Still Around

Chapter 10: Catching Up

Sabre's POV

"We searched for you! I never got to say goodbye. Sabre, what happened?! Why were you with Nightmare?" Rainbow exclaimed.

"I-I wanted you back Rain, I was selfish." I look down and grab my arm, squeezing tightly, I do that when I'm nervous or stressed.

"How were you selfish? You just wanted your friend back." Galaxy asks.

"I'd rather not say."

"Okay.... well, why are you with Nightmare?"

"I guess you could say I was forced. He would make me watch one of my closest friends die every night, but one day he made me see a nightmare where I killed you Rain, it all was so real. When I woke up he offered me something..."

"What did he offer you?" Galaxy asks.

"If I worked with him, he would stop the nightmares and bring Rain back, I agreed... Now we're here. I'm sorry I'm so so sorry!" Galaxy and Rainbow come and give me a hug.

Rain steps back after a minute but Galaxy stays, I just let my emotions out, I don't know why I did it and I'm typically much stronger than this, but it just felt so right.

Rainbow Steve's POV

I let go of the hug with Sabre and watch him sob into Galaxy's shirt. I don't think I've ever seen Sabre so broken before, what did those nightmares do to him? He looked so childlike in this state. Wait how old is Sabre? I don't want to ruin the moment, I'll ask when they're done.

"Thank you guys, you saved me. He said if I told you he would kill you... I couldn't risk it, I had to figure out a way to get you to understand without telling you.." Sabre says pulling out of the hug. I smile warmly at him. He smiles back.

"I'm sorry if this ruins the moment, but how old are you Sabre?" He freezes. I ruined the moment. Nice going Rainbow!

"Promise you guys won't feel bad when you find out?" He asks, why would we feel bad? Me and Galaxy nod. Sabre sighs.

"Okay... I'm 16." Being one of the few Steves that understand 'human' years -thank you Lucas- this is a shock. He's a teen! We've been letting a teenager fight our battles! I look over at Galaxy, he has the same look I have. Guilt. I guess he understands as well.

"I'm sorry." Sabre mumbles.

"Sabre! You have no reason to be sorry, we shouldn't have let you risk your life, your so young." I always thought Sabre was an adult, I feel bad now. Heh. That explains why he's shorter than all of us.

"I don't have anything else, my life doesn't have meaning, I don't have any family. So please just let me protect you." He pleads.

"I-" I go to speak but am soon cut off by Alex how long has she been there?

"Sabre, we will let you protect us if we can protect you with our lives as well. With Nightmare around, it's not safe for any of us. Let alone you." She says in a serious tone and gives Sabre a warm smile. I don't think I've ever heard her sound so serious.

"Uh, how long have you been in here?" Galaxy asks what's on my mind.

"Since you left the house, you basically ran out of there so I thought something was up." She answers with a shrug, she goes over to Sabre and hugs him. She takes his blindfold off and looks at him guiltily in the eyes.

She hugs him tight, and his green eye glows, weird. Alex notices this and gets a look of shock. "I need a minute, I'll be right back." She says and speed walks out, Galaxy close behind.

Sabre and I share a look, 'What just happened?' Then we have a laugh, it's nice having him back.

Galaxy Steve's POV

I run out after Alex, she seemed really upset. She sits nearby on some grass. I sit by her. I hear sniffles. Is she, crying?

"Alex, what's wrong?"

"It's him Galaxy, it's him."

"Yeah, it's Sabre? What's wrong?" I go to hug her but she just pulls away. She must be really upset, she never rejects my hugs. Rejection hurts more than I thought it would.

"No! No, I mean it's him, Sabre is him!" She turns to me with tears in her eyes and on her face. I wipe them away.

"You mean Elan?" She nods but shakes her head. I get confused.

"Here, I'll just tell you this. I knew Sabre or Elan before he forgot his early childhood." Sabre forgot his childhood? Now that's a story I need to know.

"How did he forget? And now we know it's Sabre so just call him Sabre."

"I call him Elan because that's his real name. It's not the name you know him by, but I do. To answer your question... Origin, Origin is the reason he forgot. He got mad at me one day and took it out on little Elan. He wiped his memory and sent him away, I tried to find him... but I never could."

"I thought he died. Instead of just sending him to a different location he sent him through the timeline—to the future—that's why I couldn't find him... I wonder if Origin knew who he was." She mumbles the last bit and looks down seemly thinking about something.

"Oh..." I say in response, how much did she go through, that I don't know about, and why was Sabre involved? She gets a look of panic on her face. Did something happen? "Alex?"

"Nightmare knew his name was Elan and the only other person he told was Rainbow in another universe! He knows, Nightmare knows. Galaxy I don't care what promise we just made, we have to protect Sabre with everything we've got." She practically begs.

"Okay..." I say calmly, I don't want her to panic more. I go to hug her and she lets me this time. "Let's go tell Sabre and Rainbow, then maybe hit the hay, it's really early in the morning. And we all haven't slept." I go to get out of the hug but she holds me tighter keeping me there.

"We can tell Rainbow, but not Elan."

"Why can't we tell Sabre?"

"I don't want him to stress over this, he's only 16, Galaxy. I feel bad enough for not knowing it was him all this time." I nod at her reasoning, then we both get up and walk hand in hand back to Rainbow and Sabre.

—————-

Road work ahead?