Dargon: YAAAAAY! AND WE'RE BACK~! AUTHOR'S INS! This is another FF about The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. YAYZ!

Nike: I edited. :P That's it. I've never played LoZ before, so basically whenever I write with them as characters, the personalities are basically all picked up from various fanfics. So sorry if anything I write with LoZ characters are OOC. *Cough* Stuck in Hyrule *Cough*. R&R!

Dargon: Well, it's not that hard… Blue's aggressive, Green's something, Red's innocent, and Vio's… well, we've had this discussion before. Is Vio considered wise or smart? LOL

Nike: Well, calling someone 'wise' makes them seem old, and calling someone 'smart' makes the person sound...Vio-ish (Dargon: And Annabeth-ish.). So, I'd say that he's just 'smart'. Sorry, to those who don't understand my unfair reasoning.

Dargon: Potatoes! ON WITH DA SHOW!

Nike: No! Bananas! And oranges! Rin and Len Kagamine! Okay, now on with da fanfic!

Dargon: Hold on! Potatoesbananasoranges OK DONE ON WITH DA SHOW FOR REALZ

The young woman smiled sadly at her little children. All of them looked the exact same, like little quadruplets.

"They're beautiful," Her nurse agreed.

The mother looked at them again, trying to take in all of their features, their bright, honey-colored blond hair, their sky-blue misty eyes. Trying to have something to hold onto when she…

It was too bad she'd never be able to see them again. The mother smiled one last time as she felt the last of her strength leave her. She closed her eyes and took her last breath, a slow but grateful release, and then she was far gone where no one could call her back.

The nurse watched the mother drift into an eternal sleep, and then she gently gathered up the little children in her arms and turned to leave. As she opened the door, she looked back one last time at the peaceful mother and whispered, "Good luck."

The four children who had been born were raised in a secluded area in the nursery. They lived like that for eight years, without any physical contact or so much as a glimpse of another person besides themselves. As they grew older, the children began to realize how important each one was to the other. And, after years of bickering and fighting amongst themselves, they learned to trust and rely on each other. The four children were exactly alike, with golden hair and blue, piercing eyes. They were given different-colored clothes to wear in order to help an outsider tell them apart. Thus, the nicknames each child would call one another was coined by the color they were wearing. But they all still shared the same original name…

Link.

Blue stared out the window as the rain fell down in great torrents, flooding the ground below. He turned to look at his duplicates: Vio, who was reading one of the books for the hundredth time stored away in their room, Green, who was lying on his back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, and Red, who was trying to cheer everyone up despite the gloomy atmosphere the rains had carried with them.

"It should be over soon," Red said, though even he looked unsure of himself. "I mean, it's been raining for a long time. And we might even see a rainbow after the rain!"

Green sighed, half-tired, half-bored. "I don't get it," he murmured to himself.

Vio looked over from his book. "What?"

"They just left us in this room. Right after birth, they said. And then they don't talk to us again, much less let us take one step out. Why? Who was our mother? What happened to her?"

Blue turned back to the window. They had asked themselves those questions for years on end now, and they still hadn't gotten an answer. Blue didn't think they were going to get one anytime soon anyways, so he kept his mouth shut and continued to watch as the water poured down from the sky.

Hours later, none of them had changed position or done anything else. Blue suddenly stood up, drawing the attention of the others.

"Okay, I've officially decided something," Blue announced.

Green snorted. "Who died and made you captain?"

"Shut up for a sec! I think it's time for us to go."

Red blinked; he had been half-asleep. "Wait… What? Go where?"

Blue rolled his eyes at Red's incompetence. "Go. G-O. Go outside, run away."

"Run… away?"

Blue nodded. "I'm sick of this place. Let's just get escape and get outta here. There's nothing good for us here if we continue to stay like this."

Green immediately shot to his feet. "I'm totally with you." Then he added, "For once."

Vio and Red were a tad bit more hesitant, looking at each other uncertainly.

"What?" Blue snapped. He wanted out of this place as soon as possible.

"But… don't you think we may be missing the point, here?" Vio asked. "I mean, what if they're keeping us here for a reason?"

"Like what?" Blue had him there. Vio couldn't think of a response. Instead, Vio only shrugged. Blue continued. "See? It benefits us all if we leave. If they wanted to do something with us, I'm sure they would have done it already. And, if they do want to do something with us, by the way we've been treated this whole time, I don't think I wanna stay here and wait for them."

Vio sighed in defeat. "Alright. How're we gonna get outta here?"

Blue grinned. Now they were getting to the good part. "Easy. Smash the window," Blue said easily, as if they were only talking about the weather and not devising a plan to escape.

Red stared at him. Could it be that easy? "Well, I mean, wouldn't they have thought of that? Like, us breaking the window to get out?"

Blue sighed. "Of course! Haven't you been looking outside? Lately there's been guards stationed all outside of the building." Blue pointed from the window down to two guards who were on watch close by their window. "Nothing will happen if we break the window. But they'll have outside forces waiting for us."

"So how do we get past them?"

"The rain will cover any sounds we make," Vio chimed in. "It will also cover up any footprints or such we may leave in the ground. Also, the guards won't find us as easily in the fog the rain's created."

Blue did a fist-pump. "Exactly! We can sneak around and outta here, to that forest bordering the building. We can hide in there, then figure out what to do next. But… we leave when you think you're ready, 'cause we're never gonna come back here again."

Blue let that sink in. There was a lengthy silence for a long while, then Vio spoke up. "Sure. Let's do this."

Red started to say, "I don't really -"

Blue swung one of the heavy books they had been given at the window, and it shattered outwards with the impact. Outside, the fragments fell to the ground, their sound muffled by the pounding rain.

Red stared. "Uh, okay. Never mind."

Blue grinned as he hoisted himself out of the window onto the ledge outside, balancing precariously on the narrow length of stone. The others joined him, and one by one they all dropped down to the ground below, careful not to land on the glittering sharp shards on the ground. Vio looked to his right. Not far away, there were three guards on patrol. He quickly memorized where they walked on guard, and then he motioned the others to follow him. They were halfway to the forest when they suddenly heard a shout from behind. Red, who had been watching the guards, froze in place as one of them looked straight at them.

Minutes passed, and then the guard looked away. The four let out a silent but heavy sigh of relief, then continued on.

When they had finally reached the safe cover of the forest, the Links were able to relax, letting the tension go out of them.

"That was so… nerve-wracking!" Red exclaimed as he shook his hands to get rid of the feeling.

"I can't believe we did it," Green muttered, mainly to himself. "Honestly, a plan of Blue's isn't a plan to mess around with."

"No, but seriously. We did it!" Blue was practically hopping up and down. "We're finally out of that place!" Red and Green gave a cheer, and even Vio cracked a smile. Then they suddenly fell silent as they realized what they had to do now: create their own life for themselves. Each one of them knew it wouldn't be easy, but they were all determined.

"Okay, first things first: We gotta build a shelter," Blue said.

Green huffed. "Really, who made you captain?"

"I did! Now, we might want to wait this rain out before attempting to make a house. So…" Blue looked around. "Oh, perfect. Maybe we can wait it out in that cave?" He pointed to a small rocky outcropping hidden in the underbrush.

"What if there are bears?" Red asked uncertainly, shuddering at the thought of meeting a full-grown bear.

"Fine. I'll go if you don't want to." With that, Blue strode off towards the cave. Red glanced worriedly at the others, who shrugged.

"W-Wait up!" Red cried, and scrambled after Blue. Green and Vio shook their heads and followed.

As it turned out, there were no bears. As the rain crashed onto the ground outside, the four Links gratefully curled up on the dry cave floor to wait out the storm. Without knowing it, Red closed his eyes and drifted off. Green smiled at the peaceful boy and leaned with his back on the wall. He knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep just yet, with all of the excitement that had happened.

"Hey, Green, come look at this," Vio's voice issued behind him. Green turned and scooted over to where Vio was kneeling in front of a large pile of leaves.

"What?" Green asked. Vio swept away the leaves. Underneath was an old treasure chest caked with dirt and dust, but still intact.

Blue, having noticed it, appeared at their side. "Whoa! Open it!"

Vio rolled his eyes but smiled. He dug his fingers under the lid and tugged, causing the lid of the chest to open with a rusty creak. Green and Blue crowded closer around him to get a better look at the contents. Inside, there was an elaborate bow with a complete set of arrows in a sheath, a boomerang, a hammer, a slingshot with a small pouch of stones, and a compass. Green took the boomerang, inspecting it. It had a small red ruby inlaid at the center of the boomerang, and it was sharp around the edges. Perfect. Green turned to the others, grinning. "Dibs!"

Blue groaned. "How did I not think of that?!" He snatched the hammer up. "Take whatever you want, but I'm keeping this."

Vio shook his head in exasperation at the others. "I'll just wait until Red wakes up so he can have his pick," he murmured. He picked up the compass instead. "What's this?" The clasp binding the upper and lower halves of the compass was a dull rusty color, but at Vio's touch, it began to glow. Vio cast an uneasy glance at the others, already having second thoughts about the compass. But before he could change his mind, Vio pried the compass open.

As soon as he saw the folded piece of paper hidden inside of the compass, Blue grabbed it and opened it up. There were faint but still illegible words scrawled onto the weathered and yellowed square of paper.

"What's it say?" Green asked in a hushed tone.

"Ye who finds this compass of guide,

follow its path to destiny."

As soon as Blue finished reading the paper, the red line on the compass suddenly glowed a bright red and spun until it pointed directly north. Blue stared at the line for a second, then slowly raised his head to look at the other's expressions, who looked as baffled as he was.

Green suddenly got to his feet. "Wake up Red," he tossed over his shoulder as he walked to the cave's mouth.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm issuing orders for now. And I'm saying I wanna figure out where the compass leads to."

Red wondered for the billionth time if the others were crazy. They were trodding along in the forest, guided by the compass. Red clutched his slingshot tightly as he tried not to think about what beasts in the forest could easily rip their heads off. Red had chosen the slingshot because holding a bow had seemed…

Fancy…

Where was the perfect word for certain situations when you couldn't find it?

Vio, in the lead, suddenly came to a halt. Red looked to the front to see that they had stopped in front of the banks of a hot spring. The hot water poured out in a small waterfall from a hole in a rock wall that rose up over the spring. And there, in the middle of the spring, was a pedestal, rising up from the water. Stuck into the pedestal was a sword, gleaming as the afternoon sunlight fell in a large shaft of light directly onto it.

The four crowded on the edge of the water, not touching it, as if the water was poisonous, glancing uneasily at each other. Something felt… off about the whole thing, as if it wasn't real. Green shook his head and took a hesitant step into the water, then another, then another. Soon he was sloshing through the water, with the others trailing closely behind. As Red neared the stone pedestal, the water was up to his waist. The four gathered in a semicircle around the sword, unsure of what to do next. Suddenly, as if he had thought the words, a voice emitted inside of Red's head:

Draw the sword… Ye chosen ones…

Startled, Red jumped and looked around. By the look on the others' faces, Red could tell that they too had heard the voice.

Draw the sword…

Green looked around at the others.

Vio's eyes seemed to be asking, You want to do it?

Should we trust… whatever that was?

Your call.

Green took a deep breath to steady himself, exhaling out slowly. He wrapped his left hand around the rusty hilt of the sword. A stinging sensation suddenly burned on the back of his hand, causing Green to twist to look at it. An image of three faint triangles in a pyramid was etched into his skin. The bottom-right triangle was glowing brightly, standing out against the other two triangles. As the others gasped, Green could see that the same image was glowing faintly on their left hands as well.

All of a sudden, Green knew this was the right thing to do. Before the logical part of his mind convinced him not to do it, he yanked on the sword.

The sword slid out of the pedestal.

Everything was pure white, as if the world itself was the color of snow. Vio looked around, confused. Where was he?

Green had pulled the sword, and…

Are you confused?

Vio flinched.

Do not be afraid. I am not your enemy.

"Who..?"

You four are the chosen ones. The heroes of Hyrule, of the triforce.

Vio recognized that. The triforce. Dimly he could remember reading it somewhere, most likely in one of the books at the nursery. But why would a concept like that be in the books they had given them?

Ah. So you do know about the triforce. Power, Courage, and Wisdom, brought to us from the three goddesses of the triforce: Din, Nayru, and Farore.

Vio didn't know what to say. Who was this person?

Do you remember your mother?

She was the wife of a Hylian knight. One day, your mother's home village was overrun by monsters and she was forced to flee.

Vio blanched. This person knew his mother?

She gave birth to you four, the heroes of the goddesses of the triforce. But… alas, she died right after giving birth.

Vio stared at the floor - or, what he thought was the floor, as everything was the same color. So that's why they had never seen their mother before...

Link… Has the legend of the Minish Cap reached your ears, yet?

"The Minish Cap?"

The voice began to tell the story of the legend of old.

Ages ago…

A boy named Link, your ancestor, set off on an adventure to save Hyrule from danger from a sorcerer, the terrible Vaati, who had been a simple Picori before. He defeated the evil fiend, with the help of another Picori named Ezlo and…The Picori Sword.

Later, after being infused with the four elements, therefore giving the sword the power to defeat Vaati, the sword became the Four Sword.

Look at your hand. What do you see?

Vio glanced down. There, in his left hand, was the sword Green had pulled out. On the back of his left hand, the image of the triangle had lost its glow but was still there.

When the hero who was clad in green drew the sword, it split into four. Now, each of you carry one. The four swords are only strengthened when united.

The mark on your hand is that of the triforce of courage. Its power is inside of you, and is proof that you four are the heroes of destiny.

But the goddesses of the triforce have also granted you a special power. The four elements were infused into the sword you hold. Now, these powers of the elements are given to you.

The red-clad boy has control over fire.

The green hero has control over the winds.

The blue hero has control over water.

And you… have the power of commanding the earth.

But you also have a hard tie to fate. Later, you shall know. Right now, you are too young at the age of eight. You should be able to enjoy your life now.

If you ever feel weary, come to this spring, and it will ease your pains. We shall meet again.

So many questions, and Vio wanted - no, had to - ask them all. "Wait!" he cried, but the voice's presence in his head and the whiteness were suddenly all gone, as if it had just been a dream.

Green gasped and opened his eyes, sucking in a deep breath. He was lying on his back, staring up at a wooden ceiling. As the feeling came back into his body, he could feel that he was lying on something soft.

A bed…?

Green bolted to a sitting position, looking around him. He was, in fact, lying on a white bed, with the others passed out next to him. They were in some kind of house. Green wondered for a split second if the whole thing had been a dream, but then he looked down to where the sword was resting in his left hand, with the mark of the triforce still etched onto his hand. He had a vague feeling it was permanent.

To his left, Vio muttered something unintelligible.

"Vio?" Green crawled over to him and shook him gently.

Vio groaned. He heaved himself up to look at Green, rubbing his eyes. "Where are we…?"

Green shrugged helplessly. Spotting a window to his right, he quickly flung the covers over him aside and ran to the window. Peering outside, he could see the forest they had been in before. In a clearing not far away from the house, the spring in which they had found the Four Sword was there. "I think… The person who was talking to us… granted us this house," Green said slowly, looking back at Vio.

Vio joined him at the window, shivering slightly. "Really?... But, why? Who was that… person?"

Green could only shake his head. "He said we'd meet again… later. Then we may be able to find out."

"Green? Vio?" They turned to see Red and Blue sitting up in the bed, Red with feathers stuck in his hair. "Wha… What happened?"

So many unanswered questions, but the Links would have to wait until the time was right - the time when that same voice was to talk to them again. But, in the meantime, they would finally have a chance to live their own life, at least for now.

Meanwhile… A dark shadow looms outside of the Links' house in the shade of the trees that grow nearby. The shadow is dark matter at first, but then quickly transforms into another being that resembles the Links, but with blue, piercing eyes as cold as ice instead of the Links' light, misty sky irises, and a dark complexion.

A voice echoes through the shadow's mind: You should feel quite privileged to have the honor of being the one to destroy the heroes of the triforce. You don't have the slightest notion of how many of my minions would kill - and I mean that quite literally - to be in your position.

"I am quite honored, your majesty, Vaati," The shadow murmurs.

You must be patient in order to defeat them. I am not at my strongest peak yet. But when I rise, those pesky ants won't be able to defeat me - they'll simply get in my way - that's when you come in…

Shadow Link.

The shadow grins, revealing a set of pointed teeth. "I understand, Lord Vaati."

Good. Bid your time wisely. And then the voice dissipates.

"I sure will," The shadow mutters, sarcastic. And then, he adds, "And as for you, Links… you're not the only ones."