Reader's Regrets

By the standards of Castle Town, you were practically in charge, not because you held any official title, but because you had been there long before most of the residents. You had arrived just after the abandoned closet had transformed into a bustling kingdom, before every spare building found its purpose, and before the Delta Warriors started bringing Darkners from different Darkworlds back with them. You quietly settled into the little routines that kept the kingdom functioning. Lighting lanterns, cleaning the streets, replacing loose shingles and bricks after particularly enthusiastic battles, and organizing empty rooms that somehow became disasters again within a week.

Ralsei had initially named you the groundskeeper, but Susie jokingly called you Castle Town's assistant mayor one day, and the title stuck like glue, despite Ralsei’s insistence that "groundskeeper" sounded significantly more respectable. Everyone else had picked Suie’s idea, and at some point, your title evolved into Assistant Mayor. You had no idea who had even promoted you, and you had stopped asking.

So, when Kris, Susie, and Ralsei returned with a bouquet of flowers that began wilting in Castle Town's darkness, your mind jumped immediately to logistics. You disappeared before anyone even fully explained the situation. Within minutes, you were sprinting out of Castle Town’s darkness and back into the school building with an armful of extension cords and a big glass aquarium and managing to convince Susie to help haul enough heat lamps to recreate the surface of the sun.

The darkners watched as you raced in and out, balancing increasingly ridiculous piles of supplies while nearly tripping over your own feet every other minute. Blue observed the spectacle with fascinated eyes, while Yellow held his hat tightly against his chest. They were worried about how much things would change when they were brought here.

By the time the lamps transformed one corner of Castle Town into a pleasantly warm sanctuary, you had somehow assembled shelves, flower pots, watering cans, blankets, and enough cushions to make the area resemble a greenhouse crossed with a cozy living room. Only then did you remember to introduce yourself.

Blue bowed gracefully, the petals of his tutu nearly brushing the floor. "My, what a devoted keeper you are. We had scarcely arrived, yet you have already woven sunlight into a home." Yellow tipped his hat with an earnest smile that made your heart skip a beat. "You’ve been runnin' around like a busy little ladybug. Mighty thankful."

You scratched the back of your neck, suddenly embarrassed by the attention. You tell them it wasn't really anything for you. Blue looked around the little sanctuary you had practically built in an afternoon. "I fear our definitions of 'anything' differ tremendously."

The bouquet settled in surprisingly quickly, but one problem remained. space. One evening, while doing your actual job and gardening outside the school, you found yourself staring into the closet’s single window. The frame stretched deep into the wall, sucking in all the sunlight into its darkest dark, with flowers already growing naturally between the stonework outside. You figured out a solution.

By the next morning, you had begun moving furniture. Blue found you halfway through carrying an absurdly oversized planter by yourself. "Bouncing blue butterflies… are you truly doing this all alone?" You nearly dropped the half-tangled bundles of rope in your haste to answer. You tell him wanted to be finished before the children came back. Without another word, Blue quietly picked up the rope from your arms, folding it into a clean bundle with practiced ease. Not long afterward, Yellow wandered over, carrying three times your load with complete ease. Neither of them commented when you almost fell off the stairs because you were too busy thanking them, and neither of them stopped smiling.

By sunset, the enormous cliff had transformed into something entirely different. Glass surrounded the space on three sides, while warm sunlight poured across the polished stone. Flower beds lined the edges, and comfortable chairs overlooked Castle Town below, with blankets covering every available surface. Blue stepped into the light and slowly turned in place, his petals shimmering. "Our very own house," he said. Yellow looked over the kingdom below with open wonder. "It sure feels like home."

From that point on, you visited constantly. At first you were there to check whether everything still worked properly, especially considering how often Aqua would damage things. But you also just enjoyed spending time in that space. Yellow, especially, seemed determined to make sure you never felt left out whenever you visited.

One afternoon, he carefully placed one of his revolvers into your hands before standing behind you and gently adjusting your grip with remarkable patience. His hands were that odd room-temperature texture you'd come to associate with the flowers, despite the cold metal of the gun, and he took the time to position each of your fingers until everything felt comfortable. "So, this here's the hammer," he explained, carefully guiding your thumb. "And this is where your finger goes. Don't squeeze until you're ready."

You stared at the revolver with profound uncertainty. "I've… actually never been in a battle before," you admitted. Yellow blinked, looking genuinely stunned. "Why never?" You sheepishly shook your head. You tell him that you're way too clumsy to be in combat; the only thing you fight are dirty floors. Yellow glanced at the same broom he'd seen you smack Mr. Lesser dad over the head with for bothering him and Blue too much, then smiled in that soft, uncomplicated way of his. "Well shoot. Then we'll just have to fix that."

The lesson became less about shooting and more about Yellow patiently encouraging you every time your aim drifted in increasingly impossible directions. You somehow managed to miss a stationary practice dummy from fifteen feet away, hit a watering can instead, and accidentally shoot straight through a few of Blue’s flowers. Yellow apologized profusely for messing up your lesson, for being such a terrible cowboy, and you had to stop him from burying himself alive. You end up begging him not to jump into the hole, asking who will enforce justice in the town if you can't even aim a gun? Your plea made his face warmer than the lamps ever could. Blue watched the entire tragedy from nearby, hands folded over the small smile on his face.

Later that evening, after everyone else had settled into quieter activities, you found yourself watching Blue rehearse elegant little spins across the floor. He moved so naturally that it looked effortless, every turn flowing into the next until it seemed as if the sunlight itself had decided to dance. You laughed quietly when he invited you to join him. You tell him you would trip over your own feet trying that, that you're about as graceful as a rusty rake. Blue stopped and looked at you as though you had just confessed that the sky wasn’t blue. "Why, sweetest Scarlet bloom?" He approached with one hand extended. “If you truly believe yourself talentless…” His smile softened into something impossibly gentle. “…then allow me the privilege of proving you skilled instead.”

You hesitated only long enough to place your hand in his. Blue guided you carefully, never rushing and never expecting perfection. Every awkward step received patient encouragement, and every stumble became another opportunity for him to steady you before you lost your balance. When you accidentally stepped on his foot for what felt like the hundredth time, he simply laughed quietly and spun you anyway, catching you with practiced ease before dipping you backward. For several long seconds, he just held you there. The world beyond the glass seemed very far away, and his face deepened into a distinctly darker shade of blue.

"You possess remarkable balance." You blinked in surprise. You remind him that you almost fell.

“And yet…” His smile grew impossibly fond. “…you did not.”

Nearby, Yellow watched the entire dance lesson. After you had gone home, promising to return tomorrow, Blue found Yellow watering the same flowers you had shredded like Green’s cheese around the corner. Neither noticed Flowery’s recovering form, who was pretending to sleep on the rocking chair nearby.

Blue folded his hands together thoughtfully, opening his eyes to smile at his partner. “Yellow, I see you've enjoyed spending time with the lovely rose.”

Yellow nodded before Blue had even finished. “Yeah. They're a real smart one."

“They are wonderfully earnest, almost as much as you.”

“You two looked real pruddy together.”

Blue smiled to himself. "Oh, did we now?”

Yellow rubbed the back of his neck beneath his hat. “I think so.”

Blue glanced sideways. "Well, I think you two appeared truly dashing earlier too, trying to save my little buds."

Yellow looked sheepish. “I reckons you would have done a better job with them than a’ me.”

Blue laughed softly. “But who would guide their fingers so gently through the motions of justice?"

Neither flower noticed Flowery smiling into his blanket, doing his best not to interrupt the budding bloom of affection. Unfortunately, someone else would. Rouxls Karrd appeared seemingly from nowhere. “Thy deepest congratulations!” Both flowers visibly flinched. “Thou art both hopelessly destined to become a throuple!”

Blue sighed, his smile slowly turning into a rare grimace, while Yellow nodded along, half confused. Rouxls continued on. "But thou hast no hope! I too have sought to woo the precious guardian of the people and have been cruelly denied!"

Blue looked positively scandalized, and Yellow’s face turned bright orange. Rouxls was chased away by a disgruntled Flowery before either flower could formulate a response. The scene was a little pathetic to look at, really, with an injured former dark world boss chasing after a worm of a person.

Silence settled over the glasshouse. Blue slowly looked toward Yellow, who slowly looked back, sweating buckets and eyes wide. Blue’s thoughtful expression gradually shifted into quiet consideration. "Well, he was certainly… comedic.”

Yellow blinked. “I don't means to be rude, but… I think there ain't nothin right about him botherin that rosebud at all!”

Blue tilted his head. “No dear nothing about that had a hint of joy at all; I simply wonder if the fool was chasing an admirable dream.”

Yellow considered that, his eyes widening. “…Huh?”

Blue pressed a hand thoughtfully against Yellow’s face. “Would it truly be so wrong to have a new part to our acts? A new partner in my recitals, a deputy for your jail?”

Yellow scratched his cheek. “I reckons it might not be.”

Blue looked down the path where you had disappeared down earlier, still carrying your broom over one shoulder, stumbling to the side confusedly as Rouxls Kaard fell down the steps past you, Flowery cracking a quick one-liner at you before stumbling down after him. Your laughter echoing like music to him. “Would it not be deserved to know how dearly the lone rose is admired?"

Yellow’s own smile matched his. “I reckon it ought to be law round these parts.”