered as though he were deep in thought, and he didn't jump into the middle of conversations like he usually did.

"You guys stay back. You might set off some traps," Sheik heard Fuu say as the other walked up to the carving. Sheik's suspicion towards Shadow Link growing, he turned his back towards Fuu and kept an eye on the shadow. While he did decide to place his trust in Shadow Link out of his respect for Fuu's wishes, there was something that didn't quite sit right with how Shadow was behaving in the last few hours. He knew the look of a cornered man when he saw one…

"Shadow…" Sheik said quietly, and the doppelganger barely lifted his chin to acknowledge that he'd heard him, "you'd tell us if there was something wrong, wouldn't you?"

Before he could get a response, there was a loud shout from behind him, and he turned around just to see Fuu fall on his knees, one hand still grasping the carving while the other cradled his head. The walls glowed red with hundreds of eye symbols appearing all across the stone before they all vanished. Where the carving once was, a corridor was revealed that led further into the temple. "Fuu!" Sheik shouted, and began to run forward to help. However, something abruptly hit him across the head, and he was sent toppling forward. He hit the cold hard floor with a loud whack while Shadow Link's hurried footsteps dashed towards Fuu. Fighting to stay conscious, Sheik crawled to his knees only to see Shadow Link grab something from Fuu's side pouch with deft fingers.

The other two shards!

Sheik gritted his teeth and pulled himself up on his feet to follow Shadow Link, but he was too fast. Shadow Link vanished down the corridor and disappeared around the corner.

Dazed, Sheik walked slowly towards where Fuu lay crouched, still holding his head. Fuu's shoulders were shaking, and his pale complexion was greyer than usual. "Hey, are you okay?" Sheik asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. Without warning, Fuu sprang backwards, hitting his hand away.

"Voice… there was a voice…" Fuu stammered, his voice wavering. He spoke in unfocused fragments, and it was difficult to make sense of what he was saying. He backed up against the wall, staring at Sheik like he was in some kind of nightmare. "And that spell I… Wrath. I'm… Wrath…"

"Come on, Fuu, we have to catch that bastard Shadow. You're not making much sense."

"N-no... you don't understand. That voice was… that voice was…" Fuu shook his head, steadying himself against the wall. "I heard my own voice in my head. I was… laughing. Wrath," he repeated.

Sheik walked over and gently shook the agitated Fuu's shoulders. "Fuu, it's okay. Whatever it was you saw is gone now. We have to-"

"Don't you get it, Sheik?" Fuu snapped, pushing Sheik away for the second time. Something stirred behind his eyes, like he could see what he had been blind to all along, "The voice was Vaati's but it was also mine. Don't you get it?"

Sheik never had time to react, because in that moment, pitch black tendrils shot up from the floor and twisted themselves around their ankles. It yanked them down into the corridor, dragging them quickly. The torches blew out from the gust, and Sheik and Fuu were brought into the darkness of the temple. The tendrils continued to drag them along the ground until they swung the two Sheikah up into the air and slammed them back onto the floor, knocking the wind out of them both.

Coughing for air, Sheik tried to push himself up on one elbow while he reached for his dagger with the other. However, something wrapped around his wrists and pinned him helplessly back onto the ground. "Shadow, if you'd triggered a goddess damned trap…" Sheik growled, trying to figure out just who or what his assailants were.

It was then that he noticed that it wasn't as dark as he'd thought it was, wherever the strange black tendrils had dragged them off to. He could make out a soft, deep purple glow not dissimilar to the color of smoke left behind by dead monsters. The glow was coming from a tall mirror in the middle of the room, but to say it was a mirror was deceiving for it did not reflect any light. A sinking feeling began to weigh heavily on Sheik when he realized that the mirror was of the same material as the so-called "Dusk Shards," and on the topmost corner of its surface was cracked and shattered. Two pieces of it had been placed carefully to restore it; it was only missing a last, third piece…

"I never said I was helping you, Sheik," Sheik heard Shadow Link say from somewhere to his left. He saw a faint glimmer in the low light, and then he saw the outline of a person as his eyes gradually adjusted. Shadow Link was holding the last piece of the mirror in his hand.

"What about Fuu? You said you were helping him!" Sheik demanded, understanding finally dawning on him on what Shadow Link was about to do. He'd only heard about the fabled Dark Mirror in rumors and stories, and he'd doubted its existence until he saw the strange artifact before him. And, if that was true, then what Shadow Link intended wasn't to trap Dethl back to the Dark World.

It was to summon them completely to this one.

Shadow Link tossed the last shard of the mirror in his hand a few times, and then shrugged. "Well, I guess we're all liars here, aren't we?" he said quietly. Then, with one swift movement he slammed the last piece into the missing hole in the mirror.

As soon as he did so, a dull light spread through Shadow Link's fingertips. His skin tone became lighter, like the shadow within had left. The colors of his hair and eyes became more vibrant, and a flush appeared on his cheeks. He looked more alive.

And then, in that same instance, the tendrils that held Fuu and Sheik on to the floor trembled. Dozens of pupil less black eyes appeared all along their length, staring at the captives with repulsive intensity.

"Ah, how different it feels to be in this world. At last."

The ringing, chorused voice. Dethl. More and more eyes appeared in the darkness, all of them with the same, pupil less gaze. As they spoke, a heavy drowsiness hit Sheik, and he struggled to stay awake.

"We cannot see their minds as easily as in nightmares, Shadow. Is this what it's like for you, all of the time, we wonder?"

Sheik didn't hear what Shadow Link said in response, because in that instance his consciousness slipped for a moment into a sudden sleep. He was brought back from the endless darkness and into the first nightmare a few seconds later when the grip around his ankles loosed just a little, and Dethl began to talk again.

"Hmm, then perhaps we didn't give you enough credit. We will have to explore these new limitations further."

Something cold and smooth brushed against Sheik's right hand. A large, black spherical mass had moved past him, and then a large eye about five feet in diameter opened in the center. It observed Fuu, who was lying on the ground and staring up at the ceiling, shock written across his face. However, the shock wasn't of someone who was terrified. It was disbelief mixed with rage.

Sheik froze when he saw that expression. It was all too recognizable… he'd seen it before…

"But before that, how wonderful that we can all finally gather around like this for the first time."

The blinding rage that burned behind the fire of those red eyes. Sheik had seen it before, in a field glowing orange with embers and ash floating in the wind.

"Wouldn't you agree, Vaati?"

When Shadow Link had first called Fuu by his real name, Fuu had denied that he was the sorcerer of winds. This time however, he did no such thing, and continued to lay there, silent, with a terrible rage and realization burning behind those fierce eyes.

And now, lying helpless on the floor, Sheik wasn't sure if he feared Dethl or Fuu more.

fleets: eyyyy cliffhangers.
i'm going to say right now that i'm vaazel trash, especially one featuring a somewhat introverted, duty focused zelda. The Vaati I characterize doesn't give two apple pies about what other people think, and he just goes and does whatever he wants. Zelda, however, is the polar opposite to that, and that's why I ship 'em. Well, that's one of the reasons why I do. If the pairing actually happens, well, I'm not going to stop it. But I'm not going to force it, either.

I'm pretty stoked about the next chapter. Get ready for the feels train.

Reily96: A small irrational voice in my head was pretty much screaming at me when I was writing the last chapter to go ahead and let Zelda and Fuu squish their faces together. Good thing my rational voice was louder. aha.
Answers coming very soon! ish! And thanks! I wasn't sure about how much of Hyrule I wanted to destroy, and eventually I thought, 'hey why not. Monsters are freakin' scary."

Also thank you for the pairing suggestion. AND SAME I relate to your confusion about including sexual tension in everything and I'm just? like? really? Hmm, that's a good point about character-driven vs. plot driven. I'm probably more of a plot driven writer myself, which is why I almost got caught up in the whole "pairing wut?" conundrum until you guys grounded me again haha.

fanakatsuki: I am vaazel trash so that's probably one of the pairings that has a high likelihood of showing up, if it does show up. I also liked the idea of vaadow earlier, but ionno anymore. It's all up in the air! But at least now I'm not going to try and go out of my way to stop pairings if they happen :)
Hmmm, hold that thought about the whole "what would happen if Fuu remembers his past" deal. ;)

Ai Star: I think it's safe to say that pretty much everyone is cracking at this point haha. Well, except maybe Dethl, but they're already kind of cray cray anyway. XD

AquilaMage: Oh! I'm glad you like the way she's being portrayed :) This Zelda is a little different than the one in WIR. A lot more introverted, and a little more immature in how she handles tough situations (although it can be argued that this Zelda has gone through way more trauma than the WIR version). She also expresses herself as Sheik, which wasn't the case with the WIR Zelda :)
Thank you so much for the advice! It really helped and put my mind at ease regarding my final decision. And you're right, I totally understand that feeling regarding adventure stories. :)

Flufux: And that's the tough part, isn't it? Balancing the adventure plot with the romance plot (among any other multitude of side-plots) can be a tricky deal. I was kind of surprised that the pairing consideration snuck up on me from nowhere, because I hadn't been planning on pairings at all, and then I began to see it as a possibility several chapters in. Based on everyone's comments, I'm just going to let the story go where it wants to go, and not try to actively stop something that's there (or forcefully include it).
And oh yeah, Dethl's a scary sob in this story. There's a reason why they're 'nightmare incarnate.' More on that in the next chapter, you guys haven't seen anything yet... ;)

Vesperupus: Interesting that you bring up how Dethl wanted to make things as nightmarish as possible. Keep that thought ;)
And thank you for your comment regarding pairings! At this point I don't know what these characters decide to do regarding pairings, but at the very least I know that I'm no longer going to try and stop something from happening :)

Lexik: Ahhhhh! Link's Awakening has such a great ending and story, I highly recommend that you finish it! The entire premise of the story is just so tragic...
And yup! Thank you for catching that :) I figured Vaati wouldn't be bothered by blood, but he would be pretty upset about failure.
Sooo regarding Shadow/Dethl motives and "Dusk Shards." There's some answers this chapter? More on the way though ;)
"Emotionally unfair game" is a good way to describe what Zelda's been doing to Fuu. I tried to address that a little more this chapter, because all of Sheik/Zelda's interactions with Fuu have almost always been one-sided (Fuu making an effort to communicate, and Sheik/Zelda pulling away). The biggest problem of course is the fact that there's a big ol' lie hanging over Sheik's head, the one regarding Fuu's real identity. :O
And thank you for the comments regarding pairings! I really appreciated everyone's comments and took them into consideration :) It seems like no one here is adamantly against any kind of pairing, as long as it doesn't just show up out of nowhere. I'll be letting the story run its course on its own, and see where it takes me rather than try to control it :)