"A shield made of light and spirit power, that is…surprising." Said Sheik, in a tone that said that the word wasn't surprising, but something far harsher. After all, the only ones who could have done that were Nabooru and Rauru. Link also understood that, but he had more than enough to worry about, and wanted to take things one by one. That had always helped him deal with everything before, and few things were worse than having a monstrous moon hanging over you all the time, waiting for you to screw up and fall.

One thing at a time, that was the way.

"Yes," said Link, refusing to say anything more about that.

"But you came here to get rid of an object, one that you don't want anyone to know. Since I'm already here" Link gritted his teeth at Sheik's cold tone "I think I can know what it is. It can't be worse than seeing the physical embodiment of your darkness, can it?"

"Hey, pretty boy. I'm Right. Here." Growled Dark "And it is way, way worse than me. How's it about facing a demented god?"

"He's not mad" said Link, angry at that. He felt like defending the deity, but didn't know why.

"Just very close to it"

They stared at the hole in the floor in front of them, and before Link could say anything, Sheik jumped down into it. Link could feel Dark snickering behind him before he hid in his shadow. He jumped down too.

"What now?" asked Sheik

"Uh?"

"Well, since you jumped too, you must know a way to get from here to there" he pointed to the entrance on the goddess' face.

"Oh, yes. Here" he took out his hookshot, and bumped head first into the reason Dark had snickered and hid in his shadow "Uh, I'm gonna have to…we're going to…The hookshot will…"

Sheik raised an eyebrow. "Do I have to hold on to you?" he asked.

Link felt his face turning red. "Y-yeah, that…yes."

Sheik crossed his arms and looked hard at him. Then he laughed. The sound echoed in the stone hall, making Link feel very small.

"You are…much better than I remember you, hero"

"Better?" asked Link, trying hard not to think about how different the word hero sounded, coming from Sheik's lips. Instead of making it sound like a burden, Sheik said it like it was just something he was, a part of him.

"You seem…happier. I'd always been very concerned about you…I thought, that even if we didn't make it through, I would at least want you to have some moments of happiness…I'm sorry I never got to do it."

"Don't be sorry! I…well, you're my best friend Sheik"

Beneath Link's feet, his shadow prickled at his feet.

"I'm still Right Here. Am I not counted in your friends?"

"No," said Link.

"I'm hurt."

"Well, you could be…something like my family, maybe. My twin brother?"

"Ooh, I'm the evil twin! I love it! Sheik can be the hot blonde we both fight for"

A sheikah dagger hit the shadow, but Dark only laughed.

"Eh, don't mind him, he just wants to be mean," said Link.

"I'm sure he does," said Sheik.

Link gave Sheik back the dagger and pointed the hookshot towards the entrance, but his aim wavered when the sheikah held on to him with both arms.

"Haven't been practicing?" asked Sheik, looking at the tiny red dot moving all over the statue.

Link laughed nervously.

"Yeah, there hasn't, uhm, been much to do" he straightened his aim, focusing on the door, and not in how oddly warm was Sheik's body, for someone trapped in a magical shield for nearly a decade.

Or how he still had the same exotic scent as he did in the war.

He still couldn't aim.

And suddenly, something grabbed hold of him, from inside. Something cold, buzzing with energy, grabbed his wrist and pointed at the door firmly and shot.

"If I leave it to you, I'll never get out of here" said a far away voice in his mind.

The sensation was gone when they landed, and Sheik said nothing, but let go of him too fast. As if wanting to get away.

"I had to hold you when I shot. Sorry, I just had to, uhm, make sure you didn't fall," said Link.

"I know. Let's go," said Sheik, walking ahead without waiting for him.

Dark materialized next to Link. "Did you touch him?" he asked in a whisper, tracing his hands up and down Link's waist to emphasize his point.

Link shivered and felt his face burning. "No," he whispered, and pushed him away.

Dark grinned. "You should have"

Link tried to strangle him, but Sheik called for them to approach the altar, so he just made a mental note of it.

They hiked their way up to the altar platform. It looked like it hadn't been used in years, and the silence around it felt heavy.

"How are you going to get him out?" asked Sheik, and Link felt like iced fire ran through his veins. He hadn't planned what to tell him at this point.

"Him?"

"The one who possessed you back in the platform"

"You heard him?"

"No. I saw him" he turned and pointed at his red eye, then at the eye painted in his chest "Sheikah eyes. I can see spirits. I was going to joke about how you couldn't aim, but when I looked up, you weren't there, it was this…odd, very tall person. With white hair, I couldn't see him clearly, but I knew it wasn't you"

"…I'm sorry, I didn't know how to explain it."

"Whatever he is, we need to get him out of you. If he can possess your body, he can have access to the power of the triforce"

Link pulled the mask out of his pack, while Dark paced around the platform, inspecting the details on the carpet.

The shadow could catch glimpses of Link's memories of his battle there. He picked at a burned hole in the carpet with his foot, remembering a blow of fire rushing towards Link, while the witches cackled behind him.

"Stop that," called Link from the other end of the platform. "You can ask, alright?" he said with a tone of annoyance.

Dark rolled his eyes. "You can ask," he muttere in a whiny voice, mocking him.

Link huffed and stood up with the mask in his hands, and noticed Sheik frowning at him.

"What was he doing?" asked the Sheikah with concern.

Link tried to smile and waved a hand to show it wasn't important. "Uh, nothing just...we have this weird bond where we can sort of...uhm..."

"We share minds," yelled Dark nonchalantly.

"You what?" asked Sheik, hands on his hips and glaring at Link.

"No, no! We don't actually share minds. It's more like... Like our minds are rooms next to each other. We can hear what the other thinks if we try, and we sometimes can go inside each other's room and see what's there," said Link with a tense smile. "He was looking at my memories of the battle with Twinrova."

Sheik looked straight into Link's eyes, as if he could see something in them. Link felt exposed, and looked away from Sheik's harsh stare, praying in his mind that Sheik didn't decide that he now posed a threat. He couldn't take that. Not now, and not from him.

"So you both know what the other one is doing at all times?" asked Sheik with a softer tone, but his guarded stance didn't change. "Sounds uncomfortable."

Link shrugged and went to stand at the center of the platform. "I don't notice it most of the time. In a way, it's more comfortable when he does most of the talking and I don't have to explain myself."

Sheik nodded. "You were never the talkative type. I see that hasn't changed."

Link knelt down to place the mask at the center of the platform. Dark hovered around him, acting nonchalant, but Link could feel him paying attention to every one of his movements.

"I didn't know it could possess me while I wasn't wearing the mask. He never tried it before. He must be getting restless," said Link

"Being locked in that thing, I would feel restless too," said Dark

"That doesn't matter. What should we do now?" asked Sheik, looking at the mask, but unwilling to touch it.

"I'm not sure," said Link. "I thought of using the power of the medallions, but…I already used them to free you from the shield, and I'm worried Nabooru or Rauru might notice."

"What about using that song the masks man taught you?" asked Dark, and hummed the tune.

"Hmm, well, that might be useful; but I don't have the ocarina of time anymore," said Link, standing up. "Even if I played the song on my ocarina, it would be no good."

"I could play it in my harp. I'm not as good with magic as her highness, but I think I could manage." Said Sheik, taking out a harp from under the cloth over his chest that had the eye of truth painted on it.

Dark narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down. Then he felt him under the cloth in his chest. Sheik hit him on the face with the harp.

"What are you doing?!" yelled the Sheikah.

Link gasped, stuck between trying to stop his shadow, and gaping at the Dark had felt up Sheik. He had felt the blow of the harp against his own face too, but he was too shocked to react.

"Where do you carry that?" asked Dark, ignoring the drip of black blood falling from where the harp had struck him. "I mean, where do you put it? There is just no space in your clothes."

Sheik growled. "Do that again, and-," he started.

"Fine," said Dark wit a smirk and reached towards him. He blinked, and found a dagger in the middle of his forehead "Ah, sarcasm. I get it now."

"I can explain it more clearly if you need me to," said Sheik, showing two more knives in his hand.

"No, no, it's alright," said Dark, and pulled pulled the dagger out of his forehead. Black blood dribbled down, smelling like smoke. "But you should perhaps ask first before attacking the mirror image of your hero" he pointed at Link, who stumbled backwards. Bright red blood fell from the wound on his forehead.

"I'm fine," he said, and slowly fell to the floor.