Return of the Prince Introduction

Cries rang out through the air as the four boys fought. They had sweat dripping from their brows. The two enemies, Shadow Link and Ganondorf, attacked them relentlessly. Shadow kept most of his attacks aimed at the purple-clad Link. He was acting out of pure anger at this point, the devastation of being betrayed by someone he thought loved him. He was distracted suddenly by the green one swung his sword at him. It was effective, and Vio took aim at Ganon’s head. Counting down from five, Vio breathed softly, slowly, concentrating on his target. Letting the arrow loose, He watches as it takes its place in the adversary’s forehead, causing him to scream and die. This was expected, what wasn’t expected was the other scream that came of to the side.

Vio turns to see Shadow gripping his head. The darkness of his hair and skin lifted to reveal plum colored hair and fair, but tanned skin. He collapses and throws up. What came out of his mouth was this red and black mass of something none of them could describe. Shadow was shaking violently, as though he'd been hit by a shock arrow. Red approached cautiously, scared that it was all an act, but also hoping to comfort the other. Blue, who still didn't trust the Dark-Worlder, tried to stop his fellow hero but was unable.

"A-are you okay, Shadow?" He asks quietly. The darker skinned boy backs up to the wall and pulls his knees to his chest. It took a few moments after that for him to come to his senses, to look up at the destruction around him. Shadow hiccups when his memories came back from the small blank.

Vio noticed that he'd changed almost immediately. It was a combination of the way he looked about, how he seemed scared now and not angry. Then it was when he spoke. "I... did... was this me?" Shadow's voice was shaking.

"What do you mean 'Was this me?'," Blue growls, "Of course this was you. This is what you were created to do."

"I didn't... I'm not supposed to be here. I need to get back." He stood up, his ears slanted down in worry, "No doubt the Dark Realm is in chaos now." Shadow's voice was quiet. Something about how he was speaking struck a familiar chord in Green's memories.

'He sounds like Zelda... But why?' Green thought. Said thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice doing some unfamiliar yelling. It was Vio.

"What do you mean you're going to break the mirror?! You need that to be here, don't you?" Vio's brows were furrowed, his teeth were clenched, and his ears were pointed down.

"I have to go." Shadow barely muttered before the sound of shattering glass filled the area. Then, the boy was gone. The four heroes were somehow back at Hyrule castle, and Zelda was safe. Vio fell to his knees, crying for the first time that any of the others had seen.

That's when Blue realized that the 'act' Vio had put on to make the dark creatures believe he was one of them, was only partially an act. Link's strategist had truly loved the shadow being. Now that the only link between their worlds was destroyed, there was no way for him to apologize, to tell him that he'd only been trying to do his duty to his country.

Red sniffed as though he too were about to cry and went over to Vio and hugged him. Green, being the leader, went to support his teammate. He wasn't going to admit to Blue that he was crying silently. Blue would never admit, that he'd gone to Link's old hideaway to cry over the fact that the adventure was finally over for about an hour.

It took three hours for them all to regroup, and head back to the Four Sword Sanctuary. Green unsheaths his sword and looks down at it as he stood in front of the altar.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Put it back, we aren't needed." Blue and Vio's voices cut through to the original Link. He hadn't even noticed that he'd been standing there for five minutes already.

"...No." He says after about thirty more seconds. Blue moves closer to him with his head tilted.

" 'No'?" He echoes, "Whaddaya mean, 'No'?"

"You... You guys... You're my friends. My Family." Green steps back and turns away from the stone. "I'm not putting this sword back. Because if I do it's as good as killing you all, and... I wouldn't be able to deal with that."

The other three were shocked, that was evident on their faces. Soon though, Red's face breaks into a blinding smile, and the fact that Blue and Vio's faces softened showed that they were grateful.

Sheathing the sword in his personal sheath, Green smiles at them as he starts walking back towards the castle. "Well? Are you coming?" Red laughs happily and runs after him with the other two in tow.