#nevermatch writes

Jason Todd is actually Jazz and Danny Fenton's older brother who was tragically baby-snatched, probably by Sheila Haywood/Heywood (however you spell Jason's mom's name), and then Stuff HappensTM when Jason and the Fentons find out.

Alrighty!

Durian

Wild was getting ready to cook up a hearty soup for everyone and was pulling out ingredients.

Alright, let's see... Oh, that meat will help it stick to our ribs more... That Big Hearty Radish will absolutely be going in... Oh, and this...

Wild pulled out his cutting board and started cutting open the tough rind on the fragrant fruit when suddenly, almost everyone started gagging. He whipped around to see what was going on. No one seemed to be under attack, and Legend, Hyrule, and Wind seemed fine, so what was wrong with the others?

"What's wrong, guys? Are you hurt? Did someone poison you? What did you eat while you were in town? Did you eat the same things?" Wild asked rapid-fire as he tried to help his brothers. Twilight shook his head, looking rather distinctly green.

"Don't you smell it?" Twilight groaned with a great deal of effort. Wild looked around.

"Smell what? I don't smell anything that would get a reaction like this," he said, gesturing to the five Heroes of Courage, all laid out by some weird smell that only they could smell.

"Wild? It's the durian. I've learned to handle it over the course of my travels, but there're a lot of people who can't keep it together when durian gets opened up around them," Legend said, a look of sympathy mixed with mirth painting his features.

"Oh," Wild said, crestfallen. "Well, I guess I can put a couple palm fruits in instead, but it won't be as good..."

Time stood up and walked to Wild, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Please. At the very least, open it up and deal with it elsewhere or have us go somewhere where we won't smell it," Time begged. Wild was shocked, but nodded.

If Time's begging for mercy, it must be bad.

"If they don't want their portions, I'll take it!" Wind piped up with a grin.

@walbatross Here you go! Sorry for the delay 😅

Bet

"I bet'cha ten rupees that I can shove this up my nose," Warriors heard Wind say early one morning before Warriors himself was properly awake. He was in that hazy area between wakefulness and sleep, but he was warm and comfortable.

"Bet," Time replied, slapping a hand with what Warriors' three-quarters asleep brain could only guess was Wind's hand.

I'm glad they're getting along, he thought blissfully to himself.

Then reality slapped her ice-cold hand on his bare back. He shot up, racing over to stop Wind from shoving something (most likely something inadvisable) up his nose.

"WIND, NO!"

Here’s Day 28 of @thetanzanitequill’s Januwinter prompts! Enjoy y’all!

Frozen (Linked Universe)

“Hey, Legend, I dare you to lick that pole,” Warriors said with a grin. Legend glanced at it and gave it some thought.

“I think I’d need some compensation for doing it,” he said primly. Warriors’ eyes glinted with mirth.

“Alright, how’s thirty rupees sound?”

“Done.” Legend slapped his hand into Warriors’ for a firm shake. He strode over to the lamppost and licked it. Or he tried to, anyway.

His tongue wouldn’t come off.

“Wa’th? Wa’th, ah’m thtuck,” he called, growing a little frantic.

His tongue was frozen to the pole.

He heard Warriors cackling and slapping his knee. Great, Warriors played him like a fiddle. Legend looked over at Warriors as best he could in order to deliver his most venomous glare, and then he saw him. His salvation—or at least retribution.

Time, looming behind Warriors like a disappointed parent with his arms crossed.

“Care to explain?”

I got stun from a random word generator but it worked pretty well I think

Here it is! Hope you enjoy (and sorry for the wait 😅)! This takes place in a nondescript period of time before DR

Stunning

The ninja were at some kind of swanky party celebrating... something. Jay hadn't really been paying attention to the whole invitation when Master Wu had told them about it. Anyway, he was drinking some kind of fizzy apple juice and standing around and being bored.

And that's when Nya walked in.

She was stunning. Her red dress flattered her at every angle and flowed like water, with deep blue and gold embroidery that glinted like a sunset on the ocean. Her beautiful gray eyes were shining like silver as she surveyed the room like a Queen surveying her subjects, except she was warmer. More personal.

Jay jogged over to her.

“Hey,” he said, holding out a hand, “may I have this dance?” The music was one of his favorite pieces to dance to. She smiled at him with a soft warmth that she reserved only for him.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she replied as she took his hand.

   “Hey, Grandpa, I’m heading over to the forge; are you going to be alright while I’m out?” Four asked. Grandpa coughed harshly into his elbow and sniffled, wiping his nose on a tissue.

   “I’ll be fine, Four. Honestly, you worry too much. Go on, get yourself to work,” he said as he shooed Four off.

   “Alright, Grandpa, just call me if you need anything,” Four laughed and, once his grandpa had assured him that, yes, he would call if he needed anything, he made his way to the forge.

~

   “Excuse me, could you see if you could fix this?” an old man asked at the counter. Four walked over with a smile.

   “Well, I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll certainly take a look,” he said. “Now, what am I looking at?” The old man smiled as he pulled out a velvet pouch and a sword.

   “This is a sword I’ve had for many years, but as you can see,” the old man gestured to the pommel, “the crystal that belongs with it came loose from its setting and broke. Now, I don’t want a new crystal—if at all possible, I want the crystal repaired and the sword restored.” Four looked over the hilt and felt around the setting.

   “Well, I won’t know for sure until I see the pieces of the crystal, but I think I could probably fix it up, even if it’s with a new crystal,” Four said. The old man nodded with yet another smile.

   “Please be careful with the crystal; it’s said to have incredible power, and I would rather not see you on the wrong end of it, my dear boy,” the old man chuckled, as though the idea was absurd, but he wanted to make sure Four would be alright anyway.

   “Don’t worry, sir, I’ll be very careful with it. Now, would you mind filling out some contact information so that, once I finish fixing up your sword, I can call you and you can come and get it? If not, I can give you an estimate of how long it’ll take and you can come then,” Four offered, since, for all he knew, the man could be a hermit or just extremely private.

   “I think I’d rather come by another day. The crystal broke into four pieces, so it shouldn’t be terribly difficult to fix, hopefully,” the old man said, making Four glad he’d given that option.

   “Alright, well, I have a fair amount to do today, but I think I should be able to try to fix it tomorrow. Maybe come on the day after, just in case it takes longer than I think,” Four said, and the old man agreed.

   So, the sword sat while Four worked on his other orders.

---------------

   The next day arrived with Grandpa hacking and coughing just as much as yesterday. Thankfully, though, he was getting stuff out, so Four could handle a little grossness.

   “Alright, Grandpa, I’m heading to work—I’m going to be working on a sword with a broken crystal the owner wants fixed, so I might be longer than normal, Four said as he waved to his grandpa.

   “Take care, Four; there’ve been some strange things happening around here lately, and I don’t want you getting into trouble, d’you hear me?” Four nodded.

   “Always, Grandpa. I love you!” he said as he opened the door. He walked out with Grandpa calling that he loved him, too.

~

   “Alright, now, let’s see just how broken you are, hmm?” Four murmured to the old man’s sword and the pieces of crystal. He knew he’d gotten an alright look the day before, but that had only been a cursory examination rather than a proper inspection. On closer examination, Four saw that the setting in the pommel had been pried open like it was a candy wrapper or something. With a furrowed brow, he took the velvet pouch and carefully shook the crystal shards into his empty hand. Four equally sized pieces of an iridescent black crystal hit his palm, but before he could do anything other than look at them, Four felt an excruciating pain in his head and chest. It felt like he was stuck in a vibrating chair and it was going down to the atomic level; Four managed to look down at his hands and saw that that was almost the case. He was vibrating enough that he could see four different hands at the same time.

   The pain changed—now it felt like he was simultaneously being crushed by a hundred tons of rock, drowned in frigid water, burned alive, and having all the air sucked from his lungs.

   This was it. Four was going to die.

   The pain crescendoed and, with a final cry of pain, he blacked out.

------------------

   He woke up groggy and confused. He felt… strange, like he was different in some way. A groan escaped him as he opened his bleary eyes, only to be echoed three times. He forced himself up and looked around, only to see three mirrors around him.

   Except—were they mirrors?

   They all looked like him, but there were certain things that didn’t look like him. That one had more of his mother’s red in his hair and had it tucked behind an ear, another had a far more calculating expression on his face, and the third looked like he was about to cry.

   That wasn’t even mentioning the different colors.

   The strawberry-blond mirror was in a blue T-shirt, the calculating one was in a purple T-shirt, and the tearful one was wearing a red T-shirt. He looked down at his own T-shirt and saw that it was its original shade of green.

   “What’s going on?” his voice asked, coming from the red one. “My head hurts so bad and there’re three other me’s and the last thing I remember is holding the broken crystal and then everything getting really painful.” The blue one was almost instantly on the offensive.

   “You were holding the broken crystal? HA! That’s rich, considering that’s what I was doing before I blacked out, faker,” he snarled.

   The purple mirror looked at Four, and instead of making his own assertion, asked him, “Do you remember as well? You look like how I’m supposed to, and I’ve got a hypothesis for what might’ve happened.”

   Four looked at him in shock. “I—yeah, actually. Who are you?”

   The other three hims looked between themselves and him.

   “Four Smith,” said the purple one calmly.

   “Name’s Four,” asserted the blue one.

   “I’m Four! It’s nice to meet you… I think,” greeted the red one cheerfully. Four shook his head.

   “That can’t be right. I’m Four Smith. I live with my grandpa and work at this forge—I don’t have any siblings, and I’ve never met anyone else whose name was Four Smith.”

   The blue one snorted.

   “Well, excuuuse me, princess. Newsflash! Something crazy happened to me.” At the indignant faces and squawks, he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you heard me. I say I’m the real Four, even if somebody put me in a different color shirt and ran me through a photocopier and somehow gave you three my memories.” The purple one shook his head.

   “I believe there’s a simple explanation for what’s happened, even if it seems incredible. I believe that somehow, when we came into contact with the four pieces of the crystal, which was definitely deliberate—did you see how clean the lines on the breaks were?—the crystal split Four, us, into four different pieces,” he theorized. In the uproar that followed, the red one paused.

   “Hey, uh, other Fours? How long do you think we were out? Because I’m looking out the window and it’s looking closer to night than it was when we were—I was?—looking at the sword,” he said nervously. “Oh, man, Grandpa told me to be careful, and I thought I was, but look at me! I mean us! I—we—walked right into the strangeness that he was warning m—us about!”

   Four—or should he call himself the green Four?—froze. “Oh, you’re right! Grandpa’s gotta be worried sick—er, really worried on top of being sick!” All four Fours looked at each other, stricken. Before anything else could be said, however, there was a clicking sound as someone broke into the forge.

   “Alright, now, let’s see just how broken you are, hmm?” It was the old man who’d given him—them—the sword to fix! They all froze, then the one in blue quietly closed the door to the work area all the way and engaged both locks.

   “We’ve got to get out of here, and we can’t let that creep get his sword back. That smarmy old creep did this to me—us—on purpose if Purple’s right about his little hypothesis, so there’s no way I’m letting that nutjob get his wrinkly hands on that sword or us,” the blue one said in a hoarse whisper. Everyone nodded. There was no telling what that guy would do with them if he got his hands on them.

   With that, the four Fours gathered up the pieces of crystal—which were four different colors now, oddly enough—and the sword that went with the crystal as quickly and quietly as they could.

   “We should leave a note for Grandpa, let him know what happened to us,” the green one whispered, grabbing a slip of paper and a pen. “I’m going to hide it with the other orders; hopefully, Creepy won’t bother snooping in there once he sees that I’m—we’re—gone with the sword and crystal.”

   “We should also take some tools to fix them; maybe that will fix us,” the purple one suggested, so they gathered what they could carry easily and at least somewhat quietly, and they fled the forge.

--------------------

   “Hey, Sky? You good?” Something nudged his shoulder. When he kept his eyes shut, Legend scoffed. “Look, dude, the Old Man told me to wake you up for lunch, so it’s time to get up,” he said, pulling one of Sky’s arms, forcing him from his nap.

   “Ugh, is this payback for the Thundra? I said I was sorry,” Sky whined as he scrubbed his hands down his face.

   “No, I just don’t want to deal with Time being cranky,” Legend said frankly.

   “Come on, Sky, let’s get lunch. Besides, you’ll thank us for getting you up once it’s actually time to hit the sack,” Warriors said as he wrapped an arm around Sky’s shoulders.

   Sky was honestly thankful it was the weekend. On weekends, he could take naps whenever and cancel some of the sleep debt he racked up during the week and on nights when his little ‘gift of prophecy’ was particularly active.

   “You two are enjoying this far too much,” Sky complained as he walked with them to the dining area.

   “Ah, there you are. I was about to send Twilight to get you three,” Time said. “Come on, Malon just finished fixing up the salad.” An unfortunate wave of familiarity washed over Sky. Legend glanced over at him when he stopped dead in his tracks.

   “Sky? Legend? What’s going on?” Warriors asked, looking at both of them concernedly.

   “I think it’s going to be a working weekend,” Sky sighed. Warriors gave him a strange look before turning to Legend with a raised eyebrow.

   “Well?”

   “I’ve just… I’ve got a weird feeling. Like something big’s about to happen,” Legend sighed. Then he scowled. “And stop it with that voice! Jerk,” he muttered as he plopped down in his seat at the table. Time sighed.

   “What kind of ‘working weekend?’” he asked, already looking resigned.

   “On a scale from ‘paperwork’ to ‘the world could end if we don’t get the artifact in ten seconds,’ I’d say it’s probably around ‘at least one person’s life could be irreparably ruined if we don’t help him soon,’” Sky answered. Time sighed again, heavier this time.

   “Any ideas on where we need to go and/or who we’re looking for?” he asked.

   “We’re looking for a forge that was recently broken into, and one of the workers has gone missing. There wasn’t anything else really clear except for a sword,” Sky noted.

   “Well, let’s head to the Warehouse to see if we’ve got anything,” Time said. “But first, let’s get a quick lunch.”

-----------------------

   Once everyone had eaten, they all hustled off to the Warehouse.

   “Alright, Twilight, you’re on computer duty—comb through security cam footage, missing person reports, all of it. Everyone else, we’re looking for the sword Sky saw. Let’s get to it!” Time called out as he clapped his hands together.

   “Sky, d’you have any ideas where I’m starting? At least which country?” Twilight asked as he got the computer started. Sky nodded.

   “I could read some signs, so it’s in Hyrule. It looked like it was in the city, too,” he answered.

   “Alright, getting that going. Any description for our missing person?”

   “Think he was blond, longish hair, pale, and I can’t remember clearly, but he was wearing a T-shirt that was either green, red, blue, or purple,” Sky described.

   “How do you not remember the color that specifically?” Legend scoffed as he flipped through one of the several thick tomes on swords Time had pulled out.

   “Well, the color kept changing in my dream, but it was one of those four colors,” Sky explained, far more patiently than Warriors would’ve been able.

   “Thanks, Sky. I’m getting the search programs working on our guy now,” Twilight said as he typed. Sky renewed his focus on the books in front of them and Warriors quickly followed suit.

   “Sky, could you describe or draw the sword for us? Otherwise, we’re just going to be asking you over and over,” Warriors said as he scoured his own book for swords that could “ruin someone’s life.” That was a really annoying descriptor, since even a normal sword could quickly ruin a life.

   “Yeah, I think I can draw a picture for you,” Sky responded as he snagged a pen and a piece of paper and started sketching.

   A couple minutes later, Sky pushed his drawing to the middle of the table.

   “This is what it looked like,” he said, and Warriors stood up to get a better look. The hilt had a rather sharp curve towards the blade on either side, and the blade itself had more of a rounded shape. The pommel, though, was less pristine. The setting, which should’ve been closed, was wide open.

   Legend whistled. “Wow, good job, Sky. You draw often?” he asked. Sky shook his head with a wry grin.

   “No, mostly I whittle. It does require a bit of artistic ability, though, so I guess it translates,” he said humbly.

   “Hey, guys? Um, I think I might’ve found our sword, and I don’t think things are looking too great,” Hyrule spoke up. He held up his book and poked a finger at the picture on the page. “It’s called the Four Sword, and supposedly, it grants the wielder the strength of four men. One report mentions that one particular man who wielded it was said to be in four places at once.”

   “I don’t get it,” Warriors confessed. “Why are either of those things bad?” Time shook his head.

   “As you should know by now, almost every artifact has a downside,” he started. “When an artifact is damaged, it can become unpredictable and unstable. You two were lucky that we had the Roc’s Feather here when the Cape was put on auction, otherwise, there could’ve been a windstorm that lasted years and devastated the entire kingdom. The Cape’s proper ability is to grant flight to the wearer.

   The downsides to a sword that can grant super-strength could be disastrous. His muscles could grow to such a size that his body can’t contain them and he bursts open. Conversely, his body could become dependent on the sword’s effects to move at all. The sword could cause delusions that would eventually drive him insane. The sword might burn his hands whenever he wields it. The list goes on painfully long.”

   Warriors and Legend both gulped.

   “Alright, point made—let’s find this guy,” Warriors said. Just then, the computers beeped.

   “Looks like we’re in luck: both the missing persons search and our location search pinged in the same area. Our guy, assuming Sky recognizes him, is from the same area as the forge that was broken into. What do you say, Sky? Is this our guy?” Twilight asked, gesturing to the picture he’d pulled up. Sky’s eyes lit up.

   “Yes! That’s him! What’s his name and where are we going?”

   “His name’s Four Smith, lives in Hyrule Town in Central,” Twilight replied. “The forge that we’re looking at? It’s been in Four’s family for at least a couple generations, especially since his grandfather runs the place and he works there full-time as an employee.” Time nodded.

   “Alright, Warriors and Legend, get going to Central—you’ve got a Smith to find.”

---------------------

   Legend couldn’t believe this. Helping a guy out and saving him from an artifact? That was literally in the job description—but being partnered with “Captain Warriors Armati”?!

   “So, uh, got any family in Central?” Warriors asked as he drove. Legend rolled his eyes as he turned away from him to look out the window.

   “Okay… So, uh, I actually grew up near the area we’re heading to, so we could probably call my parents and stay with them if we’re there longer than a couple hours,” Warriors continued.

   “Sure. Whatever,” Legend replied dully. He determinedly did not notice Warriors glancing over at him every couple seconds. Well, at least until he couldn’t take it anymore.

   “Oh, for the love of—keep your eyes on the road!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands up. If this was how the whole drive was going to go, there would probably be a murder.

~

   They’d been driving for forever in alternating awkward silences and awkward conversation attempts, but they had finally reached Hyrule Town.

   “Man, I cannot wait until we can get out and walk,” Warriors said, initiating yet another awkward conversation. In a moment of dubious fortune for Legend, someone came darting out in front of Warriors’ car too fast for Warriors to stop before hitting them.

   “Oh, crud,” Legend breathed before jumping out of the car to check on the person. “Hey, can you hear me?” he asked as he knelt down. A pained groan was his only response, so he kept talking.

   “Okay, dude, or at least, I’m pretty sure you’re a dude,” Legend said as he took a better look at Warriors’ victim, “if you can understand what I’m saying, tap the ground three times or something.”

   “I—ouch—understand you. Just hurts. ‘s my fault for running in front of your car,” the guy said. Warriors came over from where he’d been making phone calls.

   “Alright, I let Time know about the accident and called an ambulance, so the only thing we can do for now is make sure he’s not dying until the ambulance arrives,” he said, gesturing to the victim before freezing.

   “Hey, quick question: you wouldn’t happen to be Four Smith, would you? I’m with the Royal Guard, this is my partner, and we’ve been looking for him,” Warriors said, and when Legend took a closer look at the victim, lo and behold, if that wasn’t Four Smith, Legend would eat his hat.

--------------------

   Oh no, what was he gonna do? He’d been seen, something all four of him had agreed they would avoid, since they had no way of telling who was with Mr. Worst Customer Ever and who wasn’t.

   “Hey, dude, if you’re Four Smith, we came to help you. We know something happened to you and we want to help put it back to normal,” said the guy who’d been there the whole time—he had a strip of pink in his hair, so he decided to call him Pinky. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what to call Pinky’s friend. Car guy? Phone guy? Mr. Driver? It was kind of hard to think of nicknames when he didn’t even have one himself—he was just ‘you’ or ‘red Four’ since he and his counterparts didn’t know how to deal with their situation yet.

   “Um, well, maybe?” That wouldn’t give too much away, right? “You wouldn’t happen to know a really creepy smiley old guy with a penchant for breaking and entering and giving people awful objects, would you?”

   Pinky and Mr. Driver—heh, sounded like that one cartoon—looked at each other.

   “Uh, no. No creepy old smilers that I know of,” Pinky said. Mr. Driver shook his head.

   “Unless he’s some kind of top secret agent we’re not allowed to know about,” he said, “he’s not with us. Our job is to keep awful objects locked away, actually.”

   Well, surely that was good news, right? Red Four breathed a huge sigh of relief before his body complained about the mistreatment it had received. He groaned again.

   “Hey, you’ll be okay; regardless of if you’re our guy or not, we’re still going to make sure the ambulance gets here and takes you to the hospital,” Mr. Driver reassured him.

   “Um, I, uh, could one of you go to the old foundry and tell my… brothers about what happened and get them to the hospital I’m going to? Just tell them that you want to help Four and that, um, their brother, Red-One, is at the hospital. I—they’ll know what’s going on,” Red Four rambled. A thought hit him. “Well, I’m assuming one of you would ride in the ambulance with me, but I haven’t even asked,” he chuckled wetly. Great, just what he needed, to start bawling his little heart out because he was scared and didn’t want to be alone.

   “Hey, after accidentally hitting you with my car, it’d be the least I could do. Legend, are you alright to find his brothers?” Mr. Driver asked Pinky, whose name was apparently Legend. Legend nodded.

   “Yeah, though I am going to need directions or a map if you’ve got one,” he said, shifting from one position to another. Red Four nodded his head. Ouch.

   “From here, you’ll go down Daphnes Street, take a right on Watermill Lane, then you’ll go straight until you find Mrs. Agitha’s Butterfly Ball Tea Parlor—you can’t miss it. Once you get there, you need to find Mountain Avenue—it should be on the left—and then just go straight until you see the old Death Mountain Foundry. They’ll be in the main room,” he rattled off. Legend nodded firmly, having been writing down the directions, apparently.

   Just a minute later, the ambulance showed up, sirens wailing.

-------------------

   When the red-him hadn’t come back after over an hour, he started getting… testy. That was when a clanking knock rang out in the old foundry.

   “Hide!” he whisper-shouted to the green and purple hims, who both nodded and found hiding places. Slowly, one of the huge doors creaked open. A young man walked through the gap and out of his line of sight, which was really annoying. Green-him and purple-him weren’t as good at thinking offensively as him, so it was up to him to strike first.

   “Hello? Anyone home? Listen, I was told to come here and tell you that your brother Red-One is in the hospital. He also told me to tell you that my partner and I want to help Four. We’re looking for him, trying to figure out how to get him home safe, but we don’t have any leads except for you guys,” the stranger called out.

   “Why is he in the hospital? What happened?” Green-him answered like an idiot. Seriously, if Purple-him’s little pet theory was correct, then the green, purple, and red hims were different parts of him. Four. Whatever. The green-him must’ve gotten the stupid, no self-preservation part of Four.

   “He darted out in front of our car, and my partner didn’t have time to stop. Warriors, my partner, is riding with your brother in the ambulance he called for him. I can drive you guys to the hospital he’s going to be in so you don’t have to guess,” Stranger replied.

   Green-him and Purple-him came out from their hiding spots.

   Never mind, Green- and Purple-him were idiots. Sorry, Green-him! No more monopoly on being the absolutely idiotic part of him!

   “You said you want to help Four?” Purple-him asked, and at least he had some kind of suspicion.

   “Yes. Whatever’s happened to Four, we’re here to try to help him. Now, is this everyone, or are there more of you? Don’t want to leave a brother behind,” Stranger said.

   “Hey, Blue-One, come on out! We’re going to see Red-One in the hospital, and I know you’ve been worried about him,” Green-him hollered, like he didn’t know he was right there.

   “Alright. Fine. I’m here. Now, can we get to Red-One or is this just a big fat trap you just sprang on us?” he asked scathingly as he came out of his own hiding spot.

   “No trap, just taking you to Red-One. We might have to sit in the waiting room for a while, but I’ll get you to him, I promise,” Stranger said. “I’m Legend, by the way.”

   “I’m Green-One, he’s Pur—”

   “Violet-One. I don’t like purple,” Violet-One interrupted.

   “Right, sorry, he’s Violet-One, and he’s Blue-One,” Green-One finished. Stranger—no, Legend—raised an eyebrow.

   “Ookay. I’ll probably be asking about the names later, but for now, let’s head to the car and go to the hospital.”

--------------------

   Violet-One wasn’t the biggest fan of this situation he’d found himselves in. Yes, perhaps an understatement with poor grammar, but the Hyrulean language didn’t exactly account for parts of a person’s personality being given physical form, so he could content himself with the knowledge that he was working with what he had.

   Red-One had been admitted to Central Hyrule General, which wasn’t too far from the scene of the accident, so any injuries that might’ve been worse with delayed treatment were taken care of quickly. Though, they only knew this thanks to Agent Warriors texting Agent Legend with updates since they were stuck in the waiting room. What kind of procedure was this place following, anyway? They let the man who ran their patient over in his room, in spite of no provable relationship, but the three nearly identical brothers are left to wait?

   This was ridiculous.

   “Green, Purple, and Blue Smith?” called a female nurse who walked into the waiting area. Violet-One bristled at being called Purple, but he hadn’t told Red-One about his preference, so he couldn’t quite complain about it.

   “Here!” Green-One jumped up with his hand in the air. He pulled at Blue-One and Violet-One and almost dragged them to the nurse. “Is Red okay? Can we go see him?”

   The nurse giggled. “Yep, that’s why I called you over; your brother’s asking for you.”

   This was great news. This meant that Red-One hadn’t been injured too badly.

   “Thank you for coming to let us know. Which room is he in?” Green-One asked. The nurse smiled.

   “He’s in room 444, but I’ll lead you there first so you don’t get lost,” she informed them before gesturing for them to follow her.

~

   “Guys! Oh man, it’s so good to see you guys! The doctor says he wants to keep me overnight for observation, but if I want to go home now, I’ll just need to look out for infections and stuff,” Red-One chattered as he hugged the other hims.

   “So, I’m guessing you’re something like the four parts of Four Smith? Given the fact you all look almost identical to the pictures of him and you’re using ‘Smith’ for your last name, I think you’re at least his younger brothers, maybe cousins,” a tall, blond man, presumably Agent Warriors, said. They all glanced at each other; then, somehow, they came to an agreement. After that, they had a brief four-way staring contest for who had to explain what had happened without sounding absolutely insane.

   Violet-One lost. He sighed and tried to gather his thoughts.

   “Yes, if my hypothesis is correct, then each of us is one-quarter of the original Four Smith.” Agent Warriors nodded at Violet-One’s answer.

   “Do you know how it happened? Any ideas?” he asked, and Violet-One’s counterparts rolled their eyes at the question for whatever reason.

   “Yes, actually, I do. I believe that Four was given a sword with supernatural properties that had been tampered with, and when he touched the broken crystal, he split into the four of us,” Violet-One answered.

   “Ah,” Agent Warriors said with the air of someone who’d found out about a fraught piece of context for a delicate matter and didn’t quite know how to respond. He certainly looked like it, but he seemed to pull himself back together. “Well,” he cleared his throat, “we will do everything we can to get you back together back at the Warehouse.”

   “Thank you,” all four parts of Four said, give or take a couple words.

------------------

   The new guys—new guy?—had been holed up in the forge that Warehouse 13 apparently had for the majority of their time there. The green one, whose name was apparently Green-One, had come out a couple times to gather food or drinks for himself and his counterparts, and after that, the red one had dragged all of them out of the forge to rest, but aside from those times, they’d all been working on the Four Sword under Ms. Lullaby’s supervision.

   “I can’t believe you ran Red-One over, Warriors!” Twilight exclaimed again, running his hands through his already disheveled hair. Time put a hand on his shoulder.

   “Twilight, what’s done is done, and Warriors did what he needed to in order to fix the damage. Let it be,” he said. “Besides, I already read him the riot act when it happened.”

   Hyrule patted Warriors’ shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry too much about it, alright? Red told me himself that he doesn’t blame you for what happened. He’s even grateful that it happened, because it made it that much easier for you and Legend to find him and… the rest of him,” he said with a smile.

   “Just Red? I thought they were going by Red-One, Blue-One, and so on—or, if not that, then Red Four, Green Four, and so on,” Warriors said with a small furrow in his brow.

   “They actually decided to shorten it to just the colors, except Vio, but that’s because Violet’s more feminine than he wants,” Hyrule informed him. Warriors hummed.

   “Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” he said.

   Soon after Warriors said that, Ms. Lullaby and one of the four Fours came out. Or, at least, that was what it looked like but for the fact that he was wearing a T-shirt with all four of the colors.

   Oh!

   “We were successful. Mr. Smith is once again one whole person, but I would recommend allowing him to rest before any celebrating,” Ms. Lullaby said sternly.

   Hyrule nodded.

   “Hey, uh, Four? Do you want me to take you to the B&B so you can rest?” he asked, jerking his thumb toward the door. Four nodded, so they headed back to Sun’s. Well, they started.

   “Uh, Hyrule? Aren’t you not allowed to drive?” Sky asked.

   “Oh, right. Well, would you mind driving us?” Hyrule replied. Sky smiled at the request and nodded.

   “Sure. How are you doing, Four? Any better?”

   Four grimaced. “It’s weird, having four sets of memories of the past couple days. Have a headache, but I think I’ll be okay.”

   After they drove back to Sun’s, Four went straight to the room Sun had prepared for him and took a nap.

~

   “Hey, Four?” Hyrule called through the door once dinner rolled around. “You feeling any better?” When he didn’t get a response, he knocked. “Four, can I come in? You’ve been in here for hours and I wanted to make sure you got some food.”

   “I’m fine! Everything is just dandy,” came Four’s disgruntled voice. Something didn’t seem right.

   “Four?” he called again, and this time, he could hear four sets of whispers and grunts and the other various noises people make when they’re trying to hide something or someone.

   Or some-ones. Hyrule opened the door and saw the parts of Four, all trying to either hide or make it seem like there was only one.

   “Uh, surprise?” Red chuckled weakly from his spot half-hidden under the bed.

   “I theorize that our exposure to the broken Four Sword and the duration we were under its effects led to something of a permanent effect on Four,” Vio said from his spot getting shoved (by Green) and dragged (by Blue) into the closet.

   Oh boy.

I suggest the word "adolescence" for Linked Universe (or a surprise if LU doesn't work to your liking for one reason or another)

~ Toilet Cow

Hello, Toilet Cow Anon! Let me see what I can do!

Adolescence

Warriors was hating this so much right now. He'd gotten hit by Legend's Blue Stalfos thing, and now he was back in his early adolescence—one of the worst times of his life.

"Man, Cap, I didn't realize you had acne that bad," Hyrule grimaced as he looked at the painful sores scattered across Warriors' face.

"Yep. Now, can you do anything about it? Please, I am begging you, if you can even just get them to stop hurting for a while, I would be so thankful," Warriors said. Seriously, he was ready to get down on his hands and knees here. All of his pimples seemed to trend toward being cysts where they would get really big and painful but they wouldn't develop a head or anything for ages.

“Well, um, I can try to heal them, but I don’t know if it’ll work. Have red potions ever helped them?” Hyrule asked. Warriors sighed.

“Not really, though it was diluted and only lightly applied to the pimples.”

“Hey, maybe this’ll help, Wars,” Legend said as he pulled out a glass bottle with what looked like water. “I used to get some nasty zits, too, and this stuff also helps with healing burns, so I always keep some on-hand. Do you want to try it?”

Warriors nodded. “Yes, please. I want these off my face as soon as possible,” he answered.

“Alright. Fair warning, this is going to burn for a while; do you still want it? It burns like nobody’s business,” Legend warned with raised eyebrows. Warriors nodded firmly.

Anything to end his misery.

Legend took a small rag and poured some of the liquid onto a corner. “Okay, here goes,” he said before starting to apply the liquid to Warriors’ face.

“I don’t know what you were talking about; this isn’t hurting at all. It barely even feels like it’s we—” that was when it hit.

His face was on fire.

“Ooowwww, ow ow ow ow ouch, oh, son of a featherless biped, that stings,” he whined.

“I warned you,” Legend said as he continued to apply the liquid fire to Warriors’ face. “Now hold still, I’m trying to avoid getting this on your healthy skin, because all that does is add to the burn.”

“How long until this wears off?” Warriors asked, wincing all the while.

“Well, the diemesso should stop stinging in probably thirty minutes or so, but the Blue Stalfos was black-blooded, so who knows on that. It’s already outside the norm by only making you, what, twelve? Unless it actually just takes away a set number of years and I was just young enough that it turned me into a toddler,” Legend muttered to himself, completely forgetting about Warriors’ question.

“Hang on, a toddler?!” Wild asked, having been shamelessly eavesdropping the whole time.

“Yeah, a toddler; what, did I stutter?” Legend snarked.

Need your character to have some more ✨pizzazz✨? Struggling to separate your thoughts/personality/feelings from your character? Use these to (maybe/hopefully) help out!

(A quick heads-up: these were specifically tailored for a character I’m working on currently, so some of these may not really have an application for your character)

Can they use chopsticks?

They find a mysterious, cursed amulet on the ground. What do they do with it?

If they had a blog and could only post about one topic, like art vs. aesthetic vs. cooking, etc., what kind would they have?

Do they have any roommates/good friends, and if so, who?

Are they an avid reader?

What’s their favorite color?

Do they prefer bright, pastel, or duller colors?

Are they right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous?

Do they care about spoilers for media they consume?

What kind of music do they prefer to listen to?

What is their opinion on insects?

Are they learning any foreign languages? If so, which one/s?

Have they ever had a pet? If so, what kind/s, and what was/were its/their name/s?

Have they ever dyed their hair? What color was it? Is it dyed currently? What color is it now?

Do they prefer sweet or savory foods?

If they were to choose any animal they’d want to become, what would they choose, and why?

How often do they wear makeup, if at all?

Do they prefer skirts or pants?

What is their opinion on vigilantes?

What’s something that would make their skin crawl?

When playing a video-game, are they more the type to speedrun it, or to try to 100% it?

What kind of jewelry do they wear, if any?

What’s something they would romanticize (like, the stuff they’d daydream about)?

How are they with public speaking?

Do they know how to play any musical instruments? If so, which one/s?

How do they deal with getting sick? What kind do they get most frequently?

What kinds of video-games do they like best?

Do they prefer to work with a group, or on their own?

Do they tend to focus on the bigger picture or the smaller details?

Are they more inclined to be moved by facts and statistics or feelings and personal stories?

Would they rather the security of a schedule, or the freedom of spontaneity?

Do they prefer board games or card games?

What is their favorite flower?

Would they choose rock, paper, or scissors first?

Are they more of a truth person, or a dare person?

Do they prefer to read digital or analogue clocks?

Would they decorate/cover something in stickers? If so, what (phone case, water bottle, laptop lid, notebook, etc)?

Are they a very punny/jokey person?

Their favorite shape?

Their favorite gemstone?

Their favorite dinosaur?

What do they do for fun with their friends?

How easy is it for them to make friends?

How casual are they? (As in how formal are they and/or how good they are at acting casual when things are Not Casual)

Do they have a favorite time-period for fashion (ie 17th century vs 19th century)?

Do they sleep with a stuffed animal? What kind is it? Is it a secret to everybody?

Are they more of a morning person or a night owl?

Do they have any dietary restrictions or requirements?

What is something they’re afraid of, no matter how odd or irrational it may sound?

What is their first choice when going out to eat?

Do they know how to paint?

Have they ever left the country? Would they like to? Where would they want to go?

How many hours do they typically sleep?

Have they gone through an escape room before? If not, would they like to do so someday?

What is their favorite book genre (eg Mystery, Romance, Comedy, etc)?

What are some things they find attractive (physical, personality, and/or skills)?

Are they the type to cosplay? Who would they cosplay as?

Do they collect anything in particular?

What’s the worst injury they’ve gotten?

If they could time travel to any time and place, where and when would they go?

How well can they cook?

Where do they like to go to clear their head?

What is their favorite season?

Do they prefer warm or cold weather?

Do they have any prized possessions?

What’s one of their favorite foods?

Have they ever been fishing? If yes, would they go again?

Would they prefer to explore the deepest depths of the ocean or of space?

Do they prefer short hair or long hair?

Do they need glasses or anything of the sort?

Have they ever been on an airplane? How about a boat?

Have they ever been to a Renaissance fair?

Have they ever been to a concert or anything similar?

What is something they’ve designed/created/made that they’re very proud of?

What is their love-language (like, gift-giving, physical affection, acts of service, quality time, etc.)?

What is their favorite dessert?

Have they ever been to the beach?

Do they like swimming?

Do they prefer to play games, watch TV, or read?

Do they believe in ghosts or anything of the sort?

Would they be more the type to collect parent figures, child figures, or sibling figures?

Do they have any tattoos? If so, where are they, and what are they of?

What is something they’re incredibly normal (Very Neurodivergent/Passionate) about?

What is their go-to drink order?

What is their day-to-day grooming routine?

What was their most expensive purchase/where does their disposable income go?

Do they have any scars? If so, where are they? How did they get them?

What was the last time they cried, and under what circumstances?

Are they an older sibling, younger sibling, middle child, oldest child, youngest child, or only child?

What are some of their nervous tics?

How open are they about their feelings?

Are they more cautious around giant creatures or would they try to befriend it?

Are they any good at chess?

What energy do they have (Too Much Energy, Anxiety Energy, Comfort Energy, No Energy, Angry Energy, Emotional Energy, Quiet Energy, and/or Weird Energy; see this post for a picture for reference)?

Are they flirty at all? Are they any good at it?

How would they react to a crying kid on public transport?

What is the most likely reason they would be calling someone at 3 in the morning?

What do they do when there’s no clean dishes?

How do they cope with stress?

How do they handle sickness (different from 26, more how do they get themselves better)?

Are they considered short or tall?