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Chapter Text

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The silvery moon hung bright and full behind the black shape of Death Mountain, against an even blacker sky. The cool light from the moon cast spiky silhouettes from Shadow's eyelashes onto his cheeks, while the warm light from the open balcony doors behind them limned him in orange from behind. 

Shadow sat cross-legged in the air, staring off at the lights of the kingdom, his ankles tied loosely together with a random ribbon to keep them in place—his legs were about as useless as Vio's had been, before the split, though now Shadow had more control, out of the two of them. Shadow floated, though, so he didn't worry about anything except forgetting he had feet and kicking random things. They'd lost at least two goblets of root beer that way, and one ugly vase. Vio didn't think that had been so accidental. Not like anyone minded.

"Someday," Shadow said, leaning forward, "we're going to go wherever we want."

"Anywhere that's wheelchair accessible, you mean," Vio interrupted, unable to keep a small smile off his face as he watched Shadow watch the world. He leaned his head on a hand, propped up on the low stone banister of the balcony. 

Shadow waved a dismissive hand. "At that point, we can make everything accessible, or we'll just find a way for you to fly."

"I wouldn't be complaining." Link had hated the wheelchair for a long time, but he'd gotten over it once he'd made his own the way he wanted. Vio remembered long hours in the workshop, his back aching as he learned to use the lathe. He remembered time spent with the Minish, learning techniques for weaving cloth and net that held enchantments like wood or metal did. 

Vio, personally, liked the chair. Unlike the other three, he had been left with no partial feeling or movement in his legs. Perhaps it was in exchange for Blue getting nearly full movement. He couldn't use crutches at all, the way Green and Red did. He didn't feel bitter, since now he could make someone else push him while he read, if he felt like it. Vio had added an enchantment or two to the chair since becoming himself, to improve the axel's shock absorption and the wheels' friction, making it more comfortable. He was proud of it, and it let him get around when nothing else would. 

"If you could go anywhere, right now, with no restrictions," Vio began, "where would you go?" He was partially curious to see the extent of Shadow's memories from Link—he'd referenced a few things he could never have known otherwise—but he also just… wanted to know. Shadow had been a virtual prisoner for his entire existence, not physically, but unable to go against the wishes of Vaati anyway. He must have dreamed of something, right? 

"Ooh, that one's easy." Shadow rose a few inches, moonlight now glinting off his fangs in a bared smile. "The Picori Festival."

Vio tilted his head. "You know about the festival?"

"Of course I know about the festival. I'm your shadow, Vio, literally. I wasn't really conscious, but I could watch." Shadow brushed some of his purple hair back from where it fell over his cheeks. Link had been growing his hair out, so the five of them, nearly physically identical save for coloring and disability, were all stuck with the awkward length. 

"Fascinating. Why the festival?" 

Shadow shrugged. "It just… it always seemed like the height of existence to me. Everything that makes the world great in one little condensed space." He brought his hands together to demonstrate. "Food, and games, and a tournament! All the summer fruit and grilled meat. The festivals, before and after your adventure, were when I felt the most… I don't know. Me? Alive?" 

"Hm." Vio's smile grew, squished into his hand, watching Shadow grow flushed with his excitement. Part of his mind spun away into the darkness, thinking about how the Picori Festival this year was only a few days away, maybe a week, and how Shadow could shapeshift…

"And the princess was always there, and you . I mean, you were always there, I couldn't go anywhere without you." Shadow spun around in the air to smile at Vio. The two lights on the balcony, cool from above and warm from the side, made his red eyes all but glow. 

"Well, Link was," Vio corrected. His cheeks burned, and his heart rate sped up, just minutely. 

"You are Link."

"Part of him." It felt strange to think about, even still. Vio didn't feel like Link… but he did, at the same time. It made no sense and perfect sense. 

Shadow waved the topic aside. "Where would you go, Vio, if you could?" 

Vio hadn't expected the question to be turned on him. He had to think about it for a moment. "Honestly? I think I'd love to be at home, in the corner where we keep all the books, with you next to me." 

"Awww," Shadow said, his tone teasing. "You're cute. Hey, want to take a dragon ride tonight? Indulge Saber and let her burn something down? We can sit in my room after with something to eat."

That sounded lovely. Vio picked up his arms and stretched over his head. "If I get the saddle, sure."

"Pfft. Of course you do. I don't want your cute butt falling off a mile into the air." Shadow pulled the end of the ribbon on his ankles and whistled with his other hand. His ears turned red, flushing at his own audacity, and the tip of his hat curling and wavering like smoke gave him away.

Vio had to laugh as he unbuckled from his wheelchair. "You've never seen my butt, Shadow."

"I can imagine just fine, thank you." 

The methodical rustling of Saber the dragon's huge blue wings, so dark they looked black in the night, brought her within view and interrupted that train of conversation. Saber adored Shadow, as evidenced by the fact that she reached out a long forked tongue to swipe at his face as soon as she came into reach. Shadow laughed and bared his teeth at her in retaliation. 

"Wanna go burn some things down, Saber?" Shadow asked, rubbing her nose as they both floated there. She seemed to be excited about it. 

Vio felt a pang of guilt at the thought of the havoc they'd be wreaking, of the towns and plants that didn't deserve it. It was for a greater cause, though, and Vio did his best to limit that damage. Shadow dipped down and started to put his arms around Vio. 

"Hey," Vio said, holding up a finger and stopping Shadow in his tracks. "We talked about this. Ask first."

"You said yes!" 

"To the dragon ride. This is different. Just because we're evil doesn't mean we don't have manners about the important stuff."

Shadow rolled his eyes, but held off for a moment. "Okay, fine. Can I pick you up, Vio?" 

Vio smiled. "Good job. And yes, please." He held out his arms, and Shadow reached around him to pull him closer. For a moment, they just stayed there, staring. 

Then Saber chittered, a sound like a snorting laugh. 

They both went a little red. Neither blush lightened through the dragon ride where they sat very close (for safety, of course). Both remained a little flustered, all the way to the time that they fell asleep side-by-side on Shadow's bed, a book about stars and souls upside down between them. 

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"I did something, this time," Shadow said, his fingers and toes dissolving, just like monsters always did after they died. 

Vio's stomach turned at the sight. Sometime in the fight, he'd fallen from his chair, then crawled over to pick up Shadow's head into his lap. "Shadow…"

"We can figure something out," Green said, staring at the shards of dark mirror sparkling across the floor like an incomprehensible jigsaw puzzle. The pieces spread around Shadow like wings. He leaned on just one crutch, emerald-colored Four Sword in hand. "We have to. You'll be fine."

Blue was already on the floor. He sliced one of his fingers trying to pick up one of the larger shards of mirror. It cracked in his hands, throwing spots of reflected dawn light onto the dark stone walls of the tower room. "Hold on , Shadow, don't go yet."

"I don't think there's a way to stop it," Vio whispered, blank. He brushed some hair from Shadow's face. Shadow's hair and hat lay eerily still across Vio's lap.

"Don't be so pessimistic, Vio!" Red panted, a bit more worn out than the rest of them from all the stairs and running, for some reason. He bit his lip, tears sparkling in his eyes from the stress. 

Vio had fallen for Shadow. Vio was Link. Link had fallen for Shadow, for all that he was currently separated out into four bodies and thought processes. Despite the separation, they still shared a soul, and that connection burned bright and hot right now, filling the room with tinted emotion. All four of them cared about Shadow, perhaps in different ways, but all deeply. None of them wanted him to disappear yet, before most of them had really gotten to know him. 

"Just beat up Vaati, would you? That was the whole point of this," Shadow said, his eyes slipping closed. 

"That's a given," Blue scoffed, still trying to sort through the mirror shards. His hands oozed red. 

"Then… remember me? Is that what I'm supposed to say?" 

Green covered his eyes to hide his very obvious distress. "Also a given."

Next to Vio and Shadow, Red dropped to the ground, his two crutches falling next to him. Red's hands hovered, unsure if a touch would be welcome, or even comforting. He settled for sitting close. "You'll never be forgotten, Shadow. You were very brave for smashing that mirror. Thank you." 

Red had a way of voicing their feelings, giving words to things that didn't have them. He named the vague forms that pulsed in their connection, the things nobody but him knew how to say. 

He was right. 

"Hm…" Shadow hummed. "You're welcome, I guess."

He turned to ash in Vio's hands. 

The glittering motes drifted up and toward the sunlight, spiraling and dancing. The four of them watched the sparse cloud of dust float away, silent for a long moment. 

And then a roar shook the room. 

Blue got to his feet, snatching up his sword again. Red straightened. Vio climbed back up into his chair. Determination, rage, grief, and duty thrummed between them, lighting them all. 

"All right, Links," Green said. "Let's go get Vaati. Once and for all, this time."

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Chapter Text

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"Four," Legend said, pulling something blue and silky from his bag that sat in the cart, "your world is hurting my eyes."

Four looked up from his fiddling, unimpressed. He watched as Warriors hit Legend's shoulder with a command to ' be nice,' and smiled at Legend's grumble. 

"It's just bright and colorful, that's all I'm saying." Legend pulled on his blue cloak and tucked his hat into the hood, tugging it over his head.

"Like yours is any different," Sky teased from the front, where he worked with Wild to push the cart. "Every world has its quirks."

"Mine is entirely normal." Legend shoved Warriors back. "Obviously."

Four just rolled his eyes fondly and went back to his tinkering. He liked the cart; they hadn't had it for longer than a month or two, but already it had proven itself useful several times over. Four wouldn't know, but apparently, being one of the two at the front of the cart to push the handle was pretty easy, especially because everyone but Four, and sometimes Legend, took turns. Having the cart meant that nobody had to actually carry their packs on long roads, either, though they still had to make sure they didn't bring along more than they could carry as a group. Wild's slate could compress the cart so they didn't have to worry about leaving it behind anywhere. 

Sunlight drenched them all, head to toes, and Four couldn't blame Legend for wanting to find a little personal shade. The heat made Four sweat, but not too much. He had his own hood to hide in. Something deep inside Four, the part that whispered about trust, shied away from light, so he liked being able to carry some darkness with him. 

The day, despite the slightly too-enthusiastic sunshine, was beautiful. A stormhead of gray-blue clouds loomed on the other side of the Western Range, close enough that it might hit the farms this evening. The fields of summer corn were new and low, but very green, waving in the breezes. The colors were more saturated here than in other worlds, but it was home. From Four's perspective, the other worlds were just a bit too dull. 

Four adjusted the cushion he sat on, the one stolen from his wheelchair, and picked up his hole punch. The cart rumbled over the packed dirt road beneath him, making his movements a little jerky. He looped a bit of leather through a brass D-shaped loop, pressed it back on itself, then punched a hole through both layers. He slipped a river inside the hole and screwed it on tight. Honestly, he looked forward to having his workshop for a few days, with all its specialized tools and workspace. 

The others had a lot of equipment that could use a good round of maintenance, but they didn't often stop in towns that had workshops for long enough to actually do anything. Many of the things Four wanted to look at were custom, so not easily replaceable, things like this—the harness that Twilight wore over his shoulders so his shield hung on his right side where he could use it in combat. A few of the leather pieces were crumbling with overuse, and damn if Four didn't want to make sure that Twilight would be able to use his shield in battle. The others had some similar things, like Warriors's armor, Wind's sword, even Wild's potion pot. It could all use a bit of attention, and most of them didn't even consider more than basic maintenance until things really needed to be replaced. 

Four shook his head. What would they do without him? 

The busy work with his hands also gave Four a chance to quiet his mind. According to Warriors's meticulous calendar-keeping, they'd arrive in Hyrule Town well in time for the Picori Festival. Four wanted the others to experience it, to see how magical his world could be. He felt like the only places they'd visited while here had been monster camps and the forge—they hadn't ever even visited the Minish, though they'd all been small at least once before. 

However… the Picori Festival's approach meant that another year had disappeared since Four had last seen Shadow. Melancholy flooded him at the reminder, sinking dulled fangs into his heart. He'd grieved, and come out the other side, but he usually set aside the anniversary for doing as Shadow requested, and remembering him. 

Keeping his hands busy distracted him from the ache. 

"Four, what's over there?" Time asked, falling alongside the cart. 

Four glanced up and pushed a lock of hair behind his ear to follow Time's pointing toward a plume of white and black smoke, the colors mixing like watercolors in the sunny air. He frowned. 

"That's supposed to be Farontown," Four said, setting aside his project to push himself to the other side of the cart. "That's far too much smoke."

"Detour, then." Time raised his voice, and made sure to tap Sky's shoulder and gesture that way. The cart turned onto a small farmer's road, cutting through the fields like shears through wool. 

Four didn't pick up his things again. He shoved them away, only habit and attention from Blue keeping it all organized in his bag. The others fell to silence as the corn stalks passed them on either side, the village coming into view after a few tense minutes. 

Nearly every building in the cluster showed signs of burning, with half-gone thatched roofs and blackened walls. A few buildings still smoldered, but it looked like all of them remained intact, at least. The main thoroughfare was a little muddy with all the water being brought up from the well in the middle to quench the remaining fires. A few villagers and what looked like knights dashed around, doing damage control. 

Quickly, Four hopped down from the cart, using two crutches today. He hurried into the village, keeping an eye out for bandits or monsters, but seeing none. 

"Four!" An unexpected but welcome voice stole Four's attention off to his right.

He grinned, despite the chaos around them. "Dottie!" 

Four's Zelda, the princess of his Hyrule, ran up, wearing one of her more practical outfits, with trousers and a pink tunic. She grabbed him in a brief but fierce hug that he did his best to reciprocate, then stepped back, her hands on his shoulders. She, like most Zeldas, had to look down on her Link, though she was still pretty short by most standards. 

"Your timing," she said, serious, "is excellent."

Four's face fell, and he looked around the village. "What happened? An attack? Was it Jago? I knew it was a bad idea to let him go…" 

"It was a dragon," Dot told him, though her somber manner said it wasn't just any dragon. 

He hesitated, then shook his head. "You can't know it was her. Can you?"

"Derwyn," she called to one of the more bookish knights, and he approached with a paper in his hands. Dot handed it over to Four. "One of the teenagers here got a good look. It isn't perfect, but that scar… it's distinctive, isn't it?" 

Four scowled down at the drawing. He didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't brush it aside. The evidence was right here. He didn't really think that a villager would have made up the obvious scar on the dragon's tail, or the forked tongue sticking out of her mouth. It was definitely the dragon that had all but adopted Shadow, the one that Vio had been friends with. 

"That sure looks like a dragon," Legend said, leaning over Four's shoulder with Hyrule at his elbow. Most of the others had run to help put out the last fires or sort through the bits of rubble. "Is that what did this?" 

"Dragons?" Hyrule sounded wary. "Those can be nasty…"

Four sighed. "Her name is Saber, and she's actually pretty gentle when she doesn't forget you're squishy—"

"She's burning down villages," Dot interrupted, not unkindly. 

"—yes, she also likes to burn things down. I mean, she's a dragon! Can you blame her?" 

Dot gave him a look. "This is the fifth village she's attacked, Four. If you can't get through to convince her to leave or stop attacking…" 

"I understand." Four handed the drawing back to Dot and ignored the chill that flooded his chest at the thought. "What other information do you have? Do you know where she is?"

"Not exactly, but I can get a map for you." 

Four nodded. "All right. We'll go that way, see what we can do, and hopefully be back to town in time for the festival."

"Festival?" Hyrule asked, perking up. 

"The Picori Festival," Dot said with a smile. She tucked the drawing away into a pouch on her belt. "You'd think I would hate it, considering what happened there all those years ago, but it's still one of my favorite days of the year."

As Hyrule asked questions and Dot gushed about the festival to someone who would listen for once, Legend bumped Four with his elbow. 

"You're friends with a dragon?" he asked. 

Four glanced up, trying for a smile but landing on a wince. "Vio was," he corrected. "Is? I don't know. We thought Saber was gone, after the monster hordes receded back across the mountains. She's like a big puppy, really smart sometimes and really dumb other times." His wince softened, remembering Saber's fondness for smashing cart wheels in her jaws. "She lived with… someone I don't have anymore."

Legend nodded quietly, a pang of empathy in the way his eyes tightened. He bumped Four's shoulder again in an attempt at comfort. "We'll do what we can. Just make sure to give us the relevant information, all right?" 

"Don't worry, vet. I will."

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With information and well-wishes from Dot and the knights, and once the village had been settled as well as they could ensure, the Chain was off again. They started on a slightly different route, guided by the map Dot had given them, one that marked out the recently attacked towns. Four thought they could follow the path and find out where Saber roosted in the nearby mountains. 

Their group didn't get very far before the sunset began, since stopping at Farontown had burned a lot of sunlight. The storm clouds moved in as they stopped to set up in a meadow on the edge of the forest.

Four glanced up at the graying skies and dug the packaged tent out of the depths of the cart. He slung it on his back, grabbed his crutches, put his legs over the edge of the cart, and paused.

His heart hurt. All the reminders of Shadow today, and the very real, unexpected possibility that he'd have to help kill Saber, hung a weight on his soul that made it hard to pay attention to his surroundings. 

A split, then. He could compartmentalize a little better and still manage to help set up camp. 

Four reached back into the cart and drew his sword, grateful that the others were all distracted by setup. It seemed like Wind had somehow managed to start a fire in the wrong place.

The Four Sword flashed quietly, shielded by the cart walls, and there were four of them. Yes, that was better. 

Blue took the tent from Red and hopped out of the cart to go set it up, stubbornly ignoring his own feelings. Green went around the outside of the cart to help Red affix the waxed canvas tarp to the top, a sort of raised cover that left plenty of room to sit underneath. The canvas was insulating, so not useful for sunny weather, but it was just right for rain. Vio retreated to the very front of the cart, the part farthest from the opening, and pulled his hood up. 

Twilight turned around, and his face fell from fond exasperation to worry. He approached Blue to help with the tent they'd purchased in one of Wild's towns for this exact reason. "You guys okay?" 

"Fine," Blue said shortly. "Hand me that pole, would you?" 

"You don't ask Blue about feelings," Green added, coming to help. He handed Blue a hammer.

Twilight held up a pole for Green to knot one of the tent ties around it. "Okay, then, Green , is everything okay?" 

"Pretty much." Green finished tying off the tent. Over by the extinguished secondary fire, Wild had enlisted Time and Warriors to set up a little shade over the fire pit so he could keep it lit. Sky worked with the flint by the kindling, and Wind sat petulantly to the side. Legend and Hyrule took a lap around the campsite.

Blue snorted as he drove a stake into the ground. He positioned himself above it with the hammer. "You don't ask Green about feelings, either."

Twilight's eyes reached the sky. Blue's hammer slammed down on the stake, driving it into the grassy ground. 

Once they had the tent set up on a rolled-out canvas tarp, Green and Blue then strung another tarp between the tent and the cart, creating another space shielded from the rain. Extra canvas flopped down the back side, creating a false wall, and the tarp underneath protected both the tent and the little tarp room from wet ground. 

The clouds burst just as Blue hammered the last stake in place, and everyone rushed to get to shelter, snatching bags they hadn't yet. The three or four little "rooms" divided their group up nearly—Time, Twilight, and Wild under the tarp roof, though Wild stayed out by the cookfire; Legend, Sky, Wind, and Hyrule in the tent; Warriors and all four Fours inside the cart itself. It was a bit of a tight fit in there, but Red thought it was cozy, especially with the increasing sound of rain pattering against the cart's cover. Vio lit a lantern, lighting up the inside with a soft fire's glow, and the remaining rainy light of day poured in from the opening at the very back of the cart. 

Warriors got into the cart at the last moment, yanking his boots in just before they could get soaked. The cart cover rose high enough that Warriors could sit up comfortably against the side. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked to Red. 

'How are you?' The way he asked was serious, not flippant. He was asking, not just starting a conversation. He must have picked up on some of the heavy energy weighing down the four of them.

Red bit his lip and looked around. Vio had the lamp lit and a book on his lap with his hood up, so he'd shut down for the night. Blue's hands were organizing everything in the cart already, moving aside leftover packs and spreading out blankets. Green sat at the back of the cart, his nose just shy of getting wet. He supposedly watched Wild stir his pot, but his eyes looked into the distance, and his freckles were stark on his nose. 

"We're a little sad," Red said, doing his best to sum up and downplay their feelings so Warriors wouldn't worry too much. "But we'll be okay."

'Is it about the dragon?' Warriors asked, signs slow and deliberate as he watched them all with a little concern. 

Red let out a breath through his nose. "Sort of. We told you about Shadow that one time, didn't we?" The air in the cart charged at the name, with the other three pretending very hard to not pay attention. They'd trusted Warriors with the partial story before, and they'd continue to do so. 

Warriors nodded, so Red continued. 

"We didn't tell you quite everything, but now that you know about, well, us … Vio was the one to actually make friends with Shadow. The rest of us are all a little, um, disappointed that we didn't get to know him, but we kind of leech off of Vio's memories for that." 

Blue let out a soft snort, as if to try to deny it, but he knew he couldn't. 

"He wanted to go to the Picori Festival," Vio said, though he didn't look up. "In person. We were planning to go. It was just a few days away when he died."

Red watched Warriors's expression, noting the exact moment he connected the dots: if Shadow had died within a few days of the festival, and today was a few days until the festival… 

"And the dragon," Red continued, "she was Shadow's. Or Shadow was hers, more like. The fact that we might have to… to…" He closed his mouth and looked up at the cart cover, trying to breathe slowly. 

"Just salt in the wound," Green finished. He sighed and turned around, pulling his legs up into the cart. "We'll get over it. In the meantime…" Blue handed him exactly what he'd been looking for, rolling his eyes. Green held up a travel chessboard, rather large for a Minish but small for a Hylian. 

"Game?" 

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Chapter Text

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Although the other four towns supposedly attacked by Saber shared elaborate, dramatic stories about a dragon with any of the Heroes who would listen, none of them were too badly inconvenienced by the fires. At each settlement, the Chain dispersed to gather reports, then shared the stories around lunch. By stop number four, they all knew what to expect: a dragon, sometimes blue and sometimes black, flew out of the west, blew a bit of fire at most of the buildings, circled around a few times as people scrambled, and left.

"She's holding back," Vio said as they walked away from the fourth village. He let Blue push the wheelchair, as he wanted to read. "She can do far more if she wanted to, but the damage has been really light, compared to things I've seen her do before."

Hyrule hummed, walking beside Vio and Blue behind the cart. "She has some goal in mind, then, one that's not destruction. What could she be doing, going from village to village, not eating anyone?" 

"She's looking for someone, or something." Legend fell into step with them, still wearing his cloak, though he didn't have the hood up. 

Blue glanced over at him. "What do you mean?" 

"She's burning things, but just a little, like she's doing it on purpose. What do people do when their houses are on fire? Run outside. She circles around a bit, then leaves when she doesn't see what she wants."

"She's looking for—" Vio cut himself off. He rubbed at his arms, feeling the ever-present melancholy roll over him again, like pulling his blankets back over his shoulders at night. 

Legend looked sideways at Vio. "We need information to be able to help. If you know what she's looking for and where she'll be next, you should share it so we can be prepared."

Duh. Vio knew that, logically. But for once in his existence, his heart won out, and Vio went quiet.  He sank back into the wheelchair. Static fuzzed the edges of his thoughts, which didn't even want to consider telling Legend about Shadow. 

Blue had enough of it. "We'll share it when it becomes relevant," he snapped. "Which is not right now." 

"As long as it does get shared before someone gets hurt." Legend rolled his eyes, but Blue sped up to stick Vio and himself firmly in an empty spot to the left of the cart, where it was quiet. 

Vio rubbed at his forehead. Emotions exhausted him. This whole situation, and the timing, just kept making it worse. Splitting, and staying split, helped a little, taking some pressure off, but it didn't fix the problem. 

He glanced up at Red, who hung his elbows out the side of the cart and tested his chin on his arms. They shared a smile, but Vio hesitated. 

"Your shadow," he said to Red. "It's gone again."

That wasn't entirely correct. Red had a bit of a shadow, a fuzzy black spot where his arms blocked the sunlight on the cart's side, but the distinct silhouette the blackness should have had was missing. Red freed a hand to wave a little. Sure enough, the spot moved, but it didn't have the outline of his hand as it should have. 

"Weird," Blue muttered. "Ours aren't missing, Vio, look."

Vio leaned over the arm of his wheelchair. Blue was right. Their shadows running across the dirt were distinct and clearly their shapes. "What about Green's?" 

Red pulled back to glance at Green and his potentially nonexistent shadow. Green sat in the cart, too, having taken up the job of fixing Twilight's shield harness. 

He'd been listening, and shook his head at Red. "No problems here."

"Just mine, then," Red said, testing it with his hand again. "I wonder why."

Vio lowered his voice, so really only Blue could hear him. "Shadow was in Link's shadow, but then he was separate and we still had a shadow… logic says that even if he was back, we wouldn't be missing a shadow sometimes. I don't have enough information."

"It's back!" Red said, a little too loudly, noticing his shadow snap back into place. Time glanced back at them, and Red froze, his eyes wide and his lips pressed together. 

"Blue's sense of humor," Green said by way of explanation. 

"Hey!" 

Time shook his head fondly and turned back to his conversation with Wind. 

"Don't mention the shadow thing," Vio said to Red. 

"I know! I didn't!"

Sky suggested a lunch break, then, as the mountains loomed ever closer. It would take another day to get there, most likely, and a few battles if they were lucky. Blue wanted to hit something.

After some rice and a rest, Legend sat on the edge of the cart as Sky and Wild started it going again. Red scowled at Legend's back, then paused. Nope, that was Blue's annoyance, not his own. He pushed the feeling aside, mostly, and went back to helping Green with Twilight's shield harness. It was nearly done, just a few more rivets would do it. 

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In the end, it took perhaps  an hour to actually find the low cave that the dragon roosted in, when they arrived at the foothills late the next day. They had, indeed, run into a few groups of monsters on the way, and though nobody had been severely injured, they dragged their feet a little. 

Saber's cave was easy to find. They just had to follow the thin trail of smoke and the smell of brimstone. 

Vio hadn't realized that Saber smelled like that on her own, he'd thought it was the volcano's fault. The scent made him feel so powerfully nostalgic that he didn't quite notice Time's call to stop. He kept pushing himself forward on the scrubby grass, hoping to catch a glimpse of scales. 

And that hurt the most, the hoping. Because if Saber was alive and well enough to fly around, then maybe, just maybe, Shadow might… He couldn't even finish the thought. 

"Vio! Don't go on alone!" Warriors called, sounding annoyed. 

Vio heard that. Everyone learned to pay attention to Warriors's voice. Still, Vio didn't stop, this time intentionally. He waved a hand and kept going. He felt a bit of fear, but not nearly enough to go back to talk.

He'd always been a little bit impulsive, despite what people thought of him, and it often served him well. He'd been impulsive when Shadow offered friendship. He'd be impulsive now. 

"If you get eaten by the dragon, it isn't my fault!" Blue yelled. Then, quieter, to someone else, "He's smart and he has a weapon. He'll be fine."

"I sure hope you're right," Wild said back. "What do you think he'll be able to do on his own, anyway?" 

Vio stopped several yards away from the dark mouth of the cave. It smelled like the Fire Temple here, like ash and lava without as much of the heat. Though Vio felt pretty confident, his hands still twisted the edge of his tunic nervously as he craned his neck, as if that would let him see into the darkness. A breeze blew a bit of the brimstone smell away, but just for a moment. The flossy smoke trailing out of the cave twisted in the air. 

"Saber?" Vio called, his voice quieter than he'd planned. He cleared his throat and squeezed his own fingers tight enough to turn them white. "Is that you in there?" 

He waited for a long moment. 

Then a snout, glittering in the sunlight, poked out of the gloom. The scales were as Vio remembered, blue in the light and black in the darkness. They steamed in the air, and smoke trailed out of those nostrils. Vio couldn't help but sigh in relief, his shoulders falling like a deflating bellows. 

Saber stepped out of the cave, clouded amber eyes staring vaguely at him—her vision wasn't very good. The moment stretched like a string of molten glass, each of them waiting for the other to make a move. 

"Hi again," Vio said. "Do you remember me?" 

The answer was yes. The answer was definitely yes. Saber emerged entirely from the cave, her long tail twisting like a banner in strong wind. She was perhaps twice the size of a horse, with six legs, spines, and wide wings. Vio could see the large scar on her tail, an injury he didn't remember, but which Shadow had told him about—she'd rescued Shadow from one of Vaati's bouts of anger, getting scorched with magic on her way out. Shadow had called the attempt misguided and unnecessary, but he and Saber were undoubtedly close. 

Saber's black, forked tongue snaked out from between sharp fangs and tasted the air around Vio, flicking his hair. Her mouth stretched in an approximation of a Hylian smile, and she bounced. 

She frolicked like a puppy, jumping into the air and coming down hard, quite close to Vio and his wheelchair. He backed up a bit, but his face split in a smile. Her clear happiness transported him, for a moment, to a metaphorical alternate timeline where Shadow had never disappeared. Vio went as far as to glance to the side, honestly expecting to see him, but reality crashed down with another shout from behind him. 

" Vio!" 

Vio couldn't turn his wheelchair fast enough. He whipped his head around to see multiple other Heroes with their weapons out and gleaming. They'd apparently taken Saber's bouncing for attacking, and although they hadn't charged, a few hands on a few drawn swords were more than enough to scare her. 

"No!" he yelled, his heart rate skyrocketing. "This isn't—"

It was too late. Saber went still and hissed, her tongue flashing in and out. The spines on her back bristled and clacked.  

"Saber!" Vio tried again, trying to sound calm. 

The dragon's eyes and tongue turned Vio's direction. Perhaps she'd calm down, recognizing Vio to be a friend—

She twisted around and disappeared, fleeing back into the cave. At least she hadn't actually attacked. Vio hurried to follow her.

"Vio, are you okay?" Red had arrived sometime, and swung along besides Vio, his face twisted in concern. 

"Yes, that wasn't her being aggressive, she was happy —"

"—I know, I could tell—"

"—and now she's going to think I led her into a trap—"

A plume of fire, violently orange even in the sunlight, burst from the cave before they could reach it. Red stumbled back, nearly falling as he screamed in surprise. The fire barely licked at Vio's knees, but the heat caught his leggings and a string holding kinstones on the arm of the chair. Vio couldn't feel the fire on his leg, but he knew it could be bad if he didn't get to it fast. 

Chilly blue magic shot out from somewhere to Vio's left and burst into frost when it hit him. The frost crackled on his tunic and his leggings, crawling across the wheels of his chair and icing over the belt holding his ankles in place. 

Vio's hands hovered over the charred, no longer burning spot on his knees, and he turned with his mouth open, intending to congratulate or scold someone. Upon seeing Legend swing his ice rod over his shoulder, only a tired scoff came out of Vio's mouth. 

The other Heroes had rushed up toward him, most weapons still out. Red glanced nervously at the mouth of the cave and the thicker stream of smoke. 

"Did you need to use the ice rod?" Vio asked. 

Legend shrugged. "You were on fire."

"You did a good job," Red told him, breath coming short. He pressed a hand to his chest to feel his heart pound. "Now that we're all okay, can we move? I don't think Saber wants us this close. That was a warning shot."

"I don't understand," Twilight said, still holding his sword, though the tip pointed down. "I thought we were here to kill the dragon, what did you think you could do?" He looked at Vio. 

"She's our friend." Green joined the group, Four Sword slung on his back and one crutch under his right arm. 

"Friend?" Wild repeated. "And you didn't tell us this before because…"

"Warriors knows," Blue grumbled. He went to check over Vio, now that the thin layer of frost began to melt. His hands brushed flaking ice off of the wheels. "And Legend and Hyrule."

Wind scowled and sheathed his sword. "We were fully prepared to kill that thing. Guys! Time out. We need to talk and make sure we all know what's going on."

"I agree," Red said, shame twisting in his heart. "And we're sorry. It's just hard to talk about."

"I told you to tell us before anything could happen!" Legend made a frustrated noise and grumbled as he put his ice rod away, something about idiot heroes and stupid feelings. Both Vio and Blue agreed, though not out loud. The minor spat with Legend was settled. 

<<>><<>><<>>

Half an hour later found them all sitting around a low fire on a hill not quite out of sight of Saber's cave, picking at bowls of venison and rice. Four sat up against a log, stirring through his own dinner, reviewing four sets of memories and trying to sort through his feelings. He had a lot of them, right now, guilt and grief being the most prominent. The others remained mostly quiet. 

Four did not feel ready to tell everyone about everything, but he couldn't keep quiet after that. The others, and his own conscience, would never let him. He looked up, and Twilight nudged Wild away from his soft conversation. 

"You all know that my adventures were different from many of yours in a few significant ways," Four began. "I fought Ganon, yes, but my most active villain was Vaati, and I never touched the Master Sword. None of you interacted with the Minish, or force gems." He hesitated, but plowed on. "Another thing I've never heard you mention is your shadows. Ganon brought mine to life, but Shadow wasn't an unthinking minion of darkness like he was probably supposed to be."

Four told the story. He owed it to them to be honest. He cut out a few details, of course, he didn't need to take all night, but he outlined the basic, relevant events—Vio befriended Shadow, and then Shadow had sacrificed himself to defeat Vaati by smashing the mirror, the source of both of their lives. 

Because they were still a little mentally separated, Green took over to tell the story, for the most part, though it was Vio who lent a stoicism that prevented Red's tears from escaping, especially when Red mentioned that the friendship was something a little bit more. Blue stayed quiet, though his mental presence was large and stable. They all felt better at the end, with the guilt turning to calm. 

"And Saber, that dragon, sort of adopted Shadow," Four said. "I thought she'd escaped with most of the monsters across the mountains. She's a connection to Shadow, and I can't let that go lightly."

Time set aside his bowl and let out a heavy breath. "I understand," he told Four. "More than you may realize. But, as little damage as this dragon has done, she is still a threat to people."

'What do you think we can do at this point?' Warriors asked, echoed out loud by Sky for everyone's benefit. 

Four stared at his cooling dinner and tried to think. Most of him was wrung out. Too many feelings in too short of a space. He felt better for having shared, yes, but he'd emptied out his tank in the telling. 

"We need her to trust me, or someone. She'd trust Shadow, but we don't have him. For obvious reasons."

Wind gasped and pointed. "That's what you were talking about that one time! Yeah, that one time with Wild! He asked about significant others, and you hinted you had a tragic romance, but then deflected so Legend had to talk about Ravio!"

"...yes," Four said, ears burning. "This is what I was referring to."

'You liked him,' Warriors signed, teasing. He'd probably figured that out a while ago. 

"Yes."

"It is tragic. Something similar happened to me," Twilight said quietly, staring into the distance. 

Everyone looked at him in bafflement. What?

Twilight shook his head, refocusing, and looked at Four. "But not quite the same, and we're not getting into it tonight. Point is, the dragon is your last connection, or something. I wouldn't want to kill her, either."

"Could we get her to leave, somehow?" Wild asked, gesturing with his chopsticks. "Go across the mountains, like you said?" 

With a shrug, Twilight spoke up again. "If she's like most animals I know, she'll always try to return to where she feels safest. Right now, I think that's the cave."

"I don't really want to kill a dragon," Wind said, staring down at the fire. 

"If you need someone to do it, without anyone watching"—Hyrule raised his head, a familiar sort of determination written on his face—"I will. I've killed a few dragons on my own, and if it needs to happen, it needs to happen."

Sky winced at that. Four made a face and shoved Red to the back of his head before he could cry at the thought. 

"Thank you for the offer," Time told Hyrule when nobody else responded. Even his voice sounded a little tight. "Hopefully it won't be necessary. But your kindness is appreciated. We can talk about this tomorrow morning," Time added, his voice rising a measure. "When we're rested."

"First watch?" Four said quickly. 

"If you're sure."

'Doubles,' Warriors suggested. 

"I'll take first, too, then." Legend dumped the few remaining grains of rice in his bowl onto the grass behind him, then handed his dishes off to Sky, who collected them. 

Due to the battles earlier, the group was exhausted, and it took barely an hour for everyone but Four and Legend to fall asleep. The circle went quiet, save for the low snapping of the campfire between them and the crickets chirping in the grass. Four sat in his chair again, and Legend on a log on the other side of the fire. A bright moon, waxing gibbous, hung in the sky. 

The stars flickered overhead, and Four tried not to think too hard. 

…if it became necessary, he didn't want to watch Saber die. 

Legend's footsteps interrupted Four's spiraling, and Four looked over to see Legend settling next to him, magic bag in hand. "You mentioned a dark mirror."

"You don't… have one?" Four's head snapped up. He matched Legend's quiet tone.

"Not really. At least, I don't think it is." From the depths of his seemingly infinite bag, Legend pulled out a silvery hand mirror, plain but shining. The surface glittered, obscuring the reflection. 

Legend held it up, letting the firelight and the moonlight play off the shining silver and the sparkling surface. "The old guy who gave it to me, on my very first adventure, called it simply a magic mirror. When you activate it, you travel to the Dark World, which I'd rather not do in an unfamiliar Hyrule, so I'm not going to show you how it works tonight."

"May I see it?" Four asked, Vio pushing his way forward with both hope and pure curiosity. 

"You're the only one I'd trust with it, I think," Legend said, offering it. "You know magic items better than anyone else here. Don't activate it unless you have a moon pearl on you."

"That's covered," Four said, distracted as he took the magic mirror from Legend with both hands. 

The surface of the magic mirror glittered too much to see through until Four channeled a little magic into it. He just barely brushed the mirror with as little magic as he could, and then a bit more, and a bit more until the glitter cleared up enough to see through. He could tell about how much more it would need to activate, and stayed well away from the limit.

He didn't see his reflection. He saw his Shadow, indistinct and dark, but there. 

Four stared, hardly daring to breathe. Unfortunately, no matter how much he mentally called out or pressed into the mirror, Shadow didn't respond. His features blurred. 

When it became clear that nothing would happen, Four looked up toward the stars again. He handed the mirror back to Legend. 

"Anything?" 

"I saw him," Four whispered. "But I couldn't reach him. I think he really is dead."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. His death, at least, is something I've worked through. Thank you for trying."

Legend got up again to take up his spot on the other side of camp, and Four chose to spend the rest of watch mentally telling stories about how unhinged Shadow could be. 

<<>><<>><<>>

Chapter Text

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"Uh… Four?" 

Four did not want to wake up. He felt fine, physically, he hadn't pushed himself too hard recently. But the morning air outside his bedroll froze the tips of his ears and his hair. He burrowed a little deeper into his blankets and mourned the loss of his dreamless sleep.

"Seriously, Four, what's up with your hair?" 

His hair? Four sighed heavily, pushing warm air into his face. He rolled over to his stomach with an unenthusiastic grunt and pushed himself onto his elbows. His blankets fell around his shoulders, making him shiver. 

"What do you mean what's up with—" Four paused, registering the color of the lock that fell into his eyes. 

His hair was usually golden, a deep sort of blond with a warm tone. When he split, each of him got a slightly different shade of blond, with Red's the darkest and Vio's the lightest. He held out a piece of his hair to look at it, and watched the color bleed from something like Blue's to something like Red's.

The color of his hair was changing. Right before his eyes. 

Four looked up at Wild, who watched with a tilted head. He didn't appear startled, just confused. 

"Has that happened before?" Wild asked. 

"No." Four sat up better, shivering in his undershirt. He combed through his hair with his fingers, working through the knots he found and watching the way his hair continued to shift colors. "Why is my hair changing color?"

He found that, more than anything else, he felt baffled. His conversation with Legend last night came back to him, and he glanced over, but only Warriors and Wild were currently awake. 

Warriors just shrugged at him from nearby, Legend's mirror shield propped up in front of him and a razor in his hand. 'It isn't just your hair.'

"What?" Four fell over to the side in his haste to grab at his bag. He pulled out the little plain mirror he used for shaving and doing his hair, and held it out far enough to sort of see his face. 

As he watched, distinct but subtle lines flowed across his skin, making the boundary between one skin tone and another—nothing dramatic, but each one of Four had slightly different coloration, of skin and eyes and hair. Whatever this was appeared to be randomly shifting through all of them. One moment, the left side of his face looked like Blue, with tanner skin and bright blue eyes, then that coloring moved to the right side of his face, replaced by pale skin and deep blue eyes like Red. It was trippy.

Four looked away after a minute of trying to follow the patterns. He tried to think, but he'd never heard of something like this. He'd heard of shapeshifting, of course, but this didn't feel so dramatic. The only thing he could think of that could have sparked something like this was Legend's magic mirror. 

He took a breath to steady himself. "This is odd." At least his voice didn't change at all. "But kind of interesting."

"It doesn't hurt, does it?" Wild asked. 

"Not at all."

'What is it? Do you know?' Warriors asked. 

"Not… really. But I have my suspicions." Four tugged on his tunic, snatched up his bag, and, with the help of his crutches, joined Warriors by the mirror shield. They both stared at his changing colors. 

Four sighed and took his brush out to actually deal with his hair. 

One by one, the other Heroes woke up to the smell of breakfast. Some of them noticed Four's oddly shifting appearance right off—Twilight and Wind—and some took a moment—Time didn't notice for an embarrassingly long time. Embarrassing for him, anyway. Hyrule, of course, didn't notice at all. The sun rose higher, warming them and shortening their shadows. Four noticed again that his had disappeared, but that was a secondary concern. 

The longer Four stared, the more he found that the random color shifts weren't so random, and that he could exert a bit of control over it. As he absently ate the rice and eggs that Warriors put in front of him, Four focused on trying to control this new ability. He managed to sync up the changes, so he looked entirely like Green one minute, then like Red the next. He even managed to wrangle his appearance back to what he usually looked like. 

I wonder, he thought. Could I look like someone who isn't me?  

"So how much magic did you channel into that thing last night?" Legend asked, settling behind Warriors and Four with a grunt. He shoveled rice into his mouth. 

Warriors raised an eyebrow. 

"Not much," Four said. "Could it be responsible for this?" 

Legend swallowed. "Unless you touched another very magical mirror when I wasn't looking."

'What magical mirror?' Warriors asked. 

"Mine. It takes you to the Dark World. The important part is that, if you aren't carrying a moon pearl, the Dark World's magic turns you into something that reflects your soul. Physically." Legend gestured with the chopsticks in his hand.

'Did that happen to you?' 

"Yeah, I'd rather not talk about it. But the point is, the Dark World can turn you into anything —an animal, an object, a monster, even something that doesn't really exist. You keep your ability to talk, usually, but nothing else is guaranteed. My guess is that Four brushed up against that enough to start a change, but not finish it."

"One problem." Four reached into his leggings pocket and pulled out a little velvet pouch. He pulled out the oversized, opaline pearl inside. "I have a moon pearl, and I've had it since last night. I carry it around all the time."

Legend paused and peered closer. "Oh. That's the end of that theory, then. Well, I'm stumped."

Four tucked the pearl away back into his pocket. "I don't know why I can do this all of a sudden, but… it might be the solution to our issue with Saber."

"You have an idea?" Legend asked suspiciously. 

Warriors's eyes lit up. 'What did your friend Shadow look like?'

Four nodded, Warriors had guessed it. "I just have to figure out if I can do it."

"Uh, bad news, everyone!" Wind ran up the side of the hill, shaking droplets of river from his hair. He'd tied his tunic around his waist like a dumb blue sash. "Monsters over that rise!" 

Time set aside his mostly eaten breakfast with a sigh. "How many?" 

"Only about ten, a big one or two." Wind pulled his sword belt over his shoulder. "Not everybody needs to come."

"Twilight, Hyrule, and Legend, would you come with Wind and I?" Time asked. 

"Ugh, morning fights." In spite of his grumbling, Legend stood up. 

Four leaned back so he didn't shout in Warriors's ear. "Twi! Your harness thing is in the cart, it's ready to use!" 

"Thanks, Four!" 

Once the five of them ran off to deal with the small group, Sky finally blinked awake, bleary. He squinted at Four as if unsure what was happening—he wasn't the only one. Warriors gave him a brief summary, and Wild gave him a bowl of breakfast. After chewing on eggs for a minute and patting his hair down, Sky looked less like a newborn chick and more like a Hylian. He put his hearing aids in for the morning. 

Four rolled his eyes fondly, more than used to Sky's morning moods. He clapped his hands together and narrowed his eyes at himself in the mirror. 

Focus. 

His memories of Shadow's appearance had faded and blurred over the last few years… it had been three. Three years in several days. He knew Shadow's coloring, at least, and it didn't seem like this unexpected new ability of his actually changed his shape , just his colors. Hopefully it would be enough for Saber to let him close again. 

Four thought very, very hard. He didn't do much magic beyond object enchantments, but this felt somewhat similar to the magic that shrunk him down to Minish size, just… sideways. Different handwriting. It took concentration, but Four managed to darken his skin, turn his hair purple, and even color his nails dark. His eyes were fine being blue, though Four had a small internal crisis when he couldn't recall the shade of Shadow's eyes. He felt like he remembered them being blue, gray, violet, even red… but they didn't actually change color, did they? 

They might have. Shadow did have a true shapeshifting ability, at least to an extent. Vio had always wanted to run a few tests, find the limits, but he'd never gotten the opportunity. Shadow had used the ability several times to look like one of the Links, and at least once to be a cat. That memory rested in the very depths of Vio's mental treasure box. He could never forget the black cat that had taken up his lap for an entire day, rumbling in contentment and flicking little notched ears. 

Either way, it took a bit of fiddling, but Four ended up with a reflection that looked uncannily like Shadow. 

He'd been melancholy-ed out recently. Staring at himself in the mirror just gave him a sense of detached sadness, rather than the grief from before. He was grateful for this odd ability, wherever it came from, because it meant that he had more options. There was a strong possibility now that he wouldn't have to kill Saber. And for that? Four would willingly do a lot of uncomfortable things. 

A monster over the hill squealed loudly. 

"So that's Shadow?" Wild asked, coming to sit by Four and Warriors with a few arrows that needed repairs in his hands.

"Sort of. My face is the wrong shape, and his hair was never this long. Maybe I should tie it back."

'Your living reflection had purple hair?' Warriors had long ago finished his own preparations for the day, but sat back, content to keep watch while Four practiced. 

"He could change what he looked like, but he liked purple hair." Four took the tie that Wild offered him with a grateful smile and pulled his hair back into a messy ponytail. 

Sky tilted his head, still eating. "That feels… too coincidental."

"What do you mean?" Not all of Four's hair was long enough to fit into the ponytail. His bangs in particular fell out to frame his face. He tried to make them a little spikier with his fingers and a bit of water. Warriors offered out a tin of hair product. 

"Well…" Sky usually spoke a bit louder and with clearer enunciation than most people, and right now, having just woken up, both of those traits were exaggerated. "It's nearly the anniversary of… of his death." Four didn't react negatively, so Sky continued. "His dragon has been active again for the first time in several years, apparently. You told us about him. And now you have one of his abilities?" 

'Don't forget the magic mirror,' Warriors added. 

"I don't know what any of it means," Four said, "but I'm not going to worry too much about it right now. This can save Saber's life, and that's all I want."

Everyone jumped as a crack of lightning split the air less than a mile away, flashing white and gold in the blue morning sky. Four felt the hair on his neck stand on end with residual electricity. 

"Hyrule," Sky and Wild chorused, then laughed. 

Warriors's elbow hit Four's arm, getting his attention. Four scowled, but followed Warriors's pointing finger and sucked in a breath. 

Saber had heard the lightning, too. She'd poked her head from her cave again, a large amount of smoke pouring from her nostrils in… annoyance? Warmth? It didn't bode well. 

Four glanced at his reflection in Legend's shield mirror—oh no, he hadn't taken that to the fight—and adjusted the color of his skin again, which had slipped. It felt very strange to not look like himself.

"Quick, does anyone have a flying potion?" Four asked. He didn't even know if those existed.

He got three head shakes, so he assumed they didn't. That was fine. He knew that Shadow had the same injury that he did, but he could fly , so Four had never seen him use any kind of mobility aid. Hopefully Saber wouldn't notice the difference. 

Four picked up his crutches and heaved himself to his feet. "I'm going to go talk to her."

'You should take backup,' Warriors said, rising too. 

"No, the whole point of this is that she needs to trust me. I'll be fine. If it goes bad, I have ways of getting out, okay?"

Wild handed Four the sheathed Four Sword, staring at him with a bit of a concerned scowl. 

"I'll be okay," Four repeated. He hooked the sword over his shoulder, and once Wild gave him a nod, Four started off. 

Saber emerged from the cave entirely, shining sapphire in the sunlight. She flapped her wings and lifted into the air, though Four didn't think she would be off to find another village to roast. She looked toward the sounds of the battle. It sounded like it had only gotten worse—Four hoped that the other three would go to check on the others. He had a different job today. 

"Saber!" Four yelled, hoping very much that his disguise stayed in place while he wasn't watching. "Saber!" 

His call definitely got her attention. She twisted gracefully in the air, arcing through a full loop before coming out toward him. 

Most of Four had never been up close and personal with a dragon. He froze, but still managed to smile as Saber came down almost on top of him, landing on the hillside. "Hey, girl. How are you? The big, bad heroes didn't scare you too badly, did they?" 

He reached out a hand, and Saber's tongue tasted the air around him. She opened her mouth a bit to show off her teeth. 

Four relaxed a little, doing his best to bare his teeth back. It made him laugh. "You aren't fooled at all, are you, girl?" He reached up and stroked the bottom of her jaw. 

Saber moved so he touched her neck instead, coming down more eye-level with him. 

"If you want me to climb up onto you, I can't do that alone. Sorry." Her blue scales had sharp edges, but their surfaces felt almost soft. He had to be a little careful. 

She tried to insist again, but Four just patted her and moved back. "Sorry," he repeated. "Look, I somehow have to get it across to you that you can't keep attacking towns. I have no idea how to do that, now that I'm here. But I'm going to, one way or another."

Saber turned, one amber eye staring him down. She considered, then launched back into the air. Four felt a shock of panic, then calm, and then panic again as she flew a few yards away, circled back, and reached her front claws out toward him. 

Four didn't scream, but only because his breath had caught in his throat. Saber's claws closed around his middle, pinning his arms to his sides. He dropped his crutches, letting them fall to the grass, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. 

With Four firmly in her claws, though he didn't exactly feel safe, Saber soared high into the air. Vio had flown with her before, but only ever buckled into a saddle on her back with Shadow nearby. This was a whole different experience. His stomach got left far, far behind as they flew into the wind. 

Saber turned, and though Four saw more blue sky and thin white clouds than ground, he could tell they were headed for the battle. 

"Saber! They're friends!" Four shouted, but the whipping wind stole his words, and he had to turn his head to the side to suck in another breath. He didn't dare struggle and potentially make her drop him. 

As she floated down, Saber tucked her legs in, which pressed Four against her paler underbelly. He… okay, yes, he felt safer like that. He faced down, toward the speeding ground, which gave him vertigo, but at least he didn't feel like she was going to drop him and second. 

"Four!" someone yelled, though Four was gone too quickly to see who. 

"I'm fine!" he shouted into the void, hoping it got across to someone, at least. 

Saber rose higher into the air, giving Four a nice bird's-eye view of the battlefield. The monsters were nearly all dead, except for one huge hinox—one of Wild's, gross—and a couple little lizardy dodongos. Four could see where Hyrule's lightning had struck, a charred section of grass under the decomposing corpse of a second big hinox. It did look like Sky, Wild, and Warriors had joined the others eventually. Three little spots, vaguely them-colored, fled toward the rest of the battle. 

A portion of the hillside sank into brown stone, revealing some sort of dungeon. It seemed as if the others would be occupied for some time. Well, at least they wouldn't be bored. 

Saber turned again and dove toward her cave. Four managed a scream that time, though it was only partly in terror. Honestly, the ride delighted him, just a little. He still wished that Shadow was sitting far too close behind him, though. That would make the experience so much better. 

Their descent ended smoothly, with Saber's back four legs landing outside her cave gently. She didn't let go of Four until they had entered the darkness of the cave. A few steps into the cave, she held him out and let him go, as if trying to set him on his feet.

"Saber!" Four fell, of course, because he'd dropped his crutches. He didn't fall too hard, though, he knew how to drop. He landed on cave stone, cool but not cold. 

Light streamed in from the cave opening, tinted gray by the bit of smoke and dust in the air. It smelled strongly like brimstone. The light lit a small hoard of Saber's preferred kind of stuffed chairs and throw pillows, though a lot of it leaked the stuffing from claw- or scale-torn holes. Sitting in a place of honor, low among the scattered furniture, a jagged shard of glass reflected the sunlight back at Four's face. 

…not just any glass. Mirrored glass. The light inside it shivered. 

The sunlight illuminated everything, making it very obvious to Four when he looked down that his shadow was, indeed, missing. 

Saber huffed behind him as if laughing. 

See, silly Hylian? Four imagined her saying. This is why I wanted you alone. 

<<>><<>><<>>

Chapter Text

<<>><<>><<>>

Legend stared off in the direction that Four and the blue dragon had gone, fiddling with his collapsed cane in both hands. He chewed on his cheek. That had looked both fun and terrifying. 

"Everything okay?" Hyrule asked, noticing his disquietude. 

"I just hope that Four is all right." 

Hyrule laughed and let go of Legend's sleeve to dig for a potion in his bag. "He'll be fine, I'm confident. Four's adaptable." He pulled out a green potion, and Legend turned quickly. 

"Hey, none of that—" Legend made a grab for the potion, but Hyrule somehow dodged him. 

"We're going into a dungeon!" Hyrule protested, laughing. "I need it!" 

"You need to go take it easy so you don't burn yourself out!" Legend tried again. 

…and failed again. 

"I can do what I want, oh Legendary Hero." Hyrule drained the green potion faster than he should have been able to and tucked the bottle aside. He coughed a bit—green potions could be quite peppery. Legend sighed in exasperation. Hyrule wasn't wrong, but Legend didn't like it when any of them pushed themselves like that. 

"Come on, you two!" Wind called. He had monster blood in his hair and a feral grin on his face. At least he'd put his tunic back on. "Dungeon time ! Dungeon time !"

Warriors stood next to Wind, grimacing a bit as he looked down into the darkness. Everyone else switched out their gear, preparing for a dungeon crawl. It was Legend's desire to see Warriors sweat in an unfamiliar situation that spurred him on to follow Hyrule to the entrance. 

<<>><<>><<>>

Light from the morning outside streamed into the cave, lighting ripped furniture, dusty throw pillows, and layered stalagmites. The cave didn't go very deep, but it did have a small, stinky green pond. The shard of mirror, as big as Four's head, reflected a bright spot onto the ceiling. 

"Saber?" said a voice from the direction of the mirror, sharp and familiar. "You big idiot of a dragon. He can't walk!" 

"...Shadow?" Four asked. 

"Yeah, duh. Sorry about Saber. She's smart, I promise."

Four watched Saber trot smugly over to her pile of pillows, turn around a few times, and nestle down with her head over her tail. She blinked up at Four, then settled down as if to nap. "No, I believe you. She's smart."

"Wait, you can actually hear me? Yes, best day ever."

"Of course I can hear you, I responded, didn't I?" Four regarded at the distance between him and the mirror shard, sighed, and started to pull himself forward. It wasn't too long a distance. He just got a little scraped on the stone.

"I guess I just started to worry… it's been a while since anyone but Saber heard me."

Four reached the shard of mirror. He sat back against a nearby stalagmite, uncaring of the chill, and picked up the mirror. 

For a moment, he thought that he just saw himself again—the reflection had longer hair and coloring like that which Four had put on himself earlier. But then the reflection grinned, and Four registered the color of his hands. 

"I'm not you-colored," Four realized. 

"Nah, not anymore, I stopped pushing that magic at you when Saber grabbed you. Now you're just you." Shadow put a fist under his chin. His smile gradually fell as they watched each other. 

The mirror showed Shadow from the shoulders up, older than Four remembered him. He wore a headband like Four usually did, and even a copy of his little Minish tail earring. His eyes were blue. 

He looked good. Healthy, at least as far as Four could tell, if tired and maybe a little thin. Around him, the mirror showed the cave and bits of Four, like a normal reflection. 

"What's the matter?" Shadow asked after a protracted moment. "So stunned you can't even speak? I know. I'm beautiful."

"A sight for sore eyes," Four admitted. He couldn't stop the smile that curled at his lips. "You've never met me me, have you?"

"I did that one time, when I kidnapped Dot."

"That was Link. I'm… not really him anymore."

Shadow waved a hand, showing off the dark claws he still had. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're Four. I've heard your explanation."

Four adjusted his hold on the mirror, trying to find a spot where he wouldn't cut his fingers. He moved gingerly. The last thing he needed was for this piece of mirror to break in his hands. "You've… heard it?" 

"Duh. Shadow. I hear everything—though I do have to admit I wasn't really conscious until pretty recently. But yeah, I know where you've been, and who the other Heroes are."

"You… heard me talking to you?" Four felt his cheeks warm as he tried to remember what sort of embarrassing things he'd said. 

Shadow laughed. "Most of it." 

"Ack." Four ducked, laughing along with Shadow, heart full. He felt a few hot tears prick at his eyes, but managed to breathe through it and stop them from dropping. It had been a long time since he'd felt this… in-sync.

Right now, he wasn't Green with Blue in his ear, or Red and Vio working together. He was just Four. Being separate was good, he liked being his individual parts, and they liked it, too, but he'd lost his wholeness a long time ago. It was nice to feel a bit of that. 

Four took a breath, tucked a chunk of his bangs behind his ear—his ponytail wouldn't survive much longer—and looked at Shadow again. "So you've been here? And in my shadow? How has that worked?" 

Shadow launched into an eager explanation. It wasn't very long, but Four engaged happily, trying to tease more details and just hear Shadow talk again. After breaking the Dark Mirror, Shadow had expected to disappear entirely. Instead, one of the largest mirror shards sucked him inside, leaving him trapped in between the mirror and the dark world. 

"If I'd known—" Four started, apologetic. 

" I didn't know. So how could you have?" 

Inch by inch, though, Four's colorful, bright soul pulled Shadow back to him. Shadow described the sensation as "spicy chocolate"—sweet and a little bitter, with a hint of darkness that just made him all the more attractive.

Four wasn't sure if Shadow meant that literally, because his soul was attracting Shadow's self, or physically, like… romantically. He decided not to worry about it. There was time to worry about it later. 

Shadow had watched Four constantly, because what else could he do? The more he came back to himself, the more he could go off to do something else, but Shadow said that he knew he couldn't leave the dark world, and he couldn't think of anything that he'd rather do. 

…on second thought, Shadow's flirting had never been subtle. Was it odd to fall in love with one's shadow, their living reflection? As he had done several times before, Four mentally dismissed the question. "Odd" didn't matter when it came to Heroes. 

"You were in the dark world for a time?" Four asked. 

Shadow nodded and gestured again. "Yep, attached to you."

"Does that mean that I could have used Legend's magic mirror at any time to see you?"

"I dunno." Shadow shrugged. He was being very expressive and talkative. Four couldn't blame him. He must have been lonely. "Maybe. But last time we got to this Hyrule, I was able to find this piece of mirror that Saber had somehow managed to save. I told her that I needed you to come here."

Four let out a breath, not quite a sigh. "She started burning houses to look for me."

"Okay, well, I didn't tell her to do that. But she didn't burn them all the way down!" 

"Any amount of burning is bad."

"...why?" Shadow sounded genuinely baffled. "They can rebuild."

"With materials and time that they would have spent growing food," Four tried to explain. "She did get my attention, at least."

"And now you're here!" Shadow smiled. "So all's well that ends well, yeah?" 

"I suppose. This time." Four matched the smile, eyes burning again. Shadow really needed an ethics tutor. "So what now? How do I get you out?" 

"That's what I need you for. I don't actually know."

"Ah, I'm your idea guy. That's all you want me for." Four shook his head in false disappointment. "For shame."

"Yep, your bright mind and everything else you have. Actually, I wonder if…"

Shadow looked at his own hand, then at Four, and then he reached out.  

His hand, dark, clawed, perhaps a little too bony, broke the iridescent surface of the mirror. Four quickly let go of the mirror with one hand to grasp Shadow's when it came through. It felt cool and solid and real. 

That contact broke the floodgates, and Four's tears finally showed themselves. He sobbed, clutching at Shadow's hand. He was here. Really, really here.

For all of Shadow's faults—his ego, his mean streak, his incessant attention-grabbing ways—Four admired him. He was resilient, charismatic, and inventive. He had a way with magic that Four could only envy. He was entirely, undoubtedly, his own person. 

…A person that Four happened to like quite a lot. One who had been essentially dead for three years. Who could blame him for a reaction like this, when presented with undeniable proof?

"Hey," Shadow said, sounding a little panicked. "Don't cry. Um." He squeezed Four's hand back. 

"You're just—you were dead, Shadow." Four didn't dare let go of the mirror, but he did turn his head to wipe his cheeks on the hood of his tunic that sat across his shoulders. 

"Not really. And I'm here now. Doesn't that make it better?" 

Four laughed, tears still coursing from his eyes. "It does. So much better, you have no idea." 

Shadow's mouth fell open in confusion. He clearly did not know how to handle happy tears. 

Four snorted, which made him choke on his snot. He took a few gasping breaths. His shoulders shook with emotion, both happy and bittersweet. Shadow in the mirror had been one thing, but Shadow actually touching him was quite another. 

It took a minute for Four to calm down again. He consciously slowed his breathing and closed his eyes. He used the end of his hood to dry his face off again, then looked back at Shadow and loosened the death grip he had on his hand. He sniffed. 

"So," Four said, voice level again. "You can come out of the mirror."

"Except the mirror's too small to fit the rest of me, , " Shadow responded, sticking the fingers of his other hand out. He seemed perfectly content with ignoring Four's brief breakdown. 

Four smiled, feeling the tears-swollen parts of his face squish. He let go of Shadow's hand. "Is the mirror too small, or are you too big ?" 

The realization that crossed Shadow's face was nearly comical. "But I can't really make myself smaller…"

"A Minish portal could." Four looked around, and to his delight, found a cracked rock just the right size only a few feet away. He scooted that direction and turned the mirror so Shadow could see it. "You know how to use it?" 

"Duh." Shadow's arm reached out of the mirror shard. He could get up to his shoulder, but he didn't need to go quite that far to touch the crack in the rock. 

The Minish magic worked quickly and efficiently. Faster than Four could blink, a tiny version of Shadow bounced out of the rock, dazed. He blinked up at Four with adorably round eyes, and it was all Four could do to not coo right there. 

"You," Four said, leaning down and putting the empty mirror aside carefully, "are very cute when you're tiny."

"But not when I'm big?" Shadow rose into the air, dusting off his dark tunic. He shook his head, short purple hair flaring out to either side. His outfit looked like Four's usual, but a bit more jagged and a bit more muted. He even had a little Ezlo charm at the tip of his hood, though the hood curled and wove like his hat always had. 

"No, you're cute then, too." 

Shadow sent a bright smile, fangs and all, and flew into the Minish portal again. He emerged full-sized, and Four barely had the presence of mind to ask before throwing them both into a hug. 

<<>><<>><<>>

They talked about a lot while they waited for the sun to sink, sitting close together up against Saber's side. 

Although it had been three years, Shadow hadn't been up to much, and Four didn't really have to catch him up on anything. Instead, they gossiped about the other eight Heroes, with Shadow sharing theories about their romantic entanglements and secret frustrations and Four eagerly participating. They jokingly insulted each others' fashion sense, for all that they wore virtually the same thing. They discussed food, how much Shadow had missed eating, and what Four was going to make or procure as soon as he possibly could. 

Their conversation touched on a few heavier topics, too, things that scared Four to bring up, but were worth it in the end: yes, Shadow knew Vio best out of the four of them, but as much as he loved Vio, he liked that there was more to Four, too. He didn't want to be one of them. He just wanted to be with them. 

Shadow was a little afraid that the other Heroes wouldn't like him, and Four had to admit that some of them were wary about the idea of a dark reflection, even a redeemed one like Shadow. But the explanation Four had given them last night—had it only been last night?—would probably assuage their fears.

"I think they'd care about me because you care about me, and they care about you," Shadow said with one of his self-deprecating smiles. He held one of Four's hands in both of his own, poking the palm and bending the fingers. Saber sat warm and heavy at their backs. 

"Maybe at first," Four admitted, leaning into Shadow's shoulder. "Are you going to stick around us? Through the portals and all? You don't have to, you could stay here. I have a house." 

"Like I'd leave you. Idiot."

" I'm the idiot?" Four laughed. 

"Yep. Always and forever. I'm not… I'm not back to normal, Four." 

Four waited patiently for Shadow to speak. The portion of mountains that this cave was carved into ran east to west, so the sun's progression through the day moved the shadows from left to right. The shadows stretched long, now, as the sun had nearly disappeared. The two of them wouldn't have much longer in here. 

"I'm still tired," Shadow eventually continued. "Without a functioning dark mirror, I won't have much magic. But it'll be fine. I can hide in your shadow when I need to recuperate. As we established before, I happen to like the way your soul tastes." His smile sharpened, and he slowly raised Four's hand as if to take a bite. 

"Lick me and regret it."

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"Punch you in the face."

"I'd probably thank you."

"Your black eye wouldn't."

Shadow laughed and put Four's hand down. "Okay, okay, I believe you." 

They sat in silence for a time longer, simply enjoying each other's company. The last, juicy orange light of sunset bled onto the floor of the cave, nearly brushing their toes. 

Outside, Four heard a few distant mutters and familiar laughs. 

"I think the others are done with the dungeon," he said. "We should go soon so they don't worry more. And Shadow, what do we do about Saber? The whole reason we're here is because she was attacking towns. Will she keep doing that if you're not around?" 

Shadow gave Four his hand back and untangled their legs. "Oh, I have the perfect plan for her, don't worry." He rose a little into the air and held a hand out, smiling again. "Care for a ride back down?" 

<<>><<>><<>>

Chapter Text

Several days, some traveling, and some time at the forge later

<<>><<>><<>>

Piping, bouncing music drifted on the warm summer night like ribbons floating over the warm lights. Colorful streamers strung over simple stone fountains and cobblestone roads bounced on the breeze. Children dressed in bright colors, some splattered with mud or grass stains, ran around with lovingly carved wooden swords and tiny Minish figurines, while parents sat back with mugs of beer and friends. A few young people wearing their brightest and best danced in the square, barely visible through all the bodies and buildings in the way. A cheer rose from somewhere as somebody won a game. 

The Picori Festival. 

"Hold on a bit, Shadow," Four said, reaching out to grab Shadow's hand and stop him from flying directly into the town square. Shadow stopped and squeezed his hand back, apparently on instinct. Four adjusted one of his wheelchair's wheels to turn a bit toward him. 

Warriors, ahead of them with part of the group, also paused and glanced back, but Four waved him on. 

"We'll catch up."

Though he hesitated for a moment, Warriors smiled, nodded, and turned to go on with Sky and Twilight. The three of them stuck together, but quickly disappeared into the loose throng of festival-goers. It looked busy in there, but not packed, which was good news. 

Shadow did not quite lean correctly to be convincing with the crutch on his right side, but Four let it go. He was trying to train the fool to at least appear a little more Hylian in public places, and Shadow wasn't comfortable using up both of his hands with the crutches. He was still floating, though close enough to the ground that it almost looked like he was walking. 

"Something wrong?" Shadow asked, eyebrows scrunching. 

Four shook his head. He was grateful that it was so dark, because he was sure that his blush began again. He pulled Shadow a little closer. "Nothing's wrong. It's just your first Picori Festival."

"I know , Four, I want to go inside," Shadow laughed.

"I know, I know. We will. In just a second." Four used his free hand to open one of the pouches tied to the arms of his chair, and pulled out a little tangle of wire, stone, and leather. "Here, I made something for you. Well, actually, more than one thing, but—anyway. This."

Shadow let go of Four's hand to take the thing, and his eyebrows jumped when the soft leather string unspooled. Four had taken eight kinstone halves—two in red, two in blue, two in green, and two in purple—wrapped them in silver wire, and knotted them into the leather at intervals to make a long, decorated string. 

"I thought you could hang it on your belt, or wrap it around your wrist, or pin it up in your room somewhere. Whatever you want." 

"You got me kinstones?" Shadow brought them up to his face to look a little closer.

"You're supposed to get one for each of your birthdays up til now, at least, that's the tradition, but I don't really know how long that's been, and eight seemed like plenty."

"Especially because you made them all pretty." Shadow tilted his hand to let the shining kinstones catch the light in different ways. 

Four laughed. "I'm glad you think so. I've never done wire wrapping before, but Wind's been doing all that weaving and had a few pointers."

"I like it." Shadow wrapped the string twice around his wrist and hooked the loops together. 

"Good. So what do you want to do first? There are games, and the storytelling, food… I've done everything before, I'll do whatever you want to do."

"Ooh, whatever I want to do, huh?" Shadow sent a sharp smile at Four, eyebrows raised, who flushed red again. 

"Shut up."

Shadow laughed at his discomfiture and settled back down to the ground from the few inches he'd accidentally floated up. "You fluster too fast, it's fun. Let's go see Dot."

"If we can find her." Four didn't respond to the other part of that. He led the way, keeping to the side streets. He watched Shadow carefully as they moved along. Shadow kept drifting closer to the brightness of the crowd, then getting startled and going back to Four's side. Four had suspected that Shadow would be a little less comfortable in crowds, and it looked like he was right. Besides, it was easier to move around here in the outskirts. They'd stick to the sides for a while, just to get used to the number of people. 

Four caught the occasional glimpse of another Hero. They'd dressed up a bit too, which made them a bit more difficult to spot, since they looked a little different. Hyrule and Wild scammed a scammer out of her rupees, playing on Hyrule's blindness. Legend joined the cycling group of musical performers with someone's violin, maybe his own, though Four had never seen it. Wind dragged Twilight and Time into singing drinking songs. Warriors and Sky sat at one of the tables by the pop-up food stalls, having a rapid conversation in sign over their bowls of fruit sorbet. Four made a mental note to go get some of that for Shadow later. 

They made their way to the front of the festival and emerged out into the main, wide road that led up to the castle. Fewer people milled about on this street, due to the relative lack of current attractions. Dot sat back in her own little stall, snacking on a cob of roasted corn.

She lit up when she noticed Four and Shadow. The crack-like scars across the side of her face stretched and creased with her bright smile, and she shot up to greet them. 

A large dog, sleek, with fur so black it was nearly blue, followed her in large, bounding steps. 

"Hi," Shadow greeted Dot, but quickly dropped down to kneel on the ground and accept the dog's kisses. "Ack, Saber, why are you so slobbery as a dog? Gross." Despite his protests, he still stayed close, ruffling her little ears. 

Four rolled his eyes and gave a far more proper half-formal bow to Dot. "Your Highness."

"Your Heroness." She punched his shoulder, rather hard, for the pomp. 

"How's the festival?" Four asked, pointedly not rubbing the spot where she'd punched him. 

"I'm having fun. I spent three whole songs dancing, and I think that's quite enough for me for a while." She laughed. "You?" 

"We just got here, you're our first stop. Saber's been doing okay with you so far? It's been a few days since we dropped her off." Four leaned his elbow on the arm of his chair and propped his chin on his fist to watch Shadow offer Saber a stick, which she promptly bit and started to pull on. She was a rather bony dog, but had plenty of strength. 

Dot snorted and leaned on Four with her elbow on his head. "Oh, yeah. She's really enthusiastic, and keeps stealing my pillows, but I'm not mad about it. She's a great guard dog, too. She bit Artura yesterday."

"Oh, no," Four said, a smile growing. He tolerated Dot's leaning. 

Shadow tugged harder on the stick, nearly falling over, and Saber increased her own efforts with a friendly growl. "Good girl!" he said in a baby tone, somewhat jarring coming from him. 

"We're working on it," Dot said. "Are either of you going to enter the sword tournament?" 

"I probably won't." Four glanced over at the nearby raised stage set up for the tournament later—without moving his head, of course. "What's the prize this year?" 

"A trophy. We had the kids from the school design a couple, and Richard the carver made the winning one." She gestured over to her stall, which featured the very odd-shaped bird on a pedestal. It looked like the woodworker had made it out of nice wood, with a strong grain and dark color. It shone with oil. They both stared at it. 

"Wow," Four said. "That's something."

Dot shrugged and pulled her elbow off Four's head. "The more I look at it, the cuter it gets."

"Hopefully."

Dot laughed at that. "Shadow."

Shadow and Saber had progressed from tug-of-war to fetch, and Shadow had entirely dropped his attempts to appear to not be flying. He looked up and over as Saber ran for the stick. "What?" 

"Are you going to enter the sword tournament?" 

"Uh." Shadow blinked. "I probably shouldn't. I did sort of lead a raid on the castle."

Dot scrunched her nose. "That is, unfortunately, a good point…"

Saber knocked Shadow over to drop the stick on his chest. Four snorted at the sight, his heart full of good things he didn't take the time to identify. He just wanted to experience, tonight. 

"That's okay," Four said. "There's plenty to do anyway. Come on, Shadow, I think some of the games end when the tournament starts."

Shadow somehow managed to get Saber off of him, laughing the whole way. "Okay, okay. I'll come back, Saber, okay? Be a good girl for Dot. She deserves you being nice to her."

Four didn't think that Saber really understood all of Shadow's words, but when Shadow got back up and retrieved his single crutch, she trotted back over to Dot's side and sat primly. Shadow reached out for Four, but Four pulled away. 

"I'm not touching you until you get dragon dog slobber off of you." 

Shadow laughed. "Freak. Fine , where's the river?" 

After a brief stop to clean up again, Four and Shadow entered the throng to experience more of the festival. Despite their worries, nobody really seemed to recognize Shadow, though his purple hair got some sideways looks. They did recognize Four, however, so plenty of people were more inclined to trust Shadow, who was clearly with him. Shadow lost a few festival games, to his clear bafflement. Four told him that they were rigged— after the losses. Shadow openly enjoyed the storytelling, the watermelon sorbet, the caramelized kettle corn, and the music.  

Four himself enjoyed this festival more than any other he could remember since he was very young. After his first adventure, and despite Dot's undiminished enthusiasm, Four always felt a sort of gloom hang over him at the Picori Festival. Vaati had cursed his best friend here. He'd never quite gotten over that. But now, showing Shadow and all his brothers the fun that the festival had in store, Four felt that gloom breaking. Brightness met him on the other side. 

He got a frozen strawberry-flavored popsicle. He enjoyed it. 

Time made Wild and Wind pull out of the tournament, promising to hold one of their own later with a different prize. He said it wouldn't be fair, and, well, Four had to agree. They all cheered from the sidelines. The woman who won the ugly trophy would have gone down in five seconds to one of the Heroes, so holding back was probably a good idea. 

The festival stretched on, but Four and Shadow started up toward the castle after the tournament. It didn't take long to get there. Four backed his wheelchair in a cluster of bushes to hide it (although he knew nobody would mess with it, the staff knew him. One of the guards had let them into the side gardens.) Shadow abandoned his crutch again. 

"Four," Shadow said, floating in front of him with his hands on his hips, "Hero of Light and also my hero, thus, light of my life—"

"Yes, Shadow?" Four interrupted, laughter bubbling up in his chest. 

Shadow's smile rivaled the sun as he got even closer. "May I pick you up?" 

"Yes." 

"Oh, good." 

Four wrapped his arms around Shadow's neck as Shadow plucked him up in a familiar hold. They rose gently into the sky—two stories, three, four—and Four could feel his heart running faster. Probably the height. 

The castle loomed in front of them, a dark shape in the pleasant night, and Shadow paused. "Well, this is a familiar sight."

"Seriously?" 

"Yep, I remember this view when I attacked the castle. That was fun."

"Except for the part where people died," Four reminded him softly. 

Shadow turned his eyes down. "Yeah. Except that part. I did try to not do that. Vaati…"

Four squeezed him a little tighter. "It's over and done with. He's gone. You've atoned. And we're here at the Picori Festival."

"Right." Shadow's smile returned, several watts dimmer, more content rather than manic. He flew, finding Dot's balcony with ease. She wouldn't be using it tonight. It faced the town.

Shadow set Four down carefully on the balcony floor, then sat next to him. Dot's balcony had a railing of thin steel bars, the perfect distance apart to stick one's legs through. They arranged themselves, sitting close together with their feet dangling out over the courtyard. Lights from the festival twinkled not very far away in the town square. Four could still hear the music from here. 

"What do you think the prize for our private tournament will be?" Shadow asked, draping an arm over Four's shoulders. His new kinstone bracelet dangled near Four's ear.

Four did not protest the contact. "If it's Time choosing… I'll bet something either boringly practical or off-the-wall bonkers. I couldn't possibly predict something like that."

"I'll bet five rupees on it being a cucco egg."

"You don't have any rupees, Shadow."

"I'm confident I'm going to win," Shadow said smugly. "If I lose, I'll owe you something."

"Something like what?" Four leaned his forehead against the railings, close to Shadow to share his heat. It was chilly up here. 

"I dunno. What's worth five rupees? I'll comb your hair." Shadow's legs swung back and forth, more of a result of the breeze than any conscious decision on his part. 

Four rolled his eyes. "Sure. You can comb my hair if Time does not choose an entirely normal egg as our sword tournament prize."

"So either way, I win! Either I get five rupees or get to comb your hair. I'm so good at this."

They fell silent for a while, watching the festival-goers below start to climb the roofs of the buildings around the square. Four spotted Wild's hair and Sky's sailcloth all the way from here. He couldn't imagine anywhere he'd rather be, right now. 

The first firework, bright yellow and sparkling up from a fallow field a distance away, made the crowd below gasp as one. Shadow jumped at the noise, and Four turned to look at him. 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah. When you said 'explosion in the sky,' I didn't expect it to be so… glittery ." 

The second firework reflected in Shadow's wide eyes as he watched it soar into the sky and burst in a shower of pink sparks.

"It's pretty," Four agreed with a smile. He took Shadow's hand, and they watched the fireworks together.