This takes place after Void managed to corrupt Sabre, bringing Shadow to life so he could wreak havoc. Sabre is trapped in the dream world with Dream Steve trying to figure out a way to fight the corruption. However, Shadow is using all of Sabre's energy while he's corrupted, so Sabre is never actually resting during the very long time which he's being controlled, and he can't sleep because he's already in a dream. Also, Shadow just keeps draining his energy. Now, the dream world is turning greyed-out, the sky has turned dark with no sun or moon in sight, and Sabre is slowly being drained.

On top of all this, Shadow isn't the only opposite invading the dream...

—————————————————————————————————————

[Dream Steve's POV]

I have no idea how long it's been since Sabre was corrupted, but it's been much more than a few days, at the least. And he isn't getting any better.

We've been wandering the realm for a while, looking for something that could possibly help us, but no luck anywhere. I know there has to be something, but I also know that I'm running out of time; Shadow has constantly been overusing Sabre's energy the entire time he's been stuck here, soon enough his mind will no longer have any power left to take, and Shadow will start draining from... I don't want to think about it.

I notice Sabre is lagging behind as we walk through the floating islands, and I run back to him. When I get his attention, I see he has the same exhausted expression he's had for a while now.

"Hey, are you doing alright?" I ask, grasping his shoulder.

All I get in reply is a tired 'Yeah', as Sabre fights to keep his head up. He's just kept getting worse, we need to find a way for him to regain energy soon... that's more important right now, I need to find a way for Sabre to somehow be able to rest, then we can deal with Shadow.

"Do you want to take a break?" I ask Sabre, and he slightly nods.

We walk over to a little stone wall nearby, and Sabre immediately sits down and leans against the cobbled side, while I place myself next to him. I would've started talking to him like before, but he became too tired to hold a conversation a long while ago. As I stare at Sabre's blank expression, I remember the last time he was able to speak with me.

"Sabre..." I say, sitting on the roof of a gazebo next to my friend. "I have one last thing I can do if this goes on for too long."

"What... what's that?" Sabre mumbles, supporting his head in his hand.

"If your mind runs out of energy to give, Shadow will start taking energy from your soul. If that happens, I can just give you some of my own-"

"No..." Sabre interrupts me, reaching his hand out, then slowly putting it back at his side. "Don't... don't do that."

"Why?" I ask. "You might be killed, Sabre. You need it more than I do."

"You've... you've waited so... so long." He mumbles. "Y-you should... revive yourself."

"Sabre..." I begin. "I might have gathered a lot of energy from your constant dreaming, but it's not enough to revive myself just yet. Besides, not much happened while I had left the Realm, and... I don't mind waiting a little longer. If it takes another year, so be it, I want you to survive more than I want to go back."

Sabre just looks at me, then we go back to silence as we stare up at the darkened sky, unable to tell if it was day or night.

...That feels like it was weeks ago. I wish we could just go back to only when his thoughts were a little bit foggy, like when he accidentally missed a doorway or when he used something in the wrong order. Those were just something we could laugh at. Now, it's much more dangerous. He's been almost tripping a lot, and sometimes Sabre stops responding to anything for a few seconds, as if he was too exhausted to think at all.

I bring myself back to the situation at hand, and stand back up so we can keep looking around.

"Come on, Sabre, we need to keep going now." I say, holding my hand out to help him up.

"...Okay." Sabre mumbles, as he takes my hand and I lift him to his feet.

We walk back into the direction we were headed. I hope I can figure out or find something to help him soon...

—————————————————————————————————————

Sabre and I have been walking through the various floating islands for a very long time now.

We still haven't seen anything that looks useful, just different landscapes and the occasional random house. Jumping across the gaps between the islands has proven troublesome for Sabre, but we've been getting past them.

As we walk side-by-side, I scan the surrounding area for any sign of something helpful. I glance at the greyed-out flora around the island, walking along the faded stone pathway inside what looks like castle ruins. While I do, I keep worrying that Shadow isn't the only one causing problems for us in here. I keep thinking I recognize a faint, withering aura in spots around this realm. As if... he was there, but quickly left. I don't want to have to face him again after all these years, especially with this current issue happening...

My train of thought is interrupted by a swift movement I see out of the corner of my eye, as Sabre suddenly collapses and falls. I quickly catch him before he hits the ground, and attempt to get him standing again.

"Sabre!" I call out to him, trying to keep him upright. "Sabre, what happened?! Are you alright?!"

For a second he doesn't respond, and I fear for the worst. However, when I call to him again, he lets out a soft groan and I sigh of relief. Shadow hasn't started draining his soul yet, thank Origin. However, he's getting close. I try to get Sabre to stand, but it seems the exhaustion is too much now. I carefully put his arm around my shoulders, and start to look for somewhere I can set him down.

My search is quickly interrupted, as lightning strikes an area in front of me. I look to see if it's just Shadow again, but when I recognize the figure standing there I freeze. The old enemy of mine smirks, and crosses his arms.

"Hello again, Dream." Dread sneers. "You seem quite... occupied with something at the moment."

"What do you want, Dread." I growl.

"Wow, a bit angry today, aren't we?" Dread chuckles as he walks closer.

"You step away, right now, or-"

"Or what, Dream?" Dread raises his hands. "Even if you have enough power to attack me, I know you won't just drop your little friend there to get a few hits in."

I look back at Sabre, who is struggling to keep his eyes open, and realize that Dread is right. I can't just drop Sabre on the ground to fight him. Besides, if I do, Dread might do something to him if I'm not by his side.

"I've been watching as you look for a solution to your predicament." Dread continues. So, he was there. "What on earth are you going to do to free Sabre from the Darkness' corruption? Look at him, he's even lost the strength to stand, how will he fight against Shadow inside his own consciousness to regain control of his body?"

"...He may be weakened right now, but unlike you, I can see into what has made him the way he is, and what he will become in due time." I say, glaring at Dread. "And he is much more than you likely expect him to be." Dread laughs.

"What, a few salvaged kingdoms will make him some sort of savior?" He cackles. "Never knew you were one for jokes, that was more your brother's shtick."

"Why should I tell you, Dread, you discolored ink sac?" I yell, painful memories returning at the mention of Genesis.

Dread loses the smirk, now looking slightly offended, and glares right back at me.

"Well, that's quite rude." He mumbles. "I'd bother you some more, but I have places to be... fears to exploit."

And with that, Dread teleports away, leaving me with Sabre. I quickly return my attention to my friend, shift my hold on him to give more support, and walk over to a disheveled room inside the castle ruins we've been walking through. When I walk in, I see that there's luckily a couch next to a broken-down fireplace. I make my way over and carefully set Sabre down on the old couch. Once I do, I notice that Sabre is looking at me, confusion in his tired eyes.

"...Alright, Sabre." I say. "Don't worry about what just happened for now, I'll take care of it, just... it's okay now. You can just stay here while I figure something out, okay? You need to conserve as much of the energy you have left as possible."

Sabre looks at me like he understands. And just like that, he lets the fatigue get the better of him as he closes his eyes, and he goes entirely limp as he sinks into the couch. I know he's unable to actually sleep and rest, as he's already in a dream, but this is close enough so he doesn't use up the little energy he has left. As I go to leave the room and return to looking for something that can help, I take one last look as I close the door... he seems calm, but miserable.

I quickly rush through the various halls of the abandoned castle we're in, hoping that a once-elegant place such as this has something that can help Sabre. I had looked through most of the rooms already, and entered the throne room in my search.

I look towards the center of the room, which has a symbol of a four-pointed star, and behind that is the actual throne. It looks mostly like a stereotypical one, with a golden base and bright blue accents, aside from the star detail at the top matching the symbol of the floor. Come to think of it... that symbol looks oddly familiar.

My thoughts are interrupted when I notice that something is glowing behind the throne. I run over, and there is a small trapdoor set within the faded stone brick on the ground. Kneeling down to the floor, I see the same star-shaped symbol etched into the wood. I keep that symbol in mind as I slowly open the trapdoor, the golden-colored glow radiating from the item inside.

In a one-block hole is a mechanical, yet ancient-looking device that resembles the star symbol. Its light grey metal base is covered in golden details that are causing the glow, as I feel a strong energy come from it.

Wait- energy. Can it...? Can Sabre absorb power like we can?

I'm about to leave when I spot a folded piece of paper that was under the device. I pick it up and carefully unfold it, making sure I don't rip it. It reads:

Dream Steve,

I apologize that I cannot reach you face-to-face in order to do this, but that realm is out of my reach, despite it being connected to the normal Realm. I know what has been happening to Sabre, and I have a solution.

That device that you're holding is a charged core I created that is able to give energy to a biological being. If you turn it around, you'll see a small latch that opens a hidden compartment. In that compartment is a wire with an IV point at the end that is connected to the core. All you have to do to make the device transfer the energy from itself to Sabre is connect the device to his wrist using the IV. It should give him enough energy to both return to normal and fight off the Darkness' control.

Although, it isn't instantaneous. It will take time in order for the energy to fully transfer, so you're both going to have to hold out a little while longer. You'll know it's complete when the core stops glowing. Then Sabre can use all the energy to fight off Shadow's control of his body, however he will use all of it, which means he'll be taken back to this realm as soon as he's broken free so he can recover.

May fate be on your side, just as I am.

- Origin Steve

Origin... thank you for this help with our plight.

I smile and take the paper with me, putting it in my pocket. Then, I rush out of the throne room, heading towards where I left Sabre. I chuckle to myself as I reach the door.

Dread, you just jinxed yourself so badly, and you have no idea.

When I enter the room, I see that Sabre is still sunken into the old couch, and hasn't moved at all. I walk to his side, and speak to him again so he knows it's me.

"Hey, Sabre. I found something that will help you." I say. "This might sting for a second, but it'll be alright. I promise."

I quickly do as I was instructed in the note, and sure enough, there's a hidden compartment on the back of the core with an IV wire in it. I then carefully put the IV into Sabre's wrist, and I immediately see energy going through the small tube from the core to Sabre.

Sabre winces slightly at first, but then returns to quietly laying down. However, I notice that this time Sabre doesn't seem as miserable as he was before, but rather... relaxed.

As if he's actually able to rest.

—————————————————————————————————————

Wanted to add more to this with more POVs but ran out of ideas for that, so I'm ending this here lol. So you're not left on a cliffhanger, here's what happens later:

After Sabre started to regain energy, Shadow started losing control, and the Darkness slowly started retreating from Sabre's body. Sabre is able to break out of Shadow's control while Shadow was fighting with the Chromatics in the Hub. As Sabre hits the ground, starting to fall unconscious again, he sees vines wrap around himself and start pulling him away from the retreating Darkness army that Shadow had brought with him. Back in the dream world, all the color returns to the plant life and surrounding areas, and the sky turns back to its normal pastel colors. Dream Steve was waiting for Sabre there, absolutely beaming. They had done it; against all odds, they turned Sabre back to normal.

And with that, this AU is now up to be claimed! I hope you enjoyed my writings of it!