This little gem has been bouncing in my head for weeks. When I ignore it, it tries to force Legend of Zelda references into my other fic where they don't belong. I ran the plot by my suitemate who thought I should post it. So, this one is dedicated to you, Amber.

I don't own Legend of Zelda. If I did, Sheik and Dark Link's characters would be way more coherent.

EDIT: So, these chapters have been edited for congruity with later chapters. Flashbacks will be in italics. They're not in any kind of order, they're just what's relevant whatever is currently happening in the chapter.

"No matter how wise his daughter is, Zelda's father is always fated to be a damn fool."

Dark burst out laughing at the sour expression on the other's face. They were tucked away in a protected little corner of the Dark World, a nook the monsters didn't often frequent. The one called Sheik, the shadow of Princess Zelda, knelt by a small pool of reflective water that he had charmed to show them the world of the light.

Sheik was. . . an unusual case, as far as shadows (or even Sheikah) went. Once, he'd been a she; she was called Dark Zelda. Back when the Gerudo King, Ganondorf, first threatened Hyrule, hiding the princess's power became the top priority of the Sheikah tribe. What better way to hide her shining light than to cloak it in her own darkness?

The Sheikah were powerful magic users, and they manipulated Dark Zelda's very soul, creating a being much like them. They created a Sheikah boy, whose spirit would forever be bound to Zelda's as a shadow created to guard and protect.

Thankfully, his abilities weren't needed then; Ganondorf was sealed away without much incident. He'd broken from his seal several times since, however, and each time Sheik had been there, doing his best to protect the princess when the Hero could not.

And the seal was weakening again.

A splash of water on his face broke Dark's train of thought. Scowling, he brushed sopping black locks from his red eyes, moving closer to see what had Sheik so irritated. The pool showed a royal proclamation pinned to a tree. He leaned over as the water settled from its upset, eyes slowly widening in horror as he read the words.

By proclamation of the King:

All children born with the mark of the Triforce on their hands are from henceforth considered to be cursed. To allow such a child to continue living would be to doom Hyrule to the evil chaos which always follows. Therefore, all children who bear the aforementioned mark will be immediately executed. All citizens found to be harboring such a child will also be put to death.

"Time and again I have worked to disguise Princess Zelda's blessing from Ganondorf. I never thought I would see the day that I would have to hide it from her own family." His one visible eye fixed on Dark.

Dark's breath escaped in a whoosh. "How did this happen?" He asked, eyes locked on Sheik's. Zelda's power was usually active from birth; her dreams served to guide her people well. The last Zelda had died only a few years previously, certainly not enough time for this nonsense to develop?

Sheik's eyes slipped closed as he thought. "This King, the son of the last Zelda, always knew of his mother's wisdom, but never knew of its source. She. . .insisted that he know the history of Hyrule, of its wars, of its heroes. She wanted him to learn from the mistakes of the past. He, thinking he should know at least as well as his mother (and he doesn't!), noticed that the bearers of the Triforce were always present for whatever calamity occurred." A muscle twitched above his eye, the only indication of his growing anger. "This King reached the conclusion that because the three were always there, they caused the problems together. He thinks that by killing them as infants, he will divert disaster."

It took Dark a moment to process the implications. Unlike Zelda's power, Link's remained dormant (and damn near impossible to trace) until it was needed, if it ever was in that life. Indeed, the spirit of the Hero (while always present in his reincarnations) usually slept, manifesting only in the Triforce mark on the back of the would-be Hero's hand.

If they killed Link now. . .

Dark stared off into the distance, towards where he knew Ganondorf was bound. "Do you think he had something to do with this?"

Sheik shifted. "It's possible." At Dark's sullen expression Sheik reached out, cupping Dark's chin in his bandaged hand. "I won't let him control you again."

"I know." Dark murmured. "So, what do we do now?"

Sheik released him, settling back with a sigh. "We wait. There is little else shadows can do without a light to cast them."

As it turned out, they needn't have worried for the princess. Her nursemaid, Impa, was a shrewd woman ("she always is." Sheik had said blandly when Dark pointed this out.). Impa had kept the girl's hands covered for ten years, safe from her father's eyes.

It was the Hero who posed the problem. Twice he'd been born, and twice they'd failed to save him. Ten years ago his first midwife had dropped him, so surprised was she that the young mother had birthed one of the "cursed children." The second time, eight years ago, Sheik had been only moments too late; he'd stared into the icy depths of Lake Hylia and wondered if the Zora knew whose life their waters had claimed.

As near as he could figure, Dark's spirit did not align with Link's the way Sheik's did with Zelda's. He could not sense Link's birth, only his awakening, or his death. He was the true shadow of the hero, after all, and had never felt a need to know when Link was born before Sheik and Vio taught him what it was to care for his light. Before them, he might have been amused by this turn of events, but now each failure sickened him. Each time Link perished, Dark felt he'd failed Vio. He'd promised to do all he could to keep Ganondorf at bay, to prove he was one of the Links.

Without a hero to stop him, Ganondorf. . .

Dark flopped onto his back, staring moodily up at the cloudy dimness that passed for a sky in this realm. What would he do, even if he did find Link? Dark's eyes wandered over to Sheik, who sat bent over his pool, no doubt keeping an eye on the princess again. He was about to make a stalker comment just to annoy the Sheikah (it was difficult to rile him, but definitely worth it if you could out-run the needles thrown your way), when a sudden, horrifyingly familiar sensation flashed through his body, sending him bolt upright.

"Sheik!" They'd better figure out their plan for Link, and fast.

So, who wants to know what they find this time? (Poor Link. I really did feel bad killing him.)