[Rainbow's POV]

I wake up to hearing the other three downstairs, chatting. Glancing across the room, I see that Sabre's looks like he's still asleep, and he's not talking to me right now so I know he is. I probably shouldn't bother him, especially after what happened last night...

I quietly get up and walk out if the room, being very careful not to disturb Sabre. Making my way downstairs, I see Time, Dark, and Green (er, Forager- whatever, I'll ask which name he prefers later) talking with each other while Time makes breakfast. They notice me as I reach the bottom of the stairs and greet me.

"Good morning, Rainbow." Time smiles warmly.

"Mornin." Dark mumbles through a mouthful of scrambled eggs, while Time tells him not to talk while eating.

"Hey there." Green says as he pours a glass of juice.

"Morning." I reply. "Where'd all this come from? I thought there wasn't anything in the cupboards when you checked last night."

"Oh, some of the villagers were nice enough to give us some ingredients for breakfast." Time says, stirring some eggs in a frying pan as he adds spices. It smells really good. "It was very kind of them!"

"Yeah, we really need to get the village a thank-you gift. I kinda feel bad they keep just giving us stuff." Dark adds.

I walk over to the dining table and sit down while Time hands a plate of eggs to Green. I think he noticed I'm a little shaken up.

"Rainbow, are you alright? You look upset." Time asks, now with a worried look.

Green looks at me with a concerned expression, while Dark just freezes mid-bite and looks at me.

"I, uh..." I start.

You can't do this alone. Remember what happened last time you didn't help him or get him help.

"I don't want to bring down the mood, but... something happened with Sabre during the night." I manage out.

"What is it? Is he okay?" Green asks.

"He had a nightmare. About... him." I explain. "After he woke up, he had a breakdown, and then I woke up and he told me about it. Apparently Shadow's bothering him about his paralysis and trying to get into his head."

The other three look panicked for a second.

"Metaphorically. He's not literally trying to get into his head. At least, that's what Sabre told me."

They calm down.

"But... yeah. Apparently he was talking about regaining control of him, too." I sigh. "Called him a puppet. Scared him pretty badly. And now I'm worried that Sabre's actually gonna be targeted."

"It does sound probable... Shadow was always a bit of a wild card." Time says.

"What on earth would Shadow still want him for?" Green asks. "I don't mean any offense to Sabre, of course, but he's uh... not at his best right now. And Shadow is. Heck, he even has his own body now."

"No clue, I don't think Sabre told me everything." I answer. "I think he was still panicked. Maybe once he wakes up he can tell us."

"He's still asleep?"

"Yeah, he stayed up a while because he was still scared, so I stayed up with him to help him calm down. He was still asleep when I checked on him before I came down here, and I didn't want to bother him because of that and what happened. He's probably just still tired."

We all stay silent for a minute as Time hands me a plate of eggs and a fork. I'm just about to start eating when Dark pipes up.

"I, uhm, I think I might know what Shadow wants Sabre for." He says nervously.

We all stop and look at him.

"There's... a story among the Darkness that a being created by it could obtain a completed form by completely merging with some kind of host." Dark explains. "When Darkness is created, the form is incomplete, and needs a host in order to function at full capacity. Incomplete forms are pretty much all you guys have seen, but a complete form is much more powerful and even has free will."

"Like with Soul or Corruption?" I ask, remembering those two.

Dark shakes his head.

"No. They were still incomplete." He says. "A complete form is very powerful, but it comes with the cost of..."

Dark looks nervously at us for a second.

"...Completely consuming the soul and mind of the host." He finishes, avoiding eye contact. "Then, they have complete control of the body that's left as if it was their own, and merge with the empty husk. Apparently it's how Void had his form."

"Wait, Void wasn't a corrupted being?" Green asks.

"No, he was merged with the corpse of the First Hero."

Aaaaand cue awkward silence.

Dark stays quiet for a moment, looking nervous.

"...I just made things awkward, didn't I-?" He says as he gives an apologetic look to me. "Sorry..."

"Nah, it's alright. Didn't bother me." I quickly say, reassuring him.

"We just, ah- need to work on your bluntness a bit." Time awkwardly smiles.

"We'll add that to the list of social skills you wanted me to help you with." Green says, also giving him a grin.

Dark relaxes, and we all go back to breakfast for a while, just talking about stuff. The village and the party last night was the main topic, Green answering any questions he could about it, but for most of them even he seemed stumped. And he's a part of this village! Apparently the Village Leaders only let the villagers know about things if it involves them or it's an emergency. Not a restrictive thing, but more like... just withholding information? Green said that he was told it was to prevent a lot of stress from being on the citizens.

"And you don't think any of that is a bit fishy?" Dark asks as Green finishes explaining the information thing.

"No, there's always logical and reasonable reasons for it all." Green shrugs. "Then again, I only ever lived in the Green Kingdom before this, and that place was really... sheltered. Being closed off from the rest of the world and all. So stuff might just be going over my head and I don't notice. Maybe ask the Village Leaders or other villagers about that."

Time is about to ask something, when we hear a voice from upstairs.

"Hello?" Sabre calls. "Guys?"

"Oh, Sabre's awake-" I say, starting to get up, but Dark passes me with a grin on his face and is already halfway up the stairs. Speedy guy.

"I've got him!" Dark says, and a few minutes later I hear him greeting Sabre.

After a few minutes of scuffling from upstairs, Dark suddenly comes quickly down the stairs carrying Sabre on his back in a piggyback ride. They're both laughing, and I hear Sabre call him a goof (The silly nickname he has for Dark, he calls me 'doofus'. He hasn't made up ones for Time or Green yet, mostly because they're not the 'goof around' type).

"Carefuuul..." Time sighs, hurriedly walking over and helping Dark set Sabre down. "Sabre can't heal naturally, remember?"

"It's fine, I trust Dark not to drop me or anything." Sabre says, and would probably be grinning if he could move his face. "Besides, it's not like he jumped down the stairs or anything."

Time's expression looks like he's mentally facepalming as Dark laughs. He tells them both to stop being reckless and just goes back to the kitchen to make some more eggs, while Sabre (with my help) and Dark walk to the table.

I move Sabre so that he's sitting next to me, and soon we're all back to talking about random stuff again and smiling. It's... nice. It kind of eases some of the anxiety I had about yesterday. Looking back on it, a lot of really weird stuff happened, and it just... something didn't feel right.

I was going to bring it up with the others, but they didn't seem too worried about it (at least, I think they didn't), and I didn't want to accidentally offend Green by saying stuff about the Village Leaders. I can tell he looks up to them, especially the Green Village Leader.

Besides... my friends are relying on me. I shouldn't worry about little stuff when there's bigger problems to figure out.

Like Sabre's nightmares from Shadow...

—————————————————————————————————————

[Light's POV]

"All of the bases in each new Kingdom are already up and running." One of my Guards tells me. "We just need to gather materials to build defenses for each Kingdom and stock them with supplies."

"That's good, they'll help with the issue of covering ground." I reply. "Is there anything else to report?"

The Guards that came to this meeting all either shake their heads or say some form of 'no', except for one. He hesitantly raises his hand slightly and speaks up.

"Yes, sir, I have an update on that case of an Elite Colorless Guard suddenly going missing while on patrol." He says. "Apparently someone from the Orange Kingdom saw where he headed into that forest on the night he disappeared. I asked him to meet with us later today, if that's alright."

"That's great, actually." I say. That case has had everyone on edge with how the Guard disappeared without a trace. "When is he meeting with us?"

"Should be a little after this meeting, actually." The Guard answers.

"Good. We'll discuss further after the meeting." I say, the turn to the rest of the attendees. "Anything else?"

The Guards once again shake their heads. I stand up, starting to collect the papers that were on the table.

"Alright, then this meeting is adjourned. Back to your posts, and remember your protocols." I say.

All of the other Guards leave, except for that one. He walks up to me as I place the small stack of papers in my bag.

"Okay, would you mind telling me who our witness is?" I ask.

The Guard is about to answer, when there's a knock on the door. We both turn our heads to face it.

"You may enter." I call out.

The door opens slowly, and the person there is...

Happy.

"Uh, hello..." He says quietly, looking more nervous that usual. "Sorry I'm a bit early."

It takes me a second, but I snap out of my shock and answer.

"Oh, it's- it's alright. A meeting just ended, so you're not interrupting." I say.

Silence. The atmosphere in the room is very... awkward. Considering what happened last time we talked... but, that was a long while ago, has he gotten over it already? I know I haven't-

"Uh, sir? Shall I go ahead and question him?" The Guard asks.

"Uh- yes. Go ahead." I say, the turn to Happy. "Please answer his questions to the best of your ability. We need as much information as we can get about this."

"Of course, Light." Happy answers, avoiding eye contact.

Happy and the Guard both leave the room, and I go back to cleaning up the meeting room.

There was a lot of... tension last time Happy and I spoke. The situation at the time certainly didn't help. Perhaps we were both just stressed and panicked, and something I really should have acknowledged just boiled over into a dispute, and... I don't know.

...I just hope that I didn't lose another friend.

—————————————————————————————————————

[M's POV]

Watching the clearing, it's actually really peaceful.

I was hoping to see the Vengeful here, and maybe try to talk to them, but it seems like they're not home. Or am I at the wrong cave- No, no, there's the edge of a small treehouse peeking out from the leaves of some nearby trees. I'm in the right place.

The area is beautiful, like nothing I've ever seen. New plants and even some new creatures are here. Some are familiar, like some different variations of birds and roses, but others are more-

"Hey, Apprentice."

I jump and quickly look back as I feel a hand on my shoulder. The Professor steps back and dodges the stick I throw.

"Relax, it's just me." He says, looking a bit annoyed. "Jeez, you're jumpy today."

"Well, I'm kind of right next to the hideout of a group considered a threat to the Realm." I reply. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh come on, there's so many new things here! I wonder why the other Chromatics never looked this far into the forest. It's amazing!" Professor Red says excitedly, sitting down next to me. "It's like the Age of Discovery all over again! Hopefully without a giant fire-breathing creature this time."

 I roll my eyes. Of course he's here because of new discoveries. And yeah right, there's no way a fire-breathing creature exists. It's just a story, not to mention realistically impossible.

Suddenly, crashes are heard in the bushes nearby. The Professor looks towards it, panicked.

I'm about to say something when he grabs my arm, and starts running in the opposite direction. I have no choice but to run with him.

"What? What is it?" I ask, and he shushes me.

"Keep your voice down!" He whispers harshly as he searches for something, probably a safe place to teleport.

"Why?" I say as we duck behind a large, rocky hill.

"It was Darkness approaching the cave." He answers. "And it somehow, for some reason, had weapons. It's on the attack."