Chapter Eleven: Memories
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Disclaimer: I disclaim everything.

As always, I am sorry about delay. In this chapter, italics mean flashbacks. Cheers, all! 
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On horseback, Kadros and Sheik started off to Castle Town at a moderate pace. Sheik resisted to run the horses ragged, a million thoughts racing through his mind at once. What had happened? Where his people all right? Was Link all right? Had he changed? Why was he back? Why…?

Sheik took a deep breath, nudging his horse slightly. He had to clear his thoughts…stay alert. With what happened at the temple, how knows what else was bound to go strange. Keeping a careful gaze about him, Sheik relented a little, mind wandering to his past…

Zelda pulled on his arm, making them vanish into the long hallways of the temple. "Come on, Sheik! There's no time!"

"But Link--!" Sheik sobbed, distraught and despairing. "He's still in there! He could still be alive!"

Zelda turned on him, eyes flaring. "It doesn't matter right now! We have to get out of here! Ganon has the Triforce of Power! He will be the end of us all!"

Sheik yanked his arm away from Zelda. "I won't leave Link behind!"

"You WILL!" Zelda snatched him back into her grip. "Stay here now, and you both will be lost before the darkness comes! We need to preserve what we can!"

Sheik's eyes widened as they hurried through the hall of portraits. They passed their father's, and then Zelda's…Sheik's was not there… "You knew about this, didn't you? You foresaw something!"

"This is not the time!"

"You saw this coming, and you let Link go in there!" Sheik wrenched away from her, stumbling into a nook in the wall. "You let him go in there!"

Zelda threw her arms into the air, looking down the hall the way that they came. "You know the extent of my visions! I saw nothing more than a green light vanishing in the darkness! That could have been any number of things-"

"But you didn't even tell me about it!"

"I had no reason to!" Zelda cried. "You feel so far away from me! It's like you can't even act like you're my brother anymore!"

"I can't!" Sheik said, his voice cracking. "I can't and you know that!" He gasped dryly, shaking. "My blood rose to a different calling than yours – I'm a Sheikah, now."

"You can't be both?" Zelda whispered, joining him in the nook. "Can't you be both my brother and a Sheikah?"

"If you were any other person than the heir to the throne, than yes…" Sheik stared at her, and she wrapped him in a hug. "But even Father admits that the law won't allow it. The Hylians lead, and the Sheikah-"

"Serve..." Zelda said with him. "Yes, but…you're my other half and I can't just pretend you don't exist…"

"I know…" Sheik said. They were silent for a few minutes, listening to a rumble in the distance.

"We have to get away." Zelda said. "What are we going to do?" For a second, she lost the look of a future ruler of Hyrule, and seemed to be endlessly lost. Sheik hugged her tightly.

"We'll go to Impa. She'll know what to do…"

Sheik sighed lightly, remembering. Zelda. They had a lot of tough times together as kids, and even more as adults. Impa, a trained Sheikah, had always been their nanny, something that Sheik had always thought of as a demeaning job, but Impa didn't seem to mind. She welcomed it as a chance to protect someone that needed to live, no matter the cost. It was a matter of duty and honor and skill. Zelda was the princess, and Sheik, up until his eyes had turned color, had been the prince. Now Sheik was taking the lessons of the role of protector and defender. Impa had been right. It wasn't so bad.

I hope they're all right… He thought about his sister, and about Impa, and about all the others that were close and cherished to him. Were. Were close to him. It pained Sheik to think of them in a past tense, but that was the way it was. After the First Battle, Sheik was lucky that he was one of the survivors…

Impa shielded her eyes from the sun; gaze distant as she watched the far away shadows creep up on Kakariko Village. Ganon had sent an army of Gerudo forces to attack the small town. Word had come from a scout, who nearly killed herself in getting the word to the people, and all who were able to hold a weapon, and use it effectively, were gearing up. The Sheikah were answering the call to battle.

Zelda, dressed as her Sheikah identity, crouched at Impa's feet, rubbing her eyes. "The village will fall, Impa." She said in a whisper. "I have foreseen it. Many will die."

Impa dropped off the spy tower, rolling to her feet on the ground. Zelda and Sheik followed, waiting for her response. The elder fighter crossed her arms. "Sheik."

"Yes?"

"Take Shaya to the Great Faerie of the Mountain. She will be safe with her." She glanced behind her at the entrance to the Goron realm.

"Yes, Impa." Sheik said.

Zelda shook her head vigorously. "I am not going to just let you do this! Your people will be destroyed!" A group of teens nearby stopped to listen. "Ganon cannot be stopped!"

Impa spun on the girl, eyes flashing dangerously. "Quiet, Shaya!" She said pointedly, shooting a glance at the group who was staring. They suddenly moved into motion, whispering as they scattered. "We must defend our princess at all costs! The crown must not be lost!"

"This is foolish!" Zelda cried. "You know what I've s—"

"Do you think you are the only one who has?" Impa interrupted. "Do you think that no one else has foreseen this event? That the people grimly taking up arms didn't see this coming?" Zelda quieted at this, and Impa leaned in to speak quietly to her. "We are not blind to the inevitability of our death, Zelda…but if you waste this chance to escape into the air, then it will all be for nothing. Do you understand me?"

The princess nodded, chastised. "Yes…of course."

"Good…Sheik?"

He stepped forward. "We'll go, right away." He hesitated, about to say more, but changed his mind.

"May the Goddesses and the Eye protect and watch over you."

"Over us all." Sheik murmured in response.

Sheik stared up, unbelievingly at the great slabs of stone and rock, blocking their path into the mountain. As they both looked upwards, they could see that there had been an avalanche, causing a part of the mountain to break away.

They couldn't get to the Great Faerie.

"We have to go back." Zelda said quietly.

"You can't be put in that danger." Sheik said immediately. Though he wanted to go and help his friends, saving Zelda was his first priority.

His sister shook her head. "Then what are we going to do? Dig through? That would bring attention, not divert it, and it would leave us at a disadvantage. We have to go back."

"Zelda…"

"If we are found here, it's going to look suspicious! What would two Sheikah be doing, digging out the mountain blockade when their kinsmen are in battle?"

"We are not-"

"We are so!" Zelda said. "We can do this!"

"But…" The desire to fight was very, very tempting…

"Come on!" Zelda demanded, grabbing his arm and pulling them back down the path. "We're going to go do the right thing!"

But when they reached the village, the idea was less appealing. Fires burned, and bodies were lying on the ground; most of them bearing the Eye. There were shouts and cries, and the slowly growing smell of blood. Sheik's flesh crawled, the horror of a healer filling him instantly. His mind's eye blurred, and his soul was screaming…he knew those blank, empty faces that were coated in blood…

"Oh, goddess…" Sheik choked out.

"Look out!" A voice cried. Sheik instinctively ducked and turned, narrowly missing an overhead slice from a Gerudo sword. The woman raised an eyebrow, coming at him with a savage speed, that he was only barely able to counter. Ducking under her high jump, Sheik swung back with one hand, hitting a pressure point on her shoulder. She gasped and fell, arms twitching. Sheik steadied himself, and gave a chop to her neck, destroying a series of blood vessels and cords. His soul was crying as she fell to the ground, her eyes blank and empty…it was an image that was growing to be not too fond with the Sheikah.

"Sheik!" The blond spun again, going into a strike position. The bleeding youth before him came up, two long knives in hand. "What are you doing here? I thought you were sent to save the princess!" Smoky claret eyes glimmered at him.

Sheik suddenly looked around. Zelda! Where did she go? "I was, but the way to the mountain is blocked! We came back!"

"Where is she?"

"Oh, no, Kadros – she was just right… Dammit!"

Kadros wiped his brow on one sleeve. "You lost her?!"

Sheik didn't have time to answer, as he and Kadros were on the defense once again. Four Gerudo came at them at the same time, and they were forced against the side of a house. Two of the enemy women fell, and the other two pinned the men to the wall.

"Pick up a weapon!" Kadros said, rolling his shoulder back painfully to avoid losing his arm.

"No!" Sheik said defiantly, feinting and sweeping under a sword thrust. "A healer takes no blade!"

"A healer takes no life, either!" Kadros exclaimed. Sheik's expression hardened, but at the end of the four-way wrangle, both Sheikah were left standing.

"No blades." Sheik said breathlessly.

"Sheik!" A cry reached his ears. Kadros heard it too, and pointed to the platform near the spy tower. Shaya – Zelda to Sheik – was standing over a woman with long red hair. Two guards dressed as commanders of their group, were attacking her. "Help!"

Sheik and Kadros came her aid, taking the Gerudo by surprise. The women avoided their attacks with skill, taking on the two new challengers with ease. Kadros shouted to Sheik.

"Heal her!" He said. "Get her back in the fight!"

Sheik kneeled by the redhead, tilting her face up to see it. He gasped, barely recognizing the woman. "Anju?"

There was a gash across her features, starting from one ear and ending on the opposite of her face, just under her jaw. There was blood everywhere, but the slice didn't seem too deep. "Sheik...why are you here?"

"Hush…" The clashing of blade on blade made him press his hand to Anju's face; there was no time to waste in this battle. She jerked, but was too proud to cry out as the painful tingling of the healing passed over her. Sheik quickly pushed away the beginning edges of infection, restoring torn flesh and rebuilding blood vessels. Starting under the flesh and working his way up, he was almost done the skin surface when he suddenly had to stop.

"Ah!" He cried out, healing touch fluttering as he felt the foreign length of steel slide cut into his shoulder and punching through the other side. He clenched his jaw, feeling and hearing the sword grate on his collarbone. Anju's eyes flew open, and she pulled Sheik off the weapon, and to the ground. He shuddered violently, crimson splashing out to soak Anju's pant leg. The woman grasped her fallen weapon, making Sheik crouch further behind the shield of Sheikah.

"Make a bandage!" She yelled at him, standing..

"Your face –" Sheik gasped, pushing his self into a sitting position. His blood spilled over his fingers, but he could do nothing to stop it. It was the healer's curse – heal others, but not yourself. "I'm not done-!"

Anju parried an oncoming attack from yet another wave of Gerudo women. "No time!" Beside her, Shaya and Kadros took on enemy after oncoming enemy. Sheik, with a visible hole through his shoulder, passed out, and knew not what happened afterwards…

Sheik stopped the memory, ignoring the painful tinge in his right shoulder. It had taken Kadros, the only other remaining healer other than himself, just to keep him stable for the next week. If it were not for the blood transfusions from Zelda, and his own healer's immune system, he would not have survived at all. He owed his life to the both of them.

Kadros and Sheik rode to a stop outside the castle gates, dismounting. Sending the horses off, the two Sheikah waded across the narrow, shallow river, to the other side. After checking to see if the coast was clear, they dropped through a hidden hole, and started into the city underground.

Sheik rushed to the Temple of Time, cloaked and edgy. With Ganon's castle so near by; Sheik struggled to ignore the stench of evil and shadow. Kadros had separated from him, going a different way to the temple. It was dangerous to come and go as they did; being followed or found out, would be disastrous for them all. Sheik climbed a ladder back into the street, and squeezed between two fallen timbers of wood, carefully and silently walking across a piece of collapsed rooftop that was missing shingles and braces. The young man slipped into an overgrown garden, lifting up a piece of the pavement to drop into another one of the many secret underground passages of the city. It was cramped and worn, dusty with age, but they had proved useful in the past years.

Sheik walked a ways in the dark, finally coming to an old door. Though it appeared to be old and worn, it opened without sound, and closed without the slightest thump. It led into a cellar room, and the stairs in that room led to the temple. Sheik shook the dust from his cloak, sighing quietly to himself. There was a strange apprehensive feeling in his stomach – something that he had not felt in years.

Kadros was sitting on a barrel near the stairs. He shook his head with a smile. "Even though you know this place inside and out, I still manage to beat you here. Why is that?"

Sheik adjusted the ties around his wrist. "I take the long way around."

"Why?" Kadros asked curiously. "There are several shorter ways that are just as safe." If it were any other person, Sheik would not have answered, but he and the other Sheikah had been through too much – they were more brothers than kinsmen.

"It's a path of memory for me." Sheik said quietly. "The princess and I escaped this way."

Kadros nodded. "I see." He said softly. "We should go." Sheik nodded in agreement. They climbed the stairs, and winded through the long polished halls of the temple. As always, it hummed with pure power, singing the songs of the ancient past. Sheik and Kadros passed through the hall of portraits, but time had not been kind to the pictures. Some had their canvas ripped and slashed, others were coated in dust. The one of Zelda was gone all together. Going into a large circle area, Kadros spoke to Sheik quickly.

"Janiv and Baero are in the council room." Kadros informed him. "They're fine, but there are five injured. They're recovering slowly; you might want to take a look at them."

Sheik nodded in agreement. "Of course." They passed through a hall filled with light, crystals and diamonds dangling in front of the windows. "Was that all that were injured?"

Kadros pulled back the curtain to the main temple room, a closed expression on his face. "That's all that's left."

Sheik stopped to look at him in horror. "Just five?"

"Five, Janiv and Baero, you and I." Kadros confirmed.

"But…" Sheik shook his head. "Your sister?"

Kadros turned away from him, going to meet a girl firing at targets in a training area. "She rests with The Eye, now." He called out to the girl. "Yolena!"

She flipped her braided hair over one shoulder. "Kadros! You're back!" Wine colored eyes shifted Sheik's way. "Sheik! So he did find you!"

"Did you ever doubt me?" Kadros said, hugging her from behind. "Where's our silent hero?"

Yolena smiled and pushed him away. "On the covered balcony."

Kadros laughed, taking Sheik by the shoulders and steering him to an open archway. "There you go…be sure to see to the healing, after."

Sheik was shoved onto the covered balcony, blinking to compensate for the change in lighting. It was a wide-open space, with only torches at regular intervals around the area. A single blond Hylian stood in the very center, stripped to the waist, with a naked longsword in one hand. Sheik almost gasped as he saw that the weapon was the Master Sword. It was supposed to be in the Sacred Realm!

Sheik's heart quivered as he watched the young man at work. Link would slowly go through the sword movements, flowing from one stance to the next with a breath-taking grace. Sheik blinked and swallowed hard, fighting to tear his eyes away from the captivating, smooth Hylian. Muscles shifted under beautifully bronzed skin, and Link's golden locks of hair swayed with each motion. Although Link's eyelids were shut, Sheik could imagine the sparkling, endless depth of glittering sapphire that blazed with a glorious inner fire.

Link slowly came to a stop, freezing in a standpoint that was known as 'prayer to the moon.' He sheathed the sword, the blade humming in the silence. "It's been a while, Sheik." He said quietly.

"By the Eye, yes…" Sheik whispered. "When did you know I was here?"

Link turned, gaze soft as he plucked a shirt off of an empty torch bracket. "When you stepped into the cellar room." He replied. "I can feel you anywhere in the Temple." He moved to meet Sheik, who was unsure of what to do. "And I can sense that you are unhappy."

Sheik gave a small burst of a laugh, recognizing the words that he had once spoken to Link, so long ago. They met in an embrace that was long overdue, tightly clinging to each other like there was nothing left for them to do. Sheik breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of smoke and sweat and forest leaves. So different…he could feel the power in the young man he had dreamed about for the last seven years. "Link…"

And they stayed like that for what seemed like forever, delighting in an indulgence they hadn't had since they were children.

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Oh…and there seems to be some confusion on their ages in the fic… They started off as fifteen, but now they are twenty-two. Cheers!