(Haha sorry for taking decades to upload-- dw this book will still be finished one day just not anytime soon :/)

=Sabre's POV=

It was already getting dark by the time Lucas and I reached shelter. He pulled me into a cave, pulling out a torch and swiping it against the cave wall, the coal at the top sparking and illuminating the space. I sat down and stared at Lucas, in shock. He sat down across from me, placing the torch on the ground between us.

"So, hi," he started, giving a small wave, "been a while, huh?" I nodded, a smile creeping onto my face. "Yeah, I missed you a lot, uh- thanks for saving my butt back there, man." I replied. Lucas smiled a bit. "Yeah, of course. Glad I was able to track you down just in time."

A beat of silence passed.

"..Wow, hah, its crazy, seeing you again, huh? You look different." I said, gesturing to him. He seemed a bit taller than the last time I saw him. His wardrobe was somewhat similar to the previous outfit he wore, only that his red vest was replaced with a jacket, and he wore black jeans instead of shorts. His hat and shoes remained the same as always, but his hair was clearly longer, and his eyes seemed to be an almost brighter blue.

Lucas laughed, looking down at his hands momentarily before gesturing back towards me. "I could say the same about you, Sabre. Where'd your arm go, dude!?" His tone was more confused than accusatory, one of his eyebrows raising thoughtfully. I laughed. "Yeah, uh, funny story. That guy who was attacking me earlier? He stole it."

"Why?"

"He's me but evil."

"Why would- nevermind. What else happened, man? What's with all the scars?"

"Ah, so there was this guy named Elemental, right? He seemed all kind and wise and stuff, and he was nice to Rainbow and I, but then ended up being evil instead."

A look of realization seemed to dawn on Lucas's face. "Hey, that was what that sign in the catacombs said, right? 'He is kind and wise, yet evil instead', if I'm remembering right."

I did a double take. "Oh my gosh, the sign was talking about Elemental. That makes so much sense now."

"Yeah- but dude, did he cause all those?" Lucas' eyes darted up to look at the right side of my face. I shrugged.

"Most other scars are from Nightmare-"

"Nightmare!?"

"Yeah, he kinda resurrected himself or something. Anyways, Rainbow and I ended up fighting cause Elemental decided to put Rainbow under a temporary mind control. He kinda sent a fireball into my face."

"A fireball- from Rainbow!?"

"Mhm. The explosion scars are partially my fault, but because of Elemental, I got caught in the blast. Basically Rainbow and I were trying to blow up his dimension but he caught us."

"Oh gosh- Is Rainbow okay?"

"Yeah, he's doing fine. A little more traumatized than last time you saw him, but stuff happens, y'know?"

"That's a lot of stuff, Sabre."

"Yeah- Hey, wait a second, what about you, huh? What was that back there?"

Lucas seemed taken aback, before glancing away nervously. "OH- uh- ahah.. Yeah man- promise your opinion of me won't change..?"

"I mean, I've been through a lot since you left. So I guess as long as you aren't secretly evil now." I replied bluntly. Lucas seemed to relax a bit, but the tension in his shoulders was still visible. "Well, turns out I'm not exactly human?" He said. I blinked. "Okay? Does this mean you had a past life too?"

"Too? Wait- huh?"

"I'll explain it later. Continue."

"Ah- well... I'm not supposed to be real."

Now this.. this was confusing. "What? What do you mean you aren't supposed to be real!?" I yelled. This was concerning to say the least..

"Well- I'm a glitch in the system-? This world is made up of certain codes as you already know.. and I was kind of like some sort of code that messed up and became sentient.. but I didn't know until that one time I was captured by Shadow Steve. While you and Rainbow were trying to find me, Shadow threatened me with a knife.. and I got really scared and it just vanished into binary.. When I thought it over that night, I realized that the one who did that was me, that I had powers.. but I was just too scared to use them, I didn't want to have powers, I'm scared of becoming power hungry... so I continued to pretend to be normal, like you." Lucas confessed. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them, staring at me, waiting for my reaction.

"Lucas.." I started. This entire time he had kept something from me, despite the mutual trust to tell each other everything, yet I couldn't find it in me to be mad, or even disappointed. He was just scared. I guess I could understand his point of view. I know that in the past I would have wanted him to work on his abilities, so it made sense he was trying to avoid that.

"I'm not normal either." I settled on. Lucas seemed to smile a bit, almost laughing. "Of course you aren't, but I didn't mean it like that. I was counting in body and abilities, not your whole chosen one, main character complex." He said. 

"No, no, Lucas, I'm the reincarnation of a Blue Steve from Rainbow's past." I said. Lucas blinked. "..what-"

I laughed at Lucas's bewilderment. "I'm serious! And guess what, Shark, Moose, and Nathan are back too." Lucas looked shocked. "How much did I miss, oh my gosh!?" He yelled as I laughed. "A lot!" I said.

"I have another question, Sabs." Lucas said as soon as I calmed down. "Yeah, what's up?" I asked. He leaned forward, shifting into a criss-cross sit. "Where is the Rainbow Town?"

Oh.

"Ah.. hm, that's... Whew, uh- you know how I said Nightmare was back? Yeah he destroyed the town."

"WHAT!?"

"I know! I know, calm down, Rainbow and I are over it. Plus, Nightmare kinda disappeared after Rainbow and I had to fight him a little while ago. I dunno where he went, but he hasn't bothered us since. Here's hoping he just moved on with his life or just completely lost track of us."

"Sabre, you sound like a crazy person. Nightmare is out there, he could be gaining more power as we speak."

"Let me hope for the best Lucas! A lot of things have been happening recently, okay? And also, where did you even go? Like- you said you were leaving the game and then literally vanished into binary!!"

"I- well- I dunno where I even went, actually. It was all kinda dark, and I felt like I was floating.. then when I tried coming back, I couldn't. I ended up reflecting on my abilities and what I really was for a while, and then a few weeks ago, I was able to focus my abilities to the point of letting me back into the world, and I ended up in that crater where the Rainbow Town used to be." He explained. "After that, I focused myself on finding you and Rainbow."

"Oh." I said.

"By the way, Sabre, you mentioned Rainbow, Moose, Nathan, and Shark, but you aren't with them. Did you get lost?" He asked. 

Ah.

Lucas laughed at my silence as my face flushed in embarrassment. "Don't laugh at me-! I have a very good sense of direction, Lucas. I can navigate perfectly fine!" I defended, only for Lucas to cackle. "Yeah, right!" He said, "Just like you navigate your way into danger all the time!"

I made a half-hearted attempt to punch his arm, but he moved away, wheezing. "Aw, don't worry, Sabre, I'll get you back to your friends all safe and sound cause you got lost-!" He nearly choked out the last word as I pouted, glaring at him. "Okay, I got lost, I'll admit it, human compass! Not my fault the others were ahead of me when I started spacing out!"

"Fine then, space cadet, I'll believe you-" "Hey!" "-It's getting late out. We should get some rest, huh?" Lucas offered, ignoring my interruption. "Hmph, yeah. Good point. You got any wool on you?"

Lucas and I stood up, him reaching into his satchel as I dropped my bag to pull out wood. We worked together to make two beds, placing them against the cave walls. I settled myself into the bed as Lucas stretched and sat on his. "Night, Lucas." I said, a smile on my face. He smiled back. "Night, Sabre."

And with that, I was able to get the first good night's sleep I've had in a while.