Link and Sheik took Epona and the dappled grey at a trot through the Faron Woods and broke them into an easy gallop once they emerged from the forest into Hyrule Field. It was a straight shot to Castle Town where the Link would let Epona go in the field to go wherever she pleased and the dappled grey would be returned to the castle, their final destination. The day was hot, even though it was early, and the ride ahead would still take a few hours.
They arrived in Castle Down in the afternoon. The markets were busy and the streets were crowded. The princess' coronation was within the next couple of days. Over the past two years, since Ganondorf's defeat, Zelda had proved to be a capable and competent ruler. She had the support of the citizens and was working to improve conditions as well as bring equality to all the different races, which included the Gorons, the Zora, Hylians, and Humans alike. The constant noise and bustle of the market place put both Sheik and Link on edge, neither of them liked the crowded streets of the close quarters with other people, seeing as they were both battle hardened warriors where many people at close quarters was almost always fighting against enemies for your life.
However, the two young men were given a wider birth, seeing as Sheik had the dapple grey in tow. The horse was getting spooked, threatening to rear and was neighing and whinnying in panic. Leading the way, Link ducked his head, trying to ignore the people cheering and calling to him, the Hero that had saved Hyrule. Great. Weaving through the market and getting up to the castle's front gates there wasn't even the hint of dispute about letting them in, the guards just stepped aside for them.
Link was getting frustrated as being nothing but a hero; it was as if he couldn't escape it, regardless of where he went. But something prickled in the back of his mind. He knew that there had been a place where he had been able to escape being the hero, but he couldn't remember where it was, or even when it was.
Upon entering the castle grounds, one of the guards took the grey dapple from Sheik's care and another guard was sent to notify Princess Zelda and Lady Impa that Link and Sheik had arrived. In the meantime, Link and Sheik walked into the castle courtyard, seeing as Sheik was Zelda's personal bodyguard and Link was the hero of Hyrule, they were allowed to walk around, but chose a place to wait for Zelda and Impa.
Looking around the castle courtyard, Link's discomfort began to fester and grow, unease washing over him. Images flitted into his mind, mixing and mingling. Images of during the Twilight when the castle was falling apart, monsters roaming the halls, and his battle with Ganondorf in the throne room battered at his mind. A sick feeling grew in his gut at the thought of where he actually was right now, the place where he had been imprisoned and where he had fought Zelda when she was under the control of the evil king. These foul memories were rooting in his mind and turning his thoughts on another dark path. Even though Zelda had vastly improved the castle grounds, the memories of the horror couldn't be cleansed so easily.
While link relived the horrors of his battle with Ganondorf, felt the pain and the emotions running high, Sheik was feeling a pain of his own. The memories that played in the Sheikah male's mind were those of desperate, desperate farewells to Link, knowing that he would be torn from his lover at any second. When he had finally been separated from the blue eyed hero, the one to free Hyrule from its doom, he had awaken in a distant land, far in the desert where Zelda's body had been protected while her soul lay dormant in his body. He had wandered the desert in a state of grieving shock; if only he had more time! Eventually, when Sheik returned to the Hyrule to discover that Link was at the Temple of Time at the moment, preparing to be sent back seven years, it was also then that Sheik learned that Zelda didn't know the true depth of the two boys relationship. When Link had been sent back, time was turned back for everyone, but a select few were to remember what had happened: Zelda, Sheik, and Link; but for some reason, that was unknown to Sheik, the blue eyed warrior didn't house the memories of what had happened before. Even Impa had been informed of everything that had happened before. Also, Link had vanished in this timeline, Zelda had been unable to relocate him until the time of the Twilight; where he had gone before residing in the village of Ordon, the princess did not know.
Wrapped in their own thoughts, neither of the young warrior's saw Zelda arrive until she was running across the castle courtyard. She raced towards Link, crying his name. Taken aback, Link spun around in time to see Zelda, hearing her call his name; she threw her arms around his neck, practically sobbing. Through her tears, she told him that Impa had informed her of what had happened, she had been so afraid that he would die. A low chuckle escaped from Link as he pulled her close, resting his chin on top of her head, telling her that he wouldn't die from some stupid illness; though, the glace he shot Sheik told him not to let the princess know he had been waiting at death's door. Impa stood by the door she had Zelda had come through, watching the scene from a distance.
Link spent the twilit hours outside the throne room, overlooking Hyrule Field to the Gerudo desert in the distance. Sheik didn't know what it was about the way Link was leaning against the stone wall, his arms crossed, and a distant look in his eyes. Only Zelda knew why he did this and why he looked pained. From the throne room of the castle, the Gerudo desert was able to be seen, it was in the Gerudo desert that the Mirror of Twilight had resided, it was in the Gerudo desert that Midna had given Link his final memory of her, it was in the Gerudo desert that she had destroyed the Mirror of Twilight and that she confessed her love to him. He would never see her again, and yet his eyes were always drawn to the distant wastes of the desert, some part of him hoping, wishing that things could have been different.
While preparing for her coronation only hours after the sun would rise, Zelda chose to leave Link alone. Though, she joined him shortly after the sun set and the full moon was rising, casting it's silvery glow across the land. Placing her hand lightly on his shoulder, the princess searched his face when he didn't react, her own blue eyes betraying her concern for her friend and her distress at seeing him like this. She was to be queen and yet she couldn't do anything for one person, for the Hero of Hyrule.
"Link," she said softly, gently squeezing his shoulder with her delicate gloved hand. "She wouldn't want you to be like this. I know she wants you to be happy. Even if you don't realize it yet, you have to move on eventually. It's been two years." Zelda's voice was soft, gentle, but carried on the slight breeze.
Closing his eyes, Link breathed, trying to hold back the rising emotion. "I know," he said slowly, "but I can't yet, I don't know how." He was silent for a long moment before continuing, "I'm afraid I'll forget her, like I forgot Sheik."
His voice was strained. "I don't know where I 'know' him from, but something tells me I knew him a long time ago, but I don't know where from. Somehow, I know we were…together." Link couldn't describe it, he didn't use words as often, and he was struggling to explain it to Zelda. It was a feeling of belonging and déjà vu, as if something like these emotion he was feeling for Sheik had been there before, as if this wasn't the first time he was falling for the red-eyed warrior.
Turning a consoling gaze to the princess, the princess who he viewed as his sister, he wanted answers, answers that she couldn't give him. Link had to figure this out on his own and regain his own memories, not be like Impa where she had experienced it, but had only been told the tail; she hadn't been allowed to remember it.
"I'm sorry, Link," Zelda murmured, "but you have to do this on your own. You have to remember." Even if it hurts you… The memories had been locked away in Link's mind, he still possessed them, they just had to be released, but if Link was already struggling with what had happened in this timeline, what would happened when he remembered the events from before? Zelda didn't want him to be hurt anymore than he already had, but if it meant he and Sheik still had a chance… At this point the young ruler wasn't sure anymore, she wanted to do what was right for the young hero, not necessarily what was best.
She withdrew her hand from her friend's shoulder, giving him one more pained look, before turning away and retreating back to the preparations for her coronation. In reality she oftentimes regretted separating for Sheik before Link's first battle with Ganondorf. She knew they loved each other more than they loved life itself, but she knew she had to do what was right for Hyrule, which meant sending Link back to his childhood and stopping Ganondorf before his plans could be set in motion. However, she had planned on bringing Link to the castle after he awoke in the temple of time and "introducing" him to Sheik, who would remember as well, and give them a real chance at being together, but Link had disappeared and she hadn't re-encountered him until he was turned into the "Blue Eyed Beast" when Twilight engulfed the land. By that point, Zelda had sent Sheik and Impa on a lengthy journey for their own safety when she had sensed the gathering darkness before Zant's arrival. It was also then that Zelda learned Link possessed no memories of before in his conscious mind.
It was times like now when she was reflecting on what she had done, that she wondered if she had done the right thing after all. She told herself time and again that she had because, in the long run, Hyrule hadn't suffered nearly as badly as it had in the other timeline.
Shaking these thoughts, the princess entered into the castle's heart once more, running into Sheik who was leaning against a wall, seemingly lost in thought. "Go to him," was all she said in passing. Link would need Sheik more than ever in the times that were to come, if he was to regain his memories from the time before he was about eleven years old. Even if he didn't regain his memories, Zelda knew that Link and Sheik still had a chance together, but it wasn't fair for Sheik to have to suffer through it, being a stranger to Link and holding one sided memories.
Sheik silently joined Link in looking out over the kingdom of Hyrule, towards the Gerudo desert. Neither of them spoke as the full moon rose higher in the sky and Link's person demons threatened to plague him again. He could feel the other's presence, as Sheik drew near him. The hero took comfort in the strangely familiar presence of the male Sheikah warrior, but he also felt a bit uneasy around the other, as if they should be doing something, but he kept his distance and didn't move.
For Sheik, joining the green clad warrior in this situation wasn't easy. The moon cast its glow down on the castle and the air was turning cold. The Link Sheik knew would have drawn him close, they would have gazed up at the moon together, not spoken, but they would have shared at least a moment of intimacy. It was then that the cold realization hit the Sheikah warrior, things were completely different now. Link had to regain his memories, if only to lay this pain to rest.
With the gathering cold, Link took his leave, retreating to the castle guest room he had been offered by the princess. But travelling through the castle corridors, his nightmares seemed even more real and began to take an almost tangible shape in the dark corners and shadows where the light from torches and candles weren't strong enough to pierce.
It was once Link retreated to his quarters, stripping down to his trousers and discarding his tunic, undershirt, boots, gauntlets, and hat that he crawled into the bed and tried to find a restful sleep that wouldn't be plagued by nightmares, evidently, it was not to be so.
Link was in the deep shadowed chambers of the castle dungeon; water dripped and trickled down the stone walls of a long forgotten cell. He was suspended by his wrists, chains cutting deep into the bruised flesh. His eyes were closed against the pain, but the incessant dripping of what, just out of reach of a parched throat, threatened to drive the once-called-hero insane. He opened his eyes partway, narrowing them against the darkness and pain. His body was broken and bloody, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he had recently been tortured and raped, but his groggy, lightheaded mind couldn't put the pieces together. And then, an ungodly laugh. The type of laugh that makes one's blood turn to ice and makes them know they're about to die a slow and painful death. Then, out of the shadows, in the far corner of the call, a massive figure came forwards, his dark skin and armor melted and moved as part of the shadow, but his eyes, by the goddesses, his eyes had such an unholy, sickening glow to them, malice and hatred flowing into them, and a sadistic pleasure from torturing the fallen hero.
"I'm going to enjoy this," Ganondorf purred, his hand shooting out and taking a crushing hold around the defenseless hero's neck, his thunderous laughter reverberating off the walls of the cell.
A panicked, terror filled cry echoed in the night air of Hyrule castle. Sheik leaped to his feet from where he had been sitting on the edge of his bed, not ready to settle in for the night yet. The young Sheikah warrior was on his feet in an instant, charging without hesitation for the door of his chamber and throwing it open, not caring if the sound of it crashing against the wall as it open or slammed shut disturbed the castle residence. He would recognize that voice crying out anywhere. Link!
Sheik knew the location of the hero's temporary quarters and was the first one there, throwing open the door and rushing to his former lovers side. Link was thrashing and writhing in his sleep, trying to fend of enemies of his nightmare, no doubt. Shaking the other awake, Sheik held onto the hero's shoulders as he awoke from the land of his nightmares to the waking realm, still unable to tell the difference in his groggy mind, he struggled against the Sheikah in an effort to escape being restrained.
"Link! Link!" Sheik's voice finally broke through to the panicked hero. The red eyes and the fair hair and tanned skin coming blurrily into view. Finally, the pain and the fear of Link's nightmares broke free in the form of a heavy sob at the sight of the other man. Taken aback, the Sheikah warrior released his friend's shoulders, drawing him into a secure embrace instead.
Link snaked his arms around Sheik's neck, holding him as close as he could. The Hylian drew his knees up, curling into the other as Sheik supported his back and head, gently hushing his panicked, sobbing friend. Link clung to the front of Sheik's tunic as sobs racked his body, threatening to choke him.
Sheik gently rocked them pulling the other warrior into his lap as best he could, smoothing the younger one's hair and murmuring reassurances. Sheik was there, everything was going to be okay, everything was going to be okay. Calming down enough to draw in gasping breaths, Link kept his face buried in Sheik's tunic, he was so afraid of letting go, afraid of the demons of the past that haunted his dreaming world.
Sheik managed to slide his cowl down, lightly placing kisses on Link's forehead, comforting and reassuring his friend. Even if Link didn't remember what they used to be, the Sheikah male loved him more than anything and couldn't bear to see the Hero of Time torn apart and broken like this.
Having heard Link's cried of anguish in his sleep, Impa and Zelda had rushed as quickly as they could to his quarters to discover Sheik cradling him, murmuring to him, and lightly kissing his sweat soaked forehead. The younger Sheikah raised his crimson gaze to his mentor and the princess. Silently willing them to allow him to be with Link, to be the more to ease and wash away the pain. Nodding slowly, Impa lead Zelda from the room, closing the door most of the way, but still leaving it ajar. Zelda stood in a distressed silence beside her nursemaid, looking up at the older woman and then back at the door. Link...
Sheik sat, cradling Link in his arm, rocking them slightly. Link had calmed down and weariness claimed him again. Sheik rose from the edge of his bed once Link had settled back under the covers. Without thinking, he pressed his lips to his former lover's forehead murmuring his affections into his hair. When he turned to leave he was surprised by Link's hand flashing out, grasping the Sheikah's wrist, imploring him to stay. Sheik hesitated for only a heartbeat before crawling under with covers with the hero and drawing him close. Shortly, Link dropped into a dreamless sleep with the feeling of ease and security that he only had around Sheik. Sheik, on the other hand, lay awake for a while, holding Link close to his body. Link's memories would be recovered after Zelda's coronation, he silently promised his former lover, before allowing sleep to claim him as well.
A/N - Please, please, please review!