Fan Fiction ❯ The Link/Sheik Saga ❯ Destiny ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda.

Previously -

"It seems that the time for reconciliation has finally come." Saria commented watching the Shadow Sage approached her son, a few moments later Sheik nodded and Impa leaned in to hug him, ruffling Link's bangs at the same time, which ended in her hand getting swatted away from his hair.

Perhaps, now that they knew the truth, they were finally on the right track to save Link's soul from the shadows, perhaps even save more than that while they were at it, for it was only a matter of time before the resolution of this twisted story they all played a part in made itself known.

"Oh!" Zelda squeaked suddenly. "I forgot to tell you, I hade a Prophecy last night," She explained. "There is a great blackness coming, very soon."

Destiny

"A great blackness?" Saria repeated, shrinking back a bit. "Tell me it has nothing to do with Link!"

Zelda didn't look at her, opting to stare sadly at the floor and shake her head in remorse.

"I'm sorry, Saria…" she whispered. "But, unless Link can perform the proper spells, I'm afraid that we're all doomed." Glancing up the Sages, they saw her eyes were clouded with tears. The last thing she wanted was the end of Hyrule; it was her kingdom, after all. "Unless we can snap Link out of this trauma-comatose, then Hyrule is going to be destroyed."

"Well, there's obviously only one thing we can do ta prevent this," Nabooru commented, standing and walking over to Zelda. After only a moment of hesitation, the Spirit Sage gripped the Hylian princess in her arms, embracing her in a tight hug. "Don' worry, Princess." She whispered. "Even when everyone else gives up, I ain't gonna let Link not save this place."

"Oh…Nabooru!" Zelda sobbed into the startled Gerudo's shoulder. "I don't know what I'd do without you…all of you…"

"Count me in too, Zelda." Ruto commanded, her aura flaring up again. "I won't let Link die, even if he is in love with someone else."

"Me too, Lady Zelda." Darunia patted her on the shoulder. "Brother shall not lose to this blackness."

"We helped him kill Ganondorf, we can help him kill this thing too." Saria nodded in determination.

"If only pure evil can combat pure good, then surely the Light can combat this Darkness." Raura commented stepping forward toward Zelda and bowing slightly at the waist. "You and your nation have my allegiance, you're eminence, Princess Zelda."

Impa reentered the room and with one final glance at Sheik and Link she nodded and turned to Zelda, a small look of amusement glinting in her eyes.

"As a Sage it is my duty under the Triforce to keep the Hero of Time alive to the best of my abilities, and I'm not about to let my son die either." She stated simply, dropping briefly down to one knee in a sign of respect toward Zelda. "I am always on your side."

"Mother," Sheik commented as he and Link walked into the room. "Good luck on catching me in a position where I need help staying alive."

"I'll be sure to remember that comment next time you get lost in the Shadow Temple." Impa laughed, then seeing Link, she sobered immediately. The Hero of Time was staring at Zelda, a pained expression on his face and then, he turned and bolted from the room.

"Link!" Zelda, Saria and Ruto shouted in unison.

Sheik growled and glared at Zelda, as if he blamed her for Link's sudden exit. Sheik determinedly planted on foot in front of the other. He would find out what had happened to cause this to happen to Link. Striding over to Ruto he grabbed the Zora princess's wrist and commanded, his natural accent and dialect making itself known at full force.

"Take me to Lake Hylia…" He commanded, his eyes narrowing into a dangerous expression, "now."

Ruto nodded and placed her hands cautiously on the Shiekah's shoulders. Her aura surrounded them and then vanished into a small amount of water of the floor. Saria gave Zelda an odd look and her own aura surrounded her, enveloping her in a leafy flower before that two vanished into the ground.

"What did I do?" Zelda whispered.

"Perhaps," Impa commented with amazing Zen for the situation, "he simply heard you and your lack of faith in him."

"Oh, both my country and I are damned!" She sobbed, running to the other room.

"An' she calls Ruto melodramatic." Nabooru scoffed, vanishing into a puff of smoke, her voice lingering for a moment. "I'll look in the Spirit Temple ta see if he went there."

"And I shall look for brother in Death Mountain." Darunia told Impa gravely. "Perhaps, you should check the Kakariko Village?"

"Yes." Impa nodded her head and faded into her shadow as Darunia burst into flames.

"With your permission, your eminence, I shall search the Sacred Realm and Temple of Light." Raura called at Zelda, received a light sob in reply before vanishing into a bright flash of light.

The water lapped up on the shore of Lake Hylia. Sheik released Ruto as soon as they burst forth from the wavy waters. He quickly threw several glances around and then turned back to the Zora Princess.

"I am not worthy to enter the Temple." He stated. "You, however, are its keeper. Go look for him there, I'll check the Lake and Fishing Hole."

Ruto nodded and quickly dove back under the water in search of the Water Temple entrance. Sheik swam to the coast and clambered up onto the land. He had to find Link. He had to find him soon. Bad things happened when Link went missing. Only bad things happened when Link went missing.

"I'll be damned if I'm going to lose you to that bitch's whining." He growled, gazing around the flat topography. Cursing softly under his breath, as he found neither hide nor hair of the Hero of Time, he headed off to the Fishing Hole.

Death Mountain Crater gurgled softly from the lava bubbling deep within its confines. Darunia headed as quickly as a Goron could toward the entrance of the Temple. Though, it was incredibly unlikely that Link would retreat into the steamy confines of the Fire Temple, it was still his duty to look into it after having made sure that the Hero of Time was not hiding in Goron City, as the Sage of Fire. The Opening Foyer was deserted other than the Fire bats flapping unimportantly around the room. The next room proved to be in much the same state. Darunia sighed lightly. Such a large Temple he'd been destined to keep.

Saria fought back tears when she asked Mido if Link had returned to the Kokiri Forest and received a negative response. Sighing in defeat, she took out her Ocarina and headed to the Sacred Forest Meadow. Walking calmly past the Wolfoes, who simply sat back onto their rear haunches in her presence, for she was their Mistress, she opened the door into the Forest Temple. No Link in the Entrance Hall, or the main room, or the dungeon, or the Gallery, or the Forest division of the Sacred Realm. Damn Link for all it was worth, he was being a pain in the ass.

The Shadow Temple was, as always, dark. Impa wandered through the halls and various corridors in search of Link. She had checked the Kakariko Village first, and found no sign of him. Then she moseyed around the Graveyard for a while, questioning the local Poes and ghosts if they had seen him, to which the answer was either "no" or some rather sinister cackling, neither of which was very helpful. After that had come the bottom of the Dried Well, this too proved futile. So, here she was. Searching high and low throughout the Shadow Temple looking for her son's lover. She was beginning to get rather frustrated with her lack of results. When, at last, she reached the portal to the Sacred Realm, she sighed as her journey ended. Why would the Hero of Time come to sulk in the dark anyway?

"Damnit!" Nabooru cursed as she appeared in the Haunted Wasteland. The sand blew hither and beyond, and of course, into her eyes. "Why'd they have ta put the fuckin' Temple in the middle of the desert?

Shaking off the annoyed feeling, she began to walk toward the Spirit Temple. This was, typically enough, the largest, by far, of any of the other Temples; she had to get stuck with the big one, right?

Raura took a good long look around the circular room. Nope, he confirmed grimly, no Link here. It wasn't as if it were easy to misplace a green-clad blonde Hylian in the small blue chamber. Shaking his head, Raura decided that it was clear. Link was not in the Light Temple. Link was nowhere near the Light Temple, for his magical chi that the Great Faerie of Power had given him was utterly undetectable. This meant one of two things, either he was not in the Sacred Realm, or he was dead. Raura was willing to put his rupees on the former before the latter.

That afternoon, Zelda cried. Zelda cried a lot that afternoon. Oh goddesses, she had pushed Link into running away from them all. Meanwhile, the missing Hero was closer than any of them ever suspected. In the Temple of Time, behind a closed door, Link sat. He stared at the Master Sword's plinth, contemplating what might happen, should he leave this time a return to the past. Could he undo what Ganondorf had done to him? Could he, perhaps, learn to ignore his personal feelings and simply chant the required spells? Would he maybe do what Sheik feared he would, simply…shrivel up and die from the grievance of being alienated from his love? Did he have the courage to leave? He was the Hero of Time. He had fought Ganondorf and sacrificed all he could without thinking the least of it at the time to protect this nation of Hyrule. He was the renowned Hero. The man who fought the King of Evil and came out standing; the one who could never be frightened into retreat. Why was he running now? Why was he leaving when thing were so wonderful between himself and Sheik? Because he didn't want to be the submissive in their relationship. Yes, that must be it. Being protected angered him. He was the Hero. Sheik reminded him of it every day. He was the one who was supposed to do the protecting, yet here he was, helpless and alone, behind the immense Door of Time, running for the first time in his life. He truly had sunk to a pitiful level. He knew that now. He would not run from Sheik, he would go back and force himself to be able to protect Hyrule, and Sheik, once again. Just once more. Link told himself, rising and squeezing out of the opening between the Door of Time and the wall, exiting the Temple and returning to Hyrule Castle.

"Shit!" Sheik seethed, pacing back and forth in front of the Sages and Zelda. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. How could we lose him? How can we lose a person?"

"Sheik," Nabooru commented calmly from her perch atop Zelda's dresser. "Don' worry. We didn' lose 'im, per say, we just can' find 'im."

"And just how do you define, 'losing someone?'" Sheik fumed. "We can't find him, he's as useful as if he were dead!"

Ruto eyed him charily from where she was sitting next to Saria, trying to comfort the still blubbering Zelda. Her eyes were soft and she eyed Sheik with some unplaced emotion. Almost a sense of discomfort in the presence of the distraught Sheikah. Almost, yet not quite.

"You're worried…" She stated, keeping eye contact with him the whole time. "You're so worried you want to vomit, but won't let yourself for fear you'll miss him if he comes back."

"He's not coming back." The statement was so soft, almost serene, that only Saria and Ruto noticed it at first. The attention that the two girls were giving the Princess was what drew the interest of the others. "He won't come back, because he's what the Blackness wants."

"Your eminence, whatis this Blackness?" Raura questioned her gently. "Please, princess, we may be able to save him if we know what we're up against." The Sage of Light was backed up by the urgent nods of the other five Sages and Sheik.

"It won't matter." Zelda shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "You can't kill it. A spirit, the spirit of Link's predecessor, the last Hero, he wants to possess Link's body so that he can complete his destiny and move on, but he won't succeed, he can't succeed because he'd just be completing Link's destiny. You can't kill it."

"I don' care if we cen' * kill it. I'm still gunna beat the shit out'a it before it cen' kill Link." Nabooru threatened, smacking her fist into her palm. "No damned spirit cen' win against me. No more than a plant can defeat Saria, or Ruto can' stop a flood from demolishing a village."

"But what if Zelda's right?" Sheik pointed out. "If this thing possesses Link, then if we kill it, we'd just be killing Link-" He stopped and turned to face the double doors that separated the Dining room from Zelda's bedroom. They burst open to reveal a blonde man wearing a bright green tunic. "Link…" Sheik half whispered. "Link…is it really you?" No reply, of course.

Sheik shook his head and ran forward, clutching tightly to Link almost as if afraid he'd disappear. Then something went wrong. Sheik glanced up and almost squeaked in surprise. Oh, Damnit, he knew only bad things happened when Link went missing. Link's aura had changed from its normal colour to jet-black. His clothes had changed too, they were now black as well, and his hat was gone too.

"Release me, Sheikah." Link's mouth had not opened, yet the words rang clear as midday throughout the room. "Your lover no longer occupies this vessel. Release me at once before I show you what happens when you cross blades with the Hero of Time."

~* To be continued… *~

Installment five teaser-

Sheik cringed as 'Link's' aura flared and threw him from his former lover's vessel. The man who resembled Link cocked his head to the right for a moment, before striding forward and taking Sheik's chin in his hand, lifting it up somewhat.

"You're a pretty thing, aren't you, Sheikah?" The eerie voice spoke to him once more. "No small wonder that the Other fell for you. Unfortunately for you, I have neither interest, nor taste for men."

"What made you think I wanted you?" Sheik snarled, jerking his chin from the Link-spirit's grasp.

"You do love this body, do you not?"

"No!" Sheik shouted. "I loved the spirit that occupied it, monster!"

"Well then…" the spirit removed a small glass sphere from his tunic and stared at Sheik for a moment with hollow blue eyes. "If you him, catch." Sheik gaped in horror as the spirit tossed the sphere into the air, allowing it to soar away from them both…