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Vio practically lived for Shadow’s words at this point.
It was strange, how someone could fall in love with someone despite knowing virtually nothing about them. Vio knew hardly nothing about Shadow. He didn’t know what he looked like. He didn’t know how old or tall he was. He didn’t know his favorite color.
But despite all of these things, he was completely and hopelessly in love.
He couldn’t have imagined feeling something like this earlier in life. When he was younger, he insisted that he was never going to meet his soulmate and that he would live alone forever, like Blue.
This behavior kept up until his thirteenth birthday, when Shadow wrote his first words to him. Watching the ink scratch across his skin was mesmerizing, and the feeling of the words blazing their way across his skin sent shivers up his spine.
It was something he never would have been able to comprehend before.
No matter what Vio did, Shadow refused to let them meet up in real life. He claimed that it was too dangerous, that he didn’t want Vio to get hurt, and plenty of other excuses. Still, he didn’t press Shadow—he must have had a good reason for why they couldn’t meet.
It wouldn’t stop him from talking almost all the time. He would chatter on and on about new things he learned in school, about how he and his best friend dyed their hair purple (Shadow joked that it was for him), and how his dad was almost never home. Vio would tell him about things that were happening in his life, like visitations with his brother, or finishing a big school project, or meeting up with friends. Despite never meeting, Vio felt like he had known Shadow all his life.
He was lying down, cleaning out his photo library on his phone when he felt the slight tickle of words on his skin. He lifted up his jacket sleeve.
Vi, I have a question.
Vio grabbed a pen from the bedside table. What’s up?
If you were in a really bad situation, what would you do?
What do you mean by that?
I just need to know. Would you try to get yourself out or just stay the way you are?
Why are you asking me this? Shadow, what’s going on?
There was no further comment, and Vio had never been more scared in his life.
He made his way through the rest of the day feeling numb, terror building up in his mind. His hands were shaking enough that he couldn’t hold a pen steady, which meant he couldn’t write to Shadow, which meant he wouldn’t be able to help if there was something wrong-
Vio took a deep breath. He needed to calm down if he wanted to be able to help.
It was later that day, when Blue got back from work, that Vio finally found out what happened.
“What are you doing?”
Shadow flinched, banging his arm against the table and dropping his pen. “Nothing.”
“You were doing something. Don’t lie to me,” the man growled. “I’ll tell your father.”
Shadow’s heart began to race. Just a couple weeks ago, he wouldn’t have ever freaked out at the mention of his dad.
Things had changed in the last few weeks, though.
“I don’t have to tell you anything, Vaati,” he said. “Dad isn’t gonna get onto me.”
“I’m not going to get onto you for what?” a deep voice boomed from the front of the room. “Shadow, what have you been doing?”
Shadow glared up into Ganondorf’s eyes. “So you can have secrets, but I can’t?”
“What were you doing?”
The staring contest continued for another minute, before Shadow said in a small voice, “I was having a conversation. With my soulmate.”
He gasped as he was lifted up by the collar. “I told you the rules,” Ganondorf growled. “What were you not supposed to do?”
“...Talk to anyone outside base.”
“What did you do?”
“Disobey your orders.”
Ganondorf sighed, dropping him on the ground. Shadow coughed harshly, rubbing the place where he had been grabbed.
“Vaati, what do you think would be a suitable punishment for an offense like this?” he asked, glaring down at his son.
“Whatever you say, sir.”
Ganondorf hummed for a moment, before saying, “Shadow, you are not to leave this room for the rest of the week.”
Shadow froze. “Wait. No, please, don’t lock me in here again,” he begged, staring up at them with fear. “I can’t be alone again. Please.”
“You broke the rules. You have to be punished.”
“Please!”
“You’re lucky I’m not blindfolding you again, brat.”
Ganondorf bent down, forcing Shadow to look up at him. “This is for your own good,” he said. “It’ll teach you obedience. That’ll be important for when you join me.”
“I’m never following in your footsteps,” he said, his voice trembling. “I’m not evil. I’m not a bad person.”
Ganondorf and Vaati laughed harshly. “We’ll see where you stand at the end of the week,” they said.
“Please,” he begged, and he kept repeating the word, even as the door closed and he heard the lock click. Shadow bit his tongue, feeling the taste of metal in his mouth as he tried his best not to cry.
He hated being alone.
He stumbled over to the bed, laying down and pulling his sweatshirt over his shirt, climbing under the covers and hugging himself. As he curled up into a ball, he felt something stiff in the pocket of his sweatshirt. He pulled it out, examining it in the faint light.
It was a pen.
He almost cried out in relief. He could get in contact with Vio. He might be able to get out of here.
He stuffed the pen under the covers, closing his eyes. He’d do it at another time, when they weren’t looking through the cameras for sure.
A few hours later, he was shaken awake. “Get up,” his father’s harsh voice said in his ear, yanking him to his feet.
Shadow opened his eyes, looking up into Ganondorf’s dark brown eyes. “Huh?”
“You and I are going to do a little interrogation,” he said, grabbing Shadow’s arm and shoving his sleeve up. He grabbed a pen from his jacket, forcing him to sit down.
“What are you doing?” he yelled, trying to yank his arm out of Ganondorf’s grasp.
“It’s very simple,” he said, yanking Shadow towards him with such force that he was almost convinced that Ganondorf had dislocated his arm. “You’re going to ask your soulmate a few questions for me. After this is done, I might consider letting you out. You might even be able to go outside, but only if you comply.”
Shadow’s heart hammered in his chest. He couldn’t betray Vio. He couldn’t.
But the thought of being able to leave…
No. He forced the thought out of his head, shaking his head. “I’m not helping you.”
Ganondorf sighed. “I was afraid of this. Dark!”
Another person walked into the room, wearing a dark mask with red eyes. Shadow shrunk back, but Ganondorf’s firm grip on his arm kept him from moving any further. “Who is this?”
“Someone I hired a while back,” Ganondorf said coolly. He nodded towards Shadow, and Dark walked behind him, pulling his other arm behind him and twisting it. He cried out as pain shot up his arm.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Your soulmate may be the key to something I greatly desire,” he said. “I will stop at nothing to get it.”
“What is it that you want this badly that you’re willing to practically torture your only child? Just two weeks ago, we were laughing over board games and getting ice cream together! What is this thing you want so much that it turned you into a completely different person in just two weeks?!”
“Shut up!”
Shadow yanked his arm again, and Ganondorf’s grip loosened. He tried pulling it away again, only for his father to increase the pressure.
“Do you want me to break your arm?” he growled.
Shadow was crying at this point, tears slipping down his face and hitting his lap as he struggled against Ganondorf and Dark. “Why?”
Ganondorf chose to ignore him, instead instructing Dark to hold onto his other arm. Shadow couldn’t escape the man’s strong grip, and he went slack, head dropping to his chest.
He could feel Ganondorf pressing the pen onto his skin, almost hard enough to puncture, and he let out a quiet whimper of pain.
Ganondorf didn’t care, though; he just kept writing.
Vio had pulled the curtains on the loft shut, not letting anyone else inside. He had the small reading lamp turned on, scanning his arms every fifteen seconds for any new messages from Shadow.
After about two hours of this, he had given up, turning off the lamp and crawling under his sheets. He might as well take a nap. Maybe Shadow would have written back when he woke up.
As soon as he closed his eyes, however, he could feel the scratching feeling that was so familiar in his arm. He shot up, turning the lamp back on and opening the blinds.
Vio, I don’t have much time to talk. I just need to ask you a question.
You’re okay! What’s going on?
There’s just a few things I need to know.
What do you need?
A few personal questions.
Get to the questions, then.
What’s your last name?
Vio frowned. I could have sworn I told you before.
I must’ve forgotten. I’m sorry.
Okay… My last name is Centaro. Why?
Just wanted to make sure I didn’t already know you.
This was… perplexing, to say the least. Shadow almost never wrote words like that, and his handwriting was a little different, and…
He was writing on his right arm.
Shadow was right-handed.
Whoever you are, whatever you’re doing, leave him alone.
I swear it’s me.
You’re right-handed, writing on your right arm. Explain.
I injured it earlier. My writing is a little different because I’m using my left hand.
...Okay.
That was all I had to ask.
Vio looked down at his arm. Then why didn’t you just say you had a question?
I don’t know, okay? I just needed to know.
Why did you need to know?
I already told you!
Shadow never used punctuation other than the period and the question mark.
Vio put the pen down, laying face-down in his blankets. He had been tricked. As he was mulling over his thoughts, something occurred to him.
If that wasn’t Shadow writing to him, who was it?
Shadow collapsed on the bed, bursting into tears. He didn’t know what was going to happen to Vio, or anyone else, and it was likely he’d never see the sun again. He curled up on himself, gripping the pen in his hands.
A thought drifted through his mind. What if you ran away?
How would he even do that, though?
Use the pen, idiot. Pick the lock. Remember that tutorial you saw on YouTube once?
Shadow thought about it for a moment, looking down at the pen in his hand. It was the right one…
He stood up, walking over to the door and pulling the ink cartridge out of the pen. It slid out easily, and Shadow inserted it into the lock. After a few minutes of moving the slim cartridge around in the lock, he heard it click and the door opened slightly.
He barely bit back a yell of triumph, cracking the door open a little more and peeking to the sides. Nobody was outside, which was honestly a stupid move. Ganondorf probably hadn’t thought of him trying to escape, though.
He closed the door behind him, locking it to make it seem like nothing had happened. Shadow raced down the hall, running to the top of the stairs. He ran outside, crying out in relief as he sprinted down the street.
He sunk down to his knees against a brick building, breathing wildly. Shadow tried to count his options from here on out. He could go back home, but the entire block was probably under surveillance. He could try and find someone who would help, but they would probably report him as a runaway and then Ganondorf would find him. Or…
He could look for Vio.
That seemed like the most sensible option, but also the most dangerous. Ganondorf knew who he was. Shadow didn’t want to risk leading him right to Vio.
Still… Vio was smart. He might be able to help him. If he couldn’t help, he could at least hide him for a little while.
With that in mind, he set off walking, wandering around the city.
He kept walking for what seemed like hours, and the sun was slowly setting. He sat down in front of a small store, pulling his legs in and trying his best to stop himself from sobbing.
He didn’t know how long he was there, until someone walked out of the store, kneeling down next to him. “Hey, honey, are you alright?” a woman said, laying what seemed to be an attempt at a calming hand.
Shadow flinched, looking over at her. She had long, red hair, and pretty blue eyes. She was looking him over with concern. “What happened?”
“Who are you?” he whispered.
She looked down at him fondly. “My name is Malon,” she said. “What’s yours?”
“...Shadow,” he said quietly.
Malon crouched down next to him. “Well, Shadow, would you like to come inside?” she asked. “It’s going to rain soon.”
He hesitated for a moment, before taking her hand. She couldn’t possibly be with his father, right? She was too nice.
She led him into a small coffee shop, walking him to the back room. A young boy with light brown hair and a taller boy with long blonde hair were sitting in front of an oven.
“Wild, Hyrule, you two didn’t burn the cookies, did you?” she asked gently, causing the smaller boy to jump.
“‘Rule almost did,” the blonde said, snorting. “I pulled them out just in time.”
Malon nodded, letting go of Shadow’s hand and walking over to the oven.
“Who’s that?” the brunette (Shadow was assuming this was Hyrule) asked.
“I found him in front of the store. He was in a bit of trouble.”
“You want a cookie?” the blonde (Wild, probably) said. “Fresh out of the oven.”
Shadow’s eyes burned, remembering that just a few weeks ago, he had been making cookies from scratch with his father.
What could have possibly changed him that much?
“Sure,” he said quietly. Wild grinned widely.
“It’s a new recipe,” he said. “We mixed cinnamon in with the chocolate.”
Shadow nodded, walking over to the tray and taking one. He bit into it, and his eyes watered. “Really good,” he said.
“You can sit on the couch if you want, honey,” Malon called. She walked up the stairs, and Shadow couldn’t help but wonder where they led.
Wild and Hyrule sat down on the rug next to the table. “What’s your name?” Hyrule asked, cocking his head to the side.
“I’m Shadow,” he said quietly.”
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
“Oh, that’s cool! We’re the same age!”
“I really like your hair,” Wild interjected. “I tried to convince Mom and Dad to let me dye my hair, but they said that letting it get this long was as far as they would go.”
“Thank you.”
“So… why are you here? Are you in trouble or something?” Hyrule asked.
Shadow bit back the response that yes, he was in trouble. “I’m looking for someone.”
“What’s their name? We can help.”
“Um… his name is Vio. Vio Centaro.”
Wild and Hyrule exchanged a glance. “Wait, isn’t that Blue’s last name?”
“I don’t know! You’re the one who works with him!”
“It is! And we met the brothers the other day… Holy Hylia.”
They turned back to him. “We know him.”
Shadow blinked. “You do?”
Wild beamed. “Yep!” he said. “He’s my coworker’s younger brother.
“Oh,” he said, almost laughing. This had just gotten ten thousand times easier. “That’s… nice.”
Malon came back down the stairs with a red-headed boy, a boy with light brown hair, and an older man.
“We found what he was looking for!” Wild said, a wide grin on his face.
She frowned. “Pardon me?”
“He was looking for somebody,” Hyrule said. “Blue’s little brother.”
“We’re soulmates,” Shadow mumbled.
The man chuckled. “You’re at the right place, then,” he said. “Welcome to Castle Town Coffee Shop, the so-called ‘Most Likely Place To Find Your Soulmate.’”
Shadow blinked. “I swear I didn’t mean to come here.”
“It’s alright, sweetie,” Malon said. “We can help you find him.”
“I can call Blue,” the redhead said.
“He might be busy…”
“Does it look like I care?”
“Legend, that’s rude. Take other people into consideration.”
“I am,” he groused. “And that kid is clearly messed up. He needs support. Or rather, his soulmate.”
The man sighed. “Go ahead and call him,” he said. “It won’t hurt to try.”
Legend nodded, pulling out his phone and swiping until he pressed something, holding the phone near his ear. “Blue? Yeah, there’s some kid here looking for Vio…”
Shadow stopped paying attention to everything else, looking down at his hands. There was no writing there, and he found himself relieved, for some reason. He wanted to explain everything to Vio in person.
Legend hung up about a minute later. “They’re on their way.”
Shadow exhaled in relief. “Thank you all.”
“It’s not a problem, sweetie,” Malon said. “We’re always willing to help someone in need.”
Shadow nodded. “Thank you.”
Ten minutes later, the door flew open. A tall man with chin-length blonde hair and a shorter boy with silvery-blonde hair ran into the room. “Where is he?” the smaller boy asked.
Shadow waved, and he looked over, exhaling in relief. “Shadow,” he said, rushing over to him and taking his hand.
“Vio,” he whispered.
Vio pulled him into a hug, rocking back and forth. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he murmured. “I was so scared earlier, you have no idea.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Don’t be,” he said. “Everything’s gonna be okay, okay? We’re together now.”
Shadow nodded, melting into Vio’s embrace, and for a little while, he let himself forget about his father and everything else going on right now.
He was safe for now, and that was enough.