Chromatober 2023

Day 30 - Culminate

Series: Rainbow Quest AU (Part 4 of Eyes)

--- Reverse Steve P.O.V. ---

I did it!

I did it!

I DID IT!!!

Wait... why were the crystals still there?

My thoughts froze to a halt as I noticed the artifacts still glittering where I had left them.  Their soft twinkling seemed almost mocking.  They hadn't fused with me?

My eyes darted up to the Orange Steve.  He wasn't looking too good.  He couldn't have done something to the machine in that state... right?  Just across from his holding cell, something is off about the orange crystal.  I march over to investigate.

The artifact looks warped, like metal bent sharply in the wrong direction.  But the crystal isn't metal... Carefully, I bent down to examine it.  The pointed end now strained toward the Orange Steve, as if the crystal had tried and failed to fuse with him instead.

I shook the thought out of my mind.  Of course the crystal hadn't tried to fuse with him.  Why would it want him?  Obviously, my prisoner had messed with it somehow.  I knew I shouldn't have put his cell so close to the machine!

As I reached forward to grab the artifact, I noticed something strange about my hand.  It was red, the same as it had always been, but now there was a soft fade further up on my arm.  I traced the color up my shoulder, watching as it turned violet, then indigo.  Further down my legs, it faded to orange, yellow, and green.  How was this possible?

Feeling a spark of panic, I straightened up, looking around for a reflective surface.  On the polished metal of the machine, I could see my own warped reflection.  My hair was pale blue, fading down to a darker color.  My eyes were blue now.  Blue like Seer's.

Confusion and repulsion sent a shiver up my spine.  What had happened?  Clearly the crystals were still there, but something had fused with me.  I scrabbled for the battery pack attached to my cloak, pulling it away to see that the energy typically stored inside of it was gone.

But this didn't feel right.  I stepped closer to the machine, one finger trailing under my perfect blue eye.  It seemed unnaturally bright.  Where was my scar?

The more I looked at my freakish new appearance, the angrier I felt.  I didn't look like a hero.  I looked like the opposite, the reverse.

I looked like a villain.

But I wasn't!  I wasn't.  Hadn't it been the Orange Steve who messed up my destiny?  Him and that stupid human?  Blue fire burned in my hands.  The energy was dark and foreign to me, but it lit me up from the inside.  It felt like freedom.  I smiled in spite of myself.  So this was what it was like to be powerful...

I had worked so hard for this.  To be admired.  To be the hero who would save the steves.  All of my effort had culminated in this: a sad anti-hero.  But this wouldn't be the end.

I turned back toward the Orange Steve, just to find him leaning heavily on his brunette friend.  The crystals were nowhere in sight. The fire in my palms burned brighter.  I would make them pay for messing up my chance.

I would play the bad guy, just for a moment.  Just until I got those crystal back.

And then, I would be the hero this world deserved.

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Word Count: 546