To See the Sun Smile: Part Ten
DISCLAIMER: All of The Legend of Zelda Characters and Places belong to Nintendo, and maybe some other equally important organizations/people. They are not, nor have they ever been mine. I just write silly fics.
Notes will be found at the bottom this time, as the author is going to TL;DR a little.
Part Ten
Crescendo
Among the rocky cliffs and surf was a small, sandy grove overlooking the sea. Besides the occasional crying gull no creatures crossed this hidden shore, leaving the palm trees to sway peacefully in the breeze. On a worn log sat a young woman, ankles crossed as she hummed a song to the setting sun. The warm rays caught her hair, illuminating the red color until she appeared wreathed in flame. Finally she paused in her music, smiling at the waves. “Questions that go unasked don’t find many answers, you know.”
Leaning on the rough trunk of a tree to her left, Sheik blinked from his study of the sky and glanced over. His clothing and hair was still damp, sand stubbornly clinging to the creases of his uniform. After a moment he sighed and lowered his head. “My apologies. I am having a hard time understanding why I am here.”
In response he received a giggle, the woman’s freckled nose crinkling cheerfully. “I pulled you over, remember? The drag marks are still there.” She waved to the sand, where the surf had indeed not reached far enough to hide the body sized crease and footprints. “You were heavy.” Before he could begin she fluttered a hand for silence, looking over. “Yes, I know what you meant.” She scooted over on her log and patted the widened space beside her, smiling silently up at him. After a few long moments of deciding she was not going to speak again until he moved, Sheik reluctantly pushed off his tree and walked over. When he sat stiffly on the far end she nodded her satisfaction and looked back to the ocean. “Well, I did ask for you to come, after all. I’m glad you kept your lyre for me.”
Instinctively, he reached to brush the instrument hidden on his back with one hand. She had asked for him to keep it, and miraculously his arrival had failed to dislodge it. “I thought I was to die, or perhaps cease to be.”
“Did you want to?” Although her eyes stayed forward, the tone of her question took a harder, more serious note. He opened his mouth to reply that it wasn’t about what he wanted, that it was needed, that he did not regret what must be. But somehow, looking out into the endless ocean, he felt the words die away. It was done, was there any use in dodging simple questions anymore?
“…No.”
When he looked over to her she was watching him, warm eyes smiling in warm light. “And that’s why it matters.” She chuckled lightly at the blank look given her and began drawing lines in the sand with her feet. After a moment, she began to hum again, then softly sing. The words slipped through his ears without registering, but he recognized the song. A ballad, one achingly familiar. On automatic he unhooked the lyre from his back, fingers following the memorized notes.
He had been right - her voice was of legends.
The sun slipped down as the music flowed, shadows lengthening. However, there was a feeling in his fingertips, an off subtlety in the harp’s vibrations that did not leave. He frowned slightly, looking down as if he could spot the invisible imperfection when a hand touched his waist. Starting, he turned to his companion and found her gone, her footprints in the sand winding their way out of the grove. That she had walked off without his notice was somehow more unsettling than her previous vanishing in thin air; it added to the general sense of wrongness.
As he hooked his harp back the touch came again, firmer. His eyes snapped to his side to find only air, but this time the feeling had not left. A warm hand, seeming to hesitate before gripping firmly. Unnerved, Sheik stood and unsheathed one of his dirks on the way. He ran his own hand across the spot on his waist and sidestepped a few feet. The ghost touch did not leave, merely lightening for a second and then squeezing plaintively. Red eyes narrowed in a frown. Strange as it was, this did not feel like a threat. Taking a slow breath, he slowly replaced the dirk.
Almost immediately another touch responded, this one his back. He tensed and both invisible hands shied away, then returned almost hesitantly. If he closed his eyes, he could feel them faintly trembling. His frown deepened, and he quietly called out to the air. “What do you want?”
The response he received was a gentle push from the force against his back. Not nearly enough to move him, just a nudge forward. His mind was weighing the chances of an ambush, calculating all he knew of invisibility and outside curses. But in this place beyond life and above death, it was his curiosity that won. He stepped forward, following the pressure and obligingly turning when the hand at his side guided him to due so. When the surf began to lap at his boots, he stopped. Ahead, the waves rolled endlessly.
Was this some twisted subconscious thought trying to drown him? He lifted an eyebrow and shook his head, starting to turn back when the feeling on his side switched to weakly tugging. Despite himself, Sheik stared. It almost felt like a plea. And there was something so familiar in the touch, the way the invisible fingers settled. Something strong and innocent, something careful to avoid his injuries while keeping him upright...
Red eyes snapped wide in shock, gaze jerking to the sea ahead.
Before he registered the movement Sheik had broken into a running dive, plunging headfirst into the water along the invisible line.
*****
His chest burned.
The patch of orange light he assumed to be the surface was slowly shrinking, but his limbs refused to move to bring it back. That it had started so high above already was an unfair advantage anyway. Everything that wasn’t numb ached, but it was hardly noticeable above the agony of his lungs. He mentally thrashed and fought, trying to force his arms to move, his fingers to twitch, even to blink his eyes. This was beyond claustrophobia or panic; unable to move, breathe, scream. And still he sank, and the world faded away.
"Are you planning on leaving it like that, then?"
Were he capable of it, Link would have jerked to look at the disembodied voice to his left. Instead, the speaker cordially walked through the water into view and sat cross-legged on his chest. He wondered how exactly he knew she was smiling when all he could see was a vague outline of red hair. Perhaps it was the tone of voice. She remained silent for a second and then sighed. “Do you remember why you set out in the first place?”
Of course he did. That he could have forgotten was vaguely insulting, and he tried and failed to scowl. The silhouette sitting on him huffed and folded her hands in her lap. “Oh, don’t act that way. You used your whole heart to leap for your goal?”
If possible, even more than that. He was sinking into certain death with an apparition using him for a chair, and all of it still seemed secondary. The thing hovering at the forefront of his mind was of…
“Yes?” There was a strong undertone of amusement in her voice, making Link clamp down on the thought before it ran rampant in his head. He received a chuckle in response. “All right, don’t tell. Your end is never lacking, anyway.” She paused, propping her chin in her hand to study him. “Did you ever consider that perhaps the goal did not want to be reached?”
…What?
“That would mean no.”
He mentally backtracked, forcing aside the darkness creeping on the rim of his mind. Was that possible? It had seemed so cut and dry at the time, but was he trying to rescue the unwilling?
“Are you?”
It took a long second agony before the realization hit him. Without noticing, he blinked. No. No he wasn’t.
“How do you know that?” Her voice was smiling again.
This wasn’t a rescue. He just wanted to see him again. To hear him, talk to him, know his existence. It was that selfish and that simple. So in the end, he was the one left needing.
“And where does drowning fit into the equation, exactly?”
Well he hadn’t planned on this happening.
“I know.” Her voice softened from its teasing tone to something more melancholy. “You never change. But now you need to move your arm.”
He dearly wished he could roll his eyes. What did she think he was trying to do?
“No, that’s wrong. You were trying to go up.” She reached forward and poked at his forehead, not that he felt it. “That does you no good; it’s too far.” As if suddenly remembering something she turned and looked to the tiny point of surface, voice tightening. “It’s just one arm. You need to reach back.”
Back? How would that do any good?
“Just a few inches, come on.” Her arms unfolded, resting unfelt on his left elbow. The fire in his lungs was spreading, creeping to the edges of his vision. He was starting to fade, and once that happened there was no returning.
His thumb twitched, and a bolt of tingling pain shot up to his shoulder. “That’s it, now the rest.” Her hands were out of his field of view, but he had a feeling she was attempting to push with her ethereal fingers. Another twitch, and then sluggishly his arm began to move. It was agonizingly slow; what he thought being buried alive must feel like as he forced his way through the water. One inch, two...
When he hit something soft and slick, his companion exhaled and nodded quickly. “Now close your fingers. Pull.” He hadn’t hit the bottom of the ocean yet; he had to have felt into his pack. “Farther, come on. We’re going up now.” On the top of his supplies he kept potions for fast retrieval, almost everything else could wait a few seconds to dig for. It was a cranky Navi and a sudden rain storm that decided the almost. “To your face, touch your nose.”
As the blue fabric of his Zora hat covered his mouth, he felt the familiar tickle of magic and a brush of air. His lungs reacted instantly, gasped at the thin flow that the small piece could provide. The pain in his chest ebbed, waning to a steady ache as he panted for the tiny breaths. Above him, the silhouette chucked, and then craned her neck to look behind. “I think that managed it.” She stood and stepped off, the glimmer of light catching her smile. “I knew you would come back some day. It just took a little while for him to figure it out.”
He couldn’t decide if she was fading or if he was blacking out when something very solid collided with his right arm and clamped down on it. With one hard yank his slow sink turned to a fast ascension that made his spinning head add cartwheels to its routine. A hand joined his over his face, holding the cloth in place as his back pressed against something solid and familiar. While the glow of the surface increased he felt his mind relaxing into the arm around his abdomen, a smile coming to his lips unbidden.
Thank you, Marin.
You’re welcome Link.
*****
The moment they broke the surface Sheik wrenched his hand away from the hero’s mouth, giving Link access to the air. His own cowl was making it difficult to pull in breath, but he was not about to waste time moving it. Instead he adjusted his grip and flipped them over, keeping Link above him and stroking on his back towards the shore. The weight of their combined equipment still pulled him beneath the waves twice before his feet hit sand, but to his horror the body against him did not let out so much as a gasp.
Panic lending adrenaline, he half hauled and half carried his burden ashore, coughing up saltwater along the way. He dropped to his knees in the sand and carefully lowered Link to the ground. “Hero?”
The blue eyes were closed, but one gauntleted hand still held a piece of fabric to the pale face. Sheik reached down and ripped both away, and the reaction was instantaneous. Link surged up, his entire body wracked with violent coughing as he tried to expel the water from his lungs. Sheik quickly wrapped an arm around the other’s back and propped him to a sitting position, holding him upright as he convulsed uncontrollably.
It took a long minute for the fit to die down, Link’s lungs having apparently exhausted themselves with one last miserable whimper. Carefully, Sheik lowered the hero back, letting the blonde head stay elevated by resting it on his thigh. Link’s hat had shaken off in the scuffle, loose strands of wet hair clinging to his face. Without thinking, Sheik began brushing them back, threading his fingers through to find the worst of the tangles before combing them away. It was not until his hand passed over Link’s eyes that he realized they had opened and were watching him hazily.
He pulled back quickly, searching for something to say when Link’s hand lifted. Slowly, the hero brought his fingers to his mouth and bit down on the very edge of his gauntlet, pulling it off and brushing it aside. Still, his gaze refused to leave Sheik’s face. With his bared arm he reached up, extended a finger, and gave Sheik’s cheek a gentle poke.
On instinct, Sheik flinched away at the unexpected move before Link blinked and broke into a grin. The finger approached again, touching Sheik’s masked nose this time, then trailed a line to his jaw and down his chin. A strong feeling of deja vu washed through Sheik’s mind, but before he could place it a soft, broken chuckle overrode anything else.
Link’s voice was rough, but his eyes had gained back a bit of brightness. “You’re here.”
It was hard to argue with that statement, so he merely blinked. Too aware of the warm hand resting over his face, he carefully answered. “As are you, hero.”
Either he was losing his reflexes or Link typically gained incredible speed after nearly drowning, because by the time he had registered the arm wrapping his back the hero had thrown himself upright and pulled Sheik into a crushing embrace. Link’s face was buried in the wet cloth at the junction of Sheik’s neck and shoulders, his arms wrapped solidly around his chest. The position made it impossible for Sheik to win the battle of staying upright, and he fell back with the clinging blonde on top of him.
Link seemed to not care about this change in the slightest, only shifting his legs to lay behind him before attempting to burrow farther. His voice came out heavily muffled. “You’re here.” The feel of his breath seeped into Sheik’s wet clothing, Link’s fingers clinging to his top. “You’re not, you’re okay, you’re…” The soft ramblings came out fragmented, and something warmer than the sea water hit his neck.
Startled, he let his hands rest on Link’s shoulders. “Hero?” In response he felt Link shake his head, the chest against his trembling faintly. His hands crept across Link’s back, one resting on the back of his neck while the other wove into the dripping locks of hair. There was something so important to talk about, but by the goddesses, it felt like Link was crying. And wasn’t that worth the importance?
No, it wasn’t, not with what was on the line. Still, he waited a long minute before he gave the hair he was stroking a soft pull. “Hero, you have to come out. Please, I need to talk to you.” The body against him froze, then took in a slow inhale and pulled away. Link turned his face, scrubbing it on his sleeve before looking down with reddened eyes and a shaky smile.
“Yeah, sorry.” He sat up, pulling Sheik with him and helplessly trying to brush some of the wet sand off the two of them. With Link sitting against him rumpled and faintly bruised, looking so vulnerable and real, Sheik could almost believe he felt his own soul beating. Still he pushed it away and forced the words out.
“Hero, you aren’t meant to be here.” Cautiously, he placed one hand on each of the green clad shoulders. “I don’t... how did you get here?” That wasn’t what he meant to say, and he blinked at his own choice of words.
Link allowed himself to be held out at arm’s length, shrugging under Sheik’s hold. “I don’t know exactly, but Zelda’s warp spell started it off.”
“Her... Royal Highness?” Red eyes widened and trailed away in shock, before snapping back. “She is unharmed, she-”
“Zelda’s fine, Sheik.” Link’s hands reached up to rest on Sheik’s elbows, giving them a gentle squeeze. “We took care of Ganondorf together; he won’t be coming back. Everyone’s fine.”
Her Royal Highness... Sheik felt his mind slowly grind to a halt. For her to be free the spell had to have worked, but that was impossible with him still alive and thinking, wasn’t it?
“Sheik? Are you okay?”
It made absolutely no sense. He was Zelda’s illusion; he had been dispelled. Zelda was alive and in the open, and he was still here. Link was still here. Link was talking to him like it was all normal; like sitting on an impossible beach with something that should not exist was what he did every day.
“Sheik, where are you? Come back, okay?” There were hands holding his face, and he blinked into focus with the concerned face of his musings watching him. Link’s brows were furrowed, thumbs tracing small circles against the cloth of the cowl.
“Why are you here?” The words came out strangled, but before the hero could finish blinking in confusion Sheik had risen to his feet and backpedaled several steps. Link stood and took a stride forward to follow, but Sheik refused to allow any distance to close. “You aren’t supposed to be here, here isn’t supposed to be here.”
Something in Link’s face clicked, then hardened as he tried to again advance. “Sheik.”
“No, Hero, this isn’t right!” On the next step he flipped back over a log and dropped to a defensive stance, trying to force Link to remain where he was long enough to force him to understand. “This isn’t how it happens. You have to return, please, turn back time and forget me.” His voice dropped to a low plea to the blue eyes watching him carefully. “Forget me and live.”
Link had not moved, his posture still as stone. “What about you, Sheik? Why don’t you have to live?”
Sheik closed his eyes tightly and forced in a breath, then opened them. As long as he had known it, he had never said the actual words aloud. “I can’t live, Link. Don’t you understand? I don’t exist. I’m not real.”
Link charged. It was a fast flurry of sudden blocks and reflexes against steel, the master sword blocked by Sheik’s dirks in an instant. Adrenaline from pent up anxiety sang through Sheik’s veins as he blocked a second blow and ducked an elbow, swinging out with his knee in an attempt to force the hero back. He was momentarily stunned when Link simply accepted the hit and used it to bend his knees and lunge forward. Within three more parries Sheik’s back connected forcefully with a cliff wall, a gleaming blade an inch from his face. Link held up his intense gaze for barely a moment before he cast the sword aside, scowling at it. Sheik’s dirks followed, pulled from fingers that did not have the willpower to resist.
There was a moment of blank silence before Link blew out a sigh of frustration and raked his bangs from his face. “Sheik.” Hands were placed on the stone on either side of his face, trapping him between a wall and an angry Hero of Time. “Me remembering or not won’t make you any less real. I don’t care what some spell said, what Zelda intended, or what you thought. I don’t.” He dropped his head, narrowing his eyes at Sheik’s boots. “I know what you tried to do, Sheik. I know that you had to lie to me and that you didn’t want for me to be close.” There was a bite of hurt in the soft tenor that was almost palpable, but Link swallowed around it and lifted his eyes to carry on.
“I’m sorry, Sheik, but I’m here because I love you.”
And one by one, everything inside slowly broke. Sheik raised a shaking arm, then shook his head violently to contain it. He opened his mouth to search for the logic that had been his reality for so long, but to no avail. The basis of his life had started crashing around him, every impossibility locked behind iron doors running triumphantly through. Every dream he never had, every hope he didn’t believe in. When he closed his eyes, they began spilling over his cheeks.
Distantly he was aware of being wrapped in an embrace and lowered to a sitting position, of fisting his hands in a tunic tightly enough to twist the fabric, of repeating “I’m sorry” until the words mulled together incoherently. Hands slowly ran over his head, his neck, and shoulders and a gentle voice broke through his sobs with soothing words.
“Hush Sheik, it’s all right, it’s okay now, don’t cry...”
The sun finally dipped below the horizon, the first stars peeking into the night before his sobs finally stilled. He lifted his head and found a soft smile waiting for him. As Link methodically wiped his thumbs across what must have been impressive tear tracks, Sheik let out a small chuckle and located his voice. “You’re here.”
Link grinned in the starlight, making no move to release Sheik from his hold. “And I’m not leaving, either.” The hand tending to his face slid beneath his chin, and together they closed the gap.
*******
*******
Notes:
Ah man. Chapter ten down, and I think only one more to go. Fairly sure.
Working on this chapter was surreal and at times a bit heartwrenching, sap that I am. For two years this fic and these boys have been the background of my life, you know. My first ever fanfiction, my longest single piece of work. In the events surrounding it I met my best friend. In the posting I met you guys. And now it’s almost complete.
I’ll be incredibly happy at that final post, I’m sure. But I have a feeling some part of me will be lost for a little while. To you who have followed with me I can’t thank you enough, and I can honestly say I hope I won’t get the chance to miss you. I haven’t done right by so many of you in never responding to your wonderful reviews, but this once in Part Ten I’m going to put everything into breaking that record of mine. You deserve to know how much it means.
Okay, hope that didn’t embarrass anyone too much. Back to writing Part Eleven~
Zef
Notes will be found at the bottom this time, as the author is going to TL;DR a little.
Part Ten
Crescendo
Among the rocky cliffs and surf was a small, sandy grove overlooking the sea. Besides the occasional crying gull no creatures crossed this hidden shore, leaving the palm trees to sway peacefully in the breeze. On a worn log sat a young woman, ankles crossed as she hummed a song to the setting sun. The warm rays caught her hair, illuminating the red color until she appeared wreathed in flame. Finally she paused in her music, smiling at the waves. “Questions that go unasked don’t find many answers, you know.”
Leaning on the rough trunk of a tree to her left, Sheik blinked from his study of the sky and glanced over. His clothing and hair was still damp, sand stubbornly clinging to the creases of his uniform. After a moment he sighed and lowered his head. “My apologies. I am having a hard time understanding why I am here.”
In response he received a giggle, the woman’s freckled nose crinkling cheerfully. “I pulled you over, remember? The drag marks are still there.” She waved to the sand, where the surf had indeed not reached far enough to hide the body sized crease and footprints. “You were heavy.” Before he could begin she fluttered a hand for silence, looking over. “Yes, I know what you meant.” She scooted over on her log and patted the widened space beside her, smiling silently up at him. After a few long moments of deciding she was not going to speak again until he moved, Sheik reluctantly pushed off his tree and walked over. When he sat stiffly on the far end she nodded her satisfaction and looked back to the ocean. “Well, I did ask for you to come, after all. I’m glad you kept your lyre for me.”
Instinctively, he reached to brush the instrument hidden on his back with one hand. She had asked for him to keep it, and miraculously his arrival had failed to dislodge it. “I thought I was to die, or perhaps cease to be.”
“Did you want to?” Although her eyes stayed forward, the tone of her question took a harder, more serious note. He opened his mouth to reply that it wasn’t about what he wanted, that it was needed, that he did not regret what must be. But somehow, looking out into the endless ocean, he felt the words die away. It was done, was there any use in dodging simple questions anymore?
“…No.”
When he looked over to her she was watching him, warm eyes smiling in warm light. “And that’s why it matters.” She chuckled lightly at the blank look given her and began drawing lines in the sand with her feet. After a moment, she began to hum again, then softly sing. The words slipped through his ears without registering, but he recognized the song. A ballad, one achingly familiar. On automatic he unhooked the lyre from his back, fingers following the memorized notes.
He had been right - her voice was of legends.
The sun slipped down as the music flowed, shadows lengthening. However, there was a feeling in his fingertips, an off subtlety in the harp’s vibrations that did not leave. He frowned slightly, looking down as if he could spot the invisible imperfection when a hand touched his waist. Starting, he turned to his companion and found her gone, her footprints in the sand winding their way out of the grove. That she had walked off without his notice was somehow more unsettling than her previous vanishing in thin air; it added to the general sense of wrongness.
As he hooked his harp back the touch came again, firmer. His eyes snapped to his side to find only air, but this time the feeling had not left. A warm hand, seeming to hesitate before gripping firmly. Unnerved, Sheik stood and unsheathed one of his dirks on the way. He ran his own hand across the spot on his waist and sidestepped a few feet. The ghost touch did not leave, merely lightening for a second and then squeezing plaintively. Red eyes narrowed in a frown. Strange as it was, this did not feel like a threat. Taking a slow breath, he slowly replaced the dirk.
Almost immediately another touch responded, this one his back. He tensed and both invisible hands shied away, then returned almost hesitantly. If he closed his eyes, he could feel them faintly trembling. His frown deepened, and he quietly called out to the air. “What do you want?”
The response he received was a gentle push from the force against his back. Not nearly enough to move him, just a nudge forward. His mind was weighing the chances of an ambush, calculating all he knew of invisibility and outside curses. But in this place beyond life and above death, it was his curiosity that won. He stepped forward, following the pressure and obligingly turning when the hand at his side guided him to due so. When the surf began to lap at his boots, he stopped. Ahead, the waves rolled endlessly.
Was this some twisted subconscious thought trying to drown him? He lifted an eyebrow and shook his head, starting to turn back when the feeling on his side switched to weakly tugging. Despite himself, Sheik stared. It almost felt like a plea. And there was something so familiar in the touch, the way the invisible fingers settled. Something strong and innocent, something careful to avoid his injuries while keeping him upright...
Red eyes snapped wide in shock, gaze jerking to the sea ahead.
Before he registered the movement Sheik had broken into a running dive, plunging headfirst into the water along the invisible line.
*****
His chest burned.
The patch of orange light he assumed to be the surface was slowly shrinking, but his limbs refused to move to bring it back. That it had started so high above already was an unfair advantage anyway. Everything that wasn’t numb ached, but it was hardly noticeable above the agony of his lungs. He mentally thrashed and fought, trying to force his arms to move, his fingers to twitch, even to blink his eyes. This was beyond claustrophobia or panic; unable to move, breathe, scream. And still he sank, and the world faded away.
"Are you planning on leaving it like that, then?"
Were he capable of it, Link would have jerked to look at the disembodied voice to his left. Instead, the speaker cordially walked through the water into view and sat cross-legged on his chest. He wondered how exactly he knew she was smiling when all he could see was a vague outline of red hair. Perhaps it was the tone of voice. She remained silent for a second and then sighed. “Do you remember why you set out in the first place?”
Of course he did. That he could have forgotten was vaguely insulting, and he tried and failed to scowl. The silhouette sitting on him huffed and folded her hands in her lap. “Oh, don’t act that way. You used your whole heart to leap for your goal?”
If possible, even more than that. He was sinking into certain death with an apparition using him for a chair, and all of it still seemed secondary. The thing hovering at the forefront of his mind was of…
“Yes?” There was a strong undertone of amusement in her voice, making Link clamp down on the thought before it ran rampant in his head. He received a chuckle in response. “All right, don’t tell. Your end is never lacking, anyway.” She paused, propping her chin in her hand to study him. “Did you ever consider that perhaps the goal did not want to be reached?”
…What?
“That would mean no.”
He mentally backtracked, forcing aside the darkness creeping on the rim of his mind. Was that possible? It had seemed so cut and dry at the time, but was he trying to rescue the unwilling?
“Are you?”
It took a long second agony before the realization hit him. Without noticing, he blinked. No. No he wasn’t.
“How do you know that?” Her voice was smiling again.
This wasn’t a rescue. He just wanted to see him again. To hear him, talk to him, know his existence. It was that selfish and that simple. So in the end, he was the one left needing.
“And where does drowning fit into the equation, exactly?”
Well he hadn’t planned on this happening.
“I know.” Her voice softened from its teasing tone to something more melancholy. “You never change. But now you need to move your arm.”
He dearly wished he could roll his eyes. What did she think he was trying to do?
“No, that’s wrong. You were trying to go up.” She reached forward and poked at his forehead, not that he felt it. “That does you no good; it’s too far.” As if suddenly remembering something she turned and looked to the tiny point of surface, voice tightening. “It’s just one arm. You need to reach back.”
Back? How would that do any good?
“Just a few inches, come on.” Her arms unfolded, resting unfelt on his left elbow. The fire in his lungs was spreading, creeping to the edges of his vision. He was starting to fade, and once that happened there was no returning.
His thumb twitched, and a bolt of tingling pain shot up to his shoulder. “That’s it, now the rest.” Her hands were out of his field of view, but he had a feeling she was attempting to push with her ethereal fingers. Another twitch, and then sluggishly his arm began to move. It was agonizingly slow; what he thought being buried alive must feel like as he forced his way through the water. One inch, two...
When he hit something soft and slick, his companion exhaled and nodded quickly. “Now close your fingers. Pull.” He hadn’t hit the bottom of the ocean yet; he had to have felt into his pack. “Farther, come on. We’re going up now.” On the top of his supplies he kept potions for fast retrieval, almost everything else could wait a few seconds to dig for. It was a cranky Navi and a sudden rain storm that decided the almost. “To your face, touch your nose.”
As the blue fabric of his Zora hat covered his mouth, he felt the familiar tickle of magic and a brush of air. His lungs reacted instantly, gasped at the thin flow that the small piece could provide. The pain in his chest ebbed, waning to a steady ache as he panted for the tiny breaths. Above him, the silhouette chucked, and then craned her neck to look behind. “I think that managed it.” She stood and stepped off, the glimmer of light catching her smile. “I knew you would come back some day. It just took a little while for him to figure it out.”
He couldn’t decide if she was fading or if he was blacking out when something very solid collided with his right arm and clamped down on it. With one hard yank his slow sink turned to a fast ascension that made his spinning head add cartwheels to its routine. A hand joined his over his face, holding the cloth in place as his back pressed against something solid and familiar. While the glow of the surface increased he felt his mind relaxing into the arm around his abdomen, a smile coming to his lips unbidden.
Thank you, Marin.
You’re welcome Link.
*****
The moment they broke the surface Sheik wrenched his hand away from the hero’s mouth, giving Link access to the air. His own cowl was making it difficult to pull in breath, but he was not about to waste time moving it. Instead he adjusted his grip and flipped them over, keeping Link above him and stroking on his back towards the shore. The weight of their combined equipment still pulled him beneath the waves twice before his feet hit sand, but to his horror the body against him did not let out so much as a gasp.
Panic lending adrenaline, he half hauled and half carried his burden ashore, coughing up saltwater along the way. He dropped to his knees in the sand and carefully lowered Link to the ground. “Hero?”
The blue eyes were closed, but one gauntleted hand still held a piece of fabric to the pale face. Sheik reached down and ripped both away, and the reaction was instantaneous. Link surged up, his entire body wracked with violent coughing as he tried to expel the water from his lungs. Sheik quickly wrapped an arm around the other’s back and propped him to a sitting position, holding him upright as he convulsed uncontrollably.
It took a long minute for the fit to die down, Link’s lungs having apparently exhausted themselves with one last miserable whimper. Carefully, Sheik lowered the hero back, letting the blonde head stay elevated by resting it on his thigh. Link’s hat had shaken off in the scuffle, loose strands of wet hair clinging to his face. Without thinking, Sheik began brushing them back, threading his fingers through to find the worst of the tangles before combing them away. It was not until his hand passed over Link’s eyes that he realized they had opened and were watching him hazily.
He pulled back quickly, searching for something to say when Link’s hand lifted. Slowly, the hero brought his fingers to his mouth and bit down on the very edge of his gauntlet, pulling it off and brushing it aside. Still, his gaze refused to leave Sheik’s face. With his bared arm he reached up, extended a finger, and gave Sheik’s cheek a gentle poke.
On instinct, Sheik flinched away at the unexpected move before Link blinked and broke into a grin. The finger approached again, touching Sheik’s masked nose this time, then trailed a line to his jaw and down his chin. A strong feeling of deja vu washed through Sheik’s mind, but before he could place it a soft, broken chuckle overrode anything else.
Link’s voice was rough, but his eyes had gained back a bit of brightness. “You’re here.”
It was hard to argue with that statement, so he merely blinked. Too aware of the warm hand resting over his face, he carefully answered. “As are you, hero.”
Either he was losing his reflexes or Link typically gained incredible speed after nearly drowning, because by the time he had registered the arm wrapping his back the hero had thrown himself upright and pulled Sheik into a crushing embrace. Link’s face was buried in the wet cloth at the junction of Sheik’s neck and shoulders, his arms wrapped solidly around his chest. The position made it impossible for Sheik to win the battle of staying upright, and he fell back with the clinging blonde on top of him.
Link seemed to not care about this change in the slightest, only shifting his legs to lay behind him before attempting to burrow farther. His voice came out heavily muffled. “You’re here.” The feel of his breath seeped into Sheik’s wet clothing, Link’s fingers clinging to his top. “You’re not, you’re okay, you’re…” The soft ramblings came out fragmented, and something warmer than the sea water hit his neck.
Startled, he let his hands rest on Link’s shoulders. “Hero?” In response he felt Link shake his head, the chest against his trembling faintly. His hands crept across Link’s back, one resting on the back of his neck while the other wove into the dripping locks of hair. There was something so important to talk about, but by the goddesses, it felt like Link was crying. And wasn’t that worth the importance?
No, it wasn’t, not with what was on the line. Still, he waited a long minute before he gave the hair he was stroking a soft pull. “Hero, you have to come out. Please, I need to talk to you.” The body against him froze, then took in a slow inhale and pulled away. Link turned his face, scrubbing it on his sleeve before looking down with reddened eyes and a shaky smile.
“Yeah, sorry.” He sat up, pulling Sheik with him and helplessly trying to brush some of the wet sand off the two of them. With Link sitting against him rumpled and faintly bruised, looking so vulnerable and real, Sheik could almost believe he felt his own soul beating. Still he pushed it away and forced the words out.
“Hero, you aren’t meant to be here.” Cautiously, he placed one hand on each of the green clad shoulders. “I don’t... how did you get here?” That wasn’t what he meant to say, and he blinked at his own choice of words.
Link allowed himself to be held out at arm’s length, shrugging under Sheik’s hold. “I don’t know exactly, but Zelda’s warp spell started it off.”
“Her... Royal Highness?” Red eyes widened and trailed away in shock, before snapping back. “She is unharmed, she-”
“Zelda’s fine, Sheik.” Link’s hands reached up to rest on Sheik’s elbows, giving them a gentle squeeze. “We took care of Ganondorf together; he won’t be coming back. Everyone’s fine.”
Her Royal Highness... Sheik felt his mind slowly grind to a halt. For her to be free the spell had to have worked, but that was impossible with him still alive and thinking, wasn’t it?
“Sheik? Are you okay?”
It made absolutely no sense. He was Zelda’s illusion; he had been dispelled. Zelda was alive and in the open, and he was still here. Link was still here. Link was talking to him like it was all normal; like sitting on an impossible beach with something that should not exist was what he did every day.
“Sheik, where are you? Come back, okay?” There were hands holding his face, and he blinked into focus with the concerned face of his musings watching him. Link’s brows were furrowed, thumbs tracing small circles against the cloth of the cowl.
“Why are you here?” The words came out strangled, but before the hero could finish blinking in confusion Sheik had risen to his feet and backpedaled several steps. Link stood and took a stride forward to follow, but Sheik refused to allow any distance to close. “You aren’t supposed to be here, here isn’t supposed to be here.”
Something in Link’s face clicked, then hardened as he tried to again advance. “Sheik.”
“No, Hero, this isn’t right!” On the next step he flipped back over a log and dropped to a defensive stance, trying to force Link to remain where he was long enough to force him to understand. “This isn’t how it happens. You have to return, please, turn back time and forget me.” His voice dropped to a low plea to the blue eyes watching him carefully. “Forget me and live.”
Link had not moved, his posture still as stone. “What about you, Sheik? Why don’t you have to live?”
Sheik closed his eyes tightly and forced in a breath, then opened them. As long as he had known it, he had never said the actual words aloud. “I can’t live, Link. Don’t you understand? I don’t exist. I’m not real.”
Link charged. It was a fast flurry of sudden blocks and reflexes against steel, the master sword blocked by Sheik’s dirks in an instant. Adrenaline from pent up anxiety sang through Sheik’s veins as he blocked a second blow and ducked an elbow, swinging out with his knee in an attempt to force the hero back. He was momentarily stunned when Link simply accepted the hit and used it to bend his knees and lunge forward. Within three more parries Sheik’s back connected forcefully with a cliff wall, a gleaming blade an inch from his face. Link held up his intense gaze for barely a moment before he cast the sword aside, scowling at it. Sheik’s dirks followed, pulled from fingers that did not have the willpower to resist.
There was a moment of blank silence before Link blew out a sigh of frustration and raked his bangs from his face. “Sheik.” Hands were placed on the stone on either side of his face, trapping him between a wall and an angry Hero of Time. “Me remembering or not won’t make you any less real. I don’t care what some spell said, what Zelda intended, or what you thought. I don’t.” He dropped his head, narrowing his eyes at Sheik’s boots. “I know what you tried to do, Sheik. I know that you had to lie to me and that you didn’t want for me to be close.” There was a bite of hurt in the soft tenor that was almost palpable, but Link swallowed around it and lifted his eyes to carry on.
“I’m sorry, Sheik, but I’m here because I love you.”
And one by one, everything inside slowly broke. Sheik raised a shaking arm, then shook his head violently to contain it. He opened his mouth to search for the logic that had been his reality for so long, but to no avail. The basis of his life had started crashing around him, every impossibility locked behind iron doors running triumphantly through. Every dream he never had, every hope he didn’t believe in. When he closed his eyes, they began spilling over his cheeks.
Distantly he was aware of being wrapped in an embrace and lowered to a sitting position, of fisting his hands in a tunic tightly enough to twist the fabric, of repeating “I’m sorry” until the words mulled together incoherently. Hands slowly ran over his head, his neck, and shoulders and a gentle voice broke through his sobs with soothing words.
“Hush Sheik, it’s all right, it’s okay now, don’t cry...”
The sun finally dipped below the horizon, the first stars peeking into the night before his sobs finally stilled. He lifted his head and found a soft smile waiting for him. As Link methodically wiped his thumbs across what must have been impressive tear tracks, Sheik let out a small chuckle and located his voice. “You’re here.”
Link grinned in the starlight, making no move to release Sheik from his hold. “And I’m not leaving, either.” The hand tending to his face slid beneath his chin, and together they closed the gap.
*******
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Notes:
Ah man. Chapter ten down, and I think only one more to go. Fairly sure.
Working on this chapter was surreal and at times a bit heartwrenching, sap that I am. For two years this fic and these boys have been the background of my life, you know. My first ever fanfiction, my longest single piece of work. In the events surrounding it I met my best friend. In the posting I met you guys. And now it’s almost complete.
I’ll be incredibly happy at that final post, I’m sure. But I have a feeling some part of me will be lost for a little while. To you who have followed with me I can’t thank you enough, and I can honestly say I hope I won’t get the chance to miss you. I haven’t done right by so many of you in never responding to your wonderful reviews, but this once in Part Ten I’m going to put everything into breaking that record of mine. You deserve to know how much it means.
Okay, hope that didn’t embarrass anyone too much. Back to writing Part Eleven~
Zef