Sleep. Sleep pulled at each of Vio's senses, but he ignored them, actively putting them off. He took another sip from the tea from next to himself, grimacing at it's bitter taste and the way it chilled his tongue. That didn't bother him though, it shocked some of his senses back into place. Without his eyes leaving his book, he reached aside, grabbing a piece of paper to mark a passage. Although his hands moved rhythmically, his mind didn't. He scanned each word, each syllable for anything of interest, rarely finding anything of correspondence to the task at hand. Although, he would admit, the public library tended to keep books on dark magic away from the hands of the public.
Despite this, the library for the knights had quite a few different books on the subject. Sadly most had been abridged in some manner, either leaving out explanations on the process or effects of spells, and spending long passages on the trade offs to discourage usage of anything. He had been denied entry to the castle's private collection.
"Hey." Vio turned to face the rooms newest occupant. It was Green, Vio knew that from his voice, but not through his image. In fact, the other boy was slightly blurry. Vio blinked, rubbing an eye.
"What do you need?" Vio asked, voice coming of slightly harsher than he meant it too. Green put up his hands defensively.
"Good morning." Vio looked out to his window, catching a beam of light that leaked in through the study's curtains.
"I... I suppose it is." Green frowned. The other boy had been working himself ragged over the past few months, spending hours at a time making runs to and from the library, and more frequently to the stalls outside of market town, to get his hands on new books. "New leads." Vio would say each time he brought them home. It was honestly beginning to be concerning.
The first few weeks they were back, things had fallen into a new routine. The Links had their lives back, although admittedly very altered. They were recognized hero's now, after all. However, much of their lives had stayed the same. They still had the knights, and their room (now being shared by the four of them), and their jobs. No one had thought it strange when Vio would read. Why on earth would they? Regardless of their situation, Vio had always had a love for learning and reading alike. However, when he started skimping training to read, Green decided to have a talk with him. Vio had decided to bring Shadow back. So here he was, trying to do exactly that.
"When did you last sleep?" Green asked, moving into the room, avoiding the stacks of books directly from the castle's library, noticing the many tabs sticking out of various pages. Vio blinked, lost for a second.
"I slept last night, I believe." To be completely honest, he didn't remember. He thought there really might have been a moment that he had drifted off, at least for a few minutes. That counted, right? Green looked unamused.
"I mean, in your bed." Vio shrugged, turning back to the passage he had been reading. He had lost his place. Green sighed, going over to the window's and opening the thick red curtains, making Vio wince at the sudden light.
"Can you see better now, at least?" He asked, looking back to his other counterpart.
"Let me get adjusted..." Vio muttered, squinting down towards the now illuminated pages.
"Why do you let it get so dark in here?" Green asked, moving to clean up some non important scraps of paper off the floor. This had become, upsettingly, normal. One of the other Links would come to check up on Vio if they hadn't seen him in a few hours, and clean up around him, occasionally managing to drag him to bed. If he didn't come out for meals, one of the others, usually Red, would bring it directly to him.
This wasn't healthy. Green finished picking up the wadded balls of paper off the floor, walking over to dump them in the bin near the desk, frowning when he realized it was already full. This wasn't healthy.
"Vio." Green's voice broke through his reading, or at least his attempt to read, considering his eye's hadn't actually moved in about five minutes.
"Yes?"
"You're going to bed. Right now, come on."
Vio scowled, taking another sip of his tea.
"Oh, no you don't." Green said, taking the mug from his hands, ignoring Vio's meek protests. "You need to rest."
"I'm not any good to Shadow asleep."
"Your not any good to Shadow dead either." Vio feel silent. He hated it when Green was right. Begrudgingly, he moved to stand up, yawning widely. Green smiled, moving to help guide Vio to their shared bedroom. Vio quickly changed into something looser to sleep in, getting into bed and staring up at the ceiling. He blinked as the bed sunk down next to him. Green had moved in next to him, throwing of his tunic and keeping the tights, like they were sleep pants.
"What are you-"
"Oh, shush." Green smiled good naturedly. "Just relax. I have some time off right now."
"Then why not sleep in your own bed?"
"It's cold."
"Then put your damn shirt back on."
"Fine, the truth is your bed's comfier."
"Not my fault you and Blue sleep on rocks because you want 'better lumbar support'." Vio teased, although he did scoot over slightly to allow Green to slip under the covers. Green had lied about having free time. Really he was supposed to be working in the kitchen with Red, but the other boy would understand. After all, he was the one who discovered that Vio would just get back up and leave if you didn't stay in the same room, with him.
Vio watched the other boy. Green just smiled back. Honestly this was like babysitting the world's smartest, most sarcastic four year old. It didn't take long for Vio to pass out. Three? Four minutes? Green sighed in relief, allowing himself to sink into the mattress. It wouldn't hurt to go to sleep himself, and with all the extra work around the castle he'd been doing, he thought he deserved a nap too.