Green

When Green woke up, it took him a moment to remember where he was. The sounds of laughing and clattering dishes could be heard through the floor below him. He sat up, looking around and seeing three empty beds on the floor, two neatly made, and one messy with a rumpled sheet and the blanket missing.

Getting up, Green brushed his bangs out of his eyes and got dressed before heading downstairs towards the laughter, hoping for some food. Entering the dining room, he ducked suddenly when a wooden spoon flew towards him and struck the door right where his head had been. In the room, he could hear Blue shouting, "GIVE THAT BACK!"

"Blue! Don't throw the dishes!" Vio warned. Green examined the scene closer. Blue was chasing Talo around the breakfast table with a handful of non-sharp cutlery. Talo had his long blue cap in his hands and was waving it around as he laughed hysterically, dodging the tableware being tossed at him. Red was ducked under the table with Luda, rubbing a spot on his head, Beth was laughing in her chair, Colin looked a little lost, half sitting and half in the process of getting up from his seat, Vio was chasing Blue and scolding him, Renado was standing to the side looking defeated but still protesting, and Malo was just sitting in his high-chair eating his porridge and watching the show with mild interest.

Sighing, Green strode into the room. Picking a knife up off of the counter, he dodged another flying spoon and stomped up to the table. Scowling, he slammed the knife into the table with a loud, satisfying thunk and shouted, "ENOUGH!"

Everyone froze and stared at him. "What do you guys think you're doing?!" he glared at Talo and his three counterparts, especially Blue, "We have a mission to do, and you're wasting your time and energy throwing spoons at people? What has gotten into you! I can understand having some fun, but this has gotten out of hand!" he strode over to Talo, taking the hat out of his hands and shoving it onto Blue's head. Then he pushed both of them into chairs at the table. Everyone else quietly sat down, still watching him cautiously. Green sighed.

"We need to figure out what we're going to do. We need to get into Death Mountain somehow, but that Goron is blocking the way."

"Ah, actually, I have already figured some of that out," Renado said, "I have contacted the one person I know that is friends with the Gorons. He should be here soon."

"Really? Who is it?" Vio asked.

"You may know him already. His name is Mayor Bo, from Ordon Village."

Surprisingly, Talo spoke first. "Oh no! Is he going to take us home? We can't go home yet! We have to stay here and help!"

"It is not my decision. You will have to talk it over with him," Renado said. Suddenly, there was a thump by the door Green had walked in through. He spun around to see Gray with ruffled clothes, stumbling into the room.

"Ow, my head," he complained, clutching his bandaged hair with one hand.

"Ah, yes," Renado agreed as Gray shuffled over to the table and slumped down, "You had a slight concussion. The red potion I gave you healed it, but you are going to have a bit of a headache for a couple more hours."

Gray grunted in response, pulling a bowl of porridge towards himself and grabbing a spoon that was stuck in the table, probably from Blue. He tugged on it, blinking when it didn't come out. He pulled harder until it removed itself with a couple of splinters, and then looked around, just noticing how messy the room was. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What happened here?"

~/_\~

Several hours later, they found themselves outside exploring the run-down buildings. Malo had taken an immense liking to a store near the hotel they were staying at, and was busy planning on what to do with it. Gray was having fun with his brand-new bombs that he had bought, training his aim by rolling them down the road and trying to explode all of the pots he had set up a certain distance away. Colin, Talo, and Beth were watching, cheering loudly every time he destroyed all of the pots with one bomb. All of a sudden, Green heard a wild, frantic neighing in the distance. He glanced at the others to make sure it wasn't just him hearing things. The others looked interested too, but Gray had stiffened, gazing out where the neigh had come from as if he recognized it. A frantic galloping could now be heard, and Vio yelled, "Get out of the road! It's coming right at us!" as he started shoving the kids to the side.

Everyone listened willingly as a wild, terrified horse sped around the corner into sight. Two moblins, which Green thought looked kind of like some he had met back home, were hanging on tight to her saddle. However, they were soon bucked off by the panicked mare and exploded into dust as they struck the ground hard.

Now free of riders, the horse raced down the road, not calming down in the slightest. Everyone dodged out of the way as she got closer. That is, except for Gray. He crouched down in a defensive position, rolling out of the way only when she was almost on top of him. The horse stopped abruptly and reared several times, Gray taking advantage and racing up behind her, only to launch himself into her saddle and cling tight. The horse started to run wildly again, Gray only hanging on by the tips of his fingers. That was an incredibly dangerous position to be in. Green knew he could easily be killed if he lost his grip.

Surprisingly, Gray tried to talk her into submission as he struggled to hang on and grab the loose reins at the same time.

"Epona! Epona, no. It's me! Come on girl, calm down. Easy, easy," Green guessed that he knew this horse, and was a little surprised that she held the same name as one of the horses in the stables back home. She looked like her, too. Then he remembered how she had been mentioned back in Ordon. This must be Gray's lost horse.

"Aagh!" Gray shouted as Epona suddenly bucked and he was almost tossed over her head. Thankfully, he managed to hang on. Green wanted to race over and help, but if he did that, he knew it would either scare the horse more or he'd get trampled by her hooves. At that moment, Gray grinned in triumph as he grabbed her reins with one hand, sliding it up as close to her face as he could get without falling off Gripping tightly with both hands, one on the rein and one on the saddle, he managed to sit properly and shove his feet into the stirrups. Then he leaned back heavily, pulling her rein backwards on one side as hard as he could so her face was forced to look backwards.

Beginning to race in circles, Epona slowed down rapidly as Gray patted her white mane and rubbed her neck, whispering words of comfort in her ear until she was standing nicely and panting slightly, all signs of panic gone except for being out of breath (1). Shakily, Gray stepped down from the saddle as Green and the others strode cautiously into the open, afraid to spook the horse again.

"That was so cool!" Talo cheered, punching a fist in the air, "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Um… no, not right now…" Gray answered, a little distracted as Epona head butted him in the shoulder and nickered. "No, Epona!" he scolded. The horse whinnied and butted him again, eyes sparkling.

"Oh, fine," Gray sighed, digging in his pouch and pulling out sugar cubes. He held out his hand and she lapped them up happily, turning around and drinking from the spring behind them.

Then, they all heard the bleating of goats.

"More animals?" Blue said. Whirling around, they all saw a large man sitting atop a carriage being pulled by four goats. Mayor Bo had arrived.

Zelda

Zelda didn't know what to think. She had never expected to see Shadow again. The mirror was broken… how could he be here?

"Um, um, stay right there, just give me a second," she stammered, shutting the door quietly and pressing herself against it, her eyes landing on Young Zelda and Valensuela.

"Who is it, my lady?" the knight asked curiously.

"Shadow Link," she said, "Please, please don't hurt him. He's on our side now," she told him.

He looked concerned and a little doubtful, but he nodded in the end. "Alright. I won't hurt him. But if he makes one wrong move I will not hesitate to stop him."

"Thank you!" Zelda said.

"Who is Shadow Link?" Young Zelda asked.

"He's… Link's shadow. He's his own person too," Zelda didn't quite know how to describe him, but Young Zelda nodded.

Zelda opened the door again, nodding to Shadow who was still standing awkwardly outside, glancing down the hallway. "You can come in now. But, one thing. My… kind-of counterpart and one of my knights are in the room. I told them who you were, and they've agreed not to attack you. Just… to let you know," Zelda felt very awkward. She didn't know what to do.

"Are you sure they won't attack me?" Shadow asked. He didn't look happy about others being in the room, "Could you just tell me where Green is? I've been looking for him or the others everywhere and I can't find them."

"Well, you really should come inside then," Zelda said. Now she really didn't know what to do. How was she going to tell him that she had sent his counterparts to another time? "I can tell you where they are there."

Shadow blinked in confusion, looking unsure. Suddenly, soldier's footsteps echoed down the stone hallway and Zelda grabbed Shadow by the front of his tunic, hurriedly dragging him inside before he was seen and shutting the door. Then she introduced a wide-eyed Shadow to her friends.

"Guys? This is Shadow, Shadow, this is Valensuela and Zelda. Though, we are calling her Young Zelda."

Valensuela nodded curtly, and Young Zelda gave a small wave.

After everyone was introduced and settled down, (in Shadow's case, very stiffly), Zelda got down to business. "How are you here? I thought the Dark Mirror was broken."

Shadow sighed. "I don't know. I was hoping to ask Link. Where exactly is he?"

1- That's the way I was taught to stop an out-of-control horse, so that's how I'm describing it. Had lessons for a few years, and thankfully never had to use the tactic. I can't tell you how well it works from personal experience, but theoretically, pull on one side of their head until they're forced to go in tight circles.

UPDATE 6/10/15: All author notes in previous chapters removed. Will put a new chapter up when I can (hopefully this week). Thank you for being incredibly patient! I have absolutely no intention of abandoning this thing. Life and circumstances kind of took over and left me unable to do much.

I have made another fanfiction purely for extras, outtakes, and add-ons for this story. Go to my profile to find that and follow/review it if you will.

Also on my profile is a section where I put updates on this story (where I am, what's going on, etc.) Basically just notifications that change periodically and help you to know I'm not ditching this thing. It's my replacement for those dreaded "author note chapters" that are technically against the rules anyway.

Again, thank you for being patient and I hope I can update a chapter soon!