Chapter Text
“These things just don’t know when to quit!”
Kohga was flat out exhausted. The air choked with the lingering smoke of everything he summoned to fight the neverending horde of monsters, the ache deep in his eyes building to near borderline unbearable levels. Still, he kept it up, aiming massive balls of spiked iron and sending them spinning wildly into the gooey monsters with all the force he could muster.
The camp was a flurry of activity, his archers lining the walls and firing upon the creatures. If any got too close, the footsoldiers zipping around on hastily stuck together Zonai tech would ride on by and slice them up as they passed. A glider floated around in the skies, fans keeping it in the air and a mounted cannon firing at a near constant rate. Seriously, did those things ever actually run out of ammunition?
The third Hinox of the long battle was dangerously close, lumbering towards the fort almost uninhibited. Arrows stuck in its malformed hide, the goopy Malice eating away at the wood and absorbing it like a twisted feast. He summoned another ball of spiked iron, the inverted weeping eye symbol’s glow completely lost in the abyssal redness the world had been consumed by.
The strain was almost too much, the ball sinking from where it hovered. He didn’t let it hit the ground, a hand curled into a tight fist. He swung, nailing the conjured ball of spikes so hard he felt something crack (his fist or the ball, he wasn’t sure), and launched it across the field.
The Hinox hit the ground so hard, the very earth shook beneath the titanic beast. It still wasn’t dead. Quite the contrary.
A sickening squelch filled the air, the Hinox’s body rupturing down the center and caving in on itself. The Malice of fallen monsters coalesced around it, sinking into the broiling puddle of hatred and slick slime. It puffed up, growing larger and larger like a pus filled boil about to burst. It exploded, the misty Malice condensing into not one, not two, not even three, but four separate hybridized monstrosities.
Kohga could recognize the faint shape of a lynel, the lumbering mass of a Hinox, even one with a multitude of gleeok wings. That one took to the skies, hovering like a sick, multi headed nightmare.
“What in the name of Hylia are those?!”
Kohga had forgotten about the Sheikah woman, clutching the railing for dear life as she stared at the things quickly charging towards the fort. Sheik’s older sister, though he had no idea what her name was. She refused to take shelter with the others, her eyes flitting between the battle raging around them and whatever in the Goddess’ name was happening up above.
“Don’t ask me!” he snapped, clapping his hands together.
He bit back the urge to cry out, the strain snapping his head back like a rubber band pulled too taut. The ball of spiked iron he tried to summon never came, not even the smoke heralded his successful conjuring. He didn’t even have the strength to try again yet, his knees threatening to collapse beneath him.
A pair of hands caught his elbow as he stumbled, a startled yelp and a “Oh my Goddess you’re heavy!” ringing too loudly in his ears. The woman placed herself under his arm, using all the strength in her body to keep him upright. His weapon— when had he dropped it?— was tucked into the sash holding her skirts together.
“Master Kohga!”
A second set of hands attached themselves to his other side, his best archer Asli holding him up. Together, somehow, the two women kept him upright, even as he struggled to keep himself from accidentally crushing either of them.
“Master, those things aren’t going to be defeated in time! We have to go!” Asli said. For once, he noted her voice was shaking, her bowstring snapped and her quiver empty.
“You guys go while you can. I can still fight.”
“Mister Kohga, sir, with all due respect, you can barely stand.” the white haired woman snipped. “You’ll die the second those monsters get here. We have no time!”
“I said go.”
“And what are you going to do? Throw more balls at them? Fight fire with fire? You almost collapsed trying to summon the last one!”
“I. Said. Go.”
“You are not an indestructible Guardian, you cannot win this fight! You are going to die! And I’m sorry, but I am fully of the belief of not dying today!”
Kohga paused, a sudden thought occurring to him. He rolled over her words in his head, and rather quickly considering the circumstances, a lantern lit itself in his head. He struggled to remain upright as he shook his arms out of the women’s grips, hands forming familiar motions that he fondly remembered trying to teach a peculiar blonde not so long ago. He modified it on the fly.
“Hey, Sheik’s sister. Make me angry.”
“I— what??”
“Make me angry. Piss me off. Make me fly off the handle. Make. Me. Mad.”
Sheik’s sister barely took even a glance at Asli before immediately launching into a tirade. If Kohga didn’t know any better, it sounded almost rehearsed. Admittedly, he barely heard a word of it. The moment she uttered the phrase “Link is sooo much better than you, you’re honestly the weakest person in the entire world,” it unleashed the floodgates.
Every inconvenience, every slight, every single time he felt even mildly annoyed and more bubbled to the surface. All of his grievances against the Royal Family, each tiny shred of rage at what his family and people had been forced into, every member of his Yiga Clan that he had lost to battles and old age over the years fueled the wrath that had boiled just under his lackadaisical and carefree attitude for more than a century.
What Sheik had been forced to become, what he had been forced to choose as he plummeted into darkness and lost everything that made him him , was the absolute final straw.
He didn’t see the glowing Hylian symbols painting themselves in the air, he only saw red. He thrust his hands out, finishing the modified spell and unleashing every ounce of uncontrollable wrath he had in his body.
A gash gouged itself into the earth, the beam of pure fiery energy cleaving the dirt apart and boiling the Malice into unbearable levels. The mishmashed monsters shrieked and wailed, the hatred forming their bodies disintegrating and ripping itself apart in vain attempts to pull itself back together. Far too soon, the spell fizzled.
It left behind naught but a burning swath of destruction, dissolving monsters, and four disintegrated piles of ashy nothing.
Kogha toppled back, head over heels, his legs buckled and sending him hurtling backwards with the force of the residual energy snapping back at him. He hit the ground hard, the entire world swimming in his blurred vision. His mouth felt dry and scraped, his throat raw and burning. Everything ached, the throbbing in his head like someone had decided the inside of his skull would be a wonderful drum.
He didn’t have the strength to move, laying sprawled out on the floor. Or at least he thought so. He could feel hands on him, trying to drag him up. Was the world less red than he remembered?
His mask was being lifted, and his brain refused to work well enough to panic, to do anything to stop it. It was only lifted high enough for someone to force a bottle to his lips, tipping the contents down his throat. It happened twice more, each bottle of mystery liquids tasting more disgusting than the last. Goddess, he was hungry.
Someone was pushing him to sit up, his head lolling back uncomfortably. He couldn’t even see who it was, but he was grateful for all the help anyway. Almost. He mostly just wanted to eat and nap now. He thought he could hear music for a moment, quiet and melancholic, like a beloved memory one struggled to remember.
He was starting to feel better, slowly but surely. His vision slowly sharpened, and he noticed that the world was a little less red. And getting even less red. Then—
An explosion shattered the heavens, putting his own previous spell to absolute shame. They all looked up together at the sky. The light was fading, the clouds rolling to their normal speeds, and the crimson color overtaking their world lifted. The greens and blues of the heavens and earth returned, the wisps of Malice completely disappearing from the land. Not even so much as a drop remained. The only sign it had been there at all was the burning inferno Kohga himself had caused with his anger fueled spell.
Kohga couldn’t see very clearly, but even he could see the twin dragons flying ever higher into the sky. He watched as a hole in the clouds formed, shimmering and green, beckoning the serpents. His chest ached as he witnessed the long, coiling body of his beloved draconified blonde following its twin, both vanishing upwards into the heavens as though they’d never existed in the first place.
Kohga never even got to say goodbye.
A heavy weight settled somewhere deep in his chest, and he turned his gaze away. Thankful for the mask covering his face, he made to get up and stretch. He made it halfway before his legs almost failed him, and several pairs of hands caught him before he could truly hit the ground. Gradually, he was helped into standing, his clan members hovering in case he should fall again.
Goddess, he loved these guys.
He stretched carefully, rolling his shoulders. A little stiff, and a lot achy, but he was lucky it was all he felt. He would kill for some water though.
People were slowly coming out of the shelter, and fighters from outside the fort were returning. There were many injuries to tend to, and most likely dead to recover. Even if he hated it, it had to be done. It seemed like he’d be sticking around for a while either way, he could feel the stares on his back.
He groaned, shaking out his wrists. “Lotus? Somebody? I’m gonna need a status report.” his voice was rough and hoarse like he’d been swallowing nails.
Asli jumped to her feet, already racing away to retrieve the blademaster. He hoped the guy was okay, he hadn’t seen him since the battle began. It left Kohga with far too many lackeys just standing around however, so he shooed them away.
“I’m fine, I’m fine! Owlan, you hurt? No? Good, you handle the wounded. Tama? Oh, there you are. Scout around for any dead, take a decent team with you, whoever’s willing. Everyone else? Uh, clean up duty, if you’re able. I want no further injuries, attacks, or accidents! Stay safe, now get going!”
He clapped his hands, and every one of his people saluted him, closed fist over their chests, and scattered to their assigned duties. It left him standing awkwardly with Sheik’s sister, and still being stared at, but he couldn’t do anything about that.
The woman just stared too, peering at him through her glasses, scrutinizing him. It was a long moment before she spoke. “Why are you sticking around? This isn’t your fort. We’re technically enemies.”
He sighed, fixing his mask. “Yeah, well. I don’t have a real explanation for you, Glasses. Maybe I’ll come up with one later, but right now I just wanna sleep for a century.”
She sighed, shaking her head. She glanced around, taking in the various Zonai machines his people had cobbled together. The glider with the fans rested with its nose in the dirt, a rather unfortunate crash landing having knocked the mounted cannon from its attachment. A pair of Yiga rode past on a wheeled Zonai machine, a hasty sled made from wood and cloth attached to the back to carry the worst of the wounded.
The woman gestured with her flute. “How.... how did you make all that? We’ve been trying to figure out how to use the Zonai tech for ages.”
Kohga shrugged, feeling just a little bit smug. “Yeah, well. You spend an extra five or six years underground studying it all, you tend to learn a lot. Flying machines, four wheeled battering rams that can fire cannons and lasers, small transport vehicles, we’ve experimented plenty. Always have experts designing new things and testing contraptions.”
“Really? Wow, you Yiga are more resourceful than I thought.” she said.
He hummed, turning as he heard footsteps approaching. Lotus saluted him, Asli half a step behind and doing the same. “You called, Master?”
“I did indeed. I need a status report. How bad we looking, big guy?”
“Well, there is a small fire beginning to spread outside the fort. I already have a team set up to douse it. So far, none dead, but many wounded. The.... Gloom? Malice? Whatever it was, it took a toll on many.”
“Hmm, how are our sundelion stores?”
“Half full, the shipment to the Depths outposts was sent only days ago. Another won’t be sent until the next fortnight.”
Kohga nodded, crossing his arms. “Spare what we can then, but leave some in reserve just in case. Anything else?”
“The music device was destroyed, we will have to start from the beginning. Moya saved the scroll, he is with the team tending to the wounded. There is nothing else of note at the moment.”
Kohga had a choice to make. It killed him to make it. “Forget about the construction. We’ll send the scrolls back where they came from. Safely.”
“....Of course, Master Kohga. I’m sorry.” he bowed his head, turning to leave as Kohga waved him away. Asli went with Lotus, her posture solemn for once.
The Sheikah woman was eyeing him, her facial expression changing rapidly throughout the entire exchange. Finally, she settled on somewhere between impressed and mild confusion. “Scrolls?”
“It’s a long story. I don’t want to talk about it.”
She nodded. After a long moment, she slipped the sickle from the sash around her waist, holding it out, the handle pointed towards him. “The name’s Purah.”
He stared at her, then the weapon held out to him. Distantly, he knew his every movement was being watched, both by ally and enemy. Surrounded by people who wanted him dead, their own weapons within easy reach should he and his clan turn on them. He could take them all on, him and the Yiga he had brought for the construction of the massive music box, these people were no match. More than half of them weren’t even warriors, they were just regular people.
Kohga took the weapon. He twirled it once, twice, three times. Then held it with the handle pointing towards the heavens, the blade directed at the ground beneath them. He held it back out to her, silent and waiting.
She stared at him, then at the weapon. It occurred to him that she may not know what he was doing, but then again, this had never happened before in recorded Sheikah or Yiga history between the two peoples.
She took it back, and slowly twirled it once to avoid dropping it, holding it with the blade pointed toward the earth. “This isn’t forgiveness. But.... I suppose it’s a start.”
He simply nodded. “Keep it then. I got some lackeys to direct. Giving out orders is what I’m best at.”
“Right. I.... suppose I can keep a lookout for Link. If you want to avoid him.”
He shrugged, already turning on his heel to march away. The air was tense and unsure, not a soul knew what to make of the display. He wasn’t explaining it to anyone but his clan if they asked, he’d leave Purah to explain to everyone else.
“Oh and, um.... Kohga?”
He paused, choosing not to face her.
“About earlier, with the.... dragon. Thank you. For telling me.”
He waved over his shoulder, and continued walking.
The sun rose higher into the sky, nearing the center of the heavens. The sun was warm, the breeze was light enough to keep everyone cool without being too chilly. Master Kohga walked among the rows of wounded laid out on padded bedrolls. A dozen people in total, both Yiga and a mix of the four other races. There was only a couple Gorons in the entire fort, they had been stationed at the gates just in case anything had gotten past everyone else, but they were lucky enough that it never happened.
Still, he felt it was pretty damn lucky there hadn’t been any casualties so far. Everyone was accounted for, except those who had gone to the castle. Sages, he heard them be called. He could only assume that’s where Link had also gone, because he wasn’t back yet either.
It had been hours since the end of the skirmish, half the wounded were still waiting on the shipment of sundelions, and Kohga was getting mighty uncomfortable at being stared at by tentative enemies-but-also-not-enemies.
Tensions were not exactly low, especially with the Gerudo. Not a single one of them had dropped their weapons, and they all kept their distance from each other. It was simply safer to try and avoid each other outright than try to navigate whatever the hell was between them.
And Kohga knew it would only get even worse when the tiny Gerudo chieftain returned. He hoped he’d survive the encounter. While he was no good at building bridges, he was excellent at running away from things. He wouldn’t run. Not this time.
He knelt by one of his Yiga, checking the man’s condition. It was…. decent. The man wouldn’t die in the next day or so at least. He certainly hoped that wouldn’t happen, Varo was a good soldier, he’d miss the guy.
Faintly, he heard the sweeping of a broom. It came closer hesitantly, slowly approaching him as he checked another soldier's condition. It paused somewhere by his side, and he glanced up to see a blonde Hylian woman in Sheikah clothes. She clutched the broom, nervous energy twitching the end into sweeping the dirt at their feet.
“Hello.” she said simply. She was still sweeping, granted, sweeping the dirt away from the wounded, but still sweeping up dirt nonetheless. Kohga thought it was a lost cause.
“Uh, hi?”
Some of her nervousness dissipated now that he’d actually spoken to her, and the sweeping stopped. “Yes, hello. I just wanted to thank you for helping us.”
He blinked, even though she definitely can’t see it under his mask, he somehow knew she could tell he’s absolutely bewildered. Purah, he could understand thanking him, he had sort of directly saved her life. But this woman?
“Sure? Who are you anyway?”
She smiled. “Jerrin, Robbie’s wife. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. Old Sheikah researcher? About this tall? Goggles?” she said, holding her hand at about waist height.
And yeah, that description was pretty familiar. His clan had sort of booted the old man from his station and taken it over for themselves. He swore he could hear the man in question marching around somewhere in the fort, his voice was very distinct.
(Sheik had also once mentioned hearing a strange instrument whenever the old man struck a pose, and Kohga still had no clue what the blonde meant by that.)
“Yeah, I heard of him. Uh…. you’re welcome. For saving the fort? Or something.” he tried. He hadn’t felt himself since the dragons had vanished. He doubted he’d feel like himself again for a while, and every new person who tried to talk to him and genuinely thank him just threw him more off balance.
They weren’t his clan, they hadn’t pledged loyalty to him or been born into his clan. They still thanked him anyway, just because he decided the fort was the best place to protect himself and his own people, and technically them by proxy. What an odd feeling.
Jerrin nodded. “You sound like you don’t hear that very often.”
“Not from you people. It's usually horrified shrieking and begging for mercy or whatever.”
“I’m sure it is, but I don’t hear any of that now. May I ask what changed?”
Master Kohga couldn’t tell her. He didn’t even know what to say himself. What had changed? A lot, really. Everything and nothing. He simply shrugged, his best noncommittal hum his savior. He moved on to keep checking the conditions of the wounded, habit not letting him rest until he had decisive confirmation that no one was going to die.
He couldn’t handle losing anyone else today.
“Well, thank you again anyway, sir. Please, feel free to stop by the underground shelter. There’s plenty of food for you and your people if you wish.” she said.
He stared after her as she shuffled away, stopping to sweep away the dirt and dust from the stone. It felt strange, having someone go out of their way to be nice to him and his people, even if it was sort of the bare minimum.
It made him miss Sheik all the more.
He turned away, the inside of his mask feeling a bit damp as he checked the next Yiga’s pulse. A little weak, but she had taken a particularly nasty hit from a Malice lizalfos according to the little sheaf of paper used to catalog her injuries. He was grateful it hadn’t been the electric variety on top of that, she surely would’ve been killed. He moved on to check the next person in the line of bedrolls.
Hasty clicks thundered on the upper walkways, heels clacking across wood as a familiar Sheikah woman with red glasses nearly flung herself over the railing. “Does anyone know how to teleport!? Or fly!? Please, it’s urgent!”
The timing was impeccable. Plus, it was something Kohga could do to be useful instead of wallowing in his thoughts, he jumped at the chance.
He waved a hand, rising to his feet. He rolled his shoulder as he walked, none too hurried despite her strangely frantic tone. He wondered what could possibly be wrong. “Yeah, that sounds like a job for me, unfortunately. What’s the situation, Glasses?”
The woman, Purah, was already racing back across the platform and towards a set of stairs he hadn’t noticed before. “It’s Sheik! Hurry!”
He blanked on all but the name, he didn’t even register how hard and fast he threw himself into the teleportation, rushing from the smoke half a step behind the woman. He nearly ran her over when she stopped, her face mashed against a telescope, adjusting the angle slowly. She then backed away, hands waving him closer.
“He’s there, look!”
Kohga pushed his mask up, uncaring if she saw his face or not, and peeked through the eyepiece. For a moment, he didn’t see anything, and he very briefly considered this was some cruel prank. Then the woman adjusted it again, and his heart just about dropped and exploded on impact.
A distant speck brought into crystal clear focus, and falling very, very quickly, was an all too familiar warrior with bright blonde hair.
He threw himself back down the stairs, tripping over his own feet and straight up tumbling head over heels with a loud shout down the wooden steps. He didn’t let it stop him, rolling with the momentum and back onto his feet in a sprint.
“Lotus! Asli! LADS! Team meeting on the double!!”
He nearly tripped over a rock in his haste, a flurry of activity condensing around him at his shouting. He didn’t care if it scared the other folks in the fort, he cared for absolutely nothing right now. Lotus appeared at his side from thin air, a hand on the hilt of his sword. Kohga didn’t let any of them get a word out.
“Flying machine, now! I need it as fast as possible! I have a Sheikah to catch!”
“Sheik?” Lotus asked.
“Sheik!” he nodded.
Lotus was already on the move, dragging planks of wood left over from the construction of the fort. Able bodied members of the Yiga scattered wildly like squirrels, a half dozen hoisting the abandoned glider onto their combined backs.
Several others snagged other pieces of Zonai tech, startling Hylian researchers with choruses of “Sorry, need this!” and running off with them. Someone had even come back with one of those strange springy contraptions. It gave him a wonderful and genius idea.
Kohga couldn’t wait, pacing back and forth so fast he was almost running. And Master Kohga never ran. “We’re losing height, boys! Asli! You’re on aiming duty! You there! Shiro! I want that spring thingy secured to those planks there! Lotus, angle them higher! Ramps don’t point at walls!”
He helped, holding fans in place as they were reattached to the glider, dragging over and hefting a sturdy plank to help hold the hastily contracted ramp in place. After way too much time for Kohga to be comfortable, he flung himself to the controls.
One of his soldiers swung their weapon, striking the spring with all their might. It almost yanked Kohga from the controls entirely as the entire contraption was launched into the skies with the force of a Goron shattering a boulder. He may have screamed.
But he was in the air, moving fast, and Sheik was still falling.
Kohga would not lie; he thought about abandoning the machine entirely, even as he left the fort and the ground very far behind. He was moving so slow, Sheik was falling too fast, he didn’t think he’d ever make it in time. He tilted the steering, angling the machine just a little lower so he wasn’t fighting such a steep incline. Half a dozen years of crashing and learning to maneuver Zonai tech left him a fairly decent pilot at the very least.
He was closer. Not close enough.
Machine angled a little lower, the incline a little less steep. He could pick out the details in Sheik’s clothes now. He could see the swirling patterns painted onto his skin, he could see the light reflecting off his golden hair. Kohga released the controls entirely, hands outstretched, cursing that he wasn’t nearly close enough he was going to miss—
He caught Sheik.
The blonde landed heavily in his arms, the glider dipping abruptly with the added weight. The fans died, cutting out with a muted blee-bloop, and the entire contraption nosedived.
They hit something, Kohga didn’t care to know what, and they all pitched forward. He dove, cradling his blonde’s head as he threw them into the teleportation and landed, and everything seemed to freeze. For a moment, he just hunched on the ground, solid land a blessing beneath his feet. He ignored the mighty splash somewhere behind them.
Slowly, he uncurled, breath stuck somewhere in his throat as he looked down. Sheik was unharmed. Long golden hair free from his braid and a little ruffled by the last few moments, but he was sleeping soundly in Kohga’s arms, completely unharmed.
For a long time, it felt like the entire world simply paused in that one moment as he held the man. The warm rays of the sun shining upon the Sheikah’s hair, turning it the most gorgeous shade of gold he’d ever seen in his life. His chest rose and fell slowly, his expression relaxed, eyelashes only just beginning to flutter as he finally awoke.
He didn’t dare breathe as the warrior stirred, blinking tiredly and squinting in the bright sunlight. He raised a hand to block the light, the glow of the stone in his bracelet dim in the daytime. Absentmindedly, Kohga fixed the shawl around his blonde’s shoulders, the man was probably cold.
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” he said. The inside of his mask was wet, so he pulled it off and let it fall to the ground. His face wasn’t anything Sheik hadn’t seen before, even though the first time he’d been under the impression that he hadn’t been able to see through the small illusion he plastered over his features.
He didn’t care that he saw the inverted eye tattooed on his face, the streaks of white hair he made sure never grew long enough to poke out the top of his bun, the fact his nose was permanently crooked from the very event that won him the title of Master Kohga.
Sheik blinked up at him, head tilted ever so slightly. “This is not a dream?”
He shook his head, and Sheik still just stared up at him. Then he lurched forwards, nearly knocking Kohga back. Arms around his neck, face pressed into his shoulder, holding onto the Yiga leader so tightly Kohga almost found it difficult to breathe, the Sheikah let out the shakiest gasp. Was he…. crying?
Kohga pulled him even closer, a hand on the smaller man’s back rubbing circles between his shoulder blades. Incredibly, Sheik wasn’t trembling, nor did he make any other sound besides the stuttering breaths he tried to get under control. Kohga simply held him through it, clutching him like a lifeline.
A long time passed before Sheik pulled away, fingers swiping away the few tears that had escaped. “I.... I am sorry. I thought I would never see you again.”
Kohga barked out a laugh, weak and hysterical. He simply pressed their foreheads together, hands cradling his blonde’s face as gently as he dared. “No apologies, blondie. But I have to say, I didn’t expect to have to catch you again. Seriously, what is with you blonde people falling from the sky all the time?”
Sheik laughed this time, a true laugh, one that he wanted to hear again and again. The blonde took a deep breath to compose himself, leaning into his touch. “It appears to be an occupational hazard.” he said.
“I’ll say!” he huffed, smiling despite the absurdity. It made Sheik laugh again, which in turn made him laugh. A never ending cycle of hysterical giggling until they were both so severely out of breath that it was hard to sit up.
Kohga had never loved any moment in his life more than he did now.
Sheik pulled away, pushing his hair from his face. His hair tie had been lost sometime between right then and his battle millenia ago, he would have to get a new one. Daggers missing, hair flowing free, his bright smile on full display for the first time in who knew how long, he had never looked happier.
Master Kohga had never been so stupidly in love with him more than he was now.
He blinked from his wandering thoughts at a touch to his face, Sheik’s eyes narrowed as he focused on wiping up the kohl with the strange draping sleeves he wore. Kohga hadn’t even realized it had run at all, and it did something to his heart that Sheik was cleaning it up for him.
Such a small thing, when had he gotten so soft?
Sheik finished cleaning him up, returned his fallen mask to him, and they helped each other to their feet. He didn’t quite put his mask back on yet, content with simply standing there barefaced and holding the man’s hands in his own.
Then he heard quick footsteps, and Sheik peeked around his shoulder. Kohga saw his eyes widen a fraction and his smile becoming just a touch panicked. “Oh no.”
“Oh no?” he asked slowly. He didn’t even have to voice the question, an outraged, high pitched yelling answered it for him.
“Sheik?!?”
Oh no indeed.
Sheik had already let go, moving around to stand between Kohga and a rapidly approaching Zelda. Link lingered behind her, the two of them soaked completely through like they had just climbed out of a river. “Zelda, I can explain.”
“Him?? Him, Sheik??” she repeated, advancing into her brother’s space. He was quickly backing up, weaving and walking backwards as the princess chased him around.
“Zelda, please, just let me—”
“This is ‘Koh’? Master Kohga, the clan leader that wants me and Link dead, is ‘Koh’?? This is the man you fell in love with!?”
“I swear upon my soul it is not as bad as it sounds—”
“How is it not as bad as it sounds, Sheik!? He sent assassins after me!”
Kohga decided to not involve himself in that conversation, hanging back with the hero he still didn’t like at all. They glanced at each other, and Link simply shrugged. The Yiga noted his arm was normal now, and he wondered if that had anything to do with why the brother and sister pair were themselves again.
They turned their attention back to the pair, wincing as Sheik continued to be chased around by his very frustrated and outraged sister. It was like watching a couple of children argue over who had stolen the last cookie, despite the severity of the actual conversation.
He slowly leaned over to whisper to the soaked hero. “Do you think it would make things better or worse if we stepped in?”
Link shrugged, lifting a hand to fingerspell. It could go either way. This situation is pretty weird, even for our standards.
“You think?” he hummed, watching Sheik run back across the field, dodging the sandal his sister had thrown at his head and was still trying to hit him with. If they kept it up, he was sure there was going to be a flat path of grass where they were constantly sprinting through.
“Sooo.” he asked. “How weird does your life have to be for this to be considered weird?”
Pretty weird. I mean, I regularly hear the Goddess’ voice and speak to spirits of all kinds, so my standards are pretty high. Theirs is a bit lower in comparison.
Kohga slowly dragged his stare up to Link’s face, but the swordsman’s expression was completely serious. He decided it was better for his sanity to not question whatever the hell was going on with the hero, and turned back to face the sibling pair.
Zelda had caught up to Sheik, and was holding him by the shoulders and shaking him violently. He decided to step in, if only to get away from the absolute insanity that was the world shattering information Link just casually drops in conversations apparently.
He cleared his throat, flinching when the princess whipped around to stare at him. “Ah, princess! Hello! Master Kohga, pleased to meet you! Uh....”
Well, this was harder than he thought. He hadn’t realized Princess Zelda had such a soul piercing stare, it was like she had practiced it. He wondered if Sheik had taught her that, or if it was genetic. He continued, yanking his thoughts back into order.
“You’ve probably heard of me. So I’ll get straight to the point. I don’t like the Royal Family.” he started, ignoring the sudden bewildered and perhaps mildly fearful expression she suddenly had. “However. I love Sheik. And while you are technically part of the Royal Family, you are his sister, so I’m not just going to up and attack you. I don’t expect to be forgiven for what I and my people have done.”
“But. I am willing to overlook,” he gestured, trying to find the right word. Sheik’s encouraging nod was a comfort to have. “All that. I won’t ask to be reintegrated into society or whatever. What do you say to us leaving you alone so long as we are left alone? And we go from there?”
Zelda stared, blinking slowly. He knew she didn’t expect it, because he himself barely expected it. He doubted his clan would ever truly be accepted, but he really didn’t feel like worshipping the guy who threw his favorite blonde into the abyss. And after the battle at the fort, he doubted his people wanted that either.
Most of all, he didn’t want Sheik to be forced to choose. The Sheikah Tribe had been forced to choose, and that had resulted in the Yiga Clan existing.
Zelda held the bridge of her nose, breathing slowly. At least she was considering it? He wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad sign. Then she clasped her hands as though she were praying. “You did save my brother’s life. I can’t ignore that. I can’t pardon you or your clan for your crimes, but…. If Sheik is willing, we can start to bridge the gap.”
“Of course I am willing, what in Hylia’s name gave you the impression I was not?” the man in question frowned at her, just the smallest change in his expression really, but it was enough for Kohga to know the man was more than a little displeased.
“However, Master Kohga.” she warned, completely ignoring her brother. “If you ever hurt him, there will be consequences. Do we have an agreement?”
“Yes, princess.”
She nodded. “Alright. I suppose we should head to the nearest town then. Where...?”
Kohga pointed. “I came from that way, uh, the fort in front of the castle? Yeah, some things went down. Which reminds me, I should seriously go back. I left all my lackeys there.”
Link had stepped up sometime during the conversation, tapping the princess’ shoulder to get her attention. We should head there. Purah and the Sages might be waiting, he signed.
“I suppose our destination is Lookout Landing then! Come on! I want to see everyone!” Zelda said, taking Link’s hand and pulling him along.
Kohga and Sheik fell in step with the princess and her chosen knight, a few paces behind to give them privacy. It was easy for Sheik to lightly take the Yiga by the elbow, like he had done a thousand times before. It felt like a lifetime ago the last time it had happened.
They walked in silence for a while, the only conversation being that between Link and Zelda up ahead, only one voice drifting along the wind back to them. The breeze rustled the leaves in the trees, the grass swaying gently.
At some point, Sheik tapped his fingers against the crook of the taller man’s arm. “You are quite the negotiator.”
He shrugged, reaching to lace their fingers together. “You learn a few things when running an entire clan. It’s no biggie.”
Sheik gave an understanding hum. “Indeed. Do I still have to sneak into your hideout to bring you food and tea? Or am I allowed to simply walk in unannounced now?”
“I kinda liked having you sneak in. Yeah, gave me a heart attack every time, but still. But you can just use the front door now I guess.” he said.
The blonde at his side nodded, falling silent. His quiet presence felt right, Kohga would never take it for granted again.
“Perhaps, if you so desire.” he began, drawing the Yiga clan member’s attention. “You may visit me at my home in Kakariko. It is the house upon the hill, where the old Sheikah Shrine used to be.”
“Really? I’m allowed to do that?”
“Of course. Unfortunately, I cannot take you there currently. I have lost my harp.” he said. They were close to the fort now, it was within sight. And because of the closeness, Sheik’s expressions had become less expressive for lack of a better term. More tightly controlled. Kohga had learned to see the signs of it, had learned to read the minute shifts that to him now seemed much more expressive than they ever had before.
Without missing a beat, he removed his own mask and passed it to Sheik, not commenting on it at all as he spoke. “About your harp. I saved it. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I thought it was best to return it to your village. Lady Paya has it, she promised she’d keep it safe until you got back.”
Sheik did not speak for a long time, staring between him and the mask he was given. It took a long moment, but he raised it up, holding it over the lower half of his face instead of wearing it correctly. It was kind of endearing, in a weird way.
“Will you come home with me to collect it then?” he asked.
Kohga nodded. “You don’t even have to ask, Sheik.”
The blonde lowered the borrowed mask just enough to offer the Yiga leader a smile, leaning up and pressing his forehead against his shoulder, the highest point he could reach while they walked. It was all Kohga needed to become his theatrical self again, launching into the tale of how he defended the fort. He didn’t need to look over to know Sheik was still smiling, even as the mask lifted back up to hide his mouth once more.
Kohga yelped, his foot sliding from a loose stone and meeting nothing but open air. This was it. This was how he died. Plummeting to his death from hundreds of thousands of feet in the air. What an awful way to go. At least it was dramatic?
A massive hand seized his arm, pulling him back from the edge. He whipped around, chest heaving with the sudden drop his heart tried to take. A concerned face met his vision, the red scales and way too sharp teeth that sparkled when he grinned unfortunately familiar to him now.
“Careful, little Hylian! Are you alright?” he asked, setting him upright and brushing nonexistent dust from his shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” he said. How could a fish so damn massive be more agile than him? It just didn’t make sense. The guy had tiny legs!
The helpful Zora nodded, giving him a small pat on the back (on a completely unrelated note, ow his back hurt) and they hurried to catch up.
Sheik had glanced back from his spot in the single file line, a brow raised. Kohga waved his concerns away, and the blonde gave a single nod before turning back to face the front.
They were so high in the sky, he couldn’t even really see the land below through the dense layer of clouds between them and the kingdom. The Princess Zelda was leading the line from the front, her chosen knight right behind her. Then went the Goron Fire Sage, Yunobo. Next were the Sages of Wind and Lightning, Tulin and the Gerudo Chief Riju.
And bringing up the rear was Sheik, Sage of Shadow, with Kohga and the Zora Sage of Water, Sidon dead last. There had been no particular order to their lineup, it was just how they happened to walk as they followed Link and Zelda.
They led everyone to an altar, the circular stone platform hanging over nothing. One wrong step and someone would plummet to their death. Kohga hung back, leaning lightly against a pillar to watch in silence as Link and the Sages arranged themselves before the Princess. A familiar harp, glittering and gold, was lifted and the strings plucked. A tune the Yiga leader had not yet heard before wove itself into the air.
He watched them pledge themselves to protecting the kingdom, to protecting the Royal Family, for ‘all time’ whatever that meant. He didn’t care too much. He’d been asked to come by Sheik, he could never have said no to him. The man so rarely asked for anything.
He almost chuckled when they stumbled over their words, the Sages laughing quietly amongst themselves for a moment before continuing on.
He watched the fabled Zonai Sage of Spirit, the one he hadn’t even been sure actually existed until now, fade away. Zelda’s hand stretched out to reach for her, even as the Sage left this world. It almost brought a tear to his eye.
And that tear very nearly fell when the princess looked to her brother for hope, only for him to shake his head. It hadn’t been an illusion. The woman was well and truly gone.
Living up to his new title as the Sage of Shadow, Sheik slipped away before the others had the thought to. Instead of leaving entirely however, he slid next to Kohga, tucking himself into the bigger man’s side as though he belonged there. His harp was safely holstered in shadows, and he rested his head on Kohga’s shoulder.
They stood there together, Kohga’s arm around his narrow shoulders to keep him warm.
“What next, oh wise Sage?” he asked quietly.
Sheik hummed, running his fingers over the seam in the clan leader’s gloves. He thought for a long while, long enough that the other Sages started to head back the way they came, Link and Zelda leading the way. He waited just a bit longer to follow, just enough they wouldn’t hear their conversation. And Kohga waited with him.
“I suppose we go back to our normal lives as best we can. So.... how does steamed fruit and tea sound? The rebuilding efforts don’t resume until the day after tomorrow.” he said.
“Now you’re speaking my language, blondie!” he laughed. Sheik’s own laugh was much quieter, but no less genuine. Kohga released him reluctantly, moving his mask to press their foreheads together. “But what happens after that? You’re feeding me, we’re staying in each other’s homes, next thing I know you’re gonna be talking about marriage and having kids!”
Sheik hummed in consideration, a mischievous grin curving his lips, and he turned on his heel to walk away. “Now there is a thought. Perhaps.”
“Wait, hold on—” he did a double take at that, sputtering and stumbling over his words. Sheik only walked away faster, his harp in hand and playing a cheerful little tune.
“Sheik! Were you serious about the marriage and kids thing!? Don’t leave me hanging here! Sheik, I wanna talk about that! Wait up!”
Master Kohga, leader of the Yiga Clan, was left chasing after a laugh that was lighter than air and more beautiful than any song in the world.
And Sheik, twirling and smiling and happy, let himself be caught.