Chapter 30: Quadruple Trouble
Link lowered the Four Sword and turned to face her twins. They were each holding a copy of the Four Sword; the color of the gems matched the color of their hair. Their clothes matched hers exactly. There wasn't the effect of looking in a mirror, though, not with their varied expressions and strange hair colors.
"Just what we need—three more Link's," Vaati muttered, just loud enough to hear.
All four turned. He cringed a bit, probably startled at having all of them staring at him.
"Aw, you overwhelmed by four copies of this beautiful face?" purple-haired Link teased, framing her face flirtatiously.
"Hey, look, he's blushing!" the blue one laughed.
Meanwhile, the red one put a hand on her hip. "We're supposed to be for fighting evil, not tormenting Vaati."
Link looked over at Vaati. His eyes were wide, and he kept looking at each Link as they spoke. He was indeed blushing lightly, stammering out a retort, "You should listen to the red one!"
The original Link burst out giggling at Vaati's plight. He looked so at a loss as to what to do or how to respond in this situation. Her laughter only made him more flustered. "S-sorry," she got out between chuckles. "It's just—you reacted just how I thought you would!"
Impa cleared her throat loudly. "This is not the time for jokes, Link," she reprimanded.
"It's better than being depressed about being the Hero," blue-haired Link replied with a smile. Link decided to just call them by their colors. Blue sheathed her sword and bowed to those gathered. "As Purple said so well, we have our answer: Link is indeed the Hero!"
"Not 'Purple'; call me Vio. You know. For Violet." She pointed to her hair.
Red crossed her arms. "Impa is right, you two. This is important, so calm down and pay attention."
The four turned their attention to their guardian and mentor. She looked at each of them in turn before resting her gaze on Link. "What will you do now, Link?"
She blinked, frowning. "Er, what do you mean...?"
"Do you accept your role as the Hero? Or do you wish to return the sword and go back to normal?" When Link only looked at her twins thoughtfully, Impa continued, "I only required you to restore the Four Sword so we would have it in case of an emergency. You do not need to carry the sword with you if you do not wish to."
Ah, she hadn't considered that. Even if she were the Hero, Link could simply put the sword back in its place. She didn't have to accept this role. Her eyes met Vaati's. He wasn't avoiding her gaze this time; he was patiently waiting for her answer, simply meeting her gaze as a way to let her know he'd be by her side either way.
Link looked back at Impa with a confident smile. "I accept my role as the Hero. But I also have a request to make to all of you: when there is something I can't do, or when I am worn out, or whenever I have a weakness, please be by my side to help me through it."
Her mentor actually smiled. "Of course, Link," Impa replied, bowing her head. "I am always on your side, and I am proud of the person you have become. I pledge my support to you." She looked towards the stairs. "Sheik is not here, but I am certain he would say the same."
Aveil pressed a fist to her heart, bowing her head as well. "You have my support as well! You'll make a worthy Hero. Break the mold and fight well."
Link nodded happily. It was comforting to have the support of both of her mentors. They were strong and wise, the kind of women she aspired to become. And even though Sheik was absent, she felt sure that she had finally reached an equal level with him.
"Should you ever need knowledge or wisdom, I will be here to help you," Father Gaepora said. He bowed his head respectfully.
"Thank you," the blonde said. Then she turned her gaze to Vaati, who had not spoken. "You've already told me you'll be on my side, so you don't have to say anything."
To her surprise, he shook his head. "No. I'll say it here as well." Vaati locked his red eyes with hers. "Link, I may be the Wind Mage, and you may be the Hero, and most would assume that makes us enemies, but ultimately we decide what our titles mean. My decision is to be your closest ally. Whatever you need my help for, I'll do it. As you fight to protect Hyrule, I'll fight to protect you. That is my repayment for my past life, and my desire as your—as your best friend." Vaati bowed, his intense gaze finally breaking away.
She glanced over at her twins and saw her same feelings reflected in their eyes: a mix of happiness and discomfort. She couldn't help but feel that Vaati's words were tinged with bittersweet emotion, and when he stuttered at the end, she knew he was struggling to conceal his real feelings.
But she shook the feeling off. "Thank you, Vaati," Link smiled softly. "I kind of feel invincible after you said that!"
She turned to her twins. "So, uh, where are we gonna keep all these?"
"Hey, don't refer to us like pets or things!" Blue pouted.
Vio laughed and elbowed her blue twin. "He's just teasing you! You should know that!"
"Well, yeah, but... Well, even so, I'm easy to tease sometimes! He shouldn't do it to himself."
"But you're not him—you're a copy of a part of him!"
"I'm leaving before I get a headache," Vaati groaned. He waved in the Links' general direction. "Go sort yourself out somewhere else."
Impa watched him go, then turned to Link. "He is right. I believe you should take some time to get familiar with these copies of yourself. Father Gaepora, is there a larger guest room they could use?"
"Unfortunately, all our guest rooms are rather small," Father Gaepora explained apologetically. "However, I believe there is a monks' room he could use. There are four beds, so it would work well."
"Sounds good to us!" called Blue. She grabbed Link and Vio by the arms. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you guys!"
"We're the same person, Blue," Red raised an eyebrow. "He already knows us."
Blue waggled a finger at her red-headed twin. "It's always good to know yourself better! Father Gaepora, lead the way!"
"Alright. So, you're each a different part of my personality?"
Link, Blue, Vio, and Red were sitting in a circle on the floor in their new room. Despite being her copies, they all sat differently. Blue was the most like her, with her legs partly crisscross. Vio had one leg up, her arm resting on her knee, with the other leg tucked under her. Red's arms were crossed and her legs crisscross properly.
"Yep!" said Blue. She was pretty much always smiling. "I am your easygoing, happy, positive part! And I'm your dominant trait."
Link nodded, then turned her gaze to Vio. "I think I know what you are."
Vio grinned impishly. "Well, you know yourself best! I'm your mischievous and flirtatious side. Lately, I've gotten a lot of action with Vaati around—it's great! Wonder if it's a coincidence that we both have purple hair?" Her eyes widened and she leaned forward. "Maybe we're destined to—"
She was cut off by Red's hand covering her mouth. "I am your fierce, serious side," the redhead stated, ignoring Vio's muffled protests. "When you fight, I am the strength you draw from."
"Do you mean, you're the best at fighting?"
Vio finally freed herself from Red's hand. She pressed a hand to her heart as though pained. "You insult us! She may be fiercer, but we all have the same exact skills and abilities that you have. We even have the same thought processes, so fighting as a team should be a breeze! Whatever you would do in any situation, that's what we'll do."
Link tilted her head. "Really? Let's test it!" At that, Vio leaped to her feet, drawing her sword. "No, I meant with rock-paper-scissors," Link added quickly.
"Oh, that makes a lot more sense." Vio put the sword away and dropped back down while Blue giggled and Red looked unimpressed.
"So, all of us go at once," Link said, holding out her fist. The other three did the same. "Rock, paper, scissors—!" she said, her fist moving down on each word. On 'scissors', they all opened their hands out flat.
"Huh, it worked. Let's do it again!" Link counted down again, and they all threw scissors this time. "Again!" All paper. "Okay, just once more..." All rock.
Vio lifted her fist in the air triumphantly. "Told ya! Great minds think alike! Or rather, in this case, same great minds think alike." She chuckled at her own joke.
Ignoring her twin's childish behavior, Red addressed Link, "You can count on us completely in battle. Ultimately, our wills are connected to yours, so just trust us to do exactly what you need us to do."
"Hey, never mind fighting right now," Vio cut in. She leaned forward, hands on her knees, staring at Link intently. "There's something else I wanna discuss!"
Blue also leaned forward with excitement in her eyes. "Ooooh, yeah, me too!"
Link glanced back and forth between them, then looked at Red. She was also staring at Link. "Uh, okay? What is it?" Link said slowly.
"Oh, you know what it is..." Vio replied in a honeyed tone. She reached out and tilted Link's chin up with one finger, leaning closer. "A certain somebody and what that certain somebody did while you were sleeping..."
"W-why do you wanna talk about that?" Link stammered. Vio must've really picked up on all of Aveil's flirting lessons. She was just a little too close, her voice making Link squirm. "I'm just going to pretend like it didn't happen—I don't want things to be awkward."
Vio flicked her finger away, leaning back. "But it did happen! You can't ignore something like that! I mean, it's not like it was your first kiss or anything, but still—getting kissed by a guy friend who thinks you're a guy is kinda crazy. Especially since Vaati's always been super clear he's not interested in guys like that."
"Yeah..." Link murmured. "It probably didn't mean anything, then, you know? Maybe it was an accident."
"Oh, come on! What else could it mean?!" Vio exclaimed, flinging her arms out in exasperation. Blue nodded in agreement. "Vaati accidentally held your hand and then accidentally kissed you? He's not the type who would kiss someone just to see what it's like, either, or as some sort of revenge. You were asleep anyways, so it couldn't be revenge. So—" Vio widened her eyes and stared at Link. "It obviously means he has feelings for you!"
Blue squealed shyly at Vio's declaration, while Red just watched Link quietly. She opened her mouth to protest, then hesitated. Vaati didn't feel that way about her... they were just friends. She was a guy in his eyes; she could barely imagine Vaati falling in love with a girl, let alone a guy—that didn't even seem like an option. And yet, he had kissed her. Link couldn't pretend it meant nothing. But she also couldn't confirm anything, not without asking Vaati himself.
"Obvious or not," she sighed, "I shouldn't ask him about it. If he wanted me to know, he wouldn't be hiding it."
Vio and Blue pouted, but Red placed a hand on her shoulder, nodding in agreement. "I think that's the right choice. He is probably trying to preserve your friendship."
"Alright, fiiiine," Vio huffed, rolling her head back as she sighed. Then she popped it back up, excited once more. "Then we'll just figure out how you feel about Vaati!"
Link pointed to herself, and Vio nodded. "Well? What'd you think of the kiss?" the mischievous twin pressed.
"I-it—that's—" the blonde stammered. She could feel her face growing warm. "Don't you guys already know what I think? Why are you asking things like that?"
"Because sometimes you have to talk it out before you can truly understand yourself," Blue replied with a smile.
"And you've totally been avoiding even thinking about it. So? So?" pressed Vio.
She looked to Red, hoping for some kind of support, but her twin was also waiting with some expectancy. Did she really have to talk about it...? Honestly, she'd been pushing it out of her mind since the moment it happened; it was just too complicated to think about.
Probably sensing her great reluctance, Vio prompted, "Well, for starters, you weren't upset about it, right?"
Link shook her head, frowning slightly. "No, of course I wasn't upset."
"Of couuuuurse you weren't," her purple-haired twin smirked. "So, it's okay if Vaati kisses you? You wouldn't be upset if he kissed you again?"
"Th-that's not what I meant!" Link's face was uncomfortably warm. She felt like every answer she gave was wrong somehow. "It's just—it was—it was just so unexpected… I never thought about us like that…"
Blue inched forward. "Well, how does it feel if you do think about it?"
The blonde grew quiet, staring at her hands, stomach positively overflowing with butterflies. Think about her and Vaati… together…? Her face was past warm, hot now, as she revisited the feeling of his lips on hers; she thought about all the times she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder, how comforting his warmth was and how she honestly wanted to be closer, but couldn't; the times she'd held Vaati's hand through his nightmares; the impossibly painful ache in her heart the times she had lost his trust. Of all the people in her life, losing any part of her relationship with Vaati would be the most painful.
How she felt about Vaati—it was obvious, wasn't it? And yet putting the words to it was too intimidating, too full of consequences.
"I..." The word came out as a whisper. She couldn't finish the phrase, instead putting her face in her hands and shaking her head. "It doesn't matter how I feel. If Vaati doesn't want me to know, that's that. I'm a spy, too, so I can't—being friends is already—being friends is as much as I can ask for."
The three twins all exchanged a look. Vio was about to speak, but Red raised her arm, shaking her head. "That's enough for now." She rose to her feet. "It's close to dinner time. I think we should go make sure they made enough for three more people."
"You guys eat, too?" Link managed to ask. She lifted her head, hoping her eyes weren't too red.
"Of course, we eat!" Blue exclaimed, poking the flesh of her upper arm. "We're flesh and blood just like you. And we eat just as much!"
"Oh, we definitely need to make sure they made extra, then!" Link chuckled. Their lightheartedness was in stark contrast to the emotional shock she was going through, but it helped distract her. She stood, as did Blue and Vio. "Alright, let's go!"
She almost immediately regretted bringing her twins to dinner. Upon spotting Vaati at the table, Blue and Vio ran over, claiming the seats on either side of him. Oh, no—she definitely could not trust them to act normal around him, especially Vio. She grabbed the chair at the same time her purple-haired twin did.
"I always sit next to Vaati," she tried to explain in as normal a tone as possible while giving Vio very pointed looks saying, 'you can't sit next to him!'
Vio just grinned, trying to pull the chair out of Link's grip. "Well, I'm you, so I don't see what the problem is!" She nudged Vaati. "There's no problem, right?"
"Maybe I don't want to sit next to either of you," he replied dryly.
"But we're your best friend!" Vio gasped.
Vaati only retorted, "So? That doesn't mean we always have to sit together."
"You could sit next to me, handsome!" Aveil called out from her seat near Impa. When the three looked over, she winked and patted the seat by her.
Link and Vio exchanged a look, then turned their eyes to Vaati. He was scowling at the Gerudo. In unison, the twins shook their heads, and each grabbed one of their friend's arms. Some instinct told them that Aveil would do a lot more damage than they could.
"Blue, you sit by Red," Vio shooed her twin away. "Link and I are gonna share Vaati." She forcefully tugged Vaati to his seat and pushed him down into it.
The Mage sighed from the depths of his soul and lowered his head. "I think I've lost my appetite. Can I leave?" he asked Impa, looking over at the Sheikah.
Before Impa could get a syllable out in reply, Vio grabbed Vaati's face, turning it up so she could inspect it carefully. "Oh no, you didn't catch whatever Link had, did you?! Here, lemme check your temperature." She started leaning forward as though to touch their foreheads together.
Link, sensing incoming disaster, leaped forward, slinging her arm around Vio's shoulders and jerking her back. Laughing lightly, she waved a hand. "I'm sure he's fine! He never eats much, anyways."
"The food will be here soon," Red said calmly. "Can you two please sit down so we can eat?"
And so poor Vaati was sandwiched between Link and Vio for the duration of dinner. Link had to keep Vio in check almost the entire time; the purple-haired girl had almost no sense of restraint. She knew it was her own personality trait and all, but it was really dangerous left all on its own, unchecked by the sensibility Red embodied. Vaati basically seemed to do his best to ignore the both of them. By the end of dinner, Mage and Hero both were exhausted.
Link sent her twins off to their room without her. Vio complained loudly, but thankfully Red was willing to half-drag the mischievous girl away for her. Tired, Link slowly made her way up to Vaati's room. Some sort of apology was in order, right?
The Vaati that opened the door made her heart cringe. He saw her and immediately sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes before looking at her again and asking, "What's up?"
"Uh, well, you know..." Link mumbled, her careful apology scrambled. He'd never seemed so completely reluctant to see her. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. She laughed—always an easy way to cover up her feelings, which were currently a royal mess. "I'm pretty annoying, huh? I mean, my copies tonight were kinda crazy. Especially Vio. Um... so... yeah, sorry for the craziness! That's all!" She waved and turned, walking back off down the hall.
"Hey," Vaati called. Link halted, glancing back. He cleared his throat and looked away. "You weren't the annoying one. I just... don't know how to deal with four of you."
Link turned around. "But they're me. If they were annoying, that means I'm annoying. Actually, even I got a little annoyed. Weird, huh?"
"They aren't you; they're parts of you." Her roommate met her eye. "If you were only Vio, I'd probably have had a flock of keese carry you to a bridge and drop you off of it a long time ago. But you're Vio, and Blue, and Red, all together. The combination is a lot better." Vaati sighed. "I got used to you; I'll get used to them, too."
She wished she had better instincts when it came to the feelings of others. What was Vaati thinking as he talked with her? Did he really not find her annoying? Seeing her own personality traits from an outside perspective had made her realize flaws she'd never noticed before; her flirtatiousness put Vaati in an awkward position, her chipper self didn't notice his discomfort, and her serious side only surfaced in the most necessary of situations.
What were his true feelings, hidden under his defensive needles, concealed behind the red eyes looking back at her tiredly? He'd kissed her, but now it seemed like she was the last person he wanted to see. Friends? More than that?
A part of her knew it would never work out if his feelings were more. Her heart twisted at the same time.
She must have been staring at him for quite a while because Vaati frowned at her. "Earth to Link?" he said.
"Oh! Uh, I should go back and make sure they aren't causing mass destruction," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, grinning casually. "See ya later!"
This time she ran down the hall, not letting anything stop her. Link ran all the way back to her room, skipping steps on the stairs and nearly hitting the walls as she turned corners. She stumbled to a stop in front of her door, panting. The pounding of her heartbeat in her ears was a welcome distraction from the thoughts trying to gain her attention.
They were uncharacteristically negative thoughts. She and Vaati were best friends; flaws and all, they accepted each other—she should already know this fact. He was struggling with feelings she shouldn't know about, and she was hiding feelings of her own, but that didn't change the fact that they were friends. As long as she pretended that she had no clue...
And yet, she couldn't deny that she wanted to know for sure exactly what his feelings were. Her desire—one of the few things she was completely certain of—was to be side-by-side with Vaati. If it were love that their relationship developed into, would it last? Or would love tear them apart?
Link laughed, straightening and shaking her head. "I'm kinda jumping to conclusions! Who said love was a part of any of this?" she asked the empty hall. "Vaati'd have to be crazy to fall in love with me."
"But you wouldn't be crazy to fall for him," crooned a voice from the door.
Link startled; Vio was peeking out through the barely open door, grinning wickedly. "No one's falling for anyone!" Link shouted, pushing the door open and knocking Vio to the ground.
"If you say sooooo!" her twin just snickered in reply.
