Vio had read hundreds of books. He studied them. Learned them. Lived them. They were his gateway to a less painful world. They were an escape from the torment he had brought upon himself and others. They were his freedom from the guilt that had come with losing Shadow.

He had always considered himself the smartest Link, and in essence, this was true. He could tell you facts about places all over the world. He could point out constellations and what they symbolized. He was always the one they turned to for information. And yet, now Vio was sure he was the most naïve of them all.

The violet hero had no idea how much a friendship could mean to a person, or how much it could destroy them once they found out it was fake.

He had expected Shadow to be evil all the time. That was how antagonists were, right? If their life was a book, then Vio and the others would be the protagonists and Shadow and Guufu were the antagonists. White and Black. Right and Wrong. Something that Vio understood and could relate to.

But again, his lack of social knowledge would be his down fall.

Shadow was… nice. He was most defiantly not like the aimless murderer that Vio had him pinned as. He listened to Violet's ideas, gave him feedback, shared his dreams, and generally acted like a good friend should.

This left Vio quite literally shell-shocked. This was not the way a villain should act! Villains were hungry for power and would stop at nothing to get it. Villains were not good friends and they didn't have innocent dreams. They didn't laugh at stupid jokes, or share friendly jabs with the hero. And they most certainly did not kiss the hero gently, making him feel like the most important thing in the world.

No… In Vio's understandable world of good and bad, black and white, Shadow had somehow entered the unknown grey region. And not for the first time, it scared the intelligent Link. He was used to the predictable reactions of an antagonist. The antagonist would strike when the hero was down. He would hurt the innocent and curse the good. He would die by the hero's blade and would be used in the stories mothers told their children at night to scare them into better behavior.

These realizations made Vio question everything, including himself. Could he himself, even be considered a hero? Had he too blurred the line between good and evil? Was it his destiny to roam this fine line between black and white, forever alone due to not belonging to either side?

Well, his final question was already answered. If he did live in the world of grey, he would have Shadow to live with.

And this thought almost made Vio happy. Almost. There was a problem with the thought, a small insignificant problem that would not let Violet sleep or eat normally.

It had all started as an act.

It had been a brilliant plan that would involve fake trust and would end with the hero defeating the emotionless evil. But as he spent more time with Shadow, fake laughs became real, feeling grew, and the act ceased to exist, becoming a distant dream that had simply started it all. The short time of joy was amazing, but was quickly burst by the knowledge that it would end in tears, and soon.

This fact was reinforced when Vio first laid eyes on the Dark Mirror and learned of its powers. And it was confirmed by the look Shadow had given him when he found out that Vio had betrayed him. The look of pure anger and hurt had almost been enough to make the violet hero wish he could die on the spot. Alas, this wish was not granted, however, he wouldn't have to live long with the grief, seeing as Shadow scheduled his execution for the next morning.

But somehow, in that time, the time waiting for his own death, Vio steeled himself. He would show no emotion, even at his own execution. He would show nothing. No fear. No sorrow. The hero never showed anything during his death, and if Vio was a hero, by some twisted sort of logic, then he too should have no emotions on the matter.

He simply closed his eyes, hardly listening to the speech his own shadow gave as the warmth of the lava below grew closer. However, his decent was interrupted by the loud shout of; 'ICEROD!' and his eyes were forced open by the cold gust of wind that followed shortly after.

He had been rescued by his fellow Links and together, with their Four Swords' in hand, they destroyed Shadow Link.

The others had been so excited, all of them happy to be together again at last, but for some reason, Violet only half-heartedly joined in. He felt like something was wrong. It shouldn't have been that easy to kill him. It should have been more climatic or it should have given Vio some sort of closure, but he just felt empty. And it was in this moment, when the others were busy celebrating, that Vio decided that this was not the last time they would see Shadow Link.

Looking back on it now, Violet realized that this single decision is what most likely kept him going when things got particularly bleak. Whenever it seemed like all hope was lost, a small voice in his head would keep repeating a sort, simple phrase. 'Just keep going. You'll see Shadow.' And this somehow became his mantra, his encouragement.

Some parts of this statement were true. He would get to see his Shadow again, but by then it would already be too late. By then, Shadow would be laying on the ground amongst shards of the Dark Mirror as he slowly disappeared. All Vio would have time to do was assure the darker Link that he had become an ally and that he had finally been acknowledged as more than just a shadow that was doomed to follow behind the hero.

Vio ached to scoop Shadow into his arms and comfort him as he passed, and hold him until he faded to nothing, but he held back from the temptation. These were Shadow's last moments, and they should be treated as such, not some corny romance scene in which true love would conquers all and somehow the love interest comes back to life by some mysterious magic. This was real life and he would get no happy ending with Shadow.

As Shadow dissolved into small sparks of light, Vio quickly pulled out his empty bottle, and gathered as many of them as possible. He studied them silently for a moment before stowing it back into the safe folds of his satchel.

And now, several weeks since the defeat of Guufu and Ganon, Vio would pull out the bottle and stare at the sparks, memories of Shadow fogging his mind. He would debate Shadow's true part in the story of the Four Swords heroes. Was he just a simple antagonist?

No. Vio had decided when Shadow had died that he was defiantly not on the side of evil. However, he was also not on the side of goodness either. He was on his own side. The side of shadows.

He was no hero, but simply an anti-hero.

An anti-hero is a character who has no heroic quality or ambitions who serves as both a rival and antagonist to the hero. They often blur the lines of good and evil, often acting simply for themselves or for the sake of acting.

So, yeah... I always figured that Vio would see the world like it was a giant story waiting to be told. In his story, however, he finds it hard to place Shadow.

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