Chapter Text
Ironically— or perhaps stupidly —the four of them had thought that after their last adventure, they would actually get peace and be able to move on with their life.
That three adventures before their sixteenth— or in Vio and Shadow’s case seventeenth —birthday had been more than sufficient to appease the Light Goddesses. Zelda certainly thinks they’ve done enough and she’s the princess, said to be descended from the Goddess Hylia herself, so that has to count for something?
Apparently not.
Less than two weeks after they finish their blacksmith apprenticeship and can formally call themselves master blacksmiths, trouble comes quite literally knocking at the door.
Vio wakes up to the feeling of a Minish chirping insistently at them. At first they try to turn around and get some more rest. The Minish know how messed up their sleep schedule is, so why try to wake them when there are literally three other people in the room to bother?
They love the Minish, don’t get them wrong, but Vio’s introverted at heart and grumpy when sleep deprived. Any semblance of a morning person Link may have been had certainly gone to Red and Blue.
The chirping gets more intense and even in their half-asleep haze Vio feels the fluffy tail of a Minish brushing over their cheeks. Fine.
With a large amount of grumbling Vio lifts themself to sit and holds out a hand for the Minish to jump onto. Bringing the hand close to their face, they recognised the worried look of one of their favourite Minish. “Bubble? What’s going on?”
“Vio!” Bubble cries out, holding onto Vio’s thumb for support. “There are a group of armed people looking for this world’s Link!”
Vio frowns. “This world’s Link?”
Bubble nods. “Oh yes, that’s what they were saying! They feel the same as you and your siblings and I saw at least one of your holy triangles on their hands.”
What in Din’s…?
“Your grandpa sent me up here so I could warn you! He’s out in the herb garden weeding and probably saw them coming.”
Vio suddenly doesn’t feel sleepy anymore. “Is the village okay? Are any of you hurt?”
“Don’t worry about us! One of the heroes could see us! He told the others where to go!” Bubble says, tail flickering back and forth.
“Are you trying to tell me,” Vio says slowly, depositing Bubble on their bedside table before standing, “that one of these so-called Heroes is an actual-to-Hylia child? What the fuck.”
Bubble chitters anxiously at their bedside table but Vio disregards the Minish for a moment to shake Blue awake.
“What’s going on?” Blue mumbles, hand still stuck in Red’s hair— when had Red gotten into Blue’s bunk —and scratching the scalp hidden below messy blond locks. “Where’s the fire?”
“No fire,” Vio promises, crouching down to slowly wake Red as well. Red’s emotional in the morning and if he’s in Blue’s bed last night must have been rough.
“Then?” Blue says. She’s not the most patient in the morning.
“Bubble woke me up,” Vio says, cooing when Red snuffles cutely without waking up. “There are suspicious people at the door.”
“And why should we care?” Blue grumbles. “Haven’t we done enough? Wasn’t three adventures enough to save the world? The castle is literally half an hour walk’s away and way more accessible than the forge. Why would people come to us?”
Vio has succeeded in waking Red and moved on to shake Green awake when Grandpa Smith bursts into their shared room. “There are six lads downstairs claiming to be Heroes on a quest from the Goddess Hylia herself.”
“Bubble said something similar,” Vio says. “Apparently at least one of them carries a piece of the Triforce. And apparently, another one is a literal Farore-forsaken child since he could see the Minish and guide the others on where to walk. Green, get up you lazy lump. ”
Green glares at them and Vio smiles faux sweetly.
“What’s going on?” Green grumbles, but he gets down from the top bunk and starts digging around in his chest for a clean tunic. “Can’t a three-times-over Hero get some sleep around here?”
“Apparently not,” Blue says equally displeased. She’s also up and rummaging through the chest she shares with Red. After some digging, she finds a red and a blue tunic. Tugging the blue one on, she gets Red into a sitting position before tugging the tunic over his head.
“The world will always need saving,” Vio says matter-of-factly, running a comb through their hair, before handing it over to Green and going hunting for four identical pairs of boots. “At least we managed to finish our apprenticeship this time.”
“Hylia collecting heroes can’t mean anything good,” Green mumbles, taking the comb. “We could be in really big trouble.”
Shoes found, Vio tugs on their own pair, dropping the red and blue marked ones by their sibling’s bunk bed and dropping to their knees to lace up Green’s boots. “When aren’t we,” they say.
Then they turn to their grandpa. “We’ll be downstairs in a few minutes. There are biscuits in the blue glazed jar you can offer them. Red went on a baking spree yesterday.”
“You’re gonna fuse then?” Grandpa Smith says and the four of them nod grimly. They haven’t fused together in months.
“They’re looking for Link,” Red says, “They’re expecting one hero, not four. It’s best if we fuse for now.”
Grandpa Smith closes the door behind himself as he leaves and Vio turns to face their siblings. They don’t usually take the lead role, but Green isn’t properly awake, and between the four of them, Vio is far more prone to staying calm in stressful situations. “We have to pack our things. Our bags will fuse with us, but it’s good if we can pack our own stuff so the magic gets the compartments right. Fairies and red potions we can grab from downstairs.”
They turn to consult their bookshelves. They’re not the greatest at spells, but time spent around the dark side has given them some affinity for magic that isn’t Minish or Hero-of-Courage related. Which books to bring?
“Don’t forget to inform your friend,” Bubble chitters nervously, sitting on their kinstone pouch. “Xe will be sad that you’re leaving.”
“Shadow will be alright,” Vio assures Bubble. “Xe’s not connected to the house, but to me. Where the four of us go, xe will follow. Who knows, maybe some hero-ing is exactly what xe needs to assume a proper, corporeal form.”
Then, after a pause. “I don’t know when we’ll be back, or even what we’ll be doing. If you need any help at all, please ask Zelda or Grandpa. Zelda can still see you and Grandpa will notice any notes you leave out and they will do their best to help you out with whatever problem you may have. I promise.”
Bubble nods. “We will make sure the word spreads to the other Minish settlements so they don’t worry.”
Vio pets Bubble, a single finger stroking over their head. “Thank you.”
“Vio?” Red asks from behind them. He still sounds so sleepy, but the tone is aware. Ready. “Do you think this has something to do with the monster attacks Zelda mentioned last week?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Green says, picking up Bubble and depositing the Minish on the bookshelf before grabbing the kinstone bag. “There were reports of monsters never before seen. Some that are only documented in the old royal documents. And when I say old, I mean really old.”
“Like the founding era?” Vio asks, getting a nod from Green. “Jeez.”
“The captain has been worried about it, too,” Blue says. “The infirmary is apparently occupied with people injured after the last time the monsters got too close to the castle. I didn’t hear much about the monsters themselves, but apparently, they bleed black.”
“Fun times,” Vio mutters sarcastically. They do a sweep of the room and see their siblings all dressed and packed. They all look resigned. Vio can’t imagine their own face is looking any better.
They stand, Four Swords in hand. White flashes brightly through the room and when it fades, there stands Link, Hero of the Minish and Men and Hero of the Four Sword twice over.
The headache characteristic of their fusion lasts only for a moment as they settle, getting used to the idea of being in one body again.
I don’t like this, Red says. It’s too strange being in one body. I don’t like it.
I don’t know if we have another choice, Blue says, not until we know them at least. It would be awful if they react the same way the village did. We don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck with them.
It’ll be okay, Vio says, but it feels shallow. We’ve gone through difficult things before. We can do it again.
The body stands up from where it’s collapsed to the floor. They do a couple of lapses before Vio comfortably takes the reins. Green’s already asleep in the back of their head and based on Red’s quiet presence, there’s no doubt he’ll soon be joining his brother.
Right then, let’s get this show on the road.
They leave the bag upstairs in their room, but have their sword strapped to their back, and slowly take the stairs down to the main level of their cottage. At the end of the upstairs hallway, a half-formed shadow slinks towards them and blends into their shadow.
“Are you leaving?” The shadow asks quietly. “Is something going on?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” they say equally quiet. “Stay close to our body.”
"Will do," Shadow whispers, a ghost of a touch tickling their neck. "We're in this together."
The voices become clearer as they reach the bottom of the stairs and turn the corner. In front of them is arguably the weirdest group of people they have ever seen. They all look like Link (what used to be Link, in any case, before they fragmented into four colours and a shadow), yet they don't. Somehow.
A tall man with red and blue facial markings, a closed eye and armour looks up as they enter the kitchen. Based on first impressions he's probably the leader.
Next to the assumed leader sits a man with similar facial features, darker hair and suspicious-looking facial markings. Is facial paint a new trend we missed?
It only takes them a second to figure out what is unsettling them. The dark tattoo absolutely reeks of shadow magic akin to Shadow and the Dark Mirror.
Behind the assumed leader stands a knight with a royal blue scarf. They don't much mind knights and have even gotten to know some of them quite well after their adventures. If nothing else they’re perfect for swordplay practice.
Against the wall leans a man in his late teens. He’s got a strip of pink in his hair, isn’t wearing pants and looks really like he’d be anywhere but here. He glances up as they enter and for a moment he looks at them in disbelief, but quickly schools his expression into something akin to boredom.
We should keep an eye on that guy. He looked at our sword weirdly, Blue mutters in their head.
I agree, Vio mutters internally. If this is time-travel-related, and I don’t doubt it is, we could be in real trouble. I can’t think of any heroes before us except the Hero of the Skies. Are these our successors? Never mind, don’t answer that, I need to be present to function as us.
A younger teen, skinnier than the rest of them and clad in simple clothes, sits on one of the chairs by the table. He’s got fluffy curly hair, a bit darker than the rest.
And there is that that actual Din-be-damned child sitting on one of the other chairs clad in … is that pyjamas? They had expected someone young, especially considering he could see the Minish, but there is something absolutely heartbreaking about seeing someone so young out on an adventure. Even if they were also young when they started.
Said child absolutely lights up when his eyes land on them, in a way that reminds Vio of Red on his more excitable days. “Are you Link?” The child asks.
They nod. It’s technically the truth, even if they haven’t worn that name for years now. It just doesn’t fit. Figuring out their birth certificate after their first adventure had been a headache .
“Cool!” The kid exclaims, bouncing on the chair till the curls flop around his head. “My name is Link, too! Let me introduce you to Link, Link, Link, Link and Link.”
They stare dumbly at the group. It’s not a new concept to them that the Princess always carries the same name— it’s tradition after all —but that all of the Heroes of Courage have the same name is just plain strange. “Nice to meet you?” They say hesitantly.
The assumed leader speaks up. “We’re all Heroes of Courage from across time and space. I had a dream a few weeks ago where the Goddess Hylia spoke to me and told me that a new threat was coming, one that would require more than one hero. The next morning I woke up to Twilight here—” he gestures to the one that reeks of shadow magic “—screaming bloody murder as he woke up in the cucco pen at my ranch. Since then we’ve been dragged through time and space portals and fought abnormally strong monsters that—”
“—bleed black,” they finish. “We’ve had them here too.”
They sigh. “Sure. Why not. It’s not the weirdest thing I’ve been through.”
I mean, this is pretty weird Vio, Red says in their head. It’s up there.
It’s arguably less weird than splitting into four people, or turning two inches tall, or even ageing at different times, Vio argues back.
“Have you got nicknames? Please tell me you’ve all got nicknames,” they say. “Because if not, it’s gonna get real confusing real fast.” And we’re gonna have to deal with the discomfort of being referred to by the name of someone that doesn’t exist.
“Thankfully we do,” the skinny one says. “The others call me Hyrule — it’s strange, I know, but it’s my hero title.”
What are we going to call ourselves? Green wonders absently, having drifted into consciousness for long enough to participate. Names matter and they ought to choose well.
Minish sounds a bit silly, Red says. Something to do with the Four Sword?
“I’m Time,” says the one assumed leader. “This is Twilight, our rancher. The one with the scarf is Warriors, Legend has a strip of pink in his hair and Wind’s our youngest — unless?”
They shake their head. “I’m older than I look. I’m the hero of the Minish and the Hero of the Four Sword. You can call me Four.”
The leader, Time, warns them that the portals tend to snap them up rather quickly after finding the new hero. “I’d recommend you pack your stuff. We don’t know when we’ll be back in your time.”
A cursory look through their medicine cabinet and into the backyard reveals that they have plenty of red potions, but sadly no fairies.
We’ll just have to hope that the next era we land in has some we can convince to come with us, Blue says mentally. Pack a few empty bottles just in case.
The benefit of being four people occupying one body is that one person can talk, one can organise the location of necessities and two people can control the body to find said necessity. Actively having two people co-front cognitively is exhausting, but it’s the best way to get stuff done.
“How old are you?” Wind asks, perched on one of the chairs in the forge as they— their name is Four now, remember it —critically looks around, trying to figure out what supplies they can and should bring with them. The other Heroes had elected to stay in the main room, but Wind had bounced around and asked to come with and Vio, who had been solo-fronting then, had been too endeared by the Red-like behaviour to say no.
Four raises an eyebrow, Green fronting as the talker and Vio as the organiser. “What do you think? Humour me.”
Wind thinks for a moment. “Can I ask questions?”
“Sure,” Four says. “But I reserve the right to not answer them if I don’t want to.”
“Right,” Wind nods. “How many adventures have you been on?”
Four, hands controlled by Blue, gathers leather cord from a drawer and quickly winds it back into a bundle. He’s seen some of the other heroes wear leather braces so the cord will come in handy for when they inevitably need repairs. “Three.”
Though one of them was a literal soul-going-time-travelling event, Red says in their mind.
It still counts, Blue retorts. Even Dot recognised that we were elsewhere during that coma. Our bodies reflect the events of that adventure.
And we’ve got Shadow, Vio reminds them. If that was just a dream, Shadow wouldn’t be here with us.
“When did you set out?”
“I was ten.”
“How long has it been since your adventure ended?”
“Around a year.”
346 days to be exact, 120 since we returned Shadow back to the form he’s currently in, Vio adds.
Wind hums. “Were you cursed to not grow on your first adventure? Sorry if it’s rude, but you’re about as big as my little sister and she’s about to turn ten.”
Is that too personal a question for us to answer? Vio asks. How should we answer?
Give a half-answer, Blue suggests.
“Sort of,” Four-Green reveals. It’s not exactly wrong . The Picori magic had affected them and prevented growth. But is it a curse? Not really.
They don’t mind. Being small certainly has its perks.
“I think you’re 15,” Wind says with confidence. “You’re obviously older than me. I mean, you kinda have to be, because you’ve been on more adventures than me and I don’t think any of them were a dream?”
Four raises an eyebrow. “A dream?”
Wind laughs awkwardly. “Sometime after my first adventure I was out on Tetra’s boat and fell asleep. Went on a whole adventure in a dream I couldn’t be woken up from. Apparently, it only lasted like 10 minutes but it was definitely real.”
Four shrugs. “Magic does stuff like that.”
“Fair point,” Wind concedes. “Anyways, I think you’re 15 because you’re definitely older than me, but you just feel younger than, say, Hyrule or Wild.”
Four snorts, grabbing the sword polish and polishing cloths off the shelf by the door. “Spot on.”
I mean, the three of you are 15, Vio says, but Shadow and I are most definitely 16 considering we were trapped in the Farore-damned Fire Temple for like a year.
Shut it , Blue says, unless we’re planning on revealing our identity as four-going-on-five heroes stuck in a trenchcoat, we’re going with the age of 15.
“You act older, though,” Wind says, and his voice is suddenly sombre. “Then again, we all do. Time says we’re all traumatised. I certainly don’t feel like I’m 13. When I see people my age playing around on Windfall Island— a place in my Hyrule —between school classes, I feel a bit sad.”
Blue elbows her way to the front. She’s not the most emotionally intelligent of the bunch, but she’s fierce. Besides, they’re done down here and she’s not needed to grab stuff. Green happily slinks to the back of their mindscape. “It’s alright to feel that way. Being a hero isn’t exactly a bed of roses. In any case, I’m done down here. Let’s go find the others. I have to say goodbye to Grandpa.”
“Okay!” Wind says. “Thank you for that. Hearing that helps a bit, even if it’s pretty depressing.”
On the way back to the forge, Vio smoothly slides back into control of the body and Blue retreats back but stays within the front area of their mindscape.
Grandpa is there in the kitchen when they enter, having brought their bag down for them and Four-Vio turns to the group of heroes. “Could I have a few minutes?”
“Of course,” Time says. “We’ll be right outside.”
They wait until the front door closes before they rush up to their grandpa and hug him tightly. “We’re gonna miss you”, Four whispers, and all four of them are so close to the surface that their voice echoes and multiply. “Take care of yourself, make sure to eat well and look after the Minish. I told Bubble that she could leave out notes for you if they need anything and that they can also go to Zelda.”
“Take care of each other, and of Shadow, you hear me?” Grandpa Smith says, hugging them equally as tightly. “Take time to split where you can, use your journal and be careful. Don’t let any disagreements get too large to deal with.”
Co-fronting is exhausting and they can feel the headache coming on, but it’s only for a moment. Shadow takes on a slightly more corporeal shape as they make their promise. “We will,” the five of them swear. “We’re gonna do our best. We’ve been spending a lot of time together and apart now. It’s not gonna be like last time.”
For a moment nothing moves, but eventually, the tight embrace comes to an end.
They step back, let Blue take control of the body and pick up their bag. Without looking back they walk outside and join the other Heroes.