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Sheik stormed off to his chambers from the dining room, practically fuming. He slammed the door shut when he entered, something he knew his father hated, but would be too busy recovering from the argument to really notice. When he was safe inside his chambers and the room was strangely silent, he crumbled. Falling to the floor, the hot tears rolled down his cheeks.
Ever since he told his father he was a boy, their relationship had been more strained than usual. Fights were pretty regular but this one was very heated. The king wanted him to wear a dress for the meeting the next day. Sheik obviously refused. He hated how his father still wanted him to play the role of “Zelda” instead of just accepting him as Sheik. It constantly made him angry and upset, but was usually forced to keep the emotions in to keep up appearances. But this time, he finally exploded.
The room’s silence was filled with the sound of Sheik’s soft sobs. As he cried quietly, overwhelmed and upset from the fight, he noticed his headspace starting to slip and himself starting to regress. Normally, he’d try to hold off a little longer but this time, he didn’t fight it. He knew it would help him recuperate and cope. So he took a deep breath and let himself start to regress. The big mindset he was in a few moments ago was gone and the mind of a 4 year old took over.
As he fell into this smaller headspace, he suddenly yearned for his mother. She had died when he was young so he knew he couldn’t see her. But that didn’t stop him from missing her even more. The crave for comfort from someone who was no longer on this plane made the tears fall down faster, a small wail escaping his throat.
Luckily, he was quickly able to find a solution. He sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve, standing up and stumbling over to his closet. Inside, he rummaged through his stuff until he found a small satchel. He opened it and checked the contents. There was a small teddy bear stuffed animal from his childhood, a baby blanket, a couple of children’s books, paper for drawing and a little wooden rattle for his smaller days. Once he checked everything, he put it over his shoulder and walked out of his chambers.
Still sniffling with a couple tears leaking out of his eyes, he walked over to Urbosa’s guest chambers. He reminded himself that it was okay to get comfort from her and that he was not a failure. He lifted up his fist and used his knuckles to lightly knock on the door. Urbosa opened the door and upon seeing him and his disheveled state, got worried.
“Sheik? You okay, kid?” She asked. He shook his head, lip quivering before crashing into her abdomen, grasping onto the back of her shirt with his fists. He sobbed, his cries being muffled by her stomach.
“Shhh, it’s okay,” She rubbed his back and led him inside, closing the door behind him. She lifted him up so that his head rested on her shoulder. She continued to rub his back gently and whisper soft words of reassurance into his ear.
After a couple minutes of being held, Sheik started to calm down. The tears were coming to an end and all that was left was the occasional sniffle and whimper. He still was very clingy though and whined when she set him down on the bed.
“What happened, Kid?” Urbosa asked.
“Papa mean… said I had to wear a dwess… M a boy though!” Sheik told her.
“Yes you are. Your father just doesn’t understand it yet. I’ll see what I can do about it though. In the meantime, do you mind telling me how old you’re feeling?” Urbosa asked, immediately sensing the regression episode. She had always been the kid’s caregiver ever since she found out about his regression when he was an early teen. Because she was his caregiver, she was basically trained to sense when he was small or big.
“M’ four!” He said, showing her 4 fingers on his hand. Urbosa thought it was absolutely adorable.
“Good job, sweetie!” Urbosa praised before suddenly noticing his bag, “What have you got there?”
Sheik beamed and opened up the satchel, excited to show her the stuff that he had packed. He took out his teddy bear first and showed her. It was old and tattered, just like the small blanket he clutched. Urbosa immediately recognized the teddy bear as his first stuffed animal.
“This is teddy! And- an’ these are some books I found in the li-beary!” He put the stuffed animal down and took out the books, still clutching onto the blanket. They were a couple from his childhood, very clearly old. It was a miracle they haven’t gotten rid of them yet.
As she looked through the books, trying to find one to read to him, Sheik pulled out another book but this one was clearly meant for older kids. It was a robotics and engineering textbook. He showed it to her and asked if she could read it to him.
“This seems a little too big for you. How about we read this instead?” Urbosa picked up a different book. It was much thinner and had a fun, illustrated cover.
“Hmm…Okay!” Sheik smiled and curled up in her arms. Although he was the average size of an afab 16 year old, it still felt like Urbosa was holding a tiny child.
The book she had picked out was about a knight who had a quest to kill a dragon. However, instead of slaying the beast, the knight chose to become friends with it once they realized it wasn’t causing any harm. It wasn’t a lengthy book by any means but it was a bit longer than the regular children’s picture book.
Sheik seemed to be enjoying it at first, but towards the end, he looked sad and tears filled his eyes. Urbosa closed the book, and gently cupped his cheek.
“What’s wrong, my little bird?” She asked. Sheik sniffled and wiped his eyes.
“Th-the knight didn’t compwete their quest though…They couldn’t do it…won’t they feel wike a failure?” Sheik asked. The story reminded him a little too much of his life and how he still wasn’t able to unlock and control his powers. He hated being a failure to everyone. Hyrule was counting on him to save it and he was just a disappointment.
“They might, but they have friends who love them no matter what and don’t care if they fail or not,” Urbosa assured him before kissing his forehead. Although Sheik still felt a bit uncertain, he decided to trust Urbosa on this and snuggled deeper into her arms as she pulled out another book. Unconsciously, his thumb slowly started moving to his mouth as he got more engrossed into the story.
Sheik’s mood greatly improved during his regression episode. As long as nothing really triggered him, he was finally able to relax. Something that he hadn’t had time to do in a long time.