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

~| Day 19: Markings |~

Series: Rainbow Quest

AU: Incomplete (It's in my AU book already if you want to know more (and you'll probably want to read it to get more context on this prompt chapter), but TLDR; Sabre has a lot of pieces missing from his soul, making him able to absorb things. He absorbs stuff almost on instinct a lot of the time, and while living in the Rainbow Kingdom he sneaks out at night to find stuff to absorb since he can't really while surrounded by people)

Context: After the plan works out well, Sabre continues to help Light with the raider prisoner overflow problem in the Citadel's prisons by absorbing the prisoners with the death sentence (read the third AU chapter in my AUs book to get more sense on that). As it turns out, there's a lot more raiders than anyone realized, and the majority of them receive the death sentence for their crimes. However, after about a month or so of Sabre going through with the plan, Light notices that Sabre has been seeming to get tired after absorbing a few prisoners that day. He tells him that Sabre can have a day or two off, and he can come back when he's doing better again. Sabre hesitantly obliges, worried about the raider problem still, but he's not prepared for what happens on said day off.

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[Sabre's POV]

Once again, I wake up late, almost at 11AM. I'm just glad that I don't really have to leave the house today.

It's been a while since I've woken up at a normal hour. Usually, absorbing things helps with my energy a bit and even makes me feel a little better, with the whole 'pieces of my soul are missing' situation making me feel hollow in some kind of way. I guess since I suddenly started absorbing so much in a short time, it's been messing with me. I hope it passes soon... although, it's already been a month. I really hope this isn't a permanent side effect, because the raider problem isn't going away anytime soon.

For a second I think of just going back to sleep, but I'd just feel bad about myself if I spent my day off only sleeping. Slowly getting out of bed, I try to think of something I could do since I have a lot of spare time.

Remembering the few books I've been neglecting to read downstairs, I start to head to the first floor. I walk down the staircase, running my hand along the wall for support as I try to wake myself up a little more. I eventually reach the chair next to my bookshelf, the window behind it having the curtains shut over it.

I go to search the bookshelf for something that sounds interesting, but when I lift my hand my sleeve falls a little, and something odd catches my eye.

"What the..." I mumble, pulling my hand back and rolling up my sleeve to see my arm better.

Along my arm is an array of markings, each a different color. They intertwine and wrap around each other sometimes, occasionally mixing colors, the resulting pattern looking like there's an image of a leafless tree on my arm. From orange to even a hint of violet, the 'branches' of the tree-like tracing fade and shift colors in gradients.

I realize, horrified, that those are the colors of the people I had absorbed yesterday.

I panic and stumble back, catching myself before I fall by grabbing the armchair beside me. Paranoia takes over, and I fear that someone might see it through one of the open windows, so I quickly rush up to my room again.

Once I'm back, I fall onto the carpeted rug in front of my bed, the sudden bolt upstairs having taken a lot out of me for some reason. Shaking, I take another look at my arm, and the marks are glowing now. The skin around them suddenly feels like it's being squeezed, as if the tree image is growing on my arm and wrapping around it tighter. It hurts.

"Look what you did to us." An unknown voice suddenly sounds in my head, actually sounding like multiple voices talking at once. It gives me a headache.

"Wh-what...?" I gasp, before the markings grip even tighter on my arm.

I suddenly see more markings wrap around my hand, and the glow spreads under the rest of my sleeve. I see more glowing markings appear from under the fabric of my clothes, but before I could scream they reach my neck. It gets harder to breathe as they grasp my throat, blocking my airways.

"You're worse than us. Doing what you did, you're just the monster everyone believed you were." The voice says again as black spots start to appear in my vision. "This is all your fault."

Everything fades away as I become choked by the markings on my skin.

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I suddenly jolt awake.

I'm back in bed. Looking at the clock on the opposite wall, it says it's 10:32. I quickly sit up, ignoring the slight feeling of exhaustion, and check my arm.

No marks. It was all just some terrible dream.

I sigh and lie back down, the panicked adrenaline leaving me. This is really getting to my head. Light was probably right... I need to take this day off to rest before everything catches up to me. I don't want to be out for the count if the raider problem surges again. I can't just leave everyone hanging like that.

Before I know it, I'm falling back asleep. I think to myself and hope that I don't have another nightmare just before the still calm of unconsciousness overtakes me.