A Dragon's Treasure

Chapter 11 - Color Fight

"Remus, I don't think we should be doing this?" Roman looked at Patton's house, an adorable cottage nestled in the woods. It almost had a glowing effect around it. Honestly, Roman wouldn't be surprised if that was real, Patton was a ball of sunshine.

"Relax, Padre won't be mad, in fact, he will find it funny, as long as everything can be cleaned up." They were crouched in the tall brush just past the house. Roman had been hesitant to leave the cave, wondering if he would even be allowed, but when Janus crossed by them, he had even encouraged this outing. Roman didn't understand why, but he wasn't going to turn down a chance for fresh air.

"Patton is one of the few people who has been nice to me throughout all of this, I don't want to vandalize his house."

"You really need to learn to have fun. Like I said, he's not gonna be mad, this is all super easy for him to clean up. I've done it hundreds of times. He calls it 'freedom of expression.'"

Roman still wasn't sure. Remus had been pushing this agenda of him learning to have fun but it still felt wrong. He bit at his lip, ready to say no again when a crow flew over their heads. It cawed at their antics before perching in a far off tree. Roman looked towards it. A sign. A sign that they were doing the right thing. He turned to look at Remus, before turning to look back at the crow. It was gone, but he knew he had seen it. "Alright, give me the ball."

Remus cackled excitedly, handing over one of the magic color balls. He was bouncing excitedly as Roman pulled his arm back, readying to throw it.

"What are you doing?" A deep voice asked from behind him, causing Roman to squeak and drop the ball to the ground where it exploded into a cascade of colors all around them. Remus immediately started laughing, and Roman turned to look at the man behind him, but there was no one there, not even a mark in the colors where someone might have gotten hit.

"Up here, Princy," Roman swiveled and turned to look at the man now sitting in a tree, swinging his feet back and forth. How did he get up there so fast? And on top of that, how was he so quiet?

"How did you know I was a prince?"

"Oh shit, you're a real prince? I just thought you were arrogant."

"Excuse you," Roman trilled, putting a hand to his chest. "How dare you?"

The man laughed at him. Remus was also holding back a laugh and Roman was reminded of what he had been told earlier. These balls couldn't hurt anything. No damage, just color spray. He quickly grabbed one from Remus, hesitating for just a moment before chucking it at the other man. Roman only realized he wasn't on the branch as he let go of the ball. What in the world was going on?

"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get." The voice felt like it was right behind him, and Roman shivered. He was not used to people being able to sneak up on him. "Free for all Remus?"

"YES! COLOR FIGHT!" Remus said as he grabbed the balls and began running off.

Shoot, he was not prepared for this. Roman ducked into the taller grass, trying to hide, but he was already covered in colors. Apparently bright colors were easy to see among the tall grass, as he felt himself being pelted in the back with a color ball. Roman looked down, expecting the ball to be gone, but it was sitting there on the ground. This he could work with.

He quickly scooped it up, running into the clearing so that he would be targeted. He did his best to swerve and dodge, letting the balls fall to the ground behind him before he scooped up a few and began to chuck them at Remus, where most of the attacks had been coming from.

Remus laughed, ran, and stole Roman's strategy. At some point Roman forgot there was another person he was fighting with until a ball hit him square in the back, causing him to stumble forward, completely covered in color. He looked back at the other man indignantly, only to see a Cheshire grin on the man.

"Gotta watch your back, Princey."

Roman raised his eyebrow before throwing a quick throw. By some stroke of luck, he actually hit the other man, and Roman broke down laughing. This was more fun than he had had in far too long.

"You good bro? We didn't scramble that egg head too hard did we?" Remus asked as he popped up.

"Not in the slightest, this was just... thank you, Remus, this was amazing. I've never had so much fun before. And thank you, Stranger, for joining us."

"Oh him, that's Virgil. He's kinda like Patton's kid."

"Really?" Roman asked, surprised.

"No," Virgil cut in. "I'm no one's kid, least of all Patton's. I'm an entity unto myself."

"Yeah, yeah, that's why you stick around him like a lost puppy when he is out here."

"That man is accident-prone and a menace to himself, if I didn't watch him he would get hurt."

Remus laughed, not arguing with Virgil on that point. Roman could see it. Patton had been a little accident-prone during their cookie-making session. "He does seem to get a little more excited than his body can keep up with at times."

"Who are you to talk about Patton?"

"Chill, V-man," Remus said, stepping in between Virgil and Roman, "He's Patton's new kid."

"What?" Virgil and Roman said in unison.

"I get why V is surprised, but why are you surprised, Pissy?"

Virgil chuckled, "Nice."

"Thank you. Anyway, Patton's been treating you like his kiddo since you first got here, that means he adopted you."

"Pissy, really?"

"Yeah, just like Princy but more fun."

Roman shook his head, "I guess I just didn't realize that he was acting like a dad. It's been a while since I had mine."

"Well, now you have two more."

"Two?"

Remus pointed to the mark on his wrist, signifying he was part of the hoard.

"That's basically Dad's way of adopting people. Less elegant, but still effective."

"Oh," Roman wasn't sure how to feel about that, but somewhere in his heart, it felt good, knowing that someone cared.

"Sadly we should probably head home now, we're gonna have to clean up before Dad lets us anywhere near the cave."

"What should we do with these?" Roman asked about the color orbs.

"We'll take them home to let them recharge, maybe we can come play again. I enjoy war tactics!"

Roman smiled, "Yeah, that sounds like fun."