The Legend of Zelda: Blood and Spirit

Chapter 25: Breaking the Unbreakable

Sheik let out a huffy breath, clearly growing angry with the sword spirit, though for what the girl had no idea. "Save your breath," she said hotly. "Whatever you think you're assuming is wrong. Just as your sole purpose is to serve the hero, my only two purposes are to protect the goddess and lead my people. Nothing less and nothing more."

Fi scoffed at this remark critically. "It would seem that you are hypocritical," she said, bemused. "Your statement is contrary to how you feel and there is little point in denying it. You do not have to worry about me revealing anything to my master or her grace. Considering the circumstances, they both have much more to be concerned about than something as trivial as this."

"Figures that you would call something like this trivial," Sheik muttered. "So what if I do… love… him? It's not like it means anything or matters at all. He's with the only one he wants and there's nothing I could ever do to change that. I've moved on and accepted it. End of story."

Zelda suppressed a gasp upon hearing this, finding it hard to believe it to be true. Sheik harbored a hidden love for Link? The girl never could have guessed this in a million years, especially since the straightforward Sheikah leader was so well at hiding her inner emotions. At the same time, Zelda wasn't really sure how to feel about this new revolution. On one hand, it was somewhat understandable. She knew that her hero and husband was someone hard to resist in her own eyes, not only because of his natural handsomeness but also his overflowing bravery, honesty, charisma and kindness. It was easy to see that other girls could be attracted to him for all these reasons and more. But Sheik? Zelda had to wonder how such feelings could have developed over the relatively short period of time that Link and Sheik had known each other for, and if the hero knew anything about them at all. If he did, then he really didn't have much reason to tell the girl about it, lest it incriminate the Sheikah leader in her eyes. But if he didn't, then that would most likely complicate things even further in the long run.

But all the same, Zelda didn't know what to make of this news, much less how to respond to it. It would be easy for her to be angry with Sheik over this. After all, the Sheikah leader certainly knew that Link and Zelda practically belonged to each other, something that was completely mutual for both of them. They had pledged their undying love to each other on almost every level imaginable and there was nothing, not even the great trials they were currently going through or the miles that separated them now, that could break that strong love apart. But the girl knew that it would be nothing more than petty to show any form of malice towards the Sheikah leader, especially after all she had done to help both of them. At most, Zelda found this revelation of Sheik's feelings for Link to be little else than awkward, considering the fact that the hero was already married, but to the Sheikah leader's credit, she had not tried to stand between the couple, despite her own feelings, and had shown nothing but complete support for the two of them. It was easy for the girl to see why Link trusted Sheik so much; she put her responsibilities and those tied to them first, placing them before even herself and her emotions. And it was because of that fact that Zelda knew without a doubt that she could trust the Sheikah leader as well.

Fi took a long moment to respond to Sheik's statement, but when she did, her words were as stoic as ever. "But you still love him, even though you know that you could never have him, don't you?"

The Sheikah leader sighed morosely. "Yes…" she said quietly, shame and regret in her voice. "But I know that he's happy with her grace, and as long as he is happy, then so am I. I only wish… I wish that he had more time left to actually be happy…"

"As do I," the sword spirit said with a hint of remorse. "It pains me to know that my master must meet such an end as that, and even now I fret for his wellbeing at the hands of the Interlopers... We should not tarry here much longer, lest the situation grow more dire than it already is But first, I do believe that I may owe you an apology. I acted in error against you, and in doing so I disobeyed my master. And so it is for his sake that I say I am sorry for how I treated you upon our initial meeting and I ask for your forgiveness and future cooperation."