They ate together in silence. Link could only assume that Sheik had caught the fish and cooked them elsewhere in a place where the smoke wouldn't get trapped and slowly suffocate them. Not that he was hugely bothered to establish the origins of his meal. All that mattered was that it was there to be eaten. When he had woken up yet again it was to the tune of a growling stomach and hunger pains. Then, as if summoned by Link's gastric symphony, Sheik appeared suitable laden with food. Only when his stomach was full did Link broach the question that had been hanging over him since he'd woken.

`I have to go back there. I'm not finished with that place am I?'

Sheik sighed, 'no, you aren't.' It was only in his head that he added an apology, and he was sorry. Sorry for the things he was asking of Link. Sorry for not being able to enter those sprawling, labyrinthine temples with him. Sorry for all the ways he wished he could help but couldn't.

`I can't.'

`Can't what Hero?'

`Go back there. I can't.'

Link stared steadily at his lap. He wanted to stuff the words that had bubbled up his larynx back down. Burry them away, hide them; forget they had ever been said. He was the Hero, with a capital H and all the things that that implied. He was brave and bold, the kind of man who stared down death and didn't blink. Except here he was, blinking. He didn't say that he'd dreamt of drowning, of bleeding out, of broken necks and twisted, crumpled bodies. He couldn't talk about the nightmares because Heroes don't admit to being broken. Just like Heroes didn't have terrible, traitorous voices in their heads that whispered sweetly about giving up. Nor did Heroes experience fear gnawing away at their insides when the thought about the things they had yet to do.

Anger burst inside him, ugly and awful, like a bloated corpse bursting under a hot sun. He raged at himself, the anger turning inwards, burning and destroying. He wasn't the Hero, wasn't even a hero. He was pathetic, full of fear and bad voices, and he was doing the thing he hated to do more than anything else. He was thinking. Thinking about what had been and what was the come. He was supposed to have courage, to trust in himself and Goddesses, to act first and think later, all whilst looking dashingly handsome. If only he had never taken those stupid stones to the Temple of Time.

`It's all my fucking fault.' The words were hissed out from behind clenched teeth, 'I led Gannondorf to the Scared Realm and then I made everyone wait seven fucking years before I could even clean up my own mess.'

He slammed his unsplinted hand into the floor. Bones cracked. He did it again. The pain was white and jagged and made his eyes water. The pain was what he deserved. He raised his fist again. A body collided with his. Sheik pinned him to the floor, gently but firmly. Sheik's brows were drawn together, his eyes pained and his mouth pressed into a grim line. Sheik's mouth. Some part of Link's mind, disjointed from the rest of the world, registered that for the whole time they'd been in this cave together Sheik hadn't been wearing his cowl. He had a beautiful face.

`This isn't your fault Link. How could it be? You didn't know what would happen, no one could have known. You were just a child.'

Sheik gripped Link's arms tightly, using his body weight to hold the other boy down, his heart beating fast in his chest like a bird's. His usual stoic calm was gone and all formality absent. For the first time ever, Link registered that Sheik looked scared.

'And I'm not now?' The words came out so quietly they almost didn't happen at all.

Sheik's heart broke. Link was right, in truth he was still just a boy. They both were. This time he didn't hold the apology back.

`I'm sorry. Oh Goddesses Link, I'm so sorry. I don't . . . I can't . . . I . . . I'm sorry.'

Sheik rested his forehead on Link's shoulder and Link could feel the other boy's shaking. His anger had left him; it had ebbed away when he'd heard how scared Sheik was.

`I'm sorry. I'm sorry but you're the only one who can do this. Please. Please, we need you. Hyrule needs you, so don't . . . don't hurt yourself anymore, you don't deserve it. Whatever bad things you tell yourself, this,' Sheik sat back and laid a hand over Link's newly broken one, `this isn't the answer. It's never the answer.' His voice was low, full of a pain that spoke of scars formed from deep wounds, `so please, never again?'

Link closed his eyes and shook his head, `I'll try.'

Sheik sighed and stood up, it wasn't the answer he was hoping for but it would do for now. He moved away from where Link was lying and rummaged through a bag propped against one wall of the cave before returning with bandages and splints. He knelt beside Link and began to carefully splint broken fingers together. Link bit the inside of his cheek, as careful and Sheik was being it still hurt to have his fingers bandaged.

`I'll go back tomorrow.'

`But your hand' Sheik frowned down at him `you're not fully healed yet.'

`Red potion will fix it enough. If I don't . . . if I don't do this now, I never will.'

His fingers now tended to, Link sat up. He looked around the cave, there wasn't much to see. His eyes settled on the source of light in the room. From where he was he couldn't see what was creating the unearthly phosphorescence. With no knowledge of whether the sun was rising or setting at any given moment, Link realised he didn't know when tomorrow would even be.

`Sheik, how long have I been here?'

`Five days. It's been five days since I carried you out of that place, and it's been seven since you went in. I waited for you to come out but, you didn't. I feared you were dead. I thought you were when I found you.'

`I'm sorry Sheik.'

`What for?'

`For scaring you this much.'

Sheik didn't reply. Link looked at his hands, covered in crisp white bandages tied carefully, securely. Sheik had done a lot for him since he'd woken up in his older body. He had given help when it was needed; offered explanations when no one else would; he'd given Link space, and time think when he needed it and he'd never made Link stir the sleeping demons he carried around in his head. And now, here Sheik was, carrying him out of dark places, literal and otherwise. If everything else failed, if all of Hyrule went to shit, Link would save Sheik, even if it killed him.

He kept this sentiment to himself. He knew that if he spoke about it people would object, including Sheik. Especially Sheik. They'd tell him that it would never come to that, that he should have faith in himself and the Goddesses. That even if it did, there were other people who he should protect, people like the princess or the sages or even himself. Link did like Zelda; she had a gentle quality, a kindness, which belied her youth. She would be the perfect queen, but they barely knew each other. Equally, the sages he had met so far were good people doing all they could to save their home, though the less time he spent with Ruto the happier he'd be.

However, none of these people had braved Hyrule field and all its dangers to meet him at temple entrances. None of them fought off monsters in order to be there to teach him the songs he needed or to give him hints and help. None of those people had entered that water logged hell hole believing they were searching for his corpse. None of those people were here with him now, covered in bandages and tearing himself apart, telling him that they were sorry, that they understood, but please, please, could he just hold on that little bit longer. Link knew, right to the core of his being, that whatever happened, he would make sure Sheik survived.

`Sheik,' the other boy looked up from the medical supplies he was sorting 'what's making the light?'

Link pointed over to the epicentre of the glow. Sheik stood, brushed off his knees and stretched. He walked over to the crevice in the wall that the light spilt out of and carefully picked something up, cradling it in both hands. He brought over to where Link sat, repairing his equipment, fumbling with aching fingers and holding back the pain with red potion. Link had to squint to be able to look at what Sheik was holding. It turned out to be two somethings. Two thumb sized crystals, translucent like quartz, nestled together in Sheik's palms.

`Have you got a lantern?'

Link nodded, unsure why they needed another light source when this one work so well, but he fished his lantern out and lit it.

`Good, now, these crystals have been used to make light by the Sheikah for centuries. They come from crevasse, in the mountain range around Mount Doom. You have to climb down a long way before you find them, so far down that you can't see the sunlight anymore and that's still not even close to the bottom. The crystals come in pairs but they don't grow next to each other. You have to find the right ones and bring them together, and when you do, they glow. They glow bright enough to light up any darkness. However, if you take them away from each other,' Sheik moved his hands, separating the two crystals, 'they go out.'

The cave was suddenly much darker, lit only by the fitful, flickering lantern flame.

`It's called triboluminescence, making light by bringing two things together. Each one is unable to shine without the other, only brilliant when they're together. Impa once told me that, when there were more of our people, these crystals were used for proposals. One lover would present the other with a pair and if the proposal was accepted then each half of the couple would carry one crystal with them always. Like a promise that, together, they would light up any darkness that either might face.'

Sheik gently rolled the crystals back together, light blossomed instantaneously. He carried them back to the crevice they had been sitting in, setting them down with care. Link doused the lantern. Had Sheik climbed down that crevasse, searching in the darkness for his own pair of crystals? Was he waiting for someone to present them to?

`You should finish seeing to your things Link, and then rest, tomorrow will be with us sooner than I think either of us would like.'

Link turned his attention back to the tunic in his lap. A smile tugged at his lips, not at the prospect of returning to the Water Temple, but because Sheik was calling him by name.


Author's Note: I feel I should point out that I have taken some artistic liberties with the actual nature of triboluminescence, in reality you need to smash or crush the appropriate crystals to make it happen. It's pretty cool but somewhat less romantic that way hence the change. There are videos on youtube of it if you're interested to see what it really looks like.