Roy: Is it really true?

Link: I can't believe it! Those stupid, idiotic…

Marth: Well, it could be worse…

Karanos: ALL RIGHT, what have I missed this time?

KT: We're not allowed to answer reviewers anymore.

Karanos: what! That's insane! How will I gather my minions?

KT: I don't know, but all it leaves us with is to do the stuff and introduce the chapter. Marth?

Marth: Yes, Kuroi Tenshi – Dark Angel does not own SSBM or any of its characters. She does own Sarah Holly and Jasmine Miles.

KT: Um… Roy! Introduce the chapter this time!

Roy: Oh, okay. Here's the chapter.

"Darkness of slumber and death, forever sinking and sinking." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Zelda woke up suddenly, gasping in pain and fear. She was drenched in cold sweat, and the sheets were soaked with it. She lay still for a while, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. The dream had seemed so real. Of course, she reminded herself harshly, it was real, even though it wasn't happening right where she was.

Zelda sat up carefully. She could see that she was in her room. Light came into the room through the curtains, falling in a thin line along the floor and far wall. Zelda looked at the light and shook her head, trying to forget the details of her dream. She pushed the covers off herself and moved over to her mirror.

"Oh, shit."

The person that stared out of the mirror at her was not the princess of Hyrule, nor did it look anything like her. Instead, long, unkempt blond bangs fell from a large gray bandage around her upper head, almost completely obscuring a pair of blood-red eyes. Her face was covered from the nose down by a thick gray scarf. She wore a skin-tight blue suit which showed bulging muscles underneath. Bandages were everywhere, seemingly random in their locations, though every finger was wrapped. In the center of the chest was a large symbol: an eye with a teardrop falling from the center.

Shiek looked at herself in the mirror for a long while before she moved again. It had been a long time since she had become Shiek. It brought up bad memories for her. If only she had handled things better back then… Shiek turned from the mirror and walked gracefully back to the bed. Leaning heavily on one of the bedposts, she lost herself in memories.

When she and Link were children, they had been so optimistic, thought they could save the world all by themselves. Zelda never foresaw how Ganondorf would use Link for his evil purposes. If only she had realized, if she had even stopped to think! Maybe Ganondorf would have remained a simple Gerudo thief, slinking around in dark alleyways, with no real power.

Her first mistake had been to ask Link to help out in the first place. The ocarina would have been so much safer if it had simply been protected by her own powers, even weak as they were back then. Her second mistake was Shiek. The use of her alter ego had been necessary to avoid detection by Ganondorf, but she never should have hidden herself from Link. She had waited until the last medallion had been collected to reveal herself, and that had been the worst mistake of all. Everything that had happened to Link to make him suffer had been because of her blunders, thinking that she could do anything simply because she was the princess of Hyrule, the bearer of the sacred name of Zelda.

Of course, at the end of the whole ordeal, she had sent Link back to his own time to let him grow up properly. He couldn't forget his hardships and the fighting, but he had to forget tiny pieces of the story. Zelda had locked his memories of Shiek into a small corner of his mind. It was essential for both of them to have proper lives afterward.

Sheik brushed her bangs out of her eyes and sighed heavily. She must have transformed in the middle of the night during the dream. She was a much better fighter than Zelda, and judging by the nature of the dream, she must have felt safer in this form. It made some sense, at least.

A light knock came on the door, and Shiek spun around in surprise, crouching down in the blink of an eye, ready to tackle any would-be attacker. Ha, she thought to herself humorlessly. Zelda couldn't have pulled that off. Zelda would have jumped and shrieked daintily.

"Zelda? Are you awake?" someone called from the other side of the door. Shiek recognized the slightly muffled voice as Link's. She stood up quickly, panicking a little.

"Uh, yes! D-don't come in yet!" she called shrilly. Quickly, she waved her arms and muttered some strange words under her breath. A moment later, Zelda stood in her room again. Luckily, she was still in her pajamas from last night. She stepped lightly across the room and opened the door, panting slightly.

Link's eyes shone with concern the moment he saw her. "Zelda! Are you okay?" he asked, stepping into the room.

Zelda smiled at him reassuringly. "Yes, yes I'm fine. You just caught me in the middle of getting ready to take a shower."

A light splash of pink appeared across the Hero's cheeks and nose, but he handled himself with a dignity that Marth would be proud of.

"Oh, that's good. I ran into Dr. Mario this morning, and he said you had left the hospital wing on your own this morning, so I just wanted to check up on you."

"What?" Zelda asked, instantly confused. When had she been in the hospital wing?

Link seemed to misunderstand her question. "Oh, come on Zel, you know I don't trust Dr. Mario! I had to check up on you."

"No, no, that's not what I meant," Zelda said, waving her hands before her. "I wasn't in the hospital wing at all. I mean, I've been here all night, haven't I?"

Now Link looked confused. "Zelda, we took you to the hospital wing yesterday evening when you were having fits in your sleep. Dr. Mario kept you for observations."

Zelda didn't say anything. She'd been having fits in her sleep. That couldn't be good. What if they found out? They were sure to tell her to stop as soon as they discovered it. She couldn't let that happen.

"Zelda? Are you sure you're okay?" Link asked, interrupting her thoughts.

The princess smiled again quickly. "Yes, yes. I'm perfectly fine. Now leave me alone so I can get my shower." She shooed him out of her room, trying not to laugh at the deeper shade of red that now colored Link's face.

As she moved toward her bathroom, Zelda promised herself that she would never be so foolish as to put Link in harm's way again. After all the things they had been through together, she simply couldn't bear to cause any more pain to the man she loved.

KT: There you go. Sorry it's a little short this time. Not much happens in this one, I'm afraid.

Link: Did she just say she loved me? Hot dog!

Roy: Oh, get over it. You're not a couple, me and Jazz are.

Marth: Yeah, but Jazz is too shy to show it.

Roy: grr…

Karanos: Shut up, all of you. People, we can't answer you anymore, but we still love to hear from you. Review!