In January 2024 I'm going on a trip to New Zealand because my grandmother wants to visit some of our family members who live in New Zealand.
We're going to have a 10-day-long road trip across New Zealand which I'm SUPER excited for. The longest road trip I've gone on was 2 hours, and I've always wanted to go on a long road trip so I'm very happy. I know people complain about long road trips but I just want to experience one. So I probably won't be online much during those 10 days. I don't know the exact day when it's going to start, but I'll let you know as soon as I know.

Anyway, on with the Chapter! TWs below.

Trigger Warnings: Injuries, descriptions of horror elements, nightmares, corruption.
Buckle up for this one :D

If you're still here, stay safe and enjoy the Chapter!

---Sabre's POV---

He stumbled out of the building, subconsciously wondering why the Darkness he saw ignored him and just walked past him.

Sabre thought that maybe they were trying to not get killed, but they just casually walked past him as if he was one of them.
Maybe it was some sort of default mode now that they didn't have a leader? But they had Soul and Corruption, surely the leadership would go to one or both of them?

Sabre shrugged with his non-paralyzed arm and continued walking.
Other Sabre had disappeared back into their mindscape a while ago, a little after Sabre had been convinced by Other Sabre to ask Void about his past, which had proved both useful and annoying, because now there was a tiny bit of guilt in Sabre's mind about killing him.

But he had pushed past that guilt by reminding himself of all the horrors Void had done.
Other Sabre had helped a bit with that by listing off things Void had done that Sabre hadn't previously known about, which made him shiver just thinking about.

Sabre spread his wings (despite them both being slightly burnt from some of Void's fireballs and lightning strikes) and managed to get back home despite his injuries and the rocky flight, although he had to stop a few times to rest for a bit.

---

"Sabre!" Time called, running up to Sabre as he landed near their house.

Sabre blinked in surprise when he saw a small team of Colourless Guards that had been talking to Light, Time and Elemental before they had spotted him.

"You're hurt! What happened?" Time glanced over Sabre's wounds, occasionally grabbing his arms and wings and moving them to get a better look at Sabre's injuries, but Sabre managed to pull away.

He crossed his arms and wrapped his wings around his body (ignoring the stings of pain he got when burns and injuries brushed each other) and huffed.
"I just...fought Void, is all, man. No need to get so worried." He shrugged, ignoring the shocked and worried looks.

"YOU FOUGHT VOID?!" Time shrieked, "I left a note specifically telling you to NOT do that!"

"Yeah, but I won." Sabre muttered.

"You won?" Elemental grinned, appearing next to Time, who jumped back.

"Do not encourage him, Elemental." Time glared at his brother once he calmed down.
Elemental rolled his eyes.

"And how exactly did you win, Sabre? Did Void surrender? Which I seriously doubt, no offence." Light frowned, his arms crossed.

"Oh. I killed him." Sabre smiled, not understanding why everyone stared at him with a look of shock.

"You killed him?" Time gasped.

Sabre nodded, spotting the Colourless Guards behind them glancing at each other in what seemed to be shock.

"You...killed him?" Light repeated Time's question.

"Yeah!" Sabre held out his sword which was covered in Void's blood. 

The three Steves shuffled away with a look of confusion, disgust, surprise, awe and a bit of happiness.

"We're...glad that he's dead but we had a plan!" Light glared at Sabre.

"Yeah, I know. But now you don't have to risk yourselves for that plan!" Sabre grinned and he was met with silence.

Eventually, Time stepped forward. "Well, we need to treat your injuries, I guess...come with me." Time gently grabbed Sabre's moveable arm and dragged him back to the Kingdom.

"I'm fine, Time!" Sabre protested (and was ignored), but obviously was not fine as he stumbled along after Time, so he eventually gave up fighting back.

-----

Sabre sighed, crossing his arm over his chest. He glanced at his paralyzed arm when it didn't move and, with a quiet grumble, picked it up and placed it over his chest and then properly crossed his arms.

The doctor, a Green Steve, shot Sabre an annoyed look when he did that.
Sabre had already been scolded many times for fiddling with his bandages and also moving when he was meant to stay still, but the Green Steve had eventually given up and was now just giving him annoyed looks as if that would stop him.

"Hey, Doctor Green!" Elemental popped his head in through the window right next to Doctor, who leapt back with a yelp.

"Elemental! I thought your brother told you to stay in his sight and to not bother me or Sabre!" Doctor scolded him.

"But I'm bored! And I'm sure Sabre is bored and lonely, too!" Elemental looked at Sabre with a hopeful look.

Doctor Green also gave Sabre a look, but it was one that said:
Don't you dare even think about it.

But Sabre just gave Doctor a sly smile and spoke.
"Yeah! I can rest while still having Elemental around so I'm not bored! You don't want your patient getting lonely and bored, riiight?" Sabre grinned and Doctor gave him a look of fury.

He then swung his head around to glare at Elemental, who was also giving Doctor a mix of a happy and cheeky grin.

"Right, Doc! I'm not gonna hurt him or mess with his bandages or whatever! I'll just talk to him, and keep him company." Elemental swung open the door despite the stuttering protests of the very annoyed Doctor, and practically skipped over to Sabre, who was trying his very hardest not to burst into laughter.

"Doc? My name is Doctor." Doctor glared at Elemental, and for a second Sabre wondered if Green Steves could turn into Red Steves because of how red with anger Doctor was looking.

Elemental chuckled. "Sure, Doccy."
Elemental reached forward and took Doctor's chair away from his desk and pulled it over next to Sabre, sitting down with a cheekily triumphant look.

If looks could kill, Elemental would've died on the spot from the glare Doctor gave him, which made Sabre's job of not laughing so much more difficult.

"I..." Doctor looked between the two of them before sighing, "I'm just going to collect some healing herbs..." He walked off with a few grumbles and a slam of his door.

Elemental grinned at Sabre, who started chuckling.

"I can't laugh too much, I might undo some stitches Doctor gave me." Sabre murmured through small chuckles and Elemental nodded, still grinning.

"Got it. But that doesn't mean I can't talk to you." Elemental smiled and Sabre grinned.

"I think it means that for Doctor." Sabre chuckled and Elemental burst into laughter.

"Honestly, I think it does!" Elemental said through laughter.

Sabre chuckled before stopping to covering his eyes from the sun's rays that were filtering through the window as the sun set.

Elemental glanced over at the window, squinting his eyes, and then spread one hand.

A small cloud went over the sun, following it down as it continued setting.

"Did you...?" Sabre blinked up at Elemental, who shrugged.

"Yeah. Can't have the seriously injured guy get sunburnt or hurt eyes from the sun." Elemental smiled and Sabre smiled back.

"Thanks." Sabre held up one hand (the only hand he could hold up) and offered a highfive.

"Don't mention it." Elemental chuckled, returning the highfive gently but still enthusiasticly.

----

Elemental eventually had to leave, by getting shooed out by Doctor with a broom when he returned from herb-gathering.

Sabre had laughed at this but stopped when Doctor had threateningly held up the broom and moved it towards him, as if daring him to continue laughing.

Doctor had gone to his room now, which was a separate part of his treatment area where Sabre was staying.

Sabre sighed, lying silently in the darkness of the night, with the only light coming from a small lantern near the door.

He eventually fell asleep, despite a strange uncomfortableness on his shoulder of the paralyzed arm.
(The shoulder could still feel things but his arm couldn't.)

When he opened his eyes, he wasn't in the shared mindscape of himself and Other Sabre like he had expected.

Instead, it was a pitch black area, that seemed almost infinite as Sabre turned around in place.

He was floating, almost, and it was almost like he was in water.
It also felt like the pressure that water has if you go too deep, and Sabre felt squished yet wasn't touching anything.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out and his throat felt scratchy and dry.

What the? He thought in confusion.
Am I dreaming?

He tried to 'swim' forward, but he wasn't sure if he was actually moving.
He couldn't tell because of the seemingly infinite dark space.

Then it was as if gravity was switched back on, and Sabre plummeted to the ground which he swore wasn't there before.

He shrieked as he hit the ground, finally managing to make any noise, despite his throat still feeling dry.

"Hello?" He muttered, with no reply.

Sabre pushed himself to his feet, glancing over himself now that he could actually see.

He seemed no different, and he still had all his injuries from the fight with Void.

But on his paralyzed arm was black goop, spreading from his wrist to his shoulder.

Sabre yelped when he realised it was Darkness, trying to shake it off to no avail.

It seemed like it even helped it, as the Darkness spread more over onto the back of his hand.

Sabre hadn't even felt it, and he realised that the uncomfortableness he had been feeling before going to sleep was probably the Darkness, if this was real.

Sabre carefully reached over with his other hand to touch it with his finger tips, and it felt freezing cold, and slimy.

He grimaced and pulled away, but some stuck to his index fingertip.

Sabre gasped and shook his hand, but the Darkness just spread up his finger.

It was cold and goopy, sending a shiver down Sabre's spine, and wouldn't get off.

Sabre glanced around, noticing that he was in what seemed to be a forest but it was all greys and blacks.

"Hello?!" Sabre called out, and then he heard a long, blood-curdling scream from behind him.

Sabre whipped around to the direction of the scream, but it seemed to now come from behind him, where he had been facing before.

Sabre turned around again, but the screaming again seemed to swap to behind him again.

Sabre stepped forward, but the forest seemed to move with him, keeping him in the middle of the small clearing he was in.

"Hello?!" Sabre called again, "I'm...I'm friendly! Are you?"

The screaming didn't waver, and seemed to keep getting closer every time he turned.

Sabre could feel his wings puff up in fear, and he was very unsettled by this situation.
He just hoped the person screaming was friendly, even though he know wasn't sure if it was a person.

Then he turned around again, and was met with a bloodied face that had a wide-open mouth, which seemed to be what was producing the scream.

Sabre leapt back, fluffing his wings up as fluffed-up as they could go.
"Who are you?!"

Sabre then realised that he recognised this person, well, sort of.
They were all bloodied and hunched over, eyes wide and unmoving, looking like they were lifeless.

But he could recognise the clothes and the hairstyle, despite them both being dirty from normal dirt and what seemed to be dried blood.

"Rainbow?" Sabre gasped.

---

I was going to make this Chapter a lot longer but when I wrote the current ending I realised how good of a cliffhanger this would be and kept it.

Also, I know I mentioned this in the last chapter but I am on a roll!
I know I haven't published this Chapter on the same day the last Chapter was, but at my time I've just published the last Chapter and just finished this, so I am speeding along!

I usually write a little bit of the next Chapter when I finish a Chapter before I publish it, so it takes less time getting them both published, but I've finished this one! Haha

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this Chapter and have a good day/night!

A later edit:
I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO PUBLISH THIS I'M SO SORRY!
ANYWAY, ENJOY!