A/N-

Offshoot of a story I am working on, concerning Sheikah history.

This takes place in the Time of Twilight Princess.

Sheik is somewhat immortal ( this means, yeah, it's the same Sheik from OoT) and he and Midna are familiar.

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It was a dank place and Link wasn't sure how they had come across it. And he wasn't sure how they should make their exit, either. He and Midna had been returning to the Market Square, specifically Telma's bar, when they had fallen. Deep deep deep.

"Where are we?" though reminiscent of the sewers they had navigated, beneath most of Castletown, Link could smell no feces. And no rats bit at his heels. It was empty, ominously so, save for a few gilt images etched onto the vaulted walls, depicting what could have been the Triforce.

"Why do you think I would know?" Midna was truly welcoming the dark.

Very non-committal, Link gestured. Thus far she had known most, if not all, relevant information pertaining to their quest and he couldn't help but feel her lack of knowledge towards wherever it was they were troublesome.

"You hear that?" Midna held to the blackest of corners almost hungrily, her body following the movements of shadows as they stretched and shrunk in the flickering firelight of the lantern she and Link had acquired, together.

Link shook his head, no.

"What's the point of having those big ears, if you can't hear anything? Just listen, it sounds like music." as she heard them played, Midna hummed a few notes. The song was very simple but carried with it a heaviness. A thoughtfulness. She liked it.

"Would it make sense if I were to say I know this song though I've never, in my life, heard it before today?" the fine hairs on the back of Link's neck prickled and stood on end. His mouth was very dry and he felt he should sit down.

"You are so odd." Midna thought the air, not able to recirculate, was making Link ill. Maybe. It was foul, smelling like wind and and sand. For good measure, she rested a hand on his forehead but nothing. He wasn't too hot and neither was he too cold.

"This detritus is the Great Castle, of old Hyrule, the foundations on which your selflessness, and your Zelda's wisdom, were built." said a soft voice. It came from, almost, everywhere at once. And with it came a small boy. Dressed like Link had seen in Shad's tomes of Hylian Histories, in gradients of blue and black, swathed in white cloth. He moved with a sort of lazy, calculated, grace.

"Why are you here?"

"Should I not be?" Midna's asking was returned.

Link couldn't help but assume the two were familiar, the way they spoke. Not wanting to overstep whatever boundaries Midna had set for him, upon their first meeting, Link patiently waited but their continued rallying of ill-humour was dizzying.

"Could you, at least, tell us who you are?" Link pushed, allowing himself entrance into their conversation.

"Ah, you don't remember?" hoping it would lend to his recognition, the boy lowered the weathered fabric covering his face.

Link blushed furiously. Even the tips of his ears had pinked. He could feel a thin perspiration wetting his face and neck.

"Hey," patience teetering like a broken-legged horse, with her thumb and forefinger, Midna pinched the bridge of her nose "do us a favour, would you? Just answer."

"Sheik," the strange boy held a thin hand over his heart "a friend."

For reasons he did not know, the Hylian felt, suddenly, very young. And very old.

"You pause. This would not be the first time you've questioned my motivation, Hero."

"You know me?" Link felt silly for not knowing whom was speaking to him. Sheik seemed to know him well enough.

"It would be foolish of me, otherwise. I have made many promises and kept none. It is my questionable diligence that has cemented my obligations to Them. To Her. But, to myself, you were and always will be my first concern."

"Quiet, Sheikah. An antique such as yourself, albeit a spoiled one, should know protocol. You should treat your betters, Link and I, with fitting consideration." Midna's hair was like electric-fire and her body, painted with roping glyphs, swooping and curling and twisting, lighted.

"You're Sheikah?" Link interrupted.

"Of course," red eyes wild with lofty pride, Sheik smiled "I am ageless. Those of the royal bloodline have been my keepers, my masters, for innumerable centuries."

"Traitors suffer a lightless eternity, cursed, in self-imposed limbo." oversweet, body coiled with laughter, Midna said. She had calmed some.

"Those in glass houses, imp." Sheik countered, matching Midna's tone.

"An old woman told me you were all dead." Link said, his insides feeling very funny. He hadn't meant to be so tactless, he had meant only to keep Midna from speaking.

"Legends don't die, we are only forgotten."

"Bah," Midna huffed " you wish!"

"You really don't recall, do you?"

"No," the pixyish girl felt her frustration bubbling, boiling, in her gut with renewed vigour "he said no!"

From whatever secret place Sheik, again, took his lyre. He held it away from his chest, so Link could see, and threw it to the ground. It didn't break or dent but, instead, turned to a prismatic dust and, like gossamer, hung in the stale air. And in agreement with Sheik's voice, became vivid but passing imagery.

"Where are we?" Link was unmoving as Sheik let let the threads of his magic braid into a strong representation of what had been, for him, routine and loved.

"Here is illusion, here is dead." Sheik said, hiding behind a well-learned ambiguity.

"What?" Link was confused. By no means stupid, he was better suited to physical, mathematical problems. Not words.

"We are before. My memories."

"Is that me?" Link saw something. Someone. A boy he knew. And a girl he did, also.

No longer just thoughts and ideas, representations of years passed, everything had been restored. Stonework pale, brightened with the silk draperies and rarities tributing the rich Hylian culture and mythos, the Great Castle was a fantastical showing of structural integrity.

"It is. And it isn't." Sheik stepped through Zelda, assuring Link could follow.

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A/N (again) -

Things are a little condensed. I apologise for that. I hope this doesn't bother anyone.