#( I got a lot carried away whoopse )

[guideoftime]

▴ — @sapientiiae ;; Sheik & Zelda. "maybe it's not okay right now. maybe it won't be for a while. whichever it is, i won't leave you." when it gets hard || sentence starters.

   “We can set a trap? The important parts will be getting the Townsfolk out of the way, right?” 

   They’re whispering, the soldiers never whisper, they gossip like hens that have nothing better to do with their lives. They would have had better luck avoiding the Sheikah’s attention if they had just spoken loudly and proudly, rather than acting like they were trying to keep a secret. Sheik hummed and slipped over toward them, tapping one on the back and watching the light fade from his eyes as he jumped and paled at spotting Sheik. “What are you talking about?” 

   The man behind the one who just lost his soul spoke. “Nothing, Your Majesty, we have it under control.” 

   And Sheik recoiled like they had just stabbed him at the title. No one has thrown that at him yet, like they were afraid of sticking the title on someone like him, and he fully agreed. He would rather continue to be called the Sheikah or even his name than that. The wildly spirling emotions were carefully tucked aside as he spoke. “Explain. Now.” Give him something else to focus on. 

   Apparently, one of the patrolling guards had spotted a few strange looking monsters making their way toward Castle Town. The creatures were strange in that they vanished when the guards got too close, as if they couldn’t see them with their own eyes if the creatures didn’t want to be. So, the plan was to try and trap them when they reached Castle Town. It wasn’t a bad idea though he disliked the idea of putting the citizens in danger. Zelda would probably agree with him, but if done right no one has to get hurt. Telling them will cause a panic too, which adds another layer of problems. 

   Sheik’s half tempted to just go hunt the monsters down himself and see if they can hide to his eyes, but he doesn’t want to leave things unprotected. Not to mention Zelda would be angry if he ran off on his own and got hurt. 

   “We have to avoid causing mass panic. How many people know right now?” 

   There was a very small, select number of guards gathered who could keep a secret and would. Sheik had the Lieutenant gather them since he knew his soldiers best and then they gathered in the King’s old office to try and formulate a plan. To lay a trap, they needed to lure the monsters into Castle Town and then the trap itself. Which meant, picking a time of day easy to blend in with and when people would be gathered in the town center rather than scattered around difficult to protect. They pick noon, the busiest time of day for the shopping center. 

   Sheik makes them swear to not tell Zelda. He really should have just told her. 

   They build a large animal like trap, and Sheik layers it in Sheikah Seals. When they creatures walked beneath it, the soldiers would drop the cage on them and the Sheikah Seals would keep them from being able to escape. It was a simple plan, the hard part would be getting them all in one place. That’s where Sheik and the other soldiers who would be fighting came in. And if they somehow vanished from sight? Sheik had the Lens of Truth. Even if his eyes fail to see through their magic, the Lens of Truth will banish it. That’s the gift it has. Overall, he was fairly confident in the plan. Mitigating the amount of damage that would be caused was all they were going to try and do, rather than aiming to kill the monsters and possibly harming people who got in the way of the fight. 

   The first hiccup of the plan came when Sheik realized he would have to be in Castle Town. It just didn’t hit him during the planning stage, no, it hit him when he was trying to help them set up said plan. Sheik had carried the talismans out of the gate and the moment he was actually standing in the Town Center, he nearly turned around and fled. One of the soldiers caught his arm and gave him a brief, worried look, before tugging him toward the house they’d be using the roof of as the place to deploy the trap. 

   It feels like they’re babysitting him with how much they watch him. It’s degrading and he hates it. Not to mention they keep calling him with that title and Sheik, stressed now, wanted to choke someone. Unfortunately, with Noon quickly approaching, he had no time to deal with this. Not his trauma over this Town or the Title they’ve plastered on him. He tries to focus on setting the trap and being on the roof helped a bit, as long as he didn’t focus on their faces. 

   The plan was set, prepared and then when Noon finally struck, they waited. 

   And they didn’t have to wait long.

   Sheik can see the monsters, and apparently his newly acquired soldier friends can't. Interesting, so they were using illusion magic then. To make the Lens of Truth work though, he had to get down there and get close. The soldiers don’t like this plan, and Sheik brushes off their worry and shouts as he jumps down from the roof. This was where the bad idea of the lack of telling Zelda the plan came into play. 

   Castle Town is not a good place. They’re at the busiest hour of the day. There are monsters making their way quickly toward the people and her husband was about to have a panic attack the moment he realized what he just did. 

   Which was; jumping down, into a sea of people, with familiar faces and far too happy to see a man who murdered them. 

   They should have told Zelda the plan. They should have told her there was a problem at all because at least she knows how to use the Lens of Truth and could have done that while they still worked the plan from the roof. He doesn’t want her in danger, but there were about to be a lot of people in danger if he can’t breathe and do what he’s supposed to do. 

   Someone asks if he’s alright, Sheik feels like he’s swallowed his tongue. His heart has plummeted into his chest and as he looks away from them–his gaze lands on the happy couple, their newborn baby, a woman whose throat he had slit slowly while her husband screamed and begged for her life–one of the soldiers had shouted his name, there’s a monster whose hand was wrapped around the throat of some man and Sheik is spirling so rapidly out of control. 

   There’s hands grabbing at his face, Sheik almost yanks away until his gaze is directed forcefully down into the bright blue gaze of the Queen and her panicked, worried look. She’s saying something, her lips are moving but Sheik’s ears are ringing and when she realizes she can’t reach him right now she starts to search him. Obviously she finds what she’s looking for, prying the Lens of Truth from his fingers and turning to face the panicking citizens who are hurt. 

   The plan when run by the Queen goes a lot smoother. She takes control, she unveils their illusions with the Lens of Truth, and then the cage is dropped on her order–and it ends. It ends that quickly because she had just known what to do. She didn’t panic, she had managed so very easily. 

   Sheik flees. It’s a very cowardly reaction, he’s aware, but escaping is the easiest solution he has. After making a mockery of himself practically. Even in the face of real danger he hadn’t been able to just shove that fear down for a few minutes to save the people that he had so greatly wronged before. The Castle was too obvious of a place to run off to and hide, and Sheik didn’t want to see the faces of the soldiers again, so he ended up hiding in an alley, tucked away down some dark corner of Castle Town that was deserted. Knees drawn to his chest and forehead resting on top of them, he just breathed and tried to calm his mind. 

   It isn’t any surprise that after just a short while, she manages to find him. She’s known him since he was a child, twice over, even if they weren’t married she’s far too used to him and his habits. He feels her fingers brush against the top of his head, the simple touch of offered comfort. The gentle words of “it’s okay” and it’s not. What part of this is okay? If she hadn’t shown up, how many of them would have had to die before he could have pulled himself from that panic? 

   This was why he had tried to tell her, the person she needed on that throne, was not the person he is. 

   She shouldn’t have to do so much of this alone.

   It’s not okay. 

   And she can so easily read him. "maybe it's not okay right now. maybe it won't be for a while. whichever it is, i won't leave you."

   He knows that. So fiercely does he know that. She’s proven it over and over again. She fought to prove that. To both him and everyone else. But, when she sees what she did back there, how can it not place some form of doubt in her heart? Sheik, in his panic, would have just stood there and watched as those things started eating the people around them. She should be upset, maybe even angry, not standing there and trying to offer him comfort. It almost feels like if she was disappointed, he would have managed to swallow that better. 

   But this calm comfort, it digs at his heart and it makes him feel worse for not being able to be what she needs. They threw that title at him so much today, and he had wanted to help, he wanted to do the right thing. What he knows he should have been able to do. Yet, she still had to go out there, she still had to fix things and save him–and it shouldn’t have gone like that. He should have been strong enough to do it on his own. 

   She’s always fixing the things he breaks. 

   Including himself. 

   “I’m sorry.”