A different world

Chapter 9 - a new friend!!!!!!! :D

Sabre wasn't a fan of returning to the Orange Village, especially after the darkness came through. But they had to. Sabre had to spend perhaps 20 minutes pep-talking Orange about it.

The village was sunny again, almost unbearably so, yet the damage was still there. Dark cracks, slowly taking on a grayer color, spread throughout the stone. Fires were still in the process of being doused, houses were still dirty and trashed.

"I don't wanna be here..." Orange grumbled. Sabre put on his best cheeky smile and nudged his friend. They had to look like friendly saviors, for the Orange Steves. Even if Sabre had no interest in being the friendly savior of this world.

Sabre focused on the Leader's house. The plan was to go talk to him, get a status update of sorts. See how he was doing after holding the shield up for so long the other night.

Then Orange tugged on his onesie. "Sabre, did you see that?"

Sabre turned to look where he was pointing. Outside the village, towards the trees. Sabre frowned. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. "No? What?"

Orange shook his head. "I'm not crazy. Come on." He grabbed Sabre's arm and tugged him into the trees. Sabre attempted to voice his opinion and focus on talking to the leader's as they'd planned, but Orange was a bit stronger than him.

They ran through the trees, Orange glancing around every so often. "I know I saw something." He muttered.

"Orange, seriously, we should go back-" Sabre tried speaking, but Orange gasped.

"There!!"

For a second, maybe Sabre did see a flash of yellow. But it was gone in an instant, making him almost think he was hallucinating. But then Orange tugged at his sleeve again, and they were back to running after it.

Sabre had chased things like this before, but this thing was fast. He continued to see small glimpses of it, but none lasted more than half a second. Orange weaved the two of them through the trees, almost skillfully so.

After almost a full 10 minutes of running around confusedly, they ran into a clearing. A giant translucent yellow dome was half submerged in the ground in the center of the clearing.

"Woah..." Orange muttered. "What is this?" He put his hand on the glass of the dome, looking in. "Wha- Sabre!! Look!!"

Sabre glanced inside. In the dome was the few infected steves they had avoided just the other day. They were still walking slowly in circles, but the darkness wasn't moving around them. Or, at least, it wasn't doing so as fast.

"What..." Sabre gaped.

"So- they've just been here?! What took them here?" Orange banged on the glass, trying to get their attention. They didn't look up.

"Orange, maybe don't..." Sabre watched him pound at the glass with unease. What if it shattered?

He banged his fist harder and harder, like he wanted the damn thing to crack. The infected steves, still waltzing around in some daze, didn't pay him any mind.

"I need to get to them, I need to help them-" Orange grunted, only to be interrupted by someone pushing him aside fast. Orange nearly toppled over, landing on Sabre with a confused gasp. Sabre managed to hold him up and not fall over like an idiot. Orange looked up and gasped for a second time. Sabre followed his gaze.

A tall Yellow Steve stood out in front of them, his mouth dipped into a frown. He had blonde hair tied up in some messy ponytail and a pair of golden eyes. "Hello?" he raised an eyebrow at the two, who just watched him silently.