Four Swords Sanctuary

"My way's more fun," Shadow replied, unrepentant.

"You can't really argue it's outside of Harvest Festival tradition," Vio pointed out, inclining his head toward a group of children who were running past, their faces hidden behind snarling masks.

"We probably wouldn't have gotten out if you hadn't busted a hole in the wall anyway," said Red, plucking a piece of straw from the back of Blue's tunic for him. "Given our track record with navigation..."

"Ugh, don't remind me."

Shadow was still snickering when Green and Zelda returned to the group with drinks. He accepted the cup Zelda handed to him and raised it to his lips — expecting, perhaps, more of the apple cider they'd drunk earlier in the day. Instead, he only had a moment to process the cold fizz of carbonation before he was dumped head-first into a memory.

Sugar and bubbles bursting on his tongue; something that felt very similar singing through his chest. The smell of fire, of volcanic ash. The sound of partying Hinoxes, loud but distant, muffled. A balcony, a horizon, a starry sky, and Vio—

"This is evil root beer," he realized aloud.

"'Evil' root beer?" Zelda repeated, eyebrow raised.

"We drank this at the Fire Temple," Shadow clarified.

"Oh, you mean the contents of the Hyrule Castle cellars, which you stole." Zelda's voice could have rivaled the Gerudo Desert for dryness, but there was a spark of amusement in her eyes.

"There's nothing especially evil about it," Green said, looking down into his own cup dubiously. "It's just root beer."

"Well, it was stolen," Vio said with a shrug, taking a sip of his own drink.

"In that case I guess this isn't evil root beer," said Red. "Because we didn't steal these."

Shadow eyed the others' cups speculatively. Zelda leaned away from him and Blue gave him a 'don't even think about it' look, but Shadow just shrugged, reached over, and snatched Vio's cup right out of his hands. Vio didn't so much as blink before reaching back to steal Shadow's original cup.

"There," Shadow said, voice echoing into the cup as he raised it to take a drink. "Now it's evil root beer."

There was laughing, and eye rolling, and a couple fake grossed-out faces. Then Red set about making a fire, and Green pulled out a bag of some squishy white sweets that were apparently meant to be speared on sticks and burned before eating.

The front door slammed open, and Red strode in, an air of displeasure rolling of the fae in waves. “I never want to hear the words pumpkin spiced latte ever again.”Vio looked down at the two cups in their hands with an exaggerated frown. “So then, I’m guessing you don’t want this.”Red rolled their eyes and held out a hand, making a gimmie motion with it as he dropped her bag on the table with the other. “Shut the fuck up and give me my caffeine, Vi.”

“Here, here, don’t take my head off.” Vio handed one of the cups over with a laugh, holding their own to their chest as Red took a sip of his.

There were a few moments of pause as she enjoyed the latte, before it responded. “Mmm, pumpkiny goodness.” Looking at the familiar logo on the cups for the first time, he frowned. “Hey, Vivi?”

“Hmm?” Vio looked up from their own cup, still just holding it absentmindedly. “Yeah Red?”

“Who made this?”

There was a pause, as Vio debated on how to answer. “My absolute favorite barista, why.”“Because if you tell me you ordered in to have me make it before I left I might start reevaluating the last century and a half.” Red shifted, one hand going to rest on their hip while he gave her partner an exaggerated pout.

“Good thing I wasn’t going to say that.” Red raised an eyebrow at them. “Alright, fine. But in my defense, I though you had already clocked out.”

Red scrunched his face further, leveling them with a glare that anyone who didn’t know her might fold under. Luckily for Vio, they did know it well, and instead just responded with a half hearted smile, until Red finally beamed back. “Yeah, that’s fair. They held onto me for almost a whole extra half an hour, since Blue got stuck in traffic.”

“Blue?” Vio looked up at the name, surprise written all over their face.

“Yea, Blue.” Red raised an eyebrow at them. “I know you’ve heard me talk about him before? She’s the cute afternoon manager that always takes over for me, and complains about her partners ganging up to prank him?”

“Blue, the werewolf?” Vio could not believe the coincidence, grilling their partner to be sure it was the same person they had met this morning. “With the blonde pigtails, dip dyed black tips that make them look like paintbrushes.”

“Alright, now I know somethings up. because I never told you that. But yes, Blue the werewolf.” Red responded with a laugh. “Oh and the dye is new. I think one of her partners did it like, last night.”Vio nodded in agreement, before continuing on with their point. “Biology is one of his partners.”

“No fucking way!” Red’s excited grin was infections, but Vio wasn’t done just yet.

“Yeah.” They put their coffee down. “And you will never in a million years guess who the other one is.”

“Who?” Red clutched their own drink closer, excitement and confusion both clear on his face.Vio paused, wanting, but unsure of how, to explain who Red’s crushes’ boyfriend was. After a moment, they decided to just rip the band-aid off. “Green.”

“Green.” Red tilted her head. “As in, as in, Green?”

“Yeah.” Vio’s answer was more of a sigh, then an actual word.

“No fucking way!” Red’s giddy excitement had been replaced with something much more steady. “Vio! That’s awesome!” Vio’s response was a dry chuckle, that had Red frowning. “That is a good thing, right.”

“Yeah, yeah, its a good thing, Cherry.” They finally took a sip of their own drink, making a face and putting it down immediately after.

“Buuuuut?” Red pressed. He knew his partner well, if it just left it be, they would go into their study and ignore whatever part of this was bothering them. “Something about its still eating you.”

“Nothing new.” Vio offered Red a morose smile. “I guess seeing the ghost of the fiance you accidentally killed is bound to drag out some bad memories, is all.”

The smile Red gave back was equally somber, as she put her own drink down and moved to pull Vio into a hug. They leaned into it, wrapping their arms around Red’s lower back, to avoid his wings. The two of them stayed like that for a few moments, before Red whispered. “What did Green say about it?”

Vio’s laugh sounded of unshed tears. “He looked like he didn’t even realize it had been me who did it, but he said it wasn’t my fault.”

“He’s right.” They kissed the top of Vio’s head. “You never should have been left alone right after turning. None of that was your fault.”

“You and I both know that’s not entirely true.” Vio pulled back just enough to look up at Red. “I’m the dumb ass who decided it was a good idea to go chase down a vampire a week before my wedding.”

Red chortled at that. “Yeah, well, that may have not been the best idea, but what happened after you were bit is on the vampire who did it.”

“Yeah. Still not sure why they even let me live at all.” Vio added with a shrug.

“I dunno,” Red smiled at them, “But I’m really glad they did.”

“Yeah, me too.” Vio frowned again, clearly thinking. “Does ‘till death do we part’ still count if we’re both already dead?”

Red raised an eyebrow at the question, amused half grin on his face. “You know, I’m not sure. Maybe we should look into it.”