“Higher!” Red shouted at the hot-headed Link as he pushed Red on the swingset. Blue flinched. He often found himself lost in the memory of what occurred 6 months prior at the Sage’s Hospital. He never knew when he’d slip into another shred of thought, but it always was a shock to be snapped out of memories. Blue did as Red “asked” but felt the need to reply.
“Why do I always have to be the one to push you?”
“Because I only have one arm, silly. There’s no way I could push you.” Blue sighed exasperatedly. Red had adapted well to both the physical and mental challenges of only having one real arm (Red did ask to receive a prosthetic, but was slightly disappointed when it “couldn’t shoot lasers” and “didn’t look like a cyborg arm”), and Blue was used to the idea that the thing attached to Red’s right shoulder wasn’t made of skin and bone and was just a combination of level-1 spells, wood, and metal, but why did he have to be so nonchalant about it?
“No,” he continued, “I mean why can’t you get Vio or Green or even Shadow to do this?”
“Cause they have important stuff to do.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Blue barked. Before Red could reply, the door to the back yard opened.
“Bickering again?” Shadow asked teasingly as he stepped onto the lawn, twirling the opened parasol above him, “I guess old habits do die hard.”
“Hey, get rid of the umbrella, then we’ll talk.” Blue replied.
“Didn’t Vio say you could stand sunlight now?” Red asked, trying to divert the conversation away from a fight.
“Yes, I did,” Vio responded, stepping from the doorway with a basket and blanket. “I don’t know why he still insists on using that parasol.” Shadow scoffed with fake offense.
“Because it was a gift from you! I’m not about to throw it away! ...besides I sunburn easily.” He responded. Red laughed.
“Well, I guess that makes sense then. What’s in the basket, Vi?”
“Hmm?” The addressed boy looked confused before he remembered the basket in his hand, “Oh, this? To commemorate his ability to be able to tolerate sunlight for a whole day, we’re having a picnic at the top of the rope course… apparently.” Vio rolled his eyes to show that none of this was his idea. Blue chuckled. He knew that most likely, Shadow had simply run up to Vio, handed him the objects, and told him of the plan without allowing the purple-garbed boy to object. Red gasped with a beaming smile on his face.
“Oh! Oh! Can I join you guys? I’m starving!” He jumped off the swing and ran towards the two dark-themed boys. “Pleeeeeease?” Vio turned his head to Shadow.
“I did pack enough food for all of us…” he added, obviously wanting the purple-haired boy to make the decision. Shadow hummed as he thought for a moment. He had wanted to spend a day with Vio, but… it was a celebration… so…
“Oh, alright. But if you come, Blue and Green have to come too.” Red gasped in excitement before taking off into the house. Blue casually walked up to the others.
“Great.” He puffed, “Now I have to help him up the rope course.” Shadow smirked at Blue.
“You’re welcome,” the boy in black commented before pivoting and walking towards the playground. He raised his right hand above his head, snapped, and then pointed forward. Vio sighed.
“See you up there,” he called back to Blue as he followed Shadow. The boys, with some difficulty (Shadow still had his parasol and Vio still had the basket and blanket) worked their way up the rope course as Blue went inside to help Red persuade Green that a picnic was absolutely necessary.
“Wow,” Shadow breathed in astonishment as he stood at the top of the Crowe’s Nest, “this is perfect.” The circular floor he stood on exactly matched the length of the white blanket Vio had brought. The wood paneling that served as a fence around the perimeter was high enough to feel safe looking over it, but low enough for Shadow to comfortably rest his arms on. A slide let out from one of the walls, but Vio showed Shadow that there was a circular disc of wood that one could put in place to cover the plastic chute, so there would be no worries of accidentally leaning too far back.
“Have I never shown you this before?” Vio asked as he lay the blanket out.
“No, every time I asked, I couldn’t go outside.” Shadow spun his parasol, “but I can see why you like it here so much.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. Can you help me spread this out?” Shadow moved to help his closest teammate. They had just finished when three voices broke the peaceful silence.
“I didn’t need help; I’ve climbed that rope course a bunch of times before.” Red pouted as he stepped onto the wood floor.
“Hey! You were the one complaining about how hard it was! What did you think I would do?” Blue shouted as he began pulling himself up.
“To be fair, you could’ve asked if he wanted help before carrying him over your shoulder up here.” Green called from somewhere below the other two.
“Nobody asked you!” Blue turned and shouted over the edge of the entrance to the Crowe’s Nest. Shadow made eye-contact with Vio and shook his head.
“You get used to it,” the wise Link reassured the newest teammate as he began unpacking the basket. It wasn’t long until the other four had sat down; Shadow to Vio’s right, Red between Shadow and Blue, and Green to Vio’s left.
“So,” Green began, rubbing his hands together, “what’s for lunch?” Shadow smiled at his teammates.
“It’s a regular meal from the Shadow Realm: black forest ham sandwiches with black forest cake for dessert.” Red smiled gleefully.
“That sounds great!” He began. After a moment of thought, he suddenly asked, “What’s it like living in the Shadow Realm?” Vio gave Red a warning look. “What? It’s a legitimate question!” Shadow chuckled as he began passing out the food.
“Tell you what, if you can hold your breath for a whole minute, I’ll tell you.” Vio slapped Shadow across the back of his head.
“Play nice or we won’t be doing this again anytime soon.” Red, who had already counted to 10, gasped from both excitement and lack of air.
“Can we really do this again? This is fun!” Vio chuckled. He leaned over to tousle Red’s hair (forcing Shadow to lean back slightly) before responding.
“Sure. We’ll do this again, but let’s finish this food before we make plans for next time.”
It had been 6 months since the incident, but now, looking around as his fellow colors, and one monochrome, bickered and argued and laughed, Green couldn’t help but smile lovingly.
“What are you smirking about?” Vio asked him, detaching himself from the argument about nonsense that occurred to his right. Green’s face only brightened more.
“With all that’s happened, Vio, days like this can still occur. That’s enough to smile for, right?” The corner of Vio’s mouth twitched upwards.
“Well then, Mr. Philosopher. You get to cook next time.”
