Author's Note: Holy cow, I live. I don't mean to keep getting sidetracked and stop updating. Really, I don't. Life just likes to eat me, sometimes. But I will finish this bastard, even if it may not be all that timely. Part of the problem is that the actiony bits are often fairly easy to do, but then there are lots of just plotty bits that take a little more determination to get out. And sometimes I just plain get stuck. Or distracted. That happens a lot too.

Anyway. This part's up now, hopefully the next one won't be so long in coming. The fanfic muse feeds on reviews, please feed the muse.

And Legend of Zelda and the associated characters don't belong to me, and I'm not making any money, as per usual. So no suings.

Shadow stood at the edge of the park, trying to think of any acceptable reason to not go any farther. Their old friend was nice, but... well, she'd always been the sort of person he couldn't stand. But his sister was right, he needed his shoulder seen to, and a hospital wouldn't do. He sighed. He couldn't get out of it, so the best thing to do was get it over with.

The park was empty. It always was, at this hour of the morning. Right now, that was a plus. It meant Shadow didn't have to be careful not to be seen. Oh, he was sure some other people in the city had stumbled across the place, but most wouldn't have any idea what they'd found, and would forget it. Only children, heroes, and people like Shadow knew what was in the most remote part of the area.

There were hardly any more natural caves left, especially in the city. But there was a large sunken drainage grate that never stayed in place, and a drop of only five or six feet to get underground. Getting back up again might be hard, depending on what she could do for his shoulder. He'd worry about that later.

The drop jarred his injured shoulder, and he bit back several choice words. He had to lean against the damp concrete wall for a few minutes and wait for the pain to recede a bit before he could continue on. At least it wasn't far. There was a passage off the main tunnel that you couldn't see unless you were looking for it, and the concrete gave way to natural stone. The change was so gradual you often didn't notice it. But you did notice when the passage opened up into a large cavern.

Shadow didn't know how she'd managed to find this last natural cave in the city; perhaps it was some instinct. He paused at the entrance. He might not like her, but he did admire the beauty of her home. The shallow white marble pool was faintly luminous, softly lighting the pillars that were older than time. The fairy fountain always seemed restful to him, and a damn sight more natural than the city above.

Of course, she had to go and spoil his contemplation.

She appeared, as always, without warning. The Great Fairy lounged against nothing at all, looking down at Shadow with a benevolently amused expression. "Why is it that no one ever comes to see me unless they want something?" she giggled. "You haven't been to see me in a long time. Even the little Hero visits more often than you, and he's always so busy."

Shadow shrugged carefully. "Our personalities don't exactly mesh well. To be frank, I wouldn't be here now if my sister didn't insist." Perhaps that was too blunt, but the Great Fairy was never offended by the truth. "She sends her regards, by the way."

The Great Fairy giggled again. "Oh, she hardly ever comes to see me! I think she's only ever been here once. And that was only because you almost got yourself killed."

"She has a lot to do. I'm sure she would visit more if she didn't have to keep track of so much."

Almost as an afterthought, she blew a kiss at him, and a gentle wave of healing magic spread through him. The pain in his shoulder eased sharply as the broken bones and torn muscles reknit. He let out a careful breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The Great Fairy laughed. "You're almost as bad as the Hero. Why do boys lead such dangerously interesting lives?"

Shadow gingerly moved his arm around, testing his shoulder. It was still sore, and probably would be for a few days, but that wasn't anything he couldn't handle. "Occupational hazard."

"Well, of course~! I suppose you were playing with the old forces that have come back, like in the old days." She never seemed to stop giggling, which was part of what Shadow found disagreeable about her. "You'll have to be more care~ful!"

Something she'd said caught his attention. "Old forces?"

The Great Fairy shrugged vaguely. "There are echoes." She rolled over in midair and looked at him upside-down. "You should visit more. And give your sister my love. Tell her to come see me, I miss her."

"What echoes?" Shadow persisted. Sometimes, it could be nearly impossible to get anything useful out of her. That was another thing he found aggravating.

"You know. Echoes of the old places." Another giggle. "You're so silly! You know~." Before he could respond to that, something else occurred to her. "Would you be a nice little hero and get rid of that thing in the tunnels? I don't like it being so close. I can't sleep." Then she vanished with another shriek of laughter, leaving Shadow with more questions than he had come in with.

He sighed. And they wondered why he didn't like coming here. He made his way back out to the drainage grate and started to climb up. Then there was a faint noise, further down the tunnel, and Shadow paused. The thing in the tunnels, the Great Fairy had said. If there was something bad down there, it would be better to take care of it before someone got hurt. His shoulder was healed, so he wasn't at a disadvantage now.

Normally, he'd have gone looking for it without a second thought. He protected people; that was what drove him. But the drainage tunnels lead into the sewers, and it was unlikely many people would encounter whatever was there. And with everything else that was going on, it might be better to leave it for someone else. His interference might not fit in with his sister's plans.

Oh, why was he even pretending he wasn't going to take care of this? His sister would understand, and if he was honest with himself, he knew she'd do the same thing in his place. He dropped lightly from the grate and ventured deeper into the drainage system.