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Vio pulled back the bowstring, aiming for the nearest target. He let the arrow fly, and it pierced the bullseye.
“Nice one,” Shadow said, clapping quietly. Over the last few days, the two of them had become practically inseparable. They did everything together, no matter what it was.
“Thanks,” he said, sitting down and wiping his forehead, which was glistening with sweat. “It’s really hot in here.”
“Yeah,” he said. Shadow had taken off his sweatshirt almost an hour ago, and it was laying on the bench. “I’m not even doing anything and I’m sweating.”
“You wanna try?” Vio asked, gesturing to his bow.
“Heck no,” Shadow replied. “With any luck, I would shoot you.”
Vio laughed. “If you insist,” he said, standing up and grabbing his bow. He went back to shooting at the target, listening to Shadow’s quiet commentary.
After a moment, Shadow walked up, tapping him on the shoulder. “Blue texted you,” he said. “He said to call him immediately.”
Vio raised an eyebrow, setting down his bow. “Why?”
“He didn’t say why.”
Vio sighed, taking the phone from Shadow’s hand and dialing Blue’s number. “What’s up?” he asked when he picked up.
“You and Shadow need to come to the store. Right now.”
“Uh… why?”
“I can’t explain over the phone, but the two of you are in a lot of danger. Please, just come here now, okay?”
“Fine,” Vio said, hanging up. “Blue says we need to go to the store right now.”
“Why?”
“He said something about danger.”
Shadow’s face paled. “Did he say anything else?”
“No, why?”
“Just wanted to check and make sure,” he said, standing up from the bench. “Let’s go.”
They ran out of the target range, jogging down the city streets. It took Vio and Shadow twenty minutes to get back to the store, right after closing time. Blue was standing in the doorway, a grim expression on his face. “Come in,” he said. “We need to talk about some things.”
Vio and Shadow exchanged a look, following Blue into the back.
They sat down on the couch, Shadow avoiding Blue’s distrustful gaze and Time’s suspicious look. “What’s going on?” Vio asked warily, grabbing Shadow’s hand and holding his boyfriend close.
“I’m just going to be quite frank,” Time said. “Shadow, we know about your dad.”
Vio could feel Shadow’s grip on his hand tighten. “What?”
“We just want you to tell us what you know,” he said. “That’s all we need.”
“What’s going on?” Vio said, glaring at his older brother. “Blue, what’s happening?”
“Your little boyfriend failed to mention the fact that his dad was a cult leader,” he said, glaring at Shadow. “Something that literally could put us in danger.”
Vio spared a glance at Shadow, who was completely frozen. “H-how?” he choked out.
“They kidnapped a close friend of ours,” Blue said, staring at the two of them with a disapproving glare.
“Don’t be aggressive,” Time said, shooting him a glance. Blue sighed, looking away. “Now, I just need to ask you a few questions.”
Shadow squirmed in his seat, looking at Vio. The two exchanged a glance, and Vio squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”
Shadow nodded, looking back at Time. “What do you need?”
“I just need to know what happened the night you and your father left the house for the last time.”
Shadow took a deep breath. “Well, it was at least two and a half weeks ago…”
Shadow crept around the house, slowly opening the door to his father’s study. Ganondorf didn’t usually let him in here; he said that it was all just work stuff.
He wasn’t satisfied with that explanation. Shadow wanted to know what was really in this room. Even if it was just work stuff, he just wanted answers.
He walked around the small room, coughing at the dust that flew off the books. Shadow made his way back to his father’s desk, looking around the small table. Nothing seemed to be on it; however, some of the drawers looked like they had recently been opened.
He pulled one of the drawers open, looking at the documents inside. They had a big CLASSIFIED stamp on them, which just made him want to read them more. He pulled out the folder, opening the very first page.
He pored over the pages, his jaw dropping further with every line he read. He was in pure shock, reading over all the things his dad had hidden from him all his life.
He scanned over the pages and pages of horrible secrets, his anger growing with every sentence he read. Why had Ganondorf tried to hide this from him? Why was he doing all of this?
After a moment, he finally reached the bottom page of the folder.
It was a hit list, and the scariest part was that his name was on it.
He lifted the paper with shaking hands, reading off the names. His heart was thumping in his chest, and he felt like he was about to throw up.
His father was planning to kill him.
As soon as he put the paper down, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Shadow didn’t even look at who it was, he just screamed.
A hand clamped over his mouth, and he lashed out, trying his best to hit whoever was holding him. The person wrenched his hands behind his back, using something to tie them together, and Shadow stopped struggling, going completely limp. His entire world had been turned upside down.
“Why is he in here?” a voice said, and Shadow winced as he recognized his father. “What did he see?”
“Everything, sir,” the person holding him said. “He knows everything.”
His father sighed in annoyance, and Shadow could feel the vibrations of his heavy footsteps as he walked towards him. “None of this was ever supposed to happen, you know,” he said, sighing. “You weren’t supposed to know about any of this.”
“So I wasn’t supposed to know you were running a cult and planned to kill me in three weeks?” Shadow spat, his words muffled by the hands over his mouth.
“It all would have made sense in the meantime,” he said. “You were a means to an end. Born to die.”
“So fifteen years of raising me meant absolutely nothing to you? All of the fun times, and birthdays, and holidays, and time spent together meant nothing?”
“Exactly.”
Shadow’s blood ran cold. “You’re heartless.”
“Believe me, I figured that out a while ago,” Ganondorf said, and it was like Shadow could hear the evil grin. “Vaati, make sure he doesn’t escape, and follow me.”
“Do you want me to bring him with us, sir?”
The tension was so heavy that you could cut it with a knife as Ganondorf said, “Are you stupid? What about this entire conversation makes you think that I would want him to stay? One, we need a sacrifice for the thirtieth; two, if this gets out to the public, we’ll be ran out of town in a second. He’s too dangerous to live.”
Shadow started struggling again, desperate to escape the tight hold, but Vaati just grabbed onto his arms tighter. “Move,” he hissed in his ear, and Shadow was dragged along the floors of the house.
As soon as they got outside, it was like a burst of adrenaline filled his body. Shadow wrenched his arms out of his grip, running down the street and past countless people he didn’t know, trying his best to run for freedom. His hopes were short-lived, though, as he was tackled to the ground.
Shadow bit his tongue, feeling the metallic taste of blood slipping into his mouth. He wasn’t going to go quietly. He wasn’t.
The person who had tackled him yanked him up by whatever was holding his wrist, turning him around and marching him back to the group. Shadow fought them all the way back, trying his best to pull himself out of the strong grip.
He was thrown in the back of a truck, and the doors closed, leaving him in darkness. He could feel the truck moving, and it was then that he realized he was crying.
He didn’t see another person for another three days.
The entire room was silent once he finished telling the story.
Shadow scrubbed tears off of his cheeks. “So no, I’m not helping him with whatever cult crap he has going on. I just want to live a normal life, and go out with my friends, and have dates with my soulmate, and grow up normally, is that too much to ask?”
“I didn’t-”
“You were gonna ask. Don’t lie.”
Blue was speechless. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Nobody knows,” Shadow said, shoulders slumping as he leaned into Vio’s side, hugging his soulmate. “I didn’t wanna put anyone in danger.”
“Well, someone is still in danger,” Blue said.
“It’s not my fault!”
“I know,” Blue said. “What are we supposed to do?”
“Rescue him,” Vio said, rolling his eyes. “What else is there to do?”
“How are we supposed to do that, though?”
“Shadow should know where they set up base before,” Time said. “Right?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Then it’s settled,” he said. “We leave in fifteen minutes. Blue, get everyone together.”
They were going to get their friend back.
They were not going to get their friend back.
Shadow’s hands were balled up in fists, and he barely resisted the urge to scream. “The place is completely abandoned,” he muttered.
“No dip, Sherlock,” Legend grumbled. “Are you sure this is where it was?”
“Absolutely positive,” he said. “They probably left so that I couldn’t lead anyone to them.”
Wild sighed, leaning against the wall and sliding down to the floor. “So four hours of searching every inch of this building was for nothing.”
“It’s not my fault,” Shadow protested, looking around the control room.
“We know,” Vio said, laying a hand on his shoulder. Shadow shrugged him off, walking over to the abandoned computers.
“There has to be something here,” he said, opening the printer and looking through the stacks of paper. He ran his finger down the edge of the paper, gasping when he felt a bump.
He lifted up the papers, pulling out two envelopes. One was labeled with Time’s name, and the other with Shadow’s.
Shadow handed Time the envelope with his name, opening the one addressed to himself. He scanned the letter, stuffing it in his pocket.
“What was that?”
“It’s personal,” Shadow said nonchalantly, even though his heart was shattering.
“What is it?” Time asked, and Shadow sighed.
“Just a letter from the man who donated the sperm that helped create my body telling me that he never loved me and the fifteen years he spent raising me was ultimately an extreme waste of time.”
“...Oh. I’m sorry.”
“It’s nothing,” he said, though his voice broke on the last word. “Just kinda sucks that fifteen years together meant nothing.”
Shadow turned around, seeing Time opening the envelope and looking over the small piece of paper inside. He stiffened, glaring at the sheet of paper so intensely that he was almost convinced that it would set on fire.
“What does it say?” Twilight asked, taking a step back in case Time lashed out.
Time handed him the paper, and Twilight gasped, handing it to Wild. They passed it around the group, and eventually Warrior handed it to Shadow.
Your little friend says hello.
Time narrowed his eyes. “We’re going to make him pay for this,” he said under his breath, and everyone heard it.
“Let’s get out of here,” Wild said. “This place is giving me the creeps.”
Twilight nodded, and they ran out of the building without a glance back.
As soon as they got back to the store, Shadow asked, “Is there any place where I can safely burn something?”
“Bathroom sink,” Time said without a second thought.
A minute later, Shadow locked the bathroom door, pulling the letter out of his pocket.
He placed it in the sink, grabbing the lighter Time had given him, and activated it, squinting at the small flame that had ignited.
Shadow lifted up the letter, lighting the edge of it on fire and watching it burn.
And if he shed a tear as he washed the ashes down the sink, well, nobody needed to know.