Just a warning. This story is rather long. And my authoress note is rather long. Not sure how it happened, but... Life and death and love and birth on the planet Earth, you know. (Whoever knows the reference gets a virtual hug.)
Enjoy!
He's twenty-two years old when her baby is born. Bright crimson stares up at him, the intelligence in the ruby orbs astounding. He tells her that he needs to leave for a while. To think, he says. She dearly wishes he would stay, but knows he needs to go.
The queen thinks about her choices. Would it have been better if she had not gone through with this?
For years, he secludes himself in the mountains. Training, he says. Only every so often does he go see the young prince. It pains him to stay away, but it makes the yearning worse when he goes.
The queen knows why he refuses to live in the castle and it pains her. Will he ever look at the child with happiness?
A massive celebration is held for the young prince on the day he comes into manhood. The same age the hero was when he started his quest. Thirteen. He can see the prince is curious about the man he barely knows, but he keeps a distance.
The queen watches the two watch each other and hopes her son will heal the broken man within her friend. Is she wrong to hope?
He is forty years old when the prince finally approaches him. The little babe has turned into a man the spitting image of the one he loved and it hurts worse than any wound he has ever known.
The queen cries when the younger throws himself into the hero's arms and finally ask a question he has been holding in for years.
"Why do you look so lonely when our eyes meet, Link?" The surprise in those deep crystals astounds the prince to the point that he smiles. "I have grown much since you last saw me. You cannot hide behind walls anymore. Please, tell me what troubles you."
He licks his lips while extracting himself from that warm body. The curving of the prince's hips does not go unnoticed and the hero gulps. "Did... Did your mother ever tell you the story of the Hero of Time?"
Link knows that the prince is unsure where he wants to go with the conversation, but he greatly desires to avoid the question. "No, but I have heard tales from the elders in town."
"And what have you heard?" Link wondered why the prince looked uneasy.
"Our time runs along another where a brave youth took down an evil man and brought peace to Hyrule. That we are in the timeline that Mother created with her Triforce piece. One where the evil man was slain before he could lay his hands upon the sacred triangle. All thanks to the Hero of Time that remembered everything of the other time." The prince regarded Link with faked confusion. "What does that matter right now?"
It was a moment before he spoke again. "You are him, aren't you."
Link nodded. "I am."
For some reason, this unknown fact did not upset the prince. Link wanted to know why. "Does Mother know?"
"Only what I have told her and what little she remembers." His wish was granted as the prince spoke up.
"Would you believe me if I said I remember the other time?" A look that only one person had ever given him was directed at the hero. One of confidence, yet insecurity.
"There is no possible way. You were not ali-" The hero's eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. "She named you after him. I should have known."
He knows the prince is reaching out for him, but he also knows he won't be able to stop if he looks back. "Wait!"
"Has he ever told you he has Sheik's memories?" Blue eyes locked on the floor, shame within them. Link read the words unspoken and cursed. "You knew this would happen."
Zelda tried to plead with him. "You must understand. I did it for you, Link."
He stood from the chair and it scratched across the floor. "But forcing him to be reborn before his soul was ready! You caused the rip in his mind! He should not remember anything! How could you?!"
She, too, got up. Though in a more dignified manner. "You needed him!"
"He is not the same! He will never be my Sheik! You cannot expect me to look at him the same way! To..." Tears sprang free and Link refused to wipe them away. She had to know how it hurt him. "What you have done is wrong."
She reached out and touched his shoulder. "But I wanted you to be happy. I love you."
"This will not make me happy. He isn't mine." The queen fell to the floor as he jerked away from her. "And he won't ever be again."
The door slammed shut and she knew she would not see him for many years.
The storm blew icy wind around the mountain, but the two occupants of the small cabin were safe behind the strong wood walls.
Link wanted to hurt him for following him all the way here. But he wouldn't. Couldn't. That face saved him from any rage the once-hero might have had. "Why have you come here?"
The prince held his ground. "Call me by my name."
He simply waved the younger off. "Go home. Your mother will be missing you."
Still, the prince stayed. "Say my name, Link. Please."
"The storm probably won't let up for a few days if you don't go right n-"
They landed in a tangle of limbs on the floor as the prince tackled him. Link tried to ignore how his body started to heat up or the way the younger was now straddling his hips. "Gods dammit, Link! Say my fucking name!"
The prince was breathing heavily, tears over-flowing and running down his soft cheeks, as Link reached up to cup his face with both hands. "Do you understand what you're trying to do?"
His hands were brushed away from the face he loved and layers of clothing to ward off the cold were shed from a slender torso. Finally, the skintight white undershirt was worked off of the prince's body and those beautiful eyes that warmed his heart like the lava pits of Death Mountain met his. The glow of the singular lantern seemed to wrap around the chest on display and Link had to work to get air into his lungs.
His own shirt was stripped from his body by callous-less hands and Link groaned at the feeling. A single nip to the point of his sensitive ear had him grabbing at the golden hair above him. "Say my name."
Link knew he couldn't go back from it. "Sheik." But he cared not.
"Finally." The warmest of smiles shown down as Sheik sat back up. "I've been waiting my whole life for that. You have no idea how hard it is to not be noticed by the man you love."
The hero snorted. "Don't I? You avoided me for five temples."
The prince snorted back. Though his was playful, not annoyed. "But wasn't the sex in the Spirit Temple worth the wait."
"Sheik." It was supposed to be a warning, but it came out full of love.
"When I started to recover my memory, I was scared. There was so much and my mind was still that of a ten year old." Smaller hands took Link's and placed them over a rapidly beating heart. "You avoided me and I was so mad. I hated you. But... I was lonely too."
His hands fell down to a trim waist and caressed the skin. "You understand how I felt for nearly a decade before you were born again."
New tears tried to fall, but Link easily reached up and wiped them away. "I'm sorry for how things ended."
"You couldn't have changed it. It was the will of the gods." Silence permitted the air and it felt just a bit colder. "Do you think I'm still there?"
"Ganondorf would be free if you weren't. But I suppose your soul was free to do what it wanted. After all, the seal only needed royal blood."
"It was weird when I remembered I was my mother's half-brother at one time."
"I bet."
"And going through puberty with the memory of that constantly popping up was torture." Sheik winked and Link blushed. He guessed they hadn't changed so much from that time. It was Sheik that had started everything in the other time too. "So many sleepless nights wanting you. Still, I want you."
Red eyes flashed and Link had to keep from pushing Sheik to the floor as the prince rolled his hips down into Link's fading erection. That certainly sparked it back to life. "If only you had stayed at the castle. I would have snuck into your bed at the tender age of thirteen. I damn you for never staying the night."
Link scoffed. "That would make me a pedophile."
Sheik shrugged. "My soul was old enough."
A deep frown. "That does not make it right."
A wicked grin. "Makes it kinky."
Blue eyes had a difficult time deciding whether to widen in surprise or narrow in outrage. "Sheik!"
"What?" The younger groaned and leaned down to lay his head on the hero's strong chest. "You should have just fucked me then and I wouldn't be following you up into the mountains. Nice place, by the way."
Link's mind fuzzed over a bit as gentle fingertips traces his jawline. "Built it myse- Hey! You are getting off topic."
"Oh, yes. The topic of sex." The hero winched as the prince's elbows dug into his ribs as the younger rest his head on his hands. "Which makes me wonder why we aren't naked yet."
"I will not do such a thing with a boy half my age." A delicate pout pulled those lips just right and Link was so close to pulling Sheik down into a kiss.
"So you're over forty. What does it matter. I bet things still work like they should." That sly grin and sultry eyes. "Besides, the years only made you ruggedly handsome."
Subconsciously, Link rubbed his bit of scruff... Have to shave soon. "This is why I tried to keep you away from Zelda. You're too perverted."
"We spent seven years in the same body. She technically was there when we-"
"La, la, la, la, la!" When it was apparent that Sheik wouldn't continue, Link uncovered his ears. "Please, Sheik. Shut your mouth for once in you lives."
"If I don't, are you going to put something in it?" Thick lashes fluttered as Sheik gave him the perfect innocent look.
The hero rolled his eyes. "That innocent smile is a lie and you know it."
The younger raised an eyebrow. "Sheikah can't lie."
"Link tried to put the math together in his head, but couldn't quite figure it out. "I'd say you're a fourth, maybe a half, Sheikah now. So, I doubt that counts for you."
"Shut up and have sex with me, Hero." The old nickname was not lost on Link, but he ignored the nostalgic feeling.
Crossing his arms, the hero glared up at the Sheikah that was sitting up again. And perfectly perched on a delicate piece of his anatomy. "No. What would your mother say?"
"That we probably should have done it years ago." The way he said it sounded like Zelda really had told him. And she probably had. "These bodies we are in are virgin, you know."
"I-I-"
Red eyes filled with mirth. "Ha! That's right! You're a forty-something year old virgin!"
"By the Three..."
"Sex, sex, sex!" Did Sheik know what he was doing by bouncing up and down on Link's hips? One look and... Yeah. He did.
"I'm leaving." Link tried to push the younger off so he could get up, but got nails threatening to tear into his skin.
"No, Link!" Sheik's voice was a whine verging on heartbreak. "Don't leave me."
The hero sighed as he flopped back down. "Why can't you act like a civil adult?"
"Cause it's just us." White-blond hair caressed Link's shoulder as Sheik nuzzled into him.
Link groaned. Everything was a mess now. "I'm developing a headache."
Sheik sing song voice was not helping. "You know what helps with that."
"If you say another word, I will-"
"Bend me over your knee and spank my arse cause I'm a bad boy." Bad boy alright...
Get yourself together, Link. "Tell your mother."
"Ouch." The prince rolled his eyes. "The mom card. I'd fold if your threat meant anything to me."
"I'll refuse to sleep with you." One look from those crimson orbs and Link knew he couldn't.
Those all-seeing-eyes obviously knew as well, because Sheik smiled. "You never change. Why can't you say sex? Or fuck? That's a nice word. Fucking fuckety fuck fuck."
Warningly, Link growled. "Sheik."
"I'll go to sleep if you let me sleep with you." At the steel gaze, Sheik added, "And I really do mean sleep, not sex."
Link stared deeply into Sheik eyes until he was sure the other meant it. "Any other demands?"
The prince nodded vigorously. "Yes, of course."
Give up. That was the only way to do things with Sheik. The boy was, and always will be, a fireball. "And what, pray tell, are they?"
"We sleep naked." Here, he pointed at Link. "And you must cuddle me."
Last ditch effort. "You realize how cold it is up in the mountains, right?"
"Don't worry. I'll keep you warm." Link sighed at the seductive tone of voice. He couldn't win for losing.
"You have to understand things are different now, Sheik. You're technically Zelda's first born. You have duties and task that must be carried out."
"I left her a note, you know. I told her to tell the kingdom I died of illness or something." He shrugged at Link's widening eyes. "It isn't like she doesn't have other kids now."
"You can't-"
"I was born to love you! You think I would choose ruling a country over you!" The hero tried to calm the Sheikah that was getting more and more upset. "I came up here to be with you! I love you! Damn the kingdom to hell and back! I refuse to leave your side!"
Ruby eyes darkened with raw emotion. "I need you, Link."
The gate holding back all the things he wanted to do, but didn't, came open and Link pulled Sheik down to kiss him deeply. He knew if Sheik wasn't by his side, he would break beyond repair now.
Link held Sheik to his chest and breathed in his unique scent. "I won't let you go back. No matter how much you beg to."
The Sheikah nodded. "I won't."
An ugly emotion was developing in the older's chest. "You can't even think about another man."
"Never."
Link licked his lips and spoke softly. "Say you love me every day."
"Only if you say it back." Equal amounts of love were admit as Sheik bumped his head against Link's chin and kissed him the second the hero shifted down. "Anything else?"
"Come to bed with me. I've missed you terribly."
"As long as you embrace me until morning."
Link lifted his love up higher in his arms as he stood. "Then I wish the sun would never rise."
They crossed the room, the prince smiling as the bed sunk underneath them. Link's eyes were finally full of life again.
In case you didn't know my canon for the whole Sheik is the seal for Ganondorf/timelines not crashing together-ness thing. I make him half-royal, half-Sheikah sometimes so that he can maintain the seal. Or sometimes I use his full-blooded Sheikah self to maintain the seal. Anyways, that's it pretty much.
So, I got this idea while reading a story where the guy was like thirty and the girl was eighteen. For some reason I imagined Link as a forty year old man trying to keep from doing the stuff of stuffs to a way younger Sheik. I was going to have Sheik fall in love with Link on his own, but somehow it ended up being Sheik reborn in a different body (Kinda. Still looks the same, I guess.) and gaining his memories back. As you can clearly see.
Also, in case you were wondering: Fun fact, at the end of the story, Link is fourty-four and Sheik is twenty-two. I thought it turned out nicely and did not plan to have Sheik literally half Link's age. But I'm rambling. I'll go on and on about nonsense in my next update authoress note thing! Bah!
Review. Please, no complaints on the age gap. I'll be severely peeved if I'm left a review that tells me it's gross and wrong. To be completely honest, I do not care. My story. My rules. Don't like it, I don't like you. That's how I feel at this point. I write for me and a few wonderful reviewers whom I love. (I'm talking about you Smileey, Imagination that, my Fairy boy, that one guest that should get a profile so I can message them religiously, KPGirl1227, firework615, LOZ Fan, Sokkalovr1, Zeldageek726, , and anyone else I have forgotten.) Okay. Maybe more than a few... Oh well. I loves them all!
Love and how odd would it be to be reborn as your sibling's kid, (I shiver in disgust just thinking about it.)
~Annoying :)