AN: Here's chapter 2! Enjoy!


Sheik slipped down the grand staircase of his family's mansion quietly and quickly. His mother was speaking to the butler, dressed in a beautiful lavender gown. Despite his quiet footsteps, his mother heard them and spun.

"GoodbyeMotherIloveyouokaybye—" The door was . . . riiight . . . theeeeeeeeere . . .

"Zelda!"

Sheik stopped, a slight flush reaching his cheeks as he turned around to face his mother.

"What are you wearing?"

He looked down at himself. A warrior-girl style chest binder to flatten his chest, a white tank, and a plaid blue unbuttoned shirt on top. And baggy jeans to hide the wideness of his hips. And cool black too-big sneakers because . . . he liked them. They were comfortable. The look was finished off by an okay-maybe-a-bad-choice blue hipster straight brimmed ball cap, which held his bunned hair in place, out of his face and out of the realm of 'flowy, feminine blond chick.' "Uh . . . what I want to wear?" he replied innocently, cursing his cutesy, high voice. "What's wrong with it?"

His mother shook her head. She walked over and gestured at his chest. "Honey, where are your breasts?! And those pants!" She folded her arms and shook her head more emphatically. "I mean, dear, you look like a little boy."

Maybe I WANT to look like a little boy, he thought, the red in his cheeks deepening. He'd been fussing all night about puberty and unstoppable hormones and angry that of ALL the fourteen-year-old female bodies in the world, HIS had to be the one that matured early. He'd already had to go shopping with his mother for new bras, new pants, new shirts . . . all for the sake of 'looking good.' It was getting ridiculous. And he hated it.

"No, no," his mother was saying. "If you go out looking like that, the tabloids will explode! Now take yourself upstairs and put on a proper bra. And get rid of those pants."

His eyes glassed over with a hurt his mother didn't understand. She would never understand! He obediently hurried back upstairs, feeling humiliated. Zelda spent as little time changing as possible, not even bothering to see if her clothes matched. Honestly, why bother? But, breeding is picky about clothing, so she changed again and made sure she matched. Do I have to wear earrings? She wore a scarf instead. Couldn't wear earrings with THIS scarf, they'd fall off, and the scarf would be a great deposit for her tears . . .

The baggy pants she had tossed on the bed. What to do with them . . .

They were actually Link's. She hadn't meant to steal them, but when he left them on the beach, and they were so comfy looking . . . well, obviously they would never fit LINK anymore, darn man-growing turd, so Sheik HAD to keep them! He couldn't just throw them out.

He stared at himself in the mirror as he wrapped the scarf more securely around his neck. His body spoke strongly.

She.

The crushing feeling in his chest was indescribable. He bulldozed downstairs and across the hall yet again.

"Have a good day, princess!" he heard his mother.

Sticking out a hand, palm to her, emotional words flew out of his mouth incoherently. "Nuh, nuh I dun caaa-haaaaa-haaaare, muh-huh-huh-huh!" He blasted through the doors and into the limo.

Mrs. Harkinian shook her head, then said to the butler, "Hormones."

Link waltzed into the cafeteria, feeling much more confident than yesterday. He walked to the table his best friend sat at. "Hey, Zelda, I brought my skateboard today! Do you wanna go to the park after school?"

"Yeah, whatever," she answered sadly. She was picking at her lunch food, having not eaten a single bite.

Zelda sure is down today, Link thought. He sat down backwards on the bench next to her, sticking his backpack between his legs. He wasn't sure what to say or how to say it, so he said, "What'cha eating? Seems pretty nasty."

Zelda twirled her fork into the mashed goods of her lunch tray. "It's the beating remains of my young, dead-" she stabbed the fork down, "-heart!"

Link blinked widely. "Okay."

Shadow came careening at them from across the room. "Heeeeeeeeeey there knuckleheads, in for some skatin, bros?"

"Cool it, Shadow," Link cut in, "Zelda's having a bad day."

"Oh really?" Shadow's face became the very model of a sympathetic friend face. He sat down next to Zelda, who was too busy staring at him oddly to notice how abnormally close he'd gotten for someone she'd just met yesterday.

"Did you just call me 'bro'?" Zelda asked, deadpan.

Shadow smirked. "Oh. Sorry?"

"No." She poked him in the chest. Her face was almost comically serious and fierce. "I like it. Do it again."

Shadow had backed away slightly, then shrugged. "Okay . . . bro?"

A wide, stupid grin peeled over Zelda's face and she grabbed her chocolate milk and stuck a straw in it.

Wow, that was a fast change, Link thought. "Hey! I know, let's go to that fish food place you like."

"Oh, Link, you'll hate it," she replied. "It's not the same as the stuff you get living near the ocean, ya know."

"So?" He grinned. "We're not going for me, we're going to cheer you up!"

"All-all three of us?" Shadow asked, a bit weakly.

Link considered. Then he reached over and punched Shadow's arm. "Yeah! All three of us."

Shadow's mouth twinged a little bit. "Well, gosh . . . thanks guys."

Zelda cackled around her straw.

Shadow was strangely quiet as they took the bus to Linebeck's Place. He gave Zelda's two security guards a wide berth. Some idiot at the end of the bus was taking pictures, and Shadow glanced at him oddly.

"Don't pay attention," said Zelda, "It just encourages them."

"Sheesh, I guess you're popular, huh?"

"Well, I AM the honorary prince and all. I mean princess."

"Freudian slip?"

"Shut up, Shadow!" She punched him playfully.

Shadow stretched his lanky limbs languidly. "Oh, I know, my body makes everybody want to be a guy."

Both Zelda and Link burst out laughing at that.

The three sat in a booth, Link and Zelda sat on one side and shadow slipped tentatively and stiff-backed into the other one. He looked like a fish out of water as he stared at the menu. Link and Zelda discussed what to get, and ordered quickly when the waitress arrived.

"And for you, sir?" The waitress said.

Shadow looked up with saucer eyes. Then he shut the menu and gave her a dazzling smile. "I'll just have a tomato and some water with a lemon. Is that alright?"

"Sure."

Zelda gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Shadow, is there nothing on the menu you'd like?"

Link was looking at him quizzically. "Yeah, are you allergic to something or . . . something?"

Shadow leaned back casually. "Nooooo, I'm okay. I'm going through my rebellious vegan phase." He put his hands behind his head and scratched the nape of his neck.

"You're a vegan?" Link asked, and without thinking, "So that's why you look so unhealthy."

"Hey!" Shadow's eyes slitted. "Animal products are as bad for you as SUGAR, didn't you know that?"

Link couldn't help but grin sheepishly. "Yeah, well, are you sure you're getting all your vitamins?"

"Oh my gosh!" Shadow rolled his eyes and slumped. "You sound like my dad!" Here he made a hilarious voice of some kind of doofus, "'You gotta get all your daily vitamins,' blah blah blah."

Link burst out laughing. "Is your dad some kind of food nut?"

"Pfft, I wish. Do you know what I have to do to get a side of fruit in my house? Sheesh."

"Well," Zelda said, "You do look kinda pale, Shadow. Have you considered taking supplemental vitamins?"

Shadow put his hands on the table. "Supplements are of the devil!"

This time Link AND Zelda burst out laughing.

Shadow blew a raspberry at them. "Heathens."

Shadow said his home wasn't far and chose to skateboard home, so Zelda and Link said goodbye and took the bus back to school. Afterward they split ways and Link went home.

The rest of the week went great, school in the day, hanging out with Zelda and often Shadow in the afternoons. Link found out he and Shadow had a class together. Link found this out when Shadow whispered a dirty joke into his ear about the teacher. Despite himself, Link had chuckled. Out loud.

The teacher glared. Link didn't care, which surprised even him.

However, Link got excited the closer it got to the weekend. The weekend meant he could finally spend a whole day with Aryll.

He woke up Saturday full of purpose and a huge grin on his face. He had made sure to wear his fuzzy, full-body pajamas. They were Aryll's favorite, and she wouldn't sit near him or let him hug her or anything if he wore anything else. He even had to wear mittens! She just didn't like the feeling of skin. Why the fuzzy stuff worked, he had no clue, and didn't care at the moment. He got into his bunny slippers (a Christmas present from Aryll), and trudged downstairs happily.

Aryll was at the kitchen counter, being very focused about eating her cereal. A spoonful in her mouth, seven chomps, swallow. Just like every other morning. Aryll had no concept of time, so she had no idea that it was Saturday or that Link would not be going to school today. She hadn't noticed Link yet, so he stood in the doorway and waited.

She stuck another spoonful of Triforce Puffs in her mouth and chomped. One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . her eyes rose slightly and took in the red-fuzzy pajamas. FIVE SIX SEVEN SWALLOW! She gasped and leaped off her stool excitedly. "LINK! LINK! LINK!" She ran over and collided with him.

He laughed in response. "Aryll! Aryll! Aryll!"

They ate breakfast together, Aryll making lots of noises as if telling him about her week, and her thoughts, and Link nodded and showed he at least wanted to understand, which was really important to Aryll. Then they cuddled up on the couch and watched cartoons, then played video games, and whenever Link thought she wasn't looking, he might glance at her face to see her grin, because she never looked at him. Even once. She hated looking at people, kind of like touching people. It was too much sensation for her brain. After they beat Super Hylia Sisters for the umpteenth time in their history, using the special clam shell secret, They just sat on the couch and goofed off. Link made Aryll laugh until she fell over by wiggling his toes. To him, they were toes, but to her, they were the most hilarious things in the universe.

After noon came and went, Aryll clambered back into his lap and snuggled against his chest. Link knew it wasn't really him, but the pajamas she was snuggling against . . . but then Aryll started lightly headbutting his chest and saying, "Bump bump. Bump bump!" Link realized she was replicating his heartbeat, and his soul soared. She WAS trying to connect! "That's my heart," Link explained.

Aryll stilled and considered. "Hhhhhheart?"

"Yeah."

Aryll put a hand on her own heart. Then she took in a huge breath and jumped off of Link and began running around the room. "BUMP BUMP! BUMP BUMP! BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP!" Then she leaped back onto his lap.

"OOF!"

She stuck her ear against his chest again. Then she smiled. Link wrapped his fuzzy sleeves around her, smiling, too.

Days with Aryll were never perfect. After all, she was autistic, and especially with the move and their parents' death, and getting a caretaker, she had been extremely temperamental. She blew up three times that Saturday, though, which was less than other Saturdays earlier in the summer. Maybe she was finally getting used to Mom and Dad not being there? Or else this Romani caretaker was amazing . . .

Link and Aryll were lying outside on the grass in the sun. His pajamas made him hot, which made him sleepy . . .

He woke with a start, and sat up, looking around. "Aryll?" She wasn't in the back yard, so he went inside. "ARYLL?!" he called, then felt bad, because Granny might be sleeping . . .

Aryll didn't answer, not that she would have, but the house was quiet. No sounds of exciteable feet or urgent mutterings anywhere. He went back outside and scoped the entire yard. "Aryll?!"

Nothing was out of place until he reached the side of the house. The gate to the front yard was wide open. Link's heart leapt to his throat. "ARYLL?!" He ran to the front yard and looked up and down the street.

"No, no, no, I closed it! I locked it! I KNOW I did!" He ran back to the gate and examined the lock. Tiny little bobby pins stuck out of it. Link's mouth dropped open. Had Aryll picked the lock?! Running back to the street, he began yelling, "ARYLL?! ARYLL?!" A few neighbors came outside.

He ran inside. "GRANDMA! GRANDMA WHERE ARE YOU?! IT'S ARYLL, SHE'S GONE!" They had locks on all the doors and windows. Because Aryll couldn't communicate, couldn't read well, couldn't repeat their number, address, or even her full name, and found loud noises and open places and most people to be frightening, her getting curious and wandering off was pretty much Link's worst nightmare. The locks were there for a reason.

He heard feet pattering upstairs, and he bounced on the balls of his feet with anxiety.

"Link, what's the matter?"

"It's Aryll, she—I fell asleep and she got out somehow!"

Worry flashed across her face. She pulled a cell phone from her pocket and began rushing down the stairs. "Take this, call EVERYONE in the contacts! Romani first. I'll take the car and drive around."

"Should I run and look for her?"

"No, you stay in case she comes back."

"Yes, Grandma." Link dialed Romani as Granny grabbed the keys and left. Link ran a restless hand through his hair, grimacing. "Pick up, pick up, pick up . . ."