Zelda Pov

I was walking to Shadow's room, hoping to get answers. But I also had to prepare myself for the worst. We might not ever find answers and I need to understand this and try to help Link in a different way. Although I have no idea what other way I could help him. I let out another sigh as I stopped at Shadow's door. I stood there for a while, hesitating to open the door.

After a few minutes of hesitation I heard a voice from inside. "Princess, I know you're there. Just come in already." The voice sounded a little annoyed and it came from Shadow.

I grabbed the doorknob and opened it slowly.

"So, what do you want?" He asked.

As I closed the door behind me I spoke, "I need your help with something. Link needs your help too." I said. "I just have a few questions, the answers I hope to gain from you to help Link." I explained.

"So you see through it too huh?" Shadow asked. I nodded. "His acting is so terrible, Vio was the only one good at acting but the rest of him don't know a thing about acting." He scoffed, seeming amused. "So anyway, what questions do you have for me princess?" He asked, surprisingly serious.

I opened my satchel and took out a pictograph of the unstable stone, showing it to Shadow. Shadow Link's lip twitched at the sight of it as if he recognized it. He couldn't have possibly seen a stone like this before, right?

"Do you know of anything that could make this stone stable?" I asked. Shadow's lips curved into a mischievous smile.

"This stone...it's to seal Ganondorf in it, correct?" He asked.

"Correct." I answered. "Link missed the four of him. He doesn't like being together. He feels lonely." I explained a little.

Shadow Link's blue eyes glimmered with hope. And then they turned dim with hesitation. "Is this truly what Link wants?" Shadow mumbled.

"Yes, it is. To be four again." I answered.

I gazed at Shadow Link in confusion. Surely he wanted to see Vio again? Shadow closed his eyes and folded his arms, as if thinking hard. He moved his head down too. His purple locks moved down, covering his eyes. Then after a few moments he lifted his head, his eyes visible again. He opened one eye and smirked as if he were winking at me.

"Well Princess, it seems you're in luck today. I know exactly what can make the stone stable." He said, confidently and mischievously, sounding like the old Shadow I knew well.

Excitement and joy rushed through my veins as I heard him say that. "Really?!" I spoke.

Shadow nodded and snapped his fingers. A vial appeared in his hand. The vial had a strange smooth white liquid in it. "Pour this into the stone and it will be stable." He said.

"Thank you so much, Shadow! This won't go to waste, I promise!" I said as he handed me the vial.

"Be careful with it okay Princess? That's the only one I have." He warned, again serious unlike his usual mischievous self.

"I will." I promised, about to leave.

"Princess. Wait." Shadow said behind me.

I turned to him. "Yes?" I said.

"Do you know what the stone is?" He asked.

"No, all I know about it is that it has the potential to seal Ganondorf." I replied.

"Then allow me to explain a few things for you." Shadow said. I nodded, listening. "Those stones are called Ishida's. They are quite valuable and incredibly hard to make. They aren't usually made but are found in nature. They are stones infused with a magical power. Any magical power, light, dark, water, fire, wind magic and so on. They usually have only one kind of magic in them. For natural ishida's it depends on where they are. For example, for a water ishida, it would be near a body of water. Artificial ishida's are hard to make but easier than to find a natural one. As I said, they are rare and valuable. As you already know they have sealing properties." Shadow explained.

"So we're making an artificial ishida?" I asked. Shadow nodded. "Wow, that's amazing! We're making the first artificial ishida to ever exist in Hyrule!" I said, amazed. Shadow laughed. I looked at him in confusion. What was he laughing about?

"Not quite Princess!" He said.

"Huh? Who made the first ishida in my kingdom then?" I asked, confused.

"I won't tell you directly but maybe you should take a look in the four sword sanctuary. There are answers there. If you look closely, that is." Shadow Link smirked. What was he talking about? The four sword sanctuary? "Oh I forgot! The people that make ishida's are given the name Rai. So whoever made your ishida you can call Rai. It's a very respected title, like royalty. Although be careful because people usually target Rai to make ishida's for them." Shadow explained.

"Are you a Rai?" I blurted out, curious. "If not then why would you have something like this?" I asked, talking about the vial.

"No. I am not a Rai. I just may or may not have stolen that from a Rai." Shadow said with a wide mischievous smile.

"Y-You stole this?!" I said, shocked.

"Maybe..." He said, trying to hold in an obvious laugh.

B-But it'd be wrong to use something that was stolen! Even if it was for good! I have to tell him to return it! Shadow's face turned serious as he realized what I was about to do.

"Princess. Keep it. Use it. The guy I stole it from was a jerk anyway. He knows where to get more of that stuff so it won't matter. If you don't use it I'll make you use it myself. You want Link to be happy, yes?" Shadow said seriously. I nodded. "Then use it so he can be happy. And so you don't have to worry." Shadow said softly but then quickly returned to his mischievous voice. "And for you to finally have that man of yours, but he's not really a man he's a boy."

"W-What?!" I said, surprised. I felt heat burning on my face.

Shadow laughed. "The look on your face! Priceless!" He said and continued laughing. D-Does he know?! "Don't worry Princess. Your secret crush is safe with me! I know how you feel about Green!" Shadow said, smirking. I felt my temperature rise, my face was probably as red as a tomato because of it.

"H-How?!" I stammered. "It's all in the eyes Princess. For every single person, you can see that their true emotions and feelings lie in their eyes." Shadow said. "When you think of Green your eyes light up and even seem to sparkle." Shadow said.

I was speechless. I didn't know what to say. And I didn't want to admit what he said was true even though it was. I took a deep breath and cleared my mind.

"A-Anyway, I should go. I have ishida business to attend to." I said, still feeling some heat on my face.

"Don't forget to look around in the four sword sanctuary." Shadow said, looking up at my crown for some reason.

"Okay." I simply answered. What was it that he wanted me to find in the four sword sanctuary? "Goodbye Shadow.....And again... Thank you." I said softly, truly grateful.

".........Bye." He mumbled, suddenly sounding sad.

I left, closing the door behind me. I started to walk to the training grounds and put the vial and the pictograph in my satchel. I stopped. I realized I had forgotten to ask Shadow what was the substance in the vial. Ah well. It doesn't matter right now. What matters is that Link can be four again.

Shadow's Pov

As soon as the Princess left I let my guard and my act down. I sighed, disappointed at myself. What have I done?

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Hi there! Are you enjoying the story so far? Feel free to leave a comment down below if there's anything I can improve on or if you caught any mistakes. Plus I did do the art above for this chapter. Thank you for reading! (Also did anyone notice the reference I made to Loz WW?)

What happened to Shadow Link to make him act so strange?

Who was the one who hurt Shadow?

What's in the vial?

What did Shadow do? (It wasn't stealing the vial he regrets btw.)

What was in the four sword sanctuary that Shadow wants Zelda to find?

Find this out in the next chapter coming soon!

(1456 words!)