A/N: Okay, this chapter is pretty much all about Green and Vaati! Enjoy! Hopefully, I'll crank out the next chappy soon, too. Enjoy~!
Disclaimer: I wish I owned LoZ, but I don't. Nintendo does, and whoever makes the manga... I just own my plot, made-up monsters and items, and OCs...
Many Thanks To: Dea Letum, i-wish-a7x, and LittlePidgey~!
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 13: Two Winds
"(dragon) ...gr-rrr... ...rrrr..."
The strange crystal-like growth covers one of the dragon's eyes almost completely, sealing it shut. Its other eye is half closed, gazing wearily at the purple-skinned magic user who is approaching. Vaati strokes its nose, and it tries to snap at him. Its huge head slumps to the ground, exhausted even from this small effort.
"(dragon) ...rrr... rrr-grr..."
'Please don't let me be too late...'
Vaati begins to softly chant a spell, placing his hand just above the dragon's forehead without quite touching it. He's trying to break through the barrier made of evil magic. His palm starts to burn with an intense pain, but he stubbornly continues in spite of it, his voice, posture, and entire demeanor showing no hint of his discomfort.
"(dragon) grr-arrr... Grrr... Grrraaarrr...!!!"
Vaati finishes his spell.
*Sheeen...!*
Bright emerald light floods the room, blotting out all visibility. The dragon's growls and snarls strengthen, then begin to change, and the sound of someone panting heavily becomes audible, echoing slightly in the sudden silence. All is quiet except for the sounds of two people's harsh breathing and the sighing of the wind.
~Meanwhile...~
"(woman) ... *sighs in frustration* I had hoped he was mistaken, and that perhaps the shadow showed him an illusion of some sort, but this indeed proves it. One of those four accursed little brats has broken free of my spell!"
The woman is in a shrine-like room with an evil theme. Black marble columns line the room, more for decoration than support because the chamber has normal walls. Three crystals float above a pedestal, glowing with an eerie black luminescence even though each is vibrantly colored; one green, one blue, and one red. The red crystal glows less than the other two, and the green one's coloring is faded and grayish, as well as having a black glow far stronger than that of the other two combined. She is staring at the large gap between the blue and red crystals, in which the remains of a fourth, gleaming violet crystal float in mid-air, shattered to pieces. Not one single fragment of it glows with the eerie black light, but instead gleams gently with a warmer, more normal radiance. Sighing again, she turns to leave the room...
*Krrriiiik!*
"(woman) Hm?"
She turns back around, looking for the source of the sound. Her features contort with pure hatred as she finds it, her eyes narrowing angrily. A paper-thin crack spiderwebs across the surface of the green crystal, glowing faintly with the same gentle light as the shattered shards of the violet crystal while the rest of it glows black, albeit much more dimly than just a moment ago.
"(woman) How can this be?! He should be dead by now!"
'...Wait. Vaati was with me when I cursed them, and I believed it was just a figment of my imagination then, but I thought I saw his hand bleeding out of the corner of my eye, and now a shard of that thrice-cursed Triforce of Courage has burned itself into his palm... That blasted artifact has a mind of its own, I swear! It must have been influencing my dear Vaati ever since then!'
"(woman) ...Now I see. I am not going to be beaten by your little toys, foolish Goddesses! Not this time!"
~At Sky-Tall Tower...~
*haa... haa...*
A blonde boy with pointed Hylian ears lays sprawled across the floor on his back. He's the one who is panting so much. Vaati, also panting a bit, stares at him with wide eyes.
'I knew that only his full piece could completely return him to normal, so I certainly didn't expect this much of a change! The most I dared hope for was that it would heal him, that the curse would stop killing him... But this... This is a "miracle," isn't it...?'
The boy's skin tone is the same as Vio's and they look alike. They'd probably look even more alike if this boy's form was fully human, too. Tiny, delicate-looking scales adorn the tips of his ears, and larger deep green scales cover his abdomen, forming a tunic of sorts in all the shimmering, radiant colors of an emerald. His feet are reptilian, with small taloned nails, though he does have five toes per foot, and his legs are covered with a light, spread out scattering of thin scales. His tail twitches slightly, about one third the length of his legs long, and is also covered in deep green, emerald scales. A pair of thin, delicate-looking wings drape limply over his back, coming into view as he stirs, waking up, and pulls himself into a sitting position. The boy sits there, blinking in a disoriented fashion and looking around dazedly. His cornflower blue eyes are the same exact color as Vio's were before they turned purple, and as he turns his head, his bangs swish aside, revealing the crystalline growth that stores evil energy. It forms a small bump in the center of his forehead, wandering its way across his forehead towards the right side of his head, down his neck, and, becoming larger and more jagged, it forms what looks almost like a shoulder guard around his upper right arm from his shoulder to just above his elbow. His entire right arm is scaled and reptilian, and his taloned, scaly hand is five-fingered, with sharp, slightly curved claws in place of nails, just like the larger claws on his feet. His left arm, though, is fully human for the most part, with the last of the scales on it ending up on his shoulder. The Triforce symbol is on the back of his left hand, of course, which is probably why his left arm is fully human. One corner of the center segment of the Triforce of Courage glows gently with a brilliant emerald luminescence.
(A/N: Green has half of the fragment Vaati got from Shadow, while Vaati still has the other half, though he didn't intentionally keep it. The Triforce of Courage is just doing what it wants to do again.)
"(Vaati) ..."
'What... What should I say...?'
"(dragon boy) Ow, that hurt... It's finally over, huh? Thanks for taking care of me all this time, though I don't know your name."
"(Vaati) *startled* You were aware of what was going on around you the whole time?!"
"(dragon boy) Yeah. That crazy woman, I think she wanted to make sure I'd be miserable, so she left me awake or something. I heard you when you talked to me, too. Those growls were me trying to respond... Pretty stupid of me, huh? ^.^; "
'Agh, I wish Vio was here... He'd definitely be able to explain it way better than that!'
"(Vaati) Hihihi, it's quite rude of me to know your name without you knowing mine, is it not, "Green Hero"? I am Vaati, the Wind Sorcerer."
'He heard me...? For some reason that's... somewhat embarrassing...'
"(Green) Uh, that's Gufuu."
Vaati stares at him for a moment, completely silent, then suddenly bursts into laughter, and poor Green of course has no clue why.
'All five of them are surprisingly alike in some of the ways they think! ...Or perhaps there are six of them now, what with the appearance of that mystery boy in white...'
"(Green) *confused!* What's so funny?"
"(Vaati) Hihi... Someone else said that too, though he was a bit more rude. A red-eyed "Hero" clad in gray... Hihihi... In other words, Shadow Link... *still laughing a bit*"
"(Green) What?! You've seen Shadow?! But how? He's- ...!"
Vaati and Green both sense something, and the purple-skinned youth recognizes it instantly, his right palm burning fiercely.
'Why is part of it still there? ...No time to think about that. That presence... How did she find out so quickly?! It's only been a minute or two since I finished the spell and stopped the curse from doing him any more harm!'
The black gauntlet is covering Vaati's right hand in the blink of an eye, and his expression is dead serious.
"(Vaati) She's here. I don't know how she could have found out so quickly, or the extent of what she knows, but I shall do my best to distract her, to stall for time so that you may escape. Stay as far out of sight as you can, and get away from here as soon as you see an opening."
"(Green) What are you talking about? I'm no coward, and there's no way I'm abandoning you here to fight all alone! It's stupid! Stupider than even one of Blue's bad ideas!"
Vaati lets out a bitter, self-mocking laugh.
"(Vaati) Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not at all what I seem to be. I'm no hero like you or the other four, nor am I even Hylian."
His tone becomes distant as he stares into space, reminiscing about the past.
"(Vaati) A long time ago, I was entranced by the evil in the hearts of humans, and in the false power I saw there. Bullies had control over those weaker than them; they almost always got their way through fear and brute force. Watching these things, I began to think that the only way to be 'strong' was to be 'bad'. I stole my old master's magic wishing cap and used its power to go from being a tiny Minish to the form you see now. I did many horrible things, though my memory is still a bit unclear in places. People like me aren't worth your compassion, worry, or pity. I don't deserve your help."
"(Green) Huh?"
'What's a "Minish?" And is he saying he's a bad guy? But, he doesn't seem like one... He's not evil, just... sad. He seems to be really sad about something... But what? And why? And his memory is still unclear...? Does that mean he has partial amnesia or something?'
The confusion on Green's face is highly evident, and Vaati sighs, easily able to guess what he's confused about, or at least part of it.
"(Vaati) I believe you Hylians know my kind, the Minish, by another name: the Picori."
"(Green) Oh... Wait, I thought the Picori were just a myth!"
"(Vaati) They are quite real, I assure you. Look, just escape this place at the first chance you get. Don't worry about my safety; she isn't likely to kill or curse me anyway since she believes me to be her loyal servant."
"(Green) But-!"
Vaati turns away from Green, facing the door. He summons a barrier of wind between himself and the half-dragon, half-Hylian boy with a wave of his hand and begins to walk towards the exit. He turns back towards Green when he reaches the doorway.
"(Vaati) She's very close now. The time for talk is over. Farewell, Green."
(A/N: This is the first time Vaati actually refers to Green by his name, so I put some emphasis on it. It just seemed to fit somehow...)
A/N: Sorry about the odd place where I ended this, I didn't want the chapter to stretch on too long. Plus, I also wanted to keep it somewhat focused on Green and Vaati. I wonder if anyone's guessed who the mysterious woman is yet? She's a boss from one of the Legend of Zelda games, and her identity will be revealed in the next chapter... Did anyone understand/get confused by the chapter title? Well, if you have questions, comments, and/or ideas, that's what reviews are for! So click on that button, please?? Please review, and no flames unless I really deserve it!