Chapter Text
It was a peaceful, sunny day in Baron. Within the castle walls, three fair-haired children--two boys, one with blond hair tied back into a short, low ponytail, the other one with short, striking silver hair, and one blond girl, her long hair tied back into a pair of pigtails--were running about in the garden, laughing as they chased each other around the base of a large tree.
Suddenly, the silver-haired boy tripped over one of the tree's large roots, yelping as he fell to the ground. "Owww...!" he groaned, sitting up on the ground and holding his scraped knee, his large blue eyes watering as tears threatened to spill.
"Cecil, are you okay?!" the blond girl cried out in concern, kneeling by the fallen boy.
"Y-Yeah, I'm okay, Rosa..." Cecil sniffled as he tried to hold back his tears.
The older blond boy scoffed. "You're such a crybaby," the boy derided.
"Am not!" Cecil replied with a pout.
"Are too! You're crying right now!"
"I am not!" Cecil cried.
"Stop it, Kain! You're not helping!" Rosa interrupted with a glare, silencing the older boy suddenly, then turned her attention back to Cecil's scraped knee. "Does it hurt, Cecil?"
"N-No..." he said with a sniffle.
Rosa gave Cecil an unimpressed look then. "Cecil..."
"...A little..." Cecil admitted quietly.
Rosa shook her head. "Boys..." With that, Rosa closed her eyes, concentrating as a green healing aura enveloped her hands. "Cure!"
Cecil's body glowed in turn for a moment, and in the next, Cecil's scrape was healed. Cecil cautiously moved his leg, then gasped. "My knee's all better!" he exclaimed, looking at Rosa with eyes filled with awe. "Wow, Rosa! You're amazing!"
"It worked!" Rosa cried gleefully. She beamed brightly then. "My mom taught me Cure! I've been practicing, and when I get older, I'm going to learn all sorts of white magic, and be a great white mage, just like her! Then I can heal all your wounds, Cecil, so you don't have to cry," she declared then.
Cecil blinked a little, then looked away sheepishly, blush spreading across his round cheeks.
Kain's face twitched a little in irritation then. "Yeah, well, I'm gunna be a great dragoon, just like my dad!" he declared then. "I'll get real strong, and I won't cry like a baby over scraped knees," he sneered.
Cecil pouted a bit at that, then sighed and rose to his feet, dusting off his legs a little. "Well...it's great that you and Rosa have parents who's footsteps you can follow..." Cecil murmured softly, a tinge of sadness to his voice.
Kain and Rosa froze then, as they were hit with the reminder that their friend was an orphan, a foundling of unknown origin taken in by the king of Baron; and so surely, their casual remarks about their parentage struck a nerve, potentially reopening a wound, for the sensitive boy.
"I-I'm sorry, Cecil, we didn't--" Rosa began.
"No-no, it's okay," Cecil reassured her with a small smile. "It doesn't bother me, really..."
Kain rolled his eyes then. It was his turn to be annoyed with the boy's attempt at bravado. "Yeah, well...if you're all better, then can we go back to playing? This is boring!"
" Kain! Be nice! " Rosa hissed, astonished by how callous the boy could be.
Kain huffed a little, then looked up at the tree they were standing under, biting his lip a bit as he studied the height of its branches. He glanced back at Cecil and Rosa then, a small smirk on his face. "Wanna see me jump this tree?"
Cecil blinked, staring up at Kain with wide eyes. "Can you do that???"
"I've been practicing, too, ya know," Kain bragged, placing his hands upon his hips and puffing out his chest proudly. "I can ride the wind, just like my dad!"
"Kain, you shouldn't push it..." Rosa cautioned.
"Tch. Just watch me! I can jump to that branch, right there!" Kain declared, pointing to one of the middle branches of the tree, rather high up from the ground.
"Kain, you're gunna hurt yourself!" Rosa exclaimed.
"I'll be fine! I've got the blood of a legendary dragoon in my veins!" Kain proclaimed as he started warming up, stretching his arms and performing a round of squats, swinging his arms back and forth as he bent his knees up and down.
Cecil watched Kain intently, his bright blue eyes wide with excitement. Rosa glanced at Cecil, then sighed and shook her head. "Boys..."
Once he felt he was sufficiently warmed up, Kain bent his knees, his sharp, violet eyes trained on the tree branch he was aiming for. A light breeze began to pick up around the trio, the wind swirling around Kain's feet as he shot up into the air, leaping a great deal higher into the air than a normal six-year-old his age would. "W-Whoa, whooooa...!" Kain couldn't help but cry out as he lost control, the wind petering out before he could clear the branch he was hoping to land on. He reached out with both hands and grappled with the tree branch awkwardly, barely catching hold just in time before he tumbled to the ground. "Ha...haha...hahaha! See, I did it!" Kain exclaimed, grunting a bit as he pulled himself up to straddle the tree branch. "I told you I could!"
"Wow, that's amazing, Kain!" Cecil exclaimed, his bright blue eyes glimmering with admiration for his friend.
Rosa shook her head. "Okay, you did it, Kain. Now get down before you get hurt!" she called out to him.
"You worry too much, Rosa," Kain replied, then looked around him from his new vantage point. "Oh, hey, there's a hole up here! Maybe there's some hidden treasure inside," he remarked, scooting along the branch towards the trunk of the tree to get a closer look.
"Well? What do you see, what do you see???" Cecil asked curiously, bouncing on his toes eagerly as he tried to take a peek from his place on the ground.
Kain took a peek inside the hole as he got closer. "It kinda looks like a nest. There's just random junk in here, though. Lotta shiny stuff. And...nuts?" he reported, sticking a hand inside the hole and rummaging through.
"Kain, I really wouldn't do that...!!!" Rosa winced, already getting a sinking feeling that things were not going to end well.
Suddenly, a squirrel scurried down from the treetop and chirped threateningly at Kain, clearly upset with Kain invading his nest and making a mess of things. "Huh? A squirrel...?" he said as he stared at the furry creature. The squirrel continued to chirp loudly at Kain, which annoyed the boy. "Oh, can it, you!" he said as he moved to shoo the squirrel away from him. This proved to be the wrong move, as the agitated squirrel reacted by jumping onto Kain's face, claws digging into his skin and drawing blood as it scratched and bit him. "A-ACK! GET OFF ME!!!" Kain screeched, flailing as he tried to get the vicious squirrel off his face, only to lose his balance, slipping off the tree branch and falling hard on the ground below, Kain letting out a loud wail of pain as his body made a sickening crunch noise.
"KAIN!!!" Cecil and Rosa cried out in horror, hurrying over to the fallen boy.
Cecil grabbed a large stick from the ground and swung it at the attacking squirrel. "Get away from my friend!!!" he cried out as he chased the squirrel away, then turned his attention back to Kain. "Kain, are you okay?!"
"Kain, you're bleeding!" Rosa cried, clasping her hands over her mouth at the sight of Kain's bloody, scratched-up face and arms.
"I-It hurts...!" Kain cried out, whimpering with tears in his eyes as he grasped his broken arm, curling into himself as he gritted his teeth and tried to hold back sobs.
Cecil knelt by Kain's side, his eyes wide and frightened as he looked at Rosa. "C-Can you heal him, Rosa???"
"I-I can try..." Rosa said shakily. She took a deep breath, then concentrated, her hands glowing the same healing green aura as before. "Cure!"
As before, Kain's body began to glow in turn. Kain's breathing calmed as the pain subsided, his broken arm and scratches now mostly mended. Kain sat up afterwards, sniffling as he rubbed his sore, terribly bruised arm. "Th-Thank you, Rosa..." he murmured, looking away as his cheeks blushed from the embarrassment of having been bested by a squirrel.
Rosa sighed in relief, and then she glared at him. "You scared me! I told you you would get hurt, and you did! You're lucky it was just a broken arm, you could have got really, really hurt and died, and then I wouldn't be able to save you, you dummy!" Rosa scolded, tears in her angry, worry-filled eyes.
Kain stared at Rosa with wide eyes, his face now blushing for a different reason. Despite the pain and embarrassment, he felt...happy, that Rosa had worried about him like that. And then the guilt settled in, that he had made her cry with his reckless behavior. "I-I'm sorry, Rosa..."
Cecil threw his arms around Kain and hugged the boy tightly, his own body shaking, something that took Kain completely by surprise. "C-Cecil...?"
"I was really scared, too, Kain..." Cecil said with a sniffle. "I thought it would be my fault that you got hurt so bad..."
Kain blinked at that, then scoffed. "Stupid, why would it be your fault? You didn't do anything wrong..."
"You were trying to cheer me up, weren't you?"
Kain froze then. "...What're you talking about?"
"You knew I was sad, and you wanted to do something to distract me and cheer me up, didn't you...?" Cecil questioned softly.
Kain hesitated for a moment, then scoffed again and looked away. "You're overthinking it. I just wanted to show off and look cool, and then I made a total fool of myself instead. That's all," he insisted.
"Kain..." Rosa's eyes softened then. "So that's what that was..."
"...Even so, I'm glad you're okay, Kain," Cecil said as he let go of him.
Kain mulled it over for a moment, then glanced towards Cecil again. "I'm sorry I made fun of you for being a crybaby," Kain said finally. "...You're still a big crybaby, though. But I guess that's not completely a bad thing..." he added with a weak smirk.
Cecil smiled softly at Kain in turn, then wiped his eyes with the back of his wrist. "W-We should go back inside and see the head white mage. She can heal the rest of your wounds..." Cecil suggested as he rose to his feet.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Rosa nodded in agreement, rising to her feet and smoothing out her dress. "I healed what I could, but I'm still only a beginner..."
Cecil and Rosa both extended a hand to Kain, who graciously took both, wincing a bit as he rose to his feet with their help. "Well, I guess I'm gunna get more scoldings..."
"Shouldn't you be used to that by now?" Cecil teased lightly.
"Oh shut-up," Kain replied as he nudged Cecil, a small smirk on his face.
The trio laughed and held hands as they walked together back inside Baron Castle.
"... Fuck squirrels, though, those things are demons."
"Language, Kain!!!"