Chapter Text
“And the fairy said that he must be up here somewhere,” Red chirped as he dragged Blue and his token resistance along by the elbow without a care in the world for the fiery depths surrounding them. Blue looked back at Green with an expression pleading for mercy, wide eyes and all. Green had almost no sympathy for his brother. Almost.
But they were kind of in a volcano and he really wasn’t too happy about it either, so he wasn’t going to poke the bear in this case, brotherly love or not. How Red could cheerfully make his way alongside magma pools and rocks so hot they were sweltering like Zora in midsummer, he would never understand. Even an affinity for fire seemed sketchy under the looming shadow- Ha, shadows- of Mount Crenel in all its glory.
He was probably going to die of heatstroke and not even the lazy air currents were enough to do anything about it.
“Do you think he’s there? And he’s ok?” Red glanced back at them both, a hint of concern in his eyes, the first hesitation he’d shown since they started their ungodly trek through the maze of stone towards their missing brother.
Green opened his mouth to respond and then closed it. Because when it came to Vio, who had been so quiet, so unreactive, so untouchable, did he really know? He was there, sure, that was probably likely. The fairy guiding them had yet to be wrong, and their brother would feel just the same as them anyway. If he was ok… A thousand scenarios ran through Green’s head, each one worse than the last, all of them ending with blood spilled on the floor.
Blue beat him to an answer.
“Of course he’s ok,” Blue scoffed. “He’s probably enjoying himself doing all the puzzles and dungeoneering on his own without any of us there to disrupt his nerd things.”
“I’m sure he misses us,” Green soothed, shooting a glare at Blue that was ignored, as expected. “I missed you guys, and we weren’t separated as long. We’ll find him and it’ll be fine.” He wasn’t really certain of that, and probably Red wasn’t either, but he got a smile out of Red anyway. Onward they trudged, more slowly than before.
The mountain thus far had been surprisingly devoid of monsters, another good sign of Vio’s presence in the area. The fact that their fourth piece had been clearing out the monsters along the way went to confirm that he was at least alive. Fairy advice or no, Green held the quiet worry in the back of his mind for the safety of his brothers whenever they were out of his sight. Until he had a visual confirmation, he wouldn’t be satisfied.
There was always something to be going wrong where a hero was found, it seemed. Having all three of his wayward brothers in close range once again would at least quell that anxiety, the niggling fear of what might happen if one of them were to be lost for good when they were split apart.
Red chattered Blue’s ear off ahead of him, rushing back and forth to examine everything in sight and discussing Nayru knew what with mostly himself. Blue shot Green a pointed glance that demanded Green participate in the conversation. Green simply rolled his eyes at that. Blue cared for all of them perfectly well, each of them could see it even when the jerk vehemently denied it to their faces, and he was certainly not exception to the rule of having a soft spot for Red. He could deal with listening to Red for another five minutes while Green stewed in his anxieties.
… Eh, he supposed he could save Blue this time. He jogged forward to catch up with the pair, ignoring Blue miming sarcastic clapping behind at him Red’s back.
“Sorry Blue, just thinking a lot.”
“Think up here, then, asshole,” Blue commented. “It’s really hard to do that with Red going on, might keep you from zoning out. At this rate we’re going to have to call you the nerd instead of Vio.”
“That’ll never happen, Vio’s way too smart for that,” Green laughed. He could save his worries for later. Vio was fine. Even so, the foreboding prickles of doubt down his spine refused to fade away.
“I think we’re getting close to the center,” Red announced with a grin.
“How in Farore’s name would you possibly be able to tell?” Blue grumbled the reply mostly to Green, but Red heard him anyway.
“It’s been getting hotter! So we’re headed towards the caldera at this point, I think! That or just a lot of lava. Couldn’t you tell?”
“Could I- No I couldn’t tell, what the hell do you think?! It’s not like we all carry a fire rod with us twenty-four seven!” Blue’s sputtering had Green choking back laughter, even if he shared the sentiment. Red and his damn fire.
“Let’s go get our missing brother, then.” He sped up, leaving Blue and Red to follow in his wake through the twisting tunnels. Boots pounded against stone and the air shimmered with nearly unbearable heat as he rushed onward, intent on dousing his rising fear before it could erupt.
“Green, wait up!” Red called out from behind him.
He kept running, feeling the insistent currents pulling at his clothes and dragging him forward with every step. They were almost there. Something was wrong. Everything would be fine. Something was wrong. They were so close to being whole again. Something was very wrong.
He burst into the open magma chamber at full tilt and skidded to a quick halt, eyes wide. He drew his sword off his back without any further thought. Blue bumped into him from behind with a soft curse, and then a louder one as his eyes caught up to where Green was looking.
He should’ve known that anything that could go wrong undoubtedly would.
Vio sat before them on a throne carved with magic and stone, arms crossed and leaning back without a care in the world as he watched them wheeze in the boiling air and thick smoke after their race to find him. And no brother of theirs would ever stand by and watch them struggle. He and Blue shared a glance with each other, in complete agreement for once. Shadow would pay for whatever he had done to their brother.
Blue began to reach for his own sword, only to whip around with the beginnings of panic on his face as Red finally hurtled into the cavern and caught up with them. Green agreed with the panic. Because how did they tell their sentimental brother that everything they had thought would be resolved was simply them being deceived by yet another agent of Vaati and Ganon?
“Vio!” Red rushed forward with a happy cheer and Blue yanked him back. Red glared at him. “Blue, what the hell? We found him!”
“Oh, we found him alright,” Blue growled, reaching down to his hip for his sword with his free hand. He pointed his copy of their shared blade at Vio, who smirked. “Him and a whole heap of trouble.”
“That’s not him, Red,” Green explained softly, and Red’s eyes narrowed as he made the connection that Blue and Green had gotten immediately. “Someone’s imitating him. Wanting to turn us against each other.”
“One guess as to who,” Blue spat. Red grabbed his fire rod, fury etched across his face in stark contrast to the joy of heartbeats before.
The amused snickering on the wind promptly answered that question for them and they backed up into each other, scoping the fiery area for the inevitable attack to follow.
“You flatter yourselves, don’t you?” Green held back a curse and gripped his sword tighter as the shade’s words bounced around the cavern. “Thinking that I would stoop so low to trick you with illusions of yourselves? That I would want to be even more like any of you heroes? I’m wounded!”
“Shadow,” Green hissed.
The shade resolved himself into view with a vicious smirk, floating above the throne with crossed arms.
“The one and only.”
“Where’s Vio?” Red glared up at their shadow with more intensity than the burning volcano they were in. “Give him back.”
“Aww, what an optimistic thought that is, Red,” Shadow laughed, “He’s right in front of you. I told you, why would I bother with illusions? Not when Vio came to us willingly!”
“As if they’ll believe you, Shadow,” Vio cut in coolly, unimpressed lavender eyes flicking over each of them. “They’re far too simple-minded for that.”
“Get down here and I’ll show you simple-minded, you dirty, backstabbing bastard!” Blue raised his sword and Green grabbed his arm in case their impulsive brother tried something dangerous. Blue shook him off, waves of palpable rage emanating from his form, but at least he stayed put.
“Still a slave to your anger I see, Blue,” Vio returned, and Green didn’t have to look to know that Blue had to be moments from losing the clinging shreds of control left to him.
“What do you want from us, traitor?” Blue gritted out. Green placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Hopefully, that would ground both of them enough to prevent disaster. Green wasn’t sure he could stop Blue from initiating a fight if it came down to it, but he had to try.
“Your unconditional surrender might be nice,” Vio mused, leaning on one arm of the throne. “Or your allegiance to a better cause. Imagine the power that would come from an alliance with the darkness that blankets Hyrule. It always comes back, doesn’t it?”
“And so do we,” Green pointed out. Vio scowled at them.
“I did tell you they wouldn’t change their tune easily. It’s not as though they’re like you.” Shadow settled himself down on the arm of the throne next to Vio, red eyes gleaming in the intense glow of the magma surrounding their thin spit of land.
“I had hoped that there might have been a shred of intelligence to share for the rest of Link,” Vio replied, and wasn’t that particularly cruel of him to point out when each of them already knew well that they were their own person and had their own strengths and weaknesses to contend with. Green certainly knew. He also knew that they were all smarter than they let on anyway. Either Vio no longer cared at all, or he was simply trying to get a rise out of them, and Green wasn’t going to have it.
“Enough of this,” He snapped. “You’ve made your point. What next, are you going to kidnap Grandpa because he dares to still believe in us?”
Vio jerked back as though he’d been kicked in the gut, and Green couldn’t deny the sick sense of satisfaction that crept through him at the sight. Even with Red’s clear noise of pain in his ears and the faint sound of Blue murmuring reassurances to their kinder counterpart, he wouldn’t be standing down now. Vio threw his cards on the table. Green would too. He was their leader for a reason.
“Oh, I like him! I didn’t think you had it in you,” Shadow crowed. Green barely spared a glance for their dark reflection, wholly fixated on his violet brother.
“Childish, aren’t you,” Vio hissed, and oh, Green knew he had struck a nerve, but there was no turning back now. Vio stood, stepping down from the throne with murderous intent in his eyes. Green matched his posture. You don’t want to do this. He didn’t, but Vio forced his hand.
“You and me. You won’t get a chance to lay a hand on Hyrule or my brothers.”
“Green, dueling me? I never thought I’d see the day when our great swordsman would lower himself to our level.” Vio raised a hand, and another island rose from the lava between them, circular stone spelling out the obvious.
Vio had intended to end them here from the very beginning of his shift to the darkness. Blue would fight fiercely, but be outmaneuvered until his energy dwindled and he became an easy target. Red would hold out longer, but wouldn’t want to fight in the first place, and currently didn’t have his sword. Green was the one standing in the way.
“Help Red,” He murmured over his shoulder. “He won’t want to see this.” Blue nodded firmly at his order, for once not taking the time to argue.
“Just kick his ass.” They exchanged strained smiles. Green inhaled slowly, taking in his brothers, then spun back to the pair of traitors with a glare and jumped across the gap onto the platform.
“Look at that, Green means it! You sure you don’t want me to take care of him?” Shadow grinned, baring sharp fangs. “One hero is hardly a match for the likes of us.”
Vio shrugged dismissively and drew his sword.
“They will not see the dark until it smacks them in the face, and even then, they will stay in denial. That’s who my brothers are. No, Shadow. I’ll be the one to take care of this.” He gave Green an unimpressed once-over. “Unless you’d like to take the chance to change your mind now. I won’t offer again.”
“You’re a coward,” Green spat, ugly rage tearing through his chest. “Hiding away from your heroism just because dark magic offers a better promise of saving your skin.”
“Oh?” Vio quirked an eyebrow at him. “And who is willing to kill who here, Green?”
“How about you find out?”
“Don’t kill him,” Red pleaded. “You can’t. He’s still our brother- You don’t want to do this, Vio! That’s not who you are!”
“Red,” Vio let a dark, bitter laugh escape. “You have no idea what I want. You have no idea who I am.”
“Trust me, Red.” Green raised his sword. “It’ll work out alright. The hero always wins, right?”
“Only in the storybooks, brother.” Vio drew his own sword, a feral grin touching his face as the stone underfoot rumbled in response. “And we aren’t children anymore.”
“You’re talking too much,” Green snapped. “You want to fight for your darkness? Then prove it, coward.” If fighting Vio was what it took to snap their brother out of this spiral he had gone down, then a fight he would give.
He let go of control and gave his movements over to the breeze, trusting the air to guide his sword as it always had, and lunged.