Chapter 05: the four sword sanctuary

Author's note: I've been checking my traffic lately, and it appears that I've got some readers! Yay! Thank you! Well, aside from that, I'd love it if I got a few reviews. It's about to get really intense.

Also, I introduce Link's surname in this chapter. If it is a surname from another character from another book or something, please forgive me.

Link was the first outside, and was face to face with what looked like a devil of sorts. He was very small, wore handsome green, and was bald except for his two horns. He appeared to be battling Ilia. When she slashed at him with a small knife that she carried around with her, he shrieked. Link now knew where the shouting had come from.
"Stay away from her!" Link declared. The little imp laughed at him.

"And what will you do once I've called for backup?" he hissed. With that, he blew on a horn, and all of a sudden, a figure wearing an extremely strange helmet appeared behind him. He also had Twili symbols on his arms.

"Ahaha! So our hero is back?" the newcomer asked.

"It appears that I wasn't the only hero to survive your attack," smirked Midna behind him. The other Twili looked amused.

"Really, Midna, you ought to watch that sharp tongue of yours, and learn to bow to your ruler, Zant!" he shouted. Midna made a threatening face.

"Cole, teach that girl a lesson, will you?" Zant asked the imp.

"Which one?" Cole replied.

"Urgh, never mind," Zant shot at him.

Ilia continued stabbing at Cole until he threw her backwards with a wave of twilit energy. She screamed and hit the ground. Though the brunt of the attack missed her, even the portion that hit her was enough to knock her senseless.

That was all Link could take. He slashed his sword angrily at Cole, grazing his side. Zant prepared his twilit energy, but before he could, another wave of dark energy reverberated through the clearing.

Vaati now stood in the doorway, proud, but extremely small. One of his hands was aloft, as if preparing to strike again. However, he didn't seem to have to. Immediately, Zant and Cole gasped when seeing him.
"He's…" Zant began in a quieting voice.

"So…" Cole continued. Vaati looked surprised but entered battle stance. He'd been in this situation before.

"Cute." The two finished. That was it for them. Vaati's eyes glowed, and he raced towards the two as fast as he could.

"Don't!" He spat. "Call! Me! CUTE!" with that, he began attacking the two mercilessly.

== The next scene of the carnage Vaati inflicts upon these two hapless villains has been censored for the greater good of the public. It has been deemed 'too gory' for an Adventure/Romance story.==

As soon as Vaati was finished ripping into them, Zant used his twilight warping abilities to get them both out of there as quickly as he could.

Everyone seemed stunned, especially when Vaati calmly dusted off his cloak. The pieces of flesh, bone, muscle, and gut sticking to his cloak got shaken off as he did this.

Finally, Zelda spoke.

"What do we do?"

"We need a hero," Colin entered the clearing, followed by Renado. He examined Ilia, deemed her perfectly fine, and continued standing next to Colin.

"Link, have you heard of the four sword sanctuary?" Colin added. Link shook his head. Colin continued.

"Well, it's the legendary temple built to house the four sword." Link now understood what they wanted him to do.

"You mean, all of a sudden, I've got to pull out the four sword and possibly get split into four supposed heroes?" Link asked, incredulous. Zelda bit her lip, thinking back to what she'd heard, but nodded just the same.

"Why?" he asked.

"We all agree that the evil will be too much for one hero to handle," explained Vaati.

"So, you're saying that I, Link Castellan-Rose, am the hero Link?" he asked. They all nodded.

Link was dazed. However, now realizing that this was his duty, he asked Vaati for directions to the four sword sanctuary and set out. It would be a long journey. Now that he knew who he was, he realized that Hyrule's fate rested with him.

So if he messed up, Hyrule could be done for.

When he reached the inner courtyard of the four sword sanctuary, he was stunned at the brightness.

Yeah, it was dawn, but in here, it seemed that everything emitted light. Even the five statues that surrounded the sword seemed to glow. The light seemed to be brightest near the sword.

Link wondered if he was making the right choice. Vaati had warned him when giving directions that if they were wrong about him, he could die from the mere touch of the four sword. He'd been thinking it over for awhile, and realized that it didn't matter. If they were wrong, the hero was out there… somewhere… hopefully.

With that sentiment in mind, he grasped the sword, alarmed when he felt a little odd but calmed by the fact he was still alive. Lifting it over his head in what he hoped was a heroic gesture and not a dorky one, he shouted "Four Sword, lend me your power!"

He was sure it was going fine, until he blacked out. Oops.

A figure snickered from the shadow. A perfect time to carry out their plan.

He was only out for about five minutes, but when he came to again, he was shocked at what he saw.

As he climbed back up onto his feet, he realized that the four sword was in his hand still, but his hand had changed. Now, the triangle symbol he'd occasionally noticed seemed to be missing a piece in the center, and it was glowing very brightly. When he turned his head slightly, his electric green ones met with a pair of reddish-brown ones.

The boy that the eyes belonged to smiled cheerfully at him.

"Hi! Glad you pulled out the four sword! After all, you get to meet me!" his voice was higher than Link's. Link looked at this red-cloaked boy and realized that he recognized him as the smiling, small figure in the statue cluster in the Tower of Spirits. He also realized the uncanny similarity in their appearances. He also remembered a name from a legend. Red. That's who this one was. He was absolutely certain when the boy pulled out what looked like a conductor's baton and winked.

"Pay attention to me, would you?" came an indignant voice behind him. The boy belonging to the voice was extremely muscular, and slightly thicker and taller than Link. He was dressed all in blue, and Link knew him to be none other than that other Link clone: Blue.

Link couldn't help but smile when he remembered that there was another. He didn't remember the name at the time, but something nagged him.

Red and Blue saw his nervous expression and ran up to him.
"If you needed us, we must be in a war," growled Blue. "There's no time to daydream."

"Hey, if you're worried, don't be," the cheerful Red smiled.

"Oh, don't be so quick to judge," came a high voice from the shadows. "If I were you, I'd do a lot of thinking right about now."

The three Links jumped. The figure emerged from the shadows quickly and elegantly. Link could see that shadows still cloaked him, however. It actually seemed that the shadows were following him, obscuring him from view.

"So a hero has risen," the figure continued. "Let's see how long it is until he's obliterated!"

Blue stepped forward quickly.

"You'll have to fight us all," he spat. He drew his sword and smirked.

The figure laughed an evil laugh and drew his own sword. Where the four sword was glowing with light, this one seemed to glow with darkness. It also had an odd handle. The figure fought exactly the same way as Blue, except he seemed slightly stronger.

"Who are you?" Blue gasped.

"I'm known as Shadow Link," smirked the figure.

"Wait," Red seemed to piecing something together. "So you're the fourth Link?"

"Yes."

"Also, there's something… wrong. I feel as though… well, maybe it's because our dark clone is usually called 'Dark Link.'"

"Mmm, well, that's because I'm not strictly Dark Link!"

"Huh?"

"You ask too many questions!" the figure slashed angrily at him, only to be met with Link's blade.

"You're not hurting Red or Blue!" he shouted.

The two dueled for a moment, before Shadow Link managed to trip him.

"That's cheating!" he shouted angrily.

Shadow Link seemed taken aback for a minute.

"You're right," he gasped. Link and the other two looked at him in shock. He then seemed to shudder for a moment, before, in his normal state, smirked and added "well, pity for you that I don't play by the rules."

He stabbed downward, but just then, all four present heard a song being played on an ocarina. Link recognized it. It was the song of Ordon, one of the more complicated songs to play. Just then, everyone present except Shadow Link.

When Link and Red hit the ground together, they realized that Blue was still standing—and holding an ocarina that could only be the Ocarina of Time.

"I thought you only played when you had to!" Red cried.

"Here, I had to," replied Blue.

"Well, well, well," came a voice from behind them. "Pulled out the four sword, did we?"

Standing there was Midna. She had Vaati and Zelda behind her.

"What did he do?" came a confused, sleepy voice. Malon came out of Ilia's house. "I spent the night at Ilia's because I wanted to see Midna—oh!"

Blue realized her eyes were on him.

"Um… uh…" he stammered. "Yeah, basically, um, Link got, uh split."

"Well, there can never be too much of a good thing," she smiled at the three and turned to face Midna.

"So you're that one who was sick?" she asked. Midna nodded.

Malon smiled and said, "Well, want some milk?" Midna declined politely.

"Hey, Link, I'd like to get to know your clones, too. Come stop at the ranch a little later," she finished and walked off.

"Link, did you ever notice how pretty Malon was?" Blue asked.

"Shut it," Link replied sheepishly.