A/N: Here ya go, next chappy coming right up! I guess I'm on a roll again, huh? Umm, the previous chapter's title will probably make more sense in a chapter or two, don't worry! 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. At the moment, he also has his weird half-dragon-ness, including a tail, wings that he can use to fly, very strong legs, and a clawed right arm with the strength of a dragon...

-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. And bombs!!

Chapter 16: Bloody Moon, Silver Moon

Shadow is sleeping soundly at this point, his rest surprisingly free of nightmares despite the traumatic events that occurred in the underground cavern.

*rustle, rustle*

Vio turns over in his bedroll, his eyelids fluttering the tiniest bit. Looks like it's his turn to be dreaming now...

-Vio's (first) dream-

Vio runs through a forest, all alone and very scared. It's his younger self, the same boy he was in the memory of himself and Shadow playing in a meadow, though a little bit older. The full moon shines down from the sky, its normally gentle silver light stained an ominous red. Screams of pain and terror mix with the fierce cries and howls of monsters, echoing through the night in a sick, twisted melody of chaos and death... The blood-colored moon is suddenly foremost in his senses, dominating the dreamscape, a submerged memory nagging at him before the dream fades and he slips into another.

-second (main) dream-

"(young Vio) *haa... haa...* Wh-where are you?! P-please, come out!!"

The young blonde runs through the ruins that used to be a small town, desperately searching for someone.

"(young Vio) Come on, Shadow!! The monsters are gone, and we all got away because of you! You can stop hiding now!! Please!! Shadow!!!!!"

He continues his search until he collapses. When he comes to, he sees the concerned faces of a boy and girl from the orphanage leaning over him. A teenaged boy from the orphanage leans against a nearby wall, keeping watch in case more monsters show up.

"(young Vio) Wha...? ...Oh, I must've passed out again..."

Vio sits up and the boy hands him half a loaf of bread.

"(boy) Here. You need to eat, Vi." (A/N: I decided to make it so that everyone in the orphanage other than Shadow called Vio "Vi." Dunno why.)

"(young Vio) Thanks, but I'm not-"

"(boy) And don't you go saying you're not hungry again, you've barely been eating anything for days!"

"(girl) L-look, I know this is hard for you since he was your friend, but... It's been a week! If he was still here, he would've shown up by now!!"

"(boy) *sigh...* Face it, Vi. He's gone..."

The teen looks up and spits at the ground, sneering a bit.

"(teen) Hmph. And good riddance to 'im. The little demon finally went back to his own kind, the monsters. You should be happy for him."

"(young Vio) Why you...!"

"(girl) Uh oh... He's starting that again..."

"(boy) Don't be so cruel, man! His diversion saved us all!"

"(teen) More like the monsters wanted him in the first place, dweeb. Anyways, what's the matter, nerd? Angry? What are you going to do about it, hit me with your book? Hahaha!"

"(young Vio) *suddenly gets a sly, malevolent grin on his face* ...Something like that."

Vio slams the hard corner of his book into the older boy's stomach and punches him in the face while he's winded.

"(teen) Why you little brat!!"

He grabs Vio's arm as the enraged boy tries to punch him again and shoves him into a nearby tree. Vio gets up and goes to run at him as fast as he can, but his foot catches on a large tree root that seemingly came out of nowhere.

*KRAK!!*

"(young Vio) AAAAAGH!!!"

A sickening snap splits the air, and everyone but Vio looks shocked. He on the other hand just looks like he's about to be sick. His foot lays twisted at an unnatural angle on the ground, his ankle badly broken.

'How did a root do this...?!'

"Mweheheh!"

"(all) ?!!"

The 'tree' is a plant-type monster that had been hiding here on Ganondorf's orders to attempt to capture the second bearer of the Triforce of Courage, but these kids obviously don't know that, of course. It grabs Vio with a spindly arm branch, holding him up and inspecting him.

"(monster) Looks like I caught me a kiddie! Mweheheh! Let's hear you scream again, kiddie!"

*CRUNCH!!!*

It mercilessly breaks Vio's arm and simultaneously crushes his foot, breaking every single bone in it and fracturing his ankle even more in the process. He screams even louder this time, blood spurting out of his lower leg like a fountain and dyeing the lower part of the tree monster's trunk red. The boy and girl look sick and horrified, and the teen looks positively enraged, screaming at the monster.

"(teen) You filthy piece of scum!! Get out of our town!!!"

The older boy pulls out a carpenter's saw, a practical tool and potentially lethal weapon all in one.

"(teen) You two, run! You have to get help! I'll get Vi away from that thing! Go!!"

They do as they're told, and flee. He grits his teeth, glaring at the monster that holds the younger boy captive. Vio is bleeding from his ankle and his arm, as well as having multiple scratches from the tree monster's rough, bristly limbs.

"(monster) Mweheheheheh! What do you think that's going to do, brat?! You think you can stop me?!"

"(teen) Well, duh. You're a tree."

The older boy says this matter-of-factly, as if there's an obvious reason why his opponent being a plant-type monster will make this an easy fight somehow. Vio, not one to give up without a fight, begins to struggle in the monster's grip.

"(young Vio) You... won't... get me... that... easily...!"

*sheeen...*

Vio's hand begins to glow, and the monster grins, its eyes widening. The teenaged boy is gawking at Vio's hand, his jaw dropped.

"(teen) What the?! Vi, your hand! You- You have the Triforce Symbol on your hand!!"

"(young Vio) I... I wh-what...?!!"

"(monster) Ooh, how lucky~! My first little prey just so happens to be the boy my Master wants! Don't struggle, it's useless! Anyway, if you come with me, you'll be reunited with your friend, the fiesty boy with the purple hair and red eyes! You'd like that, wouldn't you? I'll even let you say hi, as long as you don't shine any light on him! Mweheheh, Master would be very angry with me if I accidentally killed off his little "Shadow Hero" before his will's even broken! Mweheh!"

"(young Vio) Y-you...! What did you... do... to Shadow...?!"

"(teen) ...! That demon kid was targeted by the monsters, but not because he's one of them...?!! Augh, I feel sick with myself... Hey, tree freak! You sure as heck aren't takin' Vi with you, and you're gonna tell us where you took that other kid you're talking about!"

"(monster) Mweeeh?!! Yaaaarg!!!"

The teen expertly slices off the arm branch holding Vio with the skill of someone who's been working with wood all his life, which he has. He grins as he gets Vio a safe distance away and winks at him conspiritorially.

"(teen) Looks like being the carpenter's apprentice sure comes in handy, eh? Sorry 'bout what I said about our town's resident demon boy, Vi. He is kinda scary, after all. Now, let me take care of this creep for ya as an apology."

"(young Vio) Th-thanks..."

"(teen) No problem. Now, as for this scum... *evil glare*"

-several minutes of sheer unadulterated violence against all things wooden later...-

"(monster) I-I give! I give!! D-don't... don't make me into firewood!! I-I'll tell you what you want to know!!"

"(teen) Good. Now, where is he?"

"(monster) ...Mweheh... Mweheheh... Does it really matter? He's been cursed, after all."

"(young Vio) Wh-what...?!!"

"(monster) Mweheh... The look on your face is priceless, kiddie. He's been cursed. My Master used his power on him to make him into a shadow and keep him from ever being a threat to us. If this crazy tree-killer wasn't here, you would probably have had the same fate as him. That kiddie can never live in the light again. If he tries, he dies! Mweheheh! And now it's your turn to cry, just like he did when he heard about Master's orders to us to capture or kill you! Mwe-! AAAAGH!!!!!!!"

The carpenter's apprentice chops the monster up into toothpick-sized pieces, then kneels down next to Vio, who appears to be in shock, trying to console him. The tree monster's words echo in the boy's head as their meaning begins to fully sink in, and he appears to be at least partially in shock.

"...Shadow Hero..."

"...before his will's even broken..."

"...he's been cursed, after all..."

"...a threat to us..."

"...a shadow..."

"...now it's your turn to cry, just like he did..."

"...Master's orders to capture or kill you..."

"...can never live in the light again..."

"...if he tries, he dies..."

"(teen) Uh oh..."

'He's white as a sheet, and shaking like a leaf! And he's lost a lot of blood, too... This doesn't look good. Whatever happens, I can't let him pass out, especially not in this state! Come on, Vi, snap out of it!'

"(teen) Come on, Vi, pull yourself together! There's nothing at all to prove that any of what that plant freak said was true, ya hear?!"

Vio doesn't respond, he just sits there shaking, his eyes dilated.

'Shadow's been cursed... He can't live in the light ever again... If he tries to, he'll die... ...He'll die...!!'

All of this is way too much for Vio to handle, especially since he's so young. He throws his head back and screams, tears streaming down his face like a flood all the while.

"(young Vio) ....Ah.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

-Back on Death Mountain-

"(Vio) AAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Vio sits straight up, wide awake. His eyes are dilated and he's panting heavily, feeling as if his heart is trying to pound its way out of his chest from how fast it's beating. Shadow rolls over in his bedroll, woken up by Vio's scream, and looks at him, blinking sleepily. His voice is somewhat slurred because he's only half awake at this point.

"(Shadow) What the... Vio, you okay...? *yawn...* What's... the matter...?"

"(Vio) ...It's nothing. I just... had a bad dream, is all. I'm fine."

"(Shadow) Oh... *yawn...* Still night... should prob'ly... try an'... sleep... s'more... ...Zzzz..."

"(Vio) ...Yeah..."

The gray-clad boy is fast asleep again in moments. Vio stays awake, staring at the moon with a far-away look in his eyes. He puts a hand to his head, squeezing his eyes shut. Something is bothering him, a forgotten memory stirring in the depths of his mind. A faint headache pulses in the back of his skull, but he ignores it, trying to remember.

'Those dreams... That odd feeling of deja vu I had when I 'joined' the evil side in the forest; when I saw Shadow up at the top of that tree with the moon behind him... It was a full moon that night, and his red eyes almost seemed to glow. It was creepy, and for a moment I could've sworn I saw the moon turn red, but I think it was just my imagination. ...Wait. The full moon, and the color red... Shadow was all spaced out before, staring at the full moon...'

"(Vio) Grrr... What was it...?! Something happened on a night when the moon was full... And it was related to Shadow in some way... But what...?! What am I still forgetting...?!"

The conversation that occurred just before Vio fought Green on Death Mountain plays through his mind, focusing in on a certain comment from Shadow.

"Best friends forever, right?"

His eyes snap wide open as another, eerily similar scene plays through his mind.

"...Okay. And no matter what, we'll always, always be friends!"

"Yeah. Best friends forever, right?"

"Right!"

The memories come back in a rush as Vio remembers the night his hometown was attacked by monsters and Shadow disappeared. He's wide awake at this point, and much too tense to have any chance of falling back to sleep. Vio gets out of his bedroll and leans against the side of Death Mountain, sitting down in a silent vigil of sorts. The boy closes his eyes, beginning the tedious process of making sense of the strange dreams and fragments of memories he's been having since the Four Sword was drawn from its resting place once more.

"(Vio) ...Haha, no wonder I'm so reserved and self-possessed... I must've retreated into myself after the trauma of that event. It also explains why my foot's so sensitive... Stupid tree... Pretty ironic for me to be Earth element, then, huh...? It still... suits me, though... Heheh... *yawn...*"

He heaves a weary sigh and returns to his thoughts. The silver moon shines down over the peaceful scene, its gentle light a soothing comfort for the purple-clad hero. Lulled into drowsiness by the moonlight and his own exhaustion, Vio dozes off, a small smile on his face...

A/N: And there you have it! Am I going too fast with the memory thing? ...Aaaaanyway... Please review!!!! I don't even care if it's flames or not any more, just review!!!! Pleeeeaaaase?????? *puppy dog eyes*