Note: Chapter 3 happens during Link and Sheik's second year in juvie. Sorry I didn't make that more clear in the actual chapter.

3.

Systematic Deconstruction

Chunk!

Link paused as he reached for the door knob.

Chunk!

There it was again! Link yanked open the door to his room and stared.

Sheik was sitting rather awkwardly on his bed, kicking one of the bed posts.

"What are you doing?" Link asked.

"Kickin' this bed post."

Link blinked. "Why?"

"To knock it off."

Link sat down on his own bed with an air of resignation. "Why?" he asked again.

"I need the wood." Sheik's bed post cracked loudly, and with a final kick, clattered to the floor. "I'm making a shiv."

Link opened his mouth to say "why" again, but instead closed it and gave up.

"Just to have one," Sheik added, answering the question Link hadn't bothered to ask. "You know, because I want to."

"Why don't you just ask Saria? She likes you."

"She likes everyone," Sheik shook his head. "Even that 'Dark' guy."

"He's not so bad."

"He killed somebody!"

"He did!"

"Didn't you know?"

"Shit!"

"Chill dude. I'll make you a shiv too."

Link took several deep breaths, a good idea when dealing with people like his friends on a daily basis, and calmed down. "What were we saying?"

"Saria has bad taste."

"Does not!"

"She likes you doesn't she?"

"So?"

"No," Sheik looked up from his sharpening. "I mean she likes you."

Link stared, an unconscious sneer on his face. "No way Sheik! That's just gross!"

Sheik shrugged. "I could be wrong. What do I know about girls?" He sounded oddly bitter.

"You know it's almost lights out right?"

Sheik made a noncommital grunt.

"And I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to have a shiv."

Sheik grunted again.

"I'm going to bed. Don't stab me in my sleep."

"I make no promises," Sheik said calmly.

Link snorted and climbed into bed.

zzz

When Link woke up the next morning Sheik was already gone, as usual. Link didn't know how Sheik always woke up before he did, but it was a skill Link wouldn't mind learning. Sheik had a lot of skills Link envied.

For example, Link had never quite gotten the hang of "fitting in." When he was happy he showed it, when he was upset he tended to let people know, and when he was sad... Well, Link tried to avoid being sad.

Link was in a bad mood at the moment. His conversation with Sheik last night had given him some very unpleasant dreams, and he was starting to get a little claustrophobic. The fact that he still had just under seven years left until he could leave was not helping.

As much as he liked his friends and freedom, living in the same gray walls, day after day, for more than a year...it got hard. And if the stuff the older boys talked about was any indication, the fact that there was not a single female anywhere in the facility would soon become a rather pressing problem.

It was one of these testy older boys who bumped into Link on the way to breakfast. "Watch it midget," the boy snapped.

"Watch it yourself cunt," Link snapped back.

The older boy, with barely a change in expression, slammed Link up against the wall, knocking his hat off, and punched him hard in the stomach. A couple of the older boy's buddies noticed this and came to help.

Unfortunately, they came to help their friend, not Link.

Fifteen minutes later most of the older boys were confined to their rooms and Link was in the infirmary. He wasn't hurt too badly, a few scrapes and bruises and what would most likely be a black eye, and he hadn't ratted out any of his attackers. That was Rule One; don't squeal. So three of the boys had gotten away before the guards could catch them, and no one could prove theyhad doneanything.

Sheik turned up as the nurse was finishing with Link's bandages. "Link! Are you okay?" he exclaimed.

"What do you think?" Link asked sullenly.

"Come on," Sheik said softly. "Let's go back to our room."

Link slid off the cot he'd been sitting on, ran his fingers through his hair in an excessive display of not-caring, and left with Sheik.

"What happened?" Sheik asked. "Somebody said Chuck just attacked you without warning."

"Well, I did call him a cunt."

"Ah." Sheik was silent for a moment. "I guess I don't need to say anything."

"No. You don't." Link was walking slowly, almost limping. Sheik bit his lip and resisted the urge to try and help him.

When they got to their room Link sat on the bed and stared furiously at the floor. Sheik recognized that glare. It was the look one got when they were trying to convince everyone, including themselves, that they were not close to tears.

"For the record," Sheik said nonchalantly, "you got pounded into the ground. You've got a right to cry."

"It's not that!" Link burst out. "I don't care that I got beat up, I was stupid and I deserved it, but- but-" He took a deep shuddering breath and shook his head. Tears escaped from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. "They got my hat Sheik!"

"What?" Sheik blinked.

"My hat, dammit! I know it's stupid but... I've had that thing forever... I liked it..." He trailed off into silent tears, and when he looked up Sheik was gone.

zzz

Link was the first real friend Sheik had ever had. His old life had been quite literally the exact opposite of his life now, and though neither one was what he really wanted his life to be, at least in this one he had friends. His friends were very important to Sheik, despite being criminals, and he was not going to let anyone get away with hurting them.

Since he was not a guard, and didn't look like a threat, Sheik managed to get plenty of eyewitness accounts of the fight. They mostly disagreed, but Sheik did manage to determine which boy had picked up Link's hat as he ran. It was one of the ones who had escaped, but Sheik knew him from nicknaming and found him quickly, playing pool with some of his buddies.

"Hey, you're 'Cutter' right?" he said to the boy.

"That's me," the boy grinned. "Oh, hey, you're Sheik. What's up?"

"There's been some dispute over your nickname. Can we talk? Privately?"

"Sure." He put down his pool cue and warned his friends not to cheat while he was gone, then followed Sheik into the hallway.

It was empty. Sheik suppressed a smile.

"So what's the problem?" Cutter asked.

"What's that in your pocket?" Sheik pointed at a bit of green fabric sticking out of Cutter's pants pocket.

"Oh, this?" Cutter pulled it out. "I dunno, just picked it up. I think it belonged to that little- uh, I mean... Just found it."

"Link."

"What?"

"His name is Link. That's his hat." Sheik voice was flat, completely emotionless.

"Oh, well, whatever. I was gonna make it into a bandanna."

"How old are you Cutter?"

"Sixteen."

"Than this should hurt like hell." Without another word Sheik drove his knee into the older boys groin with a sickening crunch.

He inhaled sharply and fell to his knees. Sheik backhanded him across the face, kicked him on the other side of his face, and plucked the hat from his hand.

"Don't think the little ones can't fight back," he said simply, and walked off.

A few minutes later someone found Cutter lying in the hall, wheezing. He looked at him for a moment, then walked past him into the common room.

Rule 1: Don't squeal.

zzz

Link was glad to have his hat back, but naturally curious about where Sheik had gotten it.

"Just asked the guy who took it, he didn't care."

"Well thanks a lot Sheik, I appreciate it," Link smiled warmly.

"No problem, it was easy." Sheik smiled secretively and left the room.

Link stared at the closed door for a moment, then sighed and leaned back on his bed. There was something about Sheik. It seemed like there were always things he left unsaid, and double meanings to the things he did say. When he thought about it, Link realized he didn't really know anything about Sheik, he didn't even know why he'd run away from home or broken into that post office. Who breaks into a post office? It didn't make sense.

But Link couldn't bring himself to ask. He valued Sheik's friendship too much to jeopardize it.

zzz

Link woke early the next morning. He had fallen asleep long before lights out, and it worked against him.

At first he had every intention of rolling over and trying to go back to sleep, but something about the room, barely visible in the pre-dawn light, struck him as odd. Link sat up and squinted at the other side of the room.

Sheik was gone.

Link threw off his covers and climbed out of bed. Nervously he crossed the short distance between the beds and prodded Sheik's tangled sheets.

Yup, he was gone.

But that was impossible! The doors of all the rooms locked automatically after bed-check. There was no way Sheik could have disappeared like this.

On an impulse, Link checked the door.

It was unlocked.

Link opened the door slowly and peered into the hallway. There was no one in sight, and it was still dark. There weren't even any guards, though Link knew they patrolled pretty laxly at night.

Link slipped into the hall and looked around again. He didn't really want to close the door behind him, but figured it would be safer than leaving it open, so he shut it and tiptoed away.

He didn't have any specific destination in mind, but he headed toward the common area because there wasn't anything in the other direction. He glanced in the area, saw that there was nothing there, started to turn away, and stopped.

There was something...off. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was very strange.

"Hah!"

Link whirled around looking for the source of the sound. It had been a boy's voice, soft and muffled, but it sounded like he was fighting someone.

"Hp, hah!"

There! Link ran across the empty room to the door to the TV room.

"Hah!"

Link peered through the window in the door but no one was there. He pushed it open anyway and went in.

"Hp! Hp! Hah! Wa- unf!"

There was a thump from above Link's head. Of course, there was a storage room above the TV room! Link grabbed a chair and dragged it over under the panel with the lock in it that was an alternate entrance. Link pushed on it experimentally and was not surprised when it budged.

There was a figure in the room, climbing to its feet and dusting off its knees. As Link climbed through the hole and carefully replaced the panel the figure started kicking and punching the air.

"Ha!"

Link snuck as quietly as he could across the room. Luckily there were a lot of boxes to hide behind, and the figure has its back to him.

It was a small figure, a child probably. In fact, as Link got closer, it started to look a lot like...

"Sheik!"

Sheik whirled around. "Link!"

"What are you doing?"

Sheik looked down at his still-clenched fists. "Um, well, training."

"Training?"

"Yeah." Sheik coughed nervously and straightened up. "Training."

"Why?"

Sheik rolled his eyes. "You got the crap beaten out of you yesterday and you're still asking me that?"

"Well..." Link rubbed one of his bruises. "You do have a point. But seriously, why are you training?"

Sheik turned aside and went back to his kicking practice. "Have I told you much about my past Link?" he asked.

"No. Hardly anything."

"Good. I'll just tell you this; I need to be able to protect myself."

"But Sheik-"

"Besides, the Sheikah are the servants of the royal family. Most, if not all, train for battle from a very young age."

"Like eleven?"

"Yes, like eleven." Sheik sighed and stooped kicking again. "Was there something you wanted?"

"No, not really. I have another question though."

"By all means," Sheik said sarcastically.

"How the hell did you get here!"

"Oh, that." Sheik scratched his head nervously. "That's...kind of hard to explain..."

"Try."

"Well...most of the defenses in this place, well, the locks anyway, are purely technological. When it's magic vs. technology magic usually wins."

Link blinked. "You can do magic?"

"Short version, yes. Long version, hell yes."

"And you can fight?"

"Refer to previous answer."

"Sheik..." Link grinned suddenly. "I think you are the coolest person I know!"

Sheik looked at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. He laughed for a good five minutes, then when he stopped he wiped his eyes and waved Link over. "Come on buddy," he said. "Let me show you how to kick a guy where it really hurts."