Radiance

A Fellow Leader

|M|

"So you are telling me, THAT was the First Curse?!" Violet stops pacing in his living room and stops in front of me. He had a panicked look on his face that was mixing with anger and confusion as he turned to stare at me.

I ease back into the couch, having flinched at Violet Leader's sudden outburst, then give him my solemn response with a sigh.

"His appearance has changed, but yes. That being was the First Curse."

Violet Leader's hand starts to shake a bit, but I sit still on the couch; Equally disturbed by the events of that battle. Especially with the Steves we had to fight...

After I had just retained a glassy-eyed Orange Steve who had flung himself to attack me wrecklessly, I saw the armor-clad non Steve, Lucas, get knocked back and ran to help him up. His armor had been tinged an off shade of an indigo color and he was wincing in pain, but he soon leaped back into the fray to help his friend. Yet... The thing most disturbing me was... That I had caught a glimpse of a familiar indigo robe fighting Time...

"V-Violet."

I feel my voice start to shake as I make the horrid recollection. My fellow leader pauses from his mental breakdown to look at me.

"Has... Has anybody heard from Indigo Leader since the last meeting?"

I feel numb as I let the words fall from my mouth.

There was no way that this could be possible, the First Curse wasn't capable of that last time. I need to talk with Time about this... If it was true- I didn't even want to consider the possibilities of the First Curse's new abilities.

"I've- not seen him Red... I've not even thought to send any messages to him because it's not been that long since our last Assembly of Colors." Violet Leader's voice was shaky as he runs a hand through his long, swept-back and well taken care of, hair.

I stay quiet for a moment as past memories started to come to me in droves.

I poured over everything in my mind, trying to recall all of the First Curse's weaknesses he had:

Redstone? Yeah, Redstone repelled him. If we could amplify the towers, maybe we could keep him away from the kingdoms and implement towers in the smaller villages and cities.

But wait... I never saw him escape- did he while I was focused on helping time and Sabre? Was he out corrupting more Steves? Could he be watching me through the window?!

"Red? Red!" Violet Leader waves his hand in front of my face and I start, taking in a deep shakey gasp of air. Violet's worried face fills my vision as loose hair drifts into his face with his circlet drifting to the side. He lets out a slow breath as he sits beside me.

"You nearly gave me a heart-attack Red, you were zoned out and not breathing..." Violet Leader lays his hand on my shoulder as I hide my face in my hands and rest my elbows on my knees. When I panic and start over-thinking, sometimes... I forget to breathe.

With a slow breath, Violet rubs my shoulder, then rests his arms around my shoulder in a comforting way.

I sit there for about three minutes before I started to have my own mental breakdown. Silently, I lay my head on Violet Leader's lap and curl up, stress filling my mind as everything seemed to come crashing down around me.

I wasn't crying though.

I hadn't cried since I lost Sabre. To which after that... I had to be strong for my fellow Steves.

"I'll stay here as long as you need M..." Violet's gentle voice drifts through my thoughts and brings with it the sensation of my back being rubbed.

Soon after, I drift off to a calm space in my mind. A feeling of solace replacing my stress and anxiety as I feel like I was drifting in a boat on the surface of a glassy lake. All around me was a quiet space, a calm I hadn't experienced since before the first Red Kingdom got destroyed by Void.

I open my eyes and look around. It was dark, but not the kind of dark the Darkness brought with it. It was a sort of solitude and peace that I had felt before. My eyes trail around as I shift and feel the sensation that I was suspended in air, weightless. Not far from me lay a crimson door, inlaid with gold and iron designs that swirled across its surface. It was familiar yet I couldn't bring to mind where I had seen it before...

With quiet admiration, I try to drift over to the door and reach out to it. Yet as I was about to open it, I awake with a shock and sit up.

Sweat covered my forehead as I feel chilled, as if some horrid memories lay behind that door.

Disoriented, I look around a blurry room with the slow realization that I couldn't focus as well on objects. Wait- Where's my glasses??

"... And he's been asleep for four or five hours now?"

"Yep... *Sigh* After he was talking about the First Curse, he brought up the Indigo Leader and all... I have yet to track down Time and Grace since they were fighting with us and may give a second opinion since I didn't see Indigo there in the battle myself, but if he was, we should keep on high alert that the Curse can twist minds. If I can trust my intuition on the whereabouts of the two- Time is with Sabre and Grace is watching the non-steve Lucas. Speaking of which..."

Voices drift from the room over as I find my glasses on the floor beside the couch and slide them on.

"These Non-Steves... they know Sabre?"

"Yeah... I was surprised about it at first, but with the way he greeted them, there was no mistaking that he is close with them. I was only able to talk to the one named Tewtiy a bit before Sabre, Red Leader, Light Steve, Time Steve, and Graceful Orange Steve came in and we went out to meet them."

That sounded like Violet and Green Leader talking in the room over. Seems like Green Leader got here decently fast if he's now catching up with Violet.

I lay back down for a moment and stretch. Unknowingly- Violet's couch was super soft. I know, that should have been at the bottom of my current concerns list, but I couldn't help but want to fall back asleep on the couch. It was very nice.

"Alright... I have yet to talk with the non-injured one. Though he seemed wary of me and kept giving me side glances."

"He did that a lot with me as well. He relaxed after a bit, but I have in in my mind that he needs time to adjust to this world. Definitely seems disoriented and out of place."

With a reluctance, I sit back up and sit normally on the couch. Sooner or later, I'd need to get up to check on Sabre and the non Steve Lucas. I rub my neck gently with a hand as I sigh.

"Well... I should make sure Red Leader is alright and call for Professor Red to come take him home to properly rest. It's already been an eventful day."

"Violet, he may want to stay- Sabre. He may have time but Sabre needs familiar faces."

I hear Violet sigh, then mumble an agreement as footsteps come into the room. With a sigh I look up at Violet and Green leader who both looked shocked to see me awake.

"Red, glad to see you are awake... How are you feeling?"

I shrug, suddenly feeling a bit numb, then shake that feeling off and stand up.

"Rested a bit, but I want to check up on Sabre and Light..." I trail off as Green sighs and crosses his arms insecurely. It's a long pause before he says what's on his mind.

"I'm gonna be honest with you both, I have no clue on what's going to happen to Light. He's been purely unresponsive and cold to the touch ever since we arrived. Which..." Green trails off and I feel my heart drop to my stomach.

"I fear we may have been too late to save him. He could be dead."