AU Where Shadow's death is not a final death- he's something between dead and alive, and trapped in the darkness. He needs Vio's help to get out, before a fate worse than death catches up to him...

Primarily going to be Vio x Shadow-centric; if you don't like it, don't read it! (Might eventually contain hints of Blue and Red, if you look closely ;D )

All three of the other Links were already awake and making breakfast; Red was about to start making pancakes while Blue was busy scrambling eggs, and Green was almost done setting the table.

"Morning, Vio!" Red called cheerfully upon catching sight of him; he did not remark further, leading to the assumption that he couldn't see Shadow.

"Good morning, Red," Vio nodded, heading to the icebox to fetch the large bottle of milk and pour himself a glass.

"Slept in, huh?" Blue commented, taking the pan of eggs off the heat and turning around to bring them to the table; he nearly hit Red, who was going for the spatula to flip his pancakes. "Oi, watch it! You're gonna get burned!"

"I'm sorry!" Red cried, hastily backing up. "Go on, I'll just hang back a sec." He patiently waited for Blue to continue on, grabbing the spatula and flipping the pancakes once he'd passed.

Shadow, bored, chose this moment to stand directly in Blue's way. Blue visibly shuddered, coming to a complete halt. "Holy shit..." He muttered, shivering. "What the hell is..?" He narrowed his eyes, staring directly at the spot Shadow was currently standing in.

"What's the matter, Blue?" Red questioned, raising an eyebrow as he maneuvered around Blue while carrying a plate of pancakes.

"... It's nothing." Blue grunted, continuing on stiffly. Shadow shot Vio a gleeful smirk, sticking his hand through Blue's shoulder as Blue was sitting down to eat. "Shit!" Blue cursed, swiping at the empty air and scowling angrily.

"Blue, stop being a spazz and just eat," Green rolled his eyes, taking some of the eggs.

"Yes, Blue, control yourself at the table." Vio chastised him, taking a seat too. Shadow laughed, only audible to Vio, as he sat down on the couch behind their kitchen and watched the small group.

Red dished up pancakes to everyone present, sitting down and saying, "So, what's everyone doing today?"

Green shrugged, digging in. "I dunno- I was planning on just sticking around here most of the day, to be honest."

"Well, someone needs to go grocery shopping," Red informed. "We're almost out of bread, somehow, and I could make some more but it takes a long time and it'd be simpler to just buy it if someone was going into town..."

"I had plans to swing down there today, anyway," Blue grunted. "Maybe I'll pick some up on my way home."

"Okay, good! Blue can go get groceries, I've been meaning to clean the house for a while now, and what're you doing today, Vio?" Red turned to the purple Link.

Vio shrugged. "I was thinking about going to see the Princess. It's been a while since I've talked with her, and there's a matter that I need to discuss."

"Well, that's not gonna happen," Green shook his head. "She's out of town for a couple days, remember? She went to that kingdom to the north for a while for some diplomatic errand." Shadow let out an annoyed groan from the other room.

Vio sighed too. "Shoot. Well, perhaps I'll simply go see if I can set up a meeting with her for when she returns."

"Couldn't hurt to ask," Red nodded. "She loves all of us, though, she'd make time to talk even if you didn't let her know beforehand!"

"Yeah, you're right," Vio agreed. Blue polished off his breakfast, getting up and carrying his dishes to the sink. "You sure ate fast."

"Shut up, Vio. Red, make a list of stuff we're gonna need," Blue said, washing his dishes. "I'm probably not gonna get to it until later in the day, after I've gotten all my errands done, but that'll be fine..."

"Okay!" Red jumped up, abandoning his final pancake as he ran around to take inventory. "Just gimme a minute!"

"I'm not leaving right now, Red, cool it," Blue rolled his eyes, leaning against the doorframe. "It can wait until you freaking finish eating."

"I'm done, though!" Red insisted, lone pancake forgotten. "It'll only take a minute, I promise!"

"No need to rush, geez," Blue rolled his eyes as he made to leave the room. Shadow didn't miss the chance to leap up, sticking his hand in front of Blue's face as the grumpy Link left. "What the hell?!" Blue shouted as he felt the sharp tingling sensation, stumbling back. "All right, who's doing that?!"

Shadow laughed, quickly getting out of the way. Green rolled his eyes. "Blue, you're weird."

"I am not, I swear something strange is going on," Blue insisted, trying to spot the reason for his discomfort. "I just don't..." He trailed off into an aggravated sigh.

Vio got up to clear his things too, patting Blue on the shoulder as he passed him by. "Don't worry, we aren't judging you in the slightest."

"Shut your damn mouth, Vio," Blue snarled, trying to hit him as he went by. Vio smoothly avoided the uncoordinated swing, snickering as he walked back to his room.

"Shadow, don't do that to him," He chastised as soon as he re-entered his bedroom. "He will pick up on you."

"Aw, if I'm gonna be stuck like this, I at least wanna have some fun with it!" Shadow pouted, but he was clearly hiding an unrepentant grin.

"I could have sworn we agreed that you wouldn't antagonize the others?" Vio raised an eyebrow.

"I promised I wouldn't walk right through them; I never said I wouldn't stick my hand through their bodies," Shadow corrected cheekily.

"Shadow..." Vio frowned.

"Fine, fine, fine," Shadow sighed, rolling his eyes. "Now I can't have any fun."

"You can have fun without pestering the others," Vio pointed out.

"Oh yeah, lemme just read a book to entertain myself." Shadow walked to Vio's nightstand, making to pick up a book. His hand passed through it. "Oh wait, that's right- I can't."

Vio rolled his eyes. "If you want to read that badly I could leave the book open."

"Ah, good. A spectacular two pages read."

"Well, what do you want me to do, read to you? You're a big boy, Shadow, I don't think it's necessary."

"I can't freaking touch the book at all!" Shadow exclaimed, exasperated. "That's the whole root of the issue here, remember? I-" he passed his hand through the book, "-cannot-" he kicked the table, with a similar effect, "-touch-" he punched the wall, going right through it, "-anything!" He stomped over to Vio, and would have grabbed his shoulders and shaken him if he could.

"All right, all right!" Vio held up both hands, scowling slightly. "Calm down, okay?"

"Yeah, 'calm down, Shadow, you're overreacting," Shadow mocked, glaring at the floor. "Let's switch positions for a little while and see how you like this, hm? And I'll conveniently forget your inability to do normal stuff at stupid times."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Vio snapped. "Why in the world are you getting so worked up over this?"

"Because! That's uncommonly stupid of you to just 'forget' when you know full well I can't touch you or anyone else- what makes you think I could do something like pick up a book and start reading?" Shadow glowered.

"I understand you being a bit miffed, but no need to blow up like that," Vio frowned. "Are you that stressed?"

"No, I'm as lighthearted and carefree as a fucking bird." Shadow said sarcastically. "Yes, Vio, I am stressed. And worried. And angry and tense and I dunno, I might even be scared!" He scowled, finishing in a voice that was slightly less than stable.

Vio was silent, watching Shadow as the unstable Link glared at him. "... I'm sorry..." He muttered after a few moments. "I shouldn't have made that remark. It was careless of me."

"Eh," Shadow grunted. "Whatever. I don't blame ya, I guess; I'm just a little tense." Shadow skulked over to the window, glaring moodily outside; now that the sun had moved a little, no bright light was streaming directly inside that could hurt him.

"That's entirely understandable," Vio gave a short nod. "I don't blame you."

"Mmh." Shadow grunted. "So, no princess today... Were you actually gonna go see if you could arrange a meetup, or not?"

"Nah," Vio shook his head. "No point; as Red said, she would make time to talk to any of us. It would be nice to give her a heads up, though..."

"Then let's head over there," Shadow turned away from the windowsill, facing Vio. "Never know, she might be back early, too."

"I doubt it, but it's possible," Vio shrugged. "I'll just gather my things, then, and I suppose we'll be off." Vio went to his wardrobe, picking out his bow and quiver only; he did not expect to encounter any enemies today, so only light armament would be needed. It was purely precaution.

He strapped the quiver over his chest and onto his back, storing his bow in a similar fashion. He grabbed a few utility pouches for things like Rupees and such, attaching them to his belt. Checking to make sure his hat was on straight, he turned back to face Shadow. "All right, let's head out."

See now this is my favorite thing to do- write all four of the Links interacting with one another at once. They function the best as a whole group, and I feel I can write each the most accurately when I play them off one another. C: Plus they're hella fun and hella cute. And hella deep if you look at them all individually and think about each of them on their own and each of their relationships with the other individual Links and... yeah. I have devoted entirely too much time to thinking about these babies. :U Not sorry.

Anyway- I hope those of you who are keeping up with this are enjoying it so far, and it continues to be enjoyable to you as it progresses! R&R is always appreciated- thank you so much to those of you who have given me reviews on it! It spurs me on to keep writing, knowing that people out there enjoy it and want to see it continue u

~Artimus-Maora