If you don't know what the Betrayal AU is, clearly you are new to my profile. If you want more on it, I have an AU book currently filled with it. It is currently my favorite AU, and the book is mostly just that AU atm.
— — —
Sabre stretched out as he laid on his stomach. He accidentally hit Shadow, who was laying close by, with his hand when he stretched.
They were all relaxing in the living room, each one not speaking but enjoying the presence of everyone nearby. The last mission was dicey, with Soul being nearly killed and Sabre nearly captured once more. It seemed as if everyone held a grudge with him escaping the first time, and was quite adamant on another try.
Sabre, who would rather not be captured, did not want to give them another try. The Leaders weren't the smartest, but they were determined to capture him and kill everyone else.
Sabre held high anxiety and paranoia on good days, and he did not enjoy their attempts whenever he went on a mission.
Everyone's stress was high after such missions; What-if's going through everyone's heads. Questions on how close was one of them being to death (or capture) and what-if they didn't choose one action that caused that death. It was calming being surrounded by everyone, able to see that everyone made it back in one piece and the what-if's are just that. What-if's. Nothing more, nothing less.
Just anxiety brought on by the adrenaline crash.
Sabre shifted, wiggling slightly to sink further into the blankets and pillows he and Shadow amassed on the floor. It was clear which blankets were already here and which ones Sabre brought, for the colors wildly contrasted. Blacks and grays against fading whites and bright oranges.
Shadow stretched, lighting bopping him on the head in retaliation.
Sabre would hit him back, but he was tired and didn't feel like having a play fight so soon after a real one. He lifted his head up, to see a small smile on Shadow's face. Sabre stuck his tongue out, only to receive the same action from Shadow.
Soul shifted on the couch, tugging lightly on the one blanket he was using part of. Sabre was lying on the other side, and rolled slightly to the side to allow Soul to fully take the blanket.
Quietness filled the room besides the occasional sift of fabric against clothes or blankets, the flipping of pages in a book, and the dull scratching of a quill against paper.
Sabre glanced up at Void, head laying in his arm. Void was more focused on his book than the surrounding area, probably the most focused Sabre has seen him in a while.
Void tensed, before looking up, glancing around the room. He gave an unimpressed look once he caught Sabre staring at him. "Yes?" He sighed.
The rest glanced up, attention drawn by the broken silence.
"Nothing." Sabre hummed. "It's just neat."
"Neat?"
Sabre nodded. "Even with the blindfold, you guys are the only ones to be able to tell where I'm looking." He explained. "Other than Rainbow-" A wince from Void. "-Time, or Light, no one else could tell."
Corruption huffed, more intrigued than annoyed sounding. Soul looked up from his journal. "Why do you even wear that blindfold? Doesn't it affect your sight?"
Sabre pushed himself into a sitting position, stretching his arms above his head, before flopping his hands back down on the mess of blankets and pillows. "It's uh..." Sabre tipped his head side to side, fiddling with a blanket. "Habit, I suppose. And not really."
Even Shadow looked curious. "You know. I never really pondered why I wear mine. I don't have a reason to but not wearing it just felt wrong."
"Habit?" Void glanced at Sabre. "How long have you worn that to where it is just a habit?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, it's been since I was a child. Unnatural eye color and all." He paused. "Well, for my kind at least. You guys have a whole array of colors so it's not that big of a deal here."
Corruption shifted slightly. "What do your guys' eyes even look like?" He questioned. "I don't think I've ever seen you two have your blindfolds off."
Sabre blinked. Right. After Blue Leader saw his eyes and reacted negatively, he didn't think about taking his blindfold off in company again.
"Dunno." Shadow managed to stretch out even farther from where he laid on his stomach. "Never bothered to look."
Sabre looked at his counterpart. "Seriously?"
Shadow nodded. "Never cared too much about it. If I'm gonna wear my blindfold, why should I care what my eyes look like?"
"Curiosity?" Soul piped up.
"What color are your eyes?" Corruption asked.
Sabre hands instinctively went to hold on the blindfold, body tense. The question was always followed by adults and kids with reaching hands, ready to snag the blindfold off themselves.
Except...he wasn't in his old world. There were no townspeople that glared at him when he walked and there were no curious strangers that asked him question after question when he was on his adventures.
Sabre wasn't in his old world anymore. Instead, he was in his new world. Where it was common to see someone with bright orange eyes or perhaps bright yellow skin.
The rest of the group stared at him in concern. Even Shadow, who had his hands on his blindfold's knot, halfway from untying it.
"Sorry." Sabre dropped his hands. "Also a habit."
He received narrowed eyes in return, each one saying that he wasn't saying all there was to that.
Shadow brought his hands back down, shaking his head, causing his hair to get even messier than it was. Sabre blinked in surprise.
Yes, he knew Shadow had slightly different coloring compared to him, but Sabre wasn't expecting the eyes to be completely different.
"Huh." Sabre huffed. "Not what I was expecting."
"What?" Shadow glanced around. "You guys remember I did say I have no idea what they look like?"
"Silver." Sabre supplied. "Your eye color is silver."
"They're gray?"
"Eh..." Corruption frowned. "Kinda? They don't match the metal, but they are a shade of gray."
"They do kinda look like silver." Soul agreed. "Maybe slightly darker."
Everyone turned and looked at him. Sabre shifted slightly under all the attention. "Come on!" Shadow flopped down nearly landing on his legs. He propped his head up with his hand, golden —seriously, where did the silver come from?— eyes looked up at him. "Not like we're going to judge."
Sabre wanted to laugh. The amount of times he's heard that statement is way too many...but, Shadow did have a point.
Out of the entire world, this group should be the last one to judge someone based on appearance.
Sabre sighed. Well...here goes nothing.
Untying the knot felt weird in front of a crowd, especially since everyone didn't bother hiding their curiosity.
Sabre blinked once the fabric came off. Once. Twice. Three times. He felt oddly exposed without it on.
Sabre glanced down at Shadow, who gazed up at him with a dumbfounded expression. Shock was present on everyone else's face.
"They're..." Shadow's sentence wasn't finished, leaving the end hanging.
Sabre gave a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah..."
"I can see why gold was a surprise." Void comment. "With yours being gold that is."
Sabre nodded, fiddling with the blindfold. It was weird, looking at everything without the black shade from his blindfold over everything.
Shadow seemed interested by the slight change too, since he kept on glancing around.
Sabre felt the hairs on his neck rise. Alright. That was enough of that. He grabbed the blindfold on both ends, pulling it taunt and tying it back on.
The only one who's attention he caught with the movement was Void; Soul and Corruption going back to what they were doing beforehand.
Void gave a small nod when Sabre met his eyes. He copied the nod back.
Maybe he could get used to not having his blindfold on in between attacks. Maybe...
— — —
Words: 1360