His breathing was shallow.
His chest hurt from not getting enough air.
His legs ached numbly after running for hours into the night.
All he could he hear were his panicked steps into the unknown and branches breaking from the someone following him. Hunting him, he knew.
Sabre didn't bother looking back to see whether the figure had gained up on him or fallen behind. He was well aware that Darkness could find him quickly. The remnants of Shadow still remained, not fully faded away after all. And it seemed he didn't manage to seal away the Darkness completely since one of them was trying to get to him as desperately as he tried to get away. It called his name multiple times, its voice echoing through the night. It only made Sabre go further faster.
The night was dark, only the full moon reflected light on top of the trees, though little of it escaped through the dense leaves to show Sabre the path. The night was also cold, even freezing as Sabre only had his pyjama shirt, short trousers and socks.
For context, he had woken up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. He tried to calm himself down, but then his door opened and he yelped. He only saw a dark tall figure slowly coming in and that was enough for his still nightmare-driven mind. He had opened the window and jumped out, somehow not getting injured from the fall. The figure yelled out his name, but that scared him and he bolted out to the forbidden woods.
Still running like a cheetah, he felt something warm fall down his cheeks, dropping down to his sweaty white shirt. Was it blood? Or tears? He didn't know. And he was too focused, tunnel-visioned to check or properly even register it.
Sprinting through bushes and some smaller trees, breaking branches in the way of his head, he was bound to get many cuts and a considerable amount blood stained on him.
He never noticed.
He only cared about losing the figure hunting him and rest. He was exhausted. And he could run only so much longer, already feeling his legs weaken and posture starting to be weighed greatly by gravity, somehow not affected by adrenaline in his veins. Sabre was unable to grasp why he was ever so slightly calming down.
He cried, this time knowing it well. P-Please... Leave me alone..! I want to live...!
Rapid thumps of his running steps weighed him.
...
Occupied with his racing thoughts, and perhaps because this part of the forest was notorious for its camouflage, he tripped. And kept falling.
Did I just trip into a ravine? He thought with wide eyes, reality catching up to him when he was already half-way down. His breath hitched. He cried again.
At least I won't be hunted anymore, right? Sabre looked at the situation from a pessimistic or depressed angle.
It had been good few months after sealing away the Darkness and he had managed to gain some trust with the Chromatics again. But majority still had their doubts and didn't trust him. Rainbow Kingdom was rebuilt, but for his own good, the village leaders let him stay there, in the house they'd given him, Time and Dark, who unfortunately was no longer with them. "Over time," they'd said, "they will trust you again. Leave time to do its job to heal the wounds."
Moments of his life flashed and faded before his eyes as he closed them, to hopefully make his death a bit less painful. Somewhere in the distance, he registered a vague scream and thunder cracking. Is a thunderstorm coming? Will the rain wash away my remains? His mental state wasn't in a great shape. Sure, he had had talks and "therapy" with Time and that one Green Steve, but it always deteriorated quickly, for a reason the Steves didn't know. Only Sabre did. Or did he?
With the therapy sessions, they didn't get much out of him from who he was or what had been doing before entering this world. They thought that maybe, just maybe the key is in his past.
But it doesn't help that Sabre had no memories of his past before this world. All his memories contained his time in the Rainbow Realm. That both surprised and concerned Time and Therapist Green. Sabre, on the other hand, wasn't. "I can't be worried about something I don't remember," he'd said. He made a good point, but... The two were skeptical and confused, worried about the turn of events. They knew that he had spoken of his life before this world, but now.
Now he was like an empty shell, trying to stand firmly and not be washed away by rough waves.
A bright light illuminated the sky for a nanosecond and thunder cracked again. Sabre felt a quick hot jolt pierce through him, leaving him breathless.
A moment later, he was in someone's thin arms that were grasping onto him strongly. Sabre was gasping for air, from having in breath after the teleportation and having run for so long. He was shaking, pale, from the cold. His eyes were definitely bloodshot and hurting behind the blindfold. Throat sore.
"S-Sabre..?" The figure whispered so gently it looked (or heard in that case) like he was afraid to break thin glass. "Are you okay..?" The person put him down in a sitting position against a stone cave wall near the entrance to the bottom of the ravine, which was filling up with water and running like a fierce river. Sabre looked up through his panting and saw someone with light grey skin and a very worried face of his friend, Time. His white hair was wet, water drops dripping down like he had just swum. His dark grey sweatshirt and brown baggy trousers almost black from the wetness.
There were small bags under his eyes and it looked he had been running for a long time too.
Wait... Was it Time this whole time...? The blindfolded felt a bang of guilt hit his chest and started to cry again, but louder. "I-I'm so-so sorry..." he murmured. He couldn't believe he mistook him for an enemy. Time let out a soft exhale and knelt down to his level.
"Hey, it's fine... Just... ... Can you tell me what happened..? When you're ready?"
"..." Sabre didn't say anything and instead, just nodded, unable to muster any words together. Time nodded and sat down beside him, their wet shoulders bumping together. Sabre put his head onto Time's shoulder, who in return, grappled him around his neck and patted his head, whispering and humming comforting words.
And then there was silence - only the sound of their sharp breaths, heavy rain pouring down and the ticking of-.
Sabre realised something, fear striking him again. He quickly scooped away a little and looked Time in the eye, who was startled and confused by Sabre's action. Time's not wearing his mask... he thought.
"T-Time.." his voice was more scared and higher than he was hoping for.
"Yeah..?" Time asked sort of cautiously, mainly still wondering what was up.
"Y-Your mask..." Time's shoulders tensed immediately and his mouth fell closed tightly, his eyes a bit wider. Hesitantly, he nodded small and shakily a few times.
"Y-Yeah...?" He choked, voice almost fearful of Sabre's thought of his... look.
"You're not wearing it..." Time nodded again, slowly. "I thought..." Sabre exhaled, not sure what to say. Time felt the suspense and fear tie up his lungs and throat, not breathing as he waited for Sabre to say something else. "I thought you weren't... weren't... comfortable?" Sabre was unsure in his choice of words, "without your mask...?"
Time let out his breath he hadn't realised he was holding in and took a deep breath. "I-..." he paused, thinking what exactly to say. "I'm not.. really. But I thought that... maybe a change would be good?" he shrugged, looking up at Sabre, who was listening closely. "And maybe... Maybe I'll get used to it? I mean... I am the only person with a mask."
"People can see your face through the mask if you want to. I'm wearing a blindfold and no one sees me without it. You don't have to do something you're not comfortable with." Sabre debated.
"I know that, I understand that. But I wanted to try something new," Time shrugged again, but with a smile. "Wearing the one same outfit and doing the same things gets boring over time, you know?" Sabre chuckled. And Time forcefully tried to hold back a smile. "The pun was not intended." Sabre then burst into laughter.
It made Time happy. A time pun or not, it was nice to see him smile and happy again. Genuinely happy, not forced "I am okay" happy.
And Sabre was glad he had a friend he could actually call a friend, always there for him when he needed it. He made sure he'd return the favour, and be there for Time as well.
Like best friends.
Like brothers.