AU: Symbiosis

Context: A group of smugglers outside of the Kingdoms have had Sabre locked in a makeshift prison for a few days, as they had gotten careless and Sabre accidentally stumbled upon one of their deals in progress. Knowing his connections with all of the Leaders, they couldn't let him escape. Purely because of survival, Sabre has to resort to giving the smugglers a fate worse than what they intended for him.

Warning: Starvation, blood, death

—————————————————————————————————————

[3rd Person POV]

He lay there on the rough stone, his captors watching from the other side of the iron bars.

He had been there for days at this point, the smugglers still arguing amongst each other about what to do with him. It wasn't his fault that he found them by accident, he was just trying to pick up something from the Yellow Kingdom for Rainbow. He always took that shortcut, it was used commonly by so many people. Good people.

And yet, they were there. Trading unlawfully-gotten items with some shopkeeper. He didn't know who it was that was trading with them, but as soon as both parties realized what was happening, another smuggler quickly grabbed him and dragged him away before he could do anything. He didn't remember much after that.

They took him to a dug out hideaway, likely far from any civilization he knows. They made this 'cell' quickly, digging out the hole in the wall in front of him, and tossed him in. At first he was chained, but after day two or three he was too weak to fight. So they got rid of those, but still kept him locked inside.

It's day five now. It won't be long before it happens.

They knew he was slowly starving, but were confused as to why it's happening so fast. The small scraps they gave him were far from enough to help, but they thought it was keeping him alive. It only made the empty feeling worse, making it even more miserable. It felt like a spiraling pit inside, keeping him awake as he tried to get any small amount of sleep as it growled for something to satisfy it.

Now they argue whether they should hold him for ransom because of his friendship with such powerful names. He just wants it over with. He wants to go home. He wants his friends.

...Goblin stopped listening days ago. He's not acting like a person anymore. Instead, he is silent and acting like what he truly is; instincts and the will to survive, by any means necessary. Yes, he is living too, but that doesn't change his simple mind. Sabre may be low on strength, but Goblin isn't weakened by hunger.

Hunger only makes him angry.

There's not much time left. It's inevitable now.

He feels sorry for the smugglers.

As they continue to argue, Sabre starts to... shift. His skin slowly grows darker and each fingertip grows into points. Black goop form around him as his veins change and go dark, the semisolid at first in small amounts, but it quickly pools around him and starts to cover him.

One of the smugglers notices and shouts, pointing at the shoddy prison. By the time the rest turn around, Sabre is no longer present. Instead, the one standing there, beginning to grow too big for the small stone box, is a much more hostile and merciless beast.

Screams echo through the walls of the hideaway as the iron bars bend and break in seconds, the abyss black monster finally pushing against them as the cell becomes too small to hold it.

As the surrounding captors blink for one moment, one of their comrades that was standing closest to the prison is already gone. Blood stains the monster's teeth as it quickly decides on its next target.

As the rest of the smugglers' organization rushes to see what's going on in the main room, they walk into a massacre as their criminal allies are devoured. As soon as they see it, they try to run, but they're snatched up by dark, clawed tendrils that have extended throughout the room. They're dragged, screaming, towards the beast they brought inside, as they desperately try to claw the floor to find a grip to pull back and get away.

But their efforts are futile.

—————————————————————————————————————

Sabre wakes up on the floor of the main room, sore and tired.

He shakily gets up, looking around. The entire hideaway was deathly quiet, and eerily empty. Save for a few red smears against the cold grey stone, there were barely any signs that there were once people here.

He looks down and sees there's a few smears of crimson on him as well, the most of it on his hands. It's nothing much, it could be mistaken for blood from the cuts he received from the jagged stone he was previously laying on, but it was a reminder of what he and his other half had done.

Speaking of, he feels a familiar hum and the goopy, more friendly, and thankfully known and loved face of his other half appears, his usual blob-like form stretching from his back and halfway looped around him. His face tells him many things, but Sabre knows what he's thinking as he uses his way of communication to apologize.

guilt regret apologetic remorse shame sadness grief 

Sabre sighs and pats the gooey form's head, comforting it.

"It's okay, Goblin. We were desperate."

He didn't say out loud that he knew that they would have died soon if they hadn't done something.

Goblin mushes his face into his hand for a moment, then retreats back into Sabre's hoodie. Sabre then begins looking for a way out of the unwelcoming base.

As he walked, following a series of signs labeling the rooms and paths, he notices that he's no longer starving, as always whenever this happens. As he finally finds an exit door, he steps out into the bright afternoon sunlight, stomach now only partly empty.

...But partly empty is still empty. Spying a berry bush in the distance, he starts walking to it to harvest what he hoped were edible berries. However, just as he reaches the bush, he hears voices in the distance.

One of them being the familiar voice of his best friend.

Relieved and grateful, he calls back, making his voice as loud as he can manage. He's extremely tired, his body aches, and he missed his friends. They both did. And now, they're about to find them and he can finally go home.

As familiar silhouettes appear in the distant trees, he smiles with tears in his eyes and walks towards them as they spot him. The colorful one is already running as fast as he can towards him. As he closes in, Sabre knows he has to come up with a different story to tell than what the scene they'll find in the empty hideout tells, but he can already think of one. Can't be suspicious if you don't know what happened, either.

Rainbow slams into him, crying and smiling. He's already saying how worried he was and that they've been looking for him for so long, where had he been?

Sabre feels guilty as he points towards the hideaway, knowing only he will ever know the true story of what happened in it; two groups fighting each other out of desperation for survival.