Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Time… did not like the look of this particular temple. Or just the look of this situation in general.

For starters, the group was in a time period that none of them were familiar with. A moment of relative peace in Hyrule’s bloody history. And as much as he enjoyed the break, Time did not like the fact that none of them had seen this temple before or even heard of it.

It was a mystery. 

But, Twilight had tracked a group of black-bloods to the entrance. They had been taken down with minimal issues and injuries, but it would be best to see if there was a base or larger group inside.

Despite how much Time did not like this temple.

Warriors appeared to be on the same page, his eyes narrowed at the entrance and hand gripping his sword. "Stay close, be quiet, and be careful in there."

Legend frowned. He ran his hand over the infrastructure, pausing on a few of the carvings. "I feel like I've seen something… similar to this. But for the life of me, I can't remember where."

"It was definitely a temple," Hyrule waved his hand, "The air about here feels… sacred, I suppose. But also… disgraced." Hyrule knelt down, just by Legend. He placed a hand on the wall and closed his eyes. "Something or someone repurposed this temple. Although, I can't say who or why."

Wild kicked at some of the moss and rock that had apparently fallen free. "I'd guess at least 100 years old, but I'm not an expert."

Well, Time could take what he could. "Do we have food and water for a few days, just in case?"

Wild pulled out his slate and waved it around, "Enough for three weeks."

"Well then," Legend drew his sword. "Let’s get to it."

Time had a very bad feeling about this.

Literally three steps in, the floor decided to drop everyone down a hole.

And not the nice kind of hole, where everyone falls into a pit of waiting monsters or a waiting pack of decayed guardians. (Okay, maybe not "nice" but "expected")

No, this hole was large, had multiple tunnels that Wild had heard many of his fellow heroes fall down. He, himself, had tumbled down quite a ways, scraping and scratching and tearing his cloak against rough stone before landing alone in a room.

In the dark.

Wild laid still for… a really long time. There was no specific reason for doing so. He wanted to take inventory of anything that might be broken or injured badly, while waiting for the dull throbs of bruises and cuts to fade. He listened for anything that might be present with him, whether that be a monster or seven, or one of his traveling companions. He waited for any kind of sound for what felt like hours, as the pain began to fade into just aches.

From what he gathered, Wild was alone. The others must have tumbled into separate rooms and were probably just as annoyed as Wild was with the entire thing.

Or at least, that was what Wild was choosing to believe, at the moment. 

Landing alone in the dark was more annoying than anything. Wild always hated dungeons and temples. They were like shrines, but much longer and more work. Then again, maybe Wild shouldn’t complain so much. Especially since their dungeon and temple crawling was pretty minimal and usually Wild could just float by with help from the others.

Good news about this particular situation: Wild had the Sheikah Slate as a light source, which he used to find a torch along the wall. He yanked it free and summoned a fire arrow to light it, which definitely helped light the way.

Nothing but narrow corridors in sight, at least for now. There were some old ruins carved in, but Wild had never been the best with that kind of thing. That was usually left to Flora.

Wild debated a moment before picking a direction. He jogged along the corridors, keeping his eyes open for any kind of door or any noise, whatsoever.

There was nothing for a long time. Long enough for Wild to start feeling uneasy enough to mutter a few prayers to Hylia for the safety of his fellow heroes.

Finally, he came across a door that wasn’t locked or blocked by rubble. It took some prodding, but Wild was able to open it.

The room was large enough that Wild’s light didn’t light it. The walls were covered in more unrecognizable ruins but… this room gave him the chills. Like a cold wind on a snowy peak.

Best to make it quick then.

Wild set off around the room to find another door. He found three new doors, one of which was locked but the other two were open and quite close to each other. Wild debated about the doors for a moment, raising his light to try and see if he could find any kind of clues–

–something wet sloshed over Wild’s boot.

Wild lowered his torch down to investigate and felt his heart skip a beat.

Blood.

Red blood, to be exact. An entire pool of it, which, if that wasn’t concerning enough, seemed to trail away into the center of the room.

Wild carefully walked forward. He only made it two steps when he saw the white.

Or at least, what used to be white.

Sky’s sailcloth was laying in another pool of blood. Correction, half of his sailcloth. The other half of the sailcloth was a few more steps ahead along with–

Wild dropped to his knees. The torch fell loosely from his hands and rolled forward, lighting the scene in front of him. How he wished it had just gone out. He registered the fact that he was definitely kneeling in blood, but found he did not care that much.

Sky… did not look like Sky. Wild could only look in horror at the hacked body that something had decided to remove not only his left arm but also his head. The head was partially hidden by the half-torn, half-cut sailcloth.

The Master Sword was gone, along with its scabbard.

Wild fell onto his hands and regurgitated the contents of his stomach, until empty.

This… couldn’t be happening. Sky couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t! He still had to go home and get married and have kids with his beloved Sun–

Sun… Wild was going to have to tell Sun.

And he didn’t even know what had happened.

Wild looked up at the body, a helpless horror falling over him that felt familiar, yet not. This couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t.

Wild slammed his hands on the ground and screamed. A hopeless sound that might attract whatever had caught Sky off-guard but he didn’t care. He screamed, and screamed, and cried, and screamed, slamming his hands into the stone on the floor–

“Pup?”

Wild’s breathing hitched. He looked up, eyes red and puffy, at Twilight.

Twilight frowned, looking around the room. He paled tremendously at the sight of Sky’s body. “...Pup?”

“Twi– I don’t– I don’t… I can’t–”

Twilight hurried forward and dropped next to Wild. He pulled the boy into his arms and hushed him gently. “Oh, pup… I got you.”

“But… but Sky–” Wild sobbed.

“Not on you, Wild…” Twilight ran his fingers through his hair, calming Wild’s hitching sobs. “Not your fault… But I promise you–” he pulled back so that Wild could see his face.

Twilight’s eyes were hard and angry. “--we will find who did this. And we will make. Them. Pay.”

Wild… could do that. He could focus on that. “O…okay.”

“Let’s get moving then.”

Chapter Text

Twilight kicked the stone statue that was currently blocking his way. “Stupid puzzle!”

“Well, if you came and helped me, then maybe we could get out of here faster,” Four grumbled.

Twilight waved his dominion rod around. “Well, maybe you should tell that to this stupid thing. Work!”

Four rolled his eyes. “There’s always the old-fashioned way.”

“And what’s that?”

“Pushing it.”

“Does it look like I can push something that big?” Twilight motioned at the ten-foot-stone statue that might as well be classified as a boulder.

Four’s eyes flickered purple in the low light, “You do know what a lever is, right?”

Ten minutes, a large wooden beam, and many curses later, the two adventurers found themselves free of their prison.

The two entered a long hallway that appeared to circle around, both upward and downward. Twilight held up his lantern and squinted into the darkness. “Which way?”

“Um…” Four thought for a moment. “Up would be where we started, which would more likely have an exit. So upwards we go?”

“Sounds good to me.” Twilight drew his sword. “Let’s move.”

The two of them got perhaps five steps when they heard something muffled. Something that sounded suspiciously like a scream. Both stopped and looked at one another.

“That was behind us, right?”

Four scrunched up his nose. “Down in the basements of the creepy temple? Definitely.”

“Ugh,” Twilight shivered. “If there are ReDeads down here I swear to Hylia–”

Another scream. But this one sounded much less like a monster and much more… familiar. Four and Twilight looked at one another before turning on their heels and sprinting down the ramp to the dark depths before.

Warriors, Hyrule, and Time had found themselves separated from the rest of the group. Thankfully, the puzzle of this particular room had actually needed two people to solve and while Warriors and Hyrule worried about finding the solution, Time took the time to find the chests.

Unfortunately, the chest only had money, which was useful just not at the current moment.

Time resisted the urge to tear his hair out because he knew this temple was a bad idea. He just knew it!

“We need to find the others,” Warriors said. “Quickly.”

“Would love to,” Time grumbled, “But how do you suggest we find them? Run around calling ‘hello’ for anyone to hear?”

“When did you get so sarcastic?” Hyrule popped his head over the upper platform of the room.

Wars laughed, “You should have seen him when he was younger.”

Hyrule shrugged then disappeared. A few moments later, the grate on the door lifted up.

“Nice work, Traveler!” Warriors called up. “Now let’s get out of here.”

“All for that,” Hyrule jumped down, landing with a simple roll. He looked around the room, eyes narrowed at nothing. “I don’t feel like we should linger in this temple. It feels… off.”

“The joys of adventuring,” Time shrugged. “Shall we?”

The group found a long, narrow hallway and little else outside. The direction was decided by Hyrule’s “sense” (to the right) and they set off quickly.

It was after a few minutes of walking, that Time voiced a growing concern. “There are no monsters here.”

“That we’ve seen,” Warriors argued, “Maybe the others got here before we did?”

“But then there would be bodies or at least blood trails or signs of a scuffle or something.” Time kicked a skull that was clearly years and years old. “All I see is the bones of those long gone.”

“Mh…” Hyrule hummed. “Maybe all the monsters are gathered somewhere. Or perhaps they do not have enough to patrol the halls. Or…” Hyrule’s footsteps died.

Warriors and Time frowned at one another. They stopped and turned to find Hyrule standing very still, his gaze distant.

“...Hyrule?” Warriors took a half-step towards their companion. “Something wrong?”

Hyrule swallowed. “I… I’m not sure. I just feel like…” his voice trailed off. As sudden as he had stopped, the young traveler suddenly surged forward, past Warriors, past Time, and into the coming darkness. He walked briskly and with a purpose, lantern held high in front of him.

Time and Warriors hurried after him, only to practically run into the boy as he came to another sudden stop.

Time looked down. “Hyrule?”

Hyrule was… shaking. His eyes were wide and his mouth parted. “I… no… that’s…” Hyrule’s arm went limp and the lantern fell to the ground with a loud clatter. The light cut out, leaving the group in pitch black.

Warriors voice hissed but sounded more concerned than angry.  “Hyrule, now we can’t see.”

All Time heard was someone drop to the ground and a choked-off sob. Time’s heart picked up in pace and he quickly knelt down. He felt for the lantern, hands first finding the spilled oil before finding the contraption. “Hyrule, fire.”

Another sob, this one louder than the last.

“I got you,” Warriors was suddenly visible with his fire rod. The light emitted was red and soft, lighting the hall with long shadows and decorating the walls with blood red. Time held out the lantern, trying to ignore the crying Hyrule on the ground because why was he crying–?

Lantern light. Warriors put the weapon away and drew his sword. Time held the lantern up and took a few steps forward–

Warriors sword clattered to the ground. “No…”

Time somehow managed not to drop the lantern again. He sprinted forward the few steps placing the lantern on the ground so both hands were free. Shaking hands gently pressed against Legends throat as Warriors tried to remember how to breathe.

Warriors voice was barely a whisper. “...Mask?” the old name came out without warning but Warriors couldn’t help it because Mask was known for miracles on the battlefield and he needed a miracle from his little brother right now, please–

Time lowered his hand. He turned to Warriors, pure misery and devastation on his face. “I… He’s gone.”

Warriors didn’t expect any less. It is hard to survive being pinned to a wall with arrows through your arms and legs, let alone, a stab wound straight through the stomach.

Hyrule was sobbing behind Warriors. It was a quiet sobbing, which felt… wrong. Legend was loud. He was noisy. He deserved more than just silent sobbing and two men too shocked to move or even cry because this… this couldn’t be real.

Time reached up and ripped the arrows out of the arms and legs. He gently caught the body before laying it down on the ground. A traveling cloak was pulled from his bag and draped over the body. The moment Legend’s face disappeared from sight, Warriors felt a familiar numbing crawl over him.

Soldiers die in war. That is reality.

This is just another soldier.

“We need to keep moving,” Warriors finds himself saying in his captain's voice. “Find the others.”

Compartmentalize. Keep it together. His other brothers were priority right now. Something had killed Legend and was still wandering around.

There would be time to mourn later.

Warriors could break down later.

Chapter Text

When he had first landed in the temple, alone, Wind had been a bit nervous. It was dark, it was creepy, and Wind definitely found too many skeletons for comfort.

After an hour or so of wandering by himself, he had been all too happy to stumble across Warriors and Four.

Or at least… he thought he had been.

Wind had opened another door and heard the two’s voices echoing in the next room over. Wind had almost jumped for joy. He sprinted over to the door, only to find it locked. “Wars! Four! In here!”

“Wind?” Warriors called. “That you?”

“Yeah! The door’s locked, let me see if I can find a key!”

Wind scrambled around the room for a few minutes before finally finding the chest (it was hiding underwater because of a puzzle). He hurried to the door, only to pause for a moment to listen to the muffled tones of Warriors and Four.

Warriors sounded angry. Four seemed annoyed. Wind wondered if they were stuck on a puzzle. Well, he’d be more than happy to help. Wind unlocked the door and slid it open with a large smile. “Hey, guys! I’m here to—GAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

Four yanked his sword through the right side of Warriors stomach and side. He whirled around, the blood splattering as he spun onto his face, eyes falling on Wind.

Warriors crumbled to the ground with barely a grunt.

Wind and Four stared at one another. Wind stood, hands over his mouth, eyes wide and fixed on the crumpled body on the ground. Four held his sword tightly, eyes fixed on Wind with something akin to annoyance.

Warriors moved, ever so slightly.

Four stepped forward—

“NO!” Wind screamed, running forward in a desperate attempt to get there–

Four drove his sword straight through the Captain’s neck. Then he turned and ran.

And Wind ran straight after him, pulling his sword free as he ran after…

After…

Whoever had just killed his older brother.

(It couldn’t be Four, it had to be a trick, Four would never kill Warriors, he would never hurt anyone he was Four he was kind he was nice he was a bit odd sometimes and got angry when it came to some things but never enough to kill someone it wasn’t Four it couldn’t be Four it couldn’t be–)

And there would be Hell-to-pay when Wind caught that slimy coward.

Sky was… concerned.

That was a good word for it.

It wasn’t like Sky didn’t like Legend. He did. Legend was an experienced adventurer and hero. The two of them just… didn’t really hang out on a one-on-one basis. Even the incident of Legend getting turned into a pink bunny didn’t really count because… Twilight was there.

So Sky getting dropped into a creepy temple with only Legend for company was concerning. Simply because, Sky honestly did not know how it was going to turn out.

Legend didn’t appear bothered at all by the odd pairing. He had just gotten to his feet, brushed off the dirt on his knees, and looked at Sky. “Huh.”

Sky… gave him a smile and a little wave.

And immediately wanted to smack himself because ‘why did he do that?’

“Well,” Legend clapped his hands together. “Let’s find the others.”

“Right." Sky drew Fi, allowing the ethereal glow to light the path in front of them. It was not bright, but it gave enough of a light to see in front of them. Legend followed behind without a word, only stopping to check doors or for secret passages.

Sky just watched, unsure of what to do or say. Legend had been doing this for much longer than he. So any advice or suggestion felt… would it be an insult? Probably.

The two wandered in silence for what felt like hours before running into Time and Hyrule, in one of the many side rooms.

Sky immediately brightened. "Hey!"

Time and Hyrule spun around, swords drawn and eyes wide.

"Woah!" Legend put his hands up. "It's just us!"

Time and Hyrule looked at one another. They appeared to have some kind of silent conversation before Hyrule spoke. "Sorry. We just…" he trailed off for a moment. "We found Wind but…” his voice trailed off.

Time looked down at the ground, clearly distressed.

Sky frowned. Something was wrong. Very wrong. “But what?”

Hyrule chewed his lower lip. “It… it looked like someone had stabbed him from behind.”

Sky felt his blood go cold. “Wind… Wind’s dead?”

Time gave a jerky nod.

No wonder the two were acting off.

Legend appeared to be having difficulty breathing. “Where?”

Hyrule shook his head. “You… you shouldn’t see it. It’s not pretty.”

“Where?”

Time pointed to a room behind him and Legend took off. Sky followed close behind, only pausing at the doorway because…

The last time he saw Wind, he had been smiling and laughing. And, while selfish, Sky wanted to keep that image in his mind for as long as possible. Instead of entering, he stood at the doorway, facing Hyrule and Time.

The two of them appeared to be in a state of shock or something. Neither were crying, but they kept exchanging these looks and glancing back at Sky. Hyrule whispered some things, but he mostly looked confused. Time didn’t speak, only shaking and nodding his head. The old man must be in too much of a shock to speak.

After a minute, Legend came out of the room. He scrubbed away any kind of semblance of tears before drawing his sword. He glared at the three heroes, the determination burning bright in his eyes. “Someone is going to die today.”

Sky swallowed. “He’s… he’s really…?”

Legend looked at the ground, his hands gripping his sword so tight that Sky was afraid he’d hurt himself. “We need to find the others.”

Sky felt… detached from the situation. Maybe it was because he hadn’t seen the body. But, based on the fire in Legend’s eyes, it may be best to stay detached. Someone needed to be the voice of reason in this situation.

Wind… couldn’t be dead.

He just couldn’t be.

He didn’t feel dead. Which was a weird thing to say, but Sky just…

Sun would probably say he was in denial. Groose would say he was being stupid.

But maybe Wind was fine.

Sky wouldn’t say that out loud at any point, but that thought kept him from spiraling into a depressive state. If it turned out he was wrong in the end, fine. But for now, Sky chose to believe Wind was fine.

He had to be fine.

Chapter Text

Four was starting to grow impatient.

Which was bad, especially with the current job he had ahead of him.

Four had met up with Wild and Twilight, both of them growling for blood because someone had murdered Sky in cold blood and “stolen the Master Sword”.

Honestly, how stupid could Wild be?

Twilight kept trying to meet Four’s eye, but the smithy was more determined to watch their surroundings.

As far as he could tell, what was left of the others was starting to gather together. 

No doubt they had started to find the bodies.

Twilight appeared determined to rejoin the group, which was the last thing they should do right now. Of course, Twilight wouldn’t know that. All he knew was Sky was down and they needed to find the others before something else happened.

But, with Twilight drawing them closer and closer to the rest, Four realized he had no choice. Especially when Twilight finally caught his eye, his expression grim.

Four looked at Wild, who was running ahead, unaware of what was about to happen.

Well, Four didn’t really have a choice now. Did he?

Four drew his sword slowly and quietly, praying Wild wouldn’t notice. He didn’t, much too focused on trying to keep a look out for Sky’s killer. 

Too bad he didn't realize he'd already found them.

Four moved into position. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

And then he stabbed Twilight through the ribs.

Unfortunately, Four had forgotten that Twilight had chainmail, which made the sword do more bruising than actual cutting.

Which meant Twilight’s eyes were now on Four and Four regretted his action immediately. The two stared at each other for a moment, Four’s sword against Twilight’s side, a clear attempt on his life.

“...ops?” Four finally said, a tiny smirk on his face.

Twilight’s gaze turned red. “You.”

“Me,” Four agreed. He flipped back at Twilight’s swipe and tightened his grip on his sword. He rushed Twilight, hoping to overwhelm him with quick jabs. He needed to do this quickly before–

“FOUR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

…that happened.

Wild had his bow out and had fired off three warning shots before Four could even attempt to explain. But Twilight was quicker, meeting Wild’s eyes and pointing at Four. “He killed Sky.”

Wild’s aim faltered. He looked at Four, eyes wide. “...what?”

Four saw no sense in hiding it. Wild had already seen him trying to kill Twilight for no apparent reason. He shrugged, “He had it coming, Champion. Now stay out of my way.”

Twilight growled and bared his teeth. “Traitor!”

“Glad to be of service,” Four lunged at Twilight, his own teeth bared.

Four had to make this quick. Wild was too shocked to do anything at the moment, but that shock was going to fade and Four would rather not have to fight two “Link’s” at once.

Twilight and Four clashed swords, actions quick with swipes, jabs, and parries.

Four forgot how good the Rancher was at swordplay.

Pain suddenly flared through Four’s right shoulder. He jumped back from the fight to find an arrow shaft in his upper arm. He gritted his teeth and ripped it free, eyes turning to Wild’s position. The Champion had now jumped into the fight and was now standing shoulder to shoulder with Twilight.

“Thanks, pup,” Twilight took the moment to take a breather.

Wild nodded jerkily, eyes fixed on Four. Their gaze was cold and Four knew he was out of time.

Well, time to do the unexpected. He put his sword point in the ground and leaned on it, giving Wild his best evil smirk. “You know, I was getting bored with this little game. I’m kind of glad you noticed, Champion. Then again, that didn’t end so well for the last one.”

Wild pulled back an arrow at full draw. “What are you talking about?”

Four shrugged. “Oh, Sky was easy enough to sneak up on.” He paused, his grin widening, “But Wind? He didn’t even have time to scream.”

Wild’s eyes bulged. Twilight growled. He sprinted at Four shifting into his wolf form as he ran then, lunged with barely constrained anger.

Just as Four had hoped.

Four jumped back allowing the wolf to tackle him, but rolling with the motion. He pulled out a knife and slashed the wolf’s stomach open. Four continued to roll just in time for Wild’s angry yell and firing of an arrow to impact straight through Twilight’s ear.

The wolf howled in pain and Four quickly ducked behind the body to keep Wild from shooting him.

The wolf was trying to tear out Four’s throat, and actually got a good bite in on Four’s arm, but he didn’t pay it too much. While the wolf was busy with his arm, Four threw the dagger in the direction of the charging Wild, forcing the Champion to dodge.

Which gave Four time to reach back and grab hold of his sword and shove it straight through the wolf’s stomach.

“NO!”

Four yanked the sword out and cut out of the air the several arrows shot at him. He wasn’t able to stop all of them and several nicked his arms, with one drawing a nasty cut across his cheek and another lodging in his arm.

Wild shot until his quiver was empty, allowing for Four to stab the wolf one more time. Just to make sure.

He saluted Wild, “Sorry, Champion. But I’ve got other targets to deal with before I deal with you.”

Wild let out an unearthly scream, charging at Four with only a bow.

What was he going to do with just a bow? Knowing Wild, probably smack him over the head. Oh well. Four was already on the run.

Seven down. Two to go.

Four was going to be sick. He could feel his lunch threatening to come up, but he swallowed it back down.

Twilight didn’t look much better. Actually, he probably looked worse than Four because…

That was Wild.

Or at least, it had been Wild, at some point in time. But now…

Twilight’s shaking hands reached out and took the large, now blood-soaked cloak of the champion and gently pulled it over what was left of the body.

“... it’s fresh,” Twilight whispered. “Not more than a few minutes.”

Four closed his eyes and tried to remember how to breathe. If they had been ten minutes quicker with that rock then maybe…

No. The two were headed up. Wild was below them. If they had been ten minutes earlier then they never would have heard Wild or found his body. Ten minutes sooner would have meant Twilight and Four being oblivious to the fact that something had killed their friend.

Something had murdered Wild.

‘Something is going to die a very painful death–’

‘We need to stay calm, Blue. Be rational–’

‘I’ll be rational when whatever did this is in the ground–’

‘Green, tell Blue–’

‘Not now, Vio. … Please.’

A sob from Red broke through to the surface. Four buried his face in his hands, the colors trying to calm Red down but there was no consoling him. The tears streamed freely and Four felt his knees turn to jelly and he hit the ground.

This was like losing Shadow all over again. Only, this was worse because this had been a senseless slaughter. There was nothing heroic or legendary about dying in a temple in an unfamiliar land.

Alone.

Wild had died alone in an unfamiliar land with no one there to tell him what a good person and hero he was. He had died alone without familiar, loving, faces around him. He had died without whispered ‘thank yous’ and comforting hands to hold until…

Until…

Wild had been alone.

Alone.

Four screamed.

Strong, shaking, arms wrapped around Four and pulled him into a tight hug, burring Four’s face into cotton over chainmail. Four cried and screamed and pounded his fists on Twilight’s chest because it wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair that Wild died. Or that he died alone. And it definitely wasn’t fair to Twilight that Four couldn’t hold himself together for five minutes because no matter how much he was hurting it had to be ten times worse for Twilight–

But he couldn’t stop crying.

Chapter Text

Time hadn’t spoken since they left Legend’s body.

He knew they shouldn’t have come into this temple. He just knew it. And he hadn’t listened to his gut and now Legend was–

Time swallowed down the tears that were threatening to come up. He… he could cry later. He could do this. He had to hold this group together. Specifically, at the moment, Hyrule.

The Traveler… wasn’t taking the loss well.

Time had had to pull Hyrule to his feet and away from the scene. Warriors had promised the both of them they’d be back for the body once they found the others. Hyrule appeared to be in shock, his tears having dried, but the tracks still visible. His arms were wrapped around his stomach like he was trying to hug himself.

Time wanted nothing more than to hug him, but they had to keep moving. So he settled with holding onto one of Hyrule’s shoulders from behind, gently pushing him forward.

Warriors was ahead, scouting for… anything. His expressions had been locked down, leaving that familiar blank face that Time knew so well from the previous war. As a child, Time had just thought Warriors had a heart of steel: unaffected by the death surrounding him at the time.

Now, Time saw it as what it really was. A mask to hide the pure pain screaming out. Time had a feeling if he looked in a mirror, he’d have a similar expression.

It was hard to determine how far they had walked. There were some signs of puzzles being solved which meant they should be rejoining the group soon.

They were going to have to tell them about Legend…

Time was not looking forward to it.

Warriors opened one of the doors, revealing a large, open room. He looked around, carefully checking corners and the ceiling before waving for Time to follow him.

Time thought the room was empty at first. Then he spotted a flash of blue, curled up at the foot of a pillar.

Wind.

The boy had his knees drawn into his chest and his face buried in his knees. He looked quite dirty, tunic covered in dirt. His sword was drawn and was sitting next to him on the ground. For one heart-stopping moment, Time thought the boy had met Legend’s fate.

“Wind?” Warriors gently called.

Wind whimpered, drawing his knees closer and letting out a broken sob.

Warriors hurried over, dropping next to Wind. “Are you hurt, sailor?” He reached out to lay a hand on Wind’s knee–

–only for Wind’s head to jerk up, eyes red from crying. He stared at Warriors for a single blink. Then he scrambled back, fumbling to get up and grab his sword.

“Woah, easy,” Warriors pulled back. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Wind pointed his sword at Warriors, eyes wide and his entire body trembling. “Who… who are you?”

Time felt another stab of panic. “Wars… back away.” If Wind had lost his memory somehow, then no wonder he was jumpy. They’d have to take this slow.

At least Wind wouldn’t have to be hurt by the news of Legend.

Wind’s gaze slid to Time, and to Time’s confusion, he looked relieved. “Time!” He looked back at Warriors with a slight frown, then down at his sword. “... wait…” Wind looked up at Warriors. His eyes filled with tears and in the quietest voice Time had ever heard from the sailor, “...Wars?”

Warriors looked confused, but he nodded slowly. “Sorry I scared you. Are you okay?”

Wind lowered his sword. To Time’s horror, his lower lip began to tremble and tears began to slide down his cheeks. “I… I’m sorry. I l-lost him… I couldn’t– I didn’t– I’m sorry, big brother!” And then Wind promptly burst into tears.

Warriors rushed forward, dropping to his knees. He gently went to hug Wind–

–only for Wind to gasp, shove Warriors back, and scramble back. He looked absolutely panicked now and Warriors looked as confused as Time felt.

“Wind, what’s wrong?” Time called.

Wind pointed at Warriors, “He… how did he touch me?!”

Uh…

Warriors tilted his head. “You feeling okay, kiddo?”

“Am I–?” Wind stared at Warriors like he had lost his mind. “How am I? I’m not the one who just got gutted by Four!”

…what?

Hyrule stiffened beneath Time’s grip so he assumed the traveler had been snapped out of his numb state by that particular comment.

“What are you talking about?” Warriors demanded. “What did Four do?”

“HE KILLED YOU!” Wind screamed. “RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!”

Time… had no idea what to think of that. “Wind…” he slowly drew closer to the boy. “Warriors has been with me since we fell. He hasn’t been gutted by anyone.”

Wind shook his head fiercely. “I know what I saw! I know what I–!” He broke off with a sob, burying his face in his hands.

Warriors caught Time’s eye, the quiet question on his face.

‘Thoughts?’

Time frowned. He looked around the temple, then back at Hyrule who appeared to be struggling to understand what was happening. “A… fear spell of some kind? Living worst fears?”

“Which would add up, as Hyrule was the one to find Legend’s body,” Warriors frowned. “But… you held Legend’s body. Did he feel real?”

Wind raised his head with a jerk, “Legend’s dead?!”

Time frowned. He remembered the cold skin, the blood seeping onto his hands and into his clothes. Looking at all three of their clothes, there was definitely dried blood present that… would belong to Legend. “It felt real… and we have physical evidence.”

“Maybe a shapeshifter, of some kind?” Warriors thought. “Maybe Four killed him and Wind just happened to walk in at the wrong time?”

“Then why wouldn’t Four try and explain to Wind?” Time shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Wind was looking between the two of them, eyes wide and clearly lost.

Somewhere behind them, another door slid open. Everyone turned to watch Twilight and Four walk into the room. Both looked like they had been crying, with Four still sniffling a bit.

Wind made a kind of noise between a choke and a growl. “You little coward!”

Warriors caught hold of Wind’s tunic before he charged across the room and tried to stab Four.

The two frowned at the outburst.

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

Warriors wrestled Wind to the ground, hissing something in his ear (probably about not attacking when you don’t know who's your ally and who is not). That left Time to explain.

Which… how to explain. “Wind… thinks he saw Four kill Warriors.”

“I know what I saw!” Wind shrieked, fighting against Warriors grip.

Four frowned, “But… Wars is right there.”

“We know,” Time pinched the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath before continuing, “Hyrule, Wars, and I found… Legend’s body. Or at least we think we did.”

Twilight paled.

Four looked ready to cry more.

“...we found Wild…” Twilight whispered. “It… it was horrible. Like someone had just–” Twilight cut himself off, biting down on his lower lip. “I… covered him the best I could with his cloak.”

Warriors cursed.

Time frowned. “Hyrule found Legend… Wind saw Warriors… you found Wild…” Time looked at Warriors, “I’m beginning to lean towards the first theory.”

“But there is physical interaction. How does that work?” Warriors demanded.

Another door suddenly slid open, this time from the opposite side of the room.

Time turned around, expecting either Sky to have found the group or a group of monsters.

He was correct with Sky.

He had not expected Legend.

The two of them walked in and froze at the sight in front of them. No one moved for a long moment.

Then Hyrule took a step towards the group, eyes wide and voice a whisper, “...Legend?”

Legend stared at Hyrule. “Rulie? But weren’t you–?’ Legend turned around, then jumped back about five feet, cursing loudly.

As if Time’s day couldn’t get more confusing, in walked another Hyrule and another… well, Time.

The other Time stared at Time, his expression oddly blank.

…Okay then…

Time had nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Four had underestimated Wild.

That much was clear, based on the simple fact that this man had tracked him all the way through this cursed temple.

And was still right behind him.

Four had barely had time to breathe, let alone plan.

He heard the shouting first. Muffled, clearly confused, and obviously from Legend.

So much for subtlety. Oh well, he’d take what he can get.

Four slipped his sword away and pulled out his bow and quiver. This would have to be long-range and he’d only have one shot at it.

Literally.

Three lefts, two rights, one left, second door, and…

Bingo.

The door slid open, allowing Four to hear the loud, “Everyone calm down and just… no one move!” that was given by Warriors. He didn’t wait for it to completely open before sliding under the door and running forward.

Four had to pause for a second to make sure he didn’t shoot the wrong one because having two people who looked alike was hard to tell the difference between. His pause allowed the animal known as Wild to come chasing after him, his bow having been switched out for some kind of skeleton arm (you know, Four wasn’t even sure why he was surprised at this point), and let out an angry yell.

Everyone’s gazes turned towards Wild, with most of them pausing on Four. To be fair, he probably looked like he’d just taken a dive in a blood bath (which, yeah, he kind of had). Four glanced back to watch Wild throw the skeleton arm, which he easily avoided. Four then drew his arrow back, took aim, and fired.

No one had been expecting it, let alone Time. A single arrow sliced straight through the flesh of Time’s neck. Another arrow was loosed before the first hit, and this one slammed through Time’s good eye.

The old man didn’t stand a chance, dropping to the ground with a disturbing sound. His hands twitched at the arrow in his neck before falling to the ground limply.

Twilight let out a broken scream, which, yeah. Maybe not the best move on Four’s part but it wasn’t like he could explain what was going on.

And then all Hell broke loose.

The remaining Time was standing near Warriors and Wind, staring at his doppelganger's body like he had no idea what to make of this turn of events. Legend and Sky hurriedly ran to Time’s downed body and tried to figure out if there was something they could do (which no, there really wasn’t). Wind broke free of Warriors' grip and grabbed his sword. His gaze turned onto Four with a promise for blood which meant Four now had to deal with the twin-blue-tunic-bros. His other self was staring at him with a look of horror and had already drawn his sword, backing away from… well everyone in the room.

Hey, remember that stupid skeleton arm of Wilds? Well, apparently it was a freaking boomerang because Four dodged it and fired off his only shots and got a quick look at everyone before suddenly being smacked in the forehead by the stupid thing.

Four barely avoided Wild’s pounce by rolling away. He drew his sword and backed against a wall, eyes flicking between whoever moved next.

Warriors finally recovered by screaming at the top of his lungs, “STOP MOVING, SOLDIERS!!”

Most everyone reacted instinctively, with Wild and Wind actually freezing in their steps. Wild turned around to find Twilight and Sky in the room which probably confused him to no end, but at least Four didn’t have to worry about him for a minute.

Warriors slowly drew his sword and backed away from the group. “Alright… who here is a real Link?”

The question took a minute to sink into everyone’s minds. But when it did, there was a slow dawning and many of the Links began to back away from the others until most were spaced a good distance from one another. Some with weapons drawn, others only fingering them while flicking their gazes between one another.

Eight down, one to go.

Something told him, this was going to be the hardest one to get.

Chapter Text

Four was… confused. He was so confused right now that Vio was quiet for once in his life because he couldn’t even think–

There were two of him, which wasn’t the weirdest thing because there were actually five four of him. The weird thing was that this particular version of him had been going through and killing some version of his friends which meant–

Most of his friends were probably dead.

The only one he had left for sure was Hyrule but even then–

Everyone had their weapons drawn and were backed up against walls and pots, eyes flicking back and forth between one another. There was confusion, distrust, and a bit of hope in their gazes which… yeah, that seemed the right mix for this whole situation. 

Four himself was holding the Four Sword, which he did not remember drawing and was ever so tempted to split just so he had a better chance to actually survive the many evil/replicas that may or may not want to kill him–

“Okay…” Warriors said slowly. “We know we can kill the bloody Four, right?”

“Yes,” Wild hissed, eyes narrowed in on the imposter.

The Four, covered in blood, shook his head, “I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“No one cares, fake!” Wind screamed. “You killed Wars and Time!” He paused, looking at the other Time that was still breathing. “...I think.”

“He also killed you, Sky and Twilight,” Wild shouted out. “Which would mean… you’re all fakes?”

“By that logic, pup,” Twilight muttered, “You’d be fake too.”

Hyrule and Hyrule were just… staring at each other. Although one of them appeared more… pale than the other.

Bloody Four caught Four’s eye. Four was…surprised by the serious look. The bloody Four carefully held his sword up so everyone could see, then gently put it on the ground, all while keeping eye contact with Four. He then stood up and put his hands up in a “surrendering” gesture. “You need not worry yourself, brother.”

Four felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach. His grip on his sword went lax and he inhaled sharply. That was impossible–

Bloody Four smiled at him. A familiar, sad, regretful smile that had haunted Four for so long–

“I have always been a step behind you,” He said softly. “Now I need you to do the same… just for a short time.”

Four’s breath hitched. “Sh… Shadow?”

Bloody Four closed his eyes and the image shifted. The bloodstains disappeared as the multi-colored tunic turned into a pure black one and the hair shifted into black. He opened his red eyes and gave Four another smile. This one sang of mischief and chaos that Shadow was about to bring down on this group.

Vio snatched control of the body with little protest. He surged forward with barely a hesitation. He ran forward and threw his arms around Shadow, gripping him tightly like if he let go, this would all be a dream. Shadow returned the grip, just as tight. “I missed you too,” Shadow said into Four’s shoulder.

There were confused shufflings and exclamations said behind them but Four paid little mind.

Shadow lowered his voice to a whisper. “When I tell you, let go and hit the ground.”

Four made no reaction that he heard the order, but he did tighten his grip for a split second.

“Red, start blubbering,” Shadow whispered.

Red was glad to do so. “You jerk–” Red gasped through tears, “Don’t ever scare us like that again! We thought you were dead and after everything you did we didn’t even get to have ice cream together–”

Shadow’s grip went slack and Four dropped to the ground. Up came Shadow’s bow which, aimed and fired an arrow straight at one of the Hyrule’s—

–only for it to be intercepted by Legend’s shield.

Four rolled over, feeling more than just a bit annoyed.

“What in the name of Hylia!?” Legend drew his sword and Wild already had his bow pointed at Shadow–

–which Four immediately blocked with his own shield. “WAIT!” He screamed at all of the pointed attacks, “He’s on our side!”

“He just shot and killed Time!” Warriors yelled back.

“THE FAKE TIME” Four yelled. “THAT WAS THE FAKE TIME!”

Shadow lowered his bow. “If you allow me, I can remove the illusion's effect on the body.”

“And how do you do that?” one of the Hyrule’s asked.

Shadow glared at them. “I kill you.”

“No more killing!” Legend growled, standing in front of both Hyrules. “We… we need to figure this out.”

“Look,” Four began, “If all of us were the fake ones, wouldn’t we drop the act and kill the real Hyrule? So, it would stand to reason that everyone here is a “real” Link.”

There was a long pause as that logic sunk into the group. Swords half-lowered and gazes drifted from distrust to realization then hope, hope, hope– 

Then Wild lurched forward and threw his arms around Twilight, who returned the hug just as tightly, “Thank, Hylia!”

Wind made a kind of strangled noise with his throat, before dropping his sword on the ground and lunging at Warriors. The captain caught him easily, returning the hug but his gaze was now on the two Hyrules standing on opposite sides of the room. “That means…”

“The only “fake” left is one of the Hyrules,” Four finished. “Which Shadow can easily identify because… well, that’s his whole thing.”

Warriors frowned. “But how do we know we can trust… Shadow.” He pointed at the dead Time, “For all we know, he could have killed the real Time for… some reason.”

Shadow shrugged, “Believe what you want, I’ll do what I want.” 

And then he lunged at one of the Hyrules.

Four grabbed him by the tunic and yanked him back as the Hyrule screamed out in horror, ducking behind Legend for protection.

“Shadow, calm down.”

“I’ll be calm when he’s dead!”

Legend shook the Hyrule’s grip off of him and shoved the kid away, towards the other Hyrule. “Oh, no, I am not sheltering some Hyrule fake.” He pointed at both of them, “So both of you stand there with no weapons while we… figure this out.”

The Hyrule he pushed away looked hurt. “Legend, it’s me!”

“Ah!” Legend shook his head, “None of that. Now, whoever the real Rulie is, tell me something only he would know.”

Both Hyrules appeared to think. “Uh… you hate eating Wild’s fish.”

“Hey!” Wild exclaimed.

“Well,” the other Hyrule began, “Technically he just hates fish in general, not just Wild’s.”

“Right,” Hyrule snapped his fingers. “Something else then. Uh… Legend thinks Wolfie is going to murder us in our sleep one day.”

Wild and Time both gave Legend a condescending look. Twilight looked a bit horrified. The hero shrugged, “What? He’s a freaking wolf! I don’t think he’s planning on it or anything but a wolf has to eat!”

The other Hyrule pursed his lips. “Sky carved me a fairy wood carving once. Then I accidentally burned it and felt really bad about it and was scared to tell me. But he just smiled and made me another one.”

Sky frowned, “That’s… true.”

“So…” Wind frowned, “Who’s lying?”

Shadow waved his hands to get everyone’s attention, “Yeah, this could go on for a while. The fake has Hyrule’s memories!”

There was a long pause. “Seriously?” Legend asked.

“...I believe it.” Wild said, still being held tightly by Twilight. “Fake Twi called me Pup.”

Twilight visibly stiffened. “He what?”

“New plan then,” Warriors said.

“Like what? We make them fight each other and hope the real Hyrule wins?”

One of the Hyrule’s eyed his doppleganger, a tad frightened, “Are we sure I should even be standing next to him?!”

“Hey,” the other Hyrule said, “I want nothing more than to fly away from you right now. Literally.”

Other other Hyrule paled.

This was getting confusing. And to add to the issue, Sky was pointing the Master Sword at Shadow still which… was definitely not a combination Four wanted.

“Legend,” one of the Hyrules took a half-step forward. “It’s me. I swear, it’s really me.”

The other Hyrule looked like he wanted to speak but he bit down on his lower lip. His eyes locked on Legend, gaze wide and clearly afraid.

Legend looked back and forth between the two, his own expression growing more and more… nervous. Afraid. “I…”

“I trust you,” the Hyrule said, “I know you’ll make the right decision. I know you will.”

Legend looked back and forth between the two.

The one on the left still stood silent. The one on the right kept his pleading gaze on Legend.

Legend cursed. “I… I don’t know.”

Silence.

Shadow locked eyes with Four. “I do.”

Four took a deep breath. “Okay… everyone, get away from the Hyrule’s.”

Legend whirled around, “I am not letting a Dark Link–”

“I’m a shadow,” Shadow interrupted. “Dark versions of you are different. They possess your skills and appearance, yes, but that is it. A shadow possesses your skills, appearance, and your memories. A literal reflection of you. Dark’s are twisted versions that have no mental tie to you.”

“Then what makes you different from the others?” Warriors demanded. “Why kill the others if they are just our reflections?”

Shadow looked at Warriors, eyebrows raised. “I know you’ve met your Shadow before.”

Warriors looked like he’d been slapped.

“Would you really,” Shadow asked, “take a chance on his ‘good side’?”

Warriors did not speak for a long time. Then, a very quiet, “no,” was muttered. “No, I wouldn’t.”

Four stepped forward, “Shadow saved my life on my adventure. He helped me defeat Vatti at the cost of his life. I trust him with my life. If you can’t trust him, that’s fine. But trust me.”

A long pause.

Time nodded slowly. “I trust you, Four.”

“Me too,” Wind said.

“Okay,” Twilight said after a silent conversation with Wild.

Sky and Warriors looked at Four, then at Shadow, then back at Four. 

“Very well,” Sky put the Master Sword away.

Warriors gave a jerky nod.

Four turned to Legend. “Legend?”

Legend looked between the Hyrules, then at Four. He looked like he just swallowed a boulder. “I… okay. But–!” he pointed at Shadow, “If you so much as–”

“Agreed,” Shadow cut in. “I’ll even give you my sword to do it.”

Legend looked back at the two Hyrules. “...hang in there, kid. You’re going to be okay.”

Four clapped his hands. “Everyone, over there,” he pointed at a far wall.

Four waited until everyone was clear. “Okay, now all of you stay there no matter what happens next. Got it?”

Stubborn agreements were grumbled, but Four barely paid them mind. He was pretty sure he knew who Shadow had lunged at but… he glanced at Shadow in a silent question.

Shadow pointed to the one on the right before running his finger across his neck. ‘Kill him.’

Four pointed to the Hyrule on the left, “Don’t interfere. Get over with the others.”

Hyrule looked relieved as he did as he was told, running straight to Legend who hesitantly wrapped his arms around the traveler.

Which just left…

Four drew his sword and pointed it at the imposter. “I know what you are.”

The imposter did not look impressed. “And what is that?”

“You’re Hyrule’s Shadow,” Four said. “Brought to life through some form of magic in this temple. Am I wrong?”

There were some shifting along the wall and the sound of a few weapons slipping free. Four glared in the general direction and it died down pretty quick.

Hyrule’s Shadow looked surprised. “Four, you aren’t really believing that evil form of yours? It’s obviously a trick, using the memory of an old friend–”

Shadow growled from behind Four, “Why you–”

“Shadow,” Four snapped. “I got this.”

The imposter’s eyes flicked to Shadow and the surprised look was replaced with anger. “I suppose there is no use in pretending anymore.” The imposter’s posture shifted from cowering, pleading, innocent to something more… dark. “I hope you are proud of yourself, traitor.”

“I take that,” Shadow drew his sword, “As a compliment.”

Four smirked at Shadow, “As you should, brother dear.”

The imposter’s glare darkened. “Well, I wouldn’t count you lucky yet…” he smiled darkly, “You should ask your little ‘Shadow’ why he saved me for last.”

Four frowned. “I assume because Time’s Shadow would have wiped us out with the snap of his fingers.”

Hyrule’s shade laughed. It was cold and deep and sent shivers down Four’s spine. “Oh, he could have. But he couldn’t do this–” The shadow flickered.

Four felt Shadow stiffen beside him and he let out a curse as Hyrule’s Shadow seemed to grow bigger. It rose in height and width and it’s eyes did not turn the suspected red but a deep, glowing, purple into something that looked familiar but also impossible–

Off to the side, Four heard the heroes draw weapons and many of them curse while Hyrule dropped to his knees and let out a quiet “no…” and Four drew his sword and rose it above his head so there was a blinding flash of light–

Blue shifted forward into a defensive position immediately, “Ganon?! Seriously!”

“Questions later,” Vio glared at him. “Fight now!”

“Eek!” Red shrieked when the no-longer-Hyrule-shaped-shadow threw a fireball in their general direction.

Green jumped forward and parried it back. “Blue, Red, you take the left. Vio, Shadow, right. I’ll go from the front.” He glared at the mix of shocked, horrified, and confused looks from the other Links. “You all stay put, we’ll explain later!”

And then they attacked.

Chapter Text

If it wasn’t for the horrid situation they were in, Green might have laughed out loud.

It had been so long since he had all his brothers next to him (and he meant all of them). And yet, despite the time between, it felt like no time at all. They just… clicked. When Vio and Shadow lunged, Red and Blue pulled back. When Vio was knocked back, Green caught him and shoved him back with nay a signal and Vio’s sword drove deep into the shade’s arm. Red waved his sword and everyone knew to pull back as flames rose up to cut off the shadow in a trap. Blue charged and the flame wall fell literally a hair-width away from burning him, successfully stabbing the giant pig in the eye.

It let out a shriek and whipped Blue across the room. He slammed into the wall behind and hit the ground with a sharp cry. “Blue!” Red ran and fell down next to him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Blue snapped.

“Let me see you!”

Green noted Blue’s sword was still stuck in the beast’s eye. The pig clawed at his eye before giving up and spitting out a ball of malice towards Blue and Red–

–which was immediately intercepted by Shadow and Vio with a team shield bash. The ball bounced back and the pig shrieked again at the impact, getting knocked into the wall.  Vio put his sword away and pulled out his bow. Shadow caught Green’s eye and the two nodded at one another.

Then they charged.

Vio shot off several arrows, each aimed at or around the uninjured eye. The creature shrieked and covered it in an attempt to keep clear, allowing for Green and Shadow to shove both their swords straight into the beast’s stomach.

An especially large scream was let out and the two pulled out just as the shadow collapsed on the ground.

Then it was silent.

Green kept his sword up, carefully walking towards the lump of darkness that was now melting and twisting into…

Shadow snarled and someone along the wall let out a shout of alarm.

Hyrule’s Shadow had shifted again. It was Hyrule’s form, only this one had skin like lavender and his eyes glowed a dark red-violet. His hair was a deep gray and he hissed at the group, his sharp fangs for all the world to see.

The true shade’s form.

The shade spat blood out of his mouth. Green had time to register the fact that it was black–

–then found himself pinned to the ground by evil Hyrule’s claws. His sword was gone (when did it get knocked away?) and the shade’s hands pressed against Green’s throat–

–the shade hissed and pulled back with an arrow through his arm. He held up his hand and a purple barrier appeared to stop the second arrow from Vio.

Blue had retrieved his sword at some point and jumped forward, swinging downward.

Hyrule’s shade jumped back, then lunged with his good arm. He managed to scratch Blue’s cheek with a claw but had to retreat at the angry slash. Blue settled into a defensive stance between Green and the shade, his eyes promising violence if the shade so much as moved.

Vio put out a hand and helped Green to his feet. Red looked at him, eyes full of worry, but Green waved him off. He was fine.

Shadow handed Green his fallen sword and Green stepped up next to Blue. “Surrender.”

Shadow snorted. “He won’t, but nice to know you’re still soft.”

Hyrule’s shadow glared at the group of brothers. “You don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?” Vio snapped. “That you’re beaten?”

The twisted shade chuckled, “Oh, no. Not even close.” His gaze slipped away from the brothers and over to the wall with the heroes–

–no, the wall with the real Hyrule.

Green followed the shade’s look and frowned.

Hyrule was trembling where he stood, hands shaking, eyes wide, and gasping for air. His sword had been drawn, but it was shaking so badly that he might as well never bothered with it.

The shade laughed, “You see,” he began, “I’m not just his shadow…” The Shade straightened up. He ripped the arrow out of his arm and the black blood spilled freely for only a second. Then the wound closed as if magic. 

Green had a bad feeling about this.

“Maybe little ‘Rulie’ can help explain?” the nickname was said with a scoff that made Blue growl in a wordless threat.

The shade sneered at the trembling Hyrule. He said… something, but the words sounded like knives breaking against rocks and seemed to make the temperature of the room drop several degrees.

Hyrule’s shaking sword wavered, the point almost dropping to the ground.

Shadow growled, low and threatening. He hissed something back at Hyrule’s shade in the same language and Green could only assume it was not very flattering.

Then Hyrule’s Shadow cackled. He raised his hands and suddenly, Green was getting knocked back into a wall. He registered someone (he thought it was Wind) yelling and then something slammed into the back of his head.

And then everything went dark.

Shadow was not known to be the comforting type.

He didn’t really have a choice though.

The moment Hyrule’s Shade put his hands out, Shadow knew they were in trouble. He managed to guard himself a little from the blast of dark magic, but his brothers were not so lucky.

Green went flying back and slammed into a wall, along with Red. Both were instantly knocked unconscious. Blue ended up trying to catch himself and landed wrong on his arm, snapping the bone like a twig. He screamed out in pain, and probably anger and laid where he fell (at least for the moment).

Vio had ducked behind Shadow, which made him the only brother left standing. Which… wasn’t bad, but definitely could have been better. Vio’s eyes were flicking around the room, trying to come up with some kind of plan, probably.

All the while, the rest of the Links were scattered about in various conditions themselves.

Time and Warriors had decided to take the direct route and were both fighting Hyrule’s Shadow. Both of them appeared to be holding for now, but Shadow was pretty sure they could not hold forever.

Especially within this cursed temple.

Legend was over the real Hyrule, his shield out and protecting the boy from anything launched their way. He was yelling something at Hyrule, but the boy didn’t seem to hear. He was in shock. Shadow really couldn’t blame him.

Sky had been knocked back with the dark magic, the Master Sword flying from his hand and across the stone floor. Wild had fetched it and was now holding it up but in a defensive stance. Behind him, Sky was dazed and Wind was unconscious with Twilight looking over them. Twilight must have decided they’d be fine and approached Wild. The two exchanged some quick words before Wild handed Twilight the sword. Wild then pulled out his bow from his slate.

Looked like more were going to join the fight, which meant more time for the heroes.

But not enough power.

“Shadow,” Vio suddenly spoke, “What is Hyrule’s Shadow exactly?”

Shadow shook his head, “Wish I knew. But I know it’s… not like me. And it’s not like any of the others.”

“Hyrule seems to know something,” Vio hummed to himself. A nervous tick he’d picked up from Four. “But I don’t think he’s in a state to explain.”

Shadow tried to speak, but was interrupted by Hyrule’s Shadow– you know what? No. That was getting annoying to say and was way too long. You know what? Shadow was going to call it… Shadrule. Was it stupid? Yes. Did he care? Not particularly, no.

Shadrule let out a particularly creepy laugh. He dodged Time’s swing and kicked Warriors back, before grabbing a hold of Time and slamming him into the ground. Stronger than he looked, good to know. “I think I’ll borrow this,” Shadrule hissed, reaching his hand out and touching the ground.

Time grunted as he fought back, only to be released after a few seconds. Time rolled away, and not a moment too soon because Time’s Shadow ( uggghhhhh… Just Shade? Shadime? Dime? Sure, Dime it was!) decided to rise up out of the ground and try and stab at his light counterpart.

Brilliant. Shadrule could bring back the other shadows. All of Shadow’s hard work just thrown away. On top of that, Dime looked eager for blood, if the creepy smile was anything to go by.

Vio cursed and drew his sword. “I’ll help them. You get to Hyrule.”

“Wait, what?” Shadow raised an eyebrow. “Why me?”

“Because I don’t speak evil language–”

“It was a variation of a demon dialect you little–!”

“--and you’re the only one who knows what he said to Hyrule so figure out how to snap him out of it! We’re going to need him to put whatever this thing is in the ground!” And then Vio was off. He joined Time’s fight with Dime and Twilight joined Legend against Shadrule with Wild playing backup for both with his bow.

Which left Shadow to try and get someone out of shock.

Someone being guarded by Legend.

Joy.

Sure enough, the moment Shadow turned and hurried towards the two of them, Legend held his sword up and glared at Shadow. The look clearly said, “Try it and I’ll kill you, so help me Hylia.”

Shadow put his sword away and hands up. “I just want to talk to Hyrule.”

“If you hadn’t noticed,” Legend snapped, “He’s a bit distracted.”

Not sure if that was the right word for the curled-up kid on the ground, staring at Shadrule with a look of pure terror but sure– Shadow will take it.

Shadow resisted the urge to snap back. “He’s the only one who knows what that thing is and is the only one who knows how to stop it, so let me talk to him.”

Legend glared at Shadow. He glanced behind Shadow’s shoulder at the very loud fights before his eyes widened and let out another curse. Shadow turned around just in time to see Warriors Shadow (OKAY! Warriow! No, too similar. Sharrior? Wardow. Wardow it was!) take form again.

Three on four and a half. Not the worst odds, but could be better.

Legend glared at Shadow. “If something happens to him–”

“Help them, I’ve got Rulie.”

Legend cursed and didn’t look happy about it, but spirited away, straight at Wardow. Well, if anyone would want to kill a form of Wars, it was Legend.

Shadow forced himself to block out the fight. He knelt down in front of Hyrule.

Hyrule didn’t even react, just staring into middle space.

“Hyrule, wake up.”

Nothing.

Someone behind him let out a pained yelp, but Shadow forced his focus back. “Hyrule, come back here. We need you.”

Still nothing.

Shadow cursed. He needed something to get Hyrule to react. Something with an emotional punch or a shock to get his mind back to the present. That was how Shadrule had knocked him out.

Shadow’s blood still boiled at that bastard's words.

How did Hyrule even come to understand the language of demons? He wasn’t part demon he was part–

Fae.

It was worth a shot.

Shadow took a deep breath. Then he spoke. The words were a bit choppy, but he was pretty sure he got his enunciations correct. “Oremus pro te, stellula.”

Hyrule’s eyes snapped up. He flinched back at the sight of Shadow but didn’t try to hit him, so Shadow took that as a win. Hyrule looked around Shadow, then back at him. He shook his head and whispered, “Non merentur orationes vestras.”

“Neither do I,” Shadow said softly. “But that doesn’t stop my brothers. And it won’t stop them, no matter what it is.” He paused. Then, “Eum verberare potes. Et scit.”

Hyrule looked surprised.

“Consurge,” Shadow firmly said. “Surge, pugna.”

“...Bene…” Hyrule put out a hand and Shadow lifted him up.

Shadow pulled out his sword and faced the battle.

He chose to ignore the fact that Wild was now in the thick of it, with Sky using his bow to the best of his ability. Blue had also decided a broken arm was stupid and was now attempting to help with his hammer (Shadow made a note to lecture him later about slings if Vio did not beat him to it).

Shadow glanced at Hyrule, “What’s the plan?”

“I… I don’t know,” Hyrule said. “I think that my shadow–”

“Shadrule.”

Hyrule looked at him.

Shadow shrugged, “Not the best name, but who cares?”

“...Shadrule is drawing on the dark magic of this temple.”

Shadow almost rolled his eyes, “Already knew that, keep going.”

“Well,” Hyrule thought for a moment, “I might be able to cut him off from it? No, that would require destroying the temple itself. Um… we might be able to get him out of here— no, he knows this place is his power source. Maybe we can– no that won’t work either.”

Twilight was thrown to the ground, then got up with blood streaming from a gash on his forehead.

Shadow resisted the urge to scream. “Look, I knew your shadow was the strongest of all of them. I don’t know why , but maybe you do. Then that can help us beat it.”

Hyrule paled. “I… can’t.”

“If you don’t then your friends, your brothers are going to die,” Shadow hissed.

“But I… they’ll never trust me again.”

“Then just tell me. I won’t tell anyone.”

Hyrule chewed his lower lip.

Someone cried out and the shriek of “WILD!” followed closely behind.

Hyrule leaned forward and whispered into Shadow’s ear.

Shadow… was not expecting that. He pulled back, staring at Hyrule with eyes wide. Hyrule nodded, clearly nervous.

Well, Shadow had promised. “Can you do that again?”

Hyrule frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Can you… lock him down again?”

Hyrule looked down at his right hand. “...I think so. But I need time.”

“Alright, we’ll buy you time,” Shadow turned and charged.

No one was expecting him to do so, which meant his sword sunk into the back of Wild’s shadow before it even fully formed (yay, no need to name him!). It let out a shriek before falling forward and turning into a lump of black ink.

Shadow caught Vio’s eye, “You get Dime, I’m on Wardow!”

Vio, to his credit, did not question the names and headed for his target while Shadow also joined the fight.

Red woke up… very confused. The last thing he remembered was evil creepy Hyrule stretching out his hands and then–

Black.

He groaned, forcing himself to sit up and open his eyes.

Was… was he having a really bad nightmare? Because he was pretty sure there was only one evil Link when he fell asleep, not four.

Well, now three because Shadow just stabbed evil Wild in the back. That looked painful.

Red heard Shadow yell, “You get Dime, I’m on Wardow!”

The message must have been for Vio since his violet brother took off after the evil Warriors. Or… Wardow. A good name for the evil creep, if Red thought so.

Helping Vio was Legend, Wild, and an injured Blue while Shadow fought with Time and Warriors against Dime. That left Sky, only armed with his bow, and Twilight with the really evil guy in the room.

Well, Red was all too happy to help them. He grabbed his sword, quickly shook Green to try and get him to wake up faster (it kind of worked… Green made a noise, so hopefully he’d get up soon), then ran into the fight.

“Hi!” He called to his fellow heroes. “I’m Red!”

Twilight looked confused. So did Sky, but he smiled back at Red.

“Red, focus on Shadrule!” Shadow yelled from across the room.

“Ooh, good name!” Red yelled back.

Shadrule looked at Red, then at Shadow, then back at Red. He also looked confused (why was he confused?) and if there was one thing Vio had drilled into Red’s head it was “a confused enemy is easy to strike.”

So Red willed the Four Sword to catch fire and then swung it at Shadrule.

Shadrule yelped and leaped back, his confusion turned into a scowl, and began to come after Red with his sword. Red shrieked and blocked the blows but goodness they were very heavy hits!

Twilight suddenly appeared, Master Sword in hand (Red wondered how he got that. Oh well, Sky didn’t seem to mind). Shadrule had to jump back from the slice and he scowled at the glowing sword.

Somewhere to the left, Red heard something let out an unearthly scream. Red looked over to find Dime laying on the ground, dissolving into gross, black, goo. “Eww!”

Vio’s nose was wrinkled in disgust, but Red assumed it was because the gross goo was now all over his sword.

Shadrule growled and lunged at Red–

–and was immediately intercepted by Legend, who had joined their fight with Dime now dead. Also joining them was Vio, while Wild charged at Wardow wielding a stick (was it a magic stick? Did Wild have magic sticks? Red wanted a magic stick!)

“Red!” Vio fell next to Red, “Focus!”

“Sorry!” Red readied himself and the two of them attacked as one. It was great to fight with his brothers again. He had missed being able to hug them all! (Ooh! He’d need to do that once they got rid of the evil guys.)

The fight went on for a few more minutes, with each side landing a blow or two, but neither making headway.

Then, another shriek came through the air and Wardow also became gross black goo.

Which meant it was Shadrule vs Everyone (well, except Wind. And Green. And Hyrule).

Shadrule looked very angry. His eyes were glowing purple and his teeth were now really sharp fangs. He growled something at Shadow in that creepy language again, which Shadow said something back, his own eyes glowing red with anger.

It made Red feel safe. An angry Shadow was hard to fight.

Chapter Text

Hyrule had been digging through his bag while everyone else took care of Shadrule’s (terrible name but he preferred it to the real one) lackeys. 

He had a plan. It was not the best plan, but it had worked before. Why wouldn’t it work again? But he needed three things to do it properly.

First, a lot of energy. Hence the two magic potions Hyrule pulled out of his bag. Usually, he was confident in his own magic levels but this spell… if he ran out of magic, then there’d be a problem. The last time, Hyrule was lucky he hadn’t passed out until after the spell was complete. And that had been with help.

Second, a conduit. Specifically for dark magic.

That was the current issue because Hyrule didn’t exactly own anything that had dark magic. He was sure someone else had something, but they were a bit busy at the moment. He could maybe just use a magical weapon. Like his fire rod. But who knew if that possessed a kind of magic that would interfere.

The idea came from the two deaths of Shadrule’s minions. They weren’t exactly weapons, but it was something Hyrule could hold.

And lastly, a knife.

That was buried in the bottom of his bag.

Hyrule finally grasped the handle and pulled it out. It looked a little rusty, but Hyrule didn’t really have a choice. He stood up and faced the current situation in the room.

Shadrule was now glowing with a dark aura and no one looked thrilled about fighting him. The blue Four’s arm was dangling uselessly, Twilight’s head was bleeding, Time was favoring his right side and Warriors had switched his sword to his right hand. Everyone else was covered in various scratches and bruises.

Frankly, it was a miracle they’d survived this long.

Shadow glanced at Hyrule.

Hyrule gave him a stiff nod, and motioned for him to back away from Shadrule.

Shadow barked out, “Back off from Shadrule!”

“That is not my name!”

“Does it look like I care?”

Shadrule growled and lunged at Shadow, who caught his strike and pushed him back.

Hyrule took a deep breath. He needed to remember these words exactly or this wouldn’t work. He began to mumble the words, feeling his magic inside begin to burn away.

It was… exhausting.

Hyrule barely registered that everyone was still fighting Shadrule. 

Jab, stab, down went the Red Four, with a nasty stab through his arm. Slice, snap, Wild broke a literal stick over Shadrule’s head before jumping back and shooting him with multiple arrows in the blink of an eye. Curse, heal, Legend closed up Twilight’s gash with a potion.

Hyrule finished the first half of the spell and downed his first magic potion. His body felt buzzy with the magic energy, but Hyrule still felt exhausted. Now for the rest

Hyrule took a deep breath and stretched his arms and legs quickly. Then he charged into the fray, narrowly avoiding the arrows and dark blasts shot his way, whether on purpose or accidental. Several people shouted in surprise as Hyrule dove straight into the goo that used to be Warrior’s Shadow. Sure enough, it radiated dark magic. The dive covered most of Hyrule’s clothes and his hands, along with part of his face. Even his weapons had been drenched in it.

Well, he’d gotten what he wanted.

He turned and dove into the main fight, barely avoiding a swipe from the Master Sword (Twilight yelped in pain and he dropped the sword. Hyrule mentally apologized), before coming face to face with his darkness.

Hyrule drew his knife and met his dark self’s eyes.

Shadrule looked… amused. “Aww… what’s the little fairy going to do with his little knife?”

Hyrule faltered. But only for a moment. He took a deep breath and gave his dark self a hard look. “I… I know I can’t beat you.”

Shadrule’s expression shifted from amused to a sneer, “And you just realized that?”

Hyrule reached out and put a hand on Shadrule’s shoulder. Shadrule was too surprised to yank back. Hyrule smiled sadly “So… I’m going to do the only thing I’m good for.”

Confusion flooded Shadrule’s face, before turning into understanding. Followed by a flash of panic. He had time to say, “Wait–!” Before Hyrule stabbed his knife through his own left hand and into Shadrule’s shoulder.

The magic in Hyrule’s body flared to life as the darkness screamed, yanking back from the stab wound. But it was too late. 

Hyrule pulled the knife free of his hand, ignoring the shouts behind him and raising the knife up in the air. It was covered in a mix of red and black blood, bonded by the black goo. All that Hyrule needed to finish the spell.

Shadrule tried to charge at Hyrule, but he was intercepted by Shadow and the purple Four, who held him back as Hyrule began the last part of the spell.

He didn’t worry about messing up the words this time. These particular words haunted his dreams every night.

“Demon made of hate and malice, Forever to be sealed in silence–”

Shadrule screamed loudly, throwing Shadow and the purple Four away. He charged again, only to be met with Legend and Twilight, Master Sword once again in the latter’s hand.

Hyrule’s knife floated out of his hand so that it was now hovering above Hyrule’s head and outstretched hands.

“Through the joining of dark and light, Forever to end your cursed blight–”

The Master Sword flashed brightly, pushing Shadrule back, along with the arrows Wild and Sky shot. Hyrule’s knife began to swirl with a mix of the dark aura of the shade, and the golden light of the Triforce.

“Never again to darken the sun, Be sealed away in given blood.”

Shadrule screamed.

Hyrule lowered his hands, the knife jerking down as if by invisible strings. He thrust his hands forward and the knife turned, flying through the air. Twilight and Legend dove out of the way and Shadrule tried to avoid it, but, like magic, the knife turned and buried itself in his chest.

Shadrule fell back, his hand grabbing at the knife handle, but his hands were already dissolving. He struggled a bit longer, then fell back, clearly defeated. That didn’t stop him from glaring at Hyrule and speaking through ragged breaths. “You… you’re a fool. A pawn of the goddess!”

Hyrule pulled out his last magic potion and downed it, trying to ignore the looks from the others.

Shadrule pushed, “She doesn’t care… what happens to you! You would submit yourself… to the torture? For her?!”

Hyrule walked over, trying to hide the fact that he was about to fall over from exhaustion. He didn’t think he did a good job with how many times he stumbled. Hyrule looked down at the dark blob. “...It’s not for her.”

Shadrule looked surprised.

“... You may not remember, but I do,” Hyrule whispered. “And I’d rather be a pawn than let anyone else be hurt by you.”

Hyrule put his bleeding hand over the monster’s chest, directly above the knife. He pulled at the magic and the dark, seeping, goo began to pour from the knife wound. It rose up slowly, as the demon resisted, but the golden magic burned bright. The dark blood began to enter the wound in Hyrule’s hand.

Hyrule’s hand instantly felt numb and it took all of Hyrule’s strength to not drop his arm. The numbness turned into a cold that slowly began to crawl through his body.

Hyrule bit his lower lip and let out a gasp, dropping to his knees. His left hand dropped down to the knife hilt for support, and the dark magic was forced into Hyrule’s blood with some encouragement from the golden power flowing from his right.

The puddle faded until Hyrule was sitting with a knife, stabbing into the ground that only held Hyrule’s shadow.

And little else.

Hyrule dropped the knife, then rested his right hand over the bloody, numb with pain, left. He pulled the last bit of his magic from deep within and used the life spell to heal the gaping hold in his hand.

He stared at his hands as his vision began to tunnel. He felt his body go limp and began to fall over.

Someone caught him.

Someone very warm.

Mhh. Hyrule hadn’t realized how cold he felt until now.

The darkness enveloped him before he could wonder why.

Chapter Text

Legend… had no idea what just happened.

Neither did anyone else, if the shocked and slightly horrified looks everyone had.

The only one who didn’t look remotely confused was Shadow. 

He was also the one who had stopped Legend and anyone else who tried to interfere with whatever the frick Hyrule had been doing.

Whatever it had been, it was some dark stuff. Which probably explained why Shadow was so adamant that nobody interfered.

Shadow stood down shortly before Hyrule collapsed. 

Legend caught the kid before he hit the stone, but only barely. He put his hand close to Hyrule’s mouth and under his nose. There was a faint puff of air leaving his mouth… then nothing. He waited, but no inhale and no exhale. He pressed his fingers against Hyrule’s neck, shifting his fingers every few seconds, trying to search for a heartbeat.

There was nothing.

Legend felt a panic begin to swirl up inside his heart. “He’s… he’s not breathing. I can’t find a heartbeat. Wars–”

Warriors surged forward, even with his bad leg (Wardow had slashed it open with Warrior’s own sword if Legend had seen right), dropping to his knees beside Hyrule and began chest compressions. “Potions! Anyone!”

There was a moment of silence before everyone split for their bags. Three red potions, two green potions, and several hearty elixirs were produced.

Warriors ordered Legend to pour some of the potion over Hyrule’s hand. Legend did so, but the only thing that happened was the potion cleaned off the blood covering the fact that Hyrule had already healed his wound.

Warriors cursed. “Time get over here. When I tell you, sit up Hyrule and Legend and I are going to force him to swallow some potion.”

Time did as he was told and a few seconds later, a swallow of red potion had been forced down Hyrule’s throat. He was immediately returned to the ground and Warrior’s chest compressions continued.

Everyone kept their distance, a still silence falling over the group. At some point, Wind and Green had come to and they were now part of the circle. 

After what felt like hours, Warriors ordered Time to sit up Hyrule again. This time, a swallow of green potion was forced down his throat. Warriors took the time to swallow a few gulps of red potion, most likely for energy to continue and for his leg.

The compressions began again.

A few more potions were passed around for the major injuries of the rest of the party, but no one said anything. Legend could see Sky and Wild mouthing silent prayers to Hylia.

Part of him wanted to snap at them because Hylia wasn’t going to help them. Another part of him was so tempted to throw away his pride and join them. He came to a kind of compromise with little half-prayers that were not respectful in the slightest.

‘If you can hear me you little–’

‘You take him, and I swear–’

‘Are we all just pawns for you to–?’

After what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, Warriors sat back. He was sweating and panting from exhaustion. His eyes came up to meet Legend’s and he could have lived without seeing the broken look in the captain’s eyes.

“...no…” Legend muttered. He felt numb, from head to toe. “No, he can’t be gone, there has to be something we can do, more potions, maybe some magic, something–”

Time reached out and touched Legend’s shoulder. The veteran jerked back, “No!” he grabbed Hyrule’s arm, “You listen to me, Rulie! You aren’t allowed to die! You can’t die! That’s not allowed! You– You– You–” Legend’s voice caught and he bent his head, feeling tears begin to well up. “I can’t lose you too,” he whispered to no one.

Time’s hand returned, but Legend shoved it off. “Hyrule! Wake up!” He pulled the boy up into his arms, shaking him. Hyrule’s head rolled around a bit, before lying still. “Rulie! RULIE!”

Someone was sobbing and that felt like the breaking point as something in Legend shattered. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he clung to Hyrule’s body, burning his face in the goo-covered tunic.

Time’s shaking arms wrapped around Legend’s waist and Warriors attempted to pull Hyrule’s body from him. Legend kicked and screamed, trying to get free of the old man’s grip and not let go of his little brother–

A new face entered Legend’s vision and Legend saw red. “You.” He hissed.

Shadow’s face was impassively blank. “I had nothing to do with this.”

“If you had let me stop him–!” Legend tried to lunge at Shadow, but was held back by Time. “--then he’d still be alive!”

Shadow gave Legend that same blank look. It was infuriating and made Legend’s blood boil. He knew he shouldn’t have trusted a stupid shadow, no matter what Four said–

Shadow looked down at Hyrule’s body, then over to Twilight. “Sword.”

Legend growled. “What do you mean–?”

“Do you want me to save him, or not?” Shadow snapped.

That shut up Legend quick.

Shadow turned back to Twilight. “Sword. In Hyrule’s hand. Now.”

Twilight looked confused. “My sword isn’t going–”

“The Master Sword, you idiot,” Shadow snapped. “You have it.”

Twilight looked down at the purple and silver sword in his hand. “Oh. Right.” He moved forward and put the sword in Hyrule’s hand.

“Alright, then,” Shadow cracked his knuckles, “Give me a second and please,” he paused, glaring at Legend, “Don’t stab me.” Shadow began to mutter something unintelligible under his breath and a dark aura covered his hands. He waved them over Hyrule, the dark glow growing brighter. As he did this, the Master Sword began to flash brightly, making everyone step back.

The muttering stopped and the glow died.

Legend didn’t hesitate, rushing forward to check on Hyrule.

Nothing.

He glared up at Shadow. “What did you do?!”

Shadow raised an eyebrow. He raised a hand up, then snapped his fingers.

Hyrule’s eyes flew open and he gasped for air.

Legend almost dropped him out of fright.

Hyrule coughed and Warriors helped Legend turn him on his side. Hyrule began to retch up that dark, sinister, looking goo. The only difference was this goo did not have dark magic radiating off of it. 

Legend couldn’t find his voice, only able to rub Hyrule’s back, encouraging the dark substance out of his stomach and lungs. He felt tears still streaming down his cheeks, but this time it was tears of relief. He found his voice when Hyrule finally could breathe properly. “You jerk–!” Legend pulled Hyrule to a sitting position before clinging to him, “Don’t you ever do that again!”

Hyrule didn’t say anything, only clung tightly back.

Of course, Warriors had to interrupt the moment. “What happened?”

Legend glanced over to see Warriors glare flicking between Shadow and Hyrule.

Shadow shrugged. “We beat the evil shadows. What else?”

“That… thing, wasn’t a shadow and you know it,” Warriors shot back. “And don’t think I didn’t hear Hyrule’s little spell!”

Well, at least someone had heard it. Legend had been a little busy fending off that evil thing.

Hyrule stiffened in Legend’s grip which… wasn’t a good sign.

Legend pulled back to get a proper look. “Hyrule, what happened?”

“N-nothing,” he muttered.

Liar.

“Rulie…” Legend mumbled. “I need you to be honest.”

Hyrule shook his head and buried his face in Legend’s shoulder, clinging to him tightly.

“Shadow,” the purple Four growled (which was also a thing they needed to figure out, right), “Spit it out.”

“Can’t,” Shadow shrugged. “I promised. And you should know that I keep my promises.”

Blue Four threw an unflattering gesture at the only living shadow left, before being dragged into a group hug with all of the Four’s, apparently led by the Red one.

Who was crying.

“I missed you guys so much!”

“Red, we talked all the time, you moron!”

“It’s not the same!”

“Get off me!”

“Just let him get it out, Blue.”

“No one asked you, Greenie!”

“Shhh… I’m hugging all of you.”

“Red!”

Well… Legend would follow the four… Fours lead and continue to hug Hyrule because that had been too close– 

(Legend chose to ignore the part of his mind that was drawn back to an old memory to the temple he’d found in his younger days. A temple where he had found four people that had all looked similar, with the same color scheme as these four people in front of him. A temple, where all of them had fused into one. A temple that had four people that hadn’t looked a lot like him but… had worn similar tunic style’s and hats. People that looked a bit like an older Four).

Chapter Text

“Alright,” Time breathed in, then out. “Let’s start with the obvious question in the room.”

Everyone turned and looked at the multi-colored Fours.

Red smiled brightly and waved, “Hi, I’m Red. That’s Blue, he’s Green, and he’s Vio! All of us make up Four!”

Vio facepalmed. “While Red is technically correct, it’s a little more complicated than that.”

“A little?” Blue scoffed. “Try ‘a lot’.”

Vio rolled his eyes, then held up his sword. “This is the Four Sword, as you all know. When we–as Four–pulled the sword, it split us into four separate copies. However, the copies are not identical as you might think. I am Four’s intelligence.”

“He’s also our apathy,” Blue chimed in.

Vio hit Blue’s shoulder. “No one asked you, numbskull!”

“Why I oughta–” Blue growled, only to be interrupted by Red stepping in between them.

“Please don’t fight! … again.”

Blue and Vio glared at each other, but neither made a move against the other.

Green rolled his eyes, “As you all probably guessed, Blue is Four’s anger. He’s also probably our best fighter if I’m being honest. I’m Four’s confidence and leadership. I’m probably the closest to the Four you’re all used to.”

“And I’m Red!” Red smiled and waved.

Vio stared at his brother for a minute before sighing and turning to the group. “Red is Four’s caring side. He’s also the child-like wonder, hence… that.” Vio gestured to Red, who was now making a game of walking along the tile lines on the floor.

“Okay…” Warriors nodded, “I think that makes sense. But what’s with your emo-self?”

Shadow huffed, “I’m Link’s…er, Four’s shadow. Literally.”

“But you aren’t part of Four?” Wind asked.

“He’s still our brother,” Blue shrugged, “But no, he didn’t come directly from Four.”

“My life was following this little twerp around until the dark wizard Vatti decided I’d be of use to him.” Shadow shrugged, “Which, to be fair, worked out for him up until it didn’t.”

“Who knew your own shadow could be a hero?” Green grinned. “We sure didn’t.”

“So…” Warriors began slowly, “He was an enemy, but now he’s not?”

“Correct.”

Warriors nodded slowly, “Okay, then what was with the other… shadow people?”

“That…” Vio frowned, “I couldn’t tell you.”

Shadow bumped his shoulder against Vio. “I’ve got this one.” He paused, gathering his thoughts, then began. “So. One moment I was just chilling in Four’s shadow—”

“Wait a sec–”

“Hold on–”

“What!?”

Shadow raised an eyebrow at Green, Blue, and Vio, “What did you think happened to me? You still have a shadow!”

Vio was clearly confused and Green and Blue were looking at one another with flabbergasted expressions. Only Red nodded, like that made sense which… yeah, it did.

“Anyway–” Shadow rolled his eyes, turning back to the huddled heroes, “One moment, Four’s shadow. Then, when he crossed the entrance into this temple I felt myself get dragged down into the basement into a room full of creepy glowing purple orbs. There, I met all of your shadows.” Shadow paused. “It was obvious that some of them had been made physical before. Dime and Wardow come to mind. But some were obviously new and stumbled around a bit. But Shadrule was really the creepiest of the bunch.” Shadow shivered. “He was the one who held the illusion spell for most of the shadows. I, of course, knew how to change my appearance already and no way was I letting that creep do magic on me.

“Wardow was the one to come up with the plan to… well, have some ‘fun’. Aka, hunt everyone down and kill them.” Shadow shrugged, “I wasn’t on board, but I’m also not an idiot. So I went along with the whole “evil routine”, and paired up with the “newest” shadow, based on the argument that I was the one who had the most experience being physical.”

“Whose shadow was that?” Wind asked.

Shadow shrugged, “Sky. Mhh… Dye? Skydow?”

“Please stop,” Blue groaned in his hands.

Shadow smirked. “Anyway, so everyone either paired off or split away. We could find you all easily because… well, we’re your shadows. So it was easy to avoid ourselves while wandering and praying we find someone else. I kept Sky’s shadow in the room to ‘help him learn to move better as quickly as possible.”

Vio gave Shadow a flat look. “In other words, you killed him.”

“Oh yeah, it was horrible,” Shadow wrinkled his nose. “And thanks to Shadrule’s illusion, the blood remained red, which was NOT something I had been expecting. Ugh.”

Wild looked extremely pale. “Was… was it necessary to cut his head off?”

Sky choked on his own spit. “What!?”

Shadow grimaced, “Look, I had to move quickly. Which meant I couldn’t just stab someone and wait for them to bleed to death. So… decapitation, slit throats, etc, etc.”

Legend also looked ill. “Did you really need to…” he made multiple slashing motions with his hands across his body.

Shadow paled, “Oh, you found Wind.”

“Yeah. Thanks for those nightmares.”

“Hey,” Shadow put his hands up, “Be grateful that none of you walked in on that one.” He glanced at Wind and Wild, “Sorry about that, by the way. Wind, I didn’t expect you as quickly as you came in. As for you, Wild…” Shadow clenched his fists, “Twilight’s Shadow knew something was up. He kept trying to make eye contact with me so we could take you on together. I stalled as long as I could. But I had to act eventually and the only option was to try and take the shade down before you got too involved.”

Wild frowned. “But… I was alone with Twilight’s Shadow for over an hour before we ran into you. Why didn’t he act sooner?”

Shadow shrugged, “Maybe he got scared when he found you with Sky’s Shadow. He knew someone had figured out the fake Sky or something so he probably wanted you as a cover or a shield.”

Wild’s face scrunched up in disgust.

A cough from Warriors caught everyone’s attention. “So we’ve addressed the whole Four and evil duplications. Now,” he turned to Hyrule, who had decided to curl up on the edge of the group, “What in the name of the Golden Three was that?!”

Hyrule curled in more on himself.

“Hey, Wars,” Legend said softly, “Maybe we can talk about this later–?”

“You didn’t hear that spell,” Warriors growled. “Hyrule was sealing whatever that… thing was into himself! And it certainly didn’t look like it was a new thing to him.” He glared at the group, “Excuse me for wanting to know what kind of evil entity is being locked into my friend. Especially a friend that I trust to watch my back in battle.”

“You should have more faith in your brother-in-arms,” Shadow cut in.

Hyrule let out a heavy sigh. “It’s fine.”

“You don’t need to–” Time began softly.

“I said it’s fine!” Hyrule snapped, eyes flashing purple for a second. Before anyone could react, Hyrule squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his hand, breathing deeply. He remained still for a minute before opening his eyes, having returned to their standard golden hazel. “S–sorry. It took me some time to adjust to… this, the first time.” Hyrule gestured at himself, expression helpless.

Legend hesitantly reached out, putting a hand on Hyrule’s shoulder. Hyrule leaned into the touch slightly, then stood up slowly.

“First things first,” Hyrule breathed in, then out. He fiddled with the glove on his right hand, pulling it free. The reason became apparent immediately, as the glow of the tri-force immediately blinded everyone, before fading into a steady pulse. “As you can see,” Hyrule began quietly, “I hold the entirety of the Tri-Force.”

That… was not something anyone was expecting.

“But,” Hyrule continued softly, “Power needs to be balanced with power. That’s the only way to keep the balance. Right?”

A few nods and grunts of agreement.

“So…” Hyrule chewed his lower lip, “While I possess great light, I also have a… a shadow.”

“Yeah,” Twilight muttered. “We noticed.”

“...it’s not my Shadow.”

“Also noted,” Vio frowned. “It felt too animalistic to be derived from any kind of Hylian.”

Hyrule shuffled his feet, his gaze falling to the floor. “I… IhaveGanonsealedawayinmyblood.”

“...Say that again,” Warriors said.

“I… I have… Ganon… sealed…awayinmyblood.”

Legend’s hand ripped away from Hyrule’s shoulder. “What.”

Hyrule flinched. “It was the only way to keep him in check and to keep a lock on him. I… I can feel when he wants out, usually. So I use the Tri-Force to tighten the seal and…” Hyrule was shaking now, “I… I didn’t realize he wasn’t there when we first entered this temple. I… I completely failed my job and didn’t notice until…” A broken sob escaped Hyrule, “I… I thought he’d killed you, Legend. I– I– I thought—”

Legend scooped Hyrule into his arms, squeezing him in a tight hug. “It will take more than a stupid pig to put me in the ground, okay?”

“O…okay,” Hyrule returned the hug, letting out a soft sigh.

Legend let him go after a moment before turning and glaring at Warriors, “If you have a problem with this then you take it up with me. Got it?”

Warriors put his hands up in a form of surrender, “I just wanted to know the situation.”

“Well,” Legend spat, “Now you know.”

“Can we please leave?” Wind piped up. “I… I hate it here.”

“Agreed,” Time stood up from the ground. “We should get out of here before anything else happens.”

“Freedom!” Wind yelled as he sprinted out of the temple entrance. He dropped to his hands and knees and kissed the ground. “I will never complain about walking again!”

“I doubt that sailor,” Warriors said with a smirk. “But your sentiment is shared.”

Sky physically dropped to his knees and said a soft prayer as everyone slowly filed out. There was little hesitance in marching forward in the clearing, with most of the group ready to put distance between them and the temple. No one really noticed when it was just the colors remaining because Shadow had pulled up short at the exit.

“Shadow?” Vio said softly.

The other three colors turned around to find Shadow still standing in the temple. His gaze was fixed on the ground before it rose to meet them.

Vio’s confusion cleared to anger. “No.”

“Vio,” Shadow began.

“We just got you back!”

“Vio–”

“Wait,” Green interrupted. “You’re not coming?”

“You can’t leave!” Red cried.

“I’m not leaving,” Shadow said softly. “But… this temple is the only reason I can manifest myself like this. So it’s back to the shadows I go.”

“That’s not fair!” Red stamped his foot.

Blue scowled, “We can’t do that to you again! Why don’t you just… stay here? We’ll find a way, right Vio?”

Vio frowned, clearly thinking but Shadow was already shaking his head.

“I’m not leaving you four,” he said with a smile. “And… at least you know I’m there now. Right?”

There was a long pause of silence before it was broken by a blubbering Red, launching himself forward to hug Shadow. The shade caught him with a grunt and a sad smile. Green returned that smile, walking forward to join the hug, followed shortly by a disgruntled Blue. The four of them hugged before Red, Green, and Blue pulled back.

Vio remained rooted to his spot, looking torn.

“It’s okay,” Shadow said softly. “I know you’ll never stop.”

Vio swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped back into the temple. He hugged Shadow tightly for a long moment. Then he stepped back and looked at his brothers. “We go together.”

“Agreed,” Green quietly drew his sword and held it skyward. A bright flash of light and Four was reformed. He and Shadow shared a little smile before Four held out his hand.

Shadow took it and gave Four a smirk. “Now remember. I’m always right behind you. So don’t do anything too stupid.”

“No promises,” Four said with a smirk, but that didn’t stop the single tear that fell down his cheek.

Shadow looked out in the sunlight, back and Four, then let out a breath. “I’m ready.”

Two steps forward and into the sun.

Four blinked and he was alone in the clearing. He glanced behind him to find his shadow etched in the sun and grass. “Ready?”

There was no response, but Four already knew.

Brothers together were ready for anything.