Chapter 3
It was not just a habit.
That became clear over the next week. No reminders by Green, Red, or Vio made a difference. Blue insisted on keeping up the façade, and if not content, the three were willing to tolerate Blue being Blue, figuring he would come around eventually.
There was only so much they were willing to tolerate, however, and when Blue's mood started visibly affecting everyone else, it became a more glaring issue.
Vio chucked his writing utensil in the dirt and fisted his hands in his hair, letting out a muffled scream of aggravation. "Ugh! Why is this so complicated?! I nearly had it yesterday!"
"It's okay," Sky said, hands held out in an attempt to calm him. "I don't expect you to grasp it after one lesson."
"But I do! It's not even difficult!" Actually, it was incredibly difficult. It just didn't feel right that it was so difficult for Vio to understand. He'd gotten Time's down in a day and a half. Sky's should have been the same.
"Our written languages are really different so-"
"And why do they all have to be so drastically different, Sky?" Vio demanded, knowing it was rude to cut off the Chosen Hero like that but suddenly not caring. "It's like the goddesses want me to go insane!"
"No one wants you to go insane," Sky assured him, his voice gentle. "Why don't we take a break?"
"I don't need a break." Vio scowled, snatching up his discarded pencil. Even as the words passed his lips, he knew they weren't true. His perfectionism was striking, but it was more than that. He was furious. Rage was bubbling up in his chest, and he had the urge to hurl the pencil across camp. As if that would solve anything. Which it wouldn't because the pencil had nothing to do with anything.
It wasn't writing the symbols for him. He did that on his own. So why was he angry? Because he couldn't grasp a new concept? Even he knew that learning took time. It was, frankly, ridiculous to expect complete mastery over a new written language in a day, and while that fact was mildly frustrating, it wasn't something he'd typically get worked up over, which could only mean one thing.
This wasn't his anger.
"I need a break," he mumbled.
"I think that's a good idea," Sky said as if Vio taking a break from his most recent written Hylian lesson wasn't his idea to begin with.
Vio headed for his bedroll, doing his best not to stomp. Once there, he plopped down, tore the journal Warrior had given them out of his bag and ripped it open. Then he began to write furiously, in his own Hylian this time. "Blue, what's your deal?"
"I don't have a deal."
"You do! Otherwise I wouldn't be so mad right now." Vio didn't get mad. Or rather, when he did, he didn't have sudden, violent urges or raise his voice. Above all, he never took his anger out on innocent bystanders. The fact that he'd just yelled at poor, innocent Sky for no reason indicated that Blue's mood was influencing his own.
"Why do you blame me for everything, huh?!" Blue shouted. "Did it ever occur to that big head of yours that you're mad because you're mad? Why does it always have to be my fault?"
"No one's saying it's your fault, Blue," Red piped up, attempting to keep the peace. Unfortunately, peace had abandoned them long ago.
This was war.
"No that is what I'm saying," Vio wrote, not even bothering with proper punctuation anymore. Yet another indication of how he was letting these intense emotions that were not his control him. "you've been moody ever since we told and I'm sick of it"
"Oh yeah? Well, I'm sick of being stuck with all of you!" Blue shot back.
Tears sprung to his eyes, blurring his vision. He rubbed them away immediately. "You don't mean that." Red whimpered.
"I do! None of you ever listen to me. You think you can make decisions without consulting me first and that's fine because Blue doesn't matter, right?"
"What? No! We never made any decision without you," Green objected.
"You are included in every single conversation we have. In fact we can't not listen to you because youre always so loud." The last sentence was unnecessary and would likely only enrage Blue further, but Vio found that he had no filter at the moment, so he didn't stop his hand from writing it.
"Obviously I'm not loud enough because you idiots told!" The volume made Vio's head pound harder, and it took all his willpower to not write 'shut up'. Blue evidently needed to talk about what was bothering him if Vio was ever going to get any peace.
"We voted on it," Red reminded him, his voice small. "Three against-"
"It's always you three against me!" Blue roared. Vio's temples pulsed with a heartbeat of their own, and he squeezed the pencil so tight it was a wonder it didn't snap. "What I think and feel never matters! As long as you three get your way everything's fine and dandy, isn't it?"
"That's not true," Green said. "We-"
"It is true!" Blue insisted, plowing straight through Green's attempt at placating him and grounding it into the dust. "Because if it wasn't none of them would know the rest of us exist right now!"
"Is that what you're so upset about? That the others know?"
"It's not just that they know, it's that as soon as one little thing went wrong, you guys panicked and spilled our secret. News flash, you can't make decisions like that if not all of us agree!"
"Wha-!? Wait! That's not-" Green heaved an exasperated sigh. "Okay, Blue, fine. I'm sorry; you're right. We shouldn't have made such a big decision without everyone's okay, but there's not much I can do about that now. And in any case, do you not remember how mixed up we were? You can't blame us."
"blind and deaf" Vio wrote to jog Blue's memory.
"I do blame you! We got through it just fine without the others so obviously we don't need them involved," Blue retorted, ignoring Vio completely.
"We only got through it because we got knocked out by a monster!" Green exclaimed.
"The point is we got through it," Blue argued. "And if those monsters hadn't come along we would have gotten through it a lot smoother. We could function. Yeah, it was weird, but we made it work."
"Weird?! It was dangerous! It was terrifying, and I don't want a repeat," Green shot back.
Vio agreed.
"I'm not saying I want a repeat of it. I'm just saying we were fine. There was no reason tell the others anything."
"there was" Vio wrote, but he didn't think anyone bothered to read it.
"We were not fine!" Green yelled back, his temper rising to match Blue's. "Exactly what part of being everyone and no one at once is fine to you?!"
"You act like we were dying, and we weren't!" Blue shot back hotly. "This is what I mean. You're so dramatic, and if you take a second to think, you'll realize it isn't a big deal. It's not like it keeps happening."
"Vio and I got scrambled together last time we switched eras," Green retorted.
"So what? That's happened before. We know how to deal with it."
"But it was easier to deal with when the others knew. They could help us and they did."
"You can't count on them always doing that. Who's to say they won't take advantage of us? Pick and choose who can be out when?"
"They won't do that," Green refuted. "They're all us in a way."
"Exactly why I'm worried! One of us has a track record of betrayal."
Blue's latest words were a blatant jab at Vio, and even though he knew taking the bait was a bad idea, he bit anyway. "I never betrayed anyone"
"You betrayed Shadow."
And there it was. The truth that Vio wished was a lie. He'd buried it and tried his best to forget it because acknowledging it reminded him that he was more of a monster than Shadow ever was. Shadow was never a monster. Just misunderstood. And Vio had taken advantage of that, twisted it until it suited him and then…
The page in front of him blurred again, and this time it wasn't because of Red.
"Blue!" Green snapped.
"What? It's true. Not my fault if it hurts."
"You know Shadow is a sensitive topic for Vio. You can't just throw it around no matter how bitter you are. Apologize."
Silence.
"Bluuuue!" Red wailed. "Stop being mean! Say you're sorry."
"I'm not sorry."
Vio dashed the back of his hand across his eyes and began to write. The pressure he used almost broke through to the other side of the paper but he didn't care. "I wish you'd died instead of Shadow"
Green gasped. "Vio!"
"You don't mean that!" Red cried.
Vio snapped the journal closed and tossed the writing utensil away. End of discussion. Except it wasn't. Because the voices in his head were still screaming.
His hands found the sides of his head, cuffed his ears to block out the noise. It didn't work. He couldn't silence something that wasn't real.
Walking away was the smart thing to do in these types of situations. Vio was halfway to standing before he realized it wouldn't work either. No matter how far he walked or ran, he would never escape. He'd never be completely alone in his own head.
He was trapped.
So he sat back down and curled up with his head in his hands and willed it all to stop stop stop stop stop stop stopstopstopstopstopSTOP!
Nausea swirling in his stomach made Green aware that he was in control again. His head was pounding and unsettlingly silent. It wouldn't last long.
"Dinner!" Wild's announcement jerked his head up, and he rested his cheek on his folded arms so the world could right itself. Food was the furthest thing from his mind.
Nonetheless he unfolded his limbs from the scrunched up position Vio had manipulated them into and trudged over to join everyone else around the fire. He accepted the bowl Wild handed him and settled down near Sky like nothing was wrong.
He peered into the stew in his lap, feeling more and more nauseated by the second. That was about when he came to the conclusion that such facades were stupid. He didn't have to handle everything alone now. Moreover, he couldn't handle this alone.
"Hey, will you guys help me with something?" Green asked, setting aside his dinner and glancing around the camp.
"Sure, what do you need?" Warrior answered for all of them.
Green could feel the backlash for what he was about to do, and he hadn't even said anything yet. "It's about Blue."
"Is he alright?" Time asked, sounding genuinely concerned because he was. Blue had such a thick skull sometimes that he couldn't see such things.
"Not really. He's mad, and that's why Vio yelled at you earlier," Green said, nodding at Sky.
Confusion creased the Skyloftian's brow. "You're not…?"
He offered a wan smile. "Green."
"Ah." Sky didn't say it. None of them ever did, but they didn't have to. Green saw the doubt that flickered in their eyes every time he announced himself. It was fair enough, he supposed. They had no way of differentiating him from Blue when Blue insisted on pretending to be him. That didn't stop it from being infuriating, though.
"So Blue was pretending to be Vio?" Wind wondered, snapping Green out of his reverie.
"No, it was Vio, but Blue was really mad, so Vio was feeling his anger."
"That happens?" Legend asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yeah but not all the time. Just with extreme emotions." They were getting off topic, and Green needed to finish this discussion before the others found their way to the front again. "Point is, Vio confronted Blue about it, and it spiraled into this whole argument and lots of screaming so nothing actually got resolved.
"Honestly, nothing's going to get resolved because two of us are always going to be incredibly upset and not thinking clearly so we're never actually going to have a civilized conversation. It's always going to be an argument. That's why I need you guys to help me talk to Blue. Or, really, talk to him for me and try to sort this out because I…can't." Admitting it hurt. Green prided himself on being the leader. On knowing what to do. On solving disputes among them, but that was considerably harder to do when they were all smushed together in one body.
"Of course we'll help!"
"Sure."
"Yeah."
"Leave it to us."
"I want to help too, but how will we know it's Blue?" And there was Twilight with the question Green was dreading to answer. Not because he didn't have an answer, but because the answer was a betrayal of sorts in itself. Blue was hiding himself, hiding behind the mask of Green, and Green was about to strip it away.
"We'll use a code," Green decided.
"Can't the others hear us right now?" 'Rule worried, tugging on his ear nervously.
"No, they're not around yet. We just switched." Which is why they had to make this fast.
Warrior seemed to pick up on that fact. "Okay, do you have something in mind?"
Green nodded. "Whoever asks, 'what's the code?', it's their nickname, then 'times four'. So Warrior, if you asked me what the code is, I'd have to say 'Warrior times four'. As long as I say that, you'll know you're talking to me. If the response you get is anything else or nothing at all, it's Blue."
"Or Red or Vio," Legend pointed out.
"Well, no, you'd ask who's out first," Green refuted. "If the response is Green then double check it's really me with the code. If not then, don't ask for a code. There isn't one. Those two won't lie, and Blue won't hide behind anyone else."
"Got it. Sounds simple enough," Legend said, stretching before turning back to his meal.
"Why is he mad? Do you know?" Twilight asked.
Green shrugged. "He doesn't like that we told you guys our secret."
"Is this really a good idea then?" Wild wondered, pulling Green's attention his way. "Won't it make him angrier if you get us involved?"
Green knew it was a possibility, and he'd be surprised if it didn't happen. Still, he had no other way of solving this issue. "Probably, but it's either that or let him stay angry forever." And make everyone else miserable in return.
"Maybe he needs more time?" Wild suggested.
"He's had three weeks to brood. It needs to end," Green declared. It sounded harsh even to his ears, but if any of them were going to find happiness in their situation, Blue's attitude needed to be addressed. "You can tell him it was my idea because it was."
Wild still looked uncomfortable, but Green didn't press. He just needed one of them to talk to Blue. It didn't have to be Wild.
Dinner turned to lighter-hearted conversation and banter as Green picked up his still-full bowl. It didn't look any more appetizing than earlier, but he forced himself to eat some anyway. The last thing they needed was to be low on energy during an ambush.
The others returned while he was eating, sidling in like they were treading on thin ice. None of them spoke, which was rare but not entirely unwelcome. Green could feel them anyway. The frustration. The helplessness. The fury. He couldn't force down much more after that, no matter how good a cook Wild was.
Watch was out of the question tonight, so Green didn't bother volunteering. He simply tucked the journal back into his bag and laid down while the others set up a watch schedule and settled into their own makeshift beds for the night.
Green's sleep was dreamless, but that didn't stop him from waking up in the middle of the night, shaking like a leaf. The night was chilly, but not enough to make him shiver. Not with the extra blankets he had tucked around himself in forethought.
Panic fluttered in his chest like a bird that had jumped off a ledge and forgotten how to fly. His first thought was that something was wrong. Monsters stalking at the edge of camp, waiting to pounce. However, upon shifting for a better look, he could see nothing of the sort. Crickets chirped and a crescent moon high above carved the shapes of his companions in the darkness. Most were laying down. One was sitting up, vigilant but nonplussed.
The camp was safe. Yet insurmountable fear made his heart pound and body tremble. Someone had had a nightmare, and Green had a pretty good idea who.
"Vio?" His whisper was barely audible to his own ears but he didn't dare speak louder. The journal was out of the question. He didn't know where a writing utensil was, and it was too dark to read anyway. "You okay?"
Green was left alone so long with his pounding heart that he began to wonder if he'd guessed wrong, but then, finally, Vio responded. "No."
"Want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay." But it wasn't okay. Vio's fear prevented Green from drifting back to sleep, and Green couldn't even offer him a hug because Vio wasn't physically there to hug. The best he could do was burrow further under the blankets, wrap his arms tightly around himself, and hope that Vio could feel it too.
The next morning the group pushed on to Kakariko Village where they hoped to find the monster merchant Wild claimed existed. At this point, Green suspected the man was like the Minish, showing himself to a select group of people only when it suited him.
So far they'd struck out at Rito Village and Gerudo Town, the latter of which was miserable because it required them to camp out in the cold desert. Even when it became plain this mysterious merchant wasn't going to show, they couldn't even take shelter at an inn on account of the Gerudo's rigid ban on males.
Kakariko was much more welcoming and far less frigid at night, so Green found that he didn't mind all that much when this location failed to deliver as well.
"Are you sure this guy exists?" Legend asked, shoving all his skepticism at Wild as they made their way to the inn.
"Of course he exists!" Wild exclaimed defensively.
"Then why haven't we found him yet?"
"And why does no one else seem to know of him?" Warrior added. It was fair enough. No one they asked knew anything for sure. The best clues they had to his whereabouts were Wild's insistence and stories village children told in whispers about weird lights, balloons, and monster men. How accurate they were, however, was up for debate.
"He's…elusive." Wild mumbled dropping his eyes to his slate and tapping on the screen. "And he likes to move around a lot, but I swear to you, he does come to Kakariko and all the other places we've checked too."
"Then why don't we just stay in one place and wait?" Twilight wondered.
"Because that's boring," Wild replied like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Twilight stopped dead in his tracks and shot him a less than impressed look. "Are you serious?"
Somewhere in Green's head, Blue swore.
Wild stopped as well, taken aback by Twilight's tone. "Yeah, I don't like staying in one place all the time."
"We could've found this guy ages ago, moron!" Legend exclaimed, lunging forward and grabbing Wild by his collar.
"It's fine. We're not in a hurry anyway, and we can just stay in Kakariko now, right?" Sky interjected, hands held up in a placating gesture that didn't seem to be working on Legend at all.
"Legend, let him go." Time sighed. "Sky's right. We'll stay here until Wild's friend makes his way to Kakariko. No harm done."
"No harm done?!" Legend cried, releasing Wild and rounding on Time. "Old man, do you not understand that we could have had answers by now? Wild just wasted our time!"
"We're not going to get it back by yelling at him, are we?" Time countered, the epitome of calm.
Legend just huffed and stalked off ahead. Green rolled his eyes. Legend was so like Blue. If only Blue stopped throwing a tantrum long enough, he'd see that. Green was certain the two of them would be good friends. If nothing else they could burn off some of their pent up energy by sparring together.
Not now, of course. Green could feel the weariness pulling down his limbs, and judging by the way many of the others were slouching and dragging their feet as they walked, he wasn't the only one.
Upon arriving at the inn, they were greeted with the usual mix of excited and overwhelmed from the innkeeper. Wild mumbled some half-hearted explanation for the size of their group and the similarity of their faces as he paid for their rooms, but Green wasn't really listening. His thoughts were already on the soft bed that awaited him as he trudged up the steps after Wind and 'Rule.
"Don't go straight to sleep. Remember we still need to debrief tonight," Vio reminded him as he entered the room he would be sharing with Sky and Wind.
"Use the journal so you don't disturb the others," Red suggested.
"So they don't think you're disturbed is more like it," Blue muttered cynically.
"No one thinks that," Red objected.
"And how do you know?"
"'Cause no one says it."
"Doesn't mean they aren't thinking it!"
Green rolled his eyes as Red devolved into wailing about how that wasn't true while Blue fired back all the faulty reasons why it was and Vio told them both to quiet down and focus.
He was too tired for this tonight. Maybe he'd just write his knowledge of today's events down and let the others read it later. It wouldn't fill in all the gaps but they could work it out in the morning if anyone really cared.
Decision made, Green plopped down on the bed, only to find nothing there. The fall was short, and in a blink of black, Vio found himself on grassy ground, tailbone and elbow smarting.
"-got to be joking!" Legend's cry of indignation rang out above the sounds of chirping crickets. "We just paid for rooms!"
"My soft bed…" Wind lamented from where he was sprawled out on his stomach a few feet away.
"You didn't pay for anything," Warrior scoffed, fixing his already perfect hair.
"Well, I was going to pay Wild back for my part."
"You don't have to-"
"No duh! Of course I'm not paying you back. We didn't even get to use the rooms!" Legend griped, throwing his hands in the air. "And speaking of, why aren't you more upset about losing money?"
"I can earn more," Wild shrugged, already in the process of laying out his bedroll on the grassy ground. "Besides, I like camping."
"You-!"
"We're not setting up camp until we know where we are," Time interjected, eyeing Wild and his bedroll disapprovingly.
The reminder that they were in unknown territory, yet again, encouraged everyone to stop moaning and groaning and take a look around. It was dark, but from the meager illumination of the moon and stars, Vio could see that they were in a field of some sort. Mountains rose tall and foreboding in the distance to the right. Trees were at his back a fair distance away. The foliage was thick, perfect for hiding monsters.
None of it looked remotely familiar to his Hyrule, however.
Fortunately, one of them did recognize it. "We're in my Hyrule," Time announced, sounding a bit embarrassed that he hadn't realize it right away.
"Does that mean we get to stay at the ranch?" Wind asked, eyes lighting up at the prospect. Vio didn't blame him. Time and Malon were wonderful hosts despite their home not being built for ten people. It was snug every time they visited, but it felt like home.
"Unfortunately not. The ranch is half a day's trek from here," Time replied.
Wind groaned and flopped back onto the ground.
"Don't worry, Wind. We'll be able to sleep in real beds tomorrow," Vio reassured the youngest of their party.
"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed. "I totally forgot! Are you okay?"
Suddenly, Vio had eight concerned gazes trained on him. He raised his hands and offered a smile. "Thanks for the concern, but I'm okay. Or rather, we're okay. We didn't get mixed up this time."
"No switch?" Sky wondered.
"Only one."
"Wait, don't tell me! I can guess…" Wind exclaimed, narrowing his eyes at Vio in intense concentration. Many of the others did likewise.
Thankfully, Legend broke the silence before it could stretch too long. "Oh please. You don't have to think about it that hard. It's obviously Vio. No one else is as cryptic as he is."
"That was gonna be my guess," Wind muttered, pouting.
"Your guess would have been correct," Vio informed him, an amused smile tugging at the corners of his mouth at Wind's theatrics. He really was a lot like Red. If Vio wasn't careful, he'd switch again.
"Yes!" Wind cheered, punching the air.
"Anyway, what's the plan? Is it safe to make camp here or should we walk a bit?" Sky asked, turning all eyes to their unofficial leader.
Time gave the area a cursory glance before saying, "We should be safe enough here. Of course, we'll need to post a watch just in case, and get a fire going."
"I'll get firewood," Twilight volunteered.
Vio got to his feet, only slightly shaky. "I'll help." He needed to do something to distract himself from the fact that he felt like he was floating above everything.
Besides, sitting still gave him time to think, and ever since Blue had brought up Shadow yesterday, Vio couldn't stop dwelling on his death. Would Shadow still be alive if Vio hadn't toyed with his emotions like a selfish jerk? Probably. But he and the others would likely be dead in his place. Was that better? One dead so four could live or four dead so one could live?
His own words plagued him too. It wasn't like he'd meant them. The previous evening's nightmare was proof enough of that. He loved Blue as much as he loved Red and Green, even if he got on his nerves more often than not. Still, he hadn't brought himself to apologize yet. Did that mean he wasn't sorry? Was he really what Blue accused him of being? A traitor?
Vio shook off the self-deprecating thoughts. No. He had to stop. This was exactly why he needed a distraction.
He let the Hero of Time's voice drag him back to the present. "—areful. Don't go into the woods proper."
"Got it. We'll stick to the outskirts," Twilight said, already turning in the direction of the woods. "Come on."
Vio fell into step beside Twilight, which was quite difficult to do when Twilight's gait was so much wider than his, but it gave him something to concentrate on so he didn't mind terribly.
When they reached the edge of the forest, they went straight to work collecting sticks, branches, and dry foliage for the fire. With Time's warning in mind, the two of them skirted around the tree line, eventually finding a wide path that wasn't quite part of the forest. It was strewn with a fair share of fallen twigs. Perfect for a campfire.
Vio knelt down, grabbing one and adding it to the growing pile in his arms. It was already quite precarious. He might have to ditch some or risk dropping a few branches on the way back.
"I think that should do it," Twilight declared, straightening after a few more minutes of collecting. "Let's head back."
Vio stood as well, shifting the burden in his arms to get a better grip. He'd only taken one step when a weight slammed into him from behind and sent him sprawling.
A yell from Twilight was the last thing Vio was aware of before Blue was flung into control.
Questions flooded his mind but the hot breath on the back of his neck coupled with the pinpricks of pain digging into his shoulders and the crushing weight pressing him into the ground told him now was not the time.
Grabbing a nearby branch, Blue twisted around as far as he could—which wasn't very far at all—and swung with all his might. The weight let up and Blue shot to his feet, jerking his sword from its sheath and whirling around to face his attacker.
A monstrous black, grey, and white wolf with glowing green eyes greeted him with a head-pounding howl. Blue planted his feet and leveled his sword at the beast. It wouldn't get another lucky shot.
The monster began to circle him again and again making him even more disoriented than he already was. This wouldn't do.
Apparently, the wolf agreed because it chose that moment to lunge at him. Blue braced himself, ready to deliver a decisive sword strike to its muzzle when it bounded within range. That plan quickly disintegrated when he found the wolf towering over him on its hind legs, drawing back its arm in preparation to take a swipe at him.
Blue ducked and rolled out of the way just as the wicked claws came down.
Wrong move.
It spared him from the creature's attack, yes, but it also made him even dizzier. It was all Blue could do to stumble to his feet and turn in time to catch the wolf's next attack on his right forearm. He really should have had his shield equipped. Stupid!
The lacerations stung, and Blue could already feel blood dripping down his arm, but he didn't allow it to distract him. Gritting his teeth in frustration—and maybe a bit of pain—Blue hopped back out of range of the monster's next strike.
When it overbalanced itself, Blue saw his chance and took it, darting forward and driving his sword deep into the furry, yet oddly muscular, side of the wolf. It howled in pain and twisted itself off his blade, making the stab wound worse. Blue had no qualms about that. It was limping now as it circled him warily, red weeping down its left side and staining the fur there.
He wanted to finish this but could practically hear Green telling him to hold. To wait for an opening. As annoyed as he was at Green and the rest of them at the moment, he couldn't deny that doing anything else would be foolish. He was too disoriented to be completely on the offensive. So he equipped his shield and waited. He bided his time, as infuriating as it was, and when the wolf creature finally worked up the foolishness to attack again, he was ready.
Dodging came easily this time around, Blue's balance restored and feet steady beneath him. Another well-placed strike was all it took to take his enemy down for good.
Blue had just breathed out a sigh of relief when another howl pierced the air. He tensed, turning to see an identical creature to the one at his feet falling off Twilight's sword. Yet another wolf lay immobile a little farther down the path, closer to the trees. Twilight must have taken that one out too.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked, sheathing his sword and stepping over the wolf's corpse.
Blue nodded, putting away his weapons as well and casually casting his gaze around to assess the area for any more potential threats. Also, to figure out where they were and what they were doing there. Last he recalled, they were heading to bed at an inn. Had they made it there? Was it still the same night? Or was it tomorrow already, and he just hadn't been near the front all day? It was impossible to tell, so Blue gave up on that for now and turned his attention to other matters. Namely, what the body had been doing before the attack.
It looked like they were in a forest, or near one at the very least. Seeing sticks and branches strewn across the ground wasn't so strange. It was how many there were that labeled them as a clue. Either there had been a storm recently or they had been collecting firewood prior to the ambush. Blue was willing to bet on the latter. Although-
A hand on his arm snapped him out of his thoughts, and he tensed, immediately leaping back, hand straying towards the safety only his sword could provide.
"Easy, Vio, easy," Twilight raised his hands. "It's just me. I'm sorry. Were you spacing out? I just wanted to take a look at your arm."
He blinked. His arm throbbed with a dull pain, reminding him of the injury there. Blue relaxed his posture, cleared his throat to get ready to impersonate and spoke. "Sorry. That's fine and…it's Green." He offered his injured arm to Twilight for inspection, plastering an apologetic smile on his face.
Twilight accepted it with a concerned frown. "When'd you switch? Just now?"
"When we got attacked, I think."
"So you're very confused, I take it?"
"Yes."
As Twilight tended to his injury, cleaning and wrapping it, he answered all of Blue's questions. Apparently, they had switched eras after getting their rooms at the inn—truly unfortunate timing if you asked Blue—and had landed in Time's Hyrule. The two of them were currently next to the Lost Woods and had indeed been collecting firewood before the wolfos showed up.
The creatures, while ferocious, had not been infected which Blue counted as a small blessing. His wound would likely be worse than it was had the wolfos been tainted. Fortunately for him, the injury could easily be healed with a nasty-tasting potion. Unfortunately, he'd have to wait until they returned to camp as, after a hasty rummaging session through both their bags, it was concluded that neither of them had any potions left.
"Can I ask you a question?" Twilight wondered as the two of them began to recollect the firewood.
"Sure," Blue agreed even though he really didn't feel like answering any questions about their condition. The others were too nosy. Green didn't think so, though. He welcomed all questions. "What is it?"
The silence stretched so long between them that Blue started to wonder if he had accidentally spaced out and missed Twilight's question. It wouldn't be the first time such a thing had occurred. However, when he directed an expectant look at Twilight, he found hesitance in the older hero's expression.
That same hesitance transferred to his voice when Twilight finally spoke. "What's…what's the code?"
Well, that wasn't what he'd been expecting at all. He let out a short, breathy laugh, sure Twilight was pulling his leg. "Code? What are you...?" He trailed off, suddenly unsure. Twilight's serious expression indicated it wasn't a joke, but maybe that was intentional? After all, if he made it plain he was joking the joke itself could be lost. He waited for Twilight to crack a smile and laugh, admitting that he was just messing with him.
But he didn't.
The two of them remained staring at each other, still as statues and just as breathless, for what Blue estimated to be somewhere between ten seconds and a lifetime.
Then Twilight shattered it. "…Blue?"
He was animated in an instant, straightening and dumping all the recollected firewood in his arms to the forest floor. He knew. Twilight knew he wasn't Green. He set him up!
Blue couldn't help the rage and disgust that contorted his face. He knew this would happen! He knew. But did the others listen? No. Of course not. They never listened to him.
"Wait. I don't mean any harm-"
Blue scoffed at the blatant lie. "You don't mean any harm? Then why'd you set up a code to expose me, huh?"
"I didn't," Twilight stressed, taking a step closer when Blue stepped back. "Green did. He's worried about you because you're upset for some reason—"
"If he doesn't know why I'm upset then he's more of an idiot than I give him credit for." Blue scowled, crossing his arms over his chest.
"That came out wrong," Twilight claimed. "He does know, it's just… according to Green, every time you guys try to talk about what's upsetting you, it devolves into an argument and nothing gets solved. That's why he asked the rest of us to help."
"This stupid stunt is supposed to be helping?" Blue demanded incredulously. Green truly was a moron. Couldn't he see that dragging the others into their business was going to make everything worse? They didn't know anything about their situation. All the other heroes were was curious and curiosity killed.
Twilight grimaced, hunching his shoulders in guilt. "Yeah, well, it might not have been the best way, but you don't exactly make it easy for us to talk to you."
"Maybe that's because I don't want to talk to you! Ever think of that, genius?
The look on Twilight's face told Blue that he hadn't. "Did we do something?"
"No, but you're going to."
"So…you don't want to talk to us because of something we haven't done yet and may never do?" Twilight wondered, head tilted slightly and eyes squinted as if that would help him better unravel Blue's logic.
Blue threw his hands up in the air. "Well, when you put it like that it sounds stupid!"
"Sorry." Twilight shifted uneasily, readjusting his grip on the wood in his arms. "I just don't understand."
"Of course you don't," Blue huffed, crossing his arms back over his chest. "How could you? You don't have three other people living in your head and randomly taking control of your body. You don't know what it's like to be trapped in your own mind where no one can hear you. To be forced to watch as someone else says and does things that you'd never say or do. To have to resist screaming at the voices in your head when they get too loud because only crazy people talk to themselves. You don't know what any of that's like!"
Pity contorted Twilight's face, and Blue's blood boiled all the more. He barreled on, not giving the elder hero a chance to speak. What was the point? He already knew what he was going to say, and he didn't want to hear any of it. Blue bent down to re-recollect the branches and twigs he'd dropped earlier in anger. "Let's just go back to camp, and if you breathe a word of this to anyone else I'll tell them all your secret, Wolfie. Then you'll know how it feels."
"Is that what this is about? Your secret being out? You know none of us think any differently of you guys, right?" Blue scoffed at that, but Twilight elected to ignore it and continued, "We're not kicking you out of the group or anything."
"You should. In fact, I wish you would," Blue shot back. Leaving by himself would do no good because as soon as one of the others took control, they'd march right back to everyone else. Doing so would be considerably harder in they were banished.
"What? Why?"
Blue continued to add to the pile of wood in his arms, pretending to not have heard Twilight. He was done talking.
"Look, we all have our secrets. We're not going to penalize you guys for keeping yours this long, even if it was a little dangerous. We know now so we can help-"
The firewood in Blue's arms met the ground for the second time that night. "That's the problem! You and your 'helping'."
"You don't want us to help?"
"No! Don't do anything. Act like you don't know a thing and leave us alone!"
Twilight blinked dumbly. "Why?"
"Because you're going to hurt us."
"Blue, none of us would ever-"
"Maybe not intentionally." Blue interrupted. "But you will."
Twilight shook his head uncomprehending. "How?"
"You're all going to pick favorites." At Twilight's vehement head shake of denial, Blue rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you don't already prefer one of us over the others. I know you do because I do. It's human nature. And that same nature will eventually lead to all of you deciding who gets to be out when.
"Then maybe you'll get bored of that and 'help' us by figuring out a way for us to control our switches. But in reality it only breeds chaos because once we know how to gain control, none of us will ever want to be out of it. We'll all end up fighting over the body and tear each other apart in the process. Then who knows what'll happen to the body? Maybe it'll seize. Maybe it will become an empty shell, and we'll all be trapped in the headspace, fighting for eternity, or maybe we'll just die. I don't know. All I know is that nothing good will come out of it, and the others are too blinded by the freedom of being themselves to see that!"
Blue heaved for breath upon finishing his rant as Twilight stared at him, stunned. "I…Blue, that won't happen. I promise you. We're not going to force you guys to do anything you don't want to."
"Green and the rest revealed our secret when I didn't want to. Why should I believe you guys are any different?"
Twilight's piercing blue gaze held his, unfaltering. "Twilight times four."
Now it was Blue's turn to be confused. "What?"
"That's the code. The name changes depending on who asks you the question. If you want to stay hidden, you can. I wish you wouldn't, but if you feel safest that way then I'm not going to take that away from you. Just know that you guys are safe with us. We're not going to force anyone to switch and we won't help you figure out how to control your switches unless you all explicitly ask for it. If one of you says no, then we won't. Sound good?"
Yes. It actually did sound good. Too good. And when something sounded too good to be true, it usually was. Blue pounced on the first flaw he saw. "One of the others could pretend to be me and give you fake consent. You wouldn't know the difference, and then we'd be back to square one."
"They shouldn't do that."
"But they could," Blue pointed out.
"Do you think they would?"
Blue shrugged. "They told our secret even though I voted against it."
"Right, but that didn't require impersonating you."
"They still ignored my opinion."
Twilight nodded at that. "Alright, well, when it comes to something like learning to control switches I take it you're always to going to say no, right?"
"Yes," Blue agreed.
"Okay, so if you ever say anything else I'll know it's not you. Fair enough?"
"Fair enough," Blue grumbled, tearing his gaze away from Twilight and the sincerity in his eyes because he couldn't be serious. …Could he? Was it really that easy?
As the two of them finished filling their arms with firewood, Blue began to believe that it was. After all, Twilight did give him the code. No one else could use it to lay his lies bare. Unless they concocted a new code, of course.
Blue frowned deeply at the thought. It was disturbing but possible. Twilight could have only given him the code to gain his trust and be planning to form a new code with Green next time Blue wasn't around to hear it.
Warily, Blue glanced side-long at his current companion. Was Twilight capable of such a thing? He wasn't sure. All he had to go off of was Twilight's word, and how much that was worth remained to be seen.
Fortunately for Blue, he didn't have to wait long. When they returned to camp Twilight informed the rest of their run in with the wolfos and pointed to him, specifically saying that Green had injured his arm—reminding Blue that the wound actually did hurt and was still bleeding slightly—and could anyone spare a potion because neither of them had any.
Everyone was quick to offer one, but Sky was the fastest in producing said potion. Mostly because everyone else discovered they were running low as well.
"Does this mean we're going on a supply run tomorrow?" Wind wondered, bouncing excitedly on his bedroll, equally intimidated and excited by the prospect of towns.
"Yes," Legend answered him. "I don't like not having medical supplies."
"We still have some," Hyrule pointed out, holding up a red potion he'd just salvaged from his bag.
"It's still best to restock while we have a few left," Warrior added. He turned to Time. "How far away is Castle Town?"
"A day."
"As in twenty-four hours?" Warrior asked.
"Well, technically you can make it there in eleven hours if you run the whole way but they close the gates at nightfall and don't let anyone in or out. So it rounds out to a day if you want to camp out in the field, which we don't."
"We're camping out in the field now," Legend said.
"That's because we have no choice. Or rather, because I don't think you boys will appreciate walking all night just to reach the ranch, but with the wolfos attack I'm starting to rethink..."
"No!" Wind wailed, burrowing into his bedroll. "I don't wanna walk anymore today."
"I just got the fire started." Wild pouted, tossing an errant branch into the blazing campfire he had completed while they were all talking.
"Besides that I don't think they're much of a threat," Twilight said. "The wolfos weren't infected, and I'm pretty sure they're native to the Lost Woods, which we're a good distance from. We were probably encroaching on their territory and that's why they attacked."
Time still looked uneasy, but he sighed, relenting. "Fine, but we're setting double watch shifts just in case. We'll head to the ranch tomorrow and rest there for the day before moving on to Castle Town."
Conversation then turned to reworking the watch schedule the others had fabricated while he and Twilight were off collecting wood for the fire. Wind smartly feigned sleep during the discussion but that didn't spare him from being assigned the early morning shift with Hyrule.
Blue was paired up with Sky to take the shift before Wind's and Hyrule's, for which he was grateful and Green—who had drifted towards the front halfway back to camp—was displeased because it was unlikely Blue would wake up in the body. Unless there was an attack, of course, but hopefully the wolfos were all the excitement that would find them that night.
Settling down on his bedroll near Wind with a heap of blankets to keep them both warm, Blue drifted off to sleep.
Green awoke, just as he'd predicted, to Wild shaking him, telling him that it was his turn. He groaned in annoyance as he waved the older teen away and sat up. Blue was such a jerk for not taking first watch.
The chill that crept in when the blankets fell off his shoulders was not welcome, but it did chase away some of the haziness of sleep.
"You might have to help Time wake up Sky," Wild informed him, jerking a thumb behind him to draw Green's attention to Time's unsuccessful endeavors to awaken the notoriously sleepy hero without also waking up the Links around him.
Green let out a quiet laugh at the display. "Putting Sky on any shift other than the first is a mistake."
Wild yawned. "Agreed."
After ushering Wild off to his own bedroll before he collapsed from exhaustion, Green got to his feet and weaved his way through camp where he set to the task of helping Time wake Sky. It took much harsh whispering, shaking, a couple slaps to the face, and a whole waterskin before the Chosen Hero cracked open his eyes.
Waking Sky turned out to be the most exciting part of watch, and it wasn't long before Green found himself snuggled back up in blankets, quietly shushing Red, Blue, and Vio, who had migrated to the front not long into his shift.
The remaining few hours of sleep couldn't truly be described as sleep. In fact, Green would categorize it more as dozing than anything.
Nonetheless, he got up with everyone else as the first rays of the sun peaked over the horizon and lit up the world. After a brief breakfast of hard bread and fruit (they definitely needed to make a supply run), the group of heroes set off for Lon Lon Ranch.
YouTube Resources:
"Passive Influence: Alters affecting things from the inside" –The Entropy System
"COMMUNICATING With ALTERS: Part 1 - EXTERNAL | Dissociative Identity Disorder | DissociaDID REUPLOAD" –DissociaDID
"Hearing VOICES?! COMMUNICATING With ALTERS Part 2: INTERNAL |Dissociative Identity Disorder REUPLOAD" –DissociaDID
"DID and Dreaming" –The Entropy System