"There's a heavy load upon our backs,

Of things we carried from the past.

My guilt filled mind, it tried to run,

But you traced us back to where we begun."

Four sighed softly as they sat in a grassy field in Legend's time, the breeze blowing his longer blonde locks to the front of his face. He chuckled softly as he heard Blue grumbling about how the wind was cold, but Green liked it. Legend smirked as he watched Warriors' scarf flip above his head and cover the captain's face. "Maybe you should learn to keep that thing tied up."
"Hmph, and you would know." Warriors groaned as he flipped his scarf back behind his back.

Wind laughed as he pulled his Wind Waker out and Four watched in amusement as the Hero of Winds conducted a wind change.
"Oh, ha, ha!" Legend scoffed as his hat flew from his head. He quickly grabbed it and Time shook his head as Sky chuckled while playing his harp.

"Lunch is ready!" Wild called as he and Twilight stood by the makeshift cooking pot they set up.

Hyrule smiled as he sat up from laying on the grass, "It smells amazing!"

Four nodded and stood, carefully minding his satchel with the mirror shard inside.

The heroes grinned as they all gathered around the pot and chatted amongst themselves as they ate.

Four wouldn't change this for the world, he decided. He just hoped it would all be okay.

Sky yawned as they all pooled into Legend's small home. Ravio waved to them quickly and Legend rolled his eyes. He looked at the others, "Make yourselves at home, don't touch anything!"

"Yes yes." Warriors grumbled, "We won't take your things, Leggy."

Legend wrinkled his nose at that nickname, he narrowed his cool blue eyes at him, "Maybe you should sleep outside then." He chuckled and Warriors gasped, "What!?"
Four shook his head as he grabbed a book from his satchel as he sat down on a plush rug.

Vio really wanted to get back into his book. He looked at the tiny notes in the footnotes of the papers and smiled, "Time is truly a river, we end up in odd times almost weekly. Oh, how I wish I was at home."

Wind looked over at him, "Sooooo, how ya feeling?"

"Huh?"
"Ever since we faced that guy you've been distant again…" Wind frowned, "I know it upset you but…" he rubbed his arm awkwardly, "We're your friends, Four…"

"I know." Four spoke quickly, "I just…" he looked up, "I just am trying to find myself again."

"I can't lose you guys too…" Green thought, "Not this time, not if I can help it."

"Four?" Hyrule frowned as he noticed the boy spacing out again. "You're doing it again."
"huh?"
"Disassociating."

"S-sorry…"

Legend looked at Four and then down at his feet, he didn't know what to say. He knew Four didn't mind talking about the colors he was split into but...he didn't want to pry.

"My secret wasn't supposed to come out this way." All four thought in agreement, this wasn't how it was supposed to go!

"I...I'm okay, really."

"Don't lie!" Red's voice called, "Grandpa said lying gets you nowhere!"

"Are you...divided?" Hyrule asked and Four shook his head quickly, "Nope!"

okay maybe that was a bit too quick of a response…

"Alright…" Wind and Hyrule nodded in agreement, both deciding to not push it any further.

Sky looked down and Four shook his head quickly, "I'll find a way to tell them more eventually."

Time glanced at him and Twilight looked at his mentor in slight concern. In fact…they all had been worried about their smithy since that battle.

Four hadn't spoken anything else about his splitting after they left his Hyrule and that was over three months ago. Even with Wind begging and begging him to talk about it, he just turned away and brought something else up instead.

Ravio began to ramble to his roommate as he walked over, something about how some random Hyruleans allegedly scammed him last week. To which Legend just nodded his head and went with it.

Four was getting antsy here, he felt like it was almost time again for another Hyrule, they had been at Legend's for three days now.

Something made the smallest hero feel…guilty? Why was he feeling this way anyway? He didn't have a reason to feel like that. Something was eating at him, was it Vio's guilt or Red's emotions? He shook his head and tried to get back into his book.

At least he was good at pretending to read.

Days passed and they finally appeared in Wild's Hyrule. They were lucky, they appeared right outside of Hateno Village. Wild's home.

Home.

Now just thinking of home, made Red slightly upset. He just missed their family. Okay maybe not their father still.

"At least it's not raining." Hyrule's voice suddenly spoke as they arrived at Wild's house, taking Four out of his thoughts.

Wild laughed, "I agree, takes the adventuring to a halt!" He glanced at Four, "Hey, Four, we can run to the shops later if you want. I know you said we needed more material for you!"

"We don't have to." Four replied, "I know I have to fix some weapons but…" he shrugged, "I think I'll be okay."

Time shook his head, "We actually do need to refill on supplies." He gently put a hand on Four's shoulder, "How about you stay here with Warriors while we go."

"Huh?" Warriors frowned, "Why do I have to stay?"

"You'll be too busy flirting with all the ladies in town." Twilight replied and Warriors huffed, "Besides, Four can work on some forging if he pleases."

"Actually…I think…" Four swallowed the lump in his throat, "I would like to go for a walk alone."

"Need some time to think?" Sky asked and the smallest boy nodded, "Y-yes," he looked at Wild, "I'll just go right outside of town."

"Okay," Wild grinned as he pointed down to the town entrance, "head down there if you want, just look for the shrine on the way back!"

"Thank you."

"No problem!"

With that, the smithy rushed past the group and walked towards the small path Wild pointed out to him.

Time looked down at Twilight, who watched the smallest Link run off, "Wonder if he'll actually be okay…" Twilight mumbled and Time nodded, "He will be. He probably just needs a moment alone. I imagine he feels trapped in his thoughts."

"With being able to split?"

"Yes. He probably finds it suffocating at times." Time sighed softly, he wished he knew what else to do.

Dark smiled as he held a mirror shard in hand, he had a plan, something that could maybe stall the band of heroes in their tracks. He was so glad the Hero of the Four Sword shattered that mirror that contained the essence of Vaati and Ganon. Luckily he was smart and grabbed most of them…minus one.

He had watched the Hero of Four grab the shard too, he just had to get it back to unleash that silly Wind Mage once more. The dark one watched from afar as the heroes chatted amongst themselves, he watched the smallest hero rushing off. It was time to act.

Four smiled as he walked alone, he let Red slightly in control so he had a tiny skip in his step. He was glad to be free for a bit. He needed to split again, he was antsy, well…Green was antsy.

He hummed softly as he pulled his Four Sword out, and began to put it above his head. He yelped suddenly as he randomly was pushed onto the ground. The hero gasped as his sword clattered away and his satchel hit the ground with him.

"What the…?" He froze as a dark hand grabbed his satchel. "Hey!" He cried and froze for a second as he realized who it was. "YOU!" Blue spat and the figure smirked, "You have something I want."

"Like what?! You already exposed my secret. I wasn't going to tell them in a way like this!" Four yelled and glared at Dark Link with hardened blue eyes. "What's your plan!?"

"Oh, nothing." Dark hummed as he dug out the wrapped mirror shard. "You just took something of mine."
"That isn't yours!" Four cried out and Vio's thought made his blood run cold. "That mirror is connected to Vaati…he must be using it for that!"
"Vaati…." He whispered and Dark smirked, "Hm?"

"You're trying to revive Vaati!" Four screamed and gasped as he heard Wolfie growling and charging at Dark. "Twi-Wolfie!" he gasped as the Hero of Twilight barked frantically at him.

"Four!" Wild's voice yelled and Four scrambled to his feet. "He's trying to revive Vaati!" He cried at Wild, "We have to stop him from taking that mirror shard!"

"Huh!?" The Hero of the Wild blinked, "Got it!"

Wolfie jumped at Dark, who quickly jumped back away from the trio, "Thanks for the thing you stole from me, your shadow friend will be so happy when he's able to come back."

"I never wanted him to come back in this way!" Four spat, "You'll never be able to bring Vaati to your side…!"

"Never say never, Hero of Four."

"You won't get away!" Wild screamed as he held his slate up, trying to use stasis on Dark. He growled as he disappeared as fast as he did so.

Four froze as he felt tears threatening to fall as Wolfie turned back into Twilight, who rushed over to Four. "I take it you didn't get your nice walk nor a moment to split."

"No…" Four whispered and looked at his discarded satchel, "He…he…" he looked up at Twilight with violet eyes, "He's going to try to bring Vaati back, somehow he found the mirror shards to the dark mirror…I swore…I swore he destroyed it."

"Who?"

"My…my friend." he whispered, "Vaati is ruthless, he is powerful and even when I was split…he…he almost destroyed me."

"He basically did. Look at me…I couldn't even walk after that adventure." Green's voice spoke, "What type of hero am I…"

Wild looked down, "Hey, you can split Four, we won't judge you."

"I…okay." He slowly grabbed his sword from the ground and held it up as he closed his eyes.

Green sighed as he hit the ground, Red grinned as he skipped up to Twilight while Blue and Vio stayed on opposite sides of each other.

Vio sighed as he looked at his feet as Blue glared at him, "Great…" He huffed, "We lost our only connection to Shadow and now Vaati will be back."

"We don't know that for sure!" Vio retorted, "How can I possibly know that Vaati will be back!?"

"He took the mirror shard, Violet !"

"Oh, so now you're going to result in saying my full name?"

"Hmph, at least Red cares!"

"About what?" Red asked and Blue groaned, "You…!"

"Don't be so angry, Blue!" Red forced a smile onto his face, "We don't know Vaati will come back, he'd have to travel back to our time!"

"That means…" Twilight gasped, "We'll probably be going back to your Hyrule soon, Four."

"Precisely." Vio nodded, "We will have to be prepared."

Green looked up, "we'll be prepared. There are nine of us, thirteen if I split, there's no way Vaati will be a problem."

"You'll have to tell us all about Vaati." Wild spoke, "we can chat over dinner…I'm sure everyone will want to know."

"Yes…" with that, the four colors joined back into Four. "Let's go."

"So…" Warriors hummed as the trio walked into Wild's yard. "what's wrong, you guys look concerned."

"That's because we are." Twilight replied, "Dark reared his ugly head around again."

"What...?" The Hero of Warriors asked and looked at them, "what about?!"

"He stole the mirror shard I found and wants to bring back Vaati!" Four huffed, Blue's anger creeping up into him. "He thinks that dumb mage will join him!"

"You don't think he will?" Wild asked and Four shook his head. "By the goddess, no! Vaati wanted the world for himself and nobody else. Why would he ever join another dark being?"

"Because power?" Warriors frowned and Four sighed, "he went mad with it…" he whispered, "Vaati wasn't always like how he ended."

"Huh?"

"I…I'll tell you all about what happened to him."

"When?"

"After dinner…let's hope we can stay here until later."

"Are you sure?" Warriors asked and frowned as the smallest hero shrugged him off.

"Yes."

"Alright…"

As they ate, Four shifted in his seat. Wild smiled softly as he brought out dessert, "honeyed apples anyone?"

"YES!" Wind cried and laughed loudly, "I love those!"

Wild laughed softly as he handed it out. "Calm down sailor, there's enough for everyone."

Wind cheered and Sky yawned, he wished he had Wind's energy. Four looked up as Wild placed one on his plate, "thanks…"

Warriors frowned at the hero, "Four…I know…you wanted to talk…"

Four bit his lip as he looked up, his eyes flashing colors somewhat. He cleared his throat, "I have news. Dark reared his ugly head and he stole the mirror shard I had. He…I believe he is going to revive Vaati with it."

"Vaati?" Legend asked and Hyrule blinked, "I've never heard of him."

Time hummed, "I remember hearing legends about him and the Hero of the Minish…well Four…when I was a child."

Four frowned, "Vaati is a wind mage…he…he was driven mad with power. He used to be a Minish and stole a cap from Ezlo…Ezlo was my companion during my first adventure. Vaati became corrupted and mad with it. He…he should be dead!"

"Should be?" Warriors asked and Four nodded, "The Dark Mirror was destroyed, killing him…"

"And with Dark rebuilding it…" Sky spat suddenly, "he knows what he is doing, Four."

"We have to stop him!" Wind gasped, "imagine if he can bring back that guy…I wonder if he can bring back our old enemies too!"

Sky frowned and Warriors looked down, "this is serious."

Four nodded and looked up, "Vaati is different. He is cunning and knows how to get what he wants."

"How strong is he?" Wild asked and looked at him.

"About as strong as Ganon himself." Four replied and nodded, "he nearly destroyed me until…until…" the hero froze and looked away quickly, he couldn't speak of what happened. He…he couldn't talk about Shadow.

"Four?" Hyrule whispered, "are you okay?"

"I…" Four shook his head, "sorry…I was…thinking."

"We'll get rid of Vaati if needed. For now…let's relax." Time whispered and Four nodded slowly.

Time passed and nothing seemed too bad, they seemed to forget about Vaati…well all except Four, Time, and Sky. Warriors most likely kept it in his mind but he didn't seem to mention it, neither did Twilight.

Twilight looked up as they walked into his Kakariko Village, he smiled softly as he looked around, "Welcome to my Kakariko Village." He spoke to the group and gestured behind him, it was no longer the ghost town that it once was, it was lively. Not as lively as his Castletown, but as lively as his hometown of Ordon Village was.

Twilight led the group into the Inn and Four looked around as Hyrule mumbled, "It's homey here."
Legend nodded at that statement as Sky yawned.

"We can rest first before we go out," Twilight smiled, "I imagine we're all exhausted." he looked at Time, who nodded.

The nine Links walked into their room, Four sat on the bed quickly as he pulled out a purple book. He opened it slowly as everyone got comfortable. He read some small notes in Vio's handwriting. "I do not understand it. Why and how did this happen? Vaati is dead, there is no way he could come back."

Four bit his lip, Vio had written may thoughts during the weeks they were traveling. He hoped they would appear back in his time soon, he just wanted to figure out what was going on!

Four closed his multicolored eyes as he fought internally to stay together. He didn't want to split right now…he just wanted to think!

"Four?" Wind called, as he shook the shortest Link, "Hyrule to Fourrrrrr! Wakey wakey!"

"Huh?!" Four sat up quickly, "When did I fall asleep?"

"You were reading your book and then passed out, musta been really exhausted, huh?" Wind laughed, "And only twenty minutes."

Four rubbed his eyes, he had a slight headache but nothing major. "Oh…I hadn't realized I fell asleep, I was thinking about things…"

"Wild made lunch, then we're gonna head out!" The sailor smiled at the smithy, "He made something different today!"

Four slowly stood from the bed, brushing down his tunic as he stood, he stretched his arms and looked around the room. Everyone but the youngest heroes were gone, already downstairs. "Come on!" Wind called, "Food's gonna get cold!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Four smiled as he followed his friend, he looked down at his shadow behind him and waved. He gestured a follow me motion and his shadow seemed to give a thumbs up as he walked down the wooden stairs.

"Hey, sleeping beauty." Legend joked as Four walked down, the aforementioned Link rolled his eyes playfully as he took a seat.

"At least I can say I'm beautiful." Four retorted and laughter filled the room as Legend rolled his eyes as well.

Wild handed Four a plate of carrot stew, "Had a dream from the Horse God and he said he wanted some so…"

"Ah, thank you."

Wild nodded and Warriors hummed, "A Horse God, you say?"

"Yep, he's cool, a little scary too." Wild smiled and Time hummed, "How interesting."

The group ate lunch while chatting, Four kept fairly quiet, he looked down at his feet, at his shadow. He held back a smile as Shadow made some obscene gesture as Twilight mentioned Ganondorf while talking about his adventure.

Soon, the group was out walking in the village. Four kept to himself, trying to ignore the feelings of Vaati he still held. He had a feeling he would be facing Dark and Vaati soon, he couldn't shake it.

"Hero of the Minish, why can't you just disappear? You are a pain in my side!" Vaati screamed as he glared at Link, "You are so annoying!"

"Well, maybe if you weren't trying to kill my best friend I wouldn't be coming after you!" Link retorted, "Have you ever thought to leave Hyrule alone!"

Vaati growled and Ezlo sat up from Link's head, "Vaati, please, you cannot control the cap, listen to Link!"

"NEVER!"

Four's eyes shot open as he sat up in bed. His multicolored eyes scanned the room and he shook his head. He frowned and Time glanced at him, "What's wrong, little one?"

"I…I just had a dream of an encounter I had with Vaati, it was a long time ago now…" He whispered to their leader. "I'm okay, sorry to scare you."

"Four, has Vaati been haunting your dreams again?" Time asked gently and Four looked away, "I've been thinking about him since I found out Dark was going to revive him." He whispered.

Time looked at him, "I imagine we'll be back in your Hyrule at any time."

"Me too…" Four replied and looked down, he rubbed his eyes and sighed softly.

"Four, try to get more sleep, we'll see where we get taken tomorrow."

"Aren't you going to sleep as well?"

"I will be shortly, goodnight."

"Night."

"Another portal, yayyyy." Legend moaned as they walked outside of Kakariko Village, he looked up as he saw the purple glowing portal. Warriors smiled, "Maybe we'll end up in an area with a lot of girls and rest." He joked and Legend rolled his eyes as he stepped forward. Four looked up as Legend spoke, "I'll go first as per usual."

Twilight looked at Legend, who walked with Hyrule into the glowing portal. Four looked at it, he stood next to Sky and bit his lip, he sucked in a deep breath as the duo began to walk into it.

Four felt the usual nausea creeping up and his head flaring up in pain. The boy gasped as he landed in a forest…he closed his eyes as he sensed… Minish Magic

He shot up quickly, "I know where we are!" He yelled and looked around, something felt off…he could tell they were in the Minish Woods but…something felt…off.

As Four stood, he saw a Minish near his boot, "Link!" it called to him, "Link!"

Four picked the Minish up and frowned, "What's wrong?"

"Monsters!" they cried, "We all heard a loud explosion this morning and then yelling. Someone said they swore they saw Vaati!"

"Vaati…?" Four froze, " No. We're too late…"

"Huh?" The Minish quipped and Four shook his head, "I am so sorry, I will set this right, run back to Minish Village. Tell the elder I am going to stop him right away."

"Please be safe Link!"

"I will, you be safe too." he whispered as he placed the Minish down and watched him scurry off. He looked at Time, "We're too late." he spoke, "Va-Vaati is back and I…" his voice cracked with tears as his eyes turned amber, "I didn't keep the mirror shard safe and now…"

"Woah woah, it's okay. What happened, Four?" Time asked softly, "You killed Vaati, you didn't think he could ever come back, in fact, I don't believe he should have been able to come back."

Sky looked at him and the others slowly walked over to them.

"What's wrong?" Wild asked and Time explained what Four just told him. As he did, Four heard a slight chuckle in his ear, and a cold hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned around quickly.

"Four?" Legend questioned and Hyrule blinked, "What did you feel?"

"I…I swore…" Four trailed off and shook his head. He took a step forward and heard a bone chilling voice.

"Hero of the Four Sword…" the voice spat, "you mean to tell me you're still playing this stupid game?"

Four turned quickly and Warriors pulled his sword out as he saw a man with long lavender hair in a dark purple tunic and cape.

" Vaati! " Four spat, "Meeting me in a forest isn't usually your style."

"Who said I am fighting you here, Link ? You're lucky I don't have that silly toy Ezlo made for himself." Vaati spoke, his lips curling into a smile, "I have been revived by someone much stronger than that stupid dark mirror and Lord Ganon…too bad your shadow can't be here with us."

"Don't you talk about him that way…!" Four screamed as he charged at the mage. Vaati laughed loudly as he shot a dark orb at the hero who then screamed in pain and fell onto his chest.

Four groaned as he hit the ground and his ears rang as he started passing out. Last thing the boy saw was Warriors' scarf in front of him before his vision went black…

"He's too strong!" Red wailed as he clutched onto his Four Sword, Blue stood beside him and yelled, "Stop crying, we'll be fine! Vaati is just a piece of shi–!"

"Enough! We have to think of a plan, we can't just keep charging at him." Green huffed, "he's strong but we can defeat him."

"We just need to get to the Dark Mirror." Vio explained, "Shadow said to me it was the thing that harnesses Vaati's powers. We just have to hope one of us can get up there while the other three can fight and distract him!"

"Exactly. Red, let Vaati grab you." Green smiled and Red frowned while Blue went "NO! We are not going to use Red as bait."

"It's not for bait! Red is just the most magically inclined and–"

Suddenly the ground broke from under them, Red screamed as he held onto Blue tightly. Vio cried out as he was grabbed tightly by Vaati while Blue and Red were held together. Green narrowly dodged and looked up at his friends. He growled and Vaati's laughter filled his ears once more.

"You lose, Hero of the Four Sword!"

"Wake up Four!" Wind whispered as Hyrule put a wet rag on the shortest hero's forehead.

"Ez-Ezlo?" Four mumbled and Hyrule frowned as Four touched his face. "Ugh…where am I?" He whispered and Time spoke, "The castle…do you remember what happened?"

Four froze, "Vaati…I have to find him before he takes over Hyrule and Zelda will be stone fore–" his voice trailed off as he realized that it wasn't that. "I am sorry…"

"Link!" Zelda's voice cried as she ran in, "Thank the Goddesses you're alright!"

"Zelda!" Four sat up, "You're okay!"

"They…they said Vaati is back, how?!"

Four looked down, "I…I'm not sure." He lied and Zelda frowned, "Oh."

Four sat on the edge of the bed, "We'll take care of it."

Hyrule blinked, "Hey! You are in no condition to—"

"Now you sound like my father. I can fight. I have fought when I am most divided and am hardly in control."

Hyrule recoiled at that and Four blushed, "So-sorry. I just…I feel responsible for his return."

Time looked down and Wild sighed, they all understood this feeling of heroism when facing their enemies.

"Where would he be at, Four?" Wild questioned, "If we knew this, then we could face Vaati and Dark sooner than later."

"I don't know." Four whispered, "He usually goes to the Palace of Winds, but…we faced Dark there last time and we all saw what happened."

Zelda frowned, "Link, I shall go talk to your father and see if he and the guards have found any information out."

Four looked down as Zelda rushed out and Sky spoke, "You lied to her…?"

"I did because I didn't want to upset her, if she knew I…I was holding onto dark artifacts, it would have scared her." Four confessed and Wind looked at him, "Won't she be upset knowing you lied?"

"I…" the hero looked away and Twilight shook his head, "Regardless, we need to find Vaati before he does anything horrible."

Warriors nodded and Legend sighed, "I hate when these guys keep coming back. Why not just stay dead?!"

"They're so evil so they refuse to die?" Wind laughed, "Ganondorf hasn't came back in my era since I stabbed him in the head!"

"You did what?!" Hyrule gasped and looked at Wind in shock, Warriors laughed, "Damn, I would love to see that!"

"It was pretty cool, you should have been there." Wind smirked and Four looked up as he stood. "I say we leave tomorrow morning. Vaati is most likely waiting for me…" he looked at a mirror and sighed once more.

He wasn't sure where Vaati would even be, would Vaati be so foolish as to stay at the Palace of Winds or would he hide in the various temples?

The morning came quickly, Zelda handed Four a tiny satchel, "No news from your father, they can't find anything. I've seen dark clouds near Mount Crenel in my dreams, maybe check there?"

"Of course, I imagine something could happen at the Cave of Fire." Four nodded and turned to the group, "Let's go!"

"Be safe, Link!" Zelda called after them, she waved as they left, Four's father walked up towards her and placed a hand onto her shoulder, "Don't worry, your majesty. Link will be back."

"I…I know." Zelda whispered softly, "I just worry…."

Four turned back and nodded at his father as they made it to the gates. He remembered how it felt to leave the first time as his grandfather watched him…making his way to Minish Village. This time wasn't any different, he was ready to face Vaati and Dark once more.

The Smithy led them towards Mount Crenel, as they walked, he looked up and saw the dark cloud Zelda was seeing. He nodded, Zelda was right, it wasn't a big dark cloud, you had to really look for it.

"So, this is kind of like your Death Mountain?" Wild asked and Four nodded, "Somewhat, yes. I imagine we actually have Death Mountain, as we have gorons who visit quite often."

"Interesting." Sky hummed, "It is so fascinating seeing how vastly different our eras all are!"

Four looked up as they walked onto the red rock ground of Mount Crenel, "We'll have to be careful, this place is usually riddled with monsters, many caves, Vaati or Dark could be in any of them…"

"Do you know a shortcut?" Legend asked and Four nodded, "It requires climbing up, and I imagine most of you minus Wild and I wouldn't be willing to rock climb."

"Then I guess we're going the long way." Legend huffed and Wind smiled, "This will be easy, hopefully nothing bad happens!"

"Don't jinx it!" Hyrule joked, "If anything goes awry, I'm blaming you, sailor!"

Wind laughed and the nine Links began to walk into Mount Crenel.

Four looked up as they entered a cave, he frowned as he felt dark magic already. "This isn't right…" He muttered and Legend frowned, "Four, what is it?"

"This cave is different now, it used to only have two ways to get up, now it…isn't?" He frowned and Twilight looked up, "Dark must have used magic to transform this, or?"

"Vaati most likely…" Four whispered, "Vaati can manipulate anything he wants." he looked at the stone walls, they used to be red, now they were dark and cold. He looked up, he could feel the dark magic surrounding him. "We have to get out of here."

Time looked at him, "What's wrong?"

"This isn't right, Vaati and Dark must be here, we have to get out." He replied, "Hurry, I think I know what they're doing!" He looked at the others, "I think there is a portal nearby to where they're at. They clearly lured us here and know what to expect."

Sky looked at him and nodded, "I think I know what you're saying. The dark magic in this cave is strong, they chose this place as bait."

"Why a cave?" Hyrule asked and Wild laughed, "Easy, caves are dark and creepy, so why not use dark magic to make them even worse?"

Warriors nodded and Four walked forward, he suddenly gasped as he appeared in a different area entirely. All his friends appeared next to him, Four looked around. He knew exactly where this was.

"The castle?" Warriors asked and Sky shook his head as he pulled out the Master Sword. Four spoke, "No. This is when Vaati took over on my first adventure…" He shuddered as he heard a bell toll loudly. "When that third bell tolls, her power will be mine!" he shook his head as he recalled Vaati's voice when he was a mere child.

Four turned around quickly as he heard a dark voice, "You were so foolish to follow me once more."

Time pulled out his Biggeron Sword as Four pulled out the Four Sword quickly as Dark appeared in front of them.

"Why did you take us here?! A mere image of my past!" Four spat and Dark laughed loudly, "It was easy enough stealing your mirror shard, why not bring you back to where you fought the first time?"

Four glared at him, "You know nothing about my adventures! All you know is lies!"

"You are the insane one, Hero of Four. You never told your friends here about how you became known as crazy in your village here."

"They know enough!" Four screamed, his eyes turning bright blue, "You know nothing about me!" He swung his sword in front of him.

Dark laughed loudly and Four looked up as Vaati walked in. He glared at the man, who was now wearing the cap he stole from Ezlo.

Wild watched Vaati carefully as the mage walked towards the nine heroes.

"Why don't we make this more…interesting." Vaati smiled and Four suddenly cried out in pain as Vaati shot another dark orb at him. Four fell forward as his shadow fell behind him. Four gasped as he saw him… Shadow

"Another dark being?" Legend gasped and Four shook his head no, "That's my friend! The one I was talking about!"

"Shadow!" Four yelled as he saw his doppelganger, his dark purple hair resting against his pale cheek. "Shadow!" He yelled and Time gasped out as monsters appeared from all areas. "We're surrounded." He glared at Vaati, who was laughing loudly.

"You lose, Hero of the Four Sword!" Vaati cackled and Four looked behind him, he tried to grab Shadow. He had to get his friend!

He struggled to reach his Four Sword on his back, he grunted as he slowly raised his blade. Vaati stopped laughing as he saw the bright light filling the room.

Four was no more, there stood his split self. Green growled as he faced Vaati, Red held onto Blue's hand tightly as he hid slightly, while Vio ran to Shadow, touching the boy's shoulder.

Red looked up as he saw moblins, lizalfos, and a few darknuts. Blue growled and looked at Vio, "Is Shadow okay?"

"He's breathing but I think we have more important things to worry about!" Vio called and Dark began to back up, they didn't even realize he disappeared.

Vaati stood back as he watched the Links get surrounded. He smirked as he watched them fight.

Green made eye contact with him, he knew exactly what Vaati was doing. Vaati was toying with them…trying to separate them all.

Red and Blue stuck together, while Green ran over to Time. "Vaati is toying with us…we cannot be separated!" He called, "trust me on this. Vaati knows how to distract us, he wants to tire us out so by the time we face him, we're exhausted."

Sky held the Master Sword skyward as they were surrounded by monsters. His blue eyes hardened as he fought. Warriors basically danced around the entire room as he slashed down lizalfos like it was nothing.

Legend pulled out his bow and teamed up with Wild and Hyrule. Twilight and Wild stood next to Vio, helping protect Shadow.

Green looked around and then back at Time. "Dark is gone…!"

"I see that he is also like Vaati, cunning and knows how to tire us out."

Green frowned as more monsters appeared. He bit his lip and looked around, hopefully finding the dark mirror.

He saw flames in the corner of his eyes, Red was covering Blue with his fire rod as Blue charged with his hammer.

Time, Green, and Wind stood close to one another as they faded against a darknut.

Vaati watched as the heroes fought, his eyes narrowed as the Hero of Four saw right through his tricks. Dark appeared next to him and smiled, "You know…I can help you get rid of him too. I have as much power as Ganondorf himself."

Vaati huffed, "never met a man named Ganondorf, I work alone." He slowly smirked, "and why would I agree to work with you? You are just like his stupid shadow. Shadow Link betrayed me, I will easily destroy you too."

"I don't think you understand." Dark smiled, "I can give you the extra strength you need, dear Vaati, the Wind Mage…more strength than that silly cap."

"Really?"

"Yes." Dark smiled and held his hand out, "have ourselves a deal?"

Vaati glanced at the heroes, "of course."

Suddenly, Red gasped, "NO!"

Vaati laughed loudly as he began to glow brightly and began to transform.

Green froze as Vaati began to transform into his second phase, the once innocent Minish once again, turning into corruption and madness. "Vaati, stop!" He yelled, "you don't have to do this! You're mad with power!"

"Enough out of you! You ruined my chance the first time, Link !" Vaati yelled as he pointed a finger at him. "This is the true power of a GOD !"

Sky glared at Vaati, "I've fought against a God and won. You are nothing compared to Demise."

"I wasn't trying to compete, Hero of the Sky." Vaati laughed as he used powerful magic to shoot Wild and Twilight backwards.

"Shit!" Wild screamed as he hit the wall, he grunted as Twilight landed on top of him, "Get off!"

Green ran over to Vio, "We gotta fight him now, Vio!"

"I know!" Vio spoke and looked at Shadow, who slowly opened his eyes. "Vio?"

"Shadow, listen to me. Vaati is alive and so are you. We have to kill Vaati." Vio spoke and Shadow sat up, "how? I should be dead!"

"I don't know." Vio whispered and grabbed his hands. "We have to get rid of him. He already is in his second form…"

"Wrath?"

"Yes."

"Shit, Vio, we don't have much time until he's fully back to speed!" Shadow gasped and stood. He glared at Vaati and Red smiled as he saw him.

Wind looked at the four and then at Shadow. He nodded and Vaati glared at them.

"Ah, traitor."

"Oh, it's you, just the man I wanted to talk to." Shadow huffed, "you know, you should have stayed dead."

"As with you." Vaati hissed and Shadow scoffed.

Green looked up, he glared at the former Minish, "Why are you doing this, Vaati? You don't have to do this!"

"I already told you, Hero of Four, I was offered power! I will destroy you and your friends!" He screamed and Sky raised the Master Sword as Vaati charged at them.

Time looked at the group and looked up quickly as he saw Dark, sitting on top of a crate, watching them. He glanced at Twilight, "He's waiting for us, why…?"

"Seems like he's toying with us." Twilight whispered, "He knows exactly when he will strike."

Vio looked up as Shadow stood next to him, Shadow whispered, "I shouldn't even be here."

"He reformed the dark mirror…" Vio whispered back, "It should have been impossi–wait a second."

"What's up, Vi?"

"There is no way this is the real dark mirror, you shattered it completely, it broke into dust!" He looked at Dark, "That isn't the real Vaati! It must be my memories of Vaati!"

Green froze and turned to Vio, "That makes sense but…how did he get Vaati to seem so…real?"

Red screamed as he was thrown into Blue, "oopsie!"

"Hey!" Blue yelled and Wind yelped as he was shoved onto Blue as well.

"I'm not sure, Vaati seems like he is completely real, but Dark has many powers." Vio replied and looked at Dark, he kept his eyes on the dark being.

Sky pointed the holy blade at Vaati, who flinched. Vio gasped, "Bingo!"

Vio looked at them and realized something, "When Sky pulled out the Master Sword, Vaati flinched. If Vaati was Vaati, he wouldn't have flinched, he doesn't even know what the Master Sword is, as the sword is still hidden away in my time!"

Vaati froze and then Dark growled, suddenly he disappeared, leaving Vaati standing there.

"Vio, I think you're right." Time spoke and Warriors looked up, "I know exactly what he's doing. During my battles, I witnessed shapeshifters as well."

Green looked up, he gasped as Vaati began to transform again into his final Wind Mage form, Shadow growled, "This is it…" He stood and bolted away.

Vio gasped, "Wait!"

"Gotta do what I did before, Vi! You said he rebuilt the dark mirror, I gotta find and destroy it again."

Green frowned, "What if there isn't one?!"

"There would have to be, he stole that mirror shard I had."

Sky looked at the four, Blue glared at Vaati, "Dark, show yourself! We know you're just pretending to be Vaati, this entire time, you've been lying to us!"

Vio knew this wasn't Vaati completely, but Dark seemed to have used his own memories against himself as well with this fake Vaati.

Vaati laughed loudly, as he did, the room shook. Red gasped and Legend looked out, he pulled his bow out and prepped an arrow.

Hyrule watched as Legend used a light arrow on Vaati. Vio grabbed his bow as well, they were going to finish this!

Shadow ran hard in the temple, he looked all around as he ran. He had to find the dark mirror, even if it wasn't Vaati, if the mirror existed, it had to be destroyed!

He looked around and gasped loudly as he saw a mirror. He smiled and looked at it, he ran up to it and looked at his reflection.

Shadow frowned as he saw himself with glowing red eyes. "Yep, the real deal…or at least something similar to it being real." he shrugged and took a deep breath.

He smiled as he began to push the mirror down the corridor, he just had to show Dark Vaati or whoever it was. He wanted to see their face.

"HEY VAATI!" Shadow called and the dark mage looked over, as arrows and sword were pointed at him, he recoiled as Shadow shoved the mirror off a ledge and it shattered near Vio's feet.

Vaati froze and the mage slowly began to turn back into his normal form…then he turned into Dark, who growled at them.

Shadow blinked as he stood there, "Hey…I'm not dead?!" He then cheered, "YES! HAH A!" He laughed as he ran to Vio, "Look Vi, I told you, it was fake!"

"Then how are you here…?"

"Maybe I never left…or or or, maybe the powers of Dark are so strong…" Shadow mused and Dark glared at them, "of course…I thought I had the ultimate plan…!"

"Well," Wild spat, "You clearly didn't think about our tricks."

Dark began to slowly back away, "Don't think I can't use the rest of your own secrets!"

Green slowly walked up, "You forgot, we all trust each other, no matter what you throw at us, we won't give up until you are gone!"

Dark glared at them, and Sky pointed the holy blade at him again, "We won't fall for your tricks, you failed."

The dark one quickly disappeared and then Four quickly formed back into one.

Four ran to Shadow, "I can't believe you're still here!"

"Me either!" Shadow laughed and Four hugged Shadow tightly.

"So, this is…?" Sky asked and Four smiled, "Shadow, he is my friend who I swore was dead. I watched him break the dark mirror and destroy Vaati. This…this ended up killing Shadow too, Vaati created him on third adventure two years ago. I swore he was gone forever and now he is right here!"

"Let's get out of here," Legend huffed, "I know you two want to have a reunion but, can we do it outside of this cave? Maybe back in Hyruletown?"

"I agree." Wind nodded, "it's hot in here!"

"It was hotter on my first adventure!" Four called as he began to walk out with Shadow, "Come on!"

Shadow sat beside Zelda in the palace, "Dark really thought he was slick! Making a new fake dark mirror just to throw us off and then bringing me back!"

"I'm glad I figured it out…he really tricked us." Four replied and Time nodded, "I noticed Dark just watching us, now it makes sense."

"How?" Wind asked and Twilight continued Time's sentence, "It was just a mirage, the real Dark was Vaati, he knew what he was doing."

Four looked down, "whatever Dark hit me with to release you Shadow…I…I have a theory it was my own guilt."

"Huh?"

"I…I've felt so guilty since…since that day." Four whispered and Shadow scoffed, "Don't feel guilty!" He yelled and stood, "I've been with you this entire time, idiot!" he laughed, "I used to be able to leave your shadow whenever I pleased, but then after I broke the mirror, I was stuck!"

"Stuck?"

"Oh!" Hyrule gasped out, "the dark mirror was most likely originally a portal for you, and when it was destroyed, it ended up blocking you back in!"

"Then," Legend added, "with it being basically remade, it reopened the portal for you to move freely, and when Dark hit Four, it helped coax you out of his shadow."

"Fascinating." Zelda smiled as she stood, "I am so glad you ten are all safe."

Shadow laughed and sank into Four's shadow again, he formed a thumbs up. Then he hopped back out, "Yes!"

"Well hopefully our portals don't mess you up." Four laughed and Shadow smiled. "I prefer being in your shadow anyway, more comfortable than out here." he then disappeared and Time nodded, "Well, another Link to join our rankings. Hopefully we can stop Dark soon, if not later before he really hurts us."

Warriors smirked, "We'll just keep fighting against him, old man. I think we'll do fine."

Zelda looked up as Four stood, "Well…Link, I imagine you will be going to your home?"

"Yes, I want to see grandfather before we're swept away once more."

"Of course…" she whispered and hugged him tightly, "may Hylia keep you all safe."

"You too." he replied, then they left the castle. Four glanced as he saw his father, he nodded at him and slowly waved. His father waved back and nodded, Four turned his head and lead the group back home.

He smiled as some Town Minish, one crawled up his boot and whispered into his ear as she sat on his shoulder, "Thank you for defeating the evil! Everything is already back to normal!"

Four smiled and grabbed her gently, "you're welcome," he whispered back and put her down on a mushroom, "I'm glad you're all safe."

"Four?"

"Coming!"

Four sat on his bed, he looked up as moonlight filled his room, he wasn't sure when he'd be leaving again. He was already fully packed once more, he looked down as a Minish crawled up his hand, "Link!" He called, "We were told you defeated Vaati again!"

"It wasn't actually Vaati, Maiari" Four replied, "It was just a dark evil being pretending to be Vaati."

"Ohh." Maiari replied, "Well, either way! Make sure you come back quickly if you disappear again!"

"I will, I promise."

"You better!"

Four groaned as he walked out of a portal, he shook his head, it felt fuzzy. They ended up in an empty clearing, he felt Wind pulling his arm, "Come onnn!" Wind laughed, "Get up, we're in my time, you can meet my grandma!"

Four rubbed his multicolored eyes as he sat up, Wind laughed, "Outset Island, the best place, it's been a while since I saw my sister."

The shortest Link smiled as his friend ran ahead of them.

"Come on!" Wind called and Four laughed, "Right behind you!"

Yeah.

He wouldn't change this for the world, he loved his second family.

His shadow gave a thumbs up, the adventure was far from over.

"And so the morning came,

And swept the night away.

I found a way, I found a way

To reappear."

–The End–