Hyrule never really got cold. It had vibrant springs and wonderfully hot summers and beautiful falls . . . but no real winters. At least not this near the sea.
It was still colder than Link liked. He wore his green wool coat with the dark green patches on the elbows, and his hoodie underneath that. He still felt cold. He wore brown fingerless gloves because he'd rather have freezing fingers than lack of feeling and mobility.
Not only that, the falling maple leaves kept blowing onto the skate park. They were a bit hard to maneuver around and kept getting stuck in his wheels. Stopping to release yet another leaf from the clutches of his skateboard, Link sighed.
Saria was wearing the same as ever, her green long-sleeve sweater and short green shorts and green headband. She was driving lazily around on her double-foot scooter.
"Hey, Saria!" Link called. The younger girl stopped. "You going to the battle of the bands on Saturday?"
Saria gave him a thumbs up. "Yup. See you there, skippy!"
Link smirked.
The Know-It-All Brothers were there, too. The triplet gingers who always wore matching color schemes. Today it was brown and orange camo. They were kicking around a hacky sack, their boards put up against the chain link fence surrounding the park.
Link joined them for a while, receiving three identical confirmations when he asked if they were going to the Battle of the Bands.
Of course, it would have been cooler if he could still announce his own band playing in it, but with Shadow out of commission and Sheik's life as stressful as it currently was with all the rumors in the media, they'd all decided as a group to forgo the performance.
It made Link sad, but there was always next year. It's not like he was a senior or anything.
Wait . . . Shad was. That meant they'd need a new bassist, as only highschool students could play in the competition . . .
Midna banged psychedelic nonstop rhythms on the drumset after it was decided, but Link had heard she'd found another band to play in, luckily. Link hadn't. He wanted to play with Shadow and Sheik and Shad and Midna, not some other band. He didn't feel he had the confidence to play without his friends . . .
Things with Shad had been okay. They went and got ice cream sometimes, and chatted a lot online after school. But Shad was super busy and applying to colleges, and there was that ever looming realization that Shad would be 18 soon.
Link hated to admit it, but he was thinking he'd have to break things off with Shad. But how do you break up with someone? He'd never broken up with someone before. Just thinking about it put him in a bad mood. Why did Shad have to be so busy?!
A kid on a BMX sped by him, launched up a ramp, and flipped his bike under him before landing.
It was Skullkid. The guy was wearing the same thing he always did, despite the cold weather. Still the orange hoodie and orange camo pants, the holy, too big tennis shows, and that freakish heart-shaped mask with spikes on the jawline. Skullkid turned around on his BMX bike and rode back to Link quickly. He stopped and did something Link never expected.
He said, "Hi."
Trying not to look too surprised, Link responded, "Hi." None of the skaters had ever heard Skullkid so much as mutter a single word the entire time they'd known him.
"Your skateboard's cool."
"Thanks . . ."
"So . . . where's that other kid? The one's always hangin' 'round you and that other guy?"
"You mean Shadow?"
Skullkid shrugged.
Link scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. He had memories flash of Shadow and Skullkid constantly battling each other on the park and realized that Shadow was probably the closest thing to a 'friend' the mysterious Skullkid had ever had. "I'm sorry, Skullkid, did you not hear? Shadow had a heart attack. He's okay, but he can't skate any time soon. Maybe never."
Skullkid's shoulder's slumped. "Oh." His voice was emotionless, static. He looked away and slowly pedaled off. Link could tell he was upset, but wasn't sure what to do about it. Link picked up his board and ran after him. "Hey Skullkid!"
Skullkid slowed back to a stop and looked back.
"I'm sure Shadow'd like to see you, if you wanna go visit him."
Skullkid shook his head vigorously. "No."
Confused, Link wanted to ask why, but Skullkid had already gone ahead. I wonder why he said no? It's like he was scared or something.
Link spent the next few minutes making up his mind, then eventually chased after and caught up with the Skullkid one more time.
Skullkid didn't say anything when Link blocked his way, just stopped and looked straight at him.
Link grinned. "Well . . . since Shadow can't be here, I'm going to be your friend from now on. Okay?"
Skullkid tilted his head. Then he shrugged. When his shoulders came back down . . . was there less of a slump there? Link decided to think there was. He smiled.
"Bet I can get more air than you can!" Link challenged.
"I doubt it," Skullkid replied.
SSS
When Link finally went home, it was dark. He opened the door to his house and went inside.
"Link! Link! Link!" Aryll came shooting from the living room.
"Aryll! Aryll! Aryll!" Link grinned down at her, eyes closed so she could look at his face. She liked it. She was getting better at looking into faces, but eyes still scared her. A lot. "Did you have a good day?"
"Seagull. Food. Link."
Shadow appeared from the living room and tackle-hugged Link. "Hello, brother!"
"Hi . . . brother," Link replied bashfully.
Aryll opened the front door. "Okay, bye bye Link!"
Shadow and Link looked at her. "No, Aryll, remember?" Link explained. "Shadow is sleeping here now."
She blinked, not comprehending. She closed the front door and opened it again. "Okay, bye bye Link!"
Link chuckled. Aryll called them both Link because she couldn't say Shadow's name. Actually, she tended to call anybody she liked Link. She'd even called Sheik Link a few times. "No, Aryll," he repeated. "Remember? Shadow is living with us for a while."
Shadow had called Link in the middle of the night just a few hours after Ganondorf had explained everything to them about their father.
"Link! I'm freaking out!"
"Muh? Shadow?"
"I can't sleep, bro. You gotta come get me."
"Mrrrmuh huh?" Link forced himself to sit up. "What?" He smacked his lips a couple times. "Why?"
"You know how Dad talked about all those times he blew up at Ravio, and how he went to anger management classes and stuff?"
". . . Yeah."
"Well . . . it's just got me nervous. What if he loses it again?"
"Shadow, you scared of Gandrf?" He couldn't pronounce the name this early in the morning. Night. What time was it?
"Yeah . . . I feel bad though, but I just can't get over it."
Link slithered out of bed and pattered down the hall. "Graaandmaaaaaaa," he droned as he knocked on her door.
"SHH! Dude, don't wake up Grammy! What are you doing?!"
A few minutes passed until Link replied, "She's come to pick youflrepbb." There was the sound of a phone hitting bed covers before the call ended.
So Shadow had come to live with Link, Aryll, and Granny. Ganondorf had been surprisingly cool about it. It meant the big man came to visit their house as well a lot, but that actually turned out alright. Ganondorf still payed for Shadow's food and other needs so he wouldn't be a sudden burden on Granny's finances. Not that she'd mind, though.
Shadow was still recovering, so he spent the school days with Aryll and Granny. Aryll refused to even acknowledge Shadow's existence the first few days.
"She's not mad at you or anything," Link had explained. "She's just not used to you being here yet. She doesn't do well with change."
"Oh." Shadow grinned. "Okay." He then made it his mission to get as close to Aryll as possible, so she wouldn't be shocked by him.
She was still confused, like now, when nighttime came and Shadow didn't leave like he always used to.
Shadow let Link go and walked out the door. "Goodbye, Aryll!"
"Okay, bye bye Link!" Aryll shut the door behind him and headed for the stairs.
Shadow knocked. Aryll stopped. She turned around and, with permission from Link, opened the door.
"Hi, Aryll!" said Shadow. "May I come in?"
Aryll blinked at him. This had never happened before. Shadow coming to visit at nighttime? "Okay bye bye Link, I guess." She opened the door wider to let Shadow in and hurried upstairs to her room, scratching her head.
Shadow giggled, and Link shut the door behind him. Then Link stretched his arms up and over his head. "How was your day?" He asked.
Shadow grinned. "Great! Aryll, Romani and me went to a park, and I helped Aryll fly a kite!"
A sharp pain of jealousy ripped through Link's insides. It wasn't the first time. Ever since Shadow had come to their house, envy of the greenest kind began billowing up inside. First of all, for whatever reason, Aryll was not afraid of Shadow, nor was she bothered by him. At all. She could look straight at him, hold his bare hand, sit in his lap, even . . . speak to him. Second of all, he got to spend so much MORE time with Aryll, now. Link was beginning to feel replaced. And useless. If she could communicate with Shadow, what did Aryll need Link for?
It made Link so jealous. So jealous he was mad. He tried to hold it in. "That's nice."
"Hold up, I'm gonna go get something. I'll be down for dinner in a minute."
"Okay." Link walked to the kitchen as Shadow bounded back up the stairs. Granny was finishing up cooking some peas, so Link decided to set the table. "Aryll! Aryll, time to do napkins!"
Aryll bounced into the kitchen and took the napkins from Link. Then she tugged on his shirt. He followed her, and she showed him how to shape the napkins into flower shapes.
"That's cool, Aryll, where'd you learn that?"
"Link!" she answered brightly.
Link knew quite distinctly that he was NOT the Link she was talking about. He forced the anger back down and said, as brightly as he could, "That's nice."
Eventually they sat down to dinner, and Shadow joined them. Granny prayed to the Goddesses, nand finally they dug in. Link just shlopped stuff onto his plate, not really caring if it all mixed together or not. Aryll, on the other hand, was busy aligning her carrots and peas to look nice before putting them one by one in her mouth. Shadow was so far only eating peas. Granny was still learning how to cook vegan, since Shadow was hilariously bad at cooking, turns out . . .
"So," Shadow began, holding out some sheet music. "I got this from the music store earlier today, and I thought we could learn it and maybe jam later?"
"Sure, whatever," Link answered coldly, stuffing a forkful of food in his mouth and sulking.
Shadow seemed a bit confused, but didn't quite clue in.
A rumble distracted Link, and he pulled the buzzing phone from his pocket. It was Shad.
"Sry. Can't make it tonight. Maybe this weekend?"
Link scowled.
"Link, don't check your phone at the table, please," Granny chided.
"Sorry, Grandma." How could Shad blow him off again?
"So anyway," Shadow continued, "I was teaching Aryll how to play guitar earlier, and she's actually pretty good—"
Link slammed his fork down and stood up.
"What—what did I say?" Shadow asked, meekly.
"Hmph."
"Link!" Granny scolded as Link roughly put his plate in the sink and stomped upstairs, not even pushing in his chair or excusing himself.
Aryll started giggling. "Link MAD!" Ever since Link had gotten mad at Ganondorf, Aryll thought Link getting mad was hilarious.
Link shut his bedroom door and belly flopped onto his bed. This is the worst day ever. That was a gross exaggeration, and he knew it, but it didn't make him feel any better about it. He rolled over onto his back. Why did this upset him so much? He should be happy Aryll was communicating so well, even if it wasn't with him, and Shad . . .
His breath caught. It just seemed like everyone he cared about was ignoring him completely, like he was slowly but steadily ceasing to exist.
Everybody thought he was doing fine. Nobody asked him how he was doing since his parents died. Everyone assumed he was okay because he never talked about it.
He wasn't okay.
Nobody even knew. Nobody at school knew him before his parents died. All his friends who did know him before were in Outset, Medli and Komali and Makar and the others. None of them called or sent letters. Occasionally he saw them online, but they never talked . . . Nobody knew him. Not the real him, anyway.
Except . . .
He flipped open his phone and speed dialed.
"Hi Link!" Sheik thankfully picked up.
"Hi Sheik."
"What's up?"
"Oh . . . nothing . . ."
"That doesn't sound good. What's wrong?"
Link rolled onto his belly again, his arms and head hanging over the side of his bed. He picked at the worn wooden floorboards. "Nothing . . . I just . . . had a really bad day, that's all."
"Aw, what happened?"
"Shad's ignoring me."
"What? Why?"
"I dunno!" Link whined, then lowered his voice again. "And that's not everything."
"No? How are you and Shadow getting along?"
"Shadow . . ." Link almost growled.
"Whoa, did you two have a fight?"
"Not exactly . . ."
"Well Link, it's not weird that you'd get annoyed by each other being around each other so much."
"I know. It's been . . ." He glanced over at Shadow's side of the room. Granny's house was small, so the boys had to share Link's room. "Different," he finished. Then with a shaky voice, added, "Really different. Hey, Sheik?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think . . . do you think I'm a worthwhile person?"
"Huh? Well, duh, of course I do! What made you wonder?"
"Well, it just seems like nobody really needs me right now."
Sheik giggled.
"What?"
"I really need you, Link. I'm actually really glad you called."
"Why?"
"Mom and Dad have been fighting about me since I came out. And when they're not fighting, they ignoring each other. Mom stares at me like she doesn't know what to do, and Dad just looks really disappointed all of the time. It's really nice to hear a friendly voice . . ."
"Gee, Sheik, I had no idea."
"Yeah. So, stop thinking you're not needed, okay?"
The barest glimmer of a smile returned to Link's face. "Okay. Hey, Sheik?"
"Yeah?"
"I need you, too, buddy."
