I'm sorry this is so late! But I was busy with my trip to visit relatives, and then I had to babysit my little cousins, and get ready for camp, and- well, I've been busy. Sorry! And this chapter was hard to write, too, because I wanted to make it sound realistic yet not out of character. I think I like how it turned out. Not really any humor, though. Please enjoy, and feel free to leave a review or PM me with any questions, concerns, or criticism!

HUGE THANKS to CrimsonsArt, ultima-owner, and Lin Cho-Sanzo for reviewing!

To CrimsonsArt: My vacations was great, thanks!

To Lin Cho-Sanzo: Sorry it took so long, but just a warning: updates may be far between now that it's nearing the end of summer (for me, it ends in mid-August). Still, I'll try to do my best!

On a completely unrelated note, after this story is finished I'm considering posting a Pokémon fanfic called Shapeshifter. I've already got two chapters written up, and each is about the same length as an Honor Among Thieves chapter. AKA, 10 pages on Google Docs. However, it will be OC-centric. The tentative summary is this: "Wait, so you're actually some evil scientists' lab experiment gone wrong?" he asked incredulously. I laughed bitterly, and replied, "No, more like evil criminal organization's lab experiment gone right." It's about a girl who was experimented on by Team Rocket and transformed into a human-pokemon hybrid. She escapes, gets captured again, makes a bet with Giovanni. The bet is that if she can take the Pokémon League challenge, defeat the Elite Four and the Champion (Lance) with only three pokémon (a rapidash, lucario, and lapras), then Team Rocket with leave her alone. All within a year and half, a virtually impossible task. She takes the bet, and begins her pokémon journey. Will have humor, friendship, and Amaya (the main character) teasing Lance about his capes.

If you would be interested in reading it, please let me know! Otherwise I might not post it. Thanks!

Disclaimer: Only part I own is the plot. And the Terrible Trio's animal forms.


The night before we set out for wherever that big-a** cannon would take us, I dreamed.

I dreamed of monsters, a dragon, of knights and a castle. Of kidnapping a princess, and fighting the four Link lookalikes in a time long since past. Of Vaati, of Ganondorf, and of myself.

"Go, those who live in darkness.

"Crush Hyrule Castle!

"The time has come where I become the main character!"

I saw myself, riding atop a dragon surrounded by an army of monsters. Below was Hyrule Castle, younger and less worn, but unmistakable nevertheless.

Had I said that? Had I really tried to storm the Castle?

The idea seemed ludicrous. Hyrule Castle was, well, a castle. It was guarded day and night, by all the best knights of the land. It would take an army to breach those walls.

But… I had an army. Of monsters.

How? Why?

I watched from above as I fought, killed, stabbed knights in the back without an ounce of mercy. My eyes were cold and unfeeling. I was a murderer.

No. No! This isn't- this isn't me!

But I was helpless to stop the carnage, and the other me made it into the throne room. I saw as he/I laughed maniacally, even though it was empty, and proceeded to overturn the throne and slash the drapes surrounding the dais. Then he/I did some strange trick where he disguised himself as a younger version of Link, before slumping to the ground and feigning death. A bloody wound blossomed on the left side of his chest, right over his heart.

A minute later, a knight with the pointed ears of a Hylian, brown hair and a short beard burst in with a clatter of armor. He took in the throne, the drapes, and the fake-Link slumped against the dais.

"Link!

"What has happened to you… you tried fighting on your own again. The fool!

"Oh, Lord…

"Please save my son's life.

"Please, do it in return for my own life…!"

I felt a wrench in my gut. The Link I knew had grown up as an orphan. Was this the father he could have had? But, no… this was in the past This was long, long in the past.

Still, I couldn't help but feel a brief flare of jealousy.

"Hmm,

"You are a good father.

"Your pitiful words make me cry."

The fake-Link's appearance melted away, and the knight was left with my likeness in his arms. Then, the other me lunged with claws outstretched-

And the knight vanished with a scream and flash of darkness. Empty armor clattered to the floor, smoking lazily. The other me stood over it triumphantly, smirking an oh-so-familiar smirk.

"He he…

"Let me introduce you to the world of darkness.

"He he he he…"


I awoke with a start, a silent scream dying unheard on my lips and my heart beating faster than a jackrabbit's. It was about an hour before dawn, and the sky was only just beginning to lighten. The stars, though fading, still twinkled brightly. The moon dipped low towards the horizon, a mere sliver from setting completely.

I shivered slightly as I sat up, drawing my tattered cloak tighter around my shoulders. The seasons were transitioning from summer to fall now, and if we had still been on the streets we'd be just beginning to start hoarding food and supplies for the coming winter. The days were slowly but surely growing colder, and a cool breeze swirled in off the lake.

This year, though, our normal routine would be discarded in favor of adventuring with Link. I took a moment to reflect on the differences in our lifestyle, and the irony. Thieves becoming heroes. Who woulda thought.

That dream, though… everything had been so real. Like it had really happened. And somehow… I knew that it had. Judging by the style of armor and age of the castle, though, it had to have occurred over a hundred years ago. So how had I been there? Or… was it me at all?

But the dream hadn't felt like a dream, more like a long-forgotten memory. I knew that the other-me and me were the same person, so, how had I been alive? Why hadn't I remembered before? And why had I acted so, well, evil?

I know what I've said before- we lied, cheated, stole, and were proud of it. It was how we survived. But that didn't necessarily mean we were evil. Not like Zant, or Ganondorf. We still had some measure of honor, even if it was only among thieves. We weren't the type to steal from children and elderly. Not from the poor or sick, either.

I let out a quiet sigh. Great, now I was starting to have an identity crisis. Stupid dream. Though… it wasn't the first time. Before, I'd dismissed them, but then the Golden Wolf, Impaz, and now… to be honest, I wasn't sure what to think any more. One thought in my mind was clear, though-

Who am I?


"Link," Vaati said doubtfully, "Are you seriously going to shoot yourself out of a cannon into Goddess-knows where? Because if you do, it will be one of the most dangerous things that you've ever done. And one of the riskiest. What if you smash face-first into the side of a cliff?"

Link chuckled. "Aw, so you guys do care," he said teasingly. "Relax. I'll be fine, and anyway, if I fall you'll catch me. Right?"

I sighed but nodded, as did Vaati. "Still, though, you'll be going pretty fast," I told him. "There's a chance that you may be going too fast for us to keep up with. In which case your chances for survival dwindle into single digits. I know you're hard to kill, but smashing into solid rock might just do it."

He shrugged. "Well, worst case scenario, Midna could just warp me out. Right, Midna?" He turned to the imp, who was hovering at his shoulder. She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Theoretically, yes," she admitted. "But it would be difficult. I've never done it while moving before."

"But it's possible," Dark pointed out. "So, that's like your fail-safe or something. Come on, guys, he'll be fine. Just get in the cannon and go already."

Link laughed, then used his clawshot to pull himself in. The steel hatch closed behind him, and the cannon powered up. Just before he shot out, however, Ooccoo and her son of all people fluttered up and hitched a ride. I jerked back in surprise, but before any of us could do anything the cannon fired and they were gone.

Oops.


WHEEEEeeeeeeee

SPLOOSH!

I winced as Link belly-flopped into a large pool of water. "Ooh, that looks like it hurt."

Vaati touched down on weathered flagstones, purple streaks of wind disappearing as his cloak settled. He chuckled a little as the blond hylian bobbed up, wincing and spitting out droplets of water.

"Ow," the Hero complained as he climbed out of the shallow pool. "That stings."

"What did you expect?" Dark said with no little amusement. "You belly-flopped into still water at some ridiculous Goddesses-knows-what speed. If it was anyone else, they'd probably be suffering from broken bones."

"Still, it hurt."

I heard Midna cackle loudly from Link's shadow. He pouted, but quickly became serious as a strong gust of wind almost blew him over. "Gah! Vaati, can you anything about this wind?" he asked as he shivered violently, wringing streams of water out of his tunic.

My shorter brother shook his head. "Sorry, nope," he replied. "If I mess with the weather too much it has bad consequences later on. So even if I hold it back now, it'll just come back even worse later. But, if you want to dry off there's something I can try."

Link smiled hopefully. "Really? That would be a great help, thanks!"

Vaati nodded before striding over and placing both hands on Link's shoulder. He had to reach up to do it, and I noted with amusement the slight frown of irritation at his low stature. Then he began to mutter strange words under his breath in a language I vaguely recognized but couldn't identify. As he finished muttering the spell steam rose from Link's clothes, until all the water in them had evaporated off.

"That should do it," Vaati said with satisfaction as he lowered his hands. Link nodded his thanks.

I looked around and examined our surroundings. My eyes widened, and a strange feeling coiled in the pit of my stomach. I knew this place, knew it very well indeed. Yes, it was different- older, larger, far more weather-worn -but it was like having déjà vu. I had a sense that I'd somehow been here before.

Vaati, though, seemed far more affected than I was. His ruby-red eyes were large and round with shock, remembrance, and confusion. His face was stunned and unresponsive, even when Dark worriedly tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Vaati. You okay? You seem kind of… out of it," he asked with some concern.

He didn't seem to hear the other red-eyed hylian. Instead, my brother appeared to be in a sort of trance-like state. I suddenly had a strange feeling of being disconnected from everything, like nothing I was experiencing was real.

"I… I know this place… my City in the Sky…" the Wind Mage murmured softly. Walking along one of the paths that bridged the gap between structures, his fingers gently trailed against ancient stone. The rest of us followed behind, I in a sort of half-daze while Dark seemed to be getting more fidgety by the minute, To his credit, Link (for whatever reason) was the only one with a clear (albeit confused) head.

Vaati stopped just before he entered the egg-shaped building and looked straight up. I did too, but there was nothing there but a few wisps of clouds and-

Wait.

A faint shimmer, just barely visible to the naked eye. For a moment I thought it was a trick of the light, but then Midna popped out and gasped.

"There's something big up there," she said. "Something very, very big. It's been warded by a master, though. I can't even tell what it is." For some reason, she sounded slightly disturbed by this.

Vaati blinked slowly as a sudden gust of wind lifted his cloak, making it billow out dramatically. "I… it's important to me. I can bypass the wards, I think," he said.

Then, without warning, he suddenly rose on a swirl of wind and began to fly straight up. Dark and I, who really weren't thinking straight now that I look back on it, quickly followed. And poor Link was left alone.

To be honest, though, I had kinda forgotten about him. My mind was too busy trying to sort out the strange fragments of memories that appeared everywhere I looked. Phantom images, overlapping with reality, manifested in my vision. Old layered new, and past became present. I thought I was going crazy.

Then Vaati led us into the giant flying castle, and my mind skidded to a halt.

I… I've been here before. No, I lived here before.

My vision blurred, and suddenly I was seeing double. One of the two Vaatis was solid, real, and still dressed in the same tattered clothes as always. The other, just beside him, was semi-transparent and faded. That one was wearing an opulent purple hat set with a large red stone, a darker purple cape, and red bloomers.

A burst of hysterical laughter bubbled up in my throat, but I fought it down before it could escape. Red bloomers? Seriously? And… were those short red high heels? Great Goddesses, was he trying to look like a girl?

My brother Vaati was still walking, and as we went down a long hallway his better-dressed double turned around with a cold expression. His mouth moved but no sound came out, though I could've sworn I heard a sort of indistinct whisper in my ear. As we entered a large room, however, he faded from sight.

It looked like some sort of laboratory, filled to the brim with shelves of leather-bound books. Cabinets with the doors hanging half-open were stocked with a multitude of glass jars, each holding some sort of bizarre substance. Colors ranged from pearly white to acidic green, and everything appeared to be in as good condition as the day it was bottled. Preservative spells, perhaps?

A desk at the far end of the large room was covered in books and papers, scattered haphazardly like their owner had either left in a hurry or was extraordinarily messy. I suspected the former.

Embossed on the door of a safe built into the wall above the desk, however, was a stylized eye that caused all three of us to suddenly, inexplicably get splitting headaches. I cried out in pain as a rush of memories flowed into me, two lives melding into one. The world tilted, and the floor rushed up to meet me. Then, everything went black.


Past meets Present
Old meets New
and Time keeps Marching On…

a Soul of Shadows, Born of Magick
experiences Rebirth
a Second Chance for Redemption, gained
by One Last Sacrificial Act

Two Lives are One
Entwined, Combined
each Living in the Grey

a Mage and Minish, Picori Once
though Fallen, can be Redeemed
a Granted Wish, to Live Again
and Make Amends for Sins Long Past

another Created for Single Purpose
to Fight himself, and win
and as a Slave, could not Object
though Within, a Light had Sparked

Old Fighters Join
and Brothers Bond
Transcending Sands of Time
Between Two Sides, the Terrible Three
Leave Darkness… for the Light


Everything was dark.

No light, just blackness as far as the eye could see.

I wasn't sure if I should've been worried. For some reason, I wasn't. It was… comforting, in a way.

No distractions.

No annoyances.

No substance.

It was the perfect setting to think on my apparent rebirth. And my biggest question wasn't how- it was why.

Why am I alive again?

A second chance, the Golden Wolf had said. To atone for ancient sins. At the time, I'd had no clue as to what he'd been talking about. Now, I knew. I remembered.

I tried to kill them. Lots of times, actually. And that man…

My mind flashed back to my dream about the knight my past self had tricked. Link's father.

I was so, so cruel then…

Images flashed through my mind's eye. Death Mountain. A fight between Links. Vio turning "traitor".

Vio. He betrayed me. But… I forgave him for it. Even if he never knew, I remember… even if I never got to tell him.

I remember thinking of him as a friend. As my only friend, actually. And… I wished that he was still alive so I could tell him that.

Dead. They're all… dead. Hundreds of years ago. Nothing but dust now.

It took a moment for that to sink in. The people that I had spent my entire first life fighting against and eventually sacrificing myself for… were all dead. Gone. Little more than dust under a weathered gravestone. I wondered if they had become one again, after defeating Ganon. Most likely.

Vio, Green, Red, Blue… all Link. Then… this the current Link their descendant?

I wasn't sure. In appearance and personality, yes, they were almost identical. This one was older, more mature, but also more, well, naïve. Then again, he hadn't grown up as the son of a knight. The chances of them being related, though…

It's quite possible. Don't the Heroes usually come from a certain bloodline?

Dimly, I recalled Ganon mentioning that at one point. It would make sense. That begged the question, though- how did the bloodline go from being knights of the castle to a farmboy of the kingdom's southernmost province?

That was hundreds of years ago, though. A lot could have happened.

I sighed, even though it made no sound. Offhandedly, I wondered where exactly I was. It was a very strange feeling, to be completely without any senses. Blind, deaf, dumb, and unable to do much more than think.

For the moment, though, that was okay. Thinking was what I needed. Thinking would be how I would come to terms with the merging of my two lives.

Though, it's really more like one and a half, I thought wryly. My first life lasted for all of, what, a year? Less? Something like that. D***, I died young. If there had been sound I would have laughed bitterly. As it was, all my mouth did was move soundlessly.

I remembered how I'd died. First throwing a chair through the Dark Mirror, then pushing it over the edge of the tower. Now, that had hurt. A lot. Every crack and break had caused me pain as well, and I could literally feel my life-force slipping away as I did it. And Vaati, driven mad by the century of sealing…

"The Dark Mirror! Have you gone nuts, Shadow Link!"

"Hehehe… Now darkness can't be reborn anymore."

"This also means that you'll be throwing your own life away, fool!"

"What's wrong with that? I was born out of the Dark Mirror. And with my hands I unleashed you. Ain't it perfect for us to both die together!"

"STOP IT!"

Vaati's desperate shriek, and the awful wail as he melted to nothing made my stomach churn. Then I realized- if I had regained my memories, then had Dark and Vaati regained theirs as well?

D***. Vaati's going to be pissed.

I remembered hearing about Dark Link, Ganon's first attempt at the spell that created me, from the giant pig himself. He'd been waxing eloquent about every detail- how he'd stolen the spell from the Sheikah Tribe, how he'd considered Dark a failure and then altered it to finally create me. He had been so proud of himself.

My brother… was Dark Link.

And I… am Shadow Link.

The last thing I'd seen had been Vio's face, telling me I was one of them. His words had filled me with a type of indescribable warmth. I was truly happy, for perhaps the first time since my creation.

"You know shadows, can always do nothing but follow behind their owners.

"Backs facing to us, never to turn around.

"But this shadow was able to turn before y'all and defeat y'all's enemy.

"Isn't that something."

A bright light, the sensation of warmth and calm before my eyes closed and I knew no more. A woman's voice, murmuring in my ear. After that, all I remembered was my life on the streets.

"But you should know- the Goddesses have sent you three back to this kingdom for a reason. A second chance, one that you all deserve.

"Most of my tribe now resides in the mountains, far away from civilization, even farther north than the Yeti. When you have been fully reborn, you should seek them out. You'll know what I mean when the time comes.

"I have faith in your three. You are all much stronger than you think."

Impaz. The old woman. She had known. Somehow, she had known.

How?

Oh… Sheikah. Of course. That tribe had always been particularly attuned to the Goddesses, and often did their bidding down on the mortal plane. I'd read about it before, once when I had some free time.

What? Just because I was evil didn't mean I liked to read! It wasn't like I had been created with the Links' knowledge. Everything I knew I'd either been taught or read about. Which was how I also knew how to disguise my gutter talk accent.

Also, Ganon never entered the library. It was usually quiet and peaceful in there, which was another reason it made a good hideout. Even though Vaati's an even bigger bookworm than me, he usually used his own personal library instead. More spellbooks there, y'see.

Anyway, remembering Impaz's words also made me remember the map she'd given to Dark. I didn't know why she wanted us to visit her tribe; but since she'd most likely been told by the Goddesses to do so it wouldn't be a good idea to ignore it. After we finished getting the Mirror Shard here, then, we needed to go back to Snowpeak.

D***. Fall, now, so it's going to be even colder than before, I silently lamented. Oh well. We could manage.

Hey… is that a light?

My train of thought was derailed as I saw what appeared to be a spark of light, like a single star in the night sky. As I watched it grew bigger and bigger, almost blinding in its intensity. Colors began to form, fading in as blobs of purple and red and blue. Then sound filtered in, and I could hear snatches and snippets of disjointed words.

"-adow?"

"W-ke -p!"

"Sh-w!"

Then I blinked, and the mysterious realm of darkness was gone. White stone slowly came into focus, and I was suddenly aware of the cold against my back and the faces of my brothers leaning over me. I blinked again, this time in confusion.

Wait… why am I staring at the ceiling?

"Shadow. You alright?" Dark asked with concern. I groaned and sat up.

"Ow. Yes. My back hurts; how long was I out?" I asked.

Vaati answered, "Dunno. We just woke up about a minute ago; but since there's no windows I have no idea. But…" he shot me a strange look. "Do you… remember?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I remember everything."

Dark rocked back on his heels. "Well, s***," he muttered. "So it wasn't all some crazy dream."

"No," I replied dryly. "No, it was not."

Vaati groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "S***," the Mage swore. Then he continued with a string of profanity easily rivaling that of any weather-beaten sailor. To be honest, I felt like doing to same. "D***. This is f***** up."

Dark let out a bark of laughter. "You're telling me?" he said. "Link killed me. With the f****** Master Sword. Do you know how much that hurts?"

"I wouldn't know," Vaati replied flatly. "Seeing as someone decided to throw the object tied to my life-force off the top of a tower! I melted, Goddesses-d*****!"

"Hey, not my fault you were insane! Besides, I killed myself with that little stunt too, y'know!" I defended hotly. "Imagine how I felt!"

Dark was now looking between us in confusion. "Killed yourself?" he echoed in confusion. "Okay, I am definitely missing something here."

Vaati groaned again and sighed. "It's a long story. A very, very long story."

I couldn't hold back a snort.