What You Look At, You Change: Chapter 8 (Palace of the Four Sword AU)
listening to c'mon non stop for hours did it once again lads
Chapter Eight: Four’s Dream Isn’t Real, It Can’t Hurt You (Four’s Dream: _________)
Blue’s hands dropped numbly from Vio’s tunic, his face pale as ice. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice rose, brash and loud, but it could not hide the stutter that started the sentence.
“Lying isn’t your strongest point, Blue,” Vio said, his eyes narrowed and jaw set. “You can’t hide from yourself.”
Eyes blazed with blue fire, burning cold as ice. “I CAN TRY!”
“Are you saying our dreams were real?” Green said, his eyes narrowing, his fingers digging into the flesh of his arms.
“But—but that doesn’t make any sense.” Red was shaking, just slightly, his gaze bouncing back and forth between the other colors, his eyes wide and confused. “The dreams—they were just nightmares, right? They, they contradicted each other, so there’s no way they could be true!”
“They did.” Vio said, voice low. “They did contradict each other—but there were only three roads. As in…” His voice died off, and he swallowed. The chamber was quiet, even Blue was biting his lip, shaking in rage or sorrow or stress as he clenched his fists. Vio looked around slowly, at the other colors, and then… at the other heroes, standing there and watching in confusion.
Except for Twilight, who had a glimmer of understanding horror in his gaze. “Three.” He said quietly, his voice falling like stones into the temporary silence. “Three, as in three timelines.”
“Yes.” Vio said, and turned his head away. “Timelines that would not have been, had we never been sealed away.”
“And…” Twilight shoved a hand through his hair. “The succession crisis, the queen that died—that was, that was Dot, wasn’t it?”
Vio’s gaze dropped to the ground.
“But I don’t understand…” Sky said, tilting his head to one side. “Why would that cause a succession crisis? You left the little ones behind, right?”
Green flinched. Red let out a whimper. Blue ground his teeth. Vio didn’t move, only letting a long sigh slip free.
“The dream was hazy and confused, but with Dot and me gone, different groups tried to claim either Link or Zelda as the true heir, trying to get control of the throne.”
Green’s voice was quiet. “We dreamed of civil war. A war that ended, only… only for…”
“Ganondorf.” Blue’s growl dripped venom.
Wind’s eyes went wide. Hyrule’s eyes darted around the circle of hero’s, brows furrowed in confusion.
Sky’s expression was tight, a premonition of unease tugging the corners of his mouth down.
Legend’s arms were tightly folded across his chest as he scowled down at his boots.
Twilight wasn’t watching, for he’d closed his eyes, mind scrambling to remember what scattered facts of history had been passed down to him. The Veteran was right—Hyrule’s record keeping really was terrible.
“I… don’t know anything about your son, but that doesn’t really mean anything—hardly anything is remembered of that era outside of the key players. The siblings of the Queen or King are hardly ever mentioned, unless they did something really memorable.”
All four colors flinched.
Twilight saw it and gulped, galloping forward with the rest of his sentence, “S-so that means he probably was all right, e-especially because your daughter would be the Princess of that time period, and the Hero saved her from Ganondorf! So even though you were sealed away, there was still a Hero who protected—”
Red burst into tears.
Twilight’s mouth shut with a sharp click, his mind scrambling, trying to figure out just how he’d put his boot in his pie-hole.
Wind’s face was screwed up in obvious calculation, and Hyrule and Sky exchanged concerned looks.
Legend’s face slowly whitened, his fingers digging in his arms.
Blue was rigid as a rock, his eyes burning with a cerulean fire. Vio’s expression was pained, his head turned away, but Green reached out towards Red’s shoulder.
Red jerked away, crouching down and hugging himself miserably. His small frame shook with every gulping sound, his eyes squeezed tight as he sucked in painful gasps in between wet sobs.
“Red…” Sky said, gently, and Red flinched. Finally he dragged his gaze upward, tears spilling messily down his cheeks, his eyes the color of his namesake.
The words were garbled, barely understandable, squeezed out through a throat wet and tight.
“After… after everything,” There was a blank despair in his face, causing Sky’s stomach to drop down to his toes, “after all that he did.” The word came out a strangled sob, he gasped, choked, and hacked again and again until he could continue, and everyone watching could only stand there, a swamping feeling of dismay freezing them in place as firmly and dreadfully as a redead’s cry.
“Why did it always end with him…” he swallowed hard, and the final word was squeezed out in a whisper, almost unable to be heard at all.
“…alone?”
Blue shook once, a violent jerk almost frightening to look at, and then exploded with a yell. This time, his unfortunate victim was Green. Blue grabbed his shoulder and shook him, yelling loud enough as if he could hide the shake in his voice. “Purah promised she’d look after him! Impa and Purah were supposed to work together to protect them both! It shouldn’t—he shouldn’t—why’d it end up this way?”
Green didn’t even try to get out of Blue’s grip, his eyes burning into Green’s. “You know why.”
His voice hurt to hear, like ashes and rust. Blue faltered, but he didn’t let go. He tightened his grip on Green’s shoulder, jaw clenched, teeth gritted.
“I’m supposed to be the bearer of Courage,” Vio’s said from behind Blue, his voice almost unnaturally cold and hollow. “You know what the answer is. Don’t try to run from it, hero.”
Everything froze for a moment. Blue sucked in a sharp breath through his nose.
Then he turned and in one smooth movement, punched Vio in the face.
Everything erupted. Red cried louder, jumping up and trying to pull Blue off of Violet, who instead tried to knee Blue in the gut. Everyone else started yelling. Legend, Wind and Hyrule jumped on Blue, and Twilight and Sky seized Vio, tugging them apart.
Blue was spitting curses that were too mangled and angry to even be words anymore, and Vio glared back at him, blood trickling from a split lip.
“STOP IT!” Wind yelled, mainly into Blue’s ear, but somehow, it did the trick. Everyone froze, and in the sudden stillness and quiet, Green stepped forward.
He glared at both Blue and Vio, hands clenched into fists. “This isn’t helping anything.” He spat. “We’re supposed to be united, not tearing myself apart trying to avoid the answer we all know! We all dreamed the same thing.”
The heroes stared at Green, hardly daring to breathe. Green took in a deep, shuddering breath, and glared at the floor.
“It’s my fault. It’s all… my fault. If I had noticed Ganondorf was there, if I had been faster, stronger, good enough so that Zelda didn’t have to seal us away—if I had simply been there, NONE of it would have happened.”
He dragged his head up, and there was a depth of despair in his eyes that chilled to the bone. Green’s eyes locked onto Wind, who froze, still holding onto Blue. “My son never would have had to be a hero.”
He dragged his gaze over to Twilight, who stiffened, his grip reflexively tightening on Vio. “He never would have had to grow up alone.”
Green turned back to Legend, but the veteran met his gaze head on, a dark look in his eyes and tenseness to his shoulders.
Green swallowed, and blood welled between the fingers of his clenched fists.
His eyes burned as he squeezed the words past the dryness of his throat. “My son wouldn’t have died alone.”
Legend closed his eyes and sighed.
“I hate being right,” he muttered.
“Then—” Twilight swallowed hard. “Your son—was the hero that fought Ganondorf?”
Red let out a quiet sob.
Wind’s eyes were very, very wide. “Wait—that means—” Somehow they got even wider. “Your son was TIME?”
For a long moment, no one spoke. Blue had gone limp, glaring angrily at the floor with damp, reddened eyes. In the frozen lull, Red slowly stepped back from the huddle that had been holding Blue, arms wrapping around himself. “That… that was what they called him, in the dream.” His voice was quiet, desolate.
“Those that remembered him.” Vio added, the torchlight gleaming redly on the blood on his lip as his mouth twisted sardonically.
Twilight swallowed hard.
Then suddenly, Wind spoke. “We remembered him.”
The four Colors looked at him, and Wind met their gazes head on; his shoulders set, his chin raised, his eyes burning with determination. “We remembered the Hero of Time. We wanted to be like him!” He faltered for a second, shuffling a foot. “I don’t know about the other stuff, but—” he grabbed the fabric of his tunic, twisting it in his fist, remembering the green tunic he had once wore as he traveled across the sea. “But to us, even when we forgot Hyrule, we didn’t forget our hero.”
Vio let out a shuddering sigh, and covered his eyes with his hand. Green sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “…Thanks.” He said.
The words scraped like glass in his throat, but he meant them. The next moment, Red tackled Wind in a hug, and Blue shrugged himself free from Legend’s and Hyrule’s grip—but all he did was nod once at Wind.
Wind met it with a slightly tearful smile.
“Wait,” Hyrule said, screwing his face up in thought. “If—your son was Time, then that means Time’s Zelda—”
Sky’s eyes lit up. “Your daughter is Lullaby!”
The Colors stared at him.
Sky smiled sheepishly, the expression slightly awkward but earnest all the same. “We all have a Princess Zelda of our own—”
“I have two,” Hyrule said, sounding incredibly proud.
Sky rolled his eyes. “Yes, and Hyrule has two, which makes ten Princess Zeldas in all. We gave them all nicknames to keep them straight.” His smile strengthen and deepened, and he looked warmly at the pieces of Four.
“Your daughter’s nickname is Lullaby. She’s grown into a strong, lovely woman, and she rules Hyrule wisely and well as it’s Queen. She and Time are good friends.”
“And…” Legend added, slowly, shoving a hand through his bangs, “If Lullaby is your daughter that means…” his gaze darted to the side, his expression wondering, “That… I’m you’re descendant.”
Every head snapped to look at Legend. He crossed his arms. “What?”
Sky grinned. “I guess being vertically challenged runs in the family, huh?”
“WHAT?” Legend spat, face turning pink as his bunny form. He was distracted when Red tugged on his sleeve, eyes wide.
“You’re descended from Lullaby?”
Red’s eyes were wide and wet, desperate. Legend’s face was still bunny rabbit-pink, but his expression softened at the sight.
“Yeah,” he said, and even quirked a smile. “My house was founded by Sir Raven, your daughter’s younger child. He strove hard to be a knight worthy of your legacy.”
The Colors exchanged looks, something beginning to peak past the fog of despair in their gazes.
“Heck, guess I am, too,” Twilight said, a rueful grin blooming to life. “Time’s my ancestor.”
There were several loud gasps, all from the heroes who were not a piece of Four, and Twilight smirked at Legend. “Guess my line took all the tall genes, huh?”
Legend scowled back at him. “I’ll have you know Sir Raven was as tall as Time.”
“That’s a point,” Sky murmured, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Why is Time so tall?”
“Well,” Hyrule piped up, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I got the short genes, then.”
Four gazes bounced to him, now. The traveller laughed sheepishly and shrugged. “Uh, I’m descended from Legend, apparently…?”
“Wait,” Wind said, propping his hands on his hips. “Am I the only one here that’s not descended from Four?”
“Well, I’m not,” Sky chuckled, and he, Twilight, and Legend exchanged a glance.
“Yeah,” Hyrule grinned at the chosen hero, “You’re just his great-grandpa-in-law,”
While Sky was sputtering to recover from that, Green, Red, and Vio exchanged a glance, too, and Vio stepped toward the sailor.
Vio smiled at him, and reached out, tapping the shield slung on his back. “Dot gave me this shield, a long time ago. I’m glad you’ve taken such good care of it.”
Wind stared at him for a long moment, mouth hanging open.
Then, Vio let out an oof as the sailor tackled him with a hug. Wind squeezed Vio as tight as he could, and Vio wrapped his arms around him in return.
“I’m sorry about everything,” Wind whispered into Vio’s ear, “but I’m glad we got to rescue you.”
*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*
Now, really and truly, the only thing left to do was rescue Zelda.
After… everything that had happened in the Chamber of the Blue Sword, no one felt much like talking. They quickly administered what red potion they had saved to everyone that had sustained injuries after Blue's... multiple outbursts, and were on their way (Vio got most of it). Then, they set out, be-lining for their final objective. Almost no words were spoken as they made their way through the last chambers of the dungeon as quickly as they could, disabling an electrified gate and sprinting across an invisible floor to the other side.
Finally, they stood in front of the boss’ chamber. One finally barrier between Four and his wife.
“What’s waiting for us?” Green asked, fingers tightening on the hilt of his sword.
Legend frowned, fingers fidgeting with the clasp of his pack, staring up at the door. “I… don’t know,” he finally said, the words bitter in his mouth. “In my timeline, well…” his shoulders slumped. “the seal had been poisoned and cursed, and you… were long gone. You were the enemy I had to face.” Legend swallowed hard.
“I killed you.”
The colors exchanged grim looks. Legend stared down at the toes of his boots.
Then, red filled his vision, and warms wrapped around him. “It’s all right,” Red said, hugging Legend tightly. “We know how badly things went in your timeline. That’s our fault, not yours. We…. Must have suffered a lot in that timeline. There was no rescuing us.” He squeezed even tighter, his voice thick with tears. “Thank you, for setting us free.”
Legend let out a shuddering sigh, and slumped in Red’s arms. He stayed there for a long moment, before he finally slipped out of Red’s grip, swiping an arm quickly across his eyes. He cleared his throat and propped his hands on his hips, narrowing a glare at the door. “Long story short,” and he paused to clear his throat again. “I have no idea what’s on the other side of the door. It shouldn’t be you guys, because we freed you. Hopefully nothing, but this dungeon hates me, so I doubt that’s the case. Are you ready?”
The Heroes exchanged glances, each one finding determination writ on their brother’s faces. Green nodded.
“Lead the way.”
Legend sucked in a breath, let it out again, and stepped forward, and the great stone door lifted up.
Beyond was a vast room, tiled with stone, and a great mosaic of four swords in the center—red, green, blue, violet.
Wind peered into the room. “…it seems empty.”
Legend twirled the sword in his hand, expression tense. “Always seems like that, doesn’t it. I’ll believe it’s empty when we’ve made it through to the other side.” He cast a glance at the group. “Follow me.”
In a wary clump they followed him into the middle of the room. The chamber echoed with an eerie emptiness, and Twilight and Hyrule stiffened, shooting each other a glance.
“Do you feel that?” Hyrule whispered. Twilight nodded.
“There’s a strange magic in the air,” he said. Strange, but almost familiar, in a half-forgotten way. He cast his mind back to all the enemies he faced, trying to divine what the source could be—
Legened stepped into the very center of the chamber, and a figure appeared.
The heroes froze.
It was a diminutive figure, about the same height as their smith. It seemed like it could be mirroring the Color’s appearance, but it was hard to tell—the figure glowed gold, so brightly that making out any features was nearly impossible.
The only thing that was clear about the figure was his drawn sword, pointed at the ground.
Eight heroes drew their swords, the sound ringing across the chamber, a bright song of battle.
The golden figure was unmoved, standing still as a statue.
“Stand back, Heroes of Hyrule.” The voice that rang out seemed to surround the heroes, as if it was coming from the chamber itself and not the figure before them. It was a strange sound, outwardly young, but strangely double-toned with an echo of an old, deep voice. “If you have found true courage, and you wish to wake the Sleeper from the horrors of her dreams—”
The sword moved with a flourish, pointing straight at Green’s chest. And as it did, the golden figure blurred, and suddenly three more figures split from its body and arrayed themselves in a line. “Come at me, Hero of Man!”
*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*
to be continued~
<Chapter 7
<<Chapter 1
