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As the dust settled, Vaati found himself struggling to lift his head. He hadn't expected Shadow to betray him. Hadn't expected Shadow to destroy himself just to weaken him. And he for sure didn't expect the heroes to seal Ganon away in the Four Sword instead of himself again.
Avoided that punishment for a third time...
Vaati groaned and pushed himself up, placing all his weight on his palms as he got to his knees. He was back in his weaker Hylian form. He mentally thanked whatever goddess was willing to listen for not being stuck in his pathetic Picori form. Being defeated by the same hero three times was embarrassing enough. He didn't need anyone seeing him as a small, defenseless rodent.
The sound of footsteps and tired yet upbeat voices had Vaati rushing to get on his feet. Surely the heroes were looking for him, ready to finish him off since they could no longer seal him away in the sword. He avoided being sealed away again, but that just meant his punishment was going to be more severe.
More permanent.
When the four heroes and the princess came into view, everyone froze. The group looked surprised to see the Wind Mage standing before them. Perhaps they thought him dead already?
Before he could even get a word out, the purple one had an arrow trained at his head, the blue and red ones had their swords drawn, and the princess shot Vaati the deadliest glare she could manage.
If looks could kill...
The odd one out here was the green one. The one that looked the most like the first hero that defeated him. He didn't make a move for any weapon. He held a hand out to block his companions from advancing on the Wind Mage before taking a step forward.
Vaati watched carefully. They had never seen his Hylian form, but they all caught on and knew who he was right away. So why wasn't the green one doing anything to prepare for a fight.
"Green, what are you doing?" The purple one asked. Vaati eyed that one. He knew him- Vio. The hero that "betrayed" the rest and joined him and Shadow for a bit before Shadow realized it was all a ruse. The green one- Green- said nothing, just taking another step closer.
"Stay back!" Vaati snapped, taking a step back. He knew he'd lose if it came to a fight. His best bet was to flee and hope they failed to catch up to him. Mercy was surely out of the question, and Vaati wasn't willing to beg. All he had left at this point was his pride after all.
Green remained silent, still advancing. Vaati took a few more steps back, raising his fists in defense. He'd lose for sure if it came to a hand-to-hand fight, but dammit, if he was to go down here, he was going to go down swinging!
With only a few feet between them, Green stopped. Vaati watched warily, slowly lowering his fists. Green watched and smiled softly. His expression was tired, but Vaati could tell that it wasn't just from the fight that recently happened. It was an aged exhaustion on a face Vaati had seen before, but he hadn't seen a smile accompany it since...
Since...
"Please forgive Vaati. His bad behavior is my fault."
The green clad boy- what did Ezlo say his name was, Link?- stepped towards the small creature. Vaati kept his gaze down, too frightened and tired from the fight just moments ago to look the boy in the eyes. It wasn't until he saw the outstretched hand in front of him when he finally looked up.
Link, too, looked exhausted. The fight took a lot out of both of them, but Link was the victor in the end. However, there was still a gentle grin on the boy's face as he offered his help to the defeated Wind Mage.
"I get it, ya know? Ezlo can be a real pain sometimes! I can't imagine having him as a teacher!" the kid laughed. "Come on, everyone deserves a second chance!"
A second chance...
Vaati watched as the hero extended a hand out. He flinched instinctively, but realized quickly that Green meant him no harm. The outcry from the heroes behind him would've been humorous if the moment wasn't so tense. Vaati stared at the outstretched hand in shock. He felt angry for some reason, but it melted away fairly quick leaving him with a never ending strand of questions.
"Why?" Vaati asked after a moment of silence. "You know what I've done. Hell, the princess should know my history! So why-" he was at a lost for words. The offering of peace was so absurd!
Green just shrugged and chuckled softly. "Honestly? I don't know. Part of me regrets not offering this to Shadow sooner. Part of me wants to believe that everyone can be good if given the chance. And a small part of me in the back of my head keeps saying that everyone deserves a second chance."
Vaati didn't consider himself an emotional being, but standing here with the hero, hearing the same words from his past, brought on a wave of emotions he wasn't used to. Tears threatened to spill out of the corners of his eyes, but he forced them back.
"Green, are you sure this is a good idea?" the Blue one asked.
"No," the hero admitted. "But we'll never know without trying."
Vaati let his words sit for a moment before shifting his gaze to look the hero in the eyes. There wasn't a shred of dishonesty in his eyes.
"You know, I already had my second chance and I blew it," Vaati admitted.
Green didn't waver at the new information Vaati presented. Instead he smiled wider and shrugged. "Okay, third chance then. Whatdda you say?"
Vaati looked back at the outstretched hand once more before nodding slowly to himself. He closed the distance between them and grabbed the hero's hand.
"A third chance."