Chapter Text
“I am not going in there.”
He knew it was coming, for he would be a fool had he not. As the years had passed from being split, Blue had grown sharper, more perceptive than his brothers liked to admit. He may not be able to see how many fingers were held up at a distance. And sure, he was blind in one eye, but that meant nothing. Yeah, he was a little oblivious and half the time never knew what to say, but he was trying. It was impossible not to notice something when it was right in front of you, even with vision like his.
Right now, that would be Vio. Vio who was toeing the shoreline and looking oh so stupidly nervous.
See, the teen had a hatred for water. Try as he might to hide it, Blue always noticed the anxious fidgeting and darting eyes when a lake or pond was passed in travel. He never felt the need to question it before, being so focused on himself at the time, but that was years ago. Times had changed, and he had with them. They all had. Be it unraveling uptight natures, or growing to understand, all four of them had changed.
Apparently, Vio’s dumb water fear had stuck around.
It always frustrated him to see the boy so high and mighty knowing what he knew about him. Though, the same could always be applied to Blue himself. His hair was permanently platinum thanks to that stupid wizzrobe, not even regarding the other list of issues that ensued from his naive mistake. He shook his head. No, this wasn’t about him this time. He came out here with a purpose, and by Din he was going to fulfill it!
“Vi, come on.” The scholar had yet to move, boots crushing dense foliage and caked in mud. Blue had thought that maybe if they came out alone with no prying eyes, out to the small lake shrouded in trees behind the palace, that just maybe Vio would relent and get over himself. It was just water! Only waist deep at that. Through crystal clear stillness, he could see his skirt flowing with the push and pull of the hardly noticeable current. The river feeding into the pond came from Death Mountain, waters rushing rapid until they hit stagnant lake. He could even see the other side of the shore! It was a measly little thing. Why was Vio being so difficult?
“I’m not going in,” the purple hero reiterated, arms hugged close to his chest. The look on the others face should have blared alarm bells, but the knight’s focus was centered around getting him in the water. Blue ignored the shiver creeping up his spine and waded forward. Much like Red, he was very expressive. Unfortunately, most of his expressions consisted of different fonts of anger, and right now, it was irritation.
“It’s literally just a lake! I’m standing in it. Standing. The water isn’t gonna eat you or something.”
Vio’s apprehension grew, teeth sinking into his lower lip. Blue chided him before it got bloody. How come he was the only one to break that habit? How come he was the only one to ever make progress with breaking any habit, for that matter? Well.. no, that was wrong. Red was making great headway, as was their leader. Nayru, even Shadow of all people — Blue was rather shocked too — made great strides toward the end goal. Ugh! Either way, Vio knew he was right. Whatever was holding him back from the water seemed irrational in origin… whatever that meant. The scholar usually said that about Red's fear of crossing bridges.
“I have my reasons, Blue.” Periwinkle eyes scanned the lakebed, cold and calculating as they always were, picking up every detail the cerulean hero missed. Could it be the plants Vio didn't like? Sure, they were slimy, but it was nothing to avoid swimming for. No. No, he even skirted away from swimming pools, and those didn't have plants.
“Yeah, and they’re stupid. If you don’t want your tunic wet, just take it off like I did,” Blue reasoned brashly, pushing away miniscule ice crystals forming around him. Being frozen did more than just give him a new hair color. The four were tied to the Four Sword, obviously, and from the research Green and Vio did, it was forged with elements: fire, air, earth, and water. Which corresponded with who was rather obvious: Red is fire, Green is air, Vio is earth, and Blue was water.
But if you freeze water…
“That wasn’t my only reason,” Vio’s snobbish comment tore his attention from the growing flakes, icy eyes glowering up at him. “I already told you—”
“Ugh! Shut up! I already know you’re scared.” That seemed to catch the boy off guard, his jaw snapping shut with an audible click. “That’s why I brought you out here, idiot.”
“I am not scared,” Vio shot back, regaining his composure much faster than Blue could. It was something he envied his brother for. Yet he could tell the other knight was thrown off his game. His ears kept twitching, and they glowed red at the tips. Yeah right he wasn't scared. Blue just caught him red handed. Red faced? Red eared?
“Yeah, and I'm the Queen of Hyrule. Are we just saying things to say them now?”
“Oh, come off it! I’m going home.”
“Wait!” The blue knight scrambled to pull himself out of oppressively warm waters, quickly jogging after his stoney counterpart. “Vio, get your ass back here! I did not walk all the way out here just for you to turn back now.”
“Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, I don’t want to be out here?” Vio was an outside person, contrary to popular belief. He liked sitting on their balcony with a mug of tea and whatever book he had checked out that week. Sun or cloud, he was out there. His shadow never seemed too happy about it. All of them noticed.
“I don’t need you acting like you can solve my problems, okay?” Blue crossed his arms, sopping wet skirt clinging to his legs. A sigh slipped through cracked lips, expression surprisingly neutral. He wasn’t very impressed with Vio’s desperate — and frankly, quite lame — defense, knowing his sharp words weren’t meant… yet still…
“Goddesses forbid I try and help for once,” the icy hero muttered, scoffing and snatching his brother’s wrist. “At least put your legs in or something, jeez. It’s not even that cold.” He didn’t miss the way Vio shuddered; how he hesitated to follow behind Blue willingly. For once, he thought before actually yanking him along, quickly letting go and uttering a soft apology. “I don’t understand it,” he admitted, frustrations clear, “But you’re not helping me understand either! I want to help, Vio. You don’t deserve to sit here and let whatever’s bugging you fester!”
The other hero seemed startled, at least, that’s what Blue understood from the wide eyed stare and agape mouth. Just barely could he see the sizable gap between teeth on the right: a token from Green on Death Mountain all those years ago. Vio was more than insecure about it. Blue couldn’t find the heart to blame him.
Trying again, the water element took the hands of the earth into his own; freezing palms squeezing away any doubts, wrinkled digits working away fears. “You gotta work with me here Vi.” His smile was soft, far softer than many he bore. Anger would get them nowhere, was a thought Blue found himself sitting with frequently. Vio deserved some patience. It wasn’t often he saw bits and pieces of himself in the scholar, but facing him like this really got him thinking. “You won’t tell Green, and you won’t tell Red, and you won’t tell Shadow,” though, the boy had a sneaking suspicion the shade already knew why Vio acted the way he did. It irked him. It irked him wildly to no end. “So why not tell me?” Admittedly, Blue was one of the last people any of them thought to tell deep issues. He liked to think it wasn’t because they didn’t trust him, rather they knew his area of expertise was more surface level.
Grin lopsided and brows furrowed, Blue gave their joined hands a minute shake. “We won’t make fun of you.”
“I know,” the violet hero interjected almost immediately. The other was a little skeptical. If their positions were swapped, he knew for certain that would be his own fear. “This isn’t about teasing. I deserve some privacy, Blue.”
Maybe it was hypocritical for him to be annoyed. After all, none of them knew the true nature of that billowing cave adorned with jagged icicles; the shifting blue hues leading their namesake right down to his stupid doom. He refused to even let it slip. With their lack of coddling, Blue liked to think Red didn’t either.
Maybe, and perhaps it was naive hope speaking, Vio would be willing to trade the origins of one fear for another.
“At least come sit with me? You don’t gotta get in,” the young hero changed tactics, beaming a little brighter when the more stoic sighed and relented. He trailed right behind Blue, carefully picking his steps through the oppressive wood. The leader of their excursion pretended he didn’t notice. He did.
Settling back into the warm waters, the pair situated themselves in silence: Vio leaning cooly against a tree, and Blue lazily floating through the pond too low to be a hot spring.
“I’m scared of the dark,” Blue eventually blurted out to the world, sprawled out on the water's surface, face burning hot. He expected snickers, a snort, or virtually anything making fun of him.
Vio did none of that, staring instead with an awkwardly quirked brow. A frown akin to a pout pulled his face down, waiting for the other to go on. No turning back now.
“Red and I came across this place called the Temple of Darkness while we were looking for you and Green,” he didn’t bother sitting up, continuing to slowly spin across the small lake. “We ran into Shadow pretending to be you. He said Green was dead.” Even now, knowing their leader was well and alive, the very memory of that terror made his nose itch and eyes water. Blue glossed over it, staring half lidded at the clear sky.
“Go figure it’d be dark in there,” he snorted, catching Vio’s shake of the head and miniscule smile from the corner of his eye. That was the face Blue assumed he was making, not quite able to tell. “Red was braving it better than me, honestly. I’d be dead two times over if it weren’t for him.”
“What’s that supposed to mea–”
“Shadow sent a poe after us,” Blue cut the other off without much of a second thought, scowling at the wisps of white crawling along way above them. If they were big enough he could see them, they were big enough to ruin his sun. “Pretty big one too. Kind of annoying. Really needy for attention.”
“Blue, you can’t just–”
“I’m getting there. Sheesh.” The boy huffed a sigh, breaking the water’s surface tension to stand. Fragile crystals were discreetly pushed away, as discreet as Blue could get, their very presence a bother. A reminder of a mistake his pride led to. “Not only did it try and eat me, it kinda messed with my soul? I think? I dunno, I’m not well versed in monsters. I’ve felt kinda wrong since.”
Vio didn’t have a comment to that, and if he did, he kept it to himself.
That was perfectly fine with Blue, who merely shrugged at the mention, like it was just something inconvenient to deal with. Honestly, at this point, that really was all it was. An inconvenience. “I got a nightlight after that,” was all the boy had left to say, nervously smiling at the scholar by the wood.
“..Why didn’t you ever mention anything?”
The soaked knight barked a laugh, shaking out pale wet locks. “That’s an entire other can of worms we don’t have time for.”
Silence was even more uncomfortable now. Blue’s impromptu secret spilling left the air thick and suffocating. He was almost tempted to smother it in awkward small talk, but he wasn’t Green, so he let it settle while he brushed away flecks of cold and twisted wet strands of fabric flowing in the water.
Vio started, lips parted with intent to speak, only to falter last minute and shut softly once more. Secrets took time to unlock, even for the keeper. Sometimes they cooperated, and other times they refused to be known. He was no stranger to that. It was frustrating when he was ready to share, yet oh so helpful when he didn’t need his thoughts spilling out for all to see.
“I…” Torn ears perked up, attention turning immediately to the purple hero. He refused to meet Blue’s eye. The boy could live with that. “The boat,” Vio continued, squeezing calloused hands around the hem of his tunic, “When we got separated.. It took a little longer for me.
“I almost drowned.”
Pale brows shot up, not needing the rest of the story for the pieces to perfectly fall into place. It made more sense now.
“It’s sort of silly,” the calm knight chuckled, weak mirth battling with haunted horror. “But what if when I step in, it happens again?”
Blue resisted every urge telling him to scream out protests; that Shadow wouldn’t — and couldn’t — do that to them again. It wouldn’t happen with all of them around, working together now.
But that would do little to aid his fears, wouldn’t it?
He thought about it, knowing if those words were thrown in Blue’s face, he wouldn’t believe a single one of them. Not a single one. After all, comforting words were only just that: comforting words. A promise could only mean so much. An “I’m sorry” could only go so far. Blue didn’t like fancy words like Vio; he liked action, ways to back up his words, feelings to back up his action.
What were words without action, and action without feeling?
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t,” the hero eventually said to his counterpart, hanging onto the muddy sidebar with an oh so stupidly assured grin.
“I appreciate it, but you won’t be there every time, Blue.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be one,” Vio sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. The other only smiled wider.
“Too late. It’s a challenge now,” he proclaimed loudly, pride settling hot in his chest.
Vio rolled his eyes, a good natured smirk worming its way onto his stony features. Blue considered this a win.
“It’s settled then,” the frozen water element proclaimed, holding out a hand. Vio stepped forward to grasp it with little hesitation, shaking his head, grin mirroring Blue’s own.
“This is stupid, you know that?”
“Not stupid if it works,” Blue said proudly, repeating back words whispered to him long ago by a bubbly warm hero.
“...You better not pull me in.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Vi.”
“Yeah right, then you really are the Queen of Hyrule.” The cerulean knight snorted, squeezing Vio’s hand before slipping away.
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Don’t be a jerk,” Vio sighed, bending down to inspect a mostly dry spot by the shore. He settled down, paused, then pried his mud caked boots off and tossed them haphazardly near Blue’s neatly folded tunic.
“Aye! Watch it! If you get mud on my clothes I’ll whack you to next Tuesday.”
“So tomorrow?”
“Oh, don’t play smart with me, asshole.”
“I certainly don’t have to play smart,” the purple hero stated matter-of-factly, crossing his legs before him, snickering. That joy quickly retreated when faced with the lapping shore of the water. Clearly he was having second thoughts, staring blankly at the lake. Banter was just a distraction.
With a timid glance to his brother in the water, Vio finally unfurled and stuck a toe in. Blue couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s a start,” he offered, beaming with pride, derailing the conversation completely afterward.
He may not have understood what he’d done that day, but that was okay. They all needed someone to lean on, and while usually that someone wasn’t Blue, he would be the strongest pillar of support he could. It was the least he could do. Red did it for him. Green did it for him. He wanted to do it for Vio.
The scholar watched him prattle; he noticed the way frost clung to the surface around him, and the softness in his voice when any of the others were mentioned. He noticed the small shifts in Blue’s face while he complained about Shadow, and the way he tried not to giggle when describing one of his ridiculous plots. All of it was endearing. His brother never looked so carefree, if just for the hour.
They didn’t always get along, Vio and Blue. Sitting with the hothead now, watching the falls and swaying weeds, listening to the chatter of cicadas and his counterpart, it was only then when Vio truly took in what was taken for granted. Though they argued, though they fought, Blue cared, Vio cared. They cared. Moments like these reminded him of that. Blue brought him all the way out here from a source of concern. Vio didn’t quite appreciate his brutish method, but the thought and eventual consideration was far appreciated. As flustered as the hero got, his love for them all was as clear as the pond he sat in.
“What’s with the dumb smile,” the water hero would ask, head tilted with platinum strands hanging in his face. He had no room to talk, bearing a stupid grin of his own. Vio would merely shake his head, taking the opportunity to flick Blue’s forehead, smugly snickering.
The earth element had a strange relationship with promises. Ever since his initial betrayal of his brothers, he strayed away from ever making them. None of them seemed to have a similar issue. Many times he told them to be careful, as making promises they couldn’t keep could lead to their demise.
“Thanks,” Vio said, leaning forward slightly, eyeing the other. “I’ll be sure to hold you to your word.”
For some reason, there was not a single doubt in his mind Blue would be able to hold up his end of the deal. After all, he was awfully persistent for someone who failed so often.
“Don’t mention it.”