Hey, before we get into another chapter, just wanted to show off some stuff!

I made art of Ruby from the last chapter hehe. Lil guy :D

Chaotic good lil mans :3

Aaaand we have more fanart! Eth3alFlame made art of Sabre!

Another has joined the horde /j

Okay but seriously, this AU has been infecting artists like a plague lol. We see angsty soft boi and our motivation is activated like a sleeper agent XD

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After returning from the Professor's lab, Sabre stayed in his new room for the rest of the day.

Yes, he had made some progress with not being so anxious, but you can't just throw someone in the deep end and expect them to swim. Just the few interactions he had that day made him jittery and socially drained. So, Sabre now spent some time inside.

He was mostly finishing rereading the storybook M gave him, sitting at the desk once again or comfortably laying in the bed. When the book ended, he placed it on his nightstand and figured out other things to do.

Sketching with paper and pencil he still had in his now fairly tattered satchel. Looking at some of the old maps he had to figure out where exactly this new kingdom is (He gave up after he realized it was much further off the map than he thought it was). Talked with M for a little while when he brought him lunch. Bickered with Shadow for a little bit when he decided to butt into his thoughts about the Red Kingdom. Looked for a place to hide the Shadow Sword, since he couldn't stand looking at it anymore, eventually deciding to slide it under the bed.

When evening came, Sabre decided to try walking out to the balcony. The view was beautiful, even from inside, and he probably needed some fresh air anyway.

Carefully opening the glass door, he stepped outside his room and looked around. The balcony was made of stone, just like the rest of the outside of the castle. Intricate columns held up the railing. A small chair stood off to the left, facing the view of the town as streetlights wired with daylight sensors came on. The red petals gathered on the floor, more still falling from the tree branches above. Sabre grabbed a petal as it fluttered down, looking at it closer, and realized that they were rose petals.

There was suddenly a knock at his room's door, and Sabre quickly went back inside, closing the glass door behind him.

When he opened the door, it was M again. He was smiling and carrying a box.

"Hey Sabre!" M says. "I have a bunch of old room decorations, wanna look through them and see if there's any you like?"

"Oh, uh, sure." Sabre replies, a bit caught off guard.

M entered the room, and set the box down on the floor, sitting down next to it. Sabre sat down next to M, and they rifled through the box together.

There were strings of fairy lights and small patterned flags, little wooden or clay statues painted to look like real and fantasy animals, glass figures no bigger than a large button in protective cases, and ceramic trinkets that seemed older than the rest of the items. Decorative glass bottles  were wrapped in layers of paper to keep them from breaking. Old toys, both plush and wooden, lay in nooks of the box. Empty picture frames with whimsical designs waited for pictures to display, for now empty. A few variations of fake flowers in strings and as individuals were almost perfectly preserved, save for a few that were crumpled.

"Man, I remember using all of these at one point." M says, taking out a plushie. "I especially had fun hanging the string lights, they were like my room's own stars. Huh, was this a crocodile or an alligator... I can never remember the difference."

Sabre looks at it for a moment.

"Alligator. It has a wider, rounded snout." He replies, pointing at the plush.

"Ohhhh. Cool."

M puts the plush off to the side, and starts untangling a string of fairy lights.

"So, see anything you like yet?" He asks. "I can help you put stuff up too, once you decide what you want."

"Uhm... well..." Sabre says, fidgeting with a tiny ceramic chicken. "I-I feel bad that you're just giving me a bunch of stuff. Are you sure you don't want any of this? A-And you've already given me a lot..."

M looks up from untangling the fairy lights. He has a kind and warm expression.

"Sabre, you don't need to feel guilty about me giving you stuff. I want you to feel at home here, and that starts with having your own space." M says with a soft smile. "I know you're going to have to adjust to so many people being around for a while, so I brought this old stuff here for you to pick from so you wouldn't just be staying in a mostly empty room until you're comfortable enough to go out into town to pick out stuff you want. Besides, I'm not even using any of this. So there's no reason to feel bad."

"But it's your stuff, and you've already given me so many things, and I don't really-"

"Dude, you better not say you don't really deserve it. Yes you do. You are a person and you deserve nice things too."

Before Sabre could respond, the door opened, making him jump. M and Sabre turned their heads to see the Red Leader looking at them.

"Ah, there you are Amaris. Hello, Sabre." He greets them.

"Daaaad, knock next time! You scared him!" M says, motioning to Sabre, whose hands are now shaking.

"Oh, my apologies Sabre. I didn't realize." The Red Leader says. "I'll be sure to knock first next time."

"I-It's alright." Sabre says quietly.

M glances at Sabre for a moment.

"Well, I was just trying to find you to let you know that dinner is almost ready." He says. "Should be done in about half an hour, according to the chef."

"Thanks dad." M says, smiling at him.

The Red Leader gives a little wave to his son, then leaves and closes the door. M then turns to Sabre.

"Hey, I noticed that you're even quieter when my dad is around. Does he seem scary or something?" M asks. "I promise he's actually really nice, he's probably just not used to you yet."

"It's... not that." Sabre answers, becoming a little gloomy. "I... I haven't had the best experience with other L-Leaders, and... and I just..."

Memories of the other Chromatics invaded his mind, specifically the group of authority he once called his friends. Every interaction he had last with each one of them was haunting.

The lost and unsettling expressions of the Orange Leader and Yellow King as the Darkness started to take over them. The tearful face of the Green Leader as he allowed himself to be left behind with the ruins of his kingdom, his corruption growing as Darkness entities clawed at him. The deranged, beastly screeches of the Blue and Indigo overseers as their corrupted minds sought to destroy him. The disgusted, hateful look the Violet Leader gave him when he saw him again in the Hub, while Sabre lay trapped inside a cell and chained.

Sabre didn't notice he had been silent for a while, just staring at the floor, until M snapped him out of it.

"Hey, hey, are you alright?" M asks with a worried expression. "You were just spacing out for a minute there."

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay." Sabre replies, wiping away a tear with his sleeve before it had the chance to roll down his face. "I... just bad memories. I-I'm okay."

"Was it the other Chromatics...?"

"...Yeah."

M just looks at Sabre for a moment.

"...Hey. I promise you, nothing like that is going to happen to you again. My dad wouldn't do anything to hurt you." M reassures him. "And none of the others are going to find you here, so they can never hurt you again. Not another day in your life, ever."

"Thanks, M..." Sabre says, smiling a little. "I really hope so."

M smiles back.

"Now, which things do you want to keep? Like I said before, I can help you with hanging things up and stuff." M says, motioning back to the box full of decor. "And if you need it, we can probably find some shelves to put up so you can have more room to put things."

"I-If you're really okay with me taking it... I really like this little chicken. And the fairy lights."

"Good start! What else?"

As Sabre and M continued to look through the box, they didn't notice a shadow still under the door.

The Red Leader had heard everything.

He was about to leave before, but then he heard M's concerned question. After hearing Sabre's answer, he just stood there for a few minutes, horrified. If he reacted like that to just a question about his previous life with the other colors, what on earth happened to him to make him so scared? What torment had he gone through?

After a few seconds, the Red Leader went back down the hall, going to return to his study. Thinking about Sabre's words, he started wondering what to do to help.

To make him feel welcomed with no reason to worry about the past.

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The moonlight beamed through the balcony window, illuminating the room, where Sabre twitched and turned in his sleep.

Pulling up the covers as if to shield himself from invisible danger, he shuddered as his unconscious mind showed him moments he so badly wished he wouldn't be reminded of. Moments where his mind was filled with fear and confusion, while his body was too battered to resist.

 Moments where he had recently given up hope of getting through to his captors, locked inside that cell as their prisoner, when he so desperately wanted them to recognize him as their friend.

He dragged a finger through the dirt, this time making a crude image of a sunny field.

The dim cell was just a stone box with metal bars, barely letting in any sunlight. The grass had died long before he had gotten there, although a few patches still stood at its edges. Two of the guards in white armor stood in front of  it, one on each side. They occasionally turned and watched him for a little while.

He hated having their eyes on him. They looked at him as if he was some wild animal, wondering if he'll attack or try to escape. Their staring felt like the eyes of the Darkness he saw inside his mindscape; uncaring and agitated. Whenever they started, he would stop what he was doing from how it would unnerve him. However, given how he was only recently able to lean against the wall for support to sit up instead of lying on the ground, he was never doing much.

Sabre looked at the drawing in the dirt for a while longer, before brushing over it and starting again. This time, it was a rough image of a forest. Just a poor drawing of a few trees in the dirt to anyone else, but it was a familiar forest to him. If anyone looked close enough, they'd recognize the little house in the corner too.

Sometimes, Light would come by. He only saw him from a distance, but it was unmistakably him. One of the guards in front of the cell would go talk to him every time he was there, although Sabre couldn't hear the conversation. Sometimes, Light would look at him. He didn't know if he was just staring like the guards, or if he saw some recognizable feature that would prove it's really him. That, or just pity. He hoped he really did recognize it was him, but that hope diminished with every passing day. It had been just the smallest spark for a while now.

Sabre looked up, and noticed one of the guards staring again. He stopped dragging his finger through the dirt, shakily pulling his hand back and staying as still as he could.

The guard didn't stop staring for a long time. Why was he so insistent on watching him?

Sabre wished he would stop.

The eyes were still pointed at him. He wasn't sure if they had blinked at one point or not.

Sabre started to shiver as the staring didn't stop.

Why didn't he stop...?

...̶S̶̶t̶̶o̶̶p̶... ̶P̶̶l̶̶e̶̶a̶̶s̶̶e̶....

Sabre opened his eyes, almost jolting up, but realizes it was just another dream. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, bringing his knees to his chest and looking out the window.

He gazed at the starry night sky peeking from behind the tall trees around the area and the mountain in the distance for a while, before sighing and moving to sit at the edge of the bed. Swinging his legs to hang from over the edge, he whispered a question into the silent room.

"Are you doing this?"

The room remained still for a moment, but as he expected, a dark silhouette phased into sight.

"So what if I am?" Shadow answers, a smug grin in his face. Sabre wishes he was just a voice in his head instead of having a form as well. "Hey, I heard that."

"Why are you still sending me these... nightmares?" Sabre asks, still whispering. "Wasn't all those nights in the cell and the Library enough for you?"

"I am merely reminding you of what they've done." Shadow shrugs. "The Darkness never made you go through so much pain, did it?"

"You did."

"Only because you were fighting me. It only hurt because you pushed back while I was trying to pull you into the Darkness' side. It never would have hurt you if you just let it accept you."

Sabre looks back to the window as Shadow levitates closer, trying to ignore him.

"If you go back to the Darkness, it'll be much more forgiving than the Chromatics would be if you went back to them. The Darkness will protect you."

Sabre remembers something that the Professor told him earlier.

"We've had experiences with others affected by shadows where it wouldn't leave them alone." He explained. "During that, they told us a few tricks they learned to keep them out while they were waiting for their shadows to be separated."

"The Darkness will give you the peace you desire."

"Think of your mind like a room of sorts, your own space. Whenever you don't want something in your space, you shut the door to it, right?"

"As everything becomes one, your duty as the Catalyst will end."

"If your shadow keeps trying to bother you into doing things you don't want to do, you can visualize that door and shut it right in his face."

"You will never have to fight again."

"You just need to focus."

Sabre closes his eyes, and focuses on the mental image of him inside a room, with Shadow clawing at the door. The room was bright, colorful, he felt safe there. But Shadow was trying to shove his way in, trying to make it his own. A dark decay followed him.

He walks over to the door, placing one hand on the pristine white wood, the other wrapping around the handle. Bracing himself and gathering his strength, he pushed back.

Shadow struggled for a few minutes, but soon enough, the door gave way and slammed in his face. The intruding dark aura disappeared within seconds.

The room was pristine again.

Sabre opened his eyes once more, seeing that Shadow had disappeared. He didn't even hear his voice anymore, however he felt a small sense of anger coming from something within. It wasn't his anger, but rather, someone else's. Sabre was quickly able to smother it, making it also stop bothering him.

For the first time, he had won a battle against his shadow.

Sabre smiles, proud of himself. He gathered the covers of his bed and lay down, finally having some peace as he went to sleep.