Chapter 3
"What?! Already?!" Lydia was leaning forward so far that it was a wonder she was managing to stay on the couch.
Link was no different. "I thought you told us a search would take a couple of days, at least!"
The sorcerer pushed up his glasses authoritatively, a smug look on his face. "It didn't take long for this sword to reveal itself," he said. "It was almost like the thing stepped out from behind a wall and waved at me. Pinning down its location in the timeline was the more tricky part. But I've definitely found a sword with magical qualities, a ways in Hyrule's future."
"The future? And... it's not the Master Sword, right?"
"No, it's definitely a different sword. It gives off a different energy." His eyebrows furrowed a little bit in a look of slight confusion. "A very strange energy, in fact."
Lydia spoke up suddenly. "Strange? How do you mean?"
"I dunno," Gordon replied, his hand up to his mouth in thought. "Magic is in it, similar to that of the Master Sword, of course... but..." He raises his arms and waved his hands indifferently. "Ah, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Just me talking too much."
His sister nodded, but didn't look convinced. "O..kay, then."
"So, what happens now?" Link asked.
"Well," Gordon began, "now that we've figured out how to come back from a world we go to, theoretically, we could all go and get the sword... But I think it's safer if I stay here again. Time travelling without the Master Sword is risky business, and I want to make sure that you go to the right place, and come back to the right place. So I'll stay here again."
"As far as I'm concerned," Lydia muttered, "time travelling is risky even with the Master Sword. I still don't feel all that comfortable with this idea. No--" She raised a hand to stop Gordon from speaking. "I don't have a better idea, and until we find the Master Sword again, this is the best choice we have. I know, I know."
"If there was something else we could do that didn't involve something as risky as playing with time itself, you know I'd take it. Our options are limited. Anyway, I am going to open the portal again, but this time I'll be sending you not only to Hyrule's niche of the universe, but also to its future. Just how far into the future, in a measure of years, is still foggy to me, so I can't really tell you that. Just like with the generic dimensional jump, I can't leave the portal open very long. Holding open a slit in timespace for any extended length of time is a recipe for trouble."
Link stared blankly. Lydia turned to him and said, "Basically, if we open the portal and dawdle around more than ten or fifteen seconds, we risk damaging the universe we live in. This is why I'd prefer to avoid this stuff."
"I guess I never really noticed because travelling with the Ocarina of Time and the Master Sword was always so quick," the Hylian replied.
The sorceress shrugged. "Well, I think those are quite a bit safer than our make-shift spell. Much less risk. Maybe in the future we'll be able to gloss over the spell a bit and lessen the risk down to Ocarina of Time level, like Maya and Riku were able to do... but for now this'll get us by, as long as we're careful. ANYWAY." She slapped her knees, signalling that she was finished with talking, and got to her feet. "Got all your stuff together?"
"Yeah," Link replied, standing as well, adjusting the sheath's strap on the way up. "Let's do this."
Gordon quickly wormed his way around them and into the open hallway by the door. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to open the portal right here," he said, pointing to a spot on the carpet at his feet. "As soon as it's fully open, you two run through, so that I can hurry and close it again. I think... since this is our first try with this, you two might want to hold hands or something to avoid getting separated."
Lydia giggled. Link smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, didn't think you'd mind," the sorcerer said with a smirk. "It's probably not even necessary, because I think I have this pretty much figured out - I just don't want to take any chances. Anyway. Run thorough the portal, don't get separated on the way.. and you'll end up at a specific point in Hyrule's future, where this sword is. I get the feeling from the energies that it's giving off that it's currently in a state of rest. Basically, not being weilded by anybody. So, it should be pretty easy for you to find and... borrow. Once we find the Master Sword, we'll have to go back to that place again and replace it."
"And nobody will be the wiser," his sister stated. "It almost sounds too easy. Knowing our luck so far, I'll just be waiting for the catch. And there will be a catch, because there always is one."
"Don't think like that," Link warned her.
She shrugged indifferently. "Just a general observation."
Gordon moved away from the spot where he would open the doorway through time, and positioned himself several feet away, back where the other two were standing. "As soon as you get the sword, call for me, and I'll re-open the door back here. That way, we can regroup and formulate a strategy for when we go back to the Hyrule we're out to fix."
"So, basically, grab the sword and come right back here?"
"It's fine," Link declared in a low voice. "It's not like Hyrule will get any more messed up than it already is between now and then."
Taking the silence that fell over the room as the cue, Gordon cleared his throat and said, "Okay, stand back. Lydia, you've done this once before, so you'll know when to make your move."
"We're ready." She looked at Link. "Right?"
He smiled back at her. "I was ready even before you were ready."
"All right then," Gordon said, positioning his hands out in front of him. "We can't waste any more time here."
The boy closed his eyes and concentrated hard. Link couldn't tell what he was doing, but Lydia knew, having studied the spell herself. He was reaching into timespace with his mind, trying to find his destination. Once he located it, he could focus all of his energy toward that spot and create a dimensional bridge for them to cross. The girl sucked in a breath, and exhaled slowly. This was the moment of truth. Gordon had never actually performed this before; though, since he had pulled off the basic dimensional crossover, he should be able to work out the passage over time as well. He really was better than Lydia at this sort of thing. He just paid much better attention to details than she usually did. He was always the type that would look for a way around a locked door, while she would just sooner blast through it. Gordon didn't mind actually taking the time to solve problems. Hopefully that would all pay off today.
After about thirty seconds of silent concentration, Gordon started to move his hands in a fashion that suggested he was trying to reach for something, and his arms weren't quite long enough. Lydia gave Link a little nod, signalling that this was all part of the process. Once they had done this a few times, it wouldn't take so long to set up. It probably normally wouldn't take this long at all, but the kid had said he was going to pay extra close attention to detail this time.
Finally, Gordon threw his arms out to his side, then brought his right arm back in front of him and swung it around in a repeated arc. As a wind started to blow through the apartment, sending flying anything that wasn't heavy or otherwise weighed down, a black dot appeared directly across the room from the boy, above the point on the floor he had pointed out earlier. The dot quickly started to expand into a swirling vortex.
Lydia grabbed hold of Link's hand then. "Almost. Get ready."
The Hylian swallowed hard and shifted on his feet. He couldn't help but be a little nervous. The last time he had gone through one of these things, he had been unconscious. He wasn't too excited about going through it while awake to actually experience it. Something told him it would be a bumpier ride than travelling with the Ocarina of Time. He would have much rather he kept his feet on the ground. As he watched that vortex grow, it seemed to tell him that, even though he was nervous about it, jumping through it when Lydia gave the signal was the only way he could help Hyrule now.
When the black, swirling vortex was about the size of a grown person, Lydia yanked on Link's arm, muttering a harsh and commanding "Now!", and they ran toward it. Link closed his eyes as he leapt across the threshold. He was hit by a rush of cold wind, and felt the sensation of flying. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, and therefore couldn't see the portal closing behind them, but he could almost feel it closing. The closing portal mocked him in his own mind, suggesting that he'd never see daylight again. His ears were popping from the pressure of the air rushing around them. He held his companion's hand tightly.
Finally, he worked up the courage to open his eyes.
They were flying through a dimly lit tunnel, with all kinds of colors swirling around them. Link could hear voices, but none intelligible, as they passed through Hyrule's time stream. Though he couldn't catch actual words as they passed by the different times, he could make out all different kinds of voices. Happy, sad, fearful.. and even some that sounded like they were in the midst of battle. Just how far forward were they going?
"Wow!" Lydia suddenly exclaimed. "This is new! The basic dimensional cross was pretty instantaneous! How cool! It feels like I'm flying warp-speed through a history book!"
A light suddenly appeared at the end of the tunnel. It shone brightly, beckoning them close.
"I think that's our destination," the girl said. "Here we go!"
Though the walls of the tunnel passed quickly all around them, there was no actual sensation of moving forward. Even so, the light at the end expanded quickly, until he became so bright that Link was forced to close his eyes against it. There was another rush of wind, and suddenly he found himself on solid ground again, stumbling from the inertia of reentry.
Lydia, who had not managed to stay on her feet, quickly stood, brushed herself off, and gaped at their surroundings. It was a sunny day, and it looked like they were standing in the middle of some ancient ruins. The small stone walls and pillars that surrounded them looked like they were once part of a great castle or something. Or, perhaps they were in a courtyard. Maybe the few trees that stood around them and the green grass at their feet was not simply a matter of overgrowth over the passage of many years of this place's lack of use.
The most prominent structure was directly in front of them. It was a great wall, with an indentation about fifteen feet or so across, and about ten feet deep. On the wall of the indentation was a series of markings in the rock that looked like a shining sun. Below that, at ground level, was a small, curved door. This door had chains running across it, as well as the design of an eye in the middle. The eye was similar to the mark of the Sheikah, but it was also apparent that it was not the same mark, however similar. It was just different enough.
Just in front of this wall was a pedestal, surrounded by a circle of stepping stones. In the pedestal stood a fairly simple, yet strong-looking sword. It had a golden hilt, with a large jewel embedded at the end of the handle.
Lydia smiled and looked at Link. "The kid wasn't kidding when he said he's put us in close."
Link looked around them. Aside from the sword standing proudly in its pedestal, they seemed to be completely alone in this place. He could feel no other presenses, and no hints of dark energy. He looked at the girl and said, "So much for that 'catch', huh?"
"We're not back yet. I'll be proven right yet, just you wait and see."
Standing rooted on the spot, Link continued to stare at the sword for several silent seconds, until Lydia said, "Hey, y'know, I didn't mean for you to wait, literally. What's the hesitation?"
"I'm just not so sure about this all of a sudden."
She patted him on the back a couple of times. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Gordon wouldn't have us retrieving anything dangerous."
"I'm just saying. Magical swords aren't usually just put on display like this... It must be here for a reason."
"We won't need it long. We'll probably find the Master Sword in no time. With our magic, I'm sure we can locate it quickly enough. Besides, no matter how long we're using it back in our time, we could always come back to this time's right-after-we-leave moment. That way we won't run into ourselves and cause a time paradox - otherwise we could just go back to the very moment the sword was taken, and it would be like we never took it at all. But we can't do that, because there'd be two of each of us in one place, and the fabric of spacetime would not like that all too much, and would probably collapse on itself or something. So we'll just make it so that we come back right after we leave, so the sword will only be out of its pedestal for a few minutes, tops."
Link stared silently, and finally said, "Do you even realize how insane you sound?"
"Time travelling is insane, Long Ears. That's why I hate it. But it's okay - we can make this work."
"...Well, all right... As long as you're sure."
"I'm not, but, y'know... C'mon, just go get the sword. I'll wait here."
Swallowing a lump in his throat, Link walked forward to where the sword stood. When he was closer, he saw that its blade wasn't quite as long as the Master Sword's was, but it was wider at the base, so it still looked quite strong as swords go. He put a slightly shaky hand on the hilt and wrapped his fingers around the handle. Having become quite sensitive to these things, he felt a magical power from the sword, definitely. It rushed through him the minute he touched it, and though he quickly convinced himself that he imagined it, he thought he felt something inside his body react to this sword. There was no way of telling what it was - the feeling was gone as quickly as it had come. It was similar to the feeling of a Triforce piece reacting to an outside force, though far, far less unpleasant. Of course, he no longer had a Triforce piece... Having no explaination for the feeling, the Hylian just assumed it was nothing.
He glanced back at Lydia, who was standing where he had left her. She made eye contact with him and flashed him a toothy smile, as if silently saying, "Go for it!".
Link turned back toward the blade in front of him. For Hyrule, he thought, and with one arm, he yanked the sword from its pedestal. It slid out surprisingly easily for being encased in stone. He held it above his head to get a good look at it. Just as he did so, the sword gave off an intensely bright light. Link grunted in surprise and closed his eyes against it.
Still standing about fifteen feet away from the pedestal, Lydia also had to turn away from the light. What was happening?! Was the sword rejecting Link?!
Just as she was about to run forward to try to help, she felt something rush past her ear - the surprise of it made her stop in her tracks. Or, she thought she had felt something rush past her. It was there and gone so quickly... but it had a strange, dark feel to it... It was as if it had flown from the very light the sword was giving off. ...Maybe she was just imagining it.
The dimming of the sword's light distracted her from the mystery thing that had flown past her. She looked back toward the pedestal, and could finally make out Link's figure. He was still standing, thankfully, directly in front of her.
No, wait... he was a little off to the left.. Or, no... To the right...
When the light faded completely, Lydia's jaw lost all muscle function and her mouth hung open, gaping at the sight before her. Certain she was seeing things, she blinked a few times. But what she saw was still there. It was real.
"Holy..sh..." she managed to whisper to herself.
Link had multiplied. There was not one, but four of him now, and each of them was holding an exact copy of the same sword in his left hand. The only obvious difference between them was the color of the clothing they wore. One was still dressed in the same green he had arrived here in. But the other three were dressed in red, blue, and a shade of light violet.
And when the four Links became aware of each other, the situation threatened to turn violent after the required few moments of shocked stares.
The green Link jumped away from the rest of the group and held the sword in front of him defensively. "Imposters!" he yelled.
Balling his right hand into a threatening fist, the Link dressed in red shouted right back. "Who're you calling an imposter?! You're the imposter here! I outta beat you right into the ground for suggesting that I'm the fake!"
The Link dressed in blue stood rooted to the spot, and surprisingly, looked ready to cry out of distress. "What's going on?" he asked no one in particular, his voice barely audible.
"How strange..." the violet Link said to himself. He was the only calm one, even though his stance did show some measure of caution.
Again yelling at the red Link, seemingly ignoring the other two, the green Link yelled, "I've seen this before! You're all just shadows of me, created by some magic trick!"
Red Link again shot right back. "Like hell! You're the shadow of me! I already said that!" He raised his sword. "Now get ready to die, shadow!"
The green Link suddenly lowered his sword and held his right hand out in front of him. "Wait, wait, wait," he said. He looked at the red Link, regarding him carefully. "All right, then..." He suddenly swung his arm around to point at the girl that stood dumbfounded just a little ways away. "What's that girl's name?"
"Why? Shouldn't you know that?"
"I'm seeing if you know! Just answer the question!"
Scoffing, as if asked what two plus two was, he immediately replied, "That's Lydia. So? What're you getting at?"
Suddenly moving away from the red Link, the Link in green moved over to where the blue Link still stood. "Who'd we leave behind?" he asked him forcefully.
Blue Link cringed away from his harsh voice as if struck. "Gordon, of course...," he answered meekly. "He wanted to make sure we got to the right place..."
His arms falling to his sides in defeat, the green Link breathed, "What the hell is this?"
"Wait, I see what's going on," the Link in violet suddenly said, looking at the sword he held in his hand. "None of us are imposters or shadows. We're all the real thing. It's this sword."
Breaking into the group at a run in her excitement, Lydia bounced up to the green Link's side to get a close look at the sword he held. "I think you're right! It's got to be this sword! Wow! This is so cool!"
"How is this 'cool', exactly?" the red Link demanded. "There's only supposed to be one of me."
"Don't you see?" she answered, excitement still in her voice, like a kid in a candy store. "This sword's magic! It splits the weilder's personality!"
"Personality?" the blue Link asked, his voice finally regaining some confidence now that he wasn't so distressed by the situation.
"Yeah, just look. The Link in the original green, from what I can tell so far, is the hero side. I mean, the way you yelled 'Imposters!' like that was so paladin-esque. Very cool."
She moved on. "And you, the red Link... You're obviously the aggresive part of the personality."
"Hmph," was his reply.
"And the blue Link... hmm... I think you're Link's innocence. The sweet, sensitive side of the personality."
The red Link was quick to comment. "More like the wuss of the group."
"Man, just be quiet," the green Link growled.
Ignoring them, Lydia moved on again. "And you..." she said to the Link in violet... "You seem to be Link's logic. The brains of the outfit, in other words."
"That was my guess, too," the violet Link replied. "But I didn't want to be the one to say it. Thought it would sound conceited."
The green Link looked at Lydia with some worry in his eyes. "So, I guess this was the catch, huh?"
"Yeah, I suppose so. One of these days you'll just learn to take my word for things."
"...What now?"
"There's not a lot we can do. We need this sword. And from the way I see it, four of you rather than just one will be a steep advantage. ...As long as the four of you can learn to cooperate."
Red Link rolled his eyes a bit.
The girl continued, unfazed by the red Link's obvious unwillingness to be a team player. "One thing is for certain. There is no way I can call all of you "Link". That's a sure-fire way to confuse ourselves. So, um... I think the obvious solution is to call you all by your tunic colors, until we can replace the sword in the pedestal, which I assume will combine you all into one Link again. So..." She began to name them off. "Green, Red, Blue, and..." She stopped at the violet Link, and hesitated. "And... Violet?"
Red was reduced to belly-laughs, and he pointed mockingly at the violet Link. "Violet?! What a girly name! Poor bastard!" He clutched at his sides and continued to guffaw.
The violet Link glared at Red, but said nothing.
"Red, that's not very nice," Blue said uncertainly.
Green was staring at Red as well, obviously finding his behavior unbelievable. He looked at Lydia. "This is a part of me?!"
Lydia smiled back at him with no small amount of pity. She looked back at the violet Link and said, "Well, then, we'll call you Vio, for short. That's quite a bit more masculine, don't you think?"
"I honestly don't care what you call me," Vio declared calmly, "even if Red does."
Red, still laughing, waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, come on, lighten up. I'm just messing with ya."
Green was covering his eyes with his hand. "Unbelievable."
"So, um..," Blue began, once again sounding confident, but still sounded like he was unsure of whether or not he had the right to speak. He was obviously still a little rattled by this whole thing. "Do we head back now, like your brother said?"
"Going back to regroup really does sound like a good idea right now," Green answered.
"Yes, I agree," Vio added. "Even if we were expecting a 'catch', it's not like we were expecting this to happen. We may need to rethink our strategy."
Immediately, the thing that she thought she felt pass by her while the sword was splitting Link into four people reentered Lydia's mind. She glanced around the ruins they were in, but saw nothing.
"It may be best to find the Master Sword as quickly as we can," she said quietly.
"What to you mean?" Vio asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought I felt something... back there... But, y'know, I'm pretty sure I imagined it."
Only being met with a deep stare from Vio, Lydia said again, "Seriously. I'm sure it was nothing."
Sounding unconvinced, Vio replied, "All right, then..."
Quickly clearing her throat, as if to try to direct attention away from herself, Lydia called her brother's name loudly into the air above them.
"He can hear you?" Green asked, obviously perplexed.
"He can when I want him to. That's how I got the two of us back from Hyrule after I found you. Now, the portal will reopen any second. With so many of us here now, it wouldn't be too hard to get separated, which would be really bad. The five of us had better stay close."
Not hesitating at all, Blue bounded over to Lydia's side and grabbed her left hand, smiling at her playfully. She giggled, then looked at the other three. "You guys, too. C'mon."
Vio shrugged and grabbed hold of Blue's free hand. Green followed suit and positioned himself at Vio's other side. Red, however, simply stood there, staring at Green's hand, which was being held out to him.
"Ugh," he grumbled.
"Oh, don't be such a baby," Green growled as he reached over and grabbed Red's hand with no small amount of force.
A wind suddenly rushed through the courtyard, sending loose dust sailing through the air, and the familiar black swirling portal appeared before them. It was small at first and then expanded, just like before. As soon as it was the size of a person, Lydia smirked and shook her head.
"The kid is not going to believe this."
She yanked on Blue's hand, and the train of time travellers disappeared through the black portal, one by one. Once all of them had gone, the portal shrunk and disappeared. The wind died down, and the courtyard was once again as it had been before, with the exception of the missing sword. One other thing was different, even though no one was there to notice it now. The air in the area was lighter, somehow. As if something had left with them that was weighing down the atmosphere in this place.
Though she was no longer back in the courtyard to notice the change in the surrounding air, Lydia did not miss the cause of said change. They had been sailing through the same tunnel as before, in the reverse direction this time, when it happened. When they were about halfway back to their own time, Red's frantic shout suddenly sailed up the ranks.
"Heads up!!" he yelled.
Almost acting in unison, the four Links all twisted themselves to the side, and thereby moving the sorceress aside, too, as something flew past them faster than their eyes could follow. It whizzed past them, and disappeared far ahead in the tunnel.
A pang of panic hit Lydia just then. That thing. It was the same thing that she had felt go past her when Link had taken the sword from its resting place. She felt the same darkness as it passed her that second time.
"What the hell was that?!" Red shouted up to her.
Only taking her eyes off of their destination long enough to look back at Vio, she quietly said, "I guess I didn't imagine it."
Vio only frowned, obviously thinking hard.
"...I... I don't like this...!" Blue said nervously. "What if it's some kind of monster?"
Green tried to reassure him. "Don't worry. If it was a monster... Who says we'll even see it again?"
Blue looked back at him, as if he were crazy. "You and I both know that that's never how it works out!" He looked close to tears again.
"A little optimism never hurt anybody, Blue," Vio cut in, "but it won't hurt for us to be cautious either. I'll bet this sword has something to do with it, though."
The light at the end appeared just then.
"We'll talk about this later," Lydia said. "Brace yourselves - we're almost there!"
Expanding around them, the light signaled the end of their time-travelling journey, and the beginning of something else entirely...
------
Still unable to believe his eyes, Gordon continued to stare. He was seated on one side of the dining room table, and seated all across the other side was not one, but four Links, all dressed in different colors. No one said anything. The Link in the usual green clothes was sitting with his arms resting on the table, waiting patiently for the glasses of water that Lydia was off in the kitchen getting for the four of them. The Link dressed in red looked far less patient, irately tapping his fingers on the wood. The blue Link, who seemed to have the general mindset of an innocent child, was doodling on a piece of paper and humming to himself. With his nose in one of Lydia's college textbooks, the fourth Link, who seemed to be the silent type, was mostly keeping to himself.
"So...," Gordon finally said, "this happened when you took the sword?"
His sister reappeared just then, somehow managing to carry four glasses of water in her arms without spilling anything, and carefully lowered the load onto the table. "This is the effect of the sword's magic," she said as she passed a glass to each Link. "From what I can tell, none of them are the "true" Link, but simply four separate parts of him. Together, they make up the original, and will probably have to do a lot of teamwork to get anything done." The girl smiled. "Right out of a movie, practically."
"Seperate parts of Link's personality, you mean? So, who's who?"
Lydia started with Green and worked her way down, pointing at each Link in turn. "He's the heroic one. He's the aggressive one. He's Link's innocence... and the last one is Link's logical side. From what I've been able to tell so far, anyway."
"Fascinating," her brother mused with a huge smile across his face.
"Isn't it?"
The first Link to speak up since they had sat down at this table, Red growled, "I'm glad you find us so amusing."
Green nudged him hard. "Oh, lighten up. Can you blame them? They're sorcerers. This is what they do."
"Whatever."
Gordon tapped his chin in thought. "Will this be reversed when the sword is replaced?"
Vio finally looked up from the book. "We assume so."
"Hmm... Well, since we really need this sword, I guess we'll just have to bear with it until then."
"I think it's great," Lydia said. "And you thought we were a powerful group with just one Link? Ho-ho, Ganondorf has his work cut out for him now."
"You sound excited," Blue observed, looking up from his drawings.
The girl smiled at him. "You can't tell me that you're not at least a little excited about this. C'mon." She looked over at Red. "Even you can't deny that this will be an advantage."
Red shrugged. "We'll see. Fact is, I don't need any of these three to fight."
"We're four parts of the same whole," Green told him in a lecturing tone. "Lyd was right - teamwork will be essential."
"Tch."
Gordon looked from one Link to the other, still a little weirded out by four people having the same face. "So... um..."
Realizing what Gordon was fishing for, Lydia suddenly said, "Oh, I've been calling them by the color of their clothes."
"Oh, I see. So..." The sorcerer looked down the line as Red started taking long swallows from his glass. "Green, Red, Blue, and..." He stopped at Vio, obviously having an argument with himself. "...Purple?"
Loudly choking, Red sent the water he had been drinking all over the table, and then dissolved into a fit of uncontrolled laughter which was only broken by occasional coughing.
Green sighed and stood up. "I'll go get a rag," he mumbled as he disappeared into the kitchen.
Vio looked unamused as Red continued to laugh. Blue shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he continued to draw, obviously pretending not to notice what was going on.
"Er..." Lydia leaned down to her brother's ear. "We call him Vio. Short for Violet. It's more masculine that way."
"I see..." He looked at Vio, and with no small amount of embarrassment in his face, said, "Sorry about that..."
"No apology needed," Vio replied, shrugging indifferently. "As I already told Lydia, no matter how immaturely Red chooses to express himself, I really don't care what you call me." With that, he went back to his book.
Green reappeared in the room just then, still frowning, and threw the rag at Red's face as hard as he could. Without even a break in his laughing, Red's hand shot up in front of his face and caught the rag before it hit him, demonstrating the acute awareness that Link had always possessed. Downgrading to loud chucking, Red started to wipe up his mess, making every possible effort to not make eye contact with Vio.
"You are truly unbelievable," Green said as he took his seat again.
Finally regaining control of himself, a wide, crooked smile crossed Red's face. "Sorry, I just can't help it. It's too funny! I'm glad I'm not the one stuck with that color."
Vio again looked up from the book he was reading, and said to Lydia, "You know, I never knew that the sun was simply a really close star. I don't think Hyrule's scientists have made that connection yet. But, I suppose it makes sense." His eyes lowered back to the pages.
The sorceress smiled. That comment had been so random that it was obvious Vio was trying to get a rise out of Red by completely ignoring him.
Just then, Blue grinned and proudly displayed his completed drawing to the two sorcerers. Lydia immediately laughed. It was a picture of him with a triumphant look on his face as he violently thrusted the Master Sword thorugh the torso a crudely-drawn Ganondorf, who had little X's in place of his eyes.
"Wow," Gordon said with a smile, "that's... really something."
"What do you mean?" Blue asked, tilting his head slightly.
"It just seems a little violent. Coming from someone like you, I mean."
"You think so...?" Blue smiled brightly. "It makes me happy!"
The sorcerer laughed. "I see. Yeah, I guess so."
Lydia smiled at Blue. "Just because he's the sweet one of the group doesn't mean that he doesn't have the original Link's strong desire to beat Ganondorf. Am I right?"
Blue's smile widened.
"Speaking of Ganondorf," Green said, "what happens now?"
"Hmm," hummed Gordon. "Well, I guess nothing's stopping us from going back to Hyrule and seeing how things are there. We won't really know what to do until we know just what's going on."
"Also..." Lydia said as she pulled up a chair... "There's the matter of that thing in the tunnel."
All four Links looked at her, including Vio, who had closed the book finally and set it on the table.
Gordon had already been told about this. His sister had felt the presense of something dark, possibly evil, when Link had drawn this new sword from its resting place. And the five of them had apparently encountered it a second time as it passed by them in the time warp back here. But it obviously wasn't here in the apartment with them - Gordon had only seen his sister emerge from the portal, followed by the four Links. Nothing else. So they didn't even know where this thing, whatever it was, had ended up.
"There's a good chance it's now in present-day Hyrule," Vio suggested, "since that was Hyrule's timeline we were flying through."
"Yeah," the girl replied, keeping her eyes lowered. "I sure didn't feel it come through to this dimension."
"And you said it definitely felt evil?"
Her eyebrows curled in thought, and she said, "Dark, yes... And evil, possibly... I'm not jumping to that conclusion just yet."
"Why not?" Green asked.
"I'm not sure, but... Yeah, it was a whole lot of darkness, but I think I also felt a little tinge of light, too."
"Everything has a light and a dark side," Red said as he absently examined one of his fingernails. "Sometimes one side is stronger than the other, so much so that the other side is completely overshadowed. Ganondorf, for example. Hard to think of, but however miniscule, he has a light side in there somewhere."
Blue's eyes widened. "So, are you saying that this thing... is like Ganondorf?!"
"I didn't say that."
"Yeah, you did! Just not directly." He looked wearily at the picture he had drawn.
Lydia waved her hands. "All right, all right. Don't panic. We just have to be aware of this so that we aren't caught off guard. It may turn out to not be a big deal at all."
She was met with quiet stares from all four pairs of eyes.
"Okay, okay, you're right. There may be something to this. So let's just be careful."
Gordon looked at his watch. "Geez, it's this late already?"
"Time flies when you're having fun!" Blue declared cheerfully.
Red rolled his eyes. Green nudged him angrily.
Vio stretched his arms over his head. "It may be wise to stay here another night before setting off."
"Right," Green agreed with a nod. He looked from face to face, making eye contact with each of his comrades. "We leave first thing in the morning. ...This is it."
The room fell silent for several seconds while everyone mulled over everything that had happened. So many unanswered questions, so many uncertainties... where would they even start?
Red suddenly spoke up. "I get the couch."
The resulting fight ended with overturned chairs and a very angry sorceress, screaming something about a lease.
-------
A chilly wind howled across the ruined landscape of Hyrule Field, picking up dust and sending it several feet with every gust. The sky was dark, as always, making shadows even larger and more threatening than they would be otherwise. In the midst of the ruined land, one would barely notice the small crater that was now carved into a part of the western end of the field.
From the center of the crater, a curled up figure stirred and slowly unrolled itself, grunting in pain as it did so. A man very slowly and shakily stood up. Attempted to stand, rather. It took him several tries to actually stay on his feet for any length of time. Though covered with dirt, his features were unmistakable. He had long Hylian-like ears and very, very pale skin, and looked to be between twenty and twenty-five years old. He had striking red eyes, and his long hair was such a brilliant shade of silver that if light were to hit it, it would take on a violet tint. He was dressed in a dark violet tunic and a long cloak of the same color, with a matching hat.
The fists of his slim hands clenched as he worked on keeping his balance. He wasn't quite sure where he was, but wasn't going to find out by sitting in the dirt any longer. Weak and fighting to stay conscious, the disoriented Vaati staggered away and disappeared into the evening fog.