Vio stamped his foot down on his captor's. The knight struggled briefly, but just enough to allow Vio to break free. Undeterred, the enemy took hold of his damaged mace and engaged.

Green grit his teeth. The situation was not good. Vio was back on his feet, but he was still faring poorly. He swung his sword in every direction, but the knight dodged each slash. Even with the head of the mace gone, the sliced handle looked more than sharp enough to cause some damage. Vio was just barely managing to swerve out of range.

Red had thrust his rod back in his belt, and he stood alongside Blue. Neither looked like they had any clue on how to proceed.

Green was no genius, and he knew that. But he had to try something, anything, that would subdue the knight. A coordinated approach was needed. It would not be without risk, but still...

"Vio!" He called out mid-sprint, and the purple-clad swordsman's attention snapped towards his comrade. "Duck!"

"Wha-"

Vio barely had time to react as Green flung his sword, tip first, at the knight's helmet. As expected, the weapon bounced off and fell to the ground. However, the knight stumbled back from Vio and dropped his makeshift weapon.

"Go for the leg!" Green shouted as he began to circle around to scoop his sword back up.

Vio was swift, and he wrapped his arms around the knight's left leg.

"Blue! Red!"

The other two heroes were quick on their feet. They sprinted at the struggling knight, grabbing the arms. The knight did not have time to react as Green came from behind, slamming the pommel of his sword against the back of the head.

The knight shuddered, and then collapsed as the other three heroes gradually released their grip. There was a collective sigh of relief.

"That was close..."

"Tell me about it." Vio shook his head as he took a knee, inspecting the knight, waiting for the possibility of a sudden lunge. For his part, Green was reaching around the helmet.

"Hey, it's loose here, and..."

There was a crack. The helmet loosened, and it fell apart. Green pulled it away, and he nearly fell back.

"Oh, no..."

"What is it?" Blue asked. Then his blood went cold. He saw, as everyone else did, that a human face was now visible.

Captain Alphon. Their father.

"Dad!" Red gaped. "No, it can't be..."

"This isn't possible!" Green shook his head rapidly. "This can't be happening!"

"Calm down!" Vio stood back up. "All of you, just..."

"What did we just do?" Blue mumbled.

"Guys, it's..." Vio trailed off. He had no idea what to say.

"We can't just let him die!" Red was frantic. "We have to save him!"

Green inspected his father's head. There was a gash at the back, bleeding freely. The helmet had only saved him from instant death when Green had struck him.

"Guys, we..." Vio was hesitant, looking from his father's motionless body to his companions.

""This is bad, but...I think we can still..." Green checked the pulse, and the nodded.

"He's still breathing, right?" Blue exclaimed. "I think there's still hope. We've gotta hurry, and..."

Suddenly, Alphon's eyes flew open. They were cold, empty.

"F-father?"

Before anyone could react, Alphon swung out, knocking the sword from Green's grasp. He grabbed hold of Green with one hand, and the severed mace handle with the other.

"Green!

Red, Blue, and Vio, stood back, swords at the ready, but they knew they could not approach while Green was at the mercy of their attacker. Green struggled, but Alphon had a tight grip.

Alphon raised the handle overhead, his face cold and expressionless even as Green struggled

"G...get away, you guys! You can still..."

There was a flurry of movement, and Green shut his eyes. But the blow did not come. When he finally opened them, he saw his father smiling.

"Don't worry."

"Father!"

"Father!

"Father!"

Red, Blue, and Vio all called out at once.

Green jerked his head around look back. The Deku Scrub mystic from before was flat on his back, the mace handle protruding from his chest. He twitched and let out a death rattle.

A single, precise throw, and with such a lightweight weapon, and with such a weak point. Green marveled at his father's aim, but it was no time to congratulate him. He must have been under the control of evil magic, he thought. Like Valensuela was.

Alphon tried to force himself back on his feet,

"Easy, Father, easy..."

Alphon assumed a sitting position. He gave a weak smile, doing his best to cope with the pain. "Don't worry about me, son...er, sons. I've had my share of rough-and-tumble fights."

He looked across at the four boys as they crowded him, and nodded thoughtfully. "So you were able to pull the Four Sword after all."

"Father, it's...it's not important right now. What are we going to do about you?" Green was frantic.

"Don't worry about me." Alphon's voice was soft. "The princess should still be inside the Palace, and if you are here, that means you've come this far already. Go and finish what you've started. It's up to you to bring our lady home."

"But..."

"No 'buts'." Alphon gave a wink, and then coughed. "I don't want to slow you down."

Green held his father's hand.

"We'll make sure we get both you and the princess home. I promise."

Shadow Link struggled through the hallway. The Dark Mirror's magic had revived him, certainly, but even he was amazed by how his feet kept moving step by step. He could feel his entire body aching, and his vision was fogged. But he kept moving.

Who would have ever guessed that it was Princess Zelda who had inspired him so?

"You want to betray Vaati for yourself. You want to destroy the heroes for yourself. You want to sit on the throne for might have a chance to accomplish all of that yet. And when you do, all you will have is yourself."

Through the haze, he thought he could make out voices. Praises, condemnations, and taunts, all aimed at him, all at once.

He could remember, in vivid detail, the battles of his youth, the pain of Ganon's trident piercing his body, his ages of agony alone, and the visceral joy he had felt in subjugating Hyrule Castle.

But for some reason, the past seemed irrelevant now. It was as if, despite his own thoughts and despite his own desires, Princess Zelda's words had made his ambitions and his vengeance meaningless.

The memories of his life slipped by. Shame came over him, choking him as surely as his exhaustion did. He had tormented Princess Zelda, he had wronged his descendants, and he would have brought the people of Hyrule, the generation so far from the one that had abandoned him, to abject despair.

Was this the sum of his life? Was everything planned by the gods? Were the battles, the sacrifices, his fall from grace all leading up to this, this final moment of truth?

Shadow was certain of two things. One, that it was very likely he would not see the world outside the Palace of Winds ever again. And two, that he would set things right, somehow.

Definitely.

The interior of the palace was surprisingly bare, especially compared to Hyrule Castle, so the four heroes thought. No paintings hung from the walls, and there were no suits of armor lining the halls. No carpets or tapestries. Just staircase after dreary staircase, and room after dilapidated room.

Green did his best to keep his face still as they made their way through the halls. Blue and Red were a few steps ahead, while Vio was a little further behind. It was clear that purple-clad hero, despite his best efforts to look composed, was still concerned about their father at the gate.

Green wanted to say aloud that nothing was wrong, that they were assured success, and that they would triumph over Vaati and Shadow and whatever else could threaten them. But he knew he was not in a position to tempt fate, regardless of the vow he made to the wounded knight.

Red began to slow down, and warily stared at the walls.

"Guys...don't you think we're making our way through all this too easily?"

Blue shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"Just saying, if Vaati,'s really here, wouldn't he have more guards or something? Or traps, or locked doors, or anything else?" Red looked at the floor.

Vio shook his head. "I would just assume overconfidence on Vaati's part."

"I mean, yeah, but..."

"We have no time to waste." Green moved forward. "If there's anything dangerous, we'll figure out a way to get through it."

Finally, the four boys came across a large, ornate door with long handlebars. Blue and Red took one side, Green and Vio took the other. The latter two took hold of the knob.

"On three. One, two, three!"

They pushed, and the heavy door opened.

The room was wide and spacious, with rotting curtains barely keeping the sunlight from shining through the windows. There was an extravagant throne at the side of the room opposite the door, and next to the throne was a large mirror. But there was only thing that stood out. Even Vio's cursory gaze on the mirror faltered.

The young girl was crouched by the foot of the throne, her body curled up as tightly as it could go. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, and her messy hair covered her shoulders. She looked up, and cried out loud when she caught a look at the first hero in the row.

"Green!"

"Princess Zelda!" Green, Red, Blue exclaimed in unison.

She struggled to her feet. The boys began to rush, but Vio stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wait!"

The boys turned their heads back as Vio stared ahead.

"Forgive me, princess, but..." The purple-clad hero pointed his finger at the green-clad one. "You only ever called him...us...Link in the past."

Princess Zelda's eyes went wide. She shifted, and lowered her head. When she raised it again, her mouth was stretched into an ear-to-ear grin. Her eyes were blazing red.

"Hmm. It seems you are not as stupid as you look."

In another minute, the glamor dispelled, and there was no girl in the room. Just a mass of shadow, with a single eye in the center.

"But the smartest termite is still a termite."

The four heroes stood their ground and held their swords.

Green grimaced.

Blue snarled.

Red shivered.

Vio was stone-faced.

The final battle was upon them.

"One way or another," Green hissed, "we will leave here alive and with Princess Zelda!"

Yeah, I kind of streamlined the Palace pursuit scene...I was afraid of putting too much in what I wanted to be kind of a breather chapter.