A/N - Just fyi, in case you didn't get it, this is a slash fic. Which means Sheik is his own person and is in fact a man. So if that's not your cup of tea, then don't drink it. T for a few naughty words.

Disclaimer : I do not own Zelda, or any of it's characters.

Chapter One - At The World's End

To him, I was nothing, less than nothing. To him, I no longer even existed. I was a phamtom in his mind after the final battle. I no longer had my duty to follow, to help, to guide. The Princess had seen to that rather quickly. She didn't realize though what she was truely doing.

To either of us.

She freed me from my oaths and told me I was my own and could do what I whated, go where I wanted. She had frown when I told her I would stay and be her guard from that shadows, as I had been for years before. Shaking her head, she told me that it would not be allowed for me to do such. Impa was her guard from the start, and now that the evil was sealed away, and she was to regain her place as Princess, Impa would be her guard once more. She apologized, then smiled, telling me again my life was now my own. My duty to the royal family was fulfilled.

She didn't understand that when she released me, she damned me. I had spent seven years of my life waiting and training to guide the Hero on his quest to defeated the dark one. Those seven years I had guarded her as well. She was who I had to obey, who I was sworn to. But being sworn to and devoted to are different things entirelly. When I saw the Hero for the first time, I had competely devoted myself to him.

I stayed with him even when he did not know. I followed him on his travels. When he slept in the open I guarded him. When he went into the temples, I followed him to ensure that he was not seriously injured throughout it. He had nearly caught me a few times. I watched him fight and struggle with this burden left to him. I watched him sit in silence. I watched him dream.

Over time, the child in him slowly started to disappear. More and more I watched his eyes, his emotions, his soul, harden from warfare and death and misery. I had an aching in my own soul as I watched him in those days. I wanted to go to him, to hold him and tell him that everything would be okay in the end. That he would get through it and that I would be there for him as he did such. That I was already there, watching his every step. I wanted to, but I knew I couldn't. It was not allowed, neither by the Princess's rule or by my own.

Sheikah were not suppose to feel. We were to be shadows, in a world of shadows. We were silent and strong. We did not care. We did not love. We were to do our duty, from the day we understood it to the day that we drew our last breath.

Despite all my hard learned lessions, I found my self starting to do just that. Starting to feel, starting to care. And what I felt was killing me. I cared deeply for the Hero and I felt guiltly for leaving him by himself. I knew what it was doing to him, yet I knew I could do nothing.

And by doing such I was damning him.

I had known all along that she would trade places with me at the Temple of Time for the last battle. And the look on his face when she did so... It was only a year. Only one year in our lives, But I was the only constant in his ever changing world. I was the one comfort, even if it was only for breif periods of time. And in one second, she had taken all that away from him. Never had my leaving hurt him as much as this was.

I saw from the shadows. I saw the emotions flicker over his face.

Disbelief, anger, pain, betrayal, hurt. And it hurt me as well. I might as well have been stabbed him in the heart then and there. At least the agony would have been gone from his system then. And then when the battle was over, he approched the Princess. He asked her a question and she paused for a moment, then shook her head. He bowed his and turned, walking away dejectedly.

When he was far enough away, I dropped down beside her. She turned to me, her deep violet eyes filled with tears.

"He asked about you."

I had stared at her for a moment. And in that moment happiness and joy and hope sparked inside me. Perhaps now I would be allowed to make up for the times that I had left him on his own, to figure everything out. For the times when my duty had kept me as his guide instead of a friend.

And then as quickly as it had come, it was gone. I had never seen the Princess cry out of sadness before. Anger and frustration perhaps, but not sadness. And then I knew. I knew with heart-shattering sorrow that he had asked if I was real or if I was mearly a disguise. and I knew what her answer had been. I had never felt so betrayed. I felt cold and numbness sweep over me, taking hold in my bones.

I knew in that moment that he would never truely trust anyone ever again. Juat as I would never trust her again.

She had lied to him.

She had lied and told him I never existed. That I was her, disguised as a Sheikah. The sadness in her eyes grew.

"Sheik, I am sorry, but it's for the best, if he never knows. The less people who know anything about this the better. He needs to try to forge a new path, a new life. It would be better for him if he forgot about the one person who helped him, who has seen everything, all of his truths and all of his faults. It would be best if he never knows just how much you were. You where his guide, his protector. Where he went, so did you.

He will never be able to change and grow for the best if you are near. You truely were his shadow. And I thank you for everything you have done.

I wil never forget any of this Sheik. Without you, the Hero of Time would not have suceeded. I thank you with all of my heart."

And the she did something I never though she would do for anyone, for anything. She bowed to me, like I was important. Me, a shadow in a world of shadows. Me, with my life cracking and breaking all around me.

I touched her arm and she rose. Tears had fallen, trailing down her cheeks. Only when she reached out to touch my face did I realize that I too was crying silently.

Then I nodded to her, taking one last look at the Hero I would never again follow. In between the moment I held the deku nuts and when I threw them too the ground, he turned. And for a moment, his eyes meet mine.

I prayed that he would think he simply had turned expecting to see me and thought he had imagined me for a second, before realizing that it was the Princess standing there, alone.

When the light cleared I was at the Spirit Temple, deep in the heart of the desert. My knees gave out under my and I was thankful that there was no one around. Only the silent desert was witness to my breakdown. I sobbed and gasped for breath, and it seemed that I would never stop crying. It seemed that my heart would never stop hurting.

In that moment I saw the most devestating, most agonizing, most pain thing I had ever seen. I knew it would never leave my memory, not for all the days that I had left in my life. Over time, we had learned to trust and reliy on each other. We had grown close. And now that was gone. Broken. Shattered.

The Hero of Time, the great one who had save all of Hyrule, was crying.

He was crying for me.

And it was more than I could ever take. In that moment, those few breif seconds, my heart shattered completely.

He had been crying for me.

And now, I was crying for him.

For everything that I had done and everything that I had not done. For never showing him a true kindness, for never letting him see a small smile or hear a real laugh. For never truely being there for him. For hurting him.

For damning him.

I knew I had. In those final moments that I saw him, I knew that I had. He would never trust again. Never show his true self to anyone. Never. He would shut himself away little by little, until there was nothing but a shell. A shell of what was and what would never again be. And I was my fault. Entirely my fault. And just as he would. I would too, guilt and dispair eating at my soul until it killed me. But I diserved it. It was my fault.

I would have died for him at any given moment, but now, I have to live without him.

That's like saying the earth will have to learn how to live without the warmth of the sun, or the fish, without the water they swim in.

I didn't just damn him, I damned myself.

Without him, I am nothing.

Without him, I am lost.

Without him, I am cold.

Without him, I am dying.

I am broken.

Damned.

A/n - Please let me know what you think and if there's anything that I should fix. It's the first time I've ever posted anything and I'm a bit nervous. Hoped you liked it well enough. Love and Kisses -beautiful lies-