The Stories He Has to Tell | SabreTober Prompts | Hosted by IcyWillowSong

~| Day 8: Green |~

So many TWs in a row, what's up with me- Anyway, this one isn't so bad, just some very slight mutilation. Still though, read at your own risk if that makes you uncomfortable!

Series: Rainbow Quest

AU: Bloom AU (Sabre has flowers growing out of his body. Not only does he have to take care of them so they don't drag him down with them if they die, but the flowers draw energy from him as well. If Sabre gets too stressed out at one time, the flowers grow uncontrollably, the vines of them becoming thorny and the blooms being bigger than normal.)

Context: Rainbow Kingdom. It's been quite a few days since anyone's seen Sabre leave his house, and people are starting to get worried. Light is investigating Sabre's house just in case, but Green (aka Therapist) comes along because he's most worried out of everyone, and Light knows that he's had the most contact with Sabre recently.

Also heads up this is  a n g s t y

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[Green Steve's POV]

"Remember, don't think of the worst case scenario. Everything is probably fine, and he's just having issues with the flowers again." Light says as we approach Sabre's house, just before the sun sets. The evening breeze rustles the leaves of trees in the Kingdom.

"I know, I know. It's just..." I say, trailing off a bit. "Even when he'd be having issues with the flowers, he'd never stay inside this long."

"I know, he's my friend too and I know about his... condition." Light says. "Let's just stay level-headed about this."

We climb the porch steps and walk over to Sabre's front door. At first, I knock, but as always for the past week or so there's no answer. We know he's still inside because no one had seen him exit the house after the last time he went inside, but nobody's even seen him in his house's windows. It's like he's just staying in one spot or something.

"Well... I guess we're doing this." Light sighs as he goes to open the door.

However, the door doesn't budge when Light turns the doorknob and pushes.

Confused, Light tries a few more times. We're both getting more anxious as we realize the door's stuck.

"What in the world...?" I mumble.

"Sabre's door doesn't have a deadlock, right?" Light asks.

"No, I don't think I've ever even seen him lock his door at all." I reply. "This is starting to get strange."

Light keeps trying the door, pushing harder and harder with each attempt. After the eighth or ninth, I start pushing on the door as well. It takes a bit, but eventually we get the door to open a crack, however we can't see inside too well. It feels as if there's something shoved against the door.

Light seems to see something though, and takes his spear from his back. Poking it through the crack, I hear something splice open on the other side. Light suddenly becomes alarmed, and quickly shoves the door, hard. It opens slowly, the wood scraping against the floor. Light steps back.

That's when I see what's inside.

Thorned, flowering vines cover the ceiling of the first floor. They've grown along the walls, pushing the curtains of the windows against the glass so they couldn't be moved. It looks like they had only recently begun growing along the floor, but it was enough to almost seal the door in place. The ends of all the vines we see are starting to wither, a sign of a lack of water. A few cut vines are right next to the door, likely being the ones Light had slashed at. 

I rush inside, fearing the worst. Light calls out after me, but I don't listen. I hear him entering the house behind me as I rush up the stairs. Once I'm upstairs, though... I almost wish I didn't even come in.

All of the vines we had seen downstairs came from here; The walls, ceiling, floor, and furniture are covered in the flowering vines. I even see an end table that was broken purely because of the weight of the growing plants on top of it. The room is dim because of vines starting to cover the lamp on the ceiling, but it does nothing to prevent me from seeing him.

Sabre is leaned against the wall, motionless. The vines cover half his face. His arms are wrapped in the vines up to his wrists, the plants squeezing them, some parts even bleeding because of the thorns. His legs are almost bound together, the vines snaking around them tightly. Part of his neck has the beginnings of more vines around it. The large flowers sprouting from all of them are as if they're trying to cover up the horrifying sight.

I feel tears run down my face as I rush towards Sabre, panicked, and calling out his name. I notice the source of the flowers over his face is starting to tear his skin apart, large gatherings of dried blood emerging from scabbed openings over his eyes, the most right on his forehead. Light comes up the stairs behind me.

"Oh dear lord..." Light gasps.

When Sabre doesn't respond, I hurriedly check for his pulse...

...

"He's still alive." I say, hopeful.

Light quickly walks over to me, holding his spear.

"This is gonna hurt him, but I need to cut him free so we can bring him to the medical wing of the Citadel." Light says. "Stand back."

I get up and oblige, and Light immediately starts hacking away at the vines that surround Sabre. I see the plants along the wall and floor fall as they're severed from him, no longer being connected to the heart of this mess. 

As soon as Sabre's no longer stuck to the wall because of the vines, Light picks him up. I follow as he rushes downstairs and heads to the door.

A small crowd had gathered in front of Sabre's house, as someone likely saw all of the vines. It's probably caused a lot of concern, as they know what these growths mean; Everyone knows what the flowers' growth means. The crowd gets out of Light and I's way as we start running for the Citadel, Sabre still unresponsive as Light carries him.

The streets are a blur, as we rush towards the Citadel. I hear a few shocked gasps from bystanders, but pay no attention to them, as this is an extremely dire situation.

If we don't get this under control soon... Sabre could die.

As soon as we enter the Citadel, we're surrounded by people. I stop in front of the medical wing when we get there, as Light takes Sabre inside, knowing it'll be too hectic in there for me to go in. Being a bit of a healer myself, I know the healers in there need as much room as they can so they can focus on helping Sabre.

The Orange Leader comes up behind me, panicked and concerned. I turn to him as he starts talking to me.

"What on earth happened?!" He exclaims. "What happened to Sabre?!"

"I don't know, Light and I were trying to check on him at his house, and we found him like that." I answer. "The growths were a mess; Light had to cut him free from the vines. They were completely covering the second story, and were most of the way over the first. Although, they'll likely wither away soon because they're not connected to Sabre anymore."

"Do you know what could've caused this?" The Leader asks.

"No, I'm sorry, what I've told you is all I know." I reply.

We hear more rushed and panicked voices as the people in the medical wing seem to have discovered something. Light rushes out, but I don't have time to ask him what's happened before he's out of the room. The Orange Leader and I can only wait... and hope.

What could have even caused the growth to be this bad...?