With Shadow... No Pov

The shadow's headed to the place where the minish portal would be. Azazel handed Shadow the cap.

Shadow put it on and felt uncomfortable wearing such a powerful thing that could destroy Hyrule. Vaati took over the body and smiled.

"Ahh, it feels so nice to wear it again. Alas, we can't keep it. Yet..." Vaati closed Shadow's eyes. "Wish with all your might for the portal to open," Vaati told Shadow.

Shadow obeyed, wanting this to be done as soon as possible.

"It worked!" Asrani gasped.

Shadow opened his eyes to see the wall expanding to an archway. "Time to see master," Vaati said through Shadow's voice. He sighed and took the cap off. Vaati gazed at it for a few seconds then handed it to Asrani.

"Return it for now as planned. Don't get caught. We'll see you two later," Vaati told him.

"Yes, Lord Vaati," The two said in unison and bowed slightly. Asrani left to return the cap and wake the guards. Azazel left for Shadow's bedroom, already writing ink on himself.

Shadow nervously walked through, shrinking as he did. He and Vaati were now in the Minish Realm. "Let's get this done and over with. I don't want to be here any more than you do," Vaati grumbled.

"Right," Shadow mumbled and walked forward.

Meanwhile... With Zelda...

Zelda was sitting in a tree above a field of flowers. She watched as they moved gently with the wind. A happy sigh sounded out beside her. She looked over and it was Green. She smiled at him and he smiled back. Suddenly a sensation struck her heart and she gasped, shocked.

"Zelda are you alright?!" Green said worriedly.

"G-Green! The cap!" Zelda gasped.

Zelda sat up from her bed, waking from her peaceful dream. "The wishing cap! Something's wrong!" She panted and quickly got dressed.

Once she was dressed in something simple she raced out of her room. The guards by her room jumped, startled by her. "Princess?!" One of them called out.

Zelda stopped and turned around. She pointed at one of the guards."You! With me!" She ordered seriously then pointed at the other. "You, stay here at your post."

"Yes, princess!" The guards obeyed.

"If I may, your highness, what is the matter?" The guard who came along with her asked.

"I must speak to the Links and the Captain at once!" Zelda responded quickly.

They raced to the Night's house knocking loudly once they got there. After a few minutes, a sleepy Red opened the door.

"Zelda? What are you doing here?" He yawned mid-sentence.

"Red, I need you to get your brothers and your father now!" Zelda told him seriously.

Red tilted his head confused about why, but considering how serious Zelda looked he didn't question it and went upstairs.

Zelda entered the house and ordered her guard to stay outside, guarding the front door. The guard obeyed and Zelda closed the door. She walked to the living room and started pacing while waiting.

She knew this would be difficult because when she used the wishing cap all those years ago, not only did she wish for peace to return to Hyrule but she also wished away everyone's memories of the events because Ezlo had requested her to.

The princess and the minish were the only ones who remembered the events of Vaati's first villainous deeds and how the four sword came to be. Not the Links, Raule nor any other Hyrule inhabitants knew of the past events. Zelda had no idea how she was going to tell them that the cap is important and dangerous while still keeping the past a secret.

"Zelda? What's up?" Green asked, making Zelda jump.

"Whoa, whoa are you alright?" Raule asked and hurried to the princess's side.

All the Links followed their father to her.

"I had a dream!" Zelda started.

"Not again! We just beat the last darkness!" Blue grumbled as the events from last year came to mind.

"What did you see?" Vio questioned.

"I didn't really see it, I felt it. At first, I was having a peaceful dream with..." Zelda cut off as she blushed.

Red, Blue, Vio, and Raule caught on to who she was speaking about. Raule smirked and glanced at Green who was oblivious.

"Erm who was with me doesn't matter! But I was in a flower field until a terrible feeling struck me. I woke up still feeling it," Zelda explained.

"What did the feeling mean?" Red asked.

"It..." Zelda hesitated but continued anyway, "It's a feeling I get when a certain object is being tampered with. It's a top-secret magical object. Only the Royal Family knows its true properties and is kept secret from everyone else since it's a dangerous powerful object. Even the guards who protect it don't know what it is."

"What is this object exactly? And where is it? Someone tampered with it?" Raule asked multiple questions.

"The object is a cap, but I'm afraid I cannot tell you all its secrets and how it has so much power. It is located and guarded in the Grand Hall, east of the castle. Someone must have tampered with it or taken it if I got the feeling, as I have a connection to the cap. I didn't want to check on it alone or just with a single guard but with all of you. If the cap is to be used against us we must be prepared!" Zelda explained.

"I see. Boys get changed quickly and get your swords and shields. It seems we have another battle to do. Be careful not to wake your mother. I don't want her to worry," Raule said.

"Yes father," The boys obeyed. Raule also left to get changed and get his weapon.

They were indeed quick as they came back down prepared within just a few minutes.

"Let's go. Lead the way Zelda," Green said.

She nodded and opened the front door. "Now that I have them with me you can return to your post," She told the guard.

"Yes, your highness," The guard answered and left.

"This way!" Zelda said and started to run east.

Thirty minutes passed and they arrived at the Grand Hall. They all looked confused as the guards were still fine and patrolling and the magical red cap was still in place.

"Excuse me?" Zelda said as she walked toward one of the guards at the entrance.

"Yes, your highness?" The female guard with a blue braid said, seemingly surprised the princess was up at this time.

"Have you or anyone else seen anyone suspicious around here?" Zelda asked seriously.

"No, your highness. All has been peaceful tonight," She answered.

Zelda looked at her confused. "But that can't be! I felt it! Someone tampered with the hat!" Zelda insisted.

The guard raised her eyebrows. "No one has your highness. Pardon me for speaking out of turn, but perhaps you had a bad dream?"

"It wasn't in my dream though. It's a specific feeling!" Zelda said.

"Perhaps one of the guards inside touched it. I can ask if you want, your highness," The guard said.

"Yes, please ask them. And if one of them did tell them not to touch it again. It is important and I'd like to not be frightened by something as simple as curiosity," Zelda said seriously.

"I will, your highness. Pardon me for a moment, I will be back," The blue-haired guard said and left.

"It's okay Zelda. It was probably a mistake," Green told her gently as Zelda seemed extremely stressed.

"I hope so. It's just...That cap. If it falls into evil hands again it would surely destroy us all," Zelda sighed.

" 'Again'?" Vio questioned.

"It happened a long time ago before any of us were even born," Zelda lied.

"Can't we just stop this trouble by destroying it?" Blue asked as if he stated the obvious.

"We can't! While it has been used against Hyrule once it has also saved it. It just depends on the heart of the person wielding it," Zelda reasoned.

"Alright, alright. Not an option, got it," Blue said, annoyed.

The blue-haired guard came back with another guard. The other guard had brown hair and honey eyes.

"It seems this one did touch the cap, your highness," The blue-haired one reported.

"A thousand pardons, your highness. My mother is a seamstress and I just wanted to know the type of cloth it was so I touched it to feel the texture so I could get a cloth similar for her birthday. I had no idea it was a magical cap. I thought it was a passed-down heirloom. I thought it was just an object I swear! Please forgive me. I'll do anything," The brown-haired guard said.

"It is an heirloom. A dangerous one. As long as you promise never to touch it again then you are forgiven," Zelda said, commanding but kind.

"I won't, never again I promise!" The guard said.

"Good," Zelda replied.

"Hmm...Tell me, what is your name? I don't seem to recognize you," Raule said to the blue-haired guard.

"My name is Inarsa Ernaline, Captain. My father recommended me to join the guard and introduced me to you, remember?" The girl said. For just a millisecond her eyes turned purple and so did Raule's before turning back to normal.

"Inarsa right! How is your father doing?" Raule asked as he "remembered" her.

"Doing well. Happy in retirement sir," She replied.

"Good. Tell him I said hello sometime," Raule told her.

"I will sir," The girl smiled.

"We should probably take our leave. It's been a long night," Raule said and left with the Links and Zelda following him.

"So someone did touch it but it's resolved now. It's okay Zelda, no darkness is coming to Hyrule," Green told the princess who was frowning.

"I am glad to hear that it was just a genuine misunderstanding but..." Zelda trailed off.

"But?" Vio asked.

"But I still feel as if there's something wrong. Like I'm missing something," Zelda confessed.

Probably not a good idea for the Althea's to tell her yet when she's in this mood. I'll have to let them know. Vio thought to himself.

Then Red started to randomly wave while looking up.

"What are you-?" Blue said as he looked to where Red was looking at. Everyone else did too.

A guard on the roof of the Grand Hall was waving at them and his gaze was mostly on Blue.

"Odd," Vio commented.

"Indeed. That guard doesn't know any of you personally, right?" Zelda asked.

"Not really unless you count training," Raule replied.

As Inarsa watched them leave, her light-hearted expression changed to one of nervousness. She put a spell on the guards around her to make it as if she was still there. Asrani cursed the guard's clothes being so annoying as she snuck to Shadow's room in the medical wing. There, Azazel was laying on Shadow's bed disguised as him and pretending to sleep.

"Aza, we overlooked something. The princess has a magical connection to the hat and sensed that we got it. I successfully made her and the heroes think it was a mistake on one of the guards' part but we must be more careful in the future if we want to steal it again. The princess will likely be on guard after tonight," Asrani informed him.

"...I see," Azazel responded in Shadow's voice as he sat up. "Tell Lord Vaati when you see him. If we pursue the hat again it'd be risky."

"Got it!" Asrani replied and was about to leave.

"And Asrani?" Azazel stopped her.

She looked back at him, feeling a little excited. He never stopped her and was always going off about orders. "Yes cuz?" She said, preparing herself thinking he was going to say something like good job.

"If Lord Vaati makes one of us watch Shadow Link, I call that job," Azazel said seriously, disappointing Asrani.

"Okay..." Asrani sighed and left. Once she was further away from the room she grumbled aloud, "My name is Azazel and I'm perfect! I get to do what I want because I'm the best at everything! Let him watch the stupid child. I'll be the actual useful one because the Lord is already watching him. Have fun being useless Azazel!"

Asrani thought to herself how unfair it was to be sent here with him. If he wasn't here she could prove herself to her family and get anything she wanted instead of Azazel. For years she was always in his shadow, both of them being the eldest of their families but him being better. He was perfect and she was fed up with it. Always trying, always pushing past her limits and what did she get for it? Nothing!

Asrani hissed before trying to compose herself and returning to her "station".

With Shadow...

Shadow ran until he saw the forest minish village. It was peaceful and quiet, with everyone sleeping. Shadow snuck around in the shadows till he recognized the minish sage, Ezlo's house. Shadow walked close to the house and looked in each window till he saw Ezlo's workshop.

He used his magic to break the window quickly. He jumped through and swiftly looked around. Shadow spotted vials of white liquid and snuck to them as he had done once in the past when he stole the first vial. He stopped and hid as he saw candlelight on the edge of his eye. Shadow covered his mouth and became tense as the candlelight grew brighter.

There, he saw a young minish child who had white short hair and green eyes. The child spoke sleepily, "Grandfather? Is that you?"

"Hah! I didn't know he had a grandson! I thought the shadow knights killed all his family members but apparently not," Vaati mentioned unhappily in Shadow's head.

Shadow winced at that. That meant the child had no parents like him. At least he had Ezlo.

"Victor?" A familiar voice called which made Vaati tense this time. Ezlo walked into view and spoke to the sleepy child. "What are you doing up?" Ezlo asked the boy gently.

"I thought I heard you in the workshop," The boy, Victor, replied.

"Oh, did you now?" Ezlo said and looked up, his gaze drifting around the workshop. His eyes widened when he saw the window was broken. "Victor, get behind me," Ezlo said seriously and his eyes became sharp. Victor obeyed and sobered up at the sudden seriousness.

"Who's there and how dare you break into my home?" Ezlo growled.

Shadow didn't move. Vaati took over and moved the body himself. He grabbed all the vials and headed for the window.

"You! You're the one who stole from me before! Stop!" Ezlo shouted when he saw Shadow. Ezlo swiftly used his nature magic to grab Shadow's legs with roots.

"Back for more? Why? Are you trapped in this realm?" Ezlo questioned seriously.

Vaati spoke, "None of your business master. I have my own plans for this world and I will not let you ruin them!" Vaati hissed in Shadow's voice.

Ezlo stopped using his magic, startled. "Vaati? I thought Link and I defeated you?"

"Well maybe you should try harder next time! Perhaps I'll see you in a hundred years," Vaati said and left while he had time.

"Wait! Vaati come back here!" Ezlo shouted after him.

But they kept running.

"Vaati!" Ezlo's voice was now distant.

They kept running until they reached the portal again. They grew back to normal size and the portal shrank, closing once more.

Gasping and panting, Shadow sat down to catch his breath.

Hello! I hope y'all liked this chapter! Zelda was so close but didn't realize the trickery of the shadows! Maybe next time Zelda. Oof, this night has been a very eventful one for all of the main characters. How did you guys feel about the small encounter with Ezlo and his grandson, Victor? Feel free to comment your thoughts below!

(Two things you might not have noticed:

1. Inarsa is Asrani backwards.

2. Ezlo's words are from the foreshadowing in Chapter 3; "You! You're the one who stole from me before! Stop!" - Ezlo, Chapter 16

"I just may or may not have stolen that from a Rai...The guy I stole it from was a jerk anyway. He knows where to get more of that stuff so it won't matter." - Shadow Link, Chapter 3 )

(2628 words!)