1
Shadow Link had found a guitar. Not entirely surprising, Link had seen his darker half do things far more maddening than plucking at strings on a bloody guitar. But still, seeing him perched on the window sill with a soft expression on his fiery red eyes…It sent shivers down the hero's back. The shadow shot him a glare, then his expression changed, turned almost disappointed.
"You're so simple minded" he said, and Link clutched the wooden tray in his hands, because he understood.
"Who did you kill to get that?"
"I bought it, you asshat"
Link rolled his eyes as he set the tray on the nearby table
"Am I supposed to believe that, when it's covered in blood?" he offered the Shadow a cup of tea. For a moment, his dark twin ignored him, looking outside at the forest surrounding their house. When Link looked outside, his jaw almost dropped. His eyes were fixed on the large spots of orange and yellow flowers sprouting among the trees.
"The death roads are already open?" he asked. Shadow huffed and took the cup from his hands. But Link didn't care about his halfhearted rudeness anymore.
"Of course, smart boy. It's already been seventeen days since the autumn solstice, what were you expecting?"
Link smiled in a way that made his eyes look darker.
"I wasn't paying attention" he said, shaking his head "What with helping on the reconstruction of the market, delivering Zelda's messages, and…you"
Shadow lifted an eyebrow
"Me?"
The hero put a hand on his shoulder and laughed. Shadow huffed, annoyed, and pushed the empty tea cup against Link, pushing him away.
"If you weren't such a coward, we could…"
"No sense grieving for those who come to visit"
2
Zelda twirled the quill on her hand, over and over again. She had written the letter five times already, and yet, she couldn't bring herself to sign it. For the first time, she felt very alone.
She dropped the quill and crumpled the paper. She still had Rauru and Ruto and Darunia; even if their loyalties were very conditioned, so she ought not to think much of losing contact with the sage of the forest, or with the increasingly cold relations with those traitorous gerudos. All of Hyrule was still hers, and she would fight to the end for it's well being, with or without support. Even when Impa had already left.
Why? Why did everybody turned on her? Right when she, when all of Hyrule, needed most to stay strong and united. Even Link had been especially distant. Oh, he still visited and was eager to help her. But his heart wasn't there anymore. She could see it when they sat on the garden and she asked, what did he do on that distant little house he had built himself? Why didn't he came to live in the castle, near the town, near her? And Link would give her that smile that didn't reached his eyes, only made them look darker. "I wouldn't want to bother you, Zelda" he would say, while he looked up at the sky. What idd he saw on the sky? Zelda wanted to ask, but her voice would die on her then, and she still didn't knew if she wanted to know the answer.
A dirty, crumpled paper lying on her desk caught her attention, and she clenched her fists. It was Impa's response when she had asked her to come for her crowning as queen. Two words had ended a lifetime bond. Or maybe just brought the separation to light. She wasn't sure.
"Forgive Him" shouted the words on the paper.
Had Impa only wanted her to forgive Sheik, she would have done so. But what she really wanted, the unspoken words hanging between them, were for Zelda to surrender. To give up the only light that had shone for her during the dark times of Ganondorf's reign.
No.
One by one her allies left, but as long as she had Link beside her, It would be alright.
As far as anybody knew, Sheik was dead. And dead he would stay.
3
"You were right! This is certainly useful!" said Shadow, pulling at the scarf around the hero's neck who laid beneath him.
Link should have known by then not to tease his dark self, but at the time, giving the Shadow the flowery scarf and keeping the plain dark blue one for himself didn't seemed like it would end in such bodily harm. He coughed and pushed Shadow away from him, but his twin was firmly seated on top of him.
"Can't! Breath!" he tried to shout, but had no more air left to speak
"Oh, but you look so pretty like this! Blue is definitely your color honey!"
Link finally managed to punch Shadow on the nose and push him away.
"Damned Bastard! If you broke it you're dead!" shouted the Shadow covering his bloody nose. As Link tried to get up, coughing and hacking, trying to recover his breath, a small part of him could only think that Zelda's scarf was ruined.
Shadow already knew it. They both heard that small voice deep inside them, the part of them that still couldn't believe the war had ended.
Link blinked, once, and found Shadow merely a breath away from him; looking straight at his eyes.
"Are you looking at yourself?" asked Link, painfully aware of the scent of his Shadow. It smelled like danger and lonely nights.
"I've always wanted to know, how the world looks like in blue" whispered Shadow, and kissed him.
It always ended like that. They would fight each other with all they had, and before either of them could realize it, their souls would merge.
"Stop it." Said Link, yet held harder at his shadow's shoulders "We still need to finish the preparations"
"What's the point, when the one we want never arrives?" The Shadow's cold hands entangled in his hair made the hero shiver. It felt…like being embraced by a waterfall. Cold and dangerous, yet so very beautiful. He wondered what the Shadow felt when their souls merged. He could ask him, or dig on the soul bond they shared. But he wasn't ready to know it. Instead, he thought of the orange flowers waiting at the table.
Would Sheik know the way? Would he see the road they made for him? Every year he wondered, and every year he had to think that Sheik had lost the way.
4
To Sheik, the air of Hyrule smelled like nostalgia colored danger.
As he entered Kakariko, his pulse raced, and yet he had to slow his steps. The village was different.
He didn't mean the new buildings or the expansions. He saw it in the faces of the people, in the way they smiled and greeted each other. Something was missing, something was wrong with the very soul of the village.
Under his concealing hood his face contorted in anger as the princess' words came back to him with the same strength as the day he had heard them.
"Hyrule will rise again"
But it hadn't. The Hyrule he knew had died. Zelda had killed it to build this new, soulless country.
He walked determinedly to the graveyard. He had to talk to Impa.
5
Link and Shadow finished tearing the flowers at dust, and sat in a sea of orange and yellow petals. Shadow squinted.
"I think I'm blind. How that damned Sheikah never sees this is beyond me"
Link blew away a petal on the tip of his nose.
"Impa said the Death Roads are tricky. I just hope he's alright"
"Yeah, but how does everyone but him always finds the way here? Hell, we even had Giants visiting us at Death Day! Where did you meet those guys?"
"I already told you, in Termina. Do you ever pay attention to what I say?" Link got up and headed for the kitchen to check on the food for his guests.
"No, and neither do you"
"I do pay attention to you!" Link turned to glare at him and found Shadow waving a neatly folded letter in front of him.
"The crowning! I'd completely forgotten!" he said, taking the invitation from the other's hands.
"See? Why should anybody care about what you say when you don't even listen to yourself?"
"Well, I wasn't planning to go. But Zelda's been…weird. Maybe I should at least be present at the ceremony"
"You wouldn't be back before the Death Roads close again"
Link looked down to the paper. He couldn't let Zelda down.
But he couldn't pass up the chance to see Sheik.
6
"About time for you to lay some blame" said Impa. Sheik stood on his knees at the center of the torches circle. He had to close his eyes to see Impa, and her voice echoed so close to his heart he was tempted to escape. It was almost unbearable to show her his heart like this, whether or not she was his mother.
"I didn't come back for that. Why has her magic weakened?"
"The shield around the realm always weaken as the Death Roads open"
"That's not what I meant" he felt her arms encircle him
"How can I make anybody forgive you, when you cannot forgive yourself?" sheik shivered as the fire around him flared.
"I didn't came here for that"
"But you came back for him"
"I just wanted…a last glance. I couldn't see him, last time." The flames dimmed. Outside, a thick mist covered the land. Sheik's heart quivered and he was suddenly angry, at the princess, at destiny, at him. "I did it for Hyrule…what? What has happened? Where has the magic gone?"
"As a new age dawns, magic falls behind. The people have no need for prophecies or spells now that new technology arises. We are the last remnants of the age of legends. After we are gone, when there is no one left to lay the golden paths for us anymore…we'll fade away."
"I won't allow that!"
"My son. Just because you love it, doesn't means the world needs our traditions anymore"
"I've seen this new era! It's a soulless, dark attempt at leaving behind something people don't even understand! Even now, there are no offerings on the graveyard, no altars in the houses. Your own temple is silent now!"
In his mind's eye, Sheik saw Impa shake her head , a pained expression on her face that burned painfully on his heart.
"I chased them away. People now fear the Shadow Temple"
"What? Why?"
"When I presented myself to them, after the war; they started treating me like a goddess. Bringing offerings and sacrifices. I don't need or want their mock up faith"
"But Zelda, why hasn't she done something? She's part of our era too! She can't just let magic fade away. She can't let you all be forgotten."
Impa sighed.
"Zelda does what is best for the country, to allow it to survive. Nobody likes it, but it must be done."
"But, what can I do now? Is there no hope for us now?"
"Hope? It's mere vanity to strive to defeat the most powerful death, to be forgotten. Stop fighting for a lost cause, and follow the road that has been laid for you."
7
Zelda threw the letter to the fireplace. It's words already imprinted forever in her mind.
"I'm sorry. I must stay to guard the golden paths"
How could he?!
How could he miss her crowning with the pathetic excuse to meet the dead?
She looked out a nearby window, at the orange and yellow flowers blooming everywhere. She couldn't understand why, after years of darkness and death, Link still invited the ghosts of darkness to his house. A house he had never invited her to.
"Why is there no altar for your ancestors, Your Highness?" said a voice like iced fire behind her.
"Sheik!" shouted Zelda, whirling around "What are you doing here?! How did you crossed the-?"
"There is no barrier anymore"
A choking silence fell on them.
"You chose to leave" finally said Zelda, her words shattering the silence with a violence that caught Sheik by surprise.
"You said Hyrule would rise again!"
"And it has. The people are happy, they have food, shelter, a future!"
"They have no soul!"
Zelda felt her heart skip a beat, but didn't know why.
"How dare you?!"
"No! How dare you! To use your powers to make magic go away!"
"Then what am I supposed to do? Let the door open for anybody like Ganondorf to steal the triforce after we are gone? It's not worth it Sheik, better to let all the legends fade. Let the people think it is all a lie."
"You are merely trying to bury a past you will never escape from, Zelda. You can't just pretend like the war never happened. It changed us all, but you have no right to change the world to your liking."
"You think it's selfishness? I will do what I must for the good of my country. Now leave, traitor!"
"The only traitor here is you! You lied to me, let the dark king manipulate me and made me feel dirty for loving the only person who ever cared for me."
Zelda's eyes narrowed
"You cannot have him."
"Then why isn't he besides you now? Where is he?"
"Stop it!"
"Have you ever seen him truly? Have you ever seen him not like the hero you want, but as the person he is?"
Zelda threw a flower vase to him, and Sheik disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the window open to the cold, early autumn wind.
8
The house wasn't big enough for the visiting spirits, and if even half of them had physical bodies, even the forest wouldn't be big enough.
Shadow carried a barrel of beer out of the house, nodding absentmindedly at the anecdotes a little girl was telling him.
"Then I fell into the river and drowned. Real dumb, I know, but it makes for a good story."
"Aha, yeah. Look, uh…little girl"
"Adara"
"Adara, this is" he picked a confused looking spirit nearby with hanging marks on his neck "Hanged guy, I bet you'll have lots to talk about, like the coolness of asphyxia. I'm busy."
And he left them with the barrel. He figured the girl was already dead, so having a few beers wouldn't do her any worse and nothing better than alcohol to forget a bad death for hanged guy.
He found Link at the entrance, looking at the spirits arriving on the path of flower petals leading to their house.
"If you're not going to enjoy the party, don't invite them. And where did you meet all these people?"
"I didn't. They say this is the only road they found" Link clenched his fists "I knew it, I knew something wrong was happening. Why hasn't Zelda said anything to me about this?"
Shadow pulled him against his chest and smirked.
"Why don't you ask your sage friends?"
"They don't want to say anything either…You know about it. Tell me."
Shadow sighed, pulling the other's face closer to his.
"I can't tell you what you refuse to know. If I know something, so do you."
Staring into the depths of Link's eyes, Shadow indeed saw the world blue. Only then could he look at the sky with eyes unclouded by blood.
And everytime Link showed it to him, he felt himself loving him more and more.
9
Sheikah eyes saw the truth, and yet he had been manipulated. Because in the most important moment, he had let fear cover his eyes.
Now, he squinted at the darkness of the mist covered forest, trusting his eyes to find the way, trusting that they were the eyes of his past and his history.
"He has laid a path for you. He always does" had said Impa, but Sheik found it hard to believe.
The mist made him shiver and for the tenth time he thought about going back and searching for Link's house in the morning.
Yet, everytime he looked back, he felt something pulling him forward, as if unseen hands guided his way. And he would keep walking, always thinking that if he didn't find the house soon he would turn back. Because he wanted to be reasonable, to think that all he wanted was to see Link one last time, to explain that he wasn't really dead, that he merely needed some time alone, to…
He shook his head to stop his thoughts . Link would understand when he saw him.
But then he would shiver, thinking that maybe Link would understand far too much.
Around midnight, Sheik's eyes saw something shine among the trees, and disembodies hands reached him. The golden path laid before him. More than flower petals, it was made by the magic of faith, of desire. And, in a heartbeat, he knew that it had been Link, who had called him from the first moment
His red eyes followed the path, and saw, in the entrance to a simple wooden house, Link and his Shadow waiting for him. Just like he had seen them emerge from the water temple.
Two sides of the same coin, who needed each other, who couldn't exist separated. Something that Zelda would never understand. Because she was light, and had never seen her own darkness to the face.
Both Links ran up to him and before Sheik could say anything, they tackled him to the ground.
"You were alive, you bastard!" said Shadow, punching him lightly on the face.
"Why? Where have you been?!" sputtered Link, confused. "Zelda said you were dead! We mourned you and called you for years!"
"I might have been, for a while…"
They both narrowed their eyes, then the Shadow's face lighted with understanding.
"That bitch!" he punched the ground next to Sheik, sending up a flurry of petals yet unaware of the way he was pressed up against the Sheikah's chest.
"What? Zelda lied to us?"
The Shadow huffed and turned to kiss Link on the lips.
Sheik gasped and blushed like never before, until he saw the energy swirling around the heroes, and knew that they were sharing understanding. Though, Sheik would be less uncomfortable if they didn't do it on top of him, with dozens of spirit guests looking.
"I can't believe her!" said Link, when he and his Shadow separated "Even worse, I can't believe you went on with it Sheik!"
"Uhm, can I get up?"
"No, your punishment will be to stay down forever" said the Shadow, leaning over him and rubbing against his thigh.
"Stop that!" said Link, pushing him off Sheik and allowing him to get up "I guess it doesn't matters anymore…I'm just happy now. I thought you hadn't been able to find the way back"
Sheik sighed deeply and smiled.
"As long as there is one person to call, anybody can find the way back" he looked at the house, empty to the sight, but full to the heart. Some of the spirits smiled at him amusedly from the windows.
Link and Shadow took Sheik's hands in theirs, giving him a knowing look.
"There is no more future for legends in this world. But, even if it's only between us, I can promise you eternity."
"Link…"
And Sheik smiled, because, under the yellow autumn moon Link had given him the hope he had lost. Knowing there would be eternity in each other's memories, he felt himself falling in love with him all over again.