Colors of the Wild

Chapter 1: Ember

"But this is a problem." The purple one spoke up again. "We aren't supposed to be four people." He reminded them. "What will the rest of Hyrule think? What will Sidon think?"

All three of them flinched at that. A frustrated sound came from the green one as he aggressively scrubbed at his scalp. "What's the use in trying to figure it out? It's done, and that's that. We just need to run damage control, right? Besides! Maybe this is what we need to defeat those Blights!"

That had Link's attention. The Blights had been a constant ache in his soul since he learned of their existence. They were the results of his failures, and his inability to defeat them only made things worse. Maybe the answer wasn't one person, but four.

"I think we're all different aspects of Link." The purple one spoke again after a long pause. "Going off our differing personalities... Going by 'Link' isn't logical in this situation."

"So what, you're saying we need nicknames?" The blue one gave him a somewhat unimpressed look. "Because if you start calling me 'blue' I'm going to walk out of these weird ruins without you and try my hand at the Sword that Seals the Darkness again."

"I think nicknames are a good idea." Link spoke up again. "If we're fighting on a battlefield and need to get someone's attention, calling out 'Link' isn't going to help much." He idly noted that the eye colors of each Link matched their respective tunics, and wondered if his eyes were as red as the enemies they'd felled earlier that day.

"I'll go by Iris." The one in purple spoke up. "It's a flower that has a similar color to my tunic, so I thought it was fitting."

"Slate, then." The blue one sighed. "It's not just this thing on my hip—it's also a shade of blue."

"Ooh! I'll be Aspen! Like the tree!!" The one in green bounced his leg excitedly, wincing when he realized it was still hurt.

All eyes turned to him, and Link mentally floundered for a nickname he thought might suit him. "Um..."

"How about Shyren? You seem pretty shy." Aspen offered.

"N-no, that..." He didn't want that as his nickname. "Something warmer." Softer. Gentler.

"What about Ember?" Iris suggested, and Link perked up a bit at that. He liked the ring it held.

"I think that's the one." The newly nicknamed Ember agreed.

"All right, so we've got the names sorted out at least." Slate stood with a wince, carefully brushing the dust from his shirt. "But before we do anything else, we need to get our injuries taken care of."

Ember grimaced. His injuries were throbbing pretty fiercely. And he wasn't a healer by any means, but he was pretty sure the amount of blood they'd each lost was a bad thing. His head was pounding too, and he was feeling awfully tired. He really didn't want to pass out in this place.

"You're the only one with the Sheikah Slate." Iris pointed out dryly. "Can we even teleport like this? We've never tried taking someone with us before."

"I mean... we can try?" Ember gave a halfhearted shrug. He really didn't want to try walking out of the Lost Woods and all the way back to town like this. He'd probably make it halfway out of the woods and then collapse. If he was lucky.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" Aspen practically leapt to his feet, swaying dangerously as Slate steadied him with a somewhat exasperated look. Iris carefully climbed to his own feet before offering Ember a hand up.

"Thanks." He muttered softly. Iris sent him an encouraging smile in return.

"Let's try all holding physical contact with the tablet just in case." Iris suggested.