Seven Years part 25

The next part of 25. Expect a 35.66 to finish us off...

“No! Toran no!” Shiek clutched him closer, heedless of the blood that was running freely from Toran’s chest, “I don’t want to settle down with Link! I love you! I always have! Please don’t leave me here! You can’t go now; now that I finally see everything… no… please…”

But he was already gone.

It took Shiek a second to realize it, but there was no denying the fact. Toran’s breathing had stopped and his heart no longer beat. She wasn’t sure if he had heard any of her confession, but there was a slight, sad smile on his face; as though he had finally found some peace. Shiek prayed desperately that wherever he was, Toran knew that she longed to be with him. Curling into a ball next to him, Shiek sobbed until there were no tears left in her. Finally she sat up on her knees and hugged Toran to her again.
“Goodbye, my love...” she whispered smoothing back the tangled hair from his forehead, “I will never be complete now, even if all the world came under my rule. I have died with you Toran, and I shall never live again…” Bending down, she pressed a kiss to his lips. Laying Toran flat, Shiek tugged the katana out of his body and crossed his arms over his chest. She stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles in the Hylian fashion for a servant of the empire. Lifting his head gently, she placed the sword under it like a pillow, after the Hylian warrior tradition. In her mind, Toran had as much claim to ‘Guardian of the Empire’ as the knights long buried in the graveyard.

She sat for a long while, staring mutely at Toran’s corps. After a final prayer, Shiek rose and applied herself to an escape plan. She walked over to the wall she had been chained to, let her hands brush the wall. It was a yellowish, dusty, soft stone, and as she dug at it her hands filled with yellow powder. The softness gave her an idea, and Shiek turned back to Toran’s body.
“Sorry Toran,” she whispered, pulling the katana from its sheath, “but I need you sword one more time.”

Shiek returned and stood at the base of the wall. She had estimated the ledge to be too high up for a jump, but she was hoping it wouldn’t prove too high for two. Gaining a slight running start, Shiek placed one foot one the wall and jumped, reaching above her as high a possible. Bringing the sword forward with all her strength, Shiek drove the blade deep into the wall. Pulling herself up quickly, Shiek placed her feet on the sword’s handle, leaning against the wall for support. She quickly rose to her feet and stretched her arms above her head. Her fingers just curled over the lip of the ledge, allowing Shiek to haul herself up to the spot Gannondorf had been watching them from. The heavy door appeared unlocked, so she turned back for one last look at Toran’s bloodied form. When all this was over, she would be coming back for the body…

Shiek had never been in this portion of the Spirit Temple, and like all Greudo buildings the design seemed to be purposefully made to confuse anyone walking the halls. Shiek tried to keep to the shadows and out of sight, but was woefully aware that her lack of focus was putting her in real danger. Fortunately all of Gannondorf’s minions seemed to be out searching the land for Link, and before too long Shiek found herself in a more familiar section of the temple. After another hour, Shiek found herself in the large main cavern of the temple looking up at the large statue of the Gruedo’s Desert Goddess. From there, it was an easy trip through some narrow passages to outside the temple. She was still on the second floor, a balcony formed by the open left hand of another massive statue of the Desert Goddess that adorned the front of the temple. Heaving a sigh, Shiek looked up at the unforgiving desert sun.

“LINK! TO YOUR LEFT!”

Shiek looked down and saw her ‘hero’ dodge a sand monster, lashing out with his sword. She watched him almost mechanically, like playing with a toy that had lost its luster. Link was so smooth, so lethal, so good, but for some reason is moves seemed systematic and formulaic to her now. She realized now that every time Toran had drawn his sword, it had been out of love for her; Link fought because it was something he was good at, just eliminating one threat so he could move to the next. After having witness Toran’s sacrifice for her, Shiek found it hard to believe Link actually fought for anything or anyone other then himself.
Maybe I’m being too hard on him… Shiek thought, watching as Link engaged another sand monster, I wish Impa could hear me now…
But Impa was dead. As dead as Draq, Scela, Toran, and everyone else that had been close to her.
Face it princess, she thought as she glumly watched Link walk onto the steps up to temple, for all your caring, you’re nothing more then a walking curse to almost everyone. Only one person has survived a lengthy connection with you, and it probably has SOMETHING to do with the Master’s Sword he’s lugging around… Oh well, time to go help one last time…
With that, she dropped down behind Link.

“Shiek! Dude, you’re alright! I was pretty worried about you…”
“And I you,” Shiek replied, stepping closer, “but I see you bested the Shadow Phantom.”
“Yeah, and woke another sage… let me tell you that Shadow Temple is one seriously whapped out place. As if the monsters weren’t enough, the place was loaded with traps, torture devices, and…” he trailed, giving Shiek an odd look, “you ok man? You look positively awful.”
“A good friend of mine died today for the cause,” Shiek murmured, knowing full well this was the pain on her face.
“Oh, Din, that’s bad man,” she looked up to his face and was surprised to see what looked like tears in his eyes.
“It’s worst then that,” Shiek went on, something compelling her to continue, “Gannondorf had his body under mind control, but he was able to fight it off long enough to give up his life to save mine,” her voice cracked slightly, and she stopped before emotion caused her to obliterate what little shards of her disguise were left.
“Goddess, that’s gotta be rough… look man, will get justice for him, right? I mean, that’s one of the things we’re fighting for: Avenging our fallen comrades, right?”
Shiek nodded mutely, and rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. Sniffing loudly, she pointed to the warp point several yards away.
“The Ocarina of Time and the Master’s Sword are the boat in which you can navigate the river of time, Link… Traveling through this temple may require the mastery of time itself… should you need to return here in years already past, use this song of the desert,” pulling out her harp, Shiek pulled the first few cords. Link followed along, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. After the song was done, Shiek looked mutely at Link, who returned her gave with a touch of pity in his eye.
“So who was he?” Link finally asked.
“Toran…”
“Look, Shiek,” Link said, taking a step closer. Shiek took a step back, not really wanting Link to get close to her.
“You should probably get to the temple Link, this one might take awhile.”
“But are you sure you’re ok? I mean-”
“I should get back to the village… we were taken before I had finished readying the clean up…”
“Don’t worry about that, it all looked fine when I walked through it after I made it through the Shadow Temple.”
“I just, don’t really want to talk ok?”
Link looked like he was about to protest when a whirling gust of sand came between them. Taking advantage of the distracting wind, Shiek slipped away leaving Link to face the heat of the Spirit Temple.



It was not as though Lon Lon Ranch was not really the place Shiek wanted to be, but there really was nowhere else for her to go. As she materialized at the warp point she had left in the loft, Shiek felt the melancholy that was crowding her cloud even more. She and Toran had fought a lot because of the ranch, but they had had some good time here two. She couldn’t help but smile as she looked at the pile of hay they had fought in several nights ago.

“Highness, can you hear me?”

Shiek almost screamed with joy. Unless she was just hallucinating, the Shadow Sage was not Jethro Skultulia as everyone had thought, but her own beloved Impa.
“Impa, is that you?” Shiek asked, almost unable to believe that something so fortunate could happen on such a dark day.
“Yes, Princess it is… Though if your friend Link had taken a moment longer I would have died before he arrived.”
“Oh Impa! I thought you HAD died… thank the Goddesses!”
“Is everything alright? I had a feeling that something must have been up.”
“No, it’s not! Toran and I were captured by Gannondorf! I came away ok, but Toran died to save me,” Shiek felt tears welling up in her, “Impa, he’s gone, and you’re right I loved him, and I’ll never get him back now!”
“Princess, please,” Impa’s was in no way able to hide the pain in her voice, “you need to focus. I know your pain over Toran must be great, but you do not see every angle yet, and you have to be ready both physically and mentally for the final battle with Gannondorf. Where is Link now?”
“The Spirit Temple,” Shiek sniffed, wondering where Impa was headed with this.
“Then I think you should sleep until Link exits the temple… I will have Rauru send him to the Temple of Time, and we will contact you then. Please, forget everything and get some rest.”
Shiek wondered how exactly she was supposed to do that, but merely gave an assenting thought before closing the connection. Sighing, she sank down in the hay, staring glumly off at nothing. Knowing Impa was alive, well, and, of all things, a sage was a great relief to her; but the loss of Toran was just as heavy.

Shiek’s eyes looked glumly to the door as it squeaked opened. A familiar odd tune informed Shiek that Malon was entering the barn before she actually came into view.
Malon… she’ll understand… Shiek had lost anything even close to resentment towards the ranch girl with the loss of Toran. She understood now that Malon had never tried to wrong her, and it was her own blindness that had caused whatever tension might have existed between them. The red haired girl breezed into the barn, oblivious to the princess slumped in the corner. She grabbed up a pitchfork from against the wall and turned to the hay, still humming brightly. When Malon saw Shiek she started and almost dropped her pitchfork, giving a squeak of surprise. It only took a second for Malon to recognize her though, and she quickly regained composure.

“Oh, Shiek…” she said, smiling, “You startled me! What are you doing-” suddenly gasping, Malon stepped closer, a hand drifting to her mouth, “Shiek, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Shiek mutely shook her head, suddenly unable to talk.
“What’s wrong Shiek?” Malon pressed, setting down the pitchfork and clambering up the hay to settle next to her, “please, you look like the world is ending or something…”
“I… just…” her voice caught, and Shiek knew tears had to be spilling out by now.
“Hey, it’s ok,” Malon whispered, sliding her arms around Shiek’s shoulders, “you don’t have to hold it in and be tough you know… we all know you can cry.”

And she did. Hugging Malon back with all her strength, Shiek sobbed into her comforter’s soft shoulders. Somehow she choked out the story of Toran’s death between the sob and ragged gasps for breath. Pulling back she looked at Malon and saw tears flowing freely from her sky blue eyes.
“Oh Shiek,” Malon said, her voice quavering, “I was close to Toran too, but nothing like you… I’m so, so sorry… you loved him didn’t you?”
Shiek nodded, then hugged Malon in close again, muffling her words into the girl shoulder.
“Yes… I did… but I never told him… he deserved so much, and yet I kept pushing him away. I was so, so stupid…”
“I think he knew…” Malon murmured back, stroking Shiek’s long yellow hair, “and I know he loved you…”

The two girls sat in the loft morning the loss of lover and friend. After several hours, Malon rose and gave Shiek a rather forced smile.
“I think it would be good if we ate something… I’m gonna grab us some food, ok?”
Shiek gave a similarly unconvinced smile, and nodded. She watched as Malon exited with a feeling of gratitude mixed in her sorrow. Malon really was proving her worth as a friend. For all her flirtatious, annoying, and sometimes infuriating manner, the young woman had a very caring heart and deep compassion for others’ suffering. Rising, Shiek walked over to the corner she had stashed the box containing her diary and crown. Pulling out the green book and pen, Shiek flopped back down in the hay and began to write.

I’m sorry, but I really have no idea of the date anymore… Even if I could work it out I just don’t have the strength. I finally realized just how much I love Toran, and he’s gone… it’s all too late. Of course, Link and I can still save Hyrule, but now that Toran is gone I just don’t know if I have the will to help…

Malon has been wonderful. She really is a better friend then I deserve, and I’m sure her and Link will be so happy together. I guess that should give me some motive to fight; I still have SOME friends alive who deserve a better life then the darkness of Gannondorf.

Soon Link will see me foe who I am, and then comes the last leg, in all honesty I fear it. It’s not that I think Link will be unable to protect me as seal Gannondorf into the Sacred Realm, and not even that I am unable to perform the act… it’s just that this resistance has been my life for so long, and in one moment it will be over and I will be queen. Even that did not used to bother me, but now I realize it’s a change I will have to face alone, with no one to help me. At least Impa will be here for me… but oh how I wish Toran’s strength could aid me.

Shiek looked up as the door squeaked open again, and offered a weak smile. Malon smiled back over the steaming tray she carried.
“Tea?” she asked, setting the tray down on a small crate, “I wasn’t sure how exactly you would like it, so I just fixed you a cup of my favorite raspberry with honey. There’s toast and jam too…”
“Thanks Malon, it all looks wonderful…”

Shiek sipped at the tea, which she pretended wasn’t awful, and munched at the toast to be polite. In reality, she had no desire to be eating, but Shiek realized Rauru and the other sages might call upon her to seal Gannondorf at any moment. She needed to keep her strength up for the sake of everyone. The two girls engaged in sparse moments of small talk, but for the most part ate in silence. Malon was just about to convince Shiek to comb out her hair when Rauru called.

“Princess Zelda, it is time. Link is on his way to the Temple of Time. Meet him there and tell him the rest of the story. The hour of Gannondorf’s destruction is near.”

As Shiek strapped on the last touches to outfit, Malon picked up the tray and gave her a melancholy look.
“So what now?”
“Link and I have to go have one last showdown with Gannondorf, this will be it…”
“You know,” Malon said, staring down at the tray in her hands, “it’s gonna be really dangerous… I’ve seen what Gannondorf can do, and I know you have too. You know this is a suicide mission… Daddy’s back now, and the ranch is getting ever so much better… you and Link could just stay here with us. We could-”
Shiek shook her head violently. In all honesty, the idea was very appealing. Right now, she would have given anything for it all to just be done and over. But in her heart, Shiek knew giving up was something she could never do.
“I have to go, Malon. You know Link won’t stop with this job half over, and if I’m not there to seal Gannondorf away he will die… Master’s Sword or no. Besides, I have to go… I owe it to my people…”
“Your people?” Malon asked cocking her head to the side inquisitively.
“Yes Malon… I’m Princess Zelda.”
Malon nearly gagged on a surprised gulp of air, and Shiek used the moment to quickly exit the barn and disappear into the evening shadows.



The Temple of Time loomed ominously in the dark of the evening. Shiek couldn’t help a slight shudder from running through her as she looked up at the dark, cold stones that comprised the front of the temple. She had seen the green of Link’s back disappearing into it as she walked up. Swallowing hard, Shiek gathered her strength and walked inside.

Link was looking about expectantly as she walked in. When he caught sight of her, the blue eyes softened and he gave a half smile.
“Hey Shiek, doing better?”
Shiek couldn’t bear to look back at him. Instead she gave a dismissive wave while scrutinizing the stone floor.
“I’ve been waiting for you hero…”
“I know, Rauru said you’d be here.”
“No, I mean for long time,” she went on, finally looking back up to him, “I need to tell you another story of the Triforce; one passed down by the Shiekah people. You know well the story of the three goddess who left their essences that became the three parts of the Triforce. These parts were sealed in the Sacred Realm, which could only be reached through this temple. The first of the Hylian kings knew of this, and sealed the doorway to that realm so that none could abuse the Triforce. The Triforce contains complete balance within itself, Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Long had the Shiekah known that if someone who’s heart did not have these ideals balanced within them touched the Triforce, then it would break into three parts. Gannondorf, the Great King of Evil sought to attain the Triforce, but for all his knowledge he did not know this fact. When he took hold of the Triforce, it shattered, breaking into its three pieces which each sought out a suitable protector. Gannondorf, insatiable in his quest power, absorbed the furry of Din’s essence. The essence of Naria’s courage sought out the brave heart of the Hero of Time, the one who could wield the legendary Master’s Sword… you, Link. And the final piece, Narue’s Wisdom, sought out the last sage, the Sage of Wisdom, the sage who was destined to rule the others.”
Shiek took in a deep breath, and raised her right hand to face level, holding the back out for Link to see. Grasping the wrist with her left hand Shiek closed her eyes, letting the full power of the Triforce flow through her for the first time.

Shiek had never known for sure what would happen when she awakened fully as a sage. Fear of Gannondorf’s watchful eye had kept her constantly in the shadow, and as a result she had always operated on a low portion of her actual power. What she had never expected was a complete reorientation in her form magic use, as well as the power. She felt what seemed to be a strong gust of wind envelop her, as well as a blinding flash of light. When she opened her eyes, Shiek found herself standing in a long purple dress. Her long yellow hair was pulled back over her shoulders, falling over her shoulders with a few lose strands falling over her temples and down over the front of her dress. Apparently the Triforce had also seen fit to give her a crown muck like the one she had kept for so many years. Golden earrings fashioned after the Triforce dangled at her pointed ears. Clasping her hand in front of her, Shiek realized the Triforce had added elbow length white gloves marked on the back of the hands with elegant golden Triforces.
Ok, that’s just a little TOO cheesy… I’m really gonna miss being a warrior…

Looking back to Link with her large blue Hylian eyes, Princess Zelda swallowed hard and continued on.

“I’m sorry I had to met you in disguise Link, but Gannondorf has been scouring Hyrule for me ever since that day I fled the palace-”
“Zel?”
“Yeah, like I said, sorry about that, but-”
“You were Shiek that whole time?”
“Well, more importantly-”
“You were Shiek that time I trashed him in this temple?”
“Yes,” Zelda sighed. This really wasn’t the time for explanations of the fine details, and she was getting a reminder of how annoying Link could be.
“Din,” Link muttered, kicking the stone floor, “sorry about that…”
“Don’t worry about it… besides, the whole thing is my fault in a way. That day, seven years ago, we were so young… I thought as I fled the palace that I should give you the ocarina of time; I thought you could use it enter the Sacred Realm; I thought you were our only hope… but something I could have never expected happened. The Master’s Sword sealed you away for so many years, and Gannondorf used the doorway you had opened to try and take the Triforce. All of this is a most unfortunate turn of events…”
“That’s one way to put it,” Link murmured. He still had a look of shock in his eyes, and Zelda figured he was having difficulty taking all this in.
“Yes, it is MY way of putting it… but now that all the sages are awake we can seal Gannondorf away and end this darkness. The sages and I will perform the final task, and I ask you to protect me during this last strike against the vile magus. Here, take this,” she finished handing Link a small bag filled with powder, “this is fairy dust used to make Magic Light Arrows. These are the only weapon that can penetrate Gannondorf’s dark magical shields.”
“That’s comforting,” Link muttered as he took the bag, “well, I guess this is when we head to Ganny’s tower and- Goddess, Zel LOOK OUT!”
Zelda saw Link lurch towards her, but the scene was suddenly tinted deep purple. Her hands went out to grab his, but the purple tint seemed to stop her, like glass. Glancing wildly around, Zelda saw that she was trapped in a large purplish crystal. Link was pounding on the other side, screaming out a question she could barely hear.
“What?”
“I said,” his voice still sounded muffled, but it was getting clearer, “are you alright?”

Before she could respond, a familiar evil guffaw of laughter echoed through the temple.
“Well, Princess Zelda, I must congratulate you on evading me for so many years… I will confess that it even became highly vexing at times. However, I knew if I let this boy wander over Hyrule long enough, you’d show up.”
Zelda felt a scream freeze on her lips. Suddenly all her limbs became as lead, and her purple cage began to rise towards the ceiling.
“I only made one small mistake,” Gannondorf’s voice boomed on, “and that was to slightly underestimate this kid’s power…”
Zelda looked down to where Link was standing, biting his lip in obvious helpless frustration, Navi darting about in panic.
“No,” Gannondorf mused, sounding as though it was meant more for his benefit then the two Hylians, “it was not the kid’s power I underestimated; it was the power of the Triforce of Courage!”
Zelda saw the temple shimmer below her. She was being teleported, and it didn’t take the Triforce of Wisdom to tell her where Gannondorf was taking her.
“Hey kid, if you want to save your friend, I’ll be waiting in the top of my tower…”
She saw Link run for the temple door, already drawing the Master’s Sword.

Then she was out of the temple, and in the last place she had ever wanted to be: Gannondorf’s Tower.