Chapter One - Truth from the Shadows

...She looked up into his face, blue eyes full of fear. "Who are you?" she whispered. "Why are you doing this to us?" But as Saria gazed on that face so full of hatred, she realised...
"You are a part of my past, Forest Sage... a past I no longer need..."
The blade, shimmering blue, stabbed forwards and a river of red sprang from the eternal child's heart. A last faint whisper... "Link! Why..."
"I am no longer who you knew..."...

He woke up and stared blankly into space. Would the past haunt him like this forever?... Ten cruel years, under the mask of a Fierce Deity - a fighter, a destroyer, a killer. But now he had a chance to set things right. He had a new life now, in Termina - and a new love.
Slowly, Link stirred, and listened to the sounds of the early morning. Birdsong outside, and the early morning sunshine slanted through the curtains. He heard soft footsteps walking downstairs, and made a guess who that was - the landlord's daughter, and his girlfriend of eighteen months' time, Alena. No-one else he knew walked that quietly.
Suddenly, the near-silence was broken with a shout. It sounded like Alena's father had woken up before her. And he was angry over something.

"What is this?!" A wooden clatter, as would be caused by... a mask bouncing across the table.
Link looked round, searching for a relic of his past. It was nowhere to be seen. No... he hadn't left it downstairs, had he? No... he wouldn't have been that careless. Or would he? Anyway, somehow, Alena's father had got his hands on the mask - and he wasn't too pleased about it.
The calm, soft voice replying was a total contrast. "That belongs to Link."
"What? You knew about this? How long have you known?"
"He told me who he'd been a few weeks ago, but I only saw the mask for the first time two days ago at the carnival."
"That's just great. Just great." A pause. "I want that... that deceiver, out of here. You may think he's harmless, but I promise you, he's trouble! One day... he can't keep who he is under wraps forever!"
"What do you mean?" Alena sounded shocked.
"It's all in the books, isn't it? One of many faces..." The speech paused, and paper rustled.
"How is that trouble? You already knew most of the story, and it never worried you before. If he hadn't been... we wouldn't even be here now! You can't kick Link out over some stupid legend..."
"Stupid? Alena, my girl, the legends are not stupid. It is quite simple. He is leaving. To think that I am going to put up with the... the... Fi..."
"The Fierce Deity? Can't you just say the words? Are you so afraid? And if you fear him so much, how can you dare to kick him out?"
He pretended not to hear. "Anyway, you can take this, and go tell him he's going."
Alena spoke again, in a quieter tone. "If he goes... I'm going too. I love him, Father, despite everything."
The reply, when it came, was cold and distant. "Fine. Fine. You go. But walk through my door with your hand in his... and you will no longer be welcome here."
"Then that is what I will do."

Link hid his head in the pillows. He had never heard so much hatred in old Darris's tones. I don't blame him, he thought. If I'd just found out who I was, I'd probably hate me too. But still, it came as a shock. He groaned.
The door was pushed open. "Are you awake?"
"Mmm... yes. I am. And I heard everything."
"I'm sorry..."
"No. You shouldn't be. It's my own stupid fault for leaving that mask lying around. So. Looks like this is it, then." Link slowly swung his legs out of bed, and groaned. The injuries he'd sustained from his fight two nights ago still hurt, despite any amount of potions. He seized a tunic left over a chair, and slipped it over his head. "Better pack my bags. I doubt your dad's gonna be happy if I hang around too long. Not now he knows... who I was."
"I don't think it's just that. He doesn't like anyone keeping secrets from him. Not after...oh!" Alena clapped her hand to her mouth.
"What is it?"
She sighed. "I'd better tell you. I mean, you've been honest with me, why shouldn't I be honest with you?" She paused, violet eyes downcast. "It's all because of my mother. You never met her, did you?" Link shook his head. "She... she was a Sheikah."
Link looked surprised. It made sense, he supposed, with the way she walked so softly. And after all, her counterpart in another world had once masqueraded for seven years under the name "Sheik"... But why was Alena so embarrassed? "What's that got to do with anything?"
"What do you mean... oh. Of course. It's different over in Hyrule, isn't it. Didn't you say they were the protectors of the royal family? But here... Everyone knows the Sheikah were a race of ruthless assassins. The shadow people, right? The name's well earned. In history, they'd come to a village in the dead of night. And by morning... there wouldn't be a house left standing."
They're not the only ones, Link thought. You forget who you're talking to. "Go on."
"Most of that's just myth and rumour now. Everyone says they know someone, whose cousin knows someone, whose best friend's sister's brother was killed by the Sheikah... You get the picture. But you know my father. He takes history more seriously than the real world. Anyway... when he met my mother, he didn't have a clue about her heritage. They got on like a house on fire, or so she used to say anyway. But when I was fifteen... He found out. I don't think it would be much of an exaggeration to say I've never heard anything so awful. They fought for, oh, I don't know how long... I went to bed every night crying." There were tears flooding her eyes now. "In the end, she left. I miss her so much, sometimes... She still writes, but Father pretends she doesn't exist..."
"'Lena! I had no idea..." He felt sorry for her. It was one thing, never knowing your real parents... but having one of them taken away, over something as stupid as her people's past...
How could she have disguised who she was, anyway? He wondered, his mind wandering down a side track. Was it the same way that Zelda had dressed as Sheik?
She blinked. "It's okay. I guess I had to talk about it sometime. I mean..." Alena paused again. "Hang on. I'll go get you a picture of her." She dashed out of the door.
You've got as many secrets in your past as I have, so many shadows behind you. If you can face them, perhaps I can, too. And I know where to start.

By the time she'd returned, pictograph album tucked under her arm, Link was ready.
Alena stopped in her tracks.
The figure she saw in front of her, sitting on the edge of the bed, was one step away from the Fierce Deity of the past. Although his face remained unmarked and his eyes blue, Link had dressed in full armour - somehow left to him, when he'd returned to his old self. His hair was ponytailed down his back, in a manner mirroring his usual taste in headwear, and he was wearing a blue-white tunic under the armour. She recognised it as one she'd bought him as a birthday present, that he'd never worn. That's why, she thought. It's too like..."Link? Why've you...?"
He pretended nonchalance, although inside his heart was fluttering. "I don't want to leave all this behind, not with your father's opinions. Besides, it'll be hard to carry it." Link smiled in a way that contrasted with the rest of his appearance. "What about that picture, then?"
"Oh... okay." Alena sat down and flicked through the album. "See? That's her, there."
The picture was a happy family portrait. Two adults in the background, a girl of eleven in the front, waving at the camera. Alena, her father, and...
Link did a double-take as he looked at the last person there. Even though the eyes were a soft brown rather than red, and no marks ran under them, he knew who - or rather whose counterpart - he was looking at.
"Um... Alena? What's her name?"
"What? My mum's name? Impa." She looked across at him. "Why? What's the matter?"

Link had turned paler than the tunic he wore.
He whispered, barely audible. "The Sage of Shadows... how?"

He looked back at the picture, at the scene so peaceful. Dragging his eyes away from the too-familiar face, he looked at the figure of Alena's father standing there. He'd always been sure that he'd seen him before, even from the first time he'd met... Was the feeling mutual? After all, he knew all the legends... but now he knew why.
If Link mentally aged the part-time historian's features, visualised what he'd look like with a beard... of course. He must be. There was no other way. Surely...

"Alena - you know I told you that everyone in Termina has a counterpart in Hyrule, somewhere?"
"Yes..." she slurred, unsure where this was going. "Why?"
"Because, back there, your parents are two of the Sages I told you about - the Sages of Shadow and Light... And you are too, as I already said once." He sighed. "My past's all catching up with me, all at once." He looked up. "Seems like I'm going to have to face it, after all. If I've got to go - I'm going back to Hyrule. It's the only way."
"I'm coming too," she interjected, a stubborn streak in her voice.
"'Lena - you can't. It's a dangerous road back. And besides, when you got there - would you want to be seen with someone who's caused so much wrong there? You'd better stay here."
"No way. You go, I go. I already told Father. Besides, it sounds kind of exciting..." she grinned.

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