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skyward-floored · 5 months ago

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Temple of Darkness

Four swords manga scene rewriiiiiite

I forget specifically which number chapter this is, but it’s the one right at the end of the first volume with Blue and Red and the Temple of Darkness. I didn’t change a lot either— I mostly wanted to see how good of a job I could do writing out one of the scenes— but I’m happy with how it turned out :)

Ao3 link

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Blue isn’t planning on admitting it to anyone, but if he ever sees snow again, it’ll be too soon.

He gives his fingers a flex as he and Red walk through another portal the fairy makes, just to be absolutely sure he can still move them. They seem fine, but who knows? An ache still runs through his skin from being trapped in the ice, and there’s a small pit in his stomach whenever he thinks back to the time he spent stuck like that, blurry and indistinct as it was.

But he’s not there anymore. He can move, and breathe, and he should be focusing on finding Green, which is more important than his dumb urge to make a fire and take a nap beside it.

“Where are we now?” Blue asks in an effort to ignore his icy thoughts, looking around at where the fairy has brought them. There’s a structure ahead in the distance, but not much else. “I don’t see Green anywhere. ...I still think this is a trap.”

“We both heard him though! He’s got to be here somewhere,” Red says as he looks around, optimistic as ever. He points at the building. “Maybe he’s in there.”

“In there?” Blue says with a raised eyebrow, looking over the large temple built halfway into the rocks, foreboding dark stone reaching up to the sky. It doesn’t exactly seem like a place someone would want to go.

“Sure!” Red says optimistically, and Blue huffs, gesturing at the place.

“Why would he go in some creepy old temple?”

“Why not?”

Blue finds he doesn’t have a good argument for that.

So he follows Red towards the building, an uneasy feeling growing in him the closer they get. A prickle down his spine makes him shiver, but Blue shakes it off. He’s probably just cold from the ice still.

“This place sure looks creepy,” Red says as they get closer, his voice more quiet. The fairy that Red picked up somewhere is sitting on his shoulder, nervously fluttering her wings.

“It used to be called the Temple of Light,” she says as the building looms above them. “But... the rise of evil has turned it into the Temple of Darkness.”

“Well that’s great,” Blue says as they stop in front of the doors, Red eyeing them a bit nervously. “Sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe we can come back and take a vacation here—”

The doors creak as something pushes them, and Blue’s hand goes for his sword as Red jumps, both of them staring as footsteps approach.

“You’re finally here. I’ve been waiting.”

Unfortunately, Blue would recognize that obnoxious know-it-all voice anywhere.

“Vio?” he asks.

“Vio!” Red shouts at the same time, his face lighting up in ecstasy as the purple hero steps through the doors. “Vioooooo!”

Red rushes forward onto the steps of the temple to greet him, and as Blue follows him at a much slower pace, Vio gives them both that insufferable smile he always has plastered on his face.

...Blue certainly hasn’t missed it or anything.

“You’re safe! I’m soooo glad!” Red continues in an ecstatic voice, and Vio edges away from him when he goes in for a hug, merely patting him on the arm.

“So whaddya mean you’ve been waiting?” Blue asks, and Vio looks at him, expression unchanged.

“Green is inside too,” he says, gesturing to the doorway. “Hurry on in.”

“Really?! That’s great!” Red cheers as Vio pushes the doors open further, the same ominous creak accompanying the action.

Despite the creepy temple, Blue can’t help let a bit of Red’s optimism rub off on him as they follow Vio inside. Finding Green and Vio both in one fell swoop makes their job immensely easier. Now they’ll finally all be together again, after... he’s actually not sure how long apart.

He was encased in ice, sue him.

Point is, with them all together again, they can get back to stopping Shadow Link and Vaati, and finally save Zelda.

Blue nudges Red with a grin as they trail behind Vio, barely even caring how creepy the temple is. “With the four of us all back together, we just have to get the... Four Sword... and...”

He trails off as he takes in where Vio has brought them. It’s a large room with platform of some kind in the middle, a rectangular stone box at the top. Green’s sword is resting on the lid of it, and a strange feeling goes through Blue at the sight of it without its owner.

“...What’s this?” he asks Vio, staring at it in unease as Red peeks over his shoulder. A coffin?

Vio doesn’t look at him.

“The truth is...” he says quietly. “Green is dead.”

Something in Blue cracks.

“Wh... WHAT?!” he shouts, at the same moment that Red gasps out a horrified “no!”.

Vio still doesn’t look at either of them, and Red’s eyes well with tears as he drops to his knees, resting a horrified palm over the lid. Blue feels his hands begin to shake, and he moves forward and shoves the lid of the coffin off, determined to see Green for himself.

Then stares in disbelief at the sight that meets him.

“It’s empty!” he and Red say at the same time, Red’s voice shocked while Blue’s demands an answer.

“A monster engulfed him in flame,” Vio answers, voice still quiet, almost detached. “There was nothing left. It’s so sad...”

“It... it can’t be! Oh Green!” Red wails, tears already pouring from his eyes.

Blue can only stare at the empty coffin, a million different thoughts running through his head as his shaking hands grip the edge.

Anger is what shoves its way to the forefront though, anger at Vaati, anger at Shadow Link, anger at the monster that killed his brother so thoroughly that all they have to bury is an empty coffin and at Green for being stupid enough to die—

“We’ll never be four heroes again,” Vio continues, and Blue almost tells him to shut up when Red lets out a louder sob. “And there’s no way we can complete our quest.”

Red truly wails then, grief and the weight of what failure means hitting him and Blue both. Red presses his head to the coffin, and Blue feels the anger in him swell to something overwhelming. He grips Green’s sword in his hand so hard it hurts, his vision blurry and hot as Red sobs beside him.

“Green how could you?!” he shouts, voice breaking with grief, and he slams Green’s sword against the stone of his empty coffin.

The sword breaks into pieces.

Red jumps, and Blue stares in shock at the pieces of the sword, the blade crumbling, hilt cracked with pieces falling off.

“It’s... it’s a fake... made of stone,” he says as he and Red both stare in disbelief.

Then Blue feels the anger roar to life in him again as he realizes what this means, and he whirls back towards the purple hero.

“Vio, what’re you up to?!”

But Vio isn’t there.

“He... he’s gone!” Red gasps, voice still thick with tears. He and Blue both look around, and laughter echoes through the halls, high and cackling.

“Putting an end to you two fools!” the voice laughs in response to Blue’s question, and the ground shakes beneath them.

Monsters burst up through the stones, countless legs wriggling and pinchers gnashing as they loom over them. Blue can’t remember what they’re called, but he doesn’t waste time trying to figure it out, mind already swinging towards how to beat them.

“Both Vio and Green have already fallen into my clutches,” the echoing voice continues with no small glee. “The temple of darkness will be your grave!”

“Run!” Blue shouts as the voice tells the monsters to attack, and he and Red bolt out of the way as the moldorms dive at them.

The voice continues to laugh as they run deeper into the temple, Blue trying to put distance between them and the monsters. He hears a small noise over all the snarling and distant laughter, and looks back to see that Red has stopped moving, kneeling on the ground with his head bowed.

“C’mon Red! What’re you doing?!” Blue shouts, and Red looks at him through his hair, eyes shining with devastation.

“Blue I... I can’t go on,” he says in a small voice, dull with shock. “Green and Vio... both gone...”

Blue blinks at him, then marches back and grabs Red’s sleeve, trying to pull him to his feet.

“Pull yourself together! This is the trap!” he snaps, dragging Red to his feet as the monsters catch up. “They can’t beat us so they want to break our spirits!”

The possibility of Green and Vio truly being gone doesn’t even cross Blue’s mind. He doesn’t let it. It’s not a problem for now, not while they’re being chased by monsters trying to kill them.

Red doesn’t reply to Blue’s words, and as a monster lunges forward, Blue shoves him behind him and away from the snapping pinchers.

Red cries his name as the mandibles snap around Blue, and he grunts, wedging his sword in the moldorm’s mouth just in time to stop it from chopping him in two. He wrestles against its strength for a moment, arms straining as it tries to crush him. But then Blue shoves his blade down, slicing the moldorm straight down its middle.

He hits the ground running as it falls to pieces, and succeeds in pulling Red to his feet, grabbing his arm and tugging him deeper into the temple.

Red stumbles a little, but Blue doesn’t let go of him, slipping his grip down to hold Red’s hand instead of his arm. Red squeezes it tight, fingers trembling a little, and Blue holds back a sigh.

Red obviously isn’t going to be much help, not in this state. Which means it’s up to Blue to get them both through this alive.

Great.

It gets darker as they run, and colder too, but there’s nowhere else to go, so Blue keeps pulling Red along by the hand, going deeper and deeper into the Temple of Darkness. Red’s hand is shaking a little still, and the occasional soft sniffle reaches Blue’s ears, but Blue ignores them, and keeps going.

They run into what Blue thinks is a larger room, but it’s so dim he can barely tell. The moment they go through the doorway it slams shut behind them, leaving them in almost complete darkness.

“Ugh! Trapped again,” he growls in frustration, wiping some sweat off his brow. “It’s pitch black in here, I can barely see my stupid hand in front of me.”

Laughter echos somewhere again, but Blue ignores it, still catching his breath from his and Red’s sprint. He looks back at Red to see if he’s ready to keep moving, and huffs in annoyance.

Red is sitting silently against a pillar, his hands on his knees and expression vacant. Blue looks around for any monsters in the immediate vicinity, then glares down at the silent hero.

“Red! Quit your moping! Green and Vio aren’t dead,” he snaps, looking down at the fake sword of Green’s. It’s a convincing fake, but definitely that, the weight too heavy, the gold and green chipping from the handle. “That Vio we saw was probably just Shadow Link in disguise!”

“I don’t know,” Red says quietly. “He seemed pretty real.”

The response is so unlike Red that Blue is actually thrown a little, but a sudden cold feeling distracts him, prickling up his spine and giving him goosebumps.

Ugh, why did dark magic have to feel cold of all things?

Red puts his head to his knees, visibly wilting. “And where’s the real Vio?”

“Who cares?!” Blue snaps, looking around as the coldness intensifies. His heartbeat is speeding up, but he ignores it. “The whole reason we fell into this trap was ‘cuz we were so busy crying over Green!”

Red looks up then, tear tracks barely visible in the darkness. “Blue, aren’t you worried about the others?”

Blue pauses.

Yes, a little voice says in his mind, remembering how they’ve been split apart, the words of the echoing voice ringing through his ears, uncertain grief for Green and possibly Vio too still lurking in the shadows.

But he knows Green and Vio have both made it out of tough situations before. He knows they’re tough, they’re him after all, and if Blue is still here, then there’s no reason for them not to be.

“Not really,” he replies.

Red looks at him in disbelief. “...Seriously?”

The laugh echoes again as tears well bright in Red’s eyes, and suddenly he’s on his feet, grabbing at Blue’s tunic and giving him a watery glare.

“You can even make me mad!” he shouts, tears spilling over again as his voice breaks. “Were you stuck in that ice so long that your heart froze?! How can you not care?”

“Back off, Red!” Blue snaps back, ignoring the sting his words leave, cold sinking over him all over again. “You don’t get—”

“HEY! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!” a different voice howls, “I’M THE MONSTER HERE!”

Red and Blue freeze, and turn around to see a giant, snarling poe looming over them, glaring at them and baring its fangs.

...They run away screaming.

Unfortunately it’s still black as pitch in the room they’re in, and Blue doesn’t make it too far before he slams right into something made of very solid stone.

He yelps as pain radiates up his face, most sharply in his nose, and he’s so distracted by the blood dripping down his lip that he almost doesn’t notice the little ball of light that flitters by.

“Fairy!” Red calls in relief, and Blue blinks over at the little creature. Huh. He hadn’t even realized she’d left until now. “Where have you been?” Red asks as he reaches out to her, her glow lighting up the smile on his face.

“I’m sorry, I’m terrified of evil energy!” she apologizes, voice still a little weak, and she flutters off with a purpose. “Come! This way!”

Blue wipes the blood off his face, nose still stinging, and the fairy leads them through the room, her light bright as a beacon in the utter darkness that surrounds them. She leads them around a corner, and Blue blinks rapidly at the light that meets them. A lantern hangs from a hook on the wall, glowing a warm orange, and Blue takes it, relieved at a reliable source of light.

...And warmth.

“A lantern!” Red smiles, looking more like his old self with the discovery. His voice is still dull, but it’s lightened somewhat. “Thanks! Now we can see where we’re going!”

Blue almost smiles, then stops in his tracks as the cold feeling rushes back, striking him like an arrow and making their fairy freeze with terror.

A figure drifts out of the darkness, the same giant poe that scared them earlier. Blue and Red stare up at it as it looms closer, licking its lips, and Red grabs his arm with a scared look.

“You saved me the trouble of bringing you here myself!” the poe hisses, a few Bubbles floating by, skulls clattering as they quickly get out of the way. “This dark and unholy place is my home... a place of pure evil.”

It glides closer, and Blue feels that awful cold intensify, the one that reminds him of being trapped in the ice. Slowly freezing to death, every bit of him numb, unsure if he would ever be rescued.

It feels like pure despair.

“I can taste your fear, so delicious...” the poe chuckles, licking its lips, “but don’t worry. I’ll put you out of your misery soon.”

The cold feeling is sunk into Blue’s very bones now, worse than being trapped in the ice, terror rooting him in place so harshly he can’t so much as wiggle his toes.

I can’t move, he thinks in horror, gasping as he watches the poe stop directly in front of him, extending a ghostly hand. I can’t move, I can’t move I can’t move I can’t move again—

The hand settles above him, cold so intense it burns, and Blue feels something tug, something deep inside of him, something that shouldn’t ever be moved.

Then it’s being pulled out, and Blue can’t stop his scream. Horrible pain and unnatural wrongness tear through him as whatever it is is slowly, agonizingly, pulled out of him, and he feels like he might throw up.

“How sweet,” the poe purrs, laughing at his scream. “I love the taste of a soul trembling with fear!”

Red whimpers his name, but Blue barely hears it, mind nearly overwhelmed with fear and pain. He twitches as his soul is tugged around, the big poe muttering to itself, and Blue falls to his knees as the poe gives it a jolt.

“Yes... Green and Vio made great appetizers,” it says as it hungrily licks its lips, “but you two are the main course.”

Red sobs out his name as the poe starts tugging again, and Blue can’t even scream this time, breath stolen from him. The pain grows right to the edge of truly unbearable, but something about what the poe said sticks in Blue’s mind, trickling past the hopelessness and urging him not to give up.

He fights desperately past the pain and panic and coldness that’s only growing deeper— colder than anything he’s ever felt before— in order to speak.

“I... might...” he gets out, shaking with effort as his hand grips around the lantern, “have fallen for your tricks, but... Green, and V-Vio...”

Something warm fights against the coldness in Blue’s chest, and he shakily raises his head to glare at the poe.

“...they never would have! Y-you’re... hiding something! So let’s shed some light on the matter!” he yells, and using every bit of his strength, he thrusts the lantern into the Poe’s face.

It screeches and covers its eyes, releasing whatever it was of Blue’s that it had grabbed. Blue snaps back into himself with a full-body jolt, dizzy from the echo of pain in his soul, but he forces himself to focus past it. Later, it can wait until later.

“My eyes! Cursed light!” the poe howls, and their fairy jingles suddenly with an idea.

“Look, torches!” she cries, flying over to a brazier, “use the lantern to light the torches! Light drives off evil!”

Blue springs into action, Red still shivering in place with fear, and he lights them as fast as possible, his numb legs stumbling from remaining cold and fear.

“Oh no, we’ll have none of that!” the poe booms, recovered from Blue’s attack. It quickly blows a cold wind through the room, extinguishing all the torches Blue managed to light, and Blue growls in annoyance.

“Fine! I’ll just have to light ‘em faster!”

He runs along the wall, lighting torches fast as possible, and the poe snarls in anger while Red looks on in amazement.

“Why won’t you give up?!” the poe snarls, then blows the freezing wind again.

Except this time it doesn’t blow out... It sucks in.

And Blue is directly in its path.

His grip slips from the lantern as he’s pulled, and he drops it with a shout. He hears it crack, and then everything goes dark around him, freezing, endless cold hitting him from every side now.

“Oops... I swallowed him whole!” the big Poe’s voice echoes around him, and Blue slams a fist against the walls, ignoring the panic that’s roaring to life in him again.

“Hey!” he shouts, barely stopping his voice from breaking as he slams his fists against the poe. “Lemme out!”

The poe is unmoved. “Oh well. I’ll just have to crush your spirit...”

The dark walls around him suddenly constrict, cold squeezing him like a horrible embrace, and Blue’s breath is stolen as something crunches, pain shocking up his middle.

“...from the inside!”

“C-can’t draw my sword...” Blue grunts, making a desperate effort to grab it, but he’s being squeezed too tight to move.

His brain begins to go fuzzy as the walls squeeze tighter, making it hard to breathe. He hears distant shouting, Red’s voice echoing somewhere outside, but his ears begin to ring, and he can’t make out the words.

I don’t want to die, not like this, please not more cold again—

Suddenly the big poe howls, and the pressure is abruptly gone from around Blue, making him gasp in relief. He blindly grabs for his sword, and feels the force light up inside it, warming his hands.

“Prepare to face the heroic might of Blue Link!” he yells hoarsely, then stabs his blade directly into the big poe’s stomach.

It howls again, and explodes into pieces as Blue falls to the ground, Red screaming with joy and relief. He runs to Blue’s side and hugs him as light washes over the temple around them, and Blue doesn’t have the energy to resist.

“You did it Blue!” he cheers, tears back in his eyes, and Blue smiles back, his aches and pains forgotten in the rush of victory.

They did it.

A sudden thrum runs through his hands, and Blue looks down at his sword, the blade lighting up.

“Whoa! The Four Sword!” he exclaims, holding it out as it pulses with light.

Red moves to look at it in awe, and Blue feels a faint thrum from what must be the other blades, a distant chime of green washing over him, a steady glint of purple... warm red, but muted, and quickly silenced by shadows.

But Green and Vio are safe. That much he can tell.

I knew it was just a trap!

The glow fades, and Blue’s strength goes with it, his legs shaking as he practically collapses. Red plops down next to him, his hand still on his arm, and Blue breathes out, closing his eyes a second.

“You did it!” their fairy cheers, flitting over excitedly. “Big Poe is no more, and now the temple can return to the domain of light!”

“Good,” Blue croaks, holding a hand to his side. “It better, after all that.”

Red’s excitement dims a little at his raspy reply, and he frowns and puts a hand on his ribs. Blue flinches back, hissing through his teeth, and Red’s frown deepens. Being nearly crushed to death inside of that poe certainly didn’t do him any favors.

And maybe he’s a little shaky from all that dark magic, and the remnant of the freezing cold in his system, but Red hardly needs to know about that.

“Are you okay, Blue?” he asks, and Blue shrugs, wincing at the action.

“Fine,” he grumbles, pushing Red’s hand off. “You don’t need to fuss.”

Red looks at him hesitantly, then sighs, and begins rifling through his pouch in silence, the fairy sitting on his shoulder.

“...I’m sorry about what I said earlier,” Red says finally, voice a little thick. Blue looks at him in surprise, and Red chews nervously on his lip. “I know you care, Blue. I was just upset. And I’m worried about Green and Vio and everyone, and I was scared in there when it all seemed so hopeless... I shouldn’t take it out on you,” he finishes in a whisper. “Sorry.”

Blue huffs, and looks away, ignoring how the apology mends a little something inside him. “It’s not a big deal. But... thanks,” he mumbles.

Red brightens almost immediately, a wide smile on his face, and he gives Blue a quick squeeze before handing him the potion he’s dug out.

“Here. This’ll help your ribs.”

Blue nods his thanks and knocks it back, the potion’s magic quickly swirling around and concentrating in his middle. He sighs as it does its work, and Red leans on his shoulder, Blue not shoving him off.

“We should try to find Green again,” Red mentions after a minute, and Blue nods.

“He’s safe, I felt him through the Four Sword. But you’re right, we need to regroup,” Blue says. “We’re... stronger together. It’s time we became one team again.”

“I’ll see if I can sense any heroes nearby,” the fairy says, and Blue smirks.

“Just try not to dump us in another trap, alright?”

The fairy’s glow turns a little more pink, and Red giggles, the fairy chiming a little laugh as well after a moment.

“I’ll do my best. Try to rest up in the meantime, you two,” she suggests, and Blue closes his eyes, leaning a little more against Red and enjoying his warmth, the deep cold finally fading.

She doesn’t have to tell him twice.

#blue kinda stole the show lol #four swords #four swords manga #loz fsa #blue link #red link #don’t tag as ship #legend of zelda #fic #legend of zelda fanfiction #tw injury #is this whump? it kinda is #whump #there #writing from the floor #ta daaaa a scene rewrite #it was harder than you’d think to write out an action scene in word form as opposed to pictures #it was a good writing exercise!#and I had fun lol I adore this manga sooooo much

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