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The two didn’t exactly mean to get separated, it's just the way the biscuit decided to crumble. They were heading through a portal when monsters attacked, effectively throwing their plan off a cliff. Literally. When the monsters had ambushed the group the only ones left that hadn’t gone through were Twilight, Four, and Warriors. The three links were planning on all going through once the monsters were gone however Wars had gotten knocked through the portal, shortly after Four had gotten tossed right over the edge of a cliff with Twilight diving after in hopes of stopping their fall short.
Twilight jumped after Four, pulling out his clawshoot and sending a prayer to the goddesses that it would be able to find perches on the steep cliffside. Twilight could feel the wind rushing past him, pulling at his clothes and his limbs. After what felt like an eternity of falling and falling (oh goddesses he wasn’t going to be fast enough, he was too slow and he wouldn’t be able to catch Four before they went splat on the ground, his bones cracking like the mirror-) Twilight had reached Four. In what the hero of Twilight hoped was a smooth motion he grabbed the man in the multicoloured tunic pulling him to his chest and aimed the clawshoot at the cliff face.
For a moment, everything went still, for a moment the clawshoot gained a perch on the wall and held, for a moment Twilight felt hope, for a moment the wind felt like it stopped and the two Links were just floating in air. But then a chunk of rock came loose and tumbled down, taking the clawshoot with it.
Then the moment of safety was over as suddenly as it started and the two fell again, Twilight's heart plummeting quicker than they were. He tried to maneuver himself under Four, fighting the wind that was trying to pull the two apart, that was pushing against Twilight's desperate attempts to cushion Four's fall.
Twilight’s foot hit first and a sharp crack rang out as the rest of their bodies followed suit. One Link screamed out in pain while the other one's eyes shot open with a strangled gasp, the clawshoot and its chain hit the ground before it laid unmoving next to the boys.
For a while the two laid there on the rocky flooring of the chasm. Four’s face was buried in Twilight's tunic, both breathed heavily with tears pricking at the corners of their eyes. Both trying their hardest to not to alert anything in the area to their presence (as if whoever screamed didn’t already do so).
Eventually though Four pulled away from Twilight, moving as slowly he could while Twilight relaxed the grip of his arm (the other one wouldn’t move, probably asleep). Twilight gasped as pain went up the arm, that was beneath Four, got shifted by the man pulling away. The two made eye contact for a moment before the man continued to pull away, slowly, slowly.
When Four was fully out of Twilight's arms he took a good look at the man laying before him (his eyes were open why wasn’t he getting up, he needed to get up). Four felt like whatever injuries he had could wait and so he focused his entire attention onto Twilight. The arm that was still laying limp upon the ground looked broken, or dislocated maybe. Moving farther down Four breathed in sharply, the man not noticing the pain in his side at that, as he saw the angle Twilight's leg was at. Twilight would not be walking on it for a while, even after setting it and consuming a red potion.
Taking in a small breath, Four spoke softly “I’m going to help move you into a sitting position now, okay?”
Twilight nodded slowly, before putting his right hand on Four's shoulder and using it to help push himself upwards. The process was slow going and Four had to move his hands from pushing Twilight up to moving the broken leg. Once Twilight was sitting up fully Four shifted so he was next to the taller man.
And for a while the two sat there, listening to the sound of their own breathing and looking up at the tall, tall cliff walls. At how the walls went up and up and how the ground seemed to be covered in rocks and blood that stretched on for miles and miles.
Four was the first to break the fragile near nonexistent silence between the two.
“Thanks for catching me Twilight. It was stupid to jump after, but…I don’t think I would have survived the fall without you.” Four let his eyes fall downwards to himself at these words, his brain not fully registering the warmth on his face or the fact that his tunic was torn and looking more multicoloured than before.
“Y-” a small gasp came from the man beside him “yer welcome.”
Four slowly leaned into Twilight's side receiving a sound of shock from the other, and let his eyes drift open and shut, open and shut, again and again and again until his eyes stayed shut and the warmth slid over one side.
Twilight moved his working arm around Four to bring him in closer. Twilight's own head spun and his whole body ached, he couldn’t even imagine what Four was feeling right now. He would ask the boy in a moment, as soon as he could speak without breathing in during every other word.
He was so focused on breathing and drowning out the piercing ringing in his ear, that he only caught the tail end of what Four was saying.
“-ind us?”
“Could,” breathe in “could you repea’ tha’?”
“Do you, do you think they’ll be able to find us Twi?”
“Why, why wouldn’ they? Of course they would.”
Four shifted under Twilight's arm, the man shoving his face in the darker green tunic that felt oddly wet, causing the next few words to come out more muffled and slurred than before.
“They all went through the portal, will they even be able to come back through?”
At those words Twilight finally looked at Four, dragging his eyes away from the cliff face in front of him down to the boy. Even through his own hazy vision and fallen bangs Twilight could see that there was a dark spot steadily growing on the multicoloured tunic.
Twilight straightened up instantly, pulling Four into a sitting position and away from himself. On the boys part Four responded only with a groan, not even opening his eyes. Not that he should because from what Twilight could see the blood making its way down and over the boy's left eye. Twilight could feel the panic rising in his chest, choking his throat and pushing down on his lungs. Twilight wiped the blood that was covering the boy's eye before saying anything.
“Four, can you open yer eyes for me? Four I need you to tell me where yer bleedin’ at.”
“‘M not bleedin’” Four slurred out as he tried to lean back into Twilight “‘m just tired, its warm ‘nd ‘m tired”
Twilight awkwardly maneuvered Four so he was leaning up against the cliff, and with Twilight’s now free to use hand, he slapped the boy. Gently, over and over repeating the words “don’ sleep now, open yer eyes, come on Four open yer eyes” until the boy peeled his eyes open and sent a glare at Twilight.
“‘M fine. Stop slapping me”
“Look a’ yer self Four, there's blood on yer face ‘nd on yer tunic. Yer no’ fine.”
The older man watched as Four's eyes wandered downwards to his tunic and a hand made its slow ascent to his face. Twilight watched as Four pulled his hand away from his face and as the younger stared at the blood before letting out a small “oh”.
After the realization that Four was in fact bleeding, the two started to look through their packs. Both were moving slowly and sluggishly due to their own injuries. Fours head spun and his side ached, he needed constant reminders from Twilight that they were looking for a red potion or bandaids. On Twilight's side, there was an incessant ringing in his left ear, the fact that he couldn’t move his left arm or leg either and that his ribs ached something fierce to the point of where he couldn’t breathe in.
Neither of the two were in a good enough condition to fight, and unless they could find a red potion for Four to take they would be sitting ducks waiting for either a portal, the rest of the chain to find them, or for a monster to find them.
After a long few minutes of searching through their packs all they could find that was helpful in the moment was a spare tunic of Twilights that they decided would be a good enough makeshift bandage. Four took part of the tunic in his hands while Twilight grabbed the bottom and pulled down multiple times until the tunic tore enough for them to use. Twilight poured some water from his canteen onto the cloth while Four pulled his tunic slowly over his head and off. Upon seeing the gash that spread across the side of the man's chest Twilight sucked a breath in.
“Im gonna pour some water on this wound to clean it out, okay Four?”
The man nodded in response and Twilight poured the water onto the wound before holding the torn cloth to the wound while Four tied it tightly around his torso. Once that was done Twilight moved his hand up to Fours face before pulling down the green bandana that was always on the man's head. Just enough to cover the wound upon the boy's face.
With that handled Four leaned back into Twilight without bothering to put his tunic back on. Twilight watched as Four stared off and the boy's eyes blinked open and closed slowly. Twilight racked his brain for anything he could talk about or do to keep the boy awake. But his mind kept going back to Midna, the sound of the mirror breaking mimicking the sound of Fours and his own bones breaking, the scene of him being too slow to stop Midna from breaking the mirror, too slow to stop Four from falling off the cliff.
Twilight really, really didn’t want to tell Four about her, but he needed something that would interest the boy enough to stay awake. So he started talking, and talking, and talking.
He talked about how he met Midna, he talked about how in the beginning he found her obnoxious and hated being around her. Twilight didn’t know when the tears started, when his vision became blurry from tears, not just pain. He hardly noticed when Four moved his head to look up at him, the boy's ears pricking up in interest before they sagged down in empathy.
Twilight talked on and on about Midna, about how when they were in an area blanketed by Twilight she rode on his back, about how when they weren’t in such areas she would disappear into his shadow. Eventually, he made it to the end of the story, the end of his and Midna’s relationship. He made it to the moment he hated thinking about.
“At the end of it all, she-she. She um,” Twilight took in a deep breath ignoring the pain in his chest in order to continue,”her people were safe ‘nd needed someone to help them stay tha’ way. Midna had to go clean up Zant's mess, ‘nd in all honesty, I…I thought it was more of a see you later.”
The man in the green tunic sighed and wiped at his eyes, thinking about what he thought was a momentary end, getting lost in the whispers of being too slow, not fast enough to stop her, the thoughts that degraded the man drowned out the quieter softer voices that spoke of him not knowing Midna would break the mirror, that it wasn’t him who made the decision to sever the connection.
“I had a shadow once too” Fours voice shattering the web of thoughts Twilight had found himself entangled in.
“You did?” Came the quiet question a few moments after the twinkling the broken web made became soundless.
“I did. He…he was loud, flamboyant, and annoying. I really, really hated him in the beginning, even to this day part of me still hates him. But, a part of me learned to love him.”
“At the beginning he was a villain, but unlike how Midna just wanted to save her realm, he did it for fun. Sort of. He…he was strong. Stronger than me but I refused to admit it. I was…arrogant and had more pride and ego than Wars does.”
That elicited a chuckle out of Twilight, “really? More than Wars? I don' believe it, tha’ man has enough ego to feed a whole village!”
“No I really did! I was so bad at being a teammate because I thought I did better working alone.”
The two dissolved into delirious giggles, they giggled until they ran out of breath. Then the two made eye contact and the giggling turned into laughter. The laughter ricocheted off the cliff sides and all around, if nothing heard them before, something certainly would now. They laughed and laughed until the twin pain in their ribs wouldn't let them laugh longer.
“Yeah I wasn’t like the heroes in stories back then, there were times where…where I was just as bad as Shadow…” Four’s voice trailed off as the man's eyes started to fog over.
“Was tha’ his name? Shadow?” Twilight prompted the boy to keep speaking with a question and a nudge.
“Yep, as he decreed, he worked for the main villain I fought. He beat me the first time we fought, I had the advantage of numbers and everything.”
The two sat there for a moment, each thinking about their own shadow.
“Eventually, part of me learned to love him, similar in the way you love Midna. Part of me still loves him, even though he’s gone and I won’t see him again. There are moments where I find myself staring at my shadow hoping he’ll pop out of it. In other moments I find myself happy that it doesn’t move on its own.”
Twilight looked down at Four, looking at the boy who just admitted to something that he did too. Something that neither of them had ever said out loud. The truth of how much pain they felt.
“I…I do the same thin’ to, especially after I use the crystal. It, it reminds me of her. Every time.”
“Oh, I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not yer faul’, are you goin’ to continue?”
The two made eye contact for a moment before they turned their eyes back to their surroundings. Four found his eyes staring at the blood splattered across the rocks, as his hands found a rock to twist between them. Twilight for his part found his eyes looking at the line of where light mixed with shadow. Where the light was steadily disappearing from view as the world got darker, and darker, and darker.
“Shadow and I fought many times in the span of us meeting, but then somewhere along the way I joined him, I faked my death a few times and joined him. I wasn’t too shabby at being evil either.”
“I think I can believe you bein’ evil more than I can believe you havin’ more ego than Wars.”
Four rolled his eyes and continued, “We became friends…maybe a little more…but then I betrayed him. I thought that was it for our relationship, that my betrayal was the end.”
“But it wasn’t, was it?”
“No, he ended up saving me. He ended up helping to save all of Hyrule, and he never got to be thanked. There…there was a mirror, a dark mirror that Vaati was getting his powers from…and, and”
Twilight let the silence sit for a moment as the world was enveloped by his namesake before speaking, “Shadow broke the mirror, didn’t he. He broke it to save you because he loved you, and you couldn’t do a thin’ to save him as the falling glass took him away.”
Four stiffened as he heard those words, they way Twilight had sounded so sure about what happened even though Four had never told anyone the story before. Not his grandfather, not even Dot. The only one Four had ever talked to about this was himself and...and his silent shadow.
“Is, is that what Midna did? Did she break the Twilight mirror to save you?” The question sat heavy in the darkening canyon, neither of the two piercing the void with an answer or a change in topic.
Eventually Twilight caved, ‘I, I don’ know why Midna broke the mirror. Maybe it was to protect the Twili from us in the light world, maybe it was to protect herself, maybe it was to save me. I don’ know and I don’ think I ever will. She’s gone ‘nd I have no way to ask her why.”
The two sat together in the canyon waiting for someone, anyone to come and get them. They watched as traces of moonlight lit the top of the canyon walls and danced around up there. Always staying out of reach. Sometime around when the moonlight shone brightest, one of them spoke again.
“We’re all similar, aren’t we? Midna and Shadow, you and me, almost like our stories are mirrored. We both hated our shadows in the beginning, but then we grew to love them. Then at the end, when we thought everything was over the illusion broke and we lost them.”
“We did lose them ‘nd we’ll never get them back. But, but at least we have each other. ‘nd now that we know about each other's shadows, we can bother the others tha’ much more."
Four chuckled quietly at those words before curling up beside Twilight, “Good night Twilight.”
“Good night Four.”
The two sat there slowly drifting off to sleep, leaning into each other for warmth and comfort through the night. The two would still be asleep as dawn started to paint the sky in warm hues. Four and Twilight would be found snoring away the next morning by the rest of the chain who had spent all night looking for a way down into the canyon.