AN: GO BACK A CHAPTER! I updated it on Tuesday, so if you haven't checked since last Saturday, might want to double check.

And yes, I am aware I misspelled Zant's name . . . fan fail . . . ha, not really!

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Chapter 30!

Sheik stared through his sheets at the ceiling. He was hot under his blankets, but the air outside his covers was far too cold. He was sweating all over, which meant his fever had finally broken. Even though it was silly, he still felt rather safe under the blankets. What was it about hiding under your blanket that made you feel safe?

The two weeks point passed . . . and there was no sign of Krad. Sheik was beginning to relax. He had no CLUE why Krad had suddenly disappeared, but he was certainly happy about it. The only problem was he was beginning to doubt his own sanity. Had he imagined the entire thing? Krad freezing time, threatening his friends . . . or . . . Sheik pulled the sheets off, revealing his flushed, sticky face. He pushed a hand through his hair and cringed at how tangly and rough it felt. He put out his right hand, palm outward, staring at the back. Ever since the concert, a mark had slowly begun appearing on the back of his right hand. He knew what the symbol was already. The Triforce, three triangles, one larger than the others. The large triangle represented wisdom, the piece of the Triforce Sheik now knew he held.

This whole thing with Krad. Had it been insanity, or had it been . . . a vision? He knew princesses of the past had visions. He sighed in relief. Maybe he wasn't going nuts! But what did the vision mean? What did it mean that he was interacting with this Krad person in a vision FOR DAYS? He rolled over onto his belly, giving his sweaty back a chance to breathe and dry a little bit.

Maybe the vision meant nothing more than to tell him about Ganondorf's horrible experiments. Sheik clenched his fists around his pillowcase. Although he was afraid of Krad and didn't exactly like the being, he was still furious with Ganondorf for experimenting on a sentient being. What kind of monster would do that?! I thought he only hurt animals, because he thought they were dumb, but a shadow being?! What other horrifying secrets is Dragmire hiding?

And what did it mean for Shadow? If Ganondorf was capable of . . . no. Ganondorf cared about Shadow. He would never hurt Shadow, would he?


"I'm kind of thinking about moving back in with Dad," Shadow commented while sitting at the kitchen bar.

Link sipped on his milkshake through a straw. "You miss him," he guessed. Shadow nodded.

"I guess it's just that . . . I didn't realize how much he was a part of my life, you know? I thought he was always too busy for me, but there were lots of little things he did, like try to make me eat and try to make me hurt animals and stuff, but it was all because he cared about me and . . . I miss that."

Link nodded understandingly. "I miss my Dad SO much. I wish I could hear what he has to say about my job, and my grades, and . . . you know, about me being bi. Maybe he'd have some advice, you know? Like even if he hated that I'm bi . . . I'd still wanna hear what he thought and why, you know?"

Again, Shadow nodded.

"So anyway," Link continued, "If you wanna go back and live with your Dad . . . it's okay with me. I'll miss you like heck, though."

"Pfft! It's not like I'm moving to another town." Shadow punched his arm.

Link chuckled. "No, but it's the little things. Don't know how I'm going to survive without you snoring and talking in your sleep."

"Shaddup!"


Sheik walked through the cold with his hands in his pockets. He was growing ever more confident that Krad was just a bad dream, a vision he was meant to interpret, not a dangerous person out for his blood. He walked up the drive to Link's house and went through the front door. He said hello to Aryll in the living room, and found Link and Shadow in the kitchen. "What's up, guys?"

"Hey!" Shadow grinned brightly. "You're feeling better!"

Sheik nodded. "Finally. I feel like I've been awake for two whole weeks!" They would never understand. He blinked. Maybe they would! "I . . . think I figured it out, though. I wanna talk about it, but first . . . how are you guys?"

"I'm good!" Shadow answered.

"Shadow's thinking about moving back in with his Dad," Link commented before finishing off his milkshake. When he set his glass down, he found Sheik had gone completely pale. "Whoa, you okay?"

"Don't go home," Sheik said.

Shadow and Link glanced at each other, and Shadow asked, "Why?"

"Just trust me—ugh." A sudden headache stabbed somewhere behind his eyes. "Oh, maybe I'm not as good as I thought . . ."

Link got up and escorted Sheik to one of the bar stools. "Are you gonna tell us what's been going on finally?"

"I'm sorry, guys . . . Link, give me your hand."

Confused, Link complied with his left hand. Sheik stared at the back of it for quite a while. "Um . . ." Link commented. "As much as I love holding your hand, Sheik—"

"Huh. Give me your other one."

"What? O . . . kay." Link's mouth was twitching, and he couldn't suppress a giggle.

Sheik looked up. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just . . . weird."

Sending a glance to the sky, Sheik let go of his hand and folded his arms, sulking in his seat. "That's weird . . ."

"What?" Shadow and Link asked in unison.

Sheik put out his right hand, showing them the faint image of the Triforce on the back of it.

"Whazzat?" Shadow asked.

"Mark of the Triforce."

Link's eyebrows rose. "That's a thing?!"

"Yup. Didn't you know that?"

Dumbfounded, Link could only reply, "Outset doesn't really promote Hylian mythology much."

"Well, lesson one—not a myth. Just . . . guarded by the Royal Family, so . . . keep it quiet, 'kay?"

The other boys nodded.

"But I'm confused, I thought for sure, since I have the Triforce of Wisdom, that Link would have the Triforce of Courage! Didn't you say you have knight's blood in your ancestry?"

Link nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, on my mom's side there was . . ." his speech slowed, ". . . only . . . I'm not actually related to my mom, so . . . I have no idea if I have the blood of knights or not." He looked suddenly crestfallen. Shadow patted his arm sympathetically. "But what does that mean?"

"Well," Sheik explained, "If you HAD knight blood in you, then the mark would have appeared on your hand, or else you would have been born with it."

"So I'm most definitely not a knight's descendant?"

Sheik chuckled. "You could still be, you're just not the carrier of the Triforce of Courage . . . which doesn't mean you're not the hero." The two boys stared blankly at him. "Oh COME ON! You guys HAVE to know the Legend of the Triforce? My family stopped keeping THAT a secret ages ago!" Link and Shadow shook their heads, and Sheik sighed. "Okay . . . I'll start from the beginning."

"Long loooooong ago, the Triforce split into three pieces. One went to the King of Evil, one to the Princess of Destiny, and one to the Hero of Time. Capiche? Yeah. Since then, the Triforce pieces of Wisdom and Power have been passed down throughout the generations. The Triforce marks don't appear unless they're either activated or the Hero appears. It's impossible to predict who in any of the bloodlines will actually receive the Triforce until it happens. They may hold it and not know it their entire life if the Hero doesn't appear. The Hero's mark, The Triforce of Courage, is always a birthmark, and it only appears when Hyrule is in danger. When that happens," Sheik pointed at the back of his hand, "THIS happens."

Link was speechless.

"Wow," Shadow remarked. "So . . . Hyrule's in danger, and you're the Princess of Destiny?" Sheik glared at him. He smirked. "Sorry. Prince." Sheik stuck his tongue out at him.

"That's right. I'm the Prince of Destiny, apparently . . ." His eyes slowly glanced down to Shadow's fingerless gloves. "Wait . . . We don't know if your dad Ravio had knight's blood, right?" Link nodded. Shadow sidled away. Sheik strode over to him and took one of his gloves. "Shadow, we gotta see if you've got the mark instead! Could you take off your gloves?"

Shadow ripped his hand away from Sheik. "Nope. I would have noticed. No mark."

"But . . . just to be sure, you may not have noticed—"

"No."

"Come on, don't be difficult." She grabbed his hand again and tugged.

"I said NO!" Shadow tugged away, but Sheik had a firm grip.

"Why?! Why don't you want to take your gloves off, they're just gloves!"

Link, seeing the slightly panicked look on Shadow's face, held a hand out and said cautiously, "Sheik . . ."

"TAKE IT OFF, SHADOW!"

"F- THE HELL OFF!" Shadow finally threw Sheik off and hunched his shoulders, folding his arms close to his chest. He backed out of the kitchen before turning and dashing outside.

Link ran after him. "Shadow!" He found his brother on his knees in the front yard, clutching his chest and struggling to breathe. Link skidded through the snow on his knees and held Shadow up. "You're not supposed to run . . . you're heart."

"SHUT UP!" Shadow struggled and threw Link off him, forcing himself to his feet. "I can do it," he squeaked out. "I can do ANYTHING! Okay? Whatever the hell I want!"

"Okay." Link tried to stay calm. "Just come back inside. I'll make sure Sheik doesn't try to take your gloves off again."

At first Link thought Shadow was still catching his breath, but then he heard, "It's not fair," in a choking voice. Link walked up to Shadow, but let him have his space. "Why'd I have to have a heart attack?" He stared down into his shaking, black-gloved hands. "Why do these things happen to me?"

Link waited to see if Shadow would say anything else, and when he didn't, just put his arm around him and directed him back toward the house. Shadow let him.

Sheik stood in the front doorway, looking more than a bit shamefaced. "I'm sorry, Shadow." Link and Shadow climbed the steps. "I . . ." Sheik continued. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Shadow avoided looking at Sheik, staring off blankly instead. Link gave Sheik a reassuring look, and led Shadow inside. Sheik excused himself to the living room and watched cartoons with Aryll. Link Made Shadow a vegan milkshake, the only vegan thing he knew how to make. "You don't have to talk about it," Link stated clearly, placing the milkshake in front of Shaadow. Shadow grasped the glass briefly, his eyebrows knitted, then he stood and walked to the kitchen door. Link didn't stop him.

Like a lot of old houses, the doorway to the kitchen actually had one of those sliding doors inside the wall. Shadow grabbed the tiny latch and pulled the door closed, and locked it. Then he just stood there. Link sat still, waiting.

Shadow finally turned around. "It happened when I was nine . . ." He pulled on the gloves, which were firmly in place since they were used to being there for pretty much everything except maybe showers, Link guessed. Shadow didn't sit, but he walked closer to Link as he peeled first one then the other glove off of his hands and arms.

Link was cautious not to say anything, keeping an emotionless expression. The skin of Shadow's arms and hands was mottled and scarred, in a horrific fashion. There were patches where skin had been grafted on. Link remained silent, but even if he'd known what to say, he couldn't speak past the lump in his throat.

"I still have to go to the doctor sometimes," Shadow said. "So he can check on stuff."

"What . . ." Link began, and cleared his throat because it was hoarse. And also he wondered if he should really ask. "What happened?" He was about to add that Shadow didn't have to, but Shadow replied,

"I had a pet. He'd escaped from Dad's lab." Shadow stared out the window, and wasted no time putting his gloves back on. "Dad was going to take him back, but I threw a fit. That's how I first learned Dad did experiments on animals." He paused, strong emotions fleeting across his face in succession. He suddenly smiled. "He was a young boar, really small, had the cutest tail! I named him Rufus. Dad let me have him, but then he . . . he started . . . Rufus started showing, like . . . powers." He eyebrows angled in worry. "Stuff . . . my dad didn't want me to see. Rufus would sometimes turn into a . . . a black blob and just kind of move around the room. It happened first when Dad locked me in my room and didn't let Rufus inside. Rufus just kinda . . . blobbed and came under my door." He smirked, chuckling awkwardly. "It was a bit weird, honestly! But then . . . once Dad found out, he said I had to get rid of him. He tried to tell me boars weren't pets, they were animals, and he wouldn't explain what was happening to Rufus. He started telling me Rufus was dangerous and would hurt me—I didn't believe him, obviously. I refused to let Rufus out of my sight, and Dad finally lost it and tried to take him from me. I told Rufus to hide, and he did, in the pantry. There's a furnace in the pantry, and me and Rufus would spend nights hanging out together roasting marshmallows. We kept it all secret, but I was only nine and not careful enough, and soon Dad figured it out." Shadow pushed his hair back behind his ears. "He was mad. Really, really mad! I yelled that I loved Rufus and didn't want him to go away. Dad screamed back at me about how Rufus was just an animal and I shouldn't care about it, and . . . and he . . . he threw . . ." Shadow gulped several times. Link could see him reliving the moment in his mind as he continued, "He threw Rufus into the furnace."

Link's jaw dropped, eyes widening. "He just . . . Rufus was still alive?!"

Shadow covered his face with his newly-gloved hands, saying shakily, "Yes. And he was screaming, and I . . I didn't even think about it. I put my hands into the furnace to try to save him."

"Holy shit."

"It hurt . . . so bad. But Rufus just . . . Dad pulled me away from the furnace." Shadow's voice broke. "I screamed, Dad screamed, Rufus . . . can't . . . I can't get the screaming out of my head. And then, he took me to the hospital, and Link . . . Link it was horrible. When I wasn't passed out, I was crying in pain."

Link didn't know what to do. Should he hug Shadow? Say 'I'm sorry?' What he ended up saying was, "You . . . you sure you wanna go back there? And live with him?"

Shadow shrugged uncertainly. "It . . . was a long time ago."

Link noticed his mouth was still open in shock. He closed it and gave his head a good shake. The thought of Shadow going through so much pain and horror was unthinkable to Link. He couldn't decide if it was an accident and he was just angry about the situation, or if he literally, legitimately hated Ganondorf. He threw his arms around Shadow's neck and held him close. "I'm so sorry, Shadow." He still didn't know what else to say.

Shadow returned the embrace.

"I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me," Link said, smiling slightly and hugging a little tighter.

Shadow made a self deprecating noise. "Can you not tell Sheik? I'm still kinda mad at him."

"Sure. Of course. So . . . is that why you stopped eating meat?" He felt Shadow nod.

"Yeah, and the smell of burning ANYTHING makes me throw up," Shadow admitted.

Link smirked. "So no barbecues this summer."

Shadow nodded quite emphatically as they released each other and said, "I really, really, REALLY hate fire!"


Aryll was staring at the wall, but it was not the wall she was seeing. The TV blared on behind her, and Sheik was asleep on the couch, but she took no notice. She held her arms out to either side, and she tilted this way and that, pretending she had wings and was gliding through a beautiful sky only she could see. She flapped her arms gracefully, dancing to the music in her head. She spun in a circle. She found Shadow watching her from the hallway, then continued dancing and flying in her imagination. Shadow watched her wistfully, wondering what it felt like to feel so peaceful. Aryll turned a second time. This time she grinned and flew over to him, taking his hands and pulling them up. She swayed back and forth, and showed him how to fly. She tossed his arms up, and he held them there.

"Fly!" she said.

Slowly, Shadow spread his arms, grinning at the silliness. He began to mirror Aryll's movements, and she smiled up at him adoringly. "We flying!" she said.

Shadow nodded.

"Look, Link! Look beautiful sky!" She gestured above them, in wonderment. Shadow did so, imagining what Aryll could be seeing.

Aryll began spinning in circles, looking for all the world like the happiest child on earth.

Shadow couldn't follow her. Instead his arms fell down, and he covered his face. "I can't fly, Aryll," he sobbed quietly.

Aryll stopped spinning and blinked at him. She tilted her head.

"My wings are burned," Shadow explained, knowing she wouldn't understand a word.

She began to frown, and then suddenly bounced forward and threw her arms around his waist, smiling up at him again.

You . . . you don't care, do you? Shadow thought, beginning to smile back. You don't care that I'm broken. You just want me to be your brother. He put him arms around Aryll and sniffed. Then he reached down and lifted her into the air. "YOU'RE FLYING, ARYLL!"

Aryll giggled madly as Shadow spun her in circles.

Sheik awoke on the couch, saw what was happening, and couldn't help but smile.

Shadow let go of Aryll and caught her in a hug. "You're the BEST little sister."

Aryll giggled again. "Hehe, L—sh . . Sha . . ." Shadow stared at her in surprise. She couldn't seem to finish, but she grinned, threw her arms around his neck again, and shouted, "SHAAAAAAAAAA!"

Shadow cried out. "LINK! LINK SHE SAID MY NAME!" He ran with her out of the living room. "LINK!" Link appeared at the top of the stairs, and Shadow had the happiest look on his face as he repeated,

"SHE SAID MY NAME!"