#splitting barely fitting

“So, let me get this straight..”Red paused, her eyes still fixed onto Vio’s face. “You’ve been living in the fire temple since Shadow’s death—a death you claim was your fault—and had an accident which resulted in you losing your hand last week. Oh, and let’s not talk about your unhealthy eating habits during that time. Is that right?” Vio winced, sheepishly nodding. “That…is correct, yes.” “Okay,”Red took a breath, shutting her eyes before they snapped back open. “Why in the world didn’t you contact us?” “Um…well, for a while, I assumed you all still hated my guts, so there’s that.”Vio stated simply, playing with the cloth on the table. “I thought you all…wished that you’d never see me again.” “Oh, Vio—we looked for you for months..”Red frowned gently. “We didn’t even want to stop but we had to.” “...yeah. Green mentioned that.”Vio sighed, glancing up at Red. “I’m sorry.” “You disappear on us, for a long time, let us believe you’re dead, lose a hand, and you say you’re sorry?”Red deadpanned, clearly unimpressed. “...yes?”Vio winced, a nervous grin on their face. The response was met by three sighs from their companions. “..was…that the wrong answer?” “Yes, you idiot. What happened to you being smart?” “I’m still smarter than you lot.” “That isn’t exactly a challenge.”Blue shrugged loosely. “We’re fucking dumbasses.” “I’ll drink to that.”Vio laughed softly. “So…um. Should we head home?”Red smiled. Blue nodded slightly, glancing at Green. “Are you coming with, or going back to the castle?” “I probably need to tell Zelda that Vio isn’t actually dead.” “Oh, yeah, I forgot you all thought I was dead.” A beat of silence before, “Vio, we were talking about it less than five minutes ago.” “Oh, really?” “Yeah.” “..oh.” Red frowned, then shook her head and stood up, blowing the candles out. “Well, let’s go! Greenie, are you fine with Vivi using your bed til we get one for them?” “I never use it anyways.”Green shrugged as he got up. “Hey, make sure Vio bandages that up.” “We know what to do, Green.”Blue deadpanned, locking the bakery door behind them as the four of them stepped outside. “By ‘make sure’, I mean force the fucker.”Green clarified bluntly, and Blue nodded along. “Ah, got it.” Red sighed gently, grabbing Vio’s hand and walking ahead of the other two. “It’s nice to have you back, Vivi. We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”She smiled, to which Vio faintly returned the gesture. “Hey, Red, um…”Vio began, trailing off as they struggled to find words. “I have a question.” “And I probably have an answer!”Red laughed, swinging their arms. “Why…why do you care that I’m not dead? You’ve done well for yourself…all I did was cause problems. I’ll probably just make more problems for people to hate me for, anyways. Why not just let me go back to the fire temple?” “O..kay, so, that was more than one question. However! I have your answers. We care because we love you, you’re our friend. The fire temple isn’t a good place to live in, Vivi, you could get sick or worse! Plus, we want you here with us.” “Oh.” “Oh?” “...I didn’t expect that,”Vio admitted, shrugging loosely. “I mean—I obviously know the fire temple was a terrible decision for a place to stay for an extended period of time, but…I didn’t expect you guys to want me here. After all I’ve done..” “Well…we all do dumb things when we like someone.”Red whistled lowly, giggling when Vio’s face lit up. “Did you think we didn’t know?” “Know what?”Vio coughed, looking away nervously. “You liked Shadow. Maybe you still do…but we did notice it. He seemed to like you back, too!” “I sure hope so.”Vio muttered under their breath. “Um…thanks for not…acting like I’m insane. I’m sure everyone else would if they knew.” “People thought me and Blue were weird too, everyone was convinced we were all siblings.” “We aren’t even related, though?” “Yeah, people seem to struggle with that. Anyways! We’d never act like you’re insane.” “It wouldn’t really be acting anyways.”Blue piped up, grinning when Vio laughed at the comment. “You think I’m insane?” “No,”Blue paused, humming. “I know you are.” “Blue—”Red huffed, but fell quiet when Vio continued to laugh. She missed seeing Vio, and seeing them smile is nice. “Because Vio is laughing, I won’t get mad at you for that.”Red sighed. Vio smiled faintly, letting out a breath once they’d calmed down. “Well, you are talking to the idiot who cut their own hand off.”Vio mumbled, wincing when Red and Blue both froze up. “That's how you lost it?!” “...oops, did I not say that originally?” “No, Vi, you said there was an accident. Not that you cut it off yourself.”Blue deadpanned. “What the fuck?” “Oh. I thought I’d said it was myself…my bad, then.”Vio laughed, shrugging. “I cut it off myself, in a poor attempt to revive Shadow. I had read that, to bring someone back from the dead, a part of my body would aid in it. Maybe I did it wrong..” “Hold on—you do necromancy now too?”Red frowned, staring at Vio. “I…yes, I’ve been practising it for a while now.”Vio paused. “Is…is that weird?” “A little, yeah.” “Oh. Okay.”Vio hummed, heading into the house after Red and Blue unlocked the door and went in. “I can make you a new hand, if you want.”Blue glanced at Vio, wincing when Red pinched his cheek. “You won’t be doing anything until your wrist is healed!” “Well no shit, Red.”Blue rolled his eyes, sighing. “When I can get back to work, I’ll make it. You might have to come to the shop with me, though, so I can make it right.” “Oh, okay..”Vio nodded, glancing around the home. It’s relatively small, but it’s not claustrophobic. It’s actually a comfortable kind of small. …if that makes any sense. The walls are a standard beige, and the floorboards are dark oak, but there’s a few rugs scattered around. The rugs were all in all four of their colours—the purple ones were no doubt gifts from Zelda, as purple is very expensive and only nobles and royals even had permission to purchase such a colour—and they were in various different shapes and sizes. “Green said you can take his bed, but…are you comfortable with that?” Vio paused, eyes trailing to Blue and they winced once they saw Blue’s knowing look. “You knew.” “I’m not a complete idiot, Vi.” “Are you sure about that?”Vio grinned, poking Blue’s side teasingly. “Ay—” Vio snorted softly, then sighed. “To answer your question, I’m comfortable with it.” “You sure?” “Mhm! I’m sure.” Red blinked, grabbing the med kit as she made Vio sit on the couch. “Do you two know something I don’t?” “How could you not know? I know you’re not the sharpest blade in the shop, but c’mon Red.”Blue sighed, shaking his head. “Vio and Green had a thing before Vio’s fake-betrayal.” “Oh…”Red blinked, then gasped. “Oh!! That makes so much sense now!” “It’s why Green was so—”Blue paused, glancing at Red. “Permission to swear?” “...hesitantly granted.” “Thanks. It’s why Green was so pissed when he saw Vio with Shadow.” “He did seem a little mad.” “A little? He was more than a little mad. He chose the violence route.” “Ha. Violence.”Vio grinned, their grin widening when Red laughed and Blue cracked a smile. “You’re fucking weird,” “And I embrace it.” Red giggled softly, carefully bandaging Vio’s wrist up. “It’s good to have you back. It’s tough having the braincell, can you take it back now?”She pouted, and Vio nodded. “Of course. Thank you for keeping it away from dumb and dumber.” Red stood back up when she’d finished her work, pulling Vio up. “C’mon! Um, if you don’t like the fact the covers are green, we have some blankets you can put over it. They’re white, but better than nothing! We’ll probably have to ask Zellie for purple themed things, but she loves us so she’d agree.” Vio nodded along, following her into the bedroom. The house is a one-bedroom house, so the beds are in the same room, but Vio doesn’t mind. In the far corner is a single bed with mint green sheets and sage green covers. It looks untouched. On the other side of the room is a double bed with red and blue patterned covers, along with a simple white bed sheet. “Yeah we’re…looking to get a bigger house. Even more reason to now that we’re all together again, right?”Red smiled. “Where does Green sleep if not here?”Vio mumbled, an eyebrow slightly raised. “Oh! In the castle.” “His job requires it,”Blue added with a loose shrug. “He’s never here long enough.” “Ah.”Vio nodded, sitting down on the bed quietly. They haven’t been in a real bed for so long…they forgot how comfortable they are. If it could, their back would be thanking them for finally sleeping in a bed. “Vio, why do you look like you’ve never been on a mattress before?”Blue snorted, snapping the other out of their daze. “I..uh. Well, there wasn’t,,,exactly a bed in the fire temple—well, there was, but it was Shadow’s and it felt wrong for me to sleep in his bed—and, well, basically, I haven’t really been in a bed or on a mattress for months.” “Oh, that’s so sad.”Red pouted, rushing over and pulling Vio into a hug. “Why didn’t you take the bed? I know Shadow was…important to you, but he wouldn’t have minded.” “I know he wouldn’t have, it's just…he’s gone, Red. It felt wrong, especially because of what I did to him..” “You did what you had to. And Shadow chose to do what he did, that isn’t on you.” “...it feels like it is. I should’ve—maybe I could have convinced him to work with us, in a way that didn’t involve me abandoning you three..” “Oh, Vio…” “He liked drawing. Maybe if I’d convinced him, he coulda been a professional. He was good enough to be.” “He liked drawing?”Blue hummed, subtly asking Vio to elaborate. Vio nodded and quietly grabbed Shadow’s sketchbook from their bag, opening it once Red and Blue sat on the bed on both sides of them. “He did it in the little free time we got. He uh…had a preference.”Vio mumbled, embarrassed as they flipped the pages, encountering a few drawings of the violet hero pretty quickly. Quite a lot of them were drawn when Vio was asleep—looking peaceful, which is the rarest state for Vio to be in—but there were the odd few drawn when Vio was awake. The one they were looking at right now…Vio loves it, in a weird way. It was from one of their dates—one Vio chose, which also means there was no arson involved—and it appeared to have been drawn when Vio was talking about something. Their head was tilted back, seemingly staring up at something. Now, the drawing wasn’t coloured, but Shadow can make something really detailed only using various blacks, greys and whites. Somehow, Shadow had made Vio’s eyes seem to shine, and he seemed to be observant, if the small details were anything to go by. Vio was smiling in the drawing, and Shadow had remembered to add their dimple, along with freckles scattered across the hylians face. If you looked close enough, he’d even caught Vio’s slightly crooked teeth. They’re not really an obvious thing—you have to really look to see it—but also Shadow did have his tongue in their mouth a lot so maybe he felt that they weren’t straight. Vio let out a breathy laugh, thumb tracing over the little heart in the corner. They had a lot of time these past few months, and they’d looked at this sketchbook many times. The hearts were only on pages with Vio drawn on them. It was sweet, really. …Shadow loved them. He—He said it once, but Vio hadn’t wanted to believe it, knowing what they had to do. So they told him to shut up. They told him not to say it, and Shadow listened. Vio wishes they could hear it again. Just one more time. “Vivi?”Red frowned, shaking the other slightly. “Are you okay? You zoned out…” “Oh.”Vio frowned, then shrugged. “Got lost thinkin. He’s a great artist, ain’t he?” “He was, yeah.”Blue hummed. “It’s super detailed. Shit, Vi, he noticed your teeth.” “You notice it too?”Vio winced, glancing at Blue, who quickly shook his head. “No, Vi. It’s not obvious, promise.”He reassured, continuing when Vio seemed less anxious. “All four of us have slightly crooked teeth, Vi. Link had ‘em.” “Really..? I never noticed.”Red blinked, tilting her head. “Yeah. All of us have it, but nobody usually notices. The fact Shadow did…” “He liked looking at me.”Vio mumbled quietly with a soft sigh. “It was one of his favourite things. He’d let me talk and just—watch me. Not enough to be creepy or uncomfortable, but enough that he noticed little things about me. Fuck, he noticed a lot—did you know my left ear is shorter than my right ear?” “Is it?”The two blinked, clearly surprised by this. “I didn’t…know that.” “I didn’t either! Shadow was the one who pointed it out to me. He noticed my ears, my dimple, my teeth…he noticed everything except the fact I was lying to him.” “Well it’s…it’s good he didn’t notice that, right?” A silence. “My plan failed anyways,”Vio shrugged. “Guess I forgot he knows my sleep pattern and that he’s clingy.” “Um…Vivi? You keep…talking about Shadow like he’s still here, I think…” “You should get some rest, maybe? You’ve had one hell of a night.” Vio sighed, nodding and placing the sketchbook on a shelf, slipping into Green’s—their?—bed as Red and Blue headed over to their own. “Hey Vi?” “Mhm?” “It’s good to have you back.” Vio cracked a smile, staring up at the ceiling as they waited for sleep to take them.

Vio let out a small noise as they awoke to sunlight shining into their eyes. It took them a second to remember where they were, but when they came to they slipped out of bed and headed out of the bedroom. “Mornin Vi—or, well, afternoon, but who really cares?”Blue snorted, glancing over. “It’s the afternoon?” “Yeah, Red said to just let you sleep.” “Oh.” “Yeah. Anyways, go steal some of Green’s clothes. We’re going out today.” Vio winced. “Do I have to?” “Yes.” Vio sighed, but headed back to the room and dug out some clothes. They found a pair of pants just short enough in the legs to fit, but too big in the waist so they’d need a makeshift belt—which they used some of the black cloth they had to make one—and a green sweater that was a tad too big. They still don’t have shoes.. “Why do I have to go out today?”Vio mumbled as they walked back to Blue. “Vi, honey, you need to get new clothes.” “But—the ones I had are fine?”Vio frowned, tilting their head. “No they aren't.”Blue sighed heavily. “Look—Zelda said she'll help us get you clothes in your colour, alright? She dropped everything else for this.” “Oh...”Vio winced, realising how bad it'd be if they blew her off after she gave up everything else for the day. “...fine, but only because I'd feel bad.” “Atta boy.”Blue grinned, getting playfully shoved by Vio. Vio isn't really sure they want purple clothes. Sure, it's their colour—their name is Violet for crying out loud—but... They kinda want some black. “What're you thinking so damn hard about?” “Colours. Not us—actual colours. Or, is it a shade? I think it's a shade. Blue, I don't really think I want to wear just purple anymore.” “You want black too, don't you?” “Is it that obvious?”Vio whined, crossing their arms. “Yes. It's very obvious.” “Oh—fine. Yes, I was thinking about getting some black.”Blue let out a laugh, and nodded. “Then you can get some. You're the one that's gonna be wearing it anyways.” Vio cracked a small, crooked smile as the two headed out the door. Maybe it won’t be so bad—Vio has Blue with them, Blue wouldn’t put them in a bad situation. Blue wouldn’t. Despite everything, Blue is sweet and kind and considerate and he’d never do anything to make anyone uncomfortable or hurt them. He’s gotten better. Blue used to lash out a lot more than he does now—at least, that’s what Green said—which means Blue’s found another outlet. Vio just wonders what exactly that outlet is. “Hey, berry?” “That’s a nickname I haven’t heard in a while. What’s up, Vi?” “You seem calmer than you used to be. What’s your outlet?” “Outlet?” “...and you don’t know what I mean. Sigh.” “Did you just say sigh instead of sighing?” “I did, yes. An outlet, something you do instead of—in your case—breaking something.” “Oh.”Blue blinked, then shrugged. “I took your advice, flower. I read when I get mad now.” “Really?”Vio smiled faintly. “That’s great!” “Yeah, ‘cept one thing. I need glasses to read. Fuckin hate that—hey, thinkin ‘bout it, where are your glasses? Don’t you need ‘em all the time?” “Oh, uh, yeah I do but um. See, the lenses…the lenses kinda broke.” “They broke?” “Yep.” “...you fucking moron.” “I know.” “We gotta get you some new ones…so, new hand, new clothes, new glasses, new shoes…anything else?” Vio let out a laugh, shaking their head. “Don’t think so.” “Fuckin good.”Blue laughed, lightly shoving Vio. “You’re a nightmare.” “Don’t wanna make things easy for you.”They teased, a grin on their face. “Nothing is ever easy with you.” “Good.” Blue snorted, glancing at the side and gently grabbing Vio’s hand, walking over to where the princess was waiting. “Hey, Zel.” “Green wasn’t lying.”Zelda mumbled, pulling Vio into a hug. “You’re here, you’re—you’re alive.” “Ah, yeah, alive as I can be…hi, Zelda.”Vio mumbled quietly, awkwardly letting her hug them. “Good to see ya.” “So you were in the fire temple this whole time? No wonder we couldn’t find you..”Zelda mused, letting go of the other. “I didn’t want to be found, and knew none of you would look there because of how obvious it would have been for me.” “Why didn’t you want us to find you?”She frowned, walking with the duo. Vio fell quiet, looking at their feet as they walked. Why didn’t they want the others to find them? …they aren’t sure. They’ll say it’s because they thought everyone hated them, that they thought everyone would want them dead upon sight, but—they’re lying, and…honestly? Vio doesn’t even believe their own lies. They don’t know how they can pass those lies off if they don’t even believe them. “I don’t know. Just…didn’t.”Vio eventually sighed out, eyes darting to the side. Vio was terrified of seeing them all again until Green found them. Now, they kinda regret even disappearing. “Well…no matter, you’re here now. We have a lot to talk about.”Zelda smiled warmly. “But, I’m assuming you’ve already talked about your lack of hand, so I won’t question that further.” “Thank the goddesses. It’s the first thing any of these three noticed.” “To be fair, when you left you had both hands intact.”Blue snorted. “True, true, I’ll give you that one.” Zelda let out a sigh, frowning. “Why didn’t you tell someone where you were going?” “Because you guys would either follow me, or constantly show up to check on me.”Vio sighed. “It was for the best. None of you needed to see me living like that. I…don’t think Shadow would’ve appreciated me letting you guys in there anyways.” “I don’t think he woulda appreciated you doing this to yourself either, flower.” Vio fell quiet, realising that…yeah, Blue is right. Shadow was the type who got worried if Vio got a small bruise, he would hate to know what Vio’s done to theirself. Shadow had freaked out one night because a firefly had landed on Vio, and Vio had to explain that fireflies aren’t harmful. “But they’ve got fire in their name?”Shadow had frowned, causing Vio to chuckle. “They’re not made of fire or anything, dahl. They’re safe. Trust me.” Shadow had paused, blinked slowly, then nodded. “Okay. I trust you, Vivi.” Vio smiled, pulling out an empty bottle and seeming to talk to the fireflies. “Hello. My friend can’t touch you due to you being so light. Would you mind going into my bottle so he can see you closer? I will not keep you there for longer than five minutes.” Shadow watched curiously, lips twitching up into a smile as Vio seemed to have persuaded the fireflies into the bottle. Vio would kill to see Shadow illuminated by fireflies again. “...he would’ve hated what I’ve done. Y’know, he thought fireflies were dangerous cause they have fire in their name.” “Oh, you’re kidding. Please tell me you’re joking.”Blue bit his lip, biting back laughter. “Nope. He got scared once cause I had a couple land on me. Thought I was gonna burn alive or somethin.” Zelda let out a laugh, walking into a clothes shop with the two. “You two seem to have been close.” “...yeah. I know it’s probably bad considering the whole…‘tried to take over Hyrule’ thing, but he was a good person underneath that. He just…never got to show other people that part of him.” “But you saw it?” “Yeah. Underneath all that angst and anger? Total. Fucking. Dork.”Vio laughed, letting Zelda pull a few things to see how they’d look on Vio. “Dork? How big of a dork?”Blue hummed, raising a brow. “Massive dork. He had a lot of books in the fire temple. He liked talking about things—the guy loved talking about dragons. He knew more about them than I did..” Vio loved listening to Shadow ramble, too, because it was the side of the shade that nobody else got to see—only Vio. Only Vio got to see Shadow getting excited and worked up over things he was passionate about, and it was wonderful. Vio could—and did—listen to Shadow talk for hours on end and never get bored. It was oddly soothing. It was rare, really rare, to see Shadow light up whenever they asked him a random, obscure question, so they did it as often as possible. “I think dahl just liked to talk.” “Dahl?” “Oh, umm, sorry—I used to call Shadow dahlia, or just dahl, cause the flowers suit him.” “Ah, I see. Like how you and Blue call each other flower and berry?”Zelda giggled when the two shot her a surprised look. “Yes, I’d noticed. Here, Vio—go try these on.” Vio let out a gentle sigh. “I still think this is pointless.”They mumbled as Blue walked them to the changing room. “Flower, in the nicest way fucking possible, you need your own clothes and your old ones will be way too damn big now.” “I’m not that small.” “You’re 4’3. But I wasn’t talking about height, Vi…you’ve lost a scary amount of weight.” “...ah. Guess I have. I…hadn’t noticed.” Blue let out a sigh, sitting on the other side of the curtain that acted as a door to the changing room. “Red’s made it her personal mission to get you to a healthy weight again.” “Oh, really?”Vio hummed, hanging the clothes up and trailing their eyes along them. “Yup,”Blue continued as Vio picked up one of the skirts—of course they picked this out. They know me so well—and stared at it. The skirt is a soft lilac, with little embroidered flowers on it. Vio decided they’ll try this on first. “Said she won’t stop til you’re healthy.” “Is that so? Who’s to say I’m not healthy?”Vio chuckled, removing their current outfit and slipping the skirt on, along with a black silk dress shirt. “Who do you think would buy that?” “Absolutely nobody.”Vio laughed, grinning when Blue laughed along. “...so. Did you get my letter?”Blue mumbled after a little while, and Vio let out a soft noise as they picked another outfit at random to try on—this one was a plain, white shirt with a pair of black shorts. “I did. I…still have it. Never opened it.” “Never opened it?” “Nope. I was…scared, I guess. That it’d tell me not to ever show my face again.” “Vi, I wouldn’t have sent you a letter if I felt like that.”Blue deadpanned. “I know, I know, but I’m basically the definition of anxiety, berry.”Vio huffed, staring in the mirror for a while before sighing and removing the new clothes, putting their old ones back on. …Vio doesn’t feel like trying the rest on, so they’re just going to buy the two they tried on already. Stepping out, Vio shot Blue a faint smile as Blue took the two outfits Vio handed over. “I’m not even surprised you went with these two.”Blue snorted, cupping Vio’s face with his hand. “Okay. We’re gonna buy these, then go and get you some new shoes, okay?” Vio nodded along, eyes briefly shutting as Blue stroked their cheek with his thumb before pulling back. They don’t like being touched, not really, but the others, Zelda and Shadow are the exceptions. They feel safe with them. …mostly. As safe as they can feel with this dysfunctional mess. Shadow was a power hungry psycho who desperately needed friends and got more than he’d bargained for, Blue has major anger issues, Red is a bit too touchy-feely, Green is…a bitter ex—for understandable reasons, of course, the way Vio broke up with him was absolutely vile, even by their standards—and Zelda is the poor soul stuck in this mess. Honestly, the fact Zelda is still here is a miracle in itself. Still, Vio worries this is an act. They worry that the others are simply pretending to forgive them, and that they’ll turn on them. Vio has a love-hate relationship with their mind. They’re always overthinking things. Staying quiet, Vio followed Blue as he and Zelda paid for the clothing Vio had liked. Vio has no reason to doubt them—not at all, but they still have that one persistent thought in their head that maybe the others are faking being nice, that maybe they don’t really care if Vio stays or goes. Usually, those thoughts win. Vio hopes it doesn’t win this time. “One last stop, then we can go home alright?”Blue reassured, causing Vio to shoot him a faint smile and nod. Vio’s never liked being in public. They followed the other two out, pushing through the small talk as they walked to the next shop. Vio didn’t waste a lot of time, just buying the cheapest pair of boots that fit them so they could leave quicker. If Blue and Zelda noticed, they didn’t say anything.

Vio lay quietly on the roof, staring up at the stars. They’d gotten home and decided to skip dinner, instead opting to grab a book and sit outside. The roof…it’s an odd choice for some, but Vio likes the strangeness. It reminds them of when they were hanging out in the fire temple with Shadow, in some weird way. It’s probably the stars—they used to skip out on sleeping to see the stars. Being so high up was…great for stargazing. Sometimes—sometimes if they were lucky enough, they could convince Shadow to come look at the stars with them. “Hey, Vi.” Vio’s eyes darted to the side and landed on Red, who smiled gently at them. “Hey, Red.” “You didn’t eat dinner tonight, are you okay?”She frowned, sitting next to them. “...nah.”Vio sighed. “I don’t think Green and Zelda are too happy with me.” “Because of the threat?” “Nah, wasn’t a threat,”Vio snorted. “Not really. They’re probably not happy 'cause I told ‘em not to tear the fire temple down…but also maybe because of the unintentional threat.” “How do you unintentionally threaten someone?”Red giggled, leaning against Vio. “You’re so weird.” “Aw, thank you!”Vio laughed, a small grin forming. “I try.” “Maybe try less,”Red sighed gently. “I don’t want people treating you like you’re awful.” “Maybe I am awful.” “Vio..”Red frowned, leaning against them gently. “No you’re not.” “Why’re you so sure of that?”Vio sighed, glancing at her. She didn’t respond, and Vio isn’t surprised. “I just…you’re not awful, Vi. I know you’re not.” “You don’t want me to be,”Vio corrected. “You don’t want me to be awful. So you’ll say I’m not. Am I right?” “No, Vi.”Red pouted, looking them in the eyes. Vio looked down, not wanting to make eye contact. Eye contact feels..too personal. “You made a couple mistakes. Really, really big mistakes, but they were still mistakes. That doesn’t make you awful.” “...mistakes or not, what I’ve done can’t be excused. I deserve to be treated like I’m awful—cause I am.” ‘They weren’t mistakes anyways’ went unsaid. Vio didn’t want to tell her that they don’t regret it. “So, you did some bad things. You’re still not awful.” “You’re never gonna let me call myself awful, are you?” “Nope!” “...typical.”Vio sighed, but smiled either way. Red is weird. She can bring happiness to anyone near her—it’s impressive, it even works on Vio sometimes. “Do you ever think about it?”Red broke the silence, and Vio looked at her. “Do you ever think about what would’ve happened if you’d…stayed with him?” “...sometimes.”Vio frowned. “I—I had a lot of time to think. I go through all the options to find the best one, anyways. But, uh, yes. I think about what could’ve happened. Part of me believes I could have talked him onto our side, but the other part of me knows I couldn’t have if I tried.” “What makes you think that?”Red whistled, laying back. “He thinks I didn’t notice, but sometimes he didn’t listen to what I was saying. He just heard my voice and not the words. I don’t think he would’ve listened to what I was saying if I’d tried.” Vio found it oddly endearing. “You're doin it again,”Vio sighed softly, placing their quill down. “Sorry, Vi.” “Dahl, can you please pretend you're not attracted to me for five minutes? This is important.” “Five minutes? That's like asking me to stand in direct sunlight without a corporeal form.”Shadow whined, causing Vio to roll their eyes with an affectionate smile. “Fine. Can you read?”Vio hummed, looking up at him. “...what kind of question is that?”Shadow pouted softly, crossing his arms. “Answer the question, Dahlia.” “...I think so.”Shadow shrugged loosely, watching as Vio banged their head on the table. “You think?!” “Y...es. I think I can read.” “Shadow. Honey. Love of my life. You should know if you can read or not.” “Oh.” …maybe calling Shadow the ‘love of their life’ wasn’t a wise decision, now that Vio thinks about it. “You think so?”Red broke the silence and looked at Vio, a concentrated look on her face. “Did you ever try?” “...you want the truth, don’t you?” “Yes.” Vio frowned, looking up at the stars again. “I never tried, no.” “...Blue was like that, yanno. Listened to my voice over my words.”Red spoke after a pause. “Berry did that?” A nod. “He doesn’t do it anymore. I think…”Red bit her lip. “I think you could have made Shadow stop doing it if…you had more time.” “If I had more time, maybe, but I didn’t. I wish I did. I wish I could’ve tried to help him..” “I know you do, Vivi.”Red gently reached over, holding their hand. “You cared about Shadow more than anything—I know you didn’t want to hurt him, and I…I can’t speak for Blue or Green, but I believe you could have helped him if we had let you. I’m so sorry we didn’t.” “Eh. Not your fault.”Vio laughed. “But thanks. I hope I could’ve helped him. He deserved better cards than the ones he was dealt.” Another silence followed. It wasn’t awkward, and it wasn’t the type of silence to let Vio know that she didn’t agree with their statement. Quite the opposite, actually. She seemed to understand. Maybe not fully—but she understood enough. “Do you wanna come back down to eat something?”Red spoke up in the silence, eyes fixed on the stars. Vio shook their head, shutting their eyes. “No.” “No? Vi…” Vio sighed. “I’m not really hungry right now, Red.” “You haven’t eaten all day.” “I know.”Vio mumbled. “Not used to people badgering me to eat.” “I’m not trying to be pushy, I just…I’m worried about you.” Vio nodded with a soft hum, eyes snapping open again. “Yeah, and you have every reason to be. Don’t eat, barely sleep…I’m surviving more than I’m living. I can see how concerning that would be.” “You barely sleep?” “I’ve been here for a month and I’ve only slept…once, maybe twice a week if I’m lucky.” “Why didn’t you tell us?”She sat up, pulling Vio up with her and cupping their face in her hands. “We could’ve helped!” “I told Blue. He gave me some advice to try and sleep, some stuff I can do to make me fall asleep, but…I haven’t tried any of them.” “Oh—Vi..”Red frowned, pulling them into a hug. “C’mon. I’m not happy with it, but you don’t have to eat anything if you really don’t want to. Let’s just go back down, okay?” “..okay.”Vio mumbled. “Okay.” Red shot Vio a smile, helping them up and keeping a hold of their hand as the two headed down from the roof and into the house. Red feels warm. Vio’s never understood it—but Red’s always warm, even if it’s cold out. She’s always been warm. Her hands are warm, even more so compared to Vio’s own. Vio’s hands are cold and rough, while Red’s are warm and soft. Red let out a whistle, letting go of Vio’s hand and sitting next to Blue on the couch. Vio sat on the floor in front of the couch, picking up a notebook they had. It’s a little burnt, and a couple pages were ripped out. “What’s that?”Red hummed, looking over Vio’s shoulder. “A notebook.”Vio shot her a grin. “It’s…uh. I’ve had it since I was in the fire temple—with Shadow. I wrote down most of the important stuff he told me. When he um…died. I kept it, and wrote down everything I did in the fire temple up until Green found me.” “So like a diary?” “Not really,”Vio shrugged. “It’s not got a lot of things ‘bout me in there. Just…results of things I’ve tried.” “Like what, flower?” Vio hummed, looking at Blue and Red for a second before looking at their notebook. “I wrote about my attempts to restore the dark mirror. I don’t have it all together yet, it’s…a work in progress. I also wrote about different options of getting Shadow back, like necromancy and soul magic…unfortunately, this does mean that my hand-removal is written down—” “Cause it was for necromancy, right?” “Yeah.”Vio nodded, whistling. “A poor attempt, but an attempt nonetheless!”They let out a laugh. The other two didn’t laugh with them. Vio can tell they don’t appreciate their humour. “Oh—c’mon, guys, that was funny.” “Not…as funny as it is concerning, Vivi..”Red mumbled, playing with Vio’s hair as Vio pouted. “You guys don’t have a sense of humour.”They whined, crossing their arms and still clutching the notebook in their hand. “Our humour is just. Extremely different from yours, flower.”Blue sighed, shaking his head. “You’re a bit of a nightmare.” “Ay, you have a girlfriend, quit flirtin’ with me.”Vio teased, shooting a grin at Blue. “Gross, why would I flirt with you anyways?”Blue shot back, matching Vio’s grin. “Because I’m cute?”Vio offered, batting their eyelashes in a dramatic fashion, causing both theirself and Blue to burst out laughing. Red smiled softly, watching the two interact before humming. “I wish Green was here…honestly I don’t…I don’t think he knows how much you’ve changed, Vio.” “I don’t think he wants to.”Vio replied with a shrug, flipping through their notebook. “Green wants the…’old’ me back. I’m sorry to disappoint, but he won’t be getting that version of me back. That version died a long time ago.” “Maybe you should tell Green that.”Blue shrugged loosely, glancing at Vio. “Right, like he would listen,”Vio sighed gently. “Green insists I need fixing.” “Because he doesn’t know the new you yet.”Red smiled, gently placing her hands in Vio’s hair, threading her fingers through it. “I say we should hang out. All four of us. Catch up, get to know the new you better. We didn’t meet up much when you were gone—it didn’t feel right. Not without you. But now you’re here, so it would make sense right?” “I guess.”Vio shrugged loosely, resting back and letting Red play with their hair. “But it won’t go well—I know it won’t. I’m not…I’m not the same person as I used to be, and Green’s holding onto how I used to be rather than trying to know the uh, ‘new’ me, for lack of a better term.” “I know, but…it’ll take some time, Vivi. You’ve changed a lot since we last saw you…Green just needs to adjust.” Vio let out a sigh, shutting their notebook. “He has to adjust to my existence?” “...it sounds worse than it is when you put it like that!”Red laughed, tugging the knots out of Vio’s hair. “Think of it this way—you’re so different now that you and Green are practically strangers…you could act like you’re meeting someone new?” “But I know Green,”Vio argued. “I know him, he’s the one who brought me back in the first place.” “You know him, but he doesn’t know you, flower.”Blue sighed, tired eyes fixed on the other. “Green needs to meet you as the new you, not the old you. Yanno?” Vio bit their lip, but nodded along. Blue and Red are right—Green needs to meet the new Vio. Vio thinks they’re cooler than they used to be anyways. “Fine, I get your point.”Vio let out a breath, admitting defeat. “But if Green acts like a prick, I’m not going to sit through it and will set him straight. That is a promise.” “That’s as good as we’re gunna get, huh?”Blue snorted softly. “Yup.”Vio shot back, a satisfied grin on their face. “Well—at least you’re going to try. That’s all we can really ask for.”Red hummed out happily, letting go of Vio’s hair once she was satisfied, and letting out a yawn when she’d finished. “We should…head to bed, huh?”She smiled, pulling Blue up off the couch. “Vivi, are you…going to eat something before bed?” Vio shouldn’t have looked at her, but they did. She looked hopeful. Actually, her eyes had a pleading look in them—she wanted Vio to eat. Vio knows she does, and they hate letting others—especially Red—down, but… “Nah, I’m good.” Vio watched a bit of Red die inside, and part of them wishes they took it back but Red nodded before they could. “Okay. Um. Well—we keep a lantern on the table if you wake up and want something, okay?” “Okay,”Vio shot her a faint smile, letting her pull them up too and walk into the room. They know she’s disappointed in them. ‘It’s more surprising when she isn’t,’ Vio mused, laying on their bed and staring up at the ceiling. But Vio has more important things to worry about. How the hell are they gonna show Green the new them? The new Vio…the new Vio is a wreck. They’re a wreck that has a fascination with death. ‘...maybe that’s how.’ Vio realised with a start, sitting up. Vio has a grave. Vio has a grave in the royal graveyard—a filled plot, with their name and ‘death’ date. Ignoring the confusion from Red and Blue, Vio got up and hurried out of the house. Vio knows exactly how to show Green who they are.

Blue let out a breath, sitting on the couch with a book in hand. Red had to leave for work after they’d visited Vio’s grave, and Blue is sitting at home, incredibly fucking bored. He’s read this one book about a hundred times now. It was one Vio gave him a while back, when he’d complained about being bored. It’s the book that made Blue realise why Vio liked reading so much. Reading is a good distraction. Blue will never be caught reading though. He just…he knows someone will make fun of him for it. At least, he’s pretty sure someone will. Probably Green. Green likes teasing him. Blue’s pretty sure Green does it because he doesn’t have Vio to bully anymore. It wasn’t even teasing, it was bullying at that point. Now, despite popular belief, Blue isn’t an idiot. He knows Green and Vio were a thing before the whole…fire temple situation. And he knows Green did not take seeing Vio sitting on a throne with Shadow well. Green had only brought up a duel when Shadow had placed his hand on Vio’s shoulder with a certain look. He wasn’t going to fight Vio until he realised the slim chance of something going on between the two. Blue never did find out if Vio was doing anything with Shadow. But…he does feel like something happened between them, what with the way Vio reacted when Shadow broke the mirror to save them all. …he wouldn’t be surprised. Now—this is something Blue will never admit, in fear it will ruin his relationship with Red, but… He always thought Shadow was cute. Just a little bit. Even saying it to himself, Blue is embarrassed by it. It’s not the weirdest thing, but… Still pretty damn weird. Blue shook his head, going back to his book. He admittedly didn’t get very far before the door slammed open. “Blue! Where’s Red?” Blue raised a brow, not looking up from his book once he realised it was just Green. “Nice to see you too, Green. Red’s at work.” “But, it’s already dark out?” “Yeah..she said she’ll be back later than usual because…we spent an hour with Vio. Didn’t talk much—they wouldn’t have wanted us to. We—We would have asked you to come with us, but Zel had already sent you out.” Green let out a nervous laugh. “Blue, please look up from your book.” Blue did so and— He froze, eyes fixed on the sight before him. There, beside Green, was Vio. “You look like shit.”Blue blurted out, and both of them were surprised to hear Vio laugh. “Thanks, Blue, you look fuckin terrible too.” “Okay, wait, what? Where—Vio where the fuck have you been?!”Blue got up, tossing his book aside. “They’ve been in the fire temple. This whole damn time, they were in the fucking fire temple.” Blue paused, then slapped Vio. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” “...a lot.”Vio sighed, rubbing the back of their neck. “Look I—I can tell you about it…when Red’s here.” “..when Red’s here?” “Yeah.” “...fine.”Blue sighed, eyes fixing on Vio’s hand—or, well, lack of hand, as he removed his reading glasses. “You’ll explain that too, right?” “Er—maybe. I can’t guarantee that one.”Vio admitted, laughing nervously. “Um—do you guys mind if I…sit outside for a while?” “As long as you don’t run off.” “I won’t.”Vio assured, opening the front door and shutting it again as they left, walking off to sit under a nearby tree. The night has always had a strange beauty to it.. Shutting their eyes, Vio rested against the tree as another nice memory returned to their mind. “Y’know,”Vio started with a gentle sigh, leaning into Shadow. “People don’t usually burn villages down together as a date.” “…what would you consider a date, then?”Shadow blinked, utterly clueless as he worked the knots out of Vio’s shoulders. “Gods, being around those heroes made you really tense…”He muttered, waiting for Vio to answer. “Mh,,,stargazing would make a nice date. I could even tell you ‘bout different constellations if you’d like.” “Stargazing, hm?”Shadow whistled. “Good to know.” Their second date actually was stargazing, with another massage from the shade. …yeah, Vio had a lot of tension in their body and Shadow had been determined to get rid of it. He never did get all of the tension out. Even if he’d been successful—it’s all back anyways. The tension, the stress… It’s all back in Vio’s body. “Sorry I let your efforts go to waste.”Vio mumbled, smiling faintly and opening their eyes, messing with a necklace they were wearing. “I miss you, y’know. Every fucking day…I’m sorry. I’ll—I can fix this. I swear I will.” “Hey Vi,”Blue spoke up, stepping outside with Green. “Wanna come see where Red works?” “Ah? Sure.”Vio smiled weakly, getting up. “...why don’t you have shoes on, again?”Blue questioned as the trio began to walk. “They broke.”Vio stated simply, wincing at the look they got. “Um—they broke a few months ago and I didn’t…I didn’t want to leave the temple. Y’know…?” “Uh—not really? But…that doesn’t matter. You’re home now.”Green smiled. “Red missed you a lot.”Blue whistled, noticing the building tension. “Still cries about it. She’ll be happy to see you.” “Yeah.”Green agreed, grinning. “She’ll be excited. Though, she’ll ask about…that.”He vaguely gestured to Vio’s missing hand. Vio winced a little, nodding. “She won’t like the answer.”And that’s all they got to say before the trio stepped into the bakery. The walls were painted pink, white and red, and the walls were decorated with fairy lights and shelves. The fairy lights came in three colours; blue, green, and purple, and the shelves were painted similarly. It felt warm and welcoming. Vio’s eyes trailed around, looking at every little detail. There was a couple candles on the window—a red candle and a blue candle—placed in silver candleholders. Thinking about it, there’s a lot of exclusively red and blue things. Vio filed that information away for later, staying quiet as Red popped up from behind the counter. “Hey guys, I’ll be out soon—”She cut off, her eyes fixed on Vio for a minute. Vio felt smaller under her gaze. They can practically see her processing this, and her eyes suddenly lit up as she rushed over and trapped Vio into a hug. “Vio! You…you look…well, alive!” “Ah, thank you Red.”Vio snorted, shaking their head slightly. “Let me—”Red let go, rushing for the door. “Close up, then we can talk for a bit. Are you hungry, Vivi?” “Uh—no, not really..” “...I’m going to feed you anyway.” “Remember your promise, Vi, you have to tell us what the hell you’ve been doing.” “Blue,,,” “Red. Vio disappeared for months. They owe us this.” “He’s—”Vio sighed, looking down. “He’s right, Red, I owe you guys an apology and an explanation.” Red pursed her lips before nodding swiftly. “Blue, can you go make some tea for us?”Red smiled, turning to Vio when Blue walked off to do so. “Gods, Vivi, you look so thin now. And what…”She frowned, holding Vio’s arm as she made the two sit down, pulling two extra chairs over for herself and Blue. “What happened to your hand?” “I…will explain that, promise.”Vio frowned as Red wandered off for a minute. When she returned, she put a plate down in front of Vio. “You still like tiramisu, right?” “I haven’t…actually had it in a while..”Vio mumbled, blinking when Red handed them a fork. “Please eat it. You look like you haven’t eaten in a while…”She mumbled, sitting down across from the two. Vio nodded, looking down at the dessert. It’s a standard tiramisu, but Red always makes it taste better. On top of the tiramisu was a purple heart made from chocolate, and Vio had to wonder how she made it. It looks pretty. As Blue returned with four cups of tea—each mug in their colours, which made Vio wonder if they bought a purple one on instinct—, Vio quietly began to eat. Once everyone was settled, Vio began to explain some of the things they’d done in their time away.