Yep, the plot bunny is still here. It ran away for a while after my laptop died and took an almost-completed chapter with it, but it came back. There were a few scenes it absolutely demanded that I write as it decided to play the "what if?" implications game with the backstory I've created.

So, warning, there's a lot of swearing in this chapter, though very little of it is in English. I decided not to define the curses and leave them as presents for anyone who already knows them. You can Google them if you really want to, since that's where I found them, but rest assured they're all very rude.

Disclaimer:

Any allusions to events that don't make sense will later, though you could probably link them to one of the games if you wanted to.
Yes, there are hints of LinkxSheik in the flashbacks. I assure you these apply only to Hero of Time Link. This is Dark LinkxSheik.
Yes, there's a Potter Puppet Pals reference buried in here, and I don't own them either.

It would not be until many years later that Sheik would understand how part of the Hero's restless spirit (the Hero from the Time That Never Was) could come to him for help when the new Hero, alive and well, could be running throughout the land fighting Ganondorf once more. Nevertheless, the spirit appeared to him shortly after the Hero of Twilight began his journey.

The spirit of the Hero of Time did not speak, but his eyes told all. Those sad blue eyes that looked at him with an expression that Sheik couldn't quite name, a longing that Sheik was sure no other would ever understand. He wasn't even certain how the Hero found him there, in the Dark Realm. He shouldn't have been able to find him, spirit or no.

But he did.

'I cannot rest, Sheik, so long as the new Hero is still so unprepared. There is no one to teach him the knowledge he requires. I have no form to hold a sword. I had you, and he will not.'

No, he would not. The Sheikah role in this tale wasn't his, however. . .

Sheik was never quite sure what made those next words spill from his lips as his bloody eyes gazed through the spirit and into the distance, towards where he knew Dark Link resided in that realm. "I can fix that."

A look passed between Dark Link and Sheik as little Link began to stir. Wordlessly, Dark Link sat back down again, pulling the child to rest in his arms as Sheik vanished in a flash.

Sheik reappeared in a tree overlooking the village square. His needles were in his hand almost without a thought as angry eyes searched for his prey, the ones who had dared to harm the little Hero. A commotion near Link's uncle's house caught his attention, and silent as the shadow he was, Sheik crept closer.

"Where is he?" Two helmeted Zora held Link's uncle restrained against one charred wall of his house. Another, smaller than the other two, held a spear to his neck. "I will not ask you again! What have you done with Link?" The smallest Zora's fins were blade-sharp and jutting straight from his arms, a sign of his anger.

The man, so big and tough (head and shoulders taller than the small Zora,easily) in the images Sheik had seen, was trembling now as he stammered out, "G-gone! The bandits took him!"

The smallest Zora pressed the tip of the spear hard enough against the human's neck to draw blood. "Do not lie to me!" His fins twitched, as though desperate to slice through the thick neck.

A loud clang and a cry of pain made the Zoras turn. The mayor, their captive's brother, knelt on the ground with a shovel at his feet, clutching his right hand. A long, thin, silver needle protruded from it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Ibn himar putz."

("Two already. I wouldn't want to be him. That usually gets me kicked in the face." Dark Link would later comment when Sheik showed him what had happened.

Sheik's muttered response sounded suspiciously like "you usually deserve it.")

Sheik dropped to the ground a few feet behind the downed man, his one visible red eye narrowed in anger. Although the sky was clouded and nearing twilight with no sun to speak of, Sheik cast a long, dark shadow. Had anyone bothered to examine it closely, they might have noticed that it seemed off, somehow, like it didn't quite fit him. Most of the villagers' attention, however, remained locked on his bloody, demonic eye.

"Who the hell are you?" The mayor howled, still clutching his hand. Sheik chose not to answer, pushing the larger man to the ground with his booted foot and making a very rude hand gesture.

("Three!" Dark Link crowed.)

He stalked past him, over to where the three Zora had Link's uncle trapped. The smallest, Prince Ralis, Sheik finally noted, stepped back to give him space, wide uncertain eyes locked on the Sheikah crest.

"Tell me something, shizza ficken ," ("Four.") the Sheikah began quietly, though his light tone belied his simmering fury, "do you own a sword and shield?"

Link's uncle stared at him incredulously, as though uncertain that he had understood the question. "Yes, I do." He answered warily.

Sheik nodded, his piercing gaze remaining fixed on the captive. "When you fight, if indeed a cowardly human like you is brave enough to to ever do so ("Five. You hate cowards."), do you hide your sword behind your shield?"

Sheik couldn't see the faces of the helmeted Zoras, but he saw the Prince's brow furrow as Link's uncle blinked, then sputtered. He was no coward! The man tried to draw himself up to look more intimidating, but his captors put a stop to that with a jab from one of their spears. He squeaked. "You'd have to be an idiot to do that!"

Sheik's hands moved so quickly that nobody realized he'd so much as twitched until Link's uncle cried out, a needle embedded in his cheek. "The Heart of Hyrule is no idiot, I can assure you salope putain,

[This was one Dark Link had taught Sheik years ago (he'd been stupid enough to call the Sheikah by it once, and nearly lost something very precious to him when Sheik demanded to know what it meant. Dark Link, Dark at the time, had told him, and for his honesty was let off easy by only being knocked unconscious for two days), and his resulting laughter made him miss most of the rest of Sheik's snarled rant, including what Dark Link had once dubbed the Elder Swear, a long rambling thing Sheik had picked up goddesses only knew where.]

but because of your actions and those of;" he vehemently spat a vengeful, nasty curse no other knew, but the sheer malice with which it shot from his mouth made everyone present cringe, "like you, her improperly forged Sword is now forced to take cover behind her Shield."

Sheik paused then, taking a breath in a futile attempt to calm himself before he completely snapped, looking around at the gathered villagers critically. "A sword is formed by heat and flame, but also by the care and love the swordsmith gives it." Had they been able to see his lips, they would have seen the cruel smile that twisted it. "A poorly crafted blade will be brittle and weak, guaranteed to break when it is needed most." He turned to Link's uncle again, his eyes like the red ice that had once encased Ralis' ancestor (in the Time That Never Was). "Would you fight with a brittle blade, ubed-osuk?"

("Minish?" Dark Link had asked in surprise. "Didn't know you spoke that." A pause, then, "Seven?"

A resulting eye-roll from Sheik. "Eight, Dark Link. You missed one.")

The man was still huffing, the needle protruding from his face, but Sheik's gaze was piercing, demanding an answer. He stammered out a negative. Sheik leaned in close, grasped the needle between slender, bandaged fingers, and yanked it free, causing the man to howl again.

"Then why did you think you could condemn Hyrule to do so, abruti?" ("Still eight. That was a repeat.") Disgusted, he pulled back. "When this place falls, and it will, you'll have no one to blame but yourselves when Link doesn't appear to save you." His eyes raked over the crowd, their intensity causing those gathered to shiver.

Terrified, but not wanting to appear weak before the people of the village, Link's uncle shouted, "the little runt got just what he deserved, and his witch of a mother too!" (Dark Link's amusement abruptly vanished.)

Sheik's eyes flashed from blood to ruby. A voice that was his and yet wasn't snarled in his mind, 'Kill him. Cut out his tongue. Kill them all. Bathe in their blood. ' His shadow seemed to shake, as though its caster were laughing, though Sheik himself was still as stone. Nimbly he whirled, dagger drawn and poised to slit the other's throat.

Sheik's hand trembled. 'Kill him. Kill him. . .KILL HIM!' The voice shrieked in his mind. (Sheik was glad the images he showed Dark Link didn't reflect his thoughts.) Sheik let out an angry snarl, throwing the dagger to bury to the hilt in the dry, cracked ground. Without orders from the princess, Sheik could not kill. Never before had he so regretted this.

(Sheik cut the image here; Dark Link was already shaking with rage. "I'll kill them. Take me there, Sheik!"

Sheik gave him a deadpan stare, only just hiding his own emotions behind the mask, though his eyes reflected how dearly he wanted to abide by Dark Link's wish. "You know I cannot do that. The princess will not allow it."

"Why the fu-OW!" Dark Link let out a yelp and rubbed his bruised head, his pout seeming to lessen his anger, if only slightly. "How come you can curse all you want and I get hit before I finish a word of it?" He demanded sourly.

Sheik snorted. "Because I'm not cursing the princess, that's why.")

Sheik heard a gasp and turned his head, locking eyes with the young prince. In a flash he was gone, his dagger abandoned. Ralis knelt beside it, pulling it with some difficulty from the dirt.

There, glinting dully up at him, was the bloodied Eye of Truth, symbol of the Sheikah, the forgotten protectors of Hyrule. If he'd been uncertain before, there was no doubt now. The dagger was lighter than the Hylian variety, perfectly aerodynamic and designed for throwing. Its weight belied its deadly strength, much as its bearer's small stature disguised his. Closing his eyes for just a moment, Ralis let a smile curl over his lips. Turning to his guards, he stowed the dagger in his bag, his fingers brushing for a moment over the blue fabric held within. It was a new Zora tunic, a gift for young Link's seventh birthday. Ralis' eyes darkened.

"There is nothing more for us to do here. If the Shield of Hyrule has Link, then he is as safe as he could possibly be." Ralis turned back to Link's uncle, his voice raised so all could hear him. "By the laws of the King of Hyrule I have no power to punish you for what you have done, but know this: you all henceforth banned from my people's lands. If any of you dare to enter our waters, we will not hesitate to kill you."

Before they left Ralis lashed out one more time, catching Link's uncle harshly upside the head with the staff of his spear. The man fell with a howl, and the three Zora walked away, heads held high as they sneered with disgust at the humans and Hylians before them.

Still fighting the urge to wring the King's neck for his stupidity Sheik did not immediately report to the princess. Instead, he decided to check in on one of his. . . projects.

He appeared in an empty courtyard, long overgrown with weeds. Though part of the palace, it was obvious that nobody had set foot there in decades, perhaps centuries. There was an empty pedestal there, barely visible under the vines and weeds, but that wasn't what interested him. Behind the pedestal the wall bore an inscription, a large eye with four swords above it; ancient writing inscribed about its edges told the tale of a Hero who had once used the sword to defend Hyrule from an evil wizard.

Or at least, that was what any Hylian would see. But Sheik could see the truth, could see clearly past the illusion he maintained of the old shrine. In truth, the old inscriptions had been gone for many years, replaced instead by a large Sheikah eye, roughly the same height as an average Hylian. The red of the design still shone brightly despite the years, preserved by Sheik's magic. It was this eye he approached, stopping before the glowing pupil to peer inside.

A small figure- too small really, to truly be a Hylian, despite his pointed ears- wrapped in a violet cloak floated curled up in a fetal position, seemingly asleep in an orb of gleaming white. Soft winds blew around him like a comforting caress, pushing lavender bangs back from pale grey-purple skin. Despite the gentleness of the breeze around him his face was contorted in something like pain, his mind trapped in a terrible dream. His lips moved, quiet pleas only barely audible.

Sheik ignored the boy inside, instead examining the orb-prison critically, a frown tugging at his face beneath the cowl. A jagged line of black ran through the white still, and until it was gone he could not risk testing the results of his spell.

Sheik swore softly, his still unsettled temper spiking, eyes flashing momentarily ruby and almost causing him to lose sight of his subject. With a malicious jerk of his hand the figure shuddered, red eyes which were neither blood nor ruby slowly blinking open.

He looked about his prison, slowly rising to a sitting position though he floated on nothing. Invisible bonds of magic kept him from moving far, but eventually his wide, pained eyes found Sheik. "Usamihsiageno. . ."

"No. You're not ready yet." Sheik snapped. "But I think some time awake will do you good. Get rid of that," He gestured to the streak of remaining darkness, "and then we'll talk." He turned to leave and the other's eyes widened, scrambling as though to chase after him, though the magic of the orb kept him struggling in place.

"Usamihsiageno! Please, I'm sorry! Usamihsiageno, Sheikah!" His cries unheeded, the project slumped back, burying his head in his hands. "Asaduk etihsuruy. Forgive me."

Sheik left him trapped there in that orb of white, trapped as the project had once bid Dark Link to trap the Sheikah, confined in a mirror of darkness.

When he materialized in the shadows of Prince Zelda's chambers, Impa's brown eyes flicked to him almost immediately. Though her line possessed little more than a drop of Sheikah blood these days, she always seemed acutely aware of his presence. Zelda's crystal blues followed only a heartbeat later, and Sheik stepped forward to bow on one knee, right arm crossed over his chest respectfully.

The ten-year-old princess made her way to him, placing one gloved hand on his shoulder. Her light and warmth wrapped around him when she smiled and he breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the noxious air clinging to him recede.

"Have you found him, dear Sheik?" She asked softly. Sheik hung his head in shame, reaching up to clasp her hand in his, automatically checking the concealing charm he'd used to cover the Triforce on the day of her birth even as he sought comfort from the touch.

"Indeed princess, I have found him." Said Sheik, careful to keep his voice neutral. The princess, however, wasn't fooled.

"Something happened to him, didn't it Sheik?" She asked him softly, dreading the answer. "Something bad."

"Yes, princess. Something did." His eyes closed briefly, wanting to protect his young charge and yet knowing she had a right to the knowledge. "He was. . . injured, princess. Harmed by the very people who should have cherished him. I. . .Dark Link and I found him; he's watching over him now."

Zelda's eyes closed in resignation. "I tried to will my dreams to show him to me, but they would not. I knew something wasn't right. It was because of my father's law, wasn't it?" She asked, though her expression said she already knew.

"Yes, it was because of his blessing." Sheik answered, fixing his eyes on her. "But you needn't worry any longer, princess. He is as safe as he could possibly be now, safer than he would be anywhere in Hyrule. We will look after him until the time comes that he is needed."

Princess Zelda nodded solemnly. "I fear that time will come sooner than we'd like." Her eyes lingered on Sheik's cast shadow, larger and darker than the light in the room warranted. "Promise me something, Sheik."

His head bowed low. "I can deny you nothing, princess."

Her small arms wrapped around him, pulling him against her chest in an embrace. He allowed it. "Please Sheik," she whispered, pulling back and brushing his hair from his face so she could see his eyes clearly, "promise me you won't forget."

Sheik could not know what he was promising. He rarely could where she was concerned, but he knew that whatever it was, it would be important. "I promise." He murmured, his gaze sincere.

Zelda shivered. He would do his best and more, she knew, but this time, she wasn't so certain he would be able to keep his word.

That Hero's spirit appeared to him only once more, serenely smiling. Tucked under his arm was a shining golden helmet, the last remnants of Sheik's spell.

'Thank you Sheik. I have taught him all he needs to learn. Now I shall trust Hyrule to him, and I shall rest.'

Sheik saw what the Hero wanted to say reflected in his eyes, and he smiled under his cowl as he gave a respectful bow. "Rest well, Hero of Time." The spirit faded, and a frown tugged on Sheik's lips. If the Hero's spirit had been released from his spell, then. . .

Sheik ducked, a tarnished, cracked helmet sailing over his head to crash into the rock behind him with an ear-splitting clang.

"SHEIKAH!" Snarled the enraged shadow, throwing a damaged round shield and equally aged breastplate next, the stalfos-like illusion around him disintegrating. "How DARE you bind me to that bastard! I ought to KILL YOU!" Dark Link leapt for Sheik, who was faster and just managed to flip out of the way.

He didn't expect Dark Link to utilize one of the Hero's hidden skills. In a modified version of the Back Slice, Dark Link rolled around behind Sheik and shoved him hard. Before Sheik could recover Dark Link pounced on him again, pinning him to the ground with his hands above his head.

Dark Link loomed over him, breathing hard. His head was bowed, hair hiding his face from Sheik's all-knowing gaze. "This is all your fault, because you stuck me with him and his damned emotions!" He snapped.

Sheik never had a chance to respond to that. Dark Link's free hand tore his cowl from his face, pressing his lips to Sheik's urgently.

And Sheik. . . Sheik found he didn't mind so much, responding to the heated kiss just as fervently.