Vio trudged down the shaded road. Dirt and pebbles crunched beneath the hero's leather boots as a waxing gibbous moon shined just enough light to frame the endless walkway. Covered in a translucent veil of darkness, the forest around the violet-garbed boy whispered of death and fear at any who approached, especially during night. Vio breathed in the sweet, sharp smell of pine trees and exhaled a puff of condensated, temporary fog. Vio walked with his hands in the hidden pockets of his custom-made mixture of trousers and tights and impossibly felt the hilt of the Four Sword. Vio smiled and rubbed the sharp edge of one of the many rupees in the pouch in his pocket as he remembered Zelda's bright face when she debuted her newest learned spell "Endless Space". The first thing she used her newfound spell on was a present to Link, so he could carry his knight training equipment around with him at all times.
Reminiscing guided the purple-clad hero to his destination, and when Vio's senses transitioned back to the present, he found himself jarringly close to the white, chipping paint of the gazebo in the middle of the triple spiral labyrinth in the castle garden. The boy couldn't have told you how he had arrived or how long it had taken him to get here. Zelda sat, sleeping on a bench against the railing of the building. Vio smiled.
"If you needed sleep, you shouldn't have called me here."
Zelda jumped at the sudden break in the quiet night, then relaxed.
"You Din near gave me a heart attack, Vio," She scolded as her companion sat opposite her, "and you know that this is more important than a couple hours lying under a fluffy comforter in a warm room."
"Shut up or you're going to make me fall asleep." Vio cut in, rubbing his right eye.
"Have you been taking your pills?" Zelda suddenly cut into the conversation, an expression of worry transforming her usually smiling face. The boy in purple clothing sighed.
"Yes, Zelda, all six of them, every day."
"Any side effects?"
"Zelda, I-"
"I asked you a question." Her blue eyes burned like embers floating from a fireplace. Vio sighed again.
"No. No side effects." Zelda sat back, satisfied with his answer. Vio turned his head to the hedge maze so he wouldn't have to see the judgment in her eyes.
"You know I only ask because-"
"Because you're my friend, right. Except "my friend" would realize that I'm smart enough to tell someone if I had symptoms. I know what the pills do to people who don't report symptoms. I don't, and I never had, a death wish." Zelda searched his face with sadness in her eyes. Vio's face remained blank and unattached on the surface, but through his large irises, she could see that he was hurt by her constant questions. Pointing it out will make him worse. She thought to herself. Just let it go. Zelda gave a defeated sigh.
"That's not the only reason I asked you here today." Vio's face softened.
"I'm sorry. I should've guessed. It's hard not to feel like everyone's talking about me with," Vio coughed, "that rumor." Zelda nodded with a sad smile on her face. "What's up?" He asked turning towards her.
"I'm worried about Blue."
"We're all worried about Blue. Any specifics you want to clarify?" The blond-headed boy asked jokingly. Zelda brightened slightly.
"He didn't seem very angry at the hospital. I know that sounds weird, but we're talking about Blue. The guy lives and breathes anger and spirit. Yes, sure, he had his moments, but it didn't seem… real." The princess struggled to explain the perfect idea in her head.
"I understand what you're saying." Vio said as he sat forward with his elbows on his knees. "You don't understand why Blue wasn't outraged at the doctor's suggestion that Red couldn't pull out of this fine, why he didn't insist on staying in the room when I was telling the story to make sure I 'told it correctly', etc." Zelda nodded. Vio sat back, flipping his hair out of his face.
"It's his tribute to Red." Zelda's face twisted in confusion. She opened her mouth to talk, but Vio raised his open palm in a plea to let him continue. "Think about it. Every time that he and Red have hung out together, Red ends up calling him mean because of his angry behavior. Imagine if every time you snuck out of the castle, someone close to you called you a hooligan. You might take it either as a real insult or a joke insult. Blue always took Red's statement as a joke, Red believed it to be an insult, but there's something called the Pygmalion effect. Have you heard of it?" Zelda shook her head. "It's based off of the old myth of Pygmalion that if you hold someone to a certain standard, they will become more and more like the standard. Therefore, if this is true, then the more Red considers Blue mean, the more mean he becomes, and no one else held him to an expectation of kindness, so he just became more and more mean in Red's eyes. Now, what if," Vio leaned in again, intrigued in his own proposal, "what if Blue became aware that the insult was just that, an insult, and set out to prove Red wrong? It's in Blue's nature to be angry and show all his emotions on his sleeve, to that effect he's similar to Red, but what if he repressed this part of him in an effort to show Red that he really is a good person? Blue began to censor his words and actions, attempting to prove that he had self-control and could be kind and selfless, but," Vio paused, thinking with his thumb and forefinger circling his chin. Zelda leaned in, enthralled by the explanation, "what if the perception of the word 'mean' reversed? Red, realizing that he wasn't being mean 'on purpose' that was just his nature, began to say the word as a joke. Blue, realizing that Red had meant it before begins to take the joke as an insult. Red gets worried and scared when Blue tries to hide his anger, because the kid knows better than anyone that it's just Blue's way. Blue starts to hold himself to higher expectations than he can reach, and Red is scared at the fallout, so how does Red respond?" Vio asked, more to himself than Zelda, but the girl shrugged her shoulders anyway. Vio thought for a minute, before his eyes widened in realization, "What if, and this is just a theory, but what if he coaxes Blue into releasing his anger? Red sees what Blue's doing and tries to get Blue to realize on his own that repressing your anger is bad. So Red changes his attitude. He starts to hide his emotions and feelings, tries to do things on his own, tries to isolate from his own way, all to show Blue how scary it is to see someone you know forcing themselves to change, but Red's not as good at it as Blue. Red tries with all his might, but gives into his childish spirit with little to no effort on Blue's part."
"That's very interesting," Zelda cut in, "but that doesn't explain-"
"One minute more and all your questions will be answered. Now, imagine that Red's plan doesn't give Blue the originally planned breakthrough, but does dent Blue's original idea. Blue unconsciously makes the connection between Red's strange behavior and his own and changes his behavior accordingly. Blue starts to show more moderation with his anger, and Red believes that moderate anger is better than completely repressing it, so there's no point in confronting Blue about it and getting an unneeded argument. Now," Vi smiled, the conclusion crystallizing in his mind, "imagine that we take out the inhibitor from the experiment. Blue never fully understood the concept of moderation and his plans never changed in his mind, so, suddenly, the original concept comes whooshing in suddenly, and Blue starts completely rebelling as much anger as he can." Zelda's eyes widened. "Completely repressing as much anger as he can, Blue will continue to build until we there's only one of two things left to happen." Vio looked into Zelda's eyes.
"We either reintroduce the safety valve, or the boiler explodes."
"Not quite. See, Blue's anger has already built up. There will be an explosion. The difference is either destroying the demons that haunt the halls or destroying the family that lives in them."
Vio didn't immediately start home after the meeting.
The young swordsman walked towards the festival. Despite the early hours, a few vendors started setting up their stalls early, depending on how many items they had to display.
The purple-clad hero walked through an aisle surrounded by candy-colored, striped booths. Every once in awhile he passed a salesman, setting up their stall to maximize intrigue from future customers. Some of them wore massive amounts of jewelry, others were fat, and the rarity somehow found the wealth to be both. After a few minutes of walking, Vio stood in front of a blue and white, striped booth with holes in the roof and sides. The bottom foot of the stand, caked with dirt, had seen more than a few years' worth of customers abusing the cloth as they walked past. A skinny man, dressed in modest clothing, slowly and meticulously placed a few wares on the counter at the front of the stall. None of the items the vendor had set up were decorative or flashy, but they were in relatively good shape, at least to the point where they were functional. It was obvious that the booth owner wasn't well off financially, and that he had no house to sleep in given how early he was with so few items.
"Hello," Vio greeted the vendor, "I know I'm early, but I'm in kind of a hurry. Which one of these is your best?" the boy pointed to the items on the counter. The vendor looked up from his careful arranging, smiled at Vio, and crouched to sift through his box of items below the counter. After a second or two, the man stood and placed a fully intact item in front of the boy. Vio smiled and placed a sack of rupees on the counter in front of the vendor as he picked up his purchase. "Keep the change."
After another hour and a half of walking, Vio returned home with his gift in hand. The boy snuck through the dark foyer and hallway and quietly entered his shared room. The hero carefully leaned the present against the wall facing Shadow's side of the bed, so that it would be the first thing Shadow saw when he woke up. Vio climbed into bed next to Shadow and fell into a deep, wonderful sleep, knowing that the solid, dark purple parasol sat waiting for its new owner to awaken.