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He should have seen it coming.
'But how, Vi?'
He knew it was only a matter of time before it came up, what with a group of 8 other heroes? It's amazing it's never popped up before now.
'Well, they should've asked from the beginning!'
It was only a matter of time...
'We'll always be here for you, Vio.'
...Before they kick us out of the group.
'No. They-they'd never do that to us.'
Before they think of Four as nothing but a lost cause.
'They better not be that stupid!'
Before they try to ‘save’ him.
'Vio, take a deep breath. Listen to yourself, listen to how crazy this all sounds!'
Before they separated him from the only family he had left.
'No!'
'Like Ganondorf they will!'
'We'd never let that happen!'
But in all honesty. It's what he deserved. After everything he put his own brothers through. After everything he was still willing to put them through.
'We understand, and we're not even that upset anymore.'
'Speak for yourself, Red. But Vio, if they try ANYTHING I will beat them up, especially the Captain.'
'Blue, stop threatening Warriors. If you want to fight him so badly, just ask him to spar with you.'
---
The Chain had just been deposited back into Time’s well time, straight onto the homely land of Lon Lon Ranch (thank Hylia). Obviously, as a group of tired heroes would, they were quick to rush into Malon and Time's home, crashing on their furniture (or if you're Wild, straight onto their floor) and reveled in a much-needed break.
Four had immediately grabbed a book from a small stack nearby, forgetting about the common courtesy of asking, opting to just start their reading. And as such, Vio was pulled into the foreground of their mind, taking in as much information as the text would give him on - 'Gardening Tips & Tricks.'
Legend and Warriors were (somehow) calmly talking to each other - though Blue noted that they were mostly bragging, trying to one-up the other. Legend with adventures and treasures, and Warriors with women and kill-counts.
Somehow, this had turned into Wind ranting and raving about his Windwaker, exclaiming how it could, not only change wind directionality and create cyclones (which they all knew already) with the Wind's Requiem, but there was also the Earth God's Lyrics and the Wind God's Aria - both which were required to power up the Master Sword. He also proclaimed his favorite song, which he rarely used, was The Command Melody - as it gave him complete control over statues, and occasionally people and monsters - he swore to only use it in the direst of situations.
This, in turn, had quickly turned into the Chain going around telling stories about their adventures - or at least part of them. And for the most part, Four wasn't paying much attention.
Despite entire conversations happening around him, he was still grossly invested into the book. Sure, Green tried to keep an open ear, and Vio was strangely good at multitasking, but all the same - Four never looked up, or bothered to join in.
And it would have stayed like that, had something not irked Vio more than he'd like to admit.
"-eel that rule under Ganon would be far better than the life they were provided under the King. They now devote every second of their lives to killing me all for the sake of reviving the Calamity to its full power." Wild admitted, slowly eating through his (rather haphazardly) cooked meat, somehow glazing over the fact that people were trying to kill him every day.
'Maybe you should start questioning how the King treated his people!'
"Traitors, you say." The Captain hissed through clenched teeth, his usually lazed demeanor was made way for a warrior who had been through more than his fair share of back-stabbings and losses.
'Have you ever gotten to know their reason?'
Time stood up, passing a mug of warm milk over to Warriors, "Unfortunately, that is part of not only being a hero but also a person. I bet many of us have gone through a similar situation." He advised, going back to his seat as a few of the Link's nodded at Time's statement.
'Yeah, but not in the way Hylia hoped her Hero would.’
Wind, surprisingly was one of the few, "I don't think this counts, but I was about ready to strangle the crew after they laughed at me for losing Tetra to a Ghost Ship - and when they tried to play off the adventure that had just happened as a fever dream - convinced that we were only gone for 10 minutes. Even though I was holding the Phantom Sword in my hand, and Linebeck's new Oshus-granted boat was somewhere everyone could see!"
'Poor Wind, I hate bullies.'
"There was nothing worse than when Agahnim betrayed Hyrule and kidnapped Zelda," Legend confessed, a bit out of pocket for him - perhaps he shouldn't have taken a swig out of Wind's flask. "Knowing that he used to be a friend to my uncle while he served the Kingdom as its Mage, and knowing that he was practically family to the Princess made it all the worse... when he tried to drain the life out of her to resurrect the Great Evil.
"Sometimes I can still hear her calling out to me from her dingy cell below the castle." He shook uncontrollably as he hugged himself tightly, morphed into a ball of limbs, "Sometimes, I dream about seeing the mauled body of my uncle, begging me to save her before he succumbed to his wounds and died."
Twilight placed a hand on the Vet's shoulder, offering him silent support. "Like Wind, I never had to worry about traitors hiding in the shadows, but someone I cared about, someone I had grown close to cut off our only way of connection without even conferring with me, without giving me a proper goodbye. The pain of losing someone like that is unbearable, I'd rather fight a possessed Princess Zelda for a second time than go through that again."
'I know all too well what that feels like, how it tears at your heart until it's nothing but a broken mess.'
"It seems like you boys have been through the wringer," Malon called, bringing in enough food to feed a small army, she placed the trays down and let the boys go to town on them. Moving to her husband before pressing a small kiss to his forehead before sitting down next to him. “But ya’know,” she began, leaning into her husband’s side, “for every betrayal y’all have gone through, every person you have left behind... there is a tonne more who have been saved by your actions. Who can go on living another day because you were there for them. You boys have helped so many, and will continue to - no matter how many times you get knocked down you will always stand back up and do what is right.”
'Why hasn’t anyone questioned their motives?!' Vio practically screamed in their mind.
‘Vi, please calm down.’ Red pleaded, but his words were not getting through to his brother.
“Four, are you alright, Hunny?” Malon asked, noticing how the boy was shaking and seething in his seat.
'Vio, you’re ripping the book apart at the spine!’ Green tried, hoping that would bring Vio back to his senses.
“Four, what’s going on?” Twilight called over, watching pages flutter onto the ground, and tears fall from unnerving purple eyes. Strange, he thought Four’s eyes were more hazel.
“Why.” A sharp voice cut through the worried mutters of the chain.
“Why.” It repeated, louder but not clearer.
They glanced around, searching for the source.
“Why hasn’t ANYONE questioned their motives?!” All eyes were now focused on the smith, but he couldn’t care less, too trapped in his thoughts. Panting as his heart started working overtime. Head spinning as his nerves ate at him. “Why do you all assume you know everything? Why are you so sure that you know what is really going on with them?”
“Fou-”
“-And you’re not so perfect, there are many people who you have abandoned all for the sake of your adventures. Are you then a ‘bad person’? Are you now the ‘villain’?
“You’ll never know! Because there is more going on than you can even begin to wrap your heads around.” Four replied, somehow stoically, except for an aura that felt too close to Dark Magic than Legend and Twilight liked, both of them coughing their lungs out, swimming in the familiar feeling.
Four began moving, raising his arm behind him to the hilt of his sword.
Time and Wild stood up, careful to not upset their fellow hero in the odd chance he attacked, but ready for anything that could happen.
Well...
Anything except Four to be enveloped in a bright white light and split into four other Hylians, each color-coded from the ground up.
Two of the four Four’s had run past the front door and into the vast lands of the pasture. A sullen purple-worn Four, and one adorned in red - who was chasing after the former with a, “Vi, wait, come back! We can talk this through. I’m sure they’ll understand!”
“This is just great!’ The blue-cladded Four huffed, throwing himself onto the couch as the last remaining Four remained standing and stared at the Chain.
“We’re sorry about him. Betrayal hits him harder than it does us, likely harder than it does any of you, either.” He’d explained, not yet taking a seat.
“Why’s that?” Wind asked with childish curiosity, “Also, who the fuck are ye hearties?”
“Long story short,” the blue one grumbled, rightfully pissed at being left to handle the split with the group, “we are Four. Just in fourths. Name’s Blue, I’m the fighter and ‘hard-head’ as Red likes to put it.”
“I’m Green, I act as the leader, and the ‘calm’ one in dire situations. The two who left were Red and Vio. Red’s always been better with handling our emotions, and Vio is the one with the brain cells.”
Warriors was quick to point out, “You’re named after colors.” And just as quickly, Blue had his hammer pulled out from under his hat, resting tightly in his grip.
Green knew what was happening, and had swiftly pulled on his brother’s tunic, dragging him away from the Captain.
“C’mon Green, let me at ‘em!” Blue hissed out, doing his best to run out of the death grip - almost comically.
“We’ve been over this a dozen times. Knock it off,” Green commanded in return.
“This is sacrilege.” Blue fought back, “You let Red do whatever he wants!”
“You don’t even know what that word means. And that’s because all Red wants to do is hug.”
“Yeah, to death. Or did you forget about the ‘Moblin Incident’?”
“-Hey-”
“No, I haven’t forgotten about it, but how was I supposed to know that would happen?”
“-Ahem-”
“I don’t know, you’re the leade-”
PhoWEEeet!
A curt whistle sliced through the room, cutting Blue off mid-rant.
“Thank you, Sky,” Time called from his spot. “Boys, quit your squabbling right now. We've got a friend that’s upset and not a lick of an idea as to why. So stop this arguing and please start explaining it to us.”
Green let go of Blue’s tunic, snatching the hammer out of his hands and hiding it under his own hat. Blue grumbled and straightened his outfit, before sitting back down.
“Well.” Green tried to start, unsure how best to go about explaining the whole situation. “Ok, so we were at one point Link, right?”
The group nodded in confusion, while Blue slapped his forehead in defeat.
“But we pulled the Four Sword out an-”
“Eehhh,” Blue buzzed in, cutting Green’s story short. “Green, for my safety and yours, stop this instant. Look at them, they’re as lost as Red is during Vio’s ramblings.” And true to his words the Chain was looking so out of it, you’d think that some brain-sucking parasite infected them.
Time, ever the leader, was focused on the two, but everyone else - especially Wind - had quickly lost their spot in their tale.
“Alright.” Blue alerted the group, “Like Green said, we were Link. One singular kid who beat up bad guys for breakfast, and were childhood besties with the Princess. Got it?”
More active nods were the response he was met with.
“Zelda had a vision about a terrible evil and wanted to check on the seal. Me - Link that is - Zelda, and the seven Shrine Maidens arrived at the Four Swords Sanctuary.
“The sword acted as a seal for the Wind Mage Vaati, think a giant eyeball with bat-wings.” A few Links visibly cringed, and Green could be heard laughing, either at their reactions or the description of their enemy. “As they were doing their magicky thing, checking on the seal and all that stuff, the Maidens started vanishing into thin air… one after the other.
“Not long after, the shadows had begun compressing into a carbon copy of us, and kidnapped our fucking friend!”
“-Foolishly, we pulled the sword out to chase after him, doing his job and breaking the seal.” Green supplied from his seat.
Hyrule raised his hand before asking, “Was that your ‘Dark’?”
Blue and Green made quick hand motions, loosely conveying ‘shut up’ and ‘don’t’.
“No.” They blurted a might too firmly, and their friends took notice of that right away.
“Well,” Legend began, tilted back in his seat at an angle, “What else could it be?”
“-He-” Blue hissed.
Legend giggled languidly, “Uhh, what?”
“He’s not an ‘it’, he’s a ‘he’. And he wasn’t our Dark, he was our Shadow.”
Warriors laughed from his couch, “That’s what a Dark is, idiot.” After noticing Blue and Green’s reactions, Twilight elbowed him in his stomach.
Time got in between the three boys, focusing on the half of Four. “You two seem to be rather cognizant of your shadow. Is that why your brother ran away?”
“Yes.” Green did his best to swallow the lumps building up in his throat. Trying to play it cool, acting like this was totally an everyday situation.
Blue, on the other hand, kept his gaze firm and focused. “But not in the way you might be thinking.” He finished for his brother, taking in everything he possibly could. Their expressions, the positions of their bodies, how close the weapons were to their owners. He was prepared to defend his family if it came down to it.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Time continued, as if he had any idea of what they went through. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” he established, sounding as though he couldn’t be wrong, “Your shadow tricked you into doing something that you thought was for the greater good, but turned out it actually helped him become stronger? Such as when you pulled the Sword out.”
Before either Green or Blue had a chance to reply - he was already speaking for them, “It is okay. Many of us have made the same mistake, it doesn’t mean you’ve betrayed your kingdom, and it doesn’t make you a bad person.”
The older Links let out murmurs of agreement and understanding. Trusting that Time had hit the nail on the head.
“You don-” Green tried to let the truth out, but.
“-Apbt,” Legend cut in. “Please, if anyone understands how annoying Darks and their tricks are, it’s us.”
“That’s n-”
“We should let Red and Vio, was it, know that there is no reason to feel ashamed of falling for the darks' conniving tricks.” Warriors articulated, slapping his legs - signaling his intentions - and standing up.
One by one the Chain stood up, placing their weapons against a wall (thank Hylia), save for Sky who never went anywhere without Fi.
Green and Blue tried to stop them, to explain, but they couldn’t even get a word out in edgewise.
Malon noticed through the clambering of 10 heroes, and she tried her best to block the way, but she knows that once her husband is set on something there was no pulling him back.
“Sweeties,” she spoke, catching Blue and Green just before the two could chase after the group, kneeling to reach their eyes, “is this a type of situation where it’s best if one of ‘you’ don’t hear?”
Their silence spoke volume.
She picked up the hem of her skirt and ran towards her husband, barefoot through the mud and grass. “Link, stop this instance!” She demanded as loud as she could, Green and Blue hot on her heels.
“Don’t worry Mal! We’ve got this!” He responded just as loud, continuing on to where they could see the other half of Four sitting.
“You guys don’t understand!” Green yelled, but all he got back was Legend shouting.
“Of course we do!”
“It’ll be okay,” Sky reassured.
“No, it fucking won’t.” Blue hissed out to himself, letting his rage help speed him up, catching up to the tail end of the group.
Red and Vio were now in hearing range, too focused on their selves to notice the group therapy coming their way.
Their voices were soft and hard to understand, but as the group got closer they could hear enough of their conversation.
“Sorry, I know you hate being reminded of it.”
"That’s not it. Not entirely."
"Then, what is it?”
It took all his strength to confess the truth that had been eating at him, even to Red - the rare few who weren’t quick to judge, especially when it comes to feelings that wouldn’t make sense to others.
So, he took a breath, and let it all out. “It’s the fact that I wouldn’t even hesitate to betray all of you, just for a chance to see him again.”
“You’d do what?”
Out of fear and surprise, Vio and Red shot straight up and faced the voice, meeting the betrayed face of the Captain. The rest of the Chain spread behind him, similar reactions plastered on their faces.
Vio was on edge, noticing every little detail. Watching as Warriors clenched his fist, bringing it to a secret pocket that Vio was already aware of. Quick reflexes allowed him to push Red out of the way as a petite blade was forced under his chin.
“Warriors.” Blue warned, Four Sword in hand.
The Captain stayed his ground, eyes never moving from Vio. “Stand back.”
“NO.” Green stepped forward, both of them with swords ready to strike at a moment's notice. “You will listen to us, and let our brother go.”
Warriors stood shocked, hand almost faltering, “Did you not hear him? He said he’s-”
“We know, we were there! We were the ones who had to. To.” He couldn’t finish his sentence, pain creeping back in from his memories.
Warriors grip slipped, blade falling onto the floor as he fell back a step. “We trusted you, Four, Vio, or whatever you are. Was this all a game for you?”
Red pulled Vio into a hug, crying giant tears as Vio tried to steady his breaths. “It wasn’t.” Red cried, “We are the Hero of Four. We’re...”
Green joined the pile, grabbing Blue by his arm. He let Red riffle through his emotions, glaring at the Captain and the rest of the group, “We tried to tell you guys. But none of you would listen.”
Blue continued Green’s thought, “The reason Vio fucking takes betrayal harder than any of us-”
“-Please, let me.” Vio whispered into the hug-pile, not letting go of Red just yet. He let his voice raise, but just enough for the group of heroes to hear him. “The reason I tend to take issues of betrayal harder than the average hero is because I had to turn traitor.”
He let go of his family in order to raise his sword, and the others followed suit, knowing what he was hoping for them to do.
In a flash of light Four was back into one person, and the next thing the Chain knew, he was gone. Disappeared without leaving a trace.
And so the hero-hunt began.
-
What the Chain didn’t know was that Red and Vio had found a Minish portal in the pasture, a pot with a crack on the bottom, and wanted to be around a familiar object during their exchange.
So all Four had to do was utter the incantation Ezlo had taught him and the others would be none the wiser, allowing him to sneak away silently before anything could transpire.
‘I should have never said anything.’ Vio sighed, feeling a slight sense of guilt for the way he handled the situation he was placed in. ‘If I hadn’t, then you three could be back with them, sharing stories about yourselves.’
Blue huffed, as usual, promising, ‘We’d rather be here with you, dumbass.’
But it wasn’t enough, nor what Vio needed to hear. ‘Still. I should have known that This would happen. It always does.’
‘You couldn’t of known. You of all people should know that heroes can be unpredictable.’ Red tried to provide the support and belief he knew his brother needed most, wanting him to feel better as soon as possible.
But, with the way Vio felt. It wasn’t going to be that easy. ‘That’s a nice thought, but with a group of 7 heroes, it’s more amazing that it never came up sooner.’
‘They should have asked when we met.’ Blue grumbled back.
‘Really, it was only a matter of time. I was biding my time, wanting to hold onto this forever.’
'You still can. Maybe if we explained it to them...?’
'No, if we went back-’ He trailed off, unable to finish his thought, opting instead for, ‘I’d rather leave the group than be kicked out.’
‘You don’t even know if that will happen.’
‘Yeah, Malon is probably beating some sense into Time and Warriors right now!’
‘They’re probably already searching for us, and with Wolfie and Wind, they might have a chance.
‘If Wind finds us we could tell him. He’d understand, and even vouch for us!’
‘Or they’ll think we corrupted him. Proving everything they thought about us - about me. Leaving them with no sense of remorse when they’re forced to kill me.’
‘Vio, take a breath and use your brain. Do you really think they would be so cruel as to kill a teammate, and fellow hero with no good cause. You have to understand how weird this sounds?’
Vio did as instructed, taking a chance on Green’s advise.
The breathing did seem to clear the idea that the Chain would kill him, but it made him fear something worse. ‘What if they try taking you guys away from me?’
'They wouldn’t.’
'Yeah, like Ganondorf we’d let ‘em!’
‘We’d never let that happen, Vio.’
‘It’s nice to hear that, but to be honest, I deserve anything they throw at me. For everything I put you three through, and everything I’m willing to put the Chain through.’
‘We understand, Vi. You did what you thought you had to, we’re not even that upset anymore.’
‘Uh, speak for yourself Red. But, Vio, know that if they try ANYTHING, I will beat them up, especially the Captain.’
‘Blue, please stop threatening Warriors. I know how you feel, but if you want to fight him so badly just ask him to spar with you instead.’
-
Warriors didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want to think about one of his teammates - his friend; family - was a part of something that he fought against, something the others trifled with during their journeys.
Time was afraid. Not of Four, no, but of what caused him to turn traitor. He wanted to find his teammate, to ask him what happened during their adventure.
Wild just wanted to get his friend(s) back, he still hadn’t gotten the unbreakable weapon he was promised.
Sky knew that there was more to Four than meets the eye, and could only hope Hylia would protect her hero until he found him.
Wind wanted to get to know the parts of Four, teach them how to get away with a buttload of stuff, and maybe do twice as much pranking especially with Red, he just seemed so corruptible - if he wasn’t already..
Hyrule wished for the chance to apologize. If he hadn’t brought up the Dark-thing, maybe they’d all still be sitting down, gobbling down the delectable food Malon provided, telling stories about their Heroic deeds.
Legend hoped that Four didn’t make any bad choice, maybe there was a reason Vio was a traitor, maybe it was a misunderstanding - like when the Kingdom thought he’d kidnapped the Princess.
Twilight prayed that the kid would be safe wherever he was, hoping that he’d be able to find them in his wolf form. He had so much he wanted to ask Vio about his dark, to see if he could finally talk to someone about Midna and have them understand from the bottom of their SOUL.
The chain knew that they had to find Four, no matter their reasons why. However long it took, they had to bring their teammate back.