They Were Already So Small

by kaweeella

Summary:

After the Chain was goaded and tricked by Ganondorf they were sent back in time seven years. If that wasn't bad enough, a strange portal opened up in the middle of the temple. Then Ocarina lost Navi.

After the Chain is dropped in Wild's Hyrule, they find a group of heavily armed children in a long abandoned building.

Notes:

• Inspired by Dimensional Links by ChangelingRin

I thought to myself, "when would the worst time for them to meet be?" and this was born.

Also, Dimensional Links is currently being rewritten, and the rewrite hasn't gotten to the point that I'm currently writing about, so I'm taking an "assume it's still canon unless and until stated otherwise" approach.

Chapter 1

Ocarina hadn’t realized what Ganondorf was doing until it was already too late and he had already plunged the Master Sword back into her pedestal. But nobody else had either! So it didn’t feel fair for him to take all the blame for what happened.

 

“What did you do?!” Shadow crossed the room startlingly fast given his shorter legs.

 

What he did was quite simple, really, he put the Master Sword back in the Temple of Time and was sent back in time seven years. As was everyone else.

 

“I can fix it-” before he could think about how similar to Mask he sounded, he saw that there had been a magical barrier placed over the sword.

 

“I don’ think you can fix it.” Mask lisped.

 

“Alright, let’s calm down.” Dusk stepped in before tensions could get worse.

 

A small chime rang out and Ocarina’s hat remove itself from his head.

 

“Link,” Navi shook off the hat, which fell back onto the boy’s head. “I thought I asked you...”

 

The fairy stared at the sight in front of her. A large gaggle of small, strangely identical children stood behind Link, one of the older ones was helping the others, who appeared to be in great distress.

 

“Link.”

 

“Navi?”

 

“What happened?”

 

“Um,”

 

She floated close to his shoulder.

 

“Deep breaths, Link.”

 

He did as instructed.

 

“Now, what happened while I was asleep?”

 

“Well, I was on my way to fight Ganondorf, when I ran into him,” he pointed to Mask, “except we were both bigger, and when I got to where he was supposed to be, he wasn’t there. And these guys appeared,” he gestured to the rest of the group, “except they were also bigger. And we went on a big adventure together, fighting a bunch of bag guys, and I was trying to fight Ganondorf, but he tricked me! And now...”

 

Shadow was about to say something, but his attention was quickly drawn to the strange triangle that spawned in the center of the room.

 

“Whassa?” Wind asked. He scrunched up his face at his difficulty speaking.

 

Gen put himself in front of the other members of the group. They were all much smaller than they were a few minutes ago, and now there was a new thing to worry about.

 

“This isn’t one of our normal voids in reality, is it?” Realm asked.

 

“No way, it just popped out of nowhere.” Lore shook his head. “Plus, none of them have had such a structured shape.”

 

“It’s not growing, either.” Sketch observed.

 

“So whado we do?” Steam asked. He could summon the Spirit Train, but he didn’t think he’d be able to drive it in this state.

 

Green, Red, Blue, Vio, Speck, and The Four would have loved to give their input, but they found themselves no longer able to talk.

 

Before they could decide what to do, the choice was made for them by the triangle disappeared. And several smaller ones appeared under their feet, causing them to fall through.

 

Navi watched Link and the gaggle of children fall out of existence. “Oh no...”

 

They landed in a disoriented heap on cracked and mossy stone, the smallest at the top of the pile. There were several cries from the smaller Links, and the older Links were dealing with terrible nausea and headaches. It was hard to get their bearings, even for Shadow, who was rendered little more than a writhing mass of darkness on the stone.

 

Dusk and Lore powered through the discomfort to the best of their abilities. Gen would have loved to join them, but he was trapped beneath four screaming toddlers.

 

The Four would like it to be known that they were usually much better at dealing with pain and discomfort than they were at that moment, it’s just the situation that made things difficult.

 

They eventually got Ocarina and Realm to help them, with Dusk coaching all of them on the proper way to hold children.

 

“I miss Navi...” Ocarina muttered, holding Red like how he’d been shown.

 

“She was sleeping the entire time.” Realm said, holding Vio.

 

“Her presence was comforting.”

 

“You forgot about her until after we saw what happened to Ezlo.” Mask pointed out.

 

“Shut up.”

 

Speaking of Ezlo, the bird-hat-man was still sleeping soundly. Meanwhile, Speck was being engulfed by his hatness.

 

“What should we do with him?” Gen asked, still supine beneath The Four.

 

“Well, we can’t just leave him like this.” Dusk said.

 

“Wait, are we referring to Speck or Ezlo?” Lore inquired. Blue babbled something in his arms, but it was impossible to tell what.

 

“I was talking about Ezlo.” Gen clarified.

 

“I meant Speck, but it’s true for them both.”

 

Green slapped lightly at Dusk’s face to get his attention. Once he did, he reached up and tugged at the boy’s hat.

 

“Is he suggesting one of us wear Ezlo?” Lore wondered.

 

He received a noise of confirmation.

 

“But who?”

 

“We should pro’ly free Speck first.” Sketch went and did just that.

 

Speck blinked a little as he readjusted to seeing something other than green.

 

“You heard what we were saying, right?” Dusk knelled down.

 

Speck nodded.

 

“Are you alright with that?”

 

Another nod.

 

“I feel like we should be asking Ezlo about this.” Gen mumbled.

 

“Well you can ask him,” Steam prodded at the bird-hat, “but I don’t think you’ll get a response.”

 

“Speck,” Dusk addressed the boy, “you know Ezlo the best of all of us, so who do you think he’d prefer to wear him?”

 

The small boy looked around the group, scrutinizing gaze judging his options. Green, Red, Blue, Vio and The Four were in the same boat as him, so they were out. Sketch, Wind, Steam and Mask were bigger, they wouldn’t be engulfed, but he’d probably slide over their eyes a lot. Realm... he’d gotten better since his Wandering tendencies were handled, but he still had his track record. Ocarina was going through his own things. Lore was more responsible than he’d let on, but his designated role as a distraction would put him in harm’s way, though with situation they were in he couldn’t be sure if that was still a factor. Gen was another good option, but Speck wasn’t sure how Ezlo would like being on the head of a person he’d never met. Same went for Shadow, though Speck had his doubts that he’d wear Ezlo even if they had met. Which only left...

 

Dusk blinked in surprise as Speck locked eyes with him. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Lore leaned over to his ear.

 

“I think he chose you.”

 

A nod.

 

“Alright, I’ll take good care of him.”

 

An unwavering stare.

 

Lore plucked Dusk’s hat off. His hat hair was terrible. He traded the hat for Blue so he could use both hands. Then he gingerly picked Ezlo off the stone and placed him on Dusk’s head as if he was crowning royalty. He even imitated the music that would be played during.

 

Once he was done, he scooped Speck off the ground.

 

“So, where are we?” Wind asked

 

Gen was about to mention the Hylia statue, but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

 

A man stood close to the dilapidated entrance. He had a fuzzy cape and tattoos on his face. The tattoos were familiar, but no one could quite place where from.

Chapter 2

The group had been dropped in the champion’s Hyrule, specifically of the Great Plateau. Although at the moment, the “group” only consisted of Twilight, Wild and Four, since they were separated during travel.

 

They were walking toward the ledge of the plateau when something caught Twilight’s attention. He brought the others to a stop.

 

“Do you hear that?” He whispered.

 

“No.” Four whispered back. “Some of us aren’t wolves.”

 

“Champ, are you sure no one live up here?”

 

“Yes, the only house on the plateau has been abandoned for a century.”

 

“There’s someone around here.” Lots of someones, from the sounds of it. “It sounds like... crying children.”

 

“...seriously?” Four made a face at the absurdity.

 

Twilight wasted no more time, shifting into his wolf form and finding the source of the noise, the other two doing their best to keep up. Though the crying eventually settled, he could still pinpoint where it came from. The sound led him to an old dilapidated temple.

 

Under the Hylia statue was a group of over a dozen of children, ages ranged from about 3-10 from the looks of them. One of the youngest kids sat on the stone ground.

 

Okay. Okay. It took a moment for the rancher to process what he was looking at. A bunch of children. In an old abandoned building. Twilight stepped out of the entrance to transform back into a Hylian. He didn’t want to scare them, not any more than they probably already were. When he reentered, one of the kids was sardonically crowning another with a floppy green hat, imitation fanfare music and all. Once he was done, he lifted the smallest boy off the stone.

 

“So, where are we?” One of them asked.

 

Twilight announced his presence by clearing his throat.

 

They huddled a little closer together as they turned to look at him.

 

He may have had the most experience with kids of his group, but that didn’t prepare him for this kind of situation. “...y’all need help?”

 

The boys exchanged uncertain glances. Twilight understood, he didn’t look like the most approachable person out there and they seemed to be in a very stressful situation.

 

But, after a brief moment, one of them stepped up; a redhead who crowned that other boy with the hat.

 

“Hi there!” He smiled. Now that he was closer, the rancher could see that the boy had a sword on his back. “Do you know where we are?”

 

“You’re on the Great Plateau. How’d y’all get up here, anyway?”

 

“How did you get up here?” The boy turned the question back on him, though his voice lacked any venom.

 

Twilight chuckled a little, and was about to answer when a groan from behind the children stole his attention. The sound came from a shifting mass of darkness, one that none of the kids seemed to notice.

 

“Look out!” He unsheathed his sword and leapt towards the mound.

 

Gasps rang through the group as they watched.

 

Just as he was about to bring his sword down, the darkness shifted once more as it took on a definitive form. That of a small child. The boy briefly locked eyes with Twilight before his gaze shifted to the sword in the man’s hands. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as the boy’s red eyes filled with fear. Twilight did his best to pivot, to hit the stone ground next to him, but he didn’t have the time.

 

The boy’s scream rang through the building and Twilight’s ears as the sword cleaved through his shoulder. The rancher dropped the sword as the kid stumbled backward.

 

“Hey!” The other children ran in front of the boy, shielding him from Twilight.

 

“Are you alright, Shadow?” The boy pinned to the floor beneath four colorful toddlers (who were all glaring at the man) asked.

 

The kid, Shadow, scoffed from the back of the group. “Course I’m alright. His blade isn’t even holy.”

 

Despite his insistence, Twilight could see his slight tremble and the way his thumb rubbed his shoulder where the sword went through.

 

It was clear that he was no ordinary kid. It was also clear that he was certainly a kid.

 

“’m sorry.” The man crouched down. “I didn’t realize... I thought...”

 

“You thought I was a monster.” Shadow finished his statement for him bitterly.

 

“...’m sorry.”

 

“Whatever.” Shadow stepped toward the center of the group before he disappeared entirely.

 

Twilight startled. “Where’d he go?”

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The ginger boy asked, significantly more aggressive than his last question.

 

“Listen I am very sorry. He’s okay, right?”

 

“Yeah, he’s okay.” The boy at the front of the group, the only one holding two children and not just one, told him. “That’s all you need to know.”

 

Twilight nodded. “Alright.”

 

It was then that he noticed that most of the children had swords strapped on their backs, even the ones who were definitely too small to use them. In fact, the sword of the kid in front of him looked an awful lot like...

 

“Twilight!” Four shouted from the entrance, Wild stood just behind the furious smith. “What the heee...” he trailed off as he saw the group of children.

 

“...your name is Twilight?” The sole brunet asked. One of the blue toddlers babbled something and the purple one in the boy’s arms screeched angrily in response, causing him to jump a little. Twilight couldn’t help but notice the shiny and dangley hoop earrings he wore as they moved.

 

“Yeah, I’m Twilight. And these are some of my friends, Wild and Four.”

 

“And what are your real names?” The little redhead asked.

 

“What?”

 

“No, wait, let me guess, Link?”

 

Twilight bristled. He knew about the Yiga in the champion’s Hyrule, he’d warned the whole group that they’d disguise themselves as travelers and attack people who wouldn’t join them, with Link and Zelda being particularly big targets. Were they Yiga? Did they recruit children?

 

“Would you like something to eat?” Wild asked them.

 

His two companions looked at him, confused by the non sequitur.

 

The champion pulled a bunch of bananas out of his slate. Ah, that’s his angle.

 

Some of the children lit up at the sight and crowded Wild, but instead of the fruit they were much more interested with his slate.

 

“How’s that work?”

 

“It’s flat! How’d it fit in there?”

 

“What else do you have?”

 

“Is it like a bag?”

 

“Do you have kumquats?”

 

“Are those little pictures things that you have?”

 

“Dusk, Gen, look, he has pumpkins!”

 

“Are they all stored as those little strings?”

 

“What are those other tabs?”

 

“Guys,” one of the older boys cut in, “I think you’re overwhelming him.”

 

The kids looked at Wild, the champ did look a little tense, and stepped away. They looked quite apologetic.

 

“Sorry.” One of them said, and a few more muttered apologies as well.

 

“...but do you have kumquats?” The redhead asked.

 

“...no.”

 

“Ah, beans.”

 

“I don’t have those either.”

 

“So what are your real names?” One of the smaller ones asked. He had a lisp.

 

“Your friend was right.” Four took over the conversation. “Our real names are Link.”

 

“What, all three of you?” Another smaller one tilted his head at the thought.

 

“Yes.” Twilight nodded.

 

The group took a moment to whisper among themselves. Due to his enhanced hearing, Twilight could easily eavesdrop.

 

“What do you think the situation is?”

 

“They all look so different, so Four Sword is off the table.”

 

“There’s also only three of them.”

 

“They probably also aren’t like Ocarina and I.”

 

“They could be using disguises.”

 

“Or transformation items.”

 

“Why would someone use an item that just makes them a different Hylian?”

 

“You never know.”

 

“Shadow said he doesn’t recognize any of them.”

 

“Well, not all of us had met Shadow before this.”

 

“Do you guys see the colors on that one’s tunic?”

 

“Yeah, it’s tacky.”

 

“But he’s wearing those four specific colors, and he goes by Four...”

 

“So he is a Four Sword user?”

 

“Maybe he used it on a past adventure.”

 

“But what about those other guys?”

 

“What if they stumbled into a different Hyrule? Like how I wound up on that island.”

 

“Point.”

 

“Should we tell them, then?”

 

“Why shouldn’t we?”

 

“It’s just weird that we’re only meeting them now.”

 

“Yeah, why didn’t we meet them before?”

 

“Maybe this is the goddess’ way of giving us a helping hand?”

 

“But why are we only meeting them now? I thought this was an all hands on deck situation. We definitely could’ve used more hands on deck!”

 

“And there was the weird way we got here.”

 

“Lore already called them out on their names. There’s no way they aren’t going to turn it back on us.”

 

“Besides, what’s even the point of keeping it secret?”

 

“It could be funny.”

 

“...point.”

 

“No.”

 

The group turned back to them, having come to a consensus.

 

“Sorry about that.”

 

“It’s just a funny coincidence, since our names are Link, too.”

 

Twilight had noticed that a few of the swords looked familiar. Specifically the Master Sword. But couldn’t there only be one Master Sword? Didn’t Sky have it?

 

“We go by nicknames, but I’m sure you’re already familiar with that. I’m Lore, this is Speck.” The toddler in his arms waved.

 

“I’m Dusk.” The one with the master sword said. “And these are Green and Blue.”

 

“What?!” Four asked.

 

“Yes they were named after the colors they wear. Over there are Red and Vio, and the ones holding them are Ocarina and Realm respectively.”

 

One of the shorter members of the group stepped up. “I’m Mask and these guys are Sketch, Steam, and Wind.”

 

“Wind? Why Wind?” Twilight asked.

 

“Cause I’m the Hero of Wind.”

 

There was a long pause, the three of them exchanged glances.

 

“And that’s Gen, and on top of him is The Four.”

 

“Do they not have individual names?” Wild asked.

 

“No.” Lore said simply. “They chose it themselves.”

 

The Four nodded.

 

Twilight felt someone tug on his tunic. It was Four. They were probably going to have to deal with that name situation soon, before things got too confusing.

 

Four gave him a look. Twilight raised a brow. Four glanced to the kids and back. Twilight mimicked the action and shrugged. Four rolled his eyes.

 

“Do you guys need a sidebar or something? Cause we can wait.” Steam suggested.

 

It was hard to tell the mid-range kids apart, but they did have differences. Sketch had a yellow band on his hat and Mask had notably different bangs than the others. Wind and Steam looked the most alike, they could be twins for all Twilight could tell, though Steam was paler than Wind.

 

It was quiet as they considered it. Four seemed reluctant. Twilight decided to take the reigns.

 

“Alright, we’ll be right back, please don’t go anywhere.” He waited at the temple entrance as his teammates joined them.

 

“Are you sure we should leave them alone?” Wild looked back at them, as if something would happen as soon as he turned away.

 

“We’re just across the room, we can keep an eye on them from here.”

 

“So...” Four glanced back a few times, “what do you guys think?”

 

“They’re weird...” Wild opined.

 

“I heard them crying, but they’d calmed down by the time I got here. They’re lost, though, they didn’t even know where they were.”

 

“And what about them claiming to be Links?”

 

“One said he was the Hero of Wind... but...”

 

“We already know the Hero of Wind, and he isn’t 7 years old.” Four crossed his arms, “plus, this is the champ’s Hyrule.”

 

“But they have the Master Sword,” Twilight mentioned.

 

“That could easily be a replica.”

 

“The one on the ground, his sword looked a lot like the Master Sword too.” He did? Twilight hadn’t seen it. “Speaking of swords...” Wild assessed the rancher, “where’s yours?”

 

“Oh... it’s...”

 

“Did you lose it?”

 

“Don’t tell me you broke it. I thought you were better than that.”

 

“No, I didn’t break it and I know exactly where it is. It’s... over there...” he gestured.

 

“Over there. By the children.”

 

“Yeah...”

 

Wild was about to say something, but his attention was drawn to something else. “What’s that?”

 

The “that” he was referring to was a painting on the old wall. It looked like a Hylian child.

 

“A painting?”

 

“...I’ve never seen that before.”

 

“Did one of those kids make this?”

 

“Why?”

 

“Kids do plenty of things that don’t make sense to adults.”

 

“Whatever,” Four shook his head, “they’re clearly just kids playing pretend.”

 

“I’m not so sure about that.” Should he mention Shadow? Probably not, he probably wouldn’t appreciate being revealed like that.

 

Four looked ready to rebuttal, but was interrupted by Wild.

 

“How’d they know about the Hero of Wind?”

 

“What?”

 

“We don’t have any of those stories, so if they’re from my Hyrule, then how’d they learn about him?”

 

“So, what? What’s that mean?”

 

“Maybe they aren’t from my Hyrule.”

 

“That’d explain how they got onto the plateau.”

 

Four looked between the two. “Are you guys serious? You guys are actually buying this?”

 

Twilight couldn’t tell why the smith was being so bull-headed on the matter. Regardless, he shook his head. “There’s no harm in humoring ‘em. At least for a little bit.”

 

Four thought for a moment. “Alright, sure, I’ll play along.”

Chapter 3: Fair's Fair

Notes:

Cut dialogue from the previous chapter:

"Is that watercolor?"
"Looks like gouache."
"The aesthetic value is hardly relevant."

Sketch watched the three men head back to his group. Right on time, too, since he had just run out of magic. He was pushed off the wall and made 3D again.

 

It was a risk using his bracelet in that state, his magic was lower than he was used to. But they eavesdropped on them first, so it was only fair.

 

Now, there was the matter of reporting back to his group. If he tried to just walk back over, the other guys would definitely realize he was listening. A brief look around the room, he came up with a plan.

 

It was simple: he’d go around the outside of the building and reenter from a crack or hole in the wall from behind the group, and they’d never even notice he was gone. It was foolproof.

 

He glanced back at the men, who were talking to the rest of the group, none the wiser. As quietly as possible, Sketch slipped out the front entrance. While he walked around the side wall, he heard the sound of fighting. At the bottom of the hill was a group of people fighting some monsters. They looked like they were handling themselves well enough when a large lizard-like monster appeared behind one of them, ready to strike with its spear.

 

While he may have been too small to use his sword, he still had other items at his disposal.

 

Without thinking, Sketch sprinted down the hill, throwing his boomerang at the creature. It was stunned and the man it was attacking was alerted by the impact. The man watched the boomerang fly back to its thrower. His eye widened at the sight of the small hero.

 

“Eye” singular. What a cowardly monster, taking advantage of someone’s blind spot like that.

 

(Some might say that it was a smart tactic, but he was a hero of Courage, not Wisdom)

 

The monster also turned its attention to Sketch. Maybe wanting to nip a nuisance in the bud, or maybe deciding he was an easier target, the lizard charged the boy. And boy was it fast!

 

As it got closer, Sketch switched out his boomerang. When it was close enough, it jabbed at Sketch. At the same time, the small hero held up his Tornado Rod and was lifted off the ground, much higher than usual. While the monster watched him rise into the air, its original target brought his sword down on its back. Sketch switched from the rod to his hammer and used his momentum to slam it against the creature’s head.

 

It went limp before it dissolved into black dust and goo.

 

Meanwhile, the man’s two compatriots had dealt with the other monsters. With the job done, Sketch put his hammer away.

 

“Are you okay, young man?”

 

“Yeah, are you alright?”

 

“Yes.” He nodded, but he still looked at Sketch so sadly. With a better look, he saw that the man had some kind of makeup or tattoos around his scarred eye. They were also familiar, but once again he couldn’t tell from where. “Thank you.”

 

“No problem!”

 

The man’s friends, or perhaps just traveling companions, approached. One of them was a brunet with a green tunic. The other was blonde with a pink streak, a red tunic and blue hat.

 

“Bye.” He turned around and started to walk away when-

 

“Wait.” The man called.

 

He spun of his heel to face them again. The three exchanged looks before it was apparently decided that the man would continue to be the representative of the group.

 

“If you don’t mind me asking, where did you come from?”

 

“Over there.” He pointed up the hill.

 

“And where do you plan on going?” The pink-haired one asked.

 

“Over there.” He pointed up the hill.

 

“Where are your parents?” The man asked.

 

“At home.”

 

“And where’s your home?” The brunet probed.

 

“Where I live.”

 

“...and where do you live?” The man asked.

 

“With my parents.” He lied.

 

The pink-haired one face-palmed and the brunet grimaced. Whatever the man felt in that moment, his face didn’t reflect it.

 

“We only wish to help you.”

 

“I don’t need help. I’m just going up the hill.”

 

The pink-haired one- Din he could not keep referring to him like that- Pinky glanced at him before sliding his hand down his face and leaning forward.

 

“Nice bracelet.”

 

He must’ve noticed Sketch fidgeting with it.

 

“It’s kinda like mine, see?”

 

Pinky pulled up his sleeve. He was right, they were alike. In fact, if Sketch didn’t know any better, he’d call them identical.

 

Wait a second.

 

He was about to ask their names when he felt something land on his head. A chill ran down his spine, he knew what that meant. Pinky scrunched his nose, having felt it too.

 

“Ugh, hate the sudden downpours around here...” he stared up at the clouds before he looked back at Sketch, “you... are you alright?”

 

His throat felt tight, too tight to speak, so he just nodded instead. He couldn’t keep up the charade, however, when the rain picked up in intensity. He couldn’t breathe. He grabbed the hem of his hat tightly in both hands and crouched to the ground.

 

Terrible memories flooded back with the rain. A hand landed on his back, he flinched. The hand retracted.

 

He could hear a soft melody being played in the distance, and soon the rain subsided.

 

The brunet muttered about how strange the weather was, his two companions were distracted. The man stared off into the distance while Pinky got a closer look at the boy’s bracelet.

 

“Where did you-”

 

His question was interrupted by a commotion from the top of the hill. He looked just in time to see Wild and Twilight rush through the entrance of the temple. Mask, Steam and Wind ran out behind them.

 

“Sketch!”

 

He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Over here!”

 

Twilight turned as soon as he heard him and the rest followed his gaze. It looked like Wild was trying to corral the younger three back inside, but they weren’t having it. They ran down the hill, with Wild staying behind, with reluctant glances back inside towards the others.

 

“There you are.” Twilight sighed as soon as he got close. “You had us real worried, y’know?”

 

“Twilight, who are these children?” The man asked.

 

It was only then that Twilight realized Sketch had company.

 

“So I take it your guys’ names are Link, too?” Sketch asked before Twilight could answer.

 

The three looked at him, then to Twilight.

 

“They’re... also Links.”

 

Then man sighed. “Very well, then you should know we-”

 

“Go by nicknames?” Mask interrupted. “You should wait on the introductions until we rejoin the others.”

 

“The others?” The brunet furrowed his brow.

 

“They’re still in that old building up there.” Wind pointed.

 

“They’re with Four and Wild.” Twilight informed them.

 

Pinky groaned. “We’re still down three.”

 

“Where do you think they are?” Steam asked.

 

“Who knows, this place is fff...” he looked at the four of them, “...reaking huge.”

 

“Nice save.” Mask nodded.

 

The group walked back up the hill. Sketch’s brothers in arms fussing over him.

 

“What were you even doing out there?” Four asked.

 

“These guys were in trouble.”

 

“He helped me fight off a monster.”

 

“You were in a fight?!” Gen asked incredulously. Sketch was sure that if the older boy was able to stand he’d be shaking him by the shoulders.

 

“...are you alright, kid?” Pinky hedged.

 

“Here, let me help.” The brunet approached.

 

“Wait! Don’t!”

 

He stepped back, holding up his hands in surrender.

 

“The Four can’t be separated! It’ll hurt them!”

 

“So how do we pick them up?” The old man asked.

 

“...I know who could pick them up all at once.” Mask ventured. He turned to Dusk, all of the boys in the know hearing the unspoken question.

 

“Shadow, could you help?”

 

Lore caught the way Four flinched as Shadow rose hesitantly from the ground. His expression was different than his fellow heros, something more knowing.

 

The three newest heros drew their swords.

 

“Get away from it.” The old man demanded.

 

“Hey, now,” Twilight stepped between the two groups, “he’s not an enemy.”

 

“It’s a monster.” Pinky said.

 

“Who’s the real monster? Shadow, or the people threatening him when he hasn’t even done anything?” Lore asked.

 

“Shadow...” Four muttered hoarsely.

 

“Four, are you okay?”

 

“I- I need a minute.” He quickly left the old temple.

 

“...what’s his problem?” Shadow asked. The swords he was used to, the tearful gaze less so.

 

“Do you think you could carry The Four?” Mask asked.

 

“How am I supposed to do that?”

 

“Can’t you shapeshift?”

 

He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. Then opened it. Then closed it. He eyed the heros still holding swords at him.

 

“They ain’t gonna hurt you, kid.”

 

“I’m not a kid! And they couldn’t hurt me if they tried.” He huffed and crossed his arm, rubbing his thumb over his shoulder absentmindedly.

 

“Put your swords away.”

 

“Twi, you can’t be serious.”

 

“I am, put ‘em away.”

 

Reluctantly, the three sheathed their swords. Just as reluctantly, Shadow changed his form. First and foremost, he returned to how he was before the time jump. Secondly, he gave himself enough arms to pick up all of The Four at once.

 

Finally free, Gen scampered off.

 

Shadow turned to face the others, though he jumped back in surprise when he’s met with a near perfect mirror image. He grew another arm to sock him in the face.

 

Wild took off his mask, rubbing his bruising cheek, while most of the heros laughed at them.

 

“What, don’t like doubles, Shadow?” Pinky asked.

 

“No.”

Notes:

I'm not as familiar with LU as I am with DL, so if you have any notes, I'd love to hear them ^-^