11. End of an Era

A year passed. Link adjusted to his newfound knowledge, and managed to keep it secret from everyone. It wasn't like he hadn't felt the same way before, he just had a name for the emotion now.

His near-suicidal-depression was gone, it had been a temporary thing. With Sheik back and healthy and all his, it was hard to be depressed about anything.

But something odd was happening. Quiet. Quiet had invaded the facility.

Even Ruto had noticed, Link wasn't her only peer after all, that all the boys seemed...subdued. Almost...scared.

But what did they have to be scared of? Nothing had changed that Link had seen. Except for the quiet of course.

"What the hell is going on?" Link asked Sheik one day. "I haven't even had to beat anyone up in months!"

Sheik shrugged. "Any new kids?"

"No scary ones. Unless you count Tagger."

"Tagger's back?"

"Some kid's tattoo got infected. He ran and told his mommy."

"That's the kid's fault."

"Judge didn't see it that way."

"Poor Tagger."

"Poor Tagger."

Sheik flipped idly through his magazine. "Is he acting weird?"

"Who, Tagger?"

"Yeah."

"Not really. He doesn't want to try tattooing in here again, but he seems normal. It's only been a couple of days though, we'll have to see."

Sheik sighed. "I wish we could just ask someone what's up."

"And what are we supposed to say? 'Hey kid, how come you haven't chucked anything at anyone lately?'"

Sheik laughed. "I dare you to do that!"

Link was tempted, he'd do weirder to make Sheik laugh, but thought better of it. "Make me!" he said instead.

"I can."

Link snorted.

"No, really, I can." Sheik threw the magazine aside and tossed his legs over the side of the bed. He leaned down toward Link, who was on the floor, and smiled. "I know things about you Link... I know which buttons to press, and which stories to tell."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Link asked, though he was afraid he knew.

"Link..." Sheik smiled softly and fluttered his eyelashes. "Come on... Ask someone for me?"

"I- I- Uh- I-" Link's heart was pounding in his throat.

"If you don't... I'll tell everyone about what you say in your sleep."

Link blinked and gulped hard. "I...talk in my sleep?"

"From time to time." Sheik was smiling smugly now. "You say the oddest things."

"Sheik, there is no way you are going to tell anyone about anything I might have said."

"Oh no? What makes you think that?"

"Well, I'm bigger than you. I can beat you up."

"Ha! I'd like to see you try!"

Without a word, Link tackled him.

They rolled around on Sheik's bed until they fell off, then rolled around on the floor. Sheik was laughing his head off and Link was making little "grr" noises to amuse him. Then Link's arm pressed against something odd.

Something squishy.

Sheik squeaked, shoved Link off of him, and scrambled away, muttering something under his breath.

"Sheik?" Link pulled his hat back in place and stared at his friend. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, uh, nothing. Just...nothing."

"Did I hurt you?"

"Well, kinda."

"Where? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, really. It was just...a tender area." Sheik had his back to Link, but his arms were across his chest.

"Your chest?"

"I'm fine, okay?" Sheik snapped.

"All right, all right, sheesh."

Silence.

"What happened then?"

"Well...a spell kinda...tweaked out on me"

"A spell?"

"To be honest I'm surprised the spell hasn't done anything like this before. It's been going for years."

"What was it?"

"Uh...nothing important."

"Sheik?"

"Nothing you need to know about."

"Right..."

Another silence.

Link stood up and brushed himself off. "I'm gonna go, uh, ask some kid why he hasn't chucked anything at anyone lately."

Sheik laughed helplessly.

zzz

Link did it. He walked up to a random kid, and asked him why he was being so creepily well-behaved.

"I just don't want to cause any trouble," the kid said.

"Why not?" Link blinked.

The kid looked around. "I just...don't."

"Why the shifty eyes?"

"Sh- shifty eyes?" Now the kid's eyes widened. "I wasn't-"

"You know a kid named Mido?" Link asked.

"What! No, no, no way, no. No." The kid got up and ran away.

Link cracked his knuckles.

zzz

Link returned to the room a little while later. Sheik was flipping through the magazine again. He looked up when Link came in.

"Well?"

"Mido."

"Wha?"

"Mido's involved in this, I'm sure of it!"

Sheik rolled his eyes. "Not again."

"Yes again! It's always Mido!"

Sheik raised one eyebrow.

"It's usually Mido."

Sheik narrowed his eyes.

"It was Mido a couple of times."

Sheik blinked slowly.

"So, uh, what are you reading?"

"Well, um," Sheik glanced at the magazine, then flipped it closed. "Don't you have peer counciling?"

"Oh crap, you're right!" Link started to run for the door, then paused. "Hey, you wanna come?"

Sheik blinked. "Come?"

"I've never properly introduced you to Ruto. Come on, it'll be fun."

Sheik shrugged. "Okay, whatever." He got up and they left.

Ruto stood up politely when they came in.

"Hey Ruto," Link said. "This is Sheik. Sheik, Ruto."

"Hello Sheik," Ruto smiled.

"So it's true," Sheik said.

"Huh?"

"When Link first told me your name I thought it had to be a coincidence. No way that Ruto would be working in a juvenile detention center. And yet, here you are. How odd."

Ruto's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, you thought someone wouldn't guess? There aren't many of your type of Zora, you're just the right age, your name is Ruto. It's hard not to know."

"Well I know a few things about you too."

"How could you possibly know anything about me?"

"Link's told me more than even he realizes. And I've talked to others who know you. They don't get it, but I do. You're not very good at hiding it you know."

Sheik all but growled. "Bitch."

"Fag."

Sheik reared back and Link, recognizing the signs, neatly hooked his friend under the arms and linked his hands behind his head.

"Ow!" Sheik exclaimed. "Leggo!"

"No," Link said calmly. "It'll only take you a couple seconds to realize why I'm doing this."

"What? But-" His eyes widened. "Oh... Oops."

"You good?"

"Yeah. Sorry man."

Link released him. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

Sheik brushed off his arm. "Hmph."

"Sheik."

"She called me a- a- You heard what she called me!"

"You're right." Link looked at Ruto. "Ruto, you're a bitch."

"What?" she exclaimed.

Link turned back to Sheik. "Sheik, you're an asshole."

"Hey!"

"Now that that's settled, I want you, out," he jerked his thumb toward Sheik.

"But Link..."

"I'm supposed to talk to Ruto, remember?"

"Oh yeah... Sorry."

"It's okay." He squeezed Sheik's shoulder. "You're still my favorite."

Sheik smiled warmly up at him, glared at Ruto, and left.

"So," Link sat down across from the Zora girl. "Who are you?"

"Wh- what do you mean?" she asked nervously.

"Sheik obviously knew something about you that I don't, otherwise you wouldn't have bluffed him like that."

"It wasn't a bluff!" Ruto defended herself. "I really think he's gay!"

"Sheik is not gay. He's the one who- uh. Never mind. Just trust me, he's not."

"If you say so," she sighed.

"I do say so."

"Fine."

"So who are you?'

Ruto squirmed nervously.

"Ruto..."

She sighed again. "Look, it's not that big a deal. I just wanted you to judge me on me, not my family."

"Huh?"

"It's like this, see...if there was still a Zoran monarchy...I would be a princess."

"Crap! Really? So that's why you ran away from home?"

"Among other things, yeah... And my family's still really involved in politics and charities and stuff."

"Charities?" Link repeated. "Is...that what this is?"

"Well...yeah. At first. It looks really good for someone like me to help..."

"Someone like me?" Link suggested bitterly.

"Yeah..."

"Sheik was right, you are a bitch."

"I'm sorry. You know I don't think you're lower than me. But you're in here and I'm...well...not."

"Yeah, well, I won't be here forever," he muttered. "And I'm not lower than you."

"I really am sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's all right, you're not the only one keeping stuff from me." He grinned wryly. "I kind of doubt Sheik's a princess though."

zzz

Sheik, meanwhile, had retreated to the TV room. The tabloids were providing some amusement while he sulked, but his thoughts kept drifting away. Does Link think I'm gay? he wondered. If that princess-wannabe has been planting ideas in his head, maybe I should have hit her. Bitch.

"...don't forget it."

"I- I won't. I swear!"

"Shut up!"

"Uhn!"

Sheik's ears perked up.

"Just remember, stay low and you won't get hurt."

"S-sorry sir."

"I'm not sir, Mido's sir. Remember that too."

Sheik's eyes widened.

"I will. I'm sorry."

"Good. Now get lost."

Sheik casually glanced over his shoulder and fixed the boy's face in his mind. This was big.

But before he could do anything about it, Tagger showed up and plopped down beside him.

"'Tsup man?"

"Hi Tagger."

"You look like you've lost weight. About a hundred and thirty pounds of it."

"Link's at peer counciling. And he weighs a hundred and thirty-five pounds, thank you very much."

"He does?"

"Yup."

"Why do you know how much Link weighs?"

Sheik shrugged.

"Well how much do you weigh?"

"'Bout a hundred-forty."

"More than Link? But you look smaller."

"I am, I just have some body fat. Unlike our friend Mr. Sinew."

"Right..." Tagger leaned back on the couch. "So what's been going on in here?"

"I almost died."

"What! Really!"

"No."

Tagger laughed. "You're still a dork Sheik."

"And you're still a freak."

"It's nice to know some things don't change."

Sheik stared blankly at the TV. "Yeah..."

zzz

Link got back to their room late in the afternoon. As soon as he walked through the door Sheik flipped his magazine closed and sat up.

"Link, there's something I've got to-"

"It's all right," Link interrupted. "I know."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Ruto told me."

"Oh, right, Ruto. But Link-"

"You were right you know. She is a bitch."

"I'm always right. Wait, what?"

"She thinks of me as a charity case, or at least she did at first." Link tossed his hat on the bedpost, flopped down on his bed and sighed. "When I found out she'd run away from home I thought she was a kindred spirit, you know? But she was a spoiled little rich girl runaway, not like me at all."

"Just because she's rich and semi-famous doesn't mean she's nothing like you." Sheik leaned toward him. "People from all walks of life can be like you. Just look at me."

Link did. "What about you?"

"Am I nothing like you?"

Link laughed. "You're my best friend."

"Exactly. But my childhood couldn't have been more different."

"I think most people had childhoods unlike mine. I was raised by forest children."

"You understand then."

Link smiled. "You're so smart Sheik."

Sheik smiled back. "It's nothing but common sense. You've got it too, you just need to listen to it."

"Yeah...you're right..." Link stared back up at the ceiling. "Maybe it's not Mido that's behind all this weirdness. Maybe all of it is just my imagination."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Sheik leapt up and leaned over Link. "You're not crazy, you're right!"

"I'm what?" Link blinked.

"About Mido!"

"Mido?" Link sat up excitedly. Sheik didn't move back, and their faces were very close together. Link forgot what he'd been going to say. Luckily, Sheik didn't notice.

"Uh-huh," he said, smiling warmly. "Mido's behind this."

"But- but how?"

"How'd I find out?"

Sheik's breath smelled like gum. "Uh, sure."

"I overheard one of his flunkies shaking down some poor kid. I think your old friend has officially snapped."

"He's not my friend," Link hmphed.

"Either way, he's gone nuts. He's forcing everybody to, I don't know, keep it down or something."

"That's weird."

"Very."

"So what do we do?"

"Do?"

"We have to do something!"

"But what?"

Link shrugged. "Just...stop him I guess."

"Just the two of us? He's got flunkies!"

"Well I have fans." Link swung his legs over the bed and stood up. "I've saved enough kids from bullies over the years that everyone knows about me. I'm sure I can convince some people to help."

"Even if Mido's got everyone scared into submission?"

"People resent those they fear, if we can convince them we can take him down, they'll be more than willing to help."

Sheik grinned. "Now who's the smart one?"

Link smiled back. He was getting that urge again. The same one he'd been fighting for more than a year. To wrap his arms around Sheik and kiss him. It never got any easier though. It was so hard not to be honest with him.

Link wondered if this was how Sheik felt all the time, having to keep so much from everyone. Link didn't even know his parent's names. Or if he had parents.

"So what's step one?" Sheik asked.

The call for lights off echoed down the hall.

"Step one is get some sleep," Link grinned. "Operation, Take Down the Bastard begins tomorrow."

That night, Sheik dreamed of trees.

zzz

One week later, Mido noticed something...amiss. For one thing, his miniature army had become much more miniature. Almost half of his followers were MIA, and he couldn't figure out where they'd gone. Or why.

Not only that, but the kids he'd once had cowed were now completely ignoring him. And once again, he didn't know why.

His paranoid mind however had come up with several possibilities, many of which involved Link. So he kept his eyes on him and kept his head low. No sense providing a target.

He couldn't stay low for much longer though. His plan needed to go into effect.

Sometimes Mido forgot what his plan was.

Sometimes when he closed his eyes he could feel the walls closing in, crushing.

Sometimes he forgot how to breathe, and sometimes he didn't even try to remember.

Why bother, when he couldn't even remember the smell of grass?

zzz

"How many we got?" Link asked.

Sheik made a last check in his notebook. "Twenty-three."

"That enough?"

"Should be." Sheik tapped the pen on his pad for a moment. "Link, I've been thinking."

"You're always thinking," Link sighed. "But what is it this time?"

"Well, you know how you miss the forest?"

"Yeah..." Link growled. He didn't like to be reminded of it.

"Well, the Kokiri are part of the forest, aren't they?"

"Kinda. What's your point?"

"Think about it."

Link rolled his eyes. "Sheik, you-"

A head popped into the room. "Alert Chief," the boy said. "The nut job's on the move."

"Head out then," Link gestured to the rest of the boys. "Remember what we're doing here, being witnesses, we just want to prove the guy's as nuts as we know he is."

"Right," the boys, many of whom were Mido's old followers, chorused.

"Link, I'm not sure-"

"Then let's go!"

They went.

For the last week Link and Sheik had been watching Mido and his followers, and leading astray all the ones that looked like they could be led. The former toadies were all willing to reveal all they knew, which wasn't much. Mainly they just said the guy was a psycho.

But in the process of watching Mido, Sheik had started to have doubts. Not about Mido's lack of sanity, in fact the exact opposite. Sheik was starting to think something was really wrong with him.

And he thought he knew what it was.

But no one was listening to him.

Mido's plan, according to two-thirds of his former followers, was to kidnap a kid, beat the crap out of him, and frame Link for it. None of them were really sure why Mido hated Link so much, but a couple of them thought they'd heard him say something about it all being Link's fault. Link had no idea what that meant, but Sheik thought he did.

But no one was listening to him.

He never thought he'd miss his old life, but being taken seriously was something he'd like to get back.

zzz

Mido grabbed the most vulnerable kid he could find, a skinny little twig who was standing uncomfortably in a corner, wringing his hands. Mido smiled at him and offered to help him out. The boy gave him a grateful smile and followed him. Mido led the boy to a secluded area, beat the living crap out of him, and dragged him to Link's room.

He never recognized the boy, apparently he had meant it when he'd said he was "dead to him," and he never noticed any of the other boys following him.

Mido banged on Link's door, knowing that he was alone since Sheik had just been seen in the TV room.

When Link opened the door, Mido tossed the seemingly-unconscious boy at him, and followed the projectile into the room.

"What the hell!" Link exclaimed.

"What indeed?" Mido asked. "Why would you do something like that to that poor kid?"

"Me? I would never-"

"Odd, because I could have sworn I saw you drag this kid in here, and now I see him pounded into meat."

Link shook his head. "It's not gonna work Mido."

"I beg to differ."

"No, he's right," Sheik stepped into the room. "It isn't going to work."

"You!" Mido exclaimed.

"Me," Sheik agreed. He nodded to the boy on the floor, who got up, saluted ironically, and left.

"It's over Mido," Link said, grinning. "We've got more than enough witnesses to your madness, you're not going to get away with any of this ever again."

"Why?" Sheik said softly. "Why do this? All of this?"

"Why?" Mido repeated. "You think I even know!"

Link blinked.

"I'm just trying to make it through this! This is hell on earth and I don't know what the hell I'm doing!" That mad light was back in Mido's eyes, and he was speaking almost too fast to understand.

"You!" he whirled on Link. "This is all your fault! You left first! You're why Saria left! You're why we found out we could leave! So I left too, just to see what the world was like, have a good time. But it wasn't a good time, it was hell! No one saw me, listened to me, respected me! And then that man... That man..." He pulled at his own hair, eyes wide like a scared animal's.

His voice was now harsh, but still much too fast. "I didn't plan on hurting anyone, but that man... He took... And before I knew it his house was on fire, and I didn't care if anyone knew I'd done it. But they thought I was a kid, and I wound up here, and I tried to act like it was cool, like I could handle it, but I didn't know what the hell I was doing, all alone, I just bluffed and postured my way along, like I've always done, but you!" Once again he faced Link, glaring. "You actually like it here! You have friends! You're among your own people! You're not suffocating every day!"

Mido buried his face in his hands and sunk to the floor.

"I...I haven't seen a tree in months... Can't...I can't..."

Sheik looked at Link over Mido's shaking form. "Maybe there's a reason Kokiri don't leave the forest," he said calmly. "Maybe it really does kill them."

Link was obviously scared. "But Saria..."

"She never left the forest for more than a day, did she Mido?"

"Hours..." Mido muttered. "Three, four hours tops."

"You see?" Sheik bent down and helped Mido to his feet, putting the smaller boy's arm around his shoulders. "We're going to the infirmary," he said in a soothing voice. "They'll probably want to do blood tests, and you'll have to see a psychologist, but I think we can get you home."

"Home..." Mido said. His head was hanging now, he looked defeated. "I can't even remember what it looks like..."

Link came over and ducked under Mido's other arm. "It's green," he said. "Very green. There's a veritable wall of trees around the village, grass everywhere, and it always smells like dirt and fresh water."

"Fresh water..." Mido murmured. "Not this rusty stuff."

"Right," Link smiled.

They started walking forward, but just before they reached the door, Link paused. "Mido," he said slowly. "What happened to your fairy?"

"...That...that man..."

zzz

It took two weeks and the testimonyof all twenty-three of Link's fansto get Mido home, and more than a month to find the man who had stolen his fairy. Luckily it was still alive and Saria, who came to visit soon afterward, said that both it and Mido were on the road to recovery.

"He was never really that bad," she said. "He was jealous of you Link."

"Of me?" Link blinked.

"Everyone made such a big deal over you when you first arrived. Mido was the most popular guy around before you came, I think he thought you'd stolen his position."

"I wasn't popular."

"You were when you were tiny. It was when you started to look like a real person, but weren't like the rest of us, that everyone lost interest."

"Lost interest," Link snorted. "That's a nice way of putting it."

"Well it is pretty much what happened." She spread her hands. "We all still liked you, you just weren't as interesting. Do you understand?"

Link shrugged. "I don't know. I really don't." He looked down at his hands, running one finger over the Triforce tattoo. "What's going to happen when I get out of here?" he wondered aloud. "Do I even belong back home any more?"

"Of course!" Saria exclaimed. "It's still your home, even if you've been gone awhile. Not a lot changes in the forest, everything will be just like you left it."

"But I've changed. A lot. Will I even be welcome?"

"I'll welcome you. And Mido will too."

"Mido?"

"You saved his life. At least, he thinks so. And he's told the others. Link," Saria took his left hand, "you're a hero."

"A hero..." Link smiled. "You think so?"

"I do." She smiled back. "You know we still think of you as one of us."

"But I'm not one of you."

"Not a Kokiri, no. But you're still one of the family."

Link smiled again. "Family huh?"

"Yup."

"Okay, little big sister, I'll see you in a year."

"In a year," Saria squeezed his hand. "And hey, maybe you can be our link to the outside world."

Link winced. "Did you just pun my name?"

Saria smiled sheepishly. "I couldn't resist."

zzz

Later that same day, Sheik approached Ruto as she was leaving for the day.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she replied flatly.

"Listen, um, I think I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have acted like that, and I had no right to judge you."

"You're right, and thank you, but I owe you an apology too. I shouldn't have, well questioned your sexuality."

"It's okay," Sheik said. "I'll admit I can sometimes act a little...you know."

"Yeah, I know. And I can be a bit of a bitch sometimes."

"I'm not arguing."

They both laughed.

"So..." Ruto moved toward Sheik and smiled. "You like girls?"

"Totally," Sheik said firmly.

"Got a type?" Her smile was now wicked.

"Erm, well..." Sheik took a step back.

"You don't limit yourself to Sheikah girls, do you?"

"Well, no." He glanced around, looking for an out. Link was coming around the corner behind her. He started to wave to him, but Ruto grabbed his hand.

"You know, you're a nice guy, and pretty cute."

"Um, thanks?"

"I wouldn't mind getting to know you better."

"Well, that might be nice." Sheik mentally berated himself for being so polite.

"Glad to hear it." Then, in full sight of Link, Ruto pulled Sheik toward her, grabbed the back of his head, and kissed him on the mouth.

Link gaped.

Sheik struggled.

Ruto released him and smiled.

"See you...Sheik." She walked off down the hall, saying hi to Link on the way.

For a few seconds after she left, Link and Sheik stayed frozen, shocked. Link was the first one to break out of it. He walked toward Sheik, still gaping a little, and asked, "Did she just..."

Sheik shook himself. "Uh, yeah," he said, uncomfortable.

"Did she use..."

"Uh-huh." Sheik clearly resented the questioning.

There was another pause.

Link scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, uh, what was it like?"

Sheik, pissed off, decided to show him. He grabbed Link's hand, pulled him close, put his other hand behind his head, and kissed him firmly.

After a moment Sheik released him and said, "Only colder and with more tongue."

Link gasped like a fish.

Sheik stalked off down the hallway toward the TV room.

Slowly, Link raised a shaking hand to his mouth. He now had only two objectives in life. To punch Ruto, and to somehow make it to his room without anyone seeing how turned on he was.