Hey everyone and welcome to my newest Legend of Zelda fic :D There are a few things I want to say before you get started...

First of all, this story is set in Twilight Princess Hyrule with TP Link and Zelda, but this is the Sheik is from OoT. How does that work? Well, that's why you're reading isn't it? But that brings me to my second thing: Sheik, in this story, is a boy and his own person - not Zelda in disguise - and there will be themes of yaoi/shounen-ai/slash - whatever you want to call it... you've been warned... or maybe you're just all the more excited to get reading... I know I would be ^^

Now, without further ado...

The Disclaimer! I do not own Legend of Zelda. If I did, Sheik would definitely be in more games.

Okay, for real this time... Enjoy :) and leave a review? please?

Chapter 1

Remains of the Shadow

The moon rose steadily in the sky over the sleeping land of Hyrule. Link watched as the silver light flowed over the rooftops of town below from his perch on the Castle wall. There were few guards out tonight; the need for constant guard had passed with the Twilight, with Ganondorf's horrific death…

Link shuddered at the memory as the image of the Master Sword piercing the Evil King's body and sending him into oblivion floated though his mind. He pushed himself to his feet and turned back towards the Castle; its white spires stretched up high into the starry sky, lording peacefully over the town below. They had been at peace for over a year now and the nation was nearly back to its original grandeur. All traces of the Twilight were gone. Ganondorf was dead, his body locked away by the Light Spirits. But Link couldn't help but wonder…

Will it last forever?

A light flickered on high in one of the Castle's many towers and Link took that as his cue to move. He sidled lithely to the edge of the wall and jumped down without hesitation, rolling as he hit the grass to cushion the impact. Link couldn't help but find the landing oddly silent. He had become so used to the chink of weapons following his every movement that even a year later he still found the sound ringing in his ears. But the Master Sword and Hero's Shield were tucked safely away in his room, gathering dust from disuse.

With a stretch and a sigh Link made his way across the Castle Courtyard and slipped inside the huge doors, on his way to the lit room.

xXx

"I knew I'd find you here," said Link as he entered the room.

"Link," said Zelda turning from the vanity mirror she was sitting before, fingers working to free her long brown hair from its complex braid, "This is my room."

"Really? I would have never guessed," said Link with a grin, "The guards outside the door definitely don't give that away. Oh and there's the fact that your name is written on the door…" Link ducked as Zelda chucked a pillow at him. It hit the white-painted wall behind him and slid to the floor. Link picked it up before walking over and slumping onto Zelda's huge bed.

"But I'm serious," added Link, "When are you ever in here? I live in your room more than you do."

"You know I have meetings," said Zelda turning back to mirror, brush in hand, ready to tackle her knotted hair.

"You always have meetings," whined Link.

"I'm the Princess," replied Zelda, "You know, you're welcome to come to them too. You are the Hero, after all."

"Heroes save the world, not go to meetings," said Link. Zelda watched in the mirror as Link leaned forward, elbows on his knees and head in his hands. His dirty blonde bangs fell into his eyes. She couldn't help but think he looked rather like a pouting child.

"Sounds like somebody has cabin fever, eh?" said Zelda, turning back towards him with a grin. It had been like this since the day Link had moved into the Castle after he finished his quest to save Hyrule. He had a hard time sitting still.

Link blew his blonde locks out of his face and looked up at her with blue eyes. "Is it that obvious?"

She laughed. "Link, it's always been obvious," said Zelda, peeling off her long white gloves before adding with a sigh, "I know what you mean though."

"Do you?" asked Link, sitting up and raising an eyebrow.

She threw a glove at him this time, but he, yet again, dodged it with ease and it fell harmlessly at the head of her bed. "Yes, I do," she answered curtly, meeting his gaze with steady blue eyes of her own. "I was a diplomat before all this happened. Now I'm a figurehead."

"Is there a difference?" asked Link, eyebrow still raised, before ducking instinctively as Zelda grabbed for something else to throw at him. She grimaced at his preemptive response. Link had become something similar to a brother to Zelda since the Twilight lifted and she wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that he could guess her actions before she made a move.

"People look to me to set an example of how to act. I can't go around doing anything stupid."

"Zelda, I don't think you ever do anything stupid," said Link, throwing up a protective arm as Zelda lifted her brush and adding, "Hey, that was a compliment!"

Zelda sighed and set the brush back down on the vanity desk. "I know," she said, "It's just frustrating sitting here, having no idea how the outside world is faring other than what my ambassadors tell me."

"Yeah," said Link, a little listlessly, "I wonder how they are doing…"

"Mm," agreed Zelda. She knew exactly what Link was talking about, even from his vague description. A little over a year ago, right after Ganondorf's death, Midna had returned to the Twilight Realm. But not before ensuring that the bridge between the worlds would never be crossed again. "I'm sure she's doing fine, Link."

"I know," he said with a sigh, "I just wish we could know for - "

He cut off, blue eyes locked on something just behind her shoulder. "Link?" asked Zelda slowly. He stood, eyes still transfixed, and gripped her shoulders, spinning her in her chair, towards the mirror. Zelda gasped at what she saw.

Her mirror had gone dark, like a black pool of unlit water, rippling slightly as if disturbed by the drop of a stone. A moment later the darkness had settled, leaving a smooth black slate. But it didn't stay smooth for long. Words started appearing, letter by letter, as if etched in flame. They glowed orange like the embers of a dying fire, burning brightly in Zelda's eyes.

He's back. Ganondorf is back and he is going to kill us all. Please, Zelda, Link, I need your help. Please come save us. I can't save them alone. Please…

Midna

Zelda felt Link's hand stiffen on her shoulder as her own jaw dropped. Neither moved until the fire-etched words had faded and the mirror had turned light. Zelda was the first to recover, "Well I guess that answers that question."

"But the mirror…" Zelda heard Link choke out. She turned towards him to see that he was crying, tears sliding down his cheeks and onto the floor. "It's broken…"

Zelda stood and wrapped her arms around Link in a comforting hug, saying nothing and racking her brain. There must be something… something she learned in all those years of lessons, learning to use the ancient magic of the royal family…

Zelda gasped breaking out of the hug as she remembered. An inkling of a legend passed down through the royal family for ages drifted through her mind. The Remains, thought Zelda, the Remains of the Shadow.

She snapped out of her reverie and looked up at Link, who was eyeing her through shining eyes with a confused expression. "Zelda…?" he began to ask, but she cut him off.

"Link," she said quickly, "How soon can you be ready to leave?"

xXx

Link, albeit confused, jumped immediately at the idea. Despite the fact that Zelda barely explained what her idea was. She had told him to gather his weapons, prepare their horses, get together three travelling packs, and meet her in the dungeons. It would be easier to show, rather than tell, exactly what her plan entailed.

Especially since she herself barely knew at the moment.

All Zelda knew was that there was a legend. A legend passed down from a hundred years ago, from the last time Hyrule was in turmoil. But that's all it was, a legend, at least to the common people. There was no evidence of any sort of power struggle from one hundred years ago. Somehow, all remnants of destruction had been erased by time, as if none of the horrific events in the tale even took place. Even Zelda did not quite understand how.

But Zelda was the Princess, soon to be Queen of Hyrule, and as such, she had a slightly higher knowledge of the last war's remnants than most people. The knowledge of an object, given to the time's princess by the Goddesses, to be hidden away until the time came that it was, once again, needed.

Zelda knew in her heart that this was that time.

After Link had left to prepare for their imminent departure, Zelda had quickly changed out of her signature dress. There would be no need for elegance on the journey they were about to begin. She dug through her wardrobe until she found a pair of breeches and long-sleeved white shirt, with a brown-leather vest to lace up over top. She pulled on a pair of worn riding boots from the days where she actually was allowed to travel and pulled her long hair back into a thick braid. Her bejeweled tiara lay abandoned on the vanity desk.

Grabbing a long brown riding cloak from her wardrobe, Zelda made her way out of her room, closing the door behind her.

xXx

It was late enough that Zelda didn't run into many people as she made her way down through the layers of the Castle. And for the people she did meet, it didn't really make much of a difference. She was the Princess after all. However, if they knew what she was actually up to… they may not have been so quick to let her pass.

She hadn't been down in the dungeon in ages. Not since she was a little kid, exploring the Castle while her parents ruled the land. But now she was in charge and princesses apparently did not have time for such things. She hadn't even been down here since her mother told her the story, the legend that hopefully contained the key to save Midna and the Twilight Realm.

The dungeon wasn't much of a dungeon, at least not the part Zelda was in. There were no cells or torture chambers. It was just a long and thin, torch lit corridor, with a myriad of doors leading to unused rooms. The air felt heavy and stale and its dampness seemed to cling to Zelda's pale skin as she made her way to the end of the hall.

There was no door at the far end, just a rough stone wall with shadowy features that could not be seen out of the dim perimeters of light cast by the torches lining the walls. Fortunately, Zelda knew what she was looking for and knew what was here. And more importantly, how to access it.

Zelda gripped her right wrist in her left and lifted her hands so that the back of her right hand – the one bearing the mark of the Triforce – was facing the stone wall before her. She closed her eyes and concentrated, thinking of what lie beyond the wall, what only those with the mark of the Triforce and the knowledge of what was there could access.

Moments later her eyes snapped open to see the wall glowing, a bright, golden outline of a Triforce illuminated through some ancient magic before the wall melted away, leaving a passageway into another room. The room that Zelda needed to get to.

Zelda let her hands fall to her sides, chest rising and falling heavily with the exertion of using her own magic to open the door. But she couldn't let herself get too tired out by this; her next task would require much, much more. She stole silently along the passageway until she came out in a huge, lit chamber. Torches flickered on the rounded walls and Zelda assumed they must have been lit with some sort of magic that kept them alive for eternity.

The thought wasn't at all surprising considering the task she was about to take on.

In the center of the room stood a stone table, just long enough for a medium sized person to stretch out to their full-length upon. On the table stood a small box carved of stone, a leather pack, and sheathed sword. Matching gleaming red rubies were set into the lid of the box and the hilt of the sword. Zelda walked purposefully over to the table and lifted the sword and the pack carefully, examining them for a moment before setting them lightly on the stone floor beneath the table, before turning to the box.

"The Remains of the Shadow," whispered Zelda, reverently as she carefully took the stone in her hands. She knew what was going to happen once she let her magic flow into it. Once she called for the Goddesses to fulfill their promise of one hundred years ago. But that didn't mean she was not scared.

Zelda was about to take part in a resurrection. The resurrection of a shadow warrior that had died before his time in the line of duty in the war all those years ago. The Princess's most loyal servant until the very end. He had been the last of his kind, and he still would be. But his kind had a connection to the race of the Twili and the Twilight Realm. Enough of a connection that this shadow warrior should be able to feel the presence of the Mirror of Twilight, be able to find its shards scattered out in the world.

He had given his life to save the princess of the time and now Zelda, the current princess, would give him life again. This time to save the princess of another world. But maybe this time he could live out the life he had lost a hundred years ago. Once all was said and done.

But now was not the time to think about that. Zelda could practically hear Midna's cries for help in her ears, as if the Twiliter had spoken them herself. It was time to do the impossible. It was time to raise the dead.

xXx

When Link reached the dungeon he noticed almost immediately that something was off. He had only been down there once before, but he remembered its mundaneness well; the rough stone walls and featureless doors all cloaked in a heavy, damp, darkness.

The difference this time was the light. At the end of the hall there was an opening that had not been there last time, one overflowing with golden, ethereal light. Light that spilled into the hall like molten gold, pulsating slightly as if it had a life of its own.

For some reason, Link wouldn't have been surprised if it did.

And Link had no qualms at all about walking into that golden light. After spending so much time in the darkness, Link couldn't bring himself to be afraid of much. Especially the light.

Link walked forward, each step in his leather boots echoing off the close walls, towards the passageway. The light was blindingly bright and Link had to throw up an arm to shield his eyes. He had made it into the chamber but could see nothing; the golden light had engulfed his vision.

And then it was gone. Retreating back towards the center of the room until only the torches lining the wall illuminated his surroundings and the golden light was contained, floating in an oblong and pulsating shape floating above a stone table set in the center of the room.

Link could see Zelda now, her eyes were closed and her arms outstretched. Beads of sweat glistened at her hairline and dripped down the sides of her face. Link approached the center table slowly, not wanting to disturb Zelda and whatever magic she was controlling.

And then, suddenly, she went limp. Link rushed forward, catching the princess's light frame in his arms before she fell to the floor. She let out a soft groan before opening her blue eyes.

"Did it work?" she asked faintly, blinking as Link helped her regain her balance. They both looked to the table to see that the glowing mass had settled on the table. It still gave off an ethereal glow, but fainter now. Its shape seemed to have solidified, as well, into one of a human.

Link stared, mouth agape. "So this was your plan?" he said, voice quiet in shock and awe, "To create a person?" Link wasn't sure what he had been expecting. The Twilight Mirror, maybe. Or a weapon of some sort. A tool to help them get back to the Twilight. But a person? Definitely not.

"I didn't create him," said Zelda, eyes now fixated on the forming body before them. Link noticed that she sounded slightly awestruck as well.

"So he just appeared there…?" questioned Link, confused.

Zelda shook her head, but didn't look away. "I didn't create him, I brought him back to life," said Zelda, "He lived originally over a hundred years ago, but died serving the Princess. The Goddesses decided to give him a second chance to live by sealing his soul away until he could be resurrected."

Link stared down at the body forming on the table. The light had fled, leaving soft, pale skin in its place. The boy, who looked to only be a year or two younger than himself, was very thin and small-statured, but Link could see corded muscles hardening the would-be soft curves of his body and knew that he must have been dangerous in his previous life.

Link's eyes drifted downward, but quickly stopped when he realized that the boy was nude. Link blushed as he averted his eyes. He heard Zelda laugh softly as she threw her riding cloak over his bare body and he moved his eyes up to the boy's face. His delicate features were far from peaceful, as the boy looked like he deep in a very fitful sleep. His eyes darted back and forth beneath their lids and his lips were curved down into a definitive frown. Sweat beaded at his hairline and his light blonde locks were splayed wildly around his head, with bangs parting around his face. Pointed ears stuck out through the golden mess.

"And you thought now would be the best time to bring him back?" asked Link, raising an eyebrow and looking at Zelda. He just looked so innocent. It seemed unfair to bring him back into a time that was no longer as peaceful as they had once thought it was.

She looked up at him before answering in a defiant tone, "I brought him back because he can help us. His name is Sheik, last of the Sheikah. The Shadow Folk of Hyrule."

"The Shadow Folk…" repeated Link as comprehension dawned on him, his mind drawing parallels between the boy's race and the Twiliters.

He didn't need to finish his sentence as Zelda said, "Exactly."

Link was about to ask more. Questions flooded into his mind like water through a broken dam, but a voice cut through his thoughts, effectively silencing them.

"Zelda…? Link…?"

The Sheikah had spoken.