~Interlude~

Ganondorf studied the Sheikah boy in front of him. For the past six years the boy had proved his loyalty to him. Befriending the young hero, infiltrating the Sheikah, even managing to deceive that fool Impa. He had to admit, he was deeply impressed.

But still, he was wary of the young warrior. He wanted to be sure Sheik was on his side.

And there was only one way to do that.

"Sheik, I must ask you once again," Ganondorf said. "Why are you helping me? What have you to gain from it?"

"Everything." The boy answered. His jaw was set and fire burned in his eyes. "The other Sheikah have always doubted my ability as a fighter. They've all disregarded me as a rookie. But you had faith in me, you showed me how truly corrupted Hyrule is. I'm proud to serve you, my lord."

Ganondorf nodded. "Yes, I do have faith in you. I feel you are ready."

"Ready for what, my lord?"

"To kill."

Sheik gulped. "Kill, Lord? Kill who?"

"The little hero of course. You have proven yourself more than worthy. I've decided to give you the privilege of killing him. It will be a special treat to see the horror on his face as the man he thought to be his best friend kills him."

"Thank you, Lord. I'm honored." Sheik said quietly.

"You should be. Now go and prepare for it. We'll do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? That's a little soon, don't you think?"

"Are you questioning me Sheik?"

Sheik looked down. "Of course not."

"I didn't think so. Go."

Sheik bowed and left the room.

Ganondorf smiled and walked back to his quarters. Tomorrow, the only man in Hyrule that could defeat him would be executed. Everything was working out according to plan.

~Chapter Seven~

So, within a week my life has been torn to shreds right before my eyes.

I hit the wall in frustration. How can this be happening? This cannot be happening.

I can't get the cruel look on Sheik's face out of my mind. How could he do something like this to us? To me? There's a small part of me that's arguing that Sheik would never do something like that. But the rest of me is still reeling from the hurt of his betrayal.

For the first time in my life, I feel truly alone.

Aiden lies asleep in his corner of the room, snoring softly. I try to follow in his footsteps and get comfortable, but comfortable isn't very comfortable in here. I finally find a position where I'm not sitting on myself and take deep breaths, trying to clear my mind. Slowly, I slip away into the darkness of sleep.

But I don't get very far before I hear a voice yell in my ear, "Wake up, lazy!"

I jerk awake and find myself staring at a bright blue fairy with a smirk on her face. Her shimmering blue dress sparkles in the torch-light, her blue hair short and glossy.

"Wow, you're the kid the Great Deku Tree sent me to watch over?" She snickers. "You're not what I imagined you."

"Oh really? And what did you imagine me like?" I say defensively.

She studies me. "Older, stronger, and more handsome." She finally says.

"Gee, thanks." I mumble. "And who exactly are you anyway?"

"I'm Navi the fairy!" She smiles brightly. "The Great Deku Tree sent me to be your fairy partner from now on. Nice to meet you!"

"Fairy partner?" I ask, surprised. "But only Kokiri get fairy partners. I'm Hylian. The Kokiri have been gone for ages."

"I know. The Great Deku Tree wanted me to help you on your quest."

"He knows about me?"

"Well, duh." She says. "He knows everything. The goddesses speak to him all the time. Of course he knows about you!"

"Okay. So if he sent you to help me, then does that mean that you can get me out of here? And that boy in the corner too?" I say hopefully.

She scrunches up her face in thought. "Hmm. I don't know. It'll take some work, that's for sure." She flutters over to inspect the chains. "Ooh. Maybe I won't be able to get you out of that... at least, not with my magic. I could try to find some kind of tool."

"Great, try that."

She nods and zooms out the window in a blur of blue.

Well, that was a strange and unexepected surprise. But hey, if she can get us out of here I'm not complaining.

Aiden's still asleep, and crickets begin to sing outside. Their music makes me sleepy. I catch myself dozing off more than once, and try to will myself to keep my eyes open. But I'm so sleepy...

This time, I'm awakened by the sound of something sawing through my chains. My first thought is that Navi has come back and is breaking me out. I open my eyes, ready to see her smirking at me...

But it's not Navi.

It's Sheik.

He doesn't notice I'm awake and continues to fervently attack the chains with a small, sharp file. The cruel look is gone, so is the steely glint in his eyes. He looks like my best friend again. But he also looks nervous and repeatedly glances over his shoulder at the cell door. Is he breaking me out? He's the one that got me in here! Why would he be breaking me out?

When he finally gets through the chains, I immediately jump up, grab him by his uniform and slam him up against the wall. I rip the file out of his hands and push it against his throat.

"What in Hyrule is wrong with you?" I whisper harshly. "What's with this sudden personality switch? First you betray me–after all the years we've been friends–and then you break me out? I want answers Sheik, now."

"I know this is really, really confusing for you, Link." He says calmly. He must've been preparing for this reaction. "And I know you want answers, but–"

"No," I cut him off. "No 'buts' Sheik. I want answers. You owe me that, after all we've been through you owe me that. I want to know everything."

He sighs deeply. "I don't know where to begin."

"Start with why exactly you pretended to be my friend."

He looks at me with pained eyes. "No, no Link. I never pretended to be your friend, I really am your friend, I always have been. I didn't betray you, I betrayed Ganondorf. Impa helped me trick him into thinking I was a Sheikah boy committed to his cause. But in reality, I've kept the royal family updated on his actions. They're on their way as we speak."

My heat lifts at the possibility of him not being a traitor after all. But what about the reality of his cruelness? Could he really have faked that look and that voice? "Wait, what do you mean he thinks you're a Sheikah boy? You are a Sheikah boy."

He takes a shaky breath. "I–I don't know how to tell you this."

"Trust me, I can take anything you throw at me."

"I don't know about that," He says under his breath. He looks at me seriously. "Link, please, promise me that even after I show you who I really am, that we'll still be friends."

"What do you mean 'who you really are'?"

He explodes with a bright blue light. After all my time in the darkness, the bright light feels like fire. After the light dims down, I glance at Aiden. He's still fast asleep, turned on his side so his back is against us. I turn back to Sheik to ask him what the light was, but stop as I get a good look at him. It takes me a minute to really see the changes he's suddenly acquired.

...What just happened?

I stare at him in complete shock. His figure has changed, he looks more... uh, feminine? His hair is now way longer and tied in a braid down his back, and his eyes have changed to bright blue. They look awfully familiar...

Then, for the first time ever, Sheik removes his scarf, exposing his face.

My jaw drops.

It's not Sheik.

It's Princess Zelda.

She smiles shyly at me. "Well? Are you going to say something?"

I don't think I can with her looking at me, but I manage to choke out, "What happened to Sheik?"

She laughs awkwardly. It's Sheik's laugh, except higher. "That's what I've been trying to tell you, and the main reason I couldn't actually be a spy for Ganondorf. Link, I am Sheik."

I laugh for a second, not quite believing her. "You're not Sheik. You're the princess."

"And I'm also Sheik." Oh my gosh, I think she's serious. "Shortly before I met you, my father and Impa decided to let me help with interrogating Ganondorf. My father wasn't very happy about it, but I went through with it anyway. Impa changed me into a Sheikah boy, and I pretended to be on Ganondorf's side, all the letting my father know what he told me. Then he began speaking about a boy whom he thought would be the cause of his downfall. He wanted me to go and befriend him, then lure him into Ganondorf's trap. Daddy didn't want to risk me getting hurt, so he told me to lie that I did what he said. But I became fascinated with the thought of having a real friend in the boy Ganondorf told me about. He said we were about the same age. So I went to go and find him." She pauses. "Link, you know that I'm talking about you, right?"

"Yeah, it's kind of obvious."

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure. No offense, but you can be kind of slow sometimes."

I start to protest, but she cuts me off. "I went to the Lost Woods, not really knowing if I would even be able to find you, but to my surprise I bump right into you. But I didn't know it was you at the time. Ganondorf spoke of you like you were some high-and-mighty hero. But instead you were just a normal, scrawny 12 year-old boy." I try to protest about her description, but she cuts me off again. "Yes Link, you were a scrawny 12 year-old boy once. Deal with it. So, as I was saying, by the time I realized you were the boy Ganondorf talked about, you were already my best friend. When Ganondorf managed to escape from prison, he ordered me to capture you. I wasn't planning on doing it, but when the ReDead knocked you out I had no choice but to keep up the charade and make it look like I'd brought you to him. Ganondorf is going to have you killed in the morning, by Sheik. So I have to get you out tonight."

I'm still in shock. "You–you're Sheik?" I ask incredulously.

She bites her lip and nods. She's cute when she's nervous. "Link, there were so many times I really wanted to tell you who I was. But until Impa let me travel to Kakariko, you were my only real friend. Even after I got close to some of the Sheikah my age, you were always my closet friend. I didn't want to risk that by telling you. I know it was stupid and selfish of me, but I know you would have done it too. Please, please, don't be mad at me."

I should be furious with him–I mean her. Six years of thinking she was a boy, and now I'm finding out my best friend has been a girl all this time? And not just any girl, the Princess of Hyrule. My face goes red when I think of all the stupid things I've said in front of her. But, it would make sense why she's always been so uncomfortable talking about girls. And even more uncomfortable talking about herself.

Wait... oh no... I admitted to her that I have a huge crush on her!

She smiles softly. "And by the way, those were some really nice things you said about me the other day."

My hand goes to the back of my neck and my face and my face goes scarlet. "Well, you know, I was just being nice."

She laughs. "Yeah, sure." She punches my arm playfully and takes the file back. Sheik would have done the same thing. She really is him. This is too weird.

She starts sawing at the handcuffs around my wrists, quickly breaking me out of them. I rub them, relived to have them free.

"Can you get Aiden out too?" I ask.

"Aiden? Who's Aiden?"

I point to him and she follows my finger.

"Oh, I didn't see him there. Yes, I can. But I need you to watch the door in case a guard comes by."

I nod and walk over to the door. She begins sawing at Aiden's chains.

He groggily tries to push her away and mumbles, "Gimme five 'ore minutes."

"Hey, Link!" Navi yells as she flies in the room. "I found a sharp rock! Do you think that'll work?" She looks over to where I was, confused.

"Over here," I whisper.

"Oh! There you are! How'd you get out?" She says loudly.

I shush her. "My friend is breaking us out. Now be quiet or Ganondorf will hear us."

"Um Link, I think he already heard us." She points behind me with a frightened face.

Zelda gasps and Aiden shoots up. I slowly turn around and come face-to-face with the former Gerudo King.

"Yes," He says, smiling. "I do believe he has heard you."