The Balancers

Part 8: An Unknown Ally

I stood in front of Ruby Steve's and Elder Light's graves. We had buried Elder in the ground and planted a white tulip above him. We didn't have Ruby's body, so we had set up a grave and buried a ruby block under it, and planted a poopy in front of the stone. Beside me stood Orange King and Rainbow Steve. Behind us were a few steves, including the Green Steve we had saved from the Demon Steve. There was even a few players present, which was surprising. I stared at the two graves. Deep down I felt that it was my fault. If I had been Balance from the start of the fight I could have beaten him before anyone got hurt. But my bosses had taught me many times before to not blame yourself for things that can not be changed. I knew I couldn't change this, but I was going to do better. No more hiding. I was still in my Balance form, but no-one seemed to notice. 'Guess I was hiding it for nothing.' I thought. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind for the rest of the burial.

An hour later we were done, and people were standing around and talking. I knew Orange King and Rainbow were somewhere among them, but I wasn't go to look for them right now. I was lost in thought. This whole situation made me more concerned about the fact no-one knew how or why steves were being brought here, even after nearly three weeks. And it was clear now that it wasn't harmless. If it had brought one Demon Steve here, it could bring another. Or, it could bring another steve that wanted to cause harm. 'What if it brings Empty Steve.' I realized. I didn't know exactly what I would do if that happened. He had somehow made Alex not be able to speak, or maybe he even took her consciousness out of me, leaving just her energy. Before I could continue pondering either of those problems, I caught a glimpse of something dark out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look at it and almost chocked on the sweet berries I was eating. Leaning against a tree was an Unknown Steve. I could barely see him in the shadows from where I was. I leaped out the second floors window and landed on my feet. A few people turned to look at me, but I was already walking to the tree. I was ready to fight, but I wanted to try to settle this peacefully. I had convinced two other Unknowns to tune away from Empty Steve. Maybe I could do it again. As I approached the tree, it seemed the Unknown Steve finally noticed me. He stopped leaning against the tree and stood up straight. He slowly walked out from the tree's shadow and into the sunlight. Actually it was always sunny. It never turned night, and there was never any sort of weather. But now wasn't the time to think of that. I stopped walking and stared at him. He stopped as well a few about five blocks away from me.

"Looks like I was the first to find you." the Unknown Steve said. I recognized this one. He was darker then all the other Unknowns I had seen. He was one of Empty's Power Six. I had seen him standing next to Empty both times I had been to the throne room. "I'm sure that Empty will be happy to see you again. Especially as you have one of his daughters fused to you." So Empty thought of the Unknowns and Blanks as his children? Or did they think as themselves as Empty's children? 

"Listen Unknown Steve," I started. "This doesn't have to end with either of us going back to Empty Steve. You'd be better off not doing what he tells you to." He didn't have any expression visible on his face. 

"And what, listen to you?" he asked bitterly. "You caused three of the other Power Six to leave. Empty's been relying on us twice as much. Which is your fault." I realized with confusion he had said three people. I had only taken Unknown Alex and the older Unknown Steve. That means another one had left Empty. 'But why?' I thought. Was it really my fault? Had I convinced them to leave on their own accord?

"You shouldn't do anything anyone tells you to if you know it's wrong." I replied. "Both Unknown Alex and Unknown Steve realized that what they were doing was evil, and they decided to change." I paused for a moment. "Well, at least Alex did. Steve seemed to just want to get revenge. But still, why would he want revenge on Empty if he was a good person!" By now I had noticed everyone looking at the two of us. Orange King and Rainbow were standing at the head of the crowd, eyes full of curiosity. I had told them a little about the Unknowns and Blanks. I guess they could tell this was one of them.