Moonlit confessions

"Great. This is just great." Sheik complained angrily, slamming the door shut behind him, stomping over to his cot, "We're delayed for a whole friggin' day just because your cousins didn't want to fix the bridge at the Canyon and we had to bust their butts out of cells, you got caught by the Gerudo, and I had to convince them that I wasn't interested in joining them! By fighting them in a ceremonial match! That b… that woman, nearly decapitated me!"

I scratched the top of my head and groaned, throwing my hat to the corner of the room. I knew he was in need of a good complaining session, but did he have to be that loud? "Not to mention I had to get myself away from the Gerudo after they gave me the membership card,"

"Which I didn't get. Honestly! "

"And Time Travel my way back seven years and go through half the Temple."

"Leaving me to do nothing!"

Now that complaint, in my eye, was weird. "Why are you so desperate to fight? Do you like the time we spend in the Temples?"

He looked at me sideways, cautiously. He looked away and muttered, "I think… I think we're running out of time."

I snorted. "Sheik, we've been running out of time since I pulled out the Master Sword."

He shook his head urgently, and the air around him seemed to shiver, as if… as if he were afraid. "I didn't mean it that way. It's just that… Bongo's attack… it shouldn't have happened for another a day or two. Or at least, not right after we finished with the Water Temple."

"…What do you mean?"

He understood that it wasn't a question. It was a demand.

He stepped over to his cot and sat on it, gesturing for me to do the same. But I felt frozen, so I just shook my head. He lowered his gaze and idly rubbed his arm, not once looking at me.

"I just want you to know, that despite my… personal dislike of the Princess," he started carefully, "my duty is still to her. As long as I'm bound, as long as my aunt works for her, I have to stick with her. That's why I kept this from you. And… as selfish as this sounds, I didn't want to lose you."

I met his dull tired eye full of regret as he insisted that I sat down. He said it was a long story, so I dragged a chair in front of me and sat on it, not knowing what to feel.

He took a shuddering breath and wrung his left wrist, a nervous habit he'd picked up over the weeks. "In the Prophecies, it was said that the Hero of Time would sleep seven years before cleansing the land. You know that,"

I nodded.

"Do you remember what happened before you entered the Temple of Time, before you put the gems in place and the Door of Time opened?"

I thought about it. Dug through the memories, tried, tried, tried to think what happened before I got into the Castle Town again to tell Zelda I had them all.

Sheik was still looking at me. "Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"I thought so."

I scowled. With my mind I egged him on to keep going; just spit it out, Sheik. Spit it out.

He wrung his wrist a little more before continuing, "You see, it… it wasn't the Master Sword that wiped your memories. It was Zelda."

My impatience got the better of me. "Sheik, we were all ten at that time. There was no way Zelda had that type of power-"

"She would now, wouldn't she."

I froze. There was something in the way he said it that made my blood go cold.

"That day, the day you pulled that sword when you were ten, Zelda fled from the Castle; Ganondorf right behind you. She left you her Ocarina, with a message of instructions for you so you could complete your quest and get the Master Sword. But things don't go as planned."

He fiddled with his scarf. My mind egged him on to continue, even though the last thing I wanted to do was hear the end of the story. "You went, you got the Master Sword, and as you put it, great big whoosh. Hero trapped in Seven year slumber."

"But-"

"Ganondorf was right behind you."

"That still doesn't make sense!" I was standing now, outright arguing. I didn't enjoy the calm manner that he was telling me this. Shouldn't he be looking guilty, at least? "I've lived my seven years! I worked for my uncle, I lived here, I moved to the refugee camp, I looked after a stray cat, I ran away to the Castle Town, I got caught and then got a massive hiding for it I… it doesn't make sense." I finished, rather lamely.

He nodded. Looked away. "This was in this time line. I'm talking about the one that got reversed."

Huh…?

"In this one, he started taking over perhaps four years ago, when Lake Hylia started losing its waters. He publicly took over two years after that, when he attacked the castle. But in the other, he took over the very day you took the Master Sword. You were too young to fight; way too young. That's why you were trapped in the Sacred Realm for so long. And with you, the Master Sword got trapped, leaving an open gateway for Ganondorf to waltz through to claim the Triforce for himself."

I felt myself pale. This story had to be nightmare. It couldn't be true.

"Last time, it took him a year to get out with the Triforce. Another year to put the Castle completely and utterly under his control. And in the next year he destroyed every single town in the country large enough to maintain a threat. The he spent the rest of his time cursing the temples, looking for you everywhere, hunting you down. Along the way, with every Temple cursed, he made sure the races were brought to its knees. The Sheikah were massacred first; no need to worry about them, but you saw the rest; forest infested with monsters, Gorons taken as bait for Volvagia, the Zora's domain frozen. Bongo-bongo's seal finally dwindled to nothing, and the desert was turned to a party house for witches."

He gave me a look of grave respect, something he'd never done before. "And you defeated them all. All on your own."

"What . . .?"

"I don't know exactly what happened next, but I think you were returned to your normal time, before you slept for seven years. But not just you. I think Time itself backtracked, and nobody remembered what happened. Including you, the Princess, all the sages . . . except me. And, by what I heard from you, your friend Navi as well."

He wrung his wrist tighter; I wouldn't be surprised if he was bruising himself. He voice shook. "I remembered it all. You and your fairy coming out of each temple, battered and bruised, so near death . . . and I wasn't even allowed to help.

"In . . . in this time line, I kept having nightmares about it. My family found it strange, so they called Impa. She then decided that they were prophetic; that's why she brought me to Hyrule and train me as her bodyguard. What better boy is there to help the Princess when the guard knew of the upcoming dangers?"

His bitter tone was stabbing. "It died down when I was eleven? Twelve? Either way the Princess picked it up, and she began to remember. And she didn't do anything about it . . . !"

Now that, sparked something in me.

Sheik took another breath and shook his head for some reason, and continued. "But that's not what that matters. I . . . I felt bad, at not helping you last time. I had some amount of respect for Zelda back then, and I was willing to do as I was told for her. So, to put it in a dekushell…"

"This is the second time around; you've been forced to go through the same hell twice."

The same hell twice . . .

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

I sat on the roof of the house, wondering for a second how I'd gotten there. I also wondered how long I'd stayed there too, since it had passed sunset and the stars were shining brightly; the moon resting high in the dark sky.

I sighed dejectedly as I buried my face in my hands, wishing the moon above me would fall and crush me. It definitely was high enough to cause enough damage, I'll be off to heaven before I even realised what happened.

Nobody cared about 'Link', I realised, hot anger burning the back of my throat. All they cared about was the Hero of Time, saving their damn lives for them while they don't even try to protect themselves. Just whinge and whine until someone came along to do their own saving for them. It was the safest way, it was the best way. Just let one little guy have all the trauma, even though the only thing he should really be worrying about is whether he's having a crush on his best friend or not. Yeah… that's a good idea. Nodody cared. Nobody.

Except… someone had cared, and I'd just had a nasty go at him.

I threw myself onto the tiles of the roof, wishing I could sleep and not wake up till time ended. People wished on stars, didn't they? If I wished on them, would they let me sleep for as long as I wanted? It was a nice thought . . . but I knew it was useless, wishing for something that just wouldn't happen. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the two red stars that kept grabbing my attention. Damn the colour red . . .

I sighed, thinking over the reaction that I'd given Sheik. Maybe I'd gone over the top, but how could I not be mad after finding out that I was used as pawn for the second time? How could I not be mad after finding out that there had been a way of stopping Ganondorf's madness before I had to step into the picture? It was so unfair! I had a life as well as anybody else, and I really didn't want to end up wasting it on killing monsters and demons and a madman. And doing it for the second time, too!

I'd yelled at him about that, and he had taken it silently. I'd said to him stuff that I couldn't really remember, and frankly didn't want to remember. I was sure as hell that they'd been bad, real bad, adding more hurt to the general conversation. Then I'd said that I'd had enough of this, and stormed out.

I regretted it.

Sheik had nothing to do with this. He had been the one that had cared enough to try and help, cared enough to be honest about it when I'd asked. Well, not exactly asked, but when I pushed hard enough he said them outright, although it took him ages. I sighed again as I opened my eyes, looking at the twin red stars I'd seen only seconds ago. The ones I couldn't keep my eyes off of.

Even though Hyrule and its destiny were unfair on me, I had no right to be unfair on him. And before I'd stormed out, he'd tried to tell me something more, but I'd shouted at him to go away; I didn't want to listen anymore. I felt really bad, not listening to him, because I realised that it would've hurt to know that I was going to be angry when he told me about the truth, but he still told me. That was something I had to admire in him, no matter how upset I was.

I sat up blearily, rubbing at my eyes, intending to return to Impa's so I could apologize to him. I stood and looked over the peaceful village, noting a wondering shadow and saw that I really didn't need to. In minutes Sheik was coming up onto the roof as well, leaping from one roof top to another, looking for me. When he caught sight of me, he looked like he didn't want to come, but he was stubborn (not to mention kind) – sometimes too much for his own good – resulting in his decision to meet me.

He deftly leapt on, searching my gaze nervously. "I . . . I brought you this." he said to me, bringing forth a bundle of cloth, "I thought you'd need it, given the temperature tonight." he explained, placing it in my hands.

I regretted yelling at him even more.

"I'm sorry."

It was at least a second before I'd realised we'd said it at the same time.

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked him helplessly, guilt settling in the pits of my stomach like fist sized rocks, "I was the one that yelled at you, hurt you, did horrible things to you, and you're the one that should apologize? I don't get it. You even brought me this. I . . . I . . ."

He looked at me a second and turned away. "You had the right to be angry. And I didn't have the right to keep it from you this long. It was selfish of me to have kept it from you, and I'm sorry for it. I only kept it from you because I didn't want you to hate me. And it was wrong of me to do that."

"No it wasn't."

He seemed oddly shocked that I had grabbed his shoulder, but I let it slide. "I overreacted when you told me. I was in the wrong for yelling at you. I'm the one that should be apologizing."

Now he looked plainly lost. "But . . ."

"And don't give me anymore reasons why it was my right to be angry at you, or anything else. Even if it was you who kept it from me, it was you who had to bear the secret and it was you who told me. And I'm grateful for that."

He lowered her eyes again, and I brought it back up by hitting him squarely on the forehead. "You're not the only one who's been hiding secrets, Sheik."

He grumbled irritably, rubbing the sore spot.

"C'mon." I said to him, grabbing his elbow firmly, "Want to star gaze with me? It's much easier now with Death Mountain cleared up and the Shadow Temple freed. I don't know any of the constellations, and I was hoping someone would teach me. You know them, don't you?"

I pulled him down to the roof without getting and answer, and I wrapped the cloak around us both. He grumbled a little more about the close contact so I hugged him to spite him.

I think he was blushing like mad, the poor sod.

For a whole hour he taught me the constellations, their names, the legends behind them, and what kind of luck you'd have if you were born under those stars. I was surprised when he had recited the legends. He knew them like his own knives, and he told them in intricate detail, mesmerizing me with the stories, their meanings, and his voice. I never noticed it, but when he was relaxed, it was soft… musical. Low and beautiful.

As time ticked on I was more aware of his body pressing against mine, his warmth soothing me as he told the tales.

He paused. Gave me a side-long glance. "You okay Link?"

"Um . . . uh . . . what?"

"You were zoning out."

"No…" no way in hell was I telling him that I was thinking about his tan. "I was just wondering . . . um, what those stars meant." I pointed out the two red ones I had my attention on before he came, and he gave a grunt.

"I'm surprised you don't know those two. They're Din's Eyes."

I cocked an eyebrow. "But wasn't the sun Din's eye?"

He shrugged. "Of the day yeah, but as the patron goddess of this country like Furore and Nayru, she has to watch over the land without stop. Like, the moon's Nayru's eye of the night, and . . . see that star there?" he pointed idly towards a blue one, an ocean pearl sitting on navy velvet, very close to the Kakariko watch tower. "That's Nayru's tear. It's said that she cried because thieves and villains always do their wrongdoings in the night. She cries for their loss of good judgement and wisdom."

I smiled, my arm almost automatically going around his shoulders. "How do you know all this anyway?"

He replied in a grunt, "My teachers didn't expect me to become a brainless fighting machine."

I chuckled at what I supposed was his modesty, letting it slide. As he told more stories about the stars, I couldn't help but get a little bored.

I suddenly couldn't help but wish that Sheik was something more than he was. All he was made of was secrets. Did I know anything about him, aside from a few small background info on his family? I had nothing on him. Nothing. I know he'll tell me when everything was over. I'll know every tiny thing about him so well that he'd might as well be my shadow. But I can't help thinking what if… what if he can't make it out of the next temple? What if he falls and never gets up again? I'd lose a friend without knowing him. Without enjoying my time with him, the way we want to.

It was unfair. So unfair…

"Link?"

"Hm?"

"I … well… now that you know about the whole, Time Twister effect thing… I thought I might fess up on other stuff I've been keeping from you." he shifted uncomfortably, concentrating on a frayed hole in the cloak. "There're two things I have to tell you. I… ugh, Din, I hate being the Secret Keeper."

I patted his arm sympathetically. "S'all good, mate. So, what's the last two pieces of info that's labelled 'Don't tell Link'?"

He scratched his eyebrow and muttered, "One concerns the Triforce. One… concerns, well… me."

My attention shot to its peak, and my back went rigid. "You?" He nodded. "Well?"

He looked at me, looked away, then shifted uncomfortably again. "I… I was going to tell you right before the Gerudo Fortress, but I didn't know whether if the encounter would be made easier or harder… and… meeting your uncle and having to save your cousins, I … chickened out."

I waited impatiently, heart thudding.

"I should've told you this at the Water Temple, or even from the beginning. I thought it might get in the way and… look, I'm sorry I hid it from you, okay? Really, I am."

"Okay, okay, just tell me." I strained, ready to shake him by the shoulders.

He sighed. My excitement mounted when he shrugged off the cloak and moved to remove his cowl. "The thing is, I-"

He yelled and fell to the side, his body convulsing in pain. The bloodied arrowhead winked maliciously in the moonlight, as Sheik snapped it and pulled it out of his shoulder. "What th-"

I grabbed him and jumped—he was lot lighter than I thought he would be—landing on the ground below and stumbled from the shock. I looked up and saw three, five, maybe even six more large figures jump down, landing with large thuds that shook the whole lawn. Stalfos.

I unsheathed the Master Sword and stood in front of Sheik, glad beyond thought that I'd picked up the habit of taking the damn sword everywhere.

"I'm fighting too…"

"You don't have your chain. You stay down."

He stood up regardless, metal links clinking, an elaborate axe dropping to the ground. "Says you. On three. One… two…"

As I brought my first one to its demise, I realised that we were cornered. We were being pushed towards the corner where the house and cliff met, and in there, two Stalfos were waiting like open traps. Sheik was taking two on at the same time, and three were coming my way to stop me from helping him. "Sheik!"

"Link! They want you! Get out of here while you can!"

"What about-"

"They want me alive! They want you dead! Get to the Spirit Temple now! I'll catch up, you know me!?"

There was a horrible thud and something fell to the grass; a roar of triumph from one of the skeletons. Red filled the night as I madly slashed down my fourth Stalfos with an angry cry. I rushed for one that held him over its shoulder, sword up for the fatal blow.

Pain. Terrible blinding pain ripped through my back, tearing muscle and scraping bone, warmth leaving me rivers, the night growing colder and colder and colder…