I’m not quite sure how long this will be. Thanks to all my reviewers. This chapter changes to Link’s POV about halfway through.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Nintendo

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Link was most likely sure that he went through the temples alone - with the obvious exception of Navi, that was. He didn’t – at least, not entirely. Sheik was always not too far away from him to help should any danger that he could not cope with arise. Link was exceptionally capable, but with some of the puzzles and traps, Sheik had lingered behind to kill any of the monsters that would have followed him whilst he was climbing or running across narrow paths.

The Fire Temple was a difficult place to navigate – not as difficult as the water temple, to be sure, but still difficult – and Sheik was honestly quite surprised when Link ploughed through it, slaughtering anything that attempted to kill him and even stopping to free the Gorons as he went. He was personally amazed that he had that much patience. He certainlly had not showed it with that kiss.

Sheik had not quite gotten over the fact that Link had kissed him, but had refused to make too much of it. He was a Sheikah – shock was not something that slowed him down, nor any carnal attraction. To allow oneself to be pulled apart by that was simple stupidity. Link was young and inexperienced, anyway, and Sheik knew himself to be a mystery to him. Hylians were always attracted to that which they could not understand.

Therefore, he had dismissed it from his mind easily, and continued lingering behind Link and silently aiding him through the temple.

It was not as difficult as one would expect. Sheik had spent most of his life hiding in the shadows and protecting the royal family, who had people looking out for anyone hiding. These mindless monsters had not the zeal of those guards, so his job was actually easier than what he had expected. Also, Link was far more capable of caring for himself than they. It was fairly easy to keep the young man in sight whilst being kept out of it, and on the odd occasion where he lost track of him, Zelda would use her magic to help him find the young Hylian hero.

Sheik, however, had had no option but to leave the younger man when he entered the boss’ domain. Only Link had the key that allowed him to go in there, and the door locked behind him. Try as he might, the Sheikah could not open it, and at Zelda’s behest, he exited the temple, and made the long way down to Kakariko village.

It wasn’t until he was down there that he seen the broiling clouds of Death Mountain lashing out as though to attack. His eyes widened, for he had never seen the mountain so enraged. It made him fear that there might even be an eruption.

But no, there was not enough heat in the air, or humidity. His insides clenched, though he gave no sign of it, when he thought of Link still in there. He had heard tales of the Lava Dragon Volvagia. Even with the Megaton Hammer, Link would have extreme difficulty fighting that monster. But he would prevail. And on the chance that he would not… well, Zelda would take his place, and Sheik would aid and protect her, and lay down his life for her.

I know you would, Sheik, my friend. Zelda said softly within him. But things will not come to that. Link shall prevail. I have seen it happen.

“And if it does not, my Princess?”

You really are an anus, you know that?

Deciding not to argue any further, Sheik crouched on the roof of Impa’s house and waited. It wasn’t that he did not trust Zelda’s visions. He simply had to look at things and think of the worst possible outcome, so that someone would be prepared for it. If no one though of that, how could they be equipped to handle the future in which it did?

He waited, but soon found that he did not have to wait much longer.

Not ten minutes after that ‘conversation’ with Zelda, a screeching roar pierced the air of Kakariko village. The people dashed about, fearing an invasion of Ganondorf’s men once more. They took up arms and made ready to defend the village – men, women and children all.

They would fail. This was no normal skirmish party or even pack of monsters.

No. What burst from Death Mountain was like nothing the denizens of the village had ever seen before. Long and serpentine, with a great mane of fire and razor sharp claws, Volvagia came writhing through the sky, hissing and spitting flame as he did so. The people screamed, some fleeing to safety, but some weakly held their ground. Sheik knew what would have to be done.

Taking a flying leap, he jumped into the air, kicked off from the wall and swung upwards, grabbing onto the dragon with grim determination to succeed. He hauled himself up, but he then noticed that an unconscious Link was clutched in the gigantic claws of the monster. It was also then that he noticed that the armour plating on the creature’s head was smashed, and blood and foul green liquids were oozing from the exoskeleton.

Link had killed the creature. These moments were the dragon’s dying ones, as it writhed in agony. No wonder it had steadily lost altitude, and even allowed the Sheikah warrior to jump onto it with little to no opposition.

Sheik ran to the dragon’s claw and pulled out his needles. The claw was thick and powerful, much like the exoskeleton over the head. He cursed to himself. He would need the megaton hammer to defeat something like that.

Look for the nerve points!

Almost as soon as Zelda had screamed that in his head, Sheik had jabbed his needles underneath the plating, where it overlapped slightly to allow Volvagia to close the claws. The dragon gave another piercing wail, and Sheik too the other needles and drove them home, giving them a good kick to make sure that they were wedged in.

With another unholy screech, the dragon opened its claws and dropped the unconscious Hero of Time to the ground – thankfully, the drop wasn’t a very far one, and the villagers rushed into to carry him away to safety. Sheik could just see the trail of blood leaking from Link’s mouth. He had best survive this!

Volvagia began to writhe and scream even more, twisting and turning in the air, looping itself into knots. Sheik jumped off before he could be caught in the knots, and watched from his perch on a rooftop as the dragon twisted and coiled, and even began to burn up. Everyone ran for shelter as it heaved and plummeted, but soon nothing was left but the skull, cracked as it was. It hit the earth with a great crash, sending showers of loam upwards and outwards.

The air was dry and hot in the aftermath.

Coughing behind his cowl, Sheik looked up at the mountain. The fiery ring around the peak grew less and less malevolent, before slowly returning to the normal, wispy and smoke-like grey. Death Mountain was at peace once more. Link had done so. Now all that was left for him to do would be to awaken the sage with the Bolero of Fire, and all would be well, at least for this area,

He frowned a little though. How would the Hylian do that now?

XXXX

Link stirred, seeing the crystal walls shimmer and pulse before him, just as they had done after the battle with Phantom Gannon. Navi fluttered around the inside of the case nervously, still not used to such a thing. The only sound was that of gently flowing water, and the young Hylian knew that he was once more in the Chamber of Sages.

The Ocarina of Time was in his hand, and he knew what he should do, just as he did when he played the Minuet of the Forest for Saria.

Placing the instrument to his lips, he gently blew on it, his fingers flowing over the holes as the heart-warming notes of the Bolero of Fire spilled from the ocarina. That song could warm the heart, and dimly, he was aware that it warmed his in more ways than one.

As the last note shimmered in the air, the crystal melted, and Link felt himself gently lowered to the ground. There were no aches, no pains, nothing at all to show that he had fought tooth and nail against a dragon and had been seriously knocked around in the fight. This did not come as a great surprise to him – he hadn’t felt anything after the defeat of Phantom Gannon in this place, though afterward…

There was no time to think about that that came afterwards. Link could not help but smile as he saw Darunia, leader of the Gorons, appear on the emblem of the Fire Temple across from him. Pride was etched across the great Goron’s face, and he was holding his arms out, as though to embrace Link. He did not move from the emblem though, but continued to smile in the utmost joy.

“That’s the second time you’ve saved my people, Brother.” He said, in that voice which could make the earth shake. Before it had seemed loud and brash – a voice to command people with, and that was all. Now there was something… regal about it also. Link half felt like he should bow before him, but did nothing more than nod his head a little, red flushing his face. Darunia laughed. “You’ve grown up now, Brother!” He exclaimed. Link smiled, unable to stop himself.

“I can see you haven’t.”

The Goron laughed heartily at that. Link felt a rush of affection towards the large, rumbling Goron. Darunia had not changed much. After Saria’s reaction, he had been worried that all would change after becoming sages. Darunia had proven that wrong.

The Goron’s face did grow solemn though, and he bowed his head to Link. “Brother. Thank you for awakening me to my true destiny, just as you have to yours. I will now stay in this Chamber until you have need of me. Please, my Brother, save Hyrule. I add my strength to yours.”

Link felt himself begin to float away, the Chamber of the Sages drifting away as though in a haze. Before it faded completely though, he heard Darunia’s voice calling to him one last time.

“Don’t forget, you and I are true Brothers now!”

XXXX

Link awoke to the soft sound of harp music. The room was dark, for which he was grateful, because there was a slow but very extreme pounding in his head. He could barely think straight, though he remembered fighting Volvagia, cracking the skull open and killing the monster, but after that things got more than a little hazy.

He stirred, slowly sitting up. The room swam around him, but he kept his face pressed to his hand to steady himself. The bed was comfortable, and someone had washed him and put him in new clothes, but apart from that, everything hurt. Even his eyes, though the sight they beheld was a beautiful one.

Sheik was silhouetted against the dully-glowing fireplace, the gentle flames turning his skin golden. The light danced across his thick, flaxen hair, and reflected intently into the one red eye that Link could see, making it glitter, like a garnet catching the sunlight. The man’s lithe body was relaxed, though he always had an air of wariness around him, suggesting that he would leap and move at any second, that he would lash out like a wild cat, as efficient and graceful as one.

There was no doubt about it. Link thought that Sheik was beautiful.

At the moment though, he couldn’t exactly dwell on it. He gave a groan as his head throbbed some more, causing the music to stop. He felt Sheik grasp his arm – not unkindly – and heard him speak lowly to him. “Calm yourself.” He said gently. “Don’t overstress. You were hit quite hard, and I for one would not like to see anything bad happen to you.”

Matter-of-factly, he pushed Link back down onto the pillows, plucking at them with nimble fingers to make them more comfortable for Link. Link appreciated the gesture, but it did very little to alleviate his dizziness. Sheik’s hand pressed to his head, was removed, and then Sheik was holding a spoon to his lips.

“Red potion.” He said softly. “Drink it. It should make you feel better.”

Link, who was used to downing the bottle in one gulp, looked at the small dosage with all the doubt he could muster. However, a little was better than nothing, and he propped himself up to take a sip from the spoon. Sheik held it to his lips while he took it.

“You fought well and bravely, Link.” Sheik said softly. “You have many trials and hardships still to face, but if you handle yourself as well with them as you did, not even a shadow would harm you.”

Link didn’t know exactly what Sheik meant by ‘a shadow’, but assumed it was something to do with Ganondorf. He also did not know how Sheik knew about his progress in the temples, but put that down to just morale boosting. Link had Navi for that. Navi, who appeared to be sleeping quite soundly in his hat, thankfully. She had exhausted herself helping him through that temple.

Link did disagree with her on one thing though.

“Sheik…” He murmured, and smiled gently at the soft “hmm?” the other man gave. His head still hurt, but that was nothing. He reached up with his hand and gently touched at the edge of Sheik’s cowl. He saw Sheik’s eye widen, but he didn’t do anything. He understood that he may have overstepped his bounds at the Fire Temple, but what could he do? He wanted to know more about Sheik, wanted to learn everything there was to know about him, and in his confusion, his need to have him stay, had kissed him.

He did not regret it.

“Sheik,” He said softly, “Sheik, the Fire Temple could have waited, couldn’t it?”

Sheik took his hand away and gently laid it down upon the covers. “Rest, Link. You’ll need it for the next Temple you must cleanse.”

Link grumbled, shifting about in his bed for a while, before he felt the light pressure of Sheik’s fingers upon his eyelids, and closed them. The harp music started back up, and Link slowly drifted off, allowing sleep to overcome him.

He dreamed of eyes like glittering garnets, and soft harp music.