Merry crisi- I mean, Christmas, everybody! I have provided you a gift in the form of  ✨L O R E✨  >:3

...oh crap this book's existed for over a year-

Also quick TW, there's a bit of creepy themes and stuff in here, and some blood towards the end

Also also, hey people that are in the same discord server, don't spoil anything I've told you alright? Let me rip out the readers' heartstrings myself >:3

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Following the discovery of the blobs' new powers, the last few days have been very... chaotic, to say the least.

On a bright, sunny morning a little over a week after the creatures' powers began, Time noticed that Sabre looked exhausted. The blobs have been unintentionally wearing him down throughout the past week, and it was starting to show. Time had to shake him awake so he didn't faceplant into his bowl of oatmeal.

"Are you alright?" Time asks once Sabre's awake again. "You look like you haven't slept in days. Have you been having issues with insomnia again?"

"No, no. I'm fine." Sabre replies, yawning and petting a nearby blob. "I've just been really busy making sure that these little goobers don't get hurt by their new abilities. I have to practically run around the house to make sure nobody's getting into trouble, and I keep getting woken up in the middle of the night by one or a few of them accidentally using their powers in their sleep, but it's worth it to make sure they're okay. They're getting the hang of them, so everything should be going back to normal soon..."

"Sabre, you nearly just passed out on your breakfast. You need to take care of yourself too." Time sighs, knowing how common it is for Sabre to put others' needs before his. "And don't say 'it's fine', because it's very clearly not."

Sabre, without a better answer, stays silent for a moment. Time waits for a reply while various blobs play and hang out around the house.

After a minute, Time continues.

"Maybe it's a good idea for you to have a day off from this." He says, starting to put away the dishes he used while cooking.

"A day off? How? I live here."

"Well, while you've been wrangling the creatures, I've been talking with Green whenever he's visited the village. He's supposed to come by again today, and we can possibly arrange for you to spend a night at his house. And you can catch up on sessions, since he's told me that you've been skipping your days for therapy again."

Sabre could feel the glare from behind Time's mask, and promptly avoided eye contact. A few of the blobs giggled.

"But yeah, we could ask him about it when he comes by in about... two hours. While you're away, I can take care of the creatures for you." Time says. "What do you think?"

Sabre contemplates the idea for a moment.

"Well..." He starts, looking around at the little creatures. Most of them are giving looks of approval or nodding, those with handlike appendages giving thumbs-ups. "I guess one day couldn't be that bad."

"Good." Time smiles. "Now, before you almost fall asleep at the table again, you can go upstairs and go back to bed. I'll wake you up before Green gets here."

"Time, it's eight o' clock, I can't just-"

"It's painfully obvious that you didn't get enough sleep. Don't make me drag you upstairs."

"Fiiine..." Sabre groans as he gets up from the table and heads to the stairs.

Time finishes putting away the dishes as he hears Sabre go back to his room. He sighs and glances upstairs.

"I swear, sometimes it feels like I'm the only functional adult in this house..." He mumbles, noticing Fluffy in his pocket again and giving her a few headpats.

"Man, you have no idea." Fluffy responds, although her words are not understood by Time.

—————————————————————————————————————

"And you're sure you have everything?" Time asks as Sabre picks up a small travel bag.

"Yes, Time. I have everything. It's just one night." Sabre replies, laughing slightly. "No need to be so worried."

"I have reason to when it involves you."

"...Fair enough."

The blobs around the house laugh at that, which makes the duo smile. Time calms down a little as Sabre quickly checks his hoodie for any stowaway creatures.

"Green knows about the scars, right? I don't want you giving him a heart attack." Time says, glancing at Sabre's blindfold. There's a little spot where it and the small amount of makeup he uses doesn't completely cover the scar.

"The only one he doesn't know about is the one over my eye. It's fine." Sabre sighs. "And no, I'm not telling him about it."

"That's... understandable." Time says. "Green should come by any minute now, so are you sure you're ready?"

"Yep, all set." Sabre smiles, holding up the bag before slinging its strap over his shoulder. "Remember, if you need help with the creatures, I can always come back-"

"Nope, you're having a total day off whether you like it or not." Time chuckles. "I can manage them, don't worry. And if I'm proven wrong, I'm sure the village would be more than happy to help."

"That's true. They love the little guys."

They hear a knock at the door, and Time walks over and answers, Green Steve appearing from behind it. The blobs watch for a while as the three talk while Time interrogates Sabre about being ready one last time.

A few minutes later, Time is waving at his two friends while they exit the house, walking down the path a little before teleporting away.

As the blobs start to gather around him, curious as to how this will go, Time turns around and smiles at them.

"Alright you little cuties, I'm gonna go into the kitchen to make you guys some cookies, since you seem to love those." He says warmly. "You all keep out of trouble and play nice with each other until the cookies are done, okay?"

The blobs all squeak, and Time takes that as a yes. A few blobs follow him into the kitchen as they mass of creatures starts to spread out around the house once more.

However, little did Time know of the mayhem that was soon to come.

As Time is distracted, many of the blobs start to quietly mess with things around the house. Fluffy lets Moth into Time's pocketwatch collection, who is already starting to tape them to spots around the house. Three blobs sneak up on a sleeping sibling and carefully drag them to the hallway, holding the roll of tape that they let Moth have some pieces of.

Given their vast numbers, Time doesn't notice two groups of blobs sneaking out of the house and going out. They're curious about what's going on, and aren't letting their babysitter stop them.

Crystal goes around the house turning the various flowers in vases that Sabre put around the house into chrysanthemums. A blob goes into the village and quickly heads to the bakery, aiming for the cheesecakes. Zal rummages through the pantry and food storage chests seeing what they can turn into popcorn. Another blob heads outside and starts digging holes around and on village paths. A different blob starts dragging a few villagers to a tiny makeshift tea party they made. A small jester-looking blob runs around, stopping at the bakery to look for croissants and rooting around a few gardens for potatoes. Moth, having finished taping the pocketwatches, bites a horse and causes it to be spooked and run, and a smaller, pink, robotic blob quickly gets them out of the way.

Kazie picks a few spots in the front garden to overgrow plants, making a few more dangerous plants appear as well. Arty starts to zoom around the house. Inside Sabre's room, Rowan is jumping around on shelves. Another blob is doing something similarly. One blob is trying to set fire to the bottom of the living room curtains.

Just as Time takes the cookies out of the oven, he notices the blobs getting rowdy and tries to stop a few. Picking up nearby blobs that are about to get themselves into trouble, he quickly sets them back down to stop their siblings from doing the same. A few blobs start randomly attacking him either playfully or to just be annoying, Time having to avoid Sammy hitting his ankles with a small hammer.

"What has gotten into all of you- H-Hey, stop that!" Time says to himself, then stops a blob from jumping from the top of the stairs to the first floor by catching them. "You were all just little angels a few minutes ago-"

A little at a time, he discovers the mischief the creatures has made. He's especially not happy about what happened to his pocket watch collection.

Everything devolves into a situation resembling the discovery of powers situation that Sabre was trying to take a break from soon after. On top of the chaos already happening, blobs suddenly start having little freakouts about their powers again, and a few more blobs join in on attacking Time. It doesn't really hurt him, but it does make trying to calm down the situation much more difficult.

Meanwhile, outside of the house, the rest of the village has taken notice of the mayhem going on. Thanks to the few blobs that started causing havoc everywhere else, the Village Leaders see Time's difficulty in controlling the chaos after catching the misbehaving stragglers and trying to take them back to the house.

The Village Leaders share a knowing look, then round up a few villagers that volunteered to help Time. They know he's gonna need it.

—————————————————————————————————————

While the village helps control the blobs, one group of small escapees heads to the Professor's lab.

Squeezing through a gap in a window, they watch as the Professor goes through stacks of recovered evidence and unexplained finds of the Bandit base that he received from the Colorless Guard to study. It seems he's taking a break from deciphering notes and books, and is instead analyzing and making notes about strange items found at the scene.

At the moment, he's examining an unusual dagger. Its handle is made of a dark wood, the grip wrapped in deep red leather-like material. The blade is curved, similarly to a cutlass, but much smaller. There are designs in the metal, curls and patterns accenting strange symbols and icons. He places the blade down for a moment, scribbling down a note about the stains on the sharp edges.

M then walks into the room.

"Professor, how's everything going with the recovered evidence?" He asks, looking curiously at the stacks of papers, books, and various items.

"It's going great! Look at this dagger; I'm sure this must be some kind of artifact they got their hands on!" Professor Red grins, showing M the ornate knife. "Although, it looks like it was in use very recently. Would explain the stains."

"What? Why would they be using an artifact? Given where it was found, it must have been precious to them." M asks. "Using it would ruin it."

"That's why I'm starting to theorize that this might not just be an artifact." The Professor explains. "It was well taken care of, and has evidence of being used often. It may be old, but not in the way that they must have stolen it from some ruin or museum. It's more as if it's been passed down to them for whatever reason... likely being used for a ceremonial purpose."

"Ceremonial...? Professor, you- you do realize what that's implying, right?"

The Professor places the dagger back down, and wraps it back in the protective cover it was given to him in.

"Yep." The Professor says with a slightly concerned, but still smiling expression. "And I'd rather not imagine exactly what 'ceremonies' they used it for."

"Me either." M shudders.

Professor Red then starts examining a modified brewing stand. Multiple things have been added to it, all very unstable and illegal, and he knows it's a terrible idea to try using it. So, he brings up one of his own brewing stands next to it and starts collecting remnants of potions from the bootleg stand.

"What are you doing now?" M says, watching the Professor use a small scanning tool to analyze the residue left behind.

"Those Bandits have multiple new potions that haven't been seen before." The Professor says. "I want to see what ingredients and procedures they used to make them to either replicate or produce antidotes of those potions, depending on the effects. Especially with what they did to Sabre; whatever they used then could be pretty dangerous if used incorrectly."

"Yes, I remember it being said that the potion the healers found in his system was similar to the compound they used to induce sleep for medical procedures... except what the Bandits used was worse. And stronger."

"Yeah, all of those side effects were likely a result of shoddy craftsmanship. That, or because it wasn't really intended for a different species."

The two are silent for a moment. While the Professor continues with his work, M looks around nervously a bit before breaking the silence.

"...Hey Professor?"

"Hm?"

"Do you... also get the feeling that there's something... I dunno- Wrong with that Bandit syndicate?" M asks.

"Of course there's something wrong with them, they were kidnapping people, and they've been responsible for most of the thieveries around the Realm, and-"

"No, no. I mean... eerie. Creepy. Just... something isn't right there."

The Professor stops.

He stares blankly at the scanner he's holding with an unsettled expression for a while, while M waits for an answer. Eventually, the Professor slowly puts the scanner down, and turns to M.

"...Yes, I do, actually. It's hard not to, looking at all of what's been recovered from that place." Professor Red says, concerningly serious. "With all I've deciphered, the notes I've looked through, the things I've observed and analyzed... something awful is going on."

"I... thought so." M says, staring down at the floor. "Especially with all of the mysteriously unresponsive Steves found there. They were almost souless... well, not literally of course. Hopefully..."

"Probably not. I read in a report that came with these-" The Professor motions to the piles of items on his workspace. "That the Blue Steves already checked. Nothing's happened to their souls. However, that didn't give the Green Kingdom any leads on how to fix that... and all of their healers' buildings and ones outside of the Kingdom are full of those affected. They're starting to suspect some seriously foul play involved, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was... given what I've found in the Bandits' logbooks and notes."

M looks concerned at the Professor.

"...What did you find?" He asks.

"Well... after deciphering quite a few books and papers, there's... quite a lot of talk about some disturbing things." Professor Red replies. "There's so much written down about initiation ceremonies, offerings, experiments, alterations... even some things about some power higher than them and a purpose given to them by whatever that is. But there's... two things that really unsettle me."

"And those would be...?"

"Well, the first is something the healers discovered while trying to treat the Hollow-"

"The what now?"

"Oh, that's a nickname given to the mystery blank Steves found at the base. They're like hollow husks, sort of, and people started calling them the Hollow."

"...Right. O-Kay." M says, his face buried in one hand for a moment. "I'll tell the other Leaders about that during the meeting later today. But anyway, what about these... 'Hollow' people?"

"Well, while running IVs into them because the healers knew they wouldn't last long in their current state without it..." The Professor starts. "It was discovered that they all had some kind of symbol carved into their arms. They'd be in different spots, but this symbol would always be on their right arm somewhere. After interrogating some of the captured bandits further, it was revealed that every fully-fledged Bandit in the syndicate had it. At first, everyone thought it was some sort of identification, but... these notes say otherwise."

Professor Red holds up a few pages of the ciphered notes.

"In these entries, it's written that this symbol being carved into them is part of their 'initiation ceremony'... and what the dagger was apparently used for, when you put together some context clues."

M was horrified, and the Professor could see it. It took him a few minutes to compose himself before speaking again. He takes a deep breath before continuing.

"...And what's the second thing?" M asks.

The Professor glances around for a while, mentally debating something.

"Professor?"

"I-I know, just- this one's bad."

"What on earth could possibly be worse than the Bandits carving symbols into each other??"

Professor Red looks at M for a moment, then picks up a ciphered book.

"In many of these books, there's writing about some kind of infection that they believe is connected to their 'higher power' that they keep talking about." He explains. "That it's something seen as a pestilence by 'the ignorant blind' (which I've concluded refers to people outside the syndicate), but to them it's some kind of... ascension, almost. I haven't completely figured out their definition of it. But... there's mentions of Darkness in these books, saying that it was like this infection that they sought for, but they believed it was like a flawed and 'incomplete' version of it. And it's implied that higher ranks in the syndicate have access to the real thing..."

The Professor puts the book down and rummages through the pile of evidence again.

"Now, I don't know if that means they made it, or if they found something, or whatever, but either way it seems to spell bad news." He says. "I know you probably want all of that mentioned in the meeting, so that's what I sent the Assistant away for a while ago; he's printing decoded versions of the notes and passages relating to what I just told you about."

"I- Thanks, Professor..." M says. "This... all of what you just told me is... concerning. These Bandits might be more of a problem than we thought, considering that..."

M looks up at a nearby clock, and sighs.

"Well... speaking of, I need to get going soon if I want to prepare everything for the meeting and get there on time." He says. "Thanks for all of the information."

"No problem." Professor Red says. "Assistant should be done with the papers right before you're about to leave, so go ahead and get everything else done. I'll keep working on these."

M goes to walk out, but the Professor calls out just before he goes through the doorway.

"...And M?"

"Yes, Professor?"

"...Please be safe on your way there. I know you'll teleport and have guards with you and everything, but... can't be too careful now."

"...I know. Thank you, Goggles."

"Heh, no problem, kid."

With that, M leaves, and the Professor goes back to examining the piles of recovered materials.

The group of blobs that snuck in, deciding that nothing else is going to happen, make their way back out of the lab to join the other group. They want to know what happens...

And since the meeting is going to start soon, they better hurry up and join the others before they miss it.

—————————————————————————————————————

Blobs shushed each other as they hid in bushes and trees, greeting the other group as they arrive.

They're about to share what they learned at the lab, but the blobs that got to the meeting hall first tell them that they can share later; the meeting's about to start.

Peering through the windows, they see most of the Leaders and Light gathered around the table, plus a few Guards stationed near the door. All of the Leaders look slightly nervous. Moments later, lightning is heard nearby, and then M enters.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone." M says, holding a few folders and placing them on the table as he sits down. "The Professor printed some decoded documents found at the Bandit base and wanted me to bring them to the meeting. They're... pretty important."

"It's okay, you're right on time, actually." The Indigo Leader says. "And those documents will no doubt be useful."

Everyone waits for a moment for M to get settled, and then, the meeting begins.

"We'll start with updates on the current situation." The Yellow Leader announces. "Light, anything else about the scene or the captured Bandits?"

"The destroyed camp, no. Nothing's left that we can access." Light says. "However, the captured Bandits have been uncovering some more things about the syndicate. There's been a few more interrogations, and apparently the Hollow were people being used as leverage for new soldiers to join them unwillingly. Probably captured during raids or robberies."

Light turns to the Green Leader.

"The Green Leader and I have been piecing together information about the Hollow recently."

"Yes, we have." The Green Leader nods. "Their... conditions are the result of some kind of brainwashing. A substance or compound is definitely used in the process, but nobody can figure out what so we can work on an antidote."

The rest of the Leaders look horrified. Who wouldn't be? Their own people are being forced to commit heinous and cruel acts against their own will, and they're not even aware of it or anything around them.

"They've been conditioned to receive orders from anyone using a specific code word before a command, and there's likely a series of codes used by the Bandits." The Green Leader continues. "It's presumed that when the raid happened, most of them were told a specific code that made them all shut down. Luckily though, they missed a few, and that's how we were able to figure out the code words thing."

"It's presumed that the Bandit syndicate is behind the uptick in disappearances in the last year... and maybe even ones before that." Light says. "And while it's not 100% trustworthy yet, o-one bandit that was captured before the raid has been... more cooperative."

Light and the Orange Leader avoid eye contact at that. The others realize why.

"...Moving on." Light says after some silence. "Red Leader, you said that the Professor gave you deciphered documents?"

"Yes, and he should be sending copies to the Guard soon." M replies. "There's some records, quite a few notes and pieces of journals, and some miscellaneous records that he's gotten through so far. He's also working on examining items found at the scene."

"That's good." The Yellow Leader says. "Anything particularly interesting?"

"Well..." M nervously glances to the side. "Some of these have proven my suspicion of something more... sinister happening in the syndicate."

"Like with the symbols found on the Hollow and captured Bandits?" The Violet Leader asks.

"Yes. Turns out, those symbols aren't identification. They're part of an initiation ceremony apparently done to every person that becomes a fully-fledged Bandit... and they use a ceremonial dagger to do it."

Horror returns to the group's expressions.

"There's also more records of, um..." M continues, flipping through pages. "...Things similar to that. Offerings to something they believe is a higher power, a kind of infectious substance that's seen as ascension with higher ranks having access to it, some kind of otherworldly contact, uh... sacrifices... none of them listed as Steves being sacrificed, thank goodness, but... yeah."

The room is enveloped in quiet, as everyone takes in the new information. After a while, someone breaks the silence.

"Oh Origin above, it's a cult." The Yellow Leader blurts out, shocked.

"All the more reason to shut them down for good, and fast." M sighs.

"Vile... absolutely vile..." The Blue Leader mumbles, shaking his head.

"Has any more of them been found anywhere? Or tracked?" The Orange Leader asks, turning to Light.

"None so far, but there has been traces of a caravan leaving the area of the base." He replies. "I sent a squad to investigate and follow the trail yesterday."

"Good. Can't have them getting away with this..."

The Leaders begin to converse about other topics once the update about the Bandit situation is over, and the blobs notice that it's about to start getting dark. Knowing that it's dangerous to be so far away from home at night, the blobs start to head back in the direction of the village.

After all, they still need to check on Sabre.

—————————————————————————————————————

Sunset has long passed, but the creatures are still wandering the area around the village. They haven't been to Green's house often, so they don't know the way exactly, but eventually they come across it and gather near a window.

They see Sabre and Green sitting across from each other in the living room, their usual spots, each holding a mug of tea. A fire crackles in the fireplace nearby. The two are just finishing up talking about one topic, which seems to be a happier one, as they both laugh at something.

Then, as Sabre glances out the window (with the blobs quickly hiding to avoid being seen), Green places his mug down on the coffee table and looks up at him.

"Hey Sabre?" He asks. "Would you mind if I ask about something that might be a bit more... complicated, based off what you've already told me?"

"Well... I guess." Sabre shrugs. "I can trust you with pretty much anything."

Green shifts around for a minute.

"...What was your family like? You rarely say anything about it, but the few things you've said are... concerning."

"Oh..." Sabre says, putting his cup down as well. "To start about that... I've explained my species having a mother and father, right?"

"Yes, you have."

"Good, otherwise this was going to be confusing." Sabre chuckles, then turns more melancholic. "Well, my mother was a total angel, wonderful person all around. But she... had to send me away from her when I was a kid. To keep me safe. Ever since then, it's just been me and the creatures."

"That'd explain the bit where you said you spent most of your life living alone in the woods." Green smiles. "...And your father? What was he like?"

"Eh, I don't really have a father." Sabre sighs. "I know I said my species need both to be created, but my father was absolute garbage. The situation with him was, after a particularly bad incident..."

Sabre runs a hand over his blindfold for a moment.

"...He was disowned when I was little. And my mom raised me until she couldn't."

Green is silent for a while.

"I'm... so sorry to hear that, Sabre." Green says. "Do you... need to talk about that more, or...?"

"Nah, it's okay. I've been over it for a long time." Sabre replies, giving Green a small smile. "The creatures are my family, have been for a long time, and I'm happy with that."

Green smiles back, looking relieved.

"That's nice to hear. Is there anything else you want to tell me about your childhood? Or just life in general?" He asks.

"Well... I didn't spend my early life alone, like you probably thought." Sabre starts. "The woods thing happened once I became a young adult. A few months after I was sent away, the creatures and I were found by a few teachers that worked at a childcare center. That place was meant to only take care of kids while their parents were out working or something, but since I didn't have any parents or family there, I ended up being a permanent stay."

Sabre smiles fondly as he looks back on those memories.

"Man, that place was the most chaotic thing I've ever seen. Pretty sure us kids ran it more than the teachers did, and we gave the director an especially hard time. Although, some of the adults were pretty crazy too. I think I remember the receptionist beating up somebody that was harassing us during a field trip one time? I dunno, it was a long time ago."

Green gives Sabre a dumbfounded look, which makes Sabre laugh.

"Yeah. Now you know why I'm weird." He chuckles. "But yeah. Actually, that place was surrounded by a thick woodland, so I think that's where I got my love of the forest. Later down the line, I was old enough to start going to school, and ended up going to school with one of the kids from the center. It was still crazy, but things chilled out as we got older. Since we went through a lot together, me and that friend considered each other brothers at that point."

Sabre then starts to look upset.

"But... I was still an angry little kid then, all throughout all of that actually. I would get into a lot of fights with other kids, especially in highschool. I'd get bullied because of my... family situation, and I guess during those fights I was letting my anger out on them too. And that world was the reason I started hiding the creatures too, since... some of those kids and random blockheads would mess with them... a lot of bad things happened to the creatures during that time, and... it scared me. After highschool ended is when the world-hopping thing began."

"You started traveling worlds just after you became an adult-?" Green asks, surprised.

"Yeah. Not the best decision, but... it got too bad there. With or without friends." Sabre says. "That, and... people noticed I wasn't exactly normal. But yeah, that's when I started going to other worlds. It was... mostly downhill from there, though. After hiding the blobs and figuring out a system for that, I... did some dumb things... bad things. I... took a risky and really dangerous 'job' for a long time, and it... wasn't exactly one with morality involved. I had a few good friends, but I hung out with a lot of bad crowds. And... let them pressure me into doing things. I kept getting hurt and ignoring it and my health in general, despite the creatures practically yelling at me to take better care of myself."

Sabre looks down at the ground, ashamed.

"Even after I left that world and terrible job, I still continued doing some of that stuff. Bad crowds. Ignoring myself. Decisions that weren't exactly virtuous. I still cared for all of the creatures with everything I had and gave whatever I could to them, but... I really wasn't that much of a good person then. I... was really messed up. But..."

Sabre starts to smile again.

"One day I traveled to a random world, and hung out there for a while once I found out there were people the same kind of odd as me. We weren't friends or anything, sometimes I'd even fight people, but I remember I helped a few with things. Then, later, I... met a friend. We weren't friends to begin with, I was still an a- uh, jerk then. Did some stuff back-and-forth to each other until one day we just ran in opposite directions and moved on. But a few months after that, we accidentally found each other again. And despite everything... he was nice to me. He didn't want to fight. He wasn't angry. He was scared at first, and that was fair enough, but that was about it. I was confused as all heck; To this day, I have no idea why he was so kind. But... I'm glad he was."

Sabre's expression softens again as he talks.

"Colorful guy, and just about the most wholesome thing you'd ever come across. He was created artificially and didn't know much about the world, but he was happy for me to teach him. And he taught me stuff too, actually. We spent a long time together in a small community we built, fighting people in that world that wanted to destroy everything else or whatever. It was like an adventure every day. I was so happy during those years... and he inspired me to change. I was clueless about most things, but he made me realize I hadn't been the best person up to that point, and made me start being better than that. Because of him, I stopped a lot of bad habits, I stopped being pushed so easily to do things I didn't want to, I started being a better caretaker for the creatures, I was able to finally let go of what happened to me and started calming down... stopped being so angry at everything."

Sabre then has a somber but still happy expression, and continues after a deep breath.

"I... was really upset when he passed. Unfortunately, whoever created him didn't really make him to last long. We'd try our hardest to help him beat the odds and still survive, but towards the end he was sort of... falling apart. He wasn't in the right mind because of that, and made some bad decisions himself. Some... against me. In his last moments, he sacrificed himself to try to make up for his mistakes when a particularly terrible guy was trying to kill me. At least he went out on his own terms... ever since then, I've still tried to be a good person in honor of him. I stuck around in that world for a while, tying up some loose ends, fixing some damage... and then I left."

Sabre sits there for a while, looking back on the memories of that world. After a bit, Green gets his attention again.

"And... what'd you do after that?" Green asks. "Was that the world before here?"

"Oh, nah. There was a bunch of worlds I went to before this one." Sabre replies, brightening up again. "And in every one, I did my best to make it a little better. Heck, in one of them, I was defending the city I lived in from a bunch of idiots that somehow got their hands on powers and weird gadgets."

"Defending? Like how the Colorless Guard does?"

"Ehhh, you could say that." Sabre laughs.

Sabre and Green smile at each other, Sabre seeming happy that Green didn't judge him about his past. Green seems happy that he's opening up to him more.

"But, yeah. That's pretty much it." Sabre says. "There was a while of that, then I just lived in a few random worlds for a bit, just out in forests. Eventually, one day I decided to explore a specific random world, and... now I'm here."

"I'm glad you talked with me about this, Sabre. It really explains... quite a bit." Green chuckles. "And you haven't shared this with anyone else?"

"Just Time."

"Heh, of course. You two are really close friends."

"Yeah... he's the only one that can really understand some of the things I went through."

Sabre and Green continue to talk for a while, until they notice that it's getting late. Green goes to get some blankets and pillows for Sabre so he can sleep in the living room, while Sabre goes to put away their empty mugs. When they're both gone, the blobs quickly scurry away from the window to avoid getting caught as they head back.

It's time to go home.

—————————————————————————————————————

The Yellow Village Leader helps Time wrangle a few more blobs back into the house, just as the groups arrive back home. They're promptly herded back inside by the two.

"Thanks again for helping me with them, Leader." Time says, exhausted but smiling. "I think I definitely owe a few batches of cookies to everyone, heh."

"It's no problem Time, there's no need." The Village Leader smiles. "All of the villagers enjoy having the creatures around, so it wasn't really much of an issue."

"The bakery though... and those horses..."

"It all turned out fine, don't worry. The horses just ran back to their owners, and the baker said that he was going to switch out his display anyway. It's alright."

"Oh, well that's good. Since it's getting dark out, you should probably head home. I won't keep you here any longer."

"Ha, alright. Good night, Time."

"Night, Leader."

The Yellow Village Leader goes down the path, while Time turns and heads inside. All of the blobs are gathered around, as Time gives them all a look.

"Alright, you little gremlins. You spent the entire day causing mayhem, so you're going to bed early." Time says, crossing his arms. He then points to the blobs that were attacking him earlier. "And you little anklebiters are grounded."

All of the blobs show their disapproval in various ways, but Time stops them.

"Ah-ah, don't want to hear it. Bedtime."

With that, knowing that they can't convince him otherwise, the blobs all start heading to bed. Most go upstairs, but some go to their usual spots in the living room or in various other places around the house. After all of the blobs are settled down, Time goes upstairs to go to bed himself. It's been a long day.

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...

It had only been a few hours since everyone went to bed, when the blobs sleeping downstairs heard the lock on the window break.

They all wake up, looking around quietly and see that the kitchen window is slowly being opened. Moments later, a Bandit hops through and rushes into the living room, tracking mud and small debris of the forest onto the floor, but abruptly stops when he sees that blobs block his intended path. When he turns back around, the blobs that were sleeping in the kitchen block his way back. He's surrounded.

The small creatures glare at him with their eyes reflecting the light of his lantern, making a quiet chittering sound. The Bandit looks around, slightly confused and looking for a way around him.

What the Bandit didn't know, is that the chittering noise is a way to alert the others.

Blobs repeat the chittering sound from each other, the noise making its way up the stairs and through the rest of the house. Blobs in each room wake up and quietly go downstairs to join the rest, being careful not to disturb Time. Soon, the entire downstairs is crowded with blobs, all glaring and chittering.

The Bandit, thoroughly creeped out, steps back a bit. When he does, all of the blobs instantly fall silent, still staring. It shocks him, and he becomes even more fearful as he notices tiny weapons, claws, and sometimes teeth.

He steps back a bit more... trying to get away...

And steps on a small stick he had brought in with him.

*snk*

The noise was all they needed.

Time jolts awake to chaotic noise coming from downstairs, along with an unknown voice screaming. As he quickly bolts out of bed, forgetting to grab his coat, the screaming quickly stops.

Time reaches the bottom of the stairs, seeing the blobs crowding the area and chittering. As soon as they notice him, they stop and stare at him with clueless expressions and innocent eyes. The same looks he knows as friendly... but something feels wrong.

He walks further into the house, looking at all of the blobs... and then he sees it.

A Bandit is on the ground, bleeding and twitching. A lantern he was holding has been put out, and is broken on the ground. A few blobs stand on and around him, covered in blood and holding torn pieces of his clothing. They slowly put away weapons, retract claws, stop using powers, and close toothy mouths when they see Time. Anything they were holding drops.

Time stands there for a bit, shocked and horrified. He doesn't know what to do. Sabre had told him that the blobs were pretty much wild animals, they were just really friendly, but despite that warning he didn't think the cute little creatures would do something like this.

Time slowly backed away and exited the house through the front door, where he ran into the Village Leaders arriving at his porch, with the rest of the village watching from the background.

"We heard screaming, is everything okay?" The Violet Village Leader asks.

"W-Well, uhh..." Time stutters, still in shock. "T-The creatures caught a Bandit trying to break in."

The Village Leaders are surprised, and the villagers in the background start to whisper.

"Are you alright?" The Yellow Village Leader asks him. "Did he attack you?"

"No, no, I was asleep upstairs and the Bandit broke in through the kitchen window." Time says, shaking his head. "Uh- I don't know if the Bandit is- well- alive."

"...The creatures attacked him?" The Violet Leader asks, while the Yellow Leader is dumbfounded.

"Yes- it was- well, I don't think the creatures are hurt, they seemed fine." Time continues. "Actually, the Bandit was... twitching. Maybe he's still alive? They sort of... mauled him."

The three are silent for a while, as the village continues to whisper to each other a few feet away. After the silence, the Yellow Leader starts to step away.

"I'm... gonna... go get the Guard." He says.

"Yes, please do..." Time sighs, running his hand through his hair. "Aaand probably tell them to bring a medic."

The Yellow Leader nods, and he teleports away.

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Aaand that's the chapter everyone! You caused a lot of mayhem lol.

Here are your events for next chapter, and I swear it'll be published faster than this one-

—

Event 1:

Sabre is having a conversation with Light, defending your actions against the Bandit. Quick, do something cute.

—

Event 2: 

Given how he saw what you did, Time starts asking questions about the blobs. Sabre decides that Time can be shown the flower field/blob base, and takes him to it. What do you do once you're back in the old hideout that was home for so long?

—

Event 3:

Whose blobs work in the flowery nursery?

✨6/6✨

(If you want your comment to stay, then don't leave it on the vote number. Once I edit that line, the comment disappears into the section below)

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Event 4:

While Sabre is showing Time the flower field...

There's cave spiders. They're putting the flowers and little ones in danger.

D e f e n d   t h e   n e s t .

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Baiiiii Merry Christmas :3