Really angsty chapter! Y'all know what that means :)
✨ d r a m a ✨
(Huge TW for this chapter, lots of mentions of things that are related to abuse)
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[Dark's POV]
"You know what, you're right." Sabre says through the Crystal connection, regarding the fire Shadow started."I think I have an idea on how we can use this to our advantage. Dark, you still have those arrows?"
"Yeah, why?" I ask.
"We can use the arrows to spread the fire!" Sabre exclaims.
"That's genius!" Time says. "Let's do it, we can grab them once we meet up."
Then silence. Okay, using the arrows to spread the fire sounds actually pretty cool. I think I remember using that method back when I was... nevermind.
I'm waiting in the rafters in the second main hall, hoping the Leader I scare when they come down here is the Yellow Leader. I had no idea he was so... callous, and hateful. I guess after everyone was under the reign of Nightmare, people were just glad to have someone better than him, and didn't call him out on what he was doing.
It's kind of hard to blame them, Nightmare did crap like experimenting on his own people and Darkness, used them like slaves, killed whoever disagreed with him, and so many things I witnessed and went through while working under him that I still have... well, nightmares about.
Don't even really want to think about it, but my creation wasn't the only experiment he did on me. Maybe that's why I turned into what I am now...
It's no surprise that everyone would turn a blind eye to the Yellow Leader's unfavorable actions towards Sabre and other people because of this. The truth is, he only looks good because someone much worse than him used to be in power. Who knows, maybe it was obvious the Yellow Leader was a bit of a dipstick before Nightmare became Nightmare, and he was just really desperate to get him out of the seat of power. However, he just led to his own downfall of insanity...
I'm interrupted by someone yelling about the Citadel being on fire. I instantly hear footsteps rushing down the hall. I look through a window that points to another in a hall opposite to it, and bingo.
It's the Yellow Leader.
I quickly lean out of my hiding place, enough to be seen as he rushes in. It's only a second until he rushes into the hall I'm in and sees me, and when he does he freezes in place, a mix of fear and what seems like rage becoming his expression. I don't even say a thing, I just glare at him then slip away back into the shadows. I don't wait to see what he does next, I'm already rushing to the meetup point with the rest of the Vengeful. Less chance of getting spotted by Guards, and the Leader will just think he's going crazy for now. Serves him right.
When I get there, I'm the only one at that moment. We picked the meeting room so we can confront the Leaders in a kind of style, and to ruin the most important place in the Citadel with painful memories, but uh... I guess we're destroying the Citadel itself.
A few minutes later, a few Leaders have rushed in at the same time, panicking. Time climbs through the rafters to get to me, having done his part of this phase.
"How'd it go?" I ask Time, using a different Crystal connection.
"I'm pretty sure he thinks he's insane now." He answers. "I kind of went on a mini creepy monologue."
"That's cool. Now we just gotta wait for Sabre and Rainbow." I say.
Elemental rushes in with the rest of the Leaders and Light, and they all start panicking amongst themselves. Hearing from them, it seems like the normal way out is blocked by fallen debris and they're trying to figure out a different escape. Good to know. We can probably take the tunnels again when we need to leave or we can just jump out one of the huge fricken windows.
Just then, Rainbow arrives dragging Sabre behind him (carefully, of course). We all look at each other as the Leaders' panicking is raising up a notch, and we know.
It's now or never.
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[Time's POV]
I'm both terrified and livid as I wait above the portal that was once a path to a place I called home.
I'm about to face Elemental after he technically killed me. I have no idea what he's become like after I was confirmed dead, either, so this might either be easy or an instant fight. I could never know with him.
The fire hasn't reached this room yet, and nobody's yelled anything about it, so I don't think it's known that Shadow set the Citadel ablaze. I know Elemental is already in the Citadel because we saw him enter through here when we were sneaking around the Kingdom. Knowing him, he's going to try and escape through this portal... but I'm not going to let that happen.
Just then, someone's voice sounds throughout the halls;
"FIRE! THE CITADEL'S ON FIRE!"
And I install hear panic going on throughout the different passageways. I also hear rushed footsteps coming up the stairs, and sure enough...
Elemental is running towards the portal. Not on my watch, though.
I use my powers to close the connections in the portal. It is to my old dimension, after all, of course I still have control over it. Elemental, confused, just stares at the portal frame. Now's my chance to scare him.
"Did you really think I was gone?" I ask, my voice reverberating throughout the empty, isolated room. As smoke rises up the stairs, Elemental looks around the room in panic.
"Who's there?!" He screams. "Show yourself, coward!"
"I may have been a coward before, but you certainly don't scare my anymore... brother." I say, moving above a place behind him.
"T-Time?" Elemental stutters, his face one of pure horror. "N-no, that's... you're..."
I drop from my place on the ceiling quietly, then start to circle the room around him. Elemental notices me out of the corner of his eye, and keeps his gaze on me as I walk, looking scared witless.
"I wonder, Elemental..." I say, keeping eye contact. "Were you ever going to tell them that you killed me? ...Most likely not, as every one would've reacted badly to how... Oh, I don't know..."
"S-stop... I-I don't..." Elemental says, seemingly too frightened to speak... how the tables turn.
"Do you remember when you forced your way into my dimension, and beat me bloody to the point I couldn't scream anymore?" I continue. "When you didn't agree with me wanting to watch over the Overworld in a different way you did, so you took a knife out the knife block I had in my kitchen and threw it at my head?"
"T-Time..." Elemental whimpers. "I-I didn't..."
I keep going. I stop circling the room, now on the opposite side of it from him.
"When you shoved me into the wall when I tried to escape through the portal? When you rendered me unable to speak for days, after I was yelling for you to stop while you punched me to the floor? When I was burned badly by the lightning you set on me?"
Elemental is frozen in fear, and I take a step closer.
"Remember when you made me watch Sabre die?"
Elemental is crying, and I step back again.
"T-Time, I'm s-sorry..." Elemental says, tears choking his words.
"Oh, but it's much too late for apologies, brother." I say. "Even since... you were only sorry once I was dead."
"That's- that's n-not how I-it... I d-didn't..." Elemental struggles to form complete sentences, panicking too much to think. Good.
"...Redemption will not come for you, but rather... revenge." I say, as I use my powers to seemingly disappear, when I really just teleported silently back up to the rafters.
Elemental just stares at the place I was for a while, then bolts back down the stairs, despite the thick smoke clouding the way. Did I go a little too far with that?
...Nah. If anything, I cut it a little short. Oh well, I'll have a much bigger opportunity very soon... in the meeting room.
I climb through the rafters once more, making my way to the meeting room. When I get there, Dark is already watching from the middle of the ceiling while the Leaders, Light, and Elemental panic about getting out of the burning Citadel.
"How'd it go?" Dark asks, using a Crystal connection between us.
"I'm pretty sure he thinks he's insane now." I reply. "I kind of went on a mini creepy monologue."
"That's cool. Now we just gotta wait for Sabre and Rainbow." Dark says.
Not even a minute later, Rainbow climbs over next to us carrying Sabre with him. We nod to each other, and prepare what we've been planning for the past weeks.
As we charge our Crystal power to begin the last phase of our plan, I know it's time.
The Vengeful have been overlooked and used long enough. Now... it's our turn to rise.
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[Sabre's POV]
A colorful blast knocks ashen debris down into the room, and the Leaders, Light, and Elemental back up towards the blocked door opposite of where the blast happened. A bit of the flat part of the roof falls down and gets caught on the wall, making a perfect platform. We stay in the rafters for now, however.
"What in the Realm was that?!" The Yellow Leader exclaims.
"I don't know..." Light says, shifting his gaze back and forth across the room.
The rest of the Vengeful and I look at each other, and Rainbow goes first to speak.
"Are you finally realizing now, that your actions against others bring consequences?" Rainbow says, his voice echoing across the smoke-filled room.
Most of the Leaders and Elemental look confused, but the Orange Leader and Light freeze in disbelief. I know they recognize that voice.
"Who are you?!" The Indigo Leader yells. "Did you do this?!"
Dark goes next, and I notice that he looks more confident than he was when we first broke in.
"Hm, mostly. There was a little mishap, but I think it works out in our favor... and only makes your situation worse." Dark says, a smile growing on his face.
Now, the Yellow Leader freezes. Light's shocked expression turns into a look of terror.
"There's more than one...?" The Blue Leader mumbles.
"Why are you attacking us, we've done nothing wrong!" The Violet Leader yells.
Even I burst into laughter, my paralysis unable to hold back my amusement at such a statement. Mine in joined by Time, Dark, and Rainbow's laughter as it penetrates the tension in the room. All of the Leaders and Elemental join Light in his terror-filled shock... after all, they've all heard our laughter before... just in better times before they turned so cold.
"W-what...?" The Green Leader stutters.
Light temporarily collects himself.
"Who are you all?" He demands. "Answer us!"
We calm down, and Dark makes some of the smoke in the room surround the improvised platform. As everyone else in the room tries to wave the smoke out of their faces, my friends and I jump down onto the platform. While the smoke starts to clear, yet still covers us, we say what we had been preparing since we made this plan.
"I would say it's nice to see you all again, but you have scorned my friends here to the point I'd be lying." Dark begins.
"For too long, you just treated individuals such as us as simple pawns for your wars... one of us dragged into it against his will, purely because you would not let him go while he was 'useful' to you." Rainbow continues.
"You turned away from us when we needed you most, leaving us to die in similar situations where we had saved you." Time adds.
"And it's about time you received the comeuppance for what you have done, not just to us, but to many others you didn't bother to listen to." I finish, Rainbow using his power to let me speak. My voice sounds raspy and gravelly, probably because I haven't spoken in weeks.
The smoke falls, and the Leaders, Light, and Elemental finally see our reborn selves, horror crossing their faces while tears well up in their eyes.
But us...? We just smile, relishing in the moment they have recognized who we are.
Then, us four speak at the same time, our voices joining together in one echoing sentence.
"We... are the Vengeful. Risen from death to remit the same treatment you gave to us, you haunt our souls no longer."
You could cut the tension with a knife. I can't help but feel joyful at the scene in front of us, as the Leaders, Light, and Elemental stare in utter silence. Rainbow laughs again and steps forward a little bit.
"Hello again, Leaders." Rainbow says, his voice pulling the group in front of us out of their misery-filled shock. "What? Did you actually think we'd stay gone?"
"Wh... h-how..." The Blue Leader stutters. "You're all-"
"Supposed to be dead, we know." Dark says, making the Yellow Leader flinch. "We get that a lot."
"We simply couldn't stand by in any afterlife, considering how wronged we were in all of our lives." Time says.
Everyone else stays silent, I believe too horrified and scared to say anything.
"Heh, what?" Rainbow smirks. "You don't agree or something? Hilarious, considering how many things you let slide in this very kingdom."
"W-what are you talking about?" Lights says, raising his spear. Always best at knowing when danger is here, yet never can figure out when to trust... That's about to get the better of him.
Rainbow knows I want to say something, and once again uses his power to let me speak.
"Don't you remember...?" I say. "When you all did nothing as I was blamed and accused for things out of my control? When my life was threatened at my own doorstep? When I had to live in constant fear because you didn't want to acknowledge your people's actions? Did you really ignore everything that happened as long as it didn't concern you?"
Still silent. As more smoke enters the room, flames starting to reach us, we hear panicked screaming from outside. The rest of the Vengeful and I prepare ourselves, knowing we have to go in the next few minutes.
"We'll take that as our cue to leave, old 'friends'." Time says. "Just know that this is only the beginning; The beginning of the end of your pitiful excuse of a reign."
We then make ourselves disappear in the rising smoke, running for the tunnel we entered through. We enter an area already brimming with the heated atmosphere, fire surrounding everything as it eats away at the remaining flammable pieces of structure. In the middle of one room is the tunnel entrance, and we quickly slip back into it.
The cool stone tunnel is a welcome change from the blasting heat of the aflame Citadel, but we know it won't last for much longer right now. We can rest once we get back to our hideout, for right now, we need to get out. As we reach the outer wall of the Citadel, exiting the tunnel, we once again start to take the alleyways, but then...
"Guys, remember the arrow idea?" Rainbow says.
"Yeah, was planning on firing when we were at the wall. Why?" I answer.
"What about now? We can use the rooftops and light strings to get around and set more stuff on fire!" Rainbow says.
"That sounds awesome!" Dark says.
"Ooh, great idea." Time joins in.
"Alright, let's do it." I say.
We then quickly and suddenly climb up the walls of the alley and jump onto the rooftops, taking out our bows. Splitting up into three groups (Rainbow is with me, naturally, and Dark and Time are on their own), we run along the different houses and fire arrows into the flaming remains near us, setting more buildings on fire. People sometimes look up and see us, screaming in more fear, and eventually everyone is yelling about us.
"What in the- but they're dead!"
"Is that Rainbow Steve and Sabre?!"
"It's Dark Steve! Run!"
"Time Steve?! What is he doing?!"
"What's going on?!"
We ignore them and keep firing, taking our collected rage out on those who have harmed us. Rainbow spots the guy that threw a rock through the window of my abandoned house, turns out he was a Yellow Steve, and shoots him with an arrow before I can say anything.
Normally, I'd feel terrible about such a thing... but I have to admit, hearing him scream was kind of hilarious.
We eventually have set the entire Rainbow Kingdom on fire, Time and Dark having helped with a quarter of it each. We meet back up, and run off into the woods next to my old grave.
It feels like we had been running for hours before we reach a rocky cliffside, even though it's only been a few minutes. The four of us climb up, and as we catch a glimpse of the chaos behind us, we all just... freeze.
All we can see is the flaming tops of roofs within the Kingdom, the Citadel now completely engulfed in fire. People are running out of the Kingdom's walls, teleporting in large groups... I notice that all the groups are only made up of one color each. Soon, the lightning stops, and all that is left behind is the burning pile of rubble that once was a beautiful kingdom... although for me, it was a colorful prison.
"Woah..." Dark gasps, taking in the sight of the destruction mostly caused by us.
"It's... it's all gone." Time says, sounding to be in disbelief. "It's all burning."
"Even though I never actually lived there..." Rainbow says. "I still hated the place, and all the people in it for what they did. Kind of glad to see it destroyed."
I don't add anything. I'm in shock, something indescribable taking hold of me. What... what is this...?
All I remember feeling before all this is fear. Constant, crippling fear. Fear of who was surrounding me, fear of wondering if I was still going to be living the next day, fear that everyone would start hating me and I would be cast out, never really knowing why.
But... now? I'm watching the place where I had been tortured as long as I was there fall into permanent disrepair. I'm seeing a terrible place hiding behind a mask of prism crumble into ashen dirt and broken metal. All of the people that had harmed me have already left it behind.
No one is left to hurt me anymore. No one is left to put me down. None of them are left to order me to fight for them... None of them are left...
"Sabre, are you okay?" Rainbow asks, placing his hand on my shoulder. "You're crying..."
I didn't even notice the tears falling down my face. My friends... my real friends surround me, and I start to break into a small, joyful smile.
"I'm free..." I say. "I'm finally free from that horrible place... they can't control me anymore..."
Rainbow, Time, and Dark smile, and they all pull me into a hug. My tears stain Rainbow's shoulder as he lets me bury my face into it.
"Yeah... you are." Rainbow says.
"The same way we've been freed from them." Time adds.
"And nobody is going to hurt you like that again..." Dark says. "Never."
We stay like that for a moment. Once they let go, we turn to head back into the forest, towards home. Rainbow grabs onto my hand so he can lead me.
"Come on, let's go back home." Rainbow says. "We can all use a bit of a break after all that."
As we walk into the woods, shielded by the canopies of the trees, I realize something. When I died for a second time all those weeks ago, I wasn't just revived.
I was reborn. Reborn into what I always have been, unsmothered by the Leaders' influence. I'm just me again, truly, really me. With the freedom to live how I want, with my friends, nobody to command us or control us to be anything else.
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End of Arc 1 :)