AN: Thanks for the reviews! Just finished finals, so I'm a bit too braindead for a thoughtful author's comment . . .
Chapter ENTER NEW STORY ARC!
Sheik was wigging out. What? YOU look at human beings, who are MEANT to move, and see them NOT moving—like NOTHING MOVING, not even THE EARTH—and see if YOU don't get creeped out! He waved his hands in front of his friends faces, then trepidatiously pointed a finger and poked Link's cowlick. It flicked. This is so weird . . . how did I get here?!
He looked at his mother. She was frozen, too. Why? So was Aryll. But they hadn't been affected by the weird rock guy's music. Why were THEY frozen? Sheik got to his feet and shouted, "IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?!"
Sheik's ears pricked, and he spun about.
The freaky soloist with the black mists was right behind him, giving him the most quizzical stare. He had a round face and a wide mouth, and stumpy pointed ears. His hair was wispy and straight. And light blue, like his eyes. He had a button nose, and Sheik was sure if he had spent time out in the sun he'd be one of those people with lots of cheek freckles.
Sheik didn't find him that scary. "Um, hello."
"Why aren't you frozen?" The being asked. His legs floated through the seats and people as he circled Sheik. He put his hands on his hips. "Everyone else is. Even your stupid queen."
So he'd been wondering the same thing as Sheik. Shrugging with his hands, Sheik replied, "Prince of Destiny." That made no sense, though. There was nothing different between him and his mother. Unless . . . could it be he was, in fact, THE prince of destiny?! Did he have super powers?
I'm gonna be a real life magical boy!
The being glared at him skeptically.
"So . . . what are you doing here?" Sheik asked.
"Getting back what's MINE!"
"You're the monster from Ganondorf's basement, aren't you?"
A spark of fear. The being shot back through several seats until he was floating in the air above the audience.
Sheik suddenly felt a flood of sympathy. This wasn't a monster, it wasn't even just an animal. It was a sentient being, one that could talk and reason. The implications of it . . . Ganondorf experimenting on live, human subjects?! "Ganondorf captured you, didn't he?"
The being looked ready to spit.
"Where are you from?"
The being glanced sideways at him, warily. "I don't know if you have a name for it."
"Try me."
"I exist on a different plane, one you people pay no attention to."
"The Shadow Realm?"
The being scoffed. "That's what YOU call it! For me, YOU are the shadows!"
Logically, it was impossible for shadow beings to cross over into this world, and vice versa. Unlike the Twilight Realm, the Shadow Realm and Light World were mirrored so closely that it was impossible to move from one to the other. And yet, somehow Ganondorf had managed to bring a shadow here. "Why did Ganondorf bring you here?"
"Are you not LISTENINIG?!" The being's voice climbed in volume and echoed around the chamber. "I'm not a person to you! I'm just a SHADOW! You have no qualms about using me for your OWN DESIGNS!"
"What do you mean?"
"GANONDORF!" he boomed. He vanished, then appeared a few feet away, glaring viciously at, not Sheik, but Shadow's frozen form. "His little whelp's heart was giving out, so he trapped me and gave him MY HEART INSTEAD!" His voice had a ripping quality, like a helpless, trapped animal.
"Your heart? . . . He . . ."
No. No, it was too terrible. Sheik brought a hand to his face as his mind connected the dots.
The being covered his face and his body writhed in the air in anguish. "For YEARS he would come. He would come and RIP a piece of my heart out! He ripped and ripped until now there's nothing left. I tried to stop him. I pleaded for my life, BUT HE DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME! He treated me like . . . like an animal. No, worse, a low-grade monster."
"But—but . . . how are you still alive then?" Sheik asked, with a nervous chuckle. "Isn't the purpose of a heart to, uh . . . keep you alive?"
The being vanished again, popping right in front of Sheik's face. Sheik fell backward in alarm.
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE DONE?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE DONE BECAUSE I HAVE NO HEART?!" His face darkened, a haunted look. He was no longer focused on Sheik's face, but rather an imaginary point somewhere beyond Sheik. "I really am a monster. I WANT MY HEART BACK! IT'S MINE!" He floated over the Shadow, grabbed him, and pulled an arm back, his fingers becoming shadowy claws.
Sheik's eyes widened. "WAIT! STOP!"
The being jerked. He sent Sheik a withering glare. "Stop doing that."
"You can't take Shadow's heart! He'll die!"
"So?! It's rightfully mine!"
"I know you're angry, and you should be! But . . . you can't possibly think killing another living being is the answer!"
A look of utter self disgust crossed the being's features. That and fury. "Remember what I said about having no heart? He wouldn't be the first I've killed."
"So . . . so your heart is your moral compass? You don't feel this is wrong?"
"I feel nothing."
"Wow. Wait, first? How . . . how many people have you killed."
The being seemed to forget about Shadow momentarily, causing Sheik to sigh inaudibly in relief. "Mostly animals. A few homeless people."
Sheik's gut plummeted. "Why?"
"For their hearts."
"You take their hearts?"
"No, I eat them!"
"But you gotta have SOME heart left, you eat mostly animals, not people."
"That's because right now I have the heart of a DOG!" He rolled his eyes. "Dog's and their people!" He again hovered before Shadow. "They don't last long enough, they're not MINE. I need MY heart back!"
"WAIT!" Sheik cried, before the being could try to rip Shadow's heart out again. "It's not going to work!"
The being looked legitimately confused. "What?"
"It's just . . . Shadow had a heart attack. Your heart isn't working for him, either."
The being balked, his entire face whitening. "What do you . . ." He shook his head, replacing his look of horror with one of determination. "Doesn't matter. A few moments more with my heart before I finally DIE in peace is good enough for me."
Sheik could see the longing on the shadow's face. He didn't want to think how much the being had suffered—for fourteen years! Now, he just wanted his heart back. He wanted himself back. "What if I could help you? What if I could make it so you could get your heart back and live?"
The being raised an eyebrow. "That would be preferable. Living, I mean."
Great, I've got his attention! "Well, then you can't take Shadow's heart. Not yet. I . . . I have to find a way to keep him alive, too."
The being frowned in distaste. "How long?"
". . . I don't know," Sheik answered reluctantly.
"HOW LONG?!"
"Weeks! At least! I don't know! But I promise, I WILL find a way to get your heart back, and in a way that you won't die when it happens. Right now what's left of Shadow's heart is all that's keeping YOUR heart alive. So . . . you can't take it now. You just have to be patient."
"I don't have much time left."
"I'll do my best."
The being got into Sheik's face again. "Fine. I'll just kill a human being every day until you finish!"
"NO." Sheik stated firmly. "If you want my help, then from now on you only kill animals."
The being backed off. "You have two weeks. If you don't finish by then—"
"I know, I know," Sheik interrupted, not really wanting to hear it again. "You'll eat Shadow's heart. I got it."
"No." The being's arm flew out, and a finger pointed directly at Link. "I'll eat HIS heart." The finger moved along, to point at Sheik's mother. "Then HER heart." Hebegan stepping back, away from Sheik and to the shadows in the corners of the room. "Then I'll eat Shadow's." He had almost completely disappeared. "THEN I'll eat yours."
The weight of those words were a crushing force against Sheik, but he kept standing.
Suddenly time began to move again.
"AAAH!" Shadow shrieked. "Sheik! You were sitting, now you're . . . you're over there, you're, what, I," he grabbed his head. "I don't get it!"
"Sheik, why'd you yell like that?" Link asked. He looked at the stage. "What happened? Where's the guy? Did he finish already?" He leaned back in his seat. "Man, who was that guy?"
Sheik felt a tickle of air next to his ear.
"One more thing, Princey."
Sheik froze on the spot.
"If you mention any of this to your friends, or to Ganondorf . . . I will murder everyone you know."
The being didn't say anything else, but Sheik kept his ears pricked just in case.
"Sheik? You okay?" Link asked.
"Huh? Yeah, just . . . just thinking." Sheik sat down.
"Do you wanna leave?" Link obviously thought Sheik's performance was still weighing him down. Sheik was too shaken to even try to get him to see it was anything else. Was the being watching? Could he follow him everywhere?
Sheik did NOT like that thought. I don't even know where to begin, he thought. He had been going to get help, possibly from his mother, or even from Ganondorf, figure out how this heart stuff worked. Now he was going to have to do it all by himself?
Maybe . . . maybe I can convince that shadow guy to change his mind . . .
