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

~| Day 16: Sea |~

Series: Rainbow Quest

AU: Seafarers (The Steve all live on their own islands, their world mostly made up of a lot of water. Basically the only places there's land are kingdoms, villages, farms, and the occasional lone house on a smaller island. Everyone gets around on boats when it's too difficult to teleport or they're going to a new place)

Context: Orange and Red are investigating where they heard strange noises an hour or so before, just a little behind Red's house, while on a boat they share.

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[Orange Steve's POV]

I search excitedly around the water's surface, wondering what that could've been earlier.

Red checked the portal before we left, and saw it had been activated, so it's really likely that something's finally come from the other side of it. We've always been curious about why that portal was on the island, but thought it was dormant until a few months ago, when it started charging. Since a few days ago it had looked to be fully charged, and now... something's here.

"See anything, Orange?" Red asks me from the bow of the ship.

"No, not yet." I reply from the starboard side. "I really hope something did actually go through the portal."

"Me too, apparently whoever comes from the other side is part of the prophecy." Red smiles.

"It'd be so cool to be the ones that find that guy, huh?"

"You got it. Now keep looking; whatever this is, it moved into the water."

"I wonder how it's been submerged for so long... Do you know?"

"No clue until we see it."

I've just turned my head back to the ocean when I see there's some splashing right in front of the boat's side. I lean a little bit forward to get a better look.

"Red!" I call out. "Red, there's something over here!"

I hear Red start walking towards me.

"Orange, be careful. You could fall overboard." He warns as I hear him approach. "If the waves make the boat tip just enough-"

Just then, the boat lurches sideways. Red falls over on the deck, while I tumble over the railing and quickly plunge into the sea below. Once I surface, spluttering for a few seconds to get the water out of my mouth, I look up to see Red with an amused look.

"I told you so." Red chuckles.

"Hey, you didn't even finish the sentence before that happened!" I huff. "Just- get the stupid ladder."

"Alright, alright." Red says as he walks off to get the rope ladder.

Just as Red comes back and tosses the ladder over the railing, securing it to the posts, I notice something before I start climbing up. I stare at it for a minute.

"Orange? You good down there?" Red asks.

I smile, knowing this is what we were looking for.

"Red, I found it." I say.

"Found what?"

"The thing from the portal! It's just huddled against the ship, looks like it was hiding out of our view."

The creature looks at me, a bit of fear but mostly confusion on its face. It has scales and fins, but still resembles one of us, reminding me of the stories of one of the past Steve races that went extinct a long while ago. While it's scales and shirt are a deep green, it's other colors confuse me, as they're muted tans and browns instead of the vibrant colors I'm used to.

"Really?" Red says. "Can you- Can you get it on board? Somehow?"

"Uh... lemme try something." I answer.

I hold out my hand to the creature, and speak softly so I don't scare him.

Hi there, buddy." I smile, the strange creature listening. "I'm Orange Steve, who are you?"

The creature stops for a moment, then his expression softens and he seems to become less tense.

"Hi, I'm Sabre." He answers with a similar grin.

"Are you alright? Where'd you come from?" I ask.

"Uhm... I'm okay." Sabre says. "I-I just came out of that portal on that island... I don't know where I am..."

"Want to board my ship with me and my friend so we can help you?" I say.

Sabre smiles and nods, taking my hand. I lead him out from behind the rope ladder and make sure he stays behind me as we climb, his movements shaky and unsure while on the ladder. Soon enough, we reach the top and Red helps me pull Sabre up.

Sabre doesn't have legs, just a long fish's tail, so we set him down in the middle of the deck. He looks around, probably curious. I don't know if he's ever actually been on a boat before. Red pulls up the rope ladder from the side of the ship so we don't have any unwanted visitors, then sets it down and joins me in front of Sabre.

We talk for a while, learning more about the new creature that we found. Sabre tells us things about where he's from, and how he was dragged into a cave holding a similar portal to the one on the island by a huge whirlpool. With no other choice, he went through the portal... and now he's with us.

This is gonna be awesome.