Penultimate chapter alert! Well, technically, it's the last official chapter, to be followed by a bonus chapter. But you get the idea.

It's a little hard to believe. Years of work, about to be over. Over thirty thousand words and over eighty pages. Gone. Done. It's amazing what you can accomplish if you try hard enough. I kind of don't want it to be over yet, haha. What do you all think? Ponder that as you read, won't you?


Chapter 12: The Four Sword Forever!

The wind sucked force energy out of the Links swords as they tumbled into Vaati's gaping maw. There was little doubt that this was the end.

Without warning, the wind stopped short. The bewildered Links landed on a reforming cloud path, leading to the Tower of Winds.

Vaati trembled, his one eye flicking left and right. "The power of darkness… where did it go?" He began to fly around like a black balloon full of holes. "I need that power or I'll shrink to nothing!"

Shadow pushed against the back of the mirror, cuts on his face and hands from the glass. "Not… done… yet…" he wheezed.

Vaati shot by and shrieked, "Shadow Link, what are you doing?"

Shadow chuckled darkly. "Who's in control now, Vaati? Who?"

"But the mirror is your source of life, too!"

"That's okay," said Shadow. "I came out of the dark mirror. With its power, I woke you. How fitting that I use it to destroy us both!" He gave a final push, and the mirror crashed into the floor.

The Links reached the tower, Vio at the lead. "Shadow, no!" she cried.

Vaati slurped to a stop behind them, force gems pouring out of his skin like his oily blood. No one noticed.

Vio lay Shadow on his back and rested his head in her lap. "Shadow!" Vio cried again. "You idiot! Why!?"

Shadow blinked slowly. His breath was shallow. "Is… Vaati gone?" He murmured.

Vio forced a smile as her eyes began to water. "Yes. He's gone, thanks to you."

He looked at her groggily. "You're thanking me?"

"You saved the day."

"Oh." His eyes started to close. "You're welcome…"

"Hold on, you're not leaving that easily!"

"A shadow…" Shadow began, "can only follow a body. It can never lead the way." The Links frowned and lowered their gaze.

"Today I faced the enemy… on my own." Shadow breathed a laugh. "It felt pretty good. But that doesn't make me a part of the body…"

Vio brushed his cheek. "Of course it does. You're our family."

Shadow looked into her eyes. He reached up slowly and pushed her cap off her head.

They kissed, and the sun began to peek from behind the clouds. The breeze was light, and as their lips parted, Shadow smiled as the real Link himself once smiled. He faded in the golden light, and all that remained were a few blue sparkles where his eyes had been. Vio cupped them in her hands and said quietly, "He's gone."

Green knelt and put his hand on her back. "Shadow was never really evil," he said. "He only made trouble so that we would notice him. He was tired of being ignored." He looked towards the sun. "He just wanted to be our friend." Vio's hands trembled.

Red gingerly removed something from his hat. "I… had this for a while, after the Erune episode…"

He handed her a thin glass vial with a cork stopper. It was tiny in her hand, only large enough to hold maybe an ounce of liquid. She popped the cork and carefully poured the sparkles into it. She recorked it and kissed it. Blue handed her her hat, which she placed on her head, pushing her hair and the bottle inside.

She stood with the other Links. "So… now what?" Blue asked.

"I don't know," Green replied.

"Isn't there supposed to be some sort of darkness behind Vaati?" Red asked.

"Yeah, he's- wait." Vio grabbed his shoulders. "You just jinxed it!"

The sun was covered again with black clouds. Lightning flashed and smashed a pillar next to them, the thunder coming a second later.

How pitiful, a voice boomed. The wind mage was ineffectual and the shadow was a traitor.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The clouds molded and took the shape of a hog with a billowing cape and a wicked trident. How demeaning that I, Ganon, must squash these insects myself!

"It's the king of darkness!" Red cried. "How are we supposed to beat something like that?"

Ganon raised his trident and shouted, Dark lightning will destroy the Four Sword!

Lightning fell and blasted the Links in every direction. They lay groaning and smoking on the charred stone floor.

Bugs! Said Ganon. Fleas! What fragile things you are! Give the Four Sword to me! Clouds wrapped around each sword and began to pull. It will be reformed as a sword of darkness and be a symbol of my empire!

"No!" Blue shouted.

Red followed, "The Four Sword will never…"

"…Fall into your hands!" Vio finished.

"Not while a hero still lives!" Green pulled his sword out of the cloud and pointed it at Ganon. Wind began to blow out from the tip. The same went for the other swords.

"Why…? Okay never mind, just blow away the dark clouds!" Vio shouted as they blasted wind at the dark lord. "Look up there!"

Something began to fall towards them. "It's Princess Zelda!" Blue cried.

Zelda blinked and looked down to them. "Now, Link!" she shouted. "Strike Lord Ganon down now!"

Foolish princess, Ganon rumbled. None of you have the power to defeat me!

"Then we'll combine our powers into one!"

She began to glow and shot a beam of white light at Ganon's throat. The heroes of the Four Sword put their swords together and did the same.

Ganon laughed. It's no use! My power is eternal! No matter how bright the light shines, darkness will always return! Ganon noticed that the heroes seemed to be getting closer to him. You're not driving me out, you're pulling me in! But where do you hope to contain my darkness?

The Links raised their swords even higher.

Insolent fools! Ganon roared as he was sucked closer. Pitiful insects like you cannot hold the king of darkness! My kingdom will shine forever… ever… ever…

He disappeared, distributed equally between each sword.

Zelda fell freely again toward the heroes, who were ready and caught her in time. She smiled and looked at Red. "Link!" She turned to see Green. "Link?" She looked at Blue and Vio. "Link, how come there are four of you?" she asked. "Which one is the real one?

"I am!" they shouted in unison. "I'm the real Link, Princess Zelda!"

*Much, much later…*

Due to the time skipping shenanigans of manga writing schedules, Zelda and the four Links arrived once again at the Four Sword Sanctuary.

"It is time to return to return the Four Sword to its pedestal and seal the king of darkness away for all time," Zelda said.

"When we put the sword back," Green asked, "we'll just become one Link again, won't we?"

"Yes," Zelda replied.

Blue jumped in the air. "It's about time!" he cheered. His grin slid off his face and he lowered his gaze, sniffling.

"At least we won't fight anymore," Vio said.

Red began to sob. "I don't want to do it! I don't want you guys to go!"

Blue patted Red on the head. "Don't cry, Red, you dummy! We're not leaving, we're joining together!"

Red sniffed. "You mean…" He threw his arms around his blue hero. "We can be together forever?"

Blue pushed him away. "You're creeping me out again!" he whined as the others laughed.

They all stood around the pedestal, their swords ready.

"I will never forget this journey," said Vio.

"Thanks for everything," said Blue.

"I love you all!" Red cried.

Green smiled. "Together… forever!"

The swords melded into one and sank into its proper resting place.

Zelda blinked at the four heroes. They all looked at each other in confusion. Green, who was closest to the sword, redrew it, and then put it back in. Nothing happened. He lifted it out one more time and shoved it in, nearly to the hilt. There was no getting it out now.

"Um," he said.

"Um," said everyone else.

"We should be one again, right?" Blue asked.

"Yeah," said Red.

"So why aren't we?"

"For the first time in a while," Vio said, "I don't know."

Zelda looked at them all slowly. "Perhaps the Four Sword recognizes each of you as your own person, equally deserving the chance to live your own path?"

"That's kind of unsettling," said Green, "knowing that we'll never be one again. But I suppose it's better than having the memories of four Links shoved into one. Who knows how that would have turned out?"

Vio blinked and reached into her hat. "Does this mean…?"

"What else could it mean?" Blue asked.

Red jumped into the air and gripped them all in a group hug. "We don't have to say goodbye!" he cheered.

Zelda frowned. "But, what about Link…?"

Blue patted her on the shoulder. "We're all Link," he said. "Just because we're four people doesn't mean Link is gone. He's in each of us…" He pushed her toward Green. "Maybe more in some than in others." Green blushed.

"I thought I told you to stop reading my rom coms," Vio said. Blue glared at her.

"When do you think I had the time to read your trashy scripts, Bookworm?"

"Whenever she was asleep," Red said helpfully.

Blue smacked him in the head. "I told you to keep that a secret!" he snapped.

Zelda raised her hands. "Perhaps we should save this for when we get back to the castle," she said. "We'll have to explain to the first knight how he has three sons and a daughter now..."


Hooray, happy endings! I'm a sucker for 'em. Not that the manga ending was bad, but everyone loves post Four Swords shenanigans! Not that there's much of that that next chapter, but you'll see when we get there.

Vio and Shadow finally kissed! I wanted to make that scene really enjoyable and sweet, and I hope I accomplished that!

Next time, a conclusion! I hope you don't plan to settle down for that one, because it's pretty short. But that just means that now is as good a time as any to tell you that my poll is still up on my profile, and I need your thoughts!

So, what now? Review, of course! Tell me what you thought, and I'll see you next Sunday. Tchau!