Link lay in a bed in the back room of Mayor Bo's house. A fever had its hold on him, currently laying in unconsciousness; the hero was under the tender care of Ilia. Her soft hands brushed across his forehead, a damp cloth wiping away the sweat that soaked his bang, causing his straw colored hair to cling to his face. Heavy pants escaped the young man; his breathing was heavy and labored. A groan of pain passed his once soft lips. They were now cracked and dry, parted slightly as his body drew in another labored breath. He lay motionless, the covers drawn over his bare chest, his arms free however. His hands that had been clenched into fists, against the agonizing pain and the demons that only he could see, were now limp and clammy. His face had been flushed earlier, but now had turned pale and ashen. Oh, goddesses, Ilia prayed silently, please don't let link die..! Uli had been there a short while before, but she still had two children to care for and couldn't leave them for too long.
It had been two years since Twilight had been rid from the land and Link was nineteen. He should have been out hunting and fishing with Rusl, teaching the boys to fight with swords, watching the children, finding a woman to woo and marry, but none of these would come to pass it would seem. Link was going to die. It was inevitable at this point. The village adults spoke in hushed voices, not wanting the children to hear, but they already knew. The children didn't run around and play, they were silent and subdued as they each went it turn to visit their idol who was slipping away from them. Most affected was Colin, Rusl and Uli's boy. Spending all of his free time, when he wasn't helping his mother or father, was at Link and Ilia's side, helping care for his sick friend. He had once promised Link long ago in the village of Kakariko that he would be strong and he was set on keeping that promise, but it was hard not to weep and be terrified at the sight of the strongest warrior in Hyrule fall so quickly. Rusl was spending much of his time in the forest, hunting and fishing, but also cutting would to make a coffin. The last thing he wanted was bury his son, but Link was dying and they had to be prepared.
It was on this day that Colin and his father were in Faron woods, near the spring where they had been fishing, when the sound of horsed hooves thundering across the ground could be heard. Two steeds came charging through the entrance to the woods from Hyrule Field. The horses' rider pulled them up sharp beside the man and his frightened son. The rider of the first horse, a brown mare with black hooves and a black main, pulled back on the reins. She had fierce blood red eyes that seemed to bore into the soul. The woman had short cropped blonde hair with a single long strip, framing the right side of her face, with three beads holding it in place. Her skin was tanned, like the young man with her. The man looked, to Rusl, to be about Link's age. He wore a tight fitting blue outfit with a white cowl covering his face white bandages that acted as a turban. Like the woman he had blond hair that hung over his left eye, both of which were crimson, and his skin was tanned. Both riders wore the symbol of what looked like to be a crying eye.
The woman pulled her horse up beside Rusl, looking down at him with a hard expression. She inquired, wanting to know the exact location of the village of Ordon was. Colin drew close to his father's side, watching the stranger with wary eyes. Nodding slightly, Rusl, equally wary, said he could bring them to the village. Agreeing, the woman turned her horse, allowing it to walk slowly enough for the Ordon villages to be in the lead, the young man with her drew back beside her, his gaze scoring the surrounding woodland. It wasn't until they reached the outskirts of the village that the woman, who had introduced herself as Impa, inquired into where Link lived. Rusl remained silent for a long moment, looking grave, when he told Colin to run ahead to the village and inform the mayor of the strangers' arrival.
When Colin was out of earshot, Rusl didn't want his son overhearing, he turned to face the woman and the young and. Holding her crimson gaze, her informed them of the situation, Link was sick and it didn't look like he would be recovering. Taken aback, the woman demanded to be taken to Link, casting a glance over her shoulder at the young man with her.
Sheik stood in the throne room hall, Zelda was seated in the Queen's throne, she wouldn't be a princess much longer he noted, she was going to be crowned queen in a few days and was sending him and Impa to personally inform Link, the Hero of Time. Sheik unlink Impa, who didn't hold the memories of what had happened in the other time but knew what had happened, held the memories because Zelda had been housed inside his body. He didn't remember everything clearly, but he remembered Link as clear as if it were day, he remembered the unrelenting love, the innocence, the courage, but he also remembered being torn away from his lover; he remembered his final moments with Link and how he had been torn from him. Sheik was finally getting the chance to see Link again, but Zelda looked grave, not meeting his crimson gaze with her own solemn blue eyes.
"He don't remember you," Zelda finally managed to say, her eyes downcast. "He didn't remember anything of what happened before. I don't know why, but he doesn't." Her voice broke as she shook her head, refusing to meet Sheik's horrified gaze.
Zelda had fought beside link in the final battle against Ganondorf and seen him afterwards, but he had no memories of what happened before he had been returned to being ten years old, he didn't question his past, he just said he didn't remember, but he knew that he hadn't been born in Ordon.
Now the princess worriedly tugged at her gloves, looking sadly at Impa, as if silently begging her not to let Sheik act rashly when he saw Link. Zelda didn't know that Link was sick and dying, no one outside or Ordon knew.
Sheik had been impatient to get their horses settled and ready, it wasn't more than a few hours ride to Ordon on horseback, but there could still be stray monsters about and the two Sheikah warriors had to be prepared. Impa had informed him for the thousandth time that he couldn't treat Link like he used to and that this Lin had to be treated like a different person, like a stranger. Sheik didn't want to think about it, but at the same time he was dying to see his former lover, he had to know how different Link was and maybe, just maybe there was a chance that Link remember him.
"Don't get your hopes up," Impa had warned once more as they began their journey across the fields to the Faron Woods. Sheik had only nodded in acknowledgement that he had heard his mentor, but that couldn't stop the hopes from rise, bringing the fears along with it. How would Sheik be able to act or manage if Link truly didn't remember he, what would happen then? Sheik shook his head, he's burn that bridge when he got to it, he had link had been separated for seven year. They were both adults now and they could face whatever was thrown at them.
It was late afternoon when Impa and Sheik rode into the woods and made straight for the village of Ordon, the forest path was easy to follow, but when they came upon two villagers, a man and his son, who were both dressed in traditional Ordon clothes. To be on the safe side Impa asked if they were from Ordon and if so where the village was located, it was a stroke of luck that the man and his son happened to be Ordon villagers. Arriving on the outskirts of the village, the man, named Rusl, sent his son, Colin, ahead to the village to inform the mayor that the two Sheikah warriors where there, it was also here where the fisherman informed them that Link was dying of illness.
Sheik's eyes shot open and focused on Rusl, it felt as though he had been struck in the gut. Link? Dying? Of a sickness?! No, no, no! NO! There wasn't a chance in hell, Link couldn't be dying, he had always pulled through any wound, injury, or illness that had ever struck him. This couldn't be happening! It couldn't! It was all Sheik could do keep from kicking his horse's flanks and sending it careening into the village and tearing it apart until he found Link. That the goddesses for Impa. She demanded that Rusl take them to Link and, reluctantly, Rusl agreed. Impa seemed to see Sheik's raging emotions of panic, grief, and disbelief at the news; because she sent him a look that said "don't you dare do anything out of line".
Riding into the village, the two Sheikah warriors ditched their horses outside of the mayor's house and entered with Rusl in the lead. The house was circular, like the others in the village, but was larger and had a back room with a curtain hanging in front of it. A large man leaped to his feet at the sight of the two warriors with Rusl and demanded to know what was going on. Rusl informed the mayor that the two of them had come to see Link. After some inquiring from the mayor, named Bo, Impa explained that Princess Zelda had sent them. That was when Bo explained that Link had become suddenly sick well over two weeks ago and wasn't showing any sign of improvement, in fact he was getting worse. There was evidence that Link had been sick before he had passed out on Epona's back while herding the goats and had been thrown, barely being saved from a trampling ram.
Like Rusl, Bo was subdued as he led the two Sheikah warriors across the room to the curtain that hung across what looked to be a doorway. He drew the curtain back enough for Sheik and Impa to get a good look at Link. The late afternoon sunlight shone into the room from a window along the side of the bad, the curtain of the window was drawn back and the light fell across Link's face. Sweat glistened on his pale face, his eyes screwed up as he switched in his sleep, panting heavily, pain evident on his face. His breathing was coming in short shallow breaths, hands clenching the quilt in his in discomfort. A groan escaped his lips as his brow furrowed.
Sheik took in a sharp breath at the sight of Link, tears immediately coming to his crimson eyes. Evidently, he hadn't been careful enough about his exterior emotional cover because bother Rusl and Bo looked at him. At Link's side was the boy who had been with Rusl, as well as a young woman. The girl turned her green eyes to the intruders, her green eyes glazed with grief. She looked past the two Sheikah warriors at the mayor. "Father, he's getting worse," Ilia practically sobbed.
Sheik acted without hesitation and without thinking. He crossed the room to Link's side in a instant, placing one knee on the edge of Link's bed. He couldn't stop himself from raising his left hand and brushing Link's sweat soaked bangs from his forehead and smoothing the Hylian's hair. He also couldn't stop the tears that broke through his defenses and began running down his cheeks, Link was dying right in front of him.
Shocked, the girl, Ilia, took a pace back from where Sheik leaned over Link, tears rolling freely down his cheeks. She looked over at her father and Bo gestured for her and Colin to leave the two young men alone for a few minutes. The two children came and joined Rusl, Bo, and Impa, looking over their shoulders until the curtain was allowed to drop into place, hiding Sheik and Link from prying eyes.
"How do you know Link?" Ilia asked Impa, her expression dark with emotion. "And why are you here?"
Impa glanced back at the curtain that led to the room Sheik and Link were in before taking a deep breath and beginning. "Sheik and I are personal bodyguards to her highness, Princess Zelda. We were sent to retrieve Link for the princess's coronation. Sheik was friends with Link a few years ago," she ventured, not wanting to go in depth.
"Friend?" Ilia asked, looking skeptical, "But how is that possible, Link never left the village after he came here almost ten years ago? And he has no memories of before that." The short haired girl, looked hard at the Sheikah woman, surprisingly not intimidated.
"Sheik knew Link before Link lost his memories," Impa explained, wondering to herself how the young hero had lost his memories. Rusl seemed to know what she was thinking spoke, giving her a long look, "Link lost his memory from trauma. He came to village with Epona. He was badly wounded as was the horse."
This seemed like a strange explanation. Link had fought Ganondorf after he had worked his way through all of the temples without seeming to go through any trauma, but he had still have the mentality of a child, perhaps she had been wrong about him. At this point no one knew that Link had gone to Termina, though, one day they would learn. A part of Impa began to wonder if Link's subconscious wiped his memories because of what he had gone through, he had been a child in the body of an adult, after all. Those kinds of things had been known to happen.
Sheik knelt beside Link, gazing down at his ashen face, tears sliding down Sheikah warrior's face and landing on the fallen hero's cheeks. The blue clad young man, without thinking, pulled down the cowl that covered his face, leaned forwards, and pressed his lips to Link's forehead.
Link's skin was slick with sweat, link in the other time line after they had made love, but these circumstances were completely different. Sheik ran his thumb across Link's cheek, eyes clouded with grief. Under his touch, he felt the slightest stir from Link, his crimson eyes locking on the blue eyes that opened blurrily. Recognition flitted across his face, if only for an instant. "Sheik?!" The Hylian breathed, tears welling into his own blue eyes. His mind believing that this was just another dream and the blurry face above him with the piercing crimson eyes would vanish at any second, Link let out a shuddering breath, closing his eyes and tears sliding from beneath his eyelashes.
In reality, Link's memories were slowly returning, broken and fragmented, but returning nonetheless. His memories of Sheik, mostly the emotions, were coming to the foreground in his fevered mind.