Dark's smirk vanished as he saw Link's surprised face.
He turned around and saw Sheik lying on the altar. Thinking the same thoughts, they both jumped to the ground and ran towards him. Link slowed down a few steps away from the altar, unsure of what to do.
"What is Zelda doing here?" he asked, remembering that the friend he had trusted wasn't real, but only Zelda's alter ego.
"Think I should hide?" asked Dark.
Link bit his lip and nodded. He didn't like the feeling of being alone once Dark vanished into his shadow, but he didn't want Zelda to wake up suddenly and arrive at the wrong conclusions. Or the right conclusions, for that matter. There just wasn't a good way to explain the fact that he had kept a being of darkness with him.
Link took a few steps and tried to touch Zelda, but his hands suddenly burned and he retreated with a yelp. For a few seconds he saw something flash all over the altar, a kind of shield.
"Zelda?" he called, determination finally settling in. "Zelda, can you hear me?"
"Of course she can't, asshat" said Dark from his shadow "If she could she would have already said something. You need to destroy the shield"
"But I might hurt her," he said and leaned in as close as he could, looking at the only visible eye beneath the locks of golden hair; closed as if in deep sleep.
"The energy on the shield feels familiar, but new…" mused Dark.
"I know, it's like a combination. There's Nabooru's spirit energy …and Rauru's light energy, I think," said Link, waving his palms over the energy shield enclosing his friend. "Maybe they're doing some kind of new technique? We should probably not interfere."
Dark came out of the shadow, reforming himself next to Link. "I don't think so. Look," he pointed to the thick layer of dust on the altar and the floor around it. Dust that would have needed months, even years to settle.
"What is going on in here?" growled Link, starting to get angry.
He opened his pack and took out the spirit and light medallions, not caring if the sages sensed their energy. If they did, all the better. They would have a lot to answer soon.
"Hold this and stand at the opposite of me" Link ordered to Dark as he stood near Zelda's head
"Uhmm, maybe I shouldn't stay here if all hell breaks loose. I don't really like friendly parties, and I'm sure your friends won't like me," said Dark, suddenly very nervous.
"I don't care. They have a lot to explain, and I'm free to do whatever I want. If they ask, I separated from my shadow to have someone to talk with, and that's it," said Link with a tone of finality.
Dark closed his mouth and frowned. Link was settling back into his old "Ruthless Hero" act and one didn't want to be near him when he did that. Dark knew it by experience, Link had almost killed him when he did, back in the Water Temple.
They both stood opposite of each other and held out the medallions. The light energy burned at Dark's hands, but he said nothing and covered his feelings so Link couldn't sense them.
The shield around the altar became visible. Swirling energy of light and spirit, draining it's power from the past and present, from one extreme of Hyrule to the other. Link growled and unleashed the power of the medallion, Dark moved too, as if he were a mere mirror image of the hero. Dark smiled at the thought of it, knowing that it was true.
The shield started to dissolve as it's energy flowed through the medallions, slowly it thinned until the last particles vanished. Inside, Zelda drew a long, deep breath.
"She's waking up!" shouted Link and dropped the medallion to lift her up.
"Oh, joy…" said Dark, his voice dripping sarcasm, as he dropped the medallion like it was on fire. He took off his cap and wiped the blood from his hands as quickly as he could, then hid the cap on his pocket. The wounds around his forearm started smoking and closed off right away. Still, the pain persisted, like a small knife tearing his flesh under the skin. He looked over at Link, but it seemed like he wasn't feeling anything. Dark grit his teeth at the realization that he could not feel the pain inflicted by light energy.
"Zelda? What happened to you? Are you ok?" asked Link, putting a hand to her shoulder.
A bright red eye opened and the person sat up.
"What is this?! Who has brought me here?!" he yelled with a deep, masculine voice.
"S-sheik?!" stuttered Link, taking a few steps back. Sheik turned his head towards him, then looked at the shadow still standing near the altar.
"Hero, explain what is happening right now, or I will attack," he said this while looking directly at the shadow, his hands suddenly full of throwing daggers.
"No! Wait, we just found you!" cried Link, stepping between them. "We had no idea you were here or why you're here, and…I thought you weren't real!"
Sheik's eyes widened
"Not real? Hero, I have guided you through six temples and you suddenly think I'm not real? What is going on? Is this another of Ganondorf's trickeries?"
"What? Ganondorf? What are you talking about? He's been trapped for…wait, how long have you been here?"
"First tell me what is that thing"
Dark Link was looking at Sheik's legs delightedly, and gave Link an amused look. He had already understood, but Link was decided to not understand.
"T-that's…my shadow. Uhm, he escaped from the sacred realm"
"I had a little help with my amazing escape, of course" said Dark, looking at his fingernails again, as if not really caring what happened.
"But he's not evil! Don't hurt him, please, just… please, tell me what happened. Who are you?"
Sheik's grasp on his daggers strengthened.
"Who am I? Have you hit your head, hero? I am Sheik, of the Sheikah. I am your guide. Now explain to me why was I asleep in the Temple of the Spirit?"
"Zelda said you were a lie."
"What?"
Link looked downward, unwilling to see Sheik in the eyes.
"In the Temple of Time, she transformed and said that it had been her all along," he said
Sheik seemed confused for a moment.
"How long have I been here?" he finally asked, his voice soft as a whisper
"I don't-"
"How long?"
"Counting time forward from the moment I saw Zelda on the Temple of Time…almost nine years."
Sheik let himself fall to the floor, his gaze suddenly blank.
"W-what?...Nine years…here?" he whispered. Link knelt next to him, smiling to keep his tears in check.
"You're real. I can't believe I found you" he hugged the Sheikah, who seemed to calm down.
They walked to the stairs and sat down there.
"I can't remember anything" said Sheik "After I taught you the spirit temple song, I went back to the princess to inform her, and…I think something hit me. I don't know. Was I under some kind of spell or curse? This could have been a trap of Ganondorf's minions"
"Sheik…Ganondorf's gone. Everything of him has vanished into a sealed alternate timeline…This wasn't done by him."
"Then why, who?...And how do we know he's not in this too?!" he pointed at the Shadow
"I was imprisoned for almost as long as you were. If Link hadn't gotten me out of the Sacred Realm, I would still be there now. Also, it was my idea to come here, so you could at least be nice to me"
"You got him out of the Sacred Realm?" asked Sheik, glaring at Link.
Link sighed. He always had to stumble into these things, whether he liked it or not, and now a new mystery reared its ugly head. But he wasn't about to complain, after he had gotten back his only friend.
"It's kind of a long story. But now we don't have much time, we must get to the sacred altar before Nabooru, the sage of spirit, realizes we're here. I need to see what I can do about…a dark object."
"You might want to hold back on calling us 'Dark'. Sheik will get a wrong impression if you keep that up. I mean, we've been housemates for more than half a year, so…"
Sheik shook his head, tiredness overcoming the instinct of battle always ready to jump up at the minor provocation. Link looked at him and gave him a sad smile. He remembered how tired, confused and sick he felt after waking up in the temple of time.
"How about you just explain me everything that happened in order? We'll deal with what it all means later" said the Sheikah, and they all got up to go to the altar in the gerudo goddess.