Link sighed heavily

Ever since Sheik had mysteriously appeared, apparently back from the dead, Zelda had been working nonstop to discover his whereabouts. She was using all of her power to discern how he had come back and where he was now, and what that strange creature had been. And she was tired.

It had only been a few hours, but it was still the middle of the night. It was also quite obvious that she was exerting more energy than she had available. So he watched her as she remained in her constant trance, watched her as he always had.

He had always protected her, always looked out for her. She...she meant a lot to him. He knew though, that her heart would never belong to him. And he could live with that. What he wanted was for her to be happy, and for himself to be happy as well. But it still hurt.

Link felt a pang of guilt. He knew Malon cared for him the way that he cared for Zelda, and Nayru knew he had tried to return the affection. But he couldn't. He just didn't feel that way about her. All he could do was understand how she felt.

"I found him," Zelda announced suddenly.

Link was torn out of his thoughts and he asked immediately, "where?"

Zelda's eyes were bright and alert now. "He stole a horse from Lon Lon Ranch and he's heading west through Gerudo Valley."

The Hero of Time frowned. "We can follow him tomorrow. You need to rest now." Inwardly he was dreading the journey. There was something terribly wrong with Sheik, and if Link's suspicious were correct, the Sheikah had come with decidedly ill intent. And that creature? Link was no novice when it came to danger, and neither was Zelda, but this was different. Her heart was too entangled, and if the end result proved to be failure he doubted she would be able to handle it.

There was too much stress on the princess as of late. Her father was getting older, and as such he had been pressuring her to find a suitable husband. The king wanted grandchildren before he was too old to enjoy them, and Zelda had to secure the bloodline. As such, suitors had been coming from all over in attempts to court her. A lot of other inconveniences that came along with being princess of Hyrule were also plaguing her. Laws, relations with other countries and everything else, everything minor, were things that she had to deal with.

She was doing a wonderful job of handling it, as he had expected her to, but he was the one that heard her cry at night. It wasn't often, but some nights were worse than others. And lately she had been having terrible nightmares. He knew she felt such terrible guilt, but a part of him was angry with her. It had been seven years. Shouldn't she have reconciled with her past by now? All it was doing was destroying her. She should have been stronger than that.

"We should go tonight. He'll gain too much of a lead."

Link's eyes darkened. "No. It's the middle of the night, you're tired. I'm tired. We'll go at dawn."

Zelda sighed and relented, her shoulders slumping. "You're right..." The princess solemnly stood up.

Link nodded and said sternly, "yes, I am. Now get some rest."

"At dawn, we'll go," she reaffirmed, watching him.

"At dawn," he agreed.

/

Sheik was lost in the Gerudo desert. His horse was gone; it had run away long before, and now he walked through by himself. It was really quite irritating. And why should he have followed that damn ghost anyway? He didn't want to go to the temple, he just wanted to go away. Well, truthfully he did have a destination, of sorts. He was was headed south, out of the sandy hellhole he was in and he would find out later where south had actually led him.

And maybe, just maybe, he would discover what exactly was following him. It wasn't physically there, otherwise he would have spotted it already, but there was still something. He wondered if he was going crazy, which made him laugh. Obviously he was. Those years alone would make anyone insane. But was the darkness he felt around him real?

It was, wasn't it? That creature, the black thing he had seen in Zelda's room. That was real, right? His head had gotten a little foggy. But Zelda and Link had seen it too, hadn't they? They had, of course. But why was it so hard to remember? No. No, he wouldn't think about Zelda. It was too confusing. One moment he was seeking revenge, the next he was utterly confused. The only option was to flee.

And this damn, bloody sand!! It was everywhere, in his eyes and mouth despite his cowl. And he was freezing. He shut his eyes and growled. After trudging several more steps, he opened them.

Sheik laughed maniacally then frowned. "The teacups were only meant for special occasions."

The dark, humanoid shape in front of him merely stared.

"Put it down!" Sheik cried, running forward to attack. The creature moved away, further into the storm. Sheik followed blindly, his head filled in murky confusion. What was he talking about? He gave chase for several more minutes before he found himself on the edge of a forest.

His prey vanished and he spun around. No darkness, no desert, only more forest behind him.

Sheik brought a hand to his head and sighed deeply. What was wrong with him? How had he gotten here? He knew he'd been chasing something, had said something. But he couldn't remember. Taking a breath, he looked up and took in his surroundings.

The trees were large, with thick trunks and dark, silvery leaves. The forest floor was covered in moss. Moonlight poured through the branches in several areas, illuminating the forests beauty. Sheik felt a great sense of peace eminating from the place, and allowed himself to relax.

He began to walk through. The moss was soft and comfortable under his feet and the further he walked in, the calmer he felt. He noticed that the tree leaves were gradually becoming more and more silver the further he went, until at the top of the ebony trunks and along the branches it was nothing but pure white.

That was when he heard the growling. Sheik frowned. He had allowed himself to be distracted and now, from what he could see, there was a pack of very large wolves circling him. They were fairly well hidden behind the trees, despite the light, but now he was well aware of where each one was prowling.

The first one attacked at full speed, jumping up and attempting to tackle him. Sheik dodged it easily, and then side-stepped the second attack. The wolves were unusual looking, with dark, almost black fur and just the hint of what seemed like some sort of gold aura.

A third attacked, then a fourth and a fifth. They snarled and lashed out with long dangerous claws and sharp teeth. But each one he dodged, flipping this way and that and blinding them with deku nuts. He refrained from outright killing them. They hardly posed a threat to him and to kill them would be meaningless unless otherwise.

Gradually, the beasts became tired, and realizing that their prey was not going to become as such, they slunk away. They still growled and kept their eyes pinned to Sheik, but they left him along, running off out of sight when they were far enough away.

"I know you're there," Sheik called out, up to the trees.

And he did. Someone had been watching his fight. He had sensed their eyes on him, but could not discern their location. He knew it wasn't a creature; his mind was crystal clear.

A girl, barely older than Zelda, dropped abruptly from the trees. She landed in a graceful crouch, one hand lightly touching the ground. Her hair was silver, cut short to her chin in a sharp angle, and her eyes were the most brilliant orange topaz he had ever seen. Her features were slightly exotic, and her clothes were as well. They were bright white to blend in with the trees; a sleeveless shirt that was bound underneath her chest to reveal a bare midriff, and a long skirt that hung on her hips. It had slits down the sides to reveal the loose fitting pants underneath, followed by a small pair of lightweight shoes.

Sheik tilted his head at the gorgeous young woman. For that was what she was. Gorgeous. His heart ached suddenly as Zelda's image flashed in his mind. The girl still couldn't compete with Zelda in his opinion. Of course, he wouldn't admit that he was biased.

The girl watched him warily, almost uncaringly. Her eyes were cold. She was fairly short, maybe only a little over five feet, and she was tiny. In his opinion, he thought she looked rather frail, like she would break at the slightest touch. That quickly changed when suddenly she was in front of him, a fist punching him hard in the gut and the other blowing a dark powder in his face as he gasped.

He blacked out.

AN: Heeeeeeeey all. Long time no see, aye? Hope you like this update. Yeah yeah, it's short, like all the others. Well, better than nothing, right? :D

Anyway, I posted this in my Zelda's Trial fic, but I'm gonna do it here too.

I need an artist. A friend is going to put together a website for me featuring my original stories, and I need someone to draw my characters as well as various scenes from the story. I then hope to go to a certain con and have a table in the artist's alley to promote my writing. Of course, it would most definitely promote the artist working with me too. :D

If you're interested, please message me. I'll take a look at some of your stuff, and if I like it, I'll have you look at some of my writing to make sure you like what I have as well. And then, I'll throw one of my characters at you to draw and see how it comes out. And we'll go from there.

This is something I'm completely serious about doing. Unfortunately, I can't draw. /cry

So let me know!

Oh yeah. REVIEW!!