A/N: Yeah, the pairing somehow went from Green X Zelda to Green X Vaati... Umm, I hope no one minds...? Many thanks to Dea Letum, i-wish-a7x, and littlepidgey as always! Disclaimer time... The only LoZ stuff I own are some copies of games and mangas. That's it. I don't even own any plushies, much as I wish I did... T.T I do own my plot, made-up weapons, items, etc., and any OCs that may appear, as well as my made-up boss monsters, though. I guess Ruto and Rutela are kind of OCs, in their personalities and the fact that they're sisters, at least, though they come from the LoZ universe. Enjoy!
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? Also has the Dark Mirror Shield, and that dagger of his.
Chapter 11: Trickery and Guidance
"(Vaati) How is this even possible...?"
Vaati is outside the cavern entrance at Death Mountain. It's sunset, with the horizon glowing with blazing oranges, reds, and pinks. He is staring at his right palm, a look of sheer disbelief written plainly on his face. Branded into his blistered skin above the set of four crescent-shaped scars, right in the very center of his palm, is an angry-looking, fresh red burn in the exact same shape as the Triforce fragment he acquired from Shadow. Said piece is actually inside his hand, grudgingly allowing him to act as a temporary host of sorts, though he obviously cannot wield it as the "Links" can. The power radiating off of it is immense, and it's definitely painful. It's as if the fragment is saying "Fine, since you seem to have good intentions, I'll tolerate you holding me, for now at least. But I am in no way happy about it, and don't you forget it!"
"(Vaati) *sigh...* This solves one problem, but it could prove troublesome... She'll be expecting my report soon. I have to hurry and shield this somehow..."
He disappears in a swirl of wind.
~about two hours later...~
Vaati bows in front of a feminine figure seated behind a screen. (A/N:One of those gentlemanly half-bow things where you smoothly bend forwards while standing straight and fluidly come back up with a sweep of your arm...) The chamber is elaborate, obviously a throne room, and has a dark, evil theme to it. The purple-skinned wind sorcerer is hiding his right hand from her, holding it partially behind his back. His manner is that of how a trusted servant or adviser would act towards his or her master, and shows nothing of his true feelings.
"(Vaati) Milady, the Hyrulean princess, Zelda, has resurrected the shadow of the four heroes and given him the Triforce of Courage. It seems to be guiding him to those four, as I found him deep inside the caverns of Death Mountain with the Violet Hero, who had been restored to his human form somehow. I-"
"(woman) Wait a moment, my dear little Wind Mage. I have been wondering about something since you entered this chamber. What is that on your right hand?"
He seems unfazed by this, as if he was expecting it, which he was.
"(Vaati) You are perceptive as always, Milady. Please, let me finish my report first. The explanation will make more sense then."
She seems satisfied by his response, and motions for him to resume speaking.
"(woman) Very well, you may continue."
"(Vaati) Thank you Milady, you are quite gracious. As I was saying, I encountered the shadow of the four heroes after he had already restored the Violet Hero to his normal state. I managed to take a fragment of the Triforce from the shadow, intending to seal it away so that they can never again fully unite. However, ithad other ideas. The moment I touched the piece, it burned itself into my palm. The pain nearly made me lose consciousness right then and there, but I managed to flee before blacking out. I know how much the power the Triforce emits bothers you, Milady, so I did my best to create something to shield it with."
Vaati holds up his right hand to show her. He is wearing a fingerless gauntlet made of pitch black cloth interwoven with bright silver thread that forms magic symbols so tiny that they are only noticeable extremely close up, giving the dark-colored fabric an odd shimmering quality. Bands of a thin, flexible metal wrap around the back of his hand in an upside-down version of the Triforce, and the while metal seems to be imbued with glow-in-the-dark qualities, constantly gleaming with a muted radiance. Black leather straps hold the gauntlet securely on his hand, wrapping around his wrist. They look efficient and easy to take off or put on, but not likely to come off on accident.
"(woman) ...Take it off."
"(Vaati) What? Milady, why-?"
She laughs, and her hand can be seen doing a flippant wave behind the screen.
"(woman) Don't worry, my dear, I just want to see what that accursed artifact did to your poor little hand. A few moments of being near it won't do me any harm, it is just quite uncomfortable. Now take it off, and let me see your palm."
Vaati sighs in defeat.
"(Vaati) As you wish."
The implied "though I really don't think this is a good idea" hangs silently in the air, unsaid but still clear to see. Vaati releases the straps around his wrist and pulls the gauntlet off in one quick, fluid motion. The burn on his palm instantly blazes to life, reacting violently; and obviously very angrily; to the woman's presence.
"(Vaati) Gh-!"
He bites back a scream, just barely managing to hold it in. Behind the screen, the woman is snarling hatefully at the power radiating off of the Triforce fragment, baring her teeth furiously. Vaati is overcome by a strange dizziness for a moment, a sudden image flashing through his mind too quickly to make out any detail whatsoever.
'What...?'
"(woman) Put it back on! Seal that accursed relic's power back up, NOW!!"
Vaati gets the gauntlet back on as quickly as he can, fumbling a bit in his haste. Both people sigh in relief, the woman because she can no longer feel the Triforce of Courage's power, and Vaati because the piece calms down once it's blocked off from sensing the woman's presence, the pain it causes him easing back down to the just-barely-tolerable level it had been at before. The woman seems to still be a bit tense, and is in the process of calming herself down, and Vaati is just looking down at the floor with his eyes slightly unfocused. He's still trying to get control over the pain, and is panting from the strain of both the pain itself and of keeping control over it.
"(woman) You were right as always, my dear little Wind Mage. I should have left it alone. That was... unsettling, to say the least."
Vaati looks up at the screen, at the woman, still breathing heavily. He lets out a weak, slightly sardonic chuckle, as if laughing at a private joke.
"(Vaati) ...I see that... it dislikes you... as much as you dislike it, Milady... *haa... haa...*"
Her voice sounds somewhat concerned when she answers him, and is much, much gentler than when the Triforce of Courage was making her ticked off.
"(woman) ...Vaati. That, that thingcauses you pain, does it not? You don't have to hide it from me. I apologize for causing your condition to worsen, my dear. You are dismissed. Make sure to get some rest, you look like you've been trampled by a herd of Bulbos on a stampede."
He laughs weakly, looking somewhat sheepish.
"(Vaati) Was it really that obvious? ^.^; ...As you wish, Milady. I take my leave."
Vaati bows again, then turns around, his cloak swishing out behind him, and exits the room, disappearing in a swirl of wind as he reaches the doorway. The woman looks somewhat pensive now, deep in thought.
'A piece of that thrice-loathed tool of those foolish Goddesses has forced itself on my dear little servant... What does this mean, and what are those three sorry excuses for divine beings planning for him? I'll have to keep a close eye on him, that damned item could try to possess him, or worse...'
~At the Palace of Winds...~
Vaati appears in a bedroom, apparently his. It's surprisingly spare; simple, functional, and small. He sits on his bed, his calm loyal servant's mask gone without a trace. He sighs heavily, suddenly looking oddly young; a lost child, his mother nowhere to be found. The gauntlet lays on a nearby shelf, unneeded for now, as Vaati stares into space and his uninjured left hand taps rhythmically against the comforter. The triangular burn on his hand is glowing faintly, gently. The mysterious sorcerer with many secrets looks out his open window towards a nearby tower. The pain in his hand begins to fade as the burn begins to glow with a gentle green luminescence, pulsing rhythmically just like Vio's fragment did when it began to react to the purple-cad boy-turned-monster's presence.
'It's sensed him, hmm...? What a difference the person it reacts to makes... I felt its rage towards her, and could barely keep myself from screaming, from releasing it to attack her or letting it use my body and power to attack her as it wanted so much to do... But now, I can feel a gentle warmth beneath its "I don't like you" aching... It's calling him...'
Vaati lets out a soft laugh, smiling tiredly. He seems to be talking to the Triforce fragment in his hand.
"(Vaati) Heh... Soon enough, don't worry... Just let me rest for a few hours, that's all I ask..."
The exhausted youth kicks off his shoes and lays down on the bed, fast asleep before his head so much as touches the pillow. Oddly enough, he wears his cap when he sleeps, too.
~Back at Death Mountain...~
"(Vio) Hey, I see light! We must be getting close to the surface!"
"(Shadow) Ugh, finally! I want to see the sky again, and all that dank cave air gets really irritating after a while! I wonder how long it's been since I came in... ...Hey, you all right? You're limping."
"(Vio) Uhhh, n-no I'm not. ^.^;;; "
Shadow rolls his eyes at the obvious lie. The two boys are making their way out of the cave system. Vio's arms are all bandaged up, though he probably won't be wielding his sword or bow for a while from the looks of things, and he's limping slightly. Vio stubbornly hides this as best he can, not wanting to worry Shadow, but his gray-clad companion obviously noticed it anyway. Vio stumbles as they reach the cave entrance, caught by Shadow. The two boy's faces turn bright red simultaneously, and they both grin at each other goofily.
"(Shadow) *looking around* Wow, it's been quite a while. It was afternoon when I got here."
"(Vio) Speaking of time... Hey, Shadow? How long has it been since Green pulled the Four Sword out again, anyway?"
Night has fallen over Death Mountain, and the moon is out and full, though it is currently covered by a drifting wisp of cloud at the moment.
"(Shadow) ...As you've probably already guessed, Princess Zelda brought me back. She told me that she went to the Sanctuary to investigate Green's disappearance three weeks after he left Hyrule Castle, and that it took somewhere around a month to repair the Dark Mirror, so that'd make it about seven weeks or so, almost two months."
"(Vio) That long, huh? I hope the others are all right... ...Uhhh, Shadow? Hello?"
The moon is fully visible now, and Shadow stares at it silently, seemingly in some kind of trance. Vio waves his hand in front of the red-eyed boy's face, and he shakes his head, snapping out of it.
"(Shadow) Oh!! *startled* Sorry, dunno why I zoned out like that all of a sudden... What were you saying, Vio?"
'Why am I getting a feeling of deja vu...? Vio, and the full moon... ...Hmm. I must've hit my head when I passed out after realizing my ribs were broken or something. It's probably just me.'
Vio repeats what he said a moment ago for Shadow.
"(Shadow) Don't worry, I'm sure they're out there somewhere! You four are really hard to kill; I would know!"
They both laugh at this, remembering how frustrated Shadow had been when Vio had reunited with the others and Red got his Four Sword back.
"(Vio) Well, you've definitely got a point there. Hey, come to think of it, how did you manage to find me, anyway?"
"(Shadow) The Triforce of Courage guided me. I asked it to tell me where to go in my head, then your piece glowed and I saw a mental image of this cave. I recognized Death Mountain right away, so it was pretty easy from there..."
"(Vio) Well then, let's try that. Maybe it'll show us where one of the others is, right?"
"(Shadow) Right. It's definitely worth a shot, and the only lead we have right now, after all."
Both boys close their eyes and silently ask the Triforce of Courage to show them where to go. They are immediately shown a confusing jumble of colors and images, seeming to be three scenes all interposed over one another. Two pairs of eyes, one red and one violet, snap open, confused and dizzy.
"(Shadow) Wh-what the?!"
"(Vio) Uh, maybe we need to be more specific? It's just a hunch, but... You were thinking about me when you did it the first time, weren't you?"
Shadow's face turns bright red.
'Thought so.'
"(Vio) Heheh, I'll take that as a yes... Want to give it another go?"
"(Shadow) ...Uhhh... Yeah, sure. Let's try Green first."
"(Vio) And here I was thinking you'd say Red, since that kid's always getting into trouble! Why Green?"
"(Shadow) That brat Vaati mentioned him a few times."
"(Vio) All right, I guess. Wait, why not just do all three, one at a time? I feel kinda stupid for not thinking of that in the first place..."
"(Shadow) Wow, sure seems obvious when ya think of it, doesn't it! Let's do that, then. But, in what order?"
"(Vio) Hmm... Green first, maybe we'll learn more about Vaati from it. Then Red because of the tendency to be a trouble magnet that kid has, and finally Blue, who'll probably get mad at us for saving him because he's "tough." That sound good?"
"(Shadow) Perfect. I guess we can do it now, then get going in the morning. Problem is, I only have one bedroll..."
"(Vio) Oh no, you're not sleeping on the ground, so don't even bother suggesting it. I have one, too."
'Though I wouldn't mind sharing-- AGH!! Focus, Vio! Don't think about it!!'
"(Vio) *bright red* Err, let's just do this!!"
"(Shadow) Uh, okay...?"
'What's with him? He turned bright red all of a sudden... I wonder what he was thinking about?'
The pair tries again, this time focusing on Green. A place very familiar to them both appears in their minds' eyes, along with a bird flying past. It seems they're being shown, not a single still image, but what's occurring elsewhere right at this moment in time. Then another scene appears, of Vaati passed out in his bed, fast asleep. His palm is glowing gently with a soft green luminescence. Both boys gasp in shock and recognition, their eyes flying open as the vision fades.
"(Shadow) That was...!"
"(Vio) Sky-Tall Tower!!"
A/N: Okay, I've looked at my traffic, so I know people are reading this! I'm begging you, review more!! Please? *puppy dog eyes* Anyways, I'm guessing a lot of people already know why Vaati sleeps with his hat on, or at least anyone who ever played Minish Cap or read the manga version of it... Please review, and no flames, unless I really deserve it! I can always do with constructive criticism, ideas, suggestions, and the like, too!