I did not actually spend all that much time back up in the sky. There were a trio of chests from the Goddess Cubes I'd activated, two of which gave rupees and the third another piece of heart – which formed another whole one – and in the bazaar Gondo looked over the various miscellaneous things I picked up in my travels and announced he could further upgrade my shield, from its Banded form to the Braced one.

While I was there I also noticed that Peatrice was starting to look much less bored than she usually did, even greeting me a with a bit more emotion than usual. I didn't actually need to withdraw anything, but since so few people actually needed to make use of the Item Check, and therefore she didn't see many people, I made a point of sticking around to chat for a little bit.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but I did notice Groose watching me as I left. He kept to himself, having apparently learned at last that I didn't make a good bullying target, all he did was watch me leave. The significance of that will become clear later.

So I returned back to the dry, dusty and hot desert, heading down the steps of the Lanayru Mining Facility that was just as bad and into the first room of the next dungeon. Predictably, Link had left another bird statue – though with a slightly different design, I noticed – right by the bottom of the steps.

The room was more of a hall, stretching back. Steps led up a ways ahead of me, and on either side there were sandy pits. Stone statues had been blasted down from the walls to reveal hidden alcoves and form platforms to a pair of levers on the back wall, which Dark had evidently already triggered. There was no monster life, or if there had been, Dark had exterminated it already.

Off to the eastern side of the room, instead of an alcove, there was a tiny chamber with an open chest. Whatever had been in there, he'd picked it up. I considered trying to talk to Fi to see if she could hear me from his sword, or if she'd made it possible for him and me to talk to each other yet, but since I never really said much in the dungeons, I didn't really bother. I've noticed the others were much the same, actually. I wonder if they do it because I did, or whether it just happens to people who go round clearing dungeons and the like?

So with nothing else to do I pressed on, coming to the second chamber, where a plus-shape of broad metal walkways crossed a pit. A door to the west, a door to the east, and another door opposite on a raised area. The facility was solidly built in such a way that my usual habit of climbing walls just wasn't going to work here, so instead I made use of crates nearby to build a stair up. Since this door was handy, and I didn't know which way Dark had gone, I took it.

This next area was if anything even more massive than the last. Yet more pathways and sand, but also the first hints of actual machinery. It was hard to tell whether this area was under the effect of a Timeshift stone other than Dark's own, or whether the place had just been well-preserved.

Dark had left a message for me here, using a shattered wood crate to form an arrow pointing me eastward. There were more crate remains that way that looked as if he'd blown some up in order to reach the ladder beyond them. By the look and spread, I judged that if they'd been left there, it would have been difficult at best to clear the gap.

Up the ladder was another opened chest beside a second ladder. I was starting to get curious at just what Dark had found in them, and for that matter how far he'd managed to get without me. He'd also left a second message here, this time carved into a larger plank: 'Back 1 then left'

Did he mean the left as I came in from here, or from where I'd entered before? These directions left a lot to be desired. I also wondered why he hadn't just pointed me that way in the last room, rather than letting me come this way. The only way I was going to find out was by finding him.

I assumed in this case, he meant left as I re-entered the room, which meant the eastern door. Another large room, with massive amounts of sand and occasional platforms dotted about. There were several raised areas too. And on one of them, above me to the right, I finally found my creation.

"Oh, there you are," he said. "Fi told me you'd got back. Didn't expect you to catch up so quickly."

"Well if you'd left better directions... why not just send me this way first?"

"Wanted you to see what I'd done, I guess. Or maybe I was just hoping to stay ahead of you. Anyway, you didn't miss anything interesting. A few rupees, a small key that opened the door here. Watch out for those floating puffer-fish things by the way. They spike up if you get too close, and they explode if you hit them from a range. There used to be a crate up here blocking the way, but I blew it up. Only thing up here is a switch that opens the gate there," he pointed to an area hanging down from the ceiling.

"Anything interesting behind them? You're in a better position to see."

"Timeshift stone," he shrugged. "All it does for me is show me this place in your time though, and that's not helpful. I know what's in the present, of course, but I guess since you're here you want to see it yourself. So go trigger it, Hero boy."

Notice the emerging attitude again? I thought so. Dark was definitely his own person. He might have had my memories, but he was not me.

I sent the Beetle up, seeing the Timeshift stone through it and triggering it. Nothing happened, though Dark vanished in the signature blue puff, only to reappear right afterwards,

"You'll wanna do that again," he told me. "I forgot I left it active."

A second time caused him to vanish again, as his stone stopped working, and then appear as the timelines brought the room back to when he was.

The whole room looked entirely different now. What I'd thought were platforms were in fact conveyor belts, ruined statues became animated again. What had been worn and faded before returned to bright, almost new. Sand vanished almost entirely, the last remains only being in the very corners where the stone just barely reached.

"Tell me again what you called them," Dark said, I assumed to Fi, "So he knows what they are."

"This is an ancient security system known as a Beamos. Its weak point is its eye, which doubles as a weapon capable of firing an energy beam." Laser, for those of us with more technical knowledge. "A secondary weak spot resides in the pedestal. Striking it horizontally should lower the eye to a level at which you may dispatch them effectively."

Dark did just that, using two Skyward Strikes horizontally to bring it down, then jabbing the Beamos in the eye to finish it.

"I'm going to have to get up there," I told Dark. "And with the room in this state, that's going to be difficult."

Dark said nothing, tapping his crystal. Since he was no longer on the floor switch that raised the gate, I was obliged to climb up to meet him, then climb up even further to re-trigger the main stone.

"Anything else you want to do before we press on? I thought you were in a hurry, after all."

"Let it pass," I told him, crossing a conveyor – which passed through a doorway with an electric barrier over it – and dealing with another Beamos myself. Down a ladder ahead was another conveyor, this one clearly part of some assembly line as parts for something were whisked past. I ignored them and went up the ladder ahead, while Dark just climbed down and waited.

I realized why once I got up the ladder. He'd actually been paying more attention than I had, all that was here was another switch in the wall, pulled down to open a door on the north side of the room. Even while I got back down again, Dark was already running along the conveyor, running opposite the way it was going, but I saw immediately he wasn't trying to get away from me – or maybe he was – he was heading for that door.

Naturally, he reached the other side and scaled the ladder before I did, and I heard the sounds of him dealing with another Beamos that was waiting up there. It was something of a novelty to have someone around to help out. It helped me conserve my strength for whatever Ghirahim had planned this time. Of course I didn't mention that to Dark, but he probably knew. I think in a way, that might have been a large part of why he turned out the way he did – he knew I was effectively using him, and he resented that, which ultimately made him turn on me.

"That's an interesting way of looking at it," Tails noted. "It does fit what we know about him."

Silver nodded and added, "It explains a lot about how he and I got on – or didn't, rather. And I think Manic only made that worse."

"You're welcome," Manic smirked impudently.

"What happened to him, Link?" Knuckles asked. "I don't mean while I was the Hero, I mean between each of us. We know he looked like each of us at the time because we were the Hero of the time, but beyond that we don't really know anything."

"I don't actually know that much myself," Link admitted. "I was aware of him, of course. Technically he counts as a Hero himself through you, which naturally forms the link to each of you. But I never really paid him much attention. I remember seeing him a few times, usually while I was making preparations for one of you. He always looked like you during those times, Knuckles – probably because he was created from you."

"I wonder if we could convince him to share his story," Auru mused. "It might be interesting to hear what the shadow of the Heroes got up to. As with the legends of each of you, we have only a few fragments."

But Silver shook his head, "I don't think that'd be a good idea. Putting him in the same room as us? We already know how he feels about us. Besides, you forget I've touched on his mind before now. He doesn't die of old age, and he's lived in Hyrule since the past Knuckles went to, right through to today – excepting when he went to Termina to pester me. He conceals it well, but I've caught the sense of all those years behind him, and I got the impression not all of them went well for him. Some stones are better left unturned."

Link gave Silver a long, speculative look, which Silver returned for a time before shaking his head vehemently.

"They're talking in their heads probably," Rusl said. "I can only imagine what about.

"I appreciate your concerns Silver," Link said at last. "But I'm still going to do it. I'm sure you can manage without me for a time," he told them. He started for the door, then paused, shrugged and vanished instead.

"He's going to look for Dark," Silver said quietly. "There's more to it than that, he asked me not to say any more. I don't want to accuse a God of all people of being stupid, but I hope he doesn't do anything stupid when he does find him."

"Maybe instead of worrying about it, we should just... carry on?" Shad suggested, his pen still poised to take more notes.