A/N: Woohoo, it's time for the story to truly begin! This chapter may have ended up with quite a bit of unintentional Zelda X Shadow, but the story's main pairings are Red X Blue, Vio X Shadow, and Zelda X Green, just as a reminder! By the way, I'm pretty sure that Zelda is right-handed and therefore has the Triforce of Wisdom in that hand, and Link is left-handed, so has the Triforce of courage in that hand... Thank you, Wikipedia... Oh, since I forgot to mention it before, I got the idea for the Five Sword from LittlePidgey's Four Swords + trilogy... Sorry about copying!! Your story is just so good I couldn't help picking up a few ideas from it, is all... Anyways, please read, review, and enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Zelda, Nintendo does! I do own my plot and any OCs I may make later in the story, though! I'm still stumped as to the story's title, so please help me out if you have any ideas! All right, here we go! Enjoy the story!
The Links' personal Weapons (other than their swords and shields, of course!)
-Red has an ice rod, a fire rod, and a slingshot!
-Green has a boomerang, and he's pretty good with it.
-Blue has a hammer, of course, which suits his personality perfectly!
-Vio has a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and of course, his ever-present book.
-Shadow has... well, his weird shadow abilities, I guess? mimicking? he might end up with a special shield...
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Chapter 1: Reawakening
A month has passed since Princess Zelda ordered repairs begun on the Dark Mirror, and it has finally been restored... However, it isn't anywhere near as powerful as it originally was, and as a result can only generate a limited amount of Dark Power, which has been determined to be just barely enough to support Shadow Link's existence if he remains in direct contact with its surface or frame... The Mirror's repairs are completed during the evening, and Zelda orders it brought to the Four Sword Sanctuary and left there. Before sunrise the next day, Princess Zelda sneaks out of the castle and heads to the Sanctuary, arriving there at dawn. The Dark Mirror has been placed behind the altar, as ordered, and is currently covered by a tarp... Zelda approaches the Mirror and pulls off the cloth covering it, spreading the tarp evenly on the floor in front of it... The skull decoration that used to be at the top of the mirror frame is gone, replaced by the Triforce symbol, and the other designs along the frame have been replaced with ancient Hylian characters...
'All right, this is it... There's no turning back now. I must hurry and begin, before my absence is noticed at the castle. I want this to be a private thing... I owe him this much at least, to spare him from having to deal with the glares of a troop of suspicious guards watching his every move when he'll most likely be barely even alive once I manage to revive him... If I can even do it... No, I can't think like that! This will work, it has to!'
"(Zelda) All right, here goes nothing..."
She takes a deep breath, steadying herself, and places her right hand on the Triforce symbol at the frame's apex (the top of the mirror frame).
"(Zelda) Dark Mirror, grant your strength to the one I seek! Return him to this land of Hyrule from where he sleeps within your dark depths! Come forth, Shadow Link!"
Ripples begin to spread out across the surface of the Mirror from its center as Zelda takes a step back from it, and something begins to appear slowly within its depths... Several minutes pass as a humanoid figure gradually takes shape within the Mirror... Princess Zelda looks very nervous... The slow rate at which the Dark Mirror is working to bring forth the body of the fifth "Link" seems to be worrying her greatly, having seen Shadow Link be reborn from the Mirror once before, and knowing that at that time it took much less than five minutes for him to emerge... Of course, this occured before the Dark Mirror was broken, when it had its full ability to generate Dark power, and could supply an unlimited amount of it...
'This must be caused by the Mirror's vastly reduced strength, I'm sure of it! Please, let that be the only reason this is taking so long... Please...'
The surface of the Mirror begins to bulge outward, and the indistinct features of the figure within have sharpened into the sillhouette of a young boy with pointed ears... He begins to fall forwards, emerging from the surface of the Dark Mirror...
'...! Falling like that, he'll break contact with the Mirror! From what I read in that ancient book, I know that I only have one chance at this! If he isn't brought back completely now that the process has begun, he will completely cease to exist! I must not fail, for all five of their sakes!'
Zelda steps forward and catches the falling boy in her arms just in time, laying him down on the tarp with his head resting against the mirror frame while being careful to make sure that a part of his body is in contact with the frame or glass at all times as she does so... She takes a moment to look at him. He is wearing a dark, smoke gray tunic identical in everything but its color scheme to those of the other "Links," with the only clothing style difference being that his hat basically defies gravity, curling into a counterclockwise spiral at the end instead of simply hanging down like it would if it followed the laws of physics, which it obviously doesn't, and a long sleeved white undershirt and white leggings, as well as a brown belt with a circular golden buckle with a spiral motif and plain dark gray boots that are just about the same color as his tunic. The boy has pale, pale skin and his hair is a deep purple color... He is, without a doubt, Shadow Link. His eyes are closed, and he isn't breathing, nor does he have any sign of a heartbeat. Though his body is indeed here, that is all it is at the moment, a body... Just an empty shell...
"(Zelda) *sighs in relief* So far, so good..."
Zelda reaches into her pocket and brings out the bottle entrusted to her by Vio, that contains Shadow Link's spirit... She kneels next to his limp form and pulls out the stopper, pouring the shimmering sparks into her hand. Zelda sets the bottle on the floor where it will be out of the way and cups her hands, which are now filled with a weak, shimmering glow...
"(Zelda) Shadow Link... Please hear my voice... It's time for you to come back... Red, Green, Blue, Vio... You're the only one who can save them! Please, open your eyes!"
(A/N: Just to be clear, these aren't Princess Zelda's thoughts, they're Shadow's.) '...!'
*Ba-bump!*
The sparks held within Zelda's hands blaze brightly in response to her words, and merge together to become a shimmering sphere of light that looks quite a bit like a fairy. She releases it, and it gently floats down to the boy's chest, disappearing into his body... Suddenly, he weakly sucks in a breath and lets it out, his entire body shuddering violently as he does so. He moans, and his red, flame-colored eyes slowly flicker open and meet Zelda's serene blue ones as he begins to come to...
"(Shadow) ...unnnh... Wha...? ...! This is... Hyrule...! I'm... alive...?! ...The princess... You... brought me... back...? Why...?"
"(Zelda) Welcome back, Shadow Link. Don't worry, I'll explain everything soon, once you've rested a bit. Just don't move too much, all right? The Dark Mirror was rebuilt, but it doesn't have enough power to support you if you aren't touching it, you see."
"(Shadow) ...Just... Shadow..."
"(Zelda) What?"
"(Shadow) ...Don't... call me... 'Shadow Link'... Just plain... 'Shadow'... is fine... with me... ...After all... Red... is called... 'Red'... not 'Red Link'... Green... isn't called... 'Green Link'... And... so on..."
"(Zelda) Oh, now I understand. All right then, Shadow. But for now, you should just take it easy and rest, all right?"
"(Shadow) ...Right... I'll... do that..."
'Vio... It was you, wasn't it...? I remember... Someone kept me from disappearing back when I turned into light... That was you, Vio, I'm sure of it... And then... You must have given what was left of me to Zelda for her to keep safe... ...But, why did she bring me back...? ...Wait... When I was like that... Something... I felt that something was wrong... ...I heard... Voices... crying out for help... ...Red... Green... Blue... And you, Vio... ...Your voices... ...They called me back... ...How long have I... been gone...? And, what is happening in Hyrule, for me to be brought back, and by Zelda and not you, Vio...? ...Your voices... Crying out for help... What has happened...? Where are you, Vio...?! ...ugh... All this stuff... It's way too much to think about at once like this... It's making me dizzy... ...I'm so tired... She's right... For now... I just need to rest...'
Shadow closes his eyes and falls into a deep, healing sleep. His soft, even breaths can be clearly heard in the peaceful silence of the Sanctuary. Zelda gets to her feet and takes the ancient book out of her pocket, going over to sit on a nearby fallen column to read and pass the time until he wakes up.
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A/N: Thanks for reading and please review! No flames, please...? *puppy dog eyes* Guesses on what's going to happen next and constructive criticism is always welcome! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! *waves goodbye* See you later, I hope!