[Sabre's POV]

I wake up on the floor, feeling someone nudge me.

"I need to wake him up first, silly." I hear Rainbow say, giggling.

"Oh- Uh, right." I hear Dark say.

My eyes open, and immediately I see Dark helping me to my feet. Looking around, I see where everyone is. Other than Dark right in front of me, who's now walking over to the small bookshelf we now have, Rainbow is sketching something while sitting on his bunk, and Time is sitting in front of the cooking fire pit, seeming to have swapped out the pot for something that resembles a skillet. He's cooking scrambled eggs. I smile seeing everyone's cheerful expressions. It's a welcome change from the stress-filled atmosphere of last night.

"Morning, guys." I say.

"Good morning, Sabre." Time greets me.

"Hey Sabre, wanna know something awesome?" Rainbow asks.

"What is it?" I reply.

"I figured out how to make paint appear." Rainbow says, grinning excitedly like a little kid that just got told there's a present for them. "I'm getting some of my old powers back! I missed these!"

"That's awesome, Rainbow!" I say, with his help walking over to a chair in front of a table I've been using as a desk. I glance to look at my old sketches and see a new book on the table. Curious, I pick it up thanks to Rainbow helping me move.

"What's this?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, did that too." Rainbow says. "Since Orange Steves can make stuff just appear, decided to surprise you with a new sketchbook since I have my powers back!"

"Thank you so much buddy!" I exclaim, excitedly flipping through the blank pages. Taking a closer look at the cover, I see that the center is decorated by our insignia, with many designs of vines surrounding and wrapping around the cover behind the symbol, with two swords making an 'X' behind those. "This looks awesome!"

"Yay! I'm glad you like it!" Rainbow says.

Our activities are interrupted when we hear a knock. We recognize it as the one Green uses to let us know it's him. I don't think they know it, but it's exactly to the tune of the beginning notes of this one song from home. What was it called again...? It had something related to song in the title... Was it... 'Melody of Tempests'...? Eh. Whatever, probably close enough.

"That's strange..." Dark says. "Green was supposed to visit tomorrow, not today."

"Maybe he got bored?" Time says as he gets up and walks towards the door.

A few seconds later, Time is leading Green inside.

"Hey guys. Sorry for the early entrance." Green says, taking off his hood.

"It's alright buddy! We don't mind." Rainbow says.

"Yeah, we were actually really excited for your next visit." Dark adds.

"Thanks guys." Green smiles. "Ooh, by the way, I have awesome news!"

"Okay, let's hear i-" Time starts, but he remembers something. He suddenly runs over to the cooking fire, and I see a little smoke rising up from the skillet he put there. "Shoot, the eggs!"

Time quickly moves all the eggs around so they stop burning, and then calms down.

"Okay, still good. It was just the oil burning." Time says. "Sorry about that, go on Green."

"Okay, so don't freak out at this first part, okay?" Green says.

"Alright? Why would we?" Dark asks.

"So, it turns out that my village knew the entire time about how I was visiting you guys." Green says.

We all freeze, but Green gives a look that says it's okay, and goes on.

"It's alright though! They actually really like you guys, and have the same views." Green says. "Turns out that they were the one sabotaging the Colorless Guard outposts, and also hated the way the Leaders kept going about things. They actually want to meet you guys soon."

"They... want to meet us?" Rainbow asks, calming down.

"Yep! Pretty cool huh?" Green smiles.

I notice Dark seems a little nervous. Seems that Green noticed as well, and he looks at Dark with a reassuring expression.

"That means you too, Dark." Green says.

Dark looks surprised.

"Wh- Really?" Dark says, looking a little confused. "Even though I...?

"They know full well about what you went through, Dark, and none of them hold a thing against you." Green continues. "Heck, even the Yellow Steves that live there get it. It's okay."

Dark pauses for a moment, then softly smiles. For a second, I think I almost see him tearing up. I don't blame him, though; I know what it's like, to be outcasted like he was, and suddenly... people care for you.

We spend a while talking to Green, as we always do. Soon, the conversation turns to how he's doing.

"I'm... doing better, after everything." Green says. "I'm not so paranoid anymore, and it doesn't feel like I'm having an identity crisis anymore."

"That's good. We were all a little worried about that." Time says, sipping some tea. Wait- where'd he even get that? Are there wild tea plants growing out here or something? Well, I wouldn't be all that surprised- Wait, then does Time know how to forage-

"I'd guess it would be..." Green says. "Although, even though I'm doing a lot better since it's been many weeks since the... 'incident', I can't help but feel anxious about it all. Like- A lot have things have changed, you know?"

"Yeah..." Rainbow says. "I mean, back when everything was easier and the Rainbow Hub was still standing, who would've guessed we'd all become this?"

"Not me, that's for sure." Time says.

"Yeah, me either." I add. "To be honest, if I met myself how I am now back then, I probably would've tried to fight myself."

Time, Dark, and Rainbow giggle a little at that. However, Green looks confused.

"Did Sabre say something?" He asks.

"Oh- yeah, he did." Dark says. "He made a joke about how past him probably would've tried to fight him."

"Man, I wish I could hear him..." Green sighs. "It sucks that you can't really speak anymore, Sabre."

I nod. Suddenly, Rainbow seems to have an idea. He holds up his hands in front of himself, and I see tiny crystals form at his fingertips.

"Hang on, I think I got something." Rainbow says, a small glow forming in his hands.

Once the glow is around the size of a snowball, Rainbow clasps his hands together over it. A few seconds pass, and when he opens his hands, Rainbow is holding a strange crystal growth that look like the normal crystals he grows, but it has forest green streaks in it.

Rainbow sets down the crystal on the floor, and motions to me.

"Okay Sabre, if this works, you should be able to connect to this one." Rainbow says.

"Uh, okay?" I answer, focusing my connection on the crystal in front of me.

When my powers connect, the crystal suddenly starts glowing. The other three jumbo back a bit, but Rainbow looks excited.

"Okay, now try talking through the connection!" He exclaims.

"What's this supposed to do?" I ask... but my voice comes out of the glowing crystal.

"YOOOOOO!" Green exclaims.

"Woah, cool!" Dark says.

"Ha HA! It worked!" Rainbow smiles, clapping his hands.

"Amazing..." Time says, staring at the crystal, his gaze occasionally shifting to me.

We just mess around with the newfound way of communication, and unlike normal, I kinda become a chatterbox. It's kind of fair, considering I couldn't really speak before. Now it's almost as easy as talking normally with this thing.

However, we soon run out of things to talk about. After a few moments of silence, Green is first to speak.

"Hey Sabre?" Green asks. "Do your people have a way with dealing with a lot of major change?'

"Yeah, a lot of ways. Why?" I say.

"Well, I was thinking if I made a major change, it could help me cope with all that's going on?" Green answers. "I dunno."

"Oh, people where I'm from do stuff like that all the time." I say. "Like during the start of a new decade, things suddenly went to crap pretty fast. A new virus outbreak started, and everyone was stuck in quarantine in their homes. To try and keep ourselves sane, every tried a lot of new things. A lot did things like pick up new hobbies, use this special way of communication that isn't in-person to make new friends, dyed their hair into a whirl of color, started doing crafts, and a lot more."

"Dye their hair?" Dark asks. "Like... the dyes we use as paint?"

"Eh, kinda." I say. "Where I'm from, we don't have hair colors like yours. We either get different shades of brown or blonde, black, even some rarer colors for us like a coppery darker orange or even completely white."

"That sounds boring." Rainbow says.

"To be honest, it kind of was." I say. "That's why people started dying it."

"I... actually like that idea." Green says.

We all look at Green for a minute.

"Hey Rainbow, how many dyes we got?" I ask.

Rainbow makes a lot of different dyes appear out of nowhere, courtesy to his Orange Steve side.

"All of 'em." Rainbow smiles.

"Well, I guess we're doing this now." Time says, smiling and getting up. "Sabre, you know more about this. Do we need anything else other than dye?"

"Green's gonna have to wash out the excess dye once we color it, so get a bucket of water." I answer.

"I've actually always wanted to have more color to myself..." Green says as Time leaves to get a bucket. "I just didn't because I was worried I'd look weird to everyone else."

"Well, don't have to worry about that now!" Dark smiles.

Green moves over to Rainbow and I, as Time comes back with the water bucket.

"Alright, which colors do you want?" Rainbow asks.

"Can we do the different chromatic colors? So I can match all of you?" Green asks.

"Of course buddy! Just say which spots you want which color." I say. "Hey Dark, can you grab the mirror real quick?"

"You got it." Dark says, as he gets up and walks over to the bunches of chests we have. "It's in one of these, somewhere..."

"I can already tell, this is gonna be fun." Time says, placing the water bucket down next to the rest of us.

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"Is it done yet?" Green asks.

"I dunno." I say, the turn to Time. "Has it been 30 minutes?"

We got all the excess dye out a while ago, and wrapped Green's hair in a towel so it could dry faster... and so the now-colorful water wouldn't drip on him. We've been talking and playing games as we waited for 30 minutes to pass (That's how long it takes for the dye to completely set).

"Yes, I believe it has." Time answers, smiling.

"Awesome! I can't wait to see it!" Green exclaims, taking the towel off his head.

Green shakes his head a little to put his hair in place, and looks up at us.

"How's it look?" He asks.

"Ooooh, it looks great Green!" Rainbow says, smiling.

"You look awesome, dude." Dark adds.

"Wow, prismatic almost matches you." Time says.

"It turned out amazing, buddy." I say.

(It's actually gonna be styled and look way cooler later, I promise)

"Really? You think so?" Green says.

"Oh, we know so." Rainbow says.

"Heh, thanks guys..." Green smiles.

We then continue our conversations, just hanging out as we always do.

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[M's POV]

"How on earth could any of them even be alive?!" I exclaim, the Professor studying old-looking logbooks and papers at the nearby table.

"For the first time in years, I have no idea!" Professor Red exclaims. "Necromancy? Zombification? They faked their deaths? Wait- no, it was all confirmed they died with no way of faking it. What in the name of sanity is happening with them?!"

"I don't know, I just hope it's not anything bad..." I say, hoping the best for them. They must have valid reasons for doing what they did... right?

"You're only saying that because the non-Steve, Sabre, is your friend." The Professor says.

That old little-

"And most of the reason you're interested in all this is only because of your history with the past Rainbow Steves, pretty sure seeing the third resurrect has made you spout all sorts of theories about bringing one of them back." I retort.

The Professor slowly looks up at me, clearly offended.

"...Well dang. You didn't have to go that far." The Professor says.

I sigh, and calm down.

"Sorry, Professor..." I say. "I'm just a little on-edge about the current situation. I saw four confirmed dead people, one of which being a Steve entirely composed of Darkness, and hours later they burn down the new Kingdom and disappear. It's as if they were just spirits, vanished in the night..."

"I know. The most we can do right now is keep our heads while figuring this out..." Professor Red says, looking back at the research he pulled from the lab's archives. "...And absolutely not tell the Leader."

"Oh, heck no." I say.

Just then we hear a familiar voice from down the hall.

"Professor? Apprentice? Are you in here?" The Red Leader calls out.

Professor Red and I panic, and quickly attempt to act natural as the Leader walks into the room.

"Oh, hello Leader." I greet him.

"Sorry. Busy. New project." The Professor quickly says.

"Ah, of course..." The Leader says. "And once again, you're making the Apprentice help?"

"Yeah, I got dragged here again." I answer. "I'll keep him from putting another hole in the lab."

"Good." The Red Leader says. "Just wanted to see what you were up to."

The Leader turns to leave, but stops for a minute.

"Professor, don't blow anything up again, alright?" The Leader sighs.

"Aw, what?! That's half the fun!" Professor Red exclaims, looking up from the papers.

"And extremely dangerous, especially with the Apprentice right there." The Red Leader continues. "I don't want anything harmful happening to him, got it?"

"Got it." Professor Red begrudgingly says, going back to the logbooks in front of him.

"Uh, like you said, I'm right here." I say. "You don't need to speak of me like I'm not."

As I'm saying that, the Leader turns away and walks off. Aaaaand ignored, whenever I try to have an opinion about my apprenticeship... just like always.

"I swear, sometimes he treats me like a child." I say as soon as I hear the lab door shut.

"Welcome to the club." The Professor says.

"That only happens because you endanger yourself half the time, Professor." I say.

"Shut. That's irrelevant." Professor Red says, getting up and taking a few papers and old logbooks with him. "Right now, back to the archives! I remembered some more older research that will be useful."

Before I can say anything, he's already running off to another part of the lab. For someone as old as he is, he can go fast. Sighing, I follow behind him.

Once again, I'm being dragged behind those who technically have authority over me... on top of never freely being able to leave the Kingdom. I sometimes wish I had a little more freedom in my life...

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Okay okay I know I said I would reveal Aoi's design in this chapter but-

I'm only halfway done with it and I'm indecisive about some parts of it and school started so it's going slow ;-;

I promise, either next chapter I'll post it or I'll give it its own showcase chapter, like Endgame Vengeful (which I'm also still working on btw). Until then, Green Steve's newly dyed hair is a bit of a hint towards it :3