Chp 4: Four Plus More
Just as with most things involving the Ether, it was dark and spit at your face for being near it.
Though why seemingly unbiased natural forces of the world were suddenly on attack mode, was beyond his reason. It was almost as if the world itself was fighting against them...more than usual. Green just didn't see why it was happening now, of all times. Though he suspected it was because everything had finally been going right between him and his group, so time to counteract that, huh?
His head felt groggy and heavy. Thinking was slow...he tried to wrack his brain on what could have caused him to be so out of it, but he kept coming up short on explanations. His nausea faded for a moment, so he gave it another shot. Green tried to recap everything he remembered, so he started at the top. He, Blue, Vio, and Red had been preparing to invade Vaati's tower when shadows enveloped them. Maybe he had sent them to ruin their resolve...no Shadow Link had been defeated...well whatever, Green decided. It didn't change the fact that they were surrounded by shadows whether it was his fault or not.
And then monsters…? Maybe three of them. Yeah three of them...varying in shape. The dark shades around them had snaked forward and formed into those monsters that then loomed ahead of them. They had wandered into a dark town in the process and luckily there had been no townsfolk in the line of sight of the monsters.
Green had briefly looked up at the sky to see why the moon wasn't helping to blot out the darkness when he realized it wasn't on their side either. The four of them were being grimaced at by the moon itself, who beckoned his small monster triade to surely attack. He had shuddered and looked to his left.
Blue had taken that moment and pushed past him with his sword out and ready, so Green sighed and slid his sword out of its sheath as well. He was kind of glad he did, for one of the large creatures sprinted towards the four of them on all fours, he and Blue had blindly worked together to tackle the beast when his 'brother' in blue was pulled away by a winged creature that had slithered over with its sharp teeth bared. He was so enveloped in fighting the largest beast in front of him with help from Vio's arrows, that Green hardly noticed the winged monster maneuvering around Blue and disarming him. The last of the beasts, a small horned creature had hurled a boomerang it had probably stolen from one of the townspeople and knocked out both Red and Vio behind him on either side.
Green didn't know what to do next, paralyzed by the scent of failure...and then he had been knocked out as well.. by the largest of the beasts.
Right...that would explain the headache. Green loosely felt a form around himself, almost holding him in embrace...or someone was just laying on top of him. That wasn't exactly new, and it filled him with groggy relief that he wasn't alone and had at least one of his brothers with him. Whether they were still on the cobblestone in that dark town or somewhere else the monsters had dragged them. As much as he hoped it wasn't the town, he would know he didn't imagine it and the moon if they were still there. Only one way to find out.
He groaned as he fluttered his eyes open from their clenched position. His vision was filled with clouds, and the blurry outlines of trees resting high above him. The sun was parting through the branches and covered part of his face. Green managed to bring one of his hands to his face to rub away the blurriness from his vision, and to shield his eyes from the sun.
The sun? It was morning then- well it was most likely midday based on the positioning of the sun being right above him. Already? He sighed.
Squinting, Green maneuvered his eyes to his right, spotting the hunched-over form of Vio not too far from him. With a bit of relief, he then looked down to see a young man he didn't know lying face up in the middle of both of them. He had one arm draped over both him and Vio. That...was confusing.
Green lifted the arm off of his torso carefully and placed it at the young man's side, as to not cause him to stir. He quietly inched into a crouch and stood up straight to see the rest of their surroundings. Apart from him, the tall stranger, and Vio, he found Blue underneath another unknown figure, and nearby was Red and yet another person he didn't know. They were all unconscious, and he was the only one awake…
Did those beasts get to these other people too? Well, it would seem they weren't in, or near a town anymore. Scanning the area, all Green saw were trees, and...more trees. He hadn't remembered the four of them even being near a forest recently, but all things considered, the shadows really must have messed with their heads. The three monsters were nowhere to be seen, and he wondered if the shadows truly dispersed with them.
Then that left the other three people with them, they must have been attacked too.
Green figured it best to wake his brothers up first before he decided to talk to the strangers. He didn't think he wanted to know why the strangers seemed so...familiar, and yet so foreign. Anyway, he carefully walked on the balls of his feet around the person he had just freed himself from already and gingerly did the same with the arm that was lying on top of Vio's chest. He pulled his brother in purple away from the stranger and tried the only method he knew to reliably wake any of them up: lightly slapping him a couple of times in the face. True to form, Vio awoke with a start, wild eyes narrowing when they landed on the green form in front of him. He seemed less groggy than Green did when he woke up, probably because he startled him so badly.
Green quickly rose a finger to his lips and pointed to the scene next to them. "You're the first one I woke up, Blue and Red are still out, but the monsters are gone." He whispered, gaining a slow nod from his brother.
"So...those three were already here when you woke up?" He sat in thought for a moment but silently stood as well. "Right, well I'll wake up Red, you'd better get Blue away from that boy, he'll likely not like being woken up so suddenly. We don't want to cause such a scene so soon." Vio whispered back, a moment later departing to shake Red into the waking world.
Green sighed and brought his attention to blue, and the kid who was haphazardly strewn atop him. Once he reached his side, he figured the best way to go about this was to gently drag the kid away and then deal with Blue. However, when he went to do so, that's when he noticed the kid was wearing, practically the same thing he was. It was also green, but it was mostly covered up by a large dark scarf. Well, he'd get to that when he got to it, so he resigned himself to lightly grabbing his shoulders. He didn't get very far before he heard a shout from behind him. He didn't recognize the voice.
"Hey! What are you doing now!?" The shout, inevitably, caused the kid Green was just about to remove from Blue to stir as well. The kid raised his head, and as soon as their eyes met, he quickly maneuvered himself into a stand, his hand raising to the hilt of his sword. Green turned to find the tall stranger standing rigid, approaching him and Vio, who had managed to get Red to his feet. Soon, the two conscious strangers faced Green, Red, and Vio, who quite frankly didn't know what to say. Red was just groggily staring ahead, unaware of what happened so quickly.
The kid Green had just accidentally scared stepped in front of his companion and lowered both of his hands to rest in front of himself. Probably to hold off using his weapon unless he had to. "Hey Dusk, these are the four from last night, right? Funny, I don't remember getting out of Clock Town...you don't think they brought us somewhere, do you?" He motioned around them at their forested surroundings. And then looked up. "Wait, the Moon is...gone? We're...well we can't be in Termina anymore then because I didn't stop the moon from falling yet, but I don't know how that's possible." He didn't seem overly concerned.
His companion, Dusk, lowered his hands as well, sparing a glance to look at him before gazing upwards, and then back at the four heroes. "I...no I don't know. Personally, I like that the moon isn't staring at us anymore, but I can only imagine us passing out caused this. And them four? I don't think they had anything to do with it, except trying to kill us. Look, the blue kid's still out cold from when you tackled him, Masks." He raised a hand to his forehead. Though, he didn't suppose they fared much better anyway. Those shadows had been...freaky, but they weren't around anymore for the time being.
There was a moment of silence before Vio stepped forward himself, "Pardon me, but you were in contact with the four of us last night, you said?" That's all he cared about, not the moon or whatever it is they were going on about. If they were in contact with the four of them, maybe they did have something to do with those monsters.
Masks snapped to attention and barked, "Yeah, what was with you guys just attacking us like that? Or...why aren't you attacking now, then?" He gave Dusk a look, and glanced at the last of the sleeping forms, aside from Blue that is. "Well, either way, I'm gonna go wake up Tiny at least." Masks sighed and trudged off. Red took that as a cue to slap Blue a few times to wake him up.
After calming the two newly awakened people down, mostly Blue who was less than happy, the seven of them were alert and standing facing each other down. Green was eager to begin first. "Okay, so, tell us what you had to do with the four of us last night. We're in no place to play games right now, and frankly, we should get going to figure out where we are and go on our way." He was the appointed leader after all, and he wanted to lead himself and his brothers back to their task. Or at least, get some answers first.
Red seemed to be on the same page, for he pushed his head forward and voiced the question they were all wondering. "Do you guys know what happened to those monsters? They didn't get you too, did they?" He asked nervously.
Masks was the first to react. He extended his hands downward exasperated and leaned back. "What? Monsters? You guys are the ones who attacked us." His eyes were wide. Red flinched back at the outburst.
Tiny, the one that had been near Red, and the last to be woken up rubbed his face tiredly. "We were in...Clock Town I think, and you four just showed up. At first, we thought you were monsters too, cause you guys ran at us so fast, but even when we noticed you weren't, you still acted like you wanted to kill us!" He looked tired, and dishelved.
Dusk rested a hand on Tiny's head but kept his eyes narrowed at the guests in front of them. "We had to knock you four out to stop you, but we didn't want to hurt any of you guys." Green was about to respond, but a hand rested on his shoulder and stopped him. It was Vio. It made him stop and think at least, which was the point, and realization hit him. They weren't hurt. He only woke up with a headache that had since faded, no other injuries to account, and Red, Blue, and Vio seemed uninjured as well. Red had a bump on his head from the boomerang, and so did Vio, but aside from that...nothing.
"Okay, say we buy that. You expect us to believe that you guys were the monsters we saw and that we were just hallucinating? That's a load of bullshit." Blue said with a bite to his words, but he didn't seem that aggressive. He was, in his own way, talking through the situation to better understand it. "But, argh, no actually, those damned shadows probably did it." He groaned, "Fine." Blue crossed his arms and sighed dramatically.
That...might make sense actually. The shadows that had led them away from Vaati's fortress very well could have deceived them into thinking the three in front of them now were monsters the night before. It was no wonder they knocked out the four of them if they seemingly attacked them for no reason.
"Oh, then I'm terribly sorry that we did that to you guys. The shadows lately have been really...not great." He blushed and outstretched his right hand in greeting as if starting over.
Red, taking the chance to apologize, did so when Dusk reached out and took Green's hand and shook it with a nod. This seemed to make Masks grumpy, but none of them said anything about it. "Sorry, sir! We didn't hurt any of you, did we?" Both Red and Vio winced however, when they heard Masks claim that he had gotten hit by one of Vio's arrows under his breath, but considering the two of them had been hit by a boomerang, it only seemed fair.
"We should start over, I guess. The name's Green." He gestured to each of his brothers as he introduced them. "This is Red, Vio, and Blue. I hope we didn't give you too much trouble."
Masks quietly excused himself to look around, Dusk or Tiny would introduce him, and he wanted to know why this forest looked so familiar. More so than the similarities the people shared. That, and little irritations were starting to nag on him, and he didn't want to snap. He hated to be rude...but sometimes he couldn't help but snap. Stepping away, at least, would prevent that, and was productive.
Tiny, however, seemed to wipe away his fatigue and became interested again. "Sorry about the boomerang too. But, you guys are named after the colors you're wearing! That's kinda cool actually...are you guys related or something, or did you just meet up like us and decide nicknames?" He happily gestured to Dusk, and waved a nonchalant hand at Masks, who was a bit of a ways off behind himself scrutinizing the trees or something. "Sharing one name with several people is a bit annoying! So we came up with nicknames too! I'm Tiny, this is Dusk, and the grumpy one is Masks. I didn't know he was a grumpy person, actually." Tiny rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
Vio coughed to clear his throat, effectively grabbing attention, as he began to pull a map out for when they were done with formalities. "A shared name? Interesting." He tucked his pouch back into place, and folded the map underneath his arm. "Tiny, nice to meet you both properly by the way, you said you just...met up and share the same name? Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not how the four of us met, though technically you could say we are related to each other."
Blue shoved an arm into Vio's shoulder and groaned. "Man, Vio, you gotta sound so cryptic all the time?" He pushed Vio out of the way and pointed a thumb at himself, and moved it behind him where the other three were standing...or where Vio at least was readjusting his balance. "What smarty over here means is that we're related because we're all the same person. Used to be, at least, we got split into four people. Red...really wanted nicknames cause we couldn't just go around all with the same name, so colors. Lame honestly, but whatever." Vio shoved him back after this, giving him a narrowed look. Green couldn't help but chuckle at their typical antics.
"That...would explain why you all resemble each other so much, yeah." Dusk chuckled and waved his chained hand in a forward motion at the four of them. Blue and Vio were bickering amongst themselves lightheartedly, but Dusk continued anyway. "Let me guess, your name as one person is Link, isn't it?" When the blue and purple clothed boys snapped to attention, and Red and Green both nodded, one excitedly, and the other dumbstruck, Dusk got his answer. "Welcome to the gang, then I guess. That's our name too, Link, that is. Masks' fairy friend, who's unfortunately not here at the moment, suggested we pick out nicknames too, for similarly obvious reasons."
Dusks laughed at the reactions he was getting from the four in front of him, due to his revelation, and his nonchalant response to their splitting-into-four situation. Shortly after his laughter came, he glanced down to Tiny to catch him laughing too, but he was staring into space. He bent down to ask him what was bothering the kid so much, but Tiny quickly slapped a hand over his mouth to stop his inquiry and then lunged his head forward.
Tiny then pointed a bit wildly in front of himself. "Wait! How? What split you guys into four?" He looked like he might have exploded if he didn't get his answer. Dusk didn't know the kid could be quite so...excitable.
Red found himself answering first, being the first to stop blinking in surprise. He carefully slid the sword he had sheathed on his back out of the scabbard and held it gently flat against his palms. "Of that would be the Four Sword here!" The sword was simple, with a silver-brown hilt that was decorated with intricate little details you would have to be close to really admire. At the end of the hilt there was a small ornate red crystal nestled in. The colors of the crystals on the swords were matched to each of their respective clothing. "We pulled it out of its pedestal to save the shrine maidens and the princess and got split up that way. We...did let Vaati out of the seal, but we'll put him back, we promise!" Red gave Tiny a broad smile, but was startled by said kid's abrupt reaction and nearly dropped his sword.
"The Four Sword?! But, I have that!" Tiny very quickly yanked his own sword out of its sheath a bit callously and held it in front of himself. It looked identical to the one that Red nearly threw to the ground, but the crystal at the end was colorless and clear. "This right here is the Four Sword, or at least that's what me and Ezlo are calling it since we had to reforge it four times with the elements or something. It was easy at least, since my father's a blacksmith, and the Picori helped…" Tiny paused his frantic explanation and he snapped his head up to stare at Red a bit unnervingly. He let his blade fall. "Wait did you say 'Vaati'?! The Wind Mage Vaati?"
Masks peeked over his shoulder at the shouting, but kept his distance to continue searching the area, he thought he was onto something. Dusk, on the other hand, wanted to calm the Hero of the Minish down but came up short on how to do so. This was something between the four newcomers and him, and he needed them to sort it out themselves. After a moment staring at them, he slipped away to join Masks.
Tiny looked very concerned. Not the best to deal with it, but wanting to shit talk the Wind Mage, Blue raised his hands and waved them around. "Yeah, that damn demon's been making everything difficult, but once I beat him into dust, he'll never come back. No need to worry, kid." Vio took this as a chance to punch his blue brother in the shoulder back and repositioned the map better under his arm.
"Tiny, I don't think we've ever seen you around Castle Town before...why do you know about Vaati? And of course, I'm horribly curious as to why you possess the Four Sword...and that you are intact as one person." Vio tapped a finger to his chin. Behind him, Red rested his sword back into its scabbard intently listening, Green was more than intrigued, and Blue just grumbled. "So, pray tell, why do you?"
Tiny fumbled until he held his sword straight again. However, Green beat him to the punch. "Vio, he said that he forged the sword. That would mean he'd have to be the original hero of the Four Sword...the one that Father spoke of who took down the Wind Mage and sealed him with the sword he fortified with the elements." Time travel was in order here then, if that were the case. It wasn't entirely impossible, it would appear, considering the three people they had tried to beat up seemed to be very familiar and very similar. "I don't know why he's just one person though...that wasn't how the story went when Father told us."
Considering how Tiny had discovered that Dusk and Masks were probably descendants, the four of them could very easily be Tiny's descendants then. He rocked back and forth on his heels. Finally, something he could get behind in this confusion! He stashed his sword away and grinned at his apparent relatives. Blue, in response, looked disturbed by his suddenly happier demeanor.
"This is great!" Tiny shouted. "Every time I forged the sword again, I could use a new cool magic reflection of myself to help me move things, but I never figured that the power could go that far to split someone into four!" He jumped up and down excitedly, grabbing the attention of the two Links on the outer edge wrapping up their observations. Tiny trotted over to them, the four colored heroes hurried after him.
"Dusk! Dusk! You know how you and Masks might be related?" He impatiently awaited a nod from a quizzical Hero of Twilight and rushed to continue. "I think these guys are my descendants! They have the sword Ezlo helped me forge, and they said they've heard of me! Probably, at least." He trailed off and began to rub his head with an absentminded left hand. He couldn't help but wonder how that fit in with the other two, but at least...at least he knew he succeeded in the end then. He stopped completely and blinked away the thoughts he shouldn't be having when he finally noticed that Masks seemed...off. "Masks?" Tiny asked.
The Young Hero of Time, startled out of his stupor, nodded quickly at the younger child. "Oh...yeah no that's really cool if that's the case." Masks flashed a smile at Green, Red, Blue, and Vio. "Nice to meet you four proper. Dusk here is in a similar situation to you guys, I guess, as in he and I are most likely related too." He gave a side-eye to Dusk shortly after that none of the Four Sword holders could decipher, but it made the atmosphere feel stale.
Dusk shrugged and motioned for him to elaborate, to which Masks sighed heavily through his nose and fiddled with his scarf. "There might be something bigger going on then just ancestry stuff here now, 'cuz I know exactly where we are. And worse...I actually know when we are too." Instead of verbally explaining what exactly he meant by that cryptic statement, he motioned for the group to follow his lead. "I'll, uh, I'll show you what I mean, just stay close. This area of the woods can get a little confusing." Turning on his heels, Masks led the rest of the Heroes deeper into the woods that he apparently knew.
Vio wordlessly tucked away his map.
Thank you guys so much for the support, especially after I edited my original fic to update the original readers about this project! I also now have a beta reader who graciously agreed to help, Duke Serkol.
A shoutout to the reviewers as well, I enjoy reading the responses I get and responding to them!
I will apologize for the wait (And the dialogue-heavy aspect of this chapter). I am a full-time college student and put my studies ahead of this project. Even with being quarantined at home with online courses, I still have to fight for time to direct my full attention here. But boy will I get it done with certainty!