It's finals week.

Why am I working on a fanfic during finals week?

Because my reviewers are awesome and you guys totally deserve it, that's why. Be sure to thank Sergeant Dreamer, whose review of awesome managed to get me to finish this chapter up.

And besides, fanfiction Physics. Because the laws of simple, unbreakable, magical physics make way more sense. Especially Sheikah Physics. Yeah.

So, how much energy must there be in a Deku nut in order to transport Sheik across realms? Um. . .

"I just don't understand it." Sheik sat back against the side of the princess's desk with a dull thump. "Every time I think I'm making progress with him, a new hero appears and we're right back where we started! It's like. . . like. . . "

"Like every negative emotion he'd learned to overcome has overwhelmed him all over again." The princess supplied helpfully. This Zelda was young, not yet twenty, but with her sharp eye and quick actions, she'd managed to avoid a major revival of Ganondorf with only minimal help from the Hero. Impressive, considering seven generations had passed since the last Hero was needed.

"Yes," said Sheik softly, twisting his head back to look up at her. "Yes, that's exactly it."

For a time she was quiet, chewing thoughtfully on the tip of her quill. "Are all shadows sentient, Sheik?" She asked suddenly, blue eyes regarding him thoughtfully.

Sheik frowned beneath his cowl. "No, princess. All but the most powerful shadows are little better than animals."

"And what makes them so powerful, dear Sheik?" She asked, though she knew the answer already.

"Rebirth." He said softly. "The more incarnations of the soul, the stronger the light. The stronger the light, the deeper the shadow." It was, after all, what had made the princess' own darkness so dangerous.

"But the evil a light gains during life isn't always given to its shadow, for if it were, Ganondorf would cease to plague Hyrule." She was leading him now, trying to bring him to the same conclusion she'd already drawn.

"No, Ganondorf is a different case. He's never truly died, so all of his darkness remains inside of him. Normally, when a light is born, any evil remaining from their past life is shunted to their shadow. It's why the little ones shine so brightly. . ." His eyes grew wide with sudden understanding. "Link is the Hero, and the Hero is Link, but the darkness of Dark Link is that of the Hero, not just his vessel. The soul of the Hero is not fully reborn, and thus not cleansed, until he awakens."

Zelda's voice was soft and sad as she added. "And by virtue of being the hero, he is exposed to far more darkness in a single lifetime than most souls see in twenty."

Sheik's head hung, his eyes closing as though to block the truth he now saw so clearly. "but the Hero doesn't always awaken. Sometimes he sleeps for Link's entire life."

"And the darkness builds." Said Zelda softly.

"So when Dark Link finally receives it. . ."

"It's far more than his sanity can take." Finished Zelda.

For a time Sheik was silent, contemplative. When he spoke, his voice was hollow, saddened. "He becomes unstable. He proved that well enough with the Hero of the Four Swords. If only. . .If only I could help him, somehow, stop the darkness from consuming him every single time."

Zelda took Sheik's bandaged hand in hers, the golden Triforce glowing reassuringly.

"If only I could siphon it away from him, send it elsewhere." He'd thought of sealing him as he'd sealed the Minish, but that method was too slow, and simply unfeasible. He could not give up Dark Link for so long. Then, even if it did work, it would only last a single Hylian life time.

"The dark energy must go somewhere, Sheik. It needs a vessel of its own." Zelda murmured, her eyes on her Triforce mark. His gaze followed hers.

"A vessel. . .That's it!" Sheik leaped to his feet nimbly, excitement only just hidden as his red eyes sparkled. "If you will excuse me, princess." A quick, formal bow, as was proper.

"Of course Sheik." She nodded, and with a flash he was gone.

The boy woke slowly to the feel of a moist cloth on his forehead. He opened his eyes blearily, blinking as a thought flitted through his mind.

Why is it so dark? It's not usually this dark, is it?

His brows drew together in confusion as he tried to recall a time when the world was brighter, but to his alarm he could not. Although something about the place felt wrong, he couldn't say just what it was. Before he'd been elsewhere, hadn't he?

With a jolt, he realized that he didn't remember where he'd been any better than he remembered where he was. He didn't remember anything at all. Panicked, the boy shot upright, only to sway and nearly fall over, a pair of gray-clad arms catching him quickly.

"Careful, careful!" The gray arms lowered him slowly back to the ground, resting his head on a bed roll. "Don't move too quickly Link. The red potion and the fairy helped, but you were hurt pretty badly there, kiddo."

The boy's frowned, confused. Hurt? Who hurt him? He didn't feel hurt. He opened his mouth to say so, only to turn to the side as he cough harshly, his throat dry and tongue heavy with a strange aftertaste that vaguely made him think of. . .whatever it was, he didn't much like it. The gray arms sat him up again, pale hands lifting a bottle of water to his mouth. He took a sip, feeling the cool liquid slide down his throat, soothing it.

As he drank, the boy looked up at the owner of the gray arms. His skin was as pale as the material of the shirt the boy wore, his hair inky black and eyes a burning red. His expression, even in the dim light, was obviously concerned. He set the water aside, and the boy managed to get a look at his clothes. His tunic was as black as his hair, the undershirt a dark gray. Around his neck something glinted almost unnaturally given the dim light, a white crystal swirled through with black, inscribed with a strange crying crimson eye.

"Are you alright there, Vio?" Asked the owner of the gray arms softly.

Shaken from his thoughts, the boy, Vio, looked up at the owner of the-

Shadow. His name is Shadow.

Shadow, then. "I-I think so." Said Vio slowly. "I don't hurt. But I can't remember anything."

Shadow's lips pulled down in a confused frown. "Anything?"

"Well, I'm Vio, and you're Shadow, right? But. . .where am I? How did I get here? Have I always been here?" Vio felt the panic rising again, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to repress the urge. It seemed a senseless thing to do, really, but he couldn't help it! He searched his mind for something, anything, but trying to think only made his head ache and he groaned.

Shadow rubbed his back soothingly. Well bugger, what was he supposed to do now? Sheik would know, Sheik always knew, but Sheik wasn't back yet. His best bet, he supposed, would be to keep the kid occupied until Sheik returned, hopefully with Vio's tormentors properly punished. "Tell you what," he said finally, "I bet you would like a bath, wouldn't you? There's someone who can answer your questions better than I can, but we'll have to wait for him, alright?"

Vio looked down at himself, only then noticing that the reddish splotches were sticky, almost like. . .

Shadow pulled his attention away from the cloth quickly by scooping him up. "Come on, there's a stream right around here where we can get you cleaned up."

Shadow carried Vio through an almost-hidden cave in the little nook and through a tunnel, emerging near a clear stream. When Vio protested that he could walk on his own ("I'm not a baby!"), Shadow set him down. Shadow's shape shifted and shrank as he took on a younger form. Vio, unsure whether this was normal behavior or not, just eyed him curiously as Shadow stripped to his underclothes and dove eagerly into the water with a loud whoop.

He surfaced with a yelp at the chill of it, but gave Vio a smile. "Come on Vio, it's not that cold!"

Vio grinned and stripped off his splotchy undershirt, pausing for a moment when he encountered a round jewel nestled against his chest. He gripped the chain to pull it off.

"No! No, wait," Shadow had slipped from the water with every intention of suprise-dunking the boy when he noticed him about to remove the Moon Pearl. "You can't take that off Vio."

Vio blinked, only then noticing that Shadow's own gem still glinted about his neck, dripping beads of water from its surface. "Why not?"

'Because. . . Because Sheik will explain it later, but just promise me you won't, ok?" He held up the crystal about his own neck, the black swirls within it whirling with the movement as the red eye shone. "See, I have one too. Sheik gave it to me, and I can never take it off, get it? Same with you."

Vio nodded slowly. "If you say so Shadow, I won't take it off."

Shadow gave him a playful grin. "Good, now, last one in's a baby cuckoo!" Whirling about, Shadow ran to the edge of the bank and back flipped off it gracefully, Vio following suit only a moment later.

Water all around, suffocating. He wasn't wearing blue! He couldn't get into the water unless he was wearing blue or he'd drown! The water rose, surrounding him, pressing, pushing, couldn't breathe couldn't speak couldn't scream couldn't couldn't couldn't- RALIS! SHADOW! Anyone. . .

He broke the surface with a gasp, Shadow, adult again, clutching him against his chest. "Bloody frickin- Are you trying to scare to me death? Why didn't you tell me you can't swim? Merde!"

Shivering, Vio clung to Shadow, who grabbed up their clothes and hurried back to the camp, settling Vio near the fire and wrapping his own black tunic around the boy. Vio shivered violently, trying to clear his head of the awful feeling.

Neither was certain how long they sat there before a bright flash caused Shadow to hiss, turning to glare darkly at a newly-arrived Sheikah. Before Sheik had a chance to say a word Shadow grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

"We've got a problem."

Hours later, after Sheik had answered Vio's questions as best he could [or rather, as well as he would, given that he had assured the boy that they had found him after an accident (partially true), and were his guardians now (also true). He hadn't said a word about the boy's mother, promising he'd tell him when he was older (or rather, Dark Link thought, when it suited him to do so). The necklace, he'd said, was a good luck charm of sorts and would keep him safe as long as he wore it (again, a half-truth).], given the boy supper [Dark Link had plainly forgotten that light dwellers needed to eat (as opposed to shadows who only did so for fun) but Sheik hadn't, and he'd brought back some stew and bread from Castle Town.], and settled him down to sleep (he'd had a very tiring day, and was exhausted already), Dark Link slipped off to the Thieves' Town, and returned with a length of violet-colored fabric which almost exactly matched what Vio had worn all those lifetimes ago. Sheik was not impressed.

"The Hero doesn't wear purple." Sheik narrowed his eyes at the fabric spread across Dark Link's knees. The shadow, his fingers moving nimbly as they guided the lesser shadows into shaping and stitching the tunic, stuck his tongue out childishly.

"And green would make him an instant target. Nobody in the Dark World wears green." Dark responded as he flipped the fabric over. Both kept their voices low, Vio sleeping nearby.

"I don't like that you've told him his name is Vio either. The Hero's name is-"

"Oh bloody hell Sheik!" Dark Link whisper-yelled, misdirecting the lesser shadow in his irritation and stabbing himself with the shadow-needle. He swore, pulling the fabric away as wisps of black blood leaked from the wound for a moment before the shadows healed it. "Hero this, Hero that! He's not the Hero yet! He's just a kid!"

"Do you see that over there?" Sheik jerked his head in the direction of the swirling cloud, a deeper black than the night of the Dark Realm. "You know what that means. We don't have long, and I won't have the strength to restrain him. We will need the Hero in Green! Whatever feelings you're harboring for this particular part of him-"

Dark Link was on him in a moment, lips pressed to Sheik's to silence him. "Sheik, shut up. I know. Alright? I know. We can start training him once he wakes up. You and me. I'll teach him the Hidden Skills when he's ready for them and you'll take him through the Sheikah training you keep wanting to give him. Hell, who knows, maybe you'll manage to make him into the perfect mold of your bloody Hero of Fucking Time-"

Sheik yanked Dark Link forward, giving him a harsh kiss of his own. Tongues battled, teeth clashed, and when they finally pulled away Sheik's eyes were closer to ruby than blood, his shadow a shade darker. "Do not bring him into this." Sheik growled.

"You started it." Spat Dark Link moodily, turning to return to his work.

Sheik caught him by the back of his belt, yanking the other down onto his lap. "And I will finish it." He murmured, his lips latching onto Dark Link's neck. Dark link bit his bruised lip to repress a groan, shooting an anxious glance towards the thankfully still-sleeping Vio.

"Sheik, wait, what if he wakes up?" He tried to disentangle himself from the Sheikah's groping grasp with little success.

"Be quiet then." Sheik murmured, his assault never letting up as Dark Link's belt dropped to the dusty ground.

Roughly the equivalent of a lot of energy in that Deku nut. . .

Alrighty, so, those two obviously have some relationship insecurities to work out. LinkxSheik and VioxShadow are admittedly two of my favorite pairings, hence the fun tension I'm getting to work in here.

And yeah. Wow. First paragraph of the last scene. That was one really, really long sentence. Actually, that scene was one of the first in my head when I started this fic. Well, the beginning anyway. "The Hero doesn't wear purple." With the exception of Four Swords, he usually doesn't. Special outfits are blue or red most of the time. Hence, this scene.

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Three that I forgot to thank last chapter: Kaenith (Well, there's his reaction. Bah Bah Baaaaahhh. Amnesia.), and darkwolflink1 (Bet you don't still think I work faster. Heh heh. Sorry. I figured with all the spare time he must have he probably learned some extra languages. Actually I'm getting myself a bit stuck. I want Link to be adorable, but Red's the cute one, not Vio. Oh well. He's little, he can be cute.).

And thank you to the Chapter Four reviewers Beyond Backup (This thing isn't going to leave me be. Haha. It probably will get finished.), Kick-Aft (I had fun writing Ralis' part. He's not done yet, not by a long shot. . .), and Sergeant Dreamer, whose long review of awesome helped me get this chapter finished (There really isn't enough of the pairing, and most of what you find is fem!Sheik and/or noncon. If this were posted elsewhere there'd already be two lemons, and there's an opportunity for a third coming. I don't want to risk this account, so maybe the full version will be posted elsewhere eventually.)