Chapter 8

Just in case the story was getting a bit too serious… Also, Pegasus sister fun!

The weeks dragged by as Cain slowly but steadily recovered. Abel visited him nearly every day, checking up on him often. His wound had gotten infected, slowing down the process, but luckily it was caught and treated early on. As the cold days melted into warmer ones, the redhead was finally allowed to return to his home. The psychical therapy he had to endure was practically torture; even so, he would likely admit to having complained about it more than necessary, and Abel would exasperatingly agree. Still, it worked, and soon he was up and moving like normal again. When the first day of spring rolled around, the only evidence that the incident had even happened was the scar on Cain's abdomen.

Spring was Abel's favorite season, and to celebrate the beginning of it, he insisted on taking Cain out to the park. The latter had no oppositions to this; he liked the warm weather as well.

They walked along the edge of the public area slowly. Even though it was a nice day, it wasn't too crowded, and the majority of the visitors were on the large green lawn in the middle of the park; they had the outside path almost to themselves.

Abel had been enjoying the breeze, casting a glance over towards the fountain in the middle of the park. He was about to make a comment to Cain when he noticed that the other was gone. He looked around for his missing partner for a moment, his handsome face twisted slightly in confusion. He could have sworn Cain was right behind him—

"Abel! Quick, grab my hand!" The redhead's voice was… above him? When Abel glanced up, he saw Cain hovering high up in the air, sitting on a tree branch. He was positioned dangerously in order to reach his arm down to Abel.

"Cain, get down from there before you hurt yourself."

"No way. I'm not going down until that thing is gone."

Abel suddenly recognized the look of panic on Cain's face, and he couldn't help but laugh, realizing what the source of the other's discomfort was. "It's just a duck, isn't it? Calm down, it won't hurt you." No sooner than the words were out of his mouth, did he hear a quiet slapping noise behind him, like webbed feet walking on concrete; in fact, that's exactly what it was. Just as he turned around, the slapping got louder as the feet began to rapidly move, heading straight for the tree where the terrified Cain had stationed himself.

"HOOOOONK!"

"Unbelievable." Abel rubbed his temple as he leaned against the tree, his feet dangling in the air as he sat on the branch that was parallel to Cain's on the other side of the trunk. Below him, a goose was circling the tree, occasionally letting out low but menacing honks.

"Not a duck. A goose. There's a difference." Cain pouted, still holding on to the trunk of the tree. "A deadly difference."

"Deadly?" Abel echoed sarcastically. With a roll of his bright green eyes, he glanced downwards. The goose had disappeared, and instead, he was staring down into the bemused face of Marth.

"What are you two doing?"

Cain glanced down as well, his eyes widening in surprise. "Marth! Quick, get help, before it comes back!"

"What are you talking about?" It was obvious that Marth was amused by Cain's distraught look and Abel's exasperated expression.

"There's a goose wandering around and Cain's scared."

"And yet we're both in a tree, tough guy." Cain's face still had evidence of a pout.

"A goose? Just one?" As if on cue, the wet slapping of webbed feet sounded once more. Marth glanced over his shoulder to see the source of Cain and Abel's situation, and then turned around to face it. He smirked, letting out a short chuckle. "Come and get me, you overgrown duck."

Slap slap slap slap. "HOOOOOONK!"

"No one can know about this."

Marth's tone of voice left no room for argument as he settled on the tree branch above Cain's. He and his partner murmured their agreement.

"Cain? Is that you?"

It seemed that their tree was an especially popular location; the redhead jumped at a sudden and dreadfully familiar voice. Glancing down, hoping his ears were deceiving him, he could only offer a weak smile as and a small wave down towards the blue-haired woman who was shielding her eyes from the sun in order to see up in the tree.

Abel was the first to hop down from the tree, not because of Catria, but because of the green-haired woman who stood just behind her. He offered a friendly and slightly embarrassed greeting to Palla. Cain reluctantly slid down from the branch he was on, clutching onto the tree as he clumsily made his way down. Marth followed, jumping down directly and landing nimbly on his feet.

"I haven't seen you since—oh, hello." Catria's tone suddenly changed as she laid eyes on Marth. "Cain, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Huh? Oh, this is Marth. Marth, this is Catria." He quickly acquainted the two.

"Charmed." Marth smiled, making the terrible mistake of engaging Catria in conversation, despite Cain's warning looks. It wasn't long before Catria was swooning over Marth; the latter was uncomfortably backing away, and Catria paced him, matching every backwards step with a forwards one.

With an exasperated sigh, Cain stepped in, tapping her on the shoulder and drawing her attention away from Marth long enough for him to quickly excuse himself and speed-walk away. It was then that Catria turned on Cain, eager to tell him about every waking moment that had passed between the last time she had seen him.

While Cain was busy listening to Catria's life story, Abel had his attention on Palla, exchanging pleasantries and making friendly conversation.

"Where's Est?" Abel had noticed that the youngest had not accompanied her two sisters.

Palla only offered an exasperated sigh and a shrug. "Who knows? It's impossible to keep an eye on that girl."

Abel laughed in agreement; he'd known the pink-haired girl for a while, and she had harbored quite the crush on him, but his need for stability contradicted her spontaneous lifestyle, and she quickly moved on. Palla, however… Palla was more serious, standing tall and elegant, but whether that was of her own personality or because she had been forced early to be the mother-figure to her sisters, Abel couldn't say.

"It was good to see you, Palla." Abel gave her a short-lived hug as a goodbye, quickly turning to go rescue Cain from his chatterbox partner.

Palla stared after him a moment, watching him go. She had always listened to Est's rambles about him, and dared not to ruin her younger sister's fun with her own desires, but even now she couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness as he left. The smile that she saw him give Cain made her heart float and her stomach drop at the same time; she couldn't quell her feeling of longing, wishing that smile was for her, but at the same time she wanted him to be happy, and that was clearly already the case.

"Did you see Cain's friend? Gods, what a hottie!" Catria's voice brought Palla out of her thoughts, and she jumped at the presence of her sister beside her.

"Hm? Oh, Marth?" Palla gave her sister an amused smile, trying to push aside her wandering thoughts.

"Definitely boyfriend material." Catria was dramatically fanning herself.

This caused Palla to laugh. "Honestly, you're as bad as Est. Come on, it's getting late. Let's head home."