Chapter Text
To a certain extent, he expects it these days.
Legend's spent his whole life solving dungeons and puzzles, learning patterns and taking note of what they mean, be it in the dungeon or outside. It’s not just stone and monsters and statues that have patterns, it’s not just traps and security measures that are predictable with time. People follow patterns too. Certain behaviors herald the coming of others, and certain phrases and words earn particular responses. Navigating people isn’t so different from dungeons if he takes note of how his actions affect theirs, and what the consequences are of taking the wrong steps.
Generally, however, patterns of behavior are easier to catch. If it happens enough times, he knows to expect it, and as Four has never, in all his knowledge, gone off to split into his separate selves without somehow doing something that requires the veteran hero’s assistance to escape from, he’s ready. He may not like it, but he’ll help them when they inevitably get into chaos. It's the least he can do after all.
So yes, when Four announces, shortly after he does, that they will also be going to wander the town this evening, while the rest of their companions settle down in their rented rooms, Legend knows full well to keep his eyes and ears open. Never mind just enjoying the night air in civilization where monsters are less likely to wander, if Four’s going off than Four is probably going to split, and so an incident is only so far off on his horizon.
He wonders what it will be this time, watching the smithy hurry along the road ahead of him, darting off somewhere and light flashing from the same place moments later. Will it be Green that causes it this time? Wandering about and not watching himself as he should? Will it be Blue again, starting a fight? Will it be Red? To himself he can only hope so, knowing Red at least is good company, and unlike his siblings, less prone to taking Legend’s ill-spoken answers to heart.
It could be Vio though, Legend reminds himself. Vio who embraces chaos and doesn’t even try and avoid incidents. That could be what he’s in for tonight; being called to rather than speaking up of his own accord as with the others.
He hopes not.
Things with Vio are always more... explosive. It gets back to the rest, and considering he’s still got people asking him where he produced another three children from- a question he can’t answer without blowing Four’s secret- he’d like to avoid that attention from his brother’s today. It’s bad enough having Warriors stare at him in confusion so much, especially when they’ve barely started looking at each other at all after what happened in the pub. Never mind Twilight’s laughing and teasing! He’d managed to avoid the questions last night, and today had been busy enough with continuing the process of gathering up new supplies and generally trying to avoid the rest, and maybe this evening stroll is more for the sake of not answering their questions than his own relaxation, but-
Yeah, he doesn’t want to deal with that today.
It’s bad enough that the rest are trying to convince him to actually spend tomorrow with those ladies, as offered! He doesn’t need to unpack secrets and previously unknown incidents tonight. No, instead, he’ll probably just end up adding one more to the list of times “Kit Taylor claimed a child” tonight, rather than trying to explain those children's existence.
He’s too young for this, honestly! He shouldn’t be needing to explain the existence of theoretical children to anyone at his age!
Ah well, c’est la vie, it’s not as though there’s an alternative that really works for stuff like this, and maybe his team will forget his hypothetical children if he avoids them long enough. Maybe he will go to the lady thing tomorrow, if only to stop them being able to nag him. Spending a day with a few Castletown ladies couldn’t be too bad, could it? Considering he’s friends with Styla, and Din, Nayru, and Farore, not to mention Ghanti and Blossom, and Rosa and- well, he‘s got a lot of lady friends at any rate, so it’s not like he’s unfamiliar with spending time with women. He could handle some get together, what’s the worst thing they could do? Drink tea and talk about dresses? He’s been to Hytopia, he’s been trained for that sort of thing. It’s certainly preferrable to dealing with Twilight’s teasing anyway.
Mind made up, Legend keeps walking. he can’t see any of Four yet, but he's sure to keep his eyes and ears open for it when it does happen. For the moment though, he just enjoys the sounds of the town at night.
He’s never really been able to enjoy Hyrule Castletown like this before, what with having a bounty on his head and all. The last time he could actually enjoy a city was back in Labrynna, and that had been.... heavens, years ago! He hadn’t even spent that much time in the city than either, what with traveling through time and all and spending the majority of his time there in the past, back before it became half as big and bustling.
And bustling this city is! Even in the fading light, there are still people like himself wandering about. Around corners and in alleys, he can see other certain sorts of people preparing for their night’s work, and on corners, there are a few ladies wandering and batting their lashes at passersby. Children are being hurried home by mothers, locals are wandering in and out of taverns, soldiers are patrolling the streets (he has to remind himself to not hide from them) and generally speaking, people are preparing for the night, be it their time of work, rest, or a peak hour for pleasure. The sounds of shops busy at work is traded for gossip between open windows and doors, lingerers on in streets and laughter out of homes and taverns.
It’s nice, in its own way. Louder than he’s used to, but nice all the same.
Well, except for the shouting of soldiers and- crap.
Legend pauses in his steps, ears flickering towards the noise. For a moment, instinct says to run, but the patterns... the patterns say this is probably Four again. Typically speaking, the loudest noise in the area is Four getting up to something of some sort, in one form or another.
He darts off towards it; it’s easiest to just handle it himself, to help, instead of waiting for another excuse or explanation to come to either of their minds. Granted, when he comes upon the soldiers, blades drawn around a figure, his gut maybe lurches and there is a brief moment where he swears his heart stops, a moment when he sees a small figure held at sword point, and even though they don’t look exactly like Four, look a little off, look too.... dark, that is still very much someone who looks like a child being threatened by soldiers.
It could be Four, honestly, although when one of the colors had decided to dye their hair, he’s not sure. Still, even if it’s not, no one deserves that sort of treatment save Ganon.
Legend moves in.
-
Searching for the others had been a pain in the ass.
Shadow has been following faint magic trails and signs of battles or chaos in the hopes of finding his colorful counterparts, and so far with no luck. Honestly, he’s not even sure how it is that he’s here, in the light realm, much less able to move around in sunlight with no ill effects, but he is here, and that means that Link must have done something. Or Zelda, she was nice too, so maybe she might have helped him instead.
His bet is on Link though, or Vio specifically. It seems like the sort of thing he would do, crazy idiot that he is.
The thing is though, whatever place it is that he’s seemingly spawned, it’s not very familiar. Granted, he had sort of destroyed a lot of Castletown back during the whole business with Vaati, so rebuilding would be expected, but everything around him seems very old, rather than freshly rebuilt, and honestly, he’s not sure he’s even in Hyrule anymore, since most of the people he had seen while lurking in his namesakes were, well, human.
Even now, when he was just minding his own business just a moment before, which is saying something because this is him, the soldier-looking people all gathered around him, weapons pointed his way, are mostly human.
Honestly, he was just existing! Someone had screamed something about shadows the moment he was seen though, and promptly, these dingbats all appeared and started attacking, and while he can use the shadows as a sort of shield, it’s not like he’s very strong with his magic anymore. Whatever made him able to stand sunlight has, apparently, also weakened his ability to manipulate what he came from.
He’s sort of expecting to have to kill these guys if he wants to survive, since running is not possible when he’s cornered, but rather abruptly, the men all freeze, and it’s all because of a sharp, angry sounding voice.
“Drop your weapons!”
The soldiers freeze, some glancing back behind themselves, and a few of them immediately starting and, of all things, saluting as a small figure approaches. They’re not as small as Link is, a bit taller, but their head reaches only the shoulders of most of the armored figures around him. The figure looks the slightest bit like Zelda, strawberry blonde hair and freckled cheeks, but the eyes that flash at the men with golden light are as dark as Vio’s, and nearly the same shade.
“Missus Taylor!” One of the men starts, glancing from shadow to the supposed Missus. “Apologies, but this shadow-”
“That is not a common shadow,” says the- woman?
He can’t tell, their clothes are sort of loose so it’s hard to make out what shape they are, and the facial features are just doll-like enough to be a lady but also sharp enough for a young man. He can’t tell, honestly, even though the people around him seem certain this is a woman. Whatever the case though, the person is scowling darkly and moving around to- wrap an arm around him? What the actual heck?
“Why did you attack without cause? He wasn’t doing anything wrong!”
“It's a shadow?” One of the people points out, “you can see the magic wafting off them-”
The.... person, waves off the words with a scoff and a roll of the eyes. “A child with a gift of magic is not an evil spirit to be attacked and killed! I should have a word with your commanding officers if you’re going to be going about attacking anything that looks vaguely magical!”
“Ma’am-”
The hand on his shoulder taps, pointedly, and Shadow glances down to it, wary, only to see ringed fingers quickly spell out ‘p-l-a-y a-l-o-n-g'. And, well, he was friends with Vio! He knows how to act! Besides that, he’d successfully fooled Green and the rest at least once, and Vaati for a while there as well. He can act, maybe not whatever role he’s being asked to at the moment, but he’ll give anything a shot once.
At his side, the person cuts off the soldier’s protest with a heavy glare that flashes gold and makes the men around shift away warily. “Perhaps I ought to clarify; don’t screw around with my kids!”
Wait wait wait, what? Kids? Plural? Does this person have kids? Shadow isn’t one of them, he would know, right? He doesn’t have... parents? That’s what they’re called, yeah? Sure, he and Vio once joked that Ganon owed Vaati child-support for raising the work of their mixed magic alone, but... he wasn’t really properly raised, just.... brought into existence as he is now. Or close to anyways, there are some changes.
But the maybe-a-woman is holding quite tightly to him, glaring back at the people who were very much trying to kill him, and while he can feel his savior’s magic flinching back from his own, feel this stranger’s light startling at his dark, they don’t pull away, or scream, or freak out. Instead, they hold tight and level the men around him with a look, even as he can feel something like resignation washing over them, reflected slightly in their magic.
“Your...” the men stare, “that is-”
“I’m a mage, of course my children received some of my magic!” The person huffs, still glaring, standing and pulling him up after them before pulling him in close yet again. Shadow’s not one to be treated like a child, but hey, whatever works! He glares back at the men as well, fisting a hand in the clothes of the stranger (layered in protective magics, so yeah, the mage claim sounds about right) and keeps his mouth shut, even if he does flare his own magic up a bit.
“It’s shadow magic!” Someone strains, glancing warily at the person holding him but still holding their weapon ready for a fight.
His maybe-rescuer's eyes are really flashing now. “A child can’t help what magic they’re born with! No more than I as their mother can change it, but is that a reason to hurt and kill a kid?”
Some of the soldiers exchange glances.
One ringed hand lifts to settle on his head. “Link and I believe in raising kids right no matter how they’re born. Teaching him he’s a monster won’t help anyone, and treating him like one is unacceptable! His magic can be used for good if he’s shown how, but that only works so well if others always treat him ill for it!”
“Missus Taylor-”
“I’m not done!”
The men all fall silent.
Shadow kind of likes this person. They’re confusing, yes, but... she(?) is very good at scaring the crap out of people it would seem, and it’s very entertaining.
“Don’t threaten my kid,” the mage hisses, jabbing one jewel-laden finger at the men, “or I will go mama bear, and I will make what happened at the garrison look like a children’s picnic! Do you understand?”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” Comes the immediate response, the men lowering their weapons to salute and then looking confused at having done so.
Shadow’s confused too though. Mama bear? Is this person.... is this how one acquires a mother? Is this how Link got his? Wait, this person had mentioned raising kids with a ‘Link’, is this Link’s wife? Is he being adopted by Vio and his brothers and their.... wife?
He pauses a moment. Would that relationship qualify as polyamorous or monogamous? Considering four of the people involved would actually only be one? Does it matter? Can he ask? Should he ask? Honestly, he’s no kid, but this stranger- lady- mage-person doesn’t seem open to questions right now. They had very much called themselves his mother though and, well, they seem decent enough?
Yeah, whatever, Shadow’s not overly picky, and this person does seem both powerful and terrifying. That’s good enough, he supposes, if they want to be his mom. He doesn’t mind, it might even be fun! He will be objecting if his new mother is Link’s wife though, because he will not tolerate having to call Blue or Green ‘dad’. It ain’t happening! Although, glancing up at the mage, he doesn’t think they’re exactly Link’s type. Sure, they look a bit like Zelda and all, but Link’s never struck him as someone who’d want to be looked down on by his partner, and considering he has to crane his head back a bit to see their face, Link would have to as well.
He’ll ask Link when he finds him. It can’t have been that long since he died, could it? Maybe this mage meant a different Link?
Their hand settles on his shoulder again, tugging gently towards the mouth of the alley, even as the soldiers begin to part for them. Some are still sending dirty looks, but they all look thoroughly cowed and terrified as Shadow walks out besides his new mother.
Said new mother turns to him as soon as they’re out of the alley, violet eyes startlingly warm, but not pitying and thus tolerable. “Maybe tone down the magic for the time being, okay, Raven?” A smile, not exactly real, acted, fake, but with a hint of warmth anyway, touches thin lips as his hair is ruffled. It’s kinda nice actually. “Go find Vio and keep your siblings out of trouble, hmm? I have some ass to kick.”
And, well, who is he to stop a powerful mage who stood up for him from kicking ass? “Okay, mom.”
It’s kinda nice to call someone that! Maybe he doesn’t mind this too much? He’s never had a mother before, but Link always said it was nice, and maybe he was right, again.
His new mother smiles, gives him a final hair ruffle, and then turns to the soldiers again, magic flaring and eyes flashing. “How about we go find that outpost of yours, I’d like a word with your commander.”
It’s an out, so he takes it. He's curious, of course, what his new mom is up to, but the words ‘find Vio’ are far more tempting. Shadow darts off into the city. With luck, he can ask his questions when he finds the others, and with even more luck, this mom person isn’t Link’s wife and he can actually maybe keep them around! They’re awesome!
As proved by the soldiers tucking tail and leading the mage away towards the castle, thoroughly uncomfortable under burning eyes.
Oh yeah, Shadow likes his new mom!
