Red

"We have to find shelter!" Green screeched to Red's left as he stabilized himself on the trembling ground. The sound around them was deafening, the air hit with a sudden heat as rocks flew at them from the sky. Red desperately looked for a space they could take cover in. A small piece of stone scraped his cheek.

"Over there!" Gray shouted over the roar. He was pointing to an overhang of stone. The area was otherwise wide open and the overhang high up, but it would hold a chance of protecting their heads.

"Go!" Blue reached over to help Red up and together they stumbled over to the shelter, collapsing in a heap as the ground shook angrily once more and another wave of stones were spat into the sky. Red looked back to see that Green barely made it in time for the rocks to start smashing around them, one narrowly missing his foot as he launched himself out of the way and into shelter. Red looked up towards the looming volcano. A dark cloud of smoke and ash bubbled up from the top, gray and red lava leaking sluggishly out the sides. It gave one more angry rumble.

"Look!" Red pointed to the eruption. A massive stone, larger than any statue Red had seen, was launched, crashing into the ground out of sight but loud enough that they heard it over the rest of the din.

"Is this what that goron meant about not surviving?" Vio gasped. They had battled Death Mountain back in their own time, but it was never as violent as this.

It seemed that was the last of the volcano's rage, as the rumbling came to a stop and the black, ashy smog slowly started to clear.

"Is everyone alright?" Green asked.

"I feel like we should be asking you that." Blue retorted.

"I'm just a little scraped up, but I'm fine." He answered.

"I'm alright!" Red announced.

"Red- your cheek is bleeding," Vio poked.

"Oh!" He touched the spot where the rock hit his cheek. His fingers came away red. "It doesn't hurt."

"Here," Vio handed him a rag, "Hold it till it stops." Red thanked him before looking around.

"Gray? Are you okay?"

"Shh." The tallest Link was standing at the edge of the overhang, his head slightly cocked to the side.

"Huh?"

"Listen."

They did. Red frowned. Besides the sound of the wind flowing through the canyon, there was- oh. The wind.

"A melody?" Vio wondered aloud. Gray nodded. The sound was faint, but present.

"That doesn't sound like gorons." Green noted.

"Let's find it." Gray said, almost in a trance. Red could understand why. The sound was eerie, like the sound of a whistle mixed with the faintest trace of a howl. It sung in a melancholy tune. Were it a person, Red would have wanted to give it a hug.

They followed the noise, it leading them up to a flat space in the canyon path. There, on a little hill, stood a lone stone with a hole through the center, a crying eye carved around it. Around the hill it sat on, the rock path was carved in as if the stone had once been on a little island in the middle of a shallow pool of water. But now it was as dry as a bone. Still the stone sang its sorrowful song, telling of forgotten years past and a time that once was.

"What is that?" Blue asked.

"It looks so sad…" Red knew it wasn't alive, but there was something about this area that made it feel so.

"Hey, didn't that one knight guy say something about singing stones? The shade thing? He never gave us a name…" Vio mentioned.

"Search for the statues that howl with the wind…" Gray murmured, his eyes locked onto the stone. He reached his left hand out. The eye of the stone reacted, seeming to pulse with a blue light the closer Gray got. So, too, did the back of his hand. Despite the mark being covered by his glove, the Triforce shone straight through. Then hand and stone met. There was a sharp flash of light so bright that it blinded Red's vision. When he could see again, he was met with white and mist, old structures of a broken castle, and the figure of the shade with its single glowing eye.

"We meet again, young ones."

~/_\~

Shadow

"So they're… in a different time?" Shadow frowned.

"Yes." Zelda confirmed.

"And you're trying to get them back by wild guessing at plucking strings on a magical instrument which may or may not transport anything from anywhen and mess up the entire universe if it goes horribly wrong. Of which you have already stolen a different version of yourself who is probably an ancestor or descendant."

"Well… I wouldn't put it like that!" Zelda defended, clutching the harp to her chest.

"Careful!" Young Zelda warned as the harp made a noise dangerously close to being strummed. A breeze from nowhere whooshed through the room. Thankfully, nothing more seemed to happen.

Shadow raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"I memorized the tune to send Young Zelda back… it's written down, see? And we won't mess anything up, I promise. If it's not the Links, then we send it right back!" she tried to explain.

"Hmm." He pursed his lips.

"Oh… shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it!"

"And you can read minds?"

"Alright, you're getting a little off track now," Valensuela interrupted, "Let's focus on the mission."

"I'm sorry, Valensuela." Zelda apologized, looking a little meek. Shadow just crossed his arms. Zelda took a moment to compose herself and turned back to him. "Look. Are you going to stay, or are you going to leave? I can promise the Captain won't be as happy to see you."

"I'll be fine in here." Shadow replied immediately, inwardly shuddering at the thought of having to interact with the Links' father. It was true, he had done horrible things to the man that he didn't think would be easily forgiven. As it was, the knight in the room was eyeing him with a look that he didn't like. Without his powers, he felt terribly exposed.

"Good. Are we ready to try again?"

"Let's do it!" Young Zelda agreed.

Shadow sighed, wondering how something like this was happening to him. At least it was more exciting than his room.

A/N: Man, I was not expecting so much positive feedback! it is so humbling, but so encouraging to see some old readers come back and be genuinely excited to see this continue. I have endless gratitude to you all for sticking around for so many years and being so incredibly patient, and for still being interested in this old fic. I'm going to do my best to keep things going this time, I promise. 3

Not to exclude new readers, I see you too. All of you are so awesome! Welcome! I hope you are as excited as I am to continue this journey together.

I hope everyone will continue to enjoy. ^^