The Legend of Zelda: Sheik's Legacy
by GLJ
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the Zelda franchise. They are all the property of Nintendo. Enjoy the story. ^_^
Chapter 4: A New Hero
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fortunately, the entrance to the Great Fairy's fountain on Death Mountain was still opened from when Link had blasted it almost seven years ago. Not that it would have really mattered, though, since one blow from Darmara's hammer could have easily crushed any rock.
Sheik, Impa, the Goron child Link, Saria, Mido and Darunia, with the badly wounded Impa cradled in his arms, all ran into the cave, which led into a beautiful fairy's fountain. It reminded Mido of the one where he had gotten soaked in the water trying to catch fairies. He didn't like this place.
Darunia gently placed Impa on the clean stone ground in front of the Triforce emblem. They all waited.
After a long silence, Sheik stepped in front of Impa and onto the Triforce. "I don't think the Great Fairy knows we're here." He put his hand up to his face to play the song of the royal family, but hesitated. He couldn't whistle the tune to Zelda's lullaby with the cloth covering his face, but he didn't want to reveal his identity to anybody. His secret identity had been shared between him and Impa for the past seven years, and he intended to keep it that way.
The answer to his little problem came in the form of the beautiful golden harp. The shining glare on the harp caught Sheik's eye immediately. It was on a pedestal in the center of the fountain. It was amazing that nobody had noticed it before. It was as it had just risen of out of the pool without anyone noticing. Sheik knew that the harp was a gift to him from the Great Fairy, or the goddesses, or both. But Sheik also knew that it wasn't right to tread on the holy water of the Great Fairy's fountain. He unfastened the chain on his waist and with graceful skill, he managed to wrap it around the harp and draw it to him. The pillar the harp had been on sunk into the water without a sound. Sheik replaced the chain and held the beautiful harp in his hands. It was an instrument of gold, with beautiful strings that seemed to be made from the hairs of a Keaton's tail.
Sheik held the magnificent instrument and began to pluck the strings. The soothing melody of Zelda's lullaby flowed beautifully through the air of the Great Fairy's fountain. A feminine laugh was heard from the clear magical water, and the Great Fairy sprung from its mysterious depths.
"Greetings, travelers. I have heard the song of Hyrule's royal family and I come to serve thee." The Great Fairy floated on the air, and her long pink hair flowed behind her. She was a figure of pure beauty and magic.
"Great Fairy," Sheik spoke to her with great respect, "our friend is very badly wounded. We ask for your assistance in healing her."
Sheik moved out of the way so the Great Fairy could inspect Impa. After looking over the wound, the fairy nodded silently and allowed her healing magic to flow over Impa's body. Impa was healed back to perfect health in a matter of seconds.
She stood up and, just realizing what had happened, bowed her thanks to the Great Fairy. She smiled in return, and turned to Sheik. "You may all go now. However, I wish to speak with you privately for a moment."
Sheik nodded to Impa and the others and they went to wait outside by the cave's entrance.
"You are Princess Zelda, are you not?" The Great Fairy asked Sheik the moment the others were completely gone. Sheik nodded. The fairy continued. "Why do you wear the clothes of a lonely warrior? You do not look like the princess Hyrule has grown to love."
"Hyrule no longer has a Princess." Sheik said. "Ever since Ganondorf took over the castle, there has been no need for one."
"There has been a need, Zelda, a great need for a princess. Take off that mask and let me see your beautiful face."
Sheik's hand moved up to the cloth around the lower portion of her face. She pulled It away, revealing the slender, feminine cheeks and soft lips of the Princess of Hyrule. She blinked her eyes a few times and moved her hair out of her face, and the red eyes of Sheik that were previously masked became the blue eyes of Princess Zelda.
"Zelda, you are a princess, and you shall always be a princess."
Zelda nodded. Without the cloth around her face limiting her movement, she already felt much more like her old self.
"The harp you hold in your hands is a great gift," the Great Fairy said, looking at the golden instrument in Zelda's taped hands. "It once belonged to the golden Goddess Nayru. As the Goddess who poured her wisdom into the land of Hyrule, she had left the Harp of Light here for the next person who would do the same. The fact that it was given to you, Zelda, shows that your future is very important to Hyrule, and you are destined to bring peace and justice back to the land.
"You may once again don your Sheikah costume, Princess. When you step out into the light of the sun, you will once again be Sheik. But deep down, on the inside, you will remain a princess."
Zelda reached for the cloth hanging around her neck. She pulled it up over her nose and blinked her eyes, using her magic to focus them into a deep red color. She tossed her hair a bit, creating the long bangs in front that hid her face and eyes so well. Sheik turned to leave, but stopped to ask the Great Fairy one last thing.
"Link.? How is Link?"
The Great Fairy only smiled and dove down into the magical waters of the fountain.
* * *
Goron City was deserted. The only Goron still there was the shopkeeper, who had been enclosed safely in his store. A single piece of evidence was found. A crudely written note was stuck to the door to Darunia's chamber with an arrow. Darunia picked it off and looked at the handwritten characters. It read:
Dearest Darunia and anyone else who may be present,
I have taken all of the Gorons and given them to Volvagia. They are caged up in the Fire Temple and I shall feed them to him as soon as I am finished with other matters. Feel free to try to save them if you wish, as it would only make a bigger feast for the dragon.
-Ganondorf
Darunia dropped the paper and stepped on it with a massive foot. "Ganondorf." He turned to Darmara. "I am going to the Fire Temple to see what I can do. I want you to go with these Hylians and help them against Ganondorf. Link," he looked at his son. "I would like you to stay here in the city if anyone happens to come by. Get a Goron tunic from the shop just in case any Hylians come to help us. But if you see Ganondorf, I want you to curl up into a ball and hide in the boulder room, do you understand?"
Link nodded.
"Good." Darunia began to move to the statue tunnel to Death Mountain Crater. "Darmara, push this back into place after I'm gone. Goodbye, Link. Goodbye, Darmara. Sheik, Impa, Saria, Mido, farewell." He disappeared into the tunnel to the crater. Darmara pushed the stone statue back into place.
"You heard him, Link. This isn't a game, okay. A lot of people are counting on you to protect the city." Darmara said.
Link smiled. "Don't worry, I can handle it."
"Good." Impa said. "Then lets get going."
Impa, Sheik, Saria, Mido, and the Goroness warrior Darmara walked out of Goron City and into Hyrule.
* * *
Ganondorf held one massive hand up high above him, circling it in the crisp air of Lake Hylia. He created a dark vortex in the sky above the lake, preparing another evil spell he had found in the book of dark sorceries. After only a few more moments, the portal of darkness was complete.
Ganondorf flew above it and pointed his arms downward toward the water. His eyes rolled up into his head and a tremor went through his entire body as he focused all his magical energy into the spell. The blue sky around the entire area became dark and cloudy. The portal spun wildly, and the still water beneath it began moving around, forming waves. At first, the waves were small ripples, but after only seconds, Lake Hylia seemed as if it was a raging torrent. The waves jumped high into the air, and soon they were being sucked in by the hole in the sky.
Soon all of the water in the lake had been absorbed except the cold water in the very deepest part, around the island in the center.
Ganondorf, tired and out of magical energy, smiled evilly at his work and shut the portal with a wave of his hand. The sky became blue again and all seemed back to normal, except that there was hardly any water in the lake.
* * *
Princess Ruto of the aquatic Zora people, along with the rest of the race, mourned the death of the guardian fish, Lord Jabu-Jabu. He had been more than just a guardian to them, though. Jabu-Jabu was a god of the Zora people.
Standing on the platform in the Zora's Fountain where Jabu-Jabu's giant mouth used to sit with all the other Zora, Ruto began to remember all the great times he had with Jabu-Jabu. She, of all the Zora, had had the greatest connection with the big fish, and a lot of it had to do with the Kokiri boy Link several years ago.
Ruto had been a young girl back then, but she remembered every second of the time she had shared with Link. She had been feeding Jabu-Jabu one day, when she had gotten careless and had dropped her mother's sapphire into his mouth. She had reached in to get it, but was sucked into the fish's belly. Link had come in to save her. At first, she had pretended not to want his help, but in the end, she went along with him until she was separated when the giant octopus Bigocto had attacked Link. After Link fought and defeated both Bigocto and the parasitic monster Barinade, Ruto had given him the Spiritual Stone of Water, also known as the Zora's Sapphire, or the Zora Engagement Ring. Ever since then, Ruto had expected Link to marry her, and she had been waiting for him to return ever since.
But now, with Hyrule full of fear and darkness, with Ganondorf in Hyrule Castle, with Princess Zelda possibly dead, with Lord Jabu-Jabu gone, Ruto didn't even think that Link was going to come back to her anymore.
Jabu-Jabu's long, sad funeral ceremony finally ended and all the Zoras went back to their homes, where they continued mourning the loss of their guardian alone. When everyone was gone and only Ruto and her father King Zora sat in the Zora throne room, five mysterious people entered. Two of them seemed to be adult Hylians, and two seemed to be children. The other was a female Goron, dressed in traditional Goron warrior clothing.
At first, Ruto was afraid of these people approaching up the stairs to the room, but the friendly look on the little girl's face reminded her somehow of Link.
"Greetings," Sheik said to the Zora King and the Princess.
King Zora nodded to the travelers. "You are welcome here as long as you come in peace. But.I am afraid that now is not a good time for the Zora. Our guardian deity, Lord Jabu-Jabu, has perished. All of the Zora are in great sorrow."
"I apologize if I sound rude, but did Lord Jabu-Jabu die of natural causes?" Darmara asked the Zora King, believing that the sudden death of Jabu-Jabu to be connected somehow to Ganondorf's sudden violent acts against the Gorons.
"We.are not quite sure how Lord Jabu-Jabu died. However, no corpse was found," King Zora replied.
Darmara nodded. Sheik stepped up to speak to King Zora, but a loud familiar laugh echoed throughout the halls of the Zora's domain.
"Ganondorf." Sheik's sharp eyes scanned the area. Nothing. He ran down the tunnel out of the throne room and looked down over the waterfall, but nobody was seen in Zora's Domain other than the Zora themselves.
Ganondorf's arrogant guffaw boomed again. Suddenly the pool below him began hardening. The water's surface got whiter and stopped moving. An odd cracking sound ripped through the air as the water of Zora's Domain froze into a solid block of ice, entrapping all the Zora who lie within it.
As the freezing waterfall began to diminish, a dark figure became visible behind it. Staring straight down into the area where the waterfall once was, Sheik realized that Ganondorf didn't see him standing there. Seizing the opportunity, Sheik jumped down to attack the oblivious Gerudo king. Milliseconds before Sheik hit Ganondorf, he vanished and Sheik plunged into the semi-frozen depths of the subzero pool.
"Aaaah!" A white burst of electricity shot from Ganondorf's palm and through the water, electrifying Sheik. Luckily, all Zora are invulnerable to electricity. If that hadn't been so, hundreds of frozen helpless Zora would have died that day, like Sheik almost did.
The ice began melting from the warmth of the blast, but Ganondorf renewed the chilling spell and the water began to freeze faster than before.
"Aaarrgh!" Ganondorf turned around to see what had hit him. A Kokiri girl stood atop the waterfall, glaring at him. She was poised as though she had just thrown a dagger at him. Ganondorf rubbed his head again. Luckily, the girl had been too young to know how to properly throw a dagger and only the handle had hit him in the head. But still, it hurt. And it distracted him.
Sheik, still slightly incapacitated but quickly regaining his energy, leaped from the pool and landed swiftly on the area frozen solid with ice. The spot he had been in froze over, leaving now a solid, glassy fighting arena for Sheik and Ganondorf. With all the Zora frozen under the surface, Sheik could duel without worrying about the safety of others.
Sheik took up the traditional Sheikah fighting stance, preparing for an all-out fight with the Gerudo King. However, the high scream of Princess Ruto shattered his thoughts, and he abandoned Ganondorf to go to the princess. Running up the stone steps to the throne room once again, Sheik saw a disturbing sight. King Zora was halfway frozen in red ice, the kind of ice that was only meltable by the rare blue fires of the Ice Cavern. Princess Ruto was also frozen in the stuff, but up to her neck. She was lying on the platform in front of her father, screaming, with Impa, Darmara, Saria, and Mido crowded around her, trying to help. King Zora kept yelling, "Save my daughter. Forget about me!"
"Shut up, gill neck!" Mido screamed at him. "We're trying to forget about you!" He was pounding on Ruto's red ice with the butt of his dagger. Saria stood playing her fairy ocarina, an odd tune that blended mysteriously with the shouts of the others in the room.
Impa, who was kneeling next to Ruto's head and trying unsuccessfully to calm her, was the first to notice Sheik. "Sheik. Princess Ruto is being frozen in red ice."
Sheik refrained from mentioning something about stating the obvious. He knelt down on the other side of the Zora princess, ignoring her father's shouts. "What are you doing to stop this? What can I do?"
"I'm using what little magic I have to prevent the ice from moving further up the Princess's body however, my power won't last much longer. Saria's tune is taking all the peacefulness and good from the area and using it to block off Ganondorf from coming in here. Unless.Did you manage to beat him?"
Sheik shook his head. "Ganondorf can wait. The princess needs immediate help."
"Go to the Ice Cavern, Sheik. Take Mido with you. He's not helping here much."
"What about Darmara?" Sheik asked, looking at the Goron warrior, who was standing slightly away from the group.
"Gorons aren't used to this kind of cold." Impa responded. "We can't expect her to do much here. Hurry! The Ice Cavern is just out there. It's a cave in the wall of Zora's fountain."
Sheik ran out, and Mido followed as Impa instructed.
* * *
Zora's Fountain was oddly peaceful compared to the chaos inside the throne room. The absence of Lord Jabu-Jabu seemed odd, but not as unnerving as the falling snow and the large spinning ice chunks in the water.
Sheik nimbly hopped from glacier to glacier, closing in on his destination, the entrance of the Ice Cavern. Mido followed uneasily, slipping on the ice and occasionally falling into the freezing waters.
"Why did Impa make me bring him?" Sheik thought, helping Mido across the fountain and to the cavern.
The cavern itself was even calmer and quieter than the fountain. Mido set loose a fairy to restore his energy once they were on the solid ground, and pocketed the empty bottle.
"Let's get going," Sheik said. "This place looks like it's pretty big." It definitely wasn't as big as Hyrule Castle, but the cavern was larger than any interior place Sheik had been to over the past seven years, other than Goron city.
"Freezards." Sheik stopped Mido from carelessly entering a large open room. There was seemingly no harm here, but Sheik recognized the moving spikes of ice on the ground from all the teachings he had learned from Impa. "Wait here," Sheik said to Mido, and ran out into the middle of the room. Sure enough, four men of ice burst from the floor around Sheik. Five or six darts from Sheik's needle storm destroyed the first, and Sheik brandished his metal chain whip to eliminate the other three. He spun in a full circle, trailing the weapon and cutting into the hard icy bodies of the Freezards as they closed in on him. The threat of the Freezards ended and Sheik wasn't touched by their chilling frosts.
Sheik cleared all the puzzles and challenges of the dungeon, with Mido always trailing behind. In another room, they stumbled across a gigantic flame, blue in color. "The blue fire," Sheik said.
He ripped off a piece of tattered cloth from his wrist and put the end in the fire, hoping the enflame the clot and use it to bring the fire back to Ruto. Nothing happened. Sheik retrieved the cloth strap and slowly put his hand in the flame. Nothing. There was no burn. It felt as though he were putting his hand in a container of cool water. "How do we get this back to the others?" Sheik began pacing around the flame, thinking. How could they carry water? "How could we carry water?"
"Could we use this?" Mido handed Sheik the empty bottle. Sheik grabbed it, and unplugged the top. He swung it in the flame and quickly shoved the cork in again.
So that's why Impa told me to bring Mido, Sheik realized. A small bit of blue flame flicked inside the bottle. Sheik handed it back to Mido. "Be careful with this."
They turned to leave.
King Zora was entirely frozen. The Zora Princess was fully encased in the red ice. Impa, Darmara, and Saria were standing there, knowing that the only thing they could do now was wait for Sheik.
Sheik arrived. He ran past the bloated hunk of red ice that was King Zora and knelt next to Ruto. Mido handed him the bottle of fire and Sheik unplugged it, spilling the cool flame all over the red ice. It slowly thawed, and Ruto sat up. "Link?"
The name startled everyone. Princess Ruto knew Link? Darmara imagined the young Goron Link rolling around in Zora's domain with Ruto, but recalled the stories of the Hylian Darunia had told her.
"No, Link's not here," Sheik said. "But we are friends of his. We just saved you from an eternity in red ice."
Ruto saw her father, frozen in the ice. In a way, he looked funny. But still, it was a horrible sight to see someone frozen solid. "Daddy! Will he be okay?"
Impa nodded. "Don't worry about him. Worry about yourself, your future. The future of Hyrule. Surely you know of what Ganondorf has been doing. Princess Ruto, I invite you to accompany us on our quest against Ganondorf;."
The princess looked around at the frozen domain. "It looks like I'm not really needed here," she said. "I'll come. And I'll take down Ganondorf for what he did to my people and Lord Jabu-Jabu."
* * *
Ganondorf's castle shook with the Dark King's power. He was focused on summoning a demon from beneath the water temple. The only way to refill Lake Hylia and return to frozen Zora's Domain was to do it from within the temple, and with this demon of water in the way, there was no chance that the Zora people could ever be saved.
"Not even that Sheik will be able to defeat my Morpha.Not even Sheik."
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the Zelda franchise. They are all the property of Nintendo. Enjoy the story. ^_^
Chapter 4: A New Hero
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fortunately, the entrance to the Great Fairy's fountain on Death Mountain was still opened from when Link had blasted it almost seven years ago. Not that it would have really mattered, though, since one blow from Darmara's hammer could have easily crushed any rock.
Sheik, Impa, the Goron child Link, Saria, Mido and Darunia, with the badly wounded Impa cradled in his arms, all ran into the cave, which led into a beautiful fairy's fountain. It reminded Mido of the one where he had gotten soaked in the water trying to catch fairies. He didn't like this place.
Darunia gently placed Impa on the clean stone ground in front of the Triforce emblem. They all waited.
After a long silence, Sheik stepped in front of Impa and onto the Triforce. "I don't think the Great Fairy knows we're here." He put his hand up to his face to play the song of the royal family, but hesitated. He couldn't whistle the tune to Zelda's lullaby with the cloth covering his face, but he didn't want to reveal his identity to anybody. His secret identity had been shared between him and Impa for the past seven years, and he intended to keep it that way.
The answer to his little problem came in the form of the beautiful golden harp. The shining glare on the harp caught Sheik's eye immediately. It was on a pedestal in the center of the fountain. It was amazing that nobody had noticed it before. It was as it had just risen of out of the pool without anyone noticing. Sheik knew that the harp was a gift to him from the Great Fairy, or the goddesses, or both. But Sheik also knew that it wasn't right to tread on the holy water of the Great Fairy's fountain. He unfastened the chain on his waist and with graceful skill, he managed to wrap it around the harp and draw it to him. The pillar the harp had been on sunk into the water without a sound. Sheik replaced the chain and held the beautiful harp in his hands. It was an instrument of gold, with beautiful strings that seemed to be made from the hairs of a Keaton's tail.
Sheik held the magnificent instrument and began to pluck the strings. The soothing melody of Zelda's lullaby flowed beautifully through the air of the Great Fairy's fountain. A feminine laugh was heard from the clear magical water, and the Great Fairy sprung from its mysterious depths.
"Greetings, travelers. I have heard the song of Hyrule's royal family and I come to serve thee." The Great Fairy floated on the air, and her long pink hair flowed behind her. She was a figure of pure beauty and magic.
"Great Fairy," Sheik spoke to her with great respect, "our friend is very badly wounded. We ask for your assistance in healing her."
Sheik moved out of the way so the Great Fairy could inspect Impa. After looking over the wound, the fairy nodded silently and allowed her healing magic to flow over Impa's body. Impa was healed back to perfect health in a matter of seconds.
She stood up and, just realizing what had happened, bowed her thanks to the Great Fairy. She smiled in return, and turned to Sheik. "You may all go now. However, I wish to speak with you privately for a moment."
Sheik nodded to Impa and the others and they went to wait outside by the cave's entrance.
"You are Princess Zelda, are you not?" The Great Fairy asked Sheik the moment the others were completely gone. Sheik nodded. The fairy continued. "Why do you wear the clothes of a lonely warrior? You do not look like the princess Hyrule has grown to love."
"Hyrule no longer has a Princess." Sheik said. "Ever since Ganondorf took over the castle, there has been no need for one."
"There has been a need, Zelda, a great need for a princess. Take off that mask and let me see your beautiful face."
Sheik's hand moved up to the cloth around the lower portion of her face. She pulled It away, revealing the slender, feminine cheeks and soft lips of the Princess of Hyrule. She blinked her eyes a few times and moved her hair out of her face, and the red eyes of Sheik that were previously masked became the blue eyes of Princess Zelda.
"Zelda, you are a princess, and you shall always be a princess."
Zelda nodded. Without the cloth around her face limiting her movement, she already felt much more like her old self.
"The harp you hold in your hands is a great gift," the Great Fairy said, looking at the golden instrument in Zelda's taped hands. "It once belonged to the golden Goddess Nayru. As the Goddess who poured her wisdom into the land of Hyrule, she had left the Harp of Light here for the next person who would do the same. The fact that it was given to you, Zelda, shows that your future is very important to Hyrule, and you are destined to bring peace and justice back to the land.
"You may once again don your Sheikah costume, Princess. When you step out into the light of the sun, you will once again be Sheik. But deep down, on the inside, you will remain a princess."
Zelda reached for the cloth hanging around her neck. She pulled it up over her nose and blinked her eyes, using her magic to focus them into a deep red color. She tossed her hair a bit, creating the long bangs in front that hid her face and eyes so well. Sheik turned to leave, but stopped to ask the Great Fairy one last thing.
"Link.? How is Link?"
The Great Fairy only smiled and dove down into the magical waters of the fountain.
* * *
Goron City was deserted. The only Goron still there was the shopkeeper, who had been enclosed safely in his store. A single piece of evidence was found. A crudely written note was stuck to the door to Darunia's chamber with an arrow. Darunia picked it off and looked at the handwritten characters. It read:
Dearest Darunia and anyone else who may be present,
I have taken all of the Gorons and given them to Volvagia. They are caged up in the Fire Temple and I shall feed them to him as soon as I am finished with other matters. Feel free to try to save them if you wish, as it would only make a bigger feast for the dragon.
-Ganondorf
Darunia dropped the paper and stepped on it with a massive foot. "Ganondorf." He turned to Darmara. "I am going to the Fire Temple to see what I can do. I want you to go with these Hylians and help them against Ganondorf. Link," he looked at his son. "I would like you to stay here in the city if anyone happens to come by. Get a Goron tunic from the shop just in case any Hylians come to help us. But if you see Ganondorf, I want you to curl up into a ball and hide in the boulder room, do you understand?"
Link nodded.
"Good." Darunia began to move to the statue tunnel to Death Mountain Crater. "Darmara, push this back into place after I'm gone. Goodbye, Link. Goodbye, Darmara. Sheik, Impa, Saria, Mido, farewell." He disappeared into the tunnel to the crater. Darmara pushed the stone statue back into place.
"You heard him, Link. This isn't a game, okay. A lot of people are counting on you to protect the city." Darmara said.
Link smiled. "Don't worry, I can handle it."
"Good." Impa said. "Then lets get going."
Impa, Sheik, Saria, Mido, and the Goroness warrior Darmara walked out of Goron City and into Hyrule.
* * *
Ganondorf held one massive hand up high above him, circling it in the crisp air of Lake Hylia. He created a dark vortex in the sky above the lake, preparing another evil spell he had found in the book of dark sorceries. After only a few more moments, the portal of darkness was complete.
Ganondorf flew above it and pointed his arms downward toward the water. His eyes rolled up into his head and a tremor went through his entire body as he focused all his magical energy into the spell. The blue sky around the entire area became dark and cloudy. The portal spun wildly, and the still water beneath it began moving around, forming waves. At first, the waves were small ripples, but after only seconds, Lake Hylia seemed as if it was a raging torrent. The waves jumped high into the air, and soon they were being sucked in by the hole in the sky.
Soon all of the water in the lake had been absorbed except the cold water in the very deepest part, around the island in the center.
Ganondorf, tired and out of magical energy, smiled evilly at his work and shut the portal with a wave of his hand. The sky became blue again and all seemed back to normal, except that there was hardly any water in the lake.
* * *
Princess Ruto of the aquatic Zora people, along with the rest of the race, mourned the death of the guardian fish, Lord Jabu-Jabu. He had been more than just a guardian to them, though. Jabu-Jabu was a god of the Zora people.
Standing on the platform in the Zora's Fountain where Jabu-Jabu's giant mouth used to sit with all the other Zora, Ruto began to remember all the great times he had with Jabu-Jabu. She, of all the Zora, had had the greatest connection with the big fish, and a lot of it had to do with the Kokiri boy Link several years ago.
Ruto had been a young girl back then, but she remembered every second of the time she had shared with Link. She had been feeding Jabu-Jabu one day, when she had gotten careless and had dropped her mother's sapphire into his mouth. She had reached in to get it, but was sucked into the fish's belly. Link had come in to save her. At first, she had pretended not to want his help, but in the end, she went along with him until she was separated when the giant octopus Bigocto had attacked Link. After Link fought and defeated both Bigocto and the parasitic monster Barinade, Ruto had given him the Spiritual Stone of Water, also known as the Zora's Sapphire, or the Zora Engagement Ring. Ever since then, Ruto had expected Link to marry her, and she had been waiting for him to return ever since.
But now, with Hyrule full of fear and darkness, with Ganondorf in Hyrule Castle, with Princess Zelda possibly dead, with Lord Jabu-Jabu gone, Ruto didn't even think that Link was going to come back to her anymore.
Jabu-Jabu's long, sad funeral ceremony finally ended and all the Zoras went back to their homes, where they continued mourning the loss of their guardian alone. When everyone was gone and only Ruto and her father King Zora sat in the Zora throne room, five mysterious people entered. Two of them seemed to be adult Hylians, and two seemed to be children. The other was a female Goron, dressed in traditional Goron warrior clothing.
At first, Ruto was afraid of these people approaching up the stairs to the room, but the friendly look on the little girl's face reminded her somehow of Link.
"Greetings," Sheik said to the Zora King and the Princess.
King Zora nodded to the travelers. "You are welcome here as long as you come in peace. But.I am afraid that now is not a good time for the Zora. Our guardian deity, Lord Jabu-Jabu, has perished. All of the Zora are in great sorrow."
"I apologize if I sound rude, but did Lord Jabu-Jabu die of natural causes?" Darmara asked the Zora King, believing that the sudden death of Jabu-Jabu to be connected somehow to Ganondorf's sudden violent acts against the Gorons.
"We.are not quite sure how Lord Jabu-Jabu died. However, no corpse was found," King Zora replied.
Darmara nodded. Sheik stepped up to speak to King Zora, but a loud familiar laugh echoed throughout the halls of the Zora's domain.
"Ganondorf." Sheik's sharp eyes scanned the area. Nothing. He ran down the tunnel out of the throne room and looked down over the waterfall, but nobody was seen in Zora's Domain other than the Zora themselves.
Ganondorf's arrogant guffaw boomed again. Suddenly the pool below him began hardening. The water's surface got whiter and stopped moving. An odd cracking sound ripped through the air as the water of Zora's Domain froze into a solid block of ice, entrapping all the Zora who lie within it.
As the freezing waterfall began to diminish, a dark figure became visible behind it. Staring straight down into the area where the waterfall once was, Sheik realized that Ganondorf didn't see him standing there. Seizing the opportunity, Sheik jumped down to attack the oblivious Gerudo king. Milliseconds before Sheik hit Ganondorf, he vanished and Sheik plunged into the semi-frozen depths of the subzero pool.
"Aaaah!" A white burst of electricity shot from Ganondorf's palm and through the water, electrifying Sheik. Luckily, all Zora are invulnerable to electricity. If that hadn't been so, hundreds of frozen helpless Zora would have died that day, like Sheik almost did.
The ice began melting from the warmth of the blast, but Ganondorf renewed the chilling spell and the water began to freeze faster than before.
"Aaarrgh!" Ganondorf turned around to see what had hit him. A Kokiri girl stood atop the waterfall, glaring at him. She was poised as though she had just thrown a dagger at him. Ganondorf rubbed his head again. Luckily, the girl had been too young to know how to properly throw a dagger and only the handle had hit him in the head. But still, it hurt. And it distracted him.
Sheik, still slightly incapacitated but quickly regaining his energy, leaped from the pool and landed swiftly on the area frozen solid with ice. The spot he had been in froze over, leaving now a solid, glassy fighting arena for Sheik and Ganondorf. With all the Zora frozen under the surface, Sheik could duel without worrying about the safety of others.
Sheik took up the traditional Sheikah fighting stance, preparing for an all-out fight with the Gerudo King. However, the high scream of Princess Ruto shattered his thoughts, and he abandoned Ganondorf to go to the princess. Running up the stone steps to the throne room once again, Sheik saw a disturbing sight. King Zora was halfway frozen in red ice, the kind of ice that was only meltable by the rare blue fires of the Ice Cavern. Princess Ruto was also frozen in the stuff, but up to her neck. She was lying on the platform in front of her father, screaming, with Impa, Darmara, Saria, and Mido crowded around her, trying to help. King Zora kept yelling, "Save my daughter. Forget about me!"
"Shut up, gill neck!" Mido screamed at him. "We're trying to forget about you!" He was pounding on Ruto's red ice with the butt of his dagger. Saria stood playing her fairy ocarina, an odd tune that blended mysteriously with the shouts of the others in the room.
Impa, who was kneeling next to Ruto's head and trying unsuccessfully to calm her, was the first to notice Sheik. "Sheik. Princess Ruto is being frozen in red ice."
Sheik refrained from mentioning something about stating the obvious. He knelt down on the other side of the Zora princess, ignoring her father's shouts. "What are you doing to stop this? What can I do?"
"I'm using what little magic I have to prevent the ice from moving further up the Princess's body however, my power won't last much longer. Saria's tune is taking all the peacefulness and good from the area and using it to block off Ganondorf from coming in here. Unless.Did you manage to beat him?"
Sheik shook his head. "Ganondorf can wait. The princess needs immediate help."
"Go to the Ice Cavern, Sheik. Take Mido with you. He's not helping here much."
"What about Darmara?" Sheik asked, looking at the Goron warrior, who was standing slightly away from the group.
"Gorons aren't used to this kind of cold." Impa responded. "We can't expect her to do much here. Hurry! The Ice Cavern is just out there. It's a cave in the wall of Zora's fountain."
Sheik ran out, and Mido followed as Impa instructed.
* * *
Zora's Fountain was oddly peaceful compared to the chaos inside the throne room. The absence of Lord Jabu-Jabu seemed odd, but not as unnerving as the falling snow and the large spinning ice chunks in the water.
Sheik nimbly hopped from glacier to glacier, closing in on his destination, the entrance of the Ice Cavern. Mido followed uneasily, slipping on the ice and occasionally falling into the freezing waters.
"Why did Impa make me bring him?" Sheik thought, helping Mido across the fountain and to the cavern.
The cavern itself was even calmer and quieter than the fountain. Mido set loose a fairy to restore his energy once they were on the solid ground, and pocketed the empty bottle.
"Let's get going," Sheik said. "This place looks like it's pretty big." It definitely wasn't as big as Hyrule Castle, but the cavern was larger than any interior place Sheik had been to over the past seven years, other than Goron city.
"Freezards." Sheik stopped Mido from carelessly entering a large open room. There was seemingly no harm here, but Sheik recognized the moving spikes of ice on the ground from all the teachings he had learned from Impa. "Wait here," Sheik said to Mido, and ran out into the middle of the room. Sure enough, four men of ice burst from the floor around Sheik. Five or six darts from Sheik's needle storm destroyed the first, and Sheik brandished his metal chain whip to eliminate the other three. He spun in a full circle, trailing the weapon and cutting into the hard icy bodies of the Freezards as they closed in on him. The threat of the Freezards ended and Sheik wasn't touched by their chilling frosts.
Sheik cleared all the puzzles and challenges of the dungeon, with Mido always trailing behind. In another room, they stumbled across a gigantic flame, blue in color. "The blue fire," Sheik said.
He ripped off a piece of tattered cloth from his wrist and put the end in the fire, hoping the enflame the clot and use it to bring the fire back to Ruto. Nothing happened. Sheik retrieved the cloth strap and slowly put his hand in the flame. Nothing. There was no burn. It felt as though he were putting his hand in a container of cool water. "How do we get this back to the others?" Sheik began pacing around the flame, thinking. How could they carry water? "How could we carry water?"
"Could we use this?" Mido handed Sheik the empty bottle. Sheik grabbed it, and unplugged the top. He swung it in the flame and quickly shoved the cork in again.
So that's why Impa told me to bring Mido, Sheik realized. A small bit of blue flame flicked inside the bottle. Sheik handed it back to Mido. "Be careful with this."
They turned to leave.
King Zora was entirely frozen. The Zora Princess was fully encased in the red ice. Impa, Darmara, and Saria were standing there, knowing that the only thing they could do now was wait for Sheik.
Sheik arrived. He ran past the bloated hunk of red ice that was King Zora and knelt next to Ruto. Mido handed him the bottle of fire and Sheik unplugged it, spilling the cool flame all over the red ice. It slowly thawed, and Ruto sat up. "Link?"
The name startled everyone. Princess Ruto knew Link? Darmara imagined the young Goron Link rolling around in Zora's domain with Ruto, but recalled the stories of the Hylian Darunia had told her.
"No, Link's not here," Sheik said. "But we are friends of his. We just saved you from an eternity in red ice."
Ruto saw her father, frozen in the ice. In a way, he looked funny. But still, it was a horrible sight to see someone frozen solid. "Daddy! Will he be okay?"
Impa nodded. "Don't worry about him. Worry about yourself, your future. The future of Hyrule. Surely you know of what Ganondorf has been doing. Princess Ruto, I invite you to accompany us on our quest against Ganondorf;."
The princess looked around at the frozen domain. "It looks like I'm not really needed here," she said. "I'll come. And I'll take down Ganondorf for what he did to my people and Lord Jabu-Jabu."
* * *
Ganondorf's castle shook with the Dark King's power. He was focused on summoning a demon from beneath the water temple. The only way to refill Lake Hylia and return to frozen Zora's Domain was to do it from within the temple, and with this demon of water in the way, there was no chance that the Zora people could ever be saved.
"Not even that Sheik will be able to defeat my Morpha.Not even Sheik."