Blue
Before the group could figure out how to put out the growing fire, it thankfully started to rain. Buckets poured from the sky as everyone ran back to Kakariko, Colin bundled tightly in Gray's arms. They arrived back at the inn sopping wet. Blue's bangs were stuck to his face and he was covered in mud from falling in the dirt when Colin landed on him. All he wanted to do was dry off, eat, and go to bed, the sky outside now being almost dark. He was still a little miffed for not being able to do anything for half of the fight, but decided to let the matter rest.
They took Colin inside, Gray carrying him upstairs as the other kids followed him to investigate. The other Links stayed downstairs to talk to Renado.
"He's alright, only a few bruises," Green assured the older man. Renado nodded in satisfaction.
"Thank you for your help," he told the group of heroes.
"No problem!" Red said.
"Um… do you have any towels?" Vio asked. Blue nodded in agreement. They were all sopping wet.
"Ah, yes, why don't you all head upstairs while I go find them," Renado replied, heading behind a counter.
The four of them went to the upstairs hallway, passing empty rooms until they heard voices.
"…You can do something to help the Gorons in the mine too, can't you Link?" they heard a soft voice speak. As they walked into the room, Blue identified it as Colin.
"I'll do my best, alright? Now go to sleep, you need to rest," was Gray's reply.
"…'Kay," Colin's eyes closed and his head dropped like a rock. Everyone stood awkwardly for a few moments before leaving the room to let the kid sleep.
~/_\~
In the morning, the Links had a hearty breakfast in preparation for the second trip up the mountain. They'd decided to leave as early as possible to make up for lost time. The more time they wasted, the longer the Gorons stayed in trouble. They left the inn before the sun was fully risen, only Renado and Luda awake enough to bid them off. Blue didn't know what the others were feeling, but he was full of energy. Finally, finally they were on their way to the next fused shadow! Blue hated dilly-dallying, and to him, the last few days spent in the village were a waste. He'd been impatient to get going on the quest.
Just before they stepped onto the path, they were stopped by someone shouting.
"HEY! Gray! Wait a second!" they stopped and turned. There, running up to them was the little ridiculously mature two-year-old, Malo. Over his shoulder he was lugging a large metal shield that was almost bigger than himself.
"Huh?" Gray asked.
"You know, the place you're going is gonna have lots of fire and lava. That wimpy wooden shield you've got isn't going to last a second. No, no. You'd be better off with this," he presented the Hylian shield, "It's the only one I've got and I'm rather fond of it, but I suppose I could part with it for, oh… two hundred rupees?"
"TWO HUNDRED?! Why you little-" Blue raged, held back by Green. Back in his Hyrule, nice shields cost about one hundred and fifty, tops. Two hundred was pushing it.
"Are you sure you can't make it a little cheaper? Maybe one hundred and fifty or something?" Green asked.
"No haggling," Malo folded his arms, "Two hundred or nothing. I've gotta do what I can to help put this town back together. It's the least I can do."
"…I suppose I can buy it," Gray admitted, fumbling for his wallet. Blue huffed as he forked over the required amount and Malo granted him the shield.
"Malo Mart thanks you for your business. Have a safe journey," Malo bowed and spun around on the spot, heading back to his shop. Blue's eyebrow twitched.
"I'm beginning to hate that kid," he muttered under his breath.
Eventually, they reached the cliff that the Goron had stopped them on before. Sure enough, there was one still guarding the path, standing resolutely with his arms crossed and a heavy frown across his face.
"You there," he thundered, "Only the strong may pass."
"We are strong!" Blue yelled defiantly.
"Then get a load of this!" The goron rolled into a ball and charged. As much as Blue wanted to fight, he had to let Gray take the head. With the iron boots on, the heaviest Link stepped forward and braced himself for the weight. The goron smashed heavily into his arms and Green scrambled as Gray almost slid backwards into him from the force, throwing dirt in the air. Gray grunted, pushing back with all his might until the sliding stopped, but the force from the downhill decline and momentum was still too harsh.
"Help him push!" Vio yelled. Blue was just happy to do something. He raced up and pushed the side of the goron, the others helping, and together they were able to throw the goron to the side. Released from the weight, the five were left gasping from exertion. The goron unfurled itself and stood. Blue glared at it, daring it to come at them again.
"Not bad for a human." The goron conceded, strangely chill considering their previous encounter, "You can pass. This will be interesting."
"Interesting?" Green raised an eyebrow.
"The last human allowed to pass our border was years ago. He ended up becoming our sworn brother. I doubt you will have the same happen to you, but I like your spunk." His grin was a little unsettling. Blue crossed his arms.
"Thank you." Vio interrupted, "For letting us through. We have no intention to harm."
"Ahahahahaha!" The goron's laughter boomed loudly in the air, "Harm? We do not fear you. Contrary, do you know why we don't let most outsiders in? They don't survive." Despite the foreboding words, the goron seemed cheerful. Blue didn't like it.
"We'll see about that!" he spat, hiding the unsettled feeling in his gut.
"See? Spunk." The goron chuckled and patted him heartily on the back, almost knocking the wind out of him. "I like that attitude! Interesting."
Blue didn't like this goron very much.
"We'll just get going now," Green said hastily, grabbing Blue's hand and pulling the party up the path, "Uh… bye."
The goron's laugh echoed up the canyon as they walked away.
"He was threatening us! Did you see that?" Blue spat.
"I couldn't tell if he was serious or not," Green replied.
"Well he let us through, didn't he?" Red said, "That must mean he thinks we aren't going to die, right?"
"I don't know." Gray answered. "I hope so."
"We just need to be extra careful." Vio added.
"Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious." Blue grumbled.
Just then, a loud rumbling was heard and the ground beneath them started to tremble.
"Earthquake!" Green screeched.
Around them, the rumbling turned into a thundering roar as the ground became too unstable to stand and the sky above turned red.
A/N Hello! Oh my goodness, it's been five years. Thank you everyone who has favorited and reviewed this fic since and anyone who is still here for being so patient! I'm back, and I have plans. Just need to resurrect my notes on this fic.
I have intentions to also go back and revamp and fix the previous chapters, so that will be happening as well. We are not dead anymore, I repeat, we are not dead anymore! Cheers for (hopefully) many chapters to come!
Guest reviewers: Better late than never. XD
Ashlee S- HELLO! More Zelda chapters are coming, I promise. Also, it's been flipping forever since we last spoke! I'll admit, I miss you a lot. If you ever read this, hey, I'm still your friend ^^ I'd love to hear back from you!
Dragonlady: (4) In extreme hindsight I would have made all four of them different animals. But we're here now, so we're just going to roll with it! XD
(28) Thank you! ^^ Don't worry, the chaos will get worse.
