Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo, I'm merely borrowing them. (Though Ayla, Kaiza, Anaruteir and Terra are mine…sheesh, this list keeps growing, doesn't it?)

Warning: This story contains yaoi, slash, shounen-ai, whatever you call two guys falling in love.


Soul Mates

Chapter 37


He didn't know for how long he had passed out. As the ominous black dot had grown, Speil and the youth's voices had gradually merged into a single noise, one which was impossible to block out or ignore. He heard snippets of conversations, the occasional word, but the full extent of what their conversation was about was lost on him. The heat was getting worse, and he could feel sweat trickling down his face. From time to time, the soothing sensation of the youth's cold, wet cloth was felt on his forehead, though these were too few and far between to make him feel much better. His stomach was lurching uncomfortably, and he was sure that he was going to be sick at any minute, though he did his best to fight the bile down.

Then some time passed, apparently, for the other two's voices had faded completely, and the only sounds he could hear were those of the forest. It was strange, and it felt wrong, somehow. Forests were supposed to be full of life, singing birds and scuttling creatures. The only thing he could hear of this forest was the constant wind whistling through the trees and something stomping around, which he highly suspected was anything but a fuzzy woodland creature that was curious.

Something thumped into the grass beside him, and he heard the youth sigh. "I know you're awake. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like…death," answered Sheik. This was really how he felt. It really wouldn't have bothered him if the all-consuming darkness had done so while he lay there. Another wave of nausea came over him, and he turned his head to the side so he wouldn't choke himself if something decided to make a return trip. It didn't. He tried to look at the youth, but the very act of opening his eyelids proved too taxing, and he groaned. "I can't even open my eyes."

A sharp intake of breath, and Sheik knew something was wrong. He voiced this concern, but the youth did not answer. "What?" asked Sheik finally, sick of the silence.

"I am afraid…that your eyes are already open, Sheik," said the youth slowly. Sheik was about to ask why he was talking like that when he heard the steady thumping in the grass approaching quickly.

"Is he better?" asked the voice of Speil.

"I'm still blind," stated Sheik, not surprised.

"What? You son of a—"

A sword was slid out of its sheath, and Speil stopped talking.

"Finish that sentence, I beg of you," said the youth. His voice had taken on an edge previously unheard, and it silently promised death if the shadow said the wrong thing. "That's what I thought," he said, and then the sword was put back in its place. "Sheik," he began, "I don't think your body is adjusting correctly. Temporary blindness is common, but they only last for an hour or two. Three at the most."

"And how long has it been now?" asked Sheik. It was strange, not being able to see. It was impossible to figure out what time it was, and calculating where sounds were coming from became quite a challenge.

"Eight hours," answered Speil, his voice subdued. He was standing farther away now. "This bastard kept saying it was normal, but it's obviously not!"

"Have you ever heard of the term 'subjective', Shadow?" asked the youth. "Different people react differently, understand?" He made a tsk-sound. "Though this does worry me. If it had just been the nausea, then all would be well…but blindness…"

"So, what will we do?" asked Sheik, surprised at how calmly he was handling this. He had just lost his eyesight, the very thing that had saved him on more than hundreds of occasions... But it was oddly relieving, not having to look at the constant twilight around them.

"There really is nothing we can do except wait for you to get better," said the youth. "But we cannot even do that."

"Excuse me?" asked Sheik, interrupting Speil as he heard the shadow draw a breath. "What do you mean, running out of time? Hyrule is running out of time, I am running out of time, not you!"

"I am afraid I must disagree with you in the highest sense of the word," said the youth, his voice reassuming the edge it had had when he had threatened Speil. "Everything does not revolve around the Kingdom of Hyrule or you. There are far more important things at stake, here."

"Such as?" asked Speil, faster than Sheik this time.

"The fate of both our realm, for example," said the youth.

Zelda had to think about Link's suggestion for a few minutes. She had rather strange ritual when it came to this, he learned. She walked in circles. He could actually see a small indentation in the floor from where she had contemplated large matters. Quite a feat since they had barely been there for a week.

But then he'd realised that it was actually Saria's indentation when he remembered that his childhood friend had done the exact same thing when she had been deep in thought. But the princess of Hyrule was clearly contributing to it, for the heels of her boots had razor-sharp blades hidden inside.

"Alright, it's worth a try," said the princess and clapped her hands, mirroring a certain thief from the desert. She whistled a completely different tune than the one she had when calling for Anaruteir. Within seconds, Kaiza landed on the windowsill, shrieking when she noticed Link.

"Hey, Kaiza," he said, earning him a smile from Zelda. He shrugged. "I care about animals, what?"

"Kaiza isn't…very popular among my men," said Zelda and giggled. "She doesn't like making friends with Hylians, apparently. This makes you the third person that she hasn't tried to peck the eyes out of."

This made the Hero of time nervously glance at the falcon on the windowsill. Kaiza seemed to understand what he was thinking, and gave him a smug look. "That's…good, I guess," he said.

"It's very good," Zelda said and went over to Kaiza. She caught the bird's gaze. For half a minute, the princess and the falcon stared each other down, making the Hero wonder if they had both suffered a breakdown. "Find…Sheik," Zelda suddenly said, drawing out the order. "Find Sheik," she repeated.

Kaiza shrieked and took off, just as Anaruteir had done.

"Think it'll work?" asked Link, joining Zelda by the window.

"If anyone can find him, it's her," replied the princess, looking at him. "But that's her job now. We have other matters to focus on."

"Like…?"

"The missing Triforce piece," she said. "This is a serious problem." She walked to the table and picked up the paper she had read from after the lack of a triangle on Link's hand became apparent. She gave it to him.

"Er, I can't read this," he said after an embarrassing minute of trying to make out what the chicken scratchings on the paper said.

"It's ancient Hylian," said Zelda and took it back. "I can't read it either. The only reason I know what it says is because of Impa and Sheik." She put it back on the table. "As I told you, it says that the Triforce will have split into three pieces, each of which will have found a hiding place in those who best embodies their ideals."

"Right," said Link. "Power with Ganondorf, Wisdom with you…"

"And Courage should have been with you," finished Zelda. "Link, has anything happened to you that could have…separated you from the Triforce piece? Have you been hit by a spell or anything of a magical nature?"

Link shrugged. "Not that I can think of. The only spells that were even close to me were those witches, but I dodged all of those or absorbed them with the Mirror Shield," he pointed at the shield on his back. Then a thought struck him. "The Water Temple…"

Zelda nodded, urging him on. "What happened there?" She remembered that he had been seriously injured. "Do you think that your injuries have something to do with it?"

The Hero shook his head. "Not the injuries themselves…but what did that to me in the first place."

"Sheik told me vaguely what happened…something about a shadow," Zelda stated.

"It happened in a large room inside the temple…there was an island, and a lot of fog," he said. "I turned around at the door, and something happened. I felt a shiver, and my reflection in the water disappeared." His eyes rolled around, trying to remember everything. "The first thing I noticed was two glowing eyes on the island, and then I was suddenly fighting myself."

"Yourself?" asked Zelda, something occurring to her. She started fishing through the pile of papers again, making Link wonder just how disorganised she was. "Aha!" she exclaimed and pulled out a document that looked even older than the previous one. "Look at this," she said and pointed at a sketch of the small island on Lake Hylia. Notes in the same unreadable language were scrawled underneath the sketch. "These notes tell of an ancient test of manhood which all the peoples of Hyrule flocked to a long time ago. The test was the temple, but a struggle against one's own self is also mentioned. That must be what you faced in the temple, Link."

"It fought exactly like me, anyway," said Link. "He was so strong, but I managed to trick at the end."

"Did he hit you during the fight?"

"No, he didn't. I thought the fight was over, but he ambushed us in Morpha's chamber. He…" He had to stop for a second, remembering Navi's scream as she tried to warn him. "Navi saw him first, tried to stop him."

Zelda remained silent.

"He had gotten stronger; I could barely keep hold of my sword when he struck it. I don't know how many hits he got on me before I was finally able to break his defence…" Link shook his head. "By the time I managed to kill him, I was half-dead myself. The only reason I'm standing here today is Sheik, who was waiting for me when I teleported outside."

The princess looked thoughtful. "Are you absolutely sure that you killed the shadow?" she asked. "If it was an exact copy of you, fighting style and all, then perhaps the Triforce thought that he would be a better place to hide in than you."

"No, Sheik told me it was dead and gone," said Link, shaking his head. "He went back inside and made sure." Why it had not occurred to him just what had happened to his lover before then was unknown, but several pieces clicked into place just then. His eyes widened, and his stomach gave a lurch. "Of course…how could I be so stupid?"

"What? What?" asked the princess.

"This is going to take some time to explain…"

He could say as much as he'd like about being in the presence of Speil, but at the moment, Sheik could not complain. He was, after all, acting as his eyes. The only annoyance at the moment was the shadow's insistence to pull Sheik close whenever Speil thought they were about to hit a difficult patch…which happened every ten seconds, apparently. The shadow, naturally, denied that he was taking liberties, but this was Speil, and Sheik knew where he had him. Most of the time, anyway.

The youth had tied a cloth over his eyes to prevent dust and other things getting into them since it was impossible to Sheik to know whether or not he had them closed.

"So, let us go over this again," said Speil as he helped Sheik over a large boulder. "You need our help because…?"

"First of all, I don't need your help, shadow," said the youth from somewhere ahead. "I need Sheik's help."

"Because?" prompted Sheik, feeling left out. He stumbled over…something, and would have fallen if Speil had not supported his weight. The Sheikah pulled slightly away, but murmured a "Thanks" even so.

"I'm sure you have noticed the lack of ambient life in this forest," said the youth. Upon hearing the agreeing sounds of the other two, he continued. "This is not natural, not even for this place. I discovered why just a few days ago, and also that I would not be able to stop it by myself."

"I can't help but notice you're being quite vague in your explanation," said Sheik. He didn't feel nauseous anymore, but his inertia was still there to some degree, and his sight was nowhere to be found. "And you still haven't told us who you are."

"I told you who I was," replied the youth curtly.

"No," said Sheik. "All I know is that you have been watching me for all my life and that you can read me like an open book. I saw your eyes. You're a Sheikah, but there's something wrong with you."

The other Sheikah's footsteps stopped, and Speil pulled slightly on Sheik's arm to make him do the same. The ground was quite even here, and Sheik pulled away from Speil and advanced in the direction he thought the youth was.

"A bit to the left," whispered Speil.

"Quiet, you," said Sheik and corrected his course. "Are you going to answer me?" he asked.

"I am trying to come up with a good one," said the youth. "Could you…specify what you wish to know?"

"Your name, for one," said Sheik.

The youth chuckled, and Sheik could hear him stepping right in front of him. "My name…is Terra."

"Terra…Terra…that means 'earth', doesn't it?" said Sheik after searching through his vocabulary. "It's an old Sheikah name."

"Correct," replied Terra.

"And why are you here?" continued Sheik.

Terra remained silent, but somehow, Sheik knew he was thinking.

"I am unsure if I can truly give you the answer you wish for," Terra finally said. "To be honest, I do not think I am truly aware of it myself."

To be continued…


I originally intended for this chapter to be longer, but I ran out of steam. I think we all know what that's like. But, the mystery guy finally has a name!

Review replies:

aeri-diablo – Heh, the sitcom-nature of those three's interaction was actually not intended at first, but it just became that way. I'm glad you like it :D

Lone Keaton – Who knows? Things are steadily growing stranger in Hyrule.

Katrina – Told you I'd use your name now ;-). Link's in for more surprised than one, heh.

Foolish Chimera – Speil is the perfect gentleman…when he wants to be. A highly unstable gentleman, but a gentleman nonetheless, and all the virtues and actions that follow such a title, heh.

Yuffie – I have to use cliffhangers, how else am I supposed to force you to come back to read more? :D

Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Please leave one if you like the story!