I wake up that morning, feeling a little different. I don't know why, but I feel... stronger than yesterday. Once Rainbow gets me up out of bed, I notice that everyone else is feeling it too. I can tell by the looks of confusion on Time and Dark's faces, but Rainbow on the other hand, he looks... chippier than normal. I break the awkward silence and ask.

"So, uh... does anyone else feel weird, but it's a good weird?"

"I thought it was just me getting used to having color." Dark says.

"I thought it was because I was just crystallized." Time answers as well.

"I did something~!" Rainbow says, excitedly pacing around the room, as if he was waiting for that question.

"What?" Dark asks. Rainbow brings out a map of the Rainbow Kingdom, with little scribbled circles all over it.

"I started the crystal plan!" Rainbow exclaims. "Each circled area is a spot where a crystal is growing, taking the color from the area as it grows, which is siphoning into power to a spot near us! Once it turns into power, it makes its way to us! And I made sure that all the crystal nodes in the Kingdom were really well hidden, so no one will notice the color is disappearing from places until it's too late!"

"Is that why you're more colorful than yesterday?" Time asks. "You're getting power back?"

I take a closer look at Rainbow, and like Time said, he's gotten more color than he had yesterday. More chromatic patches are covering all the faded orange. Rainbow nods, and continues explaining.

"And it won't just be me getting power! You guys are getting some too! I don't know if it'll change how you look or something, but you're gonna notice a difference soon enough!"

"Maybe it'll give me more autonomy." I joke. Everyone laughs.

"I dunno, but maybe it will." Time says.

"It's possible!" Rainbow says.

"Sooo... like, what do we do when they notice?" Dark asks. I'm sure it's because he's nervous about the Kingdom finding out he's alive again.

"Set a trap." Rainbow says. "I have a different crystal cave that looks just like the actual one, it just doesn't give any power. The crystals there are just for looks. Once the Leaders find out about the nodes, I'll make a trail leading to it, and we get to confront them."

"Confront them...?" Dark says.

"Don't worry, only if you want to." Rainbow assures him.

"How did you even set this up so fast?" Time asks.

"I woke up early and got bored." Rainbow shrugs.

After that, we go on like normal throughout the morning. I can't help but notice something's wrong with Rainbow, though. Throughout the explanation of the plan, he kept switching between the good friend I know, like when he was comforting Dark, and something more... I dunno, sinister. Like when he was talking about confronting the Leaders. Not just that, but since he's revived the both of us, he's been acting weird. On our second night, when he went out and said he thought someone found us, I realized later that it didn't make sense. If he thought someone found us, he would've woken me up. What did he need the sword for? The whole point of hiding in the forest was not to make ourselves known until we're ready, attacking someone would do the complete opposite. And when I look back on that night, something in my memories feels... fuzzy, almost, like I'm forgetting something really important about it. I'm snapped back from my thoughts by Time.

"Sabre, you alright? You've just been staring into nowhere for the past ten minutes." He asks.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." I answer. "I guess I just spaced off again."

"Again?"

"He did that yesterday, too..." Dark says. I can tell he and Rainbow are worried.

"I'm fine, I promise." I say. "It's probably just another effect of the paralysis."

Okay then, buddy." Rainbow says.

He was side-eying me as he put away the dishes we had been using for breakfast. We had been explaining everything to Time in the meanwhile, and he seems to have understood it pretty well. The only thing he really freaked out about was Shadow, but that's understandable. I'm pretty sure he's haunted by the thought of him, too. As we finish talking, Rainbow brightens up.

"Oh, that's right!" He exclaims, grabbing something from a chest. "I made you new stuff, Time! Y'know, since your old coat and mask were broken..."

Rainbow hands Time a new coat folded neatly into a square, a mask with crystal clock hands sitting on top of it. Time looks amazed at the gift, and takes the items from Rainbow.

"These are amazing..." Time gasps, unfolding the coat and looking at it, while holding the mask in his opposite hand. "I love it, thanks Rainbow!"

Time immediately puts on the new coat and mask, absolutely beaming.

"You look awesome as heck, man!" I say.

"You really do!" Dark adds.

"Thanks, guys." Time smiles.

"I could make a matching patch for you later, if you'd like." Dark says.

"Patch?" Time asks.

Rainbow and Dark take out their Vengeful insignia patches, while I show the one on my shoulder, mirroring my Earth patch.

"Dark made us patches of our group!" Rainbow grins.

"Oh wow, they look great, Dark!" Time says.

"Rainbow and I just don't know what to do with ours yet." Dark shyly smiles.

"Actually, Dark, speaking of matching things..." Rainbow says, rooting through his chest again, and he pulls out another coat. "I made you something too!"

It's a lighter-colored one than Time's, and Dark looks ecstatic about the gift. Gingerly taking it from Rainbow, he starts crying tears of joy.

"You good, Dark?" Time asks.

"This is my first time getting a gift ever and I love it." Dark says, holding his new coat close to him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Dark!" Rainbow says, hugging him.

"Dude, try it on."  I say. "Bet you look awesome."

Dark does, and he indeed looks awesome.

"You look very nice, Dark." Time says.

Rainbow looks very proud of himself, as he should. Then, he remembers something.

"Oh, Sabre, I almost forgot. We have to change your bandages today." He says.

"Oh yeah, that's today." I say.

Rainbow and Time get the bandages and such, and Dark keeps me occupied. Probably to keep myself from focusing on the hole in my head. Even though I'm used to the thought of it being there now, I understand why they think that I'd still find it horrifying. Dark looks happy, though, so I'm not gonna say anything. We just talk like normal as everyone helps with my bandages.

It's nice having friends like them.

As Rainbow is finishing with the bandages, he turns to Time.

"Hey, Time," he says. "I have a plan on how we can hide you from your brother for now."

—————————————————————————————————————

[Light's POV]

Earlier yesterday, Elemental came rushing into the Citadel and said that Time is missing. He was in hysterics for a while, and I can understand why. They've always been really close. A few people have tried asking him why they dropped contact with everyone, but he kept dodging the question and going back to the situation on his brother. Something isn't right with him...

Right now, Elemental, a few Guards, and I are heading to the area Elemental last saw Time to search for him. Elemental looks nervous about something, but it's hard to guess what. We come to a stone valley area, and Elemental stops.

"This is where I last saw him." He says.

"Alright, men. Start searching." I command. "And remember; we have to leave before nightfall."

We search for hours. In the valleys, on the stone hills surrounding the place, the small ravines, but we find nothing. As we're leaving to look in the next area over, I see something glinting in the forest to the right of the valleys. Seems others noticed it too.

"What was that?" Elemental mumbles.

"Sir, should we investigate?" A Guard asks.

"Don't see why not." I say, walking over to where the glinting came from

As I pull vines and branches out of my way, I start to see crimson splattered towards deeper into the forest. There's dark brown fabric pieces hanging from briars on the ground. Elemental sees this and runs over, going in front of me and shoving through the forestry himself.

"No no no no no... come on, he can't..." Elemental says to himself.

He keeps pushing through the obstacles of the greenery in front of us, leaving a path behind. The Guards and I follow, getting more and more worried by the sight of more crimson splotches lining the forest floor. We even see a few white shards of some kind. Then, when he punches through a wall of vines, Elemental freezes for a moment. For a while, he just stares at whatever's in the clearing in front of him. Suddenly, he rushes out into the clearing. I walk into the space after he does, and I'm horrified by the scene in the clearing.

Time's coat, tattered and torn apart, is covered in blood lying in a tangle of briars. His mask is nearby, also blood-covered and broken in many pieces. There's a small pool of more blood next to the patch of briars. Elemental slowly picks up the shredded coat, crying silently. I walk over, and place my hand on his shoulder.

"Elemental..." I say, holding back tears myself. "I'm so sorry..."

"H-He can't be..." Elemental stutters, tears streaming down his face. "He c-can't be gone..."

I hear the Guards step into the clearing behind me, then stop. We give Elemental a moment in silence as he mourns his brother. Then, one of the Guards brings something to my attention.

"Sir," he says, pointing his spear at something on a tree. "Look, right here."

I look at where he's pointing, and there's a patch of Darkness  beginning to take the color from the tree's bark. So, it was them. I quickly get rid of the Darkness patch using my power, and turn back to Elemental. He's now stood up, facing me, holding the coat and broken mask close to his chest. I place my hand on his shoulder again, and he looks up, tears in his eyes. Guessing from his look, he saw the patch before I destroyed it.

"...Let's head back, Elemental." I say. "We can get them another day."

Elemental nods, and we all begin to walk back to the Kingdom.

Another casualty of a friend, their life taken far too soon. When will this bloodshed end?

—————————————————————————————————————

We had seen what went down in the clearing we set up. As they left, we began speaking again.

"I've never seen him cry before..." Time says.

"Tough guy ain't so tough when he's realized what he did." Rainbow scoffs.

"Well, it looks like they bought it." I say.

"We should head back soon..." Dark says, looking at the sky. "We took all afternoon making that, and they took a few hours finding it."

"Yeah, that's fair." Time says, getting up. "It was honestly really strange though, seeing Elemental like that..."

"I hope it tortures him." I hear Rainbow say. At least, I think I do. Looking around, it seems Time and Dark didn't hear it, and Rainbow looks normal. Maybe I was just hearing things...

As we walk back, we're talking about what just happened. Somehow, the conversation leads to what happened after I died.

"There was a funeral for you, Sabre." Time says. "However, only Light actually showed up to it. I dunno what everyone else was doing."

"That's so... I dunno, surreal." I say. "I mean, for everyone else, it figures. Pretty sure they all hated me. But Light...? I have no clue why he would show up."

"Maybe he just felt guilty about it?" Dark says. "I mean, you getting killed was kinda his fault. He sent you on a deathtrap of a mission alone."

"Yeah, you're right." I say.

It's already sundown by the time we get back to the cave, and everyone is tired from having to hike all the way to the stone valleys and back.

"Why didn't we just teleport??" Dark asks, immediately climbing up to his hammock as soon as we get inside.

"We're getting power from the crystal nodes, remember?" Rainbow says, also tiredly climbing into bed. "Using powers like teleporting right now could be a little dangerous in the early stages."

"True." Time adds. He's already wrapped himself in his blankets.

"Can we all just agree that hiking sucks?" I say, Rainbow puppeteering me into my bunk below his.

"Yes." Everyone else says. We laugh a little bit at that, then turn out the lights and turn in.

—————————————————————————————————————

Just like the second night, I feel as if I'm shocked by something, then awake on my own. I don't make a sound, as I don't want to wake the others, when I look to what's unfolding in the cave.

I'm frozen in terror as I see a Colorless Guard in the room, being put in a headlock and choked out by Rainbow. Rainbow keeps a cold and sinister look in his eyes as he covers the Guard's mouth, avoiding any noise being made as the Guard struggles. A thousand thoughts race through my mind at once.

What was happening? Why was Rainbow doing this? How did the Guard find us?

Eventually, the Colorless Guard goes limp, and Rainbow sets him on the floor. Suddenly, he turns his head towards me. Rainbow sees I'm awake, and quickly yet quietly rushes over. Putting a hand over my eyes, Rainbow talks to me through the Crystal.

"Shh, everything is okay, Sabre..." he says, while panic floods through me. "Everything is completely fine, just... go back to sleep, okay? I've got this handled. You don't need to worry, just go back to sleep."

As he says that, I feel myself falling asleep, even though I don't want to. I try to fight it, but it's no use. Rainbow keeps talking to me through the Crystal, but by now I'm slipping farther into the unconscious, unable to hear what he's actually saying. When he takes his hand off from over my eyes, they close, but before I pass out I can only hear one last word from him;

"Forget."

—————————————————————————————————————

I wake up that morning with a terrible headache, as if I just got whacked in the head with a baseball bat. I hear that the others are still asleep, so I wait. By the time that I hear Rainbow wake up, the headache has passed, so that's good. I can't help but feel like I'm forgetting something, though... whatever, probably had a dream I don't remember. That happens sometimes.

Once everyone else is up, we're at the dining area like usual, having breakfast. During that, I noticed something red along the ends of Rainbow's sleeves.

"Rainbow, what's that on your sleeves?" I ask.

"Oh, shoot!" Rainbow says, looking at them. "Man, I got paint on them..."

"Oh, you were painting?" Time asks.

"Yeah, I was painting a picture and colored in a rainbow in backwards order, so I'd have an easier time layering the colors." Rainbow says. "Wanna see it?"

"Sure!" I say.

"Yeah, that'd be cool." Dark says.

Rainbow goes over to the chests and pulls out a small canvas. He brings it over, and it's a painting of the cave. It's really accurate, too.

"I wanted to do something like a still life, 'cause I got bored earlier while waiting for you two to wake up." He says. "Whatcha think?"

"It looks great!" Time says.

"Yeah, nice job, Rainbow!" Dark adds.

"I knew I heard you working on something." I say. "Nice."

Rainbow smiles, and we go back to breakfast. However, I notice the red on Rainbow's sleeves is darker than the paint on the canvas...

Eh, it's probably just dried. Plus, red always looks a little darker against an orange background. Rainbow's my friend, and he'd never to anything terrible.

Right?