Vengeful | A Rainbow Quest AU

Chapter 4 - New Friend, Old Enemy

No. He couldn't be talking about... him. Could he...?

"Dark." Rainbow says. "Who was it?"

Dark has a thousand-yard stare in his eyes. He answered slowly.

"He... he looked exactly like Sabre... but as if he was infected with the Darkness."

"SHADOW?!" I scream, falling backward in a rush of fear. How was he here?! He was sealed away in the Hub along with that stupid sword! Rainbow catches me before I hit the ground, pulling me back up into a sitting position. I'm no longer in control of my body again. He tries talking to me, but I can't hear him. Shadow is back, and he's coming for me, isn't he? I won't be able to do anything once he finds me. Rainbow snaps me back into reality.

"Holy, crap, Sabre! You scared me there!" Rainbow says, mystified by my knowledge of the phantom, and worried for me. "You know that guy or something?"

"Know him?! I hate him!" I say, in my head again. "After you died, Void found a way to infect me, and that's who I became. He did terrible things, and everyone blamed me for them once I broke out of his control, while he got away scot-free." I feel tears running down my face from remembering what Shadow did to ruin me. Dark manages to scoot over to where I am, and gives me a hug.

"I don't know what you're saying to Rainbow right now," he says, "But I know from your reaction that's he hurt you too."

Rainbow looks over to Dark. "Did he... did he do that to you?" Dark scoots back to where he was.

"Yeah, he commanded the Darkness to kill me once he realized something was off about me. I don't even know what's changed in order for me to be disconnected from the hive mind..."

"His eyes." I say. Rainbow looks back towards me.

"What?" He says.

"His eyes changed color, look."

Rainbow takes a closer look at Dark. "Oh yeah, you're right, they did change..." Rainbow mumbles.

"What?" Dark says, unable to hear our conversation.

"Your eyes changed color. One's yellow and one's orange." Rainbow grabs a piece of glass so Dark could see for himself. "Look."

Dark takes the glass pane, and peers at his reflection. He takes on a look of surprise, and slowly moves his hand up to his face.

"I... I have color." He says, then he quickly smiles, joy overtaking the shock. "I have color!"

"Heck yeah, you do!" Rainbow smiles back. I manage to give a small grin.

"Welcome to the group, buddy." I say, knowing he can't actually hear me. I know Rainbow will convey the message somehow.

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[Light's POV]

When the sun started to rise, the Guards and I headed deeper into the forest. The trail was still going, in fact, it was getting more visible. As the trees started getting closer together, there were more scratches and shards than before. We were close, I know it. A few minutes of walking later, we see lights somewhere in the forest, contrasting the early morning shadows covering everything before the sun was up. I signal the Guards to stay quiet.

"Someone's up ahead." I whisper. "Remember, don't confront them. We're just here to see who our culprits are and find out where they're hiding."

We carefully sneak our way over to some bushes that are near where the lights are, about twenty feet away from them. It's only when we're in our hiding place that I notice that the lights are oddly blue lanterns. Strange.