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 )
Vio 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."
"Sounds like fun." Shadow sidled up next to him, suddenly frowning as he glanced outside again. "It's so bright outside..."
"Ah.. Right..." Vio's expression mirrored Shadow's. "Damn. Well... Can't you hide in my shadow? At least when it's too sunny?"
Shadow's shoulders rose and fell. "That might work; for short periods of time, anyway."
"If it doesn't, we'll turn back." Vio decided. "Let's go; if we're quick, maybe we can beat Blue on his way out of the house."
"Yeah." Shadow followed Vio as the purple Link exited his bedroom, heading downstairs and indeed leaving before Blue could get away from Red's fussing about groceries. "Kind of stick to the shady paths, though, okay?" Shadow asked, melting into the ground behind Vio and joining his shadow.
"I'll try," Vio nodded. He headed out from their house, going east in the direction of the Castle Town. The walk wouldn't be an eventful one, by any means, but that was fine. About ten minutes in, Vio noticed that Shadow seemed rather quiet. "Are you faring all right, Shadow?" He asked, heading off the path to a shady patch of ground underneath a tree.
Shadow took a minute to rise up, his movements seeming labored as he appeared to physically haul himself to the surface. "Not good..." He muttered; his body was partly transparent, and his face seemed paler than normal.
Vio frowned in concern. "You don't look very good- this was a bad idea. We should turn back."
"Yeah," Shadow agreed, panting. "Just... Gimme a second, will ya?" He took a shaky breath.
"Take all the time you need." Vio frowned, kneeling on the ground beside him. "We shouldn't have gone outside like this until we knew better what we were up against."
"Nah.. We had to figure things out at some point," Shadow shook his head, curling up in the fetal position for stability. "Ooh, man, my head's spinning..."
"Just hold still and try to focus on something that isn't moving; it'll clear up soon, don't worry," Vio assured him, making to rub his shoulder out of reflex. As he should have expected, it felt like he was sticking his hand into a cold mist. Oddly enough he felt no numbing sensation- did the sun make Shadow that weak?
"Yeah, yeah..." Shadow muttered, shakily sitting in a normal position. "I think I can go now... Just don't dick around on the way home, that won't end well for me..."
"I won't," Vio promised. "Get back into my shadow before you get worse." Shadow obeyed gratefully, all but falling into the patch of shade on the ground. Vio headed back onto the path, setting out at a brisk pace for home.
He made it back in about half the time, whereupon Shadow stumbled straight through the walls of the house to get back to Vio's room. Vio immediately made to follow him, but was waylaid as he encountered Red. "Oh! Back already, Vio?"
"Yeah; I changed my mind," Vio muttered, slipping past Red and hastening toward his room. "Shadow, are you okay?"
Shadow had collapsed onto the floor, stretched out on his back as he panted. "That much light... Was a bad idea..." He gasped, taking a few deep, labored breaths. "Dammit..."
"How can I help?" Vio's frown deepened as he noticed that Shadow was almost completely transparent.
"Just... Let me rest..."
"You're turning transparent..."
"What?!" This brought a frightened bout of energy from the weary Link, and he shot bolt upright to stare in horror at himself. "No!"
"Do you know what's happening?" Vio asked, concerned.
"No... But at this rate, I'm gonna fade away..." Shadow's voice was hard to hear, too, as though he was speaking underwater. "Shit, if I can't come back..!"
Vio tried to grab him, panicking as his hands passed through him as through fog. "Shadow..!" Before his eyes Shadow's silhouette was fading, and though his mouth was moving Vio heard no words. After a last, desperate grab and what looked like a panicked wail on Shadow's part, the ebony Link vanished.
Vio stared, stunned, at the spot where Shadow vanished. "Shadow?!" How could he just disappear like that?! Had he gone back to the Rift? Was he okay? "Shadow!" Vio stood up and raced to the windows, yanking the curtains shut and whirling around hopefully. Even in the darkness of the room, there was no Shadow.
"... Shadow..." Vio let out his breath in a slow, disappointed sigh. He was gone again. An empty hopelessness filled him at the thought that that might be the last he would ever see of him; he might just be doomed to the Rift forever.
Vio slowly returned to the spot of Shadow's disappearance, resting a hand on the floor. It felt cold, awfully cold. Strange... Shadow had never left a freezing aura behind him like this before... Why did that happen? His train of thought came to an abrupt end as he heard a soft clacking on his floor behind him, and breathing much deeper than Shadow.
He slowly turned, freezing as he found himself face to face with what could only be another creature from the Rift. It was built like a large, quadrupedal canine, with prominent bones that stuck out under black, leathery skin. Scraggly, ratty fur covered it in patches, a large swathe growing around its neck. The beast's face was completely white like the other creature had been, its skin covering empty eye sockets as well.
This thing had a mouth, though, and it was brimming with sharp, conical teeth. It growled menacingly at Vio, who was pretty much petrified with fear. What was that? It took several slow, intimidating steps forward, and purely on instinct Vio shrank back until the monster was towering over him.
He held stock still as the creature lowered its head, snuffling and sniffing around him. It gave a low growl, baring its fangs, and Vio shut his eyes as he prepared for the worst. The creature unexpectedly bounded over him, turning transparent and passing through the door. Vio scrambled to his feet, yanking the door open and peering down the hall just in time to see the beast fade away as well.
"... What is going on here?" He muttered in bewilderment. No harm seemed to be done, despite the creature's frightening appearance, so he returned to his room and the site of Shadow's disappearance. It was still icy cold. "Where did you go?"
Well, there was only one thing to be done- he would have to start with what little he knew and work from there. Vio picked up the book he had on the Great War- the only novel he had at the moment that dealt with the Sheikah- and started to read.
-.-.-.-.
It was the night of the second day Shadow had been missing, and Vio had accomplished frustratingly little. The Sheikah, it seemed, were a race that did not lend itself to history books very well. Information on them was elusive at best; their language was even more obscure. It had to be, else anyone who wanted it could learn it, and it wouldn't be good if magic became that common.
Vio gave an aggravated sigh, shutting the book and haphazardly perching it on his bedside table before rubbing his eyes tiredly. He had to get Shadow back... But how? Where did he even go, back to the Rift? How the hell would Vio get him back if he didn't even know the spell?
Vio pressed both palms to his forehead, groaning. Something was giving him a huge headache all of a sudden; it couldn't have been worse if Blue had been pounding on his skull with a hammer. He felt nauseous, ill. Getting to his feet with a dizzy groan, Vio stumbled out of his room and headed for the bathroom.
After vomiting the contents of his stomach into the toilet, Vio stood before the mirror, shaking. His hands gripped the bowl of the sink tightly, and he stared at himself in the mirror with frustration. "What's happening to me?" He groaned, covering his eyes with his hands as he pressed down on his temples in an attempt to relieve the monstrous headache.
When he opened his eyes again, he let out a yelp of shock and fright. The face in the mirror wasn't his own- everything down to the flip of the hair mimicked his, but the expression was drastically different. Where Vio looked shocked and appalled, the other face was terrified and manic. It was Shadow's face.
Shadow, knowingly or not, was mimicking Vio's actions exactly, hands pressed flat against the surface of what was the mirror on Vio's end of the dimension. (What it was in Shadow's world, he did not know.) Shadow was in panicked, frenzied terror, but the tears that leaked from his eyes gave no sign they fell. There were cuts and scratches on his face, blood oozing down his cheek and over one eye.
There were bruises showing on his skin wherever it was visible, and there were definitely more hidden underneath his clothes. Along his neck was a horrifying set of claw marks, three identical cuts about five inches long. They were just an inch away from being a fatal wound. Vio raised his hand, trying to reach for Shadow- his hand stopped at the glass, while Shadow mimicked his movements exactly.
"Shadow?!" Vio called out worriedly, hand moving to the wound on Shadow's neck- it seemed as though Shadow stopped him with his own hand, keeping Vio away through the glass. Vio countered by shakily raising his fingertips to his own neck, staring aghast as Shadow did the same and coated his fingers in crimson.
"What happened?" Vio whispered, haltingly tracing where the cuts would be and watching Shadow wince in pain. Shadow just stared sadly at him, unable to answer. "Can't you even... Damn..." Vio hung his head, holding his hand over the area of Shadow's wound to try to staunch the bleeding.
Shadow was the one to initiate the next movement, and it was a weird sensation to have his body move without a command from his own mind. Shadow leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the mirror, and by extension against Vio's. He looked as though he was saying something, but Vio was rusty at best when it came to lip reading. Muddled by his soft, almost-withheld sobs, the only word he could really catch was, "-help..."
Vio gave a soft, sad sigh, lifting his head. He motioned towards his room, saying, "I have a bigger mirror in my room. Can we move?" Shadow seemed to catch the gist of his words, giving a shaky nod and stumbling away from the mirror as Vio hurried back to his room. When he got back, he took the mirror off the wall by his dresser and set it on the floor, taking a seat to wait.
It was eerie, seeing a perfectly functional mirror showing everything but his reflection. Eventually Shadow dragged himself into view, collapsing in Vio's field of vision. He turned onto his side, facing Vio wearily. He tried to speak, but coughed, and to Vio's horror a trickle of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
Struggling to sit up, Shadow leaned himself against the surface that- in Vio's realm- was the glass of the mirror. He fought to raise his hand, messily pressing two bloody fingers to the mirror and leaving a dark mark. Vio's own hand was forced to mimic his, and he watched as Shadow started to make patterns on the surface.
After a moment he realized it was words being written, and he immediately began to decipher their meaning, backwards though they were written. The writing was hard to read, for Shadow faltered several times, but in the end the rhyme was thus. "Make open the path to re-enter the light; protect from harm and return him to sight. Give form to what was once the black, open the veil and send him back."
With a start Vio realized this must be the spell that Shadow had used to get over the veil in the first place. He jumped up and ran to his desk, scribbling the verse down on a sheet of paper with a blank space. He returned to Shadow, who was breathing shallowly and still bleeding from the neck.
"That's the spell, isn't it?" Vio whispered, to which Shadow only was able to give a feeble nod. "Great! As soon as I can get my hands on those books, we can find a way to translate it and maybe just repeating the spell will be enough to fix this." It was hardly a substantial hope, but it was hope nonetheless. "If not, it's still a huge piece of information we can definitely use..."
Shadow gave a pained, silent laugh, shaking his head. It was obvious he had no clue what Vio was saying; he was hardly in a state to focus enough to lip-read. Vio frowned in frustration, whacking the glass in an attempt to get Shadow's attention. It worked (if only because Shadow's arm was robotically moved up as well) and scarlet irises tiredly focused on him.
Speaking slowly and enunciating so he had the best chance at being understood, Vio said, "We're gonna figure this out as fast as we can. Until I can get you back, stay safe, all right? Don't exert yourself- heal." Shadow laughed again, but it was a little less hopeless.
"Never safe." He mouthed. Words spoken, he curled up against the transparent surface of Vio's mirror. His eyes shut, and when Vio tried to get him to respond again, he received no answer.
"Shadow, wake up! Don't go to sleep when you're injured like that, you might not wake up!" Then again, he supposed, Shadow was already dead in a sense. Still, he feared the consequences. He pounded as hard as he dared on the mirror, getting Shadow to twitch in his sleep. "Shadow!"
He hazily awoke, blinking blearily at Vio. He seemed to gather himself, rising shakily to his feet with enormous effort. Vio stayed rooted in place, watching him stagger a short distance away. Shadow swayed on the spot for a moment, and then held his hands before his body and slowly began to conjure a small orb of light purple magic.
It clearly took everything he had to maintain the spell, and even that was shaky at best. Standing still for a few more moments to gather himself, Shadow waited before throwing the orb right towards the surface of the mirror.
Aw, Shadder D: what mysteries are beginning to arrive from the Rift... ouo Such plans.
Thanks for reading, and hopefully I can get the next chapters up speedily! R&R is always appreciated C:
~Artimus-Maora