Link was peacefully resting from a long and exhausting day when they came. The fireflies were singing, the moon was glowing, and Link had a serene smile on his young face. It had been a quiet, drowsy night when three solid knocks sounded on his door. Shaken from his lethargic reverie, Link opened the door.

Three uniformed men stood stark against the moonlight –no longer comforting with its silver radiance –as Link realized who the men were. Officers from the capital.

He had heard of CastleTown, the beautiful Hyrulean capital that was the base of all operations –the assassin's guild included –but Link had never set foot there. CastleTown soldiers were well known for their disciplined vigilance, much more than all the other towns. Link knew that there was little chance of a quick, clean escape. He just had to hope his guild would arrive in time to stop whatever sentence they had for him. Assassins were employed by many, including the royals, so perhaps they would give him a free pass.

"Link Wanderlust?" One of the men, the foremost one, spoke up. He stood at the front of the group, authority radiating like an aura of power. A sharp black rapier hung from the belt at his waist.

Link swallowed nervously and nodded, his muscles coiled for action.

Sheik stared at the boy standing before him. So young, and so small…. It seemed unlikely that such a fresh face could be using black magic, the darkest and most sickening power in known history. Appearances were deceiving, Sheik reminded himself and pulled up next to the kid with his steel handcuffs.

The boy, Link, was backing slowly away, his hand creeping towards something behind the door. There was a flurry of movement and Sheik tensed. Suddenly, an extremely strong force plummeted towards Sheik as he ducked too late, and was thrown backwards onto the ground as a slim body flew past him, a smokebomb exploding into the night air. Momentarily distracted, he coughed from the gas and yelled, "I'm alright! Go after him!"

Chief Officer Sheik's disoriented men sprang into action, setting off after the sprinting silhouette into the dark. To escape the smoke, Sheik ducked through the open wood door and into his suspect's house. The dark wood felt cool beneath his fingers as he crawled through the doorway, coughing with smoke in his throat. He shut the door behind him, sitting on the ground and leaning against the cool surface, clutching his ribs painfully. He reached up to touch his face and his fingers came back wet with. ..Tears? That boy was no ordinary kid, to be capable of creating such an effective smoke bomb, especially one with gas toxic enough to coax tears from the stoic Sheikah police force.

Sheik stood up, silently thanking the goddesses for giving Sheikah the power of healing. His torso still ached from the young suspect's remarkably strong attack. Catching a dodging Sheik on the chest while throwing a bomb at the same time was an extraordinarily hard thing to do. The kid was dangerous, and no ordinary child.

Mouthing a spell that would ward against black magic, Sheik was prepared to leave when he felt it. A tiny tug of power, miniscule in its size but dark with evil. Entranced, he found it under an ordinary wood table. It radiated from a sliver of silver hair the length of his forearm, its end cut flat from a sharp blade. How….peculiar.

With gloved fingers, Sheik picked it up between his thumb and index finger and placed it inside a clear bottle he took out from his pocket. He examined it through the glass. It was so fine, and so light…like angel hair. But yet it had a roiling aura of such taint, such pure malevolence that he nearly gagged just looking at it.

Sheik pocketed the item and turned to leave, hoping that his dumb but well-trained subordinates had caught the truly interesting suspect.

He exited the little dwelling, straightening his uniform and closing his eyes to call upon his power. Sheik was a Chief Officer, one of the best and most proficient of the force and certainly the only high ranking member still able to sense life force. He always knew where everyone was, as long as they were alive. The sense was always there at the back of his head, muted pulsing like the beat of a heart.

They weren't very far away; it looks like the boy tired out real fast.

Sheik caught up to them hastily, approaching with all the authority of a leader. The teenager was slung up on one shoulder, his limp body still. "The suspect took three tranquilizer darts to the thigh, sir. He'll be out for a few hours."

Sheik nodded at the man who had talked, and watch them then walk away towards the portal that would transport all three back to the capital where the boy would be thrown in prison until questioning. And oh, what an intriguing questioning it will be…

Link startled awake, his heart jumping out of his chest. Wiping a trace of drool from his chin, the assassin shifted on his threadbare bunk to a sitting position. His thigh hurt like hell, a deep ache spreading throughout his left leg. What's going on? Everything hurts. The last thing he remembered was running away from those scary-looking police and then getting shot. Ah, shit. I really fucked up didn't I. Link buried his face in his hands. He was exhausted from fighting the giant boar and taking care of a demon, and now he had to deal with getting arrested by the Sheikah police. At least if he was going to escape, he could have put up a better fight goddamit!

He could've been home right now, wrapped up real cozy with a mug of pumpkin spice in one hand and a nice little book in the other. Link was willing to bet the military was after him because of that damned demon. If only he hadn't saved its sorry ass…

He was in a metal cell, soft light shining through the steel bars in rectangular patterns from the oil lamps on the opposite wall. His surroundings were all made of solid stone, moisture seeping through and mold growing on the dark edges. Link sighed at the sight and dug the heel of his hands into his eyes. From the moist earth, Link guessed he was deep underground and near a freshwater supply.

Link settled back into his hard bed and was about to go back to sleep when he heard it.

A strange, rhythmic humming was echoing off the rocks, strangely soothing and almost too quiet to hear. It sounded familiar, like how it did when Link heard it at the breakfast table with Ghira. Wait…

"Ghira?!"

A pair of glowing eyes appeared at the darkest corner of his cell.

"Ghira, what are you doing here? How are you... still alive? Please, you've got to get me out of here. I'm sorry I tried to–" A heavy backhand slap cut Link short. Link was shocked into silence, his lips bleeding and cheek stinging scarlet in the low light. The demon emerged from the inky shadows, white hair glittering coldly.

"You tried to kill me." The spirit's voice was agonizingly soft, contrary to the explosion Link had been expecting. Even in the darkness he could see the look of utter betrayal on Ghira's face. Link bit his lip and looked down at his feet shrouded in shadow. Although his heart was practically invulnerable against the violence and anger he had anticipated from the demon, he was not prepared to be guilt tripped into feeling sorry. Besides, what the hell did I even do wrong? I was just trying to rid the world of one more evil.

Link slid back on his bed as the demon stalked forwards. His back pressed against the wall. "I –I,.. You're evil. You corrupted that boar in the forest, and then tried to kill those kids. You should be dead."

Two icy hands gripped his ankles.

"Is that really what you think? That I'm a murderous, malevolent, blood thirsty being whose only desire is to kill?" His grasp on Link's legs tightened. Soft, long hair tickled his thighs and hot breaths blew against his skin. Link's throat was suddenly very dry.

"I'll have you know that I found that boar lying helpless on the forest floor, begging for me to kill it, put it out of its misery." Ghira hissed, drawing his head up to glare at Link from between his legs. He abruptly rose from the ground to stare the teenager down. "I tried to heal it, but my magic was too dark. It corrupted the creature instead, and created that catastrophe you witnessed yesterday." He said somewhat regretfully, breaking their eye contact by covering his eyes with his hands. "My magic can't do anything but destroy, Link."

Link gulped and wriggled free from the demon's clutch on his leg. Both of them could already hear the sounds of distant footsteps approaching. Link wondered why the spirit hadn't killed him yet, as that was obviously what he came here to do. Ghira looked so tormented, standing above Link with his fingers hiding in his face in the semi-darkness. Was he going to kill Link? Save him? Leave him?

Soft lips suddenly pressed against his forehead, and Link's eyes widened in surprise.

"I don't know what I am, but it's not safe for anyone to be around me. Thank you for your hospitality in housing me, but I've caused far too many problems for you. Goodbye skychild. Goodluck. " Ghira turned from Link and walked away, disintegrating into the shadows as he sat there dumbfounded. Man, talk about mood swings… The spirit's kiss burned like a scar on his skin, and Link rubbed the spot furiously to rid himself of the confusion.

The booted footsteps finally came to a stop right outside his cell, a long shadow of a man casted against the soft light. Link looked up from his misery on his cot. The man's figure was sharp and strong.

"Wake up, Link Wanderlust. It is time to begin interrogation."

A/N: whew..! thank you so much for putting up with my sporadic updates :) critiques, comments, everything is welcome in the review section! :3