Bedtime
It had become very dark outside, and Rolf was scampering about hoping that he wouldn't be caught outside…he would have to go to bed, if Oscar caught him. So he was trying very hard to hide from Oscar. A twig snapped behind him, and he gasped. He looked behind him. A shadow approached him.
"What's all the ruckus about?" Mia asked.
"Ruckus? What ruckus?" Rolf asked. "You didn't see me here, Mia."
"Oh, I see how it is," Mia said, "You're trying to get out of going to bed."
"Please don't tell Oscar," Rolf pleaded.
"Don't worry, I won't," she said, "When I was your age, I wanted to get out of bed all the time."
"Thanks, Mia."
Mia sighed, and wandered back into the fort. She ran into Oscar, who smiled and greeted her. She screamed so loudly he had to put his fingers in his ears, flinch, and grimace.
"What's wrong, Mia?" Oscar asked.
"Nothing!" she shouted, "Absolutely nothing."
"You sure?" Oscar asked, perplexed.
"Certainly not," she said, and then ran away as fast as she could.
"That was strange," Oscar said, "Now to find Rolf…"
"Peewee! Time for bed!" Boyd shouted.
"Crap!" Rolf whispered, and then he climbed atop a stone wall, looking for a place to leap to the roof.
He was startled when a voice behind him said, "There's an opening over there."
"Eek!" Rolf shouted, "Shinon! I could have lost my footing and fallen!"
"Sorry," Shinon shrugged. "But, do you see the opening I was talking about?"
"Oh, yeah!" Rolf said, as he leaped onto the roof.
"Rolf!" Boyd shouted, "No more games! It's time for bed."
Oscar sighed.
"What's wrong?" Boyd asked.
"I just hope nothing happened to him…" Oscar said.
"He's fine, he's just being a brat. Come on, I'll find him," Boyd said. He walked outside, and then Oscar followed him.
"Oscar! Look! Peewee's on the roof!" Boyd shouted.
"On the roof?" Oscar asked, "Oh no!"
"No, I won't come to bed, Oscar!" Rolf shouted, "And you can't make me!"
"Rolf, I'll go get Coconut; she'll be able to break your fall…" Oscar shouted worriedly, as he began to panic.
"No way!" Rolf shouted, "If I come down to you, you'll make me go to bed!"
"Rolf, come down!" Oscar yelled, "Please come down."
"Fine!" Rolf said, "I'll jump off the other side!"
"Rolf, no! You'll be hurt!" Oscar screamed.
"I always wondered what a Peewee Pancake looked like," Boyd said idly. Oscar elbowed him in the stomach. "Ow! And how was that called for?"
"I have to go rescue Rolf…" Oscar shouted, as he ran to the other side of the fort, and outstretched his arms.
Rolf said, "Oscar, stop trying, I'm not going to jump into your arms or you'll put me in bed!"
Oscar said, "Rolf, you can stay up all night as long as you get down safe."
"Yeah, right!" Rolf said, "You're just saying that to trick me."
"Rolf, I'm not kidding around. If you fall off the roof, you'll break your leg, or crack your head open, or worse!" Oscar shouted.
"I'm not scared!" Rolf shouted, and then he jumped off the roof. Oscar was protecting the north wall. Rolf leaped off the west.
A thud was heard, as Rolf fell to the ground. He regressed to a couple of years ago, and began to cry loudly.
Oscar shouted, "Rolf!" He ran over to see his poor brother, with both knees scraped and a dislocated arm. He gently scooped Rolf into his arms.
"Oscar! I don't want to go to bed!" Rolf shouted.
"I know, I know," Oscar responded, "We'll deal with it after you get healed…" Oscar handed Rolf to Boyd. "Boyd, take Rolf to Rhys."
"Yes, Oscar," Boyd responded, and then he said to Rolf, "Peewee, you think I didn't try this kind of stunt before?"
"You did?" Rolf asked.
"Of course, the only difference is, I didn't fall off the roof and start crying like a baby," Boyd said, and then started laughing.
"Stop it!" Rolf shouted, "STOP IT!"
"You know I'm just teasing, right?" Boyd said, "I would never have pulled a stunt as stupid as yours."
"It wasn't stupid, it was a good plan…" Rolf said.
"That's why you're bleeding…" Boyd responded.
"At least I'm not reckless on the battlefield, like some people I know."
"You're lucky I'm taking you in to get healed," Boyd said. He placed Rolf in front of Rhys. "What's the damage, Rhys?"
"Oh dear," Rhys said, "Why? Why do you people have to get hurt so often?"
"Part of the job," Boyd said.
"I meant while off-duty," Rhys said in response.
"Oh, that, well, you see, the thing is…" Boyd began, but was interrupted by a string of obscenities in the most unlikely voice—Oscar's.
"…you disgusting bullheaded pig, I hope you burn in hell for your crimes against the innocence of childhood!" Oscar continued.
"Hey, hey, hey," Shinon responded, "Rolf wanted to be on the roof anyway. I just told him how to get there."
"And he wanted to be on the roof to avoid bedtime. What, so you think it's okay for kids to just disobey curfew?" Oscar asked.
"Yes, if the curfew is set by an effeminate, perfectionist excuse for an older brother!" Shinon responded.
"Well, at least being a perfectionist is better than being a rude, arrogant underachiever!" Oscar retorted.
"Hey, at least I'm not myopic!" Shinon shouted.
"That was a low blow, even for you," Oscar responded venomously.
Ike—who had gone to bed relatively early—was awakened by the argument.
"What the hell is going on?" he asked.
"Nothing Ike, get back to your narcissistic boyfriend," Shinon responded.
"Hey! Don't insult people you're not even fighting!" Ike responded, slapping Shinon. "Now, why are you two altercating at outdoor volumes in the fort IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?"
"Shinon made Rolf jump off the roof," Oscar said.
"What? No, you made him jump off the roof. I helped him get on the roof," Shinon corrected.
"Okay, question one: is Rolf okay?" Ike asked, clearly wanting to be asleep, rubbing his temples.
"Yeah, he just got a few scrapes," Shinon responded.
"And a dislocated arm!" Oscar added, angrily looking at Shinon.
"And question two: why are you two arguing instead of checking up on him?" Ike asked, with his arms crossed.
Oscar blushed sheepishly, and Shinon rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I was… getting to it," Oscar said.
"No, he was far too eager to yell at me," Shinon complained, "All I did was try to teach Rolf where the openings on the roof were… you know, for emergencies."
"Emergencies… you mean like this one that you caused?" Oscar asked, angry again. Ike groaned loudly, and headed back to bed.
"What the hell is going on?" a groggy-eyed Soren asked, passing Ike in the hallway.
"Oh, see, look what you guys did! You woke up Soren," Ike complained.
"Maybe if you two didn't go to bed so damn early this wouldn't be a problem!" Shinon shouted.
"Hey, we work hard to put food on the table! Sometimes we need our beauty sleep!" Ike shouted.
"Yeah, and Soren really needs beauty sleep because he's such a troll," Shinon said causing Ike—but not Soren—to be visibly offended.
"Shinon, be nice. Or did you forget Ike is your boss?" Oscar asked.
"Shut up, you brownnose!" Shinon responded scathingly, "Besides, if Mia hadn't bought Soren underwear for his anniversary, none of this would have happened!" Ike and Soren both blushed visibly.
"Hey, man, don't try to blame this on me!" Mia shouted.
"Yeah," Oscar said, "I saw Mia earlier tonight, and she seemed antsy enough as it was."
Mia blushed, and ran away.
Mist ran up to the men who were in the middle of a heated argument. She took a deep breath, and then screamed at the top of her lungs, "QUIET!"
Ike, Oscar, Shinon, and Soren were all speechless, and the two long-haired men's ponytails were almost perpendicular to their heads.
Mist asked, "Do you guys even remember what the argument was about?"
"As far as I could tell," Soren said, "It was about me being woken up. But that can't be the initial trigger, because I was woken up by the argument."
"Well, I think it was about how I was so much of a better role model for Rolf than Shinon…" Oscar began.
"Or so he thinks, but he's really just a persnickety wannabe."
"No, guys, it was about how Shinon caused Rolf to get injured…" Ike said.
"What, so now you're taking Oscar's side, because if you are, I'm disowning you," Shinon responded, folding his arms, and letting out a "humph".
"You…already…hate…me," a baffled Ike responded.
"It's the principle of the matter!" Shinon shouted.
"Sure it is. I bet you don't even know what that means," Soren responded.
"You shut up!" Shinon shouted.
"You shut up!" Ike responded.
Mist ran into the other room, where she ran into Boyd, visibly shaken and crying.
"Boyd?" Mist asked, "Are you crying?"
"Yeah," Boyd said, "I didn't do my duty as a brother."
"What do you mean? Of course you did!" Mist said.
"No, I didn't. Oscar tried to catch Rolf. I didn't. And now…" Boyd said, "And now…"
"Boyd, Rolf will be okay. He only dislocated his arm."
"That's a lot for a peewee, you know, Mist," Boyd said.
"Besides, you may not have tried to catch Rolf, but you took him to Rhys. That counts for something, right, Boyd?"
"I guess," Boyd responded, "I just really hope Rolf's okay."
"Oscar," Rhys said, approaching the firstborn very tentatively. "Rolf…"
"What about Rolf? Is he okay?"
"He's recovering quite nicely, yes."
"Can I see him?" Oscar asked, and then, without waiting for an answer rushed to the room where Rhys had healed Rolf. He saw his baby brother resting peacefully in bed, breathing evenly. As much as he had wanted to avoid it, Rolf had fallen asleep.
"So, is Rolf okay? Is Rolf okay?" Boyd asked.
"He's fine. He fell asleep," Oscar said.
"Well if Rolf's asleep, we should be too. Come on, Soren," Ike beckoned. Soren quickly followed Ike.
"I guess it is pretty late, you wanna go to bed, Mist?" Boyd asked.
"Yeah," Mist responded, and followed Boyd.
Rhys both felt like he could rest easy and headed to his quarters. Mia shrugged and followed suit, heading to her own room.
Shinon headed toward his bed, trying really hard not to wake up Titania on the way, eventually ending up in the room that he shared with Gatrie. "Gatrie," Shinon said, "Did you seriously sleep through that whole thing? Gatrie?" He looked at the bed that typically held his roommate, and found it totally empty. "Lucky dog," Shinon muttered and climbed into his own bed.
Oscar gazed peacefully at his brother, with tears welling in his eyes. "Goodnight, Rolf," he said, giving him a small peck on the cheek. This caused Rolf to shift his weight, but not wake up. Oscar turned around and went to bed.