I don't own Legend of Zelda. If I did the games would tie in together better and there would be a few different ones added in.

Chapter Fifty-Two: The Four Sides of Romani

The glow on Romani's body faded, but she had no idea what had happened to her. She looked down at her body but saw nothing different about it. 'Guess it's not a shape-changing mask.' She thought. 'So what does it do then?'

"What the hell? Why am I in my deku form?" A whistly voice said to her left.

"Huh? I'm a zora?" Another voice added from her right.

Romani looked both directions, and got a huge surprise. She saw her own deku scrub, goron, and zora forms around her. They then saw her and each other too. "What the hell? What happened to me?" All four said in unison, eyes darting back and forth.

"Hey what's that on your face?" Deku-Romani asked Human-Romani. She couldn't see anything, but Goron-Romani and Zora-Romani saw a purple dot the size of a grape on her right cheek. Outside of that, there was nothing different about her. None of the other three had dots on their faces.

"Well, this certainly is surprising. A mask that gives you a numbers advantage and different forms. But it doesn't make any difference here. Four times zero is still zero." Fierce told her, reminding all four Romani's that he was still here. He then tried to cut them with both swords, but three of them dodged and Goron-Romani blocked the hit. It hurt a little, but naturally as a goron her body could withstand and ignore a lot of pain humans couldn't.

(To make things easier on me this is how I'll refer to the Romani's: Human-Romani=H-R, Deku-Romani=D-R, Goron-Romani=G-R, Zora-Romani=Z-R)

"No time to be confused on this! Just try not to die!" Z-R shouted and got her fins ready to strike and defend.

"I hear you." G-R smirked and rolled right at Fierce, striking his legs. He didn't go down like she expected him to, but he did wobble and use his swords to keep his leverage.

D-R bounced around and shot off some bubbles, which were more distracting than anything else. "I'm getting my friend back, you hear me?"

H-R stood off to the side unsure what to do. 'I don't want to hurt Link, but how can I save him without doing that?'

G-R and D-R attacked again, having no effect other than keeping Fierce from doing anything else. Z-R looked over the whole situation. 'Wait, something's not right. All four of us are the same Romani, right? So why are we all acting differently here?' H-R was fingering her weapons, but didn't look battle-ready, D-R looked more like she was playing, G-R was recklessly attacking without much rhyme or reason, and Z-R was being defensive and strategical. 'Is it because of the mask? Just what the hell is this thing I'm wearing?'

Fierce swung one of his swords and struck the rolling G-R, deflecting her and making her almost crash into D-R. The deku scrub spun to dodge and managed to make a weak hit against the war god. G-R stopped and checked for a wound, finding none. Z-R threw her fins but they were blocked by the swords. D-R tried to attack again but one of Fierce's swords cleaved her vertically. She shrieked and vaporized in a puff of smoke.

H-R felt a sudden momentary surge of pain flow thru her body, making her drop to her knees from the surprise. It passed just as quickly as it came and she stood up again. Without a mirror, she couldn't see a green spot appear on her left cheek. Once she was up on her feet again, she grasped her sword firmly but didn't unsheathe it yet.

Fierce paid D-R's vanishing act no mind and looked for the next foe to strike. G-R rolled back to crush him, but jumped up at the last moment and tried to hold him in a goron-style bear hug. "I've got him! Someone do something quick!"

Z-R rushed forward and used her fins to knock Fierce's swords out of his hands. When she was close enough, the war god's body became covered in flames. G-R could handle it all too easily, but Z-R was much more vulnerable to this kind of defense. She caught on fire and couldn't put herself out in time, resulting in her becoming a smoke puff like D-R had. H-R meanwhile felt some more pain and a blue spot appeared above her right eye.

G-R didn't like what was going on, so she gave Fierce a goron punch to the jaw and rolled up next to H-R before he could recuperate. "What's wrong with you? Why are you just standing there?"

"I... I can't attack Link like this. I just can't." H-R answered.

"You got any better ideas?" G-R asked. Just then she noticed the spots on H-R's face but chose to ignore them for now. "I don't want Link hurt either, but just standing around doing nothing isn't going to help him."

G-R turned back to face Fierce and rolled right into him with much more speed than before, allowing her to to have spikes emerge around her. Fierce felt that one and went down, and G-R stood up and tried pulling the mask of his face. It was futile since shape-changing masks could only be removed by the wearer, but she had to try anyway. Fierce got mad and gave her an uppercut to the jaw. G-R barely felt it, but the blow did make her move away long enough for Fierce to stand up again and grab his swords.

H-R got an idea and grabbed her bow, then fired a light arrow at Fierce. It struck his right forearm and he yelled in pain. G-R moved to give him an uppercut back but his two swords combined back into one in his left hand and he swung it at her before she could avoid it. G-R gasped and disappeared into smoke. H-R felt more pain and a red spot appeared above her left eye. Then all of a sudden, all four spots glowed and the mask reappeared on her face then slid off. It fell into her hand and if Romani had a mirror she'd see no spots on her face now.

"Guess your mask is no good now. Three down, one to go. And since you like fighting four against one, I'll return the favor." Fierce gloated, then summoned four balls of red light in his right hand. They grew and turned into four floating masks, looking like Vipra, Cercan, Phrite, and one of the Twinbino's. The masks floated around Romani and tried to bite her, but she swung her sword to keep them at bay, cutting them but not killing them. Fierece stood off to the side and just watched.

'Dammit. I don't think I can do this.' Romani thought as she defended herself. 'Even if this multiplier mask is the right tool for the job, it's pointless if I don't understand it. Hey voices, if you've got anything else to say I really could use the help. And no riddles this time.'

Everything in front of Romani faded away and the area around her looked sky blue. She felt like she was standing in the sky, but somehow felt solid ground under her feet. She didn't dare look to see what she was standing on though, in case there was nothing there. She wondered where she was and why, then saw someone appear before her. A face she really wanted to see.

"CREMIA? CREMIA!" She rushed to hug her older sister, who happily returned the embrace. Both shed a few tears. "Is it... is it really you? But aren't you... you know... dead?"

"Yes, Romani, sadly, I am dead. But the gods and goddesses are letting me tell you something now. I don't have much time so listen well. And remember, there's no guarantee I can do this again." Cremia told her, and Romani nodded. "Now, the mask you have is called the Four Mask. It's a special treasure like something in another land called the Four Sword. Both make it's user go from one to four fighters, each one ultimately the same person but with a stronger spirit emphasis."

"Is that why the four me's acted differently?" Romani asked.

Cremia nodded. "Yes. You see, there are four key elements to a person's heart and spirit. Courage, wisdom, friendship, and love. Each one of your four bodys has one stronger than the other. Red is for courage, blue is for wisdom, green is for friendship, and purple is for love. Normally when either the Four Mask or Sword are used all four bodys look alike except for the colors of their clothes. In your case, since you already have three shape-shifting masks three of your bodys take those forms too. Your goron self is your courage, your zora self is your wisdom, your deku self is your friendship, and your normal human self is your love."

'That explains a lot.' Romani thought. "And when one's beaten, it disappears and that trait returns to my human form?"

Cremia nodded. "Yes, but if your human form is beaten then the traits go to one of the remaining others. Which one is a matter of circumstances. Basically, three bodies have to be slain before you become complete. Or you just take off the mask."

"But how can this give me an advantage? Even if it's four against one, he's still a god."

"For one, he's a war god. Numbers play an important part in war, not just brute strength. That's one advantage. Two, he can't just get rid of you in one blow when you use that mask. And finally, Link is fighting him from inside his own body to regain control. Weaken him enough, and Link should be able to take the mask off. That may mean actually having to hurt him though. But be careful, Fierce is moving more steadily now, meaning the longer it takes you to fight him, the harder it will be for Link to come back. You have to be strong for him sis. I know you can do this."

Romani didn't know what to say at first. "Okay, I'll try. And I'm sorry you got dragged into this Cremia."

The older ranch girl just hugged the younger one and stroked her back comfortingly. "It wasn't your fault. Besides, you saved me. I'm the one who's sorry for what happened."

'It wasn't your fault." Romani parroted.

"Oh, one more thing Romani. Your other forms have the appropriate weapons and instruments for their species too. So they can use them. Go and get Link back for both of your sakes. You're all each other has now. Don't let him out of your life this easily." Romani nodded wiping a few tears from her eyes.

"I will. I won't ever leave him. Even if it means I have to leave Termina."

"Attagirl. I'll be there watching you at your wedding, just so you know." Cremia replied.

"Sis!" Romani blushed and swatted her sisters shoulder, but there was no offense in the action, just embarrassed joy.

"Hey, at least I didn't say 'honeymoon'." Cremia joked. She then felt something. "Looks like it's time for me to go."

"I love you sis." Romani tearily told her.

Cremia hugged her again. "i love you too, Romani. I know you'll be fine without me, as long as you have Link. Go kick that war god's ass."

"Did you just swear?" Romani asked.

Cremia was already beginning to fade away. "I'm dead. I don't need to watch my language anymore. Give him hell sis." She then faded away completely as did the sky blue surroundings. Romani now saw she was back fighting the four hovering masks, as if no time at all had passed.

Using her shield, Romani knocked all four away from her and readied a spinslash. She released it, and all four masks were disintegrated. She then grinned cockily at Fierce. "Is that all you got? I've just gotten warmed up."

"Big words. Can you back them up little girl?"

"You bet." Romani answered as she put the Four Mask back on and became four versions of herself again. H-R held up her bronze sword, D-R had a deku stick and dart gun handy, G-R had her fists cocked, and Z-R had her hookshot ready. "This is war!" All four shouted in unison and got ready to attack again.