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Smg0 was sitting outside of Smg4’s castle on a camping chair sipping on a warm cup of tea. Wrapped up in two warm blankets, he watched as the stars and moon shone above him with a beautiful radiance. Nothing could spoil this beautiful night for him.
Smg0 went to take another sip of his tea, when he heard a certain castle door open.
Turning his head over, he saw Smg4 walk slowly out of the castle. Smg0 observed him, he wasn’t wearing his signature hat, his hair looked a bit disheveled, and he walked with a certain fatigue that couldn’t be chalked up to just mere tiredness.
In all honesty, it worried Smg0.
But suddenly, he was interrupted out of his observing when Smg4 looked over at him with a surprised look on his face.
“Oh, hey Smg0..” Smg4 smiled politely, but it was the kind of smile that didn’t reach his eyes, one that seemed practiced.
“Hi Smg4! You come out to enjoy the beautiful night too?”
“You could say that..” Smg4 replied.
Smg4 then looked at the camping chair sitting beside Smg0.
“Where’s Niles?”
“He went to bed, said he was tired.”
Smg0 then took a sip of tea before cheekily adding “I stole his blanket from him but don’t tell him okay?”
Smg4 chuckled.
“Alright, I won’t.”
The two then fell into silence, with Smg4 standing awkwardly in front of the door, as if not knowing what to do with himself.
Smg0 looked him over for a second before patting the chair next to him.
“Come sit, it’ll be more comfortable than standing around right?”
Smg4’s eyes widened for a second before hesitating, saying.
“Oh no, I wouldn’t wanna interrupt what you have going on.”
Smg0 insisted.
“You wouldn’t be interrupting anything. Besides it’d be nice to have somebody else out here too, even for a little bit.” Smg0 smiled at him before patting the chair again.
Smg4 hesitated for a moment before walking over and sitting down next to Smg0.
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, which Smg0 used to really look at Smg4.
He looked worn out, his eyes carried a heaviness to them that spoke of immense guilt, the kind of guilt that Smg0 knew all too well.
Smg0 took a sip from his cup before speaking.
“You look tired.”
Smg4 glanced over at him for a moment before shrugging.
“I guess..”
Smg0 looked at him with a worried eye before asking.
“Is something wrong?”
It was like a subtle switch went off with the way Smg4 sat up just a bit straighter and tried to appear more put together with a smile.
“I’m alright Zero, you don’t have to worry.”
Zero wasn’t buying it.
“Four, if something is wrong, you know you can tell me, right?” Smg0 asked him gently.
“Nothing is wrong! You have nothing to worry about, I’m fine.”
Smg0 sighed, he could tell that Smg4 wasn’t being truthful but he knew it wasn’t his business to pry.
“Alright, but if you want to, I’m all ears.”
The two fell back into silence, quietly observing the bright night sky. Before the silence was eventually broken.
“… The castle.”
Smg0 glanced over at Smg4.
“Huh?”
“I can’t stop thinking about the old castle.”
Oh.
“… Peach’s castle right?” Smg0 asked.
“Right..” Smg4 sighed before leaning forward in his seat.
“I can’t stop thinking about it, how I let that stupid keyboard take over me for the sake of a ‘perfect’ video. How.. how I pushed away all my friends like they were nothing..” Smg4 explained, with Zero shifting to face him more as he spoke.
“And- god- I can’t stop thinking about how I left Peach to just rot down there. I destroyed her castle, my home, all for a video?” Smg4 was getting more emotional the longer he spoke, and he breathed out a shaky breath before saying.
“It’s my fault, it’s my fault this castle is here in the first place and it’s my fault I was so damn stupid-“
Smg4 suddenly felt a hand on his thigh.
“H-Huh?” He looked down at the hand then looked up to find that Smg0 was looking at him with a sad yet caring look.
“Four, you’re not stupid. You couldn’t have known that any of that would happen.”
“Still..” Smg4 said bitterly, looking away from Smg0 and back to the ground.
Smg0 sat back in his original position and pondered for a moment, trying to think of some way to help Smg4.
Then it hit him.
“You know, when I was… fused with Niles, I saw a lot of what he did.”
Smg4 looked up from the ground and back at Smg0, concern itching on to his face.
“I saw how Niles would destroy entire universes like nothing, all for the sake of his goal. I… I blamed myself a lot for what happened, how if I had just done something, maybe things would’ve turned out differently.”
Smg0 took a deep breath, thinking about the past like this was still a lot after all.
“But just like how there wasn’t anything I could’ve done at the time, there was nothing you could’ve done to stop what happened. I mean, you weren’t exactly in control of your actions at the time right?”
Smg4 glanced away from Smg0 for a moment before sighing.
“Right…”
Smg0 fell silent for a moment before chuckling as he thought of something.
“You may not like to hear this, but you and Niles are similar in a way.”
That got Smg4 to look over at him with a slight bewildered expression.
“W-What? How?” Smg4 asked him with genuine confusion in his voice.
Smg0 chuckled some more at his frankly adorable reaction, taking yet another sip from his cup before responding.
“Well, let me think.. you both can get caught up in your goals to the point of obsession, you both can be ignorant to other people’s feelings, and you both tend to not ask for help.”
Smg4 visibly sunk at Smg0’s words.
That is until Smg0 continued.
“But you both care, a lot. You’re always willing to help others, you’re both loyal to a fault, and,”
Smg0 then stuck his hand out and tapped Smg4’s nose.
“You’re both extremely adorable.”
“Hey!” Smg4 called out while scrambling to cover his nose, his face scrunching up like a cat. Smg0 laughed at that.
“Heheh, but you get what I mean? You two are very similar, and while you may have done terrible things, you still feel remorse over it, and I think that’s what counts.”
Smg4 stared at him for a moment before realizing he was staring and shifted his gaze to what was in front of him.
He hadn’t really thought about it like that, it was..
Something.
“How do you know about all of this?” Smg4 asked Smg0, genuinely curious now.
Smg0 then chuckled before replying.
“When you’ve been fused as long as I have, it gives you time to think, and observe.”
“Hm.” Smg4 said simply before he leaned back in his seat and sighed.
“This is all… so much to think about..”
“It is, but it’s necessary, not just for you but for your friends as well.”
”Yeah..”
Smg4 and Smg0 then fell into a comfortable silence, the soft wisps of the wind being the only sound heard before a yawn slowly erupted from Smg4, signalling his impending exhaustion.
“Tired?” Smg0 asked with a smirk on his face.
Smg4 immediately tried to make it seem like he wasn’t tired by rubbing his eyes furiously before sitting up straighter.
“Nah, I’m not tired.”
Smg0 quirked his eye towards him, clearly not believing his obvious lie. Smg4 stared for a few long seconds before another yawn ripped through him and he sighed.
“Alright you got me, I just.. I don’t think I wanna be alone right now.”
Smg0 smiled at him, a soft look painting his features as he looked at the younger meme guardian.
“Well you don’t have to be, not as long as I’m out here.”
Smg4 nodded at that and for once, he felt like he could start believing that.
Smg4 relaxed more into his seat before softly speaking.
“Thanks Zero, for… all of that.”
Smg0 smiled brighter at his words.
“Of course Four, we meme guardians have to stick together,”
Smg0 then suddenly grabbed Smg4’s hand.
“No matter what.”
Smg4 looked down at his hand then back at Smg0 and he smiled back at him.
“No matter what.”
Smg4 and Smg0 proceeded to stay outside, staring up into the stars before Smg4 inevitably passed out, to which Smg0 pulled off one of his blankets and draped it over him.
He then sat back down on his chair and stared back up into the dreamy night sky, admiring its radiance.
Yep, tonight was a beautiful night.