Four Swords - Blog Posts
Home At Last.
Summary: Shadow finds himself needing a home.
Shadow wasn’t the only cat on the streets, that much was for sure. There were a few strays other than him. Ones that spat and hissed at most strangers and other animals alike. They didn't seem to really care about him, a thing that carried over from his time as Link's shadow.
There were dogs and rodents too. Though most of the dogs had owners. It was a busy city, of course there would be animals in it, pets and strays alike.
But animals were starting to get taken off the streets by people, 'dog catchers' or something? Well they were catching a lot more than dogs that's for sure. Any animal roaming about on the streets all willy nilly was taken by these guys, and if no hylians intervened (like say, to get their dog back, or to adopt or something) then those animals didn't come back.
Shadow wasn't 100 percent sure what was happening to the animals, but there was no way in hell he was finding out. He needed somewhere to stay so that these guys didn't get him. But where? …
The answer almost kicked him in the face as he walked through the busy market, seeming to notice him before he noticed it.
~~~~~~~~~
I heard a yelp and a thump as I ducked around the offending limb. Turning to see fruits and veg spilling out of a fallen basket. Red was standing over top of me with his hands spread out like he was trying to keep his balance, and he looked down at me with wide eyes.
Woops.
"Little buddy!" He chastised, bending over to pick up his stuff. "You should know better than to run under people's feet like that! Hasn't anyone tripped on you before? I know I almost did!" He sounded frustrated, kinda like this was one more thing to add to a long list of things.
Woops. Well they do say black cats are bad luck.
I walked up to him and rubbed up against his arm as an apology. Then started to help him pick up his veg. An action he seemed really shocked by.
"Oh! Thank you!" He pet me on the head (still gotta get used to that) and went back to picking up his stuff.
I didn't feel too bad, because- by the looks of it -none of his stuff was fragile (would've felt really bad if it had been eggs or tomatoes), but he still looked upset, so clearly something was going on.
He picked up the last of his stuff and was making to get up, when he paused. Staring at something over my head.
I looked behind me to where he was looking and...
Animal catcher.
Shit.
Me and Red made eye contact, and I think he was just as worried about me being taken by one of those guys as I was. So I hopped in his basket and layed down, getting comfy in all the produce.
Red seemed a little taken aback by that but didn't protest, which was perfect because I did not want to be kicked out and have to run from a guy who may or may not just end me, I'm not really sure.
~~~~~~~
Red continued on through the market as though he hadn't just been almost knocked over by a cat and lost all his groceries. Trying in vain to not make eye contact with the animal catcher. Though he did shoot glares at the man whenever he thought the guy wasn't looking.
The catcher was, in fact, looking. Said man making his way over to the ruby clad hero as Red tried to just... leave, maybe to get to a secure alley where he could let this oddly trusting cat go about the rest of his day (hopefully) in peace.
"Mr. Red. Sir! I believe we've already discussed this?" The man said brightly and snarkily, catching up to Red and moving to walk in front of him. Walking backwards. "You can't just take a stray of the street acting like it's yours just to let it go later. That's not your cat, you can't save it from the pound." He grinned, "unless of course it is your cat, in which case congrats on becoming a cat dad! Proof of adoption please."
Red said nothing, just switched directions. "I ow you nothing, and for the record, this is my cat!"
"Just because your a 'hero' doesn't make you above the law." The man stated dryly, like it was a reminder. His hands were still in the air from making airquotes that Red didn't turn to see.
Shadow was starting to really hate this guy.
"I don't care, this is my cat you can't just take him! You are also not above the law!" Red changed directions again, cutting the guy off as he continued to make his way out of the market.
"If he's really your cat, where's his nametag? Why don't you have him properly secured? Why wasn't he there when we had this conversation earlier with the dog?" The man asked, stacking more and more questions on every time Red went to answer, causing the emotional hero to sputter and struggle to keep up.
"W-well... um... you see-"
The guy rolled his eyes, as though his point had been proven, and reached for Shadow.
Shadow hissed and spat at his hand, swatting at it a few times with his claws. The man barely flinched, his gloves protecting him from any damage Shadow tried to inflict. So he switched gears from attacking and jumped from the basket on to Red's shoulders, glaring at the man from half-behind the hero's head.
To his credit, the catcher did stop after that, looking utterly perplexed.
"I got him a collar, but he's outgrown it, so I need to get him a new one, I think you can tell for yourself why he isn't 'properly secured', and he wasn't there earlier with the dog because- last I checked -he was safe at home. I'm not sure how he got out, I'll be sure to ask the other three when I get home. Now, good day sir." Red spun on his heel with a huff and walked off like one of those boujie ladies with their tiny purse dogs.
Nice one Red. Shadow thought, a phantom grin on his face.
He turned to look at the animal catcher, seeing suspicion and bafflement warring with each other on his face. It was a beautiful sight.
Red left the market, walking a few blocks away from it and then into an alley. Which confused Shadow. Was this the way to his house or something? But then Red stopped, and crouched down. Shadow lost balance and jumped off of his shoulders for a moment, turning around and giving him the most confused cat face he could make.
"Well, that's that then. I'm glad I could help!" He stated chipperly, petting Shadow on the head before standing up.
Wait what? No. Shadow thought, jumping into the basket as Red began to walk away.
"Huh? What are you doing?" Red asked, giggling. He picked up Shadow and set him back down on the ground.
Only for Shadow to jump right back into the basket.
"I- uh... oh." Red blinked twice, before realization danced across his features. "Oh!" He was grinning from ear to ear, and started walking off with a slight skip in his step.
"I'm not sure if we can actually keep a cat, but I'm sure I could figure something out. Besides it would probably be a better idea to get you a collar anyways so that Steve- that's the animal catcher's name by the way -doesn't try to take you or something, oh and-!" Red started rambling plans and ideas into the air, but Shadow found himself tuning it out rather quickly.
The dog catcher's name was Steve???? He looked like he would have a dumb generic name, but Steve???
Red made his way to Link's house, though the building seemed to be under renovation. Made sense, considering the apparent switch from one Link to four. The three bedroom house probably wouldn't have been big enough even if they all decided to squeeze into two rooms, which Shadow found the idea laughable considering the four couldn't even share a boat without Blue trying to kill all of them.
Red practically kicked the door open, taking a deep breath that made Shadow wish he could cover his ears before yelling "WE'VE GOT A CAT NOW!!!!!"
Shadow bolted into the house and under the nearest chair. Not because he was scared or anything by the loud noise that made his head pound for a moment. No! He was just really committed to the bit of being a cat! That's all!
"...Woops." Red muttered apologetically, quickly shutting the door and setting his basket down on the counter before running over to Shadow's hiding spot.
"I'm sorry little buddy! I shouldn't have been so loud." He apologized, making a sad face as he layed on his stomach, getting a better view of Shadow.
"Uuuuh, Red? What the fuck?" Blue came into the room, giving Red a look Shadow couldn't see from where he was hiding.
"We got a cat." Red grinned, turning his attention from the feline in question.
"Yeah I heard. Who's 'we'?" Blue walked over and crouched, annoyingly not revealing any more of his face than Shadow could see earlier.
"Me and the cat!" Red informed chipperly, kicking his feet.
"Right, and the cat definitely decided to come home with you, is that what you're saying?"
"Yup!"
"And how'd he do that?"
"Well it started at the market and-" Red then proceeded to tell Blue the entire story, painting Shadow as this really clever and smart cat- which Shadow was not about to refute in any way.
Blue made a noise when he got to the part about Shadow hopping back into the basket. Twice.
"Oh wow he really said 'I'm your problem now' didn't he?" Shadow could hear the grin in Blue's voice, the azure clad hero now sitting cross legged in front of Red. Shadow meowed out his "yes" in response, causing the heroes to snort and giggle respectively.
"So, what are you gonna name him?" Green asked from somewhere out of sight, though it sounded like he was in the same room.
Red blinked, looking between Shadow and where Shadow guessed Green was standing, a dumb expression on his face.
Blue leaned forward to get a good look at the now-cat and his eyes lit up in recognition.
"Oh it's Shadow!" He stated, like this was great news.
Shadow had a moment of mild panic- How did he know it was me!? This is only our second meeting! How does he know?! What?!?!-before he was inadvertently drawn from his thoughts by a question.
"How do you know the cat's name is Shadow?" Vio asked, the sound of his voice reverberating through the chair itself. It sounded like he was right above him. Ironic.
Blue sat up, looking up at the purple hero. "You know that cat that snatched you sandwich?" He asked, a laugh to his voice.
Vio grumbled, shifting in the chair. Shadow suddenly felt very proud of himself.
"What about it?" Vio asked, and Shadow could practically hear him crossing his arms, and could perfectly picture the look on his face.
Oh the shade was really proud of himself.
"That's the cat Red brought home. And well, he's a black cat with red eyes and a little shit! Of course I'd call him Shadow!" Blue stated, crossing his arms with a proud look on his face like he was being really clever.
I mean he kind of was but...
Red gasped, hands flying to his face, eyes shining. "That's perfect! We can name his Shadow Sandwich Cat!" He declared.
Wait what? No-. Shadow thought, feeling his cheeks warm in a none-existent blush.
"Yeah we can name his Shadow; Sandwich thief, floof wizard, the destroyer of egos." Green chimed in, clearly joking. Vio scoffing in offence above him.
Red did not take it as a joke.
"YES!!!" He shouted, clapping his hands with a giddy squeal. Blue hand to put his hands up to stop him with a "don't scare Shadow sandwich thief floof wizard- what'd ya say? Oh right -destroyer of egos again" with a half hearted reprimand.
Red covered his mouth with a wince. "Sorry Shadow." He whispered, poking his face under the chair.
Shadow levelled him with an unimpressed look. Not sure how to feel about being named after himself and really just not being impressed with the rest of his new name. Red just grinned at him sheepishly.
fours words pico park au
The sandwich heist.
Shadow spent the next couple of days just vibing. His need to figure out how he got back quickly being exchanged for the pleasant surprise of people not completely hating him!
Sure, there were plenty of people who thought black cats were bad luck, but he had more than just black fur, and a lot of people saw that first.
He got lots of compliments for being pretty, and his ego couldn’t help but soak it all up like a sponge.
Besides that, he would walk in the light now! Sure it was uncomfortably warm and made him feel queasy if he did it for too long, but he still could! He counted that as a win.
Though he did panic a little when he figured it out at first, turns out the bench he had chosen to fall asleep under wasn’t as light proof as he had originally thought.
Hunting was fun too.
~~~~~
Alright, should I go for the obvious option and get the mouse? Or should I go for the fun option and steal the sandwich that guy left sitting beside him so he could read his book? Choices, choices.
Who am I kidding, I have to commit to the bit.
Alright.
I sit in a bush nearby and watch. He keeps taking a bite every three or so minutes, aka every time he turns a page. Slow ass reader, kinda like Vio…
Anyways.
The guy turns the page, his hand slowly reaching down for his sandwich. I ready myself to lunge. Oh a huge grin would've been on my face if I had a human one!
He takes a bite, crumbs falling on to his book, he sets the sandwich down quickly to dust them off, and-!
I lunge for the sandwich, the movement catching the eye of the teen who barely has time to respond before his sandwich is in my mouth and I am darting off with it.
“HEY, THAT’S MINE!” The guy yells, and holy shit! How did I not recognize him! Of course it was Vio, this makes it even better!!
Somebody laughs behind me as the sound of a very disgruntled person take off after me.
Does he really expect to catch up to a cat? Does he really want this back? Turns out the answer is yes to both because the chase is on!
I dive around people, duck under benches, and eventually manage to drag myself and the half of sandwich up a tree and out of his reach.
At some point the other three had joined the chase, pretty sure Red or Green was trying to get him to stop, Blue just seemed to be enjoying the whole ordeal.
Vio stood at the base of the tree, arms folded over his chest and a light glare on his face. Blue brightened, “hey Red, isn’t that the cat you were trying to make friends with the other night?” He asked, pointing up as though I wasn’t perfectly visible.
Red blinked up at me, clueless, until his eyes widened. “You’re right! It is!” He then looked so upset and betrayed, “you don’t think I taught him taking food from people was okay do you?”
“No, probably not, he looks like a general menace to society anyways. You obviously didn’t help but-” Green assured, and the grabbed Vio’s arm as he seemed to be trying to climb up after me.
“Vio just drop it. Do you really want that thing back at this point?” Oh cool he voiced my thought!
“It’s the principle of the matter, Green.” Vio stated hottily, continuing to try and climb up after me.
At this point I was eating the sandwich like it was popcorn, this is great! Like the good old days where I could watch these four be idiots from the relative safety of behind the dark mirror.
I didn’t actually miss those days, but it still made me nostalgic.
“Vio it’s really not worth it.” Green tried again, reaching out to stop Vio, but Blue put a hand on his arm.
“No, let him try, I have got to see this!”
Vio glared at him, clearly unimpressed, but then realization of what exactly he was doing dawned on his face. A bright red hue that I really wish I coulda gotten a picture of! He jumped off the tree from where he had barely gotten any height, and crossed his arms again.
“Never mind, it’s not worth the trouble anyways.” He admitted. Sadly, he would not be trying to recover his sandwich. Such a shame.
“Thank you.” Green looked exasperatedly up at the sky, like Hylia had finally given Vio a little bit of sense.
I gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting Vio to be the type to chase a cat up a tree over a sandwich, but it made sense. Him and Blue seemed to be the most prideful of the rainbow circus, it woulda been either of the two of them to do it.
~~~~~~~~~~
The four walked away, Red shooting a “bye bye kitty!” over his shoulder at him.
Shadow decided to be cheeky and wave back in a ‘bye bye’ motion. Much to Red’s pure joy.
He decided he liked this new life of his.
Here's a doodle of what I think cat!Shadow looks like. Inspired by two of my cats.
Catdow revival au chapter 1: A short chapter where Shadow wakes up and meets Red.
Note: This hops in and out of 3rd and 1st person pov for Shadow, generally whichever was easier to write the part in. Not sure if it’s disorienting, sorry if it is!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Everything felt fuzzy, and numb. Like I was floating in the air but laying down on the floor but dunked into a pool of water but laying with my body pressed in between two people but.... it was a feeling I just couldn't put a real name to but could put too many names to and thinking too hard on it made my head hurt, so I stopped.
I don't really remember what it was like before I was given sentience, but I don't think it felt quite like this.
It didn't help that I picked up bits of sound, and emotion, and sights that just... weren't heard, felt, or seen by me. Like I was glimpsing into someone else's life.
I felt tired and wide awake at the same time. It was exhausting.
It felt like I had done just good enough to not be, I don't know, sent to wherever hylians think bad people go. But did too much bad stuff to go anywhere nice. So now I was just stuck... wherever I was. Probably in Link's shadow.
Being in Link's shadow sucked. It was really boring and ugh.
Until it wasn't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shadow woke up curled in on his side. Body feeling all too heavy and light at the same time, mind feeling fuzzy. He lifted his head, the fuzziness turning into dizziness, and forcing him to lay back down.
He layed there like that for a little while, lifting his head every once and awhile to make sure he was still safe where he was.
He slowly pieced together part of what was going on. For one, he was alive when he was fairly curtain he shouldn’t be, for two he was in an alley somewhere in… possibly castle town? He hadn’t seen the place much from the skies as he razed it, but he had a vague idea of what it looked like from watching Link through the dark mirror before tricking him into drawing the four sword. And for three; he was currently in the body of a cat.
It wasn’t too weird for him, though it was surprising. He could shapeshift at will, and he was pretty sure that applied to animals as well, though he hadn’t really tried it. This kinda just confirmed he could.
Besides, it would be easier to move around without being spotted or identified by people this way. He could figure out why he was even back in the first place.
Stretching his limbs and forcing himself up, Shadow took a few tentative steps out of his hiding spot into the rest of the alley.
Only to immediately be met with a very familiar gasp from someone nearby.
He jumped and looked over.
Well shit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What? Already?? And Why did it have to be him???
Red looked at me from the bright lights of the city street, eyes shining like he had just spotted the best thing ever.
Oh wait, I'm a cat. Hylians love cats.
Oh no.
I start backing up, hoping I can pretend he didn’t see me, and he’ll get the hint and leave me alone.
No such luck.
Red entered the alley, probably not wanting to scare me off, and crouched down just within eyesight. Extending his hand slowly, there was a sent wafting from it.
“Hey there little guy! I don’t wanna hurt you. Do you want a treat?” He said in a soft tone, smiling like he was speaking to a child. Shadow hated it, but his ears did perk up at the word ‘treat’.
I could feel my rumble weirdly, kinda like a hylian’s would when hungry, but quieter.
Well that was new.
I mean, what harm was there in a small snack? Besides, it was Red The day he hurt an animal on purpose was the day that pigs flew.
…
Not including Ganon.
Alright fine, I’ll give the treat thing a shot.
~~~~~~~~~
He moved forward slowly, fairly curtain cats don’t just openly trust a person giving them treats. Even if he did know Red pretty well, Red didn’t know that, so why would he act like they’ve been friends forever?
He sniffed at whatever was in Red’s hand. It smelled nice, like a sweet from a bakery. Glancing at his other hand, Red had a basket that he had set down (but still had his hand on) to give Shadow his full attention, and sitting on top was a cinnamon roll with a piece torn off from it.
Huh. How nice of him. It looked like Shadow got the first bite!
He nibbled on the baked good, but noticed Red move his hand away from the basket out of the corner of his eye.
“Don’t you dare.” He growled, though it came out as a low ‘rrrrrrrrrrhh’.
Red’s and froze, and his hand went back to resting on the basket.
He seemed to be barely containing his excitement that Shadow (or in Red’s point of view, the adorable pretty floofy baby) was giving him the time of day despite clearly not trusting him.
Once the treat was done, Shadow sat down. Not really sure where to go from here.
Now what?
Red turned his rand over so that his knuckles were facing Shadow, and let his hand sit there in the air. He wasn’t really sure what the boy was doing, tilting his head in confusion.
Red made a noise somewhere between a squeak and a choking sound. Shadow looked up at him in confusion and mild concern, what kind of sound was that?
The crimson clad hero’s eyes were wide and bright, his basket hand (right hand) now over his mouth like he was trying to contain that odd sound that had come out of him. He looked like this whole event had made his week.
Eh, what the heck. Shadow did what he saw some cats do and rubbed his face on Red’s still outstretched hand, absolutely revelling in the funny sound of pure joy that escaped the other’s mouth.
“Uh Red, what are you doing?” A voice broke the moment, a voice that he really didn’t want to hear right now, an annoying voice. Blue stood at the entrance of the Alley.
Welp! Treat time with Red is over! Shadow thought as he jumped up and bolted away.
He didn’t at all whatsoever feel even the smidgest feel bad at the sound of disappointment Red made. Though he didn’t really have to as Red turned and chastised Blue for ‘scaring the pretty fluffy cat away when we were in the middle of becoming friends’.
Blue did look like he felt bad, but mostly just looked confused and mildly offended.
It was a funny look on him.
what if there was an au where Shadow is revived as a cat, but he has no idea by who or why he’s a cat all of a sudden. While trying to figure it out he ends up getting found by Red who’s like “aw cute homeless babyyyyy… mine now!” And adopts him, which is of course like “no, wait. fuck. nO. WHY” and he keeps trying to get away from them cause they’re gonna be furious when they figure out there cat is their old enemy and knowing his luck it’s only a matter of time. but Red’s very purrsistent and finally manages to drag him home and is like “HEY GUYS I GOT US A CAT!!” and the only one okay with this immediately is Vio, and Blue takes one look at him and is like “Shadow.” And of course Shadow panics a little because “Fuck I’ve been found out already!” But Red’s like “huh?” And Blue says “a black cat with red eyes and the look of a war criminal? Yeah, I’m naming him Shadow there is no other possible name for him.” And shadows like “rude” but then Vio chimes in with “yeah we can name him Shadow Meowthazar the floof wizard or something” and Red is like “YES” and Shadow already hates his new life.
and you know for a fact that people tell there cats shit they wouldn’t tell anyone else because why go to therapy when you have a cat right there. And Shadow’s mission goes quickly from “find out who brought me back” to “give these people as much aggressive cat therapy as possible ma gawd.”
Green teaches him tricks and stuff to prank the others and Shadow is 1000% down for this because now he has an excuse for knowing how to open doors and read and also gets the added bonus of fucking with everyone, his favourite person to fuck with is surprisingly Vio which is only partially Green’s fault with his subliminal messaging because Vio has all the best responses whereas Red chalks it up to magic floof wizard powers and Blue just gets really excited like “finally someone to do my paperwork” or “oh you helping out Vio” nod “okay good help him get his ass out of his room to participate in society next” salute “thanks bud *gives him a treat and a pat*”
What if someone breaks in one night while everyone’s sleeping (like a monster or something) and they wake up to the sounds of a their cat possibly dying and the intruder in pain and they rush downstairs to save their cat but he’s just sitting on top of his felled opponent seemingly unscathed (because shadow powers and quicker healing) and they’re like “shit I am so glad this cat like us” and Red is like “I hereby knight thee Shadow Meowthazar floof wizard the slayer of intruders lord of Vio’s dark armies” and everyone is like “yes” and except Vio who is like “lord of my what?” Shadow regrets everything in life.
decided to do both of my fixations lol (yes I count fsp and lu as two different fixations I dunno/dont care if that's weird)
before I get carried away setting up something that no one is going to do with me. I wanna roleplay the four swords manga characters while playing minecraft. My idea was that the fsp boys (or more characters depending on how many people want to join) get dropped into the mc world as though they the characters have been plopped into a different world, so not like they're playing minecraft but they're in it sort of? And the way to get home would be to beat the ender dragon or they go home when we get bored with the server.
Whoever wants to join, we could record all the povs and just keep them for ourselves or post them to youtube. We could also just not record our povs? I'm planning on recording mine just because my ability to differentiate memory of reality from memory of dreams is shit and I like the idea of keeping little momentos of things to prove that they actually happened.
If anyone's interested you can dm me or comment under this post. I already have an idea for a couple of mods to spice it up. Nothing to extreme. I don't want to spoil too much if anything does come of it, and I do end up having something video-wise to show for it.
me: *doing a "which four sword character are you" quiz for the lols.*
Question: you have to kill one of these chara-
me: *Chooses Vio without hesitation or looking at all the answers.*
~~~
edit: results under cut
looooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
I was struck with inspiration
original under the cut
crack idea.
The duck song but it's Shadow annoying the Links.
that is all
Shadow: It's not my fault I was gifted with being the sexiest demon alive! Vio: And you use that power for evil. Shadow, hooking a finger under Vio's chin: I don't know, I think loosening up a little would be good for you. Vio: Intense blushing. The other colours:
meant to post this on my main blog lmao
does Tingle count as a checov's gun? He pops up out of nowhere with Green and then a few pages later is the reason Vio can't break the mirror before Shadow pops up.
I wrote my first ever Vidow fic [unleashes an unholy amount of confetti]
couldn't decide which I liked more, so you get both.
I saw a post that was like "love it when two characters are drawn cuddling and they're just like this" and then showed an image of two characters laying really close side by side. I was like: "hold my beer", and proceeded to draw them because this image popped very vividly into my head upon seeing that post.
I couldn't resist. Drew this in 20 minutes.
Red and Shadow wearing matching sweatshirts, Red's says "Mischief" on the front and "If lost, return to Mayhem" on the back and Shadow's says "Mayhem" on the front and "If lost, return to Mischief" on the back is this anything send post
woe, art dump be apon ye.
I've decided that ms paint is what is gonna get me to make art more regularly, and it turns out I was right! Art is fun again [air-horns]!!!!
I feel the need to explain my au a lil bit. Cause I have more ideas than brain (like independent of each other) that I also want to give a lil attention to like my loz story au thing, and another one for four swords that actually has a story and not just vibes.
Warning for a wall of text and also mentions of child abuse.
The "Four Separate Paths" au is an au that was partially based on a dream, partially based on a story I made based on four swords that just went full circle back to it. In the au, after the defeat of Vaati, when they normally would have re-merged under normal circumstances, they don't, and three out of the four of them argue about what to do next.
In the original draft of the au, Vio is kinda just, stuck in his own head thinking about what to do next. Barely listening to the argument as he tries to figure out where he could start in his path to getting them back into one Link again. In the comic I added her to help verbalize some of what Vio was thinking to more fluidly share it with the readers.
But the RBG boys have already kinda... made peace with this. They care less about remaining four people, and more about where they want to go and what they want to do next.
Green wants to go back to how things were, basically. Thinking that with all four of them it would be easier to defend the kingdom, and now that they know how to work as a team they would be even more effective than Link was alone (I realize now I kinda put Red and Green in trope version of themselves. I fking love the two of them and their characters... doesn't mean I always know what to do with them narratively ,Xb).
Red wants to focus on repairing the kingdom, and helping others around the kingdom learn to better defend themselves from the dangers of people like Vaati and Shadow.
Blue wants to travel and expand helping people to more than just hyrule (something I stated in the comic)
Vio ends up going with Blue when they all split ways because he knows that, once he figures out how to get them back to being one, Blue would be the hardest to track down. In Vio's mind this is just another challenge to overcome, and he thinks that- rather than being okay with staying split -the other three just don't think about how to "fix the problem", so now he has to do it.
Shadow's still alive in this au. He's just a part of their shadows more permanently. Not sure if I want him to be revealed to all of them or if I wanna stick with the funny idea I had of only Red knowing he's still around and the two of them bonding over Shadow filling Red in on what's going on with Blue and Vio over tea.
Blue and Vio travel for awhile, Blue slowly making a name for himself as a "wandering hero" as he does exactly what he set out to do by helping people. Anywhere from small shit like helping an old lady carry her groceries to bigger stuff like stopping burglars and bandits. Vio spends most of his time researching magic and stuff, hoping to understand why they stayed split even if he doesn't have access to hyrules magic books, but he helps with the bigger stuff even if he prefers staying to the background (good thing Blue purposefully makes it easy for him by making his personality 2x bigger).
Eventually an old man finds Blue and Vio while they're in between towns. He says he's been a world traveller his whole life and can tell them little tidbits of information and guide them on their adventures. Both are reasonably of a suspicious old man approaching them in the middle of nowhere as the sky darkened, Vio being like "this guy is clearly doesn't have good intentions, we should entertain him and then ditch him at the next town" and Blue is like "idk, maybe we should take him up on his offer, keep you enemies closer and all that, plus, free guide!" And so they let the old man stick around.
The old man turns out to be controlling af. Hiding behind the two of them at the first sign of danger, and then telling them off for having fun. He also starts telling people that mister "wandering hero" is his protege, and that he "taught the kid everything he knows."
It makes Blue and Vio really uncomfortable, but they put up with it because A) he's kinda useless in a fight so "isn't able to do any real damage", B) they do technically need a guide being that it's saved them a lot of problems, and C) Blue finds it funny to get back at him by immediately after the old man walks away turn to the person he lied to and tell them that he's "senile" and "confusing himself for grandma!" ... that sentence made sense, right?
Anyways.
At one point Blue comes across a family of boys that have been terrorizing a few towns for years. After him and Vio investigate more they learn the disturbing history of the family. The father is forcing his sons to do this stuff for his wealth, while the few daughters the man has are forced to clean their shitty-falling-apart-mansion until they get sick, and also being used to keep the brothers in line.
Blue doesn't want to kill these kids, especially after overhearing one of the younger kids complain about having to do all this stuff he knows is wrong only to be silenced by an older brother afraid of seeing his sibling get hurt for speaking out. So he figures out a plan to save the kids.
He kills the father, gets the ill daughters to a hospital and then fights the people of the three towns to keep the sons out away from the gallows. He does save the kids, but the older kids do still go to prison, though they do it willingly.
The old man, later in the day, has the gall to reprimand Blue and say he should have just ended the whole family because whether it was by force or not they were still guilty of doing some bad shit. Blue fights him on this, Vio stepping in when it starts to get violent. The old man leaves the inn in a huff, and the two don't see him for the rest of the night. Vio unable to sleep thanks to the sense of foreboding.
The next morning, when Blue goes to visit the kids to say goodbye before heading off to the next town wrapping up with the older kids, he finds the old man standing in front of the cell while two guards escort the boys there out of the cell. After being asked what's going on, the old man says "they're being hung for their crimes. Obviously." Which, y'know, sets off Blue, who tells him he's being monstrous.
The old man tells Blue that he's being stupid to let them live, and that his kindness "weakness" will get him killed one day. To prove his point he pulls out a charm Blue had never seen before from his pocket, and yeets Blue into the dark world, out of sight of the guards and kids to make sure the next part of his plan goes smoothly.
Vio sees it though, and he hides for a little while, trying to figure out what to do while he keeps an eye on the old man.
The younger kids are brought forward with the older kids, and the people of the three towns (who had been brought together for this) are confused about what's going on and why the kids are being put in line for the gallows despite the fact that they had agreed that- given the context -the punishments the kids received were acceptable?
The old man claims that the kids killed Blue, and holds up a blood stained blue tunic that Vio thought had been thrown away after the fight they had weeks ago. He doesn't understand how the people think an obviously dry bloodstain came from at least a night ago, but I digress. The old man spins a conspiracy story of the kids teaming up, the ones in prison telling the ones not in prison what to do. Thanks to his position as Blue's "mentor" they believe him.
Things are looking bad for the kids. Until Vio gets a really bad idea. He's standing relatively in the middle of the crowd, easy to miss, at least until he starts laughing like a maniac. He's surprised with himself for how much like evil giddy glee the forced laughter sounds like. "You think it was them that killed him?"
Vio goes on to tell the confused and startled crowd that he killed Blue, and that the old man may have been convincing, but trying to pin their act on those kids was cowardice.
Yup, "their" act. Vio's dragging the old man down with him.
The people get out of Vio's way as he walks over to the old man, looking much more confident then he feels. Vio smugly turns back to the crowd and stats spinning his own story. One where he's jealous of Blue's fame and tired of being in his shadow, a story more than a little inspired by Shadow himself. He claims the old man had helped him, then says the old man just wanted the kids out of the way to make it less messy to clean up themselves, but Vio was "bored of that idea", so changed their plans.
Long story short, the people of the towns chase to two out. The old man showing more of his true colours.
Turns out, old man knows a shit ton of magic, and can fight better than Vio and Blue thought.
The old man starts hunting Vio down, eventually catching up to him and sealing him away in a different place then Blue.
The Cabin had nothing in it. Just one fireplace parallel to the door, cabinets that stored an infinite amount of food in them, a sink to wash dishes and get drinking water from, and a stack of wood for the fire. There was one note: "Don't let the fire go out. EVER." The Cabin was surrounded by eternal night and eternal soft snowfall. There was no bed, no blankets, no chairs. Just him, food, a fire, and firewood.
Meanwhile Shadow is loosing his mind over this whole situation. Goes into the dark world to get to Red and tell him about this (because I imagine the dark world is like a dream world, and makes it easier to travel from one place to another if you know how to travel through it, because dream logic is applied everywhere) and bumps into Blue, who's like "great! Can you get me out of here????"
This is how Shadow discovers he actually can still become hylian-shaped in the real world, it just requires help from Zelda. Whom he gets help from Red to tell that there is a major problem tm.
It takes awhile to get Vio out again, because they have to track down the old man and (ahem) convince to tell them where Vio was.
And that's kind of where my ideas run out. I know... not the greatest ending. Mostly because its not an ending. But it's all I've got for now.
might fuck around and make a text based ask blog for my four swords au.