Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, or any of their franchise products, including the Four Swords on which this is loosely based (very loosely thanks to the Minish Cap, though this on a side note).
Chapter 21 – The Fourth Element
The five youngsters entered the large room, and it was now they saw the floor wasn't covered with tiles, like the other rooms, but was just the same soil they could find outside. Even some patches of sharp dark-green grass were seen from time to time. The large face at the end of the hall was looking down on them, and seemed to be constructed by large slabs of stone. Two open hands hung on either side of his face, with in the palms a large red crystal. Behind them, the door slammed shut and the large stone face started to tremble. Slowly it became detached from the wall and floated towards them.
"Okay," Dekaru gulped, "this is new."
The crystals in the large hands started to light up and the hands tore away from the wall, staying close to the head. Suddenly the left came crashing down on Darmani. They young boy was just in time to roll out of the way and tried to slash the hand with his sword, but he didn't even chip it. The hand slowly rose again, returning to the head.
"That crystal is there for a reason," Malon said as she grabbed her bow.
She let go of the arrow and hit the left hand right in the middle of the crystal. The crystal seemed to die down and the hand fell down.
"Alright," Mikau cheered, "way to go, Malon! Uh-oh…"
Mikau did a backflip as the right hand tried to squash him and he ran to safety. Malon took another arrow and waited for a good opening to shoot.
"Malon! We got trouble!" Franklin yelled, and pointed to the left hand which slowly rose again.
"Damnit," Malon grunted, "Mikau! I need your help shooting those hands!"
Her older brother nodded and grabbed his bow. Together they shot both hands out of the air. Just as Darmani was going to ask how they would deal with the head, it started to tremble and fell down hard on the ground, causing it's mouth to fall open.
"Well, that was easy," he said.
"A bit too easy," Mikau frowned.
"That's true," Darmani admitted, "there's got to be a catch."
Just as he finished speaking, the head trembled again, as if to shake off it's daze and lifted from the ground again, along with it's hands.
"How are we supposed to beat this guy!" Mikau yelled in frustration as he tried to find a clear shot to shoot the hands again."
Franklin kneeled next to a patch of grass and looked at it.
"Now is not the time to examine interesting flora," Dekaru nudged him, "time's a bit dire, in case you didn't notice."
"This isn't grass," he said, absent minded.
"What?" Dekaru frowned, still keeping an eye on the two hands.
"Why is the ground not tiled?" he asked the young boy, "why is there grass growing here?"
"I don't know…" Dekaru shrugged, "but I doubt that's…" Dekaru blinked and put his sword away, "I'll start digging," he nodded.
After putting on the Mole Mitts, Dekaru started to dig near a patch of grass, uncovering a bombflower.
"Darmani!" he shouted, "get over here! Now!"
Darmani came running, just as the head fell down again, with it's mouth open. Seeing the bombflower, he knew what to do. He grabbed the bombflower, and ran towards the open mouth. A well aimed throw landed the bomb right in the open mouth and exploded inside the head. The head rose again, but huge cracks were visible in it's stone face.
"Dig up another one," he told his younger brother, "Mikau! Malon! Shoot the hands again!"
Dekaru sprinted towards another patch of grass, but had to duck out of the way of one of the hands. The head seemed to know his intention and tried to keep him away from any other bombflowers, but thanks to the arrows of Mikau and Malon, he was able to uncover one, and as he ran towards another one, the head fell again. Darmani grabbed the bombflower and placed it in the open mouth. It exploded with a loud bang and the stone face cracked open from top to bottom and crumbled down.
"We did it!" Malon cheered.
"Thanks to Franklin who figured out how to do it," Darmani patted him on the back, "it's a good thing you checked those patches of grass."
"Well, you guys were doing all the work," he shrugged, "I had to do something to keep myself occupied."
"Time to do more work," Mikau said, "we still have one sword to recapture."
"Anything you can tell us about our next opponent?" Dekaru asked Franklin.
"Macleus? Him and Tellin were the best swordfighters," Franklin replied, "he also had something of a mean streak. He wanted to win, no matter what. He was known to cheat during duels."
"Our father once told us there is no such thing as cheating during a fight," Malon said, "just using what is at your disposal. And that's what we always do."
The stairs behind the door leaded upwards, towards the roof. When the youngsters arrived at the rooftop, rain had started to fall down while occasional lightning bolts illuminated the black altar at the end of the roof, and the sinister looking man, holding a white sword with a purple handle. He looked exactly like an older version of William, though his hair was now dark purple instead of blonde, and his face seemed white with a purple shade in it. Four black pillars stood in each corner of the rooftop, casting unnatural shadows when the lightning struck. Gusts of wind threw the rain in everyone's faces.
"So, it seems my little brother isn't with you," he grinned as he looked at Franklin, "but the annoying peasant is. Who are your friends? Other farmers?"
"Guess you didn't see yet what swords they wield," Franklin spat back, ignoring the insults.
"I have," Macleus grinned, "and it confirmed my suspicions that I was wrong to convince Caleb to include you in our little group. See, first it was all fun and all, just showing my little brother that we, as the sons of military, were better than simple farmers, but you got too damn good. Did you know that Caleb had almost picked you for one of the swords? Barbatos and me had to do everything in our power to make sure you weren't picked. No farmer boy will take the rightful place of one of the sons of Mendrova's glory."
"Wait, you think I defeated the others?" Franklin frowned, and then grinned, "man, are you in for a surprise."
"Let's get this over with," Darmani growled, as he wiped the rain of his face, "the sooner we're out of this wind, the better."
"It is a nice wind, isn't it?" Macleus grinned, "but it's not the only thing the sword can do."
He let the sword touch the ground in the shadows of the altar and out of the darkness five Stalfos crawled up.
"I think I will let these Stalfos deal with you and just enjoy the show," he laughed, "and maybe, I will look for my brother, who had more sense than you."
"It's strange how people always seem to confuse cowardice with sense," Malon spat, "guys? This one is mine… He reminds me of someone I want to beat up."
"You think you can…" Macleus' voice ran silent when Darmani and Mikau charged forward and both slashed two Stalfos in half.
The remaining one was shot down by an energy bolt, coming from Dekaru's sword.
He was just to make a comment on this, when Malon reached him. Macleus parried her blows and pushed her back.
"You know…" he started.
"You know," Malon cut him off, "the others talked a lot less, but the fights were a lot deadlier. You on the other hand, are just like your brother. All talk and no action."
Macleus growled as he dodged her attack and thrust forward. Malon was just able to jump out of the way, and had to use all her skill to keep herself safe from the deadly sword. Franklin hadn't lied, this guy WAS good. She couldn't win unless he made some mistake. Dekaru made a move, causing Macleus jump back and charge the young boy.
"We're not finished," Malon growled and jumped right after him.
"My, you're fierce," Macleus grinned, "let me guess, you're one of the little victories of my brother, aren't you?
"What's it to you?" Malon asked as she attacked, "you jealous of his conquests?"
Macleus just growled and pushed her aside, to concentrate on Dekaru again. Mikau and Darmani who stood further away, swung their swords, but the bolts of energy were caught by Macleus' sword.
"How did you…" he started, but then just growled and stabbed his swords in the shadows.
Four Stalfos came crawling out and attacked the others.
"That's not really fair, is it?" Mikau grunted as he cut one of the Stalfos down.
"I'm just using what I have," Macleus laughed, "and there's a lot more where those came from. Besides, you should talk! It's five against one! Well, actually four, isn't it, Franklin?"
He was fencing off Malon's and Dekaru's attacks when his sword suddenly shot back and snatched an arrow out of the air without looking.
"I haven't forgotten about you, Franklin!" his voice boomed, "I will deal with you later!"
Franklin just dropped his bow and drew his sword again to go help Mikau and Darmani.
"I have an idea," he whispered.
Under the noise of the wind and thunder he told the twins his plan. Both nodded and Mikau went to help his brother and sister who had just been pushed back. Macleus just grabbed the boy and threw him next to Dekaru. He touched the shadows with his sword again, and the emerging Stalfos grabbed the boys before they could do anything. Malon just circled Macleus, looking for an opening.
"Just you and me now, my dear," he smiled, "well, other than that Franklin loser and your idiotic brother who to no avail tries to shoot me."
He turned around and snatched the arrow out of the air with his sword. A bright light exploded and burned Macleus' eyes.
"AARGH!" he yelled, "what magic is this?"
"We're just using what we have," Malon stated as she drove her sword deep in his back.
As Macleus fell down, dropping his sword, the Stalfos crumbled and Derkaru and Mikau were freed from their bonds.
"Why didn't we think sooner to shoot a light arrow to one of those guys?" Malon shook her head, grinning.
"Beats me," Darmani grinned back, "if Franklin hadn't told me to do it, I'd probably would have charged him."
"Well, he had to hurry," Franklin shrugged, "now he only had the shadows of the lightning bolts to work with, but pretty soon it would be day."
"And sunshine means shadows all of the time," Dekaru nodded, "thanks a lot, Franklin. We owe you one."
"Forget about it," Franklin shook his head, "I mean, you are the guys who're gonna beat Vaati, right? I'm the one who owes you."
"No, it's true," Malon smiled, "we really owe you."
"And we owe you for freeing the shrines."
They turned around to face the altar and found two Minish on it.
"You have earned the sword," one of them told Malon, "and are the rightful owner of it."
Malon reached down and picked up the sword. The four black pillars in the corners of the roof hummed and then seemed to shatter, revealing four purple pillars. Malon watched how the lightning struck and smiled.
AN: Just to clarify, the Element of the Fourth Sword is indeed Wind. In the first draft, I replaced Wind with Darkness and Earth with Light, and though I changed it back to the original elements, parts of it stuck. So why all the dirt in the temple? No idea, I'm just following the Minish Cap. The Mole Mits were found in this temple in the game, so I needed something to dig through. Wait… I got it, the dirt in the temple blocked the flow of the winds in it… yeah, that sounds good…
Oh, and don't worry about William, he'll get what's coming to him. It's too bad no one really supported him in the beginning. I did my best to make him the good guy and Franklin the bad guy, just to make the impact bigger.
Anyway, thanks for the reviews. Now I remember why I liked writing for you guys. It's good to be appreciated.