Squirrel just randomly dropped this idea on me one day and I finally remembered to write it down lol

Also warning this AU contains slight body horror-

So, remember how in RQ it would sometimes be acknowledged that it looked like Sabre was just talking to himself whenever he was talking to the Sky People? And how sometimes Sabre would do things that didn't exactly make sense?

What if all of that was for a waaayyyy more messed up reason >:)

His friends notice that he talks to himself a lot. People often find him spacing out at random times, sometimes when he was right in the middle of something. Some people notice that every so often, he gets annoyed when one of his limbs or his face does an odd, jerky movement, as if it was involuntary.

Everyone thought it was just Sabre having weird behaviors, given how he's from another world that they know nothing about. "Maybe it's a species thing," they thought. "Maybe it's just how he works." Only Rainbow ever realized something about it was weird, and that was when Sabre trusted him enough to tell him why he always seemed to be talking to himself.

"I'm talking to the Sky People." Sabre replied with his usual smile. Despite Rainbow continuing to ask, he never elaborated on what that meant.

For you see, he wasn't really lying when he said he was talking to something else other than himself. If anyone ever decided to check on his health, which for some reason he never let anyone do even at the cost of causing injury to himself to avoid it, they would find something they never expected from their joyful, energetic friend.

Parasites.

Thousands of parasites that trick Sabre's mind into thinking they're his friends, meaning he has no resistance against them, dropping his guard to anything they do. They've been there for so long that they've erased any memory of him wanting them out, any memory of what it was like before they were there. They pull his strings with ease, making a warped sense of trust that Sabre has for them. Once his friends find out about them, it's at a point that they wonder how he's even still alive.

All of the sudden, out of character actions Sabre had done were the parasites making him do what was best for them. They make him act for their best interest, even at the cost of his own health. Sabre doesn't see anything wrong with it, even not acknowledging it's what the parasites want and not what he wants, making reasons to justify his actions. How could he know it's wrong? They've had a hold on his mind for years now.

The parasites call themselves the Sky People, each individual one helping to make sure they never lose their control over Sabre.

(THAT'S RIGHT, WE'RE THE VILLAINS IN THIS STORY, WOOOHOOOOO-)

They're eventually discovered by the Professor one day, during a more unsupervised experiment. Since he had the means to do so, he was actually able to make Sabre stay still while he was going to run some experiments about his biology (aka taking samples and seeing what he's made of), despite Sabre's extreme struggling. It's Sabre's persistence on making sure nobody knows what his internal health is like that makes the Professor do this; he wants to know what Sabre is hiding.

Given that Sabre can't escape, the Professor is able to carry out his experiment and finds out about the parasites. He, of course, immediately goes to tell M (and by extension, the other Leaders), but by the time he's returned to make sure Sabre is okay, he's already gone.

Now, his friends have to find him before it's too late.

Here's some details on how the parasites work:

- They're lab-made, meant to be a weapon but were somehow released by accident. That's how they all have consciousnesses and are more sentient than normal parasites. How they ended up with Sabre could be anything, maybe he drank some bad water or he was just unlucky, but either way they end up with him.

- Sabre fought the parasites at first, trying to get them out once he realized they were there, but as they slowly took over they eventually got to his head and basically got full control of him from there.

- The parasites still let Sabre be himself. Whenever they're not in danger or they don't currently want or need something, they're just along for the ride.

- Whenever Sabre is injured, the parasites heal him very quickly, wanting to keep their host alive no matter what. They've also stopped his aging process because of this.

- Since they have a hold on his mind, Sabre's basically being gaslighted by the parasites a lot, like when they make him do something they want or when they make him forget something. They don't want him becoming suspicious of them.

- Sabre spacing off is the parasites making him hallucinate forms for them, since he'll have more trust in them if he can actually see them.

- Sabre's friends in RQ have tried to get him to let people check on his health. A lot. That's how they discovered the lengths he'll go to in order to avoid it. Of course, it's the parasites making sure nobody finds out about them causing this. It's like how rabies makes people avoid water.

- Sometimes, Sabre has dreams about when he was first infected with the parasites, trying to get them out. He always thinks they're nightmares because he doesn't actually remember that happened and he trusts the Sky People. The Sky People basically just go 'Yeah haha just a nightmare, anyway-'

- In situations they think are dire, the parasites can take full control of Sabre's body. He doesn't remember anything about it afterwards.

Here's some situations >:D

—

(The Professor goes to try to get a blood sample, but as soon as he tries to use a syringe to get it, it's immediately pushed out of Sabre's skin and the hole from the needle mysteriously goes away.)

Sabre: (Calm) My friends don't like you.

Prof. Red: (backed far away from Sabre) ...what in the actual fu-

—

(Therapist Green trying to get Sabre to let him check on his health)

Green: Just let me-

Sabre: (somehow having climbed up to a corner of the ceiling) NO.

Green: I just need to-

Sabre: (throwing something from a shelf) NO.

Green: (dodging it) Why are you like this.

—

Rainbow: Hey Sabre? Why are you talking to yourself all the time?

Sabre: I'm talking to the Sky People.

Rainbow: ...The- the what?

(Sabre just smiles and walks away)

Rainbow: Sabre the WHAT-

—

Prof. Red: (Running back to the room Sabre's supposed to be in, M following behind him) I don't know how nobody's noticed it until now-

(They enter, and Sabre is nowhere to be seen, the machine that was keeping him in place broken.)

Prof. Red: ...

M: ...Did you just leave him in here with nobody watching him?

Prof. Red: ...I may have made a slight error.

M: PROFESSOR-

—

LC: (pointing at Sabre) Uh... is he okay?

Orange (Rainbow): Hm?

(Orange turns around to see Sabre spacing off, just... staring at nothing while mumbling to himself.)

Orange: ...He's probably fine.

—

Hehe have fun with horror angst >:3