Warning: AU. Post OoT (and during with the flashbacks) Sheik is his own character. Will contain Yaoi and chalk full of angst!

Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda and it's characters are copyright of Nintendo. I just own my twisted plot!

"I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time…"

His eyes wandered up and down the curvy frame of the man which was tightly covered in blue cloth. White wrappings covered his chest, forearms, his head and a few of his fingers. Even as he gazed at the man, he still talked, informing him, in more detail, of what Rauru had briefly told him. The face was covered by long blond bangs and a collar of white, and only the crimson eye looked at him. Following down the collar, he found the tabard the man wore, all white except an eye of red with triangles for eyelashes and a long tear drooping down. There was something nostalgic about that symbol, as if he saw it before… and same with that mesmerizing red eye of his…

"I am Sheik. Survivor of the Sheikahs…"

It was an irony the he was thinking of the first moments of his adulthood while he stood here, before the pedestal for the last time. The last time he'd see the Redeads in Hyrule's town square, the torn land, and the last time in seven years he'd have this adult power, body, and need.

Of course, he and the seven sages would remember, but any others involved would forget. Forget about his heroics after Ganon's coup, forget about his kindness, forget about him. They wouldn't remember even his last breath as an adult – as from the moment he would rest the sword into its proper sheath of stone, the world would change. It'd be a better world, a happier world. People who had died would revive, lives that were tainted would be purified. Still, there was apprehension in his face, in how he stood before the sacred Stone of Time and did nothing. It wasn't a fear about losing his fame either, but it was something entirely different, something that didn't exist in the first place.

Then, the Hero of Time shook his head, if something doesn't exist why should he hesitate?

With that thought in mind Link took a final breath and plunged the Master Sword into its pedestal.

Goodbye Sheik.

I give apologies for mixes up in emphasis and what not up until chapter seven. I'm not bothering to fix them ATM, I might later. If there are typos, etc. Could you please point them out. I fixed them on the other site but not on the documents. Major Author's Notes will be in Chapter 7.