[Rainbow's POV]

As I sit on the cliff overhanging our cave, I can't help but feel bad for what I did to Sabre a few weeks ago. I don't know why I did it, or how, I just... panicked.

I woke up that night to the sound of the door being moved, and I knew it wasn't one of us, so I climbed down from my bunk and hid in a shadowy corner before they got inside. As the door opened, I saw it was a Colorless Guard. I don't know how he found out where the door was, but we were in danger.

He stepped inside, and I stayed quiet and perfectly still in the corner. He looked around, and saw the other three in their bunks. Making his way over, I noticed he pulled out a dagger, and I soon found out what for. The Colorless Guard soon stood over Dark, who was still asleep. The dagger was held over Dark's throat...

The Guard was going to kill him.

Next thing I knew, I had the Guard in a chokehold and was fighting to make him pass out. I didn't stop, out of fear of the safety of my friends. Soon, he collapsed, the dagger never leaving his hand. Good, it won't make any noise. I turned my head to check that everyone was alright, and... Sabre was somehow awake. I could tell by the look in his eye that he was scared, I don't know if it was of me or the Guard. I quickly rushed over and covered his eye, so he didn't have to look at it. I know I didn't kill our intruder, but it must've looked that way. I tried to calm Sabre down, and at first I thought I was, but then I noticed the Crystal powers I have were being used. On him. It was too late to go back by then, as Sabre was already mostly out, so I did what I did on our second night when he saw me leaving.

"Forget."

This way he'd never know about the break-in, and I could get rid of the problem easily. I didn't want to, it just... happened by accident. I know how to control my powers better now, so that'll never happen again. I hated doing that, I really did, because it kind of felt like how Void would use the Darkness to corrupt people.

...I don't want to turn out like him. I want to be a real hero, like everyone used to expect me to be. And right now, being that hero needs me to do what I need to in order to protect my friends... to protect them from the Kingdom.

Seeing the Leaders act the way they did was shocking, especially how the Orange Leader did basically nothing to stop people from hurting Sabre. I had known him all my life, and he never stood for that nonsense, so why now would he turn a blind eye? Was it because Sabre wasn't one of them, or something else? ...I don't know. All I know now is that I can't trust my own people now. Well, I guess I was never really one of them, either. I'm a being made of orange crystal, technically not a real Steve either, kind of like how Dark was lab-created or how Time is a half of another being. Mostly one of the normals, but there's a part of us that's "off". I'm kind of glad it's just the four of us against the world.

Staring up at the moonlight, I silently swear to myself that I won't turn out like my predecessors. I may be against the Chromatics, unlike them, but I'm not either going to turn into a mad-from-power evil being or leave my friends behind in death. I'm going to protect those close to me no matter what...

No matter the cost.

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[Green's POV, the next day]

I had left my Vengeful friends' cave early in the morning, as I had things to do today, and they wanted me to be safe away from them for now... as today is the day the plan is executed.

Dropping off some supplies to the village I'm friends with, I'm trying my hardest to act normal. If they notice something's off, I could accidentally reveal something if they confront me about it. However, it's hard to get what happened yesterday out of my head, even for a minute. Seeing the body in front of me, holding the blood-covered axe in my hands... it's something you can never forget, killing someone. I just hope I'm keeping up a good facade.

I finish giving the supplies to the Village Leaders, and I'm heading towards the village exit. Before I leave, though, the Green Village Leader stops me. He wasn't there when I was dropping off the supplies, so I assume he was checking on the people. I understand why he'd want to check on me, too.

"Hey, Green Steve." He says. "Are you alright? You've been spacing out a little today."

Crap. He's always been the more observant one... keep it together.

"Yeah, I'm alright." I say.

"Are you sure?" The Village Leader asks. "I couldn't help but notice something's off with you."

I need to come up with something... wait. The best lies have a little bit of truth in them. I could make up something believable using small bits from what happened yesterday, and even have a scapegoat.

"...Ok." I say, feeling bad for what I'm about to do. "Yesterday, when I was getting stuff for the supplies, I... I saw someone die."

"Oh, no..." the Village Leader says, placing his hand on my shoulder. "What happened? Were they a friend of yours?"

"No, they were a left-over Corrected Sun member." I say. "I think Darkness got to him, and he tried to run away... he fell into a ditch. I ran over to see what happened to him, and he was all bloody and I think he broke some bones. He looked at me before he died, and... I didn't really stick around."

"I'm sorry you saw that, my friend. Past enemy or not, it's always unfortunate to experience such a thing. Do you want to talk about it?"

"...I'll be alright. I gotta leave soon so I can get home anyway."

"I understand." The Village Leader says. He brings me in for a hug, which I return. "Be safe out there. Oh, by the way, the Village has come to a new agreement."

We step back, and I wonder what has happened.

"What agreement?" I ask.

"Well, everyone voiced their opinions on what's happening with the Rainbow Kingdom." The Green Village Leader says. "We've voted, and the Village has deemed itself no longer associated with the Kingdom."

'No longer associated with the Kingdom'? Really? The Village Leader continues.

"We were unhappy with how they had been handling things, both before and after the Darkness reappeared. From now on, we stand alone. It seems they got the message earlier this week, as no more Colorless Guards have been appearing here. We've already formed our own means of protection, however, as we expected as much."

"That's... exactly what I've been doing, actually." I say. "I've been disassociating myself from the Kingdom as much as I could. I was wondering why all the Colorless Guards disappeared..."

"Well, I'm glad we've been on the same page. To be honest, I've always hated how the Leaders put blame on Sabre during the first Age of Darkness. A few of them had been infected themselves, they knew what it was like. Why hold him responsible for what happened? That was one of the last straws for me."

"Same here." I say.

As we keep talking for a little while longer, the Village Leader brings up points that the Village has agreed with, and those points matched a lot of the things the Vengeful believed. As more and more things are brought up, I wonder...

Could the Village be trusted with the secret of the Vengeful?

They agree with a lot of the same stuff we do. They are just as angry at the Kingdom as we are, surprisingly. They hated all the terrible things that happened to Sabre and Rainbow because of the Kingdom's ignorance and prejudice. They're like us, in a way that they seek revenge for the Leaders' wrongdoings, except they don't know how to take that revenge.

We finish up talking, and by then I've made up my mind. He should know a small amount of what's going to occur today. As we turn to go our separate ways, I look over my shoulder.

"Sir... one more thing." I say, making sure no one else is around.

The Village Leader turns to me. I however, stay in place, only my head turning to face him.

"...Something is going to happen today. Not to us, but to the Kingdom." I whisper. "Ghosts of the past are coming back to haunt them... and they're not just restless, they're vengeful."

The Village Leader looks back at me, not with confusion, but with a kind of understanding. He's knows I'm warning him of something to come. I turn away, and begin my way back to the house.

It might have just been my imagination, but I could've sworn I heard the Village Leader say something.

"I know."

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[M's POV]

I keep visiting the grave of Sabre whenever the Red Leader isn't looking. It's midday, and usually I would hear the Kingdom's bustling of people and conversations happening outside the gates between the Guards, but for some reason the past few weeks... everything's been dead silent. Which, for one thing, that sucks because I have to be quieter than usual around the gates. Another thing though, it's really strange. A kingdom like that should never be this quiet unless something's happening. It might be the Darkness, but that still wouldn't make sense because it's not as big of a problem as it was before, and there would still be activity in the Kingdom.

My thoughts are interrupted by seeing leaves treetops of move in front of me, in the part of the forest near the grave. I quickly run into where I usually hide, inside the ruined old library up the hill. After a little bit of hiding, I see four brown-cloaked figures hiding in the treetops. One has a black mask with gold trim over their face, one has orange and yellow trim on their hood, one has multicolor markings on their gloves, and one has an extra cloak covering their shoulders. It seems they're observing the Kingdom. The keep glancing at the grave for some reason.

My curiosity gets the better of me and I step out of the ruined library and hide myself in the trees, being careful not to be spotted on the hill. I'm able to get close enough to hear what they're talking about.

"So, when the Guards change later tonight, we can sneak into the Kingdom through the tiny passages in the walls the Corrected Sun used." Says the one with the mask.

"Perfect, then we can get what we need to get back out of Sabre's house, then later execute the plan's next stage." The one with multicolor on their hood says.

What? Sneak in the Kingdom? Rob stuff from Sabre, who's freaking DEAD?! It takes all my willpower not to storm out at that point, but then I realize something. The face under the hood of the one that has an extra cloak... I think I recognize them, but I'm not sure. The figures start speaking again.

"Did you make the explosives?" The one with the duo-colored trim says.

"Yeah, I left them at the cave though. Risky to bring 'em here." The multicolored one says.

Okay. This got worse. They have explosives. What in the name of Origin are they going to do with explosives?!

"Remember, only a small amount should be used." The duo-colored one says. "Like Rainbow said, it's only supposed to be a distraction."

Oh. Okay, good, only a- wait. 'Rainbow'?! Isn't he dead?!

At that moment, the figures look around, and slowly take their hoods off. I don't believe it.

Rainbow Steve. Dark Steve. Time Steve. And... Sabre. They're all standing there...

Sabre looks like he just crawled out of a stained glass pile. However, I can feel the power radiating from those colorful pieces sticking out of his head and shoulder. Those are Crystals.

I don't know how this has happened, and I'm frozen in my thoughts as I try to understand why there's four dead people talking about breaking into the Rainbow Kingdom. Before I know it, they retreating back into the trees, going who knows where.

I don't know what in the Realm just happened, but all I can really process right now is that Sabre is alive. I quickly rush back to where I always go to teleport back, and when I get there the Professor was waiting for me, also wearing a cloak like mine over his lab coat . He wanted to gather some things for experiments, so he came with me. When he sees me running, he quickly meets me in the center of the clearing.

"Apprentice? What is it? What happened?" He asks.

"I don't know how, but he's alive." I say, panting as I try to catch my breath.

"Who? Who's alive?" The Professor asks, intrigued by my panicked confusion.

"Sabre." I say. "He's alive and walking."

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[Shadow's POV (>:D)]

Fools. They have no idea what's coming.

I know that Sabre's alive. I had known since he crawled out of that grave, the same way he crawled out of the control of the Darkness. I may not be able to listen in on him anymore, but he is the... better half, and I can tell whether his heart is stopped or still beating.

The Kingdom is about to be in a mess of chaos and war. Not only does he have us, the Darkness coming after them, but the consequences of their prejudice and blatant uncaring for those who save them is coming back to bite them. I know that soon, when one more thing goes wrong, the entire Kingdom will fall apart. The Leaders are already tense with each other, surely an attack will bring it all to a head.

I stare into the mirror in my quarters, thinking of the multiple plans I have going on. All made to be put into motion one after the other, for dealing with both my target groups. Being the only one having reign of the Darkness, I've taken a few liberties to look the part now that I'm separated from Sabre's mindscape. Being stuck in there was so boring, almost as bad as being trapped underground with the Sword. I begin to charge some of my power so I can make contact with my Darkness scouts, as they should've found something by now.

"Scouts. Report." I say into the vocal connection.

"We've found something regarding the revived." A Darkness answers.

"What?" I ask.

"They are planning a confrontation in the Kingdom." It answers. "Even bringing in explosives. It's going to happen tonight. What shall we do, our liege?"

I think for a moment, a possibility appearing in front of me. Surely, if they're bringing explosives, they won't mind me adding a little more flare to the mix right?

"I'll do something about it myself." I answer. "You, report back to base immediately. We cannot let anyone know of our presence near the Kingdom."

"Yes, sir." The Darkness answers me.

The connection ends, and I grin at the new part of my next plan. The Vengeful want to bring down the Leaders a notch, right? Fine then, let me add a little more 'heat' to the consequences. They're both my enemies, so it doesn't matter if the undead take the credit for what happens next. It may not be what they intend, but they'll get their message into the Leaders' thick skulls, and I'll have a bigger threat down a peg or two.

As I step into the balcony of the Darkness' base, I gaze upon the army I have created. Void was stupid enough to base the Darkness off of needing a living host, and to waste a perfectly good strategic opportunity of the volcano's defense plan. With my leadership, I've made it so the Darkness can form into humanoids without a host and utilized all the upper hands of the volcano, almost effortlessly with my power. The world has no idea what's coming to it.

A new Age of Darkness is upon us, whether it's mine or one of blind revenge.