Radiance

Shade

|Tewtiy|

As Lucas and I sat in the shade of a tree while Sabre was still browsing around and chatting, I can't help but notice Lucas frowning while he was reading a book he bought. I nudge him a moment, which causes him to look up at me. "Hm-?" He starts and I tilt my head at him. "You alright? You were frowning so-" His sigh and shake of his head cuts me off.

We sit there for a moment before he talks.

"I'm worried about how Sabre is going to react..." He mumbles, low enough for me to hear without the crowd drowning him out.

"React to what?" I ask him, shooting a glance to our friend who was chatting with a Violet selling pretty beads. Lucas sighs and crosses his arms.

"Promise me that you'll keep this zipped, okay?" He says back to me and instantly I feel something wrong in my gut. Regardless, I nod to give him my word.

Lucas takes a deep breath before he lets it out and looks at me with his sparkling light blue eyes.

"The leaders presume that Light fellow to be dead...  They're going to be holding a funeral procession for him and Sabre hasn't been told yet. I've been keeping silent about it around Sabre, just because he does deserve some time to be happy without having to deal with all of this." Lucas sighs and I feel a bit of confusion. Why would we not tell him? He did deserve to know if Light steve was a good friend of his. Yet... Lucas mentioned about Sabre being happy for a while. I guess he was right about that. It seemed like he's been through the abyss and back while we were apart.

I look to Sabre, then back to Lucas and nod. "Oh." I didn't know fully how to respond. The death of a person was a lot to unpack. Lucas just sighs and looks back down at the book in his hands.­­­ For a beautiful day, there certainly was a lot of despair hiding about in the shadows.

My eyes drift around, taking in the bustling street around us. ­­­­­­­­­­­It was a different world, but it felt familiar to me. Lucas just stays quiet and after a couple more minutes, Sabre walks back over with a pretty necklace of what looked like dull sapphires and radiant emeralds. "Hey, got what you wanted, Sabre?" Lucas asks as he closes his book and looks up at our friend. "Yep! Found this pretty Lapis and Emerald necklace that I love! Not sure if I'll wear it much, but it seems good for special occasions." Sabre smiles and I nod in approval. Yep. He was happier. I could see it especially in his smile.

"Well, that's good. Do we wanna head over to that dock area? I'm curious what their seacraft look like." I say, to my friends, who both nod. "I'm curious too." Lucas quips, then places his book in his newly acquired bag at his side and stands up. After we all stand up, I whip my head to the side just in time to see a ball flying towards my head. I sidestep quickly and catch the ball midair in order to prevent it from hitting Lucas behind me.

Lucas and sabre both jump and I look at the ball as a group of some kids run up. "So sorry!! I accidentally threw it too high!" A young violet of the group said, almost out of breath as he looks at me nervously. I just give him a smile and a laugh. "Oh it's all good. Glad I caught it before it hit myself or my friend." Carefully handing the ball back to the kid, I continue to smile, then look at the others. One held a paddle looking bat and the others had gloves. Oh! They were playing cricket! Geez, was so long since I had played that game. Never was good at it, but it was fun. "Uhm, Thank you, sir!" The kid says and I nod.

"Oh, are you guys playing Starball?" Sabre says and the kids all look to him, suddenly all agape. "Y-Yeah!! Wait, are you the Great Hero??!" One of the group, an Orange Steve, exclaims. Sabre gives him a sheepish smile and nods. "Yep! I uh- Keep on forgetting that's something I get called." He laughs and all of the kids smile and hop around excitedly, all asking him questions. The violet who I had handed back the ball looks to me with curiosity shining in his eyes.

His question to me was simple. "Are you like the Great Hero? Not a Steve?" I chuckle and nod, smiling. "Yeah. My name is Ryan." I pause to look over at Lucas. "This is mine and Sabre's friend, Lucas. We all are not from anywhere around here, so we are learning a lot about everything here." Lucas gives a nod as I introduce him and I look to Sabre. The group of kids all look mystified at all of us, then the Young Violet smiles and nods. "Well, if you need any help finding your way around, my friend Xaxa knows every inch of the kingdom! He's really nice as well! He should be around here, look for the off-color patch of blue skin on his face!" The Violet says as the group waves us goodbye and runs back to play their game.

I can't help but smile and look at my friends. That interaction reminded me of the simplicities of youth. It was nice.

"Well, we should probably find this Xaxa so we don't get lost." Lucas comments, then looks at both Sabre and I. We both nod in agreement, then Lucas leads the charge in stepping through the crowd of Violet Steves.

Yet for a moment, I felt a tingling on my neck.

I look up towards the rooftops in time to see a glint of white fabric drop from a roof in the distance.

Someone had been watching us.