Chapter Text
Dark. Peaceful. Silent.
A sharp emotion of love and warmth bled through, allowing him (them, we?) to recognize that while silent, he (they) were not alone. There was always the presence of others, no matter how distant they were in this quiet darkness.
Another emotion, this one softer, went through him (them). Was it anger? Happiness? Peace? It was so, so hard to figure out what some of these emotions were. Trapped in a magical and ancient sword like he (they) was, created a jumbled mess of different voices and thoughts that were never concrete.
How long has he (they) been here? Stuck in limbo for what one could only assume for the rest of eternity. Or, if he (they) were lucky enough, until the sword inevitably shattered and released the shattered soul of what was once Link.
Link, Link.
He was no longer Link. Link died when he drew the Four Sword from its pedestal, a once complete soul becoming four pieces that no longer fit seamlessly. They remembered how painful it was, splitting a soul that was not meant to split. It was agony unlike anything else he had experienced, like dying in a million different ways yet being forced to endure every minute of it.
Heavy emotions came from the depths, rising to meet the semi-conscious piece of himself. It felt familiar…… Red?
Warmer feelings of confirmation bled through. Red, red? Yes, Red had sent something soft to their main consciousness. He wanted to bundle it up, keep it protected and safe so that they always had something warm here.
He wanted……..
……….
……….
……….
What were they thinking about?
Confusion from Vio emanated from the depths. What, what, what? Red, blue, violet, and green all mixed and tried to join, fracturing and combining into a shadow of a real person. They tried, they tried oh so hard to join memories.
What did they forget? Why must this place take away their thoughts?
Blue glowed in hot anger. Red tried to diffuse his fellow partial soul from clouding them in anger and hate. The mixing of those two let the combination of all four let their soul sing, humming softly among the sword in which they lay trapped in. They couldn’t see past the darkness of the void, but they knew that the humming from their soul caused the sword in its pedestal to let out a low noise that sounded close to that of chimes.
Oh, he wished that someone was here in his chamber, to talk and give him company besides that of his own soul. While they were not bad company (it was hard to have yourself as bad company), it was still lonely beyond doubt. He wanted the…..
He wanted…….
……….
……….
……….
NO
He wanted Zelda
He wanted his grandpa
He wanted his soul to be one
He wanted out of this sword
He wanted to go home
Please Hylia, let hi-them go home, to the forge where the warmth blasted their face and the scent of metal-working was pronounced. Thei-His grandpa would take him to town, to the little bakery that made the best cakes with a kinstone that he would almost always bite into on accident. Why were the gods punishing him? Did they think having to defeat Vaati twice meant he was incapable of being a hero?
Why was he able to think this now?
No, we did everything right.
How can you say that, after they trapped us here?
I just want to go home.
We know. We do too.
What…..what about him ? We are already so splintered, and being trapped in this sword will make it worse. Will we still be him ?
He is still here. He is closer to the surface of the sword than ourselves. He can feel our emotions, but can’t really hear our thoughts like you or I can.
I wish we could give him a hug. It must be so lonely, not being able to talk to anyone. It isn’t fair Green.
I know Red. But you know as well as I that even if you weren’t inside this sword you couldn’t hug him .
Ah, the curse of being a part of a soul. How fun.
Blue, please.
Shhhh Green, I think he is going to sleep to save energy again.
Ah okay. I’ll see you guys again when we wake up.
I love you all. Goodnight everyone.
—------------------
Tired. Wanting.
Thoughts still came and went like the ocean tides, there for one moment and gone the next. Grasping at thoughts was so hard. He wanted to think clearly. Clouds and mist shrouded his dazed mind. Just want to…..
………
………
Yeah, that sounded good, didn’t it?
'He didn’t even finish that thought. Is he alright?'
I don’t think so. Isolation can cause paranoia and a break down of the mind. His mind might be trying to compensate with no one talking or interacting with him.
What does that mean for us? It-It’s not going to hurt us, right?
Most likely? It will affect us. We are as much a part of him as he is a part of us. Any instability he gains we will also experience.
So what I’m gathering is that we need to talk to him . Should be easy enough. You know, if we weren’t just pieces of his souls that can’t communicate with him .
'Your sarcasm is not appreciated Blue. Vio makes a good point though. We need to keep him stabilized if we want any chance of being stable when we get out of here.'
….If we get out of here.
'Blue!'
We….we will get out of here, right? It’s….it’s not like we are being punished! We saved Hrule two times! Maybe…maybe the gods have something planned, and they just needed us to rest for a while is all!
That’s a bunch a pile of-
No arguing right now. If we get another thing that resembles those migraines we oh so love, I will figure out a way to smack you Blue. Don’t think some sealing magic will stop me.
I would like to see you try Vio.
'Okay, okay. Enough is enough. How about we think of a plan to help him before he gets worse? Vio, what ideas do you have?'
Not Link hummed a not hum, mind grasping and leaving within moments. The opposite of satisfaction came from deep within his soul. What was that word? Aggravation? Annoyance? Discomfort?
Whatever it may be, the pieces of his soul glowed with it, nearly making a small shine in the darkness of the sword. He wanted to giggle at the feeling, the oh so funny feeling of whatever it was the pieces were displaying. They all had it! It was weird to feel them in agreement all at once after all!
Low, small tunes from the depths sounded. Red! Oh, his emotional piece was trying to comfort him! He appreciated it greatly, though knew it was all for nothing. It wasn’t like feeling emotions was the same as interacting after all. Stuck in the disgusting oil that he only knew as his prison.
If he had a body, he would have shaken his head from those thoughts. No need to make himself go down such a depressing train of thought! Madness has already taken hold in his fragile mind and soul, festering away and hoping for a quick meal. As a (former?) hero, he needed to keep his wits about him, to not let the sword corrupt him.
Easier said than done.
His mind jumped.
A voice? A voice in this darkness? Hello? Is someone also trapped in here with him and his soul pieces? Was someone here to free him?
You scared him Blue.
It’s not like I did it intentionally! Green told me to say hi, so what else did you want me to do? Start spouting poetry?
'I….should have explained better in hindsight.'
So many voices! Where were these people, these other whole souls? Perhaps he wasn’t as alone as he previously thought!
Hi Link! It’s-
Link? No, no he wasn’t Link who’s Link, Link wasdeaddeaddeadeadnevertocomeback-
I’m sorry! I meant to say Not Link! I was confused, and I said the wrong thing!
Yes, much better. Not Link shuddered with the acknowledgment he got from the friendly voice. Joy emanated from his whole soul, finally being able to talk to others!
'Ah, we aren’t exactly…other people like you were hoping. We usually aren’t able to do this, but Vio came up with a way we can speak to you, however sparingly it will be. Me and the others are parts of you Li-Not Link. We are the pieces that the Four Sword split you into.'
Sadness.
So, no one else was here? Just himself?
Technically, yes. Since we are just pieces of your soul, we are theoretically you. But with our experiences out in the real world as real people, you could also say we are different as well.
Oh….that was nice. Very nice.
So, they will talk to him, help fight the loneliness he felt so often here?
We can try, but Vio says that doing this will put a strain on us as well as yourself. We’ll probably be resting a lot more often when we do this.
Not to say we hate doing it! I am so happy I can finally talk to our whole soul, the one that we came from! We were always here for you but we couldn’t talk to you before. We are all glad that we can communicate with you like this!
Happy, very happy. Not Link trilled an upbeat tune, feeling the pieces of his soul become lighter with contentment. He finally had someone to talk to, people not quite tangible nor different enough to be their complete person, but enough to keep the corruption at bay.
Thank you thank you thankyoupleasetalkmoreIwanttohearmore-
'Woah! It’s alright, we aren’t going anywhere. There is no need to be afraid of us leaving. We won’t be leaving anytime soon.'
Technically, we can’t leave because we are quite literally a part of you. Hesitation. But what Green said. We can keep you company before we rest again for the gods know how long. Is there anything specific you want to talk about, Not Link?
Yes, yes. Talk about adventure, what you did before sealing. Interested, want to know.
Oh we had lots of fun! I have so many stories I don’t know where to start! There was that one about Green with the forge-
'Hey!'
and Vio trying to get Shadow to help him climb a window into the bakery-
I thought we all agreed to never bring that up again.
But Blue’s adventure with the cat was my favorite! We’d never seen a cat before, so Blue-